Chapter Nineteen

It's Zana's big day 😭😭 she's officially becoming a superhero!! Who's excited?? This is going to be a long one so buckle up, you didn't think the story was over because Viro was locked up, did you? 🤣🤣

Also, another old character returns! Any guesses? 😁 The first person to guess right gets a chapter dedicated to them next time I upload!

Chapter Nineteen

"Are you ready Aegis?" The mayor asks me with a big smile.

"As I will ever be," I say.

Flattening out the padding in the shirt Aviva gave me, I zip up my jacket and straighten out my mask before following the Mayor towards the stage. I can hear the crowd of people chattering. As we step out a massive roar comes from all of the people and I see people everywhere in black and silver. The large screen on the stage shows what is going on in New York. Everyone falls silent as G steps up to the platform.

"Today marks a momentous day for all metahuman kind as well as this team. As protectors of the public, our goal is to protect as many people as we can, to help and inspire, and overall be a support system for our country with the ever-growing threats to our nation. But the truth of the matter is, we can only look after so many at one time, and we can only be in one place at a time. A goal of this team's since its founding was to eventually find members that could function in other cities," Greyson says, and a flutter happens in my chest.

"Today we welcome the superhero Aegis, into our ranks. This day also marks the day that M5 is no more and the day that we finally take on the name the Mavericks. We will no longer be defined by our number of members, but rather the strength that the different members have. Without further ado, Aegis everyone," Greyson says.

Cathleen disappears from the screen for a few moments before appearing next to me. She outstretches her hand and we shake hands slowly, letting the world photograph this moment. She gestures for me to step up to the microphone and I turn on my voice modifier before opening my mouth to speak.

"I am so thankful to be right here at this moment and I hope everyone here knows that," I say honestly and there are some cheers.

"Running around in sweats and a mask trying to save people is one thing but when the Mavericks took me under their wing, I was given a new chance to be an even better hero. But the biggest question still remains, why do I do this? It has been a buzz in the media and among the members of the police since I first started working and I am here to tell you why," I say, and I hear a few whistles. The question had even been trending on flutter for the last day.

"When I was young, I was left to die, injured, beaten, and completely alone. When I finally picked myself up off of the ground, I swore to myself that I would never let anyone hurt the way I did in that moment. I would protect everyone from this awful feeling of being physically and emotionally shattered. The reason I run around doing everything that I do is because I want to protect everyone in this city in the way that nobody protected me," I say honestly, and the crowd goes silent.

"The police do everything they can to help the citizens of our wonderful city, but my end goal is to help them and continue their mission of protecting this city. Thank you," I say.

Stepping away from the microphone I let out a long sigh of relief and a faint chuckle from Cathleen makes me smile. The mayor says a few things to the crowd before everyone starts to disperse. I am thankful when the people start to thin out and I can hear myself think again.

"You did a good job," Cathleen says.

"You think so? I must have rewritten that forty times over," I grumble.

"It sounded just as good as Alpha's," she says hugging me.

"Back to New York?" I ask her.

"Yes, I am, but first I need to know when someone's graduation date is," she says softly, her greyish blue eyes twinkling.

"June 3rd," I say smiling and she nods before leaving.

Hoping off of the stage I loiter out of the way of the masses of people. Wandering aimlessly around some back alleys, I monitor the flow of the traffic from a rooftop and am happy when things seem to return to normal. I was scared something would happen at that stupid rally. I don't need to tell a massive crowd my intentions of why I'm sitting on a low-lying roof staring at everyone, it is pretty obvious. My phone vibrating startles me and knocks me out of my trance.

"Hello?" I ask the unknown number.

"Is this Aegis?" A male voice asks, and I get goosebumps.

"Who the hell names their kid Aegis?" I ask twisting my voice lower on the voice modifier.

"Are you Aegis or not?" The voice snaps.

"Do I sound like a chick to you?" I ask.

"No,"

"If you are talking about that wimp of a superhero then no, I am not her," I growl out.

