Emily Monroe Is Not The Chosen One

Night Shift

By Erik Schubach

Copyright © 2018 by Erik Schubach

Self publishing

P.O. Box 523

Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026

Cover Photo © 2018 Maxutov / DepositPhotos.com license and Makyzz / Freepik.com license

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties.  Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or broadcast.

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Manufactured in the United States of America

FIRST EDITION

Chapter 1

Welcome To My Life

I stood in the alley doorway of Big Burger as I looked over my singed uniform.  I dusted cherry red embers from the hem of my skirt and apron in the strobing lights of the emergency vehicles.  I watched Containment Agents wheel Firebug away on a gurney, in power dampening cuffs, to the waiting ambulance.

Aw maaan, I'd have to buy yet another uniform.  I wonder if Mrs. Yamamoto's Powered Mishap insurance would pay for it.  It isn't like I made a fortune here on the night shift, flipping burgers.  I brushed my brunette locks back over my shoulder and found some singed ends that smelled like... well, like burning hair.  Aw, maaan!

Sometimes I wonder just where my life went wrong.  A twenty-six-year-old with a degree in Powered Science should not be relegated to working fast food.  But because of my personal curse, I find that nobody wants to hire me, as it would make their business a target for all the crazy wannabe supervillains here in Big City.

Mrs. Yamamoto is a friend of the matron of the orphanage I grew up in, and she seems to not care that I get her place trashed every other week.  Not because of who I am, but because of who I look like.  I think all the insurance claims are making her more than the receipts here at Big Burger.

Reporters in the growing crowd behind the crime scene tape were shouting questions to the Containment Agents.  “Agents, what happened here?”  “What is that sticking up under the sheet behind Firebug?”  “Did a super take him down?”

Then I sighed heavily and quickly stepped back inside and closed the door when some teen boy shouted like a fangirl, pointing at me, “It's the Chosen One!”  Crap on toast.  I saw flashes around the door as reporters took pictures too late.

I rolled my eyes as I trudged into the now empty restaurant and started picking up the mess.

I guess I should introduce myself.  I'm Emily Monroe, and I most certainly am NOT the Chosen One.  I just happen to look freakishly like her, and I did my damndest to change my appearance, so crap like this didn't happen.  I so hated Big City's superhero darling, the Chosen One, for looking like me, it has ruined my life.

In a world where superpowers are fairly common, I got stuck with looking like the one superhero who could manifest virtually unlimited abilities in order to fight the growing number of powered people who went the other way and decided to use their abilities for nefarious purposes.

Supervillains outnumbered Superheroes almost three to one in most cities, but they didn't have the Chosen One.  I especially hate her because I actually do have powers... extremely lame powers.  I can change both my eye color and the color of my finger and toenails.

While saving me a bit on the cost of nail polish, and helping me to try not to look like the blonde haired blue eyed flying sweetheart of the city, my powers are laughably pathetic.  On the Peltier Scale, where zero is unpowered, and fifty is what they call Prime, the most powerful people in the world, I'm a zero point one, the Chosen One is a forty-nine point nine.

I dyed my hair brunette back in high school, and grew it in long when the teenaged sensation first showed up to save the day at city hall.  Back when the Subjugator had shown up to mesmer the leaders of the city, and bend them to her will.

The sassy blonde with her cute pixie cut made short work of the villain and has been the defacto protector of Big City ever since.  Everyone started pointing at me because I looked exactly like her, almost scarily so.

So I changed my blue eyes brown and have dyed my hair brunette ever since.  One day I might be able to save enough to get some cosmetic surgery to change my looks, so I didn't have to live under her shadow my entire life.  But on a night manager's salary, it isn't happening anytime soon.  She's already ruined everything I have.

I wouldn't have been able to attend college with all the wannabe villains attacking me to make a name for themselves, if not for the Powered Discrimination Law for education establishments.  They couldn't expel me for damage to the school and facilities by supers.

After graduation, I found the cold reality that most businesses wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole, not believing my vehement assurances that I wasn't the Chosen One's secret identity.  They didn't want their businesses trashed if I was 'found out.'

So... now I flip a mean burger on the night shift, where nobody would look for the Chosen One.  Unfortunately, sometimes a fanboy or fangirl will 'recognize me' and post on Twitter or Instagram and bam... a day or two later I have idiots like Firebug torching booth one, trying to get me to fight them.

I stepped through the swinging door out of the kitchen and into the restaurant dining room and looked at the mess, sighed, and started cleaning up as Hector, the counter attendant helped.

I looked over at the corner table by the restrooms, to see my roommate, Violet was still working on her computer tablet, drawing the latest issue of Blue Canary.  She's been my best friend since the orphanage, where my birth parents had dumped me as a baby.  And she's a damn good artist, being one of the top comic book talents, and was in high demand.

Unfortunately, her other most popular comic was... of course, the Chosen One.  Her two titles just happened to be about two of the most famous superheroes here in Big City.  It was ironic, I know, but it paid our rent and most of our bills.  I dumped as much into our expenses as I could with my meager salary, and always felt as though I was sponging off my BFF.

She looked up and grinned at me.  I shook my head at her with a slight smirk. “How is it that you can always just sit there through something like this and never get hurt, Vi?  I'd swear that you were powered, with some sort of luck field, if we didn't know you were a Norm.”

Norms, or Normals, is what people who scored a zero on the Peltier Scale were called by those of us who were powered.  Bigoted supers used the Zeroes slur, which I have never understood, since Norms outnumbered them ten to one and they would overwhelm us if they ever felt we were too much of a threat.  Well, I guess I'm part of 'them,' though I'm close enough to a Norm.

My friend smiled and shrugged, her swoopy violet hair bobbing like quail feathers; yes I know, she takes her name seriously.  That was about as chatty as she got.  And with that, she went back to work with her electronic sketch pad.

Hector asked under his breath, “Does this happen a lot?  I swear I never told anyone your secret.”

I muttered in exasperation, splaying my fingers, “Again, not the Chosen One.”

He looked over at me nervously and nodded. “I understand.”

Fricking donut holes, he still thinks I'm her.  And he looked scared.  He was going to rabbit after tonight, I knew the look.  He was terrified of supervillains coming in and trashing the place and him getting hurt.  I guess I couldn't blame him.  Mrs. Y was going to have to hire another assistant for me.  At least Hector lasted a week.

He whispered to me as I righted the last chair and grabbed the broom and dustpan to sweep up the debris, “How did you jam the nozzle of the fire extinguisher up his ass like that?  Was it your super strength?”

I growled out, “Not the Chosen One, Hector.  The only thing super about it was how super mad I was that the asshole chased away the customers and torched my favorite booth.”

He looked dubious and afraid. “But he was powered, flames were shooting from his hands.  And you stopped him.”

I sighed and droned out as I rolled my eyes, “Doesn't take a genius or a powered person to figure out how to put out a fire.  You could have done the same with any fire extinguisher, well except the shoving it up his posterior thing.  That was just for pissing me the hell off.”

Vi chuckled from the corner, causing a smile to quirk at my lips.  I was glad I amused her, see if she gets a free burger tomorrow.

I told Hector as I nudged my chin toward the strobing lights outside, “They'll bumble around out there all night before they open the crime scene.  We'll be shut down till morning for the breakfast crowd.  Why don't you take the rest of the night off?”

The words 'Open 24 Hours' painted on the doors may as well read 'Open Between Arrests,' since we locked the doors so often with me around.  The kid didn't need to be told twice, and he was out the door like a shot.  I doubt we'd get the uniform back, so he wouldn't be collecting his paycheck for the week.  That might make up for the lost sales tonight.

Aww man, now I'd have to call Mrs. Yamamoto and let her know.  I was hoping to go incident free this month.

Violet muttered her astute observation from behind her computer tablet, “Never see him again.”

Ok, I had to grin as I asked with amused chagrin, “Ya think?”

Her grin was all the response I'd get, I knew.  She really only had loose lips when she was tipsy, I was surprised she decided to interject here at all.  And when she decided to add to a conversation, she was generally funny as hell.

I sighed and put away the cleaning supplies and took some pictures of the booth for the insurance company.  I winced, glad that it was illegal to deny coverage just because of multiple claims.  You just know the people over at Big City Insurance hated me.  Oh, and we had to get reimbursed for the fire extinguisher, I'm sure Mrs. Y wouldn't want it back, after its expedition to parts unknown.

Maybe I should walk across the street to Big Mart to grab a new one once the authorities were done with me.

Almost on cue, the bell above the door tinkled as two Containment Agents walked in, instead of the local police.  Yup, there goes the rest of my night.  These guys are anal to the nth degree with their questioning.  Especially Agent Asaunt here.

I watched as the man took his English driving cap off, who did he think he was?  Sherlock?  He looked at the booth, then at me.  He audibly sighed, and his shoulders slumped as his low grating voice droned out, “We meet again, Miss Monroe.”

The female agent with him, who stayed behind at the door must be new, I thought I had met all the local Containment Agents.  And damn, if she hadn't been an agent, the chestnut-haired beauty would have had my motor running, especially with her brilliant green eyes.  She looked a little surprised and upset when she looked at me, making motions with her eyes toward me which I didn't understand.

I assumed she had already labeled me troublemaker like all the rest, even though none of it was my fault.  I tore my eyes from her, to settle my practiced innocent look the other bane of my existence...  Special Agent Harmon Asaunt.

I asked, “How's it hanging Agent Asshat?”

He corrected with arrogant disdain, “That's Agent Asaunt, Miss Monroe.”

I know I shouldn't be one to cast stones with names, I was stuck with the last name Monroe because the prior director of Big City Orphanage had a pervy fascination with Marilyn Monroe.  When I was found on the doorstep there, the basket I was found had a metal tag with the letters EM1-LY342 on it.  So they called me Emily, and Doctor Graves said Doe and Smith were so overused, so he saddled me with Emily M. Monroe.  I don't have to tell you what the M was for.

I nodded. “Sorry, my bad Agent Asshaunt.”

The other woman grinned cutely, covering her mouth with a hand to hide that grin.  She saw my eyes on her, and she sobered quickly and made another gesturing look with her face that I didn't get.  I would have paid to have her question me instead of ol' Harmon here.  She was too cute to be an Agent.

The man pulled my attention back to him. “You're just a magnet for Powered Incidents, Miss Monroe.  It would almost leave me thinking this was some sort of insurance fraud scam going on if you didn't get hurt so much.”  He nudged his eyes to the gauze wrapping my left bicep where I had minor burns from Firebug's first punch, where he had caught me off guard.

Violet sat up at that, and took her first good look at me since the attack.  Great Harmon, just give my best friend something to worry about.  She knew I could handle myself against most powered people up to possibly a twenty-five rating, since most are dumb as stumps and rely solely on their powers, instead of common sense.  It was really only those with superior strength that worried me.

But when I get hurt, Vi goes into mothering mode, which is why I didn't tell her I had been hurt before I went into the alley to meet the authorities, to begin with.  I exhaled.  Just swell.

