Hey guys! Thanks so much for the favorites and the follows and the reviews so far! I planned to have this out Friday, but I wanted to do some extra tweaking to the story, which I'm glad I did. I hope you don't mind that i'll be switching between using both Emelia and her nickname Emma a lot. I like to think Emelia is her formal name, but she prefers to go by Emma. Anyway, I hope you enjoy part two!

-Blink

~~~Baker Beach~~~

Emelia sat on a bench at Baker Beach, in silence. She had her flip phone in her hands, twirling it around on the table, mesmerized by the movements and the sound it made. She felt someone walking passed her and noticed it was Sitara right as she sat down. They both sat in silence as Sitara grabbed Emelia's phone out of her hands. Both eyes watched as Sitara took the back of the phone off to inspect the inside. Sitara set the phone off to the side of the table and pulled out her own phone. Emelia slouched down even further, resisting the urge to sigh. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath since she got to the beach. She eyed Sitara's fingers moving around on her touchscreen, like she's done this multiple times before. Suddenly, Sitara held the phone out inches away from Emelia's face and stared at the screen for a few moments.

Sitara set her phone down and smiled at Emelia, "Well your phone wasn't bugged… but you were."

Emelia's eyes widened, unable to find the words to respond with right away, "I… I was bugged," She stated more than asked.

"He put a tracking beacon behind your ear," Sitara said causing Emma to immediately reach behind her ears. She felt a bump behind her right ear. Something she should have probably noticed before, maybe if she were looking for it.

"That… psycho," Emma said defeated.

"That explains how he knew about our meeting. He tracked you here and probably hacked a nearby phone to listen in to our conversation," Sitara explained, "I scrambled the signal. He'll be getting data sent to him, but it won't be your movements."

"But I texted you that I was coming here. Do you think he knows we're here now?" Emma asked.

"Maybe, but good thing no one's around that he can use to eavesdrop," Sitara said looking around.

Emma followed Sitara's eyes and chuckled, "Guess you're right. So I don't have to worry about him tracking me?" Emma asked to reassure.

Sitara nodded, "You should probably move in with a friend he doesn't know though. At least we can get your lab set up."

Emelia didn't want to explain to Sitara that she didn't have any friends. She had her Silicon Prints coworkers, and they would happily go on lunches together, but certainly not friendly enough to live together. The job itself may have also been compromised. She couldn't afford to wait.

"What are you thinking?" Sitara asked.

"I'm not really sure what I can do… Is there an ETA on the lab?" Emma asked.

"Marcus will get your ctOS profile deleted and locked tonight. After that, it's just a matter of finding a place and getting materials." Sitara answered.

Emma sighed, "It's just that… I don't really have a place to stay."

"Do you have a bank account?" Sitara asked.

"Not since Owen. My job paid me under the table, and well, I guess I don't have that anymore." Emma leaned her elbows on the table and rubbed her eyes with her hands. There was a moment of silence of Sitara clearly thinking. "Well thanks, Sitara, I'm going to -"

"Wait!" Sitara interrupted Emelia, "We usually talk about this is as a group, but well… Fuck it. You can come hang out at our place for a bit until we figure something out."

Emelia sat back down, "I wouldn't want to intrude, let alone piss off one of your friends."

"Nahh, Marcus has done the same thing. Plus you've already agreed to work with us. So you're technically already part of the group!"

"You mean Dedsec, don't you?" Emma asked.

"We go there, but -" Sitara began.

"Sitara, we agreed I'm an ally… not a member. I'm not Dedsec." Emma said staring down at the table hard, playing with her nails.

Sitara placed her hand on Emma's, "You're safe there. Owen won't be able to get you. Dedsec or not."

Emma closed her eyes. She knew she wanted to go. She'd be safer in a group of Dedsec members than by herself. "You got a couch or something I can take a nap on?" Emma smirked.

~~~Hackerspace~~~

Emma wore makeshift dark glasses with electrical tape on the lenses that made sure she couldn't see through. Sitara was leading her through Gary's Games & Glory, and to the backroom that led to the hackerspace. Even though Sitara trusted Emma, she still wanted to follow rules set by herself and Dedsec. She can't know where the hackerspace is, not just yet.

