It was the yelling that woke Jack up.

 

 

He found himself on a lounge chair, slowly sitting up while holding his head. He was in a haze. He couldn't clearly hear anything. He felt like he was living in a camera stuck at a dutch angle. Nothing was making much sense. He wondered why nobody was paying attention to him.

 

~Jack! I've been screaming at you for five minutes now! Try to sneak away!~

 

"What happened?" Jack held his head as he stared into the middle of the room. Golden Knight was backing away from Grease who was being held back by Sass and Ivy combined. Grifter was standing between Goldie and Grease while trying to talk sense into Grease, who was screaming about something. Her face was a mask of rage as she strained against those trying to keep her from assaulting her teammate.

 

Someone yelled, "He Was Going To Tear Thou Head Off!"

 

~Jack. I'm asking as a personal favor. Get out of line of sight. PLEASE. Or so help me, I'll shift right here and now.~

 

Jack glanced around and spotted where the bathroom was. It wasn't that far, but it felt like miles all the same. He rolled off his recliner and staggered along, bent over, grabbing furniture for support as he moved towards the bathroom. One of the support staff caught sight of him and moved to try and help him, but he shoved her aside. He waved off her help while holding a hand over his mouth, indicating he felt like he was going to vomit.

 

He wasn't faking.

 

Jack stumbled into the men's room and bounced off the tiled walls, "Not yet..." He slammed opened the door of each stall in passing as he moved towards the back. He finally stumbled into the handicap stall at the end and emptied his stomach of a cupcake he had snacked on into the toilet. Wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, he nodded weakly, "Okay..."

 

"Now."

 

Adam took over and spent a minute to do a long port up to the roof. Immediately afterwords he put his hand on the scanner to open roof access and dove through as soon as there was a crack wide enough. He dropped down to join everyone, but didn't get a chance to say anything.

 

"WHERE WERE YOU???"

 

Adam just stood there, eyes wide, clearly taken off guard.

 

Grease strained against the two holding her arms. Spittle flew from her lips as she shouted at Adam, "WHERE WERE YOU WHEN WE NEEDED YOU?"

 

Sass shouted into Grease's ear, "This isn't his fault!" She looked up at Adam, "There was an attack! The attacker was an ex-team mate." The volume of her voice dropped to a far more respectable tone, "He died."

 

Grease stopped struggling long enough to snap her head back to howl at Sass, "He didn't just DIE!" She glared at the Golden Knight, "She Murdered Him."

 

Goldie stood there, looking stoic and calm as she explained, "Thou are mine friend and it looked like he was about to dispatch thou. I'd wish thou were alive and hated me rather than dead."

 

Grease gnashed her teeth as she shouted, "I. GOT. THRU. TO. HIM!" She hung her head for a moment, "why?" then screeched at the top of her lungs, "WHY?"

 

Adam moved in front of Grease and put his hands on either side of her face. He looked right into her eyes as he spoke, "I'm sorry."

 

"WHERE WERE YOU?" The accusation was spat in Adam's face.

 

Adam didn't flinch, "Let her go."

 

Sass and Ivy both looked at each other and shook their heads, "Are you-"

 

Adam never took his eyes off Grease, but clearly was shouting at them, "LET. GO."

 

Sass and Ivy both merely loosened their grips, but that was enough for Grease to break free. She grabbed Adam by the collar and pushed him back in a flash until she slammed him up against the wall on the far side of the room, "WHERE WERE YOU?"

 

"I'm Sorry."

 

"WHERE WERE YOU?"

 

"Not here."

 

Grease pulled Adam back and slammed him back against the wall, "I NEEDED YOU!"

 

Adam never stopped looking into her eyes as he responded softly, "And I wasn't here."

 

Grease pulled him back and slammed him back against the wall, but there was barely any strength behind it, "I NEEDED YOU."

 

Adam's expression was a combination of sadness and concern as he tried to gently take her by the shoulders.

