When they finally made it to the restaurant Neil and Eva stumbled inside, coughing and clutching their stomachs.
"...Remind me to never let you drive again."
"That squirrel had it coming!"
Eva straightened, brushing herself off. "Try and look professional, please? If we don't prove we're competent, it'll be right back to performing at children's parties."
"No problem." He brushed his bangs into place, pulling out a pair of one way mirror glasses-he called the habit of wearing them in uniform 'reverse Clark-Kenting.' Eva called it ridiculous.
They didn't even really wear uniforms in the first place. Corporate seemed unsure of whether they wanted to look like a serious scientific organisation or S.H.I.E.L.D. So they had superhero names, but they wore lab coats.
The entire place was still in disarray-after all, the attack had just happened-but a lot of the staff had decided to stay and clean up the broken glass and set the tables back upright.
"Who do we ask first?" Eva asked.
"Eva, leave this to me. Please."
"Wait, Neil, what are you-"
Neil procured a table and climbed on top of it.
"ATTENTION EVERYONE!"
The waitstaff that was cleaning up stopped and stared at him.
"You may be wondering after today, 'whatever shall we do? Who will help us after such a traumatic event?' Well, have no fear-"
Neil flexed.
"-Megawatts and Forceshield are here!"
Someone stepped forward. He was dressed differently than the staff; he had a red bowtie and no apron.
"What is going on here?" He said said, in a slight Italian accent. He was at least fifty pounds heavier than Watts, and Eva intervened before he tried to body slam Neil.
"We're SigCorp, Sir!" She interrupted, walking forward and holding out her hand. "The superhero names are just a PR thing. If you'd prefer, I'm Agent Eva Rosalene and this is my colleague Neil Watts."
Neil pouted, hopping onto the floor. His wrinkled and messy lab coat was open to reveal a black turtleneck. "Yeah, if you want to take the fun out of it, I'm Neil Watts."
The man narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but shook her hand. "Michael Esposito. I'm the owner of The Lighthouse."
"Well, first let me say that we're sorry about your restaurant, Mr. Esposito."
"It's okay. Windows can be replaced, tables can be picked back up...the important thing is that no one got more than some scratches."
"Can you tell us what happened?"
Mr. Esposito looked around. "Honestly, I don't know what happened," he said, "one second everything looks fine, the next-boom," he snapped his fingers, "every speck of glass shattered. Tables started flipping over, people fell on the ground. Then that was just...it. Like a bomb, over and done."
Neil nodded. "So no freaky metahuman monster with tentacles or anything?"
He blinked. "Uh...no."
"Man, you didn't even get a cool one. That's rough, buddy."
"Well, we looked at some camera footage and we think we might have a suspect in mind," Eva said. She started tapping buttons on her watch. A hologram appeared, above her wrist, that showed camera footage from the incident.
"And...there," the video zoomed in. "See those two? Everyone else was running in the other direction to leave out the front of the restaurant. But they were running in the other direction. We think they were trying to sneak out the back so they wouldn't be seen."
"It's the flimsiest reason to have a suspect ever, but Sherlock Holmes has worked with less," Neil said, "so you recognize these two?"
Mr. Esposito's brow furrowed as he stared at the photo. It was of a man and a woman, in their late twenties to early thirties. The man's hair was disheveled, and he stumbled into a run with a death grip on the woman's wrist. The woman looked stunned as she was dragged, red hair flying behind her, eyes wide and distant as if in a trance.
"...Oh, it couldn't have been them. I don't believe it."
"Why not?" Eva asked.
"That's Johnny and River Wyles-the photo is a little grainy, but River always wears yellow and blue. My best regulars. He's a carpenter-comes in covered with sawdust sometimes from the job. They can't be making great money and they still make sure to give more in tips than any of my other customers. Always courteous to the waitstaff. Been coming for years. Couldn't think of a nicer couple."
"Anything seem out of the ordinary that day?"
