#ekarlsson

Still, the roof tops are fairly boring at this time of day, before the real weird Supers come out and long after any civilians are working up high.

Erik’s been on Timo recently about practicing, so Timo decides that’s as good a way as any to pass the time. He’s gotten better for sure, good enough to feel the conductive channels through the thick concrete, electrical wires and metal pipes. Erik claims that he wants Timo to be good enough to feel someone’s exact brainwaves, but that’s a bit of a reach.

He hasn’t told Kevin about that particular goal because he thinks it sounds deranged, but Kevin’s been very supportive of Timo practicing. Timo assumes that’s because he enjoys Timo’s growing control; it’s made rolling around in bed a good deal less hazardous for all of Kevin’s sensitive bits.

Timo frowns and texts Kevin again. There’s no answer. He texts the group chat, asking if anyone else has heard from Kevin.

His earbud crackles to life. Erik’s voice comes softly through as he directs, “Wait for Antti and Tomas. They’re in the area. Let them go in dressed normally and ask the front desk. Call Kevin and see if he answers. He probably just got caught up in work again.”

“Okay,” Timo acknowledges, hitting dial on his phone. It rings, but to no avail. The voicemail sound beeps in his ear and he falters. “Hey, babe, where are you? I’ve been waiting for you for about fifteen minutes. You’re worrying Tomas. It’s fine if you have to work late, just call me back and let me know.”

He hangs up and stares at the screen for a moment, watching minuscule rain drops fall on the glass. He calls again and gets sent to voicemail again.

He turns to his team. “Erik?”

Erik’s voice comes through his ear bud. “I switched your comm off while you were on the phone. Tomas and Antti are in the building, going up to Kevin’s floor. Simmer’s nearby somewhere. They were all grabbing dinner together before I called them in.”

“Tomas is with Kevin’s coworkers,” Antti says suddenly. “I’m on my way to the security office to see if there’s anything They might have seen.”

“Be careful,” Timo and Erik say together. Antti doesn’t audibly scoff, but Timo still winces. He hates when they treat him like he needs protection. He’s competent, Timo knows, but he was also their team rookie long before any of them had powers. It makes some things more complicated.

“They thought he went home,” Tomas says slowly, quietly. “His bag was still at his desk. I saw it.”

“Okay,” Erik says calmly, like Timo’s heart isn’t in his throat. “Sweep the bathrooms and then—“

“We have a problem,” Antti interrupts frantically. “I’ve got three security guards in the hall who are knocked out. One of them is bleeding from the back of his head.”

“Get out,” Erik says, voice hard. “Both of you out now.”

“Wait,” Antti says, “I’m already here. The office door is open.”

The rain is coming down harder now, dripping down the back of Timo’s uniform and chilling him as he crouches there on the roof. The uniform is waterproof, but his hands and head are exposed and getting increasingly cold. He feels cold inside too, fear stealing his breath away.

“There’s a lot of screens,” Antti says slowly. “I don’t know see how to rewind it, but there are a decent number of cameras spread throughout the building. A lot of them are in common areas, so if Kevin was in a bathroom we wouldn’t see him going in or anything probably?”

“Here,” Tomas’ voice breaks through. “Give me one minute.”

“I’m not giving you any fucking time,” Erik repeats. “Get out.”

There’s silence and then quiet cursing through the comms. “It’s the Super from before,” Antti says. “We’re leaving, Erik, but the hallway to the security office had cameras and the Super hit the guards and didn’t even bother to hide any evidence. He just wanted them silent while he did whatever he was going to do.”

“He was in the elevator,” Tomas says. “Going down. Then they both disappear from the video.”

Timo hears Antti arguing with Tomas distantly, something about the guards and medical help.

Timo leaps off the roof, pushing up to get a better view. He waits to see if Tomas and Antti make it out, hovers there impatiently. There’s too much noise in the city to hear any individual, even with enhanced senses. He taps his fingers together to feel the electric sparks, over and over and over.

There’s a ripple in the darkness below and Erik’s voice rings in his ear sharply. “Timo, get down here.”

Timo lands, too hard, sees the concrete give way slightly under his feet. “What?”

“The others are on their way, but we’re getting started now. We have to search from the last known location and we have to be careful. We don’t want to spook whoever has him.”

Erik waits until Timo stops bouncing on his toes. “Tap into their electrical supply. See if you can find any areas that don’t seem to fit, maybe drawing too much power or too little.”

Timo looks around for a conductor and sees the utility box on the street. It’s as good a place as any to really dive into the city’s grid.

It’s not hard to reach into the city’s pulse, tracing the wiring outward strand by strand. It’s slow work, requiring focus. He’s not really seeing anything, not nearby at least.

“Anything?” Erik’s hand on his shoulder startles him. When he looks around, Antti and Tomas are outside, standing behind Erik.

“No, nothing.”

“Okay. Antti, was there anything on the external security cameras?”

“No, no, like I said, they went in the elevator and went down and then never came out. At least not somewhere with cameras.”

“Okay, so probably underground storage or parking or something. Simmer and I will check it out.”

“I’m coming with you,” Timo blurts out, gripping Erik’s arm too tight. Erik stares at him, too long, and then sweeps him into the shadows.

The dizzying feeling never gets better, but Timo’s used to it. He knows to breathe slowly when they walk out the other side, steps echoing on some basement area paved with stark concrete. There’s no one around, but they’re still trying to be quiet. Simmer slowly comes into view, just behind Erik’s shoulder.

“Well,” Erik says very tightly, “not much guesswork here.”

Timo follows his pointing finger to see the three muddy footprints leading to a slight fold in the concrete wall. “Shit.”

“I’ll go,” Simmer says abruptly. “I’ll see where they went.”

“What?” Erik and Timo speak as one.

“I can go through the wall. Not like that Super obviously, but I can feel my way through.” He places his hand on the wall and sinks it in. “I can tell where it’s been disturbed.”

“No,” Erik says, hand wrapping around Simmer’s free wrist swiftly. “It’s too dangerous. You won’t be able to breathe.” And Timo’s heart stops because that means Kevin wouldn’t be able to breathe either.

“Most walls are a foot. I can find the way. We just need a direction and then we can go.”

“Please,” Timo begs, voice hitched with unshed tears. He doesn’t know which one he’s begging.

“Take Timo back. Meet me on the other side of the wall.”

Erik closes his eyes for a moment, squeezing Simmer’s wrist. “Okay.” He shakes his head. “But one wall at a time and you back out if you can’t feel the other side.”

“Go,” Simmer says, twisting his wrist free, eyes focused on the wall in front of him. Timo can see him squaring his shoulders and he knows what this is costing Simmer, understands the risks he’s taking.

***

Kevin hasn’t been out for a night with his friends in several weeks, but the weather’s been colder and it’s not unusual for them to take breaks from socializing when work is intense. Dylan and Jake invite him out occasionally, but he’s just made his excuses and they’ve left him alone. Patty’s been on a bit of a tear lately, pushing them all to finish contract signings, and Kevin still feels a little awkward when they talk. It’s like there’s a secondary conversation layered under what they’re saying, but he can’t understand the words. 

He misses Patty desperately. He didn’t realize how much that relationship meant to him until it was suddenly gone. Patty hardly looks at him anymore, even when they’re face to face in a meeting. The only consolation is that it hasn't trickled down to his team.

The domesticity in his apartment would be a better escape from work if he could forget that his involuntary housemates are there to prevent him from getting attacked by a madman on the loose. 

Timo takes him to work the most often, but they all change routes frequently just in case. It’s a long subway ride with Erik some mornings. Kevin watches the tunnel walls flash past the windows and idly asks, “How come we don’t fly?”

The subway car is only half full this early, mostly businessmen on their phones.

Erik glances at him sideways, then shrugs a little. “Not really an option.”

“Like you’re scared of heights?”

“Like I don’t fly,” Erik says firmly. “My powers are strictly terrestrial unless you can come up with a way to make a complete shadow in midair over a city.”

