"When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout."
– Herman Wouk
"I need bubble tea," I decided, rubbing my temples in frustration.
"Bubble tea?" Ciaran laughed, "not coffee?"
"Nope. Bubble. Tea."
"What kind?"
"Passion fruit tea, with a little peach flavouring, and mango bubbles."
"Do they even make that?" Mist frowned.
"They do in Greece apparently," I sighed, "that's all I drank when I went last year."
"Passion fruit tea, peach, and mango bubbles. Got it," Ciaran noted with a chuckle before I could so much as blink. He was back within seconds of course, a confused frown on his face. "Um, where exactly is this Greek bubble tea shop?"
I had to laugh at the adorable puppy eyes he had as I fixed his hair and said, "Santorini, but don't worry about it."
We were currently staring down at White Panther, a woman whose mask did not disguise the chicken feet wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. Despite the wrinkles, however, she was one of the friendliest women I'd ever seen. It was cool to finally meet her in person considering she was the centre of all of our jokes relating to Lodestone's sister's cat. The Claw had a few minds for her, mind you, but she shut right up when she saw the way White Panther's lips were set in a thin line as she made a series of buzzing noises and then strained to listen to the wasps humming in the vents.
It made me nervous standing this close, but apparently the wasps were calm enough to not sting us. For now.
Meanwhile, the White Panther sat cross-legged with her back hunched over as she tried to press her ear as close to the vent as possible. Her long brown hair tumbled haphazardly down her back and I noticed that she looked more like she had Mediterranean descent than Caucasian blood.
So why was she called the White Panther?
Noticing my stare, The White Panther just smiled and said, "it's how I discovered my powers, dear. I walked in on my dad watching this documentary on white panthers and asked why they would do a voiceover of the poor creatures. My dad looked at me like I was nuts. Over the next few days, I found I could understand all sorts of creatures: squirrels, birds, cats–"
"So you can understand cats," the Claw muttered with narrowed eyes.
The White Panther blushed. "Sorry my dear, I'm not as young as I used to be. By the time I get to the Ladders Residence, nine times out of ten, you've beaten me there."
"Likely story."
The White Panther shrugged and returned to listening for the wasps, wincing every few seconds from whatever they were "saying".
Ciaran, growing impatient, asked, "so what are they saying?"
"Why don't you listen for yourself?"
"No thanks," Ciaran shuddered. The White Panther raised a greying eyebrow and looked to each member of our little group, stopping on Everglade.
"Don't look at me! I'm still creeped out from the last time you did that little trick!"
"I want to," I piped up.
While everyone else looked shocked, The White Panther only nodded and ushered me forward. I stepped closer and squatted down behind her.
"I don't exactly know what happens, but I can temporarily 'open your mind' to understand them. You sure you want to?"
I nodded, lips set in determination. Suddenly, the buzzing was replaced by low, gravelly voices as my friends' voices faded to white noise and I honed in on the wasps. They were speaking!
Kill them, they hissed. Must sting. Must kill.
Shocked, I stumbled back, landing hard on my wrists. But the voices weren't gone just yet and Ciaran's voice sounded distant and funny as he called my name.
Must do what master says.
Must sting.
Must kill.
Sting, kill, sting, kill.
Must guard.
The gurgling voices sounded like river water rushing over rocks, sending pebbles scraping along the bottom of the riverbed. The voices were thick, scratchy whispers that drowned out all other sound. It was evil, too. Not only could I hear what they were saying, but I could feel it. I could feel the anger and the hatred. Eventually, my eyes started prickling with tears as I felt all of the hatred and spite directed at me.
Then I heard White Panther say: You don't have to kill us.
Must kill.
But why? You don't have to...
Must sting. Must kill! The wasps hissed lividly. Thirsty... Thirsty!
Thirsty?
Must sting. Must kill. Must drink.
Drink? Drink what?
Your blood.
That's when I realised someone was screaming, sharp and high-pitched. The wasps went nuts. They were no longer gravelly voices, but furious buzzes as they swarmed, getting ready to attack. Belatedly, I realised it was me who was screaming and the reason I couldn't understand them anymore was because it had startled the White Panther so much that she had lost her focus, but by then, Ciaran had grabbed my arm and was pulling me to my feet.
"Annie, let's GO!"
"Annabelle–" Gabriel piped up, but the White Panther whipped around to look at him.
"You shouldn't have said that!" She shrieked, "the wasps were directed to kill her!"
"But the venom can't affect me!" I panicked.
