Wow, quick update, I know. Well, to be honest, I've been feeling under the weather these days and the only thing I could do was stay in bed writing hahaha That and suffer every second I was awake. So there's that. Enjoy this chapter, but don't expect such fast updates anymore. This is a strangeness, an error in the matrix.

Special thanks to those who leave their reviews.

Epic Gusher: Yup, that tends to be the case with most people haha

DMan51: I would assume the chapter is the best script you can have lol Thank you!

STR2D3PO: The original Ace Savvy is a whole institution in this universe. He's the quintessential hero, the role model for everyone that wishes to be heroic in life. We won't get a story about him, but his influence will forever be present.

Imagaco: Lori's idea would be to get an insurance company to sponsor her at Royal Woods, not necessarily to move into Great Lakes City. But she doesn't know how this stuff works yet, she'll have to figure it out.

Jeff: Glad to hear you're finding this interesting so far! Thanks!

Burtonfan422: It's always great to be able to write more of Ace.

Chapter 4: La Cobra.

When I arrived at the crime scene it was clear that it hadn't been an accident or a fatality, but a crime in progress. The building in question was nothing more and nothing less than a bank, and the great column of black smoke escaping from the lower windows and the shattered entry door left no room for doubt. Someone had broken in. People rushed out, covering their faces with their arms and hands so as not to breathe the smoke in. Civilians on the street were doing their best to run away from the crime scene, and some police cars had parked outside the bank, rapidly putting up security fences.

I looked around me. A few helicopters were beginning to close in —probably news stations— but there was no sign of any metahumans, heroes or villains. The only morally correct option was to do what I could to help civilians. The first step was to get as much information as I could about the situation, so I approached the policemen with my aura glowing brightly.

"Officer!" I said with determination, trying to impose authority in my voice. "What's the situation?"

Two policemen turned to see me. One of them moved his hand until it was above the weapon he carried at his side.

"Are you a hero or villain?" He asked.

"My name is Nova, protector of Royal Woods," I said, not really expecting to be recognized.

"Royal Woods?" Said the other, frowning. "I thought they didn't have heroes in that town."

"Are you here to help, then?"

I nodded vigorously. "What's the situation?"

The officers exchanged a glance, and after a few seconds, they nodded softly before turning in my direction.

"A group of non-meta criminals forced their way in, incapacitated the security guards, and blew up the entrance to the bank's vaults. There are civilians and employees inside. They're not taking hostages yet from what we see, but soon the bank will be surrounded. I don't know how else they'd plan to escape."

"How many criminals?"

"At least five. Could be more."

"Okay, I'll take care of it," I said, turning back to the large building.

Leni and I had put down several attempted bank robberies. Criminals tended to follow the overall same recipe when it came to stealing from a bank. Their priority was always to fill their bags with gold bars or sacks of money, and since the explosion had just happened, most of the group would be busy with it. The others would stand guard to make sure no one entered, or to start rounding up the hostages if they had no other way of escaping than negotiating with the authorities. By taking advantage of my speed and using the element of surprise, I could incapacitate the sentinels so the civilians could escape safely, leaving only those in the vault to be apprehended.

With my plan already decided, I took a deep breath, let the energy flood my body, and quickly launched myself towards the entrance of the bank, trying to fly under the smoke that agglutinated in the ceiling of the atrium.

Upon entering, I immediately noticed several civilians approaching at full speed.

"Where are the criminals?" I asked.

"The back!" A man answered, pointing behind them.

Without wasting a second, I made my way through the room, around columns and the elevators/stairs core, past the ATMs, and into the customer service area, with desks, counters, and rounds of seatings.

On some occasions, the criminals managed to camouflage themselves, blending in with the civilians they have kidnapped and making the hero's job much more complicated and stressful than necessary. On other occasions, like that one, they made our work much easier by being the only ones standing with balaclavas on their heads and guns in hand, pointing at a group of thirty people kneeling against a wall.

For a moment, I wondered what Ace Savvy would have done in such a scenario. He would probably announce his presence to calm the civilians down and make a joke to let the criminals know that he held no doubt that he would win and save the day.

