Chapter 7: Brothers

Conner continued his day as he normally did until lunch. Due to a nearby supervillain threat, the kids were given a half-day but still had a bunch of homework to do. Conner walked toward his car with Caitlin and Eve but was surprised to see his brother waiting there for him.

Mark waved at his brother shyly as he discreetly gazed at the two beauties on his sides.

"Um... was planning on getting a ride from William but he is sick while Mom and Dad are at work. Can I ride with you guys?" Mark asked timidly

Mark usually didn't mind asking his brother for a ride but he never did when Conner was with Caitlin. He learned that lesson the year before when he decided to be a third wheel. Conner decided to burn several of his Science Dog comics in retaliation. Although he never said why he burned the comics, Mark knew exactly why and had sworn to himself to not ask his brother for rides when he was with Caitlin.

Conner was just about to reject Mark when Caitlin spoke up before he could.

"Sure thing, Mark. Me and Eve have something to do in the city anyway so after he drops us off, you two can head home together," Caitlin said without bashing an eyelid

Conner and Eve were both looking at each other with wry smiles on their faces. Caitlin had definitely said that she was going straight home and had invited both of them to her place. But it seemed like she was going to take this opportunity to still punish Conner a bit.

The group of 4 got in the car together. The girls were in the back while Mark joined Conner in the front. Mark also wanted to head to the back but a death glare from Conner stopped him from saying it aloud.

After leaving the school parking lot, the drive was pretty steady. The girls mainly talked to each other but would invite Conner and Mark into the conversation when they wanted to. The pair kept giggling which kept Mark on his toes. These were the two hottest girls in school so it was normal for him to be nervous.

While they were making their way to the Teen Team's base, Conner got a text message. Once he got to a red light, he grabbed his phone and looked at what it said.

[Got the final count. 6 Dukes, 17 Counts, 34 Viscounts, 89 Barons. Also means a total of 4,127 Knights.]

His brows scrunched up subconsciously before he set his phone down and continued driving. Mark saw this little reaction, though.

"What was that text? Mom? Dad? Must be bad if it has even you stressed out," Mark commented trying to pry information out of his brother

Conner would have ignored him normally but with Caitlin in the backseat and the attention she and Eve were giving him now, he decided to give a vague answer to satisfy everyone's curiosity.

"Nothing major. Just some greedy people at work making my trouble a bit more annoying. The boss is gonna handle them soon so I won't have to worry about them much longer."

"I guess everyone hates their job. What do you even do by the way? I don't think you ever told the rest of the family," Mark asked

"I work at HOMRA," Conner saw no point in hiding where he worked. He only hid what his position was in the company. Mark also assumed that Conner had a low-level position in the company since there was not much a 17-year-old could do in a private security company.

Caitlin knew better. She decided to question Conner later that night when Mark wasn't around. As for Eve, she treated her like a sister and knew Conner would not mind if she shared the information about him and HOMRA with her.

They soon pulled up in front of a cafe near the base where the girls got off. After giving Conner a kiss goodbye and reminding him to call her later. The girls were soon out of sight.

Once the girls were gone, Conner had the urge to kick his brother out of the car that very second. He stepped on the accelerator and started rushing home.

"You could have flown home. My afterschool date with Caitlin got ruined by you so be prepared to pay the price, Baby Brother," Conner warned

Mark knew he had gotten on his brother's bad side but could not understand why.

"I couldn't have just flown home. Someone would have seen me," Mark rebutted

Conner looked at his brother as if he was looking at an idiot. An idiot that had spoken something so dumb that Conner did not even know how to process it.

"I can't even begin to explain all the reasons why you sound stupid right now. Let's just get you home."

Mark just nodded and began to look out the window. After a couple of minutes, he turned to his brother.

"So... I hear that Caitlin is good friends with Amber Bennet. Does she know if she is single? Or does she have her number?"

"I will ask her later for you. If she is single and Caitlin does, I will text it to you. But I'm not helping you any more than that," Conner agreed. It was not that he really cared either way but he knew Caitlin loved to try and set people up so she would find out the information Mark wanted in a heartbeat.

"Thanks, bro," Mark said with a genuine smile on his face

"Stop smiling like that, it's gross," Conner said jokingly with his brother

The rest of the car ride was very peaceful. Before long, they were back at home. When they got back, each of the brothers went to their own rooms. Mark went to his room to read comic books while Conner returned to his and got on his laptop.

He had to start finalizing the final trap in order to ensure that none of the rats escaped at the last second. He also had to go over the designs for his 'public' hero costume that he would wear when he fought crime with his family.

It wasn't until 6 hours later did he stop when his mom knocked on the door. Conner did not even realize how much time had gone by. He looked at his phone and saw he had several missed calls and text messages.

He went through and replied to most of them. Most were from his family, Caitlin, or Eve. Only one was from the number he had been getting messages from all day.

[They are planning to ambush you with a surprise meeting on December 30th. They will be using the next few months to build up their numbers and continue to hide their wealth thinking we don't have eyes on them. Will you be ready by then?]

[I would be ready by tomorrow if I needed to be. I will burn those traitors until not even ashes remain.]