I sat in class and watched the clock on the wall. My teacher droned on, monotone to my ears, as he wished us all the best on our summer vacation. I ignored him and shoved my books into my bag. The tinny sound of the bell sounded and I leapt from my seat, heading to the door. I sprinted down the hallway and out the doors before any of my classmates had even risen from their seats. I'll admit that I was a little overzealous about the summer. It was my favorite time of the year.

Out in the parking lot I scanned the rows of cars for that of my father's housekeeper, Miss Spruce.

I spotted the dark blue Cadillac and began walking towards it, slinging my bag over my right shoulder. Miss Spruce stood by the driver's side door shouting at a skinny blonde woman who was sitting in a fancy sports car in the space next to her. I couldn't make out what they were saying as they were at the back of the parking lot, but based on the woman's shocked expression Miss Spruce's final comment was something certainly scathing and possibly insulting. She opened the driver's side door and lowered herself into the driver's seat. Moments later the Cadillac pulled from its parking spot and moved towards me. I stopped and waited for it to reach me.

As the car rolled to a stop in front of me Miss Spruce rolled down the passenger side window. "Hello pet. How was your day?" She asked.

"Fine," I grunted, pulling open the door. "Boring without Myr and Sam. Glad it's over."

"For this year," Miss Spruce laughed.

I rolled my eyes and settled back into the seat. "I would rather not think about summer vacation ending."

She laughed again. The car trundled out of the parking lot and into the road. After a few moments of silence Miss Spruce cleared her throat and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Something she only ever did when she was about to bring up something that was sure to cause a stir.

"I talked to your Daddy today, Cay."

"Did you?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant. "What did he have to say? More instructions?"

"Now pet don't be like that. Your Daddy's just busy with his work," Miss Spruce said.

"He's been busy with one thing or another for the last ten years Miss Spruce," I said bitterly. "What did he want?"

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. My father and I hadn't been on speaking terms since he had missed my birthday. Four years running.

"Well, he wanted to know how school and if you had begun thinking about which university you were planning on applying to-"

"He knows I haven't," I replied spitefully.

Miss Spruce shot me a withering look and continued. "And then he wanted to know if you were free for lunch tomorrow."

I groaned. "So we can sit in awkward silence while we eat overpriced food at some swanky restaurant downtown. No thank you."

"I told him he could pick you up at 11:30 tomorrow."

I groaned and turned up the radio. After a moment I shut it off and turned to Miss Spruce.

"All of a sudden he wants to be my friend? He's so full of it. Why did you tell him I'd meet him for lunch? I'd rather eat a plate full of toenail clippings!" I ranted, my anger swelling as I settled into a brooding silence.

Miss Spruce didn't reply but kept stealing glances of me as she drove the car through the busy streets of Metropolis. Finally we arrived at the house and I was able to escape her worried looks. Unlocking the front door I dropped my bag in the hallway and charged up the stairs to my room.

"Take your pills Cay!" Miss Spruce cried.

"Will do!" I replied, continuing up the stairs.

"What time are you getting home tonight, Pet?"

"Around midnight?"

"How about you knock two hours off that figure and we'll talk," she suggested.

"Eleven sounds good to me, Miss Spruce!"

"Cay I think you'd better check your math."

I laughed and walked into my room, shutting the door behind me. I was meeting my friends Myr and Sam at the Kasma Café downtown and Miss Spruce always had a problem with me staying out late. I fell back onto my bed and stretched luxuriously. The pill bottles on my bedside table caught my eye and I knocked them to the floor with a well aimed kick. I closed my eyes and sighed. My father had always synthesized supplements for me. Apparently I had some sort of protein deficiency. I had taken the chalky blue pills ever since I could remember. I made a mental note to take one when I woke up, deciding to have a nap before going out and then I slipped seamlessly into sleep.

I woke up to the sound of Miss Spruce pounding on my door.

"Caelyn," she cried. "Cay are you awake?"

I yawned and looked at my clock. It read 11:17. I was so late. Sam, Myr and I had planned to meet at 5:00 outside the café. I checked my cell and had thirteen unread messages and six missed calls. Perhaps setting it to vibrate was not one of my brighter moments. I sighed, deciding to ignore them and just show up at the café. I'd make up a believable excuse for my absence on the way over. Myr and Sam had planned to stay there all night anyway. Why would it matter what time I got there?

"Thanks Miss Spruce. I overslept," I yawned. "Couldn't you have come up a few hours ago?"

