After David is caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, his entire life changes in ways he never could have expected. This is a fan fiction taking place in the Whateley Universe.

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The stench from the alley was strong enough that it would have been enough to knock me off my feet if I hadn’t already been sitting down. There was a large dumpster a short distance away from me, filled with the garbage from a Chinese restaurant and smelling as though it hadn’t been emptied in about a week.

I was sitting in alley that was about two blocks from where I’d last seen Jackie, just a little over an hour ago. When I got here, my leg was hurting too much for me to go any further, at least not without using one of my force field bubbles to transport me. And since I was trying to avoid the kind of attention that would bring, I’d settled down here to heal.

My wound had stopped bleeding a long time ago, and though it still hurt, I no longer had to worry about it reopening either. However, I was also feeling the effects of using my power so much during that fight and then having to heal myself. I was very tired but also extremely hungry. In fact, I felt like I was starving, so much so that I’d even been tempted to look in that dumpster for any food that was still edible. Jackie had warned me that when I healed myself, my body would need extra energy and nutrition or it might start cannibalizing itself. That was a problem I was going to have to deal with very soon.

I looked down at myself, specifically, at my torn and filthy clothes. My pants were soaked in blood, which was bound to draw unwanted attention. I’d had a spare set of clothes in my ‘bug out bag’ along with some energy bars that would have helped with the food issue. Unfortunately, I’d been forced to leave my backpack behind, just like I’d previously lost the rest of my luggage.

“Good thing Jackie was prepared,” I muttered with a sigh, knowing that I never would have thought about preparing for this kind of situation.

With that, I lifted the leg of my pants and revealed a Velcro wallet that was strapped around my ankle. I reached in and pulled out two hundred dollars, all in twenties, along with a folded up sheet of paper. The paper was a list of possible rendezvous sites where Jackie and I could meet in case we ended up getting separated. The plan was that we’d be able to meet up again at the closest one at the list.

“Food, clothes, and meeting,” I said, reminding myself of my goals.

The first thing I needed to do was get something to eat. Since I was no longer in danger of bleeding to death, I got up and left the alley, then went to the first fast food place I saw. I bought a dozen burgers, then found an out of the way spot to scarf them down. That definitely took the edge off my hunger, though I knew that I’d need more to eat before long. Still, it gave me enough breathing room to take care of my other needs.

I found a nearby thrift store and went inside, pausing as the sales woman and two customers all turned to stare at me in shock. I made sure to stare at the floor so that none of them got a good look at my eyes. “Um…my boyfriend beat me up,” I said awkwardly. It was the only thing I could think of at the moment that would explain my ragged state and blood soaked pants.

“You poor thing,” the sales woman exclaimed as she rushed over to me with a look of horror on her face

I suddenly realized that I’d just made a big mistake with that story since the police or an ambulance were bound to be called. “It’s not as bad as it look,” I said with a forced smile. “He was getting a bit rough so I broke his nose and he bled all over me…”

“Good for you,” one of the customers, a middle-aged woman stated with a nod of approval.

“I just need some clothes so I don’t scare my Mom when I go home,” I said, feeling a little more pleased by the explanation.

The sales woman wanted to help me more, but I spent a minute assuring her that I’d be fine on my own. It was difficult to do when I didn’t dare look her in the eyes. Fortunately, she seemed to think that I was just embarrassed, which finally convinced her to give me some space.

I quickly looked through the used clothing, finding several items that would fit me, even if I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the style. The only shirt I found that was even halfway suitable had pictures of kittens on the front. Fortunately, they did have a jacket in my size so I grabbed that and a baseball cap as well. The sales woman let me change into my new clothes in their bathroom, which also gave me the opportunity to wash up in a little in the sink.

While I was washing up and getting changed, I was reminded of unfortunate fact that my gunshot wound wasn’t the only place where I was bleeding. And as much as the idea disgusted me, I obviously had to replace my tampon which meant buying some more. I shuddered at the very thought.

A short time later, I was fully dressed and walking into the coffee shop across the street. After grabbing a large caramel mocha and a couple snack pastries, I braced myself and then went to my next stop…the convenience store. Walking to the checkout with a box of tampons and some sanitary napkins was a humiliating experience and I was blushing bright red as I hurried out of the store as quickly as I could.

“I can’t believe this,” I muttered to myself as I went into a McDonald’s in order to use their restroom to change out my tampon. “Disgusting. I’ll never tease a girl about her period again…” I shuddered at that, suddenly feeling guilty for all the jokes I’d ever made on the subject. “NEVER again.”

