Villainous

Broken Pieces

[FINN]

"I can't believe he would do that."

Sage floats beside me as we look over the outskirts of Vertigo City. After everything had went down Mack had called the Detective and told her everything, but when the Detective's forces reached the apartment Mack was gone and no one's seen her in the last twenty-four hours. The Detective asked me if I could watch over the city. Sage wanted to tag along so I've been filling her in.

"Neither can I," I answer, "Levi and I didn't always get along but I never thought he'd do anything to hurt Mack."

I scan over the city streets but there's nothing out of the ordinary. It's quiet, too quiet. Where are Pollux and Levi and the rest of the Olympians? I don't even know what I would do if I did see Levi. 

"I should have been there," I say, more to myself than to Sage, "I could have done something. I would have done something to stop him."

Sage flies closer so that she's right in front of me and her eyes meet mine. Her dark hair whips across her face in the wind and for a split second I almost think it's Mack. "You can't think like that Finn. It's not your fault."

I know that but I can't help but feel bad. I'm supposed to be a hero, the Hero, and I can't even make a difference when it really matters.

Sage hovers farther away until she's just a silhouette against the grey skies, "You're a superhero. You'll save the day in the end, right?"

Why am I a hero? Because I put on a fancy costume and fly through the sky? I don't exactly have the best track record in the heroics department. It's sort of hard to bounce back after you blow an entire place up.

Sage looks so eager though. She kind of reminds me of Mack, back when I first met her and we were being Team Hero for the first time. I don't want to let her down so instead I say, "Yah, that's what us heroes do."

I hear a faint noise just off the horizon and Sage must hear it too because her head perks that way. Sure enough, only a few seconds later Circe and Atlas fly into view. The Detective and I had recruited them into going on patrol too.

"We didn't pick up anything," Atlas tells us, "But I'm not letting my guard down yet. I worked with Pollux long enough to know never to underestimate him."

"Plus he has Levi on his team," I add, "You can't underestimate him either."

"Screw Levi," Circe frowns at his name, "But also like, screw Levi. Am I right?" Circe grins before noticing our grim faces, "Ok not the time. Got it."

So nothing on their side of town either. Is this just the calm before the storm? I feel like we should do something, anything, but I was never good at making plans. That was always Mack's job.

"It's getting late. I'm going to go check on Cammie but let me know if you hear anything," Atlas informs us. The guy has actually been pretty cool about helping out with Team Hero stuff. I can't really hate him anymore for trying to kidnap Mack, he was just under mind control like Levi and me and so far he's handled it the best. He's a good guy.

Atlas salutes us before bursting off at the speed of light. I watch him leave and debate heading back home to the hideout myself.

"Have you heard anything from Mack?" Circe asks me as she floats horizontally in the sky as if she were reclining on a couch. 

"No and neither have Cammie or Mike," I say grimly. I'm worried about her. Just disappearing like this isn't like Mack but I'm trying to give her space. 

"Well have you tried to find her?" Sage asks.

"I don't think she wants to be found."

Which is true. Mack's pretty tough. Even through all the bad thing's thats happened to her she's always been able to pull herself together and figure out how to overcome it. But this might be too much for even her to handle.

"So? Go find her anyway," Circe says, hands on her hips.

"You're one of her best friends, right? If anyone knew where she was it'd be you," Sage adds.

They're right. I know they're right. As much as Mack deserves time to grieve we need her and maybe right now she needs me.

Who'd of thought I'd start taking life advice from Circe?

I'm going to go get Mack and something tells me I know just where to find her.

...

It's been a long time since I flew up to Mack's bedroom window, well this bedroom window at least. It's her old place before she moved. I gently slide the glass aside and step into her old bedroom. The place is empty, no furniture or anything, I guess no one new had moved in yet.

"Mack?" I call out. There's no answer but I can hear a heartbeat coming from one of the other rooms. I follow the noise until I reach what used to be her father's office.

"You shouldn't have come here."

Mack's inside but it doesn't look much like Mack. She's wearing sweatpants and her hair in a bun. Her whole demeanor is off, she's pretty much huddled in the corner and barely looks up when I walk in. She looks defeated.

"I needed to make sure you were ok," I tell her, taking a hesitant step closer.

She finally looks up and meets my eyes. There are tears running down her cheeks and her whole face is red and puffy. "I'm not."

I rush over and Mack collapses into my shoulder as breaks out into sobs. "He's dead Finn. My dad is dead and Levi could have stopped it."

I'm not really sure what to do or what to say.  So I just put my arms around her shoulder and let her cry.

"Why don't you hate me?" she ask quietly, "I'm the Prime. How do you know I'm not just controlling you?"

Is that what Levi told her?

"I could never hate you Mack," I tell her honestly, "I don't care what you are. You're my friend and my partner and that's all I need." 

"How do you know that?" she grits through her teeth, "How do you know you don't only like me because I'm the Prime?"

Honestly, I hadn't even thought of it like that. I know Mack is the Prime and I know what that means, that somehow my brain is wired to like her and trust her and want to follow her orders, but that never was an issue for me. I've been through so much with Mack that I know the way I feel for her is real. 

"I've loved you ever since I saw you go back for the little girl when the monsters first attacked and nothing is going to change that," I tell her.

Mack is quiet for a long time until she finally stands up and walks towards the living room. "This was just the beginning. Hudson still has his labs cloning more Supers every day. Now Pollux and Levi have their own agendas too. I can't let them win Finn."

I walk closer and watch as Mack looks out through the giant living room windows and out onto Vertigo City.

She continues, "My dad was right. Supers are too dangerous. I've seen what they can do and we can't let Hudson build his army. My dad wanted to fix things and now I'm going to finish the job."

She wipes her tears away with her sleeves as she stands with all of the city behind her.

"What are you planning to do?" I ask.

When she turns to look at me she's practically glowing in the moonlight. She's looks like her old self again. Mack is back.

 "I'm going to take one out of your playbook Finn. We're going to go back to General Hudson's headquarters and we're going to blow the place up."