"Pet, I'm coming in. I didn't come up here so you could go gallivanting off you're your friends. There's something you need to see." She pushed open the door, her face etched with lines of worry.

"What is it?" I'd never seen her look like this. "Miss Spruce what's wrong?"

"I was just watching the news." She picked up the remote for my small TV off the dresser. "And I saw this."

The screen lit up with an image of the SlapCut, only $29.99, but Miss Spruce quickly changed the channel to the Metropolan news station Channel 4. An image of a large burning industrial building filled the screen. Across the bottom the banner read "Explosion at Cadmus Facility causes inferno; two scientists escape unscathed, many feared dead". Miss Spruce and I sat in silence as the news anchor recapped what had happened. A fire had started. The Justice League had shown up. Two scientists had been rescued. Day saved.

'And with the League assembled, you can be sure things have been taken care of,' the news anchor finished. 'Back to you Jay.'

The screen changed to one of a news room and Miss Spruce turned off the set. I sat in stunned silence. My father was one of the head researchers at Cadmus. My father was... My father was dead.

"Caelyn?" Miss Spruce said hesitantly.

Having never met my Father for more than a few hours at a time each year I felt very little upon learning of his death. Miss Spruce was obviously upset, but she knew him far better than I did. I picked up my cell and sent a quick message to Myr saying I wouldn't be able to make it to the café.

"So what do we do now?" I asked throwing my phone onto my pillow.

Miss Spruce sighed her eyes shining with tears. "Well I expect we'll get a call from your Daddy's employers. Pet, I hope you don't feel—"

"I don't," I said, my voice dull.

I stared down at the carpeted floor of my room. I could feel Miss Spruce's eyes on me. But I didn't bother to try and tell her I was okay. After a moment of tense silence she stood up and straightened her hair in the mirror above my dresser.

"I'd best straighten up the living room." And with that she strode out of my room, once again calm and collected. "We'll be having plenty of guests in the next couple days, pet."

I stayed sitting on the edge of my bed thinking about my father. He had spent the last five years working for the Cadmus Research Group and I had seen him a handful of times since then. To be brutally honest, I didn't even consider him family. We may have been related by blood but Miss Spruce was my real family. My father was just a man I met with every year to awkwardly discuss schoolwork.

I sighed and collapsed back onto my mattress. And then, just like that, he was gone.

The next few days went by in a blur. People phoned in, sending me their condolences.

People showed up at the house again, offering their condolences.

People I had never met and yet, now that my father was dead, they acted as if they had known me for years.

It was disconcerting. I didn't know how to respond. So I just stood by, nodding as they prattled on about how they had worked with my father or how they had known him. Eventually Miss Spruce would intervene and I could escape to my room as she distracted our guests.

After a particularly long day which had seen Miss Spruce out of the house, dealing with something to do with my father's death, I heard the doorbell ring. It took me a minute or so to get down to the front door but as I opened it there was no one there. I stared down the darkened street scanning the light cast by streetlights trying to see who had pressed the doorbell, but there was nothing.

Nothing but a manila envelope leaning against the doorframe.

I stared down at it dumbly as Miss Spruce's familiar blue Cadillac pulled down the street and into the driveway. I waved to her and stepped back through the door, waiting for her to join me in the house.

She was there almost instantly, hovering worriedly next to me as I brandished the envelope.

"It was on the porch," I said, leaning up against the wall as she slipped off her shoes. "Someone rang the doorbell and just left it."

Miss Spruce shot it a distrusting look. "And have you—"

I cut her off by ripping open the envelope. As I did so a DVD case fell to the floor.

"Wonderful," she grumbled. "People leaving strange movie discs on our porch. Just what we needed."

Smiling despite myself I knelt down to retrieve the disc. Scrawled on the front of the case was: For my daughter.

I felt my breath catch in my throat.

Miss Spruce, ever the helpful, gasped. "Oh my."

As I straightened up I held out the DVD. "Take it."

Looking down at the disc Miss Spruce shook her head. "It was meant for you." She paused. "Now you go set it up. I'll make us some tea."

Doing as I was told, I trudged off to put the disc into the DVD player. A few minutes later Miss Spruce walked through the kitchen doorway, carrying two cups of tea and I pressed the play button. The screen stayed blank as I sat down next to her on the couch. Suddenly my father's face filled the screen. His light brown hair was messy and he looked haggard with dark bags under his eyes.

