Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 28 - Interviews (Patreon)

Wally ended up skipping out on the team's morning workouts and training, but considering the circumstances we agreed to let it slide for a day or two. Once we were done with training the group split up to shower and get dressed, meeting back at the central cave dressed in civilian clothes. After a short discussion it was decided that Kaldur, Robin and Kyle would head to Los Angeles to interview the cops who responded to the bank robbery that Ice stopped, as well as the criminals arrested on scene. M’gann and I would head to Norway, mostly because M’gann could physically translate any language and relay what they were saying to me.

The first group, Kaldur, Robin and Kyle said their goodbyes and stepped through the Zeta-Tube, leaving M’gann and I alone as we headed to Bioship.

“Do you think… we could do a little exploring when we are done with our task?” M’gann asked, Bioship configuring slightly as we sat down, M’gann in the pilot's seat as usual. “I’ve never been anywhere like Norway before.”

“It depends on how quickly we can get everything done,” I said, adding a mental shrug. “I want to talk to at least a few cops. I’m hoping we can convince at least one of the criminals she put behind bars to talk to us.”

As we talked, Bioship lifted off of the ground, cloaked and flew out the open hangar doors. Immediately she pointed up and began flying higher and higher.

“Do you really think you will learn much from the criminals?”

“Do I think we are going to get a full performance? No, not really” I admitted, watching as we flew out into space and began the short space flight over to Norway. “But we might get a glimpse into what kind of person she is. We don't want her on the team if she goes out of her way to freeze fingers off or something and criminals will be the first ones lining up to tell us that. We just have to take everything they say with a heavy grain of salt.”

“I could always read their mind…?”

For a moment I was confused at her suggestion, but I quickly realized and slapped my forehead and let out a short groan.

“Yes, you absolutely could.”

M’gann nodded smuggly, sending a wave of teasing before she shifted her focus towards flying as Bioship started descending into the thicker parts of the atmosphere again. Once down to a certain altitude we made a beeline to Stavangar, the Norwegian city where the largest part of the battle between Fire and Ice took place, as well as the fight between Ice and the small gang. We landed, while invisible, in the middle of the city, stepping out into an empty lot. Bioship closed the gangway and lifted back up into the air, following us while flying above the buildings.

“How far away from the police station are we?” M’gann asked me as I had memorized the directions before we left.

“It's a ten minute walk from here.” I answered, looking over at the martian.

She was in her usual human looking form, but she had increased her height a little in order to seem a bit older, matching my own super soldier serum enhanced body. After a minute of walking I reached out and took her hand, getting a big smile and a wave of affection through our link. We got a few smiles as we walked, people assuming we were simply a couple out stretching their legs.

Eventually we arrived at the police station, stepping into the utilitarian building and heading for the front desk, which had a middle aged woman sitting behind it. M’gann stepped forward and, in fluent Norwegian, asked if it would be possible to talk to one of the officers who was on scene for the meta-human battle.

“Could I ask why?” the woman asked, looking curious but guarded.

I could understand what she was saying, but only because M’gann was mentally feeding me her translated words, a second or so after she said them. It was a bizarre sensation and took a minute for me to adjust to.

“We have questions about the heroine, Ice.” M’gann explained, leaning in conspiratorially. “We are considering hiring Ice for security and would like to hear the police's opinions of her. We are not looking for anything confidential, just opinions and basic observations.”

For a moment the woman examined us before eventually nodding. She explained she could pass it on to the police captain, and he would have the final say. A few minutes and a few conversations later we were sitting in a small but adequate office, across from a tall female officer, dressed in a pale blue uniform.

“I was the only one who talked to Ice on the day she fought Fire.” Officer Nilsen explained, leaning back in her chair with a shake of her head. “The fighting went on for about ten minutes, but only because Ice spent most of her time running from Fire.”

“Really? Did she say anything about why she was running?” M’gann asked.

“No, not a word. When I talked to her she was really upset, crying even as she cleaned up most of her mess.” The police officer answered. “Ice was always pretty good about cleaning up the ice she created.”

“Ask her if there was anything overheard during their fight.” I suggested, M’gann quickly relay my question.

“Not a lot of clear words, but plenty of angry shouting.” The officer responded. “Fire was very angry about something. She had been seen around here before, mostly flying around aimlessly, almost like she was flying for fun. She would even make shapes with her fire in the sky. No one had any idea she was a member of the gang.”

“What did you talk to her about anyway?” M’gann asked, picking up on what I wanted to know before I could ask.

