The Hero Initiative (10/?) (f) Updated 12/12/2011

October 19, 2011

Hey everyone! Blah-San again, and it's time for something fun!

I've been sitting on the idea of doing a super hero story for a while, but I never really did anything with it until now. Plus, I've decided to go beyond just one story, and hopefully I'll be able to make a whole series out of this. There's a ton of stuff I'd like to do, so I think I'll be able to keep it going for a while.

Anyway, here's part 1 of what will hopefully be my first actual series:

Chapter 1: Hot Stuff

"Hey there, kiddo," said a voice through Isabel's earpiece. The young heroine adjusted her small headset so she could hear better, this being the first time she had used it. The voice sounded very low and mature, but also quite feminine and smooth. It was the sort of voice that Isabel might associate with a librarian or a teacher. In fact, it actually reminded her of a couple faculty members at her high school.

"You've passed all but your last test, so now you get your very own operator. That's me. I'll feed you information about all your assignments, and I'll answer any questions you might have."

Isabel nodded, adjusting her headset one last time.

"Thanks. What's your name, by the way?" she asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Just call me operator."

Isabel nodded silently again, deciding to just go with it rather than arguing about names. She stepped toward the building in front of her, a large, prestigious and extravagant jewelry store, ready to take her final test. This was her first time truly alone in the field, but she had passed all of her other tests with flying colors, so she wasn't too nervous. In fact, the only thing that was really bothering her was her outfit. The Hero Initiative really didn't want to waste money on their cadets, it would seem. While true, approved heroes could get their own custom uniforms, trainees like Isabel were effectively stuck with fancy spandex in the color of their choosing. Actually, Isabel was a special case. She could have had her own uniform by now, but she had to think of a name for herself first. She thought of herself as a fairly creative person, but coming up with names was not her strong suit. Therefore, she was stuck with the blue tights until she could think of something.

"Alright, this one should be fairly simple," Isabel's operator chimed in again as she reached for the front door. "Inside that building is a thief who goes by the name 'High Roller.' If you couldn’t guess by the name, he thinks of himself as one of those 'gentleman thieves,' with the tuxedo and the top hat and the cane and all that kind of stuff. I'm sure you know of the type. In fact, he's been rather nice to us. As best we can tell, he's been sitting around in the showroom of the store, just waiting for someone to try and stop him before he makes his getaway. That's just what he does. He always gives law enforcement a chance to stop him, and sometimes he even gives back whatever he's stolen. The issue is that, obviously, he always gets away."

Isabel didn't exactly like that last part. How was she supposed to pass this test when her target always escaped? For all she knew, not even certified heroes could pull it off. How was she expected to? She took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm.

"Hey! Don't freak out yet! I'm just getting to the good part!" the operator said again, getting Isabel's attention once more. "Your test isn't to catch the guy. I mean, that would be nice, obviously, but your test is to get back whatever he stole, and to do it without destroying the building. You have no idea how much collateral damage the Initiative's had to deal with. It got so bad we made it part of the test. That shouldn't be a problem for you though, since based on your prior tests, you can put out fires just as fast as you can start them. Now, go get him."

Isabel nodded and pulled the door open, heading inside the store. Just as she expected, the inside was quite 'fabulous.' Most of the walls and furniture were either black or silver, but virtually everything was coated with something shiny. It had an interesting effect to it, making the walls and pillars look like they were encrusted with the very same gems being sold there. Isabel did her best not to get distracted and she headed through the entryway toward the showroom.

As soon as Isabel set foot in the massive showroom, a pair of spotlights snapped on, illuminating a figure in the center of the room. Just as the operator had said, it appeared to be a man in a tuxedo with a cane and top hat. He removed his hat and bowed as Isabel approached, revealing that he was also wearing a mask over his eyes.

"Welcome, milady, to the scene of my latest crime," he said, straightening up and putting his hat back on. "I have harmed no one, damaged no property, and searching the establishment after I have left will reveal that I have stolen this, and only this." High Roller held up a single diamond ring between his thumb and forefinger. He tossed it toward Isabel, but as she tried to reach for it, he whipped his hand back, pulling the ring back to him with a tiny string that she hadn't noticed.

"And now, catch me if you can."

The spotlights, followed by every other light in the room, suddenly went dead, and the enormous showroom was plunged into darkness. Isabel quickly opened her right hand one finger at a time, creating a small but vibrant blue flame in her palm. It illuminated a fairly large area around her, but High Roller was nowhere to be seen. Isabel searched around for a bit, but despite her efforts she still couldn't find anything useful.

"That's your plan? Interesting." High Roller's voice echoed around the room, making it difficult for Isabel to follow. "You know, that little flame might let you see me, but it also lets me see you. Just some friendly advice, I'd try to find another way to brighten things up."

Isabel rolled her eyes and groaned. He was going to engage in random witty banter? She supposed that was the usual for the gentleman thief type, but she could tell it was going to get annoying. Isabel was about to return fire with some self-assured wit of her own, but before she could open her mouth she was distracted by a sudden tickling in her nose. Of all the times to have to sneeze, this was probably one of the worst. Isabel reached the middle and index fingers of her free hand up to her face and gently rubbed her turned-up nose back and forth, trying to ease the tickling. It helped a little, but the irritation didn't back down. Eventually, Isabel decided to just sneeze and get it over with so she wouldn't have to deal with it later.

"Heh… Hihh… HE-CHWW!" Isabel sneezed softly, her head tipping forward slightly. As she sneezed, small wisps of blue flame puffed out of her nostrils and hung in the air for a second before dissipating. She could hear High Roller chuckling to himself as she rubbed her nose again.

"That was precious!" he said, his voice on the move and hard to track. "Are you feeling alright, ma'am?"

Isabel sniffed indignantly and ran her fingers across her nostrils one more time.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. Just getting over a little cold." Isabel thought she was completely over it by now, but clearly a little bit of her illness still remained. She sniffed and then went back to her searching, ignoring High Roller's advice.

"I wish you a swift recovery, milady."This time the voice was close. Isabel turned around, hoping to catch High Roller in her light, but instead she saw a fist-sized capsule flying toward her. She quickly closed her fist, putting out her flame, and then covered her eyes. The capsule, a flashbang grenade, clattered to the floor and exploded a few feet in front of her. Isabel managed to shield her eyes from the blast, but the sound left her ears ringing. The only sound she could make out was her operator asking if she was okay over her headset, but she couldn't understand any actual words.

Isabel was disoriented but still able to see, so she resumed her search. This time, however, she tried a different method of lighting the room. Isabel swung her arm around in a half circle, creating a tail of blue fire that blazed around the edge of the room. As soon as the flames made a full circle, she clenched her fist and put them out, not wanting to set the building on fire. Unlike her first technique, this illuminated the room while leaving her in relative darkness.

"Ah! Much better!" High Roller called out, his voice on the move and more distant again.

Isabel turned around, attempting the same trick again from a different angle. However, just as she ignited her trail of fire, her nose started tickling again. She reached her free middle and index fingers up and rubbed her nose, but her loss of concentration was already causing trouble. The previously concentrated stream of flames began to spread, almost covering a whole wall. Isabel was about to snuff out the flames when her sneeze finally broke through.

"Hihhh… HEE-CHWWW!" Isabel still only sneezed out a few wisps of fire, but the one she had already created nearly exploded. The instant she recovered from her sneeze, she rushed over to them, making sure she hadn't done any serious damage yet. There were no typical orange flames yet, only her blue ones. That meant that luckily nothing had actually caught fire yet.

"Oh crap! No, no, no!" she shouted to herself, clenching her fists. The flames shrank, but not quite enough. Getting frustrated, Isabel snapped her wrist forward and back and made another fist. Her flames grew exponentially for a split second and then died completely, leaving no traces of permanent damage. As if she didn't have enough immediate problems, she heard High Roller's voice again from behind.

"Jolly good show, milady!" he said with an obviously fake accent.

Isabel could tell that he was right behind her this time. The blue-clad heroine spun around with one fist raised, but before she could complete her turn, yet another sneeze threw her off-balance.

"HIH-CHHWW!" Two tiny jets of blue fire surged out of her small nostrils for a second before going out, but despite the lack of damage, her broken concentration was bad enough. She looked up just in time to see another flashbang grenade flying at her, and this one exploded in mid-air only a few feet from her face. The force of the blast, along with quite a lot of shock, knocked Isabel on her rear. Her ears were ringing again and her vision was blurry, but she somehow remained conscious. Once her vision started to clear, Isabel saw that High Roller was kneeling down directly over her. He still wore his mask, but at this close distance Isabel could make out more of his features. He looked to be about the same age as her, not even 20 years old yet. His lips moved, but Isabel couldn't understand what he said.

High Roller kissed his right knuckle and then touched it to Isabel's lips. As he drew his hand away, he left the diamond ring behind on her chest, along with a black and white handkerchief. He then gave her a quick salute and jumped away, escaping capture once again. By now, Isabel's hearing was beginning to return, and she started to hear her operator calling to her.

"Isabel! Hey! Isabel! Are you alright?"

Isabel sat up, grabbing the ring and handkerchief with one hand and holding her forehead with the other. She had a splitting headache, but it would pass eventually.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, releasing her forehead and then rubbing her nose with her fingers. "I got the ring, but High Roller got away, like you said he would. I guess I haven't shaken this damn cold yet."

"Well then, it's not all bad at least. You got the ring back and the building's still standing. It might not seem like a victory, but you passed."

Isabel chuckled to herself briefly. She had one more bit of good news for herself as well. Folding up High Roller's handkerchief, she got back to her feet and headed for the jewelry store's front door.

"One more thing. I know what I want my name to be."

Isabel left one corner of the handkerchief sticking out of her pocket. Written on a small white patch in black ink were a few words from her opponent.

"Stay classy, Hot Stuff."

---

And there it is! I hope everyone enjoyed it! Part 2 is going to introduce some new characters, so hopefully everyone will be able to find something they like!

October 20, 2011

Hahaha I love it! Can't wait for the next part.

October 20, 2011

*giggles* Really very amusing. (and just a tad cheesy but that makes it cute )

Really very much wouldn't mind seeing more of this so I do hope it'll become a series.

Thank you lots for sharing this nicely crafted piece of writing with us.

October 20, 2011

This is so amazing. It's crafted really really well, you just flow so naturally into the story! Can't wait for the next installment!

