Chapter 29

A Nagging Disaster

. . .

10 hours to deadline expires…

"Alright. You can come inside," Angie said and held the iron door open for the two boys as they could get in to the warehouse. Though Dustin had been against it, she had somehow convinced him to bring Jim with them back to their headquarters. Risky it was to reveal the very hiding place and shield for this group wanted offenders, but on the other hand, they had no other choice. Though Jim was fully conscious by now, his condition was unstable and demanded closer examination and treatment. And going to a doctor was like going straight back into the arms of the police.

"Be careful," Angie said while walked up to turn on the electricity, her nerves still quivering beneath her skin, on top of the resent event.

"Sure thing," Dustin said a little sarcastic, since the matter of being careful with a partly limp boy clutching to his side was rather obvious. "The kid can barely move - Of cause I'm gonna be careful," he said, his voice turning muffled through the motorcycle helmet, that still embraced his face.

Jim roll his eyes at his so-called rescuer's nickname for him, not finding the need to support to him, pleasant. "Will you stop calling me that? I'm no kid - The name is Jim and I can easily walk by myself," he stated in dissatisfaction as he pushed himself out of the elder boy's embrace, completely ignoring his condition. That was mistake.

Dustin could only watch in amusement when the brunette's legs collapsed under him, forcing him to his knees immediately. Luckily for Jim, it was only his arm and part of his side that was entirely paralyzed, but the rest of his right side was too affected by the shot. He had still been very lucky though. Paralyzing pistols were a risky weapon to use since it craved extreme precision to fire correctly. A single wrong move could have big consequences for the target, (unless the attention was to kill that is). A paralyzing of the inner organs was a ticked straight to the hospital, and in the worst case, it could kill the exposed individual.

Jim cursed under his breath while he struggled to get back up standing, but his muscles wouldn't cooperate with him.

"You need any help there buddy?" Dustin asked and folded his arms over his chest, a taunting smirk clearly showing through his voice as he spoke.

"No, I think I can handle acting like a defuse all by myself, thank you," Jim practically spit out, not even trying to hide his contempt towards him.

Dustin, however, did not let that affect him. "You're sure? For you seem a little troubled if you ask me~," he teased as he tilted his head to the side to catch the boy's eyes.

Jim just scowled back up at him. "I did not," he muttered, still squeezing his numb arm once in a while in a pointless try on getting back the feel to it.

Dustin just chuckled at him, not really seeming to plan to help him unless he asked for it. In fact, the boy's struggling entertained him more than it probably should, but since Jim had stated he didn't need any help, then Dustin found no reason to.

Angie, however, was quick to intervene. "Quit being so uncaring Dustin and help him instead," she snapped a little after she had turned on the light in the entire building, revealing its rough and messy appearance as clear as the fluorescent lamps allowed it. Kneeling down to help Jim back up, she held his arm behind her neck to support him.

"What, why are you blaming me? - He said he didn't need my help," Dustin said and raised his hands deprecating beside his head, as if Angie was pointing at him with a pistol.

Angie send him a blaming look while she stood bent to the side a little, because of the extra weight of the limp boy. "He can barely walk and you decide to listen to him when he tells you, he can handle it himself?" she questioned like it was the most senseless thing he could possibly do.

"Hey I'm no doctor - I don't know when to exert first aid," Dustin just said with a shrug and that confident, self-centered toned that signaled he meant the problem was none of his business.

When he turned his back at her to go remove his motorcycle helmet and the rest of his gear, Angie scowled at him. "Why that's reassuring information," she growled to herself but handed up in Jim's limp body anyways. After all, Dustin had a point. It was a selfish and ignorant one of the kind, but it was a point. This problem was not Dustin's it was hers. She had brought Jim back to the headquarters ergo he was her responsibility.

With only a bit of trouble, Angie got the limp boy escorted up to the old sofa and laid him down on his back. "Easy now," she said when he whined in pain and clutched his numb arm.

"Ah! This is ridiculous," he groaned "How become it still hurting when I can't move it? It should be entirely paralyzed shouldn't it?" he questioned with clenched teeth.

