"Took you a while to get here," Harper gave him a look from behind the counter. Felix shrugged his shoulders.
"What can I do? I value my education greatly," he said sarcastically, still upset that his entire afternoon had gone towards English. He already spoke the language, so why did he need to take a class on it? Stupid general education requirements.
"Oh, my boyfriend is such a smart cookie," Harper cooed teasingly before rushing off to go fulfill one of the patron's orders. She was a whirlwind, delivering the drink and picking up dollar bills with incredible haste. It seemed like it was a good gig; she definitely made good money every night she worked. Felix elected to leave her to her business and stake out a claim on one of the more secluded tables.
This time around, Felix ordered some kind of juice – he was pretty sure it was cranberry – and opened a novel. He had absolutely no willpower left to study, and Harper would be stuck here for another hour before she was set free. He couldn't talk to her, either, because the customers were pretty finicky about excellent service.
Honestly, getting through the novel was tough. It wasn't terribly good, nor was it compelling in the least. His eyes frequently wandered, taking in the interesting scene surrounding him. Though there weren't any fights or anything, there was a lot of singing. Very bad – but amusing – singing.
"What brings you to a place like this?" someone said from next to him. Felix turned his head to find an older gentleman with the barest scent of alcohol on his breath looking at him with a kindly smile.
Felix responded with a similar smile, nodding his head towards Harper. "She always convinces me to wait here, somehow. And somehow, I'm always stuck studying or reading," Felix complained. "My name's Felix," he held out his hand.
The old man shook it. "Nice to meet you, Felix. I'm Gerald," he said. His eyes flicked towards a group of particularly boisterous men in the corner of the bar. "I came with them to celebrate one of their recent election's success, but they're too far gone to talk to at this point. This late in the night, it's a rarity to find someone as sober as you," Gerald admitted.
"Cranberry juice," Felix whispered, as if revealing a great secret. Gerald's eyes widened, and then he laughed. It was a rich and honest sound.
"I'm sure I've seen you somewhere, Felix. Would you care to talk?" Gerald asked. Felix indicated for the man to sit down opposite him, and the unlikely pair began to engage in an oddly familiar chat. For the most part, it was Gerald asking the odd question and letting Felix tell stories. That was especially the case when Gerald realized that he knew Felix from one of Green Dawn's press conferences. They talked for close to an hour before Gerald stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles on his suit.
"This has been wonderful, Felix. If you're ever around here again, please find me. They're always like this," Gerald sighed. "Unfortunately, I've got to go collect them and drag them home. There's always too much to do; they've got no time to spend the entire morning sleeping through a hangover."
"Of course!" Felix exclaimed, happy to have spent his hour doing anything else but reading that novel. As Gerald walked towards his group, Felix saw Harper wiping some glasses and getting ready to end her shift. Smiling, Felix made his way towards the bar, grabbing his things.
"Good night?" Felix asked.
"Oh, you know it," Harper replied with a wide grin. "We should-"
Screams. One of them belonged to a person Felix had just gotten through speaking with: Gerald. Felix's eyes snapped to the front door, where he caught sight of the back of a man clothed in all-black hastily retreat away from the door, pushing something. And from what Felix could tell in that split second, there was a holster on that man's hips. And as for the screams? Gerald's group was still there at the front door, shocked, but Gerald had vanished. That was enough for Felix.
He snapped back thirty seconds, whispering to Harper as fast as he could manage. "Change into your gear in the back, now," he said, taking his own advice and grabbing his superhero uniform from his bag. Thankfully, it was in the stuff he had brought to the dojo, so it was on hand. He fought a bad headache – he'd overdone the rewind – and sprinted to the bathrooms.
Fortunately, Kyle's sister, Beth, really knew her stuff. The costume was pretty easy to put on, and as embarrassing as it was to admit, he'd actually practiced putting it on as fast as he possibly could. It took a minute, and by the time he burst out of the bathroom in full get-up, Gerald's group were already back at their old table, sensible enough to call the police even through their daze.
He got a couple of odd looks as he rushed past the patrons, which only increased in number as Harper sprinted up beside him. They certainly were odd; Harper was in a light pink dress that sat over an equally pastel purple skinsuit. It was certainly a fashion statement, but it was really the masquerade mask that she wore that actually gave off the semblance of a superhero vibe.
As for Felix, he just looked like a role player, with a white-and-blue spandex suit and a royal blue cape fluttering behind him. A clock was emblazoned on his chest: Rewind's symbol.
Thankfully, everyone stepped out of their way. Felix pushed through the coldness that he experienced outside, looking around desperately for Gerald or the men who took him. Thankfully, Gerald was putting up a struggle, causing them to slow. Felix found them easily, and he took off after them. Harper quickly passed him, having activated her powers.
Her momentum carried her away, and it was barely ten seconds before Felix heard the crack of gunshots. They were only made louder by the absolute silence around them. Soon, however, it wasn't only gunshots that Felix could hear, but the sound of bodies dropping. Felix winced, involuntary sympathy for anyone who got slammed by Harper at full-steam ahead.
Felix entered the fray to find only a pair of men still standing, one of them holding a gun to Gerald's head. However, the man was standing between Harper and Felix, allowing Felix to get the drop on the man. By the time that the gunman realized anything was wrong, Felix had already torn his arm away from Gerald, bending it behind his back at an unnatural angle. The man cried out in pain; with any luck, that arm was broken.
Felix dropped the guy with a well-placed kick, looking past his opponent to find Harper standing over four unconscious would-be kidnappers. Gerald looked at them with wide eyes, his mouth struggling to form intelligible words.
"W-w-who are you?" he managed.
Felix smiled, but it was Harper who answered first. "I'm Ironwill," she said, puffing out her chest with pride. Then she pointed at Felix, "and he's Rewind."
"We're superheroes," Felix added, happily.