"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."
– Phil Jackson
Annie's P.O.V.
"Fortunately, Mark Ashat, son of Nobel prize winner Dounia Ashat, escaped mere hours after Bolt's alleged murder–"
"Murder!" Gold Thrush screeched at my T.V. "It wasn't murder! He tried to kill us! The death penalty is still legal in some states and they're calling the death of a super villain murder."
Before I could open my mouth to comfort Gold Thrush about how much crime rates had gone down since the introduction of supers to the United States and how there was no way he'd actually get charged for murder, we were interrupted by a wide-eyed anchor who kept frantically checking her notes as if she couldn't believe what she was reading.
"Breaking news!" The reporter squeaked as soon as she realised she was live. "Iron Web, a super native to Canada, was spotted in New York City the other day along with several other supers, all notable for their diversity–"
"Diversity?" Gold frowned back at my T.V.
I shushed him and turned anxiously back to the T.V.
"Death Ray (Wisconsin), Peak (California), Cyclone (Oklahoma), and other notorious super villains were spotted convening with Iron Web near Times Square earlier this morning. With them were supers previously noted for their good acts, too, including Splurge (Massachusetts), famous for her rescue of eleven children from the school shooting in Boston earlier this month and Dinero (Spain), famous for preventing seven bank robberies last year. Have these superheroes turned rogue and joined the villains' side? And why are there suddenly so many supers in New York City when there was such a paucity just a few months ago–"
I switched off the T.V. before Gold Thrush's jaw could drop any lower. The two of us were alone in my living room, taking a day off – until now, anyway.
"This is bad," Gold muttered, "this is really, really bad!"
"No shit, Sherlock," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
"Why are they all in New York? The president isn't even here!"
"Obsidian probably wants to take us out before he moves in on the president," I said nervously. "Without you guys, the other supers would lose a lot of confidence. They'd be scattered. He probably wants you and Electro and Mist and all the rest gone."
Gold Thrush's face turned bone white as he stammered out some sort of excuse and flew out of the window so fast, I was surprised the window panes didn't splinter. Sighing, I sunk further into the couch and pulled out my phone to text Dresden.
Did you hear?
It took a few minutes before he replied, but I couldn't practically hear the snark in his response as I read:
Hear what? I have ears, Annie, but you'll have to be more specific -.-
I threw down my phone in frustration. Knowing Dresden, he probably would have been more serious if he had actually heard. For the first time in a long time, I finally had the apartment to myself. On the rare occasions the supers weren't convened here, my parents were home and vice versa. For once, it was just me.
Grabbing the pillow next to me, I buried my face in it and screamed.
I screamed until my throat was raw and my head throbbed from the pressure.
I screamed until my eyes pricked with tears and until it felt like there was a lump in the back of my throat that needed to be let out - a bubble that needed to be popped so it could just explode out of my mouth through sound.
For the first time in weeks, I didn't try to push it down or bottle it up. I didn't try to feel whilst preventing myself from dissolving - I just let it happen. I let myself fall to shambles knowing full well that I'd have to pick up the pieces in a few minutes if I didn't want my super friends to show up.
But until then, I let myself fall apart.
"Now that sounds like boy trouble if I've ever seen it," a silky voice cooed from the direction of my T.V.
I didn't look up. Instead, I sniffled meekly into the pillow and prayed my intruder would go away. When the weight shifted on the couch cushions, I knew I wouldn't be so lucky. A large, comforting hand was placed on my back and I couldn't help the little hiccup of a sob that escaped my throat as I looked up to meet the Invisible Hand's stunning forget-me-not blue eyes. And for a second, everything was almost normal.
I remembered how he'd broken his wrist just to get me to laugh - back when he was still just Ciaran.
I remembered the nightly visits he paid to my room, always startling me into dropping my phone on my face.
I remembered the nosebleeds that always, inevitably ensued.
I remembered when he'd teleported me to that field in the middle of nowhere to explain everything.
I remembered how he'd rented out the whole ice rink for our date.
I remembered when he helped us.
I remembered when he doodled that little shooting star in the corner of the notebook page and told me I'd find out about it soon enough.
I remembered that one beautiful night we shared together.
And then I remembered how he'd betrayed me once...
I remembered the fake information he gave me which led to my friends getting captured.
And I remembered him dropping me from the top of the Chrysler building, leaving me to die.
I buried my head back into the decorative pillow on my lap.
"Annie, look at me," he pleaded.
"No," came my muffled response.
"Annie," he teased, tickling under my chin so I retracted my head like a turtle. A little giggle escaped my lips and I let it go. No use hiding it now. "I think you and I need to talk," he whispered.
"What's there to talk about?" I snapped, but it came out weaker than I'd intended.
"Us," was his quiet response.
