Be stronger than them. The words echoed through Evan's mind, almost audible in the stunned silence of the room.
A show of force.
He pulled a cube from the plastic bag. He twirled it in between the fingers in his hand, before throwing it up above his head. He fired a small biotic pulse its direction, obliterating it.
"Are you insane?" Kaiser hissed. "Blowing up something a bomb tinker left behind?"
"I could take it," Evan said. "I took your guy. Victor, right? Let me tell you, that name did not fit the circumstances."
"You were weeping at my feet," Othala said.
"Two capes to one, I was tied up, and I still got away." Evan laughed. "I swear, you're almost as ineffective as the original Nazis. Kaiser, teach your people some manners."
Othala sputtered, "You piece of-"
"We're done here," Lady Photon said. "It's clear the heroes were called under false pretenses, for a nefarious reason. I don't want to break the truce but I'm not going to be party to whatever your plans are from now on. I am leaving. I would recommend to any of the independent heroes to leave with me, as future association with criminals may lead to you being considered an accomplice in their acts." She turned to Mar. "If I see you again, outside of this room, I will arrest you. I hope you resist."
She moved towards the exit. Evan looked around the room. Kara and Mar's helmets had updates about who was who, but Evan had had to pay attention during Geth's briefing. Emirreh and Zephyr rose to follow her out.
"You go," Mar said. "They had nothing to do with my crimes. I was led astray and did not consult my team."
"Comet..." Kara said.
"I should not have done it. I was deceived by someone in this room. But I can fix that," he punctuated his words by slamming one fist into the other. "On my own."
"Okay," Kara said, putting her helmet on.
"I'll leave here," Evan said. "I'm going the vigilante route – I can't ally with any of you. However… Kaiser. I'm not going to give you any easy way or hard way bullshit. Feel free to try to get in touch with me if you want to make appropriate reparations."
"Is that a threat?" Kaiser asked, his voice amused.
"No," Evan said. "An offer. I'm not planning on making threats."
"Go," Kaiser sneered, almost visible through his steel helmet. "Make your… offers… to someone else. I don't need to bow and scrape for children. I know what you look like."
"Very well," Evan said. He walked to the door, opened it, and said, "See you later, Max," before stepping out.
The heroes were huddled together in an alley, looking like the world's most ridiculous tourists. Zephyr turned to Evan and Kara.
"Not every day you see a team break apart," he said.
"Not every day a teammate conceals a bank robbery," Evan said.
"Never had that problem," Zephyr conceded. "Never liked teams."
"It's nice to have someone there for you," Kara said. "I wish the other two had been… better. Would have liked that team-up to last more than a few hours."
"What were you?" Zephyr asked. "I don't think I've heard of you as heroes."
"We were keeping our heads down," Evan said. "Trying to, anyway. Vigilante thing got out of hand, ended up being unprepared for the counterattack, leading to… what you saw there."
"Okay," Zephyr said. He took a deep breath and cracked a knuckle under his glove. "I'm going to need information from you, on your former teammate. He attacked my home."
"I don't know how much I can help you with," Evan said. "We only really started working together a few days ago, and we kept apart most of that time. He's really good at computers, spends most of his time on the internet."
"It's a they," Kara said. "No gender."
"They," Evan said, "suck."
"Yeah," Kara said.
"If we go after your former teammates, will you help us?" Lady Photon asked. The huddled group had turned to look at them.
"Yes," Evan said. Kara turned to him, for a moment, before echoing him.
"Good," Lady Photon said. "I spoke to the PRT. Would you be comfortable answering questions at their headquarters?"
"Sure," Kara said. "I actually meant to stop by there."
"Great. A van will be parked a block away, on Shale. Black and purple, PRT on the side," she said.
"Umm… I shouldn't walk with people. My power works on my footsteps," Emirreh said. She looked like she was almost trying to disappear into her hoodie, curled up inside. Brown eyes and pale skin were all he could see of her face, the rest of it hidden in a neck-warmer pulled up to her nose.
"Emirreh, right?" Lady Photon asked. "How would you like to fly?"
"Yeah. I mean, I would like that."
