SuperPower Mart
Working at a big box store for super-powered individuals. Enough said?
“Do you know why you’re here, Sam?”
“I’m going to guess it has something to do with the customer complaining about what happened at my register earlier?” I asked, trying and mostly succeeding to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
“Indeed, that’s exactly why you’re here.” Mr. Leary(who always insists we call him that, just one of the many reasons he gets under my skin) said with a heavy sigh as he looked over the complaint sheet in front of him. “A customer, and I won’t say who, says you grabbed him and threatened his life.”
“Seriously?” I could already feel a headache starting to form as I let out a heavy sigh. “Dr. Demento really wants to pursue this, huh?”
“I didn’t say who it wa-“
“Are you going to suggest that I’ve physically restrained more than one customer today?” My green eyes narrowed as I glanced at the store manager. “It’s not like I did it without a reason, either; he pulled a gun on me!”
“You know firearms aren’t allowed on SuperPower Mart property, Sam.”
“Gun, Neruo-Scrambler; same difference. It looks like a gun, fires like a gun, and does bad things when it hits you. Are you seriously going to take HIS side on this?!” A low growl slipped as I tried to keep my anger in check.
“He says you wouldn’t give him a discount on a damaged product…”
“He damaged it himself! I could tell he was lying when he said he just found that neural transmitter sitting on the shelf like that with the broken antenna.”
“You have no way of knowing that.” Actually, I DO have a way of knowing that. Mr. Leary just wouldn’t be able to understand that I could hear the sudden increase in Dr. Demento’s heart rate as he was lying. Even if he did, he probably wouldn’t believe me anyway. He was one of the only employees here who wasn’t enhanced, the common term used for anybody with some kind of super power(however minor or major). Correction; he was one of the employees who wasn’t OPENLY enhanced. A good portion of the population with powers keeps them under wraps for one reason or another, and I reminded myself that just because I didn’t know Mr. Leary’s power or powers didn’t mean he didn’t have any.
“He says he was only trying to defend himself when you grabbed him.” My headache was getting worse by the second. Clearly Mr. Leary hadn’t looked at the security footage to realize how big a lie that was, and at the rate this was going he clearly had no interest in doing so. I did have to give him some credit though; most people tend to get pretty nervous when I start getting agitated, but he was as cool as a cucumber.
“Listen, can we please finish this up? I was supposed to be off the clock fifteen minutes ago, and I’ve had a really long day.” I jabbed a clawed finger at the clock mounted on the wall as I noted the time. “Am I losing hours? Taking a pay cut?”
“Dr. Demento wants you let go, and this is your third complaint in two months…”
“WHAT?!” The white fur on the back of my neck stood up with my feet as I jumped up, claws digging into Mr. Leary’s desk as a very audible growl escaped me. “You can’t be serious!”
“I didn’t say you were fired, Sam…”
“No, but you’re not NOT saying it, either!” My grip on my the desk tightened as I tried to keep a similar grip on my emotions. Hitting him would DEFINITELY get me fired, no matter how much he deserved it. “Those other complaints were garbage, too!”
“They came from some of the most respected members in the super hero community...”
“In the public eye, yes. Dealing with them on a personal level, though? They’re both super jerks!”
I started tuning Mr. Leary out as soon as he started parroting the corporate motto of SuperPower Mart. “Whether you serve yourself or what’s right, at SuperPower Mart there will be no fights.” In short, it meant that the store was neutral ground. That meant super heroes and villains alike could enter in their full costumes, do whatever shopping they needed to get done, and leave without fear of getting jumped by their nemesis. Regular citizens like it too, since it means they might get to see their favorite superhero or villain at a time when they weren’t in the middle of a battle.
I was seriously weighing the consequences of just socking Mr. Leary anyway for the satisfaction. I could probably make it to the door before security caught me, if how long it took them to respond to Dr. Demento was any indication of their reaction speed to an emergency. A knock at the office door broke Mr. Leary’s attention and disrupted the escape route I was planning in my head. Without waiting for a response, the person knocking opened the door and poked his head in.
