Engulfed in nothing but sand and wind, Cress lost all sense of direction. The grains whipped roughly at her, slowly chafing her exposed skin. Her mouth and ear and nose were stuffed with more sand and it crunched between her teeth, making it hard to breath.

They were caught in a massive sand storm and even with his superpowers, Captain didn't seem to be able to escape.

Cress clutched her fingers tighter into Captain's shoulder, but the sandstorm tore at her violently. She heard Captain curse, but it sounded muted and far away. His hands dug painfully into her hips and legs, whatever he could reach and held onto her as if she were his lifeline and not the other way around.

The sandstorm threw them around as if they were nothing more than dolls and they hit something hard - the ground, a building, Cress couldn't tell. She knew she was hurt but the pain seemed too far away for her to locate it. The only thing she could feel were the coarse sand grains rubbing against her painfully and Captain's grip on her.

She was dizzy, scared, unable to breathe and with panic she noticed Captain slowly slipping away from her. She heard him scream her name but maybe she imagined it over the howling of the wind in her ears.

One of his hands ripped away from her hip and he only held her at one wrist, so tightly it hurt. She felt him trying to phase the both of them but there was nowhere to go.

The sandstorm was everywhere.

Captain's death grip on her wrist loosened, as Cress tried her best to hold onto him with everything in her. She tried to teleport them away, secret identity be damned, though she never had done it with someone else but it was no use. She couldn't concentrate except on Captain's gloved hand in hers.

And then he was gone.

Her fingers grabbed at nothing but sand and for the first time since Captain had saved her from falling down the building, panic set in.

She screamed for Captain, then for Thorne, but sand filled her mouth, slowly choking her.

And suddenly, it was all over and she landed hard on her side.

She coughed and spat, black spots flickering in front of her eyes. She was dimly aware that her left side hurt when she tried to move but she managed to gingerly sit up.

Jina loomed over her, dark and threatening against the night sky and almost scarier than the sandstorm had been.

"You. Pesky. Little. Bitch!" Jina snarled. "I should have killed you days ago when I had the chance."

Cress spat a blob of blood and sand at her feet. "You're a monster."

She didn't see the kick coming and it sent her flying down the curb. Cress cried in pain, shards and metal ripped at the skin of her hands, arms and legs. She curled herself into a ball to protect herself.

She felt so helpless. Tired, scared and hurt. Blinking up at the sky, she looked for a sign of Captain. But she only saw the facade of the buildings between which Jina had cornered her and a glimpse of the night sky. A tear escaped her eye.

Boots scraped against the pavement as Jina made her way into the alleyway where Cress was lying.

"Looking for that thief? How pathetic you are."

Cress stayed silent.

"I wonder if your little cat-and-mouse game is just a ruse then? The famous Satellite vs. Captain duels. Or is he your lover? Does he know who you really are? And what about your husband?" Jina crouched down next to her, grabbing a fistful of Cress's hair to pull her close, making Cress wince in pain. "So many secrets. If only you could just mind. Your. Own. Damn. Business."

This time, Cress expected the slap which didn't do anything to lessen the pain.

"What? No retort? Not one of the self-righteous little speeches you're so fond of?"

"Screw you!"

"Tsk. Such foul words. That doesn't sound like you."

Cress's heart hammered in her chest, her mind whirring like a beehive as she tried to think of a way to defeat Jina. But the only thing she could think of was escape. If only she could teleport somewhere else, heal and buy time. She knew there was a way to defeat Jina. There had to be.

But she was hurt and even at her best, teleportation had proven to be complicated and unstable. The smallest mistake and might get lost in the vastness of data forever.

And worse than that, Cress knew that Jina would continue with her rampage. She didn't care about anyone. The city would be at risk if Cress didn't stop her now.

But how? Especially without Captain around.

Where was he?

"Don't bother looking for him. I flung him far across the city. He will only find you-" Jina's arms dissolved into sand that poured over Cress, slowly engulfing her"-once it's too late."

Her last hope flickered away. For whatever reason, Captain had tried to save her with everything he had but if he didn't know where she was ...

Desperately, Cress kicked at the sand that started to engulf her feet and legs but the force of millions of sand grains clamped around her.

"But if I just quietly kill you right here, he will only find you when it's too late," Jina told her with a manic smirk, her hard face a grotesque mask.

Cress knew that fighting against Jina head-on was futile. She needed Captain, only he stood the slightest chance against her. And for that she needed to buy herself some time.

