Keep Your Enemies Closer

He Who Wishes to Fight

"He who wishes to fight must first count the cost."

--

Needless to say, Charlie felt like an absolute utter sack of dogshit. And that was not an understatement.

For the past week, he had to welcome Mariana back home and listen to him ramble about his actual job, pretending to support his boyfriend's line of work and act like he didn't already know what injuries he had suffered in battle. Not to mention the fact that because Mariana had so stupidly put his trust in him, and now the big secret was out, little secrets would have no troubles pouring into morning conversations. A quick warning to avoid a certain area because there could be a villain attack became key information that always gave the villain team the upper hand.

It was a sweet thing for Mariana to just let everything fly, because it showed how much he hated keeping the secret before. It was nice to see his partner so relaxed in spite of his body covered in bruises, and Charlie was more than glad that Mariana cared to make sure he was out of any potentially dangerous areas. There was just one problem with it all.

That problem being that he was the danger.

Mariana mentioning the general area of an agency facility he'd be going to would give him a new place to raid, knowing there was fresh intel waiting for him there. Charlie learned and memorized every weak point that Angel would have due to the injuries he then tended to. And, any areas described as potentially dangerous were ones that he could advise his allies to come back to later, when the heroes' guards were down. It was incredibly useful information that helped their cause so much.

It would be even greater if he wasn't exploiting the greatest relationship he'd ever had in order to get it.

"Charlie?"

If Angel had turned out to be anyone else he'd known, maybe he could find a way to stand for it. In that case, he would even be likely to explain to his team where he was getting his information from, rather than leaving them in the dark about finding out a hero's identity. He couldn't bring himself to endanger Mariana, though. No matter what happened, his lips were sealed.

"Uh.. Earth to Charlie...?"

He felt like the world's greatest hypocrite, working so hard to protect Mariana's identity, then knowingly fighting him. He tried to justify it with the fact that he was pulling punches and lessening his effort, but still occupying that spot in the field. He did what he could to be the only one in combat with Angel, sometimes moving him away from danger, leading to uncoordinated attacks that usually performed flawlessly.

"How much do you think we can get away with...? Hey, dumbass, are you really that out of it?"

For example, all he would usually have to do with Predator is keep Angel in place, preferably in a narrow space where the hero would have trouble flying away. Predator could easily sneak up on and tackle the enemy, dealing a heavy blow before being overtaken. When they tried to execute it this time, though, he panicked and shoved Angel out of the way, almost resulting in him being hit in Angel's stead. The fuckup seemed to confuse Predator for the rest of the fight.

"Fucking hell, he's not sleeping, is he?"

But it wasn't like he could just stand by and watch Angel get hurt again, not when he knew who was behind that mask.

"I doubt he can sleep with his eyes open."

So what was he supposed to do?

"Oh my god, Baghera--"

A sudden wave of cold hit Charlie's head, making him recoil. He jumped back and looked up to see Baghera, nonchalantly holding an upside-down red solo cup.