“Good afternoon, all you citizens of the planet Earth! This is GNN and I’m your host, Brendan Baird, bringing global updates for global viewers. Today we have a most disturbing tale: Mystery Murder in Mexico! A man was found dead in the courtyard of a warehouse, with no sign of the killer! Even more ominous, authorities did not find a weapon and could not identify the nature of his wounds, or what caused them."

"The warehouse was suspected to have connections with drug cartels, and so the Mexican authorities are treating this as another instance of cartel violence. But GNN’s own investigations found little sign that the warehouse was assaulted by a rival cartel. Eyewitnesses did not see anyone enter the warehouse, only the occupants fleeing in a panic, so our analysts say it is too early to identify a suspect."

"What do you think folks, is this just another bloody page in the tragedy of drug violence? Or is this the sign of a terrifying new player? Stay with us as GNN consults the experts, to find out! Now for a quick word from our sponsors."

A teenage boy walked down into an empty alleyway. He had short brown hair, lighter tanned skin, and brown eyes. He was of average build for a boy his age, wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts. He glanced around the alley.

Behind him stepped a figure in jeans and a hoodie, hood pulled up. Sunglasses and a mask hid their face as they approached the boy. As they stepped closer and closer, the boy turned around.

“W-Who are you?”

“Antonio, it’s me.”

“Constanza? What’s going on? What’s with the getup? Why the heck are we in this alley?”

Constanza held up a gloved finger to the mask and whispered to the boy.

“There’s, there’s something I have to show you.”

Constanza glanced back over her shoulder at the entrance to the alley, then removed her sunglasses and mask.

“Whoa! What happened to your hair?! And your eyes?!”

“Shhh! Keep it down, Antonio!”

Her hair was pure white, her eyes a pale blue.

“Just, what happened?”

“I don’t know! I got this weird flower in the mail and…”

Antonio stared with narrowed eyes.

“Constanza, I thought we agreed to stay away from all that?”

She bopped his head with a gloved fist.

“You’re a jerk, Antonio! You KNOW I would never! I’ve never seen this flower before and all I did was touch it!”

“Then what happened?”

“I don’t know! There was a flash of light and then I was lying on the floor and the flower was gone! And when I looked in the mirror I saw this!”

Antonio shrugged.

“I mean, that’s really weird, but I don’t see why you’re going to all this fuss. Just tell people you dyed your hair or something. Eyes will be harder but you can just say it’s contacts or something.”

Constanza stared at him, and then silently removed one of her gloves. She placed her hand on the nearby wall. Antonio’s eyes widened.

Ice crystals started to grow along the wall.

“Do you get it now?”

“That’s…”

“Just what am I going to do?!”

“That’s amazing!”

Constanza blinked.

“Huh?”

“Constanza, you’re a super now! You’re just like Icy Falcon!”

Constanza blinked some more.

“Just like…Icy Falcon?”

Her face began to flush.

Antonio snapped his fingers.

“Drool later, ok, so what can you do?”

Constanza blinked some more as she wiped the edge of her mouth.

“Um, I don’t know. I called you right after it happened.”

Antonio nodded and grabbed her hand.

He let it go with a cry and shook his hand.

“Sorry! A-Are you alright?”

“Y-Yea, I was just surprised.”

Constanza put her gloves, sunglasses, and mask back on. Antonio shook his head, then started walking, motioning at Constanza to follow.

“Come on, I know a place we can go.”

Antonio and Constanza stood in the middle of an empty warehouse. There were holes in the roof, and red grew along the metal panels. Some of the windows were shattered, and the boxes inside had black and green streaks along their side.

“Ok, show me what you got!”

Constanza nodded, pulling down her hood, mask, and glasses, then removing her gloves. She held out her hand, fingers open and palm facing forward.

“Um, is something supposed to happen?”

Constanza pulled her hand back and then pushed it forward once more. She tried it three quick times in succession. She tried with both arms, and then waved her hands around while holding her arms out.

“Um, is that the right way to do it?”

“I don’t know! I’ve never had superpowers before!”

Antonio rubbed his chin and tilted his head for a second.

