Marek was excited. It was time for his first mission, and it was a solo one, to prove his abilities. He did miss Varen, and he hoped that they would team up regularly, but he could do one mission alone. It was fine.

It was supposed to be a robbery, specifically using his powers to melt through a safe and then grab whatever documents were inside. And not accidentally burn them. Varen was very clear about that.

Marek knew nothing about the documents or why the Undertakers wanted them, but the target was some rich bastard, so that was all fine with Marek.

He'd always hated protecting rich, evil people. But they paid well, so of course SOPISOC always handled their problems. He was really happy about the fact that the Undertakers targeted them.

Since the guy was away right now, getting in wasn't much of a problem. Marek didn't pay any attention to the alarm that started blaring as soon as he melted the lock off the fron door, swining it open. He would be out before the police could arrive.

The safe was supposed to be in the basement, and so he started searching around for a way down.

Unfortunately, despite actually looking at the building plans earlier, Marek found himself a bit lost, wandering the long corridors and endless turns.

Just as he finally found the right door, though, someone yelled behind him.

"Freeze!"

Marek wanted to keep running, or at least turn to fight them, but he knew very well who this was, the voice unmistakable, and it made him stop in his tracks. He couldn't let them her recognize him. Either of them.

His momentary hesitation was enough to ruin everything however as the next moment he cried out in pain, electricity running through his whole body, incapacitating him.

Marek groaned as he fell to the floor, trying to pull himself together fast enough to try to fight the twins off. He was sure Nerry was around here somewhere too. Aira never fought alone.

Before he could recover, though, his arms were roughly pulled behind his back, cuffs locking onto his wrists.

Marek huffed as he felt the control of his powers lock away with it. He only liked the depowers when used on his enemies. Or himself, consentually.

He couldn't believe his first mission was a disaster already. His heart clenched when he thought about that. What if Flesheater kicked him off? Would Varen still want to be with him then? Would the Undertakers even let him?

He cringed as he was pulled up to sit, face to face with a glaring Aira. Even with her mask on, Marek could tell she was pissed beyond belief. And behind her stood Nerry, doing his usual puppy eyes, his lips drawn into a heartbroken little frown.

Goddammit.

"You're coming with us, Mr. Flame," Aira snarked, pulling Marek up and dragging him away, out of the house.

"Okay, okay, I know you're mad—"

"Mad doesn't even cover it, Mar," Aira huffed, continuing to drag him away. "How could you just leave?"

Marek grimaced. "Don't bring me back to SOPISOC."

Aira gave him a look disbelief. As if she was asking him if he was seriously making demands in this situation.

"Please?"

Aira sighed, dragging Marek outside. Marek looked over his shoulder at Nerry, who just puppy eyed him back.

Marek's heart clenched. He hadn't wanted to hurt his friends so much. He'd thought they'd just move on in time. And he'd just avoid fighting them. And being recognized.

But Aira had known right off the bat. Marek sighed. He should have gotten his hair dyed. Maybe then they'd not recognize him immediately.

Marek grimaced when he saw police cars on the scene. If he hadn't gotten lost in the house he would have gotten in and out already, and he'd be on his merry way. Though the fact that Aira and Nerry had arrived so quickly was suspicious. Usually, the police arrived first and only once they found out a supervillain was involved, that was when they called SOPISOC.

Aira dragged Marek past the police, telling them the situation was handled, sounding distracted. She was no doubt having too many thoughts about all of this.

None of them said anything even as Marek was stuffed into the back of Aira's car and was being driven away.

Marek's heart was beating hard, his insides twisting in on themselves in anxiety. He couldn't go back to SOPISOC. He needed to get out of here somehow.

But before he could even think of a possible escape plan, though, he realized that Aira was driving in a different direction.

"Uh, where are you going?" he couldn't help but question. He was relieved that she wasn't bringing him to SOPISOC HQ, but that didn't mean that he wasn't concerned about this turn of event.s

"Somewhere private," Aira grumbled, not even looking at him. Marek leaned forward to look out the front window. She was heading to industrial part of the city by the looks of it, large warehouses and businesses taking up the space usually occupied by regular houses.

"Uh, how about you guys let me go, and I move to a different city, huh?" Marek suggested nervously. Aira was probably going to yell at him. He'd rather if she beat him up.

"How could you just leave without saying goodbye at least?" Nerry asked, turning to face Marek, his deep brown eyes so betrayed and hurt. Marek winced with guilt.

