Fracture

"Then this morning I got a call that Mastermind had just appeared in jail, mumbling nonsense, seemingly been driven insane. She mentioned your name, and your last name. And something about your house. I managed to use an invention to unlock her memories, and someone had tortured her for information." - Tech, One In A Million.

There were many things that Tech liked to remember. Cool chess moves, his reactions to book plot twists and good nights with the team were at the top of the list, but the one that struck irrevocably hard chord within him that made his throat constrict was Mallory Casey, better known as Mastermind.

Thinking about her, and not that it happened often of course, made his head hurt. It wasn't that he secretly still had feelings for her or anything - heavens no - but she had been a friend, a younger girl he had tutored. They had shared a locker. Perhaps, with time, they might have become a couple, but he doubted it would have worked out anyway. But, yes, they had been friends.

Learning of her villainy had been hard, and harder still was turning her in, but Tech found he couldn't regret his choice. She had gone down a dark road and was too far gone to reach and he had accepted that.

If anything, when he thought of her, disappointment was his strongest emotion. She could have been great, bettered the world for mankind with her interesting theories, if she had not let her power-hungry nature and greed get the better of her.

But he found all his disappointment was easily replaced by anger when Mastermind pointed a laser gun at Holly Fox. "Don't touch her." Mastermind had then proceeded to mock him, but he didn't even hear her. His want to know that Holly - a fairly smart and pretty girl who he was beginning to call a friend, even though he may have been developing feelings that went beyond friendship for her - was safe above everything else.

Mastermind had then managed to escape, but they did get Sypher. The maniacal melon head wasn't seen again for a while, a little over a week, which made him feel uneasy, until he found out that she had come to jail, apparently insane and yelling things about Holly and the fox's family, which was worrisome. Something was up.

The ordeal he had gone through afterwards was hard, harder still on Holly who had given herself up for her kidnapped family to the person who had tortured Mastermind for information.

Everything had worked out though. Holly, thank God, and her family were all safe. Holly had returned to school and was finishing up before she would come back to live in the tower. Zadavia had approved of it and everything.

Holly was busy with school though and the villain rate had been low lately, so Tech found himself with nothing really to do one weekend. He then decided to go visit Mastermind, something he probably should have done a while ago.

And well, that's where he is now.

Tech walked down the hall, led by a young, nervous guard. Prisoners leered from the cells on either side of the walls, banging and yelling. Tech felt calm; if any of them tried anything, he could simply use his powers to detain them again.

"Here we are," the guard mumbled. They had arrived to a large, transparent orb. It was smaller than the previous one Mastermind had been held in, but was of the same materials. There was a bed, a small bathroom disclosed in a covered stall, but that was about it.

Mastermind was lying on the bed, with her black hair pulled into a ponytail, orange prison jumpsuit, and as always her huge, swollen head. She sat up and watched them approached her orb. She didn't say anything though, and had a blank look on her face.

"It's like that sometimes," the guard explained. "Sometimes she's there, sometimes she's not. Side effects." The guard could probably tell that he didn't need to, nor should be there for this conversation, and left the super hero and villain alone.

Tech waited until Mastermind's expression hardened, eyes flashing with recognition. "Come to pity me I suppose?" she snarled, getting up from the bed and walking to the wall of the orb so she could glare at him properly.

To be truthful, Tech didn't really know why he was here at all, so it took a while for him to find something to say. "Just wondering how you were doing. People don't recover from emotional trauma very well you know."

Well, Holly was recovering pretty well from her experience. Sometimes she would call him in the middle of the night and talk with him through sobs because of nightmares, but considering what she had gone through she was doing magnificently well. But he found Holly was always an exception.

It seemed Mastermind had picked up on where his mind had gone. "How's the girl?"

"She's doing better than you'd expect. Her family's okay too."

Mastermind's lips twitched upwards. "She wasn't half bad as an opponent. Better than you."

Tech almost smiled, unsure of how he felt about his girlfriend getting praised by a villain, even if it wasn't bad praise. "Is Sypher here?"

"That idiot got himself locked up in another prison." There was another long stretch of silence and Tech could see Mastermind slipping back into her previous state, where her mind faded.

The blank expression was back. She gave him an unsure smile. "I feel like I know you, do I?"

"I probably just have one of those faces," the coyote muttered. He and Mastermind turned at the same time - she walked back to her bed, he walked back down the corridor.

Somehow he felt better and worse all at the same time.

(0)

Normally, Duck drove Tech crazy, even worse than Rev. Because Rev, while he didn't listen, was always sorry and always ready to make up for his mistakes. Duck didn't listen, didn't apologize and never thought he ever did anything wrong.

But there was one thing they had in common.

A few days later, they were the only two in the main room. Ace and Lexi were training together, Tech's cousin Natalya who stayed in the tower with them was doing paperwork for her government job and Rev and Slam were going to see a Basherball game. Holly was visiting that weekend, but was resting in her room after another sleepless night.

The coyote and mallard were sitting side by side on the couch. When Duck had seen his teammate's expression, he had instantly turned the TV off. "Went to see Mastermind?" he guessed.

Tech looked at him with a sad expression. "Yeah."

"How ya feeling?"

It was a long time before Tech answered. "I don't know."

Duck let out a long sigh. "Do you think it ever gets easier? To think about this person you thought was your friend, that you cared for and now they're..."

"Broken?" Tech supplied. "I doubt it." Another long silence stretched between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was a sad silence, full of disappointment.

If the betrayal of Mastermind had hurt him, Tech couldn't imagine how much Pinkster's had wounded Duck, especially since the water fowl had spent so many years remember his former friend in a fond light and feeling regret for his actions before he found out the truth. Tech knew Duck was proud, and didn't like crying in front of others, so he looked away if the mallard needed to do so.

He looked to the elevator, and started thinking about Holly, who still pushed through every day despite what she had gone through.

"You know what," he began. "They may be broken, but they don't have to - to break us. They shouldn't be our fracture, what causes us to break." He gave Duck a smile, and saw a defiant glint in the anthro's eyes.

"That's the best idea I've ever heard you say," Duck said happily. He jabbed Tech in the ribs with his elbow, and although the action wouldn't have reassuring or comforting from anyone else, it was from Duck. "Whaddya say we go join Rev and Slam at the game?"

"You're fully aware that sports aren't my thing," Tech protested, but Duck dragged him into the elevator.

"That's just because you're boring - how you have a girlfriend and I don't is a mystery I will never solve -"

Just like that, things had returned to normal. But Tech felt the weight of his heart felt a lot lighter than before, and despite the slight insult his teammate had just given him, he smiled.

Yeah, they would be just fine.

A/N: Tell me what ya thought of this down in the reviews. :) It's been an idea I've been thinking about for a while.