To Victoria Masters: Thank you so much for your review! It was really encouraging for me. I hope you like this chapter just as much:)

To Victoria Wolf: Haha...I know, you never neglect me. Thankx;)

Hey dudes. Here'sanother chapter for ya! Hope you all enjoy.


On the other side of the street, Talon and Rioko began battling as well. Talon seemed to have the upper hand though; seeing that she could fly and Rie could not. Not really knowing exactly what she was doing, Rie continued to blast bright fire balls at Talon in hopes she could clip her wings.

"Haha...missed me!" Talon mocked as a blast of fire flew past her; lighting up the night sky.

"You really shouldn't be so cocky, fly-girl." Rie said in response.

"Cocky? What do you mean? You're the one who can't aim!"

Rioko grew angry to hear Talon's insults and began to feel a slow growing pain inside her. "We'll see about tha..." Rie paused and gasped at a sudden sharp pain in her back. She tried to fight it, but the pain kept growing and growing until it filled her entire body. "AHH!!" as the pain continued to grow, Rie to drop to her knees and cried out.

"Rioko!" Static and Ebon postponed their fight at hearing her scream. "What's wrong?" Static cried as he rushed to Rie's side.

"What did you do Talon?" Ebon yelled.

"Nothing...I didn't do anything." answered Talon; who was still hovering in the sky above Rie.

Static grew closer to Rioko and tried to put his hand on her shoulder. "Go...away Static..." Rie mumbled through the pain.

"What's happening to you?" he said still trying to draw closer to Rie

"I...I...don't know. Just...back away...please." finally, Static realized it was best and backed off, even though it was against he better judgment.

Static, Ebon, and Talon all watched painfully as Rie yelled in pain and tried to make it through whatever was happening to her. Suddenly, they began to notice a strange black smoke beginning to rise from Rie's skin. The smoke began to grow thicker and thicker until it grew into a black and red flame.

"What's happening to her?" Talon asked.

"I don't kno..." before Static could finish speaking, Rie let out a large cry that sent a chill up his spine.

An odd glow started to emit from Rie's back through the eerie flame. She struggled silently for a few more moments but cried again as another sharp pain plagued her already screaming body. The three onlookers covered their ears from the shattering sound of her pain. As Rie continued to scream, the glow grew brighter and brighter until it exploded into a huge beam of light and fire that engulfed the entire area. Static turned and ran behind a nearby dumpster to escape the blast while Ebon and Talon quickly disappeared from the scene before the blast diminished. The light of the explosion soon faded, leaving only the glow of a streetlight to light up the dark street.

Static stood from his hiding place and slowly began walking towards Rioko. He could barely believe the sight of her as he grew closer. The majority of her looked the same, but his attention was drawn straight towards two huge wings growing from between her shoulder blades. "Whoa..." he said as he made his way to his friend. "Umm…Rie? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay...not sure what just happened though."

"Uhh...well, you've got some wicked wing things growing from your back..."

Rie turned a bit and gasped slightly as she caught sight of the huge wings. "Well...that's different..." The wings looked as the wings of an angel, but broken and slashed throughout. Their color began as black, but as they grew away from Rie's body, they grew lighter and lighter until they reached a light off-white at the very tip. "Hmm...defiantly wasn't expecting that." Rie said as she reached to touch the enormous wings.

"How'd you do that?"

"I really don't know. The last thing I remember thinking was 'I wish I could fly so I could knock fly-girl out of the sky', and then the pain started."

"Well, can you fly?"

Rie shrugged her shoulders and closed her eyes as if to concentrate on learning how to fly. After a few moments of silence, the wings slowly began to move back and forth and soon, Rioko found herself hovering about two feet off the ground. "Whoa...check me out!"

Static stepped back a few steps as Rie began to flap her wings harder and faster until she was soaring above him with the greatest of ease. He watched her fly around for a minute or so and soon found her back at his side on the street. "That is defiantly cool." Rie laughed.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Just how many powers do you have anyway? I mean first there's fire, then shapeshifting, and now this? You got anything else up your sleeve?"

"Actually, I hope not. All these powers are startin' to screw with my head. It's getting hard to tell which feeling is me and which ones are these powers." the smile on Rie's face slowly vanished as she spoke. "Ever since I woke up this morning, my brain feels like a computer about ready to overload."

"Ouch. Anything you wanna talk about?" Static asked gently.

"You know, even though I've seen you just about everyday for the last like six months, I've really only known you for a few hours. Yet..." she paused for a moment as her and Static began walking down the street; getting away from the decimated bank before the police showed up.

"Yet what?" asked Static.

"Yet...I feel like I've known you all my life. Why have you been so nice to me? I mean, you probably have a great life and friends on your side of town. Why would you bother with a worthless kid like me from Downy?"

Static hesitated to answer as he tried to find the right words to use. "First of all, I know you're not worthless, especially not now. And secondly, I guess I just wanted to...that's all."

"Oh...well thanks. It's nice to have someone to talk to again." There was a slightly uneasy silence as the two walked until Rioko finally decided to break it. "Anyway, I wonder if I can make these wings like go away or something or if I'm just stuck with them now."

"I don't know...hey, maybe if you try focusing again like you did before..."

"Yeah...maybe." Rie stopped from walking and gestured for Static to back away since she wasn't sure what would exactly happen. "Kay, here goes..." she stood tall and focused hard on trying to draw back the wings. For at least a minute she stood; silent and motionless until she finally relaxed her now clenched fists and opened her eyes as she let out a deep sigh. "I guess not. Too bad...work's going to be very awkward now." Static laughed slightly, but soon realized the seriousness of Rie's situation as he looked at the sight of her huge wings. "What am I gonna do Virg? I mean, it's not like I can just show up for work tomorrow like nothing happened. And somehow I highly doubt anybody's gonna want a metahuman freak working for them."

"Well...there's still the superhero idea." Static said; trying to be optimistic. "Maybe if you show the city that you're a good bang baby...I'm sure everyone would love for you to work for them if they knew that."

Rie smiled and laughed to herself, "Well, I guess I really don't have much of a choice now, do I?"

"Great! So that's a yes?"

"Yeah Virg...that's a yes." Rie laughed again as Static jumped about in triumph.

"Hmm...now all you need is a name."

"A name? Why do I need that? It's not like I have a secret identity or anything..."

"All heroes need a name! Let's see...something that fits your powers...umm..." Static thought for at least two minutes before he got an idea. "Oh, I got one! What about, Broken Angel?"

"Broken Angel, huh? Well...its sounds just as good as any name to me...yeah...I like it." Rie smiled to think of what the future could hold for her as a hero instead of the nobody as she had been for so many years.


So, what'd you think??