Unfortunately, I wasn't Ace Savvy, and I wasn't as good at jokes as he was. And I wasn't confident enough in my abilities either, so I decided to take the quickest and easiest way.

I catapulted at full speed, launching a kick into the air that connected squarely with the first of the three criminals. The impact was such that I sent him straight into a wall, knocking him unconscious on the spot. The other two delinquents turned around, startled by my sudden appearance.

I raised my right hand and fired a bolt of energy at the farthest, who would have more time and space to try to shoot me. The bluish energy hit him square in the chest and lifted him at least three feet off the ground, pushing him to the far end of the room. He may or may not have been unconscious by that point, but he definitely wouldn't be in any condition to continue fighting.

"What the hell?!" The last one standing yelled, raising his gun to try and shoot me.

"Never move in a straight line."

Ace Savvy's old advice echoed in my mind, and using my reserves of energy to augment my physical capabilities, I jumped in quick zigzags, closing the distance between us. He tried to shoot, but by the time he did I was off to the side, and I managed to kick him upwards on the hand. His shot crashed into the ceiling without hurting anyone. With no way to avoid my attack, he had no choice but to watch helplessly as I punched him in the pit of his stomach, knocking the air out of him and leaving him sprawled on the floor. I grabbed his gun and yanked it apart.

I turned to see the citizens, who were looking at me with great confusion and reverence.

"Where are the others?" I asked them.

Some pointed in the direction of a corridor at the end of the room.

"Alright. Get out that way, the police are setting up a perimeter. They're probably calling for ambulances if any of you are hurt."

"T-Thank you!" Said a lady, as everyone jumped to their feet and ran away as fast as their legs would carry them.

With the civilians safe, the only thing left to do was take care of those raiding the bank's safe. I flew towards the corridor that had been pointed out to me, and it was as simple as following the smoke trail. Apparently, the room where the safe door had been detonated was littered with papers, and they were the ones fueling the fire. Did banks not know about the benefits of digitizing their files?

I reached the entrance to the safe and found the two thieves moving at full speed to fill their suitcases with as many stacks of money as they could. I raised both fists aiming at the two delinquents.

"Freeze!" I suddenly ordered. "You're under arrest!"

The two thugs flinched, turning to look at me with shock and fear in their eyes. One of them dropped the suitcase he was carrying and tried to grab his gun. Without giving him time to react, I fired a bolt of energy that hit him in the chest. I let the energy continue to flow for a second, pushing him toward the metal wall at the back of the chamber. When I stopped my attack, he was already unconscious, and it'd hurt for him the next day. It'd probably leave a mark too.

"I said don't move," I repeated, glancing defiantly at the remaining malefactor, clenching the fist that was aimed at him more energetically.

The man raised both hands in the air, totally turning himself in.

"Don't hurt me, please!" He begged.

"If you have a gun, put it down gently."

In almost slow motion, he proceeded to take a gun from his belt and drop it on the ground, kicking it at me.

"Nice. See how everything goes well when you guys pay attention?" I said, thinking about how I was going to tie them up so the police could deal with them.

"We didn't think a hero would come here," he admitted. "I don't even recognize you."

"My name is Nova."

"Nova… Look, I don't want any trouble. I know I can't beat you. But my boss is about to arrive, and neither you nor I want him not to get what he came for."

"And who's your boss?"

The thief blinked a few times and tilted his head to the side. "Uh…" he said, pointing to his jacket.

I'd noticed that all the thieves seemed to wear the same clothes, but I'd just assumed that they'd bought generic clothing at the cheapest price. Now that I was forced to pay attention to him, I noticed that he was wearing what appeared to be a patch just above his left pectoral.

A… scale?

"Wait a minute... you're not from around here, are you?" He asked, sounding nervous.

"Why would that even matter to you?"

His eyes widened in alarm. "Oh, no, no, no! Trust me, you don't know who you're messing with!" He told me, taking a step forward but stopping when I increased the intensity of the aura around my fist. "You can't beat him! He's part of the Reptile Triumvirate!"

"The what?"

"The strongest villains in Great Lakes City! They run the crime syndicate! Not even the heroes dare to face them! He'll be here any minute now, if you're still here—!"

