We flew across the world, finding a good spot to land. Emily wasn't as fast as I, so I was forced to slow down. Though eventually we did find ourselves on an empty beach facing the swirling blue seas. It was truly a marvellous sight to behold. We sat on the sand, unbothered by the dirt on our outfits, and watched the entrance as the waters crashed beautifully.
The silence, though, did not last. I could sense Emily's head turned downward, prompting me to look at her. Her face returned to that sullen look from ten minutes earlier.
"I'm sorry for everything, Ben..."
I shake my head. "No, if I weren't such a cocky idiot, you wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."
Like me, Emily shakes her head, albeit more forcibly.
"Maybe, but I took it too far. Dad was right, I shouldn't have let greed get over me like that; otherwise, I would have caught your attention. But I didn't listen, in fact...I wanted you to come."
Emily bites her lip, her blue eyes glancing at me before turning her head to face away from me. From the small time I could see her blue orbs, I could see they were filled with guilt and shame.
"And because of my selfishness, I nearly got people hurt, if it wasn't for you...I might have ended up worse than just a robber. You shouldn't apologize. I'm the monster here, not you."
I was speechless before smiling. I knew deep down she was a good person. Emily's shoulder relaxed as she took a deep exhale.
"Are you going to turn me in now?"
I blinked, flinching at her sudden question. I gulped.
"I-"
"That's okay, but I want to first return the money and say goodbye to my folks. You're more than welcome to follow me to make sure I don't bail-"
"No, Emi, I'm not taking you to jail."
This time, I made her speechless. She was looking at me with widened eyes, and her jaw dropped. She slowly shook her head, and soon she narrowed her eyes.
"Are you playing games with me?"
I shook my head, and her face became even more puzzled. I should explain to her before she becomes even more confused. I reached to tap the large white earpiece of the SEE goggles, and her eyes followed my finger to the device, which made her tilt her head in curiosity.
"You see, my fancy goggles aren't just for show. You see, I have someone helping me out doing hero work, and we communicate using this."
"Uh, that's pretty cool, I guess?" Emily said in a confused manner.
"You see, the guy is well connected and with some string pulling, he could get your dad a good-paying job, enough to have better living conditions...Oh, I may have followed you to your home...sorry." I sheepishly rubbed the back of my hair.
I expected an angry look from her, but what I didn't expect was the awed and disbelief plastered on her face.
"For...real?"
"Yeah?"
Emily shuffles uncomfortably and averts her gaze from me.
"If that's true, why would you go so far for me? I nearly killed you along with some other people. I robbed a bank and injured cops. I'm a supervillain. Why would you do all this?"
A smile tugged at my lip. "Isn't it obvious? Because I'm your friend."
Once again, Emily was rendered speechless; she tried to say something but quickly caught herself. She was unsure how to respond to my answer. She looks torn between being happy and sad at the same time, if that were possible.
"But, I-"
"No, buts. I'll admit what you did was highly illegal and could have caused people to die, but I bet on the fact that you are a good person."
"I'm not, though." Tears spilled in her blue eyes once more.
"I'm a freak of nature besides, you're just doing this because I'm you're friend, if it were anyone else, you would have locked them up without a second thought,"
Her words made me sigh.
"You're right, lawfully and morally, what I'm doing is not for everyone. But I told myself, If I couldn't even save a friend from going down a dark path, how am I supposed to save other strangers' lives?"
My hand plopped against her raven hair and ruffled it.
"As long as you return the money, I'm not going to turn you in; you can live the life of a normal girl you wanted." I smiled at her.
Though it quickly dropped as Emily became a statue, completely frozen, only staring at me with a look of shock. After half a minute had passed, I was starting to get worried that she had had a stroke or something. I yelped as I was pulled by some force, most likely her telekinesis, making me face her completely.
"Emi, what the f-"
I was interrupted when I found myself being embraced by her, I could smell her sniffle.
"Thank you, thank you..."
I relaxed, bringing my hands to her back and squeezing gently, careful not to hurt her.
"Hey, what are friends for?"
RED
The Next Day...
JUSTICE
I opened the door to Gavin's shop, sighing, wearing my civilian clothing as I held my backpack, which contained my costume. It had been about twenty-four hours, or at least since my fight with Emily in the forest. And it had been nearly four years since Emily dropped the piles of gold bars and cash back at the bank before flying away before the cops could get her. I'm not sure what she's doing now. Gavin had already told me that he had set up Mr. Shinichi as an employee for a well-known office company, in a good position.
Hopefully, the Shinichi family are celebrating the good news and they won't live in that god-awful place anymore. As for me, I'm now taking a break from patrol since nothing is happening aside from the usual help an elderly person walking through a busy intersection or helping a cat stuck in a tree. Since there wasn't anything too big happening in Toronto, I figured I could stay in the shop and recharge my power before returning to scout for crime or help someone in need.