"I'll see you there," Lady Photon told the rest of them. She picked Emirreh up bridal-style, and shot off.
"Guess we're walking," Fogey said. "Great. It's that way."
They started walking. This is stupid, Evan reflected. Fogey was dressed in a black turtleneck, black sweatpants, and a black ski mask. Zephyr had his jumpsuit and a helmet. Evan was in Danny's hand-me-downs and a flash-forged face mask. Only Kara looked in any way like a superhero, in her N7 armor. Black and red, sleek and sharp, it looked like nothing less than a suit worn for war. In Cerberus, he'd made fun of the N7 program. He'd boast about his training, laugh at the pathetic dandies of the Alliance Navy, who needed gear to be special, but walking next to a fully equipped N7 commando, dressed in clothes that didn't fit him?
He felt small. Weak. He hated that feeling.
He increased his pace. He felt a twinge of pain shoot up his side, where he'd been kicked, and ignored it. Fuck them. He had to be stronger.
The driver had taken one look at them, smiled, and said "I guess you're the heroes?" It was the only thing anyone said during the entire ride.
The silence was broken when the van stopped and the back door opened. "I'm Agent Daniel Jeffreys," the driver said. "Feel free to ask for me if you've got questions." They were in an underground parking lot. Evan stepped out.
The van was in a row of identical vans, next to a door. An empty motorcycle rack stood near the elevator doors. The driver entered it, and motioned them to follow.
When they were all in, the driver pressed a code, and the elevator doors closed. The way up continued in silence. The door opened to reveal a man dressed like a racecar. That was Evan's first impression, anyway. A red bodysuit with white stripes running up the sides and down the front to create a V.
"Hi!" he said, "I'm Velocity, I'm… Wait."
His stare was stuck on Fogey. Fogey nodded. "Hey Velocity. We met back when I was caping."
"Yeah. I guess I… yeah. Gosh. Okay. Anyway, me and Dauntless were free, so we're doing interviews. We'll do them two by two. We finished with Lady Photon and Emirreh, so… any volunteers?"
"We'll start?" Evan asked Kara.
"Sure," she said.
"Okay, then… You in the armor, follow me? And you… ummm..."
"Phoenix," Evan offered.
"Phoenix, right, you go to Dauntless? He's in the break room over there."
"Okay," he said, and entered the room.
Dauntless looked even more like a displaced time traveler than Evan was, sitting on an armchair, cup of coffee in hand, while dressed like a he was about to enter the Colosseum and dedicate his death to the Roman emperor. His armor and helmet were golden, a red plume coming from the top of his helmet. A red shirt peeked out from under his breastplate. He wasn't wielding his lance or shield, which leaned on the wall behind him.
"So, just making this clear, this is a friendly sitdown. Don't feel like you have to answer every question."
Evan had a brief mental image of throwing the superhero into a bank. He held back the wince. "This makes sense."
"Here goes, then. We were notified in advance that a home of New Wave members was hit by a bomb, and they were ordered to come to a meeting in the local criminal neutral area. We advised them to come to us for protection, but failing that to report back so we can know what to do. They elected to go, and we're just trying to get as clear an image as possible of what's happening. I understood a former teammate of yours is the cause of some of the current issues. So I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me anything that could help us."
When telling a lie, stick to the truth as closely as you can. "We met up for the first time in Brockton Bay, this week. Banded together because we met each other before we did anyone else, but then drifted apart. I tried to do the independent hero thing with Salvo, but it was a bad fit. We had an argument, and broke apart. Empire then figured out where I was living, and attacked me in my home. Stole my costume, which is why..." he pointed at his clothes, "this."
"Do you need protection? We have safe houses for confidential informants, I can check if one of them is available."
"No, thank you. I'm not worried," Evan said.
"If you change your mind, feel free to call us."
"I will. Now, we came back together when Hack was attacked..."
The rest of the story stuck fairly close to the truth. There was no need to obfuscate anything else – The team joining up, the team coming in together, and splitting apart when Hack's betrayal was revealed. Dauntless was a rapt listener. Intelligent. His gaze would follow Evan's, with what little was showing of his face radiating understanding and empathy.
