I awoke with a groan as my eyes started to flicker open. God, did I get hit by a truck? Is that why my body feels like shi-

I blinked several times, trying to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me.

...nope. That’s definitely not a ceiling I'm used to seeing.

Where the hell am I!? 

I tried to bolt up, but I found myself unable to. I looked over to see both of my arms handcuffed to the bed. Kinky...but now’s not the time for this. I tried to brute force my way out of the handcuffs, but I stopped when I heard a whirring mechanical noise to my left.

I snapped my head to the left and saw a blue and black spider the size of a house cat, made completely out of mechanical parts, standing on a dresser. It had a giant singular eye in the middle that reminded me of a camera lens. 

I tilted my head to the side as I stared at it in wonder, and to my surprise, the creature followed my actions. It tilted one side of its body to the side as its eye blinked, the shutters coming down like an actual camera lens. 

It made another weird high pitched mechanical noise, before it jumped off the dresser and bolted out of the room through the open door. 

I took a look around and it seemed like any old bedroom. A mostly empty bedroom, but one nonetheless. Besides the lone bed, there was a dresser and a small desk.

Am I still dreaming…? The hell is going on?

First I get visited by her, someone I managed to force out of my dreams long ago, only for her to return now. Then I get visited by robots while I'm handcuffed to the bed.

Can my day get any weirder?

The answer to that question is a resounding yes, as I look towards the door and see my captor enter the room.

The hero from last night. At least I think it was last night. I noticed the window had sunlight coming in, but I don’t know how long I was out. Hours? Days? Weeks? I doubt it was that long.

“How are you feeling?” She asked with a concerned expression, there she goes again, she's not very good at the whole hero hating villains thing. 

Just as I was about to answer, it finally clicked in that my mask and hoodie was gone. ...Fuck… I’m so screwed now. Even if I somehow get out of these handcuffs, and somehow get past the hero, it wouldn’t matter anyway. She knows my identity now…

Sigh…

“...fine.” I finally answer as I collapse fully back onto the bed. Guess my response wasn’t good enough for her, as she started to frown at me.

“You don’t sound fine to me. Where’d that cocky attitude from before go?”

“Gone. With my mask.” I said, before I tried moving one hand to show the handcuff. “You expect me to be fine when I get handcuffed down by a hero, my identity gets known, and I wake up with a pounding headache?”

She nodded. “That’s a fair point, but you seem to have gotten something wrong there.”

“...and what would that be?” I asked as I lazily looked at her.

“I’m not a hero.” 

I chuckled dryly at her.

“Yeah, and I'm not a thief.”

She rolled her eyes before turning around and bending down towards the ground. When she got back up and looked towards me, I noticed she was now carrying the mechanical spider from before in the palm of her hand.

“Here, this will prove it.” She said as she motioned towards the spider with her free hand. “Tami here can be used as a lie detector. She tracks your heart rate, nervous system, and other signs to see if you're telling the truth. If you're not, she gives you a pretty mean shock. Here look.”

She turned the spider around towards her before speaking up.

“I’m a hero.” As soon as she said it, the robot spider shot out a small limb from underneath it. The second it touched her she jumped in place.

She cursed as she accidentally dropped the spider, which fell gracefully onto the bed. She started to rub her hand as she spoke up again...is…is she holding back tears?

“S-see? Not a hero.” 

“Y-yeah...sure…” I replied. I mean, now that I think about it some more…

Why didn’t she just point out the fact that a hero wouldn’t lock a villain in their house like this? They could have just dropped me off at the police station and called it a day if they were a hero. Granted, I kinda didn’t realize till now either… but that’s besides the point.

“Good. Now let’s get down to business. Tami?” She looked over at the spider on the bed, which raised one leg in a weird salute before it started...to…

Wait, why the hell is it getting closer!? At least put away the taser!

Once the spider stood on top of my chest the not-hero started talking again.

“I’m going to be asking you some questions, and if you don’t tell the truth well…” She said as she leaned in towards me. “...you know how it will go.”

I nervously nodded, I definitely do NOT want to be shocked by that thing. Besides, I probably don’t want to piss her off by lying anyway. If she’s not a hero, then she’s either a villain or a vigilante and both of those can be quite dangerous.

“Are you working with the Phantoms?” She asked in a cold tone, a hint of anger in her voice.

“The wha- whoa!” I started to say before the taser got even closer to me.

“Yes or no question!” 

“No!” I exclaimed, “I’ve never even heard of them before!”

“Hmmm…” She seemed unconvinced, but continued on anyway. “So why were you in one of their bases? Why were you in possession of a red spirit?”

