"No, no, no..."

The boy in the knight costume didn't hesitate to throw his weapons in the snow, kneel by his struck companion's body and hastily go through the robed girl's pockets. Gleaming and glittering objects in many bright colours were cast aside as he frantically searched for something - maybe a first aid kit?

Valerie had too many problems of her own to spare her attackers much attention. Adrenaline slowly burning away as things calmed down, many scrapes, bruises and other issues vied for her attention.

The very brief battle - more of an exchange of blows, really - had reduced her gym clothes to smoking, cut-up rags, making the blonde very grateful for the lateness of the hour and mostly empty streets. Not the cold, though; every gust of frozen wind, every snowflake touching bare skin sent more shivers through her limbs. Whatever that blue fire the robed girl conjured had been, it had cut through her previous resistance to cold quite thoroughly. Last but definitely not least, the boy-knight had given her a shallow cut on the shoulder that was thankfully no longer bleeding and a red bruise over her stomach that was rapidly turning purple.

The urge to pick up the armored idiot and ring his helmeted head a few times against a wall mounted with every tallied injury, but then went away as the seriousness of the situation finally hit her. I... have no idea how serious these wounds are, she thought, kneeling on the snow as the nausea and pain in her gut intensified. When was the last time mom took me to a doctor? Six... no, seven years ago? Can't even remember what it was about. Not that she could go to any doctors, she realized. All it would take was a needle breaking against skin and she'd be outed. What do heroes do when wounded, anyway?

Trying not to be seen spying on them, she kept an eye on the two younger kids. The boy must have finally found what he was looking for, because he put something gleaming and red on the unconscious girl's forehead, then fell back with a relieved sigh. It was... a red crystal? In fact, now that Valerie was paying attention she saw that all the bits and pieces scattered across the snow during his frantic seach were like that; crystals, vials, beads, rods... everything was made of coloured glass or was a glass container filled with some liquid or powder. They reminded her nothing so much as the trinkets sold in those New Age stores that had been all the rage since the first magic-using heroes made an appearance.

The red crystal on the girl's forehead flashed once, twice, three times... then the previously unconscious kid sprang to life. She looked around, patted herself once or twice to confirm that yes, she was OK after tanking the energy blast that had bruised Valerie... then slugged her companion in the face. One moment the teenage knight was smiling widely in relief, the next he was reeling in pain and disbelief.

That's so unfair! Valerie complained in the privacy of her thoughts. Not only does she have a healing crystal, but she gets to give that idiot a bloody nose!

"...told you a hundred times; watch out where you're pointing that wand!" she berated her partner.

"It's not a wand, it's a taz-"

"It's a finger-thin rod about a foot long, it's obviously a wand," she shot back dryly as if repeating a long-standing argument for the thousandth time. "I also told you to only use it on villains."

"She was climbing the building!"

"Yes, because heroes never climb buildings," Valerie immediately interjected. "If I were a villain would I have let you heal your friend?" Both teens fixed her with a stare at that, the boy sporting a rather mulish expression. What?

"You... are even newer in the hero business than us, aren't you?" the girl told her with some surprise and Valerie resisted the urge to get immediately defensive. OK, yeah, she was new. What was wrong with that? How could the kid even tell? "Look, I'm sorry we attacked you, White Knight is kind of a trigger-happy meathead," she added, patting the boy's armored back.

"...am not," he mumbled after a brief pause. It wasn't particularly convincing.

"As a new hero though," the girl continued as if her companion hadn't spoken, "it's a good idea to make yourself known to the community, OK? Maybe get one of the older heroes to show you the ropes? Not just to avoid misunderstandings; there are some things that don't make it to the forums, you know?"

Valerie didn't know. She was too bruised and tired to argue though, except for one thing.

"Why does it have to be an older hero?" The two of them were right there. Couldn't they just tell her what she needed to know? Or set up a meeting for later if there was a lot to discuss.

"It's the rules," the boy in the silver and purple armored costume retorted as if that was all that needed to be said. Then that last bit clicked and Valerie saw him in a new light. Oh crud, it's White Knight as in 'knight templar'.

"It's not just about the rules, it's complicated," the girl added. "Just... just speak to one of the locals like Crimson Countess or Jack Everyman, OK? It's late and we really stayed out too long." And about as abruptly as they had appeared, the heroic duo retreated through the snow.

Left sitting in the snow as the wind picked up, the blonde teenager felt thoroughly nonplussed. Was this... how heroes normally interacted? It was about as awkward as it was sudden... and brief. In fact, compared to how younger kids could talk her ear off in school if she let them, everything except for the fighting itself felt off. Maybe it was because they were new like her?