“I asked if she was alright and if she had any burns. She just shook her head and asked if anyone had been hurt during the fight and I said that there had only been a few minor injuries. She nearly collapsed when I told her that, the only time she smiled the entire conversation,” The Norwegian woman said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “We talked about what had happened for a few minutes, but she said she couldn't say much. I don’t know what happened but it was definitely more than just a simple fight.”

“What makes you say that?”

“It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Fire had never even interacted with anyone before, and to see her that angry? That plus the fact that Ice refused to attack directly for such a long time makes me think something else was going on. Unfortunately it seems both of them have moved on so there isn't much we can do.”

“Is there anything else you can think of?” M’gann asked with a smile.

“Yeah, Ice is young, she might not be old enough to work for you.” She explained. “She couldn't have been older than eighteen judging by her voice and height.”

“We can cross that bridge when we come to it.” M’gann said, reaching out for a firm handshake as the officer stood as well. “Thank you for your time.”

“It was no problem, most of this stuff is public knowledge anyway,” She admitted. “Let me introduce you to Lieutenant Olsen, he was in charge of cracking down on the Kloakk Rotte gang, he talked to her a few times.”

Officer Nilsen led us through the building, passing us off to a well built blond haired man who was in the process of making himself a coffee. He gestured to a small table in the break room and we sat down.

“You have questions about Ice?” He asked bluntly, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Yes, we are trying to get a feel for her before we approach her for a potential job,” M’gann explained, the Lieutenant nodding along.

“She helped us a lot, was always careful with her powers and stuck around on most busts to explain the situation and make a statement.” He answered. “Without her help Kloakk Rotte would probably still be around. She clearly didn't like them for some reason, even mentioned that they had some sort of issue with a friend of hers. The only issue we had with her was something she had no control over, a freak accident.”

“What type of accident?”

“She raided a small drug distribution center, caught a few of the bastards with their pants down. Unfortunately one of the geniuses attempted to get her with a grenade, which we have no idea how they got in the first place. She blasted it out of the air with her ice, knocking it back into the building where it went off. Apparently there was a runner still inside and they got caught in the blast. They didn't make it.”

“A runner?”

“Kloakk Rotte liked to get younger people, usually with no records, to run small amounts of drugs out to their dealers,” He explained. “Usually they didn't have much choice.”

“What was the victim's name?”  I said to M’gann, prompting her to repeat my question.

“Aksel Costa, sixteen years old. He lived in the city with his family, though last I heard they moved back to Brazil.”

“Back to Brazil?”

“His mother was Norwegian but his father was Brazilian. I don’t know much more than that.”

“What about Ice? How did she react to that? And you mentioned that she didn't like the gang. Did it ever come across as an obsession?”

“No, never an obsession. Like I said, she mentioned having a friend who was affected by them. I assumed they were addicted to the drugs they dealt or were hurt by one of their fights. Either way she was determined but not obsessed,” The lieutenant explained after M’gann translated my mental question. “As for how she handled the incident, not very well. She disappeared for a week before she reappeared to fight Fire.”

We asked a few more questions before asking if we could talk to some of the members of Kloakk Rotte that Ice was responsible for putting away. With a bit of cajoling M’gann managed to convince Lieutenant Olsen to let us talk to one of the three members who’s trail had already passed, as long as he could sit in on the conversation. He took us to the prison. We talked to the gang member for a while. All of it was a cover of course for M’gann, as well as a way to get his mind to focus on what M’gann wanted to find.

An hour or so later Bioship was lifting off, already heading upwards out of Earth's atmosphere.

“So Fire wasn’t a member of Kloakk Rotte at all? Everyone just assumed that she was?”

“The gang was spreading the rumor she was after her and Ice’s fight,” M’gann explained. “They were hoping the police would be scared to go after them if they thought she would blast them if they did.”

“So why did they fight then? And why was Ice so sad while Fire was furious?” I thought, mostly to myself. After a moment I shook my head and asked another question. “Other than that fight, how did Ice treat them?”

“As far as I could tell she was fine. He knew a few rumors of her being a bit rough but nothing concrete, and even those weren't anything more than some minor frostbite and twisted arms.”

“Good. Well I guess it all depends on what the story behind the fight between her and Fire actually comes down to.”

“Do you have any theories?”

“Not really. My gut tells me it's all connected, not just some random attack though.”

“Mine too.”

After a few minutes of flying upwards, the Bioship leveled up, the earth spinning below us as we crossed the ocean back to the US.

“Sorry we didn't have any extra time to explore,” I said mentaly, getting a smirk from M;gann in return.

