Don't be a Hero (City Without Heroes, #1) Read online

  Don't be a Hero

  City Without Heroes, Volume 1

  Tanya Lisle

  Published by Scrap Paper Entertainment, 2017.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  DON'T BE A HERO

  First edition. August 25, 2017.

  Copyright © 2017 Tanya Lisle.

  Written by Tanya Lisle.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Don’t be a Hero

  Sign up for Tanya Lisle's Mailing List

  Further Reading: Hero Complex

  Also By Tanya Lisle

  About the Author

  Don’t be a Hero

  THE CITY OF WHITTEN was a sprawling metropolis filled with glass skyscrapers, a beautiful museum of priceless artifacts and numerous high tech labs. The people were friendly and the crime rate of the city was at an all-time low for the country. It was almost perfect.

  In a city with so little crime, there was no place for a superhero.

  Firecracker had come from a city riddled with crime that had several heroes roaming the streets trying to put out fires and keep the peace. Young though she was, she’d already decided that she was willing to risk her life to protect her city.

  Now she was in Whitten after coming home injured one time too many. It was a city that didn’t need her or anyone else to keep it safe. If there were no villains to defeat, Firecracker would have to hang up her mask and just be Jane, ordinary redheaded high school student that would now actually attend classes regularly.

  Even Whitten High seemed nice enough. It was at least four stories high and looked like it had recently been renovated. The students didn’t even linger in the halls long once the bell rang, almost all of them filing off to their classes with only a few loitering at their lockers. They were even courteous enough to put the office right at the front of the school.

  She walked in, taking a deep breath before approaching the front desk. “Hi,” she said, drawing the attention of the secretary. “I’m new. I think I’m supposed to get my schedule here.”

  She typed something on her computer. “Jane Riker?”

  Jane nodded.

  “Please take a seat,” she said.

  “Um... okay,” Jane said, taking a seat in one of the plastic chairs in the office. Jane fidgeted with the arm of the chair as she waited in near silence. Her finger caught on a small black bump that seemed to have stuck to it and, as soon as she was sure it’s wasn’t something that someone had once chewed, she started trying to pry it off as she watched the secretary.

  The secretary very slowly drank her coffee and did very little else.

  The minutes stretched on and she still didn’t have her schedule. Jane leaned over to check behind the desk. Her profile was still on the screen, her name written in large letters at the top. She rolled her eyes and let out an impatient breath.

  Jane pointed her finger at the mouse, shooting a small spark at it. She squinted at the screen to try and see the options and moved the mouse until it hovered over what looked like a print button.

  “Jane?”

  Jane blinked and looked up, realizing that she was hanging off her chair to get a better look at the computer. She straightened up and looked at the two students standing in front of her, a boy and a girl, each carrying a folder.

  “Hi?”

  “I’m Kyle,” the boy said. He had his hair cut short and looked like he probably spent the entire summer playing sports out in the sun. “This is Indira. We’re going to show you around this morning and help you get all the stuff you need to get done... done...”

  “Close enough, Kyle,” Indira said, the Indian girl patting him on the shoulder and looking unimpressed. She looked Jane over, though her expression didn’t change. “Welcome to Whitten High. Let’s get your ID card done first.”

  Jane followed them and did as they asked. They showed her around the school and got all of her documentation and identification finished. Indira did not have much to say outside of telling Jane to move this way or remember where that was, though Jane could feel her watching carefully. Kyle, on the other hand, was curious.

  “So they really have superheroes where you’re from?”

  “They have them all over the country,” Jane pointed out. “Like, literally everywhere but here.”

  “Not everywhere.”

  “Everywhere,” Jane told him, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “My parents moved here because it’s literally the only place in the country that doesn’t have any heroes.”

  “No demented felons here either,” Indira said.

  “So you think,” Jane said. “It might just be that they haven’t done anything major yet. They might be just laying in-”

  “Yeah, sure,” Indira said. “Come on, we’ll show you around the second floor.”

  Indira lead the way, Kyle falling in step with Jane. “She doesn’t really like talking about heroes,” Kyle said. “I’d love to hear more about them, though.”

  “Crazy kids in tights punching other crazy kids in more stupid looking tights,” Indira said. “What’s so interesting?”

  Kids in tights? Jane glowered at Indira, trying to fight the urge to fry her on the spot. Indira had no idea just how much more there was than just costumes. The villains were not just average thieves. They wanted to cause chaos and often would kill people to do it. She’d nearly lost her live more times than she could count trying to keep people safe. And she thought it was just crazy kids in tights?

  A cold feeling washed over and she felt like someone had just doused her in water, her electricity extinguished. She looked down to find she was completely dry. Her electricity, though she could feel it, would not leave her fingers.

  “You don’t get it,” Kyle said.

  Jane managed to keep walking, though she kept looking down at her hands to try and make the sparks reappear. Her powers were still there. She could feel it there, just under her skin and unable to escape.

