Dedicated once again to wintersongbird25 who gave  me some constructive feedback! I'll go rework the beginning to make the story clearer, thanks!

Author's note: Let the action unfold.

James:

"Why is an assassin after me?", Maria yelled.

I didn't answer for obvious reasons. Better to not implicate myself in anything unless I want to be a target for her father's wrath...wait, What if they find out my connection to Rush? Better keep my mouth shut a little longer til I can leave...but what happens to Maria when I'm gone?

"GEAR does not really know the reason why. We are looking into it now. I called some of my connections in the government to see if they can help and so far, it seems as if Rush is a ghost-no one knows who he is or where he is. Our best guess is he's an assassin sent from AoE because you and James saw too much. That said, we're going to have tread lightly from now on and take precautions. However, don't worry, I will fight 'til the very end to keep my daughter alive.", Maria's dad stated with a determined face.

Wish my father cared that much about me-he probably does not even know I'm missing.

[Maria stared at me after I said this.

"What?", I answered back, turning my head to face her in the interrogation room.

"Sometimes I wish I never met you.", she glared menacingly back.

Interrogator interrupted, "Remind me why you're all being trusted to work together in a team?"

I responded, "Maria and I may have our differences, but overall, we've toppled more of AoE's criminal operations than most superheroes have done in their lifetimes. If you truly want to know, let us finish the interrogation and be done with this report. We'll show you if you would like."

Maria replied, "I confer. James may be self-absorbed, but he's come a long way from where he was when I first met him. Let's get back to the story."]

As her father started to comfort a shocked Maria, I turned away from the scene and tried to make my exit.

"Hello? Yes, this is Master Sergeant Cruz speaking. Wait, did you just say that government agents are on their way now?", I heard her father say into a cell phone.

I inched my way closer to freedom; one foot in front of the other. They won't notice me until I'm gone. My brother doesn't really want to hurt Maria, this is just beef between him and me. If I run away from here, he'll forget about her and focus on finding me.

Going off the grid is the best option now. I have to save Maria's life even if...I don't make it.

She'll hate me forever, but eventually she will understand. Rush will stop at nothing and I have no chance up against him in a fair fight.

Since when did you care so much for the girl?

Ignoring my heart who was pleading with me to stay by her side, I picked up the pace only to meet opposition.

"Can you please move aside?", I asked politely.

"We're here for a fellow named James McGregor, heard of him?", a balding man who I presumed to be a federal agent inquired of me.

"Oh yeah, he's outside eating lunch."

"Thanks."

Fool, thank God for the one thing my dad did teach me-how to lie.

"Not so fast, speedster. Where you're going? Lunch is over and we don't like liars."

I don't want to repeat what I thought at that time, let me just say it was a very colorful word.

"What do you mean?", hopefully my innocent act would let me go scot-free.

"We got your face from GEAR's school picture so we know what you look like.", he declared.

No way in tarnation was I going to go down without a fight so I weighed the alternatives and settled on a solution.

"What have I done wrong?', I slowly reached for my umbrella from my school backpack.

"We just need you to come into questioning. It'll only take a few minutes I promise."

When he reached down to grab my backpack, I bashed his head in with the umbrella.

My father may not have taught me much, but my mother helped me to retain a few rules.

Rule#3: Anything can be a weapon if you keep your mind to it.

KAPOW! CRACK! "Ow", the agent called out. "Get him!", a bunch of agents tried to swarm me at once.

Looking at the personnel, I started counting them and determined the best method to take them down.

"Oh, this isn't a fair fight. 6 of you, one of me.", I told them, internally grinning inside. They had no idea what was about to hit them.

"Son, you're coming with us.", a skinny Asian man uttered.

Rule #8: Let your enemies underestimate you and then strike.

"Was that an order?", I mocked.

"Stop this! James is not a criminal! Rush is after both of us!", Maria ran up to the agents and pleaded for my case.

Oh no, all my effort has been in vain.

What will she think of you when she knows the truth?

Some secrets must be protected at all costs, but that doesn't justify what I did next.

I'm sorry, Maria, I thought before taking a jacket from her waist and throwing it over the closest agent.

With all that commotion, I kicked my superspeed into GEAR and zipped around each one, causing one to tip over his shoelaces and another to kick his own teammate.

If I had been a bystander, I would have found this hilarious to watch.

Using the wall to jump off, I leaped to the agent blocking the exit and punched him in the jawline.

Enhanced strength protected me from the damage, him not so much. He fell to the ground in pain.

How pitiful they all are, I mean I'm not that trained and I beat them.

I turned the knob only to meet an African-American agent who grinned at me.

Putting my arms out to shove him, my hands hit a wall.

"Game over kid."

Author's note: So much for that strategy.