The beeping was coming in, swirling in the blackness. It was dizzy, tired, hazy. My senses were exhausted; I could recognize how weak the nerves in my body were even if I wasn't completely awake. My eyes were glued shut; my eyelids too fatigued from an unwanted slumber. But the long, annoying beeps made me feel sick, which made me squirm in discomfort, or at least I thought I did.
In the cloudiness, other noises began to accompany the beeping. Low, blurry sounds I had a hard time hearing what it was. All I could do was wait in this void for my senses to start working again. Slowly, I could make out two separate sources forming words. The first was much deeper, "-how did you get her purse? You know what, never mind. Let's find out who our mystery girl is."
"Shouldn't we wait till she wakes up, Joe? I mean, I'm sure she'll tell us who she is and why she's here," came out in a loud whisper.
"Relax, Barry. This is standard police work. What if she has a medical condition that we should know about? Besides, you're the one who broke into her car. Alright, let's see this driver's license… Emma Blaser. State of New York, well she's a long ways from home."
I felt awake enough to realize strangers were watching me and digging through my shit. I squeezed my eyelids tighter and jerked my head. I immediately sat up as my eyes shot open. I was in a hospital bed; a pulse-ox on my ring finger was triggering the god awful beeping on a monitor. The white blinds were semi-closed still letting in sunshine into the room. In the corner were two men, both clearly startled at sudden movement. The taller one had on a black suit jacket, button up shirt with a dark blue tie. His black goatee was neatly trimmed and his hair was thinning on top. The other one… the other one I recognized as the cute guy from the coffee shop.
"Emma? I'm Detective Joe West. This is my associate, Barry Allen. Do you know where you are?"
I tried to speak but my voice caught. I cleared my throat and attempted again, "Central City." I noticed a pitcher of water with an empty glass next to it on a small bedside table. Without thinking, I leant forward, grabbing the full pitcher and brought it to my lips. My eyes closed as I swallowed mouthfuls of the cool liquid. I let out a refreshing sigh and opened my eyes. Both the men were staring at me bewildered at what they just say. I looked at the object in my hands and saw that a little more than one third of its contents was gone. "I was thirsty," I tried playing it cool and set the pitcher back on the table.
Joe started off hesitantly, "Right… Emma, I need to ask you about last night. Do you remember what happened?"
I merely stared at him until my eyes shifted to Barry's concerned face. "Um…" there was no way I could tell them what had happen. I was disoriented from my sleep and the blue lightening from my meeting with the city's superhero. "I um… don't remember clearly." Joe's expression was a mixture of skepticism and worry. I sucked in a breath, "I was taking a walk on the beach last night. And I was walking back to my car and then, I don't know, I got knocked out."
"Is there anything that stands out to you from last night? People, unusual lights or sounds?" Barry chimed in.
"Uh…I'm not really sure," I stuttered. I looked at the skinny man in his emerald green sweater and dark jacket, wondering why he asked about those specific things. I shifted uncomfortably, pondering how I should go about stating my actions from last night. "You know, some weird static sound stood out. And there was a blue light. Other than that, I don't remember much."
A knock rasped on the door, quickly turning my attention to the nurse in periwinkle blue scrubs and short bouncy blonde hair. "I'm sorry to interrupt, I just came in to check on Miss Blaser here." I had to admit that I was graceful for her breaking the awkward silence growing in the room. She made her way to the bedside. "How are you feeling? You came in pretty beat up."
"I'm fine, really."
"Oh…" she exclaimed as she tilted my chin up, "You had a laceration from a burn that was pretty large here. But now it's gone! Wow, that's incredible. I saw your vitals were good but I didn't imagine that your wounds would heal so fast because of it. I don't know what to say. You can go if you feel up to it any time you want. I can't do anything else for you."
She smiled softly at me but I couldn't help but panic on the inside. So much for my saving grace. I watched her leave the room before slowly turning my attention to the two men in the room. I reached up and rubbed the spot on my face where the nurse said I had been injured. I nervously said, "Gotta love today's medicine."
"Right…" Detective West slurred on. Barry seemed to be hiding a smirk as he reached up and rubbed his face. "Is there anything else you might be able to tell us?" I simply shook my head. "Alright. If there's anything you remember or if you need anything, don't hesitate to contact us." He flipped his notebook shut and nodded at Barry, whose eyes kept lingering in my direction. Joe hesitated on leaving the small room. "Emma, do you have any place to stay? I noticed you're from out of town."
It was unexpected. I stayed quiet for moment before answering, "I wasn't really planning on staying."
Joe replied, "Maybe you should stick around. You don't have to but it would be helpful if you did remember anything from last night that could help in finding whatever did this." He tossed the notebook open again and scribbled down a couple of sentences. I took a quick peek at Barry and he attempted to look interested in what was happening outside the window; it made me smile. I turned my attention back to the detective. He finished writing and tore the paper, handing it to me. "These are some hotels that I know are decent. Like I said, you're okay to leave town if you want. My number is in the corner there if you need anything, anything at all. Or you can always find us two down at the police station." The men turned towards the door but Joe faced me again, "Oh, and your car is downstairs in the parking lot for you."