October 21, 2011

Hey guys! Time for chapter 2 already, because I'm just that awesome.

Also, I'd like to thank Sigrith and Pilgrim for helping me out with this series. I'd also like to apologize for not thanking them in my first post, since they've been helping me from the beginning.

Anyway, here it is...

Chapter 2: Putting the Band Together

"Congratulations, kiddo. You've got your own name, your own uniform, and your own life to live. You're a true hero now, not just some cadet. But, unless you're planning on leaving the Hero Initiative behind, you're going to have to work with… With a… Ahhahh… HAARSCHUUHH!"

Isabel winced as the sound of her operator sneezing raggedly surged through her headset. She leaned away from it as if she could escape the device nestled in her ear.

"Bless you, miss operator. Are you feeling alright?"

"Please, miss operator is my mother. Just call me operatuhh… Huhhh… Haaa… HAAASCHHUHHH! Operator."

Isabel couldn't help but wince again as she heard wet snuffling echo through her headset. Whatever her operator had, it didn't sound good. It had only been a week since the last time they spoke, for Isabel's final test no less, though she supposed that was ample time for her operator to catch whatever she had come down with. She heard her operator blow her nose loudly and then their conversation resumed.

"I'm fine, but I've got a pretty bad cold. I'll be like this for a little while, I'm afraid. At least you don't need me for anything importehh… Hehhh… Haaahh… HAARRSCHHUUHH! Important. Anyway, what I was trying to say before is that unless you want to go rouge, you're going to have to work with a team. You might have heard that I'm an operator for a few other Hero Initiative members, and the two of them are already partners. Unless you have your own request, you're being assigned to them."

Isabel nodded, heading down a Hero Initiative Headquarters hallway toward a small meeting room. Per Initiative protocol, none of the heroes were allowed to know each other's secret identities for safety and personal reasons. As such, Isabel was still wearing her mask and was to be addressed as "Hot Stuff." Sadly she still had her old, boring mask as her new outfit was still being made. It would be completed within the week, though, and that would be the end of her costume troubles. Isabel heard a quiet crackle over her headset as her operator switched it off, presumably to sneeze a few more times with relative privacy.

Halfway down the hall, Isabel noticed a poster on the wall. It had an old-school 1950s look to it, but that was obviously for stylistic reasons only. In the center of the poster was a fellow super heroine, clad in a silver and gold suit of armor, flying toward the upper right corner and firing a neon-blue beam from her eyes, and above and below the flying heroine flamboyant text proclaimed "Never give up, never surrender." Isabel chuckled to herself as she looked the poster over. Even though she herself was a super heroine, it seemed a little cliché. However, further examination revealed that the person depicted was in fact a real member of the Hero Initiative, someone named Crystal Valkyrie. The same fine-print label confirmed Isabel's suspicion about the poster's age, saying it was printed in 1999. Looking the poster over one last time, Isabel smiled and continued down the hall.

"-UUHH!"

Isabel's operator reactivated their connection just as she reached the end of the hall, allowing her to hear the last syllable of yet another harsh sneeze. Isabel blessed her, but her operator simply laughed. Shrugging, Isabel opened the door at the end of the hall and headed inside.

"Okay kiddo, I'd like you to meet my own personal dynamic duo, about to become the terrible trio, Sonique and Obsidian."

Stepping into the room, Isabel found two other Hero Initiative members, both wearing their own forms of concealment. The one to Isabel's left, who she presumed was Sonique, was dressed in mostly casual clothing like she was, but instead of a mask she wore a two-tone silver and black helmet. The helmet didn't look significantly more complicated than a typical military helmet, but it had a large, opaque visor that covered the upper half of the wearer's face. Everything above the tip of Sonique's long nose was hidden behind it. Her arms were crossed, and what little of her face that Isabel could see didn't exactly look pleased to be making a new friend.

Obsidian, to Isabel's right, was clad in an entirely different manner. His body was completely covered by a suit of almost alien-looking black armor. Isabel almost had difficulty picking out its contours, but a few small blue lights running along it in various places helped her distinguish the shape. Most notably, it had a pair of thin blue lights about where the wearer's eyes would have been. Although Isabel couldn't actually see him, she found Obsidian's body language much more welcoming than Sonique's.

"Alright you two, this is the newest member of your team. Say hello to Hot Stuhhh… Huhh… Haahh… HAAAAAASCHUHH!" The operator's attempt to introduce the newcomer was interrupted by a powerful, drawn-out sneeze.

"Good morning, operator. You still sneeze like an old lady," Sonique said flatly, shifting her arms-crossed position slightly. Her voice had a smooth, silky and almost seductive quality to it. It was the sort of voice Isabel wished she could have instead of her squeaky schoolgirl rasp.

"I am an old lady. What do you want from me?" The operator replied, her voice sounding completely blocked. Isabel heard her blowing her nose loudly as Obsidian stood up from the table he had been leaning on.

"Oh please, you're 37," he said, making gestures with his arms that didn't mean anything Isabel could figure out.

"What?"

"You're 37. You're not old."

"And when did it become pertinent to discuss a lady's age?" the operator replied, just a touch of embarrassment in her voice.

"Since we celebrated your birthday two weeks ago."

"Oh. Right." The embarrassment was suddenly absent. "But that's not important. What I was trying to say is this is Hot Stuff, your newest partner. You two would know all about her if you've been reading any of the files I've been sending you. That is to say, Obsidian, this is Hot Stuff, she apparently likes the color blue and sets things on fire. Sonique, you already know all that."

Isabel was expecting the operator to explain her partners' powers as well, but she gave no further information. Instead, she blew her nose again and stuffily gave her goodbye.

"Alright, I'll leave you kids alone. Play nice, and commence witty banter in three, two, ouhh… HAAARSCHHUU-"

Isabel's headset crackled out again, leaving her "alone" with her new partners. She glanced back and forth between them, deciding to let them make the first move. Just as she thought, Sonique remained silent and stationary, but Obsidian approached her with a hand extended. Isabel shook it, discovering that his shake was a lot more gentle than she expected.

"Nice to meet you, Hot Stuff. As the operator just told you, I'm Obsidian. Fire powers? That's pretty cool. What sort of stuff can you do?"

"Well, um, I can create and control my own fire, which is blue instead of orange, which I guess is pretty cool," Isabel replied hesitantly. She could feel herself blushing a little and she hoped her mask was hiding it.

"Oh yeah, totally. Fire bending! Can you fly?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, no. Sort of. You see, I can, but I can't until I get my new outfit. These starter things are only fire-resistant, not fire-proof, so if I tried to make myself fly with it, the sustained flames would set it on fire."

"That's awesome. You should totally try it anyway." Even though Isabel couldn't see them, she could tell Sonique was rolling her eyes.

"Oh, before you ask, I don't actually have any powers. It's all in the suit here. Normally, the Hero Initiative might have given the suit to someone more fitting, but, you see, I didn't find it. It found me, and it only works for me. We're not really even sure how all of it works yet. But at the very least, it can fly and it's almost indestructible."

"Yep, Tony Stark here thinks he's all the rage," Sonique said, finally speaking up. Obsidian waved a hand at her and turned back to Isabel.

"Oh, don't listen to her. She's just grumpy because she can't fly and we can," he said, giving Isabel a nod. Sonique snorted and turned away from them.

"And because she's not the only girl anymore."

"You're still the only boy."

"I know! And now you're jealous of Hot Stuff because I'm giving her all the attention now. Hey, don't worry honey, I still have to carry you when we go places. Hot Stuff can fly on her own. And don't you have anything you want to ask her?"

"No. I actually read her file. I know everything about her that I need to."

"Aren't you at least going to tell her what your powers are?"

Sonique remained silent. Obsidian looked back to Isabel and shrugged. He then put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

"I guess we'll just have to keep bugging her until she starts screaming at us. Then she'll have to show you." Obsidian stared blankly, or at least what Isabel thought was blankly, as Sonique turned away, keeping her arms crossed.

"Alright, I guess I'll have to tell you myself. I didn't realize it was that time of the month. No offense. Anyway, she can manipulate sound waves. It's actually pretty cool. She can make loud sounds silent and make quiet sounds blow your eardrums out your bellybutton. Best of all, she can use any sound at all, whether she makes it herself or not. Put simply, she's a real screamer."

Sonique quickly turned back to Obsidian and scowled at him. Isabel could have sworn she was blushing, but too much of her face was covered for her to tell.

"I think you've told her enough about me for one day."

"Oh, I didn't realize I'd told her anything so personal. Are you admitting something?"

"N-no! Just shut up! Get out!"

"You shut up get out."

"Very mature."

"You started it."

"Because you're being a jackass!"

"Mom! She said a bad word!"

Isabel smirked for a second before breaking down into a laughing mess. Sonique and Obsidian continued to bicker with each other, oblivious to Hot Stuff's amusement. After a minute or so, Isabel decided to add her own self-proclaimed witty comment to the pile.

"You two are like an old married couple. Oh, this is going to be so great."

---

And there it is! You've met basically all of the main characters, so now it's time for some fun..

October 21, 2011

It's fine. Didn't really do *that* much anyway. Thank you .

Really like this part too, consistent style and nice, witty lines. *giggles at the River-type remark*

The dialogue is definitely hilarious. Thank you lots for writing it (and sharing of course).

October 22, 2011

This is awesome! LOVE their banter!

October 26, 2011

Hey everyone! Time for chapter 3!

As a sort-of warning, this chapter is a bit more serious than the last two were, but this is by no means a definite change in direction for this series. Some chapters will be serious, and some will be less so. Mostly less so if I can help it, but I do want there to sometimes be an actual sense of conflict, and having everything be silly all the time does not work well with that.

Anyway, have fun.

---

Chapter 3: Burning Down The House

"Arson? They brought us out here for arson?" Obsidian asked incredulously, staring at the burning apartment complex before him. Hot Stuff and Sonique stood at his sides, both somewhat less confused.

"It isn't just arson," Sonique began, tapping two fingers to her forehead. "Sure, the building's on fire, but reports say it's being caused by someone else with powers."

"That's right," the operator chimed in. "Though unfortunately we're not sure of the identity of the offender. It could be anyone with fire powers. Except, you know, you, Hot Stuff."

"Sounds good. Alright then, put it out," Obsidian said, turning to Hot Stuff. Isabel tensed up a bit, afraid of being put on the spot.

