"Sophia's mom, right?"
She started at that and peered suspiciously at me. "Is this a threat?"
"What? No! We go to school together! I'm just, this was my first fight as a hero, and I… Do you want me to walk you home? Sophia would be upset if she lost you and I, I don't want that." I felt awkward explaining myself like this, and I knew I was expressing something wrong, but it was hard to get the words out. I don't know why. Normally, it was easy to talk to an adult. Just tell them what they wanted to hear and let them tell themselves the rest.
She stared at me with narrow eyes for what must have been a full moment, before her expression softened and she nodded. "We will walk, and I will talk, and you will listen."
I nod, and fall into step behind her as she resumes walking.
"My daughter is a troubled girl. She sees everything in terms of people hurting each other, when I wish she would think of helping. Tonight, when you saved me, I could tell from your words and your actions that your goal was to save me from violence. This was the action of a hero. Another person might have instead had the goal of hurting those gangsters. With such a goal, I, as the innocent bystander, would have been at greater risk of being hurt myself.
"I have tried to get her to see this distinction, but she ignores me. She thinks she knows better than anything an old person can say. You, as her peer, I hope that you can reach her in a way that I could not. She needs a positive influence in her life that she listens to. If you can be that influence, you have my blessing. If you become yet another thug dragging society down you will lose that blessing. Do we understand one another?"
She wheels around sharply, looking directly at me, and for a second I look around to make sure she's looking for an answer from me and not spotting a threat. A dark shape flutters briefly above the alley behind me, perhaps a sheet on a line, but other than that there is nothing. "Um, I think so, Ma'am."
"Good." She resumes walking. "Now let's talk about you. You said you're new at this, and it shows. You need a real costume. What name are you using?"
"Um, I'm going with Shift right now, but I'm not entirely sure about it."
We walk in silence for a short time. I look at her, and her face is thoughtful. "Simple, straightforward, references the Doppler Shift for those red and blue flashes when you switch between your brute and mover abilities. Powerful without being threatening, and memorable without being overly assuming. It's a good name. Be careful though, it could give people too much information about how your power works."
I think about this. "Wait, brute? I save up time and use it later."
"You flashed blue right before that one thug hit you, and you seemed barely hurt. If you are saving up time to use later, perhaps you're also absorbing part of the impact of anything that hits you. Did the PRT do any testing yet when you went to join the Wards?"
"I, uh, I haven't actually-"
"You should. Soon. Approach them with the same sort of heroism you did today. You want to save people. Let them know, and soon, and they can get you a costume, and training, and help you find any little bits of your power you haven't figured out yet. I have their number in my phone," she said, pulling it back out of her purse.
"Please don't!" I flushed, speaking without meaning to. "I mean, please don't look at your phone while moving. I, my mom was crossing the street when she was hit by some guy who thought a video on his smartphone was more important than a red light. Phones are used when you're staying in one place. Phones in motion are dangerous. YOU almost got attacked tonight because you were looking at your phone instead of watching out for thugs. Sorry, I…"
"Fair enough. When we get to my home I'll take a look, with your permission, at where you were hit just to make sure there's no unexpected damage, and then I'll give you that number."
We walked in silence the next two blocks, turning onto Stonemast Avenue. I followed her up a driveway with a tricycle in the middle of it, and into the garage. There was a stain like a car had been parked here for some time several months ago, and the concrete had been cleaned multiple times since then. A lawnmower sat off to the side. We went through a door into the house, through a laundry room, and into what looked like an office, with a serious computer system, and a big first aid kit on the floor.
She caught my gaze. "I had two great passions in school, and couldn't decide which one to major in, so I majored in both. Medicine, and programming. If I had focused on the medicine, I might be a doctor right now, but in the end, I just couldn't give up on the computer. Now, I work two jobs. One from the hospital, and one from home. I might have gotten further if I had focused my efforts more, but such is life. Now, let's see how hurt you are."
---------------------------------
In the end, it turned out that I just had a minor bruise, no internal injuries, and I should be fine in the morning. I also got the number to call the PRT. After exchanging our thanks, I headed home, only to find a dark shadow in a mask blocking my way and holding a crossbow before I was even halfway there.
"What were you doing with that woman?" I can almost place the voice, but there's just something off about it.
"I was helping her get home, and then she looked at one of my injuries. She's really nice. What's this about? Aren't you that new Ward?"
"Bullshit. She doesn't approve of capes. Doesn't understand us. No way she'd ever help you. What were you really doing to her?"
"That's the truth! We talked, she helped me; told me to join the Wards, I didn't do anything but save her!"
"Liar!" Shadow Stalker shot a bolt at me. Keeping in mind what Mrs Hess had told me, I saved up time, hoping to lessen the impact of the bolt. It didn't hurt, but for some reason after I was hit the number five dominated my mind.
"Listen, I'm telling the truth! Why won't you believe me?" I glanced down at the bolt to make sure it wasn't sticking anywhere vital, and found that it was some weird tinker thing. Probably a tracker, which would explain why it hadn't hurt.
"The world doesn't work like that! Nobody just helps someone else! It's always hurt hurt hurt. The trick is to hurt the people who want to hurt you, before they can do the same to someone you care about, and that's why you're going down!" This time the bolt she loaded looked real. I called on my power to protect me again, but thankfully she missed.
The number in my head changed ominously to a four. "The world doesn't have to work that way! People try to make the world be that place, but it isn't! As long as you try, you can always find a way to help people!"
"That's bullshit! The world is very simple, from animals to people! You have predators, and you have prey, and the only person you can help is yourself!" She nocked another bolt in her crossbow and aimed it at me.
"The world isn't that simple! Not even for animals! There are parasites and symbiotes and remoras and hippos! The most successful animals, though, are the ones that work together. That's especially true of humans!" I protected myself again, but she held off on firing.
As the number changed to a three, she slowly lowered her crossbow, and I took a few steps towards her in response. "It's just like at school. You don't get ahead going it alone, you work together like a team. If you want to be some kind of predator, be a wolf, Soph-". She raised her crossbow at me, fury and terror in her eyes, and fired.
This time, instead of storing more time, I acted between the seconds. I moved around the bolt, hanging in midair, and used the last of my pepper spray on her, quickly following up with kicks and punches, using all the stored time from both pools.
She dropped to the ground, unconscious.
"Shit." She was one of my best friends. Now what was I going to do?
I took a deep breath, and called the number Tricia gave me.
Two.
"Hi, I'm an independent hero. I'm here with Shadow Stalker and I'd like to join the Wards."
"Hold please."
One. That was REALLY ominous, the more I thought abou-