QUINN

Oh, crap was all I could think. I had refrained from using my powers inside the gym to protect my identity. I considered using them now that my classmates couldn't see me but I wasn't given the chance.

Once I had been dragged outside the super wearing black that had done most of the talking back inside the gym threw me to the ground and put his foot on my chest to keep me down. My head hit the unforgiving concrete ground and a high pitched ringing in my ears along with a searing pain in the back of my head were all I could focus on. Needless to say, I wasn't able to fight the weight of his foot.

My vision was blurry but I could see movement and the exchange of an object from the human flamethrower to the guy in black. I saw the form of the guy in black get closer to me then felt fabric cover my mouth, nose, and chin. Suddenly it became impossible to keep my eyes open.

I just lay there on the sidewalk in the dark. Thinking. Me, the most favored superhero in Venus City, unable to do anything. I must be stupid or crazy or both, running in front of the crowd, knowing I couldn't use my powers to help.

The clawed girl. The robbers. The mugger. I had been winning fights back and forth almost effortlessly. I thought I was so good I didn't even need my powers to win. And now I was being kidnapped by three super-powered strangers. My friends are back inside confused and scared. Some superhero I am.

I tried to blink to keep my eyes open but it was a failed attempt. Before I drifted into unconsciousness I vaguely remember feeling the supers throwing me into what smelled like a new car and hearing the skidding of wheels on the pavement as they drove off.

***

I was awake but my eyelids felt too heavy to open. Like I'd have to break some sort of world record in weightlifting to be able to open them. Choosing to leave my eyelids closed, for now, I used my other senses to assess my surroundings.

The room I was now in smelled like sewage and smoke. Leather restraints strapped me to a wooden table. The table was so short my feet hung off the end.

It was fairly quiet in the room. I heard the constant sound of metal on metal, a high pitched beeping noise, and every now and then the dripping of water. There were no footsteps or conversations. No else seemed to be in the room.

Eventually, I remembered I had been kidnapped during homecoming and started to panic. An object hit the floor nearby.

Okay, I can't panic. If I panic I won't be able to control my powers. And if I can't control my powers, whoever has me kidnapped will know I'm Cobalt.

I started to take deep breaths in order to calm down. The sound of a door creaking open and footsteps approaching nearby didn't help my nerves.

"How is he?" Came the first voice. They had a British accent.

Another voice answered, this one American, "This subject should be fine. He didn't gain any powers but he won't get any of the side effects of the operation either. His body completely rejected every test we did." Operation? Were they talking about me? It started to seem like I had been abducted by aliens and they were doing weird experiments on me like in the movies. I started internally panicking again and that constant beeping noise sped up.

"His heart rate is rising. Does that mean anything?" The British voice asked, sounding scared and genuinely worried.

"He's probably just dreaming. Let him rest. We'll do the neurological operation later," the second voice answered.

They talked some more but most of it was just science terms even I couldn't understand. I heard the clatter of objects being moved around as they spoke.

I cracked one eye open just a smidge to see the two of them leaving the room. The sound of their footsteps retreating from the room confirmed they were both gone. Once I was sure of their absence I struggled under my restraints to see just how tight they were. Conclusion: They were very tight.

Finally, I opened my eyes all the way and looked around as much as being strapped to a table would allow.

The room looked everything like the image I had built in my head. The ceiling was (as Nova might put it) oh-so-very high. There were three concrete walls. Where the fourth would have been the room turned into a tunnel and the walls turned to stone brick covered in mold, dirt, and who-knows-what.

To my right was an EKG which turned out to have been the source of the high pitched beeping. In the corner of the room was a bunch of medical looking equipment. The door was left cracked directly in front of me.

As I was looking at the door the super in black from homecoming walked in, though I hadn't heard his footsteps. It hit me then that I didn't really know what his powers were or if he had any at all. He had just shown up with two other supers and had the dramatic flair of a comic book character.

He instantly noticed I was awake when he walked in (though I'd have to wonder what "neurological operations" the other dude had done on this guy to not notice a wide-eyed kidnapped guy on a table directly in front of him) and pushed the table on which I rest out of the way of the open door.

"How long have you been awake?" He said a little worried and in an American accent that I now knew was fake.

My initial response to that would have been How long have you been British? But I decided to play innocent, "I just woke up."

"I don't really believe that but I also don't really care. I just need to get you out here before that other guy comes back." He had gone back to British. He started to undo my leather restraints in a hurry.

"How do I know I can trust you and this isn't just some sort of sick trap?"

He took a deep breath in then out and glanced back at the door to make sure no one saw what he did next, "Because I'm about to trust you. A lot."  He then took off the mask he had been wearing and showed me his real face. I felt like an idiot. There aren't many Brits in Venus City.

Justin helped me up from my table after he had finished with the restraints and I followed him out of that room through the old sewage tunnel that connected to that room.

Just before I exited the tunnel Justin called out "Quinn... don't-don't tell anyone...please. I'll explain everything to you. I just-I can't get arrested before I take Nova on a date that my alter ego isn't forced to crash."

He had no idea how much I understood his fear of his double life going public. "Don't worry. You're secret's safe." He turned to leave, only replying with a relieved sigh, but I spoke again, "And Justin?"

He looked back as a response.

"You really need to work on your American accent." He gave a little laugh and turned to leave again.