Varen glared at the all too familiar building of the SOCIPISOC headquarters a block away. It was night, but the building shone, strategically lit up to look glorious and magnificent, standing out among its surroundings.

It disgusted him.

"You think they're coming?" Marek whispered to him. Varen's poor love had been anxious the entire day. Varen could tell because Marek tended to tap his foot when he was nervous.

"They must," Varen replied, squeezing Marek's shoulder. "It would be hopeless without them." Then he looked at Marek, his gaze softening. "You claim they are good people, correct?"

Marek nodded. "Yeah. Of course they are. The best."

"Then they will do what is right and help us stop this madness," Varen said, nodding back firmly. "They still have ten minutes."

Marek smiles, leaning in to kiss Varen's masked cheek. "Thanks, babe."

Indeed, after another ten minutes, footsteps were heard behind them. Varen turned to see Aira and Nerian, in their usual outfits. At first Varen thought this strange, but he supposed it made sense. If they were to be caught, it would be easier to make up an excuse as members of SOPISOC than random masked goons.

"Good, you are here," Varen said to them. "I did find a backdoor. Generally unguarded. But there is an alarm."

Aira hummed, her eyes narrowed. "We don't have a code for it if you're thinking that. We always get let inside by the guards at the front."

Varen hummed. "I didn't think so. I assume even if you knew the alarm code for the front door that the back door wouldn't match." He shook his head. "No, what I am proposing is you overload the system with your powers and open the door."

Aira looked down at her hands, frowning. "That...might work, actually."

"Of course it will. Now let's be off," Varen said, setting off toward the HQ, making the others follow.

"He's so bossy," Varen heard Aira mutter behind him, but he didn't react. At least not until he heard Marek reply.

"You'd be surprised how well he follows orders in private."

Varen's face went red, throwing a scandalized glare at Marek over his shoulder.

"Aw, babe, it's cool. Aira doesn't judge," Marek said, hugging Varen briefly from behind, completely making him forget whatever he was going to say next.

"W-well...it's private," Varen finally forced out, huffing as he kept going, not wanting to admit that he had gotten flustered. "Like you said."

Thankfully no one said anything else before they reached SOPISOC. There was a brick wall between them and the back door, but that was hardly a problem for Varen. Touching the wall, he pried the bricks apart slowly, working as noiselessly as possible, making an entrance for them, just wide and tall enough for one person to enter at a time.

He walked through and everyone followed, Varen reforming the wall once they were in, smoothing everything out to disguise the fact that they'd entered this way.

"Didn't realize you could do that, babe," Marek whispered to him, beaming. Varen smiled, his heart fluttering. He never got tired of making Marek impressed.

He cleared his throat to focus. "Right. The back entrance I located is here."

He led them a bit further, to the back of the massive building, looking around constantly. There was a reason he hadn't simply flown them over the wall. The guards were watching the skies for anyone trying to fly over who might not be welcome. It seemed safer to simply go through the wall, more subtle, though that didn't mean they should let their guards down.

Thankfully, no one noticed them as they reached the door. It was a small thing, though thick and secure, no doubt made to stop superpowered attacks. And there was a number pad. Of course.

He looked at Aira.

"If this goes to shit, I'm throwing you under the bus, just so we're clear," she warned him, though she sounded too grumpy to be taken too seriously. Good. Perhaps that mean she was getting over her blind hatred of him.

"Of course. Now please," Varen said, gesturing to the number pad.

Aira approached it, taking a deep breath before extending her hand to it. A flash of light illuminated the door as Aira sent a jolt of lightning into the system, the air around them crackling. Varen scowled as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but he didn't let that distract him, focusing on the door only.

He couldn't help but smile a bit when it clicked and opened a crack. Good, Aira had done it, just as he'd hoped she'd manage.

"Good," he said, pulling the door open and looking inside. There was nothing but a dark corridor, with doors all around.

He'd never been to this part of the headquarters, but the maps he'd gotten mentioned that this was a storage collection of sorts, mostly archives of not so important documents, storage closets, maintenance rooms, and so on. The worst they could find here was a janitor.

Verifying that no one was here to discover them, he stepped inside. And immediately an alarm blared. He flinched in shock, not having expected this in the least. His plans hadn't mentioned an alarm here. And what had even triggered it? Him walking inside? Had there been some kind of movement sensor that hadn't been blown out by electricity?

Varen was usually calm, collected, and calculating, but he couldn't help but stand there, frozen, not knowing what to do. They would have to run away, hope SOPISOC didn't catch them, and then—

"I've got this!" cried Marek as he ran in, right in front of Varen. And then he summoned fire, holding it above his head. Varen had no idea what Marek was doing, wanting to urge him to run away, but then he heard the blaring of something other than a security alarm.

He looked above, seeing the flashing lights of fire detectors in the ceiling.

