Once we arrived at the restaurant, we got our orders taken. We talked some more, and then once our food came we ate. Riri did most of the talking, if she asked me a question I'd answer, but I mostly listened. At first, she seemed tense but then started to relax.
After a while, we finished eating. I paid and we started walking around. After a couple of minutes, I heard a voice come from the Secret Warriors medallion, I guess it also doubled as a comlink.
"Riri, you there?" A voice asked I recognized it as Doreen's. At first, she froze, then she saw I wasn't alarmed about the voice and answered.
"Yeah, I just ate dinner with..." She started then realizing I hadn't told her my name.
"Great, but we need you downtown, like yesterday!" I heard her answer. Her voice sounded strained, like she was in the middle of something.
"Got it," She said then glanced at me.
"What, I'm not going to stop you if your friends need help," I told her. She looked surprised at my response.
"Wait, you're not freaked out by my necklace, or what was said about it. You know who I am!" She said taking a step away from me. I sighed, I knew tonight was too good to last.
"Yes, I know who you are Riri. I also know that you don't know who I am." I said walking past her, heading downtown.
"Who are you? Where do you think you're going?" She asked as she grabbed my wrist.
"Are we going to stand here asking questions, or are we going to go help the Secret Warriors?" I said pulling her with me as I continued walking.
"We? What do you mean? I've never seen you before!" She told me, I could tell she didn't like not knowing so I finally gave in.
"I'm someone your 'team' didn't trust. I watch them, in case they need help. I do this because no matter what, I don't want them to get hurt. I know you help stop the antiplasma, and that Gwen stopped Screaming Mimi. I helped keep people away from the antiplasma, and I tried to help with Screaming Mimi, I would've too if none of you could catch up to her." I told her, she looked shocked about what I told her, but I just stood there, even as tears started to fall. When she finally moved, it was to put a hand on my shoulder.
"I don't know why they didn't trust you, but I do. I think it would be best if you come help with whatever is going on downtown. That is, if you want to." She told me looking me in the eye. I could tell she meant it too.
"Okay, let's go," I told her and she started leading the way.
I started weaving a mask while we walked, just so no one would see my face. It also gave my fingers something to do. Ms. Dorris always commented on how my fingers seemed to never stop moving, and it was pretty much true. I was always moving at least a little bit, whether it was my foot or fingers.
That's why I started taking music lessons. I started learning the guitar, and a little bit of percussion. Ms. Dorris always encouraged me to play in the book shop, or outside of it to draw in customers. The thought made me smile. Ms. Dorris was always there for me, she trusted me to do the right thing. She made me want to do the right thing.
Riri glanced over at me, and her eyes landed on the mask in my hands. She looked at it with a look of confusion on her face, it was like I could see the gears turning in her head. Eventually, she put the pieces together.
"So, you're not going to tell them who you are?" She asked. I knew she was talking about the Secret Warriors and smirked.
"They'll know who I am, or at least some of them will. I just don't want someone to see my face and then find me out in public." I told her. It was the truth, maybe not all of the Secret Warriors will recognize me but Gwen will. Maybe America would know my voice, maybe all of them will know. I just wouldn't stick around to chat after I helped them.
When we arrived downtown, it was chaos. Lava was pouring out of the ground, and that was where the land wasn't broken and divided as a lava river flowed below. I could feel the hot, dry air on my face, and we weren't even that close.
In the middle of the chaos stood three people. Two of them were teenage boys, the other was a young girl, no more than nine years old. Her eyes were closed, and she looked like she was concentrating. The two boys were fighting off part of the Secret Warriors. Patriot, Ghost-Spider, Ms. Marvel, and America were all fighting the two boys, leaving Kevin, Squirrel Girl, and Inferno to help people who got caught nearby when it had all started. Daisy was crouching on the ground, her face showed her pain and concentration, every time there was a tremor she flinched and pushed her hands to the ground harder.
