A/N: Well, if you're reading this, I'm wonderfully grateful, because it has been a HIDIOUSLY long wait. (Sigh) Needless to say, Ripples took a little longer then expected… Sorry, everyone! Apart from working morning, noon, night- and often into the next morning to- on Ripples, which totals a 104 pages in size 11 print, I have been doing all the usual stuff- A very fun fortnight family holiday in Cornwall, the friends that are very nice to me and like me to have a social life, getting all my stuff ready for next year, celebrating my brother's exam results… Yeah. As I said, the usual! But now, we return to your regularly (sorta) scheduled Superhero Story! Thank goodness. I've been itching to write it for weeks… (Sweatdrop)
Disclaimer: …You all know the drill… use your imaginations…
Six- A Patient
Japanese was a wonderful language. It had words in it like 'Time off', and 'Free gift' and many more, not quite so appealing, but almost as good. Two such words were 'Free Art', which was a term that (as Lemony Snicket would say) here means 'Draw what you like, just don't make a noise', or possibly 'The teacher is too hung over to think of anything', or possibly even, in it's most simplistic form, 'Doss Lesson'. The radio in the corner played out soft music, attempting to sooth the chatter that resulted from a free reign, but to no avail. It was bad enough with it being the last lesson on a Friday, without the idea of there being no rules.
The tables around the classroom were arranged so the students could sit in fours. On one such table, looking like the Knights of the Square-ish Table, sat Yugi, Joey, Ryou, and Amane. On the next table was Penelope, where she could still talk to Amane comfortably whilst avoiding her brother. With her was Téa, and some other girls they knew.
Ryou was doodling. He couldn't pretend the paper before him was a work of art. For some reason, he had doodled a Ferris wheel, with the mind to draw some sort of theme park. Then, his line for the ground beneath it went wrong, and it looked like a river. He began to add in a clock. Houses. A bus. A big, red, bus…
"Home sick?" Joey laughed, sitting next to him. Ryou blinked and finally took a proper look at what he had been drawing. It did indeed appear he had be inadvertedly drawing London.
"I…"
They heard a giggle on the next table from some of the girls, and turned to look.
"Wow, you're so good at art! It looks just like him!"
Penelope snorted, looking at the picture. "It is good, but I bet you've never seen him up close. No-one has. People are just guessing at what this new mask of his looks like."
"I don't know…" Amane said, not sounding as though she had any personal interest in the girl's work as she went over to look. "I think it looks like him. From the few bits the news camera have caught, and that." She glanced at her brother, and though her face remained emotionless, he could still sense the mental smirk.
"Well, maybe I can steal his heart away with my drawing!" The artist declared, and the girls laughed. "…Wouldn't it be great to know a real life superhero? I wish I could go and find him right now!"
"Well, Ryou's right here!" Joey called over to them. Ryou jumped, making a soft 'urk!' noise. "You know all about Superheroes, right, Ryou?"
"I…um… I…"
"Sure you do! You read the comics all the time!"
"Oh! Oh, yes. Yes, I do. Read the comics, I mean." Ryou sagged in relief. Amane rolled her eyes at his blatant cover-up, returning to her seat. "I'm not sure I could tell you anything about this Masquerade chap, though…" He continued.
The girl who had drawn the picture sighed in disappointment, but then brightened up. "What about you, Kaiba?" She yelled over to the table in the back corner, where Seto sat alone, choosing to interpret 'Free Art' as 'Type away at mysterious documents on Laptop'. Then again, he seemed to interpret most of their lessons like that. "If you're going to 'unmask' him, you've gotta know how to find him, right?" They laughed again. Seto snorted, but obviously decided they were at least worthy of a retort.
"I'm sick of fools who believe in the Supernatural." He said, steely, with a pointed look at Yugi. "So I'm going to show the world that Masquerade is a fraud and pray that such idiocy won't invade the media again."
The girls were about to question him further when the song on the radio cut off, changing to a news flash.
"Change it over!" Someone yelled.
"No!" Someone shouted back. "Don't you care about what's going on in the world?"
They continued to argue, which made it difficult for the Bakuras, who were actually trying to listen. The bank, not so far from the school, was being robbed. It was a hostile, hostage situation. The Police were in negotiating, but getting nowhere. What they really needed was a miracle. Or, failing that, a Superhero.