“Oh.” Kevin ponders that for a moment. He’d just assumed, since everyone else seemed permanently stationed about a foot off the floor.

“Now Simmer,” Erik says conspiratorially, as they stand in unison for their stop, “he hates flying so he just won’t.”

“No, really?” Kevin leads the way up the subway stairs. “He can, but he doesn’t?”

“He’s completely competent,” Erik confirms. “But I don’t like the look I get when I ask him to fly, so we’re buddies on the ground.”

Kevin doesn’t think he’d argue with Simmer either. “Well, at least you’re not alone?”

Erik snorts. “With the number of guys underfoot, I’m never alone. Alright,” he says, pausing in the doorway. “I’ll see you later. Tomas is on shift tonight.”

Kevin half-waves as he ducks through the door and Erik disappears into a herd of equally neatly-dressed businessmen. 

***

They have an office meeting with some of the higher-ups. Kevin doesn’t actually have to say anything, he just has to pass Patty the file folders at the correct time while one of the guys in accounting goes through a slideshow about the next quarter. 

In all honesty, Kevin’s drifting a little, staring out the window. There’s a fair amount of dark clouds gathering and it looks like it will rain. Hopefully the route home tonight is not aerial. As much as Kevin has enjoyed flying with Timo, he doesn’t think it would be much fun in icy rain. Jake elbows him gently, pulling him back as everyone else stands and does the polite round of handshakes and small talk.

It’s a good meeting, for a given measure of good. There’s nothing particular about their approach to their work or their workload that needs to be altered. 

He does his share of politely nodding and shaking hands and then gathers the files for Pat and takes them down to the file room. Storing things this way is a bit archaic, but having digital and physical files has been helpful. You never really know when a power outage will hit, Super-induced or not, and you can’t lose data with the physical file.

Thinking of power outages makes Kevin think of storms, which naturally leads back to Timo. He’s been distracted lately, but he’s been happy. Even before they retired the whiteboard, Kevin was thinking it might be time to introduce Timo to his friends and coworkers. He hasn’t gone out with them for a beer in a while and it would be nice to take Timo to their local bar. 

He’s still daydreaming about Timo, smiling faintly when he almost runs Tim over in the hallway.

“Oh,” Tim says mildly. “I was looking for you.”

“Sorry, I had to return the files. What’s up?”

“IT had a question and I couldn’t answer it so they want you.” They step into the elevator together and Tim presses the button for the sub-basement. 

“Wrong floor, bud.” IT has an office in the first basement level, with a few roaming tech guys throughout the building. Kevin didn’t think Tim could get lost between floors, but the dude is severely directionally challenged.

When Kevin moves to press the button for the basement, Tim waves him off. “No, they’ve got a guy down there working on wiring. He wants to ask some questions about project specs and bandwidth. Nabby said it should be quick.”

“Alright.” Nabby’s always helpful when Kevin needs a hand and Kevin doesn’t have anything urgent to do, so he might as well give Nabby’s guy a hand. It probably won’t be quick because Kevin’s never met an IT guy who could speak plainly, but that’s okay. He wonders if Nabby managed to persuade the higher ups to hire another Russian. At some point, they are all going to have to learn Russian just to get tech support.

Kevin steps into the cold sub-basement and walks down the hall to the few offices they have down here, though they’re largely unused. He can hear Tim’s footsteps echoing on the smooth, unfinished concrete floor behind him and he turns to ask where exactly they’re supposed to meet this IT guy.

Except Tim’s gone. In his place is a hulking creature of rough stone. Kevin backs up hastily, but he’s too slow and the creature closes the distance before he can even scream. A cold, jagged hand covers his mouth, pushing him back into the wall hard, and then there’s nothing but darkness.

It feels like being drowned, crushing pressure so painful he thinks he might die. He can’t breath or see or think, every pounding heartbeat in his temples growing softer as he gets dizzy from the lack of oxygen. 

Distantly, he feels himself fall face first, hitting the ground with a shattering noise despite trying to catch himself on literally anything. He inhales desperately, blinking tears away in the low light. He can feel how the cement has split from his collarbones to his hips, cracks just enough for him to breathe shallowly. There’s still cement on his face, covering his mouth and part of his nose and cheek where the creature had grabbed him. His eyes and scalp seem blessedly unscathed, but anything that came in contact with the creature has hardened to stone, thin dress clothes an inadequate protection against Super powers.

He can feel his head pounding from the lack of air and he breathes very deliberately. If he inhales too hard the skin between the cement adhered to him pulls painfully, but if he exhales all the way, the plates of cement pinch his skin in the cracks. When he blinks again, there are boots in front of him. 

He whimpers behind his cement gag when one of the boots makes contact with his shoulder to flip him over onto his back. Haloed against a lantern light, a man with a short bushy beard stares down at him. The pale ginger hair glints in the  flickering light. 

“Who do you work for?” the man asks, more curious than accusatory.

Kevin doesn’t bother trying to answer. The man snaps his fingers impatiently and Tim steps over, looking perfectly normal. He taps Kevin’s mouth, none too gently, and Kevin feels the cement split across the seam of his lips.

“Who do you work for?” The man squats down, looming over Kevin. Tim wanders out of sight.

Kevin can’t think straight, dazed and confused. No amount of adrenaline could save him from whatever is happening here. “City Unified Data Administration,” he mumbles, slurring the words together.

The man catches his jaw and shakes him, ignoring his yelp of pain. “Don’t be stupid. Who do you work for?”

“Mr. Plattner?” Kevin tries again, feeling the cement jab and tear at his mouth. 

Something viscous and bright green drips from the corners of the man’s eyes, a sickening parody of tears. Kevin can feel his head swimming and his stomach turning. Whatever the man says next is lost to him as he tries to keep from throwing up. 

He drops his gaze and when he looks back, the man’s face is entirely clear, watching him avidly. “I d’n know what you want,” Kevin manages to eke out when the pressure inside his skull abates. 

The man rolls his eyes. “Well, if you insist.” He smiles and it is perturbingly even and pleasant. “It would have been nice to know, but it doesn’t matter. You’re just here to be the bait anyway. Chum, as it were,” he laughs, apparently amused by himself. “You sit tight, bud.”

He walks out of Kevin’s view and Kevin can’t quite move enough to see where he’s gone.

It doesn’t take long for Tim to show up again. He grabs one of Kevin’s ankles and unceremoniously drags him across the floor. As Kevin lifts his head enough to keep it from bouncing on the ground, he catches sight of where he is. It’s some kind of boathouse; it looks like it’s on the bay based on the water lapping at the edges. Tim drags him to a corner by the opening and pours cement over his lower legs, pinning him to the wooden boards of the side deck. 

“You can scream,” Tim offers blandly. “Patrick would hate that. Might make this all go faster.”

Kevin’s heart goes cold. They want to hurt Patty for some reason. They’re going to use him to hurt Patty. 

Tim takes a picture of him with a phone, flash too bright. Kevin winces too hard, curling away from the sudden light, and has to catch his breath when his neck stings. Tim leaves him there, helplessly flat on his back like a bug. Despite his lightheadedness he resolves to fight back somehow, to try and stop them from hurting Patty.  He doesn’t have his phone. He knows exactly where it is, top right corner of his desk, a place so far away now that it might as well be on Mars. He can’t call for help.

Still, he has to try something. Find a weapon of some sort, maybe a big rock, and try to hurt them enough that Patty doesn’t get hurt. 

The first step is to get free.

He takes stock of his own body. There’s cement all down his front with hardened bands across his back from where Tim’s arms reached around him. His ankles can’t move, trapped as they are, but his hands are mostly free. His left thumb and the edge of his palm has some cement on it, but it’s not particularly restrictive even though it is uncomfortable. 

He scans the boathouse. There’s an industrial skylight set into the roof, dusty from lack of use. He can see the darkening sky above, nighttime and a storm both swiftly approaching. There’s a lantern close to the door, bright enough that Kevin’s corner is not in complete shadow. There’s no boat in the water, just an empty dock. 

