Everyone except for mom was home when Amaris and I finished cleaning up, Alden was lounging on the couch watching T.V and Axel was taking a nap.
I decided on wearing sweatpants, because they're comfortable and easy to remove, and a baggy sweater with a nude bra underneath. My go to wear for shopping.
"We're going to the mall!" I called out to no one in particular when we reached the door.
"No your not!" Came the response.
"What? Why?" I asked as Alden came into view, his hair was messy as if he just went jogging.
"Because Redux is going to be there, he has a signing." He crossed his arms; Amaris stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"So?" I laughed.
"The last time you were around supers, you got hurt." He stated.
"Yes, because lightening strikes twice in the same place." I snorted. He couldn't possibly be worried something was going to happen again.
"You won't be in the same place." He retorted.
"Your being paranoid!" I huffed; he stood up straighter, authority was leaking from his pores, "okay, fine, we're going to the mall, we just won't go anywhere near Redux."
"Ashlyn, I don't want you anywhere near that mall." He warned.
"Your not the boss of me!" I didn't want to go to the mall that much but, being the stubborn person that I am, I hate being told what to do by somebody other than my mom or teachers, especially when that somebody is my older brother.
"Ashlyn, if I find out you go anywhere near that mall, I'll get mom to ground you and you know damn well that I can." He threatened. Alden has some sort of charm over my mom, he manages to persuade her to ground us whenever we do something bad. Once, I used his phone to look cool in front of my friends and on the way to school, I was annoying Axel so he hit it out of my hands; instead of landing on he grass, it crashed inches away, smack on the cement sidewalk. The screen shattered. We were grounded for two weeks even though it was all Axels fault.
"Fine, nowhere near the mall." I said through gritted teeth.
"Why can't you just stay in the house?" He asked, annoyed.
"Because I'm stubborn!" I yelled, grabbed Amaris' hand, ran out the door and hopped into the truck Lawson let us borrow. He couldn't come with us because of family stuff but he always lends his truck to Amaris. I wonder why (note the sarcasm).
"Don't worry," I laughed when Amaris gave me a
look, "he's just overprotective."
"Whatever you say," she muttered, turning on the ignition, "where are we going if not to the mall?" She pouted.
"The mall," I answered, "nothing will happen; just wait and see." She nodded and we drove off towards the Westlake Shopping Centre, better known as WSC.
*
"This is going to be so amazing!" Amaris squealed as we made our way through the crowd.
We stopped at two stores so far; Amaris carried at least five bags while I carried nada. Zip. Zero.
I'm not much of a shopper.
"Aren't we supposed to be heading," I grunted as someone ran into me, "away from the crowd?"
"My favourite store is this way," She said.
"What's so special about the store?" I laughed.
"Redux may or may not be visiting it," she mumbled.
"We're supposed to be shopping!" I said, stopping in my tracks.
"We will, I just want to see him, maybe get an autograph." She giggled.
"Remember what Alden said or did that leave your mind when we walked through the doors?" I sighed.
"You said it yourself, he's just being overprotective."
"Yeah, but, if he finds out I went to the signing, he'll get mom to ground me." I frowned.
"Don't be a worry wart!" She slapped my arm, "your going to knock the fun out of shopping!"
"Too late," I groaned as she pulled my arm, "Amaris!" I whined.
"Five seconds, Please?" She begged, giving me puppy dog eyes.
"Fine but if one of us gets killed, I'm blaming you." I joked.
"Yes! Okay, he's over there," Amaris pointed to the middle of the mob.
"Five seconds." I muttered under my breath. Amaris grabbed my arm, so we wouldn't loose each other, and pushed our way towards Redux's .
The closer we got, the more I could see him. His brown curly hair stuck out at the top of his head where his mask ended. His mask was mostly grey, it had teal markings along the side and ended in a triangle beside his hairline.
His suit was skin-tight as was every other super out there. Like his mask, there were many, tiny, triangular patterns, different teal shades of green, running down the sides. It was a solid grey from his shoulders, slimming at his stomach, and expanded around his waist.
"Ashlyn?" Redux asked when we arrived, shocked to see me.
"It's Amaris' fault!" I pointed to her. I could bet anything that Redux and Alden were in cahoots with the not hanging with supers thing.
"Your not supposed to be here." He warned. I was right.
"You sound just like her brother." Amaris snorted.
"Trust me," he laughed, "I am nothing like her brother."
"You know her brother?" She looked between us suspiciously.
"I saved him once," Redux informed.
"Okay," she nodded slowly, "you remember her name?" Amaris told me that superheroes tend to forget the names of whoever they meet because they save so many people a day.
"Orbit talks about her a lot," Redux shrugged, "and he cares about her." He added.
"What?!" We both yell.
"Not in the dating way," Redux cringed like Orbit did when he visited, "in the 'I let her get hurt on my watch and I'm feeling super guilty about it' way." He assured us.
"Orbit cares for you?" Amaris stood, mouth agape.
"That's not what I meant!" Redux whined.
"Shut up Stern." I demanded. The people around Redux were starting to give us weird looks.
"That's not my name." He groaned.
"You didn't deny it the first time," Amaris snorted.
"Or the second." I added. Amaris' gaze soon shifted to me as I realized my mistake.
"Second?" She squeaked.
"Long story," I mumble as Redux said, "ran into each other in the middle of the night."
"Why am I only hearing about this now?" She asked, hurt.
"Because Alden told me not to tell anybody," I turned to Redux, "that one's on you."
"I didn't mean too." He took a picture with a little girl, signed an autograph and snapped back to our conversation.
"Get your autograph and let's go, it's been way past five seconds." I complained, dreading the conversation that was bound to take place later today.
