Hi. It's been a while. Here's the next episode. I hope you enjoy it and leave a review, please. I'll see you with the next one. Thank you.

S2E6: New York, New Problems

Henry lies on his hotel bed, watching the hours tick away on the clock and ignoring the frequent buzzing of his phone. It seems everyone in the world wants to get ahold of him. Meanwhile, he would rather not talk to anyone. He would like to wallow in his own misery and stupidity, berating himself for how effectively he is destroying what parts of his life are not falling apart on their own.

Babe's name is most prominent among the slew of texts and calls filling his notifications. Her wanting to talk and know how he's doing. The rest are a collection from both his and Babe's friends. The story of his anxiety attack last night has spread around the two groups overnight and they all want to have word about it. Henry rolls over so he can't see it anymore.

Eventually, his stomach begins to feel like it's digesting itself. He turns back to find three more hours have passed. With a grumpy groan he drags himself to his feet. He changes his clothes, making himself just presentable enough to leave the room and find some food. As he walks out, he hears a woman leaving another room telling her kid about some vending machines down the hall. "…go get some food, then go back to the room. I'll be back after my meeting."

Henry uses the information, wandering down the hall to find the alcove of snack machines, which are full of a wide assortment of brightly colored packages of snacks. He grabs himself the basics for survival: nacho chips, beef jerky and caffeinated sugar. While the soda machine lags in providing his beverage, another person comes to use the vending machine full of candy.

"Help, please!" the kid says. Henry turns to look at her, a little girl. She's reaching up as high as she can trying to get her dollar in the machine, but the slot is too high for her to reach.

"Maribel?" Henry asks in surprise.

She blinks her pale blue eyes at him. "Henry!" She about takes him down with the force of her hug to his knees. "You is in New Apples too!"

"New York," he corrects her. "I didn't expect to run into you here."

"I is happy see you!" she says. "You get me candy?" She points to the vending machine.

"Sure. What one do you want?" He asks.

She points up at the machine. "Chocolate! With camel!"

Henry blinks, "Camel? Do you mean caramel?"

She jumps up and down, cheering, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Chocolate camel!"

"Okay," Henry finds himself smiling. "First, we gotta put the money in. Can I have it?"

"I do it!" She insists, trying to get the bill in the slot again. "You help!"

Henry nods, "Okay." Then he crouches down to pick her up and lift her the rest of the way to the slot. "Make sure it goes in flat, no folds."

It takes a couple tries but the machine accepts the bill. "Now you push the buttons that match the number of the candy you want. So, push two and nine."

"I dunno numbers," she pouts.

He shifts her so she's hanging on one of his arms and uses his free hand to point. "This is two," she reaches to push it, almost causing him to drop her. He has to adjust his hold. "Woah. Okay. Now this one is number nine." She pushes that button too; this time goes more smoothly as he's ready for her move.

She cheers as the machine whirs and pushes out her candy bar. The collection door is the one part of the machine she needs no help with. As she collects her candy, Henry collects her change. "You've still got some money here. Do you want something else?"

"Yeah!" She nods. Carefully, she looks through all the machines. "Can have juice?" she asks.

"Yeah," he nods. "Do you want orange juice? Or apple juice? Or Wahoo punch?"

"Apples!" She picks. Henry lifts her and coaches her through the process of getting her juice. "Open?" She requests, handing him the bottle. He cracks the seal and hands it back. "Thank you, Henry."

"You're welcome, Maribel," he responds. He retrieves his food.

She shoves her candy in her pocket, and grabs his hand with hers. "You play with me now?"

"Aren't you supposed to go back to your room?" He counters, walking her back down the hall.

"You come! Please!" She begs.

"I'm not sure your mommy would like that," he says.

"Please!" she turns to pouting, her lip jutting out persuasively. "I don't wanna be 'lone. Please play with me."

"Wow, you are a manipulative child," he says.

"Please! Henry!" She cuddles right up to his legs, pouting up at him with her blue eyes wide.

"Okay," he acquiesces. "Okay, we can play."

She immediately brightens and jumps with a cheer, "Yay!"

He stares at her. "Oh my…" he mutters. "Wow. Points for that one."

She grabs his hand. "Come, come!" She tugs him to her room.

"If your mom catches me here, you get to do the explaining," he tells her.

"Mommy no know," she says with surety. "We no tell Mommy."

"She's gonna find out when she comes back," Henry says.

"No. In New Apples, Mommy not come back 'til late, late, late. Always late night. After bedtime," Maribel says. "She do work. Meet scary power people. She go all night."

Henry frowns, concerned. "Your mommy works for scary people?"

Maribel nods seriously. He grabs her by the hand. Concern and curiosity want him to ask her more questions, but he holds back for her sake. Instead, he says, "Maybe I should stay until she gets back."

"Yes, come play!" she directs him into her room. There she has a bucket full of toys in one corner. He helps her build with legos, a tower taller than her. They color pages of princesses and kittens. And reluctantly, he plays dolls with her, making the Barbie 'do' and 'say' whatever she wants it to.

"You're lucky you're so cute," he grumbles as he changes the dolls' clothes for her.

She miles cheekily. "I is awesome." Her stomach growls. "I is hungry."

"Well, all you've had to eat is chocolate and apple juice. You need some real dinner." Henry says.

