Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author Note: Set after Chikara's June 2014 iPPV 'You Only Live Twice' so major spoilers for that.

BROKEN WINGS

The belt felt cold in Icarus' hands. There it was, gold and leather, the Chikara Grand Championship. He'd won it from Eddie Kingston, the toughest man ever to fight in a Chikara ring, a man who hadn't tapped out but had passed out instead. Icarus and Eddie had never been friends and never likely would be. Icarus didn't know if he'd ever be able to find it in his heart to forgive Eddie for not standing up for Chikara after the company's dismantlement. Chikara had needed all the warriors it could get and Eddie had chosen to keep the belt but turn his back on the company. Icarus hadn't.

When the company had needed him, he'd always been there. He always would be.

Now, he had the belt, the biggest prize in the company. He'd won it fairly and then the ring had flooded with those who had answered his call, who'd helped him resurrect Chikara. They'd embraced him. He'd been banged up, reeling from a Kingston shot that had knocked him out on his feet. There'd been tears in his eyes, he hadn't been the only one in the ring struck like that either. That had been a surprise.

He'd never been everybody's friend. It had been him and the rest of F.I.S.T against the world, it had been that way for years. He'd never cared about gaining anyone's approval, he'd cared about winning and being the best. He'd cared about Chikara though, about the company that he'd helped build. He'd seen how the fans had rallied and how they'd been so willing to help, to give everything for the company that he loved. Curiously, he'd begun caring about them too. He'd seen what Chikara had meant to them.

It had been overwhelming then and it still was now.

Now, after the Flood had struck deep into the heart of Chikara. Soon after Icarus' victory, the Flood had appeared, an enormous titan creature-man had strode out with Delirious and of all people Soldier Ant. Delirious had gone straight for UltraMantis Black, Soldier Ant had begun beating on his fellow Ants. Everyone had brawled, confused and angry and then...then Kobald had attempted to land a shot on the titan and the titan had crushed him.

Somebody jabbed Icarus' knee sharply and he broke out of his hazy nauseating thoughts. Hallowicked was sat beside him, jabbering quietly, telling Icarus not to fall asleep. He had a concussion and sleep wasn't an option. Icarus didn't know what kind of expression he was wearing but Hallowicked rested a large hand at the nape of Icarus' neck and squeezed wordlessly. Icarus listed towards him, accepting the gesture. He'd known Hallowicked for a long time, they'd trained together, they'd broken into Chikara together. They'd beaten the shit out of each other in the ring more times than he could count. Like Icarus, Hallowicked would always fight for Chikara. That was what mattered.

Hallowicked still called him Slayne, even though Icarus no longer dressed in black or wore a mask. Hallowicked was the only person who could get away with calling Icarus that. Because Hallowicked had been there at the beginning of Icarus' wrestling career, back when Icarus had been Ichabod Slayne, a figure from the filth and shadows, like Hallowicked still was. Hallowicked still saw that aspect in Icarus and even when they'd been the bitterest enemies, he'd never mocked Icarus with that name. He claimed it was who Icarus still was, deep down under everything and after all that had come to pass. Icarus didn't disagree, he was many kinds of things.

Tonight, he was the Grand Champion, after almost a year of other wrestling companies shutting down, the BDK resurrecting, Chikara wrestlers turning their back on the resurgence that Icarus had been orchestrating. He should have been celebrating with the Chikarmy. Instead, he was sat in a hospital corridor with a concussion. He still had the belt though, he hadn't let go of it since Eddie had passed out and the ring bell had rung. He'd seen what had happened to Chikara's Campeonatos de Parejas, no one was taking what he'd earned away from him.

The ER smelled of antiseptic cleaner, stress and blood. The latter two were very familiar, so were those that peopled the private room that Mike Quakenbush had paid for once he'd arrived. UltraMantis Black, the vicious cuts he'd received from Delirious treated and bandaged where necessary, was sat in one corner with Frightmare. For once UltraMantis was silent, which usually meant he was plotting something. But this time, he just seemed stunned, which was even more unnerving. Very little stunned UltraMantis Black and even fewer things stunned him into silence.

The Batiri, well what was left of the Batiri, Kodama and Obariyon, were sharing a threadbare couch. They both looked devastated, Kobald had been one of them. Icarus had never seen them look so completely wrecked before. Demons could feel sadness and grief, he was seeing evidence of that right now. He hoped that Kodama and Obariyon would want revenge and not disappear like so many Chikara wrestlers had done before tonight.

