Permafrost

Since I was a kid, I have always been collecting comics. When my peers were at the Café I spent all my time in the library. My town was very weird. We could not have a comic store but did have a comics section in the library apparently. Being a girl who is interested in comics and skateboarding was like wearing a bully-me target. 

I liked to call my room ‘The Crib’. Now don’t judge me, but when you have five brothers it affects your head. They were way older than me and were attracted to sports and the female commentators it offered. I was mostly just by myself. Comic books helped me escape my reality and enter another world with cliffhangers and plot twists. This summer I had converted my room into my dream place. I had accumulated so many comics that I had to turn two of my bedroom walls into shelves. 

Now how did I get these books? Robbie Mackenzie. This boy is the person who introduced me to my people and I will forever be so grateful to him. He was and I guess still is the ‘Richie Rich’ of our town. In the beginning, he would bring the books and give them to me. But having his father's business brains, he soon began charging me and my fellow comic geeks.

That did not stop me. The more I read, the more I wanted. To know that there was someone out there with such mystical powers rattled my brain. I worked day and night to earn money and eventually blow it off on books. I would mow lawns, buy groceries for the elderly and do all sorts of things so that on Monday I could walk up to Rob and have my hands on the next Thor adventure or maybe Wolverine. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have stared down a can of soda for hours, trying to move it with my eyes. 

The one thing I hated was when people asked me if I preferred Marvel comics or DC. Can you ask a father which child is more precious to them? I loved them both dearly. After school when I would be going home, Mike and his minions would catch up with me. I’d see them and try to skate as fast as I could but they were always faster. They would throw my hard earned comic and push my skateboard away. Then the punches were thrown. Then when they left, I lay on the ground, blood gushing from my lips wishing I could throw some punches back as fast as I finished the new spiderman comic. 

Five brothers but not one to protect you. Isn’t that paradoxical? Always the lone one.

Things were as usual. They were bad. They were going to get worse. On Monday I got a text from Robbie. He said the new Avengers and Justice League comics were with him. I had to bring the money and meet him after school, in the field. 

When I went to the location, I smiled seeing Robbie, wearing a large black coat and black pants, his back towards me. I swear one of these days the teachers are going to think he is dealing drugs. As I got closer, he turned around. It wasn't Robbie, it was someone else- a middle-aged man. As soon as he saw me, he turned his eyes to the right, there was a goal post. He stretched out his hand towards the post in an almost hypnotic motion and viola! The post blew up, it was crushed. I stared at the man, he stared right back. I could swear those eyes were familiar. Suddenly, there was a poof and he was gone, vanished into thin air. I unlocked my phone to check Robbie’s texts, they were gone too.

I took my skateboard and as I began for my house, I realized what had happened. The waves which he sent to the post were a combination of radio and microwaves. He was like a metahuman the Flash had once fought, but that was still impossible because they are not real. Or maybe I was just hallucinating. I have read too many comics and I guess it’s driving me insane.

I pushed the thought at the back of my mind and went home. No one was there. My parents were at work and so were three of my brothers. I went to the bathroom and turned the shower on, just as the water droplets rolled down my back, I felt a chill go down my spine and the water stopped. I looked up at the showerhead. Literally, an inch from my face was an icicle. The water had turned into icicles. 

I put my bathrobe on and stepped out of the shower. Something weird was happening, there was surely someone else inside the house. I went to the back of the house where a glass window looked over to the backyard. No one was there. I went back to the shower and broke off the icicles. Was I getting powers? I really needed to rest up. I went to the kitchen and got myself a soda. Pulled out the ice tray and poured me some ice. As I refilled the ice tray I saw the water turn to ice in my hands. Shit, I have powers. 

I went to my bedroom. Laying in my bed, my face towards the ceiling. Okay so I have icicle power and a maniac wave controller guy is after me. When the Flash got his powers he went to the S.T.A.R. labs. I need to go to a superhuman facility, but what if I choose to be like Spiderman, I could do solo. He eventually joins the avengers though. Do I know a neighborhood superhero?. No, because nothing interesting happens in this crappy town. 

I literally slept on it and the next morning I woke up with a nice lady looking at me. “Who are you and where am I?”. She sounded so calm and serene, “I am Artemis”. “And I am here because?”. “You were just with The Wave and we suspect you have some powers too”. “If by the wave you mean the guy who can shoot radio and microwaves, I’ve met him”. I was so nervous and how could I forget about Artemis and her Hunt. Maybe because I live in Texas and her Hunt is in New York. She is one of the few living superheroes and she is freaking awesome. “I am Allison aka Artemis, I shoot arrows and I never miss. You are in our research facility in Central City. We are against The Wave, he has powers through which he can control radio, micro, and the most dangerous gamma waves. According to the tests that Brock has run on you, you have recently acquired powers and we could use your help”. It took me a minute to process so much and reply back “Yes I can turn stuff to ice and my name is Zora aka….ugh...fr.o..perrr…. Permafrost”. My dreams were coming true. This was unbelievable! “Welcome to the hunt, Permafrost”.