Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The cold steel of his metallic wings burned into the back of his spine. Centross stared forward, directly at the armored woman standing in front of him.

“This mission,” Perix spoke, stepping closer to the reaper. “Is crucial. For you. For me. For this cause.” Centross remained unmoving. “Isla Morningstar. Tonight she should have samples of the mind medicine on her. We need it. You—“ Perix shoved a pair of twin daggers into Centross’ hands. “—will be the one to get it. No one should see you. I want no witnesses. You hear me?”

Centross nodded once, looking down at the daggers in hand. Obsidian blades. ⍀⟒⏃⌿⟒⍀ carved into one, ⎐⟟⍜⌰⟒⋏☊⟒ etched into the other. Reaper and violence.

It was dark by the time he was sent out. And cold. The metal of his wings on his back and from his arm bound to his shoulder and of his mask pressed to his face felt like it was freezing his already cold body. He flew low, carefully weaving in and out of the way the of trees he was hiding in.

There was a beeping in his earpiece as he came to a halting stop on the branch of a tree. He checked a dim projection casted from a computer within his prosthetic arm. A shot of a clear, open road. Dim streetlights shifted the moonlight from a blue to a gold glow. He could hear the car before seeing it on the road. He took off before seeing it as well.

The car was barely a mile down the road by the time he got to the end of the forest. The dagger in his hand swiftly made contact with the back tire of Isla’s car, clear enough to make contact with the brake line. Centross flew to the ground, prying the trunk of the car open.

Two cases, one marked with the word “med” in messy handwriting, the other with marked with “weakn.” Roughly 10 vial of each potion per case. Not much, but evidently enough for Perix to feel capable of recreating it. He pocketed all vials there, discarding the briefcases themselves off to the side.

The car door pop open.

“Excuse me?! Hello?” Isla called out, beginning to get out of her car. Centross slammed the back trunk closed and kicked the license plate, sending the car barreling into a tree. Isla fell and rolled on the pavement.

She groaned quietly as she pushed herself back up to her feet, trying to identify exactly where Centross was as he began striding towards her, Isla taking steps back until she reached her car door.

“Who are you?” She whispered. Centross remained silent as he grabbed the side of her head and slammed it into the car door. Isla cried out from the impact, blood starting to stain her blonde hair.

“Please,” she begged. “My son’s in the car. Please help my son.” Centross’ expression didn’t waiver as her head made contact with the car door once again. Her breathing grew heavy. The reaper let her drop to the pavement. It took him a second to register crying from inside the car. A kid, five years old at most. Another sob broke from Isla’s throat, which was replied to with a kick to the side of her head. She dropped still, and Centross kneeled down to read her pulse. It was still.

Violet pushed her back into the drivers seat, then slammed the door shut hard enough for the glass of the window to shatter.

The wails from the child grew, and Centross punched the tinted window of the backseat, shattering it enough for him to get a look at the crying child. He was still in a car seat; Centross would now guess he was two or three years old. A chunk of glass from the window hit the child in the eye, causing his screams to become deafening.

He didn’t need to kill the child. A two year old wasn’t enough of a witness. Violet took one final look around as he pulled his dagger from the tire before taking off.

Chapter Text

“Thena?” Icarus spoke into their earpiece.

“I got nothing since you last asked two minutes ago, Ick.”

“Momboo?” They sighed.

“Suspicion near the Ocu'ibtec Temple,” she whispered.”

“I got eyes,” Ven pitched in. “Northbound, wrapped around the backside of the temple.”

“Don’t lose them,” Icarus commanded as they pushed away from the wall and exited the alleyway.

“Doors locked,” Ven added.

“You all do know I can destroy anything at my own will, right?” Athena deadpanned.

“Don’t risk it,” Icarus cut in. “The place could be rigged. Who knows what kind of defenses they’ve got.”

“What’s the plan, you guys,” Momboo interrupted.

“On the roof,” Ven told them. “There’s a staircase. Outside is unguarded.” His glasses scanned over the top stories of the temple. “Nothing connected to the exterior door. Door inside is locked and rigged, nothing dangerous though. Probably an alarm or something. Not the greatest but gives us time.”

“Works for me,” Icarus responded as they made their way towards the roof of a neighboring building.

The buildings in the Aether were intricate, open, and tall structures, mostly made up of marble walls reflecting the sky above.

Aka. Not the easiest building in the world to scale.

