Chapter 6: Alter Egos

"What on Earth were you thinking?"

"So I was just supposed to stand by and let them rob the place, while potentially hurting people in the process?"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Adri said. It was a few days after the Whole Foods incident, and Beca was back in the gym. "I applaud you for preventing the situation from escalating. However, you need to be mindful of security cameras and other things like that. After all, your one friend did notice the minor injury you sustained," he clarified. "In the future, when you're saving someone, make sure you're more careful about two things: One, who might be watching, and two, covering up your wounds as much as possible so no one gets suspicious.

As much as Beca wanted to argue back, she knew that Adri was right. She scratched her head and nodded. "I will be."

"Luke has been working on your armor, he should be able to get you an actual disguise in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, pick your battles wisely." Adri mentioned before he continued to tape Beca's knuckles.

"Aye aye, Captain," Beca stated, making Adri chuckle when she did a salute gesture towards him.

"Alright, get over to the punching bags and work on your form for the next twenty minutes." Adri instructed, standing up once he'd finished taping Beca's hands. "After that, meet Luke and I for arm training over by the weight lifting station."

Beca did as Adri instructed and went over to the punching bags. While there was still room for improvement, she was much better at combat now than a couple months ago. If she wasn't already tasked with fighting bad guys, the brunette might have considered joining the women's UFC league.

As Beca was working, Adri went over to Luke. "How is her gear coming along?" He asked, sitting down across from the blonde man.

"It's coming along pretty well. There are still a couple weak spots on the suit that I'm working on, but I hope to have it ready by the end of next week," Luke answered.

"It'll have to be ready soon, Beca's rearing to go." Adri said, leaning back against his chair. "Also, she said she doesn't want a cape."

Luke chuckled. "I'll make sure to remember that."

An idea suddenly popped into Adri's head. "If you want to mess with her, put a cape on it for when you first show it to her," he stated, slightly smirking.

"That should be fun, I'll do it." Luke said with a laugh. "Does she have a favorite color?" He asked.

"Hmm. Now that's something you'll have to ask her. I'd recommend going with a dark color for most of the uniform, though, so she can blend in with shadows if she's moving around in the dark."

"Don't worry, that's already part of the plan." Luke said.

"Beca, what's your favorite color?" Adri asked as he spotted Beca for her bench press.

A confused look made its way onto Beca's face. "Why do you want to know my favorite color?" She wondered aloud before doing the last couple reps for that set.

"Luke is working on your armor, and he wanted to make it your favorite color." Adri explained, lifting the bar up onto the holds. "He just needs to know what your favorite color is. That's all."

"Oh. I like purple," Beca mentioned, scratching the back of her head.

"I'll let him know." Adri said as Beca sat up and took a sip of her water. He noticed that Beca was in a better mood today than most training days. It wasn't that Beca was always in a bad mood, she just seemed happier than most days. The brunette has a constant smile on her lips, and every now and then she would look at her phone and look at the lock screen, which was a photo of her and her best friend, Chloe. Adri hadn't met Chloe yet, but Beca talked about her a lot. So, out of curiosity, Adri spoke up. "Is that your girlfriend or something?"

Beca winced a little at Adri's question. I wish, she groaned in her head. "No, she's just a friend. We met in college and have been inseparable since," the brunette explained.

"You talk about her a lot, so I just thought I'd ask." Adri said before gesturing for Beca to get another set in.

"Well," Beca said, laying back down on the bench. "I've had a crush on her for a long time, but she's straight. And even if she weren't, I don't think she'd feel that way about me." Beca then started doing her next set of bench presses.

"Ah." Adri paused for a moment, thinking of what to say next. "While I don't have experience with your type of situation, I do know what unrequited love feels like. And it sucks, obviously," he said, which got a small chuckle out of Beca. "Have you ever tried telling her how you feel?"

Beca was a bit confused as to why her trainer was asking her about her personal life, but she went along with it, and answered. "She's straight, Adri. I'd basically be facing complete rejection."

Adri nodded. "I understand that, but it seems like this is something that has been bothering you for awhile. I'm not telling you what to do by any means, but I'm sure Chloe wants to know about what's on your mind."

