The shadow man continued to plague Cooper's dreams for days on end, showing the teen depraved and graphic scenes of that horrid night. He didn't tell anyone about his mind's mystery guest, nobody would believe him anyway; they'd call him crazy and blame it on his trauma. How wrong they were. Every waking moment was spent obsessing over Lucy Mann, he knew her history with the Tennyson family and the Plumbers. But he needed more, Cooper didn't care about her biography; he wanted her location. It felt like he was withering away every second he didn't know where she was. Vengeance took over his conscience and daily life, only thinking about exacting his revenge on the woman.

Allen was beginning to suspect his actions, noticing the blonde would disappear for a few days without telling anyone. Anytime spent with Cooper felt unnatural, finding the blonde day-dreaming in the midst of their conversations. Julie noticed the same thing and assumed it was the death of his mom causing the strange behavior. They never asked about it though, not once, and even if they did… They wouldn't understand. After work, Cooper could be found in his dark lab creating all types of strange technology, the whispering in his head slowly getting louder.

Aye Coop, wanna go to Mr. Smoothie with me and Jules? Cooper read as he glanced down at his phone screen, he ignored the message like the five others Allen sent him over the past week. Didn't they understand?! He didn't have time to play around, he had a mission to complete. Lucy was still out there living her life as if nothing happened. Cooper admitted that he felt sickened to see her come through the portal with them last year. He was the only one to see her sneak away once they returned home but he didn't say so when asked. At that time, Cooper was more worried about his friends than the traitorous bitch. He could kick himself now for being so foolish. After all, she was the reason why he couldn't step foot in his family house again. He had them rebuild it, but he moved out to a small apartment. His mother's house remained untouched and he refused to sell it either, suffering in a small place as he continued to pay off the mortgage. That house was a reminder of what he lost that day.

Cooper soldered the internal wires to the mainframe before welding on the final piece of plating. He was finally complete with his project after weeks of little sleep or social life. An adaptive battle suit made of nanobots and powered by a compact nuclear reactor. A hard-drive that amplified his technokinesis as he fought, reconstructing mid-battle to suit his needs. The nanobots were a bitch to deal with, considering the only person who has a steady knowledge and supply of them is Elena Validus.

A sweet but prideful chuckle echoed throughout the quiet park. The laugh came from a beautiful dark-haired woman and was directed at Cooper's attempt at a smooth one-liner. He lowered his eyes and blushed as he scratched the back of his head, his slight embarrassment kept him silent as the couple went on an after-dinner midnight stroll.

"You expect me to believe that you asked me out on a date because of my big beautiful brain?" Elana pressed as she glanced at the blushing blonde.

"Well great minds think alike and I thought maybe-"

Cooper was never good at flirting, being the awkward nerdy kid all through school and having little to no friends. The only woman that didn't treat him like a freak was Gwen and they were strictly business, even though he wished it different. So talking to this gorgeous ex-villain got him a little riled up, it took everything he had to get into contact and ask her on a date.

"Oh please, spare me the shitty romantic sentiment," Elena fake gagged as she rolled her eyes.

"Well why did you say yes?"

Ah-ha! I got you on the ropes now!

"Hm I don't know… Loneliness… Curiosity…"

"Com'n, that can't be the only reason why," the blonde prodded.

"Well it HAS been a while since a man had enough balls to make the first move."

Probably because you were a fucking villain, lady!

"And my last relationship was one-sided to say the least."

"Ah unreciprocated feelings-"

"I didn't say that, you fucking pr-"

"I know how that feels… When you like someone so much it hurts and they share NONE of that emotion towards you. You try and try every solution possible to understand why, but they just don't like you in the way you like them. And that hurts."

Elena clenched her fist as tears threatened to spill, after all that suffering to make the pain in her heart go away. It came back with a vengeance and clutched it's wicked claws around her heart. To say she liked Ben was an understatement, she LOVED him with all her heart. So much that she was blinded to her actions and any future consequences, she walked along the tightrope and didn't see anyone but Ben waiting on the other side. Not once did she look to her left or right nor up and down, complete and utter tunnel vision.

