Humble Beginnings

“Oh, wonderful. A lovely super hero here to help me out,” a frail older woman said as she approached me. “My darling little Mirage is stuck up in that tree and he won’t come down.” She pointed to the park across the street. There was a large oak tree with a fairly small, but still moderately sized, white tiger lounging in one of the upper branches.

“Ehhh,” I said, groaning a little at the pure insanity of the situation. I could feel my eye twitching. This was going to be my first assignment as a superhero!?

“Damn, what’s with you and the running?” my sky-haired companion said, catching up to me, though looking no worse for wear. “What are we looking at?” I grabbed her by the chin and turned her head towards the park. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Nope. This is our first hero work.”

“Hang on, our?” Regina said, raising an eyebrow before a sly smile drew across her face. She escaped my chin hold to nuzzle her head against my neck. “Aww, you’re finally using ‘our!’ Lady, isn’t my girlfriend just the best?”

It was taking every fiber in my body to not slap her across the face again. The old lady smiled at me. “Aw, I remember young love. Even for a budding superhero, it’s always nice to have someone to come back to. And they’re even here, showing their support for you.”

“Ah, that’s not… I mean… Ugh… Yes, it’s so nice that she’s here supporting me,” I said, gently pushing her off me. “And she could support me more right now by figuring out a way that we’re going to get Mirage there out of the tree.”

Regina chuckled and the two of us walked across the street to the park. There were people who were staring at the tiger in the tree; mothers hurrying their children to start moving in the opposite direction; and on-lookers snapping photos from a safe distance.

I took a deep breath and in as loud of a voice as I could, “Don’t worry citizens! I shall keep you all safe from this tiger!”

I could hear the voices of everyone whispering and taking photos. Part of me really wishes that I had chosen a better superhero outfit for my first outing. Then, I noticed that many of the cameras were directed to Regina, whose hair made her stand out completely, as did her open cleavage. First outing as a superhero and I was getting upstaged by fanservice. I sighed and turned my attention back to the tiger. Most of the comments were wondering who I was and what I could do. To be completely honest, I was wondering what I could do too.

Regina said that I should make small changes. If I do too many big ones, I could die, and that would really suck for a superhero. So, what kind of changes could I do to get a tiger down without it going wild? Elemental and energy powers were probably out of the question. Superspeed wouldn’t really help me here. Maybe if I gave myself superstrength, I could climb up and get the tiger down. But, then I’d have to restrain the tiger if it went wild on me.

“Hey, Regina, do you have any suggestions for what I can do?” I asked, turning to my companion. Her eyes were trained right on the tiger, but she was moving to the left and right. I looked back and saw that the tiger was focused on tracking her. “Wait, why is it eyeing her up? Is it going to pounce?” I had to act fast and think of something.

It seemed like superstrength was the only thing that was going to help, so I focused on the ring and myself. The ring flared up with intense heat, which made me grip my hand in pain. After a bit, it subsided and I could feel strength flowing through my muscles. Just in time too, because it looked like Mirage was about ready to leap. He was no longer laying down, but up on his feet, eyes still trained on Regina.

“Regina, when I give the signal, run in that direction,” I said, pointing her towards an area that didn’t have any people. Regina looked and nodded and prepped herself to run. I clenched my fists and got into a running stance. “Now!”

In a near split second, Regina bolted into the direction that I told her to. Mirage leaped down from the tree branches, causing all the on-lookers to disperse, screaming for their lives. As I expected, he ran right towards Regina, but I was ready. I ran right in front of Mirage and spread my arms out wide.

“Not so fast, kitty cat!” I braced myself, ready to grapple with a tiger… when Mirage jumped completely over me. “Shit!” I said as I turned, but Mirage was already closing the distance between himself and Regina.

I had to think quickly what to do. I was able to be more liberal with the changes to Regina, but I couldn’t go crazy. Maybe I could give Regina the ability to turn metal? But there was no guarantee that she’d be able to realize she had that power in the first place. I could make her faster! I reached my hand out and focused on Regina, trying to increase her speed.

But, it was too late. Mirage pounced and tackled Regina to the ground, causing her to tumble and land on her back. Mirage stood over her, the front paws on her arms, pinning her down. “Regina!” I shouted, unable to think of any changes or anything to help her out in the moment.

“Get off me, you overgrown fur ball!” Regina shouted, struggling under the weight of the tiger, but no luck. Oddly, Mirage looked down at Regina’s chest, rather than just going for the kill. Mirage licked its lips at her, but not quite in a hungry way. “Oh, you can’t be serious.” I could hear the tension in Regina’s voice. “Ringmaster! Do something!”

I couldn’t think of anything at all. What could I do? All of my hero knowledge escaped me as a real situation unfolded in front of me. There wasn’t any-

“Mirage! You naughty boy! Get off that kind woman!” Then, the old lady who asked for help walked up alongside me and approached the tiger. “Bad boy! Bad!”

“Ma! Why do you have to ruin the fun. I wasn’t going to do anything to her.” The tiger began to slowly morph into a man, no older than their thirties. He was fairly lanky and I could hardly believe that he was that tiger that could pin Regina down.

“You know better than to terrorize people like that.” The old lady brought out a small cattle prod and zapped the man, causing him to fall over onto the ground. She walked over and helped up Regina. Regina very quickly did one button of her shirt and ran over to me. “Thank you so much for helping me get my son back under control. Here is something for your troubles.”

The woman went to reach into her purse, but as she did, a figure ran past the old lady and snatched it right off of her.

“Hey! Thief!” I shouted and was ready to chase after when Regina put her hand on my shoulder.

“Hey Ringmaster. Look at the legs,” Regina said, pointing. I looked and noticed the smooth slender legs of the thief running away. “It’s a woman, and that means, you can use that ring of yours.” Regina was hardly subtle and seemed to be bouncing back to her usual self. “Come on, don’t let her get away.”

Regina was right, and I did need to train. I held up my hand and focused on the running thief.