 

She tried to slam him again, but couldn't seem to do anything. She just wound up butting her forehead into his shoulder, "I needed you."

 

"You must hate me."

 

"I do." She mumbled into his shoulder, "I hate you so much."

 

Adam pulled her in closer, wrapping both his arms and wings around her as they slowly slid down the wall to the floor, "Hate me."

 

Grease said nothing as the room finally calmed down. An awkward silence hung over everything as everyone stared, wondering if the storm had finally passed.

 

Grease dug her fingers into Adam's sides as she clung to him and tightly closed her eyes. Her rage still simmered but went nowhere, for it no longer had anywhere to go. She simply pulled her head back and slowly, rhythmically, hit her head against his shoulder.

 

 

 

Again.

 

 

 

And again.

 

 

 

"I hate..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"That I need you."

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Everyone watched as Adam, holding Grease, teleported away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wanderer spoke first, to nobody in particular, "She's wrong. Adam couldn't have saved him.

 

Goldie closed her eyes as she tilted her head to the side, "I swear, Methought he was going to dispatch her." She held her fists so tight they shook.

 

Sass turned to Goldie and stepped up to her. She took Goldie by the shoulders and gave her a little shake, "Hey! This whole night has been a fluster cluck. You made the only call you could."

 

Golden Knight looked off to the side, avoiding Sass' gaze, "You didn't see her. She might have thought she was getting through to him, but I had never seen her look that bad before." She shrugged off Sass' grip and took a few steps off in a random direction, "Why does she do that? Why does she keep taking a beating trying to save people who don't deserve it?"

 

Sass smiled softly, "You know how I know you care?" Goldie looked up as Sass continued, "You forget the accent when things get serious." The Golden Knight just blinked.

 

Ivy pulled away from the discussion, feeling like a fifth wheel. She started looking around, and frowned, "Hey. Where's Jack?"

 

Everyone started to glance around, until Wanderer spoke up, "He was unwell and asked to go home. While everyone was dealing with Grease, I teleported him."

 

Ivy glanced at Wanderer and looked surprised, "You know where he lives?"

 

There was a deep thud as the Golden Knight took off one of her gauntlets off and punched the wall. Without her armor, her normal strength had little effect on the wall, but it was obvious her hand didn't fair well.

 

Wanderer welcomed the distraction and ignored Ivy, "Goldie, This isn't productive."

 

The Golden Knight let out a bitter laugh, "Not... Productive." She shook her hand out, "What if she was right? What if-"

 

Grifter raised her voice to cut her off, "Grease would have gambled her life on that what if. I'm glad you didn't." Nobody said anything in response. Eventually Grifter turned away to walk over to her usual terminal, "I'll get the paperwork going and call the coroner to send a wagon."

 

"How?"

 

Grifter paused and looked back over her shoulder.

 

With a grim expression, The Golden Knight looked at Grifter, not seeing eyes looking back, but her own reflection in the lenses of her teammate's gas mask, "How do you just... turn it off?"

 

Grifter remained motionless for several seconds, then turned to look at the lounger shrouded by a blanket. Without a word she sat down at her terminal and got to work.

 

Wanderer had slowly moved over next to The Golden Knight and put a hand on her shoulder, "What do you need?"

 

Goldie looked at Wanderer and snorted, "Seriously? What I lack is Grease!" She pointed towards the wing where their rooms were, "Because whenever aught went south, she was the one whom looked to the bright side of things. She was aye the one-" She pulled away, "She is the one who never gives up..." She turned to walk off,  "and I broke her."

 

Sass shook her head as she moved to stand in The Golden Knight's way, "No. You didn't. You did what you did because you cared. It was a bad situation and you made the best call you could."

 

Looking at Sass with worn eyes, she spoke like she was defeated, "And how do you know that?"

 

Sass lifted her chin slightly, "I know you did the best you could, because I know you wouldn't have done anything less. And... again...  you forgot the accent."

