Save The World.

His entire body felt heavy, weighed down as if the ground was trying to pull him beneath the dirt. Where was he again? His eyes refused to open, or the world laid out around him was dark, either way, he couldn't see anything. From the aking feeling in his legs, he was sitting on his knees, the familiar heaviness of a hoodie layed his shoulders, and his fingers were numbed by cold, laying on the hard ground at his sides. Had he collapsed?

It didn't feel like he was unconscious, or injured, but he'd been wrong before. The others wouldn't let him get hurt though. Right?

At the thought of the others, he felt a sharp pang of distress through his chest, like a clinical heartbreak, suddenly worried the others were stuck in the same position as he was, but it subsided a moment later. It didn't feel like they were here, where ever 'here' was, he felt alone.

A hot wetness burned its way down his face, and he felt more confusion fill his mind. Why was he crying? Maybe he really was injured, and numb to the pain? But that didn't fit right either, he knew he wasn't hurt, so what was going on?

"Jay," a voice said, muffled slightly, like someone had stuffed his head with cotton, but he heard it well enough.

Everything came rushing back to him, and the world around him burst into light. The hoodie over his chest became his costume, or some other version of it because he couldn't feel the subtle coldness of his concealed blades pressing against his skin.

His hands started to sting with what he knew as the aftermath of a fight. The memories of the battle came back to him, the others fighting ruthlessly alongside him in the barren rocky desert where he now sits. The weight of the battle overtakes his bones, and he lays down a little more, propped up only by his elbows.

A shadow towers over him, and soon a hand is offered to him. There's not a pair of gloves on the hand likes he's used to, but at least the ring is still where it always is. He stares openly at Cookie, the girl saying nothing, just flashing him a smile as their hand's slot neatly together. It feels weird, to see Cookie smile rather than smirk, or grin. She looks happier, in a way. Cookie pulls him to his feet, their hands still clasped together as they stand, the others crowding around them with adrenaline filled laughter.

"Jay."

He felt his own laughter bubbling up in his chest, threatening to escape, and he let his shoulders drop, the tension bleeding out of him.

"Jay."

In the end, he did laugh, satisfaction rolling off him in waves, and he had no hope of fighting off the bright smile that filled his expression. In truth, he didn't want to.

It felt good to save the world.

"Jay."

His eyes fly open, senses immediately being assaulted with the heavy scent of cigars and bitter alcohol, and a soreness in his arms. His head rested against his arms, folded over the counter of a dark wood, cedar smelling bar.

Ty hovered over him from the other side of the bar, head tilted curiously and uniform stretching across their skin, mask over their eyes and earrings glinting in the light. 

"Jay?" They said again, watching as he groggily pulled his head from the counter, squinting at the rows of alcohol on shelves across the bar and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"It's time. We should go." Ty said, giving him a once over before deciding he was okay, and turning away. He didn't say anything, just slid off his stool, boots falling heavily on the wooden floor, and headed for the stairs to the roof with Ty and Cookie walking alongside him.

He laced his fingers together, raising his arms above his head and stretching his back, the pull of fabric shifting a few of the blades hidden within the folds of his clothing.

Ty and Cookie both watched him fondly, Cookie fidgeting with a lighter as she spoke.

"Hope you realize we're fucking late." She didn't seem too concerned about it, just clicking the lighter on and placing a cigarette between her teeth, "the others are already in position."

Right, it was his turn to orchestrate their mission, and everyone else was already ready. Most of them perched on rooftops across the city, watching over key places and waiting for their queue, by now Mary should be finished with the bombs.

"My bad," he said, tugging on the end of his glove and making sure they were on right, "I had a pretty cool dream." He couldn't find a reason not to tell them, they were a family, after all.

The stairwell was dark, and cramped for three people, so the smoke from Cookie's cigarette filled the space, but it was easily ignored, all of them used to it and far too focused to care. He could feel like anticipation rushing through his veins, ready to see how his plans all folds out, how well his game is played.

"What was it about?" Ty asked, hands raking through their hair and tightening the tie around their neck. They reached over the fix Cookie's as they spoke, but Cookie merely batted them away tie swinging loosely around her neck and threating to come undone altogether.

"We were all heroes, saving the world," he said, and he couldn't help but think of what a world like that would be like, what would be the same and what would be different.

Their feet tapped in rhythm as they all made the trip up the stairs, and Cookie barked a short laugh from behind him, "that's fucking dumb." He could practically hear her grin in her voice.

Jay scowled a little, strangely unhappy about his dream being insulted, but it fell away a second later, knowing the girl didn't mean any harm, and it was a pretty unlikely scenario anyway. The heavy metal door to the roof came into view, and he took the last few steps a little faster, pushing open the door with a loud click of the hinges.

The cold night air rushed into the stuffy staircase and washed away the scent of the bar, smelling instead like city pollution. The city spanned out before him, tall skyscrapers lining the horizon as far as the eye could see, topped with water towers and busy billboards, playing the same adds again and again. The lights in most of the office buildings were on, and the windows were little squares of illumination, preventing the city from being dark. The sky clouded with pollution, and if they had been in the county it would have been a star-filled night.

"Well then," he said, excitement rushing through his veins, he could sense the others staring out over the city behind him. Cookie was probably trying to decide which curse she should display on that large billboard once they controlled this part of the city as well. He felt his own grin pulling at his lips.

"'Let's begin."