“It took you an hour to get him here?” Ditch swallowed, unsure of how to answer. “I..” She trailed off as Reaper’s shadow tentacles curled around her, pulling the cyber vigilante inside. The slamming of the doors made Ditch flinch, before she reluctantly placed the boy on the stage, allowing the others to swarm him. 

“C'mon, let's have a seat.” She whipped around to face Omega, her movements a little bit jumpier than normal. The bags under her eyes were deep. She looked worse than the last time they’d all seen her. “[i]Omega[/i],” Ditch said firmly, refusing to sit. “You don’t understand, I.. I figured it out. I figured out how Umbra’s kidnapping the heroes. How.. how do you kidnap a girl with superspeed? How do you kidnap a 20 foot monster of lava rock? I did it. I figured it out. You know, you know when there’s just one pillar you have to knock out and the whole building will fall? I found the pillar. I did it. And then I swear, I was.. I sent you guys the message, and I .. I fell asleep.” Ditch had taken the coffee from Wraith but not even bothered to take a sip. “And when I woke up it was already forty five minutes late and I ran here, I didn’t want to.. To lose your trust, and then he just.. The kid just..” Ditch fell silent, eyes glazing over. She gripped the flask tightly but didn’t move. 

“He talked about my dad. Talked about him like he was standing right there. Knew things he couldn’t have known about him. He’s too.. Too young to even know him at all..” Ditch shuddered. 

At first glance, Wraith would find nothing of importance outside. Racket Avenue was empty, just like it always was. The rain beat down heavily, refusing to let up anytime soon. But if she walked farther ahead, leaving the auditorium in the distance, she’d find a bracelet sticking up out of the mud on the side of the street. A part of it was shining metal, glimmering in the light of the moon. Umbra’s mark was clearly engraved in it upon brushing away the dirt. Any further search would come up empty. 

The child was beginning to warm under the large bundle of hoodies and jackets. Yes, Aurora’s attempt to heal him had failed, but upon closer inspection his wounds were not horribly deep. There were just a lot of them. TB was able to greatly lessen the boy’s fever with his newfound heat absorbing abilities, and he was beginning to look better already. 

The boy stirred, letting out a string of incoherent words before his eyes slowly blinked open. They were an incredible shade of neon blue, glowing brightly just like Scarlet’s. He let out a sharp cry of fear upon seeing the crowd of people around him, sitting upright and scrambling back on the stage. “Please, please don’t hurt me, I swear I’ll be good after this I will, I will!” He’d raised his hands in front of himself in an effort to protect himself. The boy hadn’t even gotten a good look at the vigilantes before him, he’d just jumped immediately to a defensive stance.