Chapter 24

Megumi stared up at the brightly lit diner, glaring at the building as if it had personally offended her.

People entering and leaving the diner passed her by without a second glance, all chatting amongst themselves about the new hero. All claiming it was about time and that the hero was inspiring a new wave of hope within Maryland. Megumi repressed a snort.

If only they knew she was the villain.

Megumi was wearing a large dark hoodie and dark pants, clutching the one strap of her backpack that she had slung over her shoulder. To the average person she probably looked like a socially anxious teenager. And, in a way.. Megumi thought as she gripped her bag tighter.

She was.

She hadn't been able to reach Ana earlier, she tried to set up a get together the morning but she ended up only getting an offhanded message later in the afternoon about how the two would meet later to discuss whatever vague text Megumi had sent her. Megumi bit her lip. It wasn't like she didn't want to tell Ana immediately that she was being hunted, Megumi had a feeling she knew, but she couldn't risk blowing both of their covers if their messages, and relationship, was intercepted.

She could see Ana from outside the diner through the large windows of the restaurant skating across the dining area, smiling and talking with all the costumers in the establishment.

Megumi furrowed her eyebrows. She wondered if Ana would still be happy about the diner if she knew the truth about the people running it…

Megumi glanced at the inside of the diner again. It was pretty busy, but judging by the fact that Ana was now resting next to the counter talking to the guy behind the register, she assumed the big rush had ended and everything was calming down now.

Megumi heaved a heavy sigh, scrunching up her face as she made her decision.

Megumi pulled her hood over her head further, eyes darting around to make sure no one that shouldn't be there wasn't there. She eventually decided that she would soon be causing too much suspicion if she continued to stand outside, and made her way inside the diner.

Megumi winced the second she pushed open the glass door, immediately hit with the sound of blaring 80s pop music and the smell of a grease frier and cherry soda. She squinted at the brightness of the place, there were dozens of neon signs and multi colored lights blinding her at every angle.

No wonder the owners of this place were working for Margret, the electric bill on this place must be astronomical.

Megumi was so engrossed by the diner's atmosphere that she didn't even notice the blonde girl in a waitress uniform and roller skates standing just slightly to her left, looking like she was trying to get Megumi's attention.

"Excuse me?" The girl asked. Megumi flinched, immediately reaching up to pull the hoodie down further over her face, looked startled at the girl. The blonde waitress smiled tightly at her. "Are you here to order?" Megumi blinked back at her.

"I can take this one Sally." She heard a familiar voice call from behind the blonde waitress.

The girl's, Sally's- face scrunched up as Ana approached, a sneer present as she turned around. "I think I can handle this," She hissed. Megumi sent her a sideways glance. "I'm sure you can," Came Ana's strained reply, Megumi wondered if the two didn't like each other. "But table three is asking for you, they said they wanted-" Ana suddenly cut herself short, confusing both Megumi and Sally.

"Megumi?" Ana called softly. Megumi roughly bit the inside of her lip, noting that she was getting the attention of those around them. "I- I think I should," Ana started softly at Sally, who rolled her eyes and skated over to presumably the people Ana had been talking about.

"Is everything alright?" Ana asked with a soft smile, "I've, never seen you come in here…"

Megumi grimaced as she glanced around the diner, then back at Ana who had an expression of humor on her face. "It's not exactly my scene.." Megumi said through slightly gritted teeth.

Ana snorted.

"I'll say. But what's up? You look like there's something bothering you." Megumi's expression suddenly changed to that of a ferocious intensity. "You remember those messages I sent you earlier?" Ana jolted. "Oh! Yeah, sorry about that!" She lowered her voice to that of a whisper and leaned closer to Megumi's space. "Something came up- I was planning on telling you about it later, it's nothing that can't wait though if whatever you need to tell me is that important."

Megumi nodded stiffly, her eyes darting around the faces of the diner.

"It's extremely important, but I can't tell you here- and we can't leave together, but it involves your safety-" "Is this about the you know who's coming after me? Because I anticipated that much-" Megumi's face scrunched up, "No, Ana, you don't understand-!"

