In the cold dark city of New York on a rainy March night a young woman of approximately 16 years walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to the middle. She looked out at the city and thought about her life and her problems. She said quietly to herself, tears running down her face "why me? why does this have to happen to me? why couldn't someone else's life be Screwed up instead of mine?"

she then climbed up onto the barrier and prepared to jump into the cold, deep water below when a gloved hand grabbed her arm and a deep quiet voice said "No Matter Your Problems You Will Not Solve Them By Jumping Off A Bridge" 

she jerked in surprise but let the strong hand bring her down off the barrier. She turned around to confront the tall trench coat wearing figure "What do you care?" 

the figure adjusted it's hat "I Care Because I Do Not Want To See The Gift Of Life Lost Needlessly" 

She frowned "Who are You anyway?" 

the man looked directly at her with glowing yellow eyes as a bolt of lightning lit up his metallic face "I Am Q And May I Know Your Name?" 

"S-Susan, Susan Anderson. What are you?" 

"I Am Q that is all that matters" he looked up at the cloud filled sky "Perhaps We Should Continue This Discourse Indoors?" 

Just at that moment 2 large men walked toward them out of the night "Hey Susan Come with us Jonnie wants to see you" the First tough said. 

Susan shrank back in fear as Q adjusted his gloves "don't let them take me Please!" 

Q said simply "They Will Not Take You, Do Not Fear" 

"and who is this your next costumer" the Second tough leered as he grabbed for her tough 2 stepped back in surprise as Q stepped between him and his quarry "What the Fuck?!" he yelled. 

tough 1 pulled a gun and said gruffly "don't mess with us you may be big but we got artillery and you bleed just like everyone else don't he Rocco?" 

"you bet Moose" said Rocco as he pulled a gun as well. 

Q just held his hands up in front of him and said "I Do Not Wish To Fight You But You Will Not Take The Girl"

"Eat This" yelled both of the thugs in Unison as they opened fire. 

Q stepped foreword through the rain of bullets that were stopped by his skin and took out Rocco with one punch that broke his jaw, knocked him out and carried him to land meters away in a heap. He then grabbed Moose by the throat and held him up off the ground to look into his eyes "Tell Jonnie That Susan Was Unavailable, Now Take Your Friend And Go Before You Upset The Lady" said Q in a voice more of sadness then of anger before dropping him to the ground. 

Moose looked up with fear-filled eyes and fled dragging Rocco after him. 

Susan's eyes widened and she gazed open-mouthed at the tall figure standing before her. Q turned to face her and said "You Are Safe Miss Anderson"

the woman replied automatically "call me Susan"

Q was silent for a moment and then noticed the girl was shivering "You Are Cold" 

Susan laughed "yes I am, kind of you to notice" She chuckled and then stepped back as Q held out a hand to her 

"Do Not Fear It Will Help" his hand then began to radiate heat toward her "However We Should Get Out Of The Rain Miss Anderson" 

Susan frowned and said "I Said call me Susan errrrrrrrr ................. R was it?" 

Q stiffened and Said with annoyance "No I Am Q ............ Susan"

"good that's better" 

Q placed a hand on Susan's arm "This Way, I Know Of A Place We Can Get Dry" 

Q still radiating heat from his hand started across the bridge. Susan followed muttering to herself "the guy just saved me, I suppose I can trust him" she ran to catch up so she could be closer to the heat he was generating from his gloved hand. Q led her through the dark wet night to a small warehouse just on the other side of the bridge where he took a small key out of his coat and unlocked the door then stepped aside to let Susan through first. 

Susan looked around the inside of the building at the small wooden table and chair and the bed that were the only furnishings apart from a simple wooden hat rack in the corner and the neatly stacked pile of Broken wood in the corner "this place looks smaller from the inside" 

Q walked over to the woodpile and began to stack fuel in the middle of the concrete floor "This Is Only One Room There Is Also A Room I Use To Store My Clothes, A Computer Room And A Large Space I Do Not Use" he pointed at the pile of wood with one finger. 

