Villains in Training

Chapter Thirteen: Fragile

"Wait, Jade!" Quinn called as he ran to catch up with his friend... or maybe she no longer considered herself to be that.

"Shut up! And back off!" Jade yelled as she continued increasing the distance between them. Quinn continued to chase after her, hoping she'd eventually see reason.

A few steps later, he lost his footing on what felt like ice. His foot slipped and as he tried to use his other foot to catch himself, that foot slipped too. This continued for several more seconds until he finally found his balance in an awkward stance where his feet were about three feet apart, both feet were turned in, his left knee was bent much more than the right, and his right hand was in front of his hunched-over body as if ready to catch him in case he did indeed fall.

He slowly brought his feet together and made his way to a part of the sidewalk that was safe.  When he looked up again, Jade was nowhere to be found.

Quinn wished his power was the ability to control time so that he could rewind to before everything went wrong.  Jade was the only real friend he'd made since starting college.  Most of the people he met looked down on him because they believed he had no powers. He was sure the villains were the same way about those with lesser powers than their own- making them feel as if they were worthless- but he somehow expected more of heroes.

Or, heroes in training, rather...

Quinn continued moving. He assumed Jade was headed toward the apartment, so he went that way too.

***

The thoughts that went through Jade's head as she moved through the busy streets were vast and disconnected. Some scared her to the point she wondered if she knew herself, like how she knew she'd hurt, maim, and then kill Quinn if he so much as considered doing anything to Bella. Others didn't relate to her current situation at all and really made little sense, like how she wondered what she'd have for dinner. They had no food left at the apartment and she didn't want to go to the store. The rest were unrelated to her problem and more related to current events, like how she wondered why people were running frantically and emergency vehicles were rushing past. She usually didn't see any reason to pay attention to such things, but it was so constant and concerning at the moment, she felt she had to find out.

Jade followed the plethora of emergency vehicles that all seemed to be heading downtown, doing her best to ignore the fact that people continually ran into her as the fled the whatever happened to cause such a commotion.  Ambulances, police cars, and a couple of fire trucks were all rushing toward the garment district.  Jade only realized this when she got downtown and was still being pushed around by fleeing crowds.

There were so may scenarios that floated through Jade's mind.  The first was some type of attack, one in which she could practice being a hero.  Maybe a robbery or an electrical fire that engulfed a full building or maybe there was a villain she could talk down from being a villain.  After all, that's what she wanted to do, convince villains to change their lives and be better.

Running through the streets and listening in on the conversations around her, she soon became aware that some of those running away from the scene didn't even know what they were running away from.  She even stopped someone to ask and all they could tell her was that someone told them to run and then they heard a bunch of noise and screaming and they ran. Jade sighed and continued on her way, still not completely sure why she was doing it.

When she finally arrived, almost the entirety of the garment district was blocked off and she still couldn't see why.  Nothing seemed particularly out of place.  She continued to look around for some indication of what happened, but found none.  Not until she heard her name being called, anyway.