Shroud clings to Vermillion with all of his strength. The spiderling's face is pressed into Vermillion's shoulder, the fringes of his hair tickling Vermillion's throat. Vermillion takes extra caution as he jumps from one building to another, one arm tucked beneath Shroud's knees and the other holding his head in place. Vermillion even pulls out his powers to soften the fall. He can feel the way Shroud's fingers clasp his clothes, the grip tightening when they reach the vertex of each leap. Vermillion murmurs that Shroud is going to be okay, but he doesn't force the spiderling to look around. He wasn't going to make him face his fear of heights now.

Eventually, they land on the ground at the entrance of Origins. It's as barren as it was when Vermillion first stopped by, but it smelled a lot nicer. Vermillion's gloved hand pushed some of Shroud's hair back as he leaned away from the spiderling. Hesitantly, Shroud sat up in Vermillion's arms with an anxious look overtaking his face. Vermillion keeps his touches light as he tries to comfort Shroud. The spiderling looks at Vermillion, and the hero graces the boy with a sweet smile that he normally didn't show anyone. "It's alright, Shroud. You're going to stay here for a little while. You'll be safe here. No one would dare to hurt you."

Shroud whimpers, but he doesn't throw a fit. Vermillion keeps the spiderling in his arms as they walk down the stairs. Shroud doesn't seem to notice that the lighting has changed, but it took a moment for Vermillion's eyes to adjust. Shroud turned to look at Vermillion when they stopped. Vermillion gave a small smile as he walked forward. The farther they descended, the more clearly Vermillion could hear the voices of the workers and the people needing a home. Shroud pressed into Vermillion's body when the voices became clear enough for them to make out the words, but he kept his head facing forwards like he was trying to be brave. Vermillion ran his hand through Shroud's hair as a way to settle the spiderling's nerves.

The main room was packed with people. There were far more people there now than there had been the last time Vermillion had come by. The receptionist continued to work hard at her desk. Several people in uniforms darted around with clipboards. Vermillion looked around at the people who were in search of a home. He recognized some of them as the homeless people that stayed in Logstedshire. Before his retirement, he had brought meals to some of these people. He and Beau worked hard to get sponsorships for the underaged runaways. They did their best to teach practical skills to the older ones. It wasn't until Vermillion started demanding favors from the other heroes that he was able to build a bridge between some of the district's businesses and the people of Logstedshire. More jobs opened up for the people. Even though it was just manual labor, Vermillion was proud of their progress. He had hoped that the bridge would remain when he disappeared, but the sheer amount of homeless people here proved that someone had burned the bridge in his absence. In fact, some of these people were the ones Vermillion had originally got jobs for. Without his support, they must have been fired and left to rot.

Vermillion bit the inside of his mouth, hard enough to draw blood. As much as he wanted to start asking questions, he knew that he couldn't do anything for them. He had to take care of Shroud, first and foremost. After that, he wasn't going to do anything else. These people had Origins now. They didn't need his help. They probably wouldn't want it, either. Vermillion knew that if he was in the same position as them, he would have grown resentful.

"Hello, Mister Vermillion. How may we help you?" Someone asked, stepping towards the hero and Shroud. Vermillion felt a few pairs of eyes land on him. He settled his nerves. It had been a long time since he had an audience, but he had learned a long time ago how to act naturally when there were dozens of thoughts about him around him all at once. Vermillion could remember a time when he was extremely socially awkward. It had been difficult for him to talk to anyone without accidentally cussing them out or saying his innermost thoughts that were usually rude. Beau and... and the other two had been the ones to teach him how to talk to people. Mostly Beau, but the others did have some advice for him. Vermillion learned how to be a man of the people. He learned what it meant to be courteous to others. He learned that the people wanted someone they could look up to, so he needed to act like a shining paragon of justice.

"This is Shroud. He'll be staying here now," Vermillion introduced the spiderling in his arms. Shroud made a quiet whimpering sound. He turned to bury his face in Vermillion's shoulder, looking at the woman from the corner of his main eyes. Vermillion stifled a laugh at Shroud's bashfulness.

"Understood. May we ask you a few questions concerning Shroud and how we should take care of him?" The woman asked, gesturing towards a corner where a chair was nestled in between side tables that were covered in magazines and coloring books. A man was sitting with a sickly teenager next to one of the side tables, but he seemed enraptured with the conversation in front of him with a different caretaker. Vermillion nodded, sitting down in the seat. He flipped Shroud around so the spiderling was forced to look at the caretaker. Shroud leaned back into Vermillion, but he wasn't as tense when the woman smiled warmly at him. "My name is Lisa. I'm going to ask you a few basic questions, so we know how to take care of you. Is that alright?"

Shroud shyly nodded, his hand grabbing Vermillion's hand. The woman's smile seemed to soften even further. She leaned down onto her knees in front of them with her clipboard resting in her lap. "Thank you. I need to know your name, age, species, and if you have any family."

