Super

24 - Badass Peter Pan

"I searched my mind to think of a question, but came up blank. I knew the answers to all of them already. After a while, you run out of questions to ask..."

– Annie Collins, Super

"Hey Uncle Clyde," I greeted my uncle when Dresden and I finally got back to DNA Analysis. Luckily I had remembered to change out of my spandex before finding my uncle or I probably would have gotten some questions.

"Annie," he nodded and pulled me into a hug, "how are you?" 

"Good, thanks!"

"And how's the internship going?"

"Really good, Finn's been showing me around. It's so big!"

"That's what she said," Dresden snickered, but was silenced by a stern glance from me. My uncle, however, only laughed.

"What's your name, kid?" He asked humorously.

"Dresden Fox, sir."

"And how'd you get in here again?"

"I'm with Annie and Finn."

"Huh," Uncle Clyde mused, "do I need to remind Finn that all visitors need to wear a badge lest they want to be kicked out?"

"No sir," Dresden muttered and went to pout in a corner as he recounted what happened to Finn who just laughed in his face and handed him a visitor's pass.

"Anyway Annie," Uncle Clyde continued, "you've had a few days of training from Finn now. Next week, you'll begin working independently. Well, I say independently, but really you'll be working in a team. The interns have a little Christmas tradition, you see. Tuesday will be November 23rd. You and your team will have a month to investigate an area of research – under the metaphysiology division, of course – and present your ideas December 23rd. Don't worry, you'll get Christmas eve, Christmas day, and boxing day off, but after that is when you'll start individual investigations. Until then, I'll let your team mates explain the project further."

"Oh, okay..." I said a little hesitantly. A team challenge? This was news to me. Frankly, I was beginning to feel like Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in The Internship. "But what if we don't find anything?" I asked uncertainly.

"This is metaphysiology Annie," my uncle said, a gleam in his eye, "there's always something new to discover."

✩✩✩

I thought about Uncle Clyde's words the entire way home. There was no way I could work with Finn on ways to defeat Obsidian Black if I was stuck doing some research project with a bunch of other interns. Meanwhile, the notebook from Ciaran was burning a hole in my backpack. What if it was a trap? What if Lodestone wasn't really there? What if Lodestone was already dead? 

"Hey mom," I sighed as I closed the door and flopped down on the living room couch. I stopped when I saw her mouth set in a thin line. I knew that look.

That was the look that said she was trying to hide something.

That was her trying-not-to-grin look.

"Moooom?" I asked, sitting up.

"Honey, I have good news–"

"ANNA BANANA!" A voice screamed and I was immediately suffocated by pillows as someone big and heavy landed on me, pushing me further into the fluffy pillows that currently ensconced my face. This fatty needed to get the fuck off of me. Right. Now.