"Where we get dinner?" She asks.

"There's a café across the street. I'll go get us some food. What do you like to eat?" he asks.

By the time he gets back with his and Maribel's dinner, someone is waiting for him, knocking persistently on his door. He gives the bag to Maribel when she opens her door and he tells her, "You start eating, I need to go talk to my friend. I'll be back soon."

She peers down the hall and nods, "Okay. Hurry!"

"I will," he promises. She closes the door, opening her kid's meal box. He turns and walks towards his door, calling out, "Kenzie?"

She turns on her heel. "There you are. I've been looking for you."

"And you tracked me to my hotel?" He asks.

"The doorman owed me a favor," she says, hands on her hips.

"And that means him giving out room numbers is legal?" he teases. She doesn't give a friendly response, only scowling at him. "So, why are you here?"

She glares with disapproval and disbelief, "You broke my best friend's heart on her birthday!"

He sighs and mutters, "Yeah."

"Babe told me what happened last night." Kenzie continues. "How you ran out all crazy, then just dumped her out of nowhere."

He shrinks uncomfortably and chews on his own lip. "So, you came to berate me? Tell me I'm an idiot and a jerk? Well, sorry, I already beat you to it. So, thanks for coming. Have a nice night."

She doesn't take the leave. "Just because you know you're a jerk and an idiot, doesn't mean I don't get to yell at you. You don't just get to lead her on for months and dump her like that! She's head over heels for you and you hurt her!"

"I wasn't leading her on," Henry defends firmly. "And I didn't want to hurt her."

"You broke up with her on her birthday! You ruined the rest of the party for her! We had it end it and send everyone home. In what way did you not want to hurt her?!" Kenzie is getting louder and angrier with each sentence either of them speak.

Henry's disposition follows suit. "Well, I'm sorry I ruined your fun," he says most sarcastically. "I guess I didn't find it as high a priority at the time as you did."

"My priority is Babe!" she shouts. "And I thought she was yours!"

"She is a priority! I only did what I had to for her!" he responds.

Kenzie's anger peaks and she yells. "What is wrong with you!?"

"None of your business!" He shoots back.

"You 'had' to hurt her?!" She demands.

"I was saving her from worse," he says.

"What the nuts is that supposed to mean?!" She asks.

His breath heaves and he growls at a lower volume. "None of your business."

"You owe her an explanation!" She insists loudly.

"Yes." He shouts back. "I owe her an explanation. Not you, Kenzie."

She starts to respond but the quiet murmur of "Henry?" from behind him pulls them both down from their heated clouds of anger. Maribel has come back out of her room and is looking a little frightened at the two of them.

"What the…? Who is…" Kenzie questions.

Henry takes a deep breath and gets himself back to the right mindset to talk to Maribel. "It's okay. I'm coming, Mari." He turns back to Kenzie. "You need to go now."

She glares again and says, "I am not leaving until you…"

"Just go." His voice takes on a hard edge again. "I have more important things to deal with tonight that arguing with you." He turns from her to walk down the hall, picking up Maribel on the way to her room.

(Theme Song: "It all just kind of happened," Henry says, rubbing his face wearily. "I helped end a killer and now his victims haunt me. Every time I win a battle, I end up with more problems. Whatever happened to happy endings and victory celebrations? My life is seriously nothing but Danger… the music of the theme song over lays his voice. The scene cutting to the credits…)

Henry wishes he could wake himself up. He knows he's dreaming, not only because he'd started out in the storm of trapped souls; the strange vision that follows are too surreal to be happening in the physical world.

A tsunami of darkness rolls out of and back over him, tossing him into a zero gravity abyss. Screams and voices brush past him, the same as he's grown used to in his dreams. Nightmares and memories torment him. His name is called, every version of it: "Danger", "Henry", "Hart", "Barricade". The density of the darkness shifts, pockets of cold or slippery or sharp move around and through him. Intense, burning pain rips through his center. The sensation of being pulled like a fish on a line comes from his navel. As he's pulled at, the tsunami of darkness pushes back against the pull, waves rolling forcefully over him again and again.

Visions turn solid around him. Ghosts appear; even one of the guys he'd encountered in the boutique with Babe. Strands of shadow tether each one of them to something in the darkness. The lines go taut; like Henry, they are being pulled at. The only clue as to what might be doing it is a shimmer somewhere in the distance. It's impossible to tell how far away.

Henry resists the pulling sensation, desperate to get away, to wake up. Why, when he's aware of being asleep, can he not force his body to wake up? A glint like glass passes through. The pull stops abruptly, leaving the shadowy tethers thrumming. Henry falls backwards.

He snaps awake in his hotel bed, his gut still aching violently. The ghost of someone he doesn't know appears beside him, lingering and confused for a moment before disappearing again. He picks up his phone from the bedside table and sees it's after noon. He drags himself out of bed, a little less groggy than yesterday.

He gets breakfast, or maybe it should be called lunch, at the little coffee shop across the street from the hotel. He spends the time responding to everyone who'd been spamming him since his episode two nights ago.

Almost everyone.

