"Y'know yeh weren't sup'posed to be within a mile of th'man, Fifi. The Captain's gonna blow a gasket when yeh get back."
Fiona said nothing in response as she stared at the passing urban scenery on the other side of the SUV's tinted windows, unconsciously calculating avenues of on-foot escape routes and areas that provided adequate cover should a barrage of bullets start flying from any direction.
Her chauffer sighed and scratched at the scar stretched across his face when he had to stop at a red light. "He look'd like he was doin' well, though. How'd the pie taste?"
"…" Fiona's eyes narrowed slightly and her grip on the hammer lying across her lap tightened in warning.
"I'd expect this kinda treatment from Mr. Broodypants, not yeh, but I geddit, I'll shut up now."
Silence reigned supreme until the SUV pulled into the secret underground floor of the Crimson Blades Defense Contractors, Inc.'s parking garage. The SUV parked crookedly in the front of an entire row of identical SUVs, right next to the single elevator.
"Thank yeh, come ag—"
Fiona got out of the vehicle the moment the parking gear had been engaged and slammed the passenger door shut, cutting off the rest of the ridiculous spiel coming out of the most annoying (but most talented) driver in the entire facility.
The SUV reversed, almost hitting a parked vehicle, and then leisurely rolled off to the exit, no doubt already heading off towards the next extraction point.
Fiona entered the elevator – overly-shined metal, blinding white fluorescent lighting, scuffed marble flooring, and tinny pop music blasting out of an overhead speaker – and pressed the button for the 16th floor. The elevator ascended smoothly and without interruption.
Within no time, the elevator reached the 16th floor and the doors slid open, revealing a grim-faced Captain Aodhan standing in the middle of the tastefully-decorated hallway and waiting for her.
Once their eyes met, the older man turned on his heels and headed towards Fiona's room, which unlocked for him without the use of a handprint authorizer.
Captain Aodhan gestured for Fiona to take a seat on her couch and waited patiently for the woman to finish setting down her hammer and shield, with his hands resting behind his back, before he began to speak.
"You violated the terms of the agreement."
"It's been four years, now. He's as safe as he can possibly be."
"I turned a blind eye to you hijacking the security feed in his diner. I said nothing when you appropriated some of the company's funds to anonymously update the security measures of his apartment complex every year. I also personally dealt with the Royal Council when they had found out that you were siphoning half of your recent paychecks into his hidden savings account while also buying out the businesses next to his diner and planting a few of our junior agents in them under the guise of 'extra covert ops training.'"
Fiona shrugged a shoulder. Yes, she had bent a few company rules and stepped over some civil liberties, but there were all for Lann's safety and making sure that no Fomorian agents were able to get within five miles of his living and work places. Four years and not even one whisper of nosy fomors had cropped up.
"What I'm more disappointed with, however," Captain Aodhan's stern lips pressed into a thin line, "Was that you didn't even think to ask me, Ceara, or Marrec to help you."
Fiona blinked in surprise.
"If you and your colleagues simply told me of your concerns after the first year, I would have had enough of a 'complaint' to overturn the conditions of the agreement." Captain Aodhan crossed his arms across his chest. "But no, instead you decided prolong your agony for four years and severed almost all contact from your friends to act as a solo operative and a one-woman-army."
Fiona aimed an intense stare at the Captain.
"The Royal Council—"
"Did you forget that I have absolutely no love for the Royal Council's obnoxious demands, and that as the highest ranked officer of this department I can call for a private review of any and all signed contracts after it has been in effect for at least one year instead of waiting for the fourth year's expiration date?"
Fiona's mouth closed. She did forget, in all of her haste to deal with the aftermath of The Incident that had upended her life in a few scant minutes roughly four years ago.
Captain Aodhan pinched the bridge of his nose, as if to stave off an impending migraine. "Thanks to a note that I received from one of your concerned friends a few weeks ago, I've already finished the review on Lann's case and forced the council to stamp it. Your embargo will end as of tomorrow morning, five months early."
