If you get lost in the light, I can see in the dark

by NeonDomino

Remus always tries to do the right thing. He's a Superhero, after all. But when he meets Supervillain, Padfoot, he realises that the world isn't as black and white as he once thought - Or - Where Supervillain Sirius lays eyes on a Superhero and decides to kidnap him countless times so he can cook him dinner. Superhero/Supervillain!AU.

SuperHero/Supervillain

Auction: superhero!AU

A/N the first Sirius and James heist scene and the Peter the hacker is inspired by Dash, who wrote an amazing Jily (with a side of wolfstar - yum)

I wrote this as a bit of fun. It's unbetaed (I did my best to check through for mistakes) but I'm mostly posting it because I love it, despite it's length and just hope others enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing.

---

If you get lost in the light, I can see in the dark

Remus always tries to do the right thing. He's a Superhero, after all. But when he meets Supervillain, Padfoot, he realises that the world isn't as black and white as he once thought.

Set in a world where Superheroes/Villains have a multitude of abilities, not just one or two, and abilities can change and expand over time.

Warning: Mentions of abusive relationships (not with Wolfstar of course) not detailed.

---

Everyone in the city of London knows the name 'Gilderoy Lockhart'. Why wouldn't they? The man is the biggest hero the Country has ever seen. His record for defeating bad guys and doing good deeds is higher than any superhero from any other country in the world. Gilderoy likes to write out the statistics to alert everyone of this. The Agency has walls filled with framed articles of the man, filling anyone who walks through those hallways with awe. Much deserved awe, in Remus' opinion.

Remus is just a lowly superhero. If he can even call himself that anymore, because he doesn't feel like he's super anything anymore. His talents revolve more around healing and shapeshifting. He used to be able to shift in and out of his wolf-form at will, painlessly. He was also able to keep his mind as it is with all of those that can change form. Until the day of the incident.

He knows he's blocked the memory out for the most part (though at night, it's very different, because the nightmares come and he wakes up, terrified). But an encounter with the most evil supervillain that Remus has ever had the displeasure of meeting, Fenrir, left him a very broken man.

Fenrir's powers - ones that mirror Remus' in some ways - were used in a way to break people. Greyback was building an army, and decided that he wanted Remus to be his second in command. When Remus refused, Greyback decided to force Remus into a position where Remus couldn't refuse (or so Greyback thought).

Whilst Greyback also had the power to freely shift between human and a wolf (the wolf being the reason why the deranged supervillain set his sights on Remus), he didn't have the same healing powers. From what Remus has heard in stories, he was once able to heal, but he had never tried to develop this power, allowing it to become dormant in favour of other abilities that began showing. The ability that Greyback managed to pursue, to hone until it became his most deadly power was the ability to poison people. To make people ill. As time passed, he could do worse things to his victims. Longer-lasting effects. Hospitalisation. Deadly illnesses and diseases, until he became so good at what he could do, that he managed to find a way to twist people's blood in certain ways and curse them.

His first victim was himself, as Albus Dumbledore explained, not long after Remus woke up after being rescued from Greyback's laboratory. Greyback always tested on himself, believing it all made him stronger, but it just served to make the man even more twisted and evil.

Remus was the second. A trap had been set to lure Remus, and he wasn't saved until the curse had flowed through his body, forcing a shift. It wasn't smooth and pain-free as it had always been, it was the feeling of bones breaking and re-joining in a different position. The anger and hatred that the wolf felt taking over his mind in the seconds leading up to the transformation. The desire for blood, for carnage. To hurt, to kill.

What Remus hates the most is how weak he is. He's a healer, and he wants to heal himself and get rid of this curse. There is nothing he wants more than to be himself again, but he's not powerful enough to manage, so he has to suffer. He has to turn into a monster.

He now fights against the wolf, which once was a part of him, but is now a snarling deadly beast. It slowly pushes against him, wanting its freedom, because they're not one and the same anymore. The beast has its own mind. But Remus has no option but to let the beast roan. So, once a month he locks himself away. He has no choice but to let the beast rip itself from his body for the night, until he has the energy to contain it once more.

He's weaker now. The wolf has caused that - no, Greyback has caused that. The Agency of Superheroes has other healers, and Remus isn't needed all that much. Why would they want someone like him? He's lucky to even be there anymore. He's heard people whisper this as he's walked past, and as time passes, he starts to agree with them. There is no cure in sight, and every healer there has attempted to help him but to no avail.

Remus doesn't get sent on missions anymore. His pale-green hero outfit with little moons all over it hangs in his wardrobe, getting dusty. He's assigned to the research department instead, and he helps the other heroes with the information they need, because that's all he's good for. No-one wants a useless hero, a compromised one.

In the back of his head, he feels like Greyback has succeeded. By doing what he did, Greyback has managed to isolate Remus from his former friends and colleagues. He's managed to make Remus an outcast who doesn't belong. But Greyback never considered one thing. Remus would never join the man who caused this. He'd never be on side with someone who would take his life from him and ruin it and make him feel so unworthy.

Greyback didn't cause the other heroes to have this mindset, but Remus would still be one of them and still be welcome, be sent on missions. He'd still be able to help other people had Greyback just left him alone.

He still attends the meetings. The large room with the table for the main heroes that actually go on many missions. The smaller superheroes stand or sit around the sides of the room, and Remus hangs right back, because he's not a part of either of those groups.

This is the closest he'll ever get to acceptance.

This particular meeting though has Gilderoy Lockhart striding into the room in an outfit of beautiful colours, his hair completely perfect. He strides with the grace of someone on a catwalk, and all eyes are on him. Those closest to him get a beautiful smile thrown their way, and then the man speaks, and everyone is fixated on him. There's not any other sound in the room.

"I heard whispers," he says, his gaze shifting around the room and landing on each and every one of them. Well, almost everyone because his gaze doesn't move over to Remus' spot near the door. "Whispers in the city that the bank is going to be hit tomorrow."

No one says anything. They've all learnt that when Gilderoy Lockhart is talking, he doesn't like interruptions. He'll get to the point, even if sometimes he likes to talk a little bit more about things. No one questions him, either. They don't ask any questions about these whispers. Why should they? 99% of the time, Gilderoy is right, and that's a very high percentage.

Whoever his sources are, they do an excellent job, and Gilderoy pays them very well. He puts in expenses for the Agency to reimburse him. It can be a little hefty of a price—Remus has helped with the expenses before and the amount they get paid quite frankly shocks him—but the results make it more than worth it. After all, they're putting their own lives on the line here. They're at risk and as Gilderoy points out, the Agency should pay a little extra so they can use it to keep themselves safe.

"What time?" Albus asks. He's the only one who can talk whilst Gilderoy is talking as he leads the Agency, and Remus turns his attention to the older leader. He has a pen and paper in front of him, yet he doesn't reach out to write. It's someone else at the table scribbling away, making notes already, though not a lot has been said.

"Tomorrow at around noon," Gilderoy says. "I'm going to go in there alone, but I need blueprints of the bank. I need someone to research. Where is Marlene?"

Remus feels a little jealous. There have been a few rumours about Gilderoy and Marlene, though Marlene profusely denies them. But there are always rumours about Gilderoy, and they can't all be true. Remus refuses to believe them. Gilderoy is the epitome of good. He's the face of the Agency and the person that other heroes aspire to be.

"She's on her honeymoon," Albus explains. "Perhaps I can suggest a different researcher." He gestures to Remus, and for a moment, Remus is stunned. Him? He's not used to being noticed, and it throws him for a long moment, and even more so when Gilderoy looks his way, his gaze fixed on Remus.

