She was the perfect partner for him, not because she had a cool head to balance out his temper -she didn't- or because her strengths played to his weaknesses. It was mostly 'cause she was Fireproof. Yeah, that was pretty much it. WarrenxOC

Oh, 'fore I forget, the DC and Marvel universes are still comics/movies/cartoons/etc. in this story. Emryn is simply a nerd. Just wanted to put that out there, I've seen some stories that crossed the 'verses but I really didn't want to do that. Um, yeah. So there. ^_^ Also, this story is actually finished, I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year and found this story in the old folder, so I thought I'd put it up. If only so I'd have one completed work on my profile. *Sheepish Laugh*

Fireproof

Chapter 1: Mouse Goes Sky High.

Her eyebrows rose under her bangs as she took a moment to stare at her transportation, mostly because its utter plainness, its boringness, its normalcy completely threw her. She was going to a school for Supers, right? Somehow this just wasn't how she'd pictured getting there, what kind of superhero, even if they are in training, goes to their super-top-secret, totally-concealed, completely-awesome, superpowers-practically-required school using a plain old school bus? She had been expecting something more akin to the Batmobile or the Invisible Jet, was that too much to ask?

…Don't answer that.

After waking from her momentary daze she shuffled towards the big yellow monstrosity –A school bus. She had to ride a school bus!- and stepped most hesitantly aboard, much like someone entering into another world. –Who was she kidding? This was another world. A mad, mad world that was going to eat her alive if she wasn't careful.- Bad enough it was high school, it had to be a high school where who your parents are mattered, and her parents were both sidekicks.

She didn't even have some awesome power to keep everyone off her back, nothing flashy or cool. Her only real 'superpower' couldn't even be used offensively; she could still make hero though, given the opportunity. She doubted she'd get the chance, there would already be bias against her the second her name was mentioned. After all, she knew who would be administering the test.

A blindingly bright flash of white and yellow pulled her from her thoughts and she recognized a face she'd seen many times. "Zach." She looked to the left of him as she spoke, just like always, she could never look directly at him for long without experiencing the sensation of her pupils burning. "How are you?"

She slid into the seat in front of him, giving her an excuse to only occasionally glance at him while they spoke. "Oh! Hey Mouse! I'm great! I didn't know you'd moved back." She winced slightly, but tried to suppress it, Zach was as loud as his fashion sense.

She gave a light chuckle. "Well I did. Soooo, freshman year at Sky High, pretty exciting stuff there."

She wasn't sure it was possible but he actually seemed to get louder. "I know, right! It's so sweet! I can't wait to blow everyone's mind!"

She withheld the snarky comment just begging to come out, mostly about how his shirt could do it for him. –There had to be a limit to how brightly a person could dress.- She liked Zach, she did, but he was one of those things you had to take in small doses. It didn't help that she was nervous, or that she was basically the living definition of 'Not A Morning Person'. "I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thanks Mouse, you too."

"Emryn Emouss Kelly, I didn't know you'd moved back into Maxville." Despite the tone being borderline scolding there was just no getting rid of the cheeriness in that voice. She recognized it immediately.

Mouse grinned and looked up to see green. "Layla." She gave a nod of acknowledgement, glancing to the red, white and blue that was rarely gone from her side. "Will."

The boy sent a welcoming grin her direction. "Hey Mouse."

"How long have you been back, Em-Em?" She turned her attention back to Layla, the only one of her friends to still address her by that particular nickname.

"Oh, 'bout a week or so. I would have tried to get together with you guys before the start of the year but Nancie insisted we have some 'bonding time' before things got all messy from school." Her lips pursed with something that was not quite dislike, Nancie was her dad's girlfriend and she wasn't quite sure how to handle the woman. Or the trouble she was bound to, indirectly, cause for Mouse.

"Well," Layla heaved a dramatic sigh, "I suppose I can forgive you, but only if you promise to hang out soon."

She rolled her eyes at the cheerful girl but semi-mockingly drew an X over her heart. "Cross my heart and hope to cry, I'll keep my word, lest I die. Now," Mouse tossed a critical eye in the direction of Ron Wilson, bus driver, "I think you should find a seat, your fanboy looks antsy." The last comment was obviously directed at Will, who did an entertaining grimace/embarrassed-smile combination as he moved to sit behind her next to Zach. Layla, of course, sat as close to Will as possible, taking the opening across the aisle next to the guy –Keith- who, they would later learn, spit acid.

As the last student was picked up she couldn't help but tense slightly, drawing a strange look from the boy sitting next to her, not that she cared, the guy –Brian; Six arms- had been eyeing her speculatively ever since she took the opening beside him. Mouse had been doing her best to ignore him, though the urge to tell him to keep his eyes to himself was nearly overwhelming; even now, the only real reason she was silent was because she was bracing herself.

She knew how non-flyers got to Sky High.

Jaw clenched, her hands immediately clamped down on the hand bar when it made an appearance, knuckles white. If there was a thing Mouse didn't handle well it was heights, only needles were worse for her, –Even the thought of needles made her panic slightly.- she didn't freak out with heights or anything but she wasn't exactly comfortable with them. When they finally landed with a shuddering jolt, –The school was impressive, she had to admit.- she waited 'til everyone else had vacated before even bothering to get to her feet. She exited the bus but did not immediately join the others, instead leaning against the bus while her head stopped spinning, the sensation had something to do with her blood, she suspected her Anemia was the cause, even elevators made her dizzy sometimes.

That was how she saw it coming.

'It' being the blur of movement that was clearly someone with super-speed, she quashed the automatic impulse to trip him, especially when he started running circles around the freshmen, herding them like sheep. Mouse heaved a sigh as she moved away from the bus, obviously it was time to rescue her young friends.

"-happy to collect that $15 new student fee." She let out an unladylike snort as she moved to the front of the group, not even really listening to Ethan's –wears orange, melts- response as he, timidly, contradicted what they said.

"Move." The two bullies turned their attention to Mouse, who was staring at them with a blank, unimpressed expression on her face.

An angry sneer appeared on Lash's face as he pulled his arm back and invaded her space threateningly but before he could say anything he was interrupted by the smiling Gwen Grayson. Mouse watched their interaction silently and was surprised the bullies listened to the pink wearing girl but in the end dismissed it as unimportant; conflict over, she allowed herself to fall to the back of the group as they moved out.

By the time they hit the gym she had already stopped listening entirely, bored out of her sleepy mind, and had instead resorted to people watching as they moved around the halls getting the 5¢ tour. She had perked up briefly at the mention of the Mad Science Labs but had been relatively unimpressed, they weren't all that different from a normal science lab, just had some different materials.

Mouse was roused from her thoughts by a shouted "Comets away!" She glanced up to notice that the teacher that had been giving the generic 'This is the beginning of the rest of your life' speech had just burst into a ball of white light and gone shooting over their heads and out the gym doors. A mechanical rumbling sounded from behind her and she turned with a grimace. She knew what was coming next.

Power placement.