Mr. Hat was trying to bring down The Hunt, and he needed help. Liam’s immediate reaction to the request was, no. He wouldn’t help this man. Even if he’d healed Liam, which there was no proof of. There was just something about the man that spoke of danger and begged Liam to avoid him under any circumstance.
Looking at the man, Liam couldn’t place the feeling. There was nothing about Mr. Hat that screamed he was a super villain. No cat sitting next to him that he pet while maniacally laughing. Or a herd of minions ready for their next evil task. Yet the feeling remained.
Mr. Hat might claim to be above the titles Cowl and Hero, but could anyone really be? They were more than just something you stuck before your name. They were a way of life. Even if Mr. Hat ignored them and claimed to hold neither, his actions would still fall into one of them. There was nothing he could do to escape that truth.
“Even if you’re working to bring down my old team, I don’t think I can work with you,” Liam said.
“Think you have a better shot on your own?”
“Not really, but if I’m by myself, I can decide how things go down.”
With a shrug Mr. Hat said, “Makes sense.”
That wasn’t the answer Liam expected. He’d expected an angry response, maybe being thrown out of the apartment, anything but this passive facade. Hadn’t Liam just said he wouldn’t help in this man’s evil plan and yet the man didn’t even care. Taking the comment in stride like it changed nothing.
The insult roused the burning anger inside Liam. Its eyes focused on Mr. Hat. Who’d this man think he was? He couldn’t just ignore what Liam said? No one could treat a Hero like that.
After his recent outburst, the hole in the wall screaming its reminder, Liam let out a long breath, letting his anger fade. This insult wasn’t enough to bring the beast into action. As it turned out, a hole in the wall was good motivation to soothe boiling emotions.
After his momentary spike in anger, Liam wasn’t sure why he was even offended to begin with. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Shouldn’t he be grateful the man didn’t seem to care what he did? If Mr. Hat pushed Liam to join him what would he have done? It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to run to at the moment. He was stuck here.
With his answer given, the two fell into silence. Mr. Hat finished eating the apple while Liam watched. With each bite Liam’s own hunger rose, he hadn’t eaten since before the whole factory fiasco. A good hearty breakfast sounded amazing right about now. With difficulty Liam pushed the craving away, his wariness of what the other man might do, keeping him put.
With the apple finished Mr. Hat took another look at Liam, before walking into the bedroom. What that glance showed, Liam didn’t know. But whatever it was, it helped him reach a decision as Mr. Hat called for Liam to follow.
“Mind coming over here?” Mr. Hat asked.
Liam said nothing and got to his feet. Casually following after Mr. Hat. He didn’t have anywhere else to be so he couldn’t say no to the request. But he wasn’t going to just blindly follow the man into some trap.
Reaching the bedroom, Liam peeked around the corner. He found Mr. Hat by the closet, sliding the door open. One hand down to catch any of Liam’s armor before it fell to the floor.
When the door was opened, the remnants of Liam’s suit were scattered across the floor. While Mr. Hat prevented the cascade of parts he didn’t arrest all of their movement. The final pile was a cluster of charred and dented armor. Each a page in the story of Liam’s fight with The Hunt.
“Feel free to work on it,” Mr. Hat said in his deadpan voice.
For what felt like the hundredth time this morning Liam was caught by surprise. Hadn’t Mr. Hat been worried the suit had a trick or something that could be used against him. Wasn’t that why Mr. Hat guarded Liam from getting to it when he first woke up?
“Why would you trust me with it?” Liam wondered aloud.
“It’s not trust we’re working with here,” Mr. Hat said.
Thinking about what he meant Liam stumbled upon the answer. Now that Liam understood what was happening he was stuck here. The former member of The Hunt couldn’t go back to his team. He couldn’t go to the media. He couldn’t even go outside without a disguise. There wasn’t much he could do that wasn’t life endingly reckless. That realization was another hit to Liam’s wounded pride, but after everything else from today it barely even phased him.
