Seven hours and thirty something minutes later, in Lawrence's studio...
"Maaaan, I'm so glad I hired those QuickBrick guys..."
Lawrence himself was currently admiring the recently repaired left wall of his studio room, from the comfortableness of his soft fluffy chair. To think that nearly three hours ago it had been blasted to rubble! The construction company wasn't joking when they said they would "Brick it up faster than possible".
"Powers are such convenient quirks, huh." He was sure he had heard that somewhere else, but heid it no mind.
He did his research on the QuickBrick Construction Co. curious of their swiftness in work. As it turned out, he had heard of them before. Mostly on daily magazines and the Worne YK Times, some fill up column would adress to them as the "Speed wonder of the concrete world" which, to his opinion, was way too exaggerated. Nevermind he called himself King.
As it turned out, the original name of the company was GoHome Co. and they dated from over a decade ago. Mostly doing small works here and there, staying afloat but doing nothing meriting mention. This, however, changed nearly two years ago, when they signed a contract with the empowered neutral Armando Paredes y Casas. Armando, Colombian of birth and needing some extra cash to cover his debts, found out that playing the hero wasn't his thing, and instead decided to try his luck in the business area. Fortunately for him, a brick-manoeuvering skill with fast-dry features proved to be a big hit among the building side of works. As of now, QuickBrick was currently one of the top ten construction companies in the state. They exceeded at small-scale reparations, and as their name pointed, swiftness was their work banner.
Of course, hiring them costed a small fortune. But Lawrence's savings could afford a small decrease on digits. He, on the other hand, just couldn't afford to spend a day sleeping in a different bed. He had specifically tuned that mattress to achieve ultimate sponginess, which combined with an exceptional ventilation and texture made of his bed the definitive resting place.
And of course, as much as he would love to sleep staring at the starry night sky, half of Worne YK looking at you through a hole in your house was a no go.
The state of the neighborhood was deplorable. The aftermaths of the sewer explosions had left over thirty structures damaged, from which six were left completely unrepairable. Luckily, there were no lethal casualties in the accident, though several people suffered from skin burns and bruises to bone fractures and head trauma.
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The news had made quite a ruckus on that matter. More than one reporter branded this as a "terrorist attack" despite the lack of evidence. Others blamed it on lack of maintenance on the gas pipes running at the city's underground. And finally, there were the conspiracy theories. The amry was testing their brand new explosives, the aliens wanted to communicate with us, Jesus was coming once again, etcetera etcetera etcetera.
The terrorist idea was the closest to the truth, as a matter of fact.
Actually, he had to discuss this with Mika. The information that bald man had given to him was quite shocking, and he needed to find a way of dealing with this matter. One that didn't which didn't involve getting himself in much danger. Not anything near the level of what happened today, if possible...
Which brought him back to that fight.
Why did he freeze like that? That was a mistake. A big mistake. You don't go mindblank in the middle of a fight! That is outright stupid! It could've got him killed. It could've got Mika killed, in fact. And he was responsible for her, at least as far as being her boss went. What if she hadn't left in time? What if one of those men hit her in the head badly?
He didn't want to think about it.
"Hell. This whole thing is getting to me. Wasn't the whole secret personality thing meant to keep my villain life under control?" Well how was that working out for him, huh? Wonderfully.
"Alright, let's calm down"
He took a deep breath.
"Time to put things into perspective."
First things first. He had to share with Mika the information he had gotten from Kain. It would help him to clear up his head a bit. And maybe she would point out something helpful, though he doubted that. Besides, he had to hear her own side of the story. She said she had something on them as well, didn't she?
But there was the business with their prisoners. They were still locked up at that abandoned house. And they knew their identity now, albeit only their alias. What would he do with them?
Turn them over to the police, probably. Let the state handle them. He had nothing to offer to them, at least not something that would convert them to his side. On the other side...
He could just abandon their current alias. He hadn't done anything worthy of mention under the name of King yet, so it wouldn't be such a big loss. Besides, the whole name turned out too flashy even for him.
So yes, he would have to think about that.
Now, however, it was time to relax. It had been such a long, tiring day, and he honestly felt like hell. Hand tied rodeo wouldn't even begin to describe how he felt.
"Well that's it for today. Im heading to bed."
Calling it quits, he went downstairs ans searched for something to munch so he wouldn't go to bed with an empty stomach. Lately, the lower grill of the fridge was full with Cool bottles and Cheesos packages. Normally, he'd mind a few words to Mika about it, but this time he just grabbed a Cheesos package and ate about half of it. Brushed his teeth, drank some coffee. Caffeine naps were the best to get him rested after a long day of work.
Tonight, he would enjoy the pleasantries of a fine bed.