Young Defenders Training Facility, Meritas City. October 13th, 2014, 11:45

  “I can’t do this…” I murmured to myself.

  All weekend I’d been worrying about this, going through every single possibility of what could go wrong when out on patrol.

  And now, standing in one of the changing rooms, I felt like I couldn’t even get past the first hurdle.

  I’d fully changed into my costume except for the helmet, which sat on the side. I was staring at myself in one of the room’s full-length mirrors, my eyes frantically darting across every single detail.

  The changing room was pretty much empty, thank god, which meant I could scrutinise myself without interruption.

  The costume? It looked fantastic: sleek, contrasting, and dynamic. The costume itself wasn’t the problem: I was. It felt like I didn’t ‘fit’ the costume.

  No matter how I stood, nothing felt right. I tried doing different things with my hair, tried standing in classic superhero poses, tried looking more casual. Nothing. Nothing was clicking for me, making me feel like I deserved to wear this costume.

  I tried to take in a few breaths, trying in vain to calm myself a little. Then I caught myself looking up at the clock.

  11:45.

  Fifteen minutes until Red was due to collect me and Elena and go out on patrol.

  Something about that made this all seem very real. Panic started setting in immediately. I looked at myself in the mirror again, at me, at this costume. It looked worse somehow, like I was making the costume look worse just by wearing it.

  How could I go out into the city looking like this?

  I had to get it off, I had to tell Red I couldn’t-

  “Hey Skye,” Elena called from around the corner, “You decent?”

  I didn’t respond, not immediately. I was struggling to breath, my chest felt tight. I was starting to sweat.

  There was a knock, before Elena pushed the door open. “Skye, did you- whoa, you ok?!”

  I turned to look at Elena, who was fully dressed in her technicolour costume. I must have looked awful, because she looked worried.

  I tried to speak, but the words just came out as small, pathetic gasps, so I just shook my head.

  Almost immediately, Elena rushed to me, pulling her mask down and putting an arm on my shoulder.

  “Skye, look at me.” She said, her voice firm. I did, meeting her eyes as she stared up at me.

  “Take a deep breath in, ok?” She said. I did so, taking a deep - though quite shaky - breath in. “And out.” I breathed out again. “In, and out, ok? You’re ok.”

  I breathed in, then out again. It felt better, felt easier to try and centre myself. After a few tries, I was able to breathe a bit easier. I felt calmer, too, for once.

  “Th- thanks…” I murmured, now feeling embarrassed. I’d gotten myself worked up and she had to see it?

  “Jesus, dude,” Elena said, laughing, “You scared me. Thought you were about to have a heart attack or something.”

  She leapt up so that she was sitting on the side, her eyes just about level with mine.

  “I-I’m sorry, i-it’s just…” I trailed off, looking away from her. How did I explain myself without sounding pathetic?

  “Nervous?”

  I nodded.

  “Look at us.” She scoffed, gesturing between herself and I, “You and me, about to go out on our first patrol together and we’re both about to shit our pants, when we’re just walking the streets?”

  “W-wait,” I said, confused, “You’re nervous?”

  She looked at me like I was crazy. “Dude you have no idea how much I’ve been having fear sweats over this.”

  “B-but you don’t-”

  “‘Don’t look nervous’? Yeah I get that a lot; hell, I think you’ve told me that before. Guess I’m just good at keeping it under wraps.”

  “I w-wish I could do that as well as you can…” I said, looking away again.

  “I mean…look,” She said, putting a hand on my shoulder, which made me blush, “It’s not bad that you’re nervous, dude. Think it’d be weirder if you weren’t nervous.”

  There was a pause. Then she started laughing, full-on giggling to herself.

  “W-what?” I asked, turning to her.

  “The fuck’s wrong with us?” She asked, still giggling, “We fought fucking Slaughterhouse and we’re getting nervous over going out on a little patrol?!”

  There was another pause.

  Then I started laughing with her. Just a giggle at first. But the more I thought about it, the more I laughed, until we were both doubled over laughing, tears streaming down our faces.

  “I…I n-needed that.” I said, once the laughing had worn off. “T-thanks for that, Elena.”

  She smiled at me before hopping off the side. “Don’t mention it, dude. Always here if you need me, ‘kay?”

  I nodded, smiling. Then I looked up at the clock.

  11:58.

  Red would be here any second.

  I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to ignore every self-criticism in my mind, before placing the mask over my head.

  Downtown, Meritas City. October 13th, 2014, 12:30

  If you asked me how a superhero would get from point A to point B, I would’ve never even considered trams as an option.

