Chapter 13

The ride back was mostly silent aside from the radio playing quietly in the background while Tony talked on the phone with his aunt, it seemed like a pleasant conversation from what Ana could overhear.

"You talking shit about me and my job isn't going to change the fact that your husband was arrested for insider trading." Tony snapped.

"Seems like a loving relationship." Tiffany muttered to Ana.

Once the trio got to the apartment, Tony apologized for the phone call while the three of them made their way through the lobby and into the elevator, the conversation must've angered him enough to make him forget about Ana's weird behavior earlier.

"She's such a hypocrite, honestly!" Tony gripped on the ride up. Tiffany giggled quietly and nudged Ana, who rolled her eyes as she tiredly leaned against Tony, her rage from earlier having taken up a lot of energy.

She sent a message to Megumi asking about mood swings, who responded that this was a normal thing to experience random swings of frustration at least once a month.

Ana then clarified that she meant after the transformation and sent a series of boxing emojis afterwards which Megumi only laughed at.

Megumi had replied that she had observed it in some, but not all supers, and that neither she, nor Zalic was sure what caused this type of reaction. Megumi supposed certain amplifiers enhanced different things in different people.

With a message that she would continue to look into it, and a request to meet up at JHU the following day, Megumi bid Ana goodnight and told her not to worry too much about it.

But that was the issue, she couldn't not worry about it, because not worrying about her anger meant not worrying about the missing box and not worrying about the missing box meant not worrying about the potentially shady owners which meant-

A soft ding cut off Ana's rapid trail of thoughts, and simmered down her resurfacing anger.

Tiffany took Ana by the arm while Tony scrolled through his phone, scowling all the while. Eventually Tiffany and Ana reached Ana's apartment, bidding goodbye to Tony who took a break from his brooding long enough to wish them a good night.

Ana took in a quiet deep breath as she unlocked her apartment, the time was now.

Tiffany practically skipped into the apartment and took a seat on Ana's couch, legs crossed and arms folded as she stared up at Ana expectantly, proving there was no way for Ana to get out of this.

Ana sighed as she sealed her fate.

"So, remember when I came back to the diner and I was all burned and bruised up, and my wrists were super swollen?" Ana started lamely. Tiffany gave a half nod. "How could I forget?" She asked neutrally. "And that thing I was looking for in the backroom, well, you see," Ana made a bunch of gestures with her hands and eventually sighed, restructuring her explanation. Ana held up her wrist and closed her eyes in concentration, Tiffany watched her, growing more and more confused. After a few seconds Ana heard the familiar 'pong' and the hum of her ring on her wrist.

"Wha- What the fuck?!" Tiffany exclaimed, scrambling back on the couch.

Ana opened her eyes and gave her a sheepish grin. "I was closing up by myself when I saw some weird light in the back, I thought maybe it was something that got left plugged in, and I went to go check." Tiffany was staring at her incredulously, her eyes darting between Ana and the ring. Ana looked at the ring, spreading her fingers and making grow larger and closing her fingers again to make it grow smaller before she continued. "There was a box in the back room that had these rings in them, at the time they were small and super bright, so I didn't really know what it was, and there was no information on the box."

Ana took in a deep breath before touching the ring and causing it to dissipate, which seemed to put Tiffany slightly at ease.

"It turns out this box came from Zalic Labs, you know-" "That psycho ass super villain that's been kidnapping people and turning them into drones?!" Tiffany screeched, her face pale. Ana grimaced, but nodded. Tiffany then stood up, her face paler than Ana had ever seen it before, not even the time Tiffany had caught a four-day fever that ended up making her lose six pounds or the time she had a hangover so bad-

"Ana this is terrible! You KNOW what she can do don't you?!" Tiffany began pacing back and forth. "Obviously you do because I remember you used to be absolutely TERRIFIED of her-" She stopped and turned to Ana, "And now you have some fucking, thing, that she's created inside your body do you have any idea what this means?!" Ana nodded, having had this same mental freak-out before. "Of course I do, but.. there's more, and you really aren't going to like it.."

Tiffany scoffed and flung herself back down on the couch.

"What Ana, what could POSSIBLY be WORSE than you now being connected to one of the biggest criminals in HISTORY since fucking- fucking- I don't know pick any politician I'm so scatterbrained I can't think of anybody right now!" Ana grimaced as she prepared herself to drop the bomb.

"Remember how I told you that Megumi had gone through the same thing I went through and she was helping me during all this?" Ana asked. Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Oh let me guess she's a super too." Ana nodded, "Yeah." Tiffany raised her eyebrows at Ana. "Why do I feel like you haven't gotten to the worst part of that reveal yet?"

"Megumi is Twister."

"WHAT?!"