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Author's Note: Here's Chapter 11, I think its the longest one in the story. This one takes place a little bit after the last chapter so there's a bit of a catch up in the beginning but the chapter progresses along nicely after that. There's some good scenes in here, including the first actual appearance of Myka's mother. I've got one more chapter to go with this and then I'm taking a break from Retcons. I'd like to thank djkauf for all the hard work and DC Comics for the wonderful characters.

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Chapter Eleven:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you the young woman responsible for my life, Booster Gold.”

I was standing on a podium with the President, in front of the huge crowd at the Convention Center. A few moments before the President explained in detail about the attempt on his life and then told the world how a Meta human saved him. It was a complete turnaround. The speech he had planned for the day was actually going to discuss the Meta human impact on the country and the world as a whole. No one knew what the President was going to say but everyone feared it was going to be disheartening. But after I saved him, he tore the speech up and decided to wing it. I’m not sure how much of an impact I had on it or not.

The crowd on the television screen went wild, chanting my name over and over again. Me, all I could do was smile and then I muted it. I started surfing and saw my mug on every single news channel, the headline beneath pretty much said the same wherever I went: ROOKIE HERO SAVES PRESIDENT. It was kind of cool when you thought about it but I couldn’t help but think how annoying it got, too. Hell, as Mike I would have loved all the attention, in fact I would have basked in the glory. Now I just wanted to be left alone. But that it seemed, wasn’t going to happen. As soon as that news broadcast aired two weeks ago my life has never been the same.

For starters, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing. First, it was the reporters, all seeking interviews with the hero who saved the President. I let most of those go to the machine. But there were so many that I actually had to have my number changed. The phone still rang but it had died down a lot since then. Then there was the letters. A lot of people were writing to Booster Gold, thanking her and asking her for help. It got so bad that I actually had to hire someone to help me read them all---I’ll get to that in a second. After the letters, came all the endorsement deals. That’s right; everyone wanted a piece of the Booster.

But that was only the half of it.

My cell phone rang. I groaned and clicked off the TV, snatching the phone off the coffee table in front of me. I looked at the screen and groaned, clicking the speaker. “Go ahead, Dirk.”

“Myka, baby” said the over enthusiastic voice of Dirk Davis, my agent.

I groaned. I told him not to call me “baby” but he barely ever listened. Dirk popped up two days after I popped up all over the news. He said he could help me get my career on the fast track. I kind of ignored him at first, thinking that maybe he was a nut. Then the offers started to flood in. Companies wanted to endorse me; others wanted me to advertise for them. There were even some movie studios who wanted to do movies based on my life. It was kind of crazy. The wildest one was a pitch about Mike Carter, going from all American football hero to darling debutante. No, I’m not a belle of the ball but the studios liked to put their spin on things.

I met with Dirk last week and told him I wanted the offers to stop. But he had other plans. He was convinced that he and I could create a Booster Gold empire. He wanted me to take a few offers, maybe do some commercials and photo shoots, get my name out there. It was kind of crazy really. I only did one thing and the whole world wanted a piece of me. They were fricken vultures.

“I told you not to call me baby, Dirk,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Sorry sweetie” he said, his voice half drowned out by rushing air, he was probably driving. “But I have a great deal for you. “

I groaned. “I’m not interested.”

The offers kept coming in and so far, most of them were crap. I didn’t want to endorse cereal or energy bars. I did have a soda thing lined up for next month and there was some kind of commercial I supposed to shoot for something. I can’t even remember what, Dirk had that all set up.

“It’s big, sweetie” he said “real big.”

I sighed, defeated. “What is it?”

“It’s Sports Illustrated.”

I was all set to say no but the least I could do was hear him out. “Go on.”

I could almost see Dirk smiling. “They want you for the cover of their swimsuit edition. They’ll pay handsomely for it too. They’ll do a spread, a good fluff piece and you get to wear whatever you want. I’m thinking blue and gold; it seems to be your signature.”

I didn’t have a signature. The blue and gold thing happened by accident. Someone asked me what my favorite color was and I said blue. It was one of the damn paparazzi. I was leaving Sal’s, trying to get away as quickly as possible and I was ambushed. A bunch of pricks came out of nowhere, snapping pictures left and right. They kept throwing out questions; I couldn’t hear half of them. But I did answer the favorite color one. The next day my face was plastered in a trashy magazine saying: GOLD LOVES BLUE. Suddenly every started associating my face with blue and gold. It was kind of crazy.