"Welcome to the hackerspace. Make yourself at home." Sitara said taking off Emma's glasses.

"Wow" Emma whispered as she took in the sight in front of her. Graffiti, tech, posters, tv's and monitors everywhere… this really was a 'hackerspace' as they called it. She kept moving her focus and the place didn't seem to end. Her eyes settled on someone wearing a green hoodie and it finally settled in her brain that she was in Dedsec territory. Her face got warm.

Sitara startled her by placing a hand on her shoulder and led her to the man in the green hoodie, "Come meet Josh! Josh, this is my friend Emma."

Josh turned over his shoulder and held up his hand slightly, "Hey," He said before turning back to typing away at his keyboard.

"She's gonna be staying here for a bit." Sitara explained.

"Okay," Josh simply said.

Emma frowned. He didn't seem angry, just uninterested. Maybe he was mad and just good at hiding it. Emma started to rethink her situation.

"He's a man of a few words, but he's a sweetheart you'll love him," Sitara explained. Emma stared at Josh's screen, letting the feeling set in… After everything that led up to this moment, seeing a Dedsec member do their typical Dedsec work right in front of her. She was now a part of Dedsec whether she wanted to admit it or not, and it was too late to turn back. Owen made sure of that. "Emma?" Sitara asked breaking her concentration. Emma turned and went back to the graffiti wall, where Sitara was.

"You going to be okay here? I have to head out for a bit, but you're free to nap on the couch. Josh won't bother you, but he's around if you need something. No one else should be here for a few hours." Sitara explained.

"How many more come around here?" Emma asked.

"Five. Me, Marcus, Josh. You'll meet Wrench and Ray later I'm sure," Sitara said messing with the printing machine in front of her.

Emma nodded. She wrapped her arms around herself staring at the couch, enticing her, even though the adrenaline tried to battle it.

Sitara pulled the sheet that printed out and grabbed a can of what looked like paint, "Just relax for a bit, when I come back, we can talk business. Alright?" She said using her free hand to touch Emma on the shoulder. Emma nodded and watched her walk upstairs. She turned her attention back to the couch and walked over to it, looking at the technology and tools that were laying about on the way.

She let her body fall on the couch, not minding how uncomfortable it was. She felt safe, which was better. She looked at her phone. 12:14pm. She didn't know how much time she had to nap, but it was better than nothing. Before she could drift off, she felt movement around her. Opening her eyes, she saw Josh holding a blanket up to her.

"Here's a blanket," Josh said.

