Anna reappeared back in her apartment and quickly returned to her normal body. She stumbled over to her bed before falling into it and just... laid there for a while, trying to sort through what the fuck just happened.

The scene just kept repeating in her mind.

The destroyed street.

The mangled heaps of metal that were once cars.

The heat of the flames and the fumes of black smoke.

The maniacal laughter of that psychopath as he burned people alive.

The silence that had enveloped the street once he was unconscious.

The smell of the charred bodies...

Anna shot up and raced into the bathroom. Leaning over the toilet she threw up before slumping to the side. Shaking, she made her way over to the sink and started to wash her face and clean out her mouth.

When Anna looked up she was surprised by how tired she looked in the mirror. “Well… fuck,” She said to herself. ‘What the hell do I do now? Rewind maybe?’ She saw her rules list out of the corner of her eye and shook her head. “Can’t risk it.”

Anna sighed as she started thinking. ‘Ok, so, I just got into a superhero fight that was recorded by like, a lot of people. I guess that cat's out of the bag. It probably wasn’t going to stay in the bag for too much longer anyway, to be honest. Moving on... damage control. What do I do now?

‘I could... go out and heal? But as who? Create another alter ego? Having two is already going to be trouble enough, thank you, and I can’t use my super persona as that’s not one of my powers. I also have to come up with a super name too, gotta remember that.’ Waving away that wild thought Anna got back on track.

‘So, go and find a person that can heal? But their power would be almost useless right now. I would have to boost their power using my [Power Manipulation] to make it effective at healing anything, and I don’t really want to do that. I want to keep that power as my trump card.

‘People are already going to be drawing conclusions from tonight’s battle, I don’t want to add to that. If I’m lucky then people will think that that guy just overtaxed his power too early or something and lost it. If I’m unlucky then people will figure out that I can take away powers, but they’ll have no way of knowing that I can boost powers too.

‘So, if I can’t heal anyone myself or make someone else heal people what do I do?’ Anna paused for a moment. “I mean… I could go around and ya know… be a hero…” She mumbled to herself. Anna spent the next minute thinking about that possibility.

“Yeah, I don’t think that would work,” She concluded. “I’m not the most heroic person, and even if I was… I’m pretty sure people are going to be looking for me. I should probably lie low for the next week. Allow those in power to become distracted by the others.”

She sighed as she met her eyes in the mirror. “Is that it? Is that really all I can do?” she asked herself. A second passed as she just stared at her reflection.

“Why am I expecting an answer?”

Anna rubbed her forehead, warding off a headache as she turned and walked back into her flat’s main room. “God, I need some friends…”

Flopping onto her coach Anna pulled up her V-Screen and checked the time. “Fuck… it’s 5:30 already?” She groaned as she slouched. “Fucking… stupid… pyromaniac. What the hell was that guy’s powers anyway?” She asked suddenly.

She groaned when she got the answer. “Damn, a guy like that got [Greater Fire Manipulation]? That’s just my luck.”

[Greater Fire Manipulation] was a scary power.

Like, seriously scary.

It was an upgrade of the already terrifying [Fire Manipulation] power that allows one to control any fire that they can see. The only limitations were that they needed a spark to expand from and they had to focus to control it. So, someone with a lighter and sufficient brainpower would be able to do untold amounts of damage.

[Greater Fire Manipulation] took that and ramped it up to eleven.

It made controlling fire an almost subconscious action, making fire into basically a second limb. Before, one would have to constantly concentrate to stand in a fire without being burned. With [Greater Fire Manipulation] a person could walk through fire all day and not feel a hint of strain.

It also removed the necessity of needing to see the fire. Instead, the user could just feel the fire around them, sort of like an extra sense that had been grafted on to the body’s natural thermoreception. This sense extended up to a hundred feet from the body and if any sparks, flicker, or flare-up of heat happened in that area, they would know.

Not that they needed them anymore.

[Greater Fire Manipulation] also got rid of the requirement for an ignition source. This means that within anywhere in their cone of vision or a hundred feet of their body, somebody with this power could create a small spark that they could expand into a flaming inferno in less than a second. An inferno that they would have no issue with controlling or expanding further.

“I think I may have made some of these powers a bit too powerful.”

<( o )>

In Washington D.C. a very important man was currently sleeping.

He wouldn’t be for much longer.

“Mr. President!” a man shouted as he pushed open the door to the bedroom. “We have a situation!”

