Hero Dispatch

“You just disappeared! What the hell were you thinking? You can’t just disappear from your job without an explanation Samuel. This job is important.”

Samuel kept his eyes lowered, his jaw tightening at the tongue lashing. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“That’s what you said the last three times.” His supervisor sighed, giving a little shake of her head. “I like you Samuel, I do. You work hard, you pay attention to detail, you’re not afraid to clean the ER even after the worst comes through. I just can’t have someone who disappears for half their shift with no excuse for it. I’m sorry Samuel, but I’ve already written you up for this three times. I have to let you go.”

“Just give me one more chance! I promise it won’t happen again!”

“I can’t Samuel. I’m sorry, but you need to clean out your locker.”

Samuel hesitated before he nodded, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. He’d liked this job, liked being able to see people recover from their injuries, make sure to do as much as he could to help them through their healing, even if it was only keeping their rooms clean. He made his way to his locker, fighting to keep calm. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d lost a job, and he was sure it wasn’t going to be the last. He’d simply have to buckle down and find another.

Once he’d gathered the few things he kept in his locker he left the hospital, making his way to the bus stop. He settled onto the bench and pulled out his phone to ring the number labeled only as Sue. She answered almost instantly. “Hey Sammy my boy! What’s up? I thought you worked today.”

“Ah, well, about that-”

Disappointment filled the woman’s voice. “Sam! You lost your job again? What were you doing this time? Don’t tell me you got lost geocaching again.”

Samuel laughed weakly at the reminder of the last excuse he’d made before Sue had dumped him. Luckily she’d agreed to stay friends, and the two quickly discovered that they were far better friends than they were boyfriend and girlfriend. “No, not this time. I don’t really want to talk about it. I just wanted to hear a friendly voice.”

“Okay, I can do that.” She paused, Samuel picking up on a voice in the background of the call. “Jay says we should take you out to eat. Wanna meet up for dinner?”

“Okay, sure. Where?”

“Lets go to Perkins. They’re open late, but aren’t too loud, so it should be perfect. Plus, no alcohol. I know you’re sober.”

“Thanks Sue. That sounds pretty good actually.” He’d never told her the real reason he avoided alcohol, or shared the story of the one time he had tried drinking in highschool. There had been way too much fire involved, and a fellow student nearly died. Samuel shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind as he sucked the nicotine from his cigarette once more. “I’m waiting for the bus, it should be here in about five minutes, then another fifteen or so till I’m there.”

“Perfect. We’ll head out now. And Samuel, put out the cigarette. You know smoking’s bad for you.” Sue’s tone was scolding, almost motherly, and Samuel flushed at the tone.

“How did you even know?”

“Because you always smoke when you’re stressed. I wish you’d just give it up. It’s so bad for you.” Now the scolding was turning into worry again.

“Sue, I’m fine. It just helps keep me from stressing out too much. Gives me something to do with my hands and all.”

“I’ll get you a fidget toy then.”

Samuel rolled his eyes, but snuffed out the cigarette as he saw the bus approaching. “The bus is early. I’ll see you at Perkins Sue.”

“See you there!”

They hung up and Samuel shoved his phone into his pocket before grabbing his met card to get on the bus. The driver didn’t even glance at him, ear pods clearly more interested than the people getting on and off his bus. Samuel settled into a seat with a sigh, gaze shifting out the window as his mind raced. He needed a new job, needed something super flexible so that he wouldn’t have to worry when he needed to rush off, and so he’d stop getting fired. He groaned as he realized he was going to have to report this. It could wait till after he ate with his friends though.

Jay and Sue were already seated in a booth by the time the bus let him off near the restaurant, and Samuel gave a tired smile as he saw them. Sue grinned, half standing to wave a hand at him. “Sammy! Over here.” She made Jay slide out of the booth so she could get out and give Samuel a tight hug. “I’m so sorry Sammy. I know you really liked that job. I just don’t get why you keep doing this to yourself!” The last sentence was punctuated with a punch to his shoulder, and Samuel winced, grabbing at the tender spot and earning himself an eye roll. “So dramatic. What do you want to eat? Our treat since you need to save your money.”

They all settled back into the booth, gazes shifting to the menus while they figured out what to order before the waitress arrived. Once they’d placed their orders Sue’s gaze shifted back to Samuel. “So what exactly happened? I know you’re great at cleaning, so why’d they fire you?”

“I... missed a few hours of my shift.”

“Sammy, seriously?! What’s so important that you keep running off? I know you’re not on drugs, so what the hell makes you do such stupid things?”

Samuel’s gaze dropped to the table, mind struggling to come up with an excuse he hadn’t used with her before and coming up blank. “It’s not like I mean to do it Sue.”