Changing out my tampon was absolutely disgusting, though at least when I was done, I was able to grab some burgers from the restaurant before leaving. At this point, I decided that it was time to start heading to the rendezvous point. I had no idea when Jackie might be able to meet me there, but I wanted to get there as soon as possible anyway.

Rendezvous C, as Jackie had it listed on the sheet of paper she’d given me, was a freeway rest stop. It was also far enough away that there was no way I could walk there, at least not without a couple days of extra time. Fortunately, I had the funds available for a little bus ride.

“Please let her be all right,” I muttered to myself, still worried about Jackie. I really hoped she’d be able to get away from the Liberty League because I didn’t know what I’d do if she got caught. I had no delusions about my ability to break into their secret headquarters, wherever that was, and take them all down to rescue her.

I had to walk around for awhile before I found the bus station, and by then, the pain in my thigh was starting to fade. In just a few more hours, there’d be no indication that I’d ever been shot. Yet again, I was suddenly very thankful for my regeneration power. It was quickly proving to be my favorite power. As much as I liked flying through the air in my glowing bubble, I liked being able to stay alive even better.

There were no busses that happened to go straight to the rest stop, but that wasn’t a problem. I just needed to get fairly close and I’d be able to hand the rest of the transportation by myself. By then, my powers should have rested and recovered enough to be usable again. After buying my ticket, I sat down on a bench to wait for my bus, thankful for the chance to get off my feet. My leg might have been healing ridiculously fast, but walking around town with a bullet hole through it still wasn’t a lot of fun.

While sitting there, I sipped on a cup of cheap bus station coffee and careful looked around to see if there were any signs of the MCO or the Liberty League. I’d tucked my long hair down the back of my jacket and wore a baseball cap to hide my distinctive hair, and a pair of cheap sunglasses kept anyone from noticing my eyes. Still, after everything that had happened lately, I’d learned to be a little paranoid.

When a guy who was about eighteen or nineteen sat down on the bench beside me, I immediately stiffened. I watched him carefully from the corner of my eye while trying to appear as though I wasn’t. He had been staring at me with a smirk that I really didn’t like so I had a feeling that he was biding his time in order to hit on me. The very thought made me feel a little nauseous.

“Hey,” he finally said. “What’s a cute thing like you doing in a place like this?’

I rolled my eyes at that, having expected something like that. However, I’d also come up with a cover story for whenever he finally did talk to me. “I’m waiting for my Dad. He should be here any time.”

“Cool,” the guy said, a faint hint of suspicion in his voice. “What’s he do for a living?”

I could have said ‘cop’ or ‘lawyer’ to try scaring him away, but those answers would have been too obvious and suspicious. Instead, I answered, “Sanitation engineer.”

I tried putting a note of pride in my voice as I told him that my Dad was a garbage man. A garbage man might not seem like a very threatening job, but I bet they really knew how to make bodies disappear. Apparently, my seat companion was thinking along the same lines because he didn’t bother me again for several more minutes.

My seat companion kept making looks at my chest, making me glad that I’d bought the jacket since it helped cover things up a little more than the kitten shirt would have. After several minutes, he finally introduced himself. “I’m Chaz.” He gave me a speculative look that was clearly sizing me up. The barely contained sneer sent warning bells off in my head.

“I’m not interested,” I told him coldly.

“Let me guess,” he continued to speak anyway. “Dressed the way you are, I’m guessing…homeless. A runaway. I bet things were really bad at home. I can help you, if you give me a chance.”

His comment about my being a runaway because things were bad at home did hit a little too close, but I kept my expression as calm as I could. I might be pretty new to the whole girl thing, but I wasn’t born yesterday, nor was I as gullible as Chaz seemed to think. I wasn’t sure what he wanted specifically, but I had a few ideas and none of them were good.

“My common sense is tingling,” I muttered to myself, getting a blank look from Chaz. Then I gave him a cold glare, which he couldn’t really see through my sunglasses, and said, “Like I said, I’m not interested.”

With that, I got up and started for the restroom, deciding that I might as well empty my bladder before my bus arrived. And when I was done, I’d go find another seat well away from Chaz and whatever game he was playing. I wasn’t sure if he just wanted to get into my pants or if it was something worse, but I didn’t intend to stick around and find out.

After I’d gone into the restroom, I let out a faint sigh of relief, glad to have gotten away from that creep. However, that sense of relief vanished when I looked around and saw how dirty the restroom actually looked. I probably wouldn’t have cared much if the boy’s restroom had been this messy, but the fact that that I could no longer stand up to do my business changed everything. There was no way I wanted to sit on one of those seats.

