Bennett just gave her a blank stare, trying not to let the annoyance get to him. So there was at least one person in this building that wasn’t a fool. How she’d gotten her hands on the building plan was a mystery, but if she told everyone about it, Bennett could be quite sure that he’d need to make another alter ego, which could be much harder than he’d realized. After all, if his face was already known, there’d be no end to heroes pestering him. He nodded without realizing it. The secret he had of Faven’s was equivalently as important in terms of her safety as the secret she had of his. So she had been one step ahead of him. If he hadn’t seen her manipulating the lightning outside, he wouldn’t have been able to cross her opportunity out. Instead, it would be his secret in her hands. She would be controlling him. Quite intriguing, this woman’s wit.

“So you needed something?” Faven’s voice startled him out of his deep pondering. She gave him a glance before locking the box, which Bennett decided was probably the breaker. “If you do have anything you need, I can help you, uh, you know, however much I can,” she turned around with a smile. Was she really willing to go along with whatever he had in mind? Bennett took the chance, not grasping it as his last hope, not in desperation.

“As a matter of fact, I do have something I hoped you could help me with.” He watched her recheck the lock on the box, “I need to find a certain someone and I heard something about them being in the headquarters of a… hero’s guild? Something of the sort. Do you know where I could find one of those?” He wasn’t going to reveal everything, but at least he could coax some information out of her and get another lead, a stronger one this time. Faven just turned to him and shrugged.

“Nope. Oh, and a word of advice, they’re top secret. You’re never going to find one that easily,” she started out the door, Bennett tailing her.

“Oh, really?” He mused, trying to seem indifferent. But he was back to square one once more, unknowing of where to find Meghan.

“Yes.” Faven suddenly turned back, a weird smile on her face, “Are you following me?” Bennett bristled up a bit. What was with her face?

“No. We are simply going the same direction,” he replied briskly, feeling a little unnerved by her recent facial expression. It reminded him a bit of Meghan, but seemed alien to him as well. It was just… different than he was used to. He and Faven kept walking for a few seconds before the blonde piped up.

“You wouldn’t be related to the King of the Dark Age, would you?” The comment caught Bennett off guard. She was so forward. He liked that, but it was a bit too much as well. Thankfully, he had prepared a response to this beforehand, even if it was unlikely that someone would ask him this. However, before he could continue, Faven piped up once again. “I mean, it would be cool if you were. Don’t tell anyone but I’ve always wanted to meet the doctor. He seems like an interesting person.” Interesting? Did Bennett consider himself interesting? Well, he’d never really taken time to think about it, so there wasn’t really an answer to that. To himself, he seemed uninteresting. Maybe to this Faven, he was. Would it be okay to tell her this secret in exchange for the one she’d just given about her wanting to meet his alter ego? It could help her give him information that would help him with Meghan. But, if she spoke, he’d need to come out of hiding. Maybe even become a villain again. Which he supposed that Meghan wouldn’t want him to do. And something he really didn’t want to do anymore either. So, he’d need to silence her, or make sure that she was on his side. He chose the latter.

“You think Dr. Bennett is interesting?” Faven shrugged as she skipped along the corridor.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Well, he seems really smart. I mean, his inventions? They were really cool! I used to try and replicate them when I was a kid, his monsters too, but I always just missed some parts of them. And I never really understood what that was, so maybe he could tell me.” Cool? His inventions? Really? He’d never really been told that, not often…

The doctor inspects the cog before placing it back into its place. He spins the cog around until he’s satisfied that the toy can be fixed again. Screwing and fitting all the components back on, Bennett places the drone right in front of him before turning on the remote and moving the joystick on the right, watching as the drone flies up, a little choppy but still obeying his commands. He makes it flip and fly upside down before he's satisfied. Then, he lets it rest. A sound from behind makes him turn. Meghan Freyer is in the doorway, seemingly shocked.

“You… you made this?” Bennett stares back at her, wondering what she’d think. Did normal people make things out of simply nothing? Would she think he was a freak? That, if he were to explain how it worked, that he was a weirdo, someone she’d try to distance herself from. She slowly walks into the room, eyes still on the drone. There’s a bunch of bandages on her face, Bennett realizes. And tiny tears in the corners of her eyes. Did she get herself hurt again? Meghan’s now right in front of the drone, staring at it. Bennett wonders whether he should lie to her, tell her that he hadn’t made it out of the spare parts and broken machines in the box in his lab. But he hates lies. Shouldn’t he tell her the truth? After all, why would he care if she thought he was weird. It didn’t matter to him. “This is amazing…”

“What?” Bennett doesn’t believe what he’s hearing. No one’s ever said anything like that to him. Amazing? Meghan grins at him, holding the drone.

“This is so cool! You made it out of… just… I don’t know but… Wow.” She starts to turn the drone over and take it all in. It isn’t even perfect. The drone hasn’t been perfected but she’s already so excited. Just then, something pings in Bennett’s heart and he can’t help but wish that Meghan would tell him he’s amazing again. He just wants to hear it once more, at the very least. And he wants to impress her, to make something better. Just for her.

The memory pangs him again with the fact that Meghan needs to be found. Faven seems to bear a strong resemblance to Meghan to him. The way she acknowledges the work that went into making his inventions. The way she beams her smile. The way she seems to be a ball of energy. It almost makes him want to grin.

However, she had still gained the floor plans to the whole building somehow, so Bennett wasn’t really sure if she had intentions to go behind his back. It was best to keep the secret to himself for now. At least, until he was positive he could trust her.

“Anyways!” Faven cheerfully piped as they closed in on Bennett’s office type room, “I can still try and help you as best as I can!” It was a nice offer. Not for him but for her, one where she could gain more information about him. She could help him slightly, but not be able to come into his room at all with the knowledge of his other secret in mind.

“Well, not right now, thank you. I have to get back to my research.” Faven didn’t seem the slightest bit disappointed. Or maybe she was just a good actor.

“Oh, ok! Then I guess it’s ‘see you later, alligator’!” With that, she bounded away. Bennett watched her go, mulling over his second encounter with a human he somewhat liked. She was an interesting girl. And what about that strange phrase? “See you later, alligator”? What did that mean? Was it some sort of code or just slang used by locals here? Sighing, Bennett opened the door to his office, taking in the mess on his desk, glancing at the many blueprints of prototypes designed to succeed. Ignoring them, he swept them away from the desk with a single motion of his hand, into an open bin. Bennett took out a map of the world, glancing at all the possibilities. There were so many more countries, whole continents she could be in. He didn’t even know where the heroes had taken here. His only lead was that it was most likely to be in this specific city where Meghan had used to live before coming to meet him. He sighed, shoulders slumping, and leaned back in the chair once more, staring at the ceiling.