“Are they paying well?”

Hey, its Sports Illustrated. How can I not even think about that? I’m sure Bea isn’t going to be happy but right now, she wasn’t talking to me anyway. She got kind of P.Oed about all the attention. Not that she was jealous, but they started hounding her too as soon as one of the photogs caught us together. Of course, it was in the tabloids the next day. We had a fight about it. She felt that I should tell everyone to go fuck off and I felt she was over reaching. I mean this hero thing was a fad and as soon as the next one popped up, I’d be old news. But she didn’t think so. She felt I was instigating it, basking in the glory of being the Big Man on Campus again. Now she wouldn’t return any of my calls and was hiding in her apartment.

“They’re paying big, sweetie,” he said “huge numbers. This could really get us started and it’ll get your face all over.”

I rolled my eyes. My face was already all over. It was two weeks later and they were still playing that Convention Center stuff on every channel. But Dirk had a point. I needed the money and seeing as it was now Summer Break---school let out two days ago, not that I was attending---I needed to do something with my life. Getting a real job was kind of out of the question too, seeing, as everyone knew that Myka Carter and Booster Gold were one in the same.

“Can I think about it and get back to you?”

“Sure babe. Trixie has all the details, call the office and have her contact me.”

Trixie is my secretary. Yeah, that’s right, I have a secretary. After I brought Dirk on, he brought her on. He used a bit of his own capital at first and rented out a little office space for me. Then he hired Trixie Collins. She was fresh out of school, a few years older than me and kind of hot in that schoolteacher kind of way. She’s the one that reads all my fan mail---I said I’d get back to that. She’s also the one who fields all my calls now. Officially as far as the public knew, I was a one woman show but unofficially Trixie was the one woman show. Me, I was the joker in the monkey suit who everyone took pictures of. Ok, I don’t actually wear a tux, but you get my meaning.

I left the phone sitting on the table and rubbed my temples. Things were definitely different than I expected them to be. For starters, not only was Bea gone but I lost Rick too. But he wasn’t mad at me. After he moved out, he did some soul searching of his own. His aunt Jenet pulled some strings and got him a summer job as a lab assistant at STAR Labs. He was actually working under the Dibnys. Which is kind of cool. We talk a lot on the phone but neither of us has mentioned the kiss again. It’s kind of forbidden territory and both of us have decided it was a spur of the moment type deal. Hey, I was in love with Bea, well I was pretty sure I was. I just hoped she felt the same way.

My doorbell rang, forcing me from my thoughts. I groaned and got up, padding over to the door. I looked through the peephole again and got a shocker. It was my mother, what the hell was she doing here. I looked about, seeing my mess and groaned. Then I looked at what I was wearing, nothing but a bra and pajama bottoms. I cursed and looked around the room, snatching up the nearest shirt I could find and pulled it over my head. I took a deep breath and opened the door, smiling.

My mother gasped. This was the first official time that she and I had met face to face since my change. She didn’t say anything at first; she just stared. I smiled sheepishly but my emotions were getting the better of me. I started to cry, hey, I couldn’t help it. She started to cry too and before I knew it, we were hugging like mother and daughters should. We hugged for a while, standing in my doorway. I’m not sure how long it was but finally we broke apart and I grabbed her bags.

“My baby girl” she said, through her tears, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “You’re absolutely beautiful.”

“Thanks Mom.”

I carried her bags into the apartment, closing the door behind me with my foot. I was still living in the Tides but I moved out of the place that Rick and I shared. This one was all mine. It was bigger, had three bedrooms and a nice lakeside view. It was a couple floors up and twice what the other was worth. But apparently, I could afford it now. It was kind of sparsely decorated at the moment because I only moved in a day or two ago. There were a lot of cardboard boxes stacked against the walls and stuff cluttered about. I didn’t even have a bed in my room, just a mattress. I spent last night on the couch, watching TV.

My mother looked around the room and then looked at me, frowning. “I see you haven’t changed all that much.”

I rolled my eyes. “I just moved in, Mom. I’ve been kind of busy to unpack.”

She looked at my TV and the game system hooked up to it. She frowned again. “I see some of my little boy is still in there.”

I loved the PS3 and the game sitting on top. It was the new Madden College Football. It was made back before the change and so there was actually a digital representation of Mike Carter in there, playing as the quarterback for Northwestern. It was kind of cool, especially seeing as it was one of the only things that still acknowledged that the old me existed at all.

