I said I was going to try to write a few chapters this week and I delivered a bit! I was really looking forward to introducing a few more elements and characters to the story (part of my reason for being so excited about the next batch of updates!) and was happy to finally get to this one in particular!

Special thanks to secretlystephaniebrown, allabtnothin, ashleystlawrence, analiarvb, the-anonymous-fangirl, luausa, thepheonixqueen, washingtonstub, peacelovestarwars, SenpaiGabby, notatroll7, staininspace, and Yin on tumblr and AO3 for the feedback!

Texas Time
Chapter Ten: For the Hero Who Has Everything

The truth was, finding Church filled Tex with a certain level of anxiety she was unprepared for.

He was, after all, the complete dweeb who decorated his entire room in villain merch, thought electric blue wigs were a fashion statement apparently, and who had promptly got his ass handed to him right in front of her in the community college cafeteria.

There were probably no further lows than there were for Leonard Church, and the idea of that dork, her dork, suffering some unknown consequences after he had helped her track down a local gang-lord-monster-thing was, well, dark.

So instead she imagined that she was about to save Alpha.

That made the situation not only livable but somewhat hilarious in the undertone of local nuisance nearly gets comeuppance.

She could have almost sold tickets to that.

The location didn't seem to be anything special. A building that was about as worn down and hopeless as the rest of Blood Gulch's architecture. There were boarded up windows and a decaying satellite dish strapped above a sign screaming ELEKTRIK WORLD ELEKTRONIKS and she wondered if it was from the nineties and therefore radical rather than grammatical nonsense.

But then again, considering her last venture involving Alpha, she might've actually needed to find the nearest manhole and start looking for the apparent captive there.

Tex sniffed the air some. There was a definite smell of a cigarette nearby. Maybe a guard on watch. Maybe just the usual Blood Gulch citizen.

The one thing for certain was that the literal least she could do was go up to the front door and "knock" first.

Stepping down from her bike and lowering the stand, Tex glanced around curiously. The smell of the cigarette was gone with only the faintest whiff left. The person had finished up or moved on.

So, without further ado, she walked straight up to the door.

"She couldn't possibly be doing what I think…" she could faintly hear from the alley nearby.

Tex glanced its way before drawing her fist back and readying to beat through the door, literally, when she heard a choked off gasp. "For the love of – Lady!You're going to fuck up my entire night!"

Pausing, Tex turned and looked toward the alley again. Her eyes narrowed as she saw nothing. But still, she lowered her fist. "I can't ruin your night, it'smaybe midday."

"Semantics," the voice replied dismissively.

"No. Not semantics. Basic facts," she argued, voice raising above her usual growl.

"Shh! Do you want people to hear you? Fuck, you're lucky this bunch are dumber than tar," the voice sighed. "Come over here. If you're going to persist,at least let me talk you out of getting the hostage killed."

Thinking of Church immediately stilled Tex's desire to rebel against the offer. She didn't need to accidentally lead to him losing his fingers or something.

The complaining that would cause would surely be unlivable.

"And, what? I just trust the mysterious bodiless voice from the alley?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"I honestly don't care what your take is on it," he returned. "And for the record, my body's amazing once you get to see it. Which you might if you don't get Alpha killed."

Surprised, Tex looked around before stalking toward the alley. "You know Alpha?"

"Whoa," he continued. "I should be asking that because me knowing Alpha's not a big deal. You knowing Alpha, however, brings up some questions."

Eyes narrowed, still more than a little suspicious of everything before her, Tex approached the alley and looked around for the source of the voice. A few steps in and it became apparent that whoever it was wanted a good check out of her before he was planning on showing himself.

Unfortunately for whoever, Tex was nothing if not spiteful.

She cloaked herself as she continued further into the alley, looking up, down, around, and especially toward the curiously empty dumpster as she did so.

All she got was a long whistle for her troubles.

"Invisibility! I was wondering if you had any tricks," the voice chuckled.

"And you?" she asked. "Suppose you cloak, too?"

"Not quite," he answered before a head began to pop out from the brick straight ahead of her.

