"Well, well, Kenna. What are you doing here? Just my luck to get to see this."
I spun to face him. The Super, Cobalt, stood there with a stupid smirk on his face.
"Hello, Gregory," I spat. "I guess they didn't need you out there for long, huh? You're not really the hero of the day."
His face darkened. I could see that his ego hadn't improved over the past few years. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't call me that. And you didn't answer my question."
I scoffed. "As much as I'd love to stand here and trade barbs with you, you're actually the last person on Earth I'd like to spend any time with at all, and I don't have to answer anything to you." An energy disturbance over to my left made me pause. I looked over at the spot where I could feel the energy. "Scratch that, you're the second last person on Earth. Come out, Samantha, I know you're there. Or don't. I don't care."
The spot began to materialise into a Super in a spandex slate grey outfit. "Oh, I think you do," she purred. "And I'd prefer if you called me 'Shadow.' Cobalt loves it, as you know."
My lip curled reflexively into a sneer. "I know you think it's ironic, or whatever, that when you're invisible you don't leave a shadow, but I've told you before and I'll you again; it's not, and it's stupid. And if you think I care about anything Gregory loves anymore, you're as delusional as you are twisted."
Cobalt looked conciliatory now. "Come on, it's just Sam's sense of humour. You've been avoiding us for years; don't you think we can ever be friends, Kennie?"
"Don't you ever use that name with me again," I hissed, before turning to march past him and out the door. I was so done with this conversation, and with both of them.
I stopped dead when I saw a new figure, all dressed in black, standing in the doorway.
"Hi Kenna," Enigma said cautiously. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," I said, thankful that while he was obviously curious, he hadn't launched into twenty questions. It was unclear how much he'd heard of the conversation. "I was just leaving."
He made to move out of the way, but Shadow's voice interrupted.
"Oh, so you know the big hotshot rookie, do you?" I could tell that she was upset with him since he'd been sent in to save the hostages instead of her. Most of the Supers were egotistical babies in that way. He'd already made a nasty little frenemy in her. "You know, Kenna, for someone who wants to avoid Supers as much as you do, you sure seem to be interested in the heroes," she finished vindictively.
I shot Enigma a half apologetic, half concerned glance, but he looked a little amused.
"Sorry Sunshine, though that was charmingly expressed, I rather think you're wrong," he remarked dryly to Shadow. She made a snarling face at him.
"Enigma here was good enough to, um, help me out a mugger with a knife," I said, carefully keeping my voice neutral.
Cobalt knew all about my independent nature and abilities so, naturally, he looked sceptical. "Kenna let someone save her? That's very surprising."
"It was with the greatest reluctance, I assure you. Something seems to have put Kenna off of Supers," Enigma said mildly, with a level gaze at Cobalt.
Cobalt started to frown as we all realised what Enigma was implying, and I'd suddenly had absolutely enough of it all.
"Enigma, is there somewhere else to hang out around here? I've suddenly lost my appetite." Impulsively, I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the green room, not bothering to say anything more to the other two. I'd sworn not to rise to Shadow's bait, or let Cobalt make my stomach churn in anger, sadness and shame, but today they'd just caught me so off guard. I should have expected it, in hindsight.
Enigma was much more welcome company. Cobalt and Shadow deserved each other.
"There's a little terrace a floor up that looks out over the private entrance. It's got some plants and stuff, so maybe they will ward away those two."
I laughed at him. It felt nice to laugh. "You're kind of weird, Enigma."
Cocking his head, he asked, "Is that a good thing, or ... ?"
"In my books it is."
He nodded in satisfaction. "Me too." Then, he hesitated. "I can show you where the terrace is now, and leave you there, if you'd like to be alone."
I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head. I actually wanted to keep talking to him, which surprised me. "No, I think I could use the company. It's probably the best I'm going to get in this place so it'll have to do," I teased.
"No arguments here," he grinned. "So," he started off as we jogged up the stairs the old-fashioned way, "I'm starting to see why you don't like Supers."
"I told you, there are a lot of reasons. But yes, those two have something to do with it." We'd reached the terrace now, and could lean against the decorated metal rail with the hazy, warm flow of filtered evening sun on our faces. Well, on the parts of Enigma's face that weren't covered by his mask, of course.