"We're not done talking about this." She said as if I was her daughter in trouble for writing on the walls but she couldn't talk about it because of work.
"Yes w-" before I could finish my sentence, Redux took hold of our shoulders, his eyes alert, and pushed us towards the crowd.
"What's wrong?" Amaris asked.
"You should've listened to Alden." Redux stated, looking around at the entrances to the building.
Something big is going down and it's happening right here.
"Get out of here." Redux demanded after clearing the area.
"Osium?" He asked when someone showed up. Is he the threat? I heard Osiums a superhero, not a supervillain.
"Redux." He chuckled, something sinister in his voice.
"Are you here to help?" I can bet Redux knew the answer already without having to ask.
"Let's see," Osium turned himself into a gigantic metal machine, "nope." He lunged towards Redux who was swift to get out of the way.
"Why are you doing this?" Redux asked, "your a good guy, a superhero." He said as he dodged another swing.
"Not today." He smirked and charged at Redux again. This time, Redux wasn't quick enough and the metallic arm cracked against Reduxs' ribs. He slammed into a wall hard enough that debris flew and hit Amaris in the head, knocking her unconscious. Redux got back up, wobbly, but awake.
Just then, a familiar superhero crashed through the roof, decked out in blue and black spandex; landing in front of me and an unconscious Amaris.
"Osium?" He asked just like Redux had done minutes earlier.
"Ah, I was waiting for you." Redux took his distracted state and charged at Osium who in turn, slapped him away as if he was a fly. Redux landed with a loud thump that could be heard from meters away, and fell limp to the ground. The slow rise and fall of his chest indicated he was barely breathing, but still alive.
"I don't want to hurt you." Orbit stated as the metallic monster waltzed towards him.
Amaris explained that Osium is a super who Orbit saved when he first started the superhero gig, that he's just a kid who'll do the best he can to help others.
"That's unfortunate," Osium sneered, "because I, want to hurt you." He lunged and latched onto Orbits ankle before he could jump away, and started flinging him around like he was a rag doll.
"Ashlyn," Orbit spit the blood from his mouth, "get out." He ordered. Amaris was still unconscious, she sagged whenever I tried to lift her up, I was frozen with fear.
"Why don't you fight back?" I yelled, finding my voice.
"He's too-" Orbit was smacked down into the ground so hard that it would have killed any normal human being, "heavy." Orbit said something about not being able to lift anything heavier than a car- did Osium weigh that much?
Should I help? I have powers, but what good would they do? I can barely hold it when I walk through walls; the truck was a once in a lifetime opportunity because of all the adrenaline I had acquired. I can't help. I'm paralyzed by my own pain, I'm in no state to help anybody. I'd most likely make matters worse.
Redux, finally regaining consciousness, walked towards the battle, he was limping, but wasn't giving up. Osium was quick to notice, knocking him out of the way once again before turning back to Orbit who lay still on the ground.
Osium picked up Orbits limp body and put one of his metallic hands on his waist, the other on his chest, imprisoning him like how he'd hold handlebars on a bike.
All that could be heard when Osium slapped his hands together was a loud, bone chilling snap.
Redux yelled as Orbit fell lifeless to the ground, landing in an awkward angle.
"Cyrus will have his revenge." Osium said before falling unconscious to the ground, just like luminescence, as if breaking Orbit was his sole mission.
"Orbit, wake up buddy." Redux crawled towards him, shaking his disfigured body, "wake up dammit!" He ripped off his gloves and his hands glowed, trying to take the pain. Redux screamed in agony. The nausea subsided indicating the worst was over. For me anyway.
"Wake up!" Tears were streaming down Redux's face. They must have been closer friends than I thought.
"Please!" Redux yelled, "don't die on me, not here. WAKE UP!" The glow in his hands faded and he slumped in defeat.
"I'm s-so sorry," he sobbed, his chest heaved uncontrollably, "I-I'm s-sorry."
Some invisible force was pulling me as I slowly walked towards the two superheroes, away from Amaris.
I walked past Osium who still lay unconscious, most of his body returned human but the rest, including his hands which I now found out were sharp claws, were still metal.
I walked past the hole in the ground Osium made when he slammed Orbit into the concrete.
Orbit was now propped up so he was leaning on Redux who cradled him, sobbing into his neck. A huge gash ripped open the fabric of his teal suit, but it seemed his pain was more directed towards the corpse in his arms than the many cuts he acquired, or the skin that turned black and blue.
My eyes were drawn the body in his arms. I thought Redux was banged up but he was nowhere close to Orbit. One boot from his supersuit was missing, displaying the four toes on his feet, the fifth was missing; his legs were bent at awkward angles, a bone was protruding from his arm. There was blood from cuts that weren't there, small cuts that Redux managed to heal. The amount of pain he must have went through is insane. Even if Redux had his full powers plus some, there was no way he could have healed him, there's no way Orbit could have survived.
My eyes slowly traveled up to his head, I'm not sure why, but I wanted to know who he was, needed to know. His mask was missing bits where Osium held his head in one of his claws, it revealed the left side of his face. A sob bubbled its way up my throat and rested there. I had a feeling if I opened it, I would vomit.
His mouth, though bloody, I could tell it was the one that would always crack inappropriate jokes at the wrong time.
His nose, through crooked, I could still see the scar he got when he tried playing hero and ended up crashing into the glass coffee table.
His eyes, even cold and lifeless, I could still tell they were the ones that was always vibrant and full of joy.
His face, even ghost pale and cold, I could still tell he was one of the only two guys I've ever loved.
That face belonged to my older brother.
That face belonged to Alden.