Barbara glanced at her watch and cursed. She had just under an hour before the meeting was due to start. Why do we have to do these things at eight o'clock at night, he thought. Barb took another sip of her expresso mocha. "Ah, excellent," she said aloud with a smack of the lips. Suddenly there was a clinking sound behind her, like two glasses being tapped in a toast, that made her jump. Spinning around, she saw Betty, one of the office secretaries.

"Good Lord!" she snapped. "Watch what the hell you are doing! You scared the shit out of me!"

"I-I'm sorry, Barbara," the girl stammered. "I didn't mean to..."

"Forget it!" she said sharply, cutting the girl off. "It's a wonder you're still employed here, as clumsy as you are." With that, Barbara stormed off down the hallway toward her office, muttering angrily to herself along the way. Another glance at her watch showed 50 minutes until the meeting. Barb shook her head, her frustration welling up inside her like a clogged toilet.

"High strung?" she said to no one in particular, drawing strange looks from her passing coworkers. "Hah! Ineptitude on their part, more like." Barb reached her office door and pulled it quickly and forcefully. The door swung open and hit the wall with a bang.

"Hey," he heard someone say. Barb continued briskly into her office, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry!" she yelled, his voice a dry, insincere tone. The door slammed shut behind her. 48 minutes to go.

Barbara sat in her leather, high-backed chair and spun around to take in the view from her office window. A dozen stories below she could see the tiny figures traveling pack-like across the intersection, like so many ants on the march across the floor of the urban jungle. Then she heard it again. Clink!

"Damn it, Betty!" she shouted, turning around in her chair to face the door. "I thought I told y..."

No one was there.

Clink, clink...

Barbara felt a vibration, gentle at first but growing in intensity. Earthquake! she thought. Barbara froze for what seemed like minutes as the tremors shook the building. Pictures frames fell over, breaking, books made their way off her shelves, and the lights flickered. Barbara remembered the safety offered by her desk and crawled beneath it. She covered her ears as the shaking continued. A lamp vibrated across the oaken desk and fell to the floor, shattering the base. Then, as quickly as it begun, it was over.

Barbara opened her eyes. Darkness. She could hear faint car alarms from the street below, and the panicked voices of his coworkers in the hall. Unconcerned for anyone but herself, Barbara made her way across the floor to her office door, cutting her hand on a piece of glass in the process.

"Anyone got a flashlight?" Barb called out. She heard sobbing and excited chatter.

"I don't know, I've never been in a..."

",,, do in an earthquake? What if..."

"... insurance can handle it. I've got to call..."

"... my car's okay."

"What if we can't get out?"

"... anyboy hurt? Maybe we should..."

Morons, she thought. All she needed to do was reach the circuit breaker and get the power back on, that was obvious. Feeling his way along the wall, Barbara moved in the direction of the supply closet containing the breaker box for her floor. She pushed her way past, who? It didn't matter. Barb was getting something done. That was all that mattered.

She found the closet door and opened it up. Feeling around, she located the breaker box and then the large lever. Barbara smiled, then grabbed the handle and...

ZZZZRAK!

******************

Barbara opened her eyes slowly. At first, there was nothing but blackness. For a moment, she thought she was still in the supply closet. But then images started to form. Her vision was blurry, hazy, but quickly came back into focus. She saw the nurse leaning over her, her right hand on Barbara's wrist and her left hand in front of her face. She was looking at her watch. Must be checking my pulse, Barbara thought.

"Hey, miss. Where am I?" Barbara asked, her voice shaking slightly. There was no response.

"Lady?" she tried again. This time, she seemed to respond to her voice, slowly turning her head to look at Barbara. The nurse closed her eyes slowly, and just as slowly her mouth began widened into a smile, like a large hyrdaulic hangar door. Then the nurse spoke.

"G o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o d m m m m m m o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o r r r r n n n n i i i i i i i i i i i n g..." The nurse's words were long and drawn out, and her voice was low, as if someone had played a 45 rpm record at 33 rpm.

"What the hell is going on?" Barbara figured she was on some kind of drugs. Whatever it was, she was sure it wasn't pain killer, judging from the throbbing she felt in the back of her head. Barbara looked around, nervously, trying to find some tangible evidence that her sanity was intact. Instead, she saw the nurse reaching for a syringe on the stainless steel table behind her. Slowly reaching for the syringe.

"Oh, hell no, lady You can forget that, what with you being stoned or something. No way are you sticking that thing in me!" Barbara noticed the IV inserted into the back of her left hand. She yanked it out and jumped out of the bed. The nurse's expression began to slowly change to an expression of surprise, but Barbara was already long gone before it completed its evolution.


 

******************

"But doctor, I'm telling you she was right here!" the nurse exlaimed. "I was reaching for the sedative, and when I turned around she was gone."

"Just like that?" the doctor asked.

"Just like that," she replied. "There was a small gust of wind... more like a breeze, really... and then she was gone."

"Did we at least get her name? Maybe we can contact her at home," the doctor asked, trying to force himself to believe what he was hearing.

"No... the paramedics who brought her in said she didn't have any ID on her."

"Well..." the doctor mused aloud. "Perhaps we've just witnessed the birth of the city's newest..."

******************

"Superhero?" Barbara laughed into her cell-phone. "You must be joking. I couldn't stand my job, and I got paid for doing that. What makes you think I'm going to go rescue old ladies and pull people out of fires for free? You're crazy!" Barbara was as frustrated by her boyfriend's suggestion as she was by how long it took him to utter it. It was time, she thought to herself, to find a new boyfriend.

"Hey, slow down, okay?" She never realized how whiney Richie sounded. And the whiney punk was still talking. "Think about it, Barbara. You could make a bundle doing talk shows and stuff! It's like instant fame! Everybody will want to hear about it! You could quit your day job... just cruise around making appearances."

"I've already quit my job, Richie. And I am planning on making some appearances," Barbara said matter-of-factly as an evil grin crept across her face. "But they won't be on talk shows, and no one's going to see me. I'm quick. Really quick. But you are right about the money part."

Quick is one of the fastest people on the planet, and has even managed to get her name in the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest woman ever recorded. She also has superhuman reaction speed and has been known to dodge bullets and to seemingly appear and disappear in a blur. She seems untouchable, and even when she does seem to collide while running, unless she is rendered unconscious she inevitably manages to swerve at the final millisecond to avoid injury.