Summary: An intruder is in their mist. Can the League discover the real Captain Hustle in time?
Cole whips out his communicator, about to tap what looks like a normal watch face. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Nadine as Captain Hustle smiles. Her tone is sweet, but eerie and foreign to Cole’s ears. “And why not?” he barks, finger itching to alert his friends. “I don’t think Mr. Hakimi will make it if you do that.” Cole’s face betrays no emotion, straight shock. Then he lunges for Nadine.
“You hurt him, and I swear—”
“You’ll do what?” Nadine sneers. “It’s a good trade. My Uncle for your lover. All you have to do is follow my instructions, and I can promise his safety.” Cole can trust Nadine as far as he can throw her, but what other choice does he have? This is exactly the kind of thing he wanted to avoid with Amir. But in the end, it hadn’t mattered. He figures he can go along with her plan until he comes up with one of his own. “Prove he’s okay, and I’ll reconsider not wiping that handsome smile off your evil face.” His own face gives him chills, and not the good kind. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” She reaches out to caress his cheek, but he slaps her hand, disgusted. “Take me to him. Now,” he growls, and Nadine holds her hands up in mock surrender, dissolving into butterflies before shifting into a different feminine form. This one favors Mad-Man’s features strongly, and Cole holds back his violent shudder. To think he’d essentially made out with Mad-Man!
*
Devi turns this way and that in the mirror, admiring the way the mini skirt shows off her curves. “What do you know, Serena? I do have a butt!” Outside the fitting room, Serena crosses her arms, bored out of her mind. Devi comes out and models for her. “This is like the fifth store we’ve been to, Devi,” Serena groans, looking at the time on her phone, before looking back up her friend. “It’s too…orange,” she frowns and Devi throws up her arms in defeat. “This is why we’ve been to five different stores. I swear, it’s like shopping with Mark,” Devi huffs, heading back into the dressing room. “Maybe you should have dragged him along instead of me!” Serena retorts. Devi pokes her head back out.
“You were the one who said we don’t hang out very much these days. Excuse me for running out of cool things to do with you.”
“Hey, I suggested getting drinks! And I think you’re confusing me with a certain someone else.” Serena’s phone buzzes her hand, lighting up with Brooke’s name. “Speak of the devil,” she mutters before answering. “Save me! Devi has me captive in this brick and mortar hell with unrealistic standards of beauty damn near everywhere!” Serena ignores Devi’s chuckles, stepping out of the dressing room, phone pressed to her ear. “Have you heard from Cole, lately?” Brooke asks, stopping Serena in her tracks. “Cole? No… Last time I heard, he was with that Nady chick? What’s her name?” Brooke grumbles on the other end. “I’ve been trying to get in contact with him, and he won’t answer his phone.”
Serena rolls her eyes. “Seriously? There’s your answer right there! You’re blowing up his phone, and he’s ignoring you,” she laughs, but Brooke doesn’t join in.
“Brooke?”
“I’ll call you back.” She hangs up before Serena can follow what’s happened. Starring at her phone quizzically, Serena walks back to Devi, shaking her head. “Wow, that’s gotta be the shortest Brooke-conversation ever,” she says, hanging the skirt and some other clothing items on the return shelf. Serena frowns. “Yeah, she’s worried about Cole for some reason. Just because he isn’t answering his phone. I mean, I know he’s always posting his business for everyone to see but…” she trails off when she realizes Devi’s only half-listening.
“What?”
“Brooke mentioned something was up with Nadine—”
“That’s her name!”
“—She has the same butterfly mark as Metamorphis.” Serena rolls her eyes again. “For the record, I get to name the next villain. Mark’s got two in a row, and someone’s playing favorites. Wait, she?” Devi fishes for her phone in her bag, pulling it out. “Two missed calls. From Cole.” Serena looks over at the screen, noticing the missed called notification at the bottom. Devi lifts the phone up between them so they can both hear, but the message is only ten seconds of silence.
