She’s not sure what she feels about John. She’s attracted to him certainly, but Mari also understands that she is intrigued by him. The way he moves. The forbidding glare he wears to hide his recent pain.

Romance isn’t forbidden between League members, not yet, so when she invites him to get coffee with her, it’s not regulations that make him decline.

Then the android almost destroys the world, and maybe that forces him to rethink his priorities but maybe he’s just tired of being alone. He brings her coffee and a smile and an apology.

There are worse beginnings.