Chapter 23

Ana felt her heart pound in her chest as she stared blankly at the note.

She had read it ten times in order to make sure she wasn't hallucinating- to make sure her mind wasn't foggy from being tossed off a building.

Her hands had been gripping the note in the same position for so long they were beginning to cramp up. Her breathing was shallow and she felt a bead of cold sweat run down her face.

'There was no way anyone knew- right?' She glanced at the note again. She didn't have much knowledge on Rob or Sanchi's handwriting to know if it was theirs- 'How on Earth would they know?! I was so careful not to tell anyone except Tiffany, did she… No, no way- Tiffany would never. And she doesn't even know Rob and Sanchi! How on Earth could she tell them?

"Ana?" A girl next to her asked. "Are you okay? You've been peering at that note for quite a while-" The girl leaned over to get a glimpse of the paper, which snapped Ana out of her trance long enough to hold it out of her field of vision. The girl was just as taken aback as Ana was. Ana gave her a quick smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"It's fine! I was just reminded of a project I forgot to finish!" She squeaked.

The girl peered at the opened book in front of Ana, suspicious. "On.. Electromagnetic energy?" She asked. Ana nodded quickly. "It's- I'm-" Ana cleared her throat. "I'm helping out a friend." She replied at last. The girl leaned away from Ana, still unconvinced but clearly not going to press the topic further. Ana relaxed as she leaned away from her space and quickly glanced at the note again, reading it yet another time until she was certain she was reading the words correctly, that she was in fact the correct recipient, and this note came from the people that wanted her to have the book.

--

Ana raced out of the classroom the second the professor dismissed the class, stuffing her belongings inside her bag as she ran, getting strange looks and glares from people she passed by, but Ana was too freaked out to care.

Somebody knew, someone knew about her secret on the same day that everybody was talking about it! They could do anything with that information; sell it, blackmail her, leak it to the villains- or worse, some sort of government facility- what if Megumi got caught in the crossfire? What if all of JHU found out and suddenly people started treating her differently? There were just too many ways this information could mess with her current life.. Why didn't she think more about the issues that came with living a double life?!

'Wait' Ana thought, and faltered slightly. 'Everyone's claiming they know who this new super hero is, especially online; nobody's going to believe whoever these people are.. And besides, the note didn't give much information, maybe that note wasn't even about me being a super. Yeah… No one has any idea…

Ana felt herself relax and some of the stress melt out of her shoulders as she slowed down to a normal pace, pointedly ignoring the thin layer of sweat forming on her forehead and the unconvinced pit in the bottom of her stomach. As much as she wanted to lie to herself and say there was no way anyone knew, she couldn't help but get a negative feeling…

Ana was able to keep herself in a bubble of denial until she reached the robotics laboratory and pushed open the door to reveal Rob and Sanchi, who were sitting on one of the work tables, waiting for her.

Ana stood stock still as Rob and Sanchi stared at her, the air between them so quiet Ana was able to hear everyone's heartbeats.

"Uhm," Ana said quietly. Rob and Sanchi stared back at her with crossed arms and eyebrows raised. "Hi?" Ana replied meekly, weakly waving a hand at them, clutching the strap of her bag with her other hand.

Neither of the two looked impressed, if possible, somehow managed to raise their eyebrows even higher.

Ana held up the book awkwardly, "So… Rob.. Sanchi said you said I left this but.. haha.. I don't study physics right now.."

The two didn't look impressed as the book wobbled in Ana's shaky hands. Ana held the book to her chest as she waited for the two of them to say something- anything so she wouldn't be drowning in a sea of her own nerves. Ana bit her lip nervously and looked around the room, rocking back and forth on her heels, her heart pounding in her chest.

"So.." Sanchi said finally making Ana's gaze snap to her. "Were you ever.. planning on telling us you were a super?" Sanchi asked, drawling her words. "Uhh.." Ana said shakily, a million excuses flashing through her mind. Sanchi wasn't going to give her a chance to escape this, Ana told herself, sometimes Ana thought she should have applied for law school instead.

"I mean, did you really think we weren't going to find out?!" Rob exclaimed exasperatedly. Ana held the physics book under her arm and twiddled her fingers, starting to sweat nervously. "Uhhmmm…" She managed to squeak out.

"Oh come on Ana, you think we wouldn't recognize one of our very specific creations that you asked for specifically like ten days before this?" Rob asked incredulously, using his hands to further emphasize his point. "Plus, you never said what it was for, every time I asked you just said it was 'for a thing'. Seriously Ana, at least think of a convincing cover story to avoid suspicion early." Sanchi said aloofly.

