“This is the headquarters of a superhero team? It looks like a little house in the suburbs.” Jess rubbed her arms trying to fight off the after-rain chill in the summer night.
    “That's because it is a little house in the suburbs.” Said Rae, pressing the doorbell. “We're not exactly rolling in the dough, so we have to make do with what we have.”
  Jess cocked her eyebrows. “I see. It's not really what I...” she trailed off.
  “Expected?” finished Rae. “Superhero work isn't all tights and glamor and publicity shots and comic books. It's hard, grinding work. But it's worth it.”
  The glare of the inside splashed into the evening, causing both girls to blink. A tall man stood in the doorway, cradling something in his arms. “Rachael? What are you doing here? And who's this?”
   “Nice to see you too, Mr. Ken...David. This is Jessica, a friend of mine.” He stood to one side. “please, come in.” The girls entered the modest home and took seats int the living room. He set the bundle, a toddler girl with red hair, down. Jennifer toddled about under the watchful eye of her dad, exploring with her babyish curiousity.
   David decided cutting to the chase was the best way to get to the bottom of the girls' visit to his home. “So, Rachael, What's up?”
   Rae nodded, collecting her thoughts. “Right. I found out that my roomate has powers and she was rejected by the League in their typical snobbery, so is there a possibility we could let her fight with us?” The words bubbled and splashed in rapid stream out of her mouth and spilled across the floor.
   David blinked rapidly, processing the babble he'd just heard. “okay. Rachael. Again, and a little slower this time.”
   Rae blushed deeply. “Sorry.” She took a deep breath and started in again. “I discovered that my roomate, Jessica here, has powers. She tried out for the League of Superheroes, but they slammed the door in her face for a petty reason. And I was wondering if you'd let her fight with us.”
   David rubbed the day old stubble on his chin as he thought it over. “Hmmm. We could use some help in the fight.” He turned to the tall redhead sitting on the couch nervously. “So, Jessica, is it? Care to demontrate your powers for us?”
   Jess nodded and closed her eyes in concentration. Nothing happened at first, then sparks began to swirl around and around her hands, spinning tighter and faster, as well as multipying rapidly. Soon a pulsing, crackling sphere formed in her hands.
   David's eyes widened in appriciation. “Electromagnetism. Very neat.”
   Jess shrugged as she absorbed the lightning ball into her body. “I only really bothered to learn the electricity stuff. I can do the other stuff, but it's a bit harder for me to do.”
   David smiled. “Well, then, Jessica, welcome to the team.” He extended his hand to her.
   Slowly, ever so slowly she reached out her hand and shook.
****
    The figure sat on the shadowy bed in his dim room. He ground his teeth. Feelings of hatred, betrayal and revenge swirled around inside him and spilled out through his clenched teeth and furious expression. How could his brother do that to him? Break their partnership in favor of a GIRL? And a mere slip of a girl that barely reached five feet, and couldn't have weighed a hundred pounds sopping wet, even with that long flowing blonde hair that cascaded down her back.
  He clenched his fist as he thought of her. Rachael was her name. Little blonde haired,blue-eyed Rachael, that had ruined one of the greatest partnerships of all time. She'd pay. Big time.
  And his brother, the trecherous David would have to pay as well. He'd decided to bring others into their group. He'd discovered this little girl working in...a candyshop was it? And he'd picked HER over him as a teammate. Oh, yes, he would pay, and anyone else that was with him.
****
   Dragon hit the ground in a rolling dive, avoiding a fierce blast of electricity from the redhead on the other side of the yard.
   IceWolf called out from her position. “We really need a better training ground than your backyard at some point.”
   “When we get the money, I agree.”
  The two took cover as another fierce blast of electricity came their way. “she can't keep that up forever. She'll burn herself out.”
   IceWolf nodded. “Wild Lightning we call her and she's true to that name!” Rae watched Jess carefully. “I'm going for it!” She shot out from her hiding place, shooting a stream of ice at her roomate as she dove for a flag planted behind Jess.
