Usual disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of their characters. (Not rich enough anyway)

---

Chapter 2

Annandale-on-Hudson
Grey House

I arrived home with a smile plastered on my face. For once something went right in my life! I made a friend, potentially an ally, in my quest for freedom and equality. Life was going to be difficult from now on, as Sinister or Magneto might come to get me at any point; it meant that I needed all the training I could stomach. 

I have an Omega power level but lacked experience on how to unleash it safely- yes, I had ideas but it was  through trials and errors that I’d succeeded in controlling the meager power I already mastered. There was so much power under the mental lid I had constructed that I didn’t dare to tap into. *Note to self, go to a deserted mountain somewhere and see what I can truly do.*

Before entering my bedroom, I did the usual scan of my neighborhood to become aware of any unknown unforeseen variable. I wouldn’t put it past Sinister to try planting another spy while I was busy.*Mom is here and watching her spanish telenoveles.* (soap opera in English), it was called Marimar and those were a hit in the US lately. *Hmm, ok, I will finish my homework and then go to prepare to look for Matty.* I planned.

“Mom, I’m home!” I shouted, from the porch. I opened the door, placing my bad on the first step of the stairs in sight, and headed to the living room. Mom watched TV as she folded clothes. That’s what I call housewife skills! She could do two things at once. She was dressed in a white top, a blue cardigan that matched the color of her eyes, paired with black jeans. I always found it refreshing that my mother was surprisingly into what I think would be futuristic fashion. She was  also a good seamstress.

She turned her head towards me and smiled briefly before returning to watching her mexican soap opera on the screen. I walked up to her, kissing her on the cheek before sitting beside her and folding the clothes with her. Those were dad’s shirts and pants, she had evidently triaged them beforehand.

When the episode ended, we had finished folding, and mom thanked me for the help before going to prepare dinner. Quickly, I skedaddled, taking my bag from the stairs and levitating up. My bedroom was the second door on the right, near the laundry room and the bathroom. I opened my door with a thought and landed on my feet.

“French and Biology, let’s go.” I threw my backpack into the air, making it levitate and opening it to allow its contents to float out around me, putting the books necessary for doing my homework on my desk.

I sat in front of my desk, with a pen and some paper in hand. I wanted to be done with my homework and then do some chores, go have dinner while watching a rerun of Knight Rider. Once my parents go to sleep,I needed to go to Hell’s Kitchen and see if Daredevil was patrolling. I’ve been hearing rumors... about a devil in that city block, and now it was time to see which kind of Matt Murdock there was in this dimension.

After three hours, my homework was completed. I found genetics interesting; as it was the source of my current, and future problems. I wanted to be good at it to be able to educate the masses later.

"Jean, dinner is ready!!" Mom’s rough knock on my door made me jump.  My undivided attention was directed on my school work so I detect her nearing. 

Looking at the time, I saw that it was already 07:00 PM.

That wasn’t good. I usually deployed my awareness all around me to see if others had also used this time to sneak into the neighborhood. The usual people were present and going through their business and life. I abruptly increased the range from another kilometer and I felt a bleep on my mental detection grid, as it was an unfamiliar mind. I didn’t like that, so while rising from my chair and opening the door to my bedroom with telekinesis, I kept tabs on the stranger’s mind.

I focused on the woman who entered my mental detection sphere, because yes- the mind was female. She had a certain way of thinking about her: she was worried about stealth, completing her mission and had a series of objectives in mind to do so. I didn’t know if she was hostile but I kept a mind's eye on her while still going through the motions.

Through my spatial awareness I didn’t even hit anything on the way, signalling there were no doors or people in the way. Upon, levitating down the stairs, I saw mom at the bottom of them, frowning as she reprimanded, “Walk Jeany, walk. No levitation at home unless it’s an emergency.”

“Fine.” I gave in, raising my hands to placate her.

She was only satisfied once my feet hit the ground, when she pulled me into the dining room. Did I forget to say that mom and dad were overprotective? Yeah, it’s easy to guess when they still treat me as if I was still a child. Though mentally I was older than them. My disinterest in playing or just acting like the teens of my age must have been what worried them and forced them to call Xavier.

I believed that everything was going smooth. Mom seated me at the table when I tried to help set it up, ordering me to relax as she busied herself by doing it. 

I loved helping them, but I could feel from them that they wanted me to let my hair down. They must still be bothered by last night’s discussion. I scowled at the color adorning the table; the pink tablecloth she chose to drape on the table made me have conniptions. This was one of the points of contention we had.

Meanwhile, I still maintained an eye on the spy who stopped two blocks from our house. And… Frowning, I focused on her thoughts and memories.

*Oh, I see what she’s doing, this isn’t about me, but about the brain dead people that have been recovered from time to time in the neighborhood. That’s my fault, they were Sinister’s agents and I dispatched them. I should have thought about this before, next time I will have to atomize their bodies. And neuralyze any witnesses.* I was able to use an ability that I’d developed that I called neuralyzer; called after the device from the Men in Black comics, the neuralizer; in the MIB comics possessed the ability to wipe the mind of anybody who saw the flash.

Once people were neuralized, they seemed to fall into a trance, freeze and their eyes would lose focus. Once victims were neuralized, the agents must make up a story to replace the victims' erased memories. My powers can mimic the same effects, though I can also scramble brains or erase memories and turn people into vegetables.