In order to get out, he has to get past the Supers somehow. He can’t go into the water with heavy cement on him and he certainly can’t make it into the rafters. So, through the front door it is. He just needs an opening.

He can only curl his upper body a little to watch the Supers, gingerly holding his torso still so he doesn’t stab himself in the neck or groin with the edge of one of the cement pieces stuck to him. They’re sitting at a small table by the door and he can hear them talking but he can’t make out the words.

They’re both so unremarkable. They look perfectly average, the same kind of background people Kevin passes on the subway or at the local bar. Or in his own office. 

They’re ignoring him for the moment, but now Kevin worries that there are more of them out there, waiting to hurt Patty. He doesn’t know why they want to use him to help trap Patty, but the sooner he gets free, the better.

He tries to pull on his legs to crack the cement  or reach down with his hands, but he can’t do much. Unlike the thin pieces adhered to his torso, the block on his ankles is thick and solid.

All he can do is wait, breathing shallowly and watching rain start to patter on the broad skylight. 

Eventually, the sound of the rain on the water drowns out even the quiet conversation between the Supers.

Kevin aches from neck to knee, bruised and sore from the concrete wrapped all around him, digging into his ribs and pinching the tender skin by his hip bones. His mouth is burning from the constant scabbing and reopening of the wounds, every exhalation lighting his lips on fire. He reaches up one hand to gingerly touch the corner of his mouth, where the concrete is digging in the most. He can feel the abnormal slickness on his fingertips, blood accumulating at the edges of the jagged concrete digging into his mouth. 

He holds his hand up to the lantern light, stomach lurching when he sees the way the blood has seeped under his fingernails. He drops his hand over the edge of the dock, letting the icy water wash away the evidence. 

Breathing is getting harder, the concrete feeling heavier and heavier. His muscles are starting to burn as he tries to breathe so slowly and carefully; he thinks ruefully that he’d have spent more time at the rink if he realized his cardio was going to be life or death.

He focuses on the sound of the distant thunder, the slosh of the waves brushing against the dock. He keeps clenching his muscles to try and keep blood flowing, but the cold is getting to him. He feels slow, like the cold has sunk into his brain. There’s a strange sensation, like sinking below the surface of the water for just a moment, and he startles, jumping slightly. But the rain on the glass hasn’t changed above him and the wooden dock is still worn smooth under his fingertips.

There’s a flash of blue-white lightning and an incredible crashing noise; Kevin flinches as the long skylight explodes into thousands of pieces, glass shrapnel flying everywhere. He brings his arms up a second too late, clumsily trying to shield himself, and screams when a wet hand comes out of the water and clutches his arm.

He lowers his arm slowly, heartbeat rabbiting. The dark man coming up out of the water next to him smiles. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.” He gestures to the side, dripping slightly. 

“Who are you?” Kevin tries to lean away, craning his neck up. None of the glass hit him and he knows better than to believe in coincidences, especially when there’s a clear semicircle of glittering shards piled around his body.

“Ward. I’m here to keep you safe.”

Kevin assesses him for a fraction of a second and finds him to be the least of his worries. He looks past him, looks for Timo. He knows that lightning, that afterburn brightness when he blinks. He could almost cry when he sees Timo there, lightning flashing against a concrete wall where there was previously no wall at all. Timo leaves that electricity flowing and turns to him; though his face is masked in blue light, Kevin knows he’s searching for him and he tries to sit up, to call to him.

Ward’s hand comes down on his shoulder as the lightning arcs towards Kevin, seeking him like a searchlight. It illuminates whatever barrier is around them, some bubble that does not warp or bend to the force Timo is using. “Hey, relax,” Ward says. “I won’t let him hurt you. We have people on the way to handle The Captain and they can take care of this too.”

“That’s my boyfriend,” Kevin snaps. “He’s not going to hurt me.” He wipes blood away carelessly, every word agitating the cuts around his mouth. “And I don’t know anything about you. He’ll take care of me.”

“That’s your...boyfriend?”

“Let me talk to him,” Kevin insists, trying to sit up. 

“Don’t move,” Ward says, frowning. “You’re gonna hurt yourself.”

“He’s gonna get hurt! You’re distracting him. Fucking Tim is gonna get an advantage!”

“Tim?” Ward’s hands are gentle as he tests the concrete on Kevin’s chest. 

“Coworker. Kidnapped me to hurt Patty. My boss.”

“Patty’s fine,” Ward says gently. He’s interrupted by a lavender haze at Kevin’s feet, floating up through the boards. The lightning on the other side of the bubble ceases for a moment and Kevin can see again, the destructive force of the lightning on concrete evident. 

Simmer’s face flickers into view as he pushes himself up through the boards and Kevin has never felt so happy to see him looking thoroughly unhappy. Ward raises a hand, quick as can be, and it’s only Kevin grabbing frantically at his wrist that throws his aim off. Simmer swears vociferously when a bubble traps one hand, but it seems better than the alternative of having the bubble hit his face. 

“Stop,” Kevin hisses. 

“This one can’t be your boyfriend too.” Ward says with a sigh, not looking away from Simmer for a moment. He doesn’t shake Kevin off though, lowers his hand carefully. 

“God no,” Simmer grunts. “Just here to keep him safe while Blue Blaze fucks shit up.”

“Okay,” Ward agrees slowly. He waves his hand and pops the bubble trapping Simmer. “Common purpose then. Can you, by any chance, get him unstuck from this dock?”

“Yes.”

“Great. I’m going to let my team know we have non-hostile Supers here so they—“ whatever Ward was going to say is cut off by Jumbo ripping the front door and a good part of the wall straight out just as a fireball lands explosively in the middle of the boathouse.

Kevin grabs Ward again. “Tell them. He’s good. They’re helping. Don’t hurt them.”

Ward fumbles for some small black device and Kevin doesn’t hear a word he says because the giant hole in the wall Jumbo left is suddenly widened by Bigfoot. Even Simmer jumps a little at the noise, but he stays focused on where his hands are sinking through the concrete to Kevin’s ankles. It’s very quiet, but the block of concrete is suddenly not tethered to the dock.

“Okay, I need to immobilize him,” Ward says to Simmer, completely ignoring Kevin. There’s that sensation of sinking into water again, rising tides around his face, but it stops. He can’t move, but it’s somehow softening the pinching feeling when he tries to breathe. 

“You’re okay,” Ward says and Kevin really does believe him. He has a very open and kind face, strangely unworried by what is happening outside of this bubble, though Kevin can still hear the crashing noises. “I’m going to try and keep this from causing permanent damage. When the room is clear we’ll call for emergency services and they’ll take care of you from there.”

“No,” Simmer says severely. “Not waiting.”

“I can’t get a bubble between his skin and this hard material without risking serious blood loss,” Ward says evenly. “I’m just trying to stabilize him until real help arrives.”

“I’m the help,” Simmer says. “Can we get him out of here? I have to take this off.” He’s staring Ward down in his usual unnerving way, some urgency that Kevin doesn’t understand.

Ward frowns and then nods. “I can try.”

“We need to be somewhere safe and someone needs to hold him down.”

“Would another person holding him help?”

“Yes,” Simmer agrees. “Less movement is safer.”

“Okay. Paulie will get us out of here if you really think you can help. Hold on.”

“Hold on?” Kevin asks nervously, wishing he could move to look at Ward. He feels like the blood around his mouth is drying, stiffening. He hopes the scabbing is a good sign.

“You’ll be fine. I recommend, uh...”

“Ultraviolet,” Simmer says briefly.

“Ultraviolet, you sit down. We’re not going through the door.”

Kevin can’t convey how much he wants to know what’s happening with Timo, how frustrating it is that he can’t see. He closes his eyes as they move, the weathered rafters of the boathouse giving way to open sky. He’s feeling sick enough as it is without adding motion sickness.

