This is a collaboration between PSMalcolm and I. Two characters from her book, Stuck on Vacation with Ryan Rupert, are in this, as well as characters from this book. If you like it, I highly recommend her books. You can find them on her profile.

The car hiccupped, jittering and spluttering as I fiddled with the ignition, a feeling of despair slowly building in my chest. It was freezing— like, way colder than I was used to, and my main concern was getting the heater going on full blast.

A few yards away, Ryan was locking the hotel room, almost completely hidden under a heavy grey coat. He shivered in the light snowfall. Before now, I'd never seen snow myself, but Ryan had, and had luckily forewarned me that my knit hoodies and yoga pants weren't going to make the cut for this kind of weather. Though it still felt as if we'd spent the night in a frozen ice cube.

I tried the car once more, and when it refused to start, I groaned with frustration and banged my hands on the wheel. Ryan propped the car door open, having seen my frustration.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Something is wrong with the car. How are we going to make it to Markusville?"

Ryan frowned and leaned into the car to examine everything— like that was going to be helpful. I shivered, rubbing my arms.

"You're letting all the cold air in," I said finally. I didn't want to complain. He was trying to help. But... I just hated the cold.

"Let me jump in and try. You take the keys back to reception," he suggested, handing over a set of tiny silver keys. I nodded, shuffling out of the seat, the keys clutched in my hand, and marched hurriedly through the thin snow layer covering the ground towards the main office building.

I was immediately thankful to enter the welcoming warmth of the office. The lady graciously accepted the keys when I handed them over and wished us a pleasant drive. Which it had been so far. We'd left Tallahassee early morning yesterday, driven seven hours to Nashville and stopped for a coffee break, then continued on for another five hours and stopped at St. Louis for the night. It had been such an awesome experience to pack up for a few days, hit the road with just each other's company over the winter break, see some beautiful new scenery and head somewhere a bit more exciting than our hometown.

Or, at least, that's what I'd thought until now. I had no idea it would be this cold, and it wasn't even snowing hard!

Heading back out into the cold was possibly the worst decision I'd ever made, and I found myself truly questioning whether I cared enough for adventure to endure this torturous weather much longer. Luckily, my thoughts didn't last long, as the car suddenly roared to life. Ryan revved it a few times, but our car was purring away like nothing had even happened. Ryan flashed a smug grin my way and I couldn't help but smile. I was so happy that the car had started.

Racing to the passenger side I jumped in and relished in the slowly forming warmth.

"How did you get it to start?" I asked him, genuinely curious. He shrugged.

"Persistence," was his reply. I couldn't help but frown a little.

"Persistence? You mean we were lucky it started? You didn't find the problem?"

"Relax, Aubs," he said smoothly, taking my hand in his as he began to back out of the lot. "The car probably just wasn't used to the cold and needed to warm up a bit. There's nothing to worry about."

I bit my lip, unable to shake a bad feeling.

"I think we should get it checked," I said firmly. "We've got the entire day to get to Markusville, and it will only take five or so hours from here. It would be worthwhile to make sure nothing's wrong with the engine instead of risking breaking down in the middle of nowhere."

"Why spend all that unnecessary money?" Ryan replied, pulling out onto the highway. "Nothing like that's going to happen in five hours Aubs. If anything were to happen, it would have happened yesterday when we drove for twelve hours."

Clearly I wasn't going to be listened to, so with a huff that was actually visible in the crisp air, I folded my arms and gave up.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Ryan continued to rattle on about my paranoia, until he finally put on some music which distracted us both for an hour. The sun wasn't visible in the cloudy sky, but that didn't take away from the beauty around us. The landscape was covered in a blanket of white, with the occasional dry patch here and there. I was wonderstruck by it.

Ryan stopped for some fuel and to grab us both a coffee before continuing on, and it was only at that point that the snowfall picked up. I didn't think much of it at first, but after a while it became evident that it was getting harder and harder to drive in. A nervous feeling developed in my chest and I began to worry for both of our safety as the snow became so constant that it started to hinder our vision of the road. Ryan slowed right down and squeezed my hand reassuringly for a brief moment before returning his steady hand to the wheel. I clutched my coffee, much too focused on what was going on ahead of us to even think about drinking it, and after two hours of intense driving I realized it had grown cold in my hand.

"This weather is insane," I pointed out finally. "I don't know much about snow but I'm pretty sure it doesn't get this intense at this time of the year... we're practically being snowed in!"

"I know, right?" Ryan replied, gritting his teeth with concentration.

"Maybe we should pull over..." I added, feeling incredibly hesitant to continue on the way we were when I could barely make out the headlights passing by us and the signs guiding us along the road, which was no longer visible.

"I'll have to find a place to pull over," Ryan replied, but he hadn't disagreed. And he was right— if we stopped in the middle of the road, despite the intensity of the situation, there was no guarantee a huge truck wouldn't come out of nowhere and wipe us out, not having seen us in the storm.

Ryan and I desperately looked for a turn off or a truck stop, or even just a safe parking spot on the side of the road, but we couldn't determine anything in the weather. The frosty wind reminded me of a tornado— and I wasn't entirely convinced we weren't in one to be completely honest.