"Are you guys alright?" Megumi heard a voice from behind Ana that made her roll her eyes.

"Tony! You startled me!" Ana laughed, turning and clutching her hand to her chest. The man behind her- Tony- didn't look to humored by the situation. "Is everything okay?" He asked Ana, though he was looking at Megumi, who scowled back at him.

"Everything's fine!" Ana said, waving her hands in front of her face. "This is just uh- a friend of mine from college, we're supposed to be working on something together and I complexly forgot!" Ana smiled at Tony, but from his end it looked more like an uncomfortable grimace. Ana felt a hand on her shoulder that made her jolt in surprise, and she turned to see Megumi's face half covered by the size of her hood.

"We can meet later, just know that the faster you know, the better. I shouldn't stay." Megumi told her quickly.

Ana's eyes flickered across Megumi's face then she eventually nodded, making Megumi nod in return. Then, without another word or second glance, Megumi dashed out of the diner, leaving a confused Ana and concerned Tony in her wake.

--

Sometime after nine forty-five, Megumi found herself standing outside a preppy café that Ana had mentioned, looking incredibly out of place against the perky atmosphere. Megumi bit the inside of her cheek, checking her phone every time she saw someone throw her an offhanded glance, checking nothing other than the minutes tick by as she waited for Ana to arrive.

She felt herself getting particularly antsy when a group of people that looked just a tad bit older and slightly more upper class than she was started sending her glanced and whispering among themselves, not so subtly pointing and snickering at Megumi's appearance.

Megumi gripped her phone tightly. 'If they knew who I was they wouldn't be laughing.' She thought to herself as she grit her teeth, angry memories and emotions bubbling to the surface as the group continued to cackle, pointing out her peeling sneakers and washed up hoodie.

Suddenly everyone around her seemed to be staring at her, judging her as she frantically switched her phone on and off, the time ticking by increasingly slow as their whispers grew louder and louder, her eyes feeling heavy and her vision getting blurry as she was sure if she didn't get herself under control, her powers would reveal her true identity and make a mess of things when Ana showed up.

She pulled her hood further over her face, making the snickers grow louder, and her breathing grow more shallow the more eyes she felt glance in her direction. Her hands grew heavy as she switched her phone on one more time, opening up the camera and seeing that her eyes were getting darker and darker by the second, her anger boiling further as her eyes darted in the direction of each voice.

She could destroy all of them, she told herself. She could reveal her true identity right now and make all of them regret ever looking at her wrong, they were powerless against her and the only thing stopping her from letting loose was her own restraint.

'All of you should be glad that I want to take Marget down..' She glowered internally. 'If it wasn't for that I would've done much worse..' An image of Darcy flashed through her mind, helping her get a further grip on her senses. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall of the building, breathing in and out until she felt herself calm down, the heaviness in her eyes and shoulders slowly subsiding as she thought of Darcy waiting for her back at the facility.

Megumi glanced at the crowd from under her hood, a slight resentment returning as she did. 'I'm not doing any of this for you.' She growled internally again.

"Meg!" She heard a lively voice shout through the crowd of titters.

She looked up tentatively, her eyes feeling like the dark inky liquid was draining out of them as her eyes darted through the crowd cautiously, until she made eye contact with a worried looking Ana, who didn't seem to care that the crowd was focusing their scrutinizing gaze on her now.

"Are you okay? She asked softly as she approached.

Megumi nodded stiffly, the grip on her phone loosening as she felt her anger melt away under Ana's caring gaze. Ana glanced through the café window then back to Megumi. "Do you want to get something inside?" She asked Megumi bubbly, still completely unaware of the people around them.

Megumi shrugged. "Didn't think about it."

Ana bounced on the balls of her feet, glancing from Megumi to the inside of the café for a few seconds before Megumi eventually rolled her eyes and told her, "Just go in and get something." Ana rocked back and forth. "Now I know you said it was urgent and cafés usually take a long time-" "And it'll be longer the more you stall, just go get something."

