Chapter 6: Chill

There was shouting outside the door. The guards were ordering everyone back to their rooms, and the mob was yelling incoherently about their families, their homes, being let free, demanding answers, or simply screaming in pent up fury. Heather looked out the window not very concerned. Her stomach felt like ice, but that didn’t have anything to do with fear, since arriving in this dimension the discomfort hadn’t left her no matter how warm the rest of her was. It was annoying but she could handle it.

The door shook as someone slammed into it hard enough to make the bed placed against it shift slightly. Laura screamed in fear, hiding her face in Heather’s shoulder.

“It’s going to be ok,” Heather told her, patting her back.

“How do you know? They’re going crazy,” Laura said, crying harder.

“They’re just scared. Once they have a chance to get used to everything they’ll calm down.” She thought of the riots in the second week in Sanctuary as the world gave its last gasp. There had been over a hundred suicide attempts, too many of them successful, and the leaders had to flood the tunnels with tear gas to bring the riots under control.

Someone fired a gun. The sound of running feet and more screams filled the hotel turned refugee camp. “Don’t worry, Laura. No one is going to waste time breaking through the door,” she said stroking the girls bone white hair.

Laura clutched her knees to her chest. “Why are you so calm?”

“I’ve seen worse.”

“Worse than this?”

Heather nodded, turning to look out the window at the moon that was high in the sky, safe and serene, far from the chaos just outside the door and the insanity she had survived. “I saw my world die. Cities and forests burning as people tried to keep from freezing to death. A mob of millions of starving, freezing people charging along a road surrounded by snowdrifts ten feet high, being shot, blown up and finally run over by tanks when the last units of the military protecting us ran out of bullets. Countries that couldn’t create their own sanctuaries attacking those who could with every weapon they had, so that the leaders and a handpicked chosen few would survive. People giving up as the sun disappeared, entire towns dying at their own hands. I’ve seen worse, but I’m still alive, and so are you.”

Laura covered her ears, “This is insane! This shouldn’t be happening! I’m from a normal place, I should be in my bed, thinking about school tomorrow and getting ready to help my parents with the civil works duty next week.”

Heather hugged her roommate, who she’d known for all of half a day when they were placed together on a bus. “Don’t think about that. Not yet, it’s too soon. What type of movie do you like?”

The girl sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve. “Spy movies. I was suppose to watch the new one with Michael Slater tonight. He has to stop a plan by the German-British Empire to destroy the North American Federation.”

“Sounds cool.”

“Cool?” she asked, confusion written on her face.

“Cool, it means good,” Heather explained, realizing that even though they spoke the same language, the slang and terms weren’t the same. “What’s Slater like?”

“Everyone says he’s the best. I have an autographed picture of him on my wall. All my friends are green when they see it.” She wasn’t relaxed, the sound of fighting was still too close, too loud, but she wasn’t about to go into hysterics.

“What other movies has he done?”

Laura began to talk, it was disjointed, confusing and halting, but she was talking about something other than her fears and worries, it would do. Heather listened silently, only speaking to encourage her to keep going when the silence went on for too long. She wasn’t a psychiatrist, but she knew how dangerous it could be to dwell on what was lost before the person was ready. She’d seen too many people die from suicide or simply giving up when they realized everything they knew was gone.

Finally, an hour or two later the fighting ended, and they were able to get some sleep.

**

Heather walked through the hotel lobby that had been turned into a refugee center, still marveling at how warm it was, the natural light, how normal everything looked even though some of the people looked like something out of a comic book. They were all wearing an eclectic mix of clothes, mostly what people had donated, along with whatever had come with them from their own worlds. Since her suit was not suitable for anything outside Antarctica in winter, even if she had been willing to wear the horrible thing, everything she had was donated. Now she was wearing a dress that looked and felt like it had been kept in a box for the last fifty years, but even if the cotton felt fragile and a little scratchy, it was better than the worn out work suits she was used to. It was loose across her chest and shoulders, she was eating more than she could dream of just a few days ago, but it would take time to reach a weight the doctors were satisfied with, after two years on a strict diet that occasionally was barely enough to avoid starvation.

The hotel showed signs of the fighting last night. There were fist size holes in some of the weaker walls, and body size dents as well, volunteers were cleaning up dried blood as well, several people had bandages and ice packs over cuts and bruises.