"Yo," I said to Gavin, who was, as per usual, reading manga.
"Got any customers?" I asked, as I walked to the front desk and plopped my butt to the seat next to him.
"Unfortunately, no, summer is always a slow day for me, since everyone is out in some other country relaxing." He grumbles.
"I haven't even made a sale, and I keep giving you free crap. How am I supposed to make a living?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a billionaire?"
He ignored me as he kept on yapping about the state of Red Justice merch. Currently, his company is advising him not to authorize creating Red Justice figures or plushies or shirts due to the fact that I was still a very controversial idol to the West. I opened my mouth to make fun of Gavin, only for the door to open. We both quickly straightened up, and Gavin put on his customer service expression.
"Hello, how may I-"
His words quickly died in his throat, and I couldn't blame him, because standing in the doorway was Emily.
"Hey." Emily waves.
I returned the gesture back though I was confused and one small glance at Gavin who shrugged, he clearly doesn't know what's going on either. She confidently walks up to the counter, her face showing no emotion. I noticed she was looking at Gavin, not at me, I looked between them scratching my head.
"You, you're the one who gave my dad a job." She states.
Gavin cleared his throat and strengthened up, trying to relax instead of tensing. He hasn't trusted her just yet and only helped her because of me.
"I am, but I didn't give him a job, I use my connections that landed him the job."
"Regardless, you're the responsible..."
Gavin grunts, confirming Emily's words. I was beginning to sweat, the air was tense between them, they looked ready to duke it out right now. My legs tense ready to intervene if a fight does break out. Instead Emily did something we didn't expect, before we could say anything, Emily dropped the floor on her knees. And then brought her head down to the cold floor.
"Emi!? What-!?" I spluttered.
I turned to look at Gavin, who blinked rapidly in confusion.
"Huh?"
"I would like to thank you. You have no idea how much both of you helped my family. You could've turned me in, but you didn't, for that I'm forever grateful and at your debt."
"Uh..." Gavin was left speechless by her words before he cleared his throat, regaining a bit of his composure.
"Can you get up, please? This is unnecessary, it's cool."
Emily got up, her face me be impassive as ever, but one look in his eye burned a fierce determination that I had never seen before, not even when she was trying to kill me.
"I still owe you both a great debt." Her face scrunched up in frustration.
"It's something that will be difficult to repay back."
I shook my head. "You don't owe us anything..."
"Well, you could swing by from time to time and purchase some of my stuff, I'll give you a discount!" Gavin chimes.
"Gavin..."
"I'm joking jeez..."
I shook my head at the old man and turned to Emily, who shook her head.
"No, I have decided to help you. I can't offer much as Emily Shinichi, but as Kinetic, I could come to help whenever you need."
My eyes widened. Could it be? Am I going to have a fellow superhero aiding in the fight against evil!? Like Batman and Robin!? A grin crept up on my face. That sounds so cool...
As if reading my mind, Emily quickly shut the idea down.
"Don't get the wrong idea, though, I'm not going to be a full-time hero like Ben. I'm not the type of person who goes out to save lives, I just want to be a normal girl with an average life, sorry."
My grin was gone, replaced with disappointment. I wanted to say something to hopefully change her mind, but I shook my hand. This was her choice, not mine.
"It's cool..."
Emily bowed one more time. We watched as she turned to leave. She opened the door, but before stepping out she turned to us.
"While I'm not a hero, I could help out whenever you're in a pinch, even if it's dangerous. You have my number, Ben and..."
A gentle smile formed on her lips. "Thank you, both of you, sincerely."
With one final nod, she leaves out of our sight. Only Mind's Eye could detect her walking away. I felt Gavin get close to me, I looked at him before frowning he's got the goofiest and most smug grin in history. I know what's implied, and he could honestly stuff a sock in his mouth.
"Oh, grow up, you old fart."
RED
???
JUSTICE
The old man watched as land came into view. His eyes trailed to the destruction and devastation of his ship. The Omega fleet, the largest battleship mankind has ever forged. Even though the Yamato was tiny compared to this beast, it may as well be a moving island. This battleship was created for nuclear war but was heavily damaged.
It did well taking on several missile strikes and multiple waves of soldiers from all the other countries. They probably would've used the nuke weren't for the fact that he SURVIVOR might be lost at sea. While it wouldn't even scratch the thing, no doubt the power of the depths below would cling to the weapon and never allow it to see the surface again. But after countless sleepless nights, thanks to the constant gunfire and explosions.
After many deaths and bodies littered the sea and ship, they arrived at the place where they kept the other cores. The metal man walked up next to him, along with the other cyborg man.
"We've arrived." Arc says.
"Took long enough," Droid growled.
The Silver Marksman stood quietly, looking at the view with a determined gaze.
"We are finally in Russia."