Ken wasn't much of a morning person, but he did get up a few minutes before the alarm went off that day, because of all the sleep he had gotten the night before. He woke up, feeling well rested, although his arm still hurt like hell. He sat up, and looked at his alarm clock. 8:25 AM.
"Whoa… early. Maybe I'll get some breakfast before school." Ken mumbled.
He lifted himself into his wheelchair, and rolled his way into the kitchen, and poured himself a bowl of cereal. His mother was nowhere to be seen, but was probably still sleeping.
He took about twenty minutes to eat, though, and remembered why he usually skipped that meal. He grabbed his bag, cursing while he left as fast as he could out of the door.
And off went the least hungry person in Ottawa who forgot that there wasn't school on Saturday.
**
"You're kidding, right?" The seventeen year old behind the drive-thru window asked, a large grin on his face.
"Dead serious. Regular coffee, cream, no sugar." was the response from Magnet, hanging upside down.
She flipped over and the change floated over to the windowsill.
"How're you gonna drink that with the mask on, anyway?"
"Very carefully." She joked, flying off.
She did have to do it very carefully, trying not to ruin her mask. Well, it was just a shoddily cut piece of fabric, but she still didn't want to wreck it.
It's hard to tell which woke her up more, the coffee, or the gunshots she heard. Probably the gunshots. Came from at sidestreet crossroads less than 50 metres away, which she could tell by a single glance. She dropped her coffee, and ran towards the sound.
Turns out, it was a coupla kids firing into the air to cause trouble. Didn't stop 'em from pointing the gun at her when she came near 'em, though.
"Man, you people…" She stood a metre or so away, and the gun was knocked out of the kid's hand by her from a distance, "Didn't your mother teach you not to point guns at people?
"What the hell is with you? Go do something decent, you idiots, like play scrabble, do homework, or somethin' other than this." She glared at 'em. They looked 12, 13 at most. They had probably gotten the gun from one of the gangs. Clearly, they weren't really dangerous now, but a couple years would just add another couple lives thrown away for a feeling of power in a gang.
"Says the chick flyin' around dressed as some soldier." At least they saw the irony in her statement.
She just glared. They ran off.
"My coffee better still be warm…" She went back and picked it up.
Five minutes later, she was off again. Unlike a certain friend of hers, she wasn't actually going around looking for fights or trouble with gangbangers. Instead, she was just swinging from lamp posts. She was just enjoying the feeling of being free.
"Yee haw." She said, much less enthusiastically than she felt.
Suddenly, she ducked into an alley. Ken was going by on the major street adjoining the sidestreet she was on. She panicked. Even though there wasn't any chance in hell that Ken'd ever recognize her, it was still plenty cause to panic.
"Aw man, why the hell's it Saturday and nobody bothered to tell me?" Ken grumbled. Steve couldn't hear him, but she could certainly see his bandaged arm.
What the hell happened to him? she thought to herself. He went by, and didn't notice her. After about an hour, she snuck back in through her bedroom window. Unfortunately, that was just as well executed as her keeping calm while Ken passed by, and crashed into the floor, making a large noise.
"What was that?" Steve's mother yelled from the room below.
Uh… think fast!
"Localized earthquake!" The response wasn't the most intelligent thing he'd said in his life. His mother laughed from the lower level.
Steve put the suit back into a luggage bag, put the combination lock onto it, then put it back under his desk. Not exactly the most original of places, but he didn't care. As far as he knew, his mother was far more trusting than to snoop around his room.
He hit a button on his keyboard, and the screen saver turned off. He popped open the chat window, and went on to explain to Alty about the "freakin' incredible time" she just had.
Ooh, why didn't you just tell him there? Just gotta cut those shorts back a couple inches and he won't care anyway. Alty teased her.
Oh, quiet... that just ain't nice. Steve responded with.
Sure, I'll be quiet. Just as soon as you admit to liking Ken. C'mon, admit it, you're just in denial. Alty playfully teased.
That's not true! She set herself up with that comment, though.
You see? You're in denial!
What, what would make you think that, anyway? Steve was blushing in actuality, but obviously didn't tell Alty.
Because nobody uses "mystifying" in a non-romantic context anymore, you twit. Alty was laughing.
Shit, I think she's right, Steve thought. Just in case every other aspect of life wasn't weird enough.
Steve couldn't think of much else to say, but that didn't stop her friend from continuing to tease her.
In case Steve wasn't really feeling weird enough, Ken happened to call him.
...shit, Ken just called.
And...? Alty inquired.
He called to say how happy he was. Turns out, he's going to see a movie with Alex tommorow.
Don't worry, I'm sure she's no competition compared to you... Alty giggled.
Oh, shut up. She grumbled.
**
"You would not believe how incredibly happy I am." Ken, in armour, glared at the four gang members who were just about to shoot the hell out of eachother, "Don't ruin that. You can do better than this."
"What the hell, you think you got it--" One of them spoke up.
"Shut up." Ken grabbed the speaker by his shirt and held him up, "I don't wanna hear any of your crap, alright?"
He thouroughly stomped on their guns, and walked off, shaking his head.
A few minutes later, he walked by a store with televisions in the window. The televisions, for the first time in any of these stories, weren't actually showing the news. Instead, a movie recently put on video was being shown, quite illegally. Somehow, nobody seemed to care.
"Hey, move it!" A somewhat familiar voice yelled, "Don't make me come down and kick your ass!"
Looking back, Ken saw 'Magnet' perching on top of a lamp post.
Oh crap, not her. Ken thought, I don't want to deal with her again.
"What do you want? A bit upset that you've become quite the celebrity now?" He said, backing away, about ready to fly off, "Oh, sorry, I might have thought you were a victim of bad press, but that doesn't actually happen to people, does it?"
He flew off, before she could do anything. Her running speed wasn't even remotely close to his flight speed, so she didn't have any chance of catching up. She only scowled at that comment at the moment, but later that day, it gave her something to think about. Not enough to change her opinion, and if she had the chance, she would have attacked him again if he hadn't flied away. But she did look at him in a different way, and that scared her for a minute.
And then, she just went back to being a normal moody teenager who got teased by her online friends. Which was certainly easier to deal with than moralities of gang warring interpreted armoured people or in Alty's words, being a flying war hero transsexual.