Ana shot her a grateful look before dashing into the café, getting various different sneers and dirty looks from the people around them. Megumi went back to her previous routine of flicking on her phone every two minutes, despite protests from the battery life.

After around twenty minutes, Ana came bouncing back out of the café holding a small paper bag and two coffee cups, extending one out to Megumi, who looked surprised. "It's pumpkin, I wasn't really sure what to get you." Ana shrugged.

Megumi took the cup sheepishly, now feeling nervous for an entirely different reason. "You- you really didn't have to get me anything…" She trailed off. Ana shrugged, taking a sip of her own drink and pulling a donut out of the paper bag. She extended one to Megumi, who declined saying that she wasn't a fan.

"So where do you want to talk?" Ana asked Megumi

--

Another silent twenty minutes later had found Megumi and Ana walking along the dark dirt road to the docks with nothing more than the street lights to guide them along the path. Rocks and twigs snapped and crunched beneath their feet, making up noise for the silence between the two of them. Megumi had told Ana they should talk somewhere open and private to avoid the risk of anyone trying to sneak up on them. Ana told Megumi she was being paranoid but agreed nonetheless.

Even though there were more pressing matters at hand, Megumi couldn't help but ask, the events from earlier were bothering her too much, "Why did you choose an area full of loser snobs?" Megumi asked at last, giving in to her curiosity and annoyance.

Ana looked up, confused, "What do you mean?" She asked her. Megumi felt her anger resurface as she thought back to the snickering and sneering, the people pointing and jeering at the two of them like they were some second-class citizens.

"Oh, I guess I just didn't notice." Ana said simply.

Megumi looked at her incredulously. "How did you not notice any of that?! They were so obvious!" There was a look on Ana's face that Megumi recognized, a look that said maybe she had noticed the people's comments just a little bit. "I'm used to it." She said quietly.

Megumi deflated slightly at her soft tone, and even more so at the slightly conflicted look on Ana's face. Megumi felt her hand twitching to reach out to- Megumi paused, then flexed her hand and let it hand awkwardly at her side. What was she going to do? She wasn't any good at comforting people, she was always the one that needed comforting, Darcy was always good at that… Megumi was probably terrible at making people feel better.

She glanced at her hand that was holding the pumpkin latte. Her lips pursed as she stared down at them. She didn't have hands that helped, she only had hands that could destroy.

"I guess I shouldn't say your being too paranoid," Ana said, breaking the silence and changing the topic as they walked further down the dark path. Megumi looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why?" Ana let out a nervous chuckled before taking another sip of her drink, green tea which made Megumi's nose crinkle up every time she smelt it, and said, "Well… Let's just say there are now a total of four people who know my other identity."

This made Megumi stop in her tracks.

"What?!" She exclaimed. "How did that happen?!" Ana hushed her while looking at the area around them to make sure they hadn't been over heard. 'Ha,' Megumi smirked internally, 'Who's the one being over paranoid now?'

Once she decided there was no one else around, Ana sighed and looked back at Megumi. "So.. You remember my hero costume, right?" She asked quietly. Megumi nodded. "Well, when I was getting it together I asked some friends if there was a possibility that they could make something for me-" Megumi felt five years slip off her life, "-And so then after my debut-" "They knew it was you immediately because they recognized the thing they made for you. Right. Got it." Megumi said shortly.

She sighed and pinched her nose, looking up at the sky and muttered something that sounded suspiciously to Ana like she was asking for strength. Ana stood next to Megumi awkwardly as she did so, unsure of whether Megumi would blow up at her or not for being so careless.

Eventually though, she lowered her head back down and rubbed a hand across her face, looking at Ana with a tired expression. "Do they at least have the decency to not say anything?" She asked at last. Ana's face lit up at the lack of rage in Megumi's tone. "Oh yeah! They were less put off by the fact that I was a super and more upset that I made my debut with accessories they thought were for cosplay."

Megumi snorted at that.

