Extraordinary Mistakes

29. You've taken everything from me

February 2017

We have AA. Are you in?

Diego reads the text message during his lunch break. He keeps reading it, as if the words would magically change.

He looks to the rearview mirror on his van. His forehead wrinkles keep getting bigger, how is that possible? He focuses on it and with his ability they disappear. He checks out his biceps and doesn't understand how they look so small, when he works out every day.

With one punch the van's steering wheel squeaks. He fixes his muscles, making them bigger and smiles at the result.

None of it, the wrinkles or the biceps are real. Ever since that day, Diego never stopped using his ability. He would change his appearance most days, and even when he wasn't disguised, he wasn't pleased with what he saw in the mirror. The wrinkles, that no one else saw, because they weren't there. He would fix. The muscles that were big enough already, he saw them too small. He would fix.

That Diego could control. That he could fix.

Later that day, after work, Diego picks up an older man. They drive in silence for over an hour. The man tells him in Spanish to park the car.

"What are we doing to her?" Diego asks.

They are a few blocks away from their target: Amy Anderson. One of the Five.

"To her? Just ask her where Matthew is."

"Why the guns, then?" He points to the bag the man carries.

"Do you know who she is, Diego?" He scoffs. "What she's capable of?"

Diego doesn't.

"I'll tell you this about her. She committed the fatal flaw when she was eight. Eight! What a monster. What kind of child does that? The good thing," he laughs and pats Diego on the shoulder, "is that it's why her second power is so weak. She can only stop time for a few seconds. We'll strategically stand on several parts of her house. If she tries to escape using it, we'll catch her. Now," he looks at his watch, "repeat the plan back to me, so I'll know you understood it."

"I'll post a live video on the forum telling Matthew Moore to show up. If she doesn't tell you right away where they are hiding, I'll keep filming and when you come out with her, I'll show her on the camera."

Diego follows him. When they approach the house, more than forty others are there, all armed. Like he was told, Diego starts filming the house, following the script that the group had written for him.

They quietly enter Amy's house and start positioning. The man that was with Diego before and ten others slowly go up the stairs. They go room by room on that last floor, and finally, on the corner of a bedroom, next to the closet's door, stands a woman. She raises her hands when their eyes meet, her brown eyes are in tears and her silver hair looks almost white with the moonlight shining on it through the skylight.

The room that she's cornered in is of a teenage boy. They can tell from the decoration.

"Amy Anderson, remember me?" the man asks, and silence fills the room. "I've asked you a question."

"Silence is a clear enough answer."

"We are the Ariston community and we're looking for Matthew Moore, and the one they call the Angel of Death."

"Well, isn't everyone?" she scoffs, "hey, if you do see Matthew, ask him to pay me back. I'll take 100 dollars for starters, just to show some good faith, you know?"

"Amy Anderson," he clicks his tongue, "I can see it in your eyes that you know you've lost. You can try to use your power, but you are too weak. You won't get far. That's what happens when you do what you did at such a young age."