Chapter 7: The First Test

"God, I'm so nervous." Beca paced back and forth in the living room of her apartment while Chloe sat on the couch. The redhead had come over to help the brunette pick out an outfit for a work party she had been invited to for that night. "My boss is going to be there. I've only seen him a couple times before, so I have to make a good impression on him."

"Becs, you're overthinking. Just be yourself, I'm sure you'll make a good impression." Chloe said, leaning back against the couch.

"But what if I say something stupid and he decides he doesn't want me to work there anymore?" Beca said, sitting down next to Chloe, still hyperventilating.

Chloe took her best friend by the hand. "You won't say anything stupid — you'll be fine. Here, take some deep breaths with me."

Beca closed her eyes, able to relax a little with her hand in Chloe's. She took a deep breath, making sure to hold it for a few seconds before letting it out.

"Do you feel a little better now?" Chloe asked, her hand still linked with Beca's. When Beca nodded her head, Chloe leaned in and surprised Beca by kissing her cheek. Chloe had done that before, so it's not like Beca was totally shocked by it. Beca just wasn't expecting it at that moment.

"Y-yeah," Beca stuttered, feeling her face start to heat up a little. "What was that for?" She asked.

"Think of it as a good luck charm for the party." Chloe explained, smiling when her best friend blushed even more.

Beca looked away from Chloe for a second and took a couple deep breaths. She felt her heart rate start to slow down, and the tension in her body begin to release. "Thank you for the kind words, Chlo. I appreciate it." She then looked at her watch. "I better get going," she said before clearing her throat and standing up.

The young producer knocked on the door, taking another deep breath like Chloe had advised her to do. "Just be yourself," Beca told herself softly. The brunette then took a moment to compose herself before the door in front of her opened.

When it did open, Beca saw her boss. A tall man who was bald and wearing sunglasses. Inside his own home. "You must be Becky."

"It's Beca," she said politely.

"That's right — Beca. I'm glad you could make it," he stated, stepping aside and gesturing for Beca to come in.

Beca wasn't even close to being the first person there. The front room was filled with her co-workers and colleagues. Her boss, Sammy West was one of the biggest producers in the business, so while a lot of her co-workers were there, there were also a bunch of A-list celebrities. She saw Kendrick Lamar talking to Brad Pitt. She saw Snoop Dogg, Billie Elish, Eminem. You name someone big, they were probably at this party.

She had gotten used to being around artists since she had to work with them all the time, but the brunette had yet to work with musicians of this caliber. Beca could feel herself starting to get a little overwhelmed, but reminding herself of what Chloe said earlier helped her keep her cool.

"Alright Beca, there are some people I would like you to meet," Sammy said before gesturing for the young producer to follow him. "First, I want you to meet Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, you probably know her as...well, H.E.R."

Beca's jaw dropped. "H-hi," she stammered, quickly putting her hand out for Gabriella to shake. "I'm a huge fan of your music. You're an incredible singer."

"Thank you, Beca. Sammy has told me all about you." Gabriella said, shaking Beca's hand.

"He has?"

"Oh, of course. It sounds like you're a prodigy from what he's told me," Gabriella mentioned with a smile.

Beca looked at Sammy, who just shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't hire you because you were a semi-decent DJ with a good ear. I hired you because I think you have great potential."

The brunette couldn't help but blush at all the compliments coming her way. "I'm flattered to hear that," she replied.

"I'd like to work with you." Gabrielle said. "I'm thinking of making an EP."

Beca's jaw was now on the floor. "A-are you serious?"

"I am, does that sound like something you would want to help me with?" Gabrielle asked.

"Oh, of course. I'd be honored," Beca stated genuinely.

Beca was introduced to a lot of people. She met John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, she met Nicki Minaj. There were too many A-list celebrities there for the young producer to count.

About an hour into the party, Beca found herself out on the balcony with a couple coworkers when she got a sudden twinge in her stomach. The brunette zoned out of the conversation for a moment to focus on the twinge, which seemed like the universe trying to alert her to something. She felt the tug in her stomach again, and one of her co-workers noticed Beca grab at her stomach. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Beca said. "I just have a bit of a stomach ache." The feeling didn't go away, though; it kept nagging at the brunette, becoming more intense as time passed.

