Secretly Powerful

One Step Ahead: Part 2

The three of them sprinted to the front doors.
Aubrey immediately pulled on the handles to open them, but the wouldn't.
"Are they locked?" Christian asked.
She briefly glanced at him, but didn't answer his question.
She heard noise from the other side, and then the doors moved, as if Captain Ferguson  or one if them tried to push them open. But that didn't seem to work either.
"What happened?" Bella said.
"I don't know." Christian stared in puzzlement at the doors, his brows furrowed.
Bella didn't look satisfied with his answer but said "I'll check the back door."
"Uh, okay."
Christian and Aubrey watched as Bella jogged away from them, and rounded the side of the building.
"Are you guys okay?" Aubrey yelled to Captain, Makenzie, and Wyatt, after Bella had disappeared.
"Uh...no. Obviously not." She heard Wyatt's voice say. Her face fell flat.
"We're fine." Captain Ferguson said. "No one's hurt anyway."
"Oh ok. That's good. Bella's checking the backdoor now."
"Okay."
"What happened?" Christian asked them.
"Um, we don't know." Makenzie said. "Maybe one of us triggered something?"
That was a possibility. Aubrey did hear a snap right after Captain Ferguson turned away from them.
"Maybe." Aubrey said.
She heard footsteps nearby and turned to find Bella coming back towards them. Christian turned to look at her too.
"So?" He asked.
"That door didn't open either." She answered. She even sounded disappointed. And maybe a little worried.
"The back door's locked too!" Aubrey yelled to the others trapped inside. She heard muffled grunts and sighs.
"So we're trapped in here?" Makenzie said.
"Yup." Wyatt said.
"What are we gonna do?" Christian asked, panic seeping into his voice.
Aubrey started pacing, trying to think. If the doors were locked they could easily figure out a way to open them. Although there wasn't a visible lock hole on the outside of the door, if they had a battering ram...
"Is this better?" She heard Captain Ferguson's voice crackle from somewhere. Aubrey snapped her head up, searching for the source of the sound.
"Yeah, it is." Bella said into her comm. Oh. Bella must've connected with Captain so they wouldn't have to shout through the doors anymore.
Aubrey sighed. She didn't have time for this. Of course the hideout would be a fake on a day she's busy. Bad things always seemed to happen on days she's busy.
She pulled out her phone and checked the time.
"Ugh, crap." She mumbled.
Christian glanced at her and after a moment asked "What's wrong?"
"Um...nothing I just...need to be somewhere soon." She said absentmindedly as she glanced up at the building. She noticed the windows at the top. She walked to the other side of the building an saw that there were windows all along the top on that side too.
"Where do you need to be?" Christian ran up to her and followed behind her. Bella did the same.
She started to make her way to the other side of the building.
"The gymnastics center. They're having a meet."
"But I thought you didn't compete anymore?" Christian asked as they rounded the corner of the left side of the building.
"I don't. But the judges want me to show the kids some moves after the meet. My mom is one of the judges, so." She said, still distracted.
"And why didn't you tell me this?" At the sound of the Captain's voice, Aubrey halted.
As she turned back around, she saw Bella bump into Christian, not expecting the sudden stop.
"I tried to before we left, but we were in such a hurry." She said, and turned to look back up at the windows.
"Well, why didn't you tell me yesterday. Or some other day?"
"I would've but my mum told me about it yesterday."
"I see."
Aubrey spotted a tall structure infront of her that looked like abandoned walkways from a construction site. It sat up against the building, and though she didn't know why it was there, the very top walkway was right below a window. She rushed up to it.
    Acting on impulse, she grabbed one of the metal beams and hoisted herself up. She balanced on the bars she stood on, making sure the structure would hold her weight. Once she knew it wouldn't collapse on her, she started climbing.
    "Uhh...what're you doing?" Bella's voice asked from below her.
    "I'm climbing up to that window." She said, and pointed to the window, briefly halting her climb.
    "...Why?" Christian said.
    "So I can see if they can get out from the inside."
    After her explanation, the two didn't say anything else to her. So she continued her climb to the top of the structure quickly.
    Once she reached the top, she pulled herself onto the boards.
She laid on her back for a couple seconds, letting out a breath of exhaustion. After she mostly caught her breath, she sat up and moved toward the window.
Her eyes wandered over the inside of the building. The inside looked almost exactly like the outside. The peeling paint on the brick walls was a faded mint green color. And there were some rooms on the inside, but not many. The entire place looked to be pretty spacious and empty. There were some tables and chairs, with food cartons, personal belongings and papers on them, but the whole place was pretty empty.
She spotted Captain Ferguson, Makenzie, and Wyatt near the front door, though she had to crane her neck slightly to see them.
She banged on the window to try to get their attention. She noticed Makenzie visibly jump from the sudden sound, but the three turned in her direction. They walked away from the door and moved over by the window Aubrey was at. Wyatt gazed up at her, his face contorted into a confused and amused expression.
"Can you guys hear me?" She yelled at them.
"Yeah." Makenzie yelled back. She also saw the Captain nod, and Wyatt give her a thumbs up.
"Can you open or... break the window? Somehow?" Makenzie asked her.
Aubrey held up her finger, signaling for them to wait. She moved away from the window, and looked around. There wasn't much around her that she could use. There were random nails and screws strewn everywhere, and some construction tools, but most of them looked too dilapidated to use, or they simply wouldn't help. She picked up a nail close to her, and set the point against the glass. She held up her free hand and smashed the heel of her palm into the flat end of the nail. It made a tiny crack in the glass but nothing major. She sighed. If she kept on with the nail, without using her powers too much, it would take forever until she broke it.
And she didn't have forever.
