Scarriden

Luc was the first to reach the basement. And he didn't like that. Waiting meant that he was alone. Alone meant that he was far more vulnerable; and it also meant that he had time to thing and to worry. The plan was for them to stay going, no matter what. Luc didn't know how long he should wait, but eventually, the silence and the sheer lack of people got to him. He probably hadn't waited long enough, but he physically couldn't wait any longer. He pulled out one of his knives and stuck it into the wall, a sign that he had been there and was still in the area, before opening the door as quietly as he could, and beginning to creep through the deserted halls.

As he walked, he kept close to the walls and to the shadows, knowing that there was a strong chance that he was walking into trouble. He checked the first door he found, and was relieved to find it open. The room was in almost-darkness, lit only by the light of several computer monitors. It was too small for anyone to be lurking in the shadows, so he sank into the computer chair and began to study the computer screens. His stomach dropped as he realised what he was seeing, to the point it left him feeling nauseous.

They were holding people in what looked like cells. No, not people. Kids. Teenagers. Looking at every single one of them was like looking at his teenage self. They were all a little too thin, scruffy, unkempt. They were kids from the streets or from homes where they wouldn’t be missed. Even through the screen, he could see the too-familiar emptiness in those eyes. He finally managed to look away from the cameras, and realised that they weren’t just being watched. There were documents open on the screen. It just referred to numbers, numbers that seemed to correspond to a person. But each entry spoke about the kid like they were nothing more than an object, or at best, a lab animal. Anger surged through Lucian. His first reaction was just to smash the whole computer. But he caught himself, taking a deep breath. And instead, he began to type, corrupting the files beyond recovery. He scanned through the files, saving anything that looked promising onto a USB stick. He’d hoped that he might find plans of the floor or just something that might give some idea of where they were keeping the kids, but it seemed they were smart enough to store them somewhere else.

When he was sure that he’d gotten everything that he could, he left the room again. He was moving with a new purpose now. He’d forgotten that he should probably be keeping an eye and an ear out for the others. The only thing on his mind was getting these kids free. He tried door after door, finding dead end after dead end, and a disturbing lack of security.

He was beginning to wonder if they were being held in a different facility altogether when he opened a door, and immediately received a torrent of abuse. The abuse abruptly cut off, and the occupant of the room and Lucian stared at each other. It was a teenage girl, one of the ones Lucian had seen on the screen. Her red hair was loose and messy, but there was a defiance and an anger in her that he hadn’t been able to see over the camera.

“You’re not a guard,” she said.
“I’m not,” he said, smiling a little. “I’m Maelstrom. I’m here to help. What’s your name?”
“... Charlie,” she said. “How do I know this isn’t a trick?” She asked. Lucian’s half smile became a full blown smirk at that comment.
“You’re a smart kid,” he said. He tossed one of his knives up in the air, then held it there with his powers. “I’m like you,” he said, snatching it from the air again. He could see some of the tension easing out of her shoulders at his demonstration.To further prove his point, he reached out, and the shackles on her feet and ankles broke. She looked down at her hands, before getting to her feet.
“I’ve heard of you,” she said, glancing away for a second. “I used to think the villains were the bad guys,” she said. “Then… I learned you guys aren’t the worst evil out there.” He sighed.
“Yeah. I used to also think we were the bad guys but… somebody had to outdo us,” he said with a shrug. He stepped aside to let her out first. “Are there others here?” He asked.
“I think so,” she said. “I think I’ve seen others but… they keep us separate.” He nodded.
“Okay. I’m going to go look for the others. Go straight back down that way, keep going. If you see a man with short, dark hair or a woman with long dark hair who also don’t look like guards, tell them that I’m looking for the others and send them back down here. But mostly, just get the hell out, okay?” He ordered. She looked a little bewildered, but nodded, breaking into a run as she went down the hall. Lucian turned and continued down into the hall, the relief of having helped at least one person keeping him going.

Erin has practically made a mad dash down the hallway, well, as much of a run as she could force herself into. Her side still ached, and ached. She couldn't explain it, but something just didn't feel right, but she could worry about that later. Now, all that mattered is that she found Markus and Lucian, and they got the kids out of here. That was it. Erin made her way down a few more hallways, before coming across a knife stuck in the wall. Barely taking a second longer, she followed down the same hallway. Knowing that only one person used those sort of knives. He was close, and that's all that mattered.

However, instead of continuing to go straight, Erin took another hallway that broke off from the main one. After a few minutes of wandering, Erin spotted something that caused her stomach to form in knots. Multiple glass cages laid before her. After taking a shaky breath, she pressed forward once more, holding a hand by her side, it hurt so damn much. Erin's eyes glanced between the cages as she passed by then, nothing more than children were being held inside. Clearly unkempt and undercared for. She could feel her blood boil under the surface. Her skin itched to do something.

