A Hero's First Attempt

[martha_kent]

Martha Kent is fifteen years old, and she's on the prowl.

Metropolis has become incredibly safe since Superman first took the city under his protection, but that doesn't mean all crime is eliminated. And it's a good training ground for prospective heroes... especially ones without any powers.

Martha dons her domino mask and tucks her hair up under her fedora as she gets close to the sound of breaking glass. She feels nervous but excited, about to face her first real criminal and bring him or her to justice. She peers around the corner and sees the three thieves breaking car windows and rifling through the glovebox, taking anything valuable that they find. They look tough, but Martha is confident, and she steps out of the shadows, fists up in a boxer's stance. "Freeze, morons!"

One of them glances over his shoulder at her and sizes her up. "This is the wrong part of town to play dress-up, girl. Run along."

"I don't think so," Martha answers, stepping closer, staying light on her feet.

The other two both pull out knives and turn to face her. "Just who do you think you are, girl?"

Martha hasn't decided on a name yet, and for a moment she flounders, unable to answer with her real name. And they're getting close enough that she needs to take action. "I'm Captain Kangaroo, jerk!" She throws a punch at him, trying to knock the weapon out of his hands.

The other one slashes at her, and she has to jump back and use a legsweep to take him down. The third thief takes notice of what's going on, and pulls his own knife as he runs to join the fight.

Martha uses everything she's learned about fighting, but she's never faced real opponents with real weapons before, and a blade cuts deep into her arm. She cries out and headbutts her attacker, knocking him back long enough for her to get away. Her arm is bleeding and feels weak, and she needs to come up with some way to stop these men before they hurt her even worse.

She looks around, and takes a gamble, leaping back and up as high as her good arm will allow.

The fire escape comes crashing down, pulled by her weight, and smashes into the two remaining thieves, stunning them for a moment. She takes advantage of that moment and runs, knowing that it won't be long before Superman hears the commotion and shows up. She's not supposed to be out here on her own yet, and the thought of getting in trouble when Daddy sees how she got hurt is a scary one.

Comments

[drake_kent]

"Heard and saw it." He acknowledges. He reaches into a side pocket of his 'uniform' and pulls out a first aid kit.

"This might help."

[martha_kent]

Martha's embarrassed that he was watching her, and heard her awful name. "It was the only thing I could think of."

She also has to swallow her pride and allow him to help, because she can't bandage herself.

[drake_kent]

Drake gently directs her to a nearby alley, so he can properly bandage the arm, without anyone disturbing them.

"No offense... but it doesn't really fit you."

[martha_kent]

Martha leans against the wall, trying not to get blood on it. She hasn't bled this profusely since she got a nosebleed during one of her kickboxing matches and got punched in the face, and this isn't as easy to fix. "He put me on the spot!" she says a bit defensively. Stupid, stupid me.

[drake_kent]

"You didn't need to say a thing." Drake is not getting mad at her. In fact, he respects her for standing her ground.

[martha_kent]

She doesn't think he is, she's just being very hard on herself. Most of her anger is directed inward. She managed to create a big enough commotion that she's pretty sure Superman's taking care of it, but she got herself hurt and she had to run away. "Sure I did! I just haven't had time to think of the best name yet, that's all."

[drake_kent]

"They were on the defensive. They were scared of you." Drake senses her anger at herself. So his words are truthful, exactly what he sensed.

"But I am sure you can play it as a witty retort for next time."

[martha_kent]

"Other heroes make it look so easy to come up with that stuff off the tops of their heads," she grumbles, and suppresses a hiss as the bandage tightens on her wound. It's necessary to stop the bleeding, though.

[drake_kent]

"It felt like it took forever for me to think of my hero name." Drake admits softly. "And you know Jon is still struggling with his."

[martha_kent]

"People in Dad's day had it so much easier... lots of names weren't taken yet." She winces as she mentions their father, though. "Dad's gonna be so mad."

[drake_kent]

"We can't hide this from him. Or mom." They both know that their mother will smell the blood. No matter how good the bandages are.

"Do they know... that you want to be a hero?"

[martha_kent]

"Yeah... but I'm not supposed to be out here by myself yet." She wants to hide it if they can, but she knows their mom's vampire senses won't miss the smell of fresh blood, even if she washes it off. "It's not fair... Dad was saving people when he was my age."

[drake_kent]

"He didn't have his name. Not the one that he has now."

"And I am sure he got hurt too."

[martha_kent]

"But he was out doing it by himself, and I'm not allowed to do it even with somebody else."

[drake_kent]

"He didn't have anyone to trust then, M."

But Drake gets her hesitance. He too is nervous about his father's reaction to him being 'Sk8tr'.

"Working with someone else isn't a punishment. Look at how strong the JLA is with their numbers."

[martha_kent]

"Yeah, if they'd let me..." She wouldn't mind 'job shadowing' another hero, or even apprenticing to one, but her parents think she isn't ready just yet and it's frustrating.

[drake_kent]

"This isn't going to help your case."

Drake placed his hand on her shoulder, sensing her frustration. "You could have come out with me."

[martha_kent]

"I wanted to prove I could do it," she says stubbornly.

[drake_kent]

"You did do something. All three guys got stunned by your attacks."

[martha_kent]

"But I didn't take them down, and I got hurt." She doubts she'll be able to use her arm normally for quite some time. In fact, she probably needs stitches.

[drake_kent]

"Hey..." Drake took a breath. "I went to jail on my first bad-guy bust."

[martha_kent]

"You did not," she says in disbelief.

[drake_kent]

"I did so."

"Drug dealers were hanging out at the park. I went to stop them... and undercover cop busted the operation. And next thing I knew, they were reading me my rights."

[martha_kent]

"When was this?" She'd heard rumors a couple of years back, but never paid any attention to them since she knew her brother wasn't into drugs. "How'd you get out of it?"

[drake_kent]

"A couple years ago." Drake replied. "Dad came and bailed me out."

"We had a good talk. He told me some things that related to my experience. And while it was hard because I felt I messed up, he didn't make me feel worse."

"He and mom both said I never had to tell any of you guys, unless I wanted to."