Beholder of the eyes

'superpowered and mutant citizens wanted

103 Corona Ave. 4pm-6pm. Monday to Friday

For research for the genetics of superhumans and the ability to splice their DNA for medical cures. Inquire within the building at the allotted time and receive a $500 cash reward for your time. '

The ad had been simple enough when she first found it. Fallen from a postboard in a bus station Shuriken had read it first in the dark. She didn't think much of it, but the New York Ninja had a tendency to keep track of help wanted signs, and now quick cash. As she heard one of the thugs she had taken out groaning as he exerted himself in getting back to his feet, the shadowy woman snapped a quick picture before jolting back into battle. As gunfire popped and a flashlight exposed the blur of the woman retreating to cover, the strange note had been forgotten as quickly as she saw it. Chie moved to toss a shuriken at her assailant, but as she grasped for her weapon, it was gone.

"Shit"

The screeching of a train's engine called the gunman and Chie to attention, and she knew this was her escape. Chie sprinted, weaving through pillars for cover in the dark. She had taken out the lights, but that had been the last of her throwing stars! As the whining engine of the train grew closer, Chie pressed on faster and her heart pounded harder. At the edge of the rails she leaped and jumped the gap seconds before the train came barreling into place. She didn't look back, instead, she kept running.

The clock ticked suspiciously low in the last class of the day. All the work was and the teacher was content with holding the student's ransom with a droning recap of the arithmetic they had studied that day. Chie was exhausted and her legs were still sore from all the running she had done the night before. The frustration was etched on her face, as it had the whole day. Beyond the monotony in the classes the nagging pain, and even the fact she had lost her culprit, she had used the last of her shurikens. Now she was scrolling through all the pictures of help wanted signs she had accumulated—most of them were too dark and blurry on her phone.  As she came to the note she had seen before, a familiar voice sturred her from her stupor.

"I went the other day, totally worth it" Marissa whispered from Chie's side.  

Chie's initial reaction was to hide her phone. No one was supposed to know about her alter ego. Marissa always seemed to know more than she let on. Once again her fellow athlete had more knowledge about the world of superhumans than she did. Letting out a sigh of relief, Chie nodded.
"Good to know" She added meekly under her breath.

The teacher glared at them and began to turn his ire towards them before the bell interrupted. Even if he wanted to yell, students blocked his path, and the clamor of rowdy students eager to leave blotted out their words. Marissa stood up with her usual smirk.
"What is your power anyway? Superstrength? Speed? Is that why you can outrun me?" She asked with an obnoxiously present sense of sarcasm.
"Sorry, that's confidential" Chie replied as she looked at the picture one more time.

The walk from the train station was short, but looking at the hall of science in the distance reminded her why she was there. A shiver ran up her spine when she felt the gelid wind's icy bite, it had gotten much colder since she left the school. She pressed on, pulling her jacket shut as she counted the street numbers. The location looked mundane, but as Chie entered she knew this was a scientific facility. The air was refreshingly warm but sterile, reeking of cleaning chemicals. The floor was marble and shined to a sheen, and the lights were blaring. As Chie entered, the young man at the front desk greeted her with a pleasant smile.

"I'm Chie Jordan, I scheduled an appointment for 5 o'clock"

The man nodded and looked back to their computer, typing away momentarily. If Chie had been particularly observant she would have noticed that the man wasn't using their computer and was putting on a front.

"Jordan you said? You're 20 minutes early. Go on and have a seat over there while I get some paperwork for you to fill out." He smiled as he pointed to the small waiting area with coffee and treats.  

The paperwork was the usual fair of legalese that ensured Chie was 18 years old, consented to be studied, and had an agreement on pay. The only detail that stood out was the section covering the confidentiality of secret identities. While staying in line with the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, this office will maintain complete and utter discretion when working with those operating under a secret identity regardless of hero or villain status. Furthermore, due to the nature of publishing breakthroughs in medicine, you hereby consent to appear before a panel of experts to testify to the integrity of the research if needed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Wanting checked over the numbers for what felt like the hundredth time. Dealing with material that was merely theoretical was a hassle as it was all guesswork for make-believe results. The only way to know if you were correct was to test it but when the material potentially could explode in nuclear fission, you had to take it slow and think of how it could all go wrong.

