Just A Child

"Quasar, what I need… I need to know that if things go wrong on this Hypogean job, or if I need to do something that wrecks their plans because they're going too far, that you'll be there to pull me out, that you won't let me go to jail," I asked, the sentence being said was like a weight coming off my shoulders.

"You have to tell me what they're planning," He replied. It wasn't a yes or a no, but I felt that weight come ever so slightly back.

"I can't tell you that," I repeated, the third time I'd had to say something to that effect.

If Lauren discovered through her power that I'd snitched on all of their plans before they'd even happen then there was no telling what Hypogean would do to me.

That didn't stop Quasar's body language from looking more and more irritated and tense.

"Are they murdering someone? Will any members of the community get hurt as a result of this little stunt?"

"No," I replied, "I'm fairly certain that I can say no civilians will get hurt. Not unless things go completely pear-shaped, which is what I'm trying to prevent here."

There was a long silence between us. Clearly, Quasar was trying to think things out. Eventually, the hero turned his attention back to me and said, "I'm not helping you, you won't get any protection from me if you go down this path."

It felt like my stomach had fallen out from under me. Quasar was going to be my get out of jail free card. He was a hero. Their whole point was to help people.

"This is the one thing that I need, just one tiny piece of information, and Hypogean comes crumbling down!" I all but yelled at Quasar, it was my turn to be annoyed.

"You're nothing but a stupid child," Quasar seethed back. He took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "You are basically asking for my permission to carry out a crime here, and not just any crime, I'd wager it's quite a big crime.

"Well, I assume it's a big crime, anyway, because if it wasn't you wouldn't have called me in. No, this is going to be big. Big enough to put Hypogean on everyone's radar… and you want me and the rest of my team to stand back and watch while you play a silly little game of spies with a team that has more than one confirmed murderer on it!"

Two murderers?

That took me by surprise.

I'd already resolved myself to the fact that Becca had likely killed someone in the past, maybe more than one person, but who else on the team would have been capable of such a thing. They all seemed so… nice?

"You think you're so damn clever," Quasar continued before I could even think about asking who the killers were. "If we were to put someone in undercover they'd have a handler. They'd have a team of people that they could call in for backup at any point in time to pull them out if things got too dangerous. You though? You're just some kid with delusions of grandeur."

"I… I'm not a kid," I spat back childishly.

"Oh, well then, consider me put in my place," He said, each word dripping with sarcasm.

"If I had something like a handler or backup that could storm their place at any moment then they would know. I'm doing this the only way it can work," I protested, trying to get him back on board.

"My crafter lie detector tells me that you believe you're right," Quasar said, "But that doesn't mean what you're saying is actually the truth."

All of this was coming from Quasar, one of the heroes that I'd always looked up to the most when I had been growing up. That made it all much harder to take. I opened my mouth to respond, but for some reason, I just couldn't put together an appropriate answer, and so I simply shut my mouth again like a fish gasping for air out of water.

"You need to abandon your charade, little crafter," He said venomously, "Before you bite off much more than you can chew and put yourself and others in danger. Come clean now with everything you know. Then go home, to your family, and go to sleep.

"At this point, I don't care if you sign onto the Juniors team or if you put your costume and gear away for good, but this solo act will get you killed. So stop now, while you still have breath in your lungs."

Hearing that from him stung, so I tried my final trump card, "I let you have Phet, the full credit for that takedown! You can't even give me the benefit of the doubt after that?"

"Phet was a dying man!" Quasar yelled at the top of his lungs, his anger spilling forth for the first time, "Him nearly dying was on my shoulders. I lost command for two days. I wasn't allowed to patrol, or take on villains, for two whole days!

"They interrogated me. I was taken in for power judging as if I were some upstart new Powered. All because you had no idea how powerful that stupid gauntlet of yours was. Even now the oaf might never be able to speak again!"

I'd been wondering this whole time why, even before we had spoken to each other, Quasar's demeanour toward me had been so openly hostile.

Since I had allowed him to have credit, I thought that we'd at least be on the same page, but no. He hated me. One of my favourite heroes had no faith in me, and outright hated me.

All because one of the worst villains in the community had nearly died after I handed him over.

As far as I was concerned the filth deserved it after everything he had done to the community and all of the lives he had ruined.

So, I decided to hold my ground.