Like a Hurricane: Part 2
A/N: I'm working on the next installments of Mirth's Ebenezer and The Lair in the Woods and am hopefully going to be posting them over the weekend😊 Thank y'all for being patient with me during my impromptu hiatus/intermittent posting over the last couple of months💜 I'm happy to report that postings should be a little more regular now that book 3 is in better shape and book 2 is well on its way to release day! I'm hoping to be posting more about my Heirs of Tenebris trilogy so be prepared for ✨all✨ the Fire & Flight and Embers of Eternity content😜
Warnings: self-loathing, reference to past trauma, reference to past stressful situations, reference to past betrayal
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“Twister and Terren…working together?” Static asked, glancing between the unlikely pair stood before them.
Blaze cleared her throat. “Yes. We saw them enter Terren’s rural base together late last night. Twister left alone several hours later, around 3 o’clock this morning.”
Static cursed, running a hand roughly through their hair. Silently, their eyes bounced with whatever thoughts were running through their mind, the only indication that something was happening beneath their otherwise still surface.
“Blaze,” Static started, meeting her eyes resolutely. She could see the tension in her friend’s tight face and knew it wasn’t just her boss speaking to her now. “I know you volunteered for this assignment, but I’m taking off. Understood?”
Something shattered inside of her. Maybe it was what was left of her dignity, maybe it was her heart, but when she opened her mouth to protest like she felt she should’ve, all Blaze managed to say was, “Understood.”
“This has nothing to do with trusting you as a hero—”
“I know,” Blaze spit out unintentionally. Cringing internally, she pinched her eyes closed and took a breath before repeating herself, calmer this time, calmer than she ever had. “I know you’re just trying to look out for me, and I appreciate that. I do, I just…I just.”
Avian shifted beside her uncomfortably. Blaze recognized that somewhere buried under the tumultuous rubble inside her mind, she was grateful that he’d stayed with her last night even after how coldly she’d acted toward him. Camped out on the frigid hillside, on Valentine’s Day no less, he’d stayed with her until Twister had left, followed hours later by Terren. He hadn’t even woken her when she’d fallen asleep against him sometime after one o’clock.
She snuck a glance at her unsuspected partner in heroism out of the corner of her eye. As if following her train of thought, Static’s eyes slid to the aerokinetic hero stood beside her.
“Are you still volunteering for this assignment?” they asked, arching a graceful eyebrow.
Avian’s lips pressed into a thin line. Just barely, Blaze saw him nod grimly in affirmation.
Static blew out a breath. “Two aerokinetic people, two different sides. What could possibly go wrong?”
“Nothing,” Avian asserted. “Not a single thing if I have anything to say about it.”
Static studied him with narrowed eyes. Blaze found herself sheepishly staring at him, wide-eyed and unwittingly holding her breath.
How could he be so certain about that? He didn’t even know what Twister was like, or Terren for that matter, but already Avian was acting like he was nearly finished with the mission and was about to wrap things up with a neat little bow and both villains behind bars.
And if Static noticed the hero’s overconfidence, they didn’t say anything about it. They merely nodded and said dismissively, “Good. Let’s be sure to get them both this time, preferably before they have a chance to raze the whole city.”
Blaze’s mouth went dry. She knew it wasn’t meant to insult her or even bring up the incident that had revealed Twister’s true intentions, but Static’s words still stung. But their next words, they rubbed salt in a wound she didn’t think Static realized they’d opened.
“Avian, have Mori fill you in on Terren’s and Twister’s files.” Static hardly waited for Avian’s confirmation before their eyes slid back to her. “And Blaze? Take a couple days off, okay?”
Blaze’s lips wobbled but she caught herself before they could slip into an outright frown. “I would rather stay on duty if that’s okay. I’m trying to save my vacation time for an actual vacation this year.”
Static’s lips quirked in an almost smile at her lie. Everyone knew heroes didn’t get actual vacations, that they were just a pipedream. And to boot, they both knew there was nothing she loved more than taking a “stay-cation” in which she didn’t leave her house and ignored anything short of an official order from her superiors.
“If you feel like working, then I’m not going to stop you,” Static said, “but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you—”
“I’m aware.” Blaze grit her teeth. “I’m not touching this case with a ten-foot pole, so stuff it.” Taking a breath, Blaze realized what she’d just said, and to her boss of all people. No matter how friendly they were to each other, Blaze at least had the common sense to know where the boundary between Static as her superior and Static as her friend was drawn, and she’d definitely stuck her foot in her mouth. Quickly trying to recover from the blunder, she managed to add a half-hearted, “respectfully” before Static just shook their head and dismissed them both.
Avian shut the door to the superior hero’s office behind them. Blaze didn’t stop in her escape attempt or wait to see if Avian was following after her, but her prayers went unanswered as he quickly caught up to her.
“Hey,” he said, “wait a second?”
Blaze blew out a breath. “What?”
“I just wanted to ask if you were all right?” Avian asked slowly, dropping his gaze to the floor. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk about last night, or since so I just wanted to ask and say that if you need anything…I know I’m not you favorite person in the world, but I just wanted to offer my help and let you know that I’m here for you if…if you want my help.”
Blaze studied him. Her examination of him was met with Avian’s slumping, non-threatening, sheepish posture, but still an alarm clanged like pots and pans in her head, driving her just as mad as her heart thundered between her ears. “Uh…thanks?”
She hugged an arm to her middle, wishing for all the world that the hallway was a little wider, that it wasn’t so damn hot in the office today, that she didn’t constantly feel like her blood was boiling. Shoving against her fight or flight response enough to add, “I really appreciate the fact that you stayed with me last night. It…uh…it…” Blaze trailed off, trying to sort through her thoughts but failing. Instead, she shook her head and tried to look Avian in the eye now that he was focused on her again instead of his shoes. “I’m fine now. It was just a bad night, out in the middle of nowhere. Stakeouts do that sometimes, get under your skin.”
She tried to shake off the voice in her head telling her she was just rambling now, but Avian nodded like he understood.
“Yeah, I could see how that would happen, especially when you’re alone and it’s dark out and…Terren’s really bad, isn’t she?”
“You could say that.,” Blaze begrudgingly admitted, “but that’s a horrible mindset to take into your investigation.”
“Right, well…” Avian rubbed the back of his neck and took a step back. “Hopefully her file isn’t all doom and gloom. Has anyone come close to stopping her?”
Blaze wanted to say yes, but that would be a lie. “You should really speak to Mori. She’ll be more helpful with Terren.”
“And Twister?”
Blaze flinched involuntarily. Squeezing her eyes shut, she said, “If…if you still have questions about Twister after speaking to Mori, come find me.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Yeah,” Blaze muttered, turning slowly on her heel and hoping she could at least keep her head up as dejection flooded her bloodstream, “don’t thank me yet.”
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