A Villain's Hero

Chapter 40 - Rowan

Being back in the house was surprisingly comforting. As soon as they got back, Rowan went down to the bunker. There were three kinds of technology in there - his parents', his own, and a third that had been his since he'd stolen it and upgraded it. Everything he needed to keep track of Tigress.

What was even more surprising was that Ciara immediately joined him. Together they created the map and she insisted that they continue to work on it together.

Tigress was still on the move. Her car only stopped twice, as if she didn't even need to use the toilet or buy food. Survival was her priority and she was obviously trying to get off the radar as quickly as possible.

Rowan hacked into every camera he could find and watched the footage over and over, trying to pick out every detail. He made sure he always found a shot that showed Tigress in the car, even though she hadn't had a chance to switch places with anyone. Rowan was sure of that.

"What about the owner of the car?" Ciara asked. Rowan typed his name into his programme as soon as they arrived and waited to see what he could find. So far he hadn't found any connection to Tigress, Teresa or Amanda.

"Still nothing," he told her. "I've also started looking for a connection to Mimic."

Ciara nodded, looking pensive. "What about the boy? Any progress?"

Rowan had more bad news for her. "I haven't found any available information. I think he might be the son of a hero or a villain, but apparently none that my parents had in their database." It made sense. Their database hadn't been updated in years, and the boy, if Mimic had transformed into his current age, had been born long after their deaths.

"So what's your next plan?" Ciara asked.

"For now, just wait." He frowned, not liking his own words. "Then there are more possibilities. Either we investigate the owner of the car without getting any connection, or we start tracking Tigress not only on the map, and then there's the last option - hacking into the Legion's system. I know you could find out about the kids legally, but before it looked like the system alerted Mimic and Tigress when you looked up Amanda Smith. They probably have several such safeguards."

"What if we split up?" Ciara suggested. "I'll visit the owner of the car, you track Tigress' movements, and if anything suspicious happens, Sawyer can follow her up close in a second. Of course, hacking into the system is also up to you."

"You want to go to him alone?" Rowan raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

Ciara's lips broke into a broad smile. "Are you worried about me?"

Rowan rolled his eyes, though he had to acknowledge the truth of her words. He had no idea what had happened to him lately, but he had clearly gone soft. He blamed Matteo for that.

"We both know it's not safe." He chose to ignore the meaning of her words and answered her indifferently. "The rest of your team wouldn't be happy if something happened to you."

"Oh, wow, you know if you call us your team too, nothing bad is going to happen, right? Max is practically your family, you can hardly stay away from Matteo, and we both know that you could have sent Sawyer after Tigress, but you didn't because you care about him. We're your team, like it or not." Ciara had always been the one who didn't beat around the bush when talking to him, which was why he tried to avoid being alone with her as much as possible.

He remained silent, not knowing how to react. The heroine obviously didn't mind, though, because even without his answer she continued, "Since you need Sawyer in case of emergencies, and I don't dare to separate you and Matteo because you would worry unnecessarily about each other, I'm going to ask Max if he wants to come with me." She got up and headed for the door.