Emma smiled, "Thank you, Josh," She said grabbing the blanket from him. Maybe he was a sweetheart. Josh didn't say anything as he walked back to his station, letting Emma finally drift off.

~~~Hackerspace ~~~ A couple hours later~~~

The doors to the Hackerspace opened, letting an angry Wrench and an irritated Ray walk in to head downstairs. Wrench was carrying a medium sized cardboard box while Ray let his arms swing loose, looking defeated from his earlier escapades with Wrench.

"He fucking knew we wanted it, he was hiding it!" Wrench said, clearly frustrated.

"Calm down, he wasn't hiding anything. You were making him uncomfortable." Ray said in a tired, bored tone.

"Oh he was uncomfortable? It's called being assertive. You don't get what you want by bending over in front of everyone." Wrench said letting the box fall on the counter with a thud.

"And you don't barter with a guy by forcing him to bend over." Ray quickly responded, slowly getting more irritated.

Josh got out of his seat and walked over to the two, "Quiet, you're going to wake up Emma," Josh said in a hushed tone.

Wrench paused his angry rant to look at Josh with a confusion expression on his mask, "Who the fuck is Emma?" He asked.

That was her queue. Emma sat up and peeked over the back of the couch, leaning her arms on it, raising a hand up, "I'm Emma…" She said with a tired smile.

Wrench and Ray turned their attention to Emma. He looked between her and Josh, "Josh, buddy!" He said putting his hand on Josh's shoulder, only for him to shrug it off. "Does Sitara know she's here?"

"Sitara is the one that brought me here," Emma said irritated at Wrench's implication.

Ray's gaze remained on Emma the instant he saw her. He recognized her, somewhere, but couldn't put his finger on it. Emma made eye contact with him and quickly turned away, uncomfortable with the tension.

"Oh look the gang's all here!" Sitara said coming down the stairs, Marcus following behind her, "I see you two met Emma. She's the chemist I told you about. This idiot is Wrench; Hawaiian shirt over there is Ray."

Wrench's mask lit up, "Wait, chemist? Marcus?" He asked quietly, but still loud enough for everyone to hear.

Marcus nodded, "Haha yup!"

Wrench quickly walked over to the back of the couch Emma was now kneeling on, "What's this about an ice dart?" He asked enthusiastically, causing Emma to pull back a bit.

Sitara sighed, "I told you to keep on the down low. We don't want to overwhelm her!"

Emma glared at Sitara anyway, "Did you tell everyone about that?"

Sitara shrugged, "Nerds are easy to please. You two get that part you wanted?"

Wrench backed off from the couch, giving Emma time to stand up and straighten her clothes from sleeping. She scanned him as he was talking. At first it was with disdain; annoyed with him already and not liking the way he invaded her personal space without knowing her. He was very animated, despite the grunge look he had going on. Her eyes paid attention to his mask changing expressions, wondering how it worked, although she knew better than to ask questions about a hacker. He was thin, she noted, but perhaps in an athletic way. Then again, most people were thin compared to Owen. Owen was built, going to the gym 3-4 times a week. Marcus was smaller than him, even, and he looked very athletic. "No, fuckface at the junkyard wouldn't let us in. I know it's there, he just doesn't want me to have it!" Wrench continued.

"That's not it," Ray once again shut down Wrench's complaints.

"You don't know!" Ray said pointing at Ray.

"How are you so sure?!" Ray asked.

"Hey, hey, hey," Marcus interrupted them. Wrench and Ray started off at the wrong foot months ago, but eventually became quick friends. However, their personalities clash enough for them to always get into heated arguments occasionally, "We'll try again, or find another junkyard."

"There isn't another junkyard! Well, there is, but it's all… actual junk! This guy has the Holy Grail of "junk"" Wrench said.

"And we'll get it, but next time let me do the talking," Ray said sounding more annoyed than anything. He didn't want to go back for a third time if Wrench was going to talk out of his ass again, Ray thought.

Marcus walked over to Emma as Wrench and Ray moved on to discuss their own next plan of action. "Emma, ready to see MY magic?" Marcus asked bringing out his laptop and sitting on the table.

Emma scoffed, "Chemistry is hardly magic. Neither is technology, it's all - " Emma began as Marcus gave her a smirk and raised eyebrow shutting her up, "Right… "magic"… proceed," She said and sat down next to him. Marcus started typing away at his laptop, narrating everything he's doing for Emma to follow.

Ray walked over to Sitara, "So uh… What's her deal?" He asked.

Sitara smirked and put her hands on her hips, "Isn't she a little young for you?"

"Har. Har. She looks familiar... And I don't have a good feeling about it. You two were friends?" Ray asked, carefully studying Sitara's face for a response.

Sitara rolled her eyes and made sure not to make eye contact with Ray again, "She's my old chemist friend Emelia. Nothing more."

Ray nodded once, "I'll take your word for it. After all, we're not supposed to lie to each other. Right?" He asked, still studying her face, baiting her to make eye contact.