 

The knight lowered her head with more than a hint of embarrassment. Sass squared her shoulders and forced herself to look confident, "As for breaking her, She's with Adam." She nodded very slowly, "If she's broken, he'll put her back together."

 

Goldie looked up, "Really?"

 

Tapping her own chest over her heart, Sass returned a wain smile, "It's what he does."

 

 She looked up and over towards where she knew Adam's room was, as if she could see through walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"He's got a knack for it."

 

 

---

 

 

Grease and Adam were lying in his bed.

 

 

 

 

 

They both had shed their clothes, but nothing had happened. Grease had acted like she wanted to, but as soon as they got naked, she lost all interest. She instead wound up lying half on top of him, pinning him beneath her while she straddled him with one leg and rested her head next to his. For his part, Adam wrapped his wings around her, limiting her world to a halo of soft, fuzzy feathers.

 

Grease broke the silence with yet another accusation. Her tone was oddly soft, as if she was completely worn out, "It's all your fault."

 

"Yes it is."

 

"He is dead because of you."

 

"I understand."

 

"If you had been here, you could have saved him."

 

"I would have tried."

 

"Where were you?"

 

Adam was silent for a while, "Does it matter?"

 

Grease finally gained some emotion to her voice and lifted her head to glare at him, "YES."

 

Adam didn't look back, "I don't like being confined. I find it relaxing to go flying. I turn off my phone when I do so I'm not disturbed. I was perching."

 

"Perching?"

 

Adam nodded, "Yes. I like to perch. It's relaxing when I'm up high. I often do that, then just... take a nap."

 

"You nap... while you perch?"

 

Adam nodded.

 

"He's dead because you perched." Her voice was full of disbelief.

 

Adam nodded.

 

Grease sat up and pushed Adam's wings aside. She stared off into the distance, ignoring Adam. He in turned just laid there. She started to shake her head, "You murdered him."

 

"Yes."

 

She winced and kept shaking her head, "You know that's not true."

 

"Correct."

 

She rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth, "Are you not going to defend yourself? Are you just going to let me blame you for everything?" She rolled over to straddle him and put her hands around his throat, but didn't squeeze, "What if I want to punish you? Make you suffer?"

 

"If that is what you want." He looked at her as if he was completely unaware she was lightly pressing her thumbs against his windpipe.

 

"Stop. Agreeing. With Everything. I Say!"

 

"Okay." Grease blinked. Adam gave her a smirk, but it quickly faded into a frown, "I'm sorry."

 

She closed her eyes and let her head fall forward, "I killed him."

 

"No."

 

"I did."

 

"No."

 

"I should have-"

 

Adam cut her off, "Are you telling me you didn't do everything you could to try and save him? Were you holding back? Was there something you knew you could have done to help him, but you chose not to?"

 

"No. I-"

 

He put his hands over hers, "Then you did your best, so you could not have saved him." He squeezed, "I'm sorry, but sometimes... your best... just isn't good enough."

 

All the color drained from her face as she stared down at him, her wide eyes telling him that his words had struck home. She closed her eyes and turned away. Her head jerked several times as if she could make the thoughts in her head fly out if she just shook hard enough. Slowly she let go of Adam and moved her hands to his shoulders.

 

Abruptly she rolled to the side and pulled him on top of her. This move surprised Adam, as she preferred to be in control. She lay beneath him and looked up with eyes that looked for something they couldn't seem to find.

 

"Punish me."

 

Adam blinked, "What?"

 

"Hurt me. Use me. Take me. Just..." She bit her lower lip and turned her head to the side as if words had failed her.

 

Adam froze as it seemed like there was some sort of war going on in his mind. Slowly he reached over to grab one of her wrist and hold it over her head. Then, just as slowly he did the same with the other. He pushed himself up off her, pinning her beneath him as he watched her... waiting.

 

"Please... Just..." She turned her head to look up at him, "Save me."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Just save me."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam bent down to kiss her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the world became a canopy of soft, white wings that Grease eagerly hid beneath.