Other technicos were spread out throughout the hospital – the Throwbacks were watching the front entrance while the Osirian Portal were guarding the back. 3.0 and Archibald Peck were almost continually lapping the building, making sure that no member of Flood snuck in to make things worse. Kid Cyclone had flown right back to the Wrestle Factory, swearing that he'd send frequent updates and that he could be counted on to securely guard Chikara's homebase along with Equinox and Create-A-Wrestler. Technically, the Batiri, the Spectral Envoy, they could all leave the hospital now that a doctor in fluid-smeared scrubs had delivered the sad news about Kobald. But nobody had moved yet.

Mike Quakenbush was around somewhere. He'd appeared about an hour ago, having paid for both Kobald and Icarus' hospital treatments and for the private room. His tie had been askew and he'd looked thin-lipped with anger, the hand gripping his cane whitening with force. His frustration was obvious, he was too injured to be of any physical help like he had been before when Chikara had been invaded by the BDK and then by the Gekido. This time, he had to sit out the in-ring fights, but as Mike had quietly told Icarus, he could bring the fight in other places just as powerfully, like how he'd quickly gotten the technicos' medical care sorted out and had then found some good places for the technicos to hole up for the time being while the Flood prowled the area triumphantly. This was a fight happening on a lot of different fronts, but Chikara had a decent owner again and a Director of Fun on the technicos' side and on the side of the Chikarmy. The latter wasn't something that Icarus had always considered that important. The more things changed...

His most recent change had been for the better, hadn't it? It had brought him the Grand Championship, it had helped claw Chikara back from the dead, it had given the technicos and the Chikarmy back the company that they loved, that they called home, a family. It had taken Kobald from them, it had been steamrolled by the Flood.

Hallowicked jabbed Icarus sharply in the ribs, causing Icarus to curse snappily. Hallowicked didn't look impressed and jabbered at his former tag-team partner, asking Icarus if he really thought that this was all about him. Hadn't Icarus been listening? We are Chikara, not just him. And Icarus had done more than his fair share, he'd dragged people back, he'd kept on believing when others didn't. That was powerful and it had worked.

Icarus managed something like a painful smile. "Not powerful enough to save Kobald, Delirious, or Soldier Ant though."

"Delirious isn't your cross to bear, young man," UltraMantis Black piped up, who, having roused himself from his stupor, was now demonstrating his usual disregard for private conversations. "It's me he wants, he doesn't care about any one else on this roster. And the Flood are happy to use this for their own ends."

Right, because Mantis and the rest of the Envoy would be distracted by Delirious' unstoppable rage and the Ants would be distracted by Soldier, which left the rest of the technicos to be overwhelmed by the Flood. It was a good devastating plan.

"Kobald knew the risks when he leapt upon that behemoth, his ridiculous courage and sacrifice will not be forgotten. And as for Soldier Ant," UltraMantis continued. "Fire Ant and Green Ant searched for their comrade for many months but he was nowhere to be found. Perhaps he didn't want to be located after their initial abandonment of him, perhaps that die had already been cast."

Icarus winced and massaged his forehead. The Ants had always marched to their own drum. Had seeing his friends teaming with another Ant broken Soldier? Did he think that they hadn't fought hard enough for him? Fuck. There were so many internal struggles happening in Chikara right now, no doubt another tendril of the Flood's plan. If they threw everything into terrible chaos, they'd have more leeway to take over and destroy every remnant of the company that they could get their hands on.

Icarus had thought that they'd gained ground, that Chikara had reestablished itself – they'd conquered National Pro Wrestling Day, they'd sold out tonight's venue, social media had been buzzing about the company's return. He might have won the title, but they'd lost people, in ways that he hadn't previously thought to imagine. And he knew, knew thanks to bitter previous experience, that this was still only the beginning.

Hallowicked jabbed him in the ribs again, Icarus jabbed him right back. Hallowicked tilted his head and grabbed the championship belt by the strap. Icarus held onto it and it became taut between them. Hallowicked leaned closer and muttered sharply that Icarus had the belt and the ear of the locker room. They'd listened to him before when everything had been hopeless and broken, and now everything could fracture even more, couldn't it? Everything could wash away. So what was Icarus going to do about it?

Icarus cast an eye towards UltraMantis who pointedly wasn't looking at him. UltraMantis liked having the floor, he liked leading as many people as possible particularly into his own way of thinking. And while he didn't look happy about it, he wasn't disagreeing with Hallowicked. Neither was Frightmare.