  Meritas, being this massive city, had a wide range of different public transport options; trains, buses, bikes, but trams ended up being one of the most convenient. According to Red:

  “Most heroes who can’t fly, run fast, or teleport use the trams. Buses are too tight, and some people think bikes don’t ‘look cool’. She made mocking finger quotes on those last two words, her helmet displaying a pixelated version of the same gesture. “We also get free tickets once fully licensed, too.” She said, her helmet-screen lighting up with a dollar sign.

  Elena and I were sitting side-by-side on one side of the tram, while Red was standing in front of us, explaining all of this.

  “So our patrol will take us through downtown,” she continued, “we’ll deal with any incidents we can, but fundamentally I don’t expect you to take on any hard duties today; this is your first rodeo, after all.”

  She paused.

  “Well, first official rodeo.” She corrected herself, her voice betraying a laugh.

  Then she handed us both an earpiece.

  “That,” she explained, “You’ll want to hook on the inside of your masks, over your right ear. It’ll keep the three of us linked so we can talk long-distance, but it’ll also keep us linked to Dispatch; she’ll communicate with all heroes on the network, keeping them in the loop as incidents come up.”

  “W-wait,” I asked, “‘She’?”

  “Yep!” Red chirped back, “Apparently just one person, she deals with coordinating all on-patrol heroes in Meritas. No idea how she does it, never met her. Seems nice though.”

  I was nodding, taking in as much in as I could, but I found my eyes scanning around the tram cart as Red spoke. People were looking at us; to be expected, since we were new and young heroes, but I noticed a few people quickly looked away as I turned to them.

  Was it me? Was it how I looked?

  “I’ll be straight with you,” Red said, “Odds are, most of what we’ll get today is gonna be pretty mundane. Cats stuck in trees, helping people with odd-jobs, that sort of thing.”

  “Oh.” Elena said, sounding disappointed, “Really?”

  Red nodded, “Anything could happen, of course, but waiting for and dealing with the big stuff isn’t why we’re doing this. It’s about being a familiar face in the community, someone who people can look at and go ‘oh, you, I know you! You’re helpful!’ Especially for you two being new. Glory, Cheshire, Puppeteer, Battery, even I had to go through the boring stuff.”

  Elena nodded, while I just listened. It made sense; everyone had to start small. Even though Elena and I technically hadn’t.

  After a few minutes, the tram came to our stop, right in the middle of Downtown. Red lead the way, Elena and I following behind her as we stepped into the city proper.

  Downtown was busy, it was always busy, but it had a completely different feeling than the Zero Block; the Zero Block was the ‘peaceful’ part of Meritas, everything always felt that little bit too clean and pristine, everyone always moved like they were being watched.

  Downtown, on the other hand? It was busy, bustling, and manic. People milling about from place to place between massive buildings and cramped roads, crowds weaving in and out of each other, a chorus of loud voices and cars.

  You’d have thought I’d have found this overwhelming, but surprisingly no. I’d always loved Downtown, because it was so busy I always felt like I could blend in without much issue.

  Except for today, now I was dressed like a superhero. A few people turned and gave us quick glances, clearly recognising us as new, before looking away again.

  No screaming and running, I thought, That’s a good start.

  Almost immediately, I heard a crackle in my ear, making me flinch.

  “Any available heroes in the Downtown area, we have reports of a child’s cat stuck in a tree on Third Avenue. Is anyone available to respond?” A woman’s voice, even and professional, crackled through the earpiece.

  Elena and I immediately turned to Red, whose voice immediately crackled back through the earpiece.

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  “Confirmed, Dispatch. Red Rabbit, Skullgirl, and Spitter inbound.”

  The crackling faded away instantly, as Red nodded at Elena and I. We started running - Red floating alongside us in the air - since Third Avenue was only a block and a half away.

  Cat in a tree? Can’t possibly fuck this up, right? I thought to myself as we rounded the corner.

  Sure enough, there was a fairly tall tree - one of many that had been planted along the avenues here, standing some twenty feet tall - and I could see a jet-black cat wedged firmly on one of its branches. At the tree’s base was a boy, who couldn't have been much older than eight or nine, with his mother alongside him, both looking up at the tree before they turned to look at us as we approached.

  “Oh thank god!” The mother gasped, taking a step towards us. “Really sorry to bother you, but he got out and just bolted into the tree-”

  “It’s ok!” Red said, taking charge of the conversation. “We’ll get him down for you! Let me introduce you to some of our newest heroes: Spitter, and Skullgirl.”