"Not exactly," Angie said and sat down on the edge of the sofa, beside him. "The effect of a paralyzing pistol demands on the precision of the aim. The more precisely the shot is fired, the more effective it is. I guess the Commissioner was precise enough to block the connection between your arm and brain that allows you to feel and move it, but missed out on a few nerves. That's why it still hurts," she explained, still having blood running down her neck from the cut Charlie had been so kind to leave her. She didn't mind the stinging wound at that moment though. Neither the abrasions in her palms and face nor her sore muscles. Her mind was elsewhere.

Collecting herself enough to force a reassuring smile, Angie laid a hand on Jim's knee and rubbed it with her thump. "Nothing a few painkillers, a bandage and bit of rest can't handle," she assured, but the shaking breath that was to follow couldn't be hidden. Turning her head away when her smile disappeared, Angie once again became absent, the dull look finding its way back onto her face.

Noticing her state, Jim paused his own need for aid and directed his focus away from his arm. "And what about you?" he questioned, a bit of concern showing through his voice. "You too took a lot of blows out there. More than I did, I believe," he said.

The fact that he even showed worry towards her made Angie raise her gaze in disbelieve. The concern that showed through his eyes was somehow overwhelming, yet she couldn't stop staring at him, as if she intensely searched for something that could prove it wrong. But that she didn't find.

"You're sure you're alright?" Jim asked, never once letting go of her blue-green eyes.

Angie blinked a few times. "Me? Oh no you shouldn't worry 'bout that," she assured with a small smile, just to convince him that she was perfectly fine, though she wasn't. Turning her head away once again, she let out a heavy breath. "I guess… I guess I'm just a little shaken, that's all," she added.

"I understand," Jim said softly, making Angie raise her head to look at him again.

"You do?" she questioned.

"Shure I do. I feel shaken too, y'know," Jim said with a small smile pulling in the corner of his mouth. Somehow that made Angie feel like smiling too, a warm feeling slowly spreading throughout her chest the more he spoke.

"Look, I'm sorry I left you back there," Jim continued. "I should have listened to you about staying together. Perhaps we wouldn't have ended up feeling like two invalided early retirees then~," he teased a little to lighten the mood the best he could. And surprisingly, it worked.

Having a laugh escape her chest, Angie couldn't help but smile despite how miserable they both truly was. Both they were covered in moist dirt and sand, Angie was still dressed in an oversized police uniform and the places one hadn't scratches, the other had bruises. But they were smiling. Both of them were smiling through the exhaustion and fading stress that had filled their vanes with adrenalin just a moment ago.

It was odd how a mood could change depending on the person you shared it with. Angie had never ended up smiling after such an event with Dustin…

Speaking of witch, Dustin interrupted shortly after. "If your done chit-chatting 'bout how thoughtless you both have been, perhaps we could take a look at those injuries of yours?" he suggested, taunting as promised, now carrying an old suitcase that probably should do it for a first aid kid.

"Right. I guess we better," Angie agreed, the smile surprisingly staying on her face still.

Placing the suitcase by the sofa as Angie could look through it, Dustin took off his neck tube with skull markings, that he for some reason had decided to keep on until now.

In fact, Jim would have been perfectly fine, if he would have kept the gear on the entire time, for the sight that met him underneath definitely wasn't what he had expected. What he knew, was that according to Angie, Dustin was a scientist and an expert on his platform. He currently worked on an invention so marvelous that it had to remain secret, even from his own assistant. From what Jim had seen in the collection of nick-knacks and straight up junk him and Angie had collected so far, he had expected to meet a man with an appearance just as abnormal and crocked, as his brain apparently was. But this. This was the total opposite!

First of all, Dustin was young. In fact his entire appearance signaled nothing even nearing a scientist. If Jim didn't knew better, he would have stamped him to be the offspring of a biker gang leader and a rock'n roll guitarist. Not to mention his smartass attitude! In fact, Jim was more than certain that he was up to no good, just by glancing at him a single time. Scientist or not, he definitely didn't like this guy. "So what'cha saying kiddo? Should we take a look at that arm of yours?" Dustin asked and roll up the sleeves of his sweater.

