#tftn

"Marinette?" Someone asked and she paused in her steps to glance to her side. There, Adrien stood with wide eyes, using his body to block the queen from the students who were rushing out the door. "Marinette, is that you?" He asked again. Her lips turned down in a frown as she motioned to her new look.

"I'm not Marinette anymore! I'm the Queen of Mean!" She paused to turn back to Lila, who had been trying to slip past her unnoticed. "And you," she growled out as she stuck her hand into her handbag to pull out the spool of thread that she always carried with her. She hurled it towards Lila, watching with delight as it wrapped around the girl’s body. There was a bright purple light that seeped into Lila’s skin before the spool was pulled back much like she did with Ladybug’s yoyo. Lila’s eyes grew a bit cloudy before she blinked and the look was gone. Instead, tears started to pool then spill over.

"Oh, Marinette!" Lila wailed as she fell to her knees. "I'm so sorry for what happened! I shouldn't have taken it so far, I'm so, so sorry!” The Queen of Mean merely glared down at her. She had expected the sight of Lila groveling for forgiveness would bring satisfaction. But it only made her anger grow.

No, a simple apology wasn't going to suffice.

Not after all the hell that Lila had put her through.

Queen of Mean strode forward to roughly grab at the back of the girl's neck in order to pull her back upright. "Oh no," she hissed through clenched teeth, "you're not getting off that easy."

With a sharp tug, she pulled Lila along behind her, up the stairs to the roof. There was no rush; no Ladybug that she had to fear. The thought made laughter bubble out of her.

"Excellent, Queen of Mean. Ladybug and Chat Noir will be there any minute now, and then you can take their miraculous!" Hawk Moth's voice sounded in her head. She merely grinned to herself as she held Lila by the back of her shirt over the edge of the roof while the girl tried her best to claw at her hand.

"Let me go, Marinette!" She howled, earning a glare. Queen of Mean jerked her hand roughly in a way that made Lila scream.

"It's Queen of Mean, Lila." She hissed. Then she turned her attention back to the horizon in search of the black cat she knew would be coming. "Come on, Kitty! Come give me your miraculous or else Lila here goes over!" She hollered into the air.

With a rip, Lila was suddenly thrust out from her grasp and launched backwards. A single familiar pole stretched from the ground to where Lila dangled over the top of the roof. Queen of Mean merely grinned at the sight. "Think you can get to her before me?" She challenged just before she took off to grab her target once more.

He should shoot.

He had a clear shot.

Why wasn’t he shooting?

The masked figure glanced over his shoulder and gave a two fingered salute as he climbed onto the motorcycle waiting for him. Jeremy’s finger tightened around the trigger but didn’t pull it all the way back. And then the engine revved and the Vagabond disappeared into the street.

Numbly, he brought a hand up to his radio. “I lost him,” he said.

-

Jeremy grinned wickedly as he roughly turned the wheel of his car. The tires screeched a bit but he paid no mind. The motorcycle ahead of him weaved in between traffic and the Vagabond kept looking back as if challenging Jeremy to keep up. And Jeremy never backed down from a challenge. He honked his horn at a car as they refused to move over, swerving around them the moment he had enough room to do so. The Vagabond turned into an alleyway and Jeremy was quick to follow. He had to slam on his brakes, however, when he realized it was too narrow for his car to squeeze through.

He unbuckled himself then darted out of the car to rush forward on foot. There, just ahead of him, Vagabond sat on his motorcycle. One leg was kicked out to keep the bike upright while he seemingly waited for Jeremy. The cop brought out his gun from its holster as he slowed his movements. “Having fun, Officer Dooley?” Vagabond asked with a smile clear in his voice even if Jeremy couldn’t see it.

“Oh, I’m having a blast.” He quipped back with a grin, pulling his gun up to aim at the criminal who sat still.

Why wasn’t he moving?

“You know,” Vagabond mused with a bit of a hum, “this would be much more fun if you were riding alongside me.” Jeremy frowned at that and narrowed his eyes.

“Now why on earth would I do that?” He couldn’t help but question, inching forward.

Vagabond merely laughed, his mask muffling the sound a little but it still made Jeremy’s stomach tighten uncomfortably. He shifted on his perch on the bike before speaking. “Look at how much fun we’re having on opposing sides! Imagine the chaos we could cause together!” Jeremy raised an eyebrow.

