SIXTEEN: DON'T HATE THE PLAYER, HATE THE GAME
"Strength and virtue must be opposed, must be challenged and tested, or they will not grow. Rain must fall or there are no rainbows. Night must come, or we do not come to love the light of day. That is the way of things."
-Odin, Thor.
____________________
JOHN WAS FURIOUS, AND BY furious Gretal means that he was having a bitch-fest. It's usually funny when it's not directed towards her. John paced back and forth, Beatrice watching from Gretal's side. Gretal was still in her Athena costume, which really didn't help the situation.
"Are you a fucking idiot?"
Gretal glared at him. "Yeah, I get it from Alexander Davidson. He's the reason why I make mistakes twenty-four-seven."
John shook his head, sending her a glare. "I can't believe you would fucking go after Arachne right aafter you took your cast off. What the hell is wrong with you? Do you do it on purpose? Do you just like having danger kick your ass?"
Beatrice stood up. "John, enough. She went after them to protect the people, right, Gretal?"
"Yes."
"That's why you fucking call for backup, Davidson!"
Gretal stood up, pointing her finger at him. "Don't fucking shout at me. I can hear you just fine. And, yes, I know it was stupid for me to go after them. But I'm fucking okay! I didn't die. And we have way more problems with Arachne than with me at the moment."
Beatrice glanced at her. "What do you mean?"
Gretal took of her gloves and threw them on the couch. "Apparently, Arachne recruited another villain."
John sighed, Gretal guessing he decided to drop the attitude and the fight altogether. "Who's the newbie?"
"Some guy named Orion. Does everyone here have to be named after Greek mythology?"
Beatrice smiled. "Mythology has a great influence on our world. Its a topic we shouldn't really focus on, though."
Gretal glanced at John. "Do know this guy?"
"I met him once. It didn't go well. And after that he didn't show his face for two years."
Gretal shook her head, trying to rack her brain for info. "You think Arachne's recruiting the old villains?"
Beatrice shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't consider Orion an old villain. He's only been gone for two years, making everyone forget about him. And as of right now he's only twenty-two."
"Yeah, but that's not what I meant. Its like she's getting all the forgotten ones."
John shrugged. "It could be. But she has Fuego. Her plan is obvious and oblivious all the same. She's looking for the powerful villains, of course. Its what she' doing with them the doesn't make sense."
Gretal nodded. "Look, let's just focus on Gabe. His mom is the most important thing right now. Let's find her, kick some Arachne ass, and fucking bring Fuego into the good side."
• • • •
Okay, Gretal was freaking out. John decided that today was the perfect day to take Gabe to the S.I.A. to get him tested. John kept telling that they had nothing to worry about, and that Gabe should be worried since he's the one being tested. Gretal ignored Summers and kept Gabe to her side as they entered the large S.I.A, despite the fact that Gabe kept telling that he was okay and she should really let him go.
The S.I.A was your typical police department/FBI department place. Gretal didn't even know why to call it; all she knew was that of she pulled something funny off she'll be forced to the ground by the security guards.
Gabe glanced up at her. "Are you okay?"
She smiled down at him reassuringly. "Yeah. why?"
"Your hands are really sweaty."
John snorted, suppressing a laugh. Gretal glared at him, then looked at Gabe with an annoyed look. "My hands do that when I'm really nervous."
"Why are you nervous?"
"Well," Gretal started. I might lose the little boy that grew on me for so long, the little boy who believed in me. "I'm nervous for you," she said finally.
"Oh."
"Are you scared?"
Gabe glance at John, then at her. He nodded slowly, as if he didnt want anyone to know that he was scared at the fact that he might have super powers. If Gretal was him, she would've crapped her pants. Then again, she wouldn't want anyone to know that.
John stopped in front of a metal door where a S.I.A soldier stood. "Okay, this is where the lab is. Gabe and and Gretal, this is Blaise Jameson. One of the S.I.A's best soldiers. And, unfortunately, a ladies' man."
Gretal snorted. "Right, John, because you would know."