It hadn't been an easy ability to master, and at first it had taken it out of me as I hadn't been used to manipulating my powers like that. Sifting through memories wasn’t an exact science, as you needed to  know exactly what to look for and either repress the memory or erase it. Depending on the amount of people, like two or three, I was able to do it without tiring myself.Anymore and I would exhaust myself as though I’d run a marathon. Effing baldy made it look easy in the movies.

My attention redirected on mom when she brought two covered bowls on a tray, placing them in the middle of the table.. As my mother uncovered the bowl, a delicious aroma filtered through the air. Tonight’s meal was rice salad with tuna, simpler than last night’s. 

Dad placed two bottles on the table. One contained water, the other wine. I poured the contents of the water bottle into my normal glass and then we began to eat with gusto. That rice salad paired with mom’s secret sauce? It was a match made in heaven. 

While eating I spoke about my day. “I made a friend today. Her name is Jessica Jones, she colored her hair pink, she's quite pretty.” I informed with a grin. 

I continued chewing my food as I waited for their reactions. Dad had paused with a fork midway to his mouth and mom had a look of shock plastered on her face. Their eyes shone with happiness, showcasing  their elation which was made clear with my empathic power active.

*She got a friend!* Mom thought, pleasantly surprised. 

Dad slapped the table, laughing. *We need to celebrate.*

“You two are quite rude, you know.” I pouted. 

Mom and Dad laughed at my expense. A weird look never crossed their faces when they realized I heard their thoughts. Instead, they continued smiling at me. This was acceptance, right here with my parents and it warmed my heart. Mom covered my hand with hers. “Understand us, Jeany. You have been quite antisocial since elementary school…”

I thought about this, and I realised she was right. After Annie's death, I stopped trusting kids my age since they began ignoring me after the breakdown I endured. Being a telepath wasn’t always sunshine and flowers, as I knew when people had ulterior motives or wanted to hurt me. At school and outside the house I always adopted a threatening stance, ready for an attack, whether physical or mental.

*It’s not paranoia if they are really out to get you.* I thought in my heart.

Looking sheepish, I said, “I can't deny that…” Then with a bright smile and after flipping my hair back I continued to say, "but Jess is special. She's a bit like me, a loner. But I understand why… kids at school are mean and downright rude to her and it’s without taking into account that her parents died and she was placed in an orphanage by CPS.”

I intended to change that, and fortunately she didn’t like Peter Parker in this dimension, because in the main reality 616, the spiderboy was her first crush.

Mom put a hand over her chest, utterly shocked. “The poor dear!”

My mother sat straight in her chair, the wheels in her head spinning. “Why don't you invite her to come over, you must introduce this young woman to us.”

I wasn’t surprised by her suggestion. She had a good heart and maybe having Jess here sometimes would be good. Mom wanted to help her, and now I knew where I got my helping people thing. “Sure I will.”

“Was she adopted?” My dad asked, as he placed his fork on his plate.

I nodded. “Yeah, I think so, otherwise she wouldn’t be at Midtown High.”

“True.” Dad grunted, resuming eating. 

Mom and I did followed suit, finishing our meal on inane conversations. Then we went to watch the news on our big television. I kept getting weird flashes of deja vu as I knew some of the events already happening all around the world, but there were marked differences, like the Iraqi disarmament crisis. In my other self’s original reality Iraq refused to let the UN inspectors access a number of sites and the US failed in its attempt to build support for military action against Iraq in the UN Security Council.

In this reality they had nothing to hide and had respected the terms of the disarmament. The news still spoke about the situation even weeks after, doing follow ups on them. Something really important was going on too. Tupac Shakur survived a gunshot wound while attending a boxing match in Las Vegas, whereas in the other dimension he clearly died.*A sure sign that I can’t always rely on my knowledge of the events from the other reality and about the Marvel Universe.* I thought as I nestled against my mother a bit more, who in turn hugged me and ran her fingers through my hair. 

After this revelation, I went to do the dishes and my parents went to get ready for bed. I had a plan for tonight and I followed the progress of mom and dad while cleaning the kitchen and dining room. I checked the time on my watch.

09:57 PM.

*They are going to go to sleep soon, they always do after their showers.* 

Once I finished my chores, I went into my bedroom; it was my turn to use the shower in my own bathroom. I took off the outfit I was wearing and caught a towel from one of the shelves of my wardrobe. I stopped before the mirror and looked at the reflection of my naked form.

Sixteen years and I still found a stranger looking back at me. I had green eyes and long red hair that reached the middle of my back, no freckles, unblemished pale skin; I have ample breasts, and as I held onto them, I smiled as I found them firm and splendid. A toned body that showed that I took care of myself. I mean come on, I have abs!

Shaking my head, I remembered what my other self looked like. With another ethnicity and nationality she had been completely different.  She was french, her skin a clear caramel, and a penchant for african braids along with brown eyes. Her hips had been wider, but she had smaller breasts. She was a mother, and missed her kid terribly at the moment. Closing my eyes, I saw her in my mind’s eye smiling upon me. She was me, and I was her. The disapproving look etched on her face made me chuckle. She was now reminding me that she had come to terms with it, it had been sixteen years, after all.