"They're making something more practical for me now, I met with them earlier and we talked a bit about my powers and what not. I didn't mention you though, I had already taken enough risks by just meeting with them." Ana said. Megumi nodded. "Well, as long as they won't say anything.." Ana nodded back at her in response. "I was honestly expecting you to be a bit more upset about that though, like I mean, if people find out and somehow link us together.."

Now it was Megumi's turn to feel nervous as she remembered the original reason she asked Ana to meet with her.

"About that.." Ana's eyes widened slightly. "No ones linked us together….yet, but Ana you need to be careful around the people at that diner. I may have made a slight blunder." She added quietly.

Ana looked taken aback.

"Around the diner?" She scoffed, "Why?" Megumi looked up as the shipping containers became larger, identifiable objects as opposed to blurry shapes in the distance. Megumi felt a low growl leave her throat as they got closer, lights from the street lamps flickering above them as they approached.

Ana glanced from Megumi to the large storage containers, a wave of concern washing over her body.

Megumi made a bee-line straight for a large dark maroon tanker towards the middle, Ana bouncing along behind her, asking every fifteen seconds what was going on, but of course, to no avail.

"See this tanker right here?" Megumi asked Ana, ignoring everything she had asked previously. Ana nodded, still incredibly confused but didn't say anything. Megumi gripped the large padlock firmly in her hands, then summoned a strong current of wind intense enough to, and with a successful flick of her wrist, break the lock into pieces. Ana blanched. "Aren't you worried-" Megumi put a finger to her lips, making Ana bite her own in case there was something inside of the shipping container.

Megumi gestured for Ana to go on Megumi's other side- which she did- as Megumi slowly pried open the door just large enough for the two of them to slip inside. Once they were both in, Megumi pulled the door closed ever so slightly so that there was only a sliver of light coming in from the outside. Ana wrinkled her nose at the smell of the inside. It smelled like dust and stale baby powder, if baby powder could even get stale that is.

Megumi pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight, quickly rummaging through the contents of the container, much to Ana's bewilderment. It was full of all kinds of old antiques and trinkets, filing cabinets, boxes, old furniture, various different types of taxidermized animals, porcelain dolls, and books from what Ana could see, and it smelled like a mixture of mold and stale bread.

Ana put her shirt over her nose to stop from inhaling so much dust, then looked over at Megumi who had immediately began searching through the contents of the storage unit, blasting things out of the way with her powers creating more dust, seemingly forgetting that Ana was even there.

"So.." Ana whispered after a few minutes. "Are you going to tell me why we're here?" Megumi ignored her as she kept shifting through various different items, barely looking over her shoulder to tell Ana to keep an eye and ear on the outside in case someone came by, which made Ana begin to panic. After at least ten minutes of Ana assuming the worst and getting freaked out by the plethora of baby dolls staring at her from across the room, Megumi found what she was looking for, and quickly made her way back over to Ana.

"Here," she said quiet, yet breathlessly, startling Ana in the process. "Do you recognize this at all?"

Ana glanced from Megumi's slightly frantic expression to the item in her hand, which appeared to be a medium sized black cardboard box. Ana took the box from Megumi's shaking hands and examined it, an unexplainable case of de ja vu clouding her brain.

She had seen this box before… it was such a simple item but it made her feel so incredibly uneasy, Ana had no idea what on earth it could possibly-

Ana's heart and train of thought stopped as she saw the logo on the box, intense memories hitting her like licks of fire, her hands burning as she flung the box from them, stumbling backwards and clutching her chest, suddenly out of breath.

"Ana!" Megumi whisper shouted, jolting forward to catch the girl in question before she fell into the stack of taxidermized flamingos behind her. Megumi steadied Ana, holding onto her elbows as Ana tried to regain her balance, her entire body going into a fit of tremors, as she slowly shrank to the ground, her eyes blown wide in what Megumi assumed was some kind of shock.

"Ana?" Megumi asked softly, getting no response. Just as Megumi was going to try and stand Ana back up again, she heard faint voices coming from outside that made her freeze up as well. Megumi leaned over to the opening in the door and strained her ears to listen, half hoping she didn't recognize the owners of the voices but quickly recoiled with a curse when she heard two familiar elderly voices.

