Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Columbia Pictures and to the writers and producers and whoever else I may have forgotten to mention. The only things I claim to own are my own characters and the plot of this story.
It had been a quiet couple of weeks. To Connor, each day was seemingly the exact same. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, come home, do homework, train with the team, eat dinner, go to bed. Every few days, when the team didn't train, he and Allie would get together and work on their Physics project. Rinse and repeat. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, and there were no missions the Zenith Team had been called out on.
So Connor had no reason to believe that this particular Tuesday would be any different. He woke up, ate a bowl of Cheerios, and headed outside to wait for the bus. Winter was in full swing, and it was a particularly chilly morning. He rubbed his hands together to keep them warm as he watched the bus turn the corner at the end of the street. The rest of the team was already sitting in their usual seats. They'd all recovered from their previous fight, even though occasionally Dylan and Connor would both complain about their arms hurting from where they'd been shocked. It wasn't unbearable, and Marsha had told them it would eventually go away, but the cold certainly wasn't helping any.
The bus ride was uneventful. Allie and Connor sat together and did some of their math homework, helping each other with a few problems they both had trouble with. When they were finished, they talked about the most recent episode of their favorite tv show. All in all, it was a quiet morning.
However, the usual routine was interrupted about halfway through first period. Tuesdays were practical application days, which usually meant the class watched an episode of Mythbusters showing projects related to their current coursework. Suddenly, the door to the room opened and revealed an office aide. Their teacher paused the video for a moment and read the note handed to her by the aide. Then she glanced up and found where Allie and Connor were sitting.
"Allie, they need you to go to the office to check out," was all Mrs. Kilby said.
Connor and Allie shared a confused look. She quickly gathered her backpack and notebook, then walked out with the aide. By the look on her face, Connor guessed his friend had absolutely no idea why she was called out of class. As the show resumed, he could only hope that she would be back and that everything was okay. For the rest of the class, he eagerly watched the clock and jumped every time someone passed the classroom door. But Allie never returned.
As lunch approached, Connor realized she probably wasn't coming back for the rest of the day. He hadn't seen her in the hallways between classes. At the end of their first period, their teacher had passed out the schedules for when each group would be presenting their final presentations. She'd given Connor an extra one and asked if he could give one to Allie and let her know when their project was due. During economics class, he'd stealthily taken a picture of the sheet and sent it to her in a text. Allie hadn't responded.
Five minutes before the bell rang signaling it was lunchtime, Connor's backpack buzzed. He ignored it for a minute, but finally realized it wasn't his phone. His pager was going crazy, letting him know it was time to go. He waited until the teacher was finished with his current sentence before raising his hand. "Mr. Campbell, may I go to the office?"
Dylan had told him after the first mission that this was the universal question to get them out of class when they had a mission. All the teachers were aware that if any student on that particular list asked that particular question, it was permission to leave for whatever they had to do, no questions asked. "Of course, Connor. Have a good afternoon," his teacher replied before continuing with the lesson.
By now, Connor knew he didn't even have to actually go to the office. He crammed his notebook in his backpack as he rushed out the door and headed toward the front doors of the school. Dylan and Summer were already there, and with a silent nod, they all three left together. The van wasn't there when they first stepped out into the chilly midafternoon sunlight, but after a couple of minutes, it squealed into the parking lot. As soon as it pulled up to the walkway, the doors opened and the three young heroes jumped inside. Cindy and Tucker were already seated in their usual rows and Marsha turned her seat around to brief the team about their mission as soon as the van was on the highway. Today, she seemed to have left her cheerful attitude back at the base, as she immediately got down to business.
"Alright, guys! We'll be to the pickup location here in just a couple of minutes. Jack is already on his way to pick us up. In the meantime, here's all the information that we've got. Right now, it looks like it's the same group that broke into DataTech the last time. But this time, they're hitting a computer farm in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's pretty high tech, but again, they managed to sneak in practically unseen." Marsha glanced at her watch and then out the window. A small dot appeared in the air on the horizon and grew steadily closer. "Local police said there may be a security guard inside that they've taken hostage, so we'll have to tread carefully. I'll pull up the site blueprints once we get on the ship."
