"So, his webs aren't actually spiderwebs?"

Today was a quite a big day for Hopadiah Plantar. He's got a big delivery of fresh vegetables to make to Felicia's Tea Shoppe - a dozen barrels of it, Felicia must be brewing for something big - and there was no time to lose. Every customer has a weird quirk that Hop Pop had come to recognize over the years, and Felicia's was that she's a big fan of speed, and she's not afraid to show it. Simply put; the faster you deliver to her, the more likely you'd get a bonus of some kind - the kind that could pay for a good meal, or for this month's taxes. He decided to take a chance and leave Sprig and Polly in charge of the farm for the day - with rules and restrictions set firmly in place, of course - to teach them about the value of responsibility and whatnot. He dragged Anne along for the trip, mostly for the help with loading and unloading the barrels onto the rickety cart (Hop Pop swore, the darn thing was this close to breaking apart). Anne wasn't happy about it - teenagers these days are so predictable, even ones from another world - but it was for the best. If worse comes to worst, then having only two of his kids ruining the farm would be better than three.

And so, with all the vegetables loaded, they were off on Bessie. Hop Pop couldn't help but smile. The day was looked bright, in every sense expect for the literal. The darkening clouds made him wish he brought a tarp to cover the barrels, but he was confident they'd reach Felicia's before rain falls. Anne was done grumbling about the trip, now content to lie down on the back in silence, fiddling with her magic phone box. The silence between them was quite pleasant, and continued to be so throughout the trip. At some point during the trip, while glancing back to check on her, Hop Pop caught sight a very interesting picture on Anne's phone that captured his interest. Out of curiosity, he asked Anne about it. The way Anne's eyes lit up piqued Hop Pop even more, and he suddenly found himself being subjected to a crash course on the topic of 'superheroes'.

"Well, in some versions, it is. Not in this current version," Anne answered, lying on her back, gesturing wildly, enthusiastically, with her hands. "See, he made the webs himself with chemistry and, like, science because he's also this super genius kid even before he got his powers."

Hop Pop hummed, nodding. Truly, the wonders of the human world seemed endless. "Folks over there must've saw spiders in a very different light."

"Oh, no, people are still terrified of those creepy little things." Anne rolled to one side and propped herself up on one elbow to look at Hop Pop. "It's actually a pretty common phobia."

Hop Pop frowned. That was weird. "Then why is he as famous as he is in your world?"

Anne shrugged. "Dude, I have no ide-"

She was cut off when Bessie suddenly jerked to a halt. Hop Pop was nearly knocked out of his seat, while Anne lost her balance, her face planting hard on the snail's shell. Pain suddenly flared from Hop Pop's back. It felt like something slid out of place back there, leaving gripping the seat and staying as still as he could to at least ease the pain. With the pain, embarrassment bubbled to the surface as well. A tiny bump, and it reduced him to this state. He could've taken that kind of bump just fine a mere ten years ago. Hop Pop gritted his teeth and held back a cry of pain. No need having Anne worried about him.

Anne picked herself back up with a groan, rubbing her nose. "Bessie? What's wrong, girl?"

Hop Pop saw the problem first, even while in pain. A massive tree had fallen across the road, blocking any path forward. A giant red cedar, if Hop Pop had to guess. It seemed to have been ripped out of the ground, roots and all. Looked quite fresh, too. It must have happened earlier in the day, yesterday at most.

Of course. Of course this tree fell today, of all days, and on this stretch of road, of all roads. The road where the only alternate route was a winding path through the forest, and that was after backtracking quite a ways back. Might as well kiss that bonus payment goodbye. Anger rose within him, but it quickly dissipated. Getting angry wouldn't change a thing. The only thing to do was accept it, and move on.

"Just our luck." Hop Pop sighed.

Anne waved nonchalantly. "This is no big deal. Just circle around it, H.P. Nothing wrong with a bit of off-roading. Bessie can totally handle it." She leaned over the side to pat Bessie's shell and cooed, "Don't you, girl?"

