Re: Loki and the Dragon*
There was something bad happening; though this was New York and there was always something bad happening, whatever this something happened to be was enough to stop Cassie's afternoon math class so it must have been something really bad. Like, worse than mole men from the sewers or a drunk Stilt-man kind of bad.
Cassie crowded in with the others around the professor's Ipad to watch panicked live news reports of the bridges out of the city being mysteriously blown up. Her classmates clamored to each other until the professor demanded they quiet down as a new report flashed across the screen. As soon as Cassie saw what was on the screen, she bolted.
Free of the building, she turned her face to the sky. Yep, the news was right. That was a dragon up there, and it wasn't a particularly happy dragon, either. Other people outside were also looking up with worry on their face. New Yorkers were used to the weird, the kind of crazy stuff that made you say "Oh great, what now?" then go about your day. That was just New York for you. This was New York in a crisis.
New York needed her heroes. Cassie ducked into an alcove and, one domino mask and costume change later, she transformed from a mild-mannered college student to the amazing and awesome Stature. jogging towards danger with her eyes on the sky. The street the thing had decimated was deserted and, even through the soles of her fire-resistant booties the ground was hot. Going up against a dragon alone was not the smartest thing she'd ever done, but neither was ninety percent of what you chose to do as a hero; you just went and did it anyway. Alone on the street and sort of behind and far below the dragon above, Stature grew.