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For half a decade now, grief has been Feinberg's most steadfast companion.
It will not calm nor come to rest, an endless wall of waves crushing Feinberg agsint the rughed cliffs of life.
For a half a decade now, Feinberg has been fighting hatefully and ever more hopelessly.
Half a decade ago, Couriway vanished.
Half a decade ago, Feinberg found out why.
Half a decade ago, his entire world was turned on its head.
Half a decade ago...
Feinberg sighs. The city stretches out below his feet in the evening sun. It paints the buildings in pink and gold as one by one, the streetlight flicker on.
Half a decade ago, Feinberg watched sunset with Couriway.
He turns to look up as steps approach.
Two thirds of the Mores stand awkardly and very suspiciously and the door to the stairs.
The skies stay clear as a show of good faith, though Feinberg isn't sure if his aqquaintances will appreciate it for what it is.
"Iridium", Venom greets harshly.
"Iridium", Monkey piles up in a show of false cheer.
As Feinberg understood it, none of their trio had actually chosem their own name, though Venom makes his dislike at the blatant misinformation the clearest.
"Venom, Monkey", Feinberg nods.
Tense silence descends over the rooftop.
A crow caws and Feinbergs gaze lifts to chase the sound. Couriway was always so good at imitating bird calls, something Feinberg used to tease him endlessly for.
"You know why we asked you here?", Monkey prods. He tries to hide his uncertainty, but Feinberg sees through him — and Venom, too.
"Frostbite got caught again", Feinberg answers without looking at either of them. The crows shiny plummage reflects golden in the sun's fading glow.
Half a decade ago, Feinberg knows, the Mores were captured by HBG for their Power Enhancement Programm. In Feinberg's opinion, it has more to do with mind control than anythinge else.
Also half a decade ago, the Mores escaped and became, well, the Mores. Their escape and subsequent rampage through life in Ranked over its head and into chaos.
Feinberg as a young hero had never felt so useless, and Couriway as vigilante Akeso had never been so needed.
Half a decade ago, Couriway ended up under just that mind control.
Half a decade long, Feinberg has gnawed his teeth at the injustice that they escaped and Couri did not.
Half a decade long, Feinberg has fought Couri — has fought Sunburst — time and time and time again, and never been able to beat him, never been able to save him.
"Oh fuck off", Venom bites.
Now, Feinberg does look at him. The Mores remind him of Couri. Everything reminds him of Couri.
Half a decade, and still his grief has neither calmed nor come to rest.
"You really want that? I can."
---
Rowl grinds his teeth and Iridium's smugness.
The villain stands at the railing, turned away from Monhey and Rowl.
How dare he act so unbothered, how dare he act as if this was irrelevant, treat it as some form of game.
But the truth is — and it makes Rowl's shoulders slump — that they do need Iridium.
Iridium, for all his arrogance, has been going toe to toe with HBG's top hero for half a decade now and killled so many more beforehand.
Iridium, no matter how much Rowl dislikes him, is needed to free Hax. They've tried it alone, and then again, and again, because they'll never give up on Hax. Bit it hasn't worked.
"Look", Mongey speaks up. Rowl is glad for it. He isn't sure he could act civil right now.
"We need your help to free Forstbite from HBG. They do like— human experimentation and stuff. We have a plan and everything, we even have Incense on our side!"
Now, Iridium turns to finally face them and Rowl gets a turn feeling smug.
"How did you get Incense in on your plan?", Iridium asks incrediously.
Stemming his legs into the floor, Rowl takes the sudden new weight as Mingey drapes himself over Rowl's shoulder.
"Well", Mongey drawls, seemingly finding Iridium's disbelief similiarly funny to Rowl — and they do indeed need all cheer they can get, Rowl fears.
"He's Hax'' eh, I mean Frostbite's roommate, you see."
Iridium flinches.
His eyes are onscured by his signature visor but his mouth draws into a grimace between shock and hurt.
Huh. Where does that come from? Rowl narrows his eyes, studying Iridium's form
"What", the villain mumbles breathlessly.
"Look", Rowl buts into again, "We get you aren't getting much out of this, but we need you help. They — HBG, they torture people, they pump them full of drugs and slap on shock collars, they do mind control!"
Rowl isn't above begging, and Iridium doens't kill civillians. He, Rowl is reasonably certain, has something against torture and quite the grudge against HBG.
Half a decade now, he's fought them.
"One condition", Iridium states, "I'll work with you on one condition."
There are few things Rowl wouldn't let him have, for Hax' safety. To have Hax back by their side, right where he belongs.
"We need to break someone else out, too."
"What?!", Monhey exclaims. Rowl is stunned as well.
"What do you mean?", he asks.
Iridium shifts into a more defensive stands. He feels vulnerable.
"You might have been the first ones, but did you really think you were the only ones?", Iridium grits out with clenched fists.
And... And Rowl did, yes. He always thought— to think someone else had— How had they missed this?
Hax and Mongey and Rowl, they had been kidnapped from their orphanage together. Rowl had never seen anyone else, there.
Iridium reads into their silence, "You were wrong, in any case. There are more, or well, I know one more person."