Susan looked on and said "You own this building?" 

a thin stream of flame from Q's finger lit the wood on fire causing Susan's eyes to widen as it slowly began to fill the room with warmth "Yes This And A Number Of Others In Various Cities Across The World Come Warm Yourself" 

he gestured her closer to the fire. She frowned and hung back suddenly afraid off the tall enigma who saved her from the thugs who came to take her. Q got up and moved over away from the fire to the hat-rack were he took off his coat and hat to reveal that his entire head was metallic and He was wearing a long sleaved white shirt and tie. He said without turning "I Do Not Wish To Harm You, You Have My Word" she held back still reluctant "If I Wanted To Harm You I Would Already Have Done So"

Susan chuckled "you're right" she walked over to sit by the fire. 

Q turned " Do You Require Sustenance?" 

Susan looked at Q in puzzlement "you mean food?". 

Q nodded 

"Yeah sure, what you got?" 

"What Would You Like?" 

"ahhhhhhh how about a burger?" 

Q nodded and walked to one wall which opened to admit him and closed behind causing Susan to blink a few times in confusion as she as left alone. The girl turned back to face the fire and think "who IS that guy?, what's the deal with his face?, how could he be so Strong? those bullets just bounced off, why did he save me?, Where could he get the money to BUY a building? and that flame that came from his hand, what's the deal with that?" she thought aloud. 

then suddenly Q's deep voice spoke from behind her "That Is Alot Of Questions, Which Do You Want Me To Answer First?" 

Susan screamed in surprise and leapt to her feet "shit you surprised me!!!!" 

Q handed her the plate he was holding that contained a Large Hamburger and a serving of fries "I Am Sorry I Did Not Mean To Startle You, Sit And Eat" 

Susan sat back down and began to eat. 

Q sat opposite and faced her "I Will Answer Your Questions If You Will Answer Mine Agreed?" 

"agreed so start spilling your guts come on" 

Q looked Directly at her and said "Well As To Who I Am I Have Already Told You I Am Q That Is The Only Name I have Ever Had Or Very Likely Ever Will" he placed a white-gloved hand to his face "And This ............ This Is Because I Am Not Human I Am Actually A Bio-mecanoid" at the blank look on the girls face he explained "Basically A Living Robot Living Parts Combined With Mechanical Parts, I Was Created In A Laboratory" 

Susan listened intently "and the whole strength thing?" 

"The Same Reason As The Face, I Am Designed To Be Able To Lift 5 Tons Without Any Trouble At All And At Maximum Power I Can Lift Over 50" 

"WOW strong" 

"Indeed And As To The Bullet Deflection My Skin Is Made That Way So That Projectiles Simply Bounce Off It, I Saved You Because You Were In Trouble, My Money I Got By Detecting Veins Of Precious Metals Under The Crust And Drilling Down To It With My Flame" 

Susan leaned closer "and the flame where does it come from?" 

Q tapped his Abdomen "My Thoratic Furnace It Obtains Power From Any Source Nearby Including The Sun Or Any Electrical Power Source At Hand Or Even The Heat Energy From This Fire" 

He held his hands up to the fire and looked directly at the Girl "And Now You Will Answer My Questions?" 

Susan smiled "sure fire away" 

"Very Well First I wish To Know Who Those Gentlemen Were And What They Wanted With You"

"they were thugs who work for Jonnie He's Sort of My boss" 

"And Your Job" 

"lady of the night" 

Q looked at her with surprise "I See And What Could Have Happened To Make You Want To Jump Of A Bridge?" 

Susan looked deep into the fire "Well it all started almost 5 years ago to the day my mother never came home from work. They found her Handbag in an Alley not far from here, it Was badly burned and they never found the body" She Began To Cry Quietly. 

Q looked across the fire at her with a neutral expression but Inwardly his His mind Seethed as his thoughts went back to the last time he was in this city before he gained control of his Flames and he accedently killed a young woamn and her attacker "Could This Be Her Daughter?" he said quietly to himself