Just when I thought the situation was looking grim, it got a whole lot worse as the engine began to splutter and jitter once more. I shot an alarmed look at Ryan, which then developed into a pointed glare.

"I told you to get the engine looked at!" I scolded, as we rolled to a sudden stop in the middle of the road. "Now what! Not only are we broken down in the middle of the goddamn road— we're stuck in a chaotic snowstorm that I'm certain is a cross between a hurricane, which pretty much guarantees no one's going to be able to come out and help us anytime soon. Let alone find us! And that all depends on whether we don't get wiped out by a truck!"

"Okay... just hold on a sec," Ryan insisted, trying to mask his panic. "We'll be okay— we just need to start the engine again."

He gave it a few tries, but this time the car wasn't having it. It shuddered with less enthusiasm than earlier that morning, and eventually got to a point where it just gave up altogether. Ryan clicked the ignition back and forth rapidly only to receive absolutely no response at all. His expression became grim as he slowly turned to me.

"Okay, Plan B..." he said lightly, trying not to dampen the already sour mood. He retrieved his phone from the glovebox and started fiddling with it, only to let out a curse. "No signal..." he trailed off.

"Great! That's just great!" I said bitterly, also checking my phone but discovering he was right. I anxiously peered out the back window of the car, watching for headlights or any sign of an approaching car. It would probably be smart to get out and push it off the road to safety... but the prospect of getting out in the middle of the snowstorm was hugely unappealing.

A chill was creeping back into the air. I knew it was going to be way colder than before, especially without the heater, and reached into the back to retrieve a blanket. I let Ryan huddle under a corner of it. I was mad at him, but I couldn't punish him that much.

"I'm sorry Aubs," he said finally. "I'll listen to you next time."

"If there even is a next time," I breathed dully. Ryan gave me a quizzical look.

"Man, you can be so negative sometimes. This storm is going to pass. We'll get out of here somehow. I promise you that."

I saw the vow in his blue eyes and I knew he meant it— no matter what it took, he was going to make sure we survived this.

Suddenly, the snow storm let up, and we both turned our attention to the road ahead of us. The snow was clearing slightly, and we noticed a figure walking in the middle of our lane, straight towards us.

"Who on Earth is crazy enough to go out in the middle of this?" I asked, wide eyed with shock.

"Let alone in the middle of a busy highway," Ryan added, trying to get a better look at the figure. But before either of us got the chance to investigate much further, a sudden deafening crash sounded as the roof of our car caved above us. Ryan's alarmed eyes met mine for a split second, but a split second was all we had. A hole tore open, allowing snow to flood into the car. I screamed in terror, buried under a pile of icy, wet slush and rubble, tangled in my seatbelt, my vision completely obscured. I tried to claw my way out, but it was much too heavy, and I could barely move, let alone breathe. If I didn't get out of here fast, I was going to die— one way or another.

()()()

I halted in my tracks as soon as I saw Finn and the Convector hurtle out of the sky and smash through the roof of a parked car. Next, the sound of bending metal filled my ears, accompanied by the shrill scream of a girl.

For a moment, there was silence. Except for the whisperings of wind blowing columns of snow across the road, there was no movement or sound. I stood, shivering in my thin super suit, waiting for something to happen. If only someone would move. I silently urged Finn to get up.

Without warning, the car burst into flames. I knew it was the Convector's doing. He had a tendency to set things on fire at the worst possible time. In fact, his slight pyromania was the reason we were out here. It's not like I, as a protector of my city, could allow this rogue super to burn Markusville to a crisp right before Christmas. That would totally ruin the holiday spirit. And, despite our best efforts at doing damage control, Finn still managed to crash into a car even when he had miles of empty space to choose from. Better yet the car had civilians in it.

With a jolt, I remembered that there were people in that car. And the car was on fire. I ran across the icy road in an effort to get closer to the flaming hunk of metal that used to be a car. I used my powers to walk through the flames surrounding it. The smoke was thick, and I worried that the people inside would run out of air before I could get them to safety.

As I inched my way closer to the car, Finn, whose super name was Black Lightning, shot out of the flames, dragging the Convector behind him. I moved my focus from them and back to the people trapped in the car.

Again, I used my powers to step through wreckage. Once inside, I saw a boy and a girl, both probably a little older than I was. The girl was struggling against her seatbelt and didn't see me, but the boy was completely passed out. I couldn't tell if it was from smoke inhalation or an injury.

I decided to grab him first. I took him out of the range of the fire and laid him in a spot that only had a thin dusting of snow coating the ground. I checked his pulse, and thank God he was alive. I was about to head back to the car to get the girl out when I heard her screaming through the din of chaos that surrounded this disaster.

"Ryan!" she yelled. "Ryan!" She probably would have continued to call out for him, but was interrupted by a fit of coughing. The smoke must have been taking its toll.

I looked back at the boy, who must be Ryan, before running back to the car and using my powers to go through the crumpled metal. The orange flames cast a ghastly light upon the carnage inside the car. The girl had tears running down her face as she clawed and struggled against the roof, which was keeping her trapped in her seat. I moved closer to her, and she glanced towards me.

