Waking up was a slow, heavy process of surfacing through what felt like layers of electric static. For a moment, I forgot the rain, the overly-sexualized chrome suit, and the narrow escape. All I knew was that I felt ... incredible. My skin was tingling with a warmth that went bone-deep and the usual morning grogginess had been replaced by a sharp, vibrating alertness.

  Then I opened my eyes and nearly had a heart attack.

  Piper wasn't just near me; she was on me. She was sprawled across my chest like I was a life raft, her nose inches from mine. Her arms were wrapped tightly around my neck and one of her legs was hooked over my hip, pinning me to the mattress. She was still fast asleep with a small, blissful smile on her lips as her breath softly warmed my cheek.

  Under the duvet, I could see the circuit tattoos on my arms pulsing with an intense violet light, brighter than I'd ever seen before. I was literally glowing.

  "If you're done being a human charging station, I'd like my moped back," came Yuna's dry and sarcastic voice.

  I jerked my head toward the foot of the bed. Yuna was sitting there, perched on a stool she must have dragged from the kitchen. She was still buried in that ridiculous, oversized sweatshirt, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes bloodshot. She looked like she hadn't slept a wink, staring at us with a mix of clinical fascination and pure saltiness.

  "Yuna," I hissed, trying to untangle myself without waking the girl currently wrapped around me like a leech. "What ... why is she ... ?"

  "She's a Resonator, Sparky. Something that folks had theorized about for decades but never proved ... at least until now. I spent the last four hours watching your biometrics on my tablet while you two slept. As soon as you both fell asleep, her subconscious must have found your energy source. You're the battery and she's the repeater." Yuna gestured toward the brightly glowing tattoos on my arms. "Look at that - you're glowing more than I've ever seen. Something about her presence is amplifying the power in your body."

  Piper let out a soft mumble, nuzzling her face deeper into the crook of my neck. I froze, my face heating up until I felt like I was going melt. Yuna's scowl grew even deeper.

  "She's adorable," I whispered ... mostly to annoy Yuna. She was being unreasonably upset at this whole situation. Why couldn't I have more than one friend? There was no need for her to be so upset at Piper.

  "She's a security risk," Yuna snapped, standing up. The bed creaked as she leaned over, her shadow falling over both of us. "And she's drooling on you. Get up. You need to get my moped back before someone decides it's abandoned and steals it."

  ---

  The retrieval was a sobering reality check after my evenings of prancing around in superhero costumes. I traded the glowing, snuggly warmth of the apartment for the biting morning air of the slums. In my baggy hoodie and grease-stained sneakers, I felt less like the silver goddess who'd saved Piper and more like the exhausted pizza delivery girl that I really was.

  I piled into one of the cross-Sector mag-lev trains, minding my own business and finding a seat alone. Nearby, a pair of middle-aged men talked loudly about female Super rankings. To my eternal shame, one of them was a big Voltana fan, bragging about how she'd liked one of his comments on her fan page. I couldn't remember liking anyone's comments - but maybe it was something Yuna had done? Thankfully, they got off at the next stop before the conversation could devolve into anything too embarrassing.

  Finally, I exited the train in the University District - the same station that Piper had exited the night before right before things went so horribly sideways. I walked through the streets until I found where I'd stashed the moped. Briefly, I considered climbing up to the roof of that building and retrieving the baggy clothes I'd stashed ... but ultimately decided against it. The fire escape was still broken and I - as Kurumi - had no valid reason to climb to the roof of the building in broad daylight. Better to just abandon them and move on.

  Thankfully, the moped was exactly where I'd left it - parked behind an overflowing dumpster with a couple of broken pallets set up to conceal it from casual view. No one had touched it. In this part of town, it could go either way - an abandoned scooter could remain as-is for a month, or it could be gone in two hours, broken down and sold for parts. I was happy that I didn't have to tell Yuna her scooter had been stolen.

  As I kicked the engine to life, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Yuna forwarded me a link to something called the 'Yeowang-Net' underground boards, where someone named ScholarOfCurves69 had posted the video of my fight as Scintilla against the four unknown men last night. Something about that name triggered my memory, but I couldn't quite place it. I wonder if Yuna knows him somehow? Maybe she passed the video to him to post.

  Wincing in anticipation, I pulled up the thread. The video was there in all its glory - the strategic silver blurs that Yuna had promised were present, but they weren't as large as I'd hoped and did very little to hide the sheer, high-voltage intensity of the fight. Or the fact that I was fighting for my life while basically naked.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  The comments were a descent into a very specific kind of hell.

  > DoughLord007: "Look at the arc of the discharge! The way her tattoos glow when her nipples pop free? That's not just power, that's aesthetic perfection!"

  > VoltVixenFan: "Move over, Voltana - Daddy's found a new favorite! I swear, Scintilla's tits are even bigger than Voltana's - and I thought hers were perfect. Oh how wrong I was. I'd pay a year's salary for the unblurred cut."