There's a long pause. Remus half-expects someone to comment on this moment, to offer their own time to help Gilderoy research instead, but no-one dares say anything. A beautiful smile comes Remus' way and he can't even more his own lips to return it. He feels like a statue, frozen under those beautiful blue eyes.

"You'll do nicely," Gilderoy says, his voice lowering ever so slightly as his gaze shifts down Remus' body. Whilst Remus can't move, his cheeks can still turn very red, and when Gilderoy finally looks back at Dumbledore, Remus can duck his head and avoid eye-contact with everyone. He quickly shoves his hands in his pockets and moves closer to the corner, even more hidden than he was before.

Gilderoy starts talking to the group again, explaining what he knows, and Remus lifts his head, curious about the man he's going to be working with. He knows that his colleagues will tell Gilderoy about Remus' affliction, but Gilderoy loves all, no matter who they are, so maybe he's not like the others? Maybe he'll accept Remus?

And Remus is delighted to find out that he does.

---

Sirius Black hates Gilderoy Lockhart for reasons he doesn't discuss with many people. James and Peter both know, because they've always been his friends and they've always looked out for him, and he's confided in them. The only other person who he's talked to about it is Kingsley, leader of the band of 'Supervillains' as they're thought of as.

A few other members have an idea. He's fully aware of this, because Gilderoy is the sort of person to just use people and not care about anyone but himself. Half of the people there have been used by him in one way or another.

He likes his group. He prefers them to the Agency where he started out. That place is full of fake people who don't truly care for one another, whilst their group is a small ragtag group which are growing at a smaller rate, but filled with people that Sirius knows he can trust.

Kingsley leads them, he guides them and he looks out for them. He is always there to offer his support, and Sirius is loyal to the other man. Gideon and Fabian are the next to follow. Their abilities are a little more unusual, they can look at an idea for something and envision it. The parts needed, the time it'll take to make, the risks. Everything about it. That's not all that they can do, but it's a pretty important part of their group.

Then there are the actual Supervillains. Not that the other three are excluded, but Gideon and Fabian prefer to be thought of as inventors and scientists. The Supervillains themselves are James, Sirius, Peter and the rest of the people who go out and about and do what they need to do.

It's very different from the Agency here. They have their own building, and Kingsley's own powers serve to hide it from the wrong people. It's a safe haven for those that live in the building.

The meeting room is on the second to top floor, whilst there is a great room right at the top with massive windows showing off the beautiful view. There's anything anyone could want in there. A large television for movie nights, and games consoles for tournaments. There's an old-fashioned jukebox in the corner, which is constantly being updated by Peter, who only has to touch it link it to the Spotify account so they can play whatever music they want. (No ads of course).

There are small tables and chairs for games. Sofas litter the place and it's just comfortable and homey.

Thursday nights are gaming tournaments. Tuesdays are when Frank runs his Dungeons and Dragons game, and Friday more often than not turns into Karaoke.

The labs and other sensitive areas are all underground, and the many floors in between are where they all live, with many, many floors sitting empty. One day these rooms will be full. When they're their own official Agency. When their goal has been achieved.

They have the meeting on the top floor rather than in the actual meeting room. They don't need the hard-back chairs and to lean on the table. Sirius and James squash onto one of the sofas and James lifts his knees, pressing a notebook against it and he starts taking some notes, whilst also doodling animals down the margin. The meeting room is for the serious stuff and the longer meetings. The planning. This is just Kingsley giving out an assignment, and it's clear that Kingsley doesn't expect for them to be talking about it for too long.

"We need Tourcite," Kingsley tells them, glancing around the group of villains. "It's quite simple, really. We're building a machine that may stop Gilderoy Lockhart and the properties of Tourcite should help us with that. But, it's untested by the brothers, so we don't want to build the machine and waste materials until they've had a chance to examine it first. We'll still collect the materials for the machine parts, because they'll still be able to use those for other things, for the Tourcite is the priority."

"Where do you need us?" Sirius asks. Whilst they all have their skills, it tends to be him and James that take all of the chances. Willingly, of course. They like the heists, they enjoy sneaking around and doing what they want.

James' main ability is his invisibility. He's also learning to be able to reach through thin materials and take items out of it. Though that's taking a lot of practice and taking a lot of energy out of him as he learns and tries to hone it.

Sirius' abilities are just as good for the heists. There's his ability to be completely silent. He can walk on the creakiest floorboards without a single sound. He can hide in shadows and almost melt into them. He can be unseen. But that's not all. He's spent so long honing another ability since his school days, that it's second-nature to him. He can have a conversation with someone, and they can respond in return, but no-one can hear them.

Last but not least, is Peter Pettigrew. He doesn't actually attend the heists with them in person, because his powers aren't to do with sneaking around buildings. Instead, Peter sneaks around the internet. He goes into the system merely by touching a screen, and he can unlock doors, access alarms and cameras. He can bypass security in the blink of an eye and access blue-prints. The trio make a formidable team, though it can be frustrating that Sirius can only talk to one person at a time with his power. One day he knows that he'll be strong enough to do more. But for now, it's good enough. He only needs to talk to James for the majority of it.

Kingsley smiles at his determination. "I have a few smaller assignments for the rest of you," he says, glancing around. "James, Sirius and Peter, if you go with Charlus to the meeting room and he can brief you and you can start planning. Peter, I've fixed the computer in there, hopefully it'll stop the headache."

"Now?" James checks. When Kingsley nods, the three stand up and approach James' father who is leaning against the door-frame.

"We're not going to miss anything important?" James checks, and Charlus shakes his head and leads them from the room as Kingsley starts designating other jobs to other groups. Fabian follows them from the room, and when they reach the meeting room, he's the one to walk to the front as Charlus takes a seat.

Sirius likes Fabian. Though they never talk about it, he's sure Fabian had the same experience as him with Gilderoy Lockhart back at the Agency. There was just something about how protective Fabian was, how understanding. He never asked questions, and it just seemed like he already knew the answers.

"We believe that the tourcite can affect powers," Fabian explains, glancing between the four of them. "Which, during a heist, is not good for anyone involved. Well, us at least. You'll need to handle it a certain way."

"So, James can't just stick his hand into a display and pull it out?" Sirius asks, frowning a little because that had been a big part of the plan that he had started working out in his head.

Fabian shakes his head. "The second he touches it, it could potentially disable his powers. We don't know whether it'll be for seconds or hours. Maybe even days. It'll eventually wear off though, but the second his hand goes through and he touches it, he'll be stuck, his hand caught in the glass."

"Wait. Will it… will the glass chop off my hand?" James says, grabbing his left arm with his right and pulling it against his chest. Sirius stifles a laugh, but James glares at him.

Fabian does actually laugh. "From the studies we've done on your power, it's more that you make the material shift and return. If your hand is in there, it'll just leave a hole, so you'll be fine… but, the hole will be the exact size of your wrist, and there will be no way to remove your hand without breaking the glass." He pauses for a moment. "But don't do it, better safe than sorry."

James winces and he glances at the table. "Do we find a different way in, or do you have something else in mind?"

Fabian nods and he reaches for the items on the table. "Gloves. It makes it safe to handle the material. They're not comfortable. There wasn't a way to make them comfortable, but it'll protect you in the ways you need, and we don't think you'll need to wear it for all that long. The gloves are designed to work with your abilities, and to delay the effect of the stone, so you can put your hand in, grab the tourcite, hand out and drop it into the special box before the stone's properties can bleed through and affect you."

"Sounds simple," Sirius says.

