No Heroes Left Behind (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Five: As Charming as an Elephant's Arse

Rancor looks around to make sure nobody heard what I said, then turns back to me. "Let's get out of here." He whispers seriously, not acknowledging what I just said.

I nod my head. "First let me talk to Zeus and Rush." He lets me go and I fly over to them as they talk in hushed tones to each other. "Hey guys." I say cautiously.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rush asks, pulling me into a hug. 

I breathe in a shaky breath. "Yeah. We're going to stop Sinister before he can hurt any of our families."

Zeus and Rush both nod in agreement, then fly off in their separate directions, most likely to process what just happened. Rancor--or should I say Landon--touches my shoulder and we fly across town.

"So I guess everybody knows now that Rancor's a good guy." He says as we walk passed a coffee shop with the news showing footage of Rancor coming up behind Scarlett and stopping her from making another mistake. I catch a glimpse of the banner saying, Super Villain Turned Super Hero? 

I look away from the TV, not wanting to relive that moment. "Yeah I suppose so." I shrug. "But hey, on the plus side you can actually walk around town without getting things thrown at you." I muse. He exhales half a laugh then stops walking, grabbing my wrist so that I stop as well. I furrow my eyebrows. "What?" I ask. 

He stares at me through his mask and I notice his pupils dilating behind the fabric as he gazes into my eyes. "You know... how?" He asks, and despite his vagueness, I know exactly what he's talking about. How I know his identity.

"I-you called me Charlie. Only-" I lean closer and whisper, "-Landon Grey calls me Charlie. And... I don't know, you just reminded me of him," I smirk.

He scratches his head. "I knew you'd figure it out eventually, but I didn't think this soon." 

"Never underestimate me, boy." I feign a serious face and point my finger at him. He raises his hands in surrender. 

My earpiece suddenly starts beeping in my ear and I furrow my eyebrows. I press the little button on the side of it. "Hello?" I say in a monotonous voice.

"Charlotte? Charlotte hon, oh my gosh you're okay. Leo, she's fine!" Mom cries on the phone.

"Mom-Mom what's wrong?" I ask worriedly. 

The line is fuzzy and cuts in and out every once in a while, "-at warehouse-Sinister-abducted-threatened-kill you-with others-tied-help." The line gets too fuzzy to hear and then the line goes completely dead. I cover my mouth with my hands. Sinister must've kidnapped them prior to our little run in at the school and then threatened to meet up with them eventually to throw me off guard.

I rake my hand through my hair. Shit, shit, shit! What the hell am I going to do? I puff out my cheeks. What did my parents do? Nothing. That's exactly why he's doing this. He is trying to break me. Trying to get me to scramble-to fail. He's doing this to make things easier for himself, luring us in.

Breathe Charlotte.

"My parents..." I finally say, trailing off, not wanting to finish the sentence. 

Landon nods his head. "I heard. We are going to find them." He assures.

"There's others there, too." I pull out my "business" phone.

He frowns. "What're you doing?"

I type out a message and send it to all of the heroes. "I'm calling a League meeting. We need to make a plan and I need someone to trace this call. I need you to find El Diablo and The Whisperer. They're our ally's now; we need their help." Rancor nods and we both shoot up into the air and fly to headquarters.