Vain 1.3

​Gallant felt wary as he stared at the closed doors of the bank. The glass had been rendered opaque by a cloud of darkness roiling against it. Grue’s work, no doubt.

​Movement beside him had him looking to his left. Dennis didn’t quite fill out Carlos’s uniform, but hopefully from afar, the villains would mistake them for each other.

​Gallant still wasn’t sure about the plan; putting a squishy in a Brute’s costume was just asking for trouble. But he wasn’t team leader and Clock had agreed so…

​“Since when do the Undersiders rob banks?” Clockblocker asked, tugging at the neckline of his borrowed outfit.

​“Since they got a new member, apparently,” Aegis replied. “Panacea reported five capes. That’s one more than they usually run with.”

​Gallant shifted his weight, the tension in his muscles refusing to ease. His power saw through the door, to the yellowish-green tinge of fear emanating from inside. There were at least a dozen people in there, trapped and afraid.

​“This isn’t the Undersiders’ style,” Vista muttered to his left, and he nodded.

​“Since when do they follow a playbook?” Clockblocker muttered, still adjusting to the fit of Aegis’s borrowed costume. “They’re villains. They do villain things.”

​“They’re smart about it,” Aegis said, his eyes fixed on the bank’s opaque doors. “That’s the point. They hit places with minimal security, minimal risk. A bank in the middle of the day, in the heart of downtown is kind of the opposite of their MO.”

​“Maybe they’re getting ambitious,” Clockblocker offered.

​“Or desperate,” Vista suggested. “Or stupid.”

​Gallant didn’t respond. He was too focused on the emotional signatures bleeding through the walls. Fear was the dominant color, but there were others—anxiety, anger, a few threads of desperate hope. Hostages, then. Dozens of them. The Undersiders didn’t do hostages.

​Something was wrong.

​His communicator crackled, and Glory Girl’s voice came through, tense and eager. “In position. Waiting on your signal.”

​Aegis raised a hand to his ear. “Copy that. We’re moving in thirty seconds. Don’t engage the capes directly unless you have to.”

​“Unless they make us,” Clockblocker muttered, earning a nod from Kid Win.

​Gallant tuned out the chatter, focusing on the bank. The darkness inside was Grue’s power, obviously. That meant the villain was inside, which meant the others were too. Tattletale, Regent, Bitch, and their new addition.

​Who are you? he wondered.

​The plan was solid. Vista would warp space to get them inside fast, bypassing whatever traps the Undersiders had set at the entrance. Clockblocker—dressed as Aegis to draw attention—would provide cover while the real Aegis flanked from above. Glory Girl would crash through the back, creating chaos and splitting the villains’ attention.

​It should work. It was a good plan.

​But Gallant couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

​“Ten seconds,” Aegis announced.

​Gallant tensed, ready to move. Beside him, Clockblocker had stopped fidgeting, his posture settling into a ready stance beneath the borrowed costume.

​“Five.”

​The bank doors suddenly opened.

​Gallant blinked, his train of thought derailing. The darkness inside the bank spilled out onto the street. A girl stepped through, completely alone as she strode out to face the gathered Wards.

​Gallant took her in. Her frame was thin, almost gaunt, and she was dressed in civvies—a ratty hoodie and worn jeans that looked like they’d seen better days. Her hair hung limp around her face, curly and dark, and the only thing obscuring her identity aside from the face mask around her mouth and nose.

​Gallant reached out with his power, instinctively searching for her emotional state. It was habit at this point, a way to gauge threat levels and predict behavior. He expected fear or anger or even the giddiness of an adrenaline junkie getting their high.

​Instead, he found… nothing.

​It wasn’t that she was suppressing her emotions; he had come across enough people with training in suppressing fear to suss it out by now.  It was that there was simply nothing there to find. There was no fear or anger, or joy, no nervousness or determination or even the low-level background noise of existence that every human being carried with them. It was like he was staring at an animated mannequin.

​“I’m not feeling anything,” he warned. “Possible Master projection. Be careful.”

​The girl didn’t seem to hear him. She just stood there, her hands at her sides, her posture loose and unthreatening, before she slowly reached down into her pocket.

​“Stop!” Aegis shouted, his voice muffled by the unfamiliar helmet. “Hands where we can see them!”

​The girl paused, then withdrew her hand, now gripping something. ​Gallant froze.

