"Excuse me?!" I shout at him, standing up to be as level with him as I can be with an adult man. I reach my hand into my pocket, and as silently and quickly as possible, start a voice recording on my phone.
"What, she annoys you too, right?" He says, looking down at me, seeming quite amused.
"You want to off her because she annoys you?!" I shout, drawing attention from other people in the lobby.
"The day Ironhide died, she dared to question me for leaving the fight against Wraith for my own survival." He says quietly so the onlookers cannot hear, his smile having an undercurrent of agitation at the memory. "Besides, she holds her strength over you, trying to put you down to make herself feel stronger, right?"
"If that's what you think, then you have zero understanding of who Kara is," I tell him. "And guess what? If she called you a coward that day for running away, she's right. You are a coward. It would've been better for you to die to Wraith, because with the way you're going, you're gonna die a pathetic death like your stupid brother!"
Cain's eyes widen at that, and he reaches out to grab me. I sidestep that and deliver a kick to his stomach. The other civilians and heroes are now slowly backing away from us, not wanting to be involved in the confrontation.
Cain falls over from the force of my blow, and I lean down right next to his ear. "You just lost to a child. Just like he did."
I lean back up, right as Elaine exits the bathroom. Cain, not noticing her, hops up and starts toward me again, "Parker! Plan changed, I'm killing you both!"
As Cain moves his mouth to use his power, his movements slow to the point where they are so infinitesimal that it's like he's not moving at all.
"And what the hell do you think you're doing?" Elaine says. Her voice a lower pitch, trying to hold her anger. Her hand is now on his shoulder.
"He asked me to kill Kara! Then he threatened to kill me when I freaked out and said no!" I blurt out.
If Elaine was mad earlier, her glare is now murderous. "Cain."
Cain's movements are back at a normal pace; it seems she's allowing him to talk. Cain's voice is panicked, desperately trying to escape Elaine's wrath, "That brat is a little liar! You're gonna believe the kid over me, a respected B-rank hero?!"
"I sure as hell don't respect you; you have the highest count of civilian reports for unnecessary violence against innocents out of all of the currently active heroes," Elaine says flatly.
I then pull out my phone and press stop on the recording. "I also recorded the entire conversation after he asked me to help him 'get rid of Kara'."
"Great," Elaine acknowledges me, before turning to Cain. "So, we can do this two ways. We can go have a very, very long conversation with Sonar, Elizabeth, and my parents. Or, I can incapacitate you here and bring you into that boardroom myself. I doubt anyone cares what state you're in if I go that route."
Cain is shaking now, as he reluctantly relents. "Let's go," He says quietly.
Elaine nods at him and turns her attention to me, "Send me the recording. I would rather not have you at this meeting."
"But what about the punishment? We gotta stick together." I tell her. I'd like to help screw over Cain. Because while I know a bulk of the people in that meeting couldn't care less about the civilians Cain hurts. But plotting to murder Kara? They're going to eat him alive.
"This is going to get messy, so let me take it from here. I'm sure there will be some sort of understanding why I chose to break the rules." Elaine tells me.
"Go hang out with Kara and Bayani until I'm back. But don't leave HQ." She says sternly.
"Got it." I nod, already making my way to the elevator. I enter it, and Elaine is waiting in the same spot with Cain. I suppose she really doesn't want me to see what's going to happen next.
I hit the button for floor sixty-eight. The elevator ride feels way too slow considering what time it typically takes, but that might just be my own perception due to nerves.
The elevator finally dings, and the doors open, and right out the doors, I see Mr. Eun-ji talking to Bayani.
"Well, that's possible if you train enough, but that sounds quite difficult as you are now." Mr. Eun-ji says. It seems as though I walked in while they were mid-conversation.
"I can do difficult," Bayani replies.
"Maybe you can ask Parker? For that specific move, he'd be useful in helping you refine it-" Mr. Eun-ji starts before Bayani cuts him off, "No. This is something I'll do myself. I won't ask anyone, least of all him."
