The super-powered drug dealers were gathered on the corner. Each one was floating above the concrete, each one with wild long hair and a smirk on his face. One laughed loudly while sparks flew from his fingertips.
While the drug dealers probably didn't care, something about the Powers Formula caused hair to grow, which meant some men trying to cure baldness had ended up with powers they didn't want. Some had turned into freaks—ironically, hairless freaks—who went insane.
There would be no bald freaks appearing or intervening on this day. Instead, a woman approached. She wore a sleeveless black-and-purple leotard, which looked ridiculous on a short skinny dark-skinned old woman with gray in her hair and wrinkles all over her thin arms.
Naturally, the drug dealers burst out laughing at the sight of her. Despite this, the old black woman wore a look of grim determination. Her voice was filled with the same.
"You need to clear out of this corner. Now!"
The uproarious laughter grew louder.
One guy stepped forward. Spark-Guy. The sparks from his fingertips grew brighter as he at first smirked then sneered.
"What you gonna do about it, Granny?"
The ensuing laughter was cut off as something like a giant wave or wind hit them, knocking them all down and keeping them pinned.
Children, women and other bystanders ran. The young men on the ground struggled to get up.
"Granny" wore a look of steel; whatever her size or frame, she was clearly a woman of steel. Her voice was steel, too. Her voice was one that meant business.
"Get off the stuff," she ordered. "And don't deal around here no more. You call your boss, you'll find out I already dealt with him." Her eyes widened as she nodded. "You come back here, you'll get more of the same."
As she walked away, a close observer would have seen she was sweating a little and staggering a little. She was bent over, she looked weak and sick. But she kept on walking.
Luke heard about the incident. He had interviewed Mavis Smith before, and he rushed to her apartment to do a follow-up interview.
When Luke arrived, he found Mavis convulsing on the couch and sweating profusely.
"Help me," she gasped.
Luke quickly got her to a hospital.
Once there, Mavis quickly returned to normal. To Luke, this was not surprising. He knew the Powers Formula was giving some people unusual powers, beyond the usual strength and speed. He also knew the negative effects were often temporary.
Because of this, Mavis was soon sitting up and bantering and joking with Luke.
"Look at you," she said. "All worried about nothing."
"I wouldn't call it nothing," the reporter said. He considered Mavis to be kind of a friend. "Are you sure you're all right?"
A smile spread on that wrinkled face but for a moment there was a pained look. "I'm fine," she insisted quietly as she sat up.
"You sure?"
Now she set that face in stone, much as she had with the drug dealers.
"How often you gonna ask me that?"
"Until I know you're all right."
"Do you think being negative and doubtful helps the situation?"
Luke grinned a little as he shrugged. "It sounds like you're back to your old normal self."
"Well!" she huffed but it was a mock-huff. "I appreciate the vote of confidence." She coughed a little. At Luke's concerned look, she waved a bony hand. "It's nothing. Just a little cough. I got something in my throat."
"Like what? You haven't eaten or drunk anything. You want a glass of water?"
She waved a thin gnarled finger as she narrowed her brown eyes. "I'm perfectly capable of sending out some force fields against evildoers, wherever they may be from."
"Not at the cost of your life, I hope."
"There you go being negative again."
"I can't help it. I've heard about people taking a bad batch of the Powers Formula and they have a burst of power then get all crazy just before they die."
"Thank you for that burst of cheer," she said as her thin lips formed a weak smile.
It didn't help Luke feel better when Mavis suddenly gasped then stretched out on the hospital bed. As Mavis stared up at the ceiling, Luke pressed the "summon help" button. By the time a nurse arrived, Mavis was back to normal once again. But what she had to say made her mental state questionable.
"Aliens," she said in a gasping shaky voice. "They're on their way."
The nurse, a petite beauty who looked both Hispanic and Asian with light brown skin and sparkling brown eyes and her dark hair in a ponytail, gave Mavis a look of concern.
"Have you been mixing the Powers Formula with other medications?"
"I don't take any meds," she grunted. "You think just because I'm old I need all kinds of pills?"
The nurse ignored the question and the belligerence. "Have you taken a version of the Powers Formula you think might be suspect or suspicious?"
"I don't take nothing off the street." Suddenly, Mavis was back to her tough self, all steely-gazed. "Listen, I know you think I'm crazy but I can see these aliens just as clear as I can see my own grandchildren."
"Mavis," Luke said gently. "The Powers Formula sometimes makes people act strange and see weird things." R.H probably knew that, he thought angrily.
"I know that, Luke." She sounded lucid, and determined. "But I'm sure of this: those aliens are on their way to us here now. And I'll tell you this: I will protect this planet like it was my neighborhood. Because it is. The whole world is my neighborhood."
The nurse looked up at Luke. "It doesn't look like Powers Sickness."
"It seems like her," Luke muttered with a nod.
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" As Luke chuckled, Mavis smiled. Then she stabbed the air with a long thin finger. "I will protect this planet. You believe that."
"I believe it, Mavis," Luke said with a grin.