Days at the Connors pizzeria were long and rather boring.

That's what Lucy Connors thinks as she taps her pen against her notepad, as she watches the last of the customers file out after their evening meal. She went to collect the bill, taking the money and counting it. "Thank you, come again!" the young waitress called out as the couple left. When the door shut, she was irritated to know that they didn't tip. Of course they didn't tip, the man had complained that they made too much pizza, in a pizzeria.

"Ass." she grumbled, placing the money in the till. Yeah, this was her family's place but it didn't mean she didn't need the money. In fact, she really needed the money.

Being a superhero wasn't cheap.

Okay, she's exaggerating, she's not a superhero per se. She's lucky she's even able to stop low level street crime. She's more of a vigilante, someone who's decided to take the law into her own hands. With that, comes costumes and high tech gear and a lot of spending money Lucy does not have. So, being a crime fighter isn't cheap in the slightest. As she flips the sign on the door from open to closed, Lucy thought about the night months previous, when she first started, and the fractured jaw someone had nearly given her if not for her powers. In one moment, the criminal was throwing his fist at her face, and in another found that his fist was now meeting concrete.

From behind him, Lucy had whistled, leaning against a wall. "You have got to work on your aim, man."

"How did you-?" the man asked, panting through the pain of shattering his knuckles against the wall.

"Get over here?" she finished for him. "Simple, really, but a magician never reveals their secrets."

Lucy blew a piece of her hair, loose from the messy ponytail it once resided in, away from her forehead. She was telling a half lie, she couldn't reveal how she'd gotten away from him because she didn't know either. It was just the way it's always been. Ever since she was little, Lucy was always able to go somewhere faster than the eye could blink. If she could visualise it, she could go there. It came in handy for mundane things, like working here. If ever she needed to be doing two things at once, this teleportation thing improved her ability to multitask superbly. It was a godsend when a delivery needed to be brought to a house and the restaurant was packed.

But on a Tuesday night, the restaurant didn't get that much traffic. The odd couple came in, maybe a few deliveries here and there but other than that, Connors Pizzeria was a desolate area. Thank god summer vacation was nearly two months away, that was when Ella came home from college and she had some backup for the crazier months. She was already dreading tomorrow. It seemed in the later months of the year, her chemistry and math teacher seemed to pile on the work. It wasn't even May yet and Ms. Daniels had warned her class of an important maths test. A test that, according to her, would make or break them come sophomore year. Lucy had absolutely no idea what she meant by that, she just knew it wasn't good.

Her head was already in her arms on the table of the till, groaning loudly. School sucked, it really did. Her nana had always told her that high school wasn't anything like middle school. Things change and you acclimatise very quickly. Lucy was still waiting for all of that to happen.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the shrill, clear ring of her phone. Any other time, she would've ignored it, but she knew that ringtone. Her best friend had programmed the Friends theme song as her own special ring tone. Sarah was ringing her, and nowadays that meant something a lot more important than girl talk.

"Sarah, what's going on?" she asked the minute she hit accept. Already, she was untying her uniform and hanging it up.

"No, uh uh, I'm not answering you until you say it."

"Seriously?" Lucy grunted, turning off the lights.

"Not answering."

Pressing her lips into a thin line, the girl took her phone away from her ear to ram against her forehead, her face contorting into a look of frustration. Sarah was her best friend, her partner in crime, but this whole thing she was trying to get them to do was a bit annoying. But, lives may be at sake, so she sighed, trying it again. "What's the sitch?"

There was a giggle on the other end of the line. "Ha ha! Now we really are a team!"

"No, we're a child and someone whose trying to save Queens."

"Yes," there was a pause. "Wait, which one am I?"

"Oh, Sarah!"

"Right, right! My mom's police scanner said there's a robbery in progress on 27th street on Park." sound of keys typing away came through the phone. "I've send the location to your phone so you Flicker you way there."

Lucy couldn't help but grin at the term she used. Flicker, the news called her, when she first started showing up on the streets. It made sense, Sarah said when she first saw her use her powers, she flickered and then disappeared. However, she was becoming old news, despite still trying to keep up. Between school and her job, being a hero was taking a backseat. This was the first time Sarah called her about anything like that in a few weeks.

"Any casualties?" she asked, running up the fire escape to her room.

