The palm tree limbs swung in the crisp, salt-soaked air that ruminated over the Santa Monica highway. They zoomed past like a snapping film stock that ran through a projector. The glistening waves of the ocean beyond the railing on the highway bend sloshed into white foam by the shoreline beyond the road.

Moxie dragged her thumb over the leather steering wheel on her old Dodge Charger. The immaculate windshield was occasionally smacked by a kicked-up pits of pebbles. Wearing a sleeveless red dress, she pounded on the clutch and shifted to the next gear as the car streaked down the seaside highway. Her car jumbled and jostled like a ferocious horse riding through the desert as the pistons churned hotter than the bright sun above.

Silence in the car, Moxie pulled into the parking lot of the small wooden shack. Just a little smaller than a normal convenience store, the building had worn and warped wood colored from the elements of nature. On the top of the front facade blinked a sign. It was a fish shop.

Stepping out in white high heels, Moxie clacked her way towards the front door. The early morning air was crisp and soaked with the scent of salt and soap that irradiated from the entrance into the fish shop. Moxie slid between the glass double doors and scanned the room. Noticing two people with their backs turned, she waved at them.

"Hanging alright, ladies?"

Shifting themselves around, Cletus and Raimundo were dressed in female garb.

"Oh, hello little one," Raimundo spoke in his ear-splitting high voice. "What can we do for you today?"

"Yes, it's just us," Cletus spoke in a nasally twang while stroking his braids. "Two women who work at the fish shop."

Moxie noticed that these two individuals were clearly men who were dressed up as women. However, she knew from the internet that California was just filled with characters like these. She also had to admit that Cletus had applied his mascara in impeccable fashion.

"I was wondering if y'all had some crawfish around here," Moxie slurped on her sweet tea. "I didn't see any in the freezers."

"Right," Cletus stroked one of his fake angel braids. "Let us go in the back and find some for you."

Cletus grabbed Raimundo and squeezed his shoulder. He let out a cry before Cletus pushed him into the backroom and disappeared from Moxie's sight.

The small, stuffy backroom was filled with crates of boxes and cardboard stacked on top of one another. The dense stench of dead salmon and rotting carp flicked at Cletus's sinuses. The flourescent light above cast a sickly mold green around the room that matched the hydraulic hiss that emanated from the deep freezers planted on the brick walls. A small window fan whirred in the open windowsill, while on the linoleum lime floor, the store owner sat bound by rope and muzzled with a white rag.

"That's one of them kids," Raimundo said. "She was even there that night. She shot him!"

"I know that, ese," Cletus mocked Raimundo and pulled at his ear. "But we only supposed to be conducting surveillance. That's what our new boss said."

"But she's right there," Raimundo said. "We gotta run up on her. Nine, ten in her. Lead just popping everywhere."

"Stupid," Cletus shouted. "Then we going to jail."

"We going to jail anyway if he snitches on us," Raimundo nodded down at the store owner. When they both glared at him, he shook and raised his muffled voice.

"He not snitching on nothing," Cletus said. He patted Raimundo on the shoulder. "Surveillance time."

"Surveillance," Raimundo said. "Also, what does that mean? Surveillance?"

What made things more awkward for Moxie was that she could still see the two arguing through the open doorway to the back. Not being able to hear, she shrugged it off as two employees arguing with each other. She ignored them and gazed upon the rest of the room. However, when she swatted her gaze towards her right, she noticed a tank of crayfish swimming about in the tank next to the cash register.

"Sorry, honey. I don't think we have any of that fish for you," Cletus honked.

As the two ladies waddled out of the backroom, Moxie tapped on the thick glass. "I actually think there's some in here!"

"Will you look at that," Raimundo flashed his greying teeth with silver grills over the bottom. He put his hands on his hips and gyrated them in excitement. "That right there is some crawfish!"

"Can you get me about ten pounds of it," Moxie said. "I have a big group to feed tonight!"

Raimundo and Cletus stared right at each other. Neither had any expertise in selling fish.

"Of..of course, honey," Raimundo said. "Cletu-I mean, Cletitica," he turned to his partner. "Why don't you get some crawfish for this girl here?"

"But Ray...Ray," Cletus dabbed at his painted green nails. "I just had my nails did."