I gave him a hard look then, crossing my arms and immediately icing him out. I wasn't going to jump back into his arms like I did the first time. No, I wouldn't let myself get hurt again. I'd learned from my mistakes and I was ready to move on... wasn't I?
"I know you won't believe me - hell, I don't expect you to - but I have my reasons for doing what I do–"
"Yeah? What are they?"
"I'm always watched, Annie."
That caught me off guard, "what?"
"Everywhere I go; everything I do. I finally managed to evade them this time, but I'm not always so lucky."
"What are you talking about?"
"Annie, don't you get it? I'm not the only super out there with invisibility powers and I'm sure as hell not the only super with invisibility powers working for Black."
He was quiet for a minute as I digested that little fact.
"So..."
"He has them watch me," Ciaran let out a bitter laugh, "he's afraid I'm not loyal or some shit–"
I barked out a laugh, "so you are loyal."
And that's when it did finally sink in. I realised, with a mixture of relief and anxiety, why all of this was happening – what all of this meant.
"Yes," he whispered, his voice barely audible above the roar in my ears, "but I'm also loyal to you, Annie. Don't you see? You're–"
"Stop, I–" I gulped, tears stinging my eyes as I said, "I don't want to hear any more."
"Annie," IH said more forcefully and it all felt painfully cliché as he said, "you're my first priority. Where my loyalties lie is irrelevant. I would never actually hurt you–"
"But you did!" I croaked, "you did! You dropped me from the top of a fucking building and left me to die, Ciaran!"
He winced at the use of his real name, but continued without hesitation, "yes, but not without calculating how long it would take Gold to reach you. He can fly at the speed of light, Annie. That's why I picked one of the tallest buildings in New York: to allow him enough time - and more - to get to you! Again, that's one of the reasons Black's having me investigated. He wanted me to do it from a building just tall enough to get you killed, but small enough that there wouldn't be enough time for you to be safe. I convinced him to make it into more of a show, you know, to spite your dad or something."
"Ciaran, I–"
"I have to go," he said suddenly, perking up like a dog sniffing the wind. "Don't forget this, okay? Whatever you do, don't forget."
"What do you mean? Why would I–"
I jerked awake. My eyes were crusty from dried tears and it hurt as I wiped them away, a few eyelashes coming away with them. Confused, I sat up slowly and looked around. What time was it?
Outside, it was dark. I'd been sleeping for a few hours, but... when had IH left? I didn't remember him leaving. In fact... I barely remembered him arriving. And that brought on a fresh wave of tears as I realised... I realised it had all just been a dream.
GOLD P.O.V.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Why wouldn't I be sure?"
"You seem... nervous?"
"Nervous?" I gulped, "why would I be nervous?"
"Um, I don't know," Karla giggled.
It was a good question, actually. Why would I be nervous? I was only bringing her to meet Bat Boy. It wasn't like she was meeting my parents or anything. Then again, Bat Boy was probably the closest thing I had to family besides Mary Kate, and up until recently, I couldn't have even introduced Karla to Mary Kate without revealing my secret to at least one of them, if not both.
Now that Mary Kate knew everything, it made life a lot easier. But I still wasn't quite ready to take the step of introducing Karla to her - not yet anyways. MK was more like my mom than anything else. When mom moved to China after dad passed away, things got complicated. MK grew up a lot faster than she should have had to. Don't get me wrong; my mother was a great mom - still is, actually. But without dad earning money, it was hard times. She'd had to move to China to get a decent income, leaving my sister and me to fend for ourselves in New York. I guess it was just lucky I was a superhero...
Mom still sent checks every month - handsome checks - and she loved us. A lot. Even with the time difference, we called each other a few times a week. But kids still need their mothers. And that's why Mary Kate grew up. She did it for me. And now it was time for me to grow up for her.
But first, I had to introduce Karla to Bat Boy.
We were gliding over the city - yes, gliding. Bat Boy would be so proud. The sun was just going down over the city, bathing it in a beautiful red glow. Jokes on you, a little voice in my head wanted to say, you probably just have a detached cornea or something. I rolled my eyes at my weird sense of humour and tightened my grip around Karla's waist. She wasn't heavy, but I was still nervous. Even with super strength, one small thing could lead to me dropping her. Any number of small things, actually.
She'd insisted on me looping an arm around her waist and flying her so that she was standing up instead of being carried bridal style. No, she hated that. It made her feel babied, she'd explained once. Which I totally understood. Karla had a lot of spunk. Even when she was giggling in that adorable way where she'd wind up doing a little snort and then blushing hysterically afterwards or when she was struggling to figure out how to do something and she'd stick the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth while she thought, she could still fend for herself. Looks were deceiving and boy did I keep getting caught off guard.
"We're here," she said excitedly, snapping me out of my reverie. I smirked a little at how even though I was taking her to meet him, she still wanted to know everything that was going on, including where the meeting would take place.
