Being Invisible

by Penny Baldwin

  We’re waiting in an outdoor sitting area across from the lab. It feels a lot like the night Liz and I watched Lee’s from across the street. I’m just as freaked out and stressed as I was that night. The only difference is that tonight there are no barbeque wings.

  Suddenly, about twenty officers rush into the building. Drew, Liz and I all look at each other, the same thought written on all of our faces.

  That can’t be good.

  Within seconds, we hear shots. I immediately jump up and start to run into the building. Before I get too far, Drew grabs me around the waist to stop me.

  “I know you want to help Colin, but we have to keep our heads on straight.” Drew talks directly into my ear, trying to calm me. I nod, and he lets me go.

  “What do we do?” I ask, panic pulling at my core.

  “For now, let’s just get a little closer. Maybe we can see what’s going on.”

  Liz grabs my hand and squeezes it as we work our way to the building. I glance her way, and our eyes meet. Her look tells me that it’s going to be okay. I nod in return.

  We sneak up to where the back of the lab is lined with several small windows. Liz and I keep watch while Drew looks inside.

  “I can’t see much from here. There’s a cop standing in front of a door, but that’s about it.” Drew says. “I think we need to head to the other side of the building.”

  Right about the time we start to head to another spot, someone flees the building, knocking Liz down in the process. Drew looks at Liz in panic, then at the man running, clearly torn.

  “Go. I’ll stay with her.” I say.

  Drew nods before running to catch up to the guy. Before the other man even realizes Drew is there, Drew punches him. Even though he punches the guy hard enough to give him a bloody nose, the man recovers and attacks Drew. After a struggle, Drew finally pulls the guy down. As soon as they are both on the ground, I can see the other man’s face. It’s Ex.

  Shit.

  I look down at Liz. I can tell she has had the wind knocked out of her. After a few seconds she takes a deep breath. “Where’s Drew?” She asks while struggling to get up.

  “Just stay there, Liz. You don’t want to hurt yourself more than you already have. Can you breathe okay?”

  Liz frantically looks around until she sees Drew. Realization dawns on her and she takes off running.

  Shit.

  I chase after her and catch up just in time to see her jump on Nagy’s back. He pushes her off with ease, but she immediately jumps up and kicks him in the face. That gives Drew enough time to get in a good position over top of him. He starts punching him over and over, but stops suddenly, falling over in pain.

  Liz looks at Drew, panic on her face. She knows what Ex is capable of. What chance do we have to stop it?

  The police, who up until now were busy inside the building, see Ex and come over to try to help. They are within a couple feet of us when everyone, including me, stops.

  I’m choking. I can’t breathe.

  I look at Liz who is grabbing her neck like me. She sees Drew, now unconscious. That seems to fuel her panic and her anger. Everything feels like it slows down in that moment. Liz looks like she’s turning blue, but she still manages to pull something out from her waist.

  With one swift move, she points a gun at Nagy and shoots him in his chest.

  Don’t mess with a hero when his girlfriend’s around.

  Nagy falls to the ground, and I immediately feel my breath coming back. The police run forward and cuff Nagy.

  Liz begins crying uncontrollably. She drops the gun and crawls over to Drew. He’s still unconscious, but at least he’s breathing.

  Seconds later, we hear sirens. Several ambulances, more police cars and a fire truck show up.

  A group of medics come over and start helping Drew. Eventually, they put him in the back of the ambulance, and Liz follows.

  “Lucy, Drew needs me. Will you be ok if I go?”

  “Don’t worry about me. Go with Drew. I’m going to find Colin.”

  Liz nods, jumps in the ambulance and it speeds away.

  For the first time since Ex fled the building, I take in my surroundings. There are police everywhere. I breath a sigh of relief when I notice two of the officers have Lerwick. At least I assume that it’s him, since he’s the same guy holding the fish in the picture on his desk.

  He looks like someone did a number on him. His face is bloodied and swollen, and he has a noticeable limp.

