A Villain's Hero

Chapter 32 - Rowan

Rowan wasn't used to working with others. He always did everything on his own, so he definitely wasn't used to having someone leaning over his shoulder and watching what he was doing on the computer.

On top of that, Ciara had clearly made it her mission to annoy him as much as possible by constantly asking him questions like a little child. She had no knowledge of IT or programming, so he could hardly explain to her how the devices or programmes he was using worked. Besides, not all the programs he used were of his own making, and he certainly wasn't going to admit where he'd stolen them from.

"Still nothing?" She leaned over his shoulder again.

"No," he replied simply. He'd almost thought his system was broken since he still hadn't picked up any trace of the two criminals, but everything else was working fine.

Also, there was still one thing preventing them from being found.

"What about the kid? Have you found out who he is yet?" More questions.

With Rowan using his abilities to paralyse Tigress and Mimic with his screams, they needed to escape as quickly as possible. Neither of them were in any condition to fight, and it didn't look like they'd be able to escape either. That is, until Mimic turned into a small child, somewhere between two and three years old, and Tigress carried him on her back before jumping out of the broken window with him. Thanks to her abilities, she always landed on all fours like a cat, so height wasn't a problem.

"It's like he doesn't exist," he admitted. Although he was able to get a photo of the child from the security camera outside his apartment building, his system had trouble finding any information.

"You know enough about not existing yourself," Ciara remarked.

"Apparently not enough," he replied, becoming increasingly agitated with her.

Fortunately, the distraction came quickly and prevented her from asking any more annoying questions.

"How's it going?" His favourite hero entered the room. Waking up in an unfamiliar place yesterday and then finding him in the kitchen making breakfast had almost felt like being in an alternate universe. It was something he would have to get used to, though, since they'd also had lunch together at the table, and dinner had been brought to him in bed by the blond superhero for a change, since he'd supposedly needed to rest.

"Badly," Ciara replied. "Your supervillain is really just a villain." That was the other thing Rowan noticed. Ciara did her best to bring up some connection between Rowan and Matteo in every conversation. He didn't know if she was doing it to him on purpose or if it was aimed at Matteo, but either way he did his best to ignore it.

"He's hurt," Matteo reminded her, and then his gaze shifted to Rowan. There was concern in his eyes and Rowan felt like rolling his eyes. He wasn't dying.

"I'm fine," he assured him for perhaps the thousandth time. "Can we concentrate on the case now?" He added the question when Matteo's gaze didn't change.

The blond superhero cleared his throat, looked away and nodded. But then he did something Rowan definitely didn't appreciate. Like Ciara had done earlier, Matteo leaned over his shoulder to look at his computer screen. It wouldn't have been so bad if Ciara hadn't done the same from the other side at the same moment.

"Is it even possible to avoid all those cameras?" He asked.

Rowan sighed. "Remember San Dence? If they're moving through the sewers like rats, the cameras won't help us."

"So what do you suggest?" Matteo turned his face towards him and suddenly their faces were too close. Rowan immediately put some distance between them and leaned back against the chair.