He felt a buzz in his head, informing in that his 5 o'clock had arrived. With a thought, he muted it. He was still surprised with how successful this venture was. When he set up a clinic to study powers, he expected far fewer people to risk exposing themselves by showing up. He thought for sure people would want more than $500, but he supposed when dealing with people who risk their lives every day saving strangers, that they wouldn't be rational people.

He laid himself on a medical slab and released. His soul covered hundreds of miles in seconds. In what felt like a blink for him, he was opening a new pair of eyes in the back office of the clinic. He flexed his fingers as his soul settled into its new shell.

'Time to see if this one is faking powers.' He mused.

Several times he has had his time wasted by con artists and charlatans who think they can fake being special to get an easy $500. Had it not been for the paper trail it'd cause, he would have killed them.

Stepping into the reception area he saw his newest study. Some young girl, couldn't be older than 18. This didn't bode well since most kids were usually more hassle than they were worth.

"Chie? I can see you now." He motioned for her to follow. If she followed he would do the usual routine of checking her weight, blood pressure, etc, before leading her into a surprisingly spacious office where he took a seat at his desk.

He flipped through her file, not that he needed to. He already knew everything about her. Family, school, and colleges she applied to, her suspicious amount of school abscesses. Still, he had to keep up appearances.  Setting her file aside he looked at her.

"Thank you for coming in Ms. Jordan. My name is Dr. Malcolm. Hopefully, we can work together to help those in need. Today will be a bit longer than a usual appointment but you'll get a check for $500 when we're done."

He glanced back at her file.

"You said you have "Inhuman accuracy." Would you mind explaining that in a bit more detail? Such as when you discovered this ability, does it get better with use, if other family members have it, and why you believe this isn't just being talented or skillful. Anything you think is relevant."

He gave her a soft smile as he waited for her to speak.

As the young man clicked his mouse and idly tapped his keyboard in front of her, Chie kept a judiciously polite smile. Her eyes lingered on his own, and she struggled not to react when she saw the reflection of the computer screen against his glasses. Nothing was opened, and the computer’s default wallpaper was exposed like a blank canvas. The man pointed her to a set of seats and handed her some convoluted paperwork that she blindly signed with a pen she had on her. Once she had handed it in, she was left alone in this eerily silent waiting room. The silence as she sat alone with the quiet man did bother alone, but coupled with dark clouds congregating in the sky outside and the strangeness from before, Chie was left somewhat unnerved.

Her cellphone saved her from her growing unease, and after replying to a group chat blowing up with baffling memes and random banter, Chie heard a door open and looked up. He was a toe-headed man, clean-shaven with bright eyes. Before he even spoke she could tell from his scrubs and jacket that this was a doctor. She rose from her seat and stuck her phone into her jacket pocket as he called out her name to an empty room.

Wordlessly she entered the room he beaconed her into, another spaciously decorated office much to her surprise. She was expecting a hospital table, but instead, a large desk stood between her and Malcom. Her suspicions were rising but she kept a level head, especially when Malcom reminded her of the prize: a crisp, clean five hundred dollars. More specifically, another batch of justice-delivering shurikens.

Malcolm’s questions began to rise questions Chie hadn’t dwelled on long. How did she know she wasn’t just a badass? As she dwelled on the question silently for a moment she finally answered him back.
“Well, the first time I learned other people can’t see in the dark. It’s gotten better with time though. My mom taught me how to throw knives and I can hit the center without trying” She said finally, her eyes searching over the room as she searched her mind for words.
“I can’t say for sure if it’s a power, but I’ve got to say I’ve never seen another person who’s able to do either of those things” She concluded casually. She shrugged as she pondered out loud.
“I don’t know, Mom never mentioned any of this, and neither did my brother. I just can’t explain it”

He jotted and scribbled down on his clipboard as Chie answered his questions. As Chie finished he nodded and gave her a relaxed smile.

"That's alright if you are not sure about these questions but I would like you to ask your family about it if we end up doing a follow-up. Hereditary and mutation are 2 very different things to research."