Then, as the pain in her stomach grew, Beca began to hear police sirens from downtown. "Will you guys excuse me for a minute?" Her coworkers nodded in understanding, so Beca went inside and headed for the bathroom.

When she got to the bathroom, Beca closed and locked the door behind her. She got her phone out and called Adri. "Pick up, pick up, pick up." She said, pacing around the fairly big bathroom.

"Hello?"

"Something's going on," Beca blurted out, trying to be as quiet as possible. "I got a weird feeling, and then I heard police sirens downtown," she elaborated.

"I heard them too. It sounds like they're coming in the direction of my house," Adri replied.

"I'm at a work party, but I don't know how I am going to sneak out unnoticed." Beca said.

"Do you think it's urgent enough to warrant you sneaking out of the party?" Adri asked.

Beca took a deep breath and then answered Adri's question. "Someone is in trouble. If I don't try and help, things could end up a whole lot worse."

There was a moment of silence before Adri responded. "Fair enough. Is there a window in the bathroom?"

The young producer looked around. She then spotted one about ten feet above her and to the left. "Yeah, there's a window," she answered.

"Good. Do you have your suit?"

"It's in a bag that I put in the trunk of my car just in case," Beca said as she looked for a way to get up to the window.

"Alright, good luck, Beca." Adri said. "Stay alive and save some lives."

"That's the plan."

Beca managed to climb out of the window after getting on top of the bathroom counter for a boost. The window led to the roof of the apartment, which was a penthouse suite. Beca closed the window behind her and then began looking for a way to get down to her car, which was parked on the street.

Eventually, Beca made her way down and quickly changed before heading toward where the sirens were coming from. Once she got close, she parked her car far away from the damage. Something or someone had been throwing fireball bombs through the windows, and Beca could see they were continuing to do so up ahead.

"Alright, I need to stop this guy, and then get these people out of the buildings." Beca said to herself. Her costume, which was a dark purple, looked navy in the light from the fire.

Beca took a deep breath and closed her eyes, attempting to zero in on the perpetrator with her hearing. Eventually it got to the point where she could hear them pretty clearly, and could locate where they were based off that.

They were two blocks ahead of her, and they were yelling pretty loudly. This street was relatively quiet compared to some of the busy one of San Francisco. The sidewalks weren't packed either, which made sense because of the lunatic lighting everything on fire.

"Super heroes don't belong in our world! SHOW YOURSELVES!" The man called out.

Great. Another one of these guys, Beca thought. She made sure to stay back at first, wanting to get a better idea of how strong her opponent was. She crept a little closer so she could get a better view. One thing Adri had told was to not judge someone on their body shape.

This guy was tall and had an athletic build. Beca knew with this guy she would need to be quick and agile in order to stop him. She began to move along the side of the road to get an angle on him, as approaching him head-on probably wouldn't be a successful tactic. Beca managed to move unnoticed until she was about fifteen yards away — that was when the pyromaniac spotted her out of the corner of his eye.

"Ahhh, you've come out to play!" He said sending a firebomb her way.

Beca wasn't expecting this, and was blasted backwards. Fuck, that hurt. Beca groaned as she hit the ground. She had to get up fast, though, as another firebomb came flying her way. The brunette dove for cover behind a car, which burst into flames when a firebomb hit it moments later. Shit, this guy is strong.

She then stood up. "Why are you doing this?" Beca asked, using a car door as a shield in case the guy threw another bomb. "What do you have against these so-called superheroes?"

"Superheroes are no fun," the pyromaniac laughed. "I want to be able to do whatever I want, but they always rain on my parade."

"And why should you get to do whatever you want?" Beca asked.

"Because, without superheroes, nobody else would stop me. I could rule the world if I wanted to." Said the man. "Plus, the world doesn't need big-minded heroes getting in the way of things."

"But they'll still have you: an asshole who wants to rule the world and cause chaos while doing it," Beca stated.