As they were finishing up the workout, doing a cool down on the treadmill, Beca couldn't help but think about what Adri said earlier. I'm sure Chloe wants to know what's on your mind. She jogged slowly on the treadmill as that thought was on repeat in her brain.

"How's the treadmill going?"

Luke's voice snapped Beca out of her thoughts. "It's going good. What about my suit?" she called back to him.

"Should be ready in a week or so." Luke said, checking Beca's heart rate as she continued to run. He chuckled before speaking again. "Are you even tired?"

"Nope. Should I be tired?" Beca asked with a smirk.

"Even Adri would be getting wiped out by now. Whatever that substance was on the bridge, it basically made you Wonder Woman." Luke said with a laugh.

"Just don't put her logo on my suit. I don't need to be fighting crime while also receiving copyright infringement charges," Beca joked.

"No worries," Luke said with a laugh before he let Beca finish her cooldown.

Beca decided to take a shower when she got home that night. She was pretty hungry but decided to get clean before making dinner since she was so sweaty and gross. The brunette quickly rinsed scrubbed, and then rinsed again, putting on some sweatpants and a t-shirt once she had dried off.

Beca went into the kitchen and opened up her cupboards to see what she had. The young woman had found that her metabolism had skyrocketed after the fall, so she had double the appetite that she used too. So, she decided to make some pesto pasta with garlic bread, a salad, and some fruit. It was almost enough food for a four course meal, but the brunette had gotten used to her new appetite so she barely noticed anymore.

After she ate, Beca cleaned up the dishes and then left her apartment to go for a little walk around the city. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was a beautiful color of orange. The young music producer walked with her hands in her sweatshirt, knowing San Francisco sometimes got cold at night, even during the summer.

As Beca walked, she found herself heading in the direction of the Golden Gate Bridge. She hadn't intended on going that way, but it felt almost as if her body was pulling her towards it.

She sensed something was different as she reached the toll booths of the bridge. It was quiet, the air was cold. The gate was currently under construction, but it was after hours so Beca was alone.

Beca crawled under the toll bar, standing up once she was on the other side of it. She dusted her legs off, as there was still some debris left over from the accident.

Even though it was dark, Beca was able to see that the truck that had held that substance was now gone, along with all other vehicles that had been left on the bridge. She walked slowly, knowing the ground might not be fully stable. The young producer ducked under some construction tape before getting to the first gap. She jumped it with ease, and kept on walking.

As Beca walked along the bridge, she began noticing things that she hadn't before, probably due to being in the heat of the moment. She had a good idea of the damage that the explosion had caused, but now she was seeing the full extent. Huge chunks of the bridge were missing. Even some of the thick, steel cables keeping it suspended in the air had been snapped as if they were twigs.

"Fucking hell," Beca muttered to herself as she slowly made her way along the bridge. She then noticed something that she hadn't noticed last time she was here. There was a trail of crimson dust from where the truck had been.

Beca decided to follow it, and noticed that it led to one of the gaps in the bridge. The young woman reached down and touched the dust, rubbing it between her fingers. "This looks like that substance in the truck," she thought aloud, furrowing her eyebrows as the gears in her brain began grinding. Is it the same stuff? I don't think they'd let it just sit out here and dry up…

Then out of nowhere, Beca fell back, the dust still on her fingertips. She then began to see things, as if her memories were coming back to her.

She saw herself falling from the bridge, as if she was reliving the experience as she sat there on the ground. Her body was plummeting towards the ocean, but everything was moving in slow motion. Beca turned around and saw a huge cloud of smoke billowing up from where the truck had been, and what was left of it.

Slowly, Beca made her way over, keeping herself as calm as possible. Her pulse was rising, but that didn't stop her from moving closer. "What in the world?" As Beca got closer to the smoke, she saw the particles of the dust floating in the air starting to move in the same direction. They began to bunch together as well, taking what appeared to be an oval shape. While Beca was seeing all sorts of crazy things in that moment, she couldn't believe her eyes when specks of dust began arranging themselves within the oval to look like human facial features.

The face looked familiar, but before she could make out who it was, the face dissolved into thin air. What's going on here? She thought to herself.

