I had my eyes on the crown, as they say. A bunch of men in black monocrome outfits standing with a shady gaze and a "signature collection" of guns and various weapons dangling from their belts and chests. The conceited attitude was more than perceptible, it was almost glowing in the dark. I had to keep my eyes on them, never let go of the target. I got myself a coffee, pretending to be the go-to customer you'd encounter on a perfect sunday morning. When I came back, my flaming hot drink in hand, they had already invaded the bank, and I wondered what the heck of a game I've been playing. Guns everywhere, grenades showing off, cash registers, safes and huge money boxes lying open on the ground. But they were interested in the freaking metal. It was a piece of cake for someone like me; I'd simply attract it as soon as they grab it, just had to keep moving to activate my magnetic field.
As the clumsiest gangster got the prize in his palms, I turned the situation to my advantage. Gold blocks as big as my arm were pressed all over my body, with metallic coins coming out of the blue every now and then. The heaviness of the materials almost knocked me down but I remembered I was not just a random guy witnessing the scene. I had premeditated this with the girls for so long, and this'd better work out for every single reason it had to. I managed to threaten them with blocks of gold that I had enough strength to injure them with. Asked a guy nearby to call the police.
My knees were almost crumbling. They must have realized that I couldn't actually harm them, as I was already struggling to keep myself together, so one of them shot me in the hip to not damage the "treasure"; I fell on my spine and felt tears roll on my cheeks. This sure as hell was unexpected. They were now ready to 'pull the gold off me', but the attraction was too strong due to my mass. As they kept on pulling the harsh, cold gold towards them time and again, the cops showed up, but, damn, way too late to save my flunching back and legs. I was still grateful it wasn't one of the girls that had to clean up this GOLDEN mess, they couldn't have coped potentially. Either way, I had no desire to figure out.
The misfits were transferred to a special unit, while I was headed to the closest hospital. While I was in depth of my superhero daydream, not giving a damn about how much of a bop the internet was, my pictures and videos were all over the worldwide web, my powers exposed, and my identity endangered for sure. I couldn't ponder about that as my consciousness was getting more and more razor thin, and my thoughts closing up to unveil a dark place with no issues nor real, intellectual, free air to breathe. I felt as if I weren't anymore. Anything, anymore.
I opened my eyes to Aurora handily inspecting my face and Cecilia looking up close, as my head was rolling with anxiety ; We, cocky beginners, weren't undercover. We could've knocked it off a bit, but the thought of having to slow down was messing with my nerves. Aurora hugged me, and I would've liked to hug her back. I was suffocating under the thick blankets and the barrage of questions in my mind.
"So they know, right? I saw people take pictures."
"You're in every single newspaper you could name. Should I congratulate you or mourn your loss with you now?"
"So what do we do, now?"
Cecilia's eyes seemed glittery, fascinated, excited...
As if fame was the goal from day 1...
I wanted to kiss her in the ashes of the hella fire they had let flame in the place. We had been beginners at this energy level for too long, and now more anytime ever, they needed severe coaching. But could I tell her that it sounded like a failure to l?I only distracted the robbers for a random dude to call the cops... Was that the heroic work I wanted to do? Was it all for our egos, after all? How devastated were weafter this whole rescue operation went awry? Or at least, didn't rise up to our standards? Devastated enough for us to be selfish? Egocentric when it was about so many others but ud ?
Cecilia abruptly asked if she could control her anticipations, and Aurora said she had very little to no knowledge, that maybe higher blood speed could, but It really was highly discouraged. And she said so with a look in her eyes that made "discouraged" sound like "forbidden".
"Just keep an eye on your uni admissions, right now. And get ready to meet someone important tonight."
"But wait? What shall we do about this screwed up undercover mess?"
"We should be unapologetic when it comes to who we are. Plus, there are quests we don't give up on. Like saving humanity, seeking humanity. I once felt like a stone cold zombie, Cecilia. I'm not ready to get to feel that ever again." Cecilia felt self-centered, socially insignificant when hearing this. She thought she had been kind her whole life, but what if what lies within her was raw, pure self interest that she's been trying to cover up before even she knows?
She craved affection and reassurance altogether, in the here and now. Wanted to lie down and sleep in the warm feather blankets she brought from home, wanted to tell me how proud she was we were in the same team, maybe even tell me something more. I could've died that day.
Hope was draining my veins out of my old blood, I become a man to damn unrequited love for my whole existence.
But she came out bewildered when my solid voice rose first from the weakened body it was trapped inside.
"Cecilia, I do like you. Sounds awkward but I needed to get it off my chest."
"I do like you too, just promise if this liking thing goes south, you won't leave our league."
"So that's what we're calling it? Our league?"
"Is that your way of promising?"
"It is. Shall we rename this thing? The Energy Unit sounds a bit more like a train wagon to me." Cecilia laughed hard and then smiled. She seemed more entertained by the promise than his love announcement. Maybe she could actually read his eyes for this whole time....
"Cecilia, kiss me in the ashes of this mess we made." And so she did. Aurora, as proud as a teacher would be of her favourite students marrying each other, looked with that grin that lit up her face along with the whole room.
They perhaps still had time.