They hit that mf with a can of raid
The first encounter with Neo Dominus didn't go as planned. Some people take that better than others
Yuvan was at work when he got the call. He'd missed the first one, noticing the phone's lighting up and buzzing under the counter out of the corner of his eye, while he helped a customer who had a truly impressive amount of coupons. He'd thought, surely it wasn't urgent, it was probably just Mav and Sal on some bullshit, wanting to drag him along even though they knew he was in the middle of a shift. A part of him had worried his grandmother had gotten his new number when the buzzing didn't stop. Checking his phone as the customer left, he realized this was one of few things that was worse.
He called the hospital back as quickly as he could on his break, bouncing his leg up and down while sitting in the small plastic chair in the back room. Yuvan had barely managed a coherent conversation with the nurse as she explained the situation. She said she'd worked with patients with powers before, that they were in good hands. Against his better judgment, he gave her the phone number of Maverick's sister in New York.
He told his coworker what he could manage. He didn't even bother asking his manager to leave, even as she called after him. He just rode off on his bike, only focused on one thing, the only thing that mattered right now.
They’ve been sitting in this waiting room for hours. Vinnie hadn't been here as long as Yuvan, but he'd already started to nod off in his chair, arms crossed and hunched forward ever so slightly. He was starting to drool. Honestly, none of the gang did well with hospitals, so Yuvan didn't want to bother him if he didn't have to. He sat there, keeping to himself, leg bouncing up and down in anxiety. Man, Maverick wasn't gonna be happy when they woke up, the only person that did worse than them with hospitals was Sal. They started to wonder where Sal was, if he had seen the messages. No way he was gonna come within a mile of the place, but he'd definitely want to know, they'd thought. They checked their phone, looking at the time.
God, why hadn't they heard anything yet?
Yuvan got up from his seat and went to the front desk. The receptionists had changed shifts since they'd been there, so at least the quiet guilt of pestering the workers can fade a bit. Not that that would have stopped him from asking again anyhow.
"Sorry to bother you... again. Do you know when we'd be able to see our friend? Maverick Graves?"
"Hm?" The receptionist looks up from something on his screen, before recognizing Yuvan from earlier. "Oh, I haven't received anything new since you last asked a couple hours ago, but I can check."
"If you could, that'd be great,-" He wanted to do some semblance of his customer service voice to help maintain his composure, but it wasn't working. Instead, his voice cracked severely on the word 'great,' enough that he had to clear his throat a bit and cough facing off to the side before continuing in his normal register. "That'd be great, thank you."
Yuvan's finger tapped rhythmically on his side of the reception counter. He heard a yawn as he saw Vinnie stretching in his periphery, waking from his brief nap. He immediately notices Yuvan at the counter again. They focus back on the receptionist.
"It might be listed as ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■ instead."
"Oh, ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■ ! I see, right here. It says they're actually out of emergency surgery. Unconscious, but stable. Right now they're sharing a room with another recovering patient, but soon we'll be getting them their own room! Sorry about that confusion, I would have said something sooner if I had the right name."
Ignoring that last bit, this was the first good news all day. He stops tapping. "Holy shit, really? Can we see them soon, do you think?"
"I'm afraid only members of the family would be able to see them at this time. I'm really sorry. I'm sure your friend will be okay."
"..I mean. They are my family though, they're the only family I ha--"
The receptionist raises an eyebrow. "I thought you said they were your friend."
"No, I mean, yes, but--" The lights flicker as Yuvan takes a deep, shaky breath. "It's more complicated than that, please. They don't have anyone else in the city except us."
"I understand how frustrating this must be, but our hospital policy states-" The receptionist trails off for a moment. "Th..I can't let you back there right now. If you can give me your name and some ID, I'll let you know as soon as you can see them." They make eye contact with Yuvan. "I promise, alright?"
Yuvan suddenly notices Vinnie's hand on his shoulder. How long had he been standing there? He slowly unclenches his fist, nails having left visible imprints on his palms just short of breaking the skin.
"Sorry, thank you. I..." they shove a hand into their pocket, pulling out their id and sliding it forward on the counter. "..thanks. Let me know if anything happens."
The group gathered in their warehouse meeting spot: Photon, Magnum Opal, Gunslinger, Alistaire, Path, as well as less frequent members of the investigation such as Skywolf, really nobody knew why he showed up to these, Damon, who much of the party had never met in person prior to this, and Leviathan. Leviathan's presence in the group still brought a level of distrust from...most members really, but Path and Alistaire both vouched for him, and he had access to info that nobody else had. He'd helped with the most recent mission, infiltrating a facility alongside Swarm, who was noticeably missing from this meeting.