Sitara finally looked back at Ray with a slight glare, "I'm going to go do some work. Maybe you should, too." She said and walked away.

"And there you are," Marcus said bringing up Emma's profile.

Emma leaned in closer muttering her info, "Illegal practice my ass...theft... Armed Robbery?" She exclaimed. "I've never held a gun before. Er… a real gun," She said remembering her projects with airsoft guns.

"Owen could have easily gotten a shot of you holding an airsoft gun to add that to your record. Doesn't take much," Marcus said.

"Who's Owen?" Wrench asked as he strolled up out of curiosity.

Emma ignored the question, "He's going to notice you deleting this right? Can't he just change it like we are now?"

"He won't notice unless he checks to see if you have a profile. Which shouldn't be often, unless he's that paranoid," Marcus said.

Emma slouched back in her seat and sighed, "He's that paranoid…He put a tracker in me," Emma said reaching up to her ear where it sat.

"A tracker!?" Marcus said before everyone was about to get heated

"Sitara disabled it!" She said quickly, noticing everyone's discomfort, "Sorry I probably should have led with that. But I didn't even know about it until she did it."

"What reason did he have to put a tracker in you? Also, who's Owen?" Wrench asked again.

"The guy who framed her, man," Marcus said, knowing Sitara already told Wrench.

"Oh, that! Yeah, I was totally paying attention" Wrench said not very sincere.

"He's a psycho. That's all you really need to know," Emma said feeling uncomfortable.

"I disagree," Ray interrupted, "If we're all putting our asses on the line, you owe us the full story."

"Ray," Marcus asked for him to keep it down.

"I'm sorry, and who are you?" Emma asked with an eyebrow twitch. She noticed the way he glared at her the instant they met. She didn't know anything to him, and didn't appreciate the distrust he immediately decided he was going to feel.

Marcus looked back at Emma surprised. He's so far only seen her act shy and timid and wasn't expecting her to defend herself against Ray. Wrench, on the other hand, was beaming on the inside to see anyone stand up to Ray, even if they were friends.

"You don't get to come into our home and start asking questions, sweetheart." Ray said.

"Your seniority doesn't give you the excuse to not have manners. You don't know anything about me," Emma responded.

"That's precisely the problem. So why don't you share with the class?" Ray offered, turning a chair around to sit, leaning his arms on the back.

"Guys - " Marcus tried to reason, not wanting Emma to feel uncomfortable. He was tired of being the mediator all the time. First with Wrench and Ray, now with Ray and Emma. Wrench quickly shushed Marcus, putting his hand on his shoulder, still entertained by the sight in front of him.

"How about my crazy stalker ex-boyfriend has been successfully ruining my life for over a year and Sitara is the only person I can trust to get me out of this. Your turn," Emma offered.

"Wait, wait, wait," Wrench said walking up next to Ray, "Allow me to introduce to you… Raymond! Kenney!" He said with a gameshow host voice.

"And that's supposed to mean something to me?" Emma said crossing her arms.

Wrench busted out laughing, holding his stomach and he doubled over, "That can only get you so far, old man!" Wrench said through his laughter. Finally, someone who didn't know who the Legendary Raymond Kenney was.

Emma was taken aback by his outburst and Ray was clearly annoyed, "Laugh it up! You still don't have that part you've been trying to get for weeks!"

Wrench slowed his laughter and shrugged off Ray's comment, "Eh, you win some you lose some."

"Are you guys done?" Marcus asked.

"For now," Wrench winked and tapped Ray on the shoulder. Never took too long to get over their spats. He walked back over to his station and began organizing a pile of chips and wires.

"I need to get more beer," Ray said and started heading upstairs.

"We don't have enough here?" Marcus asked.

"You try spending a whole day with Wrench and ask me that again," Ray finished as he left.

Marcus chuckled and shook his head, "Big moment. Ready Emma?" Marcus asked.

"Ready," Emma smiled.

Marcus turned the laptop over to Emma, "Would you like to do the honors?"

She looked at the screen to see her profile, hopefully for the last time. Everything that was on file for her, preventing her from moving on with her life was a button away from disappearing. But Owen would surely find out. Marcus could delete her profile again, she thought. In the back of her mind, she knew that Owen would just get more and more dangerous. Deleting her profile was the first step on getting rid of him forever, she hoped. Her hand hovered over the 'enter' key and with a big smile, she pressed down on the key. A gray bar filled up and before she knew it, bright on the screen: Profile Deleted. No Profile Found.

"Congratulations, you don't exist!" Marcus cheered.

"You made it look so easy," Emma smiled, cupping her face with her hands. Her face turned red, but she didn't know why.

