"What're we doing in here?" Kai asked as she and Emily entered The Watchtower. "Any why'd you bring Chase along?" She flashed him an apologetic glance. "Not that I don't mind your company."
The blonde chuckled at her. "It's cool. I was wondering the same thing."
Emily passed by a few agents who were lazily peering at the rows of illuminated displays in front of them. The low hum of server boards and a coffee maker operated in the background, providing a welcomed break to the monotone noises of keyboard taps and mouse clicks.
Grinning, she turned around and faced her two companions. "We're here to find dirt on Crane. I know he's up to something."
Kai slumped her shoulders. "Em, it's late. Can't we do this another time?"
"I'm with your girlfriend on this one, Emily," Chase said while rubbing his eyes. "I still need to hit the infirmary before I go to bed."
"She's not my girlfriend!" Emily blurted out with reddened cheeks. She cautiously peeked at Kai, who simply frowned at her. "This won't take long. I know there's something somewhere about Crane. We're in the best place to find it."
"Yeah, yeah," Kai said. "Just hurry up. I'm tired."
"Same here."
Emily rolled her eyes at both of them. She would've thought they'd be more excited to take down Senator Crane. After all, they both agreed that something was off about the man. Why weren't they more excited?
Shaking her head, she flitted over to an empty workstation and powered on the computer.
A year and a half ago, she and Andre had snuck into The Watchtower in order to access the massive reach Atlas' security and intelligence unit possessed. Now they were allowed inside without any restrictions. Though, an agent did have to block a few sites due to questionable search histories from Zach and Angus.
"So, what exactly are we looking for here?" Chase asked. He hovered behind the chair Emily sat behind with Kai barely paying attention at his side. "Past conversations? Encrypted emails?"
"Maybe we should start small," Kai suggested. She shrugged. "How about a news report?"
"I like her idea better," Emily said. She quickly typed Alastair Crane's name into the search bar and waited for the results to load. In less than two seconds, a dozen headlines paired with highlighted hyperlinks appeared on the screen. "Huh. He's got a lot of articles about him."
Behind her, Chase leaned over her and pointed at the second one from the top. "What's that one about?"
Scowling, Emily shrugged him off of her shoulder. "Move, you big blond oaf."
"Em, be nice," Kai urged.
Emily ignored her and clicked on the link Chase requested. A digital newspaper chronicling the failed mission in Moscow appeared on the screen. After skimming the first few pictures, and glossing over the images of burning buildings, she found out Crane had been present in Moscow during the battle.
"Huh." Kai scratched the top of her head. "That's...news. What was he doing in Moscow?"
"Says here he was on vacation with his wife," Emily said while squinting at the screen.
"Wife?" Chase frowned. "I didn't know he was married."
Emily nodded. Now that she was thinking about it, she hadn't heard any mention of the woman whenever Crane was being discussed on television. In fact, she didn't remember seeing a ring on his finger in any of his interviews. Then again, he was a politician. It wouldn't have been a surprise if he was just trying to keep her out the view of the public. Not everyone was cut out for the spotlight.
She knew she wasn't.
"Apparently he got injured in the battle," Kai revealed. She turned to Chase. "What exactly happened in Moscow? I joined the team after that whole fiasco."
His expression darkened as he jammed his hands into his pockets. An embarrassed look bled onto his face. "It was one of our first missions after we became an official team. We were still new to the whole superhero team." He exhaled and ran a hand over his head. "It was my fault. I almost had him. He just...he slipped from my grasp. We stopped him before he decimated the whole city, but a lot of people got hurt that day. I still think about it sometimes."
"It wasn't your fault," Emily told him. "I mean, it kind of was, but that's not the point. We all make mistakes."
"But my mistake got people killed," Chase stressed. He clenched his jaw as his blue eyes shifted to the floor.
"Your mistake has made you a better leader," she countered. She rarely complimented him, considering his head was big enough, but he was too hard on himself. Especially about things that weren't totally in his control.
Emily hadn't been present on the Moscow mission, but she knew what down. Exon had managed to lose Chase in the city for just a minute. But in that minute, he destroyed an entire city block and murdered dozens. The battle ended in Chase being forced to cut him down before he could kill everyone in Moscow.
"Yeah, I guess," he mumbled.
