Hot N' Cold

Chapter 1: The Icy Beauty

Lori Ash sighed. The car ride to Dakota was taking forever. Lori probably would have died of boredom if it hadn't been for her best friend, Maxine Kent, sitting beside her. Max was a lot like her father, Clark. Or, as he's better known in Metropolis, Superman. Ever the optimist. And Max, at the moment, was the only reason Lori was still sane.

"So, how much longer, Mom?" Max leaned forward in her seat, looking at her mother, Lois.

"Another hour, I think…" Lois replied.

Lori sighed again. She didn't really want to go to Dakota, but she couldn't live in Gotham anymore. Her parents had been killed recently. She knew it was some dick that lived in the slums of the city, but she wanted to blame some big name criminals so she could feel that her parents died at the hands of someone who was cool. But, alas, fate said no. Lori had another reason for leaving. Batman. The Caped Crusader was a good friend of Lori's mother, a heroine by the name of Blizzard (Susan Ash to others). Lori had inherited her mother's powers and mastered them at an early age. But, Lori had used her powers to kill the man who shot her parents.

She left because she didn't want to invoke the wrath of the Dark Knight.

"Please, Mom? Can I stay with Lori?" Max begged. She had been pleading with her mother to let her stay in Dakota with her best friend but her parents were unmoving.

"No, Max. Maybe in a year or so, but not now. So, stop it. You're behaving like a five year old."

Lori smiled to herself. She missed her parents. But, she was not sorry about killing that man. It had been an accident, but she had wanted it to happen. She couldn't help but wonder… Was it an accident?

It had been a few hours since Lori had been left at the apartment building alone. Max and her mother had started back to Metropolis. Lori ditched her bags on the couch and went out to the balcony. Nice park view. She smiled, resting her arms on the railing. She closed her eyes, basking in the sun.

The loud sound of a siren drove Lori out of her blissful moment. She frowned. Here too? She looked around to find the cop cars and saw a ball of fire get hurled into the air at a guy surfing on a disk. Oh yeah. Clark had said that Dakota had some super-powered teens called Metahumans, or 'Bang Babies' as they called themselves.

Deciding to begin her hero career, Lori went back inside, changing into her hero guise: a lavender sweater, navy blue scarf, blue skirt, icy blue tights and her teal blue visor. Her short black hair was messy. Good. She liked it messy. She looked herself over. Smiling at everything being in place, Lori ran back out onto the balcony and leapt off, creating ice wings to help her fly. Coldfront was in the house, baby.

She looked around at the city below her. It was a lot like Gotham. Well, a much more bright and social Gotham. Lori easily found the surfing disk guy. He was now joined by a teched out blond dude. Both were cute. But, the real hottie (pun intended) was the red head on the ground that was shooting fireballs at the heroes in the sky.

Lori landed behind the red head and threw a snowball she had conjured. The fiery teen whirled around to face his new assailant.

"Who the fuck are you?" He growled dangerously.

Lori gave him a cocky smirk. "I'm new in town, The name's Coldfront, hothead." She tossed another snowball from one hand to the other, her posture dropping into a childish pose, head cocked to the side. "Wanna play?"

The red head mirrored the smirk. "Play? Okay, dollface, you're on."

"Dollface?" Lori frowned, arching an eyebrow. "Not an attractive pick up line."

"Well, I'm not trying to flirt."

Lori looked him over. This guy was pretty sexy. Well, in the bad boy kind of way. "Not your type, Hot stuff?" She asked playfully.

"That's Hotstreak, you walking icecube," he roared, hurling a fireball at her. She easily evaded, performing a small cartwheel to the left. "Besides, I don't do heroes."

The other two hero boys looked at each other. Who was this girl? She was clearly on their side, but where'd she come from?

Coldfront danced about, maneuvering easily around Hotstreak's attacks. She jumped up, flipping nimbly in the air and landed on the criminal's broad shoulders.

Hotstreak's hands shot up, grabbing Coldfront's ankles. Nice legs, he thought with a smirk. Too bad they had to get skinned up.

"Shit!" She hissed as he slammed her to the ground.

One of the heroes, the big name in the city, Static, stepped forward. "Hey, uh… Coldfront, was it? You need a hand there?"

"Yeah," Lori grunted, kicking Hotstreak in his kneecap. There was a slight cracking sound as he howled in pain and went down. She stood and dusted herself off. "Some applause would be nice." She grinned, holding out a hand. "Static, right? The Big Bat mentioned you to my mom a while back."

Static blushed. "Batman mentioned me?" Before his question was answered, the cops came up to them with the now cuffed Francis Stone, who was giving Coldfront a 'you-are-so-dead' look. She blew it off.

"Great work, Ms…." A young female cop began.

"Coldfront. I'm new in town, so I thought I'd pitch in."

The four cops that stood before the heroes blushed at the sight of Coldfront's charming smile and welcomed her to the city. Static and his best friend, Gear, found themselves entranced by the smile and returned it. A new gal pal on the team seemed like a good idea, and Coldfront wasn't as annoying as Shebang.

As the officers of the law led the violent pyrokinetic away, he looked over his shoulder. "Yo! Baby Blue!"

Coldfront responded to her new nickname by turning to him. "You bellowed?" She replied.

"This ain't over, Blue, not by a long shot. When I get out of lockdown, I'll be looking for you. Next time you get in my way, you can consider yourself steam."

"And you can consider yourself full of hot air."

"Bitch," Francis spat venomously. "I can't wait to get my hands on you again…"

The female officer smacked the back of his head. "Shut it, Stone! You are in no position to make any threats." The teen opened his mouth to make a smartass comment, but remained quiet.

"Hey, don't let him get to ya, Coldfront," a somewhat geeky voice commented. Lori turned to see the teched out blond. She smiled.

"And you must be Gear. Nice hardware. You all set up for WiFi, too?" She giggled, shaking his hand.

Gear laughed. "Hey, good one. Yeah, you're wisecracking is going to fit in well here. Welcome to Dakota." Static laughed with his friend and the new heroine who was strong with a razor's wit. He nodded his agreement at the welcome.

Lori Ash smiled widely at how easily she was accepted into the city. Maybe Dakota wouldn't be so bad a place after all…

So, here's chapter one. Hope you enjoy so far! Please review! I crave reviews and it's just so fun to read them. :)