My mother walked around the room, I set her bags down near the door. She was scrutinizing things. She kept shaking her head as she looked in boxes. I groaned. A lot of stuff was things I took out of storage. When Rick and I moved in together, his parents wouldn’t even consider letting me put my stuff in the house. His mother was appalled by the fact. So they paid for a storage locker where I could “hide” things. But the rent ran out on it a couple days after Rick left so I had to take all my stuff out or lose it. Most of it was football stuff, posters and old game trophies from high school. A lot of it I took from my bedroom at home and had decorating my dorm room before Rick and I moved in together.

My mother finally stopped and turned to me. She smiled. “Turn around so I can get a good look at you.”

I groaned but did as I was told. “I’m still me, Mom, just different.”

She nodded and walked over. I bent so that she could get a better look. My Mom was short, about five feet so I towered over her. She touched my face, ran her fingers through my hair. Then she started scrutinizing. She tutted when she saw my nails and groaned at my unkempt hair. She also seemed to have a comment about my lack of makeup. Then she asked the embarrassing questions that no one likes to answers but no one more so than a boy turned girl. She wanted to know my sizes and was especially interested in my bra size. I blushed as I answered her.

“That settles it then” she said finally. “Go get dressed and grab your purse. You and I are going shopping.”

I groaned. “I don’t have a purse.”

She tutted even more at that.

______________________________

So we didn’t exactly head straight to the mall. She wanted to make one more stop first.

“Mom, Bea’s working. I can’t just walk in there and pull her away,” I said, staring up at the tallness that was the Wayne Spire.

But I don’t think my Mom was listening. She had a one-track mind about these kinds of things. Even though we hadn’t seen each other, we’d been talking a lot. She knew all about Bea and thought it was about time I got myself a steady girlfriend. She was giddy with excitement, even mentioning grandchildren on more than one occasion. When I pointed out that we were both girls, she said there was nothing wrong with adopting. So when Bea and I unofficially broke up I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I screwed things up. It turns out that meeting Bea was one of the reasons she made the trip all the way from Buffalo.

So after we left my place---after my shower and a change of clothes---she directed the cabbie to take us straight to Wayne Enterprises. I tried talking her out of it but it was no use. My mother was one of those women who once she got her mind set on something there was nothing you could do to change it.

“Nonsense” she said to my rationalization. “You walk in there and drag her out if you have to.”

I groaned. There was no arguing with my mother. So I took a deep breath and walked into the building. I’d only been in once before and that was only real quick. Bea actually met me half way too; she was in a rush to leave. We went to dinner that time and then spent the night spooning on her couch. That was the day after my “miraculous rescue of the President” as the press liked to call it. It was strange because the press didn’t even know what went on, no one did and if I told anyone, I’d be violating national security.

Wayne Enterprises was very shiny inside. The floors were made of white marble and the walls were polished stone, buffed to perfection. Everything looked pristine and new. Most of the lobby had a glass motif going on, kind of like Rick’s decorating style. Except the chairs were large and comfy, made of leather and any table that appeared was made of black wood. I’m sure it was painted or something. The centerpiece of the lobby was the large metal globe in the center. It was ginormous. In the center of the globe was a big W, the biggest I’d ever seen. I stared at it as I walked around it and headed for the front desk.

Bea was sitting there, absorbed in her computer. I smiled when I saw her; she looked beautiful, even with her hair up. She was dressed like the time I saw her in Sal’s but for some reason she looked so damn sexy. Even with that large W behind her head and the Bluetooth in her ear. She didn’t notice me at first. I walked up slowly, holding my breath the whole time. The two of us hadn’t seen each other in like a week. That didn’t mean I didn’t try. I did everything to get her talk to me but no such luck. She was really taking the whole being “hounded” by the press thing real seriously. I guess I couldn’t blame her; it was annoying the hell out of me, too. They were even there when my mother and I left the Tides but she glared at them and they took off. Not even they would mess with my mother.

I finally let out my breath and cleared my throat. She looked up from the computer screen and gasped. For a second I thought her face lit up with joy but it slowly vanished to be replaced by an annoyed scowl.

“What do you want?” she asked angrily.

I held up my hands. “I come in peace.”

“I don’t have time for your crap, Myka.”

