Unmasked

Matt couldn't deny that he was too tired to function, but he also couldn't deny Audrey. He was surprised to see how good it felt to be in a relationship again, and with her, it felt like the right kind of relationship to be in. She was leaning back against him on the couch, typing out an email for work while he braided random locks of her hair. She looked goofy with the randomly placed braids, but she didn't seem to mind much.

"Where did you learn to braid?" she asked.

"I was in a home once with a little girl who liked to make friendship bracelets and to braid hair," he explained. "I had long hair when I was fifteen. I thought it looked cool."

"How long?"

"Too long."

She laughed softly, closing the laptop and setting it aside so she could shift around in his lap to face him.

"When do I get to see your place?" she asked. “I just saw the outside of it when I dropped you off.”

"Let's go with never, ever," he said, giving her a light kiss on the tip of her nose.

"It can't be that bad," she said.

"It's a one bedroom," he told her. "I sleep on the couch, in the same place as Cyrus's workspace. I don't know why you'd ever want to leave this place. Last night was the first time I ever slept in a king bed."

"Not even when you lived with the robot barbie?" she teased.

"Mel? We lived together for less than two months, and most of that time, I was probably still on the couch," he smirked. "If not the couch, then curled up in the furthest edge of the bed so I don't accidentally touch her in the middle of the night."

"I'm still in awe that you two were together for two years," she said. "I imagine it probably started out differently."

"Not really," he shrugged. "It was an image thing, I guess. A lot of mutual friends pushed it to happen, and so it did."

"I thought you said you met her delivering pizzas."

"I did," Matt said quickly, realizing his mistake. "Look, it's all long over. It's weird to talk about my ex-girlfriend with my new girlfriend. It was a twisted and complicated situation. I guess we just complimented each other's blondness. Will you be content with that answer, so we can go back to making out?"

"Alright, fine," she laughed. "Tomorrow is Saturday. Are you going to spend the night again? And the morning this time?"

"If you want me to."

And he did just that. Audrey probably wouldn't have let him leave, even if he tried. She had a way of holding on to him that was terribly difficult to fight. He had to admit that it was nice to sleep in a bed, too. Despite the size of the bed, Audrey stayed curled up against him the entire night. When he woke up in the late morning, she was still clinging to him, fast asleep. He just watched her for a little bit, gently brushing her mess of hair out of her face and pulling the sheets she'd kicked off back over her bare shoulders. She stirred, eyes fluttering open to look up at him.

"Why're you moving so much?" she mumbled.

"Sorry," he said, kissing her forehead. "It's nearly noon."

"That's okay," she said, snuggling closer to him. "Neither of us have to work. We can do this all day."

"And all night?"

"Yeah."

He was about to kiss her again when a sharp ring went off and he jumped, groaning when he realized it was his phone.

“It’s in my pocket,” he mumbled, nodding to where it was closer to Audrey.

She pouted slightly and sat up, picking Matt’s pants off the ground and reaching into his pocket to get the phone. He didn’t think much of it until she fished out something else instead. A glasses case that was also in his pocket, but contained Cryogen’s mask inside. She held it in one hand and found Matt’s phone with the other, handing it to him, but he’d completely forgotten about the ringing. Audrey didn’t seem to have noticed that Matt kept a glasses case with him, even though he definitely didn’t wear glasses, and he couldn’t bring attention to that. It would’ve been suspicious to just snatch it out of her hand, and the last thing he needed was to have to explain his double life to her. He stayed as calm as he possibly could as he took the phone, just barely glancing at the screen and seeing that the number was blocked.

“It’s Lawrence, so I have to take this,” he said apologetically. “Can I have my pants back?”

“Yeah, I guess,” she sighed, handing him his things, including the case.

He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek before pulling his clothes back on and going out onto her balcony, closing the glass door. He managed to catch his ringing phone right before it went to voicemail.

“Hello?”

“Matt? Where the hell are you?” Melanie said from the other end.

“Why does it matter?” Matt grumbled.

He leaned forward on the balcony rail and looked out at the view of the city ahead of him. Watching people begin their saturday morning was a lot more interesting than anything Melanie had to say.

“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for like two days now,” she said. “It kept going straight to voicemail. And Cyrus didn’t know where you were either.”

“Aw, Mel, you really worried about me?”

He was teasing, but it was strange that his phone never received the calls. He hadn’t turned it off. He hadn’t even silenced it.

“Look, I just left it with Cyrus, okay?” she said, irritated. “It’s a new earpiece, since you fucked up the last one. And a new little device city hall has given us. Whenever you’re needed, it buzzes and gives you an address.”

“What happens if I don’t answer?”

“You don’t have that option.”

“Alright, thanks Mel, bye.”

“Hey, wait I’m not done-”

Matt hung up on her before she could finish, going back inside. Audrey had gotten out of bed too, and had zipped Matt’s jacket up over herself. It was way too big for her and her small frame was practically lost in it, but she looked cozy and Matt loved to look at her.

“I’m keeping your jacket,” she announced. “So you have to keep coming back for it.”

“I like that plan,” he said, taking the front of the jacket and using it to pull her in.

His phone started ringing again, and they both sighed in disappointment. Audrey didn’t let go of him this time, watching as he took out the phone and looked at the screen. Blocked number. Melanie was calling back. However, before Matt got a chance to say or do anything, the screen went black and the phone became cold.

“Huh, that’s weird,” he frowned.

“What’s weird?” Audrey asked.

“I had more than half of my battery left,” he said. “The battery just... completely drained. Out of nowhere.”

“Huh. That’s weird. Whatever, let’s make eggs and toast.”

“Alright then.”