Amane and Ryou glanced at each other. He pulled his drinking bottle from his bag, and, under the table, Amane passed him a couple of salt sachets she'd taken from the canteen should such a situation occur. Trying to conceal what he was doing, Ryou held the bottle of water between his knees, fumbling with the packets under the table, resting his forehead on it, so he could see what he was doing.
"You alright there, Ryou?" Yugi inquired, only able to see his friend slouching over the table.
"I'm just feeling a little ill…" Ryou muttered, fumbling with the salt. He'd always been useless at opening these things.
"Oh? Should I get the teacher?" Yugi asked, alarmed. Amane leant forward, playing her part.
"You okay, bro?"
"I'll be okay…" Ryou said, finally tipping the salt in. Thankfully, it dissolved quickly. He lifted it out. "I'll just… y'know… have a drink. I'll be fine."
He raised the bottle to his lips. This wasn't going to be pleasant. He drank as much of the vile liquid as he could manage before it took it's toll and he vomited over a good portion of the table.
"…I think my picture almost looks better like that." Joey commented, wearily, looking down at his soiled page.
"Sorry…" Ryou muttered weakly, as the teacher came over. Within a few minutes, he had been sent home. Not that he went. As soon as he was out of sight of the school, he rummaged through his bag, pulled out the mask that Amane had made him, took off his blazer and hidden the whole lot behind a bin where his sister would pick it up for him later. Masquerade jumped up into the air and headed downtown.
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As Ryou went off to do his thing, Amane was once again left behind, joining the teacher and the other occupants of the table in the unpleasant task of clearing up after him.
I wish you'd get a better aim, Ryou! She thought, angrily. And why do I always end up on cleaning duty! It's just… horrid!
"Hey? You in there?"
"Huh?" She looked up, to see Joey grinning at her. "Oh, sorry."
"You were way out of it then…" He laughed, but then he became serious. "I was just thinking… Your brother's been doing this a lot recently. Is he alright?"
"Sure. Just a stomach bug or something…" Amane lied. She'd been here a few weeks now, used to covering up for Ryou's some-what realistic getaways when he had to get out of school.
"Well, let's just hope it's not catching." He commented. "Don't want both of ya getting sick…"
"Hmm…" She agreed, not entirely sure what to say to that. It wasn't that she wasn't fluent in Japanese, just as she was in English and modern Egyptian, but she was less confident in it. Still, that probably wasn't the reason she didn't know what to say- she couldn't think of anything in any language. "Yeah…"
"Although…" Joey said, looking at her sideways. "I have to say, if it was anyone else, I'd think it was a rather extreme way of playing hooky…"
Yugi and Joey laughed, and Amane took this as her cue to join in.
"Yeah, whatever…" She snorted. "Ryou has this real 'work ethic' thing going on… He's the one that makes me come in all the time…"
"I can imagine…" Joey chuckled. "That guy doesn't know the meaning of the word 'lazy'."
"He certainly doesn't! You know, he's up by six thirty on the weekends?"
Joey shook his head. "That's just mad! No wonder he acts so weird!"
"You know, Joey, you're the first one that's ever agreed with me…"
"Guys…" Yugi said uncertainly, trying not to laugh. "This is hardly the conversation to be having over a pool of vile smelling sick."
Joey and Amane looked down. Joey had not yet discarded his somewhat… splattered picture. He wrinkled his nose.
"What am I supposed to do with it?" He asked.
"Throw it away!" Amane commanded.
"…I'm not touching that!" Joey insisted.
"Oh, be a man!" Amane rolled her eyes. "Guys are supposed to love gore and gross stuff…"
"Well, why don't you take it?" Joey smirked. "He's your twin brother. His vomit is your vomit!"
"This is an amazingly disgusting conversation…" Téa commented from the next table. "Can you please stop discussing Ryou's vomit? You didn't have a problem with mopping it up off the table! So just move the picture, already!"
"No way." Joey and Amane chorused.
Téa looked imploringly at Yugi, who shook his head, then, sighing, she grabbed it herself and put it into the bin.
"There." She glared at them. "See? Now I've done your dirty work for you." She sighed, and went to wash her hands, Yugi right behind her.
Amane and Joey gave each other a small hi-five when their backs were turned. The plan had worked perfectly- they'd got out of touching the vile paper.
"Y'know…" Penelope said, having seen everything. "You'd probably want to wash your hands to before you do that…"
They stared at each other, and sprang up to do just that, racing for the taps.
