The sun’s rays crept through the windows of Jacqueline’s bedroom, waking her up with a bright and irritating sensation in her eyesight. Groaning, she climbed out of bed. This was far from the first time the sun had been an annoyance. Why did she think it was a good idea to choose the bedroom with so many windows? Why did this bedroom have so many windows to begin with?

Turning around, she saw Ben was not in bed with her. She must have gotten up early again. Hopefully she wouldn’t be as active and off-putting as yesterday.

Jacqueline headed over to the bathroom. As she got there, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and stopped. Something didn’t look right. She turned her head toward her reflection and leaned in closer, focusing her eyes on the oddity.

She raised her hand toward her cheek and rubbed it.

It was burnt.

Not badly burnt. It was only first degree and it didn’t really hurt bad, but it was definitely burnt. It looked and felt burnt anyway. How did this happen? How did she burn overnight? At the very least the burn should’ve woken her up, right?

She might have had a skin infection. Jacqueline knew there were some skin conditions that could mimic burns. She’d have to bring that up with her doctor the next time she saw them.

Taking her hand off her cheek, Jacqueline headed over to the kitchen, expecting to see Ben there. She didn’t. She did see a note on the dining room table however. She picked it up and read it.

“Jackie, I’m going on a morning jog to the city today. I’ll probably walk through the city a bit too, just to clear my head, you know? I’ll be back by afternoon, love you.”

Jacqueline put the note down and sighed. Ben usually wasn’t one to just run off without telling her first, but it seemed Ben was doing a lot of things she didn’t “usually” do lately. She sat down and rubbed her face in exasperation. She really hoped the magic doctor would be able to tell what was wrong with her.

***

Ben heard a car honking at someone across from her as she jogged along the sidewalk. All around her were sounds of engines running, sirens blaring, people yelling, and street food frying.

The sounds of the city were just wonderful. They were always sure to set up a perfect atmosphere.

Checking the sign to make sure the coast was clear, Ben jogged across another crosswalk, coming to a stop on the other side. She had been jogging for a while at that point, over an hour in fact, at a pretty fast pace.

She wasn’t even remotely tired. Superhuman stamina was such a useful power.

No, if there was one thing she was tired of, it was her hair. It kept blowing onto her face whenever she ran, and it was quickly getting on her nerves. She never had long hair before, she didn’t know how much of a pain it could be. She should really learn how to tie it up, or maybe she could just cut it off. Either option worked.

Ben rested her hand on the building behind her and gazed around at the city. So many restaurants, she should probably stop by one. She hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning, and her hunger-

Ben’s eyes widened in shock as she suddenly took her hand off the building and raised it to her eyes, closely examining every inch of it.

No, there’s no way it-

Ben laid the hand back onto the building for a few seconds, quickly pulling it back after she felt the exact same sensation. She put her other hand on the building to see if it was the same for both hands, it was.

“No fucking way.” She said.

She turned to her right and saw a pedestrian staring at her, looking clearly perplexed.

“Uh, sorry I was just…” She started. “I’ll be out of your way.”

She ran and weaved through the people around her, leaving many of them confused.

She eventually reached an alleyway and entered it, moving far enough in so as to hopefully not cause too much disturbance. She looked to her right and left to check for other people. Thankfully, no one else was there.

She let out a loud breath and brought her hands to her knees. She really needed to be mindful of onlookers. She didn’t want to test her new powers with a bunch of people watching her.

Slowly, Ben turned and placed both of her hands firmly on the building in front of her. Taking her hands off, she reached down and took her shoes off, leaving herself barefoot. Then, with a few breaths, she jumped onto the side of the building.

And she stook.

“Oh my god.” She whispered.

She raised her left hand off the building, staring at it in awe.

This was completely insane! How was this possible? She had only seen this kind of thing in the movies, never in anyone in real life. And yet, here she was, clinging onto this wall like it was nothing.

It was such a bizarre sensation, completely unlike any feeling she got when holding onto something before. There wasn’t a definitive grip or grab that she felt. Rather, her hands and feet felt firmly stuck to the building, in a way that would support her weight. It didn’t feel uncomfortable or straining either. It just came naturally.

In a slow motion, she placed her left hand back onto the building, at a much higher spot this time, and then did the same with her right hand. Her feet soon followed, and then, to her complete disbelief, she was climbing. She was legitimately climbing, without gripping onto anything.

She made it about halfway up the building until she dropped down. Much like before, she landed on her feet without a hitch, as if the drop was nothing at all. She was really curious about the science of that, and if it technically broke the laws of physics. She was well aware of how magic could give scientists a mindfuck. She couldn’t remember a single week where Geisinger hadn’t complained about how hard it was to bring the two together.

Ben put her shoes back on and walked back behind the building. She felt the familiar contracting of her stomach as she did so, reminding her again that she should really find someplace to eat before leaving. She put that thought on hold for now. She still wanted to test her powers, and she needed some place to do so without people around to watch her.