He spends a long time staring at Babe's contact on his phone. He should call her, that would be the best thing. But what is he supposed to say? There is no way she wants to talk to him. He could send her a text, as cowardly as that is. It would still be better than waiting for her to call again. But again, what should he say? What could he say? No apology would be enough. There were no words that would undo the hurt he caused her. He couldn't, and shouldn't, try to get back to whatever almost-girlfriend-and-boyfriend thing they had been. His agony of indecision over what to say seems like the least he can suffer for the situation. Still, he owes her an explanation.

He sips the last of his drink, brushes the muffin crumbs off the table and walks moodily from the shop. Continuing to stare at his phone as he heads back towards the hotel, he almost walks right into the hotel door. He's reaching to open it when it swings towards him. He catches it before it can hit his face, but he stumbles backwards at the surprise push.

Evelyn walks out the door, talking on her phone and not even acknowledging Henry whom she'd almost knocked over. "Yes, okay. Of course." Evelyn speaks into her phone. "They have the product? What's the offer? When are they coming?"

She seems in a rush; it sounds like a business call. Henry recalls what Maribel had told him about Evelyn's job. She works late nights for people Maribel calls scary. It's not his business, he knows, but he is curious. Her discussion doesn't dissuade that feeling. The way she phrases and emphasizes things seems a little odd. In a move that's probably unethical, he slips a tracking beacon into her purse.

"I'm on my way," she says. An expensive looking, black car pulls up right in front of her. A big guy opens the back door from within and beckons her inside. She gets in and they peel off quickly.

Henry contemplates following them now, something about this is tickling his suspicion. But he's sure that if Evelyn is already off to work, then Maribel must be alone upstairs again. He heads quickly up to find her.

She's knocking on his door. "Mari!" he calls to her. She runs right to him and hugs his legs. "Your mom went to work again already."

She nods. "We play today?"

"Yep. I got you, pipsqueak," he says, scooping her up playfully and making her giggle. They enter her room, where the toys are. He drops her from a foot or so up onto her bed. She shrieks with laughter again. "What do you want to play?"

"Ballerina!" she says immediately, jumping off the bed to grab a white tutu off the floor. She holds it up and explains, "Was dirty. The cleaner lady bringeded it back to me." She pulls it on over her black pants and pulls on a pair of ballet slippers as well. "Ta-Da!" she poses for him when she's all ready in her costume.

He smiles and claps. "Okay, how do we play ballerina?"

"I be ballerina," she says like it should be obvious. "You see me and clap." She points at the bed with a bossy look.

He obeys, sitting down. She starts dancing, standing on her tiptoes and twirling around. As she dances around, his mind wanders back to the rest of his morning. He's only been awake a couple hours and he's already exhausted. Between the haunting, the mess he made with Babe, and sticking his nose into Evelyn and Maribel's business. It really hasn't been all that long since defeating Blackout and he was starting to feel up to his neck in problems again.

"I is bestest ballerina!" Maribel announces as she finishes her dance. She poses and waits for Henry to respond but he isn't paying any attention. "Henry! You clap!" She commands.

He refocuses and starts clapping. "Bravo! Amazing!" He tries to cover.

She pouts at him. "You no watch."

He sighs. "Sorry, Mari."

"No like me ballerina?" She asks, wilting like a flower.

"No, no!" He assures. "You're a beautiful ballerina. I guess I got a little distracted though."

"Why?" She asks.

"Just… grown up stuff." He tries to answer in a way that will satisfy her without him having to explain anything.

"What grown up stuff?" She climbs onto the bed beside him, paying focused and curious attention.

He frowns a little. "Well, it's grown up stuff, so it's kinda hard to explain."

She matches his frown. "Is bad?"

He shrugs. "Some of it. It's complicated."

"What wrong?" She splays her arms out to either side expressively.

He sighs again. Getting her to let it go is not as easy as he would expect.

"Is you okay?" She asks, scooting closer and putting her little hand on his arm.

"Yeah," he tells her, automatically. He pauses a moment, thinking before asking, "Can you tell me what your mom does for work?"

"She go to scary people. Make things, buy things. I dunno," she shrugs.

"What do you mean by 'scary people'?" He asks.

"They scary. They mean. Yell lotsa mad things. Big guys hurts peoples," she whispers, curling against him. "I no like them."

Henry scowls. There's more he's sure, and his curiosity and concern are higher than before. But Maribel probably can't give any more answers. "Why does she work with them?" He wonders aloud.

Maribel frowns. "I don't know. Is what Mommy do."

"Yeah, but I don't think she should be," he grumbles. "And I know she shouldn't be leaving you alone to do it."

"Not lone. You with me." Maribel's frown turns up and she hugs him.

"Today, yeah. But not always. You said your mommy does this every time you're in New York. She left you alone all those other times?" He asks.

She nods. "Mm-hm."

"Well, that's not good. That's not something she should be doing. She should never leave you all by yourself. It's dangerous and mommy could get in big trouble for it." He explains.

She gives him a confused expression. "Why?" She blinks her big eyes innocently.

"Because you're too little. You should have someone looking after you," he says. "Your mom should have you in a daycare or hire a babysitter when she has to go to work. At least she could leave you with family or something."

"Mommy family," she argues.

"You could stay with your grandma or grandpa. Or whatever aunts or uncles you have," Henry says. "Or your dad."

She shakes her head. "No has dad."

"Maybe you don't know your dad. But it might be good to find him. He might be able to take care of you sometimes too."

