"We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss."
― Cassandra Clare

Jack runs a hand across his fingers, feeling the tiny strands prick at his skin. They smooth over as his hands descend over the back of his head. He stops with a hand lightly rubbing the tension out of his neck muscles. He peers up at the house. Without Reaper's presence, it no longer carries an intimidating aura. It looks like an average house. Maybe a little cleaner than it should be for a location in Empires, but nothing seems out of the ordinary about it. Reaper really must have been the source of the disturbance to his esper abilities. Either that, or the spirits Reaper wields like marionette weaponry.

"We need to get back to the base to report what happened," Jack says, turning around to see Vendetta approaching him. Vendetta had gone across the street to pick up the camera Jack left behind when he chased after Vendetta. The hero throws the camera at Jack as he stops at the sidewalk. Jack catches the camera, cradling it against his chest to check for damages. He doesn't regret going after Vendetta, but he knows that it is never wise to leave behind anything valuable in Empires. Luckily, it seems like the camera hasn't sustained any damages. It functions as it should, and none of the photographs have been deleted.

"Good luck with that shit," Vendetta tells Jack, adjusting the mask on the lower half of his face. Jack frowns at the action. Practically everyone in the Syndicate knows what Vendetta looks like. The only thing they don't know is Vendetta's eye color. Even when out of the uniform, he wears a blindfold made from a mesh-like fabric that allows him to see without showing what his eyes look like. No one has asked him about it, though Ranboo and Sam agree that Vendetta hid his eyes even when he was part of the Hunters. Jordan adds that a hero called Sleepy is probably the only person who has ever seen Vendetta's eyes. Like most things are with Vendetta, the reason behind why he hides his eyes is personal.

"You're going to have to give your side of the report, too," Jack reminds the hero, rolling his eyes. He isn't going to let Vendetta get away with slacking off even if he does look a little more injured than Jack does. There is a shallow cut running across his cheek. Dried blood forms a crust on his mask. If Jack looks hard enough, he can notice other smaller cuts. None of them are especially worrying, but Puffy likes to heal any wound she comes across regardless of how bad it is. The reasoning she gives is that too many little wounds could result in more problems than it's worth. Jack lets her keep that answer without questioning it too much.

"I'll let you do that for me. We saw the same shit, didn't we? The only difference is what illusion we saw... and Reaper said some strange shit when you were still on your ass... Fuck, I guess I will have to make a report. Ugh, I'll do it later," Vendetta answers, sighing heavily. The voice modifier he uses crinkles around the edges at the loud exhale. Jack winces at the staticky noise.

"You can just tell them now," Jack shakes his head, pointing down the street where he needs to go.

Vendetta's eyebrows narrow into a glare. He points in the opposite direction of where the base should be. Jack glances down the street. He doesn't see anything of note right now, but he quickly understands that Vendetta is referring to the Hero's Guild in Prime Heights. Vendetta lowers his arm. "I have a deal with Monarch. I have to see them every week for a check-up. Fucking bastard thinks they need to babysit me. They had the audacity to think I was going after the Hunters when I asked for some fucking vacation time. I wish I was on vacation. I wouldn't have to deal with your sorry ass."

"If anyone is dealing with a sorry ass, it's me. You're a pain. We'll go to the guildhall and then the base," Jack compromises. Vendetta shrugs, turning on his heel to walk down the street. Jack follows after him, roping the camera around his neck so it bumps against his chest. He reaches down for the ribbons on his boxing robe. He starts to tie them together as he walks down the street. He keeps an eye out for people in his peripheral area. He notices a few, but they don't move away from their little huddles in the alleyways. A few scramble further into the darkness when they notice Vendetta and Thermoculus walking down the street. Jack looks over his shoulder to see someone looking around the edge of a building. They dart back into the alley before Jack can identify them, but at least he knows that some gang or another is keeping tabs on the two traveling espers.

"How the hell are we going to explain me rolling up with your bitchass?" Vendetta asks, folding his arms behind his back as he walks. His fingers brush against the metal of his baton, but he doesn't make a move to pull it out or extend it into his staff. Vendetta must be as aware of their surroundings as Jack is.

"I won't get all the way up to the guildhall. I'll probably hang back a few blocks. We should split up soon, though. I don't care if the gangs know we were walking together, but I would rather not let any heroes grow suspicious," Jack answers. In the Hero's Guild, the system is structured around bounties. Each villain has a bounty on their head, a combination of money from the government and donations from the people who were harmed by the villain in some way or another. Villains with low bounties are not given much priority, so there aren't any rules about not working with them to catch other villains. Once a villain's bounty reaches a certain threshold, they garner more of a priority. Each member of the Syndicate has a pretty high bounty, so Vendetta could get in a lot of trouble for working with them. He could also get in trouble for trying to take down the Red Army when it is under the Moderator Guild's jurisdiction. Suffice to say, it would be bad if Vendetta got caught.

