The bell rang, and school was out for the weekend. I casually shouldered my backpack and shuffled into the hallway, taking care to resume my slouch. Amy walked alongside me, clutching a large calculus textbook to her chest.
"Are we still doing the study session?" she asked me, tightening her grip on the textbook. "I'm really concerned about Monday's test."
"Of course," I replied, feeling slightly uneasy. As every day passed, I became more and more convinced that Amy knew something I didn't want her to know about me. She sat next to me in every class we had together, and she would always make sure to match my pace in the hallway. Now she wanted to do a study session with me in preparation for the calculus test on Monday. It made perfect sense, I had the highest grades in the class, but I still held my suspicions as to what her real motives were.
Was it possible that she just wanted to befriend me? Maybe, but I made a mental note to make sure she wouldn't be able to find my rocket.
A faint octarine glow flooded the hallway, and Victoria appeared at Amy's side. "Hey sis," she said cheerfully, "how was class?"
"Oh, it went well," Amy replied, her grip loosening slightly on the textbook. "I'm heading over to Taylor's house so she can help me study up on calculus."
There was a slight flutter in Amy's heartbeat when she saw Victoria, one that wasn't of surprise, but something else. It was almost as if... I shook the thought out of my head, that wouldn't make any sense.
"Isn't Taylor's house near ABB turf?" Victoria asked with a frown. "I'm surprised Mom would let you go around there."
"I've never gotten any trouble from them," I replied. And any idiots that wanted to start some would get a rude surprise.
The frown stayed on Victoria's face. "No offense Taylor, but you don't really look like someone that could scare off a bunch of thugs. I'll be your chaperone, kay?"
The possibility of Panacea finding out my identity was bad enough, but Glory Girl, the person who unknowingly hated my guts? I started to feel really uncomfortable at the thought of that. "My dad doesn't like too many visitors, he's really shy around guests," I said.
Victoria grinned. "No problem. I'll walk you two over, then fly back home. Amy can call me for pick up when it's time."
I sighed inwardly. "That sounds good," I replied.
S
"So, Dean said that he and Dennis were going to go see that Aleph movie..." Victoria said to no one in particular, her head held high. Amy seemed to find the conversation interesting, or at the very least found Victoria interesting. Me? I was bored out of my skull.
I zoned out of the conversation, instead focusing on the world around me. I listened in on the heartbeats of birds, trying to see if I could identify the species just on how it sounded. I could hear muscles shifting against muscle, tendons being pulled taught, the rush of blood through the smallest of capillaries, studying the subtle differences between species and individuals. Victoria's heartbeat was strong and steady, the muscles made little noise as they contracted and relaxed. Amy's was not as healthy, if only by a little, her tendons creaked from the relative lack of pliability. I took the sounds in, making sure to memorize them. It could become important later.
Suddenly, I became aware of several more heartbeats coming from an alleyway towards the end of the block. That wasn't too surprising, there were plenty of people in their homes at this time of day, but what caught my attention was the fact that they were agitated. I extended my other senses, becoming aware of the smell of sweat and adrenaline in the air. I peered into the alley through the houses in the distance and saw several men wearing the colors of the ABB. They had guns, and were shouting in a variety of languages. One of them raised a large rifle and fired, finally drawing the others' attention.
"What was that?" Victoria said, her head snapping towards the sound of the gunshot.
"Probably the ABB," I replied, feigning a twinge of fear in my voice.
"Well, I guess it's time we show those red and green bozos not to mess with the New Wave," Victoria said with a grin. "It's a damn shame I didn't bring my costume with me."
"Are you nuts?" Amy hissed. "We need to get Mom, maybe Aunt Sarah as well."
"It's probably just a bunch of thugs, Victoria replied dismissively. "Nothing Glory Girl and Panacea can't handle, right?." She turned to me, shrugging off her backpack. "Taylor, call for help and stay hidden or something."
I nodded. Victoria took to the air, barreling across the street at a good fifty miles an hour. Amy gave me a concerned glance, then took off after her sister. Once they were a certain distance away, I cursed softly to myself and straightened my back. I ducked into a nearby alleyway, quickly shrugging off my sweatshirt and fastening my cape about my shoulders. Finally, I removed my glasses and took to the air with a flying bound, speeding over to the alleyway.
I saw now that there were several members of the E88 there as well, one of them wearing a white tiger mask. That must have been Stormtiger, then. I announced my arrival by touching down in the middle of the alleyway, the tarmac shattering underneath my feet. I turned to the E88 first and lunged, catching one of their thugs in the temple with a light tap. He crumpled to the ground like a house of cards, groaning weakly. The other members reacted in slow motion, slowly swiveling their guns towards me. I could've sworn that everyone was moving slower and slower every time I went out. I dashed forward, swatting guns out of hands and making light contact with skulls. In three seconds flat, the lower thugs were taken care of.