Tex watched with curiosity as a man about her age pulled himself from the bricks, his hair the victim of far too many products to move with the finesse that his body was. He was wearing something of an atrocity that she could immediately recognize as being a team uniform, and he had one of those ridiculous visors to top it all off.

Really, though, it was the smile like he had already won a bet they didn't have that made her convinced he was the kind of tool she'd probably – reluctantly –become friends with given her Blood Gulch luck.

"I go through things. Phase through things. I don't know what the right term for it is–" he shrugged before going rigid. His head tilted up a bit and his nostrils flared with a forceful sigh. "Uh huh. Thanks, Dee." He glanced toward Tex more meaningfully. "The quote-unquote correct terminology would be the amazing duo of phasing and intangibility according to my friend."

"Does your friend have information I'm actually interested in alongside that exposition drop?" Tex asked with her brows raised.

"Ah, so you've got the banter bit down at least. That's relieving," the Freelancer said with an appreciative nod. "You won't believe how dull these newbie team-ups get with the guys who can barely keep their hero worship on the down low."

"Hero worship?" Tex repeated with a laugh. "Wow, buddy, the size of your head is something else, gotta tell ya." She gave a dismissive wave up and down him. "I mean, who the hell is lining up to head your fan club?"

"Ouch, brutal," he replied with a grin that spoke to no damaged ego. "And do you really not recognize me?"

"Should I?" she asked dryly. "You just look like one of the other Freelancer tools in a team outfit."

"Again, ouch," he laughed, though it sounded somewhat more like he meant it that time around. "For the record, wearing that outfit that looks like you've been through a literal waste disposal, makes me question your ability to judge anyoutfit. Though, admittedly, you do seem like more of a badass at that rate. But, yeah, I am kinda surprised to not be recognized if you know what Freelancer is since I'm New York." He tilted his head. "My friends call me York."

"I'm not your friend so I'm just going to call you douchebag," she said firmly. "By the way, I know Freelancer's all about their themes but that's a stupid as fuck name. Just so you're aware."

"And what do you call yourself, stranger?" York asked.

Tex set her jaw a bit before glancing off. "Tex."

"Wow," he laughed. "Poser."

Glaring at the man, Tex gritted her teeth. "Shut the hell up or I'll put my fist through–"

York shrugged and reached back toward the bricks he had stepped out of just before, his hand phasing through easily. "I'm not saying this to be cocky – actually, I kinda am – but, Tex, you couldn't touch me."

Giving a grin of her own, Tex tilted her head. "You would be surprised how much dedication I can put toward punching something until it's not a problem anymore."

"Hm," York said, tapping on his chin. "You've not been the sorta hero to have too many rescues under your belt yet, have you? Because, I gotta say, that'snot the kinda attitude I would take into a negotiation. Especially one involving someone who, by all acknowledgements to his character, probably has already used up what's left of his captors' patience."

Tex blinked and looked toward the electronics store before glancing back to York. "You seem to know Alpha pretty well then."

"I do, but it has nothing to do with figuring that bit of information out," York replied with nonchalance. "You could be in a room for ten minutes with Alpha and know he's going to put his foot in his mouth at some point during all of this nonsense."

Which was a fair assessment from what Tex knew about both personas.

"I've been… running into Alpha a lot lately," Tex explained. "We're rooted in the same neighborhood. This neighborhood. He sent me a message through my television screen to get here."

York looked at her a bit surprised, but his look soon turned into pity. It almost made her try to punch him if not for the whole intangibility thing.

"I hate to break it to you, Tex, but that was a blast signal," he explained. "Alpha's message showed up on every screen in a five mile radius. He might've meant for you to see it, but he had to know that he was reaching out to the rest of the lower end, too. Including–"

Wanting to kick herself, Tex looked off, lip curling in a snarl. "Freelancer headquarters," she hissed. "After all the shit he's been talking–"

"Yeah, I don't know how well you know Alpha, but he's kinda full of shit," York shrugged. "It's cool. Don't worry too much about it. Even he had to learn someamount of charm from the academy."

There were about ten pressing questions that came to mind for Tex with that information, but none of them seemed nearly as pressing as her need to burst into the electronics store and beat some real answers out of their apparentlymutual friend.

Her fists tightened until she noticed that York was doing the odd head tilt thing again and humming to something.

