'Heroic'

Perks of the superhero life. 

Waiting at the bus stop at 3 AM, for a kid you don't even know. The only thing keeping her company is the singular street lamp, hosting a few moths - It doubles as a spot light for the overflowing trashcan right underneath it. 

Carmine wipes a few strands of hair stuck to her sweaty forehead - Her somewhat-wet hair is shining under a flickering street lamp. It has random sections of reddish-pink. A fashion choice or a result of not committing to a hair bleach?
Only she knows.

The air feels cooler than she remembers. In fact her head feels lighter. It's been a while since she had such ease breathing. Maybe good deeds do have a way of relieving your-
Oh, wait.
Never mind.
She just forgot her mask - Just fan-fucking-tastic.

A tired sigh escapes into the lonely street. 
Carmine isn't panicking though.
It's not like anyone's gonna care about her secret identity anyways. The mask has become more of a formality. Maybe that's what ticks her off.

Carmine is jolted to attention by the sound of doors opening. The bus was here. 
She gingerly climbs in, and the bus driver doesn't even bat an eye as she trudges to the backseat window in the far right corner.

As the bus drives downtown, it passes a huge billboard for another one of the top ten super hero teams - 'Teen Turrets' to be exact. She keeps staring at it and lets out an almost silent chuckle, followed by a hushed remark.

"Teen Turrets....seriously?"

Half the major members are pushing thirty and they're still going with that? Ha! Some people need to get a life. That's so sad. That's so...

Her smirk starts fading as she catches her own thoughts.
Gosh, was she always such a bitch?

Anyways, what's the plan?
Well, she isn't looking to adopt a kid and the last search on her phone was "child welfare services near me." So it's pretty clear where the final destination is.

The bus hits a series of bumps and she already knows where she is - The Helkion Street. It's named after Helkion - The hero who saved the continent from a mythical space kaiju headed for a rogue collision.

The road is slightly tilted, as it housed a big crater from his initial launch into the outer atmosphere. As a result, the traffic cones are always turned over. 

Even after a decade, the crater is still here. Apparently, they are treating it like a heritage site, even though its literally an open street. 

Fair play, city corporation. Fair play.

The bus screeches to a halt and inertia greets her with a gentle shove forward. She looks outside the window. The streets are lonely, yet they are louder. It's prime crime-fighting hours after all. Carmine is in the minority who prefer the day. It's less competition, according to her. 

Within a few moments, Carmine is out on the streets, searching for a specific road. The address given by the kid is being chanted in her head like an annoying lyric.

"A few blocks to the left of the bus stop, beside the closed deli. "

Right around an intersection is the barricaded 'Loaf-Side Deli' and Carmine walks up to it,  looking around for any traces of a kid. There was a crosswalk signal. There was a zebra crossing. There was a pair of metal letter boxes, surrounded by thin hedges, right around the deli.

But no kid.

"Marci?" her voice is lost in the lonely intersection. "This is..." Carmine realizes she hasn't told the kid her name. She faces the road, turning away from the hedges. "...the woman you spoke to on the phone."

Just then, something rattled from behind the metallic boxes.
Carmine jolted back and grabbed her taser. 

There she was.

An oversized bag swung over her shoulder accompanied by a stained shirt and some three quarter shorts, which basically act like trousers for her. A girl with perfectly normal eye sockets, but strange square pupils.

They just stare at each other, very awkwardly. 

Marci glances at Carmine, then to her taser and back to her. Carmine realizes she is still pointing her weapon and abruptly pulls it away, whilst straightening her posture.
Yep, she wasn't startled - Not one bit. She pauses for a bit, as she establishes a stable eye contact, and then tries to holster her weapon with a cool twirl in an attempt to show off her cool-

She ends up tasing her thigh.

"AH! SON OF A BIT...."

Marci keeps gazing at her with those big brown eyes and Carmine leaves her sentence unfinished. Well, there goes the first 'professional hero' impression. 

She puts the taser away - Safely. 

She clears her throat and looks down at the girl.

"You must be Marci."

The girl nods as she maneuvers out from the hedges. She stumbles forward but manages to halt herself in front of Carmine. Marci looks up to the woman - Her eyes searching for something. Carmine feels a strange weight of expectation being placed on her and she takes the initiative.

"Well, I'm Carmine." she extends her hand down to the girl and ushers her to take it. "Let's go to a safer place." Marci examines the hand for a solid 15 seconds, before cautiously reaching for it. "...sorry...thank you."

Once Carmine secured the little hand into her gloved palm, she pulls out her phone - The location of the child welfare office was already set on the digital map and it was a mile back in the direction she just came from.

For the first few meters, she kept track of the girl's little strides, in order to align their pace. There wasn't much of a conversation, as Marci would shoot her stare down to the pavement whenever they made eye contact - Her hand applying varying pressure on Carmine's, almost unsure of how she should hold it or if she should hold it at all. Almost like she's...scared - Not of Carmine, but of causing discomfort.

Maybe it was noticed by Carmine, because she started talking out loud into the air.
"Man, I sure feel safe when someone holds my hand!" she tries to sound genuine as she gives a small squeeze of her hand, followed by a totally 'natural' smile. "Don't you?"

Her lousy attempt at easing the tension somehow does the trick, as the girl tightens her grip and nods along. From there, their conversation started building a stable foundation, with Carmine asking a series of mundane questions, which subtly give out information about Marci without making it feel like an interrogation. 

At a more lively street, they stop and wait for the cross signal to turn green. During those fleeting moments, Carmine makes a mental note of a pair of red spots on the bridge of Marci's nose. 

When the light turns green, they walk in the direction of the Helkion Street.
Carmine keeps her gaze fixed ahead and asks in a nonchalant tone:

"So, you wear glasses?"

Marci's hand tightens. 
Her eyes widen for a fraction before she looks away.

Someone just walked into a very delicate topic.