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[color=silver][h2]September 7th | Building 31 / [sub]The Hardtcave[/sub] | NYC / NY | 20XX[/h2][/color][/Center]

[center][sub][i][color=red]”Hey Von, this is Reyna….you know, the girl from the cafe? I have your laptop here with me. I tried to wait as long as I could for you to come back but…... Anyways, let me know if you want to meet up again or I could drop it by the listed address if that sounds good to you. Hope you have a great day and if I don’t end up seeing you….thank you for brightening my day.”[/color][/i][/sub][/center]

Adalbert's lips curved into a genuine smile. Reyna, huh? So Rowe wasn't a given name... Reyna Rowe. He'd remember that for sure, he had already committed it to memory. While this meant he'd probably not have the time for grabbing his things today, it was a [i]perfect[/i] excuse to get out again tomorrow. She had brightened his day before, but hearing this message was enough to cause an even brighter sign. He chuckled to himself as the phone lowered from his ear, glancing at it to check the time. 

Oh, dear. It seemed he was running late. Not for anything truly important to the business, but he had expected to get home earlier. Without hesitation, he turned on his heels and began walking back in the opposite direction; No longer needing to go back to the coffee shop. One might've wondered if it was truly necessary to walk all the way home; He was on a strange side of town, honestly. But he liked the public walks, when not being bothered, at least. 

As he walked, he decided maybe a call was too much? He did want to talk to that woman again, but he... He wasn't sure? Like, over the phone. He figured it'd be easier than face-to-face, but he also wanted to see her face? While words were coming out? Yeah. He wanted an actual conversation, that. But for now, he resolved to simply use texting. He had her number now, and while that was more social progress than he made with most people, it was because of a mistake. Which made things awkward.

[center][color=silver][i]"Uh, Hi. This is Von. We can definitely meet up sometime tomorrow? Thank you for not only holding onto my things for me, but tolerating my actions. I apologize for storming out, and hope it won't affect your judgement of me too much. I'll text you the details sometime tomorrow afternoon? We can maybe try this again."[/i][/color][/center]

He sent the text, before continuing on his way. He wanted to get home soon; He had a few things to try and accomplish, and only a certain amount of hours per day to accomplish those things. He continued walking, a slight energy to his walk now as he felt good; Tomorrow was looking to already have great plans. He couldn't wait to talk with her again; This time without him causing a scene, of course... If he could help it.

...

... This wasn't exactly 'home' in the sense of where he lived. After a bit of walking, Adalbert made it to what he simply referred to as 'Building 31'. It was, on the outside, simply Hardtcorp storage space. But to him, there was something more. He wandered behind the building; Navigating a small sinking stone staircase behind the building that blended in well with the ground. This whole little pathway was usually used for repairs on pipes and such behind the building, so it was a bit of a maze; But Adalbert knew this maze like the back of his hand, and had it set up security-wise to his liking with cameras at the corners and... A few surprises, had he found someone down here he didn't need snooping.

Twists and turns eventually led him to an elevator. It was a bit old, but a bit of elbow grease assured it wasn't broken down. He pressed the 'down' button which was the only option, and stepped inside. The options were 1F, 2F, and 3F. Though, there was a small card slider near the buttons as well. With grace, he pulled a card from his pocket and put it through the machine; A green flash and a beep signifying he was heading down. Beyond 3F, deeper than any 4F, 5F, 6F... Floors worth of space downward, for his privacy.

Originally this place had been built as some sort of shelter, he had to assume. That's the only excuse he had for it being so deep underground, anyhow. Originally there was a button that just came down here, but he made sure after turning it into his own private workplace that he'd... Remove the opportunity for people to snoop easily. In a way this wasn't even his property; Just some deep hole the city forgot about. But it was his hole. His cave.

[b]The Hardtcave, Baby![/b]

Oh hoh, yeah.

The elevator opened, allowing him freedom from that confined space. All that it lead out to was a hallway, with a heavy-duty door at the end. As he approached, he put his card through another slider; A second security check in case someone did get down here. His eyes peered up at his cameras and security system, noting if someone did try to get in... Hoo, it was good that he was smart. 

