RADIOACTIVE - THE AVENGERS

EPIGRAPH/PROLOGUE

EPIGRAPH/PROLOGUE

"god save the prom queen
teenage daydream
just another dressed up heartbreak
god save the prom queen
only eighteen
turned her tears to diamonds in her crown"
- prom queen; molly kate kestner

THE WORLD HAD given in to fire a day ago. Only the Council remained, and of the Council, only Soren and Gwen stayed behind to help what was left of Earth 888. Soren's twin sister, Sorel, had been attempting to douse the fires for as long as they burned, but she barely made a dent.
    "What are we supposed to do?" Gwen asked. The world outside the tower window was burning, the fires reaching to the seventy-fifth floor. Any survivors were hidden on the top floors, while Soren, Gwen, and Sorel took the one immediately below that, with the kitchen and weapon center.
    "There's not much we can do," Sorel said helplessly. "the fires aren't going out anytime soon, and they're only getting bigger. There are only seven people who didn't burn to death. There's nothing left to do."
   "There has to be!" Soren, desperate, hit the glass window. It shattered, the glass raining down onto the fire. "There can't be nothing. What about Russia? Or England? Or Brazil? Any word from them?"
   Gwen shook her head. "Brazil's been completely swallowed by water. Russia's frozen over. England just... disappeared off the map. The only country that isn't gone already or in chaos is Australia, and that's where Thanatos is."
    Soren stared blankly at the fires below them. "And Sabino ain't coming back, is he?"
    Sorel hugged herself. No, the water-wielder wasn't coming back anytime soon. Her brother's boyfriend had fallen to his death when they were in New Zealand and her brother had returned alone.
    Gwen pulled up a hologram, checking statuses; checking for air pockets in the fires, checking Thanatos's location. Her body went cold.
   "Guys," her voice shook. "Thanatos isn't it Australia."
    "What?" Sorel turned to the girl. Her quiver, now empty of arrows, was still strapped against her back. "What do mean he's not in Australia?"
   Soren caught sight of Gwen's face before Sorel did- ashen, white with fear. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks.
   "He's here, isn't he?" he breathed, eyes wide.
    "Smart kid." The voice rebounded off the walls, echoing through the trio's heads. Soren hoped the people upstairs hadn't heard it. "I'm here. I'm always here."
   A figure emerged from the shadowy corners. Gwen and Sorel scrambled away, towards Soren, the wind and heat at their backs through the now-empty window.
   The room, although surrounded by fire, went cold. Ice crept along the floors, stopping inches before reaching the three.
   Thanatos dragged a scythe on the ground as he strolled over contentedly, eyes dark with madness. Soren flicked his arms open and katanas whipped from his sleeves, shielding the girls. Gwen didn't have anything to fight with- her quiver was empty and her bow was on the sofa. Sorel conjured a green glow from her hands, holding them defensively in front of her chest.
    Thanatos didn't show any indication of wanting to kill them.
     But he lunged for Sorel anyway.
     Everything slowed down. Thanatos held his scythe out and Sorel lept backward to avoid it.
     She leaned backward, out into the open air, magic faltering against the wind.
     Gwen stumbled away from the window, but Soren jumped closer, holding his hand open for Sorel. He didn't think. 
    Sorel missed his hand. His body went numb. He couldn't feel the webs in his arms, nor the little incision they came out of. 
    Sorel was consumed by the fire a few seconds later. Soren didn't realize that the hoarse, broken screaming came from him. The fires grew bigger, as if fed by Sorel's death.
    Gwen sobbed into her hands and grabbed him around the waist, dragging him away from the ever-growing fires. "Come on," she cried. "we gotta get back to the Council. Come on, Soren! We can't do anything for Sorel!"
    Soren fought against her. He could save her. She had to be alive.
   But from that height, and with the fires below... there was no hope for her. She couldn't have survived. Soren shut his eyes and tried to wipe everything from his mind, even as Gwen took one of his katanas and threw it at the disappearing deity. She dragged him away from the open space- the space where, with her enhanced vision, she could see Sorel's broken and bloodied and burned body between the flames. She shoved him through the portal as soon as they got to the weapon center, and followed him in.
    Two people, two weeks.
    Two more tally marks to add to their ever-growing collections.

==
TWO YEARS LATER
=

THE YEARS HAD passed by slowly. Soren was still swallowed by Sabino and his sister's deaths, but he still jumped from dimension to dimension with one of the Council. Sometimes Gwen, sometimes Malaki (who Soren insisted take his binder off while fighting, but he never did), sometimes Emily. But they always made sure he didn't do anything stupid.
   "SOREN!" Chance bellowed down the hallway. "YOU GOT A MISSION, BITCH!"
   "I GOT A MISSION, THOT," Soren hollered back. "I'M GETTING UP!"
    Soren rolled out of bed and pulled on his skintight electric blue and yellow suit, leaving his hood down but his half-face gas mask thingy up. His muscles rippled as he swung down the hallway with the webs on his left hand (the other was primarily for his electric webs, but both could be used for both webs, he just had to use the right incision). He wasn't as ripped as Chance or Tobias, but he was lean enough.
    Everyone was sitting around in the living room when he attached himself to the ceiling. Gwen noticed his dull eyes and the bags under them; the scars on his face were darker, pinker, than usual. Still hiding from them, then.
    "Okay, prick," Ronan announced. He threw a file up into the air. Soren caught it with a web. "Thanatos is destroying other dimensions now. Since Emily and Tobias are injured, Gwen and I have been put on lockdown, and Chance and Malaki aren't as familiar with the Portal, you've been chosen! Dun dun dun!"
    Soren stared at him blankly.
   Ronan sighed and chucked a pen at him. "Just read it. Prick."
   "Asshole," Soren grumbled under his breath. Gwen didn't really understand it- Soren called Chance "thot", Chance called him "bitch". Ronan- ever true to his English heritage- called Soren "prick", Soren called him "asshole". Malaki called Soren "bastard", Soren called him "boi". Which she supposed wasn't bad. Malaki was a trans boy, after all. It made him happy.
   Soren's eyes narrowed as he stared at the file, still on the ceiling. "You can't be fucking serious," he said. Gwen's fingers twitched when his hair fell through his hood, for once not in a man bun. The man bun was cute, though. It could've turned her straight, but her little lesbian heart remained.
   "I am fucking serious," Ronan muttered. "I can't do anything 'bout it, prick."
   Soren shrugged. "Okay, then," he declared. "I'm going to Earth 22, then!" He didn't sound thrilled at all, and then Gwen realized he was going alone. He'd fall into a cold facade again.
    "You leave at 6:30 PM tomorrow," Ronan called after his retreating figure. "Be on time!"
     Soren only laughed back, a sound almost hollow but still humorous.