Chapter Nine

Hi everyone! I am so sorry this is late; I got distracted reading a book last night and then it was almost midnight my time and didn't have the energy to edit these chapters to post them 😅😅.

We also start getting to know one of the most unproblematic and sweet characters in this chapter, Mason!! Also.... we finally meet a Maverick... hedge your bets in the comment section on who it is 😂!!

Without further ado!

Chapter Nine

"I know what you did last night," a voice says, and I rollover.

"Do you think I wouldn't watch the news and see the massive headline, 'Hero stops Viro from murdering scientist,' I do check the news on my phone," the voice continues, and I pull the pillow over my head.

"Zana!" T yells, yanking the pillow away from me.

"What?" I ask half asleep.

"You were pushed out of a fifth-floor window?!" She screams at me and I snatch the pillow back.

"I don't want to talk about it," I grumble trying to go back to bed.

"Zana," she says sternly.

"I'm fine, okay?" I snap and her glare cuts through me.

"I can't even imagine the energy build-up you need to deal with from that fall," she says, and I sit up flustered.

"He took the brunt of the fall! He flipped us around as we were falling, and he hit the ground first. Why would he do that T? Why wouldn't he just let me take the full force of the impact?" I question desperately. It's something I thought violently about every time I would turn over last night.

"Are you serious?"

"I've been dreaming it on repeat all night, I can't get it out of my head. I keep feeling his grasp on me as he flips us around in the air. Why would he do that?" I ask and my voice cracks.

"Do you think he was really there to kill that man?" She asks me quietly and I shake my head furiously.

"I don't know why he was there! I just knew I needed to remove him from the situation, so he couldn't do anything to that scientist," I say.

"I don't know what to say," T says.

"That man looked me in the eyes and shot me without hesitation. He was willing to kill four police officers to try and get into that building. Why would he protect me from a fall?!" I scream throwing my hands up and pacing around the living room.

"He probably did it to get under your skin and make you question yourself and what you're doing. Don't let him Zana." T says with a quiet determination.

"I will bring him to the authorities," I say seriously, and she smiles.

"Let's get down to the shelter," T says, and I nod before hopping into the shower.

I spend the whole morning and afternoon cooking for the shelter and dinner just needs to be turned on by the time I start cleaning up and getting ready to leave. Patting my pocket for the bus pass T gave me earlier.

"What are you still doing here, Zana? You should have left a few minutes ago," T says ducking into the kitchen.

"I'm nervous," I confess, and she chuckles.

"He was super sweet when he helped with the self-defense course Z, I don't think he has any ill intentions in wanting to help you learn more about how to fight," T says.

"Are you sure? You didn't have any alarms and bells go off in your head?" I ask her again.

"Not a one, I think someone close to him was hurt and now he is trying to help others avoid that," T says going over to finish the dishes.

"Alright, alright, I'm off," I say tossing the dishtowel on the counter and heading out.

Waiting for the bus, my foot bounces up and down impatiently. Nerves pick at me and I try to remind myself that T thinks this okay and I focus on my breathing the entire bus ride over. Hoping off the bus I jog into the gym, a few minutes late, and I see him waiting on the bench for me.

"I thought you weren't going to show up," he says amused.

"Sorry the bus was running a little late," I say sheepishly, and he smiles.

"I understand, are you ready to get started?" He asks me as we walk over to an empty mat.

"As I'll ever be," I say.

I keep my sweatshirt on the entire time, and he starts teaching me some more basics of how to defend myself and how to throw more effective counter-attacks. We move to a bag about halfway through the lesson and I opt to wear thick gloves to try and avoid my hands from crystalizing. I run to the bathroom once he says we are done, keeping the gloves on. Checking all the stalls, I am relieved that it is empty.

Yanking the gloves off my hands, I see a little bit of crystallization and get rid of it with ease. Walking back out of the bathroom I see Mason still standing there confused. He smiles when I walk back over, gloves in hand.

"Sorry, I had to use the bathroom," I say laughing and he chuckles, running a hand over his brown hair.

"It's cool, I was just confused when you ran off," he says amused.

"My bad," I say grabbing my things.

"So, do you want to meet again on Thursday?" He asks me, and I can just see the contentment in his eyes.

"Sure," I say, and he smiles again.

"See you then, grasshopper," he teases, before walking away.

Hiking my bag higher on my back, I watch as the bus I was supposed to take leaves. Groaning I kick the sidewalk and stare at the ad on the back of the bus in despair. The next bus wouldn't be for at least half an hour and I am not dressed for this weather. I start taking short cuts and cutting down side streets and as I get back towards my part of town, I walk back to the main streets. I don't need any more alleyway adventures right about now.

