Sophia closes the door behind us. I seize the moment to make a snarky remark. "I forgot to mention the last time I was here - I like what y'all have done with the place. It's even more cold and uninviting than before."
A smile forms on her lips, and I can tell she has a comeback forming. "All that blood looks good on you. It really brings out the dirt on your face."
I bite my tongue with a smirk. She won't kill me. She has too much fun hating me while I'm alive.
She scoffs, startling me in the slightest. "We're awful people."
I shrug as I sit down on the white leather couch. Sophia turns on a few lamps, enough to give us light but not wake up her parents. I'm give out, completely exhausted, and ready to slump into the most uncomfortable couch I have ever seen, but Sophia has my attention now. I sit up straighter on the couch, and she takes a seat in the white leather recliner across from me.
"Do you remember when we stopped being friends?" She crosses her right leg over her left. Am I being interrogated?
"Uh... Like, 8th grade? Freshman year?"
She nods, sinking back into the recliner. "You want to know why?"
I snort, "Well it definitely started with the way we roast each other."
Sophia chuckles too, "Yeah, but I mean what caused my whole change of character all of a sudden."
A brief moment of me trying to lie down and get comfortable takes place before I reply. "I'm not Jonas, so I don't know for sure, but I'm going to guess you got powers and started working in The Undergrounds."
Her laugh makes the conversation a little more lighthearted. "Maybe Jonas' powers are starting to rub off on you. The thing is, being a villain was all fun and games until I realized my social skills went down the toilet. For some reason, I was the only girl villain roaming about. Just because we all came back to The Undergrounds to hang out, doesn't mean we were all friends. I've never despised a group of guys more than those imbeciles. I was hateful and bitter towards everyone I came across in everyday life, just because that's the way I was being treated by everyone in The Undergrounds."
"So I can tell..." I dare to say aloud.
She clears her throat, indicating it isn't my turn to speak. "Anyways, I knew from the start that Mickey was Red Raven. We were dating while you two were dating. Well, Red Raven and Night Haze were dating..."
I cough up a lung, "You're Night Haze? One of the villains that busted out of jail?" My mind races back to my hospital visit, watching the news station. 10 villains on the loose, and I was completely useless.
She scoffs, "Girl, if it weren't for me, those idiot villains would still be thinking of a way to get out. They just reported me as one of the fugitives when they saw me running away with the crowd."
I contemplate this for a moment. "How did you bust them all out?" I ask, my curiousity getting the best of me.
"It pays off to have night vision and the power of concussive blasts, I'll leave it at that. Anyways, while you were dating Mickey, my alter ego was dating his alter ego. As smart as he was, he really should've known that was only going to end terribly for him. By the way, the hail on his car was a nice touch." She gives me a thumbs up and I pretend to bow.
"But why did you let that go on, knowing you were being cheated on?" The fact that Sophia allowed Mickey to cheat on her is mind-boggling. Who would do that? Why would she do that?
"It was too complicated back then to reveal everything to you. I knew you were Rapid Glare though, and I knew you were his threat." I swear, I'm just going to get a face tattoo of my name. "But I knew you wouldn't believe a word that came out of my mouth, so that's why I kissed him in front of you at the game. It was my odd way of saying 'he's going to hurt you, and I'm doing you a favor'."
I want to interject that I would have believed her had she told me sooner, but that would be a lie.
"I figured since you didn't like me, it would make you extremely mad to see that I was the girl Mickey was cheating on you with. I just had to make it a public matter. And then you would break up with him and finally focus on taking down Red Raven."
After blinking so many times, I start seeing stars. Did she just say what I think she said? She wanted me to take down Red Raven?
I shake my head, "So you were on my side?"
Sophia does a one-shoulder shrug. "Still am. Why else would I invite you here and explain my whole backstory?"
Leaning forward, I remind her, "That's what every villain does in the movies."
She looks me dead in the eyes and rubs her chin, a nervous chuckle escaping her lips. "Guess it's hard to break the act sometimes."
It honestly doesn't matter to me at this point if she's a villain or hero. She's telling me her backstory and giving me accurate information. Which brings me to ask, "What do you know about my powers going away? Why haven't they just disappeared altogether? What's causing it? Is it permanent?"
Her mouth twitches, a frown pulling at the corner of her lips. "I'm sorry, Della. I don't know too much about the logistics of it. I just know the Red Ravens kept talking about your powers being taken away. Owen knew about it, he had to. But I don't know the exact details." She takes a shaky breath. "But I'm here to help you figure it all out."
"Good," I wipe away all signs of my disappointment. I expected too many answers from her. Lazily, I relax into the couch again. "Because you're going to do exactly that."
"What do you mean?"
She can't see the smirk forming, but there's a plan forming in my head. For the first time, I know my next move.
"We're on a mission tomorrow. Get ready to break down some doors and get some matching scars with me." My eyes close and I'm about to drift off to sleep knowing tomorrow will be a good day with or without someone else's help.
I hear Sophia mutter, "You better at least let me have seven full hours of sleep." Her footsteps are heavy as she trudges up the steps like a child.
Believe me, I need more than seven hours.
***
"Della! Della wake up!" Sophia hissing in my face is not my ideal way to be awakened.
"What?" I turn over to see panic in her eyes.
"My parents are about to go to work, they can't see you on the couch, they'll ask too many questions."
I roll my eyes, "Oh no, we can't have them asking about my well being."
She slaps my arm. I'm going to back-hand her. "Shut up! Come on!"
I'm not even going to ask what time it is. It's still dark outside. There's a slight chance I got a little more than three hours of sleep. It's a new personal best.