“But you keep doing it anyway Sammy! God, I could hit you right now. You’re throwing your life away over nothing!”

Her boyfriend rested a hand on her shoulder, his soft voice forcing her to stop ranting if she wanted to hear him. The first time Samuel had met him he hadn’t understood how the two would ever be able to work, but over time he’d realized that Jay used his quietness pointedly in a way that quieted and calmed Sue. “Samuel, we’re your friends. We are here to help you if you need it, but we aren’t going to judge you for any problems you may be dealing with.”

Sue sighed at that, leaning against her boyfriend as she nodded. “He’s right Sammy. I don’t want you thinking that you can’t ask us for help or tell us when something’s going wrong. I just wish that you’d actually do it. That’s part of why I get so frustrated when you do this sort of thing. I want to help you, but you won’t let me know what’s happening so I can.”

“Because it’s not something you need to worry about Sue. You’re my best friend, if I need to tell you I will, I promise.” It was a lie, he could never tell her, could never put her at risk like that. “It’s just me being an idiot. I decided to take a little break and ended up dozing off cause I stayed up late the night before.” Not the first time he’d used that story, would certainly not be the last. “I just don’t sleep well Sue. You know that.”

Sue winced at the memories of the few times they had stayed at each other’s apartments when they’d been dating. Samuel didn’t have to lie about how much trouble he had sleeping, and one time he’d even managed to punch her when she’d tried to wake him up from a bad dream. That had been the beginning of the end for their dating life, though if they were being honest it had never really been going anywhere to start with. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry you lost your job.”

“Not your fault. I’m the one who let myself doze off.”

The trio picked at their food before Jay spoke. “What do you think you’re going to do now?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I need to find some kind of online job or something. Something where I just have a certain amount of work to do and just have to have it done by a certain time. Then I can sleep when I need, and work when I can’t.”

Sue nodded thoughtfully. “That might be a good idea, though I don’t love the idea of you being locked up in your apartment all the time.”

“I get out. I go hiking, I go to the gym. I even tried geocaching that one time.”

“Yeah, don’t pick that one up again. You were lost for two hours Sammy! We were supposed to have a date.”

Jay arched a brow, glancing over to his girlfriend. “And you’re upset he didn’t make it?”

“Not anymore, but I was at the time.” She leaned over, kissing Jay’s cheek. “You know I love you sweety.”

He grinned, wrapping his arm over her shoulders to keep her pulled close to his side. “Yeah, I know.”

Sue laughed, poking at his side and earning a laugh. “You could say it back you brat!”

Samuel’s voice interrupted their play fight. “God, you two are so damn perfect for each other.”

He was pretty sure he could see Jay’s cheeks reddening a little as his girlfriend smirked. “That’s right we are! So this guy had better freaking propose soon. He knows he isn’t going to do better than me, so he’d better lock it down before someone else comes along.”

Jay’s face had gone from slightly flushed to full on red at his girlfriend’s comments, though Samuel simply had to laugh. “Good luck on that one!”

The three hung out at the restaurant for hours, ordering pie after their dinner and just having a good time together before Jay finally decided it was time for him and Sue to go get to bed. Hugs were exchanged, and they offered Samuel a ride, though weren’t surprised when he turned them down. “I think I’ll jog for a while. Need to clear my head.” It was something he did a lot, always wanting to jog alone, and his friends had learned to accept it. At least it had him out exercising.

The trio split up, Jay and Sue getting into their car while Samuel jogged off in a random direction. As soon as he was certain he was alone and no one would notice him he pulled his phone out, entering specific codes before following the directions that popped up on the screen in response. Three blocks later and he got into a familiar van, hardly getting the doors closed before the vehicle was moving. A woman’s voice rang out from the van’s speakers, surrounding him. “You’re late Cinder. Your shift was supposed to start five minutes ago.”

Samuel’s jaw twitched, though his attention was mostly on changing into the superhero outfit that had been waiting for him in the van. “I also got called in for an emergency shift that cost me my job today, so I think I can be forgiven five minutes.”

“You lost your job?”

He winced at that, quickly hiding it by rubbing foundation onto his face to cover his freckles, then adding a black and orange mask. “Yeah. Amazing how that will happen when you go missing for hours in the middle of your shift.”

“This is the third job in a year you’ve lost Cinder. If you keep this up someone is going to get suspicious. Have you at least started dating again?”

“How am I supposed to do that exactly? I have to work to pay my bills, and then I work for you guys on top of that. I don’t have the time.” He covered his light brown curls with a wig of spiky black hair with hints of glowing, fire orange flecks in the strands, carefully pinning it into place so it wouldn’t move about as he worked, then took a few moments looking in a mirror they had up in the van to make sure his disguise was complete.