Taking a moment, Erin propped herself against one of the glass walls. She needed to pace herself at this point or else- Erin shook her head, she was fine. All that mattered was that she got these kids out. Nothing else.

Erin took one last glance at the cage she was leaning against, and felt her heart plummet. Her chest tightening as her eyes landed on the figure that was huddled up in the corner. Her fists tightened, "H-hey!" she called softly, her voice was already hoarse, not as loud as it would have been normally. The figure finally looked up, dark brown eyes met her own green. "You need to get out of here, okay? And I'm gonna help you and the others." She continued. The other woman slowly got to her feet, hands pressed against the glass separating them, "Erin? Is..Is that you? What are you doing here?"

Erin slowly looked down at the other figure in the eyes, seeing as she was a bit shorter than herself. Biting her lip for a moment before answering, "It.. It's a long story. But you and the others…You gotta get out of here. After…After I'll explain everything. I promise." she gave a faint smile, before turning her attention to the control panel and lock of the cage. Which acted as more of a sealed and contained door than anything. Maybe she could use something to pry it open or- without much of a second thought, Erin took one of her fists and violently slammed it into the cage's control panel. The sound of metal crunched and the sound of wires sparked momentarily. Silence fell for a moment before the soft hiss of pressurized air sounded, and the cage door slowly opened enough for Erin to slip her arm inside and push it the rest of the way open. "Honestly a bit surprised that worked-" she joked. Looking back at the other figure, "Look, there's two others with me. If you see a guy with dark short hair, or one with blond hair, they're…well…Not with Aegis. If you come across anyone else, try to help them get out of here, but…Get the hell out of here foremostly. Got it?" her eyes locked once more with the other woman's. "Why…? What are you guys going to do?" Erin paused for a moment, "Burn it all. Everyone is going to get out of here, and we're gonna burn it all down. I won't let them hurt you or others ever again." Erin outstretched a hand to gently brush the other woman's cheek, "There's a lot we need to talk about but…That can come all later…You getting out of here is more important than anything I could ever say. So go, now." Erin ushered once more, before finally taking a step back, and turned to look for anyone else she could find before locating Markus or Lucian, hopefully they were nearby though. They were running out of time…

Cell after cell after cell. Kid after kid after kid. Every single one of them. He broke them out. Every single one of them. Some cells were harder than others, but he managed to force them open. And all of them got the same orders. Get out. Run. Look for Erin or Markus. But Erin and Markus showed no sign of showing, and so he stayed going. He hit the jackpot when he found a control room of sorts at the end of a hallway. It was empty; and that was something that left him feeling uneasy. There was a part of his that had been all too easy. There had been resistance, but not enough. Cautiously, a knife in his hand, he stepped inside. The computers were there. Open. Unlocked. He sat down at the desk, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. And then he started searching for the command he needed.

It was then that he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye swing for him. He was cornered and seated, in a position of vulnerability. Of course it had been a trap. Lucian ducked, pulling his knees to his chest as he did, and then kicked out at his attacker. It was enough to force the man back a few steps, enough for Lucian to get to his feet and level the playing field somewhat. He didn't wait for the man to recover before he swung with his knife, cutting a gash into the man's cheek. This earned Lucian a punch to the chest, one that winded him. As a reflex, he flung out a hand, throwing the man a few feet away. He saw an opening and used it, using the other hand to fling a knife at the man. It sunk into his chest, but the man stayed moving, grinning at Luc. A vest of some sorts. Dammit. Chest wasn't a target then, not with a knife. But something else caught his eye and he grinned, a dangerous, feral grin of his own. The man lunged at him, and in one swift movement, Lucian grabbed the chair he'd been sitting on moments before and smashed it over the man's head. The man crumpled to the ground and stayed there, motionless. Luc didn't wait to confirm that, just turned back to the computer and found the command he was looking for.

OPEN: ALL CELL DOORS.
CONFIRM OPEN ALL DOORS?
Y

There was buzz, somewhere deep in the building. And then an alarm started to blare. Lucian swore, turning back to the computer. He was able to silence the alarm, but not before it had already been blaring for a few seconds. That was no coincidence, which meant that they needed to get moving, and fast. He stepped over the still unconscious guard and broke into a sprint. As he ran, he pulled any stragglers out of their cells and told them to stay running. Had Erin and Markus known to get their asses out of there when they heard the alarm? He could only hope so. But judging by the amount of guards running towards him now, he was their main target. Where kids still lingered in the halls, they also attempted to put up something of a fight as they ran, with a few taking down a guard by teamwork. It brought a satisfied smile to Lucian's face.

That smile quickly slipped as he rounded a corner and saw four guards waiting for him. "Hello, gentlemen. I was... just on my way out, so if you don't mind, I'll just slip past you?" He said. They refused to move, staring him down. "Yeah, thought as much." He pulled a force field around himself as he threw one guard against another. They fell, but they didn't stay down. Lucian was beginning to regret not bringing the chair with him as a backup weapon. He tossed a knife into the air and then flung it towards one of the guards. It found its mark and buried itself in the man's neck. He gasped as he fell to the ground, and Luc held out a hand to call the knife back to him. The others at least looked slightly more unnerved now. This gave Lucian the opportunity to throw another one of them down the hall, putting some distance between them and leaving him with just two to deal with. Luc held his knife aloft, ready to throw it.

