Archive of Our Own ^beta

        June tore through another bin of files. They cursed when they couldn’t find what they were looking for. They knew they were running out of time. The alarms had gone off around 45 seconds ago. Which means they had approximately 15 more seconds until some hero would burst through the door with handcuffs and a team behind them. 

          They threw the file drawer to the floor, dumping the papers out before looking through the next one. Their hands slipped through files, phasing between each paper. They focused their mind on the one they wanted. Esther. Their hands kept moving. Nothing. Fuck. 

          10 seconds. June threw the drawer out of the way, quickly digging into the next one. Nothing. Their hand phased through each useless and unneeded file. Shit. This was the last drawer. If they found nothing, there was nothing. This whole mission would have been for nothing. They had been told that they were being idiotic from the beginning, they didn’t need a reason that they actually were. C'mon, they pleaded internally. 

         Their fingers brushed something solid. They smiled, gripping onto the file and pulling it from the drawer. They read the name on the front. Esther, Vigilante. Em would have their ass for putting themself in danger like this, but their friend wouldn’t tell them anything about Esther and June was curious after the fact that had happened last time. They had pleaded Em over and over to give them any information on the other vigilante. Em had apologized, but hadn’t given them anything. 

          June had of course made a rash decision, and sought the information out themself. The file wasn’t that large, meaning the hero industry hadn’t gotten much information on the other vigilante yet, but it was something. June shoved the file into their bag, phasing it through the fabric to make the process quicker. They pushed themself up, pulling their mask back down over their face. The room was dark, but the night vision on their mask lit up every corner. There was only one door. That’s where they assumed the hero’s would be coming from. They waited. 

          He heard footsteps crashing towards the room. They took a deep breath, flexing their hands. A body forced through the door. Magic swam through their blood. They focused on the desk beside the door and in the next second, the desk slammed into the hero’s legs. June heard a curse. They opened their eyes, pulling their staff into their hands and dropping into a fighting position. Their eyes narrowed on the figure in front of them. Figures…

         There were more than one. Two heroes in front of them stood ready. Shit. June cursed, scanning their exits, then focusing back on the figures. Their eyes locked onto the hero in the front. The mask sitting on their face taunted June. Their eyes narrowed behind their mask. 

“Captain,” They grinned, bowing in a showy fashion. They didn’t know where she would phase into if they went down. God, they really should have studied these floor plans better. Captain's mask tilted downwards. They took a step close, their sword hanging from their hands. 

“Poltergeist,” The hero hummed back. June’s eyes flicked to the hero beside them. Prometheus. June hadn’t fought them all that much and was still getting used to combatting her powers. June’s eyes settled on the hero. Then they lept. At Captain. The hero drew their sword quickly blocking their hit with the staff. Prometheus drew their own weapon and swung forward. June dropped his body down, ducking under the swing. Captain kicked at them with a heavy boot. June cursed, tumbling under the force of the swing. 

         Prometheus drew cuffs from their belt. June hissed. The hero swung again with their staff. June phased through the floor. He cursed as he crashed into the office below him. His back landed against the edge of a deck and he groaned. They pushed themself up off of the desk and rubbed the back of his head. 

“Shittt,” He groaned. That was gonna hurt tomorrow. He could hear voices shouting above him. He tried to picture the map of the place in his head. He couldn’t remember enough of it. There was more yelling above him and June prayed that this door wouldn’t lead him right into a door of people. He pushed it open only to be met with Captain and Prometheus running down the stairs. June cursed as Captain jumped at him. A shark snapped at his arm and June phased through the bite. Prometheus moved into his way and threw him to the floor. Fuck their powers, June thought, rolling back to their feet. His movement tweaked his knee and June internally cursed. He hated his stupid knee. The injury was years past and still his biggest liability. He hid the subtle limp as he swung out with his staff. Captain caught it with their sword. Prometheus swung out. June phased through the blow. Captain elbowed them in the back of the head and June stumbled. They needed to get out of here. 

“He’s phasing down!” Prometheus hissed as June let his body fall through the floor. He slammed into the stone tile. He groaned. He pushed up on shaky arms. He needed to get out. He just needed to leave. There were footsteps and the doors slammed open. He was still half down. June cursed, trying to get to their feet. Captain moved towards them, sword glimmering threateningly. 

