Chapter 9
Gloom; February 22nd, 8:19 P.M.
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I awake in a dark room. It’s silent here, and I can’t see anything around me. Almost as soon as I begin to find comfort in the pillowy darkness, a light flicks on; A bright, blinding light. Like, seriously; I might be permanently in ‘pillowy darkness’ after this.
Speaking of, what is “this”? A figure fades into my view, auburn waves framing her face. Her dark eyes peer into my soul. Nice to meet you too, is what i’d like to say if I wasn’t in a life threatening situation.
I notice the badge on her chest; Heroes Association. Of-Fucking-Course. Because why the hell wouldn’t I get caught the second I let my guard down? Guess I’ll have fun rotting in prison; At least it’s better than rotting in the street.
My mask is still on. Why didn’t they take it off? “What is your name, Gloom?” She asks me, squinting her eyes and placing her palms on the table in front of me, leaning forward. If this is supposed to be an intimidation tactic, it’s not working. She looks too… Kind-hearted. I scoff. “You first,” sarcasm practically drips off my tongue; Situational awareness doesn’t know me. She crosses her arms. “Mia,” She says, looking at the wall behind me. After a second, her attention returns to me. “Your turn,” She smiles, the top half of her face shadowed by darkness. Okay, edgelord.
“Millie,” I tell her this solely because it doesn’t matter anyhow; I’m going to prison, so I might as well be honest. I wonder if they’ll let me say goodbye to my mom. Or Jackie, for that matter.
“Millie,” She rolls the name around her tongue, as if tasting it for the first time. “Edgelord,” I acknowledge her back.
“What, you don’t have a last name?” God, how long is this going to last? I fake yawn. Sooner or later, I'm going to run out of nonchalant mannerisms. “Reed.” Her eyes drift up behind me again. She silently mouths to the wall, scrunching her eyebrows. I make out the faint outline of her lips: ‘What?’ The room may be dark, but I'm not dense. Someone’s behind me. I could care less. Just send me to prison already.
Let me just get this over with: “Why am I here? Do you want me to, like, confess I stole things? Well I've got news for you, buddy, because I did– I stole all of it. And, yeah, sure, I fought Cy for like–”238Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwF9AshdULK
“‘Cy?’” She echos, strangely amused. “Cute nickname.” Shit; Now I look crazy. This couldn’t get any worse. “We want to partner with you,” comes a familiar voice from behind me.
Nevermind.
Cy rounds to the front of the table, and Mia steps back into the dark. “Partner?” I spit, “With me? That’s hilarious.” Cy buries his head in his left hand, glaring at Mia through the gaps between his fingers. She shrugs. He lowers his hand, still staring at Mia, before walking behind me to speak to her in a hushed whisper. Man, this interrogation is choppy. I give the security guard by the door an overdone, exaggerated smirk– He only grimaces. My charms are failing me. After a moment, I return to snooping. “I told you she wasn’t going to listen like this,” Cy starts, “I-” I hear a defeated groan from Mia, interrupting him. “Fine. Turn on the lights.” The security guard flicks on the big, overhead lights, turning off the one above my head. Huh. He's a lot less cute in the light. You win some, you lose some, I guess.
This time, both Cy and Mia stand in front of me. “Great,” I smile spitefully, “Can you untie me now?” Mia starts to shake her head, but Cy reacts too quickly. He flicks his index finger in a halfhearted circular motion, and the ropes fall to the ground. Rolling my neck back, I massage my wrists. What now? “As we were saying,” Mia begins, annoyance laced between her every word, “We want you to join us.” Okay, so I wasn’t hearing things. I cast a sceptical glance between the two. “Temporarilly,” Cy adds for her nervously. “Okay,” I begin, “Why…?” I drag out the word with all the nonchalance I can muster, but there’s too much genuine curiosity in it to sound real. I’m probably going to tell them no, anyhow; I’m not doing free labor without a clear motive, especially if it’s something life-compromising like hero work. Bleugh; Just put me behind bars, will you?
“First,” Mia pauses, glancing between me and Cy, “Take off the mask & hood.” I wince. See, I was kind of hoping they’d have done that themselves already, so I’d be spared of the emotional torment. Whatever– they already know my name, anyhow; they’ll probably find out on their own. With great hesitance, I pull my hood down. Then, I pull the disposable mask off, taking in a deep breath of fresh air.
It feels strange to be in front of Cy as Millie, but the way he scrutinizes me, eyebrows raised, makes me think he might be just as weirded out as me. Funny, considering he already knew my name at the auction. Wait, does that mean he knew me as Millie, outside the Gloom thing? But when would I have met Cy, of all people, normally? He hasn’t been seen in public for fifteen years, let alone with me. God, my head hurts. Somebody get me an Ibuprofen, stat.
“So?” I cross my arms, leaning back in the cold, metal chair. Mia clears her throat. “We want to–” I cut her off. “Partner with me? Yeah, I know. Why? And what do I get out of it?” She rolls her eyes, steam practically floating out of her ears. Cy simply smirks at her, like this is all some elaborate joke. His gaze turns to me. “We can’t tell you why until you accept,” He begins. Okay, no. I open my mouth to cut him off, but he stops me. “But we can tell you what you’ll gain.” Great; we’re finally getting somewhere.
“If you partner with us, we’ll grant you your freedom.” Mia says, crossing her arms. Yeah, sure. And then what? I go back to stealing? I can’t repent from a life of theft when my only other option is the street. But ultimately I guess freedom is freedom, and they don’t really need to know my motives for what I’m going to do afterward, anyhow. So long as I can evade their grasp until I graduate, I might actually be able to get a job. So it’s either prison or possibility. Seems like an easy decision. “One more question-” I lean forward, “Isn’t this, like, illegal? Aren’t you guys required to send me to prison?” Mia hesitates, and they respond in synch. Mia begins to say “No–” all while Cy speaks over her with an “Absolutely," and a grave nodding of his head. He says this with zero hesitance; I feel that I should probably be a little more concerned.