  “No, I don’t,” Indira said. “And I think it’s better to stay on topic when showing someone around or they might forget where things are. This school is laid out pretty weird and it gets a bit confusing.”

  Mildly panicked, she looked around the hall, desperately searching for someone or something that was doing this to her. It was only the three of them there. Had she walked through something?

  “I thought it was pretty easy to figure out where stuff was around here,” Kyle said.

  “Better to be safe,” Indira said, making eye contact with Jane for a moment before turning back.

  The cold feeling lifted off of Jane and she jumped a little as her hands sent a jolt through the rest of her body. Kyle looked at her with concern, but she smiled back and fell in step behind Indira. Her eyes combed the halls, but she couldn’t see anything unusual.

  Kyle fell back into the role of tour guide with Indira. They showed her around the rest of the school and facilities. Jane had to admit, it was a nice place. Upper grades got guest lectures from the industry professionals in the city. They had a deal with the art gallery to allow students from all over the city a chance to showcase their artwork in an annual exhibit. The cafeteria food was even decent.

  Jane didn’t trust it. A place this perfect would have at least a few criminals trying to take advantage of it. She couldn’t believe that anywhere this close to perfect didn’t have someone trying to take it over. They didn’t know it yet, but they were going to need her, if not now then soon.

  Not to mention there was something here that could take her powers away without her even knowing what it
was. There was something weird in Whitten and a place for Firecracker after all.

  “So,” Jane said as they drew to the end of their tour, “am I going to need any books or anything? At least a locker?”

  “Kyle, can you show her?” Indira asked, looking at her phone. “I’m going to head down to the office and see if they’re done with her Student ID yet.” She left before Kyle gave her an answer.

  “She really is a lot nicer once you get to know her,” Kyle said, leading Jane down the stairs.

  “You sure?”

  Kyle smiled and stopped before a locker. “Really. Give her a chance.” He pulled out a slip of paper from his folder and handed it to her. “This is your locker and your combo.”

  “She’s not really giving me much reason to,” Jane said, trying the combination. She felt it click and she pulled it open easily. It was nothing special, just a locker with the remnants of stickers from previous owners inside. She picked at a small black sphere that had been embedded into the door for a moment before giving up and turned back to Kyle. “I was starting to think this place was perfect, but you guys don’t clean these things either.”

  “Does anyone?” Kyle asked with a shrug. “Hey look, I’m having a party this weekend. Since you’re new in town and probably haven’t met anyone yet, you should come.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “You’ll get another chance to hang out with Indira, too. It would be cool if you two could get along. Just don’t bring up the heroes around her and I’m sure you’ll get along.”

  Jane regarded him for a moment. “You guys are dating, aren’t you?”

  “For almost a year. Speaking of.”

  Kyle looked past her to Indira as she rejoined them. Indira stopped when she was standing next to Kyle and handed Jane the small piece of plastic. “They just finished it,” she said. “Got the locker figured out all right?”

  “Yeah,” Jane said, taking the card and slipping it into her pocket. “Thanks. So, no books or...”

  “Tomorrow,” Indira said. “We do orientation on the first day when you’re transferring in. Last class is about to let out, so unless you want to hang out a little longer and talk to all your teachers, you’re done. And you,” she said, turning to Kyle. “Don’t you have practice?”

  Kyle looked up to one of the clocks on the wall. “I gotta go,” he said to Jane. “You think about this weekend, okay?”

  “Sure,” Jane said, watching him as he gave Indira a quick hug and peck on the cheek before he rushed off down the hall.

  “Stay away from Kyle,” Indira said once he was gone.

  “Why?” Jane asked, closing her locker door. “Your boyfriend can’t chose his own friends?”

  “Just stay away from him,” she said. She placed her hand on Jane’s shoulder and smiled. “Consider it some friendly advice.”

  That cold and wet sensation spread out from Indira’s hand, like a river flowing until it surrounded her. Indira’s eyes met hers and she held her gaze. “And no more of this kids in tights stuff. I know it’s normal everywhere else, but we don’t have any of that in Whitten. You’re better off forgetting all about it.”

  Indira let her go and smiled before walking away. Jane watched her go, certain now that there were villains in this city.

  Jane dropped her backpack at the front door and dropped onto the couch. The living room was a sea of opened and unopened boxes with waves made of discarded newspaper. In the middle of it all was her mother armed with an exacto knife. She didn’t look up at Jane as she cut open another box.

  “How was school?”

  Jane groaned in response.

  “You’ll get used to it. It’ll be like home soon enough.”

  “Why did we have to move, anyway?”

  “Do you really not remember how many times you walked into the house with bruises and concussions just from walking around the city?”

  “But it was only-”

  “And I told you,” her mother said. “The city is obviously too dangerous. Super people fighting out in the streets and you always seem to find them and get yourself hurt. Besides, your father’s been transferred, so we were going to end up here anyway.”

