Origin Stories [4/7] - Lost - Kate/Kevin/Sawyer
Title: Origin Stories [4/7]
Pairing: Kate/Kevin/Sawyer (and combinations thereof)
Word Count: 2890
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Superhero!AU. Thank you to babylon_pride for betaing.
Previously: Part One :: Part Two :: Part Three
Summary: By day, Kevin Callis is an unnoticeable police officer, up-holding the law and too committed to his job to hold down a relationship; by night, The Captain emerges to help where the law can't. When he becomes entangled in the plot of a pair of supervillains, the line between his two identities begins to blur.
He came to with his head swimming and pins and needles shooting up and down his arm. "Captain," an accented voice said as a warm hand shook his shoulder to wake him up. "Captain, I need you to wake up now."
His vision swirled as he blinked hastily and opened his eyes. The basement. He was still in the basement.
"Captain."
Groaning, he pushed himself upright and fought against the nausea that took the opportunity to spike its way through him. Reaching up, he felt a strip of material tied around his eyes, protecting his identity: his mask. They'd given him back his mask. He didn't know when Kate and Sawyer had done it, but they must have before they...
Before they what?
"What happened?" he asked, getting to his feet with the help of the man that had woken him. He blinked at him, frowned as he recognised him. "Jarrah?"
Chief of Police, Sayid Jarrah, had come here personally for him? How did that even work? Kevin didn't like to admit it to himself any more than he absolutely had to, but he wasn't exactly a big shot when it came to the Capeing profession. He did what he could, but there was no media frenzy over his exploits, no one there to take photographs when he rescued innocents. And that was okay. That was good. He wasn't flashy like the others, but he was a small fish in a big pond and guys like him didn't tend to get the Chief of Police turning up to their rescue.
"We were hoping that you might be able to tell us that," Jarrah answered gently. He helped Kevin get to his feet, his strong hands on Kevin's arms keeping him upright. "We received a phone call an hour ago telling us to come to this address."
"Snake Tongue and Lightning Strike," Kevin said fuzzily. "They've been kidnapping Capes."
"We know."
"Do you know why? 'cause I sure don't."
Jarrah's frown deepened and he looked away from Kevin, no answers forthcoming. Maybe Kevin shouldn't have expected any - maybe there just weren't any. It wasn't as if villains were known for being rational, was it? They liked chaos, they liked upset, they liked pain. Maybe...
No. He couldn't believe that. Not of Monica - Kate - and not of Sawyer.
"They're gone now," Jarrah said eventually. "You don't need to worry any more, Captain. I don't think they will trouble you again."
"Good. That's... good." He still needed to know what had happened, though, why this had happened. "Have you found the others?"
"The other heroes?" Sayid asked. Kevin nodded. "Yes, we've found most of them. You needn't worry."
"Most?" Kevin asked. "Who's still missing?"
Sayid's expression twitched uncomfortably, as if he felt that he'd revealed too much. His eyes slipped away to glance into the distance at the plain wall behind Kevin. "Their demands when they were in contact with us was for an exchange. They would offer safety of their captives if we would arrange a meeting with Scalpel Man."
Scalpel Man. The most widely-known and widely-celebrated hero there was.
"He didn't do it, did he?" Kevin asked, quietly horrified. "He wouldn't be that stupid."
But he was a hero and Kevin had to admit that his profession weren't exactly known for their brains. They were known for their blind courage and good luck. And, of course, for their faintly ridiculous names and costumes.
"We lost contact with him an hour ago," Sayid admitted reluctantly. "He has not checked in recently."
"Shit." Kevin rubbed his hand over his face, pinching his temples as he tried to think. Scalpel Man? What the hell would they have wanted with him? Why- Why any of it? Why toy with them like this? They weren't needlessly cruel, were they? "We have to- We have to go after them, don't we? I mean, they couldn't have gone that far. If I just-"
"You are going to do nothing," Sayid said. "Go home. Rest. You have been held hostage for three weeks, Captain. Leave this in our hands. I assure you, they will not get away with what they've done."
And Kevin believed him. It wasn't like he had a choice anyway, but there was a silent strength in the man's brown eyes that said that he was a lot more capable than Kevin was of tracking down this pair of crooks.
