Big City Villain | BOOK ONE

Chapter Eighteen: How You Get the Girl.

I stood there helpless on the roof. "Stupid worthless powers!" I shouted at no one in particular. I kicked the gravel on the roof and scowled when the rocks skipped off the edge and fell to the ground.

"Tights!" I screamed, cupping my hands around my mouth and calling for my brother. "Anti Gravity! You useless superhero!"

"Just a second!" he said, flying down to me. I was going to yell at him for taking his sweet time, but he held his hand out at me. "Betty, I mean it . . . Come on, Beats! I had to save that girl's life. I did not kiss her back! Alright? You know that happens in the hero field!" He paused and frowned.

I could hear Betty yelling at him on the other line. I rolled my eyes, girls. When Ben was close enough to me, I reached out and snatched his phone from him. "Hey Betty," I said into the mouthpiece. "This is Headphones. Listen, your boyfriend has some bigger fish to fry tonight, alright?" I hung up before she could get mad at me.

"Coal!" Tights said, trying to grab the phone out of my hand. "I was talking to her."

"She can wait," I snapped. "City Sweeper has Storm."

"Where did they go?"

The next thing I was going to do was the dumbest thing I've ever attempted. I'm not sure what all this spark could do, but I needed to get to Storm, and I was going to try anything to save her.

"You're going to hate me for this but just remember it's payback for dropping me," I said, reaching out and grabbing my brother's exposed hand. There was a bright spark between us causing him to scream out and fall to his knees, for a split second I was lightheaded and dizzy. I let go quickly, my vision immediately clearing back up. "Sorry, Ben."

"What did you do to me?"

"I don't know," I confessed. "You'll be fine in a few hours or so. I hope." I spun on my heels and raced for the edge in the direction that City Sweeper had taken off in. I really hope this plan works. I jumped off the edge, and instead of falling, I flew.

"Yes!" I screamed.

I've no idea how long I have Ben's power for but I'm just hoping it's long enough to catch up with City Sweeper. Okay, so how do you fly? Superman sticks his hand out in front of him, so maybe that's the steering wheel? Oh, I'm such an idiot sometimes.

Unsteady and wobbly with my heart beating hard in my chest, I stuck my hand out in front of me and used my stored energy to catch up to wherever City Sweeper took Storm.

"You're flying!"

I looked to my side quickly and collided into Tights. "No, I'm not!" I shouted, pushing myself off of him and trying to right myself. "I'm borrowing your power of flight."

"But I'm flying, too!"

"I'm still trying to figure this power out. I don't know what it is I can do."

Tights frowned at me. "You don't have to stick your hand out unless you're pretending to be Superman, but in that case, you forgot to put your underwear on the outside."

I rolled my eyes at him, and put my hand back to my side. I think I know what you're thinking, I'm flying, and I should be excited. I've been complaining relentlessly about being the only super who can't fly, and now I'm not even enjoying it.

But City Sweeper has Storm Rider, and I don't have time to joke around right now.

"What's your plan?" Tights shouted.

"No clue!"

I flew around the city, scanning the rooftops and wondering where in the world City Sweeper was. Why can't City Sweeper just wear a bright red super suit so I could find him easily? Or why can't he have a convenient Twitter account he updates every two seconds with his exact location?