Having been given access to his suit Liam rushed over. Not even waiting for Mr. Hat to leave before he was at the closet. Touching the helmet felt like reconnecting with a long-lost friend, even if he’d been wearing the thing a few hours ago, it’d been far too long.
After reconnecting with the suit, Liam got to work. The first thing he did was go over every piece, making sure nothing was missing. After a quick survey of the parts, all but one were accounted for. The staff, his most iconic piece of equipment, was missing. He’d have to follow up on where it was later, chances were it was destroyed during his wild escape from the factory.
During this search, Mr. Hat disappeared. Liam didn’t remember the exact moment, but thought Mr. Hat might have mentioned errands he needed to run. What they were, Liam didn’t know and didn’t care. What mattered was that he’d been given some alone time. It was what he needed to decompress from all of today’s revelations.
Being a techie, Liam jumped into the repairs, welcoming the distraction. Repairs were one of his favorite pastimes and allowed his mind to wander. The perfect thing to do when the weight of the world was on you.
Pulling each piece from the closet Liam laid them, one at a time, on the bed. This time performing a more thorough examination than his rushed search from a moment before. He sorted the parts into two categories. Those that needed little or no work and those he’d have to spend a lot of time and effort on if they were to ever be scavengable. The end result was the second pile being three times the size of the first.
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Running his hand over some of the damage Liam’s mind raced. He’d been in this suit when it took the beating. Liam’s finger traced an armor plate, bent nearly in half. The plates were his own custom made armor and were stronger than steel. Still the thing was folded in on itself. How strong would a hit have to be to cause that? Maybe Mr. Hat had found a healer for him after all. How else could he be walking around right now after what his suit had gone through? Liam might have to thank the man when he came back.
Liam knew there’d been damage to the suit when he first saw it. Inspecting it up close only soured his mood. This would not only be a hard fix, but the most challenging one yet. Add in the lack of proper tools, he could only use the tool box Mr. Hat had on hand. A cheap thing he’d gotten at a hardware store with no power tools. And the repair moved from hard, to bordering on impossible.
Well, no more feeling sorry about this, it was time to start. But what first? Liam’s investigation showed three broken servos, armor pried open in multiple points, rocket boot battery system damaged, the rocket itself half missing, energy lines severed, and cracked joints causing severe lack of mobility. All of those issues were what he could see from the outside of one boot. Looking over the rest of the suit he could only shake his head. The difficulty of the coming task was daunting.
Liam tried to convince himself that this was the type of challenge a techie dreamed of. A few more coaxing words later and the little pep talk did the trick. Getting Liam up and to the task. Pulling out a screw driver from the toolbox, it’s plastic handle only receiving a disapproving frown from Laim.
With the boot already in hand Liam started on it. Pulling off the boots armor plating, piece by piece. If you knew what you were doing, it was a much easier process than it looked at the start. The plates were designed to stay secure during combat, but once the threat passed, facilitate quick replacement for repairs and maintenance. To accomplish this, Liam had made an interlocking system with the armor pieces. With a screwdriver and the appropriate pressure each piece clicked right off.
In almost no time the armor was stacked into piles of destroyed, damaged but salvageable, and good pieces. His initial assumption on the status of the armor was almost exact. The only differences were a couple more pieces he thought were fine at first, but showed some damage upon closer inspection.
Fixing the damaged pieces of armor would be tricky. Back at the base it would’ve been simple. The equipment needed was already there. Out here he’d have to find access to the missing equipment, building replacements before he worked on the repairs, or use something else for the armor. A fun challenge Liam reminded himself. His mind rebelling from the line.
With the armor removed, Liam could get a better look at the inner workings of the boot. It was in surprisingly good condition considering its outer appearance. Running his eyes over the circuit he was happy with what he saw. It was the first bit of good news today. Nothing obviously broken or wrong with it. He’d have to check the connections to be sure, but the first pass was promising.
The next thing he saw was the broken servos and power conduit, both were to be expected. Nothing he could do about that now and until they were fixed this boot was staying firmly on the ground. He made a mental note of the materials he’d need before continuing on.
