"The unprecedented crime-wave hit an all-time high today in Los Angeles."
The television buzzed in the corner of the corner store. An old woman nearby was trying to decide between two brands of cat food nearby. The cashier was busy texting, only briefly glancing up every now and then.
"Despite national demands, San Fransokyo has thus far refused to affirm the New Supers Act."
Violet was at the back of the store, counting out how many off-brand diapers she could buy with the money they had saved up. She wore a hoodie but didn't wear the hood. She'd only seen her picture on the tv once, and that was over a month ago. As long as she did nothing to look suspicious, no one cared who she was or paid any attention to her.
The door chimed as she walked down the back aisle with a pack of diapers. She turned the corner towards the cash register, counting out the coins in her free hand.
"Put your hands up!"
Violet froze.
"Step back from the register and get on the ground!" She glanced up to see a couple of men, wearing hoods over their faces, with guns pulled out on the cashier.
"Hey, man, what's the big deal?" The guy whined as Violet crept back behind the back isle.
She watched as one of the robbers fumbled with the keys. She had to do something, right? She could stop a couple of robbers. And they didn't even know she was here. What harm could one little forcefield do?
She set down the diapers and focussed on the cash register. As the man tried to enter the key, she focussed, trying to make a tiny field in the keyhole.
"Hero!" The paper bag flew through the air, and the fourteen-year-old barely managed to catch it. He opened it as he and his friends went along the sidewalk. "No way!" he shouted, pulling out a fried dumpling. "Bao's diner, how did you know?"
"You stop by the same dumpling shop every day on the way to class, dork," said Go-go.
"Mmm," Fred moaned, biting into one of the dumplings. "My stomach likes!"
"Hey guys," Wasabi pointed across the street, at what looked like two guys wearing masks in a corner store. "Does that look like a crime to you?"
"We don't know that's a crime, they might just like wearing masks…" Honey-Lemon reasoned. Suddenly one of the guys pulled out a gun. "No! Definitely a crime!"
The robber continued to attempt to shove the key into the hole, cursing as it continued to not work.
"Hurry up!" his buddy shouted, keeping an eye on the street for any cops.
"I'm tryin', it won't go in!"
"Come on man," sobbed the cashier. "This job was hard to get!"
"Shut up!" shouted the man with the gun, getting extremely annoyed with how long this was taking. "Or I might just use this!'
The man with the key shook the cash register, causing Violet's forcefield to lose focus, nearly knocking the key right out of his hand. But the robber was suddenly a lot more focussed on whoever had just entered the store, causing the door to chime.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Wasabi, standing next to Go-go, Fred, Honey-lemon, and Hero, fully decked out in super-hero gear.
"Oh yeah?" One of the thugs asked.
Honey-lemon simply tossed one of the colorful balls of chemicals at the two, sticking them to the store counter. "Now that's a chemical reaction!" said Fred.
"Yeah!" They all celebrated, slapping each other on the back like they had just saved the entire world again, while the two robbers were in shock, the old woman finally looked up from the shelf of cat food, and the cashier, half-stuck himself, managed to find his phone again.
Hero just stood there, by the entrance. As happy as he was that they had stopped some robbers, he couldn't help noticing something strange as he walked in. A strange ball of purple in front of the cash register. He was sure he'd seen it, but he had no idea how it got there or what it was.
Violet had followed the back shelf to the other end of the store, and rushed up to the front, clutching the diapers and keeping an eye on the strange heroes over by the counter, so much so that she ran straight into someone.
"Oh, hey, are you okay?" The dark-haired boy, shaken from his thoughts, helped the girl back to her feet.
"Y-yeah," she nodded, and he bent down to pick up what she had dropped to find a package of… diapers?
"Oh," she said, picking them up hastily. "Those are for my little brother."
"Oh, okay," Hero answered, after catching a glimpse of the girl's eyes from under her long hair, and awkwardly breaking eye contact. "Do you need help with those? Since the cash register is kind of…um... stuck?" He said, glancing over to what looked like a giant popped bubble of chewing gum.
"I, uh, yeah," she said, fumbling with the coins in her pockets.
"Don't worry about it!" Wasabi shouted from the other end of the room, having seen the girl and pulled out a ten-dollar bill, setting it on the counter where it immediately stuck in place. Then he immediately paled, realizing how hard it would be to un-stick the bill, and nearly started a nervous breakdown over it.
"Oh, th-thanks," Violet stuttered, hoping to get out of the store as soon as possible.
The television buzzed, "City council meets tomorrow to respond to the recent support for our recent vigilantes."
"I'm Hero, what's your name?"
"Violet," she said, instantly tensing up when she realized how much she had messed up in giving him her name, her face turning red.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Hero asked.
"Yes." She hurried out of the store without another word.
Hero watched her leave, still lost in thought about the strange thing he had seen.
"Hero!" Fred called out. "Come meet my new friend Seyd-ney!"
"It's Sidney," said the cashier, still on his phone, and paying no attention to Fred whatsoever.
Hero went over to join his friends, but not before glancing back out the window to see if he could still see Violet, but she was gone.