They began an attempt to climb the side of the building when the sound of wings caught Icarus’ attention.

“Ven—” they started, giving up on their comment as they got dropped onto the roof of the building. “I had it covered.”

“I’m sure you did, your highness.” Ven taunted as he flew off.

“Bitch,” Icarus mumbled as they made their way towards the door. “Make sure to watch all exits. We haven’t gotten a tie to Leviathan in months, we can’t lose them.”

“We’re on it,” Athena said.

“Affirmative,” Momboo confirmed.

Icarus took in a breath before opening the door. The stairwell was dark, and heavy air conditioning blew up the stairs. Their footsteps echoed out until they reached the door at the end of the stairs. “Made it in. Entering in 3… 2…” Icarus took in a breath as they pulled their leg back, pressing their back to the door. “…1.” They kicked open the door, causing it to fly back, almost falling off its hinges. The alarm began to ring out.

There were four soldiers on the floor he broke into. Multiple bullets ricocheted off the door that was still pressed against their back. Quickly, they grabbed the door handle and rushed at one of the guards. The door slammed into his side, the soldiers’ gun falling off to the side. Icarus swiftly kicked at his legs, sending him falling over the railing. They then threw the door at the feet of two other guards, wiping their feet clear out from beneath them to give Icarus time to pick up a discarded gun.

Twelve rounds left in the pistol’s magazine. Four per guard. All three of the guards in front of Icarus dropped to the floor.

They quickly grabbed the railing and jumped down to the floor below, their foot making contact with a soldier’s chest and sending them flying into the wall. There weren’t many people left in the building. The alarm suddenly cut off and the sprinklers switched on. Various types of potions sprayed down from the ceiling.

“They’re evacuating the temple. Forcing people out of the building. This place must’ve been their base, they have it rigged with potions of poison and harming,” Icarus forced out as they retreated out of the way of the potions. “Whatever they were wanting, they got. Guard the exits. I’ll meet you outside.”

While they were still talking, five soldiers bursted out from the back door. Leviathan with them. One soldier had a vial in his hand of which he quickly hid. Momboo lunged at Leviathan, but one swift punch sent her rolling backwards.

“Dont let them get that sample!” Leviathan spat. One of the soldiers pulled the tab from a smoke bomb and threw it to the ground, allowing them to disperse.

“They’re splitting up,” Ven announced as they flew up. “One’s heading to town central. Two southbound. Last ones’ headed northwest. Ick, Leviathan is southwest.”

“I’ve got central,” Momboo called out.

“I got the two south,” stated Athena.

“Sounds like I got north,” Ven sighed. “Icarus, you out yet?” Once the last word left his mouth, the sound of glass shattering beside him caused them to turn, watching as Icarus broke through, rolling onto the rooftop across from the temple.

“Southwest,” they said, catching their breath. “Got it.”

Athena’s powers allow her to send herself after the group of two. They ran through a couple of thin, crowded streets. They tried to split up, but one turned down a dead end. Dark red smoke formed in front of the second one and they sent him flinging into the other, the two guards slamming into the end of the alley.

They both fell to the floor as Athena searched for the vial.

“I got nothing,” Athena said over his communicator.

Ven stayed right above the soldier he was chasing up until he got a point to dive just in front of him. They hit the guard with the backside of his wing as he dived down. The soldier flung into a vendor, of which he quickly pushed off of and was able to deliver a kick into the side of Ven’s knee.

He buckled and fell to the ground, then sent a rope upwards that wrapped around the soldier’s neck, allowing him to pull the guard to the ground. Ven quickly stood and placed a foot on the guard’s chest, giving him time to search the bag the guard had on him.

“This one’s got nothing,” Ven panted out. “I’m empty.”

“That makes me feel great about this,” Momboo breathed in response as she ran after the guard of which she was in pursuit of.

The soldier kicked off of a side of a building and caught the edge of an overhead walkway, just enough to pull himself up as Momboo made her way up the staircase of the same area. She managed to cut off the distance between herself and the soldier. She lunged forward, managing to tackle him and send them both rolling down off the walkway.

Her fist made harsh contact with the soldiers’ face, rendering him unconscious.

“I got it,” she exhaled, turning the vial in her hand.

Meanwhile, Icarus chased after Leviathan. He wasn’t a quick soldier, not in the slightest, but Leviathan’s movements were so scattered that it was hard to follow them. Leviathan turned a corner, and as Icarus slid to follow, they couldn’t see Leviathan anywhere, lost in the hordes of people.