"Wrong number," the man spits out before hanging up.

Texting Greyson telling him I need a new phone number he responds instantly and asks me why. I tell him that someone got a hold of my number and the vibrating in my hand doesn't startle me.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Explain,"

"Some dude just called asking for Aegis, I turned the voice modifier down all the way, so I sounded more like a teenage boy and said he had the wrong number but when I answered it, it was still only set to what I had earlier for the rally," I say.

"Alright, I'll have your number switched as soon as I get back. Please turn off your tracking services and location immediately," Greyson says.

"Already did it," I say proudly. I am finally getting the hang of this smartphone.

"Good, I'll contact Alpha ASAP, and let her know what's going on. Are you alright?"

"I'm okay-" I start when my phone flies out of my hand.

Looking at the phone with a bullet in the back of it, I drop lower and feel the endless barrage of bullets hitting my back. Gritting my teeth, I just take the hits until my back explodes, my clothes quickly reform to my body and the shots have stopped. I hear the footsteps coming from behind me and I swipe my finger in a quick circle on the watch to send up an emergency signal.

Standing up and spinning around I see two men coming at me and I duck and shoulder the one while kicking the other. Grabbing his uniform, I lean back and throw the one man into the other. Two more are instantly on top of me and I hit one in the shins before uppercutting him. Two strong arms grab me, and I throw a sharp kick and toss him.

The shadows around us move and I am thankful for the backup. Two people appear from the shadows and I recognize Cathleen but not the other smaller form. The ten men on the roof stand no chance as we knock them all out one by one. Watching the smaller girl attack, I am in awe of the grace she has. When we finally have them all tied up, I speak up.

"Thank you," I say quietly.

"What happened?" Cathleen asks.

"I received a strange call, some man asking for Aegis and I modified this further to hide my voice. Well, I hung up and called Greyson immediately telling him I needed my number changed but before I could even get off the roof, I was surrounded by these guys. It was a setup," I say angrily.

"Seems awfully familiar," the smaller one says.

"This is probably more or less related to the fact that you joined our team," Cathleen says.

"Or my past," I grumble.

"You think it could be?"

"I recognize that logo," I say pointing to the letterform logo on their jacket.

"From where?"

"A long time ago," I say.

The memory is hazy, and I can barely see anything, but I remember being held by somebody in one of those jackets. Straining to remember, a rush of adrenaline fills me, and my arms harden before I get my body under control.

"Are you okay?" The girl asks.

"Who are you?" I ask her confused.

"Let's hand these guys off to police and we can talk," Cathleen says.

Getting all ten of them off the roof goes easier than I expected. Talking to the one officer I get along with, I give him my statement. The girl stays up on the roof so that nobody knows she was involved. Although if these guys do talk there will be mention of a third person which is a problem for a later date. As the cop cars pull away, Cathleen grabs me by the arm, and I am swallowed rather abruptly by darkness.

Tripping as my arm is let go, I see we are now down in the warehouse district. This place is pretty much abandoned due to a nuclear accident that happened almost a century ago, although the radiation has been cleaned up by the government, the place remains empty due to the negative image that it has. Even homeless people avoid this area.

"Okay, so who is she?" I ask making a gesture towards the girl who is barely five feet.

"This is..." Cathleen starts.

"This is your new hero friend, right? The one Greyson is somehow related to, but won't explain why?" She asks.

"Yes," Cathleen responds amused.

"I'm Faith, I am Cathleen's cousin," Faith says.

"Zana," I say offering a hand to shake.

"Now, I have to know how you two are related," I say curiously.

Looking at Cathleen, she has an oriental background but also probably has quite a few relatives that are Caucasian. While Faith is almost nine inches shorter and has some form of Hispanic background if I had to guess. Could they be related by blood? Or is she family in the same way I am?

"I'm adopted," Faith says with a chuckle.

"That makes so much sense," I say laughing.

"Now, how are you related to Greyson?"

"I'm also technically adopted," I say.