"…So, you just came in here to tell me how much of a fool I've been for four years?"
"Essentially, yes." Captain Aodhan gave her a dry and exasperated look. "Would you have preferred if I sent Gallagher to deliver you the news, instead? No, I don't think so."
Fiona sighed and was about to drop her face into her hands when she caught herself just in time. Her gloves were still splattered in fomorian ichor, which was notoriously difficult to clean off skin without the help of industrial soap.
"I expect you to dismantle your little surveillance operation before visiting Lann again." With that, the Captain left the room without so much as another glance behind him.
Now all alone, Fiona grumbled to herself as she stomped over to the shower to clean off the sticky fomorian ichor and the uncomfortable feelings of embarrassment on her skin.
The following day…
From where she was sipping from a mocha latte in a corner seat, Fiona discreetly watched Lann deal with the lunch rush as if he'd been born into the customer service profession. Even as the sole owner of the tiny hole-in-the-wall and dealing with the his personal demons, it was as if he turned into almost a completely different person when chatting amicably with customers while taking their orders or handing over-the-counter takeaway cups of delicious coffee to half-asleep college students. It was as if all of the noise and chaos of a busy work day kept him in perfectly in balance…
To Fiona, it was as if seeing the fidgety ghost of the man she'd known for over a decade peering out of the large cracks of worn armor that had been hastily patched over into barely working condition.
But, the moment the lunch rush ended and he was left mostly alone (the cook was a grumpy ex-con that preferred to take smoke breaks out in the alley instead of participating in idle chats) or without some form of work to keep himself busy… whether from behind a computer screen or in real life, it was so strange to see him so still, with the usual flights of restlessness replaced by a crippling fear she could neither see nor extinguish for him.
"H-hey, Fiona…"
Seeing as there was nobody else currently in the diner except for both of them, Lann had nervously brought over two plates of sandwiches – roast beef over rye, her favorite – and another mocha latte.
"Hello, Lann." Fiona's gentle smile seemed to have some calming effect on the man, and he smiled back too with a little more confidence in himself. "How... are you?"
"I'm— I'm doing great. I c-can't believe that you r-remember my name…" The man picked at his sandwich, taking out the onions and setting them aside.
"I'll always know your name." Fiona took a small bite out of her sandwich.
Lann had an adorably confused look on his face. "We—we've met? Before?"
"Yes." Fiona had some hope that the man had regained some of his memories of his life prior to the diner, but without having been able to talk to him face-to-face had put a sizable roadblock
"I, I think I'd r-remember m-meeting the Stigma at some point, I m-mean, you're just—" Lann cut himself off, this time a little nervously as a spot of color started to bloom at the tip of his ears.
"I'm just what?"
"Y-you're… stunning. A-absolutely st-stunning."
Fiona raised an eyebrow and her lips twisted into another small, knowing smile as she recalled that those were the exact same words that Lann had said to her when they'd first met, all those years ago.
A flush crawled up even higher past the collar of Lann's shirt. His eyes darted around and he focused his attention on his sandwich, as if completely and utterly embarrassed that he'd said that out loud.
"Thank you." Fiona replied fondly, after a moment of hesitation, placed her hand over Lann's.
The man looked up uncertainly from his sandwich, his gaze flitting about her face before finally settling on her eyes. A genuine smile, painfully shy and all for her, formed on his lips.
"I—I do k-know you, d-don't I? I feel l-like I d-do…"
Fiona steeled herself inwardly; now was the hard part, figuring out how much Lann remembered without making him upset or worsening his condition.
"You do. Do you remember anything from before you acquired the diner?"
Lann's gaze slipped to a distant point behind Fiona's shoulder.
"S-sometimes… I'd g-get dreams, of cars ex-exploding in the s-streets. There'd be some s-supers n-next to me, but… but I c-can't see their f-faces. Fire, l-lots of fffire. I… I think y-you were there too, now t-t-that I know y-you…"
Fiona reassuringly squeezed the lax hand underneath her own, silently asking him to continue on.