George Carpenter, the seventy-second president of the United States of America, sat up groggily. “Wha is it?” he slurred while rubbing his eyes. “Is it the damn Russians again? Did they find one of our spies or something? Heaven forbid another nuclear terrorist attack,” He complained as he got out of bed and started to dress.

“Um, no sir, it's another paranormal phenomenon.” The attendant answered back, nonplussed by the president's casual attitude.

“Ah shit. What is it this time? Also, have those in the, what is it... ah, DPC? No, DPD, that's it! Has the Division of Paranormal Defence finally gotten its shit together?”

“Ah, it's…” the attendant glanced down at his V-Screen, “6:30 sir. As for the DPD, I’m not too sure. I’m just here to get you to the situation room. You’ll be-”

“Briefed there, yeah, yeah, I know.” President Carpenter said, cutting off the man. “What is it going to be this time I wonder?” He muttered to himself as he walked out the door.

<( o )>

“Fire powers? Really?”

The head of the DPD, Darla Handsworth, nodded furiously. “As far as we can tell Mr. President, a man by the name of Andrew Molts briefly gained the ability to control fire at approximately 4:30 AM. We have video footage of him apparently testing it out.” She said as she pulled up video footage of a skinny white man with flames swirling in front of him.

His expression was one of deranged ecstasy as he looked lovingly at the flames. It looked like he was about to-

“Why does it look like he wants to fuck it?” the president asked and turned his attention back to Darla.

Darla flushed for a moment before opening her mouth to answer. She was cut off, however, by the Director of Homeland Security. “That's because he’s a pyromaniac, sir.” Not at all surprised by the president's crude language.

President Carpenter hummed in thought.

“T-that's right sir.” Darla coughed into her hand to regain her composure. “We are unsure if it was this obsession over fire that caused him to gain these abilities or not. What we are sure of is that at 4:47 he used this power to blow up the gas line under his street outside.”

The sudden shift in topic jolted George out of his musings and got him to refocus on the meeting.

Darla pulled up street cam footage of the same man before out and standing in the middle of the street. Suddenly there was a flash of white and the footage cut out. “From this point onward we’re going to have to use publicly obtained footage of the incident.”

“Wait, the public recorded this?” George asked sharply.

“Ah, yes sir.” The Director chimed in again. “Over a hundred people witnessed the event itself and many of those recorded it. They posted the videos before we even knew about it. In Fact, it was those videos that alerted us to the incident. These videos have already spread to the point where we couldn’t stop them if we tried.”

Stolen novel; please report.

President Carpenter groaned and pinched his nose. He could feel a migraine coming on. He waved for Darla to continue.

“Ah, well, from this point things take a pretty gruesome turn. Molts then start using his powers to systematically hunt down and murder anyone nearby. From what we can tell, the victims didn't suffer and died almost immediately. Forensics say that the bodies were more like charcoal statues more than corpses.” Darla paused for a moment to shiver. “For obvious reasons, I’m not going to show footage of this.”

She got serious nods from around the room.

“This continued for about ten minutes and during this time Molts killed almost ninety people.” That got surprised murmurs. “We suspect that this number was only so low because of the fact that Molts was stationary.” A silence descended as people took in that information.

“And after ten minutes?” George prompted after a few seconds.

“That's when our savior shows up of course.” the Director interjected, trying to lighten the mood. He did get a few laughs.

Clearing her throat to get everyone's attention, Darla explained. “Now, at this point in time, most nearby residents had either fled or been killed by Molts. However, by some miracle, one Jamie Cole managed to stay hidden and captured this video.” She pulled up another video, this one obviously taken from a V-Screen.

The video started with the camera pointed at the floor and a voice muttering to itself, “Oh my god. Oh my god.” The camera turned up and a shot from a window down onto the street was seen. There, plain as day, was a man standing in a towering bonfire with a twisted grin on his face.

They heard a female voice shout, “What do you think you’re doing!” But the direction it came from sounded wrong. It sounded like it came from above the camera.

“What the hell?” the voice that was presumably Jamie murmured.

The man in the fire looked confused before the female voice sounded out once again. “Up here numbnuts!” Molts looked up and cocked his head to the side, then smiled that twisted smile. “I’m sharing fire’s warmth, of course!” He called back. Without turning his head the fire lashed out at something off-screen and a scream was heard. “Fire is so kind! Always spreading their warmth, but nobody seems to want to accept their gift. So, I’ll make them!” His face contorted in hate at the end but he soon went back to smiling.