“I’m calling the team—” Devi’s declaration is cut short by her ringing phone. It’s Brooke again. “Hello?” she answers, and Brooke huffs. “False alarm, I guess. He answered. Said he was… busy…” Devi gives a thumbs-up signal to Serena, who shakes her head. “Don’t tell Serena she was right, then she’ll just gloat…”
Just a half hour away from Serena and Devi are Cole and Metamorphis. Cole tucks his phone back into his pocket, guilt, fear and anger making his stomach tighten. He hates lying to his friends, but the last thing he needs is Brooke calling in reinforcements and endangering Amir even more. He can’t help but hope maybe Brooke will read between the lines, but the hope dries up once he lays eyes on Amir, tied up and unconscious in the abandoned diner. “This isn’t okay!” he growls at Metamorphis, who shrugs. He makes a move to approach him, but she grabs his arm and points. Taking his sweet time is Electric Shriek, who tosses them both cocky grins. “You move, and I scream. Again.” Cole grinds his teeth, seething. Shriek seeing his true identity is the least of his problems now. “Don’t worry, he’s alive for now. All you have to do to ensure his survival is help me break out the Commander.” Cole forgets his anger long enough to snicker. “You want me to help you break out Mad-Man? If the relation wasn’t clear before, it is sure as hell is now—” He’s cut off by a sharp pain in his ears, and jams his fingers in them, wincing. “Like it? I’ve been working on how to direct my attacks. Makes it a lot harder to get caught,” Shriek brags, but Metamorphis taps her foot impatiently. “If you’re done, I think we have a job to do.” She eyes Cole coldly before walking away. “Don’t forget to suit up, Captain.”
As the sun sets on the San Francisco Security Village, Captain Hustler, and Metamorphis, disguised as LoveHacker, wait to talk to the warden. Cole eyes his partner, annoyed. “What is with your family’s obsession with LoveHacker?” She silences his mutterings with a stern look, then addresses the warden. “ My partner and I would like to have a word with the Commander. We have a few questions.”
*
Devi and Serena clink drinks, one fruity, one minty, before taking sips. “Damn Parker, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Horatio made this!” Parker beams. “And so the student surpasses the teacher,” she replies, in her best Horatio imitation. Serena barks a laugh, but Devi stares opened mouthed at her phone when she looks over to her. “Sorry Parker, we uh, have to go. To a thing. We forgot about!” Devi says, jumping up, and dragging Serena with her. “We’ll be back!” she yells as Serena shouts at Devi not to grip so tight. Once outside the Double Tap, Serena checks her phone, and the news bulletin from Brooke elicits a different response from her. “Are you shitting me? What’s the point of having a super secure building to hold super villains if it can’t do something simple like keeping them secure?”
*
The blaring alarm is almost as bad as Shriek’s shriek. Almost. “I’ve held up my end of the deal! Now you damn well betta hold up your end, you snake!” Captain Hustle shouts as he, Metamorphis, and Mad-Man run, disguised as LoveHacker and HeartRate respectively. “Less talking and more running before we’re caught!” Mad-Man snarls. Cole chuckles darkly. “Yes, because I sure didn’t live through a smilar scenario a few weeks ago!” Before Metamorphis can tell either one to shut up, a direct gust of wind pushes them all over. The real HeartRate zooms down, reeling her hand back for a punch and connecting with Mad-Man’s face. His image shifts back into his true form as the force knocks him back. Lady Revolution and the real LoveHacker come up shortly after, Lady Revolution wielding her hammer-sign like the dangerous weapon it is.
She lets out an angry yell and runs after Mad-Man, lifting her weapon high. Metamorphis shifts into Amir, causing HeartRate and LoveHacker to hesitate, but her fury is directed towards Captain Hustle. “We had a deal, Captain” she says as Amir, but HeartRate can hardly contain her anger. “You-you…witch!” As she lunges, Metamorphis dissolves into a cluster of butterflies. HeartRate is off, tackling the pieces of her opponent, while LoveHacker tends to her shaken up friend. “LoveHacker, they had Amir!” She shakes her head, offering her hand. “Let’s go save him. Rev and HeartRate can catch up with us later!” Captain Hustler nods, no further explanation needed, and leads LoveHacker away. As the prison’s extra enforcements come flying out, she throws a comforting arm around the Captain, turning them both invisible.
“Mad-Man’s on the loose! He could be anywhere!” Lady Revolution yells to the men and women around her, and they all turn on her, suddenly suspicious. She slaps her forehead in frustration “Ugh, guys! Not me!” She lifts her hammer up and swings down with all her might, causing a domino effect of people toppling over. A chorus of moans and groans leaves her satisfied. “Anybody else got doubts?”
