[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Wearing

“Maybe you hit your head in that accident or something. Are you sure you were supposed to have been let out so early?” Alice scowled at her best friend, unappreciative of his attempted joke. “I’m serious, it’s true, I have super powers.” He laughed again, and in his defence, she understood why. This was the real world; super powers didn’t exist outside of movies and comic books. Except they did. Or they did now anyway, maybe if Will was right they always had. She’d been brought back to life by a strange woman. She felt better than she ever had. More than that, she had actual super powers. “Steven… won’t you just believe me?” He looked at her, clearly unconvinced, “Sure, let’s pretend for a minute that you actually have super powers.” She glared at him, sat cross legged on his bed while he spun idly in his desk chair. It was obvious that he wasn’t just going to take her at her word. She jumped up off the bed onto the floor in front of him. “Fine, let me prove it, hit me.” He abruptly halted his spin, raising an eyebrow at her, “What? No!” She shrugged defiantly, “What? Just cause I’m a girl?” He sighed, exasperated. “Yeah… No… Alice… I’m not going to hit you. You’re my friend. And what will it prove?” She looked around the room, searching for something that would help her prove what she could do. She didn’t see anything around that could really be helpful. She knew she could absorb the energy from a fall, but jumping out of his window in broad daylight might not be the best move. Maybe throw herself down his stairs? That might be asking for more trouble as well. She sat back down on his bed frowning. “Fine then. Let’s say I had powers then.” He interrupted with a playful smirk, “What were they again?” She gritted her teeth in frustration, “I can absorb and return energy.” “Right… what kind of energy? Kinetic? So you can stop bullets?” “I guess…” He nodded, thoughtful, “Ok. Makes sense I guess. If they were real…” Glaring, she retorted, “which they are.” He rolled his eyes dramatically, starting the spin of his chair again, waving a pen idly as he did so. Alice leaned back against the wall Steven’s bed was set against. There was a poster from World of Warcraft and she rested her head against Thrall’s snarling visage, staring at the catwalk model from the Paris Fashion Week displayed on the opposite wall. “So if I did, what should my hero name be?”

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Wearing

They’d been bouncing names around Steven’s room for the last hour, with little success. Right now they were both sat on his bed with controllers in their hands. “How about,” Steven grunted as he unleashed a combo attack onto Alice’s character, “Karma. Y’know, cause if they attack you, it gives you power?” Alice simply gritted her teeth, hammering the buttons on her controller with a singular ferocity. The screen flashed and when the smoke cleared it revealed Alice’s character, a vaguely anthropomorphic panda with a red cap. “Ha! Suck it!” He rolled his eyes at her, “You got lucky.” “I kinda like that one, it does sound pretty good, but I don’t know if it’s me, y’know?” He scowled, then dropped the controller onto the bed. It was their third match, and he’d lost all of them. Which was annoying. He’d just bought the game last week, played it like crazy since, and Alice had still beaten him. Maybe he never should have given her his PS2 and all those old Tekken games. “I don’t know then Pally, there’s gotta be something that you feel is really you…” “There’s gotta be something that could work, I can’t be the nameless super hero can I?” He sighed, he’d been humouring her for the past hour, but if he was honest with himself, he would continue to humour her for as long as she maintained this strange charade. Even so, he was feeling like they’d been banging their heads against a wall. Neither of them had managed to come up with a good idea for naming Alice as a super hero. None of them seemed quite right to her. Alice sat up suddenly. “Wait. What did you say?” He frowned, “Something that is really you?” She waved the hand holding the controller, “No no, before that. What did you call me?” “Uh… Palice? I always call you that.” She clambered up onto her knees, getting more excited as the idea came to her. “Yeah! And why do you call me that?” He shrugged, “I dunno, cause you always play Paladin in D&D?” “Exactly!”

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + wearing

Steven looked puzzled for a moment, and then the light of realisation dawned in his eyes. “Oh…” Alice’s face lit up in response, “Right?” Alice and Steven had been a member of the same D&D group for years, they were both avid players, and often developed deep backstories between their characters even before the campaigns would start. Alice would inevitably create a ‘Lawful Good’ Knight of holy justice, a fearsome warrior in shining plate that paled in strength next to their convictions. In game she played exactly the same, the strong and courageous warrior who would throw themselves before danger, willing to sacrifice everything to protect their fellows, but unwilling to stomach any sort of concept of the ‘Greater Good’. Alice’s Paladin’s rarely got along with any character with a ‘Chaotic’ alignment. She’d tried to play ‘Chaotic Good’ once, but had simply been unable to wrap her head around the concept of playing such a character. She’d gone back to her favourite after that. It was why Steven had nicknamed her ‘Palice’, or ‘Pally’, and most of the rest of their D&D group had followed that trend. Her best friend nodded slowly, “Yeah… Paladin… That does sound pretty good… Like you’re a protector…” Alice nodded eagerly, bouncing up and down on the bed, “It’d be perfect, I want to do this to help people! If I have these powers then I should use them for good. Like Spiderman!” That had Steven worried, it sounded like Alice was actually about to start going out and fighting crime. And crime fighting was hardly know for its medical plan. He leaned forward a little, “Look, Alice, you’re not being serious with all of this are you?” She glared in response, frustrated that he couldn’t accept that she actually had super powers now. She sounded, if anything, a little annoyed. “Why won’t you believe me?”