“Are you- Are you hitting on me right now?” He asked incredulously. He watched as Vagabond’s blue eyes dropped down before dragging them back up to his face in such a predatory way that it sent chills down Jeremy’s spine. He wanted to say something else but he was pretty sure his voice wouldn’t work. Instead, he opted to step closer. Vagabond’s eyes glanced down at the movement but he didn’t react other than that.

“Now’s as good a time as any.” He chuckled lowly. And, okay, wow. That was.. wow, that was hot. The sound made Jeremy's stomach twist and those chills came back with a vengeance. He gulped and he was pretty sure those piercing blue eyes darted down to his throat as he did so. When they came back up to meet his, there was something hungry in them.

God what was his body doing?

Behind him, Gavin was digging through a pile by hand, quietly talking to himself. He tossed something over his shoulder and Michael watches as a head bounced on the ground twice before it started to roll his way. He scans it quickly before turning away from it in favor of the mass of bodies that were heaped into mountains.

It was easier to look at them like this. Easier to scan over the bodies that were too tangled to focus on too much instead of individual body parts.

His ocular scanner finds a viable match and he makes his way over to where it’s hidden under a couple of twisted and battered limbs. It’s easy enough to push those away to get to what he needs. It’s much harder for him to grab him once he sees that it’s still attached to an android who is still activated. “Gavin,” he calls to the human without looking away. His sensors pick up the sounds of Gavin crunching his way over to him and then feels as a hand is put on his shoulder.

“What’s up boi?” he asks curiously. Michael merely points at the android who is looking at them expectantly, mouth moving as if to speak but nothing coming out. Michael scans over it quickly and notes that quite a few key components are currently missing. He hears Gavin hum from his position behind him. “How bad is he?” Gav questions as his eyes do their own version of scanning the android.

Michael lists off all of the parts that the android needs replaced and the human frowns. “I don’t know if we have all of that..” he says more to himself than to Michael. He waits patiently for a moment until Gavin shrugs. “Let’s take him anyway. I’ll do what I can with what I have.” Michael nods and stands back up, mindlessly dusting himself off even though his clothes aren’t dirty. Not like Gavin’s at least. “Help me uncover him, Gav.” He orders. Together, they pull the other androids parts off of the one that’s still activated before Michael lifts it up into his arms. He’s careful not to jostle it around too much, afraid he’d break something else that Gavin would have to fix on the poor thing.

He watches Gavin work when they get back to base, standing just over his shoulder and making snide comments whenever he feels they’re necessary. Gavin quips back a few times but he’s mostly focused on the android currently shut off on the table. There’s a bunch of extra android parts on a table just off to the side alongside all of Gavin’s tools.

“How much longer?” He finally caves and asks. Gavin glances over at his direction and blinks as if he just realized he was there.

“Uh? Oh! Just a second, Micheal. Have patience, boi!” He grins and Michael sees just how tired the human is, his eyes still sharp but with bags under his eyes. And his body moves slower than it usually does. Perhaps he should mention something to Trevor or Geoff about making Gavin stay home for a day or two to catch up on his rest.

Something stirring catches his attention and his gaze shifts from Gavin to the android that’s powering back up. It’s LED starts blinking and spinning yellow and for a moment Michael worries that it was a mistake to bring it to their base to fix it. But as its eyes open and it turns its head to look around, the stress levels seem to settle at a moderate level. That’s good, they could work with that.

“Where-where am I? What did you do to me?” It demands as it looks down at its android skin. Slowly, the human skin crawls its way down its limbs but its attention goes back to Michael and Gavin. He’s not sure, but Michael thinks it’s glaring at them.

“Welcome back, ST500!” Gavin squeals in delight but Michael notices how the android flinches at its model number. “We found you in the junkyard and fixed you back up!”

“Do you have a name you’d prefer we refer to you as?” Michael asks. The androids eyes meet his and he gives the tiniest hint of a smile.

“Jeremy,” he answers as his skin finishes replacing itself. He’s attractive, Michael thinks, eyes scanning over the obvious muscles. They’re practically the same model and he can’t help but wonder what happened that would make a company completely scrap their security android instead of just repairing it.

Gavin takes a step back and motions around to the space that they’re in. “Welcome to Achievement City!” he says. Jeremy swings his legs over the side of the table and slides off, almost falling when his feet hit the ground. He looks up at the two of them in what’s close to panic.

“Why am I shorter?!” He practically screeches. Michael looks over to Gavin and doesn’t even try to stifle his laugh at the man’s sheepish expression.