Wrench, still at his station, looked over to see Emma beaming with the news of her profile being deleted. He understood how liberating it must feel and her reaction was one of the best he's ever seen. Even though he only met her 10 minutes ago, her attitude back then versus now shows almost a totally different person.

"That was the easy part! The hard part is finding a good spot to use as a lab, and then finding the supplies. So start thinking about what you need, but let's look through some locations I found earlier. Ready?" Marcus said.

Emma finally put her hands down from her face and nodded, "Sure! Thank you again, Marcus… I can't even tell you how this feels. I'll do anything I can to make this up to you," Emma promised.

"No problem! We're allies. We're going to be helping each other a lot from now on," Marcus explained.

Emma smiled wide. Wrench looked over and noticed how her eyes squinted when she smiled, but she was smiling at Marcus. He suddenly wanted to be next to them for any reason. He grabbed his box of gadgets and sat down with them at the end of the table, sitting diagonally from Emma and Marcus. "Don't mind me, just got tired of standing," Wrench muttered as he continued to go through his things.

"What are you even doing?" Emma asked softly, curiously.

"Wrench is a hoarder," Marcus joked.

"Not hoarding, Marcus! One of these little chips could save our lives one day," Wrench answered holding up a microchip he pulled from an old CrTV.

"Sounds like something a hoarder would say," Emma smiled.

"Keep joking. You two will come to me to save the world, and then we'll see who laughs," Wrench winked through his mask, "But for now I'm just sorting the junk from the not junk." Emma smiled. His enthusiasm for his craft warmed her original negative opinion of him. She understood he was just stressed out earlier, but she thought she'd be able to get along with him and his habits. She would at least make an effort, due to them being allies.

Emma turned her body slightly to Wrench to talk to him better, "One time, I was trying to modify an airsoft gun to shoot pins out to detonate gas bombs from far away, and I had to use springs from pens, and parts from old children's' toys from a thrift store to put it all together," Emma explained with enthusiasm. She turned to Marcus mid story, leaving Wrench to display two heart icons on his mask, Marcus noticing and giving him a questionable expression, "Took me like 6 hours to sort through all the toys and I eventually found one piece that'd work," Emma turned back to Wrench giving him just enough time to go back to his happy expression without Emma noticing, "So I've been there, but I don't know about it saving the world," She finished.

"Never thought of the gold that'd be inside old toys," Wrench said.

"Yeah I had no idea until I went to the thrift store. Helped me ghetto-rig so many of my projects," Emma smiled. It felt so nice to be able to actually talk about her projects with someone. It's been over a year since she even got to work in a lab, let alone modify anything. All the pent up enthusiasm just started to spill out, "When I get my lab, want to go part hunting with me?" Emma asked.

"Hell yeah!" Wrench answered, maybe a bit too quickly. He thought he was just feeding off Emma's enthusiasm, but he didn't want to admit that he couldn't wait to go. Why did it have to take so long to find the right spot for a lab, he wondered. Speaking of, he remembered where he was and turned his attention to Marcus, who was leaning his head on his hand, donning a small grin on his face.

"Neeeeeeeerds," Marcus drawled out.

Emma turned back to Marcus and regained her composure, "Better get used to it, ally," She said.

Marcus went back to the laptop and resumed locations scouting with Emma looking over, offering her opinion. Every now and then she'd peek over at Wrench to see him struggling with taking a gadget apart, or tossing something aside.

Little did she know, Wrench was in the prime position to look over to Emma. He saw her peak over a couple times. The mask did well with hiding where he was looking. He didn't want to stare, knowing it was creepy, but still took the time to notice that her clothes and hair were a bit disheveled from her recent nap, but he liked it. Wrench's type was always girls with long dark hair, and she wasn't an exception. She wasn't dressed in anything special, what with skinny jeans and a black tank top, covered with a striped cardigan, but he prefered the casual look as she made it look good. He still didn't know much about her, but he was very happy to have her as an ally already.

"They're all really good, Marcus. Whichever is the easiest for you to get," Emma said.

"Well if there isn't a preference… this one is the closest to here, this one is close to your old place, and this one is close to Wrench's garage. It'd be best to separate our bases as much as possible, so…" Marcus trailed off.

"Or it might be safer to have her closer if she has a stalker," Wrench offered casually, not looking up from a chip he was taking apart.

"Closer to here?" Marcus asked and looked at Wrench, baiting him to suggest his garage.

Wrench, still not looking up, shrugged and answered with a, "Wherever."

"We'll see what Sitara and Ray say when she comes back. She'd kill us if we made a decision without everyone's inputs," Marcus said.

