Different [A Superhero AU] - Book One

Chapter Thirty-Seven - A Blip of Joy in a World of Hurt

Mark unlocks the door of his house and steps inside, a deep sigh escaping his lips. Chica wags her tail at him, her tongue hanging lop-sided out of her mouth. He scratches her ears and settles down on the couch, turning on the TV with a click of a button. Some crappy sitcom comes on, displaying a couple having an animated argument while making wide gestures with their arms. Mark groans as his mind travels to Jack. Why must every little thing remind him of that freaking villain?

He finds himself watching with a strange sort of curiosity as the couple stops yelling, the woman dissolving into incredibly fake tears while the man wraps her in his arms. Chica rests her head on Mark's knee, causing her owner to start absentmindedly scratching her ears.

"This show is pretty terrible, isn't it, Chica?" he asks. At the mention of her name, the dog looks up at him with big brown eyes and wags her tail. He can't help but smile at his companion.

His temporary focus on his dog is interrupted by the screen becoming static, switching from the sitcom to the face of a man with dark brown hair and a glint in his brown eyes. He adjusts himself in his seat, his hands folded on the desk in front of them. Mark, eyes trained on the screen, straightens up in his chair as the man begins to speak. 

"Good evening, citizens of San Francisco. A lot of you are probably frightened right now, but there is no need. I am here to give you the truth. Many of you know about Curatrix and the hold it's had in this city. Well, I'm here to tell you that they are corrupt. They've been lulling you into a false sense of security, allowing you to believe that what they're doing is helpful. They are lying to you. The only reason they protect this city is because they want to protect themselves and get paid for it. Citizens, do not believe them. Arm yourselves and focus on protecting you and your families. Don't wait around for some glorified police officer to save you. Here marks the beginning of the new age. I, along with the rest of my group, will give you the city you need and deserve. Omnis enim qui se ipsum; every man for himself. Put your trust in us, and you will live to see the beginning of something revolutionary. We are the New Age Institute. Prepare for revolution."

The man's face disappears, replaced with the seal of the institute. Mark stares, completely and utterly dumbfounded, at the screen as it returns to the sitcom.  He realizes, with a twist of his gut, that the rug has just been yanked from under their feet. The citizens will fear him and the other heroes. There will be riots and fights and chaos.

He gets up from the couch and races outside, locking the door behind him before jogging down the street. Already, he can almost feel the tension in the air like smog. The neighbourhood is quiet like usual, but somehow, something is different. Mark finds that now, more than ever, he needs answers from Jack so that at least he has one less thing to worry about.

As fast as he can, he heads back to Curatrix. When he enters the front doors, he's immediately gestured over by the other heroes, who are crammed around one of the monitors at the front desk.

"Did you see the announcement?" Matthias asks.

"Yeah, I did," Mark replies. "What do we do?"

"Everyone is afraid of us now," Ken comments, crossing his arms. "What are we supposed to do?"

Phil glances at him. "We do what we can. Matthias, what do you know about this?"

"The person that did the announcement was Matthew, their mission-control guy. From that alone, we can figure out that this was the villain's doing," Matthias replies.  "Plus, I've done a lot of research about the villains and apparently, their boss used to refer to his experiments and his work as 'the coming of the new age.'"

Mark's stomach churns. The villains are behind the N.A.I? He feels his urge to find Jack increase substantially.

The alarms echo through the headquarters and the heroes race off to get their suits on. Within minutes, all of them are heading off into the street. The red-haired hero whips around, looking desperately for Jack. For once, there are almost no citizens on the streets. That alone makes Mark feel nervous.

The villains flood onto the road and almost immediately, they've clashed with a hero. Mark spots Jack and dashes towards him, using his power to slow him down.  A flurry of emotions fill the Irishman's visible eye when he sees the American, but he can't get away if he's being slowed down by Mark.

The hero reaches him, snatching him by the collar of his suit and dragging him into the nearest alleyway. The sounds of clashing weapons and activated powers ring out all around him, but he ignores them. Mark's focus is on Jack and Jack alone.

When they're far enough down the alley, the hero turns and pushes the villain against the wall with his muscled arm against his throat. Seeing Jack again, being this close; it makes his heart ache. The Irishman pants, his hands shaking at his sides.

"I need answers," Mark states, never loosening his grip. "Now. About what Anti said."

Jack shakes his head as best he can, his voice wavering. "It was all lies. He did that to get to you, to get into your head. I'm so sorry, Mark. I'm so, so, so sorry."

Mark takes a deep breath.  He feels like he might have a heart attack at any moment.  "Are you lying to me?"

"No!" the villain exclaims. He blinks rapidly, his breathing growing more panicked. "I swear to God, I'm not. Every moment that I've spent after Anti said those things to you, I thought you hated me, and it hurt so much, and I knew you'd never be able to trust me again, and I didn't want you to think that I was Anti and you'd be smart not to trust me because after everything that's just happened and I'm gonna be forced to do things that I don't want to do-"

Mark covers his mouth with his hand, shutting the rambling Irishman up in an instant. "I didn't want to believe Anti. I couldn't find it in me to believe that the Jack I know would do that to me. Nobody can fake the nightmares you had when you were with me."

Jack takes a deep, shaky breath and presses a hand to his chest, his breathing starting to calm down slightly. "I thought you hated me for so long. Cry had said that if I didn't come with him, he would kill you and then I got captured by the anti-heroes and all I wanted to do was be with you-" He cuts himself off, his face turning bright red. "I-I mean I would rather go back to the institute and suffer torture than be the cause of your death."

Mark shakes his head, taking hold of Jack's shoulders. "We have a lot to catch up on, but right now, a lot of shit is going down. Tomorrow night, if we're both still alive, you're coming over to my house and we're talking, okay?"

Jack tilts his head. "Did you just ask me out?"

"Yes." A real, genuine smile crosses Mark's face. "But that's if we're still alive. So in the case that we aren't, this is for the road."

Before Jack can react, Mark leans forward and presses a quick kiss to his lips before racing off into the street. Jack opens and closes his mouth a few times, shocked and a little bit dazed as his heart threatens to pound out of his chest. After a moment, he laughs out loud from the pure joy that warms his entire body.

In that moment, Jack hopes to God that both him and Mark live to see tomorrow.