“Mommy, you have to eat. Open your mouth,” a little girl said, holding a can of fruit salad and a plastic spoon up to what looked like an adult size doll. The womans skin was shiny and unnaturally smooth, long red hair flowed down her back, dark, glassy eyes stared unblinking at the far wall, fingerless mitten like hands rested on her lap. Slowly the mouth opened, revealing a strip of white that could possibly have been teeth. The girl who couldn’t have been older than eight, put a spoonful of fruit into her mouth, the mother chewed mechanically, syrup trickling down her chin.

Heather moved on quickly, stepping around a wheelchair who’s occupant struggled to use it with thin branchlike arms. Even with the clothes the persons body looked skeletal and weak, leaves covered the persons face, making it impossible to judge if the person was a man or woman. She stopped when the person spoke. “Help, please.”

“Yes?” she asked, turning to face the plant person.

“Out. Please,” the person slowly whispered.

“You want to go outside?” she asked just to double check.

The leaves rustled and wood creaked as the person nodded. Grabbing the wheelchair she walked the person towards the exit, she’d been heading for already. When they were outside, the person sighed with relief, pointing at a patch of grass. Shrugging she pushed him to where he wanted to go, wondering what he’d do when the dark grey clouds finally started to rain.

Some soldiers near the doors watched them carefully. Fences surrounded the hotel and dozens of soldiers patrolled the perimeter. They looked too large and healthy to her, not even the leaders of Sanctuary had been well fed. When she’d arrived at the hotel everyone on the bus had been told they could wander around the hotel common areas, parking lot, and green spaces freely, but they were not to go within twenty feet of the fence. A fair number of people complained about that, but she hadn’t, rules like that were a fact of life for her, and there was no reason to complain, it wasn’t like she had anywhere to go.

The chair lurched a little, as the person threw himself to the ground. “What are you doing?!” she cried.

The person didn’t answer, instead it drove its hands and bare feet into the soil. Heather rushed around the chair grabbing the persons shoulders to help, but as she lifted it was like grabbing a tree. The body shifted a little, but there was no way she was going to move him. Soldiers came running, pushing her out of the way to get to the person. Two of them grabbed the person and lifted. Wood groaned, the person screamed, bark tore on its arms, a blood red sap welled up from the cuts. The soldiers stopped lifting, backing away from the bizarre scene.

One of them began speaking into a radio. Heather stayed back, not sure what to do and wondering if she could slip away. One of the soldiers raised his hand for her to stop. “Miss, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I was coming outside and the… the person asked me to help him go outside and pointed over here. I-I didn’t know he was going to do that.”

“What’s your name and number?”

“Heather Freedman, number A-8374, sir,” she answered, reciting the number she’d been given when she been given her room key.

A group of people in different uniforms came running up. Two of them immediately began blocking the area off with stakes and fluorescent orange tape, while the rest pulled out a variety of tools and studied the person. An officer came along a moment later.

“This is the witness?” the officer who from the insignia seemed to be a lieutenant if they used the same symbols on this world as her home, asked.

“Yes, sir, her name is Heather Freedman,” the private who’d talked to her first answered.

“Come with me please, Ms. Freedman,” the lieutenant said.

“Yes, sir,” Heather said, saluting without even thinking about it.

They started walking to the field hospital. “You were in the army?” the lieutenant asked.

Technically she hadn’t been. The army had stopped existing once the world died, but Sanctuary had been run along similar lines. “Yes, sir. Volunteer medic.”

“What type of things did you deal with?” he asked.

“Frost bite, hypothermia, decompression, oxygen deprivation, and broken bones mostly. Sometimes amputations, bad cuts and burns.”

He looked at her in surprise. “Where would you deal with that?”

“Hell,” she answered, not wanting to talk about her old home.

The rain started pouring down. The lieutenant picked up the pace, Heather stopped raising her face to let the water hit her. It was cold, but she didn’t care, she grinned spreading her arms wide. With the rain running down her face she was willing to admit this was real, not some oxygen deprived dream. She was free of the tunnels, the darkness, the ice. She started crying again.

“Heather, we need to talk about what happened and get you checked out in case the plant man gave off something that could make you sick,” he said, coming back to her. He placed he hand on her shoulder and jerked back. “You’re freezing!”

Heather turned to him, she heard something cracking. Looking down, she saw the water on her dress and skin had turned to ice. “What’s going on?!”

“Were you altered?”

