The science building at Gateway City University was usually a very busy place, so it felt strange to Travis to walk its halls and find it completely empty. Not that he expected anything else at five o'clock on a Tuesday morning. Rounding a corner and entering one of the many small labs provided for private study, he found Penny already waiting for him as she set up some vials and rubber tubing. She was wearing a pair of baggy sweatpants, a loose tee-shirt, and thick-rimmed glasses. Her skin was pale and her scattered hair was black. Travis briefly marveled at the completeness of her disguise; no one would ever suspect such a person to be Mega-Girl.
"Hey," Travis yawned, setting his backpack on a table.
Penny turned and smiled, "Hey." She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "Thanks for meeting me so early, you have no idea how much it means to me. After everything that's been going on, I'm so behind..."
"Glad to help," Travis shut the door to give them some privacy in case any other early-birds wandered by. He took off a light leather jacket, revealing a simple buttoned shirt beneath. His short, spiky, brown hair was just as messy as Penny's, but that was by design.
There was tension between them at first as they began working on their Chemistry Lab assignments, the type of tension two people experience after ending a sexual relationship and trying to remain friends, but eventually they fell into a rhythm by focusing on the lab assignments. They worked well together but held their conversation to the subject of chemistry and little else for the two hours they were together.
When they were nearly done, Penny was jotting down some final notes and noticed Travis kept glancing at her hand as he cleaned up the chemistry gear in a small stainless steel sink. "What do you keep looking at?" she asked, setting her pen down.
"Huh?" Travis glanced, "Oh, um. Your ring, I guess."
Penny lifted her right hand and wriggled the four fingers; a platinum ring encircled the middle, "You mean my image-transducer?"
Travis grabbed a towel to dry his hands, "Yeah. How does it work?"
She looked at it, "It surrounds me with a thin spectrographic ionization field, changing the way light reflects off me. Makes my hair dark, my skin pale -"
Travis nodded, "You told me when we um.... broke up."
Penny blushed, "Oh, right..."
Travis moved to sit next to her at the lab table, "I mean, how does it work? That's some pretty advanced stuff. Does it have a power source? Did you make it?"
"You know, I have no idea how it's powered," Penny studied the ring, "Dr. Prizm made it for me."
"The leader of the World League?" Travis sounded impressed as he referenced the world's premier team of super heroes, an international group based out of New York City.
"Yeah," Penny nodded, "He knew my father. They worked together on a government project, before I was born. Some sort of medical research, I guess. He's known about me and my powers ever since I was a kid. Mom knew him, trusted him, and told him about me after realizing I was special. We're actually pretty close. He was the one who convinced me I could be a hero; he even helped design my costume."
"That's so cool," Travis grinned.
His smile was infectious and Penny smiled back at him, "Yeah?"
"When I was a kid I wanted to
be
Dr. Prizm," Travis admitted, "I liked his costume and I thought it would be cool to be in the World League."
Penny laughed, "He wanted me to join the team."
"No shit? Dr. Prizm invited you to join the World League?"
Penny nodded, "Yeah, right after I started wearing the costume."
"Why didn't you?" Travis sounded amazed she would turn down such a prestigious offer.
Penny shrugged bonelessly, "I had already started school here and didn't want to transfer to New York. Plus, I didn't really know what I was doing or how well I'd fit with a team. I guess I just wanted to figure out how to be a hero on my own."
"Probably for the best," Travis poked a teasing elbow against her arm, "Those World League guys can't hold a candle to you."
Penny grinned broadly, "What are you talking about?"
"You're Mega-Girl!" Travis exclaimed, though not too loudly, "I bet you could beat the whole League in a fight. You're the toughest, most popular superhero of all time. You're probably even more famous than Commander Constitution."
Penny laughed, "Whatever! You realize there's a statue of Commander Constitution in Washington D.C. don't you?"
"So what?" Travis wasn't swayed, "Is
he
the number one best-selling Halloween costume this year?"
"Wait, Mega-Girl costumes are the best-selling this year?" She pushed a wispy strand of hair out of her face, "That's so unfair! I can barely afford school books and some company is making a fortune off me."
"You should sue," Travis suggested jokingly.
"Oh yeah," Penny giggled and rolled her eyes, her tone turning sarcastic, "After I win in court I can tell them to make the check out to 'Mega-Girl'. I should have no problems cashing that one." She sighed, "I really hate having a secret identity sometimes."
Travis cupped his hand over hers on the lab table, "I know it's hard for you, but I'm glad I'm one of the four people who know. I can't tell you how cool it is to be Mega-Girl's lab partner."
A warm smile decorated Penny's face, "You're so sweet, Travis. But actually, five people know my identity."
Travis counted on one hand, "Me, Jordan, your mom, Dr. Prizm...?"
Penny cleared her throat and murmured, "You forgot Apollo."
"Oh," Travis' expression lost some of its mirth, "Right, of course."
She smiled uncomfortably amidst the moment of silence.
Travis realized he and Penny had somehow moved shoulder-to-shoulder, so close that they were touching. He slid his stool away from her and stood to begin gathering his books, "So, um, how's that going? You and Apollo?"
"Great," Penny nodded quickly, noticing the sudden distance Travis put between them and moved to gather her own things, sensing the earlier tension between them had returned, "Apollo's really great. How about you? Jordan said you were at the apartment on Friday night, after we ran into each other at the Burger Shack."
Travis froze for a moment, "She said that? What else did she say?"
Penny lifted a shoulder, "Nothing, really. Why? Did something happen?"
A soft red color suddenly filled Travis' cheeks, "Um..."