"That must be a hell of a story."
"You're probing." I looked at him sternly.
"Sorry. I'm only human, mostly." He gave me a cheeky look, but those golden eyes seemed earnest, if that was even possible through their filter.
I sighed. Normally this would make me irritated and closed off; it was a very sensitive subject for me after all, but after that reintroduction to all the hideousness I'd tried to move past over the last two years, the idea of releasing the burden to a masked stranger felt enticingly liberating. "Okay. I'll tell you the story. Some of the other Supers know it, anyhow, though not from me. I will warn you right now though - it's long, cliched and melodramatic. And you may not ever use it against me."
"I would never," he said, perfectly seriously.
"Are you sure you're interested in this?" I asked, frowning.
"Your psyche seems like an awfully interesting place," he joked. "But seriously, I am if you want someone to talk to."
"Alright. Well, I guess the first thing to say is that I met Cobalt in university, where I was young, naive and getting over a silly crush I'd had in highschool." I looked at Enigma for a moment, to see how he'd react, because of my earlier suspicions. His face was impassive, but I thought I saw the corner of his mouth twitch a little. "Anyway, because I'm a better person than he is, I'm just going to keep calling him Cobalt instead of his real name. I met him as his real, everyday self, in one of my classes, and learned about his secret identity afterwards. I pretended to not be interested in him for awhile, but it was an exercise in futility; he was very charming and eventually I agreed to go on a date with him. Obviously, I fell completely in love with him, or there'd be no story. I think he was actually in love with me too, and we spent the rest of our years at school together. We stayed together afterwards, though there were issues that surfaced between us."
I couldn't tell Enigma how we'd fought about the Supers, and I'd resisted his continual and increasingly berating attempts to make me join. I'd almost considered it by the end, for his sake. That had been stupid.
"Anyway, long story short, we were planning to move in together, when one day I discovered that he'd been seeing Shadow secretly for several months. Her invisibility makes it pretty handy for sneaking around. He said she was better suited to his lifestyle, and they could be famous together, as Supers. She laughed when I found out, and told me I should have seen it coming, since I wasn't good enough for him anyway. You saw today what a delight she is. So there you have it; a Super asshole broke my heart and ran off with another Super asshole, and I spend a year or so in crippling self-doubt as a result. But we can only control ourselves, and I've come a long way past it. Today was not helpful for that, but it reminds me that I'll never let my identity get so tangled in someone else's again. Okay, and that's my pity party for you! Told you it was melodramatic and cliched." I gave Enigma a weak smile.
He was staring intently at the railing. When he noticed I'd finished, he looked up at me, a slight frown crinkling his forehead. "I thought he was a dick, but I didn't realise he was such a dick."
"Why would you? You're new to the team, it's not like you really know him. Besides, he's charismatic and people love him, even though he's got an ego the size of a house."
The corner of his mouth crooked up. "Right. Well, I'd say people are dumb but I wouldn't want you to think I meant you too."
I laughed. "Believe me, you wouldn't be wrong if you meant me. But I've seen the error of my ways." I raised my hands to the sky, jokingly.
He dropped a warm hand onto my shoulder. It was a comforting gesture. "You're more Super than either of them will ever be."
It was uncomfortably close to the truth, in a way. "Wait until you know me better before you decide that," I chuckled. "I could be worse than both!"
The golden eyes regarded me a moment. Then he smirked. "I think you'll find my answer is the same." His fingers squeezed my shoulder lightly and then dropped. "So," he started, after a moment of silence where I hadn't known what to say, "and I don't mean this in a rude way, but why are you actually here, Kenna? This seems like your worst nightmare."
It was the question I'd been dreading, and I hadn't managed to think up a convincing answer yet. There was literally no good explanation for it, besides the truth, and I obviously couldn't tell him that.
I eyed him, mind racing wildly, mouth opening and closing like a fish, panic setting in. His mask lifted a little, like he was raising his eyebrows, waiting.
The sound of someone coming up the stairs in a hurry distracted both of us and I inwardly jumped for joy. I almost didn't care if it was Gareth, though that would be disaster on top of misfortune, but to my absolute delight it turned out to be Seb bounding around the corner in his Super outfit, fittingly saving my skin.
