The doorbell chimed, announcing Mateo's presence, and in an instant, an elderly man appeared before him, looking more than sprightly despite his advanced age.

"Welcome to my humble shop." The man smiled warmly at him and stood behind the counter. "My name is Mr Pepper, how can I help you? Are you looking for something in particular?"

Matteo smiled back at the man and came closer. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. I'm not looking to buy anything, but I need some advice," the blonde explained.

"Ah," the old man laughed knowingly. "I've heard similar words here before. Are you looking for a particular address?"

Matteo blinked in surprise, stunned by the man's words. How did he know...? "Yes?" he replied, although it sounded more like a question.

"There was a young man about your age here yesterday. He told me that you were coming. He wanted me to tell you that he was glad you took his advice." The man's words quickly washed the smile off his face. Revenger was here? And from the man's words, it sounded like he, just like Matteo, came here in civilian clothes. That meant that this old man knew exactly what Revenger looked like.

"Young man?" he repeated after him, hoping for more information. Although Matteo had always assumed that Revenger would be around his age, hearing it from the mouth of someone who had seen him in civilian clothes gave him confirmation that he was capable of knowing something about Revenger after all, even without his help. 

"Oh, yes. He explained to me that you were playing some kind of game. He forbade me to give you any hint, and I am very fond of games. So my lips are sealed." The man smiled at him and gestured with his fingers, zipping his mouth.

While the man was smiling, Matteo was growing increasingly irritated. Not only was Revenger one step ahead of him again, but he was making fun of him. What was a crime investigation to Matteo was clearly just a game to him.

Luckily Matteo knew how to control his expression before he could intimidate the man in front of him and prevent him from giving him any more information.

"You said he told you I was coming. Did he tell you anything else important?" he asked.

"Ah, yes," the man confirmed immediately, pulling out a folded map from under the counter. Matteo leaned forward to take a closer look and didn't miss the fact that the moment the map was unfolded, an area was precisely circled.

"As I explained to the young man yesterday, the streets have been renamed. The address you are looking for exists under a different name. I have circled it to make it easier for you to find," the man explained, holding the map closer to the blond superhero for him to take.

He said it again - yesterday. That meant Matteo wasn't as far behind as he thought. There was even a chance that Revenger was still in the city. At the address Revenger had given him, Matteo could not only discover the crime but, if he was lucky, he might also stumble upon his archenemy in his true form. 

"Is that all?" Matteo didn't want to be disappointed, but this was the closest he'd ever come to revealing Revenger's identity. This man obviously knew what he looked like and maybe even his name, but for some reason, he chose to trust Revenger and not reveal anything about him. Matteo really had no idea what the masked villain had told him, but he was clearly convincing. 

"If you don't have any other questions for me besides this address..." the man replied, taking away Matteo's hope. But then he surprised him with his next words. "The young man also told me to tell you to be careful. He didn't want to say more, but I must tell you that it could be dangerous."

The blond superhero frowned. Why would his archenemy warn him? Matteo was beginning to worry that this was all a trap.

"Did he look concerned?" Matteo asked against his better judgement. 

The older man paused for a moment and then replied with a frown, "Yes, but he also sounded hopeful. It was obvious that this was something he cared deeply about. I didn't want to pry too much, but it sounded like this game of yours was very important to him." 

Matteo definitely didn't like that answer, but he didn't outwardly let on. This whole conversation had left him with mixed feelings, and even though his superhero instincts were screaming at him that this was a trap, he couldn't turn around and just walk home. Not when he was so close to the denouement. 

And so he found himself on the street that Mr Pepper had circled for him and quickly became frustrated when he discovered that the building in question was simply still missing.  

For a second, he wished Revenger had left him another clue, but he quickly shook his head to dispel the thought. He'd been relying too much on the masked villain lately, and that certainly didn't make him qualified for his position. He wasn't just someone Revenger made fun of from time to time. 

Relying on his superhero training, Matteo blended into the crowd while discreetly looking around at all the buildings in the place where the one he was looking for should be.

He saw a building with the number 11 and another with the number 13, but building 12 was still missing. No, missing wasn't the right word. Matteo knew very well that if something did not seem to exist, it was just well hidden. And if the view wasn't clear, all he had to do was take an unconventional look. 

With that in mind, he began to consider the possibilities. Building 12 could have been a garage, perhaps underground, but he didn't see any access that a car could use to any of the nearby buildings. Another possibility was that part of some of the buildings in front of him might bear another number, so Matteo took enough time to walk around each side of them to make sure he hadn't missed anything. 

