It had been a week and I had yet to get my car fixed. Yes, I know, I'm the queen of procrastination. I've been getting rides to school with Archer and Lacey for the time being, which isn't as fun as it might seem. Ever ridden in a car right next to bickering siblings?

            Yeah, not fun.

            The Musical was in almost two weeks, and Mrs. Cunningham was still fretting about every little thing. Everybody had stopped needing their scripts, and most remembered when to go on and off stage. Archer had stopped getting frantic calls on his phone in the middle of practice, which still confused me greatly, and we were finally able to fit Connor in his Beast outfit.

             By now the whole school had officially stopped talking about the events at the festival. It seemed that The Marvel had scared Tornado away for good, considering the fact that he hasn't been seen since his big battle with The Marvel. Everyone thought that he was gone for good, but I knew otherwise. Why else would a maniac like Tornado rob a major bank and try and take down The Marvel if he didn't have big plans and even bigger motives?

             It made no sense to me, none at all. I hadn't heard from The Marvel in a while, so I knew I wouldn't be getting answers soon. But I never got the chance to thank him for my gift, which needed to be done. You don't just give random people a comic book that's so rare and valuable. That's common sense.

             I was currently reading that very comic book in the nice and comfy beanbag chair that I had gotten two years ago. I had my playlist of musical, Disney, and superhero themed songs playing in the background. For some reason I liked to listen to music while I was reading.

             I was singing along to Defying Gravity from Wicked under my breath while reading. Because, yes, I can multi-task like that. I changed my voice while switching from the two vastly different characters.

             "Why couldn't you stay calm, just for once! Instead of flying off the handle! I hope you're happy. I hope you're happy now. I hope you're happy how you've hurt your cause forever, I hope you think your clever!" I said in a slightly higher pitched angry voice.

             "I hope you're happy. I hope you're happy too. I hope you're proud how you would grovel in submission to feed your own ambition!" I said with an angry deeper voice.

             Thank god, no one else was here to witness the strangeness of me when I was away from company and accompanied by music. That would be such a horror.

             "So though I can't imagine how. I hope you're happy, right now." I sing with a powerful voice. But then, I could've sworn that mine was not the only voice singing that line.

             I turned to my window, suddenly suspicious. And, as if the world wanted to embarrass me more than it already has, none other than The Marvel is sitting on my windowsill, smirk fresh on his face.

             "You're a great singer, did you know that?" He starts, not moving from his stalkerish position on my window.

             I let the compliment fly over my head and reply with some malice in my voice, "One of the many talents of The Marvelous Marvel is now revealed to us, he has a fondness for musicals about misunderstood witches."

             The Marvel gave me a shocking look and jumped off of his perch, "Wow, I didn't know that you had it in you to insult me so viciously. What did I ever do to you?"

             I sighed and renewed my tone of voice, "I'm sorry. I've just been a little anxious as of late. My school's musical is in a couple of weeks and I'm the lead. And I also haven't heard from you in a while, I thought that you'd finally forgotten about me." I end with a chuckle.

             "Arabella," his expression turns serious, "I could never forget about you."

             For a second we both just stare at each other, in a sort of trance. My eyes flicker down to his lips and I feel guilty. What am I doing? I have a perfect boyfriend. I can't think of other guys like this, especially if he's a super who could never like someone as normal and plain as me.

             "Umm, so," I awkwardly say, trying to distant myself from him, "I never got to thank you for the gift. I love it by the way."

             He sighs, "I hoped you would."

             "Why the gloomy tone, Mr. Fantastic? I thought nothing could ever faze a hero such as yourself." I jokingly state. I had a feeling he was upset, and I didn't want it to be about me.

             "You'd be surprised," he chuckled, "what could faze me when I'm not wearing this suit. Without this suit, I'm just a normal teenage boy."

             "Ahh, so you aren't some creepy pedophile?"

             "Well, not that I can remember." He shakes his head at my joking manner. I guess that I was making this a little hard for him to actually take me seriously.

             "So," I start, "how did you come across my birthday present, and most importantly, how did you know that it had been my birthday in the first place?"

             He hesitates just a little too long, "I happen to have connections. You know, superhero business and such."

             "Yeah, right. It's not like the city can give you extensive information on all of its residents." I look at him and see him grin in a suggesting manner, "Wait, they can't - can they?" He shrugs his shoulders and gives me that same funny look. Of course he's lying, he has to be.

             "I wish," he sighs, "but the city can't very much trust a guy who wears a mask, can they? I don't think that they trust that the guy under the mask is as trustworthy as the guy on the outside of it."

             "But, you're a hero - a super - how can't they trust you? You've saved the city countless times. You've even saved the world once, back when you first started showing up. You used to be Golden Eagle's sidekick for a while, how many supers can say that?" I ask, bewildered.

