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certainmaybe · 2 months

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Because you don't care

It had been a good month since Supervillain had won. Almost the same amount of time since their team had fallen apart. From what Second in Command heard, the others had more or less kept in contact. They were a family after all. More than colleagues. Friends. And then there was Second in Command, the ever opposing force who had made every single one of them lose their temper at least once.

Had they hoped one of the others might contact them? Maybe. Were they better off alone? Definitely.

So it had been a good month since that. And then, in the middle of the night, Leader called.

“What the hell to you want?” Second in Command bit in to the phone with all the annoyance they could bring up when less then a second ago they had been sleeping.

“Second in Command,” Leader said. Their voice was distorted by the phone.

“If you tell me this is the wrong number I swear to god I’m going to kill you.”

“Funny. Because that’s kind of why I called.”

“You want me to kill you?”

“I want you to stop me from killing myself.” Suddenly the room was upside down. And then it was right again, but Second in Command was the wrong way round. They were sitting straight, feeling cold all over.

“This is a joke, right?”

“I’m afraid not. I- I have a gun, and I just- Second in Command it would be so easy. And I know it is selfish, I know the others need me, but I can’t fix this. I can’t fix anything.”

“Okay,” said Second in command, because what else were they supposed to say. Their mouth felt dry. “What do you need me to do?”

There was a horrifyingly long break before Leader spoke again. “Just stay on the phone with me? Talk to me, try to distract me, so I can stop thinking about… this.”

“Distract you? Okay, I- where are you now? It sounds like you are outside, are you outside?”

“Do you remember the skyscraper?”

“There are like a million skyscrapers in this city.”

“You are right, sorry. The one where-”

“I know, Leader, I am on my way.” Second in Command didn’t even bother getting dressed, they walked out in their pajamas, jogging to their cars. Of course only one of them could fly.

“You don’t need to- I know I am already asking a lot of you, calling in the middle of the night. Making you come here would just be selfish. If you can just stay on the phone with me I think I can make it.”

“Well guess what, you don’t get to tell me what to do any more, I quit, remember?” The car was finally starting and Second in Command knew that they were fucking this up. What Leader needed now, well, Second in Command had no idea, but it certainly wasn’t fighting with the one person they had fought with for years.

“Okay, you want a distraction. Tell me about your day. What did you do?”

“Not much. Nothing that would be worth talking about.”

“That’s a bullshit excuse and you know it, tell me what the fuck you did.”

“I visited Sunshine. They haven’t been taking it well, they… they don’t really eat any more, I think, unless I make them, so I try to visit at least two times a day. So I visited them for breakfast. And then I tried to get Hero to go out. They have locked himself into what is left of our base, they are convinced they can still defeat Supervillain somehow. I have been trying to slowly break it to them that there is just no hope, but they are- well, they are grieving. Then the police called because of Fighter, they got into another fight. So I bailed them out. Then I visited Sunshine again, and then I drove Scientist home from the bar- they have started drinking again, I’m trying to get them clean but there is no talking to them. And then- well, then I called you.”

“So during your whole day, during which you spent time with four people who love you dearly, not once did it occur to you to talk to them?”

“They need me to be strong right now. If they saw me like this- I couldn’t do that to them.”

“But you can do it to me, typical.”

“Well you don’t care about me. It wouldn’t hurt you, even if I killed myself. That’s what I always admired about you, how you manage to keep your distance from everything.”

“Fuck you.” Second in Command was standing in front of the skyscraper. 20 fucking levels. They didn’t even glance at the elevator before starting to jog up the stairs. “You think I don’t fucking care? What, just because I don’t make a speech about how much I love you all every time somebody gets a paper cut? You really just saw somebody with a hard childhood and an attachment disorder and decided that they couldn’t possibly care about anybody or anything. Well guess what, I do fucking care. I care so fucking much that I am going to strangle you my self for doing this, so don’t you dare kill your self before I get to you. I don’t care, you absolute prick. I’m sorry we don’t all get hugged by our parents.”

“I am so sorry, Second in Command, I shouldn’t have called. I should have asked how you are doing, this must have been just as hard for you-”

“Shut up you self sacrificing prick. I knew from the beginning this was going to blow up in out face, I told you so, I am fine. I am angry as fuck at all of you for not listening to me earlyer, especially you, but I already told you that. If I have a problem, you will know it.”

Second in Command was out of breath. They were also finally on the roof, where Leader stood, with such an expression of deep despair and acute horror on their face that Second in Command couldn’t do anything but ignore it.

“And now give me the fucking gun or I will take it from you.” Leaders hand was shaking badly as they did as told. The moment it was out of their hand they sank down on the floor, shaking.

For a few moments Second in Command thought about what to do. They really weren’t the person to turn to for comfort. Nobody had ever asked them to either.

“Fuck it,” they said out loud, opening their contact list and clicking on one of the first numbers.

“What are you doing?” Leader asked, still shaking on the floor.

“Calling Sunshine.”

“No, no, they can’t-”

“Well, I can’t either.” It took a while for Sunshine to answer. But they did, sounding like they had been crying.

“Second in Command?”

“The Skyscraper. Leader needs you. And bring food, I’m going to call the others.”

“Don’t, they don’t need-”

“Yes, they do need to see this. You all need to get your shit together, and from what I have seen so far you sentimental idiots need to actually get together to do that.”

Scientist was the next one on the list.

“Are you sober?” Second in Command asked without any prelude.

“No,” was the resigned answer. “What do you want?”

“Leader needs help, so I am calling a family meeting. Skyscraper, now, get yourself a taxi, if I catch you with a bottle I will kill you with it.”

“Since when do you call family meetings?”

“Since nobody else is stepping up. Now stop arguing and get our ass here now.”

The call ended with a click. Second in Command made an attempt to call Fighter, but as expected, they were in prison again. So Hero it was.

“Second in Command, what do you know?”

“I know that you have a problem, but right now Leader needs you more. Skyscraper, right now, and get Fighter out of jail first.”

“What do you mean Leader needs me, I just talked to them, they are fine.”

“No they are not, they are a filthy liar.”

“Shit. I’ll be there. Are they okay?” Second in Command looked down at the figure, still shaking on the floor.

“I don’t know.”

“I’m coming.”

And that was that. It was scarily silent on the roof, with the sound of cars in the far distance.

Scientist came first. They looked rough and smelled of puke. They took barely a second to look at Second in Command before they stumbled to Leader.

“What happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt? You don’t look okay, and if Second in Command called me- remember when I broke my leg and they told me to walk it off? If they called me to help you there is no way this is fine.”

“I’m sorry I let you down,” Second in Command heard Leader say. After that they decided to tune out.

The next person was Sunshine, carrying bags of take out. They looked thinner, dark circles under their eyes, but the way they immediately softened upon seeing Leader on the floor was familiar.

“Hey,” they said, sitting down next to Leader. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Second in Command starred out into the city, feeling like a stranger in somebody else's home.

And then, finally, Hero and Fighter arrived. The door hadn’t even closed behind them before Second in Command pulled it open again.

“Where are you going?” asked Fighter, the last person still standing.

“Away. This is family business.”

“Exactly. You should be here.”

“I’m not part of the family.”

“Of course you are. You are the fucked up uncle from dads side who lives in a trailer and gives the children cigarettes.”

“That’s very specific.”

“And true.”

After a moment of silence Second in Command let the door fall close again. “Aren’t you going to go to them?”

“I’m afraid,” Fighter admitted. “Can I just stay with you for now?”

“It’s a free country.”

“Can I have a cigarette?"