“What?-” Icarus began, immediately getting cut off by a punch in his back, sending them forward and to the ground.

“Found you,” Leviathan smirked as he walked up to Icarus, as they struggled to get back to their feet, and harshly kicked them back down, and punching at Icarus’ head, just barely missing and cracking into the concrete.

Icarus swung at them and just barely missed, but bought enough time for them to get back to their feet. They went back and forth, exchanging dodges and blows until Icarus knocked the helmet from the soldier and then kicked them away. Icarus then stormed forward and grabbed Leviathan by his armor, pulling him up to meet their eye level.

“This fight was more even than I expected,” Leviathan laughed, not meeting Icarus’ eyes.

“Who are you working for?” They spat. Leviathan broke into borderline hysterics.

“Y’know you two were close, you and my buyer,” he teased. Icarus delivered a punch right to their nose, which caused them to take a small gasp before continuing. “I never thought you and David would be the type to get along.”

“Excuse me?” Icarus warned, tightening their grip on Leviathan’s armor.

“Oh you’re excused,” he taunted. “See, you were the only one he mentioned by name. Got all dramatic and caring and shit. Wasn’t til we drugged the hell out of him that he became sensible. But hey, he does got some good shit that comes with that stubborn brain of ‘is.” With his labored breathing, Leviathan held his hand out, end crystal floating in his palm. “The bastard knows what weapons work.”

Leviathan’s palm closed, the end crystal exploding two inches from Icarus’ chest. As they braced for the explosion, blood red smoke closed around Leviathan, holding in the explosion from the crystal. Athena whined quietly when Icarus turned around.

They lifted Leviathan into the air, managing to keep the unstable particles of the end crystal caught, but his form grew shaky the higher they lifted Leviathan. In a last ditch, they flung him into a nearby building where the crystal fully blew up, encapsulating the entire building in blue and red flames.

“Shit,” Ven muttered as he landed beside Icarus, their white-owl wings folding up. Athena stepped back, hands shaking and attempting to tame the fires that rose within the building until Momboo ran up to stop her.

“Why did I do that?” Athena sobbed as they stepped back into Momboo.

The television idly droned off in front of Icarus as they fiddled with a ring. The news was having a field day with reports of the events in the Aether district.

Nothing that was said on the news mattered. Some reporter talked about the assumption that Icarus “not fighting back” against Leviathan was due to some deal being struck, amongst other speculations.

They replayed footage of when they had blanked. They could practically hear Leviathan say his name.

David.

He had been dead for decades now. Off the grid. Remembered in any way physically possible as a hero by Icarus’ side.

Momboo had texted back Icarus with lab results of the vial that had been stolen. It was a scratched formula of a type of serum. Place of origin untraceable.

What would he have to do with the serum?

The name SCULK came highlighted across the screen as they panned over the remains of the abandoned temple, and Icarus switched the tv off.

SCULK was an ender organization. It had fallen twice now. Icarus had brought SCULK down two times by now. It shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

Their train of thought drove off as they heard the news still playing in the apartment.

“Athena,” Icarus whispered from the doorway of her doorway. The news reporter had turned from talking about Icarus to talking about “the dangers of Athena Morningstar,” with a bold headline of 6 dead, 9 injured in a tragic explosion stretching across the top of the screen.

Icarus quickly grabbed the remote and turned off the tv.

“I’m a monster,” Athena stated.

“No you’re not.” Athena turned to look at Icarus, then motioned to the tv.

“You saw it?”

“Yes.”

“Exactly. So did half the district. Maybe more. That’s me,” he smiled sadly.

“It wouldn’t have happened if I was focused,” Icarus sighed. “I could have stopped them. I had time. I just- I blanked, he said David’s name and I just-” they shrugged and looks down.

“Guess we’re both just utter train wrecks,” Athena laughed.

“If I may-” a bold, soft voice started.

“Raza, my gods— I told you, there’s a door,” Athena laughed.

“Oh. Well, yes, I suppose I could have used the door. Although… nevertheless. Rae Solcrest in here. South floor. He’d like to speak with you.”

“Wow, great,” Icarus muttered. “Lovely.”

“Thank you, Raza,” Athena said warmly. The cyborg nodded.

“Also, be aware. He brought a guest.”