Chapter 13
BREAKING NEWS
Two well dressed, conventionally attractive smiling news anchors in their thirties, sat behind a long polished glass desk. Large, unnaturally wide smiles frozen on their faces, as they stared into the camera with a dead eyed gaze.
"We interrupt your regularly scheduled scrolling to bring you this breaking news." The man said, his mouth moving like a puppet's would.
"This past year we lost our dear Author, WhitePhoenix." The woman began, her own mouth moving much like her partner's.
"Quit telling everyone I'm dead!" A voice shouted from off camera.
"Sometimes, we can still hear her voice." The man said. His perfectly quaffed hair shining under the stage lights. Almost blindingly bright.
There was a commotion off set, before the camera suddenly shook. The Author stood far too close for it to be casual. Almost too close for comfort. Her eyes wide, hair greasy, clothes rumpled and dirty.
"Don't listen to them!" The Author warned, shouting over the noise of dozens of people yelling. "I'm not dead! I haven't forgotten you! Don't forget me!"
The Author was then tackled, and the camera wrenched from her grasp. A dozen men in black surrounded her, as she kicked and screamed. One grabbed her around the middle and lifted her up off of her feet, while another grabbed her legs. However, this gave the Author an opportunity. With all of her strength, she thrust the soles of her feet into the chest on the agent holding her legs. Quickly followed by slamming the back of head into the nose of the agent holding her up off the ground. With that she was quickly dropped.
The rest of the agents then dove on top of her, in an effort to pin her to the ground. They were so busy fighting, and tackling somebody that they failed to see the Author wiggle out from under the dog pile.
"There she is!" An agent yelled, pointing after her after the Author had already run off screen. The rest of the agents sprint after her, their sunglasses not moving an inch.
There was a sound of a metal door being thrown open, as the Author gleefully yelled "Liberté!"
Back in the NewsRoom, the news anchors sat staring dead eyed into the camera, with their too wide frozen smiles. As they had been doing the entire time. Not having moved an inch throughout the entire commotion.
"And now, back to you dear reader." The woman said, her teeth gleaming. Looking more like a shark than a human.
"It's dinner time!" Peter and Shuri said together. Very, loudly.
The food appeared on the tables, and when servings of Spinach Puffs were also served, Peter, Shuri, and Clint screamed in excitement.
Toni clutched her ear, and leaned away from Peter, "Kid there are people sitting right next to you, like me, please don't scream. Ow." Toni rubbed her ear.
"I'm so sorry Ms Stark." Peter said, his face falling into a look you would usually only see on worried and anxious dogs.
"It's okay kid, just try not to do it again."
"Okay." Peter nods his head up and down quickly a few times. Toni could almost see a big pair of floppy ears sitting on top of his head.
Peter stopped nodding his head to grab food, and it was as he was eating that he noticed something. Something that gave him pause.
"Pete, you going to eat?" Steve asked, behind his mountain of food.
"Why do we all have to sit at the same tables?" Peter asked thoughtfully. Dinner ground to a halt as everyone looked up from their plates to stare at Peter. "What? Hasn't anyone ever noticed that everyone sits at the same table?"
