A/N: You know things are about to go horribly wrong when the track is Billie Eilish again lmao
WPOV
Track: bury a friend, Billie Eilish
Nico and I part ways after the park. I'm sure we'll meet again tonight to stake out Underworld Ores some more, but for now, I'm more just ready to collapse on the couch and take a nap. It's been a long week.
I whistle as I walk down the street to my house. I'm going to be home a little earlier than usual today—this whole week I've been home earlier than usual. I used to study in the library every day after school for an hour or two to get my homework done. I'm not as productive at home. But recently I'm just too tired to go directly to the library.
As I step into my driveway, I think I see someone in the window of my house, but they move too fast to really get a good look. It's probably my mother—sometimes she moves around quickly like that. I think her work as a custodian makes her a very efficient person. When you have only a small team of custodians to clean a building as large as Underworld Ores's headquarters, you adapt to moving quickly, I think.
Also, my mother is desperate to get promoted at some point. She won't admit it, but I think we struggle more than she lets on. A custodian doesn't make much—when we first moved here, we couldn't keep power. It got so cold; we sometimes lost heating. At some point, she got a promotion, and we were able to move out of our shitty apartment to an actual house in the suburbs. I don't quite know how she managed it—this house should be too expensive for us. Any house should be expensive for us. New York is already so much more expensive than Texas. I feel horrible that my issues forced the move, but sometimes I think my mother does like it here.
The cold is worth it to me; I'm willing to suffer the ice if it means I keep the community I've found here. But sometimes when my mother gets home from working a double shift, the dark bags under her eyes force me to remember that I'm not the one sacrificing so that we can stay.
I step up onto the porch. My hand reaches for the doorknob, and I'm just about to turn it and call to my mother that I'm home when I get goosebumps. There's no obvious sign that anything is wrong. I don't know why I suddenly feel sick to my stomach. It's similar to how I felt the weeks after I was attacked in Texas: the feeling that if I open this door, I will not ever come back. If I open this door, I die.
I back away. Something is wrong. I can't go in there. I can't quite breathe correctly—my lungs freeze and then exhale too hard and then I can't breathe in and—
And then I hear it. A robotic voice—muffled. Quiet. Coming from inside my house.
"Shit," I whisper. "Oh my God."
I turn to run, and then panic over and my mind turns fuzzy. Because I can't run. What if my mom came home between shifts? What if she didn't even have a second shift today? The murderer could be in there threatening my only family. If I run, the villain might get my mom instead of me—assuming they haven't found my mom already. My heart beats in my throat as I force myself to turn around and face the house again.
I can't go through the front door—that would be death. If it's a trap—and it probably is—then they're expecting me to come in through the front door because that's how I always get in. I exhale, trying to take control of my senses again, and hurry to the back of the house.
The kitchen window is open on the side of the house. That must be how the murderer got inside. I duck under it as I pass—I can hear the robotic voice more clearly here, and the fear of hearing the voice so clearly paralyzes my muscles. I wish Nico was here with me—I don't want to have to face this alone.
"I'm in Sunburst's house," comes the robotic voice. They're communicating with someone?
"How do you even know where Sunburst's house is?" comes a voice over the phone, and I freeze—that's Luke's voice. Luke is working with the murderer? Luke is just a normal asshole high schooler! But maybe he got involved because of his dad's thieving business?
"That is not information you need to know to complete your mission," the robot voice dismisses. "I am only calling you to let you know that your mission has been adjusted. And I would like to remind you of the price you pay if you refuse to comply."
"Fuck you," Luke's voice says, but it's laced with fear. "I've already done everything you ask of me—it's been a year. When does this end, Viper? How many times are you going to order me to beat the hell out of that guy before you let him go? What is the point of all of this?"
"My actions are not for your to question." There's the sound of cupboards and drawers opening and closing. Is the villain searching my house? I had assumed they were here to kill me. What would they possibly be looking for in my house? I'm tempted to call the police, but the murderer—the Viper, apparently—would just kill them all with that yellow acid.
"Your new mission is to capture him," the Viper. "His father is not being cooperative enough. So many weeks without payments... It is time to show him that he cannot disobey."
"Yeah, that's not going to be possible," comes Luke's dry voice. "He can fly, remember? Plus, he has a new friend. Sunburst. I can threaten Nico all I want, but I'm not able to hurt him as long as Sunburst has his back. They're defending each other—they're a team."
"I know," says the Viper. "That why I'm going to disarm Sunburst."
My blood runs cold. They're in my house. They're trying to disarm me—
They're trying to steal my suit!
That propels me forward. My suit is in my closet—I have to get up to my room before the Viper gets there. My only hope right now is that they don't know I'm here yet; they're taking their time searching the kitchen because they have no reason to believe anyone is here to stop them.
I move quietly to the back of the house, dodging windows and trying not to make a sound. My room is on the second floor, and I can't fly without my suit. How the hell am I going to get up there? Oh, God. This is awful. This is terrifying. I wish Nico was here.