Jim let his eyebrows form winkles on his forehead in suspicion, when he caught sight of the guy's apparently glowing eyes. However, though they made several thoughts and questions appear inside his head, he didn't dare to mention it. "I thought you didn't know how to first aid?" he said instead, not downright feeling safe about the saturation if that was the case.

Dustin just shrugged. "I guess I can manage to bandage your arm without further experience. Shouldn't take that much effort though~," He said with a smirk and kneeled down by the sofa side to get in eye-height with Jim. Even up close it still looked as if his eyes were glowing. It creeped Jim out the same way as if he had been looking in the eyes of a giant spider.

"I got the bandage here," Angie said when she finally found the roll in the mess inside the suitcase, and handed it to Dustin. "It's the only roll we have left so don't splurge it," she said while searching through the suitcase to find some cleaners and patches for her own injures.

"Sure thing," Dustin said, but had to pause himself when a coughing fit hit him out of thin air. Jim could only watch while the young man practically cocked on the plain air he breathed in, as if his lungs couldn't sort the dust from the oxygen.

"Are you hanging in there Dustin?" Angie asked a little concerned when the coughing fit continued a little longer than she had expected.

Coughing on, Dustin nodded his head and waved his hand at her to signal he had everything under control. "Yeah I'm- *cough* I'm fine- *cough, cough* just a little coughing, that's all," he assured, but had to sit all the way down on the floor while holding his chest, as if it hurt to force so much air to leave his lungs. "But can you turn up the furnace? *cough, cough* the temperature is freezing in here," he said and pressed his neck tube against his neck more, as if he hoped that would stop the coughing.

"Yes Sir~," Angie said and saluted teasingly. "Just don't chock on your own tongue while I'm gone~," she continued to tease, making Dustin roll his eyes at her. Fortunately, for her, he was too busy coughing to come with a comeback.

Following Angie with his eyes, Jim ended up letting his gaze wander around the building, taking in the impressions he was met by. The more he saw and thought about it, the less he thought of a scientist's laboratory. In fact, there was nothing but a giant set of computer screens and overfilled bulletin boards to give the feeling of a working space.

"So?.. This is your working station I suppose?" Jim said when Dustin coughing had settled down a little, still skeptical about the whole thing.

"More or less," Dustin muttered and cleared his throat while rubbing his now sore chest. "Exactly how much have Angie told you about the whole thing?" he then questioned as he directed his glowing gaze towards Jim. Now it was his turn to frown in suspicion. It made Jim question himself how much he should allow this guy to know.

"Not much," he said, making sure not to let Dustin's gaze change his radiation of confidence. "She only briefly told me about your work,"

"Good," Dustin nodded his head a single time, though his expression didn't change a tad by being possession of that information. It was as if he could tell Jim was lying one way or another. Jim wasn't even sure of what Angie had told him was the truth either way.

Both boys raised their heads when Angie again walked up to them. "All finished. That should keep the old furnace going for a good while," she said and dusted her hands off against each other, already forgetting the abrasions in her palms.

"Thank the Gods," Dustin said and wrapped his arms around himself. "One should think the entire thing had been shut down for d-decades," he said, now shivering as if he sat in the middle of a snowstorm. All of a sudden, his teeth were clacking and every muscle in his body seemed to frantically try to warm him back up.

"Dear Heavens - Dustin you tremble like an aspen leaf!" Angie exclaimed and fell to her knees beside him, when noticing his condition. Moving away his hair as she could feel his forehead, the concern in her eyes only shined more through at the result. "Dustin you're burning up! Why didn't you tell me you wasn't feeling well?" she questioned in a blaming tone.

Despite the clear symptoms for the opposite, Dustin smirked back at her as if nothing was wrong. "What? No. I'm perfectly fine- *coughing* It's just a little cold in here, that's all," he said, but Angie was no way near convinced. "Here, *cough* help me up will ya'? - I doubt sitting on the cold floor makes it any better," he said, holding one hand on his chest while he reached out for Angie's hand.

Angie was quick to support him on his way up from the floor, but didn't let go of him when he was standing. "You need to rest Dustin - I think you've got yourself a really bad cold," she said and rubbed his back. When Dustin didn't deny her statement and just held his arms around his trembling self, Angie knew she was right.

