"Your sure she's fine? She didn't break any bones? Get a concussion? Post traumatic stress?" My father asked the nurse for the billionth time.

            "Yes, I'm sure. We only need her to stay the night for observation. Otherwise, she's okay. Her friend on the other hand, Lacey Waters, has a couple hairline fractures. I'll need to attend to her now, the Mayor's daughter does have some precedence over yours. I'll leave you two to talk for now, but visiting hours are over in twenty minutes." The nurse says tiredly. She's probably had a ton of people from the festival to check on today, of course she'd tired.

            The nurse left the room, most likely rushing to care for some other patient. My father turned to me, his face full of joy. He had gotten the call that I was in the hospital while on the job at the festival. He had immediately rushed over and wouldn't leave until someone let him see me.

            "Arabella, are you sure your okay?" He asks.

            "Yes, dad. I'm fine. The nurse said that I just had a small concussion, nothing to worry about."

            "I shouldn't have let you go to the festival," he shook his head, "I knew that something bad had to happen with that super hanging around. Nothing good ever happens when those supers are involved."

            "Dad, that super, The Marvel, saved my life and everyone else's at the festival. It wasn't his fault that Tornado showed up."

            "But it was, Arabella," he tells me, "All those supers care about is whose better than the other and they don't care who they hurt in the process. Promise me Arabella, don't ever get purposely involved in any of that super crap."

            "But dad-"

            "No buts. Those supers are bad news."

            "Holding a grudge against Empire City's favorite super isn't going to bring mom back." I say in a quiet voice, "The super that killed her is dead, so don't take it out on the supers that are trying to prevent something like that from happening ever again."

            "Arabella, do not bring your mother into this," He says threateningly, "this had nothing to do with her."

            "No, it had everything to do with her. Ever since she died you've been obsessed with the idea that all supers were bad. Well guess what? Some supers are actually trying to make this city a better place. So stop blaming everyone for something that happened ten years ago!"

            "Arabella-" He tries.

            "No, I don't want to talk to the likes of you any longer. Visiting hours are almost over anyway. You might as well leave before someone at the precinct notices that you're not working your case." I say, my tone final and threatening.

            He looked like he was about to say something, anything, that would change my mind, but stopped himself. He gave me one last look, pleading me to change my mind before leaving.

            It was then that I finally broke down. The weight of the day fell on me and I just couldn't hold it in anymore. I brought my knees up to my chest and cried my heart out. I had reminded myself that today was the day that my mother had died at the hand of one of the worst super villains ever known.

            I know now that I shouldn't have been so hard on my father. Today was, after all, a hard day for both of us. No wonder he was blaming all the supers, he didn't want to lose anyone else in his life to the hand of a super. I couldn't remember the last time my dad and I had fought like that.

            "Ugh, why am I even crying?" I say out loud, hoping I could trick myself into stopping.

            "How should I know?" The Marvel's voice came from the chair next to me.

            I turned and what do you know? It's mister Superdork himself. If you asked me, he didn't look so good. His hand was bandaged and some of his super suit was stained. I hadn't remembered him getting hurt that much in the battle, so where did these other injuries come from?

            "What are you doing here?"

            "Just checking up on my favorite damsel in distress. You know, since I've saved you twice now." He smiles at his little joke.

            "Yeah, thanks for that. That was my first and most definitely my last Ferris wheel ride of my life. I told Lacey that those things were just big death traps."

            "Yeah, they kind of are. You know, I've actually never been on one, they were always too high for my liking." He shudders.

            "Wait," I tried to speak through the oncoming burst of laughter, "Are you telling me the big bad superhero who can fly higher than any airplane is afraid of heights? That's irony at its best right there, Marvel."

            "Past tense, I used to be afraid of heights, you know, before I got my powers. I was actually afraid of a lot of things before I got my powers. I guess not being afraid comes with the territory. You can't let your fears guide what you do with your powers, or else you could end up doing the wrong things with the right intentions."

            "How did you get your powers?"

            I know this question seemed personal, but I was genuinely interested in how. Some superheroes, like Golden Eagle, who resided in Iris City, came out and told the public how they got their powers. For instance, Gold Eagle claimed to have gotten his powers while swimming in the river Styx, that separated Empire City and Iris City, a little too close to the dumping grounds of Carlton Laboratories hazardous waste materials.