“I just followed one of them to their base, I was just trying to steal some cash!” I exclaimed as I stared at the taser in front of me, every time it randomly shocked the air made me flinch in place. “I don’t even know what a red spirit is!”

“So...is it really just a coincidence? You just happened to be there, just so happened to stumble upon one of their bases?” She asked with a surprised face.

“Yes!” I exclaimed for the final time, as Tami jumped off of my chest and walked closer to the not-hero.

“See Eve!” The spider said in a robotic, but feminine voice, as it pointed one of its legs at who I assume is named Eve. “I told you that you were just jumping to conclusions. He’s not related to them at all! So let him free of those handcuffs already!”

You know, I’d probably be surprised by a talking robotic spider if this was any other day. But after the past day I don’t think I can be surprised by anything anymore…

“Ghost...we use code names for a reason…” Eve sighed, as she put her hand to her face. “But you’re right.”

She snapped her fingers, and suddenly the handcuffs disappeared into thin air, freeing my hands in the process.

“How…” I mutter as I stare at the empty space where they used to be. 

“Illusions.” Eve answered nonchalantly as I glanced back towards her, “I just made the handcuffs appear on your arms, they weren’t technically real. Even though they behaved like they were.”

I rubbed my wrists where they still felt sore from the cuffs. How the hell were those illusions? They felt real, and actually fought back against my attempts at breaking them…

The spider looked towards me and spoke up in an apologetic tone.

“Sorry about scaring you, but I just wanna say we would have never actually shocked you! Tami here doesn’t even have a lie detector function, it’s just me controlling her.”

I didn’t really know what to say to that, so I just nodded and left it at that. Things are already too chaotic today, it feels like my brain can’t make heads or tails of anything anymore.

“Since I have your identity… I think it’s only fair you have mine. A show of trust before we get down to business.” Eve started, and before I could ask her what she meant she snapped her hand. 

Instantly, the girl from before vanished. In her place was a slightly shorter, but still taller than me, girl with long black hair. Her outfit was replaced by a dark t-shirt with a band logo on it that I couldn't recognize, and a pair of similar colored shorts.

Overall, her outfit didn’t really change too too much, but what did change was her face. 

The face staring back at me was...well, beautiful...I didn’t really know how best to describe the change. It was like the new look just fit her better I guess. Her now dark eyes were captivating, her cheeks just that tiny bit more rounded out. She-

“I’m sorry…” She said in a low voice, as she sat down at the foot of the bed, causing me to snap out of my thought process.

“Huh?...for what?” I asked confusedly.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you last night like that.” She said as she lowered her head even more. “I didn’t expect that illusion to hurt you…”

“You mean that dream? That was an illusion?” 

How’d she even manage to make an illusion do that? To just drag up old memories like that…

She nodded as she continued.

“It was supposed to give you a happy dream, to distract you. It would keep you locked in place as the illusion runs its course, and cause you to sleep while I take the briefcase and run. It’s what I normally do when I get into fights.” She sighed deeply, “I don’t even know how I messed it up…”

“...I don’t think you did…” I whisper quietly, but apparently not quiet enough.

“What do you mean?” She asked as she looked back at me with a sad expression, “I… I saw what happened...You started sobbing not even minutes after being hit by it… How could that be anything resembling a happy dream? I’ve never seen anyone react like that before, and I've used it countless times. It’s a part of the reason I brought you back here...I wanted to make sure I didn’t do any permanent damage.”

I chewed on my answer for a minute, the words not wanting to leave my lips. Until eventually I sighed and gave my best answer. Not the ones I wanted to say, but close enough.

“It...it was a good dream. In a way...” I started, “But it was one of those dreams where you see something that, just, taunts you. Something that you know you’d never obtain. Even though…” 

Even though I wish I did…

I couldn’t bring myself to speak those words aloud. In fear of making it worse, of making that dream return. I buried it long ago for a reason, no need to dig it back up.

“I… think I understand.” She said, “Still though, I am sorry you had to go through that. I should have stopped you some other way…and I probably shouldn’t have handcuffed you like that. We just wanted to make sure you weren’t a part of the Phantoms.”

“It’s fine, really. No lasting harm done.” 

Hopefully.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Eve asked in a concerned voice. “The dream I mean, it may help to get it off your chest.”

I shook my head. “Not really, I just want to forget about it.” I haven't even told Rachel, no way I'm telling someone I just met.

Eve nodded and stood up, motioning for me to do the same. 

“I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot. Come, let me introduce you to Ghost. We have an offer for you.”

….Great.