Dustin was rarely sick - Despite the lag of sunlight he seemed to get, his immune system was in top form. At least, it used to be. Though she didn't like to think about it, Angie had noticed that it had been slacking more and more, lately. Over the past years, Dustin seemed more likely to feel cold, even when the temperature was steady. His skin had been oddly sensitive against UV radiation and he often appeared exhausted, even though he hadn't been doing any demanding physical activity. Still he obstinate refused to visit a doctor. Then Angie must perform as doctor instead.

"Here, take this and sit down a little," the redhead said and wrapped a blanket around Dustin's shoulders before following him to the sofa. When he had settled down in one corner, Angie moved to the other to help Jim with his arm. "You two really are a couple cry-babies when it comes to illness~," she said with a shake of her head, while she bandaged Jim's arm and arranged a sling across his shoulder.

"Talk for Mr. Coughing fit over there - I'm perfectly fine," Jim assured, but gritted his teeth when another wave of pain cursed through his arm.

"Sure you are~," Angie said with a smirk and began to search through the suitcase to find some patches for herself. Cleaning up the scratches, Angie wrapped both her hands up with the rest of the bandage and covered up the cut on her neck with a few patches, as she wouldn't bleed on her shirt more.

"Are you sure you don't need any help with those wounds of yours?" Jim asked, though there was limits for how much he could do with his whole left side out of function.

Angie just politely shook her head. "Thank you, but I think I can handle acting like a defuse all by myself~," she quoted from him earlier with a confident smile, that made him believe she was able to handle it herself.

"You forget we're professionals, kiddo," Dustin supplied, his coughing unfortunately for Jim, allowing him to speak again. "Opposite to some others, we know how to take care of ourselves," he said, now resting his elbows on his knees while rubbing his chest.

Jim just frowned back at him "And exactly how does the work of science make you professional at physical self-help?" he asked, suspicious as it now began to be familiar when he talked to Dustin.

"Science?" Dustin questioned, but didn't reach to dig deeper into the statement before Angie spoke up.

"Uh we usually speak of it as 'Mechanical and Astronomic Knowledge' or 'MAK' rather than just science, since that specifies what it is. Heh. Right Dustin?" She said and glanced back at Dustin with a lipped smile. Though her words were convincing, she needed him to play along if they should keep their real identities hidden.

Dustin raised a brow when she cleared her throat at him while making a toss of her head, clearly wanting him to support her statement. "Oh. Right. That mechanic-… Astro-… Knowing-thingy - that's what we do~ Couldn't have said it any better myself," he said with a confident smirk that made Angie hide her face in her hand. Yet it seemed as if Jim believed in what they told him. At least so far…

"'MAK' huh? So what's your job including exactly? Any specialties within mechanism and astronomy?" Jim asked, now sounding a lot more curious as he sat up more.

"Now when you mention it~," Dustin smirked and let the blanket fall from his shoulders when he stood up. "Come with me kiddo, then you'll see," he said confidently and walked up the iron stairs to the platform floor.

When Jim stood up a little troubled to follow behind him, Angie sat back for a moment, not really sure if what Dustin had in mind was a good idea. But on the other hand, when had she ever had any idea at all of what Dustin had in mind?

With a bit of skepticism nagging in the back of her head, Angie followed the two boys up the stairs, making sure to be there if any of them should feel ill once again.

"Woah," Jim's eyes widened in impression when he suddenly stood just in front of the giant computer, he had seen from downstairs. Now when he was up close, he could really feel how massive the whole construction was.

Several smaller screens was securely attached to one big 2x3 meter large screen in the middle, with tall speakers on each side and a typewriter keyboard with so many buttons, that it filled out most of the space on the desk. The amount of cables that was committed to this machine was overwhelming, yet it seemed as if there was some kind of system in the mess.

The computer itself was a box matching the screens in size and homemade construction, and was located bellow the table, where it laid like a looming monster in a cave. All in all, this was every techno-fan's dream! And even though Jim found the vessel part of mechanisms more appealing, he couldn't help but let himself fascinate by the construction.

