Hot coco hit my tongue, warming my chilly body. Between the blankets and warm drink in my hands, the cold was starting to fade. I was never a fan of the drink personally, despite my love for chocolate. But at times like this? Looking gift horses in the mouth? Not a smart move.

  “You were lucky you got here when you did,” the woman before me said, a soft smile on her face. “It's dangerous for a young lady like yourself to spend a night on the streets. Even without the cold.”

  Why wasn't I protesting the whole lady bit?

  Because physically, I was one. A thing that took painfully long to notice. But when one tries to use the bathroom only to find something important missing? Kinda hard to miss something like that.

  Taking even that long to notice the changes was embarrassing. I could blame my single track mind for that.

  Now internally? That was a different matter entirely. To say I always had a curiosity about how it would feel to walk a mile in someone else's shoes would be an understatement. At the same time?

  I wasn't going to ignore the reality of the situation at hand. Whether or not that was who I was on the inside, most people couldn't see that. My physical body was now that of a woman, and people were going to treat me accordingly. With all the baggage that came with that treatment.

  Did I like it? No, but it was the hand I had been dealt. I don't know why or even how it happened. Nor was it the biggest reason I was internally freaking out.

  What was a bigger reason to internally freak out than ending up in a strange city on the coast? Bigger than it being a city that you never heard about until now existing in the United States? More than having your body flipped to the opposite sex for no reason?

  Well, there was actually a pretty good reason. It wasn’t 2026. Not here. No, it was 2010.

  Given how I'd never heard of a city called Brockton Bay? Granted, I couldn't claim to know every major city in every major state. And I certainly had been, what? Maybe twelve, thirteen at most when it was 2010. But a Nazi gang running around in a decent sized US city?

  Kinda should have pierced my media bubble. If it didn't, I wouldn't be surprised. Also, the possible superpowers thing didn't help. A reminder of which rested in the front of my hoodie pocket, the gauntlet now a small metal sphere.

  I couldn't be the only person with powers. I wasn't special. There had to be more people out there with abilities. A single question remained though.

  What the fuck was I going to do with them? Punching Nazi's was as good of a use for my powers as any. But.

  It wasn't that I wasn't a violent person. Because when I felt like I needed to, I would be. But fighting gang members was dangerous. They had knives. I was lucky in that regard. If they had something more dangerous, like guns? Could have died right there. Or worse.

  The shudder that ran through my body wasn't from the cold. Woman? Minority? When it came to Nazi's, there were plenty of fates worse than death that people like that would be willing to inflict on me. The only thing that changed was which ones.

  “Are you still cold? I can get another blanket if you want,” already, the woman was halfway out of her chair.

  “It's fine. I'm not cold anymore,” I said after a moment. She didn't need to go so far for my benefit, and there had to be others that needed help more than I did right now. “I just ran into some trouble on the way here, is all.”

  Calling it trouble was certainly not it, but I didn’t want people to pry. Again, this shelter had plenty of people who needed help right now. And, even with the adrenaline fading? Way more angry than I was scared, though the emotion held more of a bite to it than it had.

  “Do I need to call the police?” The look on her face was one of softness, at that infuriating line between compassion and pity. It was understandable why she wore such an expression upon her face.

  “The situation was dealt with,” I took a brief sip, hoping to hide the twitching of my lips behind the mug. There was fear, but beneath that, the anger, the adrenaline? One thing was at the forefront of my mind. How good it felt. Nazi's were desestible. Making it so they couldn’t hurt others, even for a single night at most? Felt good. It felt really good. “In a manner I will be content with.”

  “You got saved by a Cape?” Again with that title. Cape. Was it a word for a hero? Or just someone with powers? The fact that I really didn't want to give the illusion I'd spent my entire life under a rock biting me in the ass, on top of me biting the inside of my mouth, was going to be a problem.

  “Maybe. I didn't get a good look at them,” I said, the understatement of the century leaving my lips. “All I know is that the thugs who tried to corner me were the ones shouting in pain.”

  I couldn't, and frankly, wasn't, going to give more than that. Still, that seemed to be enough to placate her curiosity. It wasn’t a difficult sell, and allowed her to fill in the blanks as she saw fit. The best form of lie was a half truth, and I didn't feel like sharing anything more.

  “There's that, at least. I'm glad you aren't injured, Ms.?” She cut off, waiting for me to fill in a name. For the first time since the conversations start, I had no idea how to answer. Part of me wanted to throw out the closest thing to my real name, and be done with it. But at the same time, I couldn't bring myself to.

  Home was a distant thing right now. At best. This was a United States. There was a good chance I could go back to my childhood home. And do what? I was in a body that wasn't mine, in a time I would still be a child. Going home, my actual home, might not even be possible. I had to have gotten here somehow. So getting back was on paper, just as possible.

  On paper. Practice and paper were rarely the same thing. And even if it was possible, I had no leads. Nothing to go off of.

  Another problem I was shoving back on the priority list because in the end, I had no idea what else to do. That was the biggest problem. There was hardly anything I could do about the situation other than hope that a solution slapped me in the face.

  And I still needed a name. “Call me May.”

