The Phantom's Hero

Date?

"Please, if anyone has any information on the whereabouts of this kid, I beg you to share it."

"Come on, dear. It's time to go home."

"Not without her, Martha. I won't go home without her."

Simon felt his panic build after screaming Avery's name into the evening air. He figured a way to grab her suit from her backpack and fly over the city to search for her. Or to put on the mask and search as himself, threatening anyone for information.

He was deep into planning the script for the tv appeal, asking for any information on her when a voice from behind him gave him pause, his thoughts silencing instantly. "I didn't think you cared that much."

Whipping around, Simon saw nothing, only the empty room staring back at him. His eyes frantically scanned the room until a slight shimmer in the tiles next to the glass shower stall caught his attention.

"It isn't perfect, but you've fallen for this many times before, you know. You always breeze straight past me." Slowly, Avery dropped the shimmer and Simon could see her clearly once again. She sat with her back against the wall, and her knees up to her chest. Her blonde braided hair and makeup remaining untouched despite the glistening of previously fallen tears on her cheeks.

Simon heard himself take three deep breaths before he spoke. "You... you're here.... And you.... You can bend the light?"

Avery let out a small whoosh of air from her nose. "You are smart, after all. The other heroes insisted I was invisible."

Simon gulped and blinked as his breathing and heart rate slowed by the second. "Did they ever find you?" Avery shook her head slowly before resting her chin once more on her knees. Simon took a few steps forward and knelt on the tiled floor in front of her. "But I did." Their eyes met once more and Simon could see the tears Avery held in her eyes, the woman forbidding them to fall.

"Simon could." The man paused at Avery's quiet admission, thinking back to a time when they were younger. "I didn't have powers then, but I was invisible to everyone."

"And he wasn't?" Simon asked. Avery shook her head once again, blinking back the still threatening tears. "I guess quarterback stars are quite popular."

Together, the two sat on the floor in silence before the growl of Avery's stomach reminded Simon of the time. Slowly, he held out his hand, urging her to take it. "I may not be a star quarterback, but would you mind being my date to dinner?" He asked. His words causing the woman to gasp.

"A date?"

"As friends, if you would rather..." Simon blurted out.

Avery giggled, urging a small smile from the man. "I guess I am kinda hungry," she admitted. After a moment, Avery took Simon's outstretched hand and together, the pair rose from the cold floor. "Can't afford much on my salary."

"They never paid you much?"

Avery shook her head again as she looked up at the man whose hand she still held. "The guy in the basement told them weekly that I was too incompetent, so they kept docking my pay." Simon paused, his face a mixture of guilt and apology as his gaze dropped to the floor. "I forgive you, though." Simon's eyes flicked up to meet hers once again. "I forgive you for a lot of things, J."

Simon felt his eyebrows crease together. "I thought you didn't want to call me that?"

The two paused, their hands still entwined as yet another shimmer flickered over the man's eyes. Avery's head tilted as she stared once more, unable to pinpoint the reasoning, before she suddenly came to her senses. She snatched her hand from the man's rather sharply, the staring spell between them breaking instantly as they cleared their throats and took a miniscule step away from one another.