'Cay,' he said, gazing out from the television. 'If you're watching this I'm no longer around to watch over you.I'm sorry for keeping myself so distant from you but when I've had my chance to explain I hope you can understand. I've done all I could to protect you.' He paused. 'I hope you can forgive me.

'For years you've taken supplements that I synthesized under the pretence that you have a deficiency in the production of certain proteins within your body. You've never had a protein deficiency, Cay. For years the synthetics in the pills have disabled your body's production of pyrophillic complexes. Before you were born my team and I replaced certain coding in your genome from a collection of bacteria known as extremophiles. The coding has given you a fire resistant epidermis and your internal organs can withstand much higher temperatures than that of a normal human. As well as this the coding will eventually allow your body to produce the protein complexes and excrete them through your skin at will. I knew this would make you a target if those who were opposed to my research ever got wind of your existence so I hid you within our home…

'The last bottle of pills I left with Miss Spruce was filled with nothing more than placebos. You should be almost halfway through the transition period by now if Miss Spruce coordinated things correctly and this is the most dangerous stage. Cay, in the next 24 hours you will be a walking fire hazard. Your body with produce flammable material whether or not you want it to.

'Until you are able to control the production of the protein complexes you must keep out of sight. After the first 24 hours your body will stop continuous production of the proteins and you will be able to control their excretion through your skin. It will take time but I trust you will learn to control it.

'I wish I could tell you all there is to know about your abilities but the truth is Cay, I have no idea what you'll be able to do. Every other human I've tried to genetically alter in the same way you have been always ends in disaster. You're unique Cay and you could be extremely powerful. There is one concrete thing I can tell you. Once your body begins excreting the protein youmust notcome into prolonged contact with any aqueous matter. Water will destroy them Cay, the protein complexes cannot withstand contact with it. You will be rendered powerless, in a sense. When the protein complexes are not active however, contact with water or anything aqueous will exhibit no adverse effects.

'Now, Cay, you and Miss Spruce need to leave the house. There are people that will pursue you based on what they find in my research and you must not fall into their hands. There are -'

The TV went blank as all the power in the house failed. Miss Spruce and I sat in darkness for a moment until she clued into what was happening.

"Cay I think your Daddy underestimated those people," she whispered as three dull thuds sounded on the rood. "You need to get out of here. Unfortunately we aren't equipped to deal with this turn of events."

"What are you talking about? I'm not leaving you!" I hissed. "We'll go together."

There was a metallic click and Miss Spruce laughed quietly. "Pet, you don't need to worry about me."

"Miss Spruce are you holding a gun?" I asked, shock registering in my voice.

She put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a gentle push. "Go on Pet. You're in danger here. The pills I gave you yesterday evening were placebos. You need to get moving unless you want them to make you into a giant walking Molotov cocktail. I've almost gotten you through the most dangerous part of your transition Cay. I won't let it all go to hell now."

I moved towards the door and then stopped. "Miss Spruce, did my father know he was going to die?"

"He had things all planned out Pet. Right down to the last detail."

There was the sound of footsteps on the roof as I ran for the door and then the entire house erupted into chaos. Figures descended through the ceiling into the living room as I slammed the front door behind me. Gun fire echoed within the walls of my childhood home as I tore off down the street. I felt tears welling in my eyes as I thought of Miss Spruce. If anything happened to her I would never be able to forgive myself.

My father had told me to find somewhere safe but where was that? I kept running down street after street until I was too exhausted to keep going. I slowed to a walk and then stopped, panting and out of breath. I debated going to Sam or Myr's to hide out for the next twenty four hours until I had things figured out.

But then I realized I couldn't put them in danger. There was only one place I could go. If I really had some sort of genetically altered superpower, then I would find other people like me. In short, I would go to police and in turn, get in contact with the Justice League.

They would help me.

They helped everyone.

However my plans were cut short. As I began to walk down the sidewalk the back of my head exploded with pain. The last thing I saw was the pavement rushing up towards me.

I awoke lying on a floor of cool metal. My hands were bound behind my back with a smooth metallic cord and my feet had been lashed together with a similar material. It was thick and pressed uncomfortably against my skin as I tried to move my hands. My head was pounding and I could feel something warm dripping down the back of my neck.

I sat up and looked around. I was sitting in the middle of a dark metal room. There was no sign of a door. Even if I hadn't been tied up I wouldn't have been able to go far. I cursed silently, fear twisting my gut.

Suddenly a sheet of the metal wall slid upwards and a bright light was cast across my face. I looked away as a pair of people strode towards me.