"No, but any wasps' venom can kill you if they sting you enough," Finn said nervously. "They can't turn you into a zombie, but they can still kill you."
"Everybody go!" The White Panther shrieked, "I'll hold them off."
"No, you're coming with us!" Gold Thrush roared above the buzzing that was now too loud to hear anyone over. All of a sudden, the wasps began flooding out of the vents. We all made a beeline - ha, beeline - for the staircase, swatting at the wasps that were congregating around our heads. Bat Boy got there first, slamming into the door before yanking it open and ushering everyone through.
We ran past before he slammed the door closed. Only a few wasps had gotten through, but that's all it would take to sting my super friends and turn them into zombies, or kill me...
Gold Thrush and Gabriel started flying in circles to confuse the wasps while Mist turned into vapour and started poisoning the wasps as best she could without poisoning any of us as we hurtled down the staircase. For some unknown reason, there were no air vents in the staircase, but the remaining wasps were rushing at us, their enraged buzzing melting together to drone like an oscillating fan.
"Oh for God's sake," Ciaran huffed, grabbing my wrist in one hand and Finn's wrist in the other and suddenly popping out of existence. I stumbled, landing hard in the lobby of the Rockefeller Centre. I just had time to look at Ciaran before he disappeared. I looked at Finn who just shrugged.
Moments later, Ciaran reappeared with the Claw and Bat Boy, who had, according to Ciaran, been trying to glide down the stairs, but kept flying into the walls or banisters, etc. Bat Boy only muttered a, "no, I glided into the walls," but after that, snapped his mouth shut.
Ciaran was already gone, gradually teleporting our friends two by two until we were all in the lobby and making a run for the entrance. Some of the wasps had already started gathering in the lobby, having found a way there through the elevator shaft or air vents.
"We just need to get outside!" Everglade shouted, wiping a hand across his sweat-dotted forehead. "I don't know what they are, but they're not normal wasps. They don't like the light!"
Unfortunately, outside was still cloudy and overcast from Electro's static storm. His face immediately morphed into one of horror as he realised he could be the downfall of us all. As if to prove that point, the wasps followed us out without a second's hesitation.
"Electro, get rid of that storm!" Dresden shouted.
"TRYING," Electro screamed back, massaging his temples as the clouds slowly, very slowly, started separating. "My specialty is creating storms, not getting rid of them."
Meanwhile Gabriel muttered some curse in Icelandic and his hands blazed to life - or should I say, light. He swung them around like torch beams, immediately frying whatever wasps came near.
"You have laser powers?" Bat Boy asked in awe as another bundle of wasps disintegrated under Gabriel's beacons.
"No," Gabriel frowned, "I guess they're just allergic to light?"
"Normal Jewel Wasps are totally fine with light," Finn commentated, clearly confused. "These wasps clearly have some kind of limitation."
"Don't tell me we've got super wasps on our hands," Ciaran dragged a hand down his face before turning his head skyward, "can I not just have one normal day?"
"Get a grip drama queen," Athena growled from next to Ciaran.
"What did you just say?" Ciaran's eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at Athena.
"Don't think I don't know who you are," she crossed her arms defiantly, her hair having come out of its braid from all the running, now frizzing around her face like a wild red halo. By now we had all stopped running and were doubled over, panting heavily as Gabriel used his light to vaporise the remaining wasps and Electro did his best to clear the cloud cover.
The wasps were starting to shriek as they made contact with the light, but Athena paid them no attention.
"You cost that Arson kid his life."
"Well I just saved yours," Ciaran fired back.
"Nothing constitutes standing by and watching a thirteen-year-old boy get murdered," Athena huffed darkly.
"Gold, think you can blind these things with your costume or something?" Gabriel shouted through gritted teeth, interrupting the mini-fight that broke out through the two supers who continued to glower at each other.
"Sure thing," Gold smirked triumphantly, "hit me."
Gabriel swung his beacons around to Gold Thrush. If this didn't work, the wasps would be on us in seconds.
Before I had too much time to dwell on that happy thought, we were all hit by blinding light as Gabriel's torches reflected off Gold Thrush's dazzling gold costume, blinding the wasps and causing them to whimper and retreat back into the Rockefeller Centre, their tails between their legs, so to speak.
"No amount of exterminators are going to be able to get rid of those things," Lodestone murmured. We all nodded our agreement as we stared at the large building in complete and utter shock.
"Umm... Guys?" A whimper brought me out of my daydream and I looked over to see a terrified Athena with a large red welt on her neck. "One of those things careened into me after Gold Thrush blinded it. Umm I think it stung me."