"This is crazy! How did it get this bad?" I exclaimed, my eyes darting around as I placed the mask on my face.
"I don't know, but I'm going to try and help them in the middle, I don't know what you can do though," Riri said turning to me.
"I can mimic powers, so I could go see what Daisy's doing..." I said hesitantly. It wasn't that I didn't want to help, I just didn't think I would have to talk to anyone.
"Yeah, that would be great." She said as she started typing on some device on her wrist. Soon, her suit started coming out of it, one piece would lead to another, and it quickly consumed her, leaving Ironheart in front of me.
"Wow, I did not know you could do that," I said as she started flying towards the center of the chaos.
"Now you do," Ironheart responded as she continued flying away.
I chuckled as I followed her lead of flying into the air. This was something I had practiced, it wasn't easy, and I was still a little unsteady, but if I tried web-slinging over to Quake I might cause some damage that could be avoided.
When I landed next to her, she didn't even look up. Her body was tense and shaking. Then I realized what she was trying to do, absorb the quakes. She controlled vibrations, and she was trying to stop the tremors from collapsing other buildings.
I took a deep breath, and focused. If I could also absorb the quakes, I would be able to take some of the pressure off of her. I crouched to the ground, mimicking her position and felt the quakes. Daisy was directing the quakes to her, but she couldn't catch them all. I did my best to catch all of the ones she missed, and also take the load off of what she was already absorbing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her relax slightly, whether she knew it was me, I didn't know. Then, I closed my eyes to concentrate.
I didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, the quakes started to fade, and soon they stopped. I sighed, relieved that it was over. I fell backward onto my back and panted, it was then that Daisy noticed me.
"Ace, it was you." She said softly, I almost missed it.
"Yeah, couldn't let you have all the fun," I said as I stood up. I held out my hand, offering to help her up, she gladly took it.
"I thought you left." She told me, I just smirked and shrugged. I then saw the rest of the team coming towards us. They all looked exhausted, I couldn't blame them. Most of them looked worried for Daisy, but when I looked at Gwen, she looked like she couldn't believe I was here, she was clutching her left arm that was slightly covered in frost, and was heavily leaning on Kevin for support.
"Thanks, I don't know how much longer I could've lasted on my own." She said turning around to face her team.
"Is that who I think it is?" Inferno asked her.
"Yep, and boy am I glad she showed up. Riri, have you met Ace?" Daisy asked her.
"I think we've crossed paths once, right Riri?" I asked her with a wink.
"Yeah, I think so..." She responded with a laugh.
"Since when have you known Ace?" Ms. Marvel asked her.
"Since about less than two hours ago," I responded.
"Your name's Ace?" She asked me surprised.
"Yeah, something wrong with that?" I questioned her with a smirk.
"Just not what I was expecting." She told me, which ended with both of us laughing.
"I'd better get going. So long!" I said, turning to walk away. Before I could take a step, Daisy stopped me by stepping in my path.
"So you're just going to show up, save us, then leave?" She asked me, I shrugged before stepping around her.
"Yeah, I've got a life to get back too." I continued on, only pausing to turn around and look at Riri.
"Oh, here Riri," I said giving her the picture I drew.
"Thanks, but why do you have to leave? Can't you join the team?" I could tell she was confused about why I was leaving, but I had prepared for this.
"I have my reasons, besides, ask them. I'll see you on the flip side." I told her with a wink before teleporting back to the book shop.
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Welcome to the update of the week! Just a reminder, there will be one update a week, the week starting on Sunday. I will publish a chapter by Saturday, any day of the week. Like everyone's life, mine will get busy(With buckets of homework from my T.A.G. class *sigh*) and sometimes I forget. We are getting close to the end of this book and then after a break, we'll move onto 'The Underground.' We'll see how long the break turns out to be, because I only have two chapters of the next book written. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, don't forget to vote and let me know what you enjoy.
Another quote from somewhere- 'No one is perfect, why should I expect to be?'
Have a good day night or whatever is happening right now.
-RF