'Do you have anything to say on-'
'How did you get-'
'What are your thoughts about-'
As we dragged Bellini and Delano out of the subway tunnels, we were surrounded by reporters and paparazzi pushing microphones into our faces and demanding our views on the ordeal. I tried to ignore them as we made our way to the police cars, not wanting to say a morsel.
'You've done more than I could ever ask of you, Aria,' Lance said in admiration as I shoved Bellini into the police car with Elliot. 'Was it only you four?'
'Yes,' I nodded, lying through my teeth.
I couldn't let the police know that Ted had been with us too. But now that Bellini and Delano would surely be questioned, they could just tell the SCPD what they saw.
---
The events of the next couple hours were rather tedious ones. We were taken into hospital as the nurses and doctors insisted that they cleaned me up and checked me to see if the poison had done any damage. Miraculously, it hadn't.
But remember, I'd survived much worse.
'How's the interrogation going?' I asked Helena as she met me at the hospital doors; she had already been discharged hours ago.
'Weird,' she answered hesitantly, as if she was trying to figure out some great wizardry. 'Its like the gang never... saw Ted.'
'Wait, so they're not turning him in?' I asked in utter bewilderment.
Something wasn't right.
'I know,' Helena commented, somehow agreeing with my thoughts. 'But they might not hold it off for much longer. They're bound to tell the SCPD some time.'
'I just hope they don't,' I muttered.
It was such a strange situation, yet I was glad of Bellini and Delano keeping quiet. But the real question was, for how long would it last?
'I'm going to go back to the SCPD to keep track they're both saying,' Helena announced, turning her body back towards the way out. 'You coming?'
'I guess I better see what they're really up to,' I said ironically, leaving the clinical prison behind.
---
We arrived at the scene just in time for the important questions. The questions that would truly reveal who was there that night.
'So, just the four members of our department were there?' Detective Hilton asked Bellini and Delano.
'Yes,' Bellini confirmed in a bored voice, as if he had heard the same question a million times.
'They had no help whatsoever?' Hilton pressed.
Bellini looked through the one-way mirror of the interrogation room as if he was looking at me straight in the eye, like he as doing me some sort of favour. Delano looked pained as he covered up Ted's assistance.
'No, Sir,' Bellini spouted sarcastically.
What was this? Bellini and Delano covering the truth up as a favour, or some greater power involved? He, and Delano, didn't seem the type of men to do something that wasn't to help themselves. They had to have a motive. They had to.
'That will be all for today,' Hilton nodded, frustrated.
Hilton knew that they were lying; he could just tell. Throughout my time working for the SCPD, I had noticed that Hilton was something of a master at reading people and finding the lies within the truth. And he knew that there was a fifth saviour. Maybe it was just because he doubted that two scientists, a nurse and an IT guy were capable of defeating a gang as powerful and domineering as the Culebras, or maybe it was because we were all lying through our teeth.
'Miss Coleman,' Hilton said quietly as he joined me outside the interrogation room. 'Who were you really with?'
As I looked for Helena for support, I found that the rest of the spectators were gone. I was on my own.
'They're telling the truth,' I said with a convincing poker face.
'But I know they're not,' Hilton stated. 'And I don't believe you, either.'
'You don't think I'm capable of fighting the gang, do you?' I said, raising one eyebrow. 'You don't think I'm strong enough. But I am. And the other three are capable as well.'
'You know lying to the police is a felony, even if you work at the police department?' Hilton changed the topic so he didn't have to admit what he thought of us.
'But I'm not committing a crime,' I said, facing the one-way mirror, not daring to look at Hilton. 'You've seen what I can do. You've seen me fight the gang before. Why wouldn't I be able to do the same again?'
'This is a warning, Coleman,' Hilton threatened, looking at the criminals with me. 'If I find any evidence to suggest you were working with the Vigilante, then I won't hesitate to arrest you and your friends.'
Vigilante? How did he know Ted was involved? Was he just guessing, or had Bellini or Delano dropped hints to him?
I had to warn Ted before it was too late.
---
'Ted!' I shouted as I ran through Wildcat Gym. 'Ted!'
The building was quiet, and Ted was nowhere to be seen.
Letting myself into the back room, I swiped the ID card Ted had given me in case of emergency, but I was not prepared for what I was about to see. Helena and Ted were hiding behind the stashes of storage boxes, as if they had all the time in the world. Helena had some sort of flower tucked behind her right ear and Ted had lipstick all over his face. The two were inseparable, adjoined at the lips and arms entangled.
'You have got to be kidding me,' I muttered quietly, but evidently not quiet enough.
'Ar... Aria,' Helena said surprisedly, wiping the side of her mouth quickly. 'I... I didn't know you would be back to early.'
'So this is where you disappeared to?' I said, annoyed at the fact she had left me to face Hilton to have a impromptu smooching session. 'I just got grilled by Hilton, who thinks we're all 'committing felonies' by pretending we didn't have help from Ted. I thought you wanted to see what Bellini and Delano were going to say, anyway, instead of making out with... Ted!'