The bubble is softening the pinching pain in his ribs, but he’s still breathing shallowly, trying to stay focused on what he can feel. It’s hard to feel present in the silence, nothing to grasp but the ragged sound of his own breath. He categorically refuses to pass out like a damsel in distress. He reminds himself that when he was fourteen he broke his ankle and he didn’t pass out or cry in front of his friends. What’s some slow breathing to a broken ankle?

“Hey, Kevin,” Ward says, “relax. I need you to stay still while we move you.”

Kevin squints, hoping they’ve stopped moving in such a dizzying way. Simmer and Ward’s faces have been joined by another, haloed by the dark night and the rain sliding over the unnatural bubble. The raindrops catch the light just enough that Kevin can see all three men clearly. The unknown man is wearing a dark plaid and he’s shockingly pale in contrast to Ward, face shrouded by a ginger beard. 

“Paul,” he says quietly. “You might know me as The Lumberjack, but some people nicknamed me Paul Bunyan.” He steps closer. “Wardo, keep the bubble. We’ll lift him.”

Paul takes Kevin’s wrists carefully and instructs him to just clasp his hands together over his stomach. He slips his hands under Kevin’s head and shoulders and lifts up and Kevin assumes Simmer has his other half because he can tell he’s being raised up. It seems like they’re on the beach by the docks, based on the streetlights Kevin can see. When they set him down on the long slope of sand to the sea, he can tell he was right.

“Okay, what’s next?” Ward asks. “I’m trusting that you have a plan.”

“Cut everything off of him that we can,” Simmer says steadily. “Then I’ll remove what’s stuck while you hold him still.”

“I have a knife,” Paul says. He reaches to his waist and pulls out a folding knife easily. “My apologies,” he murmurs to Kevin as he starts peeling Kevin’s shirt into ribbons, leaving the concrete-saturated pieces in place. 

“Any chance,” Kevin half-wheezes, “you can spare the belt? It’s new.”

“Not a chance,” Paul says, deftly moving down Kevin’s body, almost out of his sight. “Oh, good news: your choice of boxers over briefs saved you a hell of a lot of trouble. Nothing sticking there!”

Kevin huffs a weak laugh at that. Small mercies when he’s being stripped on a public beach. He’s grateful for whatever bubble is around him, protecting him from irritating grains of sand. It’s not warm in the bubble, so apparently Ward can’t change the temperature of a stormy night, but at least the rain isn’t falling on his increasingly nude body.

“Okay,” Simmer says. “We start here.” He points at Kevin’s chest. “This has to be very...very careful. Don’t let him move.”

“Okay.” Ward places his hands on Kevin’s shoulders, barely noticeable through the strange dullness of the bubble. “I’ll expose sections as you work on them, but I want to keep the edges blunted so he can still breathe without slicing himself up.”

Paul straddles Kevin’s hips gingerly and places one hand on Kevin’s stomach, a strangely heavy weight.

“You can hold him?” Simmer asks skeptically.

“I’m stronger than I look,” Paul says dryly.

Simmer nods slightly in acknowledgement. “Pin his left hand.” As Paul leans into him, Simmer takes Kevin’s right hand and wraps it around Simmer’s thigh where he kneeling next to Kevin. “While I work, no breathing,” he says sternly. “If you need to breathe, squeeze and I’ll stop.”

“Okay.”

“Ready? Hold your breath.”

Kevin holds his breath, going very still. He watches Ward’s face above him for a sign of how things are going. He can feel his lungs starting to ache when Simmer says, “Done.” He holds up a fragment the size of a quarter. 

Kevin’s heart sinks at how long this is going to take. 

“Again,” Simmer says. 

Kevin holds his breath. He closes his eyes hard, but Ward says his name. “Stay with me, Kevin. I need to see how you’re holding up.”

When Simmer gives him the go ahead to breath again, Kevin holds his hand up, asking for just a moment. Paul takes the time to cut away the fabric where it has been exposed. Kevin blinks at Ward, a little dazed. “You know my name.”

“Yeah,” Ward says, looking a little worried. “We came looking for you. Patty sent us.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t have time,” Simmer says.

Whatever he’s pointing at is enough for the other two to agree, pinning Kevin again. They shift as Simmer works, holding him down as close as they can to the spot Simmer is clearing. Kevin is lasting shorter and shorter amounts of time between breaks. 

He realizes why they’re trying to move fast very suddenly when Paul leans on his sternum to hold him in place and he screams involuntarily. His mouth fills with blood and they won’t let him curl up into the fetal position like his instincts demand. Paul moves back immediately, but Kevin can’t see much through the sudden haze of tears.

Someone turns his head to the side slowly, stroking along his hairline as he tries to breathe again, blood dripping down so far that Kevin can feel it on the skin under his ear where the concrete isn’t covering him. 

“I’m sorry,” Simmer says miserably, right at Kevin’s side. “You have burns.”

“This left some kind of chemical burn,” Paul explains urgently from some distance. “We need to get it off. It’s going to hurt, but if we don’t do it now, you will have nerve damage.”

“Ultraviolet was right,” Ward says. “We can’t wait.”

Kevin flails for Simmer, finds his hand blindly and squeezes hard. “Like the egg. Do it.”

There’s a beat and then Simmer repeats, “Like the egg.”

“Go,” Kevin grits out. “I’m ready.”

He holds his breath and waits for that excruciating burning pressure again. He’s braced for it so he doesn’t scream, but he can’t stop the tears. 

Through the blur he can see the flashing lights in the distance, the colors that show him that Timo is still fighting. He thinks he sees Melker’s red and Antti’s green too.

He floats a little, breathing only when he’s told. He thinks the cold might actually be a blessing, something to numb his skin where it feels like lava has been injected into his nerves. 

Strong hands grip his face and Kevin stares up at Paul.

“This’ll be the worst of it, I expect,” he says. “Can he breathe for this?” He looks over to Simmer.

“When I clear his mouth, yes.” He raises his hands, glittering purple, and hovers over Kevin’s face. “Eyes closed for this, please. Hold your breath.”

He works fast and although it leaves Kevin feeling like someone rubbed his face on a pile of rubble doused in acid, he’s grateful to no longer feel the phantom pressure of Tim’s hand on his face. He tests moving his jaw slightly and then absolutely stops doing that because it hurts like hell.

“You can breathe,” Simmer says, sounding calmer. Kevin hadn’t realized until now how tense Simmer was; he didn’t know he’d gotten to a point where he could even interpret Simmer’s tone.

He makes quick work of Kevin’s cheek and the edges of his nose while Kevin breathes through his mouth. Either the layer of dried blood or some bubble is making breathing hurt his mouth less. 

Simmer moves his way through Kevin’s extremities, first his hand and then his ankles and feet. Based on Paul’s approving noises, the protection from his leather shoes was decent. Kevin’s chest burns so much that he can hardly even register sensation elsewhere, so it’s helpful to have someone else’s perspective.

“The last bit is on his back,” Ward says. “Moving is going to hurt no matter what. How should we brace him.”

“Are you cold?” Paul asks, hand on Kevin’s forearm. 

He nods a little. It’s cold and it feels like it’s getting colder. The bubble around him only helps so much. 

“Wardo, bubble this.” Paul slips out of his flannel and holds it out. Ward waves a hand over it and it looks almost shiny in the low light. Paul works one of Kevin’s hands into the flannel, slipping it on him backwards. Ward does the same for his other arm so the flannel covers his arms and front. Whatever Ward did made it so the fabric doesn’t stick to his raw skin. It’s a weird sensation, all slick, but at least he’s not getting painful goosebumps on top of everything else. 

“Come here.” Paul leans in and makes Kevin wrap his arms around Paul’s neck and then pulls him forward. It hurts and Kevin’s vision goes slightly grey for a moment. When his vision clears, he’s well-braced against Paul’s shoulder, facing down the dark beach. He lets his head rest on Paul, but he’s uncomfortably aware that he’s leaving blood on Paul’s white undershirt. Behind him, he feels several hands cutting away what’s left of his shirt. There’s not much stuck to his back, compared to the front, but it’s enough that Kevin thoroughly curses Tim. 

