Ego
Casualties

The screech of tires jolted me back into consciousness as we turned the corner. It was darker than I remember it being, but then I realized
that it was because I was in a car and not in the bank anymore.
The bank... the bank... ah yes. I was at the bank making a deposit when a guy pulled a gun. A guy with a gun... and he wanted all the money... all the money in the whole bank. We all were quiet as he got the money, and then he said he was going to go... going to take a hostage though... a hostage because somebody was after him... that somebody... a cop. Then he pointed at me... pointed and told me to get up... get up he said. I couldn't... legs wouldn't move... was shaking too hard... mortified... frozen... nightmarishly frozen. Then he stepped towards me... tried to pick me up... said if I couldn't move he'd move me. Then... then I could move... I kicked and punched and screamed... something crashed against my head... something hard smashing against my head. And then I was here. In this car. I can't remember how I got here... but I'm here.
I take a look around me. I'm in a car. It's dark. Beside me is the guy. He's taken off his ski mask though and I can't believe my eyes. He's just an average guy. Not haggard like I had assumed he might be, just your ordinary Joe. Kind of cute almost. Clean cut, with a little bit of shadow starting on his chin. Slightly long bangs, but the ends are all neatly trimmed, brown silky hair, almost touchable. Although he's kind of cute, in his right hand he still clutches the gun.
"Hey," I say in a voice not much more than a whisper.
The guy jumps and presses the gun against my head. I take a few breaths as I try to think of something more to say that won't get me killed. In the distance I can hear the sirens of a police car, but it's really far off. There is a knock on my window. The guy releases me and lets me open the window to see what is going on.
I open the window and along side my door flies Mighty Eminent Man. He looks into the car and just looks right over the glaring guy with the gun right next to me.
"Hey, can I ask you're opinion on something?" he asks. "Do you think this suit clashes with my eyes?! Or does it just make me look fat? Oh my god!! It does, doesn't it?! Oh no! I've got to go change out of this hideous material at once!"
Then he is gone. Just like that. He could have saved me, but he disappeared without me. I am left with this maniac... and the sirens are getting closer.
"So what's your name," I said, trying to get a conversation started.
"Andray," he says. He loosens the gun from my side a little bit, but it's still there.
"Why did you rob the bank, Andray?" I ask, making busy talk. I'm trying to get him to relax a bit more.
"I need money," he says. The gun is still there.
"Excuse me," Mighty Eminent Man says flying up to the window again. "Do you think this looks any better on me? I'm not too happy with the whole polka dotted underwear on the outside or the itchiness of the fabric, but other than that, does it suit me?"
He still hasn't noticed that this whole time I've been mouthing to him, "Help me."
"You don't like it do you?!" he whines fervently. "Is it too feminine? Or is it just my hair? Both?! Oh my god I'm a total wreck!! How can I ever expect to be a superhero if I don't look good?! Then saving the world would just be laughable."
He flies away yet again. I sit there wondering why he doesn't realize that right here is a damsel in distress who needs rescuing and all he cares about is himself. The sirens are screeching nearer. That should be a good sign, but it's not for me. As they get louder, the gun presses harder and harder into my stomach.
"So how old are you, Andray?" I ask. That pistol is making me really nervous.
"Seventeen," he says. He looks a lot older than seventeen.
Why would you want to ruin your life at the tender age of seventeen?" I ask. I'm truly curious about this.
"My mom," he grunts. He doesn't seem to want to beef the story up.
"What about her?" I ask. I'm getting quite interested in his story.
Just then though, in swoops Mighty Eminent Man again.
"How about this?" He runs his fingers through his hair as I stare in complete disgust at his costume. It looks like he's an Elvis impersonator gone wrong, very wrong. "You don't like it do you?! Man being a superhero is sure hard work."
I could almost laugh if I wasn't in such a jam right now. The sirens were almost on us, and Andray was getting tenser and tenser. That gun is now buried in my gut right below my ribs. It's shaking too.
"So Andray," I ask in one final attempt to get him to relax again. "Why does your mom need the money?"
"She has cancer," he says. He's getting paler.
"I'm sorry," I say. Sirens are almost deafening.
"Yeah," he says... hand is shaking out of control. "We're out of money. She needs her chemo."
Up ahead, Mighty Eminent Man again. Behind red and blue lights... nowhere to run... nowhere to get away from it all. The gun is moving up. Mighty Eminent Man is posing and being a pretty boy... sirens getting even closer. Loud speakers... screeching of tires as the car stops. More loud speakers... bright lights... The hand is steadying itself... and then Crack!!! Sheer pain.. excruciating... piercing... Crack!!!... numbness... pools of blood...Crack!!!... Andray slouches down next to me... his face is stained red... hole dead center. Life is oozing out of him faster than me. People are all around me... lifting me... trying to make me live. I look up at M.E. Man. "You look great," I whisper through labored breaths. "Now go out there and save the world."