Chapter 4: The Heroine

"... and it was at that point that the new costumed heroine known only as Lightburst flew in and stopped the two would-be bank robbers."

Grainy video from the bank's security camera played behind the pretty television news reporter, showing a glowing young woman, possibly a teenager, flying into the bank through a shattering window. She was clad in a yellow sweatsuit with white stripes down the sides of the arms and legs. The hood of the sweatshirt was pulled up and her face was partially concealed by a plastic white mask, the kind anyone could buy at a costume shop. As she flew into the bank, her outstretched arms fired an energy blast that struck one of the bank robbers, knocking him to the floor. Then, before his fellow bank robber had a chance to react, she fired her energy blasts once again, knocking him back into the wall. He slumped down to the ground, already unconscious.

"This is the third sighting of this young heroine in less than a week."

The image on the television froze and the watcher leaned forward in her chair. A voice as soft as silk murmured, "Lightburst, hm?" The woman stroked her chin thoughtfully, her dark eyes studying the frozen image of Lightburst on the screen.

"You need a better costume."

Samantha glared at Erin from across the table. It was their lunch hour at JFK High School and the two were eating their lunches at the table they always sat at. Samantha worriedly looked around, but the other kids who sat at their table were in their own clique and weren't paying any attention to Erin and Samantha.

Samantha spoke to Erin in a hushed voice, "Okay, miss super-hero expert, where do I go to get a costume?"

Erin shrugged as she bit into her slice of pizza. "Well, you're not a super-hero. Super-heroes are the ones in the comic books, the ones who aren't real. And I think 'super-hero' is trademarked or whatever. You could get sued."

Samantha sighed. "Okay, costumed hero then. That just sounds dumb." She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her Diet Pepsi.

"Well, it's what all the others call themselves. The Challengers and Team Supreme and them are all costumed heroes. And you would be one, but your costume looks like it was homemade."

"Because it was homemade!" Samantha protested. "I'm not a billionaire who can just have her butler sew her a costume!"

"I'll check the web, see what I can find," Erin told her. "One of my net buddies has got to know something about hero costumes."

Erin's eyes shifted to look at something behind Samantha and she smiled. "Derek coming up behind you."

Samantha's eyes widened in horror. She quickly looked up as Derek Hamilton walked by their table, carrying his lunch tray.

"Hi Derek," Samantha beamed, giving him the biggest smile she could.

Derek looked at her and nodded slightly, then kept walking by, going to the "cool clique" table. Samantha watched him as he walked. Derek was the most popular guy in school. He excelled in sports, he went to all the cool parties, and he had a new girlfriend seemingly every week. And Samantha had had a crush on him since forever.

"Um, blondie. You're glowing."

Samantha quickly looked down and sure enough, she was starting to glow, ever so slightly. She let herself relax, and her aura shut off. She looked around at the other kids in the cafeteria.

"Relax, blondie, I don't think anyone saw anything."

"I hope not. I wish I could get better control of the glow."

"Keep your hormones in control and maybe you will," Erin teased.

That night, Lightburst flew through the sky, her aura lighting a trail behind her. The wind blew through her air as she soared in the night, a huge smile on her face. God, she loved being able to fly. It was the coolest thing ever.

She swooped down and flew through the narrow gap between two buildings. Then she flew back up in an arc. She was definitely getting the maneuvering of her flight power down. She was fast and quickly becoming very agile in flight. She swooped down and flew a loop around a flagpole, then made a semi-circle and flew another loop around a stone gargoyle a few stories above the flagpole. Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought she could see people on the street below her, pointing at her and watching her. She started to fly down to get a closer look, maybe wave "hi" to them.

But then a scream broke through the night. A woman in the alleyway below her, screaming for help. Lightburst paused a fraction of a second, pinpointing where the screaming was coming from. Then she swooped down through the night, her energy trail blazing behind her.

Sure enough, she saw a man in ragged, dirty clothes struggling with a woman over her purse. She stretched out an arm and fired one of her light blasts. The bolt struck the man and sent him flying into a brownstone wall. He moaned as he fell into unconsciousness.

