"Are you sure about this, Britt?"
They've been packing for at least an hour. Crammed inside her small backpack are two flashlights, an extra hoodie, a first-aid kit, back-up batteries for each flashlight, a roll of duct tape… More than she's ever seen Sam bring along when he goes on these late-night adventures.
"Be prepared!" Sam quoted at her earlier, holding his hand up in a salute. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and point out that he had never been a Boy Scout, instead grinning at him as she packed away an extra pair of socks.
That was twenty minutes ago, though, and she can feel her patience wearing a bit thin as she tugs on her zipper, trying to get it to close over her bulging cargo.
"Sam, you just asked me that five minutes ago. Yes, I'm sure."
He eyes her warily from where he sits on her bed. "But you've always been so... I don't know, dead-set against all of this."
"I used to be against it... and now I'm not," she says simply.
The doubt in Sam's face doesn't disappear, but she ignores it as she pulls a black hoodie over her head.
She knows it's ridiculous, but something really changed last night. Their powers have always represented something bad, an "unfortunate accident." But if there are other people out there like them - if there are other people with powers, who are using them for something bigger and better... well, Brittany doesn't see the harm in at least investigating it all. And what better way to investigate than to get involved herself?
"Look," she says, setting down her backpack. "Our talk yesterday just... it made sense to me, finally. Why you want to come out here and help people. It's because you can. And I think, maybe... I think I can, too. If you showed me."
Sam smiles gently at her words, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. "Of course you could, Britt. You're way stronger than you think."
She can't help but laugh at this. "I don't know about that, but... with you by my side, I'm not too worried," she says, and Sam wraps a protective arm around her. She leans into him, knowing that if she was going to be in a dangerous situation with anyone, she'd want it to be Sam. He's always had that protective-big-brother thing down pat.
It's chilly outside, even for mid April, and Brittany wraps her arms around herself when they step out into the cool evening air. The night was just beginning to come alive, people heading out to dance and drink, laughing and talking loudly in the streets. As far as Brittany could see, there wasn't anyone in the immediate area who needed the assistance of someone with superpowers. "Um, so where are we going, anyway?"
Sam shrugs as they cross the street together. "Oh, I don't know. I kind of like to just sit in dark alleyways, waiting for someone to get mugged."
"Really?" she says incredulously, frowning. That seems pretty boring.
"No, Britt," he answers, laughing. "If we get high up enough, though, I can pretty much hear what's going on around us. I'll be able to pick up on trouble pretty quick, and get us down there to help."
She looks nervously up at the buildings towering over them. "How high is high enough?"
"You'll see."
"Holy crap."
"High enough for you?" Sam laughs as Brittany leans to peer over the edge once more.
"Holy crap. Are we in space?"
"No, Britt."
"Look at the people, Sam! They look like little ants!"
"This isn't even the tallest building in the city."
"Really? Where is it? Can we go there next?"
"Brittany," he calls, trying to calm her, but she just grins at him excitedly. "Come here, take this."
He's holding out a black bandana to her, and she grabs it before holding it up to her face. There's nothing remarkable about it, and she frowns and begins to tie it on top of her head before Sam stops her.
"No, Britt. Like this."
Sam fastens his bandana so that it covers his face. She tries to mimic his, but after several failed attempts she lets Sam reach over and do it for her. She can't help the laugh that escapes her when he pulls away.
"We look like gangsters," she says, and she can tell by the crinkles around his eyes that he's smiling at her.
"I prefer the term bandits." He flips his hood up. "Here, do yours too."
She pulls the black hood over her head so nothing but her eyes are showing.
"Why do we have to wear all this stuff?" she asks. "It kind of makes me feel like a criminal."
Sam shrugs. "I dunno, all the guys in the comic books do. It's like, to protect the ones you love or something. If the bad guys don't know who you are, they can't use the people you love against you."
"This doesn't sound very safe," she says, frowning, but Sam shakes his head.
"Don't worry about it, Britt. Mostly it just makes me feel cool." He smiles winningly at her.
Brittany can't help but return his smile. "Yeah, we do look pretty badass. So what now? Do you get like spider-scent or something?"
"Spidey-sense, and no, I... here, actually, I'll show you."
Sam moves away from her, stepping suddenly towards the ledge. Brittany reaches out to grab him, forgetting for a moment that he could probably fall off a building twice the size of this one and still be unscathed.
