How To Ruin A City

Chapter Twenty Five

Catalina

"You're staring."

I paced, completing circle fifteen around the kitchen before branching off into the hall. I came back while chewing on my nails, meeting Kyle's eyes as he watched me from his wooden stool at the other end of the counter.

"And you're driving me crazy. It's only been a day. You guys will make up."

"Shut up!" I hissed. "You don't know that. Don't jinx me."

He heaved a sigh and crossed his arms, tilting forward to rest his chin on the marble countertop, staring up at me with his stupid puppy eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I shrugged.

"Because it seems like-"

"What if we robbed a bank?" I stopped in my tracks, a grin spreading over my face.

Kyle sat upright. "First of all, that only ever works in movies. It's the one thing I don't think we should ever do."

"Only one?"

"On second thought, no. There's a lot more. But I don't even know where the money would be. We'd have to go up to some poor worker and threaten them. Would we need to bring a duffel bag or something? I just don't think it will work. And what're you gonna do, threaten them with an icicle? Supers try all the time and they always get arrested these days. It sounds kind of mean too."

I rolled my eyes. "For fuck's sake, Kyle. Okay. Fine. No bank robbing."

He grinned, teeth sparkling white. "Thank you for taking my feedback into consideration. Plus I don't even have a good suit, or even an alias picked out. And you've seen what the news does to supers who don't name themselves."

"They named me after a block of compacted snow. At least I think...I didn't really pay attention to that earth and space science unit we had. Isn't that what glaciers are?"

"Glaciers are all rapidly melting. Maybe because Inferno dealt with you first they though something like...Oh my God. Do you think you could solve global warming?"

I blinked. "Huh? How would I even-? Anyway, as I was saying. I'm done playing hero. Why did I even get mixed up with Nic anyway? He's the worst! I'm not one, I'm not even a vigilante, so why should I force myself to help Zack and Luna? She almost got me killed!"

"Because they're our friends...?" Kyle shook his head and pulled his phone out. I grabbed it and read over a text when he held it out to me, sighing in relief. "Zack said he was fine, in case you were wondering. I feel like maybe we should...I don't know, focus on helping them? The Saviors are still a threat to you, and so are Blazing and Polar."

I gave him his phone back. "No. Stop that. I'm a supervillain, buddy. I didn't put on ripped leggings and a warm hoodie that always makes me sweat really badly or a stupid face mask that makes my warm breath hit me in the face just to go and play the good guy. I did it for the money, and I'm not making money anymore."

Kyle stared me down. "But-"

"And you said you wanted to be my minion!" I exclaimed, only to pause. "Should we just go with sidekick? Henchman? I don't know, it sounds really stupid."

Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose. "You think?"

I placed my hands on my hips. "Anything else?"

Kyle paused before rising to his feet. He gave a timid, "What about Cassandra?"

I glared. "Fuck Cassandra Hail. We aren't going to help her. She can deal with her own problems and keep acting more psycho than Chloe all on her own."