Unmasked

Audrey sped even more than usual on her way to Matt's apartment. She had long ago overridden the speed limiters on the Aston Martin and now she was pushing it to two hundred miles an hour as she weaved through traffic with the skill and ease of a stunt driver. She careened to a halt outside his building, locking the car and arming the alarm system before grabbing her med kit out of the trunk.

Both the intercom system and the lock on the front door of the building was broken, so she strolled in pretty easily. She might have bruised her shoulder from having to practically body slam the rickety old door to get it open. It was then that she realized she had no idea which apartment was Matt's.

Huffing, Audrey wrestled her phone out of her pocket and called Matt again. "What your apartment number?" she demanded.

"You're already here?"

"Of course I am. You've ridden in the car with me, you shouldn't be surprised. What number, Matt?"

"Uh. Listen, Audrey, I'm really fine-"

"Matt, if you don't tell me I'll go knock on every single door of this building till I find you."

"Fourteen-D!" shouted Cyrus in the background. There was a jumble of noise as Matt pulled the phone away from his face and cursed, telling Cyrus to shut up already. Audrey was already on her way up, hanging up on Matt when he continued to try and protest. The door swung open almost immediately after she knocked, revealing Matt sprawled across a sagging old couch, looking absolutely worse for wear.

"Oh my god, what did you do?" Audrey exclaimed. "You look terrible."

"Ouch. I thought I still looked pretty dashing."

"Save your energy and don't make jokes right now," Audrey snapped.

"I keep telling him to go to a doctor, but he won't listen to me," Cyrus said. "I'm Cyrus, by the way. Nice to finally meet you, though the circumstances leave much to be desired."

"Same to you." Audrey knelt down, gently lifting the bottom of Matt's shirt to inspect the damage. He hissed slightly as her fingers brushed along his bruised side.

"You fell down some stairs," she said flatly.

"Yeah. A lot of stairs."

"I see." Audrey rummaged in her bag for ice packs and ace bandages. "Matthew?"

"Yeah?"

"Exactly how stupid do you think I am?"

Matt winced. "I don't think you're stupid, Audrey. I really did fall."

Audrey placed the ice pack against his bruised side and began dabbing at the assorted little cuts on his arms and face with cotton balls soaked in rubbing alcohol. He grimaced.

"That stings," he muttered.

"Of course it stings. What did you think it was going to feel like, being licked by angel kittens? Quit whining."

"I like her," Cyrus said and Matt glared at him. Audrey shushed them both and worked in silence, carefully bandaging him up. She kept her hands deft and gentle though her lips were slightly pursed and her eyebrow furrowed. There was no way he got injuries like this from falling down a flight of stairs. But she forced herself to keep quiet and not push; she knew what it was to have secrets. Still, Matt had to know she was never going to buy the stair story and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance.

She finished bandaging his ribs and sat back, starting to clean up. "I'd suggest not even delivering pizzas for a few days," she said brusquely. "Don't exert yourself at all. And avoid stairs."

She snapped her bag shut and glanced at Cyrus. "Make sure he behaves," she said and he saluted.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Are you leaving already?" Matt caught her hand before she could walk away, looking concerned.

"You need to rest, Matt."

"But I'll feel better with you around."

"Gag. There are other people in the room, Matt," Cyrus said.

"Shut up, Cyrus."

"Take these," Audrey said, handing Matt a bottle of extra strength Tylenol. "I know they're not all that strong, but it's all I had in the house."

"Are you mad?" Matt frowned.

"No," Audrey sighed. "I'm just worried. Is it a regular habit of yours to get this beat up?"

Cyrus started choking, almost spewing coffee all over his keyboard.

"Careful there, buddy," Matt said. He looked back at Audrey. "No, I don't get beaten up-"

"Is the pizza delivery thing like a front for something illegal?" Audrey narrowed her eyes at him. "Because as long as it's not something like sex trafficking I can live with you being a rakish criminal, but you should at least have the decency to tell me, Matt-"

"Whoa whoa, hey! No! Jesus, Audrey. I had a mishap delivering some pizzas and I fell down a very long, very hard flight of stairs. Okay? I promise."

Audrey huffed. "Fine. But in the future be more careful. I wanted to be your girlfriend, not your personal nurse maid."

"You'd look awfully cute in a nurse outfit though," Matt said, tugging her closer and then wincing.