That left Stormtiger. He stared in shock at me, the air forming into claws around his hands as he stepped back, his heart beating higher than usual. "You smell different," he muttered with surprise, then lunged with his claws.
The wind smashed into me with tremendous force, but I stood my ground. I stepped forward, my cape fluttering behind me. Stormtiger stepped back, the wind growing fiercer as he swiped at me with his 'claws'. Before he could react, I lunged forward and flicked him in the throat. There was a weak choking sound, and Stormtiger collapsed to the ground, his hands on his throat.
I heard several pained grunts behind me and turned to see Victoria making quick work of the ABB thugs. Amy was in the alley as well, making sure the thugs on the ground would survive the poundings her sister gave them. She looked up and locked eyes with mine, her brown eyes widening. I upped the blur on my face just to be safe.
Victoria took notice of me as well, her hands gripping tightly around the ruff of a thug's neck as she spun her head about. "You," she growled, loosening her grip ever-so-slightly.
That proved to be a mistake. The thug grabbed a gun from a holster on his leg and brought his hand upwards. Victoria swatted the gun aside and punched the thug out, but not before it went off. Time seemed to come to a complete stop as the bullet inched its way out of the barrel in a flash of light and a puff of smoke, an empty casing sliding out of the side and making the long trip downwards. A knot formed in my stomach with sickening speed as I realized that the bullet was heading right for Amy's head.
I sprang into action, feeling strain in the first time in memory as I raced towards Amy, a hand outstretched as I pushed myself harder than ever before. Amy's head was turned towards the bullet, having heard the struggle before the gun went off. There was a look of horror on her face, frozen in time as the neurons on her face sluggishly worked out the realization that something was wrong. There was no way for her to actually realize that her death was incoming, that her life was going to come to a short end because of a stupid thing. You never hear the one that gets you, after all.
My resolve hardened. No, this wouldn't be what got her. Not if I had anything to do about it.
I stretched my arm out to the point that I felt as though my arm was going to pop out of my socket, my fingers splaying themselves before the bullet. Finally, my hand wrapped itself around the bullet, making sure that no hunks of molten metal would squeeze out between my fingers and hit Amy. I felt a slight impact work its way up my arm as I caught the bullet, working against the bullet's motion so it wouldn't shove my outstretched fist into Amy's face.
Time returned to normal speed. I stood in the alleyway, my clenched fist an inch from Amy's face. I pulled my hand back and opened it, studying the bullet in my hand. It was a partially molten mess, the sheer force produced by my timely save had heated it considerably. "Holy shit," I muttered to myself.
Amy backpedaled away, her wide eyes fixated on the ruined bullet in my hand. "Y-you saved me," she said shakily.
"I guess that's two you owe me," I said in my "cape" voice, putting extra effort to differentiate it from my normal one. With that, I took off.
S
Amy stood in the alley, her eyes fixated on the spot where 'Supergirl' had been standing not a second ago. She trembled slightly, the realization that she had almost died finally hitting her.
"Did... did she just catch a fucking bullet?" Victoria asked in surprise, taking a few tentative steps forward. "I've never seen that happen."
Amy nodded. "She saved my life again," she said numbly
Victoria rubbed the back of her head, turning towards Amy. "I guess Supergirl isn't so bad after all, huh?" she said sheepishly. "Guess I should give her an apology next time I see her."
Next time. Amy turned her head to the street, where Taylor was, for all intents and purposes, still waiting. "Yeah, you should do that," she replied weakly.
"Are you okay, sis?" Victoria asked, concern lining her voice. "I think we should cancel your little study session, make sure you get home safely."
Amy shook her head. "I'm fine, Vicky," she said, getting to her feet. "You should stay here, make sure the authorities get them."
Victoria frowned, but said nothing to dispute the suggestion. "You sure?"
"I'll be fine," Amy replied. She briskly walked out of the alleyway, her gaze turned to the street they had walked down. Taylor was sprinting towards her, a backpack in each hand.
"I heard gunshots," Taylor said, panting for breath. "Is everything okay?"
Amy nodded. "Just a little scare," she lied.
Taylor smiled. "That's good to hear," she said, handing Amy her backpack. "I decided to grab these, I didn't want someone stealing them while we were away."
"Thanks," Amy replied with a smile, taking the backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. "You still want to do that study session?"
Taylor hesitated briefly before she answered. "Sure," she said.
Amy smiled again. Victoria's worry was misguided, she'd be just fine.
She had Supergirl as a study buddy.
