It was a slow night at Luigi's, which wasn't all that surprising with the liberal coating of snow outside. It would have been surprising that the restaurant was open at all, were it not well known that the owner of the small pizzeria, while a good man, was an absolute hardass when it came to working hours. So here was Joanna, bored out of her mind and trying to keep sane by watching the handful of customers present talk and enjoy their food.

Joanna loved this job. Really she did. Her coworkers were all genuinely nice people, though she wasn't particularly close to any of them. Her boss was a gruff old man, but he was fair and understanding as long as you weren't being an obnoxious moron. Even the regulars were all polite and smiled as she greeted them at the counter. Some even knew her by name now. It was a simple, normal job, and she loved it.

But no matter how much she loved it, sitting in place for two hours doing nothing was enough to drive her nuts.

Joanna almost cried with relief when the bell above the front door chimed, signaling the arrival of a customer. She looked to the door and smiled, a practice that had quickly become instinct with the job.

The smile nearly died on her lips as she actually looked at the newcomer.

The customer was a large man in a big black coat and pants. He wore large, thick-soled boots that should have clunked as they hit the tile floors, but they barely tapped. None of his skin was showing. His face was obscured with a scarf and a hood that was constantly angled just right to hide his face in shadows, and his hand were stuffed in his pockets. He favored his left leg, limping slightly but obviously trying to hide it.

Pushing away the part of her mind that screamed SUSPICIOUS, Joanna gave him the usual greeting. "Welcome to Luigi's, sir. Do you have an order ready?"

It was a fitting greeting, she mused. As curt and no-nonsense as the restaurant's owner himself.

"Order number fifteen." The man told her, and she winced internally. Poor guy sounded awful. The winter weather was getting to everyone this year, with the temperatures at a record low, and it seemed he was no exception.

Way to go, me, she thought as she went to get his pizza, getting suspicious of a guy that's probably just trying not to get any sicker!

Embarrassed, Joanna couldn't quite look the customer in the face after that. "That will be $7.96." She mumbled as the man was already handing her a $10. Pulling the change from the cash register, she dropped it into his-

"-big, green, scaly hand with three fingers-"

Joanna gasped and snapped her head up, but the guy was already dashing through the door.

"Wait!" She called after him as she vaulted over the counter with a strength she didn't know she had. Her boss and some of the customers shouted, but she couldn't make out what they were saying past the roaring in her ears. "Please wait!"

Even with his obviously injured leg he was much faster than her. By the time she had gotten out the door and spotted him he was halfway to reaching an alley. Joanna sprinted after him with everything in her and was suddenly immensely grateful for her grandparents living in the Maine countryside. If visits at Christmastime had given her nothing else, they had given her the ability to run through snow like it wasn't there. The other guy did not look to have that, speed or no.

"-so fast, one minute he was there and then he wasn't, like lightning-"

He made for the alley like she predicted. She rounded the corner as quickly as she could, still yelling. "Please, wait!" He didn't though, he just kept running and running, turning at the sidewalk on the other side, trying to ditch the girl on his tail.

"-amazing, never gave up-"

Joanna sucked in more cold, burning air. She could be just as tenacious as him.

She got out of the alley just in time to see him duck into another. "Please just wait a minute!" She cried when she finally reached the second alley – only to find herself face down in the snow seconds later with her ankle throbbing.

Dangit, must have caught something under the snow and fell! Of all times!

She looked up, hopeful to still be able to spot him, only to find that the alley was a dead end. For a moment she was elated, thinking that she'd be able to speak to him now as he had nowhere to go. Then Joanna noticed the fire escape on one of the buildings and her heart sunk. He'd be able to get up that no problem.

Sure enough he was nearing the top of the fire escape when she looked up. Determined to say her piece, Joanna took a deep breath into her pained lungs and shouted-

"-saved me Joy, saved my life-"

"THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY UNCLE!"

The sound boomed and echoed through the lonely alleyway. For the briefest of moments, she could have sworn that she saw her hero pause at the top of the building – but then he was gone, over the edge and out of sight.

Joanna sighed, relieved, and waited in the snow for her breath to return to her.

Spring was showing up early in apology for the brutal winter this year. Luigi's was bustling, and Joanna was really hoping that the end of her shift was sooner than she felt like it was.

