Tension thicker than the Sewer Water (Bloo)

While Ella was finishing up a lesson with Meta, she got an urgent message from the B-team asking to head to downtown Jump and check out some mysterious activity. She was supposed to go to the sewers or something, which was not exciting. Luckily for her she was still in her work out clothes and ended up stealing Harmon's hoodie so she wasn't just wearing sports bra and leggings. Ella had been picking up a lot of good strength training from meta and was beginning to feel more comfortable with fighting.. Well not fighting Meta.. but he was an unfair opponent anyways.
Now, Ella was in Downtown Jump, hiding behind a wall where she was waiting for her partner. She was always assigned someone, but she forgot to look. Maybe it'd be someone she hadn't met before, that'd be cool.

While she was waiting, Ella peered around the corner and saw several people enter the sewers.

Fen had been alerted about the mission when he himself was at the gym. He had to ditch his teams workout session early to make it on time, leaving school in just black basketball shorts and a grey hoodie with the sleeves cut off. He was glad to hear that Ella had recovered from her accident well, but to be honest he felt guilty that he only visited her the once. He'd made sure that she was okay through the gossip lines at school, a cheerleader as hot as her was bound to be having things whispered about her when she was injured...

He pulled his car up a few blocks away from where they were supposed to meet, getting there shortly after Ella did. "Hey. Hope I didn't keep you long."

He tried to act casual, keeping his voice down as he peered over as subtly as possible at the gentlemen entering the sewers.

As the smaller girl was looking around the corner, a voice would ring out behind her, making the girl jump and squeal. She'd turn around quickly and press herself against the wall, looking at a very familiar face. At first Ella had some sort of anger towards him, but... she let it go almost instantly... When he visited her in the hospital she remembered the entire conversation.. only two people visited her... One being him, Fen, her ex boyfriend who Ella foolishly took out all of her anger on... She had a lot of time to think, but now wasn't the time to discuss all of this.
"No you're fine.. several people just went into the sewer, can you help me open the grate?" She asked while jogging over to the sewer grate. Once she got there, she'd pick up the crow bar the previous people left and wait for Fen to help push it open.

When she heard his voice, he'd noticed how she pressed herself against the wall and for a moment even looked furious at him. Well, it looked like his hopes for this not being too awkward were starting to get dashed. She kept it all business though, making him let out a bit of a sigh of disappointment. He jogged with her towards the sewer grate, frowning. "Whatever you say, Love. Why can't criminals keep their gross behavior in places that don't threaten to give me diseases though..?" He complained quietly out loud.
He'd let her get the crowbar in position, then push his weight against it to help pluck the thing out of the ground. It nearly clattered to the ground, but Fen was quick to catch it and put it down gently. "Ladies first, I guess?" He offered, pointing down the hole to the disgusting sewers.

When he started complaining, Ella couldn't help but chuckle. "Then what's the fun in that!" She teased, lowering herself down into the sewer and landing gently, using the air around her to make her landing soft and graceful. When she got down, she waited for Fen to drop down and gave him a soft landing as well, so they didn't make too much noise.
There were two long strips of a concrete walkways on either side of the sewer with the disgusting smelling sledge running in the middle. The girl quickly plugged her nose and walked towards the corner, leading down several more ways to possibly exit and enter.

It was pitch black, and Ella couldn't see beyond 3 feet in front of her, so she patted in her front pockets and back pockets looking for her phone. "I left it at the Tower!" She grumbled, looking at Fen. "Do you have a light source?"

Fen smirked at her jokes, dropping down after her. He was impressed by the soft landing, sending her an approving smirk. He hated the smell, finding it extremely distracting... but at least they didn't have to walk in the sludge like he thought they would. That would be much worse. Football left the teen smelly enough, crawling through actual feces wasn't needed.
Ella was quick to chase around the corner, and Fen kept at her side with a steady job before things started to turn black and Ella admitted that she left her phone at... the Tower? "As in... the Titan's Tower? Moving up in the world, are we?" He teased, before pulling out his own.

His phone would serve as a decent flashlight, revealing even the most tiniest of specks of sludge on their walkway. "I almost preferred not knowing, though..."

"Psh I'm not good enough for that... My friend is just teaching me self defense lessons there, that's all." She explained to him, gravitating towards his side so that she wasn't blocking the light. "He mostly felt bad for me.." She explained to him, leading the two down a hallway and casually turning right. She had no idea where she was going, but if she acted confident maybe it'll pay off.
As the two continued down the path, Ella leading them confidently, she couldn't help but sneeze. "Ugh it's awful down here.."

