SUPERHERO
Marlene stared up at the huge Mako reactor from her swing. Shinra Inc. owned a lot of reactors, and made a lot of money from it. Every day, Mako energy kept millions of homes running. But every day, Mako energy was sucking life out of the Planet. People really had no other choice, though; Mako was all they had.
That's where people like Marlene's father came in. They were the ones who cared about the planet, and wanted to stop people from using Mako. Sometimes, they even did crazy things, things that made others fear them, even hate them.
Marlene didn't care about that stuff, though; it was all too confusing. All that mattered was that daddy still loved her, and that she still loved him back. Even if nobody else liked him.
She looked around at the playground. It was old and rusty, and nobody ever came to fix it. Kids still played on it though, because it was all they had in the slums. Well, except for the slide – it was even older than everything else on the playground. It would be kind of hard to play there, since the rust and splinters hurt the bottom.
The other kids mostly avoided Marlene. Their parents were always saying nasty things about her dad. She never felt lonely, though. She didn't really like sharing her toys. But it did kinda get boring sometimes...
Suddenly, someone sat on the swing next to her: a boy.
Oh no! Boys are mean. He's gonna make fun of me.
Not wanting to be teased, she looked at the ground, kicking the dirt.
"My dad's the coolest person in the world!" he said.
Marlene looked at him in surprise. It was Dusty; they got along okay. They never really talked to each other much, him being busy at soccer practices and such. Marlene never really had to worry about that kind of stuff: her dad couldn't afford that fancy stuff.
Why Dusty bothered playing in the slums, she didn't know. But it wasn't like she really wanted to talk to him more often anyway...
"He's always bringing me and Mom cool stuff!" he continued, "Last night, Mom got a gazillion flowers and this shiny necklace. And guess what? I got this neat little robot..."
Marlene sighed.
"...and it does like, karate chops and stuff, and it has these lights that blink whenever you push this button, and it says..."
Now the stupid boy'll never shut up. She started to swing.
"And you know what else? Dad says he can always keep bringing me cool stuff. You wanna know why?"
"Why..." Marlene mumbled, swinging higher.
Dusty started to swing too, trying to keep up with her.
"'cuz he gets money from his work. And you know what else?" he babbled, "He's a superhero too! 'cuz he works for Shinra!"
She froze. Superhero? Shinra? The thought of it made her fall off her swing! Rubbing her scratched hands and knees, she glared at him.
As if nothing had gone wrong, Dusty jumped beside her, beaming proudly.
He continued, "Dad says that Shinra's like superheroes."
"Yeah," Marlene snapped, "well, my daddy says that Shinra ain't so great."
Dusty's grin disappeared. Nobody had ever dissed my old man before. His face turned pink.
"H-hey, ev'ryone needs-s Mako," he stammered, looking for an argument, "and Sh-shinra gives 'em Mako, so... Shinra helps people! So they're good! So there!"
"Daddy says Mako's killing the Planet," Marlene said to a reddening Dusty, "so Shinra's the bad guy."
Dusty was too mad.
"Your dad kills people! My dad says your dad should go to jail. Your dad's a bad guy, and you're a bad girl!"
That shocked Marlene. True, not many people liked her dad. But nobody, NOBODY had the guts to say it to her face like that. Dusty had gone too far.
"That's mean, and not true! My daddy loves me. He wouldn't ever think of hurting me. I wouldn't hurt nobody either. So YOU'RE a liar, pants on fire!"
"You're a booger brain," said Dusty.
"Fart face."
"Blubber mouth."
That did it. She couldn't hold her temper any longer.
She screamed, "Take that back!" and tackled him.
The fight was on! Biting, kicking, screaming, they forgot everything around them, and the playground became a wrestling ring. The other kids put down their toys and games and gathered around to watch. They knew fighting was wrong, but nobody made a move to stop it: surely someone else would.
"Gorilla butt!"
"Poop head!"
The crowd got bigger and bigger, and louder too, as the two kids wrestled each other.
Tired of fighting on the ground, Marlene jumped up. She reached out to scratch his eyes out - but Dusty was quicker! Stepping aside, he barely missed her claws, and yanked her hair.
"Oww, not fair!" She screamed.
Suddenly, the kids lost their balance, and crashed - into the slide.
All that wood and metal groaned and creaked above their heads, ready to crush them at any moment. They froze.
Dusty shivered. "I don't like the sound of that..."
SNAP! The slide came crashing down on them. The other kids ran away - now Marlene and Dusty were trapped, with nobody to help them! They tried squirming out of the heap, but all squirming did was stick splinters into their skin.
"Daddy!" Marlene cried, "Daddy, help me!"
"Don't worry," Dusty grunted, "my dad will come with the Shinra army and get us out."
Marlene was too busy panicking to hear him. "Daddy, Daddy! Help me!"
Dusty knew that talking wasn't helping much, so he joined in. "Help me Dad! Dad! Where are you, Dad?"
Nobody came. Tears started to fall down Marlene's face. Dusty was starting to panic, too. How were they ever going to get out?
"Daddy!" Marlene yelled.
"Maybe if we yell together, we'll be even louder and maybe someone will hear us," suggested Dusty.
Marlene looked at him through teary eyes. Then she nodded.
"HELP!" they cried.
Just then, they heard an answer.
"Marlene? Don't worry baby, Daddy's coming!"
In a few seconds, the heavy weight was gone; Marlene's massive father, Barret, the one-armed wonder, had come to save the day.
Too relieved to say anything, Marlene leaped into her father's arms, crying into his shoulder.
"Marlene, are you all right?" asked Barret. She nodded.
"You're lucky I just came home from a mission," said Barret, "or you might've --"
"Why didn't my dad come for me?" Dusty asked.
Barret turned around to look at Dusty, who looked a bit woozy. He had almost forgotten that he was there.
After an uncomfortable silence, Barret said, "Uh, I don't know. But you should be getting home, and let your folks know you're safe. Do you want me to walk you home?"
Dusty shook his head. "No, thanks. I can get there myself."
"Dad, why didn't you come help me today?'
Dusty's dad sighed. Then, without looking from his paperwork, he said:
"I can't do everything."
"But I thought," said Dusty, "I thought that you were a superhero. I mean, you work with Shinra --"
"It's because of work that I couldn't come. Sorry, son."
Now Dusty understood. Why his dad never saved him. Why his dad never came to his soccer practices or birthday parties. Why his mom was always crying late at night.
It was because his father was a superhero.