Free Trainee Superhero (Book Two) by C. H. Aalberry

the only weapon he
carries is a short sword. His suit looks even less impressive than
mine. I kneel beside him and put some pressure on his leg until his
suit stops the bleeding. I wonder what kind of a person sees a huge
alien made entirely of blades and heads straight for it. I mean, I
would, but I realize I’m not normal.
    He reaches up, opens his visor and gives me a
familiar smile.
    “I knew I’d find you here,” he gasps.
     
    It’s Tenchi.
     

Back Story
Two
     
    Only four people have successfully stolen a
superhero suit, and two of those were idiots.
    The first didn’t last a month before he was
hunted down by a Superhero Corps team of obedient superhero
bloodhounds. His trial only lasted for four hours before he was
convicted of treason in the highest degree. After that the Corps
started putting tracers in the suits, so the second thief lasted
less than a day. The Corps tried to take her alive, but the
resulting battle set fire to a hundred acres of forest and ended
with one roasted renegade.
    As I said, they were idiots.
    I lasted two years.
    I had it all planned out: I did my homework
and found out how to deactivate my suit’s tracking device, then I
faked my own death while on a mission, robbed a few banks during a
saucer attack, and found a cave to lay low in. I hired a few
lackeys and settled myself down for the good life. I traded weapons
and other illicit treasures to keep myself entertained and built up
a modest villainous empire. Nothing extravagant: enough to keep
myself from getting bored, but not enough to get noticed.
    I hardly ever wore my suit. Occasionally I
would take it out to rob a jewelry store at night or to hassle some
of my competitors by burning down their warehouses, but that was
more for fun rather than any real necessity. I liked the look on my
rivals’ faces when I crashed through their roofs and walked through
their bullets.
    It was a good time.
    My confidence that I had fooled the world
lasted right up until the moment that Dark Fire burnt his
way into my hideout and knocked me out with a Taser. In hindsight,
it was lucky for me that I wasn’t in my suit at the time because
otherwise I think he may have ended up killing me. I woke up on the Cerberus with a shock collar around my neck and a furious Dark Fire in my face.
    He was shorter than I expected; I would have
considered taking him hostage in exchange for my freedom but he
never took his suit off.
    He gave me the offer of serving or dying, and
I chose not to die. I won’t bore you with the battles that followed
other than to say that I was an adequate if reluctant soldier and
my peers were an insufferable, arrogant lot with messiah
complexes.
    Suffice to say we did not get on. I am
physically small, and the others picked on me until I knocked one
of them out with a slipper containing metal filings. After that we
got along just fine, but I pined for my previous days of freedom.
Life on the boat lacked the independence I had grown used to in my
days as a renegade, and I made many attempts to escape. They all
failed, and I began to despair.
    Then the fourth person to steal a superhero
suit struck. He wasn’t as good at covering his tracks as I had
been, but he wasn’t an idiot. He robbed a series of high value
targets, sank a few ships and then disappeared.
    Secretly, I hoped he would succeed. I liked
the way he was giving the whole world a super-powered middle
finger. I was envious, even. I imagined myself in his place, flying
unhindered through the skies, raiding banks and cargo ships.
    Then he attacked a town and burnt it to the
ground. I don’t know why he did that, but that was the end for him. Dark Fire was still official dead in those days, and the
Corps had been holding Dark Fire in reserve. The video of a
renegade superhero shooting flames at innocent civilians quickly
changed their minds. Dark Fire called me into his office and
had me sit on a chair in front of his desk. It was a big leather
chair with comfortable