The one time I went up against a super strength villain here, the Blue Canary had shown up to make short work of him.  Nobody knows what powers she has, but she's only had problems once.  When going up against a super speedster.  But she was able to clothesline him, then almost cut his legs off with a monofilament trip line from the seemingly endless cache of gadgets she has.

That time she came to my aid, she moved like a ninja and just kept out of reach of the super strength villain.  She sprayed carbon fiber instant drying foam on him which immobilized him, then toppled him with a flying roundhouse kick.  Without a word, she saluted me in a silly manner and dashed off before the authorities showed up.

Violet didn't believe me when I told her that night until she saw it on the news.  To my embarrassment, the purple haired traitor had a girl from a fast food restaurant in the next Blue Canary comic.  I hate that I love my best friend... she thinks she's funny.

I let the memory drift away as the annoying Agent went on to question me about the events tonight, and have me step him through all the actions Firebug took which involved powers.

Maybe that's why I didn't like Containment very much, they only cared about the powers and not all the collateral damage to property and people that were left behind in shambles.

He had me go through it all twice, stopping me in disbelief when I told him where I shoved the fire extinguishing nozzle, and just why it was a bad idea for both heroes and villains to wear spandex.

When he looked skeptical that I could do that without powers, I asked, “Would you like me to demonstrate for you Agent Asshorn?”

He hissed out, “Asaunt.”

I shrugged. “That's what I said.”

The other Agent snorted this time and had the sense to look embarrassed when Asaunt turned back to look at her, eyebrow cocked.  She was apparently his junior, judging by the way she straightened and took on a professional air under his scrutiny.

When they finally got everything they needed, including quantum decay radiometer readings to determine the level of power used in the past hour in the room, the other Agent gave me another one of those inscrutable looks.  Like she was asking me what I thought I was doing, or something.

I did get her name though, Agent Heather Sams, when she pressed her card into my hand firmly, making intense eye contact as they left.  I wondered absently if she might have been coming on to me.  It was hard to tell, though I knew she'd be featured in some of my special alone time later.  Too bad she was Containment or I would take a chance and call.

I pulled out my cell and tapped on Mrs. Yamamoto's emergency number and sighed heavily.  Welcome to my life.

Chapter 2

Photon

Mrs. Y was, as usual, cool about what happened.  She had only asked, “Are you ok, dear?” when I told her I was, she just said, “Good.  Then just finish out your shift and help the girls open for breakfast if they open the crime scene by then?”

I lost Violet around two when she headed home so she would be up for work in the morning at the comic studio.

I had to grin at the brand spanking new fire extinguisher on the wall when I handed my apron to Misty, the morning manager when my shift was over.  I yawned big enough to swallow the world and said through the yawn, “See you tomorrow morning ladies.”  They waved, and I thought Tony, the morning fry cook, was going to break out into song at any moment.  The dense kid was a huge Chosen One fanboy and was convinced I was her.  Idiot.

The moment I stepped into the back alley and started stumbling toward home and my warm bed, I spun, swinging my fist toward the person behind me.  Their shadow moving up to mine at my feet alerted me to their presence.

I was barely able to stop my fist just inches from Agent Sam's impeccably made-up face.  Her eyes were wide in fear and alarm as she squeaked out, “Wendy... you could have killed me!  What's wrong with you?”

I swallowed as I saw her eyes sparkling and glowing a neon blue.  But that was just like...  I whispered, “Photon?” over my fist, then realized I still had it in her face and dropped it.  Squeaking platypus puddles!  She was Photon!  I screwed my face up in confusion, I thought Containment Agents were all Norms, they didn't allow any powered people in the force to avoid any sense of favoritism toward the powered people they policed.

I asked like a goober, “Agent Sams, you're Photon?”

She stepped closer to cover my mouth then looked around the alley, and up to the security camera above the Big Burger alley door, and sighed in relief when she saw the wiring was all burned up by Firebug.

She whispered loudly, “Wendy, what are you thinking?!”  Then she looked around and grabbed my shoulder and the world blurred as it was enveloped in blue light.  I realized we were flying and wrapped my arms around her in a panic, so I didn't plummet to my death.

Photon was using her ability to manipulate photons to project the aura which she could translate herself into to fly, and she had brought me with her!  She was like my second favorite Big City superhero after Blue Canary.  The Chosen One didn't even make my list.

We wound up on top of the Big City Bank building before we were solid again, then I proceeded to puke all over her shoes.  Aw, maaan!  Smooth Emily.  I stepped away from her quickly, in case she was going to fly me somewhere else.

She snapped out, “What is wrong with you Wendy?  I know you wish you didn't have your powers, but did you really think that simply wearing color contacts would hide you?  That's as lame as thinking a pair of glasses would hide your secret identity.  Just morph so we can get to City Hall and talk about this.  Did you think the fact that changing the one thing you can't morph would make people think it wasn't you?”

Morph?  Color contacts?  I mumbled, “Who's Wendy?”  Then my eyes widened when I put it all together.  She thought I was the Chosen One too!  I asked with wide eyes, “The Chosen One's name is... Wendy?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, ha ha.  Come on.  I know how much you hate being you, but showing yourself to everyone isn't safe for the people around you.”  She exhaled as she tore the bandage off my arm. “And this isn't fooling...”  Her eyes widened in shock at the burn on my arm as she finished in a whisper, “...anyone.”

Then she looked up at me and squinted her eyes, looking closely before she whispered, “You're burned.  How?”  Then she almost accused, “Those aren't color contacts are they?”

Wait, she had inferred earlier that the chosen one couldn't morph her eyes.  She had morphing power?  Is that how she's stayed hidden for a decade?  I let my eyes bleed to blue and shook my head.

She blurted out, “Shit!”  As she realized I wasn't who she thought I was, and she had just exposed her identity to me and given me a huge clue as to who the Chosen One is.

I shrugged in apology to the gorgeous woman who looked to be almost panicking now. “I'm sorry.  I'm just Emily Monroe.  I'm not the Chosen One.  All I can do is change my eyes and,...”  I held my hand out to show her my nails changing from pink to a shiny gold foil color.  “I'm virtually a Norm.”

She just stared at me, at my eyes, and she seemed to come to some sort of realization.  Then she schooled her face, though I could see her tenseness as she tried to mitigate the damage.

I blurted before she could talk.  “I won't tell anyone.  I promise.  I hate that I look like her.  She's ruined my life.  But I won't ruin hers... I know what it is like.”

I was going to jail, wasn't I?  Or to a deep dark hole where nobody would ever find me.  Crap on a penguin.  The Chosen One has ruined my life yet again, hasn't she? At least it would be the cute one here who dragged me off.

She started pacing back and forth, mumbling to herself.  And I looked around and sat on a vent.  “Look, if you're going to disappear me into some cell somewhere.  Can we at least be about it?  I've been on my feet all night, and some flaming psychopath burned me.  I'm beat and just want to sleep.”

She stopped dead and swung her gaze to me. “Disappear you?  Why would...  I just need to think.  How could I be so boneheaded?  You don't even walk like her, or hold yourself like her.”

I shrugged as I ran my hand through my hair to stop myself from rubbing my arm, offering snidely, “Why don't you just call her and ask what to do?  I'm sure Miss Perfect would know.”

She hesitated again as she seemed to really study me.  She smirked as she supplied, “You're really nothing like her are you?”  Then she exhaled and offered, “There are others we answer to...”

I smirked at her as I got it.  “You don't know how to contact her!  She must hide herself well if other supers can't find her.”

She was quick to defend, “It isn't like we all exchange phone numbers, or have some sort of members directory you know.  I know who she is and where she works, but we all purposefully stay away from each other in our civilian lives.”

She paused when she caught that I was teasing, by the smile I was holding back for successfully ruffling her feathers.  Then she smiled at me, god, why were all the cute ones out of my league... literally in this case.  “You're not as funny as you think you are, Miss Monroe.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and yawned. “Yes I am.”  Damn, I just wanted a bed or a cell.

She tried to stay serious, but her smile never wavered.

Just then the world shook around us, and there was the deafening boom of something breaking the sound barrier streaking across the sky.  We both swung our eyes to the Big City Gazette building to see the windows on the top floors shatter as something hit the huge globe sculpture at the pinnacle of the skyscraper.

Three figures came flying in fast, wearing matching costumes.  One red, one yellow, and one blue.  I blurted as I pointed, “It's the Unholy Trinity!”  Then another sonic boom shook the rooftop as another figure came in on a bat glider, throwing exploding ghost shaped projectiles into the wreckage.  It was the Green Ghoul!

Unholy Trinity merged into her single, more powerful form, and a blast of concentrated chaotic energy slammed into the remains of the globe.

A figure in a white costume with a flowing black cape exploded from the destruction, slinging a piece of the globe that must have weighed a couple tons at Unholy Trinity.  They split apart and scattered, but the blonde hero shot intense beams of power from her eyes to explode the projectile, the shrapnel throwing the three parts of the supervillain in different directions with the force of the blast.

Even though I couldn't see her face from here, I knew that the Chosen One would likely have the classic, almost cute, crooked grin on her face as she unloaded on supers who were near the top of the Peltier Scale without holding back.  There were countless photos and videos from every media outlet of her seeming to enjoy the fights.  And she looked so hamster humping good doing it.

She darted through the air after Green Ghoul, but he sprayed what looked like insta-crete in her path that she wound up being encased in, in the blink of an eye.  The concrete tomb floated in the air as the others closed in on her.

Then the concrete exploded, unable to contain the sheer strength of... of Wendy... hehehe.  The shrapnel knocked back her four opponents.  It was amazing to watch.  I glanced over at Agent Sams as I smiled at the display of power, even though I felt sick about rooting for the Chosen One.  Then I blinked... Sams was stripping out of her professional suit, her eyes tracking the action, as she started to glow, sucking up all the photons around her.

Good god, she was beautiful as she glowed like the sun.  I blinked when I realized what everyone thought was her costume made of light... actually was just her.  Was she naked?  I mentally took a snapshot of this moment for later.

She paused when she saw my attention on her.  She said with authority, “We'll continue this conversation later.  I've got to go to work.”  Then she added quietly, “Emily.”  And just like that, she was gone in a streak of light toward the fight, as the Chosen One hit Unholy Trinity with a pile driver, sending her down to crater the street below.

The building shook as I looked down to see the Rocket Speedster on his way down Main Street in a blur to help Photon and the Chosen One out.  I watched as the super-powered rumble made its way down the street, then disappear onto Third Avenue, Photon in pursuit of the Green Ghoul.  I found myself smiling as I murmured, “Go get 'em, Sams.”

Then I turned around to go home, just to see no visible way to get off the roof.   “Aww man!”  I sighed and pulled out my cell and hit speed dial one.  On the fifth ring, she answered and I sighed out, “Vi?  I have a problem.”

I was so mortified about having to tell her about being stranded on the roof of the Big City Bank building, especially since I couldn't tell her how I had gotten here.  I had promised Sams I wouldn't, and I was a woman of my word.

Chapter 3

Fire and Ice

After Violet bailed me out of jail for trespassing on bank property after getting the authorities up on the bank roof to save me.  I finally got into bed and slept like the dead after I saw on the news that Unholy Trinity had been captured and restrained by the superheroes of Big City, separating her and containing the individual parts.

