Hardly A Hero [REWRITTEN ON NEW ACCOUNT]

Chapter 17: The Heist ~ Part 1

"This is-"

"I can introduce myself, jackass."

I sputtered out a reactionary laugh as the goth-looking girl stepped forward and snarled at TerraStorm. He gave me a glare before mouthing 'she's not a fan'.

Pfft, as if that weren't already obvious.

"I'm Charlotte."  She faced me and held out her hand, which I leaned forward to shake.

"No!" TerraStorm jumped between us and my eyebrows furrowed inwards with confusion.   Charlotte cackled like some sort of witch and stepped backwards, holding up her hands in the air defensively. "Jesus, Charlotte!"

Again, I was left in the dark and pretty much ridiculed for the second time within the span of about five minutes.

"Charlotte is a shape-shifter." TerraStorm sighed as we both watched her chuckle menacingly and walk in the same direction Xedos went. "If you let her touch you, she can take off her mask and bam! Your identity is exposed."

I shivered at the thought of her morphing into an identical image of me and showing off her- or my- face to everyone. Especially TerraStorm.

I came out of my mental turtle shell and swallowed, hoping the last two team members would make our introduction a little easier than the others.

Looking over at the girl in the full on pink spandex I could see my chances of an easy greeting weren't going to be that likely. Her glare alone made it hard to look into her eyes for more than a second.

Before any greetings could be exchanged, Xedos ran up the ramp that extended out of the far wall and gestured for TerraStorm to come over.

"One sec." He left my slide and jogged down to join him, leaving me feeling a lot more vulnerable than before.

When TerraStorm finally disappeared behind a pair of large, silver door, my attention returned to the girl in front of me.

Except she wasn't in front of me.

I felt a hot breath against my neck from behind and I leaped forward in shock.

"I've heard a lot about you, Red Hawk."

The girl in pink strutted towards me as I turned to face her. She had a nasty scowl on her pretty face and towered over me, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning her weight on one hip.

"It seems as if TerraStorm is a big fan."

"TerraStorm and I-"

"Let me finish." She cut me off, still scowling. "Don't get in my way today. Let me remind you that you aren't even part of this team, so don't act like it. None of us want you here, despite how they may act. You're just TerraStorms latest project."

The last few words sent a cold, thin blade to run down my back. I swallowed hard and stared right back into her glossy blue eyes as they sent daggers into mine.

"Good to know."

We continued to challenge each other to a staring competition which was finally interrupted by TerraStorm running up the ramp towards us.

"It's time to go."

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There it was.

The Quickfire Casino in all it's royal glory.

It stood magnificently in the centre of town like some sort of over-sized beacon. It out-shined the other skyscrapers; if we were moths, that thing would have been a freaking wet dream.

The night sky curved over us and I had to take a brief moment away from the muttering and scheming of the team to gaze at the stars. But my peaceful bliss only lasted mere seconds.

"Quit daydreaming and keep yours eyes out for several black Range Rovers." Veronica ordered. Yes, the girl in the pink spandex was called Veronica. Of course, that wasn't her real name, but she made an argument that Super names were 'unnecessary' and 'hard to find when Marvel had pretty much stolen them all'.

I had to agree with the last part.

"Here," TerraStorm snuck up behind me as we crouched on the roof of a neighbouring set of apartments. In between his fingers he held a thin earpiece which he brought up to my face. He brushed a few strands of my chest-length hair and leaned in, flicking his eyes between mine and the earpiece as he began to curve the object around my ear.

In this situation, I would have swooned, but Veronica's voice continued to echo at the front of my mind.

You're just TerraStorms latest project. She had hissed, like the words were poison on the tip of her tongue and she wanted nothing more than to spit them out.

I snatched the object from his fingers and swallowed hard as my eyes remained staring into his.

"I can do it." I spat unhesitatingly. His eyebrows twisted inwards with confusion and his hands remained where I had snatched the earpiece from for a brief moment. I blinked quickly and stopped looking at him.

It was moments like this that ensured I was not villain material. I mean, getting upset over a throwaway comment made by a girl I didn't even know was hardly a villainous thing to do. Villains were ruthless, mean, heartless. They didn't develop crushes, let alone agree to train them purely because their presence was enough to send them into a fit of giddy spasms.

But I could feel that this had nothing to do with Ben.

"Are you alright?" TerraStorm questioned. I could feel Veronica's presence beside me more than ever.

"I'm fine."

Fortunately, Xedos spoke up before TerraStorm could question me any further.

"They're here!" He shouted.

TerraStorm gave me one final look of concern before I shot up to my feet and joined the others.

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A/N:

Hey guys!!!!!!!

How did you like part 1 of the heist?

Next chapter will be like a mid-season finale episode of a TV with three different parts to the heist alone. I hope you look forward to it!

I hope you liked this chapter and don't forget to drop a comment if you have any suspicions on what may go down!

-SkyHunterXoX