"I can't!"

"What?" Obsidian and Sonique said in unison.

"I can only control my own fire! This is no good!"

"Well, shit," Obsidian grunted, putting his hands on his hips. "I knew it wouldn't be that easy. It was worth a shot, but no. We'll have to take a different approach."

The trio remained silent in thought for a moment until they heard the sound of something crashing loudly inside the building. This broke Isabel's concentration, but as she thought about the sound, it also gave her an idea. She suddenly snapped her fingers and stood up straight, her face bright with excitement.

"I've got an idea! I can't put out these fires, but I think Sonique can," she said, turning to her partners. Despite her lack of enthusiasm, it was clear that Sonique was listening to what she had to say.

"I think you can put out fires with sound waves. It's worked on candles and small flames with speakers, but I think you can do it. Just make a huge sound around the fires and the change in air pressure should put them out. Putting out even small flames takes a big noise, but I think you can pull it off," Isabel explained, hoping that it would actually work.

Obsidian nodded, one hand on his chin, and then he turned to Sonique.

"It's worth a try. Are you up for it?" he asked, starting to step toward the building. They had wasted enough time as it was. Sonique nodded, and Isabel could have sworn she was grinning, if only just a tiny bit.

"May as well try. I can't promise you won't go deaf though."

The trio quickly ran into the lobby of the building and they were immediately surrounded by fire. Obsidian's suit kept him safe from the elements, and Hot Stuff's fire-powered body was tolerant to the heat and smoke, but Sonique wasn't quite so lucky. She tried to keep her head low, and her fire-proof outfit helped her deal with the heat, but the smoke was quickly starting to get to her.

"Hihh… Hihhhh… HNNGK!" Sonique stifled what sounded like an awfully strong sneeze onto her middle and index fingers. The tip of her prominent nose was pinched between her fingers and the bottom of her visor for a second, and then it wobbled back and forth as she rubbed her nose vigorously.

"Hey! You okay?" Hot Stuff asked, glancing toward Sonique.

"I'll be free to discuss how I'm feeling after we've put these fires out!"

Sonique stepped forward, one hand held out in front of her. She simultaneously swung her hand forward and snapped her fingers, using her powers to amplify the sound into a huge explosion of low frequencies. Hot Stuff covered her ears just in time and Obsidian laughed to himself. The wave of sound blasted through the floor, snuffing out the flames in just a few seconds. Even after the sound stopped, Hot Stuff felt like her teeth were still rattling in her skull.

"Woo hoo! I love that sound!" Obsidian said, throwing one arm up. "Like in an IMAX theater, when the bass kicks in and it feels like you're getting punched in the chest. Hot damn!"

Only a few seconds later, however, flames from the second floor up began to lick through the ceiling. The trio began to run forward, heading for the stairs at the far end of the lobby.

"The rest of the building's still on fire! And you two have to find whoever's causing them! Leave the fires to me!" Sonique said, dashing up the stairs ahead of her partners. Her black and silver suit disappeared into a cloud of thick smoke as she left her partners behind. Obsidian turned to Hot Stuff and nodded.

"You take the stairs. I'm taking the elevator. We'll meet in the middle!" he said, leaning back on one foot. Isabel continued toward the stairs, but she slowed slightly and looked back at him.

"But you can't take the elevator in a fire! It's-" Isabel was cut short when Obsidian suddenly blasted upward, crashing through the ceiling. She chuckled to herself and then continued up the stairs.

"Hey! Kiddo! I'm getting a fix on your suspect! He, parentheses or she, is two floors up, right in the middle of the building. Get a move on!"

Meanwhile, Sonique was making her way through the second floor. She had no trouble putting out individual fires, but unlike the lobby which consisted of only one room, this floor had a plethora of smaller rooms that she had to clear individually. The walls were just enough to deaden her sound waves very slightly, protecting the flames inside each separate room and allowing them to reignite. Sonique had considered using louder sound waves, but the building was already unstable. A blast too powerful could bring the whole apartment complex down on itself. Unfortunately, this meant she had to put out each room individually, and there were just so many of them that they would frequently relight each other before she could move on.

To make matters worse, all the smoke in the air was beginning to take its toll. Sonique was already spending just as much time wheezing as she was breathing, but that wasn't the issue. As long as she didn't actually die, the Hero Initiative healers could bring her back to perfect health with a couple of days worth of treatment. What was a problem, however, were her increasingly frequent sneezes.

"Hihhh… HNGK!"

As long as Sonique could keep stifling her sneezes, nothing out of the ordinary would happen. However, if an unrestrained sneeze forced its way out of her, she would briefly lose control of her powers. The sound of the sneeze would be amplified to an extreme decibel level, even more powerful than Sonique could create voluntarily. Granted, such a huge sound wave would almost certainly extinguish the entire building, but it was even more likely to collapse it.

"Hehh… Hiihh! HHNK! HEH! HHHNGK!" Sonique vigorously rubbed her nose with her middle and index fingers. By now she was getting desperate. Her sneezes were only getting more powerful, and on top of that she was already fairly worn out. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to hold them in for. Suddenly, the floor above her caved in slightly. It didn’t quite collapse yet, but the sudden drop poured a mound of ash down on top of her. An accidental breath filled Sonique's long, slender nostrils with the black powder, finally pushing her over the edge.

"HEH! HH-HEHH! HIIEEHHHH!"

One floor above Sonique, Hot Stuff finally found what she was looking for. Bursting into one of the smaller apartments, she found the only other occupant of the building. It was a little girl, barely even 10 years old, completely covered in fire. From a distance she appeared to have been set ablaze, but as Isabel drew closer, she could see that the girl wasn't actually burning: she was creating the fire herself. To top it all off, the girl was sobbing uncontrollably, her face buried in her tucked-in knees.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Isabel called, stepping toward the girl. The previously motionless child suddenly darted away, fleeing to a corner of the room. Isabel could only assume the girl was destined to become a super heroine like herself, and she had accidentally discovered her powers with disastrous results. The girl looked up at her, and the expression on her face told Isabel that she was afraid of what she was, and that she wanted to be left to die in her own fire.

"It's okay! I'm not going to hurt you! And you're not going to hurt anyone either. You think this isn't normal, but look. I can do it too. See?" Isabel approached the girl, setting herself alight with blue fire that jumped out from the orange flames around her. This would have terrified anyone else, but the child seemed to take comfort in it, knowing that she wasn't alone. Gradually, the girl stopped crying and then the flames around her went out. She crawled toward Isabel, who quickly picked her up and held her in a tight hug.

"Good girl. Now let's get you out of-"

"HEEIIIIISHHHHIIIIEEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!!!"

In an explosion that could be heard for miles, Sonique effectively sneezed out the entire apartment complex. Flames, splintered wood, and virtually everything else that wasn't bolted down blasted out of the windows. Luckily, the fires inside the building had all been put out by the massive and sudden change in pressure, and the expelled flames dissipated too quickly to spread to the neighboring buildings. However, the very same force was more than enough to completely destabilize what little was left of the burned building.

Obsidian was quick enough to grab Sonique and fly her outside to safety, but Hot Stuff and the child were on their own. The walls, floors, ceiling, and everything else around them began to crumble. Hot Stuff quickly turned and sprinted for the nearest open window, holding the girl tight to her chest. Not caring that they were on the third floor, she leaped out of the window, just in time to escape the collapsing building. As they fell, Hot Stuff pointed one hand down and blasted fire toward the ground in half of her flying technique, trying to slow their descent. However, she was concentrating more on keeping the child safe than anything else, so her calculations were slightly off.

Hot Stuff's left foot collided hard with the pavement below. She felt her leg snap, but she temporarily ignored the pain and rolled herself around the child to keep her safe from the fall. Eventually, the two of them sprawled out on the road and the heroine finally realized her pain. She tore off one of her black and blue gloves and shoved it into her mouth, biting down hard to keep from shrieking right next to the child. Tears streamed down her face as Hero Initiative medics loaded her into one of their ambulances, but despite her outward reaction, she was happy. A life, especially one who would grow up to save hundreds more, was definitely worth her leg.

---

And the adventure continues. I hope everyone enjoyed it!

From this point on, I'd say expect an update roughly once a week. I sometimes get pretty far ahead when I write, but for the sake of pacing, I'll only post new chapters once a week. Hopefully everyone can be patient!

October 31, 2011

Hey again, everyone!

I didn't want to be that guy. That guy that replies to his own thread even though no one else has yet. But the time has come to update, and I will hold to that, no matter the cost.

Anyway, I'm still writing ahead, and I'm still holding to my once-a-week updates. That is, of course, unless people start begging me to update more often. We'll see what happens.

But none of that's important. Time for the next installment.

---

Chapter 4: Coffee Break

Under normal circumstances, a broken leg would take months to heal and rehabilitate. But, ever since she joined the Hero Initiative, almost nothing in Isabel's life was normal anymore. Not every member of the Hero Initiative went out to fight for justice. Some people were blessed with great healing powers, and they joined the Initiative as doctors. With the help of their powers, Isabel's complete recovery would only take a few days. In fact, the bone had already been set and healed, so now she only had to endure some rehabilitation. Isabel simply had a crutch under her left arm to keep most of her weight off of the healing leg, and a nice week off to recuperate.

Isabel hobbled into her favorite downtown coffee shop, intent on getting a nice drink and some relaxation. Getting there from her house on her crutch had been a little difficult, but she was certain she would enjoy it. The only lingering issue was Isabel's hay fever. Luckily, it was fairly mild and luckily it had only barely begun to affect her as she neared the coffee shop, but after spending that much time outside, she was more than ready to start sneezing once she sat down.

"Hihh… Hih-CHW!" Isabel sneezed softly, cupping her hands over her face to conceal the flames that burst from her small nostrils. She sighed and rubbed her turned-up nose gently, but she smiled to herself and cleared her throat. This wasn't any worse than what she usually had to put up with this time of year, and by now she had simply gotten used to it.

On a normal day, Isabel would already be in line to order a drink. Today, however, she was feeling just a bit lazy, and more than tired enough for the wooden chair to feel like a day at the spa. She simply sat, rubbed her nose, and stared absently toward the counter.

"HIH-CHWW!" Isabel sneezed again, a bit more forcefully than last time, but she still managed to hide her flames behind her hands. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a young couple stepping up to the counter to order. Isabel didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it sounded like they were arguing with each other.

