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Chapter 5
Cyclone; February 19th, 8:13 P.M.
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“Care to repeat that?” Mia’s voice is cold like ice, her blue eyes sharp like daggers. She stands at the other end of an absurdly long table we literally never use unless we’re in meetings, awaiting my response like a predator planning her attack. “I…” I start, “I lost her. Again.” I straighten my back; it’s best to keep your composure in these kinds of situations. She slams her hand on the table, and I wince. So much for my composure. Everyone at the table turns to her, awaiting her response. But, to my surprise, she simply exhales and clicks on the projector at the front of the room.
I check off an imaginary tally in my head. This is the twenty-eighth; no, twenty-ninth, time I've lost Gloom. And I'm perfectly capable of capturing her; I know I am, It’s just… I draw back the image of her in my mind, her curls coiled around her exhausted face, her eyes– dark and challenging, and her snarky comments, as quick as light. She never gives up. And when I saw her today, on the rooftop, without the cloak, I– Ahem. I shutter internally. Bleugh, Sorry; Get the idea? Yeah. It’s a problem.
When the projection fades into view on the far wall, everyone turns to each other, muttering. I can’t blame them. What she’s showing us isn’t anything like what would usually be displayed. Typically, in these meetings, we discuss big villains or criminals who pose threats, and assign heroes to them. The man on the wall isn’t particularly suspicious looking, and he’s not doing anything illegal. That is, unless you consider getting groceries a crime. The room finally quiets, everyone's eyes fixated on the far wall and Mia’s deadpan face. God, she reminds me of my mother.
“This,” Mia starts, “Is Benjamin Socrates. Tell me if you notice anything… weird.” Mia clicks into the next slide, which is a video of, you guessed it, him buying groceries.
But there’s something off. The man is acting completely normal, but the cashier looks… lifeless. She looks almost awake but inert, staring into space, as if caught in the throes of some idea; like she’s being brainwashed. She helps him bag his groceries with sloppy, dazed movements– And, get this, she doesn’t ask for payment. And he doesn’t pay; He simply strolls out with hands full of neatly wrapped groceries. The camera footage switches to the outside view. There are two police officers posted outside, loitering– waiting. My best guess is that they were waiting for ‘Benji’, or whatever his name was.
But ‘Brandon’ never walks out. Mia skips the footage ahead. In fact, he leaves the cops waiting until night time, when they finally leave. The footage ends there. Mia opens her mouth to speak, but Luca raises his hand on the other end of the table, across from me. “This isn’t elementary, Luca,” She says, “Spit it out.”
He sets his hand in his lap and begins to speak. “There was a car, there in the parking lot; it drove away a little after Benjamin left,” Okay, so Benjamin is somehow a worse name than Brandon, but who am I to judge? Without being asked, Mia skips the footage back and zooms into the parking lot, where she unpauses the video. While the cops are posted outside, the trunk of a white car opens on its own, and then shuts again a suspicious four minutes later. Seconds after, the driver's door opens. It shuts again in an instant, and the car starts up.
I watch as the car on the screen drives away, seemingly haunted by a ghost, when it hits me: Mika. She was a key member of the hero’s association until she went missing two months ago. That was when it all started. Heroes started mysteriously going missing, leaving no leading causes towards their disappearance. The whole building has been in chaos ever since, constantly on edge, wondering who could be next, trying desperately to find out what could have happened to them. We’ve lost 13 heroes in two months.
That, was Mika’s ability; Invisibility. And clearly, I'm not the only one at the table who’s noticed. Everyone’s turned to each other, murmuring again. Mia clears her throat, and the room goes silent. “As I'm sure you’ve all realized, that ability belonged to Mika Amodella, a former colleague of yours, who I'm sure you’ve all heard of.” She gestures to the screen, a still image of the car driving away, blurred in motion. “On its own, that raises a lot of suspicion; as we all know, you shouldn’t be able to use more than one ability. And when we look at this,” She clicks to the next slide, which is an image of the same man using a third ability. First of all, that shouldn’t be possible. Secondly, That ability belonged to Henry. She clicks to the next slide; Shapeshifting– Ella. The next, Dave. Then it’s Shelby, then Ari, then Cameron, and the list goes on. In fact, the man is found on footage to have used at least 9 of the missing hero’s abilities.
If this doesn’t pique my attention, nothing will. “So… What’s the plan?” I ask, cleaning my ear with my finger. Mia shoots me a glare, and my hand drops; she sighs and slumps down in a chair near her, pinching her temples with her fingers. “I…” She starts, closing her eyes, “I don’t know. I mean, obviously, we have to send someone out, but I don’t know if I'm willing to run the risk of possibly losing another two heroes. And it’s not safe for me to only send out one of you– I don’t think any of you,” her eyes cut to mine, “And I mean any of you, are capable of taking on someone with over nine powers in his possession. What we’d need is someone immune to getting their abilities stolen; someone we can trust to work well with a hero, and essentially… Someone without an ability.” 15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hD2Sr5ZAg
Everyone exchanges hesitant looks between each other.
“Obviously,” Mia cuts through the silence “I dont think theres anyone in Polxie who fits that criteria, so for now, we’ll keep an eye on him—”
I straighten my back out, standing up and placing my hands on the table. “I know someone.”
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(OK I'M SORRY FOR ANOTHER SHORT CHAPTER MY MOTIVATION IS SHOT)15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRBr5ZqCXm
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