To be a Hero

Fern (Empress) - caught red handed

I was so lost in thought I lost track of time.

We are about 1 minute from Missionary's house and I'm just about ready to collapse. My arm is starting to throb where I was cut in the fight and my legs just seem to be getting heavier and heavier. We reach the edge of the building we're at and stop to look over the side. We usually get down here and walk the remaining way to Missionary's house but today there are 3 people hidden in the darkness.

The first man is at least 6 foot and looks like he is a regular at the gym, his muscles easily showing through his thick jacket. The one on his left has the same physique but looks a bit shorter and has a visible scar across his face. The third man is of a smaller build, and seems to be the brains of the trio, since he is doing most of the talking.

We would usually avoid this but they look quite sketchy, they're talking in hushed voices and I can easily see the gun pointing out of the third man's pocket, no doubt the other two have guns as well.

'Missionary,' The Elemental whispers, so she doesn't alert the people in the alley, 'what are they saying?'

Missionary is already one step ahead of her and is taking out a device from her belt.

'I've been working on this for a while,' she says, fiddling with the device, 'Its a bug. It'll go down and we'll be able to hear what it picks up through my watch.'

We all look at her, amazed, as she flicks a switch on the bug. The technology is amazing, but I could do the same thing with my powers... if I learned how to control them.

She lets the bug loose and it crawls across and down the side of the building, heading towards the people. It settles down on the wall next to them, relaying everything that they say to us. Missionary turns on her watch and for a moment all we can hear is static, but then we hear a deep voice coming through the speakers.

'-ose heroes think they're so clever, stopping the heist.'

'How do they-' Lady Prophet whispers before getting interrupted Missionary shushing her.

The bug goes static for a moment, leaving us all anxiously waiting for the next part to their conversation. Missionary taps on her watch a few times until voices come out again.

'-ase two of our plan has begun.'

They begin to walk off, leaving us waiting on the edge of the building. One of the bigger men turns around to check if anyone was followed notices the bug on the wall. He taps the other two on the shoulders and points out the bug. Cursing, they all start looking around to try and find the owners of the bug. We quickly duck down behind the ledge, falling over ourselves and knocking into each other. I bump into The Elemental's shoulder making her gasp in pain, I see her grab onto her shoulder, her face tensing up, biting her lip and using all her energy not to yell out.

I stare at her, not knowing what to say. I don't usually talk anyone but Miss Mystery so I'm not sure what to do. I slowly reach out to give her a hand but she shakes her head.

'Don't worry,' she says through gritted teeth, trying to smile, 'I-It'll be fine.'

I look at her, worried. The others all seemed to notice what just went on between us, occasionally sending worried glances our way. After a few moments of barely audible discussion between Missionary and Lady Prophet, they shuffle over to us.

'We need to move,' whispers Lady Prophet, pointing behind her, 'we'll head that way, hop onto there and get down at the side.'

'It'll take a bit longer to walk to my place,' Missionary continues, 'but we can't risk going past these guys and getting caught.' She gives an extra look to The Elemental who shakes her head and mouths 'I'm fine'.

I nod. Missionary and Lady Prophet both stand, followed by Miss Mystery and I. I look down to The Elemental and offer her my hand, she accepts it and I help her up. Missionary points to the building ahead of us, making sure we know where we're going.

We start running across the rooftop as silently as possible and hop over to the next building one at a time. The gap was about two meters and it was a solid three story drop. I tried to make a portal for everyone to hop through but my energy is completely drained, it just looked like a few sparks. I watch all my teammates go over first, and with the help of The Elemental's air-propulsion we all get across safely. We climb down the side of the building and prepare to walk the long way to Missionary's house.

I walk over to Miss Mystery to engage in a telepathic conversation with her.

'Hey'

'Hey, you alright? You looked a bit stunned back there.'

'Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't want to stuff anything up, it's making me a bit tense...'

'Don't worry, if anyone's going to stuff the mission up, it won't be you.'

'How can you be so sure?'

'I've seen you fight, you're cautious, more cautious than missionary, and that's saying something. You need to learn to let loose around these guys... maybe, I don't know, talk to them once in a while?'

'I know, I will... eventually... it's just difficult.'

'I get it, till then I'll just have to be your messenger.'

She smiles at me and I smile in return.

We climb down the edge of a building and head down the road, staying in the shadows and keeping our faces covered as to not get noticed...

As usual...