“O-oh… is that so?” the female voice said, its tone now laced with uncertainty.

Molts nodded enthusiastically.

“I-I see…”

Then Molts lost his smile and started looking at the fire around him. He started looking more frantic and people in the situation room could make out faint wisps of smoke starting to rise off of him.

Darla paused the video. “At this point, it seems like Molts starts to lose his powers. The cause or reason behind this is not readily apparent. It may be that these powers were already temporary or perhaps molts overtaxed his abilities too soon, causing them to give out. Whether this loss is itself temporary or permanent is unknown but until we know for sure we are keeping Molts in a medically induced coma.”

That got nods from around the room and President Carpenter motioned for her to continue.

Molts stepped out of the fire with a mix of fear and confusion on his face. “Why can’t fire hear me?” he asked. “Why did they stop listening? Did they get angry at me? But why would they? I was just helping them… just helping them grow. WHY CAN’T THEY HEAR ME!?” he screamed as he started to dash toward the flames.

The camera flinched away briefly when he screamed and when it returned a figure was seen behind Molts reaching out and grabbing him by the collar. He was then flung backward by the figure.

Darla paused the video and the room erupted in questions.

“Hold on. Hold on!” George yelled, getting the room back in order. “Let’s let Ms. Handsworth explain.” There were a few grumbles but everyone quieted down.

Darla nodded in gratitude towards the president. “Well, what we think is that this…” she paused trying to find the right word, “being, either has the ability to teleport and or go invisible. Now, who or what this being is something we’re not too sure of. Several possibilities exist.” She brought up a list. “These include, but are not limited too…”

Darla took a deep breath. “Alien, demon, angel, some other religious being in humanoid form, secret magical agent, some sort of supernatural creature in disguise, time traveler, an eldritch being, a dimension-hopping time-warping doctor with a blue telephone box, or another person with an ability like Molts.” Darla deflated once she was through her list.

“Um, some of those are…”

“Crazy? I know. However Mr. President, a man with the ability to control fire is pretty crazy, a flying island covered in dragons is pretty crazy, the odd pressure that everyone felt around the world last night was pretty crazy. So, with all due respect, I think it's best to keep our options open at this point.” She finished with a blank stare.

George just raised his hands in surrender.

Darla started the video again.

Molts flew five feet before he eventually landed on his butt. Getting up he made another dash towards the fire, completely ignoring the figure. The figure stepped in front of him and he tried to go around but was caught and tossed even further, landing eleven feet away this time.

“NO! FIRE, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!” he screamed as he got up again. The figure dashed toward him and punched him in the face. He crumpled and stayed down after that.

Darla stopped the video once again and looked down to her notes. “After the event, we received reports that said the damage to his face was equivalent to being hit by a major league baseball player with a metal bat. He was missing several teeth and his jaw had been broken.”

“Can you play that back real quick?” The Director of the CIA asked.

Darla did so.

The Director hummed after rewatching the clip where the figure punched Molts. “It doesn’t look trained, does it?” She asked the room.

The Director of Homeland Security squinted as Darla reran the footage. “Your right. That doesn’t look like a trained punch. Whoever that is, whatever that is, is not used to throwing punches.” He harrumphed. “Not that it matters. That thing obviously has some sort of enhanced strength. Nothing that size should be able to throw a man that far with that little leverage. I don’t see any sort of enhancement suit either, so that’s most likely its natural strength.”

Darla cleared her throat and removed the video from the conference screen. “After Molts had been knocked out the subject stayed until the police arrived. During this time a few more people returned to the scene. They too started recording and gave us more footage that we could analyze, as well as the clearest view we have yet of the subject.”

The whole room held their breath in anticipation as Darla put up a picture.

The photo was a bit blurry, and the head was obscured by smoke. They wore what looked like an opened black coat but, because of the way the figure was turned, couldn't see what they had on under it. Blue pants could be seen as well as black boots of some sort.

They had a slim body figure and long legs. A long black… strip of some sort came out from behind the smoke and hung down to their waist.

"...Well? What am I looking at?" George asked, shaking everyone from their contemplative states.

"Ah, well, sir, we can't be too sure. We can make assumptions of course, but telling you that we have definite answers would be a lie," Darla answered apologetically.

"Then, what assumptions have you made?"