I sighed. I couldn’t do this. I didn’t have the energy for it. “I’ve come to apologize.”

She snorted. “I’ve only known you for a little bit and you don’t do things like that.”

She had me there. “It’s true. I want to say I’m sorry for acting like an ass and I want to see if you’ll come to lunch with me.”

She narrowed her eyes. I hadn’t known her for very long but I knew enough to know that she was thinking about it. She sighed. “Look, Myka, you and I can never work. You’re a glory monger and I’m a quiet thing who just wants to be left alone. Do you know I had to change my phone number twice and that my building actually had to hire security? The super is taking it out of my rent.”

I groaned. This wasn’t going well. “I’ll pay your rent.”

She snorted. “It’s not about that. It’s everything else.”

I nodded. We had this argument before. She didn’t think I should have ever walked onto that stage and outed myself to the world. But I wasn’t like her, I wasn’t afraid of who I was. I wanted to tell the world and show them I wasn’t a threat. People were scared of Metas and if one of them stood up and spoke then I think people would be less afraid. I told her all of this and she didn’t believe me. She was convinced I was a glory monger, that I was doing it to get back some of the Mike Carter thunder I lost when my penis disappeared. Yes, the world know knew that Mike Carter and Myka Carter were one and the same---I even got a full presidential pardon for the museum and bank thing. But that wasn’t what this was all about and she knew that.

I sighed and decided to change tack. I turned and pointed outside. “You see that woman standing out there?”

She had to stand up and look around the giant golden globe. She looked at my mother and nodded. “I see her, what about her?”

“That’s my mother,” I said, she gasped. “She came all this way to see me, finally.”

Bea nodded. Her voice was soft. “That’s wonderful.”

I knew this was kind of a touchy subject. After she changed, Bea’s family threw her out. Her father disowned her and told her to never darken his doorstep again.

“She came all this way to meet you, too.”

She gasped again. I could see the shock in her eyes. Her lip trembled and a tear rolled down her cheek. I reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. She smiled and squeezed my hand. We stared at each other for a bit. Then I opened my mouth, taking a stab at it: “I know you’re scared. I know why you pushed me away and it’s not because of the paparazzi” She shook her head but I wasn’t going to let her do this. I walked around to her side of the desk.
“I’m not going to leave you. I’m here and I’m going to stand by your side no matter what. My mother will, too, in fact she’s already talking about grandkids.”

Bea’s eyes widened at that. “I’m not ready for…”

I cut her off. “My mother is like that.”

She laughed. We both laughed. I finally broke her ice barrier and went in for the kill. It was a quick kiss but I think it was perfect. At first, she was a bit reluctant but then she got into as well and soon the two of us were making out in the lobby of Wayne Enterprises. After a few seconds, I think the two of us realized where we were and pulled away. She looked a little flustered and blushed. We both laughed and then she slipped behind the desk, I went back to the proper side.

“Even if I wanted too, I’ve already taken my lunch break.”

“Nonsense” said a voice.

I snapped around and looked over at the elevators. The door just closed and Thomas Knight was walking toward us. Looking at him made my heart thump and my knees kind of melt. He was just as gorgeous as I remembered even more so in his charcoal gray suit. He walked over to us, smiling. HE winked at me and then smiled at Bea. She looked like she’d just swallowed a frog or something. Was this guy her boss?

“Mr. Knight” I said unfortunately at the same time as Bea said:

“Mr. Wayne”

Wayne? I looked at the guy and then for the first time noticed the large portrait above the elevators. It was a picture of Knight and underneath it was a little plague that read” Bruce Wayne. All the color seemed to drain from my face. I looked from the picture to “Knight” and back to the picture again. He wasn’t Thomas Knight he was Bruce Wayne. Oh, my God. Then it dawned on me, no wonder Broderick looked like he’d swallowed a frog too. That also explained why he had a fancy Rolls Royce and a butler.

He turned to me. “Sorry for misleading you before but I don’t like flashing my name around like a badge.”

I nodded, too numb to say anything.

Bea’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me. “You two know each other?”

Mr. Knight…I mean Wayne laughed. “I helped Miss Carter here out of jam a little while back.”

“Yes” I finally found my voice. “I’m very grateful for it too. He hasn’t bothered me since.”

That is, if you don’t count him laughing at Bea and me after we tried to warn him about the whole assassination attempt. Franks called me the next day and told me that Agent Broderick was now on administrative leave, something about harassment and using FBI resources for his own personal gain. I wouldn’t be hearing from Agent Broderick anytime soon.

