by M&CNICFYYY2K
"How are we gonna know when they need us?" I ask, and her look immediately makes me feel stupid.
"They'll let us know," she says, her face buried in the crime section of the local newspaper. "It's their job."
"Yeah, but what if there's an emergency out there, and all the phone lines are dead, and--"
Before I can finish, she picks up the phone and holds it to her ear. "Sounds fine to me."
I look out the window at the busy but peaceful city. Something bad could be happening right now, and we're sitting here, doing nothing. "Can't I just go out there for a sec and make sure there are no metavillains taking over a building, or...?"
"No, you can't." She puts down the Gazette. Uh-oh. "Wanna know why? Because, even if you do find an emergency, there's nothing we can do about it. The whole point of joining an organization like this is being organized. That means no patrolling on our own, unless they tell us to. We're not vigilantes."
I look outside again, hoping for red skies or blue thunder, but the city is the same as before. "You know, in his day, my dad would just go out and fight the first costumed loon he found."
"And that's how good guys ended up fighting each other for two hours before realizing they were on the same side. Think about all the time and resources they wasted doing that, not to mention the destruction of public property. Now that we're all overseen by the same organism, our activity can be focused more efficiently. Things are better this way."
Crap. My roommate is not only boring, she's a fascist. I resist the urge to compare the system to Nazi Germany, 'cause her name is kinda German-sounding, and she may be sensitive about that whole thing. "Don't mention the war to a German," my dad always said. Then again, he also said the Holocaust was invented by Steven Spielberg.
Damn, this sucks. "If you ask me, they're taking all the fun out of the game."
"This is not a--"
The doorbell rings, and, before the buzz stops, I'm already there. I hesitate before opening the door. "You think it's them? You think they got a mission for us?"
"Why don't you open the door and find out?" Even with her condescending tone, I swear I felt a bit of excitement in her voice. She wants to kick some ass as bad as I do.
I do as she said, only to find a jolly fat man in a Hawaiian shirt standing outside, holding a cake.
"Welcome to the neighborhood!"