Etna was in a great mood. Butterflies danced around her head, swirling their beauteous colours into a collage, and the world lay in the palm of her hand. The Darkmen had not returned for some time.
"Such a cracked world," she thought aloud. "I know; I'll help it; make it better."
Of course Etna would have to move quickly to accomplish her important task. She checked her hair in the window. Still the same red. She checked her hands. Still the same, old, filed down small things they had been since she could remember. She checked her feet. Still barefoot. Oh well. The butterflies were probably playing games and hiding her shoes again. They played this game all the time. No matter.
Etna moved to open the window and paused. How foolish of her. She'd forgotten her friends might drop by and visit her new apartment. The landlord had said she would only be here temporarily and to 'enjoy it while it lasted'. He said it was because of over crowding and what-not. She didn't mind. It had a nice view for a first floor room.
Now what to do about her friends. They usually dropped by a couple times per day and they were specifically told by the landlord to drop by more often while she was in her temporary apartment. Her friends were the ones who had given her a nickname. "M.D.S." is what they called her. It meant Mega-Deluxe Superhero. Of course her friends also used the words "loony" and "stupid bitch" in her presence, but those words probably meant nothing. After all, when they used "M.D.S." she was sure they were talking to her.
Unfortunately though, she just did not have the time to meet with them today. They would have to wait. The world needed to have its cracks fixed.
She unlatched the window and pulled it up. Such a neat little accessory this latch. There wasn't one on the window in her old apartment. She remembered one of her fellow apartment-dwellers telling her how to use one if she ever had to. It was one of the few miracles of technology Etna ever learned how to use.
"Come on. Let's go," she called to the butterflies, who by now were circling around at a furious pace causing a blur of colours, before slipping out the window.
She so preferred the window to the door. Often times the people hanging out in the hall outside her old room would yell at her and force her back in when she tried to come out. Such rude people.
Butterflies at her side, now more relaxed that they were doing something, Etna straightened her one-piece, monotone, outfit and walked across the green lawn towards the street. Flowers were in bloom all around. She had to reprimand several butterflies fo r trying to play with them. After all appearance was everything in her apartment complex. She knew mixing up the different coloured flowers by playing with them was not good just like that time when her friends had given her a blue pill to take instead of her normal yellow pill.
Concrete met foot and Etna looked down. Goodness. There was a crack at least a meter long. Things were worse than she had thought. This was her responsibility to fix. Only she could save the world from totally cracking up. She was Etna, Mega-Deluxe Super hero.
She walked down the bustling boulevard trying to assess how much worse things really were. A crack on the side of a building seemed to appear before Etna's eyes. It wasn't just the ground anymore.
While examining every nook-and-cranny she could, Etna became aware of a slight murmur in the air. When she raised her head to look at the cause of the disturbance, the only thing she could see were people. People who were staring queerly at her. In fact their stares contained something Etna vaguely recognized as fear. They were probably as afraid as she was or they had just never seen a Mega-Deluxe Superhero up close, Etna surmised.
After an hour of walking and scouring the landscape for cracks, Etna was still as energetic as when she had started her quest to heal the world, but no closer to finding the solution. Suddenly it hit her. She knew what to do. She'd ask her sidekicks. Wha t would a superhero be without sidekicks?
"O.K. Fly Squad," she said to the butterflies, who had become less exuberant as they witnessed the damage the world had inflicted on it, "what do you think I should do?"
The butterflies perked up and fluttered vibrantly. "Really? Then to the...um...what was it again. Oh yeah. To the convenience store!"
Etna scanned the buildings intently in search of the one marked convenience store. They were all so much larger than her own.
Ah. There it was. Jeb's Convenience Store. She walked to the door and pulled it open. A bell chimed announcing her presence. Etna's first thought was that the store had a Mega-Deluxe Superhero Detection Device and was booby trapped, but she went on knowing the importance of her mission.
Walking through the door she saw a man standing behind a large mechanical box. A Darkman. Instinctively she took cover behind a stack of magazines.
"Uh, can I help you," the clerk asked.
Etna peered around the corner of the stack. Oops. She had made a mistake. The man was certainly dark in complexion, but he was not one of the Darkmen.