"Ok, so what we can assume, within reasonable doubt, is that this creature has a humanoid form if they aren't human. Of course, there’s also that voice that we heard in the other video that was most likely the subject itself. Using that we can guess that they either are mimicking or just a human female. That strip you see may be a sort of sensory organ of some sort or a ponytail.

"Next we can assume that they are trying to blend into society if they aren't already a part of it. We can see this by the coat they're wearing. The coat serves no purpose besides decoration or concealment. We can't assume that the blue isn't their skin or of what makes their boots are; whether they're some sort of combat boots or just made for comfort.

"As for anything beyond that… well, we could possibly assume that they're friendly, or, at the very least, non-hostile towards us... for now. However, that should be the very limit of what we assume. Going any further should only be used as a thought exercise, not actual planning," Darla said with some emphasis at the end. "There is also more footage to consider before we continue. This is a body cam from one of the police that first arrived," she informed before starting yet another video.

[The view shook as the car went over a pothole. The siren blared in the background as a heavy silence pervaded the vehicle. Taking a sharp turn, the camera turned onto what looked more like a war zone than a city street. “My god…” the person behind the camera uttered unconsciously.

The car jerked to a stop and the view shifted as the officer got out. “FREEZE!” someone shouted and the view panned up to focus on a person running up the side of a building. Shots rang out as the officers started to open fire. The first shot appeared to hit but the figure barely stumbled. Eventually, someone called the police off.

The form reached the top of the building in a surprisingly short amount of time. It turned around and waved at the camera, paused a second, nodded, then stepped back behind the ledge of the roof.]

Darla stopped it there. “Now, as you can see, it appears to have the ability to walk up completely sheer surfaces with no regard to whatever materials it steps on. This implies that this is not a power that needs friction or magnetism to work. This could mean several things. Gravity technology, advanced magics, some sort of suction mechanism in its feet, or just another ability like Molts had.

“It also seems to have supernatural speed. It crossed the length of this twenty-story building in only a few seconds. That speed is beyond anything a human has achieved, even with mechanical agumentation. Again, this could mean several things. A secret genetic musculature augmentation, advanced technological augmentation, naturally enhanced physique, alien biology, magic, yadda, yadda, yadda. You get the idea.

“The basic breakdown is this,” Darla said, losing her patience. “Andrew Molts gained the power to control fire from unknown causes. He then used this ability to massacre almost ninety people. While doing so, he was interrupted by someone we have almost no information on and can only make assumptions about. He then lost his powers slowly, tried to burn himself alive, and was stopped from doing so by our mysterious stranger. They then fled when the police arrived by running up a vertical building. They appeared to have been shot but showed no reaction besides stumbling a bit. Searches done after the fact by law enforcement could not find them nor any trail that might lead to them.

“Now, what we do know about the stranger is this. They either have the power to teleport or go invisible. We are leaning more towards the invisibility aspect because of the fact that they had to physically run away from the police. However, teleportation also has credibility because of the fact that the police couldn’t find any trail to follow. Why they didn’t go invisible nor teleport when targeted by police we do not know. There might be a time limit or something similar. They also showed the ability to run up sheer surfaces regardless of materials and a vastly stronger body than that of a normal human being.

“Appearance-wise, we suspect that they might look like a female human. Whether they are one or not, we don’t know. For disposition, they appear to be at least neutral, and maybe friendly towards humans in general. At least they’re not killing indiscriminately like Molts was.

“As for Molts, we’ve taken him into custody and are keeping him in a medically induced coma in case he regains his powers. We will continue to do so indefinitely until we have more information. The police that responded to the scene have been advised to not provide specifics until we can come up with a response.

“The public is already aware of the incident and we can’t cover it up. Trying to do so would only make us look bad and make the whole thing look like our fault. I personally recommend that we calm the public first and try to find our friend second. They might have more information for us. A diplomatic meeting should be our first goal as we’re aren’t sure of their full capabilities.” Darla looked up from her notes and met the president's stare.

George sighed. “And if more people start getting these powers? What then?”

Darla started. “I’m… not too sure. We hadn’t considered this beyond a singular situation…” she worried her lip. “I suggest... that you politely ask those with these powers to not use them... for now. The law-abiding citizens will most likely follow your request…”

“And the non-law-abiding citizens?” the Director of Homeland Security asked. “What about them?”

Darla shrugged. “That’s why we have a police force and an army right?”

George groaned as he leaned back in his chair. “Well, let’s just hope that this was a one time issue. I hate doing presidential announcements…”