Elsie looked over the diagram for one moment extra, memorising, before racing away into the carnage. Her heart had kicked up a couple of gears, pounding away in preparation for exertion. She shouldn’t be excited… but fuck was she thrilled to be involved. A balaclava-wearing man shot past her, just off the ground, leaving behind a trail of tar-like goop. Silver Skipper was racing behind him, she didn’t acknowledge Elsie as she passed. They had jobs to do. The red zone awaited. A handful of heroes and villains were duking it out high in the sky above. From the ground it looked like balls bouncing off each other only to attempt to reconnect again.

Volunteers kept their cool vocally, but the faces Elsie could see dotted through the scene were filled with fear. Elsie hover-hopped around what was previously fake wreckage, now very real battleground. A hand flailed out of the window of an upturned car, drawing her closer to offer her own. A woman in a fleecy sweat-suit climbed gingerly free, balancing herself into Elsie’s palm. A crash of metal and the peal of broken glass rang out behind them for all of a breath’s pause before a bus roof surfed the road towards them.

Elsie stood her ground. The woman cowered behind her. It was all very anticlimactic when the thin sheet of metal ricocheted off her lightly and fell to the tarmac. Still, that might have hurt someone without powers.

“What’s going on?” the woman asked shakily.

“Villains have arrived. Genuine.”

The fleecy woman gasped dramatically. “Oh gosh-”

“I’m getting the volunteers to safe spots while they’re dealt with,” Elsie told her in a hushed tone. “So let’s try not to draw attention to ourselves.”

The woman mimed zipping her mouth. 

“Are you injured?”

The woman shook her head.

“Can you walk?”

The woman nodded.

They were hidden from view almost totally by the upturned car, but it wasn’t ideal to wait around. Elsie traced a path with her eyes – straight through the fake car pile-up, round the rusted lampposts laid about to add some flavour to the accessibility, and into the only store front that still had anyone at the counter. If they were nosey enough to remain on the other side of the glass to watch the action, they would surely love to be involved and offer shelter.

Beside it, in a thin alleyway, stood a serious-looking woman in full business attire leaning her hip to the brick. A pencil skirt that cut off midway down her calves, a crisp white shirt tucked in with pointed collar, a blazer that could have been stitched onto her for how well it was tailored. She was not running or hiding, in fact, she was outside of the training exercise cordon. And yet she was hardly the demographic of a superfan. And she was staring. Staring right at Elsie. Piercing grey eyes and an immaculate blonde blowout and a face that could grace a magazine cover or command a control room. Elsie’s breath caught a couple of times in a row before she could remember why it wasn’t a good thing to see a beautiful woman at this very moment.

“Get yourself to safety! This is no longer a drill!” Elsie mouthed to her, waving her away. Far away, hopefully. “Take cover now!” The woman stared a little longer, then melted into the shadows. It must have been the distance, the smoke, the stress of the situation. Elsie blamed everything but her eyes. 

She walked the woman who had been hidden behind her along the route she’d picked out, minding both their steps and keeping her senses alert for any incoming danger. More heroes had taken to the air, clashing with villains Elsie didn’t recognise. Their outfits were boring, all grey or black, covered top to toe. They weren’t paying her any attention. She and the woman reached the shop, the window lined with plastic tat, and Elsie rapped on the door. She could see the middle-aged couple flushing with excitement as they hurried to unlock it. They attempted to talk her ear off as soon as it cracked, but Elsie handed over her civilian and asked that they keep her safe inside while she collected more.

“-about the parkin-”

“Okay, thank you for your help!” Elsie called over her shoulder, jogging back to the red zone. She gave a quick update to her radio, naming ‘Twinkle Trinkets’ as her safe space of choice.

“Great work. Keep reporting in so we can keep a tally.”

“Yes, sir.”

As she hover-hopped over the lamppost pile, a projectile-like being slammed into her. Small, strong, angry. They jointly collided with the already-crumpled hood of an old Toyota Prius, Elsie midway between lying flat on her back and turned onto her side, the human missile heavy on her shoulder. In the scramble to pull themselves upright they slipped and stumbled on the uneven metal. Elsie snatched at the villain’s leather jacket, then their leather pants when they slapped her away.

“Come here,” she grunted. Their ankle broke free of her grip.

“Fuck off!” they snarled. They rushed forward in another tackle attempt despite neither being better upright than their knees. 

