Everett Hamza (Emcee)
“No Adumbrae is hiding here… right?” Everett asked the tunnel in a whisper. He whipped his tiny flashlight around, bathing the grimy walls with its pitiful glow. He should’ve brought his dad’s flashlight—that thing would light up this place. And also draw attention to him.
To be fair to this small flashlight, it also gave him away in total darkness. Anyone, Adumbrae or BID agent, would easily spot him from the other end of the tunnel.
He hated this situation! He should’ve insisted on sticking together as a group. But he also didn’t want to appear like a coward in front of Deen. She didn’t have a high opinion of him, and he didn’t want it to go lower. Show that he was reliable.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” he told himself. “That’s right… This’ll take only a short while.”
He had been jogging for a couple of minutes and dropped two sensors. He had a few more to place. How far did he have to go? Where was he going to drop the rest of them? Did he need to reach the next intersection?
He wanted to return to the girls quickly, but he also didn’t want to half-ass his job. He’d punch himself if it turned out that BID agents snuck up on them because he didn’t place the sensors far enough.
Another minute and he’d run back. The girls were his responsibility. They were also superhuman, with Deen’s power being an early warning device, but he was the man in their squad. He was supposed to be the protector. That was what his pops always told him.
And he didn’t want anything to happen to Deen in this mission. Erind, too. They had suffered enough. If pushed a bit more, they might get depressed like Reo.
He was also afraid to be on his own. But Deen didn’t need to know about that.
Everett placed the rest of the sensors and spun around like a top, chuckling in relief as he ran back to their meeting spot. Nothing happened! Of course, nothing was going to happen. BID agents were busy with the Adumbrae attacks. Pino wasn’t here yet. All safe.
What if shit is going to happen? They were in the beginning stages of the mission. There was plenty that could go wrong.
Trust in Dario’s backup plan. They had been alive so far because of Dario. It was going to be a big plan for the big threat.
Was it a secret weapon the Professor gave Dario? Everett didn’t see any scary-ass equipment in the bags. Could Dario have called for reinforcements? Dario had hinted before that their team wasn’t the only one. It made sense to have other groups in other cities. Everett wanted to meet others like them, if there were any.
Light? At last!
A tiny hint of light peeked from behind the bend up ahead—Everett was about to reach the intersection. He slowed to a walk, not wanting the girls to know he had been rushing to meet them. Play it cool. He also brushed back his hair and fixed his clothes.
What should he say to them? Think of a cool line. “Hi, Deen,” Everett said, rounding the corner. “There was nothing…”
He stopped.
His heart also stopped.
Three people stood in front of him. Not two.
Deen was hugging Erind. Both of them stuck to the wall while looking at the third person. Person? Or robot? She was made of metal, reflecting the light of Deen’s flashlight, the feminine features of her body highlighted against the backdrop of shadows.
“Pi-Pi…” Everett stammered, his brain struggling to process the scene. How did this—? Deen’s power? What? Huh?”
“I’m not a peepee,” said the robot, chuckling in metallic notes. “And I don’t have one.”
“Pino!” Everett exclaimed. He concentrated on the chrome-plated Adumbrae, focusing his power on her. Turn her to ash!
Heat instantly filled the tunnel; the booster had strengthened his power, quickening the output. But Pino’s body didn’t glow like heated metal should.
“Get away, Deen!” Everett realized that he had shouted her real name after the word left his mouth. But that shouldn’t matter once he melted Pino into molten slag. He hoped that Deen’s power didn’t get neutralized by Pino, and she could get out of the way. Deen might get hurt, not expecting what he did, but she’ll be able to regenerate it. He had to kill this Adumbrae.
“Stop it!” Deen cried out. “She did something to Eri—Croissant. Don’t make things worse!”
Everett blinked, redirecting his gaze to Erind as blood pounded in his ears. The air began to cool. What did Deen say? He tried to think while his body was raring to jump into action.
Erind wobbled on her feet, arms limply swaying by her sides, as if she were heavily drunk. She would’ve fallen to the floor if Deen wasn’t holding her. Everett recalled Reo saying that he was momentarily controlled by Pino.
Was Pino affecting Erind’s mind? Did Pino also do something to Deen to get past her Guardian Angel’s future sight? That could only happen if someone had told Pino about their powers…
Everett turned to Pino again. She didn’t suffer any visible damage. It was as if his power didn’t have any effect on her. Maybe it really didn’t. But he was going to try again.