"His name is Shroud, and he's a hybrid between an arachnid Mob and a human," Vermillion answered. He looked down at Shroud to see if the spiderling would tell the woman how old he was and if he had any family. Vermillion honestly didn't know. His conversations with Shroud were few and far between. The spiderling was more inclined to gesture to things he wanted or cling to Vermillion. Shroud wasn't much of a talker, and Vermillion never forced him to say anything. Vermillion wondered if Shroud would say anything this time around. If Shroud didn't want to, they could figure out some way to understand Shroud's gestures and make assumptions based on his physical appearance, but Vermillion would rather get a more honest answer in a less frustrating way.

"I'm five. I don't have a family. I woke up in a web. I stayed in the streets until this lady took me in," Shroud said. His voice was soft and raspy, more like a hiss than anything else. Vermillion felt his heart warm at the sound, though. This wasn't the first time he had heard Shroud's voice, but it was the first time Shroud had spoken to someone else. Vermillion had tried taking Shroud out in his civilian form so the spiderling wouldn't go stir-crazy, but this only showed Vermillion that Shroud was extremely shy.

"Is this lady still taking care of you?" The woman asked. Shroud tensed where he was sitting. He shook his head violently. Vermillion quickly wrapped his arms around Shroud's body to provide some comfort. The woman apologized for asking the question. She looked down at her notepad. She pressed her lips in a firm line as she wrote down the words. She looked back up at Shroud and Vermillion. "Do you have any allergies? Is there anything that a person can do or say that makes you feel upset?"

"I haven't seen any signs of an allergy. I haven't noticed any triggers, either, but he doesn't talk all that much. He prefers to gesture to things. He's also very clingy. He really likes physical touch, and he gets depressed when he's left alone for too long," Vermillion explained. He learned that last fact the first time he had gone to work, leaving Shroud at home. Shroud played with a couple of toy-like things Vermillion was able to scrounge up for a little while, but eventually, he retreated to the couch. He laid there the entire day. Vermillion had come home to find that. When Shroud noticed Vermillion was back, he clung to Vermillion the entire rest of the night. He let Vermillion go back to work easily enough, but Vermillion had felt so horrible about it that he talked to Sam about what he could do. In the end, Nook had volunteered to babysit Shroud while Vermillion was working the dayshift. Now, Shroud would play with Nook during the day, and he would get ready for bed and sleep with Vermillion during the night. Vermillion supposed they wouldn't need to do that anymore.

"Alright. Shroud can go to the playroom while we double check all the information and arrange a place for him to stay tonight. I'm sure you want to see Miss Nemesis," The woman said, reaching a hand out towards Shroud. The spiderling didn't move for a second, but he eventually took the woman's hand. He looked back at Vermillion. The hero nodded at Shroud, encouraging him to go with the woman to the playroom.

With Shroud taken care of, Vermillion stood on his feet. Several people turned to look at him, but he ignored them all. He walked towards the hallway opposite to him. He headed straight towards Nemesis' office without stopping to confirm he was allowed there. He slammed open her door. The owner of the office was standing at an active board with an electronic marker in her hand. She seemed to be writing down comments about blueprints. She turned to look at him, and a smile instantly split across her face. Vermillion ignored her smile. "I did the fucking video. That was my part of our deal. Now, you and Origins are gonna take Shroud in. He's already in the playroom, and some fucking lady took his information."

"Thank you, Vermillion. More and more people are coming every day. I've done the math, and we are actually making a difference in terms of the statistics. It isn't that much just yet, but it's more than any other attempt has been on Logstedshire. We're going to have to expand, but I'm not upset about that. We had plans to expand anyway, this is just forcing us to start the renovations earlier than anticipated," Nemesis began to explain. She tapped a few things on the active board, bringing up a chart of statistics that made Vermillion's head hurt looking at. There were several spaces where Nemesis had written notes about things she noticed or how they had changed.

"We've already begun the rehabilitation process. Some people have already gotten decent paying jobs with a place to stay all on their own. We still try to support them, but it's really good that people are already moving through the system," Nemesis continued, pointing at a chart in the corner of the board that explained how many people were still in  Origins vs. those who were out of it. Vermillion gawked at the huge numbers. There seemed to be a lot of people coming in. Vermillion was worried they wouldn't have the manpower to help people get out of the system.

"This is a fucking good thing, Nemesis. You're doing great work," Vermillion said slowly. He didn't want to compliment her. He still doubted Origins would work. But he could appreciate that Nemesis was making an effort. He could acknowledge how much good Nemesis had done so far. There were people benefitting from this, and Vermillion had to hope for the best for them.

"That means a lot coming from you... Vermillion, I'm sorry," Nemesis says slowly. Vermillion looks at her strangely. He doesn't know what she's talking about. What does she have to apologize for? They made a deal that they both benefited equally from. Vermillion was about to ask what she meant when someone coughed at the door. Vermillion shot around to see that someone was sitting on the couch nested in the corner. The person was right next to the door, hidden behind the opened wood. The person shoved the door away to show that they were sitting there. Vermillion's eyes widened as he recognized the person.