"Who are you?" she asked before being interrupted by another round of coughing. "How'd Ryan get out?" she rasped.

"I'm Coalescence," I said. My real name is Larkin, but I can't just tell that to people to meet on the side of the road. I then began my work on pushing the caved roof up and off of the girl.

She repeated her previous question. "How did Ryan get out?"

I tried to make my voice sound calm and reassuring as the fire burned around us. "I took him out, just like I'm going to get you out of here," I assured her. "Can you undo your seatbelt now?"

The crease between her eyebrows lessened, and she appeared to calm down. She reached down to undo her seatbelt.

"Okay," I said. "Take my hand, and you'll be able to walk out of this."

The girl tentatively reached out her hand and latched it onto mine. Not giving her the time to feel any more fear, I pulled her up and out of her seat, through the car and the fire, and into open air.

The sudden crispness of the air compared to the smothering interior of the car startled me. I could finally breathe clearly again, and could only imagine how relieved the girl must have felt. The snow still swirled around the car and made everything extremely difficult to see. I tried to pinpoint the moving figures that were the Convector and Finn, but the only thing that allowed me to tell where they were was the occasional burst of fire from the Convector.

Immediately, the girl rushed over to Ryan, who was currently laying in a bare patch in the middle of the street.

"Is he okay?" she asked. Her worried tone made it obvious that she cared for the boy immensely. She looked up at me with anxiety written all over her face.

"He should be. I'd still take him to the hospital to check for a concussion, though," I said.

She nodded, and I was about to turn away to go help Finn with the Convector when she reached out an arm to stop me.

"Wait. You're one of them. The supers," she said, stumbling over the last words. "We're here because Ryan wanted to meet one of you."

I gave the girl a wide smile before I realized I still didn't know her name. "Yeah. That's me." I paused. "I don't think I caught your name."

"I'm Aubany, and that's Ryan." She grimaced before continuing. "And we were on a road trip."

I belted out a laugh before turning around to go help Finn out. The flashes of fire were coming from the left of the car.

Once again, I was stopped from helping when Aubany asked, "What can I do to help?"

I turned my head to face her but didn't stop walking to reply. "You're a civilian; I can't let you help."

She deflated upon hearing my words. When I turned around again, I almost smashed my face into Finn's back. As per his super name, Black Lightning, he had two cords of crackling electricity that were, in fact, black in his hands. He continuously flicked them towards the Convector, who was laughing maniacally ten yards in front of us. The villain had a ball of fire in each hand and continued to advance upon us.

I stepped up to Black Lightning/Finn's side and assessed the situation. The Convector hurled a ball of fire at me, but I let it pass through my body using my powers.

Finn spoke. "I've been trying to electrocute him for the past five minutes, but I can't get closer than this or he will actually hit me with the fire." The note of panic in his voice set me on edge.

We both continued to back up, and I tried urgently to concoct a plan. "If only one of us could control water right about now."

Finn snorted and dodged a fireball. The Convector simply continued to laugh. That was also the moment I heard Aubany yelling at us.

"Get Ryan out of there!" she exclaimed, gesturing frantically to the prone form of Ryan lying sprawled on the ground.

I looked in front of me, about halfway between the Convector and us and realized that Ryan was, in fact, right in the danger zone. We must have backed up right past him without realizing it, and Aubany was probably too traumatized to move him out of the way.

I glanced at Finn. "She's right. We need to get him out of there!"

The look on Finn's face told me he was about to agree when something completely unexpected happened.

Almost in slow motion, I watched the Convector take another step forward and trip over Ryan. Then, before he could regain his footing, a snowball flew out of the air and hit him directly in the back of the head. At that point, my eyes were practically bugging out of their sockets because honestly, that aim was perfect.

We all jumped back into action as soon as we accepted what had just happened. I glanced at Aubany, who was just standing in the snow about ten feet away looking just as shocked as I felt. Finn rushed towards the Convector and I watched as two coils of electricity snaked around the villain. We were safe, and it was all thanks to Ryan being passed out in the middle of the road.

Two hours later, after we flew Ryan to the hospital, he woke up, and we learned that he was completely uninjured, we all found ourselves sitting in a booth at a local diner.

"So you're telling me," began Ryan, "that I singlehandedly took down a super villain?" he asked, a look of incredulousness present on his face.

Aubany cut in. "Well. Not singlehandedly. I threw a snowball at him."

Ryan looked over at Aubany. "Couldn't have done it without you, Aubs." The grin on his face made it hard to believe that he'd been unconscious only two hours beforehand. "I just can't believe I missed it," he said, sounding frustrated. He looked over at Finn and me. "At least I get to meet you guys." He thought for a moment before his face brightened up. "So," he said conspiratorially, "does Superman exist?"

Finn guffawed and I just chucked at the excited gleam in Ryan's eyes. "You'll have to figure that one out for yourself," I said.

Ryan looked excitedly over at Aubany. "I think this calls for another road trip."