[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/SxoaK9n.png[/img][/center][hr]Horns blared in the rising morning heat. The gridlocked Baltimore downtown wasn’t the natural result of bad urban planning, but the unfortunate side effect of a big rig having been overturned, the exhausted driver having failed to hit the exit properly and crumbling a divider, spilling out the contents in the form of dry retail groceries. Police had stopped the freeway as they attempted to get a tow truck to maneuver the trailer out of the way, but it was going to be hours before the situation was resolved, and tensions were running high.

Traffic officer Edward Treant was starting to get a headache from all the cars wailing, the smog buildup an irritant thrown onto the pile. He was as sick and tired of all of this as anyone. He wanted it to be over, he wanted to go home, get some ice cream, and catch up to House of the Dragon. He thought about the big man up in Metropolis, the Central City blur, and envisioned himself waving away this problem some how. Pulling out a pen, he pressed it between his fingers as hard as he could.

Nope, still a normal human. But it didn’t hurt to check, right? Every so often. Just in case.

Pulling out his phone to try and check a couple things, turned away from the road so as to not aggravate anyone more than he already had, his meandering was interrupted by the screech of metal against asphalt. His phone clattered to the ground as he turned about, stepping back as he feared a fed up driver had tried to push past only to hit something else, eyes shooting wide as he realized that the big rig had started to lift from the ground. Ed’s mouth hung open as he watched it float, moving off of the roadway and onto the shoulder, more goods spilling from the trailer. The driver, mercifully unhurt and loitering nearby, waved his hands without rhyme or reason, about as lost as anyone. Then, Edward saw a figure in green and gold with flowing red hair, flying above, her eyes locked down on the truck as it moved. In less than a minute it had been moved completely, safely out of the way. Then the foodstuffs and goods shivered and rose, similarly floating out of the way. Everyone in sight watched with jaws on the ground.

Once the way was clear, Ed managed to find his composure again, heart leaping as he felt freed from this whole mess. “Alright, let’s get things moving again!” he called to his peers, who joined him in resuming the flow of traffic.

“Can you put it on it’s wheels?” The driver called out to the flying woman.

[color=e7745b]“Oh! Yeah, sorry!”[/color] she responded, waving her hands in motion to keep away. The truck hovered up again with another scraping sound, slowly revolving before parking itself the right way up. With its side mirror missing and unknown damage done, it wasn’t going to be moving for a little while, but at least he had a place to sit in more shade while he waited for transport. After a little more cleaning, she floated down to where Ed was. “What was that, telekinesis?”

She gave a smile tinged with apprehension and embarrassment. [color=e7745b]“Yeah, uh, the name’s Firebird.”[/color]

“I’ll throw it into the report. You were a big help today, and it’s good to know that heroes are doing more than just fighting terrorists and nutjobs. I mean that’s good and all but, you know, the little guy needs help too, not just banks being robbed.”

[color=e7745b]“I was in the area, so...”[/color] She had an awkwardness as she turned to the road, a number of rubbernecks slowly coasting by with eyes and phone cameras on her. She gave a little wave, Ed noting her nervousness and reddening cheeks.

“You local?”

[color=e7745b]“Oh, yeah, I was trying to get home but the bus was stopped, so I thought, well, I have my costume! As good a time as any.”[/color]

“I mean, keep up the good work.”

[color=e7745b]“It’s just, I gotta show the world, you know? That maybe a mutant with a conscious isn’t that rare!”[/color]

Ed’s chest tightened at the mention of Firebird being a mutant. He kept it from showing on his face, but he noticed her demeanor shift anyway. He knew it was wrong to feel that way, it’s not like anyone could control whether or not they were a mutant, it mattered that they took their inhibitors and kept themselves under control, and this lady was not. This kid, honestly. She couldn’t have been out of her 20s. But that she had been using her powers made Ed’s day going forward look a whole lot brighter, even if he was left with a sunken feeling he couldn’t shake.

She added. [color=e7745b]“Sorry. You saw the Stark thing?”[/color]

“Yeah, uh, you heard about what happened to them right?” Her expression went quizzical. “Stark died in an accident I think, or they think, and Trask has been missing for a while. A lot of his systems have been fucky.” He grabbed his phone off the ground and held it up to illustrate his point.

Firebird clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide. [color=e7745b]“Oh...oh my god! I...oh, I haven’t been following the news lately. I didn’t know!”[/color] Hands moving to the sides of her temples, she let out a long breath. [color=e7745b]“Oh that’s embarrassing,”[/color] Eyes starting to find focus, she added, [color=e7745b]“I thought my Google docs were being weird yesterday.”[/color]

Ed shrugged, pretty sure Trask didn’t work for Google. “It happens.” Giving a nod, he suggested, “Anyway, you should probably get going.”

[color=e7745b]“Oh, right. Uh, k-keep up the good work, officer!”[/color] With a sloppy salute, she took to the air once more, slipping off into the horizon and eventually passing out of sight. Ed let out a long sigh of his own. He himself was a member of ‘Baltimore’s finest’, but now his home city had a hero of its own: a child with too much power and no idea what she was doing. But dammit her heart was in the right place. Ed cold only hope it stayed that way.