Gatsby.

When the metaphorical dust settles, I'm alone in the back of a creep's van. Everything hurts. I curl into a ball and bury my face into the floor, the smell of blood and antiseptic so powerful my eyes water.

I tried screaming for help and all, but no one will save me. I know that now. So I just lie here, trying to form a plan as listen to the supervillains and their conversations. I have to escape. I can't wait for Galaxy to save me from these people. The vehicle jolts, throwing me against its side. I bite hard on the inside of my cheek and try not to cry.

I didn't mean to sacrifice myself for Heaven. All I wanted was to give her a shot at escaping. I knew she shouldn't have gone out, not with her powers weakened and not when those Snare folks wanted her. So I kicked around a few plastic plants in the lobby, cursed her name, and left to find her. I wouldn't be nice either. Maybe if I dragged her home, then she'd know how annoying her babying was.

But then I heard her scream. It made my blood go cold and every part of me tense up. Couldn't move if I tried. When that sinister supervillain laughter cut the air, by God, I ran so fast Speedy Gonzalez could eat my gravel.

A gang had cornered her in an alley, and I really, really tried to help her. No matter how mad I was for her being so bossy, I'd do anything to keep someone from hurting her. She was my best friend and I cared more about her than anyone in the whole world.

But I never expected this. I never expected they'd shrug her off and take me instead.

And, man, I can't stop shaking. I feel like someone socked me right in the gut. Hev and Angel and I had to cheat death and fight for every bloody second of our freedom.

And now, at least for me, it's gone.

I close my eyes and try to focus on the van's vibrations. I Wikihowed this stuff. As soon as I got home from the first ordeal, I flipped open my school-issued laptop and read every article on surviving a kidnapping. I had a feeling I'd get caught again. The adults were too easy on us last time we escaped, just letting us skip on our merry way with a wink and a smirk. Sure, Angel had Jay-Cat. Sure, he looked murderous and they couldn't risk their precious Catalyst. Sure, they probably thought she would've stopped us, but still. They knew it wouldn't be hard to get us back. And they weren't wrong. At least, not for me.

The van jolts again and I take note. Tip number six on that Wikihow article said to memorize how the terrain feels, so you can map it with your mind. Or something like that.

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

"Of course she'll be okay. So he knocked her out. If anyone won't be okay, it's the cat guy back there."

I remember how back in the costume store Angel punched that Electra lady and the henchmen said  the same thing. Now though, I'm alone and Angel isn't here to trip up my kidnapper. I want to scream, I want to cry, but mostly, I want to sleep. "I can hear you, you know," I mutter into the floor.

My brain aches. I'm always just a stupid consolation prize. When Cat lost Angel, she took me, just so she could have a prisoner to show for her bloody effort. And now this. If I'm going to be kidnapped, I'd at least like to be purposely kidnapped, not just, "Oh, hey! There's the dude who's a cat. Why not capture him for kicks."

"Aww, poor thing! He sounds so tired! Go to sleep, little pet."

I lift my head. "I am not your pet..." I'm not even angry. Just achy all over and desperate for a little shut-eye. I haven't slept since last night, but my eyes are pinned wide. A cat nap now will kill me.

"Oh! He's such a cute thing! What do you think Owl will do with him?"

"Hmm. Leverage, that's a given. Maybe she'll convert him over. He has to be useful somehow..."

"Do you think she'll sell him off? Send him to another branch?"

My stomach flops. I'm about to tell myself Galaxy will save me, but then I remember who she really is and sigh. "Please..." I say groggily.

"Don't take it up with us, lil' guy. Owl's the one you want to beg."

"...please shut up. I can't be that 'little' can I?" It's so dark and I'm exhausted. My muscles ache. There's nothing I can do. I can try to escape when they park and open the doors, but my wrists are tied, and so are my ankles. I have to wait for them to free me first, and that could take time. Surely, I need to be rested up before I attempt an escape.

Screw Wikihow. I know nothing about where I'm going, and the map I'm trying to figure out in my head is already jumbled.