Ana looked between the two of them sheepishly before she further paled in realization of what the two of them knowing about her could mean. She was so screwed; they knew her identity and they had proof it was her- they could do anything with that information-

"Relax Ana, we won't tell anybody your secret." Rob told her, as if sensing her thoughts. Sanchi nodded. "You could've at least told us ahead of time so we could've made something better suited for a damn super human, jeez.." Rob muttered, pulling out a sketchpad. "Do you have the stuff with you?" Sanchi asked. "Or at least the sketchbook you gave us the first time?"

Ana was so swept up in whiplash that she barely had time to process what either of them were saying. "I- Uh- Yeah- I think.." Ana muttered as she quickly dug through her bag. "Here," she said, pulling her sketch book out of her bag. "Seriously," Rob muttered as her took the sketch book from her, "You should have told us you were making a huge debut.. We could have made something much more impressive that was going to be on, you know.. LIVE TELEVISION!" Rob exclaimed, making Ana flinch at the volume of his tone.

"Forget live," Sanchi exclaimed in turn, "Try NATIONAL on for change!" throwing her hands up in the air.

Ana grimaced. "I mean.. sorry, but- what would you guys had done?" She squeaked.

"Made a better excuse!" The two of them exclaimed at the same time.

Ana winced. "Okay… Fair point." She said quietly as Rob and Sanchi poured over her notes. Ana sat down on one of the tables and put a hand on her forehead. "You know.. In hindsight I should've guesses that you guys would've found out.." She rubbed her face as she groaned.

Sanchi snorted. "It's alright," She told Ana, who was now laying on the table. "We're serious about keeping your secret by the way." Ana sniffed. "Yeah, the only thing we're upset about is that you debuted with stuff that wasn't our best quality." Rob interjected. Ana sat up a bit. "Eh.. Sorry about that, they did what they needed to though." She told him.

"By the way Ana, can you tell us more about your power so it can help us out with this new design?" Sanchi asked.

"Wait-" Ana cut in, "You guys are.. making a new design?" She asked them.

The two of them stared at her incredulously. "We just spent twenty minutes telling you how much we were embarrassed of our previous work what did you think we were going to do?!" Rob exclaimed. Ana flushed and waved them off. "Give me a break guys! I'm freaking out over here!" Ana yelled back, but hopped off the table and made her way over to them.

"I can make these- neon purple rings on my arms and launch them off at will, like I'm sure you saw but- here let me show you." Ana raised her arm up to where her fist was about at her eye level and clenched her hand into a fist.

Rob and Sanchi stared at her arm curiously.

Ana clenched her fist tighter, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hearing the familiar 'pong' and shimmer sound, the feeling of heat present on her wrist. Ana heard Rob let out an amazed "Woah!" Ana opened her eyes to see Rob staring at her with an open-mouthed expression and Sanchi staring at the ring with wide eyes. She reached a hand out to touch the ring and immediately jolted back with a hiss as the ring sparked where her finger touched. She shook her hand as Ana open and closed her fingers, showing them the ring changing in size with each movement.

"So they're hot.." Rob observed with a hand on his chin, not paying any mind to Sanchi nursing her stinging finger.

Ana nodded, opening and closing her fist again. "And if I do this, I can control their size," Rob and Sanchi watched in awe as the ring buzzed as it grew and shrunk. "And if I hold my fist tight like this I can increase the temperature." Ana told them, clenching her fist tight at the same time. The ring sparked and grew brighter in size, little purple flares shooting off of it as it did making Sanchi jump back.

Rob, who was still staring at the rings, analyzing it, was to engrossed in the phenomenon to care.

"So you need something that can withstand super high levels of heat." Rob said more to himself than Ana. Ana hummed in agreement and touched the ring with her other hand, causing the ring to dissipate slowly to Sanchi's amazement. She glanced at her own fingers then took Ana's hand that she used to make the ring disappear.

"It doesn't burn you at all?" Sanchi asked curiously.

"I mean.." Ana grimaced at the memory of the first time she got the rings. "It did at first," She said, holding her now finally healed palm out for Rob and Sanchi to see. The two hissed at the ugly remains of the burn mark on her palm. Sanchi took Ana's hand in hers to closer inspect the damage. "It burned your wrists too.." Sanchi said softly. Ana nodded. "I was also really drained for the first three days. The transformation process was so painful I could barely stand."

