Hustler Petrov shot a sneering grin up at Lady Beat. “Can’t find any leisure to fill up your Saturday?”

Lady Beat smirked. “And let you harm this...” She looked over at Ghost Thing, the liquid fellow crouching on the floor and grasping himself. Beat wasn’t sure what to call him, but she gave it her best shot: “This water demon?”

Ghost Thing could only stare. It was Lady Beat. He had heard all the rumours, but Ghost was astounded to see her in person, and perhaps he was more astounded than relieved that his demise was thwarted.

Petrov flinched, and then his palm glowed with darkness again. With all the spray of someone spewing out a drink, Petrov’s hand fired out a fan of water onto the floor– Ghost Thing’s water. The hole on Petrov’s palm closed again once it had ejected all of the mass.

The shadow man got up. If it was either Lady Beat or Ghost Thing, he thought he could take them. But the two of them? He was outmatched. The umbral villain grinned confidently. “So I guess I’ve been beaten.”

“Figuratively, yes.” Lady Beat rose her staff. “Literally? Not nearly enough.”

Lady Beat swiped at Petrov but the old-timey villain jumped backward, a few metres in fact. Petrov smiled wide and let his teeth taunt the two superheroes. “I’d love to dance with you but I prefer not to have an audience.” He saluted a wave. “Salutations!”

Petrov ran to the windows and hopped out into the city. Lady Beat ran to the edge to follow him but it was instantly clear– with the way Petrov practically across the city– Beat would not be able to keep up the chase. Within seconds, Petrov was a number of buildings away.

Lady Beat sighed. He seemed like the kind of rascal that could have used some violence, but she had other matters. She turned back into the building and looked at Ghost Thing. There he was, the rumoured new hero of Toronto, a fresh face in the town’s growing preternatural mythology.

She walked up to the water lad, offering a hand. “Are you okay?”

Ghost Thing looked at himself. Whatever that dark aura stuff that Petrov did, it didn’t turn his liquid black with corruption– something Ghost almost expected. Maybe it just stung its victims and that was it. At least, Ghost Thing hoped that was it.

He let out a relieved breath. “Yeah, I think so.” He looked up. “Thanks.”

Up on his feet, Ghost Thing got a look at Lady Beat. There weren’t any good pictures of her around so he never had a clear image in his head on what she was supposed to look like, but here she was. The parts of her skin that Ghost could see revealed she was a black woman, with some frizzy hair puffing out the back of her helmet.

Likewise, Lady Beat was surprised herself. She had heard rumours for a couple weeks about the “water ghost” that had been seen around Toronto. She assumed that the moniker was just an exaggeration, but there was Ghost Thing: in all of his purple, watery glory.

“So...” said Beat, “you’re Ghost Thing.”

Ghost Thing thumped out a chuckle. “And you’re Lady Beat.”

“That I am,” said the valkyrian dame.

Ghost could only stare. He was at a loss for words. How does one introduce himself? He said, “It’s so weird seeing you in the flesh.”

“Wasn’t sure if I was real?” asked Beat.

Ghost also noted that Beat had a Caribbean accent. Was she Jamaican or something? Ghost waggled his head. “No, I...” He paused. “Well... maybe.”

Beat looked off in the direction that Petrov fled. “He’s a real fiend for preying on an innocent person like yourself.”

And there was Ghost Thing having to deal with the awkwardness that he wasn’t, by definition, innocent. He pinched his palm and spoke up, “Well... I did sabotage that gang’s robberies a few times, whoever they are.”

Lady Beat had heard of him thwarting a robbery at an office or something but was that a gang activity? She said, “Well, they’re bad guys anyway, right?”

Ghost Thing felt weak, a feeling he was still getting used to. He couldn’t understand it but feeling exhausted or compromised in his water form was like an unlike feeling weak in his human form. It was something he couldn’t pin down with words.

Last time he had water taken from him (the fight with the blue lady), he replenished his fluids and felt better, so Ghost Thing walked up to the puddle of liquid that Petrov stole from him and put his hand into it to reclaim its ounces. As he dragged his hand through the splotch, the water came to him until the floor was dry. Ghost looked at his hand– it looked clean.

Stolen novel; please report.

Not bad, thought Lady Beat.

“Do you know any gangs?” asked Ghost.

“Lots,” said Beat, although she guessed Ghost wasn’t referring to anytime small-time circles of thugs.

There was chatter coming from outside. Ghost Thing went to the edge of the floor where the windows were supposed to be and looked down at the sidewalk where a crowd of people had gathered, looking upward, probably curious what was going up there in the building. Apparently Ghost Thing and Hustler Petrov’s clash had garnered attention!

“We better get out of here,” said Ghost.

“Yeah,” said Lady Beat. “Are you going to be okay on your own?”

Ghost Thing sighed. “I don’t know. Those guys have been hunting me recently.”

“Because you thwarted their robbery?” Beat said it like a question but didn’t mean it as one. She shook her head. “That put a mark on your back.”