Smiling, I shrugged, my reflection mimicking me. After thirty minutes, I was cleaned thoroughly and I dried my hair using a blow dryer. Having long hair was a chore, but I would be damned if I ever cut it. I mean it was an iconic red mane, in the comics and movies I was always presented with long hair, well… the dumb movies with Hugh Jackman didn't count.

“Damn, I should go check to see if he looks like the one in the movies. If he is, I’m totally going to have him.” I stated, out loud.

I thought about those rock hard muscles and tall frame… *Yum.*

Blushing, I stopped myself from thinking about sex. Well, I was sixteen, full of hormones and jailbait. Let’s put that plan on the back burner. Once done with drying my hair, I combed and brushed it. Looking toward the door, I felt someone coming. It was mom.

My mother knocked on the door. “Jeany, time to go to sleep.”

“Let me brush my teeth and I will.” I shouted at the door.

“Don’t tarry, then. Good night honey.” I felt her leaving, and knew she was going to have sex with dad… they were really sexually active as a couple.

“Good night mom.” 

I glared at the toothbrush in the white porcelain cup, and it floated toward me as well as the toothpaste; expertly, I used my TK to put the paste on the brush and I took the tool in my hand and began to brush. Every day I trained in the control of my powers, I hoped one day that I wouldn’t need the mental lid I placed on them anymore.

I barely used two percent of it and it could make me levitate or evaporate water. At first I was scared by how much psionic power this little body of mine contained and could potentially wield. When I had been thirteen it had suddenly manifested when I had thrown a tennis ball at my wall and the ball had been stopped in midair, as I had tried to take it, the ball had been vaporized.

My life has been hell for the first two weeks as I had experimented in order to contain a lid on it, and then I had thought about this show that my other self had seen before her death called My Hero Academia. The MC stupidly used his new power as an all-or-nothing move when he should have tried to make it part of himself. And when he started training to make it so, he saw that his current body and mentality didn’t permit him to use all of his power.

I had done the same as him and had seen at which point it had been safe to use my powers. I had worked really hard to be at the point where I was right now. Before it had been half of a percent, barely enough to bend spoons like in The Matrix. However, as I was sixteen, and as I committed to daily meditation sessions and caring for my body, I was confident in using 10% safely. Experience-this was what I needed and was sorely lacking in.

With ten percent power I could use my power to mimic superboys. By imbuing myself with psionic energy I dramatically enhanced my body, which meant I had super agility, reflexes, durability, and a  large boost in my senses, Wonder Woman levels of speed and strength; let’s not talk about the force-field, flight and TK armor -a sort of dermal armor like a kryptonian- and TK pressure.

No wonder, I could beat Jessica Jones, though she was still a baby in terms of using her powers. Though… I hated the way Marvel showed how Jean Grey used her powers. I mean, I was an effing omega level mutant with two of the best super powers: telepathy and TK (Telekinesis).

*Well, scratch that! I am super.* I laughed, while my teeth were still coated in toothpaste. After three minutes passed, I was done. 

Smiling, I used my TK to levitate, and looked at the wet floor. I narrowed my eyes and focused on it and exciting the water molecules by making them vibrating. The water evaporated in an instant. With a grin, I repeated the motion with the water coating my body. There was a brief cloud of vapor but it wasn’t scalding, or such.    

I used my powers to open the door, and went through it.  The house was silent and I felt no one in the corridor. I closed the door of my bedroom with the rise of an eyebrow.

I switched on the light, and searched for anything amiss. My seismic sense deployed, only registering the movement of insects within the walls. I would have to warn dad about that, as they might be due to a visit from the exterminator.

Taking my time I chose the clothes in which I would be going out tonight; in my wardrobe I found a black hoodie with oversized hood, the decal on the front of it was of a yellow and orange firebird. It was perfect so I threw it on the bed. Crouching to access my panty drawer I pulled on it and began to look for something that wasn’t lacy or white; I hit the jackpot when I found feminine black boxer shorts.

*Hmm, I will need more of these in the near future. They are super practical.* I thought as I pawed those and stood up to put them on.

Following my instincts, I wore a black sports bra. Five minutes later I had found the perfect pants to pair with my outfits, which were hidden in the back of the drawer. I remembered buying this pair of high waisted faux leather pants in January. As I put them on, my reflection in the wardrobe mirror’s showed why she hid them- they looked practically painted on as though they were a second skin to me. 

*It seems that mom doesn’t want me to look too… appealing to men.* 

I decided to dress in another layer of clothes under my hoodie, opting for a long sleeved tight yoga shirt, with a zipper neckline. 

Tilting my head, my reflection told me the outfit was lacking a certain something. I pondered, before figuring it out. Walking up to my bed, I grasped the white box from under the bed, removing the lid. Within it was a pair of metal tipped calf high black combat boots which I purchased last summer and forgot about them- until now. “Perfect.” I complimented. 

Finally finished with outfitting myself, I focused on my seismic sense and my passive mental detection. My parents were still at it, having sex like rabbits. I didn’t want to get caught when I was sneaking out, so I leaned on my bed and focused on the white ceiling, then on my Britney Spears and Mariah Carey posters. I liked those two, maybe I would find a way for Britney to not go off the deep end this time if I had enough power to do so.

Content with that thought, I looked at my two bookshelves, which were bursting with books. The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and a range of fantasy novels had found their way onto the right one. Then there were books like Dune, and novels based on Star Wars and Star Trek. Most of Heinlein’s books were present too.

