I wished that I couldn't dressed a little more formally, but all that I had on me was another pair of jeans, a leather jacket, and an old t-shirt that didn't fit. I felt embarrassed, but what else could I do? Go out shopping?

I stepped into the button onto the number '13' and waited. I listened to the tacky elevator music and waited a short while. I stepped out slowly before I felt a man kick me at my side. I fell to the ground and winced in pain. A large man in a black mask grabbed me by my shirt and throat. "What the hell?" I hoarsely spoke.

He tossed me back to the closed elevator. This time, I didn't waste a second. I balanced myself and tripped him with my foot. Standing up, I looked for something to use as a weapon. As he began to get up, I grabbed a large framed photo off the wall and bashed his head with it. Glass and wood shattered all over the place. The six-foot-five giant fell unconscious.

A steady, slow clap came from across the room. Chris stood there, formal wear and all, before walking towards me. "Bravo, Bethany. Bravo. I was sure that you would take care of yourself, but so quickly? Impressive."

"You did this?! What the heck is wrong with you?"

"I just wanted to check out your fighting skills on something that moved," he said calmly.

"You sent a four-hundred pound man at me!" I shouted. "Is this your idea of a damn welcome? If so, you must not get a lot of guests over."

"Come on," he said sweetly. "Bethany, you know I wouldn't do something like this if I thought you would seriously get hurt."

"Yeah?" I said, rubbing my head. "Well, this morning I thought I knew that I was going back to my crappy apartment in Queens," I told him. "I was wrong about that. Wait, I thought my job was investigative. Why the hell would I need to flip over ultra-heavy guys?"

He chuckled, hands behind back. "You won't always be flipping men," he told me. "Sometimes they'll look like me!" And with that he caught me off guard by hitting me with a long, hard metal staff. It hit me in my waist. He did a few fancy twirls with it and attempted to hit me again, but I caught it with both hands, extended my hands towards him for balance, and flipped him behind me.

"You're insane!" I told him. "That's it. I don't know what kind of sick games you're setting up, but I'm out of here. I don't care about the money."

"Bethany, please," he whimpered. He clutched his stomach and sat upright on the ground. "Just hear me out. Please."

I stopped myself from pressing the down button of the elevator. "Okay, fine. But you have to tell me what's with your messed up methods of finding employees."

It took longer to get himself up this time than the last. He held onto the wall and continued to hunch over. "I needed to test your physical ability and skill," he groaned. "You passed."

"Ya' think?"

"No more surprise attacks," he promised me. He seemed sincere, but I didn't drop my guard for a second. "I just- another part of the job involves, well, hand-to-hand combat."

"Hand-to-hand combat?!" I asked, pissed off.

"Occasionally with a deadly weapon."

"I'm out of here."

"Bethany-," he said, grabbing my shoulder. "Twenty-five hundred." I didn't hesitate and left for the elevator again. "Three thousand! Let me just talk with you, please."

"This is your last chance. One more freaky thing from you, and I'm gone," I said. "Last chance."

He painfully put his hand over his heart. "I swear."

I nodded. "Okay," I said, tossing my hair out of my face. "And stop calling Bethany. It's Beth."

He smiled and snapped his fingers twice as two more large men came our way. My muscles tensed up again as I felt fear hit me again. I was close to fighting, but they simply took my jacket and directed us down to another room. "James," Chris said, "Get that mess cleaned up. And, wake up Albert."

I eventually found us in a large dining room, red lighting covered the place, and the table was completely set up. Flowers stood in every corner of the room, and a tall, thin waiter stood at the table along with a small metal cart. "Shall we?" he asked.

I sat down, and the butler placed a napkin on my lap before doing the same for Chris. I began to cock my eyebrow as the butler then placed a small bit of salad in front of me. "What kind of dressing would you like?" his deep voice asked. "Italian, thousand island, or perhaps a vinaigrette? Balsamic, pomegranate, raspberry?"

"Um," I said, thinking for a moment. "That last one sounds good. I guess."

"The usual for you sir?" he asked.

"Yes, Roberto," Chris answered. He added a little bit of each dressing to our plates, mixed it up, and then left us alone after pouring us each sparkling water. "So, is everything to your liking?" he asked me.

"It seems good," I said. "I'm just not used to this kind of stuff."

"Understandable," he told me sincerely. "Don't worry about it. Our main purpose here is to discuss the details of your new job. Oh, which, by the way, begins this Monday. Your first day of school."