"But I can't do it because," Raimundo stared at the giant, rust-tinted crusteaceon in the tank. One of them twitched it's antennas and chopped its pincers. "Well...because of my water allergy."

"Water allergy?" Moxie raised an eyebrow.

"I...I'm so embarrassed by this," Raimundo pretended to wipe away a tear from his spider-legs that he called eyelashes. "But I'm allergic to water, so I can't be dumping my hand into any tanks."

"But my nails," Cletus whined. "I have a date tonight, and in my culture, you have to do your nails ten hours beforehand or you get cursed."

"But my water allergy will literally kill me," Raimundo shot back. "If water hit me, I dissolve into a puddle and die."

"Yeah, but if this date don't work out, I'll die alone," Cletus said. "In my culture, you die alone if your single by the time you turn thirty."

"But you not thirty," Raimundo shot back at Cletus like a fireball. "Look at those wrinkles on your forehead."

Cletus gasped and slapped his hand on his crinkled brow. "I

Raimundo smacked Cletus on the side. "Cursed? Boy, I mean, girl you're culture don't have any of that."

Cletus grabbed Raimundo by his fake breasts and squuezed on the balloons underneath his shirt. He pushed the taller latino backwards into the counter. "You better take that back. My culture is none of your business."

Raimundo roared and rushed right at Cletus. They grabbed each other by the throat and screamed while pushing back and forth like a tug-of-war with their necks. Cletus leaned to his side and smashed Raimundo's head into the counter. With a twitch of his shoulder, Raimundo reared back up and pushed Cletus onto his back. They toppled over and slammed onto the concrete ground wet with old tank water and dead worm bait. Moxie observed the scene of the two fighting women disappearing under the top of the counter.

Moxie, deciding this was a domestic issue between old friends or enemies, decided to not interfere. However, she saw the open top of the tank and decided to reach in herself. Moxie pulled back on the red sleeves of her dress and plunged her short fingers into the cold water. Like a baby reaching into a cookie jar, she drowned her arm to shoulder height and wafted through the aquarium. When she felt the thick, plastic ridges of the crayfish, she lifted up her arm. The water sloshed about and spilled over the edges.

When a few drips hit the back of Cletus's blonde weave as he was smacking Raimundo, he stopped and tightened his eyelids.

They both rose back up to their feet, the brunette braids on Raimundo's head tilted to the side like an ill-fitting hat. Both of their shirts were torn, and one of the balloons on Cletus's chest was deflated.

"Oh shit!" Raimundo leaped back at the sight of Moxie. "Girl, what are you doing?"

In her hands, she held four snapping crayfish dripping in water. Small drops splattered on the floor when Moxie waved the fish about with the ease of holding two cans of beer. "It's alright. I've been handling things like this since I was old enough to simmer pork brine. This is nine dollars a pound, right?"

Moxie cradled the crayfish to her chest, the pincers still trying to grab at her face. She ignored them and reached into her purse. Seeing a fifty dollar bill, she slid it on the indigo counter.

"Thanks bunches," Moxie said. "Keep the change."

Raimundo cringed at the sight of the girl carrying out live crayfish. Cletus, his weave sliding off onto the floor, waved at Moxie's back when she exited through the double doors.

"She didn't even put them in a bag, dawg," Raimundo shouted. "That girl is nuts!"

"Nuts enough to shoot our boss," Cletus said. "Let's go."

Still in their disguises, Cletus and Raimundo hustled to the backroom. They grabbed their clothes strewn about on the floor and headed for the back door. Before they exited, Cletus turned to the tied up store owner who was still struggling in his ropes. He grabbed the rag in his mouth and snapped it out of him.

"You never saw us here," Cletus said. "Or we telling everyone you selling imitation crab in this bitch."

"No, please," The store owner asked. "I won't say a word!"

Cletus placed the rag back in the guy's mouth and left him there.

Outside of the grocery store, Moxie carried a plastic bag of cayenne pepper and minced garlic. The bag swung in crinkled in her hand as she adjusted the leather strap of her purse that dug into her shoulder. She slid through the muggy air of the hot summer Sunday, cicadas buzzing about in the dried shrubbery that lined the sidewalk.