And only then Varen realized what Marek had done, just as water sprinkles started raining down on them, masking the noise of the alarm.

Varen wanted to kiss Marek right there and then, but he had to stay focused. They needed to run and hide. Someone would arrive here any second.

"Everyone, to me!" Varen cried. They did without questioning him, thankfully, allowing him to use his powers.

He clenched his fists, making the concrete floor underneath them to give way, making them sink down into the large, rectangular hole he was forming. It unfortunately made the earth quake a bit, but it couldn't be helped. There was no time to be gentle.

As soon as they were all comfortably beneath the floor, Varen raised his hands, making the floor above them seal itself up, trapping them in in pitch blackness, nothing but pipes and concrete walls between them.

For a moment, all that was heard was the sound of them breathing hard, everyone full of adrenaline as they listened for someone above them. Soon there were rushing footsteps, someone giving orders and more rushing around.

They waited for the guards to run off, searching for them somewhere else. Varen couldn't help but smile grimly when he heard one of the commanders say something about how they couldn't have just vanished into thin air.

"So, this is how you always disappear," Nerian whispered, sounding amazed. Varen tried not to chuckle at that.

"Indeed. I believe the coast is clear."

A hand grasped his shoulder. Definitely Marek's. Varen could tell. "Wait, can't we just travel under the ground like this?"

Varen shook his head despite knowing no one could actually see him. "No, the earth will shake. It did enough from me hiding us to begin with. We need to go the regular way."

Varen moved his hands, opening up the floor above again, moving the concrete beneath them to raise them up and seal up the floor yet again.

The corridor was now lit up, but thankfully empty. They needed to move fast, however. Someone was bound to come through again soon.

They started moving without anyone saying a word, running down the hallway until they reached another corridor, going left and right.

"We should split up," Varen said. "Two of us go search the archives. Try to find anything about whatever deal SOPISOC may have made, or paper trail about hiring these superpowered lackies pretending to be Undertakers. And the other two will go search Morrey's office."

Marek pouted. "What if you get caught?"

Varen couldn't help but smile, so very endeared by his boyfriend. "I can sink into the floor, remember? I'd be more worried about you getting caught."

Marek grinned, hugging Varen. "Aw, baby, I can talk my way out of any situation. Pretend I forgot my keys here or something."

Aira cleared her throat. She looked annoyed, but in a different way than usual, not glaring at him. As if she was annoyed with herself, though Varen couldn't quite figure it out. "Okay. I'll go with Earthcarver."

Marek laughed awkwardly. "Maybe...maybe let's not do that. You two will be at each other's throats in like thirty seconds."

"I'm not leaving him alone with my baby brother."

Varen decided not to point out that Aira and Nerian were twins and therefore the same age, and instead opened his mouth to assure her that he would not do anything to her brother. But before he could say anything, Nerian spoke up.

"It's okay. Earthcarver loves Mar, and Mar loves me. So, there's no way he'd hurt me."

Varen raised an eyebrow at this simple logic, but it seemed to give Aira a pause. The twins were intriguingly different.

"But he's a villain," Aira argued, chewing her lip. Nerian shrugged.

"Sure. But right now, we have the same goal. What would he gain from hurting me, anyway? If he wanted to hurt us or to collapse the whole HQ in a sinkhole he already could have," Nerian pointed out.

Varen nodded, humming. "We have the same goal. I know it is difficult to trust me. I feel the same way. But Marek trusts me. If you do not see my trustworthiness, respect his instincts."

Aira narrowed her eyes, but then she sighed. "Fine. But hurt my brother, and I will kill you."

Varen nodded again, finding this very reasonable. "Very well. I will protect him. Now let's go. We wasted enough time. I assume you know where the archives are."

Aira scowled, putting her hands on her hips. "Why are you the one going to the office?"

"Because I can actually walk through walls," Varen pointed out. Aira scowled harder, but she said nothing because she clearly couldn't think of an argument in her favor. "I will protect Riptide."

Aira grunted, not sounding happy at all, but eventually she agreed. "Fine. You'd better. Let's go then."

She grabbed Marek's arms and started running down the left side of the corridor. Pleased that the discussion was over, Varen went right, taking the lead, Nerian following behind him.

Slowly but surely, they made their way further into the headquarters, dangerously deep, constantly having to duck into empty rooms and broom closets to avoid detection. But they were progressing and that was all Varen was focused on.

Currently they were stuck in a supply closet, waiting for people to pass them. Varen had his eyes closed, sensing the vibrations of people's footsteps, gauging their distance. It was a shame he'd triggered that alarm. At night the foot traffic wouldn't have been bad at all.

"You really love him, huh?" whispered Nerian out of nowhere, making Varen blink at him.

"Marek? Yes, of course," he replied quietly, putting his ear to the door. He couldn't help but let his heart flutter as he thought of Marek. "More than anything."