"I'd like you to go to the hospital," Jarrah said, dark eyes heavy and worried.
"'m fine."
"I'm sure you feel that way." He gave a smile, soft and indulgent. A pretty thing. For anyone else, maybe that would've been soothing but Kevin was already shaking his head. "Captain, you have been down here for a long time. At the very least you should allow a doctor to give you a check-up."
"No. No hospitals. No check-ups."
He just got his mask back. He wasn't about to put his identity at risk any more than he had to. Already he was wondering how he was going to explain why he'd disappeared from work for several weeks with no notice. He was probably gonna get fired, wasn't he? Damn it. The stress and distress caused his expression to twinge unhappily.
Sayid's face softened sympathetically. "Promise me, then," he said. "Once you've returned to your home, promise me that you will seek medical assistance."
Head to the doctor as Kevin Callis instead of The Captain, in other words. Pretend he'd been ill for a few weeks. Pretend he was normal.
Pretending.
Yeah, he could do that. His whole goddamn life was made up from doing that, so it wasn't too hard to fuzzily shake his head. "Sure," he said. "I promise."
Sayid's mouth twitched, possibly a smile or possibly a frown. "In that case I think I should send you home," he suggested. "I am glad to see you alive, Captain. We were worried."
"I'm sure you were, Chief," Kevin said, unable to stop the disbelieving laugh. "I'm sure you were."
He had to walk past stern-faced police officers as he made his way up those wooden steps, out of the basement, into the brightly lit kitchen. Some of them were his friends, were people he worked with, were people who must've been worried about him as Kevin but not as the Captain. Must've been wondering what could have happened to cause a nice, steady guy to just up and disappear one day. No reason.
He nodded at them and received little response. A cautious smile, maybe.
Walking through the quiet hallway it felt like this was all a dream, like one blink later he'd open his eyes back in that basement - locked away in the dark and wondering what the villains were going to do to him next. He pushed the front door open and stepped outside into fresh air and sunshine. Smiling, he looked around at the world, his eyes crinkled to protect himself from the harsh glare of the sun. It'd been so long since he'd last been out in the natural light like this.
He looked up at the perfect blue sky above him. Beautiful. This whole world was so beautiful, damn it.
He flexed his hands - he could feel the strength there again. Alive and pumping through his veins. Fuelling him onwards.
Onwards. Upwards.
The smile never dipped from his face as he kicked off against the ground. Dirt flew beneath his feet and then he was gone - the world fading below him as he soared through the air, higher and higher, defying gravity and laughing in its face as he swept up to heights no man should have reached.
He turned and twisted in midair, the breeze playing by his fingers and whistling through his hair. Felt amazing. So cold, so cool, so fresh. God, it'd been so long. Beneath him, the houses looked tiny, like child's toys as he soared above them. Green lawns stretched before the cutesy houses. Suburban. Cute. Ordinary. Looking into the distance, Kevin could see the tall buildings that made up the town he'd come from. He'd missed that place, he realised as the nostalgia stung at his chest.
Gritting his teeth, he urged himself to speed up - he needed to get there. Needed to get home. More than that, too, he needed to pick up the phone and call his mother, let her know that he was okay.
When he reached the city, he weaved through the high-rising buildings. Below him on the pavement he could see civilians looking up at him, pointing in wonder. Even in a city as infested with Capes as this one, seeing a flying man was still something to remember. Raising one hand he waved down at them - remembering his childhood when he'd looked up to the sky and told himself that one day that'd be him up there.
He touched down a few blocks from his own apartment, his feet skidding along the ground to an uncomfortable landing. He'd never been able to get the hang of landing - and it seemed that all that time without any practice had left him a little rusty. Skidding forward, he made himself stop by resting his hands against the wall of the alleyway, the bricks cool beneath his palms. The sight of this place made it impossible to stop smiling: how many times had he been here? How many times had he struggled not to fall on his ass as he touched down?
Reaching behind his head, he found the knot that kept his mask on and untied it so that the red roll of material fell passively into his hands. Silky and smooth, he ran it through his fingers thoughtfully as he took a moment to catch his breath. It'd been too long. He didn't even know how an ordinary man started on getting over the kind of things that had happened to him.