The blinding sun microwaved Moxie's long ebony locks while she strolled down the sidewalk. A few beads of sweat diffused from her hot brow, the outline of her angular jaw tightening in the heat. Even the asphalt on the road seemed to evaporate into mirages looking down the long highway. Fortunately for her, the harsh swoosh of the speeding cars in the intersection blew a short breeze that swam over her red dress.

Moxie placed herself next to the stoplight at the intersection. Her car was parked on the curb at the other side of the road. The other shops and buildings on the busy crossing in Los Angeles teemed with shoppers and day trippers. Many of them seemed posh; one young lady next to her had thick-rimmed designer sunglasses and a bluetooth headset she barked orders into. Behind her, two joggers hopped in place waiting for the light to turn in their favor. Both wore matching white tank tops and pallid white running shoes. Tight rap music blared out from the headphones one of them wore, and Moxie could make out the muffled sounds of a rapper that sounded like he smoked ten packs a day.

Hearing hard footsteps, Moxie peered up at a man with a brown, fuzzy hoodie over his head. In a frumpy yellow jacket and matching baggy pants, she could only see thick lenses of the banana-tinted aviator glasses over the man's eyes. She imagined that the man would be hot, and she wished she could offer him a few ice cubes to rub on his skin.

The cars squealed to a stop just behind the crosswalk. When the sign flashed the right message across the street, the pedestrians rushed onto the road. The joggers bounded away, while the busybody woman stared down at her phone as she trusted traffic to do no harm. The taller man pulled at the collar of his yellow jacket with the brown fringe and stared straight ahead. Noticing the trance he was in, Moxie slothed behind him.

As she sauntered over the crosswalk, a quiet tremble shook her feet.

She heard the car before she could notice it. The rumble vibrating down the road. The whoosh of the rubber smattering the pavement. The crescendo of the battering engine.

Moxie snapped her gaze to the right and saw the large car chugging right at the man in front of her.

"Mister! Look out," Moxie shouted.

She pushed off her legs and darted for the man in the jacket. Outstretching her arms, she paid no heed to her own safety as she approached the man's back.

Her hands were inches away from pushing the man away. Then, she gasped as a rush of air gusted at her face.

Before her were a pair of wings that bursted out of two slits in the jacket. Cardinal feathers stretched themselves out and waved themselves downward. Pebbles of gravel danced about and rolled away as the man levitated himself with the power of the thrust. Moxie shielded her eyes from the wind as the man flew upward out of harms way.

Then, Moxie faced the car heading right towards her. In trying to save the man, she got right into the path of the vehicle that ran the red light.

Before Moxie could brace for any impact, a strong pair of arms lifted her and sunk the girl into his chest. The car sailed below her as Moxie's feet danced in mid-air.

"Didn't your mom teach you to look both ways?" The man said in a deep, teasing tone.

Moxie stared right into the wheat eyes that held dark marks underneath them reminiscent of a bird. Judging by the wind-whipped ashen blonde hair of the man, Moxie recognized the man right away.

"Oh, hey," Moxie pointed two fingers at Hawks. "You're that flying guy from Japan."

Keigo Takami! A.K.A. Hawks! His quirk: Fierce Wings. He can manipulate the feathers coming out of his back with his mind!

"You have to be more specific," Hawks said. "Lotsa flying guys in Japan today."

With the truck that ran the red light disappearing around the corner, Hawks lowered himself and Moxie back onto the ground. Moxie kicked at the crushed plastic bag of cayenne pepper now splattered and flattened into the hot road. However, her disappointment was ended with the fact that this Pro-Hero had just saved her.

"You're the one people talk about all the time," Moxie pulled back on a strand of her hair. "Uh...Falcon. No, it was Eagle. Something like that."

"Eagle. I actually like that one," Hawks grumbled to himself. He balled his hands in his pockets. "You want an autograph or something? You can sell it online for a good price."

"No worries about that," Moxie grinned. "I think just talking to you is good enough."

A honk from a car horn.

"Hey," A driver on a small electric scooter shouted before them. "The light's green, you bastards."

Hawks had to turn and gaze down at Moxie. That was not a reaction he expected, and he raised an eyebrow as if to challenge her to continue. She returned it with her smile, and her finger twiddled in her hair harder.

"So, what are you doing in California?" Moxie asked.

"Vacation."

"You seem tired."