"WAIT! If... if you let us live... we'll tell you where they took your friend!" One of them yelled, his hands up in a surrender. Luc hesitated.
"My... friend?" He asked.
"The- the- the guy! The shadow manipulator! They got him!" Lucian's blood ran cold. It felt like time slowed down as he took a step closer to them, the bloodied knife still in his hand.
"Tell me where he is. Now," he demanded, his voice low and dangerous.
"They- he-" And then there was a gunshot. The man fell forward, slumping into a heap, blood spilling from his mouth. The other man joined him seconds later, and Lucian turned his attention to the final man, who was holding a gun and grinning.
"You'll never find him." And then the man turned the gun on himself.

The scream of fury and of frustration that left Lucian's mouth was almost animalistic. How could he have lost Markus? Why had they ever split up? Did he have time to find him? Was he even still alive? He stumbled back, running his hands through his hair. It was then that a familiar face peered around the corner. Charlie, one of the kids.

"Oh thank fuck, I thought you were dead," she said.
"What the hell are you doing here? I told you to leave!" He demanded.
"Yeah, and I came back to help! Fucking bastards have had me locked up for the past two years, I wasn't gonna pass up the opportunity to kick some ass!" She paused. "Besides. I... wanted to make sure the others got out okay," she admitted. The others. The kids. Lucian needed to focus on the kids. That was what Markus would want. And then, once the kids were out, he could go back.

"Fine. Let's get going."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Move it, short stuff."
"Okay, ouch."

Lucian picked up a few more of the others as they made their way out of the building. It turned out that Charlie's magic was rooted in light, an unpleasant irony he didn't need right then. But she was a talented fighter, to give credit to her. They picked up more of the kids as they ran, and it was only then that Lucian realised the range of ages they had. Charlie looked to be barely eighteen, but she was neither the youngest nor the oldest of the group. At several points, he was tempted to ditch them and go look for Markus; but he needed to get them out. He needed to get them out and find Erin. That was the priority.

They had just gotten outside when Lucian spotted a familiar figure. Erin was there, albeit a little worse for wear. He sighed with relief and made a beeline for her, wanting to tell her to look after the kids, to get them to safety. He'd go back and look for Markus. But before he could speak, the first gunshot went off.

Erin continued to make her way out of the building, she just had to find the others. As she continued through the various halls and rooms, she came across more and more of those damned glass cages. Kids of all ages were locked away inside, looking as disheveled and mistreated as the next. Her stomach continued to tie itself into knots as she passed the line of cages. Erin would have kept on walking, her way to the exit, until she took one last look into one of the cages. And it made her stop in her tracks. There were children sitting closely to each other, practically clinging to one another in desperation. Literal, god damn children. There were four of them, and Erin could only guess that the eldest one she looked at couldn't have been any older than eight years old. Her blood boiled an unknown rage, the feeling of her eyes welling up with tears was enough to snap her back to reality. These were someone's babies, and they were here. And they reminded Erin of-

Without even taking the time for a second thought, Erin picked up one of the heavy, broken pipes from the side of the wall, and slammed it down into the control panel. And turned on her heels as she did it over, and over, and over again, until all of the control panels of all the cages were broken and destroyed. Watching as the doors to the cages opened slowly.

"This is your one and only chance to get out of here. We're burning this place down. You all get out of here. All the guards have been taken care of." Erin stated as she looked as all the kids slowly rose to their feet, poking their heads out of their used to be confines.

"Are...Are you...you...a...a H-hero?" a soft voice spoke, one of the kids finding the bravery to walk out of the cage and over to Erin. Leaving a few feet between them.

There a small moment of pause, before a small smile spread across Erin's face, "Something like that, kiddo." she said with a soft smile. Looking at the others, "There's two others, they're here to help as well. They're...My brothers. If you find them, leave with them. They'll keep you safe." she said, before turning on her heels to leave. Only to stop in her tracks as she felt something grab her hand. Looking down, it was the young child, grabbing her hand, with nothing more than a look, Erin understood. Gripping the child's hand tightly with her's, she looked back to see the others forming a large group behind her.

Erin swallowed hard, before giving a small nod, "Let's get out of here." she said, before turning and led the others from the room.

It hadn't taken very long for them to find the exit of the building. Even with the few remaining guards, Erin was all too easily able to take them out with the few remaining throwing knives she had on her person. Leaving them behind as they continued on. The sudden brightness of the outside world caused Erin to raise her hand to shield her eyes from the sun that shown down from above. It took her a few moments to gather her bearings, looking around as the kids all dispersed in various directions as they were finally free.

