Enjoy chapter twenty-eight, all. It will continue to get worse until it gets better.
The next day, Clary decided that she would relax for a little while. There had been no attack the day before and, so far, there had been no attack today. It was late in the afternoon when Clary was lying on the couch watching some tv. Simon was out at work, and so she was left all to her lonesome. Not that she minded it, considering most days she was busy fighting off some evil villain.
It was nearly six when Clary's phone went off and she received a message from Badger. Much to her dismay, he wanted to talk. So, Clary got into costume and then was quickly headed off to their usual meeting place. When she arrived, she found that Badger was sitting on the edge of the building. At the sound of her arrival, he looked over and stood up.
"Hey," Badger greeted and Clary already found it a little odd. He looked almost... sullen. Usually, the Badger was cheeky and joyful. Curious.
"Hey," Clary greeted back approaching him. "What's up? Did something happen."
"No." He shook his head. "I just wanted to talk to you."
"About?" Clary raised her eyebrows at him.
"About..." Badger walked a bit away from Clary. His head was hung low and his hands were clasped behind his back. "Well, I suppose I just wanted to talk about our upcoming hero-aversary."
"Right." Clary had forgotten about that. It felt like she'd been a superhero for much longer than a year, after all. "What about the hero-aversary?"
"Umm." Badger still didn't look at Clary. He was acting so odd and not like himself.
"Badger, are you okay?" Clary wondered taking a step towards him. He took a step back.
"Yeah. Sorry, I've just got some other things on my mind." Badger pulled at his suit a bit, almost like he wasn't used to wearing it. He ran a hand through his hair. "You know what? We can talk about this some other time. I should be going, and you should too."
"Badger-"
"I'll see you, Blindeye." With that, Badger left before Clary could get out another word.
"That was... strange," Clary said to nobody but herself.
She decided that she would take the long way back home and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. The sun was already beginning to set despite it only being around six. Clary didn't remember it being so cold out the day before. Shaking this thought from her head, Clary continued on with her walk.
It didn't take more than a few minutes for Clary to remember why she didn't like patrolling. A small group of people spotted her and swarmed. The flash of cameras blinded her as she tried to focus on what some of the civilians were shouting.
"Blindeye!" One of them yelled. "What's with the rumor about Black Angel being gone for good?"
Then, another one, "Blindeye, why are you wearing your old uniform again? Did something happen to the new one?"
"What?" Clary questioned. "What are any of you talking about?" She tried pushing past the group but hardly made it a few feet before she was being bombarded by more questions.
"When are you going to comment on your relationship with Badger?"
Clary rolled her eyes. "I have no relationship with Badger!"
"What about the picture of you two kissing?"
At that, Clary stopped. She turned to the group and they all just stared back at her. Slowly, she questioned, "What picture?"
One of her followers, a girl with blonde hair, opened her phone and turned it to Clary. When she caught sight of the photo in question, Clary grabbed the girl's phone to get a better look. In the picture, it was Clary in her Blindeye costume. Except it wasn't her costume, it was a little bit different. And her hair was a million colors, and she was cut and bleeding all over. Not to mention the most obvious thing about the picture: Clary was kissing the Badger. She was also holding her mask in her hand so the only reason no one could tell who she was was because her face was pressed to Badgers.
"By the Angel," Clary whispered. She handed the phone back to the civilian. Then, she held up her hand, closed it, and left while still invisible.
Once at home, Clary got out of her costume. She sat on her bed and pulled out her phone. With just a minute of searching, Clary was quick to find an article about the exact photo that she had just seen. She spent a few minutes reading the article and inspecting the photo. Why was it that she had absolutely no recollection of this happening? And what was with the odd costumes that both she and Badger were wearing?
When Simon knocked on the door and came into her room, Clary turned off her phone. She smiled at the boy as he took a couple of steps in.
"Hey," he said, "how are you doing?"
"I'm alright. Just had a pretty boring day."
Simon nodded. "Didn't go out or do anything?"
Clary shook her head. "Nope."
She wanted to ask Simon about the Blindeye/Badger kiss, but she had never been the type of person to be interested in the superheroes. So, it would seem odd if she just mentioned it out of the blue to Simon. Hopefully, Magnus would bring up the pair at work the next day and they could naturally segway into a conversation about the kiss. But still, she didn't know how she could get the answers she needed without going directly to Badger himself.
"Okay. Well, I'm just going to take a shower and head to bed early. I'll see you in the morning?"
Clary nodded. "Yeah. I have to go to work early, but if you stop by Java Jones you'll see me."
Simon gave her a thumbs up and then left the room. Clary plopped back on her bed feeling utterly confused and a little peeved. She'd never had feelings for the Badger. In fact, she'd always found him rather annoying and narcissistic. So, why would she be kissing him? And why on earth didn't she remember it!?
She'd been at work for about an hour that morning, and Magnus had yet to bring up Blindeye and Badger at all. She was growing agitated when Alec came into Java Jones with Jace beside him. Simon was sitting at the counter, and so the two boys joined him there.