I smiled, "Thank you. I'll keep everything in mind." Joe nodded at me and went through the doorway.
Barry stammered a bit, "I uh, I hope you maybe, oh I don't know, stay in town for a while." I smirked at him wondering if he was telling me or if he was asking. "It was nice seeing you again. Umph!" I snorted as he bumped into the door frame. He tried playing it off and smiled at me as he disappeared out the door. I rolled my eyes, grinning like a mad hatter. I glimpsed at the paper in my hands. I knew I had to stay for a few days, at least until I found the man in the red suit. Curiosity was getting the best of me.
To my luck, one of the hotels Detective West had written down was close to the edge of town. The hotel attendant was dumbfounded when I insisted having a room on the highest floor. I had to convince the poor guy that I enjoyed the view, which wasn't a complete lie. I leaned against the window frame, watching the sun slowly set many lights began to illuminate the city. I glanced at the queen sized bed with puffy navy sheets. I smiled at the black duffle bag sitting on the edge of the mattress before returning to the scene outside.
I heaved a sigh and closed my eyes, my head finding the window pane. Was I really doing this? Last night I stuck around and got attacked. Now I'm still in the same city, daring to go out and find the man in the red suit again. I should have jumped in the car and drove like a bat out of hell. But no, Emma can't seem to disappear from superheroes. Dude, you could have just stayed in New York if this is what you wanted. Ugh, you are so messed up. Dumbass… I scolded myself. I physically rolled my eyes at myself. "Aw, what the hell. What do you got to lose anymore?" My hands found my hips as I whirled back around towards the bed.
Night had finally shrouded upon the streets. The salty breeze was cool against my skin. I stood dangerously close to the edge of the rooftop as I peered down at the lighted city streets. "Alright, Emma. Now what's your plan…"I trailed off as I talked to no one in particular. Last night, the Flash had only come to me because I had caused a commotion at the beach. There was no guarantee that his team was watching the monitors tonight. I guess I would have to go find him. I scanned the buildings close by to estimate if I could actually pull this off. Figuring the buildings weren't too far away from where I was, I trotted back a few feet and shook my hands out as if I had something wet on them. I looked back towards the verge of the roof, looked at the next building and suddenly felt very unsure of myself. I let go of a breath I didn't realize I was holding onto and attempted to give myself a pep talk, "Alright. You can do this. I know it's been a while since you've done this, but you can do it." I glanced down at the black combat boots as I got into a runner's stance. "Well, if you do manage to fuck this up and fall hundreds of feet to the ground, it'd probably only take a couple of days for you to fully heal." I hesitated, highly reconsidering this decision. It probably would have been a lot smarter to sneak around the streets.
I inhaled deeply and booked it as fast as I possibly could. My feet hit the edge of the rooftop and I let out a yelp as I was now airborne. "Holy…!" I had to concentrate hard, which was difficult because of how terrified I was in that moment, but evidently I willed my powers to take over. I watched as my solid form changed to clear liquid. I whirled through the air, city lights illuminated far beneath me. The roof of the next building was coming in fast. My body altered back to its normal physic just before I collided with the cement top. I squeaked as I tumbled at the impact. A loud "oomph!" escaped my lips as I finally came to a halt on my back. I slowly closed my eyes, not moving for a few minutes. "Phew. Man, are you rusty."
I sighed and slowly sat up. I did a quick over of myself. Nothing felt damaged, just a few new scuff marks on the combat boots. My hand reached to my face, pulling off the skinny black eye mask to hold it between my fingerless gloves. I looked at it, a little embarrassed at the poor maneuver I just pulled. I was still new at doing it, but it seemed so much easier to do back in New York. I sat in silence, debating and whether or not I should just give this up and go back to the hotel. I glanced over my shoulder; the next building was a lot closer. "One more go." With that, I got to my feet and placed the face mask back on. I steadied myself before my feet hit the ground running. My boot landed on the edge and I propelled myself up. My arms flailed out as I made the mistake of looking down. Surprised, and not overly sure, I swore I saw blurb of red rush through the streets. The distraction disappeared a little too late before my eyes shot back at my intended destination. "Shit!" I screamed. I barely made it to the rooftop, my foot tripping over the solid floor causing me to roll roughly across the cement.
"Awwh! Dammit! Stupid girl!" I lent on my elbow while my hand rubbed my cheek. "Damn…" It was because I let myself get distracted, I didn't use my powers and came in for a crash landing. I couldn't help but be angry with myself. That was a rookie mistake; my old teammates would be nagging me for days about that. But if I was back with them, I'd be training almost every day, ergo, that stunt would have been easy. I pulled my knees to my chest to pout.
A burst of wind collided with my exposed neck, jolting me from my thoughts. My eyes widened as my head turned. "I thought that might be you. I was a little concerned someone was jumping across rooftops," came a male's voice. I snorted and rolled my eyes. I fully twisted my torso around, holding myself up on my hand to see the man in the red suit. He walked towards me, a smile on his face, "Did anyone ever tell you that's a very dangerous thing to do?"
"You know, it would have worked if it wasn't for you." I mocked him.