"That might explain why Crane hates us so much," Kai said. "I mean, he saw what some Primes can do firsthand. And if he and his wife got hurt during the fight, it makes sense for why he'd be pushing the PRA so hard."
Emily rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "See, this why I brought you along, Kai."
"You sure it wasn't for my good looks?" The girl flashed her a swoon-inducing grin that nearly reduced her to a puddle of sass and black eyeliner.
Slightly flustered, she kept her eyes on the newspaper article.
Chase peered at the both of them with narrowed eyes. "You sure she's not your girlfriend?"
"Shut up, Goldilocks."
Smirking, he held his hands up.
"Alright, I'm interested now," Kai said while taking up the seat next to Emily. "See what else we can find on him."
Emily nodded and returned to the main search page. After scrolling down the page for a moment, she found another article about the failure that was the Apollo cure.
Shortly after the battle with Kismet on Adak Island, Atlas and Nexxus Industries banded together to develop an antidote to counteract the Primonium spreading across the planet. However, the antidote hadn't worked like they thought it would. While it managed to alleviate any life-threatening symptoms non-Primes might've had after coming contact with the element, it failed to prevent the Primonium from creating more Primes.
The Apollo cure's failure was the reason for the influx of Primes throughout the world. There still hadn't been an antidote that could permanently revert a Prime back to a normal human being.
Though, Emily wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Had a successful cure actually been produced, it could've potentially made its way to people who wanted to hurt them. Matter of fact, she was glad one wasn't made.
While Kismet and Kane had done some terrible things, they were right about one thing. Primes were the superior group now and people were afraid of them. Fear drove people to do radical things. If those people had the ability to render Emily and her friends powerless, that could've been a problem.
Emily clicked the link to the article, which was a simple transcription of Senator Crane's thoughts on the Apollo cure situation.
"He was even against us before the battle in Moscow," Kai noted. "His proposed solution to dealing with Primes was just to lock them up."
Emily shook her head. "Some politician."
"That's how they solve all their issues," Kai said. "They just throw them in jail."
"You can say that again," Chase added. "You should see how they handle veterans. A couple of my dad's buddies got thrown in prison after being denied help after they got discharged. Seeing them slowly go crazy is one of the worst things ever."
Emily knew nothing about the military, but she did know that what happened to the troops when they returned from their service was despicable.
Yet another reason not to trust their government. Or Crane.
If his PRA got signed, they'd be treated the same way after their services weren't required anymore. Her blood boiled at the thought of being discarded like a piece of garbage.
"This is...useful information and all," Chase began, "but this doesn't exactly do anything for our cause. We still have no proof that Crane is up to something."
Emily groaned. "Don't you think I know that?" She rubbed her temples and shut her eyes.
Think. Think. What could he be up to?
There were multiple avenues she could've gone down. The only issue was that she didn't know any of the street names.
Kai rested a hand on her shoulder. "How about we hang it up for tonight? This information isn't going anywhere. A fresh mind might do you some good."
Sighing, she nodded. "Yeah...yeah, you're right." She stood up and powered down the computer. As she made her way over to the exit of The Watchtower with Kai in tow, she glanced back at Chase. He was still standing in front of the deactivated computer monitor. His features were taut, and she could see his mind working beyond his ocean blue irises.
"Hey, Goldilocks?"
He faced her. "Yeah?"
"You coming?"
"I think I'm gonna hang back. I've got something I've been meaning to find." He paused. "I'll see you two tomorrow."
Emily and Kai exchanged a skeptical look.
"Whatever you say, Chase," the latter said. "Goodnight."
"'Night."
Shrugging off Chase's sudden weird behavior, Emily left the room and made her way towards her room. As she and Kai walked, side-by-side, the girl slipped her hand into hers.
"What're you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
Emily pressed her lips into a line.
"You don't have to keep hiding, you know."
"I'm not hiding," Emily protested. "I'm just...I'm still working some things out."
Kai stopped, causing her to stop as well. "And I'm here to help you work those things out." She cupped Emily's face. Emily's knees nearly buckled as she gazed into the girl's gorgeous face.
"Right back at you."
Emily blushed. Before she said something dumb, she removed her face from Kai's hands and cleared her throat. "Come on. I want to get some sleep before training." Without even waiting to see if she was following, she sped down the corridor with her face redder than one of her explosive arrows.