"I'm more worried about the gangs," Vendetta whispers. Jack waits for him to explain, but nothing else comes from Vendetta. He falls uncharacteristically quiet, keeping his eyes peeled at the darkened corners of the borough. Jack tries to do the same, but his thoughts quickly spiral out of his grasp.

Something akin to foolishness and recklessness surges in Jack's body, ushered forward by his curiosity and growing investment in Vendetta. As Jack's mind brings him back to Reaper's hallucinations, he wonders if Vendetta's mind is doing the same thing. Jack asks, "What did you see in the hallucination? Was it... personal, too?"

"My family. What the fuck else?" Vendetta answers. Jack nods, frowning. He was under the assumption that the hallucinations for both of them were personal, but he wanted to make sure. Jack opens his mouth to reply, but Vendetta continues. "I was a kid again. A short, pudgy little thing. I was sitting... in my bed. I was staring at my hands in confusion when I heard my brother. He asked me if I had a nightmare. The others came, too, reaching out to hold me and ask what was wrong. I couldn't fucking remember the outside world at all... But I remembered that my family was dead. I couldn't let myself stay in the delusion. I told my family to leave me alone, and they did. I woke up in the hall in my own body again."

Jack's shoulders drop. He is intimately aware of what it feels like to lose a family. Vendetta looks back at Jack with apathetic eyes, "What did you see?"

"I saw an old friend of mine. He's dead now, and he's the reason I want to make the world a better place," Jack replies.

He remembers one of Reaper's souls slashing through his palm. It hurt, but the pain vanished when he stepped into a dark room with a mirror-like floor. Jack stared down at his reflection, surprised to see a younger version of himself. He reached a hand towards it when he heard a childish laugh. Jack whipped around to see a blonde little boy standing there with a smile on his face. Jack teared up when he saw Tommy. The boy looked exactly like he did the last time Jack saw him alive, nothing like the corpse that was brought to the Syndicate. His face was full of color. His hair was shiny like gold. His blue eyes glowed in the darkness of the world around him. He was wearing a cleaner, less torn-up version of his favorite red-and-white t-shirt and cargo shorts. Tommy ran up to Jack, grabbing onto his hand. Despite Jack's reflection in the floor, the hand Tommy grabbed was covered in scars and larger than Jack would have been as a child. Tommy asked him what he was doing, and Jack looked back down at their reflections to explain.

That's when he saw Tommy's reflection. Instead of an even younger version of himself, the corpse was standing on his feet. As Tommy looked down, the corpse's dull eyes shot an arrow into Jack's heart. He collapsed on his knees, splashing the water momentarily. Tommy wrapped his arms around Jack's shoulders, hugging him with a confused frown on his face. Jack held Tommy until he felt something cool against his cheek. He pulled back to find a thin red line across Tommy's face. It was bleeding down his skin. Jack rushed to wipe the blood away, but the few drops that slipped past him landed in the mirror. The darkness morphed into rusty clouds dripping blood rain. Tommy wore a confused frown as he dropped into the mirror. Jack dove after him, and he awakened in the material world.

"We're almost there. Get out of here before you ruin my street cred," Vendetta drew Jack out of his memories. The blonde pointed a thumb at the rooftops. Jack nods, stepping into the alleyway to climb up a fire escape. As he starts ascending the rungs, he hears Vendetta call out to him. Jack stops, looking down at the hero. Vendetta stares up at him, the sunlight across his face obscuring his expression. "Whoever you lost... they would be proud."

Vendetta walks away. Jack tries to call out, but Vendetta doesn't turn back. Jack shakes his head, making a mental note to tell Vendetta that his family would be proud of him, too. If Vendetta was Jack's family, he would be proud of the hero. He's seen how much the esper's sacrificed for his revenge plot. He'll never be able to kill the leaders of the Syndicate, but Jack is a little excited to see him try. He can already see how that will turn out. If everything continues the way it is, Vendetta will probably get kidnapped and indoctrinated. Tubbo won't let them live this down if they kill Vendetta. Jack can name a few other people who would also fight against an execution proposition. Jack would even go so far as to say he wouldn't let Vendetta get killed. He doesn't know yet, though, so Vendetta better do a few more favors for Jack.

Jack frowns as he reaches the rooftop. He lets that thought slide over him. He doesn't know what he thinks about Vendetta anymore. When Jack was a vigilante called Blaze, he despised Vendetta. Of course, Vendetta wasn't known as 'Vendetta' at this time. He didn't have a name. What few appearances he did make, he wasn't called anything by Reverie. Most people called him Reverie's Dog, or bitch if they were feeling particularly rude. Jack hated everything about the Hunters, so he naturally came to hate all of its members, the bitch of Reverie included.