“Your job and social life are meant to keep people from discovering who you are Cinder. You need to keep up on both of them.”

“Well, I had dinner with my ex and her boyfriend tonight, which is why I was late. Is that enough for you?” He glared at the nearest speaker before giving a shake of his head. “What’s the report for the night? I’d like to get things finished up quickly so I can start looking for a new job.”

“After the show you put on this evening we don’t expect there will be much to watch for tonight. We want you to patrol some high risk areas, make sure no one’s causing any issues. The route will be in your viewscreen.”

Cinder nodded, grabbing the motorcycle helmet and pulling it on, the inner screen lighting up with the route he would be taking that evening. A little bit of patrol in the high crime areas of the town, but most of his time would be spent in the richer parts of town, making sure the wealthy stayed safe. The woman’s voice spoke again, this time from the speakers in his helmet. “Fifteen seconds before vehicle transfer.”

Samuel nodded, making his way to the door of the van and sliding it open. “How long will patrol take if nothing goes wrong?”

“Two hours.”

The black motorcycle with flame decor pulled up beside the van, keeping pace easily. It only took a practiced jump for Samuel to get on it, quickly taking control of the vehicle as the van turned down another street. “That’s not too bad. Shorter than most nights.”

“You did work a few hours earlier, and the route was created before we knew you would not have work tomorrow. I will adjust to account for that for your next patrol.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She didn’t even respond to his sarcasm, instead going right back to giving him a rundown of the evening’s tasks. There were a few high risk buildings he needed to check out first before he’d get to visit the first of the high crime neighborhoods. A jewelry shop that just got a large shipment of gems, a couple banks, a law firm that was working on a case for a corrupt politician who’d already had one brick thrown through their window that week, and finally an experimental laboratory.

He’d nearly finished at the laboratory when something caught his eye. “Dispatch, alert the police. I see someone.”

The woman’s voice carried a touch of sarcasm as she responded. “There are a couple guards at the location Cinder.”

“Well, unless their guards can fly I don’t think this is one of them.” He’d already sped his vehicle up, hoping to be able to cut off the flying form of a person before they reached the laboratory.

“Ah, well, perhaps not a guard then.”

“No shit.” He was close enough, he was sure of it. A ball of flames formed in his hand, and he flung it directly in front of the flying figure. He was close enough now that he could tell that the other was in some sort of mech suit, the flight coming from little jet like pieces in the suit instead of a super ability. They twisted as the fireball flew past, till they were just hovering in place looking down at Cinder.

The woman’s voice came through again, disappointment clear. “You missed.”

Cinder’s words came out in an annoyed growl. “Would you just do your damn job and tell me what I need to know for this fight?” He finally stopped his motorcycle, the machine turning off as he got off and stepped closer to the hovering figure.

“Unknown. They are not in our database.”

“Great.” Another growled word before Samuel jerked off the helmet, leaving it on the motorcycle, though his masked gaze never left the floating figure. He started walking toward the flying person, voice louder as he addressed them. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but you’re trespassing on private property wearing what appears to be an illegal mech suit. Now, I’ve had a pretty long day already, so I’m willing to look away if you just wanna turn around an go back home.” He was sure that he was going to get in trouble for that, but he was beyond caring at the moment.

A mechanical voice came from the suit, impossible to tell if it was male or female. “I can not do that Cinder. Please stand aside and do not get in my way. I have no wish to harm you.”

Samuel laughed at that, a ball of fire forming in both hands. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Very well.” The thrusters on the suit came to life immediately, flinging the mech at Samuel far faster than he’d been prepared for. He managed to fling one of the fireballs at the mech, the other hitting the pavement harmlessly as he was forced to leap aside to avoid getting hit by the charging attack.

He rolled, on his feet again in a moment to face the mech wearing opponent once more. “You’re faster than I expected.”

“So are you. One more chance to give up.”

Samuel responded by flinging another ball of fire at the flying person, eyes narrowing when it hit him, but didn’t do any damage. “You can not harm me Cinder. I have had years to be sure my suit is completely fireproof.”

Well fuck, just what he needed. A flying opponent who his fire seemed to be useless against. Samuel’s brain raced, though the relaxed smirk on his face didn’t show the frantic thought process going on inside his mind. “You made it just for me? Aww, I feel special.”

That seemed to throw off the flying form, as they were silent for some time, giving Samuel the time to start forming a new ball of fire. “You know that won’t work on me.”