Not something to solve at four in the morning, she decided. She still had a building to climb and evidence of late night shenanigans to get rid of. Just covering the bruises with make-up would take her half an hour. Wait, why didn't I ask them to heal me? It would take, like, three seconds with that crystal of theirs.

Valerie suddenly felt like hitting her head on the nearest wall, structural damage be damned.

xxxx xxxx

"Wake up sleepyhead, it's time for school."

Her dad's voice took Valerie's headache from 'pounded by sledgehammer' straight into 'industrial drill' territory. The previous night's escapades and subsequent evidence disposal combined with the early wake-up call meant she was running on less than three hours of sleep that morning. Or maybe lack of sleep had nothing to do with it, she thought as her glare in the bathroom mirror was met with puffy red eyes and a runny nose. Maybe after that freezing blue fire the night before she was coming down with a cold.

The good thing about increased durability was that the cold water felt only pleasantly cool, much like the freezing night had. And another glance in the mirror confirmed her teeth were a lot whiter than she remembered them being. She probably wouldn't have to worry about cavities in the future any more than she would spots or blemishes; not only were the night's bruises gone but grime and muck slid off with the barest effort leaving behind skin that looked as if it were airbrushed.

She found the bad thing about increased durability, as far as her morning ablutions were concerned, when the first razor broke. Immediately replacing it and paying more attention the second time around, she felt the blade scraping against the barely visible blond stubble as if they were steel wires. To her relief shaving still worked, but it took her entire supply of razors to finish and a couple of her mother's supply to boot. If her durability increased any further, she'd have to - shudder - go without.

Finding a solution to that immediately went to the top of her to-do list, right above getting a handle on her abilities and looking into the weirdness with those two kids. After sleeping on it, she was beginning to think the latter half of that encounter the two of them had been spooked - and not about the case of friendly fire.

Double-checking to make sure nothing looked out of place and last night's wounds were indeed gone, she noticed her right hand smoking. Or rather, any water touching the still warm 'magic' ring turning into steam. With a frown she put it under the shower and with a prolonged hiss, clouds of steam filled the bathroom. The hell? It didn't feel searing hot or anything...

...stupid, stupid, stupid, she'd forgotten to account for durability. Would the damn thing burn a normal person's hand, or something? She had to be more careful. That said, better to see what it wanted to show her before it accidentally burned something important.

Name: Valerie Grant Bio: 17-year old female Aspect: Force ENHANCED ATTRIBUTES ENHANCED SKILLS POWERS Strength 1.11 none detected Deflection Field 1.01 Durability 1.90 Force Adjustment 1.03

Those... were considerable differences. Her strength and durability had both increased by a little, but as they'd done so during testing as well it was only to be expected even if she didn't know why they did so. Maybe they could be trained, like muscles? Far more interesting were the new additions; not one but two active powers. The first was probably how that energy beam had bounced the night before, but what was the second about?

Deflection Field: block or parry attacks - active effect. Area currently limited to hands. Deflection vector currently random. Uncontrolled.

Force Adjustment: increase/reduce forces applying to/from user by factor of 2.06 - sustained. Currently indiscriminate/subconscious.

Wait, the ring could show detailed descriptions like that? Conventient... and maybe a bit alarming? Who had even made something so complex? Finding more information about it was becoming a priority.

As for the powers themselves, they seemed pretty straightforward. The first had been responsible for bouncing the beam then and made for a nice defense - if she could learn to use it controllably. Bouncing bullets might look cool in the movies but she'd already seen how someone could get hit by accident.

The second was kinda odd. It increased and reduced 'forces'? What counted as a force - physical blows? Moving around? Pushing and lifting things? She hadn't noticed anything like that happening and a factor of at least two was by no means small. Plus both indiscriminate and subconscious? At least it wasn't some esoteric power, like shapeshifting or magic. How did people with those kind of powers learn how to use them? Even with the ring to give her a description of what her powers did, there was no hint on how to activate them at all.

Feeling rather stupid, she tried to will them to work. Nothing changed. She closed her eyes, tried to focus like she'd learned in that yoga class the year before last... still nothing. Then she tried pushing various emotions into where she imagined her powers were inside her; there was a lot of frustration to go around and it kept growing at the lack of results. Speaking backwards, repeating famous catchphrases and 'magic' words, gesturing at nobody in particular... nope. Not a peek of power.

As was the case with everyone that had powers, there were far more potential ways to activate them that anyone could actually test, including actions that would be suicidal without the power in question. Like birds thrown off the nest to reflexively use their wings, people had died repeating the origin stories of famous heroes. Unlike said heroes they found out they lacked wings halfway through the fall - or a flight power as the case ma-.

"Sweetie, it's eight thirty," her dad's voice came through the door, interrupting her train of thought. "Did you fall asleep in the bathtub?"

Shit, she was gonna be late for school!