“Stop that, Emcee!” Deen’s shriek, the desperateness of it, made Everett actually follow her order.
“Oh, your codenames are useless to me,” Pino said, waving at Deen. “I know all of your identities. You’re Amber Deen Leska. The poor girl you’re hugging is Erind Hartwell—I did not hurt her, by the way. Just a bit. She’ll be fine soon. And you—” Pino turned to Everett “—are Everett Hamza. How’s your family shop?”
Everett recoiled at the gaze of Pino’s single eye. It jumped around in its socket like an excited rat. Disgusting. The entire being of this Adumbrae was disgusting.
“Are you threatening me?” Everett demanded, stepping forward, chest out. Reo had mentioned that Pino knew of his identity, as well that of Myra and Deen’s. Everett didn’t expect Pino to know of him, too. But he should appear unfazed even if he was worried out of his mind.
The Adumbrae knew about his family! They shouldn’t have tried to betray Red Hood, Pino, and the rest of these god-forsaken Adumbrae. He should’ve taken Reo’s side and pushed for Dario to slow down and think of the consequences. Reo! Did he really betray them to the Adumbrae?
Why did Dario think that Reo was the snitch? Reo didn’t seem like a traitor if he was looking out for their safety. It must be somebody else who shared their group’s secrets.
“We can take you in a fight,” said Everett, almost shouting so that his voice wouldn’t crack. His loud words bouncing off the walls bolstered his bravado. “Three to one, Adumbrae. We’ll break you apart if you don’t undo what evil shit you did to Erind.
Even as he said that, he knew that Pino could have allies in the darkness. Also, Pino didn’t trip the alarms that Dario left at the house. The sensors weren’t discussed during their meetings. That meant Pino was already underground, having used some other entrance, waiting for them to betray her.
There really was a fucking traitor among them! This also explained why Deen’s Guardian Angel didn’t alert her—Pino was down here all along.
Would Pino’s friends take revenge on his family if something happened to Pino?
“We… we attacked her first,” Deen said. “And this happened to Erind. But Pino promised that Erind will be fine after we talked. Please calm down.”
“The hell? You’re going to believe an Adumbrae?” Everett was hesitant to attack Pino now. But he also shouldn’t show that he was backing down.
“There’s no need to fight,” Deen said. “You get me? Right? You should get me.” She stressed her last few words.
Everett furrowed his brows. Deen didn’t normally speak like that. That tone was also odd. Was he telling him that her Guardian Angel’s instruction for safety was not to fight? Maybe Pino didn’t mean to harm them, skirting around Deen’s powers. Pino targeted only Erind, leaving Deen untouched—this was a demonstration of Pino’s power. Effectively, Erind was Pino’s hostage.
“Listen to your friend,” said Pino. “I’m not your enemy. We were supposed to work together, weren’t we? But you came here early. You guys even attacked me. I was simply protecting myself.”
“What did you do to Erind?” Everett asked, his hand going into his pocket. He had to do something!
He thought of throwing the electroshock grenade from Dario. Red Hood’s group wouldn’t be as angry if he would only stun Pino, right? He’d then grab Deen and Erind and reunite with Dario. The backup plan better be the best backup plan cooked up in history because their alternative exit was probably already blocked, with Pino being here.
Going back to the house would be no good either. If it came down to a fight, it was better if their group was together.
On the other hand, Deen had signaled to him to play along. He shouldn’t rush things when his family’s safety was on the line. Assume that these Adumbrae were crazy as fuck. Everett hated being unable to do anything.
“I temporarily incapacitated your friend,” said Pino. “There’s no need to worry. While waiting for her to recover, perhaps this is the time to ask the question why are you guys here. It can’t be happenstance that you’re here way before our meeting time. You even started digging before I arrived. Too eager to reach the PCM base, are we?”
“You’re already down here, instead of at the house,” Everett countered. He should be afraid of Adumbrae. Real Adumbrae. Not those fake shit the 2Ms made. But Pino looked so unthreatening that Everett didn’t find it hard to gather his courage. “You used a different entrance, didn’t you? Were we supposed to be the bait for any BID agents nearby? Did you plan for us to trigger the traps of the PCM?”
It was obvious that they were betraying Pino. But Everett would try to turn the tables, blaming Pino for thinking of betraying them first. Pino needed them—she would’ve attacked to kill if she didn’t. Everett should use that to his advantage.
