So Not a Hero Read Free

accidentally–I was going to go back to prison.
    The smart thing would be for me to pick up my bag and just walk away. I could take off running and be a mile or two away before the scuffle reached the bus stop. I glanced back to the friendly lady and saw a trace of worry. I doubted if she would even be able to cross the street before the fight was on top of her. She sure as hell wouldn’t survive it.
    I was going to have to take her with me. I just hoped she wouldn’t have a heart attack or anything along the way. “Sobo,” I said using ‘grandmother’ in a respectful tone, “I am going to have to carry you someplace safe. Rikai suru?” Understand?
    She looked around, fear still riding high on her wrinkled face, and then looked at me and nodded. “Hai.”
    I smiled and bent down to gather her gently into my arms. Looking over her shoulder, I saw a yellow sedan sail over the top of the building behind us. Flames licked at the undercarriage and its trajectory brought it down fifty feet away. I spun around with the old woman cradled against my chest and kicked the bench with the boys on it. They both squawked with surprise as their seat flipped up into the air and dropped them behind the concrete wall of the bus stop.
    The car exploded and metal shrapnel coupled with bits of burning rubber pelted my back like a machine gun. I kept the woman shielded from the blast and glanced up to see the two heads slowly rise up from the other side of the concrete slab. Both seemed unhurt, though from the looks on their faces, I would bet that at least one had pissed himself.
    Slowly I stood up and unfurled my arms, releasing the old lady. Her chest rose and fell rapidly and wide brown eyes looked everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I picked her up and carried her carefully around the wall and set her down on the sidewalk next to the teens. The headphones were dangling around their necks and one of them had his mouth hanging open as he watched me.
    “Listen, you guys stay here and keep an eye on this woman until the paramedics get here.”
    The both stared blankly and I huffed and snapped my fingers several times in front of one of their noses.
    “Uh, yeah,” one of them said.
    The other one pointed at a spot behind me. “Like, you’re on fire, chick.”
    I turned and realized my hoodie was smoldering. It had been loose enough that it extended beyond the protective aura of my invulnerability. I ripped off the burning jacket and tossed it into the street. “Thanks. Think you two can keep this nice woman safe?”
    Neither answered and I followed their vapid gaze down to the swell cleavage rising out of the tank top I was wearing. I want to slap them both for leering, but another thunderclap rumbled closer to us and I needed them alert and helpful, not broken and unconscious. I gritted my teeth and looked at the scared woman.
    “You will be safe here, Sobo,” I said in Japanese. “Help is coming.”
    She nodded slowly and I stood up. No longer having a perfect view down my shirt seemed to snap at least one of the teens out of his stupor and he moved closer to the woman. I gave him a small smile and started towards my backpack. The police and other assorted authority figures were probably on their way and I figured it might be best if I wasn’t here when they arrived.
    Before I could run away, a section of the building across the street exploded in a fountain of bricks and mortar as it spit out a humanoid figure. The blue-suited man tumbled end over end on his way towards the hard asphalt of the parking lot.
    I swore softly. “Son of a bitch.”
    I surged forward, tapping into my enhanced speed as my legs kicked into gear to propel me across four lanes, and another hundred feet through the lot just in time to catch the falling figure in my arms. I didn’t have the slightest clue where my sense of self-preservation had gone. Or why it’d left me with good deeds as a replacement. I hadn’t given much consideration to