Across the way, Erin managed to see a familiar face amongst the chaos. Lucian, was the only thought that went through her mind, before she bolted off into his direction. Even with the sheering pain of the wound on her side, that still appeared to refuse to heal, she ran as fast as she could to him. To safety and freedom-

They were only a few feet apart when Erin heard it, the sound of a gun firing. And everything seemed to come to a standstill. Erin stood in her tracks, before looking down, pressing her hand to her abdomen, before looking back up at Lucian before she fell to her knees on the ground below. She didn't feel it on impact, the sudden inability to breathe finally hit her like a truck, her only guess was that a lung had been punctured by the bullet that got her from the back. She attempted to get to her feet, was fell back down everytime she attempted to get up. Finally feeling herself fall against someone, as her vision began to blur and everything began to drown itself out from all around her. "I...I'm sorry-" she gasped for air between breaths, "I should have done more, I could have...I wanted more time-" Erin knew she was on borrowed time, more than ever before, it was obvious she wasn't going to make it much farther than this. A small smile spread across her face, "But the kids. They...They got out. It...It needs to burn though, Aegis. They...They need to burn for what they did to us...All of us..." was the last she had managed to get out between gasping for air, and choking on her own blood that filled her lungs. The last thing she remembered was staring up at someone, nothing more than a blurry figure, before everything went dark around her...

Erin had kids with her too. Jesus, how many kids had been in there? He needed to talk to her, he needed to tell her about Markus and they needed a plan, he had to go back, he needed to go back and get Markus-

And then Erin stopped. There was blood now, even more blood than had been there before. But it was Erin, she’d be okay, right? She had to be. She’d always bounced back before. But she wasn’t bouncing back now, she was on her knees and she couldn’t get up. He almost skidded on his knees on the ground as he went to catch her. He just nodded as she spoke, unable to reply. This was wrong. Why was she talking like this? She’d be back, right? She had to be back. They needed to make sure that Aegis burned and that they did it together.

And then she was gone. Lucian was kneeling on the ground, clutching a dead body. But it was fine. It was Erin. The first time they’d met, she’d technically been dead too. So she’d come back, right? He stared blankly at her, waiting for the signs of her coming back. They weren’t there. She was still, far too still. And then it hit him. She wasn’t coming back. Not this time. And she’d known it. He went to wipe his tears, and saw his hands were covered in blood. Erin’s blood. He’d lost Erin. He’d lost Erin and Markus. He’d lost the only two people in the world that gave a damn about him. What was the point of anything now?

And then a gunshot went off, inches above his head, and he flinched. It snapped him back to reality. The kids were still there, looking terrified. The kids. All of this had been for the kids. He needed to get them to safety. He wouldn’t let Aegis lay another hand on them. So Lucian picked up Erin’s body and got to his feet. “Charlie!” He called. The redhead appeared from somewhere, looking pale and yet still determined. “Round up the younger ones. Keep them moving, we need to get them away from here while I think of a plan,” he called. She nodded, jumping into action.

He would have carried Erin forever if he could. But he couldn’t. So, he carried her just far enough away and hid her body somewhere he could come back for it, somewhere where Aegis wouldn’t find her first. And then he went back for the kids. Walking away from her was the hardest walk he’d ever had to make. And when he went back for the kids, he made sure that nobody who dared try and harm any of the kids walked away from there. There was no mercy left in him.

It took him three days to get all the kids sorted. It would have been even longer, if Charlie hadn’t shown up at his door with two strangers. She had introduced them as Tarren and Nova, and they were people who specialised in getting kids like them out of bad situations. They’d done it once for Charlie, and they’d been looking for Charlie ever since she’d gone missing. And through all that time, they’d saved possibly a hundred kids. Together, the four of them sat down and worked out somewhere for each and every kid. Somewhere safe, with guardians who would look after them because they were freaks too. Lucian made sure they were adequately funded to look after the kids. He would work through the night, making sure he had answers and solutions for them when they got up in the morning. And then, when their work was done, he was alone again.

He’d gone back to try and find Erin the day after she had died. But when he went to where he’d left her, she was gone. He could only presume that it meant Aegis had gotten a hold of her. He could only presume that it meant that he had failed her again, just like he’d failed Markus. It was probably better that the kids were off his hands now. At least then he couldn’t fail them too. He went back to his own apartment. He didn’t care if Aegis tracked him there. At that point, he wasn’t even sure he would have fought if they had shown up. But nobody came. For days, it was just him rattling around the hollow apartment. The days passed in a blur of intoxication as he did everything he could to numb the pain. When the pain broke through, it was like someone was standing on his chest, crushing him and stopping him from breathing; except the release of death never came. The pain went on and on, only dulled a little by whatever he had in his system.

