This one is more light-hearted than the previous ones, just saying. :)

***

"Jackhunter! Would you look here, please?"

"Jackhunter, marry me!"

"I love you, Jackhunter!"

I waved proudly to the citizens of Jackensille, all of whom were also my fans. They had to be -- I saved the town every week, after all.

"There is no need to thank me, everyone," I said into the mic as cameras flashed and women fainted. "It is thanks to all of you that I get to be treated like a hero and have all of you to protect. Without you all, I would be nothing."

This made everyone scream again, as I flashed them all my signature smile and stepped off from the podium. With one jump, I was in the air, flying home.

As I was flying, however, I looked down and noticed a bunch of high school guys surrounding a girl. I hovered in the air and activated my super-hearing to listen to their conversation.

"I don't understand why you don't want to," one male urged. "What makes us so different from your boyfriend?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that he's my boyfriend?"

I wondered if I should move on. The girl seemed to be able to hold her ground fine on her own. However, I saw the guy in the center push the girl to the ground, and I immediately used my super-speed and flew down there.

"What seems to be the problem here?" I effortlessly looked and sounded heroic as I stood between the girl and the guys. "I hope I was just misunderstanding what I just saw. Trick of the light, perhaps?"

Their faces were priceless. "J-Jackhunter!" Their eyes and mouths were wide open as they blinked up at me. "I -- you -- how --"

I decided to leave them to their stuttering and I turned around to pick the girl up. "You alright there?" I asked, reaching for her hand.

"Thank you," she said as she stood up without my offer, "but I had things under control."

I couldn't help but laugh out loud. "You had things under control?" She was pushed to the ground -- what could she have done?

I couldn't really see her face, as she was standing away from the light, but I had a feeling she was glaring at me with a set scowl. "Yes, I did have things under control!" she snapped. "I could've done well even if you hadn't interfered. I'm not some damsel in distress."

Now, I was slightly confused. "I'm Jackhunter," I said dumbly. "My job is to save the citizens in this town, especially the women and children. Do you not know me?"

She shook her head. "That is wrong on so many levels," she spat before turning to leave.

"How?" I couldn't help but yelling after her. "What's wrong about wanting to save people?" It wasn't like I expected much in return.

She turned back around, surprising me slightly. I hadn't really expected an actual answer. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to save people," she said. "Just take out the second part of your 'motto.'"

I frowned, trying to figure out what she meant. "You mean the 'especially women and children' part?" I asked. "They are the ones who need my help the most, if the time comes down to it. They're the weaker part of the -- Hey!"

She continued walking away, shaking her head and muttering something incomprehensible as she left. Frowning, I used my super-hearing to hear what she was saying.

"-- a better superhero."

I stood there, stunned into slight shock. Did she mean I wasn't a good enough superhero? After the shock turned into slight anger, I turned around to leave, only to be slightly taken aback. I had forgotten about the dumb kids.

"You four should head home right now," I instructed, hoping I sounded stern. "And I better not catch you bullying anybody again."

"Yes, sir!" The four stood straight and gave me a synchronized salute, which made me feel a little better. They knew who I was and what I did for the town.

I flew back up into the air to continue on my way home. However, I no longer felt as proud of myself as I did before. Instead, the way the girl spoke -- as if she despised who I was and what I did -- was the only thing on my mind. Why did she hate me so much? I was only saving those in need. . . . What was so wrong about that?

A crackle in my right ear distracted me from my thoughts. "Sir, Darklash seems to have escaped from the prison car," my assistant said through the earpiece. "The computer says he's currently headed for --" She rattled off a long address to an abandoned hospital.

"Alright, I'm on my way." Pushing away all other thoughts, I headed to the hospital as quickly as I could. It had taken me a while to defeat Darklash, and that had happened only four hours ago. I had to make sure I gave it my undivided attention when I was fighting with him again.

Pretty soon, I was hovering above a large hospital. All the lights were turned off and parts of the building was crumbling -- it was the perfect place for a hero and a villain to fight. I flew in closer, looking for a way in, when I heard a high-pitched scream.

There's a hostage!

Adrenaline pumping through me, I flew towards a window, glass shattering all around me as I landed ungracefully on the inside. However, I got back up quickly and flew down, using my super hearing to lead me.

