United [A Superhero AU] - Book Two

Chapter Thirty-Six - International Arrivals

Cry spins himself in circles in his father's office chair, staring at the ceiling as he allows himself to get lost in thought. Jack is gone. Matthew is still healing. Lili hasn't been available to visit, but Cry doesn't know why she would want to visit anyway. The institute is so lonely, and for the first time in his life he hates it.  More than anything, Cry wants someone to talk to.

His thoughts are interrupted when Mr. Vincent knocks lightly on the door of the office before stepping inside. Cry glances over briefly as the man clears his throat and grins. His salt and pepper hair is slicked back as always and his dark eyes seem to bore into Cry, sending a shudder down the villain's spine.

"Sir, I have just returned from around the continent," he states. "I would like you to come observe the specimens I've collected."

Cry's stomach goes cold as his signature scrawled over Mr. Vincent's documents flashes in his mind's eye. "Oh."

"Come along, sir," Mr. Vincent replies.  When Cry doesn't move, the man exhales.  "Remember that you promised your father this."

Cry grimaces beneath his mask, but the advisor doesn't see that. "Let me see them."

He follows Mr. Vincent down the hallway to where a group of children, only about ten years old, stand. They watch Cry with big, fearful eyes, fiddling with their hands as they shift their weight from foot to foot. The masked villain's stomach churns.

"Damien, where are these children from?"

"Mostly from the North, although there's one child from Texas and two from Mexico. The others are from Michigan, Illinois, New York, Maine, Ontario, Québec, and Nova Scotia," Mr. Vincent replies. "Believe me, getting the kids across the border was a nightmare."

Cry scowls. "I can imagine."

"Shall I take them to their rooms now, sir?"

"No, I would like to speak to these children in private first," he says, attempting to hide all emotion from his voice. "Make yourself busy."

"Of course, sir." With that, the advisor grins that same malicious grin and heads off down the hall.

As soon as he's gone, Cry kneels down in front of the kids. In total there are ten of them, and the masked villain knows from experience that not all of them will probably make it through experimentation. The nauseous feeling enters his stomach again, and for once in his life he's glad it doesn't show on his face.

"Hey, did that man promise you superpowers if you came with him?" Cry asks, glancing from child to child.

"Yeah, he told us we would be like Superwoman," one of the Mexican girls says in perfect English, clenching her hands behind her back. "Is he going to give us powers?"

Cry purses his lips before sighing. "Follow me and I'll explain everything."

The masked villain leads the children to his office, ushering them inside and settling them down. Some take small spots on the floor while others take the chairs, speaking softly to one another or staying silent.

"Are you guys hungry?" Cry asks, earning their attention once again. When all of them nod, he grimaces again. "Alright, let's fix that."

He picks up the phone and dials Matthew's number from memory. The phone only rings once before the villain picks up, and Cry has to hold back the panic in his voice.

"Hello?"

"Matthew, it's Cry. Mr. Vincent just showed up with a whole bunch of kids. I need you to bring food from the kitchen and come up here while I call a Greyhound."

"Oh God... What are you planning on doing, Cry?"

"I'm feeding these kids and sending them home, okay? I'm not putting them through what we went through and they aren't going to stay in a city as dangerous as San Francisco."

"Okay. See you in a minute."

The phone clicks off and Cry quickly dials another number, calling for two in-city Greyhounds to arrive at the institute. With that done, he hangs up the phone and settles on the floor by the children.

"What is happen?" a little boy asks in broken English. From his accent and pale complexion, Cry guesses that this is the kid from Québec.

"I'm sending you all home," Cry replies. He hesitates before taking a deep breath and speaking again. "I'm going to tell you a story that will explain why. When I was your age, my father decided to mutate me to give me my powers. It was painful and miserable and it made me an outcast. Matthew, one of the other villains, was mutated by his father, who was the lead scientist for these experiments. More villains were mutated and they became outcasts too." He doesn't stop speaking even as Matthew enters quietly, hands out granola bars, and settles slowly on the floor beside Cry. "The experiments were very dangerous, and a lot of the kids who were brought from around North America didn't survive the mutations. It has led to a dangerous lifetime with a lot of heartbreak and sadness, and I want you all to go back to your families and lead a happy, healthy life away from here."

The children watch him, all of them staying in quiet awe. Finally, the girl from Texas cocks her head to the side. "Why do y'all call yourself villains?"

Cry shrugs lightly. "Heroes are born with powers, so many people believe they were born to save the world. We were mutated to destroy it."

"But you aren't destroying the world right now. You're saving us," the boy from Ontario pipes up, earning a nod from the other kids. "Isn't that a good thing? Shouldn't you be heroes too?"

Cry and Matthew share a side-glance before looking back at the kids. Matthew opens and closes his mouth a few times before finally shaking his head.

"With the city still in its current state, we can't be considered heroes."

"I think you should fix the city and become heroes," the boy from New York says, crossing his arms and grinning. The girl from Michigan rolls her eyes, but still nods in agreement with the others.

"We'll try. Now, you guys wait here while I talk to Matthew in the hall for a second," Cry says, getting to his feet and pulling the other villain behind him. Once they're outside the door, Matthew smiles. His side is still completely bandaged, but at least he's moving around and isn't in pain all the time.

"You're good with kids. I honestly didn't expect that from you," he says.

"Oh, shut up," Cry grumbles, crossing his arms.  His next exhale is shaky and he slowly lowers his arms, eliciting a concerned frown from Matthew.

"Cry, hey, focus," he says, placing his hands gently on his upper arms and catching the masked villain's unseen gaze. "You're doing the right thing. You don't need your father's approval."

"B-but... my whole life, that's what I thought I wanted, and now I'm going against that, and I'm scared—"

"You don't have to be scared, Cry. You can be your own person. Like those kids said, you can be a hero if you want to be."

Cry nods before letting his head hang, tears burning at the corners of his grey eyes, and Matthew watches him for a moment before pulling him into a hug. Cry hugs back instantly, exhaling shakily.

"The Greyhound will be here soon. Let's get those kids properly equipped for the long ride home," Matthew says, his voice a mere whisper against the masked villain's shoulder.

Thirty minutes later, Matthew and Cry are helping the kids onto the two available Greyhound busses with backpacks, snacks, money for food, as well as spare pillows and blankets that the villains were able to spare. The two Mexican kids and the Texan girl get on one bus, while all the Northern-bound kids get on the other. The Nova Scotian girl gives Cry a hug before boarding the bus and the boy from Maine shakes both his hand and Matthew's with a grin on his face. Cry hands each bus driver a note to help with border crossing and rejoins Matthew on the sidewalk, watching the two busses drive away.

"We're going to have to fill Jack in on what just happened," Matthew says, glancing up at Cry.

The masked villain laughs weakly and tries to ignore the tears that so badly want to fall. "Yeah."