"Hey Enigma, man, the guy at the door said he saw you coming up this way and-" he stopped short when he saw me. I could have groaned; Seb was not as good an actor as someone leading a double life really should be. "Oh, um, hello ... miss. Sorry, I didn't know you were with anybody." I shot him a burning glare when Enigma turned to look at him. He flinched as he continued, "they need you back out there, the crowd is chanting for you." Enigma's face must have fallen, because Seb laughed. "Sorry man, it just comes with the job. People always worship the hero."
Enigma made a rumbly noise of protest low in his throat, and swung back around to glance at me. I made a gesture of helplessness but couldn't help grinning at his reluctance. "Alright, if I must. Sorry, Kenna. See you later?"
I nodded. "Yeah, see you around some time."
He smiled. "Careful, I might think you actually mean that. Oh, this is Zeus, by the way," he added, jerking his head towards Seb.
"Nice to meet you," I said brightly, giving Seb a falsely cheerful look. "Well, as nice as it can be, since you're a Super and all," I finished evilly.
"Wow Kenna, tell us how you really feel," Enigma joked. "I promise you, she's charming once you get past the bristles," he told Seb, like we were old friends.
"She seems pretty scary to me," Seb answered, secure in knowing that I couldn't throw anything at his head while Enigma was there. To be on the safe side, though, he quickly started to usher the other Super down the stairs. "Come on, the crowd awaits their hero."
"Bye, Kenna," Enigma called over his shoulder.
"Nice tights, Zeus!" I yelled after them. "See you, Enigma, man of mystery."
A chuckle was all I heard from him before they were gone.
I turned back to lean over the railing again, watching the setting sun. Why had I told Enigma all of that? He was just another Super, and yet there was something honest and comforting about him. Well, as honest as you could be when you wore a costume, a mask, and an eye filter. But there was definitely something about him that kept me talking to him, even when my anti-Super instincts would normally be flashing.
Footsteps disturbed me again, and I reluctantly looked back at the stairs, hoping my luck hadn't run out with Gareth. To my relief, it was just Seb once more.
He wore a sheepish look under the mask. "I just had Enigma telling me all about how I shouldn't take your abuse personally, how you just didn't like Supers and you had your reasons, yada yada. I could have told him all that myself, of course. You've got yourself a defender, there. How much have you guys been talking?"
I ignored most of that, focussing instead on what he'd done wrong. "You doughnut! Could you have been less cool? Of course I was going to yell at you."
He grimaced. "I'm sorry, you caught me by surprise! I didn't really expect you to be hanging out with any of the Supers, even if you thought Enigma was alright."
"Well, if you could make it seem a little less like you know me next time, or even just act a little less like an awkward weirdo, that would be greaaaat. Do I have to sign you up for community theatre again?"
"NO," he said quickly, shaking his hands, "no you definitely don't have to. Now we've officially met in front of him it'll be easier."
I grinned evilly at him. I really had enrolled him in a theatre class years ago because he was such a bad actor. It hadn't done much for him, poor Seb, except terrify the wits out of him when he had to go onstage without a mask. It had been super funny for me, though, so worth it overall. Now I went easier on him. "So they were demanding another Enigma appearance, huh?"
He nodded. "Yup. The crowd loves him. He doesn't seem to love the attention though."
"I noticed. Pretty unusual."
"Uh huh." Now he looked at me more intently. "So what were you guys doing up here? What happened to the green room and snacks?"
"Um," it was my turn to look uncomfortable, "well that was going fine until Greg and Samantha showed up and cornered me."
He immediately looked guilty. "Oh damn Kenna, I'm sorry, I was in such a rush that I didn't even think about them! Ugh, you have no idea how hard it is to work alongside them and keep myself from punching that douche in the nose."
I gave his shoulder an affectionate pat. "It wouldn't solve anything anyway, as tempting as it is. But I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty rough. Then Enigma showed up, and obviously sensed some pretty weird vibes in the room. He heard part of our argument too, for sure. So eventually, I asked him to show me a place where I could be away from the Super douches and he brought me up here. I did something weird though. I told Enigma what happened with them. All of it, basically, besides what I couldn't say." My face scrunched up with embarrassment as I waited for Seb to comment.
