Vidya plopped down her lunch tray. Amber was in the middle of squeezing the guts out of a ketchup packet, which splattered against her designated sauce-section.

The cafeteria, like always, was loud. The noise gave Vidya a headache on most days, but today she was hoping that it might distract her. She couldn't stop thinking about Jonah. He'd barely said a word at the museum, but she'd been Frostbite then: a hero and the object of his sister's affection, not someone he'd talk to beyond an apology for Emma's tenacity and a thank you over his shoulder. But what would he say to Vidya?

What else would he have said that other day, if he weren't interrupted by her pager going off?

"What are you thinking about?" Amber asked. "Calc?"

Vidya shook her head, a little embarrassed. It wasn't just Jonah she thought about—she also kept replaying the swing incident over and over again in her head. It felt pathetic to want a connection with him so badly that she held onto the only thing they shared: a decade-old memory of a playground.

She sighed. "I'm thinking about Jonah."

"Do you like him?"

"I don't know." Vidya dragged a french fry through ketchup. "Aisha told me that's a great answer."

"Maybe so," Amber said, "but it's not going to get anyone anywhere."

Vidya shrugged, too newly in love with the complexity of I don't know to be overthinking it already. Amber had already been told about David and Mask-aka-Aisha. Vidya got their permission first, and she trusted her best friend to keep her mouth shut. If anything, Amber was way too thrilled to be involved in the superhero life to risk telling anyone.

"Did you hear back from SVA yet?" Vidya asked.

"No."

They went silent, staring at their lunches. Amber was going to move across the country if she got into her Manhattan dream school, the School of Visual Arts, and Vidya planned to stay in California. These last few months of high school were the last time in a long time they would be this close, and even with all the encouragement they threw in each other's faces, they were sad.

The unstoppable progression of time was freaking scary.

"Anywho." Amber rubbed her fingertips clean of french fry salt and got to work on her chicken nuggets. "How's Marvelling going?"

"Please don't make that a word."

"I saw it on Reddit."

Vidya laughed, shaking her head. "It goes well."

"Come on," Amber implored. "Give me details! I'm living vicariously through you."

"There's not much to say." Vidya shrugged. "I'm starting to get missions more regularly, so that's cool, I guess."

"What are the Marvels like?"

"Phase is nice."

Amber raised an eyebrow. "Is that it? Is he the only one you've really talked to?"

Vidya wished that were the case. Instead, she'd fallen victim to Flamethrower's nasty attitude, Lady Marvel's cold indifference, and Juggernaut's questionable way of leading. As for Echo...he hadn't even made eye contact since the induction, but he was rarely around, anyway.

"They're different from what I thought," Vidya admitted. "But let's talk about something else. I get enough of them already."

"Alright, then. Let's go back to Jonah."

"Let's not. Let's talk about you."

Amber threw up her hands. "There's nothing happening with me! Unless you think getting mowed down by Teddy this morning as we raced downstairs to breakfast is interesting."

Vidya imagined that and held back laughter. Teddy was a foot taller than Amber and didn't hesitate to use his size against her, especially when food races were concerned.

Amber suddenly straightened. "Jonah's leaving. Alone. Now's your chance to ask him out."

Vidya looked over her shoulder. Jonah was saying goodbye to his friends, and he walked out the cafeteria doors, completely alone. Vidya watched him go, heart pounding. "I'm going to do it."

Amber choked on her milk. "Wait, I was just kidding! Are you actually doing it?"

"If I had the guts to become a Marvel, I can ask a guy out." Vidya started packing her things and then froze. "Right?"

Amber practically pushed her away. "Of course! Go get him before he's gone!"

Vidya left her lunch tray for her friend to take care of and hurried out the doors. The hallway was empty—she could hear receding footsteps, but they could be anyone's. Which way had he gone? She crossed her fingers and kept walking, hoping he was somewhere nearby.

And there he was, in the middle hallway. He was on his knees at his bottom locker with his head inside it as he rifled through things, so he didn't notice her strolling toward him. Vidya moved slowly, giving herself time to change her mind.

I can do this, she thought.

Then she remembered that the last time she chanted I can do this, she'd fallen off a ramp.

Vidya stopped a few feet away, biting the bullet. "Jonah?"

Big mistake.

He jumped in surprise, slamming his head against the top of his locker.

Vidya wanted to run away, but he was already looking at her. "I'm so sorry," she blabbered. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay," he interrupted, rubbing his head and smiling. "Consider us even."

So...looks like she wasn't the only one still thinking about the swing. Vidya took that as a good sign. "I was wondering...would you like to go on a date with me?"

He blinked.

Vidya's smile remained plastered on her face. She was too afraid to let it fall. Had she misread every sign? Was she wrong when she thought he was nervous that day because he might like her?