Rob and Sanchi hummed sympathetically as Ana continued.

"Meg- I mean- my other friend who went through a similar thing guided me through it though, so it's not like I was alone. There's still some lingering after affects though, like I need to eat a lot more carbs in order to make rings without fainting." "Yeah I think anyone can look at these and deduce they would take up a lot of energy to produce.." Rob said, deep in thought again. "And I've also become pretty immune to high temperatures, the heat from these things practically boiled my skin the first time, now I have to make them super-hot in order for me to feel anything."

Sanchi winced, and upon looking at her Ana noticed she was pale. Sanchi held her stomach. "Sorry," She said waving Ana and a concerned Rob off. "I just get really queasy about stuff like this." Ana shrugged. "I get it." She turned to Rob, "So what are you guys going to do?"

Rob peered back at his notes in the sketch book. "Well in regards to the visor and the hair pieces, we'll need to make them heat proof, or at least heat resistant." Ana glanced at him in confusion. As if sensing her question, he told her; "I'm sure there's going to come a time when you might accidentally hit your visor with your rings, and though you did kind of a bad job at it-" "Hey-" Ana meekly interjected, Rob ignored her, "-I'm sure you want to keep your identity a secret, so it's no good if your only means of protecting your face goes melting off."

Ana pouted at the well-deserved jab but didn't protest as Rob and Sanchi continued brainstorming.

Sanchi picked up Ana's sketchbook and flipped through her costume designs. "You should go with the second one." Sanchi told her, handing the book to Ana so she could see the design she was taking about. Ana flushed. "I dunno.." She said, nervously kicking at the ground with her foot. "This one's kind of revealing.." Sanchi took the sketchbook back and looked down at the design.

"It's good though!" She exclaimed. Ana still looked apprehensive. Sanchi rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Ana, I've seen you in more revealing stuff than this!" "Huh?" Rob asked, "You've been in skanky two pieces at college parties all the time! And those weren't even pool parties!" Sanchi barreled on. Rob snorted, making Ana flush harder. "They were not skanky!" She retorted. "Oh they were." Sanchi nodded. Ana huffed. "Well why did you even draw

Rob looked at the design Sanchi and Ana were arguing over.

"I agree, this one's much better." He said. Ana let out a displeased "Harumph" so Rob continued. "No, no, listen! The one you wore during your debut was far too heavy- like seriously Ana who wears a jogger on their superhero costume?!" Rob quickly exclaimed. "Listen!" Ana tried to cut in, Rob- yet again- ignored her. "And the pants you chose were also way too heavy, the shoes looked bulky-"

"What Rob's trying to say is-" Sanchi cut in, sparing a glance at her boyfriend who was still rambling, "You need something that's easier to get into, easier for you to work with, and you could actually wear it under your normal clothes and make a dramatic pulling off the shirt to reveal your super hero logo like all the comic book heroes do!" Sanchi told her.

Ana stopped to this about that for a second.

"I mean, be honest," Rob said, finally done listing off reasons why Ana's current costume was inconvenient, "How difficult was it for you last night to be wearing that costume, it couldn't have been easy, could it? Especially with the super-hot rings?"

"Well.." Ana trailed off, "The sleeves of that are singed now…"

Rob clapped his hands, "Exactly! And…" He prompted. Ana rolled her eyes. "And I was super sweaty and uncomfortable.." "And.." "And the jogger was pretty heavy and it made it kind of hard for me to breathe once I started fi- yeah, okay, I get it." Ana huffed finally.

Rob nodded in satisfaction, then quickly turned around to get Ana's sketchbook.

"So this is what we've come up with so far," Rob said holding out the book for Ana to see. "This is a rough draft, mind you," he told her. The design was relatively simple, it was almost completely the same as the one Ana had drawn, just with a few minor adjustments and Rob's notes. "So we'll need to make it with flame resistant material so you don't end up bursting into flames, I'm sure even though your body can withstand super-hot temperatures I don't think that will still apply to fire-"

Sanchi shook her head fondly at Rob who was now lost in his own ramblings about various factors and phenomenon Ana couldn't even begin to wrap her head around, and judging by the look on Sanchi's face, she wasn't too sure she wanted to. Sanchi looked back down at the design, then peered at Ana with a slight bit of worry in her eyes. "Do you like it?" Sanchi asked cautiously.

Ana was at a loss for words. The design made her look like a real comic book character! She clutched the sketchbook to her chest and beamed up at Sanchi.

"I… I love it!"