28 November, Sunday, 9:45 am
When I finally came around, I was lying on a foreign bed in a room I'd never been in so, understandably, I panicked.
"Calm down, Cam," Noah whispered soothingly.
His familiar voice was welcomed in the cloudiness of my confused mind and I turned to look at him with a frown. Pushing myself up till I was sitting, propped up by pillows, I raised an expectant eyebrow at him.
"You're in Aiden's room because you wouldn't fit in Abrielle's bed so, don't freak out. I told East what happened and he's trying to wrap things up as soon as he can. We managed to save Scarlett under our alter egos and we told her that you were kidnapped, too. Cam, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," Noah rambled, his voice cracking towards the end as his crystal blue eyes filled with unshed tears.
Wordlessly, I reached out and gathered him into a hug, rubbing his back comfortingly.
"It isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for Cataclysm's psychotic deeds," I murmured into his hair as his tears wet my shoulder.
"Yeah, but if I hadn't blindly rushed into a mess without thinking like you told me to, you wouldn't be completely powerless. Neither of us would be and I'm so sorry that you're stuck in bed because of me," he sobbed.
"Noah, you couldn't have known. It's alright, big brother. You're allowed to make mistakes to save someone you hold dear. Besides, I'm a trained secret agent. None of us actually need our powers to be badass. We'll still save people with the rest of S.I.A. Although, we will be like ordinary agents, we're still pretty high up in the seniority ladder. I'll live," I argued.
Noah pulled out of the hug and turned to me with a small smile.
"We'll finally get to prove the adults wrong when they say we're only skilled because of our powers," he grinned, wiping at his eyes to remove all traces of his moment of weakness.
"You're an adult," I deadpanned.
"Shut up."
With a smirk, I turned my attention to examining the gauze around my ribs.
Anne, you miracle worker. Good thing she's a nurse.
A knock sounded on the door and Aiden popped his head in.
His icy blue eyes examined me briefly before he fully stepped into the room and took a seat at the foot of the bed.
"So, want to explain? Your brother refused to say anything and I felt bad pushing him for answers when he was such a wreck," Aiden said carefully.
I quirked an eyebrow at Noah who only shrugged sheepishly.
"What is there to know?" I turned back to the black-haired boy.
"You're Mirage," he stated and I nodded in confirmation.
"Noah's Hunter, Sky's Justice and those two freshmen, Evelyn and Olive, are Comet and Streak," he stated further and I nodded again.
"What were you doing in Prime City? How did Cataclysm take your powers? How did you get them to begin with? Why were you faking your identities? Are we even actually friends or was that just an act to get closer to Aerofire?" Aiden shot off, sounding genuinely hurt at the last question.
Noah winced as I blinked at the five questions.
"I'm gonna call Sky and let her know you're alright," my brother mumbled before quickly slipping out of the room.
Aiden didn't take his piercing icy stare off me and I met his gaze evenly.
"My real name is Cameron Strong and I work as a secret agent for the Secret Intelligence Agency. It's basically an anonymous security organization that deals with all kinds of international threats; a real life S.H.I.E.L.D.
"S.I.A's director, Ace, put together Elite with kids who had unnatural powers. Ace wants you and Scott to join Elite for some reason. He won't tell us why exactly. Our job was to recruit you but Ace wanted us to build trust with you both first. So, we watched until we were sure of your identities.
"It was a mere stroke of luck that we were already friends. We couldn't exactly tell you our real names because we have lots and lots of enemies. Comes with being a teenage spy... Or any spy for that matter. And I understand if you're mad but, Aiden, I actually consider you a friend. It isn't fake to me," I said softly.
"I'm glad," Aiden said with that damn crooked smile that I found cute and didn't want to.
"How did he take your powers, though?"
"He used a stone called Ragnald. Ragnald originally fell down to Earth with three other stones that wielded power over time, mind and the elements. Ragnald itself wields energy. The four stones landed in Norway during the medieval times so, they found themselves places in mythology where, collectively, they're referred to as the stones of Creation," I rattled off.