“And you won't tell me why I'm doing this until I say yes?” I clarify. “-Why I'm partnering with you, that is.” They exchange hesitant glances at each other, but ultimately give no response. “Can you at least tell me if this is going to put me in any kind of compromising position?” Silence; crickets. Not a good sign.
After a brief moment of contemplation and a questionable moral dilemma on whether fulfillment outweighs danger, I decide what to do. “Okay,” If I really do have to go back to stealing after this (and get caught again), I guess it’d be best to live life to its fullest before rotting in prison. If there's a time to try something new, it's now. “Okay?” Cy echos, his voice laced with unanswered questions. “Okay.” I reply firmly, “I’ll do it; What’s next?”
Mia’s posture drastically shifts, and she now stands with all the poise of a menacing C.E.O. It’s weird; almost like she changed identities. “Now,” She begins as she walks towards me, heels clacking on the cold concrete, “We fix this.” As she says this, she takes the fabric of my hood, now limp across my shoulders, examining it with disgust. Once her face has finished contorting, she backs away. “Your training will start tomorrow.”
“Uh, okay, I have questions. First, training? For what? Second, what’s wrong with my cloak? Why’s it need changing? Third, … um, actually, I think that’s it.” She opens her mouth to respond, but I think of another before she can say anything. “Oh, and what kind of partnership is this? You told me you’d tell me if I accepted.” She stares at me with blank irritation, not uttering a sound, like she’s on strike. “Um, hello? Answers, please?” Oh, boy, do I love being annoying.
“We have someone on the loose, and we’re in need of your…” Mia pauses, squinting at me, “Abilities.” I scoff, smirking weakly. “Or lack there-of?” I finish her sentence for her. “Yes.” She responds firmly. I pop my knuckles– it’s a nervous habit; – one I’ve had since I was seven. “Why do you need me? Shouldn’t my lack of ability make me a liability?” That comes off sounding too insecure & vulnerable for my liking, so I chuckle lightly and add “Hehe; Liability. Get it? Li-ability? No?” Mia looks unimpressed, but Cy covers his mouth, the beginnings of a smile peeking out through the gaps between his fingers. At last, Mia begins to explain.
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“I have to work with him?” I point at Cy obnoxiously and fall back in my chair, burying my face in my hands and groaning for an unsavory amount of time. After I’m done complaining, I realize just how quiet the room is; No pity is given. Jeez, complaints really aren’t well received here. “Wow,” says Cy, staring down at me incredulously, “such passion over one, measly man.” More like Lizard. But fine; if they want me to stay on topic, I'll stay on topic: “This seems… Dangerous; Do you have any leads?” Mia’s lips press together to form a straight line. “No. No, not yet.” I exhale in hopes to empty all the fear from my body through my breath. It works – mostly. “Ok. Okay, how are you going to fit this in with my college classes? I can’t exactly skip them.”
“Actually,” Cy begins, “You can.” Uh, what? “Well, not actually,” Mia clarifies, “We’ve just arranged it so that you can see the lectures online, through your laptop. Your assignments are already online, are they not?” I guess that works. “They are,” I answer, “And how’d you get my professors to agree to that?” They glance at each other. “That's… Besides the point.” Mia says evasively. Suspicious… Oh well; if it works, it works. “So, I just… stay in my dorm and pray nobody asks me why I've been out of school for god knows how long?”
“Who said anything about your dorm?” Mia asks. This whole thing just became a whole lot more enticing. My spirits are lifted, and I’m finally ready to address my next question. “Okay, what about my cloak? You said you’re revamping it?” In response, Mia nods at Cy, who pulls out a clip board from a metal drawer along the wall and hands it to me. There’s a sheet of paper attached to it, with what seems like a sketch of a new costume.
It’s a skin-tight, spandex bodysuit with built-in bulletproof plates for protection. The bottom of the suit, however, isn't skin tight. For some unbeknownst reason, they decided to make the pant-part of the suit hang comically over my new shoes– Combat boots, by the way. I’ll still have some reminiscence of my old costume, but it’s hardly a cloak; the hood is only just attached to a shawl that lays overtop of the shoulders. Attached to my legs will be what looks like cargo-pockets equipped with holders for weapons; around my hip, a belt that has even more holders, one or two specifically made for guns.
“And I have to wear this?” I ask, still examining the paper. “Plainly,” Mia responds, evidently fed up with me. God forbid a girl has questions about randomly joining a super-hero organization to free herself from her ‘villany’. Then an idea dawns on me. All this time, Cy has been playing me like a pawn, letting me think I was in control. This could be my chance to finally get back at him. Starting with this: “What about him?” I batt my eyelashes innocently. “He doesn’t wear costumes,” She states simply.
“Okay, then I’m not wearing one either. It’s either both of us or none of us.” Just before she can respond, I hear something indistinct & muffled come out of Cy’s intercom, which is supposedly attached to his hoodie collar, as he raises it to his mouth and talks into it as he walks out. I narrow my eyes. Real convenient. Right, well, his absence isn’t going to make things any easier for him. “So?” I push further, willing Mia to answer. After a long moment of silence, she sighs.
“Fine, but you take the blame for this; I’m not responsible for you pissing him off.” I grin. “Deal.”
ns216.73.217.39da2
and then Add to home screen.