Zigzag and The Missile Man

"Well, well, well. Who do we have here?" Peter chuckled ominously. He made sure his voice echoed down the hall so Zigzag had time to spin around and catch sight of him posed dramatically against the window.

"The Missile Man!" the kid gasped, struggling against the cuffs that were wrapped snugly around his wrists and ankles, "I should've known you were behind this!"

Peter couldn't help but grin, though he twisted it into more of a smirk. The media had been the ones to give him the name The Missile Man, after his ability to direct any thrown object, but hearing it said out loud really brought forth memories of playing superheroes as a kid. He even had his own rival with a sidekick!

"Sorry, kid," Peter said, "You can yell all you want. Not even Captain Sensor's super senses can hear you out here."

"That doesn't matter! I don't need rescuing!" Zigzag boasted, "I'll foil your evil plot all by myself!"

Peter circled the kid slowly, his hands clasped behind his back. Technically, he was going a little overboard with the theatrics, but it was just so fun acting like someone out of a comic book. The kid seemed to have read enough of them; he was following the same script Peter was.

He was wearing a dorky little costume, bright blue leather with yellow zig zags running across it. He had on a cowl that covered the top of his head and pulled down over his eyes. To be honest, Peter found it a little garish, but he supposed that just another thing the kid must've copied from comics.

"Well," Peter began reciting the monologue he'd practiced this morning, "As you know, the crime rates in Yew City have been at an all time high. While this is partially due to racial tensions between the citizens and the authorities, a much larger part of it has to do with the recent stock market drop, and the subsequent economicー what?"

Zigzag had stopped struggling and was instead staring at Peter blankly. Up close, Peter could see wide brown eyes and little bits of blond hair peeking out from underneath the cowl. The kid's obvious confusion made him seem even younger, and with a sinking feeling Peter wondered just how old the sidekick was. It wasn't like he was trying to hurt the kid, but he'd always just assumed Zigzag was at least eighteen.

"How old are you, kid?" Peter asked, dropping to a softer tone of voice, "Do your parents even know you're here?" He couldn't imagine any decent parents letting their underage child run around and fight crime every night.

Zigzag bristled. "That's none of your concern, villain! I won't give up my family for anything, so you may as well kill me now!"

"Holy shit, kid," Peter cried involuntarily, "I'm not killing anyone! It's fun to act like a cartoon, but I'm not actually a supervillain! If anything, I'm more of a vigilante. Your Captain Sensor is the one beating people up!" And now Peter was having doubts about Captain Sensor in relation to Zigzag. What exactly had he been teaching the kid?

"He only beats people up when they're doing something wrong!" Zigzag protested, his voice cracking and how old was this kid, "He needs to teach people lessons so we learn not to do it again! If Captain Sensor wasn'tー" Peter's blood ran cold.

"'We'?" he spat, crouching in front of the indignant kid, "Are you telling me Sensor has beaten you up?" Zigzag faltered under Peter's gaze.

"Noー I mean, like, in training and stuff! He saidー he said I needed to learn, because he chose me soー so I could be like him. A hero."

Zigzag had trailed off by the end, and he wasn't looking at Peter anymore. Peter took a slow breath. This wasn't what he'd signed up for. All he had wanted to do was play superheroes with this kid while dishing out some justice of his own. Though, he guessed this was part of that. Corruption really was everywhere, huh?

"What do you mean he chose you, Zigzag?" Peter asked calmly, "Do your parents know where you are?" He considered unlocking the cuffs around the kid, but he had the feeling if he did, Zigzag would take the chance to superspeed away. Probably back to Captain Sensor, which was quickly becoming a worse and worse option.

"Um, well," Zigzag shuffled uncomfortably, "So Captain Sensor saidー he said he saw me at school once, and that as soon as I entered the classroom he knew, uh, I was the one. Like, I'd be the perfect sidekick andー and stuff. Like Batman and Robin! But, like, I couldn't tell my parents or even Pー my sister, because if people knew they'd be in danger. Fromー from bad guys. Like... you." From the ashamed look on his face, the kid was realizing how it all sounded.

Peter wanted to punch Captain Sensor in the gut. He had abducted, abused, and gaslighted a child, and then had the gall to call himself a hero. This was exactly the kind of thing that made Peter do what he did. He looked over Zigzag, who was slumped over and rapidly blinking back tears. Peter sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"What's your name, Zigzag?" he said gently, pulling the keys to the cuffs out of his pocket, "I'm taking you home."

The Missile Man wasn't a superhero, and if this was what superheroes were, he didn't want to be one either. But he didn't need to be a superhero to save this kid. He just needed to be Peter.