“Stand down Poltergeist,” they growled, sword pointed at them. June bared his teeth, scrambling to his feet. “Stand down!” Prometheus threatened, "Give up the stolen files.” June shielded the bag on their back. They couldn’t give them up. This whole mission would be pointless. 

“Get the cuffs.” Prometheus warned Captain. He couldn’t go to jail. Not now. He couldn’t be thrown into the hell hole that heroes put villains they don’t wanna deal with. Captain made a move towards them. June swung out with her staff, knowing their feet out from under them. He pushed himself up quickly, ignoring the shot of pain through his knee. He jumped into the wall, phasing through the concrete. The room he fell into was dark. He flicked his night vision back on. He couldn’t see still. What the hell? A hand grabbed his back. 

“What the fuck is your problem!” A voice behind them hissed. June sighed, turning to face the familiar voice. 

“Nothing,” he muttered defensively. Em’s hand shot to his bag through the shadows and snatched the file from it. June whipped around, trying to snatch it back from the vigilante. Em already had it though. She looked over the file, stopping on the name that was written. She sighed. 

“June-“ 

“I know,” he responded before they could say anything else. Em slipped the files back into their bag without a word. June tied it back shut, securing it closer to their back before turning to Em. 

“Look, it’s just-“

“I know,” Em interrupted. “It’s okay.” June nodded, turning back towards the doors. He didn’t know where Captain and Prometheus had gone. He couldn’t hear their footsteps anywhere. “Bugs,” Em hummed. June looked back, mask glowing over their eyes, “Esther wouldn’t hurt me.” 

“That’s not what this is about,” June huffed, turning away from their friend. They chose to ignore the sigh that came from behind them. “I need to know if I can trust them. Which I don’t think I can.” Em opened their mouth to say something, but closed it, deciding against whatever words were going to come out. June looked away. 

“Do you know the best way out of here?” June asked the vigilante. Em hummed and June watched the shadows slowly sink away from the area around them. 

“We’re on the third floor I think. Exit is two floors below us and on the other side of the building.” June huffed, switching their night vision back on. 

“Lovely.” 

         There were shouts and footsteps coming from the door to their left. June looked over at Em with a grin. 

“Race you to the exit?” June saw a smirk form on Em’s face. 

“You’re on.” 

          June moved towards the door to their right as Em did. They jumped into the wall phasing through. Their feet landed on top of a desk. People were in the room. Working… fuck-

         There was shouting around them. June whipped around to see Captain slam through the door. June jumped to the next desk, hurdling a divider. There was black shadow encasing half of the other side of the room. June heard Prometheus mutter Nightfall’s name. They couldn’t hold back the smirk that fell on their lips. June jumped to another desk, laughing as the office workers jumped and yelled. They hurdled another board, grabbing their staff from their back. Captain was still going after them. Prometheus was on Nightfall. June whipped around. Captain shifted, a shark shooting towards them. June used their staff to combat the attack, shoving it into the mouth of the shark. The hero shifted back, swinging out with their sword. June phased through the metal with a smirk. 

         Captain cursed, dropping into a proper fighting stance. “You gonna fight without those fancy powers of yours?” The hero taunted. June rolled their eyes. 

“The second you stop shifting into a damn shark, I’ll think about it,” She laughed. She heard the clashing of metal across the room. Em had a lamp pole in her hand, using it to comeback the attacks of Prometheus. June laughed. Captain swung at her again. She narrowly blocked it with her staff. They phased through a desk, leaving Captain behind them. They leaped another table, slipping a bit on the loose leaf paper that was scattered around. They heard a sharp laugh beside them. Shadows surrounded him. June rolled their eyes, jumping down from the table. Em slipped away from the shadows and stood against his back. June twisted their staff in their hands. 

         Captain and Prometheus were quickly closing in on them again. The heroes stopped in front of them, eyes moving from Nightfall back to Poltergeist. 

“Nightfall,” Captain gritted through closed teeth. June smirked, “Should have known. With Poltergeist here, big sister is never behind,” the hero sneered. June grit their teeth. 