SsSsZzSSsSzZzZsSsZzSsSzZ…

The hair on my neck stood up, and my survival instincts kicked in at an almost primitive level. Without letting my mind interpret what was happening, my body launched a retreat to the other side of the chamber, and I pointed both arms towards the entrance. The high-pitched hissing grew louder, and something inside me twisted in fear as if I felt death itself approaching from beyond.

Footsteps neared closer, and I heard the thief next to me moaning in fear, trembling. What was happening? And then, the figure walked through the shattered door of the bank safe deposit box, and I could take a clear view of him.

The first thing I saw was his eyes. Two large, round, yellow spheres with vertical, obsidian-black pupils. They were part of a mask, of course, but they looked so real I was mesmerized by them. He was a young man, perhaps in his early twenties, nearly six feet tall, with a figure worthy of Greek sculpture. His complexion, barely visible on his chin and neck, was dark. The rest of his body was covered in a skin-tight suit that left no muscle to the imagination. From the neck down, the suit seemed to be made of emerald scales that shimmered in the flashes of fire behind it. It came with purple gloves and boots, and a necklace of fangs. And trailing behind him, a tail that seemed to slither in a waving motion from side to side.

The mask, of course, was what stood out the most, not only with those intimidating eyes but with how it opened like the crown of a king cobra, making it appear that his head was much larger than normal.

I didn't know who this person was, but there was something in the look in his eyes and the horrible hiss that escaped his lips that kept me on my toes. As if my body recognized him as a threat.

The villain —I mean, there was no way that guy was a hero—looked around the room. He looked at the passed-out criminal, the half-full bags, the henchman standing up, and finally at me.

"Well, well, well," he said, and his voice was as scratchy as sandpaper and cold as a midnight breeze. "I wasn't expecting visitors."

"Sir," said the thief, approaching him and completely forgetting about me. "I beg your pardon; she interrupted us. Give me a minute and I can finish gathering up the—"

SLASH!

At first, I couldn't understand what had happened. I heard the sound of air being passed through by a quick movement, and my brain insisted that there was something different. Then I heard a soft trickle and finally realized that the villain had his arm outstretched, and the dripping sound came from the blood that fell from the fresh and deep wound on his subordinate's neck.

I saw, perplexed, the precise moment the thug realized what had happened. His whole body began to tremble and he brought both hands to his neck, trying in vain to stop the blood from pouring out. His knees gave way, and he immediately fell to the ground, the most horrible bubbling moans escaping from his throat.

My blood ran cold, and I immediately understood that I couldn't let my guard down for a single instant.

"I liked Madison," the snake-man commented, carefully examining the blood on the fang-shaped blade that had appeared on the back of his hand. "He was a good henchman, very diligent. I don't like that you forced me to fire him."

I clenched my fists and let my aura surround my body to try and intimidate him.

"Are you out of your mind? You killed him for absolutely no reason! He was helpless, still willing to do your dirty work!"

"No reason? Girl, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I can't afford to have henchmen who can't even complete a simple bank robbery. The meta world knows only one hierarchy: power."

"Wow, how original," I said, trying to sound arrogant even if my whole body was sweating. "A villain that talks about power. Why don't you also tell me about your sad backstory that pushed you down this path?"

He threw his head back and started laughing, showing me his sharp fangs. "Oh, I like you, girl. It's been a while since I faced a hero that tried to hide how terrified they were. What's your name?"

"My name is Nova. Tell it to the cops when they lock you up."

"Nova. A good name for a hero. Since you haven't given up already, I presume you don't know who I am."

He brought his feet together and spread his arms, leaning slightly forward in a half bow.

"My name is La Cobra. Tell it to San Pedro when he opens the gates for you."

At some point in life, I'd seen videos of snake tamers. Brave people that used sticks or canes to try to catch them. And many times, the snakes weren't in the mood to let themselves be captured. They would hiss or shake their rattles, and when all else failed and the tamer didn't seem intimidated by them, they would use every muscle in their body to propel themselves forward with incredible speed to try to sink their fangs into their opponent's flesh.

That's how fast La Cobra moved. In an instant, almost the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance between us until adrenaline was the only thing that allowed me to see the extended arm with that fang-blade that aimed at my heart. Those yellow eyes were fixed on me, paralyzing me and leaving me at their total mercy. All was lost. My body knew: my time had come.

