Hannah was by the window again, staring out at the fading afternoon sunlight. She'd been doing that on and off all week. More than once Jake had seen her perk up when she heard sirens or when the warning bar flashed at the bottom of their television screen. Looking back, he realized she'd always done it, but he'd always thought it was some nurse instinct to run and help. It was either that or she was just nosier than he'd assumed.

The sirens were zipping by in high numbers that night, something to do with a bank robbery downtown. Jake watched her fidget out of the corner of his eye and bit his lip to conceal a nervous chuckle. "You ok, babe?"

The ponytail she'd coaxed her red curls into bounced as she jerked her head to face him. "Yeah, just...sirens and stuff," she mumbled quickly. "I worry more when they don't start calling us in."

"Oh?" Jake turned to lean against the back of the couch, his knee brushing against hers.

"Less survivors to work on." She grimaced and checked her phone again. It hadn't lit up at all the last two days aside from when Claudia had texted her.

"Do you want to go in and check anyway?" Jake folded up his newspaper to drape it over the coffee table.

"No, that would be weird. Wouldn't it?" she asked.

"Hannah, if it would make you feel better there's no harm in checking," he assured her, taking her hand to rub his thumb over the back. "Go get your coat."

The smile that spread across her face made his gut twist. It had to be done, whatever guilt he had would fade eventually. At least, he hoped they would. Ensuring her safety would help with that as long as he didn't lose her in the process.

While she grabbed her jacket, Jake pulled a thumbnail sized chip from his pocket. To anyone else it would look like a chipped bit of plastic from anything out in the world. He tucked it between two fingers and shuffled to the door slowly. "Hey, Hannah?"

"Yeah?" Her head poked through the top of her sweater, baby hairs clinging to her cheeks from the static.

That time he couldn't hide his amusement and snorted as he laughed. "You're a mess," he teased. While she rolled her eyes, he worked on fixing her hair back into place. "Do... do you ever treat supers at the hospital?"

Hannah froze, one arm still only halfway through its sleeve. "No, they have their own medical team down at their headquarters," she replied evenly.

"How do you know one hasn't come in though?"

"I think I would have noticed a super in my hospital. Those primary colors really stand out, Jake," she joked.

"Silver Shield doesn't have any flashy colors, I bet she could sneak her way in, to someone she trusted and sneak back out with some help," he mused.

Hannah grabbed her jacket and stepped back from him. "What are you asking me?"

"If you knew who one of them was, would you tell me?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter because I don't know," she jammed her arms into the sleeves and grabbed her keys.

"You don't know if you'd tell me? So, you'd be ok keeping this huge secret from me?" Sweat trickled down the back of his neck and he had to jam his hands into his pockets to hide their shaking.

"You say that like you think I'm hiding something," Hannah snapped. "What's going on?"

The words hung on the tip of his tongue, gnashing against his teeth and begging to be free. He let out a long slow breath between his teeth and shook his head. "Nothing, sorry."

Her face softened and she pulled his hands from his pockets by the wrists. The chip slipped in his fingers, nearly dropping to the ground. Jake barely managed to keep a sweaty grip on it as Hannah pulled his arms around her. "I know it's hard this time of year, after what happened with Loralei, but don't you think this witch hunt for revenge is getting out of hand?" She held him in place when he tried to pull away. "What happened was awful, I'm not trying to diminish that, but you're so focused on justice and making them pay that you don't even see the good they're trying to do."

Jake shook his head, letting her pull him into a hug. As his hand passed her coat pocket, her separated his fingers and let the chip fall. "It's hard seeing them crash and bash around the same way they did that night. They don't even notice the people they're hurting on the sidelines. Her death could have been stopped and it's like they don't even care, no one even remembers."

"Trust me, they remember. Losing someone you were trying to save isn't something you just forget," she whispered into his shoulder. Before he could prod her for more information, she pulled away wiping at her eyes. "At least that's how I feel whenever I lose someone at work. Hard to let their faces go."

"Right, of course," he sighed. "Text me when you get there ok?" Jake pulled the door open for her and let her step out.

"Of course. Stay safe Jake." Hannah dragged him down by his collar to kiss him before walking down the hall and into the elevator.

Jake let the door closed and leaned against it. The cold wood chilled his forehead while he caught his breath. "Dammit Hannah," he whispered.

A few minutes later he was in their office, laptop open and the flash drive from Surge pushed into one of the slots along the side. The video on the screen was hardly prime time tv. It flickered in and out of clarity, and even when he could make out proper shapes, they were mostly unfocused and in black and white. He'd spent every free minute trying to clean it up and had only managed to grab a few seconds of quality footage.

The interior of the restaurant flickered into view. Tables were broken and strewn across the dining area. Beams and sections of ceiling hung above growing patches of fire, electrical wires sparking new patches into existence. The few people that were left inside were still, lifeless, trapped under debris. The only movement came from two people just inside the camera's scope.

Two women, one trapped beneath a fallen pillar, the other fighting to hold up a second larger pillar. The camera's angle allowed Jake to see the trapped woman's face, and he'd nearly passed out the first time he realized he was watching Lorelei's final moments. Even now it still felt like a punch to the gut. In the precious seconds he recovered, he could see her coughing as she spoke to the second woman.

The broken beam hid most of the woman from sight. All he could see was her legs, the tips of her fingers curled around the underside of the concrete, and the very top of her head. The beam shook as she worked on stabilizing her stance and tried to push it away, and then the image fizzed and skipped. The next clear image he had, the second woman was gone, and the beam was on the floor, blocking his view of where Lorelei had been.

He'd run every program he could find and even spackled together a few of his own, but nothing was doing anything to give him more than the few seconds he'd extracted. This was the millionth time he'd watched it, always rewinding to try to catch a glimpse of the second woman's face. Right there, right there was the answer he needed. All this time he'd been so focused on the destruction Solar Flare had been causing outside that he had never thought to look for someone on the inside.

He had always assumed if there was a super on the inside, more people would have survived. Now, seeing one, seeing them clearly give up and walk away from someone who needed help, it made him sick to his stomach. It was worse knowing how often he'd been within striking distance of being able to do real harm to this particular super.

Of the public supers, only three had the enhanced strength. One was a man and that made him useless to Jake. Another was almost always on the west coast at the headquarters stationed there and after a thorough search, Jake had found enough evidence to place them there while the building had been destroyed. Another useless super. That left one, the most concerning one. The same one that he was beginning to suspect was much closer to him and Hannah than he cared for.

His computer dinged and he clicked away from the video to pull up a map. A small red dot flashed on the black and white grid work moving away from the hospital. It made the turn away from the apartment and he grabbed his phone and shoes on his way to the door. "Dammit Hannah, dammit!" The door slammed behind him.

Jake pulled up the same map on his phone and made a note of the direction before scrolling through news sites. That little dot was on a path straight headed straight for the biggest amount of police activity. He threw the phone into the passenger seat and sped out of the garage.

Traffic was nearly standstill, forcing him to take the longer way down back roads. The hospital went in and out of view and he slowed to check the dot. It had stopped a few blocks ahead and he parked to make the last of the walk on foot.

He spotted her red hair before he saw the cape fluttering by her side. Neither her nor Black Star noticed him though, allowing Jake to silently move down the sidewalk closer to them. They were talking so casually; Jake could have mistaken it for two friends catching up. They only stopped when the ground shook and the screams started.

"Rift," Black Star sighed. "Solar should be here any second, you should get out of here." He nodded at Hannah and nudged her away as he took to the sky. Hannah stayed to watch him for a few seconds before turning on her heel to leave. She froze when her eyes met Jake's.