Hello, readers and happy Thanksgiving!

To celebrate one of my favorite holidays, I will be doing a little Thanksgiving feast of my own. A four-course meal of good old superhero action! :D

All these heroes are beings that I created when I was about seven years old, still have them all in a notebook to this day. So for appetizers, I'll be showing off my favorite hero. Crosscut!

I have also made this a 1,500 or less word challenge, so hopefully I can get everything across inside that word count.

...

Strike city was quiet, almost too quiet, as a lone figure teleported from rooftop to rooftop in a cloud of blue smoke. The man known as Crosscut kept a watchful eye over his city as he stared down at a grocery store.

It wasn't closing time for the store, so he had time to go in and pay for a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy like a normal person. Although his civilian identity wasn't known publically, enough villains had his super identity on posters that he could be recognized.

He could teleport into the store and leave the money on the counter, but he needed to be 'normal.' Helped him fit in with the people he was protecting.

Taking a deep breath of cold air, he teleported down to an alley and walked out onto the street, resisting the urge to pull his jacket hood over his head. It was easy, he was going to push down the paranoia, walk into a store and buy food for the superhero potluck.

He pushed his way through the crowd of people eagerly shopping for Thanksgiving meals, trying to act like an extraordinary human in an ordinary human setting.

"Just let me through please" He muttered, wading through the uncomfortable sea of human beings as he sighted the correct aisle. He could have simply teleported in, avoided all of this, avoided the possibility being sighted by foes or trampled by overeager shoppers. That's why he needed the annual superhero potluck.

Being among his friends, his allies, and his betters in the superhero community was a welcome environment where he could cast off the blanket of paranoia that seemed to be on him at all times. It came with being a superhero, always looking back over your shoulder to see something that wasn't there, leaping at shadows…

His therapist said it was just normal stress and encouraged him to get out more with the people he protected, and he tried… but the finely honed skills of a superhero wouldn't dull, even in these relaxed settings.

His eyes picked up the black van, creeping up towards the bank across the street. His ears heard rifles clicking as the doors opened, and his body sprang into action.

He locked eyes with a lamppost directly above the van and teleported to that spot.

….

The van doors opened as six thugs rushed out, charging towards the bank with guns in hand. They smashed through the glass doors, firing a few rounds at the late night staff and the few customers.

"Alright, you all know the drill here!" One yelled, dressed differently than the rest. "You! Open the vault, the rest of you on the floor! Now!"

The teller turned and walked towards the bank vault as the leader followed, leaving the rest of his men to spread out over the bank floor.

Crosscut focused his eyes on the center of the room and teleported there.

….

Instantly five gun barrels pointed directly at him, and Crosscut sighed "You all know I can teleport faster than you can shoot, so why don't we make this easy, skip the customary fisticuffs, and you surrender."

The thugs only cocked their weapons, and Crosscut nodded "Have it your way then."

Gunfire spewed towards him as he teleported behind a thug. As the bewildered man turned around, Crosscut swung his fist into the man's stomach, causing him to drop his gun as another punch thudded into his head. As the man dropped, Crosscut teleported again, always ahead of the bullet stream.

"Kill him, he's only one man!" A henchman yelled, nervously swinging his weapon back and forth.

The slightly echoing sound of Crosscut reappearing caused him to jump as the hero swung a fist directly into his jaw. Not stopping, Crosscut ducked a gunshot and lashed out with a kick, disarming the man of his rifle.

The thug reeled and stood up, throwing a punch that Crosscut caught easily as he hurled the man into a wall. The remaining three men cursed and charged, firing their weapons as the bank's patrons cowered away from ricochets.

He teleported behind them charging forward and kicking one in the leg, as he fell to the ground, Crosscut grabbed the last two thugs and rammed them together, feeling them go limp in his grasp.

The civilians in the bank instantly turned and ran for the exits as police sirens echoed through the night.

"Whoever you are, you should give up now!" He barked as the leader of the raid reappeared, dropping his bag of loot as he took off his mask.

"Crosscut, you should know that I don't surrender because my loss just isn't in the cards!" The leader was a middle aged blond man, and he smiled a perfectly white smile at the superhero.

"You should have stayed with fortune telling Luck!" Crosscut growled.

The criminal known as Luck grinned, suddenly reaching beneath his clothing to hurl a knife at him. "No fun or money in that, but bank robbing has both!"

Crosscut grabbed the knife handle, teleporting away to avoid a second knife, only to duck a third the moment he reappeared.

"Did you forget I can see the future Crosscut? Makes this battle an easy win for me!" Luck laughed, hurling more knives from hidden pockets as Crosscut struggled to teleport away from them all. "You can't fight luck hero! It only smiles upon me!"

Crosscut's eyes were two steps ahead of his body, mapping out where he could teleport seconds before his body did so, and still the knives hounded his every move.

"Police! Get down Luck!"

The criminal turned as the first knives left his grasp towards the three police officers who were first into the bank, and as they ducked the projectiles, Crosscut lunged forward.

He pushed himself off the wall and landed a solid right cross across Luck's face. "I read your file Luck, you can only foresee one event at a time, so while you dealt with the police… you couldn't see me!"

The criminal rose and lunged forward with his blades, hurling them at close range as Crosscut ducked them. "I can still see your future… now I'll stick you!" Luck yelled.

The police advanced again as Luck retreated, grabbing his loot bag and heading for the door. His powers kicked in as he watched the door. Telling him that Crosscut would lunge from the right.

As he ran forward, Crosscut lunged downwards and Luck swung the loot bag, smashing it into the hero's face.

Then he turned to run, only to see that a group of officers now aimed pistols in his direction… and he didn't need his powers to see that he would be shot before he made it out.

He dropped the bag and his weapons, raising his hands. "I surrender."

"Really?" Crosscut smirked as the police arrested him "I thought luck was on your side?"

The villain cursed as he was led away and Crosscut secured the scene before teleporting back to the grocery store.

….

Thankfully the people had left the store after hearing the first gunshots, and he breathed a bit easier as he walked through the deserted store.

Leaving the money for the potatoes on the counter, he left for home. He'd beat a villain, secured the food, and now he was one day closer to a comfortable potluck.

Still, if every time he tried to be normal was interrupted by a criminal, maybe being normal was something he could do when he was bored. Made it easier to stop crime at least.

...

I hope you all enjoyed that story! I'll be posting part 2 later this afternoon, so see you then!