"No has dad." She insists. "Just Mommy."

Henry studies her, sad. Something tingling in the back of his mind. She seems so certain about that statement. He hugs her, not sure what to say now.

She makes up for his silence. "And I has Henry."

"Yeah, you have me. If you ever need me, I'll come." He promises. "In fact, I'll give you a special button to call me. If you're ever in trouble, you push it and I'll come. Okay?"

She hugs him as hard as a three year old can. "I love you, Henry."

He is speechless again for a long moment. "Me too, Mari." He manages to speak.

Clearing his throat and pulling away. He gathers himself and changes the topic. "Anyway. How 'bout we try this ballerina thing again. I promise I'll watch the whole thing this time. No distractions."

She jumps off him with a screech of "Yay!" and starts her dance again.

(Commercial break)

After putting Maribel to bed again. Henry chews a gumball and sneaks out the hotel window as Danger, hoping none of his friends nor Dr. Kariuki find out that he's doing so.

He takes off in the direction Evelyn had gone. For some reason the tracker he's placed on her earlier is not updating her location to his phone. He can only pull up the last known location from several hours ago. The location is pinned just outside a little pawn shop. Henry peers at the place from the roof of the building across the street, wondering if it's related or a coincidence that this is where the tracker had stopped.

It certainly seems a little sketchy, but Henry isn't sure if that is anything more than the natural state of it being a pawn shop. Someone goes in, definitely hiding a weapon under his coat, and exits without it just before the shop closes. Two people, an older lady and a young woman exit, turning the open sign to closed and locking the door. The older woman pushes the younger into the back of a car that pulls up to the curb, then hails a cab for herself. The place remains quiet for a little while. The next visitor comes in the shadows, only visible by its movements.

Henry shifts, rising a little and leaning forward trying to make out the figure. Whoever it is, they seem to enter the shop through a side door. Definitely suspicious, Henry thinks; but he wonders what he should do about it. He didn't come to New York to fight crime, and he was only out here to find Evelyn and discover what she's up to. But it also went completely against his training to not get involved when something seems suspicious. He can at least check if this is really a crime.

Before he can descend from the roof, he is grabbed from behind. His attacker covers his mouth with one hand and drags him to the floor of the roof, trying to restrain him with the other. Henry instinctively fights back, activating his forcefield to shove them off. He rolls to his feet, in a crouch and stares at the person opposite him in a similar position. It's a woman in a skintight red and black suit stretching from her toes to over her nose, with a dark brown leather jacket. She's got a metal staff strapped across her back. "Gal-Vanic?" he recognizes.

"Danger," she returns. "You know my name?"

"You know mine," he shrugs.

She raises an eyebrow at him. "You're one of the most famous heroes in the world."

"Oh, right," he says. "Well, my girl… er, um… my ex…? Friend?" he waves it off, feeling awkward as she stares at him. "Anyway, she's a fan."

"Okay," Gal-Vanic says. "So, what are you doing here? Brooklyn is my town. Did the Heroes League send you?"

He relaxes and answers, "I'm not here for the League. I'm supposed to be on vacation. But I've got a… well, someone I know seems to have gotten herself into some trouble here. I'm looking for her."

"Your ex?" She questions.

"No," he says. "Different person, the mother of a friend."

"She went into that shop?" Gal-Vanic asks.

"This is where the tracker stopped transmitting," he shrugs.

She scowls, "Then, yeah, she's in trouble. I've been pursuing a crime group in the area, and my best evidence says this is their meet up. I've been staking it out for a couple days."

"What kind of crime group?" Danger asks. "How dangerous is this?"

"Very dangerous," Gal-Vanic says, crouching at the edge of the roof to peer at the shop. "I found out about them through some drug dealings, but they're buyers not sellers. From what I've gathered they make all kinds of illegal purchases: drugs, weapons, mercenaries. They move a lot of money through the black market."

"But they don't sell? Where do they get the money?" He asks.

She sighs in anger and disappointment. "Well… I'm not sure. They're bringing in money somehow. My investigations turned up a manifest of sorts, but the listings are just odd descriptions. There are letters and numbers that could be chemical formulas. But there's also descriptions like height and weight and gender; little notes about physical features."

"They're selling animals?" Danger posits hopefully.

She makes a sour face. "Nothing particularly big, but not small enough to realistically be pets either. And some of the wording…" she sighs. "Well, it's distressing. If your friend is mixed up in this, she's definitely in a lot of trouble."

He frowns, not liking what he thinks she's implying. He curses Evelyn's name. "Why haven't you shut it down? If this is their place why haven't you stopped them?"

"I'm waiting," she says. "This shop is a meeting place but I'm sure it's not the only one. The information I have is limited. If this is as big as I think, or bigger, and I go in blazing I could make things worse. I don't want to risk them going underground. I can't make a move until I can route it all out."

"And in the meantime?" He stresses. "You are doing something right?"

"Of course, I am!" She barks. "But focusing on the organization itself, stopping them means saving more people who would become victims."

He sighs. "So, how has staring at this shop helped you find the rest of their operations? Do you follow the people through the city to other sites or…?"

"I watch the movements, who comes and goes. I'm building a database on the what's what. I'm hoping to figure out who the head honchos are."

"You can barely see into the shop from up here," he points out.

