Jim and Jeffrey both got back inside the factory. Jeffrey sat back down with Tracy, and Jim put his bag down.
"So, what do you guys want for lunch? I got cash from Chicago." Jim announced as he opened his bag to get the cash.
"I could go for some baked potatoes..." Tracy said as she thought about how she used to bake potatoes with her mom.
"With cheese and bacon!" Jeffrey suggested.
"We're in Texas, so that shouldn't be a tall order. Aside from how much I'll need to buy for you two." Jim said with a smile as he took a 500 dollar cash stack. "Hmm... while I order that, why not go to the laundromat? My hood is beginning to smell..."
"Could you take the two sets of clothes I went through too?"
"Of course! Jeff, got anything you need washed, bro?"
"Nah, I'm good man."
"Alright. Just let me get my extra clothes so I have something on while I get our clothes washed. Then tomorrow night, I'll get the truck and we’ll be on our way."
"Yes! Almost home!" Tracy thought excitedly.
"Alright. So… You guys sure everything's good here?"
"Yeah." Jeffrey and Tracy said simultaneously.
"Okay. I'll be back with lunch and clean clothes, then I'll stick around here with you when I come back. Afterwards I'll tell you what I did in Chicago."
"We'd love to hear it!" Tracy said.
"When I get back, and over lunch. See you soon guys!”
"Take care out there, brother." Jeffrey said to Jim.
"I will. Bye guys!" Jim said as he took the bag of laundry and left again.
"You think he's overworking himself?" Tracy asked Jeffrey.
"Well... Considering you can't go out, he's just taking responsibility... But trust me when I say that he usually stays in and does nothing but play games most of the time."
"So... What people on forums would call 'The Gamer Lifestyle'?"
"Hmm… Pretty much... And honestly… I kinda live that life too when I’m not at work." He said, slightly embarrassed.

Jim had just finished loading the clothes into a washing machine. As he waited for the wash cycles to finish, he looked at the leather jacket Ben gave him days ago. It looked nice to him. Not even that worn out, but the blank patch on the back was the main issue. 
"Needs a... Personal touch..."
Jim thought about what he'd put on the jacket. He figured, if he was getting serious with the vigilantism, might as well look his best. And with the fighting ring tomorrow night, he needed to look intimidating when interrogating the manager.
"Hmmm... The anarchy symbol is a bit... Overused... But... What if..." He thought to himself.
Jim took out his phone and started messing around with a few applications he had.
"Hmmm... A cybernetic twist on the Yin and Yang symbol? Yeah!" 
Without even touching the screen, he drew out the logo he wanted to wear. 
"Simple... But something is... Missing..."
Jim snapped his fingers as he coated the image in binary code. 
"Now That's a logo a technopath would wear! Wonder where the nearest printing shop is..." He thought to himself.

Zero was setting up for his mission with Jim. He was selling out his entire shop before the rent on the place expired. This was so that if the investigation of the fighting ring goes bad, he can slip away with all his money and not have a thing left to give him away.
After tending to quite a few customers, he closed up the shop temporarily to take a break. 
He went out for a small walk while the store was closed, thinking about getting some of his sketches done. He liked drawing as a hobby.
With his notebook in hand, he slowly climbed up a fire escape to the roof of a building to begin sketching whatever was on his mind.
However as he made his way up, he heard some men arguing in one flat.
"This ain't the Shit!" A man with a Ghetto accent yelled.
"Look! This ain't exactly the easiest shit to smuggle, okay?! Cops and soldiers is running around all over the damn place and our guys keep getting picked up!"
"Man, Fuck That! We agreed on 20 pounds, man. This ain't even 5!" 
"WE GOT CAUGHT, YOU FUCKIN' IDIOT!"
Zero heard enough and knew this was a drug deal gone wrong. But as he thought of his approach, he heard a gunshot go off inside.
He turned his shadow into a hammer and used it to shatter the window. Stunned by the window shattering, Zero used the opportunity to throw his shadow hammer at the nearest thug with a pistol and jumped onto the room. While the one he threw the hammer at was on the floor, holding his face in pain, Zero made the shadows casted by his fingers into two knuckle dusters and punched the other thug in the chin, then grabbing him to throw him down onto the first thug on the floor. He quickly grabbed the gun off of the floor and pointed it at them.
"I'm not fucking around! Call the police and turn yourselves in!" Zero demanded.
"Shit! Okay! Just don't shoot!" One of them said.
"Shoulda known yo’ stupid ass would get the both of us caught." The other thug said.
"Give me your phone!" Zero yelled
One of them frantically pulled his phone out of his pants and threw it to Zero's feet. He bent over to get the phone, but the second thug suddenly sat up and grabbed Zero's hand that had the gun. They struggled, fighting to get the gun but trying not to shoot.
Zero had to think fast, so he turned his shadow back into a snake and made it bite the thug's arm. The thug let go of Zero and tried shaking the snake off while screaming in fear, all while the other thug was just cowering on the floor.
"That was a stupid move!" Zero said.
He saw a particularly long extension cord lying at the corner and had an idea.

