Super?

Let Me Show You My True Colors

A/N: To whom it may concern, I'm very sorry for the long period of not updating. I promise I'm back for good. I have almost all of the chapters ready done and ready to upload. Thanks to anyone who is still reading this! :) Much appreciated
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       Ollie scoops some scrambled eggs into my plate. He has adorned the table with a variety of breakfast foods, including a giant platter of thick bacon and buttery toast triangles. The bowls of fruit and yogurt are ignored as we finally tear into the feast before us.
       "You never told me that your boyfriend could cook," I accuse Dave as I shove a strip of warm bacon into my mouth. Ollie just laughs. He laughs so much, like it costs him nothing to be happy all of the time. I wouldn't know anything about that.
       "Well, gotta have a reason to keep him around, right?" Dave immediately grins as Ollie shoves him, a scolding look on his face.
       "So, let me get this right," Ollie says as soon as the two are done with their theatrics, "you can change your appearance at will, right? How do we know you're not using an illusion right now?" He's not asking in an accusatory tone, but more like in that of a curious fanboy.
       "You wouldn't be able to tell if I was. But when I lose concentration, I can't keep illusions up. And last night, well, I was really drunk. I had been using an illusion because I was an idiot but I lost it. This is, unfortunately, who I really am." I shrug and stab at piece of toast with my fork. "Trust me. If I was using an illusion right now, I would not look like this," I add wryly, gesturing to my generally battered appearance with the fork. Dave suddenly looks thoughtful.
       "And there are other people like you, right? Illusionists?" He folds his hands under his chin and leans forward intently. I never knew Dave to be interested in these sort of things. But I suppose when your friend turns out to be an ex-super-villain you might kind of want to know the details.
       "Yeah. Like Gia O'Neill. She's this German jewel thief lady who calls her Diamond and she is completely crazy. She's almost better than me at illusions- or at least she likes to think she is. She wears one all the time. I suspect she doesn't even know what she looks like for real anymore. Anyway, just before I took off with Dominic, Reggie introduced me to her. Reggie's my psycho boss," I inform Ollie, "and later she tried to torture me because she enjoys watching other people's pain." I feel rather satisfied with my answer to Dave's inquiry. He just looks disturbed.
       "This lady, Gia, she could pretend to be you if she wanted to?" Dave's eyebrows raise. He must be trying to connect the dots between something, but I'm not seeing what he's getting at.
       "I don't know why she would want to, but yes...?" At my confusion, Dave looks frustrated.
       "You said that someone was pretending to be you when Dominic was killed," he prompts me impatiently. I slump backwards slowly once I finally realize what's he insinuating.
       "Damn. And I thought I couldn't hate her any more than I already did. I shake my head slowly. How could I have been so stupid? Of course it was Gia.
       "You do know what that could mean, right? I mean, I'm no expert on how realistic you can make illusions look and stuff... but what if Dominic isn't actually dead? What if they never killed him?" Dave watches me carefully for my reply.
       "I don't know..." I don't know if I'll let myself believe that, as much as I want to. I can't give myself that kind of hope.
       "You don't find it kind of fishy that they bring you in and question you about his disappearance and then only a little while later manage to find him and have him held hostage? They could just be trying to get back at you for disobeying them. They seem to be fans of overkill," Dave smirks.
       "But even if he was alive... and even if the syndicate didn't have him... he's a six year-old boy. If he's not dead already, he can't survive long on his own," I murmur, staring down at my plate of bacon and eggs and not even feeling hungry anymore.
       "I think you're forgetting that there are actually good people in this world, May." Dave reaches across the table and squeezes my hand, his smirk turning into a sad smile. He pities me for what the world has done to me. I don't deserve his pity.
       "If some person saw an adorable little six year-old boy wandering out in the streets, they wouldn't just leave him there," Ollie adds. They both look so hopeful, both for me and Dominic. Like if we find that little rugrat, everything will be ok again.
       "You're saying he managed to escape unscathed from a car cash that left a superhero with a healing factor half dead? And he's evading a villain syndicate?" I roll my eyes. "With his six years of life experience in espionage and the like?" Dave and Ollie dismiss my sarcasm with identical shrugs.
       "We're not saying it's completely likely, but you can't just rule it out. If there was a chance that Dominic could still be alive and you could save him, would you really just pass it by?" Ollie folds his arms across his chest and gives me an expectant glance, trying to look like he's Raymond Reddington or something.
       "You two are almost worse than Sebastian," I mutter under my breath. Aloud, I say, "Fine. Let's all be some super happy awesome rescue squad! Yay! Go team!" I pump a sarcastic fist into the air, plastering a ridiculous smile on my face.
       "At least we don't have to worry about the hero life changing your bright personality," Dave says, getting up to refill his orange juice. As he passes by me, he pats my head like I'm his pet Pekingese. I stare back at him crossly.