  Red gestured towards us. I immediately felt myself tense up. How was I meant to stand, what was I meant to say, what was-

  “Hey, little man.” Elena said, immediately taking a couple of steps towards the boy before squatting down in front of him. “My friend here’s got a perfect trick to get your cat out of the tree. Ain’t that right, Skully?” She said, turning to look at me with a grin.

  I looked at her, then nodded, remembering my trick at the combat trial. I took a couple of steps towards the tree, looking up at the cat. The tree was about the same height as that one, so-

  I focused my power into my ribs, feeling them push out from under my skin and through the fabric of my costume. Immediately I walked up to the tree, my ribs hooking into it; I was scaling the tree like it was natural, skittering up the height of it like a spider.

  Within a few seconds, I was up by the branch where the cat had gotten himself stuck, my face level with his. He wasn’t huge - not a kitten, but clearly a fairly young cat - and his fur was black enough that he looked like a little furry void with a pair of green eyes staring back at me.

  “H-hey little guy…” I whispered, trying to keep my voice soft. I edged a few inches further up the tree, enough that I could reach my hands towards him. He almost immediately backed away further into the branch.

  “I’m n-not gonna hurt you…” I said, pulling myself up by my ribs and getting closer to the branch, reaching my hand out. He swiped with a paw, batting at my hand. It didn’t hurt, but I still flinched away on reflex. I left the hand there for a second, waiting to see if the cat did anything else. He stared, and I could hear him growling softly as he took a tentative step forward, sniffing my hand.

  Something about that seemed to calm him down, as he sniffed again before rubbing against my fingers, purring softly.

  I let out a sigh of relief as I wrapped one hand under him, pulling him close. He was still purring, but started to wriggle a bit as I held him.

  I quickly skittered back down; it was more awkward than I thought. I’d gotten used to going up without issue, but this was the first time I’d used this to go down. But eventually, my feet touched the ground, cat in hand.

  “H-here,” I said, handing the cat back to the boy, “He s-should be ok now.”

  He took the cat into his arms, cuddling him as he purred in response. The kid looked relieved, thank god. I looked up to the mother and-

  The look on her face wasn’t thankful, she looked scared. She was staring directly at me, looking me up and down, her eyes focused pretty firmly on my outstretched ribs.

  “Thank you.” She said, her voice shaky. She put an arm around the boy, ushering him away from us.

  “Great job!” Red’s voice chirped, as she put a hand on my shoulder, “Kid’s happy, cat’s safe. Full marks!”

  I didn’t look at her, I was just staring ahead at where the kid and his mother had gone as I felt my ribs slowly retract under my skin.

  “I- y-yeah I guess…” I murmured, trying to mask how I really felt.

  “Great!” Red said, turning, “I’ll report a job done. Gimme a sec.”

  I moved to the side, leaning against the tree, staring up. I was trying to keep myself level-headed, but it was hard. I’d done well, I’d made the kid happy, but the mother…

  Something about the look on her face stuck with me, that look of fear, of disgust. It was exactly the look that I was worried about getting.

  “Don’t let it get to you.” Elena said, sidling up next to me and nudging me in the side.

  “It’s just-” I said, trying to hide the shake in my voice, “She looked at me like she was scared.”

  “I know, dude, I saw it too.” Elena said, “For whatever it’s worth, the kid wasn’t scared of you.”

  I turned to look at her. “H-he wasn’t?”

  Elena shook her head. “He was worried about the cat more than anything. Hell, he said what you were doing was kinda sick.”

  I smiled under the mask. That took the edge off of how I was feeling, at least.

  Red stepped back over towards us. “Ok, job’s done and reported in, Dispatch is happy. We good to continue on?”

  I nodded. Time to get back onto the streets.

  The next couple of hours were pretty similar. We’d get a call - all of them minor; helping people crossing the streets, sorting out lost and found, even helping a kid find his parents - and respond. It was all pretty low-key, but it felt…nice.

  I’d made an effort to keep my powers low profile since the first job, which was easy since most of these calls had been pretty light on needing them.

  After helping the kid find his parents and waving them off, our earpieces crackled again.

  “Any available heroes in the Downtown area, we’ve got reports of a jewelry store robbery in progress in Just Gems on Blackberry. Possible super-criminals at work.”

  Hearing that, I turned to look at Elena, then to Red. She looked at us both; it was hard to gauge her expression with how her helmet worked, but it didn’t look like it was an immediate rejection.

  “If you two think you can handle a fight against super-criminals, I won’t stop you.” Red said.

  Elena laughed. “I mean, it wouldn't be our first.” She said quietly.

  I nodded, and Red nodded back.

  “Alright.” She tapped the side of her helmet. “Dispatch, this is Red Rabbit. Myself, Skullgirl and Spitter are en route.”