A police car pulled over buy the apartment building minutes later, they were told to investigate a gunshot heard on the 3rd floor of the building.
Two officers came out of their cars and started walking to the door. However they heard someone yelling for help from the fire escape at the side of the building.
When the cops looked over to see who was calling out, they had to suppress their laughter.
"Anybody there?!"
"Man, you have got to be kiddin' me."
The two thugs were hanging upside-down at the fire escape by an extension cord tied to their ankles with their five pound bag of dyed blue meth tied to their bound hands.
"Of all the ways to get caught, hangin' like a mutherfuckin' punching bag is the most pussy-ass way to go."
"Whatever..."

Back in Portland, Quanesia was about to start her mission to get her father. After a visit to the hardware store to get supplies, she had formed quite the arsenal, consisting of improvised smoke pellets, flash bangs, explosive devices, and detonators made from cans, pipes, paintball pellets, various electronic parts, and the chemicals and elements she listed down. She also had multiple improvised bolas made from rope and small, rounded concrete weights at the ends.
With the smoke pellets and detonators in a work belt around her waist, bombs in her backpack, bolas hanging from the right side of her waist and flash bangs on the left.
Covering it all with a long trenchcoat, she started scoping out her neighborhood. 
Keeping her profile low and analyzing each person that passes by her line of sight for any tells of being an undercover operative.
"Natural walk, not looking around as much, no... Jogging, has an earpiece, keeping tabs on her..." 
She pressed her back against a wall to make sure no one snuck up behind her.
As she continued her observation, she saw some vans in the distance. They were all the same model and parked too strategically, which made her think they were placed there to monitor the area.
"Need to disable each van... Fortunately, I have a hacker on speed dial..."

Jim was in the middle of putting the clothes in the dryer when Quanesia rang him. When he pulled out his phone and saw who was calling, he recklessly stuffed all the clothes into the dryer and set it to spin dry so that he could take the call.
"Hey. I was getting a bit worried about you for a second there."
"Apologies, but I have been busy trying to get back to my father. But right now I am very close to achieving my goal, I just need your skills once more."
"Okay hold on. I'll switch to video in a bit to help you out there. Just..."
Jim looked around and saw some bathroom doors, he made sure to take his things with him before entering then switching his phone to a video call as he locked the door.
"So, what's the sitch?"
"I have vans around my home, my suspicion is that they're monitoring camera and audio feeds with them."
"And you want me to disable them. Got it, want me to come over there?"
"Yes please.”
"Find a secluded spot first. When I teleport, it's really bright."
"Noted. Already on it..."
While Quanesia was searching for a secluded spot, Jim took a quick peak at the laundry he had in the dryer of the establishment. 
"Nothing to do now but hope it all doesn't get stolen. Impeccable timing Quanesia..." He thought to himself.

Quanesia found a large recycling bin for paper and cardboard, after looking inside and seeing there was enough space, she knew this was where Jim could teleport in without attracting attention. 
"Alright Jim, get over here."
"Stand back then."
Quanesia dropped her phone into the bin and closed the lid. A dimmed flash of blue light and a thud on the bin later, Jim opened the bin's lid with an irritated expression plastered on his face and handed Quanesia her phone back.
"Thanks Quanesia."
"Apologies, but we are on the clock here."
"Okay, where are the vans?"
"There..." She said as she pointed at them.
"Okay... We just need to take one over. I don't have my enhancers so I'll have to enter their little network, but once I'm in, consider all of them fried." 
"Thank you. Of course there are armed men inside each van..."
"Well you're the polymath. Don’t you have a plan?"
"Indeed, I do..."