  “Because he asked to be transferred here.”

  “And why wouldn’t he ask to be transferred to the safest city in the country?”

  “The only city in the country with no superheroes.”

  Her mother glared at her. “If you don’t have any homework, you can help me clean and unpack..”

  “You always find a way to make things suck even worse, mom.”

  “I keep finding these black things in walls. You can start by getting them out.”

  Jane let out an audible noise of frustration and her mother pulled a butter knife from somewhere under the crumpled newspaper for her. She took it and asked, “Where?”

  Her mother pointed out a few specks in the wall and she got to work. It was easy to pop the small black sphere out of the drywall. She took a close look at it, trying to figure out what it was. It looked a bit like the little black thing in her locker, smaller than a marble and solid black.

  Something on it blinked red.

  Electricity lanced through her fingers into the small orb and she dropped it. It bounced harmlessly on the carpet and she looked back to her mother, who was absorbed in unwrapping plates from the box. Carefully, she picked up the orb again, but it didn’t do anything. It was just a black metal ball.

  “I’m going to see if there’s more,” she said. She didn’t hear what her mother said in response and she started combing the house for them. She found many, embedded in the walls, in the moulding, even a few in the vents. When she finished, she had at least thirty gathered together and she’d shocked each one of them just in case.

  She brought them all up to her room, not sure what to do with them. As near as she could figure, they were recording devices and she wasn’t sure what they were doing in her house. It was like someone knew she was coming.

  Back home she had enemies she could always rely on to be behind things, but none of them knew who she was behind the mask. None of them were skilled enough to bug her house, either, and she doubted any of them held enough of a grudge to follow her to Whitten.

  That left someone in Whitten. There may be no heroes here, but that didn’t mean there weren’t villains. Maybe someone heard she was coming and wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure she wasn’t a threat.

  Well, there was at least one person in town who that could be.

  AS FIRECRACKER, THE rooftops of the city was where she belonged. She breathed in the cool night air and felt more at home watching over the city than she had ever felt walking on the street. Sure, she would be completely alone here, but Whitten was going to need a hero eventually. They would grow accustomed to her prowling the night for anyone who might seek to do them harm. In time, this would be her city to protect.

  Tonight Firecracker had a goal. She needed to find Indira, wherever she lived, and why she was watching her. Trouble was that she had no idea where to look and wasn’t even sure where the school zone limits were, much less where anything in the city was. Still, she thought as she looked down on the city, how hard could it be to find someone who is already watching me?

  “You cannot be serious.”

  Firecracker looked up from her perch on the ledge and saw, standing on nothing ten stories above the street was a person cloaked from head to toe in what appeared to be solid shadow. She couldn’t see a face under it, or anything distinguishing at all. The voice was female, but after hearing it she couldn’t even remember if it was an old or young. It made her mind feel hazy trying to think about it. Still, she could only think of one person who could be under there.

  “I don’t know what you want with me,” Firecracker said, straightening up and looking the figure right in the shadowy cowl, “but I won’t let you terrori-”

  A ball of flame erupted from the shadowy figure. Firecracker dodged, but the fire fo
llowed her with every turn. She dodged left, right, but it stayed on her. Finally, she flipped off the roof and her feet clung back against the brick, her electromagnetic field finding the steel beam in the building to latch onto. The fireball whizzed past her and hit the garbage below, splattering harmlessly into smoke.

  She started to climb back onto the roof, but another ball of flame came at her. She jumped again, this time onto the next building and scrambled up to the roof. The fire crashed harmlessly against the side of the building.

  Firecracker looked back and the shadowy figure was gone. It wasn’t above the city anymore and she wasn’t on the other roof where the second fireball had come from.

  She turned around and saw the shadowy figure standing in the middle of the rooftop, finding her to be much larger than Indira was. Not that it mattered to her. If there were two villains in town, then Whitten needed her even more than it knew.

  Firecracker laughed and stepped forward, a grin on her face. Electricity poured out of her hands and directly to the shadowy figure.

  “Is that the best you-”

  The roof shifted below her and she hit the ground, landing hard on her back, electricity fizzling out. The roofing tar came alive, snaking around her wrists and ankles to keep her pinned down. A large piece clamped over her mouth and slammed her head hard into the pavement.

  “You’re going to need to shut up right the fuck now,” the figure said. “Stay still.”

  Her black cloak spread wide, engulfing both of them. When the darkness faded, Firecracker was no longer bound to the roof. She sat up and looked around, finding that they were on a different rooftop so high up that she couldn’t even see the city anymore. Indira sat on the edge in pink pajama pants and a loose fitting shirt.

  “So Jane Riker is the Almighty Firecracker,” Indira said.

  “How did you-”

  “Of all the heroes and villains out there with anything resembling electric powers that make the news, only one of them is a white girl with red hair. You might want to think about a wig in the future.”