More typing, Sarah investigating. "No, not that they know of. God, you know, the NYPD need better security protocols, it is stupid easy to hack into them."

That made Lucy halt. "You did what?!"

"I'm encrypted, they can't trace or track me."

Lucy smirked. "Well done, Virus."

"See! I told you it sounds cool!"

Opening the window in her room, Lucy tried to be as quiet as she could as she turned on the light. "Okay, I'll be two seconds. I'm switching to the ear piece."

"Got it, see you in a few."

Lucy pressed the hang up button, throwing her phone on her bed and began to rummage around in her cupboards. Her suit was here somewhere.

The door to her room creaked open, the small frail body of her grandmother approaching. "Lucy, love, are you home yet?"

The sound of the door had Lucy shut her drawers so fast, her back pressed against them. She relaxed, however, when it was revealed it was her nana. Her nana was nearly blind, but sharp as a tack. Her hearing was remarkable. "Yeah, nana. It's me."

"How was work?"

"Good, good."

"That's good." there was a break in the conversation, where Lucy was practically bursting with the impatience to go out and get to the robbery. "What are you doing now?"

"Just getting ready to go to Sarah's. I'm sleeping over there tonight." She hated lying to her nana. Her nana was one of the only people that could read her like a book, but it seemed she was as oblivious as her parents and sister.

"Isn't it nearly midnight?" Her nana questioned. "And a school night?"

"Mom's opening the shop early tomorrow so she can't bring me to school. Sarah can drive so she offered." she hoped to God her nana didn't delve further into it. Otherwise she knew she wouldn't be able to keep anything from her. "Sarah only lives a few minutes away anyway."

Her nana smiled, nodding along. "Okay then, as long as Laura knows."

"She does!" Lucy answered far too quickly to sound convincing. "She does." this time it was slower, more calm.

"See you in the morning, love."

"Good night, nana." When the door closed, Lucy released the breath she'd been holding and went back into her drawers. Five minutes was all it took to dig out the black and yellow suit. Two minutes to throw it on and zip it up, and not even half a second to put in her earpiece and Flash out of her room.

"Jesus, did you forget how to use this thing?" Sarah said the minute Lucy pressed the ear piece.

"Nana held me up."

"Bless her heart, but you've got bigger problems now."

"What do you mean?" Lucy's stomach dropped.

"Robbery turned hostage situation. Guy's got a 7/11 under his control. He's armed and dangerous."

"When aren't they?" Lucy grumbled.

"Look, just get there. They're saying he's unstable."

"Okay, copy that."

With that, she visualised the convenience store in question and in mere moments, she wasn't anywhere near the Connors residence.

-

When she reappeared, everything intact, she let the ground around her settle for a moment before running to edge of the alley. Red and blue sirens decorated the wall of every building around the 7/11, policemen scattered throughout the street. Readjusting the mask Sarah had gifted her, she pressed her ear piece once again.

"What's going on?"

The mask zoomed in, the vision enveloping in black. The man holding the gun illuminated in yellow. "Three hostages. Two workers, one customer. If I can corner him, I can get him."

"Okay, keep me posted."

Lucy bit her lip as she got herself out of the crouching position and examined the area. There must be a back room in there. A break room or storage room had to be somewhere. She flashed up to the rooftop of the building beside her, to get a better look. Her face lit up when she caught sight of a storage room of sorts, but immediately grew serious when she saw two more workers holed up in there. She had to get in there.

Lucy closed her eyes, thinking of the storage room. The wind picked up around her and when she reopened her eyes, she was met with the disturbed looks of the store cashier. Putting a finger to her lips, Lucy whispered. "What's your name?"

"Jess-Jessica."

"Right, Jessica, is anyone hurt?"

The girl shook her head. "Anyone else hiding in other rooms." Again, she shook her head. "Okay, perfect. That makes things easier."

"Sorry," the cashier asked. "But, who are you?"

"Name's Flicker." she smirked, but it faltered. "You haven't heard of me?" the girls clueless look gave it away. It seemed she hadn't. "Flicker? Vigilante? Able to teleport - no?"

"I don't think so-" Jessica started.

Lucy sighed, her head dropping. "Never mind. I'll be back."

To Jessica, the girl in the skintight black and yellow suit was there one moment, gone the next. The boy on the other side of the room blinked at her, about to open his mouth, when the costumed girl returned, with the two other colleagues of theirs. "Take a sec," she told them. "Your stomachs gonna feel like you were on a rollercoaster."

