10/17/22

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Cursed

Chapter Forty-Five: Hide and Seek

...

Madame Rouge leads us to the entryway of the orphanage, already disguised with the face of some unknowing civilian. The three of us have also made efforts to disguise ourselves, wearing normal clothes instead of our uniforms. It's the first time in years that I've worn civilian clothes. It feels... odd. My hair has been let down, while Gizmo is covering his bald head with a wig. Jade braided her hair, shortening the length by quite a bit. We almost look... normal.

I pick at the hem of my sleeve nervously. I don't want to think about the fate in store for the children behind that door.

Madame Rouge rings the doorbell, marking the end of their peaceful lives. My stomach churns as I think about the moments that led up to my kidnapping. Everything seemed normal that day, too. Well, as normal as it could be since we were in the process of moving houses. I knew things would be different from that day on, but it was supposed to be a happy kind of different. We were supposed to be a family...

The man from the photograph answers the door, smiling from ear to ear. He is dressed up in a fancy tux, with a tie that matches the color of Madame Rouge's dress. I try my hardest to smile, as if I don't know what's going to happen today. Madame Rouge said she was going to dispose of him. Does that mean she's planning to kill him? He looks... nice. Too nice.

I shake my head. Kid Flash must've gotten to me more than I thought.

"Oh, hello! You must be Lauren. It's so nice to finally see you face to face. Come in, come in!"

We follow him inside, revealing a nicely decorated house. The differences between this orphanage and the Hive Academy are immediately obvious. Instead of the clinical, imposing energy of the Academy, this orphanage feels more like a home. This first room reminds me of the family room at my old house. It's cozy. There's a dollhouse in the corner, and a little table made just for kids. How many times did I struggle to climb into the chairs of the Academy's full-sized desks as a child? How many times did I wish to play with my dollhouse just one more time?

I feel my heart twist further as the two children from the picture run into the room, the boy chasing after the girl. The girl is clutching onto the blue blanket the boy was carrying in the picture, while the boy is loudly crying and lunging for it.

"Melvin, could you give Timmy his blanket back?" the man asks kindly.

Both children stop in their tracks.

"But Timmy was hitting me with it! He wouldn't stop!" the little girl whines.

The boy, Timmy, starts stomping his feet on the ground and crying harder. The sound is loud enough that it will probably cause irreparable damage to my eardrums.

"That's! Not! True! Blankie, blankie, blankie, bla-"

The man kneels on the ground, reaching eye level with Timmy. "Now Timmy, don't you remember what we talked about?"

"But Melvin!"

"Yes, but we need to keep our hands and blankies to ourselves, don't we?"

Timmy nods his head hesitantly.

"Let's use our kind words. Do you have anything you want to say to Melvin?"

Timmy turns to Melvin. "I'm sorry Melvin. Can I have blankie back?"

Melvin looks at the man, as if waiting for approval. He nods, and she hands it back to him.

"I forgive you."

I blink in surprise. He handled that surprisingly well.

"Now children, there are some nice people here I want you to meet. This is Miss Lauren, and her three children. Melvin, I believe this boy is around your age, isn't he?"

Melvin skips forward, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Gizmo's face has turned as red as a tomato.

This should be fun.

"Hi, I'm Melvin and this is Timmy. I'm eight and a half years old, but I'm gonna be nine soon. How old are you?"

"I... uh... I mean..."

Jade smirks, patting Gizmo on the head. "Mikey turned three last week."

Gizmo spins around, verbally exploding like fireworks on the fourth of July. "Did not! I'm ten years old you knuckleheaded freak brain!"

Jade shrugs. "Could've fooled me."

Gizmo glares at Jade with murder in his eyes. Jade sticks her tongue out playfully. I let myself relax, dropping my guard if only for a moment. Just for today, we can be siblings and babysitters. For a few hours, I can pretend everything is normal.

I crouch down to the children's' level, sticking out my hand for Melvin to shake. "My name is Mal. This is my sister Jade and our little brother Mikey."

Melvin shakes my hand while Timmy stares at me in awe.

"Wow," Timmy says. "You're one of the big kids."

"Are you twelve?" Melvin asks.

I smile, trying not to laugh. "No, I'm seventeen. And Jade's turning fifteen next month. Right Jade?"

