"The floor is lava!" The short man with ginger hair spoke, as a wave of ice spread out from his feet.

"It's cold!" I said back, using his powers to heat the ground back up and quickly melt the ice.

The man known as CrazyTalk was a small-time villain, he wasn’t very active but when he did make a move he was very obvious about it. He was loud, slightly obnoxious, and nearly every sentence he said was wrong. His power would turn everything he said into the opposite, to a certain limit, as if the universe was trying its hardest to mess with him and call him a liar.

His powers were fun to use though. Something about the creative way to say the opposite of what you wanted to get the result you needed. It was almost like a puzzle or a riddle you'd find in a video game.

He probably could have used it for good, but he only really seemed to care about becoming immortal surprisingly. Well technically he said 'becoming not immortal', but it wasn’t that hard to understand what he really meant. He wasn't a super genius, so the odds of him finding out how to accomplish that goal was low.

And breaking into a museum to steal, and I quote, "cursed artifacts that will let him not live forever." As if the city's museum would even have such things.

"That dinosaur is dead!" He exclaimed as the large skeleton T-rex started to move.

Oh shit.

It roared, a deafening noise that echoed throughout the halls of the museum, before it charged straight at me.

I ducked to the side just in time to avoid being eaten, its jaw closing with a resounding snap.

"The T-rex is alive!" I yelled out as it started to charge at me again, only to have to duck and weave as large pieces of bones started to fall around me.

"I've had it!"" CrazyTalk stomped his foot down and pointed at me. "You're awak-" he was cut off as a small barrier formed around his mouth, blocking all sound from coming out. Thankfully stopping him from speaking further.

I sighed in relief as Rachel finally made it here. She smiled when she entered the museum hall, and quickly made her way over to me.

"Thanks for the assist Mimica," She said as she ruffled my hair, getting a very deserved glare from me afterwards. She giggled, then leaned in to whisper to me. "But seriously Sarah, thanks for dropping by."

I shrugged. "It's a problem. Like you didn't say on the phone call, I wasn't the closest person to the museum that you could get ahold of. I hate helping out a friend."

We both kinda looked at each other as I said that, me with an awkward expression and her with an amused smile.

"I'm not sorry, It's not his powers," I groaned, I couldn’t even apologize either.

She giggled. "I understand, don't worry."

"Still, thank you anyway. No one on my team was nearby to step in, so you really helped by distracting him long enough for me to get here," She said as she stepped back to look at the villain. "Plus, this will help show the other heroes on my team that you're doing a turnaround. Small things like this will help your image as you shift to being a vigilante."

I nodded and turned to stare at CrazyTalk, who was currently trying to pry the barrier off around their face to no avail.

"Can he breathe? And what are you going to do with him?"

"Yes, I'm only blocking sound, not air. He can breathe just fine." She started walking towards him. "And for your second question, I'll be taking him to HQ. Where he will be held until his trial."

He glanced up at her, then to me, then back to her, before he turned around and sprinted away. Rachel cursed and started to follow and I moved to chase as well.

But then my legs were swept under me.

I had no time to fight back as a large figure in a dark grey costume pinned me down to the ground, a gun in one hand. I looked up into his dark mask and I could feel my blood run cold.

Mercendiary, the powerless super who hunted down villains in his free time. The one whose body count rose high into the double digits. With how many lives he's taken, it's surprising he's still technically considered a vigilante. Even if just barely.

And here he was, aiming down at me from behind the sights of his pistol. An army's supply of weapons attached to his body. Several spare guns, a sword, a combat knife, a taser, and even a shotgun on his back.

I started to build up my powers energy, to use CrazyTalk to force him off of me.

But my powers refused. They laid dormant, unwilling to even budge an inch. They wouldn’t help me here.

Shit.

I gulped. "I don't imagine we can talk this peacefully?"

"Depends on your answer." He grunted. "What's a villain like you doing with Guardian?"

"We're friends, she's helping me go vigilante."

"And a part of me fails to believe that," He shifted, his foot pushing me down even harder.

I winced in pain, but I didn’t try to budge his leg. I doubt I had the strength to even if I wanted to. Plus, he had the advantage right now and I didn't want to try my luck against his aim.

"Ask her… she'll tell you the exact same thing…"

"I will," He replied as he eased up on the pressure, a sigh of relief escaping me as I could breathe again. "But I'm not finished with you yet. I haven’t been hunting you down for no reason. What are you trying here? What's your grand plan at pretending to be a vigilante?"

He’s been hunting me!? I gulped and nervously spoke.

"There isn't any."

"Hmph, I really should be pulling the trigger right now. One less villain in the city." He sighed and stepped off of me. "But I am willing to let you go, for now. Be glad you were only a petty thief, anything more than that and I would be reconsidering my choice."

I sat up slowly, just to prove to him I wasn't going to suddenly attack him. Not that I would, as my powers were currently still refusing me. I couldn’t even get rid of CrazyTalks powers that I had copied.

It left me utterly confused and worried. Never had they fought back against me using them, only when I was incredibly injured and exhausted did they refuse to work. Though during those times it was because I was out of juice, or energy, but right now? My power still had plenty of energy to pull from, there was no reason why they couldn't be used.

