Dreadnought (Nemesis, #1)

by April Daniels

“I want to help people.” “And that is beautiful, and you’re amazing.” She takes my hand and squeezes it. “But there are a million things you could do to help people that don’t involve pissing off superpowered psychopaths. You could be the best firefighter in the history of fire. You could be a one-woman space program and explore Mars for us. Every single person who has put on the mantle and used it to fight has been killed in action. Every one of them. It is a job with a one hundred percent mortality rate. You could be anyone you want to be, do anything you want to do. Why do you want to get murdered?” “I don’t! I just…I got pushed around a lot when I was little. Even after it eased up when I hit my growth spurt, I still don’t feel safe at school unless I’m hiding in a corner where nobody goes. But now, I’ve got these powers so nobody”—my father looms in my mind’s eye—“can push me around anymore. And I don’t want to let them hurt anyone else, either.” “Damn,” says Doc Impossible quietly. “What?” “That’s one of the classics, all right. You might be in the right place after all.” She smiles. “God help you, kid.”