#36 Back in the Game

"Ugh, another Friday night alone without an ounce of excitement. How did things get this was Sue?" an elderly woman grumbled to herself as she poured some hot water into her mug for making tea.

Sue Brooks, as was her legal name, was alone in her modest apartment in late January and currently bored in her old age. She had neighbors who used to invite her over for gin rummy, but eventually stopped going because it made her feel like she really was her age; plus, she could get very competitive and that grated them the wrong way. Good riddance to them, Sue bitterly thought as she shuffled into her living room, wearing a plush red robe over her white silk nightgown and black slippers, ready to watch some evening game shows before the Sumahamita news. Her walls were adorned with family photos of her son Hue, his wife Maria and her grandson Stu at various stages of their lives. She also had a carved wooden table, a red floral-patterned sofa chair, a plush white rug, and even a rocking chair for when she felt like knitting something. The main thing that meant real sentimental value to her though were the newspaper clippings, framed and all about a supervillain named Supersonic Sue, her old villain identity.

The former criminal stared at the old printed records of her daring acts, from robbing banks in under a minute to her action-packed face-offs with Boss Awesome. She let out a sad sigh and gave a shake of her head at times long passed. Sue's gaze then fell on a more recent picture of her family, who rarely visited her except for her grandson, mainly because her son refused to follow in her footsteps; she still loved him, but clearly felt he was a disappointment and was wasting his time becoming a mechanical engineer instead of a thief. At least Stu has enough sense to know what it means to respect his elders, even if he's only a low watt bulb, she remarked with a small scoff before taking a sip of her tea and moving into her chair.

After fishing the TV remote out of the cushion, she sat down and turned the device on. When the screen lit up, the first thing playing was "Beat the Odds," where contestants had a 50/50 chance of a 30second shopping spree in the store they set up or be dropped into a vat of whatever they felt like; it could be whipped cream, mud, gelatin, wet sponges, or just about anything that was likely to make an inconvenient mess. Sue watched with mild interest as she continued to sip her drink, occasionally making snide remarks or bursting into fits of laughter when someone landed in the yucky pit.

"Ha! That's what you get for not wearing a swimsuit you idiot," the retired skater yelled out to the TV with a cackle. Oh, seeing these kinds of acts reminds me of the time Boss Awesome thought he could stop me in my tracks with a slick trap, Sue thought in sweet reverie before returning to her program. Eventually, that game ended to have a quiz show called "IQ Smashers" play on after it, giving the grey-haired woman the chance to mock the players once again since she fancied herself as fairly sharp.

"Alright, let's see which one of these smart-alecks has that best stupid answer," Sue gleefully said out loud as she sat up in her chair. She did know the answers to some of the questions, smirking and yelling the occasional "I knew it;" if there was a question she got wrong however, her demeanor switched to a dismissive one or she'd say something along the lines of "What a load." Near the end of the program's run time, she admittedly started to drift in her thoughts again as she gazed around the room, feeling a sense of déjà vu and monotony she just couldn't seem to escape. Hopefully Stu remembers to call tomorrow. I swear it's a coin flip with that kid on whether he does as he's told or not. Maybe I can bribe him into visiting me if he does call and tell him I'll make cookies for him. It'd at least be something different, she plotted as the contestants got to the final question, which had to deal with who was the president of Argenya.

"What the heck?" the elderly woman scoffed, clearly unable to answer it. She decided then that since she had a couple minutes before the news came on, she would take care of her now empty cup and fill it with water to help take her nightly medicine. Sue got up and walked back into the kitchen, tossed her tea bag out and rinsed the ceramic vessel, followed by pouring in some fresh water and reaching for her pill case.

"Bunch of nonsense, giving me all these different pills. Just put it all in one and spare people the hassle," she complained as she took out her Friday dosage. The ornery senior quickly swallowed her medication with a grimace and headed back to the living room for the news update. Once she sat back down, the TV flashed the title card, "Channel 9 News at 10pm."

"'Bout time," Sue said out loud to no one as the program began zooming in on a man in his mid 30s with brown hair, wearing a new blue suit.

"Good evening, everyone. I'm Dave Chancellor and these are tonight's top stories. Earlier today, a water main burst off of Freemont Blvd, resulting in traffic delays and some minor flooding to some residential homes." Some footage of a flooded street was then shown as indeed cars tried to drive through the dangerous area and even had some shots of people standing outside their homes in distress.

"Well, sucks to be them," Sue coldly remarked. The screen then changed back to the newscaster as he read the next report. "The Sumahumita police are still looking for answers tonight after a convenience store was robbed today. Security footage shows the perpetrators holding the store clerk at gun point until all the cash was handed over. The cameras for the parking lot were unfortunately disabled prior to the incident, so all that is known about the suspect's vehicle is that it was a red Kaiju truck. If you have any information, please contact the local authorities," Dave calmly spoke to the viewers.

The former criminal gave a loud "Ha!" and a snort at such nonsense and snarkily said, "Yeah right. I ain't no snitch. Why don't the police just do their own dang jobs better if they want to catch them so badly." Sue then took a quick sip from her cup before the main story graphic appeared, which showcased a picture of the superhero team, Big Hero 6. Quirking an eyebrow, her attention intensified as the footage began showing a various assortment of sleek black vehicles with blue, pink, orange, or green accents.