       "I'm not going to be a hero," I tell him warningly. "I'm just..."
       "Saving someone?" Dave offers.
       "Taking down a villain syndicate?" Ollie supplies.
       "Who said anything about taking down a villain syndicate?" I ask, bewildered. Dave sits down and he and Ollie exchange sheepish smiles.
       "Would being a hero be so bad?" Ollie asks me softly. They're both looking at me so hopefully. No way. Nuh-uh. They are not ganging up on me.
       "I can't just be a hero, guys. I was a freaking super-villain. I kidnapped Dominic in the first place, and now I have to help him get out of this mess if he's not  dead already. This isn't me playing a hero and wearing a crisp new costume and getting credit and all that crap. This is me trying to make things right. I'm just going to be making amends for the shit I've done in the past, if that's even possible. I don't want to win an award for cleaning up the messes I make, not that I would ever win an award anyway because people kind of hate me right now. But you get my point, right?" I take a long breath after my rant and watch as they exhale in synchronized disappointment.
"No new costume designs, ok?" I warn them. They look at each other once more. They're beginning to remind me of those seagulls from Nemo.
       "Sure. You're just an ex-villain wiping red from her ledger. It's cool," Ollie says, nodding slowly. "We promise we won't interfere, right, Dave?" He glances at his partner, who has a glum expression on his face.
       "Right," Dave replies grudgingly. He grabs another strip of bacon and crunches it loudly.
       "I'm going to run to Walmart after we're done eating. Is there anything you need, Maya?" Ollie smiles kindly at me. My stomach twists like it always does when I'm at the brunt of their overbearing niceness. These two are too good to be true. Something's got to happen. The universe is going to take them away from me. It only seems the next logical turn of events looking back at what has happened in last few days.
       "Um. Just some clothes, pretty much. I'm not very high-maintenance." I absentmindedly start to split my bacon strips in two. I'm not looking at Ollie until I startle when I feel a hand touch my arm gently.
       "Don't feel like you can't ask us for things. You always can come to us for help, you know that, right? You're not on your own anymore. You'll have us." His words just drive my previous thoughts closer and closer to home.
       "Yeah. Sure. No, I'm fine." I look down again, because I don't think I can stand to see Ollie's soft face staring back at me. What am I going to do when I lose them? Or what if something bad happens to them because of me? The thought makes my heart almost stop beating. Ollie doesn't move. "Seriously. Just some clothes," I assure him, voice firm. I can see him glance helplessly at Dave through the corner of my eye, but then he steps back.
       "Was there a sale at some online college where you could get your degree in psychology recently? Seriously. I must have missed it," I mutter under my breath. Dave shakes his head slowly.
       "Your wit is always appreciated, Maya. And I know it must feel like everyone's smothering you, but we're just trying to help you. I don't know who else has tried to talk to you about your problems, but you should know that they probably just care for you a lot," he tells me. Oh, gag. Somebody kill me now.
       "Sure, Dr. Phil. I'll take that into account. The guy who left me behind after watching me being tortured definitely cares for me. I should go for him, huh? He sounds like a dreamboat." Unfortunately I must sound too viciously blasé with this weird little tidbit of information because the air around the kitchen table quickly gets awkward.
       "I'm sorry. I didn't realize." Dave bites his lip again and looks down, obviously embarrassed. Ollie reaches across and grabs his boyfriend's hand, giving him a comforting smile. I immediately feel terrible.
       "No, I'm sorry," I sigh. "I didn't mean that. It's just..." I rest my fingers to my temples and close my eyes. "I'm sick and tired of this. Everything. I guess it's too much to ask to be normal. But you're right, ok? I have problems. I know that. And I need to deal with them. Maybe I have sucky ways of dealing with said problems, but I just can't have another person tell me what to feel and what to do. I think I've had enough of that for several lifetimes. So... I think I need to work on not being so pathetic that even random people give me life advice." (*cough* Taylor *cough*) "I need to stop avoiding my problems and get them dealt with in a healthy way. But no therapy, for God's sake."
       "Um... Ok. I think I got the general gist out of whatever you were trying to say there. No life advice?" Dave smiles weakly. I roll my eyes.
       "You're kind of ruining my big reflective moment here, Dave," I grump. "And what I'm trying to say is you need to let me work through my problems before you try to. No offense."
       "Because the last time I let you go to work out your problems by yourself ended up super great, am I right?" Dave's voice is the one dripping with sarcasm now. I can't help but smile, which is hard because I'm trying to appear serious.
       "I'm... I'm working on that. Or trying to, I suppose. I think I just needed a little pick-me-up. Like this bacon here." I lift up the holy grail of breakfast foods and then proceed to shove it into my mouth.
       "Whatever you say. I can't deny the power of bacon." Dave grins and takes a long swig of orange juice.
       "Nobody can. Not even super-villains."