Herman pulled himself out of the water, breathing heavily. The oxygen tank symbol in his HUD, beeped red. That’d be annoying to fix. He glanced at Rosa and set her down on the side of the sewer.

“Dynamo? Dynamo?! Come on kid, wake up!” he said, concerned. She didn’t move. Shit. He turned her over, took off her control panel and pressed a few buttons. He grabbed her helmet and pressed the button on the back before pulling it off. There was a hiss of air and the helmet came off. Rosa didn’t look good. A large bruise had formed on the side of her face. What the hell? That shouldn’t have been possible. He glanced at the helmet noticing a small crack across the visor. He’d been right to run away. The two of them would’ve had trouble taking the girl out alone, but the spider guy seemed to eyes in the back of his head, along with the strength to crack Might glass. And they’d both tanked thousands of volts seemingly effortlessly.

This wasn’t good. If these were the guys they needed to take out they’d need to do some serious planning. He glanced at Rosa. No. He’d gotten too cocky and let the money cloud his better judgement. The down payment they’d given us was enough. If it meant putting Rosa at risk, he didn’t need the rest. He’d rather let Alexsei and Ana come after us than those two. Well, if the purple duo were going after them, that wouldn’t be long.

Suddenly Rosa coughed, shifting her head. Herman crouched down and steadied her.

“It’s ok, it’s ok” he whispered, calming her. She took a second, her eyes flitting around, but eventually come to focusing on him.

“What the happened?” she asked.

“Things went south fast. I had to play possum so they we could get out of there when they let their guard down” Herman replied.

“You ran? Why?!” she said, her voice filled with confusion.

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“We couldn’t beat them. We can’t. Or at the very least it’s not worth it” he said.

“But the m-”

“We already got enough from the downpayment. Forget about the money. I said it’s not worth it” he said curtly.

“What are you talking about?! Have you lost your mind?! Where’d your confidence go?” she said pushing him away and standing up.

“Dynamo, listen to me-“

“No, you listen. We’re talking about millions here. 4.3 million! That isn’t worth it?!”

“NO!!” Herman shouted.

His voice echoed loudly through the sewers and Rosa stepped back, surprised.

“If you don’t recall, the spider kid knocked you out in one punch” he said. She looked away, her face a mixture of frustration and shame.

“When your dad died, I promised I would take care of you. When you found out about this I agreed to teach you because I wanted you to be able to protect yourself. When you pushed and pushed to join me on these jobs I only agreed under the condition that you would always listen to me. No matter what. If I say this isn’t worth it, then it’s not worth it. Ok?” Herman said. Rosa nodded silently. He sighed.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you” he said.

“It’s fine” she replied.

“Rosa I-“

“Come on uncle, I said it’s fine” she said fixing her helmet back on. Herman nodded, silent this time.

“So, what about the job? Aren’t the twins going to be pissed?” she asked.

“No doubt. We need to lay low for a while. That means no jobs” he said.

“That sucks. I guess it gives us time to do some upgrades though” she said.

“No, I’ll deal with upgrades, you focus on school. You’re a smart girl, you shouldn’t be falling behind” he said. He couldn’t see her face, but from her shift in posture alone, he could tell Rosa had scowled. Suddenly his helmet buzzed. He was getting a call from Ana. He raised a hand, motioning for Rosa to be quiet and picked up.

“What happened Shocker? You didn’t report and my men are saying you didn’t meet at the rendezvous? Where are you?” a graceful voice with a hint of a Russian accent said on the other end of the line.

“Sorry Ana, deals off” he said curtly. There was a pause.

“Are you fucking with me?!” she said.

“Nope. Don’t look come looking for us. We will defend ourselves with necessary force if need be” he responded. He heard a string of curse words in Russian and then the line went dead.

“She as mad as you expected?” Rosa asked.

“Surprisingly, no. But we still need to lay low. She’ll definitely send someone after us, but right now, she’s got bigger problems to deal with” he said. Rosa nodded.

“Come on, let’s move. You’ve got school in the morning”