I once again had the privilege of working with the amazingly talented 5546Laura to write this chapter! She wrote from Booth's point of view, and I, from Brennan's. This is from Superhero in the Alley. I hope you all enjoy!

~AlphaGirl13


Booth's POV by 5546Laura

God, I hate cases like this. Bones and her team at the lab just told me that our victim was a kid. So I gotta ask myself...why was this kid wearing what looks like a bondage outfit? Weird, right?

Bones went with me when I had to break the news to Warren Granger's parents. He was a young man, just starting out in life, with his whole future ahead of him, and now he's gone. I hate when I have to do that sort of thing. I snarked at her a bit on the way there, telling her she didn't have to come with me, but I was secretly pleased that she wanted to come instead of studying the ancient bones of some woman they found on another continent. We're finally getting that partner thing down, I guess. Bones acts like she wants us to spend time working together. Once she's on a case, she throws herself into it with her whole heart. That's what makes her a good partner.

We were standing in Warren's bedroom after his stepdad left us alone, and then it hit me. The kid who died and Bones had a lot in common. He spent a lot of time alone, just like she tends to do. It looked like he also spent a lot of time in a fantasy world, writing graphic novels about fighting crime and ending injustice. Now I know Bones was kind of upset when I suggested that her novels are her way of escaping to her own fantasy world, but it seems like the truth to me. She denies it, but she does the same thing Warren did. She writes fiction stories about characters who fight crime and seek justice. She takes people she knows and tweaks their personalities a bit to make it seem like they're somebody new, just like he did. I know Bones wants to be a crimefighter. That's why she goes out in the field with me. She doesn't wear a superhero identity, but she's a lot like Warren in so many other ways.

Or so I thought at first. Warren wanted to have super powers, so he wrote about them in his Citizen 14 stories. Bones, on the other hand, has real superpowers. I mean, it's not like she can run faster or jump higher than anyone else in the world, but she can think at lightning speed. I've never known anyone who knows as much about science as she does. She's a genius, and fortunately for me, she's chosen to use her superpowered brain to help me fight crimes. Imagine being able to find out the age, sex, and race of an assailant from a thin piece of bone shaving. She can look at the way a person stands and she can tell if they've been injured by a fall or by a fist. She knows by looking at the bones of someone how they lived and how they died. She's such an amazing person...

And in the end, it turned out that maybe Warren really was a superhero. He was sick with cancer, to the point where he probably wasn't gonna get better, and the whole time he hid his physical pain from his mom and stepdad. Warren tried to stand up to a man twice his size...a man who was abusing his wife. I guess Warren figured he didn't have anything left to lose, since he was dying anyway. That's when Bones said that Warren was a lot like me, because he was trying to make a difference before he died. Like I said, she has superpowers. She can read minds...she knows that's what I want out of life, too.

I'm glad Bones is gonna be there to help me make that difference.


Brennan's POV By AlphaGirl13

I'm sitting at my writing desk, a glass of red wine sitting in it's usual place next to my computer. Letting my eyes roam over the polished wooden surface, I can see why Booth said I'm like Warren. Everything on my desk has it's place. I have one jar full of pens, a pad of paper and a perfectly sharpened pencil, my writing laptop, and a circle of slightly worn wood where I always set my wine glass.

But writing is simply a hobby for me. No, I saw far more resemblance between Booth and Warren than I see between him and myself. Warren was a good kid. He was genuinely concerned for others, and his only wish was to make a difference before he died. The way I see it, that desire was very similar to Booth's "cosmic balance sheet" ideas. He wants to attone for perceived sins before he dies. He wants to help people, to make a difference.

Though Warren did not manage to kill or directly bring "The Twisted" to justice, his death led us to the abusive son of a bitch.

That aside, Warren was so selfless that he attacked a man twice his size to save a woman he barely knew. That is something Booth would do, and probably has done. So therein lies the similarity between the two. Their selflessness and sense of duty and responsibility.

I, on the other hand, shared very little with Warren other than a talent for writing. I do not use my books as an escape, they are simply a side hobby of mine. I do not envision myself fighting crime; I do that in the real world every day. And I most certainly do not think of myself as possessing superpowers. I am of above average intelligence, but in no way am I "superhuman."

Besides, of the two of us, Booth is far closer to possessing superpowers than I. He likes to compliment me, but I know that when it comes to "superhuman" attributes, he far out ranks me. I have nothing but my intelligence and my martial arts skills. He possesses the uncanny ability to read people, his incredibly marksmanship, and his emotions. Yes, I do believe that is a superpower. One I will never possess. His emotions dictate everything he does. They allow him to give mercy, to understand a helpless victim, and to ultimately decide what he feels is good versus evil.

Booth is far more similar to Warren than I am. But he will continue insisting it is the other way around.

But no matter what Booth claims, I can prove that my books aren't based on anything in real life. By Booth's words, fiction always has a drab and plain inspiration from the real world. In my books, Kathy has Agent Andy. And he couldn't possibly be based on Booth. Because, even if Booth were the real world mirror of Andy, he is far greater than the fictional agent could ever be.

So no, my books are not based on real life. Because instead of reality falling far short of fiction, my fiction falls far short of my reality.


I hope you all liked it! Please review, and check out 5546Laura's page. This has been posted to her story, Thoughts on Being a Duck, as well. Let us know what you thought!

~AlphaGirl13