This time, Elsie was semi-prepared for the hit and kicked a foot out, connecting with their upper chest and sending them in a backwards sprawl off the car. A crash sound that wasn’t her doing startled her back to her own mission. Bring the volunteers to safety. She hopped back off her side of the car, keeping her watch on the villain staggering to their feet. Before they could lunge for Elsie again, one of their evil little friends swooped past, snatching them by the hood, and shot away with Silver Skipper in their shadow.

Elsie turned and ran. Two more civilians into shop shelter and she began to move without as much thought, or rather, as much doubt. She was doing well, none of her charges in the red zone were hurt. No villains came back for her. Did the villains know it was all a training exercise? Or did they see the set and decide to add to the mess? She shook her head and dropped to her knees to get a better hold of the SUV she needed to to lift. Hands around a tire thicker than her head she brought up one foot, then the other, putting herself in a deep squat, and hauled herself and the car up.

“Go. Go. Go,” she huffed at the lady lying under the three-wheeled vehicle.

After the slowest army scramble ever completed, she had cleared the SUV’s landing zone and Elsie could safely lower it again.

“I-I’m just an actor, I’m not-”

“I know,” Elsie wheezed, stretching her back with a backwards lean. “I’m just moving you to a safer location.” When she straightened she noticed the woman’s face had a line of dried blood across her forehead.

“Oh, thank you! You know, I’ve never done one of these before! Is it always-”

“Is that genuine?” Elsie asked of the gash across the actor’s face. “Sorry, I need to know first.”

The actor laughed awkwardly. “No, it’s make-up.” She waved a slip of paper under her nose. “See? I’m supposed to be a concussed passenger unable to walk straight.”

Served a smack out of the sky, Silver Skipper tumbled over car roofs until she lost momentum.

“Okay, new role – rescued actor free of injuries who can run to cover behind that big metal box that says ‘First Aid.’” It wasn’t a genuine first aid centre, but it would put the actor out of harm’s way while Elsie reached Silver Skipper. The injured took priority, and her fellow hero was no longer moving.

A pair of villains were on them quicker than Elsie could get to the pretend pile-up. One lick of luck was that they were much more interested in her and Silver Skipper than the actress diving behind the first aid container.

“Silver Skipper is down by Twinkle Trinkets!” Elsie called into her radio. She held it up with one hand and used the other, alongside a multitude of hover-hops, to climb to the woman’s side. “Two villains on the scene.”

The tar dripper and the human missile crash landed onto a car opposite, turning it into a see-saw for a moment, both riding it like a surfboard. Silver Skipper was breathing, just knocked out, Elsie confirmed with a finger under her nostrils. After which she stood over her, rolling her shoulders and fingers and wishing her brain weren’t so blank.

“The fuck are you?” growled the tar dripper. Either he was a new villain on the scene, or he wasn’t very good at it, because Elsie didn’t know who the fuck he was either.

“Emerald Eclipse,” Elsie announced.

The pair shared a look, sizing up her power more on their internal knowledge than her appearance. The question they were both shooting each other with their eyes was: do you know her grade? 

“I’ve already called in your location,” she added. “So if you’re just looking to tussle before your arrest, be my guest.” Brave words for a woman becoming increasingly concerned at the black goop pooling by the pair’s feet.

The missile creature grimaced. Sirens approaching pulled it into a full-blare glare. “Not fucking worth it,” they spat. They allowed themselves to be swooped up by their comrade and away they fled. Elsie dropped to her knees at Silver Skipper’s side again, checking her pulse and lifting her eyelids. For all she could tell, she was simply asleep.

Her radio was crackling with call-ins overlapping each other. When there was finally a quiet moment she jumped in to update that her villains were gone but Silver Skipper still needed medical support. Their zone was safe for entrance by the medics, and Elsie carried Silver Skipper down the car pile to their stretcher herself.

There were only a couple of civilians she hadn’t collected from the wreckage yet, and her actress-in-hiding, but they had no difficulty getting out of their spots and following her to the trinket tourist trap. Everyone that had been Elsie’s responsibility was ambulatory and alert. She locked herself inside the shop with her charges and blew out a long, weary breath.

“You did a wonderful job, dear,” one of the shopkeepers cooed.

Elsie swallowed. “Thanks.” It felt like she did a whole lot of not much. She didn’t fight, she didn’t do any daring rescuing. But she stuck to her brief, and that was what got promotions. She could only remind herself that as she watched through the shop window while the arrests were made. 

There would be an inquest probably. Jules would attend as her mentor and handle the tough questions, the regulations, the insurance details, the fore-planning. And Elsie would be back to training dummies and crash mats.