Adit

1.03

"Which is why it's important to keep this case out of the courtroom," the man in the sleek black suit said. "Out there, the public is on your side and progress is on your side. Together, we can do this!"

There was a round of applause as the man stepped back and the foreman, Nathan, took his place. Nathan began talking about fliers as the black suited man made his was around the edge of the room toward me. He wore an overly styled black suit that was very up to date on the current fashion trends and tailored specifically to him. His slick black hair had been cut and stylized recently. He smiled at me with blindingly white teeth as he approached.

"Glad you could make it, Richard," he said as he shook my hand with his soft hands.

"Sure."

"With you on board there's a real chance of us being able to do some good here."

"And what good would that be?"

He paused long enough to give me a once over although his wide smile never faltered. "Protection for the little guy, of course. Mining reform and increased regulation to make sure tragedies like this never happen again."

The meeting came to an end and the hundred or so mine workers started to stand up. The loud noise of people talking and chairs scratching against linoleum filled the room.

"And why do you care?" I asked.

He seemed taken aback and hesitated before answering. "It's the right thing to do."

I nodded and let a couple workers pass.

"You don't agree?" the man asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"I just," I hesitated. "Things aren't always so black and white. Mistakes happen."

"So we should take measures to prevent as many of those mistakes from happening that we can."

"Mr. Goodwin," the familiar booming voice of Trent said and the both of us turned to see the giant of a man approach through the crowd.

"Trent," Mr. Goodwin said. "Good to see you."

"I'll leave you two to talk," I said.

"That's not necessary."

"Yeah," Trent added. "I just got a quick question."

"Still," I said as I moved away.

The lawyer stepped in my way and held out a card. "I really think we should meet up some time."

"Sure," I said as I pocketed the card and made my escape.

Deepak caught me at the doorway. "Looks like someone has a crush," he said. I followed his pointed look at Mr. Goodwin who was still staring at me while nodding absentmindedly to whatever Trent was saying.

"Not my type." I said as I left.

"Oh come on," Deepak said as he followed after me. "Even I have to admit the guy looks attractive and I can never tell. He looks like a black-haired Legend."

I had to admit he did. He had the same square jaw and the same lean physique. There was something about him that turned me off though. I didn't trust him.

"Nah," I said instead. "He's got nothing on Legend."

"You're just in a mood," Deepak said as we get to his truck. We drove back to my place in silence. I kept getting a ping from under the hood of his truck and the vibrating pulse was distracting enough I couldn't concentrate on anything else. It stopped when he turned the truck off and I looked to see Deepak looking at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

"What happened to your place?"

"Oh," I said as we stepped out. "I gave it a new coat of paint."

"Did you power wash the sidewalk too?"

I looked down at the small freshly cleaned sidewalk. "Oh. Yeah."

"It's just last time- did you edge the sidewalk?" He followed me into the house and tossed his duffel bag onto the couch. "Wow. You really took what I said last time to heart. The place looks amazing."

"Thanks," I said as I headed into my room to change.

It didn't take long before the two of us were back outside running down the street. We ran into town this time, a round trip of seventeen miles. By the time we finished we were both exhausted and drenched in sweat. Deepak reminded me of the thirty-three miles I had to run on my own during the week and then he was gone.

I showered and dried my curly brown hair as I sat on the edge of my bed. My makeshift costume on the floor stared up at me. It looked pathetic compared to Max's. Not that I could ever pull off his look. It wasn't that I was out of shape, far from it, but the man was statuesque and his skin tight costume only helped to accentuate that fact. Still, I couldn't get the thought of the two of us out of my head. If we were going to team up we'd be looked at together and we'd look more than a little disjointed if I wore baggy sweatpants and a hoodie while he wore what he wore. And the stupid lion mask. It was mocking me just sitting there.