"Twins," she says pulling her mask off.

"Okay, now that we have gotten that squared away, where do you recognize that logo from?" Cathleen asks.

"I, I don't remember, the memory is very hazy," I say disappointed.

"Something I am all too familiar with... do you want me to help?" Faith asks and I notice a faint high pitch noise.

"Do you hear that?" I ask looking around.

"That's me," Faith says waving her arm around, I see a familiar watch to my own.

"Why?"

"I can show you," Faith says smiling.

"Do you think you can help her?" Cathleen asks skeptically.

"It's worth a shot. If I can make someone forget their existence, I think I can help her remember this," Faith says stepping closer to me.

"Wait what?" I ask confused, the high pitch noise fades away. What does she mean by being able to make someone forget their existence?

"I'm not going to hurt you, Zana, I want you to sit down," Faith's smooth voice coaxes me.

The world becomes softer and my head feels heavy as I sit down on the ground. I feel myself swaying slightly as she kneels in front of me. I can feel myself sitting on a pointy rock, but I don't seem to have any control over my limbs. I should be panicking, but everything feels soft and blurry.

"Zana, I want you to think hard about where you have seen those men before, or at least that logo. Where were you? How old were you? What was going on?" Faith asks me.

My eyes close slightly and images flash before my eyes but I focus on the one that I can see most clearly. The man with the blonde hair and blue eyes appears, and I can see the black jacket with the Paradigm logo with the slashed P on it. He sticks his arms out and I am picked up and slung on his side. Trying to look around I want to see more of what is around me, but my head starts to hurt.

"Zana!"

"Zana, snap out of it!"

My head whips up and my eyes flash open and I see an unfamiliar face in front of me and I spring away on guard. She puts her hands up in a sign of not being threatening and glancing around I see Cathleen also standing behind her with a relaxed stance.

"Are you alright?" Cathleen asks me softly.

"What did you do to me?" I ask Faith harshly.

"I can manipulate people with my voice, I simply forced you to recall a memory that might not have been in your reach," she says quietly, instant regret covering her face.

"The man that took care of me before had a jacket like that, I have a memory from when I was younger, and he was wearing it. He picked me up, as if I was a child," I say seriously.

"Could you describe this man to someone?" Cathleen asks curiously.

"I could try," I say.

"We can have a sketch artist stop by this weekend," Cathleen says writing something down in her phone.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Faith says honestly.

"You were just trying to help, but ask next time, okay?" I say rubbing my sore head.

"The pain will fade shortly, the pain is psychosomatic from the rush of forcing that forgotten information out, or something like that, I'm not the doctor," Faith says standing.

"Neither am I," I say wanting to go home.

"You should go home and rest," Cathleen says.

"See you," I say turning on my boots and leaving quickly.

Arriving home, I am thankful to finally be safe within my own home. T darts off of the couch and pulls me into her arms and I don't resist. Resting on her shoulder, my body sags against her exhausted. Today has been so emotionally exhausting that I feel physically depleted of all energy.

"Grey called and told me what happened, I'm so glad you are okay," T says but the worry in her eyes seems strange.

"Going public like that as Aegis was a mistake," I say bitterly.

"What?" She asks surprised and confused.

"I was targeted less than an hour after the ceremony T, that isn't a coincidence. The men that came after me... they had the same jackets as the man who took care of me. This isn't a coincidence, I don't believe in them," I say seriously.

"How do you know that?" She asks me confused.

"Have you ever met Faith? I believe Cathleen said it was her adopted cousin," I ask.

"No?"

"I think she has some kind of vocal manipulation and she helped me pull the memory up, although I now have a headache," I grumble.

"What?" T asks looking at me like I am going crazy, I very well could be.

"I need to know what happened when I was younger T, I have a feeling things are going to start catching up to me quickly and I am scared," I say honestly and my heartaches.

"Scared of what?" She asks.

"Scared someone I care about might get caught up on in my mess," I say, and T pulls me closer, but her touch feels distant. I know this is probably hard on her, but I figured she'd be more used to it because of Greyson.