Though weirdly, I hadn't found some authors that my other self had in her own reality. I shrugged and thought about the technology that I knew would be out there; though I noticed Earth in the Marvel universe was strangely ahead compared the vanilla one my other self was from.

There was already talk circulating on making DVD players, and more advanced computer parts which were more powerful than those available currently. I gleaned this by sifting through the surface minds of the nerds at my usual table. My thoughts kept going everywhere until they settled on the woman spying on my neighborhood.

*When I get out of here, I’m going to check what she’s about and who she works for.* 

It was thirty minutes later when my parents were done, I didn’t begrudge them their sex life but they certainly were... healthy. Their minds felt rapturous as well as exhausted to me and they began to feel somnolent.

*Finally.* I raised my hands into the air and I straightened on my bed, my booted feet meeting the ground. 

I was tempted to help them along to find sleep, but I didn’t. I was never going to use my powers that way on my parents. Looking at the time on my alarm clock on the white-colored nightstand.

The time on my alarm clock read 10:35 PM.

Well okay, it was time to go.

I stood up from my bed and levitated off the floor, silently opened my door and I was out of my bedroom. There was no way I was sneaking out through one of the front windows of the house. Two of them were in my bedroom. I went down the stairs, and deftly felt around me with my spatial sense. I passed the dining room and living room to end up in the kitchen.

I almost hit the breakfast table, and thank goodness I didn’t as mom had sharp ears. Floating silently, I finally reached the door leading to the patio and the back garden. Feeling around with my mental detection, I found no one looking in my direction or the back of the house.

I force cloaked and became invisible, and after letting my psionic energy fill my body I looked at the sky and jumped, flying into the air.

 

# # #

 

I didn’t know what to think. SHIELD was onto me. SHIELD! That woman, Katherine Shane was an agent sent to investigate the weird occurrences happening in Annandale-on-Hudson. I really hadn't been careful enough and now  they were going to find me.

It had been easy to swoop in from the sky, immobilize the agent in her car and put her to sleep by pushing a suggestion into her mind. Then, I promptly began to surf through her memories discovering her training with SHIELD, meeting the big poobah Nick Fury who looked just like Samuel L. Jackson, and more prominently Phil Coulson. Her partner.

“I didn’t expect that.” These words were uttered out loud. After sifting through her mind more, I found her serial number, that her clearance level was four in the agency, and where the legendary helicarrier was located. Releasing her head, I looked at the sky and asked myself what I was doing. I was barely sixteen years old and… 

I got an idea. Staring at the woman, I began grinning like a loon and thanked ol’ Nick for this gift. I put a hand on Katherine’s forehead and I focused. I copied all her knowledge, skills, combat training, weapon training, paramilitary and spy training, science, languages (french, russian, japanese and chinese), even information about the current military and organized crimes that Agent Shane could access with her clearance level.

The sudden headache that hit me like a truck alerted me that it was time to stop.There was only so much I could copy and paste from her mind to mine- this was one of the biggest weaknesses of the power known as knowledge replication. Feeling the information I absorbed being assimilated into my memories and trying to adapt to my young body, I questioned if this would become a trend. *Yes. I will do anything to survive.* I looked at the woman before adjusting her car seat.  

It gave the impression that she took a nap, and then I began to look at the memories she had from the last five minutes and neuralyzed her. I leaned toward her and said through the car window, “You feel tired and you feel that casing the neighborhood is a waste of time. You’ll ask someone to replace you as you don’t want to do such grunt work again.”

In Agent Shane’s mind I saw how she conveniently changed part of her own memory to fit the scenario I just gave her. It was pretty funny to see how the human mind worked. They could talk themselves into things to avoid the dire reality of their situation.

Satisfied with my work, I took my hand away and closed the automatic windows. At least she wouldn’t catch a cold. Seeing a SHIELD agent in the flesh had shaken me to my core, I didn’t want to face Nicholas Fury this early in the game; I knew that sooner or later he would know about me, but this was just too soon.

*Why did they send someone with her clearance level to do such a low brow mission, anyway?* I asked myself.

I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I accepted the easy training, needing to move on.   Now I became aware of my decisions that could be ill-wised. I would no longer travel to school by flying because they had radars that could detect my flight, though flying during the night was okay.  As long as I didn’t go faster than 400 km/h and flew really low.

My feet left the ground, and I stopped climbing into the air at 100 meters in elevation, then followed Ravinewalk street, passed Tewksbury Hall at great speed and was now flying over Annandale road. For over twenty minutes I followed route eighty-seven and signs on the road until I reached George Washington Bridge and finally reached Manhattan.

Manhattan, an iconic city if I say so myself. Home of heroes and the economic pulse of the USA. Soon, I would have a place here; a base of operations or… several of them, why keep all my eggs only in one location?

Whatever- I needed money now. I wasn’t going to rob innocent civilians of their money by robbing banks. If I was going to steal, I’d steal from the people who were raining havoc on the world by killing, trafficking, and stealing themselves.  I flew over the Hudson river, not bothering doing it over the bridge. *After all, who knows what kind of device SHIELD has here to look for people like me?* I stopped cold in the air at that thought. Where had it come from? Oh my god, had I caught paranoia too when I had siphoned Agent Shane? I wouldn’t have thought of that before.