Jade seems surprised, as if she didn't expect me to remember her birthday. I smile at her reassuringly, and she awkwardly joins me on the floor. Gizmo is still pouting. That, or he's trying to act cool in front of Melvin. At any rate, she seems oblivious.

"Wasn't there one more of you?" Jade asks, looking around.

"Tenzil is still asleep," the man says. "He should wake up in a few hours."

"Uh huh. Teether's just a baby, so he sleeps a lot. So we've gotta make sure Timmy stays quiet so he can sleep enough," Melvin says.

Right. Of course only one of these kids has a normal name. That is, if Timmy isn't short for Timberthaly or something. Parents these days...

"We should be going if we're going to have our date before the gala," Madame Rouge says, eyeing us with a glare that makes my heart stop. "Remember to do your job, children."

"Yes, of course," the man says, fumbling with a pen. He scratches something on a piece of paper and hands it to me. "Here's my cell phone number. Feel free to call me whenever you need anything. There's plenty of food in the fridge, so help yourselves. Melvin and Timmy should be able to help you with the baby."

He pauses, looking us over and smiling softly. His tone changes to one less frantic than before, one filled of hope and love.

"I really look forward to getting to know you three in the future. Your mother is a very special lady. I would like for us to become a family someday, if that's all right with you."

Madame Rouge interrupts before the guilt can hit me too hard.

"Oh, stop it Samuel, you're making me blush. Be good, children. You know what to do."

...

I yawn, leaning into the couch. It's a lot more comfortable than the one at the base, that's for sure. Teether snuggles up against me, copying my yawn. He's a cute kid. A little too cute, if you ask me. It's like someone mutated him in a lab to be uncomfortably adorable.

I frown, trying not to think about Teether getting anywhere near a lab. I can't stop the inevitable, though. These children's fate is as dark as mine was, all because of the powers we didn't ask for. It's not fair, but it's life. I was raised to be a villain, these children will be raised as experiments. Fortune favors the lucky, and luck is something very few metas could dare to hope for. Especially me. Doing the right thing isn't an option. Even if we did save these kids, the Brotherhood would still come for them eventually. All we would be doing is dooming ourselves. Fate is inevitable, and there's no sense in sacrificing ourselves to delay it.

My bottom lip is sore from gnawing on it all day. If Gizmo and Jade feel as nervous as I do, though, they're doing a good job at hiding it. I can hear them loudly scuffling around with the other two kids, playing some weird variation of tag they likely made up on the spot. It's too rambunctious for me to deal with in the middle of a moral crisis, though, so I took one for the team and offered to snuggle with the baby. Taxing, I know. It's a tough job, but someone had to do it.

I flip through the channels on the tv, eventually landing on a news station. It's not the kind of thing I normally watch. We were never allowed to watch the news or anything like that back at the Hive. Anything from the outside world had to be carefully monitored by Headmistress to ensure that nothing painted the Hive in a bad light. It was manipulative, looking back on it. Lots of things were. But today, I want to see if there's any updates on the gala.

A few normal, boring stories pass until something catches my eye.

"Central City's Flash Museum opened its new exhibit to the public for the very first time. Both the current Flash and the retired Flash made an appearance, as well as Kid Flash and the other heroes of Central City."

"Wow," Timmy says, leaning on the arm of the couch. "Real superheroes."

It feels like a punch in the gut. I can barely watch the rest of the story. Especially when Kid Flash is the one who starts answering the reporter's questions. Despite the children's fixation on the screen, I have to turn it off. I can't face him right now, not after what I'm about to do. I squirm in my seat, fumbling around for the remote.

"It's a really busy time for the city right now," Kid Flash says casually, unaware of the anguish his image on the screen is causing me. "We just had Flash Day, and next week we're having our annual Missing Persons Awareness Day in honor of Lin-"

The screen goes black as I finally locate the remote. I half expect the kids to throw a tantrum, but they're surprisingly unaffected.

"It's time to go feed Bobby!" Melvin announces, scampering towards the fridge.

"The cake is mine!" Timmy whines.

"I wasn't gonna feed him the cake! Bobby likes the mashed potatoes better!"

I turn around, watching as the kids pile food onto a plate for their pet. Gizmo seems equally invested in this ritual.

"Mikey, you're in charge while you guys are outside with the bear. I need to talk to Jade about something."

Jade tilts her head. I wince, dreading the conversation we're about to have.

