Droplets of sweat rolled down her face as she assumed a fighting stance, teeth clenched. Chapa guided her focus to the black punching bag in front of her, before pounding her fists into it once again. Every hit became weaker until the punches finally ceased. Breathless, Chapa closed her eyes and leaned against the punching bag unable to shake off her last memories of her brother, Justin.
*Flashback* ------------------
"I'm going to be back soon little sis." Justin smiled at the small girl in front of him.
"Are you sure you have to go?" Chapa looked into her older brother's eyes hoping he would stay.
"As much as I would love to stay home with you, I have to go to my interview in Maine. But just think, maybe we would be able to move out of this apartment if I get the job." he picked up the duffle bag that was laying on the floor next to his feet.
"I'm sure you'll do great." she watched as he unlocked and opened the front door.
"Thanks for the support!" he gave her a quick hug before stepping out and climbing down the steps of the front porch, "Remember, No boys are allowed to come over, my number is hanging on the fridge if you need me, and make sure you wake up for school!"
"I know," she rolled her eyes.
"I'll see you Friday!" he opened the car door and climbed in tossing his bag to the backseat. He inserted the keys into the ignition, turned them to the right, and started the engine. He looked back up at her once more before driving off.
*Flashback End* ---------------
Ray, who was watching from the doorway, walked over to Chapa holding out a bottle of water to her, "Let's talk for a minute?"
Chapa raised her head up from the punching bag, happily taking the water from him, "Sure," she said, unscrewing the cap off of the bottle.
"Schwoz called," he spoke calmly, "he needs you in the lab so we can test some things with your powers. So start cleaning up so we can head out."
Chapa nodded placing the water bottle down onto the bench beside her. She began unlatching the Velcro on her gloves.
"Also," Ray continued, he leaned against the wall keeping his eyes on her, "I feel you should quit training for the week and rest for a bit."
Chapa only responded with a glare.
"I'm serious, Chapa. This isn't something I'm going to shrug off like all the other times." he held a stern tone as he spoke, "You're overworking yourself, let yourself breathe for a moment."
"I think I would know if I was pushing myself too much," she shoved the water bottle into her backpack zipping the bag closed, "I know how I'm feeling and I feel fine enough to continue training." she grabbed the bag placing the strap over her shoulder.
"It's obvious that isn't true-" Ray began, but Chapa ignored him. She moved past Ray, opening the locker room door, and shutting it behind her.
Ray sighed, staring at the closed door.
•••
The first thing Chapa noticed when she reentered the training room was that it was cleaned up. The punching bag was a slightly darker black from being wiped down, and the floor was glistening from being mopped. Chapa didn't exactly know how long she had been showering for as she got lost in her own thoughts, but by her pruned fingertips it told her it might have been a while.
Standing near the corner of the room was Ray. He was reading something on his phone, but the sound of Chapa opening the door alerted him away from it.
Ray placed his phone in his back pocket and leaned the mop against the wall, "Are you ready?"
Chapa nodded, taking a look around before locking her gaze onto Ray, "I didn't know you were actually able to clean something on your own." she chuckled.
This wasn't the first time Chapa walked in on Ray cleaning up. No matter if it was the commons area or one of the many rooms in the back, it was always weird to Chapa to see Ray do something by himself without calling for Schwoz to do if for him.
Ray shook his head, chuckling a bit himself, "As surprising as it is, I'm a grown adult who is capable of doing things by myself."
It's been almost a year since Danger Force formed, and ever since then Ray had been treating the kids as if they were his own children. He was always worried about them, always wanted to know if they were okay. Cleaning was one of the things that came with that package.
"Alright, Let's get a move on!" Ray said as he reached into his side pocket to take out a lanyard attached to some keys. From there, he began to exit the training room. Chapa followed along behind him.
The lights of the mansnest had been turned off, leaving only the lights in the town in the distance and the lampposts outside. It was actually quite soothing to Chapa; everything was quiet and the air around her was cold.
Ray held the glass door open for Chapa before walking out of the mansnest himself. He locked the doors behind him and continued going on his way.
When they arrived, the first place Chapa headed to was the back of the van. She was barely able to open the door when she was stopped by Ray gently grabbing her arm and pulling her away, "Nope. You're sitting in the front seat tonight kiddo."
Chapa normally would use the equipment stored in the back of the van to search the streets as they drove by, hoping that she would see her brother.