And then, one morning, he woke up with a crystal clear mind. And instead of pain, there was an even more familiar emotion now. There was fury. Erin’s words pounded through his head like blood through his veins. Burn Aegis. Burn it all down. Aegis had taken everything from him. They’d even made sure he didn’t have anywhere to go to mourn. They needed to burn. And so Lucian sat down at his desk for the first time in days. And he began to work.

He pulled together everything they had on Aegis. When he looked, when he wasn’t immediately focused on a single crisis, he could find another two locations he needed to scout out and destroy. He was pretty sure that there were more; he’d just need to find them.Two was a good start. The first one was a minor base. Nothing much of information or use there, but still, he took what he could and destroyed the rest. And he made sure the building burned. He didn’t watch it burn; he didn’t need to. The smell of smoke in his lungs was more than enough.

It was in the middle of the night after that first mission that the idea came to him. He knew that Aegis needed to burn; but there had to be more to it. He needed to make sure that everyone who had ever contributed to it lost everything they had and make sure they could never rebuild again. And so he went through his files. This would be a slow approach. This was a pyre that would have to be built slowly to make sure that it left no remains. He pulled together all of the evidence he had about the prominent politicians, leaders in the police force, anyone who was anything, and their involvement in Aegis. He created a fake email with no traceability back to him; and he sent it to every journalist he could find, local, national, international.

It hit the media a few days later. Not that big of a story, but it caught people’s attention. That was all he needed. A few days later, another Aegis base burned, and more information was leaked. This time, about the atrocities that Aegis was involved with. More outrage, more questions to be asked. But now there were more eyes watching him, and so he needed to be more careful. They hovered on street corners when he went out and about, always far enough away that they weren’t obviously following him. Cutting and dying his hair was an impulse 3AM decision when the paranoia began to get to him. Simplifying his dress for these missions was an unfortunate requirement. He couldn’t be recognised as either Lucian or Maelstrom. And besides, he didn’t feel like either of those people any more, and he already didn’t recognise himself in the mirror. Cutting his hair and dying it blue made him feel closer to whatever the hell he was becoming. In one base, he found a mask that looked all too familiar in a stray desk. Markus’ mask, the one Lucian had handmade for him. It became a part of his outfit, even if it didn’t fit right. He needed to have something of Markus with him.

The tide was turning. As Lucian left his apartment one day, he found himself in a throng of protestors, rebelling against the treatment of supers and the government’s involvement in Aegis. Every time a new public face stood up to protest, Lucian did a deep search on them to see if they had been involved. If they had, he made sure to leak everything he could find on them. People were demanding change, and it was beginning to come. Other supers were beginning to emerge in support of the movement, giving their own testimonies. As Lucian passed one rally, he spotted a familiar redhead clutching a megaphone and a sign, leading a chant, making him smile for the first time in days. Their eyes met in the crowd, and she just raised her sign a little higher, nodding ever so slightly. He returned the nod before disappearing back into the crowd

It was slow progress. He was finding more and more Aegis bases; most of them small, backup locations that weren’t necessarily in active use, but places they could move to if need be. And so they burned. One or two of them were in office buildings with other offices; people who didn’t deserve to lose their livelihoods because of Aegis’ sins. In that case, he would spend hours destroying everything himself. It was leaving one such office that he was first spotted by a passerby. But it was enough. Rumours and whispers began of this masked vigilante destroying suspected Aegis bases. When he was photographed hopping the fence of a building that was on fire, the whispers only got louder. Who was this strange, mysterious super? Who were they? Were they a new figure or an old one? Were they in fact involved in Aegis?

Of course Charlie was the one to figure it out first. She arrived back on his doorstep, a whole group of supers in tow this time. If they could divert the attention from just one person, they said, they could be more successful. And so Lucian sat down with them and discussed their plans. God, he was so sick of working alone. But even still, they were strangers, and he couldn’t trust them. And so when he proceeded, he proceeded with caution, making sure that he didn’t give any information to anyone until he was sure he could trust them. And even then, he gave them the least amount of information he could get away with.

And it all paid off. More buildings burned. More information was leaked. More people turned on those in charge. And more people fell. Important people were being found dead, and while protestors and rogue supers were being blamed, Lucian knew when he was looking at Aegis’ work. The supers who could speak publicly did so, condemning the murders and distancing them from the Anti-Aegis work that was being done. There wasn’t much that could be done about the rumours, so they chose to ignore them and focus on the task at hand.

Lucian thought that having something to focus on would help to fix him. He was so engulfed in all of this, he didn’t want time to think or to feel. But he felt and he thought anyway. He’d go to ask Markus his thoughts, or roll his eyes at Erin, and he’d just find a void where they should be. The pain would come crashing in anyway, and he’d still have to get up and continue to try and make things right. He couldn’t even drink or take anything stronger to keep the pain at bay, because he needed to be lucid for their plans. Being anything other than his absolute best would only fail them more than he had done already.