"Ana," Megumi quickly whisper hissed to the pale faced girl in front of her. "Ana we need to hide, or run, or attack-" Megumi's head snapped in the direction of the- albeit slowly- approaching voices then shrugged slightly, "Alright maybe we don't need to attack, breaking and entering is enough of a crime and I don't think you want geezer battery on your hero record."

Ana didn't respond, or even acknowledge Megumi, which made the villain swear a little louder, deciding that she was going to have to hiking her up and attempting to pull her into one of the dark far way corners, silently grateful for the fact that Ana wasn't completely out of it or immobilized that she couldn't drag her feet along with Megumi. Megumi knew it wouldn't be too much of a problem if she was as she thought back to their first encounter where Megumi had to carry her back to her apartment, though Megumi noted she was a bit heavier now than before.

Megumi pulled the two of them into a dark corner farthest away from the door, sliding behind what looked like a large old dusty filing cabinet, using a few boxes and what looked like old quilts to keep them hidden. Megumi's head throbbed as she watched from behind the filing cabinet as a small flashlight shone through the tiny holes in the front of the container, a layer of sweat forming on her forehead as she tried to steady her breathing while the people approached.

Ana stared blankly down at the ground. It had taken everything in her to not let the rings that were threatening her skin come out, no matter how much pain she had been in before. Touching that box and seeing the logo on the side- it brought Ana back to the night she transformed, reigniting every nerve in her body with such an intense pain that Ana could barely feel the rest of her body.

She blinked slowly, registering that she was in a different spot than before, and Megumi had carried her over here. Where were they again? Ana found the strength to lean forward, placing her hands on the dusty floor in front of her. The layer of dust on the ground was so thick that it felt like Ana was seeping her hands into a think layer of cotton. Ana felt her face scrunch up.

A layer of cotton that probably hadn't been cleaned in over twenty years.

She pulled her hands away and slowly rubbed them off on her green lightning skirt. She let out a painful huff as she tried to turn towards Megumi, who Ana saw was peering out from behind the filing cabinet at their backs. Ana was able to find herself on her knees and slowly but surely found another opening to look through, squinting and blinking the black spots out of her vision.

She winced as a white light shone in her eyes, turning her head away and pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to get the throbbing pain of her oncoming migraine to stop.

Megumi on the other hand, was unfazed by the light, if anything she glared right back at it as if its brightness was initiating some sort of a challenge between the two of them. She was so caught up in focusing on who could be sliding open the door to the container that she didn't even notice Ana had been moving around, nor did she hear her hiss of pain when the light hit their eyes again.

"-was definitely someone in here again!" Megumi and Ana heard a familiar female voice hiss.

Ana paused in nursing her headache long enough to quickly think back to where she had heard that voice before.

"Do you think it was her? Do you think she sent one of her cronies down here?" A panicked male voice spoke back to the other. Megumi shrunk a little lower as the door was pulled open to reveal two stout figures shuffling through, shining their flashlights all around the storage unit.

Ana furrowed her eyebrows from where she was knelt down. She knew that voice.. What's it doing here? To be fair what was she even doing here? Megumi didn't like explaining things for exposition, Ana supposed.

Ana heaved herself up one more time to look back out through the small hole in between the filing cabinet and the blanket Megumi had put over it. Ana squinted into the darkness, the blurry figures dark against the light from the street lamps outside. Ana strained her eyes and ears as the duo searched, pushing over boxes and looking behind old furniture, just waiting for one of them to speak again so she could confirm her suspicions.

"This box has been knocked over!" The female voice hissed.

Ana's blood ran cold. Her hunch was correct. She knew those voices, and she knew those people they belonged to. Ana felt her breathing become more shallow as she reached over and tugged on Megumi's hoodie. Megumi jolted and turned to Ana, so engrossed in the conversation in front of them that she had put Ana's presence in the back of her mind.

Megumi registered the look of alarm on Ana's face, confirming what she had guessed before.

Megumi nodded, turning back to the couple, the silent confirmation spoke volumes between them.