"Don't tell me what to do," the woman snaps. "You want to survive? Keep quiet."

I close my eyes and wind myself even tighter. "Uh-huh. Sure, lady. Whatever you say." I want to stay up a little longer, at least try to fight them, but I'm fading. I tilt my head back against the cold kiss of aluminum, and soon I'm out quicker than a flipped switch.

***

"Wakey, wakey." My eyes shoot open, my skin covered in goosebumps and bones chill through my flesh. My body aches, the ground beneath me solid and lined with ridges that cuti into my spine. Maybe I fell asleep in—

Oh, wait. Van. Alley. Heaven. Syndicate. It all comes back, suffocating amounts of memory dumped on me at once. I jump. Or at least, I would. Instead, my body seizes up and I strain at my ties. Still tight. Still can't move an inch. My nose comes lancing down and I yelp out, choking back tears.

Light is thrown through the door, draping a woman's silhouette in shadow. She grips my waist and tosses me over her shoulder. I clench my jaw, my whole body crying out in protest. "Woah, lady. What do you even want from me?" I writhe and tense to give some resistance. A  slim second figure strides up, and though the sunlight is blinding, but they stuff a black hood over my face anyway.

"You can't even imagine, kitty cat," she says in a brisk walk. I try to weasel out a sassy comeback, but alas, I come up blank. Terror: it fills my mouth with the taste of sour pennies and my blood with ice. I simply freeze, limp against her.

"So you think Owl will be in a good mood?"

"Here's to hoping."

 Maybe wings will explode out of my back, or maybe I'll get another set of claws or something. I don't know. I don't understand any of this. Angel said he had really weird, "abstract" powers, and by God, he does. But me? I'm just a cat. And a sucky cat at that.

I hold my breath. This sense of smell is still a little hard to handle, but I'm getting better. I've relearned how to "waft," which is just a fancy way to control my breathing so I don't get a noseful of fumes all at once. I used to do it a lot in chem class during experiments. If anything, this enhanced sense of smell is useful, as weird as that sounds. The sharp tangs of burning car oil and damp concrete cling to the air. Traces of perfume and cotton intermingle with the bland smell of, well, people.

And it just keeps getting stronger. "Can I walk?" I ask. "Please?"

"Nope," says the woman—Rose. Her name is Rose. Popping the p, she doesn't sound nervous in the slightest. She knocks four times on a hard surface. I sniff. Wood and polish.

"Passcode?" a low voice calls. It sound familiar, but I can't quite place their voice.

"There is no passcode."

I laugh. I can't help it. Maybe my other kidnapping softened me to how seriously I can take this one. So they'll lock me in a little room. So what? It'll be like a vacation."There is no passcode." That's as bad as using the password 'password.'

The door opens. "Did you catch her?" It hits me.The accent, the subtle purr under everything she says, the inherent smugness. Owl. I remember her aiming a sword at my throat, the snip of delicate flesh. I shudder. Maybe this won't be a vacation afterall.

"No, ma'am." The woman carries me forward, slings me off her shoulder, and throws me to the ground. I grit my teeth from the shock of pain. "I tell you, she's not even worth it. We got—"

"The winged one. Please say you brought me the winged one." A chair scrapes, the click of heels pricking my still non-working ears. A pause. I lie on my back, trying to keep my breathing flat and even. "Oh, wait. This one's too short." I blush under my hood. I'm taller than Heaven, but I guess that's not saying much. She groans. "You got the cat, didn't you?"

"He put up quite a fight," one woman says approvingly. I try to relax by telling myself this meeting is just like the one Cat-Jay brought me to after my first kidnapping. But it isn't. Owl tried to kill me only a few weeks ago. This is the worst position I could possibly be in, tied up on the floor of her hidden lair. The room smells faintly like blood to boot. She could kill me. I'm sure she's killed others here before.

I swallow hard. "Uh-h, ladies, you don't have to talk about me like I'm not here." I have to shout to sound out beneath the hood. I shouldn't bring attention to myself, Wikihow warned against it after all, but I'm still throwing Wikihow to the wind for now. If they're going to hurt me, I want to get in a few quips first.