"Sam be caref-"
"Shh!" His eyes are squeezed shut, and he brings a finger up to his lips. She steps up behind him to peer over his shoulder.
"What are you-"
"Shh!" He swats at her this time, and she giggles.
She watches him for a few moments, noting how his brow furrows every couple of seconds as if he's concentrating on something, occasionally tilting his head this-or-that way.
"Do you hear anything?" Brittany asks quietly after a minute has passed.
His face relaxes as he turns to look at her. "Yeah, but... nothing for us, yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there's a lot of stuff going on at once. I have to decide what's something we should go to, you know? I don't want to have any run-ins with the cops."
Brittany frowns, confused. "But... you're doing good things. Why wouldn't the cops like that?"
"Because what we're doing- it's not technically legal, Britt. I know you say the cops can handle everything, but the truth is, they can't. They just... they don't like to hear that they can't. They don't like someone else coming in and doing their job for them. It makes them feel out of control."
"That makes sense," she nods, agreeing. "So, how do you-"
"Hold up," Sam interjects, holding a hand up to stop Brittany before turning back to face the city.
His eyes squeeze shut again, and Brittany tries to be as quiet as she can, not even daring to breathe.
"I think... yeah, there's someone getting robbed. A woman. It's not far from here, but we're gonna have to run." He hunches over. "Hop on."
Giddy with nerves, she secures her backpack before obediently climbing onto Sam's back, holding on tight. He cranes his neck to look back at her. "Hold tight, okay?" he asks, and before she even gets to chance to answer, he's running so fast they might as well be flying.
The first thing Brittany notices is the wind.
She's so glad that her hair is secured under her hood, because at this speed she probably looks like Medusa. She tucks her head against Sam's shoulder, squinting her eyes as she tries to make sense of the blurs around them.
She can feel the way she falls through the air every time Sam takes a particularly large leap. She strains her muscles to hold on as tight as she can, but the ride is short– Sam has brought them to a stop on the roof of another building, a few blocks from where they started.
"Was that okay?" he asks, hushed. She nods quickly, because she's pretty sure it'll take her at least a few minutes to regain her voice, and she doesn't want to keep Sam waiting.
"All right. Stay up here, and don't draw any attention to yourself. I'm going to go figure out what's going on."
Brittany nods again, and he gives her a concerned smile before vaulting over the rooftop. She rushes to the side, watching with wide eyes as Sam silently descends the fire escape.
There are two men in the alleyway, both with their backs to Brittany. She can't see what they look like, but she's pretty sure one of them must be holding a weapon judging by the way the woman in front of them is cowering against the wall.
"P-please," Brittany can hear her sob. "I've given you all I have, please just leave me alone."
She's young, not much older than Brittany herself. She's wearing some sort of dress uniform, and Brittany realizes that she must have been walking home from work when the men cornered her.
"A gorgeous girl like you? I'm pretty sure you have more to give…"
Sam lands noiselessly in the dark, quickly taking cover behind a dumpster.
Even though he didn't make any sound, the girl must have noticed his movement behind her attackers, because her eyes have found Brittany's on the rooftop not a second later. She looks scared, terrified, and Brittany has never felt the need to comfort anyone more in her entire life.
Brittany presses a finger to her lips, though, and looks back at Sam before she can stop herself. He's walking towards the men now, silent as a shadow as he approaches them.
The woman must have seen him, because her attackers have noticed her attention is no longer on their weapons. The larger of the two realizes there's someone behind them first, spinning around quickly with a knife held out in front of him.
"Hey!" he shouts gruffly, and Sam stops moving. His hands are in his pockets and his stance is relaxed, as if he hasn't just walked in on a mugging. The bigger man steps towards Sam as the shorter one steps in front of the girl, as if to hide what they had just been doing.
"The fuck do you think you're doing?" the larger man growls, brandishing his knife, and Brittany watches in terror as Sam doesn't respond, continuing forward.
"Listen, man, you come any closer and I- I..." his speech stutters to a stop as Sam fearlessly seizes the hand gripping his knife and squeezes, forcing the weapon to pop right from his fingers. Sam catches it with his other hand by the sharp end. It crumples in Sam's fist fist as if it's made of plastic. Both men are gaping in awe as Sam tosses it carelessly over a shoulder, ruined.
"The fuck?" The man's voice is hoarse with fear. "Is this some sort of joke?"
Sam lets out a low laugh that echoes down the alley.
