New: Powers

New: Powers (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3:

The boy flicked off his hood, revealing his creamy caramel eyes. His angular, lightly tanned face made him look dark, but his facial expression screamed that he was flirting. His muscles were vaguely visible underneath his jacket, unlike Conner's, which were humongous. Every word he spoke was like a charm, attempting to weaken my knees and take my breath away. And it would've worked... if I wasn't taken already. He ran his long fingers through his dark and spiky hair before leaning on the table, inching closer to my side. "Long time no see," he said smoothly. "Yeah. As I recall, I destroyed your ass and saved a helpless lady who was trapped in your cage," I smirked.

"Never said it was my cage."

"Then why'd you fight to keep her in there?"

"Why are you making me seem like the bad guy here, maybe you're the bad guy and I'm the good guy."

I narrowed my eyes. It was clear that he was stalling from something. I picked up the manila folder and looked through the files. There were pictures from the crime scene, but there was nothing on the boy himself. That was strange. I found the photograph of what he did and a smile snuck onto my face. "You like it?" He asked. I slightly nodded, "Clever." Four buildings at an intersection downtown were in flames. Written in flames in the center amongst the two car crashes on the side of the picture was "Kiss My Ass Superman". He sat at the end of his message, on his phone, apparently as the buildings burned.

"Why are you here?"

"Your friends brought me here."

"Please. You haven't even lifted a finger since you got in here. I don't know about you, but if I was imprisoned in here, I'd be looking for a way out. So let me repeat the question," I got up out of my chair and leaned in, making it impossible for him to not hear me. "Why are you here?"

"Hey, why are you covered in blood?" I looked town at my white tank top, smothered with fake blood, draped over my black leggings. "I'll tell you when you tell me why you burned four buildings and sat in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in town just to get in here."

"You're not going to stop asking me until I give you an answer, are you?"

"A real answer and no."

Looking down, he put his hands in his pockets and sighed. His eyes flicked back on to me, his caramels pierced into my dark chocolates. "Just wanted to see the headquarters that's all."

"Did you find what you were looking for?" I knew he was up to something, but I couldn't pry it out of him. "I found it when we started this conversation." A cocky smile spread across his face.

"I have a boyfriend."

"He doesn't need to know."

I couldn't help but smile a bit. He was good at this. "I don't even know you. Much less your name."

"Clay Adrian Parks. I'm sixteen, I think-"

"You think?"

"Age is just something that people compare. It says a lot about a person, but in my opinion, things as stupid as how many days you've lived shouldn't define yourself."

"Wow. That's deep. Anything else?"

"I have a short temper, I'm 5 foot 8, and I like girls with dark hair and dark eyes and long walks on the beach. What's your name?"

"This relationship isn't there yet."

"What'd I ever do to you?"

"You tried to prevent me from saving a helpless woman!"

"Who said she didn't want to be there?"

"So she just locked herself in a cage for no reason, yeah, that sounds about right," I retorted sarcastically.

"Look, that wasn't my decision." I could tell that he didn't mean to say that; the cocky smile disappeared from his face. "Whose decision was that, then?" There was a short pause. "My boss."

"Who?"

"That's classified information."

"Who says it's classified?"

"My boss."

I groaned. "So you came here to see me?" He chuckled. "Is there something wrong with me paying a visit to an old friend?"

"We're not friends."

"We will be. Can I go now?"

"Was anyone injured or killed when you lit everything on fire?"

"Probably the drivers of the cars, but those buildings had it coming."

There was a knock on the door. "Allison, may I speak with you?" I heard Mr. Kent's voice ask. "Allison," Clay repeated. "Nice name." I got out of my chair, eyeing the boy with a smug look plastered on his face. "What is it, sir?" I asked, shutting the heavy door behind me. "Let him go." I paused. "With all due respect sir, he just destroyed four buildings created two car crashes, and destroyed city property-"

"Because he wanted our attention. If he wanted to steal something from here, he couldn't have. Everything that is of value to us is locked and guarded with the best security in the world. We've watched the footage from his interrogation room since he was put in there. He hasn't moved from that chair, and there was not a moment outside of this room that he wasn't supervised by a member of the League. I don't know why he wanted our attention, but he got it and nothing's happened. It was all probably just some twisted prank. Let him go."

I sighed. He was right. There was no proof that he burned those buildings on purpose. The only thing he had to do was write the message on the road, so maybe the rest was just collateral damage. "Yes, sir."

"Thank you, Allison." Superman ran to the edge of the floor and shot upward. I returned to the interrogation room where Clay was sitting on top of the table. "You're free to go." He jumped off of the table and landed on his feet. "Huh. I thought you'd be a little happier to see me go. Just proves that you care." I walked him out of the silo, just to make sure he wouldn't try anything on his way out. When we got to the top floor, where the exit was, I blindfolded him before going up the tube. All guests were supposed to be blindfolded in case they followed us. When we got out of the porta-potty, I spun him around three times and guided him to the edge of the forest, before taking off the blindfold. "Before you go, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"What's your power? That is, if you even have one." He laughed lightly. "I'm not comfortable talking about it here. Maybe some other time, under the table." He winked and ran off. I watched him walk away, and then started heading back to the Silo, thinking about him. He worked for the bad guys, I knew that, so why was he so interested in me? He knows I'm not interested back, so he's not going undercover. He would've tried a different approach the second time once he realized that his first one backfired thanks to my relationship with Conner. Maybe he wasn't doing this for his boss, maybe he was doing it to talk to me. I needed to see him again, but in private. Just like he said: Another time, under the table. Under the table, meaning where no one would be listening. He couldn't do it in the interrogation room, because he knew they would be watching him. But how would I see him again? The wink. The wink meant something. Under the table... could he mean it literally? Perhaps he had left a note or something underneath the table in the interrogation room. I started sprinting my way back to the portapotty.

I raced to the interrogation room, as inconspicuously as I could. I couldn't draw attention to myself. "Hey, Allison! Why are you going so fast? What's the hurry?" Conner asked, flying in out of nowhere. "NOTHING!" So much for that. "I mean, I think I left something in the interrogation room."

"Oh what'd you leave? Maybe I could get it for you."

I thought of the only thing that would make him go away. "I think a tampon fell out of my pocket," I whispered. Conner's expression changed almost instantly. "Oh, never mind." Thank god, he flew away. I reached the Questioning Floor and jumped off of the board. Sure enough, when I looked under the table, there was a note.

Good. You got my note. West Point Mall tomorrow at 5 for answers and coffee. Dress nicer than what you're wearing now (meaning no blood) ;)

- CAP