One day, in the middle of a planning session, he realised that the number of bases they had to destroy was growing smaller, despite their continued research. They had found them all. They could see the end of the tunnel. And Lucian realised that he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with himself when they were all gone. When Aegis was gone. He knew he could go back to his life of the glamorous Lucian Mitchell- but life as Lucian without Markus to spark off felt wrong. The before felt like a different person; someone he couldn’t ever go back to. Lucian could only see one ending in sight for him. He didn’t have the will to figure out any others.

Charlie had come up with a new super persona for him. At first, it was just to tell the press who was leaking information to them; and then the world began to recognise this person as the Aegis vigilante. Atlas: the titan with the weight of the heavens on his shoulders. He wasn’t exactly the most popular super, with opinion divided between direct action and violence being wrong, and the fact that he wasn’t doing anything worse than what Aegis frequently did to supers. But one name was beginning to gain popularity; the small but fierce Haze, known best for leading rallies herself, discussing what she had endured at the hands of Aegis openly and without fear; and for her power of light manipulations.

Charlie was one of the more inexperienced supers, but she was learning fast. She was angry and determined, and that got her a long way. She still went out with somebody else for all of her missions; but that was at her own request. She knew her limitations and accepted her inexperience, but didn’t let it hold her back. All the time, she was growing and learning and improving. Lucian was glad to know that there was someone who could, and would, carry on their work.

Eventually, there was just one base left on Lucian’s list. It had been left until last deliberately. It was the base where he’d lost both Erin and Markus. The others saw his reaction to it and offered to come with him; but he needed to do this himself. This was the end of the road for him. This was where it all ended. He wore Markus’ mask and the only reminder of Erin he’d been able to find that he could use; a leather jacket that probably would have been oversized on her but just fit him. And he walked straight into the building, knowing what he was walking into. He had “backup”; heroes outside the building who could be there at a moment’s notice, and who could warn him in the case of an ambush. But he was doing this alone.

He started at the bottom floor, combing the labyrinth for kids he’d missed, for more of their subjects. The fact that the floors were empty did nothing to either comfort or unsettle him. He worked his way up the building until finally found what he was looking for. It was hard to believe that they’d missed it the first time, but it was so well hidden that one could walk past without ever realising what it was. It was a server room, the server banks containing every bit of information that had ever passed through Aegis’ hands, details of everything Aegis had ever done. Lucian stared at the blinking lights for a few seconds. Every horrible thing that had happened to him was on those servers. Every horrible thing that had happened to him, to Markus, to Erin, to every kid who had ever been any sort of misfit. It was difficult to not just begin to break everything there and then. But instead he stopped and pulled out his laptop. The quiet of the room, just whirring of fans and of the AC along with his own tapping at his keyboard, seemed oddly anticlimactic. But from inside the server room, he could access Aegis’ files, where he could pull the last few bits of information they needed. And most importantly; it was where he could destroy it all. Between him and a few others inside the few remaining bases, they could bypass the safety processes and make sure everything was corrupted beyond recovery. Once that was done, Lucian turned back to look at the servers. Using his powers wasn’t exactly going to be the most efficient way of doing this; but it felt so right. He reached deep inside himself, and let it all out. Glass shattered and alarms began to blare. That didn’t matter any more. Escaping didn’t matter any more.

He smashed the servers into pieces, using his hands and his powers, making sure they’d never be recovered. But despite the blaring alarms, nobody came running. And that’s when Lucian realised what was happening. Aegis would have the final say. They would be the ones to destroy the last of their buildings in the hopes of taking down the instigators while they were at it. Lucian laughed, his laugh echoing around the destroyed server room. He’d foiled them without them even knowing it. By coming alone in a suicide mission, he’d completely ruined their plans. They’d taken everything from him, but he was still getting the last laugh. He sent a text to the others waiting outside.

“Keep everyone outside the building. I think they have it rigged. On my way out now.”

He knew that he probably wouldn’t actually make it out in time; and he knew that he wasn’t supposed to either. After this, there was nothing left for him.

And as if the universe agreed, the explosive charges went off seconds after he sent the text. He blacked out as he collided with something hard, sinking gladly into the darkness.

The muffled sounds of footsteps and something being dragged across concrete were the only things that broke the otherwise complete silence. There were muffled voices and conversation, but not much could be deciphered of what exactly they were talking about. However, something along the lines of ’Looks to be waking up’.

”Welcome back to the land of the living.” a familiar voice sounded, as the figure splashed cold water onto the individual that had been previously unconscious.

”How do you even know we can trust him, huh?” another voice sounded. Somewhere out of sight.

”Because.” there was a small pause, ”He’s a friend” the first voice concluded. Taking a few steps away before reaching for something off to the side.

”Maybe to you guys, I still don’t trust this. It just seems….off.” the second voice replied.

”Yeah well, Achilles, you don’t trust anyone. Remember when you didn’t trust us?”

”I’m still debating on that front, if I’m being honest.”

There was a small scoff and shake of their head of the first person as they came back into view. ”Take it easy, bud. Not many people can survive an exploding building like that.”