The van pulled into a local park. The dot on the horizon was the team's favorite mode of transportation, their spaceship. It was old and constantly falling apart, but Summer somehow managed to keep the thing running with her powers. Jack had apparently made a hard landing in one of the park's soccer fields, as when the team jumped out of the van, there were a few random pieces of metal laying around. Summer scowled. Connor knew she hated it when his brother drove the ship; it just didn't like him.
"What did you do to him?!" Summer called as soon as the team was inside the ship. "I can tell he's pissed from right here."
Jack looked hurt as the lift brought the team higher into the control room. "I didn't do a thing, Summer. The stupid thing just doesn't like when I drive as fast as I can."
Summer sighed and pushed past Jack to the controls. He joined the team as they followed Marsha over to one of the new onboard computers General Laraby had just had installed. She pressed a button, and immediately, the screen lit up with four blueprints. One was of the building itself, another was of the building's electrical and air ducts, and the last two showed possible access points.
"This is the room they think the thieves are in. It's the main data storage center." Marsha pointed to a large room in the center of the facility. The room outlined in red as she pointed to a smaller room attached to a long hallway. "This is where they believe the security guard was when he was taken. Two other guards in the building didn't hear a thing until they realized their coworker wasn't responding to their radio calls. This was his station. Notice that there's not an access to this area from the main doors, but there is an old coal chute here from when the building was first built in the early 1900's. They think that's where they got access to the inside. We don't know what they're looking for, but if what happened last time is any indication, they are very dangerous."
The team studied the plans for a moment before Dylan spoke up. "The element of surprise didn't exactly go as planned last time. Maybe it's time for a more direct approach. Cut off all exits. Tucker, the loading bay at the back. Cindy, Summer, you take the front doors. Connor, there's a side door here that will put you the closest to the thieves right at the beginning. I'll come in the same way they did and make sure they don't come back out. Sound like a plan?"
The rest of the team murmured their agreement. Dylan broke from the rest of the group to tell his girlfriend the plan. "So, do we know anything else about these thieves?" Tucker asked suddenly. "I mean, they've had to have shown up somewhere before the DataTech theft."
Marsha looked at the floor, which usually meant there was nothing good she could say. "We have no idea. I mean, there have been thefts done by metahumans in the past, but not a group like this."
"What about individual thefts that match the profile of the group members? Like that guy on the computer?" Connor asked as he watched a second screen, which was replaying some amateur video footage of the thieves breaking out of the lab during the first heist.
"You know, Connor, we hadn't thought of that! I'll get right on it!" Marsha exclaimed, and immediately turned away from the team to type away on the computer.
Connor continued to watch the amateur footage as it looped back to the beginning, before a second video caught his eye. He reached up and tapped the screen, bringing the news story that had been running in the background to the front.
It was a video from a local helicopter news crew. The scene was of a two-lane street in an older downtown neighborhood. Emergency vehicles lined the street, lights flashing a rainbow of colors. At the bottom of the feed, a news ticker scrolled "BREAKING NEWS: BREAK IN AT NATIONAL DATA SECURITY CENTER. HOSTAGES UNKNOWN." A crowd of people stood on the sidewalk behind police barriers, trying to catch a glimpse of the action down the street. Connor slowly turned up the volume as the picture switched to a young woman standing in front of a police car. There was a slight pause before she held up a microphone and began speaking.
"We're here on Fisk Drive, just down the street from a reported break in at the Matlore Data Security Facility. Unfortunately, John, there just doesn't seem to be many details about the robbery at this time. As you can see, there is a massive police presence, and one source with the department who wished to remain anonymous said they are bringing in a group of specialists to deal with the problem. Although no official count has been release, witnesses in the area said there were possibly between one and five hostages still inside. So far, there have been no demands from the robbers. This is a developing story, please stay with Channel Three Eyewitness News for updates. Now back to John and Cindy in the studio."
The video muted as Dylan pressed the button again, returning to where Connor stood after he finished talking with Summer. "This'll be fun," Connor muttered to his teammate. "Police are fine, they know how to stay out of the way. But the media and civilians…" He trailed off, knowing the team leader knew what he meant.