He nodded at her explanation, finding himself giving her another once over. She was training with Titans and chasing down drug dealers in the night. She was turning into a true hero. He let out a bit of a scuff before puffing his chest a bit, silently accepting the challenge. He matched her confident steps with her own, not willing to back down to any challenge if only since she was fearlessly charging in. "Friends with Titans, though. That's a good step. You're gonna be a helluva hero, you know?"
He offered his praise casually, trying not to sound jealous. When she sneezed at his side, he glanced over. "Bless you. And you can say that again... Chasing a group of shady dudes in a sewer is not how I planned on spending my evening."

As Fen picked up his step, so did Ella, she wanted to seem like she could handle herself. Not like her old self that constantly needed people to help her, she was confident now, and she was going to prove that. So as he sped up.. confidently.. so did Ella. "I don't know.. I get kidnapped way too often to be a hero." She joked, taking a few more windy turns around the sewer, leading to gods know where.
When Fen mentioned the shady dudes in the sewer, Ella looked around, taking a left turn towards a dead end before they had to turn around and find some other path. "This is dumb." She pouted, pushing her hair back from her face.

"If the bad guys think you're worth kidnapping, you must be doing something right. You gotta take me on some of your missions. It's been a while since I've had any fun ones." He admitted to her, laughing a bit.
As they seemingly raced each other through the sewers, taking random turns everywhere and leaving no way back Fen was starting to realize how stupid this was. Then, to make matters better, they hit a dead end. "Crap. You're right. I think we need to find some way to track them better. Mayb-" As if on cue, the light on Fen's phone died, despite his battery being at 30%. "Oh what the Hell... I hate apple. Uh..." He reached into his pocket, fumbling passed his cigarettes for his lighter. The pack of cigarettes decided to take a dive into the sewer as he pulled the lighter out, giving them barely any light. "This... isn't much better..."

"What can I say, I'm such a charmer." Ella continued sarcastically, flipping her hair back for emphasis. After practically running around the sewer, Fen stopped and his phone died, leaving them in the darkness. He went through his pockets and pulled out a small lighter which illuminated the floating cigarette box in the gross sewage. Looking at them, then back at Fen she gave him a concerned look. "You know smoking is bad for you... right?" She asked cautiously, wondering what got him to start in the first place. He wasn't one to succumb to peer pressure, so he must have a reason.
Looking around, she let out a sigh. "I'll admit it.. I have no idea where we are.."

When she noticed the cigarettes, Fen couldn't help but look away from the girl in shame. He wasn't proud of his new habit, but few people could scold him like she could. "Really? They should put that on the boxes..." He said, trying to play it cool as he focused on his steps. He was walking near the water and didn't want to make any-crap. His boot hit a loose rock and he lost balance, his left foot going into the sewage and his ankle twisting a bit as the light flickered out from the movement. "S***!" He cursed, all but jumping out of the disgusting water... only to run right into Ella. His face hit her soft chest, but he was quick to put his arm around her waist to make sure she didn't fall. "My bad..."
Pulling his leg out of the water and relighting the lighter, he sighed. "This sucks..."

She rolled his eyes at his bad cover up and when he fell she gasped and stuck out her arm, pushing him back up with her win manipulation.When he stumbled, the light went out and the next thing she knew there was an arm around her waist and a face in her chest.
Before Ella could even respond, Fen turned on the lighter which Ella squirmed out of his grasp. She'd stop walking completely, crossing her arms. "Okay enough distractions... what's going on? Smoking is only going to make training and playing football harder?" Ella asked, worried about him. "You can't just throw your career away because of some dumb problem.."

Fen let out the slightest hint of a frown when she gave him that look. He felt a bit like a scolded child, but instead of focusing on that he stood up. He flicked some dirty water off his leg, glade Ella had saved him from landing too far into it. He wanted to tell her to mind her own business. To focus on the mission. When he looked at her poorly lit frame and opened his mouth... "It's hard, alright? Pressure and whatever."
The answer was lame, but he hoped she'd take it. He started to walk back the way they came, wondering how they'd get out of this mess. "Besides, they're planning on banning Meta's from competition soon anyway. Not much of a future there."

Instead of an actual answer, he gave her a half assed reply and walked away, something he usually did when he was covering up a lie. Ella walked up behind him and grabbed his wrist "Nuh uh... Then Fen I know never cracked under peer pressure. What's wrong? Really? And don't give me a half assed reply or I'll beat the truth out of you." She threatened, smirking at him.
He mentioned them banning Meta's and Ella let out a sigh, sitting down on the concrete and pulling Fen down too. "We might as well sit here for a while because I have no idea where we are.."