Morale was low, most everyone had been brought up to speed on their own time, but nobody wanted to be the first to talk about it. Skywolf, unsociable old fogey that he is, was of course the only one out of the loop, and the first to break the silence.
"So? Any of you going to say what happened? If all you're gonna do is stand around feeling sorry for yourselves with zero explanation, tell me now so I don't waste anymore of my bloody time."
Though he'd like nothing more than to tear this guy a new one, Gunslinger just managed to bite back a comment. Instead, Leviathan spoke first.
"The mission was... not a success, exactly. It was mostly reconnaissance, and we did gather vital information about...certain members of the group, but...we didn't have quite the edge we thought we did. They were a step ahead, we were discovered and there were...consequences."
Photon slammed their hands on the table. "Consequences? Are you kidding me, Swarm is in the fucking hospital, you barely made it out alive, Neo knows our plans And has trump cards we never would've even dreamed of." They lean forward. "This was a total fucking nightmare, I knew I should've gone with you--"
Leviathan rolled his eyes. "All due respect, Photon. In the state you're in, I think things would have only gone worse. And giant blinding lights don't exactly fit stealth to me."
The light flickered in the room. Gunslinger glanced at Alistaire, who looked just as clueless as him.
Damon groaned, not looking up from the tablet in his hand. "Oh my god, we get it. Things went fuckways, someone got hurt, everyone else could have did a better job if it went their way, but boo fucking hoo, it didn't. So where do we go from here?"
Leviathan crossed his arms and resisted adding anything else. Photon gives Damon a look, he shrugs with a shrugging emote scrolling across the screen of his visor.
"Alright. The plan is..." What was the plan? What were they supposed to do here? They promised Apollo they would pull back a bit, but they couldn't let someone else get hurt again. So what was the next move...
The lights flickered again.
"The plan is..."
Before they could finish the thought, the warehouse went completely dark. It wasn't just that the light had gone off, but it was like no light could come in through the windows either, it was pitch black.
Photon was immediately powered up, but even then their light barely permeated out beyond their immediate vicinity. It was as if any amount of light was being swallowed up by the darkness itself.
"I swear to god, if that Leviathan guy betrayed us, or led Neo back here I'm gonna punch his fuckin long ass face--" Photon heard Magnum mutter from behind them. They turned towards the direction they heard him, reaching out into the inky blackness to grab him closer. The person they'd gotten instead was shorter, skinnier, with bright colored accents on his outfit that nearly glowed next to their light, contrasted against the black leather. It was Alistaire, and he seemed just as shocked that they grabbed him as they were.
"Stay close, Alistaire. I don't know what kind of powers caused this, but it must be someone from Neo's group coming after us." Alistaire looked scared, sure, but it was more like worry than fear for his life, something that they weren't used to from him in the face of lethal danger.
"No, uh. This isn't Neo Dominus..."
"What? What the fuck are you talking about, Alistaire?!?"
"Well, hopefully we'll see in a moment?"
"Really don't appreciate your taste in dramatic reveals right now. Is this another friend of yours?"
"I'm not gonna answer that yet!"
Before Photon could get any more annoyed with Alistaire, they were interrupted by what sounded like hundreds of hushed whispers, all talking at the same time in languages they didn't understand. They couldn't tell which direction they were coming from, so they grabbed Alistaire's arm and headed cautiously in the direction they remembered the exit being.
The Gunslinger's eyes barely helped him navigate this type of darkness. He was working at a slight advantage compared to most people, but there's a difference between low light vision and actual complete darkness. Something about it was familiar though, like something he'd seen in a movie somewhere before..
Gunslinger jumped as Pathosis suddenly grabbed his arm. In what vision he had, he could see Path was holding Leviathan in the other arm.
"Hey, big guy. You doing alright?"
"Don't like this. Something about it...not right."
"Yeah, you're telling me."
"What happened?" Everyone heard the voice regardless of where in the darkness they were. It was just louder than the whispering, but it almost was like the same cadence, the only difference being these were words they actually understood.
On top of that, the words came in a voice recognizable both to Alistaire and the Gunslinger. Something they would have probably had wordless looks about if they could see each other.
"What are you talking about? Who are you?!" Both Gunslinger and Photon heard Apollo call out. They moved towards his voice, their respective parties trailing behind them.
Just then, the room suddenly began to brighten to its original dim lighting, the darkness shriveling up and towards the center of the room. They could all see each other again, but now they could also see the figure manifesting out of the shadows. Gunslinger recognized him now, even cloaked in this strange unnatural darkness as he currently was. It would be hard not to, he'd seen him a dozen times on stage, back stage, at just about any weird bullshit event Sal and Mav would pull him out to... He glanced at Alistaire, who clearly recognized the person as well.