            Let's just say that the river held up to its name.

            The Marvel gave me a cautious look. Who was I to ask him such a personal question? For all he knew, I could use that information to figure out his secret identity and then tell the whole world. And trust me, I bet someone has done that to some super somewhere.

            "Well," he started, "when I was seven or eight, my parents decided to take me over and see Carlton Laboratories as a belated birthday present. I was such a geeky kid back then, I thought it was the coolest thing. But somewhere in the middle of the tour, I got separated from the tour group. I accidently wandered into their radioactive chemicals department."

            I gasped. That couldn't have ended well.

            "The next thing I remembered was the sirens in the building going off. The great battle between Smith and The Avenger had reached the laboratory. In the haze of all the confusion I tripped over a spare electrical wire and fell into a pit full of some radioactive chemicals. It was a miracle that I got out of that pit unscathed, well, maybe not totally unscathed. That was the day I started developing my powers.

            "I would have never gotten out of that pit if it hadn't been for another kid that happened to be at the laboratory that same day. That kid also happened to be the son of one of the richest families in Empire City. He helped me get out of that hole and promised not to tell anyone. Over the years I occasionally asked for his help in controlling my powers. But lately I've had to do that part all on my own, seeing as he's been presumed dead for the last two and a half years."

            "Marvel, I didn't know. That's so horrible, I can't imagine getting your superpowers at such a young age."

            "Yeah, neither could I. All I used to want was to be a normal kid, but I guess living an abnormal life comes with the territory, right?"

            "It doesn't always have to." I say, trying to lighten up the mood.

            "Chase Carlton," That Marvel starts with a far off gaze, "the one who saved me, he's the only one who knows who I really am. I sometimes think of how much of a burden I made him carry that day. He was the only person that I could trust with such a thing. Turns out he might've got kidnapped because of it."

            Chase Carlton. A name all of Empire City and most of Iris City knew of. He was the golden child, the son of Harrison Carlton, one of the most prestigious businessmen in either city. Their company owned a good number of small businesses and large corporations in each city.

            Chase had gone missing two and a half years ago during a business trip to east Asia with his father. After not showing up to their hotel, a search party started. After two months of searching, they couldn't find Harrison or Chase Carlton. Both were declared dead after a year and Harrison's brother took over the company.

            "Marvel," I grab his uninjured hand, "that wasn't your fault. No one would've known that he knew who you were, how could they? Chase Carlton's disappearance probably had to do with his father's business. Carlton Incorporated had tons of enemies. It probably had nothing to do with your relationship to him."

            We sat in silence for a while before I thought of another question.

            "Marvel, why does your voice always sound so deep?"

            "What kind of question is that?" He asked, surprised at my change of mood.

            "I mean - your voice always sounds mechanical, like it's not totally real. I know it's a strange question, but why does your voice always sound so weird?"

            "Oh, I wear a little device that changes my voice, you know, so no one can figure out who I am by my voice. It's a little present that I got from Chase before he, you know, went missing."

            "Does that mean I know you in real life and you don't want me making the connection?" I ponder.

            "Oh, that reminds me," he jumps at the chance to change the conversation, "I have a present for you."

            "What?" I ask, confused.

            "You know, a gift that's normally wrapped in over exaggerated multi colored wrapping paper. Normally given to friends or family."

            I sighed in annoyance, "I know what a present is, Marvel."

            "Good, because I got you one." He hands me a present, wrapped in red and yellow wrapping paper, figures.

            I opened it and suppressed a yelp of shock. Inside was a limited edition Captain America comic book, one of my favorite comic heroes. I had been looking for this specific comic book for years, there were only fifty copies left in existence. How had he known that I liked comic heroes so much?

            I picked up the card that was attached and saw that it was addressed to me. It said:

Dear, Arabella

          I know you probably don't know who I am, or how I know about your obsession with comic books, but I hope this present makes you smile. I hope you had an amazing birthday, besides the fact that you almost got flattened by a rolling Ferris wheel.

Sincerely, your favorite super

            I looked up at The Marvel, but he had left so silently that I didn't even see him go. I looked back at my present and only had one thought.

            How had he known that today of all days was my birthday?