02| New Freak in Town

" Is she homeless? " The faint sound of an adolescent voice stirred her awake. He mumbled an incoherent sentence, and briefly, Reyna fell back into unconsciousness. A small nudge to the back of her ribs caused her to turn over onto her back completely. Her clothes continued to soak against the grainy black pavement as the two young boys spoke above her.

" Should we call the cops?" This voice was different but still unsure. He sounded more afraid than the last one, and this was enough to cause her ocean eyes to flutter open. 

" There sure is a lot of blood around her, are you sure she's still alive? "

One of the kids snickered at the comment, while the other warily took a step back as he watched Reyna shift against the uneven ground. Her limbs were heavy, and she could only lift them for a few seconds at a time. The thinning pool of blood beneath her had settled into the pavement below her, but some had been absorbed into the clothes she was wearing. The crimson liquid clung to her skin, creating a sticky vat of her own fluids as she tried to push herself up and out of.

With an undead skin tone and deep violet circles under her eyes, she was understandably terrifying. The outline of her lips still holding a thin blue tint as she began to methodically beath in-and-out. Finally bringing much-needed air into her body and giving her enough strength to try and grasp her surroundings.

At first frightened, the two young boys clutched onto their worn street bikes, unsure whether to make a quick escape or stay, Reyna finally spoke, easing their nerves some. At first, it was a weak rasp, but as she focused and swallowed, she could finally get the words out, " Water. "

They were quick to help her but were hesitant to get too close. With a quick look around, Reyna realized it was just a while before dawn, and the sun hadn't quite come up yet. They'd let her have part of a power drink they had on hand, not accepting the token back as Reyna offered to give the bottle back to them.

" Hey, Miss.. You okay? " One of the boys asked while suspiciously looking down at her. The other was much more blunt, stepping forwards and asking her if she'd killed someone. Reyna was still laying on the pavement but had inched herself up enough that she could see the puddle of drying blood beneath her. Slowly and unsure of herself, she pulled back her soaked shirt. Peeling it off of her skin, she was shocked to see no bullet wound. It was understandable that they were hesitant to be near her, there was enough blood beneath her that it looked like a crime scene.

Her brows furrowed as she began to replay the scene that seemed like months ago, the sketchy thief at the conveniene store, the gun-happy store clerk, and the hole in her chest that you could toss a. golfball through. It was surreal, because there was no damage at all, and in fact, the old scars she had from being in ARGUS were gone too. It was as though she had been given a different body, and woken up in someone else's blood.

Both boys were now on their feet, staring down at her suspiciously. She was covered in blood and had no injuries, she knew how this looked. The streets were starting to get busy, and she was thankful that they had found her when they did, or she may have gotten run over.

She was sore as hell, and her body was intact but she did feel like she'd been flattened by a semi. As she got up, something metal fell from her clothes, and it was then that she noticed the two inch-sized hole in her shirt. One of the boys picked up the metal to examine it.

" You bulletproof, lady?"  One of the boys spoke quietly to the other, and Reyna peeked over to them and tried to smile, not knowing how she could possibly be alive.

___

She was one of them. One of those, those things that had been seen terrorizing the City. One of those super beings.

" Fucking great. "

Reyna closed the door to her apartment, and let her body rest against it. She sulked for a moment, briefly remembering when the particle accelerator went off. There was so much panic, so many people screaming, and then it all went quiet.

Some had been affected, some hadn't. She hadn't even been in Central City for a full month before the accelerator went off. Just when she wanted to settle into something more normal, something like this happens.

Reyna sluggishly pushed herself off of her front door and began to undress slowly, one article of clothing at a time. She walked through her apartment, throwing the stained, filthy articles to the floor, and by the time she made it to the bathroom she was naked.

She stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom for a moment, stretching this way and that, trying to see if maybe she missed the bullet wound. There was nothing. No wound, no scars, only the red tint on her skin from laying in her own blood for so long.

Curiosity had gotten the best of her, and after eyeing her razor, that was on the side of her sink in front of her, she took a leap of faith. Reyna reached down and snatched up the razor before lining it up along her forearm and running it to her elbow. Her face twisted and cringed, as she began to immediately regret her impulsive decision.

She dropped the razor and tried to use her free hand to stop the bleeding, but she didn't have any clothes on to hold the flow of blood. She was standing naked in her bathroom, trying to keep the blood that was running down her arm, from pooling on the floor below her.

She didn't have time to think. She quickly jumped into her shower, and mentally cursed herself out. Reyna cupped her elbow, letting herself relax against the wall of her shower, trying to remember everything that had happened, but after the clerk's shotgun had gone off, everything had gotten hazier and hazier. The moment she stopped the shower, she quickly reached out and for a towel. If she didn't act quickly, she was going to bleed over every inch of her bathroom.

She exited the shower quickly and snatched a towel from her side cupboard, and immediately put it over the wound. She carefully stepped over the blood that was on the bathroom floor and exited to her bedroom.

Reyna's five ft six body was lean from years of training and being on the field, and her normally dark hair, was temporarily a platinum blonde. Her roots were coming in badly, and she knew she needed to keep up with her new appearance, but she loved her dark hair so much. ARGUS had agents everywhere, and the less she looked like herself the better.