“Last piece,” Simmer says. “If you need to breathe, pat his back and he’ll say stop. Don’t breathe now.”

Kevin holds still, a pine scent lingering even as he stops breathing. He can feel the way Paul has stopped breathing too, a matter of practicality that feels like solidarity.

He watches the lights flashing by the docks, wonders why no one has come to investigate. He doesn’t even know how late it is, too full of adrenaline for his own fatigue level to have any meaning.

There’s an explosion of light, and then the sound rolls down the beach a second later, and Kevin gasps, clawing at Paul’s back. The conflagration stands out against the dark night, whatever’s left of the boathouse rapidly turning to smoke. 

“We have to go now,” Ward says, but Kevin barely hears him. He keeps trying to move, to run or walk or crawl to where Timo was.

“I’ll take him,” Paul says, chest rumbling against Kevin as he holds him tightly. “You go!”

Kevin knows Ward is gone because the bubble pops around them and the rain is pouring down on his back suddenly, drenching him in a freezing shower. Simmer takes off, a purple blur, leaving Kevin behind.

Kevin stretches slowly and makes his way to the bathroom. “I wasn’t asleep that long. How bad could—holy shit what did you do?” He leans over the edge of the sink to peer at himself in the mirror and he can’t stop laughing. It looks like he rubbed a balloon on his head, stuck a fork in a socket, and then set the whole thing with hairspray. It’s ridiculous.

Timo leans in the doorway, mouth quirked with satisfaction as he watches Kevin try and manage his hair. It requires the heavy application of water and a comb, but Kevin does eventually get it under control even with one hand. He shakes his damp head and Timo catches him in the doorway so he can wipe away a stray drop of water rolling down Kevin’s temple. Kevin pushes him back into the doorframe gently and kisses him. 

“Come on,” Timo says finally, pulling back and blinking slowly at Kevin like some kind of large cat. “Lunch.” 

“Lunch,” Kevin agrees, leading the way out of the bedroom.

“Hey,” Erik says pleasantly when he sees them. “Food should be here in a couple of minutes.”

Kevin pulls out a chair. Someone has set the table with Kevin’s assortment of plates and forks. Timo sits next to him, draping an arm across the back of Kevin’s chair. Kevin leans into him, feeling his warmth. 

“Antti went to get the food,” Erik explains, still fiddling with the Super data. It looks like he’s zoomed in on the downtown area. “We had a discussion while you were asleep.”

“Oh?” Kevin wants to know, but with his luck lately, he’s also apprehensive. Maybe Erik is just going to try and lock him up until they solve this problem. He thinks they probably won’t kill him. At least, not in front of Ember, who is currently floating  above the fridge.

“Yeah, we decided that it doesn’t make a lot of sense for you to only know a couple people’s names. We agreed to equal risk for all of us, as a team.”

“Also,” Sunshine says cheerfully, “Firestorm can’t remember whether to use code names or not and it’s hurting his tiny brain.”

Firestorm puts him in a headlock and Kevin watches as they both sail lightly across the room until they bounce off the wall. 

“Enough,” Erik says gently. He doesn’t raise his voice, but the two of them separate. They’re both smiling, so Kevin assumes this happens often. “Now, you’ve met me. Blue Blaze?”

“Oh we handled that already,” Timo says, sounding smug. Kevin elbows him, but it does nothing to dent his smirk.

“Okay...Ember?”

“Hi,” Ember says with a wave, sinking down to the floor. “You can call me Tommy.”

“I’m Marcus,” Sunshine says, claiming the chair next to Kevin. “Whenever you get bored with Timo, let me know.” He laughs with delight when Timo flips him off behind Kevin’s head.

Firestorm takes a seat next to Erik as Tommy goes to answer the door. “I’m Melker.”

Erik looks expectantly at the apparently empty living room. “Ultraviolet?”

There’s a lavender shimmer and then Ultraviolet appears, stretched out along the length of the couch. He tiles his head to look at Kevin and there is just something unnerving about his eyes. “Simek,” he says curtly. “You can call me Simmer.”

“Hi,” Antti says, sweeping into the room with an armful of bags. “Food is here.”

There’s a flurry of movement and then the table is absolutely loaded with take out containers. Kevin recognizes half the food as at least adjacent to what his mother makes, so he parcels out a little of everything onto his plate. It only takes a bite to agree with Timo that is was worth the wait. He whispers as much to Timo and Timo looks perfectly delighted.

“You’re going to spoil him, Timo,” Melker says warningly. 

 “Oh definitely,” Timo agrees without thinking. Half the table erupts in laughter, but Kevin pecks a kiss on his cheek. 

Tommy says something across the table, something about bread and Simmer rummages in a pile of little boxes to toss a roll the length of the table. 

“Wait,” Kevin says, interrupting his own inhalation of the stew and the sausage. “Do all of you speak Czech?”

“No,” Marcus says. “Erik, Melker, and I speak Swedish. Antti speaks Finnish. Timo mostly grew up speaking German, but the asshole is also perfectly fluent in French.”

“Oui, je parle français,” Timo agrees, smiling beatifically even when Antti elbows him. 

“We speak Czech,” Tommy says gesturing at Simmer and himself. “And you speak Slovak, yes?”

“Kind of,” Kevin amends. “Waaay better at listening than speaking. A lot of the Slovak I know is just what you say at home, you know? I listened to my parents speaking all the time, but I never had to do academics with it or use it for work.”

“You’ll have to join us,” Timo says, looking fond. “We play a game to pass the time, trying to get the others to translate ridiculous sentences in their language.”

Kevin smiles. It sounds perfectly mundane, which they could all really use when they’re done trying not to get murdered. “So,” he says, “how did you all become a color-coordinated, all-European Super team? There’s no way that was an accident, right?”

Simmer snickers off to Kevin’s left but doesn’t elaborate.

“It was sort of an accident,” Erik explains, passing a box of roasted vegetables down to Tomas and taking the gravy in turn. “We were a men’s league hockey team. You know, community event for new transplants to the area, a way to maybe meet other people in the same situation. Hockey doesn’t require a lot of English, especially at that level, so it’s a good way to make new friends for a lot of us.”

“Oh, so how long have you known each other?” Kevin lets Timo pile more food on his plate. He hooks his ankle around Timo’s companionably.

“About three years?” Antti guesses. The others shrug agreeably. 

“So we used to practice at this small, rundown rink, on the outskirts of town. Kind of a shithole, but ice time was cheap and the rink was usually cleared by the Zamboni around the time we all got off work anyway.” Erik pauses to take a bite of his food. 

“There was an accident,” Timo picks up solemnly. He keeps staring at his plate, even as Kevin turns to look at him. “We were the last ones in the building. It wasn’t unusual. Sometimes the front counter employees would tell us to just lock up before we left; most of them were just teenagers. We were on the ice and the light rigging broke. All the lights came down in an explosion of sparks. When we woke up, everything hurt like hell and we were glowing in the darkness.”

“Except Erik,” Marcus says. There’s something in his eyes that makes Kevin stay silent. 

“Except me,” Erik confirms lightly. “The universe saw my ability to captain the hockey team and decided I needed to have a permanent team of idiots to boss around.”

Marcus laughs at that and says something in Swedish. Kevin can tell he and Erik are teasing each other about something, but it flies over his head.

Timo bumps his knee gently. “Erik blackmailed the owner into giving him the rink instead of getting sued. When this is all over, Erik will give us ice time if I ask nicely. I saw you had skates in your room.”

“I’m gonna wipe the ice with you,” Kevin promises with a grin. Timo looks appropriately delighted at the challenge.

It’s a quiet afternoon and Kevin would protest more if he wasn’t on dose two of pain meds. The thought of taking a day off fills him with anxiety, but he can admit that typing reports with one hand would be slow and futile. He does log in long enough to skim Jake’s latest work. It looks fine, just as he would expect. The Supers come in and out and Kevin beats whoever is in his living room at Mario Kart while mostly using one hand. 