“I didn’t use a different entrance,” Pino said. “I simply waltz in the hole that you have made. Are you surprised that those laughable sensors you placed at the house didn’t detect me?”
“I…” Everett stepped back. They should have expected this Adumbrae robot to be technologically advanced. It must be true that she hacked the police database to find Reo—this means that Reo really wasn’t the traitor.
“You humans thought you could trick me, didn’t you?” Pino asked. “Everything was above board when I talked to your wimpy friend. He always had an elevated heart rate when talking to me. If he were a normal human, he would’ve had a heart attack.”
“Trick you? Nah,” Everett said. “We simply didn’t trust you, Adumbrae. You can’t really blame us, can you?”
Pino did a weird thing with her shoulders that might be a shrug. “True, true… But you still went against our agreement.”
“It doesn’t mean that we can’t continue our alliance,” Deen said. Her Guardian Angel must be telling her what to do.
“Yeah, we’ve only started digging to the PCM base,” Everett said. He probably should let Deen handle the conversation, but he felt responsible for Pino getting the jump on them. He wanted to be in control as the more senior member of their group and as the man. “You’re just in time. How about we start things over with a clean slate?”
“I’ll just ignore your betrayal?” Pino asked, her weird eye darting from Everett to Deen and back.
“For the sake of both of your groups and the success of the mission,” said Deen.
“No harm done, alright?” Everett forced himself to chuckle. It ended up as a miserable coughing fit. He sucked at pretending to be nonchalant. “Except to Er—erm, Croissant.” He wanted to continued using codenames in case they’d run into BID agents. “You'd better make her well, or we’ll kill you.”
“Start things over, and you immediately threaten me,” said Pino. “May I remind you she attacked me?”
“She didn’t mean to,” said Deen. “We’re sorry for—”
“If you’ve spied on us,” Everett cut in, hoping that he wasn’t picking the wrong dialogue options. He didn’t want Deen apologizing to an Adumbrae. These dregs didn’t deserve any. “You should know that Croissant is a new member. She doesn’t trust Adumbrae and thinks of you as the enemy. You didn’t trust us either; that’s why you’re here early. Start over—for real, this time. If you have any complaints, take them up with our leader.”
“Dario, is it?” Pino nodded. “It’s not even his real name. He’s quite the slimy one, hiding in the cracks to hide his identity. Yes, I will meet with him. Come along now,” she added, gesturing for them to follow her into the tunnel leading to Dario and the others. “We’ll discuss with them how to proceed.”
“We sure will.” Everett’s hand inside his pocket closed in on the alarm button also given by Dario. Should he push it? Would Pino detect the signal with her robotic body? But Dario needed to know that they were coming.
“What about Croissant?” Deen asked. She followed Everett’s lead to stick with codenames.
“I promise to heal her after our alliance is back on track,” said Pino, walking into the darkness. She must be able to see without light.
“Let’s go, Emcee.” Deen pointed her flashlight to her face for a moment, rapidly nodding before following Pino, half-carrying Erind with her.
Everett pushed the button, alerting Dario to the problem. Pushing it once meant that Pino was there. Twice was for BID agents. Everett hoped that this was the meaning of Deen’s nod.
There was no reaction from Pino. She couldn’t block signals, did she? Unfortunately, he couldn’t use the special radio from Dario to inform him what was going on because Pino was within earshot, but Dario should have an idea of the problem.
Everett squeezed his brain to think of any idea. He got absolutely nothing. He could only rely on Dario. Not wanting to feel useless, Everett volunteered to carry Erind. Deen refused him.
“She’s my responsibility,” said Deen. “And she’s starting to walk now. I think she’s mumbling about—. Emcee, the grenade.”
“What?” Everett looked at Pino. Was Deen suggesting to attack Pino? The Adumbrae was right there and could hear their plans! Deen’s Guardian Angel must be mistaken.
“My sensors are detecting a lifeform up ahead,” said Pino.
“BID agents?” Everett asked, activating an electroshock grenade. All of them didn’t want to get caught by the BID.
“No. Adumbrae,” Pino replied. “Not one of my comrades.”
(Author’s Notes: The beginnings of Erind’s plan unfold. She must be having a grand time playing her role as Pino. She even changed up her speaking pattern, though it’s still evident in some parts. Poor Everett, though, is worried out of his mind about what might happen to his family. And we have the next phase of the plan. What kind of shenanigans would happen next? It’s fun that we’re finally developing the hero wannabes. Thank you for your support!)