Unfortunately, the Green Ghoul got away... again.  I swear that guy has nine lives, and nobody is really even sure he has any powers as he uses all those high tech gadgets.  Only Blue Canary has ever fought him to a standstill, but he was still able to limp away.  Well, ran away like Sir Robin.

Is it wrong I felt a wave of relief seeing Photon streaking through the sky behind the picture of a smiling Chosen One as she hefted the three nullifying cages into a Containment transport?  Part of me wanted to see Sams again, while the rational part of me hoped to never see her again.  I was expecting men with black hoods to come spirit me away at any moment because I knew things I wasn't supposed to know.

The agent was hot.  And not because I always had a tiny crush on Photon, but because after she realized I wasn't who she thought I was, she saw me as someone completely different than my nemesis.  She saw Emily, not... Wendy.

I yawned and looked at the clock, two in the afternoon.  I had a few hours before work.  It seemed that was all I did after graduating college, just work and sleep.  My only real social life was hanging out with Violet.  Most of the time at Big Burger even on my off hours, or at the comic book shop where she signed copies of The Chosen One and Blue Canary for extra cash.  But she was always dashing off at odd times and didn't talk about where she was going.

I really needed to get a life or rent one out to try on for size.  I probably wouldn't know what to do with one if I got one.

I looked at the burn on my arm, and it was partially healed.  Anyone who ranked anywhere on the Peltier Scale healed faster than Norms.  The higher they ranked on the scale, the faster they healed.  Someone like Photon would have healed the burn in hours.  It would take me the better part of three days.  I guess that was about the only perk I got from having my lame abilities.

I grinned at the thought of Photon indicating that the Chosen One hid herself by morphing her form, but she couldn't change her eyes like I could.  Ha, take that! The one thing I did better than that blonde goody two shoes.  Go me.

I yawned.  I really hated the night shift.  The rest of the world was already halfway through their day.  I exhaled and stuffed my uniform into my shoulder bag and then went out to run some errands before work.  Our kitchen, as usual, was mostly empty.  It was a good thing I got free food at Big Burger, or I'd likely starve since I was so lazy about shopping.

The moment I stepped outside, I paused when I saw a Containment vehicle pull up to the curb and the passenger door opened.  “Aw man!”  What did Assnut want now?  I told him everything about Firebug last night.

I blinked when I saw Agent Heather Sams at the wheel, making hurrying motions with her hand.  “Get in, Emily”

I hesitantly got in, wondering if I should run.  That would be stupid, I couldn't outrun light.  I asked as I shut the door, keeping my hand on the handle.  “So, this is where you disappear me?”

She sighed heavily as we started down the road.  “No, this isn't where... damn it, Emily.  We're the heroes.  We don't do that.  And I really appreciate you not exposing me or the Chosen One.  You had every reason to, especially after I left you stranded on the roof like that.

I shrugged.  “It isn't my secret to tell.”  Damn, she was gorgeous in her men in black outfit.  I tried not to dweeb out.  “And thank you, by the way, I have to be in court early tomorrow.  After they realized I wasn't the Chosen One.  I was arrested for trespassing.  My roommate had to bail me out.”

She had to do a double take and then lowered her sunglasses so I could see the surprise in her eyes.  “What?  I'm so sorry.  I'll have a talk with the judge, don't worry about it.”

I shrugged, knowing I sounded a little petulant, “I'm used to the blowback from living in the shadow of supers.  Part of my curse.”

I noted her eyes on my arm, her brow creased in concern seeing it not healed yet.  She shook her head. “You really only have a sliver of power don't you?”  Why was she even here if she wasn't here to spirit me away to a deep dark hole?

I covered my burn with my hand and changed the subject, “How about you?  It looked to be a heated battle.  Are you ok?”

She shrugged and grinned, “A few bumps and bruises, but I was fine this morning.”  She almost growled, “The Green Ghoul got away again though.  I swear that man has nine lives.”

Then she said almost like she didn't want to, “I talked with, the Chosen One... and the mayor about you this morning.”  She gave a sad smile. “Wendy knows all about you.  She's read all the reports over the years of supers going after you because you look like her.”

I blurted, “She knows I'm a marked woman because of her?  And she just lets it happen?”

Sams actually chuckled at that. “Well she knew you looked similar, but she didn't know you could pass for her snarky twin.  She's stayed away from you deliberately because she didn't want to draw more supers your way.”

Oh.

I didn't know that.  It was almost surreal that the Chosen One even knew I existed.  I was a nobody compared to her.  Wait!  I blurted, “Snarky?”

She chuckled, which made me smile as she asked, “That's what you took away from this?”

I mumbled, “Zip it, glow-stick.”  That got her to blurt out a surprised burst of laughter, and I found myself grinning at the woman who could manipulate light like a boss.

I exhaled and looked at my hands and asked the question in the back of my mind, “If I'm not going to be detained for what I know, why are you here, Sams.”

She prompted, “Heather.”  Then she shrugged and said as she stared intently at the road, “I just wanted to check to see if you were ok.”

I sighed and assured her, “I won't tell a soul.”

She snapped back, “Damn it, woman.  I'm serious.  I just wanted to assure myself you were ok after last night.”  Her eyes were on my arm again.

I was blushing and feeling awkward just then as I squeaked out, “I'm fine.  I've gone through a lot worse than this.”

An awesome smile bloomed on her face, and she slid her sunglasses back up her nose to obscure her eyes as she said with a chirp, “Good.”

She pulled over to the side of the road and the door unlocked.  I guess that was my cue to get out.  I slid out, and before I shut the door, she tilted her head down so I could see her eyes sparkling with blue light, “Catch you later then, Monroe.”

I caught myself waving like a fool, and I shut the door, then watched her speed off into the dense traffic of Big City.  I was standing there, basking in the heat of the blush on my cheeks, then the goofy smile on my face vanished as I realized I was somewhere Uptown, a few miles from my neighborhood.

“Aw, maaan!”  Well, there goes my errands, it was a long walk back home, as my metro card had expired.  That was one of the errands I had to do.  I wasn't about to spend a week's pay on a Big City Cab.

I glanced back the direction... Heather, had gone, and couldn't stop from smiling.  Damn it.  I was crushing on the woman who had abandoned me in the middle of nowhere... twice.

I got on my cell. “Vi?  Yeah, dinner at Big Burger tonight.  Nope, didn't get to the market... again.  Sorry.  Containment had followup questions.”  Lie lie lie.  “K... see ya tonight.”  I wonder if Heather would blast me with a coherent laser blast if I told Violet.  I mean, I tell her everything.

I passed a Big Buy store and saw a live news report playing on the wall of televisions inside.  The Chosen One was taking on the Sea King in the harbor.  The man was in the form of an orca whale at the moment and...  Oooo!  I winced when she punched his nose, and the whale went flipping out of the water and into the air from the force of the punch, soaring over buildings.  A smiling Chosen One flying after him, she looked like she was having fun.

Hey, that looked like the market area in Uptown, right around... where... I... was...

I heard a sonic boom as I looked up when a shadow passed over me far overhead, just to see... Wendy, punch the helpless whale again, sending him back toward the harbor.  Then a glob of seaweed and something gooey hit me in the face.

“Aw, maaan!”

Yeah, that's about par for the course.  I wiped the stuff off of me and started cussing when my hand started burning like I had just put it on a hot burner.  The gooey thing was a jellyfish!  “Son of a cow gobbling, ferret licking, butt pimple!”  That hurts!

I hate my life sometimes.

Well if it started swelling, at least I had a powered mishap clause in my health insurance.

I looked at my soaked self and the angry red line on the back of my hand where the jellyfish sting was and squished my way back home in my sopping wet shoes.

Squish, plop.  Squish, plop.

I contemplated how the Chosen One always knew how much force to use against each villain without killing them.  I mean, a punch like that would have killed an elephant in mid-charge.  Did she have some sort of insight as one of her powers?

For just a moment I entertained calling Mrs. Yamamoto to tell her I wouldn't be in tonight.  But she depended on me, and I owed her for being one of the only people to take a chance on hiring me and my looks.  Plastic surgery was looking more and more appealing every day.  It would take me years to save up enough though, so it was really a pipe dream.  It would be easier to move to a country far far away.

I hesitated at the memory of Heather's smile.  She didn't seem to mind.  Then I went a little cold.  Did she have a crush on the Chosen One like half of Big City, and I just reminded her of this Wendy?  I didn't want to be a Chosen One substitute...

Cocking my head, I recalled her smirk when she asked, “You're really nothing like her are you?”  Maybe... maybe Photon actually saw past my exterior.

Snap out of it Emily, she is so far out of your league, she is a dot in the cosmos to you.

By the time I got home, I was mostly dry except my shoes and I licked the white dust adorning my arm and made a bitter face.  Salty.

I had eaten up half my day, I had to get cleaned up and to work.  Violet would get off work at the studio soon and would arrive at Big Burger when I showed up for the night shift.

I had just enough time to get to the station, once I had showered and treated the jellyfish sting to walk down to the corner, to renew my metro card.

My cell started ringing after I got out of the station and I glanced at the screen.  Caller unknown?  I almost let it go to voicemail but figured if it were someone like Assfart from Containment, they'd probably get pissy if I ignored them.

I answered, only a touch of resignation and snarkiness in my tone, “Monroe.”

The voice on the other end of the call had me smiling like a fool.  “Hey Em, this is Heather.  Just wanted to let you know that... Photon... had a talk with the mayor's office, and the trespassing charges against you have been vacated.  You might have to sign the writ.  You should be able to get your full bail refunded.”

Why was I smiling so much as I teased, “Well, please thank... Photon, for me.  Though I don't know why since it was her fault.”  I could almost hear her smiling on the other end of the line.  Then I accused, “And you abandoned me in the middle of Uptown.  It took me most of the day to walk back home, lady.  Seems the two of you think alike.  As in not.”

Well crap on pigmy buffaloes, her snort was cute.

My eyes widened.  Oh dear lord, I was flirting with Photon.  What the hell was I thinking?

She sounded sheepish when she supplied, “Oh god, I'm so sorry Emily.  I wasn't thinking.  I... you...  How can I make it up to you?”

I should have been livid and tell her to go on a guided tour of her anus like I would any Containment agent.  But instead, I squeaked out, “Buy me a Big Burger sometime?”  Lame, lame, lame!  I worked at Big Burger.

She chuckled out, “I'd be delighted to.”  Then she muttered, “Shit.  Gotta go.  A powered family squabble downtown.  I hate this part of my job in Containment.”

The woman said, “Stay safe.”  Then hung up.

I smiled and said to the air, “You too.”  Then frowned.  Just how had one of the most powerful heroes in the city come to be working for Containment?  No Powered people are supposed to be agents there.  It is how the Norms kept a leash on those of us who were 'different' than them.

Hmm... she was basically what?  A spy in their ranks?  I was reminded of a philosophical question I had heard years ago in the orphanage, “Who watches the watchers?”  Maybe this was an answer to that.

I was a little surprised when I got to work to find Mrs. Y there.  She shrugged when she saw my surprise and explained, “Half the staff quit when they heard there was another incident.  I had to cover the swing shift.”

