"You can stop holding my hand now."
"Oh. Um, of course." Except Satellite really didn't want to. Holding Thorne's hand was comforting. She had missed his presence during the last few days, craving the closeness. It was reassuring, especially enclosed by the dark vault, surrounded by bombs.
If only Thorne wouldn't pull slightly away from her every other moment. But having no choice, she finally let his hand go.
Thorne rubbed his hand and stepped away from her. He was still close enough for her to see him in the dim lights but only barely. It was a strange feeling, to be together with Thorne without him knowing it was her. He so far hadn't shown much interest in her superhero persona but kept a steady distance.
Satellite realised that, if there was no other way to save them, she would have to reveal who she was but dismissed the thought just as quickly. The situation wasn't hopeless. And still, a part of her wondered how Thorne would react? Surprised, surely. Concerned? In awe? She would like that.
"So, what's the plan?" Thorne said, leaning against the wall.
Satellite could feel his scrutinizing look, though he seemed more curious than frightened. Conscious of the motion detectors, she turned carefully around. The vault was massive, as far as she could tell. The remains of the robbery were still visible: Loads of bank notes lying around the floor, proving that the robbers had been working fast and more than that, that their goal had been the gold bars the bank was storing in the back of the vault.
That's when she thought a steady blinking light out of the corner of her eyes. It was a small apparatus, no bigger than her hand, with wires sticking out. It looked haphazardly put together, a stark contrast to the high-tech architecture of the vault.
"That's one of the bombs, I guess?" Thorne said, standing suddenly next to her.
Satellite could only nod, her throat dry.
"What do you think its range is?"
"I can't say. When the guy activated the one outside, they were still close enough after the door closed, so maybe not too much."
"But we can't be certain." Thorne looked around. "There's another one."
Standing on tiptoes, Satellite followed his pointed hand and true enough, another contraption was sticking to the wall a few meters behind the first. Satellite could only make out the third one by the blinking.
"And you can't just"-he put his fingers to his temples and squinted comically-" deactivate them with your mind? Isn't that your superpower?"
Satellite shook her head, a bit abashed. Not even Thorne knew what Satellite's powers were. "I'm not a technopath. They could do it. A technopath can influence machinery, everything that is running with wires, batteries and such. I'm a cyberpath," she added, only barely preventing herself from saying 'just a cyberpath'. Maybe Thorne wouldn't be impressed by his superhero wife after all.
"But you opened the vault?"
"I didn't open the door mechanically. I hacked into the security system. From there I could open the door digitally. If it were an old-fashioned vault, I wouldn't have been able to," she confessed.
There were a few moments of silence where they stared at the steady blinking when something occurred to Cress.
"They're all on one wall." Satellite judged the space between to walls to be around 25 meters. Maybe ..."
"You know, for someone who is claimed to be the smartest superhero, that's all you got?"
It took a few seconds for his words to register, as Satellite's mind was elsewhere, and then it left her speechless. "I ... you're very rude." Which was something she was not accustomed to by Thorne at all. Thorne who, on the contrary, was always very polite.
"Just disappointed. I thought New York's very own Lunar would be more impressive." He grinned at her as if he hadn't just insulted her intelligence.
"What I meant,"- Satellite said between clenched teeth, "- is that if they put those bombs only on one wall they must have been doing that on purpose. And they got out after they activated the bombs without them detonating."
"Ah, gotcha." Thorne snapped his fingers. "So, we're safe to walk if we keep to the other side." He paused. "Just where to? I don't think a vault is supposed to have an emergency exit."
"Just away from the bombs first." Then she could think clearly and figure out a strategy.
Satellite took the lead, slowly making her way to the other side of the wall. With her back pressed to the wall, she gingerly slid away from the door towards the back of the vault, Thorne copying her movements. When she was straight across the first bomb, Satellite held her breath as if even that would be enough to set off the bomb.
Nothing happened. The bomb just kept on blinking.
Satellite nodded to Thorne and they continued they way through the vault, passing the second and finally, finally, the third bomb. They slowly continued into the next room where still whole heaps of stacked gold bars had remained out of the robbers' clutches. She heard Thorne whistle behind her.
Relief washed over her. At least she could think clearly without the constant fear of setting off the bombs. At clinking behind her, Satellite turned around.
Thorne weighed one of the gold bars in his hand. "Now who would ever notice if you went missing?"
"You're not thinking about stealing?" Satellite sputtered in shock.
Satellite knew the innocent look he gave her all too well - she usually saw it when he pretended to having cleaned up the bathroom or taking the trash out. "Me? I'm not stealing anything. Those robbers though, they stole all those gold bars, including this one," he told her with a grin. "Evil people, I tell you."
"That's illegal. You can't just take the leftovers of a robbery!" Did she seriously have to explain her husband not to steal? Where did that even come from? She had never seen him act like this. "You better put that back."
He gasped mockingly. "What, are you going to arrest me?"
This situation was almost worse than the bomb. Satellite knew she wouldn't arrest Thorne but she couldn't let him know that. "If you don't put this gold bar back, yes. Why would you even risk that? Getting arrested for a bit of gold?"