The man narrowed his eyes at Beca. "I'm an asshole? Superheroes are the ones who sit on their moral high horses and think they have the right to interfere with fate," he spat.

"They aren't all like that; most of them help others," Beca argued.

"If you think they aren't like that, then you haven't met any real superheroes yet."

You haven't met any real superheroes yet. These words stood out to Beca for some reason. "Oh yeah? Why don't you fight me then? Because you obviously haven't met one either."

"Famous last words," the man said before throwing another bomb Beca's way. By the time the bomb reached where the brunette was standing, she was long gone — it was as if she had vanished into thin air. "What the-"

"Behind you." Beca kicked the guy in the leg, knocking the guy off of his feet. "Ouch," she said before dodging his attempt at tripping her from the ground.

"You bitch," the pyromaniac hissed, quickly gathering a firebomb and tossing it Beca's way.

This one came too quickly for Beca to dodge, and she flew twenty yards back, flying through the window of a grocery store. "Jeez, dude. How many of those do you have?" She thought aloud.

Beca sat up, wincing when she felt something sharp plunge into her skin. She looked down and saw a small shard of glass poking out of her suit in the stomach area. "Great, this is exactly what I need right now," she grumbled. Luckily, it hadn't gone deep, so Beca grabbed it and pulled it out before throwing it to the ground. She spit some blood out of her mouth before getting back up.

"You're tougher than you look." Said the man.

"Just wait till my fist meets your face," Beca said sternly.

"Hah! You'll be lucky if you get that close to me." The man stuck his arms out and looked up towards the sky. Slowly, he began to levitate upwards. Before he could get too high up, Beca jumped towards him, knocking him out of the air and onto the ground. She then grabbed his wrists and kept them from reaching to grab more firebombs. "You were saying?" She quipped wittily.

The pyromaniac just smirked before he head-butted Beca. It was enough to get her to loosen her grip, allowing his wrists to slip free. He then kicked Beca away from him. She did a backflip and managed to land on her feet. "You are light on your feet, I'll give you that. But that will only help you so much."

"Let's see if you can beat me without any of those weapons, then we'll talk," Beca challenged before taking a defensive stance.

"Fine. But if I can't use my weapons, then you can't use your powers," the man stated firmly. "Yes, I know you have them. You wouldn't be here fighting me if you didn't," he added with an evil-sounding laugh.

"Bring it on," Beca said, smirking and putting up her fists. Adri had taught her well when it came to hand to hand combat. And she was ready.

The man started swinging right away, throwing punches at Beca left and right. The brunette wasn't fazed by this — in fact, she preferred her opponent fight that way. It allowed her to quickly spot his weaknesses since he was so forward in terms of his strategy.

As soon as he even got close to Beca, she grabbed his fist and twisted his arm. The man yelled out in pain. Beca then clocked him in the face with her fist, not feeling any pain whatsoever.

"Fuck," the man groaned, holding the side of his face that Beca had punched. He coughed a little, then spit some blood onto the ground. "Good one," he chuckled.

"There's more where that came from," Beca stated before using a roundhouse kick to send him flying back ten feet. "Is that all you've got?" She said, showing off her sassy side.

The man scoffed. "You're taunting me when you've barely done anything yet," he snarled before running straight at her. He got going pretty fast, but Beca easily dodged his attack, and he ran straight into a parked car.

"Oof," Beca muttered, wincing on his behalf. "That looks like it hurt. Do you need some ice for that?" She called out.

"Oh, fuck you!" He yelled before ripping one of the doors off the car that he crashed into, throwing at Beca and hitting her in the stomach. This sent her flying in the air. He had cheated, but Beca hadn't really expected him to play fair in the first place.

"What? Did I hurt your ego? I'm sorry," Beca said sarcastically. She picked up the car door and held it in front of her like a shield, as she could see the man was gathering up firebombs again. "I thought we agreed on no weapons or powers," the brunette pointed out.

"Did you really expect me to play nice?"

"No not really," Beca said.

Sirens started to come around the corner, the man groaned. "This isn't over," He said, throwing the bombs into the windows of the buildings.

