Super

7 - As Luck Would Have It

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

– Marilyn Monroe

Closing the door behind me, I trudged tiredly into the kitchen. Luckily my parents had gone to bed. I had texted them on the Metro that I was on my way and would be fine and not to lock the door because I lost my key. I prayed they hadn't been watching the news or they'd probably know their baby girl had come this close to death. Knowing they'd have waited up if they'd heard about the accident, I relaxed.

Running the tap to get it cold, I rummaged through the cupboard for a glass and stuck it under the cold-ish stream of water, lifting the glass to my lips and gulping greedily. It tasted metallic, but at that point, I didn't care. After refilling the glass another three times, I retired to my room, changed into my PJs, and lay down in bed.

I pulled out my phone and began to scroll through Tumblr as I waited for the two supers on babysitting duty to show up. With the eventful day I'd had, something told me I wouldn't be able to sleep for a while. Thinking about the accident, I decided to Google it to see what would come up or whether it was even on the news yet. It was, but nobody had bothered to film it so luckily there was only speculation the mayor's daughter had been involved and no actual proof.

"You know, they say those things are bad for the eyes," a familiar voice mused. It startled me so much I dropped the damn phone right smack on my nose and felt a trickle of warm liquid drip down the side of my face. Blood. Groaning, I sat up and squinted into the darkness. A shiny black suit winked back at me and the super in question ruffled his black hair a little. I let out a relieved laugh.

"Jesus Electro, you can't sneak up on me like that! And what happened to your voice? Are you sick? You sound–oh!" Now out of the shadows, I could clearly see that the super peering at me through the darkness wasn't Electro. The suit wasn't shiny at all: it was a smoky matte. He was tall and lean, just like Electro, but he had broader shoulders and startling blue eyes, the colour of forget-me-nots.

"Actually," mused the super villain, "they call me the Invisible Hand, but good to know I can count on you to tell me when my voice is off point," he pursed his lips, clearly annoyed that I had mistaken him for someone else.

Scowling back at him, I cradled my sore nose between my fingers in an attempt to stop the bleeding. I peeled back the covers and stumbled to the bathroom, IH following noiselessly behind, flicking on the lights and examining my nose when we got there. Meanwhile, I was just trying to hide the fact that I thought his voice had sounded silky and smooth and incredibly sexy; it just wasn't Electro's voice and that's what made me think he was sick or something.

The Invisible Hand stooped his head to get a better look at the damage, his face so close to mine I could feel his warm breath fan across my face, carrying the faint scent of peppermint gum. I knew that smell... From somewhere... With a look of genuine concern, IH cupped my chin in his slender fingers and delicately tilted my head left and right to better examine my nose. Unblinking, I watched his penetrating blue eyes, framed with those beautiful black eyelashes, with a sheepish fascination. I studied his face: furrowed eyebrows that were just thick enough to look natural but not unruly and the tiny, crescent moon-shaped scar hidden beneath the edge of one of those eyebrows that peeked out just over the edge of his mask, the way he chewed the inside of his cheek while he concentrated, the lightest dusting of freckles on the upper sides of his cheeks that I'd ever seen and that I would have missed had I not been so close, the way his lips curved up naturally so that he looked like he had a permanent innocent smile – it suddenly made him look much younger – and the tiny dimple that appeared on his right cheek with just the slightest smile. His jaw was strong and yet soft, not sharp. His face was clean-shaven and he looked like he had the softest, porcelain skin. I was so tempted to just reach up and...