"I told you to take it easy on the ribs," she chided. She leaned down and kissed him. "Now get some sleep. Call me tomorrow, and we'll do dinner when you're feeling well enough to move again. And don't go to work. I mean it."

"Whatever the doctor orders."



Audrey was back at the Westin-Clark Bank. It was a private bank, only catering to the uber wealthy. Safety deposit boxes were only issued for items worth half a million or more. They bragged that they were the most high tech and secure bank in the entire northeast.

Maybe so, but they weren't secure from Phantasma.

It was amazing to her that many people still hadn't seemed to figure out exactly what her power was. Everyone knew she was an alarmingly skilled thief, of course. There was a good chance that no one would have a clue she even existed if she hadn't allowed herself to be seen and occasionally left calling cards to let the world know who she was. She did want to be noticed and have her work appreciated, after all.

Yet after all this time, places like Westin-Clark still used the most modern of technology to safeguard their clients' money and trinkets. It was quite irresponsible on their part, really.

She strolled casually into the bank and the night watchman gaped at her.

"Evening," she called cheerfully. She saw him fumbling for the silent alarm and whipped a taser out of her pocket, sending him sprawling across the floor with a yelp. She practically skipped to the vault, honing her power in on the locks and various security measures. It took a little more effort and finesse to override them than to destroy them, but there was a part of her that didn't like simply wrecking the tech that was meant to stop her. It was high quality, and she had a certain respect for that.

The vault doors opened and Audrey stepped inside, eyeing all the deposit boxes. She chose a few at random, using the lock picks of her own design and invention to get them open. She found a collection of very old coins, a diamond tiara with matching earrings that looked far too large for anyone to actually wear. They hung almost to the collarbone and were leaning toward gaudy. She pilfered a few other small items and left their boxes discarded on the floor.

She heard footsteps pounding down the hall and spun around, expecting to see another night guard or even Snowflake. She was surprised to instead see two other masked heroes she only vaguely recognized; Hammer and Suction Cup Girl or something stupid like that.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I think that's the question we should be asking you," the girl sneered from behind her mask.

"It's obvious what I'm doing here. I'm stealing shit. Where's Cryogen?"

"Who cares?" The girl seemed to be getting more and more disgruntled. "We're here to arrest you."

"Oh, I don't think so. Catch." Audrey hurled one of the deposit boxes at the girl's face and she ducked. Hammer Time's fists morphed into huge hunks of metal and he reached forward to crush the box between them. Audrey ran forward and hit the ground, sliding right past him.

"Get her!" the girl snapped. Audrey had almost reached the end of the hall when the girl dropped down from the ceiling to land in front of her, punching her in the jaw. She tried to grab Audrey's arm to slap some cuffs on her and Audrey twisted free, kicking the girl square in the chest. She fell back wheezing as something heavy smashed into Audrey's arm and then incredibly strong arms wrapped around her from behind. Hammer squeezed her so hard it was a struggle to breathe and her left arm was on fire.

"Wait till we tell Cryogen that we brought in the thief he's been trying to catch for four years," the wall crawler said, though she was still clutching her chest. Audrey slid a syringe from her coat pocket, her vision going a little hazy as Hammer kept his iron grip on her. She popped the cap off and jammed the needle into his thigh. He howled and his grip loosened. Audrey seized her chance and pushed back against his chest, lifting both feet to kick the smug heroine in the face. Blood gushed from under the girl's mask as she cried out and crumpled, and Hammer was already turning a little green and clammy. The concoction in her syringe wouldn't cause him any permanent damage, but he was going to be spending a lot of time in the bathroom for a few days.

She could already hear him starting to puke as she tore from the bank. It took Audrey longer than she would have liked to get to safety; her chest was sore and her lungs were still trying to suck in air. She inspected the damage and found that nothing was broken, as miraculous as it was. But her wrist felt sprained and it was definitely tender and swollen. Audrey sighed and hurried home, icing her wrist, wrapping it, and popping a few Aleve.

"Fucking heroes," she muttered. She thought it bizarre that those two had been sent after her. Of course, she knew from the news that Cryogen had just barely thwarted that giant block headed rock monster two days before. Still, the two that had come after her tonight seemed an odd choice. She was pretty sure the girl was a fresh recruit. Audrey shook her head.

Whoever was running things at hero HQ these days was clearly either crazy or stupid. She swallowed two more Aleve before crawling into bed.