"What. The fuck. Happened." The figure was clearly the one speaking this time, though the whispers could still be heard distantly.
"Which one of you stupid fucking 'heroes' idea was it to send them in there like that, who let this happen?"
Photon stepped forward, cautious.
"Send who into where, who are you?"
"My friend, Maverick. You lot are the reason they're being stitched back together with fucking spidersilk right now, right? One of you better tell me what happened right fucking now." At that moment everyone realized they were talking about Swarm. Except Alistaire, who already knew from the start, and Damon, who apparently never looked up from his tablet.
Apollo scoffed a bit. "Or what? Who do you think you are, threatening us?" The figure's head snapped towards him. Opal's bluff was pretty obvious, it was the middle of the night. For a guy with sun-fueled abilities against a man made of darkness, you couldn't ask for worse matchup conditions. As the figure stepped towards him, Apollo's shadow stretched out behind him. The figure was significantly shorter than him, but the shadow now loomed over them both, in the shape of something that didn't resemble the hero it came from by any means. Opal didn't back down, but the sweat on his brow was apparent. If he didn't know any better, he'd say he could feel his shadow's breath on the back of his neck
"I'm the consequences of your fucking actions, NSYNC. The shadow of guilt for the people you hurt, that you failed to save."
They turned back to the group, and Apollo's shadow quickly returned to its normal size and shape.
"Any time now, one of you can start talking. What. Fucking. Happened."
Photon cut in. "Look, I don't know who you are, but I get why you're upset. Nobody wanted them to get hurt, trust me. If I could go back and switch places with them, I would." Apollo frowns at that comment, but they continue. "We weren't as prepared as we could have been, maybe, but Swarm knew what they were doing. They knew what they were getting into. They still chose to go forward regardless... I get why you're upset with us, but you can't take that choice from them."
"The hell I can't!" Yuvan snapped back, but even then it was clear Photon's words were hitting him. The shadows began to peel away, no longer a pulsating second skin covering his face and body. Eventually they melted down into the shadow beneath his feet, as it should be. It was still much larger than Yuvan, and it didn't quite match the shape of his body, but at least he seemed a bit less aggressive. Looking at his face again, it was clear he'd been crying. His eyes were red and slightly puffy, and there were stains on his cheek. Photon approached him cautiously, hands up to show they weren't a threat. He refused to look them in the face, staring down at the ground as he spoke.
"I told them this was a bad idea, that they'd get hurt. They said it was alright, that there was a plan, they knew what they were doing. I should've known this would've gone to shit the second they started trusting idiots like you and Bootleg Baywatch over here with their well being." He squatted down, head in his hands now. Photon and Opal both took a step back, clearly uncomfortable with the emotional turn things had taken. "God, you self proclaimed fucking heroes, you self-aggrandizing narcissistic pricks fill their head with all this nonsense, and now..." They trailed off. Photon looked back at the others, mainly at Magnum, as if to ask for some sort of help. As they looked back, everyone else seemed just as uncomfortable, just as unsure of the safest approach.
Unexpectedly, the person who moved forward was Alistaire. He knelt down beside Yuvan, drawing his attention back to him from the ground. He spoke in a hushed tone, but one they could still hear.
"Hey, let's just get back to the hospital, I'll wait with you until they wake up, alright? You know which way it is?" He nodded wordlessly, now seeming to have lost all the fight they had a moment ago. "Alright, up we go!" Alistaire helped him up, guiding him outside of the warehouse. He turned back as they were leaving, shooting a look to the Gunslinger that wordlessly communicated for him to meet him later. It wasn’t a look that was really decipherable by anyone else, though.
Gunslinger noticed that as he stepped away, for a moment it was almost like he stepped out of his shadow, but it quickly followed behind. It was like it had stuttered, wanting to stay here. A lot of odd moments around the band began to click for him now.
Once Alistaire was out with Yuvan, Photon turned back and spoke in a hushed tone.
"What the fuck was that?"
"We can't just let him go like that, can we?" Apollo asked.
"I mean, do we have any right to do anything to them? Swarm was their friend, right? I'd want answers too."
"Should we worry about the fact that Alistaire knows him?"
"Not everyone Alistaire knows is some villain, Magnum." Gunslinger chimed in. "I've met him before. He... " he pauses, considering Yuvan's privacy. "...He and Swarm, well, Maverick I guess we know now, are really close. "
"Shit, really? I wouldn't have gathered that by the way things were going there." Gunslinger raised an eyebrow, wordlessly noting the needless sarcastic tone. Photon pinched their brow. They were trying to keep it together, but nobody was feeling good over this to begin with, let alone being confronted with the very real consequences of what this life could do to any of them, to their loved ones…
"You can ask them about it if you're that curious, we know what hospital they got left at."
