Harlow hadn’t really noticed as she was lead out of the Underground. She was appreciative to not be carried or dragged away, and was allowed to at least move on her own. She was still focused on all the missing heroes. And villains. 

Why kidnap any of them at all? Surely there was nothing to be gained from doing that, and even if you felt the need to kidnap villains (which she absolutely didn’t condone), why kidnap heroes too? It didn’t make any sense. It would only make sense to do one or the other, not both. And then why involve Dr. Gizzard only to kill her like she didn’t matter later. That’s not a small oversight, that seems integral to your plan. 

Harlow barely noticed that they’d left the cave system at all, until she realized they were outside. It was dark out, meaning a whole day had passed. 

Another day, Harlow thought, and I am no step closer to clearing my name or solving this case. How are we gonna figure this out?

By breaking into the Citadel and finding evidence that leads to the truth, she guessed. What other way would there be? But, if they did that, Harlow knows for a fact she’d have a hard time convincing anyone after the fact that she was 100% good. How do you justify your action after the fact with “well, you all branded me a villain so of course i broke into the secret base to prove i wasn’t”?

“So…who is it we’re visiting again? Anyone I should worry about?” Harlow asked. She only walked a little ways from the opening of the cave before stopping to ask. Black Star had already stopped to take a look around and see where they were. She only made a noise to tell Harlow she was listening but she didn’t answer. “…Cass? Who’re we visiting?” Harlow asked again. 

“Hmmm…? Oh, sorry Harley.” Black Star walked over to Harlow and pulled out her phone to turn on the flashlight. “Can you hold this? I need to get a quick lookout of the area.” Before Harlow could confirm or deny, she shot up straight into the air. Harlow tried to follow where she went with her eyes, but it was getting to dark to see. 

“sure…” she muttered, swinging the phone back and forth to look at her surroundings. The cave had opened up to a small amount of woods, but they didn’t come out the same entrance from before. Where they had originally entered a hill on the side of a freeway, they now had exited near a hill with no really roads in sight. There was a larger amount for woods and greenery than before, and Harlow couldn’t really hear any of the familiar busy sounds of the city. “huh…” She said, turning the phone around to see the time. Around 10:00 PM. 

“Hey, C-I mean, Black Star!?” Harlow Calle doubt to her. She didn’t hear any response right away, so she waited some more. Who knows how far up Black Star had to jump just to get a good grasp of things? Harlow looked around once more then, realizing she had a phone in her hands, decided to get an update on the progress of things. Surely there would be some sort of update on the Citadel’s side?

There definitely was. Harlow allowed her power to take over the small phone in her hands to quickly look through the internet for every and any mention of her or her situation. While she found a bunch of repeating articles, she also found a couple of new articles about what happened to Miss Magic, Blockade, and Beckon. 

They had been found, thankfully. Unharmed too. Some 50 miles away from her apartment and they were found by local authorities. 

“Of course they blamed me for that, huh?” Harlow muttered aloud. The three superheroes had regaled the tale of being caught off guard by the former coworker and then attacked by the malicious supervillain, Black Star. Harlow wanted to scoff, because she didn’t recall catching anyone off guard. And she was just as surprised as them to see her. But, yeah given what they must have believed that would make sense. “Not gonna make my job easier…” She grit her teeth. 

Eventually, Black Star landed again with not even a sound. The perks of controlling gravity, Harlow guessed. Stealth was barely an issue for her. “Should i even ask anymore questions, because you’ve been doing marvelously at not answering anything.” She asked, wiping her eyes before extending the phone back. Black Star shook her head. 

“No need, that’s yours, love.” Harlow did a double take on the phone she was sure she left in Black Star’s house. But no, it was in fact her phone. How did she not notice that, and how tired was she? “And as for where we’re going, we can walk a little ways into the woods and find a suburb area. That’s where this hero’ll be.” 

