Her Superhero Lover

He handed her the phone. On it, a video feed from Action Five news played. Maria Mendoza was standing in front of two police cars, with their lights flashing. “…..the gunmen broke into the preschool about fifteen minutes ago, according to police,” she said, indicating the building behind her. Renee knew that school, it was the Little Acorn Grove School, a small preschool in the Heights that was run by a local church. Most of the kids were in single family households, and the school operated only through donations. Maria continued. “The gunmen are in communication with police, stating that they have taken the children hostages and are willing to kill them if their demands are not met. At this time, the police are not saying what the demands of the gunmen are, but we are trying to get a statement as soon as we can. Again, a group of seven gunmen have taken the Little Acorn Grove School hostage, and are currently holed up in some of the classrooms.”

Grady took the phone back and stood up, brushing off his pants. He bent his legs to jump and start to fly, when he paused and looked over at Renee. “You want in?”

She didn’t have to even think about her answer. “Damn right. Hold on buddy, I’m riding piggy back.”

They streaked up to the top of Grady’s lab building, going in through a roof top entrance and down to his lab. Grady pulled open the doors to the cabinets and started stripping out of his clothes, pulling on The Horseman’s uniform. “Next time I’ll get something made for you, but do you have anything that can conceal your identity?” he asked, pulling on the pale and blood red tights.

Renee thought, then nodded. “In the trunk of the Jeep. I was going to wear it tonight for work, but I think that’s been delayed.”

Renee ran to the window and opened it, looking out. The side of the building faced empty dirt, so before Grady could say anything she jumped out, landing three floors below like she had just dropped a few feet. Grady’s head appeared out the window, and she looked up at him, giving him a thumbs up. She dashed over to the Jeep and grabbed her bag out of the back, running back over. Slinging the bag over her neck, she gathered her legs underneath her and jumped as hard as she could. Reaching up with her fingers, she grabbed the ledge of the window to the third floor, where Grady had his apartment, and pulled herself onto the ledge. It was barely wide enough for her to get a solid grip, but she pulled as hard as she could, vaulting her body up the last floor to grab the open window sill and haul herself in. “Okay, I just vertically jumped thirty something feet,” she said as she came in. “Just how much of your high school jumping was bullsh*t?”

“Most of it,” Grady replied. He had his entire uniform on, except for the half hood that covered the back of his head and his eyes, while letting his hair flow freely. “But let’s face it, I couldn’t exactly do my best now, could I? So what do you have?”

“This,” she said, pulling open her bag. The outfit was a bit of old mixed with some new, and she had been planning to debut it that night. Originally a knee length shiny leather skirt, it fell barely to her mid thigh when she pulled it on. “Hmmm, going to need some bloomers for this one. At least I’m wearing red boyshorts today.”

“Cute,” Grady commented as he pulled on his hood. Fixing his eyeholes with spirit gum, he watched as Renee pulled on the rest of her outfit. The tight black corset was shot through with blood red streaks, and leather gauntlets that came most of the way up her arm. “Check that. Damn that’s sexy.”

He reached into the cabinet and tossed her the punch enhancing device he’d shown her the first day he’d revealed his identity to her. “Right hand. Switch at the base of your wrist turns it on. I’d advise not punching any walls until we know if your bones can take it, but if you need it, you’ll have it.”

“Thanks,” she said, slipping it on over her glove. She reached for her goggles before looking at them, undecided. “If I wear these, too many people will know who I am. They’re a trademark of Litezout.”

Grady thought for a second, then reached into his cabinet, pulling out a set of ruby reflective lens Gargoyle sunglasses. “Here. I used them on an early prototype of my costume, but settled on my hood instead. Secure them to your face with spirit gum, and they’ll stick pretty well. Also, try to change your hair color like I do. It’s a conscious decision.” He helped her with the adhesive, then stepped back. Renee concentrated, and her long black hair slowly went flame red, and became a bit wavy at the same time. Grady studied the change and nodded. “Okay, nobody will know who you are. Now, keep low, protect the kids, and don’t hold back if you get the chance on these guys. This isn’t the comic books or the movies. We can get killed, you more than me.”

“I know,” Renee said. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now, hold on.” Grady turned and offered his back, and Renee climbed on. As she did, she noticed Grady’s hair change color again, and he floated off the floor and towards the staircase. Gathering speed as he approached the roof, he sped off into the sky, Renee riding piggyback behind him. “You okay back there?”

“Yeah!” she yelled into his ear over the rushing wind. “By the way, how fast can you go, anyway?”

“Short bursts I’ve topped the sound barrier, but it drains my energy a lot to get up that high. I can sustain flights in the three hundred mile an hour range for about two hours though.” They whizzed over the spread out landscape of San Diego, Grady following the general guidance of the I-5 freeway below them. “I should get a GPS for this thing!”

“Add it to the list of things you can invent, a superhero friendly GPS navigation system,” Renee said, before her eyes tightened. They were approaching the City Heights, and they could see the flashing blue lights surrounding the preschool.

“Hold on,” Grady said. “We’re going in.”