United [A Superhero AU] - Book Two

Chapter Forty-Four - Reconciliation

Mark follows Red down the hall, stopping only when she spins on her heel to face him, her eyes blazing and her fists clenched tightly at her side. Mark does his best to remain calm because he knows how much Jack hates it when he yells, but it's hard. Her abrasiveness towards Jack, his Jack, makes him want to punch her.

"Red, this needs to stop. I don't understand why you keep lashing out," Mark says, his voice strained to stay steady.

"He's a VILLAIN. He was MUTATED to have powers, he was trained to kill, and now we're accepting him like he's never done anything wrong! I don't understand it!" Red exclaims. "I hate him!"

"We know that he's done bad things, but he was forced. He's had a really hard time over the course of his life, and you freaking out at him doesn't help anything," Mark retorts. "And you aren't allowed to hate him. You've never given him a chance."

Red takes a step towards Mark and the hero stands his ground, meeting the eyes of the infuriated rebel with a fiery glare. She lifts her hand, clenching and unclenching her fist before she's finally able to speak through the bubble of anger clogging her throat.

"My dad was a government officer. He never spoke a lot about his work, but he came home every night and left every morning to go to his job," Red says, shaking with the effort of not yelling.

Mark frowns slightly. "Wha—"

"Stage three. The villains blew up the government buildings and murdered my father in the process. That villain out there is the reason my dad is dead!"

"Red..."

"I never even got to say goodbye and now everyone is telling me to be quiet and stop being so mean when I literally have to sit next to my father's killer!" Red yells, her eyes burning with unshed tears.

Mark stares, opening and closing his mouth a few times before finally finding his words.  He feels his anger draining away as he takes a deep breath.  "I'm sorry, I really am, but we need him. I need him. I doubt he even knows that he affected you like that."

"Sorry won't bring my dad back."

"I know it won't, but you have to try and think more positively. Is your mom still living in San Francisco?"

Red nods a little and crosses her arms over her chest. Mark exhales.

"Okay, that's good. You can still see her whenever you want. Some of us have been completely cut off from our parents by this wall and the altered communication systems. Jack was forcibly taken away from his parents and he hasn't seen them in sixteen years now." The hero takes another deep breath. "You have to stop taking your anger out on him. You can dislike him all you want and you don't have to be friends with him, but you have to leave him be, okay?"

Red wipes her eyes and huffs, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and letting her head hang. "I'll try, okay? It's not going to be easy."

"Nobody said it would be."

A moment of silence passes before the girl finally speaks again. "I think I just want to be alone right now."

"Okay," Mark replies. He places his hand gently on her shoulder. "I think we have a bit more understanding of each other now, so that's good, right? Go have some alone time. I'm gonna go back to the meeting."

Red nods and Mark turns, heading back down the hallway towards the meeting. Both Jack and Phil are gone and the others look dumbfounded, leading Mark's heart to start pounding.

"Where's Jack?" he asks, shoving his rising nerves down. How bad is his panic? Is Phil succeeding in keeping him calm?  How long have they been gone?

"They went to Phil's room because it's farthest from where you and Red were," Matthias replies.

Mark turns on his heel and moves to Phil's bedroom, pushing open the door without so much as a knock and breathing a sigh of relief when Jack isn't sobbing or freaking out, just sitting on the floor beside Phil with his face buried in his knees. The Brit looks up at Mark and exhales a sigh of relief, standing so the American can sit beside him.

"Thank you," he whispers.

"No problem," Phil replies. He smiles weakly. "I think he trusts me."

"Hey, at least there's someone other than me and the other villains he trusts."

The Brit nods, rubbing the back of his neck as he slowly exits the room. Mark settles beside Jack and pulls him against his chest, feeling the villain's shaky breath against his skin.

"It's going to be better around here from now on," Mark says, combing his fingers through Jack's short brown hair before trailing them into the green. "I talked to Red. She's going to try to stop lashing out at you."

"What did I do?" Jack asks softly, lifting his head in order to meet Mark's eyes. "You can tell me."

"Yeah... No secrets, right?" Mark takes a deep breath and holds the villain a little tighter. "Her dad was a government worker who died when the buildings got destroyed."

Jack inhales sharply. "Oh God. I didn't... I had no idea... I'm so sorry..."

Mark shakes his head lightly and pulls Jack into his lap, letting the Irishman bury his face in the crook of his neck. The hero traces his fingers up and down Jack's spine and presses a kiss to his shoulder. "She's going to try to stop taking her anger out on you, and maybe—"

"I could apologize. I need to apologize because nobody deserves that," Jack says, finishing his sentence.

"Yeah. She's just having some alone time right now."

"Okay." Jack looks up at him with watery blue eyes and presses a gentle kiss to his lips before cuddling closer against Mark's chest. The hero wraps his arms around him, his warmth comforting. "Thank you for being here."

Mark smiles and presses a kiss to his fluffy hair. "I'm always here for you, my little prince."