"I can't get closer, I'll be seen. They're not oblivious." She answers. "Now shut up."

He would argue but stills as three figures walk around the corner and into the dark shop.

Gal-Vanic follows them with her eyes, studying them. "Stay down, I think this could be…" She cuts herself off as one of the figures seems to turn in their direction. Surely, they can't see the two superheroes, but the two hold absolutely still until the three have gone far enough into the shop that they're not visible from the rooftop.

Danger and Gal-Vanic let themselves breathe again. "Now what?" he asks her. A light goes on in the shop, somewhere in the back but visible in the darkness of the night. "We need to know whats going on in there." Danger asks.

She taps the head of her staff onto the ground and it glows with electric light. A little metal thing forms on the ground she'd tapped. "What the…? Aw geez!" Danger recoils as a robotic bee takes off.

Gal-Vanic snorts at him. "Afraid of bees?"

"No!" he responds defensively. "I hate them. How did you do that?"

"I'm a technopath; I can make machines from raw materials. My bee will be my spy, she can get in without being noticed; and she'll send video and audio back to my headquarters."

"Can't you see it live?" he asks.

"Yes," she snorts. Again, she taps her staff. It takes the screen longer to form than it had the bee. The feed that appears is not helpful either. The bee appears to be bobbing its way through a dirty air duct, looking for an open vent. The only one it finds leads to the front of the store, so, it then tries to find a way through the door to the back. The space under the door is too small for even the little bee to get through. It has to settle at the small window running over top of the door. It can't hear a thing and can only manage a view of maybe seventy percent of the room. Gal-Vanic curses displeased at the results from her spy.

She is nonetheless attentive to the images. Danger watches over her shoulder. The three people they'd seen in dark suits stand to one side, facing another pair of people: a very large man and Evelyn. Words are clearly being exchanged. The big guy's stance is aggressive and the group of three is responding in kind, closing the group off and throwing their arms hostilely. The heroes can tell they're yelling but despite finally getting some audio from the bee, it remains unintelligible.

Evelyn says something and the yelling stops, though the aggression doesn't. The big man with Evelyn turns to her. The share a look and he nods at her. She steps forward approaching the group and speaking. "That's your friend?" Gal-Vanic asks.

"Evelyn," Danger nods. "We're not exactly friends. I'm not sure how much she really likes me, but I'm friends with her daughter. It something of a complicated history. I came to figure out what's up with her. Though I can't believe she'd be involved with some kind of crime ring."

"Well, this looks like some kind of buy. Must be drugs or something, based on the size of that package the three are carrying." She says.

"She wouldn't be involved in that." He protests on Evelyn's behalf. "She might not be the most pleasant woman, but she's not a bad guy. She can't know what's really going on. She's just helping with the exchange, otherwise they'd be fighting each other." He argues. He studies what Evelyn is doing, convincing himself there is nothing here that shows Evelyn might know about any nefarious products or people that may or may not be involved in this deal. The big man must be her boss, with the way he gave her permission to deal with the others. There's nothing in sight that could realistically be considered as a valuable product, let alone an illegal one.

Evelyn gets everyone calmed down and in a short time the group in dark suits in handing over a little package in exchange for a case. Gal-Vanic hums and says, "Yeah, I wouldn't make bets on your friend being a good guy."

Danger glares. "You don't know her. And I've been watching this too, there's nothing here you that proves anything about this being part of your crime group."

She puts her hands on her hips and looks at him irritated. "I've been on this for weeks. I know what I know, and from what I see it's not looking good for your lady."

Danger grumbles and begins to protest again.

"Shh!" She snaps at him as the door to the pawn shop opens. The three dark figures leave in one direction. A few minutes later Evelyn exits too, the large man with her. They appear to exchange pleasant partings before she gets into a nice black car that pulls up to the curb. And the big guy walks off down the street, carrying the small package under his arm. Henry frowns and without a goodbye to each other, he follows after Evelyn and Gal-Vanic follows after the man and the package.

Evelyn's fancy car takes her right back to the hotel. Henry beats her upstairs. He sits on the windowsill to her room, waiting for her. She's looking down as she enters the room, so she doesn't see him immediately. When she does look up, she jumps startled. "What the…!" She jumps.

"Shh," Danger encourages. "Maribel's sleeping. I suspect you don't want to wake her."

Evelyn stares at him, shock and outrage in her eyes. "Danger?" she demands. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"What are you doing here?" He returns. "Or rather, why have you not been here? What are you doing leaving your three-year-old daughter alone in a hotel?"

"Get out of my room, you freak!" she growls at him. "This is breaking and entering! You can't be here!"

"I didn't break anything, and Maribel let me in. She didn't much like being left alone. She also needed someone to get her some dinner, since her mother only left her with a couple dollars for the vending machine." He stands from the window sill.

"It is none of your business!" She says.

"Well, I care about Maribel, so I made it my business," he says. "You left her unsupervised. Anything could have happened."

"Like a nosy hero inserting himself where he doesn't belong," she snaps. "There's never been an issue any other time we've come to New York."

Danger is displeased. "How often do you leave her alone like this? How long have you've been working with those shady people at the pawn shop?"

She almost snaps another immediate response, but stops. Her poker face is good but she can't fully hide her moment of unsure alarm. "What're you talking about?" She asks.