There was a soft sound as if someone cleared their throat.

”Okay….Maybe some can.” the person sighed. Looking back in front of them, ”You’re still recovering but most of your injuries seem to be on the mend. We honestly weren’t exactly sure if we were gonna find you alive back in there…It took days..” the figure sighed once again.

”And a waste of our resources and time. Both of which we don’t have much of, as you know-”

”Achilles, I swear. If you don’t shut up-”

There was suddenly the sound of another pair of footsteps, as once again another figure stepped forward. ”Enough, you two.” this time, a man’s voice spoke up. ”We can trust him, and we will.” there was something familiar about his voice as he spoke.

”Pat, you can’t be serious! We don’t know whose side he’s even on. For all we know he could-”

”There is no one I trust more than him. Even if…Time has gone on and changed things…us[/i, I still trust him.” the man spoke once more, before carefully removing the blindfold from the individual that sat in front of him, sitting in a chair. A small smile spread across his face, ”Isn’t that right, Luc?”

”This is all well and good and all, but we are running out of time. Whether he comes with us or not, I don’t care. I just don’t like being here for too long.” a shiver went down their spine.

”We’ll go soon enough, okay? But whether he comes with us, that’s up to him.” he said once again as he turned his head back to face the man in the chair. But something about his eyes just weren’t [i]right. They seemed to be looking past everything, instead of anchoring themselves onto everything in front of him.

”You’ve been out for a long time…Three days by now, and I know…I know. There’s a lot that we need to explain. But what matters right now is that we’re all here again. If just not a little different.” a small smile appeared on his face. ”But it’s not just us anymore. There’s…There’s a lot of us. Some you may already recognize, from what the others have told me, and some…Some you don’t. But-” there was a heavy sigh before he continued, ”We need your help, Lucian. What we started it..It was only just the beginning. There is so much more for us to do. We can go back to how things used to be, us. Just…different.” he said as he stood up and took a few steps back.


”You mean like one of us now being blind? Some of having never worked together? I don’t-

”Even before you lost your memories you weren’t this paranoid, Ahichiles.” he chided with a smirk. ”But since we’re all friends here, why don’t you take that stupid mask off?” he continued to prod.

There was a brief pause of silence, before an annoyed sigh, ”Fine.” the figure known as Achilles finally relented. Reaching their hands up under the hood of their jacket, before pulling down the small leather mask that covered the bottom half of their mouth, and removed the lenses that kept the top half of their face hidden. Pulling the hood of their jacket back as they did so, before combing fingers through long blond hair, their eyes finally landing on the man in the chair. ”Hi, Lucian.” the familiar figure exchanged glances between Markus and Lucian, before looking at the other figure in the room with them, ”What do you think, Ren? Do we trust him?”

”I do. Even if it did take me a bit of warming up to him the first time we met. But, after I was told about all your adventures together, and how it was your efforts that resulted into where we are now?” they glanced around the room at the other three, before giving a small nod, ”We need all the help we can get.” they concluded with a nod.

Markus tilted his head back to Lucian, ”Only thing is, we don’t just need help. But..We need a leader. A proper one. And we can’t do this without you, Luc. So, what do you say? One more go? Like old times?” his asked, as he extended his hand forward, with an all too familiar mask in his hand.

Lucian had been drifting in and out of consciousness for days. Consciousness was a lose term for it, it was more a brief awareness of pain. He wasn't even ever really conscious enough to lament the fact he was still alive. But as time went on, he began to actually pull out of unconsciousness. The awareness of the pain just got worse and worse; and then, to really make things worse, he felt something cold and wet splashing across his face. It startled him into awareness. Awareness that he was blindfolded and his hearing was muffled. He could hear something, but it was muffled, as though they had ear muffs or something on him. He could make out that they were voices, but not what they were saying or even who they belonged to. He was tired, the exhaustion and pain weighing heavy on him, but the panic was clearer and sharper. He dug deep for his powers, but the pain and the exhaustion cut him off.

And then somebody pulled off his blindfold. He jerked his head up, taking in the scene in front of him. And then he realised what he was looking at. A figure in a mask. Ren. And a face he was sure that he was never going to see again. Markus. Markus was there. He was alive. "Markus?" Lucian managed to say, even if he couldn't hear himself say it. Markus was talking, but he still couldn't hear him. He hadn't been intentionally deafened.

He looked back at Markus to say as much, and then he spotted Markus' eyes, how they were unfocused and almost glazed. He hadn't escaped unscathed either. How the hell could they manage? If Markus' sight was affected and Luc's hearing was damaged... how could they manage? How the hell could they stay moving forward after everything? How could they do this? But he couldn't get a word in, to say that he couldn't hear them. And then the masked figure pulled their mask off, and Lucian forgot all about trying to say anything. Because it was Erin. Erin was alive too. "Erin?" He managed to say. She was alive. How the hell was she alive? Had he abandoned her too early? Is that why her face was lacking the familiar warmth? Was she angry? Was she hurt? Had he hurt her?