In my mind, I saw that I was still assimilating her experiences, knowledge and skills but it was gradually sipping into me and changing my way of thinking. *So, I must be careful with what knowledge I replicate. Live and learn they said, there are always cons to awesome abilities.*

Shrugging I started to fly toward Hell’s Kitchen, deciding to follow the Hudson, the speed at which I was flying created waves as I flew only five meters above the water. The landmarks were easy to follow in the sea of concrete and buildings. I passed West Harlem and then at Manhattan valley I decided to stop using the river to hide my trail.

Veering right, I flew over a rather well lit tennis court and landed amongst trees, noticing there was a parkway before me. There were still people on the streets. Manhattan never slept and fortunately for me I was still in force cloak mode, invisible to their eyes and other senses. Looking for signs to orient myself I read that I was on the Henry Hudson parkway, there was one sign that showed where to go to arrive at Hell’s Kitchen. I continued to follow the parkway from the air until I reached a bifurcation.

I had to go low enough to look for the signs with the directions on them. I needed an effing GPS, you know what? If I can’t have them ’till 2008, I’m just gonna invent them! *Woe is me, stuck in the medieval era…* I said in derision.

I rose higher into the air and behind the forest of buildings I could see a lot of greenery. Following sixty-sixth street, I flew toward it, at high speed and found myself in Central Park. It was big and beautiful under the moonlight and it was an easy to follow landmark.

Backtracking, I ended up on ninth avenue and continued to fly slowly. Reaching Hell’s Kitchen was anticlimactic, until it wasn’t as I saw a couple being taken in an alley between a restaurant and a cafe by a group of three people.

*Seriously?* I slowed my flight and landed on the ground, sprinting into an alley, not breaking my invisibility.

*I just arrived and there's already a situation, so they were right in that novel wearing the cape, powered people attract trouble.* I clicked my tongue.

“Please just take my wallet and let us go.” I heard the baritone voice of the man in the beige trench coat beg.

The couple were surrounded by three thugs, and strangely they seemed to be the winners of the cliché  ethnicity gangbangers. One was black, another white and the last latino. They wore hoodies or jackets with pants so loose that I could see their boxers; what was more prominent was their golden pleated bling hanging from their necks or wrists.

I didn’t like that, because I knew that even if they looked ridiculous they were a danger. The latino had a sinister smile as he held them at gunpoint. As I looked at the weapon I surprised myself as information trickled through my head as I recognized it. *Glock 19 Semi-Auto Pistol.*

Well, it seemed that agent Shane’s knowledge was coming in handy already. More information changed how I was seeing this mugging that was happening.

There were at least ten meters between the two buildings forming the alleys. The black thug was blocking the alley and the white one was squirming around, looking panicked at the couple and at his buddy with the gun. 

*Latino guy did this before from the cruel emotions and psychopathic vibe I feel from him, he gets off from the pain of people richer than him. The white guy must be new to their group and already pissing his pants as he realized that he was hanging with the wrong crowd. Black guy with all the chains and gold in his mouth was as twisted as the latino guy, they have been doing this for a long time.*

I didn’t do anything yet, instead listening in. But I already knew that two of the thugs weren’t leaving this poorly lit and piss smelling alley alive tonight.

Latino guy laughed an irksome laugh. It sounded as though he was  braying like an ass.

“We ain’t doin’ dis for da money, bro.” He grinned, while he pointed his weapon at the well built and dark haired man.

*He must have been in a party or something.* I told myself.

“What do you want?!” The man held captive exclaimed. He stared at the latino manLatino guy turned his head toward the wife, and gazed at her with lust filled eyes. Empathically I felt his tongue lick me everywhere. *YUCK.*

“Yah got a pretty wife.” He admired, slimily. 

I didn’t like where this was going, but I kinda agreed with him. The woman had an hourglass figure, long black hair and the prettiest sky blue eyes that I’d ever seen, and let’s not speak about her red pouty lips. She wore a pink conservative dress covered by a short open red trench coat. Her jewelry was sapphire and pearl, matching with her skin tone and eyes.

The black guy laughed at his buddy but carefully groped his crotch, he fondled his tool through his pants while thinking of the fun he would have raping the ‘white bitch’. This was word for word what he thought.

I felt impatience coming from the black guy. “Lopez, just kill the man, I want to have a go at her!”

The trench coat guy was looking for a way out and placed himself between his wife and them.

“Guys, we shouldn't be doing this.” White guy, with a conscience, weakly protested. 

As I read his mind, I saw that he just wanted to play tough gangsta guy like in the video clip he watched on TV. Another guy who thought that rappers and their culture were harmless, I felt that he was barely older than me and just a poor bastard that continued to make bad choices. This was surely a turning point in his life.

The woman began to cry, and she begged, “P-please don’t do this, w-we have a son at home.”

Latino guy eyes’ lit at that new knowledge and said. “Don’t worry, darlin’ we will visit him at your home too.”

*Ok, that’s it he is dead now.* I walked up to him. 

That was the final stroke for trench coat guy, his face became dark and lunged at the latino thug with the gun who just smiled and avoided him and fired his gun in the direction of the wife. I choose this moment to intervene and saved the woman by putting a force-field between her and the bullet destined to lodge itself in her heart. I angled the field so that the ricochet reach the black guy blocking the way to the other end of the alley.