He flipped the page on his clipboard before resting it on his desk.

"There will be more questions later but I'd like to see if your ability is supernatural or just talent. If it's talent then I can't do much more than congratulate you on your hard work and send you on your way."

He looked under his desk and pulled out several objects. darts and board, a projector, and a push button.

"I've made 4 tests for today that should help us figure out what your limits if any but we'll add in 1 more since you said you can see in the dark. These tests should be quite difficult if not impossible for non-powered people so it is alright to fail at them or need to take a break."

He grabbed his clipboard again and rapidly jotted down a series of words and numbers before placing it face down in front of Chie.

"The human eye takes roughly 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to darkness but if you can see in the dark it should be near instant. I'm going to turn off the light for a minute and you'll have that time to look at what I wrote and tell me what you see. 5 lines in total. You can start as soon as the lights go out."

He got up and flicked the light switch leaving the room in utter blackness. If Chie can see what's on the clipboard she will see...

1. Burgle Swat Mobile
2. Henry 520221
3. Vignette Autumn Breeze
4.
5. 331-675v-Hodway Drive

Each line was written in different font and sizes.

After a minute he turns the lights back on while also secretly turning on the UV lighting. The lighting wasn't anything powerful like those of tanning beds but enough to be noticeable if she could see ultraviolet wavelengths. He doesn't say anything about this and leaves it up to her to notice. If she does he will nod and ask her what it looks like before turning it off.

The next test has Chie throwing darts at a board. It starts normally, having her try to hit the bullseye before getting more challenging. She will have to hit only the outer score sections of the board until she hits them all without fail. If she can do that the final challenge would be to repeat this while the board starts to spin rapidly.

The test after involves the projector showing her extremely brief slides randomly. She will have to copy down what she saw from each slide with each slide being more brief than the last to the point that it is 1/1,000,000 of a second.

The last test focuses on Chie's reaction time. Similar to the prior test, Chie will need to press the push button as soon as the projector screen flashes white but not press it when it flashes red. The speed of the flashes starts slow but by the end, it's over 150 flashes per minute. She will score better the faster she can press and the more accurate her presses are.

During this time, Wanting is observing her and recording the results. At first, he will not seem to care that much but if Chie keeps passing the tests she will notice he is watching her with more intensity. Like he is examining a new tool instead of a person.

Chie could see the clipboard with ease, and as soon the words were presented to her she began to read them off perfectly. The UV Light did not seem to affect her, as she seemed to simply be waiting for the next test. Once the next test room was prepared, Chie moved on none-the-wiser to the fact that she had failed one of her tests.

Chie more than made up for it with the throwing darts. Each each of her throws hit their mark perfectly on standing targets and in such quick succession that she hardly took any time to aim. The whole movement seemed rehearsed and effortless to her. She had to focus a bit more on the moving targets but even then she threw her darts quickly, and while not clearly as on target she was off by centimeters at best, teetering on the borders of the target. Chie felt pleased with her results here and she saw Dr. Malcom was too but he wasn't smiling. He had a gleam in his eye she could only describe as greed.

Chie's results on the next test were equally as apparent. Her ability to see things moving at inhuman speeds had already been tested and honed in battle, and so she could keep up with her eyes faster than her pencil and she began to forget slides with how many she had seen. Her eyes weren't infallible either, towards the very end of the test she failed to keep up as well.

Her reaction time was exceptional, once again teetering on the inhuman scale. It was once again only when she became bombarded by hundreds of flashes in one set did she started to slip up, less because of her reaction to them but more so because of fatigue as by this point the strain on her eyes was giving her a minor headache. Malcom had seemed interested in his cold, sterile way. She couldn't help but feel like she had given him something worth far more than her proposed reward. Like she had sold him her soul. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her head, an urge to leave urgently.

"So... what do you think doc?" She asked hoarsely.

"So... what do you think doc?" She asked hoarsely.

He was sitting at his desk, scribbling away at a now sizable pile of notes as he looked up to Chie with a look of contentment.

"I believe you are extraordinary from what I've seen today and I am confident your abilities go beyond mere talent. But...I can see that you are tired. Why don't we take a break, 15 minutes or so?"