"I know where you were tonight, Evelyn. And I'd like you to tell me that you don't abandoned your child every night to go make shady deals." He says sternly, arms crossed.

"Were you following me? You creep!" Her anger and volume are rising. "I should call the cops on you!"

He huffs, almost amused. "Sure. Go ahead. Let's see what they have to say about the situation. I'm sure they'd love to hear about how you abandon your daughter every night to go help criminals trade illegal goods in a closed pawn shop at two a.m."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" She hisses. Her tone is frightened.

"I'm trying to help you; and Mari. You need to stay away from these people. You don't know what you're getting into." He says.

"My work is my business, not yours!" She is even more defensive than before. She steps towards him and pokes him aggressively in the chest until he's back in the open window. Her poking is accompanied with furious words. "You need to stay away from me and my daughter. Stay out of my business. I am not some little sidekick or fan; you do not get to tell me what to do. I will do whatever I want and you, boy, do not get to have a say in any of it."

They share a hard stare for a few, long moments. "You are going to get yourself hurt, or worse," he warns.

She shoves him hard, making him trip and crash into the edge of the window. It's enough to make Maribel stir. Evelyn ignores her waking daughter. Instead, she threatens Danger with, "Stick around and see which of us gets hurt."

He glances at the three-year-old as she rolls over and asks, "Mommy?" He's out the window before she can get her eyes open.

Evelyn shuts the window behind him and swiftly turns her attention to her little girl. "Shh, bitty-babe, it's me. I didn't mean to wake you, go back to sleep." She tucks Maribel back into the blankets.

Henry admits defeat and goes to his own room, crashing in the bed as soon as he's transformed back to his day clothes.

(Commercial break)

24 hour left! Check into your flight now! The message pops up on Henry's phone. He stares at it, doing the mental math and muttering, "Oh crap." He moves much more quickly to finish getting dressed and head out to find some lunch, now feeling rather rushed in everything.

He subtly checks at Maribel's and Evelyn's door, hearing them still inside before heading to the shop across the street.. He picks a table at the window where he can see if and when Evelyn leaves. Settling in with a coffee, he is prepared for a potentially long wait.

His intended vigil is interrupted almost immediately. The bench across the booth from him being filled after only a few minutes. He blinks in surprise towards them, then stares completely unmoving for several minutes after that. Babe stares back, also not saying anything for that time period. Her expression holding a lot in it while simultaneously being inscrutable to Henry.

Finally, she breaks the intense silence. "So? Are you just never gonna talk to me again?" She asks with an edged voice.

His tongue breaks free from his frozen spell to stutter and trip awkwardly over itself. It is a truly mortifying moment leading up to him muttering a questioned, "Babe?"

She makes no other response than to stare at him quizzically until he comes up with something better to say. He straightens up and nearly misses the table when trying to put his coffee down. "Uh… hi. Did you come here for coffee and just happen to find me or…?"

"No." She rolls her eyes. "I was going to your hotel to find you and saw you come in here. So, I followed you."

"Oh," he nods stupidly.

"Yeah, well, you haven't responded to my texts yet, and I get you maybe wanted a little time to settle after your panic attack, but I thought we should talk before you leave town." She initiates coolly.

"Right. I do owe you an explanation," he mutters. "Um… well…" suddenly he is aware of every tiny thing happening around him and it is totally distracting.

"Maybe start with why you were having a panic attack," she proposes.

"That's a bit of a loaded topic," he says. "I guess the short answer is PTSD. Though that's a very short response for a very complicated issue. My shrink says it's going to…"

"Shrink?" she interrupts.

"Psychiatrist, whatever," he amends. "Anyway, he says this is a…"

"You're seeing a psychiatrist?" she asks, the edge in her tone blunting.

He hesitates, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah."

"Because of PTSD?" She asks.

"Yeah." He sighs.

"Because of Blackout?"

He shrugs. "Among other things."

"Okay," she nods. After a brief pause, she goes on asking, "What did my birthday party have to do with all that?"

"Nothing," he assures her quickly. She deadpans at him unconvinced. He tries to answer better. "Part of the PTSD is panic attacks. They just happen sometimes, there might be little things that trigger them, but I can't really control them or predict them. I just have to focus on reality, try to get through them. It didn't happen because of you or your party."

"You just happened to get hit with it when they were bringing out the cake?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry." He says quietly.

"God, Henry," she scoffs. "You don't have to apologize for something you can't control. Or for having trauma."

"I'm sorry for hurting you," he says.

She folds her arms, lips pressing more thinly before responding. "Yeah. Well, as usual, you do have a good excuse for your behavior." He shakes his head, biting his lip. "I guess I can't really hold a grudge."

"Yes, you can," he intersects on the heel of her words. "There is no excuse good enough for hurting you. You have every right to hate me for it."

"I don't hate you, Henry," she argues. "I want to understand what's wrong, and why you said what you said."

He shakes his head, feelings of disgust directed towards himself. "Because I'm a jerk and an idiot. I messed up, I let some of the things I was feelings override my sense and said things I shouldn't have at the time. I'm sorry."

"So, you didn't mean it?" she asks, a hint of tears in her voice. "It was the panic talking?"