Bessie cooed back - the old girl agreed, and that brought a small smile to Hop Pop's lips. Unfortunately, there was another problem. "Bessie can, but the cart can't," he pointed out, gesturing to the ramshackle contraption tethered behind Bessie. The darn thing was barely kept together by a patchwork of anything that Hop Pop could get his hands on for cheap from Loggle - the stuff that even the woodworker wouldn't touch. It would not survive off-roading of any kind. And while losing out on the bonus was bad, completely missing the delivery would be catastrophic. Hop Pop wasn't going to take that risk.

"Oh, right, right." Anne placed a hand under her chin, a low hum leaving her lips. "I can try pushing the tree off the road?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Anne. Look at the size of that thing!" Hop Pop shot her a look, incredulous. She's got quite a bit of strength in her, sure, but not enough to push a tree at least thirty inches in diameter. "I'd kill to have bones half as sturdy as that. Seriously."

Honestly, he'd do it for less. Much, much less.

"No, see, I read somewhere that a tree would only fall over like this because the inside's gone all brittle. Or, something like that." Hop Pop didn't know enough about trees to dispute it, but that still don't sound right. Anne didn't look too sure about it herself. "Point is, it should be lighter than it looks."

Hop Pop blew a long breath. "It's okay, Anne. Money's just going to be tight this week." They had no other choice, they had to take the longer route around. A shame, since he'd been counting on the bonus from this delivery to make ends meet. Served him right for relying on uncertain bonuses to keep the family afloat, he supposed. Hop Pop forced a smile to show to Anne, hoping she couldn't tell how fake it was. "But, we've been through it plenty of times before. We'll manage."

Anne's gaze fell, and Hop Pop hoped it wasn't because she recognized the fake smile. He pulled on Bessie's reins, getting her ready to turn around. "In the meantime, I'll send word about this to the mayor." He cringed inside just from saying that. The idea of handing over any kind of responsibility with that toad didn't sit right with him. "With any luck, it'll be cleared by the end of next week."

He craned his head over his shoulder to look behind him, but the act sent another sudden flare of pain surging forth. "Frogging hell!" he cursed, the words spilling out of his mouth before he could catch himself.

Anne immediately shot up, worried. "Whoa! You okay, Hop Pop?"

"Fine, I'm fine." Hop Pop hissed, eyes closed. He didn't look as fine as he claimed to be, he just knew it. "My back's acting up again."

After a few moments, the pain subsided, enough for him to ease back on his seat. Hop Pop opened his eyes, and realized with a start that Anne was no longer on Bessie. Looking around - slowly, he didn't want to upset his back even more - he saw her striding purposefully towards the tree blocking their path.

"Anne! What in Frog's name are you doing?" Hop Pop called out. Though, he already had a guess.

"Come on, it won't hurt to try!" Anne offered him a confident smile over her shoulder. "We already got this far, we can't just throw in the towel and go back to the farm."

"Yes, it can. Very badly, Anne," Hop Pop countered. "And who said anything about going back?"

But Anne was clearly no longer listening. Now standing before the felled tree, it was like she's in a world of her own. She rushed through a round of stretches, rubbed her hands together before placing them on the tree, shifted her feet into the right stance, took a deep breath, and braced herself. "And a one, and a two, and-!"

With a grunt, Anne began pushing with all her might. Her feet dug into the mud. Her fingers clawed for the best grip on the tree's rough surface. Her face showed exactly how much effort she put into it, how much strain she's putting herself in. It almost made Hop Pop wish the tree would move from Anne's sheer determination alone, but just like he thought, the tree didn't budge, not even by an inch. But, that didn't stop Anne from keeping at it. From pushing with all her heart and all her strength, like her life depended on it. On one hand, her gumption and optimism was admirable, but on the other hand, she really needed to learn when something was a lost cause. Sometimes, banging your head against the wall would only lead to a headache, or worse.

Eventually, after five minutes filled with Anne grunting, wheezing, and gasping, Hop Pop decided enough was enough. "Anne, please, stop. This is very noble of you, and I appreciate that, but it's really okay."