“Here’s the thing...” Samuel frowned, his head tilting as the fireball kept growing. “Wait, what do I even call you? It’s hard to shit talk someone when you don’t even know their name.”

“Are you even taking this seriously?” The mechanical tones kept him from hearing any actual emotion, but Samuel was certain the person in the suit was frustrated with him. Good. People made mistakes when they were annoyed or frustrated.

“Well, you know my name, it really only seems fair. Plus, I can’t shit talk as well if I don’t have a name. Hey you, I’m gunna burn you up! See, just doesn’t sound as good.”

“You know it doesn’t matter how big you make that ball of fire. From all records of you there’s no way you can get it hot enough to melt your way through my defenses.”

“Guess we’re sticking with Hey you then. Fine. Well Hey you, the point isn’t to try and melt the pot, the point is to try and boil the stuff inside the pot.”

There was a moment of silence before the voice spoke again. “I do not believe you have enough power to create a hot enough fire to do this.”

“Well Hey you, there’s really only one way to find out.” Both hands were out now, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of Samuel’s face as he struggled to contain the small sun that felt like it was starting to blister his face. It wasn’t the first time he’d regretted the fact that he’d been born a fire super who wasn’t fireproof, but that was simply how the luck of the draw went.

“Stop calling me Hey you. You should just give up now Cinder. My suit’s defenses were created with you in mind. You will not be able to damage it or me.”

“Too late now, that’s just the name you’re going to go by from now on.” He was sure he could hear sirens in the distance, though he tried not to focus on them, instead leaping forward suddenly to sling the giant ball of flames at the floating mech. The ball of flames exploded as they hit the target, and Cinder pushed more power into the attack in a stream of flames that were quickly draining what reserves he had left after the battle earlier in the day and the giant ball of fire he’d had to throw out.

As the flames finally faded away it showed that the mech was still there, the metal still a plain, black matt. “You did better than I expected Cinder. Raised the temperature by five degrees.” The mech came lower, soon hovering just three feet from Samuel. “I do wish you’d give up Cinder. You are good for the city. I would hate to have to hurt you.”

Samual didn’t reply this time, instead launching himself at the mech as a new blaze formed in his hand. This time he wasn’t going for big, but small and precise heat that started burning through his fire resistant costume almost instantly. The mech suit moved to block the expected blow, only for Samuel to duck under at the last minute, flaming fist slamming into one of the thrusters on the mech’s ankle. He was sure he heard a crunch, and knew he felt the bones in his burned hand breaking as it slammed against the metal, all of the focused heat that had been burning through his outfit and skin transferring to the single point of the thruster.

The other foot slammed into the side of his head, knocking him away before the mech dropped to the ground, landing on it’s feet with a thud. “Impressive. I didn’t think there was anything you could do to damage my suit.”

The voice was still calm as it had ever been, though Samuel still smirked as he faced his opponent once more. He had plenty of experience not showing the pain from burns or broken bones, and none of it showed on his face as he studied the mech standing before him, lightly rubbing his face where his opponent had kicked him with his uninjured hand. “Well Hey you, the problem with all that research is it was on the power I can use and safely control. You haven’t been able to look at how hot I can get if I’m up against someone that requires me to leave safety behind.”

“Is that so? And how much destruction are you willing to cause to win the fight Cinder?”

Samual spread his arms out, indicating the parking lot they were in. “What am I going to destroy? As long as I can keep you away from the buildings until the police get here with the correct equipment to disable your tech I still win.”

The mech suit’s head tilted at that, and Samuel was sure he was listening to the nearing sirens that Samuel had been counting on through their whole fight. Finally the robotic voice spoke again. “I am impressed Cinder. You are smarter than I anticipated.”

“Hot and smart. Golly, you’re gunna make me blush if you keep it up Heyyou.”

The thrusters started up again, pushing the mech suit into the air, though Samuel was pleased to see the one he’d punched was sputtering a bit and the pilot had to adjust for it. “I suggest you stay out of my way in the future Cinder, because if you stand in my way again I will not hesitate to attack you.”

“You know I can’t do that Hey you. I’m the hero, and heros can’t back down.”

The mech hovered, simply looking at him for a few seconds before the flashing lights of incoming police vehicles could be seen. Nothing more was said as the mech flew off.

Samuel finally let himself wince, pulling his injured hand up toward his chest as he made his way to his motorcycle once more. By the time the first police car had pulled to a stop his helmet was back on, and he was straddling the motorcycle, doing his best to ignore the nagging voice in his ear scolding him for not capturing the illegal mech.

