Chapter Text
“Y’know…” Joel mumbled as he followed the hero through the nether, “Maybe teaming up with a vigilante isn’t the smartest idea for your job…” Gem didn’t bother with a response, “If we were to get caught… it’d probably make you look really bad. Did you consider that?”
Gem stopped and sighed, “Joel, can I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” He said brightly
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
Joel just blinked at her for a moment, brows furrowing, “Well let’s think about this objectively, you’re one of the top heroes, you manage to keep your position while also maintaining your friendship with us, you’re one of the greatest fighters I know, And well, it would be a pretty dumb oversight on my part to follow you into unknown territory if I didn’t think you knew what you were doing.”
“Okay…” Gem said, “So do you think I’m stupid?”
Joel couldn’t help the grin on his face, though his mask was on, so she wouldn’t see it, “Yes.”
“Well, I guess that makes two of us then.” Gem grumbled, “Seeing as you’ve decided to follow me into unknown territory.” She continued walking
Joel rolled his eyes hurrying to catch up with her, “Well duh, Gem, that’s kind of my whole thing.”
“I know,” She hummed brightly, “Lizzie’s always complaining about your recklessness.”
“Yeah, well that’s what confuses me Gem,” Joel said quickly falling into step with her as they came upon a portal, “You’re not reckless, and yet of all the people you could’ve asked for help, you came to me?”
She sighed, stopping just in front of the portal, and turned to face him. She somehow managed to appear sheepish even with while being fully kitted out in all her gear, though, she wasn’t in her usual gear, maybe she’d gotten a new uniform. “HeroCorp doesn’t know about this.”
Joel blinked at her, “WHY?!” He asked, incredulously
“Reasons,” She said, “Regardless, I couldn’t go to them, so I’ve come to you, now would you like to know what’s going on or do you want to go in blind.”
Joel briefly considered trying to push for more answers, but decided against it, “I’d like to know what’s going on.” He said finally.
“A couple months ago, I came upon this weird underground lab, I did some investigating, and well, they’re messing with mobs, Joel. They were working with illegal items and performing illegal experiments.” She paused for a moment, catching her breath. “I did some more investigating, to see if there were any other labs set up, y’know, trying to see what I was dealing with…”
“And?” Joel prompted
“There’s only one establishment, this is the portal it’s connected to.”
Joel frowned, “Just out in the open like this?” He questioned, “Wouldn’t the big bads try to hide it?”
Gem turned away from the portal and stared at him for a moment. “Joel, have you looked at the portal?”
“Well of course I’ve looked at the portal Gem it’s right in front of m- oh.”
“Yeah,” Gem snarked, “ Oh ”
Apparently, Joel hadn’t looked at the portal, because branded into the obsidian, coated in expensive-looking silver coating to stand out from the black were the words, “Property of HeroCorp Executives”
Joel was starting to understand why Gem couldn’t tell the heroes about this.
“Well…” He started, “If teaming up with me was bad for your job, then raiding this is surely going to lead to you losing your job and being shunned by the media.”
“I know…” Gem snapped
“Usually… a hero in your shoes would opt to look the other way, and pretend like they never saw this.”
“I know!” She groaned, “But I can’t just stand there knowing that this exists and doing nothing about it!”
“I know.” Joel said gently, “That’s why you’re a good hero.”
Gem looked at the portal again, the deep purples painting her in an almost sinister light.
“I’m not a hero today.” She said calmly.
“Okay,” Joel said, “Not that that wasn’t totally badass, but what am I supposed to call you then?”
“Medea,” She said simply.
“Okay, and one more thing before we go in.”
“Yes?” Gem asked, and Joel could tell she was on edge
“Look, don’t get it twisted, I’d love to burn up some corrupt HeroCorp buildings, but what’s stopping them from starting again? I mean, as long as they aren’t exposed they can start over, and their PR team is fucking insane.”
Gem’s hand dropped down to a pocket in her belt, “Let me handle that.”
And without another word, she stepped through the portal. Joel had no choice but to follow.
Joel would forever despise going through portals. They always left him feeling light-headed, the only thing he could really compare it to was the way he felt when Etho teleported him anywhere. It was not a good feeling.
Gem seemed to be unaffected by the portal effects, (Joel totally wasn’t jealous) she leaned against the portal, waiting for him to gain his bearings.
The portal had led to a… rather boring room, it was completely surrounded by stone, and standing opposite from the two of them was a single iron door.
“How much do you wanna bet that it’s locked with some fancy redstone code?”
“Redstone code, motion-sensor lasers, ai-powered video cameras… yknow how it is.”
“Ai powered cameras?”