He placed his hands on his chest and acted offended. "What could I have possibly done? I wasn't even up here!"
I got to my feet to face him, hands finding my hips, "I had it under control until I saw you running amuck down there!" We were only a few feet away now. "You distracted me. I could have died, what do you think about that?"
"I think you'd be fine. Now, what were you doing?"
"Oh, this is embarrassing…" I heaved a sigh and tried to look at anything but him. "I might have been looking for you…again…"
"Again? Really?"
"I know, I know… It was stupid…"
"Hey." His simple word made my eyes wander back to the Flash. "Nice suit."
I felt my cheeks heat up at the humble complement. "Oh, this old thing?" I looked down at my skin tight jacket, it was hard to make out the exact color from the night, but it was dark navy. The length flowed down to my hips; a skew zipper ran on the side instead of in the middle; a pale yellow X rested upon the left shoulder. The pants were black, looking slightly padded, completed by knee high combat boots. I've been meaning to paint over that X with black but I hardly wore this uniform anymore; it seemed kind of pointless. The face mask was new, however; I didn't want my face physically visible anymore. My hands reached up to tighten my pony tail.
The Flash's eyes wandered up and down my body, looking at my suit. It made me blush. "Can you move really well in that?" the man asked.
"Uh, yeah, I guess," I absent mindlessly tried to flatten out the jacket. "It was made specially for me so it moves with me." I glanced at his, assuming his outfit was similar to mine. "Doesn't yours move with you?"
It looked like the Flash suddenly realized what a stupid question he had asked and stumbled with words, "Oh, yeah. I mean…" he huffed. "Mine doesn't burn up when I run. Does yours…" he shrugged not quite sure which words to put together.
I laughed, "Yes, I know what you're saying. Yes, it does. Most things do, sweetie." I panicked slightly inside as the 'sweetie' came out. You are really bad at keeping nicknames to yourself… To my delight, the man in the red suit smiled. I returned the gesture.
He gazed at me before he asked, "Why are you looking for me for anyways?"
I shrugged a shoulder, fidgeting with the sleeves of my jacket. "I… I don't know. I just… I guess I just wanted to talk to you." He seemed pleasantly surprised with my response but didn't object or say much right away. "So, about last night. We got caught off…"
"Oh, yeah! I'm really sorry about that! I'm glad you're okay!"
"What was that?"
"I don't know. I couldn't find anything after I got you to the hospital." Something warm in my chest ignited. That was so sweet of him to take care of me, even if I didn't need the medical attention. "But we were talking about metahumans!"
I crossed my arms at the name, unsure of what it really meant. "What is a 'metahuman'?"
The Flash made a gesture with his arms as if to say 'we'. His face searched for the right thing to say, "A metahuman is someone with abilities. Like us!"
"So, a mutant."
"Yeah, I suppose."
"We just call them mutants. It's simpler," I merely stated. To this, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. I tilted my head, remembering what he had said last night, I've only been this way for a few months. I guess I thought people affected by the explosion were only from here. "Yesterday," I uttered, "You mentioned an explosion. What does that have to do with anything?"
He looked away for a moment, I noticed he sucked in a deep breath. "There's this lab, STAR Labs. Several months ago an experiment went wrong and a huge outburst of energy erupted. From that energy, a lot of people were affected, including me, and we all got different powers."
His gaze found mine. All of the sudden I understood. The only mutants he's met where the ones in this city, the ones who were affected by that blast. He probably doesn't know that the world is filled with mutants. "Flash…" I began slowly, "There's lots of us. All over." He looked at me, seemingly grasping what I was getting at. "They're not just here."
His eyes moved away from me again. We stood in the dark silence for a few minutes. I didn't know what to say to him. My heart ached for him, wishing I could show him all of the amazing people I've met and what extraordinary powers each of them held. And maybe he wouldn't feel alone.
An idea popped into my head and I smirked to myself. I opened my palms in front of me and slowly, a gentle stream of water flowed through them. I controlled the substance swirling it around the man next to me. It caught him off guard and his bewildered face turned to me. I laughed as the water danced around him. His mouth dropped open and he tried touching the liquid. I moved my hands up, the water traveling above the man, forming a sphere. I concentrated on the sphere, my hands pushing and pulling in front of me. Quickly, my arms flew out to my sides; the water ball violently dissipated in all directions, leaving a slight drizzle down on us. I laughed at his astonished face, "We're not all bad, you know."
Flash had the biggest smile plastered on. "I… wow!" he was lost for words and it made me giggle even more. He looked like he was about to say something when his face became stern, immediately putting a finger against his temple. "Got it. Thanks," he almost whispered. His eyes found mine and he stared for a few moments. "I'm sorry, I gotta go. I would love to continue this… say tomorrow night?"
I grinned sheepishly. I wanted to be sarcastic so I rolled my eyes. "I guess so," I exasperated. He slunked about to argue but I interjected, "It sounds like a date. Do you have a place that would be easier to reach you at? As much fun as it is to jump across rooftops, I'm not very good at it."
He laughed, "Jitters. It's a coffee house. Meet me on the roof." He shot me one last grin and in the blink of an eye, the Flash was out of sight.
