Aiden noticed the tips of Zielinski’s ears turned pink when he accepted the kudos. Assuming he was embarrassed at being praised in front of others, he let the topic drop and turned his attention to Strong, who’d just come out of his office. Aiden gave their director a quick fill-in, then went quiet as Strong turned to Caleb.
“What do we have on this group?”
Caleb ran through the information he had so far, typing to search out more details as he talked. “If they’re a bunch of fandom purity police I wonder why they’ve decided to attack the Playground. It’s not really their area of disdain. They don’t appear to have any major backing, but you never know when there’s a shadow corp hiding behind a group of seemingly low-level bad guys.”
“Could the Purity Alliance be branching out from fandom to try and bring in more supporters for their cause?” Sonica asked.
Caleb shook his head. “If they’re doing this to spread their message they’re failing. The muggings haven’t even made the news. And I’m not seeing anything about it on the internet.”
Zielinski offered his opinion. “Maybe they simply wanted an opportunity to get violent. They’ve assaulted several people, even sent someone to the medical center with a head injury.”
Aiden put his hands on his hips, drumming his fingers as he considered what the Purity Alliance could be up to. “Or maybe this is the beginning and they’re gearing up for something bigger.”
“You think so?” Frost asked.
“They’ve gone from one unarmed guy to working in teams, wearing uniforms, and carrying high tech weapons,” Aiden said with a nod toward the stun gun in front of Caleb. “Something in my gut tells me these white shirts have a plan to cause as much trouble in the Playground as they can.”
“I agree,” Zielinski said.
Aiden was surprised that Zielinski easily agreed with him but he didn’t voice it aloud. But he must have given something away in his expression, because Strong looked back and forth between them.
“Your partnership is working out then?” he asked.
His head canted low, Aiden cast a glance at the big soldier boy from the corner of his eye. Zielinski crossed his arms over his chest and returned Aiden’s side glance with a direct one of his own, a challenge clear in the green depths.
That look of challenge sparked something to life in Aiden’s chest. His pulse quickened, fingers tingling as the urge to... No. Aiden quickly pushed the feeling down and flicked his gaze back to Strong. “We’re getting stuff done.”
“Good. And I agree that something bigger is probably going down,” Strong said. “You’ll continue to do your patrols in the Playground. I’ll bring a few of the others in to work the area when you’re unable to be out. Blaze?”
The big hero nodded. “I’m in.”
“Me too,” Frost added quietly. “Whatever you need.”
Sonica crossed her arms over her chest, her brows pulled together in determination. “Maybe I can do some undercover work, see if I can draw one of them out.”
“And I’ll keep cyber digging to see what I can discover about their plans.”
Aiden was grateful for all of their offers of assistance. The Playground was important to him and he appreciated the team taking the threat seriously. The reason the Playground wasfor us by uswas because they’d gone years without anyone helping them. Now to have a group of superheroes ready to step up with the assist meant a lot. “Thanks everybody.” A hint of emotion beyond simple gratitude slipped into his voice. He rocked up onto his toes in an attempt to shake it off.
“We’ve got your back,” Sonica assured him with a quick shoulder squeeze.
“Not bad for your second night out as partners,” Strong said with an approving smile. “We’ll have you both patrol the Playground on a regular schedule from now on. If anything different happens or the situation escalates, contact headquarters before taking any major steps. If this is bigger than a few people causing trouble for the hell of it, we want to know who we’re dealing with. But we don’t want the Purity Alliance to go to ground to avoid us because we played our hand too early by letting them know we’re on to them.”
“Understood,” Zielinski answered crisply.
Strong looked at Aiden, waiting for his answer.
Aiden gave him a little salute, then grinned. “Sure thing, boss.”
Strong returned to his office and the other four went back to whatever they’d been discussing before he and Zielinski had arrived. Aiden caught Zielinski’s eye. He jerked his head to the side, signaling that they should step away for a little privacy.
“I’m going, but I wanted to say thank you for treating my fellow Player tonight.”
Zielinski crossed his arms over his chest, looking as if he didn’t quite trust Aiden’s thanks. But he truly meant it, without any reluctance or sarcasm. Patrolling for villains was one thing, but treating a Player’s injuries when he could very well have considered his job done after stopping the attack was another. And Aiden appreciated it. “I’m serious. Thank you.”
Zielinski inclined his head once. “You’re welcome.”
Aiden made to walk past him and leave, but Zielinski grabbed his arm.
