WRITE A STORY OF A HERO!

Celerity grinned at Paladin. "That's all? Hah. They must not have done their research if they thought they could beat you."

She was exaggerating a little; Paladin was an unquestionably powerful hero, being the strongest brick on record (even New York's Tank didn't come close), but the caveats to her ability left her vulnerable to a blaster like the one they were up against. On his own the charge time would've let her smash him anyway, but even if the car thrower couldn't hurt Paladin she could still keep the hero away long enough to give the blaster time to attack. It was a bit of a scary matchup, but then, it wasn't like she was alone anymore.

Celerity may not have had Paladin's stardom, or even that of Surge before his retirement, but she was still one of the most popular heroes in the states, and she had the power to back it up. Nothing could touch her, not if she didn't want it to. If Paladin was the strongest, Celerity was the fastest.

The blaster who was such a threat to Paladin, capable of ignoring her defences, meant nothing against Celerity. If he had been capable of firing his blasts instantly then maybe, but the charge time meant he'd never land a hit. The car thrower would be more of an issue for her on her own, but Paladin made her utterly irrelevant.

Against either one of them, their opponents would've stood a chance. Against the two of them? Not so much.

Paladin's charge had the attention of both opponents focused on her almost instantly. It wasn't every day someone jumped thirteen feet as easily as most would jump two. More common now than it had once been, perhaps, but powers had only been around a year.

Celerity had been waiting for them to focus on her fellow hero, and swiftly took advantage of their distraction. She vanished from her place behind the truck, reappearing halfway across the road and hurling her shield high into the air. The blaster, whose attention had been drawn by Paladin, jerked his head to the side to glare at Celerity, a burst of red light shining from his eyes.

The beam seared across the street, vaporising a whole in a bin. Had it hit, it probably would've vaporised a hole in Celerity as well, but she had already vanished, reappearing twenty foot in the air to snatch her shield, spinning like a ballet dancer and laughing like a school girl. She vanished again, off to the side of where she had been originally and she wagged a finger. "You could've hit me with that, and then what would you do hmm?"

She felt confident - very confident. She was getting the impression that their opponents were rather less dangerous than they'd appeared before. They were a good matchup for Paladin, sure, but both Celerity and Paladin had dealt with more dangerous opponents before.

Celerity made to take a step forward, her first of the fight. Her leg didn't move.

She vanished immediately, not waiting around for whatever had stopped her to do some actual damage. Reappearing back at the other side of the street, she quickly appraised the situation. The asphalt at her original position had risen up from the ground around where her legs had been. That must've been what got in the way, but who had..? The third meta, of course.

"Asphalt manipulator Paladin, watch out." They really had come prepared for the other hero. Paladin could smash her way out of anything so long as she had enough power stored, but if the car thrower and asphalt manipulator could manage to slow her down enough for the blaster to draw a bead on her she'd go down like anyone else. No more playing around, this was serious.

She dropped her sword and palmed the last mark that was in her pouch, the one she always left behind as a safety, before teleporting as close to the blaster as she could and throwing the little piece of metal straight at him.

It struck him high in the chest with all the force of a small child's punch. He didn't have time to be smug, however, as in an instant she was there, slapping a mark on his chest before smashing him in the face with her shield. He staggered back, dazed but still concious, but she had to vanish again immediately to avoid reprisal from the asphalt manipulator. It didn't really matter though. With a mark on his chest, the blaster could never escape her now. He was done.

Write a story of a hero!

Kathy Howard straightened up from her hunched position over the bonnet of the car, wiping a hand across her forehead and leaving a dark stain on the otherwise clear skin. "I'm afraid you're gonna need some new brake pads. How long's it been since you had this looked at?" The response left her aghast. "Christ Matt, you're supposed to get it checked regularly. This baby can't look after herself you know!"

She gave him a punch on the arm, glaring reprovingly up at her friend. "Honestly, I should charge you extra for that. Hell, I'm gonna need to give her a full look over now. God only knows what's happened to her, what with you at the wheel n'all."

"I still get the best friend discount right?" Matt asked, scratching at the back of his head sheepishly.

Kathy snorted and shoved him. "You're lucky I'm so damn soft idiot. Now go on, get on out of here. I'll give you a call when I'm done with her."