“Okay,” Erik says over dinner (reheated stew). Everyone else got a glass of wine, but Kevin has stuck with water. He’s going to be achy enough tomorrow without a headache. Erik passes the bread to his left and continues, “The attacks have been very localized and in proximity to you alone. I think we can assume that our safe house is, well, safe still. We’re going to be chaperoning you directly to and from work.”

“And anywhere else,” Melker says with a small nod. 

“Until we get more information about the villainous Super,” Marcus says, “you’ll just have to be careful.”

“I’ll be careful,” Kevin agrees. Timo looks doubtful, but he can shove it. Kevin has looked out for himself in the city for years. 

“We’ll take shifts,” Erik explains patiently. “I assume you want Timo here for the night shift? The rest of us will switch off during the day.”

“No,” Kevin says, shaking his head. He can feel Timo going still next to him, but he keeps talking. “I want Timo on the same sleep schedule. He should sleep at night and take one of the day shifts when I can see him.”

“That’s disgusting,” Marcus says with glee.

“That’s sweet,” Tommy counters, but Kevin can barely hear him because Timo has cupped his chin and pulled him into a kiss.

“I’ll take you to work in the morning,” Timo promises. 

Kevin grins sharply, “And bring me breakfast? Antti brought me breakfast.”

Timo loops an arm around Kevin’s shoulders, gesturing expansively. “Obviously. You only have three stale pop tarts and I will not be having that for breakfast.”

Kevin can laugh at that, because it’s true. He hasn’t gone grocery shopping this week, so his food stores are down to the nonperishables; there’s three poptarts, two cans of beans, and a rather suspect packet of Tuna-to-Go. 

“You’re going to spoil me with breakfast?” he asks, half teasing. 

“Obviously,” Timo whispers lowly, pressing a kiss to the corner of Kevin’s mouth.

“Oh come on,” Melker protests. “Not during dinner.” Simmer elbows him, but Kevin can feel his cheeks going pink. He likes these Supers, quite a bit, but not enough to parade a nascent relationship in front of them without any shame. 

“How are you feeling?” Shadow asks quietly. 

“Shit,” Kevin grunts. “Need coffee.”

Ember pours him a mug of coffee quickly and presses it into his hands. “You should sit,” he suggests, looking like he’s all but ready to pick Kevin up and carry him to the nearest soft surface.

Kevin downs half the mug of coffee. “I’m going to go shower, and then you have 15 minutes to explain what the fuck is going on before I have to leave for work.”

There are a flurry of glances exchanged before Shadow says, jaw set, “You need to call in sick today.”

“What?”

“You need rest,” Ember interjects, again trying to shepherd Kevin to the couch.

“I don’t skip work,” Kevin says firmly. “I go to work no matter what.” No matter what, Kevin never takes a day off.

“An admirable work ethic,” Shadow agrees. “You need to call in sick. Give us enough time to figure out how we’re going to keep you safe.”

“I don’t skip work,” Kevin repeats. “Not even when I caught that stomach bug and I couldn’t keep anything down for three days.”

“Well,” Sunshine says bluntly, “your stomach bug didn’t have shit on someone actually trying to murder you. And since /someone/ let him get away, he is presumably still trying to murder you.”

That starts up some impassioned arguing from both Foxfire and Ultraviolet, until Shadow claps his hands.

“Give us a day at least,” he asks. “Take some pain meds, relax, and let us make a real plan.”

“Your alternative,” Blue Blaze says, rather acerbically, “is to try outrunning and outsmarting seven Supers at once.”

Kevin sets his coffee mug down hard. “Fine. Any suggestions for making my boss actually believe I’m taking my first sick day ever?”

“Don’t elaborate,” Firestorm suggests. “Just sound awful and keep the conversation short.”

“Brilliant,” Kevin says bitterly. He frowns when he reaches in his pocket and can’t find his phone. Shadow reaches into his satchel where it’s been slung over a chair back and hands him his phone. Kevin snatches it from his hand and walks stiffly back to the bedroom.

He stares at it for too long and then finally dials Patty. “Hey.”

There’s a round of expletives on the other end and Kevin pulls the phone away from his ear in surprise. When he gingerly places it closer to his ear, Patty huffs. “You fucking too?”

Kevin pitches his voice down a little and slowly groans, “Me too, what?”

“Dylan and most of IT have a terrible flu, Tim had an allergic reaction to his breakfast, and Stefan says he’s caught pinkeye. He even sent horrible, horrible pictures. Please tell me that you can come join me and Noah and the last IT guy. Please.”

It hurts Kevin to say it, but he hoarsely whispers, “Sorry, Pat. I can’t.”

Patty exhales slowly, a sad sigh. “Alright. You’ve got enough sick leave to cover two pregnancies, so take your time. We’ll have to sanitize the office anyway, since there’s a risk of pinkeye.  I’ll help Noah as much as I can so the client doesn’t get antsy. Get some rest, kid.”

“Thanks,” Kevin says quietly and then ends the call. He leaves his phone on the bed and goes to strip out of his dirty clothes. He’ll have to strip the sheets later, since he slept on them. There’s weird mud on the front of Kevin’s jacket, shaped like a partial handprint. He leaves his clothes in a pile and steps into the shower, leaning forward to press his forehead into the cool tile. It doesn’t stop his burgeoning headache, but it does feel nice. 

When he steps out of the bathroom, towel around his waist, someone has clearly changed all the bed linen. It’s a nice gesture, but he feels over exposed. He glares around his ostensibly empty room. “No one should fucking watch me change,” he warns. He gets dressed as quickly as he can, forgoing a comfortable t-shirt for a shirt that buttons because he can’t get his shoulder to cooperate enough to pull something over his head.

When he rejoins the Supers in the common area, he can see Blue Blaze and Sunshine doing the dishes at the sink. Everyone else is still scattered around the various dining chairs and couches.

“Here,” Shadow says, kicking a chair towards him gently. “Have some breakfast and then we can talk about what happened last night and what we’re going to do.”

Kevin stares at the food and then back at Shadow. “Foxfire?” He knows Antti is somewhere to his left.

Dutifully, Antti repeats, “He doesn’t take food from people when he doesn’t know their names.”

There’s a silence that falls, broken only by the soft scrape of dishes slipping in the sink. Shadow and Kevin stare at each other, neither giving an inch. This is Kevin’s fucking house and he will not back down.

Shadow breaks first, saying what is undoubtedly an extremely rude word and rolling his eyes. “Erik. Now sit down.”

Kevin sits carefully, his back and shoulder held away from the chair. There’s way less food on the table than Kevin saw before, but he assembles himself a bagel with lox and snags a couple mini quiches. 

“So,” Erik begins seriously, “what happened last night?”

Kevin manages a decent retelling around his breakfast. There are things he can’t quite remember, as much as he tries. He couldn’t describe the man’s face, but he remembers how grey it was, like stone. 

“This doesn’t look right,” Firestorm says, holding up Kevin’s jacket from last night. “This looks like cement, almost.”

Kevin gestures him closer and looks at the weird handprint under the light. He’s right. 

Erik nods thoughtfully. “Okay, that helps. Ultraviolet said the guy vanished when he looked away. Maybe he has some power to sink into the pavement? Ultraviolet, you should head back to the scene of the attack, Blue Blaze, you should see if you can find any articles or blogs that mention this guy, and everyone else except me should spread out and comb the city.”

“Why?” Kevin asks, interrupting them all as they stand to attention. 

“What do you mean why?” Sunshine asks, drying his hands on Kevin’s kitchen towel. “Shadow will protect you while we gather more information.”

“I mean, it’s fine to go and look for clues, I guess, but wow, you guys suck at this.”

There’s a chorus of protest that Kevin waves off. “Someone turn on the tv.” He shoves another mini quiche in his mouth and leans across the table for his laptop. He winces and then Ember is there, grabbing the laptop and pulling it closer to Kevin before he can really hurt himself. He also sets a bottle of pain meds Kevin recognizes from his own bathroom cabinet down on the table.

