“I actually need to talk to you about something.” I start and place the bottle on the table next to my half-finished pizza. “Or more like, I need to show you something.”

She raises an eyebrow and reaches for another slice of pizza. “That sounds interesting. Please continue.”

I nod hesitantly. “I bet you heard about Visionary. That he's dead.”

“Yup”

“I was there.”

She chews and narrows her eyes at me. “You were there? You saw him die?” She asks after swallowing.

“Yes, I was kind of involved, actually. Some junkie used me as hostage and he ended up shooting Visionary.”

“Wait, you were a hostage?”

I nod. “I tried to help him but it was too late. He gave me something though.” I look down at my hands. The ring is still gone and for a second I doubt that what happened was real. “A ring.”

“A ring? You married now?” She chuckles and shakes her head.

“This isn't funny. He gave me a ring right before he died and it had his symbol on it. The eye. When I got home and looked at it again, the symbol was gone and then I...I put it on. At first, nothing happened but then I froze a bottle of water and probably broke the water pipes. Then I passed out and when I woke up I was wearing this weird...outfit.” I finish, panting slightly. I guess it's finally happening. I'm freaking out.

Piper watches my outburst calmly and reaches for the bottle again. She swallows almost half of the remaining whiskey and coughs afterwards. When she faces me again, her expression is serious for once. “Is this your way of telling me that you have superpowers now? That's bullshit. I told you they hand out weird stuff at those gay night clubs. First it turns you gay, then crazy.”

“Piper! I'm not crazy. At least I think so.” I whine and bury my face in my hands.

“Fine, then show me.”

“Huh?” I look up.

“Show me.”

I blink at her dumbly. I could just try to change in front of her but she would totally make fun of my outfit. My gaze wanders down to my hand again where the ring used to be. Maybe I really am crazy.

“So?” She asks and pouts at me.

“The news!” I suddenly shriek when an idea strikes me. “I froze a whole street after a fire hydrant broke in a car accident. It has to be on the news.” I grab my smartphone and start searching. It doesn't take too long to find a video someone posted online. “Here!” I hold it out for Piper and she takes it hesitantly, narrowing her eyes at me before looking down at the screen. I lean in close to see for myself. It shows the overflowing street from somewhere in the crowd. Everyone is talking, the sound almost drowning out the flowing water. Then suddenly, it gets quiet when a figure pushes through. Actually, that outfit doesn't look as dumb as I thought. The hood is up and you can barely see my face, which makes it look pretty badass.

“That's me!” I tell my best friend and she simply holds her free hand up to silence me as she keeps watching me freeze the water and talk to the driver of one of the cars before disappearing again.

“I don't see it.” She finally says and hands me my phone back.

I reach for it and blink at her. “Huh? That's so obviously me. When I turn to the crowd near the end you can even see my face!” I argue.

She crosses her arms and shakes her head. “Don't even try. There's a new hero in town and it's not you, Aven. You work at a flower shop and can't even find a decent guy. Superheroes have their lives figured out.”

“Sure, because Tony Stark doesn't have a drinking problem.” I hiss and throw my phone back onto the coffee table before reaching for the bottle again. It's almost empty so I quickly drink the rest, my lips already getting numb. “I guess I have to prove it to you after all.”

Piper chuckles and pulls the remote closer with her foot. “You do that, champ. What do you wanna watch? I think you might be in the mood for some Marvel classics, huh?”

I get up and glare down at her. “Oh, you won't be laughing any more after this!”

“Maybe some cringe-worthy Spiderman? I'm talking part 3.”

“Pip!”

She starts going through the films on Amazon Prime and ignores me otherwise.

Oh, I will show her. I don't have to be a rich, martial arts dude like Batman to have powers. After taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and try to concentrate like I did back in the alley behind that dumpster. I can do this. It's just Piper. She has to believe me.

When the shock runs through me, I smile to myself and open my eyes again. Piper is still not looking at me so I glance down to check my appearance. Yep, I definitely changed. How do I know? My socks are gone. Ugh.

“Hey Pip, personally I think Spiderman isn't cool enough to fill my evening.” I tell her proudly and cross my arms.

