Average Joe (2018)

44

After I told them what happened, my friends and family remained silent. Dad was leaning forward on the couch, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Cora was standing in the entryway to the kitchen, her face sullen, probably thinking of Bryan. Darwin sat quietly at the kitchen table, recovering from the concussion they gave him. Mom sat at the other end of the couch, her face pale.

"Robson," she spoke softly. "Is Melonie? I had no idea. I had never met Melonie before."

"And," Dad added, his face grim. "She was pregnant."

"I'm just confused as to how Robson found out about Norman," Cora said. "I mean, we were careful. How could she know?" I thought for a moment.

"At the beginning of the school year, the school nurse took some of my blood," I told them. "And I could have easily left some of my blood behind at a crime scene, so maybe Robson compared the two, or maybe she was watching Mom and saw me leave the house with my baton or something."

"Sabrina," Dad addressed her. "Why did you try to kill me earlier?" Mom frowned. She looked at me and then back at the ground.

"Robson has this new drug. It can enhance someone's powers but it also clouds the mind. I didn't find out until later, but it's also a mind-control drug. Robson told me to kill you, so I tried..." Dad frowned. I could tell he felt sorry for her. I didn't.

"Well," I scowled. "Maybe you wouldn't have been in that situation to begin with if you didn't work for Robson." Dad frowned.

"Now, Norman," he began, but I cut him off.

"No," I argued. "I'm sick of it. I'm sick of lying for you two, trying to pretend I'm okay with it when I'm not!" I picked up my baton off the coffee table and threw it to the ground. "I never asked for any of this! I never wanted to be a vigilante or the son of the two most powerful people in the world. I just wanted to be normal." I stormed off to the balcony and left my parents there.

___

As Norman marched out to the balcony, Cora and Darwin hesitantly followed him. Ted felt the slashes and bruises across his body and they ached. He looked at his son out on the balcony and felt hollow inside when he realized that he wasn't a little boy anymore. He hadn't been for a long time and Ted had missed it. They both missed it. Sabrina held her head in her hands.

"What have we done, Ted?" She asked him. "Robson, Shadow Global, this is all our fault." Ted wanted to argue with that statement, but he didn't. He knew Sabrina was right.

"We screwed up," he agreed.

"I tried to kill the father of my child," she reminded herself. "I didn't do anything when I knew the Chronicle was targeting Norman, and all because... I was afraid of her." Ted frowned.

"Of Robson?" Sabrina nodded.

"She's the only person who's ever truly terrified of me, besides..." Sabrina made eye contact with Ted and he nodded. They didn't need to talk about her. Sabrina sighed. "What are we going to do?" Ted shook his head.

"I have no idea." Ted looked at her. "But maybe it's time we stopped letting our past dictate us." Sabrina looked at him. "It's time to stop running."

___

I sighed as me and my friends looked out below our city.

"Do you think Bryan will be okay?" Cora asked me. I shook my head.

"I don't know. Who knows what Mathew's motives are? Who knows why he wants him?" Darwin shook his head.

"Forget about Bryan. I'm more worried about Tori. What's that maniac going to do to her?" I pushed off from the balcony railing.

"Screw this," I announce. "I'm hitting the streets and looking for them." Cora put on her jacket.

"We'll come with," Cora said. As we entered the penthouse living room, I saw my Dad pacing the floor. Mom was nowhere to be seen. I frowned.

"Where's mom?" Dad looked at me, his expression was grim.

"Righting a wrong."

___

Robson stared out into the city through the window Norman Knight smashed through. Little ingrate, she thought. The television on her wall played a loop of news stories that she wasn't paying attention to. After a moment, the Chronicle entered the room.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked.

"Yes." Robson turned to face him. "You have Mr. Knight's friends?" The Chronicle nodded. "Good. I want you to use them as hostages to get Norman Knight out of hiding. His father will probably be with him. Kill them both. I don't care what you do with Mr. Everdale and Ms. Felix after that. The Chronicle nodded.

"Right, well, Miss Robson, you should probably take a look at what's on the TV." Robson frowned and turned.

___

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What's going on?" Dad nodded to the TV and my heart dropped. Natalie was on screen, covering a press coverage meeting hosted by... My Mom. I don't know how she got down there so fast or called all the news studios there, but she managed it, and now she was standing there, dressed in her nice pantsuit, facing the crowd, tall and strong, a million microphones pointed at her.

"Thank you all for meeting me here on such short notice," she said to the crowd. "Many of you do not know who I am." Mom watched the crowd closely. Her expression was dark. "My name is Sabrina Miller and I am a lawyer at Shadow Global, a position I have held for roughly ten years. Well, there is something about myself and Shadow Global that the world should know." My heart froze. Darwin's face paled and Cora covered her mouth as Mom pressed something on her necklace. The crowd gasped as the nanotech armor slid over her body and suddenly, Sabrina Miller was no more and only Cold Front remained. "I am Cold Front!" The crowd went wild with screams, questions, and shouts, but my mother's voice cut through it once more as she said, "There's more! The man you call the Chronicle has worked alongside me at Shadow Global for the past year. Shadow Global is a corrupt institution with one essential cog at its core, the menace that some call Oblivion, and her real name is...

___

"Helena Robson!"

Rage overcame Robson as she picked up a chair and threw it, smashing the television screen to shards, a guttural scream escaping her throat.