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Oblivious to the in-depth discussion of his salt-water induced illness, Masquerade was just reaching the bank. It was surrounded by Police, cars and armed officers, even a SWAT team on standby. Passers by were gathered, gawping, around outside railings erected for this purpose. A helicopter flew over head, although admittedly not much higher then he himself was running across the air. He bit his lip- which wasn't a very good idea when wearing a mask, but at least it was a lesson learnt- he didn't like 'performing' in front of large crowds. They expected far too much of him. The police were just as bad. Half the time, they seemed to like him, and attempted to get some sort of reflected glory. The other half, they were slagging him down for not bringing the criminals to them for arrest. Well, as far as Ryou was concerned, if the wanted to arrest these people, they could catch them themselves. He was only in this… job to ensure no-one got hurt.
Deciding he wasn't in the mood to deal with the Police today, he attempted to slip down onto the roof unnoticed. Of course, that was impossible. He had to hand it to the them, they had the building well covered- he didn't go unnoticed, in fact, he counted at least four snipers that had been this close to shooting, until they realised who, and what he was. He wasn't entirely sure they wouldn't shoot anyway. Just as the media seemed to think he some sort of saviour, the Police saw him as competition, almost a criminal- Well, he thought, wryly. I am just about to break into a bank under their noses in a hostile situation. And I do withhold information on a regular basis…
He shook the idle thoughts from his head. This wasn't the time. It was time to try and find a way in- and it wouldn't be easy, if the police had missed it.
Police Chief Ayako agreed. "What the hell is he doing up there!" She demanded. "We're in negotiations with the hostage-takers! He'll ruin everything!"
"What would you have me do?" Her second in command, a man named Hiyoshi, asked. "We can't let the men open fire…" His son had begged him to, if he ever met Masquerade, to get his autograph for him. He could hardly come home and say 'Sorry, son, daddy shot him'…
"I know that!" Ayako snapped, clenching her hands into fists. "We can't even communicate with him without alerting them to his presence…" She frowned, thinking. "Oh, screw him! Continue the negotiations and hope he knows what he's doing! And when he comes out, bring him to me! I have a few questions to ask our hero friend…"
Masquerade, of course, heard nothing of this. He was up on the roof, and, sure enough, had found an air vent into the building. It was small, too small for an adult; particularly a muscled police officer, but for a 'lanky' teenager like him, it didn't present a problem. Looking down it, the drop was far too long to jump down. Thankfully, he had this useful trick of being able to suck air up the vent to pull him up a little and slow his decent. He intended to use it. Heart pounding, he slipped into the shaft.
He'd dealt with many different crimes in his time, but he had never had a hostage situation beyond a small petrol station with only himself, the shop keeper, and one other person involved. He understood there were twenty people or more being held here, and there were more then one man, armed with something more dangerous then a dagger. He hoped he would be able to handle it, wondered briefly what it was that made him do this- moral values?- and then landed lightly at the bottom of the shaft, where it turned to run around the edges of the building.
Masquerade made a discovery. Air vents were a lot bigger then they made them out to be on films. He could have crouched down and walked along, but he decided to go on his stomach regardless, so he would be less conspicuous. Of course, in films, there was always tense music playing, and they missed out all the dirt and grime that accumulated, and neglected to mention how much it hurt your stomach to be scraped along it. Also, the heroes in films rarely lacked upper body strength. Now, Ryou, despite what he looked like, was fit and in good shape, but he wasn't used to this sort of exercise. They should teach how to crawl through an air-vent as part of PE, he decided, a little miserably. It was a life-skill… The vent before him that he was sliding silently along came to an abrupt stop. All that was before him was an abrupt drop. Looked like he was going down to the next level now. He dropped.
And, as he fell, he wished he had bothered to find out just how many floors there were in this place.
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Finally, the art lesson finished, with no further excitement. Those who had been in that class walked out together, each scattering to their own direction. But, before Joey could leave, Amane called him.
"Um… Joey?"
"Yeah?" He turned around, and she walked over to him, smiling, but seemingly a little uncomfortable.
"I wanted to thank you." She told him. "I know Penelope didn't believe you when you told her about the Ring… and that she now hates you and Ryou even more, but… It's the thought that counts."
"Even when the thought is incredibly dumb?" Joey checked, suspicious.
"Even then." She nodded. "Thanks. Ryou's lucky to have you and the others as friends."
"Don't mention it." Joey answered, looking at her curiously. "But, y'know, you make it sound like we're not your friends to. Unless… Hasn't Téa pulled her friendship garb out on you yet!"