Lightburst landed on the ground and dimmed her aura. She kept her aura just bright enough so that people wouldn't be able to get a close look at her face (even with the stupid mask that Erin had bought her), but it wasn't bright enough to blind them.

"Are you okay?" she asked the woman, and then her mouth hung open as she stared at her.

The woman was tall and statuesque, her long, flowing hair as black as midnight, cascading around her head and shoulders. She was in a black dress, a red sash at the waist. Her arms were bare and the neckline was very low cut, almost to her navel. Her heeled shoes were black and as polished as a mirror. Her dark red lipstick added some color to her somewhat pale face. Her face was beautiful, but it was her eyes that were the most striking. They were dark, deep, and seductive. Samantha had never seen such incredibly beautiful eyes on anyone.

"I am fine," the woman answered, calmly and cooly. She wasn't even out of breath after her struggle with the would-be mugger. "Thanks to you. You must be Lightburst, correct?"

Lightburst silently nodded. She was still entranced by those eyes.

"I suspected as much. I have been hearing so much about you these past few days. I am Cassandra Black."

A silence hung over the two of them. Their eyes were locked together. Lightburst suddenly shook her head and looked away from the woman's mesmerizing gaze. "Um, yes, I'm glad I could help."

Cassandra nodded slightly, the edges of her lips curling into a smile. "I would like to return the favor. What you are wearing, it is not suitable for one like you. I could make you something more fitting."

Lightburst looked up at her, but still avoided her eyes. "Really? You can do that?"

"Certainly. I've made costumes for many of the other costumed heroes and heroines. I am obligated not to tell you their names, but you would most certainly know of them."

Lightburst hesitated. She didn't like the idea of accepting a gift from a total stranger. It just wasn't how her mother raised her. "Thank you, but no..."

"I insist," Cassandra interrupted. She stepped forward and pressed a card into Lightburst's hand. Was it Samantha's imagination, or did Cassandra's hand linger on her own for a second longer than it should have?

"Come to this location tomorrow," Cassandra instructed her. "I will have the costume ready by then."

Lightburst looked down at the card, then looked back up. Cassandra was already fading away into the night, her heels clicking against the pavement.

"Um... wow..." Samantha said, at a total loss for any other words.

"I didn't know you were into girls," Erin said, her eyebrow arched as she studied her friend.

Samantha tossed a pillow at her. "I'm not! It's just... you should have seen her, Erin. Her eyes were so... so incredible. I would kill for eyes like that." She flopped back on Erin's bed and blew air out through her mouth. "I wish Derek would look at me the way she looked at me. It was like she in love with me."

Samantha looked over at Erin, who was watching Samantha intently, and maybe even with a bit of sadness. "What?" Samantha asked her.

Erin shook her head. "Nothing." She looked back at the computer screen.

Samantha bit her lower lip and leaned up on her elbows. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Erin still didn't look back at her, watching her monitor and scrolling down with the mouse.

"How come you never talk to me about guys?"

Erin froze. She blinked, then looked back at Samantha. "What?"

Samantha sat up. "Well, I've told you about every boy I've crushed on since we were like twelve. But you don't really talk much about boys. Actually, you never talk about boys."

"Can we drop this?" Erin sharply asked, then turned back to her monitor.

"You know, it would be okay with me if you're, you know..."

"If I'm what?" Erin demanded, her attention snapping back to Sam.

Sam nervously swallowed, then said, "If you're into girls..."

Erin jumped out of her chair and stared hard at Samantha. Samantha thought that Erin was going to storm over and slap her, and her aura instinctively came up to protect her.

"I... am not... into girls!" Erin hissed at her. She threw herself into her chair and went back to her computer.

"Okay, okay," Samantha said.

The uncomfortable silence between the two stretched out. Erin continued working at her computer. Samantha looked around the bedroom she had been in hundreds of time before. No posters of boy bands or the hot young male teen actor of the week, unlike Samantha's room or the rooms of Samantha's few other female friends. Erin never talked about boys, making lists of who's cuter than who, giggling all the while. She'd never even had a boyfriend. So if Erin wasn't into girls, then what was up?

"This is hopeless," Erin said in exasperation. She slumped back into her chair and glared at the monitor, looking like she wanted to drop it off the roof of a tall building.