And then he realised that they were looking at him. Markus was holding out something to him and asking him a question. "I... I can't hear you," he said, his voice cracking and a lump in his throat so big that it was painful and felt like it was threatening to suffocate him. "I can't hear anything you're saying. But I'm so sorry for leaving you," he said, his voice finally breaking. Standing up was painful, but he didn't care. He rested his hands on Markus' shoulders before pulling him into a hug. "I'm so sorry," he said. "And Erin... I didn't want to leave you," he said, wiping his face. "I had to save the kids... just like you told me. I had to get them out of there. But they're safe, I promise they're safe, I know that doesn't fix things but... they're safe," he said. It was the strangest feeling, speaking and not being able to hear himself speak, but he had so much to say while he could. Despite the pain coursing through his body, he still couldn't help but feel like this was some strange dream, something where he'd pass out again and the whole thing would be gone, back into the shadows of his mind. He realised then what Markus had been holding out to him; his mask. He took it and stared at it. Was he even that person any more?

If he was to be honest with himself, Markus didn't exactly know what kind of response he was waiting for from Lucian. The last time they had seen each other well, they were nearly entirely different people by now. Who they were then, it felt like a life-time ago, even if it really wasn't. He let out a defeated sigh when Lucian did finally speak, of course it wouldn't be that easy. Markus shook his head before turning his head back to Lucian, they all really had become different people after all...

Before Markus could find the words to speak, whatever they would have ended up being, there was the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. "Seems like I have to do everything around here myself." Erin's voice sounded behind Markus. Which resulted in a snide chuckle to escape him.

"And don't even start, Markus. You know it was me who dragged his sorry ass out of the rubble because you couldn't." she continued to chastise him as she walked passed him and up to Lucian. "What an amazing team we got going here, huh?" her voice dripped with sarcasm, that caused Markus to roll his eyes. Erin reached for something from within the many pockets that alligned her jacket, "One who can't fucking see-" she continued speaking as she fidgeting with something that Markus obviously couldn't see, but from the soft, yet familiar sound of metal and tech, he assumed he had a hunch onto what Erin was up to. "One who apparently has amnesia-" Erin said as she shook her head, before turning to Lucian, and carelessly slapped her hand to his ear, "And one who can't fucking hear-Erm well, couldn't." she finished, before taking a step back from Lucian, taking his chin in one of her hands, "Can you hear me now, pretty boy? That should help until we can get something proper for you." she mused, an unfamiliar coldness remained in her eyes before walking away from the two.

Markus slowly turned his attention back to Lucian, after shaking his head and pinching the arch of his nose, "A lot...A lot has happened within the passed few weeks but...We heard about what happened and, things....things are different now-" Markus paused shortly, taking a deep breath, "We're different now but, it's still us, if you want it to? I...I know I still need you, Luc. We can't do this without you-" Markus took another small pause, swallowing hard, "I can't do this without you, Lucian."

Watching the whole thing without being able to hear was terrible. Erin wasn’t Erin, Markus couldn’t see, how the hell were they going to manage? Erin was fiddling with something in her pocket as she approached, and he would have been lying if he said that he wasn’t fearing the worst. But he still couldn’t move in time before she slapped something against the side of his head. But the weirdest thing then was that he could start to hear something. He put a hand to his ear and felt a device attached to his ear. He fiddled with it a little to get it to sit better, placing it better in his ear. It wasn’t perfect, but he could at least somewhat make the words, enough for him to be able to piece things together.

Markus’ voice was still a little broken and muffled, but Lucian found it so oddly calming. It felt like coming home. He’d felt so lost for so long, adrift in a turbulent ocean, and now he’d been found again. There was a part of him that felt like he was still dreaming, like he was going to wake up with a painful crash before much longer. But the aches and pains in his bones and the pounding in his head reminded him that it was real. And Jesus Christ, he’d never been so glad to feel pain.

Things were different. God, that was the understatement of the century. What did they even do from here? He’d been working towards this for so long, he didn’t know what he was going to do next. He wasn’t the same person any more. He couldn’t go back to his old life. But maybe he didn’t want to. Things were different, they were different… but they were still them. He’d never been needed before in his life. Nobody had ever needed him. To hear that Markus needed him, maybe the way he needed Markus… he stared at Markus, his heart pounding in his chest. They were still so close after Lucian had hugged Markus. Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was a concussion, but the pieces were finally falling into place, the pieces that he’d been ignoring and repressing for… well, he didn’t want to think about it.

He glanced down for a second at his mask. “Well… that’s good, because you’re stuck with me,” he said with a slight laugh. “And… I don’t know what the fuck we’re supposed to do from here but… hey as long as we’re together… we’ll figure it out.” He took a deep breath. “Because I need you too.” And summoning all of the courage in his body, he leaned in to kiss Markus.