A week later Liz and Peter were at Liz's house which the Allans had already fixed up thanks to the fire being covered by their expensive insurance plan; the perks of having parents who ran a respected lab company. They were on Liz's bed watching TV and there was a news report from Daily Bugle Communications about an incident the previous night; a couple of teenagers were having an illegal skateboarding race with one black teenager by the name of Robert Farrel have been showing off a rocket thrustor attached to his skateboard that he put together. Robert wearing an orange jacket along with an orange helmet and a yellow visor screamed as he lost control of his board. Spider-Man had swooped in to rescue Robert as his skateboard literally crashed and burned with the footage becoming trending and Robert being called 'rocket racer'.

"I am surprised that our illustrious mayor let this story by without making a statement to lambast Spider-Man and praise his superhero son." Peter muttered and Liz laughed. "Still Ihave to admire him trying out new things with technology even if that was dangerous, even the street racing part. Plus why did you want to watch this when you are alone with your boyfriend in your room?" Peter asked as Liz straightened.

"I kind of think Spidey looks hot; don't give me any funny response as can't a girl be in a happy relationship and have a harmless celebrity crush? Find a model, actress or singer to crush on... I won't mind." Liz explained and Peter kept himself silent. "Would you believe it... But Sally and I kind of like superhero movies? Sally kept it quiet because she doesn't want anyone thinking us as geeks but in elementary school we even went out on Halloween in homemade costumes." Liz said as Peter's eyes widened.

"Really... There really is more to Sally... I guess that this information stays between us and I can't let her know that you told me or invite her to join the geek club I have with Grady and Debra?" Peter asked and Liz flashed a smile which asked 'what do you think?'. "Uh... Liz..." Peter asked as Liz got closer and a hand under his shirt.

"What? As long as my parents don't hear us, we can indulge in a little teenage intimacy... Plus isn't this like the dream of a nerd with a cheerleader girlfriend?" Liz asked with a smirk but then Peter yelled as he felt a burn on his shirt.

"Peter; are you alright?" Liz asked concerned taking her hand away and Peter rubbed the burn.

"I think I am... I think it was nothing... Just that it felt like you were hot... Wait... I don't know how to fix this conversation..." Peter muttered as Liz giggled and told him it was alright; she then decided to change the channel to a horror movie that they watched together but Liz glanced at her hands for a second.


The next morning on a Saturday, Liz was hanging out with Sally at the Coffee Bean and Liz was deep in thought about what had happened last night and thinking about how it was only the most recent of strange going ons lately while Sally was talking about her date with Flash the previous night. "So there were those college girls coming over putting the moves on Flash clearly not knowing he was still in high school and not single, took a look from me to get the lunkhead to do the smart thing... Something wrong Liz?" Sally asked but stopped when she noticed Liz's look, Liz broke out of her stupor and saw Sally's concerned face.

"Sorry Sally... You see last night I decided to try and put my hand under Peter's shirt but he ended up getting a burn... It was weird..." Liz whispered and Sally had a smirk.

"Probably nothing and way to go wanting to try and be risky; you know Flash and I can't hope to try anything of that. My parents would throw the hammer down if they even think that we did that and Flash's old man would kill him if the issue of pregnancy came up..." Sally said but sadly sighed at the last bit.

Liz picked up her coffee mug and felt it having gotten a it cold and tried concentrating with it warming up. She finished and rushed to the area behind the store. She looked at her hands and concentrated and found her skin turning a bit red and some flames appeared in her hand much to their open mouthed shock. "Liz; what are you doing running off like that..." Sally shouted but stopped and saw Liz like that and Liz had a glance at her hair to see it turn red. She concentrated on turning back and looked back to normal.

"You're... Fiery..." Sally muttered and Liz realised something from back at her party.

"That party... I was annoyed with Seymour and after the drink bottle spilt onto the ground... The fire was my fault..." Liz muttered as she was about to panic but Sally grabbed her hands to calm her down.

"You didn't know what could have happened and besides; that oaf was at fault for trying to be stupid. Nothing was your fault. Plus don't worry; this stays between us. Just focus on keeping this quiet and we will think of something." Sally reassured her and Liz calmed down. "Just get some rest and call up Parker to talk to when you feel that you need some time talking to your geek." Sally told her and Liz nodded as Sally then handed her bag back to her and they said goodbye with Liz walking home.


That night Liz decided to look in the mirror and focused on turning her 'fiery' mode on and off. She looked at herself with the fire power on and made some poses; so her shock she found herself floating as she made a jump. She went back down and focused on floating again; wanting to be risky she opened up her window and found herself flying out the window.