    She grunted and tossed the nail aside. She spied back down at them and shook her head. The theree seemed to deflate.
    She looked down at them with sympathy, understanding how they felt. She took her eyes off of them though, and gazed around the spacious mill again, and her thought from earlier reoccurred to her.
    "Can you guys get out from the inside?" She yelled.
   They looked up at her, considering what she said. Makenzie and Wyatt took a moment to glance around too. But ultimately Makenzie said "Um, I don't think so. But we'll check the exits to make sure!".
    The three left Aubrey's window and seemed to split up.
    "Aubrey!" She heard an Australian accent yell from below. She moved to the edge of the board, and peeked down. Christian gazed up at her.
    "Yes?" She called.
    "Can you come look at something?"
    "Uh" she briefly glanced to the window "...Sure." She said, and moved back towards the window. She banged her fist on it until someone came into view.
    Wyatt had run from somewhere, and looked up at her with a bewildered expression.
    "I'm leaving the window!" She yelled. Understanding, Wyatt nodded and gave her a thumbs up.
    Aubrey nodded once, and left the window. She moved to the edge of the board, and started her descent to the ground.
    Once she had landed back on solid ground, she turned to Christian. "Ok. What is it?"
    Christian lead her back around to the front of the building, where the front doors were. As they rounded the corner, she found Bella waiting for them, staring at the doors with her brows furrowed into a worried expression.
    "That." Christian pointed at the double doors. Aubrey was slightly confused but looked to where he pointed anyway.
    At first, she didn't see anything. But then, she squinted her eyes and saw what Christian had noticed, and what Bella was worried about. It seemed that the front doors to the building were...fusing together. But...how could that be?
    She got closer to the doors to examine the anomaly. She subconsciously started reaching out to touch it, and before brain could stop her, her fingertips touched the fusing metal.
    She yanked her hand away, and hissed. She let out a sharp cry of pain. When she'd touched the fusing doors, it had burned her. She should've expected it, if she were being honest. It was basic physics and chemistry. If something was fusing together, especially metal, it was probably hot.
   "Are you ok?" Bella said, her voice filled with concern.
    "Yeah, I'm fine." She shook her hand, trying to make the feeling go away.
    "What just happened?" She heard Wyatt's voice say over Bella's comm.
    "Nothing." She said a bit too loudly.
    "So what's happening to the door?" Bella asked.
    "It's fusing together." She said.
    "What?" Christian and Bella said at the same time.
    "But, how is that possible? That...can't happen." Christian said.
    "I have no idea... But, I think whatever is fusing the door was on the windows too."
    "Why do you say that?"
    "Well do you see this blue shimmery powder?" She pointed to the powder she noticed on the ground.
    "Yeah."
    "I saw some of it on the windowsill. And there seemed to be some kind of film over the glass."
    "Oh." Christian sighed "well, how are we supposed to get them out of here if we can't use the doors or windows?" He asked.
    Aubrey sat down, stumped. "I don't know."
    "What if we take the door off the hinges?" Bella suggested.
    "That's a good idea, but the hinges are fusing too." She pointed to the door hinges.
   "Oh." She breathed in disappointment. She gave Bella a sympathetic glance.
The sudden ring of Aubrey's phone startled her. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw that it was Makenzie calling. She looked up at the doors in confusion and answered the call.
"What?" She said.
"Well that's no way to greet your friend. I thought you were taught better than this."
"Mack we don't have time for this, why are you calling me?"
"Fine. We thought it'd be better to communicate this way. Now put me on speaker."
Aubrey moved her phone away from her ear and rolled her eyes. She pressed the speaker button. "Ok."
"Mr Porter was right. This was obviously a trap." Captain Ferguson admitted.
"I told you." Christian said to himself.
"Ok but why would it be a trap?" Bella asked.
There was a moment of silence, for everyone to think, but Wyatt said "Probably to lure Mystique here, or something."
"But we could need her about now." He added.
Aubrey sighed. Even though she didn't want to admit it, He was probably right. If this really had been a hideout at one point, and word had gotten to Noah that it was compromised, they would've moved. And knowing that they were coming, they would've set some kind of trap. They just, set it for the wrong person. Or, people in this case. And she supposed they could need her alter ego about now. But she couldn't reveal herself to them.
"Well, does anyone have any ideas of how to get you guys out?" She said. She glanced at Bella and Christian. Both of them shook their heads and Christian said a quiet "no.". Responses of "nope" and "uh-ah" rang out from her phone too.
Her face fell "Fantastic."
"Mmmm wait." Christian said, and pointed his finger nowhere in particular "I, might have an idea. Uh but, I don't know if it'll work..."
"What is it?" Aubrey and Captain Ferguson said at the same time. Aubrey suppressed the urge to smile.
"Uh well," he rubbed the back of his neck "What if we use the plasma gun?"
That was actually a good idea.
"Wait, we still have that?" Bella asked.
"Yeah. We didn't give it to Noah, when uh ...when he kidnapped Aubrey."
"Oh. Right..."
"We could burn a hole in the door? So they could get out." She suggested, partially ignoring Bella's question. She eyed Christian in thought. "Probably."
She and Christian locked eyes, and she was reminded of her first day when they had accidentally fired the gun. And burned a hole in the wall. Thank goodness Captain hadn't found out.
"Well, what do you think Captain?" Christian asked.
There was silence for a moment, but then "Ok. I'll let you use the gun to get us out of here."
"Yes! Uh, thank you Captain!" Christian said, smiling at her.
"Yes, thank you Captain Ferguson." She said. "We're on our way now to get it. I'm, gonna hang up now. If you guys need anything text us. And I'll text updates too."
"Thanks Bree." Makenzie said before she hung up the phone.
"So I guess we're heading back to the station?" Bella asked.
"Yup." She and Christian said in unison.
"Ok then." They followed Bella to one of the cop cars.