Didn't matter. He'd cope. He always did.
He tucked the mask into the back pocket of his trousers and walked unsteadily from the alleyway, his head tilted down to allow him to stare at the pavement. Bits of gum littered the sidewalk and there were assorted cracks lining the concrete. Normal. It was all so normal, wasn't it?
'Normal' was exactly what he needed right about now.
He reached the tall, anonymous building that housed his apartment and found himself fumbling in his pockets for his keys: it was a surprise to find them, actually, a pleasant one. All the same, he reminded himself to ask his landlord if he could get the locks changed. Lightning Strike and Snake Tongue - Monica and Sawyer; Kate and James - had had far too many opportunities to make copies during the time that had passed. He didn't too much like the idea of the pair of them being able to waltz on into his home any time that they felt like giving him a visit.
The apartment was cold when he let himself in, having stood dormant for so long, but it was exactly how he'd left it. He stepped over a pile of bills and junk mail that had started to gather on the floor by the door and looked around in wonder as he closed the door behind him and hung his keys up on the hook. Home...
He shook his head in disbelief and felt like he ought to start laughing or crying - it was a damn toss-up trying to work out which. Home - he'd actually made it.
*
In no time at all, it seemed, his life slipped back to normal. At work half the time - he'd had to apologise to his superior, and it had been a hard-run thing to see if he'd get to keep his job at all - and fighting crime in his own way the other half. Keepin' himself busy, that was all. Just keeping busy... He kept his eye on the papers and followed the superhero gossip blogs online: never quite admitted to himself what he was looking for, but his heart always sank when there was no mention of the pair he was looking for in those bitchy headlines.
He fiddled with the mask covering his eyes and checked that his red cape was still attached, draping over his broad shoulders as he strode forward along the dark street towards the town hall. Already he wished that this night was over: these monthly meetings were always an awkward affair. Sure, he knew that it was a smart idea to meet up with other heroes and keep each other informed of what they were up to, but- Well. Ordinary people didn't go into this business. You had to be pretty damn screwed in the head to begin with to want to don a costume to fight the evils of this world. It made for some pretty awkward meet-ups, that was for certain.
He approached the side door and rapped a rapid pattern on it with his knuckles. Secret knocks and hidden hideouts... It all felt like they were back at school, like this was all a game to them. Kevin felt the phantom of handcuffs around his wrists and it was hard not to shiver: it had stopped being a game for him, hadn't it? It had all become so real.
The door opened, just a crack, as someone inside peered out to see who it was. A beat passed, long enough for Kevin to look around uncomfortably, before the door swung open wide enough for him to slip through into the dimly lit room behind it. "Hey, Captain," the hero welcomed him, clapping a hand against his back.
It took his eyes a moment or two to adjust to the light, but once he had he recognised the distinctive costume of one of the more recent Capes to come onto the scene, Rock God. Distinctive voice, too, and his bizarre power to render villains motionless with the sound of his singing voice had come in handy on the occasions that they'd teamed up.
"Glad to have you back," Rock God said sincerely, smiling at him as his blue eyes looked sympathetically from behind the black mask that covered them.
Kevin nodded as he walked along the back corridor. "Believe me," he said, "it's good to be here."
"We all heard what had happened," the hero explained. "Me and a couple of the others tried to round up a team to come and rescue you guys, but..."
"We got out eventually," Kevin interrupted. He didn't need to hear excuses or apologies - and, god, he didn't want to either. "None of it matters now."
"Yeah, well - stick around after the meeting, okay?" he said mysteriously, with a quirk of his smile before he opened the door that led to their group meeting: a small room with plastic chairs arranged in a circle. There were already about ten or so people milling around inside in a vibrant collection of coloured Lycra.
Leaving Rock God's side, Kevin milled over to the chair he usually sat in. He checked the large clock that sat on the wall - he wasn't early, wasn't late. The meeting would no doubt be starting soon, and he was certain that it couldn't be over soon enough. Already his skin itched with the desire to get out of this place. It smelled as bad as a fan convention, too many unwashed bodies cramped into one place.