The couple didn't let their bickering interrupt their dealings with the coffee shop workers, so after a few minutes they had their drinks in hand and returned to their table, which happened to be right next to Isabel's. By now, Isabel had to admit to herself that she was listening in on their conversation, though they were loud enough that she couldn't help but overhear.

"Of course I feel bad," the young man of the couple said, setting his drink down after a sip. He had somewhat Asian-like features, but Isabel couldn't place the exact origin. His short black hair was a complete mess, but despite his fairly laid-back appearance, his brown eyes were sharp and very focused. Isabel caught herself staring and quickly looked away before he noticed.

"I just don't think there's much else we could have done. Besides, everything worked out alright in the end, right?"

"If someone gets hurt, not everything works out alright," the young woman replied. Her voice easily overpowered her companion's, but the coffee shop as a whole was still loud enough to drown it out before it carried too far. Everything about this young woman made Isabel envious; her appearance, her silky voice, and especially her confidence. Even sitting down, Isabel could tell this young woman was fairly tall, probably almost six feet. Her golden blonde hair was short and well organized, reaching down to the middle of her neck in a combed bob-cut. Her long, slightly large nose was covered with freckles, but the rest of her face was notably free of them. The freckles made her look a bit childish, but she also wore a pair of glasses with thin, rectangular lenses over her icy blue eyes, adding a touch of class and intelligence. Her eyes briefly met Isabel's, making her quickly turn away and act like it was a coincidence.

"Hihh… Hihhhh… Hih-CHW!" Isabel was at least slightly thankful for a sneeze this time. Once she looked up again, the young woman at the other table had all of her attention back on her partner. She seemed to have forgotten entirely that Isabel had been staring, which made her feel incredibly relieved.

"Honey, you're shouting again," the young man said, resting his chin in his hand.

"Because you are making me angry. And do not call me 'honey.' I'm sour, not sweet."

"And I know that better than anyone."

"Do not change the subject. Putting holes in the floor generally isn't a good way to keep things stable."

"That was hardly what caused it. I'm not the one who brought it down."

Isabel was most intrigued by their conversation. It sounded a lot like what had just happened to her a few days ago. It must have been a coincidence, though. Hero Initiative members weren't allowed to meet each other outside of jobs, not knowingly at least. They were probably just talking about a suspiciously similar situation. Isabel once again noticed that she was staring at them and she quickly averted her gaze.

"You… You're right," the blonde woman replied, her voice suddenly quiet and resigned. Her confidence and volume were gone almost completely.

"Hey, you sneezed. I'd hardly call that your fault. Don't even bother with one of your 'I have to better myself until it won't happen again' things, because unless you have plans to remove your nose, it isn't happening. Sometimes, shit happens and you just have to accept it as it is. Besides, that building was coming down anyway."

The couple turned to the table beside them as they both noticed Isabel staring at them. Her jaw was hanging open, and it was quite clear that she didn't care that they had noticed. Both members of the couple stared at her. The young man looked slightly intrigued, but his blonde companion was clearly not amused.

"Hihh… Hihhhh… Hih-CHW!" Isabel sneezed suddenly. She was still able to cover up, but only with one hand this time. A few small flames flickered under the bottom of her fingers, and two coffee cups hit the floor in unison as the three patrons realized what was happening. Without another word, all three of them quickly stood up and headed to the alleyway behind the coffee shop.

"This isn't supposed to happen! We're not supposed to know each other! Or see each other!" Isabel exclaimed, her voice getting progressively higher with each word until she was squeaking. "Don't look at me! I have a secret identity!" Isabel covered her face with her free arm and turned away. Her heart was racing and her face felt hot.

"Hey! Hey! It's okay!" the young man, known to Isabel as Obsidian, replied. He ran a hand through his hair, his uncertain expression not comforting Isabel at all.

"We're not supposed to know each other, but nothing's happened to the two of us and we've known each other for yea-" The blonde woman, Sonique, elbowed him in the chest. He doubled over, breathing raggedly. "Ouch."

"Everything will be alright," Sonique said, putting her hands on her hips. "As long as we don't do anything stupid. Just be careful and no one will ever find out. To be truthful, the two of us met by accident, just like this. I have a feeling the Initiative will just leave us alone as long as we don't let this get in the way. And, again, as long as we don't do anything stupid. That would be your department, wouldn't it, honey?"

Sonique's final word was dripping with resentment. Obsidian climbed back to his feet and leaned against her to support himself. She shoved him into the wall, but he remained standing.

"By the way, since we're all going to be nice little chums now, my name's Chase," he said, leaning away from the wall and standing properly on his feet. Sonique, yet to be named, turned away and frowned. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her heavily freckled nose, but she remained silent and generally displeased.

"She's not going to tell you, but her name's Maria," Chase continued, nodding his head toward her. Maria snorted as her partner mentioned her name. She had clearly been hoping to make it out of this encounter without exchanging any more personal information, but Chase wouldn't have it.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Isabel," she squeaked, her voice still as high as it could go from some combination of excitement, nervousness, fear, and several other emotions she was sure she had just discovered or invented. Perhaps in an attempt to lighten the mood, Chase lifted up his shirt slightly, exposing a metallic black belt. A few blue lights ran along it, indicating that it was the Obsidian suit in its stored form. He waggled his eyebrows, grinning like an idiot. Maria quickly turned back to him, noticing what he was doing, and punched him in the chest to keep him from giving away anything else.

"…Ouch."

---

And there you have it. The chapters have started to become a little shorter now that there's less introduction to be done, and it's taking on a bit of a monster-of-the-week format. However, there is still an overall plot, even though only little bits of it have been alluded to so far.

I hope everyone enjoyed!

October 31, 2011

Chase isn't very subtle is he?

Love what you did with Isabel in this chapter.

November 3, 2011

Very cute story Blah! You have a knack for character development and story progression. It's something you don't see all the time, and you have a talent for it. I hope you keep writing - it's very creative and there's a lot you could do with the subject you chose. Good luck! ;D

November 7, 2011

Hey everyone! Again!

I'd really like to thank my oh so loyal fans for their comments. Just knowing that people are reading this at all is a great feeling. I'd also like to specifically thank a red nine for joining my crew of beta readers. The future chapters would have been so much worse off without all your help.

Anyway, moving on...

---

Chapter 5: Charity Case

"Hey kiddo, what's the matter? You're going to have a heart attack," Hot Stuff's operator asked over her headset. Today was her first assignment since the burning apartment complex. She was more than confident in her abilities, but skill and the challenge weren't what worried her. Isabel shot a few nervous glances at her partners. Knowing who they really were made her so much less comfortable. To preserve each other's safety and privacy, no two Hero Initiative members were supposed to knowingly meet each other outside of their hero identities. Now Isabel knew two of them, and two of them knew her.

"And by extension that means I'll have a heart attack, since I'm going to be fired for killing one of my heroes on her second assignment."

"Everything's fine," Isabel squeaked. Her voice still hadn't come down from that day at the coffee shop. The operator laughed heartily and Isabel felt herself blush.

"Now aren't you a terrible liar," her operator continued, still laughing intermittently. Isabel sighed and quickly rubbed one of her gloved fingers under her turned-up nose. There was a strange, sweet scent in the air, and her nostrils had started to tickle as soon as she picked it up.

"Lay your troubles on me, kiddo. I'll do my best to help out."

"No thanks. I don't think you're a therapist, are you?"

"No, but I used to see one. That's just as good. Anyway, what’s the problem?"

Isabel frowned and rubbed her nose again, a bit slower and more vigorously than before. The tickle was starting to fade away, but she could feel a deep itch creeping in behind it. Even worse, she felt a bit of stuffiness just beginning to take hold.

"Well, I've got an itchy nose," Isabel said, rubbing forcefully again. She sniffed, causing her small, oval-shaped nostrils to expand slightly. The operator laughed again, puzzling Isabel slightly.

"I think that means someone's talking about you. Either that or it means you're going to have a fight with someone," she said, obviously not making Isabel feel any better. "So either way, something interesting going to happen soon."

The operator wasn't helping at all, so Isabel tuned her out. She left her headset on, just in case she needed it, but she let its voice fade into background noise. Instead, she turned her attention to the ace of hearts in her hand. Her other hand still slid back and forth under her itchy nose, even if it wasn't helping her at all.

The ace of hearts was High Roller's calling card. A playing card was a fairly common sight, so perhaps the context in which it was found was just as much a sign as the card itself. Another jewelry store was definitely a potential target for him, but something didn't add up. This particular jewelry store was going to host a charity auction later that evening. High Roller only stole from people who could afford it, and even then he frequently returned his catch. Even if he had no intention of keeping what he took, stealing from a charity auction seemed like nothing more than bad publicity.

Isabel raised one eyebrow as she thought to herself. High Roller was obviously going to show up eventually, and maybe she could ask him what his plan was then. In the meantime, the sweet scent in the air was only getting worse. The itch in Isabel's nose grew, and by now it was far too strong and deep for her rubbing finger to relieve. She continued to slide her finger back and forth under her nostrils in vain, sniffing intermittently. Strangely, none of the irritation made her want to sneeze at all. It was just a maddening itch deep in the back of her nose, not a single tickly quality to it.

"Eyes up! He's in the vents!"

Obsidian's sudden shout almost made Isabel fall over with shock. She looked up toward the ceiling, and sure enough she saw the exposed ventilation ducts shuddering. For the first time in what felt like an hour, Isabel stopped rubbing her nose and concentrated on the job. In an attempt to flush High Roller out, she jumped up toward one of the open vents and sprayed a quick burst of blue flame into it. Even if the fire reached him, it wouldn't be enough to hurt him much, but the purpose of the attack was to drive him into the open rather than to injure him.

As Hot Stuff's fire burst through the ducts, the motion inside them briefly stopped. Obsidian turned to his partner and shrugged.

"Think you got him?"

"N-no," Isabel replied, unable to say anything else.

"Try it one more time, if you please," Sonique said, tilting her head slightly. She silently gestured to another open vent across the room. Isabel wondered if Sonique could somehow tell where High Roller was hiding, but she didn't question her partner's judgment.

