"Super Hero"

 

“Super Hero”

            With the Los Angeles Bodybuilding Competition in only two months, Sofia Rodriguez was deep in prep mode. For the past six months, she had undergone a strict training regimen. Every day was a body part she focused on – biceps, chest, abdominals, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and thighs. Every muscle got exactly as tight and toned as she wanted. The pain to keep it all together was intense, but that merely added to her tenacity.

            Her schedule also included daily visits to her local juice shop, “Level Up.” She loathed the name; it sounded like one of those nerd tropes she hated so much, like comics and video games. They were a waste on the energy in both mind and body, an insult to everything Sofia stood for. Regardless, the protein shakes she got there were astounding. If it weren’t for the nerdy gimmick, Sofia would give them a five-star review on their Facebook page.

            Then there was also Kenny, Level Up’s number one employee.

            Kenny was exactly the type of wimp that Level Up attracted by its name – skinny, pale, acne-riddled, sweaty, and smelly. A typical white boy who looked sixteen but was in actuality 25 years old, he always flashed his disgusting yellow teeth, caged by braces, whenever Sofia picked up her shake. Sofia, of course, smiled right back but refrained from vomiting at the same time. Whatever fantasies Kenny had about her and him, he might as well leave them as just that – fantasies.

            Truthfully, Sofia had very little time for anyone. Her focus and determination for the upcoming comp put a bit of a strain on her social life; she even trained alone in the local gym, refusing to accept any spotters (who always seemed to be men). The only interaction she was able to maintain was on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

            Much as she despised men ogling at her in public, she didn’t mind so much online, with her face filtered by different smile emojis. All her followers ever saw was photos and videos of herself flexing and working out. The comments she received were noticeably lewd. She would block anyone who dared to post them. The girls praised her physique, offering words of encouragement.

            One day, when she was in the right mood, she responded to one guy on Facebook who commented with, “You are a real superhero!” She returned with a simple “Thanks!” and tried to leave the conversation at that. However, the commenter (whose username was “MarvelousOne92”) attempted to drum up a lengthy conversation in her DMs, pestering her with questions about comics – none of which Sofia had any knowledge of nor even cared about.

            “I have to go to bed,” she parted with in a late-night DM, her final one to MarvelousOne92, hoping that he would get the hint.

            Unfortunately, through the following days, MarvelousOne92 persisted in harassing Sofia, distracting her from prep and throwing off her regimen. After all this stress, she made the logical decision of blocking him from all three of her accounts permanently. For added measure, she broke from social media for the remaining weeks prior to her comp.

            The day before the big event, something unusual happened at the gym: Sofia benched ten times her limit.

            This caused the bench itself to buckle and collapse from the incredible weight. The bar landed directly on her chest, applying life-sucking pressure to the area. Due to the closing hours in which she was training, no one was available to aid her. But that help didn’t appear to be needed once she managed to lift the entire 900lbs off her body and throw it aside with a loud metallic SLAM!

            “What just happened?!” Sofia gasped to no one but herself.

            She was amazed to discover that she sustained no injuries from the ordeal – not a single broken rib, punctured lung, or contusion on her skin.

            Choosing to ignore the bizarre circumstance, she returned home to rest.

            Over the course of the bodybuilding competition, Sofia impressed the judges with her remarkable physique. She was up against some heavy hitters in her class, including Rosie Anderson, a sixty-something black woman who looked far more shredded than Sofia. This was Rosie’s 20th time onstage, making herself a legend among the bodybuilding community. And even she was impressed by Sofia’s hard work.

            “What’s your secret, hon?” she asked her while they were backstage one day.

            Sofia just shrugged and said, “Lots of protein shakes and dedication.”

            The judges awarded Sofia with first place, which the other women in their class considered quite the upset for Rosie, who was certain to go home with the trophy. Luckily, it was decided that she would receive second place, in addition to a special “Lifetime Achievement” trophy that was as shiny and gold as the one Sofia won.

            Celebrating her victory alone with her only cheat meal from Burger King, Sofia walked out of the restaurant and towards the back where her Dodge Ram was parked. It was a big enough vehicle for a big enough woman like herself, though climbing into it was a workout in itself.

            “Sofie?” She heard a timid voice call out her name – or a variant of it that she didn’t necessarily approve of. Shifting her focus away from the driver’s side of her Dodge Ram, she was surprised to see Kenny standing underneath the one lit spot in the dark backend area. From what Sofia was able to make of him, he still had on his flashy, retro Level Up uniform, including the cap that covered his long, messy brown hair.

            “Kenny?” Sofia called back. “Did…Did you follow me here?” That was the immediate conclusion she jumped to. It was a plausible one to her, considering no one else knew she’d be there.

            Rather than deny or confirm her suspicion, Kenny avoided the question and shakily said, “You did great on that stage. You are a real superhero!”

            Those words struck her very core. They were the exact ones used by…

            “MarvelousOne92?!” she realized aloud. “You’re MarvelousOne92!”

            “Bingo!” Kenny beamed with a giddy snort. “B-But you wanna know the real surprise? Those protein shakes you always get every day at Level Up? I’ve been sneaking in an experimental supplement into all of them.” He burst out a wild, maniac chortle. “It’s so great! I made it myself! And you downed dose-after-dose in the last seven months! And the results have certainly shown – I mean, look at you! Heightened strength and endurance… just like in the comics!”

            Nausea overwhelmed Sofia as she heard this. “You…!” she grunted furiously. “You drugged me!”

            “Drugged you?” Kenny reacted, visibly offended. “How ‘bout a little gratitude! I gave you something that anyone in your position would love to have! Believe me, I tried it on myself and all I got was—”

            He was stopped midsentence just as Sofia tackled him to the ground.

            She wailed on him, one punch after another in the same place: his face.

            It was pounded into a bloody pulp after the eighteenth hit. Kenny wasn’t breathing after the fact, which unnerved Sofia. She surely thought she had killed him. Eighty perfect of his face was caved into his skull. “Oh, no,” she shuddered.

            As she looked on his lifeless body, she noticed his pancaked face suddenly reforming, blowing back up like a fleshy balloon. His nose, forehead, eye sockets, and mouth inflated, returning to their normal shape. A fresh white set of teeth grew in his mouth, replacing the braced-up yellow ones Sofia busted. Though his face was still a bloodied mess, all the damages he endured were rapidly healed.

            “Heightened regeneration,” he sputtered. “That’s all I got.”

            Mortified by this turn of events, Sofia called the police.

            Kenny was arrested just minutes after the call. The cops had questions about the blood on his face and Sofia’s hands, so she was brought in as well. The last thing she heard out of Kenny, as he was hauled in the back of a squad car, was “Remember me, Sofie! Every time you do, you’ll remember what I put into you!”

            His words haunted her for every day afterwards.

            She was unable to perform remedial tasks with her new powers, such as unloading a dishwater without breaking plates or bending silverware.

            After a few weeks, she settled on doing some research – on superheroes.

            In the aftermath of Kenny’s arrest, Level Up went under new management and had been transformed into a comic book store. There, Sofia did her research, starting with the few female superheroes that graced the cover of the comics she once despised before switching over to the male ones.

            If she was going to be stuck with these powers for the rest of her unnatural life, she might as well have put them to use. There were more creeps like Kenny around Los Angeles – and even the rest of the world – threatening and preying on the helpless women, children, and men. They needed a real superhero.

            And if that superhero was a once-shallow former bodybuilder like Sofia Rodriguez, then so be it.