He shook his head. "No, I sat them down, same as every other day. I suppose Johnny was a little disappointed since we couldn't get them their favorite table?"
He walked away and they followed him. They stopped in front of a shattered window, where the breeze from the ocean made Neil button up his coat.
"This is why it's called The Lighthouse," he said, sounding somewhat proud. "Beautiful view of the lighthouse from the window. Johnny always requested a table near the window-it's hard to manage, but I tried to do it for them. But I already had those tables totally booked."
"And River was...upset?"
"She was-" He frowned. "I don't know," he finished, "it's hard to tell with her, but I don't even know if she's a metahuman, let alone willing to destroy my restaurant because she had the wrong table."
He shrugged. A contractor walked up to him. "Can I take a moment?"
"Sure," Eva said. "Could you just tell us which waiter served them?"
"Oh, I'm not sure-Marco, Giovanni, David! SigCorp is here!"
Three waiters stopped sweeping glass off the floor, walking over to them.
"You three were on shift while Mr. and Mrs. Wyles were here, yes?"
"I served them, sir," Marco said.
"You talk to these two people, okay? They have the coats and the badges, they were sent here to help."
"At least he's not one of those anti-SigCorp protesters," Neil whispered to Eva.
"Yeah."
Marco wiped his hands on his apron. "What about the Wyles?"
"What do you know about them?" Eva asked.
"Either of them have tentacles?" Eva elbowed him.
"What? That's a legitimate question!"
Marco narrowed his eyes at them. "Yeah, I served them. The woman is weird though. Wouldn't surprise me if she's a freak."
"Please, tell the freaks trying to help you what have you that impression," Neil drawled. Marco rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"She's...just rude. Never gives more than one word answers. I ask, 'how are you doing tonight, Mrs? She answers 'well.' I ask 'and does the beautiful lady enjoy her food?' She just says 'yes.' And she won't even look at me. I feel like she thinks she's too good for us. When she does look up it's to stare at the lighthouse. Can't stand her sometimes-"
"Thank you sir," Eva interrupted. "We'll go and report this back to headquarters."
She grabbed Neil's hand. "Let's go, Neil."
"Wait!"
There was a case that had shattered, and Neil grabbed a cannoli from it. He took a bite, gave Eva a thumbs up, and they left.
"We had enough info?" Neil asked.
"I just couldn't stand talking to him anymore," Eva answered. "He clearly doesn't have an open mind about anyone remotely different than him."
"I don't know, she did sound like a bit of a child fish," Neil said.
Eva looked at him. "I have a theory about that," she said, "and I don't think it has to do with being a metahuman."
"You don't think she is?"
"I didn't say she wasn't. I'm just not certain she's a bad person either...like I said, I have some theories. They hang on this being a psychic based meta-ability, though."
"...Do we need to call to get the car towed?"
"You need to call to get the car towed."
"Ugh, they're gonna be so mad," Neil groaned.
"Well, you can make up for it by helping me." Eva started typing a number into her phone. "We have a name now; Johnny and River Wyles. I guess next we just...talk to them."
"You know what? I'm not calling no tow truck."
"But Neil, you drive the car into a-"
Neil jogged over to the ditch, grabbed the back bumper, and pulled it out.
"-well, okay, I guess we can at least worry about the damage until we get back?"…?"
"Alright. I'll drive-"
"No!" She tossed her phone to Neil. He caught it. "You will google an address for them, and if you have to, call Rob and see if he can find anything."
"I don't need Rob," Neil answered. "And I crash once, and suddenly I can't drive ever?"
Eva stared at him. "...Just get in the car and stop being a pickled olive."
"You know I hate pickled olives!"
"Exactly."
Neil got in the car, strapping in his seatbelt. "I am not a bad driver."
Eva got in and started the car. She pulled out onto the road. "Tell that to the poor squirrel you ran-"
"EVA YOU'RE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!"
