What's the point of being a superhero?

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing good, If not don’t worry there is nothing wrong with feeling a little gloomy. Even superheroes feel that way sometimes and they are freaking superheroes. And that’s the part we need to focus on nothing wrong its quiet normal. But that is the thing about us the humans even with such high intelligence we don’t understand a simple fact, sh!t happens. I don’t feel like talking about the situation directly but let me try formulate a story around and see how that goes.

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“Take it easy, Buddy!!” Mentor said to me. He signaled the waiter to bring a refill of the redmist. “Shit happens. You need to understand that. What happened was unfortunate and it is not your fault.”

“Easy for you to say. Its not you who has lost partner.” I replied to the mentor with a disrespecting tone. I realized what I said was cheapshot. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.” I tried to revert the situation with an apology.

Even though we were at the busiest bar in the city. It was a noisy one and yet there was this weird silence around my table. “It is just hard for me to deal with this matter. I was under the impression that I knew my partner inside out. I trusted him. But looking back now I feel like I never knew him at all.” I tried to break the silence. The waiter returned with two redmist. I start sipping on mine as soon as it arrived.

“Like I said, It was unfortunate.” Mentor said. It felt like my insensitive comment about losing partner made him look into his past. “Hey!! Listen to me.” Mentor demanded my attention. “What happened was really unfortunate. I may sound insensitive. What your partner did was wrong and cannot be justified in anyway. You are a superhero. You have responsibilities. You need to fight and cannot just be in this stupid bar and be indulged in a pity party. What I am trying to say is STOP BLAMING YOURSELF. DO YOU UNDERSTAND.” Mentor was losing it.

“Yeah, I lost partner.” Mentor continued sounding little pissed but mostly hurt. “But your case is different. I cannot imagine what you must be feeling now like. There was nothing you could have done to stop it. You never knew that poor fellow was suffering from depression. I remember talking to him the other day. He was fine then, But that is the thing about depression it makes you hollow and empty inside.”

“But I was his partner, I feel like it was my responsibility. I should have seen the signs and stopped it.” I said, still feeling guilty about my partner. “We accomplished so many things as team. I still remember when he was a rookie and I took a bullet for him. He worked relentlessly for 3 days to capture those goons. That was his first victory every alone. We celebrated that in hospital and I had to bribe the nurse for letting me enjoy a glass of wine.” I stated while reminiscing.

“And do you remember the event when our league was under threat of heavy penalty and legal actions from the New Hero Order?” I asked Mentor.

“Yeah. what about it?”

“You know why the threat was issued?” I inquired further.

“Well, All I know was NHO was pretty pissed and was looking for a reason to nail us down pretty bad”. Mentor replied.

“Well, My stupid partner accused the someone from New Hero Order of working for ECHO. He screwed up and the guy went on a personal vendetta.” I spilled the secret.

“What? I was told that it was some filing mistake at the NHO” Mentor was surprised at the news. “What exactly happened?”

“Well that what happens when you show up for work for straight 6months without a day off. Mistakes were made.” I replied while keeping the truth to myself about the romance between accuser and accusee.

“Hahaha, What was he thinking accusing member of NHO being working for ECHO.” Mentor laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea.

The weird silence came back to haunt our table. We were down the second round. And for some reason the Redmist wasn’t working its magic well today. This time I signaled the waiter for refill.

“Are you sure about that?” Mentor asked me about the order.

“I am taking a day off tomorrow” I replied.

“And will that make you feel better? Staying alone and probably drunk.” Mentor voiced his concerns. “Never heard a superhero taking a day off.”

“You know .. may be that’s the whole problem, Not taking a day off. Always working always trying the best to stop some manic blowing up something or some stopping some bank robbery or stopping some idiots with gun. Who will look after us.” I replied in frustration.

“Nobody has asked you to do any of this stuff. You think that just because you have superpowers you have moral obligations to use it for good.” Mentor replied in a clam voice.

“What’s the point of being a superhero, when you cannot save people. And I am not talking about a collateral damage or dying in line of duty. He was my partner, He got my back and I got his. That what we tell each other don’t we. What kinda of superhero cannot sense his partners depression?”

The waiter served the alcohol with a smile. Mentor replied back with a smile and I lost the muscle control on the face. I haven’t smiled since the news of my partner hit my eardrums.

“You already know the answers to all your question. You just need to accept it.” Mentor said while handing over my glass to me. “What kind of superhero you are? What kind of superhero I am? Only time will tell. But I can guarantee one thing. We are superheroes and not gods. We can save many people, But not everyone.”

I understood what he meant.

“To Leo, The stupid partner!!” I raised my glass. Mentor joined in.

I am going to put a disclaimer that all the character in this short story is fictional. But that’s all, the characters are fictional what they go through is not. We all are superheroes but we are not god.

I am inuke and this is just a heavily fictionalized version of something the we all go through.