A/N

Hey guys! What's up?

You know what, i'm sad and I feel lonely.

Ah well... the show must go on.

Chapter 3) Holding back the tears...

Day 6- Rooftop

It has been a few days since my first encounter with another hero, like me. However, I still feel like this city needs a lot more than two heroes, we can barely manage the crime. So, me and Waterfall decided to have these daily meetings, and figure out how to control this mess. "I could take the southern district tonight, and you can cover the suburbs, but still responding to emergencies in the commercial district." Waterfall suggests, pacing in short and brisk steps.

"That would leave downtown open and we can't ignore that area." I comment, and take my own fair-share of anxious pacing. This is a simple dillemma, but... an unavoidable one. For such a large city, it's hard to patrol every square inch.

"We both know that the police won't help us, so we have to rely on ourselves for now. My contact in the DCPD is still trying to climb up the promotion ladder- A hard task if you're clean." she adds to the mix.

Still, this new information doesn't help us any more.

"Maybe your ally needs a helping hand." I mutter under my breath. Figuring the spy will be blocked at every turn, we should find a way to give the informant an extra push. "We could find a way to pin some charges against the commisioner. A guy like him must have some delicious secrets." I propose, but she immediately rejects it with a wave of her slender hand.

"Yeah... and get us arrested in the process. No, we need to purify the station, not destroy it." Waterfall remarks.

I suppose she does have a great point.

Whether we like or not, this city needs a fully functional police department. Switching on our police radio, I sit on the edge of the roof, leaving her to mull over a plan.

Thinking about it, being a hero is not all I thought it would be. At first it was great, then I realised that I've got a hell of a responsibility on my shoulders. I never dreamed that my decisions could shape the future of this city. If I make the wrong choice, the people will suffer as a consequence.

What would a League member do?

They would do what's right, I assure myself, and stand up from the ledge.

"This city needs us, no doubt about that." I point out to her, and she gives me a warm what she is smiling about, I could feel my face contorting in confusion, and a slight bout of embarrassment.

"You said US." she teases. If she could see my cheeks, they would be a bright crimson, right now.

"What? Do you really think I can do this on my own?" I question, expected her to shoot me down or just ignore it, like all the questions I asked about her past.

"Yeah... yeah, I think you could." she answers, not that I'm psychic or anything, but I believe she is telling the truth. Does she really believe in me? Or, is she just lying to not put me down harshly. Guess I will never find out, knowing her fondness for secrets.

"Dispatch, we have an armed robbery in progress, involved some sort of meta-human, all units available please respond. Incident in progress at Delta City Bank." a male voice clicks through the radio. Sharing a determined look with Waterfall, I jump onto the wave she conjures. You picked the wrong city to mess with, pal.

Day 6- Bank Robbery

Using Waterfall's manipulated water, we were able to surf to the bank; within a respectable five minutes.

Approaching the under-seige bank, I drop down from the wave, and pull my hood down; and face mask up. Ignoring a few of the surrounding police drawing guns on me, I head in through the front door, whilst my newly-found friend, attacks from above. The scene before me is the most stereotypical bank robbery, someone can witness.

That's the full truth.

Civilians are on the floor, and are being guarded closely by two armed robbers, who are oblivious to me standing by one of the large marble pillars, that encompass the room.

Sauntering around the vault is around three men, trying and failing to open the massive metal door to the vault.

Shaking my head incredulously, I crouch and slowly creep behind the first of the two guards, watching the huddled group of scared civilians.

Without hesitation, I place a foot on the back of the man's knee and push, collapsing his knee, and makin him fall into my low grasp. Holding my left hand over his mouth to prevent alarm, I wrap my right bicep around his carotid arteries, and tightly sqeeze; as unrelenting as a cobra, but silent as a stalking lion.

It would be too easy for me to (literally) snap this guy in half right now.

Luckily for him, I only kill whenever I have no other choice.

After a short while of hopeless struggling from the criminal, he passes out, and I carefully lay him on the cold, hard ground. The civilians are in a deathly silence, as they observe me take down their captor.

Watching the other guard pace around the other side of the group, I sneak up to the unsuspecting thug.

Noticing the lack of chatter, he attempts to turn around. In a split second decision, I jump on him and take him to the ground with a head scissor. Still grasping his head with my legs, I punch him straight in the face; knocking him out cold. I shoo away the hostages with a motioning gesture, and I take some time to scan the roof for movement.

Sure enough, I spot Waterfall waving at me from the glass overlook above me- in a great position to support me.

She had better back me up.

Steeling myself, I give one last confirming smile and I charge straight for them. The criminals jump back in shock, but soon raise their rifles and prepare to shoot. According to the plan, a gust of water smacks into all of their guns, and sends them clattering to the floor. Before they could pick up the lethal weapons and shoot, I tackle the nearest guard and quickly get back up.