“I… they said I can control ice. But this hasn’t happened before,” she said. Looking down Heather realized the ice was building up on her, she started to jog towards the hospital, crackling with every step.

They got inside the busy tent. Every cot was occupied, some were sick, some were injured, but many were simply too stunned to deal with the situation, lost in their own little worlds. A nurse came over to them, her mouth open to ask a question when she stopped and stared at the ice covering Heather.

“We need to get her examined for contamination from a plantlike person. And she needs a blanket to warm up,” the lieutenant said.

“Come this way,” the nurse said, taking them to a separate room.

She sat down on a cot, and gratefully accepted a blanket. She wasn’t that cold, but it was a little chilly. The lieutenant sat on a chair while they waited for a doctor to get free. “Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself, I’m Lieutenant Chambers.”

“Nice to meet you.”

He pulled a digital recorder from his jacket pocket. “I’ll be recording this conversation for the scientists and my commanding officer. Now, what exactly happened?”

Heather told him everything as she remembered it. He waited until she was done and then asked her a few things just to clarify some details. It took about fifteen minutes, there really wasn’t that much to say, she’d tried to be helpful and a treelike person turned into a personlike tree.

“Thank you, Heather,” he said when the interview was finished, turning off the recorder. “I’ll use this to write up the report for the scientists and my commander, as long as the witnesses don’t contradict you, there won’t be any problems. How are you handling things?”

She grinned broadly, “Staying alive.” He gave her an odd look at the answer. “Sorry, I guess that sounds a little strange here. I’m doing great.”

Chambers eyebrows rose, “Really?”

“This morning, I had more for breakfast than I’ve seen at any two meals for the last three years. It’s warm. There’s air to breath. Things are alive. And I can see the sun. This is closer to heaven than I thought I’d ever see again.”

“What about your family?”

“Dead.”

“All of them?” he asked.

She nodded, having a good idea what he was looking for. “Over 6 billion people died in less then two years, leaving maybe two million people struggling to stay alive on my world. You’ll probably ask me about my friends next. I’m upset they aren’t here. But I know them, if they knew I was here, they’d be congratulating me and trying to figure out how to follow. When I said I was from hell I wasn’t exaggerating. My world died, your worst day is like my best.”

He didn’t say anything for a minute, letting what she had said sink in. Finally, “What did you do during the riot last night?”

“Laura and I pushed a bed against the door and we talked until it was done.”

“She’s your roommate?”

Heather nodded.

“You weren’t scared?”

She shrugged. “Why should I be? They wanted out of the hotel, not into my room. You guys were taking control of everything, so there wasn’t much time for them to break in and cause problems. And if they had started breaking down the door, we could have jumped out the window. It’s only on the second floor, we’d have gotten a broken leg at worst.”

“How old are you?”

“Sixteen, why?”

“This morning we were informed to keep an eye out for potential candidates for a program that is being considered. It’s for altered humans like you. You’d be working alongside our heroes learning how to control your powers, earning a paycheck, and allowed to move around more freely. With your training and attitude, I’d like to put your name on the list,” he said.

A question came immediately to mind. “What would I be doing?”

Lieutenant Chambers shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure, the message wasn’t very specific, probably because they’re still working on the details. But I think you’ll be doing what our heroes already do, stopping other altered humans, dealing with disasters, search and rescue, and other things were normals can’t do things as efficiently, quickly or easily. With everything that happened, I can see why they want more heroes.”

Heather wrapped the blanket around herself a little tighter, her dress was getting damp from the melting ice and even though she could somehow make ice, she still got cold. They wanted her, or at least people like her to be a hero? She’d spent most of her life not really thinking about much except what to wear to school and if she’d done her homework, and then when it went to hell, all she worried about was how to survive one more day. She’d only agreed to be a medic as a way to get outside the tunnels. Now listening to the rain falling on the tent, the sound of people being treated and actually having a real future, thinking about the sun, the moon, feeling the warm air that was already drying her skin, she felt something different, hope.

“What’s going to happen to the people who don’t take the offer?” she asked.

“I don’t know, it’s above my pay grade,” he admitted. “But I know this is only temporary. My buddies have told me that things are pretty bad in some places, so they probably don’t want us babysitting everyone here if there’s another option.”

“This is a good place,” she whispered. “Put my name on the list, if I can help I want to.”