"Heh… Yeah. Many times." She smiled. "Lucky me!"
He laughed. "Oh… um… mind if I walk with you? I think it's a bit weird if you guys go all that way to meet 'Ren, and I don't…"
Amane shrugged. "Sure, if you like. Just don't forget, it's on our way home. It's well out of your way."
He shrugged, and they headed off, talking all the way. This was a pleasant change for Amane, who was used to Ryou being periodically silent or monosyllabic on the best of days. Joey, it seemed, could be a little… simple, maybe a little basic, but he was funny, and he had a good heart. She enjoyed his company, so she had no problem with him joining the walking part. It was better then doing the first leg of the journey alone…
"Well, what do we have here?" A voice called out. "Got yourself a new girl, Wheeler? What about Valentine? I thought you were gagging after her…"
Joey snarled at the boys. The three stooges here attended their school, and probably lived in this area if they had bothered to come and aggravate him. It was an old rivalry. They wanted to be duellists, but, knowing that Yugi would trounce them, had come after him instead. He kicked them round the room every time, but Kaiba must have rubbed off on them, because they just kept coming back; like an annoying fly around a picnic basket. Today, however, they seemed to be focusing on Amane.
"Are you sure it's the girl?" The second stooge asked, mockingly. "It could be that girly brother of hers."
If only they knew… Amane thought, annoyed.
"We can keep walking." Joey growled to her. She shook her head.
"No way. Punks like this need a good talking to…"
He nodded. Had he been alone, he wouldn't even have suggested walking.
"That's big words, girly." Stooge no.3 said, stepping forward. "This isn't England, you know. We're not all so polite that we wouldn't kick your butt…"
Amane rolled her eyes. How many times would she have to explain to Neanderthals like this that she had spent just as much time in Egypt as she had in the UK? Oh well. "Them's fighting words!" She answered, mocking his accent and tone. He looked surprised. Joey laughed.
"I think she wants to settle something…" The lead stooge said, stepping forward. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a deck, and activating the disk on his arm. "Let's have a wager. If you win this duel, I'll take it all back. If I win, well… We'll work that out later. But I'm sure it'll involve a little less… clothing…" He winked at her. Pervert. "This is how we settle things here in Japan, girly!"
"Really?" She asked, sweetly. She could never work out why duelling was such a big deal here. "This is how we settle things in Great Britain!"
He wasn't expecting her fist to make a sharp and painful impact with his nose, or for her to then grab hold of his disk-ed arm, using it to flip him over and throw him to the floor. Joey quickly dealt with the other two, and the three ran off.
Joey blinked, looking at her. She was muttering darkly in Egyptian. He probably didn't want her to translate. "That… was awesome!" He congratulated. She grinned cockily.
"Just don't tell Ryou. He'll tell me off…"
"No, he doesn't strike me as the violent sort…"
Amane declined to comment. Since he'd become a hero of sorts, he hadn't had much choice but to give up his previous pacifism, but Ryou was still firm in his opinion that it should only be a last resort. He would say she should have walked away, or, failing that, duelled the guy. He was right, to. It would have been a lot more moral, sensible, and a lot less degrading then her solution.
But man, it would not have felt nearly as good.
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As he finally slid, exhausted, from a grate, Ryou felt very glad he didn't have school tomorrow. His school trousers were going to need a wash. Possibly even dry cleaning. The bank, for some unknown reason, had never cleaned inside their air vents.
He had come out in the basement, and, as you might imagine, it had taken Masquerade sometime to climb down from what had turned out to be the seventh floor through only winding, snaking air vents that he didn't know his way through. He hadn't realised there would be a basement here- he'd assumed that if he'd gone down as far as he could, he would have been on the ground floor. But no, he was in a small corridor, with some steps at one end and a door at the other with a sign saying 'Basement- Staff Only'. It seemed it was a staff room, or an office; but, either way, it was no use to him. He looked wistfully at the stairs, but that could take him out in full view of the hostage takers. Sighing, he headed back into the vent. This whole mission was proving rather fruitless- perhaps that's why he was in such a bad mood today. Something about crawling through air vents disagreed with him.
He made his way back up to the level above, and, sure enough, he quickly found a vent to position himself over. He sighed mentally as he realised he hadn't been needed after all- the police were nearing the end of negotiations. The two robbers were leaving, with their stash, and two hostages to ensure they were allowed to walk out of the Police borderline.
