United [A Superhero AU] - Book Two

Chapter Thirty-Seven - Plan of Attack

"Cause the rebels are here and you aren't in a complete panic."

"Oh."

"Little victories, Jack." Mark grins and kisses his neck again. "Little victories."

"Aww, thanks Mark," the villain replies, turning around and wrapping his arms around his neck. His face falls a bit. "We have to go to the meeting."

The hero sighs heavily. "I know. It'll be okay, though."

Jack nods and presses a quick kiss to his lips before letting his hands fall to his side, and Mark keeps one hand on the small of his back as they move to the dining room.  Before long, the meeting commences.  Red glares daggers at Jack, but looks away every time Mark sends her a warning glance.

"Thank you all for being here. Our plans are nearly complete, and as soon as they are we can start moving forward. In order to take back San Francisco, we need to get rid of the police force or get them on our side, make sure there aren't any NAI supporters that could get in our way, and then get into the institute undetected. Then it comes down to fighting the villains and either taking them into custody or disposing of them," Matthias explains. He glances briefly at a very tense Jack and Red immediately scowls.

"Well, our plans are pretty useless if a villain knows about them, aren't they?"

"Jack is cool! I think it's awesome that he's our ally," Hudson replies, grinning at the villain.

Felix takes a deep breath and locks his eyes on the girl. "As much as you may hate it, Red, he's with us. He helped us get the floor plans and he has more insight on the NAI than any of us could ever dream of getting. He's also with Mark, so he's here to stay."

Jack's mouth falls open slightly. The Swede looks over at him, respect rather than hatred showing in his blue eyes. The villain isn't sure whether he's more shellshocked from everyone fighting over him or Felix standing up for him. Matthias clears his throat as Mark reaches out and squeezes Jack's hand under the table.

"Let's stay on task, okay?" Matthias asks, his eyes flitting from hero to rebel to villain. "How are we getting rid of the police force?"

"Most of the police officers are stationed in other places around San Francisco," Jack says. "Since this area is so concentrated with villains and heroes, they aren't needed here. We shouldn't worry about them."

"Okay, so what do we do about the NAI supporters?" Matthias asks. "If we don't have police officers to deal with them, how do we fight them and the villains without risking a lot of casualties?"

Gunner taps his chin with a pen, leaning back in his chair. "Well, none of us rebels are strong enough to fight villains, so if the heroes go into the NAI building to fight them, we'll stay outside and fight the NAI supporters."

"That could work, but are the anti-heroes going to make a resurgence at some point? They've been relatively silent, but I don't want to count on that staying the same," Phil points out.

"We could try to ally with them, but I doubt they would agree to it. We just have to trust that they won't pick a fight with the heroes and will stay out of our business," Matthias says with a long exhale. "What else?"

"Cry has an advisor named Mr. Vincent that the boss hired for him before he died. He's not strong enough to stand up to a bunch of heroes, but he has this way of getting under Cry's skin that might make Cry resist us," Jack says. "He's in the institute most days, but I can find out which days he takes off.  Then we should pick one of those times so there's less resistance on Cry's end."

"There will ALWAYS be resistance on his end," Red mutters.

Lili bites her lip. "I don't think so, Red. I've met Cry and he's actually really nice."

"Why is everyone ganging up against me?! We aren't here to team up with the villains, we're here to get rid of them and free San Francisco!" Red exclaims, banging her fist on the table.

Jack watches her, feeling his hands start to tremble at his side. Mark glances over, squeezing his fingers to help the villain stay grounded and fight the panic that rises in his heart.

"But if we don't fight them, we risk very few casualties and in the end, it's a more peaceful alternative," Hudson says, crossing his arms. His brown eyes flit to the Irishman briefly before returning to the rebel leader. "We can free San Fran without any bloodshed."

Red shoves her chair away from the table and stands up, her hands balled into fists at her side. She stares at Jack with a kind of fire that makes the villain shrink away. "I don't want peace. The villains don't deserve it."

Clenching her jaw, she turns and storms from the room. Jack sends a silent plea to Mark, his heart starting to pound in his ears. He needs to leave. He needs to breathe air that isn't suffocated with hatred. His stomach churns and he hunches forward a little in his chair, his entire body starting to shake.

"Matthias, can we take a ten minute break, please?" Mark asks, his hand on Jack's knee beneath the table.

"Definitely. Everyone can take a break," Matthias replies, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses. "Be back here in ten minutes."

Gunner sighs heavily and stands. "I'll go talk to Red."

Mark exhales heavily and pushes his chair back, holding Jack close as they move down the hall to their room. The moment they step into their room and close the door, Jack is wrapping his arms around Mark and sinking to the floor. Every inhale is a gasp and his exhales are too short, leading the hero to rub circles into his back and hold him close.

"Breathe with me, okay? We're safe. Nobody is going to hurt you," he murmurs.

Jack exhales shakily and buries his face in Mark's neck. "She's r-right."

"What?" The hero frowns and looks down at him. "Jack, what are you talking about?"

Jack takes a deep breath, his words more stable now despite the constant tremble in his muscles. "We don't deserve peace. We've killed people who don't deserve it, so why should we get a happy ending?" His fingers find the bullet scar on Mark's stomach and the American flinches, causing tears to start welling in Jack's eyes. "You're the only one who's survived... against... m-me..."

"God, Jack," Mark whispers, holding him tighter as the villain starts to sob. "Jack, you've been through Hell and back and you aren't even thirty yet. You deserve to be happy." He catches Jack's hand and holds it over the scar on his stomach, making the Irishman's breath hitch. "You've never hurt anyone because you wanted to.  Remember that."

Jack falls silent, wiping his eyes and letting his head fall against Mark's chest. The hero kisses the top of his head, his thumb making little circles on the small of the villain's back.

"Should we go back to the meeting now?" he murmurs. "Are you ready?"

Jack nods, taking another deep breath as he scrubs the last of his tears from his cheeks. "Yeah.  Let's go." 

A/N: This chapter took ages to come out.  Sorry.  It's been a bit crazy over here and my writer's block didn't help anything.  I'll try harder!