"That's a fantastic thing to say to someone," Hawks said.

"Aren't you hot in that?" Moxie asked. "I could fry an egg on the sidewalk today."

"It's actually cold in Japan," Hawks scratched at the scruff on his chin. "Part of my quirk is that I can absorb the temperature it is outside and keep it stored in my body."

"So you're like a human refrigerator," Moxie said. "Or an oven."

"I was kidding."

Stepping onto the curb, Hawks and Moxie turned to the left. Her car was a block down the street with the entry path to the hospital. However, something did not sit well with how Hawks was acting around her. Not only was he much more tired and lackadaisical than she expected, but he kept his eyes locked down at his feet. Usually, that meant that something was wrong with a person or they had bad balance.

"Are you heading to the hospital here," Moxie pointed at the large building next to them.

"I'd rather not say," Hawks said.

"Then, I can give you a lift somewhere," Moxie jabbed a thumb at the Charger cooking on the curb. "I don't know if you've been around here, but traffic can be rough if you don't know how to wrangle it. Oh, but you have wings, don't you?" She smacked her forehead. "Aw, that was dumb of me. You don't even need a car."

"I appreciate the thought," Hawks said. He began to turn and bumble up the pathway.

"I can wait a sec, too," Moxie said. "I got a lot of time."

"Okay, I know who you are" Hawk whipped around and stepped up to Moxie. At just an arm's length away, he crossed his arms and looked down at Moxie over the bridge of his nose. "You're one of those students from that new school. United whatever, right?"

"You heard of USAHS?"

"I heard that Deku and Bakugo are working there," Hawks tightened the grip on his arms. "I also know Shoto's kid is there and a whole bunch of other things. But what I don't know is why you're here caring so much about why I'm going into this hospital."

"I reckon that people don't normally go to hospitals for good reasons," Moxie said.

Hawks sighed.

"Have a good day, lady. And look both ways before crossing the street."

As he tried to leave, Moxie grabbed onto his thin arm. "But you saved me! I should repay you with something!"

Hawks grumbled to himself and chopped away Moxie's hand. "This one is free."

Hawks headed for the entrance of the hospital. Moxie tilted her head at the oddity of the situation. She remembered from interviews on the news that Hawks was a much more charismatic individual. She hated that he had some bad news in his life that made him go this hospital. It was odd that so many Pro-Heroes, especially those from Japan, would be gallivanting around southern California at the beginning of the school year.

Peering down at her empty hand, she realized that she still had no cayenne pepper the food she was preparing.

Following the apricot Dodge Charger, Cletus and Raimundo found themselves parked in front of a Church. Sticking themselves in the rose bushes across the street, they poked their heads out of the top of the foliage. This time, Raimundo held the binoculars and focused them on the front entrance. Cletus jotted down the schedule that Moxie ran through her Sunday.

As the rest of the congregation let out, they focused again on Moxie who was stepping down the marble staircase of the church. The light breeze tussled her hair, but she seemed calm while snaking through the crowd after the Mass.

"Yo," Raimundo nudged Cletus with an elbow. "Some red-hair guy is next to her."

Skipping off the steps, Moxie balanced herself with Lloyd following in her steps. Donning a black blazer with a red button down that matched the color of his hair, he straightened his lemon tie next to her.

"I gotta say," Moxie said once they turned down the sidewalk. "Mass isn't as exciting as it used to be."

"Seemed normal to me," Lloyd said.

"Maybe it's just California," Moxie said. "It's already such a weird place. I asked for a sweet tea at this drive-thru the other day, and they gave me some weird brown water."

"Sweet tea? So with sugar?"

"Oh, is that not a Canadian thing? Sorry," Moxie said. "Also, I thought it was weird when the priest kept talking about his sister's vacation to Nashville. Do you think the collection basket money is going to that?"

"Of course not! A man of the lord wouldn't do that," Lloyd said.

"You're right. But do you think the priest would?"

Cletus dug the binoculars into his eyes further as the two traversed down the sidewalk. While they headed away, Cletus and Raimundo shuffled in a crouched position behind the wall of bush that obscured them from the other side of the road.

When Moxie approached the trunk of her car, she put the key inside and turned the lock. "You can put that blazer in here, by the way. It's too hot for y'all."