  In every direction I look, people are either being questioned, seeking medical care or taking statements. Everyone is acting like it’s over. But the whole reason we are here is to save Colin, and he is nowhere to be seen. I need to find Rob.

  I run to the building and open the door, only to have a police officer stop me.

  “This is a crime scene ma'am. No one allowed in.” I am seized by panic. Why is it a crime scene?

  “ My name is Lucy Paige. I need to see Robert Sunderland. I’m working on the investigation with him. I don’t have official identification, but I can show you my license.”

  The officer looks at my ID, and eyes me warily before pulling out his radio. “I have a Lucy Paige here who says that she knows Rob Sunderland.” He listens for a moment before nodding.

  “Go ahead. Just be careful. It’s a mess in there.”

  I try to walk as fast as I can on unsteady feet. I don’t know what to expect. As much as I want to see Colin, I’m afraid of what I am going to see.

  Finally, I reach the door to the lab, and slowly open it.

  The police officer was right. It’s a mess. There’s glass all over the floor. Something is spilled everywhere. Chairs are overturned, a table is upside down and something that looks a lot like blood is splattered all over the floor.

  I see a few people milling about, taking pictures and collecting samples. Finally, I see Rob. I practically sprint to him.

  As soon as he sees me, Rob pulls me into a hug. “Lucy, I’m so sorry. I was just coming to find you. I heard Nagy was out there. You don’t know how happy I am to see you. Thanks to your help, we caught Lerwick and a handful of his men. One was shot trying to flee, and the rest are going away for a long time.”

  As happy as I am about their arrests, I feel like I can barely stand. I can’t take another second of this feeling. “What about Colin? Did you find him? Is he okay?”

  “He’s in that room over there.” I start to move toward where he is pointing, but he stops me. “Before you go in, you should know he’s pretty out of it. They drugged him then tried to figure out what chemicals made him invisible. The whole time he was here, Nagy gave him crushing headaches. The medics gave him something in his IV that helped a lot. But, Lucy when we found him, he didn’t seem to care if we saved him or not. They told him…” he pauses, pain in his eyes. “They told him that Nagy killed you.”

  “What? No! Did you tell him I’m okay?”

  “Of course, but they had a picture of you. They must have somehow made you look like you were dead. I don’t know how they found it, or what they did with it, but he’s sure you’re gone. He thinks that we’re just telling him what he wants to hear so that he’ll calm down. You know Colin beat up Lerwick?“

  “He did? Why”

  “He thought that Dr. Lerwick had you killed. We had him in custody, but as soon as Colin saw him, he attacked. Even though Colin was drugged, we couldn’t stop him. I think he would have killed him if a few of our officers hadn’t pulled him off.”

  “I saw Lerwick. He didn’t look good.”

  “No kidding. I’m really worried about Colin. I think he will be much better after he sees you. I pulled strings to get you back here to see him. I wanted to get you sooner, but we had to wait until they cleared the crime scene.”

  “Can I go see him now?”

  “Sure. They’re going to take him to the hospital soon, but they want to make sure his headache is under control. The medics are worried that moving him might make him sick. Pl
ease go put him out of his misery.”

  I take a deep breath and let it out. I’m finally going to see Colin.

  The room looks kind of like a large storage area has been made into a makeshift ER. I see Colin right away, lying on a stretcher, a bag of fluids attached to an IV in his hand.

  A young guy, probably in his mid twenties, is taking his blood pressure, while a woman in her early forties writes numbers off of a monitor that’s measuring his vital signs.

  His eyes are closed, but when the woman asks Colin if his headache is any better, he nods. When I walk up to the stretcher, the medic smiles at me.

  “Hey, I think you have a visitor, buddy.”

  Colin opens his eyes and looks at me. It takes him a second to focus. Slowly, realization creeps over his face. Without saying a word, he takes my hand, and tears immediately fall down his face.