  > CircuitSimp: "I want her to thigh-pin me into a coma. Just jam that muff into my face and suffocate me any day. 10/10, best hero debut of the year."

  Grinding my teeth so hard I thought I would break a molar, I pulled the moped out into traffic and started driving back toward home. Scintilla's tits weren't bigger than Voltana's, the fucking idiots. They were the same - because they're both me. On the plus side, the fact that even these degenerates think I'm two different people has to be a good sign, I consoled myself.

  But as I drew closer toward Yuna's apartment, I felt a pressure building in my chest. It wasn't pain - it was a flood of raw, intoxicating power. My hands on the handlebars began to spark, little tiny violet sparks running across my knuckles. I couldn't tell exactly what was happening, but something in me seemed to understand that I'd grown more powerful. A lot more powerful.

  I recalled one of my earlier conversations with Yuna, where she theorized that the number of people aware of me - thirsting over me - might fuel my power. If that was true ... I sighed. The sheer volume of people flooding the new forum, posting in the Scintilla thread, worshiping my blurred nipples, seemed to be feeding back into my power somehow.

  I was turning into a powerhouse fueled by the Internet's horniest basement dwellers. I didn't know whether to scream or celebrate.

  ---

  After dropping Yuna's moped off, I had to do another shift at Za Bay Pizza. When I pushed in through the back door, Kevin was standing next to the prep station, his phone propped against a jar of olives. "You're late," he called in a mocking tone as I flipped him the middle finger.

  "Whatever, Kevin. I'm here now. Any deliveries?"

  "None yet," he grumbled. "You're lucky. But hey, check this out!" He turned his phone toward me, a lecherous grin spreading across his face. "There's a new vigilante in Sector 4, Scintilla. One of her compatriots posted a video her kicking the shit out of four goons last night. She went topless during the fight! It's a revolutionary tactical choice. Oh man, one of the guys just froze solid - eyes locked onto her nipples - until she blasted him with lightning."

  I stood there, mouth ajar, wishing I was dead as Kevin continued.

  "Oh, and get this. Whoever did the video blurring did a great job, spectacular. However, there's a single frame - just one - after the goon rips Scintilla's top off and he just stands there staring at her boobs. If you zoom and enhance on his red visor, you can see the reflection of her nipple. They didn't blur his visor, so it's her actual nipple. Look, Kurumi!"

  And then he showed me a pixelated, ultra-magnified screenshot of my left nipple. Fuck. Yuna, I am going to murder you. My face was hot enough to rival the sun as I mumbled an excuse about needing to go the bathroom, where I hid until it was finally time to go deliver some pizzas.

  ---

  The day only dragged on from there. When I finally finished my shift and returned to the apartment, the 'hero' high had completely worn off and I was ready to crawl into bed and die.

  Yuna was at her desk, two monitors displaying a complex wave pattern while a third was open to a chat room, a steady flood of comments scrolling past faster than I could read them. Piper was sitting on the floor nearby, wearing one of Yuna's oversized hentai shirts, trying to make a spoon hover between her hands. It wasn't working.

  As I walked past, however, the spoon gave a twitch and Piper yelped in surprise.

  "It's the Resonator powers," Yuna said, not looking up from the computers. "When you're within about twenty yards - roughly, we can fine-tune the distance calculations - she mirrors the special frequency of your superpowers. If you're at full power, she's basically a C-Rank herself - as soon as she learns to tap into the power. But the second you step out of that distance?" Yuna gestured at the spoon, "She turns back into a dud. It's like a proximity lock on her powers - they're only there as long as you're there."

  "And the others?," I asked, stepping over to Yuna and pitching my voice low.

  Yuna's shoulder slumped. She finally turned around, her face pale. "Gone - the professor and that other student have vanished, as if they never existed. Wherever they are, S-Korp has got them and is doing who knows what. At least we - you - saved Piper, but the other two?" Yuna's voice trailed off and she looked sad, frustrated.

  I glanced from Yuna down to Piper. She looked so small, so innocent, trying to manifest a spark that only worked because I was standing in the room. I felt a crushing weight against my chest. I had powers that I didn't fully understand, that I was still exploring, and that somehow seemed to be increasing the more ... the more of my skin I show online. And yet I'd still failed two people.

  "Get your Voltana suit ready," Yuna said, her voice softening. "You have a patrol in an hour. No Scintilla tonight - HeroHub needs to know that you're still there, still a hero, working for them. I'll see what I can track down about S-Korp and the other two."

  I nodded, gently squeezing Yuna's shoulder, grateful for her. Despite her mistake with the nipple, she really did care. Letting go, I turned and walked toward the bedroom. As I passed Piper, she reached out, her fingers brushing my hand. A tiny, brilliant silver spark jumped between us - a perfect, miniature echo of a power I didn't want, but I couldn't stop growing.

  "Be safe, Kurumi," she whispered.

  I nodded, but had no idea what else to say. Be safe? I was going out with the intention of finding bad guys to fight and arrest. But sure, I'll be safe.