Jonah blinked again. "Sure." He shook his head as if to clear it and repeated, more enthusiastic this time, "Sure. I'd love to. When?"

Vidya froze. Asking him out was a spur of the moment decision—she hadn't figured out any logistics, and she had a job with unspecified time constraints. "I'll...have to get back to you on that."

She was afraid that would throw him off, but he nodded. "It's a date," he said.

"Awesome," was her lame reply.

The bell rang, and the halls immediately flooded with students. Vidya walked to her next class, keeping her head down to hide how unnaturally happy she must've looked. That was the first time she ever asked anyone out, and she may have gotten him injured, but it was still a success.

Amber was going to freak out.

As she sat in English, waiting for the teacher to settle everyone down, she pulled her pager out of her backpack. It was on silent, but there might be messages, and checking it was better than watching the boys in the back of the room hold a long-distance spit competition.

There was one message, and she lightened up. But then she saw that it was from Fox, not Juggernaut, which meant it could only be more corporate work.

Fox had booked Frostbite an Interview at Studio 11, Hollywood Blvd, exactly thirty minutes after school let out. Vidya put her pager away, glancing at the clock.

She had three hours to prepare herself for an interview on national television.

Great.

_______________

Talia's apartment building was nice. Lady Marvel had lived here for two years, back when she was a solo hero working for Celestro. When the Marvels became a thing, she moved into the company's top floor. She was born and raised in Northeast America, and California had been a bit of a shock when she first got here. It was the heat, mainly, and the inferior pizza, and how often Hollywood stars were spotted, and how quickly the Pacific grew deep, and the common minor earthquakes.

Lady Marvel knocked on her friend's door. "Talia?"

Silence.

"Talia? It's Celeste."

Talia had missed a mission this morning, and she wasn't answering her pager or her cell. The logical explanation was that she was sick, physically or even mentally because it was easy to get fed up with Celestro's shit. She could just be on a relaxing break. Lady Marvel wouldn't normally be so quick to check up on her, but with everything going on, she wanted to be careful.

She pressed her ear against the door, listening. There was nothing, not even the shuffling of feet.

Lady Marvel sighed and looked around. No one would question her, but still: a Marvel breaking and entering wouldn't look so good. Luckily, the hallway was empty, so she pulled a lockpick out of her pocket and got to work.

Lady Marvel went inside and locked the door behind her. The apartment looked exactly as she'd expect Talia to keep it: neat, organized, and clean. Even the trash was empty and spotless.

Lady Marvel crouched down, noticing a few thin, powdery residue streaks on the floor. Please don't be drugs, she thought, swiping her finger on the stuff and rolling it between her fingertips. It felt like flour. There had been a baking incident, maybe. Completely plausible.

She stood and scanned the living room. The carpet was soft and clean, except for a few spots of powdery white here and there. It must've been a hell of a baking accident. She checked all the rooms and every closet, unsure what she was looking for. Talia wasn't here, but nothing was out of the ordinary, either. Lady Marvel didn't find Talia's keys, her phone, her wallet, her pager, or her go-to leather jacket. All those things must be with her...

So Talia probably was taking a break, after all. Road tripping or something.

Lady Marvel turned off the lights and left the apartment. Heading back to Celestro, she shook her head, disappointed in herself for jumping to conclusions.

Everything was fine.

______________________

The only time Vidya had ever been interviewed was in third grade, when the high schoolers were given a project to talk to elementary kids and ask them what they saw in the future. Vidya's interviewer had been an eleventh grader named Jenna, who was more interested in the fly buzzing around the room than in her assigned kid. While little Vidya gushed about flying cars and wanting to be a doctor, Jenna was visibly bored, only paying enough attention to jot down a few notes.

But Fox's scheduled interview had been different. The host was Michael Devaris, the same blue-eyed man who'd been in that video with Juggernaut. He interviewed lots of supers, and he was surprisingly calm and gentle. Emika had prepped her before they went on air, but Vidya wasn't truly ready, because for the first time, she felt the weight of her words. Devaris and the audience were completely attentive. Anything and everything Frostbite said mattered—it was something she'd never experienced before. A platform like this was significant; attention was powerful.

The interview went well, and Emika had said so. Devaris asked about her adjustment into a new job, how her missions were going, what she thought of her team. Vidya was as honest as she could be but remained careful, and the audience loved her.

Still in her supersuit, Vidya was taking the back alleys home. She played with frost, shooting tendrils of it from her fingertips and watching them swirl together in the air. It made her feel like an old-timey ice fairy, a snow queen. She'd never say that out loud—Flamethrower would laugh—but it felt good to feel mythical.

"Look who it is!" said a voice behind her.

Vidya whirled around with her hands clenched. Her superpowers should keep her safe, but she would never feel safe when caught off guard. The man at the overpass had made sure of that.

David and Aisha jumped back in surprise. Aisha pulled off her mask, grinning from ear to ear. "I saw the interview! Good job."

