How to Date a Superhero Ch. 10

"No!" he yelled in defiance as Mega-Girl gained her feet, "This is impossible! I am Lord of Hades! I am in control of the Underworld! Here, I am the master!!"

"Whatever," Mega-Girl swung her arms and slammed her palms together in a massive clap, sending a shockwave of air and sound to stagger Pluto and interrupt his magical assault.

Pluto was one of the oldest beings in existence, and normally in the Underworld his strength and power were supreme as he could draw on the very energy of his realms. But at that moment, Hades had betrayed him. Mega-Girl and Jordan were mortals of Earth and their fates should not have been the Olympian underworld; they were like drops of oil in a pool of water - they simply did not belong. Hades was amplifying Mega-Girl's (already) considerable strength, helping her balance the laws of nature.

Shooting forward, Mega-Girl was on him in an instant, raining blows upon Pluto with such strength and ferocity that he was unable to protect himself. When he fell to the ground Mega-Girl straddled his form and punched Pluto repeatedly across his face until he no longer offered any resistance.

Pluto's army of demons had finally arrived but did not engage, remaining high in the sky and circling. They sensed Pluto was out of favor and served Hades first, Lord Pluto second. They watched as Mega-Girl lifted their master into the air by his neck.

"You are going to leave Jordan and me alone for the rest of our lives," Mega-Girl threatened as she held Pluto aloft, "I am not going to marry you, or bear your children, or wage war on Olympus. Not now, not a thousand years from now. Do you understand?"

Pluto's prone form hung unconscious in Mega-Girl's grip. She simply dropped him to the dirt at her feet.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

=======

Long after Lilly Swann left, Travis remained at Mega-Girl's gravesite. He was sitting on the ground, listening to the late-night crickets endlessly chirping. He was thinking back to when the two had met, after Mega-Girl had rescued him from a burning car following a horrible freeway accident. Travis had awkwardly asked her out for coffee, beguiled by her fame and beauty, and she had accepted. He couldn't help but wonder if they would have dated longer, had Mega-Girl not also pursued him as her secret identity - Penny. But if Mega-Girl wouldn't have had a secret identity Travis probably would have never met Jordan, and he missed her with equal anguish.

Glancing at his cell phone, Travis saw that it was nearly three in the morning. He had been sitting there for the better part of three hours lost in thought and had lost track of time. Rising to his feet and dusting off his shorts, Travis turned to leave when he heard a strange noise coming from the ground beneath his feet. He turned to glance back at the grave when a red-gloved hand emerged from dirt.

"Holy shit!" Travis jumped back, afraid.

The ground suddenly gave way and Mega-Girl emerged, crawling head and arms from her own grave. She gasped for fresh air, her long blonde hair caked with dirt. She was wearing her costume, which her mother had her buried in.

"Penny?!" Travis wasn't sure he could believe his eyes, wondering if the zombie apocalypse had finally arrived.

Mega-Girl spat out some dirt, still buried from the sternum down. "Travis?" she looked surprised to see him, "What are you doing here? Wait, where am I?"

"Jesus!" Travis rushed forward to help her, grabbing her beneath an arm and helping her crawl out of the ground. "You're alive!"

Mega-Girl wiped her mouth with a wrist and looked around, "Is this a cemetery?"

"Uh, yeah, McFarlane National Cemetery, where you were buried! My god, I thought you were dead. We all thought, I mean... you were dead!"

"I was, but... I wasn't in Hades for more than half a day," she looked at her own gravestone, "How did you have time to bury me already?"

"You've been dead a month!" Travis remarked, still in disbelief.

"Wait, a month? So Jordan's been buried as well?"

Travis nodded, "Yeah, of course." He pointed, "Her grave is just over that way."

Mega-Girl's eyes widened with alarm, "Show me!"

"But..." Travis hesitated.

"Now, Travis!" Mega-Girl yelled urgently.

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded and hurriedly jogged towards Jordan's gravestone.

Mega-Girl followed, dirt and dust falling from her petite frame. When they arrived to Jordan's gravestone she dropped to her knees and frantically began scooping dirt away, upheaving piles of earth at a time with her super strength. It took perhaps thirty seconds for her to reach the wooden top of a coffin.

"Penny?" Travis watched, "What's going on? What are you doing?"

"Jordan!" Mega-Girl yelled.

A muffled scream came from inside the coffin along with pounding noises as someone inside banged their hand against the top.

"Oh my god," Travis dropped to his knees at the edge of the hole Mega-Girl dug, "Is that Jordan?!"

"Hang-on, Jordan!" Mega-Girl yelled so that Jordan could hear her. She frantically pushed and swept more dirt away, shoveling it away with her palms. Once she had enough of the coffins surface revealed, she punched a hand through the wood.

Jordan's voice came through the hole, "MG, is that you?"

Wood splintered as Mega-Girl tore apart the top of the coffin, making enough of a hole to climb through. "Jesus Christ," Jordan gasped as she emerged from the coffin. "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't fucking believe this," Travis watched. He briefly wondered if he was dreaming.

"We made it," Mega-Girl smiled, tears coming from her eyes. "We're back on Earth. We're alive!"

With some help from her best friend Jordan crawled out of the coffin, "The last thing I remember is riding in that rickety boat across the River Styx and entering a thick fog..." she glanced upwards, "Travis?! Oh my god, Travis is that really you?"

"I can't believe you guys are alive," Travis laughed, tears in his eyes as well. "How is this possible?"

"Long story," Jordan grinned, reaching up to let Travis pull her out of the hole. "I'm so happy to see you!" she clutched him in a gigantic hug once she was safely on her feet.

Mega-Girl crawled from the hole and watched the two embrace, happy for their reunion but at the same time a twinge of jealousy echoed in her stomach.

"What was I doing in a grave?" Jordan read her own name on the gravestone.

"You were dead," Travis deadpanned.

"Evidently we've been gone a month," Mega-Girl mentioned.

"What the fuck am I wearing?" Jordan looked down at herself. A frilly white sundress with yellow sunflowers and a flaring skirt decorated her tan frame. "Is this what my parents let me go to my grave in? Yuck! This is awful."

Travis laughed, "You're unbelievable! You just came back to life after being dead for a month, and you're worried about what you're wearing?"

Jordan's nose wrinkled, "I'm a little concerned about that smell, too."

"I think that's us," Mega-Girl said, "Our dead bodies have been wearing these clothes underground for thirty days."

Jordan stuck her tongue out, "Ew, gross. Someone take me home so I can shower for three weeks."

"You don't have a home," Travis reminded, "Come on, my car is in the parking lot. I can take you to my dorm."

"Are you guys going to be okay?" Mega-Girl asked, "I should go see my mom, and then find Apollo."

Jordan nodded, "I'll be okay. I should call my parents, too."

"You can use my cell phone on the way," Travis offered, "But first you're going to explain to me what the hell is going on."

"I'll meet up with you guys later," Mega-Girl said, then flew up into the air.

Flying at a leisurely pace towards her mother's house in the suburbs, Mega-Girl smiled warmly at the familiar skyline of Gateway City.

It was good to be home.