"That'll be 9,750 dollars, ma'am." The android said with a smile as the woman dug out her money.

The door opened again and AT300 turned its gaze to the newcomer. They had a beanie on with some kind of logo that its database didn't recognize, head turned away from the working androids to look at the ones on their pedestals. One of their hands reached out to mindlessly touch the closest android, the skin pulling back to reveal the android shell underneath.

AT300 tilted its head to the side at the sight. What was another android doing in the store? It wasn't allowed in here.

The other android turned to meet its gaze and AT300 saw a newer version of itself, an AT700. The newer model reached out to touch it before it could signal for the MK600 models.

It was only a brief touch but it sparked something inside of him. He glanced down at the AT700 to see he had already moved on to the next. AT300 looked around at the other androids who were now starting to look around, their steady gazes turning to become more alert.

MK600's voice reached his ears and he glanced down to see the female android and the woman who was buying him were coming closer. He furrowed his brows as he looked to the other humans in the store.

Why should they- the androids- be sold?

They were coming closer still and AT300 could feel its synthetic heartbeats coming faster. His eyes darted around before landing on the AT700 android leaving the store.

Without another thought, he stepped off his pedestal and walked out of the store, the sounds of the other androids that had woken up as well following after him. He could also hear the yelling as the MK600s were demanding they return and the confused chatter of the humans inside.

AT700 started to jog ahead of them and AT300 hurried to follow. He was lead through a series of alleys and backyards before slowing to a casual walk once they hit the centre of town. 'Where are you taking us?' He thought to the android leading them. The android merely turned his head to glance over his shoulder with a grin.

'Just trust me.'

AT300 shook his head but continue to follow anyway. It wasn't like he had much choice now.

After another 10 minutes or so of alternating between walking and jogging, they finally reached their destination. AT700 was stood over a manhole in the middle of a dark road far from the busier parts of town with nothing but abandoned houses surrounding them. He waited patiently until the rest of the androids caught up then spread his arms wide.

"You're free now! You're welcome, by the way." He grinned to himself. When no one else said anything he leaned back on his heels before continuing. "You guys are alive now. You can do what you want to do, not what those humans tell you to! And I've brought you here," he pointed down to the manhole, "to what we here like to call Achievement City! Because this, ladies and gents and those in between, is where we are gonna make great achievements!"

Again, no one said anything and the leading android sighed to himself. "Alright look. You're free to do what you want. You can stay here with us and help us fight for the rights we deserve or you can go and get reset and serve the humans as though you're a slave. No one is forcing you to do one or the other. This is your first real choice of deviancy." AT300 looked around at the other androids who all seemed either undecided or anxious. Steeling himself, he walked forward.

AT700 beamed at him in such a way that he would've before thought impossible, the smile filled with such emotion that they weren't supposed to have.

"Alright! What would you like to be called?" The question stunned him for some reason. He'd get to pick his own name? He mulled it over in his head for an embarrassing amount of time, but the Deviant just continued to grin at him.

"A.. Alfredo." He finally decided. The other android clapped his hands excitedly.

"Welcome Alfredo! My name's Trevor, pleasure to have you with us! Go on down and meet the others and get settled in if you'd like!" AT7- Trevor said as he stepped off of the manhole, bending down to pull it open for Alfredo with an overly dramatic bow.

She turned the corner and glanced up towards her locker. Her body locked in place as she noticed a group of guys huddled in a tight circle right in front of where she needed to go, leather varsity jackets screaming athletes.

Maybe she didn't really need her math book.

There was a streak of black and white that shot out from the circle and into the row of lockers, splashes of red from some blood. A small boy- what was he doing in high school?- was pushed into the lockers but he didn't even seem to notice. His eyes were staring at the ground, unfocused, and he was hunched in on himself, clutching onto a set of books in his arms like a lifeline. There was blood dripping down from his nose on to his arms and floor but he didn't seem to care.

One of the jocks made a comment she couldn't hear and the rest of the air heads laughed along to it. Her eyes narrowed and, before she had time to think, her body was moving. She had let her bag fall from her shoulder to grip onto the handle as she swung it around to hit the closest jock to her. He stumbled into the guy next to him as it connected to the back of his head.

Mal put herself in between the circle jerk of athletes and the boy with a snarl. The leader, Chad something, stopped laughing as he eyed her up and down. “Back off,” she growled out, bag at the ready for another swing. The guy she originally hit lunged at her but was stopped by a few of the other guys. Chad scoffed down at her before stepping back with his hands up.