"Right, okay. Thanks, Dee," he said with a nod.

"What the fuck are you doing when you do that?" she demanded irritably.

"I'm having a telepathic conversation with my sidekick, you mind?" he asked with a smug look before tilting back. "Okay, Delta. Cool."

Tex processed the information, particularly that involving sidekick and Delta in the larger context of Freelancer's love of little name games and Alpha when suddenly–

"Oh my god," she laughed to herself. "I… I will never let him live this down. Holy shit."

When Tex turned to confirm her assumption, she was surprised to see that York was no longer paying attention to her but instead leaning forward toward the wall of the electronics store – his head literally disappeared through the brick itself while he leaned against it. His fingers tapped as he leaned in, almost impatiently.

The Freelancer pulled back and took a look back toward Tex. "Okay, Dee says we need to get moving if we don't want this turn out bad. Unless you're okay with sitting back and watching a professional. I get that a lot, people just wanting to watch me work since it's such an honor and all that. I won't think any less of you for it–"

"Douchebag, I have no interest in entertaining your fantasies of near-relevance," she informed him. "I'm just here for Church. Tell me how you can help with that and why I shouldn't just beat the wall down and I'll maybe reconsider trying to find a way to punch through to your lungs."

"Again with the threats. You know, I'm starting to see how you and Alpha get along," York noted before sizing up the wall and holding out his hands as if to measure. "I'm guessing by the fact that you literally wanted to knock on the door of this place and that you keep talking about breaking things that the invisibility isn't your go-to. You like to smash – which, by the way, is awesome. Talking about double powered, we really should talk after this Alpha business is over, because those are vastly different. But either way, right now, I'm going to maybe want you to use those smashing powers about…" York stepped forward and tapped on a specific brick. "Right here."

Confused, Tex motioned toward the wall. "Now? The way you were acting you wanted us to be all cautious and nonsense."

"Oh, I did," York agreed. "The Director sent me because I'm a specialist in hostage situations – all about the infiltration with my powers. But see, I estimate we have about thirty seconds more to argue this since Delta just informed me they put a gun to Alpha's head."

"What!?" Tex roared before looking back to the wall.

Without hesitation, she drew back her fist and flung herself through the wall of the store, what brick and drywall didn't burst into flying around her as she stepped through into the building. There were surprised and confused yells from a group of armed men standing toward the center of the room but they didn't get the time to formulate any real response.

Tex was already on them.

It didn't take long to press through. The jabs she gave were harder than her usual touch on patrols, she wanted to make sure these guys felt it in the morning.

But it was the main guy in the center with his gun still trained on Church that got her real attention.

For his part, Church looked as disgruntled as always, nose bleed and a fresh smattering of purple across his cheeks aside. It honestly didn't look like he was anymore perturbed than any of the numerous occasions where something minor annoyed him at the cafeteria.

"About fucking time!" Church snapped.

Tex pointed at him angrily. "You shut your goddamn mouth. I've had about enough of you. And you've gotta explain this asshole–" Tex began to point back toward the entrance she had just made only to be slightly stunned when York was nowhere to be seen. "That son of a–"

"Everyone shut up!" the gunman roared. "You make a move, I blow off his fucking head!" he warned to Tex before glaring at Church. "And you! You piece of shit, you pull one more trick or you continue to not tell me where my fucking money is and I'll blow off your fucking head!"

She was too far back to make it in time if the itchy trigger finger on the guy got any tighter. Even two feet closer and she wouldn't have even been considering anything but diving at the man with everything she had.

But Church seemed utterly calm at the situation and sighed, eyes rolling back. "Okay, I'll give you the routing number for the offshore account. For fuck's sake. You should be thanking me for showing you how stupid your security system was–"

The man snarled and held his gun closer to Church. "Stop with the shitty comments."

"Well, I can't comply with both telling you info and not using my witty banter,"he sighed exaggeratedly. "I speak purely in narcissism."

"Alpha!" Tex hissed in warning just before noticing that York was pulling himself up silently from the floor behind the gunman.

"Hey," York said somewhat softly, nearly making the gunman jump out of his skin. "I've always wanted to try this."

