The Things We Do (Under Editing)

Ally?

Life tip: don't go through the stuff of a guy who has a habit of blowing stuff up and crashing flying objects. To be fair, though, he left me alone in the room with his stuff for probably several days.

"What are you doing?"

Startled by his sudden appearance, I spun around, forgetting that I can't stand. As such, I immediately crashed to my knees, grabbing the desk as I went and nearly flipping it. Storm didn't move.

"I asked you a question." His voice was hard and carried an edge.

"Currently I'm sitting on the floor, clearly." And so my "not my smartest move" streak continued.

To my surprise, he snorted at my comment. Was this guy actually laughing at me? My attitude jumped straight from 'mildly scared' to 'rather annoyed' in a heartbeat.

"Shut up," I almost snarled. Down on my knees as I was, I didn't need him mocking me.

"Now, that's no way to talk to someone who saved your life." He seemed to have forgotten his anger, but his words made me stop.

"Why did you save me?" I couldn't think of a single reason that he would help me.

"Do you really think I'd let you splat on the pavement?"

I pressed my lips together and looked at him for a moment, unsure if this was a trick question. "... You've crashed two helicopters into buildings."

Storm shrugged. "That served my purposes. You, on the other hand, might still be useful."

"Gee, thanks."

"You wanted an answer. Now you have it."

"So I might be useful? For what?"

Still towering over me, Storm folded his arms and tipped his head to the side. "I haven't decided yet." Because that's helpful.

We stared at each other for a while, me still waiting for him to say more. Finally he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You have skills that might be helpful to me."

I nodded. "Yup. That really clears that up."

"I'm so glad." He stepped forward and held out a hand. "Now, get off the floor."

I have no idea how long I stayed in that room. As a rule I didn't keep my phone with me on jobs, and Storm probably would have taken it anyway. I needed to get out. Mel and Kacie would have started worrying about me after only a few hours after I disappeared, my professors would have noticed after a few days.

The next time Mr. Shadow-lurker vanished, I left. Part of me wanted to thank him for helping me, he'd gotten nicer about it, but the rest of me wanted as far away from him as possible. I wasn't going to hang around. Thankfully, most of my strength had returned and I didn't fall on my face five feet from the door. I'd removed the red laces from my combat boots and wrapped them, my gloves, my mask, and my hat in the coat. I looked for all the world like a homeless person carrying a random red thing under my arm. Most people probably wouldn't even suspect it was a coat seeing as it was snowing and I was wearing a tank top. Only an insane person would carry a coat and not wear it: further evidence towards my mental instability.

I stumbled through a dozen back alleys until I found my own secret base in the basement of my apartment building. It was really just a small hole where I shoved my stuff, but it worked. After changing out of my costume and stashing it, I struggled up to the place I called home. Mel wasn't there, so I collapsed straight into bed, ignoring everything else. I could shower and eat later. Getting there had taken all my strength. I spotted my phone sitting on my dresser, but I left it where it was. That fiasco could wait. When I got around to it, though, I would have a lot to answer for... and I wasn't sure how I would.