"Much thanks, Moxie," Lloyd shrugged off his blazer and approached the vehicle's rear. "I feel like I'm drowning in swe-Ah!"

Lloyd fell back right onto his backside. He crawled back on his hands and held out his jacket like it was a shield against a lion.

"Why do you have lobsters in your trunk?"

"They're crawfish."

"Why do you have crawfish in your trunk?"

"For tonight. I thought instead of eating that cafeteria food, we'd have something from where I'm from," Moxie threw her purse into the back of the trunk. "Etoufee. Still gotta get the peppers. They were crushed by a truck."

"Crawfish," Lloyd got up to his feet, his suit pants now littered with bits of gravel. "Is this normal American behavior? To throw live fish into the trunks of cars?"

Moxie closed the trunk and slid her way to the front. Lloyd folded his blazer into his arms and headed for the passenger side. They both slid into the hot leather seats, the warmth suffocating them in the hot box that was the car. Moxie took the handle on the door and cranked down the window.

"I hadn't actually been to church in a while," Lloyd said as he undid the tie around his neck.

"Every week since I was little," Moxie wiped away a bead of sweat. "But I don't think less if you haven't. I met some great people that only went on Easter and Christmas. Awful folks who went almost every day."

"Sometimes the church keeps people away, though," Lloyd said.

"Like what?" Moxie asked.

"I pray a lot," Lloyd ran his thumb over the leather of the seat belt strap. "And I believe in God. But there are just some directions institutions go that make them corruptible."

"But that's not the Church," Moxie said. "It's the sinners. The people that twist and use the words of God for evil."

Lloyd drew out a deep sigh and craned his neck. "Do you know the first hero agency in Canada had to shut down right before I left. An institution as old as it was, and it had to be shut down. Right in Downtown Edmonton. Mounties just ran in and ransacked the place. You know what they found? A laboratory for meth in the basement."

Moxie gasped and covered her mouth. "And why would they do that? Meth isn't even that profitable anymore."

Lloyd choked on his own spit. "What?"

"I'm just saying," Moxie raised up her hands. "Meth in Louisiana is dirt cheap. Like five dollars a gram."

"Moxie, did you take the drug test before coming to thi-."

"I'm just saying!" Moxie said. "But...I get your point. But what does that mean? When you have Pro-Heroes doing things like that? Does that mean there's a problem with Pro-Heroes? Or is it a problem with those ones at that agency?"

"I guess that's my problem," Lloyd said. "We need justice and we need order to live in a civil society. Yet, there's so much lawlessness. Los Angeles! A cesspool of debauchery and destitution! Our first night here, and we saw it first hand."

Lloyd rested his arms on the top of his jacket that he placed on his lap. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Do you like this school so far?"

Moxie faced Lloyd and thought for a few seconds. "I don't have a reason not to. Gotta give everyone a chance. You?"

"I have a feeling that James doesn't like me that much," Lloyd put on his seatbelt.

"He stomped on your stomach and burned your hand."

"Yup."

Moxie shrugged. "Maybe that means he likes you."

Lloyd glanced at Moxie, a strange side-eye expression on his face.

"I mean, that wouldn't be the worse thing," Moxie said. "But I bet he's like that with most people," Moxie said. "Seems like a mad person."

"It's just an annoyance. I don't think he's come across people often that believe in something as strongly as I do," Lloyd scratched at his neck. "But are you okay? You've been acting weird the past few days. Katsu has been trying to talk to you, but you seem distant. Tired."

"Being away from daddy and the bayou," Moxie shook her head. "Not easy. Especially with how odd everything is around here. People seem mad all the time here. Have you noticed that? Even on the radio," She pointed at the radio in the center console. "I heard some radio show. The Youthful Turkics or something? All it was for an hour was some guy screaming and some lady cussing."

"I'm pretty far from home also," Lloyd said. "And at least you're used to the heat."

"I guess I've just learned a lot of things that have made me feel weird," Moxie said. "But I ask myself a lot what my daddy would do in times like that. And all I can think of is that he would usually shoot something. Or he'd wrestle some gator."

"I wish I could possess all the answers," Lloyd said. "It is so easy to just espouse the values of law and order, but so difficult to peruse them for the public to see as an example. And that's what I want to be. An example."