It's almost comical how quickly the color leaves his face, fear widening his eyes. "Listen, buddy, I— we, uh. We didn't mean any trouble, we was just leaving."
"Were you?" Sam finally speaks, and Brittany notices that he's talking in his lower register, like he does when he's doing his impressions. Except now, he doesn't sound funny; he sounds intimidating, and she can see its effect all over the man's face.
"So, I can assume that's your purse, then?" Sam says dryly, gesturing towards the bag clutched behind the man's back.
"Here, take it," he says, shoving it forward. Sam grabs it from him before dropping it to the ground next to his feet, but the other guy has clearly found his courage again.
"The fuck are you doing, Tony?" Brittany can see his face turning splotchy red with anger, but his accomplice can't tear his eyes away from Sam, dark and terrifying and freakishly strong in the alleyway. Brittany can hardly blame him; Sam is downright frightening.
"I think it's time for us to go," the friend answers. Unlike his red-faced friend, he has now turned completely pale, and if Brittany looks close enough she can see that his shoulders are shaking.
"Like hell it is," the angry man spits. He reaches behind him and wraps his hand around the girl's forearm, tugging harshly so that she falls in front of him with a strangled cry. The man pulls the girl up by her hair and shoves his own, uncrumpled knife to her throat. An eerie smile twists his face in the darkness.
"Here's what's going to happen," the man growls. "You're going to give me back that purse. Then you're going to give me your wallet, too. Try anything funny and I'll—"
Brittany doesn't see what happens next, but she doesn't need to in order to know what's happened. Sam moves fast.
One second, he's standing and watching as the man presses a knife to the girl's throat. The next, Sam is holding the man against the wall, the knife forgotten as it clatters to the sidewalk.
The man coughs as Sam's arm pushes against his neck, his face now red for a completely different reason. He kicks his legs wildly and pulls at Sam's clothing, but it does nothing but make Sam laugh at his attempt to break free. His eyes fly to his partner, as if begging for help, but the other man has backed up against the opposite wall, unwilling to interfere.
"You'll…?" Sam asks, and she can hear the taunting smile in his voice.
The man against the wall grunts in response.
"I think I know what you're going to do." Sam's voice is low with menace. "I'm going to put you down. You're gonna walk home, and you are never going to try anything like this again, do you understand?"
The man nods quickly in Sam's grip, eyes bulging.
"No, no, I don't think you do. Let me clear this up for you, because we wouldn't want any misunderstandings, would we?" He seems to shove harder into the man on the last word, causing him to squeal.
"You will never hurt anyone else ever again. If you do, I will know. If you try to mug someone again, I will know. If you try to rob an apartment or break into a car, I will know. If you try to cheat on your fucking taxes, I will know. Am I making myself clear?"
The man's nod is smaller this time, his eyes staring directly into Sam's.
"Good."
The man crashes to the ground, gasping for air. His friend is quickly at his side, pulling him up by his jacket. He scrambles to his feet clumsily and then they're both running, fleeing the alley as though hell is snapping at their heels.
Brittany waits until she's sure that they're gone before she rushes down the fire escape as quickly as she dares. By the time she reaches the ground, Sam is talking soothingly to the woman.
"You get home safe now, all right?"
His voice is back to its normal pitch, and Brittany's grateful. As it turns out, Sam can be very intimidating when he wants to be.
"Sam?" she interrupts, making the girl jump. She smiles apologetically before realizing that the girl can't see her face, and offers a small wave instead. She leans up to her brother, talking to him in a whisper. "You can't just make her walk home after all of this."
"Huh?" Sam asks, looking confusedly between the two girls. The woman is still shaking, and it's obvious by her scraped knees and ruffled hair that the thugs messed her around a bit. Brittany tugs on her brother's sleeve, pulling him off to the side so she can talk to him in a hushed tone.
"We should walk her home. You know, make sure she gets there safely?"
"Oh," he says, glancing back at the girl. "You think? I've never… yeah, you're right," he agrees with a nod.
Brittany eyes the girl's scabbed knees warily, noticing the way she doesn't put any weight on her right leg. She probably wouldn't be up for walking, after all.
"Why don't you just run with her real quick?" she suggests, instead. "I'll wait here."
Sam brow crinkles.
"I don't know, Britt, that seems kind of dangerous," he says, looking concerned. She shakes her head.
"Don't be silly, I'll be fine. Besides, it won't take you more than a minute, anyway. I won't even know you're gone," she says, and she can see the frown twist on his face while he considers it.
