Hayley POV

"I'm serious."

"And I've told you for the millionth time, I get it! 'Don't go upstairs, don't touch anything, don't ask my mom any questions' you've said it a million times!" I said as we neared... his house. Should really ask him for a name. His house was surprisingly nice, despite a broken window. "Did someone break in?"

"Yeah." He said casually.

"Did they steal anything?"

"Pizza. Clean pair of underwear." He said before opening the door. "Sit on the couch over there while I get my mom."

"Really? Your mom's gonna fix your crime fighting injuries?"

"I'll have you know she practically did surgery on herself once in an alleyway with a first aid kit and some scissors." He said before walking upstairs. I sighed and blew a piece of stray hair out of my face before I heard a shout of "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOU!?" There was a back and forth between the two for a few seconds before I heard "WAIT YOU ACTUALLY GOT A GIRLFRIEND!?" Making me blush downstairs. I heard him shout "NO SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Before the other voice shouted "WHAT COULD BE SO BAD ABOUT HER THAT YOU DIDN'T ASK HER OUT!?" before he said "SHE'S A HERO!" There was a silence before his mom said "YOU BROUGHT A HERO TO MY HOUSE!?" There was another back and forth before I heard footsteps come down the stairs. He came down the stairs with his hands in his pockets next to his mom.

"Uhhhhh... hi." I said awkwardly. His mom muttered "Dammit, she's cute, why'd she have to be a hero?" Before throwing on a smile and saying "Hi. You must be, Prodigy. I'm... wait, what is your name?" She said before looking at him. His blood covered eye widened under his mask.

"I... never thought of one." He said.

"I'm Spectre's Mom." His mom finished his sentence for him.

"I'm not calling myself Spectre."

"Yes you are, or you're grounded."

"Fine, as long as I don't have to use the other half of it."

"What's wrong with being-"

"ANYWAY, can we fix my face please!? And my shoulder!?" Spectre shouted making his mom shrug. His mom walked into another room. He took off his mask again before sighing. "Sorry, she can be a little weird." He said.

"It's fine." I said staring at his battered face. I looked around before getting up and saying "I'll be right back."

"I thought you understood when I said a million-"

"I have to use, the bathroom, dick." I lied before walking into a nearby bathroom. I looked for a wash cloth and when I found a blue one I put cold water on it before walking back out.

"What the hell are you-"

"Just shut up and let me do this." I said before getting the dry blood off of his face. He grabbed my wrist to stop me at first before he hesitated and let go of me so I could finish. He's like a wolf that's never heard of someone being nice before.

"...Thanks." He said. There was still a slightly red stain on his face but it wasn't nearly as bad as it originally was. In fact, now that I had a better look at his face, he wasn't exactly bad looking. Too bad he's an asshole.

"Don't mention it." I said.

"So, Prodigy, was it? Got any hobbies besides pursuing false truths and blind justice?" She asked. What's with his family and hating superheroes?

"Uhhhhh I'm into movies I guess and going shopping." I said. His mom dropped something and shouted "GOD DAMMIT!... I forgot to record something." It sounded like she added that last part as a cover up.

"Could you just get what you need to get!?" Spectre said before sighing and holding his arm. "So what took you so long to try and get C-1?"

"I was evacuating the area, and right as I finished getting the citizens to safety a bunch of lasers started shooting out of the bar." I said.

"Hey, those aren't lasers. Those are pure concentrated energy waves." He explained.

"So why did they look exactly like the lasers the cyborg lady was shooting?" I asked him.

"...Shut up." He said. "But, good thinking to get everyone out."

"Thanks." I said.

"If it's any consolation for not getting the arrest, you're the best superhero I've ever met... and sorry for punching you in the face."

"I'm sorry for hurdling a giant rock at your head." I said. "So what exactly are you?"

"Disgruntled American citizen."