I was just about to turn around and leave, when I saw Chaz walk in with a determined look on his face. Since this was the girl’s restroom, he was either too dumb to read, or even see the obvious stick figures that had been on the door, or he was up to some serious no good. I would have put down a twenty that it was the latter.

“You didn’t tell me your name,” Chaz said with a smirk. “That was extremely rude of you.”

“I’ll tell you what,” I responded with a sneer. “I’ll make it up to you by letting you have first go at the stalls…”

“That’s not how you’re going to make it up to me,” he said, suddenly grabbing me by the shoulder and bending in to give me a kiss.

I was caught completely by surprise, then I was horrified and disgusted. I felt…violated, much the same way I had after Adonis had used his powers on me. And then, I was pissed, though Chaz didn’t seem to realize it.

“This is your lucky day,” he told with a smirk, having a firm grip on my shoulder.

Chaz tried to push me back into a wall, but instead, I grabbed his shirt and lifted him off the ground with one hand, much the way I’d seen Jackie do to the security guard at the bank. Chaz gasped in surprise and confusion while I used my free hand to remove my sunglasses so he could get a good look at my golden eyes.

“I’ve had a VERY bad day,” I snarled at him coldly, staring right into his eyes and seeing the look of fear as he realized I wasn’t exactly the helpless victim he’d thought. “I started my period, fought the Liberty League, practically got raped by a super hero, got SHOT by the MCO, and now while I’m going to meet up with my super villain big sister, some asshole decides to mess with me.”

“Oh shit,” Chaz blurted out as he obviously realized the huge mistake he’d made in coming after me.

“I’ve had a VERY shitty day,” I told Chaz with an evil grin. “But not as much as yours is about to be…”

I suddenly caught the scent of fresh urine as Chaz pissed himself, though that was only the start of things. He began screaming before I ever got him close to the filthy toilet and he continued doing so throughout the swirlie.

When I left the bathroom a few minutes later, I was actually feeling just a little better. Something about being able to let out all my frustrations like that had been rather satisfying. For the first time, I could really understand the allure of being a super villain, of being free to take your anger out on someone who deserves it. And at that moment, I think I understood Jackie a lot better.

My bus had arrived while I’d been busy in the bathroom so I didn’t have to wait long before I was on the road again. Riding on the bus may have given me more legroom than when I traveled in the car with Jackie, but the company wasn’t nearly as enjoyable, especially with the creepy old guy who kept staring at me.

It took me over an hour and a half to reach my stop, a small town that was just a small hop to the rest area where I was supposed to meet up with Jackie. Once off the bus, I made a quick stop at the KFC across from where I’d been let off, then I found a place behind some buildings where I wouldn’t be seen and formed my force field. A moment later, I was going up into the air and heading to the rest stop as quickly as I could.

I arrived at the rest area a short time later without any difficulties. I’d flown low and tried using trees as cover to prevent many people from seeing me, especially once I got close to my destination. Once I arrived, I sat back and ate my chicken while waiting for Jackie.

I was just starting on my second bucket of chicken when Jackie arrived, driving a beat up old pickup truck. She climbed out of the truck, dressed almost like a cowgirl, which included the hat. Then she slowly looked around the rest area, obviously looking not only for me but for any indications of trouble.

“Want some chicken?” I asked her from where I sat on top of a picnic table.

“Absolutely,” she agreed, coming over and limping slightly. She was clearly favoring one of her arms as well, which had yet to fully heal from being broken earlier. However, she was in much better shape than the last time I’d seen her and she happily helped herself to a drumstick. “Finger licking good.”

Jackie gave me a grin and a careful hug, then sat down beside me on the picnic table. The two of us ate in near silence for several minutes, until the bucket was empty of everything but bones.

“Did you have any trouble getting here?” Jackie finally asked me.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” I responded, thinking of Chaz and his dunking. He had definitely chosen the wrong girl and the wrong day to be such an ass. “How about you?”

“The same,” Jackie told me with a mischievious grin that made me wonder what had really happened. However, all she said was, “I stopped at the supermarket and picked up a few things on my way through, and I left Super Star with egg on her face too...among other things.”

“So, what now?” I asked Jackie, relieved that she’d made it out of there in one piece. When I’d left her with Super Star and Twist chasing after her, I’d been pretty worried. “Back on the road to Whateley?”

There was a long pause as Jackie just stared off into the distance, then she answered, “Yeah, but we’re going to make a detour first. After that fight, we need to lay low and rest up for a couple days. And…” She paused again with a strange look on her face as she added, “There’s something I have to do.”