Super

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"She had blue skin,

And so did he.

He kept it hid

And so did she.

They searched for blue

Their whole life through,

Then passed right by-

And never knew."

― Shel Silverstein

A week passed quickly. October chills turned into biting November cold and students at Rock Wood High School began to resemble zombies as they shuffled around in thick coats and scarves as they started the preparation for December exams. Leaves drifted slowly to the ground as the wind picked up. Time seemed to slow down during the day and speed up as exams loomed closer and closer.

By the time another week passed and Terry had gone back undercover – despite the government's promise to let him vacation until January – there was no sign of the Invisible Hand. Sure, there was the odd crime here and there like cut brakes, but mostly it was just people looking for someone to blame. Their fear pointed all fingers to him, but he hadn't shown up to my room again and I was beginning to wonder whether he knew I had breached his trust.

As November was flying quickly by, the bigger crime rates spiked exponentially and with less supers on watch, Lila and my five new friends were forced to approach me with an old proposition. Brady had disappeared the week before so the plan to capture and question him went down the drain. Right as we had begun to lose hope, though, fate, it seemed, was smiling down on us. The Invisible Hand had been spotted in Manhattan.

✩✩✩

"We need to talk," the Claw said one evening. She, the five other supers, and I were huddled in the living room. Dad was working late as usual and mom was out buying dinner. Lila had recently teamed up with the supers, afraid that if she didn't, something might happen to her too. Luckily, Ardie, aka Lodestone, remained the only one who knew her secret identity.

"Okay," I said cautiously, "so talk."

She took a deep breath, watching me carefully to gauge my reaction as she began to speak. "I felt like I should be the one to tell you this: the original plan has been open to debate."

"The plan where I'm bait?" I asked. Everyone nodded. "Okay, so when do we start?"

Everyone blinked back at me, probably more than a little surprised that I had so readily agreed to this. Unfazed, the Claw plowed on.

"Well we were thinking, instead of staging something like a mugging, we could stick you in the middle of a busy road and pray for the best." She said it only slightly sarcastically.

"WHAT?" I flipped, my eyes bugging out of my head. This was a little more than I'd bargained for. "No way, not happening. I don't care if one of you comes up to attack me because I trust you. What I don't trust is New York drivers. They drive like maniacs and I'm bound to die! He might not even show up!"

"Relax," Lila laughed, fiddling with the ends of her chestnut hair. "We're going to get a roadblock up a few streets away. There'll be a traffic diversion so the only cars that'll get anywhere near you will have us behind the wheel."

"Okay," I breathed a sigh of relief, "that, I can handle."

"Are you sure?" Gold leant forward slightly, "you can still say no, Annie. We won't judge. We can make a new plan."

"No," I shook my head, "it's a crappy plan but it's the best we've got. We're sticking with this."

"Kid's got guts," Mist let out a breath I hadn't known she'd been holding, "I like that."

"Pretty brave for a human," Bat Boy said for the umpteenth time. As I looked around at our colourful band of heroes, my heart swelled with pride. Here we were, like the Knights of the Round Table, banded together to fight evil. Something told me that despite what little hope we still had, if we went about this the right way, we would prevail.

My heart stopped and I bit back a laugh. I realised that we really were a very colourful band of heroes. Electro's spandex was shiny black with dull silver patches that looked a lot like camouflage, letting him easily blend in with the storm clouds should the need arise. Gold Thrush, well you already know what his costume looks like, but to refresh your memory, it's gold. All gold. With a gold band around his hazel eyes and wavy strawberry-blonde hair, he looked like a sentient ray of light. Lodestone with his red and silver magnet theme; Mist in a magenta suit, the colour I would imagine mist to have if it had a colour; and Claw with her midnight-blue spandex and obnoxiously cut eyeholes to resemble a feline. Only Bat Boy was not colourful, dressed in a grey-black suit that suspiciously resembled that of a certain fictional bat-related hero. Despite the fact both Electro and Bat Boy were dressed in black, neither resembled the Invisible Hand. IH's black spandex was smokier than the other two, more like a matte than Electro's shiny or Bat Boy's greyish costumes.