He patted her shoulder, “I will. And as soon as I know what’s going to happen after this mess gets settled I’ll let you know. Although we’ll probably be announcing it to everyone all at once, about five minutes after I find out.”

“Thanks,” she said. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but it was nice having something to look forward to.

**

Five days later Heather was waiting at the gate with ten other people who had joined the program, holding a small back pack holding her clothes, a notepad, and a print out explaining what was expected of her as a part of the Hero Initiative as well as a basic primer on history, society, and law. Laura waited with her, she wasn’t going but over the few days they’d been rooming together they’d become friends. She looked down at the girl and smiled sadly. “I’m going to miss you, Laura,” she said.

The girl shrugged, brushing her long white hair out of her eyes. “I’ll be sixteen in a few months, and than I can try out for one of the groups. Maybe I’ll even be able to join yours.”

“I hope so,” Heather said, giving her a hug. “You’re power is creepy, but you’re awesome.”

Laura pouted. “It’s not that bad. They’re actually kind of cute,” she said holding out her hand. The skin bulged and split bloodlessly, a tiny bony hand reached out of the wound, followed by an arm and a head, a minute later a little skeleton about a six inches tall was standing on her palm doing a little jig.

“Yeah, that’s not creepy at all,” Heather said as the thing fell apart.

“At least I don’t freeze the toilet.”

“I only did that once!”

“Believe me once was enough.”

A bus pulled up to the gate. The small crowd started saying goodbye to friends if they had any or just lined up if they didn’t. Everyone pulled out the brand new ID cards they’d been given three days ago, listing their name, number, age, languages and family, along with a headshot.

“I guess I should be going. I’ll write to you when I can letting you know what the training is like,” Heather said, giving Laura another hug.

“You’d better. I don’t want to join up and find out they want us to do something weird like trying to take over the world or anything. Here, I want you to have this.” Laura pulled a necklace out of her pocket, the chain was made of tiny links of bone, and the heart shaped pendant was as smooth as ivory. “I worked really hard to make sure the bone won’t dissolve. Sorry it’s so plain, but I didn’t really have time to do anything fancy after figuring out how to make the chain.”

Heather took it gingerly afraid it would fall apart, like most things Laura made. The chain held firm and she slipped it over her head. “Thank you Laura, it’s beautiful. I wish I had something to give you.”

Laura waved her hand, “You kept me from, how did you say it, freaking out. Thank you, I would have joined the idiots or hidden under my bed for days if you hadn’t been there. This is the least I can do.”

“Still, thanks. I’ll miss you.” She wiped away a tear and with a last quick hug got in line.

Lieutenant Chambers was there, checking ID. “Heather, I expect to hear good things about you. You’re the youngest volunteer from this camp and unlike a lot of the teens joining up you have some training.”

“I’ll do my best, sir. Thanks for putting me on the list,” she said.

“Thank me when you’re done, I’ve heard that the training is going to be hard. But once you pass and become an official hero I expect a couple dozen autographs from you and your team. My son is a big hero follower and I’ll be the best dad on base after that.”

She laughed. “Alright, send me a list of names and I’ll make sure they’re personalized.”

“They’d better be. Good luck,” he said, waving her onto the bus.

She climbed onto the bus and as the youngest person there by at least six years, she sat alone letting her thoughts drift. They’d be going to the nearby airbase and getting split up, each person going to a different location to start training. Her information packet said she would go to a small base where all the other teens were going to practice together, forming small groups headed by young heroes about their own age.

The packet was a little vague about what would happen afterwards. She didn’t know if they’d be fighting people, running around stopping disasters, or simply doing kid shows telling everyone that bullying was bad. She hoped it wouldn’t be the last one, she wanted to do something useful and she wasn’t sure what she would do if faced with a crowd of bored schoolkids. She still woke up with nightmares of being stuck on the icy surface, running out of air, surrounded by the frozen bodies of everyone who had died. Now there was a chance she could really help people, she needed to take it.

With that thought in her mind she began to read up on the laws of this United States. It seemed like a good idea to learn about that if she was going to be a hero.

**

Five hours and a plane ride later, Heather stepped out of a car at what looked like a cross between a military base and a gated community. Two fences topped with razor wire surrounded the two dozen large houses, a large building that said gymnasium on the front, and another even larger building that looked like it could withstand a bomb, off to the side was a canteen and what looked like barracks for the soldiers. Soldiers patrolled the edge of the fence, ran in groups down the streets, and she even heard the sound of shooting off in the distance.

