Janet ducked down a dark alley, carefully peaking over her shoulder to make sure no one followed her. Just as she hoped, the alley was deserted.
Honestly, Janet was not surprised. Most people had cleared out when the attack on the city began. By all rights she should have evacuated with everyone else. But Janet was not like everyone else. She was a superhero and it was her job to protect the city.
Janet quickly took off her regular clothes, folded them neatly and stuffed them into her backpack. She slipped on a large leotard. It looked ridiculous on her tiny frame, sagging loosely from her small shoulders. The neckline hung down almost to her waist and her thin arms stuck out like small twigs.
But that would soon change.
Janet reached into her backpack and pulled out a silver box. After keying in the combination to unlock it, she opened the box and found a small syringe filled with a dark green liquid. Janet smiled as she held up the syringe and examined the familiar serum. She couldn't deny that that she was not looking forward to the transformation - it hurt... like really bad hurt. And even though she had changed countless times before, Janet was still not used to the pain. But the reward for her suffering was worth it. It was also a lot of fun to be a superhero.
Janet winced as she injected the thick viscous green liquid directly into her vein. She quickly replaced the needle in the silver box and locked it. The syringe was designed to evacuate every drop of the serum from the tube, leaving nothing behind. But Janet still feared what would happen if one of her enemies acquired some of her precious serum from a carelessly discarded syringe.
Janet returned the silver box to her backpack, then slid it under a very full and very dirty dumpster. No one - not even the most desperate thief - would think to look for anything valuable under there. She was confident that her backpack would still be around when the effects of the serum wore off in a little over an hour. Janet would need those clothes when she reverted back to her old scrawny body. Well, unless she wanted to make her way home naked ..... again.
As soon as she let go of the bag, Janet felt the familiar tingling and knew her transformation was about to begin.