Bloodhound returns just as the sun is falling and casting a scarlet light over Dave and Ollie's backyard. My hand is stubbornly refusing to heal, so I've spent the past few hours nursing it with an icepack. I really hope the bones aren't as broken as they feel. Healing broken bones takes the longest.
"He's back again," Dave comments, looking up from his Sherlock Holmes novel. He's curled up on the armchair across from the couch where I'm sitting. Ollie is tapping away on the laptop at the kitchen table. I glance up and see him standing and staring into our window like a total creeper. At least he's cleaned the blood off his costume. But honestly, Ollie and Dave really need to utilize their curtains more often.
That's when I see the crow perched upon his shoulder. The black bird's head tilts expectantly as his beady eyes meet mine through the window.
"You've gotta be kidding me," I mutter under my breath and hoist myself up off the couch with a dramatic sigh. "They do realize that we have neighbors, right?" Dave's lips curl up into a smile but he doesn't say anything. He doesn't exactly know the details of what happened in that factory, but he does know how sketchy Bloodhound is and that we basically failed because he unknowingly led us into a trap. He knows that Bloodhound's pretty much the last person I want to see right now.
But nevertheless, I walk over and open the door to let them in. As soon as the door is closed shut behind them, Tate flutters off of Bloodhound's shoulder shifts into his slightly less creepy human form.
"Do you still have Ivory's amulet I gave to you?" Tate demands, dark eyes intense and a pale hand buried anxiously in his thick, raven-colored hair. Bloodhound just looks as relaxed and amused as he always does. I glance at them both suspiciously.
"It's in a safe buried somewhere in the backyard. Why?" I ask slowly. "Is it radioactive? Am I going to get awesome necklace powers in addition to my sucky healing factor?" I raise my icepack-covered fist. "Also why are you two suddenly buddies now?"
"We're going to use the amulet to lure Ivory out of hiding," Bloodhound blurts, his pale eyes gleaming. With his eyes and his tan skin and his light sandy hair, when he stands next to our very own Emo shape-shifter he looks like the freaking sun.
"That's... a terrible idea. We don't even know what it does. For all we know it could possess us and make us go crazy and kill each other."
"You really need to broaden your Netflix queue," Tate comments and wrinkles his nose. Bloodhound exhales impatiently.
"We're going to make a 'deal' with him. Taylor and Dominic for the amulet," the medieval-themed mercenary explains. I raise an eyebrow skeptically.
"Um... Just saying, Ivory'll never go for that. Not even for his precious necklace." I fold my arms across my chest.
"You're right. He'll never agree to the exchange," Tate interjects. "At least not really. We're thinking that judging on his past actions in dealing with situations like this one, he'll agree to meet and then will try to- figuratively or not- stab us in the back and take both objects involved in the trade. I mean, we're talking typical villainy. I even did it myself a few times. But this time, we'll be counting on it. We'll bring backup and stab him instead, rescuing Dominic and Taylor and bringing Ivory to justice."
"That sounds pretty far-fetched," I argue. "Plus you're both kind of forgetting an important detail... we don't exactly have 'back-up,' which we'll definitely need considering we're detailing with a powerful, teleporting, psychotic super-villain here."
"Oh, we have backup." Tate grins mischievously and exchanges a knowing glance with Bloodhound, which ticks me off. Since when did they become the best of pals? Did they bond over the fact that they both changed for love? How gag-inducing.
"Just for reference, 'Your Highness' does not count as backup," I warn them. Bloodhound lets out a bark of cynical laughter like he couldn't imagine anything more ridiculous.
"Please," he scoffs and rolls his eyes. "I have better taste than that." Tate glances down at his cape but says nothing.
"Your little crush on Taylor would beg to differ," I retort. Tate smirks as Bloodhound's cheeks redden underneath the green hood that partially shadows his face.
"Do you want to save Dominic and Taylor or not?" Bloodhound snaps bitterly. I swallow my laughter and nod quickly. Tate quickly reciprocates. Both of us obviously get that without Bloodhound's mysterious but admittedly effective methods, we wouldn't be able to get anywhere close to saving Dominic and his mother. Ticking him off would be a bad idea.
"How are you going to contact Ivory in the first place? You two don't exactly have each other's numbers, right?" I pause. "Mm. Scratch that. I don't want to know whose numbers you have and don't have." I have no doubt his contact list is shadier than both Tate and I's combined- and I know some pretty terrifying people.
"You have Bipolar's email, don't you?" Bloodhound inquires. At my puzzled expression, he grunts in exasperation. "Bipolar: also known as Sebastian King. Look up the word in a dictionary sometime. I have no doubt there'll be a picture of his dorky face. Anyway, moving on. He's got contacts with Reggie who has contacts with Ivory. Let him pass the message along."
"I don't want to get Sebastian in trouble," I mumble. "If Reggie finds out he's still in contact with me, much less helping me..." my voice trails off and I make a pained face to accentuate my point- bad shit will happen. It's Tate who speaks now.
"Sebastian can tell Reggie whatever the hell he wants to. Maybe you ambushed him somewhere and told him to pass the message along. Maybe he's only keeping communication with you because he's secretly double-crossing you by pretending to be your friend still and is actually going to stab you in the back when the time comes. He can make crap up. He's good at that." His dark eyes are angry, and it makes me think that he's not exactly making things up on the fly here. But right now it doesn't matter what his opinion of Sebastian is- all that matters is that we execute this deal asap and rescue Dominic and Taylor before it's too late.
"Fine. Let me send an email then," I grouse. I trudge over to the kitchen where Ollie has paused in his frantic typing to watch us with curious eyes.