“You're not cool enough.” She says and looks up at me. It takes a few seconds before her eyes widen and she jumps to her feet. “Holy shit!”

“Told you that was me!”

She stares at me. She must feel like such an idiot now that I prove her wrong.

“Oh my...you look...” She observes me from head to toe and then, as soon as it came, her surprised look is gone, making room for boredom. “So gay.”

“I knew you would...wait what?”

“Yup, gay.”

“I don't look gay!”

“Well, you are gay so what's the problem?”

“I look awesome, okay?” I pull the hood over my head. “See? Totally mysterious.”

“Honey, the inside of your fridge is more mysterious than you. You look adorable and a bit like a twink.”

“What?!” I hiss and stomp closer to her. “I'll freeze your ass!”

“Maybe you should care about your own ass first.” She grins at me.

“Piper!” I whine pathetically. “Come on.”

She laughs and walks off to get the wine bottle from the kitchen. When she gets back, she is already gulping it down. “Okay, so you got a ring from a dead superhero and now you have powers. That's a bit cliché but okay. I can work with this.” She takes another sip. “You froze a street. Good for you. Is that all you can do?”

“Huh?”

“Well, you can freeze water. Awesome. I want you around whenever I find myself in need of a cold beverage but other than that...what's it good for?”

I stare at her dumbly and think about it for a few seconds. “Uh, I could freeze the bad guys?” I ask carefully and smile hopefully.

“What bad guys though? This is England, not America.”

“There are still some people doing bad things around.”

“So now you wanna become the city's sweetheart? You can help old ladies cross the street but you don't need powers for that.”

I roll my eyes at her and plop down on the couch again, putting my bare feet on the table. Piper grimaces at the sight but I simply stare ahead and hold my hand out for the remote. “I'm not in the mood for a film right now.” I mumble and turn on the news.

“Are you for real?” Piper groans and lets her head fall back against the backrest.

I glance at her and prepare to start a full on argument when the news reporter catches my attention. I raise my eyebrows and lean forward to watch the screen. Piper lifts her head and frowns.

“Firefighting services just arrived at the scene. No one knows how the fire could spread this quickly or how it started but they are doing their best at stopping the flames from spreading. Apparently there are still civilians and a few workers inside.” The news broadcaster says. The subtitles say 'Fire at Canada Water Shopping Centre!'.

“Canada Water” I mumble before facing Piper. She looks just as shocked, her eyes wide in disbelief. The screen cuts to a live broadcast of the scene and we watch in horror. It's not just a small fire. The large building is completely engulfed in flames. A few firefighters are holding hoses, trying to suffocate the flames but it's pointless.

“They won't be able to stop it.” Piper says and jumps to her feet. I flinch at her sudden movement and look after her as he rushes over to the window. “I can see it from here. Holy Shit!”

I get up as well to stand beside her. In the distance there are large clouds of black smoke darkening the sky. It's evening already but since it's summer, the sky should still be somewhat bright. “It's going to burn to the ground.”

“And there are still people inside.” My best friend adds and turns to look at me. “Aven...”

I swallow nervously and glance at her before watching the dark smoke again.

“You say you want to be a superhero.” Piper says slowly. “Now is the time to prove it.”

My eyes widen again as I stare at her. “What? You want me to go there?”

“Yes”

“Why?”

“You just told me you have powers!”

“I have ice powers! That is fire! Fire melts ice!”

“So you don't even want to try?”

“I wouldn't even know what to do!”

“You'd rather not try at all instead of maybe saving lives?!”

I open my mouth to protest but nothing comes out and I close it again. In a way, she is right. I don't even know what I'm capable of. Maybe I am really able to do something. But what if I'm not? I would put myself in danger. Geez, am I really that selfish?

“Aven!” Piper whines and grabs my arm to pull me over to the door. I stumble after her and shut my eyes in a try to concentrate and change back. Almost instantly I feel the buzz go through my body and when I look down, my clothes are back. “If we run, we could get there in five minutes.”

I nod and bite my lip. Don't think about it, Aven. You want to help people. What was that saying? With great power comes with great responsibility.

Ugh

Shit!