A very old, beat-up parked car exploded. Not a very large explosion, but it was certainly loud enough for the van full of men nearby to investigate. The driver and one of the men from the back came out, leaving only one man to monitor the feeds. 
Jim and Quanesia approached the van discreetly amidst the chaos. 
Jim went in though the driver door while Quanesia knocked on the rear door.
Just as the undercover government agent opened the rear door, Jim came from behind and put him into a body lock while also covering his mouth. Quanesia hopped into the van and shut the door.
Jim and the man were struggling, she knew they had to render him unconscious quickly.
Quanesia grabbed his legs and told Jim to do something.
"Jim, apply pressure to the side of his neck!"
"Here?" Jim said as he pinched the side of his neck with his free hand.
"Yes! Put pressure there as hard as you can for 12 seconds!"
Jim did as she told and as the seconds went by, the man got weaker and weaker until he fainted.
Jim let him go afterwards and exhaled in relief.
"What did I do to him?"
"You blocked oxygenated blood to his brain, thus making him faint. But you can only hold it for 10 to 12 seconds, or else he might suffer permanent damage."
"Okay, good to know. Now it's my turn..."
Jim looked at the screens, then they, along with his eyes, glowed blue. Quanesia covered her eyes and in a flash, Jim was gone. 
In 20 seconds, the screens started displaying "Error: Camera Offline", Quanesia turned on audio and it too was offline as all that played was white noise and static.

The screens flashed blue again and Jim reappeared in the van.
"That's that done. Those cameras and microphones aren't gonna be picking up anything anytime soon."
"Thank you. Now let's get to my house."
"Whoa! Buy me dinner first!"
"No time for jokes..."
"Right, right..."
The two got out of the van through the passenger door and started sneaking to Quanesia's house.
While the undercover agents tried to get their equipment back online, Jim and Quanesia snuck to the back door of the house.
Jim turned the doorknob and it was, surprisingly, unlocked. They went in and heard a television playing the news.
"My father's in the living room." 
"Let's go get him!"
They walked to the living room, but we're met with a confusing sight.
Quanesia's father, a Jamaican man that was slightly overweight but still looked quite healthy for his age of 42, was expected.
Another Quanesia sitting next to him was not. 
All four of them stared at each other in utter shock.
"Okay... What the Fuck is this?" Jim said as he looked at the two Quanesias.
"I... Never expected this..." Quanesia said, never even considering this as a possibility.
"Waah Gawn Here?!" Quanesia's father shouted.
"Dad, please, I'm your real daughter!"
Jim's mind was filled with many conflicting thoughts, but then it hit him.
He charged at the other Quanesia ramming her into the wall then grabbed her arm and twisted it until she was on her knees.
"Ah! Ah! Stop! You're hurting me!"
"Quanesia, I know who this is!"
"Really?"
"Am I right to assume you're Delilah O'Hara?"
The other Quanesia was in shock, how did this boy know her real name.
"Yes! You caught me!" She said in her own voice, no longer imitating Quanesia.
"She's a government agent, she can shape-shift. Get your dad out now! There's no telling how much backup they have with this one here!"
Quanesia pulled her still stunned father upstairs, at first he refused to go and spoke so fast in Jamaican Patois that Jim couldn't understand most of it. But when Quanesia looked at him and embraced him, he knew this was his daughter, the one he was with was so distant that deep inside, he knew it felt off, but figured it was just from being missing for about a week. After that realization, he agreed to follow Quanesia upstairs.
As the reunited father and daughter went up, Jim twisted Delilah's arm more.
"Change back!"
"I can't! It takes ti- Ow!"
"Where are the others?"
"Why do you want to know? I don't even- AAAGGGHHH! OKAY, Okay, okay, they're in New Mexico. Searching for their targets. I swear that's all I know!"
"Crap..." 
Jim let Delilah go and she held her arm in pain.
"I don't have time to deal with you again!"
"Wait..." She said, defeated. "I... I don't want to do this anymore..."
"What?"
"This. All this crazy, undercover black ops, superpower bullshit! It's Too Much!" 
"Should have thought of that when you signed on to be one of their agents."
"I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE! I was running and they found me... they made me do all this, I never wanted to do any of this... I just... I... I want to go back to my tower..." 
Delilah broke down and started sobbing on the floor.
Jim felt very awkward about this whole situation, but he went on one knee and patted her on the back.
"Hey... it's alright... Look, we're not trying to do anything bad here. It's just a girl and her dad wanting to go home and be safe, that's all."
"That's it... All I do is deceive and betray, that's all I do..."
"Hey, you can still make this right. Look... they aren't listening and the cameras are out... Escape."
"What?"
"I can give you money for a new everything so you get the fuck outta here."
"No... I can't... Just go... leave me here..."
"No, you speak as if you've been through some really low points in your life. And we may not have time to discuss it now, but sitting here and choosing to not do anything because things are getting heavy, won't solve anything. I can't make you act, but I suggest that you do if you truly want things to be right again."
Delilah just stared blankly on the floor.
"I don't have time for this..."
Jim left her and went to Quanesia upstairs.

