Metas #4 - A Loose End pt. 4

                The beach house seemed quiet, with only the nightly garden lights lit to cast a low yellow glow over the yard. Four people crouched low behind a hedge of bushes nearby, all clad in dark clothes and wearing ski-masks to hide their identities.

                “Anyone in there?” Matt talked in a low voice instead of a whisper, which carries further than people think.

                “No, we’re the only ones conscious within a couple hundred feet.” Janet had insisted on coming with to rescue her brother. They all had, in fact, once again despite Matt’s protests. However Janet was the most useful of the three for this type of mission.

                “That’s what I felt too,” Matt agreed. He had sensed for energy signatures and felt none, but it was always good to get a second opinion. Janet might not be able to do anything to a person’s mind, but she was a strong telepath and had a decent range. Matt always considered her the perfect scout in a public place.

                “Alright everyone, remember the plan. We go in, stay low, and see if we can find any clues. Janet will let us know if anyone comes close so we can get out of there.” Matt stood up and started moving swiftly towards the dark house. “Let’s go!”

                Arthur turned to say something to Laura, but she was already moving steadily but silently. He glanced over at Janet, who shrugged and flashed him a smile. “Just keep your head down and stay quiet.”

                “How are you so calm about this?” he whispered to her as they moved side by side.

                “You get used to it working for Matt,” she replied in the same low voice Matt had used. “Plus it’s exciting.”

                Arthur muttered a curse under his breath as he tried to figure out why he volunteered to come with. He quickly decided it had to do with providing moral support and enjoying the scenery. Next time I’m staying in the room, he thought as they glided up to the door and slipped inside after Laura picked the lock.

                Once inside, Arthur’s nerves shot up. The house was lavishly decorated, and it was apparent whoever lived here was very rich. “Whose house did we just break into? And are you positive there aren’t any alarms?”

                Matt had already disappeared into the house, moving as if he’s been here before. Laura turned to Arthur and shushed him before speaking. “Seriously? I thought you were the intelligent one. This is Josh and Melissa’s house, those celebrities Matt was telling us about.”

                “What!” Arthur squeaked out and quickly covered his mouth with his hand. “I didn’t know we were breaking into their house! We had to have tripped alarms by now!”

                Janet put her hand on Arthur’s shoulder and gently shushed him. “My brother already went through here. I was reading his mind the whole time, and the only alarms are in the perimeter on the grounds. I already disabled them; what did you think I was doing earlier for that half hour when you were all just sitting around?”

                Arthur swallowed and took a deep breath. “Okay, okay, sorry. I’m not used to this.” After Laura snaked her way into another room, Arthur pulled on Janet’s arm. “How did you get to be so good at this? You seem too young to be a professional criminal.”

                Janet smiled again, “We’re not criminals, dude. We’re spies. And my brother taught me a bunch. He’s the best metahuman sneak I’ve ever heard of!”

                Arthur nodded and went about half-heartedly looking for clues. He had no idea what to look for, and he felt terribly out of place. Janet’s brother was supposedly a master spy, Laura had lived on the run for who knows how many years, but Matt? Arthur had no idea his friend was so used to clandestine operations like this, and wondered how often Matt went off to pull jobs like this. More frequent than he originally thought, obviously. He knew Matt was a good guy, and that they were doing the right thing by retrieving this file, but he still didn’t feel right about breaking and entering. Yet he was here, and he knew the quickest way back home was to help his friends find this missing metahuman.

                Laura found Matt near the back door staring into the jungle that cropped up close behind the house. She managed to almost get right up to him before he turned around. “Feel anything?”

                “I do,” Matt said, “there’s lots of energy signals coming from the jungle. They have a base out there, and it looks like they’re still using it. I’ll go check it out, but you stay here with the others and keep looking.” Matt stepped outside but turned back. “Laura, be carefully. If any happens, get away and I’ll find you.”

                Laura nodded, for once not protesting going with him. She felt how serious Matt was about the situation. After watching him fly off into the jungle, she walked back towards the other two.

                “Find anything?” Arthur asked, finally picking up on which tone of voice to use.

                “No, but Matt felt something in the jungle. He went to check it out.”

                “What about us?” Arthur asked, a little annoyed that Matt would just leave them like this.

                Laura shrugged. “We keep looking. If we don’t find anything and Matt doesn’t come back by dawn, we hightail it out of here. I definitely do not want to get caught.”

                “The feeling’s mutual,” Arthur grumbled. He looked around confused, “Wait, where’s Janet? She was just here a minute ago.”

                “Oh, you mean this little shit?”

                Both Arthur and Laura spun around at the unfamiliar and loud female voice. Standing in the doorway was a black womanly shape, featureless and holding an unconscious Janet in her hand. Slowly the shape took a more detailed form, and the duo gasped as Melissa Molecule appeared before them. She threw Janet down and laughed as she ran a hand through her newly formed hair. “I do believe you assholes are trespassing on our property.”

                At that, the wall next to Melissa was torn down, and a giant man shrunk down to almost normal size as he stepped next to Melissa. They were both naked, yet neither seemed to care as both looked pissed off. The man, recognized by the heroes as Josh Matters, crossed his arms. “We do not take kindly to burglars. We find it to be disgusting that anyone would even think to break into our home.”

                “We take it as a very personal offense,” Melissa continued for Josh, and her grimace turned into a malicious grin. “So you two won’t mind if we take out our frustration on you, right?”

                Matt landed in the clearing and made his way to the trap doors he remembered the celebrities appearing out of weeks ago. As he knelt down to look at them, he felt an energy signal rush towards him. Quickly he jumped into the air, performing a backflip over the charging foe. The attacker ran right through a tree before stopping and turning around.

Matt frowned as Basher started laughing and pounding on his chest. “Oh boy, you again! Ready for round two?”