An Asian girl about five inches shorter than herself, wearing loose kakhi’s and a tank top, with short black hair, stepped forward with a faint smile. “Heather Freedman, I’m Tara Tzu, also known as Fire Dancer it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Thanks, it’s great to be here and see you in person,” she replied, shaking the girls hand.

“If you’ll come with me I’ll show you to the house we’ll be living at while we’re here. How are you feeling?” Tara asked.

Heather fell in step beside her leader. “I’m alive. I had a good nap on the plane, so I’m ready for pretty much anything.”

Tara gave her a big grin. “Great, than if you don’t mind we’ll drop your things off in your room, we can do a small tour and get in some training before supper. You’re the first one here, Sally and Tony should be arriving tomorrow morning together. Tomorrow is a bit of an orientation day, and a chance to get settled in before the hard work begins, but I’d like to start with us getting a feeling of what we can do as soon as possible.”

“Alright.”

“Your file says that I’m suppose to take it easy on you because you’re undernourished. What do you think about that?”

Heather shrugged. “I know I can work for ten hours in near absolute zero temperatures wearing a fifty pound cut down space suit and twenty pounds of equipment. I spent most of the time on a snowmobile, but I had to walk, run and climb in it sometimes for up to half an hour or more. I usually did it once a week, but I still only had one day to rest after an outside shift, then I worked in a clinic, trained or did odd jobs for eight hours a day. The doctors are thinking of regular conditions for your world, I’m not regular.”

Heather eyed her leader carefully as they kept walking, she could tell the girl was looking at her long limbs and body judging how much muscle was on her scrawny looking limbs. Finally Tara nodded, saying, “I’ll push you as hard as I push myself. If you feel faint, tired or overwhelmed tell me and I’ll drop the pace with no judgment. Having said that, I’d rather you tell me when your pushing your limits. If you get injured because of your pride, that will be a black mark in my books. Fair?”

“Very fair.”

A blonde girl wearing leather pants and shirt appeared out of nowhere, sitting about five feet in the air for a second before falling to the ground. She managed to twist around so she landed on her hands and knees rather than her butt. Cursing loudly in a sing song kind of way, she got to her feet and limped towards one of the houses.

“What just happened?” Heather asked.

“That’s Kath, she can teleport somehow. She can’t always control it though. I really wanted her on the team, but they limited me to three people and we decided she wasn’t quite right,” Tara told her.

“What was wrong with her?”

“She’s a bit of a pacifist. The brain scanners said she would be too uncomfortable fighting offensively and would be better acting defensively. So she was put into Eirs team.”

“Eirs?”

“The Norse goddess of healing. Alina chose it as a codename because she’s Scandinavian and a psychic healer. She’s trying to create a team based around search and rescue, with a more limited focus on fighting only as a last resort to protect the wounded. She actually wanted you to join her team as well because of your training,” Tara said.

Heather saw her leader watching what her reaction would be out of the corner of her eye. “Why didn’t they assign me to her than?”

“We talked it out and it was decided I would need a combat medic who had actual experience, and your powers could be useful for the missions I’m planning on pushing for.”

“And those missions would be?”

“Combat. We’re going to be on the sharp end, backing up the older teams and taking care of secondary threats when there aren’t enough heroes to go around. If there aren’t enough of those, we’ll be acting as defense for potentially dangerous situations.” She suddenly pointed at a house. “Here we are, home sweet home.”

The house was a fairly large two story home, with basic white siding, and small windows. It didn’t seem very inviting, but it looked brand new. Tara unlocked the door and the inside looked much like the outside, plain, white, minimal furniture, plaster dust still in the corners. If Heather had still had her old ideas of what was nice, she’d have asked for a new place, but after the tunnels and cramped conditions it was awesome.

Tara took off her shoes and put on a pair of sandals that were right beside the door, Heather saw a pair of pink sandals that looked to be her size and followed suit. “We’re still getting everything organized, so we’re kind of bare bones right now. You can use your ID at the base exchange to get some personal items, you’ll start getting paid in two weeks, until then you have a credit account of five hundred dollars. The cafeteria is free, so don’t worry about eating.”

“Sounds good. Um, you said something I didn’t understand earlier, what’s a brain scanner?”