Waiting at a crosswalk, I space out as I wait for the light to finally shift. Just as I am about step into the street a massive figure smashes into the ground right in front of a car. Looking at the mass confused, I see a man who is seven feet tall, and probably three hundred plus pounds of muscle. Confusion seeps through me as I stare at the massive figure as he chases after someone.

Pulling my mask out of my bag, I pull it on considering everyone's gaze is locked on the mountain of a man on the move. Dropping my bag, I run out into the street and grab a rock and throw it at him.

"Hey, mountain man!" I scream out and the man pauses and turns towards me.

"Leave that man alone!" I scream, and I watch as the man's face turns red. He looks at me upset, almost with tears in his eyes.

"He stole my satchel!" The big man screams, and I just run past him towards the other man.

Scanning the man over, I indeed see a bag hanging off of his person. I dig deeper and sprint towards him and tackle him to the ground, grabbing the bag in the process and rolling off of him. Opening the bag, I find a wallet and look for an ID, and on the laminated plastic, I see the big man's face. Scanning the inside quickly, I don't see anything but normal things and some medicine.

"Don't do that again, get out of here," I say to the man on the ground before jogging back over to the big man.

"Here's your bag back, and I apologize for yelling at you, it was wrong of me," I say sincerely. I shouldn't have assumed he was the perpetrator because he was the bigger man.

"It happens, thank you for retrieving my bag, it has my daughter's medicine in it," he says seriously.

I just grimace before walking away, trying not to beat myself up for this. I may be a metahuman, but I am still human, and I make mistakes too. Grabbing my bag off of the curb, I am thankful no one stole it, I duck down the nearest alleyway to free myself of this mask and head home.

"Hey T," I say walking through the door and dropping my things.

A man's eyes greet mine; I don't know who he is, but his hair and skin ton remind me of T's, except for his eyes which are brilliantly silver. His suit is a dark blue and barely has a wrinkle in it even though he is sitting. His shoes are perfectly shined, and his hair is cropped similar to mine. He looks me over in confusion and I glance towards the kitchen where I can hear T banging around.

"T?" The man asks me confused.

"Who are you?" I ask shifting my sweatshirt to hide the mask further under the folds.

"My name is Greyson, now, who are you?" He asks me confused.

"Zana," I say eying him carefully.

"Oh, Zana you're home!" T says walking back into the living room with two mugs of tea.

"Who's the suit?" I ask her, and she sighs.

"This is my brother, Greyson," she says keeping a neutral tone.

"Thalia, is there something I don't know?" Greyson asks her, looking me up and down.

"I'm not her kid, just a friend," I say knowing where that look is coming from.

"Zana, why don't you go shower and relax in my room?"

"I thought you said you didn't talk to your family anymore," I say while eyeing the man up and down.

"I don't, but Greyson insisted on coming in and talking to me," T says with a sigh.

"I don't appreciate people barging into my home," I say coldly towards the man in the suit.

"He didn't barge in Zana, I let him in," T says, and she has picked up on how on edge I am.

"What do you want with T?" I ask crossing my arms and staring him down. He looks at me surprised.

"Familial matters," he says softly.

"Zana, please?" T asks me with a plea in her eyes.

Grabbing my bag off the floor, I give the man in the suit a withering look before storming off to shower. It takes me less than ten minutes to shower and change into a different pair of sweatpants. Leaning against the door, I can't hear what they are saying. Plopping down on the floor I stretch again and try to ignore my stomach growling. Twenty minutes go by and my boredom is not helping. Texting T that I haven't eaten since eleven o'clock, I take notice of the fact that it is half-past seven now.

"Zana, come get dinner," T calls out and I happily hop off the floor and walk to the kitchen avoiding eye contact with Greyson.

Lifting the lid on the pot, I can tell that T hasn't eaten yet. Listening carefully, I can hear them whisper yelling at each other and I debate if I should interrupt. When silence falls over the living room, I poke my head into the other room and Greyson glances at me confused.

"T, you haven't eaten," I say, and she shakes her head.

"Have you eaten Greyson?" I ask him, and his eyes widen in surprise.

"No, I was in a conference all day before I came over," he says. Why am I not surprised by that?

"Both of you come and eat something," I say seriously before disappearing into the kitchen.

Grabbing two more bowls out of the cabinet, I ladel some soup into them before grabbing napkins and setting the table. T and Greyson walk in and T quickly takes a seat as I hop onto the counter and take my seat. Greyson stands there confused for a second before quickly taking the other seat. We all sip and slurp on our soup quietly and I feel better as soon as the warm food hits my stomach.

