"Mi-lo!" Erin calls out from the kitchen in a sing-song voice. He looks at me with pleading eyes and I have to fight off a smile from forming on my lips. He lets out a long, exasperated sigh as Erin come walking out from the kitchen. She has a devious smirk and evil looking eyes. "Come here you jerk." She says, taking a step towards us.
Milo stands behind me, using me as a human shield. My feet are not touching the ground at the moment, and no, I'm not floating. Milo is holding me in his arms so that I am a portable human shield. Cause he knows very well that at the first chance I have, I would run away, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire of whatever Erin is going to do to him. He backs up, away from Erin, me still wrapped in his arms in a bear hug.
"No, you'll never take me alive!" He shouts and runs the other direction towards my bedroom. He runs in there, slamming the door behind us with his foot. He locks it quickly, fumbling with the locking mechanism. Once we are secure, he leans against the door proudly. At this point I am in a fit of giggles.
He pushes his thick framed glasses up the bridge of his nose and smiles his perfect, white-toothed smile, but it disappears when Erin bangs on the door with her fists. "Open this door right now Miley!" She yells.
"Don't call me that!" He calls back, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting like a child. I sit on the edge of my bed and watch.
"Miley, Miley, Miley, Miley, Miley, Miley, Miley, Miley, Miley, Mil-" Milo groans loudly and swings the door open angrily. She stands on the other side with a satisfied expression on her face. "Hey Miley!" She yells and runs into the room, closing the door behind her so now all three of us are locked in my bedroom. Milo's arms are folded across his chest as he stares down at Erin.
"You know, you're really annoying when you want revenge." He mumbles.
"Why thank you, sir." She says. Erin looks at me and makes a motion with her eyebrows and I immediately know what she is planning.
Milo is one of the most ticklish people I have ever met in my life. So Erin, since they were kids, has been using that to her advantage whenever she wants revenge. She is going to tickle him until he calls mercy. He looks between us and a scared expression crosses his face.
"Oh no..." He says and begins backing away. Erin lunges at him and he stumbles backwards and lands on the floor. I run over to him and hold his arms down and Erin sits on him. She begins tickling him ruthlessly. He laughs uncontrollably and squirms as he tries to escape us. Erin is killing herself laughing at this whole thing and a tear of laughter escapes my eye.
"M-m-" he stutters out between laughs.
"What's that? I can't hear you!" Erin yells, not stopping her tickling war.
"Mercy!" He finally shouts after gaining composure. Erin stops and sits up victoriously, staring down at him. He breathes heavily and I release his arms from my grip. He wipes tears off of his face and props up onto one elbow and shoves Erin off of him with his other hand.
She falls over, tumbling to the ground and she breaks into hysterics again. Milo glares at us as he stands up and runs to the other side of the room. "You guys are mean!" He says as he puts on a forced pout.
"Aww Milo, but it's so funny." I reply through a chuckle and climb to my feet. I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his torso, enveloping him in a tight apology hug. He hugs me back weakly, but I can feel his chest vibrate against my cheek and I know he is laughing. Erin runs over and joins in on the hug. My bedroom door swings open, slamming against the wall and making the three of us jump.
There stands a very confused Ellie Moon. She holds grocery bags in one hand and has her signature furrowed eyebrows on with an odd sort of smile. The three of us disperse and turn to face my mom. Milo scratches the back of his neck awkwardly and Erin and I are trying (and failing) to hold back laughter. Without a word, my mom turns around and walks away, shaking her head.
My "business" phone buzzes in my back pocket and I mentally groan and pull it out, shielding it from Milo and Erin. My jaw suddenly drops at the message displayed on the screen, followed by a video playing.
Destruction on East Side as Rancor, Hellfire and The Whisperer Cause Gas Explosion Near Harbour.
The video shows The Whisperer, in his grey and red trimmed tuxedo and signature mask which terrifies almost everyone, pouring gasoline all over the food supply shipment that had just come in this morning. Hellfire, with his blue flaming head, sparks a fire on the tips of his fingers as Rancor shoots lasers at the the gasoline covered supply shipment. It immediately catches fire and the flames erupt about ten feet into the air. Rancor flies around the supply, shooting lasers all over it to ensure it burns completely. I shake my head and turn off the phone and slide it into the back pocket of my jeans.
I spin around quickly with fire in my eyes. Not literally of course because that would freak the two of them out majorly, especially Milo who doesn't know about me being Scarlett yet.
"Umm I have to go." I say abruptly before I can stop myself so I can come up for a good reason why.
Milo's face screws up and he stares at me in confusion at my sudden urgency. "Why?" He asks simply.
"I uh, my dad needs me to go uh pick up something from the studio." I lie, not as smoothly as I hoped I would.
Erin narrows her eyes at me and then realizes that there's something wrong. "Come on Milo!" She says and grabs him by the hand, pulling him out of my room. "Lets go to Martha's for a coffee." She glances back at me and I smile thankfully at her. As soon as the door closes I super speed into my costume and fly out of my window.
Black smoke puffs into the sky down at the harbour and people are being pulled away by civilians or running through the streets, away from the scene. This is, clearly, the logical thing to do. However, I am currently running directly into the danger. Am I an idiot? Maybe. Is it my duty to do so? Yes. Am I freaking out inside? Hell yeah.