Dylan gave a solemn nod. Then they both felt the subtle descending motion of the ship, and with one look at each other, knew it was time to go to work.
Summer set the ship down in a nearby park. As the team was lowered down, Connor was thankful that all of the media attention was on the break in, so they had probably come in practically unnoticed. The facility was a few blocks away, and they would have to run, but it was better than scaring the people in the area with a UFO. Dylan motioned with his hand and took off, Connor and the rest of the team following closely behind.
By the time the entire team had reached the scene, the only one who was out of breath was Jack, and Connor knew he avoided Dr. Grant's crazy endurance training like it would give him the plague. They had come around the backside of the building, where there wasn't as big of a civilian presence. The group showed the policewoman on duty their credentials, and she ushered them in around the barrier. Marsha and Jack left the group at the side of the building to find the police commander in charge. While they waited, Dylan repeated his earlier plan to the team, reminding everyone of their points of entry to the building. A few minutes later, Marsha and Jack returned with a tall lean man. The badge on his shirt read Chief of Police. He looked aver the team for a moment before taking a deep breath.
"Well, I hate to break it to y'all," he started. "But you're too late. Thieves managed to get out without being noticed about fifteen minutes ago. And it's a safe bet that they're no longer in the area. Hostages are being checked out by EMS and we're already beginning the investigation. Only injury was a guard who was shot in the left shoulder, clean through and through. He's on his way to surgery at Erlanger as we speak, but I've been told they think he'll survive. We'd be more than happy to have a few extra sets of eyes, though. Dr. Holloway mentioned that you've gone up against this group before. Maybe you can find something we've missed."
Connor cast a quick glance at the rest of the group. They all seemed to be as shocked as he was, but there was also a bit of relief as well. After their last fight, none of the Zenith Team was exactly eager to face off against their newly minted rivals. The chief led the team to the side door that was supposed to be Connor's point of entry and let them inside. Immediately, Connor noticed how immaculate the place was. If it weren't for the police officers and forensics aides working inside, he would have mistaken it for a regular office building. This time, the thieves had left everything intact. There were no burn marks on the floor, no chairs tossed into random corners, no indication that anything out of the ordinary had happened.
While he was examining his surroundings, the chief had led the rest of the team away to another room. Connor was about to follow them when a shout came from around a corner in front of him. Curious, he followed the sound of the commotion until he found himself in the main lobby. It was a decent sized room with a large white reception desk in the corner and a wall at the front of the building that was made of glass windows. The officers in the room were gathered beside the desk, intently watching as a forensic aide pulled something from the drywall and held it up.
Immediately Connor recognized the object as a bullet. It had been crushed on impact with the wall. He remembered that the police chief had said there was a guard that had been shot, and almost dismissed it to head back to the team. But as he turned, he caught a glance at the drywall. The walls were painted white to match the reception desk, but where the bullet had impacted, there wasn't a speck of blood. The bullet that hit the guard would have left a blood splatter, as the chief had said it was a clean shot through. While the officers were still examining the bullet, Connor stepped toward the front windows, and quickly spotted a small web of cracks. The shot didn't come from inside the building, but outside, probably from one of the other buildings in the area.
"That doesn't make sense," Connor muttered as he turned and walked back down the hallway to find the rest of the team. "There wasn't a gunman at DataTech, unless Charm has managed to hire one since then."
He rounded the corner to find Dylan and Summer standing at the door. "Hey, man, we were waiting on you," Dylan said as Connor approached. "The chief said he was going to send anything they found to base to be examined."
Connor was confused. "Why? Isn't it a local investigation? What did they take this time?"
"Nothing," Summer chimed in. "They had the company's IT techs examining everything, and they said that their firewalls were only breached for a couple of seconds. Apparently, it wasn't long enough to actually retrieve any data. And nothing new on the thieves. They looped the security feed to an earlier time, locked the security guards in a storage closet, and took what they needed. The only difference is that the one guard was shot, which the chief said happened at the front entrance. He said someone just radioed him that they found the bullet in the wall."
"And since there are a few government databanks stored here, they're willingly handing it over. Guess the locals don't want to deal with all the federal red tape," Dylan added. "So, we're heading home. Marsha said we can take the rest of the day off too. No training tonight. Come on, everyone else already left."
