The Adventures of Ice Woman

Part 5 - Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time, there was a girl by the name Elisabetta. She was a good girl, never doing anything wrong or against what her parent said. She got good grades and was generally top of the class. But she never had any friends.  

One day as she was walking to class, one of her fellows from school, by name Zev, joined her. They were 10 years old and soon became the best of friends, without being considered an "item" by impertinent peers. But his family moved and he had to change schools, so Elisabetta was left friendless again.  

She began at high school, aged 12, alone. For one of her classes, she was to research cruelty to captive animals. This was the turning point for her. She joined protests against animal cruelty and pollution and chose to become vegan.  

It was at one of these protests, staged before a nuclear power plant, that she was exposed to nuclear waste. After a week in hospital, where she exhibited no symptoms of any problems, she was returned home where she was ordered to rested for a further three weeks by her mother. It was during this time that she discovered her new abilities.  

She was in bed, recuperating, when she considered how refreshing some ice in her water would be. As she thought the word "ice", the water in the glass in her hand froze and her fingers began to numb. This lack of feeling crept from her hands to her wrist, then her arms, shoulders, chest, throat, torso, till it reached the edges of her very frame.  

Felling returned in a rush, like a tidal wave crashing down on a beach and she felt drowned - she couldn't breathe. Elisabetta couldn't even utter a cry for help; she thought she was about to die; her arm and leg muscles were in agony; tingling sensations crept up and down her spine and brain and to various parts of her body; her head was about to explode from all the sounds she could suddenly hear ...  

And then, it was gone. Her eyes, which she had shut tightly, snapped open abruptly. Although she didn't know it, her eyes flashed electric blue.  

Frightened by the pain she had just experienced, Elisabetta crawled under the covers.  

After that, she slowly discovered all of her powers, and a use for it. The first time Ice Woman had roared was when she had noticed a sadistic boy torturing a helpless bird in the playground. It was a matter of time before she fashioned herself a mask, and a hairstyle where she could hide it.  

But there was an extent to her ice creating powers. She couldn't freeze living things, as she learnt when trying to freeze one of her adversaries. Luckily, her quick reflexes worked in her favour and her mission was still accomplished, but that's another story.

"And now I'm here, in this God-forsaken hellhole. There I told you everything, my whole story. Can I go now? Where's Zev?"  

Mr Stephens considered Elisabetta for a few moments.  

"I thank you for telling me all this. But you have much to learn, little girl. We didn't free Zev, and you have given us a lot of information. How does it feel to have failed your little boyfriend?" Stephens whispered, a mad sort of gleam in his eyes.  

"First of all, Zev is NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" What's wrong with you, anyway? Are you trying to be the cliché villain who ultimately loses Look at it, you're just a huge loser who probably was in his childhood and does weird things, like kidnapping teenagers, because of said screwed up past. Why don't you let me free?" She was trying to keep him talking, her eyes frantically scanning the room for anything that may knock Stephens out and aid her escape. She found it!  

"I am no villain! You are the one in the wrong!" Stephens stupidly turned his back on Ice Woman. "You are the one who has been manipulating the government and pulling the strings metaphorically, due to their individual fear of you. Well ..." his voice trailed on as our heroine broke off one of the table legs. In a split second, Stephens was on the floor, a little blood trickling from a tiny abrasion on the back of his scalp - nothing lasting, perhaps a concussion.  

She ran to the door, her throat still dry, all the more from talking so much. She was grateful for her metal gloves for self defence - she couldn't possibly make ice, dehydrated as she was - but kicked off her shoes, which was much more comfortable. Ice Woman was tired, but she knew she must run as fast as she could to find Zev and get out of there.  

After many mistakes and near captures, she was out. Though we know it was not the same building she and Zev had been held in, she thought it was, and rather than escaping then, she ran back in and checked the rooms she'd missed.  

Half an hour later, unconscious bodies lay scattered throughout the edifice, but no sign of Zev. Ice Woman had to admit defeat and left.  

She knew she was about to pass out, and the moment Elisabetta exited the building again, the outside heat swamped her. There was not enough water in her to produce sweat and the drenched blouse she still wore was almost dry.  

"Just 30 minute. Ok, run for another 30 minutes and you'll be far enough," she told herself.  

There were no signs of civilisation in sight so Ice Woman was forced to prick her ears an hear out the direction of the nearest town.  

"Half an hour. Come ON!" Ice Woman began to run, her body working mechanically, mindlessly, as she sprinted in her superfast speed to the nearest town.  

Ultimately, Elisabetta arrived somewhere. A woman noticed her, as the teen ran into the main market place. It was at this moment Elisabetta's body gave up and she collapsed. The woman saw, and when she realised the girl wasn't getting up, and no one else was going to her aid, the lady gathered her plastic shopping bags, put them in a shopping trolley, and pushed it to where Elisabetta lay, while dialling the emergency number for an ambulance.