Page 75 of The Not So Super Hero

Nate and Natalia sat at a table in a conference room that resembled a wall splashed by an ugly shade of blue paint.

Maps, pictures, and information reflected on TV screens scattered about.

People even brought in boards to scribble on, as well as more tables and chairs that sat strangers.

Zane recognized two strangers as heroes.

The first being Roux, he recalled seeing her on TV.

Next to her was Seven, the only one of the strangers to offer Zane a smile.

“You must be Zane. We were told a lot about you,” one man said that Zane assumed was in charge of the option. His hair was more salt than pepper, slicked back and wore a boring black suit. “I’m Paul. I would ask the others to introduce themselves, but we don’t have much time for pleasantries.”

“That’s fine. I don’t really do pleasantries,” Zane replied, taking the empty seat by Natalia’s side. She kicked him beneath the table and he happily returned the favor. She bit back a smile.

“To keep it simple, we have eyes on Leona,” Paul explained, gesturing towards the boards and monitors. Zane took the time to examine them more thoroughly while Paul chattered.

They certainly had been keeping themselves busy.

Pictures of the riots and officials at M.R.S.

flashed through the room. Notes over took the boards mostly, questions, answers, locations, so much that Zane wondered if he’d ever catch up.

His gaze lingered on a picture of Antoine.

It was clearly older, judging by how carefree he was standing outside.

From what Nate said, no one had physically seen him since their last run in.

There were only whispers, hints to where he was or what he was doing.

“If we have eyes on her, I’m sure she knows it,” said Roux.

“Our officers have kept themselves unseen,” Paul countered.

Zane snorted. Nate spoke exactly what he was thinking. “Doesn’t matter. If anything, Leona is letting them see her. Always assume she’s up to something because she is.”

“Still, we can’t pass up the opportunity,” Natalia said. “We may not get another chance to grab her. If she’s up to something, we’ll just have to make sure to be extra careful.”

Zane wanted to snort again. What part of tracking down members of a murderous organization was careful? None, and they were crazy to think they could be careful.

“Leona would rather die than get caught,” Zane said. “We won’t catch her if that’s what you’re all trying to do.”

“You lack such faith in yourself,” Paul said with a disappointed scowl that had Zane glaring at him. “Why bother coming if you don’t expect anything?”

“Don’t get pissy with me because I’m being realistic. If you knew anything about her, you’d know I’m right.”

Natalia elbowed Zane, but it had already been said. Paul had no issue showing his annoyance, and neither did Zane. It was going to be a long meeting. Why was everything dragging on? All Zane wanted to do was take a nap, but alas, the day felt like it had turned into an eternity.

The entire day was spent in that damn conference room.

It was suffocating, but there was too much to catch up on to risk stepping away.

It seemed the idiots on the bus were on something, as Paul mentioned some peculiar happenings.

Heroes were losing their abilities, albeit some for only a few moments.

At first they wrote it off as the aftershock of battle, but like on the bus, Tempest was brought up.

Apparently, their powers hadn’t returned, and the doctors were growing scared.

From what Nate explained, he got some information from an informant inside M.R.S.

There was talk around their group of a cure, which meant if Rebirth had succeeded, they had already given it to M.R.S.

Why? What was their purpose? Was Antoine hoping that M.R.S.

would go crazy, try to cure the world until he was the last mutant standing?

Who knew? But it was a terrifying thought.

Surveillance teams set up all around the U.S.

Heroes were spread thin due to all the attacks.

The world fell into chaos bit by bit. Zane hated sitting in a room trying to come up with a plan to catch one woman, but it was all they had.

There were no leads on where Antoine or Law was, and she would be their best bet.

“He’s an idiot if he thinks we can catch Leona alive,” Zane grumbled after the meeting ended. It was more of instructions than anything else. They were going to try cornering Leona regardless of Zane’s disagreement.

“If she’s dead, one less person to worry about,” Nate pointed out, shrugging, when Natalia gave him an offended look. “What? No one would miss her!”

Natalia rolled her eyes. “Listen, I don’t like Paul’s plan anymore than you do, but either way, we’ll get something out of this. We kill Leona, we catch her, or we could get a clue to where Law and Antoine are hiding. I’m willing to take the chance.”

Zane was reluctant, even with Natalia making sense.

As much as he wanted to beat the living shit out of Leona, he knew she wouldn’t make it easy.

She may not be the strongest mutant he has ever fought, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a huge pain to deal with.

There was a reason Antoine kept her around.

She was vindictive, intelligent, and capable of getting herself out of sticky situations. The worst kind of person.

“So, how did Bailey take it?” Nate asked when the three of them went off to their hotel. Zane was shocked to discover they could leave the precinct. He expected to be sleeping in a cot in a prison cell, not that he was complaining.

“Take what?” Zane asked.

“You joining us.”

Zane shrugged. Natalia poked him continuously. He whacked her hands away, but then Nate joined in.

“Quit it!” Zane snapped and was ignored until he finally caved. “Fine, I don’t know. He took it fine? I don’t understand what answer you want.”

“The true one,” Natalia giggled before wrapping her arm around Zane’s. She hadn’t done that since they were kids. He shivered. Not in a bad way. More like his body wasn’t used to it? He wasn’t sure how to explain it.

“He must be scared,” she added. “I’m glad Chris is with him, but you know it may be awhile until you see him again?”

Zane bit the insides of his cheeks to keep back a frown. He knew that. Bailey knew that. There was no telling how long they would be apart. It could be months, and the very idea of that made Zane’s chest ache in ways he couldn’t explain.

“Bailey’s brave,” Nate spoke up with a kind smile. “Chris told us about what he did a while back. Who was it? Boomer?”

“Yeah, Chris said you gave a report about some dumbass who jumped in front of strangers thinking he could save them when he couldn’t even save himself,” Natalia mocked. She grinned at the glare he sent her.

“And he survived Antoine’s attack. Even beat him on the head with a rock, which I wish someone got on video!” Nate laughed, playfully nudging Zane in the side as they walked into the hotel lobby. “Hey, he may not be a mutant, but he’s still pretty brave, don’t you think?”

Zane bit his bottom lip. Though he didn’t verbally respond, he couldn’t help but to think, yeah, he’s pretty brave.