Wander was a tall, stoic person. They stood, leaning heavily against the front door not saying a word. Harlow looked back and forth between the former superhero and Black Star. With just the size alone, it reminded her of the tale the Lion and the Mouse. But Black Star didn’t look intimidated or even angry. Instead, a grin grew across her face, wide from ear to ear. 

“Hey, how ya doing, big guy?” She said enthusiastically. Wander tilted their head to the side, then stepped back from the door. When they spoke, Harlow could hear the faintest accent coating each word, though she couldn’t figure out where they were from. 

“Hello, Starlite. To what do i owe the pleasure?” They watched the two carefully, never settling on just one of them to focus on. Harlow felt a little…underwhelming to say the least. She were wearing hand-me down clothes from Black Star’s house. Her hair was probably a mess and to be perfectly honest, she could count the amount of sleep she had on one hand. And it showed. 

“Mind if we take a step inside.” Black Star said, sweetly like she had any reason to convince Wander. The older one simply shrugged, and moved completely out of the way. They gestured for the two to walk in. Black Star strolled in nonchalantly, while Harlow sped in immediately as to not waste Wander’s time. 

The inside of the house was empty. Not just the bare essentials, but actually empty. There was nothing there. Harlow looked around for a few seconds before confirming that yes, there was no furniture, electronics, or even food! She found it a little hard to believe that the Wander would be living in an empty house to with no food or water, so she guessed that this must be a temporary hideout of some sort. Or maybe just a place for operations to be held. 

Black Star had been going over the current events for Wander while stayed back and kept to herself. She wanted to be a bit more helpful, but she could barely look the older hero in the eye, let alone talk about what essentially sounded like a conspiracy theory to take down the very organization they built. Eventually Wander hummed having received all the relevant information. “So…you want my help breaking into the Citadel? Are you sure? There’s no solid evidence that the entire building is responsible for Technomancer being framed. And even if they were, that doesn’t mean they had anything to do with the kidnappings.” They mused. 

Harlow’s face fell when she heard them say that. She knew that the odds of them finding anything were slim, especially anything that could condemn the whole organization. Hell, she was secretly still hoping that it was just a few bad people who’d slipped through the cracks and made it worse for everyone else. It’s a lot easier to stop a couple of madmen in a group vs. everyone being a madmen. But hearing her own worries said aloud to hear, it put a pit in her stomach. Black Star however look as unfazed as ever. 

“You know me, Wander. I have a lot of things I need to get back at the organization for anyway. If i can find proof that they’re just as bad as i already know. If i can expose them to the rest of the world, crystal clear for all to see? That’s good enough.” She said it with the same over-enthusiastic smile she had before. Harlow looked at her for a moment, thinking of something to say, but deciding against it. She can’t still be that angry at what happened…can she? What if we don’t find anything else at all? “Besides,” Black Star pointed over at Harlow, “This has been a long time coming, I think.” Harlow looked at her confused.

Wander looked from Black Star over to Harlow, eyebrow raised. Harlow looked back at them with the same expression, perhaps even more confused. They hmm’d again before walking into the adjacent room, leaving Harlow and Black Star alone. 

“What do you think they went in there for? Was pretty sure this place was empty…” Black Star crossed her arms before walking over to the wall the Harlow has claimed as her own space. Harlow’s eye whipped over to where she was, then narrowed. 

“Hey, um what the hell was all of that?” She asked. Black Star gave an exaggerated noise and tried to feign ignorance. 

“Wh-what? What’re you talking about? I simply gave Wander all the information they needed to know. Now all I wanna know is where they went.” She relaxed a little, leaning against the wall. “Do you think there’s like a hidden base here or what?” She nudged Harlow who didn’t budge. She just kept glaring. Black Star sighed. “You know, there’s no time to be all mad at me when we have a big ol’ base to infiltrate.”  Harlow huffed. 

“I’m not mad. I just wanna know what you were talking about.Still seemed pretty mad at eh citadel. I thought you’d gotten over it.” Harlow muttered, looking back tot he room Wander had disappeared into. Black Star shrugged. Nudging Harlow, she got up from the wall. 

“Yeah, well…you’d be wrong.” She said quietly. “I’m just glad that there are people who agree with me.” She tried to smile again, but it fell flat and instead she just had a serious look on her face. “Hey, Wandy? Is there another room in the house we should be aware of?” She called out, walking towards the next room. Harlow stood up from the wall, wondering if she needed to follow suit. 

Fortunately for her, both Black Star and Wander walked back into the room. 

“I’m sure I’m not actually in the systems of the Citadel. If I’m being honest, i never wanted to be either. The sort of obligations a group like that had…isn’t my style.” Harlow wondered what they must have meant, but let it hang in the air as Wander handed her a map. Like a real, physical paper map. 

“I’m sorry…? What is-“ Harlow started to ask, but was immediately cut off by Wander. 

“I’m old. Old enough to be a founding member of the Citadel.Old enough to watch the building be made, from the ground up.” Wander gestured to the map in Harlow’s hands. When she looked it over, she realized they were building plans. They were a little outdated from what Harlow remembered but, the infrastructure was the same. It still had all the secret entrances and exits. “That map should help you, either way.”

“B-but this map, I- why did you give this to us? Why are you helping us infiltrate the Citadel when you helped build it?” Harlow didn’t mean to ask, but the questions spilled out anyways. 

Wander smiled, and Harlow could really notice the wear on their face. They looked tired, and weary.  “When I first came here, I wanted to make a change- to help people. But…”They drifted off. “…this isn’t what i wanted. That’s why I don’t consider myself a Citadel Hero. I’m just me…” Harlow frowned. That’s not what she wanted to hear. The idea that one of her favorite, childhood heroes was not a fan of the direction their old organization was taking. No wonder, they seemed perfectly okay working with villains. 

“Ah…” Harlow finally answered. She clutched the map tightly and looked over it again. She could hear Black Star and Wander finishing a conversation they must have started in the other room.

“This isn’t going to be an easy task, Black Star. The Citadel is well equipped for enemy infiltration and I’m afraid that with your companions’ lack of resilience…”

“You can’t blame her for having hope that there’s still good there. She just hasn’t had time to view their actions like I have. To wonder why they did it…” Black Star interrupted. “Once we get her name cleared, maybe…we can figure it out together…”

Harlow pretended not to hear, instead began heading to the front door. “Are we heading to the Citadel now?” She asked, only looking up to make sure she didn’t run into anything. 

“What better time than the present, lovely?” Black Star teased, happily striding over to Harlow and opening the door for her, “After you.” She made a wide gesture with her hands. Harlow rolled her eyes. Harlow left the house and waved goodbye to Wander, who seemed to disappear into the back rooms. She wondered if this was even Wander’s house at all. Probably not.

the pair made their way down to the, and Black Star reached for Harlow’s hand again. “Shall we madame? After all, I don’t think there’s a cab that can get us there quicker.” Harlow knew she was right but groaned anyway. She folded up the map and put it into there pocket, then took Black Star’s hand. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s get this over with.” She said, barely finishing her sentence before Black Star lifted both of them into the air again.