Nodded I added, “I'll need another night shifter too.”

She nodded sadly, apparently aware of it.

She said as she handed me her tickets for the orders from the few customers that lingered between the rush hour and dinner rush.  Then she cupped my cheek as she winced at my bandaged arm.  She was always so kind and gentle to me and made me feel like I mattered to her more than her restaurant I kept getting trashed because of who I looked like.

She said, “I'll have someone by tomorrow night for you, dear.  I already filled the napkin holders, and we got our meat delivery moved into the freezer just a few minutes ago.”

Then she started to move toward the door as she untied her apron, but paused to say without looking back, “I'm glad Firebug, didn't hurt you too badly, Emily.”

I called back after her, “Shoo, woman, get out of here.  I got this.”

She stopped at the door and smiled back at me.  She was so nice.  Even if I got stuck flipping burgers for the rest of my life, I knew I'd never find a better boss.  I owed her so much.

Mrs. Yamamoto held the door open for a bouncy Violet as my bestie almost skipped in, giving the middle-aged woman a nose crinkled thanks.  Violet was so bad, she was always saying how hot Mrs. Y was.  I swear she was into older women.  But I couldn't see it.  Sure she was a pretty woman, but I saw the woman more as... of all things, a mentor, or teacher.

Violet swung her fingers to her eyes then to the exiting woman, wiggling her brows.  Then the cheeky girl pointed at her favorite booth.  I had to chuckle at her and swatted at her butt as she moved past.  As usual, she wasn't there when my hand whiffed the air.  My bestie's reflexes bordered on super.  The extreme high end of Norm.

She sat and gave me puppy-dog eyes.  I muttered to her as I headed to the kitchen to check on the pending orders, “God, woman.  Give me a second to get settled into work before I burger your ass.”  She chuckled at the familiar argument as she pulled out her sketch pad and tablet to draw, tongue in cheek, daring me to say more.

I didn't rise to the brat's obvious bait, I could hear her quip now, “Someone didn't get groceries today.  I'm quite sure it wasn't my turn.”  Except she'd use like a third of the words to convey the message.

I looked around at the three tables that had people waiting.  Why was... oh yeah.  I'm alone.  Hector ditched.  I looked around the back, Tony had already gone home.  Mrs. Y had been doing everything herself?  Just like I had to tonight.

One thing about the woman, nobody could ever accuse her of not rolling up her sleeves and doing the grunt work.  She kept this Big Burger franchise alive by sheer force of will alone.

I exhaled, put on my apron, and headed to the grill to flip the meat.  I started turning them with my favorite spatula while reaching across to the fry basket that was beeping for me to pull from the grease with my other hand.  Unfortunately, I have plenty of experience being the only one here.  We may as well have a revolving door for the night shift as it is almost impossible to keep anyone with all the umm... incidents that happen.

I threw a couple extra hamburger patties on the grill and dunked another batch of fries for my ravenous purple haired friend, before bringing out the orders for the other tables.

Vi kept giving me odd glances as I went about my work, and then as she devoured her burger like a burger munching machine.  In between orders, I finally stopped in front of her and blurted as she started in on her fries like she was reuniting them with their long lost brethren, “What!”

She grinned and mumbled into a fry.  “Met someone?”

What?  “What?”

She swirled a fry. “You're bouncy.”

I could feel my cheeks burning, not knowing what to say.  I couldn't tell her about... Photon, about Heather.  Could I?

I took the failsafe defense. “Shut up.”

She grinned, saying a thousand smug words with it.  How the hell was she so insightful?  I opened my mouth to tell her to shut up again, and she stuffed some fries into my pie hole.

I glared at her, and she winged her eyes toward the customers.  The brat.  I chewed the fries at her with vicious intent as I stomped back to the kitchen.  She giggled.  I'll never win, will I?

I exhaled long and loud as I started the next batch of orders.  It was going to be a long night when I got home, with me answering, or not, a million two or three-word questions.  I swear, one day Violet is going to explode into a torrent of words, when the dam she is holding them all back with, bursts.

I dropped more fries and slapped five patties on the grill as I looked through the order cut-through to watch the tables.  And I heard a bump in the back of the kitchen.

What the frickity frack?  Is the compressor in the walk-in freezer acting up again?  I swear it cost more to keep fixing that thing than to just have it torn out and a new one put in.

I started toward it when the big metal door blew off the hinges, and a frosty fog billowed out of it as the door clanged and clattered on the floor.  My grip tightened on the handle of my spatula.  What the hell?  Did the compressor blow up?  What was I going to do with all the food before it thawed?  Does insurance cover spoiled food?  I had enough in the under counter units to finish out the night.

I looked at the dining area, and everyone was looking back.  I gave an attentive Violet a shrug and then moved toward the freezer to see what I could stuff into the under counter units, when I heard someone humming.

It was a haunting and disjointed, almost manic tune, and the Ice Maiden stepped out grinning at me as she played with frozen mist between her fingers as she hummed, the tone causing the icicles hanging from her costume to resonate and vibrate to multiply the sound.

I backed up two steps, and she gave a delighted laugh. “Hello, Chosen One.  I always thought you were arrogant, but to not even bother hiding anymore?”  She tisked as her skin took on a translucent sheen when the woman became living ice.

I muttered, “Fuck.”  I didn't need this.  Not after last night.  Why couldn't these brainiacs figure out that... “I'm not the Chosen One.  Please, if you want to order, go have a seat, and I'll get to you  otherwise, I'll have to ask you to...”

“Gah!”  I ducked under a needle sharp icicle she sent toward my head and batted aside the one she aimed at my heart with the flat of my spatula.  “You bitch!”

If this Mensa reject took two seconds to think about how stupid it was for her to go up against the Chosen One, she'd realize that Big City's sweetheart had infra beam vision and could reduce her to a steaming mist in a second.

I on the other hand...  I turned to run but she thrust a hand forward, and the door to the dining area crackled into a translucent wall of ice.  I called out to the others, “Get out!  Call Containment!”  To myself, I added, 'call the Chosen One.'  They ran screaming.  All but Vi, who just looked back in concern.

I turned back to the cackling ice headache currently lunging at me and sighed.  She was grasping at me.  I knew she could flash freeze my flesh with just a graze.  I slapped her outstretched hand with the flat of my spatula.  She yanked her hand back, giving me the moment I needed.

The one thing these overpowered villains can't seem to comprehend.  When you are a one trick pony, your weakness becomes public knowledge.  There is actually a website with a list, LameAssVillans.com or something like that.

I didn't need to Google Ice Maidens.  I had a brain, fire and ice don't mix.  I smirked at her costume and asked, “Did someone watch Frozen one too many times as a girl?”  As I snagged the handle on the fryer basket and flung it, the fries and a stream of boiling grease onto the woman.

She screamed and staggered back, and slipped on the hot oil on the ground to fall back on her ass.  Ok, now what?  I couldn't run past to the back door.

I turned back to a thrumming sound, to see none other than the Blue Canary, she was holding a device that actually had a boxing glove on the end of it, and it was slamming into the ice wall like a sledge, causing the ice to crack, and the building to shake.  How did she get here so fast, and where does she get all those cool toys?

My heart was thrumming in time with the strikes.  I was equal parts terrified and aggravated that this second rate villain thought to make a name for herself by killing a fast food worker.

She regained her feet, and I glanced back and forth between Ice Maiden and the Blue Canary, who was now melting the wall with a flamethrower.  Where did she even store all those gadgets?  She wasn't going to make it through the barrier in time.

The frosty bitch, who had great swaths of melted ice marring her beauty, dove at me.  I spun backward, causing her to overextend past me and I hooked the back of her neck with the spatula, and yanked down.  Her momentum landed her over the grill, her hands sizzling and shrinking as steam boiled off the grill in a screeching almost as shrill as her scream.

I spun the other way, kicking her in the butt, causing her to fall face first on the grill, steam exploding from her face as I held the spatula on her head.  I yelled, “Customers... are not allowed... in the kitchen!”

When she stopped moving, her head half melted, I let her fall to the floor.  It would take ten or twenty minutes for her to pull herself back together when the steam cooled.

I spun back, my spatula raised when I heard the ice wall shatter.  I lowered the spatula when Blue Canary poked her cloaked hood into the kitchen with... an ice pick, really?  Of all her gadgets, it took an ice pick to get through?

She looked once at me, then the unconscious and partially melted Ice Maiden then shrugged and was gone as quickly as she had come.  I called out to her.  “Umm... hello?  Miss Canary?  Umm... what am I supposed to do with this ice bitch?”

But she was gone.  I stepped to the door, keeping one eye on the fallen villain.  Vi was gone, and I could hear sirens coming.  We were going to have to shut down Big Burger again... “Aw, maaan!”

Violet came out of the girl's restroom, wiping her hands on a paper towel.  I stared at her incredulously. “Really?  A supervillain attacks and you go take a pee?”  She was like the most laid back person who ever lived!

She grinned, shrugged, and slipped back into her booth.  Then the little twit pushed her empty Pepsi cup toward me with one finger and asked, “Refill?”

In Yoda's name, kill her I would!

To my embarrassment, I took her glass and refilled it while I kept an eye on the woman who was slowly reforming on the floor.  Mrs. Yamamoto was going to kill me.  I said, “Snot.”

She grinned and went back to drawing as she mumbled, “Love you.”

I pouted. “Love you too,” as Containment agents and local police swarmed in through both the back and front doors shouting, “Containment, everyone stop where you are and show us your hands!'

I sighed as I put my hands up.  It was going to be a looong night.  But I grinned when Agent Assbutt came in with Agent Sams on his heels, weapons drawn.  Was that a look of relief on her face when she saw I was ok?

I winged a thumb back. “Melty Maiden is in the kitchen trying to pull herself back together.”

Sams blinked at me in surprise as she headed into the kitchen with two containment agents and two Big City police officers.  I heard one of the men who had stormed the back kitchen door calling out, “I think we're going to need a bucket in here.”

I snorted and that just made Assrunt stop in front of me and mutter, “I swear Monroe, you're a menace, and we should just lock you up for that alone and throw away the key.”

My eyes widened a bit as I asked, “Oh... so you're one of 'those' agents, Assbunt?”

He narrowed his eyes and growled, “It's Asaunt!  And one of those?”

I explained, my hands still above my head, “One of the bigots who joined Containment just to slap around some powered people and make them disappear.”  I knew he wasn't that way, he was just born a big asshole, but it got the rise out of him I wanted.  I may possibly be a touch evil.

He snarled as he grabbed one of my hands and twisted it as he turned me around and slapped cuffs on me.  Then he shoved me into the same booth where Violet was still sketching, ignoring all the activity around us.  “Sit your ass right there until we figure out what fresh hell you've unleashed here.”

He turned his back, crossing his arms across his barrel chest and waited for the police and Containment agents outside to finish cordoning off the building... again.  Vi glanced over her screen and gave me a sly smile before returning to whatever superhero story she was drawing.

I know.  I can be a jerk at times.  But I always felt like the bad guy whenever I got attacked and had to defend myself.  It could give a girl a complex.  But he was always such a good target for my frustration since he was more of an ass than me.