"That was… a violent refusal. Didn't know you didn't like him." Mr. Eun-ji awkwardly stutters out.
"It's not that I dislike him. It's just that it's annoying that he comes in, and immediately is just the center of all the happenings here. It's about proving myself to be as good." Bayani huffs.
Mr. Eun-ji lets out an amused huff, "Didn't know you had that level of pride."
"Yeah, I do like Parker just fine. I just refuse to lean on him for something so small like this, makes me feel useless." Bayani sighs.
They both look over and notice me standing there. A long moment of silence ensues, which lasts a few minutes before I break it.
"Did I interrupt something?" I ask sheepishly.
"Not at all, what's up?" Mr. Eun-ji says, a little too quickly.
"Elaine is about to call you in for a meeting. I would like to ask you to drag it out as much as possible, then text me when it's about to end." I tell him.
"And why should I do that? I'm still upset with you for the casino stunt you pulled." Mr. Eun-ji says with a small glare.
"An errand for my mother," I tell him, returning the glare.
"Shit. She's asking you to go out and do something?" Mr. Eun-ji sighs and scratches the back of his neck.
"Yup, can't tell you though. It's something related to… Y'know…" I say to him, hoping he believes my insinuation that this is about Chameleon work. Well, it kind of is if you think about it, just not tasked to me by Miss Claire.
"Really? Let me ask her then. I should be in the know about that." He says, pulling out his phone.
Why didn't I think of that before I opened my mouth?!
He dials Claire's number, and I try to steady my breathing so as not give myself away. But to my surprise and his, it goes to voicemail.
"What? Is she still out hiking? It's been days." Eun-ji mutters.
"She asked me to do this thing on this day, she told me before she left to go hiking a few days ago," I tell him with a small smile on my face.
"Fine. I'll drag out the meeting for you. I'd rather not risk upsetting her." Mr. Eunji contemplates.
As if right on cue, Mr. Eun-ji checks his phone again and says, "It's from Elaine, as you said, Parker. I'll head out."
Mr. Eun-ji heads toward the elevator, eyes locked onto my form the entire time.
After he leaves, I wait a few seconds before speaking. I don't want to risk Mr. Eun-ji hearing this with his power.
"Kara fill you in?" I say, turning my attention to Bayani.
"Recon at the docks? Yeah." He nods.
"Let's go," I tell him.
"Now?" He asks, incredulously.
"Yes, now. What other opportunities would we have for me to ditch Elaine for multiple hours?" I ask.
"Good point. Let's go." Bayani says, already heading to the elevator. But I grab his shoulder before he can.
"No. Let's leave out the window, don't want to risk someone seeing us leave out the front doors and reporting it to Elaine."
"You expect us to descend sixty-eight floors out a window?!" He exclaims.
"You can use your strings to descend," I state.
"Yeah, but how are you getting down?" He asks, tapping his foot impatiently.
"You carry me on your way down," I tell him.
"Okay. Let me get this straight. You expect me to use my strings to carry us both down sixty-eight floors out of a window?" He sighs.
"Yeah?" I reply.
"That has to be the most absurd request I've gotten out of you." He huffs.
"You can do it, according to Kara, you've flung her backwards many feet in your direction by pulling her with your string," I tell him. I witnessed that myself as Chameleon, but he doesn't have to know that.
"I'll try it, but if we fall, I'll tell Elaine to heal me and not you." He threatens jokingly… Or at least I hope he was joking.
Bayani and I make our way over to the window at the end of the hall. Bayani creates some string and wraps it around us both about four times. We're now quite close and face-to-face. He then uses his other hand to create more, and then he hooks it to the window a few times using the window sash.
He and I give each other a nod and hop out the window, facing one another and feet on the wall of the outside.
Bayani and I coordinate our steps, counting off from three down to one, and stepping down on one. It seems to actually be working. I see that Bayani looks strained; this has to be a lot for him, but for our sakes, since he agreed, he succeeds.