"Lori!"

Leni's voice echoed in some remote corner of my mind, giving me back control over my body. What was I thinking? I couldn't die. Royal Woods needed me, my sister needed me. I was in that city to fulfill a clear mission, I couldn't let any villain defeat me.

I still had my arms outstretched, so without even thinking, I propelled myself backward, avoiding by mere inches the blade that intended to bury itself in my torso. I backed away from him until my back hit the back wall of the room.

"Impressive," La Cobra said with a smile. "You may be more powerful than I thought. Oh Nova, will you be the hero that reminds me what it feels like to be challenged?"

I didn't answer him, instead, I charged my fists with my aura and began punching the air, each blow sending a small ball of energy in his direction. La Cobra continued to move with inexplicable grace and agility, leaping from the ground to the walls, closing in faster than I felt comfortable allowing. So, as soon as he got close enough to take away the necessary reaction time, I waited for my opportunity.

At the precise moment he jumped towards me, taking both feet off the ground, I brought my outstretched palms together and launched a column of energy at him. With nowhere to run, he could only open his eyes and take my attack squarely in the chest. I kept up the energy flow to push him out of the security chamber. He was obviously a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, and I specialized in ranged combat or brute force strikes. In a technique battle, I would always lose.

I flew out of the vault, still keeping my attack pressed on him. La Cobra continued to roll on the ground until it managed to get a foot on. He got to his knees, shielding himself with his forearms from my relentless assault. I increased the intensity, dragging him slowly with his boots screeching on the ground. He grunted, then jumped to the side. My attack bounced off his shoulder, but he quickly recovered and came running towards my position. I rose into the air.

La Cobra jumped, but I increased the intensity of my aura and flew beyond his reach. I started to prepare a new attack with my fists, but he drew his knees to his chest and spun forward. Thus, it managed to wipe its long tail until it hit me full in the face, hurtling me to the ground.

I hit the tiles and bounced a few inches, feeling the sharp pain in my bones. The distant memory of the Lizard Man in the Royal Woods flashed through my mind. If I had a nickel for every time a supervillain with reptilian-based powers surprised me with a tail attack when I thought I was safe, I'd have two nickels.

Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice.

I knew I couldn't afford to lie on the ground complaining about how much my body ached, so I quickly pushed myself to my feet. La Cobra was also getting up, his eyes fixed on me with a big smile.

"Yes! Yes!" He roared, opening his arms. "I missed this! The adrenaline of a good battle! Show me your true power, Nova! Don't hold back!"

He produced a long fang-shaped blade on the back of each hand and lunged at me. I fired a few quick bursts of energy, but La Cobra managed to dodge them, his body slithering through the air, moving like a contortionist, and closing in on me. I tried to back away, but once again his tail caught me off guard as it whipped and wrapped around my ankle, preventing me from moving away.

Now having myself against the proverbial ropes, I infused my body with my energy to improve my speed and strength and prepared myself for an exchange of blows. La Cobra threw a right jab at me, proving the old saying of the hand moving faster than sight. I dropped back, narrowly avoiding the blow. I pushed back with my right hand to unleash a bolt of energy that brought me back to my feet, and using the momentum I threw a punch myself surrounded by ethereal blue flames.

I clearly wasn't a martial arts expert like Spade had been, or even like the new Ace Savvy was, but I was convinced that my punch should have hit any run-of-the-mill villain. No one expected the old trick of dropping and then propelling yourself back, and my fist had moved faster than an ordinary person could. And yet, La Cobra had no problem deflecting my blow with a flick of his wrist, brushing past me and kneeing me in the stomach.

I spit out all the air I had in my lungs, but I couldn't afford to give him any chance to deliver the killing blow. I let the energy shoot out of my feet, and even with his tail wrapped around my ankle, I managed to do a full somersault, hitting him in the chest with both feet.

