The Mask Effect (EDITING)

Chapter 11- Call Him HG For Short

Dedicated to @sandydragon1 and all the flies <3

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Noah's POV

I went far enough to touch down on a rooftop, then pulled out my phone. The display was still lit up, only the icon of a pink 'P'- for Parallel- added next to the alert. Only one super?

I ran a hand through my hair and reviewed whose areas of work should've been close. A quick trip down memory lane (and counting off on my fingers) revealed at least six supers could've done it. Not to mention that the docks brimmed with eager candidates anyway.

Why are you still having this conversation? Get a move on, or by the time you get there, you'll be as useless as a sack of potatoes in a swimming pool!

My inner drill sergeant must've been having a bad day.

"Fine," I pushed the mask back up my nose and rose into the air. Nothing about the move but the silence was stealthy. First the tight measurements- now I'd be a comet as I shot across the sky.

Honestly, do you need a cue or something to figure out that it's time to leave? Are you waiting for the world to end? You are? Well, I'll just sit here and END THE WORLD!

I wished, not for the first time, that the internal drill sergeant would keep quiet and do his job.

When the shop finally came into view, I doubted why anyone would want to rob it. It was the same as the other seaside grocery shops around it except for the painted 'Forrester and Sons' sign - and the supers swatting at each other. One blinked out of sight, while the other aimed an incredibly tiny gun at her. Mr Forrester himself was nowhere to be seen. Or his sons.

Parallel was visible between shots of the man's gun in streaks of white, pink, and black, right before she disappeared into a dimension. Every time she did, the man scowled.

I wondered why his green face mask didn't have scowl lines.

'Hey, Lazero!" Parallel said as she faded into one of her parallel dimensions, just in time to avoid a shot. She hooked the bag neatly out of the man's hands when she reappeared, along with the rest of her sentence. "...see you again!"

"You too!" I called out, hoping the sentence began with 'nice' and 'to'. "Where are the others?"

"They're... not here." She threw a punch at the green guy. He didn't seem to have powers- until he grabbed her by the wrist, swung her around him, and slammed her on a collision course with the pavement. Her form rippled and disappeared right before she hit. Hopefully, she sent herself to a better dimension than this one. She'd left me with one super-powered villain and the need to protect vegetables.

The villain, free of Parallel's attacks, finally noticed the person who'd been hovering there and watching. Sadly, that person was me.

The second he did, he scowled and shielded his eyes. I was coming in against the sun, decked out in bright red and orange- enough to blind any innocent bystanders.

Oh, the joys of realising you had an advantage too late.

The super growled and cracked his knuckles. "Bring Mr Forrester out of the dimension right now."

I'm only an innocent sixteen year old, who can't control dimensions. Seeing how you just threw my partner into an alternate dimension, I'm not sure whether I'd have done it anyway.

"Sorry, but not sorry." Flying in to punch Green Muscle- who was looked like he was made of steel- would've equalled breaking my fingers. And I liked my fingers.