Super Thieves

Heather

I have one week to find out where Black Ice is, where the last two pieces of the Quantum Battery are, and stop a nuclear holocaust. To say that I'm a little bit stressed is an understatement. All of my contacts have gone dark, business has come to an immediate halt, and Black Ice could be collecting the last few artifacts as we speak. For the first time ever I have no idea what the hell to do. How do you plan for something like this?

Carter sat on the floor in front of the coffee table in our quarters. Andrew hasn't been cleared from the infirmary yet, and I'm stuck scanning museum websites to try and find these damn battery pieces.

"I can hear your anxiety," Carter laughed as he flipped through some papers.

"You realize that the fate of, probably, the entire world is in the palm of our hands right now, right?" I snapped back at him. He didn't even turn around to face me.

"We're going to win," Carter said simply, turning to look up at me.

"We should've never gotten involved. Andrew was right, we should've just sold the first piece and been done with it."

"And if Black Ice got his hands on it? What if we hadn't collected what we had?"

"He's going to find the last two pieces either way."

Carter chuckled and stood, walking across the room. He poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher sitting on the kitchen counter. How could he be so relaxed? How can he just blow all of this over like nothing is even happening?

"I found some cool books at that library, there were also these cool lights underneath the desks that I haven't seen before. Special black lights to read watermarks," he said quietly as he sipped his water.

"I don't give a shit about the cool books you found!" I yelled. I tried to tune him out as I started scrolling through my laptop again, furiously chewing my bottom lip raw.

"Did you know I found an entire book that was just blank? I didn't think anything of it at first but then it fell under the desks with the fancy lights," Carter smirked, walking over and sitting next to me on the couch, "everything was written in invisible ink."

"Get to the point."

"It seems like luck is on our side, because the book was a report on the battery piece. And it included two locations we haven't visited yet."

Electricity jolted through my body. Of course this son of a bitch found something like that, and of course he waited until now to tell me.

"Damn you Carter Kingpin!" I laughed as I smacked his arm, "how long have you known this?"

"I finished reading it last night," he chuckled back, "we can leave as soon as Andrew's been cleared."

"And what are we going to do about the NSL?" I asked. We heard a quiet knock on our door and Carter went to answer it. Glow Woman flashed him a warm smile and entered, the door sliding shut behind her.

"I hope this isn't a bad time," she said quietly, sitting down in an arm chair in front of the coffee table. I'd never seen a superhero dress casual before. She was wearing a pink hoodie and a pair of grey sweatpants, her neon hair glittered and her eyes shimmered as she sat there and faced us.

"We're pretty busy," I replied nicely before Carter flashed me a look, "but I guess we could spare a couple minutes."

"I want to make this as quick as possible," Glow Woman said in a hushed voice. She took what looked like a small hard drive from the pocket of her hoodie and set it down on the coffee table, "Birdman knows what Black Ice needs the battery pieces for, and so do I. We were both part of the team assigned to hide them and keep them safe. The locations of all the pieces have been wiped from our databases, which is why we couldn't find them sooner."

"And why are you telling us this?" Carter replied through a cold stare.

"I thought you guys were nothing more than agents of the Shadow Broker. But you guys risked your lives to help us stop Black Ice, and Andrew almost gave his," she said. Her smile quickly went from a smile into a frown, "this hard drive is from Power Woman's personal computer. Everything was backed up onto it and wiped. Birdman only let me take it because he thinks I'm going to destroy it."

"What else are you keeping from us?" I grumbled, picking up the hard drive and sliding it into my coat pocket. Glow Woman bit her lip and did a quick scan of the room before leaning in close to Carter and I. Her voice was lower than a whisper.

"The Five passed a vote this morning. They're going to war no matter what," she hesitated before adding more, "and they're planning to arrest you once you find the last two artifacts."

"Of course they are, and this is why I have countermeasures in place," I sighed.

"I was never here," Glow Woman whispered as she started to exit our quarters.

"Thank you, Glow Woman," Carter said with a smile.

"There are no heroes here that can pull this off. I'm counting on you," she replied. Walking into the hallway and disappearing.