One of them groaned, confirming what she said. "Alright, time to deal with this guy."

Instead of popping in and out, Lucy decided to take it slow. She crept out behind the cashiers desk, watching the guy shout down the phone, not noticing the two workers were no longer there. The customer was in his vision, so she couldn't get him out of there. He was next to the fresh produce aisle, her eyes floating over the tomatoes. That reminded her, dad needed more sun dried tomatoes for the pizzas. Maybe she could pick up some later, or maybe tomorrow. No, tomorrow she had that tutoring session with a guy in her class. What was his name again? Something Parker—

As she was loosing herself in her thoughts, the guy turned around, stopping in his tracks when he realised his hostages were no longer there. "What the hell?" he frowned.

Shit, she thought, snapping out of it fairly fast, shit, shit, shit.

Before she knew it, he was coming straight towards her. She hasn't time to think before he spotted her. At her temple, his gun cocked. "You're the girl that made me break my hand." he said.

"Hey, there, dude." she said hesitantly. "Fancy seeing you here." She got the butt of his shotgun for not doing what he told her. Blood began to drip down her nose, the taste metallic on her lips. Her nose was broken. Perfect. Her eyes closed, hoping she could end up anywhere in the store that wasn't there, but from the hit to her temple, her mind was fuzzy. Who knows where she could end up.

Thankfully, and yet not so, she ended up somewhere near enough to Sarah's apartment. Her heart sank a bit, knowing that she couldn't help that customer. But with the broken nose and the headache that hopefully wasn't a concussion forming in the side of her skull, what good was she? The police could take care of it, what the hell made her think she could?

"Sarah!" she breathed, pressing her ear piece.

"Save the day yet?"

"Shut up, and look outside."

Sarah knew what that meant, the window she was looking up at opening and the Chinese girl poked her head out. "Oh, god, what happened?"

"Guess I'm....outta practice." She huffed, now spitting out blood from her mouth. "I told nana I was out at your house."

"Okay, are you able to come up without using the stairs?"

Her head was still fuzzy, so she could end up in Hong Kong for all she knew. Seeing her friend shaking her head, Sarah nodded. "Okay, give me a moment."

Lucy waited a few moments, then a little staircase plopped down in front of her. Gingerly, she stepped up to the fire escape, rushing into the bedroom and flopping onto the bed. Lucy tried to hold whatever was left of her nose with her hand, blood gushing through her fingers. Sarah dashed in and out, coming back in with a med kit she gathered from the bathroom. "Sit still, this will sting."

"I can't- argh!" Lucy cried out at the cotton pad touching her nose.

"Shh! My mom may sleep like a rock but my dad doesn't."

Wincing through the pain, Lucy shook her head. "I can't do this anymore."

"What?" Sarah stopped.

"I'm out of practice, I've too much to do. I can't be out at two am chasing criminals anymore."

"But you said-!"

"I know what I said, but Sarah, this isn't working. I'm getting more risk than reward."

"So, what, is that it?" Sarah questioned. "Giving up that easily."

"Not giving up just," she grunted at the feeling stinging her skin. "Taking a break."

"And how long are you gonna take a break for?"

"Until a situation comes about that I can't ignore."

"And you're just going to let Spider-Man take your glory?"

Lucy shot her a look. She had nothing against Spider-Man, it was just that he got a lot of recognition for essentially doing the same thing as she did. Granted, he did it way better than she ever could.

"As long as he's out doing good I don't care." When Sarah gave her the all clear, she laid down on the bed. "Right now, I've got a tutoring session to worry about."

Sarah watched her friend drift off to sleep almost instantaneously with crossed arms. Lucy was spreading herself too thin, what with long hours and not enough sleep for the school day, she's surprised she's still going. Maybe this break was needed. Sophomore year was around the corner, and being a superhero was a lot for a fifteen year old.

Maybe right now, all she needed to worry about was being a kid.

-
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A/N: I don't know about you, but I had fun writing this chapter, mostly because the dynamic Sarah and Lucy have is funny af to me. Sarah is like Lucy's little Penelope Garcia, and I love that so much.

Also, guys, homecoming is coming out in less than a month I am screaming.

Comment, vote & follow! - Emma