As agents came in with a coffin-like isolation chamber to contain Ice Maiden, the sexy Agent Sams poked her head out the swinging door and told them, “We're going to need a mop and a bucket in here to get all of her.”

She started to pull back and hesitated when she caught my eyes on hers.  Oh crap on banana bread, I was smiling like a smitten schoolgirl.  She smirked and popped back into the kitchen.  I probably looked like a loon to her.  I felt a blush burning.

I needled Assrat, “Aren't you going to ask me any questions?”

He growled without looking, “After you sit there in cuffs for a bit.”

I pointed out, “Violet and I are the only ones to question until Slush Maiden can reform her jaw.  The customers ran for safety and called you, Harmon.”

Still not looking at me he said, “That's Special Agent Asaunt.  And, yes.”  Ok, the jerk was vindictive but funny.  He was really making me sit here in cuffs because he could, and I annoyed him.

So I prompted, “What's with the dumb English driving cap?”

He ignored me and turned to Violet and asked as he started to record with his pad, “Miss Finch, can you tell us what happened here tonight? And what Miss Monroe here did to make this mess?”

Vi shrugged and exploded into a long-winded, extremely detailed explanation as to what had transpired, complete with points and counterpoints with her personal observations.  Culminating with a well thought out dissertation on the outcome of superheating an ice based individual and how the steam generated had a definite 'ew' factor knowing it was alive and not wanting any of it to touch your skin.

Ok... so maybe not, but what she actually said was a lot for her.  “Ice Maiden attacked Emily.”  Then she winged a thumb toward the bathroom.  “I had to pee.”  Then as a matter of course for his timeline, she added, “I peed.”  Then she shrugged. “Em got down to business.” That was more words than she spoke in a week, she was likely going to have to recharge now.  I grinned internally.  She didn't bat an eyebrow over the attack, she didn't run, she had that much faith in me.

The man couldn't get anything else out of her, she did offer to draw what she saw when he asked her to expound upon her statement, by holding up her computer with a questioning look.  He sighed in exasperation, shaking his head.

Containment agents came back out of the kitchen rolling out the isolation chamber.  Ice Slurry was giving me one evil eye as she pounded on the glass with half-reformed fingers trying to get at me.  She was maaaaad.  Another agent followed behind with a steel bucket of icy looking water which was creating frost on the bucket.  That would be the parts of her she hadn't reconstituted yet.

Sams stopped behind her partner, and she narrowed her eyes at the cuffs on my wrists.  I gave her my best cheesy grin.  And she asked, “Sir, are the cuffs necessary?”

He looked at her and cocked an eyebrow as he nodded. “They give me extreme satisfaction.”

She sighed and looked at her superior officer like he was a misbehaving child, then went about uncuffing me.  I explained to her, “I was about to give my statement to Asaunt here.”

He snapped, “That's As...”  He paused then finished almost sheepishly, “...aunt.”

I beamed a grin at him.  I've wanted to pull that one on him for months.

Then I had the decency to look sheepish when Heather chastised me, “Behave.”  She had an almost flirty smile on her face.  Then as she stepped back in place behind her superior, she added, “Both of you.”

The man looked about to bluster, but then his shoulders relaxed, and he sighed in capitulation, and he asked with a mock empathetic tone, “Please, Miss Monroe, regale us of your version of what transpired tonight.”  He grabbed a man passing by with a quantum decay radiometer and a Peltier scanner that detected power levels of those around it.  He pointed at me, and I sighed as the man scanned me, his needle not moving except an almost imperceptible hop when he went over my eyes and hands.

When he moved on, logging the scan, I exhaled and started from the beginning.

Aw maan, I had to call Mrs. Yamamoto again.  Twice in one week!

Chapter 4

Wendy?

After repeating everything three dozen times to Asswipe and the Police, I had to once again lock our 'Open 24 Hours' door and call Mrs. Yamamoto.  She called Big City Insurance, and they said they would have us as good as new in less than twenty-four hours.

That was their motto.  “Super damage?  Claims handled super fast, or get a toaster free.”  We've never gotten a toaster, and I don't believe anyone ever has.  I'm thinking that some sort of powers have to be involved with how fast they clean up after an incident.  The Big City Gazette building is already repaired with a shiny new globe on top of the skyscraper again.

Vi had gone home, she had to be up early to get to the comic studio.

So after looking at all the defrosting food in the open freezer, I sighed and headed out the back door for the walk home.  As I was locking the door, blue light flickered behind me, and an almost sultry voice behind me said, “Take a girl for coffee?”

My smile was up before I finished turning.  Agent Heather Sams was there... out of that professional suit and in painted on jeans hanging low on her hips, and a pullover, looking waaaay out of my league with her crooked smile and sunglasses which currently didn't hide the lightning in her eyes.  Was she showing off for me?

Wait.  I started to panic.  Crap on linguini.  Had Photon just asked me on a date?

I just stood there, jaw hanging open as I tried to form a response.  I knew it was something simple I was supposed to say, like a one or a zero... no, it was binary but not that basic.  Oh!  I asked, “Yes?”

She silently chuckled, that must have been the right answer.  Oh god, I felt so awkward just then.  She said, “Good, I wanted to see if you were ok.  I couldn't really ask earlier.”

Oh.  I deflated, and she seemed to see that so she rushed out, “And I just wanted to get to know you better.”

Oh.

Blargh!  I was getting whiplash here.  She looked amused.

Her eyes sparkling a violet now.  I gave her an impudent look as I changed my eyes to match her violet.  This got an explosive burst of laughter from her as she let her power fade.

She looped an arm in mine and said as she started leading me toward her SUV.  “You, Emily Monroe, are a smartass, and I like that.”

Wait, was she only asking me because I looked like...  “I suppose that SHE is a smartass too?”

She looked confused for just a second then shook her head. “No, actually quite the opposite.”  Then  I think she understood why I asked and she shook her head in exasperation, “Anyone who spends more than five minutes with you knows that you two are absolutely nothing alike.  Except for that...”

I followed her gaze to my hands, I was rubbing my thumbs against the side of my index finger in a nervous habit.  She sounded a little freaked out when she pointed it out.  But she shook it off, and she said, “You Emily Monroe, are most decidedly, not the Chosen One.”

Then she smirked. “But you seem as handy as her in a fight, even without powers.”  I looked down, was she looking at my lips?  I felt my cheeks and neck burning as my pulse raced.  Then we stopped at her SUV and she held the passenger door open for me.

I hesitated and squished my eyes at her as I let them go brown again. “You aren't going to leave me stranded halfway across the city again are you?”

Ok, her laugh?  I could listen to that all day.  Damn it, I was getting turned on by the superhero in hiding.

She assured me with a little flirt in her tone as she shrugged, “The night is still young.”

I grinned and slipped in.  She was cute, intelligent, and fun.  Why did she want coffee with me?

Nine minutes later it was my turn to laugh out loud as we pulled into the Big Burger parking lot on ninety-seventh.  She seemed pleased with me enjoying her attempt at humor, and she slipped out and ran around to my door, before I could reach the handle, to open it for me.  Had she just used her power to beat me to it?  Was this really... a date?

I smirked at eleven o'clock when they finally kicked us out.  This Big Burger was one of the gems of the franchise, but they weren't 24 hours like we were.  I wasn't used to not working through the night, and being out this early... well for me... was a novelty.

We had talked for a couple hours before the manager came over to let us know that they were closing.  I was fascinated with the stories of her childhood.  In a whisper, she told me her powers didn't manifest until puberty.

Some of us supers have our abilities from birth, but there was still a significant number, like thirty-five percent, whose powers sort of bloom when puberty slaps them and their body chemistry around.  Others of the powered called the late bloomers Stunts.  Inferring their powers are stunted and not as pronounced as 'real powered.'  I swear those with powers are arrogant.  No wonder there are more villains than heroes.

But I dare anyone to say Photon is stunted.  She ranks among the top four superheroes in Big City.  Right alongside the Chosen One, Blue Canary, and Liberty Lady.  All but the Blue Canary are registered and work with the city and law enforcement and even Containment, but the Canary is hunted by law enforcement as a vigilante.

I know about the vigilante laws intimately through no fault of my own, when after I had taken down the first couple idiots to attack me, thinking I was... her, Assburp tried to haul me in under the vigilante statutes.  It was Mrs. Y who had been there who stressed that any individual, powered or Norm, could act in self-defense.  I think that is where his and my pact of mutual destruction began,  when he had to let me go.

But how could they think what the Blue Canary does is less than what the other heroes do?  She even teams up with them like the other night, lending her support and expertise.  I have to admit, I thought they... even the Chosen One... were kind of cool since they always say after a fight where the Canary helps out, that she 'got away' before they could detain her.  A little powered rebellion?  But what are they going to do?  Send the heroes to bed without dessert?

My hand felt like it was on fire, which ignited hunger down in my core when Heather actually held it all the way to the SUV.  I was, wasn't I?  I was on a date... with Photon!  And I couldn't tell anyone about it!  But she wasn't Photon, she was Heather Sams just then.  It made me wonder... do heroes date?

I was going to ask, but she was holding the door open for me again.  I felt sort of special, and I blushed as I slid in.  A few seconds later we were heading back onto the road.  Her eyes widened, and she said, “Oh, I almost forgot.  You have to get to city hall tomorrow to sign some papers at the mayor's office about the vacated charges.  Mayor Anderson stepped in when I asked her.”

There goes my chance to get groceries tomorrow.  I nodded my thanks and then smiled hugely when she said, “This is fun. I never get out much except for my jobs.  What do you want to do next?”

My eyes widened as my heart soared.  She wanted to do more with me?  I opened my mouth to say... I don't know... something... when the vehicle shook, and the centerline of the road erupted into flame as a man with a flaming skull literally tore up the pavement as he shot by on a motorcycle, chains dragging behind him.  It was Ghost Biker!

I sighed when she pulled over instantly, slamming the SUV into park as she started pulling off her shirt while her skin exploded into light.  She paused, the shirt half off and she stopped, looking at me apologetically.

I sighed, stopping a lunatic with powers was more important than this odd date of ours.  “Go get him, glow-stick.”

She exhaled a breath she had been holding as she stripped out of her clothes almost faster than I could follow.  I was mesmerized, she looked to be made of light... naked light.  I had fuel for some personal fantasies for weeks now.  Shut up, you'd drool too.

Then I realized I was about to be stranded miles from home... again.  Aw, maaaan!

She grinned at me, reading my face and said, “Take my car.  Just leave the keys in it at your place, and I'll grab it later.”

Oh.  I smiled at her and then froze when the goddess of light leaned over and laid a tingling lip lock on me.  I may or may not have squeaked in pleasure as my body ignited, just like her living light had covered her body.  She winked and shared, “I had fun tonight, we should do it again.  Soon.”

I nodded dumbly, and she was just gone, passing intangibly through the windshield and streaking after the specter, literally at the speed of light.

Heather had just kissed me goodnight.  Best night ever!  I put the car in gear and headed home.  Violet wasn't going to believe me.  Wait, I couldn't tell her.  Well, I could tell her I had a date with Agent Sams though.  I smiled all the way home.