"You have a family that is here for you," T says.

I don't tell her that I am worried about all of them getting hurt because of me. Nobody is bulletproof, indestructible, or immortal and that means anyone can die because of the looming mess I sense coming straight towards me and my city.

Days pass slowly and I spar harder with Mason and a few of his friends. I work as hard as I can in school, training, being a superhero, and still working at the shelter. Lying awake the night before my graduation, anxiety consumes me, and tears pour down my face. Flashes from the hospital appear before my eyes and I can see the nurse appearing and the sharp pinch of the needle in my arm.

"Who are you?"

"I am a family friend,"

"You are not allowed to be back here, she's not allowed to have visitors,"

"You are not her keeper, I am, now get out of my way,"

Something cools burns against my forehead and I hear some mumbling as I fade in and out of consciousness. The cool intensifies before all becomes still. Everything goes dark after that, but the pain continues.

"Zana!"

"Zaneliah!"

The woman who I have been seeing in dreams appears before my eyes, somebody picks me up and I watch as the woman is beaten. Lashing out I try to get closer to her and I hit whoever is holding me and I drop to the ground. Lunging towards her something cuts through my leg and I scream, I wasn't strong enough, I can't help. I can't lose her; I have to do something!

"ZANA!" someone screams shaking me violently.

Grabbing onto them I am ready to hurl them across the room when I see a familiar face right above me. My legs are pinned under her knee and her hands are trying to fight me off. Looking around confused, I try to orientate myself.

"Zana, can you hear me?" T asks me and I nod.

"What were you dreaming about? You were screaming," T asks alarmed. I was screaming again?

"The past," I say hoarsely.

"Zana this is the third night in a row you've screamed in your sleep," T says getting off of me.

"I'm sorry," I say looking down.

"You have nothing to apologize for, but you need to talk to me about what is going in that head of yours! I can't help you if I don't know what is going on," T says desperately.

"Ever since my encounter with Faith I have been seeing things," I admit.

"Things from your past?"

"Yes," I say.

"Can you tell me about it?" She asks me and I sigh.

"There's just so many faces of people I see that I used to know but, I can't recall everything clearly now," I dance around the truth.

"Can you draw?"

"A stick figure,"

"Okay, didn't Cathleen say that she was going to get a sketch artist down here?"

"I think so, but she's busy," I say

"Well, I can give her a call later,"

"Don't bother," I say standing up.

"Zana, why are you being so short with me?"

"I'm tired T, I just want to rest," I say seriously.

"No, you don't, you want to go run around and play superhero," T says, smiling at me. But it doesn't quite reach her eyes and her attempted expression makes me uneasy.

"Yeah," I say.

"Go, I'll see you later," T says chuckling and going into her room.

Grabbing my mask, I slip out the front door and make my way to the emergency exit. The alarm doesn't sound, and I make my way to the roof before climbing quietly back down the fire escape and sitting down right outside my kitchen window. I don't want to go out, but it feels like T has been pushing me to go out more and more. Flicking the location services off on my new phone, I hope nobody notices

"Sorry to wake you, Grey," T's voice says.

"I don't know what is up with her anymore. The other day she told me that thought going so public was a mistake..."

"I know the team needed to expand like this but I'm afraid we've put her in an unforeseen danger," she continues.

"She keeps seeing things from her past and she won't talk to me about them!"

"I know you told me not to fall in love with her, but I did, she's my sister now and I'm worried Grey... I won't let anything bad happen to her because of your plan," T says, and I hear her shuffling around in the kitchen.

"Have you had any luck tracking down her family? Deceased or alive?"

"Nothing?"

"You think what?"

"I have a very real social security number and birth certificate from the state, they sent it to me once I became her legal guardian," T says.

"She's out running rounds now so I don't know when she will be back but today is her graduation, so she'll have to come home eventually," T says.