As she tiptoed toward the vent, she started to think to herself. Sonique and Obsidian had clearly known each other's true identities for quite a while, and yet they still made a successful team. Additionally, none of them had so much as alluded to their accidental meeting a few days before. Maybe that was how they made it work. They kept their personal lives separate from their professional lives, allowing them to be close friends and still get their jobs done. It seemed like such a simple solution, and Isabel felt a bit less content with herself for not thinking of it earlier. Now that she had some sort of justification in her mind, she finally started to calm down.

Once she reached the open vent, Isabel prepared to send another burst of flame into it. However, the itch in her nose finally became a tickle, just as she was about to unleash her attack.

"Hihh… Heh! EH-CHHWWW!" The flames from her hands sputtered out, creating nothing more than blue sparks. Instead, two tiny jets of fire surged out of her nostrils, and strangely they continued to burn well after Isabel was done sneezing. It took her a second to notice, but once she did, she started to wildly slap at her face to put them out. Obsidian and Sonique watched her, but they knew she could handle herself, so they remained at their posts in case High Roller tried to make a move.

"Crap! Oh no! Oh no! No, no, no!" Isabel panicked slightly, still trying to put herself out. She sniffed hard, and the tiny blue flames were sucked back into her nose. Finally, the fires hissed out and small tendrils of smoke began to leak from her nostrils. She rubbed her nose vigorously, a combination of the lingering sweet scent and the smoke making it incredibly itchy.

"Gesundheit, ma'am," a familiar voice said from above. Isabel looked up, smoke still flowing out of her turned-up nose, to see High Roller sticking his head out of the open vent. Isabel coughed, causing the last of the smoke to burst out of her nostrils and float away. High Roller dropped down from the vent, a rope in one hand and his cane in the other.

"High Roller!" Obsidian called out, stating the obvious. He and Sonique ran over to Isabel and surrounded the thief. "You're under arrest for… For stealing a lot of stuff! And for planning to steal even more stuff!"

"How eloquent," Sonique snorted, crossing her arms.

"Guilty as charged, for my previous thefts at least," High Roller replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "That ace of hearts may be my calling card, but I'm merely a red herring. Someone else planning to rob the auction left it here. I know you would have had no trouble catching this imposter, and it would probably have been easier for me to simply not come here at all, but I just couldn't let my reputation be tarnished."

"Naturally," Sonique replied. "This is the story you tell us after you've been caught? I think someone's having second thoughts. If you are going to point fingers, you had best be pointing them at someone specific. I don't suppose you actually caught this imposter, did you?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," High Rolled replied, grinning to himself. "Two of them, actually."

He yanked the rope in his hand and quickly stepped out of the way. Two badly dressed burglars tumbled out of the vent, landing on top of Sonique and Obsidian. At the same time, a bouquet of flowers fell straight into High Roller's now open hand. He stepped toward Hot Stuff, holding out the flowers.

"It brings me much pleasure to see you continuing the hunt for justice. The world has no use for lesser criminals. For you, ma'am." He gently laid the bouquet in Hot Stuff's arms.

Isabel squeaked.

"Now, you already know that I simply can't have you catching me now. Good evening, ma'am." High Roller jumped back up into the vent and made his escape, but Isabel wasn't paying attention. She stared at the bouquet for a moment, wondering why he had given it to her specifically. Blushing heavily, Isabel held the flowers to her face and sniffed deeply, enjoying the sweet scent…

"HEH! HEE-CHHWW!" Isabel sneezed out what would have been a moderately sized fireball, had it not immediately been caught by the bouquet, setting it on fire. She smiled to herself for a second before realizing what had happened.

"Oh crap! No, no, no!"

---

And there's chapter 5! If it's not totally obvious already, High Roller is going to become a recurring character, so he'll be back in the future from time to time. There are actually going to be a few more recurring characters in the coming chapters, and I hope everyone will love the random side characters too!

Thanks for reading!

November 7, 2011

"And by extension that means I'll have a heart attack, since I'm going to be fired for killing one of my heroes on her second assignment."

"HEH! HEE-CHHWW!" Isabel sneezed out what would have been a moderately sized fireball, had it not immediately been caught by the bouquet, setting it on fire. She smiled to herself for a second before realizing what had happened. "Oh crap! No, no, no!"

That's all.

November 8, 2011

Your humor throughout is so well-intigrated! Still loving the operator, but all your characters are so fluid and believeable. Keep it up, Blah!

November 9, 2011

At last! An account! Now I am able to say how much I enjoy things.

I enjoy this! Thank you for all your hard work.

November 9, 2011

...and I missed this, how? :blink:

I'm glad I found it, though, it's not normally my thing, but you write it so well! I love the operator (surprise, huh?), but it's all just great, and it's fun without becoming parody. Very, very well done!

November 11, 2011

I can't believe I hadn't seen this sooner! Totally enjoyable read. Can't wait to hear what happens next!

November 15, 2011

Thanks for the comments, everyone! Again, it's really great to know that I have an audience. That makes all the hardships of writing well worth it. I hope to continue hearing from you all in the future!

*Totally not blatant self-advertisement*

Anyway, here we go.

---

Chapter 6: Party Crashers

Isabel was never one for parties, and almost every fiber of her being was wondering why she had decided to go to one. Her high school was hosting a formal dance, and while it might not have been the prom, it was a fairly monumental event for her more socially inclined classmates. The only thing that set this dance apart from the others was that Isabel actually had a date. Or, at least, she had gotten a letter from someone asking to be her date. She was almost certain it was a prank being played on her by some of the less friendly members of her class, but she decided to show up anyway and see what would happen.

Her supposed date hadn't arrived yet, so Isabel simply leaned against the wall next to the door to the school's gym. Her brown hair was still up in a ponytail as usual, but she had tried to stylize herself at least a little more than usual. She had a bit of makeup on, which was a lot for her as she usually wore none, and she wore a shiny, purple dress. It had a simple design, but it was well made and she at least thought it went well with her slightly tanned skin. Isabel smiled to herself as she indulged in a little self-admiration, but when she looked up, she immediately knew her "date" was a trap.

"Hey Isabel!"

It was Christine, one of Isabel's classmates. She was a smart, athletic, African-American girl, and she perfectly embodied the stereotypical bitchy cheerleader in every respect other than actually having some level of intelligence. Christine was certainly crafty, but she rarely put her abilities toward noble causes. Needless to say, she and Isabel didn't exactly see eye to eye. Her wavy black hair swished around her shoulders as she jogged up to Isabel as quickly as her pearl-white dress would allow. Isabel couldn't wait to hear what she had to say.

"Where's your date?" Christine asked, biting her bottom lip. It was obvious she was trying to keep herself from laughing, and she was only just barely succeeding. Isabel drew her lips tight and crossed her arms.

"I guess I don't-"

"Right here."

Before Isabel could finish admitting that she had walked into a trap, a familiar voice interrupted her. Both she and Christine stared in disbelief as Chase stepped through the open gym door, a cocky grin on his face as usual. Isabel noticed Christine starting to form a sentence, but before she could speak, her head tilted back slightly and her broad, triangular nostrils flared.

"Heh… Haah… HAA-SHHHIIEEE!" Christine sneezed forcefully, squishing her wide nose into the back of her wrist. She straightened up without a word and stared at the couple in front of her. Isabel was frozen in place, but Chase winked at her, still grinning. Christine glared at him and then silently walked away, refusing to acknowledge her defeat. Chase looked back at Isabel to find that she was trembling again. He smiled and gently took one of her hands.

"Hey, sorry to scare you like this again. I just thought I'd come by," he said, his grin becoming a bit more compassionate.

"H-how did you know?" Isabel asked, referring to the dance.

"It's best not to question."

"Did… Did you read my email!?" Isabel asked, her voice suddenly angry.

"No, I read her email," Chase said, gesturing at Christine again. She was all the way across the gym now, clearly trying to avoid Isabel and Chase. There was another young man standing next to her, probably her boyfriend. Isabel couldn't help but smile as Christine started sneezing again, nearly crashing into him. She turned her attention back to Chase, trying her best to scowl.

"That's an invasion of privacy," Isabel said, crossing her arms.

"Oh, come now," Chase said, gently leading Isabel into the gym. "I can tell already that you don't really care. Besides, I only did it because my suit flagged it. It keeps an eye out for my team, even when I can't be bothered to."

On the subject of the suit, Isabel looked down slightly toward Chase's waist. Just as she suspected, he was still wearing the Obsidian belt. Isabel wondered if he ever took it off, or if he even could.

"Who is she, anyway?" Chase continued, stopping before they reached the center of the room. Isabel looked back up at him, hoping he hadn't noticed her gaze. She shook her head, cleared her throat, and then explained in the most unbiased manner she could.

"Oh, that's Christine. Ice queen, drama queen, prom queen, captain of the stereotypical demon cheerleading squad," Isabel droned, counting off each of Christine's lordships on her fingers.

"She certainly sounds like a handful," Chase replied, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. He perked up suddenly when a slow dance started to play. No one else in the entire gym seemed to notice, but he couldn't concentrate on anything else. Isabel eyed him suspiciously as he started to sway with the music.

"How come they're playing something like this so early? Has the night not only just begun?"

"They always play the slow stuff early here. No one ever dances to it, so they just get it out of the way."

A frightening expression spread across Chase's face, and Isabel almost jumped back. He took her hands and pulled her into a dancing position gently but deliberately.

"That simply won't do. Come on, let's fix this."

"B-but I can't-"

"Nonsense. Just follow me. You'll be fine."

Isabel knew better than to object, so she followed Chase into the middle of the room. At first they simply swayed back and forth, but then Chase started to lead Isabel through a few simple movements. Isabel had to admit she was enjoying herself, but as she looked up and noticed more than a few people watching them, she blushed and looked at her feet.

"Stop that," Chase said, startling Isabel slightly. "Your problem isn't a lack of ability. It's a lack of confidence. Don't pay attention to those idiots. They wouldn't know good dance music if it bit them in the ass. And there's only two ways to deal with other people's opinions of your dancing. You're either proud of what they think, or you don't care what they think. Never let it get you down."

Isabel nodded and turned her focus back to dancing. Eventually she did start to feel like she was getting the hang of it, but Chase was already a pro. He always knew exactly what to do, and Isabel felt like he could predict her moves before she even thought of them.

"Wow, you're really good at this," she commented. Isabel hadn't exactly expected him to be a dancer of any capacity.

"Thanks. We used to take classes," Chase replied, not quite realizing what he had said.