York reached forward and brought his hand down hard on the man's neck, making him seize up and drop his gun before falling back. The superhero sidestepped out of the way and allowed the man to hit the floor with a crunch.

In return, the Freelancer just whistled.

"Well," York said, putting his hands on his belt. "I guess you really can learn something from television."

Church's annoyed but collected features changed immediately. What wasn't bruised on his face became a bright red and he dropped his jaw slightly before shaking his head. "You have got to be fucking – York!? What the fuck are you doing here!?" he screeched before looking to Tex accusingly. "You contacted Freelancer!? Tex, you could've handled this no problem! What the fuck–"

Angrily, Tex pointed at herself. "Me? I didn't tip them off. You did. You apparently told every electronic in the city where to come!"

He blinked and sighed before shaking his head. "Goddammit. I thought I was only sending to three locations. You mean I broadcasted everywhere!?"

Tex stared at him. "You're that powerful?"

"I'm fucking amazing," he told her plainly. "But, uh, just so we're clear, the definition of powerful is apparently incredibly subjective." He glared toward York. "And I can just take a fucking guess as to what you're doing here, asshole."

York shrugged innocently. "Oh, come on, Alpha. He was worried about you."

"He's a lying bag of dicks!" Church snapped.

"Yeah, but so are you," York argued. "And the team is still missing a teammate."

"I knew you were here to recruit me," he groaned.

"Well, I was," York replied before eying Tex. "But, I gotta say, you're not exactly the associate I'm impressed with at the moment."

Tex smirked. "Tell us more."

Church's eyes widened slightly and he turned his head from York to Tex and back before erratically shaking it altogether. "No. No no no! Fuck no. York, you shut the fuck up. Tex is not interested in Freelancer. She was barely interested in doing anything but punching people on the street level. In fact that's all she's interested in. She's not going to be tricked by the team's delusions of grandeur."

Shrugging, York smiled easily. "What delusions? And, by the way, Tex, Freelancer? Does a lot of punching. So much punching you wouldn't know what to do with your fists anymore."

"Hmm, very interesting," Tex feigned.

Church narrowed his eyes. "I know what you're doing, Tex. Don't even fakebeing interested. Freelancer will take that and run with it until you're their copyrighted patsy for the next century. I'm serious!"

"Also, Texas as a codename is totally open right now," York said with a smirk. "Oh, and Tex. Do you like sidekicks? We've got your sidekicks. None as awesome as my buddy Delta, but there's this one kid that's a lot of fun to mess with–"

"Tex!" Church's voice hit a note that she wasn't even sure was possible.

"Talk to me some other time," Tex told York. "But it was fun meeting you."

"What can I say, I'm a fun guy," he joked before saluting her and beginning to sink through the floor. "By the way, I think you've got about a minute before the cops come to ask you actually hard questions, Alpha. So. Have fun doing that without Freelancer covering your ass."

"Yeah, whatever. What do you think I've been doing for the past two yearswithout you assholes!?" Church yelled even as nothing of York was left in the building. He ground his teeth. "I cannot stand those fancy costumed douchebaa–AAH, Tex! What the fuck!"

Ignoring him, Tex grabbed the chair Church was strapped to and threw it – andhim – over her shoulder as she began to leave the premises. Her scowl was set without York around to keep her from displaying some real outrage at everything that had happened so far.

"You can untie me and we leave together, you know!" he barked at her as he squirmed uselessly.

"Then I'd have to tie you back up for my interrogation, Alpha," she hissed. "By the way, if you can't tell, I'm pissed."

There was a deep sigh over her shoulder. "I can tell."

"Good," she snapped. "Because that means we can spend our time constructively. Starting with us talking about what that bastard was talking about with stolen money." Her eyes narrowed as she looked over her shoulder. "I have a suspicion that the last bit of you holding up in your apartment hasn't been about me and it hasn't been about rebuilding your bots and it hasn't been video games."

Church scowled but didn't meet her gaze.

"That's what I thought," she snapped before putting him on the back of her bike.

She could see her point was made at least well enough that she broke the binds and the chair before getting onto the bike with him and taking off.

There were the howls of sirens closing in in the distant but neither her nor Church seemed disturbed by it as much as they were the strong agitation that had fallen between them.