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On second thought, Hector's head tilted. "I suppose it could've been Mr. Norez, too. But... it wasn't him, right? He wouldn't say that about me..."

"As I said, it was a compliment," said Bartholomew.

Hector cocked on eyebrow inside his helmet. "That implies it was him..."

"You're really hanging on to this..."

Voreese glanced Hector's way, then snickered. 'I didn't realize Harper was such a two-faced slanderer. You've really corrected our opinion of him. Thank you, Captain Erickson.'

"I am not, in any way, endorsing that view."

'It's in the subtext. Don't worry. We got it. We're sharp like that.'

"...Perhaps 'busybody' was being too charitable."

'Oh yeah? What would you say is a more accurate term for Hector, then?'

"Troublemaker."

Hector eyed the group briefly. "I feel like I'm getting blamed here for something I didn't do..."

Voreese hovered behind him. 'Y'know, if people say that trouble follows you around, then that would make us the trouble, wouldn't it?'

"Don't sound so proud of yourself," said Roman.


Chapter Three Hundred Twenty-Six: 'Onset of damnation...'
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Their encounter with the young captain didn't last much longer from there. After giving the requested details about the location of the local Vanguard headquarters, Bartholomew saw them off, staying behind in order to take the apparent Abolish instigator into custody.

Part of the reason Hector had not immediately agreed to follow the captain there was because he'd been concerned about it being some sort of trap. He figured that if the captain actually allowed them to leave without issue, then the invitation was probably a genuine one.

Which indeed seemed to be the case.

Hector hadn't necessarily expected the guy to try and fight them all on his own just to prevent them from leaving, but it also would've been somewhat telling if Bartholomew had tried to insist or otherwise push them to follow him--or stall for time, perhaps, so that his comrades could show up and even the odds.

But Captain Erickson hadn't pressured them in the slightest.

A good sign, Hector felt. Or an indication that the kid was just incredibly confident in himself.

On second thought, that might be true regardless. It had to have taken some serious guts to just walk up to them like that all on his own. At no point had Hector sensed any form of backup arrive.

It was hard not to feel a little paranoid about that, though. It was obvious that their group was at least under observation, what with the way Bartholomew had just shown up out of the blue, so why couldn't Hector sense anyone?