I didn’t say anything, just watching this Hawkeye guy. I wasn’t the one who had questions.

“One, we’d like to know your name. Jane Doe just doesn’t cut it.”

I opened my mouth, closed it. Well, it wasn’t like I wasn’t thinking about it. “I don’t want you digging into my background, which I know you would do, so no, I’m not giving you any hints.”

He continued chewing as I resumed doing the same. “Fair enough. The data guys will probably figure it out sooner or later,” he shrugged. “Now, this one’s more for you than for me. How long were you in coldsleep?”

I’d been in a hospital, and there had been plenty of time to take samples and do a chemistry work-up. I’d been shot full of stuff to help survive the coldsleep process, and hadn’t ejected or broken down all of it, most likely... or still had tons of it in my skin and pores.

“Refer back to the first question for issues of personal relevance and privacy,” I stated, tearing into my burger. Hated being caught in awkward moments and stuff like this. It would have been even worse if I was confronted by her family...

Her family either had not consented to her being stuck in a cold tube, or they had. On one side they were innocent victims, and on the other... what?

“I will say this.” I kept any smugness off my face as I swallowed slowly. “There were five other people in cold sleep in that room I was in. I don’t remember much, but I’m pretty sure they’re dead now.”

He actually flinched as I said that, setting down his half-eaten burger and closing his eyes. “Damn. Phoenix scanned it for life signs and found nothing before she lit it up.”

“They were in cold sleep. They may even have been brain dead. I only got out because my powers kicked in when my tube broke down. I don’t really remember much about that except running for my damn life as everything started to get really hot.”

“Phoenix would have definitely gone down to pull anyone out if she knew they were still alive, but...” he trailed off, “that area was so hot with radiation that anyone coming out was probably dead, anyways.”

So that was what the itch on my skin had been... “No ideas here.” I started on my next burger. He looked at me going, at his own half-finished burger, and got back to work.

Something trembled on the ground. Eight Red Eyes spun around and looked behind me alertly, and I tensed at the potential threat. It wasn’t active, but it was potentially very, very dangerous.

I turned my head as a fellow seven feet tall ducked his head to enter the restaurant. I would have counted him a basketball player, except he was so freaking big and built... and his steps held a whole lot of restrained strength.

He could probably lift and walk off with the whole building.

“I think I should probably get out of here,” I muttered, reaching for my pack and getting ready to bolt.

“Don’t worry about it. He just comes here to grab a burger. Start a fight, no burger, and not welcome in any of the other places. Getting the cops called on you when you just want a burger is a real hassle,” Hawkeye advised me, not at all surprised.

I looked at him, back at the mountain of muscle waiting patiently in line, people gawking at him. “This a regular thing with the two of you, or something?”

“We served in the Tribal Marines together.” He didn’t look worried at all. “You know who he is?”

“No.” Mixed-ancestry guy, dark hair, tanned, grim face, oddly proportionate for his size. Nice long coat, tailored pants and boots, walking in the very restrained manner of the superstrong.

The staff seemed to know him, too. The manager saw him come in and just raised his hands, got five fingers in return. He told the cook to put on the patties, and the big guy didn’t have to wait long at all to get his stack of burgers, fries, and two large drinks.

He didn’t look around as he took his tray, proceeding to walk around, slide into the wall booth on the table next to me while avoiding the small chairs, and with big hands slowly and carefully unwrapped the first of the burgers and brought it up to devour half in one go.

His eyes were closed, clearly enjoying the dripping cheesy mess. “Morning, Snipes.”

“Morning, Hill.”

“See you brought a date.” Voice very neutral.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Actually, she was here when I arrived, enjoying more burgers than you.” The moving tower’s grey eyes popped open at that, looking and counting the wrappers on my plate at a glance.

“Huh. Who is she?”

“The hospital that got hit last night? They were after her, and it seems at least two others took an interest in her.”

“You Powered?” Hill asked, swallowing the second half of his burger as he finished the words, but his unflinching eyes were on me.

I held out two fingers and sent some bio-electricity dancing between them below the table, out of sight of anyone else around. He noted it with minor interest and certainly no fear whatsoever.

“Dangerous world for Powered, especially young Powered,” he rumbled, once again carefully unfolding another sandwich while watching me scarf my own down.

“Where you putting all that, girl?” Snipes shook his head, picking up his own burger.

“I digest faster than you,” I replied calmly.

“You’re not with him?” Hill repeated with that iron calm again, pointing a single finger at Snipes.

“No. I thought I missed how he was tracking me until you showed up and sat down.” I attacked my last burger aggressively. “I’ve been in a cryo tube for a while. Who are you?”

That did widen his eyes fractionally. He glanced at Snipes, who just shrugged. “They call me The Mountain in the papers. Do merc work for a bunch of people governments don’t much like.”