"What? No!" Chapa argued back, "I have to look for Justin!"
"Not tonight Chapa." Ray said calmly, "You're taking a break from that." He continued to guide the young girl to the passenger's seat.
"Ray!" she whined.
"No Chops." Ray opened the door, helped her in, and closed the door behind him before getting into the driver's seat of the van.
Chapa crossed her arms turning her head towards the window beside her.
"You can be mad at me all you want, it's not changing the fact that you are staying up here." Ray turned the keys to the right and began driving off towards the lab. Schwoz built the lab a bit away from Swellview so if anything would blow up, the mansnest and the town wouldn't get destroyed with it.
"What if I would have seen him?" Chapa turned her head towards Ray, her eyebrows a bit furrowed.
"That's a chance we are going to take." Ray looked back at her for a quick second before moving his focus back on the road, "Besides, there are police officers searching Swellview for him. They will notice if he's there."
"The police aren't exactly the smartest of people." she rolled her eyes leaning back into the chair, "Why do you think we are the ones who fight crime?"
"We have superpowers, leaving us with a bigger advantage against bad guys," Ray leaned back into his seat as well, keeping one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the gearshift.
"Okay, yeah.." she looked over to him, "But what about that time all the prisoners broke out of the Swellview jail. There was an alarm and everything, but there were no police officers to be found. I mean, i understand, we were there, but they should have come anyways."
Ray stayed silent for a moment, "They probably figured we had it under control, and if we didn't we would catch the criminals again."
"You can't keep denying the fact that the police isn't going to do any good in finding my brother. If we want him found, we have to look for him ourselves." Chapa raised her tone slightly.
Ray sighed, "We are going to look for him tomorrow. For now, you are resting."
"For now," she repeated unbuckling her seatbelt, "I'm going to the back to look for Justin."
Ray quickly placed his arm in front of Chapa to keep her from flying forward if they would come to a stop, "Put your seatbelt back on,"
"No-" Chapa tried moving his hand away from her, "Move your arm."
"Not until you put your seatbelt back on," Ray glanced at her for a second.
"I'll put it back on once I get to the back. Now can you move?" Chapa glared at Ray as she continued to try and pull his arm off.
Ray turned the van to the side of the road and used the gearshift to put the vehicle in park, "Chapa, stop!" he held a bit of aggression in his voice.
Chapa rolled her eyes and relaxed in her seat.
"What part of 'you need rest' don't you understand?" Ray removed the arm that was blocking Chapa.
"None of it-" Chapa turned her head away from him. She was clearly annoyed.
Ray raised his voice, "Look at yourself! Look at your hands! Look at the dark circles under your eyes! You can't look at me and tell me that you don't need a break!"
"Shit Ray!" Chapa screamed in frustration, "My brother has been gone for 5 months. 5 fucking months! Nobody has found any trace of him! So my fucking apologies if I can't sleep or if I wanna sit in the back of a van just so I can find some fucking sign that he isn't dead!"
There was a loud silence as the two sat there looking each other dead in the eye. Ray sighed, fixing his gaze back onto the road, "You're 15, Chapa. You shouldn't be training until your hands bleed or working your ass off into the late hours of the night."
Chapa chuckled shaking her head, "Yeah I shouldn't. But you wanna know what happened Ray?" she looked into his eyes once again, "I became a superhero."
"That's right, you are a superhero." Ray looked back at her, "And god knows damn well I wished you four weren't forced into a job like this at such a young age. But you have to understand, as an adult I'm telling you what's best, and now as your boss I'm telling you to stop training."
Chapa looked down at her feet, watching as it swayed back and forth. She knew how exhausted she was, but she didn't want to stop until she knew for sure her brother was safe, "Okay.." Chapa placed her seatbelt back on. She knew Ray wouldn't give up with this resting shit until she actually listened and personally, Chapa didn't have the willpower to go through that for longer than it has been.
Ray shot a soft smile at her before grabbing a blanket that was kept behind Chapa's seat. Ray typically would take naps in here while Schwoz drove to their destination. Because of this, he figured keeping a blanket in the van would come in handy, "Here," Ray unfolded the fluffy blanket, placing the material on top of Chapa, "Sleep."
Chapa looked over at him for a short moment. She was hesitant but eventually gave in, resting her head on the strap of the seat belt. Meanwhile, Ray put the gearshift into drive and began making their way to the lab.
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