I nodded, my mouth wide open with shock as tears welled up.
"How long before I...?" She trailed off, clearly not wanting to ask the dreaded question. Even Ciaran, whose hate for Athena was temporarily forgotten, stared at her in shock. Here was this girl we had known for twenty minutes, if that, and she was about to start waddling around proclaiming "BRAINNSSS."
Okay so maybe it wouldn't be quite that drastic, but–
My thoughts were interrupted when Athena let out a small shriek. "I can't feel my fingers!"
She sat down hard, lower lip trembling, and I was suddenly reminded how old she really was.
"Oh God," tears sprung to my eyes.
"Dresden can you heal her?" Lodestone looked at him frantically.
"I can try," Dresden said, for once devoid of snark or cynicism.
He put a tentative hand on Athena's neck and closed his eyes, but after less than a second, one peaked open worriedly and he shook his head.
"I can't heal this."
"We need to get her to the lab," Finn said decisively, taking initiative. One look at the Claw and I could practically see her swooning. "Ciaran, you need to teleport Athena and me there first. You can come back for the others later."
Without a word, Ciaran grabbed Athena and Finn and disappeared.
"You know Dresden..." Gold Thrush trailed off suggestively, "that thing we were talking about earlier... Your healing powers may not work for her, but a potion sure would."
"Enough about the potions!" Dresden snapped at Gold Thrush.
"Potions?" I raised my eyebrow, "can someone fill me in please?"
"No," Dresden barked, grabbing my wrist and dragging me towards the nearest Metro stop before turning and glaring at everyone else. "Coming?"
Everyone scurried after us as we made our way to the lab.
***
It took us over an hour to get there, but when we finally had, it was just in time to see Finn inject some kind of antidote into the now tennis ball-sized welt on Athena's neck. By then, she had been long since paralysed and made no acknowledgement of the giant needle being injected just below her jaw. Now she slept soundly on a homemade gurney that Finn and Dresden had thrown together out of a lab table and some lab coats.
A little over an hour later, the White Panther had gone home to let her sister and husband know she was okay. Everglade had disappeared as well, presumably to do the same to his family. As for the rest of us, we were assembled in a tired circle around some lab tables, hunched over and not even bothering to ask Finn how he'd found an antidote.
"I want to go back to Iceland," Gabriel said meekly, breaking the silence. I sipped quietly on my cold coffee, not bothering to respond as Gold Thrush butted in.
"Yeah I think we could all use a trip to Iceland," he agreed a little bitterly.
"Where we wouldn't have to wear masks!" The Claw pitched. Finn watched her affectionately, rubbing circles on the back of her hand with the pad of her thumb.
"Ughh that'd be nice," Electro flopped his head on the desk while Mist made a face.
"Sorry, but no. If I so much as turned gaseous, I'd probably turn into snow and with my luck, someone would make a snowman out of me and I'd be stuck like that!"
"I don't think that's quite how it works," Dresden mused with a chuckle.
"You don't know," Mist narrowed her eyes, "every power has its limitations."
Dresden shrugged, "true," and dropped it.
"I've been to Iceland," I said proudly, glancing at Ciaran who was too out of it to notice. "It was beautiful. And full of snow!"
"That's Greenland, Annie," Electro said tiredly.
"No genius," Gabriel shook his head, "Iceland snows too in winter."
"Oh," Electro blushed.
"So where's our next location?" Asked Gold Thrush as he glanced at Lodestone for an answer.
Lo, in turn, raised both palms outwards and shrugged, "don't look at me. I only knew about the Rockefeller Centre."
"I know," a voice piped up from behind us. We all turned to see Athena sitting straight up and blinking, massaging her cramping hands. "Wow," she grimaced at our tired faces, "who died?"
***
Unfortunately, despite having just saved the world - okay, three supers - I still had to go to school like a normal kid. Ciaran had teleported Athena home, claiming that we should save the butt-kicking stuff for when all of us were more rested, before coming back for me and taking me home.
I would like to say Ciaran stayed with me until I fell asleep because I was afraid of nightmares or some cliché shit like that, but in reality, as soon as I got home, I flopped face down on my pillow and fell asleep. I woke up less than ten minutes later due to the fact that I nearly suffocated, but by then, Ciaran was already gone and I didn't doubt he was probably already home sleeping. After that, I fell back to sleep and slept through the night.
