A- Villain

Chapter 27 - The hero is a thief

"It wasn't on the forecast that it was supposed to rain, was it?" Kennedy barges through the front door of HQ with soaking wet hair. I'm sitting in front of the window next to the coffee station wondering how I'm going to pull off Operation Hoax successfully and writing down the plans in my phone. Even though I was in front of the window, I had no idea what was going on outside.

I look back down at my notes and begin to type again, "If you're accusing me of causing a storm, I don't do that. Power outages are more of my specialty."

She plops down in the seat next to me after pouring herself a cup of coffee. "So I heard there's a new plan in action and you're our new co-captain."

"That's right," I reply disgruntled that her wet hair is dripping onto my phone. "There's a new plan, but I'm far from being a co-captain. I've gotten us into too many troublesome situations and need I remind you Em literally tutors all of us?"

Kennedy shrugs as she takes another sip of coffee. I'm thinking I might have to brew another pot if we're all going to be caffeine connoisseurs around here. "Not Maggie though."

I bite the inside of my cheek. I'm never going to figure out this plan and all the details if Kennedy's going to sit here and make me talk about my relationship history. With evident frustration, I lay my phone face down on the counter in front of me. "Yes, Maggie is incredibly smart and doesn't need tutoring. Why don't you tell me how she came to be a sidekick in this group?"

Kennedy throws her hands up in defense and her eyes grow wide, "I didn't mean anything by it, Beck. I just meant we're not all tutored by Em. But to answer your question, I think she just showed up to the scene of a crime once and started helping out. We never knew who she really was under the mask."

I nervously laugh, trying to let the tension settle now that I realize how much I overreacted. "Oh yeah, we should probably start doing background checks on new supers that just show up at the scene. I heard the last guy tried to kidnap Jenga."

Kennedy quirks an eyebrow, "And Maggie was suspicious of you from the start. Guess we should've listened to her."

I'm quiet for a moment, letting that sink in. Did Maggie recognize me that first night? Or did she actually get the vibe that I had bad intentions?

"Sorry, that was insensitive-" Kennedy starts to apologize but I wave her off.

"No it was spot on. I will never be able to make up for what I did to Em or to you guys. I should've just let Professor Hayes know from day one that I wasn't up for the task and just accepted I was going to fail. The thing is, I knew that I knew too much after I asked him for additional help. I was sure that I was going to have a hitman after me. So I acted selfishly and thought of saving my own life. And now all of you are in constant danger until I fix this. If I can't even pass a freaking class, how am I supposed to save lives?"

Kennedy nods and purses her lips, allowing them to turn into a knowing smile. "Sounds like you're going to keep needing your girlfriend to tutor you." She takes another sip of her coffee.

"I'm not sure there's a label on us yet-" I begin, but Kennedy is already standing up from her barstool. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go get Em to take my seat. I haven't had enough coffee to be your therapist or your tutor but it sounds like Em is just the girl you need to be talking to."

Fair enough, she's who I want to be talking to anyways.

It's not long before Em's making her way up the steps to see me banging my head against the wood grain counter.

"Having fun there?"

"Em I can't figure out how to pull this off without the possibility of someone dying!" I spit out without a second thought.