I had some really pleasant dreams that night.

The next day, after sending my erstwhile roommate off to work, and promising to hit the store tomorrow for groceries since I was hitting City Hall today, I got ready for the day.

Mrs. Yamamoto had left a message saying that Big City Insurance had already installed a new walk-in freezer and replaced the spoiled food.

How do they do that?

So if I could get to City Hall then home fast enough, maybe I could surprise Vi with groceries after all.

The news was ablaze with reports of Photon and Liberty Lady taking down the Ghost Biker by the docks.

My mind had been on Heather all night.  Her car was gone in the morning, well afternoon for all you non- night shifters, but I had a really long text from her which I'm not going to share with you, except to say I'm still smiling.  I sent a text back.  Also not sharing.

Would I seem too needy if I ask if she wanted to go out, just the two of us again?  How long does someone wait after the first 'getting to know you' date?  I wouldn't know as my dating life was stunted the moment the Chosen One flew into the limelight.

The few dates I have had, either ended with screaming and running as I had to fight off a villain who thought I was... her, or with me finding out the only reason they asked me out was that they thought I was... her.  I hated her so much.

I know it isn't fair of me to feel that way, but she lives in the glamour of it all and I... flip burgers, even with an advanced college degree, while dealing with the avalanche of shit she brings down upon me.  It isn't her fault, neither of us chose what we looked like but I have to vent my anger somewhere, or I'd go nucking futs.

I grinned when a text arrived as I stepped up to City Hall, the huge building looming above me.  It was nothing but a smiley emoji from Heather.  I shot one back.  How can something so basic have me grinning like a loon?  Was it the simple fact that it showed that someone had been thinking of me and just wanted to share that with me?

I steeled myself and walked in.  I moved over to the metal detector line with the lightning bolt emblem, indicating it was the line for powered people.  I'd have to show my registration.  I hated that, it made me think of how the Nazis had made the Jewish people wear stars on their clothes, before Winston Churchill and Harry Truman flew through the line of enemy powered individuals in Berlin and took down Hitler with their combined powers of Lord Britain and Uncle Sam.

Shouldn't we learn from the past?

I stepped through the detectors as I fished out my ID and powered registration card.  When the lights didn't light on the Peltier scanner, the police officer on duty pointed to the other line and droned out, “Norms over there.”

I sighed and handed him my cards.  One of his eyebrows quirked up and his lips tremored in humor as he asked, “Zero point one?”

I nodded, my cheeks warming.  He chuckled out as he scanned the cards and handed them back. “You're practically a Zero.”

I deflected the slur, the man must be powered. “True, and you're a practically a complete asshole.  Your mother would be proud.”

His smile was gone in an instant, and he looked like he wanted to do something as he froze in indecision, like he was going to go into overbearing cop mode.  Instead, he just sat back down on the chair behind the counter and turned away from me, snubbing me.  That's right dumbass, if you dish it out, you gotta be able to take it.  It isn't a crime to point out to an asshole that he is one.

I grinned up at the cameras in the huge marble-floored lobby.  I guess they were part of his decision too.  Big Brother for the win.

I looked reached the middle of the lobby facing the huge sweeping marble stairs, and looked up, and up, and up... the first twenty or so stories of the City Hall ringed the lobby with balconies overlooking the lobby below with more stairs leading to each level.

I moved to the directory at the side of the stairs in the silver frame that was embedded in the wall.  Mayor... mayor... mayor... Ah!  Oh.  Thirty-third floor.  Penthouse.  I gulped.  I looked at the elevator banks on either side of the stairs, but felt adventurous and started jogging up the stairs.

Nope.

On the eleventh floor, panting and puffing, I moved to the elevators, grinning at myself.  When I was a teen, I could have done it.  I guess I don't get much exercise in my life anymore.  I really should change that.  When I tell Vi about this, I will have run up the stairs all the way up to the mayor's office... twice.  Two steps at a time.  Backward.

She won't believe me, but it's the story I will insist upon.  Insert cheesy grin.

When the doors opened, I was expecting a sea of cubicles with secretaries and offices for City Council Members and the like.  It was a cavernous open space, burgundy carpeted with gold thread patterns sewn into it.

The space was well lit, like daylight though I couldn't pinpoint where the lights were.  At the far end of a gold woven path of vines and roses sat a little desk in front of a set of great doors that had me feeling like I was going to meet Oz, the Great and Powerful.

There was a little redhead there at that desk, in an apparent death match with the printer sitting on a little side table next to her desk.  She was much shorter than me, possibly just topping five feet, and was pleasantly plump, her hair though was a little unkempt, and she looked a little stressed in her professional business suit as she teetered on her kitten heels.

I could imagine the demands put upon her as the secretary to the most powerful... politically... woman in Big City.  She probably didn't have time to breathe.

I had to smile in empathy for the woman as I stopped at her desk as she growled at the toner cartridge she was trying to jam into the printer upside down.  She didn't look up as I said, “Umm... hi.  I'm Emily Monroe.  I'm supposed to sign a form, Mayor Anderson has it.”

She looked at the printer like it was a misbehaving child until she turned the cartridge the right way around and it slid in neatly.  She smirked in triumph as she buttoned the device up and said absently to me, “Of course, Miss Monroe, I have it right...”

She froze as she grabbed a clipboard from her desk and looked up at me.

I'm sure my shock mirrored hers as I looked into the crystal blue eyes I saw every morning when I woke up before I willed them to brown.  She... had my eyes!  She whispered as she stumbled back from me, a look that was equal parts panic, horror, and amazement on her face, “It's you...”

I tore my eyes from hers as my heart threatened to beat out of my chest, my pulse roaring in my ears, and looked at the nameplate on the desk.  Wendy Templeton.  I looked back up at her and whispered back, “Wendy?”  This was the Chosen One!  She must have morphed into...

With a boom as she broke the sound barrier, she vanished just as I saw her growing in height and her hair turning blonde and shortening.  Papers from the desk exploded into a fluttering mess as the air came rushing back into the space she had occupied just a moment before.

She... she had my eyes!

What the fuck was going on?

I was shaking with adrenaline, my breath coming in ragged, shaky breaths.  The Chosen One was masquerading as Mayor Anderson's secretary.  She... her eyes.  I swallowed hard and reached out for a pen that was rolling on the floor and picked it up.  With shaky hands I signed the form on the clipboard,  it was barely legible, and I dropped it on the floor and just turned slowly and walked to the elevator on wobbly legs.

Holy seal humping, radish farts...

As I started calming on the elevator ride down, a million thoughts in my mind fighting for attention, I pulled out my cell and texted Heather.  She knew who the Chosen One was... she sent me here.  Did she know this was going to happen?  “I need you now.”

The elevator opened on the ground floor, and the bright light barely registered as I felt myself become incorporeal and was whisked off through Big City so fast the buildings were just a blur.  Then I was standing in my living room with Heather, in her Photon persona staring at me with empathy in her eyes.

She reached out to brush away the tears I didn't know were on my cheeks but I pulled back.  She grabbed a throw blanket off my couch and wrapped it around her as she became a very naked Heather Sams.  “Emily?”

I whispered, “She has my eyes.”

She shook her head. “No, she doesn't.  They look like yours, the same as you two look alike.  You two needed to meet.  She has watched you for years but has been too afraid to meet you.  She's run interference where she could.”

I looked at her and asked, “Why do we look the same?”  Did she know something?

But she shrugged, and I saw no deception, only... compassion?  She said, “I don't know, but it can't be a coincidence.”  Then she asked, hope in her voice, “What did she say?”

I chuckled nervously, wiping my cheeks, “She ran away.  Fast.  Sonic boom fast.”

She chuckled in genuine amusement.  “Of course she did.  Wendy is a chicken.”

I pushed all the turmoil hurting my chest at the moment to tease her, “You just revealed the Chosen One's secret identity to me.”

She smirked and prompted, “That's what you took away from this?”

Then she sobered and asked, eyes pleading, “Sorry?”

I sniffled and giggled out nervously, “I'll show you sorry, glow-stick.”

She visibly relaxed, then hugged me... the blanket fell, and we were kissing a moment later, sliding to the floor with the blanket.

The rest is not for you to know.  But let's just say that she made me totally forget about the Chosen One and anyone else but her.  And I may or may not have made her lose control of her power for a few moments.  I owe Violet another lamp.

Chapter 5

The Chartreuse Lantern

The past two weeks have been heaven.  I... have a girlfriend, and she was dating my brains out.  God, I can't believe I'm dating a Containment agent.  Heather was cute and bashful when we announced to Violet that we were officially dating.  And because I couldn't tell Vi what was happening in my life as I tried to figure out what was going on with the Chosen One and me, Heather was there to talk to.

She spoke with the Mayor, who I learned was the one who brought the heroes of Big City together as official agents of the municipal government.  They all answered to her though the press believed they were independent.  So she truly was the most powerful woman in the city.  Heather couldn't tell me what the mayor said.

There were some things she couldn't share with me, but I understood, superheroes had to have some secrets.  Mayor Anderson was also the one who placed Heather covertly into Containment to watch for corruption and overreach when they dealt with the powered.

So long as she kept me smiling on our dates and... afterward, then she could keep all the secrets she wanted to.  Though I do regret my decision to call her glow-stick since the evil wench calls me fry-girl now.

She says she is trying to get Wendy to talk to me, but Heather says the girl is terrified.  For some reason, she believes I hate her.  Well, I did, but not so much since I actually met her... sort of.

And now that I know she has been out there, watching, protecting me when she can, I've noted her in the sky from time to time looking my way.  I even heard a cape fluttering in the wind by my bedroom window one night, but it fluttered away when I whispered, “Wendy?”

Were we... related in some way?  How could we look so alike?

I sighed and pushed the thoughts away and kissed the top of Violet's head and shooed her off to work.  Then I smiled when moments later I was enveloped in light and was whisked to the top of the globe on the Big City Gazette building.

I smiled at my glowing girlfriend as I noted the picnic blanket and basket.  “Ooo breakfast,”

She chuckled and corrected, “Lunch, weirdo.”

I pouted. “For those of you who have normal work hours maybe.”  She fed me a grape to shut me up.  She doted on me as much as I her.  So this is what it felt like to be dating, and not worrying your date would be cut in half by a laser whip or stabbed with fingers made of living wood.

When we were finished, she leaned in, smiling into my eyes then cocked her head and ran her fingers through my hair with a smirk.  “What?”

She shrugged and chuckled.  “Blonde roots.”

I slapped her hand away with a smirk of my own.  It amazed me how the evil seductress keeps forgetting I look like the Chosen One, and that was such a... a turn on. “Yeah, I gotta touch them up you living nightlight.”  Then I bit my lower lip as my eyes roamed her glowing form, knowing she wasn't wearing anything.  That's got to be odd for her, fighting nude.  I reached out because I could, and caressed her cheek, and she closed her eyes and leaned into my touch.  I had a girlfriend.  Is it wrong I wanted to squee?

She drove me to work most days now, in her Agent Sams persona.  Assmont had a coronary when she brought me to lunch with her and Harmon to let him know we were dating.  She chuckled when she shared it took the man two days before he would speak to her again.