Eddie Kingston hadn't been a leader in the company, he'd been the toughest son of a bitch out there and he'd carried the belt with pride. Now, who knew what he'd do? He'd only fight the Flood if they made it personal with him, or maybe they'd try and use his desire for the title against the technicos, like they'd used Delirious rage at Mantis and Soldier's abandonment issues. That was a fucking depressing thought.

Before Icarus could speak, Hallowicked pressed a cellphone into his hand. Actually it was Icarus' own cellphone, which Hallowicked had apparently swiped off him. The pumpkin-head was completely unrepentant of course and told Icarus to start reading. Icarus looked down at his phone and noticed how many messages he'd received from Twitter, the Chikarmy wanted to check that he was okay, there were threads on the official Chikara forum, people were describing in great detail what they'd witnessed, fact-checking and comparing notes and creating a hard-copy record of every possible aspect of the evening. They were also checking in with each other, using the buddy system to make sure that everyone got home safe. After Never Compromise and its aftermath, no one was taking any chances. The Chikarmy weren't blaming anyone but the Flood. The Chikarmy were still out there, still strong and determined and wanting to help. They were still Chikara and they weren't the only ones.

Icarus stared at his phone, at messages that wouldn't have meant much to him a couple of years ago. His hands were still slick with sweat, somewhere Mike was talking to the doctors about how soon they could leave with Kobald.

"They've got the right idea," Icarus murmured aloud, indicating his phone, an urgent germ of an idea quietly striking through his morass of pain and dark thoughts. "Sticking together, making sure everyone's accounted for."

Hallowicked revealed that apart from Kobald, everybody on the techinco side of the roster had made it out safely. That was something. Icarus nodded, his idea taking root and growing.

"We need a system, some way to keep in touch at all times. Maybe a signal that the Flood won't recognize so that we can check in and everyone'll be accounted for."

Frightmare piped up with the suggestion of a phone-tree, a waterfall of calls so that everybody was connected to someone else and if you didn't hear from the person you were supposed to by a certain time, then that was the call to start searching for them. Yes, that could work. Perhaps there could be more signals, phone messages vocal or text to signify a Flood sighting or anything else that they all needed to be aware of. But there was more here, more ideas taking shape in Icarus' inbox.

"The Chikarmy, they've been our hands and feet before. They can be our eyes and ears too."

Because Icarus was almost sure that he wouldn't have gotten this far in his campaign without the fans' minute observances. They sometimes saw things that the wrestlers didn't, spotting connections and expanding theories until the bigger picture took shape. They could use that. The Flood didn't have that kind of army.

Hallowicked chattered his agreement and UltraMantis got to his feet.

"I see you have things well in hand, young champion. Once you've arranged this tree of yours, ensure that I am suitably near its summit. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to attend to."

He made a move towards the Batiri and Icarus frowned. "Work?"

"Of course, someone has to make sure that Kobald is laid to rest in a suitably binding manner or would you like for him to be resurrected and puppeted by that intolerable Flood?"

Icarus' stomach rolled and he bit his tongue to prevent himself from pointing out that UltraMantis had been the one to make Delirious into a puppet with the Eye of Tyr and that that that jewel was at the root of so much of what Chikara was currently fighting. Now really wasn't the time though, the roots of this didn't matter, the future of it did. The Batiri didn't look shocked by Mantis' point, apparently it had already occurred to them so Mantis stooped over them and began talking surprisingly quietly, drawing something that looked like rune-shapes in the air. Naturally he was leaving Icarus to deal with the paperwork side of things.

Icarus stared at his phone. He had the Chikarmy behind him and the championship belt in his hands. He had Hallowicked keeping him awake and focusing him on the job in hand. Maybe Icarus was just a figurehead or a flashpoint, he was just one of many here but he'd done something good, he'd spearheaded a movement that had successfully brought Chikara back. The rest was going to be just as much of an uphill battle, if not more.

Of course this wasn't the end, of course things weren't going to get any easier. Wasn't that life? Wasn't that Chikara?

Hallowicked pushed him pointedly in the shoulder, Icarus pushed him right back and with a smile, began thumbing through his phone messages in more detail. He was still in a lot of pain, it was going take a while for him to heal properly. Kobald was still gone, Delirious and Soldier Ant were still working for the Flood. But Icarus was standing at the head of two armies, both powerful in very different ways, he had the workings of a plan, he had management support. He had enough to at least start building a dam. Or maybe, they were just going to need a bigger boat...

-the end