Fabian nods. "In case someone gets this box, we can't let this get into the wrong hands. Whoever gets it will start looking into why we're after it, and we don't want them to do that before we get our hands on it. So the box is fitted with special codes. I'll go through it with all three of you now, and once I feel confident, I'm going to head back to the lab and you guys can get back to setting up. When are you thinking of doing this?"

"Tonight, if Peter believes it can be done, once he's accessed the information," Charlus replies.

Sirius shares an excited look with his friends. Tonight. It's so soon!

---

Remus and Gilderoy work together all night. Well, maybe that's not exactly true, but that's what they tell everyone. Not that anyone actually asks, but Gilderoy makes sure people are aware anyway. Remus isn't really sure why, but he trusts that someone like Gilderoy would have his reasons behind that, so he doesn't say anything.

The research does actually take longer than it should, simply because Gilderoy uses the time to recount the tales of many of his favourite encounters, and Remus tries to be a good audience, because it's clearly expected of him. He researches when Gilderoy is admiring himself in one of the many mirrors that are scattered about the Agency, or when Gilderoy gets food or drink, or rests. Remus doesn't mind hearing the stories, they are awe-inspiring, and he likes being that audience for Gilderoy. He's privileged, he tells himself.

When it's done, that's when Gilderoy gets into Remus' personal space, much to Remus' surprise. He presses their lips together before giving Remus a questioning look. Remus nods his consent, because why would he ever want to say no to the most handsome Superhero he's ever met? He'd never want to say no to someone like Gilderoy. So when Gilderoy suggests they go up to his room, Remus understands exactly where this is leading.

He agrees, he follows to the room, he admires it. The room is the entirety of the top floor with the largest glass windows which show the beautiful view. The other wall has a large mirror, and Remus glances at it, feeling very out of place next to someone who looks like Gilderoy. He turns his attention back to the amazing apartment. It's a suite with a few rooms, and Remus' tiny studio-apartment downstairs is about fifteen times smaller, if not more.

But of course Gilderoy has such a beautiful set of rooms. He's the most valuable person at the Agency and Remus is privileged to even be in here. Gilderoy confirms that thought with a cheeky smile and a lavish wink.

"People would kill to be here with me," Gilderoy says, turning the smile towards Remus. "But you're very beautiful, Remus. Even with your… your curse, and those scars." He pauses, looking disgusted for a brief moment, but the smile returns. " I've heard that you have some from the attack. Well, we can just turn the lights down and I won't even notice them. We can just pretend that they aren't even there!"

Remus feels even more self-conscious about the scars now, but Gilderoy is right. Gilderoy is beautiful and of course he wouldn't want to see the part of Remus that is ugly. Of course the lights should be turned off. He's just thankful that the scars can't be seen if he wears long sleeves. He's just thankful that Gilderoy wants him.

He allows Gilderoy to push him towards the bed, and allows the other man to take the lead. Because this is Gilderoy Lockhart, and this is what he wants. He's sure of it.

The next morning as he sits in the meeting room, he knows that there are some knowing looks coming his way. Gilderoy loudly points out how long the research took, and that's what they were doing all night, and Remus isn't sure how effective the words really are, but people don't ask questions and Remus is sure that anyone who doubts it will forget soon enough. Or maybe they should know. Maybe everyone here would look at him differently if they knew that Gilderoy found him worthy. (Though it's just a fleeting thought and he prefers them to not).

As they wait for the meeting to start, Gilderoy keeps finding his gaze and smiling, and that makes Remus feel more welcome than anything has in the longest of times. He hasn't felt like that in so long, and when Gilderoy takes a seat at the table and invites Remus to sit with him, Remus feels like he can be a part of this.

He ignores some of the unwelcome looks, though there's a little less hostility than before because no-one wants to argue with Gilderoy. And one person at the table wants him there, and Remus isn't going to turn down this offer, especially when the person in the seat next to Gilderoy quickly stands to make room for Remus to sit there. Remus does, with a quiet 'thank you' to him.

"Sponsorships," Gilderoy says, before the meeting is even announced by Albus. "I've been offered an amazing one, and of course, I've asked for them to sponsor all of you." He looks around, beaming at the others because this is clearly a huge gift to all of them, and they all look pleased. Though the Agency gets a lot of money, a portion of it goes to their research and development department, plus pay for the heroes, plus expenses, travel, living… everything. So, sponsorships mean more money.

It was something talked about before, but nothing was ever decided. But it's very much like Gilderoy Lockhart to take that initiative, and people murmur in excitement, but not very loudly because Gilderoy wouldn't like the interruptions.

The outfits, it turns out, as brightly coloured and flashy. Gilderoy looks amazing in his, and Remus can only rest his chin on his hand and watch as Gilderoy shows the sponsored outfits off to everyone. There are a few soft sighs from around the table, but no-one argues. They're too happy at the idea of the extra money that they will get.

No-one ever wants to be seen disagreeing with Gilderoy Lockhart. People who do tend to get ignored, and excluded for a few days until people start to forget. They learn their lessons quickly and don't repeat the mistake again.

"I'll be foiling the attack on the bank today," Gilderoy says, grinning around. "And I'll be wearing these beautiful clothes as I do it." He gives a little turn, the cape on his tight, lime-green outfit fluttering a little behind him as he does so. Somehow he looks perfect in such a bright colour, but that's just how Gilderoy Lockhart is, looking perfect in everything. He could wear the ugliest clothes and still pull them off, looking amazing with that heart-stopping smile and fabulous hair.

"But it'll cover your hair," Edgar Bones says, worriedly. "I thought you said you were looking into a mask that allowed your hair to look perfect, so people could see it?" Realising he's speaking out of turn, he glances around, eyes wide. "You look amazing, but it'd be a shame for the world to miss out on the hair."

Gilderoy smiles at him, and Edgar looks relieved that he's not going to face the isolation. "It's unfortunate, but it's how it must be," Gilderoy says sadly, his smile fading. "Imagine if my hair got caught in something, it'd make me look like a fool. No, best to tuck it away and protect it. Then when I win, which there's no doubt that I'll manage to do so, I'll remove it and people can realise it's me. It adds a level of drama and awe that makes it worthwhile. But I appreciate that you are so worried about my hair and were listening to what I said about it."

Remus wants to point out that Gilderoy inspires awe, whether he shows his face or not, but he's certain that he's going to start looking like a fanboy. He resists commenting. Maybe he is a bit of a fan-boy when it comes to Gilderoy, and the previous night had been a dream come true for him. In a way. He thinks.

Maybe the sex hadn't been what Remus had expected. But maybe it'll happen again. Maybe Gilderoy will slow down a bit. Learn what Remus enjoys. But Remus likes to focus on the fact that it happened, and of course he should appreciate that Gilderoy was even interested in getting Remus to bed. He's so used to being overlooked. It'll get better and he'll feel more comfortable. It'll all work out because this is clearly his fortune changing.

"I'm also going to be writing a book," Gilderoy tells them all. "My dearest Remus will be helping me."

Remus doesn't remember being asked, but maybe that happened after the sex, when he was falling asleep whilst Gilderoy was talking. Either way, he's happy to help the other man with anything he wants. Maybe this is Gilderoy's way of asking? In fact, it's quite the honour to be helping him.

Gilderoy takes Remus' hand on the table and looks at Albus to start the meeting, and Remus can see others glaring at him in jealousy. He'd have much rather revealed this after a bit of time, not just one night together, but Gilderoy doesn't seem to have much in the way of secrets. Plus, it's a bit obvious now, so Remus can't really say anything. There's no point saying anything.