When the view from all sides failed, however, Matteo knew he had no choice but to look up or down. And since neither Tigress nor Mimic could fly, down was the more likely option.

And a possible answer came to him the moment he saw the sewer hatch. 

…

Matteo returned a few hours later. Under the cover of night and wearing clothes that did not reveal his identity, he approached the sewer hatch and began working on opening it. Another thing that was part of his superhero training. 

It wasn't long before he put the hatch aside and discovered a metal ladder leading into the unknown. And Matteo didn't need much convincing to climb it. 

His boots hit the puddle of water with a splash and he was glad he had thought of that and had suitable footwear, otherwise it would have been very uncomfortable. Especially as he walked forward, the water level rising with each step. 

Matteo didn't know much about sewers, but there was definitely something about this one that didn't sit right with him. Although the purpose of the sewer was to collect wastewater, Matteo was beginning to wonder if this one was working properly when he took another step forward and his foot hit something hard, almost forcing him to stumble and also plunging him into the water so deep that it suddenly reached his waist.

All of sudden, he was literally in uncharted waters, and with no idea where he was going, he decided it was time to use his abilities and reverse gravity on himself. And although the ceiling was slippery, it was certainly less uncomfortable than wading in dirty water. 

He turned the flashlight on high, illuminating the tunnel to its fullest, and quickly found out what the problem was. Fortunately, he didn't take a step forward. Much of the ceiling in front of him was missing, and Matteo was sure that the surface below, under all that water, looked just as devastated as above. And while it could have been a coincidence, Matteo was betting on something else. Someone had tried to cover their tracks.

His first thought was of Revenger, but he quickly dismissed it. The villain might have had a reason for looking for the same building as Matteo, but he doubted he'd lead him here just to destroy everything just before his arrival.

Matteo's second guess was Theresa, or Amanda as she liked to be called around here. That would mean she knew he was on to her, though, and he didn't like the idea at all. 

It would also mean that Theresa was really doing something illegal and that the Legion wasn't as safe as he thought, something he wasn't ready to think about yet. The Legion was Matteo's home and his colleagues were his second family. He didn't even want to imagine that anyone would put that at stake. All the more reason for him to find out what was going on.

Matteo had been determined before, but even more so now that he knew it was up to him to find out the truth and stop any further devious schemes.

Using his flashlight and his abilities, he made his way forward, only to find that the further he went, the more destroyed the interior of the sewer became. But that was not all. Luckily Matteo was holding on to the wall, because the moment the light from his flashlight fell on the cable floating in the water, he knew that wherever it came from, it could still have enough electricity in it to create a death trap beneath him.

It wasn't long before the superhero reached a dead end. The wall had completely collapsed and the water was almost up to the ceiling. There was no way forward for Matteo, so he had no choice but to turn around and go back. And reluctantly he did. But his investigation was not over.

The first thing he did was go back to the hostel and change. Although he could think in any situation, it was not the most comfortable in wet clothes. 

Dry and warm, it was time to call Max to tell him what he had discovered, or rather not discovered.

Thankfully, superheroes were used to not sleeping, so his superior picked it up at the first ring.

"I smell trouble," Max spoke first. 

Matteo chuckled, even though Max was right and it didn't mean anything good. "That's an understatement," he admitted and continued, "I didn't find the building. Instead, I found a ruined sewer with cables floating in it that shouldn't have been there."

"You think that was the building?" Max asked.

"It's possible," Matteo admitted with a sigh. "I looked everywhere and couldn't find it anywhere else. I don't know what it means."

"What now?" Max asked him a question to which Matteo himself had no idea of the answer. "Do you have a plan?"

"I don't know," Matteo admitted reluctantly. "I was thinking of going to the police and asking them if they had noticed anything suspicious. If someone tried to cover up evidence, someone must have noticed."

Max paused for a moment. "Come back." Before Matteo could ask why, Max immediately explained. "We can find out more from here as well. If you're right and someone tried to cover their tracks, that means they know about our investigation. It could have been the Revenger, but we have to consider all possibilities." 

All possibilities. Even that someone had betrayed the Legion.

Matteo didn't like it, but it was his reality now. However, he wasn't going to just sit back and watch his home being destroyed even more. "Okay," he replied in a serious tone. "I'll be on my way back."