THE MOMENT
"Excuse me," Chuck jumped when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and lowered the headphones down from his ears to see who needed him; he hoped it wasn't his boss. He was doing his job mopping the mall's entrance; but, his boss wasn't a big fan of him wearing headphones while he did it. He was relieved to see two teenage girls. They probably wanted directions despite maps placed everywhere in the mall. Both teenagers were pale; one had long straight black hair. She wore a black visor on her face covering her eyes and matching black clothes. The other girl had short dark hair and wore a crisp white suit with a red scissor logo on the front. Whereas the first girl looked like a 'goth', as he understood the term, the girl in white looked like a corporate professional. He was instantly curious to know what they wanted.
"Yes?" he asked.
"There's a supervillain attacking," the girl in white pointed past her friend and outside the mall. Now that his headphones were off, Chuck could hear an obvious commotion in the streets and he saw pedestrians fleeing from unreasonably large spiders. Not many of them escaped and Chuck watched the carnage for a moment before he turned back to the girls.
"I'm just the janitor," he held up the mop for effect. "What makes you think I can stop a supervillain?" he asked. He briefly registered, then ignored the fact that he should probably be more terrified. Now that he knew they were there, the screams outside were difficult to ignore. His answer was apparently a disappointment for the pair of teens. Both of them immediately slumped their shoulders and sighed.
"Really? NOW?" The girl in black whined.
"Hold on," the one in white said. She focused on Chuck. "What's your favorite number?" she asked.
"One!" Chuck answered instantly; then, he thought about it for an extra second to be sure. "Yeah, one," he nodded. "Why?"
The girl answered with more frustration than words. She made a complaining sound and then turned to walk out of the mall.
"Wait!" the other girl spoke up. She had her hands in front of her typing on a smokey-grey pane of glass that floated in the air. Chuck had a growing list of questions in his mind; but, for now, he was curious enough to let them talk. They seemed happy to pretend he wasn't even there and he wanted to know more about whatever the girl in white was doing. "There's still a chance," she said. The girl in black stopped and turned around.
"Really?" she asked. She returned to her friend's side.
"Yep," the girl in white nodded. "The AlterNet has them classified as two separate characters. Maybe the Super will overwrite this one," she said. Then, she looked at Chuck. "Do you want to be a superhero?" she asked. Chuck grinned. He lived in a world of Super heroes and villains; he often wished he had some sort of power. Though, his plan wasn't to become a hero.
"Little lady, I'd sell my soul to get some superpowers," he said without answering her direct question.
"Uhhh, no," the girl in white shook her head. "That would definitely ruin all of Abby's work; here," she handed him a card-sized rectangle of translucent red glass. "I just need you to stop this one supervillain to earn your powers," she said as she nodded out the door in her friend's direction again. Chuck studied the card for a moment; he couldn't explain it but he believed her. As much as she knew that 2 + 2 equaled a number bigger than 2, he knew the card would give him Superpowers.
"I don't gotta be a hero after that?" he asked just to be sure. Part of him was afraid that he was revealing his whole plan; but, he felt like she already had an idea anyway. There would be no other reason to specify this particular unknown villain.
"Only if you feel like it," she shrugged.
"What do I do?" Chuck nodded.
"Uhhh...," she looked back down at the grey glassy Slate. Chuck couldn't read anything on it; but it was obvious she could see something. Her dark eyes seemed to be scanning rows of text. "...okay, here it is. Hold up the card and say this...," she paused and he nodded in understanding. He held the red card up in the air and listened for his lines.
"Foul villain, prepare for your defeat," the girl said. Chuck couldn't help but giggle. He didn't understand the context, nor who wrote it; but, he recognized cheesy writing when he heard it." He repeated the line in the same bored tone that the girl used; as if he was reading from cue cards.
"Foul villain, prepare for your defeat," he said. As he finished the phrase, the glass card exploded with brilliant red light. The girl in white shielded her eyes for the brief moment. Then, the light was gone and Chuck hovered in the air. A red flowing cape hung loosely below his feet and his chubby, ruddy face now sported a red mask around his eyes. His super suit was a combination of reds and yellows as he studied the two girls; though, his gaze lingered more on the girl in black.
"Did it work?" Abby asked.
"You dare show your face here, Villian?!" Super Chuck floated closer to Abby.
"YESSS!" she cheered. "Thanks, Dara!" she waved at her friend; but, Chuck soon blocked her view as he landed in front of Abby.
"I will stop you, Monster!" he proclaimed.
"Not likely...," Abby giggled. She raised her hands to her face and pulled the black visor down from her eyes. Super Chuck was shocked. Out of all the things he expected; maybe robot eyes, or cat eyes, or maybe she was a cyclops, he never imagined the reality of what was behind her visor.
Both her eye holes were empty of eyes. Instead, two large, tarantula-sized spiders crawled out, one from each socket. They stood on her face as she grinned.
"...you're just an NPC," she smirked as Super Chuck realized he was surrounded by dog-sized spiders. "What makes you think you can stop a Supervillain you're programmed to lose against?"