"I think I'll pass. Probably would just make things worse, and we still have work to do, right Damon?"
"Huh? Sure." He didn't even look up to respond. Photon gave a small sigh.
Magnum suddenly looked like something just clicked in his mind.
"Wait, Maverick? Swarm's real name is Maverick? Like,--"
"Well, I'm gonna go with them." Gunslinger cut him off. "Keep an eye out, let everyone know when Swarm's back up."
"If they get back up." Damon added. Everyone shot him a look, but he just shrugged it off. "Oh, come on. Don't give me that. I don't know who all saw what they looked like coming out, but it's not something most people bounce back from, based on the footage I saw."
"Damon." Gunslinger only ever had to say his name and he'd get the hint and back down.
"Yeah, yeah. Real humans always upset with the reality of their own mortality, I know."
He went back to what he was doing. Gunslinger sighed. The others seemed slightly off put with some of the implications of Damon’s statement, but nobody addressed it.
"Photon, if there's any updates, I'll let you know. If you decide the next steps, fill me in later."
Photon nodded. Gunslinger headed out of the warehouse. Just as he was almost out, he heard Apollo ask "Hey, where the fuck did Leviathan go?"
Gunslinger stopped in an alley to change out of uniform. Showing up as The Gunslinger would probably cause a bit more commotion than showing up as Charlie, he figured.
Just as he was folding his vest into a plastic bag, he felt a chill run up his spine. He couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched. He looked around, but not seeing anyone around him only made the unease more potent. So he looked up, and the glint of light reflecting off of his own nocturnal eyes was matched with a single white glowing eye peering over the roof of the building above. Before he even had a chance to recoil, the figure jumped forward, his claws leaving a path down the side of the building as he used the wall to slow his descent.
"Jesus fuck, Sal. I hate it when you do that shit."
"Sorry, force of habit." Though his expression didn't seem to have an inkling of remorse.
"Yeah, sure." He finished packing his costume away to carry along more inconspicuously. "Guessing you heard about what happened, or were you following me for some unrelated reason?"
"I was following Yuvan, actually. Didn't realize how quick he'd be, but..." he trailed off. No need to bring up the obvious. Charlie nodded, picking up what went unsaid.
"Yeah. It's fucked."
"Yeah, by the time I caught up, I saw the one guy dip, then Alistaire walked out with Yuvan."
Saw some guy dip... That must've been when Leviathan slipped out. He tried to remember if he'd seen him when the lights came back on, but nobody was really concerned with much beyond calming down Peter Pan and his Shadow.
"The guy who dipped, what'd he look like?"
"Really tall, skinny. Long hair?"
Must've been Leviathan, then, for sure.
"Good to know. So what're you doing now, then?"
"...Not sure. Me and hospitals ain't exactly close friends."
"You want me to get you when they wake up...?"
"I...sure." Sal's clearly not saying something on his mind.
"...But?"
"But, if they don't...Don't come get me." Charlie seemed a bit concerned, but he didn't press anything, and he didn't judge. Sal opened his mouth again, wanting to clarify, but he couldn't quite find the words.
"I'd find out eventually, but it's... err-- yeah."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah..." Sal looked down at the ground, ears pinned back.
Charlie shrugged. "Everyone's got their process."
"...Something like that." He put his hand in a pocket, clutching something Charlie couldn't see. "I'll be seeing you then?"
"Yeah. Take care, Sal."
"No promises." With that, he scrambled back up to traverse the rooftops. Charlie walked out the alley in the opposite direction.
Alistaire sat in the waiting room with Yuvan at the hospital. He was sitting cross legged up on his side of the bench, facing Yuvan as he sipped the cocoa Alistaire insisted he get for them. It didn't make anything better, but it was nice.
Alistaire knew better than to talk about Maverick right now, or the band. On the way over, he'd offered to break in, or cause a diversion for them to see Mav. Yuvan seemed to genuinely consider it for a moment, and the moment of brevity on Alistaire's part did seem to raise their morale a bit, but they turned him down. If they get kicked out and something happens, it'd only feel worse. Until one or both of them could see Mav, it wouldn't do any good to bring them up right now more than he had to.
Fortunately for Alistaire, if there was one thing he was good at, it was distractions. He scooted over towards Yuvan's side of the bench, splaying his legs out so that they were taking up the other side of it.
"Soooo………" Alistaire said, maybe a bit louder than he ought to, given that it was a hospital waiting room.
Yuvan turned to him, raising an eyebrow, but not saying anything. Alistaire scanned his brain for bullshit to talk about. Villainous exploits were off the table, considering the present situation. What was some good gossip…
"So…did I tell you about the last date I went on?"