"Huh? Who's 'we'?"

"Haah… HAAA-SHHHIIEEEE!"

Before Chase could reply, another of Christine's obnoxious, screamed sneezes split the air, and they couldn't help but turn and look at the source of the sound. Christine and her boyfriend were still on the other side of the gym, but this time it almost looked like they were arguing about something. By now, Chase had turned to look too, and Isabel could sense him laughing to himself.

"Twenty bucks says she's going to go for the 'angry make-up kiss' in a few seconds. If it works, this'll all be over. If it doesn't, they're going to be causing all kinds of hell."

Christine grabbed her boyfriend and pulled him close. However, before she could go in for the kill, her head started to tip back again. She vigorously rubbed her wide nose with the back of her wrist, desperately trying to hold off a sneeze until she could kiss him. However, she took too long to make her move, and her boyfriend started to walk away. Once he had gotten a few feet away, Christine raised her arms and started to scream at him, but taking her concentration away from her nose allowed her sneeze to explode out.

"Haahh… Haaaahhh… HAAAAAH!"

Christine's sneezes were loud and piercing, but even they weren't powerful enough to be heard over what happened next. As she sneezed, a wave of snow exploded out around her, covering almost the entire gym. Most of the other students screamed and ran away, but Isabel and Chase looked on in silent shock. Once the snow settled, it didn't take very long for them to realize what had happened.

The whole gym suddenly felt like a freezer, and snow was even falling from the ceiling as if it was a giant cloud. A few students were buried under mounds of it, but Christine's boyfriend had gotten the worst of it. He was frozen in a solid block of ice, not more than a few feet away from his former girlfriend. Isabel and Chase couldn't even tell if he was still alive. Christine herself had changed as well, letting the two Hero Initiative members know exactly what had happened. Her dark skin was covered in a layer of frost, causing it to shimmer in the snowy light, and her brown eyes had turned a solid, icy color.

"Whoa. Has she ever done that before?" Chase asked, shaking the snow out of his messy hair.

"No. This is new."

---

What's this? A two-parter?

Well, everyone's going to have to wait until next week for the potentially stunning conclusion! See you then!

November 15, 2011

"Right here."

:lol: I keep imagining him saying this in an over-the-top "I'm a hero and going to rescue you from dateless-ness!" type voice.

"Thanks. We used to take classes," Chase replied, not quite realizing what he had said.

D'awwww! Him and Maria are so cute together.

Christine grabbed her boyfriend and pulled him close. However, before she could go in for the kill, her head started to tip back again. She vigorously rubbed her wide nose with the back of her wrist, desperately trying to hold off a sneeze until she could kiss him.

Awesome series. Liking it more with every chapter.

November 21, 2011

Hey everyone! It's time for the moderately exciting conclusion to last week's chapter! Hopefully everyone will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Also, as a heads-up for the future, Skyrim has sort of sapped my inspiration for this series. I still have two more chapters after this one written, and those will go up as planned, but I've sort of lost the will to write for the time being. There's so much more that I want to do with this series, so I think I just have to get back into my groove. I still have two weeks before I start falling behind though, so hopefully I'll figure things out by then.

Anyway, enjoy...

---

Chapter 7: Breaking The Ice

Christine rubbed her nose with the back of her wrist and immediately noticed something was wrong with her skin. She held out her hands in front of her face and stared at the layer of frost that covered her entire body. Wiggling her fingers caused a few sharp icicles to sprout out of them, and they immediately disappeared when she clenched her fists. Anyone else would have gone mad when they realized what had happened, but Christine smiled. She turned her head toward Isabel and her smile became a sneer.

Isabel gasped, realizing what was about to happen. She looked toward Chase, but she found to her horror that he wasn't there. He was probably getting into the Obsidian suit, but as far as Isabel was concerned, he chose an awful time to do so. Christine was walking toward her, her lips trembling. The frozen woman started to cackle in a true, stereotypical evil laugh. Isabel was confident she could defeat Christine, but she was hesitant to use her powers without her outfit. The last thing she wanted was for her entire high school to find out who she really was.

Christine was almost within arm's reach of Isabel, and both of them had positioned themselves in fighting stances. Isabel passively heated her body as hot as she could without giving herself away. Hopefully it would be enough to melt any of Christine's ice attacks before they could cause any harm. Isabel felt a little unnerved, seeing Christine's eerie eyes up close, but she held her ground. Laughing once more, Christine thrust her hand forward, sending a spear made of ice toward her target. Just as Isabel had hoped, her intense body heat melted the spear on contact.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Isabel drew her fist back and punched Christine squarely in the face. Her hand melted clean through the layer of Christine's ice and flattened her wide nose. Christine staggered back, wiggling her nose. Isabel had a feeling she knew what was about to happen, so she tried to get away from Christine as quickly as she could, but unfortunately she wasn't quite fast enough.

"Haaahh… HAAA-SHHHIIEEEEE!"

Another wave of snow blasted out around Christine, and Isabel found herself encased in a block of ice. However, she did not share the same fate as Christine's boyfriend. Her intense body heat kept her safe inside, but she knew she would give herself away if she melted it. For the time being, Isabel allowed Christine to believe she was victorious. Unfortunately, simply freezing Isabel wasn't enough for Christine. She drew back her hand, intent on smashing the block of ice. Christine laughed maniacally once more, and then she swung her fist.

"You certainly have the laugh down," Obsidian interrupted, catching Christine's frosted arm. "But you've got a lot to learn if you want to play that game."

Obsidian grabbed Christine's other arm and hurled her across the gym. Isabel melted her way out of the ice block just in time to see her hit the wall in a cloud of snow. Groaning, she ran at Obsidian and shoved him.

"Great timing!" she squealed, more annoyed than afraid.

Obsidian patted Isabel's head and then ruffled her hair, causing her ponytail to fall apart.

"You're welcome. And I put a mail-order in. The goods should be here soon. I'll keep her busy until then."

Isabel headed outside to find that several Hero Initiative ambulances had already arrived. She quickly caught sight of Sonique standing behind one of them, so she jogged over to her, trying not to acknowledge that they were previously acquainted. As soon as Isabel was behind the ambulance, Sonique silently handed her a headset and gestured to a small capsule that contained her outfit.

"Give the operator all the information you can. The more she knows, the more she can help. I'm going to give Obsidian a hand. I'm sure he needs it," Sonique said, running toward the frozen gym. Isabel nodded and put on her headset. It immediately crackled to life and the operator's mature voice greeted her.

"What's up, kiddo? I hear we've got a bit of a super-bully situation going on here."

"Her name's Christine, and I swear I had no idea she had any powers at all. She'd never shown any signs of them before. Based on how she used them, I don't think she knew either. This is probably her first time ever using them, but she's already very powerful. Unskilled, but powerful."

"Quite. Can your fire take her ice?"

"I've been able to melt everything she's thrown at me, even holding myself back. I think I could beat her, but how do we actually get her to stop?"

"What? Perfect opportunity to get revenge on your favorite high school bully, and killing's still not on the table?"

"Don't say things like that. Even if I wanted to, it's against Initiative regulation unless it's already a life-and-death situation."

"Okay. Get beaten up a bit, and then you'll be able to make a case out of it."

"You're not helping!"

Meanwhile, Obsidian found himself encased in a block of ice for what must have been the hundredth time. Christine was continuously freezing him, and although his suit could always break free, it was becoming more difficult. Each time she simply made the ice thicker, trapping Obsidian slightly longer. He broke free once again, only to be almost immediately re-frozen.

"Jesus, lady! This isn't even the prom and you're royally freaking out! Calm yourself!" Obsidian yelled, smashing his way out of the ice yet again. Christine remained silent and froze him again.

"You know what you need?" Obsidian groaned, simply hanging in the ice for a moment. "A sassy gay friend. Let me help you with that. I'll role play. Here we go. What, what, what are you doing!?" He shattered the ice again and lunged toward Christine, only to be frozen yet again.

"Stupid bitch."

"HAAAA-SHHHIEEEE!"

Another snowstorm sneeze was Christine's only reply. Unfortunately for Obsidian, it thickened the ice around him just enough that he could no longer break free. While the suit kept his body safe and unfrozen, he was stuck in place.

"Alright, you got me," he said, glancing around inside his helmet. Christine continued to ignore him, making her way to the edge of the room. She slowly lifted her hands toward the ceiling, causing an armchair made of ice to rise from the snowy floor. Once the chair was complete, Christine calmly turned around and sat down, the frost on her skin connecting with it as she did. Suddenly, a powerful sound wave burst through the room, cracking most of the ice.

"I may not share the same witty vocabulary as my partner, but-"

Before Sonique could finish her boasting, Christine promptly froze her arms and legs in place. Her suit kept her mostly safe, but she was stuck as well. However, her core and head were still unfrozen, so she was far from disabled.

"That is quite enough!" Sonique boomed, cracking the surrounding ice once again. "There is only one way this can end. You are going to stop this madness and turn yourself in. You will be given an unbiased-"

Sonique's amplified voice continued to weaken the ice, but she wasn't acting quickly enough. Before she could cause enough damage, Christine casually walked up to her and threw a handful of snow into her face. Sonique's body temperature dropped dangerously low as the snow froze the inside of her nose and throat, cutting off any ability she had to make even the slightest noises. Obsidian was still perfectly capable of supplying her with sound, but all Sonique could concentrate on now was staying alive.

"All I wanted was to be accepted, admired, loved! By my peers, by everyone! Was that too much to ask?" Christine moaned, returning to her icy chair. Her voice was cold and penetrating, or at least more so than it was usually. Obsidian groaned, resuming his struggle within the ice. Christine gave his prison another coating of ice before he could break free, but he continued.

"Don't give me that crap!" Obsidian yelled, finally getting one of his arms to move. "You're the god damn queen bee! Everyone loves you already! Get over yourself!"

"No! Not everyone! You saw what happened to me! I need to be better! I need to be the greatest!"

"Alright, I give up. You are impossible. Go ahead and take over the world, but please, do it someplace far away from me."

Christine glared at him, clearly fed up with his antics. She started to storm toward the block of ice, but a ball of blue fire intercepted her before she could reach it. Hot Stuff stood in the doorway, the snow and ice around her melting quickly. She bowed slightly and extended one hand.

"Shall we dance?"

"That's my girl!" Obsidian whooped, momentarily forgetting that he was still trapped.