It wasn’t a while until Matt got home, but sure enough, two devices were waiting for him. A new earpiece, and the messenger device Melanie was talking about. It was a small and very thin object, fitting in the palm of Matt’s hand. There were no switches or buttons on it. Just a screen that Matt imagined would light up when it gave him a place to go.

“Melanie said to tell you that things are going to be a little different now,” Cyrus told him. “With the places they send you, I mean. Her new city hall pal thinks the heroes should try fighting outside their comfort zones.”

“What?” Matt frowned.

“They said it, not me,” Cyrus shrugged. “I think it’s a bad idea too, but I guess they think that sending you guys in there blind might show some strengths they otherwise never would have thought of.”

While Matt could somewhat understand their thinking, he still knew it was a bad idea. It was another two days before the device lit up and began buzzing. It stopped when Matt lifted it, reading the address on the screen. Just the address of the bank, and a single word to describe the crime. Robbery. Great. That was just a whole lot for Matt to go off of. He didn’t know who or what he was facing. Just that he was in trouble if he didn’t go.

When he arrived at the bank and put on the mask, sure enough, there was some sort of robbery happening. Police were posted all outside, but none would go in. A hostage situation, but a hostage situation no one bothered to tell Matt about. He avoided the police officers, scaling up the side of the building to jump in through an open skylight. He snuck around the offices and spotted the culprit. He vaguely recognized the hulking figure. The criminal was known by the name, Slab, and had the ability to create and manipulate rocks. Felix was usually the one who went after him. Felix knew how to handle him. Matt knew nothing.

He looked down and saw that two young women were tied to each other on the ground, trying not to move or cry since every time they whimpered, Slab’s hands would turn to stone and he would threaten to smash their skulls in. Ice would do little, other than create a pretty layer of sparkly frost over him. He wouldn’t even feel a little cold. Matt snuck around behind the desks, taking a deep breath before jumping in and creating a layer of ice. Slab slid on it and hit the ground, making the whole building shake as if there was a landslide. The women screamed when Matt pulled them to their feet and cut the binding on their wrists.

“Run out the back door with your hands in the air, so the cops know it’s you,” he told them.

They nodded and ran off like he asked, leaving him to face the monstrous creature alone. Slab was just wobbling to his feet again, his entire body turning to stone now that he was tensing and getting angry.

“What the hell are you?” he growled.

“Not what you’re used to,” he answered.

Slab swung a massive fist at him, but Matt dodged out of the way, going down to try and sweep Slab’s feet out from under him. Because of his size, it didn’t work, but he was able to grab Matt and throw him across the room. Felix was the one who was supposed to deal with this guy. Felix had a chance against him.

He rolled out of the way when a fist came down to hit him, kicking a foot up and connecting with Slab’s jaw. He heard a satisfying crack and the stone monster howled in pain, but Matt was sure that he was hurt from the hit as well. He literally kicked a rock at full force. Slab stumbled back enough for Matt to get back to his feet, but this time, Matt was unable to get out of the way when Slab grabbed him and threw him again. This time, Matt hit the wall. Hard. He created a huge dent in the wall and felt several cracks throughout his body, and he was sure that he had more than one broken rib. Maybe even a broken arm. His entire left side felt like it was on fire, anyways.

Slab came running at him again, and Matt braced himself for the worst. He created yet another thick layer of ice, and with Slab running at full force, he slipped and slid headfirst into the front. He didn’t move much after that. Matt limped over and watched as the massive creature began to shrink, back down to the size and appearance of a regular man. He was alive, just unconscious. Matt quickly tied his wrists with zip ties, allowing the police to take care of the rest as he snuck away again.

He practically tore the mask off his face, holding his side and trying not to black out from all the pain. City hall decided to pair him up with Slab, and this was the result of it. It wasn’t going to be a quick recovery, like all of his previous injuries. He just barely made it home, but thankfully, Cyrus had seen it all on the news and was ready to practically carry him over to the couch.

“Christ, you look awful,” Cyrus said. “I really think I should call a doctor this time, Matt. You’re not okay.”

“Not my fault,” he said, wincing. “They made me do it. I knew it was a bad idea.”

“But you still won,” Cyrus said slowly. “I’m calling a doctor.”

“Don’t,” Matt begged. “I can’t explain this to a doctor.”

Cyrus sighed, leaning against the desk. They were silent for a little while, until Matt’s phone went off again. He expected Melanie, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was Audrey.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, you’re off work, right?” she said on the other end, sounding excited. “There’s this new restaurant that just opened downtown, where each table has it’s own personal chocolate fountain. I thought of you right away when I read about it.”

“That sounds great, Audrey,” he said, trying to sound as normal as he could. “We should really go, but maybe not tonight.”

“Matt? Are you okay?” she asked, voice sounding more concerned. “You sound really hoarse.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” he said.

“No, you’re not fine,” Audrey said firmly. “I can hear the pain in your voice. What’s wrong?”

“It’s not a big deal. I just fell down some stairs,” he lied. “I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“You fell down the stairs?!”

“Audrey, please. It’s not that bad.”

At this point, Cyrus grew frustrated, yelling loud enough so Audrey would hear him.

“Yes it is! Tell him he needs a doctor!”

Matt grimaced when he heard Audrey go silent on the other end.

“I’m coming over,” she said finally.

“I’m fine, I really am,” Matt protested. “I just need to rest for a little bit.”

“Well you’re obviously not going to go see a doctor,” Audrey said, sounding more stern. “I think we can all agree that I’m not totally useless in the medical field. Don’t move, don’t argue. I’m coming over.”

She hung up on him after that, and Matt let his head fall back in defeat. He definitely wasn’t fine. He just hated lying about how it happened.