Chapter Text
Charlotte awoke with a groan.
A splitting pain erupted from her head and caused her to wince. She attempted to open her eyes, but it seemed she was surrounded by light, which didn’t help her headache.
Unfortunately, she felt an awful amount of dizziness and knew opening her eyes might be the only way to alleviate that. Taking a deep breath, she counted to three before she forced her eyelids to open up.
She looked around, squinting, and saw that she was in a big box. The top and bottom side of the box seemed to be metal while the rest was glass. There was a door right across from her with a metal walkway leading to a blown out side of a building.
Charlotte moved to get up, hoping to walk the dizziness off, but found that she couldn’t. Her gaze dropped down to where she was seated in a chair and… her hands were bound to the arms of the cool metal along with her thighs to the seat. There were no legs to the chair, though, leaving her legs free and her feet planted on the floor. Charlotte looked up to find that two long poles descended from the top of the box and connected to the back of the chair, suspending it and her just above the metal beneath her. Weird.
As Charlotte's vision adjusted, her eyes began to focus on her surroundings more. She looked through the clear glass and was met with a blue sky. Weirder. She leaned her body to look down through the glass and saw that she wasn't on the ground. Actually, she was nowhere near the ground.
The girl's mind went haywire from that moment on. She had been afraid of heights ever since she went on that roller coaster with Henry. She already wasn't a big fan of being away from the beautiful, sweet earth but Henry persuaded her to join him. Turns out the ride was having some technical difficulties so when they went on a loop, they got stuck halfway. Upside down. For ten whole minutes.
It was the most traumatizing experience Charlotte had ever had.
Okay. This is okay. Everything is okay. Stay calm.
Charlotte willed the bile to stay down whilst she continued observing her surroundings. Her eyes searched the floor presented in front of her. She saw a lithe figure tweaking a large control panel, dressed in a black high-low trench with a red and black belt wrapped around her waist.
The figure turned around and Charlotte froze at the sight of their face.
Gwen.
Henry exited the elevator and entered the ManCave. He had already finished his shift at Junk N' Stuff and hadn't had anything else to do so he decided to see if he was needed.
"Hey, Ray," Henry asked.
"Hey kid, 92...93...94," Ray breathed out.
Henry saw the grown man lifting 100 pound dumbbells while Shwozz timed how long. Ray was barely sweating as he counted how many curls he did.
"95...96...97...98...100!" Ray dropped the dumbbells and bowed. "And that my friends is how it's done."
"Dude," Henry deadpanned, "you totally skipped a number."
"What? No I didn't," Ray countered.
"Yes, you did. You didn't say 99."
"I know what I said, kid. '96, 97, 98, 100.'"
"Dude, you just did it again!" Henry spoke.
"Okay kid, obviously, you're death because I definitely know how to count."
"Death? Do you—do you mean deaf?" Henry sputtered.
"Yeah, that's what I said."
"Unbelievable. You know what? Never mind."
A beeping went off suddenly and Shwozz ran over to the ManComputer. Henry looked around for his best friend but couldn't find her.
"Hey, where's Charlotte?" he asked.
"No idea. She never came in today,” Shwozz spoke, accent very present.
Weird. Usually Charlotte's always "present and punctual" as she likes to say. It's odd that she's not here.
"It's a video call. Oh! Maybe it's that hot reporter you went out with," Shwozz said.
"Play it," Ray stated as he and Henry popped a bubble into their mouths to get in uniform. Ray was quickly trying to fix his hair as he waited for the reporter's call.
Shwozz hit the reply button on the keyboard and waited for the connection to stabilize.
"Well, hello there Captain Man and Kid Danger. Or should I say Ray Manchester and Harry Hart,” a feminine voice spoke, a smirk evident on her face.
"Uh, actually it's Henr—" Henry started.
"Gwen," Ray growled.
"Oh and I almost forgot!" Gwen turned the camera around to focus on a glass like box, revealing a person trapped inside, "Special guest: Charlotte Bolton."