"I pride myself on my courage," I blushed. Muted, the T.V. flickered with images of a fire on 57th street. We gazed at it forlornly as the band along the bottom of the screen read: ARSON GONE ROGUE: STARTED FIRE KILLING TWO CHILDREN AND INJURING A THIRD. The report was a rerun. The fire had been yesterday. Even with no power over fire, Bat Boy, Gold Thrush, Electro and Mist had all showed up in a heroic attempt to save the victims of the burning building. They had succeeded, to an extent, saving almost everyone except two little boys, and a girl who died of smoke inhalation later on at the hospital. The tips of Gold Thrush's gingery hair were still singed.

"I'm so done with this bull-crap," Mist muttered, switching off the T.V. and glancing at her watch. Plunged into darkness, I stumbled blindly around for a light, ignoring the unblinking gaze of six supers.

"We have something for you," Bat Boy said eventually, once I had finally found the light – no thanks to them.

"A present?" I grinned. "Is it food?"

Gold chuckled, "no, but it's even better." Oh yeah buddy? What could be better than food? He held out a small, white, circular device that looked a lot like the tip of an ear bud. It fitted snugly into my ear, moulding to fit the shape like one of those spongey earplugs you get on aeroplanes.

I gasped, "this is better!" much to Gold's and Electro's amusement. They exchanged a knowing glance and chuckled. Bat Boy just let out a giggle and high-fived me.

"Can you hear us?" Claw asked excitedly, and I nodded, a huge smile breaking out across my face. I was officially one of them.

✩✩✩

That night, it was agreed upon that from then on, two of the supers would always stay with me until we knew for sure I'd be safe from the Invisible Hand. Why two? I didn't know, but I didn't complain. With two super heroes watching over me, I felt a lot safer and that was all I could really want with an infamous super villain out to get me.

Lila had to get home to keep an eye out for her evil brother who was still M.I.A. and Mist and Electro had to be home by six a.m., so it was eventually decided that Gold Thrush and Bat Boy would take tonight's watch. This was the third time Gold Thrush had slept over, although in the past, we never did much sleeping. Mostly we stayed up and talked or watched T.V. In fact, I was a little disappointed when I found out Bat Boy would be there too.

"You need a cool nick name," Gold decided, arms crossed determinedly, once everyone had left. Bat Boy stared unblinking back at him. The three of us were huddled in my room in a fortress of tents and pillows. If we were going to keep watch for an evil super villain that most likely wanted to kill us all, we would do it the fun way. "I'm Gold, but Bat would sound weird for you... How about Batty?"

Bat Boy cringed, "then I'll just sound crazy. Or obsessed with baseball."

"Hey batta batta," I giggled, earning a glare from Bat Boy.

"How about BB, like the gun? What do you think, No–Bat Boy?" Gold caught himself and blushed, rubbing the back of his neck as Bat Boy shot him a glare. I found myself wondering about Bat Boy's real name. If it began with–

"No," Bat Boy gritted his teeth, clearly growing annoyed, "I'd rather be called Batty."

"Alright, alright," Gold grinned sheepishly, holding up his hands in defence, "Batty and BB are out. Any ideas Annie?"

I tried not to look too surprised as I asked, "me?"

Gold rolled his eyes, "I don't think 'me' would fit him very well. Although..." Gold tapped his chin, pretending to think about it, "he is kind of conceited sometimes." The gold glints shone mischievously and I chuckled at Bat Boy's scowl.

"You better take it down a notch before I go Bat-s**t crazy and bat you right out of the city. I know enough about baseball to at least do THAT!" Bat Boy growled, but I could tell he was suppressing a laugh. I couldn't help it: I cracked up.

"I think that's enough of the nick names for now," I sobered, wiping my eyes.

"Annie!" My dad called, slamming the door as he came in. It was eleven o'clock; he was home early. "Your watch arrived!" I squealed and leapt up, ignoring the confused looks Gold and Bat Boy sent each other as I barrelled down the two stairs and short hallway to where my dad waited in the living room, holding a small, rectangular box that had clearly been prepped for shipping. There was more duct tape than cardboard.

My dad's eyes crinkled with pride as I ripped open the box. Only I would get so excited about a new watch. My eyes watered as I held it up. It was simple, light blue, and displayed the date and time. It also had a stopwatch feature. It was perfect. I couldn't believe my dad knew me well enough to know I just wanted something simple – not an ornate 6-carat diamond face or whatever type of watch it was that President Xavier had given his daughter.

"Thanks Daddy!" I threw my arms around him and pulled him into a tight bear hug before letting go and immediately starting to set up the date and time.

Dad frowned. "Don't you want to read the instructions first, Annabelle?" I snorted. Apparently he didn't know me as well as I thought.

