Super Thieves

Carter

"Found it," I whispered to myself, clearing my piles of notes off of the coffee table in front of me and rolling out a map of the US. I prefer to work on paper, something about the feel and smell of it in my hands just gets blood flowing to the brain faster than a computer screen can. The outline of the western coast glistened in the dim light from the lamp I had been working with the past several hours. I picked it up and hovered it over the state of Nevada, searching for the city I had read about in the museum archives we'd stolen. Las Vegas, the biggest city in the world for parties, gambling, and crime. It, coincidentally, is also the city that holds the third piece to our Quantum Battery.

I logged onto my laptop and searched for museums in the Las Vegas area. Sure enough, I found one with an "unidentified artifact" listed among it's main attractions. Andrew had gone into the other room of our quarters to sleep and Heather was quietly curled up on the couch behind me. I gently ran a hand through her soft blonde hair and shook her awake.

"This had better be good," she grumbled, yawing and slowly sitting up to look at my computer screen. Her hair was a mess but her sharp green eyes were more alert than ever. The way they started to analyze what I was showing her before I even explained it, I'm sure she's come to a hundred conclusions about this museum and she hasn't fully woken up yet. I don't even need to sleep and she'd sharper than I am. I must be really off my game.

"I found our third piece," I said with a satisfied smile.

"It couldn't wait until morning?" she groaned in response, flopping back down onto the pillow her head had been resting on.

"You told me to let you know as soon as I found something, I assumed that applied at four in the morning," I chuckled with a small smirk starting to spread it's way across my lips.

"Fair enough," Heather sighed. We sat like that for several moments. She didn't close her eyes or anything, just stared back at me as if I were lines of code she was trying to decipher.

"You and Andrew haven't made up yet," I said quietly. I wasn't able to turn away from her. Staring her in the eyes like this was so weird and awkward but I couldn't bring myself to look away.

"He treats us like we're children," she replied simply and quietly, "I'm not 15 anymore. I can handle myself."

"What we're doing is dangerous."

"You think I don't know that? Of course it's dangerous! But that doesn't mean I can't handle myself."

I didn't say anything, I just kept looking into those beautiful eyes of hers. We must've sat there for even longer before one of us spoke again.

"I used to want to be a superhero when I was younger," Heather chuckled, looking up to the ceiling, "I would see them flying above my school and dream of joining them one day. I knew that there was something special about me, but I also knew it wasn't enough to join the NSL."

"What did you do after Andrew kidnapped you?" I asked.

"Started a new life. I had normal parents, a normal brother, a normal dog. There was nothing special about me," she answered quietly.

"You just disappeared?"

"I'm sure if I was given the option I would've gone back home. I was only 15 when I met Andrew."

"Do you regret not going back home?" I whispered. There were tears forming in the corners of Heather's eyes. I didn't think she could cry.

"Sometimes I wonder how different things would be if I weren't here with you guys. I could've gone to school, gotten a good job somewhere and settle down," Heather said back to me as the tears slowly rolled down the side of her face.

"Do you even know where your family is?" I asked, wiping one of her tears with my finger.

"They still live in Detroit. My mom and dad still live in our old house and my older brother graduated from business school last year. He's trying his luck at entrepreneurship along with his boyfriend," she replied with a small laugh, "they all gave up on trying to find me three years after I went missing."

"And you've been keeping tabs on them this whole time?"

"Ever since I became the Shadow Broker. And they may have mysteriously received moderate amounts of money when they were in a tight spot."

Heather laughed and sat up on the couch and looked down at me with a warm smile. I'd never seen that smile before, let alone this side of her. She's always been this rock hard, calculating, stoic figure that knows how to switch between masks of emotion. For the first time I feel like I'm talking to Heather as a person, not some criminal mastermind.

"Maybe one day I'll make my way back to them," she said with a sly chuckle, "until then, we have an artifact to steal."

"Say the word and we're there," I replied with a smile.