"-be heroes, like the Power Rangers, and live happily ever after."
"Yeah." Jack turned his face towards the night sky, silently counting the visible stars. "Like a fairy tale."
"If you think that would help us become something, you're crazy." She crossed her arms across her chest, bottom lip sticking out. She hated this. She hated Jack. She was twelve, not five. She knew what 'happily ever after' was, and it wasn't helping the mutant population survive. It was having warm clothes and the occasional bite of food. It was being on your own (and away from the gangs) and thankful that some cop didn't arrest you. Or one of the older kids didn't - she shuddered - do something to you. A second time.
It was just surviving.
Jack took a long time to respond and Elizabeth wondered if he'd fallen asleep. It was known to happen.
"I can walk through walls, Elizabeth. Remember how freaked you were when I fell through the wall at the grocery store when we were nine? I stole you that day and since then... You've helped me more than you know. I want to do the same for other people. I can't do it alone - you need to help me help them." 'Or who else will?'
Elizabeth closed her eyes and slowly counted to ten. She remembered that day as if it was yesterday. A body falling through bricks and how she almost screamed before he whispered for her help. It had been them together since then. Always together, no matter what happened. How could she deny him this? It was just another adventure. Another round of their survival. Together.
"Alright," Elizabeth said slowly. "But only on one condition."
Jack leaped to his feet, face dancing under the moonlight. "What?" He wondered what she would say. She was so crazy. For a girl.
"Call me Z."
And so began a modern tale of Robin Hood. Without the tights.