"Dad, it's a watch, not a time bomb," I scoffed, making my way back down the hall to my room. He laughed and mumbled something along the lines of "suit yourself" before I re-entered my room to find Gold Thrush and Bat Boy on their feet on full alert.

"Um, guys? You okay? You kinda look like you need to pee." They were hopping from foot to foot and gaping at me with wide eyes, looking from me to the box to me to the box.

"Bat Boy heard something about a time bomb. WHY ARE YOU STILL HOLDING IT?" Squeaked Gold as he lunged at the cardboard. I held it up as high as I could stretch and Gold hovered a little, plucking the box out of the air easily. "It's... Empty?"

"If you bothered to listen to the whole conversation," I rolled my eyes, "you'd know that I said 'it's a watch, not a time bomb.'"

"Oh."

"Let that be a lesson against eaves dropping," I laughed at Bat Boy's guilty face. He plopped back down into the pillow fort, followed by Gold and myself.

"Nice watch," he complimented.

"Stop sucking up," I smacked his arm, but laughed anyway. These guys were too adorable for me to handle. After a while, Bat Boy disappeared to do his business and Gold and I were left in our little fort. He took my hand gingerly in his, running his thumb over my knuckles as we resumed our question game.

"Mustard or mayo?" He asked softly, lifting his eyes to meet mine.

"Tough choice," I contemplated, ignoring the way my heart thump-thumped a little faster. "There's a girl in my class that mixes them together. Plus ketchup. It's gross. But I've got to say mayonnaise."

Gold's face puckered at the thought of the three condiments in one goupey mess. Chuckling, I used my free hand to brush a stray strand of strawberry-blonde hair out of his glinting hazel eyes. "You?"

"I'm more of a mustard guy," he admitted, shrugging and adding, "Dijon, of course." I made a face, but laughed. He whispered, "your turn," and turned my hand over to trace the lines of my palm.

"So it is," I mused, "would you rather go sky diving or scuba diving?"

"Seeing as I can already fly, scuba diving," he winked, his eyes flashing as a smile played on his lips. I slapped his arm.

"I mean if you couldn't fly."

"Then sky diving. Definitely sky diving. I love flying; it's so free!" He tilted his head back as if feeling the wind on his face and I got the strangest urge to trace the line of his jaw, but I resisted. "What about you?"

"Scuba diving," I laughed, I'm obsessed with the water." Gold levelled his head to face me again and watched me with wide, thoughtful eyes. My smile wavered a little. "Well," I said, retracting my hand and standing up as best I could in the small tent, "I'd better go check our friend hasn't fallen in or anything."

Gold laughed, amusement flickering on his face as he scooted out of the way to let me out. Our tent/cave/fort thing was situated between the foot of my bed and my window with a sheet draped across the bed frame and tucked into the edge of the open window and a few yellow flashlights inside the tent to keep it light. Outside of the fort was pitch black. There was little room between where my bed and fort sat in the centre of the room and the bathroom, but it was enough room for a person to be hiding there. Squinting into the dark, I noticed movement.

"Wait," I muttered, "Bat Boy? What are you doing?"

Bat Boy looked up guiltily, his eyes flashing in the dark. All I could see were his eyes and for a second, I worried it might be the Invisible Hand. But then I remembered the smoky blackness of IH's suit and the dull greyness of Bat Boy's. They were different. Then I looked around at my clean floor. Not a piece of clothing in sight. By now, Gold had emerged from the fort.

"Huh," he pondered, striking a grin, "who knew you were such a neat freak, Bat?"

"I'm not a neat freak, I just don't like tripping over clothes on my way back from the bathroom," he enunciated, sending me a pointed look. He thought for a second before adding, "and don't call me Bat!"

I grinned. "Alright, well we should get some sleep. Gold, Bat Boy, you two are in the fort. You're not seeing me in my PJs," I shook my head. Little did Bat Boy know Gold had seen me in my Finding Nemo PJs twice already.

When the boys climbed under the sheet and into the little alcove between my bed and window, the torchlight extinguished and the soft glow illuminating the sheet went out like a light. I lay in bed, nervously fiddling with the edge of the blanket and staring at the faded glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling. I thought about the plan and how we had agreed to execute it the next day, but it still made me nervous. Even though we had planned everything down to the last detail, often it was the most intricate, well-thought-out plans that failed. With that thought on my mind, I slowly drifted into unconsciousness and I was out. Like a light.

✩✩✩