Bea recovered her composure. “Sorry for earlier, sir” She was referring to our kiss. “We were making up for lost time.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry about, Bea. In fact why don’t you take the rest of the day, spend it catching up.”

He waggled his eyebrows a bit, causing the two of us to blush at the same time.

“In fact” he continued. “I’ll have a car brought around so you lovely ladies and the delightful Mrs. Carter can cruise around the town in style.”

My mother was standing in the lobby now, her mouth wide open. I turned, not even realizing she came inside. Mr. Wayne smiled at her and waved, she absently waved back. Apparently, my mother wasn’t as clueless about playboy billionaires as I was. Boy, did I feel like an idiot.

“Now if you lovely ladies will excuse me” he said as he took Bea’s Bluetooth out of her ear. “I’ll get the car and a temp and you three can be on your way.”

Bea and I nodded absently. He smiled and then went off to start talking. I looked at my mother who was still standing there, waving like a fool. I smiled and shrugged. Bea grabbed my hand and the two of us walked over to my mother. My mother snapped out of her waving and looked at Bea, her smile spreading across her whole face.

I didn’t even get a chance to introduce them. My mother grabbed her and wrapped her in a giant hug. “It’s so lovely to finally meet you my dear.”

Bea was shocked to say the least. “The same here, Mrs. Carter.”

My mother pulled away. “Call me Beverly, in fact you can even call me Mom if you want.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. Bea looked like she swallowed that frog again.

________________________________

I’m not going to bore you with the details of our shopping expedition. I can say that as soon as we got to the mall, the two of them teamed up on me. They dragged me from store to store, forcing me into this and that. I think I was bogged down with so many bags that I could barely stand. They dragged me into a salon, too and made sure the woman there gave me the works. Have you ever had your whole body waxed? Let me tell you it’s not something I recommend. Though I liked it when they did something with my hair. The woman trimmed it a bit and styled it, even throwing in some highlights. When they worked on my makeup, I was reluctant to have that gunk on my face but in the end, I looked like a knockout.

As traumatizing as the whole salon experience was it was kind of fun too. Don’t tell anyone I said this but being a girl isn’t so bad.
After that, we browsed the mall some more and then went to lunch. We didn’t eat in the mall, though. There was a restaurant in the city that Bea wanted to treat the two of us too. So after some coaxing, she dragged us there. The meal was fantastic. During lunch, my mother got to know her and the new me. I tried to convince her I was the same guy but she kept on insisting I was completely different.

“What are you talking about Mom?” I said when she mentioned that I was definitely not her son anymore. “I’m still Mike.”

She shook her head. “No you’re not, sweetie.”

I don’t think I liked that. I frowned a bit; saddened that my mother thought I was a completely different person.

She leaned over and took my hand. “It’s not like that honey. I know you’re my son, you’ll always be him. I just meant that you’re different, too. You’re not as brash and as cocky as Michael. You think before you speak and you seem more delicate now, less rough around the edges.”

“Gee thanks, Mom.”

Bea laughed and then scrutinized me some. She looked me up and down. “Your mother is absolutely correct you know. When you hit on me in that bar I didn’t want anything to do with you. Yeah, you were gorgeous but you were such a sexist jerk."

I flinched, the verbal arrow was painful. But it was right on the money. I was a jerk before, and now I’m not so sure. I felt different so my mother wasn’t all that wrong. I’m not really sure how to describe it. I was still Mike and yet I wasn’t. That doesn’t mean I’m going to go all girly and paint my apartment pink of anything. It just meant that I was the same person just in a different package. This package just happened to be female and somehow less of an ass as the other one. Maybe it was all the estrogen now. I think I might have mentioned my mind being different before and now when I thought about it I wasn’t thinking like the old me. I still kind of liked girls and loved looking at them but now that I was one, I didn’t think of them the same as before. When I saw a girl in a nice pair of tight jeans, I wondered if they’d look good on me instead of how good they’d look on my floor.

How weird is that? “Ok you two win,” I said, sighing.

They laughed. We continued to eat our meals only nature got the better of me. I groaned, my bladder straining. I wiped my mouth on one of the elegant napkins and stood up. “Can you two excuse me for a second; I have…well nature calls.”

Bea rolled her eyes. “Still needs some work.”