She reached the end of the building and was met with a sort of sketchy looking back alley, complete with a gated wall blocking the outside. Looked like this was the edge of the city. She hadn’t realized she was so close to it. How many cities even have gates like this? It couldn’t be that many. What was even the point? It’s not like it could ever block anyone out, with how short it was. She wasn’t an urban planner though, so maybe there was something here she didn’t understand.

Looking around, she wasn’t able to see anyone close. There were a few people she saw to her right, but that was it.

She was about to turn away when she suddenly heard a scream.

She instantly shot her head back, her eyes staring intently on the few figures she just saw.

It was a group of five men, one of them was being held down to the ground by another, and one in front was pointing a knife at him. The other two were watching at each side of the knife wielder, as if to make sure the man on the ground didn’t escape.

She couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but she didn’t have to. She knew this was an attack. And she wasn’t going to let it happen.

She ran fast, right into the heat of the action, hearing the conversation along the way.

“I’ve heard ‘a little longer’ way too many times. I’m tired of this shit.”

“I gave you my wallet! Isn’t that enough!”

“50 dollars? No that’s not enough you dipshit. That’s not what I asked for. I’m not letting you get away with stiffing me.”

The man in front raised his knife back, ready to strike at the man on the ground. When he heard the footsteps coming from the right, he hesitated and felt his body jolt in fear. Luckily, it wasn’t a police officer, just some random woman. He turned his attention toward her, with the others following his gaze.

“What’s a bitch like you doing here?” He asked her. “This is gonna get messy. You better leave.”

“Maybe you could stay and suck my dick.” The guy to his right laughed.

Ben didn’t react. She just stared at them, cold and emotionless.

“I said leave, girl!” The man with the knife yelled. “If not, you’re joining him.”

Again, Ben didn’t react. She simply stared.

The man groaned and moved toward her, raising his knife to stab her. As he did, she quickly caught his hand with a strong grip, stopping it immediately. The man soon felt a huge pressure on his wrist.

“What the hell?” He asked incredulously.

Ben proceeded to squeeze his wrist as the man tried and failed to free it. He cringed and heaved in immense pain. The other four men stood stunned in place.

Then a bone cracked. Blood flowed.

The man had no time to react before Ben threw him straight into a wall. He fell to the ground, the pain too overwhelming for him to stand back up. The other men were horrified at the sight of his wrist. It was very badly damaged, to the point where it looked like a crush injury. The skin around the wrist was pulled together, with a deep gash in the middle.

The man who was to the knife wielder’s left backed away and quickly ran off.

“Shit! She’s a meta!” The man holding down the victim exclaimed.

The man who made the comment about Ben sucking his dick swiftly picked the knife up and backed away, ready to strike. Ben got into her own fighting stance and stood, waiting for him to attack.

The man on the ground took the opportunity to rush her. The man with the knife followed. They tried to double team her.

They were not successful.

Ben jumped over them and instantly dealt two blows to the head of the man holding the knife. It left a bloody dent to his head and he fell unconscious. The second man was stunned in place as he watched. Still, in the heat of the moment and with his adrenaline high, he tried to attack Ben. He was met with a strong kick to the side that cracked his ribs. He fell to the ground in immense pain.

The victim, no longer being held down, got up and ran away in fear.

The man with the bloodied wrist looked up at Ben in astonishment. She met him with the same cold, emotionless expression she had during the entire ordeal. He moved over to the man beside him, grabbing at his side, breathing heavily. He got out his phone to call for an ambulance with his good hand. He looked over to the unconscious man, not even sure if he would make it to the hospital.

Ben casually strolled away from the men, leaving them there in that condition. They shouldn’t have been attacking someone if they didn’t want to be attacked. It was no one’s fault but their own.

Ben felt her stomach contract again. She put her hand on it. It was time to eat.

She walked out of the back alley, looking around for a restaurant to stop at. She found a burger stand at the end of the block and decided to stop there.

“Good day, ma’am. What would you like?”

“Two burgers, just put everything you have on them.”

“That’s a lot of food for a young woman.”

“I said two burgers, get to it.” Ben said angrily.

The man, startled by the tone, quickly jotted down the order as Ben gave him the money. She stood to the side and waited. She found the sound of a grill sizzling the meat calming and closed her eyes.

Another person came up during the time and placed an order. They walked next to Ben and tried multiple times to start up a conversation. She ignored them completely.

Ben heard her order was ready and took the finished burgers, not bothering to listen to the man as he told her to have a good day. She took a seat on a nearby bench and held one of the burgers in her hand.

She had never seen a burger so mouth watering before.

She shoved it into her mouth, taking half of the whole thing in and chewing it down fast. Her saliva almost seemed to attack it, helping her chew the meat by dissolving it. Before long, she was done and she put the other half in her mouth.

Again, she seemed to chew and swallow it almost inhumanely quickly.

Before she knew it, both burgers were finished and she threw the tray into a trashcan. She wiped her mouth and began the long jog back home. She had seen enough of the city.

During her jog, on the other side of the street across from her, an ambulance was loading three men into it. One of those men, having a bloodied wrist, saw her and tried to point her out to the paramedics. She was gone before they noticed.