The next day, Chloe was almost done with her shift at the coffee shop when the door opened. On a normal day she wouldn't have thought much of it, but today she had worked the opening shift; hardly anyone came in during those hours. The redhead looked up from the countertop she was cleaning, and her stomach dropped when she saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Shit," Chloe said, instantly avoiding eye contact. "Hey, Derek. What can I get you?" She asked.

It had been three months since they had broken up, and Chloe had been happy not to see him once in that time. The breakup had been hard on her, but she was doing much better now, and really just didn't want Derek in her life anymore; not in any way whatsoever.

"I'll just get my usual," Derek replied, putting his hands in his pockets. After a moment of silence, he spoke again. "I came here because I wanted to apologize."

"Your total comes to $3.50." Chloe said, typing it into the register. She then sighed, knowing Derek, he always had some ulterior motives when he showed up here. Even when they were together, it seemed like he would come take Chloe on a date after getting his coffee. "What do you want to apologize for?" Chloe asked as she started making her ex-boyfriend's coffee.

"For how I acted during that fight we had," Derek began. "I shouldn't have lost my cool like that."

Chloe quietly scoffed. You think? She said in her head. "Took you long enough to grow a pair and apologize," the redhead stated aloud, pouring some milk into his coffee.

Derek let out a nervous chuckle. "Okay, I deserved that," he admitted.

Chloe took a deep breath before continuing her previous thought. "To be completely honest, you were the last person I wanted to see here. But, I appreciate you owning up to what you did."

The young man nodded. "How is Beca? If you don't mind me asking, that is" he said, scratching his head.

"She's doing really well. She's made a full recovery from the accident, and is even healthier than she was before," Chloe answered, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she talked about the brunette.

Not that she'd ever tell Beca, but Chloe had developed a little crush on her best friend. Okay, Chloe had always had a crush on Beca, but she'd never had the courage to say anything. The young woman had thought that the crush had gone away; but when they had spent the day together a couple of days ago, Chloe felt those feelings flood back.

Derek noticed how Chloe's face lit up while she talked about Beca. "That's great to hear," he replied, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Yeah, and she doesn't have any abnormal 'abilities,' so you really had nothing to worry about." Chloe said, raising an eyebrow before handing Derek his finished coffee.

Derek pursed his lips together. "I was just trying to look out for everyone."

"Beca isn't dangerous, Derek. And she wouldn't be dangerous even if she did have powers." Chloe stated, putting a lid on Derek's cup before handing it over the counter to Derek.

Derek was starting to get irritated by how Chloe kept pursuing the issue of superpowers. "You might trust her to use powers wisely, but not everyone knows Beca like you do. Can you blame other people for being wary about powers?" He asked.

"I understand where you're coming from. But I was your girlfriend, shouldn't you trust my knowledge of Beca enough to know that she wouldn't be dangerous?" Chloe said, which immediately stumped her ex-boyfriend.

Derek rolled his eyes, knowing the conversation wouldn't end well if he maintained his position. "I'm not going to argue with you about this, so I'll just get going. Thanks for the coffee."

"Anytime," Chloe said reluctantly as her ex walked out of the coffee shop.

"You good?" Asked one of Chloe's fellow employees, who was just finishing up taking an order at the drive-thru.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chloe replied, deciding to brush that encounter off her shoulder instead of dwell on it.

Derek charged into his apartment, fuming. He had finished his coffee, and needed to find some way to calm down. The man paced back and forth around his living room, trying to make sense of everything he was feeling in that moment. Derek was definitely angry — angry that Chloe refused to see where he was coming from, no matter how many times he tried to explain himself.

People with superpowers are dangerous, said a voice in his head. Beca could be dangerous.

"But what if she's not?" He asked himself. "What if she's not dangerous, and I've been making a fuss about it for no reason?"

Maybe. But there are probably others that could have powers, and they don't deserve to be around, the voice countered.

Derek paused, replaying what the voice in his head had just said. An evil smile slowly made its way onto his face. "You're right. They don't deserve to be around."

That's right. The voice said, cackling as an evil smirk appeared on Derek's face. We can hunt them down, find out who they are, where they live, and get rid of them.

Yes, this was a shorter chapter, but it looks like things are about to get even more crazy.

Beca is getting ready to fight crime, good thing Derek doesn't know she has powers. Also, what do you think is going to happen with Chloe's little crush? Is she going to act on it?

Until next time!