He slumps backwards, leaning against the booth seat with his eyes directed up and away from Babe. He takes a deep breath. "I… I didn't mean it to come out the way it did," he says. "I'm sorry for how I said it and that I did on your birthday. But I did… I do… it wasn't untrue. It's probably for the best."

She's quiet, offering no response. Henry tries to come up with something else to say but nothing comes out. After a long time, He tilts his head back down to look at her. She's tilted her face away from him, but he can see the tears running from her eyes.

"You deserve better than me," he says. "I know you don't think so, but you do." She glances back at him. "I'm a wreck. I'm damaged. And you have every chance at having the best the world can offer."

She quietly sobs a quick breath and responds, "I don't care what anyone else thinks is best. I think you are the best. You're all I want, not the million other guys tripping over themselves to have me."

"Babe, I'm too much of a mess. I can't be good enough. I can't give you everything you want, or need," he tries to convey.

"You are good enough," she insists and reaches over the table to grab his hand. "You're hurt, you've taken damage but that doesn't mean you're damaged. It doesn't make you worth less or unworthy. You are still the same amazing guy you've always been."

He bows and shakes his head. "No," he mutters. "I'm not okay; let alone good."

"Henry," she sighs mournfully. She squeezes his hand, biting her lip and pressing her eyelids closed. Tears flow out and down her cheeks silently. With a sniff, she switches benches, moving around the table to sit right by his side. She releases his hand to cup her hand around the back of his head. With her fingers running through his hair she directs his face toward her. "You are not okay. But that doesn't make you broken," she emphasizes. "It doesn't mean I can't l… that we can't be together." His head drops away from her, his eyes refusing to meet hers. She bows her own head. "I still want to be with you; and you can't tell me you don't want that too."

"No, I can't say that," he confesses, turning back to her for a moment. They share a gaze for a moment before he pulls away again. "But I can't be selfish. I won't let myself be a burden to you. We can't be…"

Babe sobs, retracting her arms to hug herself as he pulls away. Henry's heart clenches and his throat can't produce anymore sounds. Her face tilts downward towards her lap. He turns his gaze away from her. Through lashes and tears she keeps a watch on him as he stares out the window beside him. Time passes painfully with neither young adult saying a word.

Henry absentmindedly watches people come and go across the street. Tourists and locals go about their business with little regard to each other. Taxis galore drop off their passengers and pick up new ones. Evelyn leaves the hotel with Maribel holding her hand and skipping along beside her down the street.

"You're being completely stupid. You know that, right?" Babe cuts through the sad tension. Henry is pulled back to reality from whatever numbness his mind had been floating through. "But, okay. If you really don't think we should be together, then I'll let it be." She finishes, her voice thick.

He turns back towards the conversation. "I don't want…"

"I know. I get it. I'm not what you need right now," she says.

"Babe," his voice cracks.

She reaches for him again. "You're hurt, you've been through a lot of crap lately, and if space is what you need to heal, then you can have it. Take whatever you need to deal with your stuff. Work on you; on feeling okay again. It's not selfish." He sighs, feeling too much conflict and no conviction of any of it. She takes her own deep breath and pulls him closer, until their foreheads are touching, and her fingers are running through his hair. She speaks again. "That doesn't mean this is the end, okay? This doesn't have to be the end of anything. We're still friends and I still like you. I will wait for you. And after you've worked things out for yourself, we can try to figure us out again."

"You shouldn't wait for me," he protests.

"Maybe I'll go on a few other dates," she concedes. "But I'm not giving up on you. This isn't going to get less complicated for me until I know I've talked about it to the Henry Danger who's feeling clear about emotions on the subject, instead of being muddled by all the demons in his head."

Henry opens his mouth and closes it a couple times before he speaks, "I'm sorry." It sounds lame. He wants to say more but he doesn't have the words. She nods a little but says nothing. They stay there, with their heads against each other for a while longer.

(Commercial break)

After parting with Babe, Henry heads back to the hotel, entirely emotionally exhausted. He mentally goes back through their conversation, beating himself up over what he'd said or thinks he should have said.

His original intention for having gone out that day had slipped his mind, up until he passes by the Hall's door. He pauses, realizing that there is no noise from within. The memory of the two of them leaving while he'd been with Babe surfaces and he berates himself for having been oblivious to it. Still, he thinks to himself it must not be important. Evelyn had taken Maribel with her. She wouldn't take the toddler to work. They were probably shopping or something.

Henry returns to his room with a new determination to keep an eye and ear out for them. He sits in his room, packing his suitcase in preparation for his flight home tomorrow and listening for the Hall's return. He finishes with that task and moves on to watching tv. Later he grabs some dinner and checks to ensure he hadn't missed them returning. Only after the sun has set and they still haven't returned does he decide he may need to look for them.

The simplest way would be by the beacons he'd placed on Evelyn and given Maribel. Except, Evelyn's had not updated since reaching the pawn shop last night and Maribel hasn't activated hers. He is instead left to look the old-fashioned way: walking down the street in the direction they'd gone and keeping his eyes open.

Eventually he ends up at the pawn shop, thinking he should at least check it out, and wishes he'd thought to come sooner. A wall of people holding up their phones create a perimeter around the area. Gal-Vanic is whacking a couple goons with her staff on the sidewalk in front of the shop. The windows feet from her glow with a flickering orange light.