“That's alright, you can make it up to me on our next date.”

“I guess that's true, I will do my best,” I agreed with a chuckle. “Any requests?”

“Ummm… I don’t know,” She admitted sheepishly.

“I’ll think of something. Do you want it to be a surprise or would you prefer I ask first?”

“Oh, you can keep it a surprise as long as it's not anything too out there.”

We talked a bit more before Bioship angled back down and M’gann once again focused on guiding the sentient ship down for a landing, pulling into the hangar easily. We left the ship after M’gann said goodbye, heading down to the living area to meet our teammates, who had finished their objective a bit earlier than ours.

We sat down around the dinner table, which had a stack of burritos waiting for us, apparently brought back from California. As we ate we discussed what we had discovered.

“The police in California didn't have anything negative to say about her.” Robin said with a shrug. “She became a bit focused on protecting civilians when they were around but that's hardly a bad thing.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. A week before her big fight with Fire she had an accident during a raid on a drug house. A relatively innocent person died because of it,” I explained.

“Relatively innocent?”

I explained the drug runner concept, and how exactly the situation had gone bad.

“Gangs use younger people all the time, as runners, lookouts, anything they can. The worst is when they pay them, the kids usually end up being loyal to the gang, which means they stand up for it. Hard to convince a kid to run when they idolize the people using them.”

“I can’t imagine how she must have felt.” Kyles said, looking down at his hands. “We don’t blame her for it, right? There was nothing she could do?”

“As long as she is willing to explain in more detail what exactly happened, and she is honest about why Fire was after her, I don't see a reason to hold it against her,”

“And they had nothing connecting them together?” Kaldur asked when M’gann and I finished explaining the whole story.

“Not that the police or the gang member knew,” M’gann answered. “He was certain she wasn't really a member.”

“I think the only way we are going to find out is if we ask,” I said with a shrug. “Unless you guys noticed anything in California?”

“Nothing worth nothing beyond what we already brought up,” Robin responded. “The bank robbers even reluctantly admitted that she could have been a lot rougher.”

“Alright, I think that tomorrow we-”

“Recognized. Superman. 01.”

Kyle’s eyes went wide as the sound of the Zeta-Tubes computer voice echoed into the common area. The room was silent for a long pause while we all internalized who had just arrived.

“Batman did say he would be by sooner rather than later.” I said, knowing that the big blue boyscout could already hear me.

“Yeah… didn't expect it to be this soon,” He admitted as he put down his food.

A few moments later Superman walked into the living area, clearly nervous as he scanned the room.

“Oh, you're eating, sorry I didn't mean to interrupt. I could-”

The older hero stopped himself and took a deep breath, letting it out after a moment. I could feel the slightly cooler air shifting as he did. After he collected his wits he started again.

“Superboy, Kyle, could I talk to you? I wanted to discuss… I wanted to apologize.”

“Y-yeah, sure,” Kyle responded, standing slowly before looking around awkwardly for a moment.

“Why not go down in the grotto?” I suggested. “It's nice and calming down there. Private too.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Kyle said with a nod and a grateful smile, looking back at his genetic donor. “It's just down there.”

“I know, it was one of my favorite spots when we were working out of here,” Superman admitted, before turning and walking towards the hallway that eventually led to the underground sanctuary.

Kyle paused for a moment before following behind, looking back at us. I gave him a supportive nod, doing my best not to show the nervousness that was coming off of M’gann in great waves.  I reached over and rubbed her back for a moment as Superboy disappeared around the corner. I twirl my finger around before pointing to my head, both Robin and Kaldur picking up on what I meant and nodding. M’gann connected us together a few seconds later.

“Sorry, but they would both hear us anywhere in the mountain.” I explained, getting understanding nods from both of them.

“It's fine, I'm starting to realize just how valuable being able to talk like this is anyway,” Robin admitted.

“It certainly has its advantages,” Kaldur agreed.

“Guys! How are you so calm?” M’gann asked, chewing her lip. “Kyle has been waiting to talk to him for weeks!”

“We knew he was coming, remember?” I pointed out. “Took him long enough.”

“I just hope they can help him,” Robin said, taking another bite of his burrito. “He is getting better at not comparing himself to Superman but he still clearly struggles with being weaker than he should be.”

“All we can do is hope that he can help,” Kaldur said. “And if he can’t, then we do what we can to help the best that we can.”

~~~~~

I'm going to be on vacation for the next five days. Posts will continue as usual baring some sort of catastrophe!