The black-haired woman felt a hand slip into hers and give it a squeeze of assurance. She looked up to see Cooper with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face. Elena gasped at the warm feeling she felt from the taller blonde. She stared into his bright blue eyes and saw the same broken soul that she saw when looking at her reflection. Suddenly she wanted to share in that pain with him and understand the tragedy that broke him.

"Do you want to go back to my place?" she breathed.

The sex was rough but passionate. Deep growls of relief and soft cries of pleasure as Cooper took her against the wall. They barely made it through the door before the lust took over, hot open-mouthed kisses and wandering hands became the "game". Their clothes ripped off piece by piece and scattered around the room. The couple skipped foreplay, wanting to feel each other before their feelings of euphoria disappeared. Cooper didn't hold back, instantly scooping her up and pinning her up against the wall like a painting; delivering deep strokes into her warm tightness. Elena wrapped her arms and legs around the blonde, digging her nails into his shoulders as he pounded her mercilessly. She threw her head back in ecstasy and cried Cooper's name, biting her lip as she felt every inch of the man underneath her. The dark-haired woman loved every second of it from Cooper entering her for the first time to him cumming inside her. They were both out of breath, gasping and groaning into each other's ears as they came down from their orgasm. Cooper being a virgin came fast and felt the brunt of exhaustion. Elena smirked as she climbed down from her position and grabbed the blonde's hand, she led him to her bedroom and the teen followed without hesitation.

Elena's king-sized bed was where they began their foreplay. Kissing and touching each other's newly exposed skin, leaving hickies wherever they went. She allowed Cooper to explore her body, leading him along her most sensitive areas and showing him the proper way to please her. He learned quickly and used his new moves in practice, giving the woman another high-tier orgasm. Cooper felt himself growing hard and he glanced into the glazed-over eyes of Elena and she immediately knew what was up. Cooper felt his back hit the sheets as Elena slowly straddled him with a confident smirk. She placed her hands on his firm chest as she lowered herself onto his erection.

She's so fucking hot. Cooper felt himself blushing at the ecstatic faces Elena was making as she rode him. Cooper watched her lean in close as they stared into each other's eyes. All the hatred he held suddenly disappeared for a moment, and in that moment, it was replaced by intense love for this girl. They barely knew anything about each other but one look into her eyes and he knew, even a tiny amount of the suffering she experienced. And he knew she felt the same way. The connection they made tonight was something concrete. He traced the scars along her back as she bounced up and down. These scars told a story and he wanted to know every last detail. Her long black hair was blocking parts of her pretty face. He pushed the loose strands behind her ear as he pulled her into a long kiss.

"Fuck baby just like that," Cooper groaned.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and took control, plunging his member into her warmth. Her perfect set of tits jiggling as he thrusted into her core, nothing could beat the feeling that he was experiencing.

"Oh my god, Cooper! That's perfect! Fuck me like that! Don't stop!" Elena moaned over and over again.

They needed this, this hot sex was the final step to forgiving their past love interests. Entangled feelings became one and all their prior love melted into one current love: each other. Their passionate love-making lasted into the early hours of the morning, not wanting to stop this "high" for fear of their old demons coming back to haunt them. This was a night without nightmares or trepidation. Nothing could bother them at the moment.

Cooper slowly opened his eyes to darkness and looked at the night-stand clock, it was five in the morning. He still had a job to do, a reason for him to be here. He could always ask her… No he didn't want to drag her into this mess. The blonde glanced over at the sleeping Elena before sneaking out of bed, and heading into the hallway. He hoped if she noticed his absence, she would think he was in the bathroom or left for the night. Either way, she wouldn't suspect him of ulterior motives. He opened and closed doors in the hallway, looking for any type of basement. He noticed scratches on the wood floor, in front of the book case, and began looking for some type of switch. He flicked a light switch and heard a lock unlatch. How cliche… he slowly pushed the bookshelf out of the way, descending down the dimly lit stairs. There was another lightswitch at the bottom of the stairs, light entered the small lab quickly and he scanned the area in excitement. Mysterious bleakers and colorful liquids bubbled merrily as the boy made his way through the lab. Notes were scribbled on a whiteboard, he couldn't make sense of all the equations. Massive glass tanks filled with subjects and experiments sent a shiver down the blonde's back. His fear quickly turned into joy when he saw his objective trapped in one of those glass tanks. Small objects were floating in mysterious liquid, moving in unison as it swam through the enclosure. Millions of self-replicating supercomputers capable of precise and complicated functions, thinner than a piece of paper and only a few sizes bigger than an atom; these were exactly what he needed to complete the adaptive properties of his suit.