On cue, two cameras that joel could’ve sworn hadn’t been there a moment ago appeared and turned to face them, coming, uncomfortably close.”
Joel stiffened slightly, “Ve-Medea, what are they doing?”
“Identification,” The camera on the right droned, causing Joel to jump.
“Checking if we’re intruders,” Gem mumbled.” Then, faster than Joel could process, she swung her sword down onto the wiring connecting the camera to the wall. The two pieces fell to the ground, wires sparking with electric red energy. Small bits of redstone dust fell to the ground around the spot where the camera was cut.
The other camera’s lens started flashing red, “alert, there’s a breach in the system, alert, alert ther-” Joel quickly put an end to that, zapping the camera with a lighting bolt.
“I thought you said there were motion-sensing lasers?”
“They’re powered off when the cameras are out.” Gem explained, “The lasers are there if intruders try to make a run for it.
“Toward the door, or away from it?” Joel asked, figuring he already knew the answer
“Yes,” Gem replied, “But I think your lighting might be able to mess with the system.
“Probably,” Joel murmured, summoning a lot of lightning between his hands, “I suggest you close your eyes,” Whether Gem complied or not, he didn’t know, because she had a mask on. He’d just have to hope she did. “Oh, and before you do that, come stand next to me, like as close as possible.”
She did comply with this request.
He took a deep breath, focusing on the lightning between his hands, “Your eyes better be closed,” He hissed before he spread his hands out letting the lightning form a cocoon around them, ricocheting across the the floor, the ceiling, and the walls.
The lasers went off, firing randomly, trying to figure out where the threat was. Joel summoned more lightning, bringing it in a tighter circle around the two of them, shielding them from any stray lasers. As Gem had guessed, they got confused by all of the lightning and the movement, and one by one, just as suddenly as they started, they stopped. Joel kept the lightning for a couple more moments for good measure, only stopping once he was sure that no more lasers would go off.
“You can open your eyes now.”
“Thanks,” Gem said, “now blast down the door.”
Joel grinned, “I thought you’d never ask,” he said rubbing his hands together, “Stand back.”
Once he was sure Gem was safely back by the portal, Joel summoned the lighting again. He channeled it in his hands and sent a huge lightning strike against the door.
The room was very quickly starting to smell like smoke, but on the bright side, there was a huge hole in the door now.
“There you go,” He said to Gem, “A first-class ticket to justice-shall-be-served-bitches-town.”
“Thank you,” Gem said, “I’ll be sure to leave you a five-star review.” She then slipped through the hole.
Joel quickly followed.
They appeared in a room that looked just like any other lab that Joel had ever been to (Joel had never been to a lab). There were a bunch of desks set up in orderly rows, all covered in a bunch of random items and vials of liquids that Joel couldn’t recognize the contents of.
He heard Gem suck in a breath, and he looked to find that she had stopped in front of one of the desks.
“Stratos?” She whispered, “Come here,”
He hurried to her side, frowning upon what he saw.
There was a weird, cage-like box set on the desk, it was about the size of a volleyball. In the middle of it was a weird substance. It looked like a liquid, but it sloshed around almost angrily as if it was trying to escape. Occasionally little bits of liquid would slip through the cracks of the box, but they’d quickly recede back inside with a small hissing sound, as if leaving the box was hurting the substance.
“It’s like it’s… alive” Joel mumbled.
“Like it’s a caged animal,” Gem agreed. Joel could hear the pain in her voice
“What do you think it is?” Joel asked quietly
Gem didn’t answer
“Dea?” He asked, he hadn’t missed the way she’d addressed him by his alias earlier.
She gestured to the book that was set right next to the box, it wasn’t anything special, just a small leatherbound notebook. But it felt wrong.
Joel hesitantly reached out, intending to grab the book, he looked at Gem for a moment, she nodded, though she looked troubled.
He picked up the book and flipped through the pages. The handwriting was messy as if the person had been trying to get all their thoughts down quickly. He skimmed through the pages, trying to pick up on anything that could give them an idea of whatever that thing was.
He stopped on a page that had a diagram of the cage box, underneath it, scrawled in bold handwriting, were the words mob-spawner.
“Mob-spawner?” Gem said, evidently horrified.
“Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds,” Joel offered, “Let’s see, um, a concoction that can be mixed with specific ingredients to create the desired- okay never mind, it’s bad.”
Suddenly, they heard the click of a lock opening, Joel hastily through the notebook back on the desk, he and Gem came back to back with one another.
The door opened, revealing a woman in a white lab coat, she frowned at the two of them, “I’m sorry, but unauthorized persons aren’t allowed in this research center.”