Mei hit the baseball full force, sending it straight into the stratosphere. Using her hand as a visor, she looked to the sky before getting ready to bat once again.
"It's been three weeks since the Bronze Lynx and Riverlake High School went missing," The radio said.
Mei hit another baseball, sending it even further than the last, "There's been no signs of the Bronze Lynx or the school ever since,"
This time, Mei caught the ball and crushed it in her hand. It made a satisfying pop, but still did nothing to soothe Mei. She wiped her eyes and dropped her baseball bat.
"Who knows when they will return… If ever…"
Mei caught a final baseball and threw it at the radio, shattering both the ball and radio at the same time. Mei dropped to her knees and sobbed softly.
Mei lounged on the couch watching TV. She ate her chips in silence as she just watched news report after news report. She scrolled through her phone for any updates about her father. School be damned, this was important. Who even cared about a stinky old school being sent to oblivion?
"Mei, I'm about to head out, can you grab some things from the store? I have a list and some money on the counter for you," Mei's mother said.
Mei turned off the TV, "I mean, with school being canceled on account of the… missing school, I've got nothing better to do, do I?" She shrugged, "I'll be back in a flash- literally… Super speed and all…"
The grocery list and money seemingly appeared in Mei's hands, "I mean, it comes in handy, and all,"
Mei's mother shook her head, "Anyway, I'm off, I'll be home later tonight, don't get into trouble… And don't burn down the house, I don't know if you have fire powers yet, but… I won't take any chances…"
Mei's mother then left. Mei stood on the couch. It was time for her first quest as a superhero! Self-appointed superhero, but what superhero nowadays isn't self-appointed? Who even appoints superheroes if they aren't self-appointed? There's not a league of superheroes after all! Who would even think of that?
"Ah, shit, forgot I had stuff to do… Talk later, brain!" Mei said before zooming off to the store. Super speed made traveling a breeze. Literally.
"Now let's see… Green onions?" They appeared in her hand, "Check… Regular onions? Check…" She squinted at the list, "Yellow onions…? Is this a list of every type of onion? The hell is a shallot?"
After a few minutes, Mei had gathered everything her mother had asked per her grocery list. She wiped the non-existent sweat off her brow and went to the checkout line. For normal, non super powered humans, waiting in line is agonizing. But for someone who can literally run at sub-light speeds, it was literal torture. She can travel from here to China in the blink of an eye, but can't get through a line in less than ten minutes. Awful.
After an agonizing ten minutes, she was finally at the front of the line and began placing her items on the conveyor belt. The cashier scanned and weighed her items with the speed of someone who's probably done this almost everyday for the past several months, maybe even years. That is to say, extremely quickly. Punching in item codes with ease and bagging items just as quickly. Honestly impressive.
Exiting the store, she looked to the sky, "That's weird… It was like- midday when I went in… And I'm pretty quick so no way I was in there for more than twenty minutes… Then again, the line was a bit long…"
Instinctively, Mei held the grocery bags close to her chest, and leaped into the air, narrowly dodging a sword that came out of nowhere!
"Woah, woah, what the hell?"
A cloaked figure emerged from the shadows. It summoned a scythe in one hand and three swords floated behind it.
"That's… Badass! Nice costume design, interesting weapons…" One of the swords zoomed past her face, "Too bad they're trying to kill me!"
Mei zoomed away, ending on top of a building a few blocks down. She stomped out the small flames that appeared on her shoes.
"Hot, hot!"
She squinted and looked around, she couldn't see anyone… Then again, it was almost pitch black and she couldn't see much in general.
A few moments passed before she heaved a sigh of relief. She twirled on her heel and instantly was met with the cloaked figure in her face, just inches away. She could hear the figures' irregular breathing. It almost sounded like it was being choked.
"Holy-" Mei jumped backwards off the building.
She landed on her back, cracked the ground, protected the groceries, and then stood back up, she rubbed her lower back, "Ouch… That one kinda hurt…"
She continued to zoom around the city, but no matter where she ran to or how far she ran, the figure always appeared there. It almost seemed like it was mocking her attempts to run away.
