I woke up much feeling more refreshed than I had expected from how tired I had been the night before. I lay in my bed, running the events of the previous day through my mind.

So, yesterday was a whole thing- I don't even want to think about the workload I have left…. At least the tail end was a bit better. Maybe, Smith will have at least some repair projects to put the leftover money into- that might make today easier on that front.

"Ok, as long as there are no surprises like yesterday this might not be so-"

Before I finish, I hear a loud crashing from my neighbor's room…. Which is weird because as far as I'm aware I didn't even have a neighbor yesterday. For the past month or so the rooms beside mine had been totally empty, mostly because they were being renovated after a previous resident did something awful inside them. I didn't know what exactly and I was perfectly fine keeping it that way.

I am glad that the smell from when the previous residents left is gone, though. I couldn't focus on anything it was so bad, and it took a week for them to find whatever was causing it after everything was said and done.

I moved on from my musings, began to ignore the frustrated grumbling of whoever was now living next to me, and got ready for the day as usual. By the time I got outside I already noticed something that definitely fit along the lines of a surprise on the level of yesterday's financial debacle. I heard fighting. Not just the struggles of normal people but of buildings cracking and crumbling, and rumbling of the ground as something impacted it. I instantly knew what was happening, from experiences that I wished I could forget.

The empowered are fighting. Why are they fighting, it can't be time for the rush already? The latest I should wake up is around 5:30. That would still leave an hour and 30 minutes. See the time says-

"Oh shit it's 7:20 AM."

That's bad. Really bad. In fact I'd say this is probably the worst case scenario, because now I have to choose between an active warzone or being late. Which, considering how much work I have to do…..

"Aw fuck, I have to run through the middle of a rush don't I?"

This day was going to suck, I could tell already.

__________________________

After getting ready, It was 7:40. I had avoided some of the less essential parts of my routine out of necessity. I was already risking myself to avoid being late, it was best I didn't shrink my room for error any further without a good reason. Speaking of little room for error, by the time I got to the street it was chaos. The sidewalks were cracked, the windows were shattered, and many of the empowered were bloodied from going to town on each other.

I don't see Glacier- Gloria, her name was Gloria I remember now, but still- I wonder where else she would be if not here?

I had accidentally slowed to a walk, distracted by all the chaos and the mystery of the absentee. It wasn't exactly smart, delaying my escape from the dangerous street, but it was hard to remain apathetic to a situation you were actively involved in. That was when I heard it.

"Look out, above you!"

It had been a few years, but my instincts from when I first learned the hard way how dangerous this street was. I instantly looked up. I saw nothing. However, to the left of my vision as I looked to the rooftops, in my path to work, I saw two things that spiked my adrenaline. A man with an injured leg, trying to walk, and a falling piece of debris from a building that had taken one too many hits. Even as I ran, I knew an unfortunate truth.

I'm too far away to reach him in time. He's going to-

Just as I began to mark him as doomed in my mind, a blur of yellow and blue covered the man, before nearly instantly moving him to the side of the street I had come from- placed perfectly onto a stretcher next to a suspiciously convenient ambulance that was always there around this time of day. Then, after securing the man, sped right to a nearby ground fight between two empowered men. The line of color slowed down and became a woman blatantly just wearing biking gear who managed a quick hit on the larger of the previously scrapping empowered.

Oh right, this is the empowered hotspot of the city. I shouldn't have even…… no, I know better than that. Those thoughts led to people dying when they didn't have to.

My mind began to wander down a path I would have rather left untrodden. So I took a deep breath, and instead of counting to ten began to pick up the pace to work. No more debris fell the rest of the way, leaving only rogue bodies being thrown and blasts of various powers to avoid. I managed to reach the end of the road with little other trouble, it was 7:50, and I had a little over 2 hours before I had to officially start working. It wasn't nearly enough time to recover from the stress of my commute.

Well, now onto a different kind of hectic.