“Do you have a ton of luck or something?” Landon asks. “I mean… how else did you get that man in a t-shirt and jeans?”
“It was easy. I only had to sacrifice five virgins and the blood of a unicorn, and presto.” I wave to Ellison, who doesn’t look pleased that the attention is on him and his clothes.
“And what’d you do with those five virgins?” Landon asks.
“We have much more pressing issues, I do believe,” Nolan says as he gestures at a laptop.
“Oh, right. Forgot why we were here. Um… Ellison… that horrible clinic you went to as a child… do you realize it’s still running?”
“I do. My father helps fund it. Funny, huh? Hilarious.”
“Well… one upside to it is that… as of today, it’s no longer in service. The downside…” Landon finger guns Nolan.
“You just want the dramatic effect,” Nolan says, not seeming impressed.
“Obviously, brother, and you’re killing it for me. You were supposed to press play the second I stopped speaking.”
“Right,” Nolan says, pressing play. We all watch the security footage of the place as “Ellison” bashes the window open, crawls through it, and then about five minutes later walks out. And while he’s doing the cool guy walk away, the whole place blows up.
“That was so fucking sexy but I’m also a bit jealous. I’ve always wanted to do that,” I comment.
“The walk? It was a pretty fucking sexy walk,” Landon agrees.
“You are all impressed by thewalkand El justblew up a clinic?” Ellison asks in disbelief. “Fuck.”
“There was no one inside at the time of the explosion,” Nolan assures us.
“And it was a horrible place that was known for conning desperate people out of money and charging them exorbitant amounts for treatments with possible deadly consequences,” August says. “I’m… maybe I shouldn’t be for violence, but let’s just say like… maybe it’s notsohorrible of a thing.”
“Has this footage gone public?” Ellison asks in horror.
“Maybe a little bit,” Landon says.
“What the fuck does a little bit mean?” Ellison asks as he grabs the remote and clicks a news station where his face is front and center. I can hear the newscaster go, “Has another of Superheroes United?—”
I turn the TV off. “At least you look sexy on there. Like you were already dressed for the occasion, you know?”
“I’m going to be honest… I thought if any one of us was going to make the news, it would totally be Deus,” Landon comments.
“Hon, you were just on the news not that long ago for the whole Hannah incident. And Nolan was on the news before that… honestly, more of us have been on the news than not,” August says. “So I wouldn’t worry too much, Ellison.”
I look over at Ellison who has passed right over “worry too much” and dived into “my world has fallen apart.”
“Do you want me to go blow something up so that the limelight switches off you and onto me?” I ask. “Because I’ll do it.”
“We all know you’ll do it,” Landon says. “That is definitely not the concern here.”
I smile. “Good.”
“What the fuck is he going to do next?” Ellison asks. “He’s going to ruin my life. I have to move. I have to… go to some deserted island where he can’t touch anyone. I think if I’m far enough away, he won’t be able to harass people.”
“While a vacation sounds fantastic, I think that we should just iron out a few things here and now,” I tell him.
“Do you know how to incapacitate someone without hurting them?” Ellison asks me.
“Of course I do.”
Ellison looks hopeful. “Knock me out. If I’m unconscious, he can’t do anything.”