   Wild Lighting struck feircly at the oncoming figure, but her lightning strikes began to fizzle before they hit the ground.
   IceWolf dove behind a sandbox and counted to ten, then moved again, heading for the flag.
   This time, Jess's sparks barely came two feet past her fingertips.
   “Running out of juice, eh?” grinned  IceWolf “Good thing I'm not!” A stream of pale blue shot from IceWolf's fingers as she attacked. Wild Lighting was defenseless against her friend's onslaught and was soon coated in inch thick ice. She yelped. “Rae! That's COLD!”
  Rachael grinned as she swooped up the flag and held it high. “It's ice. That's kinda the point of ice.”
  Jess grunted. “You guys did it AGAIN! Stripped the flag from me in less than 10 minutes. HOW do you guys do it!?”
  Dragon laid his hand on her ice casing and slowly heated it up, melting the ice away. “That's why we do a debrief.” he spread the heat over Jess's clothes, drying them, instantly. “Inside.”
  The team sauntered inside and took seats around the tiny table. Rae smiled as she bounced little Jennifer on her knee.
  Jess ran her hand through her damp hair. “Okay. So exactly why did you guys beat me in 10 minutes?”
   Dragon took a sip of coffee. “You have to promise me you won't get mad at me when I tell you this, Jess.”
   Jess nodded. “I do. What is it?”
  Dragon took a deep breath before continuing. “You used too much power in the excersize. So when it counted, you didn't have enough to defend yourself.”
  Jess snorted. “Big deal. It was just a stupid training excersize. Who cares?”
  Dragon facepalmed. “Jess, there's a reason why we train and practice as much and as frequently as we do. Do you know what the reason is?”
  Jess shrugged. “Because we like to play games?”
  Dragon rolled his eyes skyward out of frustration. “No! It's because we want to be prepared. The skills we learn in out practice and training will prepare us for the real-life bad guys we will face. You expend your power like that every time, you leave yourself wide open for an attack. Just because you're strong doesn't mean you're invincible.”
  Jess laughed. “I'm not worried. I'm strong. You said yourself I have one of the highest concentrations of power you've ever seen.”
   Dragon looked ready to strangle her. “You are. But. We still beat you easily, in less than 10 minutes. You need to learn control, Jessica.”
  Jess shrugged. “I'll learn all that control junk when I need to, not before.”
  Dragon opened his mouth and quickly snapped it shut. “Fine. Be that way. But if you get hurt in battle, Don't say I didn't warn you.”
  Jess glared at him. “I won't get hurt.”
  Rae sipped at a glass of lemonade. “Famous last words.”
  *****
  The sun was tilting towards the western horizon as the three strolled down the streets of Bay City on patrol. They'd already managed to nab several petty crooks in the art of doing mischief and were returning to base. Dragon looked at the girls. “How you two holding up?”
   “Fine” IceWolf replied. “ I have plenty of ice I can shoot yet.”
   Dragon nodded. “Excellent. And what about you, Sparky?”
   Wild Lightning smirked. “Don't worry about me. I can still fire lots of sparks yet.”
   Dragon cocked a skeptical eyebrow. “sure. Just don't get yourself killed, kay?”
   A sinister , familiar voice broke the silence. “She may no have a choice.” a stream of water as powerful as any firehose blasted from an alley way, knocking Wild Lightning to  her knees. Jess couched and spit water out of her lungs.
   Dragon took his stance, a ball of fire forming in his hand. “Who are you? What do you want with us?”
   The voice cackled with a maniacal laugh. “What I want? I want the sweetest fruit of all, Good, ripe revenge!”
   Dragon gritted his teeth. “Revenge tastes sweet at first, but it's really acidic. It'll devour you from the inside out.”
  a figure moved into the light a little bit, but not enough to reveal it's identity. “Save the sermons for your little church friends, David!”
   Dragon caught his breath. “Ho...How did you know my name?”
  The figure moved into the light fully revealing himself. “Don't you remember me...brother?”
  Dragon's jaw fell open. “JASON!?”