“Look, Kevin says, around a mouthful of quiche, “there’s an easier way.” He opens up his laptop and logs in swiftly. He coughs slightly after he swallows his quiche and takes a drink of water. “I told you I do risk analysis. We have a huge database of geographical data correlated with specific Super profiles.” 

He syncs his laptop with the tv display and pulls up the local map. “Okay, so overlay with tags for...I dunno, earth-based Supers? Stone, I guess.”

Sunshine points at the tv. “Try the construction tag.”

“I think we added that mostly for I-Beam,” Kevin mutters, but he adds it anyway. “There. Now there’s a time slider so you can see patterns over time and you can also zoom in on parts of the map.”

“Ok,” Erik says agreeably. “You were right. This is way easier.”

It’s unexpected, honestly. Kevin thought maybe the head of a Superhero team would be more authoritative and unwilling to concede. He’s pleasantly surprised by Erik’s affable tone.

Kevin zooms in on the block where he thinks he was attacked and pulls the time slider from the earliest data onwards. There’s not much in the area, certainly nothing that immediately stands out. 

“May I?” Erik asks politely, nodding at Kevin’s computer. Kevin slides it over. He’s on a public profile anyway, so it’s not like they can alter the database in any way. Maybe they have a better idea of what they’re searching for. 

Ember slides the purloined pain pills closer without any hint of subtlety at all. Kevin opens the bottle and shakes a couple pills out. “I should tape my shoulder up,” he sighs quietly. He knows he still has a bunch of elastic sports tape in a drawer somewhere. He’s been so busy with work he’s hardly skated or played soccer for months and months, but it used to be pretty common for him to tape himself back together before the work week.

Ember rests a warm hand on his shoulder and smiles cheerfully. “I’ll help.”

They walk out without anyone paying much attention, some intense discussions about the Time of Day bar graph going on between the Supers. Kevin enjoys statistical correlation discussions when he can think straight, but he’s still a little sleepy and a lot sore.

Ember does help, deftly anchoring the tape on his bicep and strapping his arm to his torso firmly. Kevin doesn’t even really mind being shirtless because the Super is so fucking warm, like some kind of space heater. 

Blue Blaze walks in when Ember is helping Kevin button up his shirt. His eyes are round with concern as he asks, “Are you okay?”

Kevin’s fairly glad the bruising is covered by his shirt now, because he can lie blatantly. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he says stoically. “Any progress out there?”

“They want Ember,” Blue Blaze says, jerking his head at the door.

Ember floats out, beaming beatifically at them. It’s plain unnatural to be that happy all the time. Maybe that’s Ember’s actual super power. 

He blinks, realizing Blue Blaze has stayed. The Super sets his shoulders and stalks over to where Kevin is standing by the bed. 

“Timo,” he says abruptly. This is a bewildering opening salvo, so Kevin stares at him.

The Super sticks out his hand and Kevin realizes belatedly that that’s Blue Blaze’s real name.

Timo’s hand wavers in the air, looking uncertain. “Or...um...”

Kevin laughs softly, gently self-deprecating as he says, “I can’t move my arm. It’s taped down.”

“Oh,” Timo says, tension leaking out of his shoulders. “That’s alright.” He steps closer, so Kevin can reach out and grasp his hand very carefully. 

It lingers so long, it’s less of a handshake and more like they’re just holding hands. Kevin doesn’t mind. 

“I didn’t realize you were hurt so badly,” Timo says softly. “Sh—Erik said you were okay.”

“It could have been worse,” Kevin says, unable to look away from Timo’s eyes. “Ultraviolet made sure my shoulder was only out for a minute. He sure was a lot gentler than my high school coach about setting a dislocation,” Kevin says dryly.

Timo doesn’t laugh. Kevin tries again to sound reassuring. “It’s just muscle soreness now, I think. In a week, I’ll be fine.”

“Can I try something?” Timo steps a half step closer, so Kevin has to look up at him a little.

Kevin nods. “Okay.”

“I promise this won’t hurt.” Timo slowly undoes some of Ember’s work, unbuttoning half of Kevin’s shirt until he can push the collar off of Kevin’s shoulder. He rests his hand on the ball of Kevin’s shoulder, cupping the joint in his palm. 

There’s a low grade hum, a strange but pleasant pulse in the muscles around his shoulder. “Does that feel better?” Timo asks, frowning slightly.

Kevin stares at where little blue flashes are weaving around his shoulder and laughs. Who knew you could use a Super as a TENS machine? He’s so sleep deprived he can’t stop laughing even though he knows he looks like an idiot.

“Are you concussed?” Timo catches his chin with his free hand and looks him in the eyes worriedly.

“No,” Kevin assured him. “No, I’m fine.”

Timo looks at him searchingly, then sets his jaw. “Good.” Kevin only has a moment to look quizzical and then Timo is kissing him.

It’s a cliche to say that sparks fly, and as far as Kevin knows no literal sparks come out of Timo, but the kiss does upend Kevin’s world. He scrabbles against Timo’s stupid Super suit, trying to pull him closer.

They fall backwards, and Kevin realizes in the split second that Timo falling on him is going to hurt like hell. He scrunches his eyes shut and braces for impact.

Timo must slow their fall at least a little, because Kevin hits the mattress with only a slight thump. When Kevin opens his eyes, he realizes Timo is floating over him. And that he somehow has the presence of mind to still be soothing Kevin’s shoulder. “Are you okay? Did that hurt?”

“You seem to know my name,” Kevin says, “but I don’t know who the fuck you are.” Glowing mildly is not a credential and Kevin is wide awake and alert for once. 

“I’m Antti.” His cheerful expression drops suddenly and Kevin steps forward when he suddenly gets even more pale. “Uh, Foxfire.”

Kevin realizes suddenly that this Super just revealed his real name. Accidentally. And is now about to hyperventilate. 

“Foxfire,” Kevin says, nodding rapidly. “Do you want to split breakfast?” He looks Foxfire in the eyes seriously, trying to convey how very much he is not going to tell anyone. 

Foxfire, or Antti, looks pitifully grateful. He nods and opens the bag, holding out for Kevin. There are actually a few different bagel options plus cream cheese. 

“Let’s sit for a minute,” Kevin suggests. He herds the Super to a nearby bench. “Much easier to spread cream cheese that way.”

They divvy up the bagels relatively quickly and use the little plastic knives to saw each bagel in half.

“I’m new to this,” Foxfire says quietly, eyes trained only on his bagel as he dips the knife in the cream cheese. “I’m not very good at it.”

He sounds so disheartened and wobbly that Kevin can hardly stand it. “Hey, no, you’re doing just fine. I’m not going to say anything. It’s like you said, you’re a friend of a friend. We can trust each other. Right?”

Foxfire nods hastily. “You can trust me. I told—Blue I would take my turn looking out for you. He said sometimes you get grumpy when you’re hungry.” He claps a hand over his mouth like that wasn’t supposed to come out, but Kevin just laughs.

“He’s right. Also if I’m sleepy or thirsty or bored.” It’s sweet that this rookie Super brought him breakfast to butter him up. He can’t even get the interns to grab him a coffee yet. “Alright. You going to walk me to work? I know the trains are still blocked.”

“Yeah,” Foxfire says, good humor returning. “I’ll keep you company.”

He does, carefully talking around his teammates' real names. Still, Kevin’s detour took him out of his way and by the time he reaches the office, he’s late. 

He slides into his cubicle as quietly as he can, chucking his bag under his chair, but it’s to no avail.

“Kevin,” Patty calls sternly from his office. Kevin doesn’t know how the fuck Patty caught him sneaking in late when his office door is four inches of solid wood and he doesn’t have windows facing Kevin’s part of the office. Regardless, Kevin has to make an appearance in Patty’s office like he isn’t reluctantly dragging his feet. “Yes, boss?”

“Please have a seat.”

Kevin settles gingerly into the chair in front of Patty’s desk. He keeps his mouth shut and tries to look contrite.

He’s not expecting Patty’s whole demeanor to soften. “Are you okay? It’s very uncharacteristic for you to be late.”