"...no."
"God, it was suuuuuuch a disaster, the guy was so boring. Shame, cuz he was sooooo good looking, too. Like, kinda dumb, but so cute. See, everyone loves a himbo online but actually trying to date one can be such a pain."
"Yeah?"
"Oh, yeah. They're huge simps and that's nice for a while, but like, you gotta contribute something to the conversation, y’know? And sometimes they got like one thing they're super interested in, but if it's something that's also boring it's a total bust. Like, this dude was into farming stuff, but not like in a cute farmhand thing kinda way, he went on at length about agricultural techniques."
"Wow."
"Yeah, but then I try to talk about anything I'm into, zilch, nothing! No input about anything besides, like, corn irrigation. I don't care about that!"
"Should've just gone with the taxidermy guy."
Alistaire sputters. "Absolutely not! That guy had serial killer written all over him." Yuvan gave a weak little monotone laugh at that.
The two went on gossipping for a bit. Mostly it was Alistaire going on about his boy problems, avoiding too much of the stories with the guys the band introduced him to. It was kinda working a bit, eventually they tangented into Yuvan's work gossip, and all the weirdos (derogatory) who they ran into there.
At some point, Charlie had walked into the waiting room as well. He sat on the other end of the bench from Yuvan, and Alistaire re-adjusted his seating seamlessly as he talked, so that now he just had his ass wedged between the two with his legs sprawled across Charlie's lap as he leaned up against Yuvan. The complete lack of acknowledgement of this interaction made Yuvan crack a smile for just a second. That was a point in Alistaire's book as far as he cared.
Hours passed, Alistaire talked for a good portion of it about just about anything. Internet drama, fashion trends he hated, an episode of Dragula, boys, a particularly awkward interaction at the Jamba Juice. Over time, he got tired, so he adjusted again. Yuvan didn't seem to mind that he'd stopped talking. He never stopped seeming worried, or scared, but he wasn't anything like the way he was before. Charlie did notice, though, a slight flicker in the lights every time a nurse called in someone from the waiting room that wasn't them.
Just as Alistaire began to nod off a bit, a nurse came out to speak to Yuvan. He gently re-adjusted Alistaire on the bench as he stepped aside to speak with her. Alistaire woke up nearly immediately as they moved, but laid there as he did his best to listen into the conversation. They stepped away enough that some parts were difficult to hear.
He caught " ■■■■■ 's sister,""until their immediate family arrive,""special exception" as well as something like "their strange condition." Putting the pieces together wasn't hard.
Yuvan stepped back over and Alistaire pretended to still be asleep. Yuvan quietly let Charlie know the room number, and that he'd be right back, before scurrying back off with the nurse, who led him past the double doors, presumably to Maverick's room.
Alistaire slowly sat back up. Charlie was sitting back in his seat, arms crossed against his chest. He looked at Alistaire without turning his head.
"So."
"Sooooooo…?"
"How long did you know that guy was Mav?"
"Maybe get your eyes checked, Charlie, that was Yuvan?"
He rolled his eyes. "You know what I fuckin' meant. You were the only one who didn't seem surprised about--" Charlie glanced around, catching himself before saying anything revealing. While maybe not packed, the waiting room had a pretty consistent flow of people coming in and going out. More than enough people to maybe require some discretion. "Let's talk about this somewhere else. Follow me."
He got up and started walking for the door. Alistaire groaned and whined but followed regardless. It didn't really seem like Charlie knew where he was going, dipping in and out of lobbies and halls, eventually walking out to the parking lot. Finally he found a suitable spot to the side of the building. There was nobody around, and no obvious cameras, so he continued.
"You were the only one who didn't seem surprised at the Yuvan thing."
"I mean, Damon..."
"Damon probably knows more information about any of us than would ever be comfortable, Alistaire. It's literally all he does." Alistaire made a little face, disturbed somewhat by the implications. "Come on."
Alistaire gave a loud sigh. "What gave me away--"
"I literally just said."
"I was doing a line, Charlie. Just let me have one of my lines for once, I'm coping with quips!"
"Maybe you should get better lines, and I would."
"Oh my god, I'm pretending you didn't just say that. Do you want to hear what I'm gonna say or not?!" Charlie made a 'go ahead' gesture, not saying anything more.
"Thank you...anyways, as I was saying.... Honestly I know this is, what? The second time this happened with one of your friends? But in my defense, I bet if you'd just asked them, they probably would've told you. I dunno, I had a handful of awkward moments walking into them and Yuvan fighting about the whole hero thing, it was sort of an open secret, but less in the Apollo/Magnum way and more just because, well. If you knew about Mav’s powers, it wasn’t easy to hide! Personally, I think they could've done better in my end of things, villain-ing it up, but..." Alistaire's expression sours as a bit as he remembers where they are and why they're here.. "Might not matter, anyways."