The girl smiled awkwardly, her cheeks darkening with a blush. “A psychiatrist. I guess we’re going to have to not use a lot of slang until we’re used to each other. Especially once Sally arrives.”

“What’s wrong with Sally?”

“Sally has a speech impediment. She’s made entirely of rock, and can barely speak. She’s also from a world that’s behind our own, they still use steam engines and horses for most things. So even her listening seems worse then it should be.”

Heather tried to think of what a person made of rock would be like, the closest she could come to was the Thing from the Fantastic Four. “How is that possible?”

“No idea. But she’s tough, strong, and she can change her body just by entering some new dirt or rock. So I grabbed her as fast as I could. Come on I’ll show you the bathroom and your room, than we can get to work.”

They went up the stairs, and Heather picked the first room with the window that faced the east, so she could get the sun in the morning. It was pretty basic, a twin bed, dresser, closet, computer and desk, radio alarm clock, and a phone on the nightstand. She loved everything about it.

Tara waited at the door, smiling in amusement as Heather stared in wonder at the room. “You really like your room.”

“My last room had three girls in it, was about a quarter of the size and I had a small metal trunk to keep my things in. I LOVE IT!” she squealed.

“Great. Keep it clean, it will be inspected every two days by one of the officers. We’re not quite under military command here, but they’ve got a lot of control, and cleanliness is next to godliness in their eyes. Also we will have a boy living with us. So I need to tell you that sex is strictly off limits until we’re eighteen. I don’t know how strictly they’ll enforce it, but if they catch you having sex they can kick you out of the program, and I’ll get in trouble for letting it happen. So IF I hear anything I’ll have to report it.” She got a thoughtful look. “I wonder if Sally can actually do anything like that.”

Heather shook her head to avoid getting any weird mental images of rock sex. “Not a problem. Not really looking for a boyfriend right now.” She had liked Trevor in her own world, but that was mostly just as a friend. With everything that had happened to her romance wasn’t really on her mind. Maybe that would change, but for at least the near future as far as she was concerned sex could wait.

“Good. We’ve got two bathrooms, unofficially to make things easier the one at the end of the hall is for Tony, the one beside this room is for girls. If you’re desperate feel free to use either one, but to keep anyone from getting an accidental look, try to keep it straight.” She looked at her watch. “Do you want to get freshened up, or shall we get going?”

Heather looked down at her tight jeans and red t-shirt. “Can you give me ten minutes? If we’re going to train I want to wear something a bit more appropriate.”

“Sure, you’ll be getting a special suit in the training center, but if you want to go for a run afterwards it’ll be a good idea. I’ll go do some paperwork in my office downstairs. Just head downstairs and go to the right when you’re ready.”

She closed the door as her team leader headed downstairs. It was odd having a kid who was younger than her being the leader, but from the emails they’d exchanged, it seemed like Tara knew what she was doing.

Looking around the room she felt a little overwhelmed, she had three changes of clothes to her name and no personal items. How could she fill in the space? She’d gotten so used to having practically nothing, not even privacy and now she had more than she knew what to do with. There wasn’t even any real noise. A car drove past, and she heard some people running past in a group, but that was it. Where was the sound of the fans pushing oxygen around, the echoing of feet and people talking just outside, her roommates talking, crying, or snoring? Even in the hotel, there had been noise. She’d never understood how people could say silence was deafening, but now she did. Her ears tried to pick up every little noise, even her breathing, the rushing of blood in her veins, the beating of her heart.

Almost in a panic, she stripped out of her clothes, and got dressed in shorts, a sports bra, and a tank top. Heading for the bathroom, she turned on the water just to have some noise as she did her business. Five minutes later she was downstairs standing in the office door. Tara was typing away on a laptop, dozens of pictures of people, half of them in costumes lined the walls.

“I’m ready!”

Tara’s eyes went wide as she looked at the time and Heather. “You’re eager, let’s go.”

Once outside they headed for the largest building. Tara pointed out the gym, the canteen, the road to the shooting range, the soldiers barracks, administration and the Base Exchange where they could buy almost anything they needed or order it in. Heather made a mental note to go there as soon as they were done training for the day.

They came to the large building which didn’t have a name on it, just guards at the door. Tara flashed her ID and said they were training with their powers, the guards took their names down and opened the door.

“This place is the lab, doctors office and training center when you’re using powers. You can use your powers outside of here, but keep it to the small side until you have things under control. We don’t want you accidentally freezing someone,” Tara explained.