"T-there was... there w-was a boy, w-with a brown c-cap…" Lann withdrew his hand from underneath Fiona's and pressed his palms into his eye sockets. "D-did he d-die?"
Fiona reached over and gently pulled Lann's hands down from his face; she recognized the gesture, having seen it innumerable times over camera feeds whenever Lann felt particularly frustrated with himself or with his limitations. The man's eyes weren't wet, but he was well on the way to becoming upset at his inability to fix together a coherent picture of the bits and pieces of his life before the diner.
"Would you like to tell you? About your scars?" Her thumbs brushed over the raised lines crossing over the back of Lann's hands, the jagged white lines a stark contrast against tan skin.
"P-p-please…" Lann's voice was no louder than a whisper. "I… I can't take it a-a-anymore… I need t-to know…"
"It was four years ago, on a Thursday night…"
"Stigma is en route to Hunter's location, Fury's with me, copy." One black SUVs was speeding through the streets of downtown Rocheste, many of which were littered with recently abandoned and overturned vehicles. Behind the wheel, Fiona pressed down harder on the pedal and the needle of the gauge hovered just above 70 mph.
"Copy, over." Kai's curt reply crackled through both Fiona and Lann's headsets. "I have line of sight on Kalis, requesting permission to engage, over."
"Permission not granted, Hunter. Wait until your backup arrives before attempting anything stupid, over." Marrec's voice was staticky and tinny coming out of the vehicle's speakerphone.
"Tch." There was the audible sound of a gun cocking menacingly.
Fiona rolled her eyes as she drifted around a corner turn sharply. Lann didn't so much as slide an inch in his seat as he finished adjusting the straps of his bulletproof chest-piece that was underneath his trademark jacket.
"Reaper and Earthquake, reporting for duty! I'm guessing that the hulking red and green fomors causing rampant destruction and devastation by my favorite pizza place are our targets, over." Through the noisy rush of wind blasting through what probably was an open window, Evie sounded way too cheerful for someone who had been called into work while on a long-awaited date with her boyfriend, Karok.
"Babe, you might want to tighten your seatbelt." Karok was almost shouting to be heard through the wind whipping through the open windows.
"What, why—ack!"
Fiona swerved just in time to allow a forest green Hummer enough room to haphazardly drift right into the space in front of her car. A woman poked her head out from the passenger-side window, grinning cheekily and waving wildly.
Thankfully, there weren't any more surprising additions to the group as they finally screeched to a stop a few blocks away from where the majority of the plumes of smoke and blazing fires were located. Jumping out of the SUV, Fiona slammed the car door and bashed her polished shield into the face of a fomorian agent that had decided to try and flank them, completing her attack with a swing of her bone-spiked long hammer that sent the agent flying off into the distance like a ragdoll. Next to her, Lann unhooked his two gleaming twin swords hanging by his hips and swung them in a well-practiced arc, checking the sharpness of the metal by the ringing sound the two swords made while cutting through air before rushing into the fray like a bloodthirsty hurricane of spinning blades.
Following Fiona and Lann into the center of the active combat zone, Evie unsheathed her deadly scythe with a loving croon directed at the onyx-tinted blade as she slammed the tip of the weapon down at the first fomorian grunt (a slack-jawed goblin-esque soldier) that had decided to stop looting a nearby shop and attack her. Karok followed up Evie's attack with an assault of gauntlet-powered punches, sending a good number of other goblin-like soldiers flying through half-burned buildings and other dilapidated urban structures.
"Alright, supes. Your main target down the block is the fomorian Information Chief Kalis. The other fomor hanging around has a codename, the 'Servant.' Yeah, tacky, I know, but what can you do about it. Anyways, he's not too important – focus on Kalis. The Hunter's perched close by and ready to provide any and all instances of firepower from his position on the rooftops. Permission to engage granted, over."
"Finally." Kai's muttered snort was almost inaudible amidst the sudden roar of flying bullets and heavy explosions that sent small shockwaves through the ground.