Vidya relaxed, shaking her head at herself. If they'd shocked her any harder, she might've thrown an icicle at them.

"Thanks," she said. "How do we keep seeing each other like this?"

Aisha spread her arms and wiggled her fingers. "The alleys are my home—figuratively, of course. The best shady shit happens in the dark, where no one can see."

"We're out on one of our adventures," David said. He kept the mouth covering on, and it muffled his voice a little. "Ever heard of the Tricksters?"

Vidya nodded. "That amateur supervillain team."

"Well, I happen to know where they're going to be tonight," Aisha explained. "And I know what they're up to, so let's go take care of it before any other heroes get the word!"

David and Aisha split around Vidya, came together behind her, and kept going. They turned back around when they realized she wasn't following, and Aisha raised an eyebrow.

Vidya stared at them. "You...want me to come?"

Aisha blinked like it was the stupidest question she'd ever heard. "Uh, yeah? Did I not make that obvious?"

"We never actually asked her," David argued. He turned to Vidya. "Seriously, though. We want you to come."

Vidya debated it. It was already night, and there were hours of homework ahead of her. But still...tackling the Tricksters was more alluring than the lame missions she'd been getting since Anaheim. Who cared if it wasn't a Marvel-issued job? She was a hero, and a good deed was a good deed.

And, honestly, she had a hunch that doing this with David and Aisha might be more fun than anything she'd done with her actual team so far.

Vidya smiled. "I'd love to."

____________________________

The Tricksters were three young supervillains—young for typical heroes, but they were a few years older than Vidya, Aisha, and David. There was Nautilus, who could breathe underwater, but that was all he could do. Then there was Tornado, who could produce a mildly strong gust of wind at best, let alone an actual tornado. And lastly, there was Emma, who had the misfortune of revealing her name so early on in her career that everyone stopped calling her by her supervillain alias (Pyro) and just called her Emma instead.

The three villains did petty things, mostly vandalism and some theft. Although Emma's powers could get dangerously out of hand, depending on how she was handled, the Tricksters were more of a nuisance than a threat. They were bad enough to be worth taking down but nothing to be afraid of.

Perfect for a light-hearted, non-lethal adventure.

Vidya, David, and Aisha were flat on their bellies on the roof of a two-story warehouse, watching the alley below. Aisha was worried that another super might show up; Mask and no-name David were so low down in the hierarchy of C-list supers that pretty much any name, famous or not, could come by and take the job, even if they weren't here first.

Having a Marvel on their team didn't help much; Vidya didn't want to use her A-list status as leverage. It could snake its way up the information line, and she didn't know how Celestro would feel about it—but then again, they were so self-absorbed that they might be proud. She didn't want to find out.

Something zipped through the alley. It was a blur of colors, vaguely shaped like a human, sending a burst of wind in their faces.

"That was Speed, wasn't it?" David asked.

Vidya nodded. She recognized his colors: orange and black. The British hero, despite not being one of Celestro's, was a well-known fan favorite. Like flying, super-speed was a rare power, and he was the fastest in the world.

"Love that guy," Aisha said. "But I sure as hell hope he doesn't come back."

They waited, but he didn't return for the Tricksters. He must've just been passing through in his way somewhere. The three of them collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Coming this far and waiting painfully on their stomachs only to have the job snatched by someone else would've been disappointing.

"So what exactly are we waiting for?" Vidya asked.

"That building is a pawn shop," Aisha whispered, jabbing her thumb toward a red door in the alley. "And the Tricksters are stealing an old necklace that belonged to some Italian princess."

Vidya blinked. "How do you know that?"

"I'm a spy, remember?" Aisha winked. "Listen: it's something to do with twentieth-century Italian-American brokers bouncing the necklace from state to state, and now, the New York Italian Mafia knows their precious heirloom is somewhere in LA. They don't want to even step foot here, not with all the supers around, so they hired the Tricksters to find it. I followed Nautilus and Tornado and heard them talking about stealing the necklace from a pawn shop tonight, and to figure out where it was, I visited every shop until I found it at this one. The seller doesn't know its history, and luckily, no one's bought it yet. The real funny part?" Aisha smiled. "The price is only twenty dollars."

"And instead of just buying it," David said, rolling his eyes, "those idiots are going to steal it?"

Vidya shrugged. The Tricksters didn't get their reputation of stupid, convoluted plans for no reason. "Why didn't you just buy it to stop the Tricksters?"

"And risk getting the Italian Mafia on my back?" Aisha shook her head. "No freaking way. They only care about the necklace, not the Tricksters, so they won't bother us if we do anything to those idiots. It's safer to leave the necklace to the real authorities. I'll call and tell them after we're done."

All that effort, all that information...all for one simple mission. Vidya admired Aisha's tenacity—the girl fought hard for herself.

