Collect of Short Stories

Mavis Suspects of Nico

"Wanna bet?"
      Nico smiled cheekily at Mavis who placed down a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. They were round-shaped, almost like Harry Potter's. Though she wasn't like the others who have been gifted with spectacular abilities beyond human comprehension, she was prideful in her mechanical talents.
      The glasses not only protected her from the sun but it also allowed her to analyze everything in her view point. Such as what materials items were made out of, body language responses etc.
      She cleaned closer to the computer, her eyes squinting as Nico patted himself on the back.
     She scrolls down a few times, her lips contorting itself am every now and then before the brunette let out a small laugh.
      She pointedly placed her glasses at the top of her head and smiled at Nico, nudging him slightly. His grin grew wider.
      "Is this what I think it is?"
      "If you mean by stats then, yes."
      "Incredible..." she murmured."
       Nico took a moment to let the warmth of her compliment fill her before moving on. "It lists their weaknesses, what they can do, how long they can do it for—" he paused. "It's rather thought out since abilities vary from person to person. As you probably know, none of us share the same one. So for example, Felix has the ability to kill a person in less than a second. Maddison can stay in the shadows for over 24 hours. Emmet can create illusions as big as an entire skyscraper...and so on."
      "You said...weaknesses?"
       He raised an eyebrow at her and slowly nodded, surprised that was the only part of the sentence she took an interest in. Her lips were pulled downwards and her eyes were narrowed. It was the face she would make whenever she had to choose between burgers or burritos.
      "Yes. This one was pretty hard because they're all so skilled. It's more related to their personality that could potentially lead to their downfall rather than their abilities themselves. So for example," Mavis made way for the male as he used the mouse to scroll down.
      Names flashed across the screen. Apparently he was looking for a particular one....
      Felix Ackroyd
      Zeke Royst
      Maddison Whitney
      Valerie Arkan
      Maximilian Iarvey
      Rafe Hangerton—

"I think the easiest candidate would be, Maven. You met him before, right?"
      She beamed at the familiar name and did a small twirl. She rubbed the arms of her glasses in anticipation and smiled dreamily. Dreamily mixed with a crazed smile. It finally occurred to Nico how somewhat similar she was to Maddison. But where Maddison had a love towards pain, Mavis had a love towards knowledge.
      "Oh, yes! Felix introduced me to him. Let's just say after our meeting, I just couldn't stop thinking!" She smiled shyly. "Don't get me, what you guys can do is is...well to put it simply, astonishing! Maven able to travel in out of this reality is...is something I don't think I can ever understand..." her voice trailed off and a few seconds of silence later, the glimmer in her eyes wore off. "He and Felix..."
     Nico frowned a little, cocking his head. The curiosity part of his brain was kicking off. "What about them?"
      A bright shade of pink stained her cheeks as she waved her off nonchalantly. She closed her eyes, seemingly imagining something pleasant. "Ah, I'll tell you about it later. But first, what about Maven? Our meeting was quite short. Apparently he needed to do something."
     Mavis leaned in towards the screen again and even without needing to move it herself, her glasses wedged itself out of her hair and onto the bridge of her nose.
     "Well I'll explain his ability as best as I can for you. As well as we know he's the only one in the world who has that sort of power."
      "The ability to snap in and out of reality to a place he refers to as 'limbo'. According to him, that's where the dead but not fully dead resides. If I remember correctly, he called it a sort of 'paradise' for those who refuse to go forward. He can stay up there for a total of three hours. But since he truly doesn't belong there, his body is quite keen on returning back to the mortal world where he can jump space."
      "He's not jumping time. He's jumping space so basically, teleportation. In succession, he can do 40 jumps in a minute. And as far as we know, he's the only one in the world with this kind of ability."
      He coughed into his hand a little. "He is alone and for that, his greatest weakness is his need for self-reliance. For a long time, before we found him, he was only...well him."
      Mavis frowned and retreated backwards a little. A sad look crossed her face but she motioned Nico to carry on.
     "He didn't have anybody to love therefore he only loved himself. Only saw himself as main priority and therefore only relied on himself. If you had a building on fire and he was the only one to escape out of 30 people, he would call it a success."
      Mavis grimaced a little to which, out of all the people to defend Maven's honor, Nico quickly shook his head. "That was Maven before. No doubt he cares for others but, you know, old habits die hard. In fact, I had trouble deciding whether his weakness is his dependence on isolation or his refusal to think about anyone else."
      He pushed his hair back a little and stared, entrance at the screen with Maven's gaunt, dead face. "Fun fact: Felix has the opposite weakness."
     Mavis nodded like she understand. She was massaging her chin with her other hand crossed across her chest. Without his knowledge, her glasses were rested back up at the top of her head. "I can see that. Felix was always social..."
      "And he cares too much. Cant get rid of loyalty if it cut him in the throat." He cut in.
      A frustrated and dark crossed his face. He was beginning to enter a road he's been down so many times before. But the thoughts never end. Even in the dead of night where he couldn't surrounded by the loudest snoring person in the world, it will never sway his need to escape the path.
      Mavis, almost completely oblivious to the face of someone who is lost in thought, asked, "What's yours?" Well, it was more like she murmured it.
      He shook the thought away, allowing it temporarily stay on the outskirts of his head. Nico out a low laugh, a ghost of a smile that never reach his eyes.
      "You do realize that I was the one that made this, right?"
      "Oh, I didn't forget. That means you would be bias to yourself, right? I've seen the way you interact with others. Not very social, are you. Or not very nice so I can only assume you didn't ask anyone. Rather, you forced yourself to retrieve neutral results."
       He stared, lips slightly parted at the smiling figure before him. His mouth has gone dry and despite running his tongue across his lips, it remained as moist as the desert.
      "That glasses is really coming in handy," he didn't wait for a response. "Yeah...yeah, I had to self-evaluate myself."
     Apparently finally catching onto the fact that he may not be comfortable with the conversation, she rapidly performed some sort of 'jazz hand' gesture, her lips in a pout. "I'm sorry, if you don't want to say it, that's fine!"
      He narrowed his eyes, more to himself than anyone. "No, no it's fine. My greatest weakness, well, compared to others is pretty sucky."
      "It can be mean the end of your life just as easily, right?"
       "Right. My greatest weakness is the constant habit of overthinking. Overthinking so much that one day, the time will run out. The time will run out to the point where I am unable to make any sort of decision anymore and fate chooses for me."
     And it was also the same flaw that caused Felix to lurk in every part of his...in all the worst ways possible.