***
One of the school hallways was still closed off from the fire a few months ago, but I skirted this on my way to lunch before plopping down next to Lila at our usual table. Unsurprisingly, her obnoxious twin was there. Surprisingly, the two were talking civilly.
Lila didn't bat an eye when I sat down, but Brady looked up immediately.
"Hey Annie," he greeted perkily.
"Hi..." I shot him a suspicious look before elbowing Lila. "Yo."
"Sup?"
"Have you seen Ciaran?"
Lila blanched. "He's not in school?"
"He's probably sleeping."
"But he usually sleeps in school anyway," she countered.
"Whatever, have you seen him?"
"No...?"
"Weird."
Before I could finish, Dresden plopped down next to me, a lump of yellowy-green mush labelled spinach and cheese soufflé by the kitchen staff on his plate, coupled with a slice of Wonder bread, which he promptly handed to me.
"The cafeteria lady made me take this," he grumbled, "I hate Wonder Bread."
"Don't we all," I muttered, ripping a piece of the crust off and stuffing it in my mouth. It tasted like what I'd imagine cardboard would taste like, but I chewed it anyway and swallowed.
"We have a problem," Dresden interrupted my Wonder Bread reverie.
"Felt a disturbance in the force, did you Luke?" I cocked an eyebrow.
Glowering, Dresden ignored me and continued enigmatically, "I hear there's a new villain out there."
"You have got to be kidding me," I rolled my eyes. "He doesn't work for Obsidian Black, does he?"
"Unclear, but doubtful," Dresden pondered.
"Speaking of Obsidian, some big shit's about to go down," Brady piped up. I narrowed my eyes at him, but waited for him to continue. "Oh that's all I'm going to say," he surrendered after seeing my expectant glare, "but I'm out."
"You're... out?"
"Yeah, I quit. I'm gone. I need to disappear too because I can't imagine he'll be too happy to find my little goodbye note."
"Goodbye note..." I still couldn't put the pieces together. Brady the evil bastard Lila and I have had to suffer growing up with is just going to up and leave?
"Yeah, I'll be lying low for a few days, but as soon as I find somewhere new to go, I'm out of here."
"No way," I shook my head, "you're joking."
"Sadly not, sweetheart," Brady shrugged, plucking the remains of my slice of Wonder Bread from my fingers and chewing on it adamantly, "when this is all done with, I'm gone, capiche?"
And without another word, Brady stood up and left, leaving his dirty tray and a motley of bunched up napkins and paper cups sitting at our table. I gaped at him, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish as I watched him go before I could even think to form words to yell at him for leaving us to clean up his mess (ironically in more ways than one).
"Is anyone noticing the metaphor of how he left all this shit?" Dresden asked cautiously, glaring at Brady's lunch tray like it would spontaneously combust.
I only nodded open-mouthed as I stared at Brady's retreating form disappear into a crowd of his friends.
Only the Claw seemed able to form words. I couldn't imagine how she was taking all of this. Even after years of being tormented by her stupid brother, it was hard to imagine she'd be 100% happy that he was leaving. Lips set in a thin line, she spoke in a monotonous voice.
"So this new super villain... He got a name?"
***
Surprisingly, the rest of the day passed quickly, ending with my internship at Blaze Labs. Our little team was assembled, busy planning our project that would "wow" my Uncle Clyde, but unfortunately, a) we weren't having much luck and b) I couldn't focus on anything other than this new villain.
Who was he/she? Who did he/she work for? Or did he/she not work for anyone? Would they be out to get me and my friends or is he/she just another villain running rampant with their newfound power? Did he/she have a name?
Apparently Dresden hadn't heard anything other than that there was a new villain. That wasn't very helpful considering it was doing nothing but make me worry, but according to him, the villain had last been seen in Pennsylvania so as far as the president's safety was concerned, I wasn't too worried.
Speaking of President Xavier's safety... all was quiet on the Western front concerning the presidency. There had been no recent thwarts of the president or his power and I couldn't help but feeling like Obsidian was luring us into a false sense of security with all of the inactivity going on.
"–What do you think Annie?"
Mark's annoying voice snapped me out of my daydreams as he waved obnoxiously in my face, even going as far as poking me in the cheek. You're playing a dangerous game, Ashat. I thought as I nearly bit off his finger.
"What?" I snapped.
"Well we were just discussing our strategy," Mark said in a snobby voice, "and we wanted to know your opinion on it," he paused to think for a second before adding rather proudly, "since you seem so above all of this."
I frowned, a low growl emanating from the base of my throat.