"Shit," Beca yelled before running inside to go get people out of those buildings. "Everyone out! There's a fire on the upper floors!" She announced, trying to keep the people as calm as possible so they could exit the building safely.

A woman with a laundry basket in her hand stopped the hero in the suit. "I was doing my kid's laundry when all of this happened. She's only five years old, and she is stuck upstairs with her twelve year old brother. Can you get them, please?"

"What floor is she on?" Beca asked.

"The sixth floor."

As she made her way to the upper floors, Beca checked every room, making sure that no one was in there. Just then, she heard a little kid crying. She was about two floors up. Beca went to the stairwell and jumped up, grabbing for the railing. "Hey!" She called out. "Keep talking, let me know where you are!"

"I'm stuck!" The kid cried out in between sobs.

"Just stay right there, I'm coming to get you," Beca stated in a reassuring voice as she booked it up the stairs.

Once she got to the floor, she heard the kids behind one of the doors. "Back away from the doors!" She called out. She then kicked the door down, making her way into the apartment. "Come with me you two!" She said, picking up the five year old and carrying her towards an open window. She then picked up the twelve year old boy. "Hold on tight!" She called out. Beca then jumped out of the window, causing the group of people to gasp, and then cheer when Beca landed on the ground safely with the kids. The firemen then arrived, and Beca assisted in getting the rest of the people out before dealing with the fire.

Beca stayed in the building until she was absolutely certain the fire had been extinguished. When she got outside, she was met with a round of applause from the people she had saved. She shook her head as if to say "You don't need to thank me" and started to walk away from the scene before one of the firefighters called out to her.

"Who are you?" Someone called out behind Beca.

The young producer turned superhero turned around for a moment. "Just someone who wants to help." She then started running away towards her apartment, jumping away into the night.

Once she was in her apartment, Beca could finally relax and let her guard down again. "Holy shit," she muttered to herself as she took off her suit.

She then let herself fall onto the bed, groaning in pain. She set her car keys on her bedside table. For a moment, the young woman just wanted to fall asleep; but the sweat and ash covering her skin helped get her off of her bed and head to the bathroom for a quick shower.

Beca sighed as warm water ran down her back, rinsing off the hard-earned sweat from that evening. The brunette reached over and grabbed a bar of soap, lathering it up so she could scrub her body clean.

Her ribs were aching from the man's firebombs and punches. Even running a loofa over that spot made Beca wince with pain. She tried to be as gentle as possible as she cleaned herself off.

When she finished her shower, she put on some pajama shorts and a flannel shirt. She then called Adri. "Hey Adri." She said tiredly.

"Hey, kiddo. You're on the news."

"What?" Beca went into the living room and turned on her TV, flipping the channel to the local news. "Oh wow," she breathed out as she looked at the headline, which read: "40 people saved from fires by mystery hero".

"I know, Luke and I have been watching the news, waiting to see how it went." Adri explained. "Those people have nothing but good things to say about you. They've interviewed a few already. How are you feeling?"

"To be honest, I feel like shit," Beca started, chuckling a little. "It feels good to have saved those people, of course, but I'm exhausted. That guy — the one who started the fires — is strong," she elaborated.

"You gave him a good fight, Beca. And you saved all those people, just try and get some rest." Adri said.

"Thank you," Beca replied quietly. After a moment of silence, she spoke again. "The guy said something about superheroes that stuck with me...something along the lines of them feeling like they're better than everyone else, when they're not."

"Well, let me ask you this: do you think you're better than everyone else because of these powers?" Adri asked.

"No, of course not." Beca answered honestly.

"Then you've just proven him wrong."

"You're right." Beca felt her muscles begin to relax, as they had been tensed before. She then began to smile. "I did pretty good tonight, didn't I?"

"You did," Adri stated. "Now get some rest, kid. You could have another busy day tomorrow."

The following morning, Beca woke up to soreness all over her body. Getting a good night's sleep did help, but the brunette still felt as if she had been hit by a train.

So, Beca's had her first test. Who is the mysterious man who attacked those people? Do you think Beca's boss noticed her absence during the rest of the party? Is Chloe starting to develop feelings?

Until next time!