I took a deep breath and lunged at him once more, both fists outstretched. La Cobra, immediately recovering from my earlier attack, tried to do what I'd attempted, ducking to dodge and counter from below. But I changed the direction of my thrust just in time to do a ninety-degree turn, slide to the ground, and then kick my leg out in a semicircle, catching him by the legs and knocking him down. Once I had him on the ground, I went back up and fired a ferocious blast of energy. He rolled to the side, avoiding the destructive attack that shattered the floor tiles.

"That's it! More! Fight more! Show me your strength!" He yelled, crouching down before springing out with a flying kick at me.

It was an extremely frontal and obvious attack, so I grabbed him by the leg, twisting my body and preparing to launch him towards the far wall. However, as soon as I got a tight grip on him, he spun his entire body around, using my hold as leverage to kick me in the head, forcing me to release him. Then he lunged forward with the fang-shaped blade determined to impale me in the middle of the chest.

Reacting purely thanks to my survival instinct, I managed to catch said fang with my hand, stopping it before it managed to penetrate my body. Without giving me a break, he made the same attempt with his other hand, and I stopped him too.

Thus began a dangerous and deadly game of tug-of-war that had me fighting for my life, trying to stop his onslaught. He was taller and stronger than me, and soon his push began to make me slide across the floor, backing up until my heels hit a wall.

"Is this all you have?" He mocked me, increasing his force and bringing the tip of his 'fangs' closer to my chest. "I know you have a trick up your sleeve. Show me your true power!"

The only ace up my sleeve was my Supernova attack… but I wasn't sure I could do it. I'd expended too much energy on my journey, and felt too tired to make the move.

Still, I didn't have many options left. It was time to end the battle as soon as possible. I focused my energy, letting my aura grow and increase in intensity, lighting my eyes and bathing the wall behind me in a bluish reflection. I looked up, and upon meeting those yellow orbs, I was not afraid.

I stopped backing away, and instead took a step forward, pushing La Cobra, who lost his smile as he began to struggle to resist my advance. Another step. The muscles in La Cobra's arm struggled against the confinements of his suit, but this time he wasn't gaining ground against me.

I increased the strength of my grip on those fangs sticking out of the back of his gloves. Without them, La Cobra was nothing more than a fast and skilled martial artist.

I let out a scream, increasing the intensity of my aura to the limit, and proceeded to open my arms in a great arc, ripping the fangs from the snake and throwing the broken remains that I held in my hands to opposite sides of the room.

La Cobra backed away, letting out what sounded like a hiss of pain, and looked down at his gloves, now pitted where his weapons had been ripped out. My flaming aura dimmed, and a sudden sense of exhaustion washed over me, forcing me to stop and take several deep breaths.

"You… fucking piece of shit!" La Cobra shouted with total fury, marking the veins on his neck.

I tried to raise my arms to put myself on guard, but I had barely started to move my muscles when he lunged at me, hitting me in the pit of my stomach. My entire body hunched forward in pain, but he didn't even give me time to comprehend how he had managed to move so fast, and he landed a straight punch to my face, sending me in the opposite direction.

He grabbed me by the hair and hit me once, twice, three, four times in the ribs. I forced myself to blast in any direction, desperately seeking to get away from him so I could breathe and free myself from his onslaught. But I had barely raised myself a few inches when he grabbed me by the face and slammed me squarely to the ground.

"How dare you?!" He yelled at me, lifting his leg and giving me a hard stomp on my thigh that gave me a cramp.

All my brain could process was pain, exhaustion, and the suffocating feeling that I was surrounded, cornered, as the doomed prey of a boa constrictor. Almost instinctively I raised an arm and started to release a blast of energy, but La Cobra slapped my fist away, then grabbed me by the shoulders and lunged at me, slamming my head into his snake mask.

At first, I thought that thing was maybe made out of paper mache, but it hurt like a cinder block. My vision blurred, and the simple act of clenching my fists to prepare an attack was as impossible as lifting a building on my own. Still, pushed by nothing more and nothing less than my will to survive, I managed to lift my head defiantly and look at La Cobra, who was standing in front of me, his shoulders and chest moving in rhythm with his unbridled breathing.

"Damn you… You miserable wretch… I'm La Cobra! NO HERO CAN MATCH ME!"

He raised an arm to deliver what might as well have been my coup de grâce, but then…

"EEEEEK!"

