When Achilles got back to HQ after his early afternoon patrol, Lightning was waiting for him. At first he dreaded the conversation, wondering what she could possibly have found to complain about now. He told her to wait until he'd changed, with no intentions of ever coming back. At least, not until enough time had passed that she would have definitely left.
Then Knight came to find him, saying that Lightning was getting impatient. Apparently she had said, quote "Tell that jerk if he doesn't get his damn behind out here in the next ten minutes, I will sic the entire military on this building. It's about Louise and he had better deal with it now." End quote.
Louise's name confused him. Was there a problem with the costumes? Begrudgingly, he went to talk to Lightning, where he learned that Little Fancy had been attacked by Paris earlier in the day. And Louise knew something about it, which she needed to tell the Legion.
By 5:00, Achilles had gotten supper put together and Louise was standing in Legion Headquarters, escorted by Rose.
He looked her up and down, frowning. She seemed physically okay, but something was definitely off. That glare she always wore was missing, replaced by an expression of anxiety. He'd never seen that before, and it made something in his stomach twist.
Everyone grabbed a plate of food (except for Light Master and Prime, who were out patrolling) and sat in a circle. There weren't enough chairs, so Knight and Rose took the floor.
"So? Lightning just said you were attacked earlier," Achilles said, carefully gauging Louise's expression. This was totally unknown territory to him, and he figured Louise was just as likely to lash out and throw her fork at him as she was to actually relay information.
"Paris," Louise replied, her eyes looking hollow. "Or..."
"Or what?" Hot Rod asked. "Was it Paris or wasn't it? Quit wasting our time."
"Shut it, hothead," Lightning snapped. "She's had a rough day. Give her time."
"She can't take too long. Achilles has to go back out on patrol at six."
"It's his procrastinating that put it off for this long. Now, if you don't mind, Mr. Flame Lord, could you keep your trap shut for ten minutes?"
"Why are you so rude to me, Lightning? What did I ever do to - "
"Both of you, stop it," Alchemist cut in firmly, looking at Louise with concern. Strange. Achilles thought she didn't care about anything but her research.
"Thanks," Louise said. She took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't know how to say this. I know I have to, now that things have come to this, but..." Her hands started trembling. Rose scooched beside her and put his hand on one of hers.
"It must have been scary," Barrier Maiden said softly. "Did you know he would be coming?" Louise took another deep breath before responding.
"I didn't know he would go this far. But I shouldn't be surprised. He was pretty mad at me. And...on the one hand, I understand why. On the other hand, I can't forgive him. I guess...I have to start at the beginning more or less. James."
She looked up and locked eyes with him, a remnant of that familiar fire smoldering in her pupils. Determination. There was the Louise he knew, just hiding a bit deeper than usual.
"Louise," he responded, not sure what she wanted from him. If they could have caught Paris, they'd have done it already.
"Last year you marched into my shop demanding a costume so you could do superhero work."
"Uniform, and I asked politely, but more or less, that is indeed what happened."
"If that's you being polite, I need to have a serious talk with your parents."
"What do I have to do with this? Did he find out you make our uniforms?"
"I doubt it. But you have everything to do with it. And what I'm about to say is going to hurt you more than it hurts me. But I can't hide it anymore. I can't keep covering for him."
"Louise, please get to the point already. You're scaring me."
Louise took a break to eat a few bites of her pasta, then looked at him again.
"This spring Dustin showed up doing basically the exact same thing."
"Dustin? Our Dustin?" Now Achilles really had no idea where this was going. Dustin, once his inseparable friend, like a brother to him, had gone to Little Fancy for the same thing? In the spring? It was September now, and it couldn't possibly have taken that long for Louise to make a uniform for him. Dustin would have talked to Achilles by now.
"Our Dustin. At least, I thought he was." Louise sighed and took a sip of the tea Barrier Maiden had made for her.
"Who's Dustin?" Hot Rod asked. Achilles looked down before answering. A quick glance told him Louise was leaving the explanation to him.
"Back when we were in high school, Louise and I had several - "
"You. I wasn't really part of the group," Louise spat.
"Fine, whatever. I had a group of friends. There was four of us, plus Louise always ended up adjacent to us. Me, Dustin, Tim and Leo. Dustin and I were best friends. He was like my brother. I lost contact with all of them at some point. Around the time we finished college, I guess. I heard Tim runs a bar now, but I have no idea what Leo and Dustin are doing. I didn't even know what Louise was doing until I looked her up last year."
"Okay. So your old friend. Has he been rejected from the Legion or something?"
"No," Lightning answered Hot Rod's question. "The only applications we received were all approved. And there wasn't any Dustin among them anyway."
"So what does this friend of yours have to do with it?" Hot Rod asked.
"Would you shut up and let her talk?" Rose asked, scowling. "It's hard enough for Louise to say this without you interrupting her all the time." Hot Rod looked startled for a moment, then glared at Rose.
Rose's interruption surprised Achilles too. He seemed so quiet and meek. He hadn't said a word this entire time, despite the fact that he'd been there around the time of the attack.
"Thanks, Fiore," Louise said quietly, a small smile spreading across her features for a moment. "James, I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I saw Dustin in his costume or uniform or whatever. The clothes I made. Doing what he was doing."
"What was he doing?" James asked, the knot in his stomach twisting and tightening. Something told him he didn't want to know the answer.
"He called himself Paris. I think you can figure out the rest."
Paris.
The word sunk deep into his skull. Dustin. Paris. Dustin was Paris?
Impossible. He had to reject the very notion. Dustin would never work against him. Never. They were brothers. If he had gotten a Miracle too, the two of them should be the face of the Legion. Together, fighting crime and villains.
Dustin wasn't supposed to be the villain.
James could only stare in shock at Louise. Her next words didn't register any meaning. His plate almost fell out of his hand. The knot in his stomach felt like lead. Hot, molten lead that was twisting to inflict as much pain as possible.
Dustin. Paris.
One and the same.
No.
No.
No!
When Prime got back to the Legion after his patrol, Achilles was in shock. Lightning gave him a quick debrief of the situation and the two of them decided (with approval from the non-Achilles members of the Legion) that Louise would stay there for a week or so, for her own protection. Achilles was excused from patrol for the rest of the night. Instead, Lightning, Rose and Knight would take his shifts.
He looked at Achilles with sympathy. Realizing that Paris was actually his close friend took more of a toll than anyone thought possible for the energetic, smiling Achilles. Barrier Maiden offered to keep an eye on him for the time being, and Brennan thanked her.
Brennan himself would focus on keeping everything running smoothly. He had Jo help him get Louise settled in an empty room with another cup of tea and plenty of blankets. While they were waiting, Louise had apparently gone back to her house with Rose to get clothes and toiletries for a few days, so she was good on that front.
Even after Louise and Achilles had gone to bed, Brennan stayed up. He was worried about something else going wrong.
Only when Barrier Maiden and Knight returned and insisted on it, did he finally let himself sleep.
Now that the Legion knew about Paris, hopefully they'd be able to stop him.
That was all Brennan could think as he fell asleep.
