Hush

SIX

The clock ticked by as Ruby dried the dishes alongside her mother and, as the last cupboard door shut, she rounded on herself quickly and picked up her bag from beside the door.

"I'll be back soon, mum!" She called into the apartment, probably too loud for the moment and her neighbours likely heard her.

She sprinted through the streets of Queens, nearly missing the cyclist ringing their bell behind her. The boy jeered back at her and shook his head while she motioned overdramatically to her hearing aid, perfectly on show now she had her hair up in a ponytail.

The encounter had slowed her down and, upon checking her phone, she could see it was 8pm and she had one unread message from Peter.

People have arrived, can't see your Dad

She sent him a response before setting off in a sprint once again:

Don't do anything until I get there.

There was a buzz in her pocket, no doubt Peter questioning whether she should really be coming but it wasn't even a question anymore. If she could stop her dad before he fell any further into this wormhole of villainy, she would.

The bay was one block away, she knew that much and, upon seeing Mr Radcliffe's workmate's car parked in the near-empty parking lot, she put on a fresh burst of energy and sprinted through the gate. As she passed through shadows cast by the buildings and broken lamps, she could see men stuck to the walls with webs and wondered how many people had gathered here before Peter apprehended them. There was a regular shotgun on the ground beneath one man and she hesitantly picked it up, holding the weapon with her shirtsleeves over her hands and gripping the handle only. She didn't want to use it, but she would if she was forced to.

The wind carried voices down the pier as one man yelled at another and she dropped to a crouch, peering around corners and humming a stealth tune in her head as though she was in a movie. The final building before the pier stretched out over the water was a carnival stall that sold hotdogs during the day. Its sign was still out and she risked exposing herself by running up behind it to hide. Here, she could tell they were talking by the humming on the air but could hear no words.

A body moved above her and she looked up in time to see Peter sign 'be quiet' to her. He then sprung through the darkness to land behind her, up close she could see that his suit was much more advanced than she'd initially thought. The spider at his chest, for example, was hovering nearer the group like a drone and there was a small spider-shaped cavern in his chest where it had once sat. He was perched on his toes, balanced by one hand rest against the stall next to them. Ruby felt horribly exposed in comparison and kicked herself for not thinking this through.

These men handled alien technology that could collapse a building and she was wearing running shorts and a long-sleeved bed shirt. The plan was to be in bed before anyone could say she'd been out long enough to be anywhere near here but she could see the flaw in that plan now.

She tried to sign these concerns to Peter but he shook his head.

"I learned a few phrases when I got home," he spoke quietly and leaned into her good ear so she could hear before resuming his spying. Ruby couldn't risk talking as she knew her voice was now much louder than she herself could comprehend. Instead, she nodded in acknowledgement.

In a blur, the area lit up blue and a large bang echoed in the air. Her hearing aid screamed feedback in Ruby's ear which made her knock over the sign as she tried to fix it. There was a regular gunshot and Peter leaned forward to snatch the bullet from the air and stand in front of her. He stood up straight and dropped the bullet to the ground. Staring at it, Ruby finally fixed her hearing aid and stood up behind Peter, propping the gun it how she had when her father had taken her to the range one time.