The Man in the Blank Mask, Part 2
Face to face.
Welcome to Olympus City, where super-powers, physics-defying tech, and unearthly creatures are all possible now. Human nature, however, remains unchanged.
No one is born a perfect superhero, but a few strive to live up to the ideal anyway.
Previously: Ken had met a wonderful young woman a couple of years ago and even revealed his identity to her, but then discovered she was just an actor hired to distract Mr. Amazing. He hadn’t seen her since. Turns out, she’s friends with Miranda.
Part 2
“Charlotte?” Ken said. It was a greeting and question in one.
“Yeah,” said Charlotte. Not Jasmine. The barista behind the counter was named Charlotte. “How—how are you?” The words tumbled out futilely, as though doomed to be the wrong words no matter what.
Ken had equal confidence in his own words and hated how slow he was in responding.
Miranda, as usual, was faster. She looked at her two friends, whom she thought she was introducing to each other. “You’ve met already?”
“A couple years ago,” Ken said, “though we haven’t seen each other since.”
“I really am sorry about … that.”
The apology sounded genuine. Ken, too, was sorry—sorry it was all a performance. Or was it? Surely at least someof that chemistry, some of that enchanting personality, must have been real. Her beauty remained as real as ever, so real that it compelled Ken to help her in whatever small way he could.
“Miranda knows who I am,” he said.
“I do?” Miranda spun toward Charlotte. “Wait, you know who he is?”
“Yeah, um, how do you two know each other?”
Ken already assumed Miranda hadn’t revealed her own secret identity. “High school friends. And I suppose it makes sense that you two have met. Did you work together?”
Charlotte flushed in embarrassment. “I haven’t done any acting since … since then.”
“Was it because of …?”
“That was part of it.”
She neglected to say how big a part. Ken guessed it was a large part, perhaps the dominant reason. He ruined her dreams.
I just had to show off, didn’t I? “I’m sorry.”
“I am, too.”
“I’m lost,” Miranda said, slinking away, “and apparently a third wheel, so I’ll just …”
Ken shook his head. “No need. I should be getting back to work anyway.” He looked into those beautiful eyes and found his confidence plummeting. “Nice, um, nice to see you again … Charlotte.”
He left as quickly as dignity permitted.
Sidewalk traffic was thinning out. Few, if anyone at all, noticed Ken ducking into an alley. There, he pulled his mask over his head but didn’t bother peeling off his civilian clothes. As a hybrid of his two selves, he leapt toward the cloudy night sky.
The mask blunted the wind as he soared between the skyscrapers. He wished he could feel the air against his skin. He could have. All he had to do was rip the mask off.
He thought of Jasmine—Charlotte—and he couldn’t.
“Hey, Mister!”
It was Miranda, though she had switched to her Ultra Woman voice, face, and costume. She slowed down once she caught up with him.
“Are you okay? Charlotte didn’t want to talk about it, and I didn’t want to push, so …”
“So you’re going to push me?”
She beamed innocently. “If you don’t mind.”
Ken paused in midflight, unconsciously rising a little higher for discretion. “It was Tuck Lewis.”
Miranda stiffened at the name. Ken had only recently learned what the famous actor put her through two years ago. He hated to remind her.
“Of course it was.” Her head tilted, eyes searching within. “He told me he had hired someone to distract you that day. That was Charlotte?”
Ken nodded. “It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know what was going on. She thought it was just a weird acting gig.”And she didn’t ask enough questions about it. Was she that gullible?
No, not gullible, he realized. Just desperate enough to take any job that came her way. Ken wanted to resent her—it would have been so much easier—but he couldn’t.
“She really does feel terrible about it,” Miranda said.
“I shouldn’t have taken the mask off. It was selfish.”
“It was honest.”
The wind picked up. The sky continued to blacken.
“Are you going to tell her you’re Ultra Woman?”
Miranda glanced at the street far below. “It crossed my mind, but … I don’t know. I guess I just liked having a friend who isn’t any part of this.”
“Sorry to ruin that for you.”
“No, no.” She shook her head and gently touched his arm. “Don’t think that. You didn’t. He did. I suppose you’ve just given us a shared secret is all.”
“And more opportunities for you to lie about your own secret.”
“I also like having friends who are part of this.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Miranda peeled her mask off, restoring the face of the young woman Ken had known for most of his equally young life. Her smile—her real smile—brought him back several years.
“Go on,” she said, her voice reverting to its natural register as the mask dangled between her fingers. “Take it off. Feel the air against your skin. It’s so refreshing.”
Ken wanted to. But he didn’t. “I’m glad you and Charlotte are friends. She seems like a great person.”
Miranda’s expression veered a little too close to pity. “She is. And maybe you two can still be friends.”
They couldn’t. That was the one thing Ken knew for certain.
“We really should get back to work,” he said. “I’ll take the west.”
“Sure.” Miranda put the mask back on and switched faces. “East is mine. Shout if you need backup.”
“Same to you.”
They broke off into separate flight paths. Along his westward flight, Ken encountered … nothing. Not a single situation in need of Mr. Amazing’s attention. Earlier he had halted a mugging, interrupted a drug deal, and even assisted a stranded motorist. Now, it was as though the entire city had heeded the warning of the charbroiled clouds and gone to bed early.
Eventually, Ken ran out of city and ended up at Sunnyside Beach, which was technically closed for the evening. One person failed to heed the signage, however. A thin male silhouette stood on the sand and gazed out at the dark water.
Though trespassing, he wasn’t hurting anyone. Ken was tempted to let him be, just fly away and pretend he never saw him. Being a volunteer, Mr. Amazing wasn’t responsible for enforcing all the laws.
But this guy was out here all alone for a reason. Maybe he simply wanted peace and quiet, or maybe he was going through a rough patch—maybe this was a job for Ken Shield.
Ken landed on the beach and pulled his mask off. The crashing waves muted his footsteps as he approached the water, acting like he had wandered out there to gather his own thoughts. There was something familiar about the silhouette, a slight figure with an excess of hair.
Stopping at the edge of the dry sand, Ken left the other man a respectable buffer. He intended to give it just another moment before turning toward him.
The other man spoke first. “Evening, friend.”
He knew that voice, recognized that unkempt beard. Spillage from the street lighting allowed him to make out the face. The random beach trespasser was the Terran, the supervillain who had nearly drowned the city in a tidal wave last week. The Terran had slipped away, and here he was, just hanging out on the beach, greeting a random stranger as a friend—likely unaware that he was speaking to Mr. Amazing.