If Gizmo or the other kids notice something is up, they don't mention it. Instead, Timmy and Melvin take Teether by the hands and lead him outside, Gizmo following close behind with Bobby's food. An awkward silence follows, neither of us sure how to break it.

"Cute kids," Jade finally says.

I glance at the now blank TV screen, remembering the images of Kid Flash and my former heroes that had graced it only moments before.

"I can't do this," I admit. "There's no way I could live with myself."

"It's a line we can't cross, if their suffering will be even a fraction of ours," Jade says quietly.

She sits down next to me on the couch, where Teether was sitting a moment ago, and lays her head on my shoulder. I lean my head on top of hers, sighing deeply.

"How do we get ourselves out of this mess?" I groan.

"Roy," Jade mumbles, burying her head in my shoulder.

"Hm?"

"Roy. You didn't forget about him, did you?"

"Of course not! But what does he have to do with-"

"I... might have his number."

I sit up, staring at Jade. This is news to me.

"Okay, fine, you have his number. But what does he have to do with this?"

Jade tugs at her braid nervously, clearly not thrilled about her shoulder pillow being taken away. "The Justice League has those zeta tube things, right? The ones that let them teleport?"

Again, this is news to me.

"I know Roy isn't talking to Green Arrow right now, but maybe he could come take the kids away."

I'm about to answer, but then another thought hits me.

"Or Kid Flash."

...

Within an hour, the house is a mess. Intentionally, of course. When you tell a small child to go wild and destroy the place, they go all out. Especially when you have four of them plus a giant teddy bear to contribute to the mess. Jade and I help too, of course, but we also have the logistics to worry about. As I hex a few things and help the children pack, Jade and I go back and forth planning a script for Madame Rouge.

"Gizmo should be the one who slipped up and told them. He's clearly crushing on that Melvin kid, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say he got flustered around her," Jade argues, ripping up a throw pillow.

As much as it pains me to destroy such an idealistic home, we need the visuals to sell the act. The kids rebelled against the power dampening device the Brotherhood gave us, we spent hours trying to chase them down, Bobby crashed in a la Kool-Aid Man, the kids got away. It's simple enough. In addition to our cover story, we've also created plenty of failsafes to prevent the kids from getting captured. Gizmo even rigged up the power dampener to merely restrain them, not dampen their powers. At that point, Teether could easily chew his way out and free the older kids. I can only hope everything goes smoothly when Madame Rouge and Monsieur Mallah get here.

"We're doing the right thing," I reassure myself out loud.

The right thing.

Even when there were other options for today's events, I picked the side of good.

The corners of my lips turn upwards ever so slightly, and butterflies flutter in my stomach. In spite of my bad luck, I did something good.

"Sure, we can throw Mikey under the bus. He has the least to lose, too. We'll be in more trouble if we're the ones who slip up," I agree, trying to snuff out my happiness. We can't get too comfortable yet. The hardest parts are yet to come.

Timmy tugs on my arm. "When are Stretchy Lady and Monkey Man coming?"

"Don't worry Timmy. You guys will be long gone by the time they get here. You just need to make sure and hide if they try to chase you."

"And then Mr. Sam is gonna come live with us again at our new house!"

Suddenly, I feel guilty again. There's no way to save their guardian. All we can do is help them find a new one.

"Sure Timmy," I say, lying through my teeth. "Everything's going to be okay."

"We won't let the bad people hurt you," Jade promises. "Not now, not ever."

The doorbell rings, and I feel a bit panicked. Surely it's Kid Flash. It must be.

"Pizza delivery," Kid Flash sings sarcastically.

I breathe a sigh of relief, moving quickly to open the door. Kid Flash, of course, is standing on the other side with a goofy grin. My heart flutters, and I tell myself it's because of the nerves. Not because he's cute or anything. There's nothing cute about making me rethink my moral code. Nothing at all. I definitely don't want to kiss him right now.

"What's the password?" I ask, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. You can't be too careful with Madame Rouge around.

"I don't think we have one of those. Will this do?" he asks, offering me a single rose.

If my heart was fluttering before, it's at risk for cardiac arrest now. I do my best to keep my emotions under control, but a smile pushes through as I take the rose.

"It'll work this time," I say, trying not to gush. The heck is wrong with me today? "You can go ahead and run those suitcases over if you want."

"Can do," Kid Flash says with a quick salute.

