Karina finally made it to Hero City, having just been dropped off by a kind old trucker. She walked into Hero City from the truck stop outside of town.
First off, before she could possiblly spot signs of this 'Black Mask' person. Karina needed a place to sleep and have a roof over her head. After walking around most of the day, she found a condemed building in a not-so-nice area of town.
As she made her way into the building, Karina noticed that it wouldn't take much to bring the place down. But with it being this bad off, she didn't think that many homeless would try and take shelter there.
As it was near dark, Karina decided that she would rest, and try her search in the morning. So finding a place on the second floor, she made a spot to sleep, as well as staying hidden from anyone who may choose the same place to rest.
At about midnight, Karina was woken by the sound of a truck barreling down the street. As she looked out of the boarded up window, she saw the truck weaving down the street at a fast speed. And in the instant that she saw the truck, it veered toward the building she was in.
In the blink of the eye, the truck barreled into the building, causing it to shake violently. And before she could really react to this, Karina had to dodge a chunk of the ceiling, as it almost fell right on top of her.
Fearing for her life, Karina grabbed her small backpack, and headed for the rickety stairs. In her flight, more of the building started to fall all around her.
Reaching the bottom floor, she saw the driver of the truck, slumped over the steering wheel, passed out. Still fearing for her life, she ran to the truck, and struggled with trying to open the door. As she was doing this, part of the ceiling fell hitting her in the arm.
She screamed from the pain of the cut, but still continued to try to pull the man from the truck before the rest of the building collapsed on top of them.
It seemed to take a lifetime, but only a moment later, Karina got the door opened on the truck. It took all her strength to pull the man out of the vehicle. But once out, she realized that she didn't have the time to pull the man to safety from the falling building.
Karina fell on top of the man, and used her power to create a domed shield around them, just as the ceiling fell on top of them.
Memonic spent most nights walking the quiet, desolate streets of Hero City. In almost all of these treks, he visited the seedier parts of town where the dregs and castoffs of the city had landed. These were the forgotten people, barely able to eek out an existence, and the ones that needed help the most.
As he walked by crumbling, hastily-built buildings, he marveled at how quickly such structures could be built, and more importantly, how they fell apart when neglected. Meomonic cursed. If the city planners of Hero City had really cared, they would have followed through with their promises to create the city of tomorrow. All of these structures were to have been bulldozed and replaced by a city park long ago. Instead, they had left this relic of the hey-day of feverish construction to rot like a festering wound upon the city.
People here called this area Shanty Town. It wasn't an official name, but it fit. Shanty Town consisted of a large area of temporary structures designed to house the thousands of workers who had been necessary to rebuild the city. They were numerous, and even though structurally sound when built, were now crumbling, threatening to fall with the slightest breeze. They weren't meant to last half as long as they had, and more than most showed condemned signs on their doors. Of course, none of that stopped people from living in them. An enclosed building, no matter how dangerous, was far better than sleeping out in the weather, especially when it was cold.
A blinding flash of light came from the street ahead. Memonic could just make out a truck as it barreled down the roadway. It veered suddenly toward him, and he knew something wasn't right. He had to move quickly to avoid it, and as he stepped aside, he saw the driver face down over the wheel. A whine and shrill erupted as it tore through a chain link fence, and then continued forward into the crumbling, weak walls of a building. A dust cloud exploded from the hole created by it, sending a cloud that obscured the poor lighting.
It took a few minutes for the cloud to dissipate, the building continuing to creak and groan. Memonic realized that it couldn't stand up to this kind of damage. He ran toward the hole, taking a couple of minutes to climb over the ruined fencing, only to see the building collapse completely before him. He hoped the driver was all right. Regardless, he had to help if he could, and made his way to the pile of rubble that had once been a building. Strangely enough, it looked to him like the debris had fallen over the truck in the shape of a perfect, half-spherical dome.
Memonic started to climb up the pile to try to move whatever he could from it, but it was slow going as the debris had spread far away from it..
Hearing the sound of someone climbing the debris of the fallen building, Karina shouted out.
"Help!! Anyone out there?! Please help us!!"
Memonic was surprised to hear the sound of a woman's voice. The truck driver had clearly been a man. "I'm working at it," he said, grunting as he pulled another chunk of concrete off the pile. "How many of you are there under this, and are you OK?"
"There are two of us under all this mess," Karina answered back. "I am OK, but this man is barely breathing and unconscious."
As she spoke, Memonic noticed that she spoke with a Russian accecnt.
Memonic frantically moved a few more pieces of concrete before realizing that he would need assistance to do this quickly, and the unconscious man might not have any time to waste. I can't do this alone, he realized. "I'm calling for help, but I'm not leaving," he yelled. He pulled out the cell phone and dialed 911, reporting the accident. Then he dialed again, but this time he dialed Veronica. He might need help quicker than the emergency workers could get there, and she was the one he thought of first.