“Only when the league feels it necessary to send two heroes on one villain. I'm a vigilante,” Em hummed, shadows crawling and twisting around them. “I play fair.” 

         Captain leapt  forward and Em reached for the second staff on June’s back, quickly blocking the hit. June moved towards Prometheus, swinging their staff in her direction. The hero dodged backwards and made her own attack. June moved out of the way of the swing, taking a couple steps backward to fall back into their stance. They didn’t hear Em’s warning before it was too late. Pain shot through their side from behind. They looked down to see a sword gauging through their side. June gagged.

          The metal slid back trough their flesh as Captain pulled it away. Prometheus was frozen in front of them. The hero took a couple steps back before looking to Captain. 

“What did you do?” Em cried swinging at Captain. The hero blocked the swing, but was staring at the wound they had left still. They turned from him to Nightfall. Prometheus grabbed Captain's hand before turning to Nightfall. 

“Get him out of here.”

         And the heroes were gone.

         Em watched blood drip from the wound that had been left on June's side. It all felt too familiar. Painfully familiar. As soon as the heroes disappeared, Em was rushing forward. They fell to their knees beside June, who was now on the floor, cradling his hands over the wound. 

“Hey. Hey you’re okay. You're okay, yeah?” Em whispered, hands hovering over her friend's side. She didn’t know what to do. June groaned in pain, blood dripping from his lip.   

“I’m ‘kay” June choked. 

         But things didn’t feel okay. All Em could see was her mentor. Stabbed from behind in the middle of a fight. They had been working against one of the more negative vigilantes in the city. Infamous for his killings of the innocents. Her mentor had warned them that fighting would be dangerous. That things could go south quite quickly and that Em needed to be ready to run if he told her to. He never got to. Her mentor had been protecting them when he had gotten stabbed through. Blood had poured from the wound and from his lips as he choked on the red liquid.  

        June looked all too similar. Her best friend looked all too close to the picture that had haunted her brain for years. Em’s hands slowly pushed against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Her eyes were blurring and her heart was pounding. Shadows were crawling around them and incasing where they laid. June blinked up at her. 

“ ‘m okay,” Jun whispered again. “Just ‘urts a bit.” The soft smile on his lips made Em wanna throw up. Shadows crawled down her skin and into her hands where they were pressed against the wound. June gasped. Em stared in shock. The shadows were stopping the blood flow. They were holding off the wounds. 

        They looked down at June’s face again. The younger one was arching their hands against his side. “That’s a new trick,” He smiled softly. Em tried to ignore the pain in his eyes. 

“Yeah,” She chuckled, “It is.” June’s eyes slowly moved back up to their face. Em could tell that they could see how stressed she was. 

“ ‘m okay, Birdy.” June hummed, “Not gonna die on you.” Em nodded, trying to take a deep breath. June’s hand slowly reached out and squeezed over hers. Em smiled. 

“Youre okay.”

”Next time you make dumb decisions, at least tell me first,” Em sighed from across the apartment as June poured Kroger Brand ramen into a bowl, sticking it under the coffee pot. Her friend removed the coffee pot Em had used earlier and clicked the hot water option, watching as it streamed into his bowl of noodles. 

“Noted,” June replied, yawning and rubbing at his eyes. Em sighed. Ramen for breakfast. Not even ramen, whatever that store bought American bullshit was. Of course. She smiled and shook her head fondly. 

“How’s your side feeling?” They asked, looking back at their computer where they were working. New tech project. They heard June hum before answering. 

“Stabbed,” They hummed, “But not hurting as badly.” Em nodded. 

“Good good.”

        The younger kid sat down on the couch beside Em, ramen in his lap as he reached for the remote. Em halfheartedly paid attention as he scrolled through channels and shoved ramen in his mouth simultaneously. They only looked up when a supposed noise came from June and a channel was immediately being clicked on. 

“What was it?” Em asked. Their question was answered for them when they were met with the opening scene to Cars 2 coming onto the screen. They laughed. 

“Of course.” Em giggled. June grinned, tossing the remote to his side, “You ever gonna get tired of these movies?”

”Never.”