For bank robbers, these guys were ridiculously overconfident. They stepped out of the van wearing ski masks with lightning bolts clumsily stitched across the fronts. They already had their odd-looking guns out and were pointing them at anyone who got close. They marched right up the steps and into the bank, obviously not caring who saw them.

The whole thing screamed amateur hour, but supervillain guns were still dangerous in the hands of random thugs.

Everybody was too concerned with vacating the area, so it was easy for me to duck into an alleyway and 'suit up' out of sight. I hadn't been planning on making my debut so soon, but this was the real deal, so it was now or never.

I pretended to shrug off a backpack, unzip it, and pull out a domino mask. Just by putting on the imaginary mask, I could hide my identity. It would disguise me perfectly, despite not being visible or even real. It was ridiculous and kind of stupid, but it worked. My powers were very flexible when I used my imagination.

Still, I wish I had gained something more dignified than mime powers.

When I stepped out of the alleyway, people didn't see a normal guy in jeans and an old hoodie. Well, technically they did, but their brains saw 'a man in a mime outfit' instead. It had taken a ton of practice to make it reliable enough to use. The sheer convenience made it well worth the effort though. It took about five seconds and I didn't have to carry around a super-suit or hide it under my clothes.

The zapping noise of one of the guns going off made me flinch. As much as I wanted to charge in there, beat up the thugs and save everyone, I knew that I wasn't experienced enough to risk it. There were hostages in there, and this would be my first act of superheroism. I wasn't powerful or experienced enough to protect people and fight bad guys at the same time. Hopefully, that had been a warning shot.

Before I started preparing for the robbers, I needed to disable their getaway driver. Luckily, sneaking up on him was fairly easy. I crouched low and kept in the van's blind spot. When I was close enough I yanked open the door and shot the driver in the neck with a 'blow dart gun' to knock him out. He jumped, raised a hand to his neck in confusion, and collapsed bonelessly in his seat as the imaginary dart knocked him out.

The driver was a bit on the heavy side, but I was easily able to 'handcuff' him and haul him off to the side. Next, I sprinted for the entrance to the bank and started to prepare. There wasn't much time before the robbers had their money and would try to leave and I needed to be ready for them.

I walked up next to the front of the building and unhooked a 'lasso' from my belt. I took the time to shift it around in my hands and adjust the loop. The more time spent 'defining' it by miming, the more 'real' it behaved, and the better it functioned. Once I was finished, I swung it over my head and tossed it across the door, letting it catch on an imaginary post. I pulled the lasso tight, then tied it in place at about ankle level. Once my tripwire was set up I mimed pulling a large canister over, unscrewed its fictional lid, and poured out the imaginary oil. This trap would make things much easier.

When the robbers rushed out the door, they hit the invisible rope and went tumbling. Their lightning guns and pillowcases full of cash were knocked out of their hands. I hefted the net launcher I had prepared and fired invisible nets to entangle the confused robbers. Thanks to the invisible oil making it too slippery to stand, they couldn't dodge.

Of course, that was assuming they could even figure out what was happening.

Once they were netted, it was easy to tie them up with some imaginary rope and wait for the cops to arrive. A crowd was starting to form, mostly to see why the bank robbers were flopping about on the ground and swearing. I ignored the people and tossed the money and guns into a safe I had mimed to prevent any idiots from snatching any before the police got here.

I stuck my head inside the bank to make sure no one got hurt. The people looked shaken, but no one was injured. There was a scorch mark on the wall but otherwise, nothing was damaged. I relaxed and wiped my forehead in relief and walked back outside. A few people followed me out and goggled at the sight of the thugs who looked like they were pretending to be tied up.

The stares didn't bother me. Even if these people saw superheroes and villains every day, my powers had to be among the weirdest they had heard of. I pulled out a 'recliner' and put my feet up. I produced a 'newspaper' and pretended to read it, stopping occasionally to take a sip from a 'mug.'

Really, not bad for my first superhero act.

Clive had been worried when the radio reported the bank robbery. When he heard that the criminals had been spotted carrying 'super' weapons, he found himself hoping that it had been a misunderstanding. Unfortunately, people didn't joke about stuff like that, so the chances of it being a normal bank robbery just blown out of proportion were very small.