It didn't take me long to head out and buy the new costume. I spread the purchases out so it wouldn't be obvious and so it couldn't all be traced back to one place in case that would become an issue. The matching black compression shirt and pants were easy enough to buy and mark over the branding. And I already the black tennis shoes to match. The mask was the hardest. I couldn't match Max with the natural mask his power gave him and buying a metal mask wasn't as easy to buy. I ended up settling on a hockey mask spray painted silver. It was close enough the correlation would be obvious.

It didn't look bad, all-in-all. Max would dwarf me, but that would have happened regardless of what I was wearing. By the time I'd finished gathering everything and fixing it, it was time to head out to our meeting spot. It felt strange to feel the night breeze through my hair while out and about in costume. Without my hoodie and sweats, and in this get-up, I almost felt naked.

I arrived a little bit early, but Max was already there sitting on a park bench and keeping an eye out. He stood as I approached and as I passed under a street light he twitched.

"It's you," he said.

"Yeah, sorry, I changed my costume a bit."

"No," he said as he stepped closer. "You're the guy from the day I did my interview."

My mind raced and I stumbled over my response, "No, that must be- sorry, that's not me."

"It is. I'd remember that curly hair anywhere." He held out his hand and I stopped, still a ways away from him. "Have you been following me?"

"No! Yes. Sort of. Yes."

"Why?" He looked around as if he expected others to emerge from the shadows.

"I don't know. I saw you before your interview and I knew then you were special. A cape, I mean. And then I saw your interview on the news and once I had your name it was easy enough to figure out who you were and then I just sort of started checking in on you and then that night you went to the park I decided to talk to you but it didn't turn out the way I'd liked so I waited until last night after I made up for attacking you to introduce myself."

He remained silent and it was hard to read any emotion on his expressionless steel face. "And now you want to help me." It was a statement, not a question. He was mulling over the information, trying to sort it all out and make sense of it. I don't know how he could, I couldn't and I'd been trying for two weeks now.

"Why do I trust you?" he asked. "Some sort of Master effect?"

"No, I don't do that. You've seen what I can do. If there is one, it's not me."

"See, I believe you even though it would make sense to not send the Master in." He looked around again, slower and more pointedly this time. He looked back at me. "I felt the same way last time we talked, like I could trust you even though it didn't make sense."

"Maybe we could go to the Protectorate, have them look us both over and see if there's a Master effect at play because I feel the same way about you."

"No." He said and his voice was sharp. "I'm not revealing myself to the Protectorate until I'm done."

"With the GKI?"

He gave a curt nod.

"It won't just be them, you know. They've got the High Minded and The Freedom Force working for them too."

"I can take care of myself."

"Against all of them?"

"If I have to."

"That's ridiculous. You'll never get anything past the High Minded, not now that they're aware of you." I said. He turned to leave and I felt sick to my stomach. "Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it." He paused. "You don't have to fight with me or tell me what you're doing, just point me at what you need taken care of and I'll do it. No questions asked."

"Alright," he said. "I need Blink taken care of. With her around I can't stay in the fight."

"You want me to kill her?" I felt my stomach sink.

"If that's what it takes. Until then, I don't want you anywhere near me. I don't trust whatever this is between us."

He leapt and I watched him fade into dark night as he bounded down the street. I looked down and saw my hands shaking. There was too much to process. He felt something for me, perhaps the same thing I felt for him. Whatever that was. The question of whether he was a good person or not had apparently been answered, and in spite of that I didn't feel any different about him. I'd spent hours trying to figure it out, to figure out if I could trust him and now that I knew the answer it didn't seem to matter.

I'd always wanted to be a part of the Protectorate, what kid didn't? And now the opportunity was right in front of me and all I could think about was how much Max was going to need me. How much danger he was going to be in on his own.

The idea that a Master was involved hadn't occurred to me, but it made sense. It was the only thing that made sense. The way I was acting. The way I was feeling. It had to be the answer. Still, there wasn't much I could do about it. Max didn't want to go to the Protectorate.