Chapter 96 Consumed.

Chapter 96: 96 Consumed.

The ride back to Sunset Oakland was considerably quieter than the trip there.

Nobody seemed particularly interested in talking, which was understandable. We’d accomplished the impressive feat of blowing up a squid-man’s head, but unfortunately, that hadn’t been anywhere near the top of our list of things to accomplish that night.

The real objective had been Delirium.

We’d found one of his people, gotten close enough to potentially learn something useful, and then watched our best lead literally explode before we could get anything out of him.

Even Psyren had been left with nothing to work with. There wasn’t exactly much of a brain left for her to rummage through.

So, yeah. Pretty shit night.

Although, I did have one small consolation.

I slipped a hand into my pocket and felt the smooth edge of the holographic communicator I’d taken from Delirium. I’d grabbed it almost on instinct, and I had no idea whether it would actually be useful, but there was no reason not to keep it.

Maybe Rhea could figure something out. Maybe it would give us a location.

Maybe it would turn out to be nothing more than an expensive piece of junk.

At this point, I’d take any of the first two.

For now, though, we were back where we’d started: waiting for Delirium to make the next move.

And that put us firmly on the defensive. Villains act, heroes react.

I’d always thought that was one of the worst parts about being a hero. You were constantly responding to someone else’s plans instead of making your own. You had to sit around waiting for some lunatic to burn down half the city before you were allowed to swoop in and do something about it.

By then, of course, half the city was already burned down. Not exactly my idea of a good career path.

Especially when I had a perfectly nice home to protect.

The gates of Sunset Oakland eventually came into view, and the security cameras followed us as we drove through. Once inside, we made our way toward the main building, but Rhea was nowhere to be seen.

That left only one obvious place, the workshop.

I could hear the welding before I even reached the door, the sharp crackle of electricity leaking into the hallway. Inside, Rhea was hunched over a project with her welder’s mask down and a pair of heavy gloves covering her hands.

"Rhea!" I shouted but the welding continued. "Rhea!"

Still nothing. I walked over and reached out, blocking the mechanism of her blowtorch.

She immediately smacked the thing a few times before turning around, clearly annoyed at whatever had decided to betray her.

Then she saw me. "Oh!" Rhea lifted her mask and hurriedly stripped off her gloves. "How’d it go?"

"Uhhrr..." I scratched the back of my head. Apparently, my poker face wasn’t nearly as good as I thought it was.

Rhea’s expression softened almost immediately. "That bad, huh?"

I let out a breath and rubbed my chin, trying to decide how much of the evening I actually wanted to explain.

"It... could have gone better," I finally admitted.

"What happened?"

"We found Delirium’s agent at the Nights," I said, leaning against the nearest workbench. "Unfortunately, he wasn’t particularly cooperative."

"Well, that’s a given."

"Yeah. But Delirium had taken precautions." I grimaced. "There was a bomb in his head."

Rhea’s eyebrows rose. "And before we could get anything useful out of him, it went off."

Her face twisted. "Oof." She looked relieved for a moment. "Well, glad I didn’t let him tinker with my head when we worked together."

Then that relief gave way to determination. She straightened herself and planted her hands on her hips. "But that just means I have to be better at tracking him down!"

"In that case," I said, reaching into my pocket, "I might have something that’ll help."

I pulled out the disc. Rhea’s entire expression changed.

Her eyes lit up, and she practically launched herself at me, snatching the device from my hand before I’d even finished holding it out. "Ooh! Gimme gimme."

She turned it over in her hands, examining it from every angle. "Aha! One of these, eh?" Her grin widened. "I can’t believe Delirium is still using these things."

I took that as a good sign. "You think you can track the signal?"

"Of course!" she declared, tossing her head with the confidence of someone who’d already solved the problem in her head. "I am, after all, a genius!"

She was already looking at the device like she’d forgotten I was standing there. "I’ll get started right away. Ha! It’ll be fun to show that egotistical prick who the smartest one here is."

"If anyone can do it, it’d be you." That earned me another grin.

Then, without warning, Rhea stepped forward and threw her arms around me. "Thanks, Miles. I really do appreciate it."

I returned the gesture by scratching her behind the ear, but the moment brought my thoughts right back to the Nights.

I’d failed. Not completely, obviously. We had the communicator. That was something.

But I should have been able to get Flabbius to talk before Delirium triggered the bomb. I should have seen it coming.

A self-destruct mechanism in a villain’s henchman was practically Villainy 101. The moment I’d realized Delirium had gone to the trouble of putting a bomb in the guy’s head, I should have known there was no intention of letting him survive an interrogation.

Although, personally, I’d always preferred something a little more traditional. Arsenic in the tooth. That had class.

A little dramatic, sure, but at least you could appreciate the craftsmanship.

Blowing someone’s head off with an explosive was just messy.

And that was the problem with villains these days. No class. No respect for the fundamentals.

Everyone wanted to be some deranged psychopath with a complicated philosophy and a theatrical obsession with making people suffer. They’d go off their meds, watch The Dark Knight, and suddenly decide they were ready to go full Joker.

You never go full Joker. That shit gets you killed.

Give me a masked lunatic carrying around a giant round bomb with a hissing fuse any day. At least that guy understood the importance of presentation.

Those were villains with standards.

Besides, elaborate psychological games almost never worked unless you already had some kind of supernatural advantage. Preferably being a psychic who could manipulate everyone involved.

Otherwise, you were just wasting everyone’s time. I gave Rhea another pat on the head.

"We’ll get him yet, Rhea. Don’t worry about that. You find him, and I’ll make sure he never bothers you again."

Rhea looked up at me and gave a small snort, as if she found my reassurance amusing rather than necessary.

"I know you will, Miles." For a moment, she stayed there.

Then she abruptly stepped away and slapped both cheeks with her palms.

"Welp!" Her hands settled on her hips, and the determined look returned. "Night’s not getting any younger. I’ll get back to it."

"Do get a bit of sleep," I reminded her.

Rhea gave me a look that suggested I’d just said something completely ridiculous. "Sleep is for the weak! Caffeine for the strong!"

She laughed, spun around, and skipped back down the hallway, the communicator already in her possession and her attention completely consumed by the problem I’d just handed her.