"And finally, coming out of San Fransokyo, a string of high-speed car chases and robberies appears to have finally been foiled thanks to Big Hero 6. Authorities report the crime boss Yama in conjunction with former gameshow host Mr. Sparkles were the orchestrators of these events. Yama was apprehended while Mr. Sparkles has yet to be arrested. He was last-"

By this point, Sue had long stopped paying attention to what the newscaster said; all she was focused on was footage of the superheroes, or rather on just one: the yellow speedster. She skated with such agility, grace and determination as she maneuvered around the cars that Sue couldn't look away, and that wasn't even mentioning how well she handled that fancy bike of hers. Seeing Go Go show herself as an unwavering speed demon on two wheels triggered something in the older woman, like she was looking at her former self.

Hot mama. That young one's got that fire in her just like I had. No barriers, no rules, just the sweet rush of acceleration and pure freedom, Sue remarked in admiration. She then gazed around her living room, seeing all the domestic, quiet and relatively boring setting she had been living in; she even looked down at her nighttime outfit, finding herself filled with disgust at what she was now but never finding the motivation before to break her cycle. The grey-haired woman then shook her head as she gave a crazed laugh that only grew in volume until she needed to breathe.

"What the heck have I been doing this whole time? I may be old, but I ain't dead yet. I've let these years of retirement trick me into thinking I still can't do what I love; besides, these hero newbies haven't faced the likes of someone like me before. They really could use a lesson then for their own good," Sue told herself with a smirk, defying her own acceptance of the mediocre lifestyle. She then stood up, completely ignoring the TV as she ran a hand over her head as a growing excitement began to take her.

The pj-clad lady proceeded to march with purpose towards her apartment's sitting room (or rather trophy room), which had several pairs of bronze skates from her roller derby days on shelves along each wall. There were also a few trophies that she won by cheating, although a couple were legitimately earned, as well as framed photos of her younger self wearing her outfit in various poses and more newspaper clippings.

Sue headed to one of the roller blades on the opposite wall from where she entered and pulled on the laces, causing a clicking sound to be heard. A moment later, the wall in front of her split into two panels and pulled apart, revealing her old supervillain gear including her red helmet, rocket skates, black, blue and red attire, and her powerful electric elbow pads.

"Thank you, Roddy Blair," she slyly quipped out loud, glad that she had gotten him to build this secret compartment for her years ago. The former derby gal reached in and grabbed her hanging suit, inspecting it for any wear or tear as it had been a while since she last looked at it and even putting it against her body to check the size.

"Eh, I bet it still fits. Good thing I still believe in exercising regularly. No way am I going to be restricted to a wheelchair," she said to no one. She then gave a small snort as she added, "Now a cane or a walker, that'd certainly be practical to keep for offensive capabilities." She placed the outfit back up as she grabbed her blades, seeing if the thrusters and wheels were still in working order.

"Not bad, but I'll need to see about fuel and giving these a fresh oil job," she remarked, followed by bearing a devious, satisfied smile. "Oh, how I've missed theses. Don't worry babies. Mama's gonna let you out for some fun real soon."

The last thing Sue felt needed a once over was her elbow pads, courtesy of fellow villain Dark Volt, who had passed away a few years ago in prison. She let out a sad sigh as she remembered that fact, but still was grateful he was able to make these for her before retiring. "I really should have come to see him once I knew he got jailed for that kidnapping and armed robbery stunt; heck, I should have broken him out. At least my rocket schematics were useful in giving his own suit a boost while he was free."

Upon hearing herself utter this, the snarky skater suddenly got an idea. Still holding her electrified gear, Sue turned it in her hands a couple times, giving a thoughtful hum as she did so. "You know, maybe my return to villainy could include some much-deserved revenge, especially since there's no guarantee I'll get a chance like this again, but for the novelty of it, maybe this time I won't be going at it alone," she schemed with a malicious grin.

She proceeded to put her equipment back in its hiding spot and pulled the shoe lace again, causing the panels to slide back together seamlessly. Well, I'm not going to be able to get much more done tonight, but tomorrow…oh boy, have I got a lot of prepping to do, Sue plotted with glee as she made her way back to the living room to turn everything off before going to bed.

Rest assured, I'll show these goody two-shoe newbies what a real speed demon looks like. Wow does it feel good just to think about the next score again, she thought with a smirk. Oh, I can only imagine the rush I'll get when I actually get back out there.

NOTES

Since Sue mentioned knowing who Roddy Blair is as well as the fact the Roddy did use to do bases for bad guys, it's possible he did some work for her in the past. ;) I know this one is shorter, but hopefully you enjoyed her reenergized spirit to commit crimes again. ;)

I'm currently working on typing up a Christmas story with the BH6 gang, Globby and Felony Carl, so that will be out in 2 weeks and I hope you give it a try. ;)

The next "Cutscenes" story will have Felony Carl and Globby having dinner over at Go Go and Honey Lemon's place, so yay! ^_^333