I replay Jordan's words in my head as Andre and I make our way across campus to the stupid Hailey Miller interview.

'I just thought you could tell the truth.' 

Iliana laughs at the irony of that sentence...

"I'm sorry, Jordan, what were you expecting?" Iliana asks sharply to the bigender Asian in front of her.

"I don't know, maybe that you wouldn't be scared. That maybe you could tell the truth." Jordan crosses their arms.

"You know I can't do that, Jordan." Iliana snips, moving for the door.

"You could-" Jordan grabs Iliana by her wrist, pulling her into their body. She smacks into the current flat chest. "You just don't want to." They whisper.

She scoffs, pushing out their arms, where she finds the most safety and comfort, but also where she knows she'll never leave.

"I'm sorry." She says quietly, keeping her back to them. Tell them. Tell them now.

"You're a coward, Iliana Riordan." They spit out. "A fucking coward."

"Whatever." Iliana mutters, though they could hear, her heart ripping itself apart inside her chest. Iliana forces herself to leave room, demanding herself not to cry. If she doesn't walk out now... she never will.

"You okay?" Andre's voice causes me to jump a little. I snap my head up and see I'm no longer moving and he's ahead of me.

I nod. "Uh, yeah, sorry." I catch up to him as he looks down, staring at something. "What is i-" I pause when I find a piece of brain in the crack of the stone. I shake my head and reach into the inside of my jacket, pulling my flask out and downing whatever I had left in it. Andre looks up at the camera crew running all around the vans outside of the building we're supposed to be going to.

He exhales. "You go ahead."

"What?" I turn to him.

He lifts up his chin. "Go without me." He says, turning around to the Crimefighting building.

Ohhh, no he doesn't.

"No." I cross my arms.

"Goldie." He sighs, turning back to me. "You already missed this morning, you can't afford to miss anymore."

"I don't care about the stupid interview." I scoff, rolling my eyes. "If you're going to investigate I'm coming." I humph, crossing my arms so he knows it's final. "Partners in crime."

He sighs, kicking the ground with his shoe. "Partners in crime." He tries not to smile as we enter the building, and head straight to Brink's office. He takes a seat in Brink's chair as I hover over him, both of us glancing at the pictures of me and Brink, which I did not want to take, and him and Luke that he has framed on his desk.

"Ugh." I scoff in disgust, going to push them both down before Andre grabs my hand, reminding me we can't move anything out of place in here.

I sigh annoyed, puffing air out of my nose as he clicks on the laptop, bringing it to life, and clicks off of Luke's profile, figures, moving to files. A fingerprint pops up and asks for sign in. Great.

Andre furrows his brows for a second and I look at him asking 'what are we gonna do?' He moves his hand over the scanner and squeezes it into a fist and it accepts. I throw my hands up before landing them on his shoulders. Yes!

"Great." I whisper.

"Sam. Sam." He mumbles looking through the names.

"Ahah!" I point to the screen the same the mouse lands on Riordan, Sam.

I gasp as a new screen pops up shows a Sam's name and info with his picture and what looks to be like footage of him a room.

"Oh, my God." I mutter, focusing hard as the realization sets in. That was Sam the other night... outside when Marie and Andre had captured him. That was my baby brother! And I didn't even recognize him!

To be fair, he looks a little older than last I saw him in person, and it was dark and I couldn't see his face, but still. I knew I had a feeling about the so called 'coked up' person on the loose.

"Fuck." Andre blinks, looking up at me. "That's your brother."

I nod, biting the inside of my lip. Looks like I'm not the only one recalling the other night. His head is still full of curls, just as it always has been, though they've grown out a bit. The same curls those men jerked up to put a mask over his face the other night and knock him out. My jaw locks angrily. They've had him locked up for the past three years?!

Andre pulls out his phone and takes a picture of the screen when suddenly the doors burst open and he quickly yanks us down to the floor, under Brink's desk.

We look at each other with wide eyes and I place my hand on top of his, waving the other in the air, turning us invisible. Manipulating light has its perks, and although I don't use this part of my powers often, it can come in handy.

Andre pulls two fingers towards the ground, shutting the laptop. His phone starts buzzing and I look at him urgently. I can control light and heat, not sound. He quickly pushes the screen to turn it off. I exhale silently as we freeze to listen as his chain dangles from his neck. I swear I will melt that thing- but it does look cool.

Footsteps appear in front of us as a voice speaks. "Don't bother with that shit. Just the files and the computer." Andre's eyes move back and forth as I concentrate. "Grab the hard drive from the security office. Meet me downstairs." The man orders as they move out.

Andre nods and we hop up, quickly leaving as well.

𖤓 𖤓 𖤓

Jordan watches the Hailey Miller interview with tears in their eyes, slamming the phone on their bed. Iliana didn't even show. Marie read her script exactly as they had written, which Jordan is positive Iliana would've done.

They let out a chuckle. Of course Iliana isn't there. What were they even expecting? What were you expecting, Jordan?

They close their eyes as they are rudely reminded of something they've tried desperately to forget.

Jordan closes their eyes into the kiss as they pull Iliana in closer while she moves her hands into their hair. Iliana places her hands on their chest softly pushing them to the bed .

"Why can't you tell the interviewers your seeing someone?" Jordan tries asking coolly.

She sighs. "You know I can't do that, Jordan. I have come off single. It brings in more views."

Jordan scoffs. "Single? Or just not with me."