"Giving her a fancy graduation gift will not fix this Grey, she will probably retaliate if you do that,"

"I don't know what do, Grey I don't want to lose her, and I know the team can't afford to lose her,"

"Alright I'll talk to you once you get here, I just hope she comes home soon..."

I wait until T leaves the kitchen before grabbing my sparring things and heading back out. I arrive at the gym Mason and I have been working out for months. I sit on the curb until he gets there. I know he does an early morning sparring session with some of his old buddies I was hoping to crash it, not knowing where else to go.

"Zana?" Mason's confused asks and I see him with four other guys.

"Hey," I say standing up.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you graduating today? Did I miss a text?"

"No, I just needed to burn off some steam and was hoping I wouldn't be intruding, you mentioned before that you spar on Thursday mornings before work or class," I say.

"Of course, come on I'll introduce you to the two guys you haven't met," Mason says, the worried look never once leaving his eyes.

"Thanks,"

Mason holds true to his word and I join in on the sparring session and the guys and I work each other over. Walking out of the gym less than two hours later, I feel immensely better. The things that I heard T saying earlier are still floating around in my head, but I don't feel as confused and frustrated before.

"It is at six o'clock tonight, right?" Mason asks as we walk over to his car.

"What's at six?" Jeremiah asks confused.

"Not you," Mason says shoving him away.

"Yeah, it's just at the back of the school in the football stadium," I say.

"Cool, I will be there," Mason says giving me a very sweaty hug.

"Cool," I say stepping away and waving to his wacky friends.

"Is she even legal bro?" I hear one of them say.

"She's just a friend you idiot, I've been training her for months and even if I was interested, I don't know what team she bats for. She is eighteen though, although she acts more mature then all of you knuckleheads combined," he says laughing.

"Well we're glad to see you making other friends, and damn can she throw a punch!"

I keep walking and can no longer hear their conversation, but I don't mind. Walking back towards the apartment, I know T will be at work, so I don't have to worry about running into her. She won't be home until a little before five. Walking into my apartment my hand stills as I hear someone in the kitchen.

Grabbing the bat that we keep by the door, I gently place my bag on the floor. Greyson wouldn't be here until this afternoon and Cathleen or Aviva always give me the heads up before, they stop by. Using my phone as a mirror, I peer into the kitchen and see Faith sitting there with some guy.

"Faith? What the hell?" I ask stepping into the kitchen still holding the bat.

"Woah there, let's not do anything stupid," the man next to her says. The man is on his feet impossibly quick and I tense up.

"Zana, this is Orion, he's a friend," Faith says standing up quickly. She puts herself carefully in-between me and him, a very protective move on her behalf.

"I'm not going to hit anyone as long as you stay out of my head," I say pointing the bat at her before putting it down.

"I'm not here for that and I apologize again for that," Faith says.

"Why are you two in my kitchen?" I ask her confused and a grave look crosses her face.

"I love Cathleen to pieces, and I know this isn't hers or Aviva's fault," Faith says.

"What happened?"

"I think Greyson forced Thalia into bringing you into her home and becoming your guardian," Faith blurts out and her normally musical voice seems hoarse.

"Excuse me?"

"I overheard a conversation Cathleen was having with Greyson a few weeks ago and it seems that those things were more his idea because he knew that the team needed more people and to expand. I am sure Thalia could have said no and refused but I think she went along with whatever Greyson wanted," Faith tries to explain.

"T and Greyson didn't even speak until after I already moved in and T had started that paperwork months ago," I say confused.

"That's the thing about Greyson, he's a very good actor," Faith says, and her eyes darken.

"He has been working with myself, Orion here, and a bunch of the other young metahumans they have been trying to mentor but there is something that has been off about Greyson within the last few months," Faith says.

"He's a businessman at heart Zana, that's why he gets along so well with Cathleen and Alexander," Orion says.

"How do you two know each other?" I ask confused.

"Has anyone told you about the kids that the team is mentoring or the camp we came from?" Faith asks making herself comfortable.