As soon as the four men went out of the front, Masquerade dropped out of the vent and began untying the other, bound, gagged, prisoners.
"It's a trick!" The first, a woman, spluttered, the moment he had taken the gag out her mouth. "They're forcing those men to pretend to be the thieves why they pretend to be the hostages! You have to stop them!"
Ryou ran to the still-open doors of the bank. The two apparent robbers were holding bags of money in one hand, their 'hostages'- in the other. They got half way across the area covered by the Police when the sharp-shooters fired anaesthetic darts at them. The two hostages, forced to pretend to be thieves, holding bags of rags, dropped like stones. The police were immediately swarming all over them, and into the bank, and no-one noticed as the two hostages they'd brought out disappeared into the watching crowd. Cursing, Masquerade took to the sky and after them. They ran, and, spotting him, marched up to the door of a house, and simply forced their way in. What other choice did he have? Masquerade followed, hoping no-one was home.
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After that incident, they didn't have much to say, so they just walked in silence. Joey couldn't help but think how different to her brother Amane was. Sure, they looked similar now that her hair dye had washed out and her tan faded, but her hair was still a little shorter and a little better behaved then his, and her eyes a clear, startling, sparkling blue that made him think her life was trying to pour out of them. Other then that, the obvious gender differences, and Ryou's extra centimetre or so in height, they looked very similar. In terms of personality, well… both were, at a basic level, 'nice' people. They both wanted to be everyone's friend, but their methods were different. Ryou was shy, polite, and would never criticise anyone if he could avoid it, because he didn't want to offend anyone. Amane wasn't worried about that- she said exactly what was in her head, and wanted people to like her for simply who she was- or they could just ignore her. She was sure of who she was, he thought, and was just out to have fun. She would do what she thought was right, and would not let anything, or anyone, stand in the way of that.
Kind of like-
"Joey!" She called, suddenly. He turned his head to look at her and manage to walk slap-bang into the very lamppost she'd been trying to warn him about. He fell backwards, landing painfully on the pavement. She helped him to his feet, laughing. "I tried to tell you…"
He reddened, embarrassed. She noticed, and waved it away.
"Don't worry. I do it all the time. Still, you were pretty spaced there. What were you thinking about?" She asked, curiously.
Joey blanched. He could hardly say he had been thinking about her! She might get the wrong idea!
…More worryingly, it seemed he was getting the wrong idea to. Why was he thinking about her, unless…?
"There you go again." She sighed. "Joey Wheeler, I've never known you to think so much! Anyway, come on- Serenity gets out in a few minutes, she'll wonder where we are…" They continued on their way, and, as they stopped outside the gates of Hinata High, she turned to him. "Oh! Yeah! I meant to ask… Do you want to come to the cinema with me tomorrow? I know it's short notice, but I really want to see it!"
"Um… um… s-sure…" Joey stammered, not sure what this meant- about why she was asking, or why he was saying yes. Amane nodded happily, and then turned to see Serenity approaching. She waved.
"Hey, 'Ren! Guess what! Joey's coming with us tomorrow!"
'Us'…?
"You are?" Serenity asked, reaching them. "Really? Great!" She smiled. "We were talking about it the other day… Amane and Ryou said they wanted to see the film to, so with you, we'll be a great little group! Oh…" She looked around. "Speaking of Ryou…?"
"He had to go home sick." Amane supplied. "But don't worry. I'm sure he'll be fine tomorrow!"
"Well, we can't really go without him… it wouldn't be fair…" Serenity said, as they headed off. Joey sighed. Relief? Disappointment? He wasn't so sure… "Maybe we could come round to cheer him up?" Serenity suggested.
"No!" Amane said, a little too enthusiastically. Great. Now she had to back-peddle. "He'll probably be sleeping, and besides, we don't want you catching anything off him…"
"I guess not." Serenity agreed. "Well… I hope he feels better soon, anyway."
"He will." Amane assured her, and the two girls and Joey continued on their jolly way. This was the first of many walks home Joey would take with them, and his addition to the party only made it more fun then ever.
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Penelope had made it home, which was an achievement in itself; what with the crowds all over the streets around the bank not far from her home. She didn't want to stop and gawp like those idiots, however, and had hurried on home- even if she had wanted to watch, she wouldn't have done. Her father, a pilot, was away on some long distance flight, and her mom was, as always, home with Jay. That night, her mom was having a well-deserved night out, but couldn't leave until Penelope got home. She was ready and waiting when her daughter came in, did all the usual motherly questions and warnings, hugged her goodbye, and left. Having been to talk to Jason already, who was as silent as ever, she was now taking a much needed shower.