Between the abilities of the four CBDC-contracted superheroes (five, if also counting the trigger-happy sniper following them trail via the rooftops), they all made quick work of the grunt-like fomorian agents that threw themselves at them like cannon fodder. Once they reached the plaza where Information Chief Kalis and the Servant were busy sending wrecked cars flying overhead and smashing everything in sight underfoot, Fiona was about to charge head-first at Kalis when Lann's arm shot out in alarm.
"Wait! Kalis has a hostage!" Lann's eyes darted between Kalis and the Servant, before a split-second plan manifested in his mind. "Stigma, Earthquake, get rid of the Servant. Reaper, you're with me – you'll distract Kalis long enough for me to get the hostage to safety, and then we'll all focus our efforts on taking down Kalis. Hunter, you just make sure none of your explosions get within friendly-fire range!"
An explosion ripped through the air, decimating a swath of broken asphalt right next to the Servant's feet, drawing the giant green fomor's attention in the direction opposite to where Kalis was heading.
In Kalis's grip, a short figure clothed in the tattered remains of a brown uniform struggled futilely against the large hand clutched around the entirety of his head. When Lann was able to sneak up close enough thanks to the sudden appearance of Evie's bloody threads cutting through the fomor's body at regular intervals, he saw that the hostage was in fact a very familiar face: the barely-of-age Cadet Leader Ellis, one of the Crimson Blades' go-to man whenever they'd crossed paths with Royal Army agents, blinked blearily at Lann through bruised and blackened eyes.
"H-h-hel—"
"Don't worry, I've got you!"
Lann waited for an opening before striking out at Kalis, slicing through a protruding wrist tendon. The hand holding Ellis seized and dropped the man, who tumbled onto the ground with a gurgling scream of pain. Lann quickly grabbed the cadet and started painstakingly dragging the cadet's dead weight away from the fight.
"Hey Kalis, I'm over here!" Evie shouted and another plethora of bloody threads shot into existance, followed by a quick snap that summoned a floating purple skull above the fomor's head. "Come at me, bro!"
"I did not just hear that!" Karok blasted the Servant a charged punch, sending the green fomor staggering back into a perfect position for Fiona to execute a punishing swing of her hammer that ripped off a good chunk of hamstring.
Evie quickly twisted her head over to teasingly stick her tongue out at Karok, who simply made a face back at her before slamming his fist into the Servant's kneecap for the fifth time and finally breaking the fomor's leg.
Kalis roared in pain as a chunk of flesh blasted out of his side from the force of a full magazine of explosives-laced bullets planting into his body. What no one expected, however, was for Kalis to stagger backwards and swing his giant meat cleaver around wildly as it tried to regain his balance.
Lann had been completely unprepared for the split-second in which the back of Kalis's weapon slammed into the back of his skull, sending him immediately crumpling to the ground next to Ellis, who tried to crawl away but was too slow to avoid a large hand snatching him back up and slamming him face-first into the side of a building.
Three times, Ellis hit the bricks. Crazed, Kalis roared again as he tossed the limp body of the cadet to the ground and right on top of an unconscious Lann.
Fiona abandoned the Servant and charged at Kalis with a shout, her hammer glowing with golden light as she planted the spikiest part of her weapon into the fomor's arm before mercilessly ripping it out and taking the arm with her. Kalis staggered forward, hunching over and snarling at his missing limb, and Fiona took the opportunity to bury her hammer into the fomor's skull as if it were little more than wet cardboard. She left her hammer where it'd lodged into the dead fomor's brain and dropped her shield as she ran over to where Lann and Ellis were lying in a sprawled heap.
Ellis's face, that poor boy, was hardly recognizable anymore after the beating he'd taken. A quick press of Fiona's fingers to the cadet's neck only confirmed what she her instincts had told her earlier.