“Not including me right now, I hope?” I could probably outmaneuver the guy, but one hit and it was all over.

“Not here, not today,” he replied gravely, and half a triple-decker vanished in one bite again.

“How about vampires?”

Both of them paused in their chewing of the final mouthfuls of their burgers to look at me. Snipes swallowed first. “Vampires? Why you asking that?” he asked.

“Killed two of them in a park down the way last night. Golden Cali-style glamour guy and woman hunting in tandem.”

“Huh.” Hill said nothing, but looked thoughtful as he unwrapped his third burger slowly and carefully, pausing only to grab a bunch of fries and shove them in.

“You are a whole lot more dangerous than we thought if that’s true,” Snipes continued warily, fetching a couple more fries and shaking them at me before also chowing down.

“How’s the nurse that mindbender rode?” I asked between bites.

“Catatonic. They got her in Psyche. Maybe can bring her back, maybe not. Primes have hard times dealing with telepaths. Probably have to ship her out to the White Hands to deal with the trauma.” His handsome face twisted. “You made a good call killing her. Any telepath that does that to people deserves to die, not sit in an iso-tank and get retasked for wetwork with a brainbomb in their head.”

“Bloodsuckers around is bad news,” Hill rumbled thoughtfully, craggy face the exact opposite of Hawkeye’s charming one, looking like someone regularly punched it and broke their hands on it. He was chewing on another mouthful of fries, then picked up one of his large drinks and sucked the whole thing down in one long, casual draw of massive lungs. “Nobody posted any work about it.”

“How about that hot spot that Phoenix dealt with?”

Hill grunted. “They’re saying it was a Crux site, and someone hit it. Maybe Midas, maybe The Compact, maybe Mechanar. Muddying the waters. Nobody’s claiming the credit or flashing money locally. But...” he mouthed another handful of fries. “That’s a white neighborhood, and there’s Askari in town. Even the gangs know better than to deal with the Askari.”

“Yeah, the Hag got real pissed off at them,” Snipes nodded, and saw my raised eyebrow. “One of the narcokings moved in a load of contaminated cocaine for the Askari. One of the precogs caught it before too much of it hit the streets, and the Hag flipped out and went down into Mexico and raged through the entire cartel and all its enforcers. Straight-up butchered a thousand people or more, brought down the whole cartel.”

“Made some good money down there after that,” Hill agreed without batting an eye. “Took two years before any Askari showed their faces anywhere near The Coast. But that was, what, five years ago? And here’s some Askari, and the Hag is just down the road.” His emotionless eyes turned to me again. “Thems and the Crux shoot one another on sight, sure. But what brought them out for you, girl?”

I just spread my hands. “I dunno nothing about the Askar or the Crux or Mechanar or Midas or the Compact... or The Mountain.”

He just grunted. “Bad situation to be in. You need to fix that.”

I thought that over, and dug into my backpack as he reached for his drink to finish off the conversation. “Would a thousand bucks buy enough of your time to get that relevant information?”

Hill blinked, and Snipes almost jumped in shock. “Hey, now...” Snipes started to say.

“Snipes.” The depth of the one word cut Hawkeye off instantly. “This is business.” The hero shut up, and just sort of glared at me.

The emotionless grey eyes turned on me. “I got no paid business going for the rest of the day. If you want to tag along and listen to an old man talk until the end of the day, a thousand bucks will buy you that.”

I pulled out ten hundreds, fanned them, and held them out promptly. Snipes groaned and sat back in his chair as he watched.

The big hand accepted the money slowly, folded it over, and deposited it patiently inside the pocket of his long coat. “Don’t get in my way, don’t give me orders, don’t ask anything but a relevant question. I’m not your bodyguard, so if there’s trouble, you best run.”

“Understood.” I zipped up my backpack, and finished the last of my fries. “Ready to go and start asking questions!”

“Anything important, Snipes? I got a job,” Hill asked, and began to suck down his drink.

“Was wondering if you knew who supplied the intel to the Lemurians for their raid.”

There was a slurp as Hill finished his drink and set it down carefully.

“Geissmark’s been flashing money, and he’s a total idiot who’ll deal with anyone for any reason.” The big man hove to his feet, and nodded to Snipes. “Good day, Corporal.”

Hawkeye got to his feet too. “Sergeant. Nice talking with you.”

---

Hawkeye’s golden eyes followed me helplessly as I followed the huge man out of the restaurant.

“So, who are all the members of the Aerie, their appearances, primary motivations as a team, and powers?” was my first question.

He grunted, not turning to look at me. “Pretty direct.”

“Local area first, metaview can increase thereafter.”

“You don’t talk like a kid, either.” He gave me an odd look. “You one of those forever young godling types?”