Door opening, he walked through and made sure it properly shut and secured itself before he continued into the Hardtcave. It was pretty big; It looked like it could have held a lot of people. It was a pretty dark and disgusting pit when he originally came down here, but he had turned it into his own little place at a slow pace. It took forever to creep everything down here, but damn it, it was worth it. No dad. No unwanted people barging into his privacy.. Just him and his work.

With a slight twist in his step, he was suddenly rolling across the room; The skates in his shoes carried him across the floor of his sweet little pad, allowing him to snatch a remote off a stand near the entrance, pressing a few buttons as he rolled along to get himself ready with some... Motivation.

[Center][Hider='Motivation'][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc0KhhjJP98[/youtube][/Hider][/Center]

Bobbing his head as he did a slow spin to take in his work on the location, he let out a loud laugh; His tune changing completely. Oh hell yes! He was free here; Nobody to restrain him, nobody to shoot him down. He could be who he wanted, do what he wanted. And what did he want to do? Tinker. He wanted to tinker, even if he was missing his laptop with some of the plans... He could still work.

Skating up to a large desk of scrap and electronics, he snatched up his pride and joy: The Sticky Hook™. These babies were the start of something he had been thinking of before the attack; The admittedly attention starved young man had a bit of a goal prior to the attack, and that... Was to become a hero. Since he bounced back better than ever from the attack, he figured continuing this pursuit was a great idea; If he could survive that without a scratch, then, well...! He was surely hero material!

He mounted the Sticky Hook™ on his wrist, finding it strange that the device was less strain on him than the last time he used it... Gym gains must've been doing work. It was a work of his genius; Not entirely finished, but it worked for damn sure. Swinging with it was great, even if he had only done it in this closed in area. Nothing was relieving like some good old-fashion fun

His skates carried him to his testing area; Mostly just a place with a bunch of padding in case he fell. Without hesitation he skated forward, pointing the Sticky Hook™ at a wall, bracing himself, and opening fire.

[b]PHIFFP![/b]

It shot out at a high speed, connecting with a high part of the wall. With a simple motion he began getting reeled in; Activating the recall that yanked it back after he got speed in the air. Whooping in excitement as he soared, he turned to take another shot at an opposite wall to do some wall-skating; But found that his Sticky Hook™ wasn't being very compliant.

[b]PHIFFFF

PHIFFFF[/b]

[color=silver][sub]"Oh, no."[/sub][/color] The man muttered to himself, looking towards the wall he was rapidly approaching.

[color=silver][i]"O o o o h, crap![/i][/color]

He attempted to brace himself; Hands, feet out. Don't hit your head into the wall, Von! For the love of god, don't hit your head. All he had to do was stop himself and even if his legs were sore, he'd fall to the padding and be alive. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, bracing for the unpleasant impact...

...?

He had felt a thud, but that was it. His eyes slowly opened, having expected to fall to the ground sore. Instead, he was a little sore maybe, but he was... On the wall? 

[color=silver]"The fuck is [i]this?![/i]"[/color] He shouted, nervously looking at his hands planted on the wall. He was nervous, but slowly, he pulled one hand free; It was so damn weird... He was sticking to the wall. Sticking. To the wall. [sub]stickingtothewall[/sub]

He had to test this.

Adalbert began to very slowly and carefully, like a newborn Spider-Toddler, crawl around on the wall. He began to laugh to himself, hysterically; This was... What the hell was this? Things felt a bit sticky lately, but he thought it'd been some more reasonable explanation? He was crawling on a wall. Holy shit. This was so cool; Maybe not as cool as swinging, but who the hell else could do THIS?!

[color=silver]"This is amazing."[/color] He spoke to himself, finally dropping himself to the floor after crawling his way down. He had to work out the kinks of the Sticky Hook™ for sure, but... Whatever the hell this was? It was like a safety net. Shit, though, what the hell caused that? What was wrong with him? He couldn't tell people about that; They'd flip out. It was like some super-human feat... He was awesome enough before, but now he could crawl on walls? He was like a ninja. Or a spider. Or any insect that could crawl on the wall, he figured. Bug man. Bug... Ninja man. 

