Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: BLIND (06/03/21)
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TITLE: I Didn't See That | Previous Challenge Entry
By Art Westefeld
06/09/21 -
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With her thermal vision she noticed several people whose body temperature was elevated, indicating excitement to her practiced gaze. She moved in their direction, wondering what they were getting worked up over. Her answer came quickly, when one of them pulled out and lit a large firecracker. As he took aim at the rabbi giving the opening speech, she clandestinely used her cold powers to extinguish the explosive. The crowd panicked upon seeing an explosive device aimed at the speaker. Jennifer used the distraction to switch to her costumed identity. Upon spotting the superhero, the erstwhile attacker yelled to his friends, “Superhero! Scatter!”
One of the group, a portly man, fell to the ground. Coldfire used an ice barrage to clear a path to the fallen man.
He clutched his chest as she approached. Coldfire was concerned that he was having a heart attack due to the excitement. Letting the rest of the group scatter, she knelt beside him and began to administer aid. Many in the crowd expressed their disapproval, shouting things like, “Stop! He’s one of the terrorists that tried to attack the rabbi!”
Coldfire, whose interest was in saving lives regardless of who they were, ignored the crowd. When paramedics took the man away, a reporter walked up to her and asked sharply, “Why did you save a man that was part of the violent protests?"
Coldfire found herself frozen for an instant, unable to speak. Finding her voice she replied, “I’m a Christian and devoted to saving lives.”
Noticing that her answer hadn’t calmed the crowd that had joined in haranguing her, she continued, “Besides, I didn’t notice that he was part of that group.”
Someone in the crowd yelled, “What, are you blind or something?”
Not wanting to reveal anything about her true identity, she ignored the question, even though what she really wanted to do was freeze the heckler’s mouth closed.
The next several days on social media, her actions were debated, and the vitriolic comments made her glad she couldn’t see the memes.
Megawatt, her boyfriend and the leader of the Light Force asked, “Why didn't you freeze the terrorists in place before going to help that guy?"
She replied, “I lost track of them when they scattered. I am blind, you know! My thermal vision doesn’t allow me to see the details that your vision affords you.
Megawatt placed a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you’re so capable that I sometimes forget you are blind.”
His apology, meant to calm things, had quite the opposite effect. “Maybe I should get a guide dog and put a mask on it to remind you. It might stop the people criticizing me online, too!”
Megawatt knew that their next date wouldn’t be anytime soon, but he simply repeated, “I'm sorry.”
Coldfire’s annoyance cooled some, but she still grumbled at him, “Maybe you should just blow my secret identity and let the public know that I’m blind. I doubt that there are very many blond blind women in River Falls.”
Seeking to redirect the conversation Megawatt said, “Maybe, instead, we should just reinforce what you said at the time, that helping an injured person was more important to your mission than stopping some ineffectual terrorists.”
Even as he said this, Megawatt realized that the main reason they were ineffectual was her freezing the firecracker and appearing on the scene in costume.
A moment later, their team member Diamond called in to report that he had found and captured the terrorists, recognized from video footage, and had deposited them with the police. He wrapped up his informal report by saying, “Those losers were happy to have me deal with them, instead of the ‘lady with the ice powers’. Thanks to fear of you, they were an easy capture.”
Coldfire's thermal vision didn't give her sufficient detail to observe the expression of relief on Megawatt’s face, but she could hear it in his "Thank you, Diamond!"
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