He took the bullet in the thigh, screamed in agony and was on the ground. Latino guy widened his eyes and emptied the weapon clip by shooting repeatedly at the pink dressed woman but the force-field still held on. The woman stood frozen, not understanding what was happening. I ran at super speed and jumped at him, performing a drop kick that caught latino guy in the back of his neck. With a loud sickening crunch, I saw the armed guy fly toward the wife but he was stopped by my force-field, loudly crunched against it and ended up on the ground.

I looked at the white guy who peed his pants, and made him sleep by pushing suggestions in his mind. He fell onto the ground like a bag of potatoes, fainting. Letting go of my invisibility, I was finally visible to everyone. Trench coat guy and his wife stood frozen at my appearance.

Feeling the movement of Latino guy’s hand, he was about to shoot his gun yet again at the pink dressed woman. With a cutting motion of my hand, I severed his arm. 

“You’ve been disarmed.” I quipped, laughing.

The Latino guy looked at his arm and began screaming and screaming until I had enough and knocked him out with a light TK punch to the head. He had a broken spine and lost his arm, which was gruesome.

I turned my head to look at the black guy nearest the pretty black haired woman who was still screaming at the top of his lungs too and his blood was flowing quickly out the bullet hole in his thigh. His artery must have been hit.

I didn’t care if he died, but I put him to sleep too. Seeing his body slacken as if he had died made the woman look at all the downed guys with fear, then she looked at me. To her, I was the hooded and diminutive person who maimed and neutralized the threat… I wasn’t surprised when she fell onto her knees and screamed. Or, when trench coat guy tried to attack me.

“Ole.” I said while evading his charge by stepping aside on the right at the last moment, he had wanted to tackle me.

He stood up and tried to lunge at me again, he knew nothing about fighting, fortunately. I let him approach me and held my hand before me and he froze as I locked his movements with my TK. The man was still struggling.

“Why are you trying to attack someone who saved you?” I asked, a bit miffed.

My voice seemed to make him stop and think,  “You… huh.” He tried to say. I forgot that I was stopping him from moving his entire body, it meant his lips and tongue too.

*Silly me.* I smiled sheepishly and waved a hand at him for effect and he suddenly fell onto the dirty ground of the alley.

“Ah sorry, you can speak now.” I said, embarrassed.

Being a hero wasn’t as easy as I thought...

Eyes wide in astonishment, the trench coat man asked with a bit of fear in his voice, “How are you doing this?!”

I tilted my head. “Oh, I have powers.”

The man didn’t seem to believe me, but I shrugged. He will learn that mutants exist sooner or later, so let’s not break his nice little world, yet. 

Then I looked at his beautiful wife was still having a panic attack. “Anyway, let’s get you back to your wife. You can move now, c’mon go reassure her.” I said, shooing him toward her.

The man walked awkwardly toward her until he saw her distressed and ran to her, embraced her and said, “Martha! Martha, it’s ok, she’s one of the good guys.”

This comment made me raise eyebrows.

“Hey, I certainly am not a guy, mister!” I shouted sarcastically.

At my joke, Martha emerged from her panic filled mind and emitted bubbling laughter from her throat, tears streamed down her cheeks. It was relief, a very freeing emotion that I felt coming from her mind. This made me smile, it was proof that she was still alive; that she was going to bounce right back from this ordeal.

The man smiled as he hugged his wife tightly against him. “She’s… funny as you can see.”

Martha looked at him with tears and then held tightly onto him and said, “Thomas, l-l-let’s go back home please.”

I nodded at that. “You guys can go. I am going to take care of them. Go back to your son.”

As I watched those monsters laying here on the ground, I wanted to vaporize these guys, but I wanted to make them suffer first. Diverse torture methods unloaded into my mind, *Agent Shane sure knew how to do her spy job.*

The trench coat guy, Thomas approached me with his wife holding tightly onto him. He was wary, but determined. That’s what I felt about him. “Hum, what’s your name?” He asked.

“Je-I mean I am Phoenix.” I almost told him my real name!

I had to stop blundering like this, mistakes killed in this superhero gig. No telling people your real identity! I saw what happened to Peter Parker and every hero in Civil War from the Marvel comics. Their families and friends got dead really fast or kidnapped. I had too much to lose, and my parents’ smiling faces flashed into my mind. I needed… scratch that, I had to become someone else,  Phoenix.

“You sound really young to be doing this… vigilante thing. How old are you?” Thomas asked me.

His face became serious, I felt the concern and the desire to help to steer me away from my decision of wanting to do something good and beat up bad guys, but I was also doing this to get better against the big threat out there and my freedom from Mr. Sinister’s clutches.

*There’s no better training than on the field, after all.*

The man wasn’t a self-righteous prick- no he was doing that because he thought I was a young girl indulging in something dangerous. He wanted me to go home, and be safe.His good intentions made me smile at him, though I had to dissuade him from trying to change my decision. “I am in highschool.” I simply said, not wanting to disclose anything else.“But does it truly matter? Tonight I saved your wife and you from a fate worse than death.”

The latino guy intended to shoot Thomas in the legs, and then allow his dark-skinned friend to rape Martha- as Thomas watched. 

Thomas stepped back, gulping, with a look of embarrassment across his face.  “I am grateful, it’s just…”

“You see me as a little girl playing a dangerous game?” I continued his thread of thought.

The man didn’t know on what leg to stand on, and being a telepath was like that. We were always a step ahead of people in a conversation, simply because we knew what they were thinking. A stubborn glint entered his eyes.  He didn’t even try to hide his opinion and told me straight up. “Essentially, yes.”