Heather nodded, trying to memorize the route. They came to a change room and Tara walked right in. A row of shelves held orange suits in every possible size. “Find a size that fits best and put it on. They’re padded and insulated for protection. Once you’re judged ready to go into the field you’ll get a proper suit that is custom made.”

“Cool,” Heather said, looking through the stacks for something that would reasonably fit. Tara walked over to a row of lockers and pulled out a dark red suit that looked like it had been made for her.

Stripping down she put on the one piece suit, which was actually varying shades of red forming a flame like pattern. The girls slim body looked fuller in the suit, Heather guessed it was because of the padding. She finally found a suit that would probably fit, and put it on. The fit was snug around her crotch, and loose up top, but she could move easily enough in it.

“Where do I put my things?” she asked.

“You’re locker is number twenty-eight. Just give me one second.” Tara walked over to the locker, placed her thumb on the lock and said a long code. “Ok, Heather just put your thumb on the sensor and it’s yours.”

She did as she was told and the locker sprang open. Putting everything inside, she followed Tara past the showers and into a large metal room. Tara spread her arms wide as the heavy metal door clanged shut behind them. “This is one of the training rooms, when we are in this room we try to use code names, mine is Fire Dancer, you can just call me Dancer if you want. Did you come up with one? If you want a secret identity its necessary, but otherwise its optional.”

“I was thinking Black Ice,” she joked, “but decided it was too stereotypical. Just call me Chill, everything else I could think of sounded too villainy.”

“Good enough. Ok Chill, you can set off a bomb in here and no one would notice except for the control room monitors who are monitoring everything.” As if to demonstrate, the girl slashed the air, a thirty foot jet of flame erupted from her hand hitting the nearest wall and ceiling.

Heathers’ jaw dropped, she could feel the heat from the flame despite the suit and being well behind the hero. The wall glowed cherry red for a few seconds before fading back to gunmetal grey.

Fire Dancer acted as if it was completely ordinary to shoot flame from her hand as she walked behind Heather. “Now your report said you can create and manipulate ice, let me see what you’ve got.”

“I can’t do anything nearly as impressive as that,” Heather said.

“Don’t worry about it. When I first started four years ago, I could light a candle if I really concentrated. Unless I panicked from a nightmare or something, then I could make a bonfire,” she said wryly. “I just want to see what you can do without any training.”

“Ok.” Heather looked at her hand, and remembered how cold her world was. The frozen feeling in her stomach that never seemed to go away completely grew, like liquid ice flowing through her veins. She didn’t shiver from the cold, even though she expected her limbs to crack and break from the freezing temperature inside her. A block of ice appeared in her hand, it grew becoming as large as her head. Concentrating it formed a nose, eyes, a mouth, and finally hair. Her hand moved over the surface, giving it more definition and features. It was pretty basic, looking more like an exaggerated clowns face than anything, but it was her best effort so far. “Done.”

“Wow! That’s really good for only a few days of practice,” Fire Dancer said, whistling in approval. “We’ll work on fine details later, for now its good enough. Can you do something larger and quicker? Like a wall or a pile of ice?”

“I never tried. There wasn’t much room to practice at the hotel and I didn’t want to risk damaging something.” She didn’t add that the soldiers, even though they were friendly or at worst apathetic to them, had been intimidating enough that she didn’t want to risk scaring them with her power.

“Well lets see how much ice you can create.”

She focused on the cold within herself again, imagining it spreading out, filling the room with ice. She began to shiver, feeling colder then even she could remember. The metal walls groaned as frost covered them. Through the roaring of her blood she heard Dancer yelling at her to keep going. Heather pushed a little more.

**

The metal door of the training room opened up slowly for the medical team and their accompanying guards. They didn’t know what had happened only that the cameras and microphones had died a minute ago, cutting a girl off in mid-scream. They all jumped back as cool water rushed out the door, not quite fast enough to knock them down, but soaking them up to their knees in. Pieces of ice came with the water, causing more problems for the lead soldiers as they bashed knees and knocked an unfortunate private into the water.

Two girls in steaming costumes, soaking wet and shivering with cold came slogging out, rubbing their arms to regain some feeling.

Fire Dancer, wrapped herself in flame, her suit drying rapidly, before turning on Heather. Through chattering teeth, she said, “Next time, stop when the ice covers you!”