"So that's what you were after," Elena spoke sharply behind the teen.

Cooper almost jumped through the ceiling at her sudden presence and he spun around quickly to face the cross-armed female. Even when she was pissed, she's beautiful… Cooper put his hands up slowly and stepped away from her equipment.

"Would it be so hard to believe I was curious?" Cooper rebuked.

Elena made her way over to Cooper and placed her hand on his chest as she stood on her tippy toes to whisper, "yes it would", into his ear.

She stepped past him and fiddled with some pens and books on her desk.

"So, how long were you planning to gaslight me? One night? A week? Maybe after a few years?"

"Elena, it's not like that," Cooper argued as he glanced at the floor.

"No? Then tell me Cooper what were you doing in my lab at five AM? What was so important that it couldn't wait till later? Or did you plan to take whatever you needed and be out before first light?"

Cooper knew he couldn't bullshit her in any way, she was too smart for that to happen. He needed to make her understand the truth even if it would break her heart. The blonde took a deep breath and peered into her eyes with a sad smile.

"I needed your nanobots to stabilize a project I'm working on."

Cooper didn't want to reveal too much of his plan, but feared that it'd end up happening anyway. Elena asked too many questions to be content with a simple explanation like that.

"So the dinner, sex, and compliments were just a part of the plan. YOUR plan to DECEIVE ME, so you could steal MY tech!" Elena spat with such intensity that Cooper flinched at her words.

"Exactly except…" Cooper stuttered.

"Except?"

"My emotions got in the way. I thought this would be a simple in and out job. You see it in the movies all the time, the boy steals the girl's heart and even when they split, he gets away with two hearts. Win-win situation for me, right? Except you're an amazing woman and I didn't have the balls to pull off the robbery. Now we're in a more awkward situation than me overstaying my welcome in a one-night stand or leaving in the middle of the night."

"Wha-"

"See I'm planning on killing someone. Why? Because she was a direct cause in my mother's murder. And everytime I try to forgive her, I see my mother's lifeless body lying on the floor. Her dead eyes staring up at me in confusion, because her conscience couldn't even grasp that she was dead before she hit the floor. Now I can't even take a step into my family home because it STINKS. No matter how much I scrub those floors and fill the room with different scents. The STENCH of meaningless death still clogs my nostrils and I'm about a millisecond from putting a bullet in my brain because I can't take it anymore."

And there it is, Cooper officially spilled his guts and he finally felt he could breathe properly for the first time in months. He blamed it on his childhood asthma but it seems that his mother's death was weighed more than he thought.

"I wanted your nanobots to bring me a step closer to that goal, but last night made me realize I want the brains behind the operation instead," Cooper spoke softly.

This was a lot to take in for the dark-haired woman, at first she thought he wanted to steal the technology to sell like her other suitors, but his ulterior motives were much deeper than that. She caught him snooping and he still had enough trust in her to confess to conspiracy. That wasn't the mindset of someone who was gaslighting her, Cooper was already losing his grasp on reality and his sanity wasn't far behind.

She giggled quickly to herself before speaking, "it's funny you said that you didn't have enough balls to complete figurative robbery but you're talking about literal murder".

"Trust me, I've run it more times in my head than I can count. She needs to die or I'm not going to make it to next year."

Elena has only seen this kind of desperation before in herself in the battle for her father's acceptance and Ben Tennyson's heart. She walked herself to the edge and glared down at the abyss. She felt her sanity spiraling out of control at every twist and turn, her only comfort being her research. And when those insufferable brats destroyed her lab three years ago, her grasp on reality slipped. People took advantage of her vunerable self and she turned to a life of illegal smuggling to survive. Soon that wasn't enough to calm her distrubed mind and she finally shut herself off from everyone around her and locked herself in this big house. She's been in the pit before and Cooper was heading directly into the depths by the second. Elena couldn't leave him to drown in his own misery.

"What do you need?" Elena stated firmly.