I walked up to him, and put a finger on his chin. “Someone told me before, that with great power, comes great responsibility.”My voice didn’t waver.  

I vibrated the air using my TK, making it blur. Taking my hood off, we started into each others eyes for a long time until he broke away first. Thomas sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging as he began to realize that he could do nothing to change my mind. As for Martha she barely spoke but she was of the same opinion as her husband. She wanted to thank me, but I still scared her. She hid behind Thomas when I smiled at her.

“Ok… ok, I-I understand. Please take this.” Thomas took a card from the hidden pocket of his trench coat and held it to me.

I took it and read the name on the card.

Doctor Thomas Wayne. 

My face whipped to his and now… now I saw who he was. *The fuck? What is Thomas Wayne doing here?!*

A shy smile graced his lips.“Phoenix, if you ever get hurt… well I know that you won’t want to go to a hospital… look, if you are ever hurt just come see me at my clinic and I will take care of you, okay?”

*Oh gosh, he was so cute.* 

I turned my eyes to Martha. “Martha! I know why you married him! Never let him go, you hear me!”

Martha smiled at me, despite herself. Tightening her hold on her husbands arm, she proclaimed,”I never intend to!” Thomas reddened at the exchange between us and shook his head. Thomas shook his head, his cheeks flushing. 

“Good.” I laughed. “Now get out of here, go back to your son”

They nodded. Thomas smiled at me and made a dorky salute. “Thank you, Phoenix. I hope to see you again.”

“Bye bye.” I waved at them.

My eyes trailed their movements until they reached the end of the alleyway. 

Now that we were all alone, I turned my gaze to the three men.  “Now, where were we?”

 

# # #

(Matt Murdock)

 

He had wanted to intervene and save the couple, but at the last moment, someone has interfered and took them out. The young girl was fast, smart, and strong. She had broken the arm of the shooter, and was letting the second one bleed to his demise. He didn’t know how the third assailant had been dealt with. Had she just looked at him, and he fainted?  As he crouched on the roof of the Ponche Taqueria restaurant, he observed how this new player took care of the situation. He didn’t like what he saw through his radar sense. At all. Though as she interacted with the couple she just saved he regained hope that what she did there was just inexperience rearing its head.

He watched this Phoenix girl, as she dubbed herself being thanked for what she did here, making him shake his head. The couple left from the other end of the alley quickly moving away from his radar sense range. Matt refocused on Phoenix.

“Now, where were we?” He heard her say, her voice void of emotion, sending a chill down his back. 

*That’s not good, is she going to…* He was about to drop down and stop her, but her unpredictability wasn’t to be underestimated.

“Well I guess, white guy is gonna need to get out of here. He did try to defuse the situation.” She stated, walking up to the kid. 

He saw her crouch down, slapping the kid repeatedly until he regained conscience.  “What? Who?”

“Wakey, wakey.” 

The kid backpedalled, still sprawled against the ground.His heart raced, and he could smell a foul scent emitting from the other guy. 

Matt rolled his eyes. The kid had just shat himself. To his superhuman sense of smell it was offensive.

“Oh God, please let me go. I didn’t know those two were that crazy!” The kid babbled.

Matt waited for Phoenix to speak, and was ready to intervene at a moments notice. He hoped she’d let the kid go. He saw her walking toward him again, crouch at his side and say, “I already intended to, don’t worry. So what’s your name?”

Gulping, the kid answered in a little voice. “Hank. My name’s Hank.”

“Well Hank. I want you to think carefully about what happened here today. Those guys behind me, they aren’t people you want to hang out with. Had they succeeded, you’d be an accomplice to rape and murder, home invasion and killing a kid. Then you’d be in the deep end. Either you’d have offed yourself or… adapted and became a monster like them.”

Matt was surprised by the insight this girl had from the event happening here. now that she was speaking about it, it was plausible that the shooter would have done what he said and gone back to the couple’s house and offed their kid.

Phoenix continued in a more forceful tone as she put a hand on his forehead, “I want you to go home, think really hard about what you want to do in life and be good and help the little people as much as you can. Though you can be a little bit selfish too.”

Frowning, Matt didn’t understand what was happening here; what she was demanding from the kid sounded strangely like… like a compulsion. There was no way the young man would-

“Yeah, I-I am going to do that.” Matt was shocked that the kid didn’t tell her to go to hell with her demands.

Phoenix took her hand from his forehead and the kid stood up, noticed his soiled jeans and grunted in disgust, and with embarrassment ran in the opposite direction than the couple from earlier.

The young woman looked at the other kid now.  The sudden change in her physical language alerted him that he had been a fool to believe that she was all kittens and rainbows as she walked purposefully toward the other two incapacitated assailants. Matt chose this moment to drop down from the roof and slow his fall with his grapple staff. As he landed, he noticed that Phoenix had gone still.

“Ah, finally found you daredevil. You are a hard man to get ahold to.” She sounded happy to see him.

Matt didn’t know what to think about that. This was the first time someone had sought him out. Normally it was him getting the drop on people, and beating them up. “Do we know each other?”

Phoenix shook her head. “No, I came to you looking for training. I am new at this vigilante thing.” She sounded uncertain.