HeartRate is airborne, trying and failing to catch the trail of butterflies that allude her. They zip up and down, just out of reach. But they also they stay in a group, one butterfly never straying to far away from the other. HeartRate sets her jaw and begins flying a circle around the cluster, increasing her speed each time she makes a round. “Rev! Hammer!” On the ground, Lady Revolution glances up, seeing a cylinder shape enclosing around the butterflies. “Way ahead of you, Heart!” she roars, giving herself a running start before jumping up as high as she can and swinging her hammer to hit the cluster. It makes contact, pounding Metamorphis straight into the ground, her form solid and making a deep impression into the ground. HeartRate and Lady Revolution share a high-five. “Honestly, what would this city do without us?” Lady Revolution sighs as Metamorphis is surrounded.
At the abandoned diner, LoveHacker and Hustle arrive. The hear the sound of someone coming to, groaning in pain. “Amir! Amir!” the Captain calls, tearing off into the poorly lit building before LoveHacker can stop him.
“Hustle, wait!”
“Amir!” Before Cole can approach the groaning figure, his surroundings are washed in light. It’s powered by a pulsing electric line, fed by none other than Electric Shriek. He looks down upon them, an evil glint in his eyes. “He doesn’t look so good, Captain. Or should I say, Cole?” Shriek rests his chin in the palm of one hand, the other pointed at Amir. “So many options, what do I do?” LoveHacker looks to Captain Hustle, a question in her eyes, but his eyes flit around the space, in search of a plan. Finally, his gaze lands on the ceiling. “Kinda dumb to be here, Shriek. The building’s not so structurally sound,” he says to the old roof. When Shriek’s eyes fly upward, the Captain quickly gestures for LoveHacker to shoot. She aims a force field at the ceiling right above Shriek. As he dodges the fall of debris, Captain Hustle dodges for Amir. But as soon as he reaches him, Shriek lets out a screech, causing LoveHacker and Captain Hustle to cower to the ground in pain. LoveHacker shoots another shield, but the pain in her ears and head causes her to miss.
Electric Shriek takes a breath to reach another octave, but before he exhales, Lady Revolution’s hammer flies through the building, knocking him squarely in the head. He slumps to the ground in a heap. “And stay down, you bastard!” HeartRate flies in, then Lady Revolution who retrieves her hammer. She points it at LoveHacker. “This is why we should stick to drinks. More interesting stuff happens then.”
*
Another quiet day has passed without crime, and Serena, Keo, Mark, and Horatio find themselves at the hangout. “We have Shriek and Metamorphis in custody, but Mad-Man managed to worm himself away again,” Serena explains. “I think the worst has past,” Horatio begins, but Mark barks out a laugh. “Very optimistic thinking when we deal with the worst just about every week.” Serena nods in agreement. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” She looks Mark over. “Aren’t you missing your other half?” she jokes, but Mark doesn’t rise to the bait. “She and Brooke went by the hospital,” Keo supplies.
*
“Aww, they’re so cute!” Brooke’s voice is thick with emotion as she and Devi peek through the hospital room’s window. Devi keeps watch for doctors who might kick them out of the hallway, while Brooke gives a play by play. “They’re still talking. Ugh, just kiss already,” Brooke sighs. “Oh My God! Devi!” She yanks Devi’s arm, and the two press their foreheads against the window. Cole and Amir’s forward momentum is stopped when Amir catches movement at the window. He tilts his head, grinning when he spots Devi and Brooke. They both yelp and drop down to the floor. After a beat they look up to see Cole’s frame take up the view. He glares down at them, and the girls quickly stand, feigning interest in the tile floor. “Who knew Cole would be so touchy about a kiss,” Brooke mutters, causing Devi to snicker.
As they walk away, Cole heads back to Amir. “Why didn’t you let them in? They’re welcomed too,” Amir tells Cole as he sits on the bed. Cole takes his hand and gives it a squeeze, pushing out the image of him banged up and tied against his will, with the not much better present image of him bandaged nearly from head to toe. Cole wrestles with himself on whether to tell his secret or keep it buried away, but the concern instantly dissipated with Amir’s unexpected kiss. A squeal from outside breaks them apart, and they turn to see Devi clamping her hands around Brooke and pulling her away from the window.