It was a little impromptu, but we were meeting in a little garden next to Sheep Meadow in Central Park. I thought about this as I descended slowly and carefully so as not to drop Karla.
Even though it was the end of winter, vines and plants wound themselves over and around the iron fencing in the garden, forming beautiful looping arcs that spiralled above our heads. The vines were peppered with buds, little bouts of colour seeping through their leafy casings in impatient anticipation of Spring.
"Ready?" I whispered.
Karla gave me a pointed look and rolled her eyes.
"Right," I gulped, "of course you are."
I waited for Bat Boy's voice to crackle to life in my ear, but it never did because instead, he stepped out of the shadows, a cheeky grin on his face as he bounded towards Karla with his arms outstretched.
"IT'S SO NICE TO FINALLY MEET YOU!" He shouted, bubbling with joy. I winced a little at his loudness. Should someone overhear us, it could put Karla in a lot of danger. I'd offered to hold the meeting at the bar, but Karla wasn't quite sure how her brother and father would take to two supers instead of just one. I cringed a little at the idea. Meanwhile, Bat Boy was still rambling. He finally paused to take a breath before introducing, "I'm Bat Boy–" he stopped and squinted at her face, not in a scrutinising way but more in a... "and you look very familiar..."
ANNIE'S P.O.V.
"Well shit..." I muttered at the hyperventilating news anchor. Weren't reporters supposed to stay calm in all situations so as not to cause a panic? This one clearly wasn't doing a very good job. I half expected her to burst into tears as her boss screamed "FIRED" over her earpiece. When she didn't, however, I knew something was very wrong.
My fears were only confirmed when she announced that an anonymous tip had been received about several different bombs scattered throughout the city. In fact, it was more than several: twelve in total.
There was no way my friends and I could stop them all. We couldn't be in twelve places at once! I doubted the NYPD, let alone the superheroes, had enough resources to tackle twelve bombs at once.
And Obsidian Black clearly knew this. Because these bombs weren't from terrorists - oh no. Unfortunately not. No, OB had commanded his minions to strategically place these bombs around the city so that even if Gold wanted to run them all out into the middle of nowhere, at least one would still explode, either killing him or everyone else in the vicinity.
My phone buzzed to life and I checked the text from Dresden, except my phone kept buzzing and I knew it was a call.
"Annie–"
"I know," I gulped, "what do we do?"
"There's nothing we can do," Dresden said stonily.
"We can try," I argued half-heartedly, but I knew it was pointless.
"Annie, they're vacuum bombs."
"So? There has to be some sort of bomb squad equipped to deal with–"
"No, Annie, vacuum bombs can't be dismantled."
"All bombs can be dismantled!" I said frantically, "right?"
Dresden's silence said it all and I let out a shaky sigh, trying for humour if nothing else.
"Did Henry The Hoover turn evil or something?"
"Something like that..." Dresden muttered. "Obsidian Black sure has one hell of a morbid sense of humour."
"Dresden," I swallowed, "what are you talking about?"
"Vacuum bombs are vacuums, essentially. Obviously you know what a vacuum is, right? You know, a space devoid of matter?"
"Yeah... so? Isn't that a good thing?"
"No. Depending on what, uh, ingredients he has in this bomb, there are going to be a whole bunch of explosive materials, like, ammonium nitrate or nitroglycerin or some shit like that. Any attempt to dismantle the bomb will result in opening the vacuum. Air will rush in, the materials/elements/chemicals/WHATEVER he has in there will react with each other and..."
"Boom goes the dynamite," I gulped again.
"Exactly."
"We need to tell the others."
"They already know."
"That was fast," I complimented.
Dresden ignored it. "I have a plan."
"That was even faster," I sighed. Of course he'd have a plan.
"Remember that super that Athena, Bat Boy and I rescued in the last rescue mission?"
"You rescued three, Dresden," I rolled my eyes, trying to contain my frustration.
Dresden tutted and continued, "Pressure Point," he specified.
"Yeah?"
"It's a pretty far stretch, but Pressure Point controls atmospheric pressure, obviously."
"Obviously..."
Apparently Dresden didn't hear my sarcasm as he continued, "I was thinking, Boyle's law says there's an inverse relationship between atmospheric pressure and the volume of a gas..."
I zoned out a little as I wondered what Kyle and Dresden's other fuckboy friends would think of him geeking out like this.
"I thought you said you were crap at physics," I muttered when he paused for a breath.
"I am," Dresden replied casually, "but I'm with Finn right now."
Ah. So he was reading Finn's mind. I smirked a little, smug that he didn't completely think of everything. Even if the plan was his, the knowledge was Finn's.
