Crossover Earth '98
Disaster Relief Jay Shaffstall
The young woman picked her way along streets littered with dented autos. The full moon provided a measure of light, but the debris still clattered underfoot. Many drivers had perished not from the poison gas itself, but from losing control of their vehicles as the gas started into their systems. The dementia that typified the first stages of the gas's effects made controlling heavy machinery impossible.
Booted steps farther along made the woman stop. The steps continued toward her. She slipped behind a ruined Mercedes, keeping the bulk of the car between her and the approaching figures. Instinctively she lowered the temperature of her body to match that of the night air.
"Nothing here, Captain."
"Allright. Take two of the boys and head one block east. Meet up with us at Central Park."
The booted steps moved quickly away.
The young woman had been dodging Quartz patrols all night. While she didn't think they would harm her, she'd almost certainly be returned to the Omega Corp labs she'd escaped from during the gas attack. She had no intention of returning.
She kept to the alleys as much as possible, stopping to help those unfortunates with no place to stay. She could control the heat distribution of any object she could get close enough to, and pumping heat into a blanket or a coat often made the difference between life and death for these people. Since the gas attack she'd made these rounds nightly.
She herself had no place to stay, but she counted herself lucky to be out of Omega Corp. Her parents had turned her over to the Paranormal Training Academy so they could teach her how to control her powers. Hah! The woman in charge, Angelica, was more interested in training them to work as a team under her direction than anything else. When she'd complained, Angelica had sent her to a New York Omega Corp lab to be studied like a lab rat. She'd been treated like an experimental subject, given no more freedom than a prisoner. When the gas attack pulled the guards away from the lab, she'd taken advantage of the opportunity to escape.
With no place else to go, she'd fled to her parents' apartment, only to find them victims of the gas. The horrible rictus of laughter on their faces had driven her into the street. By the time she stopped running, she realized she had no place to go.
So she wandered the streets, helping those as unfortunate as herself, wondering what life would hold for her now.