The Pettinator
An Epic Beginnings Microfiction
It's amazing how a tiny inconveniece can change things.
Well, in the Pettinator's case, a whole bunch of tiny inconveniences, and a vat of Toxic Waste, followed by a week of wanting to die, and ending with superpowers.
Pettinator hadn't realized it was superpowers, at first. Was it a little strange when the dangerous driver that cut them off spontaneously blew a tire right as a cop car noticed them? Sure, but everyone chalked it up to Karma. Odd that the guy coming in for what should have been a routine test (and determined to make that everyone's problem) suddenly had every possible thing go wrong, but Pettinator had been working in Medical Admin for years; the loudest complainers were often trying to hide something.
It wasn't until Pettinator was at the bank at the same time as a Supervillain, hoping desperately to make it out alive, that they realized what was happening.
A henchman pointing a gun at a screaming child found their weapon jammed. The Supervillain's bomb blew up in his face, but only with the force of a flash-bang. (The clip of the Villains swearing and staggering around went viral within minutes)
When the Supervillain decided to call it a bust, they were met at the door by a police squad, and several Superheroes on their day off who happened to be getting coffee across the road. The Defenders were the superhero team to be discovered by, if you had to be discovered at all.
Petty Inconveniences. Not much on their own, but many little things added up to surprisingly big things.
The Pettinator wasn't a Superhero. They just kept an eye on the news, and engenieered some minor mishaps to ruin the Supervillain du jour's day. Or the Superhero's, if they were being too heavy-handed.
About the Creator
Natasja Rose
I've been writing since I learned how, but those have been lost and will never see daylight (I hope).
I'm an Indie Author, with 30+ books published.
I live in Sydney, Australia
Reader insights
Nice work
Very well written. Keep up the good work!
Top insight
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions


Comments (9)
Nice piece!
Gripping. Is there more coming? Congratulations on your Top Story ROCK
Excellent bit of fiction. Congratulations on the Top Story!
Congrats!
Congrats on TS!
I love the name and I think they'd work well with the Righter!
Very handy powers! I liked the way your story played out. Well done!
I think this is the kind of superhero I'd be.
Love this one 🩷 great concept and take on the challenge, and really interesting character!