"Anyway, there's this thing I saw in a movie once–"
"A MOVIE?!" I shrieked, "YOU WANT TO RISK A COUPLE HUNDRED LIVES FOR SOMETHING YOU SAW IN A MOVIE?"
"Annie, their lives are already at risk," Dresden replied calmly. I stopped and took a deep breath.
"Okay, okay, you're right. What's the plan?"
***
To say I was nervous would be one hell of an understatement. Less than twenty feet from one of the bombs, I was sweating like a pig. (Do pigs sweat?). It was not attractive, to say the least.
Admittedly, Dresden's plan was good. Doomed to fail, but... good.
After we had relayed the plan to the other supers (convening in Times Square had caused quite an uproar in the media), everyone was pumped and ready to go. Dresden had made a small speech and as much as I hated to admit it, it was pretty good.
"Um," he had started off, receiving only blank looks in return, "Helen Keller once said this thing. It was cool, I guess. She said, 'alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.' For those of you who don't have specific roles in this plan, that doesn't make you any less important." Dresden began to grow in confidence, getting more excited with each word, "as long as you support those who do have roles, you're helping. Got that? I don't know if you heard, but Ivy, a super who previously thought her flower powers were useless, took out a super villain the other week. That's pretty fucking impressive, if you ask me. I don't care who you are or what you do or whether you have powers. Annie Collins and her brother don't have any and they've both exhibited more bravery than half the supers I've known. No matter what, just... you do you." And there was the Dresden we all knew and... tolerated. "Once you step out that door, you better fucking give them hell."
He paused. Everyone blinked. And then Times Square erupted with the sound of thirty supers applauding, hooting, hollering, and roaring with agreement. I saw my brother and Carter in the crowd, hugging and high-fiving. Just like me, they were only human. Just like me, they didn't have powers. But just like me, they'd joined this fight for all it was worth.
Meanwhile, Athena stood up on her tip toes to whisper in her boyfriend's ear and I just barely caught her words as she teased, "good pep talk, Hawkeye," and kissed his cheek. Dresden blushed and grumbled something back to which Athena laughed and swatted his arm.
But it was another small display of affection that caught my attention. One that tore me up inside and one that immediately had me drowning in a wave of guilt at my previous resentment of my best friend's happiness.
Finn had his hand on the Claw's waist. He was rubbing her arm affectionately with his other hand and whispering something, but they were just far enough away that I couldn't hear what they said. I caught Bay Boy's eye and I knew with his supersonic hearing that he could no doubt hear every word, but he turned away sadly to tease Gold for tripping and nearly taking out a young superhero next to him.
A small gust of wind picked up then, carrying Finn's words over to me and my stomach clenched as I wished it really hadn't.
"–in case one of us doesn't make it back."
"We'll both make it back, Finn," the Claw giggled nervously.
"But–"
"Stop," she commanded, "we will."
She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, blushing at the light dusting of stubble that peppered his jaw.
"I love you," she whispered and I strained my ears to hear the rest, "and if you love me, you'll come back to me."
"You're not gonna pull a Juliette and stab yourself in the stomach if I die, right?" Finn teased.
The Claw rolled her eyes, back to her usual sarcastic self as she said, "sorry. I value my life too much for that."
Finn took on a look of mock horror and said something back, but I didn't hear it as the wind died down. My best friend hooped him on the nose, he mouthed three words - which were pretty easy to guess - and then their lips locked and they were involved in a heavy make out session. I turned away, blushing furiously.
By now, Terry and Carter were having a similar moment except minus the romance, followed only by Gold Thrush and Bat Boy. Gold rolled his eyes at whatever Bat Boy said and tackled the superhero in a super hug. I practically say Bat Boy's eyes bulge from lack of oxygen. I sighed a little at how I had nobody to say goodbye to, although I guess that was good. I waited for the Claw to finish up with Finn so I could jog over and say my goodbyes, but before I could, something latched on to my wrist.
The air rippled like I'd seen it done so many times before and, like the Cheshire cat, a grin appeared followed by a beautiful teenager who'd stolen my heart so many months ago.
There he was, staring back at me. Just like in my dream, his forget-me-not blue eyes shone with a determined ferocity as his black hair framed his face in a handsome wind-mussed way. My own hair was plastered to my face, either from wind or from tears, I couldn't tell. I opened my mouth to say something, but he beat me to it.
"Did you get my message?"
"What message?" I croaked.
IH didn't say anything as he gave me a very pointed stare and suddenly I knew.
The dream wasn't a dream.
Not my dream, anyway.
It had been from him.
It had been from IH.
IMPORTANT: I don't have room or an opportunity to say it in later chapters so I'll say it here: it is implied that the Invisible Hand got help from another super to contact Annie through her dream. IH DOES NOT HAVE DREAM POWERS. (sadly).
Just so I don't get questions about plot holes and whatnot ^ :)