The End of the Beginning

Alissa dove to her right, holding up the sword in her left hand to deflect the blow as she cut low with the one in her right. She danced backwards as both of Henric's weapons passed inches away from her and cut away several of the ribbons affixed to her armor.
She smiled, knowing that, as long as she moved correctly, they perfectly served their purpose of obscuring her exact location. And that perfect movement was a dance she knew well.

Born With Greatness Thrust Upon Him, Part 1

Prologue


Growing up, I was always a bit ahead of where children my age were supposed to be. I had taught myself to read both English and Spanish before I entered school, and by the time the other kids were starting to learn to read and write in their first language I was working on my fifth.

I never got anything but the best grades in any subject, and would eventually be the valedictorian of my high school class--no contest since I'd had perfect grades all four years.

I was never sick, and never even hurt. I was the star of every sports team I ever wanted to join. There were people who didn't like me, or who dismissed me as a show-off or a glory hound, but none of those people ever knew me well. Anyone who took much time at all to talk to me generally liked me.
I was, to put it simply, good at everything up to and including making people like me despite being good at everything.

This was my normal. I never knew anything else. I never really understood just how different I was from everybody else around me. I never knew just how much my abilities exceeded those of every other person.

A Plea for Help

“Legion of the Extraordinary,” said the bored sounding and staticky female voice, “this is Marissa. How can we aid you today?”

“This is the Babydoll Bruiser,” Anna responded quickly but (she hoped) without any audible note of panic, “in—”

“I’m sorry, the who?” She didn’t sound so much bored now as intentionally nasty. There was sill static, though.

“I—uh—I—I’m called the ‘Babydoll Bruiser’ and I--”

“I do not know of any Legionnaire by that codename, Ma’am. Please provide your full identification number so that I may locate your record.”

“But I’m not a Legionnaire, I’m just—”

“Then just who are you, Ms ‘Babydoll Bumbler’?”

Born With Greatness Thrust Upon Him : Prologue

There's a story my mother told me once when I was a child about when I was a newborn baby. I'm glad she told me, since my own memory of the event was slightly foggy.