"Um, is she growling?" Tucker asked nervously. Rachel just nodded, wide-eyed.
"Mark just because you're on your period, doesn't mean you have to be a dick," Dresden practically materialised behind the surprised boy.
"Who are you?" Mark barked.
"Dresden Fox," Dresden smirked and bowed in a wide, sweeping gesture, "at your service."
"Do you even intern here?"
"I'm more of a consultant," Dresden mused enigmatically, sending a wink in my direction. I rolled my eyes, but unfortunately Mark didn't see because he went on to say:
"Oh Annie, is this the boyfriend you always talk about?"
"A) Ew. B) I'm single, and C) EW!" I said, smacking Mark repeatedly over the head, but he shielded himself, clearly annoyed so I couldn't get in any good hits as he yelled at me.
"Well anyway," Dresden rolled his eyes, clearly growing bored, "Annie, I just wanted to ask whether you'd heard about the new 'breakthrough' on how to defeat Obsidian Black."
His use of air quotations around the word 'breakthrough' piqued my interest and before I even knew what I was doing, I found myself asking, "no I hadn't, why? What's the breakthrough?"
"Some metaphysiologist found out that since Obsidian's powers are based on time and, well darkness since that's what he uses to teleport, that all they need to defeat him is a black hole," Dresden drawled.
Several interesting things happened at once:
1) I snorted.
2) Mark cut in, "that was my mom!"
3) Luke chuckled dryly and asked, "oh that's all is it?"
Frankly, the part that shocked me the most was Luke Hemmings's snarky and skeptical comment given that the kid was renowned for not speaking. Everyone was apparently as shocked as me as even Mark turned to look at Luke with his mouth agape.
"What?" Luke asked defensively.
A wide grin broke out across my face and I slapped him on the back, "eyy, I've finally rubbed off on you. Assholery for the win!"
Luke scowled, looking none-too-happy about being called an asshole. Poor guy.
And then I remembered the first two things that had happened.
1) I snorted and
2) Mark had said something about the scientist being his mom.
I started cracking up.
Really, truly cracking up.
"So that intern who made us coffee the other night, rambling about some break through to defeat Obsidian Black was really a scientist and her breakthrough was something we discovered last month!" I shrieked with laughter, clutching my sides.
"What are you talking about Annie?" Mark frowned, "my mom just discovered that."
"No dumbass," I smirked at the opportunity to insult the asshole, "we came up with that theory weeks ago. I have all my notes to prove it if you don't believe me. We talked about getting a particle accelerator or like a small Hadron Particle Collider to create one, but we dismissed it as impossible. For the time being anyway."
"Well it is possible," Mark pouted.
That sobered me up.
Even Dresden looked fascinated.
"What?"
"My mom created a small black hole last night. It was contained, but yeah, she did it," Mark swelled up to the size of a car, puffing out his chest and trying to look big.
I looked at Dresden, wide-eyed.
"No way!" I yelled happily, "DOYOUKNOWWHATTHISMEANS?"
"I'm pretty sure the whole lab does now," Dresden rolled his eyes as he gestured to the other groups who were looking at us curiously, including Finn's.
"Would someone please fill me in?" Tucker huffed, flicking his scarf over his shoulder, "I'm lost."
"Me too," Rachel and Luke agreed.
"We can suck Obsidian Black up into a black hole where he can't use his powers," Dresden filled in, "but there's a strong chance it could go horribly wrong and suck everything and everyone else up along with him."
"There's also the issue of the other supers," I gave Dresden a pointed look.
"What other supers?" Asked Tucker. Curse this curious boy.
"Well ya know how he kidnapped them all?"
Tucker gasped sarcastically, "That was him?"
I rolled my eyes but continued, "well we can't get their locations, let alone get past his... 'guard dogs' without him alive and functioning."
"Guard dogs?"
"Don't worry about it."
"You're doing a good job of making us worry," Mark scowled. "I bet you're lying. This is just a way to belittle my mom's discovery isn't it?"
I looked at Mark wide eyed, "Mark, no way! We'd never do that!"
"You want the credit for yourself!" He started growing hysteric.
"Don't be stupid, Ashat," Dresden growled.
"Shut up, Fox. Nobody asked your opinion."
Dresden bit back a laugh and smiled wryly, "yeah you should know by now that I don't wait for people to ask my opinion before I say it."
We didn't hear whatever Mark was about to respond with because at that moment, a loud eruption drew our attention to the entryway where a few interns were scattering and running for their lives.