  “Lucy, they said… I saw it. You were…”

  “I don’t know what they showed you, but it wasn’t me. I’m okay. I’m here, Colin. I’m okay.” I’m crying now, but it’s good. My tears are full of relief and happiness. They’re long overdue.

  He pulls himself up and turns on his side so that he’s facing me. “I thought I was never going to see you again.” His tears are flowing freely, slipping down his face and landing on my hand, which is clasped in his.

  I lean down so that he can see me up close and press gentle kisses on his face and hands, reminding him that I’m here.

  “I was so scared, Colin. I didn’t know where you were. I missed you so much.”

  “Hey, why were you scared? You know you don’t have to worry about me. I don’t take chances, remember?” He gives me a half-hearted attempt at a smile.

  “Right. Who knows where you’d be if you did.”

  “Okay, Colin. We’re going to take you to the hospital now, you think you’re feeling up to it?” The young guy puts his hand out to fist bump Colin, who gives a pathetic attempt to return the bump.

  “Dude, I’m a superhero, I’m ready for anything.” We all laugh, and I grab his hand and give it a kiss.

  “You weren’t saying that twenty minutes ago,” the medic teases.

  “Twenty minutes ago, she wasn’t here.” He nods toward me and smiles. “Don’t tell anyone, but she’s the one that gives me my power.”

  “Your secret’s safe with me.” The medics pull up the rails on the stretcher and start to head to the front of the building. Rob joins us, and we follow Colin outside.

  As soon as we open the doors, everyone who is still outside turns and looks at us. Suddenly it occurs to me. They just figured out who he is. He’s not Vapor anymore...he’s Colin.

  I have never been around so many people at one time who are not talking. I look at Colin, who looks like he has no idea what to do either.

  At that moment, something strange happens.

  One of the police officer starts clapping. Shortly after he starts, a few others follow suit.

  Eventually, every police officer, fireman and medic is clapping. I look at Colin, who can’t seem to figure out what’s going on.

  I mouth the words, ‘it’s for you,’ which seems to confuse him more. By the time we get to the ambulance, people are cheering.

  Colin looks at me and mouths the words ‘what the hell?’ He still has the same look of confusion, but a small smile creeps across his face.

  He really doesn’t get it. Their hero… the one that helps the police take down drug dealers, the same one that saves children when everyone else’s hands are tied, the one that protects old ladies’ purses everywhere… is just a person like the rest of us. The only difference is that you can’t see him do it. And they, like me, are happy that their hero is okay.

  Our relief is short lived though. Just as the medics slide Colin into the ambulance, news crews start to show up.

  Oh shit. Everyone knows Colin is Vapor.

  Just when I thought we could finally breathe, we have to deal with this. It seems like we can’t catch a break.

  I can tell Colin is thinking the same thing. He looks at me from the ambulance, and he’s worried. Really worried. He manages to disappear, but at this point it doesn’t matter. Enough people have seen him that there’s no way he’s getting out of this.

  I hesitate to get in the ambulance with him. I can’t go until I can do my part to fix this… if there’s any way that’s possible. Rob gets in with Colin, then looks at me expectantly.

  “I’ll meet you at the hospital. I have to try to figure out how to keep Colin away from all this.”

  Rob nods his head in understanding. I pull the doors closed, then wave the ambulance off.

  I look around, taking in the situation. Three different news stations are setting up to start the inquisition… including my own station. Of course my boss is here. He’s practically glowing. This is the kind of story he lives for. And he’s walking right towards me.

  Son of a….

  “Alex, hi. What are you doing here?”

  “Same thing as you, Lucy. Getting the story on Vapor. How did you get here so quick?” He looks at me like he knows. “You kept in contact with him didn’t you? All this time you acted like you had no idea where he’s been. I’d be pissed at you for keeping this from me, if I wasn’t so damn happy that you got him again.”

  “I didn’t get him. I don’t even know where he is.”

