Chapter Eleven
May 24th, 8:32 AM
The sun had begun to streak through the window, and a ray caught the eyes of glamorous, enchanting Erin Steele, who felt refreshed after a good night's sleep in her own bed...
Wait. This wasn't her bed. Or a bed at all. This was a couch.
She blinked her eyes, sat up, groggily trying to take stock of her situation. There was a blanket on her, a red and black quilt, one she had never seen before. She pushed it down, and saw that she was wearing an oversized white T-shirt, the word SOFTBALL emblazoned across her chest.
This wasn't her T-shirt.
She kicked off the blanket and set her feet on the ground, looking around at her surroundings. This wasn't her couch. This wasn't her room. And that definitely wasn't her kitchen table, busted into shards like a bomb had gone off underneath it...
No.
She knew where she was. The Spaniel's apartment. Brian Nelson's place. They had been fighting. She had tried to attack him, and he had thrown her... Into that table... Where she had fallen unconscious...
She looked down at the shirt, again, and then brought her hand to her face. She tapped her fingertips around her eyes, but couldn't feel it...
"Looking for something?"
Erin turned her head in the direction of the sudden voice, and saw Brian, dressed now in jeans and a tanktop, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He was leaning against a doorframe, cool and casually, trying to keep his face straight but evidently having some trouble.
"Looking... For this?" He pulled something from his pocket, and Erin didn't have to see it to know what it was. But he pushed it against his face, regardless, grinning at her through her own blue mask.
"Did you forget to go to sleep with your mask..." He paused for dramatic effect. "Erin Steele?"
Hearing him pronounce her name almost flung Erin back under the blanket. Her head suddenly erupted into a vicious migraine, and her arms and legs turned to jelly. She blinked rapidly, hoping to wake up from this horrible new nightmare. But deep inside, she knew that this was all real... That she was definitely in the Spaniel's house... That this boy had discovered her secret...
"Nothing to say, for once?" Brian said. "Good. It's about time your learned some humility."
He sauntered over to a kitchen chair and pulled it up to the couch. He plopped down in it and set his hands on his knees, keeping the Blue Lynx's mask in his fingers, making sure Erin could see it.
"I didn't want to do this," Brian said. "You and I... We didn't have to be enemies. But when a person comes into my house in the middle of the night and threatens me, well... You didn't leave me much of a choice, Miss Steele."
"Miss Steele." Her own name made Erin nauseous. She leaned forward, gripping her head with her hands, trying to avoid Brian's gaze.
"So yeah, I took your mask. And I can see why you needed it. A face like yours... Everyone in town knows it. You wouldn't have much of a superheroine life if your secret got out. You're not exactly an anonymous nobody, like me."
Erin's body shook with disgrace. Her eyes were closed tight, trying desperately to hold in tears. "He knows," she thought. "He knows... He knows... He knows..."
"After I took your mask and saw your face, well, I decided I wanted to see more. So I peeled your your gloves, and then your boots, and then your costume. Don't worry. I didn't touch you or anything. Well, maybe a little bit, but you'll be fine."
Erin didn't care about that. Her thoughts were entirely occupied by the knowledge that... He knew.
"Do you like the shirt? It's kind of ugly, but it fit you good."
Typically, this would have been a golden opportunity for a one-liner. But Erin didn't feel up to it, this morning. She didn't want to fight. She just wanted to leave.
"I figure I'll keep your costume for a bit, you know? Until you fully understand that, well, it's over for you, Erin. Your life as the Blue Lynx? It's finished."
"What do you plan to do?" she sniffled, keeping her head down. She couldn't bear to face him, not like this.
"For now? Nothing," Brian responded. "I'm letting you go, because I'm a nice person. But mark my words, Miss Steele: if you ever try to appear in public as the Blue Lynx again-- if I think you're adopting any kind of superheroine persona-- if I so much as see you in the vicinity of a crime scene-- I'll tell every media outlet in town what I know. I'll send them all the pictures I took of your beautiful unconscious face. I'll make sure you end up in prison, Erin Steele."
"But..." Erin pleaded. "Brian, listen to me..."
"I'm not Brian," Brian said. "To you, I'm only the Spaniel."
Erin gulped. "Spaniel. Listen. I'm on your side. You can't just... Hold me hostage like this. Think about the city. Think about..."
Brian shook his head. "This is for the good of the city, Miss Steele. You're a menace. A poor crimefighter. A liability. You're more likely to cause trouble for me than not. It is I who have the best interests of the city at heart. I who have proven, on multiple occasions, that I am your physical and mental superior."
He crumpled the mask in his fingers and stuffed it back in his pocket. "Yes," he said. "I, the Spaniel, have beaten the Blue Lynx."
It took everything Erin had to stay even a bit composed during this utterance. Because she knew it was true. He had conquered her, vanquished her, ended her superheroine existence. There was nothing she could do about it now. She could only fade away.
"Now get out," Brian commanded. "I'm tired of wasting my time on you, Erin Steele. I've got criminals to fight."
Erin choked out a sob as she stood up from the couch. She turned around, letting the oversized shirt drape over private parts, and walked away, leaving the apartment, gently closing the door behind her, hearing the low sounds of Brian's laughter as she stepped into the hallway.
She was barefoot. Beltless. Costume-less. Unmasked.
She hung her head, fell to the ground, sat on her knees, and cried.
The Blue Lynx... was over.
THE END
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