He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out 2 granola bars and a Gatorade.

"Here, for your hard work." He smiled before turning back to his stack of notes with a thoughtful look.

"Go on and take your break. The bathroom is down the hall towards the right if you need it. When you return we can review your test results and discuss what we want to do next session if you are still up for that."

When Chie leaves, Wanting starts to transfer his notes to his computer at a breakneck speed.

'That girl is truly inhuman, or at least her eyes are. Doesn't seem like she understands how far she is above Olympic athletes with what she can do. Hand-eye coordination is incredible, reflexes are near perfect, tracking and speed of recognition are also extremely high. The only real limit she seems to have is the stress of usage. Towards the end, she was becoming sloppy. True, I was barraging her with extremely fast images but still, her mind might not be able to keep up with her eyes in the long term.'

He paused mid-keystroke as his eyes became vacant. His soul was far away from the clinic before his eyes regained the part of life.

'I wonder if I should talk to her about her being a super...'

The odds of Chie being a super was fairly high in Wanting's opinion. Firstly, watching her play darts, she adopted a stance more for combat than what you would expect from a professional dart thrower. She was on the balls of her feet, knees slightly bent, arms raised defensively, as if she was ready to dodge at a moment's notice. Compare that to the very ridged and stiff posture a professional uses and the difference is night and day.

Secondly, there is her surprisingly large amount of absences from school. While that normally wouldn't point at her being a super, a good amount of them happen in the middle of the school day, almost as if she suddenly needs to leave to do something important.

Lastly, he tries to keep track of the many superheroes and villains that prowl around at night, and of them, there are only about 2 dozen younger female supers, even fewer with Chie's body shape. Of those few, only 2 of them have been known to throw things, some newcomer named Shuriken and a villain named Ricochet.

He tapped a finger on his chin as he looked up images of both supers. There wasn't much on Shuriken other than some blurry photos or grainy security footage of her in dark ninja-like clothing and while there were more public photos of Ricochet, she hadn't been seen in the last few years so it wasn't the most up-to-date.

Yes, he was fairly confident she was one of these 2. The only question is if he wanted to pursue that and see what happens. In the end, he decided to wait and see how she was after going over her results.

The fatigue her powers had given her before seemed to dissipate when the doctor gave her his verdict. Youth was an asset to her, even if her headache had seemed like a burden to her results before a bit of incentive went far in helping her restore her mental stamina. She waited with bated breath as he opened the drawer, expecting her paycheck, but the giddy shine in her eyes dissipated when he delayed her payment and instead offered a snack. He wanted another appointment. She felt cheated, expecting this to be a quick money grab. As long as he was paying, though, she didn’t care if he wanted 100 appointments.

"here, for your hard work"

His smile felt off, perhaps in a way only her honed eyes could see. It was rehearsed but certainly not something this doctor’s face was accustomed to contorting to. The smile was fleeting and as the doctor returned to robotically analyzing his notes her thoughts on the doctor’s strange mannerisms faded as well. She was here for money, not to critique a stoic man’s smile.

Taking the Gatorade she gladly took the opportunity to take a break. Granola bars were less of an interest to her, though if he insisted she would take them regardless and dump them in the nearest trashcan. Chie took this opportunity to stretch her legs. She walked down the sterilized halls, they were remarkably barren. Aside from perhaps one other person she saw moving from one room to the adjacent room, there was no one else. Occasionally she heard talking from other rooms, but aside from the muffled words behind clinical doors, the only other noise was the buzz of the irritating fluorescent lights and the clack of her shoes on the polished floor. All of this struck her as strange, but Chie pushed her thoughts aside. This was not a conventional clinic, she could not expect the type of hustle and bustle found in a hospital and she had never been in a laboratory before now. For all she knew, this was par for the course.

Chie stopped as she found herself at the end of the hallway, which had looped around back to the front desk. From this angle, the receptionist had not yet noticed her, and she watched him stare blankly into the screensaver on his PC. Silently, she moved back the way she came, pulling out her phone as she hurriedly returned to the doctor. She wanted to be out of here as soon as possible.

Did you get any weird vibes from this place?