Mei tripped over her own foot, the groceries spilled out everywhere, and she was sent flying into a wall.
Mei turned to face the figure, inching closer and closer into the wall. She pressed against it as if she might phase through it.
The figure conjured up one of its swords and pressed it against Mei's throat. Mei chuckled.
"This would actually be kinda nice if I wasn't about to actually be killed," She joked.
The figure pressed the sword into Mei's neck. She braced for impact and closed her eyes, but after less than a second, the pressure from the sword disappeared and a large heat source was being emitted just in front of her.
Mei opened her eyes to see the figure desperately trying to put out flames that erupted all around it. Of course, Mei. being the good daughter she was, zoomed to pick up the fallen groceries before looking to her savior.
"A speedster, eh?" The man said, finally touching down on the ground, "Don't see many of those nowadays, but… I guess you don't see many supers in general nowadays…"
"I'd love to chat, but you should keep focus on the person you just set on fire," Mei commented, running into a drop kick aimed straight at the figure's chest.
The figure was launched a little ways away, "By the way, I can do a bit more than zoom around from place to place," Mei said.
"Then let me show you what I can do," The man said, conjuring what looked to be a lasso and lassoing the figure, "Try getting out of that!"
The figure wriggled around a little before slipping into the shadows again, escaping the lasso.
"Aw man… Something like that always happens…" The man said.
"Seems like you have criminals get away a lot," Mei said, "Can't say that I'm surprised… Could probably do to not let them go next time…"
"I'm trying!" The man exclaimed.
The figure appeared again, launching its swords at the man, but took its attention off of Mei three seconds too long. She landed yet another drop kick on it.
"That one's probably a concussion," She said, "And this one isn't gonna tickle either," She added, punching the figure repeatedly in the face until she was sure they were unconscious… Or at least not conscious enough to escape.
"Now I would recommend doing your… lasso thing, whatever it is," Mei said, "You'll probably do much better now… Oh, and you don't know me, don't know what I look like, none of that,"
The man blinked a few times before lassoing the figure and slinging them over his shoulder, "Peculiar… Hey, how about we figure out what this one wanted? Do a little investigative work?"
Mei raised her groceries up, "Gotta bring this home, took too long already," Mei explained, "Mom's out, but still…"
"You're a speedster… You can bring it home in less than three seconds and then come back to help me…"
Mei heaved a sigh, "Guess you're right…" She zipped next to him, the groceries were nowhere to be found, "I guess I could spare a little time to get answers as to why I was randomly attacked while buying groceries, could've at least had some class and wait till I was in a dark alleyway…"
"Is… That your idea of class?"
"No…"
The duo tied the figure in a chair, filled the room with plenty of light, and Mei gave it one big slap to the face to wake it up.
"It sleeps like me after I stay up until midnight on my phone scrolling through T◯kTok and have school in the morning," Mei said.
"What…?" The man asked, "How… How young are you?"
"That's… Not important, they're waking up,"
The figure looked around the room before locking onto Mei, "Clever…" It said, "How did you know light was my weakness?"
"Oh, it is?" Mei murmured, "I just don't like unlit spaces… But I guess now I know your weakness? Great going, Einstein,"
"Truly, the voice of a generation," The man said, "Now then, with that out of the way, I have some questions for you,"
"You won't get much…" The figure said.
"Okay then, twenty-one questions!" Mei suggested.
The two of them stared at Mei in awe for a few moments before engaging in conversation with each other once again.
"Now then," The man said, "First off, who are you? You aren't any villain I've ever fought, at least, not that I can remember,"
"I'm the Night Master…" The figure said, "And I know all about you… Wildfire, and you," It turned to Mei, "Daughter of the Bronze Lynx,"
Mei's blood instantly ran cold, "What the hell…" She murmured, "What do you even know about that…?"
"I know that your father certainly isn't having fun right now, that's for sure," The Night Master said, "Oh, and I wonder how all those human children are doing there too… What I wouldn't give to see that firsthand,"
Mei zipped just in front of the Night Master, mere centimeters away, "Tell me… What you know…"