The Adventures of a Cosmic Girl: Vol. 1

Chapter 11: Sal

Betty, and Conor filed out with the crowd. Both were anxious, Conor's golden brown eyes were darting around nervously.

The sound of excited chatter filled the air as the church goers greeted one another. A middle aged man attempted to acost them but they quickly side stepped him.

They tried to walk away from the chapel as fast as they could, without looking suspicious doing their best to take long even strides. They moved in silence for a long time, it wasn't until the shambles were far behind them that Betty spoke up.

"Who is Sal Khatri?"

Conor flinched, his whole body recoiling slightly as if she had just prodded him with a hot iron.

"How should I know?" He replied unconvincingly. His hands were restlessly fiddling with his short hair.

Betty stopped walking and crossed her arms, her partner halted to look at her.

"What?" He asked. His face reminded her of a statue still, and inexpressive.

Betty pulled a Conor rolling her eyes.

"Do you seriously expect me to believe that? After the way you acted in there?"

Conor cast his eyes at the cracked pavement refusing to meet her gaze.

"Fine you're right. I do know him, but nothing I know will help us, so just drop it," he said in a hushed voice, as if afraid that the passing civilians would overhear him.

Betty scowled. "Yeah no, I'm not gonna do that."

They both stood there stubbornly for a moment. Betty doing her best to look serious while the breeze blew her blonde hair into her face, and Conor looking at everything but her eyes. Passers by had to dodge around them, and one old man even yelled at them as he passed by.

"Let's find somewhere to sit down," Conor said, eyes still downcast.

It didn't take them long to reach Riveredge Park, a small patch of green in all the concrete, with a playground, a little pool, and a pavilion.

The park was mostly empty save for a few parents with children too young to be in school yet. Betty steered Conor towards the pavilion where they sat down at a dilapidated picnic table.

Betty stared across the table at her partner. He was absentmindedly running a hand through his dark hair, his golden eyes seemed focused on something just over her shoulder. She could tell he was deep in thought considering his next words carefully.

Betty's anxiety grew as they sat in silence. She could tell by his demeanor that what he was about to say was important, but whatever it was he had chosen to hide it from her until now. Though part of her did trust Conor they had only known each other for a little over a week.

Eventually Conor met her sea green eyes with a detriment look.

"Sal Khatri was my uncle."

Betty stared at her partner as if he had just turned into a giant, talking tortoise.

"What?" She let out, unsure how to respond.

Conor recovered some of his normal disdain rolling his eyes.

"You heard me," his tone was slightly strained, as if the words took a lot of effort to get out.

Betty glared at him as she felt irritation, and confusion rise in her.

"I thought you said it wasn't important? How the heck is this not important!" She asked pointedly.

Conor looked away again, and for a second Betty almost regretted her intensity. Then he glared back at her and any regret she had felt faded from her mind.

"Because that's all I know! He was my dad's half brother, so after my parents divorced my mom never talked about him. And besides even if my dad did stick around I doubt he had found memories of Sal."

The bitterness in her partner's tone started to deflate her anger. Having grown up without a family not having a father was a feeling she could relate to.

"Why didn't they get along?" Betty asked in a much calmer tone.

Conor gave her a look that clearly said 'are you an idiot?' Betty felt herself tense up again but did her best to contain herself. He was being a jerk but she could tell this was a sore subject for him.

"Well I don't know maybe it was the small issue of him being a super," his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Betty made a small 'oh' sound. She had never really thought about the fact that at least one of his parents probably had powers of their own. Though it was possible for a super child to be born to none super parents they were in the minority

"That makes sense. So your father was a hero?" Betty asked, finding herself intrigued by his family life.

"He was a super," he replied evasively. "But that's not important, what's important is that we are no closer to finding the others then before."

Betty shook her head. "That's not true."

Conor looked taken aback. "What do you mean that's not true?"

"Well we may not know where they were taken, or how, but we know why."

Conor considered her words, his face was mostly neutral but she could see the gears turning in his mind.

"But that still doesn't make any sense. How could a bunch of non-powered fanatics take down a whole super team? It just doesn't add up," he spoke with confidence, but his eyes looked uncertain.

"I don't know. They said Sal was a scientist maybe he made something other than his doomsday weapon that could take down supers."

"Maybe. . . " he trailed off uncertainty. In that moment Conor looked years older than he was, his face held the stressed look of an adult, not a fourteen year old boy.

Betty was doing her best to distance herself from the bubbling panic in her stomach, but it was difficult. Her breath started to speed up as her heart rate exaggerated. But despite that she did her best to remain calm They last thing they needed was for her to have a panic attack.

Noticing her distress Conor snapped out of his thoughts. "Betty?" He asked quizzically, his voice had a slightly concerned edge to it.

Before she could respond a different voice cut through the air.

"Void, Cosmic! I'm so glad I found you!"