A change of fortune. He wonders if his mum has come to this meeting, and if she can see, because he'd have liked to tell her in private. Maybe she's not here, though. She doesn't come to every single meeting they have, just the important ones.

---

Sirius tries to send a message to Peter, but there's no reply in his head. He lets out a soft sigh and starts to move a little bit back, the way he had come from, towards the last set of cameras. He needs to signal to Peter that he's so far into the system that Sirius can't make contact with him.

'Safe?' he asks James, using his ability to speak to James without anyone else hearing a sound.

'No'. James' voice comes through the same way. 'Guards'.

Sirius pauses, and he turns back once more to continue on. He knows James will stay close to him, so he doesn't worry too much about the position of his friend. He just makes sure to be a little slower, and a little less hidden so James knows where he is, and so James can get a little bit ahead.

He needs James to tell him when the coast is clear.

Sirius' eyes move around the hallway as he nears the corner. He knows that there's a camera over here somewhere, but he has to make sure that it's disabled before he goes past it.

'James, camera check,' he says. This isn't the first time he's struggles with sending a message with his abilities. Either Peter is so immersed in the system that he can't hear, or maybe the item is affecting his ability? Though he could be a little too far from Peter now for the contact to work. Th range is still limited, but he's working on being able to reach out further to contact people.

There's a long pause as James sets up. Suddenly there's the smallest flicker of light, which disappears immediately.

A moment passes, and then the camera moves. It shifts up before going back into place, and then to the right.

It's code. The trio developed it after their first-ever heist went bad because of communication difficulties. It's tried and tested and changed until it's perfect.

The first movement is to indicate safety of continuing on towards the next camera. If it moves up, it means that it's safe to move forward. Down is their signal to retreat. If Peter goes left, it's to wait and right means to hide.

The second movement is to indicate the level of safety, in this case. It's basically a 'I've got you' indication, so Sirius starts to move forward, and he feels James' hand touch his arm briefly, to say that he's still with him. They carry on at a steady pace, Sirius bearing in mind that whilst James is invisible, he's not as silent as Sirius, so he needs to take time to sneak.

They ignore the sound of the footsteps in the distance, which is the only noise that breaks the silence around them. Sirius trusts Peter and he knows that Peter would have signalled them in some way to let them know if there was an issue. If Peter hasn't, then it's safe to carry on.

They finally reach their destination. In front of them are some large wooden doors, locked of course, and Sirius approaches it.

It's one of the powers born from fear and desperation. Scared of the dark, Sirius can see brilliantly well in it - though he'll never really get over that fear. But that's not the power he's using right now. He's using his ability to pick locks. Because being trapped by his parents, thrown in the basement because he wasn't good enough, has caused him to be able to open locks.

He managed it when his parents were on a mission once, and he grabbed his brother and tried to run. They couldn't get out of the base that his ancestors had built - Grimmauld Base - and that's when Regulus found his own power to get them out, opening a portal that landed them three miles from the holiday home that the Potters owned.

Once there, the alarms sounded and the family were alerted, and Sirius and Regulus were taken in. With new powers to hone. Regulus did so, but Sirius preferred to goof-off with James. But now that the ability is useful, he regrets not putting the effort in to hone it.

It takes almost five minutes and Sirius feels light-headed when he's done and the lock clicks open. Peter has already confirmed that the door holds no alarms, it's just the cases themselves, and James opens the door gently and slips through the gap.

Sirius waits about ten seconds so he doesn't accidentally bump into his friend, before following through. He's bumped into James before, and it's best that they don't mess up. If things go smoothly, Kingsley will have even more faith in them. They want to keep proving themselves.

With one more glance at the camera through the door, he slips through, happy that the light is flashing. It's code once more, it means that all is safe.

The light off means to stop, and if it's completely red, it means that Peter has been kicked out or pulled out, or something is wrong on Peter's end.

When Peter is stronger, they'll have better codes. But this works for now.

Sirius isn't worried at all. The problem will be when they actually retrieve the item that they are there for. That's when the alarms will start to sound. That's when any traps in the building will activate, though Peter currently has control over all of that. That's when they'll have to try and do one of the plans.

Also, that's when Lockhart will show up, ready to fight and take the item from them.

Sirius lives for these moments. He likes the sneaking, the quests. He enjoys these private missions more than anything. The ones without Regulus. Because as much as he loves his brother, the portals just make things much too easy. So he's glad that Regulus has to transport people into more urgent situations, though he'll be on standby should things go badly. He's a back-up plan to their escape.

James drops his invisibility for a moment, and Sirius keeps an eye on the cameras, ready for the signal from Peter. James starts to prepare himself, taking the gloves out and handing the box to Sirius.

He pulls the gloves on, frowning as he does so. "He wasn't lying," he mutters as he tries to wiggle his fingers. They look stiff, but he can open and close his hand, which Sirius supposes is enough.

James glances at Sirius and then at the box, which Sirius quickly opens, pressing the code in quickly, and they both look at the camera. Peter would most likely be checking if he can disarm everything in that room.

The camera shifts to signal that this isn't the case, but the lights flash and they know that it's go time. James double-checks the gloves, and he turns towards the display. The plaque next to it is clear. Tourcite.

Sirius moves closer, ready to offer any support if needed, and James tries to focus.

His eyes shimmer a soft gold for a moment, and he presses his fingers against the glass. It seemingly melts away where his hand touches, and James pushes his hand in, a frown on his face as he wills the glass to shift around it.

His fingers close around the stone and he starts to pull it out, moving his hand at a steady pace. The second the stone is touched, there's a colour pulsing throughout the room, and Sirius starts to look around, assessing the situation. A hero will be here soon, most likely Gilderoy.

But he's not going to rush James. He holds the box steady and listens for any noise. James grits his teeth as it becomes more of an effort to pull his arm back out. He's pale by the time his hand comes back through the glass and the glass knits back together as though nothing had happened.

He holds the stone up, pleased.

"Quick," Sirius says, not using his powers. It'll only take a fraction of his energy, but he's not going to waste any of it because they need it to get out. Outside of the case though, the stone doesn't look as much like Fabian had described.

"Is that even blue?" Sirius checks, glancing at James.

"Sort of a bluey-green, I suppose," James responds. "It's a bit bigger than Fabian said, but maybe they just assumed it'd be smaller. The display has the right name, so it's got to be our stone." He puts it carefully into the box and closes the lid, and the box starts to make clicking sounds as all the locks click into place.

It's time to go. They glance at the camera and Peter signals to them that a hero has arrived. Sirius glances towards James, and his friend fades from sight, and Sirius moves to one of the corners and tries to melt into the shadows.

---

Gilderoy's lips are on Remus' neck when there is a buzzing on the far wall. The other man straightens quickly and rushes away without an explanation. Remus' neck feels a little sore, but he's not complaining. Why would he complain when Gilderoy is paying him this much attention?

"Gilderoy?" Remus asks, a little confused at the sudden stop of their actions. He ignores the slight feeling of relief at it. He's never seen an alarm like that before, but Gilderoy doesn't seem panicked, so Remus is sure it's nothing bad.

"You just stay there and look pretty," Gilderoy says, beaming at Remus. "I won't be long, and we can pick up where we left off." He reaches for his lime-green outfit, before putting it back and taking a pink one instead. He grabs a second one out and starts to fold it up, before reaching up to fix his hair. He blows himself a kiss in the mirror and winks at his reflection.

"Why two?" Remus can't help but ask.

"I'm case I get the first one dirty," Gilderoy explains. Remus supposes that this makes sense. Gilderoy likes to look his best, and how can he look his best if his suit is dirty?

"Oh," he murmurs. "Should I… do you want to set up a microphone or something?"