“Maybe it’s a different motion? Try something different?”

Constanza nodded. She curled her hand into a fist and swung it forward.

Jabs, swings, uppercuts, haymakers. Front kicks, roundhouse kicks, back kicks, leaping kicks. Baseball throws. Basketball throws. Soccer kicks. Finger guns. Jumping jacks. Twirls. Pirouettes.

Constanza slouched over, breathing heavy.

“How about pushups?”

She just glared at him. Antonio waved his hands in front of him.

“Ok, ok, no more motions. Maybe it’s voice activated? Try saying something!”

“What should I say?”

“How should I know? Just say whatever comes to mind!”

“You’re no help.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t know how to use her own powers.”

“I just got them!”

“Constanza, focus.”

“...fine.”

Constanze took a deep breath and closed her eyes. What to say, what to say. Something that might be related to this. Something like…

Her eyes shot open.

She had an idea.

She pulled her right arm back by her side, curling her fingers into a fist. She brought up her arm behind her, elbow angled forward so her fist was parallel to the ground. She knelt down, right knee on the ground, left knee at a ninety degree angle. She began to shake her fist, curling her arm up.

“Falcooooon…PUNCH!”

She pushed off with her right leg, swinging her body and thrusting her fist forward with all her might.

Nothing happened.

There was a moment of silence.

For the first time since the incident, Constanza’s face felt hot.

She quickly glanced at Antonio.

He had a massive grin on his face.

She slowly covered her face with both her hands.

“You…”

“Don’t say anything.”

“So that…”

“Don’t. Say. Anything.”

Antonio just chuckled. A high-pitched whine eeked out of Constanza.

A few minutes later…

“FREEZE! Ice, on! Winter has come! Ice, activate! Let it go! Cold! Cool down! Frost! Blizzard! Blizzaga! Cone of cold! Falcon ice!”

Antonio paced back and forth while Constanza knelt in a corner, face hidden behind her hands. Antonio suddenly stopped.

“I have an idea.”

“No…no more…I refuse…”

“No more catchphrases.”

Constanza opened her fingers slightly and peeked between them.

“If you humiliate me any more I’ll never talk to you again.”

“Have you felt anything different?”

“Huh?”

“Like, does anything feel different? About your body? Or inside you? Maybe you should focus on that.”

Constanza dropped her hands and tilted her head. She felt, cooler? Maybe? She sat there for a moment. She twirled her hair. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She focused inward. Legs? Waist? Stomach? Torso? Arms? Head? Something, anything out of place.

And then she felt it.

More with her heart than her body. More a feeling than a fact. She didn’t know what it was. She couldn’t even describe it. But something, something was there, flowing through her. Almost like a cool mist, a foggy cloud idling within her.

She reached out to the cloud, focusing on its location in her body. It dispersed. She frowned, and searched once more. There it was. She jumped at it. It dispersed again. She found it once more in her stomach this time. This time, she reached out slowly, gently.

She felt something connect. The cloud jumped and then sat still.

As if it was waiting.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she encouraged the cloud to move. From the pit of her stomach up to her chest, from her chest to her shoulder, then down her arms to the tips of her fingers.

She slowly raised her hand, fingers held out and forward.

The cloud shot forward.

“Whoa!”

Constanza opened her eyes. A cone of fog drifted in front of her, passing mere inches from where Antonio stood. He rubbed his arms while walking over to her, his teeth clattering.

“A-A little warning next time?!”

“S-Sorry.”

The two just stared at each other for a moment.

Slowly, they both began to grin.

On the roof of a building overlooking the warehouse stood a man. He had a pair of binoculars in his hand, a mask on his face.

Bob watched as foggy clouds condensed down, streaks of blue and white appearing on floors and crates. He rubbed his chin.

He nodded and pulled out his phone.

“Miguel.”

“Bob! It’s good to hear from you. What can I do for you, my friend?”

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Of course! Anything for you, Bob.”

After the conversation Bob hung up the phone. He put away both the phone and the binoculars and started to walk away.

His face was curled into a frown.

"Heroes are so...annoying."