Here I am, alone, hungry, surrounded by millions of dollars I can't spend, and to top it all off, I'm naked.
I suppose I should start at the beginning. I live in a universe where all living things are born with a superpower that makes them special. Some fly, others are super-fast or have super strength, and some people control elements like fire or ice.
Something very particular about the society in which we live is the fact of choosing whether you want to be a supervillain or superhero at the age of 13. Only if you are born with a special ability since some poor souls are born with no power at all.
In my case, it took me a while to figure out what my special skill was. Despite my parents taking me to several specialists, who subjected me to extreme tests, my superpower was not coming through.
It wasn't until the group of misfits at my high school decided to play a practical joke on me that my ability showed up. After a disappointing experience in physical education classes, I was in the showers, when they took me by surprise and against my will threw me into the girls' bathroom.
I fell flat on my face in front of the girls, however, none of them could see me. The group was reprimanded for breaking into the girls' washroom and none of them knew what happened to me. It was then that I knew that despite believing I was a "non-power," as they used to call them, I finally had a superpower.
I decided not to tell anyone about my superpower. Well, it wasn't a very special power anyway. Only my body can become invisible, not my clothes; so if I want to activate my ability I must be completely naked. Have you ever tried to walk around naked during a snowfall? I almost lost my toes to frostbite and obviously, my footprints are visible in the snow, maybe I am transparent but still solid.
On any given day, it is customary to hear the warning siren indicating that you should take shelter in the protective zones because some superhero is fighting some supervillain.
They are brutal fights, capable of smashing buildings, streets, and bridges. Sometimes they throw each other vehicles like paper balls and for that reason, most people, especially the "non-power" are advised to take cover. Not all insurance policies cover an injury due to being a victim of a fight between titans.
Superheroes (class 1) include people who are extremely strong, fast, and even fly, but they generally don't take the time to catch petty criminals, that task is left to the lowest class 4 superheroes. They are the ones who take care of tedious tasks like traffic problems, domestic fights, and even unclogging pipes, you will understand why I didn't choose to be a superhero of any kind.
Superheroes must follow a code of honor and irreproachable conduct at all times. They can be imprisoned for misconduct or committing infractions and worst of all, they must do so without resistance or complaint, which does not appeal to me.
To be a supervillain you must meet a particular standard, if you do not possess a power practical enough to perform misdeeds, you must at least pass a test where they evaluate your ability to create Machiavellian plans thoroughly. Most pass it by cheating or buying the answers. Oddly enough, it is part of the test.
In addition, you must also pay a monthly commission, including 5% of the loot you steal; all this to pay for medical insurance to cover damages caused by fights against superheroes or perhaps an accident due to negligence when using a superweapon or manipulating radioactive laboratory experiments.
Still, it was of no particular interest to me to be part of either side.
However, I did find myself in trouble once, and it wasn't because I encountered a bitter enemy, a supervillain, or fought a superhero. Actually, my debts were up to my neck and I was about to lose my apartment. Living in a metropolis is expensive, like any city, taxes, basic services, and rents are high.
That's why I decided to rob a bank. I assumed it would be an easy job for someone capable of making himself invisible. But it wasn't.
I chose a small bank, with a waiting room of no more than 5 by 6 meters, with two tellers, a couple of offices, and a vault. The watchman was a man in his 50s.
However, the air conditioning in the bank I had chosen was extremely cold, and waiting for the vault to be opened while naked was not easy. Another problem I had was that even though I was invisible, my fingerprints were not. So I couldn't touch anything compromising.
To get a million dollars out, I hid the money in the bank's garbage bags. I patiently pulled out low-denomination bills after the bank staff came in and out of the vault, using their bodies to my advantage to avoid the security cameras.
Unfortunately, greed always takes us by the hand at the most vulnerable moments. I was still short of money and no one was coming to the vault, but I decided to wait a little longer. The wait started to get long, and before I knew it, I fell asleep. I found myself alone, hungry, and locked inside the vault when I woke up.
So I was in a predicament. Surprisingly, that same night, another person also wanted to get hold of the money in the bank.
She was a very pretty girl and wore an extremely sensual outfit. She could be as silent and flexible as a feline. She had probably altered her DNA. Although she took every precaution to carry out her misdeed she never expected to find a naked guy inside the vault.
Although I was invisible to the human eye, I was not invisible to infrared scopes.
And what can a naked man do in front of a pretty lady, he can smile and cross his legs for sure.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked in fright.
"I'm not Batman for sure," I chuckled.
"I'm just someone who tried to do the same thing you did but failed in the attempt", I replied crestfallen
"Well, you almost made me lose one of my nine lives," she added worriedly.
She glanced at me over her goggles, opened her purse, and began filling it with cash. Not all women are born with superpowers. But, I have been fascinated to notice their innate ability to do many things at once. Before long, her restlessness disappeared.
She couldn't help but burst out laughing when I told her that I had fallen asleep waiting to complete the money I needed. I was a rookie, she, on the other hand, was well aware of the bank's vulnerabilities.
Before I knew it, I had told her almost my entire life story in the short time it took her to clean out the vault.
It was incredible to think that a small thing like her could do this kind of work. Physically she was of slender build and perhaps 5'6" tall. She had turquoise eyes, I knew this when she took off her infrared vision goggles to avoid seeing any more of my nubile parts.
"Do you belong to any supervillain guilds?", I asked. I undoubtedly stayed invisible to avoid the awkward position of talking to a naked person, especially a naked man.
She put a finger to her lips and looked up as if searching through her memories
"Initially I did, but then I realized I do more on my own," she said as she left the vault.
My legs were still numb from the position I had been in and also from the chill of the air conditioning. I followed her to the cashier's room where I lost sight of her as I examined the trash cans.
Unfortunately, they were empty. So I fled through the exit I had planned, the ladies' room window led to an alley behind the bank, where the main trash can was located, and my hidden clothes.
Indeed the garbage bags with the money were inside the dumpster, however, my clothes were missing.
"Are you missing anything?" a familiar voice asked from the shadows.
Soon the purr of a motorcycle lit up and behind the trail of smoke it left as it departed, I could see the glow of the yellow bag, where I had kept my clothes, tied to its rear stall.
Surely, there was no honor among the thieves. Fortunately, it was two o'clock in the morning and the streets were completely deserted. The walk home was long and even longer, walking it barefoot.
A small card on the ground caught my attention.
"Chin up! I may have a job for you. Love, Kat."
Image by Ideogram.Ai
