Hand stomp for Icarus?
With Bloody Outstretched Hands, Part 12: Hand Stomp
Thank you for your patience! Have Luke having a bad day.
CW: hand whump, prejudice against fictional group (superpowers), prejudice-motivated violence
Masterlist
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Luke was halfway through his PT exercises when Zera came into the gym like a stormcloud. He watched as they all but stomped their way over to the wall of gear while they roughly tugged off their mask. Zera ran one hand through their bright blue hair before donning a pair of boxing gloves, stalking to one of the punching bags, and beginning to attack it like it had insulted their entire family.
Luke finished his set of exercises in a state of bewildered concern. This was far from the younger hero’s normal behavior. Usually Zera was almost disgustingly peppy while in the gym. A normal day would see them bopping their head along to whatever catchy tune they had blaring in their earbuds, enthusiastically running through one of the simulations the gym had to test their teleportation skills. A bad day would have them going through weapon forms at half-speed to ensure they got everything right. Luke wasn’t sure what it would take to get his coworker in this state, and he was almost afraid to ask.
Well. He didn’t become a hero out of an abundance of self-preservation instinct.
“What’s got you all riled up?” he asked when Zera finally stripped off one glove to grab a water bottle. “Toss me one, too?”
They took a second bottle from the fridge and lobbed it underhand across the gym. Luke caught it in both hands. Nice; the PT was really paying off. A few months back he wouldn’t have had the dexterity or coordination to make that catch.
Zera gave a smile at whatever triumphant face Luke couldn’t help but make. Then they shook their head with a grimace. “It’s Bailey,” they said, setting down their water bottle and pushing their now-sweaty hair out of their face.
It was Luke’s turn to grimace. He understood why they were keeping the villain at their med bay, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. “Are they giving you trouble?”
Zera shook their head. “No, they’re eager to tell us everything they can. Maeve is probably going to have to call the interview, because I’d bet dollars to donuts that they’d push themself way too hard trying to give us info.”
“And end up paying for it sooner rather than later,” Luke said with a nod. Concussions were a bitch, even with a healer’s help. “So they aren’t being stubborn. What’s the problem?”
Zera frowned even harder. “The problem is that this whole thing is incredibly fucked up, Luke. I knew we had PR issues, after Marcus and his apprentice, but apparently the way the villains tell it is even worse. Slipknot was apparently using the threat of us as the stick to keep Bailey in line.”
“What was the carrot, then?” he asked, coming to stand next to the younger hero.
They shrugged. “A place to belong, someone helping them out after their parents died, a chance at making a difference in the world. Take your pick.”
It was Luke’s turn to frown.
Zera noticed. “What?”
He hesitated. Zera was a good hero, but they were still pretty young, with the naivete that came with it.
“What? You’ve got that face again. Come on, out with it, boomer,” Zera teased.
Luke shook his head with a huff of laughter. They were right to tease; he wasn’t that much older than they were, though he felt plenty ancient on days his injuries acted up. That didn’t change the difference in experience, though. Zera still had an optimism he’d lost somewhere between his first year as a hero and his extended stay in the ICU after his attack.
“Just…” he started, trying to get his thoughts in order. “I dunno. I can’t shake the feeling that we’re missing something. This all feels…” He broke off, unable to properly articulate it.
Zera was already shaking their head. “Hell if I know. But they seem genuine enough. They aren’t trying to downplay anything they’ve done. If anything, they seem like they’re taking on too much accountability.”
He hummed noncommittally in response, but Zera’s words stuck with him as he headed out, leaving them to their workout. That was exactly what it was that had been bothering him. Bailey seemed guilty. They seemed like their conscience was weighing them down like Atlas.
On the one hand, that could have been any number of things. It was looking more and more like whatever relationship Bailey had with Slipknot had been abusive, and guilt was a common response in abuse victims. It could have just been the fact that Bailey had a conscience.
On the other hand…
He was probably overthinking it. He should talk with his therapist, honestly. This was the exact kind of thing that Heroes League had therapists on staff to deal with.
On the other hand, why would a supposedly small-time villain be so guilty? Because maybe they weren’t nearly as small-time as they seemed. Some small, unkind part of Luke couldn’t help but think that Bailey had to have done something to be feeling this guilty about. Just because they didn’t know what it was, didn’t mean it didn’t happen.
The thoughts kept racing through his head like hamsters on a wheel, squeaky and annoying and going absolutely nowhere. They pestered him the rest of the day, no matter how he tried to ignore them. They were still there when he finally managed to get his insomniac ass in bed for the night.
Luke was no stranger to nightmares. He’d been an insomniac long before his injuries, but after? It seemed like any time he managed to steal a few minutes of sleep, some fucked-up nonsense was playing on the movie screen on the back of his eyelids.
This dream seemed to follow the same recipe as most of them: take one soda of bad memories, add one mentos of dream logic, and shake vigorously. He was a kid, running over rooftops to escape from bullies. The next moment, he was flying over the city looking for a suspect for the Heroes League. He caught them; they caught him.
The suspect held him over the edge of the roof—no, that was the kids. They caught him; he hadn’t run fast enough.
Awww, are you scared, you little freak? You should be. Don’t you know we don’t want mutts like you around here?
(I thought you guys had rules about dangling people off buildings?)
He squirmed against the grip of the older boys, the ones who were always first with an insult or cruel “prank” against the kid who didn’t have enough control of his powers to keep from outing himself.
Why don’t you just float away? Get lost!
Hands shoved him forward and pulled him back. He was falling—backwards? No, forwards, towards the edge of the roof. His hands barely came up in time to break his fall.
You freaks are ruining the world for normal people! You can’t just run around flaunting what kind of mutant you are and expect us to sit back and let it happen!
(You can’t just ruin people’s lives and expect no repercussions!)
Someone, or maybe multiple, was kicking him. His weight shifted awkwardly on the edge of the roof. No, no, nonono, he was going to fall!
Cheering sounded in his ears, cruel and expectant.
His legs went over the edge, torso slamming painfully into the side of the building. Now he was just holding on, and his hands were already starting to hurt.
His fingers went from dull ache to sharp, hot agony in an instant. He opened his mouth to scream— (he… tried to? Was there something over his mouth?) but in true dream fashion, nothing happened.
He looked up to see one of the bullies with a boot on his hand. The older boy gave an ugly grin and started to grind his heel into Luke’s fingers.
The cheering got even louder.
Get him! Make him scream!
He looked down at the boot again. But wait, that wasn’t a kid’s shoe.
That was a combat boot. Charcoal gray, and… familiar.
Luke looked up.
It wasn’t his childhood bullies standing over him. This figure wore a red and gray outfit, menacing and eye-catching.
Poppet scowled down at him and shoved their boot forward. Luke’s hand tore on the rough cement of the rooftop, before encountering nothing but air.
He woke up before he hit the ground.
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Dun dun dun! He's starting to remember!
Small text in parentheses is from Sadistic Choice.
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