After a few minutes, she became aware of sounds other then the rushing, hot water and the gurgling pipes. A thump. She turned off the water, stepping out and wrapping a towel around herself, tilting her head to listen. Yes. There were defiantly strange sounds coming from downstairs. A thud. Something breaking. Yelling. And heavy footfall, heading up the stairs. She frowned. What on Earth…?
And that was when Masquerade came flying through her bathroom door, which she hadn't bothered locking due to her being practically home alone. A man grabbed the key from the lock, slammed the door, and there was the click of a lock from outside.
And still, Penelope and Masquerade, whose brown eyes showed through the grey mask, looked at each other. She couldn't see his facial expression, but he seemed just surprised as she was. Then, he seemed to get a hold of himself, and hastily averted his face from her towel-clad form.
"I'm sorry!" He yelled, in a strange accent that didn't sound very Australian to her. In fact, it almost seemed like a normal Japanese voice, except with a hint of… Well, it almost sounded English.
Why was that voice so familiar to her…?
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Masquerade crashed through the house's now-open front door after the men. Judging by the fact there was no screaming or panicking, no-one was home. It was a small mercy. At least one of these men had a gun.
"Come no closer, you!" The one with the gun tried.
"Okay." Masquerade agreed, but simply pulled the 'knife trick' he had used when he had first revived his talents, concentrating a small burst of air behind it just enough to knock it out of his hands. Masquerade sent it floating up to the ceiling, just for safe keeping.
The two men went pale, and dived through the nearest door. Masquerade followed, quickly discovering it was, in fact, the living room. The men backed off to one side.
"Hey, man, we haven't done anything to you!" One tried. "Just let us get on with it eh?"
"Sorry." Masquerade said, making sure he was pulling his phoney accent. "Why don't we just get out of this nice person's house and we'll discuss this outside?"
"Discuss this!" One man yelled, tossing a vase off the mantle. Masquerade tried to stop it from smashing, but his attention was divided when they shoved past him and into the hall. The gun, which had now clattered to the floor, was scooped up, back into their possession, as they pounded up the stairs. Looking despairingly at the broken vase, Masquerade followed; but the men were fast. As soon as he reached the top, the two were upon him, and, before his tired reactions could do a thing about it, he found himself shoved into a room.
He didn't pay attention as one of the men grabbed the key and locked him in the room. Before him stood Penelope Hightman, dripping wet from the shower; and wearing only a towel.
This was one of those situations that were too bad to even have nightmares about. Ryou's brain was currently freezing over in horror as they looked at each other in disbelief.
This can't be happening…
"I'm sorry!" He yelled, suddenly becoming aware of himself and the fact that, yes, it really was happening, and averted his eyes. Flustered, he had completely forgotten to cover up his voice. He made a big show of clearing his throat, hoping she'd think that was the cause of his mysteriously sharing a voice with Ryou for a second there. "I'm so sorry!" he said, in his disguised voice now, which he kept up for the ensuing conversation.
Penelope went and sat on the edge of the bath, awkwardly. She didn't like only wearing a towel, but she could hardly get dressed now. Even if he turned around, there was a mirror on the opposite wall.
"It's not your fault." She assured him. "So I guess it's okay, as long as you're not a pervert. You're not, are you?"
"No!" Masquerade denied so fiercely she had to laugh.
"Ah. Good. Then… Perhaps you'd care to explain what the heck you're doing here!"
Masquerade swallowed. So. She was angrier then she had been letting on…
"Um… Well… that is… The men, robbing the bank… They got away from the police and decided to hide here."
"Here!" She echoed in alarm. "But… Do they have guns!"
"Yes." Masquerade nodded grimly. Instantly, she came and pulled him so he was facing her.
"Well, you have to get us out of here! My brother is in that room in the corridor! We can't let them hurt him!"
Ryou, behind the mask, gasped in spite of himself. So, Jason was here. In some ways, that was a relief. He wasn't dead! His heart lifted slightly, but quickly sank again. If he was alive, why wasn't he in school? Or what if it wasn't him she was referring to? Her parents could have had another son by now…
"What are you going to do!" Penelope demanded, still holding self-consciously onto the towel unnecessarily tight. No way was she letting it go even slightly.
