Cobalt

Part 2

QUINN

"Quinn, I thought I told you to be more careful when you're fighting. I can't keep fixing your suit all the time." Aunt Megan said as she poked a needle through its fabric.

"What was I supposed to do? She had claws."

"What if she tore your mask? If she tore the right spot it'd fall off and your identity would be revealed. Your parents would probably disown you. You have to think things through. You can't keep going in purely on instinct." She ran her fingers through her light brown wavy hair, a trait she shared with both my dad and me.

That was the only physical similarity between my dad and I. I had gotten my grey eyes and poor eyesight from my mom.

"How was I supposed to know she was a super? I've never fought another super before. I don't know how to fight supers. I'll be more careful next time but-" I had wanted to suggest contacting other supers and training with them but was interrupted.

I reached for the buzzing phone in my pocket. It stopped ringing the moment I was about to answer Nova. I called her back.

"Hey, Quinn. I was just wondering if you wanted to come to meet me and Stella at Top Off in a few minutes," said Nova casually. I could imagine her awaiting my answer while looking for smudges on the lenses of her rectangular red glasses, the color she had chosen today.

"That sounds great," I said, but could see Aunt Megan silently telling me to decline Nova's offer with hand gestures and facial expressions, "but I have plans with my Aunt Megan. Sorry. Maybe tomorrow?"

I heard Stella in the background on Nova's side say "I told you he wouldn't be able to come. He's always so busy nowadays." She was probably putting her excessively long brown hair into a ponytail, a fidgety habit she had. She'd probably take it down again minutes later and nervously try to comb out the frizz.

But she was right. I had been either canceling plans or running late a lot since I became Cobalt. It's a little hard to hang out with your friends when you're busy fighting crime.

"Yeah. Sounds great," Nova answered a little disappointed.

After I hung up Aunt Megan said, "I need you here so I can size your suit correctly."

I huffed in annoyance even though I knew she was right. I needed to be ready to become Cobalt at any moment, and I couldn't do that without my suit.

After Aunt Megan spent a few hours measuring me and sewing up the suit, I was ready to get out of S.A.S.S, the lab she worked in. As I was stuffing my suit into my bag my aunt called, "Oh! I almost forgot." She ran over to pick up something resembling a smartwatch and handed it to me.

"It's an alert. A silent one. It scans police radios and security cameras for trouble. If Cobalt is needed it'll vibrate."

Before, when danger popped up and he needed to make an appearance I'd have to find out on my own. Witnessing the danger first hand, seeing the news, or hearing about it from someone else.

"Awesome, thanks!" I took the watch and ran down four flights of stairs. Gotta maintain those superhero muscles somehow.

On my way out the door, I bumped into a very frazzled Dr. Sands, director of the technology department at S.A.S.S.

"Wha- What are you doing here so late, Quinn?" He asked.

"I was... working on a school project with my aunt." I had gotten pretty good at thinking up excuses on the spot since I became a superhero.

"Really? What were you working on?" Of course, I still had a lot to learn in the art of excuse making. Lesson one: don't leave room for follow-up questions.

"We were working on..." I looked around for some inspiration. Glancing at my new watch I was given an idea, "a watch to alert supers to danger. The assignment was to come up with something that would aid supers."

"Amazing. The Bentley family never fails to impress me. You mom, the doctor. Your dad, a lawyer. And your aunt. Quinn, you have some big shoes to fill."

I nodded in agreement and with that, the conversation ended and I had to sprint to catch the bus home.

When I arrived, my mom was in the kitchen cooking dinner and my dad was sat at the table on his laptop, most likely working. The news was on in the living room, switching from an update on traffic to the story of Cobalt's fight with the clawed girl.

They didn't say much to me before we ate other than the usual "How was your day, honey?" from mom and the random Dad joke from Dad.

When Mom was done making dinner, she started fixing her plate. Dad and I followed suit. The recap of my fight was still on when we were all sat down at the table.

"You know he gave a civilian a concussion during that fight?" My mother, the doctor, said casually puncturing a piece of steak with her fork.

It took me a moment to realize she was talking about me - well, superhero me. "He did?" I did?

"Yes. I treated him today. He said Cobalt pushed him when he made a move towards that girl." I didn't remember pushing anyone.

Before I could try to tell her that wasn't what happened and the man she treated was definitely confused, though I'm not sure how I would have, Dad, decided it was his turn to speak.

"I can't stand these supers," he grunted, shaking his head in disgust.

I sat there, nodding my head in pretend agreement. A hollowness was starting to set in me as I developed this habit of pretending around them.

Pretending I was spending my time with Stella and Nova when I was at S.A.S.S lab with Aunt Megan. Pretending I hated supers when some were actually my friends.

Nothing I said to them ever seemed to be true anymore and I hated it as much as they hated supers.

Before I got my powers I did agree. In my mind supers were the worst. I had told my mom as a kid that I wanted to get rid of all the supers when I grew up. Obviously, I trashed that idea pretty quickly after discovering my powers.

Just as I was about to add a comment about how terrible supers were, I felt a vibration on my wrist.

Aunt Megan's watch. Not again, I thought.

"Excuse me. I've got a lot of homework tonight. I'm going to head off and get to work," I said

They nodded and I rushed to my bedroom to change into my suit. As I was getting it out of my bag, my phone started to ring.

"Quinn, I was just testing the watch to make sure it worked long distance. There's no danger. He isn't needed." Aunt Megan said.

I rolled my eyes and let out a breath. I told her to give a warning next time and hung up. Relieved I didn't have to have another fight today, I let out a long breath a flopped onto my bed.