Superheroes Suck

Chapter 43: The Reveal

"It was you Harry, this whole time." I managed to whisper out as he strutted to my cage.

The once shy looking photographer stood a little straighter, smiled a little wider than the man I knew. He removed his glasses, his eyes never leaving mine, as he crushed them in one hand. The dust and glass shards fell to the floor as he opened his fist, along with a few drops of blood.

"Ever since our first meeting outside of that ice cream shop. That was unfortunately not planned, it was more of a spur of the moment thing when I saw you standing there looking so innocent yet so stupidly unafraid." His voice remained pleasant, though he appeared anything but friendly. His eyes found his older brother, who shrunk away under Harry's unwavering gaze, "It's unfortunate the brute over there couldn't control himself, I much enjoyed your cute little banter. It's a shame that had to end."

"So the two of you have been switching off as Stromer. He entered the school to get close to me and you...you joined the Advocate to get close to me as well?" That part just didn't make sense to me.

"No, I joined the Advocate because I was aware of Max's secret identity. Also because, as everyone knows, news is ingrained in the world of Supers. I thought having an in would be our best chance at making Stromer known to the public. Your interests in news was a mere coincidence, that much I have to admit, but as soon as I saw your application in stack of potential interns, I tricked Trevor into fighting for you. It wasn't hard, to be quite honest, it was a little too easy.

"Making you trust me was almost as easy as getting you the job in the first place. A terrible boss and a sweet sympathetic and attractive older coworker," He got in my face, "you were putty in my hands. After the thing with Trevor, thank you for that by the way, I spoke with Mr. Maddox and after seeing what a brave and caring man I was, along with having a stellar resume, he gave me Trevor's job. Then I could manipulate you into going where I wanted and doing what I needed to do. Of course you'd help your flustered new boss. It's no surprise your mother's a hero given the hero complex you seem to have."

"I definitely don't have a hero complex," I pointed out, not really understanding the severity of the situation I was in. Harry was right, we do have a good repartee, "I have more of an 'anti-damsel-in-distress' thing going on."

"Shut up!" Thresher growled looking over at me as I shrunk back.

But, reacting with anger as his brother had, Harry held up a hand to stop him, his smile never leaving his face, "See, I told you. I find your little quips amusing, I just glad you got your spunk back," The friendly facade fell, "I can't wait to kill it again."

There was nothing but finality in Harry's eyes, something that scared my far more than Mr. Thresher ever could.

Oh my god they're really going to kill me.

"Your death would kill two stones," Harry explained, "You're Breeze's precious daughter and Max's son loves you."

"How did you know that?" I can't believe he knew about Murphy and Max. Does he know about Murphy and Spitfire and Max and Mr. M Maddox.

Damn all those M names are confusing.

"My brother's a bit of a stalker. He followed you around every once in a while and, well, he got lucky. He saw Max's confession to Oliver Thompson."

"Murphy." Thresher chimed in hesitantly.

He shrunk back as soon as Harry's eyes found him, "Whatever, we know your boyfriend is Max's son."

"Plus we know about Spitfire's little 'thing' for you, that much is obvious. How does your boyfriend feel about that? Having to measure up to the 'great'" The word seemed to amuse Harry, "Spitfire. I guess he must not have too much of a complex when his other father is one of the richest men in the country."