Yin and Yang [A Superhero AU] - Book Three

Chapter Seventeen - A Group Reduced to Three

The villains race out and duck behind another building, watching the confrontation and holding their breath.  Dan's fingers clench and unclench, nerves making his heart race.  Phil is right there and he could get hurt.  Dan doesn't think he could ever forgive himself if he stood idly by as something happened to the hero.

"What do you have to gain from this?" one hero demands. From his conversations with Phil, Dan pegs him to be Ken.

"We have a very specific goal in mind," Wade replies.

"We don't have to fight," Felix insists.

The combined form of Arin and Danny cock their head to the side. "Why would we fight you? You aren't our target."

Cry straightens up and leaves the hiding spot, urging the others to follow him. As soon as they emerge, the antiheroes cock their guns, which leads the heroes to turn and look towards them. Phil's eyes meet Dan's and the hero's lip twitches up into the faintest of smiles. Dan tosses a ball of flame to himself, struggling to hide his smile.

"We could do this the easy way or the hard way," Wade says, his eyes hardened. Dan's eyes flick to Ryan, who shifts uncomfortably, and his jaw clenches. "You can either send Cry and Jack with us without a fight, or we can take them by force."

Dan clenches his hands into fists and takes a defensive step forward, but the masked villain's hand on his shoulder stops him.

"This is ridiculous. We will not hand ourselves over," Cry replies, his voice dangerously calm.

Wade narrows his eyes. "Then we'll have to do this the hard way."

One gunshot goes off, followed by another and then another. The heroes leap away and join Marzia, who draws a shield around them. Dan instantly creates a wall of fire between himself and the antiheroes, scanning the streets for Phil as his eyes turn orange and his skin starts to glow red-hot.

A grenade explodes and smoke billows out into the atmosphere, seriously inhibiting Dan's vision. He demolishes his wall and lights his hands, trying to see anything through the smoke. Then, the silhouette of an invisible Cry races past, and Dan's stomach drops into his feet. The heroes start backing away from the fight and Dan takes a few steps towards them, locking eyes with Phil. The water hero mouths 'I'm sorry', bites his bottom lip, and continues to move along with the other heroes.

Dan clenches his fists at his sides, wondering distantly what he could do to get himself captured. As he turns around he comes face to face with Ryan, who punches him before the villain can even react. Dan sprawls to the ground and tries to get up, but the antihero kicks him down again before grabbing the back of his shirt. The bruises that Phil had healed and had finally disappeared completely ache, and Dan has to close his eyes to stop himself from crying out. Instead, he yanks against Ryan's grip and frees himself before spinning around and heating up his fists. Ryan dodges a punch from his burning fist and retaliates by jumping back and raises his hands.

"Freeze."

Dan's entire body locks up and he stops dead in his tracks, the flames in his hands flickering and disappearing. Ryan's eyes harden and he nearly smirks.

"I've been getting better at my freeze vision. I've found it pretty useful."

"Dan!" Stephanie yells. She races forward and Ryan extends his hand to her, stopping her in her tracks as well. Dan's eyes flicker towards her before travelling to Jack, who crouches on the ground and dry-heaves as Wade handcuffs his hands behind his back. The antihero pulls him up easily and holds him there, scanning both groups, and Dan tries to locate his group as well. Cry is backed against the wall by Arin and Danny, who grab him and hold him as he struggles.  Panic is obvious in his every movement, which makes Dan's stomach churn.  The other antiheroes cover the eyes of their captives and head off, and a few seconds after they disappear Dan and Stephanie unfreeze and fall forward.

"Jack! Cry!" Dan yells, stumbling to his feet and taking a few steps in their direction. Stephanie grabs the back of his suit and stops him, earning a look of dismay from the Brit.

"We have to get back. We don't know where their base is and we're putting ourselves in more danger if we try to find them," she insists.

"Steph, Jack is still hurt. We can't... we can't just let them go!"

"I hate it too!" Stephanie grabs his shoulders and makes him look at her despite the tears welling in his eyes. "Dan, come on. Let's get back."

"He's been through Hell and back. Cry can keep himself together for now, but Jack is already breaking. I can't just leave him. I can't, Steph, I can't. I d-don't want to g-go back w-without them..."

"I know, I know, we'll get through this."

Dan scrubs at the tears on his face, his hands shaking. Stephanie takes his wrist and leads him back to the institute, her entire body trembling as well. Dan covers his mouth as he chokes back a sob. Jack is gone again. After being captured by heroes and then tortured by the boss, he gets kidnapped by antiheroes. He could very likely break under the stress that the antiheroes place on him, and Dan can't do anything.

They reach the door of the institute and Dan hesitates, his heart pounding in his ears and the shaking in his hands increasing to a point where he can't grab hold of anything. He pushes back against Stephanie, his breathing strained.

"Dan, breathe. You're okay," she insists, but he shakes his head. He wants Phil. He needs Phil right now, standing beside him and telling him that it's going to be okay. Dan shakes his head and backs against the wall, crying and trembling and tugging at the material of his suit as he slides to the ground. It's too tight. It's too hot. There isn't enough air in the atmosphere and he's suffocating.

Stephanie touches her finger to the earpiece in her ear and says something that Dan isn't listening to before kneeling on the ground in front of him, talking gently to him until Matthew shows up at the door. Dan presses the heels of his hands to his eyes and tries to remember how to breathe as both Matthew and Stephanie kneel with him.

"What do you need, Dan?" Matthew asks gently.

"Ph—" The Brit catches himself and shakes his head. "I just w-wanna go i-inside."

Matthew nods and him and Stephanie help Dan up, leading him to his bedroom. The moment he gets in he thanks them softly and closes the door, tangling his fingers in his hair as he tries to get a hold of himself.

Maybe, if he's feeling well enough after the inevitable beating he's going to receive, he can go to Phil's and put this entire day behind him.