Hurricane's Oneshots (REQUESTS OPEN!!)

What is Good? (Original Characters)

TW: Injuries, questions of morals, talk of death, talk of killing people

Payton didn't know where to go. He was stumbling through the town and going to the one place he knew exactly what would happen. He knocked on the wooden door. Ace quickly opened the door. It took him a moment to process who it was. Payton had never looked like this before. Payton was shivering, and bloodied. His eyes glazed over like glass. "I didn't know where else I cou-" was all Payton uttered out before collapsing onto Ace. 

Ace carefully lifted Payton. Ace's footsteps echoed off the walls of his home as he walked up stairs to his bedroom. A bedroom dawned with purple velvet drapes, and a soft bed. Ace carefully set Payton under the blankets on the bed. "When I find out who did this I swear there will be blood," Ace mumbled, he leaned back against the wall and sighed. He had so many questions, none of which could be answered at this time. All Ace could do at this time was brood, something he was good at. So he stood there and brooded, and watched Payton. Payton's brown hair wasn't fluffy like it usually was, it was dirty, and had dried blood in it. Along Payton's cheek there was a cut from a knife. A darkened purple circle enshrouded closed eyes that usually were open, and shining, showing care for all people. 

Ace was furious someone had the audacity to touch his hero. Whether this attacker be a hero or a villain, they would be dealing with the wrath of Payton's villain. Ace wanted to remove Payton's blood soaked clothes, and change him into something clean, but Ace didn't want to freak Payton out more. Ace knew things were bad the moment he saw this broken hero on his doorstep instead of the doorstep of their facilities doctor. Payton started to twist and turn in his sleep and Ace nearly jumped, startled by the change. 

Payton awoke with a gasp, shaking again and crying immediately. Ace rushed to Payton's side, "Hey, hey, it's okay. What's wrong?" Payton didn't reply, he was sobbing too hard. Ace carefully gathered the shattered person into his arms and held Payton. Payton tucked his head close to Ace's chest. Ace was softly mumbling comforting phrases and soothing noises. "A bad dream? You don't need to worry about whatever that dream was. You're here with me. Nothing will touch you without dealing with me."

Ace couldn't believe how broken Payton was, and the situation only fueled Ace's rage. Moments later, Payton was no longer gasping for breaths and was now shakily breathing in and out while listening to Ace's heartbeat. "You need a shower. And then you need medical care." 

"Promise you won't do anything while I shower?" Payton mumbled into Ace's purple shirt. 

"I have no rage or any reason to hurt you right now Payton, only the person who did this. You will go shower, I'll bring in some clean clothes for you to put on after your shower," Ace ordered. He left no room for argument in his statement. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I can walk," Payton said softly. 

Ace let go of Payton, "The bathroom is connected to the room, left wall." Payton nodded and went into the bathroom. Ace sat silently until he heard the water turn on, and then Ace stood up and walked over to his dresser in the room. He opened the drawers and looked for something for Payton to wear, at least until Ace figured out what the hell was going on here. Ace looked at his clothing choice, he wasn't sure how the pastel loving hero would feel about all this black and purple but Ace had no other options. Ace grabbed a black short sleeve shirt, and black sweatpants. Something comfortable and loose enough that it'll be easy to check Payton for injuries. 

Ace opened the bathroom door and set the clothes on the edge of the sink for Payton to grab. He grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink and then shut the door. Ace was able to hear Payton freeze up when the door opened. "Even when accepting my help he can't stop fearing me," Ace mumbled to himself as he sat on his bed and looked through the first aid kit, double checking that he will have everything he needs to properly be able to care for Payton. Then it again was back to waiting. Ace hated waiting, he wanted to make things move faster, but he knew Payton needed this time. He knew Payton would need to collect his thoughts before talking to Ace about what happened.

Eventually Payton walked out of the bathroom, Ace's clothes were huge on Payton. Ace never realized how much taller than Payton he really was. "Come sit Payton. I'm not going to hurt you. I swear." Payton walked over and sat across from Ace, soft brown eyes met with darkened purple ones. Ace broke away from the eye contact to look at the cut along Payton's face. "What was it?"

"A knife," Payton said quietly.

"Rust?"

"No."

"Good," Ace said. He grabbed some ointment to help aid with pain and the healing process and carefully applied it to the cut on Payton's face. Ace then taped a cotton patch to Payton's cheek to cover the cut and prevent anything getting in there and infecting the cut. "Are there any other injuries I should worry about?" Payton shook his head no. "Good." Ace smiled gently. 

"Why help me?"

"You needed it."

"I won't be indebted to you. Not to a villain."

"There will be no debt to be paid for this."

"Why not?"

"Because, there won't be." Payton shook his head lightly. He wouldn't believe that a villain could do something so good, so kind, without gaining from it. "What?" Ace asked, "Don't believe me?"

"You're not this good." 

"What is good? The world isn't this black and white idea you believe it to be. The world is grey, Payton. An ugly grey that makes judgement impossible. Sometimes the white to you is black to someone else." 

"It shouldn't be that way!" Payton exclaimed. 

"It should. If it was just either or then the world would be boring. Everyone would agree on everything, yes. That is beautiful sometimes, ugly other times. And no one said what you believe was right. There are valid points to both sides of every argument," Ace explained, "I view your facility as bad, why do you view it as good?"

"It stops people like you from doing wrong," Payton said.

"But it puts people in danger. My acquaintances and I haven't harmed a single person who doesn't deserve it, how many civilians get caught in cross fires between your side and my side? How young is the youngest person working for your facility?"

"Fifteen."

"The youngest on my side is 18, we don't allow children to risk their lives."

"You kill people!"

"And you save them from death. Yes, that's wonderfully good of you. To save someone who has hurt others from death."

"Killing someone isn't proper justice!"

"How many times has the facility killed a villain?"

"You all deserve it."

"Even me?" Ace asked, "Do you think I deserve to die for what I have done?" Payton fell silent. Ace had killed people, lots of people, but he always killed those that he felt deserved it. That was the same thing Payton's bosses did. Ace sighed, "Never mind Payton, you should rest." 

"Why are you a villain then?" Payton asked, so confused about his own life now. 

Ace smiled gently as he moved Payton to lay down, "A story for another day."