She was trying not to scream but found it all exciting as she flew in the air; she looked around and saw that there was a purple light in the sky and she went to check it out. She saw that it was a teenage girl with brown hair, a black cap faced the other way, a black shirt, white jacket and jeans. She followed the girl wanting to see if she can get her attention; another person with powers could be exciting.

If they were lucky they could find Spider-Man to find a team.

Liz found the girl going to a building under construction and saw her sending purple force fields to try and destroy the bannisters. Her eyes widened wondering if she was mistaken about this girl being a potential superhero. "Who are you? What are you doing? Are you some sort of villain?" Liz yelled at the girl as Joey saw her fly down.

"You must be into those silly stories and Spider-Man didn't help when he first arrived; putting us with powers with labels of 'hero' or 'villain'. Shame that Spider-Man would probably want to turn me in if we met, since I think we could be great friends." the girl scoffed as she noticed Liz and took a moment to fully dwell on Liz. "Joey Pulaski; do you have a name or should I just call you Molten Girl?" the girl introduced and Liz didn't want this girl to know who she was.

"...What are you doing?" Liz demanded and Joey sighed.

"Fine; if you must know my boss hired me to meddle in the construction as he wants to buy it at dirt cheap. Help me out and I bet I can convince him to hire you as well. He is definitely interested in recruiting powered people like us." Joey explained and Liz thinking fast sent fire blasts at her which missed, so her aim needs work. "So if you want to play hero then so be it..." Joey glared at her and sent purple blasts at Liz which she was trying to dodge.

"You think that I want to work with you? You have powers and you decided to be some criminal's fired goon?" Liz asked and this really got Joey furious as she then managed to get Liz into a force field.

"I know you can hear me so listen up... You think having powers is like one of those stupid comic books... People today like to go on the X-Men and how they protected a world that feared them when they were around but do you know what it's like actually being a Mutant in that world? My father was a member of the Friends of Humanity group; proudly boasting about how he campaigned against the Mutant menace and wish he could have killed a Mutant himself. He and my mother seemed like they loved me no matter what... But I discovered that I was a Mutant, I was scared but I rationalised that my parents would love and support me no matter what. I showed my powers and they were silent but they said they would talk later and I was sure I had nothing to worry about. That night I opened my eyes as I heard my door being slowly opened; my dad with a gun ready to shoot me... HIs 11 year old daughter!" Joey ranted as Liz finding it struggling to breath was stunned.

"I fought back and escaped through the window; a homeless 'Mutie' until the boss found me and took me in. Loved and accepted me than that dirtbag ever did; I owe him everything so I will do what he asks..." Joey said as Liz managed to use her flames to break through the force field and ended up sending a blast at Joey's face as she screamed and started flying away in pain with Liz going on her knees shakened about what had happened.

She ended up flying to her room window and closed it silently; she then saw her pyjamas were now burned so she replaced them and tossed the other pair into her trashcan. She would dispose of them later in a way as to not get her parents attention. She went to bed with a sigh and wiping away tears in her eyes.


Joey from the pain of her burn had passed out and fell to the ground, found and admitted to the hospital. Gustav Fiers had found about it and came to the hospital; he looked at her in the hospital bed with bandages on her face with the doctor saying that she had broken bones and third degree burns on her face. "Shame Joey my dear... You had great potential as an asset... Perhaps if you ever awaken..." Fiers muttered as he got up and left ignoring the questions about contact details or if he was to pay for her treatment.


Sally came over midday and Liz decided to keep the unfortunate events of last night secret; Sally had brought a bag and said "don't ask me how but I got something for you, flameproof and I had it fitted to your size." Liz changed into the outfit which was a yellow bodysuit with red gloves, red boots and red goggles.

"If I was into girls..." Sally remarked with a whistle pleased with her look as Liz looked into the mirror and tried moving about in it, felt comfortable and she liked the retro style of the suit. She then tried turning her fire power on to see what she looked and liked the look of it.

"Not sure if I want to be an actual superhero now but just in case... Great job Sally!" Liz complimented and Sally was satisfied with her work.

"If you need a name... How about Firestar?" Sally asked and Liz nodded liking the name.

Joey Pulaski comes from a miniseries called Amazing Fantasy which actually continues the numbering from the icon issue where we first met Spidey. Basically it shows the direct aftermath of Spidey's first appearence and kind of continues on in the writer Kurt Busiek's Untold Tales of Spider-Man which features stories set between the early Spider-Man comics. The miniseries and that series are intertwinned to the point that the first volume of hte paperback omnibus includes the miniseries. Plus I love the painted art style of the miniseries as it reminds me of the art of the great Alex Ross, another similar art style was in Mythos: Spider-Man #1 which is basically just a retelling of the origin story. Anyway put in more for Joey's backstory plus replacing Kingpin with the Gentleman as her boss.