"What for?" Gilderoy starts to strip off his clothes.

"So I can record what happens," Remus insists. "It'd be nice to have some in the moment quotes from you. What do you think? I was thinking about it earlier. For your book, I mean."

Remus' gaze moves down the man's body as he admires it. There is not a single blemish or scar and Remus wonders how Gilderoy goes through so much without it showing? He must just be really good at what he does, yet, all heroes end up with a mark at some point or other, even with someone healing them. But Gilderoy's skin is perfect, completely flawless.

"You can look more later," he says saucily. "Suit up, Remus, you can come along. Make sure to take a lot of pictures of me for my book, and for the paper whilst you're at it. It's about time I allow someone to see how amazing I am on the job."

"Wait. You want me to come along?" Remus almost falls off the bed, bumping his side for the second time in five minutes. "Yeah. Of course. I'll be right there." He grabs his clothes and pulls them on quicker than he's ever dressed before. He doesn't want Gilderoy to change his mind, because that could actually happen. Plus, he knows the other man is in a bit of a rush. Something is happening.

He pulls out his old outfit. It's not as glamorous as Gilderoy's outfit, but it'll hide who he is. He pulls it on and heads back to find his… well, not boyfriend. It's been one and a bit of a sexual encounter. But whatever they are.

---

The blast throws Sirius back and his body hits one of the glass displays. James is nowhere to be seen, and Sirius has to trust that James has his back. He always trusts James to have it. He glances towards the camera. It's signalling danger, so Sirius knows that Peter is watching. It's fine. He trusts his group. He just needs to buy time until whatever plan James decides on, goes ahead.

"It is I, Gilderoy Lockhart," comes the muffled voice from underneath the mask. The figure stands, hands on hips as he looks around the room.

Another man appears, but he stands further back, just watching.

"You've got yourself a sidekick?" Sirius laughs. "Impressive, Lockhart." He lifts his fingers, doing some air-quotes around the name. "Impressive that you'll let anyone else anywhere near your spotlight."

Lockhart strides forward, and Sirius scrambles to his feet. The other guy pulls out a camera. "Oh. He's not a hero after all, just your little secretary. He's gotta be good in bed too."

The guy almost drops the camera. His fingers clench around it instead and he pulls it defensively against his chest. Oh yes, he's definitely ended up in Lockhart's bed. Not that Sirius can really blame him. Haven't they all been seduced into his bed at one time or another? As quickly as he realises that, he realises what this guy is probably going through. Pity takes over instead. This guy is just the next victim of Gilderoy.

"Mate, don't you worry, Gilderoy—" he starts.

He doesn't get to say anything further because the man in the bright pink jumpsuit strides over and grabs him around the throat. Sirius silently curses himself for being distracted and all common-sense goes out of the window. "Hey, remember last time you did this?" Sirius hisses, a smirk on his lips. "I had bruises for days. You loved it, I had to wear a scarf because it was horrible." He tries to look around at Lockhart's companion. "Mate, you don't want—"

He hits a display once more, with more force than the blast caused. The grass smashes around him and showers him. Suddenly, Gilderoy hits the ground, and Sirius silently contacts James.

'Thank you!'. There's no reply, and Sirius can't really blame him. Sirius let emotions take over. He's provoked Greyback and he's certainly going to get a telling off later.

The stranger rushes over. He's wearing a faded green outfit which looks a few years old. Sirius wonders if this is someone in the organisation that he actually knew before he left? He racks his brain as he considers it.

"Are you hurt?" the stranger asks, concern clear in his voice, and Sirius absently realises that he's bleeding. He feels a bit drained, actually. He needs a healer. He needs to get back to base and have someone sew up whatever wound this is. He can feel sweat trickling down his forehead.

"How can you tell?" he mutters.

The man reaches up, pushing some glass aside.

"Moony," the man offers quietly. "The name you can use when you apologise for being rude to me." He reaches up, his fingers touching Sirius' forehead and healing a wound that Sirius hadn't even realised was there. Okay, so not sweat after all then.

Moony follows that by touching Sirius' side as gently as possible. Sirius feels his own suit stick to his skin. The wound heals and the blood suddenly feels cold and horrible.

"Thank you, Moony," he mutters, with a slight smile. The Superheroes might be arseholes, but he owes this guy. Maybe not his life, but the time it takes to recover. Or having to suffer through the pain for a bit.

"There. I hope in return, you'll leave here without any trouble." Moony glances around. "What is your friend even doing?"

Sirius glances up and looks over at Lockhart who is struggling with an unseen assailant.

"Who?" Sirius asks, though it's sort of clear that something is happening.

"Your… your friend. The one with the… are they antlers, or something?" The man shifts back, done with the healing for now, and Sirius has so many thoughts that he can't process.

'Knock him out,' Sirius orders to James, using his power to make the words silent. It's going to take everything James has, but they have other things to worry about right now.

"No, don't knock him out," Moony says. "Look, can't we just part ways, no trouble, no hurting each other?"

Sirius has really underestimated this man. He can see through their powers, and it seems like the Tourcite isn't the only thing that they're taking today. He doesn't say anything else as James continues tormenting Lockhart. Instead, Sirius looks at the camera and sends the signal for the emergency pick-up. They need it.

Above them, the glass smashes, and Sirius isn't even sure whose plan this is, but he's quick to push Moony out of the way. Behind them, a portal shimmers in the air. He hears a low whistle from James, which means James knows that it's there.

Lockhart hits the floor.

"Oh. Thank you," Moony says. His lips curve into a slight smile at being saved.

"You helped me, I help you," Sirius says, with a shrug. "But I feel bad about the next part."

Moony sounds unsure now, more reserved. "And dare I ask?"

Lockhart retreats. He scrambles to his feet and runs, and Moony goes to run with him, but Sirius grabs his arm. James appears on the other side and grabs the other one, but not before shooting Sirius a curious look.

"He'll have backup any moment," James says. "We need to get out of here now."

Sirius' gaze is fixed on Moony.

"Take him."

---

"How's the blindfold?" the man asks. "Is it too tight?"

"Padfoot, he's fine. He's our prisoner. Just leave him," comes another voice.

Remus stays silent for a moment as he processes the name. Padfoot. This man used to be a hero called Padfoot, but he goes by another name now. The Grim.

That means that the other man is most likely Prongs, or The Stag as he's now known as. Remus thinks it's safe to assume this because of the mask with antlers on it that twist and wind around the man's head in an intricate pattern.

But also because the pair left the team of heroes at the same time. The pair were friends, and Remus can see that this hasn't changed. He tries to think back to his first few days at the agency, where those two were still heroes.

The memory is vague. They left within a few days of Remus starting, and here they are, three, almost four years later. Different costumes than Remus remembers, and he's a little scared. He's heard bad stories about this group. There's one of him and from what he can sense, there are about six of them. Maybe more.

He's been captured before. He still has nightmares about that time, and he's quite terrified.

"What are you going to do to me?" he asks, trying to keep his breathing normal. He fights to stay as calm as possible. He knew this would happen one day, that Greyback would come for him once more, and the time has come. He's very unprepared for this moment.

He fights against the ropes, wanting to get his hands loose, but the rope is so tight that he can barely move them. It hurts his skin, it burns as he tries. He doesn't see any point in shouting for help, and that might just antagonise his captors, so he resists as much as his brain is screaming at him right now.

"You'll hurt yourself," the man - Padfoot - says. "Stop that."

Remus pauses. He'll wait until he has a better opportunity because even if he does get his hands free, what will he really do? Though he doubts that he'll manage. He will fight in whatever way he can, he can handle the pain of ropes. He's been through worse pain in his transformations.