The next few days were nothing special. Connor returned to his regular routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, come home, do homework, train with the team, eat dinner, go to bed. However, there was one major change in his schedule. Allie had been out of school for the rest of the week. She'd finally texted him back, thanking him for sending the Physics presentation schedule and to ask if she could borrow his notes for their classes when she returned.
Which wasn't until the next Monday. Connor was halfway asleep when the bus pulled up in front of Allie and Dahlia's house. He'd stayed up late the night before working on Current Events homework, which meant he'd stayed up way later that he'd meant to so he could watch the late-night news. He'd had to write a brief essay on a national news story involving crime, so he'd chosen to write about a series of unsolved murders of lone rogue superhumans. He'd heard a few of the lab assistants in the talking about it and how the assassin always managed to take down the superhuman before the call could even be placed to the base.
Suddenly there were heavy footsteps coming down the aisle, and a warm body plopped down into the seat beside him, startling him. When he looked up, there was his friend. "Hey! I haven't seen you in forever!" he said as he sat up to give her more room.
It was only then that he realized that her eyes were red and puffy, like she'd been crying. Allie glanced up at him and gave him a sad smile. "Yeah, sorry. It's not been a fun week, you know?"
"What happened?"
Allie sniffed, and her bottom lip trembled as though she were going to start crying again. "I had to go home. Not like to Aunt Meg's but home home. We had to p-put my horse down." She paused for a moment, and when she continued, her voice wasn't as shaky. "His name was Chocolate, and I've had him since I was twelve. He was my first real horse and-and-and- "she broke off as a tear slipped down her cheek.
"I'm so sorry!" Connor exclaimed. He wasn't sure what to do, so he awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder and patted it.
Allie laughed a bit at that, and wiped away the tear. "I'm going to have to stop talking about it or I'll cry more."
"That's fine," Connor said, removing his hand from her shoulder and reaching into his backpack. "Here, I've got the notes from Bryant's class. We're getting ready to move to a new chapter and there's a test on Thursday."
He gave her a smile, but inside, he was wondering if that was the real reason she'd been out for so long. It was just a nagging thought at the back of his mind, but it wasn't something he would forget. There was something about her sorrow that seemed ingenuine, like it was all faked. He glanced down at her hand to see that the cut had finally faded away to a huge scar. And then it hit him. The thought bugged him the rest of the way to school.
Could Allie be Charm?
Author's Note: Dun Dun Dun! I am now ready for y'all to place bets on who Charm is! Any guesses? Is Allie the charismatic supervillianess known as Charm? Find out next time on Hero: A Zoom FanFic!
Jk, we don't find out who she really is for quite a few chapters yet, but from here on out, things start getting pretty exciting. I already have several major parts of later chapters written out, ready to be written together, so my goal is to have the next chapter out by the end of 2017!APRIL 2018 UPDATE: So, life happened and kinda got in the way of writing. My sincerest apologies about that. A few days after posting this chapter (Christmas Eve), my boyfriend proposed, so we're now going through the process of finding a house, planning a wedding, finding a full-time job, and everything else that comes with starting a new chapter of life. I am still working on this story, but I've had to put it on the back burner for a little bit.
I just got really excited for this story, let me tell you. I have been in a writer's block for several months. I know I've said before that I know where this story is going and I have it all outlined, but if you write, sometimes you know that even an outline is not inspiration to finish writing a chapter/story. However, writing this chapter took slightly more than 24 hours from first creating the Word doc to publishing here.
Right now, I want to say a huge thanks to reviewer Mia! I know you reviewed a super long time ago, and I've updated the story a couple times since then, but your review helped put me back on track with this story!
And, if you like this story, even just a little bit, would you mind leaving a review? I love reading them, and they do push me to write and publish more chapters. As always, feel free to message me if you have any thoughts/ideas/concerns/etc. I love reading comments and they really give me encouragement to continue writing. Also, thanks again to everyone who has reviewed and followed! Every email that I get saying the story has a new follower or review or favorite motivates me to finish another chapter! ~NightRider
