Placing my morning tea on the table, I picked up the newspaper and casually glanced through the headlines.

Dmitri came and sat beside me and peeped into the newspaper too.

To tease him, I simply turned around, blocking his view.

“Hey,” he tried to force me to turn. I resisted.

Soon we were rolling on the carpet tickling each other and shouting like crazy.

We were such a silly couple. It has been a year since we were married and still we felt as if we were new lovers, same old pranks.

He kissed me got up laughing.

I bent down to collect the pages of the newspaper and I froze. There on one of the pages was me.

Me, but quite not me. She had a devilish glint in her eyes and a chilling smile. Dressed in an iron suit and spandex leggings, with her blond hair fluttering wildly, she looked a perfect picture of fury. Darkness seemed to radiate from every fibre of her body. And the picture stared at me in that dangerous way.

It was captioned…

REMEMBRANCE OF THE DAY WHEN SUPER-VILLAIN ‘PHOENIX’ WAS FINALLY ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.

TWO YEARS BACK, ON THIS DAY, THE DREAD OF THE NIGHT, THE SERIAL-KILLER AND TECHNO-VILLAIN PHOENIX WAS FINALLY DEFEATED AND ARRESTED. GUARDIAN FIRE FOUGHT HER AND NEUTRALISED THE THREAT FOR THE TOWN. GUARDIAN FIRE, OUR SUPER-HERO WAS NEVER SEEN AFTER THAT BUT THE CITY PEOPLE STILL WORSHIP AND REMEMBER HIM AND THAT EPIC BATTLE FOUGHT, WHICH HAD SHAKEN THE ENTIRE CITY, LEAVING BEHIND A SCAR ON THE FACE OF HUMANITY…

I sat there, too stunned to speak.

Seeing me squatting on the floor, the newspaper in my hand, Dmitri bent down to investigate what the matter was.

“Where did you get this?” he snatched the paper out of my hand and tore it up, “Damn them!”

“W…Why am I there, Dmitri. W…Who am I? I don’t remember anything as such,” I stammered.

“Just let it go, Roselle, ignore them, these newspapers publish nothing but a bunch of crap,” his voice was angry as he clenched his fists, crumpling the last bit of paper in his hand.

Then he tossed it into the dustbin and helped me up.

“Come on,” he urged, “You will be late for office.”

I simply nodded, but I couldn’t just shake off the feeling that he knew something about it.
…………………………………………………………………………………..

I made up my find to go to the library and look up the news in the newspaper archives. If this was such an event, there was sure to be a lot of news. I had to get to the end of this matter. This was beginning to creep me out.

As I entered his room to ask for the car keys, I saw Dmitri talking excitedly on the phone. He was pacing up and down the room. I heard one side of the conversation.

I demand to know who published this.
…………...

I will sue the newspaper.
………………

It was repeatedly informed to keep this matter under-cover. What has happened was past.
……………………

Yes I understand, but, what was the need to publish this?
………………….

No…no. That’s certainly not an excuse.
…………………….

I demand that all the publications be drawn back…

He stopped abruptly on seeing me.

“Ro, I…” he tried to explain.

I was fuming by now. He knew all about it.

I went up to him, caught his shoulders and shook him in my anger.

“Why didn’t you tell me if you knew? Why are you hiding things from me? Oh why can’t you be open with me? It’s all over between you and me. I hate you,” I screamed in my frustration.

“Roselle, calm down,” he caught me and turned me face to face, looking into my eyes.

“I will tell you everything. I am so sorry but I was bound,” he said apologetically.

I nodded looking at him expectantly.

“Let’s go to the library,” he dragged me to the car.

……………………………
He started to explain once we were in the car.

“You were evil once. You terrorized the entire metropolis. You used hi-tech futuristic gadgets. The most dangerous of them were a “Stunner gun’, ‘Annihilation pistol’ and ‘Light ray whip’. They were destroyed when you surrendered. You used to come like a blast of fire and devastate a particular area of the town. You never cared for any human life. The people christened you ‘Phoenix’, the fire,” he paused.

“Go on,” I whispered.

“So when the era of your evil deed reached its zenith, came a superhero. He fought fire with fire and defeated you. The people of the city wanted capital punishment for you. But they were stopped by him, ‘Guardian Fire’. He persuaded the authorities to release you and made a device to erase that part of your memory forever,” he informed.

“Who was that hero? Why would he do that,” I asked puzzled.

“We are at the library,” he commented parking the car.

He was definitely not going to answer me so easily.

We got out and went straight to the front desk and enquired about the two years old newspaper archives.

Scanning through the files I saw everything about the destruction I had unleashed. Every picture was a disaster…collapsed buildings…burning vehicles…ruined parks…I had been the omen of destruction.

I winced at each picture. Each page tore my heart apart. I felt guilt trying to strangle me. What had I done?

Dmitri, standing beside me squeezed my hand in silent support.

Suddenly my gaze locked on a picture. It was captioned.

GUARDIAN FIRE CONFRONTS PHOENIX AGAIN BUT SHE GIVES HIM THE SLIP.

GAURDIAN FIRE WAS SEEN….

I wasn’t reading the article because my eyes were stuck to another picture.

It was a picture of Guardian Fire in his shining red and gold armour. The protector looked stern and dedicated. But all the majesty of his picture was lost on me as I stared at the face, a face I had not known back then.

Dmitri was still holding my hand.

Without looking at him I asked, “S…So, w…why did you s…save me?”

My voice shook.

“Because you were strong, agile and fast. You were a badass warrior, beautiful like a rose, deadly as the fire, yet I knew you had a heart of gold. I needed to save a pure soul as you. I knew you had power and potential, hidden behind the mask of evil. So I invented a device to erase your memory,” he sighed.

“Why did you come back for a villain like me?”

I turned to look at him, demanding an answer.

“Ro, I came back after a year to check on you and after meeting you again, I realized that I could not live without you.”

“Why?”

“Because I loved you, always. ”

“But what if the evil in me takes over again?” I shuddered.

“It will not. You are strong enough to fight it. I will be with you in this, I promise,” he pulled me into the sweetest kiss ever.

I buried my face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around me. The world disappeared around us.

1200 words completed

A/N Thanks for reading. I never write superhero stories but couldn't help entering the contest. Hope you like a different Romitri. superhero Thanks for this awesome contest.