There's a murmur of voices and he hears people walking away, to the other side of the room. He tries to think of what will happen.

They took him, not Gilderoy. Which means that this could have been a trap set for him, but that's unlikely. He hasn't been on a mission in so long, no one would have expected him to be there. Which means this is an abduction of chance. But the point still stands on who they took, so that means even years after the first attack from Greyback, the beast is still after him. It's why villains took him, because he's wanted by the wrong people.

"Come on, we've got to move you." This voice is unfamiliar to that of both Padfoot and Prongs. Remus listens for other sounds, but he quickly determines that only two people are with him, and he fights against the ropes, against the hands transporting him. A third person rushes over and helps the others and Remus lets out a growl, but maintains his human form for now.

He stops fighting. Between the anger and the panic, the wolf is rearing its ugly head and Remus doesn't want that. Not right now. The wolf is the last, last resort. When he's face to face with Greyback, so Greyback's creation can kill the Supervillain that created it.

Because… whilst Superheroes aren't supposed to kill, accidents happen and Remus loses his own mind when the wolf takes over. So what that beast does is out of Remus' control. Therefore, an accident. But he always has wondered if the blood curse will end once Greyback has died?

A door opens and Remus is led through. He's spun around by hands on his shoulders.

"Sit," the unfamiliar voice says, and Remus does so. The chair is wooden and uncomfortable, and he tries to read the room to work out if anyone else is in there.

It takes a moment, but the door closes, and then the blindfold is removed from his face. He glances around wildly, trying to see if Greyback is there. He takes a deep breathe, trying to work out if Greyback's scent is somewhere there. He can't see the beast, but that doesn't mean anything. He's convinced that Greyback is here, lurking. His gaze moves to Padfoot.

"Let me go," Remus whispers. He's shaking. He fights against the binding. He can feel the emotions taking over and he doesn't want that.

"Hey, you okay?" Prongs asks, kneeling close to Remus and trying to get a good look at his face. "Look, listen, okay, we…"

"I know why you've taken me," Remus interrupts. "But if you let me go, I'll pay you more than he's paying you. Somehow." Remus' gaze is wild. The panic rises up inside of him and he feels less and less in control. He has savings. He can talk to Albus and maybe apply for some money to make the payment. Though he's not sure the Agency will agree with the payment. But it's worth a try.

He needs that control and he turns his gaze to Prongs. "You need to let me out of here now, for all our safety."

Prongs shakes his head, and Remus feels anger. If Greyback comes in here, the only thing Remus can do is fight, because the only way Greyback will get to him is if Remus is dead, and he will fight until there is nothing left.

He hears a noise outside of the door at this, and he's sure now. The footsteps are quiet, they're ones like the sounds he once learnt to fear, and he just knows that the monster is lurking there. He can't reign in the rage that has built inside of him, he can't control the fear. His eyes glow a vivid amber, and the colour tints his world.

He looks at the people in the room who have backed up a little, wary and braced for any sort of attack.

"Get out of here and lock me in before I do something I regret," he begs. "I can't control it."

And that's the last thing he remembers.

---

One minute Moony looks like he's about to have the biggest panic attack that Sirius has ever seen, and the next minute, his eyes are glowing amber - and that's a glow that Sirius has never seen before. He looks feral as he orders them to leave.

But Sirius can hear the undertone there. The man is not threatening them, he's begging them to leave. He's clenching his fists, a desperation to his face. He can't control this, he said, and Sirius believes those words.

"Everyone out. Orothos, we may need a wall put up outside of this room to contain him. His gaze moves to Frank, who nods.

Everyone leaves, and Sirius backs away slowly, watching. Moony's eyes turn black now, underneath his mask, and that is something he's certainly never seen before. With each minute, his expectations and opinion of this man are changing as he tries to comprehend what is happening.

The sound of bones breaking changes everything once more. Sirius is a shifter, James and Peter are shifters. A transformation into an animal doesn't look like this, and that means there is something very wrong with Moony's powers. Sirius can't stop looking though, wanting to understand what is happening in front of him. He doesn't stop watching until there is a wolf standing there in where Moony had once been, and the beast turns, it's gaze on Sirius and fury in its eyes.

Sirius can see immediately that Moony is not in that animal right now. The wolf wants blood, vengeance, to hunt and kill. He jumps back and slams the door shut, and a second later, the beast throws itself against the door with enough force to splinter it. Sirius looks at the broken part of the door in shock.

"Frank," he says, not bothering with their code-names anymore now that the wolf is in control. "Wall."

They hear the thud of the wolf against the door again, but the wall seals it and the door remains intact.

It doesn't stop the wolf. Over and over again, the creature attacks the door, and Frank holds the wall, somewhat more powerful than the group, and the floor gets evacuated. Only Sirius, James and Regulus remain. Peter watches from the screens upstairs, ready to relay information to Sirius if needs be.

Frank is pale now, but Sirius is keeping track of the attacks, and the wolf is slowing down. The noises are quieter, which means the wolf is giving up. The wolf is losing energy, and once it loses enough, it'll not have the power to retain its form. Or so he hopes, and then Moony will return.

But this time, they're going to handle this better. Sirius is worried about Moony though. This isn't the sort of thing that should be happening to anyone, but it's clear from the way the man reacted, that he knew what was about to happen. So that means he can't shift properly, it means that it's happened before, which means that he'll survive through this. Hopefully they don't need to get him any specialist medical help, because if that's the case, they'll have to teleport him right to the steps of the Agency.

Sirius is debating doing that already, but there's something in the back of his head telling him not to be so rash. He can possibly heal here first. As the hour passes, he feels the guilt of the situation hitting him. He caused this. Sirius.

It was clear to all of them that Moony was in a state of panic, but they just assumed that this is how people acted when being abducted. After all, it's not the first time they've had to do it. But it is the most impulsive time. Sirius had planned to reassure the guy once they were in the interrogation room of the warehouse.

The wolf stops completely. Sirius is ready to rush right in there, but the order is to waits five minutes. Peter has eyes on the room still, and he can see the wolf settling.

As the minutes pass, the form starts to very slowly shift. Sirius listens to this information and he itches to run back in, but Kingsley has given a strict order. The wolf could go again if aggravated. There's a record of people finding a sudden burst of energy when they need it, though it can make them weak for days afterwards. Like an emergency reserve or something.

Plus, the wall is still up. He'd have gone in if the wall was down, but it's like Frank knows him really well, or something. Frank is struggling, but he's listening to the command and Sirius knows he'll need to rest for a week, maybe longer.

Finally, the signal comes through that they can enter the room, and Sirius puts his hand to the door and tries to get a read on the emotions. Exhaustion. Fear. In fact, this guy is terrified, and Sirius is determined to fix this. He never wanted anyone to feel like this. He's responsible for Moony.

"It's safe," he mutters. "But we've got to fix this. Reassure the guy and get the info as kindly as possible. We've got a shit-ton of work to do to make him trust us. So you all stay out here, I think it'd be better if I'm alone. Less threatening and less scary."

"How is he a hero?" Frank asks. "Heroes can't do things like that."

"Corruption," James replies. "His powers are corrupted. It's why I didn't recognise him there. I keep track of all the active heroes, and knew he wasn't one of them. His outfit says he's been around a while, it's not a new outfit. I just assumed that I had somehow missed one. But a corrupted hero would maybe have been taken off duty for a bit."

It makes sense to Sirius. He reaches out and opens the door, not arguing when James insists that he's coming with him. They both enter, but he glares at James to stay by the door, as he closes it.

