Chapter 59 : Flirting
At the entrance of Vought Tower, Mark was stopped by security almost immediately. To be fair, he couldn’t really blame them.
He was wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled over his head, dark sunglasses covering his eyes, and was walking toward one of the most heavily secured buildings in the country.
From a security perspective, he looked suspicious as hell.
One of the guards stepped forward professionally. "Sir, I’m going to need you to stop for a moment."
"Sure."
"Do you have an appointment or business with Vought?"
Mark smiled beneath the sunglasses. "Your bosses invited me."
The guard exchanged a look with another member of security. That answer wasn’t exactly specific.
"Could you identify yourself, sir?"
Mark sighed. There was no point making their jobs harder — these guys were just doing what they were paid to do. He reached up and pulled back his hood, removing his sunglasses.
The reaction was immediate. Recognition appeared on the guard’s face almost instantly.
The mysterious hero who had saved Flight 37 had been all over the news for days. It was impossible not to recognize him.
The guard’s posture relaxed. "Oh." A second later he looked embarrassed.
"I’m very sorry, sir. We didn’t realize it was you."
Mark put the sunglasses back on.
"You stopped a suspicious guy wearing a hoodie and sunglasses from walking into a corporate headquarters. That sounds like good security to me."
The guard visibly relaxed, genuinely relieved. Some superheroes could be difficult to deal with — plenty of stories about heroes throwing their weight around, refusing security checks, treating staff like they were beneath them.
Compared to that, this had gone surprisingly smoothly.
After a quick confirmation call, the guard stepped aside.
"They’ve been expecting you upstairs. Someone will meet you in the lobby and escort you to the conference room."
"Thanks."
As Mark crossed the lobby and headed toward the elevators, the first person he spotted was Annie waiting near them in her Starlight hero costume. A grin appeared on his face.
"Hehehe. Aren’t you glad to see me?" He spread his arms as though expecting a hug.
Annie smacked his arm away. "Stop it. Not here."
Mark looked around and understood why. Quite a few Vought employees were looking in their direction — some pretending not to stare, others not even bothering.
Considering everything that had happened on social media over the last days, the appearance of both people in the same building was practically free entertainment.
"They seem very interested."
"That’s one way to put it."
"They seem full of gossip."
Annie sighed because he wasn’t wrong. The internet had already spent an entire day inventing stories about them — the last thing she needed was half of Vought Tower joining in.
Mark looked mildly impressed.
"It really doesn’t matter where you go. Human nature never changes. Give people a rumor and they’ll spend the entire day making it bigger."
Before he could continue observing the audience, Annie grabbed his sleeve and pushed him toward the elevator. "Inside."
"Annie, why the hurry? Let me stay out there for a few more minutes. I want to see what they can cook up on the internet."
"No. There is already enough nonsense on the internet."
"I think you’re underestimating their creativity."
"I think you’re encouraging them."
The elevator doors began closing. Outside, several employees were still watching, one very obviously typing something into a phone. Mark pointed toward him.
"See? I told you."
Annie didn’t even look. She already knew.
The doors finally shut, cutting off the view of the lobby.
The moment they were alone, Mark wrapped his arms around Annie’s waist from behind and rested his head on her shoulder.
Annie flinched. "Wait, can’t you see the elevator has a camera?"
Mark looked toward the corner. The camera mounted near the ceiling was no longer functioning — a few sparks crackled from the side before it went completely still.
"What camera?"
Annie followed his gaze and understood immediately. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
"Mark..."
"What?"
"You know exactly what."
Mark ignored the accusation and settled more comfortably against her. "Now let me give you a kiss." He turned her slightly toward him and kissed her.
When they separated, Annie remained close instead of stepping away.
"You’re going to be trouble in there, aren’t you?"
"Probably."
He rested his head on her shoulder, completely relaxed despite the fact that they were on their way to meet some of the most powerful people in Vought.
"But hey, I can safely say I’m probably the most powerful supe around, so you don’t have to worry about me."
"It’s not that. I’m worried you’ll change because of this place."
Mark snorted. "You really think I’m that easy to change?" He tightened his arms around her waist slightly.
"I only came here because you called me. If it had been Vought asking, I would’ve given them a very polite middle finger."
Annie sighed. "Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m worried about. You can’t do that here. It would cause a lot of problems."
"Problems, blah blah blah." He waved a hand dismissively. "If the problem gets too annoying, I’ll just blast it away."
"That isn’t how problems work."
"Depends on the problem."
Before Annie could argue further, Mark looked her up and down. "And in this outfit, you look really cute."
"Mark."
"What? I’m giving an honest opinion."
The elevator stopped. The doors slid open. Ashley was standing outside waiting for them. She took one look at Mark hugging Annie from behind and immediately turned around.
"I didn’t see anything."
Neither of them believed that.
Ashley remained facing the hallway for several seconds. "Whenever you two are finished, Madam Stillwell is waiting."
Annie immediately stepped away from Mark, who looked thoroughly entertained by the entire situation.
*****
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