Seek {Superhero AU} - Ending 1

7: Hit 'Em

But—

The thing he told me with Luke. Shield my eyes?

I shut my eyes tight, and the moment they're closed, I hear the cacophonous sound of a dozen people being blinded. Light flashes on the other side of my eyelids. Luke's grip on me loosens, and I immediately shove him off me.

"Thanks," I say, briefly appreciating the dozen people groaning and covering their eyes. "What did you do to them?" I don't know why I ask—it's pretty obvious that he's blinded everyone, except when you see a room full of people whose eyes are burning horribly, the question just comes out naturally. It comes out just a bit harsher than intended, but Will grabs my hand and heads for the bedroom with the open window, so he must know I don't mean any harm.

"We have to get out of here," he says urgently.

"Wait—we can't leave yet—" I argue, trying to pull my hand out of his grip.

He looks at me like I'm crazy. "They're insane! If we stay here, they're going to try to kill us again. Come on, let's go!"

"No—what I'm looking for—"

"A girl," Will remembers. "Luke said you're looking for 'her.'"

"She must be here," I say, and I can hear the people in the hall slowly regaining their sight, but it doesn't matter. Nothing matters except finding Hazel—not even my own life.

Will glances through the window, then back to me, and then to the bedroom door to the hallway.

And then he grabs me by the waist and leaps—soaring at the window at a sickening speed.

"Holy shit!" I scream, and Will says nothing as we take the skies. I try to pry his fingers off me so I can get back in that house—if she's in there, if I'm right, then they'll move her now that I know she's there. I can't come back tomorrow, she is in there! If I'm right, she'll be gone by tomorrow.

When we're above the clouds, Will lets go of my waist but snatches my wrists. I try to think happy thoughts so I don't plummet to my death. I'm so close—this is the closest I've ever been. I just have to get down to that house, and that's all it will take. I'll fight a hundred of Luke's friends if it means Hazel gets to go home.

Will holds me close to him and does not let me dive back down to the house. "Listen to me Nico—you can't go back there right now."

"Fuck you! They have her, they must have her—"

"Nico. Whoever you're looking for—they will never be found if you're dead. Do you understand me? If you go back there, they're going to kill you. If you want your person to ever be saved, you have to listen to me."

He's giving me that same earnest look from before—like this is something he really cares about. Like I'm not his enemy. Like he wants to help.

I could have sworn only a week or two ago, he'd been trying to capture me to get the bounty. When did that change? What happened?

"I've been asking the wrong questions this whole time," he says, and the urgent tone is gone this time, replaced with a gentle understanding. "It's not about what you're looking for—it's who."

I start to slip again because I'm so angry that he's holding me up here when my sister is almost certainly down there. I force myself to take a breath in order to at least live long enough to get back inside that house instead of ending up splattered on the driveway or something.

Deep breath. In and out. I can do this.

When I'm ready to talk again, Will is still holding my hands. He's rubbing circles into the backs of them and tracing patterns up my fingers. Is this an attempt to calm me? Or...is this something different?

Somewhere in the back of my mind, it occurs to me that under different circumstances, floating in the sky with a man who is tracing patterns across my hands would be extremely romantic. But that's ridiculous. I mean, we're enemies. I'm a supervillain. Surely, Will is not thinking about the implications of holding someone's hand like this.

Then the logical part of my mind realizes that Will just saved my life again, and it hasn't even been twenty-four hours since the last time he saved my life. I force myself to meet his eyes and say, "Thank you for helping me. I'm sorry you've been involved in this mess. But as soon as it's safe to go back down, you will not be able to stop me from going back in that house and finding my sister."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he says, and his lips are kind of close to mine, and I swear the temperature gets a few degrees hotter. "So, this girl you're trying to find. What happened to her? I want to make sure that you're not trying to, like, kidnap someone."

I swallow. For a brief moment, I crane my neck to see through a thinner part of the clouds below us. I can't quite make out whether or not Luke and his friends are still swarming the house's yard or not—but if I had to guess, I would say the chances are high that they're lying in wait, expecting me to go back down and search the house. 

Which means I have nothing but time. There are no excuses to keep this from Will any longer.

"She was kidnapped when I was young," I say finally. "The police said it's a cold case—they're closing it unless they find some sort of new lead at some point, which is pretty unlikely because they're no longer actively working on it."

"Shit," says Will. "So you're trying to find and rescue her?"

"Right," I say, and something compels me to squeeze Will's hand, but I fight the temptation. "If I don't find her—no one will."

Word count: 1604

A/N: Hopefully this chapter is okay! I'm writing it at 3 AM, so I'll probably have to go through and edit again tomorrow when my mind is no longer mush.

I hope you've had a nice day :)

Yours,

Sunny