“Spike,”
Luna grumbled as she let go of the door handle and started knocking on the
door, “Snap would have been carrying too much stuff to bother pulling a prank
like this.”
“Sorry.”
Juliet sighed, slumping down onto one of the tables, trying not to feel like
the walls were closing in. She hated being inside for any length of time as it
was, yet alone being trapped indoors. Then she spotted the partly open window
just above head height, “I didn’t think they’d take it out on you too.”
“Mikey,
open the door!” Luna bellowed, shaking the door on its hinges before turning to
the dejected looking girl, “I’m the one who dragged you shopping, and I’d
rather they were aiming our way than picking on the others again.” Speedster
just nodded as she moved round the room and pulled a table under the window.
Luna wandered over, curiosity obvious on her features as Speedster climbed up
onto it and poked her head out the open window. “Speeds?”
“I
could get down from here.” Juliet replied, “Its only one floor up.”
“You
might, I’m not so sure I would without breaking something.” Luna sounded
thoughtful as she joined her friend in looking out the window, “At least if I
jump, there’s a ledge, look.” She indicated the ledge in question, “If I edge
around that and climb in that window,” She pointed, “I’m pretty sure that leads
onto the main corridor.”
“And
if you fall, I’ll catch you.” Juliet agreed, liking this plan better than just
sitting around or shouting their heads off until someone came and unlocked the
door. At least this way they weren’t waiting on someone who might not come to
the rescue till morning. “Toss our bags down?”
“My
laptop...” Luna hesitated.
“It’s
either that or try and carry it around the ledge.” She reminded the other girl
who honestly looked like she was considering it. “Fine, okay, toss my bag down.
It’s not got anything breakable in it.”
When
Luna nodded, Speedster carefully climbed out of the window and jumped from the
ledge to the ground, rolling as she hit the floor and coming out of it standing
up. Her bag came next, ruining her triumphant grin by smacking her in the head
and causing her to back up a little as Luna clambered out of the window,
backpack on her back.
“You
alright up there?” Speedster couldn’t help but ask as Luna considered the route
for a moment or two.
“Yeah,”
Luna nodded, thinking about something for a little longer before turning
around, letting herself down using the ledge and dropping the last couple of
feet to the ground safely. “Just that seemed easier.” She grinned at her
friend.
“Just
be glad security didn’t see us pull that stunt.” Speedster chuckled back, “Or
they would have pitched a fit.”
“So
where’re we now?” Luna asked, looking around at the disposal bins and piles of
cardboard and rubbish.
“Behind
the Student Union building I think.” Speedster considered, starting to climb
the wire fence. “There’s a road on the other side of the fence.”
“Sounds
good to me.” Luna nodded, wincing in sympathy as Juliet reached the top, which
had barbed wire wrapped around certain parts, and got her hand spiked for her
troubles.
Luna
didn’t fare much better as she joined her friend on the other side of the fence
and by the time she had reached the ground she had torn her tights and cut her
hand open. “You do realise Shade is probably going to find this hilarious.” She
warned Speedster who just let out a frustraited huff.
“If
this wasn’t his idea I’d be surprised.” She admitted, “Trap the two
claustrophobic Club members in a room and leave them? Seems right up his
alley.”
“Actually
it seems kind of tame for him.” Luna huffed, “I mean I love my brother, but he
can be incredibly vindictive when he wants to be. He’s not shy about it
either.”
“So...since
we don’t appear to be flavour of the week at the moment,” Speedster sighed, “How
about you come over mine. I have that film you wanted to watch. The Avengers?”
“Sweet!”
Luna grinned at her, before pausing, confusion spreading across her features,
“Wait, why do you buy DVDs? I thought you couldn’t watch them anymore.”
“I
can’t, not without the flickering between frames driving me nuts or giving me a
headache.” Speedster shrugged, “But I can still listen to them and I get a good
idea of what’s going on from the sounds. Besides, if I have the newest DVDs I
have an excuse to invite people round.” She poked her tongue out at Luna who
chuckled back.
“Fine,
fine.” Luna giggled, “And I can work on my essay at the same time.” She tilted
her head at Speedster. “Should we pick up snacks? Or...”
“No,
I’ll cook. I’ve got stuff in for lasagne, sweet and sour, tikka or chilli
dogs.” Luna grimaced at the last, causing Speedster to grin, “Okay, okay, not
chilli dogs.”