"What did you do to me?" I asked him, trying to hold back the anger in my voice. If he permanently took away my powers I'll-

"Calm yourself brat," he snapped as he put away his gun. "It'll wear off eventually."

"What? What will wear off?"

He huffed. "You'll figure it out."

"You-"

"Mercendiary, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked as she returned, dragging along a handcuffed and angry CrazyTalk.

"Chasing villains," he spoke as he stared directly at me, before he turned to Rachel. "Is it true you've taken to helping petty thieves? That you are acquainted with an enemy?"

She sent a worrying look to me for a second, before frowning at the vigilante. "Yes, I have. Mimica here is turning her life around, and I will be helping her along every step of the way."

"A villain never changes. She'll return to a life of crime."

"She won't," Rachel tightened her hand into a fist. "And so help me, if you even touch a hair on her head then that will be the end for you. I'll personally register you as a villain, because we both know how close you are to being one, and then I'll come for you myself."

He tried not to show it, but I saw the way he subtly flinched. Guess even the scariest of vigilantes are afraid of what would happen should they piss off the famed Guardian.

Though I'm happy to hear how far Rachel would go to protect me. The sentiment goes both ways too, if someone ever threatened her then…well they'll come to regret it.

"I will take your word for it," he replied quickly as he backed away. "I will be taking my leave then."

"That's probably for the best." Rachel glared at him until he was out of the museum.

She turned to me and sighed. "I'm so sorry you had to deal with that Sa-, Mimica."

"It's fine. Thank you for looking out for me."

"It's what friends are for, right?" She smiled, one that I returned until I remembered my problem.

"Guardian, he did something to me. My powers have been unresponsive since he pinned me down." I was really starting to grow worried now. "Do you have any idea how to fix it?"

She sighed.

"Yes, I do know how. I'm curious as to how he got his hands on one, only heroes should have access to them." She said as she started to look me up and down, until she spotted something on the back of my neck. "Ah, there it is."

She ripped something off my neck, a small bit of pain that caused a wince from me, and she brought it around to show me what she found.

A small black mechanical disk with yellow accents, no bigger than the palm of my hand.

"What is that?" And how did he get that onto me? Was it during the moment he was pinning me to the ground? How did I not notice that?

"A power inhibitor, a relatively new device that completely locks down supers who have this on them. He shouldn't have this…" she sighed and placed it in her pocket. "Right, well good news is that its effects will wear out in a couple of minutes. As for me and this guy here we will-"

She paused as her phone started ringing. She dug it out of a hidden pocket in her suit, and as soon as her eyes found the caller she instantly picked up the call.

"Yes, Volti?....What?....Do we know who it came from?...." she responded to the phone, I wasn't able to hear the other end. Rachel sighed. "Tell Starlight to send me to HQ, I'll be there to sort things out."

She turned off her phone and groaned.

"Everything okay?" I asked, feeling a small sensation with my power. I could tell it was slowly waking back up now.

"Kinda?" She shrugged. "I'm not technically allowed to tell you, hero rules and all that, but it involves a neutral 'friend' of ours. The one with the drug problem."

"Right, them." She was clearly talking about the Phantoms, but was avoiding breaking any hero laws in front of CrazyTalk.

A portal appeared behind her, one made out of dark mist with twinkling stars scattered throughout it.

"Right. I need to get going, see you around Mimica. If things go well then we'll be seeing each other soon."

"Stay safe Guardian," I said as I waved goodbye.

She smiled. "You too."

And then she left, the villain following behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I pulled out my phone as soon as I got out of the museum, and yes I finally got myself a phone. Took me long enough. It wasn't until I had to call Rachel using the cafe's phone that I realized I kinda needed one. It was something that I simply couldn't afford or think about with how tight money was for so long, but now there wasn't really an excuse to not have one.

"Hey Sarah!" Skye greeted me cheerfully as soon as she picked up, I couldn’t help but smile at her voice. "Did you finish up that task with your hero friend?"

I nodded, then grew a bit embarrassed that I had just done that.

"Yeah, it went mostly all right. A few problems, but nothing I couldn't handle." I lied. I definitely couldn't handle Mercendiary but I didn’t want to tell her and make her worry. Plus, everything turned out fine in the end.

Mostly.

I couldn't help but giggle when I felt my powers finally return to me, the warm fuzzy feelings that showed my power and body were under my control once again. I hadn’t expected that, weird how it felt so nice.

Not that I ever wanted to experience losing my powers again.

"Geez, I didn’t expect you to be that happy to call me," Skye said with a friendly laugh, and followed it up with a joke that caused my heart to skip a beat. "What? You have a crush on me or something?"

I froze. A part of me wanted to tell her the truth, to confess and let my feelings be known.

But, this wasn’t the time. I just came out as a girl yesterday, shouldn’t I take things slower? Things are hectic enough as it is, even before you include our fight against the Phantoms.

I let out a nearly inaudible sigh. I'll have to say no, to lie to her and say I didn't have a crush on her. It hurts to hide this sometimes, but it's something I have to do.

I prepared myself to speak, but what came out of my mouth wasn't what I had expected.

"Of course I do."

I had forgotten about CrazyTalks powers.