A few more brightly coloured individuals arrived, muttering their apologies as they scurried inside, but before too long the clock hit seven and the Great White Hunter stood up. He wasn't a physically imposing man, with his entire head and face covered with a pale green mask, but he exuded an air of calm and control at all times that Kevin couldn't help but envy. He'd give a lot to be able to face what they faced and still remain that serene.
Not to mention, the Hunter was the only Cape he knew of who possessed no supernatural ability at all. No powers to aid him along; just skill and wits. Damn admirable. Having suffered through the loss of his powers just a short while ago... Well, Kevin could certainly say that his respect for the man had sky-rocketed. The Great White Hunter stood up and made sure that his cape hung smooth behind him by flicking his hands behind his back, folding them there as he looked around the group gathered before him with eyes that held all the hope and madness needed to fuel a hero. Behind his facemask, Kevin was sure he was smiling.
"Welcome to December's meeting, folks," the hero said. Despite the obstruction of the material over his mouth it was possible to hear his voice perfectly. "I think we should all take a chance to welcome back the Captain and the Ice Queen. They've had a hard ordeal these past few weeks - we all know about it. We all watch the news. So let's give them a round of applause."
The clapping hands, it had to be said, were somewhat half-hearted. Kevin sank lower in his seat and saw the blush on the young woman's face across the circle. Kevin gave a small nod to acknowledge the gesture from the group, then hunched down a little further on his plastic seat in a fruitless attempt to manage to hide from the attention entirely.
"Now, to get back to the main topic at hand..." The Great White Hunter said, taking mercy on them by not allowing this to be drawn out any further than it had to be.
The topics span away, congratulations were passed around as the news was given about certain villains being reprimanded or about new heroes entering the fold. Never-ending cycle. There would always be villains; always be heroes. Always be good; always be evil. Sometimes the fight felt so futile that Kevin wondered why any of them even bothered - especially now, as he looked around at the faces of those in the circle who were struggling to pay attention. Were they really making any difference?
And after meeting Sawyer and Monica... How could he still cling to his black and white view on the world? How could he trick himself into believing that their hearts were black and empty?
He leaned back in his chair, barely paying attention as he lost himself in his thoughts and prayed for the meeting to be over soon.
Part Five
Pairing: Kate/Kevin/Sawyer (and combinations thereof)
Word Count: 2890
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Superhero!AU. Thank you to babylon_pride for betaing.
Previously: Part One :: Part Two :: Part Three
Summary: By day, Kevin Callis is an unnoticeable police officer, up-holding the law and too committed to his job to hold down a relationship; by night, The Captain emerges to help where the law can't. When he becomes entangled in the plot of a pair of supervillains, the line between his two identities begins to blur.
He came to with his head swimming and pins and needles shooting up and down his arm. "Captain," an accented voice said as a warm hand shook his shoulder to wake him up. "Captain, I need you to wake up now."
His vision swirled as he blinked hastily and opened his eyes. The basement. He was still in the basement.
"Captain."
Groaning, he pushed himself upright and fought against the nausea that took the opportunity to spike its way through him. Reaching up, he felt a strip of material tied around his eyes, protecting his identity: his mask. They'd given him back his mask. He didn't know when Kate and Sawyer had done it, but they must have before they...
Before they what?
"What happened?" he asked, getting to his feet with the help of the man that had woken him. He blinked at him, frowned as he recognised him. "Jarrah?"
Chief of Police, Sayid Jarrah, had come here personally for him? How did that even work? Kevin didn't like to admit it to himself any more than he absolutely had to, but he wasn't exactly a big shot when it came to the Capeing profession. He did what he could, but there was no media frenzy over his exploits, no one there to take photographs when he rescued innocents. And that was okay. That was good. He wasn't flashy like the others, but he was a small fish in a big pond and guys like him didn't tend to get the Chief of Police turning up to their rescue.
"We were hoping that you might be able to tell us that," Jarrah answered gently. He helped Kevin get to his feet, his strong hands on Kevin's arms keeping him upright. "We received a phone call an hour ago telling us to come to this address."
"Snake Tongue and Lightning Strike," Kevin said fuzzily. "They've been kidnapping Capes."
"We know."
"Do you know why? 'cause I sure don't."
