A.N. General disclaimer for all things copyright. I do not own the characters, setting, or lore utilized in the creation of this piece. My work is inspired by the creative thought of the original authors

She liked the library.

It was a peaceful place, a location where one could just get lost in the accumulated knowledge held within and be comfortable in the silence. The rustle of shifting pages, the light thumps of books being dropped, and the squeaking of carts rolling along, pushed by bored volunteers. It wasn't home, but it was a location where she could sit and think, work out problems that she had, solve issues that really irritated her.

Like she was doing now.

She had arrived not long after school ended, opting to avoid the crowd by skipping the last ten minutes of class and leaving. Sure, it probably wasn't a habit she wanted to form less her grades suffered, but really they couldn't get any worse unless she really tried.

The trio saw to that. Years of sabotaged homework and constant claims of cheating and theft had left her with a GPA that nearly unsalvageable.

Not that she cared. Grades didn't matter when her city was being eroded away by the rot infesting it.

She leaned back in her chair, hands raised as she rubbed her temples, a dull ache rolling across her head. They had been coming more frequently ever since she had figured out how to get back to the workshop.

It had turned out to be pretty simple, really. She kinda felt silly for ever worrying that she wouldn't be able to get back. Clearly it was hers to use, despite its odd inhabitants and strange implements. What kind of power would show her such a useful place and then never let her back?

Sleep, she had found out, was not just an exit, but a way in. The first night back, the day of her rebirth, she had gone to sleep filled with worry, and had awoken, again, in the field of white flowers. She had felt rested, calmed by soothing wind and the sweet scent wafting in the breeze. More, where before she had been exhausted from the day and its events, she felt rested, ready to rise, as if from a deep sleep. Some testing had provided a discomforting realization of a new facet of her powers.

She no longer dreamed.

More, she wasn't sure if she could even sleep anymore. While she felt rested she could tell that barely any time had passed. Baring the fact that she did have to sleep, she was effectively an insomniac.

The condition had led to some awkward moments at first, when she was still fiddling with getting her sleeping pattern together, but really it was more beneficial than she had given it credit. Now all she had to do was jaunt off to the workshop for a few hours, take a nap, and barely any time had passed.

She could get so many things done!

She smiled fondly at the thought. Really, it had been nice at the time, to have so much time. It had quickly become apparent that it wasn't nearly enough for what she needed to do.

Stop the gangs. Free the city. Save the civilians who were suffering.

Like her first day with her notebook, now half filled with detailed findings and half baked ideas, she needed to do some research.

One did not simply take down the ABB, Empire, and every other gang in Brockton Bay.

No, it took preparation, planning, and a whole lot of firepower.

She was working on the first two. She'd get around to the latter.

Her research, a culmination from spending nearly every waking moment of the last few weeks since gaining her powers tackling her problem, proved a very unfortunate fact.

She was in over her head.

Oh, sure, declaring a crusade to purge every gang and villain in a city was ambitious, foolhardy even, but it had to be done. They were bad guys! She was going to be a hero! It was only logical that she bring the fight to them.

That said, her biggest problem wasn't just the numbers or influence, but the power sets involved. Power sets that either avoided her or full on countered her abilities.

She was a Brute. Her regeneration, as she had discovered, really only applied when at the workshop. Here she was just as normal as they came, having to use bandages and wraps to deal with cuts and sprains. Sure, she could punch through a cinder block without a problem, but one slip with a kitchen knife and everything goes wrong.

She squinted her eyes as she stared ahead., rubbing as the ache faded.

Not one of her proudest moments. A simple welcome home dinner turned into a panic induced spree to hide the wound from her dad. She wouldn't have been able to explain why it had disappeared the next day.

Her research into the gangs had showed her that most of them had something that could beat her, if not kill her. The ABB, while not Parahuman heavy, had quality. Oni Lee, a teleporter that could make clones which acted as suicide bombers, made her natural strength and speed almost useless. Sure, maybe she could dodge the bomber or escape the explosion, but if she couldn't get to his real body then it didn't matter. Then there was Lung, the leader and undisputed powerhouse of Brockton Bay. The man was literally a dragon, a shapeshifter that changed as the fight continued. His impressive track record aside, his strength was on par with some of the strongest things on the planet when he really got going.

Oh, and he was a pyrokinetic, cause, you know, gotta stick with the dragon theme.

One in depth look at him really made her question whether or not she could deal with the problems facing the city. Sure, normal people would fold under her. The drug dealers, the transporters, the weapon dealers; she had the strength and power to handle most of what normal humanity could throw at her. She was faster, stronger, and motivated to see an end to the suffering. They wouldn't be able to stop her.

The Parahumans that ran all those organizations...yeah, they would be an issue.

The Empire 88 wasn't any better. Despite being at odds with the ABB for territory, they hosted one of the largest contingent of villains this side of New England. They had everything under the sun. Flyers. Changers. Breakers. Blasters. Everything.

Fog, a villain under their banner, had the ability to turn into a some kind of aerosol or mist, causing horrific damage for anyone caught in the zone. The more she thought about it the more troubled she grew. Mist was basically water and air, and if people breathed it in, could they absorb it? Could the cells convert it, layering the water into their own structures and fusing the oxygen with carbon? What would happen to the human if he suddenly decided to pull the mist back together and reform?

That thought had almost made her quit. The possibility of such a horrible death, of every cell exploding at the same time, was nearly too much.

She couldn't quit. These people...they weren't people. They were beasts, monsters in a human form, preying upon the helpless.

She would stop them. She had to stop them.