Nemesis was a hero in the Antarctic District on the hero team: Syndicate. Another one of these heroes was the Blade. He was a pink-haired buff guy who wore a boar's mask on his face and a velvet red fur cloak around his shoulders. He was known for being brutal and violent. Heroes and villains alike were terrified of him. He was sitting in the room with Nemesis and Vermillion, and the latter hadn't even realized. For such a big guy, the Blade had a way of blending into the silence. There was a reason why he was known for more than going berserk. He was also quite intelligent- the worst kind of enemy. The Blade was no blubbering fool. He was like a warhorse: powerful and sturdy and fearless. Vermillion knew that if he were to fight the Blade, he was going to lose. Vermillion would rather fight the guy than have a conversation with him, though.

"This wasn't part of our fucking deal," Vermillion bit out, turning to glare at Nemesis. She looked down at her hands with her lips pressed into a firm line. She did not look saddened or guilty. She had told the Blade when Vermillion was going to be there, and she had let Vermillion walk into this trap. Vermillion knew there was a reason why he fucking hated Nemesis.

"Theseus," the Blade said with his empty, callous voice that Vermillion hated hearing. The hero looked between Nemesis and the Blade. Neither of them seemed to care that he was seconds away from panicking. Vermillion snarled at them both. He marched towards the Blade. The Blade didn't do anything, merely raising an eyebrow at him. Vermillion tried to push past the Blade. The older hero grabbed Vermillion's wrist, keeping the Red Angel trapped in the room. The Blade didn't seem amused when Vermillion tried forcefully yanking his arm out of the Blade's hold. "You are acting like a petulant child."

"I don't give a shit!" Vermillion yelled. In a fit of panicked induced rage, Vermillion pulled back his other arm. He slammed his fist against the Blade's face. A red spot formed against the Blade's skin, but the hero didn't flinch with the recoil or wince in pain. The Blade touched the spot with his other hand. Vermillion tried to pull his wrist away from the Blade, but it wasn't coming loose. Vermillion felt tears of frustration rise in his eyes, but he refused to cry in front of Nemesis and the Blade.

"Your punches have gotten stronger," The Blade noted. Against his will, Vermillion's mind shifted to reveal the last memory he had with the Blade. Vermillion had punched him back then, too. The Blade hadn't been the slightest bit hurt by the punch itself, but there had been pain in his eyes when he realized that Vermillion had willingly raised his hand against him. Vermillion looked away from the Blade to keep that memory from continmating him.

"You bitch! You abused by fucking kindess! Last time shit for you!" Vermillion yells when his eyes meet Nemesis' eyes. She doesn't look away from him, but her face shows a frown as the words settle around them. Vermillion smiles, getting a sick satisfaction from seeing Nemesis wilt beneath his words.

The Blade grabbed Vermillion's chin, dragging the boy's face around. Their eyes met, and Vermillion wanted to scream with how many emotions were churning in his gut. The Blade maintained eye contact for an awkward moment. When the Blade found whatever he was looking for, he asked Vermillion, "Why did you let everyone believe that you were dead?"

Vermillion shook his head. He tried pulling at his wrist once more. He was tempted to cut off his hand to stop dealing with his situation entirely. He would be happy to get away with just one arm left on his body. He just didn't want to be there anymore. He hated how the Blade looked at him. He hated all the memories, burning questions, and emotions that swirled in Vermillion's body like a hurricane sweeping a coastline. Vermillion didn't know if was more likely to vomit or cry first, but he knew that he was about to start screaming curse words at the top of his lungs. He settled for hissing out, "You have no fucking right to ask me that."

"I do have a right. Have you forgotten that we're like-" The Blade started. Vermillion knew what he was going to say. Vermillion knew what word was about to come out of the Blade's mouth, and he also knew that he wouldn't be able to hear it. No matter what they were in the past, they weren't that anymore. It was a long time ago. Things had changed since then. The two of them had changed so much that the word no longer applied to them. They had made their mistakes and burned their bridges. They didn't need to pretend like none of it had happened. Vermillion couldn't pretend like none of it had happened.

Vermillion activated his powers. The air in the room became a whirling wind current that spun outward, knocking everything- including the Blade and Nemesis- from Vermillion's body. Vermillion kept his hand in front of him, ready to bring forth more wind should the Blade or Nemesis try to approach him. He looked down at both of them. "Fuck both of you. This is the last fucking time I will ever seek out one of you again. You better give Shroud the best prime-damn life here. And you... don't fucking act like you care about me. I don't give a damn about you, so get with the fucking program and stop being a dipshit."

Vermillion stormed out of the room. He stormed all the way out of Origins. He didn't even say goodbye to Shroud.