​It was a mask, but unlike any mask he’d ever seen before. It looked like it was made of glass or even air, swirling with blues and purples so deep that they seemed to pull at his gaze, which only made it hurt even more.

​Staring at the mask was like staring at the sun, a single point of intensity so powerful that it blinded him, and yet he still couldn’t look away. That sixth sense in the back of his head screamed at him and his knees buckled.

​How can so much sadness exist?

​Sadness. The word felt too small, too simple. He’d felt grief in all shades in his years as a Ward, but they were incomparable to what he saw now it was something so vast that comparing it to the ocean was like comparing a firefly to the sun. And it had all been compressed into that single point in the girl’s hand.

​His vision blurred. His teammates’ voices buzzed in his ear, tinny and distant, but he couldn’t make out the words. All he could hear was the roaring in his own skull, the overwhelming presence of emotion that threatened to drown him.

~~~

​Taylor watched Gallant collapse with a blank expression. His teammates reacted with alarm, rushing to his side, but Taylor just stood there, her empty eyes tracking the movement without investment.

​She could feel the mask pulsing in her hand, cold against her fingers. It was hungry, eager, practically vibrating with the need to be worn. Anguish. That was what she called it—the culmination of every regret, every moment of sorrow, every tear shed in the darkness of her room when no one was around to hear.

Gallant could feel that, she realized. She remembered that was part of his power—feeling other people’s emotions. He could see Anguish for what it was, just like she could.

​No wonder he collapsed. He’d reached out with his power and touched the void where her emotions should have been, and then he’d looked at the mask and felt the entirety of what she’d shoved inside it.

​An inkling of something stirred in Taylor’s chest, and it took her a moment to put a name to it. Pity. 

The emotion flickered, and then the mask in her hand pulsed and it was gone, sucked away into the swirling depths of blue and purple like a drop of water falling into the ocean.

​“Ma’am,” one of the Wards said. He was dressed as Aegis, but he looked off. He didn’t fill the costume like she should have, and his voice was pitched slightly. “Please, put the object down and step away from the bank.”

​Taylor’s earpiece crackled, and Lisa’s voice came through. “Taylor, are you sure about this? You don’t have to do it alone. We can—”

​“It’s better if I do,” Taylor said, glancing down at the mask in her hand. “Don’t come out until I’m done.”

​It would hurt. It always hurt, wearing them. The emotions had been carved out of her psyche and given form, and putting them back on was like pressing a hot iron against an open wound.

​But Taylor would still do it. Otherwise, her new friends would be arrested or hurt and she would be alone again.

​Taylor drew a slow breath, her gaze dropping to the mask.

​The glass-like surface seemed to swirl faster as she brought it toward her face, the blues and purples churning in a way that should have been beautiful but it wasn’t. It was akin to watching a storm through a window, knowing that the moment you stepped outside, it would tear you apart.

​“Last warning!” Fake Aegis called out.

​Taylor pressed the mask to her face.

~~~

​Glory Girl crouched on the roof of the bank, her blonde hair streaming behind her in the wind, and stared down at the scene below with a furrowed brow.

​What the hell was happening?

​First, this girl in the ratty hoodie just walked out of the bank in an active hostage situation, completely alone. Then she stood there staring down the Wards like she was waiting for a bus. Then Gallant, her boyfriend, had just fucking collapsed the moment she pulled something out of her pocket.

​The moment the girl touched the mask to her face, the world seemed to hiccup. One moment, a teenage girl had been standing on the steps to the bank, then this… thing, had appeared in her place.

​The creature was rail-thin with proportions that made it look like it was out of a body-horror movie. It had arms too long, legs bent at angles that shouldn’t be possible, a torso that seemed to stretch and contract with each ragged breath.

​It was made entirely of swirling shadow, all except for its mask which was currently obscured by long-fingered hands, pressed against its face like someone trying to hold back a scream.

​Mist began pouring out of its body, cascading down toward the street like dry ice dumped into a pool. It spread rapidly, washing across the pavement at ankle level and quickly passing the Wards who flinched as it touched them, only to relax as it seemed to not do anything.

​The street went silent as everyone stared at the creature. It was shuddering, shoulders heaving and shaking. Wretched sobs began to emerge from behind its hands, starting soft and then growing louder until they echoed off the surrounding buildings.

​Glory Girl winced. Even from her position on top of the building, the sobs were loud, like they were being poured directly into her ear. She could hear the raw anguish in every sound the creature made, the kind of grief that broke people.