“I’m fine,” Kevin assures him, mildly bewildered.

“If you need to take some leave, you should,” Patty insists. “You’ve been working long hours on the latest client file, but the team can pick up your slack if you need a few days.”

Kevin can’t help it. He snorts. “Sorry, Pat, I am not letting Tim mess up every single figure while Jake sends the client the wrong date for interviews and Noah makes useless, upset noises at them both.”

“They would survive for a few days,” Patty asserts dubiously. 

“I’m fine, Pat. You need me.” 

Patty frowns and then opens up the drawer on his left. “If you insist. Here’s the revised report for you. The debrief summary needs to be fixed before we can close that account permanently.”

Kevin skims the file notes and groans. He knows those charts make no sense, so the underlying figures and data need to be re-examined. “I’ll get it fixed.”

He stops by Noah’s desk and chucks the file on his desk. “Tim’s charts are insane. I’ll take whatever you’re working on if you’ll take this.”

“I’m helping Dylan compile the interview list for his project,” Noah says. “He hasn’t done it before so he wanted me to walk him through it. I’ll let him know to come to you.”

“Sure,” Kevin shrugs. He’s helped with a couple trainings and he can get it done. 

It takes up most of his day, though it’s not Dylan’s fault. There’s an error that wipes the list they’re editing and it takes four emails and a coffee cake bribe to the Russian dude in IT to solve that. By the time they’re done, they’re both wiped out, but Kevin still has to go over Noah’s report before he can go home for the day. 

The office empties around him as he rewrites, reprints, and reorganizes the file. It’s his job to get the stupid folder on Patty’s desk and he’s going to get it done. Patty stops by his cubicle and rests a friendly hand on his shoulder. “Don’t stay too late.”

“I won’t,” Kevin promises. He actually manages to keep that promise for once. He’s out the door within a reasonable hour, though it is dark out. The Gritty alert is still in place, so Kevin just turns his collar up and trudges off into the cold night. He’s a little surprised that he doesn’t have a glowing shadow, though he shouldn’t become reliant on random Supers to get him home. He keeps a careful hand on the mace in his bag. No harm in being prepared. 

He’s still not expecting to turn the corner and walk almost right into a man standing there. He looks like a grey statue, almost invisible in the darkness. 

“Show me your hands,” the guy growls.

“What do you want?” Kevin asks, already backing away. There’s no one else around and the street is poorly lit. He fumbles with his bag, but he’s a little too slow. The man charges him and Kevin realizes the lunatic has a fucking knife. He swings his bag in front of himself and whips out the mace, spraying hastily. The man pauses, shakes his head, and then grabs Kevin and tackles him down.

Kevin lands badly, vision flashing white with pain as his arm twists underneath him. There’s a pop and Kevin played enough sports growing up to recognize a dislocated shoulder. 

The man says something else, but Kevin can barely breathe. He shakes his head and the man uses his grip on Kevin’s jacket to slam him into the pavement.

“Who do you work for?”

Kevin’s winded, gasping, completely useless. An invisible force carries the man off of him and several feet backwards. 

A voice near him says, “Kevin, don’t look!” urgently and then the sky lights up green and blue and pink. Kevin stares at the lights for a moment and then curls on his side to throw up.

The light fades slowly in his periphery as he heaves. Every motion jars his arm, the shoulder screaming. 

Warm hands pat his face and then slip underneath him to pull him up to sitting. He’s wheezing and coughing, probably looking absolutely disgusting, but Antti’s face in front of him is just worried.

Another face comes into view and Kevin absolutely flinches towards Antti. He’s all about not judging a book by its cover, but the book in front of him should probably be titled I Kill for Fun. Antti holds him still, though, says, “He’ll help.”

Serial Killer Face says grimly, “You’re gonna hate this so hold still.”

It’s inauspicious, but Kevin can’t do much but obey. The guy turns out to be absolutely fucking right because Kevin does hate the feeling of someone reaching into his shoulder joint and rummaging around. There’s a clunk, the invasive hand disappears, and Kevin pants stupidly on a filthy sidewalk. The sidewalk is where he lives now. He’s just going to lie down forever.

“No, you’re not,” a voice says from the shadows. Literally from the shadow where the building folds into the pavement. There’s no way it was deep enough to hide someone. The voice is undeniably European and the man who steps out is little more than a tall, dark void. Antti and his murder-eyed buddy don’t seem concerned, but Kevin has had quite enough.

“How fucking many of you are there?” he shrieks without an ounce of dignity. His mouth still tastes foul and bilious, his shoulder is still throbbing faintly, and his hair has just been rubbed in the grimiest street possible. He literally cannot handle any more.

“Rude,” the dark figure comments, almost curiously.

“He’s hurting,” Murder Eyes says quietly and firmly; Kevin decides this is an overture of friendship and he will accept it. Perhaps Murder Eyes will save him from this judgmental void.

“I just fucking want to go home.” He levers himself up, using Antti and holds his arm close so he can’t jar it any further. 

“I’ll take you home,” the dark figure says. “Better get ice on your...” he trails off and looks at Murder Eyes.

“Shoulder. Back of head. Maybe ribs.” He stares at Kevin, who is leaning on Antti. “Ribs.”

Antti hands him off and Kevin trusts him, if no one else. They shared bagels and secrets and that’s a bond of trust. 

He takes the void’s hand and feels the insane sensation of utter inky blackness wrapping itself around him. The darkness unravels just as quickly and then Kevin is staring at his own living room.

“What the fuck?”

“You wanted to go home,” the void says, walking Kevin to the couch and pressing him down. “Now stay put. If Ultraviolet thinks you need ice, you need ice.”

Kevin stays put. He might just sleep on the couch; he’s tired and sore and his bed seems very far away. 

The void perches on his coffee table in front of him and helps him apply the various ice packs. “So what exactly do you do?” He hands him a water bottle, which helps wash the foul taste from his mouth. 

“I’m an analyst,” Kevin says distractedly, trying to wedge an ice pack in the correct place on his back. “Hey, do you have a face? This is really weird.”

“Why would I show you my face?” The void tilts its dark head and Kevin can feel that it is disgruntled. 

“I’ve seen everyone else’s face,” Kevin points out. “And Blue Blaze said you have a moustache. I want to see it.”

The void puts its head in its large void hands. “I’m going to kill them all. How many Superhero Safety seminars can I arrange before they stop unmasking randomly?”

“That’s not fair,” Kevin protests. “It’s not like I added it to their Wikipedia pages.”

“Oh goody,” the void says dryly. “You just go around getting their real names and faces and we just have to trust you and hope no one tortures it out of you.”

Kevin pales slightly at that.

“Seriously, what is it that you analyze? Where do you work?”

“I do risk assessment,” Kevin says slowly. “My firm handles a lot of pre-insurance screenings for companies who are worried about Super damage.”

There’s a pause and then the void laughs at him. “Motherfuck,” the void says, almost in disbelief. The darkness drips away like oil sliding down, to reveal a rather roguish face. “You work in risk assessment and you just wander around the city alone with nothing more than mace? Are you even any good at your job?”

“Hey,” Kevin says, nettled. “I do good work. And I was doing a great job on the personal safety front until some bright blue menace decided to scare the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” the man apologizes and he does seem sincere. He holds out his hand and Kevin takes it in a weak handshake even though his shoulder protests. “I’m Shadow. I’m in charge of this band of idiots and you’re in danger. Tonight is actually the second time someone has come for you.”

“What?” Kevin drops Shadow’s hand.

“Blue Blaze handled the last one. We assumed it was a one-off, just bad luck, but this is looking worse. Is there a reason someone would be after you?”

“No. No, I don’t think so,” Kevin says numbly. He’s coming down from the adrenaline of the evening and he can hardly process anything. 

“Then we have to assume someone saw you with Blue and they’re after our team for some reason.” Shadow shakes his head, dark hair pooled around his shoulders. “Alright. I’m going to collect the team. You need to get some sleep.”