"Quanesia? What's happening up here?"
"Just... Taking everything important to- Dad we can bring this..."
Jim saw the father-daughter duo packing their things.
"Uh... Need some help?" Jim said.
"No, we have this."
"Okay, but better make it quick. Delilah-You is kinda broken down... but I'm sure the Government is thinking something screwy is going on here."
"My thoughts exactly."
"Exactly who you?" Her father asked Jim.
"I... Broke your daughter out of jail..."
"What? How?"
"Uh... She'll explain when things are clear Mr Evans. Right now, as you saw, things aren't what they seem."
Just as they were speaking, Jim heard someone come up the stairs, only to to be greeted by Delilah, still looking like Quanesia, looking depressed.
"Hey... Look... if you want to get out of here without them knowing, you said you disabled their cameras and microphones?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, they'll resort to a breach soon if they can't contact me. Safest thing to do is use the basement window if you want to avoid them."
"And why should I trust you?"
"Look, I'm tired, and with you messing things up, I can fake an attack that takes me down. Just light up this house."
"No need for that. But alright... you're coming with us to the basement though!"
"Why?"
"To make sure this isn't a trap."
"Fair enough..."
"You done Quanesia?" 
"About so. I'll smoke up the house as we go along. Come on dad."
The four of them made their way downstairs and Quanesia lead the way to the basement as she dropped several of her improvised smoke bombs.
Jim grabbed a nearby step ladder so that everyone can reach the window.
"Alright. Me first, I can scope out if it's safe"
Jim went through the window and quickly looked around him for any undercover government agents.
"Okay, clear. Give me your things!"
Quanesia gave Jim her and her father's essential belongings and Quanesia let her father go through first. Once Quanesia was out, O'Hara kicked the step ladder aside.
"I'll... buy time... I guess..."
"Hey... Thank you, Delilah..." Jim said to her sincerely.
"Just go..." 
With one final look, Delilah went back up while the smoke was filling the house to stage her takedown.
Jim, Quanesia, and her father started running away from the house just as the government was beginning to create their formation to breach the home.
While they were busy, Quanesia pulled out two detonators and pulled the triggers on them, this caused the trashcan in front of their home and another car nearby to blow up. Not enough to create a massive fireball or to injure someone, but definitely enough to keep the government agents' attention for a little while longer on that area to give the sufficient time to run away.

Minutes of running later, Quanesia and her father were extremely tired, but Jim had only just started breaking a sweat.
"Thing we're far enough away?"
"I..." Quanesia said as she panted heavily. "I'm still going... To have to... Get my father... And me… To the airport..."
"Need any more help? I can probably make fake tickets... gonna have to look up how to make them and it would take a while."
"I... Already bought... Plane tickets... Prior to this."
Quanesia held Jim's hands.
"Thank you... So much for this."
"No problem, Quanesia. You'll still keep in contact right?"
"Of course! If you need help with anything just call and ask me about it... I'm sure I'll have the answer."
"Okay. Call me when you're on the plane. If you run into anything, I'll be available to teleport back in."
"Thank you again. For everything..."
She hugged Jim quickly then gave him her phone.
"You can return to Tracy now."
"Any time you need me. Remember that."
"I will."
Jim nodded then went into a dumpster in an a nearby alley.
Light flashed from the gaps and holes in the dumpster, then Quanesia approached it, opened the lid, and took back her phone. 
Her father was in disbelief from everything that had just happened but was trying to be rational for his daughter.
"Quanesia. Waah Gawn Here? Mi-"
"It's a long story dad. I'll tell you everything when we get back to mom."
"We..."
"Yes... We're going back to our true home!" She said with a bright smile.

Jim teleported out of his phone and he was back in the laundromat bathroom stall in El Paso.
"Woof... Just when I thought I could rest today..."
Jim grabbed his phone and got out of the stall. To his surprise there was an older woman outside that looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Uh... I'll... just... go now..."
Jim practically bolted out the door to get out of the bathroom.
"God’s sake... Trends nowadays... Snapping pictures even on the toilet..." The woman said.

After getting the clothes out of the laundromat and getting enough food for lunch, Jim was finally making his way back to the abandoned factory where his friends were. 
"Man..." He started thinking. "Wonder how I'm gonna fair in the fighting ring... Hopefully Zero and I can take care of it quickly. So close to getting Tracy home, and after that? It's gonna be straight to Chicago! Living out the dream of being a crime-fighter that doesn't go by the books!" 
He began thinking of all the cartoons, anime, video games, comics, and other stories he's exposed himself to. The stories he experienced, the characters he looked up to, the situations they found themselves in and how they managed to triumph in the end.
A car then blared it's horn and he was snapped back into reality.
"MOVE!" A driver angrily yelled as the car in front of him was slowing down and subsequently broke down.
Jim saw this as nothing more than typical road rage and elected to walk away.