Veronica fumbled with the phone,"Ya got me!" She said followed by a series of head nods until she realized that he could not see her and then got his locations and took off in a blur.
Before his eyes a blur of motion began moving away rubble. "I might not be able to lift a ton but I can move it quickly so you guys be ready in there and we will get you out."
Memonic stepped back. As second by second passed, the mound of rubble over the dome got smaller. It was likje one of those time lapse films of a flower blooming. The most curious thing though was that as the mound got smaller, there was some unexplained force holding it back in the shape of a dome from underneath. He stepped up to it and pressed his hand against it. Yes, there definitely was an invisible shield of some kind holding back the rubble. The only explanation was that the woman was responsible, as the man was still unconscious.
"Velocity, did you see the force shield?" He was careful to use her hero name. He still didn't know whether the woman underneath could, or should, be trusted. Perhaps he was being overly cautious, but years on the streets gave an education few would ever appreciate like he did.
"Force what???" Velocity turned her attention to Memonic to see what he was talking about but forgot to sow down. Wham, the impact forced her back and she landed on her butt.
Memonic cringed, seeing Velocity suddenly stopped by the impact with the invisible shield. That must have hurt, and more alarming, She seemed at least stunned, and possibly hurt. "Velocity, are you all right?" he asked. No immediate response. He shook her, and after a little prodding, got her to open her eyes. "Good. You've really got to be careful."
With his worries of permanent damage to Veronica calmed, he turned his attention back to the invisible shield and the woman inside. "You can turn that off now, I think. Velocity has cleared enough away so it should be safe."
As Velocity and Memonic watched, the rubble at the edge of the shield fell inward, letting them know the shield was down. Inside by the driver's side of the truck, was a young woman who lay covering the unconscious man.
The young woman got to her knees, both the heros could tell that she was travel worn. Her clothes looked dirty and slept in, as well as it looked mended in some spots. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail.
She stood holding her small backpack close to her chest, as if it meant all the world to her. She then looked at the two heros that helped dig her out of the rubble. "Thanks for the help," she said a bit shyly. "The man appears to have had a heart attack, but he is still breathing."
Velocity stood and was beside the man in an instant checking him over. "You guys stay with him I am gonna look for others. I hear sirens, so an ambulance is probably on it's way." With that she began searching the rubble at top speed.
Memonic looked at the Russian woman. She carried a sad and forlorn look about her, filled with despair. It was a look he was well accustomed to from the streets around Shanty Town. "You did a brave and good thing here. What is your name, and where are you from? From your accent, I would guess you're not from around here."
Karina looked over her shoulder at Velocity, saying, "I don't believe there is anyone else in the building. I looked around before I tried to get some sleep."
Then looking back toward Memonic, she said, "You are correct, I am not from around here. I fle... I left my home in Moscow to try and find a better place to live. I was a stowaway on a cargo ship, and made my way inland from New Jersey. And now I find myself here."
Memonic thought about that, then decided that the most important thing was to find out about her powers. "We can and will help you find a place to live, and help you get started here, but you need to tell us about that force shield of yours and anything else you can do. You can trust us. We helped you, and mean you no harm, and we understand what it means to have powers. Both myself and Velocity have them too."
"No worries on crash space I got you covered on that end let's get things settled here and get going." Velocity said.
Still looking a little nervous, she said, "My name is Karina. And what I can do involves telekinisis. I can create a personal shield along with the dome one, I did to save the man and myself. As well as this."
Karina turned toward a pile of rubble away from them, and concentrated. A second later, a large chunck of bricks and concrete levitated off of the ground about 4'. Then a moment later she eased it back down to the ground.
She turned back around, saying, "I can also create a TK blast, and so far that is all I can do."
Looking at Velocity, Karina said, "Thank you for offering a stranger such as myself a place to stay."
As they talked an ambulance turned the corner a block away, sirens blaring as it came down the road. It was also followed by both police and fire and rescue vehicles.
Karina took on a worried look, at the authorities showing up to go over the scene of the fallen building. Both Memonic and Velocity saw that it looked like Karina was wanting to find away out of there.
Memonic saw the look of terror. It was the look of a caged rat, and he had seen it before. She was hiding from something, but there was no time to figure out what. "Velocity, why don't you and Katrina go to your house, and I'll deal with the police and paramedics. I'm sure I won't have any problems, and there won't be any loose ends. I'll come by later after this is all taken care of."
"I'm ready whenever you are," Karina said as she looked to Velocity.
This page by Ryan McCullough, Paul Comstock and and Holland Erickson, 2008.