Chapter 2

Spock hesitantly stepped out of the Fantasticar, onto the roof of an incredibly tall building with no visible way to enter, at least from the roof. Lightspeed landed beside him, and gave a smile.

"Okay, so Mr Richards gets really focused on his work, so he's probably not going to hear you if you talk to him. But I will, so you can talk to me."

"I see. Thank you Lightspeed."

"You know, you can call me Julie."

"I was under the impression your name was Lightspeed?"

"That's just my superhero name. My real name is Julie. But don't tell anyone; it could get people killed."

Spock's eyebrows raised. "I do not understand."

"Do you have superheroes where you come from?"

"Negative."

"Well... when there's a guy who swipes an x-box from the store, they call the police. When someone tries to assassinate the president they call the FBI and CIA. When someone who literally eats planets comes along hoping to make Earth his next snack; they call the superheroes."

At this point a hole in the roof had opened, and they were all walking into the building. Mr Fantastic seemed utterly fascinated with something on some kind of holographic datapad. The two children may as well have been alone.

"That seems incredibly dangerous! Your planet truly faces such perils?"

"Yeah, there's this guy called Galactus. Mostly the Fantastic Four fight him (Mr Fantastic actually leads that team; it's this one), but sometimes other heroes do. He eats planets for food. And, I mean, not all dangers are even close to that bad. There are supervillains (guys with powers but they use them to kill and steal and stuff) like Rhino, or Boomerang that are just really strong, or have special weapons or something. They're not all global threats."

"Do you fight the global threats?"

"Sometimes. I've saved Earth before, the Snark planet, and Kymellia, along with my team; Power Pack. We've stopped Earth from being taken over by Kang the Conquer, a time traveling warlord too. We being Power Pack..."

Spock looked amazed. "That is... incredible. Are you not underage for such feats? Does this not violate child safety laws?"

"When it comes down to the fate of the world, or even a single person everyone has to do their part. Like Spiderman says: "With great power comes great responsibility." 12 or not, I've got the power so I've got the responsibility."

"I see." Spock considered this. "You said your true name was Julie. Would you prefer I call you that?"

"Only when we're alone or when we're at the X - Mansion (that's where we just came from) or when I'm not wearing my costume... it's also okay if we're just with the Fantastic Four and Franklin, or Thor... you know what? Let's go with you can call me Julie when we're alone, at the X - Mansion, when I'm not in costume, or when we're just with the Fantastic Four and Franklin. Not all superheroes know my secret identity, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Secret identity?"

"Secret identity... my civilian life. Who I am when I'm not flying around the sky plastering supervillians to a jail cell wall. My identity where people think I'm just a normal girl. I need that secret so my enemies won't come after my family."

"I see... you should not have told me your secret identity in that case. It was not logical."

"I think it was a good idea."

They finally came to a series of doors, where Mr Fantastic stopped. "Alright, here we are. Lightspeed, you can come in for this one. These are just the preliminary tests."

The three walked into the room. Spock and Julie continued talking.

"Are superhero names different that normal human titles?"

"Yeah. They usually describe a power (I'm Lightspeed, and I can fly at the speed of light), sometimes they just sound cool, like Wolverine, or Rogue. Or even just something about them, like Captain America."

"And Mr Fantastic?"

"That would be one of the 'cool' names. Like Marvel Girl or something."

"I see. It seems more logical to have the name describe the power."

"Like I said; that's what's most normal. Storm, Hawkeye, Spider Man. Most people base their names off their powers."

"Fascinating. Do any use their actual names?"

"Sure. Thor uses his real name. He's the god of thunder."

"Thor was a mythical..."

"Not here." Julie interrupted. "Here he's quite alive, and I actually helped save him and all of Asgard."

Spock's eyebrows flew up. "Incredible!"

Then Mr Fantastic walked up and gestured Spock over to a machine to lie down on, and Julie stayed by Spock's side.