    They practically marched into the lobby. When they passed the front desk, the lady barely glanced up to look at them.
    "I'll go get it." Christian said as he opened the door to the station.
    Bella responded with "ok.", and Aubrey just nodded.
    Christian rushed off towards the lab. As she and Bella followed the direction Christian went, Aubrey noticed they got some lingering looks from the other officers around them, but she tried her best to pay them no mind.
    She and Bella stopped just before the stairs to go down to the lab, and waited. After a couple beats of awkward silence between them, Bella started humming a tune Aubrey didn't recognize. And she seemed to fidget a lot. Aubrey glanced her way. Bella's eyes darted everywhere, she moved one leg almost like something was wrong with it, and she wore a thoughtful expression on her face. Aubrey furrowed her eyebrow slightly in curiosity, but she glanced away from her and didn't say anything. She didn't know if Bella was being impatient, or if she wanted to say something.
    "So, uh... why's your mom judging the meet? I mean, a while ago Wyatt told me you did gymnastics when you were younger so, I guess I get why you'd go to the meet today. But why your mom?" She blurted out all at once. It took Aubrey a moment to find what she was asking.
    "Um, she taught me gymnastics. And she was in a traveling circus when she was young. She also went to the Olympics twice." Aubrey said a little distractedly. She thought she saw Christian coming back.
    "Oh. Oh ok, that's- wait. Your mom was in the OLYMPICS?!" Bella almost yelled. Aubrey started at her wide eyed, immediately regretting telling her that piece of information. "Oh my gosh! So, you're basically kinda famous."
    "No-" Aubrey tried to say.
    "I cannot believe this." Bella brought her hand up to her forehead pushing the hair that fell in her face up.
    "You can't believe what?" Christian said as he came up the stairs, with the plasma gun nestled in a bag he was carrying.
   "Alright let's go." Aubrey said before Bella could say anything. She grabbed Christian's arm to make him follow. She headed for the door as fast as she could.
    "You aren't gonna believe it, Aubrey's mom went to the Olympics. Twice." Bella fell in step with Aubrey. She was a little surprised at how fast Bella could keep up.
    "What?! Really?" Christian exclaimed. She didn't have to look to know he was staring at her in astonishment.
    Aubrey cringed internally as she pushed door open. Why did she let that slip? She wasn't going to hear the end of it now.

________________________________
- Hello! Sorry for the mini hiatus, ha. 😅
- But anyway, have a new part! I hope you enjoyed it!😊
- I know this part is kinda slow, but the next part should be a bit more interesting!
- But let me know what you thought of it!
- And don't  forget to vote and comment!

- Candace 🧁