"Camp?"

"Metac?" Faith asks and my blood chills. That is what was on Viro's chest.

"M, E, T, A, C?" I spell out confused.

"Yes,"

"How do you know the name?" I question.

"It's the name of the metahuman development camp that we came from," Faith says choosing her words.

"Metahuman development?"

"I know this is a lot," Faith says.

"Did you ever know someone named Viro?" I ask and they look confused.

"No,"

"How old were the people at this camp?" I ask skeptically.

"Mostly under twenty-one, I think our friend Cabe, who was twenty-two when it disbanded, was the oldest and a part of the first wave of people," Faith says.

"Interesting," I say taking a seat on the counter.

"You know that name from somewhere, where?" Orion asks me.

"The one villain or person I took down, his name was Viro, and in our final fight, his clothes were shredded. But I saw the word METAC, and some numbers burned into his pectoral muscle," I say.

"Wasn't that man in his forties?"

"Yes,"

"Well he wasn't from our camp, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were other camps like that out there for adults," Faith says, her lips tighten into a deep sneer.

"So, you two came from one of those camps?" I ask.

"Yeah," Faith says.

"That's awful," I say not even being able to fathom what they must have gone through.

"That's not why we're here, no offense," Faith says.

"I'm sorry I got off-topic, continue," I say.

"The other thing is that a lot of the older people that survived from the camp Greyson has been trying to convince to join our team and take up station in other states," Faith says.

"Wow, that's pretty hard to ignore," I say.

"I do believe that Cathleen, Aviva, and Alexander have the best intentions for us but there is something else going on with Greyson that he isn't letting on to," Faith says.

"I don't know what to say," I admit quietly.

"I've never met Thalia but from what I have heard, she and Greyson used to be quite close before the falling out she had with her father," Faith says.

"You know a lot about this situation," I say.

"She was trained to be a spy," Orion mumbles on his phone.

"Excuse me?"

"That's irrelevant, but I am good at gathering intel and I have my eye on Greyson since shortly before I graduated," Faith says.

"Graduated from where?"

"High school?"

"How old are you?"

"I'm eighteen, we are the same age I just am a freshman in college, well now almost a sophomore," Faith says.

"She goes to Julliard," Orion says smiling.

"Fancy,"

"Can you two stay on topic for more than five seconds?" Faith asks exasperated, the faintest hint of amusement in her eyes.

"I'm deflecting to try and distract myself from the inner turmoil that is ensuing," I say honestly.

"I am guilty of doing the same," Faith says in an understanding tone.

"So, if I want to get the truth out of the Hayes, what do you think the best route would be?" I ask Faith.

"Well the two of them are coming to your graduation tonight, correct?"

"What don't you know? And yes, that is correct," I say amused.

"Your middle name, and where the hell you came from," Orion chimes in.

"Don't have one, I doubt Zana Black is even my real name and I don't know where I came from, but it seems to becoming more and more important that I find out," I say.

"I think sitting the two of them down and demanding answers tonight would be your best course of action," Faith says.

"And what if they continue to try and hide the truth?"

"Then you call me, I'm not a superhero Zana and I don't have the morals to be one. I tried helping people, a lot of people, and they were all killed. I will do what it takes to help you, Zana, because I don't want to see the people I care about get hurt," Faith says.

"Then I'll need your number," I say handing her my phone.

"Zana, this isn't your fault," Orion says as I stand up.

"Oh, I know, the only thing I am at fault for is believing that everyone has my best intentions at heart," I say with anger in my veins.

It was so sudden, the organization finally throwing me out after all of those years. T being able to find me after school and asking me to move in with her and then her suddenly fake behavior. Apart of me knows that she does genuinely care for my well-being, but where her priorities lie right now are certainly up for debate, and that is probably the part that hurts the most. T is the only family I have, and if she was just using me all this time, well I might just have to disappear for a while.

Pretty please don't forget to vote on the chapter! The engagement I got over this weekend was so amazing. Thanks XX Cc