Chie sent the message to Marissa, and she looked up just as she nearly bumped right into the same doctor she had seen earlier. He looked at her, flashed a smile, and muttered:
“Excuse me” before brushing past her to return to the other room. Chie didn't think much of it walking by until she realized she had seen him go between these rooms before. She paused for a moment, considering the strange discovery before her attention was brought to her phone.

Nah, why? It was a pretty quick in-and-out

Marissa's response gave Chie comfort. This was a legal place, run by doctors no less. She took this time to swig down the rest of her drink, letting her worries subside and left her questioning if her time as a hero had made her too suspicious of everyone around her. After a few minutes, the doctor leaves the other room. There was nothing in his hands, and she realized she hadn’t seen anything in his hands both times she had seen him before. Taking the same path he moved to the other room, not even bothering to look in her direction. Her curiosity got the best of her and she moved to the door and quietly opened it a sliver, just enough for her magnificent eyes to peer into the room.

It was the exact kind of room to be expected in a place like this, not unlike the room where she had a physical diagnosis and an examination table. The doctor was at a desk typing away like a madman, with no pauses, no hesitation, just an endless stream of words. She could see the document, some incomprehensible science jargon but it checked out. When the doctor turned around and stood up she pulled back and briskly jogged down the hall as he once more returned to the other room. Chie couldn't help but chuckle at her anxiousness, this was just a doctor busy at work.  Walking away she sent a quick text to reply to Marissa.

Must be my imagination

Chie tossed the remains of her Gatorade into the trash as she returned to the office. She couldn't shake her feeling that something was off, but the desire to see her cash work for her was enough to let her ignore it. To a keen eye, they might see her twitchiness, the way she occasionally would look about, but her body language remained calm. As she sat down at the other side of the desk, Chie let her frustrations leave her with an audible sigh and she forced a smile for the doctor. He had been nothing but kind after all, it was the least she could do.

"You look better."

He smiled softly for just a tad too long.

"I've always said that Gatorade and a power bar do wonders for tiredness. You should look into this brand called Stellar Power. It is one of those superhero-sponsored ones and it's quite effective...It would certainly help you with your nightly outings..." He left the words hanging for a moment before speaking again, giving her no time to respond.

He gave a lighthearted laugh.

"But you are not here to talk about sports drinks, you are here for your pay. Fear not, I wrote you the check while you were out."

He reached into his inner coat pocket and produced a cheque to the payment of $750. He slid the cheque across the table to her before reclining back in his chair.

"I threw in a bonus for your hard work today. You may not know it but the amount of people who come in thinking they have powers but are merely gifted or delusional far outweigh those who actually do."

He looked aside in amusement as if he was telling a funny story.

"You truly do have a gift Chie. The way you were able to not only throw but spin or even bounce the objects was nothing short of superhuman, hell, if you had become one, a name I'd recommend something like Ricochet or Curveball."

He paused for a moment before sitting up straight and leaning forward in his seat.

"I want to continue working with you Chie. Your power can help a lot of people, maybe even cure blindness for some. I'd like for you to want to come back here to find out just exactly what is unique about you..."

His friendly smile slowly dropped as he looked at her with seriousness.

"Which is why I'm going to take a risk here and be straightforward with you."

He motioned for her to not get up.

"I know you are one of them, Supers that is. Now, I'm not sure exactly who you are but with how you reacted when I said Ricochet, I'm fairly certain you must be Shuriken."

He stared at her, almost as if he was looking right through her before nodding to himself.

"Yes, that's exactly who you are."

He reassuringly raised his hands.

"Now this might all be shocking to you but please just sit and listen to me for a moment. I'm not going to expose you. That would not help either of us. Instead, I want to make you an offer."

He reached into his coat pocket again and pulled out another cheque, this one in the total of $2000.

"I'd like to support your efforts, whether it's money, advice, or maybe even some connections here and there. All I ask is that you wear a bodycam while you are out there and write me a detailed report every week about your daily ongoing using your power."

He slid the check across the table.

"That's it. That is all you have to do. You'll be doing the same thing you've been doing only with a bit of homework...Now, I'm not asking for you to give me an answer right now. Instead, I want you to go home and think about it."

He shook his head.

