PROLOGUE

The apartment building was totally ablaze. Flames licked the concrete structure as firemen surrounded it, trying to put out the hungry fire with their hoses.

An older, grizzled veteran of a fireman tells his younger colleague, “I heard there’s a kid in there. But there’s no way we can get in there while the fire is that bad.”

“I think I can give it a try,” a voice said behind them.

The firemen turned around them. Behind them was a young, athletic looking woman. A girl really. She was dressed in blue spandex and a mask that only left the bottom of her face visible. A brown ponytail sprouted from the back of her mask and she was wearing a pink beanie hat. Her boots and gloves were a dark brown.

“You’ll die in there, lady. That fancy masked vigilante outfit won’t protect you from the fire,” the older fireman said.

“Besides that, the building is going to collapse if the fire keeps burning like that,” the younger fireman said.

“It will make sense. That’s why I’m Invulnergirl,” the young woman told them. “You see, I’m indestructible. Invulnerable.”

“Huh, haven’t heard of you before,” the old man said. “You with the Heroic Alliance?”

“Nope. I’m pretty new at this. Just let me do what I do best.” With those words she ran towards the burning building.

The flames give off so much light Invulnergirl has to cover her eyes a bit as she walks into the building. While the flames lick her skin they don’t hurt her. Her body ablaze she walks the stairs of the building.

“Hey! Anybody in there? I’m here to save you!” she yells as she moves through the hallways, banging on doors, scanning for anyone still in there.

Then she hears a scream for help. “Help! I’m over here!”

Squinting to see through the smoke Invulnergirl spots a young boy, about seven years old huddled in the corner of the hallway. She runs towards him. She tells him, “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of there.”

That’s when part of the ceiling drops down on her, covering her with debris. If only she wasn’t just invulnerable but also super strong. Then she would have been able to get the debris off of her in seconds. Now she was stuck under the large pieces of ceiling.

The pieces of debris were slowly sliding off. Just enough so she could move her arms again and shove off the rest. She saw the boy push against the pieces of debris with all the strength he could muster.

She was free of the debris and grabbed the boy’s hand. “Thanks a lot, kid. Now let’s get out of here before more of the building collapses.”

They made their way down the stairs, Invulnergirl covering the boy from harm with her indestructible body. Left and right pieces of the building started to collapse. She understood time was really running out.

She told the boy, “We’re going to have to leave the building right now. It’s really going to collapse now. Hold on to me.”

“Hold on?”

She grabbed the boy in her arms and ran for a window. Protecting the boy with her body she jumped right through, what was left of the glass shattering. The ground rushed at them while behind them there was a loud rumble as the building collapsed. She landed on her back, holding the boy up in her arms, taking all of the impact of the wall. And where any regular person’s back would have broken into pieces, Invulnergirl was totally unharmed.

Firemen and paramedics came running at them. Quickly they took the boy from her, immediately putting him on a stretcher.

“Holy crap. Are you okay?” the older fireman asked Invulnergirl.

The indestructible young woman got back on her feet, brushing off debris from her spandex. “Yeah, totally. Told you I’m invulnerable, right?”

“How? How can that be?” the fireman wondered.

“That’s quite a story, but I’ll keep that to myself,” Invulnergirl said, smiling.