“Chilli
is fine, chilli dogs yuk.” Luna grouched, “Sweet and sour sounds good, what
with?”
“Pasta,
rice, stir fry?” Speedster offered, thinking about what she had in the house as
they walked, “Would have to pick up some stir fry veg, but I have the noodles and
the pork in.”
“Sounds
like a plan.” Luna nodded, “We’ll stop by the corner shop on the way to yours
and...” By the time she got to ‘and’ Speedster had vanished in a blur of blues
and greens. “Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen,” She started counting down,
continuing to walk towards Juliet’s house, partially amused at her friend and
her inability to wait for anything, “Six, five, four, three, two...”
Before
she could hit one, Speedster had returned carrying a grocery bag, inside of
which was a pack of stir fry veg. “Sorry, would have been faster, but the self
scan till was so slow.”
“Everything
is slow compared to you, Speeds.” Luna waved it off, wondering once again how
her friend put up with moving at her pace, “Don’t worry about it.”
“Got
bigger things to worry about than a slow till.” Speedster nodded, causing Luna
to wince slightly as Juliet’s constantly flickering moods headed back towards
frustration and worry. “I’d be happier if I just knew where the damn thing had
ended up.”
“Look,
I know it’s a problem, I’m not saying it isn’t, but constantly worrying about
it isn’t going to help. You can’t do anything about the missing World Sphere
until we get a lead and that’s not going to happen until someone does something
really stupid.” Luna informed her friend, “So there’s nothing you can do for
now.”
“But...”
“I
know it’s an unusual concept.” Luna teased, “You waiting for anything, but you
don’t have a choice this time I’m afraid.”
“Waiting
is a bad plan.” Speedster grouched, “I’d rather do something about it now,
before we run the risk of being revealed to the whole world.”
“Speeds,
I have a question.” Luna sighed, “When you shoot off and do things like buy
your shopping at the sort of speed you do, or do your rounds at top speed, do
you really think that no one pays attention?”
“No
one’s ever said something.” Speedster frowned, confused about what she was
getting at.
“No
one would, unless they get really curious.” Luna sighed, “But every time you do
something like that, or one of the others uses their powers around normal
people we run the risk of discovery.”
“So
what? We’re just getting away with it?” Speedster asked, confused. “I mean
surely if we’ve been noticed there would have been consequences by now. I mean
it’s been almost a year.”
“People
ignore the weird if it makes their life easier.” Luna chuckled at her, “As long
as we’re not doing anything to impact on their lives negatively they really
won’t care what we get up to. Hell the people whose houses are on your route
are probably just happy to get their mail before midday.”
“People
are weird.” Speedster looked confused at that. She had honestly expected a
bigger reaction from the normal people of the city. Knowing that the Club had
been ‘outed’ for probably as long as they had had powers and yet not a single
member of the public had said anything to them disturbed her slightly. She had
expected shouting, riots, lynch mobs. Not ‘oh well, as long as it stays away
from us who cares?’
“That
hasn’t changed since long before we Fused.” Luna grinned at her, “People have
been weird for a lot longer than that. We’re just so weird we actually notice
now.”
“Heh.
I suppose.” Speedster chuckled slightly, before a wicked smirk crossed her
features, “Fine, you know what?” She scooped Luna up bridal style, “Hang on. I
want to show you something.”
With
that she shot off, careful to keep her speed down enough to not be too fast for
Luna to cope, but fast enough that she was one with the wind, dodging around
cars, vans and pedestrians as she shot across the country.
“Speeds?”
Luna asked, confusion obvious as Juliet slowed down, breaking slowly instead of
her usual complete stop and slide, going gently for Luna’s sake.
“Wait
right here.” Speeds grinned at her before shooting off.
Luna
looked around, confusion coursing through her as she realised that Speedster
had brought her to a small clearing in a forest in the middle of nowhere. In
the trees above her there was a small wooden building which was joined to
another one by a walkway that looked like it was almost rotten through.
A
rope ladder, relatively fresh in comparison to the rest of the building work,
hung down from the builidng’s balcony. Unable to resist the pull of her
curiosity, Luna clambered up the rope ladder to find that the tree houses
looked like someone had been working on them recently.
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