“Mr. Leary? May I have a moment of your time?” Whoa; speaking of security, the head of it just walked in. I gulped a little as I recognized the sight of the Hell Hound. It would be impossible for me not to recognize one of the first werewolf superheroes, seeing as how I was one myself(a werewolf, not a hero). He looked intimidating with his black furred and heavily muscled body almost stuffed into a white dress shirt paired with a black tie and the same colored dress pants, and that was without the flames that used to make up his costume.
“Jean, I’m speaking with Sam at the moment. Can you please wai-“
“I would, Mr. Leary, but this is related.” Jean let himself in, holding a small tablet in his clawed hand. “I heard about happened, and figured I better show you this.”
I caught a glimpse of a video as Mr. Leary took the tablet. His expression remained unchanged as he watched, and I didn’t dare try and get close enough to get a peek myself. Luckily for me, the Hell Hound narrated what was happening.
“Sam’s suspicions about Dr. Demento damaging the product in question himself were correct, as you can see from the security footage here.” A joke about how Dr. Demento must have gotten his doctorate online if he wasn’t smart enough to avoid a security camera went unsaid as the Hell Hound continued to narrate. “While it is store policy to offer discounts on accidently damaged products, allowing the same discounts on products the customers damage themselves would set a very bad precedent.”
“As for Sam restraining Dr. Demento, all she did was restrain him. And that was only after he had already pointed his weapon at her first.” I heard the sound of the Neuro-Scrambler going off from the tablet now, though it was firing harmlessly into the ceiling at that point. A couple of seconds later security finally appeared and separated us.
Nobody said anything for a minute as Mr. Leary reviewed the footage a few more times. As tough as my talk was, I really didn’t want to lose this job. The tradeoff of dealing with enhanced customers and potentially dangerous products all day was that I actually made a living wage for my trouble. It also didn’t hurt that being surrounded by people with mechanical limbs, pets made of sentient ooze, and the occasional sneeze triggering a tornado, no one was likely to give me crap for having fur and a tail.
“…You’re still on thin ice, Sam.” Mr. Leary broke the silence after what seemed like forever as he passed the tablet back to Jean. “Go punch out; I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Thank you, Mr. Leary.” I nodded and managed to keep my expression steady as I grabbed my coat and left, Jean right behind me. It was only when I was safely out of the office and in the hallway when I let out a huge sigh of relief.
“You did good, Sam.” My fur concealed my blush at the compliment from Jean as he closed the door behind us. “It was risky, but you managed to grab him in the split second Dr. Demento moved the Neuro-Scrambler off you and onto the customers. I don’t think Speedster could’ve timed it better himself.”
“T-Thanks.” I stammered for a moment as a wolfish grin adorned Jean’s muzzle. “Still, that’s a little much. It’s nothing you haven’t probably done a thousand times over as a member of the Saviors.”
“Former member.” Jean corrected me. I thought I caught a brief glimpse of sadness come across his face, but it passed before I could be sure. “I haven’t been considered a Savior in a long time.”
“Anyway, you better punch out before Mr. Leary sees you here too much past your shift.” I nodded and turned to leave, until I felt Jean’s hand on my shoulder. He tilted his head a little as he gave me an inquisitive look. “I’m sorry, but have we met before today? You seem familiar…”
“U-Um…” If I could tell when someone was lying, I had no doubt the Hell Hound would find me out in an instant the second I tried to lie about never meeting before. Fate was kind to me, though, as his walkie talkie squawked to life. With a quick acknowledgement to the person on the other end and a reminder to punch out soon for me, he took off back onto the sales floor.
You’re no former Savior, I thought as I headed to the break room where the time clock computer was set up. You’re my savior. I don’t care what the papers and the blogs say, about what happened that day. I know it’s a lie, and one day I’m going to get the truth out of you.
As long as this job doesn’t kill me first.