I ignored her. My mother swiped her mouth too. “Do you want me to go with you, sweetie?”

I groaned. “Mom I’m not six. I think I can go to the bathroom by myself.”

She nodded and I left the table, walking toward the bathrooms. I paused, almost walking into the men’s room. I sighed and pushed my way into the ladies. I went into one of the stalls and did my business. It’s strange having to sit to pee now but I’m kind of used to it now. I flushed and went to the mirror. There was a beautiful girl staring back at me. I smiled. The stylist at the salon really did good work on my hair and the woman who did my makeup made me look like a movie star. I couldn’t believe that the girl in the mirror was me. I smiled again, turning this way and that, admiring myself. Who would of thought that this could be my life?

I laughed then started for the door. I pushed it open and was about to go blissfully into the restaurant when I saw them. They were coming through the front door, four of them. The two I recognized immediately: Hertz and that fat guy, Pruitt, I think his name was. There were two goons with them. They looked around the room, spotted my mother and Bea and went for their table. I gripped the side of the door, fighting the urge to make every knife in the room fly at the bastards.

When they approached the table, Bea saw them first. She started to stand up; I could see the green flare in her eyes. Then she looked around the room and saw all the innocent people. She looked defeated and sat back down.

“Skeets, you there?”

“Right here, Boss” he said, materializing next to my head.

Like I said before, I wasn’t going anywhere without him. He’d spent the whole day tagging along with us, invisible as always.

“I need to know what they’re saying.”

It didn’t take him very long to tune into the audio about the room, filtering out everyone else and giving me only the conversation at the table.

“Hello ladies” said Hertz, as he took my empty chair. “Where’s that freak Carter run off too?”

Pruitt and the two goons dragged a couple of chairs over from one of the other tables.

“Who are you gentlemen and what do you want with my daughter?”

Hertz laughed. “Your daughter? Lady, that freak isn’t your daughter, she’s an abomination.”

I groaned and got angrier. But I’d been working on my control and was getting really good at it.

Bea spoke up: “Let’s not do this here. Why don’t we take this outside and I can show you jackasses some manners.”

Pruitt laughed, helping himself to my steak. “We know all about you too, freak. You try anything and we’ll start shooting.”

I looked at the two goons and could just see the outlines of machine guns under their coats. I groaned, this was bad, real bad.

Ballard was out of the everything business. After it came out that he was behind the assassination attempt on the President, he was ruined. His assets were seized and his businesses all shut down. He tried to run but didn’t get very far. The authorities caught up with him at his private airstrip as he tried to board his plane, apparently on his way to some small island somewhere. He’s currently spending his time in a nice cushy cell in a Federal prison somewhere, awaiting trial. I didn’t shed a tear. His guys were all rounded up too. But I guess Hertz and Pruitt slipped through the cracks. Now it looked like the two of them were after some kind of revenge. I guess I should have seen this coming but I figured with their boss gone, the lot of them would scatter like cockroaches from the light.

I guess I was wrong.

“I don’t understand what’s going on here?” said my mother, looking at the four of them. “What has my Myka done to anger you gentlemen so much?”

Pruitt smirked, speaking with a mouthful of steak. “He put our boss behind bars for one.”

I think it dawned on my mother then. “You work for that nasty Ballard fellow.”

Hertz smiled. “That’s right. Now Mrs. Carter, could you be nice and tell us where your son wandered off to?”

“I have no son,” said my mother “not anymore. The only child I have is Myka, my daughter.”

My heart skipped a beat to hear how proud my mother sounded when she said daughter.

Pruitt laughed. “Then can you tell me where your daughter is?”

My mother puffed her chest up. “Not on your life.”

Hertz laughed. “Your life actually.”

He grabbed Bea’s arm, which would have been a good idea if not for who she was. As soon as he grabbed it, her arm seemed to explode in green flame. It roasted her shirt and Hertz started screaming. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I knew she could make fireballs but I never k new she could make her body cover with flames. Hertz let go and stumbled back. Bea got to her feet and her whole body erupted in green flames, including her hair. But it didn’t go anywhere else. The goons stumbled back too, looking like they wanted to piss themselves. Pruitt was the only one who didn’t move; instead, he kept on eating my steak.

I realized why a few seconds later. He had a gun, the barrel pressed into my mother’s side. He smirked as he chewed. “Sit down, bitch or mama here will have a new bellybutton.”