Eva gasped. She wrenched the wheel to the side, narrowly avoiding a car. They spun around once before she managed to get the car into the right lane.
"Ooooow," Neil groaned, holding the side of his head. Eva kept her hands tight on the wheel.
"And that is how you avoid hitting something and not crashing your car," she said primly.
Eva turned the radio up and hummed along while Neil worked on the phone.
They found the address of Johnny and River's house, a small two bedroom home with peeling paint and a picture of a lighthouse on the welcome mat.
"...Alright, Eva," Neil said. He hung up the phone. "It seems like a simple knock on the door kind of thing."
"I don't think so. The lights are off. They're probably not there." She turned and looked at Neil. "I mean, if you're trying to avoid getting caught, I don't think your first stop is your house."
"Well, we can't just walk in without a warrant, right?"
"Yeah. I guess we could talk to the neighbors? They might know where they'd go. If I have to guess, Johnny and River aren't hardened criminals, they'd want somewhere familiar…"
Eva's phone rang. She picked it up. "Agent Rosalene here-you're kidding me. Where? Yeah, we're not that far from there. Neil and I can handle it. Absolutely. We'll let you know if we need backup, Rob."
She hung up and looked at Neil. "Someone called the cops."
"I haven't done anything they can prove!"
"Haha," Eva rolled her eyes, "someone called the police because they heard a lot of noise coming from a house across the street...the police called SigCorp."
"Because…?"
"My theory about psychic-based powers? Seems correct."
A grin spread across Neil's face.
"A showdown?" Neil flexed. "Seems like a job for Megawatts!"
He looked at Eva. She stared back at him until she sighed.
"...and Forcefield," she said flatly. Neil fist pumped.
"Alright! This is what being a superhero's all about!"
He started running. Eva shook her head fondly-until her eyes widened and she ran after him.
"Neil! Neil! You don't know where it is and we have a car!"
It was different than the restaurant; the windows all seemed to be intact, and nothing appeared to be immediately wrong from what they could see in the windows. But when they flashed their SigCorp badges and entered, the real problem came when they walked inside and saw someone, leaning against the wall with an ice pack.
"Ouch, what hit you?" Neil asked. He looked up at them.
"I'm not giving you permission to search my house," he said, "I haven't given it to anyone. I keep telling you people, there isn't a problem. It's just me here."
"We don't think you've done anything wrong, Mr-"
"Nicolas Miller."
"-Miller."
"Yeah, we're here for the one that did that to your head."
Nicolas lifted the ice pack for a moment. "...It was an accident," he mumbled, "she didn't do it on purpose."
"Who? River?"
Nicholas looked at them. Instead of answering, he merely pressed the pack against his head again.
"Mr. Miller-"
"Hey, Eva, wait," Neil held up a finger. "You hear music?"
Eva looked up. She could hear a repetitive tinkling of piano keys. Nicolas rolled his eyes.
"Johnny, you bastard," he mumbled, "I told you to be quiet."
"Still want to tell us there's no one here?" She looked at Neil. "Come on, Megawatts. Slowly."
Neil nodded. He saluted at Nicolas before walked towards the back of the house. The music sounded like it was coming from behind a door.
Eva looked at Neil. She put a finger to her lips. Her fingers curled around the doorknob.
Neil did a bunch of random hand gestures.
What? Eva mouthed.
Neil shrugged. He saw cops do that kind of thing on TV.
Eva took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.
Johnny was sitting at a piano with his back to them. He was still playing the piano. River was sitting on the other side of the room, hugging her knees to her chest, a curtain of red hair obscuring her face.
He had to know that they were there, but he still played. After a moment, he stopped. His shoulders fell.
"...You're here for her, aren't you?" He asked softly.
Eva stepped forward. "Are you Johnathan Wyles?"
"Yes."
"And that's your wife River?"
"That's my wife. Who has not done anything wrong."
River didn't show any reaction to what was happening.
