It was only a few minutes before Hannah appeared in the doorway, red-faced and obviously peeved. "You know, attacking the city's most well-known supervillain might very well be the dumbest thing I've seen you do," I remarked, "Though I think dating Ollie Harlen might have been a close second." It was a running joke between us that she had made the worst decision ever when it came to relationships with that boy.
"Oh, har har," she droned, laying the sarcasm on about ten times as thick as it needed to be. "As right as you are, that wasn't actually why I was here."
"You didn't come because of your terrible choices of boyfriends? Shocker."
"No, that's not what-" Hannah started, then cut herself off to think about what she was actually planning on saying. "I had no idea that your stepdad was going to be here. Unfortunately, it happens to mean that I am even more suspicious of you now."
"Me?" I joked, "You know that was the first time I've seen Rolan in two years, right? Though, I think I know why he came down."
She gave me a quizzical eyebrow raise and asked, "Why would that be? Is it a special occasion?"
"He probably had two reasons, actually. The first was the same one you probably came for, though with different intent." I was going to go straight into the second reason and surprise her with the fact that I could move once again, but she stopped me.
"Let me guess," she groaned, "Basic. You figure I'm out of leads and I'm backtracking to the last place I saw him."
"That sounds about right, but his second reason was this." I closed my eyes and focused on my upper spine for the third time today. I let the signals my brain was sending flow once again and swung my feet off the edge of the bed, hopping down to the floor. Hannah squeaked in surprise, then with delight as I stood next to her.
"Kaity, what happened? You're able to move now?" She began asking questions rapid-fire until I gripped her by the shoulders lightly to calm her down.
I told her about the comment Emma had made, though I didn't mention the fact that Silas was there. I talked about how the signals my brain was sending could be routed around the problem using my power, which had previously been useless. After a time explaining how I was able to move again, Hannah seemed ready to talk once again.
"So, about Basic," she slowly commented, "You wouldn't happen to know where he might be." I knew the question was coming and had my answer ready.
"I can't say I would. He came in here with that fancy suit of his this morning, looking to use me to find Rolan. He was just a little early it would seem." I was lying through my teeth, but I knew it was what Hannah would be expecting to hear, so I continued.
"I told him I hadn't seen him in two years, but he was so sure I knew where to find Rolan. Thank goodness you showed up when you did. Was it just me, or was he hitting on you though? What kind of hero does that out of nowhere?"
The subject made her turn red with embarrassment, rather than annoyance or anger. I had hit the spot. It didn't matter if it was also something of a nerve for me that Silas had made the comments in front of me about one of my friends.
"I- I don't know, but I think…" she trailed off until her eyebrows rose again. "I think I know how to find Basic."
"You do?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow of my own. I had tried to make my story as useless as possible if that was a thing.
"You said he was looking for Void Star, right?" I already didn't like where she was going with this. "Then I know just how to deal with him. I have to find Rolan Drike."
"Hannah, I amend my previous statement."
"Oh, which one is that?" She asked
"Dating Ollie is now the third dumbest thing you have done." I was still deciding which of her other two were dumber. I would have tried to dissuade her, but I knew from previous experience that she wasn't going to give this up.
When Hannah learned about Silas, she had been suspicious of him. The two were both my friends, so it wasn't surprising how long it took for her to learn that he existed. Hannah had the instinct to think something was off about Silas, claiming there was no reason that a Basic teenager would move halfway across what used to be the United States to live in Sol City.
We knew his parents hadn't died. The one time he had been insulted about not having his parents living with him he broke the person's nose out of spite, he then pointed out that they were alive and well in Sonicity. While Sol city replaced old New York, Sonicity was actually a smaller hero city that replaced Lincoln, Nebraska.
After Hannah did some digging, we found a familiar name. Tylers. We investigated any Basic we could, until we realized Basics often had Evolved as relatives. We found it late in the search because we didn't consider it possible. The lieutenants of Sonicity were Paul and Amanda Tylers. Silas wasn't the son of just any heroes. He was the son of high heroes, and he hadn't told us. I didn't feel betrayed, considering that I was keeping my lineage from him.
It had only been due to Hannah's unrelenting will to keep looking for Silas's family did we ever find out just who his parents were. Now, all of that stubborn perseverance was focused on hunting down my stepfather, just to capture my best friend. I didn't know what Silas planned to do to avoid it, but I didn't worry a bit. She had no other option, which meant he hadn't left her any.