​Below, the Wards had gone still. Vista was pressing her hands to her ears, her face twisted in discomfort. Aegis in Clockblocker’s costume had dropped into a defensive crouch, while the real Clockblocker gave a flinch that indicated he was trying not to do the same as Vista.

​Gallant was still on the ground, curled up and shaking with one hand pressed to his face where his eyes would be. Glory Girl watched, her muscles coiled as she prepared to launch herself into the fray. Only the plan held her back. They didn’t know she was here. That could be useful.

​What is that thing? She needed to figure out what it could do before jumping in blindly.

​The creature sobbed again, the sound swelling in volume until it seemed to fill the entire street. Then, without warning, it sank, its body dropping into the mist like it was falling into a pool of water, vanishing without a splash.

​Glory Girl’s eyes darted across the street, searching, locking onto the creature as it reappeared behind Vista. It crawled out of the mist like a monster from a puddle, one spindly arm raised high into the air while the other remained clutched against its mask.

​It swiped downward, aiming directly for the young Ward’s head, and Glory Girl clutched the edge of the roof, screaming the girl’s name as she prepared to launch herself forward.

​Luckily, the girl reacted before the warning could leave Glory Girl’s lips. Vista spun, her hand sweeping out in a wide arc, and space twisted in on itself. The infinitesimal gap between her and the monster suddenly widened into a canyon, the creature’s claws passing harmlessly through empty air.

​The creature’s sobs grew louder at the missed attack. It sank back into the mist until only its upper body was visible, then surged across the ground, half its form submerged and its arms outstretched like it wanted to give Vista a hug.

​Vista raised her hands again, preparing to warp the space a second time, but the creature twisted. Its spindly arms extended to impossible lengths, stretching like taffy on either side, sweeping around Vista’s warped space entirely. They curved inward, heading straight for Clockblocker and Aegis who stood nearby.

​Glory Girl’s heart stopped as the claws passed through them like butter. Both Wards collapsed in twin heaps, their bodies crumpling to the pavement.

​For one heart-stopping moment, Glory Girl thought they were dead, but then her rational mind kicked in and observed the scene. Their costumes were fully intact and no blood stained the ground. On top of that, they were still moving, struggling to push themselves up from the pavement and shivering like newborn kittens all the while.

​The creature pulled back, its arms retracting to their normal length, and resumed its sobbing.

​Kid Win hovered high above the street, his hoverboard keeping him well out of reach of the creature’s mist. He had his weapon drawn, tracking the monster’s movements, but didn’t fire yet.

​Vista planted herself firmly between the monster and her fallen comrades, her small frame interposed between them, hands raised high.

​The creature gave a sobbing gasp, the sound catching in its throat, and it sank into the ground again, vanishing into the mist.

​Realizing what was going to happen and deciding she was done waiting, Glory Girl finally launched herself from the roof. She shot through the air like a bullet, closing the distance in seconds, and the creature reappeared behind Vista once more.

​Vista spun, her hands sweeping out, and space twisted. The creature was shoved backward, the gap between it and the young Ward widening into a canyon once more.

​But this time, Glory Girl was there as well.

​She caught the creature in the midsection as it tried to move away, her fist plunging through its torso. The sensation was incredibly unpleasant and reminded her of that time she tried flying through a cloud. The cold seeped into her arm, biting at her skin, and she could feel the mist clinging to her costume.

​The creature screamed.

​It was a sound of pure anguish that drove itself into Glory Girl’s ear like a hot poker. She yanked her arm back, reorienting herself in midair, and watched as the thing writhed. Its body twisted and undulated, the mist pouring off it in waves, and the sobs that burned through the air were louder than ever.

​“Jesus,” she muttered, shaking the cold from her arm.

​Before the fight could truly get underway, the darkness at the head of the bank gave way. A figure stepped through the gap, blonde hair catching the light, and Tattletale raised her hand.

​“We’re leaving,” she called out, her voice carrying easily across the street.

​Behind her, the bank doors burst open. Massive shapes charged through, muscle and bone and fur, each one the size of a small car. Bitch sat astride the largest, while Regent and Grue brought up the rear on their own mounts.

​The creature’s sobbing hitched and turned toward Tattletale, its hands still pressed against its mask.

​“Good work,” she said. “Time to go.”

