But then you needed to leave.

You had the distinct impression that your mentor was disappointed, as if they wanted you to put your life on hold and run around rooftops with them, never growing up, never grasping that rope of responsibility. Of course they would never stand in your way, or suggest university was a bad option. They'd had the opportunities to study and they knew at some level that you deserved such an opportunity too.

But they didn't say goodbye as you took the bus out of the city.

They never called.

The butler called, all the time; and it was the butler who made sure you had enough money to survive the first few weeks while you settled in and found your way in the new city. But, then again, the butler always seemed to reflect the more human side of the mentor. Looking at the household from an outside perspective, now that you were so far away, you wondered how such a relationship could work for so long. There were no cracks. It was solid.

But then you left.

Would it break?

Months passed and then you went home. All the other students were going home, so it was expected that you would too. Walking up the front path to the house was difficult, but when the butler opened the door you could tell from his face that things were about to get a lot worse. You hadn't read the papers on the bus, hadn't had time. But as you walked into the hall you caught a front page on the side table.

A crime wave?

Surely the mentor wouldn't allow crime to spiral out of control. For a moment you thought that perhaps you really were indispensable, that the mentor really did need you by their side fighting crime and without you everything would fall apart. But then the butler uttered those words which made everything seem so much worse.

The mentor was gone.

He wasn't injured or captured. He was just gone. No reason, no clue. No ransom note or self-congratulatory announcement by some super criminal. The mentor had simply vanished without warning, without any belongings or attempts at accessing the bank accounts.

The criminals of the city had slowly begun to notice and the crime wave had grown.

The butler didn't know what to do, or so he said. But you could tell by the way he ushered you into the private chambers. He said he needed to show you that nothing had been touched, no equipment had been taken by the mentor. The mentor wasn't on a mission. But the butler was...

You touched the costume.

You felt the butler's eyes on your back.

Some nights you had laid awake and stared at the ceiling, thinking about taking on the mantle of the mentor. But the mentor wasn't old or about to retire any time soon. Perhaps, in a way, that was part of the reason you had to leave, to put up the side kick tights and go to school. You'd never become the mentor while the mentor was still around.

But now he was gone.

And the city was in trouble.

What would happen if people found out the mentor was gone? The criminals would laugh. There was no other hero in town, and the police were only competent with the shadowy support of the mentor. Without the mentor the criminals would grow in confidence and the police wouldn't be able to cope. And what about the people? If they no longer had a guardian, what would become of them?

You turn to face the butler and he tries to suppress his satisfied smile.

He knows you'll take on the costume, if only for a few weeks to calm the rising chaos. Surely the mentor would return in a few weeks, or at the very least some word would come as to their whereabouts.

And so this would only be a caretaker position. You would become the mentor, step into their shoes, protect the reputation of the mentor and the people they had been protecting for so many years. No one could find out about the secret. If they knew that the person in the costume wasn't the mentor then there would be no protection. You wouldn't stand a chance against the hardened criminals. Only the mentor's reputation and your burgeoning fighting skills would enable you to pull this off.