Secretly Powerful

Chapter 10: One Step Ahead

Aubrey pulled open the door to the police station and stepped inside the bustling space.
It had been three weeks since the gala. And the arrest of Ryker Watkins. The whole station had been in a uproar about it. Everyone wanted to see Ryker, and the interrogations, and see how his powers worked. And the press had had a field day too. She could thank her superhero alter ego for making everyone so invested in the guy. But Aubrey tried to avoid anything having to do with him  the best she could. She didn't want him revealing her secret. And she was surprised he hadn't during all his questioning and interrogations. But she didn't have to worry about that anymore. Ryker was now behind bars serving time yet again. And after that whole debacle was over, work was business as usual, for the most part.
Aubrey went to work. She and Christian worked in their comfortable routine. She went to sit with Makenzie and Wyatt for lunch. She'd stop a couple bad guys. Maybe go out with Makenzie on the weekends. Visit her mom a couple times.
But over the time that passed, it was too quiet. Over the past couple weeks, Noah hadn't sent one of his followers after her. Maybe it was because he was running low on people to send? Aubrey wouldn't know. The only person Noah sent to fight her off was some person she'd never seen before. Some girl who could manipulate the four elements, like she could. Christian had given her the name of '4-E'. And, she was actually a pretty worthy opponent, since they had the same powers. But, Aubrey had only fought her once and she hadn't seen her again. But she didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.
And because of the low activity from Noah, they didn't really get anywhere with the odd criminals board. But something was telling her they would soon.
Aubrey stopped in front of the door and soaked in the medium hum of chatter and movement throughout the office. She gazed around, trying to see if she saw any of her friends before she headed down to the lab. When her gaze reached the break room she saw Makenzie, Wyatt, and Christian chatting. Christian caught her gaze and waved at her. She smiled slightly and waved back. She was about to head down to the lab, but Christian waved his hand in a motion that suggested he wanted her to go over there. So, she obeyed his hand signal and strode over to the break room.
"Hey Aubrey." Wyatt greeted her once she reached them. He stood with his hands in his pockets. Makenzie greeted her too and Aubrey replied with and awkward "Uh, Hi.".
"So. Guess what!?" Makenzie said with enthusiasm.
Aubrey thought it was far too early in the morning to be that excited about something, but knowing Makenzie she probably had coffee in her system.
Not feeling up to guessing, she shrugged and said "Um...what?"
"We're going to the hideout today!" Makenzie did jazz hands.
"Oh, finally. It's about time." Since they arrested Ryker their plan to go to the hideout he had mentioned were pushed back. And she remembered Captain Ferguson saying something about checking with Ryker to see if it was legit.
"Mmhmm." Wyatt agreed.
"I just hope it's not a trap." Christian said, his eyebrows were furrowed with worry and he twirled a curl of hair around his fingers.
Aubrey had also thought about if the hideout would be a trap or not. But they wouldn't know until they went there....
"It probably is..." She murmured.
"Shush or else you'll jinx it!" Bella said as she hit Christian's arm.
Aubrey chuckled. She hadn't noticed Bella was standing there with them until she'd spoken. Before that, she had seemed to be wrapped up in something on her phone.
Still looking in Bella's direction, she noticed her look past Aubrey and put away her phone.
"Captain's coming." Bella said. They all turned to look in the direction Bella was looking. Captain Ferguson was walking toward them. At a somewhat startling fast pace. It made Aubrey a little uneasy.
"Great. Everyone's here." She said as she stopped in front of the group.
"Wait. We're going?" Aubrey asked as she pointed to Christian and herself.
"Yes." Captain Ferguson said. Aubrey opened her mouth, ready to say something else, but the Captain started talking before she could get a word out. "Now, As for how this is going to work. Detective Wells, Webb and myself will go in first, to check the place out. Stevens, Freeman and Porter, you'll be on standby until we say to come in. Are we clear?"
All of them nodded and responded "Yes ma'am".
"Great. Get ready, we're leaving in 5 minutes." She started to walk away from them. Aubrey opened her mouth again to say something but someone asked before she could.
"Wait, wait, wait, Captain!" She turned to face them at the sound of Makenzie calling her "Don't we need like...some kind of team?"
Captain Ferguson stared at Makenzie for a few seconds as if she were stupid "You are the team." She said simply.
"No, I mean like, shouldn't we have SWAT with us? Or...extra officers?" She asked further.
The Captain sighed "You make a good point Webb. And trust me, I've thought about that over these past couple weeks. But...no. We won't be bringing anyone else with us. This is...new territory. These people have...powers and if we brought a big group with us it might be easier from them to detect us. A small group is better." She said.
"Oh." Makenzie said. "Well uh. Ok then." Aubrey could hear the apprehension in her voice.
"Alright." Captain Ferguson turned on her heel.
Aubrey again opened her mouth to speak, but their Captain walked away from them so fast, she was out of earshot within seconds. Aubrey closed her mouth and grunted in frustration.
"Hey, can you help me get some things?" Christian asked her.
Aubrey glanced at him, a little startled "Uh, sure."
She followed Christian down to the lab.