“…”
Hannah had probably been staring at Paragon for an entire hour now. The police that was handling the situation of the explosion were called inside the building, and were now interrogating and questioning Paragon as to what happened.
Since the CCTV in the building was cut off, the only way the cops could really figure out what truly happened was by cross-examining Paragon; asking him the same questions over and over again. But each time, all of his answers were consistent. But still, the cops continued anyway.
They were doing this since Paragon already had a history of unnecessary violence… and that was just the other day.
“The dude’s gonna melt with you looking at ‘im like that.”
“Hm?”
Hannah then slightly turned her head to the side as Bella approached her; her eyes, however, were still fixated on Paragon. How could they not, after what he told her?
He told her that he would have been lucky to have a sister like her… and then he told her to move on. Would… Riley really say something like that? The way he said it was also filled with care and warmth– something Riley was not capable of.
Were… they really just similar to each other?
“He… ain’t Riley, H,” Bella then sat at the lobby bar beside Hannah, “I hate agreeing with the tall oaf, but your brother is dead, girl.”
“…”
“But I get, I do,” Bella was about to pour herself a drink from the bar, but as soon as she saw a body covered with a blanket on the other side of the counter, she just returned to her seat, “I could see why you thought he could be Riley. They have this… aura in them. But this–”
“You guys are right,” Hannah did not let Bella finish her words as she finally removed her eyes from Paragon, “I’m just… I guess I thought I’d forgotten about all of that.”
“They your family, girl. You’re gonna have to live with that,” Bella sighed, “Now I came from a big family– not as big as Katrina, but big enough. But we wasn’t tight. But you and Riley? You guys had something special that even I suspected there was something sinister going on with you two.”
“…Something sinister?” Hannah raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, ya know…” Bella shrugged, “…that you two were… like… well, you know.”
“…” Hannah stared at Bella for a few seconds, but as soon as she realized what she was getting at, her eyes widened,
“What!? No, yuck, ew! What the fuck!? He was my brother!”
“Not biological.”
“Bell!?”
“That’s why I didn’t wanna say!”
“Then why say it!? Is Gary infecting you!?”
“I don’t know, shit! The two of you had that Lannister vibe going on, touching each others cheek and shit. Black people don’t mess with that, just saying.”
“…” The guards that were interrogating Paragon could not help but be distracted by Hannah and Bella’s loud exchange, but after a few more seconds, they turned back to focus on Paragon. But looking at him just calmly sitting there, it felt like they were just wasting their time.
“If only we could recover those things,” the detective muttered as he pointed at the cameras, “Even the surveillance outside was tampered with. The prints on the dead guys also came out negative. We have no way to identify who they are because their faces are all smashed in.”
“Welcome to the Super Department,” the detective’s partner scoffed, “It just gets weirder and weirder down the line.”
“Fuck if–”
“I recorded a video.”
And as the two were about to leave Paragon alone, he stood up and approached them,
“If you want to see the old man’s face, I recorded a video before I killed him.”
“…What?” The two detectives then looked at each other, “Why did you only tell us now!?”
“Because you were asking different questions,” Paragon said.
“Where’s the video!?”
“You can check it out on my Tremor account.”
“You uploaded it online!?”
“No, I streamed it live.”
“What!?”
The two detectives quickly grabbed both their phones as they searched for Paragon’s account. They didn’t have to, however– as Paragon’s video was right on the feature page of the app…
…with already a million views although it was just streamed 3 hours ago.
“Quick, run the old man’s face into the database!” The detective snapped his fingers several times as he ordered his men; his eyes, not leaving the video for even a second, “We need to find out who–”
And before the detective could finish his words, he reached the part of the video that was most replayed by the viewers– the very moment Paragon caved the old man’s face in.
“Oh, fuck.”
And like most of the people that watched it for the first time, both the detectives could only let out their surprise with a curse.
“He… fucking executed him live.”
“We… we have to arrest him now, right?”
“…” The lead detective did not really answer his partner’s question as he watched as Paragon even provided a close-up of the old man’s smashed head. He had seen some eccentric superheroes in his life– but this was more like the work of a villain.
“We got the old man!”
And while the two were replaying the video, one of the cops returned with a tablet on hand. The two detectives quickly checked the old man’s profile– and everything just clicked.
They thought the wounds of the staff were weird and something they didn’t come across often, now they know why. The old man was an old super called Thousandblade and he had the ability to make anything hard and sharp– and since the receptionist was practically nailed to the wall with a bunch of paper straws and one was practically cut in half by a hat…
…that was really all they needed to know.