"Jordan." Iliana groans, moving off Jordan to stand.

"What? You know it's true." They mumble.

Iliana clicks her tongue off her teeth. "Jordan." Iliana says quietly. "You know I can't be seen with you... like that."

Jordan rolls their eyes.

"You know how I have to play it off when I'm asked about those kind of questions."

"Whatever." Jordan grumbles, standing as they switch to their male form.

Jordan forces themself to stop thinking of that night before it played out any further. They throw themselves back on their bed, angrily blinking the tears away. Forget her, Jordan! You have for an entire year.

But Jordan knows that's not true... And that the golden blonde has infiltrated their thoughts, constantly, like a hangover that won't go away.

𖤓 𖤓 𖤓

Oh great, we're not going back to our rooms, no, nope. We're following the freakin' guards!

I grip Andre's hand tightly to keep us out of sight as he peers over the stair railing. I come around him and watch as one of the men hold a phone up to the wall and it makes a noise before the cement opens.

A door on the same level opens and a janitor walks in. "Hey guys. What's going on?" The janitor asks. Ohh shit. "Can I help you?"

"All good." One of the men say to him. I turn skeptically to Andre. "Campus security. Nothing to worry about." They say. Yeah... right. Then out of nowhere the "campus security" grabs the janitor by the chest, spins him around, and slits his throat. I jump back at the same time Andre does and he covers his mouth and mine as we fall back to the floor.

"What the hell was that?" One of the men ask, clearly hearing us.

I look at him with wide eyes, quickly regaining contact and concentration as Andre, in the quietest tone possible, whispers, "Shit, shit." If he wasn't right by my ear I wouldn't have even heard it, but I feel like I can hear my heart beating out of my chest as his breathing quickens.

"Hey. Greg'll clean up later. Let's go." One of them orders.

We wait a second before slowly standing.

He looks over the ledge to the man bleeding out and shudders. "Oh, shit. Shit."

"Magnet." I whisper as he pulls us down the stairs before we hear someone and I instantly try to cover us again.

"Hey!" Another guard yells out. Andre holds up his hand and throws the gun out of the guys hand before he pulls out a device and we groan and I let go of him revealing us as I grab my head that feels like it's gonna explode.

"Did you know Supes have a wider range of hearing than us?" The man taunts as Andre's hand rushes to his temples and he leans over, trying to raise his hand up again. I throw my hand up. "Like dogs." The sound grows louder causing me nails to dig into my skull and lower my hand.

Oh my God, make it stop!!

I grunt as I force my arm out and the light above us starts searing into the mans arm. I smirk, glad the university uses 'solar energy.'

"Ah! Ah!" He begins to scream and turns the device up more causing Andre to fall backwards to the ground. Shit- ow, owww! "You bitch." The guy mutters.

I lean over, placing my hands on my knees as I feel like I'm about to throw up battery acid. I try to lift my hand up again as I can feel my body grow hotter, but my head only screams at me as I squeeze my hands over my ears.

"Hey, Bob." A woman in the same gear walks up behind him. "Turn it off."

"Or what?" 'Bob' answers.

From what I can see through blurred vision she lifts her helmet. "I said turn it off, Bob." She snaps and he turns to her. I squint my eyes at him and his hand starts to sizzle as his glove begins smoking.

"Ah!" He cries out. Come on, Iliana, just a little more. I open my eyes widen, narrowing them once again as the surge of energy buzzes through my body, pouring out of my eyes. The skin on his fingers starts to bubble.

"Right fucking now." The woman reaches over and turns it off and I fall into the wall.

"What are you doing?" He asks her.

"I'll tell you what I'm doing, Bob." She says.

I can't listen anymore, I feel like my head is about to explode.

"Do it. You know you want to." A voice that sounds far too familiar speaks. I snap my head up to find Cate standing behind Bob with her hand on his neck. Before I can process anything else Bob gets down on his knees in front of the woman and shoves the flashlight in his mouth.

I shake my head as Andre struggles to stand as he moves over to me, helping me up right. I lean into him as Cate struggles down the stairs.

"Andre, Iliana." She pants. "We need to go."

"Your eye." Andre stampers. "You've b... you've been pushing too much."

"Cate." I look at her worriedly.

"I'm fine." She gasps for air. "I'm totally..." Her eyes roll to the back of her head as she falls forward and Andre and I both scramble to catch her and he lowers her to the ground.

"Cate! Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit."

"Cate! Cate." I gasp, dropping down beside them.

"Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." Andre repeats over and over again. "Cate. Cate! Cate!" He starts shaking her head and we can only see the whites of her eyes.

I grab his arm. "I don't think that's helping." I swallow, gasping for air. "Cate! Cate, please." I can't-I can't breath. I claw at my chest. I can't lose her too, I can't lose anymore family.

𖤓 𖤓 𖤓

𝟶ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀʙɪsᴄᴜɪᴛ𝟽 sᴘᴇᴀᴋs!

I had this scene planned before I even decided on Iliana's powers lmao, bc I so badly wanted her in this scene with Andre and wanted one of my Gen V oc's to have invisibility for this specific scene, so everything worked perfectly !!!

And yes, I did have to have my girl fight back a bit bc I wanted to haha, I can make her op... AND WILL !!!

Okay I'm done lmao, hope y'all enjoyed this chapter & all the episode 2 chapters, see you in episode 3 whenever I can continue it bc that's where I left off writing over break lol, mwauh!!