Supernova

Chapter Ninety One - In the Lion's Den

Okay, yes, I'll help! I'll do whatever you want! Just please don't hurt them!

Just as I expected.

I released the little blood girl who fell to the floor on her knees, coughing and gasping and whimpering and still holding her wrist. I didn't feel bad. I wondered if I should, and then I thought, of course not. I had remind myself that this was personal, yes, but it was also business. I begrudgingly offered her a recalibration tablet that I'd brought along, just in case. I didn't want to. I would have preferred she suffered. I would have preferred she died. But I'd gotten Melanie on board, which meant I had no further reason to be cruel.

Yet.

Maybe somewhere in another life, I was a really great waste.

Blueflame illuminated a bunch of half burnt candles around the room and so it could glow and we could see each other without his maintenance. Most of the other members, upon understanding this meeting had concluded, started trickling out through a back hallway, and you could hear various doors opening and closing. Soon it was just Melanie, Blueflame, and Blood Girl, and me.

"What a night," Melanie said, heading over to the bar and running her arm over the dust on one of the stools. "I need a drink."

"Me too," Blood Girl whined, following suit.

"Yeah," Blueflame agreed, hopping right up and sitting on the bar. "Purple Haze, get out here!"

I just kind of watched them. I didn't know what it was I should do.

Melanie leaned over her shoulder and patted the stool between her and Blueflame. I noticed the way he looked at her when she did it. I didn't understand it, but I noticed it. "Let's hear about that plan of yours."

I took the stool, but I didn't speak beyond, "It doesn't involve them."

"It might," Melanie said with a shrug.

"It won't," I shot back.

"Why do you hate us so much anyways, kiddo?" Blueflame asked, leaning in towards me.

I could see his scars from across the room, but close up, it was hard to ignore how bad they were. His face was held together by staples, connecting the fresh flesh to the burned. I liked scars, sure, but these were excessive. He was another quirk user who was victim to his own power. I refused to feel a kinship with him. I didn't take readily to him calling me kiddo, either.

"It is some kind of hero complex or something?" he asked. "Because you're quite the little monster yourself, in case you haven't noticed. Or, oh, let me guess. You're mad we gave your friends a fright a few months back?"

I considered ignoring him, but then I thought maybe I should do them the courtesy of knowing why they were going to die.

"You guys kidnapped my boyfriend," I told them.

"What?" Melanie and Blueflame asked together.

"No, we did not," Melanie started.

"Oh," Blueflame said, leaning back on the bar. His eyes filled with realization and he started to laugh. "Yeah, we did. It was back before you got here. No shit, huh? That explosion kid? That's your boyfriend? You know what, I totally see it. I remember that kid. He had spunk."

I reached for the front of his jacket, grabbing the collar in a tight grip and yanking his scarred face down to mine in a flash of rageful movement.

"Speak of him again and I'll kill you where you stand," I told him.

"Jeez, would you relax?" he asked, bringing his hands around the arm holding him and starting to ripple flames from them. "It was a compliment. And this is the only jacket I own."