Nothing. 

Matteo had no idea what he expected to find, but this wasn't it. 

Again, no success. 

They dug up George's grave for nothing. His body was half decomposed, but it still resembled a man who had died years ago. Plus, after they quickly took a sample of his DNA, they immediately got an answer that brought them back to square one. George Barlowe was lying in his coffin, exactly where he had been laid all those years ago, and the Legion agents had disturbed his rest for no reason.

"Keep your head up. Even failure is a step forward." Max's hand landed on Matt's shoulder in a reassuring gesture. The blond almost shook it off automatically but held back at the last moment. Max wasn't the reason he was irritated, and so it would be unfair of him to take his bad mood out on him.

"Now what?" he asked instead.

"Now we have more questions we need answers to," Max replied, and Matteo frowned. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. Max obviously noticed and chuckled before adding, "We'll get more footage from that day. We'll find out exactly what happened and who impersonated poor George and why." 

Matteo nodded automatically, agreeing with the plan, and was glad that Max knew exactly what to do since he couldn't think rationally at the moment himself. 

"In the meantime, we'll wait for the Revenger to reappear. He obviously knows more than we do, and it would be nice if he shared his knowledge," Max added.

"Yeah, right." Matteo laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh. "The day Revenger volunteers to help us will be the day I believe in miracles." 

"I never said it had to be voluntary," Max replied, his laugh sounding genuine, unlike Matteo's.

…

In the end, they didn't have to wait long to go ahead with their plan. The Revenger showed up again out of nowhere. And although Matteo had encountered him in various circumstances, it was never while robbing a bank.

When he showed up at the scene, he was surprised at how ordinary the inside of the bank looked compared to other robberies. No panic, no broken glass anywhere, and from the information he'd been given, Revenger hadn't taken any hostages. It almost sounded like he was just visiting the bank if he hadn't broken into their vault.

Matteo, however, was not going to be distracted by the situation. He knew Revenger well enough to know that he was unpredictable and shouldn't have been surprised by this. 

It didn't take long before he finally saw his archenemy, and sure enough, Revenger was once again strutting around like it was a normal day for him and he hadn't just walked out of the bank vault. 

Matteo's eyes briefly fell on the area behind the masked villain, but everything seemed fine. None of the safe deposit boxes seemed to have been opened, and nothing was rolling around on the floor. That could mean two things - what Revenger wanted wasn't in the safe deposit box, or it was so small that the villain had managed to hide it in his suit.

"Are you going somewhere?" Citadel said in a firm voice, alerting him to his presence.

"Oh, hi, C!" Despite his deep voice, Revenger sounded almost pleased to see him. Matteo knew full well, however, that this was just a provocation and that the masked villain would do anything to get a reaction out of him. And he wasn't about to do him that pleasure. 

He rolled his eyes and answered, "You know robbing a bank is below you, right?" 

"Oh, C, I didn't know you had such a high opinion of me." The masked criminal put his hand to his chest in a theatrical gesture, and Matteo was getting irritated. Instead of fleeing from justice, Revenger was conducting the conversation as if he were sitting down to tea.

"Enough of this bullshit," Citadel declared, more or less to himself, and decided to finally use his powers. He reversed gravity in a flash and trapped the criminal on the ceiling. Or so he thought. 

"Just what I needed," Revenger's voice rang with laughter, and Citadel quickly understood why. Just as he had managed to recognize Revenger's behaviour in the time, he had known him, Revenger had managed to understand his ability. So even though his body was currently trapped on the ceiling, he quickly figured out a way to move his body even with being upside down and deftly began to climb the wall. But not in Matteo's direction, and thus not towards the exit.

Citadel reversed gravity again, hoping to take away Revenger's advantage, but he gracefully landed on his feet like a cat and continued his way to the door behind him. The superhero was right on his heels, of course, but before he could catch him, something unexpected happened. The power went out at the bank. Matteo was too familiar with the situation to know that it was no accident, and once again, Revenger had prepared an escape route. This time, however, he was prepared not to let him have it. 

"You can't run forever," he declared, knowing the horned villain wouldn't be far behind, and pulled a flashlight from his pocket.

The light helped Citadel get his bearings, and he made his way first to the door that Revenger had been trying to get to earlier before realising that he had never heard it open, which meant that Revenger hadn't used it.

"Coward," he muttered loud enough, hoping the villain could hear him.

The flashlight beam quickly ran around all the walls, but Citadel found no sign of the Revenger. He had literally evaporated like a ghost, yet Matteo was sure he hadn't heard him pass by. Instead of just spinning in circles though, he decided to walk back out in front of the bank and look around.

The moment he stepped outside, he was in for a surprise. 

"Hey, C." Citadel quickly spun on his axis and looked up to the roof of the bank where the masked villain stood, waiting for him to get his attention. 

"You..." He didn't finish his sentence as Revenger spoke up again. 

"I'll give you a hint, what do you think?" The masked thug again didn't wait for the Citadel's response and continued, "Instead of chasing me around town, try looking Amanda Smith up. I promise you'll be positively surprised." 

"And why should I do what you tell me?" replied Citadel, and instead of having another conversation, this time he used his ability on himself and ran up the wall of the bank to the roof. But this time, Revenger didn't wait for the superhero to join him and took off. Luckily, Citadel knew exactly where he was going and was hot on his heels. This time, he was prepared not to let him get away.

Matteo had the advantage of not having as many obstacles in his way as the Revenger, but for some reason, the masked villain was still in the lead. 

As Revenger paused at the edge of a tall building, Citadel was sure he would finally catch him, but then, without further hesitation, Revenger jumped and grabbed the window ledge with one hand.

Citadel hesitated for a moment, watching his manoeuvre, almost fearing for his life, but quickly recovered and ran up the wall of the building towards him.

However, Revenger had obviously been waiting for this, and the moment Matteo was close enough, he swung on one arm and kicked the superhero. Citadel, not expecting this, faltered for a moment and then he was suddenly falling to the ground. 

However, thanks to his powers, he quickly managed to hold himself with his side on a building just a few floors below, but it was still enough for the Revenger to regain the advantage.

Matteo watched as he swung once more on his arm before leaping gracefully onto the window ledge of the building next door. Max's words about the Revenger's skills being a waste for crime flashed through his mind, but he quickly pushed the thought away.

Even though he had already gotten away from him twice tonight, Citadel was still determined to catch him. He quickly moved from his side position to all fours and began to crawl up the wall until he jumped onto the nearest building, just as the Revenger had done a few seconds before.

However, when he got to the roof where he had seen the masked villain disappear a second earlier, he found it empty. Matteo quickly looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen. They were too high for him to just jump, and there were no open windows nearby for him to climb into. He vanished like a ghost. Again.

Matteo tried not to let his frustration get the better of him, but after all these months of the Revenger slipping through his fingers, his patience was wearing thin. And so he screamed. 

Max was right. Revenger was too good for his own good, and no matter how hard Matteo tried, he couldn't outwit him, even though he was the one with the superpowers. 

Citadel left the scene once again defeated, and the only thing that flooded his mind more than his own irritation was a woman's name. 

Amanda Smith. 

Who the fuck was that?