She told me, “You really should be nicer to him.  It just makes things more difficult for you, Em.”

I kissed her and challenged. “No.”

She kissed me back. “Fair enough.”

We had reached an accord, we would both ignore each other on the matter.  Besides, it was fun to ruffle Assfrog's feathers.

Heather whisked us to her SUV, and I got a free seductive show as she kept her eyes locked on mine the whole time she squirmed back into her professional suit, covering up all that soft, supple skin.  Boooo! I wanted to leave trails of kisses on every square inch of that skin.

She bit the tip of her tongue and chuckled at me.  What?  Had I been drooling again?  I shoved her shoulder, and she drove me to work.  I felt sort of special and spoiled when she walked me in, holding my hand.  She had no reservations displaying to the world that we were together and that was swoon-worthy.

She gave me a quick peck on the lips as Violet walked in, rolling her eyes playfully at us as she made her way to her booth, just staring at the couple already in it until they got nervous and moved.

I asked, “What, stinker?”

She just crinkled her nose at us, the little snot.

Then we casually turned to the door when the bell tinkled, and I froze.

Wendy stood there, eyes puffy and red, a thick, old school file hugged to her chest.  She stared at me, like a rabbit watching a fox as she approached.  Heather looked around then whispered, “Wendy?”

The superhero in disguise thrust the file at me with both hands.  I took it from her as she looked over at my girl and whispered in a voice hoarse from crying, “I... broke into Genesis Labs.  I know the truth now...”

Then she took one last look at me, her eyes watering as she said in a small voice, “I'm sorry.”  Then she ran back out the door, the little bell tinkling.

As I just stood there, watching the little redhead scurry off, Heather took the file from me, and she started leafing through the pages.  I glanced at her, and she started flipping faster and faster.  Was she actually... reading it that fast?  I moved between her, and where the rest of the people were the best I could.  She was muttering things like, “My God.”  Or gasping and looking at me with wide eyes.

She looked a little dizzy, and I pulled her to a booth as far away from everyone as I could find.  She looked at me with wide eyes and slid the file to me.  As I started to open it, a girl in a Big Burger apron stepped up, “Welcome to Big Burger, what can I...”

I waved her off, holding up my apron.  She gushed, “Oh, you must be Emily.  The owner said you would help finish my training on my second shift.  I'm Betty.  Oh wow, did you know the Chosen One sort of looks like you?”

I gave her a fake smile and nodded absently. “Ok... ok... I'll be a few.  Why don't you... go make some fries or something?  Fill the napkin holders?”

The perky Latina teen actually saluted and bounced on her toes.  I started to turn back to the file but realized she was still there.  I prompted with a touch of amusement, “Shoo.”

I was internally smiling over the fact that she said the Chosen One looked like me, not the other way around.  I liked her.

She scurried off. “Ya got it, boss.”  God, was I ever that young?  I looked back through to the kitchen through the order pass through to see Tony at the grill, rolling his hand at me to hurry up.  What?  Did he have a hot date tonight?

I knew his boyfriend was out of town for business this week, so he could just sit a moment and accrue some overtime.  I held up a finger for him to wait.  He held a different finger up at me, and I snorted at his smile.  Then he waved me off.  He was a good egg.

I started to read about Project Peltier Infusion when some pink sneakers came into view.  I looked up and sighed at the thirteen-year-old girl who looked about to hug herself or explode into glitter and unicorns at any second.  Crap, here we go again.

I opened my mouth, but she squeed and said at thirty-two trillion miles per hour.  “It's really you!  I'm your biggest fan!  I can fly like you and everything!  Maybe I'll be a hero like you when I graduate.  Becky is going to die when she finds out I spoke to the Chosen One!  Can I get your autograph?  This is amazing!”  She turned and pointed her cell phone at us, and I was blinking away spots from the flash as my traitorous girlfriend chuckled.

I tried to sneak a word in. “I'm not...”  She just bounced with that look of adoration people had for my doppelganger.  Nobody had that look for me.  Well except my girl.  I sighed, and she produced a glitter pen and a piece of paper and thrust them at me.

Heather smirked as I sighed and signed Emily Marilyn Monroe on the paper, and handed it back to her.  She asked in that same rushed and excited tone, “Emily?  That's your name?”  I sighed again, louder and tapped on what I wrote under my name.  “I'm not the Chosen One.”

She narrowed her eyes at that and for a moment, looked almost hurt, before her eyes went wide and she hugged me before dashing off, blurting out that she could keep my secret and that she loved me and maybe something about puppies or rainbows or some other such shit.

Heather was just covering her mouth to hide her chuckling.  So I did what any logical person would do.  I kicked her shin under the table.  That shut the wench up as I gave her a forced toothy smile.  She admonished playfully, “Whaaat?  It was cute.”

I growled, “Aren't you late?  How long does Containment give you for lunch anyway?”

Her smile faded to be replaced by that same serious look I saw on her face the first time we met as she whispered, “Read it.”

So I started to read, my eyes widening with every sentence.

Twenty-seven years ago, the leaders of Big City were trying to come up with a solution to the supervillain problem.  With the people who abused their powers outnumbering those who didn't three to one and climbing.  The police force was almost a tenth of the population to keep any semblance of order and to have the manpower to try to stop the reign of terror the city was living under.

They turned to Genesis Labs for the answer.  It was a long-term plan they had come up with.  They would genetically manipulate a human egg and infuse it with the genetic signatures of all the powered people they had on hand in the DNA banks.  They called it Project Peltier Infusion.

With the help of brilliant geneticist and physicist, Doctor Maria Aki, they were able to create one single viable egg after thousands of failures.  The only thing they needed was a surrogate womb to implant the egg into to nurture their artificial creation designated EM1-LY341.

Doctor Aki volunteered, and the embryo began to grow inside her, but early on, an anomaly occurred and the embryo split as the DNA in it seemed to fight itself.  The scientists were almost giddy since the Peltier scans were off the charts.  They were going to have two project specimens instead of one.

But as the pregnancy progressed, they found that while one progressed normally, the other one was smaller and less developed, they weren't even sure the secondary specimen would be viable.

But against all the odds it had survived, and nine months later, Doctor Aki gave birth to EM1-LY341 and EM1-LY342.  All the scientists except Doctor Aki were disappointed to find that EM1-LY342 didn't register on the Peltier Scale.  They saw it as failed leftover flotsam from the main experiment, but Doctor Aki argued adamantly, showing 'impaired emotional attachment to the subject'  calling it 'a beautiful baby girl.'

The woman in charge of the project, Genevieve Templeton, ordered the failed portion of the experiment terminated.

I pulled back. Templeton?  Wasn't that Wendy's last name?  Crap on a bagel!  That's right!  Mayor Anderson had been one of the Templeton billionaires before marrying the political powerhouse, Adam Anderson!  Did... did Mayor Anderson raise Wendy as her own?

I swallowed hard and noted Heather's gaze was virtually drilling into me with worried eyes.  I thought I knew where this was going but I didn't want to believe that anyone would just want to... to throw a baby away.  Me.

A basket of french fries slid onto the table in front of me.  I glance up at a grinning Betty before she spun to go take an order from some people who had just shown up.  It was almost laughable.  I was terrified of what I was reading... already knowing why, as I still had the tag that was on my bassinet they found at Big City Orphanage.  EM1-LY342.

And Betty gave us fries.

I envied the perky girl and her normal, stress-free life.

I saw a slender hand reach out to steal the Alpha Fry.  Every batch of fries has one.  That one impossibly long fry that was like the prize of your meal.  I looked up and complained, “Hey!”  I smiled at her seductive smile as Heather snapped her teeth, biting the fry in half, looking all innocent.

Oh, I got it, she was distracting me from the file.  I grinned as she fed me the other half.  Then I took a deep breath and looked back at the file.

Doctor Aki had absconded with the failed portion of the experiment in the middle of the night.  And when the authorities caught up with her, there was no trace of the 'stolen property.'  She refused to tell them what she did with it.  The woman would only say, “She's safe from you now.”

Doctor Aki was fired, they couldn't arrest her for taking part in an illegal genetic experiment.  And she was blacklisted in the scientific community.  She seemed to disappear after that, Genesis Labs lost track of her.

I looked at the picture of the young, twenty-something Asian geneticist....  my... mother.  She looked so hauntingly familiar, and I couldn't quite place a finger on why.  Had our paths crossed and neither of us even knew?

My... sister, was virtually perfect in every way.  Though she didn't quite score a perfect fifty on the Peltier Scale.  They believe it was because of the anomaly at the beginning of the project.  Yup, that's me, Emily Monroe, anomaly.  I got the most pathetic part of my sister's power.  I was a mistake, an aberration.

Miss Templeton took in EM1-LY341 to nurture and raise to be the pinnacle of morality so that she could one day serve her purpose as guardian of Big City.  They named the subject, Wendy, and made sure she was only exposed to positive stimuli as she grew.

They allowed her to attend public school in high school to gain some social interaction and exposure to others her age, so she could better assimilate when she was revealed to the public.

My god... my sister was treated like an experiment her whole life.  She probably thought it was normal.  And these were the supposed good guys?

Over the years they tried to duplicate the experiment but had no success creating viable eggs.  Without Doctor Aki's expertise, they couldn't just manufacture more.

I snerked when I read that Wendy, in her disguised form, had started acting out.  Morphing her hair into a cute pixie cut like other girls in her class had, and started arguing with Miss Templeton, who had since been married to Adam Anderson.

Good for her.  She had found her individuality.  She didn't have to be the perfect little science experiment for them.  Oh lord, was I really rooting for the Chosen One now?  She was... she was my sister.  My twin.  A twin who was a billion times more... everything... than I was, but I had a family.  A real family.  And my chest ached so much that I was worried my heart might stop.

The file ended with them stating that the subject broke cover when she flew to aid the city when the  Subjugator showed up and mesmerized the leaders of the Big City, including Wendy's “mother” who was then just a city council member.

Fuck.  They saw the 'emotional response' as something they could 'condition out of the subject.'  Good God, they still didn't see her as human?  No wonder the Chosen One is always smiling when she fights, it is the only way she can work out her frustrations from being a bird in a gilded cage.

I blinked as I closed the file.  One thought circling in my mind.  I had a sister.  I wasn't alone.  Wendy... was my sister.  I smiled and wiped a tear from my cheek.  Well of course she was, to be related to me she had to be super awesome, right?

Don't answer that.

I chuckled out under my breath, “I'm a fucking failed experiment.”

Heather reached over and grasped my hands and whispered, “No, you're nothing of the sort.  You're a cute, funny, intelligent woman.  Who I'm getting overly fond of.”

I blushed and dipped my eyes and said, “I'm getting overly fond of you myself.”

She looked at me, then the file and then said.  “We need to hide that.”  I nodded, and she slid out of the booth and said, “I better get back to work, or Special Agent Asaunt will throw a tizzy.  Are you ok?”

I nodded as I slipped out of the booth to stand in front of her and I nodded.

She prompted, “Really?”

I nodded again and said, “I have a sister.”