Harlow stuffed her phone into her pocket. “Uh-huh, and who is this hero we’re meeting? That’s like the one thing I really need to know. I need to be prepared for anything and it would help.” Black Star laughed and held out her hand for Harlow’s. Harlow couldn’t see how it was funny, but she reached out nonetheless. Black Star held her hand with a grip like she knew she planned for a terrible reaction. “Uh…Ca-“

“Wander. We’re going to see Wander, the Immortal.” Harlow felt herself try and step back only to be stopped by Black Star. So that is why she wanted her hand. Harlow tried a couple times to escape the now ironclad grip of her companion to no avail. “See? this is why i needed your hand. You’re not a little kid anymore, you know?” Harlow struggled a little more before giving up.

“B-but, Wander? Wander the Immortal?” She stammered out, “How did you even meet someone like Wander? More than that, why would they even want to help you?”Black Star chuckled again, bringing Harlow closer to her and then she began walking. Once again, Harlow was being dragged along with her. Harlow groaned. “Please answer my questions!!” She called out, only to be met with more chuckling. She was getting a little tired of the ‘chuckles’ routine, to be honest.

Wander the Immortal wasn’t just any regular old superhero. They were one of the first superheroes to exist. They were part of the original 13 members of the Citadel and they helped found the organization. Meeting them wasn’t just something any ordinary old person could do, especially not someone like Black Star. And Harlow felt…a little jealous that she got to before her. She’d been a model hero up until she was framed, so how come she was only just now meeting the person she’d idolized since childhood?

The trek through the woods was agonizingly slow. Too slow for Harlow’s taste, especially since Black Star refused to answer any more questions. Any pleas made to the contrary were swiftly ignored and instead was met with a laughter or some sort of cheeky joke. Eventually Harlow was greeted by the warm lights of the suburb Black Star had mentioned before. 

It was like any other suburb you could find outside any other city. Nothing too grandiose about it, the only difference as far as Harlow could tell was that the streetlights all seemed to be working and so the whole place looked incredibly cozy. One of the world’s greatest superheroes was living in this cozy little neighborhood and waiting to collude with a known criminal. 

“Are you ready, Harley?” Black Star asked, finally letting go of Harlow and allowing her to dust herself off and compose herself. It was too late to run away now. And where would she even go? 

“Sure, I love meeting new people.” She followed Black Star through the quiet neighborhood. It wasn’t really a problem for her, but she suddenly became very aware of her actions. The fact that she was here to somehow break into the greatest organization, the fact that she was traveling with and helping out an S-rank supervillain, and most importantly, the fact that she herself have been on the Tv the past few days because she was wanted for murder. It all came crashing down on her very fast. She had considered running back into the woods, or somehow turning herself in again when Black Star snapped her out of it. 

“Hey, lovely. Snap out of it and focus. Deals aren’t done at night to make you feel safe and comfortable. They’re to keep you alert.” She said sharply. Harlow nodded and swallowed whatever nervousness was still stuck in her throat. 

Harlow was surprised that they were just gonna walk normally down the sidewalk. Especially since they just walked straight out of the woods. But, maybe because it was so dark, that Black Star didn’t fear anybody noticing them. 

Eventually, Black Star lead them to a house almost in the middle of the neighborhood. An average house, Harlow even wondered if Black Star had the wrong address. Wouldn’t be too surprising, because if she were working with a bunch of villains, why would she give her actual home address? Harlow stood behind Black Star so she could knock on the door. 

Instead she reached in her pocket again, pulling out another phone. Her phone, this time. 

“Letting them know we’re here?” Harlow asked. Black Star nodded, then typed something on her phone that Harlow didn’t quite catch. 

It only took three seconds, maybe more but definitely less than a minute. Within that instant, The door opened to reveal a tall behemoth of a person. They had white wavy hair that seemed to spilled out in every direction past their shoulders. They looked tired, or maybe annoyed. As much as they cold anyway, as their eyes were entirely white and their pupils a faint glowing blue light that flickered from Harlow to Black Star. But when they spoke, their voice was even and calm, like they had always expected these two to show up tonight. There was no denying, at least for Harlow. 

It was definitely Wander.