"My sister is giving you a hard time because we're supposed to be enemies. And she's worried about Mar. But I can tell you're not all bad. Things are just complicated," Nerian continued, sighing. "I just wish he talked to us before joining the Undertakers."

Varen grimaced. Marek hadn't said anything about it, but Varen had sensed that there was quite a bit of tension going on under the surgace. Marek in particular seemed torn on his decision to join. Leaving SOPISOC never seemed to bother him, and neither was being with Varen, but the rest....

And Varen felt guilty for putting him in this situation. But what else had there been to do? They couldn't stay in some kind of gray in-between.

"I...may have misjudged you," Varen admitted, sighing. "I assumed you must have failed Marek as friends to make him run away. That you weren't good enough. But I think...it was SOPISOC that failed him. I should have...encouraged him to tell you. I was simply worried you would stop him, end what we had. And that he'd listen to you instead of me."

Varen wasn't certain where all of this was coming from. He felt as though he was realizing these things himself while saying them. But that was the truth.

"It's okay," Nerian said, giving him puppy eyes of incredible magnitude. Varen could never withstand Marek's, and this was another level entirely. "Things are complicated. We can figure something out. If SOPISOC is corrupt like this, I...I don't think I want to work with them anymore."

Varen blinked. He'd not expected at all. He'd gotten the impression, apparently inaccurately, that of the two twins, Nerian was a follower who simply went with what he was told was for the best. This was a pleasant surprise. But saying this was one thing, doing something about it was another.

Where was one supposed to go when disillusioned with SOPISOC and unwilling to live a life of crime? Make a second, more virtuous SOPISOC? It would only become corrupt yet again. Humans never learned.

"Perhaps new leadership will fix things," Varen said, even though he wasn't optimistic enough to truly believe it.

"But we'd still be enemies," Nerian said, puppy eyeing harder. "And if Marek loves you, that means you have to be good underneath. Why stay with the Undertakers?"

Varen paused, shocked that he was being directly asked this question. "I have nowhere else to be. I've made my choice."

"People can change." Nerian hugged Varen, shocking him into stillness. He didn't hug back or say anything, just completely baffled until Nerian let go. And now the superhero was staring him right in the eye, his gaze intense even in the dimness of the supply closet. "I'm just saying. It's never too late. You don't have to keep doing this if you don't want to."

Varen grimaced, turning away. It was time to avoid the subject. "The coast is clear. Let's go."

Nerian pouted, but he didn't protest as he followed Varen outside again. They stayed silent and focused, hiding along the way a few times, but the further up they got, the easier things became, the corridors dark and silent for the most part.

Varen took a deep breath as they made it to the top floor. He scowled as they approached Morrey's office. His stomach was twisting in on itself, but it had nothing to do with the anxiety of potentially getting caught.

He was being assaulted by memories he'd been burying for years. But he needed to focus. If being here would end in ruining Morrey, then it would be more than worth it.

"Let's enter through a wall, there will no doubt be an alarm on the door," Varen whispered to Nerian, who readily nodded.

Varen looked around, jerking his head at Nerian to tell him to keep watch. Nerian gave him a thumbs up, and so Varen turned his attention to the wall right next to the door, running his hand over it, sensing out the bricks and finding a spot that didn't include any pipes or wiring. That always got in the way.

Once he found a good spot, he opened up the wall as quietly as he could, waving Nerian over as he walked into the office. As soon as Nerian came through as well, Varen closed the hole in the wall before scowling at their surroundings.

The office was as spotless and organized as it always had been. Books aligned perfectly straight in bookshelves lining the walls, an overly neat stack of papers on the desk, a few chairs, a couch in the corner, and barely anything else.

Varen tried to keep all his hate and irritation to himself as he walked to the desk. Unfortunately, Morrey hadn't left his laptop here, so they would have to hope they would find something in the drawers.

But as soon as he grabbed one, he cried out as something snapped onto his wrist, an alarm blaring. Varen gasped at the metal encircling his wrist, a metal wire rope attached to the cuff that was now holding him bound to the desk.

"Fuck!" He yanked on the cuff, trying to get free because he could feel the cuff cutting his powers off. He was helpless and stuck. And there was nothing he could do. Since when did Morrey have a trap like this here?

Varen flinched when he heard footsteps rushing to the office. There was no time for anything. He looked at Nerian.

"Hide!" he hissed at him. Nerian looked like he wanted to argue, but then he did, running to the couch and jumping behind it. Good, at least Nerian would be safe as long as he didn't bring attention to himself.

Varen swallowed, steeling himself. This mission had been doomed from the start it seemed. There had been no way for him to predict that Morrey had such precautions in place. It only made him more sure that the evidence was hidden here.

But now it was too late. The door was swinging open. He was about to be discovered.

Then the person on the other side stepped in, and Varen froze. It wasn't some random guard like he'd been expecting. It was Morrey himself.

"Father," he breathed.