Moxie rubbed Lloyd's shoulder. "I reckon we'll find our way soon. I think a lot of folks just forget about enjoying the smaller things that make a difference everyday. Like crawfish etouffee."

Lloyd gave off a sheepish smile and nodded. "That is correct. I will try to do that more starting now. The...the communion tasted nice today."

"Oh, the communion was excellent," Moxie said. "They seasoned it great. Must've used chili powder."

Across the street, Cletus smacked away the binoculars from Raimundo's hands. They caromed off the pavement and smacked Cletus on the face. "Shit! They've been sitting there for five minutes. That's it. We running up on them. End of story."

"Cletus, wait!"

Cletus, seeing this was his chance to take down Moxie, took out a pair of brass knuckles and burst from the bush. He was tired of waiting. He was going to get revenge for his boss once and for all! He didn't care about that Serbian guy that was threatening them. He was going to pounce when he had a chance!

He ran over the empty street and bumbled around the well-dressed crowd of church gatherers. Raimundo, seeing his friend going nuts, grabbed the binoculars and chased after him.

"Cletus, we gotta wait!"

Cletus sprinted as fast as his thin and un-athletic self could muster. His heart hammered in his chest, while his legs ached from the spasms of his muscles. He bounded over the sidewalk onto the parking lot of the church.

The old Charger roared to life and shook with dark smoke puffing out of the exhaust.

Seeing the car in the spot, Cletus shouted out an inhuman squeal not unlike that of a small child in a candy shop. He attached the brass knuckles on his hands and raced for the car.

He made it to the back of the car. All he had to do was swing around the edge of the rear panel and he would be in front of the open window to strike Moxie.

Until the car ran him over.

Smack!

The vehicle jostled back in reverse and rocked backwards. Cletus, right behind the rear tire, was slammed into and toppled over. His head slapped the concrete and knocked him out completely. Half of his body was hidden by the car that slid on top of him.

Cletus lay unconscious under the car.

Moxie, feeling the thud of the body on the car, halted it and rushed out. Lloyd followed suit and they both stared down at the man with brass knuckles on his hands. The sight before them was a stone-cold body that remained lifeless halfway buried by the undercarriage of the vehicle.

Raimundo, seeing Cletus hit the ground in sickening fashion, turned around and pranced away like a gazelle chased by a lion.

"Are you okay, Mister?" Moxie shouted at the frigid corpse of the man. "I didn't even see you there. It's like you popped up out of nowhere!"

The man said nothing. Blood streaked the bottom of his skull and started to pool like a halo around his bald head.

"Do you have a pulse," Lloyd crouched down and yelled right at the man's face. He grabbed the man's wrist. "Mister, what is your pulse?"

Still no reply.

"Oh my stars, what if I killed him," Moxie bit her fingernail. "I almost killed one person already. And I'll lose my driver's license."

"Moxie, relax," Lloyd said. "It's important for heroes to remain calm. I must now conduct Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation!"

Lloyd pounded his fist onto the abdomen of the man. A small dribble of spit ran down Cletus's chin. The slapping of the skin on the man's chest made a sickening crunch. The top of Cletus rocked upward in small tremors as Lloyd continued to basically punch him.

"Lloyd," Moxie grabbed on his shoulder. "That's not what you're supposed to do. You gotta kiss him."

"You're right," Lloyd said. He peered down at Cletus. "Mister, I must announce to you right now that I will be applying my mouth to yours! Just know that I am absolved by Good Samaritan Laws in the state of California from any sexual or physical harassment charges due to performing cardiop-."

"Lloyd!"

Lloyd, understanding that time was of the essence, lowered down his head and pursued his lips together. Right as his shadow darkened the light from the face of Cletus, the man stirred.

Opening his eyes, Cletus was welcomed back to consciousness by the bright yellow eyes of an annoying red-haired Canadian about to kiss him.

Cletus screamed and shot upward. By doing so, the top of his skull crashed into Lloyd's face. Bashing his nose in, Lloyd had no choice but to succumb to the dark world of unconsciousness. Cletus's scream died as he passed out from the impact and slapped his head back onto the ground. Lloyd fell onto his side next to Cletus and collapsed on his back. Now, there were two potentially dead people laying behind Moxie's car.