When Evan's story was finished, Dauntless said, "Thank you very much. Is there anything else you would like to add?"
"I consider not touching base with the Protectorate, letting them know I was here, to be a huge mistake. I regret it."
"If you need help, again, I'll make the offer..."
"No. Thank you."
"Okay, then. I guess we're done," Dauntless stood up, and opened the door for Evan. "Agent Jeffreys will drive you back soon."
Kara was waiting for him in the entrance. He made a few small gestures to her, things he had learned from pilfered N6 training guides. Everything good, I'm clear, how are you?
Her response was a thumbs up.
"I can drive you anywhere you need," Jeffreys said, waiting for them.. "Just let me know when."
"Sure," Kara said. "Now?"
Jeffreys dropped them off at the bookstore where Evan met Danny. The night air was cold, but people were out and about. A nearby club was blaring dance music, and couples were walking together. People stared at Kara and Evan, still in their costumes, as they walked by.
"You mind if I stay at your apartment, just for the night?" Kara asked.
"Sure," Evan said. "Isn't there a police presence, though? And I think all of my furniture is broken."
"They've cleared out already, and I'll sleep on the floor," Kara said. "I'm gonna change to civvies then follow you, okay? You can just take the mask off, I think."
"Sure," Evan said. Kara walked in the direction of the beach. Evan walked into a nearby alley, and removed his mask. It was a stupid thing, a token gesture at protecting his identity. He took his phone out. There was a message and missed call on the phone. He called the number that had called him.
"Hello?" Danny answered on the other line.
"Hey. It went well," Evan said.
"Good," Danny said. A silence dragged on a few seconds. "I found-"
"I think-" Evan said at the same time. The silence stayed along for another few seconds. "You go."
"I found an apartment you could stay in," Danny said. The silence stepped back in, almost choking them. "Umm... nothing is set, but since your apartment was trashed, I figured I'd look around for one you could find. Discreetly."
"Thank you. I might take you up on that. Tomorrow."
"What did you want to say?"
"I... ummm... thank you. How are you doing?"
"I'm good. Good. How are you feeling?"
"Better. Barely feeling it, now."
"Good. Great."
"Yeah."
The silence was back.
"So, where should we meet?" Danny asked.
"Is it okay if I come by your house again, tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Great."
"Good."
"Yeah."
"Ummm... bye."
"Bye."
"Cute smile," Kara said. He was grinning like an idiot, he noticed. She wore a tank top and jeans, oblivious to the cold. She carried a sack, the grimace on her face the only sign of the massive weight she was carrying.
"Where did you hide the clothes?" Evan asked.
"Was wearing them underneath the armor."
"Let's go in," he said. She nodded, and followed him.
"That's the man whose house you were at?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"Congrats. Surprised the robot didn't try to fuck with you with that."
"It doesn't know, I hope."
They marched on in silence, a minute longer, before Evan asked her what he'd tried not to think about.
"You hate me, don't you?"
"A little, yeah."
"Then... why? Why not stick with the krogan, or why not abandon me with the Protectorate, or just jump ship? Even the robot with its unit cohesion nonsense..." he trailed off, stopping where he stood. She took another two steps, then turned to him. She dropped the sack, and it clanged against the sidewalk.
"Mar isn't well," she started. "You haven't spoken with him much. You two hate each other. You're both idiots, that's what you do. But he isn't well. And he needs to be alone to get better, or at least to off himself with dignity. Besides, staying there, identifying as a criminal would... complicate things. That's him. As to why you?" She laughed. "I need someone. A partner. I never worked well alone. Neither do you. You could do solo ops, but you needed support. So... I hate you. I don't think I will ever like you. But I'm sticking with you."
"Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome."
"You go ahead," he said. "I think I need to take a walk."
"Okay." Kara picked the sack up, and walked away.
He thumbed the compressed pistol in his pocket. He looked at her back. He turned away. He looked at his phone, and opened the message. It linked to a map.
YOUR ARMOR HAS BEEN TRACKED TO THIS LOCATION. YOU'RE WELCOME.
He'd stop by a clothes store first. He'd need to change, anyway.
