For Kevin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up all night. Exhausted. Bone tired. Weariness dragging down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whoever said crime doesn’t sleep wasn’t lying. It had been nonstop action all night. There was a scent of soot and body odor clinging to her skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elisa looked at her phone to check the time. Grimaced at the crack running across the screen. Meta-grade materials her left foot. She’d slammed the thing into one recalcitrant face and now look at it: crack city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The thought of having to get a new phone made her want to have a headache. Even with the cloud, there was still a lot of personal stuff she’d have to transfer over. And there was always the nagging sense of something being forgotten, left behind, whenever she got a new phone or device and had to abandon the old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nostalgia was almost a suffering friend on her part, rather than the thoughtful softness that other people got to enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She shoved the phone back in her utility belt and finished her slog to Canaverra Bridge. It was the perfect spot to watch the sunrise, the rippling blue water and the clean scent of ocean a cleansing backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a superhero wasn’t all cheery media smiles and punching villains in the face. It was tiring work, especially for a second-rate hero like her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She didn’t have any illusions about her place in the world. She wasn’t a frontline hero. Just one of the grunts that cleaned up ground level criminals. And that was fine with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Superheroing was a job. One that paid her bills and let her live the life she wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It hadn’t been her dream. It was a paycheck she worked hard for and earned with blood, sweat, and tears. Mostly not her own. She had a powerful right hook and wasn’t afraid to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her lips curved up when she realized she’d made it on time. Barely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghostly wavering light at first rising up over the mountains. Then the spill of golden light as the sky brightened beneath the clouds. Then the first piercing rays of sunlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sun rose, beautiful in the early morning chill. And Elisa watched it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
=END=<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"