Jarrah's frown deepened and he looked away from Kevin, no answers forthcoming. Maybe Kevin shouldn't have expected any - maybe there just weren't any. It wasn't as if villains were known for being rational, was it? They liked chaos, they liked upset, they liked pain. Maybe...
No. He couldn't believe that. Not of Monica - Kate - and not of Sawyer.
"They're gone now," Jarrah said eventually. "You don't need to worry any more, Captain. I don't think they will trouble you again."
"Good. That's... good." He still needed to know what had happened, though, why this had happened. "Have you found the others?"
"The other heroes?" Sayid asked. Kevin nodded. "Yes, we've found most of them. You needn't worry."
"Most?" Kevin asked. "Who's still missing?"
Sayid's expression twitched uncomfortably, as if he felt that he'd revealed too much. His eyes slipped away to glance into the distance at the plain wall behind Kevin. "Their demands when they were in contact with us was for an exchange. They would offer safety of their captives if we would arrange a meeting with Scalpel Man."
Scalpel Man. The most widely-known and widely-celebrated hero there was.
"He didn't do it, did he?" Kevin asked, quietly horrified. "He wouldn't be that stupid."
But he was a hero and Kevin had to admit that his profession weren't exactly known for their brains. They were known for their blind courage and good luck. And, of course, for their faintly ridiculous names and costumes.
"We lost contact with him an hour ago," Sayid admitted reluctantly. "He has not checked in recently."
"Shit." Kevin rubbed his hand over his face, pinching his temples as he tried to think. Scalpel Man? What the hell would they have wanted with him? Why- Why any of it? Why toy with them like this? They weren't needlessly cruel, were they? "We have to- We have to go after them, don't we? I mean, they couldn't have gone that far. If I just-"
"You are going to do nothing," Sayid said. "Go home. Rest. You have been held hostage for three weeks, Captain. Leave this in our hands. I assure you, they will not get away with what they've done."
And Kevin believed him. It wasn't like he had a choice anyway, but there was a silent strength in the man's brown eyes that said that he was a lot more capable than Kevin was of tracking down this pair of crooks.
"I'd like you to go to the hospital," Jarrah said, dark eyes heavy and worried.
"'m fine."
"I'm sure you feel that way." He gave a smile, soft and indulgent. A pretty thing. For anyone else, maybe that would've been soothing but Kevin was already shaking his head. "Captain, you have been down here for a long time. At the very least you should allow a doctor to give you a check-up."
"No. No hospitals. No check-ups."
He just got his mask back. He wasn't about to put his identity at risk any more than he had to. Already he was wondering how he was going to explain why he'd disappeared from work for several weeks with no notice. He was probably gonna get fired, wasn't he? Damn it. The stress and distress caused his expression to twinge unhappily.
Sayid's face softened sympathetically. "Promise me, then," he said. "Once you've returned to your home, promise me that you will seek medical assistance."
Head to the doctor as Kevin Callis instead of The Captain, in other words. Pretend he'd been ill for a few weeks. Pretend he was normal.
Pretending.
Yeah, he could do that. His whole goddamn life was made up from doing that, so it wasn't too hard to fuzzily shake his head. "Sure," he said. "I promise."
Sayid's mouth twitched, possibly a smile or possibly a frown. "In that case I think I should send you home," he suggested. "I am glad to see you alive, Captain. We were worried."
"I'm sure you were, Chief," Kevin said, unable to stop the disbelieving laugh. "I'm sure you were."
He had to walk past stern-faced police officers as he made his way up those wooden steps, out of the basement, into the brightly lit kitchen. Some of them were his friends, were people he worked with, were people who must've been worried about him as Kevin but not as the Captain. Must've been wondering what could have happened to cause a nice, steady guy to just up and disappear one day. No reason.
He nodded at them and received little response. A cautious smile, maybe.
Walking through the quiet hallway it felt like this was all a dream, like one blink later he'd open his eyes back in that basement - locked away in the dark and wondering what the villains were going to do to him next. He pushed the front door open and stepped outside into fresh air and sunshine. Smiling, he looked around at the world, his eyes crinkled to protect himself from the harsh glare of the sun. It'd been so long since he'd last been out in the natural light like this.