The door is in worse state on this side. It's almost broken clean through.

He turns back to Moony and immediately notices the blood on the floor. He makes a swift plan in his mind on the steps to take before questioning. He needs a calm, friendly environment, but he's not going to bullshit him. This guy knows he's here for a reason.

The superhero costume is laying around the room in tatters, and Sirius walks over to the sofa and picks up the untouched blanket. He shakes it out and approaches.

"I'm Padfoot," he says in his softest voice. "Can you hear me?"

The man makes a noise, and it's as though he's trying to speak, but words aren't coming to him.

"I've got a blanket for you to wrap yourself in. Cover yourself, then I'll help you onto the sofa. No ropes, no blindfolds. Is that okay?"

Moony makes the noise again, and Sirius lays the blanket over the man, trying not to stare at the scars and marks littering his body. Not all of those marks are from these transformations, but he's sure that quite a few are. There are other marks that Sirius can't even begin to understand.

"You need to cover yourself up," Sirius says. "Otherwise everyone is going to get a nice look at your arse later. I mean, it's just me and Prongs in here right now. We sent the others away. No one else will come in for a bit, okay?"

The man's hand moves slowly and he starts to fix the blanket around himself. Sirius allows him a minute to do so, ignoring the fact that the blanket is soaking up some of the blood.

"I'm going to help you up and get you onto the sofa," Sirius says. Because they have very little use for an interrogation room and he's sure people have been using this room to get away from the noise, hence the leather sofa being put in here. He'll have to have a word about this room later, but it's not really important just now. "Just me, yeah? But if we struggle, Prongs will help."

The man makes the noise again and Sirius does his best to help the man to his feet as he clutches the blanket. He stumbles towards the sofa, and Sirius helps him sit down. The man winces in pain.

"I'm going to call for medical," Sirius says. "Or can you heal yourself?"

"My powers don't work on myself," Moony states, his voice rough. "Water?"

"Yeah. Anything you need." Sirius nods to James to make the call, and he kneels on the floor in front of Moony. The water appears in seconds and James brings it over. When Moony lowers his head to drink the water, that's when Sirius feels a weird feeling of familiarity. Has he seen this man before?

Moony's mask is gone. His dark blond hair is sticking up in all directions, and when he opens his eyes, they're a deep amber colour. He's quite gorgeous, really, and Sirius smiles softly.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asks, instead.

That's the wrong thing to say, because the man sits up, his expression hardening. "Don't act like you don't know," he spits. "Greyback sent you to get me, didn't he? That's the only thing that could've happened, because otherwise you'd have gone for Gilderoy. But you took me and not him. I may appear weak, Grim but I could tear you apart in a matter of seconds. But if you let me walk out of here right now, I'll do so without harming anyone."

Sirius can tell that this man doesn't want to hurt anyone. He's scared, and Sirius knows the name 'Greyback' but he's trying to recall. He looks towards James and mouths the name, recalling Moony being able to hear Sirius' private messages.

"Greyback, so you're one of his experiments?" James asks, and that is even more so not the right thing to say, and Sirius knows that even before he turns his gaze back to Moony, who is starting to look feral again. His teeth are bared, and his eyes flash once before he reigns it in.

"I became one of his experiments," Moony snaps, correcting James. "But I am not 'one of his experiments' as though that's the start and end of my identity, so please refrain from stating as such."

"We're not affiliated with him," Sirius says. "We won't be handing you over to him, we won't be doing anything to you like he did. I promise, okay. We didn't take you to harm you. I know you have no reason to believe us, but there's no reason for us to lie about it. You've been here about an hour, Moony. We could have called him and had him take you when you woke up. Just a sliver of trust, that's all I ask for."

Moony looks disbelieving, but Sirius carries on.

"We need you for information. Now, you're hurt, so Angel is going to look over you, then I'll bring you somewhere to have a shower - if you feel like you can manage - and we'll find you some clothes. We'll get you some food, and once you're comfortable, we're going to sit down and talk."

"What if I don't want to talk to you?" Moony asks, eyes narrowed.

"Well, we're not going to force you," Sirius says. "You might think we're the bad guys right now, but bear something in mind…" he pauses, and Moony watches, waiting for him to continue. Sirius tries to think of the right words.

"You said that you want to be known as more than just an experiment. Give us that same decency. We're more than you think too." His gaze moves over Moony's face again. Cute. So very cute, especially when he's angry. But he's sure he's seen this face before. He's sure about those eyes, and he's sure he's talked to James about amber eyes.

"Do I know you?" he asks.

"We were at the Agency together before you left," Moony mutters tiredly. "For a few days, at least. I'm surprised you noticed me though. I kind of kept to the back of things. You and Prongs were more 'centre of attention' sort of guys."

Sirius nods. "I remember you," he murmurs. He wants to say more, but there's a knock at the door.

"Medical," Sirius says softly. "Don't try to escape, and you won't come to harm here. Take that as my word. If anyone lays a finger on you, I'll deal with them myself."

Moony still looks suspicious of them, but still he nods his head. Sirius heads to the door and Alice comes in with the medical kit. They don't have anyone with healing abilities, so the make the best with what they can.

He moves to the edge of the room to stand guard, just in case. He's not going to risk Alice's safety. He can feel James' gaze on him though, and he avoids looking at his best friend.

---

The woman—Angel, he assumes—cleans and checks over his wounds, saying she'll do any binding that she needs to after Remus' shower, and Remus clutches the blanket as he's led down the hallway to a bathroom. Thankfully the hallway is clear, and it's only Prongs and Padfoot that trail after him.

So they're the ones guarding him. He wonders if that's a good thing or a bad thing? The way people talk about them, he must be a massive threat that needs protecting against and the thought makes him want to laugh.

There's something honest about Padfoot's tone, and Remus wants to believe him, but Greyback was also a very good liar, very convincing. Very charming, and Remus has learnt not to trust people. The only people that he trusts are Albus and Gilderoy. Albus because even after the bite, Albus is the only one who has given Remus a chance. Remus owes him for that, because it's nice that one person has faith in him, despite what he is.

Albus gives him purpose. Even if it's not the purpose he desires, it's better than nothing. It means he still is a part of the Agency.

And Gilderoy of course. The man knows what Remus is, and of course it bothers him - because why wouldn't it - but he makes Remus feel useful, human even. Remus gets to help him by researching and by helping with his book, and Gilderoy even allows Remus to come along on his mission, and he doesn't let anyone do that. Which means that Remus is special in some way to him. Remus matters.

Remus is handed a clean flannel. There's some shower gel in the stall so he makes use of that, enjoying the stream of hot water hitting his skin. His shower back at the base isn't that great, and he's asked for it to be fixed, but he knows that he's a very low priority and he doesn't want to be pushy. He already knows that he doesn't belong there, and he doesn't want to give people more reason to dislike him.

When he steps out of the cubicle, a towel around him, he notices Prongs walking from the bathroom, some clothes left on the counter by the sink.

Some track-suit bottoms and a plain t-shirt and some thick socks. It'll do, Remus decides. Well, it'd have to anyway. He doesn't really want to walk around naked or wrapped in a blanket. He dries himself and dresses into the clothes and they feel nice on his skin. He loves those minutes after a shower when he feels all nice and clean and relaxed, though he's not sure at the situation he's going to be facing when leaving the room.

But maybe they aren't going to hand him over to Greyback. Wouldn't they have done it already? That is enough to keep him calm enough to walk over to Padfoot, who is waiting outside of the room for him. Prongs is nowhere to be seen.