"The other three stones never landed in S.I.A's possession, but they know their locations. Anyways, my parents were scientists working for S.I.A and they were conducting experiments with Ragnald. The theory was that by creating a particular situation, Ragnald could grant manipulation over certain elements of energy. When the experiment went haywire in their personal lab at home, Noah and I were in close enough proximity that the stone gave us powers.
"Cataclysm used the law of constant energy to take away all of our powers and I'm pretty sure the only way to get them back is to recreate what happened in my parents' lab," I informed.
Aiden whistled as he progressed the information overload.
"So, what are you planning to do now?"
"Cataclysm doesn't have any powers of his own from what I've seen. Our powers won't work for him because he doesn't match any of our personalities but if he overloads Ragnald, then he could potentially wipe out all of Prime City and probably any other neighboring cities, too. We'll need to get that damn stone," I mumbled thoughtfully.
"How exactly do intend to do that? No offense, but you aren't in the best of shapes," Aiden raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"You really know how to pamper a girl," I drawled.
"If it's all the same to you, I think you look ravishing," he grinned cheekily.
I rolled my eyes.
"Even when I'm bedridden?"
"Especially when you're bedridden."
"That really warms my heart. Thanks, Dan," I smiled amusedly. In answer, Aiden merely shrugged and awarded me with an over exaggerated bow.
Anne bustled in around then and, after making sure that I won't die in her absence, she left because she was needed in the ICU.
"Explain another thing," Aiden began once we heard the door shutting and Noah bustling around in the kitchen downstairs. "How come nobody else passed out?"
I sat back to mull over his question. I hadn't really known that so, my answer could only be based upon theories.
"Well, my powers were actually given to me by Ragnald. Maybe why Noah didn't pass out, too, is because of the fact that he didn't really control any energy. The radiation the stone emitted only altered his physical structure to allow enhanced abilities so, it could only take that away. Noah didn't lose anything else," I muttered thoughtfully.
Aiden nodded slowly.
"Probably that. Comet only passed out once we'd cleared the warehouse but that could be because your powers are closer to Ragnald's original energy than hers. Streak made it back to their house before she collapsed in their care taker's hold. She probably held onto the fact that her physical and internal anatomy had changed to accommodate super-speed," Aiden mumbled calculatingly.
"Justice also made it back and supposedly only collapsed later in the night. Perhaps because her power is largely enhanced physical attributes and only an ounce of energy that she manipulates for healing," he continued.
I forgot the boy was smarter than most so forgive me for looking surprised as he weaved theories in front of me.
"Why do you look so shocked?" Aiden frowned with a small pout.
That did it for me. I took one look at his childish expression (complete with the wide and innocent looking puppy eyes) and burst put laughing. Of course, this only caused his pout to become more prominent till he simply grabbed at the nearest pillow and chucked it at me.
Grabbing it with relative ease, I nailed him in the head with it because I just told this boy that I was a highly qualified secret agent and his weapon of choice is a cushion.
He laughed as it hit him in the face and I rolled my eyes in exasperated amusement.
The door cracked open and Noah half walked in suspiciously.
"I heard laughing."
"Your faith is truly astounding," I said with raised eyebrows.
His only response was to shrug and leave again; with the door open.
"Has your brother made it his life's goal to make things awkward between you and me whenever he can?" Aiden mumbled with a slight blush creeping up to his cheeks.
I blinked as I turned to face him with a growing smirk.
"You and me?"
"Must run in the family," he commented passively as I lapsed into another fit of laughter.
"Remind me why I hang out with you Strongs, again?" Aiden asked, rolling his eyes.
"Because we're amazing," I told him indignantly. "But seriously, my brother has totally made it his life goal to make everything awkward around you."
"My life is one major catastrophe and Noah is the cause of it," Aiden said dramatically as he fell backwards to lay at the end of the bed.
I shrugged before turning over and burrowing into the blanket, deciding to ignore Cranford in favor of counting the wrinkles on his pillow case.
In other words, I was contemplating life after having lost count after 13.
My powers were gone. It was pretty upsetting but, I would live. Besides, everyone else in Elite had lost there's too so, we would deal with this like we deal with everything else.
Together.