The repairs continued throughout the day. Liam focusing on the task and ignoring everything else around him. It wasn’t like he was doing it on purpose. He simply had to fix his gear. If that meant he didn’t have to think of the cowardly team he used to be on, then that was just an added bonus.
Thoughts of what they were planning to do next and what they’d done to his workshop only surfaced a few times. Each time Liam would look for an impossible new challenge on his armor and start working on it.
When Liam started his work the sun was high in the sky, casting a faint golden glow through the closed blinds of a nearby window. Before he knew it darkness had replaced the light. During that time, Liam made modest headway on the boot and a couple other pieces. With the limited supplies he had this would be an uphill battle. Liam wasn’t sure if the suit would ever be fully operational again. At least, not without some serious capital supporting the effort. Something he was finding in short supply at the moment.
While Liam was making a list of what he’d need to finish the repair Mr. Hat came back. He walked into the apartment without a word, bolting a surprising number of locks behind him. The man might be a little paranoid, Liam decided. Five locks on the front door seemed a decent effort to gain the title.
The man took off his hat and stood in the doorway to the bedroom. Eyes scanning over everything Liam had done so far. There were a few new piles on the bed. The pieces of armor Liam couldn’t salvage were in one. It’d been created since he started working on the first boot. The rocket was the first thing to join the pile, only to have other pieces follow. Liam hadn’t looked closely at the second rocket, but was optimistic it had survived.
The other two original piles were still there, organized now and growing smaller, but not much else had been done to them. He’d get to them, eventually. Liam never knew when he’d need the suit again, but if the call came anytime soon he’d have to meet it with an embarrassing display.
Liam was the first to speak, “I never did ask how you found me.”
“I suppose you won’t take ‘I’m fantastic at what I do’ as a valid answer?” Mr. Hat asked as he ran a hand through his tangled hair. He looked away as he spoke.
“I don’t know you well enough to believe that,” Liam said, turning to face Mr. Hat fully. Leaving the piles that were his suit behind.
“Well I am that good.”
“Then why were you using those skills to find me?”
With a shrug Mr. Hat said, “It wasn’t you I was after. I’m after your old team. I’ve been following them for a while now.”
“No one’s been following us. I spent months on the team, we would have spotted you if you were.”
“I’ve already said it a couple times now. I’m really good at what I do.”
Liam didn’t believe the man. There was no way they could miss something as simple as a tail. Half the reason they had Skip jumping the team around the city was to avoid someone doing just this.
“A few months back you went to the hospital as a team. Afterwards the team split up into two groups. You went off with Gladius and did patrols around the city. Stopping at 4th, 16th, city park, and finally a parking garage overlooking the park. After that H-Bar and Skip joined you and took down a criminal in an alleyway. Turned out the man wasn’t a Cowl. Like I’ve been saying, I know everything The Hunt does.”
Well that was a lot of information Liam thought. And if his memory served all of it was correct. But that didn’t mean the man was following the team. He could’ve found those details out another way.
“You listened to the news and pieced together our movements. That’s time consuming, but not unheard of,” Liam said.
Mr. Hat didn’t speak. Only reaching up and grabbing the bridge of his nose. That simple movement was the largest emotional statement the man made since Liam got here.
Watching Mr. Hat there was a creeping doubt in Liam’s mind. Could the team have missed this man as he followed them? Liam wanted to say no but he couldn’t. Somehow Mr. Hat had found him at the factory. How could he have known they were there from the news? The team picked the sight, specifically because it was secluded. Which left Mr. Hat following the team as the best explanation remaining.
“Let’s say I believe you and you were tracking us. That still doesn’t explain why you were doing it.”
“Revenge,” Mr. Hat said, eyes locking onto Liam’s. The look carried something Liam hadn’t seen before. A burning just under the surface. A desire he couldn’t quite quench. As quickly as they made eye contact it was severed as Mr. Hat walked out of the room, without another word.
Liam didn’t follow. He let that one word sink in. Coloring how he viewed the man who said it. Revenge was a strong motivator, Liam could feel it swirling inside him as well, but what was Mr. Hat avenging?