The scream sounded again. I flew faster, my eyes narrowed at the door which stood between me and Darklash and the hostage. With my eyes shut and my arms in front of me, I flew with full force towards the door, knocking it down as I entered the room. I glanced around me, trying to look for someone in the dark room, when I felt something hard hit the back of my head and I blacked out.

***

When I finally came to, the lights were on and I was strapped tightly to a chair. I tried to break myself free, using my super strength, but the chains seemed to be made of copper, my one weakness. I leaned back against the chair, pausing to take a break due to the pounding on the back of my head. I also tried to come up with another way to escape, when I could hear footsteps approach me.

"Well, isn't this nice to see," Darklash sneered as he stopped about one foot away from me. "The last time we met, the roles were quite reversed, don't you agree?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you want?" I spat. "And untie me. If you're going to fight me, do it fairly."

He cocked his head to one side, smiling mockingly. "I want the whole world to see me destroy you," he said with a deadly tone, pointing at a red blinking light connected to a camera I hadn't seen. "And you should know me by now, I don't do things fairly."

I gritted my teeth as Darklash turned to the camera. As he fiddled around with it, muttering to himself every now and then, I was more focused on escaping. The copper might have prevented me from using my powers, but I still had my skill and logic.

"Hello, everybody!" Darklash said loudly, making me almost lose my concentration. "In this live feed, you will watch me, Darklash, the greatest supervillain on Jackensille, destroy your supposedly great superhero, Jackhunter! Say hello to the viewers, won't you?"

I pretended to look bored as my fingers fumbled with the chains behind me. With a few more twists and turns, I would be free. It would take a few minutes after that for my powers to return, but my martial arts would be able to hold him down for a while. "We're at the abandoned hospital," I said to the camera.

"Hey!" Darklash used his telekinesis to send another large object, possibly a radio, at my head. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway, I'm going to kill you and get out of here before anyone can show up."

Ignoring his endless talking and the small amount of blood slowly trickling down the side of my face, I slipped the final knot loose, slackening the chains around me. I grinned, allowing the chains to slip off. I was about to stand, when the chains suddenly came back up around me.

"Tst, tst, tst," Darklash had his hand pointed at me, as he shook his head. "Who said you could escape from those chains? You're staying there."

"Because you know that's the only way you can kill me?" My tone was mocking, but I was panicking slightly on the inside. At this rate, I really was going to die.

"Enough!" Darklash summoned a weapon and marched towards me. He held the blade at my neck. "Prepare to lose your head."

I unconciously found myself wincing as he raised the weapon in the air. Right before it came swishing down and chopped my head off, though, I heard a kick, a muffled yell, and the sound of metal dropping to the ground.

I opened my eyes and found myself surprised beyond words.

"Who are you?" Darklash yelled at the figure stepping on top of his frozen body. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to make sure you get sent to prison this time." The figure was a female. A female I knew, if I remembered correctly. "I'm also here to save that so-called hero's life." Without looking away from Darklash, she raised a hand in my direction and dropped the chains around me. "I'm can take it from here."

"Set me free!" Darklash yelled before I could reply. "I am Darklash, this town's most feared villain! How dare you --"

She did something to his mouth which made him shut up instantly.

"So," the girl looked up to make eye contact with me, "now do you believe me? When I said I had things under control?"

I still couldn't see her face properly, but I could tell by her voice and question that she and the girl from before were the same girl. "I do," I said. "I guess you weren't a damsel in distress after all."

"Definitely not," she confirmed. "And I hope you know that not all women especially need saving. And that men are sometimes the one who needs saving. Even superheroes."

"I guess you're right," I admitted. From outside, sirens could be heard and red and blue lights flashed around. "Looks like the police are finally here."

She finally stepped off from the still-paralyzed Darklash. "Tell them I'll unfreeze him once I find him in jail."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to stay?"

She was already by the window when she answered. "The camera which was recording us is enough recognition for me. You can be the one to hand him over."

Then, by the time I realized I had never actually thanked her for saving my life, she was already gone.

~~~~~

If you guys haven't realized, I'm a total feminist. Anyways, this was written with protectfemcharacters in mind. Hope this showed my support for the project!