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + wearing

Steven looked lost. "Alice… I…" It was clear that he didn't really have an answer. How could he, his best friend was here claiming that she had super powers. How were you supposed to respond to that? "I'm not lying Steven, I'm not making it up! I was in that accident! I died!" Steven frowned, he didn't know what to do. This was the first he'd heard of how bad the accident had been, but he was finding it equally hard to believe that. Surely if Alice had been resuscitated there would have been some evidence. If she'd been in that accident she'd have a cast, or bandages, or even a bruise. That wasn't the case. She looked fine, better than that, she looked great. Ever since they'd left school she'd lost weight and seemed to be getting more tired every time he saw her. His mom was convinced that she needed fattening up, and before the accident Steven would have agreed. Now though, she looked amazing. "Pally, it's not that I don't believe you…" "What then? You think I'd lie to you?" She stood, the anger clear on her face. She'd always relied on Steven, he had been her best friend since the beginning of High School. He'd always been there for her, through tests, breakups. They used to have sleep overs in a tent in his back yard. His mom had helped her make her first batch of cookies. Now he wouldn't even believe her about the most important thing that had ever happened to her. "Whatever, I've gotta go." She grabbed her bag off the bed, trying her hardest not to cry.

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + wearing

"Alice…" But Alice was already at the door of Stephen's room, swinging her bag onto her shoulder as she went. "Alice please!" He sounded desperate, not wanting them to part on such terms. Alice paused in the door and turned back to face him, pawing roughly at her eyes. "What?" Stephen climbed off the bed, standing in front of her. "I mean… it's hard to believe OK Alice. Super powers? In the real world? It's like being in a comic book." Alice took a step closer to the door of his room, and he followed her. "I know but… I would have thought that being my best friend you'd believe me when I told you…" He nodded, "I do. I do." She shook her head, "No you don't! I can tell, you don't believe me even after everything. I don't even know why I'm bothering having this argument." He held up his hands in surrender. "OK Alice, maybe I don't totally believe you yet. But it's not because I don't trust you. Not at all. It's just such an amazing, impossible thing. If I told you I had powers wouldn't you be just a tiny bit sceptical?" He paused in thought for a moment, "OK maybe you wouldn't, it's just a little hard to really believe without seeing it." She stood in the doorway for a moment longer, glaring sullenly at him, then she dropped her bag on the floor and held up a hand, palm towards Stephen. "You want to believe me? Hit me." "Alice…" "Just do it, or I'm going." He sighed, awkwardly raising a fist. "Fine…" Stephen threw a punch...

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + wearing

He looked puzzled, understandably. His fist, which should have had at least some noticeable impact on Alice, spectacularly failed to do anything of the sort. Alice didn't even flinch, didn't blink, just stared at him in challenge. She raised an eyebrow. "You hit like a girl." He frowned, clearly confused as to what was going on, then pulled back his fist and punched again. If anything, this time it had less effect. He looked up in confusion and dawning realisation. Alice put a hand against his chest, exerting no pressure, then she let the energy flow. Caught off guard, by what could only be interpreted as a blow, Stephen stumbled back, his legs stopping at the bed and causing him to sit down suddenly. He looked at her in amazement. "What? How? You can't…" Rather dramatically, Alice stood before him with hand on hip. "Believe me now?" He nodded. Clearly his preconceived notions about science and reality had just been shattered. That was fair, only a few days ago so had Alice's. What she could do now was amazing, impossible, ridiculous and everything she had wanted to do since she'd first opened a comic book. "That… Is… So… COOL!" He jumped up and hugged her, Alice couldn't help but grin in response, returning the hug. "I know! I know!" She pulled back, "At least you took me seriously enough to give me a name." He sat down on the bed again, brushing his hair back out of his eyes. "Jeez, I still can't believe you have super powers." "Hey," Alice snapped at him with a humourous glint in her eye, " We already had that argument remember." "I know, I know. Just… jeez…" She sat down beside him, "You know what I need then…" He looked back at her, a question etched on his face. "A costume…"