One would not be out of place if they questioned why a highly successful, professional hero - one who earned more than enough to live comfortably off in her neighbourhood - was fixing cars for her dumb friend. The answer was quite simple really; Kathy liked fixing things, always had. Whether they be vehicles, people, or relationships, she'd do her best to fix 'em all. It was fun, and just because she was a hero now didn't mean she couldn't spend her downtime on her old job.

She gave Matt's car a look over, then ordered some new brake pads for the BMW. They'd arrive in a day or so, then she could call him back over and he could drive off into the sunset. Where he'd probably break something again, honestly.



The call came in half an hour later, just before Kathy could start preparing her lunch. Something about a package that needed to be delivered to San Francisco. She dropped everything she was doing, dashing to her room to put on her costume. She was strapping on the greaves when she noticed the grime she was leaving on the gleaming metal. She'd forgotten to have a shower after working on the car, so she was still filthy.

She heaved a great, put upon sigh, before shaking her fist at the ceiling as if it was its fault that she was a little scatterbrained sometimes. Off came the armour, she needed a shower.



Celerity appeared suddenly in the Hero Program building, looking like some mythical hero in her shining silver armour. The image was rather ruined by her still damp hair which looked rather bedraggled by comparison, as if she'd hurriedly stuck it under the water and ran a brush through it maybe once (which was in fact the case, not that she'd ever admit it). The first person she saw must've been new around, because the woman gasped and dropped the box she was carrying.

Well, Celerity was a knight in shining armour. She couldn't stand by and let someone be embarassed like that.

She swept in and caught the box before it hit the floor, handing it to the intern with a broad smile and a cheerful "m'lady."

The poor girl turned crimson in the time it took to blink, stammered her thanks, and fled.

Kathy giggled quietly. She loved acting the gallant knight, it was an endless source of amusement - especially since a lot of people frequently seemed unable to tell how they should react to some good old-fashioned courtly manners. It certainly seemed to confuse some of her fellow heroes, considering that she was fulfilling the role typically held by a male figure.

"Hey Cel, did the boss call for you?" The speaker was one of Kathy's many friends in the department, a pencil pusher with a penchant for gossiping like an old woman and swearing like a sailor.

Kathy threw an arm around his shoulders in a sort of half-hug, grinning like a loon. "Hey Andy, long time no see." It had only been a day. She could tell he was going to make a comment to that effect, so she cut him off at the pass. "Yeah, I got a call earlier. Something about a package he needs delivered to San Francisco."

She finished with the small talk and made her way to the boss' office. She entered the room at high speed, her armoured feet skidding on the wooden floor. "Hey boss, you called for me?"

She had been there scarcely a moment when her boss, likely too tired to deal with her when she was in this kind of mood, threw the parcel she was supposed to be delivering at her. "Drop that off and be right back Celerity, you hear me? We might need you, and we can't have you just hanging around the San Francisco heroes for hours on end again. You're supposed to check in here before going off duty, not stay in another city until midnight then check in next day."

Kathy hid her grin behind a hand and then, once she'd managed to adopt a somewhat more serious expression, snapped off a sloppy salute. "Yes sir captain major sir."

Before the man could lose his patience entirely and throw a stapler at her she vanished with a faint rush of displaced air.



Another person might've chafed at being treated like a glorified postman, but to Kathy it was more of an opportunity than an unwelcome burden. She'd always enjoyed travelling, and with her new power even a journey of 3000 miles was as easy as breathing and took less time. Besides, it'd been a while since she'd seen Paladin or any of the other Bay heroes, at least by her current standards - to most people it wouldn't be odd not to see friends on the other side of the country for months at a time, but for Kathy? It started feeling like a long time after a week.

That was why, when she appeared in San Francisco's hero program building, she opened by shouting a greeting. "Special delivery service, courtesy of the one and only Celerity. Take a look while you can folks, I'll be off in a jiffy."

In one of the comic books she loved so much, this would've been the moment where some exasperated straightman slapped a hand to their forehead and muttered something disparaging about her intelligence. As it was, there was only a moment's pause before everything was back in motion.

Kathy overheard words like 'Paladin', 'situation', and 'backup', before she decided she was bored of standing around and dropped the package on the floor. She snatched a passing man by the sleeve and asked what was going on.

Apparently Paladin was in a bit of a dangerous situation, and people weren't certain she'd come out of it okay on her own.

Kathy struck a pose, commanding the attention of the entire room once more. "Do not fear for your champion kind people. Why? Because Celerity is here to save the day!"

Then she was running.