Blaise Jameson laughed, flashing a smile. Gretal felt her cheeks flushed, not really expecting him to laugh. Blaise stuck out his hand, waiting for Gretal to shake. She slowly did. eyeing his features.
"Its a pleasure to meet you, Gretal. Or might I say Athena."
"How the heck do you know that?" Gretal remembered Beatrice's number one rule: no cursing - whatsoever- in front of Gabe. In reality, she was about to let lose a mouthful of swearing.
Blaise gave her a smile. "No worries, Davidson, your secret's safe with me."
Gretal nodded as Blaise open the door to the lab. She stayed at John's side, grabbing his hand. "Who is that guy?"
"I already told you-"
"Give me more details, Summers."
"Fine. He's nineteen, his sister is a Magnetic Girl, and hhe's been in the S.I.A for four years. Happy?"
Gretal didn't reply, watching as Blaise talked to Gabe quiety. He grinned at the ten-year-old before walking back to Gretal and John. "He'll be fine. The best scientists of the S.I.A will be testing him. He'll be fine."
"I hope so," Gretal muttered, looking back at Gabe with sad eyes.
John gave a glance at his phone. "Well, I have to get going."
"What? Why? You can't just leave me?"
"Don't worry. Blaise will take care of you."
Gretal gave John a glare. "In the future I'm going to make sure someone takes care of your body. After I kill you, of course. Maybe I'll have Beatrice and Blaise throw you in a river."
"How flattering. I need to go, Cosby needs me in a meeting."
Gretal watched John leave, glancing back at Blaise Jameson. He gave her a small smile. "C'mon, we'll be in the room next door."
"Why?"
"It has a window to monitor him. Don't worry, if anything goes wrong I'll be there to stop it."
Gretal nodded and followed him out the lab, possibly leaving Gabe to meet with death. God, she hoped not.
• • • •
Gretal thought she would die from worrying to much about Gabe. Lucky for her, Blaise was there to relax her nerves. They watched as the scientists instructed Gabe to sit on the bed on the side of the lab.
"So," Blaise started.
Gretal glanced at him. "So what?"
"What's it like being a superhero?"
Gretal smiled to herself, glancing back at the window. "Its. . .difficult."
Blaise looked at her. She noticed the green hue in his eyes, almost sea green. God, she wished she had eyes like that. He watched her, his dark hair slightly overlapping and falling over his forehead gently. Gretal really wanted to slap the shit out of him for being so beautiful.
"And its thrilling. Its not what I expected, to be honest. I literally broke my arm about two weeks ago or something-"
"So that's why Athena was missing? Wow, I thought it was for something more dangerous, y'know. Like, you were kidnapped or even killed - no offense by the way."
She rolled her eyes. "None taken. And having your arm broken is dangerous!"
Blaise gave her a flat look, a smile slowly creeping on his lips. "Not really."
"Whatever. You wouldn't understand." Gretal sighed. She still felt Blaise's eyes on her and she glanced at him twice, a blush creeping on her cheeks.
"I know how dangerous being a superhero is." He said slowly. "Or just being a hero in general. My sister-"
"Magnetic Girl." Gretal added.
"Yeah, she's been in a lot of stuff. And to be honest, she didn't even choose that name. It was just given to her. It's not really interesting. She's thinking of changing it."
"You can do that?"
"Well, it's technically your name, so yeah."
"What's it like working here?"
Blaise shrugged. "Boring. I honestly rather work in Wal-Mart. Maybe I'll catch some girls."
"What the hell is wrong with you? Do you just talk about females like that? They're not your slaves-"
"Gretal, chill. I'm joking. Trust me, I've been around my sister enough to know not to talk about women like that. And I think women can do anything."
"Oh. Sorry. So, who's your favorite female superhero then?"
Blaise paused, scratching the back of his neck. "Kamala Khan. Ms Marvel. Whatever you call her."
"Really? I thought you were going for Supergirl or for Wonder Woman because of the short outfits. Literally, all guys like them because of that."
"Nah, to be honest, those superheroes are the most overused ones in history. It gets tiring. And I like Kamala Khan because of her culture and basically her entire life. She's this teenage girl trying to fit into high school. How is that not a great starter for a superhero story?"