"...huh," was all he said at first. He stared at me for a moment. Then he cracked a grin. "Kenna, baring her soul to a Super. Somebody pinch me!" He was actually letting me off easy here.
I punched his shoulder lightly anyway. "Shut up, I don't know what made me do it!" Then I rubbed my hands vigorously over my face. "Today has been so weird; I'd kind of like to go scrub it from my memory now. Are you done? Will Burly Thing 1 and Burly Thing 2 finally let us out of the gates?"
Seb checked his watch. "Yeah, we should be good. My leave time is in ten minutes, so I'll go change. We each have our scheduled time so that we can change and get out of the venue in privacy. They keep the crowd far from the exit so nobody sees us leaving. You should be good to come out with me. I'll meet you at the exit. Don't annoy Thing 1 and 2, okay?"
"They're the annoying ones," I muttered.
"Can't take you anywhere," he complained as he trotted back down the stairs.
"Whatever, you know I'm the charming one!" I called after him.
"Is that what you call it?" His voice floated up around the corner with the last word.
"Obviously." I said smugly, even though he couldn't hear me anymore.
Back on the busy streets, we were anonymous again in a way that was different to the conspicuous anonymity of masks and costumes and I let the feeling of normalcy wash over me. Now that time wasn't of the essence, we could take a more leisurely walk home.
"Wanna grab a shawarma?" Seb asked, nodding his head towards a very familiar small shop tucked out of the hustle of the street. "I'm ravenous," he added, with a wolfish grin.
My own face must have lit up with delight. "The answer to that is: always."
We changed course and made a beeline across the steady stream of people until we made it into the shop.
"Hello!" The owner called to us with a bright smile. "Two chicken shawarma wraps?" This was our favourite place; we were in a lot.
"Oh yes please!" I answered, almost salivating in anticipation. While I waited, my eyes roved aimlessly around the little shop until they fell unexpectedly on a familiar dark head in the back corner, turned away from us. I could see that he had earphones in, which was probably why he hadn't heard our voices.
It was too good an opportunity to miss. I crept up behind him as quietly as I could, until I was right behind his ear. I leaned forward and said in a pretty loud voice, directly into his earbud, "whatcha listening to?"
Ewan whirled, ripping the earbud out and staring at me accusingly. "Jesus, Kenna. You'd feel so bad if I just keeled over right now."
I eased myself fluidly into the chair beside him, Cheshire cat grin splayed across my face. "Obviously whatever it is, it's too loud. Got to keep your wits about you, Hamilton 1."
Ewan was five minutes older than Grant, so calling them Hamilton 1 and Hamilton 2, or Hamilton and Hamilton the Younger, was another way we teased poor Grant. Even when he wasn't around to defend himself, clearly.
"Excellent point, with a menace like you around," he shot back, a smile tugging up the corner of his mouth. He pulled the other earbud out, turning all the way around to look at Seb collecting and paying for the wraps. "I guess we all had the same idea, huh?"
"Unsurprising," said Seb, putting our food down at the table. I grabbed mine and dug in gleefully. Seb started shovelling his into his mouth, managing between gulps to ask, "so what're you up to, man?"
"You're so charming," Ewan remarked dryly. Seb only grinned, cheeks bulging like a chipmunk. "I worked late, so thought I'd head over here and grab a bite before heading home. Speaking of which, actually, what are you guys doing tomorrow? I don't normally work Saturdays but the museum's been working on setting up a new exhibit for a couple of months, and tomorrow's the big opening so I've got to keep an eye on things. The team's done a great job,though, so I doubt I'll be needed much. You interested in coming by to check it out?"
Knowing Ewan, he was being way too modest; he was the museum's lead curator and had probably done a huge part of the work leading up to this opening. I loved the museum anyhow, so took any excuse to go, and this was a better one than most. "Absolutely!" I exclaimed, shaking what was left of my shawarma wrap emphatically.
Seb did not love museums, but he did love his friend, and he knew as well as I did that this sounded like a big deal. "I'll come too," he agreed with his most enthusiastic grimace.
"My heart swells," Ewan smirked at Seb. "It's on 10-6, feel free to come by anytime between then."
"Yaaas," I cheered, doing jazz hands over my head.
"Can't wait," Seb muttered.
"Well, one for two anyway," Ewan laughed.
***