RENATA COULDN'T DRIVE, but she didn't need to be able to. All she needed to know was where the parking brake was, and that was something her father had shown her years before.
Ignoring the old man's protests, she reached into the car, released the brake, crouched down behind the car and pushed as hard as she could.
As the car speed towards Terrain, Renata began to run: she darted a little to the side, then headed straight towards him.
Terrain noticed the approaching car at the last second, and jumped out of the way...
Right into Renata's swinging fists.
Her first punch caught him in the stomach, and was followed immediately by an uppercut to his jaw. The supervillain staggered, swayed, then toppled over backwards to land heavily on the ground, unmoving.
The moment he lost consciousness, the air-borne soil from Jacobs Field - with Energy at its centre - suddenly plummeted to the ground, two thousand tonnes of dirt almost completely blocking Ontario Street.
Coughing and spluttering, Energy kicked her way free of the dirt, and half-crawled, half-fell down the side of the mound.
She rolled to a stop close to Renata, and climbed to her feet. "What did you do?"
"Distracted him," Renata said. "He's unconscious, I think." She looked down at her fists. "I've never hit someone before."
"You did a good job of it." Energy bent over forwards and attempted to shake the dirt from her hair. Straightening up, she said, "So... You going to tell me your name now?"
"No," Renata said. "No. I don't want anyone to know who I am."
"I can understand that."
Renata paused. "I'm not sure that this is for me, you know?"
"You mean, you don't know whether you want to be a superhero?"
"Right. It seems like... Well, like a lot of work."
"It is, at times. The hours are long and there's no pay. But we don't do it for money. Or for fame."
Renata said, "I know. I read Max Dalton's autobiography. You do it because you have to."
"No. We do it because we can. Max doesn't speak for all of us, no matter what he might think." Energy shifted her weight onto one foot, and stood with her arms folded as she regarded Renata. "When did you first discover your strength?"
"About a year ago, at school. Someone threw a basketball at me and I caught it. It burst in my hands. Ever since then, I've had to be careful not to break things."
"And you're how old? Fourteen?"
Renata nodded. "Nearly."
"What about this other power? Turning yourself into a glass statue?"
"The first time that happened was when I slipped in the shower. I put my hands out to steady myself and suddenly I was just completely transparent. It took me a long time to learn how to control it. I can't move until I turn back, and I can't hear anything. I can see, but only just. It's not a very useful ability."
"So... You realised you had these powers and you didn't do anything about them?"
"I don't want to be like this. I want to be normal."
Energy sighed. "You're not the first superhuman to wish that. I wasn't the first either."
"You didn't want your powers?"
Energy shook her head. "No, I did not. I couldn't control them at first. For the first couple of weeks, every time I walked into a room the lights would either glow or fade. I managed to destroy three telephones and two TV remote controls before I even guessed what was happening."
"But you did learn to control your powers eventually. I don't know if I ever will."
The older woman looked at Renata for a moment. "Even your clothes and helmet turned transparent... That's interesting. I think we really do need to get you to Max's people. Have them check you out."
"No! That's exactly what I don't want to happen! I don't want people to treat me like some sort of freak!"
"Then maybe you shouldn't be a superhero. Maybe you're not the sort of person we would want to be associated with."