One moment I was stopping a meta human from robbing a bank, the next I was flying into a wall. I couldn't see anything, he'd caught me off guard. I cursed in my mind. I tried to focus but it wouldn't stop. I still couldn't see. I tried to stand up by pushing myself up the wall. When I righted myself I could see again but everything was wonky. I couldn't get a clear image but I could tell I was now alone in the room.
"XS where are you?" I heard Ralph's voice in my ear. I quickly tried to straighten my vision as I responded.
"I'm coming," I said. Then I sped out of the room and onto the street. It was just Ralph and I today, my dad was busy with something at work and this was a pretty low level matter, it didn't need all hands on deck. My mom was with us on the comms and Caitlin was on standby with Frost just in case. She didn't expect to need her at first but now she wasn't so sure.
I saw Ralph trying to restrain the meta by tying him up with his arm but this guy was slippery, literally. His skin was oozing something that lubricated the man enough that he could slip through almost anything.
"I could use a hand here," he called.
"Throw a lightning bolt!" Mom said in my ear. A nodded, even though she couldn't see me, and began to run in a vortex. I was just starting to move my arm to throw the bolt when it happened again. I tried to hold it off but I couldn't stop it. My eyes rolled up into my head and my vision was severely limited. Since I couldn't see where I was going I tripped and spun into a wall, the lightning flew off my hand and hit something. What it hit I didn't know. It certainly wasn't the meta. I could hear laughing. Once again I pushed myself up and tried to fight off my hazy vision. I could see Ralph pushing himself up too.
"What the hell?" he asked. "You were supposed to hit him not me!" Shit. I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths. I had to get control or I was lose it completely.
"What happened?" my mom asked over the headset.
"He got away," Ralph said, frustration obvious in her voice.
"Just come back here and we can regroup," Iris said. "We can still track him down." I sped and grabbed Ralph and ran us back to the lab.
"Are you guys okay?" Caitlin asked.
"No, I just got hit with lightening," Ralph exclaimed.
"I thought your dad said that you could control that now," Iris said.
"I can," I exclaimed, trying not to cry. I felt horrible.
"So what? You just hit me for fun and threw yourself into a wall afterwards?" Ralph asked.
"I couldn't see anything," I said quietly. "That's why he threw me into the wall in the vault and why I lost control of my lightning outside."
"Did the meta do something to you?" Caitlin asked.
"No," I mumbled, not making eye contact. I glanced up quickly at my mom who had realization in her eyes.
"Guys, it's fine, we can still track him," she said.
"I think it's a job for the police now," Ralph said. "We're supposed to stop these guys before they commit crimes."
"I'll tell my dad what we know and see what he thinks," my responded. "For now why don't all of you just take a break." My eyes rolled back into my head as I nodded. I heard Ralph yelp. My eyes snapped back down, this time there wasn't much haze because it wasn't a long period of time.
"What?" Caitlin asked, having been looking the other direction.
"Sorry, Nora looked like a demon for a minute," he said. "Don't do that man, I forgive you for zapping me." I didn't say anything.
"Ralph!" Mom barked.
"What?" he asked. I had closed my eyes but I knew she was making her "shut up" face.
"I wasn't doing it on purpose," I said. "I think I look like a demon when I do it too but you're not in on the joke. So thanks for that." I said and then stomped out of the room. I know that he didn't know but I just needed a second to calm down.
"Nora!" my mom called, running after me. "Hey, Ralph didn't mean that."
"I know mom," I told her. "He didn't know."
"And I didn't tell him either, I wasn't sure if you'd want me to," she told me.
"I don't care if he knows, I just care that he understands," I told her.
"Understand what?" she asked. I took a breath.
"I make fun of my tics all the time," I said. " I crack jokes about my malfunctioning nervous system, I give my tics ridiculous names. I do actually call my eyes roll my demon tic, and I have another one called my chicken tic. Sometimes I have a complex tic called the crazy chicken demon. I know it sounds weird but it's just how I handle things. I can't make the tics stop but I can make them less than they are. But that's the point. I'm the one who does that, the one who chooses to do that."
"So even though you agree with Ralph you are upset because he said it without your permission," Mom realized.
"Yeah," I said. "I don't care if my friends crack jokes about me as long as I make the joke first. It's not the same for everyone but that's how it is for me."
"I understand," she said, putting her arms around me. I hugged her back. "But I'm glad that you're okay, you took a few spills today."
"I don't normally tic when I'm in the field," I said. "I guess I was just nervous not having Dad there."
"You know what happened wasn't your fault right?" Iris asked.
"No, it is," I said. "If I had been honest about what was going on I could have swapped out with Frost or worked with Ralph. My tics don't stop me from being a hero but it does mean that I have to be willing to do things a little bit different."
"So you're going to tell the team?" Mom asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, I'll talk to Ralph and Caitlin right now. They probably think something is wrong," I said. "I'm not afraid of people knowing that I have tics, I'm afraid of them thinking that it means I can't do everything I want to. But I know the team would never do that to me. You don't in the future and you shouldn't now." Mom smiled and walked back with me to the cortex to talk with Ralph and Caitlin. I never mind having this conversation, it's important for people to know, I just wished that it wasn't as conversation that I had to have at all. So, as I walked back into the cortex, I grabbed my moms arm, because I couldn't fight the urge to roll my eyes up once again.