'I'm still here, y'know,' Ted commented sarcastically, trying to mask his embarrassment.
'I'm sorry, Aria, but some things are more important than wasting my life away waiting for some criminals to get us arrested!' Helena reacted badly to my outburst. 'What is wrong with me being with Ted? You were the one who tried talking me into being with him before we fought the gang! And just because some detective accused us of breaking the law doesn't mean anything. Lance was more than happy with what we had done!'
Before Helena could get any more worked up, Ted pulled her back and calmed her down.
'This is just a... Misunderstanding,' Ted said awkwardly. 'Stop having a go at her, Aria.'
'I'm sorry,' I said unconvincingly. 'But speculation and accusations are actually happening out there! Questions are being asked. Hilton won't be the only one. People are seeing through us. We need to cover up the fact that you were ever there.'
'Isaac's already on the camera footage,' Ted said automatically. 'He's hacked into every system in this city.'
'Good,' I nodded in approval. 'What about all the gang members that saw you help us?'
'Trust me, no one saw me with you,' Ted reassured me. 'And if they did, they won't remember a thing from that night.'
I guessed Ted was talking about concussion, but I dreaded to think about what he really meant.
Suddenly, the room was shrouded in darkness, making me feel slightly disorientated in the shadows. This theatricality could only mean one thing. Merlyn was back.
'Merlyn,' I hissed angrily.
'So now you can see in the dark?' Merlyn asked sarcastically. 'I didn't know you were superhuman.'
'I just... know you're there,' I replied quickly. 'Why are you here?'
Before he answered me, the lights flickered back on, bringing us back out of the darkness. Ted and Helena were on the other side of the room, clearly trying get to the exit and escape the darkness. But I had stayed in my original position, calm and unshaken.
I guess it was a metaphor for us all, that I had been so used to the darkness that I was still consumed by it, but those who were still in light were immunised from the pull to the shadows.
'I'm here to tell you that I'm the reason why those two idiots haven't told the SCPD about Mr Grant,' Merlyn said arrogantly. 'I'm trying to help you and your friends, Aria.'
'At what cost?' I asked, narrowing me eyes. 'What do you want from me?'
'I don't want anything,' Merlyn said rather unconvincingly. 'I just want you to be happy.'
And with that, Merlyn was gone.
Merlyn couldn't be doing this without getting something back. He was up to something, I was sure of it.
'Who was he?' Helena worried, breaking the silence. 'Why did he come in here? How do you know him?'
'Of course,' I rolled my eyes.
I realised that Helena and Ted wouldn't've known that Merlyn was a part time assassin. That was their first time meeting him our used if his company, and I was certain it wouldn't be their last.
'It was Merlyn,' I explained hastily. 'Malcolm Merlyn.'
'Wait, are you talking about the billionaire businessman Malcolm Merlyn?' Ted suddenly picked up. 'The owner of Merlyn Global Group?'
'That's the one,' I nodded. 'He's been getting me to watch over Tommy, his son, for years now. Fortunately, I escaped him after I... Disappeared last year, but he seems to be able to track me down, wherever I am.'
'Have you not tried to stop him?' Helena asked hopefully.
'Countless times,' I replied with a sigh. 'But he's always so persistent.'
'The Malcolm Merlyn?' Ted repeated rhetorically, shaking his head in disbelief. 'How many people know he's... That?'
'Not many I know of,' I shook my head. 'Isaac and Elliot know though. That's who we're trying to defeat. Merlyn. Our crusade was to get revenge on him nearly killing us all.'
'Then we'll help,' Ted offered immediately. 'You'll be able to get further with more people on your team.'
'So we're a team now?' I asked, raising my eyebrow.
'We always were, Aria,' Helena says with a smile, forgiving me for my outburst earlier. 'We can set our base up somewhere hidden, and it can be our secret, together.'
'Just where are we going to do that?' I inquired. 'We can't just go anywhere; it has to be somewhere well out the way, where no one would suspect.'
'We already have that sorted,' Ted announced straight away rather vaguely.
Moving towards the door to what I assumed was the storage cupboard of the gym, Ted swiped his ID card along a gap at the side of the doorway. A green light flashes three times, and the door unbolted from its lock. He pushed the door forwards, and led us through to what was waiting on the other side.
The room was lined with concrete, its cold surface giving little warmth in the place. Weapons of all shapes and sizes lined the walls and the tables, Ted's impressive knives collection standing out the most. And on the edge of the nearest table was Ted's black signature balaclava, folded as though he had taken it off in a hurry.
'Wow,' I breathed at the impressiveness of the room. 'You really wanted to become the Vigilante, didn't you?'
'Not the Vigilante,' Ted disagreed. 'But yes, I did want to help people. This is where I store all my equipment and any trace of who I really am. And you can use this room too. After all, we are a team. And together, we're gonna fight for the justice this city deserves.'
Well this was going to be exciting.