"I mean, I left you guys a note...."

Nerry sighed, looking forward again and ignoring him.

"Come on, guys, I just...needed a change," Marek defended himself weakly. There was no explaining this away and justifying it without mentioning Varen, was there?

But he really didn't want to mention him. Who knew what Aira might do to his baby boy if she understood them falling in love as Varen manipulating Marek? She would definitely immediately think that.

"So you just decided to betray everything you've ever known, including your friends?" Aira snapped at him, glaring over her shoulder. Marek grimaced and curled in on himself a little, avoiding her gaze. He felt like a scolded child. But he understood why they were upset. He would have been angry too if the situations had been reversed.

There was only tense silence left until Aira stopped by an old, decrepit building, its windows broken and its bricks showing. Even in the dark, it was obvious.

"You're not gonna kill me, are you?" Marek asked as Aira got out, swallowing. He didn't think they would, but this sure would be the perfect place for it.

Aira glared at him again as she swung the door open and dragged him out. But aside from anger, Marek could see pain in her eyes. Right, asking his former best friend if she was going to kill him was definitely hurtful. He hadn't really realized what he'd said just then.

"Come on," she said, dragging him along. Marek grimaced, staring at his feet as he was forced inside of the old building, and then pushed away, the two superheroes staring him down.

"Now, explain what you did. Why the hell did you just abandon us to go join the bad guys?" Aira demanded, folding her arms. She looked so hurt, her glare doing nothing to disguise the tears in her eyes.

Marek winced. "I just...like I said in the note, I can't follow Morrey anymore. The guy sucks. And working for SOPISOC means helping him."

It was a lame excuse with a really obvious flaw. And seeing Aira narrow her eyes, it was clear she too realized it immediately.

"So because you don't like the leader of SOPISOC you decided to become a supervillain and join the Undertakers? A normal, reasonable decision. Really."

Marek sighed. He wanted to tell them the truth. But they wouldn't understand. Still, they were probably not going to let him get away from here without getting the truth from him, whether he wanted to share it or not.

"Did you stop liking us, or...?" Nerry suggested gently, his big eyes full of pain. Oh god, bless Nerry's soft little heart.

"No, listen, I...." Marek sighed, tugging on his cuffs with frustration. He had to tell them. There was no going around it. "I...I'm dating Earthcarver."

The twins stared at him in shock, clearly blindsided by this information.

"You...what?" Aira asked finally, gawking at him. Meanwhile Nerry cooed, his shock replaced with an excited little smile.

"Aw, that's really sweet though. Enemies to lovers," he said with delight. But then he frowned, confused. "Wait, but how does that explain why you joined the baddies?"

Aira nodded. "Yeah, what does that have to do with anything? You could have just quit if SOPISOC was stopping you from...dating him." She said the last two words through gritted teeth, as if it caused her physical pain to say that. "No, actually, I'm not gonna pretend I like that. Why the hell are you dating that monster?"

Marek glared at her, taking a step closer. He would not stand for having his boyfriend be insulted like this. "He's my baby. How dare you?"

"Well...." Marek looked at Nerry when he spoke. The man was giving him his best puppy eyes, but he was grimacing too. "He did try to kill us a bunch. And injured us. And killed a lot of civilians that one time when he opened that huge lava fissure in the city center...."

Marek sighed. "And I accidentally set some buildings on fire a bunch of times." He nodded at Nerry. "You cause a flood once."

Nerry ducked his head, staring at the floor sadly. Marek didn't want to make him feel guilty, but he needed to illustrate a point.

"And you," he told Aira, "once caused a blackout that lasted for a full day. The hospital was in crisis mode."

Aira huffed, putting an arm around her brother to comfort him. "Yes, and we all regret it. It was all just accidents. Earthcarver did it on purpose so we'd be too busy saving people to stop the Undertakers from kidnapping the mayor's son."

Oh, if Aira only knew how much every innocent life lost bothered Varen. He made himself sick with guilt sometimes.

Varen didn't want to show it, but he'd opened up to Marek many times, and each time, Marek was horrified at the amount of despair Varen felt over being a bad person as he'd said it. Varen just didn't know anything else. Or rather had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do.

Marek hadn't managed to discover just what that fateful incident was that had made him join the Undertakers. But he was sure Varen would tell him in due time. And until then he'd try to convince him that maybe there are better paths to take if he really didn't want to be involved in hurting innocent people.