"Hey, guys," Clary greeted them. She started on Alec's regular. "Jace, want anything?"
He chewed on his lip. "Just a black coffee, thanks."
Clary nodded and continued on with her work. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alec question Jace quietly, and all the blonde boy did was shake his head in response. When Clary gave the two boys their drinks, she stayed by the counter since there was no one else to serve at the moment.
"So," she said effectively gaining the attention of all three, "anybody heard about anything interesting recently?"
All boys gave Clary a questioning look, but Simon was the first to speak. "Why do you ask?"
She shrugged. "No reason, just curious about what's been going on."
"What do you mean 'what's been going on?'" Alec asked with an awkward chuckle. "You keep up with the news." He took a nervous sip of his drink to which Jace rolled his eyes.
"Well," said Clary, "there's always something new going on with Blindeye and Badger, but I don't really pay attention to them. So, I was just wondering if anything interesting had happened." She had spoken loud enough in hopes that Magnus would hear and come over and start up some conversation about them. But if he had heard then he hadn't cared.
Simon shrugged. "I don't know anything."
"Me neither," said Alec.
When Jace didn't speak, Clary turned her attention to him. "Jace, you're awfully quiet."
He met her eye and something in his gaze startled her. He had such pretty eyes. Almost to the point that it was unfair.
After a few moments, Jace broke his gaze from her and shook his head. "No, I don't really pay attention to them either."
Clary groaned and walked away from the group. Some help they were. She stood by Magnus for a few moments in silence before he finally noticed her and said anything.
"Is there something I can help you with?"
Clary rolled her eyes. "Yes, but I don't want to ask."
"Why don't you want to ask?"
"I have my reasons." She furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why can't you just be acting like yourself right now? Why isn't anyone acting like themselves?"
"What are you talking about?"
Clary motioned over to the guys. "Simon has been so short with me lately. He's not being rude, but it's like he doesn't know what to say anymore. And Alec is just constantly acting so suspicious. That boy cannot keep a secret to save his life."
Magnus rolled his eyes. "No, he can't."
"So then you admit that there's something off?"
Magnus' eyes went wide and he froze a little. "No, no I do not. What Alec does and how he acts is none of my business."
"You- Ugh!" Clary threw her arms up exasperated. "Nevermind, I'll figure it out myself."
Clary undid her apron and started for the exit.
"Figure what out?" Magnus called after her, but she kept walking. "Clary? Figure what out?"
Later that day, Clary found herself sitting on top of the torch of the Statue of Liberty. It surprised her that they'd been able to replace it so quickly considering Black Angel had just whipped it at her the other day in the middle of a battle. At least... she thought he had. With the picture of her and Badger, Clary felt a little groggy about everything that had happened recently.
She looked below herself at all of the tourists taking pictures and admiring the view. None of them had seen her come up since she'd been invisible. Now, though, she was quite visible and just relaxed in the evening sun.
"You alright?"
Clary was startled when Badger suddenly came up beside her. She glanced sideways at him for only a moment before continuing to look down.
"How did you find me?" Clary wondered.
Badger shrugged as he sat down. "Took a guess."
Clary pulled her legs up to her chest and pinched her face up in frustration. "Are you okay?" she asked turning to look at him.
Badger raised an eyebrow, amused. "Didn't I just ask you that same question?"
"Yes, you did, but I'm not the one who's been acting particularly strange."
"I've been acting strange?"
"Yes," Clary huffed. "Oddly... nice and kind of shy. Why?"
Badger opened his mouth but then closed it. He chuckled a little. "No, I've always been nice. You just don't want to see it."
"Why do I feel like I've heard that before?" Clary whispered to herself feeling like she was experiencing deja-vu.
"What'd you say?"
She shook her head. "Nothing." Clary fiddled with her own fingers. She pulled out her phone then and opened up the tab that still had the article about her and Badger kissing. "Can I ask you something?"
"Ask away."
"What is this?" She showed him her phone and immediately his eyes went wide. Badger looked away from Clary and scratched the back of his neck.
"Oh, that," he said and he cleared his throat. "Well, what had happened was Black Angel put us both under this weird spell that made us not ourselves. A lot happened before we were broken out of it, and it wiped our memory of everything that happened while we were in that state."
"So then, why do you know this? And how did Black Angel spell us?"
"I was told by witnesses. Obviously, I don't remember all the details myself which is why I'm unable to give more of a concise answer. And Black Angel has developed new powers. So have I. Apparently, we're going to continue to be developing our powers even now."
Clary raised her eyebrows at Badger. This seemed like an oddly random response, and she didn't know how much of it she really believed. But what reason did he have to lie to her?
"Okay," Clary said slowly. "So, we kissed."
"Apparently," Badger laughed awkwardly. He didn't look at Clary again.
"Right." Clary cleared her throat and stood up. "I'm going to be headed back home then. Nice talk, Badger."
All he did in response was nod his head. He didn't even stand up or look at Clary as she made her way off the torch and then the Statue of Liberty all together.