"Okay…" I trailed.

"School's already been in session for three weeks, so you'll be the new girl. Now, obviously we don't want you to be get too popular, or else you'll draw too much attention. However, I need you to get acquainted with a certain clique."

"Which one?" I asked, taking a bite of my salad.

"Well, the nerds," he said.

I put down my silverware. "The nerds?"

"It's most likely that Kick-Ass is acquainted with the world of comics, which would make him, well, a nerd," he said. I nodded in agreement; it made sense. "You'll find your way to get to know them, and see if any of them are Kick-Ass. If none of them are, we'll work on other cliques."

"What about Hit-Girl?" I asked. "I'm kinda older than her."

"We have a plan there too. Because of her athletic appearance, we'll suspect that she'll join a sport along the likes of cross-country or soccer. They don't let girls join football," he chuckled. "We'll get you onto the teams." I nodded again. "And, when you get back to your flat, we'll get your measurements."

I began to choke my water. "What the hell? Measurements?"

"We'll need to take measurement for a special outfit you'll need," he informed me. "You obviously know of the whole superhero craze, right?"

"Why else would I be here?"

"Exactly," he smiled. "Well, we'll have you be the next big one."

I stared at him quietly for a moment before I busted out in laughter. "Oh, you're screwing with me, right? Me? A superhero?"

"I'm not kidding." His face didn't move. "You're going to be the big, new superhero on the scene. You'll get the trust of the city, including Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass."

"Okay…" I said. "You're insane."

"I'm just hiring someone for a job. You're free to pass it off.'

I had to think about this for a second. He agreed to pay three grand a day just for me to go to high school and find Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl. However, now he wanted me to be a superhero. Was three grand a day worth it? Hell yeah. "Okay, fine. But what would I do as a superhero? Walk little old ladies across the street? Find kittens from trees?"

"Don't worry. The superhero part will take another few days to establish, but we'll just need to focus on school for now."

The first day of school was one of the most stressful days of my life. I was dropped off by a minivan that Chris ordered so that I looked like everyone else. However, I felt extremely uncomfortable in my new outfit. Chris bought my entire new wardrobe, and today they picked out my clothes for me: tight skinny jeans, a low cut sweater, and two-inch heels. When I walked inside, I felt dozens of eyes staring at me. I pulled out my new schedule. I had Calculus first; my stomach sank. I hated math.

I also found my new locker, not too far from the cafeteria. One of the many teenage boys began to stare at me as I opened my locker. He was taller than me, a little tubby, and wore a black t-shirt with a Batman logo on it. He was a geek, perfect.

"Hi!" said with a friendly accent. "I'm Beth."

He stood speechless and just stared at me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"N- n- n- Nick," he finally mumbled.

I knew that he wasn't Kick-Ass; he was too… tubby. Not to be mean. On the other hand, he probably was friends with the real Kick-Ass. "Well, I'm here, and this place is pretty-"

He still was having problems talking, so I just let him snap out of it. Unfortunately he was taking too long, so I just went ahead and put my stuff in my locker and left after giving him a sweet wave goodbye. I walked the halls looking for more geeks, possibly in a group. That's when I saw him.

"Dave?" I asked. I couldn't believe it. "Dave is that you?"

Dave looked at me for a minute, confused. "Do I know you?"

"We went to middle school together!" I told him. "Beth Daniels?"

"Oh my god!" he said ecstatically. "I haven't seen you in years. What happened?"

"I did some moving around," I told him. "So did you. You moved out of Brooklyn too."

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Oh, these are my friends. Todd and Marty."

Dave's two friends acted exactly like Nick. "What?" I asked. "Is there something on my face?"

"Uh, trust me. It's not something on your face," he told me. "When did you move to Manhattan?"

"Few weeks ago," I said. They continued to stare. "What?"

"It- it's just that- the last time a girl as hot as you talked to us this randomly, our houses were egged," Todd told me.

I smiled kindly at him. "Oh, it's okay. I don't know anyone here, so there's no way I could have friends to egg your homes," I laughed. They stood there nervously. "No, seriously. I'm not going to egg your houses. So, Dave," I said giving him a light tap on the shoulder, "What's your first class of the year?"

"Uh, AP World History," he told me.

"Yeah, I doubt we'll have any classes together," I told him. "You were the A student and I… I… I don't like to think about it. What lunch do you have?"

"Fourth period."

I nodded. "Good, me too. I'll see you there."