"No, seriously. First you help Chaos get away from me-"

"Help is a strong word-"

"Then you help me take out a gang before you almost kill one of them. And then you fight me today-"

"You threw the first punch!"

"I'm sorry but you're the only person I know who shoots red lasers out of your hands and I thought there was a direct correlation!" I said.

"...Fair enough."

"Anyway, we fought and then you start to help me take out C-1, and then you punch me so hard I went temporarily unconscious, and now you're offering to have your mom bandage me up. Are you a hero or a villain?"

"No."

"What?"

"I'm neither. Villains are monsters that endanger people's lives. Heroes are cowards that endanger people's lives. If I'm there and someone is in danger, I'm stopping whoever endangers citizens' lives the most when I'm there. And it hasn't yet, but if that means killing them, I'll do it."

"That's insane. You shouldn't kill people, regardless of they're heroes or villains. Especially if they're heroes trying to make things better."

"Relax, princess. I won't kill you."

"That's not what I was concerned about. You'd have to be crazy to actually believe that killing off heroes is as good of a solution as killin- I mean arresting super villains."

"Or enlightened. And even if you don't kill the heroes, the villains at least deserve to die."

"Give one example of when a hero killing a villain would've-"

"Captain Amazo killing Golden I on D-Day S.H." Spectre said. I stopped talking. "Or Nightfall killing BasketKase on his cross-country-cop-chase. If they're just going to let Super villains off to kill more people, we're better off without heroes at all. Especially when some of them are fueled with the soul purpose of beating said heroes."

"Alright, now that's complete bullshit and you know it."

"Really? Enlighten me."

"I thought your gimmick was you were already enlightened. Or was it just that you're an asshole?"

"Don't know. You pick, princess."

"Stop calling me-! Ugh! Anyway, think about it; sure you have people like Golden I where if Amazo didn't exist, he wouldn't have done D-Day S.H., but then you still have people like Skull. And Raven. And then they start taking over their own little turfs. Soon they want more, and they start fighting. Gang Warfare the size of The Civil War. And then there's no one to keep them in check."

"...You've... actually got a point." Spectre said before something went crashing into my bad arm. I looked over to see a first aid kit and Spectre's mom with some sort of like glue in her hand.

"Take off your shirt." She said.

"Excuse me?" Spectre said.

"Don't make it weird, you're the idiot who got shot with a laser beam somewhere not your arm." His mom said. Spectre hesitated before taking off his shirt. Whatever view I would've gotten was ruined by the giant hole in the space his arm and torso met. "Jesus Christ, dude!" His mom said before squeezing the bottle into the hole.

"What the hell is that!?"

"The shit I got for that time Amazo shot a hole in my ankle." His mom said.

"He did what!?" Spectre and I said at the same time.

"Story for another time." She said. "We're gonna bandage that up and then you're not allowed to do stupid shit for a week while the healer works. Or get a sniper rifle." She said before looking at me. "That was a joke by the way, hero." She said before looking away and muttering "He doesn't know how to use a sniper."

. . .

"And one more." Spectre said putting a band aid across my cheek.

"Th-thanks." I said. After Spectre's mom finished with his major wounds, she said she had to go back to work upstairs and kinda left me to bleed out. Spectre actually helped bandage me up for the most part. There were some scrapes and bruises under neath my shirt but we both agreed that I'd just fix those myself later. Somehow he had completely changed from the cold loner that knocked me out cold just because he felt like it earlier today. But even as we were right next to each other and taking care of each other, he felt just as cold and distant. "So I guess I'll see you around?" I said getting up from the couch.

"...No you won't." He said walking to the door and opening it for me. "Here's to hoping we never see each other again." And just like that, he's back to the Asshole that he was every time he had the mask on.

"Yeah, sure." I said annoyed, walking out the front door.

"I meant that as in 'Whenever I see a superfight I tend to beat up both sides', not 'I despise you'." He said.

"Uh huh, sure you did." I said continuing to walk away.