I make it to the back of the house and stare up at my bedroom window. It taunts me—I'm not going to be able to get up there from the outside, which means...
Do I have to try the backdoor? What if the Viper hears it? The backdoor usually has an awful tendency to scrape against the floor when we open it—it'll give me away.
I decide it might be quieter to try to go in through a window. I find the one to my mother's bedroom that she leaves unlocked. She likes to let the fresh air in, and it's too much hassle to unlock it every time.
I slide it open—it's not silent, but it's so much quieter than the backdoor that I know I've made the right choice with this one. I squeeze through it and leave it open behind me—it's not worth closing it and making more noise.
I can hear the Viper as they move on to searching the living room. They're checking the drawers of my bookshelf. It's interesting that they skipped right to my bookshelf, skipping my mother's—until I remember that this murderer knows me. They might have been here before, I might have shown them my books.
I shudder and creep toward the bedroom door, which leads out to the hallway. My mind is laser-focused on listening to what the Viper is doing in the living room. Since they're looking at my bookcase, that probably means that their back will be to me. I can sneak across the hall and get up the stairs while they search the drawers—
I step out of my mother's bedroom, and as expected, the Viper is facing the bookshelf, rifling through my belongings in search of my suit. They're no longer on the phone with Luke; they must have hung up while I was trying to find a way into the house. I tiptoe across the hall, my nerves spiked with anxiety so intense it's all-consuming, and finally reach the stairs up to my room.
I begin to climb the steps.
Creeeak.
Shit—!
The Viper whirls around until their black gas mask stares right at me—and for a terrifying moment, I swear my heart stops beating.
And then I sprint up the stairs.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod," I cry as I ascend the stairs in record time. I hear a whoosh and then dark gloves grab me and push me aside while the Viper soars past me, heading to my room.
I manage to grab the edges of the Viper's cape, and they fall sideways out of the air from the force of my pull. I step on their hand in my haste to get to my bedroom, and the robot voice makes something that sort of sounds like a cry of pain. I resist the urge to apologize and I stumble past them into my bedroom. They're up again in a fraction of a second, grabbing at me again. I punch them in the stomach, and the robot gasps for air.
"Stop that," says the robot, and my memory flashes briefly, hysterically, back to when I used to tell Nico to stop.
"Is that for dramatic effect?" I ask—because acting like Nico makes me feel better. It's not as good as having Nico here with me, but it's better than facing this as myself.
I try to slam my bedroom door closed to block out the murderer, but they grab the edge of the door—it's a battle of strength.
And the door is slowly sliding open again—my breath hitches in fear as the Viper finally manages to get it open enough to slip through.
"No!" I cry. I try to trip them, but they see it coming and dodge. I don't know what I'm doing right now. I should be running for my life!
Just as I say it, the Viper's mask begins to leak blue gas—it's the same kind that rendered Nico exhausted and vulnerable. I take a deep, gasping breath of fresh air before the blue gas can spread, and then I hold my breath.
I try to grab the Viber by their throat, but they're too fast. They check under my bed, and then they throw open my closet doors, and they're moving so quickly, I can't keep up. I tackle from the side, but I think they've already seen my suit tucked neatly into the corner of my closet.
We both tumble to the ground, and I punch the Viper in the ribs. I want to knock them out, but their mask is too sturdy—I'm more likely to break my hand. Panic swells—and then the Viber shoves me to the side, and I hit my elbow hard against the floor. I curse and push myself off the ground—just in time to see the Viper grabbing my suit in one swift motion and soaring out of my room.
...Shit.
I let myself have a moment to catch my breath. I can't get the vision of that horrifying black mask out of my head—the lack of eyes makes it feel like their gaze is always locked onto you, dead and unblinking. The blue gas in the air has mostly drifted toward the ceiling at this point—I stumble to my window and push it open, and then I turn on the fan in an attempt to clean out my room.
My mind is spinning. This was way more than I was hoping to deal with today—I can't wrap my head around any of it. I need to get to Nico—he'll help me understand. We'll work on it together.
Hands still shaking, I head to the door—but something catches my eye in my closet.
My robber mask. I wonder...
Heart pounding with anticipation, I kneel next to my closet again and pull out my robber costume. I turn the ski mask inside out—and there are my Sunburst gloves, safe and sound.
I let out a relieved breath. So long as I have any piece of my costume, I can still access my powers. I have never been so thankful for my robber costume before in my life—the Viper might have stolen from me, but they haven't taken everything. I'm still Sunburst, and this isn't over.
I grab my gloves and shove them in my backpack, unwilling to leave them behind. From now on, those gloves will stick with me all the time. I refuse to let them out of my sight.
Then, I head down the stairs, taking them three at a time, and run to Nico's house to tell him everything.
Word count: 2250
A/N: Poor Will. At least the robber costume came in handy!