What seemed to be the sound of a hoarse person trying to imitate a shoe screeching on the waxed boards of a basketball court was the only thing that heralded the sudden arrival of a figure that struck La Cobra from the side, sending him several yards away from me. The figure stopped next to me, and a warm feeling enveloped my body.

Which obviously had to do with the fact that I was lying just below two columns of fire that spread like wings from the back of what I could only wish was a hero.

He was a boy, perhaps my own age, with a brown complexion, wearing a tight blue suit with a texture that hinted at feathers. His gloves and boots were a canary yellow, with some red and orange guard detailing. He wore a gold belt, not unlike the one I assumed wrestlers wore after winning a match, and his face was framed by a mask in the shape of a red falcon with a gold beak.

As La Cobra break-danced to his feet, the newcomer gave me a worried look over his shoulder and under his fiery wings.

"Are you okay?" He asked me with genuine concern.

Definitely a hero, then. Embarrassed to have been found in that position, I ignored the searing pain on my face and rolled over to prop myself up on my forearms and try to get up.

"Don't worry about me," I said reluctantly, feeling my throat burning and my tongue picking up the metallic taste of my blood.

"Aaah, El Falcon de Fuego, " said La Cobra, getting up and smiling mischievously at the newly arrived hero.

Before the conversation could even begin, the sound of crackling thunder filled the bank, and an arc of electricity shot across the room until it hit the villain, sending him straight into a wall.

Accompanied —or perhaps carried— by a breeze, a girl no more than eleven or twelve years old landed next to El Falcon and me. She wore white boots and an aqua-green spandex suit. Her mask was similar to mine, covering the eyes and encircling the head, but leaving the hair free on top. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail. Above her eyebrows, she wore a small white patch in the shape of a cloud from which yellow rays issued, which were repeated below her eyes and through her torso.

"And La Tormenta!" She announced, trying to sound brave but failing to hide the fear she felt, as evidenced by her trembling legs.

"Tormenta, help her to her feet and get out of here," El Falcon said, stepping forward to stand between us and La Cobra, spreading his wings like a curtain to protect us. "I'll keep him distracted."

"It's La Cobra! You can't fight him!" The girl said, looking at him as if he were insane.

"Do it now!"

As soon as he was finished, he had to lunge forward and cross his arms to clash right against La Cobra, who had catapulted himself from his position, moving at superhuman speed. The two animal-themed metas locked eyes, their forearms pressed together in a duel of strength and endurance.

"You picked a bad day to cross my way, rookie," La Cobra hissed. "I'm bloodthirsty, and two young heroes come to join my prey buffet."

"The only prey I am is a bird of prey," El Falcón said.

I felt like some of my brain cells died hearing his joke. Apparently, the villain and I were in agreement for the first time all day.

"I'll kill you first. And then I'll kill the cloudy girl."

El Falcon roared, pushing La Cobra back, using his wings to rise and deliver a roundhouse kick that the reptile easily avoided.

I was so busy watching the fight that I jumped startled when the girl, La Tormenta, took me by the arm and tried to pull me to my feet.

"Come on, we have to go!" She told me.

Turning to see her and appreciating her face up close I noticed how young she was. Her cheeks were covered in freckles, and her teeth screamed for braces. I was too tired to argue, so I let her help me to my feet, wrapping my left arm around her shoulders.

"I just need to… catch my breath," I said, struggling not to fall.

"What were you thinking, picking a fight with La Cobra?" She scolded me, dragging me against my will toward the exit. "No one can beat La Cobra! And now my brother is fighting him! We have to leave right now!"

We heard a groan of pain and turned just in time to see El Falcon take no fewer than five clean punches to the chest and stomach, finishing off with La Cobra giving him a roundhouse kick that hit him square in the face, knocking him down.

"Falcon!" La Tormenta yelled.

La Cobra turned towards us and once again launched himself with unsuspected speed, moving across the room within moments.

Fortunately, La Tormenta seemed to have some battle experience. Before I could shove her out of the way to fight La Cobra on my own, she reached out a hand. Her eyes glowed and sparkled, and her hair stood up as gale-force winds blasted out of her, swirling against La Cobra and stopping him a few feet before he reached us, caught in a windy dome.