Dustin glanced over his shoulder only to smirk back at him when he recognized the amazement in the young man's eyes. "You like what you see Jim?" he questioned, for once getting his name right instead of just pronouncing him as 'kid'.

That, however, seemed to pass Jim completely since he was too busy taking in the impressions of the massive computer. "Like it? This is marvelous! There's parts from every aspect of the Empire here. How have you managed to collect all that?!" he asked, already taking a closer look at the giant collection of composited screens.

"Eh, it's really not that big of a deal," Dustin said with his arms crossed, the smirk never leaving his face. "'Guess you're putting more into those parts than healthy is~ It's just an old data-machine after all,"

"Old?!" Jim exclaimed in disbelieve, barely daring to take his eyes off the construction. "Dude, this can impossibly be more than a few years of age. I mean, just look at the condition of these screens!" he said with a fascinated smile,

"I replace them regularly though," Dustin said. "It's eh… Kinda necessary in this business," he said as he leaned back against the railing of the platform, sending Angie an allusive look of confidence.

Angie just threw her eyes down, knowing he either alluded to her being aggressive or himself being aggressive. Usually it took both of them to actually destroy anything in the warehouse, but it wasn't unusual that it happened when they were on her own.

Besides, she had a bad feeling that Dustin thought of something else. Something that most certainly involved Jim. She had seen that look of determination only once before and that was nearly four years ago. It made her stomach twist in discomfort.

"So what is this even for?" Jim interrupted her train of thoughts. "I mean, such capacity this may hold can't just be used for regular storage," Jim said, barely able to stop smiling in curiosity. Apparently, he had forgot everything about being suspicious towards it all, though according to Angie, this was the perfect time for him to act skeptical.

"Why, I'm glad you're asking," Dustin said and pushed himself off the railing. "It is so, that the harddisk of this computer contains a storage of several coordinates of Interstellar objects throughout the galaxy," he explained as he walked up and turned on the computer, cursing a map stretching across each of the many screens, to unfold immediately. "The kind of technology you find within this machine allow us to communicate with specially designed probes, carefully spread and located at certain points across the galaxy," he explained and pressed a button, making a holographic mapping in blue light appear like a transparent globe. With a diameter on 3 meters, the globe easily engulfed all three of them, allowing them to stand in the holographic center of the universe itself.

Angie could only watch in skepticism while one solar system after the other, showed up with each their own set of longitudes and latitudes, all the way around them.

The glowing nanobots reflected in her eyes and showered the room in blue light.

Even though Jim had seen something like before in the map to Treasure Planet, he still watched with huge fascination, not able to keep himself from smiling. "Unbelievable," he said with a shake of his head. "This map - these coordinates - there's more details and precision on this than I've ever seen in any other astronomic mapping! How have you even managed to collect that information?!" he asked, barely able to keep his arms down in excitement.

"Well it's a kind of difficult process, seeing as how massive an area that is in need to be mapped," Dustin said and stepped up beside Jim, watching the map while it continuously cleared up around them. "The probes has been located in each coroner of the galaxy, at least as far as possible. The gas planets Gabaross and Lawah was quite a problem since they're as far as you can get in the North and North-East part, but we found a solution by settling down on their moons instead," he explained, actually sounding surprisingly professional and sure in his statements.

"Wait, so how many probes do you have out there right now?" Jim questioned, already finding it more and more difficult to understand the massive extent of this project.

"Along with the failures too? I don't know. 20 maybe 30," Dustin said with a shrug.

"Hundred?" Jim suggested.

"Thousand," Dustin corrected, making Jim's eyes open wide in surprise.

"30.000 probes for one mission?!" Jim exclaimed in disbelieve, only receiving an assuring nod from Dustin, who didn't seem to let the number startle him.

"It's a huge world we live in, kiddo. A world worth knowing every single corner of," Dustin said with such seriousness that one should think he would eradicate everyone that disagreed.

Angie couldn't help but remain skeptical towards the project, Dustin apparently was deeply committed to in all honesty. This was not just a fake identity - this was an actual project! A project which only bits had been revealed to her so far and that had only been mappings from the closest areas. Never in her wildest fantasy had she imagined it to be this huge!