“…What do we do with him?”
“…Nothing,” the lead detective then let out a small sigh as he returned the tablet to the cop, “We’re done here for today.”
“We’re not going to arrest Paragon?”
“For what? He’s allowed to use deadly force against a trespasser.”
“But the old man couldn’t even fight back! Sure, he tried to stab–”
“I’ll stop you right there,” the lead detective then placed his hand on his partner’s shoulder, “The old man is a super who killed more than a dozen people.”
“I know that, sir. But I’m only trying to enforce the law on all sides.”
“Then you need to go back to seminar,”
The lead detective waved his hand as he walked away, “The law you’re trying to enact is only for normal humans– self-defense laws are completely different when it comes to Supers. Go study, kid.”
“Wait, what? Since when!?”
“Since forever,” the lead detective could only sigh in disappointment at his partner’s words; before walking back to Paragon, “Don’t leave the city for a couple of days, we will have questions about Thousandblade soon.”
“Okay.”
And as soon as the people questioning Paragon were gone, Paige, who had been patiently waiting nearby, quickly rushed to him to give him some water.
“You okay?” Paige then asked as her sighs reached the entire building; before she looked at the body bags the cops and coroners were carrying out of the building, “They’re… all dead. We… didn’t even fully know any of them. It’s just like one big dream that turned into a nightmare.”
“Yes,” Paragon nodded, “We can’t accept clients until we hire new people, Paige.”
“…That’s not really what I was getting at… but that’s true.”
“Bro!” And before the two could even continue their talk, Gary’s voice reverberated into their ears,
“You smashed someone’s head in on live TV! That’s hardcore as shit!” He then said as he cast the video on his phone to the large TV in the lobby’s waiting area. Bella and Hannah, who were talking at the bar, could not help but be curious as to what Gary was up to now.
“You guys seen Kat?” Hannah asked as she approached Gary.
“She’s taking a leak, but watch this, though!” Gary then said as he pointed at the TV, which was showing Paragon smashing Thousandblade’s head in.
“Damn,” Bella was the first to react as she blinked a couple of times, “Now that’s some next-level shit right there.”
As for Hannah– it just added to her confusion. Executing someone and recording it? That’s something Darkday would do. But then again, he was literally a co-owner of a Superhero Agency, and they record everything they do.
“Ah!” Paige screamed as she pointed at the recording, “We can use that as marketing!”
“…”
“You crazy, girl?”
“Paige and Paragon! That’s what would separate us from the rest of the other agencies!”
“I think Empress openly supporting your agency already separates you from the others,” Gary commented, “But I get your point… and I’m fucking in. Let’s bash some heads in.”
“You guys do know we can’t kill, right?”
“Only if we care about our image, we’ll let them strike first so we can claim self-defense and–”
“And what?”
And before Gary could finish his words, Empress suddenly appeared behind him.
“…And we negotiate,” Gary said before quickly moving away. Empress didn’t really give him any more heed, as she approached Paragon.
“Can we talk about Thousandblade?” Empress said, before looking at the others, “In private.”
“We were here first, why don’t you talk somewhere else?” Hannah did not take a single step.
“Are we going to do this again?”
“Maybe.”
“The two of you don’t have to,” Paragon stood between the two before they could argue, “Let’s talk in my office, Empress.”
“Hm,” Empress didn’t really entertain Hannah that much as she followed Paragon to the elevator. Leaving Paige and the Baby Crew in the lobby alone.
“…”
“…”
“How’d you guys know Empress?” Gary was, of course, the first one to break the silence as he walked towards the bar.
“I… I think Adam’s mother is a friend of hers.”
“Pft, Empress has a friend?” Hannah scoffed as she followed Gary to the bar, also gesturing for Bella and Paige to join, “That’s the biggest joke I’ve ever heard.”
“R… right. Your dad and her had an affair…” Paige quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late as she already uttered the words.
“Hm,” Hannah, however, only shrugged her shoulders as she gestured to Gary to get a bottle of alcohol, “She’s just another victim of my dad. My brother turned out to be the way he is probably because of him.”
“I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault,” Paige sighed, “Riley was in the spectrum, he–”
“Oh, I’m not talking about that,” Hannah shook her head, “You… wouldn’t understand.”
Gary could only glance at Bella as he handed the bottle to Hannah; almost as if asking her if it was alright to give her alcohol in her state. Bella, however, just shrugged and got a glass.
“Empress isn’t that bad,” Hannah then said before gulping a third of the bottle, “She…
…was one of the people that held us together when things got tough.”