  The way I said that was probably a tell of its own. Call me May. Not my name is May, or I'm May. Call me May.

  Whatever. I was too tired for anything particularly nuanced.

  “Nice to meet you, May,” the woman smiled, though I could tell her face was a bit strained. But before the conversation could move forward, a ring came from the front, a young woman with a small child. The woman, of course, left to deal with that, as she should.

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  My eyes shift toward a glass vase I'd been ignoring. It didn't give a good view of my reflection. But it gave enough of one. My red hair was ragged and short, cut only to be slightly past my ear. My green eyes flicker against the poor reflection. I could even make out a smattering of freckles along my nose. I was almost a spitting image of my mother now, if only my hair had been a bit longer.

  God, I needed some sleep.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  I rarely remembered my dreams. For good reason. My dreams had always been bizarre when my brain could muster up the capacity to even halfway recall them.

  It felt like the world was shaking around me, like I was caught in a perpetual earthquake. But there was no earthquake. It was just.

  Monsters.

  That was the only word I could use to describe what I saw. A clash of monsters.

  One of them looked like they could have been human, once upon a time. Now it was a bloated, twisted thing. Flesh was pulled tight across its body, stretching to the breaking point. Past the breaking, bones piercing through flesh. Its neck bulged with muscles, its head elongated into a toothy maw, horns framing it as flames spewed outwards. Wings emerged from its shoulders, an unnatural mixture of skin, flesh, chitin, and scale blanketing the cavern. Arms and hands were twisted, uneven and wrong, but they ended in five digits, each ending in a claw.

  What it was fighting was no less monstrous. While smaller, it was somehow even more freakish. Where scales should be metal gleamed in the dim light. A mixture of metal and flesh collided with its foe, the cavern shaking again from the force of the blow. Before I could process it, the organic nightmare roared in pain, as a second head suddenly split from the metallic one's neck.

  Fangs tore through flesh, blood seeping forth from the wound. The fight ended there. There was not much that could survive having its throat torn out.

  But it tried. Flesh twisted and surged, desperate to close off the gapping wound. But the smaller had its advantage now. As it tried to fend off the onslaught, each head tore out more. Borrowed deeper. It was bleeding to death, and there was nothing it could do to stop it. With one roar, the beast hit the ground, the cavern shaking with enough force that I feared that the roof would come down.

  With a thump, the two headed beast, looking akin to a dragon or wyvern, landed next to its foe, fangs rending through flesh, though not devouring its prey. Instead, it was like it was digging for something. And, as I watched in silent horror, it found that something.

  It looked like a cyrstal. Gemstone that pulsed with power. Power beyond even the wildest imagination. How did I know? I just did.

  The twin heads melted back into a single mass, jaw swinging open. For the gem? They devoured it, swallowing it like food. A rumble left the creature's throat, something that could maybe pass off as satisfaction.

  Even as the world faded around me, I knew that wasn't the end of it. The creature had noticed something wrong about what it consumed. Something off. Possibly a disease, or whatever passed as a disease for a species like that.

  It took what it could use. As for the rest?

  Expunged. Released into some dark pit. To remain until the stars died and the world grew cold.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  That was far from the only dream that plagued me that night. I watched a massive snake with blade arms cleave its way through a squad of blue knights, electricity leaping from their swords. A three headed snake rends a large machine to pieces with nothing but its teeth and horns.

  Those were the images that plagued my sleep the entire night. Visions of monsters, of beasts. I wanted to dismiss them, but they felt so real. But I had never seen anything like those creatures before in my life. Was it a vision of the future?

  Was it something I could do? Were these things I could make?

  I didn’t know the slightest thing about my powers. Where did they come from? Why me?

  All good questions. Still, I shook my head, trying to clear out the errant thoughts. Time to focus on the task at hand.

  I had gotten a few things written down. Street addresses, directions. But I have a mission now. One that I was very good at.

  Taking notes.

  Something boring, sure. But knowledge was power, and it was a power I desperately needed. With only a single set of clothes, I was on a bit of a timer. My clothes were still fresh, mostly. Right now, I wouldn't seem like a homeless person.

  Meaning no one was going to raise too much of an eyebrow by me being in the public library.

  What? It was the only place that had easy internet access.

  The fact that there were metal detectors was a bit of a concern. But I hadn't brought much of the metal with me. I squirreled it away somewhere that I was reasonably sure nobody would find it. Brought along enough to just fill in my fingerprints.

  Quickly making my way to a corner of the library, I found an isolated computer, loading up the ancient device. Once it was booted up, I began my search. Brockton Bay Capes seemed like the best place as any to start.

  The first thing to fill out was a web page for a group called the Protectorate. Bringing up the page itself? Enlightening. Heroes. Government backed heroes. Working, well, certainly not a nine to five, but working for a living.

  That alone was tempting. Coworkers, a sense of comradery. A place to learn how to use my powers. But part of me hesitated.

  Law and good weren't always the same thing. They could be at odds pretty frequently. That, and I doubt being from a different dimension covered by don't ask, don't tell.