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + wearing

A few hours and a plate of fresh cookies later and they had a few ideas. Sort of. Stephen's sketch pad was full of various half-formed ideas and unfinished sketches. Stephen's mom had mostly left them to their own devices, content simply to ferry cookies to the two friends and check that they didn't need anything else. She wasn't the stereotypical nosy or overprotective mom of American sitcoms, she knew when she was and wasn't needed or wanted. They hadn't settled on anything, none of it had seemed quite right. This had to be right as well. Peter Parker had made his own suit, Superman had inherited his from his parents. Alice might have no skill with needle and thread but if she was going to wear a superhero costume then she was damn sure she would have a hand in it. It was just like her power; a direct representation of her, part of her even. It was probably why Stephen frustratedly threw down his pencil as she ummed and aahed over his latest efforts. "OK I need to take a break from this now." Alice was instantly apologetic but he waved her off. "It's ok, I totally understand why. That said, my artistic pride can only take so many snubs, so I'm going to let it recover before I do anything else." She nodded in understanding, "Sorry, I guess I just want it to be perfect." "I would if I were you, but I've got to go soothe my ego before I try again." He dropped the thick pad onto his desk, turning back to his best friend. "You want food? We could get pizza or something?" Alice nodded, Stephen was right, they had been going for a while, and though it didn't feel anything like work, it was still mentally draining. That and the thought of pizza made her mouth water. The cookies had been a whole hour ago and she could feel her stomach crying out for more sustenance. "Pizza sounds good!"

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + wearing

Later Stephen held up the finished product, letting the natural light from the large windows of the studio fall across the fabric. They'd made use of the University studio to produce the costume, Stephen obviously got on well with his lecturers, and they'd hardly even blinked when he'd asked if he could use the room and equipment. They'd mostly had the room to themselves when they'd been there, with only one or two other students, all of them older appearing from time to time. They had paid no attention to Stephen or Alice, too focused on their own projects to care about the activities of a couple of freshmen. Alice hadn't done much, mostly just acted as an assistant… well… moral support anyway. Stephen was clearly capable, and he'd done well with the measurements Alice had provided. Persephone, Mason and Dom now all had suits, each one carefully folded in the bottom of Alice's wardrobe. It had been painful to wait for her costume to be finished, but Stephen had insisted. She was convinced he was just doing so to torment her. He insisted it was because he wanted to get it just right. Now though, it was finished. "Lemme see!" She grabbed it from him to inspect it herself. Holding it against her front as she stood in front of a full length mirror wheeled over for just such a purpose. "It looks so amazing! Can I try it on?" Stephen laughed, "Sure, but are you sure you want to make your debut in the SFSU designer's studio? Maybe you should wait till we've got a little more privacy." Alice glared at him briefly, but recognising that he was right, began to fold up the fabric to put it in her bag. "Fine, but it better fit first time!" He held up his hands, "I did my best with the measurements, but any outfit has to be adjusted when it's actually worn. It'll fit, I guarantee it, but I might still need to make a couple of adjustments to make it absolutely perfect. You do want it to be perfect don't you." Alice was the very image of a petulant child in her reply. "Yes."

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + wearing

"Ta daaaaa!" Alice posed triumphantly in her suit, hands on hips as if she had just vanquished a mighty foe. It would have been slightly more impressive if she wasn't posing in front of the mirror in Stephen's bedroom. It looked good, really good. Clearly Stephen was talented, more talented than perhaps she had given him credit for. The suit was a soft, almost glowing white, made of some sort of tough material that had stretched a little as she had put it on, but didn't cling to her in the way that spandex would have done. The deep rich purple she had chosen drew eyes to her core, and to the point where he had layered actual armour over her chest. She wouldn't need it of course, and it wasn't thick enough to stop a bullet. It certainly fit her name however, and gave her the look of a warrior, instead of just some girl in a weird costume. Unlike a weird costume however, this one actually fit, and fit well. Already Stephen was tutting at his own failings, but Alice ignored him. If he wanted to make adjustments he'd have to wait until she was done admiring herself, admiring Paladin. The face mask was the same colour and material as the rest of the suit, but Stephen had stitched loose elastic around the edge so that she could remove it easily but wouldn't have to worry about it coming loose of its own accord. She frowned, looking back at the armour on her chest. She looked down, up again, placed her hands on her chest. "Did you… pad it?" Stephen looked embarrassed.

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