  I can almost see the steam coming out of Alex’s ears, but right now I can’t afford to care. “Then what the hell are you doing here? How did you even know to come here, if you don’t know where he is? Honestly, Lucy you need to start keeping me in the loop. If you can’t…”

  At this point, there isn’t anything I can say or do that won’t piss him off anyway, so I decide that now is as good a time as any to stop listening and leave him to his rant.

  I walk away to the sound of him yelling obscenities and head to where a reporter just staked out a couple officers. The camera is already rolling, and the reporter is poised and ready to go.

  “We have just gotten word that Vapor was kidnapped and taken to this lab. After an anonymous tip, the police arrived, and a daring rescue attempt ensued. You two were among those that were first to arrive. Is that correct?”

  The first police officer looks my way before answering. “Yes, Ma’am we were.”

  “And did you get a good look at Vapor?” What can you tell us about him?”

  “Sorry. I wish I had a story for you, but Vapor was never found.”

  “So he’s still missing?”

  “We have reason to believe that Vapor was killed before we arrived.”

  “Are you telling me that Vapor is… He… He died?”

  “We believe so, yes.” This time it was the other officer who speaks up.

  The reporter is silent. She doesn’t seem to know what to do. After a minute, she collects herself and continues.

  “Today the nation mourns the loss of our hero. Vapor will be in all of our hearts. We will be giving you more on this breaking story as we hear it.” The reporter shuts off her camera and quickly walks off. She seems legitimately upset.

  I’m not sure what to make of what just happened. I look to the police officers for answers, but they just nod before walking away.

  Against my better judgment, I decide to go back and talk to Alex. I really don’t need his shit, but I’m curious about what his team has dug up. Frank, one of our camera guys, looks like he’s taking footage of the lab and the surrounding area. Before Alex has a chance to start yelling at me, I start talking first.

  “Alex, what’s going on? Has anyone seen Vapor?”

  “Look who’s suddenly interested in current events. Maybe you should check it out tonight on TV like the rest of the city.”

  “Damn it, Alex. I’m just trying to piece the story together. But if you don’t want to help me, I bet one of these other stations would be happy to talk to me. They seem to really be interested in the lady who interviewed Vapor.”

  “Fine, Lucy. I’ll
tell you. But only because I like you.”

  I try to keep my eye rolling to a minimum.

  “The word from everyone around here is that Vapor’s dead. They’re not saying anything more though. They’re planning on initiating a full-scale investigation. Until then, no one’s talking.”

  But… how is that possible? There were people everywhere that saw him leave. At least one of them had to have said something.

  I walk away from my boss more confused than when I found him.

  As I wander around the grounds of the lab, I hear murmurs all around me. Some reporters are asking the witnesses questions, others are on camera talking. I watch as a reporter from the local newspaper interviews a fireman.

  “How does it feel to lose someone who was such an important part of the team?”

  “It’s a huge loss. He was an asset. We will all miss him.”

  I give the fireman a questioning look, but he just nods once my way, before returning to his interview.

  I drift through the crowd taking it all in. I stop when I see a medic talking to a man I recognize from a different news station.

  “When we got the news that Vapor didn’t make it, we were all devastated. He helped so many people. We really wanted to be here to help save him. I wish it had a better ending.” The medic turns my way and stops to give me a barely there smile. “A lot of people counted on him. We would have done anything for the guy.”

  I nod at him slowly, starting to grasp the enormity of the situation. Fresh tears slip down my cheeks. Thank you. I mouth the words, not even beginning to express my gratitude for these people. He doesn’t react, but I know he gets it.

  Everywhere I turn, friends, colleagues and strangers are protecting Colin. As far as they are concerned, Vapor is gone.

  I want to hug every single one of the men and women who are here tonight. If I could, I would give them everything I have just so they know how I feel. Words alone cannot express how much I appreciate them. They saved Colin. He’s going to be okay.

  That’s when it hits me. That’s how Colin makes people feel. He saves their children, protects their mothers and fathers and gives people hope. I imagine all the people who have never been able to express how much Vapor means to them. I don’t think he even knows the depth of appreciation people have for him.