"Jake, phone." Hannah's palm dragged down Jake's face, her fingers prodding his scruffy jaw. "Phone," she repeated before rolling away from him. The blankets went with her. Cold seeped into the open space despite the closed and weatherproofed windows. It leeched the heat away quickly.
Jake shivered, pulling his knees to his chest even while he reached for his phone at his bedside. The other hand reached behind him and yanked harshly at the covers. "Share," he demanded groggily. He tugged harder but they didn't budge from her grip. It was as if her muscles had been replaced by steel while she slept. Normally, Jake made sure to keep himself attached to her so that he could at least share her warmth if the covers weren't an option. With the phone pressed to his ear he sat up to look over at her. "Dammit woman, it's cold."
"I'm not sure what you want me to do about that," Surge's confused voice filtered through his sleep clogged brain.
Bit by bit the reality of what was happening shot through his fraying nerves like static pulses. Jake glanced at Hanah again, phone clutched to his chest. He took note of her even breathing and blank face. Her hair fanned out behind her on the green pillow like molten copper.
He muttered a quick plea for patience into the phone, shuffling into the living room and out onto the fire escape. The wind whipped around him relentlessly and ripped the breath from his lungs. Once he was certain no neighbors had stepped out for their morning smoke break, Jake returned the phone to his ear. "Why are you calling me?"
"Oh, are you done with your little domestic dispute or should I call back later to give you another opportunity to finish your botched job?" Surge snapped.
"My botched job?" Jake huffed. "Why don't you redo your end of the job first so I can do my end the way it was intended." He leaned forward against the ice cold railing and looked wistfully at the blanket draped over the back of the couch inside. Memories of nights curled up under the gray blanket seemed mocking in his current predicament.
"Yes, you'll find all the relevant information at the same drop off point as last time later today. The diamond is being moved into deep storage this Saturday and will stay there until next year/ You'll need to get your hands on it before then or I'll have to find someone who can resort to more drastic measures," Surge explained. There was a clatter and the harsh sound of a zipper from her side of the phone.
Jake shook his head and picked at a piece of rust. "I didn't take you for someone willing to take lives, Surge"
She was quiet for so long he thought the call might have dropped. Finally, she took a sharp inhale. "Look, we both have things we want and this is the way to get them. I'd rather not hurt more people than I have but if that's what it takes then that's what it takes. Do your part." The line did go dead that time and Jake slid back inside, closing the window behind him.
Water rushed through the pipes along the kitchen wall, Hannah was in the shower. Warmth prickled over his skin now that he was back inside. She'd be out soon enough looking for a hot breakfast, something he normally threw together if he was up before her. Jake slammed on the water to make coffee and grabbed a mish mash of ingredients for a messy omelet. By the time she came out, there was no evidence of his chilly escapades outside.
"You're up early. I thought you didn't have work today," Hannah pointed out around a mouth full of eggs. Her damp hair was pulled back in a loose bun while she ate but a few smaller pieces had escaped to tickle her cheeks.
"Boss tipped me off on a possible lead to check out, nothing major," he assured her. "I can look into it tomorrow if you're good to stick around for the day." The light trickling in from outside illuminated the hopeful glint in his hazel eyes. Their schedule rarely lined up so fortuitously. Even when they planned months out there was the chance something would shift and throw a deadly wrench into their day.
"I have yet to be called in, it's my day off, only laundry stands in our way," Hannah told him, a grin stretching from ear to ear.
"My love, I would gladly sit around and do laundry with you." Jake leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "How about I grab my laptop and a few bags of popcorn and we head over to your place to do some laundry and maybe marathon that show you definitely watched several episodes ahead already?"
A choked gasp sputtered from her mouth. "I would never," she insisted. Pink spread across her cheeks and ears. "Okay maybe I watched one, but it was on at the hospital and I couldn't avoid it. I was with a patient."
Jake rolled his eyes and stole the last sip of her coffee. "You're evil." He ducked her reaching hand and dropped their dishes in the dishwasher. "Go get your stuff, traitor."
Her arms wrapped around his waist and her head settled against the middle of his back. "Can you ever forgive me, dearest?"
"I am gravely hurt," he cried dramatically. It was easy to keep the smile out of his voice when she couldn't see him. "This will require the greatest sacrifice on your part. You must bring me a cookie."
"It shall be done. Now kiss me, dork." Hannah spun him to face her and dragged him down by his chin. Her grip was gentle but left no room for argument, not that he had one. "I'll be ready to go in ten. Can we stop for groceries on the way? I have nothing edible at home except very stale tortillas."
Jake's nose wrinkled. "Definitely. Hey, grab the magazines you keep leaving here too. I'm getting tired of seeing capes every time I look at your side of the bed."
"Oh come on, not this again," Hannah groaned, only slightly irritated.
"I just can't believe you read that trash." As if to prove his point, he poked the edge of a glossy page protruding from the top of his garbage can. It was only just possible to make out the silver insignia splashed across the two page spread now covered in egg shells. It was a good shot, albeit a little blurry. The hero wasn't well known for her photo shoots unlike some of her flashier cohorts. The article was a glamorous retelling of an armed robbery safely wrapped up by 'The Guardian of Merifield City' as they liked to call her.