Hot Stuff and Christine dove at each other, fire and ice attacks meeting in midair. Christine was very powerful, but simple science gave Isabel a clear advantage. Any ice attacks melted well before they could cause any harm, and it didn't take much time for Isabel to gain the upper hand entirely. She blasted blue fire from both hands, melting straight through Christine's latest ice attack, and finally engulfing her opponent in a ball of flame. Normally this would have left the target completely charred, but Christine's ice powers kept her cool. Or at least they did, until she started to run out of energy. Isabel finally called off her attack once Christine fell to the ground. She appeared to be unharmed, but she looked exhausted.

"Damn it!" Christine swore, her formerly sharp voice now pitiful and stuffy. She stared up at Hot Stuff, revealing that her icy eyes had reverted back to their original brown. Isabel turned away, not wanting to pay Christine any more attention.

"Don't turn your back on meeeehh… Haaahh… HAAA-SHHHIIEEEE!" she wailed, reaching one arm toward Hot Stuff before being interrupted by a sneeze. Luckily, the snowstorm was absent this time. Christine's voice sounded so hopelessly stuffy that simply hearing it almost made Isabel's eyes water. Overusing powers tended to cause feedback, and in Christine's case, using too much ice had given her an indescribably nasty cold. Anyone else probably would have frozen to death in the environment, but what remained of her energy was enough to sustain her.

"What the hell happened? Where are my powers!?" Christine asked desperately. She thrust her hand toward Hot Stuff, but she couldn't even produce a snowflake. Hot Stuff approached her and stood her up, cuffing her hands behind her back. She had wanted to ignore Christine for the rest of the evening, but she supposed it couldn't be helped.

"You overused your powers, so you're out of energy. It'll come back eventually," Hot Stuff said, her voice resentful. "But, until then, you're going to have to put up with feedback. Basically, a general weakness while you're out of energy. It's different from person to person, but from the looks of it, it all went straight to your sinuses." Hot Stuff firmly squeezed Christine's wide nose and shook it back and forth as she spoke. Finally defeated, Christine sneezed once more and remained silent.

Obsidian broke free of what little ice remained after the heat of Hot Stuff's attacks. He looked over the battlefield, marveling at the destruction, but once he noticed Sonique, all of his attention was on her. Sonique's bindings had melted as well, but she was much worse for wear. Her body temperature had normalized slightly, but she was shivering furiously and she even had a few small icicles hanging from her long nostrils. Obsidian gently picked her up, starting to carry her out of the building. Hot Stuff silently nodded to him, volunteering to take Christine outside herself.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Obsidian asked, looking down at Sonique.

"Hiih… Hehhh… HHNGK!" Sonique quickly stifled a congested sneeze onto her middle and index fingers. Obsidian chuckled to himself. If she could move well enough to do that, she would be just fine once the Initiative doctors took a look at her.

Obsidian carried Sonique down the steps in front of the gym, followed shortly after by Hot Stuff and Christine. Isabel nearly threw Christine down the stairs, but she managed to keep her anger in check. It was a good thing she did, too, since by now the police had arrived too. Now that the battle was over, most of them were working on crowd control and helping the injured, but one of them stood at the bottom of the stairs, gazing up at the heroes with her hands on her hips. Once Obsidian and Hot Stuff were halfway down, the police officer started to clap slowly.

"Well, well, well," the surprisingly young police captain said, her voice lower and more mature than Isabel expected. "At least the building is still standing, that's certainly a first. Now, is this young lady going to get a fair trial, or are you just going to haul her off to your own independent prison?"

Obsidian and Hot Stuff ignored her, continuing toward the Hero Initiative vehicles down the street. The police captain remained respectfully silent, but she closed her eyes and shook her head, as if to say that she wasn't at all surprised. Once the Hero Initiative members had reached their vehicles, she got back into her car and prepared to leave, rather than lingering to harass them further.

"Hey op, who was that?" Obsidian asked the operator as he laid Sonique down in one of the ambulances. The operator snorted and then chuckled lightly.

"Sabrina Van Dorn. At 29 years old, she's the youngest woman to ever make captain in the history of the city. As you can see, she doesn't much care for us Initiative folk. At the very least she has the common courtesy to not get in our way, though."

"Uh-huh. You know what?"

"Chicken butt?"

"She reminds me a lot of you."

"Eugh."

---

And there you have it, folks. Again, I hope everyone enjoyed! I'll see you all next week!

November 22, 2011

This could seriously be a movie. A great one. (...a hot one... :drool: )

Also, I still love the operator. Her comments are just awesome. :lol:

November 28, 2011

Hey guys! Time for the next chapter! This is another breather episode type thing, so there's not a whole lot going on yet. However, I can guarantee that some interesting stuff will start going down in the next few chapters.

Anyway...

---

Chapter 8: Telephone Tag

Lying down on her bed, Isabel rolled onto her stomach and kicked her legs up, waving them back and forth alternately. She grabbed a pencil from her desk and balanced it between her upper lip and her nose, wasting time until she thought of something to do. Ever since she had joined the Hero Initiative, Isabel always found herself incredibly bored during her nights off. She used to worship the free time, but now, it simply left her feeling unfulfilled. Isabel sighed and pushed the pencil back and forth across her face a few times, extreme boredom beginning to take hold.

Suddenly, Isabel's cell phone started to vibrate. The pencil fell onto her bed and she grabbed her headset along with the phone. Glancing at the caller ID, she saw that she was being invited to a conference call with two other people. Isabel immediately recognized the numbers, and she couldn't help but smile to herself. She gently inserted her headset into her ear and answered the call.

"Hey Isabel. It's Chase and Maria. I'm really sorry about bothering you all the time, but we thought it might be nice to call one last time and see how you're doing. Is everything going alright?" Chase greeted, sounding slightly more serious than usual. Slightly.

Isabel laughed lightly, picking up the fallen pencil and tossing it back onto her desk.

"Don't worry about it. I only freaked out about it before because I didn't really feel like I knew you. I feel a lot more comfortable now, and I think maybe this could be kind of fun."

"Hihh… HHNGK! Do not encourage him." Maria sneezed her way into the conversation, stifling powerfully. Her voice was stuffy, but she was sounding a lot better than she did immediately after the Christine incident. Isabel smiled as Maria spoke, still just glad to hear that she was alright. Not many people, hero or otherwise, could have survived being frozen inside and out.

"Hi Maria. I know this must be the hundredth time I've asked, but how are you doing? Feeling any better?"

"Still not a full recovery, but I am feeling much better. And don't worry about it. Politeness is always appreciated."

"You know, I've been wondering about this for a while, but how come you always talk like that? You sound very proper, and no one else I know really talks like that," Isabel asked, turning her head slightly and staring up at her ceiling. Before Maria could answer for herself, the sound of Chase's laughter filled the airwaves.

"Personally, I think it's because she's in law school," Chase answered, trying to stop himself from laughing. "But I can't say for sure. Speaking of law school, she's almost done, going to be a big-time lawyer soon. Though if you ask me, I think she should have become a teacher. Kindergarteners would have nightmares about her for years. Isn't that right, Ri-ri?"

"How dare you call me Ri-ri!?" Maria yelped before succumbing to a small coughing fit.

"See what I mean?"

"Hey, maybe we should go easy on her. She's been through a lot," Isabel said, rolling over onto her back.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. She's probably going to be sick for, like, a year after this anyway. I'll take it easy for now," Chase agreed, sounding sincere.

"Oh please," Maria chimed in, "A year? If I'm going to be sick for a year, I'm going to be dead before I recover. This cold, or whatever this is, would eventually move into my lungs and I would die. No one actually has a cold for an entire year, and anyone claiming to only wants attention."

Maria's voice became stuffier and stuffier as she spoke until her words were practically dripping. She sniffed quickly three times in a row, still easily audible over the phone. Isabel heard a few rustling noises, three more rapid sniffs, and the a gentle inhalation. Maria blew her nose softly, slowly alternating nostrils, then finally sniffed twice more.

"Please excuse me for a moment. I need some tea," she said, her voice less stuffy but still slightly damp-sounding.

"Just go to the kitchen and keep your headset on," Chase droned.

"Oh, right. Excuse me."

"So," Isabel interjected, "how come we've never been assigned to fight any real super villains? I mean, we just did, but that was mostly by accident. Did you two do any of that before I joined you?"

"Every Initiative member asks that question sooner or later," Chase said with a sigh. He sounded like he was reclining in a large, extravagant armchair. "The thing about super villains is they're pretty rare. Or at least, they don't commonly do much of anything. The Initiative's gone for years now without seeing any. The last time one popped up was before Maria or I graduated from the academy."

"However, they are extremely powerful," Maria added, sniffing a few times. "When a super villain does make an appearance, it is always very dangerous. It usually takes a lot to bring even one of them down, and typically several teams of Initiative members are assigned to the tahhh… Hehhh… HHNNGK!"

"Gesundheit, Maria," Isabel said, rolling over on her bed again.

"Excuse me. Thank you," she replied, her voice stuffy again. "In any case, the word around the Initiative headquarters is that the last super villain to attack was actually defeated by a lone hero. That is extremely rare."

"Yeah, but she was crazy powerful," Chase added, leaning his chair back even farther. "Her name was Crystal Valkyrie, I think. I heard she actually had three separate powers, all of which were pretty awesome. At most, people usually only have two, and even that's pretty rare. Even with three powers, though, it was supposedly a mutual kill."

"Mutual kill?" Isabel asked, rolling once more, this time pulling her quilt around her as she did.

"Yeah. They had some kind of epic final showdown, but as far as anyone knows, they both died."

"Aw, that's too bad," Isabel said, rolling herself back out of her blanket. Getting tired of rolling, she climbed out of her bed and started to pace around her bedroom.

"Well, at least she died for a cause," Chase replied, sounding strangely serious. "That's how I want to go. I don't want to die of old age or something boring like that."

"I don't really want to talk about death right now," Isabel said awkwardly. "Can we change the subject or something?"

"Agreed. Happy thoughts. Hehh… Hihhh… HHHNK! Excuse me," Maria added, punctuating herself with a sniff.

"You know, you could have been a therapist too," Chase said, laughing a little.

"Shush."

"Anyway. Happy thoughts. Oh, right. Isabel, is 'shall we dance' going to be your catch phrase now or something?" Chase asked. He sounded far too interested in such a mundane question. Isabel laughed to herself and sighed.