  As soon as she stopped talking, we took off. Blackberry wasn’t too far away, four blocks maybe.

  “I-I know a quicker route.” I shouted, pointing towards a few side roads. We veered towards them, cutting off a couple of corners in the process.

  Within a few minutes, we rounded onto Blackberry, a long and narrow street. Dead ahead of us was Just Gems, this beautiful, two-floor jewelry store pressed between two other shops, with all kinds of gems, rings, and bracelets on display, the outside coloured a dark navy blue.

  Unfortunately, its front-door window had been smashed, with an alarm blaring. We could see a couple of employees - dressed in sharp black blazers and trousers - huddled near the doors.

  Red turned to us. “If you two think you can handle it, go. I’ll keep an eye out. You think you need support, you tell me immediately. Is that clear?”

  It was odd hearing Red acting serious, but we both nodded

  “Good.” She said, tapping her bracer. “If the perpetrators are still there, subdue them if you can. Any hostages, they take priority.”

  We nodded again, stepping towards the shop, glass crunching underfoot as we got close to the door. Elena ducked down as she approached the employees.

  “Hey.” She whispered, as one of the employees looked up at us. “We’re here to help, what happened.”

  “I-I don’t know.” The employee stammered, his voice shaky. He didn’t look old, maybe a couple of years older than us? “T-t-there was a commotion, some shouting, then next thing I knew the front window and the display case had been broken into.”

  “Ok, do you know who it was?” Elena asked.

  “I-I think, two of them? One really tall, one really short. They’ve gone upstairs, but there’s people up there too.”

  Elena looked at me, I nodded as I took this all in.

  “O-ok.” I said, my voice soft. “H-help’s on the way. We’re w-with Red Rabbit, she’s out in that alley-”

  “You’re heroes-in-training?” The employee said, incredulous.

  “Hey, this isn’t our first robbery.” Elena said, smirking. “The point is, we’re here to help. You guys go to her, we’ll take it from here, ok?”

  He nodded, gesturing to the other people huddled with him. They slowly made their way out and across the street towards Red, thanking us as they left.

  “Up we go then, huh?” Elena whispered, stepping towards the stairs up. I nodded, following behind her.

  We crept up the stairs, taking one step at a time. That blaring alarm got louder the further up we got, but we could still hear the occasional clatter and crash of glass.

  “Honestly, you’d think for a jewelry store these people would have a bit more class.” A man’s voice rang out. He didn’t sound American at all, he sounded…British, if I had to guess?

  We slowly poked our heads around the top of the stairs, trying to get a better view. This floor looked pretty similar to the first one; display cases with different kinds of necklaces, jewelry, rings, even some small free-standing gemstones. A lot of them had been damaged, glass scattered across the floor.

  I could see more employees huddled in a corner, four of them total. Not just that, there was a small trail of blood leading towards them; one of them - a small woman with bright blonde hair - was bleeding from a nasty cut on her leg.

  “Shit.” Elena whispered from next to me.

  I nodded. “W-we need to get them out of here somehow…” I said.

  I turned to look at who I assumed were the culprits. The first one - the one who’d spoken before, I guessed - was a tall man, about my height, dressed in what I could only describe as a magician’s outfit mixed with a Victorian gentleman: long black tailored coat, black pants, even a top hat, all with a silver trim to them.

  Definitely a culprit. I thought dryly. No one who’s not a super-criminal would dress like that.

  “No idea if any of this is worth a shit.” He said, throwing a ring into a bag in his hand. “You see anything good?”

  His head turned to who I assumed was his accomplice, who I could get a bit of a better look at; she was short, easily a few inches shorter than Elena. She was wearing a near-identical outfit to him, save for a much wider-brimmed black hat, and had a long mane of red hair cascading out the back of it. I could see her face, but her eyes were covered by a black domino mask.

  I suddenly realised, neither of them were watching the stairwell.

  Elena glanced at me, and I responded with a nod. We slipped out from the stairs, keeping low and moving quietly, trying to avoid stepping on any glass. I could feel my heart slamming into my chest, louder than the alarm.

  If we could get to the employees, maybe we could get them out of here. I kept turning my head to the culprits, keeping an eye on them.

  The shorter woman with the fiery red hair was moving her hands like she was signing.

  “Bloody shame, that.” The tall man sighed in response, “Again, jewelry store, you think there’d be more, y’know?”

  I turned back to the employees; now that we were closer - about ten feet away - I could see the woman’s bleeding leg more clearly.

  Her flickered up to me, then she let out a panicked squeak.

  My head snapped towards the pair in the centre of the room. The shorter woman’s eyes were locked firmly onto me.