He weighed that gold bar thoughtfully. "That's not a bit of gold."
"Don't you have family who would be disappointed to learn that you stole something?"
Thorne looked unperturbed. "My wife would not even argue with me and carry some bars too."
She would never?! She could not believe that he thought that Cress would ever do something criminal. It took everything in Satellite not to rip her mask off to make Thorne reconsider his words. As it was, she was just staring at him with an open mouth when Thorne erupted in laughter.
"Oh you should see your face! I mean, you can't because you're wearing your mask but everything below your nose? Priceless." He put back the gold bar, still grinning.
He had been joking? With Satellite? With Cress, she knew his humour but as Satellite, she was out of her depth.
"Relax, just trying to lighten the mood. Since we're hostage buddies and all that."
Relieved, Satellite allowed herself a small chuckle. "Oh, okay."
"But speaking of hostages, any way you can ... you know, un-hostage us?"
"I'm trying." But first things first. She quickly formulated a message to the police force telling them not to enter because of the bombs. If they tried to open the vault, everyone in close vicinity would die, including her and Thorne.
But when Satellite tried to send the message to her contacts ... she couldn't? As if a wall surrounding her, throwing back any digital signal back at her.
"Are you already doing something? It's really hard to tell with your powers."
She didn't respond. First, she had to make sure that it wasn't just a fluke. But after more unsuccessful attempts to use her powers, Satellite had to face the scary truth: Her cyberpathic abilities were gone.
"Hellooo, you still in there?" Thorne knocked lightly against her forehead.
"I ... can't use my superpowers," she confessed. Her hands balled into fists to prevent them from shaking. Satellite figured that she could teleport out of the vault, maybe, just maybe manage to take Thorne with her, despite the danger. Or maybe contact one of the other superheroes. Or ... and that was the worst option- which made it difficult for her to even think it - find Captain.
But now, she couldn't teleport. She couldn't even send for help. She could just wait with Thorne for the police force and just hope they would figure out a way to defuse the bomb on the vault's door. Because if not ...
"Wait, what? What do you mean you can't use your powers?" Thorne stepped into her field of vision, crouching down to be on eye-level with her. Satellite quickly side-stepped him. It wouldn't do to have him too close. He hadn't figured out she was Cress with her mask and different accent but she wouldn't take a chance. "Oh. Because of the vault. I bet mobile phone's don't have a connection here either."
Satellite had figured out the same. She thought her powers lacking compared to others but now she knew she had a weakness too. Enclosed by stone and metal, a few meters under the ground was enough to render her helpless.
"Interesting," Thorne said, more to himself than to her.
"I'll figure something out. Just give me a second."
Thorne shrugged. "Sure."
Satellite stepped closer into the middle of the room. If there was a computer of sorts, that could be her solution. Checking the walls and even the platforms the gold bars were stacked on brought no success. Satellite huffed in frustration when she saw the surveillance cameras. There was a red light, signifying that the robbers hadn't bothered to break them.
The surveillance cameras themselves were machines but many banks' security systems were connected to it. If she used the surveillance camera as a starting point, maybe, she could hack into the security system. If she got that far, she had the connection she needed.
When Satellite turned around to Thorne to tell him about it though, he was nowhere to be seen. "Th- Umm, mister?" After all, Satellite wasn't supposed to know his name.
No response. Satellite hurried deeper into the vault where there were rows and rows of safes. For what, Satellite couldn't say, maybe valuable and unique pieces of art? Important documents? Jewellery customers stored here rather than in their homes? At least nothing that tempted the robbers more than money and gold.
Breaking into a sprint, Satellite almost crashed into the wall. "What?" Where was he? She ran back, checking the walls for any exits she might have missed. Back into the room with the gold bars and finally, edging close to the first room where the bombs were still blinking threateningly. "Sir?"
Futile as it was, she checked the same rooms again but still, no sight of Thorne. He couldn't have found an exit and not come back to tell her about it ... right? But whatever exit he might have found, Satellite should have been able to do the same. She checked every wall, every handle, every security pad attached to the safes.
Finally, she gave up. There was no exit. No Thorne and no exit. She knew it was stupid but she called out once more. "Mister, where are you?"
"Probably as far away from you as possible."
Satellite would know that voice anywhere. She looked towards the ceiling and there he was hanging, upside-down with a smirk in his face.
Captain.
A/N: It's nice that the last chapter got the most reviews out of any chapter so far but I know it's just because I said I might not continue beyond a certain point and I know it won't last. I don't want to beg for reviews either that's just not how fanfic writing and reviewing should work imo.But I feel everyone understands that feeling if you work hard and long on something and it gets very little recognition. I don't write for myself but I do write for you readers.
For now, I'll update what I have and to the point I have ideas for. Beyond that I can't say yet. I still appreciate that more readers took their time to review. It means that despite lower views, people still are interested in Masks, especially now when more dynamics are being added beyond Cress/Thorne and Satellite/Captain.