He looked up at the perfect blue sky above him. Beautiful. This whole world was so beautiful, damn it.
He flexed his hands - he could feel the strength there again. Alive and pumping through his veins. Fuelling him onwards.
Onwards. Upwards.
The smile never dipped from his face as he kicked off against the ground. Dirt flew beneath his feet and then he was gone - the world fading below him as he soared through the air, higher and higher, defying gravity and laughing in its face as he swept up to heights no man should have reached.
He turned and twisted in midair, the breeze playing by his fingers and whistling through his hair. Felt amazing. So cold, so cool, so fresh. God, it'd been so long. Beneath him, the houses looked tiny, like child's toys as he soared above them. Green lawns stretched before the cutesy houses. Suburban. Cute. Ordinary. Looking into the distance, Kevin could see the tall buildings that made up the town he'd come from. He'd missed that place, he realised as the nostalgia stung at his chest.
Gritting his teeth, he urged himself to speed up - he needed to get there. Needed to get home. More than that, too, he needed to pick up the phone and call his mother, let her know that he was okay.
When he reached the city, he weaved through the high-rising buildings. Below him on the pavement he could see civilians looking up at him, pointing in wonder. Even in a city as infested with Capes as this one, seeing a flying man was still something to remember. Raising one hand he waved down at them - remembering his childhood when he'd looked up to the sky and told himself that one day that'd be him up there.
He touched down a few blocks from his own apartment, his feet skidding along the ground to an uncomfortable landing. He'd never been able to get the hang of landing - and it seemed that all that time without any practice had left him a little rusty. Skidding forward, he made himself stop by resting his hands against the wall of the alleyway, the bricks cool beneath his palms. The sight of this place made it impossible to stop smiling: how many times had he been here? How many times had he struggled not to fall on his ass as he touched down?
Reaching behind his head, he found the knot that kept his mask on and untied it so that the red roll of material fell passively into his hands. Silky and smooth, he ran it through his fingers thoughtfully as he took a moment to catch his breath. It'd been too long. He didn't even know how an ordinary man started on getting over the kind of things that had happened to him.
Didn't matter. He'd cope. He always did.
He tucked the mask into the back pocket of his trousers and walked unsteadily from the alleyway, his head tilted down to allow him to stare at the pavement. Bits of gum littered the sidewalk and there were assorted cracks lining the concrete. Normal. It was all so normal, wasn't it?
'Normal' was exactly what he needed right about now.
He reached the tall, anonymous building that housed his apartment and found himself fumbling in his pockets for his keys: it was a surprise to find them, actually, a pleasant one. All the same, he reminded himself to ask his landlord if he could get the locks changed. Lightning Strike and Snake Tongue - Monica and Sawyer; Kate and James - had had far too many opportunities to make copies during the time that had passed. He didn't too much like the idea of the pair of them being able to waltz on into his home any time that they felt like giving him a visit.
The apartment was cold when he let himself in, having stood dormant for so long, but it was exactly how he'd left it. He stepped over a pile of bills and junk mail that had started to gather on the floor by the door and looked around in wonder as he closed the door behind him and hung his keys up on the hook. Home...
He shook his head in disbelief and felt like he ought to start laughing or crying - it was a damn toss-up trying to work out which. Home - he'd actually made it.
*
In no time at all, it seemed, his life slipped back to normal. At work half the time - he'd had to apologise to his superior, and it had been a hard-run thing to see if he'd get to keep his job at all - and fighting crime in his own way the other half. Keepin' himself busy, that was all. Just keeping busy... He kept his eye on the papers and followed the superhero gossip blogs online: never quite admitted to himself what he was looking for, but his heart always sank when there was no mention of the pair he was looking for in those bitchy headlines.
He fiddled with the mask covering his eyes and checked that his red cape was still attached, draping over his broad shoulders as he strode forward along the dark street towards the town hall. Already he wished that this night was over: these monthly meetings were always an awkward affair. Sure, he knew that it was a smart idea to meet up with other heroes and keep each other informed of what they were up to, but- Well. Ordinary people didn't go into this business. You had to be pretty damn screwed in the head to begin with to want to don a costume to fight the evils of this world. It made for some pretty awkward meet-ups, that was for certain.