  Jason looked very little like the handsome 30 year old that had thrown David and Rachael out of his house mere weeks ago. He looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks. His clothes were torn and dirty with wear. His blue eyes were as cold and hard as tempered steel, and swam in a sea of red. The smell of alchol wrapped around him like a pathetic wreath. “So. You remember your brother. How nice” he looked at Rae, now in her stance. “You still haven't ditched the slut. I'm surprised at you.”
   Rae flushed red, but kept her stance. Jason looked at Jess picking herself off the ground and sneered. “Oh, look! You've even picked up another one. How nice.”
  Dragon closed his eyes. “Leave them out of this, Jason. They have nothing to do with this.”
  Water began forming around Flash Flood's hands as he sneered. “On the contrary, they have everything to do with this. If you hadn't started with them, we'd still be partners!” With those words, two powerful streams of water shot out of his hands and bowled both girls off their feet.
  Dragon countered with a stream of fire from his fingers. Flash Flood sneered and countered with a stream of water, turning the fire into harmless steam.
  “Lightning! Go!” Shouted Dragon. Jess shot a powerful blast of electricity, knocking him back into the alley. The three followed cautiously. Flash flood picked himself up out of the rubbish pile he'd been knocked into. Jess moved in quickly, hitting with electrifed fists and shooting lightining everywhere. With one mighty shove, he blasted Jess back int her companions with a mighty stream of water, putting all three into a little heap.
    “Hit him again Jess! He seems to be weak against your lighting!” ordered Dragon as he climbed to his feet. Jess tried but all she got was sparks. “I'm outta juice!”
    Flash Flood Grinned maniacally. “You are? Good!” He began forming a huge ball of water to finish them off in between his outstretched hands.
   Dragon growled. “I told you this would happen! You're outta juice and if that ball of water hits us, we  die!”
   Flash Flood cackled. “That's right! I'll have the ultimate revenge and there's nothing you can do.” with another out of control laugh, he threw the ball.
   Dragon closed his eyes and braced for the blast of water to snuff out his life. “Lord, help us” was all he could say.
   But instead of his life being snuffed out in a blast of water, he heard a cracking sound, like ice forming and swelling. He opened his eyes to see a wall of ice filling half of the alley. IceWolf stood with her feet braced, and strain on her face. “Take...Jess...and...go! This...will...hold...Him for a....little while!” Dragon could hear the water blasting the makeshift dam of ice and hear the ice creak and groan as the pressure increased. “What about you, Rachael?”
 “I....Need...to...stay...here...keep...this....dam...up.” She gasped with exertion. “Hurry....not...much time...left...before...the wall caves.”
   Jess screamed. “NO! Rae! Don't do it!”
   “It's...the...” she shuddered as the strain increased even more, shaking her tiny frame with the effort. “Only...way.”
   Dragon closed his eyes, about to make one of the hardest descions of his life. “You're a courageous woman, Rachael Snow. No one will every forget this. I'll make sure of it.” her lips lifted in a small smile despite the strain she was feeling. Dragon grabbed Jess's arm. “Come on we need to go.”
“But Rae!” jess cried out, resisting.
  “She's giving herself so we can escape. Let's not let her sacrifice be in vain.” The ice dam creaked dangrously and began to trickle through some of the larger cracks. “we have to go. NOW!” Dragon jumped and lifted as highas he could, making it to the safety of a nearby building. As he landed he heard a crashing as the ice dam finally shattered followed by a tumultous roar of water. He spun around to see a minature tsunami emerge from the alley and sweep everything in it's path away.
  Jess sank to her knees. “No! Rae....Rachael...It Can't be!” She began to wail to the sky, tears coursing freely down her cheeks. “She's...gone! My best friend, dead...and it's all my fault.” Dragon opened his mouth trying to think of something to say. Jess continued to sob. “She was like a sister to me, let me live with her, comforted me when I had nightmares, everything. I couldn't have asked for a better girl to know...and my carelessness killed her. If it hadn't been for me wasting my energy, she'd... still be alive.” Jess broke down, then, screaming and crying.