Broken Masks

Chapter 28 - The Past Catches Up

(A/N: Hi humans I have an Instagram. @therealsamgates . Thanks!)

TJ arrive at the prison an hour later. The security had been tripled, and the guards were in a frenzy. Apparently 17 solitary confinement prisoners had escaped in the explosion, but the police were rounding them up fine without the help of The Red Hawk.

TJ skidded up to the front desk, his trainers skidding on the concrete floor as he stumbled.

"Toby Brown to see Machiavellian?" He spluttered. The woman behind the desk looked up, nodded before returning to the phone call.

Taking her nod as permission to enter the prison, TJ pulled his hood over his head, kicked off the ground, and flew into the air, leaving a bewildered secretary watching after him, phone still up to her ear.

TJ sped through the prison, prisoners shouting abuse at him as he went, but he didn't care. What really mattered was that Klaus was involved in an explosion.

TJ hated himself for not hating Klaus. Klaus was Machiavellian for god sake, yet he still loved him. Why couldn't he hate him like every other superhero hated their villain?

Arriving at the solitary confinement cells, TJ landed, stumbling in his haste to see Klaus. Officers crowded the corridor, guns in hand and expressions stony. Closest to TJ, his arms crossed over his bulletproof vest, was Carlson. His once neat hair was a mess from tugging, and there was a bruise under his right eye. He turned and say TJ.

"Mr Brown! What are you doing here!" TJ scanned the crowd.

"Can I get through? I need to see him." He spluttered. Carlson understood immediately.

"O-Of course! He's in a different cell though, his original one took most of the blast..." Carlson explained. TJ's breath hitched.

"Just... fill me in on the way to the new cell." He stuttered. Carlson nodded once before yelling over the crowd of prison officers.

"ALRIGHT GUYS, GET OUT THE WAY! RED HAWK COMING THROUGH!"

At the words 'Red Hawk', the crowd of officers parted like the Red Sea, murmurs of his name and watching him. TJ walked through the gap down the corridor, his eyes on the floor and his hands in his pockets, Carlson following behind him till TJ stopped at Klaus's original cell.

Or at least what was left of it.

The open cell door swung precariously on a single hinge, the flap in the middle laying on the floor beneath it. Chunks of concrete had been smashed out the wall and lay scattered down the corridor under a coat of dust. The cell itself was in chaos. The bed was on its side on the opposite side of the room, the pillow's feathers coating the floor like snow, and the sink was simply rubble. The draws were smashed, their little contents scattered among the feathers.

But what was truly terrifying, was the gap in the wall.

It was like nothing had been there in the first place.

Carlson tugged lightly on TJ's arm, gesturing with a swing of his head that they should keep walking down the corridor.

"Why didn't he go?" TJ asked. Carlson looked confused.

"Pardon?"

TJ shrugged, still looking into the cell.

"He could easily have gone. Klaus, I mean. The entire wall caved in like this, security gone haywire, nothing was stopping him. Yet he stayed..." TJ's voice trailed off. Carlson shrugged as well.

"He probably just didn't want to. Now come on."

TJ reluctantly followed Carlson further down the corridor to Klaus's new cell. Stopping at the door, Carlson didn't bother with handcuffs and unlocked the door immediately, letting TJ walk in.

Klaus sat on a bed identical to the old cell's. His face was covered in scratches, a dark purple bruise covered the left side of his face, and his arm was in a cast.

"Klaus... are you ok?"

Klaus looked up at TJ, his eyes full of nothing but pure terror.

"She's here. She found me."

(A/N: Wow my social anxiety is making me want to smoke 40 cigarettes at once. Anyway how are you?)