United [A Superhero AU] - Book Two

Chapter Fifty-Four - Breaking Free

Jack helps Mark to the bed and lies him down before heading to the bathroom, digging through medical supplies. He silently thanks Matthew for stocking the room with bandages, icepacks, heavy duty painkillers, and other necessary items as he pulls them into his arms and carries them back to the bedside. He washes the blood off of Mark's wounds and bandages them before putting the icepack on his nose, earning a sigh from the hero.

"Thank you," Mark mumbles, reaching up to thread gentle fingers through Jack's hair. Despite the hitch in the villain's breathing when he does, the moment they lock eyes Jack smiles a little and leans forward, kissing him so deeply that the apology is obvious on his lips.

"My God, I love you," Mark murmurs.

"Love you too," Jack replies.

As soon as the medical supplies are tucked away, Jack snuggles up next to Mark and traces his finger over new scars and old ones. The shirt he had been wearing for the interrogation sits at the bottom of the garbage bin, soaked in blood and torn to shreds. Mark sleeps off the painkillers, lying on his back due to the cuts on his arms.

"So many scars," Jack whispers, kissing the pink and white disfigurements that line Mark's entire body. "They're all because of me."

His thoughts are interrupted by a soft knock at the door. Jack pulls himself out of bed and pads across the floor, the side where his stitches lie aching and making him wince. The door opens and Cry pokes his head in, glancing from the bandaged, sleeping hero to the scared villain in front of him.

"Jack..."

"Cry..."

Without another word, the masked villain steps forward and engulfs Jack in a hug. The Irishman hugs back and almost instantly feels fresh tears burning his eyes.

"The henchmen were sitting right outside the door so I couldn't get in and stop him, I just heard the screams and couldn't do anything—" Cry rambles.

Jack shakes his head, biting his bottom lip to stop himself from sobbing. He takes a deep breath. "It's okay, Cry. We'll be fine. Just get us out of here."

The masked villain lets Jack go and nods, sucking in a deep breath. "Yeah, yeah, of course. Um, do you want to wake Mark up? I'll pack up your suits."

Jack nods and moves to Mark's side, nudging him gently. "Mark, Cry's here. We have to leave."

Mark shifts a bit, his brown eyes opening a crack. "Wha—?"

"We have to go. Cry's getting us out," Jack repeats, running his fingers through the hero's hair.

"Mmkay," Mark murmurs.

Jack retrieves a clean, plain shirt from the small chest of provided clothing and helps the hero put it on before helping him off the bed. Mark leans heavily against him, shuffling and stumbling along with the villain. Cry hands Jack a bag with their super-suits inside and leads them to the front door.

"Please liberate Matthew and I from the institute soon," Cry says when they reach the doors. "I don't know how much longer we'll last."

"Of course. Thank you, Cry," Jack replies.

The masked villain pushes the door open and Jack hoists Mark onto his back, nodding to Cry once before sprinting away. Shooting pains travel up his side and the wind burns his cuts, but he doesn't care. The sooner they get to the hero's base, the sooner Phil can help Mark.

The moment Jack stops running, he cries out and nearly collapses from the sheer amount of agony in his stitched up side. Mark lowers himself off his back on wobbly legs and the two fall into each other's arms, bruised and broken and in so much pain they can barely stand it. Jack bangs on the door weakly before curling in on Mark, trying to remind himself to breathe. Being free and running seems to have thrown him back into a reality that he had already numbed himself to.