"Well, I'm telling you. Earthcarver is a great guy. And I love him," Marek said, firm and resolute. "That's why I left. I was so sick of hiding it. And I knew you guys would just assume that he somehow brainwashed me into it."

Nerry pouted, clearly not agreeing with that assessment. But Aira paused, scowling off to the side.

"He could have brainwashed you," she huffed. "To get information about us. Not to mention get a powerful new soldier."

"Well, I told no one nothing, and I'm doing this out of my own free will," Marek said, scowling. He wouldn't betray them that way. "I just wanna be with him."

Aira narrowed her eyes. "Why won't he just join us, then? Or stop hurting people?"

Marek wanted to try to pull together some kind of explanation. He wasn't sure himself, yet. He'd gotten the vibe that something bad had happened to Varen involving SOPISOC years ago, but that was about it. He had no idea what it was. Something involving Morrey probably. Varen absolutely hated that man's guts.

But before he could say anything at all, the ground shook violently, making him trip and fall on his knees, the twins crashing down too.

"Oh, I think you pissed him off," Marek said, grimacing. He was happy to get rescued, but he also didn't want his boyfriend to hurt his friends.

The earthquake got even more intense as the door flew open, revealing a very angry Varen. Even with his mask on, Marek could tell. He always held his shoulders close and high up when he was angry.

"You dare kidnap my boyfriend?" he growled, his fists clenched even as the earth rumbled beneath them. Above, the metal ceiling groaned. Marek really hoped they were all going to get out of here alive.

"Hey, it's okay, babe. I'm fine. They just...wanted to talk."

Varen gave him a blank, unamused stare for a moment. Marek shut up.

"You are not getting him," Aira said, raising her hand to attack Varen with her lightning bolts. But Varen was faster.

The shaking of the earth got even more intense as suddenly Nerry and Aira were yelling as they sank into the concrete floor.

Marek gaped, immediately stumbling to them to make sure they were okay as the earthquake ceased. Only their heads were sticking out of the floor now, both glaring at Varen and struggling to free themselves to no avail.

"I won't kill them, do not worry," said Varen, walking over to check on Marek, fussing as he inspected the cuffs. "Though they'd deserve it for kidnapping you."

"Babe, you can't keep them like that," Marek said. Varen scowled, but he quickly looked away when Marek stared at him pleadingly.

He sighed dramaticall. "Very well. But next time I will not be so merciful."

Marek wanted to hug him, but the cuffs stopped him, so he settled for at least kissing Varen's cheek. "My hero."

Marek expected Aira to snark about Marek calling a supervillain a hero, but she stayed quiet, probably deciding that it wasn't worth it making Varen even angrier given the circumstances. Marek wouldn't have done the same, but he's not smart.

Varen put his arm around Marek's waist, holding him close before clenching his fist again. Immediately, the concrete around their feet cracked in a circle, and Marek knew immediately what Varen was planning on doing.

"Touch him again, and I will ruin you," Varen told Aira and Nerry, his voice so cold it made Marek shiver. His boyfriend was so impressive, and his protectiveness was swoon-worthy, but Marek didn't love it when it was aimed at his best friends.

"Tell SOPISOC that Fireman is dead," Varen added, raising his fist to make the chunk of concrete under their feet fly up, making Marek stumble. Varen held him tight though even as he made more concrete fly above them, making a large hole in the roof.

As they neared it, Marek was about to remind Varen to let the twins go, but just then Varen did it himself, glaring down at them as they floated up, the concrete lifting them and freeing them.

"I'm never letting you go on a solo mission again," Varen said, holding Marek closer as they flew away. "I worry about you too much."

Marek sighed. "I'm not that incompetent. They were just ready for me. You think maybe SOPISOC caught wind of us wanting to steal those documents?"

Varen leaned in to nuzzle Marek's temple. "You are very competent, my love. But everyone should have backup. Unless they have stealth powers." He hummed. "And yes, possibly. I'm not certain. I will investigate further. After I make certain you are okay."

Marek smiled at him, kissing his masked forehead. Even though he felt pretty bad about fucking up the mission and also being confronted by the twins, it still made his heart flutter to hear Varen be so protective and caring.

He just had to hope that his next mission would be a bit less of a disaster. But at least he wasn't in a SOPISOC prison yet, and he and Varen were safe.

Things could be a lot worse.