Masquerade rattled the door handle. "It's locked." He said.
"I know that! Get us out!"
"…I can't."
"What!"
"I control air! I'm not a lock pick!"
Penelope snorted, but sank resignedly back down onto the side of the bath. "Not much of a Superhero, are you?"
He sat down on the floor. "I never claimed to be." He said, defensively. "I just do what I can…" he didn't want to be here, and closed his eyes as he leant against the walls. It had been a bad afternoon, and really, he just wanted to figure out a way out of this room. He had already sussed that the window was far too small to get out of…
"Do you?" Penelope asked, curious instead of scathing now. "But you never take the baddies to the police…"
"No." Masquerade shook his head. "I… used to, but… Well, there was a bit of a misunderstanding, and things went wrong… It's the for the police and the courts to bring justice to people, not me. I just try to help who I can."
"I have it!" Penelope said, suddenly. "I know who you remind me of!"
Ryou's heart pounded in his chest, wondering what Penelope would do if she realised it was him. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be pretty…
"There was this guy back in England…" Penelope was saying suspiciously. "He was a lot like you."
Stay impassive… Ryou muttered to himself, again and again. Stay impassive… Don't show a reaction… 'Who's Ryou?' that's it… Impassive…
"They used to call him Faceless. He did the same kind of thing you do."
"Oh?" Masquerade asked, relieved. Then, hastily changing the subject, he said: "Listen… I think I can get us out… But you might not like it…"
"You're going to blow the door off, aren't you?" Penelope said, wearily. Masquerade nodded sheepishly, unable to believe she'd cottoned on so fast. "Go right ahead. We have good Home Insurance."
Masquerade nodded, and then pulled up all the air from the downstairs, sure no-one would suffocate, dragging it all up into a concentrated gust, which reverberated into the door, blasting it off it's hinges, and across the room, and through the shower cubicle, and embedded itself in the wall behind.
"…I think you overdid it." Penelope said, irritated.
"Sorry." Masquerade answered, sheepishly. She was right. He was just so jittery, worried that he was going to be recognised. Then, the two rushed out of the room, jumping into action. The two men were in the second bedroom, looking out of the window to see if there was a way down. But, as he entered the room, that wasn't what Ryou was looking at.
Jason was in the room, but he didn't look as Ryou remembered him. He was sitting in a chair, staring blankly ahead. Ryou knew that look. He was soulless, half dead. A breathing corpse, nothing more.
"You again!" One of the men exclaimed, wheeling round and pointing a gun at Masquerade. Penelope stood right behind him.
"I don't care!" She yelled at them desperately. "Take anything, take whatever you want, do whatever you like; just don't hurt my brother!"
"That's right." Masquerade nodded. "Just… don't hurt J- the boy…"
This was a mistake. Now the man knew exactly where the advantage lay.
"Here's how this is going to go…" He smirked, walking over and pressing the butt of his gun into Jason's forehead. The boy did not react. "I'm going to stand here and wait while my associate climbs out of that there window. Then, I'm going to climb out of that window, keeping my gun pointed at this veggie here. You two are going to stand there and not move so much as an eyelid until we've gone."
Masquerade frowned. He hadn't been through this much for nothing, surely! Where were those officers when you needed them!
The first man was half way out of the window when the one with a gun took a step away from Jason. Just a small step. Then, he began to smile.
"Maybe I'll just shoot him anyway, as an example…" He considered.
That was all Masquerade needed to hear. He leapt forward, but the man's reactions were as fast as ever. He re-aimed the gun, and pulled the trigger.
Ryou felt the bullet clip painfully past his shoulder, tearing out skin as it went, and heard the twin thuds as it blew into the wall behind him and as he fell to the floor. He heard Penelope yell, and the police at last come into the room and detain the two men, but he couldn't stay conscious much longer. He didn't try. Vaguely noticing this was his first proper failed mission, he let the darkness overtake him, forgetting all about the consequences this natural reaction could have.
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"Just give him the painkillers!" One doctor declared, angrily.
"I can't! It was risky enough giving him the local anaesthetic when we were putting the stitches in!" A second doctor replied with equal rage. On a bed behind them, Masquerade was still unconscious, still covered in dust and dirt from the vents, with one of his shoulders bearing an ugly, raw scar- not that you could see it beneath the crisp white bandages. His mask was still on, but rolled up, above his nose and mouth, so they could strap a breathing aid to his face. He was lucky the bullet had only clipped him, although it had been rather messy to patch up. "Look, without his medical history, I can't do a thing! What if he turns out to be allergic! We've got to take that mask off and find out who he is!"