The sand engulfed her upper body now and it felt like a rough python slowly twisting itself around her, effectively trapping her. She frantically looked around for anything that could help her. She cursed her useless powers as the sand reached her neck, scratching at the delicate skin.

There was no other way. She had to teleport.

She closed her eyes and let her mind hack itself into the net. Or tried to.

It was hard to concentrate, especially when she felt those strings of sand curling around her, squeezing and wandering up her neck, up her face.

She wiggled her head against the sand, trying to buy herself some time before those forces would choke out the breath out of her.

It was no use, she was too concerned with her body while her mind was too distracted to pull her into the net. She took a last gulp of air and let her mind whirl itself into a rush of wavelengths.

The sand rushed against her ears, scratched at her nose and eyelids as she pressed her lips together in a desperate attempt not to release even a bit of the precious air she was holding.

The sand squeezed tighter, forcing her to release her breath and she choked on the grains in her mouth and nose.

But already, her body felt like a distant memory. She was only mind and slowly, very slowly she managed to dissolve herself into thin air. It was similar to Captain's phasing and at the same time, it was completely different. But she could feel the restraints of the sand loosen and she only needed to-

Suddenly, the sand that had engulfed her fell away from her and Cress, yanked back into the corporal world, body and mind, fell to the ground.

She coughed and sputtered and realised how close she had been to being choked. All around her was still sand but it didn't move.

Without force, it was as harmless as any sand in a sandbox would be.

Glancing up at Jina, she saw the woman wide-eyed, sputtering like Cress had done. Bubbles of blood formed on her lips and her body was shaking. She looked down in what Cress could only think of as shock but why, Cress had no idea.

Heaves of breath, erratic and useless, echoed between the alleyway as Jina slowly got to her knees, revealing Captain behind her.

One of his arms outstretched, his hand reached behind Jina ... no-

Cress felt like screaming but no tone came out.

Captain didn't reach behind Jina. He was reaching inside Jina!

His fist was embedded into her back and chest cavity and he twisted his arm, evoking another painful sound from Jina. The part of her arms that had been turned into sand dissolved, mixing with blood that dropped from her chin.

Captain, his face hidden by the mask except for the angry snarl of his mouth, ripped his arm away with a forceful grunt and Jina dropped to the ground face-down, revealing a hole in her back, almost unnaturally clean at the edges. She shuddered and twisted and then, she lay still.

Cress tried clambering to her feet but she couldn't move her legs. She crawled towards the body, slipping on sand and blood as it coated her hands and knees. The hole in Jina's back gapped open and Cress gagged at the sight, still trying to catch up with what had just happened.

Reaching out for Jina, Cress turned the heavy body around to reveal a bloodied mouth and big, dead eyes that stared into nothing.

A scream tore itself out of Cress's throat, raw as it was.

It didn't matter that only seconds ago, Jina had tried to kill Cress, but the sight of the body ... Cress felt sick to her stomach.

She had never been this close to a fallen supervillain before. When Inferno, a Lunar whose powers were fire and lava-related, had threatened Beijing, it had been Mechanic who, by copying Satellite and Captain's power, defeated him in a spectacle.

In Paris, against Voltage, she had capped off the city's power supplies that gave the Lunar his powers but it had been Red who had landed the final blow to save the city.

Both times she had been too far removed from the action to see the remains of what had once been normal humans.

The first time Cress had come across actual brutality was Wolf defeating the omega, his brother. She had looked away then.

She couldn't look away now.

"Cress." Thevoice was quiet and strained and so unlike Captain that she thought it had been someone else who had called her name. "It's over, Cress. We need to leave."

She looked up at him, his silhouette only faintly outlined by a distant light. Her eyes snagged on his right hand, the glove much darker than the other.

A whimper escaped her lips at the sight. A question was on her lips but she knew the answer before she could even open her mouth.

He had used his powers to phase his arm into Jina's back, damaging the insides of her heart, her lungs, whatever, enough to kill her.

"Cress?"

He stepped closer, the movement enough to scare Cress into scrambling away from him until she hit her back at the building behind her. Her breath was still erratic, her heart hammering away in her chest painfully.

Captain stayed where he was, watching her as she tried to calm down her breathing.

"I had no other option."

The words hung in the air, a futile attempt to explain even though she hadn't accused him of anything.

She knew he was right. Jina had been indomitable, an opponent too strong to defeat with just cleverness and heightened strength. There was hardly anything Satellite could have done to prevent the carnage Jina had brought over the city.

It wasn't even Jina's death that frightened her. Heroes defeated the villains, that's how all the stories went. If Cress had been given the chance, she wouldn't have hesitated to do as Captain did.