It didn't get much better when Vendetta became a hero. At this point, Jack was the villain he is today. Heroes and villains are enemies even without considering the personal reasons. Vendetta got some points for being the one to put Minotaur in prison, but he lost those points when it became known to the entire city that Vendetta was going to kill Azrael and Inchling. The others in the Syndicate laughed at Vendetta's resolve, but Jack knew more than they did what it felt like to want vengeance. He knew that Vendetta was serious. He knew that Vendetta was going to come after them. He might not win, but he would cause some damage. Jack couldn't let his new family get hurt, so he made sure to paint a target on Vendetta's back.

Jack comes to the last apartment rooftop near the guildhall. He sits down, folding one leg on the parapet and letting the other rest against the rooftop. He puts his chin in his palm, watching Vendetta enter the guildhall without even a glance over his shoulder. Jack narrows his eyes, his thoughts continuing.

Something changed. Jack doesn't know when or what, but he knows that something is different. When he heard about what happened to Niki and Techno, he should have been angry at Vendetta. He should have hated even more than he has in the past. But instead, the first thought he had was if all three of them were okay. He wanted Niki and Techno to be healthy, but he felt scared that Vendetta would blame himself for what happened. Niki and Techno would heal from their wounds under Puffy's gentle hands, but no one in the Syndicate, save maybe Ranboo or Jordan, would be able to pull Vendetta away from the darkness in his mind.

Jack believed, at first, that the reason he worried for Vendetta was because he was useful. The Red Army obviously wanted him for some reason. Vendetta was a powerful esper, both Reverie and Phil acknowledged that. Vendetta could be a vital component in their plans...

But Vendetta saved Niki's life when he didn't have to. He risked his life to get information for the Syndicate. He put aside his life-long feud in order to bring justice to the city. Jack now knows that Vendetta wasn't a willing member of the Hunters, and Jack has seen the scars he's gotten from them. Vendetta is someone Jack worries about, and it isn't just because Vendetta could be useful. Jack is worried because he cares, and isn't that a terrifying thought? No good will come from carrying about Vendetta.

Especially when he adds in the fact that Vendetta sometimes reminds him of Tommy. Maybe that is where this caring feeling in his heart originated from. Regardless, Jack wanted to keep Vendetta alive. If he could go the extra mile, he wouldn't mind seeing Vendetta smile and laugh. Gods know he hasn't done that enough in his life.

Jack pulls out his communicator to message the other members of the Syndicate. He shakes his head to rid himself of such thoughts. He doesn't need to be thinking about this right now. It would be better to have these sorts of thoughts in the safety of his apartment. It might even be better to have Niki with him since she can sparse through his thoughts better than he can.

Jack sees movement from the corner of his eye. He looks away from his communicator at the door of the guildhall. Vendetta steps onto the street. Jack rises to his feet to meet up with Vendetta, but he ducks back down when he notices someone walking behind Vendetta. A heroine stands beside Vendetta. She moves her hands as she speaks to him. She brushes her white hair off her shoulder. Vendetta nods, looking around the street. The heroine waves at Vendetta, and she doesn't budge until Vendetta waves back at her. She leaves with a skip in her step. Vendetta looks both ways before crossing the street, not stopping until he is between two large buildings. Jack follows alongside him from on the roof. Vendetta stops behind the building at the fire escape. Jack slides down to greet him.

"Who was that?" Jack asks. He vaguely recognizes her. He thinks she's part of some hero group, but he doesn't know much more than that.

"That was Tempestarius. She's a hero I'm acquainted with," Vendetta shrugs. Jack nods slowly, trying to scramble together every memory he has associated with that name. He thinks she's an esper with the ability to manipulate the weather. He really doesn't know more than that even though he's trying to remember.

He did notice how amicable she was with Vendetta. It was the first time he saw anything like that. Vendetta was a loud, talkative person, but he didn't seem very social. He didn't seem close to anyone in the Hero's Guild, either. He doesn't worry about one of them coming to find him. He doesn't try to communicate with them through his communicator. He doesn't pay any special attention to the heroes. He's on decent terms with Jordan, but their relationship became strained once Vendetta became a hero in his own right. "Is she your friend?"

Vendetta stares at Jack with a blank expression. Jack hesitates, eyebrows narrowing. He doesn't think he said anything wrong, but Vendetta is looking at him like he spoke a different language. That is until Vendetta starts laughing. The voice modifier makes it sound like a heavy cough, but Jack knows the crinkles around Vendetta's eyes. It's how he can tell the hero is smiling when he is wearing his mask. Vendetta stops laughing to look back at Jack. "I don't fucking have friends, Big Man."