"This isn't blackmail either. If you say no then I'll respect that and we can act like nothing happened. I'm offering you an opportunity Chie, not servitude."

He leaned back in his chair and gave her another slightly off smile.

"You can keep the big check. Consider it a gift to make up for dropping this whole thing on you... Thank you for your time today and you are free to go."

Chie returned the smile to the man, though she couldn't fake it nearly as long as he did. The doctor gave her the usual pleasantries and she tried to feign curiosity about the sports drink until he dropped the pretense and mentioned her vigilante work. She had to stop herself from gasping out loud, but her face betrayed her and showed the fusion of fear and surprise at how casually he brought up her secret. She couldn't help but feel indignant at his light-hearted chuckle, to her it was a snicker, a jab at her alter ego.

The feeling of unease that seemed to perpetuate this building and this man crept back to her as he moved the conversation along easily, but the check reminded her what she was here for.  
“It’s nice to know for certain that I do have a power” She replied, she had been curious about this ever since she started her vigilante work.

If the money hadn't won her over it was the praise he gave her. Her heroic feats had largely gone unnoticed, as a ninja tends to be. Her trainer did not treat her as gifted, in that gym Chie was just another super, and among other heroes, she always felt like a weak link. Her pride couldn't let his words touch her, even as she overlooked the name Ricochet.  
” Which is why I'm going to take a risk here and be straightforward with you."

A look of suspicion flashed across her face briefly, Chie couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease at this strange man’s sudden interest in her. Up until now, he had been strictly clinical, almost robotically so.

"I know you are one of them, Supers that is. Now, I'm not sure exactly who you are but with how you reacted when I said Ricochet, I'm fairly certain you must be Shuriken."

Chie's eyes widened in disbelief, she had tried to remain hidden in her outings, but it seemed word had gotten around. Any attempt to hide her thinly veiled facade had crumbled immediately, her reaction told everything he needed to know. Chie was stunned, no one else had been able to guess her persona before and it was firing off every alarm in her head. Chie was frozen, which gave the doctor ample time to calm her down.

His words did well to calm her immediate panic, he was a doctor and the facility had mentioned they would not out heroes or villains alike. Being reminded certainly helped but the fear of anyone knowing was pervasive and refused to leave her. The most importantly-

"How did yo-" She began.

Until he slid her another check, this one astronomically larger than the last, Chie could not ignore that this would be enough for more than just shurikens, and the thought of upgrading her arsenal further enticed her. Once more her naivety and greed quelled her reasonable sense of apprehension. The doctor made a fairly reasonable proposal, one she was ready to take now, albeit apprehensively. She was glad he wanted her to mull over the idea though, and she knew it would be foolish to trust anyone at face value. It would be better to answer him later.

"Thank you, sir, I...." She was shocked to find her throat so dry and took a deep breath to focus her thoughts.

"I just want to know, how did you even know about Shuriken? I've purposefully kept that name under wraps," she said in a halting tone,  timidly inquiring knowing that even if he denied it, he did have blackmail on her. She had to know how she was caught, how else could she hide herself again? Furthermore, she couldn't have her family finding out about any of this. She shuddered at the thought of her father recognizing his daughter on the news.

Wanting thought for a moment. He couldn't just tell her the whole truth, that he stalks his potential clients to gather more information about their personal lives. Her suspicious amount of school tardies and cutting class left a window of time for him to start looking. Combine this with cross-references to her height and body composition to the various vigilantes and well, that's how he knew.

Truthfully he didn't even know Shuriken existed until he tried to connect Chie to a name. She was too new and too small time for him to have noticed otherwise. He had to give her credit in that she had been diligent in not making public appearances. Operating at night, not openly fighting, keeping her head down and in the dark shadows. It was very annoying and tedious to piece together what Shuriken looked like when all you had was grainy CTVs and concussed thugs and panicked victims to work. Still, no matter how much she tried to stay under the radar she was fighting numerous people on a weekly basis. She can't keep that a secret forever from nosey people like himself.

Wanting gave her a knowing smirk.

"Sure, if it helps put you at ease. I'm a doctor specializing in people with weird and incredible powers. It shouldn't be surprising that I have contacts inside that community."

