Zoom, Academy for Superheroes: Part 1

Chasing Pavements

        "Don't need to look no further, this ain't lust, I know this is love. Should I give up? Or should I just keep chasing pavements, even if it leads nowhere. Or would it be a waste, even if I knew my place, should I leave it there? Should I give up? Or should I just keep chasing pavements, even if it leads nowhere."
-Adele

*****

        "Ah, Miss Holloway, Mr Shepherd, glad I ran into you two this morning!" Dr Grant said brightly as he saw Miss Holloway and Jack turn down the hallway towards him. Jack sighed and Marsha winced as they approached each other.
        "I told you we would run into him if we walked this way." She said quietly to Jack.
        Here we go," Jack whispered back before forcing a smile. "What do you want this time, Grant?" He asked jokingly, hoping there really wasn't anything that actually needed to be done.
        "Well, funny you should ask, I actually have a favour you could do for me!"
        They both rolled their eyes but tried to remain as friendly as they could.
        "Our mailing system has been down for the past couple weeks so I've redirected my personal mail to that little post office that's inside the corner store just north of Area 52. I just know I have some important mail waiting for me, if you could manage to pick that up for me it would be great!"
        "You want me to go get your mail?" Jack said slowly, as if he'd misheard him.
        "Well, I would do it, but it's very important that I sort through a few of the team's files today and get them sorted out for Laraby, I won't have time to run down to the post office. Of course, if you wanted to start on the filing job for me-"
        "No, no, I'd be more than happy to go get your mail for you, have fun with the filing, come on, Marsha." Jack interrupted quickly, filing was something that he avoided like the plague. Marsha pulled away from his reach, obviously displeased that she'd suddenly been dragged into this whole situation.
        "What? Me too?"
        "Yes, good thinking, Jack. Marsha, you should probably go with him, he needs a babysitter. Try to keep him out of trouble." Jack frowned and Marsha almost let herself smile at Grant's comment.
        And with that, Grant hurried down the hallway before anyone could object any further. It was then that they realized that Grant didn't even leave them his car keys, and there was obviously no taxi service out here in the middle of a military installation. With a sigh and a roll of their eyes, they realized that they would have to walk.

        Marsha's mood turned around when they stepped outside, it was nice to feel the sunlight on her skin, Area 52 was an awfully enclosed place. She enjoyed the walk, but Jack frowned beside her.
        He was beginning to feel rather stupid for insisting he bring along an umbrella. Marsha told him that it was a beautiful day, there was no need for an umbrella, but Jack argued that it called for rain today and brought it along anyway. As much as he, too, enjoyed the sunshine, he couldn't bear his pride being damaged, and he almost willed it to rain.
        "I told you it wouldn't rain." Marsha couldn't but comment, teasing him for once instead of vice versa.
        "It still could." He responded somewhat coldly.
        "It won't." Marsha was nothing but confident, after all, the chances of rain really weren't in Jack's favour on this lovely Saturday morning. The sun was shining brightly, there were only a few clouds in the sky. He wasn't glad that he'd made a fool of himself with the whole umbrella thing, but he appreciated the sun nonetheless.
        Jack shielded his eyes from the persistent sun as he and Marsha, who was lacking her usual lab coat and glasses, walked side by side in the direction of the corner store post office. He couldn't help but notice that the way the sunlight was hitting Marsha's eyes made them look especially captivating, but he only sighed and willed himself to look away.

*****

        They'd spent much more time than necessary in the corner store. They were off to a tedious start when it took that scatterbrained employee half an hour just to find Grant's mail, and not long after, Jack and Marsha got separated on opposite sides of the store.
        At first, Marsha didn't even realize she was alone, her "babysitting" skills obviously weren't as keen as Grant had hoped. When she finally found Jack, she saw that he was extremely distracted by the cheap fishing gear aisle.
        When Miss Holloway finally got the mail and managed to drag Jack out of the store, she immediately frowned with displeasure as they emerged from the store into the pooring rain. It took her a minute to even register the sudden change in weather, but when she did she quickly shoved the mail into her purse in an attempt to keep it dry.
        Jack laughed loudly, gloating happily at his little victory. He taunted Marsha for a while, as she stood with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.
        "Boy, if looks could kill." He teased her as they both stood in the pouring rain, the roof from the store offered absolutely no shelter, until Jack simply opened his umbrella and began walking back to Area 52.
        "If looks could kill you'd be dead a long time ago." Marsha called after him before finally sighed and walking quickly to catch up with him.
        "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to share my umbrella?" He said teasingly as she silently moved under the umbrella beside him. It was quite the fiasco as they walked, Marsha kept arguing that Jack was hogging the umbrella, which wasn't untrue, which lead Jack to intentionally begin moving the umbrella away from her and getting her soaking wet every now and then.
        As their persistent bickering continued, Miss Holloway wasn't paying any attention at all to where she was walking and didn't see the small dip in the sidewalk.
        Jack didn't realize that she had tripped until he felt a splash beside him. He looked down to see that Marsha had tripped on the sidewalk and fallen right into a puddle. She crossed her arms and pouted angrily as he helped her up, not holding back his laughter.
        When Jack and Marsha finally entered Area 52 once again, they were greeted by Dr Grant. He took one look at the two, and saw that they had taken on the exact opposite demeanour as each other since this morning. Jack, now chuckling happily, and Marsha, now scowling and agitated. He then saw Jack standing completely nice and dry under his umbrella, while Marsha, on the other hand, was soaking wet.
        She handed him his mail, which was also soaking wet, and looked back at Jack angrily once more. He just laughed, closed his umbrella, and followed her down the hallway. Dr Grant didn't even want to ask.