Betrayal

I watched Max stare out the shattered window as the wind of the outside world swirled into the building. I sat on the floor, and the world spun around me. The spell of dizziness broke, and I slowly regained my senses. I saw Dead Air lying unconscious on the ground by Max’s feet. I looked up and saw him standing with his back to me in muted colors. I realized Max’s mask was missing. I nearly called out their real name but caught myself. “Ma… Seleknight, get away from the window.” They ignored me, standing stoically and staring out at the crowd that was gathered around the building. I got myself to my feet and stumbled to Max; the effects of Dead Air’s attack were still wearing me out. I grabbed onto their armored shoulder. I shook them to try and break them out of their seeming trance. “Get ahold of yourself. We are on a mission. I need you to concentrate. We don’t have time to lose our minds.” I heard Miguel’s and Gunslinger’s footsteps running to us and looked over my shoulder.

               We started to walk over to the meeting in the second floors lobby. “Is everything good?” Gunslinger signed, looking from me to Max, talking a second longer to watch him.

               “No, it can wait until after mission. Dead Air subdued down hall,” I pointed down the hall where Dead Air was. I breezed over Max’s issue; it was something we could deal with later. We did not have time to deal with Max’s identity crisis; when we did, it would be a private matter. Until then, there was at least one more floor that we had to get to.

               Gunslinger took one more look at Max, who was studying the floor, refusing to make eye contact with Gunslinger. “We move on.”

               Gunslinger turned around and walked briskly down the hall to take care of the unconscious body, the trash on the hall slowing his progress. Once he was far enough down the hall, I finally got to look at Miguel. “What happened?” Miguel asked me, but I was looking at Max, and he knew something wrong how could he not.

               “Seleknight won the fight with Dead Air but lost his mask in the process. He was standing near the..” I looked back down the hallway at the broken window. I should have been more assertive and not have drifted off; it showed a lack of confidence. I need to convey that confidence to keep this team together.

               Miguel followed my gaze. “Oh, no. Max,… I’m oh no.” He reached out to Max, but Max stepped away. There were seconds of uncomfortable silence hanging over them, and this coldness was unnatural to Max and his relationship with Miguel.

               “We can deal with this after the mission. I need you both to focus and remember to use your code names when in public, Tendril.” I should have broken the tension, but it needed to wait until later. I grabbed Miguel’s Shoulder to give him some support. I was not a good replacement for Max, but I was all Miguel had for now.

               “Yeah…, the mission.” Max shouldered past me toward the stairwell. Their whole demeanor had changed where they had previously been heroic; they now slumped with a type of what I assumed was depression. I wondered if Dead Air had some other power that was affecting him. I could not remember anything in his file, but you never really knew. I decided he was playing along and not fighting us, so it was not something to worry about later.

               The other professional heroes exited the opposing stairwell. They carried two identical men handcuffed and laid them on the ground. Gunslinger had returned from the Hall and started signing to one of them but was redirected to another member that could understand ASL. He pointed down the hallway, and two of the pros started walking where he had directed them. I waited patiently for my next orders. We had done well, but I knew we needed to do more to prove ourselves.

               I looked back at my team. At the start of this mission, Miguel was struggling to keep their head in the game. Max had calmed them down. I truly relied on Max while I was the leader. Max kept this group together. With Max all over the place, that stability was completely gone. I had seen them holding hands and comforting one another; whatever they had, whether romantic or not, held Miguel together throughout the fight. I watched Miguel fidget with the toggles on his belt. Max was staring into the void, fists clenched. Some Team leader I was first big mission, and our dynamic was completely falling apart. This would not look good on my record if I could not get them balanced again.

               Gunslinger waved me over, and I walked over to her. “I am going them. This stairwell more dangerous. You take same stairwell safer. Wait five seconds at the next door.” We nodded and separated into our respective tasks.

               “Tendril, lead the way,” Miguel nodded and started their second ascension. I held Max back just a bit so we could have a bit of privacy. “Hey, What happened back there? You can’t be losing your cool like that, especially now,” I kept my voice hushed. This was just between us. I was sure Miguel could hear us, but it was more important to present them with privacy. I needed to solve this now; it was only snowballing into something I could not handle.

               “Why are we here? What are we doing here?” I couldn’t see the whole of Max’s face, but I could see the rest of him, and every about them was rigid.

               Wha… What do you mean? We’re stopping the bad guys.” I was being a bit inconsiderate, but he was asking dumb questions now. I should have joked about it more than I was being accusatory of him. That might have broken their anger, but it was too late for that now.

               “Stopping from doing what, and who says their bad guys? What have they done? What were they even doing? What warrants this amount of force? Where are our warrants!?” Max turned to me for a second. I was unused to seeing his face; it was usually covered by a mask.  Their eyes were wet and red with rage. Max was never an angry person, and I had rarely seen them truly angry.

               “Mr. Moore says that their villains. Look, I will make him tell us everything you need to know after the mission. We’re on the right side of the law,” My voice was not as strong as before, and I forced strength back into my voice for the last few words.

               “You can’t just arrest someone for no reason, and I was told that it was because they might do something. You can’t just arrest someone because they might do something, because they might steal, because they might commit a crime. And I read their files; they paid their time in full. This is wrong no warrants, no suspected crimes. They were innocent. Where is our law,” Max’s voice was nearly shouting. We were nearing the third floor. I could hear heavy winds coming from it. This was too much; I couldn’t let this fall apart. I couldn’t fail. I caught Miguel’s eyes and could see they were also wet.

               “Look, we can talk about this after the mission. I promise. We’ll get answers from Moore and demand he takes your concerns more seriously after we’re done here. I promise you that we are doing good.” We got to the door for the next floor. I spoke at a regular volume and gave up, pretending Miguel wasn’t listening. Max clearly did not care who heard him. The commotion from the third floor grew louder as we waited. I posed, reading for a fight and grabbing onto the steel door, my strength growing on contact.

               “There won’t be a next time Impact. I quit. When this is done, I’m gone.” There was a coldness seeping into my body, and I turned to look at Max. I knew he was shaken, but I could not even comprehend what he had just said. What had Dead Air told him? Our eyes locked with each other. In them, I saw the truth in his words. He was done, and no matter what I did would change that.

               “Max-” my words were cut off by the door flying from its hinges, and a tornado of wind filled the stairwell, scattering us into its concrete walls.