Arlo's phone buzzed, while he sat on his couch.
Lia Blue is in Branish
He glanced at the notification, and his brows furrowed.
Why was she in a district... two hours away, even by train?
Arlo
Hey
What are you doing right now?
Tiny Blue Coffee
Homework
That was suspicious. Why be out so far, and be doing homework?
He tried to call her, and she picked up after a moment's hesitation.
"Yo."
"How are you?" Arlo asked cautiously, hearing Remi's crackles in the background, meaning she was using her ability.
Something crashed on her side.
"I'm fi-" She hung up. He stared at his phone, suspicious.
***
Liana accidentally broke a big hole into her house.
When Arlo called, Isen talked to her and she panicked, so she hung up on Arlo.
But, her accident was beneficial! It had a good side to it! She took out one of the goons outside the house. Though Remi and Blyke were confused on what the hell just happened.
She also scared the lady because she was supposed to be mid-tier, and basically shot a bullet that made the bricks of her house turn to dust.
".... Sorry," Liana mumbled. "I freaked out."
The woman only sweated, falling nervous. "No, it's okay," she said, not wanting to get herself in trouble with her.
Mid-tier, she said. With power like that? No.. she couldn't be.
Liana and the woman walked out, where Remi was already done and holding some guy with a yellow hair buzzcut, who she was questioning.
"Where's Waldo?"
***
Arlo was on a train to Branish, and he could confidently say, these trains could not be fast enough.
Dammit! Why the hell was she out so far at this time?
Arlo
What are you doing
Liana
Not now
Remi wasn't responding either.
Arlo
I heard Remi in the background
Liana
It's homework
And this question requires my brain cells
Ssooo Stoapoopp
He'd believe her if Remi wasn't in the background, continuously asking someone where Waldo was.
"Tell me where Waldo is!"
Was Remi still hung up over the book?
***
So this buzzcut guy, he was doing this because he wanted his wife to be safe. Mentioned the same stuff as the blue hair lady. Super strong now, power went to his head, rules with threats.. the same sort of thing.
Remi just told him to stand up for himself and have balls, and declared that, even though Waldo may be strong, she would win anyway.
Reminded Liana of the time Remi declared vengeance on a Where's Waldo book. Considering Isen's choke of laughter in her ear, she wasn't the only one remembering.
This guy, after Liana apologized for breaking a house and asking if she had to pay anything(she didn't, because the woman was afraid of her), took them to some corporate office building.
They were going to take the elevator.
Then Isen said that the best of the best always sneak in another way, like in the movies. Through airducts, windows, scaling buildings... you got a girl defying gravity as a sidekick..
Remi was basically coaxed into being floated to whatever window it was. 27th floor? Okay, we'll count nervously as we fly.
And they did it! Remi grabbed the thin windowsill only there for the glass to stick together, covered by blinds on the other side. Quinton got scared and took the elevator, and Liana had to make Remi fly, so she got stuck with her.
"Now what?" Remi whispered, standing on a narrow windowsill with Liana floating next to her, grabbing her wrist so she didn't float and die somewhere.
"Break the window like a badass! Duh!"
Remi tried with a kick. Didn't work. Liana tapped her shoulder.
"You wanna try?" Remi moved out of the way, the best she could.
"Mhm." Eyes glowing, she touched the window with her finger.
The glass exploded.
Remi got tangled in blinds, but stood up fast, so the blinds fell off. Liana pulled herself inside, her feet on the window edge.
The room seemed like a throne room. Except, there was no gold, no red carpet, no throne, no king. The elevator to the left led to the middle with a light carpet, where there was some middle-aged dude and a desk. He put down an empty syringe, sleeves rolled up.
It was the one they were looking for: Waldo.
Then he looked at them, eyes aglow.
"Who comes in and breaks my windows?" he asked them arrogantly.
Then, a purple shockwave emanated from him.
"... Ah."
It pushed Liana out the window.
"AaAAAH!"
"Lia! Use your ability, NOW!"
***
"What are you doing here?"
Arlo marched up to Blyke and Isen, having climbed some fire escapes to get to the rooftop they were hiding on. The two had frozen.
"... How did you find us?" Isen asked, sweating.
"I always know." Boy, he did not seem happy. "What are you doing out here with Remi and Lia?"
"Uhhhh-"
"AaAAAH!"
Isen whipped his head to the side, seeing a figure falling out from a high window in the building Waldo was supposedly in.
He recognized her immediately, and panicked. "Lia! Use your ability, NOW!"
***
She made a long space below with no gravity. When she fell into it, her momentum decreased until she was only floating.
"Waah.."
Keeping the long space of no gravity, so she could float, since it was next to the building, she used it to pull herself up with the slippery glass and its thin frames.
She came in through the window.
Just in time to see Quinton, who just arrived via elevator, get protected by Remi, covering him and getting stricken in the back by a condensed wave.
"You can't touch me. I have a room full of hostages!" Waldo declared, ever so full of himself.
"Isen."
***
"Isen. Room of hostages somewhere."
"Oh. Okay, shut up right now, Arlo!"