Just a few seconds passed when I noticed that La Tormenta was trembling and the winds were losing strength as fast as they'd appeared. Apparently, such a powerful attack demanded too much from the young girl. Fortunately for us, El Falcon rejoined the battle, and with his flaming wings leading the way, he managed to catch La Cobra from behind, pinning his arms and legs with his own, and flapping his wings to lift them both into the air. La Tormenta dropped her attack when he showed up and resumed her attempts to drag me away.

"Let me go, you fucking imbecile!" The villain shouted, taking advantage of the little mobility he had in his right arm to start dealing powerful and devastating elbows to El Falcon's face.

The young hero did not loosen. On the contrary, his grip on the villain seemed to become even more reckless and powerful, even as a nasty stream of blood began to flow from his nose and mouth.

"GO!" He yelled at us in-between blows.

"Falcon!"

"NOW!"

With incipient tears in her eyes, La Tormenta sped up, dragging me towards the exit and away from the fight. I couldn't take my eyes off that brave hero. La Cobra was a formidable opponent who had come close to finishing me off. Was I really going to let that boy risk his life for mine while I ran away like a coward?

"Aah! What is this?" La Tormenta said, startled, letting go of me for a moment when she saw my blue aura.

"Don't worry... it doesn't burn," I told her, knowing that most people were intimidated by the flaming appearance of my energy, which would only hurt when I wanted it to.

La Cobra continued to pummel El Falcon, who much to his credit, didn't let the obvious and immense pain he was suffering take the best of him. He was still focused on the battle. And seeing him fight gave me back the strength I needed. The flame burned within me once more, and that heat was reflected in the bright aura that surrounded me.

"Tormenta," I said, separating from the girl and gathering every little ounce of energy left in my body, "do you think you can use your powers to keep him floating in the air for two seconds?"

'But Falcon said—"

"Just two seconds," I cut her off, feeling my feet crack the tiles beneath them. "If you can keep him suspended for just two seconds, nothing bad will happen to El Falcon."

She hesitated for a moment, her gaze darting between her brother and me. After a brief consideration, she ended up nodding vigorously.

"Alright, cool," I said. "When he falls, keep him off the ground."

"When what?"

"FALCON, LET GO!" I yelled, ignoring the girl.

La Cobra and El Falcon turned to see me, the former continuing his relentless beating.

"W-what?"

"TRUST ME!" I begged him, bracing myself. "DROP HIM!"

I assumed that, in his ordeal of pain, that was what his body most needed to hear. Deciding to put his faith in me, a heroine he had never seen or met and had just saved from death, he released La Cobra, the two of them plummeting like dead weight.

"NOW!"

La Tormenta understood immediately, and once again the winds filled the room. Windows shattered, with glass flying into the bank. A fierce mini-tornado manifested itself in the center of the room, keeping La Cobra suspended in the air like a coin between two super magnets. I knew the girl would have trouble maintaining that power, so I didn't waste the window these two brave heroes had created for me.

I kicked the ground, shattering it and propelling myself at full speed in La Cobra's direction, both fists outstretched. Suspended in midair, he had no chance of preventing me from charging at him like a spear, crashing into him at the speed of a car chase.

I made sure my fists clenched tightly on his green suit and placing him in front of me like a bumper, I used all my power to propel myself through the air. And not just through the air. Through columns, walls, mezzanine, the exterior brick wall. Always with him ahead, shielding me from the rubble as we left it behind. Once out of the bank, I rose to the height of the third floor, and with a battle cry, I flipped over in a 180-degree turn, propelling myself at full speed toward the ground.

When we crashed, every bone and muscle in my body snapped, leaving me on the verge of collapse. I barely had the strength to stand up and not fall into the ten-foot-diameter crater we made in the middle of the road.

My aura fizzled out, with just tiny wisps of bluish smoke rising into the sky from my shoulders and back. I took a deep breath, and my ribs and lungs ached when I forced them to expand. All around me, police officers came up with guns drawn. Moments later, a battered Falcon and an extremely concerned Tormenta joined us.

Everyone was dumbfounded, not even knowing who this young woman was, and how it was possible she stood with one foot on the chest of an unconscious and defeated Cobra.