"We're only here to take care of the Tricksters," Aisha finally clarified. "I know the rest of it is way out of our league, but chances like these don't always come around for us." She paused, glancing at Vidya. "You don't think I'm terrible, do you? For wanting to do this instead of letting other supers take care of it?"

Vidya shook her head. "Not at all." Telling higher-ups hadn't even crossed her mind, and besides, she was one of those higher-up supers now.

The Tricksters strolled into the alley like a couple of misbehaving college students about to deal drugs. No costumes, but each wore a poorly-fitted mask. They whistled and looked over their shoulders, the comic-book definition of up to no good. They were so bad at being bad, and Vidya pitied them.

Aisha put her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing. "Let's get 'em."

The Tricksters weren't even given a chance to break into the shop (with their combined skill set of nonexistent, it would've taken them a while to do it, anyway). Vidya flew down, and David and Aisha jumped.

Tornado backed up hesitantly, and Nautilus shook his head. They looked concerned that Frostbite was here. Only Emma was ready for a fight: she lit her hands on fire. The flames were much weaker than what Vidya had seen on Flamethrower, but at least they were there.

Aisha slowly raised her hands. "Hold it, Emma. Let's talk about this first—"

"My name is Pyro!" the girl screamed, throwing a fireball.

Vidya ducked. The fire sailed over her head and toasted the red brick behind her into a burnt maroon.

Aisha looked over her shoulder. David shrugged, and so did Vidya, saying, "We tried." The talk-down didn't work, so now came the fight.

They'd made a plan on the roof: David would take Nautilus, Aisha would take Tornado, and Vidya, the only one with powers worth anything, as Aisha put it, would take Emma. The Tricksters seemed to have the same idea, and there must've been a silent agreement between all six of them to stay in the alley, where no one could watch.

Vidya focused on Emma. The girl's eyes, normally brown, were lit up. Little flames danced in her irises, beautiful and menacing at the same time. Emma could've run out of the alley and onto the street to give her powers more space, but she stayed put, combining her fiery hands into one mass that shot out a single steady stream of fire.

Vidya did the same thing. Water splashed to the ground where the two beams of fire and ice met in the middle. She couldn't tell if the rules of thermodynamics applied to superpowers, because what was happening here did not look like real science.

The cold was winning over the heat, Emma's fire growing shorter as Vidya's ice grew longer and approached the villain, threatening to touch her hands. Vidya had never done this before—it felt impressive, but she knew she was doing it sloppily. If this was against someone stronger, like Flamethrower, she would lose in a heartbeat.

A shadow passed over the alley. Distracted by the sudden movement, Vidya glanced up, but there was nothing in the sky. It must've been a bird or something, temporarily blocking out the moonlight.

It distracted her long enough that the fire and ice were meeting in the middle again. Despite doing well, Emma let up and dove out of the way, and the ice hit the wall behind her instead. Before she could get up, Vidya froze her hands and feet to the ground.

Vidya took a second to look around. David was in the process of tying Nautilus up. Tornado was turning in circles, looking lost. Aisha was right next to him, but she must've masked herself from his vision, and the poor guy had no idea who was pushing him.

Emma screamed in exasperation, her hands glowing red. The ice began to melt. Vidya curled her hand into a fist, coated some flat ice around it, and struck Emma in the jaw. Her eyes rolled up and she slumped, hands and feet encased in cold slush.

Vidya let the ice fall off her hand, proud. Emma's jaw might bruise a little, but she would be okay.

Vidya turned and was glad to see that David and Aisha were fine. Nautilus was fully conscious, bound in rope and squirming like a worm on the ground. Tornado was tied to the handle of the pawn shop door, but besides looking disoriented, he was unhurt.

Minimal damage, minimal pain. Perfect.

Aisha pumped her fists into the air. "Finally!"

David pulled down his mask to reveal a smile. "Alright. I'll admit it. That was fun."

"Agreed," Vidya said.

Together, they gently dragged Emma from the slush and tied her to Tornado. Aisha alerted the police from a burner cell after they were back at David's hideout, far away from the scene of the would-be crime. On the way here, Aisha had slipped away for a few minutes and bought a cake, handing out slices at the hideout without asking if they wanted any.

Vidya ate her cake quietly, watching them bicker over a topic she'd already forgotten. It was chocolate with whipped icing—her least favorite kind of cake, but right now, it was the most delicious thing in the world.

She settled against the couch, content. This was what being a superhero should feel like. She closed her eyes, trying her best to imagine the Marvels sitting at the meeting table after a successful mission, happily eating cake.

She couldn't picture it.

Disclaimer: I am in no way trashing California-style pizza, just poking fun at the long-running rivalry between different pizzas in America :)

I've only ever had NYC/East Coast style, so I can't weigh in on Chicago or West Coast style, but if you've have had 'em, which is your favorite?