It was a good thing, too. Her powers were not quite what they were when she had set out.
Etna approached the clerk. "Yes, thank you," Etna replied, slightly flustered after her previous behaviour. "Could I get some...some...what was it again?" she queried as she cocked her head to the side to confer with the butterflies.
The clerk for his part glanced where Etna's head was pointed. He saw nothing.
Just get the sale, he thought. Get the sale and hope she's not one of those cracked psychos.
"Could I get some super glue?" Etna finished after her short conference.
"Sure thing," the clerk replied as he turned and reached for one of the tiny bottles behind him. "That'll be two thirty-nine."
Puzzled Etna stared back at the man. "What do you mean? I have to give you something for this?"
Oh great. Here's the part where she pulls out some illegal automatic and shoots me to pieces.
Perspiring a little the clerk repeated, "Two thirty-nine."
"That can't be. I don't have this two thirty-nine to give you. I'm sure..."
"Then sorry lady, I can't help you," the clerk cut Etna off feeling just the tiniest bit brave after having stood up to the woman before him.
"But, I need that. How else am I supposed to fix all the cracks in the world?"
"Look lady. I got a wife and four kids to feed. If I go handing out free stuff I ain't going to make squat. Besides the world doesn't need your help. Let the police worry about the screwed up people out there. You just go home and get yourself some rest. "
"But..."
"Look lady. No money, no glue. Kapeesh?"
Etna turned away. Her powers were fading fast and she still hadn't saved the world. She had hit rock bottom. She felt tired. She moved towards the door. DARKMEN! For real this time. They had spotted her and were coming through the door.
Etna dragged her all-too-tired body to a door at the back of the store.
"Hey! What are you doing lady!?"
"No time to explain. Darkmen after me. Darkmen," Etna responded as she opened the door and went through.
The clerk looked around the store, but saw nothing.
"That's it! I'm calling the cops! Do you hear me lady!? Lady!?"
As he dialed the phone the clerk thought. Darkmen. Why me? One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Etna counted the stairs as she slowly crept up each. Each draining her power beyond empty.
After she had lost count Etna came to a door. She opened it and trudged through onto the roof. Her butterflies fluttered behind doing the equivalent of a trudge. They too, were fading fast.
She peered over her shoulder. The Darkmen were practically upon her.
"Stay back!" she warned. "You won't stop me on my quest!"
The Darkmen moved even closer. Within arms-length. She was trapped.
Etna began to sob. The world was doomed and it was all her fault. She had one chance. She could fly. If her powers held up.
The Darkmen were within smelling distance. Their putrid aroma of a million murdered bodies filled Etna's olfactory lobe. Their all black dress of a million burial suits filled her vision. And finally their very essence penetrated her leaving the taste of bile in her mouth.
A moment passed.
Etna escaped.
Police sirens blared and shone upon the convenience store and the surrounding buildings. They inadvertently illuminated the cracks in the neighbourhood, too numerous to count.
The clerk stood with the local media giving his official account of the incident in a slightly more dramatic fashion than he had told the police. The crack beneath them was one of the greatest of all.
Two police officers conversed atop the roof away from the crowd.
"Looks like this one's a wrap Charlie."
"Yeah. You talked to the psych ward again?"
The officer nodded his head. "They confirmed what they had told us originally."
"M.D.S.?"
The officer nodded again. "M.D.S. all right. Manic depressive schizophrenia. They think she was on a high when she escaped the ward. Said she was probably on same insane quest. You know: save the world and all that junk. Probably was coming down fast whe n she came here and when she met with some problems climbed up onto the roof and killed herself."
"So officially it's a suicide?"
"Yup."
"They're probably right. But I'd still like to know where all those dead butterflies came from that were surrounding her body."
Gunfire poured out across the still night air ending the conversation.
"Looks like we gotta go."
The officers departed down the stairs not noticing the dark shadow that had formed behind them.
As they closed the door it began to crack the wall behind them, inaudible to the officers.
The battle was over. Etna was dead and Darkmen and the cracks still ruled the world, while those who were too ignorant to notice the problems claimed everyone who did notice insane.