To be truthful to herself, the more Dustin loaded the more Angie began to question what he actually used all that information for. Hell, she knew he wasn't an astronomic scientist for real! Had he been, this would make a lot more sense. Dustin was the delighted owner of a tortuous brain indeed, but this... This just didn't fit in anywhere!

Let his finger brush across a planet, Dustin allowed them all to see each and every destination of the probes, when several planets began to glow red.

"When we finally gained contact to the probes, we were able to create a sort of communication network between them and the satellites we had in orbit between the areas," he continued to explain to Jim, who was practically hypnotized of fascination. "That allowed us to scan parts of the galaxy that have yet to come in touch with the Cooperating Galactic Empire," Dustin said certainly, as if he was giving a lecture to the Galactic Counsel itself.

"Incredible," Jim said overwhelmed by plain fascination. "Isn't it incredible Angie?" he then asked and bumped his elbow into Angie's side, his eyes sparkling of wonder when she looked up at him.

"Incredible is not the word," Angie just muttered with her arms crossed, not liking where it all was going. According to her, Dustin was out of his depth. This was information not even she knew about and he was rambling on about it to, what to him, was a complete stranger! She just couldn't find any sense in it.

"So how long has this project been along the way?" Jim questioned. "I mean, such huge mapping must have taken quite a long time to collect. Especially for one person alone,"

Dustin just shrugged like it was no big deal. "I few decades I believe," he said.

"Decades?!" Jim exclaimed surprised. He wasn't sure of what he had expected to hear really, but the answer somehow astonished him. "How old are you?" he asked almost terrified that the number would startle him further.

Dustin, however, just laughed at him. "Don't you worry kiddo, I'm no wandering antiquity~," he teased a little. "But though the years in charge of this project, taken from my nineteen years of age ain't much, I've managed to push the whole thing quite a long way," he said with his hands in the pockets of his pants, just beholding the many blue lights around them for a moment.

"Just across the past five years, we have discovered celestial objects which it would have taken decades for an average astrophysicist to find," he said, the two boys now almost having the same look of amazement in their eyes. "We have been mapping solar systems, planetary orbits, asteroid belts, supernovas, double stars, black holes, cosmic clouds Etcetera," he enumerated while he wandered about the inner side of the globe, almost able to point out every single object he mentioned, by hand.

"Every possible objective has been reported and included in the whole. Every object except one," Dustin said now dead serious once again as he let his finger brush across a number separate from every other, cursing a holographic picture to appear between himself and Jim and Angie. "The comet Omnia," he said when the picture of the marvelous comet with the glowing dust tail appeared.

"The Gods' Comet?" Jim asked with a frown of confusion that matched Angie's quite a lot.

"More like the biggest pain in the ass I'll ever come across," Dustin corrected with a bit of contempt in his voice, as if he had a repressed hate towards the comet itself. "Building a computer to communicate with 30.000 probes across the galaxy is one thing - keeping them maintained is tricky, but reporting the orbit of that devil's comet is more difficult than anything!" he almost spit out, his knuckles turning white when he pointed at the picture. "No matter how hard I try to track it down by the scanners and figure out it's path, it somehow always manages to sneak around every single one of the probes. And even though I catch it on camera, the destinations doesn't make any sense," he said and trailed his finger across a few of the nanobots, as red, dotted lines could be seen forming several oval circles around them. "Every other comet I've mapped follows the same path all the time, but this one appears to be changing direction independently of the gravitational field around other objects," Dustin said in annoyance. "And on top of all that, it even seems to disturb the connection between the probes if it comes nearby. As if there is a field of-.. Something, that prevents the signals to get through,"

"Wait. That comet should be passing Montressor tonight, right?" Jim asked, suddenly remembering something.

"That's what my probes are telling me," Dustin said and began turning off the map. "But as I said, the comet is a pain and has fooled even the Royal Observatory several times,"

"Oh blast it - I forgot I've promised Doc to help along with the telescope gear for that gazing," Jim said and rushed down the stairs to get his jacket, already feeling the stress pound through his body.