On the other hand, Lann was still alive – although barely. His pupils were unresponsive when Fiona rolled him onto his back and checked his vitals, but the hitched wheezing breaths that the man was able to unconsciously exhale said wonders to how lucky he'd been that Kalis hadn't gotten him in the spine with the sharp end of his cleaver. The blood spreading freely from his head wound was troubling, however.
"Marrec, we need an evac at our position now! The Fury's been severely wounded and we don't know how long he has left without immediate medical treatment. The hostage is dead. Kalis and the Servant have been terminated!" Evie rushed to Fiona's side immediately, one hand going up to her headset to alert Marrec of the situation while the other dug into the potion bag clipped to the belt of her outfit. A healing potion appeared, and Fiona wasted no time in dumping the contents of the bottle over the gaping wound on the side of Lann's head.
"Copy that, supes. The heli's on it's way. ETA, two minutes. Hang tight."
Karok and Fiona carefully moved the two bodies – one on the brink of death, and the other already gone – into evac-ready positions. Lann managed to open dull and clouded eyes when Karok had accidentally jostled his head a little, the unfocused gaze skittering about before stalling at the sight of Fiona's worried face for a slight moment. Then, his eyes closed and he didn't so much as twitch when the EMTs touched down in a CBCD helicopter and an entire entourage of medical professionals carefully lifted him onto a stretcher, attached a respiratory apparatus to his face, and started emergency treatment for his severe wounds. There was no room for anyone else on the helicopter, so the four made their way towards the direction of where they'd left their vehicles about a block away.
Several unmarked SUVs screeched to a halt a few dozen meters away from the destroyed plaza. The doors of the one closest to them swung open automatically and the tinted driver's window rolled down.
From behind the wheel, Kai's face was unreadable and impassive as he gestured for them to get in with a jerk of his head. There was no argument as the four of them piled into the vehicle, and the car was already doing a U-turn at almost 60 mph before any of them had buckled their seatbelts.
"…Not too long after you'd been transported to a private hospital, you fell into a coma that lasted for five months. When you woke up…" Fiona withdrew one of her hands, as she had been clutching at Lann's throughout her reminiscing, to busy her trembling lips with a long sip of her ice cold latte.
"W-when I woke up, I d-didn't… remember. Anything. A-all of the times I-I spent, as a… a…" Lann was trembling minutely, but determinedly wide-eyed as he slowly but surely took in the fantastical tale of heroism and unfortunate tragedy that had supposedly been his life prior to finding himself the owner of a corner diner with a head injury he couldn't remember getting.
"You were… are, a superhero." Fiona smiled and hoped that her hands weren't shaking as the prickly feeling of tears started up in her eyes. "All of your friends are."
"So, so… K-karok, Kai?" Lann breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, as if trying to stave off a panic attack. "B-but… they're just m-my apartment n-neighbors… Karok's runs a g-gym, a-and Kai p-p-plays for t-the Rocheste Philharm-monic … they a-aren't…"
"They are. Earthquake, Hunter."
"E-e-even Evie? F-from the l-library? B-but… she's s-s-so… tiny…"
"Yes, even her. Reaper." Fiona stifled an inappropriate chuckle at how immaturely angry the woman would be if she knew that Lann had called her tiny.
"I… I need to… I'll b-be right back." Lann shot out of his seat with a weak smile and headed to the diner's restrooms. His fingers scratched nervously at the scar hidden underneath the wild tangles of his hair as he mouthed Fury, Stigma, Earthquake, Hunter, and Reaper over and over again, as if trying to force himself to get used to the vaguely familiar names that brought a comforting hint of clarity to the blurriest parts of his memories.
Fiona let him go.
(A matching pair of platinum wedding rings hooked onto the thin silver necklace hidden underneath her shirt had been burning an invisible brand onto her skin for all these years. Sure, the familiar cheeky grin had been replaced with a shaky smile, but she knew that it was still wholly and uniquely Lann that she simply didn't care about the specifics. Not anymore.)
He needed a moment collect himself, but he would come back to her afterwards; her restless man always did, in one way or another.
And when he did, when he was truly ready, she would tell him everything.