United [A Superhero AU] - Book Two

Chapter Six - Old Wounds

Mark trails after Felix and Phil, the streets of San Francisco quiet and empty. The walls that Marzia was forced to build loom in the distance, reminding him that no matter how free he feels, he's still trapped. Grimacing, he taps his earpiece a few times and allows Matthias' voice to stream through. He gives them instructions on which areas to map out and which rebel groups to keep an eye out for, but Mark can barely focus.

He wants to know that Jack is safe in the hero base. For all he knows, the villain could be hurt or alone and he would have no idea. His stomach twists and he bites his lip, trying to ignore the irrational anxiety that rises in his gut.

Glancing at Felix and Phil doesn't help his deteriorating mindset. The Swede stares off at the wall, his face blank but his eyes welling with tears. The Brit kicks a stone across the street, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"What's up, Phil?" Mark asks softly, searching desperately for something to get his mind off Jack.

"Um, just thinking about someone," he replies, his expression pained. "He used to come over to my flat when you were hanging out with Jack."

"What happened to him?"

"Died." Phil shrugs a bit and scrubs at his face with his sleeve. "I'm just thinking about him. Don't worry too much about me."

Mark nods and kicks at the concrete, sending a shard of something metallic skittering across the road. He meets the confused gaze of the Brit for a moment before moving towards the shard and bending over.

Almost immediately, a stab of realization passes through his gut. He straightens up, the memories of this street coming back to him in full force. That shard is from a bomb, most likely the one that killed Ken. This is the place where the battle that lost them San Francisco took place.  He had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't realized where they had wandered. 

A mixture of guilt and grief floods Mark as he takes a step back, his breathing becoming shorter and more panicked. Phil freezes, his hands clenching at his sides when realization hits him as well.

"What are you guys—" Felix starts, but the moment he notices Phil's weak gesture towards the bomb shard, he tenses as well.

"Move off of this street. Now," Matthias orders into their earpieces, urging the three heroes onwards.

Mark forces his feet forward, hurrying away after Phil and Felix.

——

"You could have fought back, you know."

Jack and Cry both look to Matthew, who crouches over the sink and wipes the last of the blood from his nose. He watches the masked villain in the mirror's reflection as he slowly grabs his icepack and holds it over a spot on his chest. His gaze never strays from Cry, his expression serious.

"I know," the masked villain replies, shifting his own icepack. "But I didn't."

"Why? You could have protected yourself."

"He's my father, Matthew. You of all people should know what it's like to have a corrupt father that you can't fight back against."

Matthew's eyes narrow for a moment, although the anger doesn't last long. With a heavy sigh, he seems to nearly sag with exhaustion. "Yeah."

Jack watches the entire exchange, silently putting the pieces together in his brain. Matthew's father, Dr. Patrick (or as they called him, "the scientist"), was the head scientist for the New Age Institute. He was the one who originally kidnapped Jack and Dan, and the one who performed experiments on children until the day he died. Both him and the boss were willing to offer their children up as test subjects, hence Cry's invisibility and Matthew's superhuman mentality. Jack shudders in remembrance, and the action doesn't go unnoticed by the others.

"Sorry, we probably shouldn't be reminding you of this," Matthew says, smiling weakly.

"I may be younger than you both, but I'm not a child," Jack replies.  He sighs heavily and pulls himself into a sitting position with a bit of difficulty.  Any topic change at this point is a good one. Jack doesn't want to think about his mutation or the scientist any longer. "I don't understand why the boss was so angry. We didn't do anything, but he still beat us up!"

Cry sighs heavily and moves his icepack to his side, where a shoe mark has made itself known in the form of a bruise. "It's the cancer. He's starting to lose his mind, and that makes him irritable."

"So he takes it out on us?" Jack demands.

"He's always taken his anger out on other people. That's just what he does." Cry's voice hitches and he turns on his heel, heading towards the door. "I'm going to my room."

Matthew and Jack watch him go before glancing at one another. A deep-seated pain is obvious in the American's brown eyes, but he still fakes a small smile and shrugs a bit.

"I'm going to go to my room as well. I'll see you later, Jack."

The Irishman nods and watches as Matthew heads out, his movements still slow due to the bruises that paint his body just as they paint Jack's.

Then, he's alone. Jack sighs heavily, leaving the icepack behind as he moves instead to the villain graveyard. What had once been a tiny, enclosed space with an open roof, the closest thing they would ever get for a yard, is now littered with headstones, eerie in the dying light of evening. The scientist's grave is there, as well as Stephanie's and Dan's. Jack walks slowly to his best friend's gravestone and settles down on the artificial grass, resting his head on his hand. This place has become sort of a refuge for Jack, a quiet place where he can talk and vent his feelings to a friend and brother who's no longer here.

"It was another bad day today, Dan," the Irishman says softly, reading the all-too familiar engraving on the stone. Daniel Howell. Jack bites his lip. Why did he have to die while I get to live?  "He beat us again... I'm glad you don't have to hurt anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't miss you." He takes a deep breath, ruffling his green hair. "I did find out that Mark isn't dead though, so maybe I'll be able to move on now."

Jack stares at the stone before curling up, his fingers buried deep in his hair. He's talking to a stone. It's so stupid, but at the same time he doesn't know what else to do. Mark is at his base, Jack is here, and Dan is gone.

At times like this, Jack can't help but feel completely and utterly hopeless.