Certified Superhero (Misfits #2)

2: here to confiscate, not buy

I was piling a bite of cheesy alfredo pasta in my mouth when the automatic lock disengaged on the front door. Call me prepared or paranoid, but before the door even cracked open, my hand was already radiating a soft blue glow.

Diana knew the routine by now and entered with one hand up, the other carrying an umbrella. "Don't shoot. It's just me." Despite her raincoat, she was shivering. When Rory had offered us a job in Nova City she had neglected to tell us that the city was home of the coldest freak rainstorms in the world.

I tried for a wry smile to cover up the pounding of my heart. "Freeze." I held up my glowing hand. She pretended to look guilty. No one mentioned that my hand was shaking.

"How was school?" I asked as she threw her bag on the couch, kicked off her rain boots, and stole whatever was left of the takeout pasta.

She only shrugged in response instead of talking through her mouth of pasta. There was a beat of silence as she chewed then asked, "And work?"

I didn't have the decency to wait to swallow. Through a full mouth, I mumbled, "I got out late again and accidentally got in an argument during a committee meeting." In other words: the usual.

She pointed at her container with her fork. "Do they know your order yet?"

"By heart."

Diana chuckled. "Same with the taco place around the corner and the Chinese place downstairs. We are healthy queens, huh?"

I gave her a high five on my way to my bedroom. As much as I wished I could have stayed longer and actually asked about her day, I had a night job to get ready for.

Diana was just finishing dinner when I emerged from my room ten minutes later wearing a baggy tracksuit. She held out a small box in my direction. There was a hint of exasperation when she said, "Please, try not to lose this one."

I was smart enough to not make any promises. My knack for losing communication earpieces led to Diana spending hours in her university's electronics lab. We had tried strapping headphones to my ear, shoving them in, once Diana had suggested using tape. None of that worked.

I was expecting another sleek earbud when I opened the box. But under the lid was a thin piece of sticky film the size of a dime with a metallic dot in the middle.

"I thought we agreed to not use tape."

"It's a flexible adhesive that feels like a bandaid. The dot in the middle is a super-sensitive speaker and microphone all in one." I stuck the tiny device on the lobe of my ear as Diana instructed. "And it took two weeks and three people to make a functioning prototype. If you lose this one, you're on your own. No more tech support from me."

She opened her laptop, typed a few commands, and the device turned on. She held up her phone and said, "Can you hear me?" Her voice was whisper close in an almost creepy way. It would be nice tonight when I started feeling lonely on the streets.

I gave her a hug on my way out. "I wouldn't want anyone else running support." And I left for the busy streets of Nova City.

The city got busiest just after the sun went down. The metro filled up, and I struggled to find a seat in my car. It was a long ride out to the edges of the city. Mine and Diana's apartment was located in the literal heart of the city in a ritzy hotel known as the White Palace and was courtesy of one of Rory's old friends. I had been assigned to patrol the poorer Old Stone District that marked the city's boundary. That meant a thirty minute ride. Having a seat was a necessity.

The further we moved from Queen Plaza where the hotel was located, the less dense the crowd on the metro became, and I eventually found a seat. The long-time Nova residents had their heads hanging or were getting a little too cozy on their neighbor's shoulder. I wasn't there yet, even though I wished I could relax enough to sneak a nap in during my commute.