The Adventures of a Cosmic Girl: Vol. 1

Chapter Eight: Working together

Void's reaction was immediate. He jumped in front of his partner, using his back to pin her against the wall.

"What the hell!" Cosmic Girl yelped, his actions causing her to lose focus.

Void didn't even seem to hear her, his eyes were trained on the intruder. He let out a sigh of relief, and his stance relaxed as he recognized the man.

Cosmic Girl took the opportunity to push him away. Not expecting the sudden contact, Void stumbled forward. Cosmic Girl acted swiftly, maneuvering away from her partner.

"Hey, " he yelped in surprise.

Cosmic Girl ignored her partner, instead keeping her attention pinned on the man standing in front of them. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. His grizzly-brown hair shot up in all directions, making him look as if he had never even heard of a hairbrush. His skin was tan from long periods of time spent in the sun. But arguably the most noticeable thing about him was what he was wearing. He wore what looked like a red spandex suit, with a yellow belt around his waist, and a big 'A' splashed across his chest.

"You're the Achiever!" Cosmic Girl exclaimed , after the day she had been having her mind was just about ready to shut down.

"Really? I bet he didn't know that, " Void muttered sourly under his breath, still sore about being shoved.

The Achiever smiled, his trademark grin stretching across his face.

"That's right kiddo! And you are?" The way the older hero spoke reminded Cosmic Girl of a game show host.

"I'm Void, and this is my partner Micky, " Void stepped in, beating her to the chase.

The Achiever raised an eyebrow at the blonde girl. "Micky?"

"Cosmic Girl."

"Oh, the Professor must have loved that!" He chuckled.

Cosmic Girl was slightly taken aback. "What do you mean by. . ." She was cut off by the overeager, older hero.

"So where is the Prof? He hasn't been responding to the messages the league has been sending him. They are starting to worry about the old fool." As he spoke the Achiever's eyes darted around, clearly hoping to catch a glimpse of the retired hero.

"We don't know sir." Void went on to explain their situation in detail.

For once Cosmic Girl was glad when Void spoke up, the older hero was starting to get on her nerves. Achiever took in the information, nodding in what she thought was an over dramatic fashion. When Void got to the part about Vine, and the other heroes expression grew grim.

"So where is your other teammate?"

"He's in Mickey's room sir," Void replied, pointing down the hall. "Third door on the left."

Achiever nodded. "You two stay put, I will go check on your friend!"

"Yes sir!" Void replied, Cosmic Girl half expected her partner to salute.

Cosmic Girl frowned, all the butt kissing was really getting on her nerves.

When the older hero was out of site Void's expression became deadly serious.

"We need to go," he said darkly.

"What do you mean?" Asked Cosmic Girl, caught off guard by her partner's 180.

"We can't stay here!" He said urgently, his hand wrapping around her wrist, as he started leading her towards the exit.

Cosmic Girl yanked her hand back, her scowl now even more pronounced.

"I'm not going anywhere until you explain yourself!"

Void let out an irritated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You want to help find the others? Right?"

"How course I do!"

"Well, " he started, taking his hand off his nose. "Do you really think the league will let us do that? These are the same people who sent us to stop a middle-aged man who sucked at wordplay. The moment we go with them we're done! They are gonna lock us away in some safe house, while they do the real hero work."

Betty felt like the world was spinning. Today was supposed to be fun! They were going to go on there first mission, be real heroes. Nothing like this was supposed to happen.

She took a deep breath to calm herself. She knew what she had to do.

"So let's say I go along with your stupid runaway plan, what's to stop the league from catching us? We aren't exactly inconspicuous!" she said, gesturing to her purple bodysuit.

Void grimaced as if he was about to say something he would regret. "I know a place. . ."

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The flight to Void's mysterious safe haven was uneventful. Still not used to flying, Cosmic Girl felt like she would hurl her guts out at any moment. Void ignored the girl's distress, his dark brow furrowed deep in thought.

The small part of Cosmic Girl's mind that wasn't dedicated to not throwing up, was wondering where exactly they were going.  She had asked, but Void had not elaborated.

Normally being flown to an unknown place by someone who was obviously hiding something, would be concerning to her. But for reason beyond her comprehension, she trusted Void.

Soon they had left the shining lights of the city far behind and were hurtling towards the suburbs. Cosmic Girl was dimly aware that the sun had set, leaving them flying through the darkness. 'Maybe Void's night vision isn't so useless after all' she thought to herself.

When they reached the outskirts of the suburbs Void slowed his pace, starting to descend.

Cosmic Girl was relieved when her feet hit solid ground again. Taking pity on his partner, Void diligently waited as she got over her motion sickness.

When she was finally able to look up from the ground Cosmic Girl made sure to catch her partner's eye.

"What?" Void asked defensively, obviously put off by his partner's intense stare.

She didn't let up on him, her blue eyes had a sharp edge to them. "Before we go any further we need to talk."

Void seemed to pick up on her serious tone. "About what exactly?"

She sighed running a hand through her straight, blonde hair. "We have to be a team. You can't shove me behind you every time there might be danger!"

Void crossed his arms defiantly. "What am I supposed to do Micky? You don't exactly have a combat friendly power set."

Her gaze didn't waver. "You need to trust me. I may not have the most amazing power in the world, but I've gone through the same training you have. And to get here I've had to work ten times harder than people like you! For this to work, I need you to let me actually help. Do you understand?"

Void took a moment to process her words. Finally, he let out a sigh of his own. "Fine! But you understand that I will not let you hold us back."

Cosmic Girl felt a jolt of anger run through her at his arrogance, but she pushed it down. She held out her hand.

"Shake on it?"

He nodded, reaching out to firmly grasp her hand. They were going to work together, not because they liked each other, but because they had to.

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Hi all, sorry it took me so long to update! I've been having some pretty bad writers block. I kept rewriting this chapter, but I'm still not very happy with the results. I'd be really grateful for any feedback.