Off Grid

Chapter 11: Enemy of My Enemy

"I'm serious, he's been acting really weird the last few days."

"Seven, your brother is weird."

"No, but I mean weirder than usual. Like, jumpy and quiet weird. Seth isn't like that, Adrian."

"No, I guess he's not."

Seven was beside himself with worry. He'd been pacing Adrian's bedroom in a panic ever since he'd burst through the door.

Adrian himself wasn't overly concerned, but then he supposed that he didn't know Seth very well. Something could have actually been wrong. More likely though, Seven was just blowing everything out of proportion. In fact, with him, that was the most likely conclusion nine times out of ten.

After the incident at Mark's Electronics, the amount of danger that his brother might be in was practically all Seven talked about. Which, obviously, wasn't to say that Adrian didn't appreciate the company, or want his boyfriend to come to him for help. He just thought that it would have been nice to not hear about Seth for once.

"I'm sure he's fine," he assured.

In response, the hero groaned and threw himself down onto the bed beside him. Adrian rolled his eyes at the dramatics.

"What if something happened again?"

"He would tell you, Seven. You guys are super close, he wouldn't keep something like that from you."

"He might, if he thought I'd worry," Seven pointed out.

"Too late to stop that," Adrian mumbled under his breath.

"I don't know, Adrian. Maybe I should just-"

"Stop stalking your brother. He's going to notice, and then what are you going to do?"

Seven sat back up at the accusation and huffed.

"It isn't stalking. I'm just looking out for him. And anyway, I haven't for a while. That's the thing. What if something happened while I wasn't watching out for him? It would be all my fault."

"Stop."

"Stop what?"

"You can't pin that kind of guilt on yourself. You can't take care of everyone all the time," he said. "Even you can't be everywhere at once."

"Then what's the point? What's the point in having these powers if I can't protect the people I love?" Seven asked.

And while Adrian admired the mindset, he also knew what it put him up against. The things and the people that it exposed him to. Often he wished that Seven would have chosen another hobby. One less likely to end in an early death.

Adrian tilted Seven's chin up and looked into the kind, beautiful eyes that he loved so much.

"You cause me endless stress. I'm not sure how your brother put up with raising you, because I'm definitely going to be grey before we graduate," he said.

"I'm sure you'll find a way to pull the look off," Seven promised him with a goofy, endearing grin.

Their lips met and, for a precious while, the fate of the city did not rest on Seven's shoulders. It was a nice and definitely appreciated distraction from his problems, but a distraction wasn't what he needed right then.

And so, regrettably, Seven pulled away and ended the moment.

"I'm sorry, it isn't you, promise," he explained quickly.

"Still thinking about Seth then?" Adrian asked.

"It isn't even just Seth. Everything's all... You know, stressful."

Adrian understood, but he couldn't deny being horribly dissapointed. That much was written across his face.

Even so, Seven was distressed and he wanted to at least try to be helpful.

"You need to give me more than that if you want me to build up a pep talk," Adrian told him.

"We need to catch that group of drug dealers, and we still need to work on getting Marcus ready for actual field work."

"Uh huh. And?"

Adrian had a hard time buying that any of that was the real root of Seven's stress. Drug dealers and training sessions were disturbingly low on the list of stressful situations that the other boy put himself into.

"And... well, you remember when Off Grid knocked me out?"

Of course, Adrian did remember. In fact, he'd nearly had a heart attack when the visual link had gone dark and he received the panicked call from Marcus.

"The whole thing doesn't feel right. I don't understand why he would just-"

Seven didn't get to finish though, after an alert that sounded from Adrian's laptop brought the conversation to an abrupt halt.

"Sorry, Sev. All of that's going to have to wait. Time to suit up."

***

That night, when Seth put on the mask and Off Grid stepped out of the house, it wasn't for the money. It wasn't the craving. This time, it was just about wearing the costume. It was just about being Off Grid.

Because the best part about being Off Grid was not being Seth Anderson.

Seth hadn't been in control of his own life since the night he received news of his parents' death, but Off Grid? He was always in control. Off Grid was powerful.

When Seth was Off Grid, he wasn't the helpless boy who had been shocked into adulthood so tragically. He wasn't the young man struggling to balance work while raising a child. He was something else entirely.

From his spot on the second story fire escape of a rundown apartment building, Off Grid could effortlessly pick out the easy targets. The ones who walked alone with headphones on and eyes glued to screens, or with a loose hold on their bags. If he were a lesser criminal, he knew what he would do, but Off Grid was better than that. As such, he required something more challenging than purse snatching and mugging to occupy himself.

Off Grid took his time making his way up to the roof, scanning the city all the while for some spark of inspiration. That was how, sometime later, he spotted the armored truck pause at the stoplight down below.

It wasn't, by any means, a glorious or particularly difficult job, but Off Grid decided that it would do, under his current circumstances. Really, it was more about stretching his muscles and releasing his pent up frustration than whatever was in the truck anyway.

With that in mind, Off Grid leapt to the next roof and readied himself to wreak some much needed havoc. However, before he could make his move, he was rudely interrupted.

"A little low-end for a villain such as yourself, isn't it?"

Off Grid fell swiftly into a crouch, palm open and buzzing. The light that his ability gave off, and the shadows that it produced, made him look undoubtedly more menacing.

"Hello, Off Grid. I've been looking for you," he said.

He wasn't sure who he had expected, but it certainly wasn't the man he found when he turned around.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The first thing that he noticed was that the man was much older than himself. He wore a mask to hide his face, but the telltale gray streaks in his otherwise dark hair led Off Grid to the conclusion. The second thing that he noticed, much to his own distaste, was that the man relied on bullets.

A gun, Off Grid thought, was a coward's weapon. Impersonal, and too easy. He preferred his own way of doing things.

He made no move to lift his weapon, but Off Grid was still cautious.

"Who are you?" He repeated, his patience growing thinner by the second.

"You're a hard man to find," the stranger observed.

It still wasn't an answer to Off Grid's question.

"I'm also a hard man to beat," he told him.

"Oh, I'm not here to fight you, boy. Rather, I'm here to make you an offer. One that I think you'll like."