Holy fuck, I'm gonna die for this later-
Isen scanned around, and soon found a building full of people. Only three were standing; probably Waldo's henchmen, waiting for his order.
"There are people in danger, and you aren't helping!" Isen shrieked at the end, pointing at the building of hostages. "There!"
***
"Hostages are taken care of," Blyke said.
Leaning her back against the wall, she stretched her palm out. Grasping her wrist to keep her hand steady, her eyes glowed.
.... Can I-?
"A... Are you okay..?" Remi asked from the side, talking to Quinton and coughing up blood.
It reminded her of when Arlo did the same, coughing blood when he tried to help. And, she was just-
"Watch out for them, okay?"
Forcing the space in front of her, the gravity changed. Not to be light, but to face another way, temporarily, and heavily. As if the wall was now the ground, Waldo flew into the wall, like he were falling to begin with.
"Ugh-!"
She was going to let him go. But then he let out another purple shockwave. But, as it was a sort of force, like momentum, following the gravitation, it only hit himself.
Liana stared. His ability was like a weaker version of hers, where he only pushed out. She basically.. created, morphed, changed the rules, pushed, and pulled. If he was an elite-tier like this, what about her, if she trained herself?
"X-Rei!" Her eyes stopped glowing.
Remi shot a bolt of lightning at Waldo, who was too in shock to defend.
He got electrocuted, and quickly fell down.
"Did we do it?"
"I think so."
"".... YES!!""
***
Isen was sweating. So was Blyke.
Arlo was not happy with them at all. He was grabbing Isen by his collar, growling out his question that they refused to answer: What are they doing?
"Did we do it?" Liana mumbled nervously.
"I think so," Remi replied. The two were silent, before...
""YES!!""
"Oh my God, they did it!" Isen exclaimed to Blyke.
"Isen. Answer the damn question."
"Upp."
***
They came down with Waldo, tied up and unconscious. Quinton led them to wherever the guys were stored.
The hostages got untied, where a woman named Lydia hugged Quinton, being his wife.
In the middle of Remi trying to explain they were friendly, they froze.
Becuz there was a scary, ANGRY, blond that exuded authority, standing right behind them.
"Remi. Lia."
They froze.
Quinton, noticing the two were in trouble by someone they looked like they knew, told everyone to go home and rest. Their faces looked like they knew him, anyway. When they all ran back without a single thank you, they left the two to their murderer.
If they didn't die with Waldo, they were going to with Arlo.
. . .
They spent the ride back getting chewed out for sneaking out late and getting in trouble.
None of them said they were being Superheroes. Arlo called them idiots. Liana just sat the whole time, her head down.
"Can I just ask a question?" Remi raised a hand.
"What."
"How did you know we were here?"
"That's none of your business."
"Really?"
They all stared at him, silently urging him to respond. Hmmmmmmmm?
Arlo sweatdropped, before sighing. "When I got Lia her phone, I installed a tracking app."
"What?" Liana scrunched her face up.
"That's creepy, man," Blyke quipped.
"I did it because, the day I bought the phone, she got lost and I had to find her in a farmer's market. It's a just in case that already happened once."
"Oh yeaaahh."
A tick mark appeared on Arlo. He pinched her nose, hard.
"Hgh- Waaah!"
She always feared him breaking her nose. This time did not help, because her nose became red afterwards.
But, he seemed to calm down a bit. He was tired, since it was late, so he let them off to go to bed.
. . .
They were in the dorms, waiting for Elaine to arrive.
Remi was coughing blood, and had a big bruise on her back. Liana wasn't hurt, only thrown out a window and catching herself. Her nose ached a bit, but it'd be fine.
Elaine came in, wearing yellow pajamas. Blyke and Isen had to leave the room when Remi had to get healed. Liana held ice to her nose.
They didn't tell Elaine why Remi was hurt. They told her why Liana's nose was, though.
"Arlo got mad at her again."
It was just Arlo grabbing her nose out of annoyance again. That was a common occurrence.
. . .
Liana still didn't make any sort of appearance on Sunday. Her weekend plans to bug Arlo.
Arlo
Are you still planning to go outside and do dumb stunts that involve being thrown out a building?
Liana
No
I'm chugging as much coffee as I can because I'm going to pull an all-nighter
Dammit, why the hell could he not get a break with her?
She didn't need to tell him. It would've been fine if she didn't, but now that he knew, he could only groan.
Monday came. She looked like a crackhead, sipping her thermos.
"What the hell were you doing?"
"Projects," she whispered, eyes wide and taking another sip.
He swiped it, and chugged it instead.
"Go to the doc," he said, at last. "Or go to bed."
Then it hit him.
Liana had to take him to the doc's office too, because he had just chugged coffee with too much sugar, and he now seemed to have a headache + sugar rush.
He was trying to contain it. But he started rambling and wanted to go to the mall, though Liana knew better. The guy was easy to pressure into buying worthless junk.
Yeah. Basically, all-nighters were unhealthy for those around her.
Blyke and Isen, when they got back, fell asleep for around 10 hours. Remi too. And Liana came to school with no sleep, sipping her coffee and looking like she just fought a flock of crows.
Now, Arlo was on a sugar rush.