In the entryway stood a guy about my height (5'3"), so yeah, he was pretty short. His cornsilk white-blonde hair fell in his eyes in a bowl cut that put thirteen-year-old Justin Bieber to shame, masking eyes the colour of black coffee. If you squinted, you couldn't even see where his irises ended and his pupils began. Those black coffee eyes were a stark contrast to his marble-white skin and had he been hot, I would have guessed he was a vampire. It was scary, to say the least. And his grin... Well his grin was just as feral as the Invisible Hand's had been back when he was a stupid, evil, cocky bastard (still pending) except ten times worse, because if you looked closely enough, this kid's teeth almost looked like they had been sharpened. With black eyes and devilishly sharp teeth, it was like staring in the face of a shark. Just looking at him sent shivers down my spine, and sensing this, he just grinned further, gnashing his shark teeth and licking his lips like the psychopathic cannibal he probably was.
And the worst part?
He was a super...
"Sooo... I'm guessing this is that new super villain you were talking about?" I gulped silently, never taking my eyes off shark boy.
In my peripheral, I saw Dresden nod stiffly.
"SO," shark boy announced, electricity cackling in his hands, "I hear someone made a black hole?" He looked around challengingly, daring anyone to shake their heads. "I want it."
"How about a 'please'?" Dresden muttered, a little too loudly. The kid's head snapped in our direction, his feral smile turning into a menacing grimace.
"Oh I'm sorry," he said in a tone that implied he wasn't sorry at all, "please give me this black-hole maker."
"You can't have my mom's work," Mark said in a shaky voice.
"Mark, shut up," I hissed, glaring daggers at the redhead next to me. The boy had balls, I'll give him that.
And that's what it would say on his tombstone:
R.I.P. Mark Ashat *cough Asshat* death from having too many balls.
Yeah, not a nice way to go, huh?
"What's that?" The electric boy's curiosity piqued as he made his way over to our table.
"My mom worked hard on that discovery. You can't have it," Mark said defiantly, puffing up his chest although if you looked closely, you could clearly see his lower lip trembling and his pupils dilated in terror. On a normal basis, he'd be almost as pale - excluding his freckles - as the kid in front of us, but now he was flushed a deep red.
"Your mom, huh?" Mused the shark in front of us, inches from our face, "I guess I'll take you as blackmail, then, huh?"
Mark, realisation (finally) dawning on his face, blanched. I just facepalmed and put my head in my arms, shaking it as I muttered idiot repeatedly.
"Woah there Sparky, you don't wanna do that," Dresden said darkly and stepped forward, palms extended outwards.
"Oh look, he's doing his Batman voice," Tucker gushed teasingly as he clapped excitedly behind me. Apparently the glare I sent him was so withering, it shut him right up.
"Sparky?" Snarled the boy with the cornsilk hair, his eye twitching as he said, "how about you call me that again?"
"How about you just leave us alone?" Dresden challenged, his eyebrow raised in defiance.
"Yeah, not gonna happen, I'm afraid," the super dubbed 'sparky' sighed and then turned to face everyone in the lab. "This one's," he jabbed a thumb in Mark's direction, "coming with me. And if anyone tries to stop me," he balled up his hand and then shot a ball of blue lightning at the nearest wall, leaving a car-sized scorch mark. "Well, yeah, that'll happen," he smirked, grabbing Mark's wrist and yanking him out of the chair.
The guy, who I figured despite his short stature, was probably around nineteen or twenty, dragged Mark behind him. I realised with some relish that Mark had wet himself. Meanwhile, the villain turned around, and with a flick of his wrist, sent a small card flying through the air, hitting Dresden smack between the eyes.
Dresden didn't bat an eye.
His eyebrows furrowed and his scowl deepened, but he didn't say anything as I stooped to pick up the card the super had left behind.
It was a telephone number, presumably for Mark's ransom, and one word:
Bolt.
For anyone who was paying attention about the little Iceland/Greenland quip. I want to thank @silversnowflakes for pointing out what I forgot to mention in ch26. I completely neglected to specify that although Greenland is the frozen tundra, because they visited Iceland in winter, it was still quite cold and snowy. They also landed in the middle of nowhere and as you've probably noticed, Annie has a flare for the dramatic, so she labelled it a tundra, even though I'm pretty sure Iceland isn't a tundra (don't quote me on that. I suck at geography/biology etc.)
So yeah, thanks for pointing that out hahaha I owe you one :)
Also thank you to everyone who has been voting diligently. I really appreciate it and keep up the good work ;) i'll see you next ch <3