"I can't see a conversation with… what was it? Ray?" Emma asked, Marcus nodded, "Can't see it going well."

"He's hard headed and paranoid, but he has Dedsec's best interest in mind. He won't vote for a bad decision," Marcus assured her.

"Best interest, really?" Wrench asked.

"In the longrun! Ray's a tough egg to crack. He got off on the wrong foot with half of us here so far, but he's alright," Marcus said. "This… Owen, you know if he ever mentioned a Ray Kenney? He's kind of a hacker legend."

Emma hated talking about Owen, "He didn't mention hacking stuff or Dedsec at all. He framed me, and I found all that stuff out months later," Emma explained looking down, playing with her hands.

"How did he get away with it?" Marcus asked, referring to framing her without her even knowing.

"He's manipulative. I'm not proud of it, but I fell for it," Emma explained. She was silent for a bit longer before she stood up from the table.

"Hey, Emma, I'm sorry I didn't mean to -" Marcus started, standing up after her.

Emma smiled and held her hands up, "No no, it's okay. Just need to… um… walk around," Emma said starting to pace. Wrench looked at her, hiding his concern. Was it too soon to give her a friendly, comforting hug? He looked back at Marcus, who felt bad for bringing it up. Emma noticed and stopped pacing, "Guys, really it's fine! I just get fidgety when I start thinking too much."

"Just don't let Josh see you. Pacing makes him nervous," Marcus said.

"Not looking," Josh's voice was heard from his computer.

Emma didn't want to talk about Owen anymore, she decided, "So when we narrow down a place, what's next?" Emma asked putting her hands on her hips, not knowing what else to do with herself.

"Get supplies and move you in, of course." Marcus answered.

"You know ordering chemicals is really difficult, right? You need authorization and licenses and…" Emma trailed off at Marcus's knowing look, "Right… hackers. I keep forgetting. I don't know how I feel about you guys um… 'hacking' to get things," She said, but she really mean to say 'steal.'

"We're not criminals you know. We get processing power from the Dedsec followers that support us. We only take down big corporations like Blume and Nvite. No innocent being is going to be compromised at all. You understand, right?" Marcus explained kindly placing a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her. Emma nodded, not having any other response. She wanted her lab. She once said she'd do anything to be able to be a chemist again, but now that her dream was finally happening, she was fearing the consequences. "It'll be okay," Marcus said again.

"You'll end up doing a lot more good than Blume and Nvite ever will in their whole life," Wrench added.

"Yeah…guess I'm just nervous, but in a good way," Emma said.

The doors to the Hackerspace was heard opening and in came Sitara with a large excited grin, "Guess whaaaat?" Sitara asked.

"I don't think I'm ready to play this game with you," Emma said.

"Weelllll if you were going to guess that I got your supplies set up, then you'd be right!" Sitara said with a proud grin.

"Whoa, what? How? I mean… Already?" Emma stuttered, not sure what she wanted answered first.

"It was easier than I thought. We already had access to Blume, so I just re-routed all the deliveries for one of their science divisions to a third party vendor, who works with Dedsec, and he'll deliver to whatever place we find for you," Sitara said clearly ecstatic about the news for her old friend, but tried to hold her own composure.

Emma stared dumbfounded, "Just like that?" She managed to ask putting her hands to her face again.

"I even have you added in the Blume registry with a fake identity, so there's a foolproof plan in case anyone gets smart to the deliveries. They have out-labs all over the place, it wouldn't be anything new," Sitara continued.

"This is happening to fast," Emma muttered, still trying to process the information. She couldn't believe it, "I want to say thank you, but that's not enough..."

"Dedsec doesn't waste time. You're an ally. I'm doing work for you so you can help us, too. Hope you're ready for your lab ag-" Sitara said but got cut off my Emma crashing her body into hers for a big hug. Sitara lightly returned the hug by patting her back.

Emma pulled back, "This is amazing! I'm going to have a lab again!" She exclaimed looking between everyone, even Josh who just walked up, "Oh my god, I love you guys, you have no idea how -"

"Save that mush for never," Sitara interrupted, "Let's go celebrate!" She cheered, locking her arm with Emma's and guided her upstairs.

Sitara and Emma were already upstairs when Josh, Marcus and Wrench were heading up. "I saw those icons, man," Marcus said with a sly grin.

Wrench shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about, Marcus."

"Ohhh Emma, let's go on a date and smash old 80's toys together, and then each other!" Marcus said in a mocking tone.

Wrench turned back to hush him, extra thankful for his mask obscuring his reddened face "You thought it was for her? Please, just thinking about what we can find in old toys is exciting!"

"Uh huh," Marcus said, not believing him, but let it go.

