When the human body experiences an immense amount of stress, usually found in a life or death situation, the body's response is to activate the necessary physiological response needed to survive. This process is called "Fight or Flight". It's natural to flee from a deadly situation, just as much as it's natural to stand your ground and fight.
For a Superhero, this doesn't exist.
A good hero's priority is the innocents, the civilians of their city and the wellbeing of the people. This is, metaphorically, "Hero rule #1".
Boastful as she was, you'd expect said mindfulness to be practiced by Stefani Muerta, Red Comet hero, 3rd B-Class in the city, Liberty.
This wasn't the case. In a hurry she had collected her team together- half in uniform and half not- with no means of communication she sent them into a battle. None of them had coordination with one another, one's hands weren't even coordinated with his eyes. While the other two continuously crashed into her, each other and themselves. The night was an entire mess of flailing limbs and embarrassment. Dante easily seized the chaos and defeated them, managing to get the upper hand on Stefani and smack her upside the head with a stop sign, knocking her out cold.
By the time she regained consciousness only Hazel accompanied her, attentively crouched over her body.
"Hey! Good morning. Well, actually bad morning because our enemy got away, Alex is out cold and I don't know what Jason's doing. Also, are you feeling alright? You sort of got shot down first..."
"Yeah, no, don't remind me..Ugh-"
"Woah!" Hazel caught her before she doubled over herself, clutching her head.
"Ow…" The two stood and made their way over to the nearest building, Stefani using the cool brick wall to rest against, staring up at the sky as Hazel rushed to carry Alex over. As she stood alone, admiring the clouds, she swallowed the rising sense of embarrassment trying to crawl its way out of her. Or maybe it was bile.
"Last night we may have flopped, but that's okay. We have more opportunities, we have to succeed.."
"Uh, yeah, Sure." Hazel nodded, dragging Alex along and placing him next to both of them. "We should get him to urgent care or something. I've tried using a minor healing spell, I thought that'd do the trick, but I was wrong. He must've exerted himself too much when he sent out his energy wave. I can't sense his consciousness at all."
"You can do that?"
"Yes. It's really not that difficult, but at the same time it can be draining and quite distracting. Think of it like this: I can feel people's life force and I can sense their consciousnesses. It's sort of hard to explain, I guess. If you're into anime you'd get what I mean."
Nodding along, Stefani hoisted Alex over her shoulder and eyed Hazel.
"I guess it goes without asking, but do you need a lift?"
"Ha ha, so funny but shouldn't we find Jason? He wandered off after all was said and done.."
"Nah, he's probably got his own issues. We'll call him when we need him."
At the nearest clinic that the two could find, the heroes waited as Alex was taken care of. On the way, Hazel had requested they pull off somewhere so she could change into the civilian clothes she had kept safe in a sealed case.
It had taken a few hours, but eventually they were allowed to see Alex themselves. The nurses, expectantly, did what they could, but their dear friend was still down for the count. Hazel had offered to stay and keep him company, while Stefani sought to have his family be informed of his whereabouts.
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Jason crouched down, running a hand through his hair for the umpth time. He too had been badly wounded, on the brink of passing out, barely managing to escape the fight. In his panic he ran, hiding in the nearest alleyway and praying he wouldn't be discovered- by his teammates or by the enemy, he couldn't deduce which would have been worse.
He looked at his gloved, shaky hands, and cursed himself. Why was he, proud heir of Brennon Industries, hiding away? His newfound friends needed him, yet he ran. When he first appeared on scene he thought it was an easily secured win, but when it turned out to be something more challenging, he ran? Is this who he was?
"If my father had seen that… No, what am I kidding?.."
He pressed a small, blue button on the nape of his neck, his suit began immediately retracting and reshaping into a simple wristwatch. Nanotechnology was one of the many perks of being the heir to one of the biggest multimillion dollar, international industrial companies in the world.
Simple pleasures.
Stepping out and into the street, he threw his hoodie overhead and made the way to his private hotel. He kept his head down to avoid attention, blending well into the crowd. Momentarily, he wondered where the others had run off to, which naturally led him to question the whereabouts of the enemy. Many questions ran through his head on his way home, the lingering sense of shame dissipating as his brain focused on finding a solution.
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"So yeah. I think your grandson is gonna be okay. I texted you where we're at so swing by any time, alright? Okay, yeah I'll keep my eye on him, ok. Seeya later ma'am."
Stefani clicked off the call with Alex's grandmother, a kind woman with a heart of gold. She had promised to see Alex that afternoon, while also making Stefani promise she'd watch over Alex until she herself got there, which she did.
A sinking sensation in her gut pulled her from her thoughts of the wholesome granny. It was such a rush that she nearly fell over, gripping the wall to stabilize herself, her vision becoming slightly blurry. She threw herself on the nearest chair, pulling out her phone, thumbing through her contacts. She immediately dialed "his" number and held the phone to her ear.
"C'mon c'mon, pick up please.."
"Please leave your message at the-"
"Cmon!" Disregarding the looks from the civilians around her she marched to the hospital bathroom.
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She splashed water on her face, glaring at her reflection. It was a singular bathroom so she need not worry about any more awkward encounters.
The calm, warm hazel of her irises became a faint ruby as her newfound resolve set in.