"Two Missions where you were easily taken down..." Brooks said over the phone.
Delilah was in the back of a van, on her way back to the Oregon facility.
The undercover Nightcap agents informed the general about Delilah's failure and after 10 minutes, the general called Delilah.
"Evans had someone with her. Another teen, but I don't know if he was a Neo-Human..." 
"No excuses O'Hara, I'm going to have to penalize you. An extra year to your signed contract sounds fair..."
"What?!"
"You were given a deal. You have been given training. Yet you have failed to deliver proper service. No arguments O'Hara, extra year. This is but a mere strike for you, the real punishment goes to the men that let Evans and her ally take out the monitoring. We're finished here O'Hara, see you back at base."
"Fuck my life!" She shouted out loud.
Delilah wanted to throw the phone out the window right then and there but controlled herself and angrily gave the phone back to the Nightcap agent. 
"Maybe I should have taken that kid's offer of escaping this fucking place." She thought angrily. "A bottle of wine or three is what I need tonight. Not to mention changing back into me. I don't care if that stupid bitch sees me hammered as fuck. At this point, can't get any worse..."
Of course, what Brooks had in mind for Delilah when she arrived would make her feel the time she has to serve.

"I need to say, having to sleep less is nice, but not eating as much anymore? Sucks..." Jim said as he finished eating. 
He has barely eaten half of what a normal meal was and he was already full. 
"I'm sorry man..." Jeffrey said to him.
"I'm getting the opposite problem though... I always ate more but I'm pretty sure I had a full two days worth of food in one meal." Tracy stated.
"Nothing wrong with that though. You need to keep your strength up after all." Jeffrey replied.
"Yeah but I'm not really doing anything... I usually walk, do a little cardio, maybe some lifting everyday."
"Yeah, pretty hard to keep that routine when you're on the run. Well... most of these machines are at least 300 pounds of metal..." Jim said as he looked at a scorched machine by his side.
"Hmmm..."
Tracy stood up and grabbed one with both hands and lifted it quite easily.
"Have to go with two..." 
She grabbed another and started doing some lifting.
Jeffrey nudged Jim while witnessing Tracy lifting 600 pounds as if it was 10.
Jim showed him his phone while Tracy was busy and wasn't facing them.
"I didn't expect this... But I'm not complaining. ” Jim’s phone read.
"Same here..." Jeff whispered back after seeing the message.
Jim deleted the text by thinking it and typed a new message without touching the screen at all.
"I gotta tell you... I really like Tracy, but that's why I can't let her go to where I'm going. "
"I know, man..." Jeffrey whispered.
"Unlike us, she's got a family to go back to. I think it's best that we don't let her get into this kinda stuff. It's hard enough she's hunted by the government, she doesn't need stuff like a fighting ring to get riled up over. "
Jeffrey looked at him with a small frown and nodded.
Jim pocketed his phone again, then resumed watching Tracy.
"Why do I even bother? I mean... Why am I so concerned over her- I mean... Why do I care for her THIS much..." Jim thought as he slowly zoned out. "Maybe it's because she deserves a better life and not this crap. Yet, here she is..." 
"Jim?" Tracy called out after turning around and seeing Jim.
"Huh?!" 
"Something on your mind?"
"Uh..."
"It's nothing Tracy! Really." Jeffrey said to Tracy
"Yeah, I was just thinking about Picking up the truck tomorrow night. Gotta go get it from the guy in my disguise and such. Just hope Ben kept his promise." Jim said.
"I'm sure he did."
"Hopefully. And hopefully he kept his promise and didn't tell anyone about me."
"What exactly did you do for him though?" Jeffrey asked.
"Saved him from some biker thugs."
"Really? That's awesome, man!" Jeffery said.
"And I'm sure he didn't tattle to anyone." Tracy said as he put the machines down.
"Hopefully you're right. That guy was kinda eager to meet a 'Real Superhero' so I won't be surprised if he told somebody."
"Scope out the place first make sure things are cool first." Jeffrey suggested.
"Good idea. And if he's got his phone, call him."
"Yeah, but still. Don't worry too much about it." Tracy said.
"I know. Tomorrow night shouldn't be too bad, hopefully..."