It had been five weeks since her encounter with one of her heroes. Her boss had been a fascinating combination of doting concern and absolute fury when she returned, but she hadn't fully been able to appreciate it due to the fact that it felt like she was coming down with hypothermia. Her uniform wasn't made for New York winter temperatures.

When she had finally warmed up enough to be cognizant she was surprised she hadn't lost her job. As it was she just got her pay docked for a month and a stern warning to never do that again, even if the customer left a million dollars in change. It was the only explanation she had been able to come up with, that he had forgotten his change.

Still can't believe that he managed to run through the snow and up a fire escape with a limp while carrying a pizza. They really are amazing.

It was four months ago today that her uncle had been mugged by a local gang. At first it had been the usual, he had told her, that they wanted his money and if they didn't give it to him they would beat him up. But then one of the members recognized him as the younger brother of a police officer that stuck him in jail once. And just his luck, that member's older brother was in charge of the gang, and was an extreme believer in 'an eye for an eye'. They had started beating him up, intending to send him back as broken as possible to his brother.

And that was when they showed up.

Her uncle had told the police that he had blacked out and didn't see what happened. He had no clue how all of the gang members got knocked unconscious and tied up. But he told Joanna differently.

Four creatures had suddenly descended on them. They looked like giant turtles, with shells and strange hands and weapons. And they had taken out each and every gang member while they thought her uncle was unconscious and vanished as suddenly as they came when the police arrived.

Her uncle knew that no one would believe him if he told this story. But he told Joanna, needing to tell at least one person what he saw. And she believed him. She'd always had a knack for knowing when people were telling the truth, and he had practically radiated sincerity. Not to mention that this was the man who had gotten a concussion playing football and was completely pleasant and coherent on the ride to the hospital.

So she believed him.

And he had been right.

From that day on those creatures had been her heroes. She had seen the injuries on her uncle. Had the gang kept going like she was sure they would have, he either would have been crippled for life or dead. They saved him. And Joanna was more grateful for that than she could ever convey.

And I repaid that by scaring at least ten years off one of them trying to thank him. Way to go, me.

Sighing, Joanna snapped out of her musings to attend to the last customer in line, a teen with a hoodie and baggy jeans. "Welcome to Luigi's, sir. Do you have an order ready?"

"Order number two-hundred twelve." He told her while Joanna mentally shuddered remembering how busy the day was. She couldn't wait to go to home.

She nodded at the customer before calling over her shoulder. "Henry, number two-hundred and twelve, please!" Said person gave her a thumbs up before going to the back to find that order, while Joanna was appreciating that they had all staff on hand today. She didn't have to do two jobs at once.

"So, nice weather we're having."

It took Joanna a minute to realize that the customer was addressing her. She wanted to laugh at the stereotypical conversation starter, but a crushing wave of shyness came over her. "Yeah, it is."

"Much better than we were having last month. The cold was insane! I could barely stand it." When Joanna just nodded, she got the feeling that he was frowning. "You're really quiet, huh."

She was about to look him in the face and apologize, since the last thing she needed was anyone reporting that she was being unpleasant barely a week after she got off her last punishment, when Henry appeared by her side with the pizza. Mentally sighing with relief, she tried to thank Henry with telepathy. He smirked a bit at her before he left, so she was pretty sure he got it.

Joanna took the pizza and passed it to the customer, still not quite able to look him in the eye. "That will be $7.96, sir." She told him, but he was already handing her a $10, so she pulled out the change and-

-stopped short at the sight of his big, green, scaly hand with three fingers.

All of her thoughts screeched to a halt at once. She stared at the hand, disbelieving and desperately wanting it to be true all at once. Slowly, as slowly as she could manage, she lifted her head to look him in the eye.

For the briefest of moments the shadows retreated from under his hood to reveal a green face and a small smile.

Joanna was certain that her returning grin was so big it looked ridiculous but she didn't care. The change was back in the cash register and she was handing him back the $10 before she realized she was saying "It's on the house."

Her hero seemed surprised, even with his face shadowed again. "Really?"

Nodding, she shoved the dollar bill into his palm. "Just this once, though. I owe you."

I owe you everything.