No, Cress's fear ran deeper.

For the first time she was aware how destructive, how dangerous Captain could be.

It was easy to overlook that he was more than a thief who took way too much interest in antiquities around the world and who stole her father's paper, effectively risking her secret identity if he put two and two together or sold it to the wrong people.

Captain, as she knew him, was always in good humour, cracking jokes, sometimes (or rather, usually) at her expense. But he had always come to her rescue as well.

She enjoyed likening him to a villain, her archnemesis, the one she had to defeat. With both of their powers being less on the offensive than others, it was about a battle of wits.

But now, she knew she was no match for him. It was not about wits and who outplayed whom. Captain would always have the upper hand and the reason he never attacked her like he did Jina ... it was because she wasn't important enough in his eyes.

He could get away with whatever he stole, the best Cress could do was detain him or track the goods afterwards. Once he had sold it and got his money's worth, he usually didn't care if she tracked the goods down to return them to their rightful owners.

He could kill her by just reaching out and ...

She knew that Captain didn't want to harm her or he would have done so countless times before. Maybe it wasn't quite fear she was feeling but being, once more, overshadowed by a better Lunar. Someone with a better set of powers than her own.

It didn't matter. This wasn't the right time to be concerned about that. "I- I know. I just..." She struggled to find the right words and, as the silence stretched on, she instead focused on getting up. She gingerly supported herself on her scratched hands but had underestimated how shaky her legs were.

Before she could slip though, she felt strong arms engulfing her. Steadfast and more quiet than she was used to from him, Captain helped her up.

And then, he just held her.

As Satellite, she would have never let him get this close. Not after what he had done to Jina. But right now, she was Cress and she was still scared, vulnerable. And he was tall and strong and protective of her for reasons she couldn't begin to comprehend.

So she let him and only when his grip on her tightened and rubbed her back in a soothing motion, she realised that she was sobbing into the chest plate of his suit.

He didn't say anything, just held her until she managed to calm down, her sobs subsiding into sniffles. "I-I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me." She rubbed her eyes, aware that she had probably smudged her make-up unflatteringly over her face. If she had known how her evening turned out, she would have opted for water-proof mascara. She gave a laugh at that absurd thought which turned into a hiccup.

"Shh, it's all good." His voice was deep and sincere and felt rather than sounded familiar. One of his hands stroked back her hair. "It's been a rough night. But it's over now. You're safe."

"Thanks to you." The words stumbled out of her and Cress wished they weren't true. That she had been strong enough to save herself instead of the one person she knew was her enemy in many ways. Captain was a thief, he held or had sold documents that risked her secret identity (and that of her father), he stole so many priceless artefacts – but he had saved her. Her head was still spinning from that revelation. He was always emphasising that he was no hero but what else was he in that moment if not that? And as Cress, she could be just grateful to her saviour. She beamed up at him, trying her best to smile through the tears as she studied the outline of his mask. "You saved me. I told you, you would make a great hero. Thank you … Captain."

And then it happened. She felt his lips on hers, a bit rough but moving sensually against hers before she even realised what was going on. She smelled the leather from his suit, felt his hand gripping into her curls and pulling her closer as the other tightened on her hip when one of her hands reached up and-

SMACK!

Captain stumbled back, one hand coming up to his cheek where she had slapped him before covering his lips as if they had betrayed him.

"How dare you?!" Cress panted. She rubbed at her own lips as if that would erase the kiss. The kiss! Her mind reeled. Captain had just kissed her! It was bizarre.

"I'm sorry, Cress." He reached out to her but she took a step back and he didn't follow. "I didn't mean to kiss you. It didn't mean anything, I just-"

"You didn't mean to?" How dumb did he think she was? That was the worst excuse she ever heard.

"I just …" And for the first time since she knew him, Captain looked uncertain.

"You just what?" She had hardly ever felt as angry as she did now. His harmless flirting, saving her from Jina – what did he think would happen? She was married, she had told him so. Did he think she would be just so grateful for saving her that she would thank him with a little tryst among the rubble and next to a dead Lunar with a bloody hole in her chest!?

A long pause. "I forgot myself for a second," he muttered, more to himself than to her. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Cress, I really am. It never should have happened."

Cress didn't know what to say. She couldn't read him, his mask hiding his expressions and for a split second, her mind flashed to the kiss. It had felt so different than any other kiss in her life but at the same time …

Captain must have seen something in her face because he pulled himself up, looking like the dashing rogue once more. "Then again, it can't hurt to try. I mean that's how the stories go, right? Scoundrel rescues damsel in distress, adrenaline gets their blood pumping and next thing you know, they give into their desires and I don't think I need to elaborate on what's going to happen next." He flashed her a suggestive grin.