Matt had never set out to be a hero. He was forced into the role after saving Mickey from the Kingpin’s goons. *For fuck sake, is she a groupie or something?*

“Girl…” Matt started. 

Her stance became threatening. “My name is Phoenix.” Her voice was cold. 

Matt rolled his eyes. “Right, Phoenix. Why don’t you go home? I will call the cops and take care of those guys…”

Phoenix laughed at him. The sound was trilling, reminding him of a bird. “I am not letting any of those guys leave of this alley alive, devil.”

Matt felt the anger oozing from her. “You shouldn’t say things like that, you clearly aren’t a murderer.” He was trying to defuse the situation.

It was strange to Matt when he felt her presence spread out around her to his radar sense, as if she could reach very far around herself. Before leaving, Stick, his master, had told him that other people with abilities existed and some were so powerful that even he couldn’t hope to do anything against them.

“I killed my first enemy when I was barely twelve years old. It is too late to try to reason with me.” The girl… no, Phoenix told him, sadness laced in her voice.  

Listening to her voice and heartbeat, he realized that she wasn’t lying. It shocked him. Like him she seemed to have been a victim of circumstances and walked a different path than him. He refused to kill if it wasn’t warranted, but killing two unconscious men? That was beyond the pale.

As if sensing this from him, Phoenix heaved a sigh and said with disappointment. “Well, I guess that’s a doozy with seeking training with ya, devil. I guess, I will have to go to her then. Damn she’s going to work me to the bone...”

And then at a super speed she arrived near the unconscious man, raising her foot. She was about to crush his head.

“Don’t!” Matt screamed as he lunged at her, but he knew he was late at the sound of a crunch.Matt couldn’t believe how she killed that man without hesitation. He looked at her, but she didn’t laugh or gloat, instead exuding calmness.  It wasn’t the first time she had killed like she said. Twirling his staff, he entered a combat stance, protecting the man behind him. 

Seemingly reading his intention, Phoenix asked. “You really want to do this?” 

To Matt, her stance changed, and he noticed that she alternated between a beginner and a professional fighter intermittently. He didn’t know what the deal was with this girl but he intended to stop her.

“You’ll surrender yourself.” Matt commanded.

She smirked, “Like hell. I always keep my promises, and this murderer isn’t going to see the light of day.”

“You crippled him, isn’t it enough?!” Matt growled at her.

He was used to doing it himself. His anger management therapy had revolved around crippling his foes and going after hardened criminals to release his pent up feelings. “I could tell you that he has a large body count and has been doing this for a very long time. Except you won’t back off, right?” Phoenix said, her tone knowing.

Matt shook his head. “I won’t. Killing isn’t a solution”

“Sometimes, devil. Killing is what they deserve and you are protecting a man who has…” Phoenix continued to speak but Matt didn’t want to listen to her, so he lunged at her, while in midair he divided his staff into sticks and tried to knock her head but she avoided him by fleeing away from him with that unnatural speed of hers. Matt growled as he threw his stick at her and lunged back, but Phoenix batted it away and met him halfway with an attempted jab to his face that he evaded.

Raising back his stick, he used his other one to get her in her right flank, and the two of them exchanged moves as if they were rehearsing a stunt fight. Matt discovered that she was reading him, but he didn’t know how. Phoenix crouched and attempted to sweep his legs but Matt jumped, used his graphook to take him out of her reach and bounced off the wall behind her and used it like a trampoline to kick her in the back.

Phoenix saw him coming and stopping him in the air, he beat his feet, but couldn’t reach the ground. Not knowing what was happening he threw his stick at her with all his strength and got her in the head.

“Ouch.” She cried out.

Matt fell on his feet and then charged at her, sending her flying with a kick to her stomach. She rolled with the impact, stood up and launched herself at him executing a textbook hook kick. Matt tried to go low but something stopped him from doing so and she caught him square in the ribs. It was his turn to get sent flying and impact the wall.

Grunting in pain, he looked at her, but he didn’t feel her coming to him. Just watching him, her heart beating wildly in her ribcage. 

“You know as much as it’s fun to fight you.. I have school tomorrow.” 

Matt showed teeth. “You are not leaving.” He spat, angry. 

He has been giving his all, whereas she didn’t sound wounded or winded at all. 

“There’s something you should know about me, devil. I don’t need to be near an enemy to kill him.” He could hear the smile in her voice. 

Matt turned to look at where the shooter had been upon hearing the sound of an impact, followed by a crunch. Using his radar sense, he noticed that the form he was seeing no longer looked human. It was more like a meaty splatter on the ground. “Later.” Phoenix waved at him.

“Wait!” Matt bellowed.

Something he would have never believed seeing before happened. He saw Phoenix fly into the air, and she kept rising without assistance. Greeting his teeth, Matt shot his grappling hook at her to try to keep her on the ground but she deflected it without even touching it. 

“Bye devil, we will see each other again.” She said before she completely disappeared from his senses.

It seemed today was full of firsts for him. He had failed to bring in a budding murderer and met his first super powered teenager.

“How am I going to handle this?” Matt asked aloud, examining the scene around him.The pungent smell of blood, piss and fear lingered in the new alley which saw the birth of a new vigilante. Someone not afraid to dirty her hands.

---

A/N: Heya guys! I wanted to tell you, Chapter 3 of Raptor is out on Patreon, though I'm going to write chapter 4 soon it will be for January.