"Wow. You're right."
"Always."
Gretal laughed, rolling her eyes. "And you're annoying."
The door to the room opened and Gabe came in, smiling at Gretal and Blaise. "Dang, that was quick," Davidson muttered. Gabe hugged her, giving Blaise a high five. Minutes later John came in. And to be honest, during the entire ride back to the warehouse Gretal felt relaxed. She didn't think of the testing, Alexander Davidson, Fuego, Arachne, Orion, Cooper, and etc. She felt calm and reassured. All thanks to Blaise-freaking-Jameson.
• • • •
Beatrice hugged Gretal and Gabe once they entered the warehouse. She kissed Gabe's cheeks, making sure he was okay. She even gave John a kiss on the cheek, making Gretal raise her eyebrows. "How was it? Does he have any?"
"You act like he has STDS." Gretal yawned.
Beatrice glared at her. "Gretal!"
"Gabe's going to learn about them sooner or later. And they said they're giving us the results next week."
John nodded. "Blaise Jameson said he was doing fine."
Gretal bit the inside of her cheek. Like he would know. Gabe glanced at her, a grin on his adorable face. "Well," Gabe started, "I'm not sure about that."
"What do you mean?" Beatrice said slowly.
"Every time I looked at the window Blaise was talking to Gretal."
Gretal shook her head. "You're nosy, y'know that, Fisher? And yeah, so what?"
• • • •
John was already off to his room, but Beatrice stayed behind, hoping to hear the juicy details. Gretal shook her head. More like what details. Beatrice got out a box of donuts, displaying them to Gretal for approval. Gretal, obviously, agreed. They spent the rest of the night on the couch, depressingly watching Supernatural. Gretal laughed at Dean's comments like she always did, and now she had Beatrice to laugh along with her. To be honest, Beatrice was like the sister Gretal always wanted.
"So, what do you think of Blaise?" Beatrice said, smug and leaned back.
Gretal tried to shrug it off, but a blushed formed. She wondered why almost every guy she meets and finds interesting has this reaction on her. Its a curse. "Well, he seems great."
"What about Cooper?"
"First of all, Cooper doesn't own me. We're not dating or even close to that. We're friends. Even if I like him. And we'll probably always stay like that."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because no matter how much I try with him it never works. Something always gets in my way. Either Athena, Alexander Davidson, Arachne, Fuego. Anything. Its obvious. And I'm single, so I can at least try it with Blaise, right? I mean, just hanging out since he's nineteen. I'm turning eighteen in a few months so it'll give me enough time before I date him."
"And Cooper?"
Gretal sighed, covering her face with her hands. "This game, life., love, whatever it is. It's stupid. I hate it. I hate that I can't even try."
Beatrice grinned at her, holding up a glazed donut, Gretal's favorite. "Don't hate the player, hate the game."
Gretal groaned. "Oh my God, I can't believe you just said that. You're like the corny sister of the warehouse."
"Then this is our very, very corny family."
• • • •
[a/n: I updated! And this chapter didn't even have action. And I'm sorry because of that. Well, I know some of you are mad at me. Like why the hell did I give Gretal another guy to be interested in?! What happened to #Greper, or #Cootel or whatever you guys shipped them as. (I'm sticking with Greper). Truth is, a lot of relationships in Wattpad and in published books aren't even realistic enough. Well, some are. The characters aren't always going to stay together, and to be honest, I don't see Cooper and Gretal staying together. And I don't see Gretal and Blaise staying together either. I didn't see Gretal and Cooper staying together since chapter 14. Remember, Gretal's only 17, she still has her entire life ahead of her. She's not going to get married in one chapter and have children with Cooper the next. I'm sorry if you're mad at me. But like I said, Gretal MIGHT NOT STAY with Cooper or Blaise. I'm still testing those borders. And I hoped you enjoyed this chill chapter. Thanks for the votes/comments on the previous chapter. And this is dedicated to Abby (emoryxo) because she's amaze-balls and fabulous like mwah. Until the next update.]