Henry blinks open mouthed at the situation for a moment. Then he turns around and finds a vacant alleyway to blow a bubble in. Now in costume, he forces his way through the crowd to help Gal-Vanic and learn the story behind the current chaos. "What the heck is going on!?" He asks.

Gal-Vanic turns to him, sweating and out of breath. "What are you doing here?" She demands in return.

"The shop is on fire!" He points out in lieu of an answer. "What happened to your long game stake out?"

She scowls deeply. "It's not my fault! Somehow, they seemed to have found out about me surveilling them. I don't suppose it's a coincidence that happened as soon as you got involved? They were clearing the place out when I got here. Then one guy got jumpy and decided to straight torch the place. My whole op is ruined and I've only got a couple goons to show for it!"

He frowns as deep as her. "What about the others who were here?" He asks.

She tosses a hand toward the flaming storefront. "Some of them were in there."

"You didn't get them out?!" He cries.

"I'm not fireproof!" She defends. "Whatever the big guy doused the store with was mega-flammable, the whole thing went up in a roaring wall. If anyone inside hoped to survive they better have had a back way out. I can't get to them."

"So, you just leave them to die?" He berates.

"I can't do anything about it!" She insists. "They probably have some secret escape route underground anyway. And now the whole crime ring is going to be going underground, moving and changing their defenses. Months of research and effort have gone up in smoke with this place!"

Henry huffs affronted at her. He glances at the burning doorway. Within a split second he decides to throw caution to the wind. "If the op is really more important to you, have fun with your goons. I'll be saving lives," he directs at Gal-Vanic as he runs towards the building.

Running through huge, roaring flames is terrifying even from within a completely safe green bubble. The light of it is blinding and the flames cover everything, reducing his ability to navigate even further. Danger runs in as straight a line as he can, pushing aside obstacles with the edge of his forcefield the best that he can. Old junk it turning to ash on all the shelves around him. He makes it to the door to the back room where Gal-Vanic's bee had been stationed as a spy and shoves the burning wood to splinters to get through.

There are less flames on the other side of it but still smoke and heat fill the room. Evelyn and the big guy she'd been working with last night are backing into a corner as far from the fire as possible, Maribel cowering and screaming at their feet. Evelyn is shouting at the man, "…idiot. You've trapped us. You weren't supposed…" she stops as Danger comes barreling into their corner.

He drops his shield, being hit by a blistering wave of heat, and reforms it around them all. "Are you all alright to move? We need to get out of here." He directs.

"Danger!" Maribel cries and runs to him.

He scoops her into his arms. "Hey. It's okay. It'll be okay. I'm gonna get you outta here."

"You…!" Evelyn spits with venom.

"Save it!" He snaps back at her. "I'm getting you out of here. So shut up and follow me. You too big guy!" He commands and starts heading back to the doorway, albeit more slowly than he'd come in. They are slower still to follow. "Unless you'd rather stay in these flames." They follow him, silently.

Through the splintered door and back into the violent flames, Maribel clings to Henry's neck and sobs. He holds her tight while leading them through the clearest path he can find. They escape through a broken window on the side of the building.

Pressing against the other side of the alley, Danger releases his forcefield. Evelyn and the big guy both step away from him. "Is everyone alright?" Danger asks them.

Maribel shakes her head and whimpers, "No, no, no." Henry cuddles her, offering reassurance.

"Give me my daughter," Evelyn demands and tries to pry the toddler off him.

Maribel resists with her considerable toddler strength, half strangling Henry. She kicks at her mother, screaming, "No! No!"

"Maribel!" Evelyn chastises.

"She just got pulled out of a burning building you took her into!" Danger hisses. "She's gonna need a while to calm down."

"Don't tell me what she needs. I'm her mother!" Evelyn argues.

"You brought her here, where your scary criminal coworkers lit the place on fire!" Danger counters, indicating the big guy. "You both could've died. I told you that you were going to get yourself in trouble."

The big guy gets aggressive as Danger gestures at him. He grabs for him with an angry growl. Danger backs away, cradling Maribel and putting up his forcefield. The big guy punches it.

"Really?" Danger scoffs.

The big guy glares but says nothing. In a second, he turns to Evelyn, grabs her by the upper arm and tries to lead her away.

She resists. They have an exchange through primarily body language. Evelyn tells him "No" several times. Finally, she elaborates, "I am not leaving my daughter with him!"

The big guy leaves on his own, looking quite grumpy.

Danger releases his forcefield. "You really should stay away from guys like that. You've got to be able to get a better job. At least one where you're not going to get killed."

She glares at him again. "I don't need your advice Danger," she grumbles. They stand in awkward silence for a while. Maribel calms down, to the point she's no longer choking Henry. "Maribel," Evelyn says.

The three-year-old peeks out and whimpers, "Mommy."

"Come here," Evelyn says much more gently than she has previously. "We need to go, dear."

Maribel whispers a response after several seconds. "Okay." She turns back into Henry with a hug and a "Bye-bye, Henry." Then she turns and reaches for her mother.

Henry lets her go. "You two should get somewhere safe," he advises. Evelyn still looks less than pleased with his presence, but she cradles her daughter and walks away. Henry makes sure they get back to the hotel safely.

Next Episode: S2E7: Darkness Within