"Wait, Jim! Your arm is still paralyzed - you can't go out alone like this," Angie said concerned, quickly following him down the stairs though her sore muscles complained.

"I have to go - He's been planning this for months - I can't just let him down," Jim said apologizing, only able to get one arm through the jacket sleeve, making the other hang over his shoulder. "Thank you for consecrating me in your project Doctor - I hope it succeeds for you," he then spoke towards Dustin as he politely shook his hand.

"My pleasure~," Dustin smirked back at him doing the handshake, before laying his arms across his chest with a devious glow in his eyes.

Just before Jim was about to rush towards the exit, Angie grabbed his good arm to stop him. "Jim wait! I won't allow you to go out there by yourself in that condition - your muscles can still go into spasm," she said certainly, not allowing him to go that easily.

"But I live in the other end of town and there's a lightning storm coming up," Jim said, still able to hear the thunder grow stronger outside. "If I don't go now, who knows if I'll be home before tomorrow?"

Angie thought for a short bit before frowning certainly. "Then I am coming with you - I'll follow you home," she said, letting him know it was no discussion, just by the look in her eyes.

Fortunately, Jim didn't seem to have anything against her coming along. "Alright, but we need to hurry. It's not nice to get caught in a storm like this one," he said.

"I'll go get my jacket," Angie said, letting go of Jim as he could wait outside.

As soon as the young man had closed the door, Dustin let the smirk spread across his face while he rubbed his chin like another supervillain. "Nice kid~ Were did you even pick him up?" he questioned back at Angie while she took on her jacket.

"Does it even matter? He's the reason you got all the stuff you needed in time - there's nothing more to know of interest for you," Angie said almost hostile towards him.

"Don't be so sure," Dustin just said, never once letting the determined smirk leave his face. Turning his gaze back at the door, he spoke ahead a little more commanding. "The boy knows the local astrophysicist - the owner of the only observatory with a telescope more functional than ours. I already know were it is located, but I have yet to figure how many people we are actually dealing with and how to remove them. You think you can handle that?" he questioned, though he had practically already assigned her the job.

Angie felt her blood freeze in her vanes for a second when she realized what Dustin was up to. "Wait, you want to use the observatory?" she asked in disbelieve, just staring shocked back at Dustin.

"I want to use the telescope, but since that's were it's located then yes I want to use the observatory," Dustin said like it was public business to remove people from their homes for one's own good.

Now Angie couldn't hold back the nagging frustration any longer. "But you can't just force people out of their homes like that just because you can't effort a prober observatory yourself - that's violation!"

"Everything we do is violation!" Dustin snapped back at her, now leaning in over her like he always did when he was unsatisfied with her behavior. "If you haven't noticed yet then let me put this straight to you. We are criminals. We've already pissed off every crime fighter within this corrupted Empire so we might as well finish the job we've begun!" he spit out through his gritted teeth, only receiving an angry scowl from Angie's side. "Now asking for these people you currently seem to have attached to, removing them from the observatory won't be a violation if they choose to leave by themselves, and that is your responsibility. You wanted me to acknowledge your skills - Now you got the chance to prove I wasn't foolish to allow you this chance," he hissed, his glowing eyes cutting sharply through Angie's and securing themselves there like clutching hooks.

Angie held Dustin's gaze just as intensely as he held hers, her fists longing for the impact with his face, though she knew that wasn't the solution. There was no solution. She had somewhat brought herself into this, but now on the border of success or disaster one way or another, she doubted more in her own judgement than ever. This was not how she had expected to feel at the very moment of promotion. It was terrible.

With overall clenched tension in his body, Dustin spoke up dead seriously, the fury smoldering just below the surface. "Either you make that family leave the observatory by themselves, or I will personally force them with whatever that will take," he spoke low and with no signs of doubt to find anywhere. "Am I making myself clear, Fireball?" he almost spit out her nickname, his eyes locked on hers so close, that they could see each other's reflection in the other's eyes.

Angie gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw began to hurt and she could feel the tension in her tendons all the way down to her shoulders. However, despite all her doubt - all the frustration and hate towards Dustin and herself that ran through her body, she opened her mouth and spoke succinct and certainly.

"Transparently…"

. . .