"We'll go back to the diner and ask the staff if they know anything about the amplifier, we'll do it subtly of course, get small clues out of them." The man whispered. "I knew we shouldn't have kept this damn ox there! Now we've got all these problems!" The woman wailed. The elderly man hobbled over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder as she struggled to collect herself.

Ana felt a pang of sympathy shoot through her chest. Megumi was stone faced.

"It'll be okay, we'll find out who it is and we'll let Margret deal wi-" "DON'T SAY THAT NAME!" The woman yelled, making both the man and Ana flinch, even Megumi's eye twitched in surprise. "Okay.. okay.." The man said, sounding like he was trying to catch his breath.

"Let's just take this box and get out of here. No one can comment on where it is if we just get rid of it!" He told her. The woman let out a shaky breath. "Just burn that damn box." She said in a quiet, yet disgruntled tone. Megumi and Ana saw the man nod, then reach down to pick up the box.

"You go wait in the car, alright?" He told her softly, rubbing a hand along her back. "I'll just check to make sure nothing else is out of place." The woman nodded, staggering out of the room. Ana felt her heart sink for these two, wondering what bad decisions they must have made in order to have their lives completely screwed with like this.

Megumi was still stone faced.

The man put the box under his arm, hobbling around the room, checking behind every cabinet and piece of furniture until he reached the back where Ana and Megumi were hiding. Megumi took in a sharp breath and ducked down, pulling Ana down with her, looking down and silently cursing Ana's bright attire. Ana seemed to be going through the same thought process as she curled herself up small, covering her bright green skirt to the best of her ability with her backpack, scootching as far as she could against the filing cabinet. Megumi pulled her knees up to her chest just as the man shone his light behind the filing cabinet for a few seconds, moving the blankets on top around to further check the area.

After what felt like an eternity of holding her breath, the man finally left, letting Ana let out a sigh of relief, which got a sharp glare from Megumi. Ana put her hands back over her mouth as she heard the man stop for a moment, then continue walking out of the tanker.

Megumi and Ana sat stock still in silence even after they heard the door scrape closed and the familiar rumble and growl of a car engine. Megumi and Ana finally let out a sigh of relief as they heard the sound of gravel crunching against the tires of the car.

Once the car sounded like it was far enough away, Ana and Megumi let out a final sigh of relief as their bodies relaxed and deflated as the car sounded further and further away.

"Those are the owners of the diner." Ana said breathlessly. "Yup." Megumi responded. Ana looked over at Megumi and asked. "That's what you wanted to tell me about?" "Yup." Megumi repeated. "And they're involved with Zalic…" Ana whispered to herself, pushing her hair out of her face. "Uuuhuh." Megumi drawled.

"I saw them at a meeting Margret had called Trina and I into, they were apparently the ones who were supposed to be guarding the amplifier you got a hold of. I offhandedly mentioned that the amplifier was in the diner, because I thought of you at the time.. The two of them hadn't even mentioned that's where it was. So my thinking aloud managed to put you in danger, and now I think Margret's started to get suspicious. So, sorry. That was my bad. Which is why I didn't get more upset when you mentioned your friends knew about you, I messed up worse." Megumi told her.

Ana blinked in reaction to this boatload of information. "That's.. I just.. I'm still in shock about the owners.."

Ana put her hand over her mouth. Megumi looked over at her. "There's no way you didn't know…" Megumi said slowly. "I had suspicions." Ana said simply. "It's a different thing to have them confirmed."

Megumi hummed in response.

The two sat in silence for a few moments before Megumi said, "Welp. Let's get out of here. Now you know what I needed you to know." Megumi said, lifting herself up off of the ground and reaching a hand out to Ana to help her up. Ana awkwardly between Megumi's face and her hand before taking it, hissing slightly as she heaved herself up.

"You okay?" Megumi asked Ana as she dusted herself off.

Ana continued to dust off her skirt, looking fervently around the room with a disgruntled look on her face. "Let's just go outside and we can continue to talk about this," She dusted her legs off as she cautiously glanced around the room. "I hate dolls." She whispered.

