Mercy stared at the giant ball of fire in the sky, its oppressive heat like a weight on her body, thoroughly annoyed. The one time she decided to step out of her office for a lunch break, rather than endure the ‘meals’ provided at headquarters was of course, the moment when a catastrophic incident would happen.
She looked at the man running the hotdog cart. He was gone. It was only then that Mercy realized that all the civilians around her were running away screaming their heads off.
“Oh right,” she said. “The little people.”
“Mercy!” An angry voice hissed through her earpiece. She could practically see Mr. Blue’s nostrils flare from rage. “You aren’t at work.”
“No, I’m not.” Mercy affirmed as she reached into her bag and pulled out her scrunched-up witch’s hat. She glanced around making sure no one was looking at her. Not that she had to worry as they tried to save themselves and their loved ones. “I can actually see the fireball. It’s the size of a city block. What’s causing it?”
“A crazy terrorist who stole a jar of red mist.”
“Oh… so it’s a suicide attack.” She said. “After creating a fireball of that size, he’ll be dead before the hour is over.” She slipped the hat on. It was oversized and slid down to cover the upper half of her head and her bob. Fortunately, she could see through the special fabric it was made of. Her clothes were plain and non-descript and with the hat on, no one could identify her civilian alter-ego.
Engaging her powers, she slowed the air molecules down before taking a step onto the ‘stair’, the frozen air easily supporting her weight.
A few people had stopped to stare at her, but she ignored them as she ran up the air, creating more and more stairs as she did so until she was above the skyscrapers, at the same level as the fireball.
“I could run up to it and stop it,” she said nonchalantly as she walked slowly closer. “But there’s the little matter of the terrorist who-”
Mercy ducked back to avoid a flaming fist aimed at the back of her head before lashing out with a kick, nailing her assailant in the gut.
The man flew back several feet before stopping himself and glaring at her. “You’re stronger than you look.” He said, his voice distorted like his body.
“And you’re ugly.”
The man glared at her. Mercy noted that he was staying afloat due to a stream of fire from his feet.
“What… it’s true. Between the gray skin, red eyes, overly large fangs, and the I-was-raised-in-the-jungle wild red hair, the red mist hasn’t exactly made you the picture of handsomeness.”
The mutated man glared at the woman trying to get in the way of his plans. The pointed hat gave her away, even in her casual attire. She was Mystic Girl. But even a supposed Superhero couldn’t stop him.
He shot forward; right arm cocked for a punch.
Mercy dodged the very telegraphed attack by leaning to the side before she got close, right under her larger opponent and jumped, her knee slamming into his chin. Not yet done, she flipped in mid-air and froze the air above her before using it as a platform to launch herself down, spinning as she did before planting the heel of her sneakers in his shocked face sending him careening down to the now evacuated street beneath them.
Her shoe did not survive the impact however and exploded.
“Dammit.” Mercy said as she turned and continued to run to the ball of fire. However, her enhanced speed only got her so far before she had to jump to the side to avoid a fireball.
She turned to the terrorist who was flying at her, his flaming arms propelling him like rockets. He was moving to fast to properly dodge.
So she didn’t.
Once he was within five feet of her, there was a loud boom and cracking sound as the monster’s head impacted the solid air between them.
“Funny thing.” Mercy said, though she knew her opponent was probably too dazed to hear her. “If you slow air down enough, the unmoving molecules are tougher than diamond.”
Mercy walked around the solid air and, with a sharp split kick, sent him hurtling through the air.
Mercy watched him once again regain his bearings before he flew at her again, but this time, one of his hands was pointed right at her.
Before she had time to let off another snarky comment, she was engulfed in a torrent of fire.
“Hahahahahahaha!” The monster roared, basking in his victory.
The joy was quickly ripped from his as he was kneed in the gut followed by a swift palm strike to the face and an elbow to the neck that sent him back.
Mercy watched dispassionately as her opponent grabbed both his throat and his broken nose. “How?” He yelled.
Mercy smirked. “My hero name is just a… childhood fantasy. My powers are very scientific. I like to keep that a secret, but your power will kill you even if you beat me.” She slowly walked up to him. “Haven’t you wondered why hitting you hasn’t burnt me. Your body temperature must be in the ballpark of 800 degrees Celsius. Yet even my shoe only broke from the impact.”
She put her hand on his chest. “Our powers are quite similar. Do you know how to make molecules stop moving?”
The man stared, now engrossed in her explanation.
“You take away their energy. Their heat. You freeze them.”
Immediately, he felt his entire body cool down rapidly as it felt like every nerve in his body was hit with an electric shock.
With a scream, he discharged a large torrent of fire that forced Mystic Girl away.
He panted, trying to catch his breath as he glared at her.
Then a thought occurred to him.
His body had mutated to accommodate all the heat he was generating. But she looked normal. In fact, she was wearing street clothes. There must have been only so much heat she could absorb.
With a smirk, he aimed both of his hands behind himself and shot at her, increasing the fire propulsion.
Mercy created her wall of solid air again.
The monster crashed into it, but instead of stopping, the fire only grew brighter as he screamed and shot himself forward even harder, breaking through the wall.
Mercy barely had time to blink before she was headbutt in the gut, knocking all the air out of her.
She looked behind her and saw their destination. The giant fireball.
In an instant, they were both enveloped in the flames.
The mutated terrorist smiled. This would surely be enough to overwhelm her limit. There was enough power in the ball to turn the metropolis beneath them into ash.
His thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly found himself outside the ball of fire, his jaw broken. He steadied himself as he realized that he was above it.
Mercy stepped out of the fireball, stopping as she stood on its surface. “Your plan was almost a good one!” She yelled to be heard over the wind. “Then again, it was what I expected! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have weakened my air wall enough for you to get through!” She informed him. “But you failed to consider one thing! If I have a limit,” she began absorbing the heat of the fireball through her legs, “what do I do with the excess energy?”
The flaming man might have answered if he had a working jaw.
“I just realized.” Mercy said. “I don’t know your name or your motive.” She shrugged. Then she raised both her arms and shot concentrated beam of fire into the monster. It wouldn’t hurt him, but the power in the blast would be enough to move him.
The beam slammed into the monster’s gut and blasted him up. He gasped at the strength of the beam as he was shot higher and higher into the atmosphere.
And then he was blasted right past it as the beam shot him farther and father from the earth. He tried to say something, but no air entered his lungs. In fact, he could feel the air still inside his body was ripping through his lungs in the depressurized environment. He choked as he felt his body begin to fail.
I lost, he realized as the earth only got smaller and smaller.
Mercy kept up the blast of fire for 10 seconds before stopping as the giant ball of fire had been reduced to nothing.
She froze the air beneath her in place and stood on it, congratulating herself on a job well done.
“Good job.” She heard Mr. Blue say. “Now get back here!”
Mercy sighed as she got up and began walking in the direction of Headquarters. And she hadn’t even gotten her hot dog.