He looked up as if he was trying to think of what to say next.

"You don't stick around for interviews or to talk with the police but it's not hard to guess your hero name...You dress like a ninja and throw shurikens at people. People are going to assume your name is Shuriken or something like that."

He chuckled.

"In any case, you shouldn't worry about people realizing Shuriken exists. You beat up bad guys on a weekly basis. People will talk about that. My best advice is to own it and make an effort to talk with some cops or a reporter or 2. Give people the impression you want them to have of Shuriken as opposed to them coming up with their ideas. At the very least get a working relationship with the police going so they don't mistake you for one of the crazies."

He paused again in thought before nodding slightly.

"Hopefully that answers the question even if it is a bit rambling. Do take your time and think about your answer. I want you to want this, not forced on you like I'm some sort of evil supervillain."

He gave her one last appraising look before waving her off.

The doctor's compliance without falter eased Chie's growing nerves. He made a rational point, and she wondered if perhaps playing a ninja was too on the nose. The thought of rebranding with her newfound wealth excited her enough to disregard that he had danced around the question. It might not have been hard to figure out, but someone had to put the puzzle pieces together.

As he shifted the topic of her public image she mulled it over. She had to admit, clinging to the shadows, hiding from cameras and witnesses alike, all of it made the heroism harder. There was no reward for her, no recognition for her nightly dances with death. While her gut urged her to be weary, she couldn't deny the clear sensibility of his statement.

"I'll try to, doc... but I would still really if this stayed between us for now" She replied shakily. She had sunken one step closer to her family knowing about her powers, about her nightly outings, closer to her deepest fears.

As he waved her off, she nodded in acknowledgment of his parting words. Check in hand she felt relieved to be able to leave. This appointment had become far more intense than she ever could have expected.  She left the building hurriedly, bordering on jogging. it was raining outside now, and the sky had darkened to a dark grey. Not wanting to dally here any longer than she might need to, she jogged her way to the bus station, eager to return to the sanctity of her home. Her eyes darted about as she moved. She felt watched, or more appropriately, known, and it unnerved her in a way her words could not describe. The chime of her phone notifying her of a text snapped her out of her nervousness.

How'd it go?

Chie stared at the text from her friend, unable to think of a proper response. The truth certainly wasn't going to be stated.

Good, guess I have badass superpowers

She tapped her reply into the phone before tucking into the bus station. The entry ticket seemed like a meager stipend now that she had money. She sat in silence for the ride, pondering over her encounter. Where had she gone wrong, how many people knew about the ninja stalking New York's streets? It unnerved her to think her enemies might be able to connect the dots like the doctor had. her phone helped keep her mind off it when it dinged once more.

Haha, still not going to tell me?!

The words where draining, it seemed like everyone wanted know about her secrets now.

Maybe later, sorry

The next day came and went, school was a blur to her. She could hardly focus on the classes with the much more pressing thought on her mind. Her friends were no better at distracting her from the nagging question consuming her mind. She gave them the smiles and laughs it took to keep them complacent. As nerve-racking as her situation was, talking to them would give her no relief.

The next day was easier, partly because she could spend her money. It was nice to reap the rewards of her hard work. There was a sense of pride in her newfound gains. She had earned this, by being a hero and by partaking in the test. Being able to splurge on niceties certainly sweetened the deal for her. She had a rather expensive lunch that day, experiencing the finer side of New York for once. When she went out for her nightly routine she was able to fight properly with her shurikens again, a breath of fresh air and a much-needed change of pace. It left her 'job' bordering on relaxing, at least compared to the stress of a fist-fighting gun.

Three days passed by before Chie had come to her decision. The benefits were undeniable. There was room to negotiate, and the doctor had made it clear he was willing to support her heroics. Partaking in this agreement meant a better ability to help people too, and ultimately she had rationalized that this wasn't a purely selfish decision. She waited until her parents were gone, and even then she found a secluded spot in her room before dialing the number given to her. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind as the phone rang. Just when her nerves were getting the better of her, the phone picked up. It was now or never.

"It's Chie Jordan. Shuriken. I'd like to book a second appointment?"