Know, not know of, Rowl registers through his shock.
Wait... Was Iridium talking about himself? It made sense.
Iridum had shown up a little after Mongey, Hax and Rowl escaped, was trained and powerful, held a very, very deep grudge against HBH do the extent of fighting Sunburst every week and often more than once.
The next words out of Iridium's mouth destroy that theory in one fell swoop, "They were much more succesful with him than with you three."
"Wait", Mongey says, "You mean they still have him?"
"They suceeded with him", Iridium confirms and makes it worse with, "He's a hero, now."
So the mind control did work. Hax...
What were they doing to him in that laboratory?
What kind of torture were they inflicting on Hax?
Mongey asks a question that manages to surprise Rowl once again with Mongey's practicality, "Who is it?"
Yes. Incense would be bad, downright terrible. If he was going along with their plan to trap them.
There was Infinity, who's entire identity was hidden behind a veil of black void. He was certainly strong enough to qualify.
Rapture had been a hero for a long time now, probably too long if Rowl, Hax and Mongey were the 'first' ones.
Jetcutter was another option, maybe Web, but being so obviously familiar with each othe rprobably disqualified both of them frm the role, unless the other was much sicke rin the head than Rowl assumed even from 'Heroes'.
Who else even was there?
"Do you know the vigilante Akeso?", Iridium continues instead of answering.
And Rowl did, in fact.
When they were still living in the orphanage, getting into trouble having fun, climbing onto buildings and flaling off of them, Hax had broken his leg.
It was late at night. They'd snuck out just to sneak out, Rowl had felt so stupid. And so helpless, with Hax crying on the street and Mongey hovering over him.
They would have to go back and be screamed at and Hax was hurt.
That had been the most important part to Rowl even then.
That was when the vigilante showed up.
"Hi", he said, or something else equally unimpressive.
"I'm here to help." That part, Rowl remembers clearly. The vigilante kneeled down at pushed up Hax' pants, felt around. "It's clean through", he said and smiled, so Rowl has assumed that meant something good.
"I know it hurts", The stranger soothed Hax, "You don't need to be okay right now."
Then the stranger pulled out a knive and Rowl's heart stopped. He cut the back of his forearm open as Rowl lept towards him and smeared his own blood onto Hax' leg.
Hax had stopped crying as Rowl pulled the stranger's head back by his hair, his own thorn-spiked vine in hand.
But Hax had stopped crying.
On Hax' leg, the blood glittered golden. His cheeks were dry. He was grinning from ear to ear. "Woah!", he exclaimed. Hesitantly, Rowl had let go. The knive was gone, by then.
A few moments are blurry in Rowl's memory, until the point Hax asked, "Who are you?"
And that had been Akeso.
Half a decade ago, when being a hero sounded like the coolest thing in the world and only became cooler after that day.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?", Rowl asks, and hopes Iridium isn't.
Iridium's voice is soft and far away, melancholic and sad. "We were roommates. His name was—", he pauses seeming taken aback by himself, "His name is Couriway. We wanted to be heroes together, but he didn't make it, so he became Akeso. He never liked fighting."
Imagining Iridium as a hero is just wrong. Rowl can't help but wonder who Iridium used to be, but there was more important information still to be heard.
Mongey doesn't seem to have the same priorites. "What was your hero name?", he asks exitedly. And Rowl is curious, too.
"Stormfront", Iridium says and shakes his head, which tells Rowl approximately nothing at all.
Iridium continues his story, "When you escaped, in all pf that chaos, it became apparent how impactful his regenaration ability was. In the way it was used but also in the way it could be used in a fight. He came home panicked one day, after he barely escaped the heroes. They'd branded him a villain, even though he'd always been— he'd enver fought, he'd always stayed on the right side of the law."
Iridium's voice shakes, in anger or pain, Rowl can't tell.
"They faked it anyway.. You might remember Icarus?"
Iridium pauses again, as if to wait for an answer. Rowl shakes his head. He's curious now. Which Hero is Iridium's mystery roommate?
"They got him, in the end, pretended he died. Nobody cared in the chaos, but I didn't believe it. I though it was a conspiracy of some kind, and then I saw the files. I made a fuss, got thrown out, I've been fighting them, been fighting agaisnt Courn since, for half a decade now..."
Iridium trails of, looking away and towards the horizon again, where the golden sun has fallen out of sight and only faint traces of red colour the skyline.
Oh. It clicks in Rowl's mind.
"Sunburst is the guy you're talking about?"
HBG's top hero, the immortal, angel-like, saintly, golden-winged star hero? The perfect, glorious, cold-hearted, merciless Sunburst? That Sunburst?
It seemed so mad to think about.
Except... It made sense, didn't it?
If the programm didn't have exceptional results, why run it? If not number one, what was even the point? And had Rowl not always though that Sunburst seemed mindless? Well, it made sense if he was just that: mindless. Mind-controlled.
It makes Rowl sick to think about.
Hax...
"Please", Iridium interrupts Rowl's thoughts, "That is my one condition. I will help you save Frostbite if you help me save Couri."
"Deal", Mongey replies without further ado, and Rowl confirms only a second later, "Deal."