"Yeah..." Charlie's harder to read than normal, even for Alistaire. There's worry, guilt there, confusion... but something else. ..Recognition, maybe? Hard to say. He's not gonna bother him about any of it at the moment, though. Right now, everything sucked and they both need a pick-me-up with a quickness.
"Hey, wanna get some shitty hospital food? I think they have one of those not technically Starbucks but basically a Starbucks places here. I'm buying~."
"Well. Hard to say no to free drinks."
"We'll bring Yuvan one, too. Whenever they let the rest of us in Mav's room, anyhow." He starts walking back towards the building, Charlie at his side. There's a moment of them walking in silence before Charlie speaks up.
"Thanks for defusing things with Yuvan, earlier, by the way."
"Huh? Oh sure, I mean...what else was I gonna do?
Charlie shrugs, looking forward. "Just saying thank you, that's all." Alistaire tilts his head a bit, trying to figure out what Charlie's getting at. Of course, Charlie doesn't give him much of any help figuring it out, so he's left to wonder as they wander over to the cafeteria.
Yuvan sat in a chair in the corner of Maverick's room, barely conscious. It's been a couple days now, and they've hardly slept at all.
The first night, Alistaire and Charlie brought them some soup from the hospital cafeteria downstairs. They'd waited with him for hours, but eventually opted to crash at Charlie's apartment, which he'd said was nearby. He felt a bit bitter about it, Alistaire having said he'd stick by him until Mav woke up, but they'd be nearby, he supposed. When Yuvan said that he'd still be waiting here until Maverick woke up, Alistaire seemed a bit concerned, but Charlie seemed to get it. He didn't push, he didn't ask many questions. It was something Yuvan always appreciated about the guy.
The next day, Alistaire dropped by again, and by complete coincidence happened to show up around the same time as Vinnie coming by with the other band guys. Except Sal, of course. But it was nice having more people crowded in here a bit, odd as that seems. They'd all get to talking, trading stories. Yuvan talked briefly about the one time they tried touring and how they'd made it as far as Cascadia when everything went fuckways. Having Alistaire there actually meant having someone who hadn't heard all of this shit before, and added another set of insane stories to the circle. Yuvan had heard some of Alistaire's weird schemes in the past, but not hardly in much detail.
Of course having company meant that when company leaves, everything feels that much more empty, and the reason for him being here becomes the only thing on his mind. He cycled through a range of emotions that night, none of them good. He resolved to set that all aside until he knew what would happen with Mav.
Last night, there was a quiet tapping sound that snapped him out of the staring off into the space above Mav's bed that had replaced his sleeping hours. He quickly realized it was coming from the window, and once he turned towards it, he recognized the eerie silhouette that was outside of it, hanging by one hand on the edge of the exterior windowsill. It was Sal.
It took some doing, but between the two of them they managed to get it open without much notice from faculty. Sal still refused to come inside this or any hospital, but he wanted to check in on Yuvan, get any updates. Apparently he'd tried to text him to meet outside, but Yuvan was too out of it to notice. Clearly he was more worried than he let on if he was doing this, but honestly? Yuvan was glad to see him. He hadn't talked to him since the ordeal began. He tried to tell Sal about what happened with Mav's hero friends, wondering if they'd retaliate somehow, but, of course, he already knew.
It was a short visit, even this proximity to the hospital interior was setting Sal off a bit, but it was one he appreciated nonetheless. Once again it was just him, sitting in a chair, barely keeping it together at 5 in the morning. In that respect, he supposed it wasn't all that different to a normal workday. As he sat there, in and out of consciousness, his shadow stood detached from the place it should be under his feet. Instead, it leaned over Maverick on the wall, as if waiting where Yuvan could not.
He was starting to nod off again when he heard a tapping on the doorframe. He shot up, trying to wake back up as well as see who was there.
Through the glass beside the door, there was a tall woman there, looking disheveled and jetlagged, and holding a small flowerpot. She sheepishly ducked into the room, carefully transferring the pot into one arm as she opened the door. From this new angle, Yuvan could tell that rather than the more standard lily or something cheery like that, the pot had a small cactus. Once inside, she jumped a bit as she noticed Yuvan, clearly not expecting him to be here. She continues inside a bit more, speaking as she heads to the side table where a handful of get well messages were left.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone would still be here I'm--" her mouth opened to a syllable of an older, likely more familiar name, as if on autopilot, but she stopped and course-corrected to the appropriate one. "I'm Maverick's sister, Dhia, though you can just call me DJ. It's easier for most people." She sets the cactus pot down on the table as she gives a little shrug. Giving a little sigh, she mutters something that's just barely audible, but Yuvan catches it.