This caused a sad smile to spread on her face.  Then she gave me a peck on the lips, and she was gone.

I went back toward the kitchen.  Betty, who was at a table stuffing napkins into a napkin holder popped up like she was on springs to follow along.  I pointed at my Violet haired roommate in her corner and said, “Feed her.”

The girl saluted.  “You got it, boss.”

I pointed at her as she bounced on her toes. “No charge.”

Vi gave us a toothy grin.

As soon as I stepped into the now pristine looking kitchen, and set the folder down on a counter, Tony grinned, tossing the spatula to me.  I caught it deftly as he started taking off his apron, teasing, “It's about time, Chosen One.”  He winked like it was our conspiracy.

I slapped the back of his head as he passed me. “For the three hundred and twenty-seven thousand two hundred and fourth time Tony, I'm not her.”

He winked, putting the finger on the side of his nose.  He'd never believe me, would he?  “Whatever you say, Emily.”  He used finger quotes when he said my name.  If he weren't so adorable with his hero worship, I'd have smacked him into next week.

That's when the roof of the kitchen area seemed to roll back, shoved away by a sickly green looking giant paint scraper.  Then one of the most powerful super-villains in the world was lowered into the kitchen by a giant sickly green hand that was being projected by the man's ring.  The Chartreuse Lantern!

I shoved Tony through the swinging door, yelling at him, “Get everyone out!  Call Containment!”  I pressed the button on the little ring Heather had given me 'for emergencies' after the Ice Maiden attack.  I think this qualified.

The man was confident as he smirked at me.  “I couldn't believe it when they told me that the Chosen One flipped burgers for a living.  But here you are.  And now we will see which one of us is truly the ultimate powered individual on the planet.”

He went on as I backed toward the swinging door, “Time to...”

I held up a hand as I changed the color of my fingernails. “Spare me the supervillain monologue, would you?  This isn't a Marvel movie.  And you aren't powered, Guy.  Everyone knows the story of Guy Shruberer you took the ring that gives you those powers off of a dying alien in a crashed spaceship.  And everyone also knows your one weakness.”

He roared out in challenge and thrust his hand forward, a giant fist tore out all the kitchen equipment as he punched at me with it.  I slashed down with my hands.  Shredding the apparition of coherent chartreuse light, but the force of it still exploded, sending me bursting through the swinging door, the papers from the Genesis Labs folder fluttering all around me as I slid on my back across the floor.

“Ow.”

I looked up and saw Violet walking calmly to the bathroom, the rest of the place was empty, Tony and Betty got the customers to safety.  Then the side wall to the parking lot exploded into shattering glass as Mr. Invincible, and the Green Ghoul slammed through the plate glass windows.

They were all looking at me with gleeful rage in their eyes.

This was it.  My curse had finally caught up with me, hadn't it?  I guess Genesis' failed experiment was... I gasped when a huge chartreuse boa constrictor wrapped around my throat and started crushing.  I blinked, the Chartreuse Lantern was on top of me, grinning in vicious glee as the snake coming from his ring choked me.

I slashed with my hands, fingers outstretched and diced the snake and scratched long gouging trails in the man's face.  He fell back, crying out in pain asking, “How?”

I rolled to my feet to face the three villains as I smirked at him holding up my hands, my fingernails a bright orange.  “Everyone knows that your power has one failing, idiot.  It can't affect the color orange.  Just how lame is that?”

His eyes widened, and he looked to be enraged.  This was it.  Go time.  I looked around and yelled as I cracked my knuckles, “Well chickenshits, who's first?”

I was caught off guard when Mr. Invincible lunged at me, grasping my throat with one hand.  He... was invincible.  Not strong.  As far as I knew, he didn't have any other powers besides being invincible.  Good for strolling through a carpet made of porcupine quills and razor blades, not so good for much else.

But before I could do anything, there was a sonic boom that shattered the rest of the windows in the place, and Mr. Invincible was simply gone.

Through the new hole in the kitchen wall, I saw Wendy wrapping him in the steel from the countertops, screaming at the man, “Nobody touches my sister!”

I blinked and turned to the others.  Then just like Mr. Invincible had disappeared, the Chartreuse Lantern did as well when a blur of orange light pile drove into his chest.  Heather was there!  She was pummeling the man with a flurry of lightning fast blows, her light shifted to a bright orange.

So I turned to the Green Ghoul who was pulling out some exploding ghosts.  I grabbed a piece of wood from the debris and wielded it like a bat when the man was suddenly knocked off his hovering bat glider by... a giant boxing glove on an accordion?

I looked back to see the Blue Canary running out of the bathroom.  Whaaaa?  I tried to see under her blue cowl as she dashed past me with a huge slingshot that had an old-time bomb with a lit fuse sparking on it.

Did I catch a hint of purple hair under that cowl?  Vi?

Oh my god!  My roommate was the Blue Canary!  My head was spinning.

The Ghoul regained his feet, and he took out the bomb she slung at him, with a ghost bomb.  He started growling at her, “Insolent girl!  I should have killed you like your mother instead of leaving you at the orphanage.  I'll rectify that oversight right...”  He ooffed when she tackled him.

I blinked at what he had said as they started a battle of gadgets.  Where were they pulling them all out from?   The Blue... I mean Violet yelled at the man, “Shut up dad.  Your reign of terror ends tonight.  I'm sick and tired of you hurting people just to get your rocks off.  I've been easy on you because we're related, something that disgusts me.  But you came after my friend!  She's my family, and you crossed the line.  That is unforgivable in my book.  Nobody messes with my family!”

She threw a... mechanical dinosaur at him.  No really.  An honest to God, fifteen-foot tall wind-up t-rex, complete with giant key turning on its back.  Ok, now that was impossible, it was three times her size, where the hell had she hidden that?

He screamed as the beast chomped him, then it reformed into a straitjacket made of steel and it... it had the same emblem of a joker on it that Violet had on the computer tablet she always had with her.

As the man fell to the ground, immobile, his bat glider moved slowly toward the Canary's back a blade extending.  I yelled out a warning, “Vi!”  And without looking, she swung her hand back, and a giant clown hammer smashed the glider to pieces.

She muttered, “My nanotech is better than yours...”  She almost spat out the last word, “Dad.”

It was eerily silent for a moment until we heard sirens approaching in the distance.  Violet looked around nervously, and I said, “Go before they get here.”

She nodded and ran back into the bathroom.  She stepped back out, looking like herself again a moment later.  Then she padded across the debris to slip back into the remains of her booth.  I asked Vi as Wendy and Heather dragged their conquests to drop beside the defeated Ghoul, “When did you become such a chatterbox?  That was more than I've heard you say in twenty-five years.”

In Violet style, she shrugged, then looked afraid as she offered, “Love you.”

The relief in her eyes almost hurt when I said, “Love you too, brat.”  Did she really think a little thing like being a kick-ass hero without powers would phase me?  My sister was the Chosen One.

That made me turn to lock eyes with a sheepish looking Wendy.  God... it was like looking in some sort of freaky mirror.  I let my eyes go blue, and she smiled and shrugged, not sure what she was supposed to say.  I didn't either.  But I had a sister.  Just how weird was my life?

We all turned back to the sound of crunching glass, to see Mrs. Yamamoto running into the building in a panic, relief on her face when she saw me, but then she froze when she saw Wendy.

Wendy gasped and backpedaled, crushing the wall behind her as she covered her mouth, staring at Mrs. Y with shock and fear in her eyes.  She whispered out in a wanting tone of desperation, “Mom?”

Then with another sonic boom and rain of plaster from the new hole in the roof, she was gone.  Mom?

Heather's eyes drifted down to the papers strewn about our feet and asked in disbelief, “Doctor Aki?”

I followed her eyes to the picture of the young Asian doctor who had given birth to twins, then my eyes widened at the woman who gave me a job when nobody else would, the woman who wouldn't fire me no matter how many times I got her building damaged when people came after me.  I could see Doctor Aki in her now.

My whisper echoed that of Wendy's, my throat tight, “Mom?”

She just pressed her hands together in front of her lips as a tear trickled down her cheek as she nodded.

Heather grabbed my shoulder to support me for a moment as my knees went wobbly.  Then she blurred around the place before returning to my side before I missed the support.  All the pages from the file were gone from the floor.

My life was about to change.  And oddly, I felt a sense of calm about it.  Maybe the weight of all I had learned tonight would hit me soon.  But for now...

We all turned when Special Agent Asaunt from Containment called out, “What the fuck did you do this time, Monroe?”

I just chuckled.

Welcome to my life.  I'm Emily Monroe, and I am not the Chosen One.

The End

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Novels by Erik Schubach

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Books in the Techromancy Scrolls series...

Adept

Soras

Masquerade

Westlands

Avalon (2018)

Books in the Urban Fairytales series...

Red Hood: The Hunt

Snow: The White Crow

Ella: Cinders and Ash

Rose: Briar's Thorn

Let Down Your Hair

Hair of Gold: Just Right

The Hood of Locksley

Beauty In the Beast

No Place Like Home

Shadow Of The Hook (2018)

Books in the New Sentinels series...

Djinn: Cursed

Raven Maid: Out of the Darkness

Fate: No Strings Attached

Open Seas: Just Add Water

Ghost-ish: Lazarus (2018)

Books in the Drakon series...

Awakening

Dragonfall

Books in the Valkyrie Chronicles series...

Return of the Asgard

Bloodlines

Folkvangr

Seventy Two Hours

Titans

Books in the Tales From Olympus series...

Gods Reunited

Alfheim (2018)

Books in the Bridge series...

Trolls

Traitor

Unbroken

Books in the Fracture series...

Divergence

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Romance Novels by Erik Schubach

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Books in the Music of the Soul universe...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Music of the Soul

A Deafening Whisper

Dating Game

Karaoke Queen

Silent Bob

Five Feet or Less

Broken Song

Syncopated Rhythm

Progeny

Girl Next Door

Lightning Strikes Twice

June

Dead Shot

Music of the Soul Shorts...

(All short stories are standalone and can be read in any order)

Misadventures of Victoria Davenport: Operation Matchmaker

Wallflower

Accidental Date

Holiday Morsels

What Happened In Vegas?

Books in the London Harmony series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Water Gypsy

Feel the Beat

Roctoberfest

Small Fry

Doghouse

Minuette

Squid Hugs

The Pike

Flotilla

Books in the Pike series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Ships In The Night

Right To Remain Silent

Evermore

Books in the Flotilla series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Making Waves

Keeping Time

The Temp

Books in the Unleashed series...

Case of the Collie Flour

Case of the Hot Dog

Case of the Gold Retriever

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Novellas by Erik Schubach

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The Hollow

Novellas in the Paranormals series...

Fleas

This Sucks

Jinx (2018)

Novellas in the Fixit Adventures...

Fixit

Glitch

Vashon

Descent (2018)

Novellas in the Emily Monroe Is Not The Chosen One series...

Night Shift

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Short Stories by Erik Schubach

(These short stories span many different genres)

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A Little Favor

Lost in the Woods

MUB

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Oops!

Rift Jumpers: Faster Than Light

Scythe

Snack Run

Something Pretty