Undercover Heroes (One Direction Superhero AU)

Chapter 31

Harry's POV:

Everything was just... dark. It was overwhelming, the darkness, it felt like I was suffocating in it. Like it was filling up my lungs and I was drowning. And it felt like that for so long, I couldn't even tell how long I felt like I was drowning.

And then there was a flicker of light and I felt like I could breathe. The darkness was backing away, leaving my lungs, letting me breathe again. But I was so tired, I couldn't do much more than let the light chase away the darkness.

I didn't know how long I was there, I didn't know how long the light enveloped me, protected me, but it was night when my eyes flickered open.

I was in my room, still in my suit. I felt dirty and grime-y, it hurt to move my neck, arms, and legs, it hurt a little every time I breathed in, and the skin on my stomach felt sensitive.

How the hell did I get here?

I took in a deep breath, not daring to move for fear of causing myself more pain. I just had to wait for someone to come.

I wasn't waiting long, the door opened slowly and quietly and someone slipped into the room before closing the door. They flicked the lights on and looked up at me.

Louis jumped when he saw me.

"Oh my god," he breathed out, his hand clutching his chest like I'd scared him, "Oh my god... Haz." He smiled and moved quickly to sit at the edge of the bed, "Are you okay?" I opened my mouth to answer but he shook his head, "No, don't answer that, that was a stupid question. I-" Louis covered his mouth with his hand and his shoulders shook, "Shit, Harry. I didn't think I'd ever get to talk to you again."

I ignored the pain when I moved my arm and reached out to touch Louis's knee.

"M'okay," I said, my voice rough and words a bit slurred. I coughed, just noticing how dry my throat was when I talked. Louis nodded and turned his head to the doorway.

"Guys, someone bring some water and get in here!" he called, "He's okay!"

I heard loud footsteps and stomping and in just seconds the door was swinging open and banging on the wall.

"Harry!" Niall laughed, taking a couple steps into the room before jumping on the bed. I shut my eyes and groaned, my entire body exploding in pain as I was jostled.

"Niall for fuck's sake-" Louis spoke and I heard a slapping sound and I opened my eyes to see Niall glaring at Louis and rubbing his upper arm.

"Ow! Louis what the hell?!"

"He's not completely healed you idiot you can't just jump on the bed like that."

"Sorry Harry."

"S'okay."

I glanced at the doorway and saw Zayn standing there smiling, leaning on the doorframe and his arms crossed.

"It's good to have you back Haz," he said. I heard footsteps coming closer and Liam came into the room, carrying a water bottle. His entire face lit up when he saw me.

"Thank god," he sighed, walking over to the bed. He and Louis carefully helped me sit up and helped me drink from the water bottle. My throat was instantly soothed and I kept drinking until the bottle was empty. I felt like I hadn't eaten or drank anything in a month. My stomach grumbled and one of the boys moved to leave the room when they heard it, probably to get some food, when I stopped them.

"What happened?"

Apparently that was a bad question to ask, because they all froze where they were. Louis was the first one to speak up.

"Well Haz," he sighed, "We fought Nathan Tech and his guards, do you remember that?" I nodded, "Okay, you took on Nathan alone, Zayn, Niall, and I were occupied with guards outside and Liam was being held back by more guards." I nodded again, I remembered Liam being held back by guards. And I remembered...

I looked down at my stomach and saw the tear in my suit where I'd been stabbed.

"Nathan stabbed me..." I said, and Louis nodded.

"He did," he said, "The knife was made out of our kryptonite, so it drained your energy and you couldn't heal when he..." Louis trailed off and took a deep breath.

"What did he do?" I asked. I didn't remember anything else after being stabbed.

"He broke your neck," Liam said, "Before he pushed you out of the window." Liam sat down on the end of the bed and Zayn moved further into the room, taking the last spot availiable on the bed next to Liam, "You fell five stories."

I took a second to process that information.

"So I-" I didn't have to finish, the other four nodded, knowing what I was saying. I let out a long breath, "Fuck."

"Yeah," Louis said, "You were technically... dead for about a week. You started breathing again a couple days ago." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in.

"Shit."

"We've kind of been..." Niall started, trailing off and furrowing his eyebrows, "We've been in the flat for a couple weeks I think now. Haven't left."

"Why?"

"I took my mask off," Louis said, "People are making the connections. There are pictures of me without my mask and of... you."

"So people think I'm dead?" The four of them nodded.

"It took a while," Liam said, "But they recognized you in pictures. Paul says your name's been trending on Twitter for a couple days now." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Where's my phone?" I asked. Louis reached towards my night stand and opened the drawer, pulling my phone out of it and handing it to me. I slowly unlocked it and opened up Twitter and composed a tweet.

"What're you doing?" Louis asked.

"Letting people know I'm alive," I said, opening the camera and taking a quick picture as proof before pressing send.

@Harry_Styles: I'm okay. I'm alive, just a bit banged up.

I quickly turned my phone off and then set it next to me on the bed before I looked up at the others.

"So... what now?"

None of us even knew where to begin.

A.N.:

I almost forgot to update oops. I've been a bit... immersed I guess would be a good word, in an ABO one shot I'm writing for ao3.

Also I just found out Marianas Trench released a new album so I've been blasting that and writing.

One more chapter and an epilogue left!!