He approached the side door and rapped a rapid pattern on it with his knuckles. Secret knocks and hidden hideouts... It all felt like they were back at school, like this was all a game to them. Kevin felt the phantom of handcuffs around his wrists and it was hard not to shiver: it had stopped being a game for him, hadn't it? It had all become so real.
The door opened, just a crack, as someone inside peered out to see who it was. A beat passed, long enough for Kevin to look around uncomfortably, before the door swung open wide enough for him to slip through into the dimly lit room behind it. "Hey, Captain," the hero welcomed him, clapping a hand against his back.
It took his eyes a moment or two to adjust to the light, but once he had he recognised the distinctive costume of one of the more recent Capes to come onto the scene, Rock God. Distinctive voice, too, and his bizarre power to render villains motionless with the sound of his singing voice had come in handy on the occasions that they'd teamed up.
"Glad to have you back," Rock God said sincerely, smiling at him as his blue eyes looked sympathetically from behind the black mask that covered them.
Kevin nodded as he walked along the back corridor. "Believe me," he said, "it's good to be here."
"We all heard what had happened," the hero explained. "Me and a couple of the others tried to round up a team to come and rescue you guys, but..."
"We got out eventually," Kevin interrupted. He didn't need to hear excuses or apologies - and, god, he didn't want to either. "None of it matters now."
"Yeah, well - stick around after the meeting, okay?" he said mysteriously, with a quirk of his smile before he opened the door that led to their group meeting: a small room with plastic chairs arranged in a circle. There were already about ten or so people milling around inside in a vibrant collection of coloured Lycra.
Leaving Rock God's side, Kevin milled over to the chair he usually sat in. He checked the large clock that sat on the wall - he wasn't early, wasn't late. The meeting would no doubt be starting soon, and he was certain that it couldn't be over soon enough. Already his skin itched with the desire to get out of this place. It smelled as bad as a fan convention, too many unwashed bodies cramped into one place.
A few more brightly coloured individuals arrived, muttering their apologies as they scurried inside, but before too long the clock hit seven and the Great White Hunter stood up. He wasn't a physically imposing man, with his entire head and face covered with a pale green mask, but he exuded an air of calm and control at all times that Kevin couldn't help but envy. He'd give a lot to be able to face what they faced and still remain that serene.
Not to mention, the Hunter was the only Cape he knew of who possessed no supernatural ability at all. No powers to aid him along; just skill and wits. Damn admirable. Having suffered through the loss of his powers just a short while ago... Well, Kevin could certainly say that his respect for the man had sky-rocketed. The Great White Hunter stood up and made sure that his cape hung smooth behind him by flicking his hands behind his back, folding them there as he looked around the group gathered before him with eyes that held all the hope and madness needed to fuel a hero. Behind his facemask, Kevin was sure he was smiling.
"Welcome to December's meeting, folks," the hero said. Despite the obstruction of the material over his mouth it was possible to hear his voice perfectly. "I think we should all take a chance to welcome back the Captain and the Ice Queen. They've had a hard ordeal these past few weeks - we all know about it. We all watch the news. So let's give them a round of applause."
The clapping hands, it had to be said, were somewhat half-hearted. Kevin sank lower in his seat and saw the blush on the young woman's face across the circle. Kevin gave a small nod to acknowledge the gesture from the group, then hunched down a little further on his plastic seat in a fruitless attempt to manage to hide from the attention entirely.
"Now, to get back to the main topic at hand..." The Great White Hunter said, taking mercy on them by not allowing this to be drawn out any further than it had to be.
The topics span away, congratulations were passed around as the news was given about certain villains being reprimanded or about new heroes entering the fold. Never-ending cycle. There would always be villains; always be heroes. Always be good; always be evil. Sometimes the fight felt so futile that Kevin wondered why any of them even bothered - especially now, as he looked around at the faces of those in the circle who were struggling to pay attention. Were they really making any difference?
And after meeting Sawyer and Monica... How could he still cling to his black and white view on the world? How could he trick himself into believing that their hearts were black and empty?
He leaned back in his chair, barely paying attention as he lost himself in his thoughts and prayed for the meeting to be over soon.
Part Five