Chapter 2
"It's your day off," the man said, practically shielding away her sight from what he was building. The other girls chatted excitedly, their eyes filled with eagerness. Hers just fell to stare at the ground. She bit her lip and only accepted it, following the other girls out the door.
They chattered about their plans, walking out the door. Except Rebecca and Charlotte. Rebecca's red hair lost its glamour, hanging dead straight down her back and to her waist. Her brown eyes brightened with mischief. Charlotte's hands reached back, coming back with her black mask, copying Spiderman's. Except it was black and silver. Gracelyn smiled when Rebecca shoved a gun in her belt and Charlotte stripped to her black, matching suit. She grabbed her bow and quiver and followed them running outside. As soon as Charlotte made it out, she shot string out of her wrist, and it shot to the corner of a building.
"Keep up," she said before she followed the sticky string she called web. Rebecca's eyes lit up with a challenge whereas Gracelyn chuckled. She muttered an excited, "Oh no." Then she trusted herself, her footing as she ran up the hood of a car, pushing off the end. She shot forward, shooting an arrow and a rope attached to the tail, and it stuck into the side of a building. She clung to the bow as she was flung forward. She struck the building with a grunt. When she caught the breath knocked out of her, she kicked out a window.
She swung inside, bringing the bow to cross her chest. Her raced as fast her feet, thundering until she jumped out another window. Her legs stopped moving, conforming to the wind, just like her heart had stopped beating. Then she crashed into another window. She was running again, her heart alive full force again. Her breath didn't speed up though. It was even, balance because she was familiar with the adrenaline rushing through her.
She saw Rebecca jumping across the roof as she jumped through two more windows, into the third building. Gracelyn was sure Charlotte was swinging building from building, curving around corners with grace.
Grace leaped out of a building to find the street wider than the others. She had a single second of panic, where even her breathing caught in her throat. She hastily moved her bow, but her body was moving through the air faster. She was on the verge of screaming. Someone caught her and a screech echoed from her mouth.
She landed almost gracefully like Charlotte, but she collapsed in a moment of fear. Her heaves were quick, painfully squeezing through her esophagus. Her hands trembled as she relaxed, letting her body lay back. She exhaled a breath deeply, and her heart calmed as did her breaths. The man who'd saved her stood above her, watching with concern in his raised eyebrows and slightly curving lips.
Gracelyn sucked in a breath and furrowed her eyebrows with concentration. She sat up, and her head pulsed with the lack of her adrenaline rush. A hiss escaped her lips, and she found the hood of a car to pull herself up to her feet with. She stood for a moment, breathing, relaxing. Her head's pulsing calmed.
"You okay?" a deep voice spoke. She nodded, taking her hand from her head and opening her eyes. The man in front of her, his dark blonde hair, the light blue eyes. The smile made his strong jaw look less intimidating. He wore black pants, a t-shirt with two thin jackets layering. And black sunglasses. Gracelyn could see straight through them easily.
"Fine," she replied shortly. A girl with a black suit landed lightly behind her, taking a defensive stance, as did the girl wearing tight, black pants and a top. Her combat boots made her look absolutely terrifying. But he looked at her and seemed to do a double take. Then he looked to Gracelyn, suddenly interested in the bow in her hand.
"You're the girls that killed that murderer," he acknowledged. Gracelyn swung, her bow coming out and he caught the metal. With his one hand on the bow, she took advantage of his disadvantage. She swung her leg out and clocked his hip, the same side of his body where she wanted to hit his face. He grunted, and she ripped the bow from his hand. When he stood upright, she had an arrow trained directly at his heart, her eyes on his face.
"We're not heroes. Not to you," Rebecca hissed out like a snake. People were watching them was what Gracelyn suddenly thought. Charlotte saw him about to speak and patched him up with webbing. And Gracelyn's arm went down, and her arrow back in the quiver. She secured it across her chest and looked at the two girls' faces.
"We may not be heroes, but we're not villains. And what we're doing, it's not quite the best way to keep that thought from the mortal's heads. Plus, we'll never be allowed to see light of day if word catches to the others. We'll be tossed out savagely like dogs by the pedigrees. Come on, I don't want to be suspended from missions," she said, her tone final. Rebecca backed away and Charlotte shot out web, swinging up toward the corner of a building.
The man watched her, she could feel it. So she turned back. She did the stupidest thing she'd ever done, training the arrow. It slipped from her fingers, and she ignored the horror of the other night that creeped up as it knicked his jacket before thudding into the wall behind him. A grin spread across her face and she caught the string of web Charlotte had shot.
Charlotte pulled her along while she prepared to swing onto the roof. She braced, and on Charlotte's fifth swing, Grace tumbled onto a gravelly rooftop just as Rebecca somersaulted from the jump off the building next to it. Charlotte stood from the crouch she'd landed with. Her bow was back on her shoulder, and her hair was probably going to tangle around it.
She ran and leaped off the building just as the sky hatch opened, and landed on the safety net. She rolled around, and didn't get up. She was too shaky, and even after Charlie and Beck had left the room and the hatch had shut, she lay there. And she let the net steady her into a calming sleep.
If she had dreamed of the man, she'd never known. Because she was jolted harshly awake by the crime alarm. She knew all the others were already rushing to get their suits on, and were gathering the weapons they needed. But Gracelyn was already ready, jumping out of the net and shoving five extra arrows into her quiver. But unless there were thirty-five villains, she didn't need them all.
All she would need was one, right through their heart.