In a literal flash, the suitcases by the door disappear. I don't know where they're going. It's the same place the kids are going, but I don't know where that is either. We all agreed it would be safer that way. I don't know if anyone out of the Brotherhood's new recruits can read minds, but if they can there's no sense putting the kids in danger like that too when we're already going to be in trouble.

"All done!" Kid Flash announces.

Jade has made her reappearance by now, Melvin clinging to her like Velcro.

"Are you Kid Flash?" Melvin asks.

Kid Flash grins, crouching down to her level. "That's me! Ready to go to your new home?"

"I guess so. The little kids need to be ready too though," she says, swishing her toy cape.

"I wasn't sure if he would be able to lift Bobby, so we taught him to disappear," Jade says, more to me than Kid Flash.

"Uh huh!" Melvin adds. "And Bobby's gonna follow me wherever I go, so he'll be able to find me!"

That's... interesting. I'm still not really sure exactly what Bobby is. He looks like a giant teddy bear, but he acts human? He has trust issues? He can learn tricks? He's somehow connected to Melvin's powers but he's not an imaginary friend?

What? Is? Bobby?

I rub my temples and return to the matter at hand. Jade doesn't seem too concerned with Kid Flash seeing her face. Maybe it's because I didn't explicitly call her Cheshire on the phone. There's probably no danger in one teenage hero knowing her face if he doesn't know her exact identity. Or maybe she just doesn't care anymore. I know I wouldn't, after today. Protecting these kids is all that matters right now.

"Cheshire. Long time no see," Kid Flash says cheerfully.

Well, that answers that question. But if they know each other, how?

Jade pulls Melvin closer to her, avoiding Kid Flash's gaze. "Just keep them safe."

"Well, that's what I'm here for, right? Don't worry about it," he says with a smile that once again makes my heart flutter.

Okay, fine. I'll bite. Question number three: what the heck is wrong with me?

"Well, if it isn't the pit-sniffer who destroyed our base," Gizmo sneers. The two younger boys toddle in behind him, oblivious to the animosity between them.

"At your service and ready to help. You must be Timmy and Teether."

"You're really a real superhero? For real?" Timmy asks.

"That's right! Who's ready to go for a ride?!" Kid Flash says, as enthusiastically as ever.

"What kind of ride? Teether's tummy gets upset," Melvin explains.

Oh.

Oh no.

You know, it never really occurred to me that this plan might not work. I glance over at Kid Flash, who seems similarly panicked. Good to know we're in the same boat here.

"It's kind of a long trip," Kid Flash says hesitantly. "Even with my speed."

"So if he gets motion sick, he won't get over it very easily," I say, finishing his thought. We don't want to hurt the poor kid, so what now?

Jade and Gizmo look to me expectantly, clearly waiting for my solution. I pick my brain for an answer, desperately trying to think of a way to save these kids. No one came for me when I was in their shoes. I don't want them to go through what I did. Kid Flash seems stumped too. If only there was a way.

And suddenly, it hits me. The obvious solution, hiding in plain sight.

"What if you go on foot? It'll be more dangerous until you get to their new home, but until then you can protect them!"

Jade and Gizmo are instantly relieved. Kid Flash? Not so much.

"It's kind of a long way off. My aunt needs me to come home soon," Kid Flash says nervously.

"Oh, okay then Mr. I-Work-Alone. What's your solution?" I scowl.

"I never said it won't work. I just need to see if one of the other Titans can fill in for me the rest of the way," Kid Flash explains frantically.

"So we have to walk the whole way?" Melvin whines.

"I'm sure we can find something Teether can ride," Kid Flash explains, ruffling her hair. I try to ignore how cute it is. "And Aunt Ir- I mean, my aunt will understand if we can't find someone. It'll work, Jinx. I promise."

I bite my lip. "It better. These kids are depending on it."

We lock eyes, and my heartrate increases. I want to go with them and make sure the kids are safe. But I'm needed here, to protect my own family from the fallout. But even so, for a moment I don't feel so evil at all. And for now, that's enough.

"You did good, Jinx. I'm proud."

Sorry it's been so long. Have this absolute monster of a chapter to make up for it!

Quote of the day!

"And so Jack and Jill went down the hill, carrying a human-sized bag and an unsheathed axe!" -Keichii Maebara, Higurashi (chapter 1)

May the odds be ever in your favor,

Spectrobes Princess