Northbay city didn't really have much of a super presence. For whatever reason, Clive had noticed that supervillains and heroes tended to cluster in certain spots, only rarely straying from their territories. That suited Clive just fine. Dealing with metas and nutjobs was not his idea of a good time.

Still, everyone was trained for this scenario. They would deal with the supervillains by themselves if possible and delay things for the Justice League if not. Everyone at the station had been briefed on the nearby villains and anyone who watched the news enough knew most of the big names as well. The Northbay police force was good and their SWAT team was better. They were ready for anything.

Of course, as soon as Clive finished thinking that, he arrived to see a mime relaxing in midair next to a pile of cussing and swearing robbers. There were a couple of lumpy pillowcases in an invisible box nearby as well.

The meta in front of them was pretending to recline on what was obviously intended to be a chair with his feet up on an ottoman. Clive wasn't sure whether the fellow was using telekinesis or something similar, but it was obvious that he had some kind of power. The fact that he was using it to pretend he was sitting in a recliner while reading a newspaper and drinking coffee was surreal but besides the point.

The mime looked over his 'newspaper' at the cops before folding it up and setting it aside. The fact that he could actually hear paper rustling despite the fact that there was nothing there was disconcerting. Clive just decided to ignore it though. Thinking too hard about metahuman weirdness was not good for your mental stability.

The police cars formed a ring around the entrance to the bank and prepared for any aggressive movements. Dave handed Clive a megaphone, and he lifted it up and pointed it at the jauntily waving mime.

"Supervillain or hero?"

The mime responded by heaving himself out of the invisible recliner and taking a 'heroic' pose. He put his hands on his hips and thrust his chest out comically like an overly exaggerated parody of Superman's naturally noble demeanor. Clive could almost imagine the cape fluttering in the breeze. The men around Clive relaxed and a few moved forward to secure the criminals.

"Would you mind if we take your statement?"

The mime nodded. Clive proceeded to ask his questions. The mime's replies were all in charades though, which wore on his patience. The detective felt a vein start standing out on his forehead when a few of his coworkers started to gather around to 'help' interpret.

"Sounds like… Hot? Burn?"

"Heat! Fire! Warm!"

The mime pointed and nodded.

"Okay… Harm ...gun?"

"Pistol! Firearms! Zapguns!"

"No? Syringe, injection drugs?"

"Warm drugs! No! Harmful drugs!"

Russel ignored Dave's shouting as he watched The mime patiently. The mime shook his head and made a few more gestures.

"Harm shot? Yes? No? Half right? Okay, Warm shot… Warning shot!"

The mime started beaming and nodded. They kept going, slowly interpreting the mime's motions and giving Clive a headache. Eventually, Olivia walked over and spoke over Clive's shoulder.

"Wouldn't it be simpler to use sign language? I'm pretty sure Dave knows it, and if not, I do."

The group paused for a second before groaning. The mime clapped a hand against his face and sighed before abandoning his over the top charades and using American Sign Language.

{Right, now I feel like an idiot.}

{Aww, I was having fun...}

The four looked at Dave. Clive raised an eyebrow at the man.

"You… You do realize that you don't have to use sign language don't you?"

They proceeded to ignore Dave's embarrassed mumbling as the mime told them what he knew. Clive had no clue what he was saying, but he had seen people use sign language before, and this metahuman was more expressive than he had seen. The gestures managed to convey a lot of emotion. It made it interesting to watch.

Clive was pretty reassured when he heard how careful the mime was. Too many wannabes with superpowers or unstable technology would jump in recklessly and endanger everyone. The fact that this super hadn't even caused any collateral damage was a pleasant surprise.

Clive still didn't want this fellow to stay in his city. There was just something undignified about having a mime as the city's superhero.

Once everything was solved. The mime pretended to place something over his head and flipped down the imaginary visor. It took a second, but Clive realized it was a helmet. Next, the mime threw a leg over a 'motorcycle' and got ready to leave. His revving motion actually made an engine noise. Clive and the rest watched him ride off on the invisible vehicle.

It was surreal, watching the metahuman sitting in midair and zipping down the road. Clive stared after him for a moment and shook his head. He turned sighed. As soon as the shift was over he was going to the nearest bar and getting wasted. He was too sober to deal with this sort of thing.

!

This is an old one that was hiding in the depths of my computer. The concept was interesting, but I decided that I didn't have enough of a plot and the awkwardness of describing the act of miming didn't make it worth continuing.