"You can't do that!" The first doctor protested. "He has a secret identity to keep! You can't just unmask him!"
"We don't have a choice! Besides, he's just a kid!"
"Does that take away from what he's already achieved in this city, then!"
"No, but it's means it's too risky, not to mention illegal, to…" He trailed off, looking at the bed. The ventilator lay abandoned, the window behind the bed open, the curtains flapping in true cliché style in the late September winds. "…He's hopped it!"
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Ryou was not in a good mood as he landed on his room, pulling the stifling mask off at last. He was dusty and dirty from his crawl through the vents, his shirt sleeve was bloody from the near-shooting, and his shoulder hurt unbelievably, as they'd been arguing too much to give him any painkillers following the stitches being put in. He swung open the door from the roof access and pounded downstairs into his room.
"Amane!" He yelled as he went. He decided he would speak in Egyptian. Usually, in public, they'd speak in Japanese, as it was only polite, and at home in English. But today, he was angry, and he wanted to show it. He walked across to open the door to his room, and go out into the hall. "I have just spent my afternoon crawling around in air vents and locked in Penelope Hightman's…" He trailed off. Amane was looking at him in horror from where she stood by the open front door; where she had been trying to convince his well-wishing friends that it was a really, really bad idea for them to visit right now. He stared at them, becoming all too aware of his worn appearance as they gawped back at him, and remembering how bad he was at lying.
"Hi… guys...!" He said, slowly.
This could be bad…
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I seem to spend half my life going in and out of hospitals, so, yes, perhaps I am the best qualified person to comment on them. If I spent another moment in one, I'm certain they'd have me chipping in for staff birthdays! I thought I'd seen the back of those days when I was finally free of the Ring, but it seems not. I wish it was. It's the smell of hospitals I don't like. All that disinfectant. I know they need it, but surely, with all the geniuses (genii?) that there are in the world- Kaiba springs to mind- someone could invent a more pleasant smelling disinfectant.
But I'm evading the issue. There is really only one thing I ever hated about going to hospital. All the other people had friends and relatives around them, staying with them. My family was dead, my friends off saving the world. There is nothing so lonely as that.
Yet, that isn't true anymore, is it? I may not have found my father, but I have my sister back. And now the Items have gone, it doesn't seem likely that Yugi will have to save the world again. He's done it so many times now… Out of all my friends, I often feel that I am the least likely to play at being a Superhero.
…Perhaps that's why I am a superhero. The whole point of a 'secret identity' is that no-one knows, no-one can guess. Sometimes, I hate that. I hate keeping secrets from people. But… necessity overrides want, particularly selfish wants about my wanting to share what I can do with my friends.
But I'll manage. I have Amane. And then, although they don't know about Masquerade, I have my friends. They have done such a lot for me. I can't ask anymore of them. I cannot tell them about this.
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A/N: Yay, all done! I know it's a little shorter then usual, but I'm afraid I just couldn't think of anything else to happen in the bank- which is why we ended up with the rubbishy cliché climbing through the vents. (Glare) Also, I think Ryou was a little… off in this chapter. He seemed to be in a really bad mood… (Sigh) I must be out of practise at writing him… Sorry!
Still… Rhetorical question time! How will they get out of this one? What's Ryou going to say when he discovers they're going to the cinema with the Wheelers? Speaking of whom, is this the signal of something new between Amane and Joey…! Just what does Seto have against Masquerade? And… Will Penelope believe what she is told? Could Ryou and the Masked Man that saved her brother really be one and the same…? Yup, things really start to kick off in A Superhero Story Chapter Seven- A Sister...
I'll update soon- I'm on my summer holidays until 4th September, so I'm sure I can get VII done by then! Apologies once again for the delay, and thanks for sticking with me! Oh…Happy birthday for tomorrow, Scooby2408! See you in a few hours:D Yup, I'm going to be spending the night there tonight, all ready for the day tomorrow! So, you can see it's a good job I got Ripples done… um… on Monday. Yeah, it WAS Monday I finished it! I'm glad I did… I'm probably not as nice to her as I should be… heck, I know I'm not… (Sweatdrop) Public apology? I'm sorry!
…Why am I wittering about this on an A/N? Surely an E-mail, or a LJ post, would be more sensible? Meh… Shutting up… Thanks for reading, all:D