Wilting Heroes on the Palm of a Vigilante.

Chapter 2 : Paradox

After some time passed I decided I wanted to explore. It wasn't worth staying in this room for god knows how long with no hero company when I had a grandma waiting for me at home. I walked away from the painting and walked to the door, it was then I realized that there was truly no way out unless someone opened the door from the outside. I pondered, thinking of solutions to get out–even regretting lying to the heroes who truly pitied me.

I remembered the button Reverie told me about and started to put my plan to get out in motion. I opened the drawer and pressed the button making it light up–any minute and someone should walk in. I waited until I heard footsteps outside the door; a lady in her mid-thirties opened the door.

"Can I get you something?" She let out a long sigh as she spoke. You could tell she hated this job by the way she seemed to avoid eye contact just to look at her nails even tilting her head to the side. She wasn't interested in helping me at all, which was better for me.

"Just water, please," I said.

The lady then turned around and left the door to close on its own–the door was slow and I was able to grab it before it clicked shut. I looked around, revisiting the surroundings I had seen earlier then made my way to the isolated lobby where the elevators were; repeatedly hitting the button as if it was going to arrive any faster.

I could feel my heart beating out of my chest; even looking left to right making sure no one was walking up on me. Finally, the doors of the elevator opened but I had forgotten what floor it was to leave this place so I clicked a random one that seemed familiar. I was being taken up and once the doors finally opened I peeked through the doors before walking out and making way to unfamiliar doors that seemed to be an exit.

As I turned the doorknob they wouldn't open–like someone on the other side was keeping them from opening even though there didn't seem to be a light behind them.

"Who are you, how'd you get in here?" A serious voice said from behind me.

Startled, my eyes widened and I slowly turned my head around to be met with a superhero of The Ten. I didn't recognize him right away because he was always seen with his face covered. His right hand was reached out, he was the reason the doors were shut.

I didn't know what to say to him; I couldn't just explain to him what happened, it sounded so unbelievable.

"Do I have to repeat myself?"

"No, no. I came here with Reverie and Blink." I said nervously.

He lowered his hand only to come closer and grab my forearm. His furrowed eyebrows told me he didn't believe a word that came out of my mouth. "Come with me."

I trudged behind him as we made our way to two larger doors on the same floor. He pushed one door open with his free hand and we entered the expansive room that had tons and tons of murals of the heroes on each wall, a circular table in the middle that displayed the whole city–even alerted them if there was any crime. Then there was a corner just for lounging and a small kitchen where they could eat when they weren't on duty, to one side a huge TV was displayed on the wall that was currently playing the news, and the thing that caught my attention–the trophies displayed on multiple shelves on the opposite wall. Most importantly all of the heroes that were in the room; the majority of The Ten and some rookies that I hadn't seen before.

"Reviere." The hero who I was with called out.

When he spoke it felt like everyone's eyes were on me. It was a tight atmosphere as Reverie, specifically, looked our way; frustration filling his face with each step he took towards us.

"How'd you get out?" Reverie spoke as his eyes widened.

"The door was open," I said quietly as I faced Reverie. My chest tightened, I figured this was the end for me–that I was going to get kicked on the curb any second now.