Some Kind of Hero

Chapter 5

The next day - Tuesday - Anya left the cafeteria after breakfast and made her way to Carmen's office. While she was waiting, she saw movement at the edge of her vision, and when she turned, she saw someone disappear around a corner. Curious, she followed them, but when she turned the corner, the hallway was empty.

"You ready?"

Anya turned to see Carmen walking over to her.

"Yeah." Anya looked back down the hallway. "Did you see someone just now?"

"I saw Nia." Carmen pointed in the direction of the cafeteria. "But no, I didn't see anyone going the other way. Did they do something suspicious?"

Anya shook her head. "No, but the other night I heard someone knock on my door, and when I opened it the hallway was empty."

Carmen shrugged. "Maybe someone's trying to gaslight you. Maybe you're experiencing minor hallucinations. Or maybe you did see someone just now, but they went into one of the rooms before you turned the corner, and the other night you heard knocking and thought it was at your door, but it wasn't." She put a hand on Anya's shoulder. "My money's on the third option, but if you are hallucinating, you're in the best place you could possibly be for that to happen, and if someone is gaslighting you, they'll show up on the security cameras."

Anya nodded. "That actually makes me feel a little better, thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Carmen brought Anya into the visiting area, where she found Charlie, Thalia, Martin, and Derek waiting in their superhero outfits. Like Anya's outfit, theirs included hoodies, jeans, and domino masks. Their jeans were all shades of blue, but their hoodies and masks were different colors - orange and red for Charlie, black and gold for Thalia, blue and purple for Martin, and green and brown for Derek.

"I'll be just outside if you need me." Carmen said.

Anya nodded. "Thanks."

While Carmen left the room, Anya sat down at one of several circular tables scattered around the room. Charlie sat down across from her, and the others sat at a table nearby.

"How've you been?" Charlie asked after an awkward silence.

Anya sighed. "Pretty good, all things considered."

Thalia turned her chair to face Anya. "You look good."

"Fuck off, Thalia."

Thalia looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, let me rephrase that." Anya looked at her. "Go fuck yourself." She looked around at the other. "All of you."

Martin looked mildly offended, and Derek put his hands up as if to ask, "What the hell?"

Charlie leaned forward. "Anya, I-"

"Shut the fuck up!" She snapped.

He looked down.

"You were my friends, my team." She held back her anger. "We were supposed to have each other's backs."

"That's why we're here." Derek said.

Anya laughed. "You're so full of shit. You're not just here to check on me, you're here to make yourselves feel better because you're the reason I'm here in the first place!"

Martin leaned forward. "Anya, we just-"

She slammed her fists down on the table and stood up. "The only reason you captured Kronos alive is because he let you. Imagine that! A goddamn supervillain knew that if he tried to escape you guys wouldn't trust me, and he cared enough about me to let himself be arrested! But he never would've been put in the position if you guys actually gave me the benefit of the doubt! You wanna know how I'm doing, Charlie? I'm coming to terms with the fact that my ENEMY had my back when my friends didn't!"