"How long have you two known each other?" Greyson dares to ask as we all reach the bottom of our bowls.

"A little over three years now," I say clearing the table with ease and starting to do the dishes.

"Zana stayed in my shelter for an extended period and when I couldn't let her stay anymore, I invited her into my home. I've already been helping her stay in school considering she has no family," T says, and I'm surprised she even told him that much.

"Shouldn't she be in foster care then?" Greyson asks and the bowl snaps in my hand at the mention of the term.

"Damn it, Zana," T says with a sigh.

T walks over and I quickly pick up the few pieces of glass and toss them in the trashcan before leaving the room. Walking into the bathroom, I wash my hand off and release the energy from the cut. Wrapping it up with some gauze, I cover the still fresh skin, so Greyson doesn't think anything is strange.

"Is she okay? I didn't think she would shatter anything at the mention of well, that," Greyson's hushed voice whispers.

"She'll be fine, but it'd be wise of you not to mention foster care, adoption, or anything of that magnitude around her. She ended up in a home for a few months and she told me point blank that she would rather live on the streets than deal with that," T says back as I enter the room.

"My apologies Zana, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories," Greyson says, and his polite tone makes it hard for me to differentiate if he is sincere.

Grabbing the containers out of the cabinet, I start putting the soup away as T washes all of the dishes. Greyson hops up and dries them off before piling them all on the counter. Putting half the soup in the fridge and half in the freezer, I finish putting the dishes away.

Standing next to Greyson for the quickest moment, as he idles unsure of what to do, I feel a weird energy coming off of him. Glancing at him out of the corner of my eye, I can't ignore the strange vibe that I am getting from him. I watch as he walks back out into the living to grab the mugs from earlier. His strut is so graceful, it's almost as if his feet hit the ground with no impact. He glances at me for a second and I can tell he is uncomfortable under my scrutiny; his grey eyes flash an even brighter silver and I shake my head.

"What?" He asks confused.

"Nothing..." I mumble before leaving the kitchen and heading back into the T's room.

I hear them talking for a little while longer, but I can't help but to space out and think about the strange energy that Greyson admits, and his eyes are such a brilliant grey. Glancing in the mirror, my eyes almost seem completely black in the dim lighting. My mind starts racing as I try to figure out why that man seems so peculiar. My mind drifts off to T and as I sort through the memories, one stands out.

I remember the very moment that T found out I was a metahuman. I was helping her around the shelter, I had already been staying there for about a year. A man came and was banging our door down, he was a lunatic and incredibly drunk. T tried to diffuse the situation, but he ended up taking a swing at her and I ate the punch, not wanting her to get hurt. I already loved T by that point, and I wasn't about to let some drunk hurt her when she had already done so much. The man was arrested after I knocked him out cold, which wasn't very hard considering his state, and T looked at my face in shock, but her reaction was different. I remember how startled she was, but she was also calm, and not perplexed or disgusted.

Thinking about Greyson again and T's ties with her family, it dawns on me that Greyson is probably a metahuman, the glow, the eyes, and most certainly the way he carries himself screams it. T I know isn't really a meta, we had that conversation not much longer after she discovered my secret.

"Zana?" T calls out and I quickly walk out into the living room and see that Greyson is gone.

"He left?"

"He has a train to catch," she says plopping down on the couch with me.

"What did he want?" I ask her softly and she sighs.

"My father is sick," T says, and her tone is choked.

"Are you going to go visit him?" I ask her.

"I doubt he would want to see me,"

"You are still his daughter T," I say seriously, and she sighs.

"I will think about it, okay? That man and I never had anything in common and he always resented me for not going off and becoming a lawyer or doctor or whatever," T grumbles bitterly.

"You should rest," I tell her, and she chuckles.

"Aren't I the one in charge here?" T teases and I snort.

"Whatever helps your sleep at night," I say with a smirk and she laughs.

"Get to bed you squirt," she says shoving my shoulder playfully before heading to bed herself.

Lying down on the couch, I stare at the ceiling for an extended period and think about how abruptly Greyson appeared. I always knew that T had a brother and a father and that her mother passed away when she was about sixteen, but it was still strange to think that I finally met her brother. More importantly, I am ninety-nine percent sure that he is a metahuman, I couldn't think of any other plausible explanation of the weird aura he gave off.

Not going to lie, this is going up later then I intended because I got distracted reading the chapter! LOL

Please don't forget to vote on the chapter!

XX Cc