             "Yeah, well being the sidekick to Golden Eagle isn't all it's thought to be," he snaps quickly, looking down, "Golden Eagle took all the credit for the whole 'saving the world' thing anyway. If it hadn't been for me, he wouldn't have known about it before it was too late. There's a reason that I don't work for him anymore, a reason that I decided I'd rather do solo work in the great Empire City."

             "So, that Golden Eagle is just a real jerk?"

             "Something like that. He's an idiot too, there's a reason why his new sidekick is the only one seen saving the city anymore. Golden Eagle is just lazy, and he only does it for the popularity."

             I put my hand on his shoulder and he looks back up at me, "Look, I'm not going to make you tell me all about your feelings for that super. Sure, he's probably a jerk, but don't ever hold a grudge. You still saved the world, at least you know that you helped do something good."

             He looks me deeply in the eyes, "Yeah, I guess."

             "Good, now that we've got that out of the way, why did you really come?" I ask in a firm voice.

            "Would you believe me if I said that I just wanted to visit my favorite citizen?"

             "No," I say, "Are you here because of one of my father's cases? He doesn't tell me about any of them, so your trip was a waste. I would try asking the captain, isn't he obligated to help a super in need?"

             "Yes and no. I haven't been very trusting of the police captain as of late. But otherwise, I am here to ask you about one of your father's cases." 

            "Well, I won't be of much help. He doesn't-"

             He cuts me off, "I need all he has on the Carlton laboratories robbery."

            I was surprised, "That was ages ago, almost a month."

             "Yeah, but it took me a while to figure out the lead detective, to ask him what exactly was stolen. It's very important that I know exactly what was stolen from the laboratory." He says urgently.

             "Well, he's still at the station right now, but we can look through his office if you want to. I'm sure he has a few of his older cases lying around there somewhere."

             "Great, lead me to it."

             I get up and walk out of the room, checking once to make sure that he was following me. I couldn't believe I was doing this, tampering with an investigation had to be some sort of crime, I was sure.

             We made it to his office, and I was surprised to find it open. My father didn't normally leave this room unlocked, he had this paranoia that someone could break into our house one day and find information on his cases. But who, besides nosey supers, wanted to steal police files that could all be found online?

             We walk into the messy office and I'm surprised to see files laying open all over his desk. It looked like he had left his office in a hurry today, he hadn't even bothered to close his files. Technically we weren't invading privacy or anything, he left the files open.

             "Alright, I think I've found the right one," The Marvel says after a while of searching through files. He opened the one he referred to, one with a classified red stamp on it I might add. Then he hastily started scribbling down what it said on a spare napkin on the desk.

             "What, does it say what was stolen?" I ask eagerly.

             "It's exactly what I thought was stolen. A certain vial of something called PF-08, a serum that Chase Carlton warned me to keep an eye on before he left. All I know is that it was very important and very dangerous." He says hastily.

             A sudden realization came to me. "Do you think that he knew someone would try and steal it? Do you think he knew something would happen to him on that trip?"

             "I don't know what to think, but my theories aren't really uplifting. I think he knew what this thing was, and he knew someone wanted it. That's why he made sure it was safe and secure in Carlton Laboratories, they have some of the best security in the state." He came to a sudden realization and turned to me, "And the only reason any security would leave the lab is if there was a city wide emergency, like a super battle, in the near vicinity. That's why Tornado attacked me at the festival, and why he told me to stop searching. He must be working for whoever stole the serum."

             I gasped, "Yes, and that's why he probably stole all that money that day you took me to City Hall. His boss most likely needed that money to hire people to steal the serum, and to find a way to discover how to use it. Whoever Tornado is working for, they're powerful and they need to be stopped. Who knows what kind of thing they got their hands on?"

             All of a sudden I heard keys jingling in the lock on the front door, my father was home. I knew that the first place he would go was this office, we needed to leave.

             "Marvel, I think my father is home, we've got to hide all this stuff!" I whisper shout at him.

             He looks panicked and I turn to the door. I can hear the doorknob slowly turning, he's going to definitely ask questions when he sees a super hanging around his office. Did I mention how much my father hates supers?

             "Honey, what are you doing up so late and in my office? And what are you doing opening the window in here? I told you not to do that." He walks over and goes to shut the window that had previously been shut seconds before. Looks like The Marvel found his escape.

             "I was . . . umm . . . Looking for you. I had forgotten that you had left. So . . . umm . . . I'll just go back to my room now, and you know, sleep." I say nervously, slowly edging to the door.

             "Okay, honey. See you in the morning." He says after me as I rush up the stairs.

             My father had unknowingly just possibly helped a super get information. Oh how upset he would be if he found out. But I had found out some very important information. Tornado wasn't working alone, he had a boss out there.

             But for now, I had to study for one of my many tests tomorrow. After all, there's no rest for the wicked.