​The creature sank into the mist one final time, vanishing completely. A moment later, the fog began to recede, only to be replaced by a cloud of darkness that covered the Undersiders’ retreat.

​Glory Girl touched down on the pavement, her eyes scanning the retreating darkness warily. She didn’t try to chase after them, knowing that it would be no use.

​“What the hell was that?” Vista asked, her voice shaking slightly. From fear or exertion, Glory Girl didn’t know.

​“No idea,” Glory Girl said. “But it’s gone now.”

​The mist continued to retreat, draining away until the street was clear. The only evidence it had ever been there was the lingering chill in the air and the dampness on the pavement.

​“Status report,” Aegis groaned, pushing himself up from the pavement as whatever was affecting him wore off.

​“Alive,” Clockblocker managed from his position on the ground. “But I’m not sure I want to be.”

​Glory Girl hurried to Gallant’s side, dropping to her knees beside him.

​“Dean?” she asked softly. “Dean, can you hear me?”

​He didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Glory Girl worried about what had been done to him. Then, his voice cracking, he spoke, “I’ve never… I’ve never felt anything like that. It was like I was drowning in someone else’s grief.”

​Glory Girl’s brow furrowed. She glanced at the spot where the creature had vanished, then back at her boyfriend. She had never seen him like this before.

​“What did you feel?”

​Gallant was quiet for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely a whisper.

​“Enough that I think I’d rather feel nothing at all.”

~~~

​Taylor sat on the floor of the moving van, her back pressed against the metal wall.

​The mask was gone, banished back into the depths of her power, but she could still feel its echo in the back of her mind. The feelings it evoked were gone, but the memory lingered, and that was arguably worse.

​Her hands were trembling.

​“Hey.”

​Taylor looked up. Lisa was sitting across from her, her mask off and face gentle. The others were up front, giving them space.

​“You did good,” Lisa said. “Scared the hell out of them. And us too.”

​Taylor nodded, unsure how to respond to that.

​“That power of yours,” Lisa continued, her voice careful. “It’s not easy, is it? Wearing them.”

​Taylor shook her head.

​“No,” she said. Her voice was hoarse, worn thin by the sobbing she’d done while wearing Anguish. “It hurts.”

​Lisa was quiet for a moment. Then she shifted, moving across the van to sit beside Taylor. She didn’t touch her, or try to offer comfort in any physical way, but her presence was keenly felt against Taylor’s side regardless.

​“Your power,” she began carefully. “Does it work automatically or do you have to think about it?”

​“I put the feelings into masks,” Taylor said, her voice flat. “It’s easier than feeling them.”

​Lisa was quiet. Taylor could feel the other girl’s eyes on her, studying her, and she wondered what Lisa’s power was telling her. Super intuition, she had described it. Did she see the shape of the void inside Taylor’s chest?

​“That’s…” Lisa paused, as if choosing her words carefully. “Taylor, that’s not healthy.”

​“It works.”

​“For now. But if you’re running from every emotion the moment it surfaces, then you’re not giving yourself a chance to process anything.”

​Taylor finally looked up, meeting Lisa’s gaze. “Why would I want to? Feeling hurts.”

​“Of course it hurts. That’s the point.” Lisa shifted, turning to face Taylor more fully. “But you know what hurts more? Numbing yourself until there’s nothing left. To feel or give.”

​Taylor didn’t respond. Her hands had stopped trembling, settling into stillness in her lap.

​“I’m not saying you have to feel everything all at once,” Lisa continued, her voice softer now. “That would be overwhelming for anyone, and your power makes it complicated. But maybe try letting yourself feel a little bit before you send it away.”

​“Why?”

​“Because emotions tell you things about yourself, about what matters to you. If you shove them all away before you can even process them, you lose that.”

​Taylor considered this. The concept felt distant, abstract. Emotions as information. What could they possibly tell her that she didn’t already know?

​“What if I don’t like what they tell me?” she asked.

​Lisa’s expression shifted, a sad smile touching her lips.

​“At least you’ll know.”

​The van rumbled on and Lisa moved to rejoin the others. Taylor sat alone in a small corner in the back, the girl’s words echoing in the empty space inside her chest.

​Feel a little bit.

​It seemed like such a small thing, and Taylor appreciated Lisa enough to try, but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d let herself feel anything for more than a passing second before shoving it down into the dark.

​She wasn’t sure she remembered how.