"You know, I was actually going to say 'where's your date,' but I thought that would give away who I really was. I guess I don't really have a catch phrase."

"Oh, speaking of who people are, what's up with that police lady?" Chase asked, suddenly sounding rather annoyed. "Sabrina Van Dorn, or whatever. She sure had a stick up her ass."

"Hihh… Heehhh… HHNNNGK! Excuse me. Actually, I am already acquainted somewhat with Miss Van Dorn. I never mentioned it before because I didn't expect us to meet her under such circumstances. Also, we only met in passing, so I still don't actually know her too well," Maria explained, blowing her nose softly again.

"Was she always that mean?" Chase asked, standing up from his chair.

"Mean is not actually how I would describe her. Judgmental is probably most fitting," Maria replied, blowing her nose again. "Though I may be able to shed more light on her character. She's easily the most influential police officer in the city, and she likes to know all of the city's lawyers. I am about to become one, so she actually scheduled a meeting with me over dinner at the end of the week. Originally we were simply going to meet, but I could try to figure her out."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Isabel said, returning to her bed.

"Yes. Yes you do," Chase ordered, throwing himself back into the chair. "I want to know what kind of toothpaste she uses, the hex value of her eye color, and specifically which exact tree the stick up her ass came off of."

Isabel laughed a little and glanced at her clock. Seeing that it was after midnight, she tried to get her laughter under control and return to the conversation. In their usual fashion, Maria and Chase had started arguing with each other again.

"Alright, guys. It's really late. I'm going to bed anyway, and we should probably let Maria get some rest. I'll see you all later?"

"Right-o. See you next time. Chase out."

"Goodnight, Isabel. Sleep well."

The phone conversation ended with a quiet click and some gentle static. Isabel placed her headset back on her desk and smiled to herself. Lying on her back, she stared up at the ceiling above her bed. Isabel giggled a little, thinking about her partners. Chase was always there to help her out and make her laugh, and even Maria seemed to have warmed up to her. Isabel supposed that she must have somehow earned her respect. They were both wonderfully quirky and distinct, and although they made her nervous at first, they had come to make her life so much more enjoyable. She could hardly wait for their next meeting.

---

And there you go. Hopefully I'll see you all again next week!

November 29, 2011

I'm really enjoying this series. Superhero stuff is always good, and its well-written too!

November 29, 2011

Definitely very much like this series. You write it very well. Chase and Maria are really very cute together. :laugh:

December 5, 2011

Hey everyone! Time for chapter 9! This is mostly a character development chapter, so not a whole lot's going on for right now. Hopefully everyone will still enjoy!

Also, this series is probably going to go on hiatus for a little while after this chapter so I can catch up on work and on actually writing it. Unfortunately that means that this might be the last update until after Christmas break, since I know I'll be busy then.

Anyway, enjoy!

---

Chapter 9: Dinner for Two

The Four Seasons was generally considered to be one of the nicer restaurants in the city. It got its name from its outdoor seating area, which it kept open throughout all four seasons, regardless of weather. It was heated and capable of being enclosed to an extent, allowing it to stay in service during rain and snow. It also happened to be where Maria was meeting Sabrina Van Dorn for dinner.

Maria was still inside the restaurant proper, but she knew Miss Van Dorn had reserved an outside table. It was simply part of the experience of the restaurant, so Maria didn't wonder why. After only a few minutes of waiting, Maria was led out to the table, small and obviously meant for two people, where the police captain was already seated. Sabrina Van Dorn stood and extended a hand as Maria approached, polite despite her rough exterior.

"Maria Hayes, I presume. It's nice to finally meet you properly," Miss Van Dorn greeted, her mature voice at odds with Maria's.

"It's nice to meet you too, captain," Maria replied, shaking her host's hand. Although both of them shook their right hands, Maria noticed a diamond engagement ring on Van Dorn's left. She would have to ask about that. A tough situation involving a loved one could easily be the motivation behind her dislike for the Initiative.

"Please, call me Sabrina," the police captain said, smiling to herself and sitting down. "I deal with enough formality all day at work. I like to keep it casual when I'm off duty."

"Of course," Maria replied, sitting down opposite Sabrina.

"Do you smoke?" Sabrina asked, reaching into her coat pocket.

"No, thank you," Maria replied as Sabrina drew out a packet of cigarettes.

"Good, and don't ever start. It's a terrible habit," Sabrina said, chuckling to herself. "Do you mind if I do?"

"Go right ahead."

"Thank you." Sabrina shook out a single cigarette and pulled it free from the packet with her teeth. Maria expected her to use a lighter of some sort, so she was a little surprised when the police captain struck a match to light it. Sabrina took a drag and then slowly blew a cloud of smoke out of her long, upturned nose, turning her head to the side to keep it away from Maria. She sighed, closing her eyes for a second, and then turned back to her guest. However, before she could speak, her breath started to hitch.

"Hah… Haaa… HAAAASCHHH!" Sabrina sneezed into her free hand, holding the cigarette out to the side.

"Pardon me," she said, her voice hoarse for half a word. "Allergies are starting to act up. It's the most wonderful time of the year." Maria smiled and nodded, though she couldn't help but think that the smoking wasn't helping. Then again, Sabrina was probably aware of that as well, and she didn't seem to care.

"Now, most people would probably assume that I've asked to meet with you so that I can corrupt you and turn you to my side once you graduate. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This isn't about you as a lawyer or me as a police officer. This is just about you and I getting to know each other. If you're any good at your job, and I have no doubt of that already, we're going to be seeing each other a lot, so knowing each other is importehhh… Heeahh… Haahhh… HAAAAAASCHHHH! Important. I don't want to have you trying to kiss my ass the whole time. Let's just talk about whatever comes along, even if you think I wouldn't agree with it. Just be casual."

Maria nodded, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her freckled nose with one finger. That certainly made things easier. The engagement ring was the first thing to come to her mind, so she decided to get that question out of the way.

"Well, I noticed an engagement ring on your left hand when I arrived. How is your fiancé?"

"Quite well, thank you," Sabrina answered. Positivity was not quite the response Maria expected. That obviously wasn't the solution to the problem.

"What about yourself?" Sabrina continued, smiling slyly. "Most of my friends started getting picked off around your age. Do you have any plans?"

"Not exactly," Maria said, adjusting her glasses nervously. "I don't think I have met the right person yet. And I do not like to rush these things."

"That's understandable. As far as I know, I'm the last of my friends to be getting married. I took my time too."

"Patience is a virtue," Maria replied. Sabrina laughed and ran her fingertips around the lip of her water glass.

"It certainly is, but if the stories I've heard about your courtroom behavior have any truth to them, you're not exactly the most patient person. Don't get me wrong, your results are amazing, but you've been repeatedly described as ruthless."

"Anything to get the job done," Maria said, grinning unapologetically. Sabrina laughed for a second, glancing around casually and adjusting her posture in her chair.

"I like you," Sabrina said, blowing out another nose-full of smoke. "You're honest. That's not a quality I'm used to seeing. Everything these days is all rumors and hearsay. Nobody actually tells the truth anymore, even if they want to."

"Speaking of hearsay, I've heard plenty of rumors that you are not exactly a fan of the Hero Initiative. Is there any truth to that? I would hate to make assumptions based on hearsay, so I thought it would be best to ask you personally," Maria asked, trying to phrase her inquiry as casually as possible. Sabrina chuckled and inhaled from her cigarette again. She tapped it out in the ashtray in the middle of the table and blew the smoke slowly out of her nose before she replied.

"That is absolutely correct," Sabrina said tersely. She clearly had more to say, but her allergies took over again before she could continue. "Hahh… HAAAASCHHHHH! HAA-CHHHH!"

"Bless you," Maria said quickly, hoping that the police captain would elaborate.

"Pardon me. The problem is that it isn't my place to go telling them what they can and can't do. They've been extremely effective, but their results aren't what I'm worried about. They do a good job, and we happen to be on the same side, but what if that isn't always the case?"

"You're worried about some of their members going rogue?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow. Sabrina laughed and exhaled another breath of smoke.

"Believe it or not, not at all. The members of that organization are all fine people, I'm sure. I don't hate them. I hate what they stand for. Most people would say they stand for a greater power of justice, but that's not what I see. What I see is an organization taking extraordinary people and turning them into their own private law enforcement system. Justice is meant to be served by the community, not by any single person. I don't like one person having that much power."

Maria nodded again, taking every word Sabrina said. It actually sounded like a fairly reasonable argument. However, at the same time, it didn't quite explain why she harbored such a deep dislike for the Initiative. Maria was still fairly certain that the police captain had a personal reason. She was just about to ask, but to her surprise, Sabrina carried on without provocation.

"Hahh… HAAAAAASCHHHHHH! I just don't trust that organization as a whole. Considering their 'academy' and turnover rate for new members, it's almost like they have some way of tracking kids with the abilities they want. They hunt these kids down and absorb them into their ranks. Then they go through this 'academy,' and learn everything the Initiative has to say. Of course, they're on our side, but as I said before, what if they weren't? They'd effectively be breeding an army of kidnapped children with super powers. It's bad enough as it is. Once they pick someone up, he or she never gets to live a normal life again. What if someone with abilities like that just wants to live the way they want to? They don't have any choice in the matter. They just get picked up, and their families get pulled apart."

It was definitely personal. Maria watched in silence as Sabrina took another drag on her cigarette. The police captain exhaled the smoke through her nose and sighed, resting her forehead in her palm.

"I'm sorry," Sabrina said, shaking her head and closing her eyes. "I just get very passionate about these things. Let's just say I've seen it firsthand."

"I believe I understand," Maria replied, sliding her glasses up her nose again. "Perhaps changing the subject would be best."

The subject changed, they placed their orders, and the night went on. The dinner meeting continued without a hitch, but the back of Maria's mind was completely fixed on what Sabrina had said. Clearly her fiancé wasn't involved, but someone close to her had been. Maria had an incredible desire to ask, to find out just who had been taken from Sabrina, but she couldn't. It was obviously a personal issue from the start, but now Maria knew it was too personal. As a matter of respect, she left one stone unturned.

---

And that's all for now! I'll see you again soon! But maybe not too soon.

The Hero Initiative (10/?) (f) Updated 12/12/2011

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