Rosa Troya moved through the security door and hustled toward the elevator as quickly as she could, her thick black hair in waves and tangles. She hadn't spent enough time on it this morning to look presentable, but she had a new client coming in this morning, a time before she'd normally be in.
As she reached for the button, a slender man, probably about her age or a little younger, pressed the up button. Looking up, her eyes met his for a moment, before he looked away somewhat shyly. He was a well dressed young man, a nice clean-cut appearance. For an instant, the thought passed through Rosa's head: I hope this isn't my client; he's got date potential. She shook the thought off. Now was not the time for romance.
"Sorry," the man said apologetically.
"No, no problem. Thanks for hitting my button." Great. That sounded like a cheesy come-on. Looking down, Rosa shook her head and smirked a little. The man chuckled with her.
Turning, he met her eyes as they waited for the door to open. It wasn't a tall building, but the elevator seemed perpetually to take far longer than it should to traverse a few floors.
"Mason. My name's Mason Simms." He held out his hand in a friendly manner. Rosa took it.
"Rosa Troya. DOCTOR Rosa Troya," she corrected herself. Just to let him know, if he was her client, that she was the psychologist. He'd be more likely to recognize her name if she added her title.
"Psychologist?" he asked. Her heart deflated a little.
"Yes, that's me," she admitted. "You've heard of me?"
"No," Mason said. He nodded his head to the office directory posted next to the elevator.
"Oh, yeah," Rosa said, smiling what she thought must be a really silly grin. "Forget about that thing sometimes."
Finally, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Mason hung back and waited from Rosa, so finally she scooted in and he followed just as the doors closed.
"Floor?" Mason asked.
"Four."
"Yeah, me too." Mason hit the appropriate floor, and the elevator was off. The trip up was as slow as down, and when the car finally arrived on the proper floor, the doors refused to open.
"Great," Rosa lamented. "Are we stuck in here?" She tried pressing the open button several times to no avail. Suddenly, something slammed against the door, hard enough to make a triangular shaped indentation. The slam startled both her and Mason, but not as much as the gun shots that followed. Both instinctively moved back from the door.
"What the hell?" Mason asked, looking nervously at Rosa. Before she could comment, the door began to wedge open; outside was an old man in attire suited better to the early 1900's than to the modern world. His eyes glowed with a red light.
"That is NOT a good sign," Mason said to Rosa, unsure of what to do. He had no chance to respond further.
The man waved his hand and muttered "Sleep," and Rosa watched in surprise as Mason dropped to the ground. She was also feeling sleepy, but she had a trick up her sleeve that she hoped would get her out of it, as well as help her figure out what was going on.
Closing her eyes and concentrating, Rosa's form began to spark, and finally burst into a raging human lightning bolt in blue.
Warpcharge looked over at the old man, waiting for him to make the next move. Her trick had worked; her electric form was not subject to whatever had effected Mason. "Well?" she asked the strange rescuer-turned hypnotist. But before he could answer, more gunshots in the hall outside slammed into him, knocking the man back from the elevator doors.
Warpcharge used another trick she'd learned in the past few days. By manipulating static energy, she'd learned to push or lift physical objects at range. She used this power now to force the elevator doors open the rest of the way, and strode into the hall.
"Aw, come ON!" the officer behind her, a young African American woman, moaned. "Another freak?"
Rosa turned to reassure the officer. She turned very slowly. "It's alright, I'm on your side."
"That's great, lady, but I don't see no badge. Stand down while I cuff him!"
Rosa looked back at the man in anachronistic clothing; he didn't look quite ready to be cuffed. As if to reinforce that fact, the man lifted his arm toward the officer and voiced the word "Siphon!" A reddish glow began to flow visibly between the officer and the man, and the officer began convulsing as a result of whatever was being done to her. Her gun fell to the ground beside her, unheeded.
"That's it, pana!" Warpcharge threw a bolt of energy, as light as she could at first, at the officer's mysterious attacker. He stopped the drain on the woman, but it did not seem to incapacitate him. Warpcharge was unfamiliar with how these blasts effected people, and figured it was better safe than sorry. However, she was definitely sorry now.
The mysterious old man raised his hand and threw a sort of purple blast at Warpcharge, and she flew back into the hallway wall. The hero saw spots before her eyes and her head began to swim.
Okay, you want to play? Rosa thought. Let's try something a little stronger. Rosa had trouble raising her arm to aim the bolt, but at this range, she'd learned she could project the energy from her eyes as well. Rosa let loose with her most powerful shot, sending the old man flying back down the hallway. Turning, she saw the officer struggling to her feet, weapon in hand.
"Freeze, both of you!" the woman shouted, but the strain in her voice was obvious.
Turning back to her opponent, Rosa was shocked as she watched him run down the hall and hurl himself through a plate-glass window.
Rosa flew down the hall after her opponent. The officer, whose name was Green, according to her name tag, dropped her gun to her side, realizing she wasn't really sure enough about the electric woman to be comfortable firing at her. Dammit, she thought.
Warpcharge thought something very similar as she flew out into the Chicago sky. Searching left to right, she saw no sign of the attacker, only a flock of birds. Realizing Warpcharge was probably no longer needed, she swooped back down to the grounds of her building and used her static powers to carry a bag from her car to the bush she was hiding behind. Rosa's clothing had been disintegrated by the transformation into Warpcharge. Fortunately, the young hero had experienced this before, and anticipated it by preparing a change of clothes.
A few minutes later, Rosa, wearing a similar suit to the one she'd been wearing when she met Mason, ran onto the 4th floor to see Officer Green talking to Mason Simms. The two looked over as the stairwell door opened. Mason was visibly relieved.
"Thank heavens! I thought he'd taken you!" Mason said as Rosa approached.
"He, um, no. You fell asleep but then there was this electric woman that came in through the elevator's emergency exit. She flew me out, and I told her to go back for you but she never did." Rosa did her best to avoid non-verbal clues to give away her lies. Officer Green might have studied such details.
"Your glowing friend got caught up in a weird firefight between me and the Siphon guy," Officer Green said, gesturing through the broken window. "Both of them went out that way."
Siphon. Rosa mulled the name over in her mind. It was a good a name as any, she supposed.
Looking at her watch, she realized her new client was about to arrive. I'd better catch him downstairs and see if he wants to reschedule or meet somewhere else. I'm guessing the police will have this floor locked down for a while, my office included. Rosa turned to leave.
"Hey, we need to get your statement," Officer Green called out.
"Can you have someone take it in the lobby? I'm waiting for a client," Rosa paused by the stairwell door. Green nodded. Rosa turned, but was stopped again, this time by Mason.
"Can I call you?" he asked.
Well, Rosa thought, this might have potential. She walked out the door and shouted back "Call my office!"
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