Chapter 4 #2
“Listen…I know it’s been a while. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t need to be.”
I’ve been searching for you is what I wanted to say. There’s so much I need to explain.
Reed nodded his head as he turned to the side with a low whistle. “Yeah, that line usually works on women. By the way, yours is running away.”
“What?” I snapped my head up in time to watch Alex shoot out from an open door down the hall, black hair flying behind her as she aimed for the stairs.
Did she scale the fucking walls out the back door or something?
It didn’t matter; every second that I’d spent talking to no one, she had used to make her escape.
“She’s still carrying that bottle, huh? Must be a comfort item,” Reed mused.
“Damnit, Alex!” I cupped my hands over my mouth as I began to race after her. “At least put on some fucking pants!”
She didn’t even glance back as her bare feet slapped down the linoleum stairs, speedy as ever. Joon always forced us to keep up with him, always raced ahead while Alex held the futile belief she’d catch up. I hadn’t realized how much faster the challenge had made her.
The bottle remained clutched in her fist as she sprinted, that damned shirt flapping in the wind to give us a glimpse of blue striped panties. My temperature rose with my frustration. Why did it have to be her?
I should have known; we’d been sent to gather a Hero that specialized in intelligence and interrogations.
Contrary to her current form, Alex fit the bill.
The worst part? I practically handed her over to the VIA.
I told Dahlia to look into her. I gave the scent to the bloodhounds.
The organization was too dangerous to bring her in; even if she was only asking the questions, it would put her in their line of sight.
She’d disappeared, but I hadn’t seen her face in the papers, hadn’t read her name in obituaries.
I should have minded my business, should have honored Joon’s wishes to stay the fuck away.
Whatever she’d been doing in the past three years, at least she was alive.
Alive and streaking an entire fucking street.
We burst through the front doors of the apartment, Reed lagging behind as he gasped dramatically. “Is she a damn rabbit or something?”
“No,” I grit my teeth and dodged around a man who was turned, gaping at Alex’s fleeting form. “But she basically trained with one.”
We dodged into a slim alley, pedestrians barely glancing in our direction as Reed and I barreled through them.
I caught up to her, reaching out to snag the back of her shirt before pulling her into my chest with a grunt.
I locked my arms around her as I panted, trying to control the steam that hissed through my suit.
“That’s hot!” she screeched.
“If you hadn’t made me run, I wouldn’t be overheating!”
“Sounds like you’re out of shape, asshole. Can’t blame me for your lack of a fitness routine.”
“Are you insane?” I turned her around, gripping her shoulders as I leaned in. “This is the first time I’ve seen you in years, and I have to chase your half-naked ass down a street while you’re wasted. What the fuck is wrong with you, Alex?”
She shoved against my chest, that bottle still in her grip. “What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why are you here?! Do you even know what day it is?” Her voice dropped low with the question.
I paused, the coolant in my suit flushing through my veins and sending me into a cold plunge. It was the anniversary—it had been three years on the dot since Joon had been killed in action. I tried not to check the calendar in June; tried not to nail down the day that I let my partner die.
“Of course I know what day it is,” I lied through my teeth. “I didn’t…I didn’t know we were coming to get you. I’m sorry.”
Alex lowered her head, and those familiar blue attachments poked through her hair as they started to spark. “Of course you didn’t. If you did, you wouldn’t have come, right?”
I couldn’t find the words, didn’t know how to interact with her anymore.
We’d always been at odds, always bickered while Joon played the middle-man.
I didn’t know what our dynamic would be without him.
I strived for the top, and Alex didn’t seem to care at all aside from proving that she could do it, if she wanted to.
We weren’t friends; we just shared a common one.
There was nothing between us without Joon.
There couldn’t be anything without Joon, was more like it.
What was my plan, after all? If Dahlia had given me the information, if she hadn’t meddled, what would I have done? Moved on? Shown up here on a different day, ready to lay out my story? Ask her to coffee?
Fucking idiot.
“I—”
Blue sparks began to rain down around her head, which sat level with my chest. The horns were scratched and worn, like an antique.
Her eyes drooped, a sleepy daze I knew all too well.
It didn’t take much to realize her equipment was outdated.
Variants abilities were amplified by emotions, by adrenaline.
Our gear regulated our powers, but it didn’t always work.
Alex’s equipment was definitely too old; right now, she was a loose cannon, just like me.
At least she had equipment to blame.
“Get away,” she whispered, and I could smell the alcohol on her breath.
It’s only fucking noon. Jesus, Alex, what’s happened to you?
“Alex?” I tilted her chin up as her head began to sway. “Hey, Sloth, stay with me.”
I wanted her to react, wanted her to shout back at the nickname. I hoped it would wake her up, stop the spell we were about to be put under. She yawned, and my own eyes grew heavy; the ember inside of me stifled as her power wrapped around us.
Shit.
“The salts,” Alex said. “…in my room.”
I whipped my head toward Reed, who watched with a curious spark in his eye.
“Check her apartment, there are vials of smelling salts. We need them now before she—”.
Alex collapsed against me as my knees buckled, and darkness swept in.