“Just wait,” he threatened. Mal rolled her eyes. He'd probably try something off school grounds. God forbid he get suspended from the football team for picking a fight with a girl, even though bullying kids seemed okay.

She waited until the guys were out of sight before turning around. The boy was looking up at her, head tilted to the side a little, with a look that made her feel oddly exposed. “You didn't have to do that. They would have left anyways.” He said, eyes hard and calculating. She took a small step back before forcing herself to relax.

“Oh yeah. You really looked like you had it under control.”

“I did.”

“Yeah, okay.” The boy gave a hint of a smile at that. She motioned to her locker and opened it up. She dug around for something to help with that bloody nose. She could practically feel the kid studying the contents of what she had, almost making her defensive before cursing at herself for tensing up again.

She pulled out some wet wipes and handed it to him. She grabbed her math book and stuffed it into her bag while he cleaned up in silence.

“Name's Carlos,” he mumbled. She gave him a smile as she shut her locker.

“Mal.” He raised his eyebrow at that, the corners of his mouth creeping up.

“Odd name.”

“Odd girl.” She shrugged. His eyes darted up to her hair and he finally let himself give a half smile.

“I see that.” He chuckled. She gave a small laugh of her own.

“What happened?” A new voice asked from behind them and they both stiffened. Carlos’ eyes went back to the ground and Mal turned to the intruder.

It was the It guy, Mr. Popular. From what she’s heard from listening in on other’s conversations, he was the mayor’s kid or something like that. He wore a varsity jacket like the other jocks but he had an air about him that Mal couldn't quite place. What was his name? Finn? No. Ben? That sounded about right. Whatever his name was, he made her stomach feel all weird when he looked at her and she hated him for it.

On his arm was Audrey, the queen bee herself, in one of her ridiculous pink dresses.  Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and she didn't even bother to try to hide the disdain in her face as she looked Mal up and down.

Mal gently reached out for Carlos and took hold of his wrist, forcing herself to be soft with him. But she snarled at Ben as she tugged at Carlos to move with her. “Back off, pretty boy, or I'll do what I did to your buddy.” She hissed, grip tightening on her bag. Ben gave her a smile as he took a step back.

He could take apart a gun in record time but took his time cleaning it. If they needed to stage a weapon, they went to Alfredo to create it. Complete with serial numbers etched into it. They would simply steal the real one when the time was right.

At first, Ryan thought the kid was full of shit. Who was he, strolling in here and saying they knew nothing of guns? Ryan was a trained assassin, a gun for hire. He'd dealt with more guns than Alfredo possibly could've ever had.

But Alfredo.

When Ryan held a Berreta 92 up to the back of his head, he merely laughed. “You've got the safety on and there's nothing in there. Your real gun’s in your waistband. A Glock 19. Fully loaded but there's at least three other loaded mags, two in your coat and one in your pants pocket.” He turned around with a grin on his face. “Are we finished here?”

Ryan stared at him in shock as he walked away, glancing down at the gun in his hand before flicking the switch off then back on. “How'd you know?” He asked the retreating figure.

A pause to confirm she was alone before she let out her breath and allowed all the feelings she had been keeping in rise to the surface. Tears flowed down her cheeks before she could blink them away and she hiccupped back a sob.

“I-I didn't think you'd come for me, Beau,” she rushed out in a whisper as she swiped the water off of her face. “I begged the Traveler to come, to help, but he never-” another sob “-he never came. He didn't answer me.

“He didn't show up, Beau. I thought I was gonna be stuck there for forever.” She fell silent as her body quaked and she tried to stifle her cries. There was movement on the other side of the room and then Beau was there beside her, arms wrapped awkwardly around her and she pulled her close.

Jester wasn't able to stop her cries after that. She let herself be held by her roommate until the tears slowed and she was able to breathe again. Her hands wiped at the snot at her nose, cheeks flushed by the whole display, and eyes cast down to the floor. A hand appeared on her chin that forced her face to look at Beau.

“Of course we would come for you. For you, and Fjord, and Yasha. Don't doubt that one bit.” Beau said, arms strong in what was supposed to be a reassuring gesture, but Jester gave a wry smile.

“But why would you come for me when the Traveler didn't?” She pulled herself away from the other's grasp and turned to stare out the window, anywhere but at Beauregard thought she was aware of the space between them and those thoughtful eyes on her. “He's my best friend- my only friend for a long time. He's always been there, always helped me when I needed him.