"We don't want to treat her unfairly," Eva said gently, "we just want everyone to be safe-including River."
"You don't know what River needs to be safe. I have it under control."
"We need to take her with us. That doesn't mean you can't see her-"
"She is not dangerous!"
"Oh come on," Neil groaned, "look guy, I get it, you're a devoted husband and whatever. But the chick destroyed a restaurant and almost cracked your friend's skull open. She's coming with us."
Neil grabbed Johnny's wrist to pull him out of the way. River's head snapped up.
"River, wait-"
Her eyes glowed a bright blue, and Neil let go as he was lifted into the air.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eva! Little help!"
"Neil! Hold on-"
Eva felt herself start to be pulled upward as well. She closed her eyes, creating a forcefield, and fell to the ground.
"Neil, the forcefield is immune to psychic attacks!"
"Great, lovely, now maybe user that practically, huh?"
Eva encased Neil in a forcefield that made him fall to the ground as well. Eva could feel the entire room practically vibrating with energy, like there was static electricity in the air.
"River!" Johnny shouted, "you need to come back! You need to calm down!"
River's breath started to become ragged. She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth. River struggled to her feet. The energy in the room started to dissipate.
"Will you...hurt Johnny?" River asked.
"Why would we do that?" Neil asked impatiently.
"He helped me run away. If I go, will you punish Johnny for helping me?"
"We can work on that, but he probably won't get into too much trouble," Eva answered. "Are you going to come with us?"
River paused. "Yes."
"River, wait, no!" He took River's hands. "You can't go with them, you don't know what'll happen to you-"
"They are already taking me, Johnny," River said. "I don't want you to be hurt. I don't want anyone to be hurt."
"You're not...dangerous, River…"
"Of course I am." She answered bluntly. Johnny let go.
"Riv…"
"I think I'm ready to go with you," River said. Neil rubbed his back.
"Okay, finally," Neil said.
"Can I go with her?"
"You can meet her at SigCorp and make a statement," Eva said. "We need you to anyway."
He shook his head. "I'm going with my wife."
"No can do," Neil grabbed Johnny by the shoulders again. "Come on, you can come with me. Eva, you take her."
"Let go of-"
"Don't make it harder, please," River said softly. Johnny looked at her and deflated.
"River, I'll be with you as soon as I can," he swore as Neil dragged him out. "We'll be back home soon, okay? I promise everything's going to be fine-everything's going to be alright!"
River watched him calmly.
"I'm going to put a shield around you, okay?" Eva asked tentatively.
"Yes."
Eva did.
"Alright, let's go. Thank you for being cooperative."
"Thank you for not punishing Johnny," River answered. "If he's in jail he won't be able to finish our house.
"Okay...so, you're building a new house?"
"Yes. We're building a home close to the lighthouse. I would be able to see it from our window." She looked at Eva. "Did you know they're closing the lighthouse down? It's sad, isn't it? I don't want her to be lonely."
Eva blinked.
This was not the demeanor of an out of control metahuman. She wasn't sure what this was the behavior of exactly (she had some theories) but definitely not someone dangerous.
"That's...nice…" Eva answered politely, as River was led to the police to be put in handcuffs. She lowered the shield long enough for them to cuff her.
"Johnny won't be able to finish it if we're in prison," River said again. "Johnny is a good husband. He's a good person."
She bent her head to be put in the police van.
"We'll need to come with us, Agent…?"
"Rosalene," Eva answered. "River, I'm coming in with you."
"Okay."
Eva sat next to River.
"...Would I be able to request some things if I'll be locked up?"
"You shouldn't get ahead of yourself. We don't know if you will be."
"But you would be stupid not to. You don't seem stupid."
Eva opened her mouth to respond, then closed it, then opened it again. "That...depends on what they say. But it depends on what you want, I guess. What do you want?"
River considered the question.
"Paper," she finally said, "I would like to have sheets of paper."