--

One uncomfortable trip out of the storage container later, Megumi and Ana were back at the docks. Megumi had her hands in her pockets and kicked rocks absentmindedly while Ana continued to dust herself off and shiver about her hatred for the collection of baby dolls on the inside.

Megumi glanced up at Ana, stalling her rock kicking to ask, "What happened to you back there?"

Ana paused her frantic dusting to look up at Megumi, stretching out her limbs and bouncing a bit on her feet. "There was something about that box," Ana said finally, looking down at her hands warily. "It- it was like, a flashback almost… Except I didn't remember anything from the night I transformed, just how much it hurt. I haven't been in that much pain since.. well.."

Megumi nodded. "Got it." Ana sighed, rubbing her legs. "I just can't believe Lucinda and Marcus are involved with Zalic after all…" "Who?" Megumi asked. "The owners.." Ana sighed. "Ah." Megumi said simply. The two stood in silence for a few moments before Megumi began thinking aloud, something about their earlier interaction just wouldn't leave her alone…

"Just how close are these people to Margret to refer to her by her first name so casually?" Megumi pondered. "Well they didn't really use it causally, didn't you hear Lucinda? She freaked out when Marcus said her name." Megumi hummed. "I mean, wouldn't you? I still have no clue what her relationship is to them and how they managed to get themselves involved with her. I can try to ask but frankly the less I interact with Margret the better."

Ana nodded. "I have just one question though.." Ana asked tentatively. Megumi raised her eyebrow at her. "You said 'wouldn't you' implying that if I was in a situation like theirs with her I wouldn't want to say her name. But you're in arguably a worse situation and yet you say her name no problem. What's the deal with that?"

Megumi leaned back against the shipping container and lazily put one let over the other.

"Saying her villain name feeds into her power crazed fantasies. If I use her real name despite her countless threats and acts of torture against me proves that she doesn't have complete control of my brain like she does everyone else's." Ana hummed in response.

"So what are we going to do now?" Megumi pushed herself off of the shipping container, walking up to the street lamp and staring out into the distance. "We need to take them out." Megumi said quietly. "What?!" Ana shrieked. "Meg- they're old! We can't just-" "I meant figuratively, not literally." Megumi said tiredly while turning around to face Ana.

Ana visibly relaxed at the clarification, encouraging Megumi to continue. "They clearly don't want to be associated with her," Megumi supplied, holding up a finger and making Ana nod along in agreement. "But that's puts us in a bad situation because they're only a few threads way from finding out your identity." Megumi added, holding up another finger. "We corner them, offer them an ultimatum. We get Margret off their backs and they keep their mouths shut about your identity." Megumi told her. "But how are we going to do that?" Ana asked. Megumi let out a soft growl of frustration. "I need to think more about that, but something tells me they'll be eager to make a deal.." Megumi said glaring at the direction they disappeared from.

Ana shrugged; walking over to where Megumi was standing. "I don't think we'll have to worry about them finding out my true identity for a while, they can't even get my name right at the diner and there I have to wear a nametag." "That's the other thing," Megumi said making Ana stop in her tracks and turn back to her. Megumi was giving her a look that she had never seen on Megumi's face before.

"Seriously be careful at the diner Ana, try to lay low… Keep an eye out for anything suspicious." Megumi said quietly. Ana gave her a soft smile. "You don't need to worry.." Ana said drawing out the 'y'. "I'll be fine. And if there's anything wrong, I have you as one of my emergency contacts."

This took Megumi by surprise.

"One of?" She asked quietly. "Who are the others?" "Tiffany and Tony. Ana said sheepishly. Megumi furrowed her eyebrows. "Why not your parents?" Megumi asked aloofly. Megumi saw something flash on Ana's face, so quickly that if she hadn't been looking at Ana she might've missed it. "We should head back," Ana said, looking out into the darkness of the shipyard. Megumi furrowed her eyebrows and bit the inside of her lip but didn't press the subject further, instead putting it in the back of her mind for a different time.

"Sure."