"I'm going to pretend that there aren't two people known for being either villains or mercenaries standing next to my toaster right now, 'kay?" Ollie slides the laptop across the counter to me and gets up to join Dave in the living room. Bloodhound watches the blonde fanboy with faint amusement in his pale eyes.
"While you're composing an email, Tate and I are going to gather our backup," he tells me after turning back around. I'm perched upon the kitchen stool, hunched over the laptop and signing in to my bare email account.
"Um, what? I'm not going to have a bunch of super-people waiting around conspicuously in one designated location for Ivory to show up, which might take a while considering Ivory doesn't even know about our deal that we've so thoughtfully arranged. I mean, the guy hasn't even said yes yet and we're planning on waging a battle against him and rescuing the hostages he'll supposedly bring."
"Relax. He'll say yes. Just send the email quickly, ok? My friends don't like to be kept waiting." Bloodhound pauses and looks slightly insulted. "Since when have I ever been conspicuous, anyway?"
"Dude. Literally a few minutes ago you stood outside our living room window on the yard of a house in an ordinary suburban neighborhood dressed in armor and a crossbow with a bird perched on your shoulder. You don't think that's a little conspicuous?"
"She has a point," Dave calls from the living room. I nod sanctimoniously and Bloodhound gives me a death glare so chilling it should be patented.
"This is coming from the girl who punched a cement wall," the mercenary says dryly. He eyes my icepack-covered hand and clears his throat loudly.
"Oh, for God's sake. I've had enough. Let's get going, please. Send the email to your little boyfriend, Maya, ok? We'll collect your little army for you. Tell him we're meeting in the parking lot of the old Giorgi's Pizza at eight." Tate grabs Bloodhound's armored elbow impatiently. Bloodhound gives a noncommittal grunt and they're gone before I can fully register the fact that Tate just called Sebastian my "boyfriend."
If I ever date the guy who left me dying in a dungeon at the hands of my captors for the sake of saving his own ass... kindly put me out of my misery, please.
Needless to say it's not exactly without a little bit of a grudging manner that I type out the email and send it to Sebastian's address. I don't bother putting in a greeting. There's no, "Hey, Sebs! It's your BFF Maya!" He knows who it's from. I know who it's to.
Get the message through to Ivory:
We have a deal to make with the devil himself. His precious little amulet for Dominic and Taylor. Giorgi's Pizza at 8:00 tonight.
(I know what I'm doing)
Do I find it ironic that this is all going down in the same exact place where Crimson/Taylor and I had our little scrap in what seems like ages ago? Sure. As I've said before, karma's a funny thing- or maybe abandoned pizza parlor parking lots are just really popular places to beat the shit out of people.
I lean back slightly and let my eyes drift to the ceiling, but only seconds later I'm alerted by a notification from the laptop. Sebastian has replied to me already.
I would tell you not to do anything stupid but you went right past that already.
I can't help but grin, but then rearrange my face into a scowl. He's so infuriating when he makes me smile because it so happens that I'm constantly torn between wanting to be like friends with him again and snapping his windpipe in two. It's a most complicated relationship, and it doesn't help that he's constantly switching sides on me. This is why I have trust issues.
"I guess I should get to digging that amulet up, huh?" I say aloud for no reason. I shut the laptop and glance absentmindedly over my shoulder only to see that Ollie and Dave are already both looking at me with nervous eyes. "Um. 'Sup?"
"You're going to battle with a freaking super-villain, that's what's up," Ollie bemoans from beside Dave on the couch. I get up and walk over to them, sensing their obvious agitation.
"I'll be fine, guys. Healing factor, remember? Besides, Tate and Everett-slash-Bloodhound are going to bring backup anyway. Ivory will never see it coming," I insist.
"He's faked his death for how many years- he's more clever than you think," Dave says doubtfully. His lips then press together thinly in discontent and his brow furrows.
"If it makes you feel better, you get to keep Delores if I die," I joke. Neither Dave nor Ollie smiles, however. I try again in a softer voice. "Look, guys... If it means saving Dominic and Taylor, I'd gladly give up my life. This could be my opportunity to finally make things right. I wouldn't mess that up for the world."
"Be safe, ok?" Dave gets up and wraps his arms around me, squeezing me hard. Much to my shock, I feel a tear run down his face and soak through my shirtsleeve. Ollie stands too and joins in suffocating me.
It feels like only seconds pass by when I hear Tate and Bloodhound pop back into the kitchen.
"You ready for this?" Bloodhound asks me, oblivious to the fact that I'm being crushed to death by sadness and affection at the hands of the first few people to ever show me hope.
"Yeah," I breathe out shakily. I didn't plan on a goodbye. Goodbyes are always so emotional and uncomfortable. This one did not disappoint. When they finally let go and step back, there's tears shining in their eyes. God. They're acting like I'm going off to war. "I'll be fine, guys. Seriously. Don't worry," I tell them. They watch quietly as I join Tate and Bloodhound in walking outside to go dig up a creepy amulet from the backyard. They watch quietly as I shove the amulet in my hoodie pocket, wave goodbye, and disappear before their eyes with two of the craziest-looking guys they've ever seen.
They watch quietly and they're holding hands like the world will come crashing down if they let go.
YOU ARE READING
Super?
Adventure"Stop pretending to be an idiot, idiot." Ouch. It burns. "You're starting to sound like a dear old friend of mine," she adds, her tone implying that her "friend" isn't so much of a "friend" as a mortal enemy who she probably also dragged into an all...
