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| Illustration by Ed Catto |
She changed her name to something invisible.
She had been a Copperhead, heir to a distinguished family legacy of heroism. She had fought with honor and dedication. She'd saved lives, stood up to powerful bullies, inspired hope for the hopeless.
She was 30 years old. She didn't want to be a Copperhead anymore.
She made her move in the wee hours, when she hoped no one would see. She cut her long hair short, dying the abbreviated tresses from their original vibrant copper color to a nondescript black-brown-gray. She took nothing with her. She drove her car to the beach, abandoned it there, backtracked home and hurried off in an opposite, irregular direction. By rush hour, she'd walked downtown, and was able to blend in with commuters who paid her no mind. A bus here. A stroll there. A subway ride. Another bus. Another bus. Another bus. A new state. Blue highways. Freedom. Invisible freedom.
Within two days, he'd found her again. He would have been quicker, but he'd been on a mission in another galaxy. He'd gotten to her as soon as he could. A superhero's girlfriend knew the deal.
A superhero's ex-girlfriend knew the deal in detail.
He sat across from her at the diner, dressed in civilian guise, his eyes sad behind the glasses that fooled so many. "Copper Girl," he greeted her. She'd grown to hate that name. But his demeanor was humble. "I don't want to bother you," he said. "I really don't. I want whatever's best for you, whatever you think is best for you." He was kind. But he was hurt. "I just need to ask you...."
She completed his question: "Why. You want to know why."
He cast his gaze downward. He sipped from a mug of coffee, a familiar human habit, even though the caffeine granted him no buzz. He needed it anyway, every morning. He shrugged, and refrained from sobbing. "Yeah," he said. "You don't have to answer. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. But...why?"
She sighed. She gulped. She confessed. "I'm sorry," she said. "You're...too much."
He looked up, as stunned as if a mad scientist had smooshed a green-radiation custard pie to his superheroic kisser. "Ex...excuse me," he stammered. "I'm....'too much?'"
"No, no," she said quickly, impatiently, at least as disappointed with herself as she was with him. "That's not fair. It's not your fault. It's...this." Her hands made a circle in the air. "All of this, this superhero world. You. Me. My goddamned Copperhead family legacy."
Copperheads. She thought of them all, from her great great grandfather riding the range more than a century ago, through her mother kicking bullies' asses while playing bass in a punk rock band. "I'm tired of it." She almost spat the words out. "It's been my life, and my family's life for generations. My brother. My Mom. My grandfather. His mother. Her father. From the freaking Old West into the 21st century. I'm bored with adventure, sick of intrigue. I don't want to be Copper Girl. I want...normal."
"Normal."
"Normal. Yes, damn it. I don't need to define it. I need to live it."
She got up to leave. He didn't try to stop her. As she neared the door, she didn't want to look back at him. She had loved him. She knew he still loved her. The lingering memory of what they'd had together forced her to steal a final glance.
He wasn't moving. His shoulders began to slump. In despair? No. She looked at his nearly-empty cup of coffee, now tipped on its side. She could sense the green glow within. Green radiation. Damn it. Damn it! He'd been poisoned.
His enemy's minions appeared, as indifferent to her presence as she'd been oblivious to theirs. How had he, the mighty guy with the super senses, not seen them coming? But she knew the answer to that. He'd come to this diner looking for her. He'd only had eyes for her. His mad scientist arch enemy knew to strike at him through her. The gang had followed Copper Girl, on her quest for normal, and they'd sprung the trap. The bad guys had taken advantage of her yearning for a new and normal life.
Normal? She gritted her teeth. Screw normal.
She read the room quickly. Seven lawless goons, intent on carting her ex's prone form off to their boss's secret lab. A dozen puzzled and/or terrified bystanders.
Just the sort of odds she preferred. Once a Copperhead....
The first two minions didn't even see her coming, as she dispatched them both with quick blows to their thick, unrepentant skulls. She slid and took out a third stooge at his knees, threw a chair at a fourth who ducked, laughed at her, and stopped laughing as her high-flying kick sent him into a pained slumber. She flung her own breakfast plate into one foe's face, ensuring his Christmas wish would be for Santa to bring him a new set of two front teeth. He staggered forward, buoyed by fury and bravado, and his misplaced bravery was rewarded with an elbow to the throat, a knee to the groin, and a shove against the wall and into unconsciousness.
Four down.
The remaining three had now had time to notice her. Weapons drawn. Potential hostages eyed. Copper Girl leaped into the air, landed on one thug, her impact forcing him into another thug's unprepared body. They dropped their guns, and didn't even have time to curse before her fists dropped them both. The lone remaining criminal looked at her, evaluating what she'd already done to his partners. His options duly weighed, he surrendered.
She knocked him out anyway. But she knocked him out as gently as one could knock someone out.
She rushed to her former lover's side. He'd fallen to the floor, his breathing shallow. She gave him mouth to mouth, trying to get him to breathe. He coughed up some of the toxin. A good sign. His healing powers were trying to rally. She needed to get him into the sunlight.
He had super powers. She did not. She struggled to lift him to his feet. As diner patrons realized what was happening, they rose to assist. With their help, she got the hero outside.
The warmth of the sun was an electric current coursing through him. His strength returned. His eyes opened. He floated off the ground, allowing his super brain to inform him of all that had transpired during his near-death experience. He smiled. It was a smile born not of joy, but of acceptance.
"Nice job," he said. "Thought you said you were all done with adventure and intrigue?"
She looked up at him. A goodbye look. "I can still fight, babe." There was affection in her voice. She was saying goodbye nonetheless. "I just don't want to if I don't have to."
He waived at her, his unseen thought balloons wondering how he would get through a lifetime of days and nights without her. But he knew it had to be, and she knew he wished her well. Up and away he flew, off to find his mad scientist. That guy was about to get a particularly super thrashing. No one could deny he had it coming.
She felt the lone tear escape her eye as she watched him fly out of sight. Normal. It was time to reclaim her invisibility.
A little girl who had been in the diner came up to her. "Excuse me," the child said, voice trembling with excitement. "Are you...Copper Girl?"
The former Copperhead touched her own hair, playing with the dull dyed strands that masked the original color. "No, honey," she replied. "I'm not Copper Girl."
And she wasn't. Not anymore.
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