Ghost scowled. Like he needed to be reminded! “I know that. Now, at least. Every time I go out now, I have to be careful.” Ghost rubbed his hands and looked in melancholy. “I wanted to tell them I wouldn’t bother them anymore, but that–” He needed a second to remember the name– “Petrov guy wasn’t listening.”

It was foolish of Ghost to try being a superhero without considering the risks, but Beat had sympathy for the little droplet. Sympathy, but no advice. “How many times have they attacked you?”

“Twice,” said Ghost, worry and fear shaking his voice. “First was a blue lady with a staff. This time was that shadow guy.”

Beat huffed a humoured blow out her nose. “He looks more like a spectre than you.”

Ghost chuckled. “Well, I didn’t pick the name.”

Beat grinned. “Neither I with mine.” She looked around. “Listen, the police might show up here soon. Let’s leave before we’re discovered.” She paused. “And I’d recommend laying low for awhile.”

“But I can’t!” said Ghost Thing. “I like trouncing around the city like I do.”

Beat waved her hands defensively. “I can’t force you to do anything. But I know that if you show yourself again, they’ll likely attack you. If it were me, I’d not show myself around the city.”

Ghost Thing sighed. He wanted to agree with her but he knew that he couldn’t completely give up rollicking through town, even if he was going to be attacked again. Would Beat be there to save him again? Could he escape? Even if he had to prance across the city, he knew that it would put himself in serious danger once again.

The commotion below loudened. Ghost Thing checked the streets to see what was going on and saw a cop’s patrol car parked at the base with the officers walking into the tower’s front doors. It was time to scoot. Ghost looked over and saw that Lady Beat was gone, like she had joined the wind and disappeared. He would have to do the same thing so he took off running to the opposite side of the floor and fired himself off into the city, escaping the area before people noticed he had vanished.

On his way home, a dozen questions came to Ghost Thing– questions he was supposed to ask Lady Beat.

Ghost made significant distance between himself and the tower where Petrov attacked him before heading to the cemetery near his house to switch back to his human form. All the while, he cursed himself for not asking Lady Beat any important questions.

Like... when did she get her powers?

Wait, did she even have powers? Kay saw some electricity when Lady Beat arrived but that could have been some kind of fancy taser.

She didn’t even get the chance to say anything about any gangs, and now that she was gone, Kay couldn’t ask her for contact information, not that she would give him any. Walking down the sidewalk with the grey sky above, Kay brushed his hair back and sighed. Hopefully, he would see Lady Beat again because his first encounter was a real bust.

When Kay returned home, his mom and Urban were around the house. “You’re back early,” said Mom and Kay gave the excuse that “the weather was sucky”. It was weird how un-weird it felt for Kay to walk into his family’s apartment like he wasn’t just attacked by a strange magician guy, but if he lingered on it, he might have had a mental breakdown in front of everyone, so he scooted to his bedroom.

Closing the door tight, he sat down on his bed and took a deep breath. Another mysterious villain trying to exterminate him. Great. At least this time his heart rate was normal. Actually, he felt pretty okay for someone who nearly got sucked into a palm-sized gravity well or whatever the world that was.

He would have to take his mind off of things. He went to his computer and sat there, trying to relax. Trying to deflate. Urban had the TV loud and it took a few seconds of hearing laughter and Colin Mochrie’s voice to realize the show was Whose Line Is It Anyway?. God, Kay hadn’t seen that show since the turn of the millennium. He was surprised it was still on.

Windows loaded up with its dreamy startup chime and Kay went to GameFAQs to look for a guide for Seiken Densetsu. He needed helped getting past a hard fight, but why would he want to experience that in a game when he was facing that in real life? No, Kay couldn’t get in the mood for a tough video game experience at the moment so he closed off Firefox and stared into space for a good minute.

He sighed and went back to his bed to lay down. He concentrated on his body and noticed how calm it felt. Compared to the fight at that corner store and when the blue lady attacked him, he was normal.

It was obvious, though, that his time rollicking across the city had come to an end. At least, his time rollicking without the risk of being attacked was at an end. His plan to escape anyone who chased after him didn’t seem effective. The wolves were swifter than the rabbit it seemed. Yes, Kay’s time rollicking across the city had come to an end.

At least, until he could do something about that gang that was after him. Hustler Petrov didn’t even tell Kay who the shadow man represented. The gang was nameless to Kay. If he got their name, maybe he and them could come to an understanding and Kay would have his city back.

Or maybe he could have called the cops on them and them all put into prison. Whatever worked.

Kay sighed once again and spoke to himself quietly. “Is every gang and mob in Toronto like this? Do they all have magicians and ninjas on their team?”

One thing was for sure, Kay’s next move was finding out who was after him, as hard as that would likely end up being. He wasn’t equip for any serious kind of detective work, but he couldn’t go on denying himself his liquid lifestyle.

For that, he was certain.