  Making note of it before returning to the search, I scrolled down. Another group appeared. New Wave. Clicking the page revealed something far less professional. Unlike the Protectorate, where everyone was wearing something that could conceal their identity, New Waves members had their faces fully on display.

  That was an odd choice. Looking around, I found an explanation for such a move. New Waves founders felt that Capes having secret identities shielded them too much from consequences. That they should shed their masks in the name of accountability.

  I could respect the willingness to put their money where their mouth was. And it wasn't like they were wrong. Anonymity was one hell of a drug, and a potent weapon on its own.

  But no villain was going to willfully cast aside something that useful. Like I said. The conviction was respectable, even understandable. And they put their money where their mouth is. They weren't hypocrites, which was a plus.

  But giving up a secret identity was unilateral disarmament. No villain was giving up theirs, and there was no doubt in my mind they would exploit anyone that did.

  I backed out again. Still, these were hero teams. I wasn't going to run into trouble with them. No, it was the villains I needed information on.

  Going back, I began to dig. Unsurprisingly, none of these groups were going to have a nice little web page. Tweaking the search terms lead me to a forum. PHO was the name.

  Relying on people from the internet for accurate information sucked. Verifying any amount of information to be relevant was simply not possible. Not without first hand experience. Or something that could be seen.

  And it wasn't like misinformation wasn't dangerous on its own. Not knowing what a power actually did, or misreading it entirely, was bad. In some cases, almost as bad if not worse than going in completely blink.

  Still, a pinch of salt would be worth it, even if I had to throw it over my shoulder. I just couldn't expect the full picture.

  What I found? Made me want to punch something. Several things, all of them Nazi's. In the face.

  Repeatedly.

  Because not only did the city have a Nazi gang problem. It had a superpowered Nazi gang problem. The largest number of people with powers under the Empire's banner, too. Because of course there were.

  Kaiser, who could summon metal out of surfaces. The Valkyeries, a pair of women with the same power, grow big, become durable, and hit things harder. Purity, a flying laser light show with all the destructive capacity that description entailed.

  Victor was some type of touch based skill thief, often paired with someone who gave powers after touching them. Hookwolf and Stormtiger were almost self explanatory, a metal exoskeleton that may or may not need to be in a wolf shape for the prior, and wind control and manipulation for the latter. The third of their little trio, Cricket, was harder to place. What were crickets known for? Outside of jumping and vibrations that created a chirping noise? I was struggling to come up with anything else, and the forum seemed to be going in circles.

  Rune was straightforward, telekinesis was her bread and butter, being able to lift and throw things. Alabaster excessively albino, though I would fully admit I had no knowledge of the condition other than the basics. But the ability to reset your body was nothing to sneeze at. Night and Fog were another pair. One turned their body into, well, fog. Potentially very painful fog. As for Night? General theory was that they did something, when they couldn’t be seen.

  What that something was? That's where the speculation was as useless as it was rampant. That left Krieg, who have some kinetic manipulation that grew stronger the closer you got to him, and Crusader, who could create duplicates of himself.

  That was fifteen skinheads with super powers, all in one city. Far too many for any sane person's tastes. That alone made my blood boil. What happened here for there to be this many boot eaters crawling about?

  The answer, knowing racist shitheads, was nothing.

  They weren't even the only gangs in the city!

  The Azn Bad Boys, god, I can't believe that's a name that exists, had only two Capes. One of them could also make duplicates, one Oni Lee. But he used them to teleport and as mercy suicide bombers. Then again, his boss Lung, which raised several questions of why that was his chosen identity, was strong enough to fight an Endbringer. Whatever that was, but it was certainly a big enough feat that he was leading his own criminal enterprise. But he got stronger the more he fought, eventually turning into a fire breathing dragon.

  Was Dragon already taken as a name?

  The last major gang being talked about was the Merchants. Unlike the other two gangs, which were spoken about with a fair bit of gravitas and fear, the Merchants were treated like a joke. Mush had the ability to make armor out of trash. Which left Squealer and Skidmark. While the latter was the leader, I introduced them in that order for a reason. Squealer was something the board called a Tinker. Meaning she made things, specifically, cars. Cars that generated a lot of noise, hence the name.

  In that context, Skidmark's name made a whole lot of sense. His power being able to accelerate and decelerate things, like the skidmarks left on the road after a car came to a sudden stop. But with how the internet treated him, you'd think he didn't know how to properly wipe.

  There were a few minor groups after that. Not quite gangs.

  But that left me with a lot of problems. Punching Nazi's and the other various criminal gangs in the face was well and good. But in the case of the former I was outnumbered fifteen to one. As good as manipulating metal was, it wasn't overcoming all of that easily.

  At the same time? Fuck Nazi's!

  If I had some of those viper things from my dream, the calculations would change a bit.

  But could I even make one? Where would I even begin? I would need.

  Metal.

  I looked at the computer. I knew better. Public property aside, I shouldn't use my powers in public. What I needed was an isolated place. Somewhere where I wouldn't be disturbed.

  Somewhere that had a lot of free metal just lying around.

  My fingers flew over the keyboard.

  Well, those two places looked promising.