“Officers. I’d suggest extra patrols in this area. Looks like we have someone with a mech suit trying to get into the lab.” He did wonder about that, not completely sure what was inside the lab that the person inside the suit may want. Still, it wasn’t something that was his job to find out, he was simply a weapon to be pointed and shot at whatever it was he was sent to fight that day.

Samuel drove off before the officers could ask him any questions, not wanting to stick around and hide the hurt in his broken, burnt hand any longer. “Dispatch, I need a patch up.”

“You couldn’t even finish the job Cinder.”

“Then how would you like me to explain my broken, burnt hand to the hospital and my friends?”

There was silence for a while before the motorcycle started steering itself. “Patch up approved. Prepare for transfer.”

Samuel sighed in relief as he let the vehicle drive itself, keeping his hand close to his body once more. It didn’t take long before they were beside the van once more, and Samuel lept into the moving vehicle, the door sliding shut behind him. He removed the motorcycle helmet before slumping to the floor with another sigh. “What do we know about the mech Dispatch?”

The screen lit up with an image of the mech suit hovering, information about the suit popping up all around it. “The suit itself is six foot six, we estimate that the pilot within must be somewhere between six feet and six four. The suit has heat dispersing properties-” He let his eyes close as he listened to the minimal information they’d gotten from the interaction with the suit, wondering just how the expected him to fight something that had literally been designed to handle his powers.

“Wake up Cinder.” The words weren’t from Dispatch, and finally broke through the sleep Samuel hadn’t even realized he’d sunk into. A familiar face was frowning at at him, the woman clearly annoyed that he’d fallen asleep on the way to her.

Samuel rolled his eyes as he pushed himself up to his feet from the floor of the van. “Health, of course you’re on duty tonight.”

“Not really happy to see you either.” Health motioned for him to follow her into the secret hub for Hero Dispatch for their area. The building looked like a giant warehouse on the edge of a city from the outside, no one surprised when shipping vans came and went through the various garage doors. What they didn’t know was those vans were used to transport the heros, or that the inside was much more like a high tech office building.

Health lead him through the halls until they reached the med room. “Punching a fucking mech suit, what kind of idiot are you Cinder? You couldn’t think of any other options?”

Samuel winced as she examined his broken, burnt hand, the healer hero not bothering to be gentle about it. “You know me, always thinking things through before I do them.”

That at least earned a snort of amusement before his hand felt like it was catching fire again. Samuel winced, wishing any of the other healers had been on duty that night. Health’s healing reversed the damage done, leaving someone completely unblemished, but the person being healed got to experience all of the pain of the injuries happening as she worked. “So why’d you punch it?”

“The mech was made with me in mind. Threw a mini sun at the thing and it only heated up by five degrees.”

Health winced in sympathy at that. “Did you at least disable it with the punch?”

“Damaged it a little, but not enough.” He sighed, his eyes closing. “They’re pretty pissed that I didn’t capture it.”

“What can they expect? You’re a fire user. You’re not going to be helpful against something fireproof.” She finally released his hand, watching him flex it to be sure that everything was back where it should be. “I’m surprised they let you get patched up after failing.”

“It was to keep my cover more than anything else. You know what a pain it is to have to make a new cover. Easier to ship me to you for healing than go through all that.” He started to run a hand through his hair, a small sigh escaping him when he realized that he still had the wig on. Of course he did, the Hero Dispatch did their best to keep heros from knowing each other’s secret identities. “Don’t know if they’ll let me get away with that excuse next time I run into the mech. Gotta come up with some way to take it down.”

“Good luck.” At Samuel’s surprised look she rolled her eyes. “I might not like you, but that doesn’t mean I want to see you hurt or decommissioned.”

Samuel shuddered slightly at that suggestion. “Thanks Health.”

“Now go away. I’ve got work to do that doesn’t involve you.”

As soon as he left the med room another familiar voice rang out, this one filled with even more annoyance. “You really put me in a tight spot Cinder.”

“Sorry Dispatch.” He didn’t know her name either, didn’t even know if she had powers. The short, angry woman was simply his dispatch officer, his manager really. He’d had another before her, the last one being a kind, older man. Samuel missed having a dispatch who actually seemed to care about him instead of caring more about the job.

“I’ve arranged a hospital visit and two interviews for you today to help cover up the complete embarrassment you were. You also are doing two extra sweeps each night around the laboratory. The mech clearly wanted something in there, and we need to keep them from it.”

“I’m not really sure I’m going to be able to stop them Dispatch.”

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion Cinder. Now, I’ve written down some things I want you to bring up during your interviews.”

Samuel listened to his instructions for the day, his freshly healed hand tightening in a fist for a moment before it slowly relaxed. She was right, his opinion didn’t matter, he simply had to find a way to stop the mech.