One of the guards swings for me with a left hook, and I grab it with my right and using my super strength, I chokeslam him with my left hand; his soft head colliding with the floor. Pulling out a baseball, another one recklessly leaps in. Not anticipated the strike, the blow hits and shock fills my attacker, as he watches it snap on contact with my head. Now using the snapped half as a weapon, he swings from overhead.

Darting to the right and simultaneously hitting another thug in the face with the tip of my right elbow, I kick the inside of his right thigh, dropping him to one knee and I knock him out with a spartan kick to the face.

Turning around, I am surprised to see Waterfall standing over the guard, victoriously. I flash her a raised eyebrow. "I can get my hands dirty, ya know?" she rolls her eyes. "Something about this is off. These robbers had no idea what they were doing." she continues, eyes flitting about for any sign of movement.

"Are you sure?" I ask. "They were inexperienced, but even the best were at some point." I explain my point. Suddenly, our conversation is shattered by a blast of fire flying towards us.

Relying purely on instincts and reflexes, I roll out of the way and the blash hits the vault door.

"You should really listen to her, she knows what she's on about." a deep and flat voice peeks out of the background, and a hooded figure steps out into view. His entire body is on fire and his clothes are weirdly not burning at all. Chuckling sinisterly, he stops moving and tenses up, his hands hanging by his waist.

"You!" Waterfall yells, her voice slightly cracking. For some odd reason, I already have a feeling this is going to end badly; it always does in movies, especially when a sinister man on... fire, has entered the fray- a now superpowered fray.

"You miss me?... Ever since the league rejected you, you haven't been responding to my letters." he laughs in the same dark tone as when he chuckled. This instantly sends a cold chill up my spine

"Maybe, that's because I don't talk to psychopaths, Firewall!." she retorts.

"Oh come on, sis, you know I've got problems." he counters, taking me aback slightly.

Sis? You have got to be kidding me.

Determined to get some answers after I put him down, I take a few steps forward, and mentally curse as Waterfall shakes her head. My lack of attention costs me severely, because he turns at a pace unlike any other I have encountered before, and slams a fireball into my chest. Immediately, my leather suit goes up in flames and I struggle to put out the fire, whacking it with my hands furiously.

It was then I first felt the unbearable pain, as it reached my bare skin.

What the hell! It won't go out!.

Time it's seemed to slow down as my vision began to rapidly fade. My last remnant of consciousness, allowed me to hear those final words.

"See you around. Tell your friend that I wouldn't do that again, if I was him." Firewall snorts.

If I survive this, I'm going to make him wish that he was never born.

Day 7-Jake and Alex's shared apartment

Trepidly, I sit up and examine my damaged body, my sore chest is only matched by my throbbing pride, but the rest is fine. Looking down, I see some sections of still charred flesh, some red skin where the old has been replaced. Shouting can be heard outside, and I am too disoriented to make out the words involved.

After a few precarious minutes of heated argument, a door slams, and my own door opens. Jake steps in, needless to say... he looks furious. "How long?" Jake begins, taking me off guard. "How long have you been talking to this... "hero", huh?" he elaborates, I could see that he is struggling to keep calm.

"A few days." I only just form the words, fully ashamed I never got round to telling my best friend. "It's not a big deal." I mutter, instantly regretting my words.

"Not a big deal!" he barks. "How is THIRD DEGREE burns! Not. A. Big. Deal!?" he yells, punching a wall in the process. Wincing at the impact, his anger overcomes his in-built trigger for pain.

"This wasn't her fault! I was the one not paying attention!." I push back.

"Ohh! Okay! So it wasn't her fault she does use her WATER POWERS to put you out, until you nearly die!?" he responds.

"This is MY responsibility, not yours!"

"It is my responsibility when my best friend, doesn't trust me enough to tell me about this! You have been out for a full day!" he growls.

Realising that I was trying to defend a person I have known for a short while, I quiet down.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper.

"Come find me when you will trust me." he advises, taking laboured steps towards the door. Stopping with his hand on the handle, he whispers over his shoulder "Stay safe." before exiting the tense room and leaving me to my despair.

What have I done? Is this what every hero goes through? Will he come back?.

These endless questions circle my thoughts like vultures, stealing any last scraps of happy memories away. For the next few hours, I stop and cry.

I'm not cut out for this.

Next time...

Once upon a time, I swore that I would cure this city.

Back then, I had no idea that I would lose more, than I gained.

Back then, I didn't believe I could do this on my own.

Back then, I had doubts.

One month... can change everything.

A/N

Heeeey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, if you liked it, leave a review and a favourite.