"You're disgusting."

He shrugged. "Many women would beg to differ. Oh well. No hard feelings. Come on, I'll take you home. Your husband is probably worried sick. You think he'll pay me for saving you?" His laugh was easy and he held out his hand out to her. "Come on, damsel, let the Captain take you to the man of your dreams."

"Don't touch me."

"Cress?"

Her eyes flashed in anger and if he took one more step towards her, she would attack him just like Satellite would, despite her injuries. She hated his flippant attitude even more than the kiss. "Don't come closer."

"Listen, you know I would never hurt you? I don't know what came over me and-"

"Leave. I mean it, Captain. I don't want you near me."

"But … you're injured." He pointed to her cut leg and she knew there were many more bruises on her body. She didn't care. "You need medical attention. I can take you to a hospital."

"I said, leave!"

There was a long stretch of silence where only distant sirens could be heard. Finally, Captain raised his hands in defeat. "Alright. Please, be careful."

Despite everything and whatever his reasons, he had been concerned for her safety from the start. She gave him a tense nod.

He waited as if she would change his mind and then he gave her a two-fingered salute and took off towards the night sky.

She waited a few seconds before slumping down to the ground. She knew she had to move soon and she needed to get home to Thorne but her mind was still reeling.

Jina. Captain saving her. Killing her enemy. Kissing her.

Kissing her.

Somehow in her crazy life as a superhero, this one incident stood out to her the most. Her fingertips reached up to her lips. Captain was not a bad kisser. Somehow that made it worse.

Now that she was alone, she could admit that it hadn't felt like he had forced himself on her. More like he had been… what? Overcome with desire for her? She blushed at the thought. It was silly and made no sense. He had been just playing with her. She was glad that Cress at least wouldn't have to face him anymore. And nothing would change between him and Satellite. They were still enemies.

Trying to put that kiss out of her mind, Cress slowly stood up. Taking a few deep breaths, she noted the various injuries she sustained from Jina.

Her leg was pounding, bloody from a deep cut. The palms of her hands were ripped open and half of her face felt swollen and sore when she touched it. Cress knew she would heal faster than normal humans but it had been a while since she had been that injured from a fight with another Lunar. Last time had to be the omega she fought before Wolf came to her rescue.

It was no use, she would have to get going. She gingerly put some weight on her injured leg, wincing at the pain. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she could feel the pain coursing through her body. Taking the direct way to her home by jumping from rooftop to rooftop was out of the question. She pressed her teeth together, taking a few tentative steps. Checking her position, she was almost on the other side of the city; there was no way she would make it home by foot.

She knew she wouldn't find a cab with half the city being devastated by Jina's attack. She might be able to call Thorne but … maybe she could teleport instead?

Cress had been almost able to teleport as she tried to run away from Jina but now she had all the time she needed. It would also let her escape the pain she was now acutely aware of, at least for a little while as her body would be nothing but wavelengths and atoms, instead of nerves and flesh.

Just as she was about to close her eyes in concentration, she heard footsteps echoing in the alleyway she was standing in. Had Captain returned?

Warily, Cress stumbled towards one of the buildings, pressing herself flat against the rough wall, hoping the shadows would hide her.

The light from the streetlamps illuminated two tall, slender figures. So not Captain. Maybe just some passer-bys making their way through the debris.

Then she heard a woman speaking in a sing-song voice, the voice echoing in a strange cadence. But it was the words that made Cress's skin crawl in fear.

"Come out, Satellite-friend."

A/N: Dun-dun-dun. So much stuff going on in this chapter, I hope everyone enjoyed it. This concluded the little Captain/Cress mini arc. Did you like it as much as I do?

Now for a little surprise: As you know "Masks" is written solely in Cress's POV but who doesn't love a good Thorne POV? We loved them in TLC, we love them in fics but since "Masks" doesn't have one (yet?), my wonderful beta kiminicricket took this chapter and gave it a much needed Thorne POV! (I didn't force her, I swear it was all her idea btw!) She wrote the whole thing and surprised me with it and I'm so happy that she will share it with all of you. ^.^

So if you want to read Thorne's POV of this chapter, hop over to kiminicricket's "A Lunar Chronicles Collection" and you will find it as the newest entry. I tell you it was such a treat to read my story with a new perspective and she gave so many insights into Captain's mind while rescuing Cress it's a must-read. :)