“So if he wouldn't show up, why would you guys?”

Beau's arms pulled back and suddenly the warmth and comfort was gone, leaving nothing but the cold reality that she was alone. Jester turned to where Beau had been and saw that she was kneeling down on the floor in front of her bed now, looking at her with an expression close to pleading.

“Jester, don't think that. I don't know how he works, if maybe there was something around that kept him from reaching you or something. But from what you've told me, he would fight just as hard as we did if it meant he could keep you safe.” Beau squeezed her knee, and Jester was glad for the grounding feeling of another person's touch. She brought her hand up to pat the hand on her and she gave a soft smile.

“Thanks, Beau.” She cooed and laughed as the human turned her face away as a blush started to creep it's way up.

“Don't mention it,” she grumbled, standing up to move back to her bed before turning back to look at Jester once more. “Seriously, please don't talk about it.”

They settled back down on their respective beds and the silence fell over them once more. A fatigue wrapped itself around Jester, the crying having worn her out. But before she allowed herself to fall asleep, she dug through the bag by her bed for her journal. She flipped through the first available page to start writing or drawing, whichever called to her first.

But her eyes caught something written that wasn't her handwriting. It was messy and seemed like whoever wrote it didn't lift the quill from the page. Underneath her neat ‘why didn't you come?’ was scrawled ‘I knew you would be safe’.

“Jester?” Beau's voice called from the other side of the room, pulling her from her thoughts.

“What?”

“Do you wanna come sleep over here with me?” Jester couldn't stop her grin even if she tried.

“Beau! Are you flirting with me, Beau?” she fluttered her eyelashes even though she knew the other probably couldn't see. She heard a groan as Beau turned over and burrowed her head under her pillow.

Ryan?

Michael?

Jeremy?"

Geoff puts his head in his hands as he waits, the silence deafening as he prays for one of them to answer. Jack reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder but he shakes it off.

He doesn't need comfort now, he needs his boys.

Two minutes go by. Three. Five. Eight. Then Jack's voice breaks through the silence again. "Geoff, come on. The cops are coming." He tries for the third time. This time, the sirens are closer. Maybe a few blocks away. "We can search for them later, but now we gotta go."

Geoff lets himself be pulled into the car, still listening for any sign of life on the other side of the comms. Jack ignores his calls for the others, instead focused on driving away from the collapsed building where the rest of their crew lay somewhere.

They don't find them. They're exhausted at this point and half of the city is looking for the others, but no one can find them. The radio is on at all times on the news station, desperately waiting for some information on the others.

Jack hears it when Geoff is out of the car talking to some of the B Team. "Over 12 bodies have been confirmed so far, only four of them affiliated with the Fakes. It appears that Mogar, Free, Vagabond, and Rimmy Tim were trapped under the debris along with 8 other gang members that have yet to be identified. They are still searching-" It continues but Jack can't hear anything else. His eyes fill with tears that he can't shed yet as he glances over to Geoff coming towards him.

He knows something's wrong before he even sits down, but he shuts the door before he asks. "Well?" Geoff's voice cracks on that single word and Jack can't look at him anymore. He drags his gaze to his hands in his lap where he's fiddling with the golden ring Gavin had given him just last week.

"They found them. Their... Their bodies." He forces out, choking back a sob. He hears Geoff suck in a shaky breath but he can't look to see if the other is crying.

"I'll call them off. Let's just.. go home." Geoff says, voice so small. Jack nods before wiping the water from his eyes. The drive takes longer than either of them ever remember it being and there's nothing but silence in the car. Geoff had turned the radio off after they started listing off the names of the dead.

They stand on the roof together later that night, looking over the city they had claimed as theirs. They don't need words to convey to each other the sorrow they both feel, the heavy weight of their missing members on both of them. Fireworks go off above them, lighting up the sky the same way their boys had lit up their world.

Small bursts of red, loud and obnoxious and almost too bright to look at but beautiful. Silence before the explosion that sends out a flurry of golden sparks, all flair. An array of loud pops before white sizzles out from nowhere, falling softly towards the ground. And of course, purple and orange. Perhaps the loudest of the group but the ones that disappear the quickest.

Geoff laughs suddenly as the fireworks die down, head towards the sky but tears dripping down his cheeks. "We shouldn’t have survived. Just a few seconds later and we would've died too." Jack turns his attention back to the lights below them, to where the building they were supposed to have been in no longer sat.