"Never thought we'd be back here again, did you?" She pushes away an emotion he can't quite identify and turns towards him.
"Are you one of their alternative friends?"
The way she says alternative is a bit funny to him, she's clearly trying to ride the line of respectful of Mav's interests, while not really being sure what the deal was. Yuvan laughs a bit. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I'm Yuvan." They reach a hand out to shake hers.
She reacts a second slower than maybe she ought to, catches herself and shakes his hand firmly. "Oh, I remember you. I think we met once during spring break. You didn't have the uh--" she gestures to her chin, "--scruff back then. And your hair was shorter." Her voice was much smoother and a slightly higher register than Maverick's, and her accent was a bit different, but there's certain inflections that they share, certain vocal habits you only get after spending years with someone. The kind of little habits that you can't hardly ever shake because you don't even know they're there. A part of him wonders if he has some too.
"Wow, honestly surprised you recognize me, yeah. You weren't around much when we used to hang out at your folks' place."
"Well, I mean.." she put her hands back into her pockets, leaning against the table somewhat. "They still texted me a lot back when that stuff happened at the high school, when they came out here. And our parents liked you, y'know?"
"Huh." He'd done his best to be respectful the times he'd come over in high school, but he'd never really been sure of the impression he'd made.
"In their own way, anyway. Didn't hurt that you were another Malaysian kid, came from a good family," Yuvan winced a bit at the family comment, "and you looked out for them. Not a lot of people did that." She glanced at Maverick laying on the hospital bed, unconscious. "I know I should've..." Her voice breaks a bit at the end there, she clears her throat.
"Goes both ways, I guess." He says before she can continue. "Mav looks out for everyone in the band. Sure they can be...a bit much, sometimes. But they've always meant well."
"Yeah...yeah, that's true. Well, it's good to see they still have you here, looking after them, yeah?"
"Yeah...well. Someone's gotta do it. It's not like the bastard will do it themself."
She laughs. Compared to Maverick's cackle, it's much more reserved. Granted, compared to Maverick's cackle, that isn't saying much. "Don't I know it!"
She pulls over one of the table chairs to the other side of Maverick. Before they know it, they're trading all sorts of stories back and forth between each other, going all the way back to high school for Yuvan, grade school for DJ. Both of them being as sleep deprived as they were, they'd often lose the thread and wind up on tangents, but it was alright.
Apparently Dhia had been at some sort of conference for her research, and had been in and out of planes for the past couple days at this point, plagued by layovers, weather hazards, delays. But nothing was gonna stop her from making sure Maverick was okay. Yuvan didn't know them before their powers, but had heard bits and pieces of their time in and out of hospitals as a kid, so seeing them like this... He knew it couldn't be easy on her. But now that they were both here, neither one planned on going anywhere until they woke up...or until something else happens.
The last thing Maverick remembered was realizing they'd been made. This guy was important, they were powerful, and they knew they were here.
There was a completely overwhelming amount of information as soon as they'd made the realization. Like seeing a thousand places at once from a million angles, feeling the vibration of every rip and tear between hundreds of tiny legs. Simultaneously, there was a ripping sound from a thousand angles and the animalistic instinct to run. But for as many tiny arachnid legs heeded that instruction, their own limbs failed them. They felt so far away, eclipsed by an immense pain overtaking their body, spreading from the center outwards. They can't speak, can't breathe, their mouth was full, choking on several dozen thoraxes. It was all so much, too much, all at once. Every part of their mind screamed where their voice could not. And then, it all went white.
Ears ringing, they fade back for a moment. They hear a familiar voice yelling. They're moving, but still. Possibly being carried?
The next time they faded back in was on an operating table. The cold, stiff cushioning and blinding lights above were uncomfortably familiar to them, and they knew better than to try to look down. Just then, a mask went onto their face, wielded by the most unsure and frightened doctor they'd ever seen. Then they're out again.
This time, as they fade in they hear familiar voices. The first one they hear is their older sister's voice, and for a moment they wonder if the last several years of their life had simply been a dream of sorts. Like an unsatisfying soap opera ending where everything insane that's happened to them since they "recovered" turns out to have never been real in the first place. Was the current strange reality of their life the fiction of the mind of a dying tween?
It would make things simpler, for sure, but the second recognizable voice threw that theory out the window. Since, of course, without all the spiders and the edge, they wouldn't have met Yuvan to begin with.