"If you're sure," he says uncertainly after a moment, and Brittany nods enthusiastically. It just wouldn't feel right to make the poor girl walk home after getting beaten, robbed, and almost much worse.
"Miss?" Sam calls out, and the girl looks up from where she was leaning against the wall. "Would you like me to take you home? It'll only take me a second, and I'd feel much better knowing you're not walking out on the streets by yourself."
The girl smiles gratefully, and Brittany's sure she's made the right choice. Sam gives his sister a quick wave before scooping the girl into his arms. They're gone a second later.
Brittany glances around her before reaching up and pulling the bandana off of her face, inhaling deeply when her mouth is finally free. In all of the excitement, she hadn't realized how uncomfortable the damn thing was. She pulls her hood down and ruffles a hand through her hair, kicking absentmindedly at stones while she waits.
Sam hasn't even been gone for a minute when she feels it. Heat, another person's body a stark contrast to the cold air in the alley. Someone else.
Her head snaps up quickly to see if Sam's returned, but they alley is empty. She strains her ears, trying to hear any movement, but can only pick up the sounds of cars driving through the city. Anyone else would think that they are alone.
Brittany knows better.
She takes a slow step forward, taking her time to examine her surroundings. She braces herself on the balls of her feet like Sam taught her earlier, and her hands tighten unconsciously into fists.
Maybe Sam is playing a trick again? she wonders, but a small, terrified part of herself adds, Or maybe the robbers are coming back.
But no, this doesn't feel like more than one person to her. There was only one. And certainly not someone as big as either of the two men who had jumped that woman.
Maybe you're overreacting. Maybe it's just a raccoon or like… a chipmunk, she considers, but her eyes don't stop searching the rooftops.
And then she sees it.
On top of the building, crouched exactly where she had been minutes before, is a person. Brittany's mind goes blank, forgetting everything that Sam told her about fighting. Instead, she stares dumbly at the person as they slowly stand up, realizing they've been seen. It looks as if they're about to run, or maybe come down the fire escape, when—
"Brittany?"
Sam is back.
"Britt, what are you doing?" he asks, and all of the sudden he's at her side, grabbing her arm.
She doesn't respond. She doesn't think she could if she tried.
The person who was standing in front of her just vanished into thin air.
Brittany stares at the frozen pizza display, frowning. Why is it that the cheapest food is always the unhealthiest? Sam's powers may ensure that he always looks like he's made of pure muscle, but the same certainly does not apply to her. Sure, with all the running around she does for her job she'll probably never have to worry about actually putting on any weight, but she still wants to stay in shape.
She's been working hard to train with Sam. He's been taking her on his morning runs with him, and he's dragged her to the gym a couple of times in the past week. Sam moved their couch so that it's pressing against the wall, opening to living room up so it's the perfect amount of space for sparring. Brittany has never been in a fight in her life— Sam had to teach her how to throw a basic punch.
She doesn't want to waste all of her hard work because Hot Pockets are on sale that week. Still, they can't afford more than a few pounds of ground beef, and a lot of the fresh produce gets pricey real quick. She doesn't have much of a choice.
She hasn't been in the grocery store for fifteen minutes when her cell phone rings. She knows who it is before she even picks it up - Sam, calling for the sixteenth time that afternoon.
"Sorry I couldn't come with you, Britt," Sam's voice comes over her phone.
Brittany rolls her eyes since he can't see her. Sam hasn't left her alone for more than a few minutes at a time since she saw that person on the rooftop the other night - and she didn't even have her bandana on during that strange encounter. Sam's afraid they saw her face, whoever it was, and that they'll try to come and find her. He's been in full-on big brother mode ever since.
"Sam, you have to work. I'll be fine," she says, turning with effort away from the frozen pizza and heading toward the granola bars. "It was probably just my imagination, anyway."
Brittany isn't scared. She's only met one other person in the world who could disappear the way the person on the rooftop had, and that was the one person she had gone out that night to find. She's considered telling Sam about the mystery girl after the roof incident, but she's too afraid he'll say the girl could be dangerous or something, and there would be no use arguing with him then.
"I know you don't believe that, B."
She sighs, and picks out a box of vanilla granola that's on sale. "I guess not. Still, we can't just sit around all scared. You've been training me, and I think my… you know, are getting stronger." It's a lie. Her powers haven't been getting stronger. In fact, she hasn't used them at all in the past few days - but if it will get Sam to stop calling her every five minutes, she doesn't mind lying a little.