A cold sort of hush falls over the room that lapses into minutes. It's scary, but I guess everything is scary when you can't move or see a thing. It's as if I've broken some unspoken code, and I suddenly wish I paid Wikihow more heed.

Click. Click. Click. Someone circles me, and I decide to clamp up. "I can make use without you, project," Owl says, her voice low and hushed. Chills race down my spine. "Do you understand?" I nod dumbly. The way she talks to me... as if I'm a nuiscance, as if my existicence is a pebble in her boot...This is bad.  A pain lights in my chest.

I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die or I'm gonna be trapped here for a long, long time.

"Good, project," she says, and I think I throw up a little in the back of my mouth.  She resumes her pacing, the click of her heels sending tremors through the cold floor beneath me. I strain, shaking my head in hopes of getting the hood out of my face. "Rose," she says sweetly, "why did you fail me?"

"Huh?" She squeaks. "I—I—"

"Don't stammer."

Rose, the woman who beat the living crap out of Heaven, draws in a long breath. "Uh, well, Galaxy is just a weak little kid. Can't even fly away. If she was ever a powerful super, those days are long behind her. She isn't worth your time." Silence. It almost hurts to hear Heaven described like that. "Ma'am," Rose adds hesitantly after a minute passes.

"Isn't worth my time?" Owl asks, stopping her circling. I squirm, her shadow cold as it looms over me. As a kid, I always found it unsettling when teachers stood behind me during tests. This takes that to a whole 'nother level. She prods my ribs with her foot. "Who are you to decide who is and isn't 'worth my time?'"

Rose doesn't skip a beat. "An advisor and good friend, I hope."

Owl snorts at this. She prods me again and I pretend it doesn't hurt. "Gats," she says. I bite the inside of my lip. I don't like her calling me by name. "Is that what Galaxy called you? You're the one who faked his death. You fought so hard just to end up at my feet."

My shoulders sag a little. She's so right. "I didn't fight that hard." I huff. "It just kind of sucks is all."

"Mmm-hmm." I've lost her interest and I hear her turn away from me. I guess she's the type that likes to move around when she talks. "I am the only one who decides who is and isn't worth my time, Rose. I have no advisors, and Lord willing, I have no friends! At least, none who are henchmen like yourself." There's quiet, then the shift of one of the women, Owl most likely, inches the hood off my face. I blink hard. I'm staring straight up and lying frozen, focusing hard on the ceiling's stucco. Owl taps my temple, and I cringe, wanting to do anything to get away from her fingertips. "Interesting." The light is low, and out of the corner of my eye I see my other two captors, knelt on one knee in a straight line. The amount of respect they show Owl is cult-like and draws shivers to my skin.

The room itself is odd. Beige walls, drab brown drapes, a clean mahogany desk holding a printer and a—fax machine? Is that a fax machine? I imagine Owl faxing documents to other supervillains and I choke on a laugh. The resemblance of her HQ to an office is eerie, simply put.

No one seems to notice. "A henchman!" Rose cries. "I am not a henchman!" She slams her fist into the desk.  A crack splits it down the middle. "I'd rather die before being called one!"

My shoulders jolt. The room is charged and Owl races over. She's in civilian clothing; skinny jeans, gold pumps, and a silky white sweater that clings to her slender firm. Her hair is flat and sleek, and I can't help thinking how Heaven would never dress anything like her. It's almost funny to think about, Heaven in her big XXL hoodies that drape over her like nightgowns.

I remember Toby once shoving two hundred-dollar-bills into her hand and making her swear to spend it in the mall and how she blew half the money in a chocolate store next door.

My chest tightens. I would do anything to go back to those easy times. An animal coos, startled. I twist my head to see a birdcage that had once been hidden behind the fax machine now flipped from Rose's sudden attack. I squint. A dove stares back at me from behind her bars, cooing sleepily as she rustles her clipped wings. A sharp pang twists in my stomach. 

Never in my short, miserable life have I felt so much pity for a dumb bird.