There was no way Hailstrom was going to let Shea do that. Every time she'd get to someone who could give her those answers, Hailstrom would take them out. They didn't care if the other hero was mad at them- no one was getting to know about his past, or his father. They took after Shea, mostly to be able to get in her way.
(Sorry if bad grammar shall happen. I'm on my phone and I type way to fast so my words suck.)
Shea could hear the other vigilante taking after her as she skidded around a corner. Her heart raced with the adrenaline and she found herself grinning underneath the reflective visor. Her dark combat boots sent echoing noises through empty hallways and the air around her was slowly becoming colder and colder. Damnit Frosty, she internally cursed. She turned right when she got to an intersection and ran into a dead end. Her hands searched for any crease or button to see if the wall was a hidden door, but alas it was truly a wall.
Shea whipped around when Hailstrom had finally caught up to her. "Frosty, you know something." She balled her fists. "And you better tell me before I rip it from your mind."
(It's okay! I mess up sometimes just typing on my computer because brain speed =/= typing speed aha)
Hailstrom didn't say a word as he and Shea made their way through the halls, letting her lead. He wasn't giving a single thing away, so he wasn't about to show her where to go.
When Shea stopped at the dead end, and turned to face him, the man scowled.
"I don't know shit," they said, their own fists balling up. "And if I did, you'd think there'd be a good god-damned reason I'm not telling you." The was… genuinely, the most Hailstrom had ever said at one time to Shea, or anyone else.
"Fine," she snarled and let go of all control. Her powers in small amounts did little to absolutely nothing on Hailstrom… but all of it, enough to kill a regular man from a stroke, was just enough to crack into his head.
She only saw a quick glimpse and that was all she needed. Shea reeled in her powers, locking them away deep inside. She stared at the other vigilante. "You have a connection to this place."
Hailstrom reeled back when Shea let her powers go on him. No, no, no no, he couldn't- he didn't- The vigilante leaned against the wall, starting to breath heavily.
"I- I have no connections to that m-man," Hailstrom spat out. "I-I, I can't-" Pushing themselves off of the wall, they lunged at Shea, grabbing her top and slamming her against the other wall. His breath was freezing, ice starting to form on the bottom rims of his eyes.
"I can't think about him!! He'll- He'll find me, a-and, and then I won't- be in control anymore, he-he thinks I'm dead, i-it keeps m-me safe!!" This was from no influence of Shea's- this was Hailstrom's own fear, surfacing on its own.
Shea yelped like a kicked puppy when Hailstrom unexpectedly slammed her against the wall. She was thankful for her helmet as the thick plastic vibrated from impact.Shea sensed Hailstrom's usually dead heartbeat roar to life and fear radiated off of them in heavy waves.
"Let. Go. Of. Me." Shea hissed.
"No!" Hailstrom glared down at Shea, his fists pressing into her body. "You have- no i-idea what you've done…" Hailstrom didn't move, wasn't going to. Except…
He did. He let go of Shea, stumbling back.
Now, that's not how you treat a lady, now is it?
"No, no, no, no!! Get out!! Get out of my head!!" The hero's hands moved to their head, gripping at it. Their fingers scratched at their hood, trying to get it off, trying to get it out of his head.
Shea watched the other hero struggle with their own mind. Shea could feel the turmoil and chaos happening with his head. The air temperature plummeted, ice formed on the walls.
Shea had to stop him.
She thrust out her hands and allowed her powers to latch onto Hailstrom's fears. Instead of feeding the fear, however, Shea began to draw it away from them.Her hands shook and beads of sweat rolled down her face. She rarely used this side of her abilities and there was a reason for that. Once she had finally drawn a majority of the terror from the vigilante, Shea locked it deep down within her internal safe. The fear lashed and snarled like a rabid and caged animal, desperate to be set free. She knew she would have to release it soon, but only when she was alone. Fear was a dangerous thing.
Hailstrom fell against the wall, breathing heavily as Shea pulled the fear out of him. He slumped down, head hung low.
"Hnnn…" They slowly raised their eyes, looking at Shea. They were back to their normal indifference. He slowly pushed himself up, hands shaking just a bit.
"Thank you," he said. "Let's get back to finding the pilot."
Shea nodded, now feeling much hotter in her dark ensemble. She removed her signature helmet, chestnut locks falling around her face. She breathed in the stale air of the ship, still much better than the air from within her helmet. She ran gloved fingers through her hair and blinked her violet eyes a few times to adjust to the dim lighting of the ship. She looked over at Hailstrom, noting that this was the first time he had ever seen her without the helmet and reflective visor.
"Which way, Frosty?" She asked.
Hailstrom had no reaction to Shea's move to take her helmet off. Nothing, not at all. If anything, the vigilante was even colder than they had been before Shea took away their fear.
"Back two turns," he said. "To the left this time." The hero started off, not looking back to see if the chestnut haired woman was following him.
Shea nodded and followed Hailstrom, her helmet tucked between her body and the crook of her elbow. She followed them through what seemed like endless hallways, each of them identical to the next. She was silently amazed that Hailstrom could maneuver through there with such ease and sureness. Shea probably would've gotten lost… multiple times.
She came to a quick stop as they rounded a corner and Hailstrom halted. She opened her mouth to make some sort of snarky comment but his hand flew up, a silent gesture telling her to be quiet, so Shea settled with an eye roll. The duo slowly walked down the hall to a final door sitting at the end of it.
The cockpit.
Hailstrom hated it. He hated how well he knew these halls, how well he could lead Shea through them. Even if it helped them both in this, Hailstrom couldn't stand it. Their memories were still itching at the back of their head, of how they knew these halls. How his body had been through them so many times.