Moxie hyperventilated and clasped the rosary around her neck. She panted and waved her other hand in shock around the top of her head. "Wh-what do I do? Lloyd? Are you dead? Oh, Jesus. What do I do?"

Moxie felt the beads of the rosary in her hands. She also felt the small red crystal behind it, and a strange calm seemed to grow on her. Panicking would help none, and she had to help Lloyd and this poor innocent bystander from dying in the gravel parking lot of a church.

She thought back to any time in her past where this event happened. Yes, there was the time her brother passed out from heat stroke. Yes, what happened? They were fishing in the boat just in the gulf, and he collapsed on the floor. Then, her daddy rushed over and...did something. What did he do?

Moxie closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Her daddy would calm down. He would relax and just focus on the problem. The problem here being two unconscious people on the floor. Solution was what?

Her daddy, he did something to snap him back to life. What did he do? She remembered the scene and the panic, but her daddy simply...grabbed a handful of saltwater and threw it in his face! That was it, but Moxie shook her head in realization that she had no salt water or any other water.

Then, she spun around and looked down at the trunk.

"Salt water," She said. "Those crayfish...were they...?"

Moxie popped open the trunk and looked down at the crustaceans crawling about in the trunk space. She grabbed one and squeezed it in her hand. Yes, the crayfish was about the right size, but she examined closely the shell and abdomen. It had a red, brownish sheen that reminded her of rust. A few droplets of water diffused out of the shells, a typical defense mechanism to cool themselves off.

Moxie dabbed the tip of her finger on the droplet and stuck her tongue out. When she tasted it, a salt tinge seared at her tongue.

"These aren't crayfish," Moxie said. "They're lobsters. And...they're soaked in salt water."

Moxie gazed back down at Lloyd and the unconscious stranger. Neither of them passed out from heat stroke, but she could use the same principles of the salt to wake them up. She kneeled down right next to Lloyd's head. The pincers of the lobster clapped right by his face. The scent of the salt infused in the lobster was present, but it was not strong enough to permeate in Lloyd's sinuses.

Nothing.

Moxie closed her eyes. "Here we go, Lord. Let this work."

Feeling a strange energy well up in her body, she directed it right at her hands. They vibrated, and as if her hand acted like a microwave, the energy warmed up and expelled those energy sparks into the lobster. She did not use up as much energy as normal, for she was focusing on just one thing. The scent. Only increase the scent.

"Just the scent," Moxie scrunched her eyes shut. "Just the scent."

She could sniff the flecks of sea salt begin to sting at her nostrils. Pointing the head of the lobster right at Lloyd, the aroma flowed right into his body.

Moxie Lee! Her quirk: Natural State! She has the capacity to diminish or elevate the natural state of anything's attributes. Amount of power needed depends on the attribute being raised or decreased. Attributes like scent requires less power, while attributes like size and quirks require more.

A small moan.

Moxie opened her eyes and stopped the flow of energy. She blared a wide, toothy grin when she saw the yellow scleras of Lloyd peek under his eyelids. He stirred his shoulders and came face-to-face with the beady eyes of a lobster.

"Moxie," Lloyd groaned out. "Am I dead?"

"No, Lloyd," Moxie said. "I have done it. With the help of mother nature, The good Lord has spared you from the big meaty claws of Death!"

"That's amazing," Lloyd said. "Because that means I'm a live right now. Which means that this lobster is right in my face."

"You got it, Lloyd," Moxie nodded with her cheeky smile.

"Moxie," Lloyd hitched his breath. "Do you know that I am deathly afraid of lobsters?"

Moxie blinked.

"Huh?"

As the ambulance arrived, they came across the scene of an unconscious gangbanger with brass knuckles, a cajun girl holding a lobster, and a screaming Canadian shrieking in the lobster's face.

MORE THINGS FOR YOU ALL!

I thought another nice, character development chapter would help. This one involving these characters. Think of it as like a nice smaller episode that will conclude in the next chapter!

So now we have Hawks going to a hospital. What does this have to do with anything? I guess we will find out since we are going to the hospital in the next chapter! What will happen to Cletus and Raimundo? What about their boss? Tell me what you think will happen or come from this?!

Tell me what you think. And review!

And I am getting your submissions. Patience!

Thank you. See you soon!