  Shit!

  The man spun, throwing something from his hand, causing the employees to yelp and shout. There was a thin, whining sound as something shot into the wall we’d been looking from, and I felt a rush of wind zip past me. As I turned, I realised it was a playing card - the three of clubs - embedded about a half-inch into the wall.

  “Oh ‘ello!” He said, a wide smile on his face. Now that I could see his face, I could see that had a few strands of black hair poking out from underneath the hat’s rim, as well as some 5-o’clock shadow. He was wearing the same sort of domino mask as his accomplice, too. “Didn’t realise we’d be having company so soon!”

  He took a step forward, reaching into his pocket and pulling out another playing card.

  “Now my memory might not be all tip-top,” He said, spinning that playing card between his fingers, “But I don’t think I recognise either of you two. You're fresh on the scene then?”

  Elena stepped out from beside me, standing as proud as she could with her hands on her hips. “Yeah, that’s right! Name’s Spitter.”

  “Ooh, very nice. ‘Spitter’. Definitely the loud one, then. What about you?” He asked, head turning to look at me.

  I stepped out besides Elena, decidedly less proud, but with arms raised and ready to fight. “S-Skullgirl.”

  He chuckled. “Woman of few words, I see. You and Twist will get along like flies on shit.” His accomplice - Twist - backhanded him in the side while giving him a disgusted look. He winced before standing up straight again.

  “Right, introductions then,” He said, jumping up and sitting casually on one of the intact display cases, “She’s Twist, I’m Razor. Man of fine tastes, master of all things sharp, collector of all things shiny. Her, really good in a brawl. Proper good ballet dancer too.”

  She gave an exaggerated bow.

  “So, what?” Elena said, gesturing, “You not gonna let her speak?”

  “She’s an ‘actions speak louder’ lady.”

  As if to prove a point, Twist cracked her knuckles.

  I looked behind me, back at the employees, who all looked terrified.

  If this goes bad, I thought, I need to take the hit, not them.

  “L-let them go!” I shouted, standing tall in front of the employees.

  Razor tilted his head. “What, them? They can go whenever they want, love, we’re not gonna kill ‘em. They’re not even hostages.”

  I turned over to the employees, nodding.

  “G-get downstairs, Red Rabbit sh-should be outside.” I said. The employees nodded, two of them pulling the injured woman up as they made their way downstairs.

  “Bye loves!” Razor shouted after them with a grin.

  I felt anger rise in my chest. The way they were acting, how casual they felt; this was like a game to them.

  I glanced between the two of them, keeping an eye on the playing card in his hands, but also on her. It looked like her hair and hat were shifting slightly, like a wind was blowing around her.

  A voice crackled in my ear; Red’s voice. “Skullgirl? Spitter? Status report?”

  I spoke up, trying to keep my voice low. “Hostages coming d-down to you. E-engaging the suspects. D-definitely superpowered.”

  “Got it, I see them coming towards me now. Good luck.” Red responded.

  “So you two are just a couple of super-jewel thieves?” Elena asked, “Like some Old West goons?”

  “Oi!” Razor shouted, “We’re not ‘goons’, thanks. We’re gentlemen thieves.”

  Elena scoffed.

  Razor’s smile dropped. “What, you think that’s funny?”

  “Little bit.”

  Almost immediately, he threw the playing card. It shot through the air like a dart, going right between Elena and I. I tried to follow it as it shot behind us and-

  Cut clean through the glass of the display case behind us, like a hot knife through butter. I felt a pang of fear shoot through me.

  He snapped his fingers.

  “Twist?”

  She leapt towards us like a cannonball, spinning through the air as her hair trailed behind her. Mid-air, she brought herself upright before she started spinning like a tornado, leg lashing out.

  I threw my left arm in front of us, pushing the bones out to make a shield. Her foot kicked into it with a crunch, but there was a grinding whirring sound as she kept spinning, the point of her foot planted right on the shield. She was spinning faster, then faster, fast enough that I could feel the bone being shaved away like a drill was being taken to it, hard enough that it was starting to hurt.

  “J-Jesus-”

  I pushed against her, throwing my arm out and launching her away. She pirouetted through the air before landing elegantly, her long coat still fluttering like the air hadn’t caught up.

  She glanced up at me, smirking.

  Razor took a step forward, clapping. “Beautiful form as always, Twist. Ten out of ten.”

  She did a full curtsey to him, before looking back up at us.

  I retracted the shield, the bone melding back under my skin.

  Razor smiled, pulling out a deck of playing cards and flicking some between his fingers.

  “Right then, new girls. Let’s have some fun, yeah?”