"Good to see you're awake," said the man to my left, motioning to two vaguely human-shaped figures that appeared behind him in the light. "Take her."

They advanced towards me and in what had to be the lamest attempt I could fathom, I rolled onto my elbows and knees and tried to shimmy away. The woman in the doorway laughed as the two men easily lifted me off the ground. They were nasty looking brutes with thick necks and small pig-like eyes. With one holding my legs and the other grasping the back of my shirt I continued to struggle until the one supporting my upper body cracked me across the back of the skull. Black dots flashed across my vision and I stopped squirming, allowing them to carry me out of the room.

The man and woman regarded me as their cronies carried me past. The woman was tall with dark hair and eyes. She had a cruel gaze and was smiling as I tried to regain my senses. The man was older and a little bit shorter than his female partner. He had brown hair that was going gray and light blue eyes. He looked strangely familiar, but I couldn't place his face.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum carried me through a matrix of hallways until we emerged into the night on the deck of the ship we were apparently on. The air smelled salty and I knew that we were out on the ocean. My stomach dropped as my father's words came flooding back to me.

Water.

The twenty four hours were definitely not up and even if I knew how to ignite the proteins I wouldn't be able to stay burning underwater. The two brutish assistants dropped me on the deck and I felt some of my ribs crack as I made contact with the ground.

The sound of laughter distracted me from the pain in my side for a moment. The woman walked up to where I was lying and leaned against the railing of the ship.

"You know something Cay, you certainly are interesting," she said, looking down at me her smiled disappearing and her eyes becoming hard. "Too bad you're an abomination. I think we could have been friends."

I stared up at her, uncomprehending. "What are you talking about lady? I'm-"

She cut me off with a swift kick in the side and smiled as I coughed, the wind knocked out of me. "You are against everything that I stand for, girl. Of course, it's not your fault; blame your father that this has happened to you."

The older man strode up and placed a hand on her arm. "Tess, don't be like that. She may be the enemy but you can still treat her with respect." He looked down at me. "I'm sorry it has to be like this Cay. Your father was a student of mine, back in his younger days. Unfortunately his experiments and research led him down a path that was less than desirable. He tried to atone but unfortunately, until you are destroyed nothing can really be forgiven. I really am sorry for you. In all of this Cay you are blameless."

"If I'm so blameless why are you doing this?" I asked, sounding pitiful to my own ears. But I was scared. I just wanted to go home. "I don't even know who you are."

"It doesn't matter," the woman, Tess, said. "Your very existence goes against the Light. And should you fall into the wrong hands… Well, that can't happen. You must be dealt with. The Light must prevail."

The old man sighed and nodded. "I am sorry Cay. For you and your father."

"What are you talking about?" I coughed, my ribs protesting as I moved slightly. "What light?"

The brutes bent down and lifted me up by the crook of my arms and my legs and began moving me towards the edge of the ship. I realized what he planned to do and I started screaming at the top of my lungs and thrashing around.

"Let me go!" I shouted, catching one of the men carrying me in the gut with my bound feet. "Put me down!"

Tess watched with a smile as I neared the railing. I gave one final attempt to escape as the cronies paused before casually tossing me into the ocean below.

The fall seemed to last forever. The ocean rushed up towards me as Tess's gleeful laughter drifted down from the deck above. I hit the water with a resounding smack which knocked the wind out of me again and caused my left side to erupt in pain. I tried to cry out but inhaled a mouthful of salt water and then I began to sink. I struggled against my restraints but there was no way I could break through the metal cord.

The water burned my eyes and nose as I thrashed blindly trying with all my might to get back to the surface. My father's warning about the water again flashed through my mind as I felt my strength begin to wane. What would happen if the proteins were destroyed? Would it begin destroying my body after the complexes?

And so I found myself drowning when suddenly, I felt something brush my arm. I struck out. Strength renewed by fear.

My feet connected with something solid and something tried to wrap itself around my waist. I propelled myself away but it was no use, I was already in its grasp. The cord around my wrists went slack but the last of my strength was spent. I drifted, suspended in the water as the dark shape moved closer towards me.

My vision darkened as hands wrapped around my wrists and began pulling me upwards. The last thing I remembered was my head breaking the surface as I choked on the seawater that remained in my mouth.

The hands around my wrists loosened their grasp.

"You are safe," a male voice sounded from somewhere behind me.

For some reason, I believed him. And then I slipped into unconsciousness.