With a gasp, Anne practically collapsed against the tree, panting heavily. Sweat now ran freely down her forehead and her back, wetting her clothes. The light in her eyes died a little. It killed Hop Pop to do it, but it had to be done. They needed to go now if they want to have any chance of making it back to the farm by sundown.

"No, no, wait, maybe... maybe I..." Anne sputtered between gasps. Suddenly, the energy returned to her eyes, and quickly spread to rest of her body. She pushed herself off of the tree, standing tall once more. "Maybe I just need a running start!"

Anne jogged back a few paces, then fell onto one knee, with her hands at her sides steadying her. She closed her eyes, even started controlling her breathing. She's seriously going all in with this, and that got Hop Pop worried. This could only end with Anne hurting herself. He had to put his foot down and put an end to this, now.

"Anne Boonchuy, you get back on this snail this ins-!"

Anne's eyes shot open. Her pupils flash a bright blue.

Hop Pop's words died in his throat.

Anne took off in a sprint, quickly gaining speed even in such a short distance. With the tree, her target, growing closer, she shifted her position, placing her right shoulder at the front of her body. She intended to ram the tree with her whole body, Hop Pop realized. He should be yelling, screaming at her to stop, or maybe even do something drastic, but he simply couldn't muster the words. The flash of blue still had him reeling. Now, whether he liked it or not, he found himself more than a little curious to see what would happen next. To see if this attempt would lead to something different. The distance between Anne and the tree grew smaller, and smaller, and smaller, until finally, the moment of impact came.

The tree didn't move.

The tree was split in half.

A sound not unlike the crack of thunder filled the forest. Chunks of bark and wood flew everywhere. Splinters burst into the air and scattered into the wind. The two split pieces of the tree were knocked from where it once was, not quite off of the road, but it still made enough of a gap that a snail could pass through. And, standing inside that gap, was Anne. She heaved heavy breaths, letting loose low hisses in between. She clutched her right shoulder, the sleeve of her shirt gaining a few more rips from the impact. Her face was twisted into a wince of pain, her form slightly hunched over. But, otherwise, she was completely fine. She even still had it in her to offer Hop Pop a grin.

"See? Brittle."

Hop Pop was still at a loss for words, but he did his best to reply. "Y-you... you just..."

"Yeah." Nonchalantly, Anne glanced at the two halves of the tree. That she snapped in half. "S'not what I had in mind, but I guess it did the trick."

As if nothing extraordinary had just happened, Anne strolled back towards Bessie. Hop Pop couldn't keep himself from flinching when Anne climbed onto the seat next to him. If Anne noticed it, then she didn't show it.

"Alright, move over," she said.

It took a few seconds for Hop Pop to process her words. "Wh- move?"

"Your back's hurting again, right? You should relax, Hop Pop, take a load off," Anne continued. The smile on her lips looked so genuine, and so jarring after the display of strength that Hop Pop had just witnessed. "I'll handle everything; the driving, the delivery, the whole shebang. And I won't mess it up, promise."

Hop Pop had to admit, a lie down would be heaven right now. He gingerly accepted Anne's hand and allowed her to guide him to the back seat of Bessie. Slowly, she helped him ease himself down onto the cushion, careful not to upset his back even more. Once Anne was satisfied with fussing over Hop Pop's position - honestly, he hurt his back, he's not dying - she returned to the driver's seat, took hold of Bessie's reins, and urged the snail forward. As they moved past the scene of Anne's handiwork, Hop Pop found himself staring at the back of the human girl he'd taken in, at the creature that he knew next to nothing about. Was this normal for humans? Were all humans capable of such feats of strength? Was that why Anne acted so casual after?

Truly, the wonders of the human world seemed endless.

In case you can't tell, superheroes are my jam.

And wow, this fic got way more attention than I thought it would ever have. Thanks a ton for that, y'all. It's been a blast to see that so many of you are onboard with this idea. Hopefully, now that you've seen a glimpse of how superpowered Anne is going to be, you guys would still be onboard with it.

One more to go. See you until then.