"What do you have if not friends?" Jack asks, crossing his arms over his chest. Tempestarius was very friendly with Vendetta. Tubbo and Ranboo consider the hero to be their best friend. Jack knows that Techno and him send letters to one another, and Wilbur has taken Vendetta to be his most recent fascination. There is even the matter of his relationship with Croupier and the Aces. As far as Jack is aware, Vendetta is close with those five, more than most people, at least. Although that relationship may not seem like friendship at first glance, Croupier doesn't get close with anyone. Vendetta is an exception, so Croupier must consider Vendetta as someone a little more special than a simple ally or errand boy.

"Allies," Vendetta answers immediately. Jack considers that. He can see some of Vendetta's relationship in that light, but there is no way that what Tubbo, Ranboo, and Vendetta have is anything other than friendship. With how much Ranboo and Tubbo talk about Vendetta, the hero must know how much they care about him. Vendetta tilts his head to the side, adding to his original thought, "And people that think I'm better off alive than fucking dead... At least, for the time being."

"Do you only ever spend your time searching for clues about the Syndicate?" Jack asks. He knew Vendetta was devoted to his mission, but he didn't think it would be this terrible. He thought for certain that Vendetta would have some sort of life outside of all of this. He should have known that wasn't the case since Vendetta didn't seem keen on protecting his civilian identity. Jack slowly realizes the reason Vendetta continues to go by his hero name- he is disassociating himself from the situation, not protecting someone in his private life. Jack doesn't know how he feels about that. Jack himself keeps his identity a secret because he owns a popular bar in Empires. He has friends at the bar that aren't involved in the supervillainy. He has a life outside of this, one that he values and actively protects. He thinks it's a little depressing that Vendetta doesn't have this. Most heroes Jack knows have their own lives. For instance, Jordan runs a seafood restaurant with Puffy called Captain's, and he's a well-respected hero.

"A lot of my fucking time is spent doing that, but you fuckers don't dominate my every thought. If I think it's interesting enough, I'll take a bounty. There's something a little satisfying in hunting down prey or finding a fucking awesome esper ability," Vendetta answers with a shrug. Jack doesn't really care about other esper abilities, but hunting down the enemies of the Syndicate does give him a sense of control that he couldn't find anywhere else. "I've also done some favors for Croupier over the years. That bitch loves getting even, and I'll admit that I have taken a lot of shit from him over the years. His favors take a few weeks, if not months. If I didn't listen to him, I would have already completed my objective or..."

Vendetta trails off. Jack doesn't want to know what the alternative was going to be, so he asks, "When was the last time you did anything for fun?"

"The training course Phil made for me was fun... oh, and Argonaut gave me this gaming device! I play Animal Crossing on it sometimes. I played a dancing game with Serenade once. I would have beaten his ass if he wasn't a fucking cheater," Vendetta answers. He stares up at the sky in thought before looking back down at Jack. He rolls his shoulders, exhaling softly. "But before that? I don't really do fun shit. It takes up too much time."

"We're going to do something fun, then," Jack informs Vendetta. His earlier thoughts flash into his mind about how he should hate Vendetta, but he pushes them down when he realizes how appealing the thought of hanging out with Vendetta is. If they aren't in a serious situation, Jack could learn more about Vendetta. If he knows more about the hero standing in front of him, he might be able to settle on a firmer conviction. He will know for certain how he is supposed to feel about Vendetta.

"We have to report what happened with Reaper, remember? You were on my ass about that earlier," Vendetta reminds Jack, placing a hand on his hip.

"I appreciate your turn towards the power of friendship," Jack chuckles. Vendetta rolls his eyes as Jack's attempt at humor. Jack pulls his communicator out of his pocket, shaking it slightly. "I messaged the team while you were with Monarch. They're all still on their missions. They want to hold a meeting tomorrow. I was originally going to take you home, but I think we could spare some time to visit Las Nevadas. We'll wait for Serenade to finish, and obviously, we'll have to have some fun. It's the Island of Sin, after all. Serenade will probably take a few more hours."

Vendetta laughs. It sounds much lighter than the laugh he had earlier when he mentioned that he didn't consider anyone to be his friend. It is also different from the bitter laughs Vendetta has shown Jack during past conversations. Jack definitely prefers this laugh. It reminds him of happier times. Vendetta talks, shattering the memory at the forefront of Jack's mind, "I know all the best spots in Las Nevadas. I've broken into every building, after all."

"Well, you can be my tour guide," Jack nods with a smile spreading across his face. "Where should we go first, then?"