Shit, he finally had ideas for hero names. He had been so desperate trying to figure those out.

While the wall-sticking weirdness remained in his mind, he went back to focusing: He began bobbing his head to the music again, not missing a beat from this experience: It was freaky, but freaky that was helpful: He could study it! Use it! But for now, he needed to work out the kinks of this device before he slammed his head into a damn wall... Not to mention he had to start working on the... Special surprise he had in mind. 

God, this got him inspired. Oh, yes! He found himself letting out a loud laugh again for his own effect; He was motivated! Blood pumping with the thought of successful machines! His hands worked swiftly and with effectiveness; When Adalbert was motivated he was essentially a machine. He'd get this all sorted out in no time!

[color=silver]"[i][b]Aah-hah-hah-hah-hah-haaahhhhh![/b][/i]"[/color]

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[color=F0E68C][h2]September 7th | Alan's Apartment...?! | NYC / NY | 20XX[/h2][/color][/Center]

Alan lived around here? She wasn't sure if that meant she had ran farther than she thought, or he and Xander were closer to each other than she imagined they were. She figured it didn't matter; She watched him curiously, having not expected him to just... appear with medkit in hand. Was he just conveniently holding it? It was pretty quick for him to catch her running and to fetch medical supplies... Oh, why was she thinking like that? He was trying to help her.

[color=F0E68C]"Walk? Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired..."[/color] She answered, taking his hand with a lack of hesitation. Though as she walked towards Alan's apartment, she felt her brain scrambling a bit. Oh, god. If her dad saw her holding hands with a guy he'd totally flip. He knew Xander a little, though clearly not as well as he or Lindy thought, but Alan? He didn't even know Alan. He'd give him such a hard time, it'd be embarrassing. Though, this wasn't like that: He was just guiding her. It wasn't... Weird. Not at all!

As they entered the apartment, she noted it was quiet. Aside from hisses of pain she tried to keep it down; Just in case. She didn't want to intrude upon his household; She sat down, accepting the ice. She hadn't been sure of what she was going to do; Just find a way to hide her toasted arm, probably... But this was so helpful. She expected to be alone, but Alan showed up just in time. The ice on her arm would hopefully help, though it didn't look pretty. She wasn't entirely sure how that'd heal up... She gripped the ice a little harder than she should have, and felt it lightly collapse in her hand. She loosened up quick, not shifting her hand enough to show the result. [color=F0E68C][i]'Oh god, oh god. Pretend it didn't happen, Lindy! You are not a freak of nature, you're just a small school girl who got nearly incinerated by a martial artist after surviving a terrorist attack. Gah! Sounds worse!'[/i][/color]

Watching Alan work and only occasionally wincing, his question knocked her out of her worried thinking. Ah, jeez... He was asking what happened? Lindy was hesitant; She couldn't tell him. Xander survived being thrown through a wall; And she thought Xander was a potential death machine prior to that and the flaming elbow that left her how she was now. She had to protect Alan, he was just some baker. He couldn't handle shit like that. And the cops...? She was angry at Xander beyond comprehension, but didn't want to put him in jail. 

He wasn't a bad guy, at least, she thought he hadn't been a bad guy. It didn't just hurt physically, but emotionally as well: She was going through enough with the head injuries and the thoughts back to that day of the attack... She didn't need this shit on top of it; Like having the power to thrown a guy a full foot taller than her through a wall without any effort. 

[color=F0E68C]"No, Alan. No cops. I-- Uhm, I don't know what happened. It was all so fast, and I think a hit to my head dazed me a little too much."[/color] Ah, yes! The head injury had it's uses! Nope, she didn't remember any big-muscled flaming muay-thai men. It was a mystery what happened!

To be extra authentic, she sat the bag of slowly melting ice down and rubbed her head, offering a weak but caring smile. Even if she had to lie, she did appreciate him. she had to let him know that, right? 

[color=F0E68C]"Thank you for helping me, Alan. I didn't know what I was gonna do."[/color]