She sat down on her bed, her skin still damp with the water she had just finished running from, and slowly removed the towel that was keeping her cut from spilling blood everywhere.

Nothing. There was nothing there.

Reyna stared at her arm for almost ten minutes, her wet, tangled hair hanging in her face and clinging to her wet chest and shoulders. She couldn't believe it.

So she could heal really fast? Big deal.

There was always a new story on the news or on the radio about a Metahuman who was super powerful and terrorizing Central City. The Flash and members of Star Labs were famous for wrangling up any Metas that they had found, and locking them away. So as long as she was quiet, and stayed to herself, no one would find out.

Silently she agreed with her internal thoughts and continued to look at the spot on her arm where she'd just cut herself not even an hour ago. She was becoming more and more curious by the minute, but her military experience had taught her about what happens to abnormal civilians. As long as she stayed low and un-noticed she'd be fine.

___

The juice bar that she worked at was pretty busy during the day, and afternoon peak hours, but after that, it died down. Reyna normally would work a later shift, she liked how quiet it was, and the less she had to pretend to be nice to people, the better.

She'd managed to stay low for almost a week when her work building had its entire side-blown into. She stayed hidden while the commotion moved on from her building and to the main street outside her job.

" No-no, nope.." Reyna spoke loudly to herself as she hid under the smoothie counter. If she stayed quiet, this whole thing would be over with-only, it wasn't. Her building got hit again, and this time the entire foundation to the store shook. She tried to ignore it again, and once more the foundation shook.

" Maybe, just a small peek. " Reyna mumbled to herself again, this time dusting off her head and shoulders, as bits of soft debris fell from the ceiling. She shifted from under the counter, to behind it. Another large explosion was set off, but this time the explosion caused the building she was in, to collapse; but that's when someone rescued her.

The man in the crimson suit had rushed in and scooped her up and into his arms. He pulled her from the building just as it was collapsing. The vigilante sat her down onto her feet for a moment before taking off again. By now there were screaming civilians pushing past her, knocking against her shoulders, and screaming for help. Reyna was the only one to push through the crowd and towards the source of the chaos. She now had a good look at who had destroyed her job and was causing so much chaos within Central City. The man was younger, maybe around her age. He had two powerful mitts over his hands, and he was using the mitts to fire supersonic waves at The Flash.

So much for keeping a low profile. Reyna chewed the inside of her cheek and took a backstep, knowing she didn't belong here.

The soldier in her was beginning to take over. She wanted to step up and help, but she remembered what had happened last time, and she didn't feel like getting shot. The scene unfolded in front of her, and the moment she watched The Flash get his feet knocked out from under him, her stomach turned.

" And do what.. heal yourself? " She whispered to herself, ironically. If she did have to have a practical superpower, she would have rather of gotten something more destructive. Instead, she was left with being the healer. Fantastic.

The Flash was blasted again, but this time he was within range of her. It was almost ten at night, her shift would have been almost over and most of the screaming people in the area had evacuated. She knew the odds of someone getting hurt was low, but they were in a City after all. Someone was bound to get killed. But here she was, ex. ARGUS, hiding from her former life and trying to keep a low profile. She couldn't explain why she had stayed, at least not logically. But she had to try and help.

The man with the metal mitts was taunting The Flash, and Reyna had noticed that The Flash was having a difficult time getting up.

" Not so fast without those legs, are YOU!? "

The man with the mitts was speaking loudly enough for her to hear, and he couldn't help himself from laughing.

"Time to be stupid, " Reyna spoke to herself, taking a reassuring breath, she rushed forward against the pavement, not sure what she could do but knowing she needed to do something.

" GET SOMEWHERE SAFE! "

His voice shook past her, and he looked shocked at how little she gave a shit. She wasn't going anywhere. Reyna quickly moved her hands down to him, and then to his legs. The man with the mitts was taking his time walking over to them, spewing something about his destiny.

"It's not safe here! "

The Flash yelled in her ear again, and again she didn't budge. Keeping a cool head in stressful situations had become second nature to her.Reyna tried to remember the sensation she'd felt after she'd gotten out of the shower last week. It wasn't so much a feeling, as it was a pull.

Maybe she could help him in some way.

The man with the Mitts was almost onto them, and The Flash had practically gone horse from constantly yelling at Reyna.

She moved her hands to his knees, briefly making eye contact with him for a moment.

He winced at her touch, as a pain shot up through him.

" I'm going to clean this world of people like you, people who think they're too good to walk among regular people. "

Reyna tightly gripped The Flash's knees, making eye contact with him only once more as she closed her eyes and imagined the sensation she had felt before when she had hurt herself.

Both men around Reyna stopped in their tracks as a warm, bright golden light began to smolder from the spots where Reyna was touching The Flash, and within seconds he was on his feet and bolting around her.

She'd gotten lost for a moment in the red blur that kept circling her, and noticed that her hands were bleeding.

Her hands ached and there was a Crimson smear that was covering her palms, she knew this time, this was her own blood. For the first time since the robbery a week ago, she was feeling weak. Reyna's breathing became more labored and she only had enough strength to look up one last time to see him.

The Flash reached down to help her up, but Reyna's body was too exhausted to respond, and she passed out.