When they got to the cockpit, Hailstrom's heartbeat picked up a bit. Even though they knew he wasn't there, they couldn't help but be afraid he was. After all these years, to be faced with the minuscule chance of being back in his hands…
Shea placed her helmet back onto her head for she would need both hands if a fight broke out. She glanced over at Hailstrom and placed a hand on the door. The vigilante could feel fear radiating off of the latter, not as much as earlier but still a significant amount. Shea took a deep breath and barged into the room.
He wasn't there. Hailstrom could have cried for joy, if he could feel those things anymore. Or cry. It was just one of the underlings. Hailstrom made his way in after Shea, his ice particles condensing again.
"What are you doing here?!" The man in the room demanded, quickly standing.
"You," Shea started, cracking her knuckles and neck. "Are going to shut down all of the drones and take us back to whoever sent you." She smirked at his terrified expression as she drew a knife from her belt. The room was freezing and the atmosphere was tense. The man kept looking back and forth between Hailstrom, Shea, then the controls to the ship. The dull ache of her powers began to increase once they discovered a potential meal. The powers lashed against her control, begging to be let out to feed of the man, but Shea kept them locked in with a simple thought. Not yet.
Hailstrom tensed when they heard Shea's demand to be taken to who sent the pilot. His heartrate jumped just a bit, then he did his best to calm himself.
"I…" The man kept looking between the two, swallowing. Then, he made a break for it, trying to get to the control panel. If he did, he'd be able to take care of the intruders.
The dagger was hurtled out of Shea's hand and into the back of the man's knee, causing him to fall over just shy of the controls and scream in pain. Shea slowly approached him, grabbing a fistful of his hair and lifting his face off the ground. "That was a mistake," She said with a low laugh. Her fingers curled around the hilt of the dagger, slowly pushing the blade further into the man's flesh. She took another knife from her belt and stuck the tip to his adam's apple. "If you take us to whoever sent you, you might live."
The man was breathing heavily, looking up at Shea. He trembled in fear and pain, sweat slowly falling down his temple despite the freezing cold coming from Hailstrom. It was a moment's hesitation, when the man finally made his decision.
His head rolled to one side, held up by Shea's knife. He had chosen death over betraying his leader.
Hailstrom didn't blame him.
Shea cursed and removed both of the bloodied blades from the man's flesh. She wiped the flats of the daggers on the man's pristine white shirt, wiping them clean. Shea returned the knives to their positions on her belt and walked over the navigation system. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, trying to find the log and potentially find wherever the ship came from.
Hailstrom watched Shea trying to find the logs, making his way over.
"There's nothing worth finding there," The vigilante said quickly. "We should be focusing on deactivating the drones, and making sure there is no one else on the ship." They reached out to stop Shea, giving no indication if she was close to what she wanted to find or not.
"There is nothing we need to do besides that."
"Hold on, Frosty, I think I found 'em." Shea narrowed her gaze as she clicked a few more files. She was almost there…
The mouse hovered over a folder titled "LOG" and she clicked.
"No," Hailstrom said quickly, trying to stop Shea. It was too late, though. Instead, they grabbed Shea's arm, trying to turn her around so she couldn't see.
"We don't need to go there," Hailstrom hissed, his terror bubbling up again.
Shea bit her tongue to choke down a yelp. "Frosty," she hissed, pulling her arm from his grasp. "If you dont want to go, stay here in Ironvein. I'm going to…" she glanced at the moniter. "I'm going to Europe to find whoever the hell sent these. I know your scared so that's why I'm telling you that you can stay here."
"No, you're not getting it," Hailstrom hissed. "You go there, you're not coming back. Not on your own. That man- He's too dangerous. I'd say you'll get yourself killed, but that would be a mercy from him." The man of ice couldn't bring himself to look down at the monitor.
"I think you underestimate my abilities, Hailstrom," Shea spat and jotted down the coordinates from where the aircraft came from. She stuffed the paper into a small pocket in her belt reserved for emergency ammo. "I told you, if you're scared you can stay here. Everyone's afraid of something. You're afraid of this man and I can crack into said man's head with just a little effort." Shea pushed past the other vigilante and stepped over the corpse of the pilot. Her hand rested on the door as she turned back to Hailstrom. "You can either come with me or stay here. What's it gonna be?"
"I think you're underestimating his." Hailstrom spat out the word, pulling back from Shea.
"You're not going to get to crack into his head- he's going to get into your's before you could even think to. Why the hell do you think he's the only thing I'm afraid of?" They looked away, hands clenching some.
"Look," he said, turning back. "I'm coming with you. To make sure you don't get yourself killed."
"Fine," Shea shrugged and walked out of the room. "I'm off to shut down the drones. When we were walking over here, I saw a control room. You search the ship and get rid of anyone you find. We'll go to Europe on a much smaller ship. From what you've given away, whoever this man is is extraordinarily dangerous." An impish smile spread across the woman's face. "This'll be fun."
"No, it won't be." Hailstrom turned from Shea, to stalk through the halls so he could deal with any crew left. There weren't many, the ship automated to reduce the need for them. Hailstrom scowled some to themself as they took out the workers left, no mercy in their eyes. In reality, he saw death as the biggest mercy of all to give these people.
Shea easily found thecontrolroom and shut down all the bots. She watched from a plexiglass window as the drones fell one by one, crashing to the asphalt. After that Shea managed to track down the hangar, slaying about a dozen scientists who dared to challenge her. She found a small aircraft equipped with some firearms and enough room to be discrete but not cramped.
Shea was about to call for the other vigilante when she felt a coldness settle into the room. "You ready, Frosty?"