I know Rancor won't hurt me... on purpose at least, but the same doesn't go for Hellfire and The Whisperer. They're two of the most dangerous villains out there, and I can't take them both on. Hellfire and I have the same powers for the most part so fire and fire doesn't go well together. The Whisperer is an interesting character who terrifies the day lights out of me and not just because of his mask. I can't take him on.
People on the ground point up at me and cheer as I fly towards the villains. Rancor multiplies himself and they all shoot lasers at the civilians. Not hitting them but coming pretty close, which makes me think he is trying to get them out of here and away from the danger.
"Ahh, Scarlett has arrived." Rancor says to the other villains as I get closer.
Hellfire looks up into the sky at me and a wicked grin spreads across his blue flamed face. "It appears so. Hey Whisp, your girl is here." Hellfire replies with his menacing raspy voice that sounds like he's been smoking eight packs a day.
The Whisperer fixes his vibrant red tie under his grey suit and slicks back his already slicked back, black hair, as if fixing his appearance to impress me. "Oh, my darling Scarlett," The Whisperer calls up to me. I fly down to the ground in front of them. Where are the rest of the heroes who were assigned to these two?
Rancor doesn't remove his eyes from me. He watches my every move.
"It looks like you three have been heating up the place." I retort lamely. Hellfire smirks at me and his blue flame flickers until it is put out.
The Whisperer takes a step closer to me and I eye him cautiously. For some reason, The Whisperer has always had a sort of attraction to me which is why I am so freaked out by him. He readjusts his disturbing clown mask carefully and takes two more steps closer.
"Stay back Whispy." I say as I spark a flame on my right hand. He chuckles his velvety laugh and looks back at Hellfire.
Hellfire does the same thing and moves to step next to The Whisperer. In one swift motion, Hellfire shoots a flame ring at me. I try to dodge it but it successfully encases me, binding my arms to my body like a rope would.
It doesn't burn me since I also have fire abilities and my suit is fire and heat proof so it doesn't do any damage, but, that doesn't mean I can get out of the hold it has on me that easily. The Whisperer strolls over to me as I struggle under the fire ring, but before he can get to me, I fly up into the air and away from them.
"Get her back here!" I hear Hellfire shout to Rancor and I glance back to see that I am being chased down by him. I push myself further, shooting like a rocket across the city skyline.
"Scarlett!" I hear him call up to me. Rancor begins gaining on me so I fly downwards towards the water below us. As the water approaches, I slow down so that when I immerse it won't be like I'm flying into a brick wall.
I hit the surface of the water and propel down into the depths. Everything around me is dark as the light above disappears. The blue fire ring around my body immediately burnt out which is what I was counting on. As my lungs begin to tighten in my chest, I shoot out of the water, breaking to surface to face a line of people crowded around the edge of the bridge nearby. They all clap but then worry and shock spreads across their faces and I spin around to see Rancor flying towards me.
Before I have time to react, he scoops me up and we begin flying. "Let me go, Rancor." I say to him calmly. He looks at me with a sharp glance and slows down.
"I have to bring you back to them, Scar." He says darkly. "If I don't, they'll know what's up and they'll kill me."
I groan. He's right. If he's dead, we won't have anyone on the inside with the villains. "All right," I say reluctantly, "but you need to make it seem like I didn't come here willingly. Punch me in the face or something."
He stops flying and looks at me with confusion present in his eyes. "No way." I can tell he is shocked. I let out a chuckle.
"I'll be fine. I've had worse." I try reassuring him, but he shakes his head.
"How about I just chase you back huh?" He lets me go so I am floating in front of him.
I roll my eyes. "Wimp." I call to him as I take off in the direction of the harbour. He chuckles behind me and chases after me.
We fly back to the scene and there are Hellfire and The Whisperer, still waiting there.
Where are their heroes?
I fly to the ground and land hard, creating a few cracks in the ground beneath me. I turn around and watch Rancor do the same. Right now I am surrounded by two villains and one hero/villain combination. This is not good. Rancor multiplies himself into four more so now there is five of him. This is definitely not good.
Two Rancors super speed to either side of me. I punch one in the face, sending it flying backwards into Hellfire. The other Rancor grabs my arm and begins shooting a laser at the open spot on my neck. I screech loudly as Hellfire come towards me. He grabs me by the throat and lifts me up off the ground. It does nothing to me because I start floating but let's just let him think he's got power over me right now.
His other blue flamed hand comes up in a fist and hits me square in the face. My head whirls to the side on impact and The Whisperer grabs me from Hellfire's grasp.
"Aww hon, why the long face?" He says as he throws me to the ground and I land hard, scraping across the pavement.
"Oh, Whispy," I say as I spit out blood, "you really shouldn't cower over that way, it's bad for your posture."
He looks at me in confusion. "What're you talking about? I'm not co-" before he can finish his sentence, I kick him really hard in the "baby-maker" (if you know what I'm saying). He cripples over in pain, grabbing his crotch protectively as he falls to his knees. I smirk and super speed into a standing position.
Hellfire sneers at me and his entire upper body and arms turn into blue flame as he takes a menacing step towards me. "You're gonna pay for that."