Unlike the last couple fade-ins, things weren't fading back away quite as quickly, and they started to get their bearings a bit. They could tell there was no way they'd be able to sit up right away, if at all. So instead, they lay there, fully conscious, listening to the conversation. The two talked at length about their childhoods, Dhia had a monopoly on younger Mav stories, while Yuvan handled the teen years. As the conversation moved on to their current lives, Maverick heard about the conference Dhia had gone to, internally lamenting a bit how much they don't know about the other anymore. They didn't even know when she graduated college.
Maverick had gotten used to being a fly- or spider- on the wall, listening in on people when needed. People get so entranced in their conversations when they don't think you're paying attention. And they'd say things that they'd never say if they knew you were. As the two spoke, Maverick could tell they were worried, but there was a hint of ire, a taste of resentment. They couldn't really blame either of them, this isn't even the first time they've put them both through this. It made them never want to put them through it again.
Maverick didn't want to make a sound to tip them off until they were ready, so they sat there, gathering their strength, listening to the stories their family told about them to keep going.
The two had been trading stories for hours at this point. Most of them were kind of about Maverick, but Yuvan and Dhia had kind of gotten to know more about the other through them as well. Since Maverick had been mostly estranged for years now, neither one knew much about the other.
"--And there was Maverick, completely dropped their guitar on stage, of course, just ran right into the crowd. I hadn't spotted the guy, I thought they were just crowd surfing or something at first, right? But the pit opened up to just them basically rolling around on the ground with this huge dickhead in a Slipknot shirt."
Dhia put her face in her hands, but she was laughing.
"God, of course they did. I should probably take the blame for that shit. I remember back in middle school, I got suspended for ripping another girl's hair out when I heard she was picking on them. Oh, and there's the one I stabbed in the hand with a protractor. Astaghfirullah, it's a miracle I didn't get expelled." She gave a little sigh. "Did they get their ass kicked?"
"Oh definitely. Or they would've, but our bassist, Sal, the big country lookin' guy I told you about, he jumped in after them. He pulled the other guy off Mav, started kicking the prick's ass himself."
"Kicking Maverick's ass?"
"Nonono, the guy in the crowd."
She laughed a bit. "Yeah, that makes more sense."
"Yeah." Yuvan chuckled at the alternative image. "But, yeah. The crowd kinda broke them up, I was still on the mic, yelling at the guy, trying to get people to open a path back to the stage, but some folks in the crowd also pretty much just pulled the guy away from Sal, pushed him out the place altogether."
"Huh. I heard stories about that kinda stuff at concerts before."
"Yeah, me too. Gotta say, it’s a totally different thing watching it happen. I think Sal carried Mav back on stage, pretty much just tucked them under his arm." Yuvan mimed the motion. "Carrying them like a fussy dog."
DJ snort-laughed. "What? Really?!"
"Yeah, he kind of does that a lot though. Hate it when he does it to me but he just thinks it's funny."
"God, I'd pay to see that."
"Hey, now. Watch it."
She laughed some more, and Yuvan was laughing too, despite his objections. They were both maybe laughing a bit harder at this stuff than they ought to be, but the mania of exhaustion was catching up to them a bit.
Just then, though, a quiet scratchy voice stopped both of them in the middle of their laugh track.
"Wow, you both just gonna talk about me like I'm not here? Fuckin' rude."
They both snap their heads towards the bed to see Maverick, conscious, struggling to sit up. Both stand up from their chairs immediately as they see them. DJ scrambles out to the hall, trying to find a nurse to alert them to help Maverick now that they’re conscious. Yuvan immediately went to Maverick's side, trying to adjust their bed so they can be sat up a bit without having them strain themselves by having them sit up on their own.
He was struggling to find the remote that adjusts the hospital bed through the hot tears streaming down his face. Eventually he finds it, though, and helps Maverick to sit up. As soon as he does, he hugs them awkwardly from their position on the bed.
"Ow, ah, hey. Recovering from the brink of death over here." They wince, their voice is hoarse.
Yuvan pulls away, noticing as they do their shadow over Mav's head on the wall. He didn't know if it could worry, too, but it seemed protective, somehow. Yuvan wipes the tears from his face.
"You're lucky I don't kill you myself after scaring us like that again, Mav. Even Sal came by, and you know how he is with hospitals."
Mav sighs a bit, which turns into a sharp cough. Yuvan could tell they were still in a lot of pain.
"That's fair... Hate to say you told me so, but."
"So don't. Just." Yuvan sighs. He could hear DJ out in the hall, aggressively trying to wrangle a nurse over here. "I'm glad you're not dead, Mav."
Yuvan crosses their arms, but the look of relief on their face is clear to Maverick.
They sit there, quiet for a long moment.
"Yeah...yeah, I think I am too."