Just as Lore started to panic – although, some part of her mind pointed out, he wasn’t hurting her, just … airing her out – she heard a small sputtering from up above, then a shout as Windwalker’s fans and other equipment shorted out momentarily. Grabbing her moment, she quickly summoned a ball of fire and threw it at him, hoping it would at least knock him further off guard and maybe give her time to get away and figure out what the hell to do next, now that heroes were attacking her.

She didn’t have to resort to that, though, because Shadowgirl stepped in and threw what looked like a net made out of darkness on Windwalker, pulling him to the ground and trapping him. He struggled, clearly trying to restart his fans and blow the insubstantial darkness away, but they seemed to have overheated. Lore slowly pushed herself to a standing position and stood back, wondering at how the weightless shadow net was strong enough to keep down the large man.

Shadowgirl was standing over Windwalker and as Lore stepped carefully closer, she caught the tail end of what she was saying to him. “And you’re an idiot, on top of that. She’s not working with me, you big lug, so get over it. You and I both know you despise her because she’s lucky enough to have powers and you have to use your shitty little fans. Get over yourself and don’t be such a jackass.”

Windwalker didn’t exactly reply, instead struggling more and grunting while glaring through the indistinct web at Shadowgirl, who just looked uninterested, her shoulders slumped and her hands relaxed at her hips. Her expression was unreadable, because of her full face mask, but when she tilted her head toward Lore, Lore could almost think she saw a sympathetic smile coming through the dark material.

“I feel for you, kid. He’s an idiot, and at least I’m not on his side, so I can openly hate him. I’ll see you around.” She rose her chin in a salute. “You better get going before Windy McIdiot gets loose.”

Lore glanced between Shadowgirl and Windwalker. He caught her gaze and yelled, his voice muffled, “I know who you are, Firebird! I know you’re only here to destroy the city, and I’m not going to let that happen!”

Tightening her jaw and looking away quickly from the enraged, entrapped hero, Lore quickly rose into the sky, feeling the warmth of her fire spread through her body as it coated her feet and hands. She looked down once, just in time to see Shadowgirl step into some handy nearby darkness and disappear, at the same time as the dark net dissolved into nothingness, allowing Windwalker to burst up and look around wildly, in vain, for his foe.

Lore turned tail and flew toward home, her thoughts roiling and bubbling. She had always known Windwalker was an idiot. That had been one of the main hubs of thought on the SAS forums, after all. She had never dealt with him on a personal basis before, of course, unless she included yelling at him during protests or getting swept up accidentally or on purpose from his attacks and wind bursts. But she had never expected him to – just hate her, accuse her of being a villain.

Was Shadowgirl right? Was he jealous of her powers? There had always been scoffing and speculation as to why only villains had powers in the Puget Sound, but the Everymen had always been loud advocates of the idea of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Even Lore had been convinced that they, at least, didn’t think they needed powers to do what needed being done. But maybe, on some level, Windwalker felt inferior to those heroes with powers? Did he really just fight Shadowgirl because she had powers, like the villain had suggested? Lore didn’t know what to think. She had to talk to Jack.

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Excerpt from the sermon of Rev. James Whiddle, pastor of the Green Lake Presbyterian church.

As we all know, Jesus has given each of us unique talents and gifts, through the Holy Spirit. In Acts, after Jesus leaves His apostles, we see the apostles in the upper room, hiding and terrified, and then the Holy Spirit sweeps in like a tongue of flame, alighting on each of the brothers and sisters, inspiring them to go out into the streets and speak of Jesus’s works, converting thousands of people to Christianity.

Every one of us has gifts and talents, because Christ calls us to do the same. He wants us to go out and do his work, so He equips us with the tools we need to do that. We’ll never come up against something Jesus hasn’t prepared us for, even if we don’t quite realize that at the time.

Now, I know everyone’s been talking non-stop about this new hero in town, in our little part of Seattle, Firebird. I think she’s a blessing, and we can all be sincerely grateful to have such a protector working for us. Those among us who are called to be heroes, whether they have powers like Firebird, or if they’re inclined toward vigilantism like our beloved Everymen, we must applaud these people for they do great things.

But is important to remember that we are all capable of doing great things, even if we can’t create fire or work a jet pad. Christ has called these specific people to do specific things, and given them very obvious tools. Their lot in life is easy to discern, even if it seems extremely hard to act out. It is the rest of us who must pray and think on and pray some more to see what gifts and talents the Holy Spirit has given us.

I invite us now to bow our heads and pray for God to enlighten us as to what path he needs us to journey down and how we may do His will.