"Really? That's great!"
"Yeah," she says, and tries to smile. She still always feels bad about lying to her brother.
"Oh, hey - can you get a few boxes of pasta? I think we still have some sauce in the fridge."
"No, we used the rest of that on Wednesday," she says. "But I'll grab another jar." Food always seems to run out quicker than they expect, and prices in the stores seem to be rising faster than either of them can keep up with. Winter is coming, and in their poorly insulted apartment building, heating bills tend to eat up nearly all of their paychecks after rent.
"Awesome. Thanks, Britt."
"Do you want anything else?" she asks, and immediately regrets asking. She's already gotten Sam's favorite type of store-brand cookies and the value sized Easy Macs that he eats for lunch. Along with three dollars worth of Ramen Noodles and a couple of cans of soup, that's all they can really afford for the week.
"Nah, that sounds good," Sam says. "I'll see you after work."
She nearly sighs in relief as she hangs up the phone. It's not that she doesn't want to buy Sam whatever he wants. She just doesn't want to have to tell him no. He gets pretty sensitive over the fact that she earns significantly more money as a server for a catering company than he does delivering pizzas.
"Hi, Jim!" Brittany calls as she approaches the register.
"Oh, hey, Brittany." The cashier smiles bashfully up at her, his cheeks tinting pink as he greets her in return. She's reminded of the crush he had on her in high school, when he asked her to prom senior year. She would have never been able to afford a gown, though, so she'd had to turn him down. She and Sam had spent the night watching Carrie instead.
"Will that be all today?" he asks, all professionalism, as he scans the last box of pasta. She nods, pulling out her wallet and handing him the last of her cash, when something catches her eye out the window.
She can hardly believe what she sees. It's the girl from the other night.
At least, Brittany thinks it is. It's hard to tell, because she's wearing a loose-fitting hoodie and large sunglasses. Still, even from a distance, Brittany is nearly certain that it's her.
The girl is standing on the sidewalk across the street, talking to a man who towers over her. Brittany can't see his face, but she can tell that the girl doesn't like whatever he's saying by the frown etched deep into her features. He turns away from her suddenly, retreating, and Brittany watches as she crosses her arms and huffs angrily.
Brittany grabs her two shopping bags from the end of the checkout counter and quickly leaves the store, ignoring Jimmy as he calls after her that she forgot her change.
The girl notices her approaching. Her head tilts to the side as Brittany all but runs to the crosswalk. Brittany swears she can almost see the beginnings of a smile tug at the girl's lips, but it doesn't last long before she's turning away from Brittany and starting down the street.
"Hey, wait!" she shouts, but it's too late; the girl is already walking as fast as she can down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. She jams her finger against the crosswalk button, waiting for the light to change.
As soon as traffic is clear, she crosses the street and practically runs after the girl, doing the best that she can to keep up with the heavy bags hanging off of her arms. She makes a mental note to tell Sam that this would be an effective workout later on.
The girl turns a corner suddenly into an alleyway, and Brittany speeds up, realizing what this probably means.
"Stop, wait!" she calls, running to where the girl had just turned.
"Please, don't disa-...ppear," Brittany finishes the rest of her sentence in a sigh.
The girl is already gone.
Damn it.
Brittany exhales heavily, dropping her grocery bags to the ground as she leans against the brick wall to catch her breath. She's not sure what she would have said if she had caught up to the girl anyway, but she can't help but feel disappointed that she didn't get a chance to figure that out .
Hey! You can disappear a make things fly with your hands! I can warm up leftovers using my mind! Let's be friends!
Judging by her attitude at their last encounter, Brittany somehow doesn't think that that would have worked, if that even was the mystery-super-girl. Brittany has no sure way of knowing, except for the fact that the girl seemed to have vanished into thin air once she turned down that alleyway, just like the girl the other night.
Brittany doesn't know anything about this girl, though, and that's probably what has her running out of grocery stores to try and find her. Where did she come from? How did she get her powers? What was she doing the other night at the house? Was that her she had seen in the alley the other night? What's her name?
Brittany sighs, knowing she's just missed possibly her only opportunity to get answers. She kicks away from the wall, scooping up the bags as she begins her walk back home.
One thing is for sure: Brittany is going to find out more about this mystery girl, no matter what it takes.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you'd like, I'd appreciate it!
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