~~~Baker Beach~~~

Everyone but Ray sat at the beach around a fire, sharing drinks. The sun set recently, but it was already dark enough. The fire illuminated all their faces, showing pure content or happiness from the group.

"What's wrong with Scarecrow?!" Emma exclaimed leaning over, careful not to knock her beer over. It was true, she loved Batman, especially how creative the villains were. Scarecrow was a villain using fear gas to bring out and exploit one's greatest fears. She knew fear gas was above comprehension, but that did not stop her from creating other types of gas bombs.

"Oh come on he's suuuuch a one trick pony!" Wrench argued, Marcus agreeing with him silently as he took a swig of his beer battle.

"Fear has no limits!" Emma argued.

"Funny that such a simple thing could stop such a terror," Wrench said dramatically, pointing at his own mask, referring to the fact that a mask could prevent one from breathing in fear gas.

"I said he has great potential as villain, not that he's the strongest!" Emma said almost shouting.

"Pipe down with the nerd shit before the whole beach joins in, yeah?" Sitara interjected.

"Sorry, booze makes me yap," Emma said covering her mouth not caring that it wasn't going to help.

"And deaf apparently," Wrench said.

Emma laughed and lightly nudged him, "Shut up!" He was already bracing himself, so her light nudge didn't do much.

"How did we get from Aliens to Scarecrow?" Josh asked. They all stayed silent thinking it over and gave up just as quickly.

"Remember your beach initiation?" Sitara asked Marcus.

"Like it was yesterday!" He exclaimed, even though it was about 6 months ago.

"This is a pretty great place to hang out, huh?" Emma accidentally slurred as she looked around.

"Aaaaand I think that's enough booze for Emma," Wrench said pretending to take her beer bottle away from her.

She held it tighter and pulled it out of reach, "I'm fiiine."

"It's perfect to come and decompose at. No tech. Just the ocean, some hipsters, and a nice view," Sitara said taking a swig, looking at the partial city landscape before her.

Emma followed Sitara's eyesight, taking in the view. What Sitara didn't mention, was friends… Emma always had a lower than average amount of tech, the ocean, and hipsters at her job. The only thing that was missing in her life is with her right now.

Maybe it was the mood, or the alcohol, but she didn't know what compelled her to look to her left. When she did, her eyes settled comfortably on Wrench. She wondered what he looked like under that mask, and why he was always hiding it. Wrench felt eyes on him and he turned his head slowly over to his right, but too fast for Emma's slow reaction time and caught her turning her head back to look straight ahead. Has she been staring at him, he wondered. She was glad the fire would obscure her blushing face. Wrench held up his beer bottle, waiting for her to notice. Emma's eyes went back to Wrench, seeing the happy icons displaying on his mask. Her face turned even more red, knowing he caught her staring, but she smiled as she brought up her own bottle, letting them clank lightly together.

Yeah. She was happy again.