Sophia runs up the steps and opens the door to her room. I trudge along each carpeted step, slowing my pace with each step. It's like I'm wearing cement shoes. Once I reach her room, my eyes land on her super suit lying across her light blue sheets. I've never really taken notice of Night Haze's super suit, but now that I get an up-close view of it, I see how much of a masterpiece it is.
The emerald green mask shines with sparkles, and sparkles are a signature accessory of Sophia's wardrobe. The suit itself is black with green accents around the waist, sleeve cuffs, and low-cut neckline. She has a black choker necklace as well as black lipstick set beside her mask.
"Did Owen make this?" I ask, touching the stretchy material without permission.
She scoffs and smacks my hand away, "Yeah, right. He may design a lot of super suits, but this is all my doing."
I would high-five her if my hand weren't still stinging. "You go, girl." I give her a nod of approval instead.
She gathers all of her items and then points to my bookbag that I grabbed off of the couch in a hurry. "You have your suit in that?" I detect a hint of judgement in her voice and become defensive.
Rolling my eyes for the umpteenth time, I respond, "I'm not worried about it getting wrinkled."
She scowls, "I was just making sure you have your suit." She walks into her bathroom mumbling something incomprehensible.
For someone who has a lot more accessories for their suit than me, Sophia is out of the bathroom in a couple minutes, and then it's my turn to change into my Rapid Glare suit. I dread stretching on the spandex material. Sure, I've lost some weight so it's not as difficult to slip on, but it's going to be a hassle getting out of the darn suit in the end.
Sophia doesn't give me any time to think for myself in the time it takes me to change. She's on the other side of the closed door, bugging me about details. "So where are we off to, Miss I've Got A Plan?" I'm detecting extreme sass in her comment.
The worst part about becoming allies with someone and not working on your own is having to share your plans aloud. Okay, so I was only on my own for like a day or two. It was the equivalent of three chapters, I had a good run.
I run a nervous hand through my hair, "An alley, where I hope to get mugged."
I open the door once I'm done getting dressed and find her staring at me in disbelief.
As absurd as I sounded, Sophia carries on as normal. "You're not going to find any muggers in broad daylight."
I smirk, raising my eyebrows in order to get my idea across. Her eyes widen in alarm. "No, Della, Night Haze is not one to mug people in daylight. Night Haze?"
"Please?" I beg, "It's the only way I know to get Perception to show up."
She sits up straighter, a puzzled look playing on her face, "Who's Perception?"
Oh. Well, apparently he's not a villain. Who is Perception if Sophia and Jonas don't know him?
"Um... Well... I'm trying to figure that out I guess."
She gives me a skeptical look, "This is too sketchy."
"Sketchy?" I chuckle as I continue to shove my clothes in my bag.
"Yes, Della, like the police are going to have to ask me what you looked like so they can sketch a picture. You're going to get kidnapped!"
I gesture my hands upward, as if to say 'so what?' "That'll be the 2nd time this month. I think that's a new record."
Sophia gawks at me, "Do you even hear yourself?"
I zip up my bag, "I don't need a wimpy sidekick."
She stands to her feet, "Night Haze is not wimpy!"
I smile at her, daring her to follow me out the door. "Good. Night Haze can come along, then. Leave Sophia Brown at home." With that, I exit the room.
***
"Della, this isn't going to work. He - or she - is going to know it's a trap." Sophia whispers in a hissing manner. If I wanted to be scolded, I'd have brought Mason along.
I turn around and put my fists up once we reach the alley that Perception and I first met at.
"What're you doing?" She asks warily.
I roll my eyes, letting my fists lower slightly. "I think it's pretty obvious I'm trying to start a fight-"
Sophia punches my nose.
"I know." She smirks as she takes a closer step to me. As much as I'm trying to focus on harnessing my anger towards her into my fighting, I can't help but be a tad distracted.
Holy fladoodle cakes that flying fist hurt.
While she's taking her time to look up to the sky for a super she's never met, I kick her feet out from under her and watch her fall to her stomach. To my surprise, she begins to laugh.
"Think that we can call it even now after all these years?"
It's my turn to laugh as she picks herself up. "We can call it even but it's not over until Perception gets here."
With that, she pops her foot up to hit me in the chin. I hear my teeth click together and wince at the sound. My fist connects with her cheek. Then I realize that I need to be playing victim instead of defense if I want Perception to come to my rescue. I sigh as Sophia continues to pummel me to a pulp, but not as violently now as I begin to crumple to the ground.
I swear, if all of these bruises are for nothing...
"Night Haze! What did Rapid Glare ever do to you?"
I try to hide my growing smile.
Sophia looks into my eyes before she turns around. I want to give her a nod, to go along with it. She doesn't need my signal, though.
"Do I know you?" She saunters over to Perception. He puffs his chest out, knowing he's being looked over.
"The name's Perception." The masked super lowers his voice suddenly. I don't know what Sophia's doing to make him so tense and fidgety, but I'm loving the whole scene.
"Is it now?" The next thing I know, Sophia has Perception in a headlock. She kicks her knee into the back of his knee and I watch him tumble to the ground in front of me. Sophia quickly puts her foot on top of his back before he even thinks about getting up.
She looks to me for last minute approval of whatever she's going to do. I shrug. Whatever it takes to know who's behind the mask.
"Goodnight, Perception." The super that was staring into my eyes like a puppy suddenly goes unconscious. I let out a little gasp, forgetting that Sophia had that in her skill set.
"Now," Sophia dusts off her hands by clapping them together. "Let's find out who's behind the mask."
A/N
Oops, did I leave you on a cliffhanger?
Last chapter to guess who Perception is...
What'd y'all think of Sophia's backstory?
BTW Zayde Wolf came out with a new album called Modern Alchemy and I highly recommend y'all give it a listen.
Don't forget to vote and comment all of your amazing theories!
Thanks for reading,
Always, Sunny