That was normally her scene, crimes just big enough that local law enforcement might be at too big a risk dealing with, but not so big that someone would throw a parade for the heroics. Occasionally she'd make an appearance side by side by a big gun type of super.
"Mr. Erwin, just because it isn't an in depth study into the seedy underworld of Merifield does not mean it is trash," Hannah argued.
"It glorifies the capes and skips of the messes they leave behind when they;re out galavanting across the city. Especially the sunshine queen. The red ass and his sidekick aren't much better," he countered on his way to hunt down a shirt.
"Silver Shield is not Crimson Sword's sidekick, thank you very much," Hannah scoffed. She scooped the stack of magazines from the nightstand on her usual side of the bed. The blankets had been rescued from the bundle she'd strangled them into in her sleep and placed back on the bed neatly spread out.
"But you knew exactly who I was talking about when I said that. Therefore, sidekick." He tipped his imaginary hat.
"She just happened to be named after him, it's correlation, not causation. Besides, her powers are way more protective, so shield just fits right. Not a sidekick," she reiterated.
Their usual argument wound down like it always did on the way to her apartment. He brought up blind hero worship and cracked a joke, she rolled her eyes and they both laughed. By the time they were in her apartment it was like they'd never brought up the idea of capes at all. Laundry sloshed around the spinning barrel while they unpacked the bags of groceries. They'd settled onto the couch with fresh popcorn in hand when Hannah's beeper exploded into action.
"No, no absolutely not," Jake whined.
Hannah winced but she was already digging her shoes out from where they'd fallen under the dining table. "I am so so sorry, babe. It sounds like a serious emergency. I'll pop in and see how bad it really is, maybe they won't even need me."
He draped himself dramatically over the couch and continued to whine and groan. "Cruel cruel world."
"Don't be so dramatic, big baby. Stay here and keep busy. I'm ahead of you by three episodes." She nudged the remote his way and pulled on her sweater. "I'll figure out a way to get back," she promised, kissing him as she ran for the door. The last thing she heard before the door closed was his indignant shouting about her treacherous show watching.
Merifield Memorial Hospital was only a few blocks away and easy enough to reach on foot. Hannah ran right by it and paused in a back alley to shimmy out of her loose shirt and jeans to reveal the tight black fabric underneath. The small white wig slid free from one of the pockets lining her left leg and she tucked her bright red hair into the net cap. Once the mask was on and her clothes hidden, Silver Shield ran out the other end of the alley towards the sound of shouting.
Three cars had crashed one after the other back to front in the middle of an intersection. Silver Shield rested her fists on her hands. "This is why they called me out? I thought rookies were supposed to be handling stuff like this." She could remember her own stint on rescue and crowd control. It was always good to have someone a little sturdier than run of the mill humans on stuff like this, and she'd been a top candidate seeing as when a car hit her, it usually dented the car and not her.
"At least I'll be back soon," Silver muttered to herself as she went to check for anyone who might be injured.
"Silver, down!" The frantic shout reached her only second before the bolt of electricity grazed her cheek and blistered the street in front of her. A dark red cape fluttered past her side as Crimson Sword grabbed her by the upper arm to pull her away from a second bolt. "Surge and Phantom Clown are up to no good."
"Why do you sound like a Saturday morning cartoon protagonist?" Silver asked. Brightly colored bits of paper floated around her face. Though they weren't a problem for her, the razor sharp edges would deliver a potent dose of hallucinogenic toxin to anyone they managed to cut. There were a few people already clawing at buildings or curled into balls on the floor laughing hysterically.
Across the street, Crimson raised his hand and a car rose into the air beside him. "Well what would you like me to say? The assholes are breaking the city?"
"I don't know how I feel about the asshole part," Surge added. Blue electricity crackled between her fingers and raced along the car as it flew at her. The paint chipped first before deep fissures etched themselves into the metal and tore the doors off. The remaining wreckage of the car fell to her side and a blue mailbox followed it.
"Why don't we save the insult discussion for after?" Crimson suggested. He waved his hand out to the side to ward off a wave of toxic paper. "Can you grab the damn clown?"
Silver huffed and spun on her heel to go after the bouncing buffon further down the street. He'd been throwing his paper from a safe distance and shuffled a deck of cards as she approached. "When you make up all the plans people call me your sidekick. I hate it," she called over her shoulder.
"Being a sidekick is no laughing matter, but this is," Phantom Clown bent the deck between his thumb and middle finger and they sprung out at her. Each one that hit the floor blasted the area around it in a two foot radius. A few managed to unsteady her but not enough to stop her from directing a kick into his side that sent him flying into the side of a newsstand.
"I swear, if people start using catchphrases, I'm going to puke," she threatened. The clown was unmoving in a heap of bright orange and white stripes. Silver nudged him tentatively with her foot anyway and then looked up at Crimson when he joined her.
"Surge got away," he sighed.
"She wouldn't have if you were the sidekick," Silver teased. "Have fun with the paperwork that's going to cost you."