October the tenth, 2014-

It was raining as she stepped through the glass doors of the hospital where her younger brother was being treated for cancer. Today they had received some...distressing news. Though her brother had gone through several bouts of Chemotherapy, as well as blood transfusions and plasma transfusions. It just wasn't enough. I just seemed as if the cancer was spreading faster than the doctors could treat it.

And so with a heavy heart the doctor had tossed out one last idea to beat the disease back. An experimental treatment with less than a ten percent chance of survival. But without it...her brother had no chance at all. And being the older sibling, as well as the one who had stepped up and shouldered the burden of raising her brother when their parents had died in a freak accident when she was sixteen- She couldn't think of anything worse than having to bury the only blood kin she had left.

Especially before he had the chance to grow up and become a man and experience life and everything it had to offer.

Fiddling with the little red umbrella in her hands, she was finding it difficult to open the damn thing since she couldn't see through her own tears. This could not- and would not, happen! Not to her baby brother! She silently vowed as she bared her teeth and growled at the troublesome piece of cloth and metal in her hands and flung it down onto the ground and stomped on it. Viciously.

To hell with the damned umbrella, she'd walk in the rain! She silently snarled as she turned and started walking in the direction of the local comic store. Since Toby had heard that he may not be alive for much longer, she had felt an nearly overwhelming need to find something to distract his mind. Reading had always been an escape for her on some of the darkest days and nights she had pushed herself through these past few years.

So maybe if she bought as many comics as she could find for Toby, then perhaps he wouldn't dwell on things so much and worry about the outcome when he could be fighting the hand that fate had dealt him. God knew that she would.

She'd fight the powers that be themselves for that kid. And that was really saying something considering who she was as well as her personality. In fact before their parents had died she hadn't been much of a 'caring' individual. No, back before she'd taken to raising her brother she'd been a delinquent. A well known one with a rap sheet nearly as long as her arm and one of her legs too.

Oh she hadn't done anything too bad.

She certainly hadn't killed anyone. Or even attempted too despite her temper. No, she'd done 'other' stuff. Like take cars for little joyrides, get involved in a few gang fights here and there. God knew that she had beaten up more than her fair share of people in need of beating. But the law never worked like you wanted it too and she always found herself arrested for one thing or another.

But none of that mattered now. She'd become a different person when her parents had died. She just couldn't help it, she had come home and found police cars and ambulances everywhere and had watched as her brother was carried out on a gurney, barely breathing, followed by the plastic bags carrying her mom and dad. Both of whom had tried to stop a gang member that had entered their house secretly, looking for her, and had killed them when he couldn't find her.

The guy had been arrested and put away shortly after- thank god- but the damage had already been done and she had found herself in a position where she might lose what family she had left to the foster care system if she didn't do something. So she had. She had attended court, done her community service while going to school and taking care of her eight year old brother.

After that she'd had no choice but to get a part time job and go to school while caring for her brother. But that was when he had started to get sick. She had seen the signs, had the insurance to take him to the doctors, but she had wanted to be totally prepared for anything a doctor might find as well as any hidden expenses and so she had waited...just a few weeks- not many, two at the most- after she had paid off all the bills so that she could put what was left of her pay checks to good use.

Separating the money into three small bundles. Food. Medicine. Emergency.

But now that she thought back on that. She'd been stupid to wait when the doctors may have found the cancer eating away at Toby's insides that much faster. But what the hell could she have done, really? She wasn't phsychic. Didn't carry a crystal ball. Couldn't read tarot cards or the stars. She had thought he had a simple case of the sniffles until he had started running a fever of over a hundred and three and then puked up blood.

Pausing in mid step outside of the comic book store she blinked at the large glass window that read, Will's Fantasy Comic's Shop, in bold gold and red letters and caught sight of her own reflection in the glass.

She hardly recognized herself with her mid back length wavy dark hair, her heart shaped face, wide teal/green eyes- almost catlike in appearance- that were fringed by long sooty lashes. She was pretty, she inwardly cringed at the thought as she continued to scrutinize her appearance a bit. Her body had filled out well since her teenage days. No doubt from all the work she'd been doing at her job. With all the lifting and carrying she did, she supposed it shouldn't surprise her so much.

But for some reason it did.

Almost as the fact that she just now noticed that she was wearing her favorite grey Punisher t-shirt and black skinny jeans. The same ones that she had worn three days ago and obviously forgot to wash... "Great." She muttered to herself as it just hit her why she had been getting funny looks while she had been sitting with her brother at the hospital today.

Suddenly worried that she might smell weird or something she lifted a hand as she turned her head and subtly sniffed at her shirt. She couldn't smell anything so obviously she wasn't suffering from a bad case of B.O. Which was good, she supposed since she still had to do some grocery shopping and such a little later on and didn't feel like dealing with people staring at her strangely or making comments behind her back since she'd be more than likely to snap and punch someone in the face.

Sighing she squared her shoulders and patted her back pocket to make sure that she hadn't forgotten her wallet like last time, and was relieved to find that she hadn't, then moved towards the door of the comic shop and stepped through. Raising her hand in greeting to the guy behind the counter, she forced herself to smile as she made her way over to some of the shelves lining the walls to see what the shop had.

She knew that Toby's tastes ran along action adventure. But when it came to pinning down the specifics- he had none. He liked anything with awesomely written stories, strong hero's, horrible villains...and that was pretty much it.

She came across a few Sonic comics and grabbed them. Then found a few Ninja Turtle comics and added them to her little pile before spotting several Justice League comics. One of which was a bright shiny gold color with wonderfully drawn pictures of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter on the cover.

This will do nicely- She thought as she reached for it and the moment her fingertips touched the glossy gold paper, she felt the bottom suddenly drop out of her stomach and her legs went weak in the knees and the next thing she knew...everything was dark and she was only vaguely aware of the loud blaring of sirens and feet running.