Supergirl: Disguise

Chapter 6

"Guess what?" I asked Rick over the phone. I had called a bunch of people telling them about the job. After a few minutes of contemplation I finally scrounged up the courage to call Rick.

"What?" He asked sounding tired. He hadn't left Mount Justice since Habitum had infiltrated it.

"I got the job as Maxwell Lord's assistant!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"Really? That's great Chris." He stated not sounding excited at all.

"You sound tired. Get some rest."

"I can't. Mount Justice is still a mess and Larcener, Blue Beetle, and Robin need a lecture on their disappearances." I shook my head, but didn't say anything.

"Well, goodbye Rick." I said after a moment of silence. I had told him my news and that's all I had to say.

"Yeah, see y-"

"No! No, how could I miss that!" I heard Bruce yell in the background cutting off Rick. A string of curse words followed and I could tell Rick was covering the receiver. I could barely hear their muffled conversation.

Rick removed his hand from the receiver and said to me, "You might want to get down here."

***

"Supergirl B12." The zeta tube said as I stepped out.

"What's going on?" I asked walking towards the group huddled around Bruce.

"I-I made a terrible mistake." Bruce replied sighing. "I dropped the talonium when Habitum escaped. And with all the debris I couldn't find it. I hoped that once we got everything under control I could find it. But I can't. He must've taken it. I don't know how or when, but he took it."

It took me awhile to process the information, but once I could speak I screeched, "What? How could you do that?"

"Chris, look he didn't mean to. Like he said, it was a mistake." Rick said defending Bruce.

"Of course you're on his side." I said glaring at him. "Now Habitum is one step closer to completing the bomb and we have no other leads. Tell me I'm wrong. Please."

Bruce sighed and I knew that was his way of saying "Nope, you're right." He might as well have said, "Nice knowin' ya!" Either way it felt the same. Like a punch in the gut.

"I'm sorry Chris. We'll figure something out." Bruce said walking away. I turned and walked the opposite direction. As I walked towards down a hallway I ran into Mark.

"Whoa, where are you goin' in such a hurry?" Mark asked chuckling.

"Where have you been?" I asked accusingly.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Habitum was here, in Mount Justice, and you were just taking some time off. Superheroes don't take time off! And now we lost the talonium and Habitum."

"You think I just took some days to myself?" He asked looking hurt. When I didn't answer he continued. "Bruce and Clark took me off the street when I got recruited. I didn't have enough money to pay for a house and my sister's medical bills. So I had to do whatever I could. Bruce said that if I joined your team he would help me pay. Last week she got worse. The doctors thought she was gonna die. They were thinking of euthanasia. She kept begging them to, but I thought I had convinced her not to. If I hadn't visited her last week she wouldn't be alive." I was rendered speechless. I was shocked. Like Mary Jane found out Peter was Spiderman shocked.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." Mark nodded pursing his lips.

"Yeah, you shouldn't have." I could tell I had just made it worse accusing him. Mark walked away and I sighed shaking my head.