When we reach about floor sixty, Bayani tells me, "This is as far as I can extend it."
"Seriously? You didn't tell me your limit before we hopped out the window?" I ask.
"I never tried out my limit, so I didn't know. But right now it's not extending more." He retorts.
"Okay. How do we continue down?" I ask.
"See that windowsill up there? Grab it, open it, hold on to it, and I'll reattach the string that's helping us descend to this window." He tells me, nodding up to the window slightly above us.
"Are you sure that there's no other way?" I ask sheepishly.
"This entire thing was your idea! Grab that windowsill." Bayani commands.
I let out a shuddering sigh and grab onto the windowsill and open the window. The moment I open the window, Bayani unattaches the string holding us up, and I'm now using all of my strength to try to hold us both up while Bayani reattaches that string.
It feels like forever, but Bayani manages to reattach the string to the window, and we continue our descent.
"I don't know how she did it, but Kara leaped out of this window a few weeks ago, and then just… landed. No injuries." Bayani says absentmindedly, probably contemplating the amount of effort we're putting in to get down, compared to what she was able to do.
"Well, the other day when you were in the infirmary, she leapt out the window and used her iron needles to grab onto as she dropped down. Grabbing on then letting go to descend quicker." I tell him.
"I guess she did the same thing back then. That was the day when Ironhide fought Chameleon and…" He trails off. I know where that sentence ends.
Another reminder of the pain I brought to others. I'm just a short-sighted fool who didn't think of the other lives I'd wreck after those I kill pass.
Chameleon is Ray. Parker is Ray. I refuse to separate them like I tend to. I need to acknowledge who I am, what I've become.
I take a shaky inhale, and we continue down, one step at a time.
It's a repetitive process. Go down a few floors, then I hold us both up while Bayani reattaches the string when he can't extend it anymore. It feels like it's taken forever. But currently, we're at the fifteenth floor.
My arms are quite sore from this, and Bayani looks quite exhausted as well, muttering something like, "Never again."
"Parker, I don't think this string around us will hold us the rest of the way down. Any ideas?" Bayani says, a little out of breath.
"Crap. We just hold on to each other tight?" I tell him.
"Then how will we hold the string that's helping us get down, smart one?" Bayani says. I wasn't expecting him to be this sarcastic in conversation.
"You're right." I sigh. And as if right on cue, the string around Bayani and me snaps, and we start falling.
My eyes start darting around whilst in freefall. I feel the wind beating against me as Bayani and I both start reaching our hands up, flailing in terror.
Think, Ray. Think!
I only see one option out of this, so I begrudgingly tell Bayani, "Close your eyes."
"What?" He replies.
"We don't have time, just do it!" I shout.
Bayani sighs and closes his eyes as I requested. I look around to make sure there's no passerby, then I make a portal beneath us on the ground, using Bayani and my shadows. And I make the other side slightly above, so our fall is lessened.
It works to an extent, we fall through, but I didn't account for the fact that we'd still be falling that short distance at a really high speed. So when we do hit the ground, I still feel the pain reeling throughout my body, causing me to write a little.
I glance over at Bayani, who is able to stand up faster than I can.
"It was painful, but I don't think we sustained any major injuries," Bayani says with a groan.
"I hate my power sometimes…" I groan as I slowly stand up.
"Yeah?" Bayani says, trying to draw out some form of elaboration.
"I feel one-hundred times the pain that a normal person does. Mr. Eun-ji does too." I explain.
"Oh," Bayani says, processing. "Oh! Wait. How are you still conscious from feeling one-hundred times the pain from that fall?!" Bayani rushes over to me and starts examining me, eyes wide, looking very concerned about me.
"I'm fine. I have a high pain tolerance." I tell him, brushing him off and slowly slinking back to my feet.
Bayani takes out his phone, then shows me the screen. "It took us forty minutes to get down. We should hurry over if we still want to scope out the docks."
I brush myself off, look up from his phone screen, and make eye contact with him.
"Right…"