Bea sat down, the flames vanishing. She quickly covered herself up, making sure the whole of the room didn’t see her naked self. I smiled. It would have been so wonderful if not for the whole hostage thing and the bastard about to kill my mother.

I had enough.

“Skeets, can you give me the suit.”

“On it, Boss” he said as a whole opened up in his back and a canister popped out of it.

I stepped into it and the canister explored in front of me. The suit was future tech, the only future tech that I wasn’t afraid to use. It was nano technology, built to utilize battle situations. The suit itself was…well I’m not really sure. Skeets told me about it shortly after rescuing the President. He mentioned if I’m going to continue with the hero stuff that maybe he could help. So he designed the suit for me. It was kind of cool and played on my whole blue and gold theme, with gold on my shoulders and wicked blue star in the center.

It didn’t take long for the suit to form around me, over my clothes, the nanites doing their work. It was kind of cool. I’d only worn it once before, to test it out. But I never actually did anything in it so this was my trial run. I flexed my fingers, moving them about in my gold gloves. I turned to the bathroom mirror, seeing the cool superhero girl staring back at me. I smiled; I could really get used to this.

I stepped out of the bathroom after that. “Let her go” I shouted, causing everyone in the room to snap around and look at me. “I’m the one you’re after.”

Hertz recovered from his burn. He got to his feet. His goons recovered too, whipping out their machine guns. They didn’t waste any time either. They snapped them around to point them at me and prepared to fire. I didn’t’ give them a chance. I snapped my hands into fists, yanking the guns away. They clattered to the floor, sliding against the far wall. The two goons freaked and pulled out pistols. Bea snapped her hands up, green fireballs zapping through the air, hitting their hands. They screamed, clutching their wrists, their hands now blackened and charred.

I smiled at her. Hertz made a run for the door. Bea was there though. She burst into flames and flew across the room, landing in front of him. How cool was it that she could fly? He stumbled back, wailing in pain because he kind of ran into her. He landed on his butt and scampered off, crashing into several tables to get away from her.

Pruitt jumped up, pulling my mother with him. “You’re going to let me out of here or I’m going to kill her.”

“Skeets, can you hit him with one of those darts?”

“Too risky, he might shoot your mother with a muscle spasm.”

I nodded. I couldn’t get at the gun either; it was behind him, out of my sight. I suppose I could try throwing things at him, there was a lot of metal in the room but they wouldn’t work either. He might get startled and pull the trigger. I was defeated and he knew it. Damn it, I’m new at this and already I was screwed.

“Boss” said Skeets. “The suit you’re wearing is a variation of the one that Goldstar wore.”

I nodded. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

Skeets made that sighing noise. “She designed it after her favorite hero of all time, her idol, Booster Gold.”

That shocked me. How in the hell was that possible? She idolized me. I smiled but I didn’t have time for an ego trip right now.

Skeets continued talking. “There’s energy cannons in your wrists, they fire bright yellow balls of concentrated energy. They’re nonlethal but they’re really effective. If we hit him with one, it might be enough to get him away from your mother.”

I nodded. I still couldn’t risk it, but I had another idea.

I didn’t wait for Skeets to tell if it would work or not. Instead, I took a deep breath and pointed my hand at the mirrored ceiling. I willed the energy to come and a yellow ball of light flew from my fingertips. It hit the mirror and reflected around the room. Everyone was blinded except me; apparently, my suit had a built in visor that lowered over my eyes. The bright light was enough though. It caused Pruitt to stumble backwards, letting go of my mother. It was also enough for me to act and see his gun. I yanked it from his hands, tossing it across the room then I lifted a metal tray, throwing it at him like a Frisbee only this one was going really fast. It hit him in the stomach and sent him flying. He sailed through the room and right through the huge glass window of the restaurant, smashing into the street outside.

The blinding flash dissipated. I walked over to my mother and checked to see if she was all right.

“Get the bad guys, I’m fine.”

Bea looked at me. “I’ve got Hertz and his lackeys,” she said, her fingers pointed at them, her green flamed body flickering as she hovered off the ground.

I walked over to the window and looked out through the broken glass. Pruitt was on the street, moaning. There was no way he was going to be a threat anymore. I turned back to the room and there was silence for a few seconds. Then as if they were one, the whole of the room started to cheer. I smirked and raised my arms over my head.

I think I can get used to this whole hero thing.