Super•Villainous

XL

Chest heaving from his adrenaline-fueled catapult into the kitchen, Atticus relaxed his defensive posture as he took in our current situation. "It sounded like someone was getting murdered."

Well, I thought to myself, he would know better than anyone what that sounds like.

And then I was immediately grateful that Shade was not known, out of his numerous, ever-changing catalog of powers, to read minds.

"You could at least knock next time," Leigh rebuked her brother, still recklessly twining the hammer between her fingers like a baton.

Over the initial shock of his intrusion, I remembered my pain and continued cursing Leigh out viciously.

"Is it properly broken?" Nicole asked, glancing up from a procured laptop into which she'd been inputting all our data points. Abruptly, her head cocked towards Atticus and she blinked once, as though she hadn't registered his loud entrance. "Oh. Hello there. I don't believe we've met. I know who you are, of course. I'm Nicole, a friend of your sister."

Stepping languidly out of the doorway, Atticus surveyed us uncertainly. "A pleasure."

"Yes, it's properly broken!" I gritted out.

"Okay... timer is set. I'll just add around ten seconds to the count afterwards to make up for the late start."

"I'm afraid to ask.' Atticus's usual unaffected expression settled into stone on his face, pleasantly neutral. His mask that I yearned to dig my nails into and rip away, regardless of how much skin came with it.

Our eyes met, and, too late, I forced myself to school my own expression into something less vengeful. Less probing. As though I wanted to see down to his smallest cell and pick him apart until I uncovered the answers I sought. 

"You're happier not knowing," I told him, looking away first.

And then he was right there, moving on impossibly swift feet, the smooth steps of someone with an extreme awareness of their own body's orientation in relation to the world. Softly, two fingers grazed over the slight misalignment in my flesh where the break happened, sending a slight shock through my nervous system. When the sensation made me jump a little, he balled his hand into a fist and stuffed it into his pocket, as though warding against further temptation.

"Did you at least set the bone, so that it heals properly?" he asked, pulling away.

"We don't need to," Nicole said over the sound of her own typing. "The fingers we snapped," I flinched at that particular choice of word, "all healed up perfectly without being righted first."

A far off look clouded over his blue and gold eyes, but he didn't share the direction of his thoughts with the rest of us. "I see." He turned towards the living area, presumably to follow that path towards the staircase leading up to his room. "Leigh, our mother should be along shortly. I recommend wrapping this up before she gets here. You know how she gets. A dirty hammer in her kitchen she will find especially offensive to her sensibilities."

Leigh needed no further convincing and sprang into action cleaning up, tossing the hammer at random into a cabinet consisting of cupcake tins and wiping a damp cloth over the counters, while Atticus disappeared out of sight.

"Did you hear," I called after him, rounding the corner into the dimly lit living room, "that Shade hasn't appeared since we both escaped? It's his longest absence yet. People are beginning to wonder what happened to him, if he's moved on, or become incapacitated in some way."

The force of my gaze burned holes into the back of his head, and he trailed to a stop at the foot of the stairs without turning around. "Has he, now? Can't say I've been paying attention."