"You're all being nicer than I expected," Remus says, as he tries to remember the layout of the rooms he's already been in. "What is it that you want?"

"Right now, to fix what we've done wrong," Padfoot explains. "We didn't realise that the panic would cause you to shift, and we certainly didn't know about your…"

"Disease," Remus spits.

"Your difficulty with shifting," Padfoot clarifies. "If we had, we'd have handled this better." He pauses for a moment. "Well, I'd like to think that we could have handled it better. Whether that's true or not, who knows."

Remus gives a slight nod and follows. He's sure that even though he can't see anyone else, they're watching. He's a monster and who can trust something like him? He listens and he can hear the noises behind the doors and where the hallway bends towards the end of it.

"You can trust me, you know," Padfoot says, glancing back, and Remus frowns a little, trying to work out how he knows what Remus is feeling.

"A smaller power of mine, I can read emotions," Padfoot explains. "It'll tire me out to do so, but I wanted to check if you were feeling better."

"Next time, just ask," Remus snaps.

"I'm sorry," the man mutters. "I will in future." He's led to another room, and this one has a window. The light streams in and it's a lot less threatening. Padfoot points towards an armchair. "Get comfortable."

"What? Not going to bind my wrists again?" Remus asks, holding up his hands. There are harsh red marks from the rope, even before he shifted and ripped the rope apart. He glares at Padfoot, but doesn't expect Padfoot to look so shocked.

"You want me to trust you all, give me a reason to," Remus mutters.

Padfoot hesitates, but after a moment he reaches up and removes his mask, and Remus' eyes widen.

He remembers Padfoot. He remembers that the man was handsome, but in the almost four years since they last met, he's gotten even more so. Dark curls fall around his face and stormy grey eyes observe him. Those lips. Remus stares. He can't help himself, and the high-cheekbones only add to the vision that is Padfoot. Gilderoy has nothing on this man.

"There. You know what I look like now. If you saw me in the street, you'd know me. Is that a good enough start?" Padfoot asks.

Remus isn't entirely sure. Maybe they're planning on killing him at the end of this? Identity doesn't matter if he's dead. But he's starting to realise that Padfoot isn't entirely evil as he's been led to believe. If they wanted him dead, they wouldn't have cleaned his wounds or let him shower. They'd have killed him when he shifted, because Remus is certain that between the members of the group that they work for, he'd be no match for them.

They aren't handing him over to anyone just yet, and they don't want to kill him. So for now, he's safe.

"It helps," he admits quietly, but Padfoot isn't really paying that much attention to what he's saying. He reaches out and takes Remus' hand in his, inspecting his wrist.

"Did we do this?" Padfoot asks, touching the skin just below it.

"Some of it was when I ripped the rope apart, I'd imagine. But yes," Remus says.

Padfoot looks genuinely upset at this, but Remus forces himself not to lower his shields and trust the man. A bit of remorse isn't enough. This man still made the order that brought him here. All of this happened because of this man.

"Why am I here?" Remus demands.

Padfoot glances up from the rope-burn marks on Remus' wrists. "Let Angel bind up these and we'll sit in here and have a talk. I'll go order food. You must be hungry after a transformation like that?"

"Into a monster, you mean?" Remus asks, completely thrown by the offer of food.

"A normal shift can make someone hungry and feel slightly drained. One like you experienced must take a large toll on your body, considering the state you were in when we returned to you once you were yourself again. Anything you don't like on your pizza?"

"Pineapple," Remus quickly says, and Padfoot laughs. It's a nice sound, and in any other situation, Remus would have liked it. He reminds himself that this is his enemy though. "You know, I like you a little bit more, hearing that," Padfoot says. "Prongs likes pineapple and I'm constantly offended every time he orders a pizza and I have to sit there and watch him eat pineapple on pizza. Or worse. Mushroom."

Remus has to pull a face at this. Those are the two worst pizza toppings in existence. "I guess I'll be sharing your pizza and not his," he says, a hint of a smile on his lips, and Padfoot's gaze shifts down and he's definitely watching Remus' mouth, though Remus isn't really sure why. Padfoot lets out an awkward cough. "Right. Angel is right outside. I'll go order the food."

He rushes off quickly, the door locking behind him, and Remus jumps up from his seat and rushes to the window. He tries the lock, not wanting to waste a moment of his time, but it doesn't budge at all. He doesn't give up though, but only stops when the door opens again.

"They're planning on letting you go," the woman from before - Angel - says, with a wary smile. "Padfoot believes that I'm safe alone here, but my boyfriend is a little nervous, so he's hovering outside. You know how boyfriends are… or girlfriends, I don't want to assume either way. You do you. I'm here to heal you though and I hope that I'm right in trusting you, and that Padfoot is too."

"Because of what I am?" Remus asks, with a slight sigh.

"I mean, I suppose, yes. We don't know anything about you," Angel explains. "We'd be wary about anyone new, no matter their affliction. We're trying to show you that we want to trust you, because we want to earn trust in return."

Remus nods and Angel approaches.

"Wrists," she says. When Remus offers them, she starts to gently put ointment on them. Remus hisses in pain, but she's being civil to him and he's going to be calm and not give her any reason to be scared of him. He doesn't want people to fear him in this way.

She binds them gently, looking up every few seconds to make sure he's comfortable.

"My boyfriend did the ropes. We have little experience in tying people up, and… for what it's worth, he's really sorry about this. He's genuinely remorseful. He'd apologise himself, but Padfoot has given strict orders for us not to overwhelm you by too many people being around you at a time."

Remus says nothing. He doesn't believe her, but she's still so convincing. He appreciates how careful she is. Almost as much as his mum, who will do her best to heal him when he returns to base later. She's only got very basic powers, but Remus appreciates the effort she puts in. The healing physically drains her, and it makes her weak for days when she heals him after one of his bouts.

Maybe he can just show his wrists and none of the other wounds? He hates his mum being in a state like that from caring for him. It's just another thing for him to feel bad about. Another problem he's caused.

"I've written a medical report. I'm not really sure what else to do. Padfoot has that," she says. "I mean, I know you don't work here, but it's the procedure I'm used to following for people here, and I wasn't sure how else to approach it." She cleans the cut on his face again and opens a plaster.

"I'm good without," Remus says, trying not to smile as he looks at the colourful plasters. He shouldn't smile at her. She's the enemy. She's one of the Supervillains.

She laughs. "Okay, if you say so." She stands and heads to the door. "That window doesn't open and the glass is very thick," she adds. "Padfoot wanted you somewhere you'd feel more comfortable, but not somewhere where you could escape."

"Why am I here?" Remus asks, sick of not getting answers.

Angel turns back, her brown eyes finding his.

"Honestly, I have no idea, but Padfoot always has his reasons for what he does. He took charge in that situation and decided that you're needed. You'd have found out over an hour ago, but believe us or not, your health has been the main concern. Your safety and wellbeing, as much as we can offer of those. You've been medically checked over, had a shower and now Padfoot is sorting out food because you've been here for a good while." She reaches the door and taps on it. It swings open and Prongs is standing there, guarding the door.

"Whatever you may think of us, Moony, we're not as bad as you've been led to believe. There's a reason we stepped away from the superhero group. There's a reason we took a completely different path." With that, Angel walks out of the room, with Prongs closing the door behind her.

Remus has heard the whole 'we're not so bad' thing more than once now, and he has to admit that his curiosity has been peeked. Not that he'll admit it though. Not to them. He's sure he'll find out at some point as they seem pretty open to talking, but he's not sure how far that will extend.

This time when Remus goes to the window, he doesn't try and fight to get out of it. Instead, he uses the time to try and get an idea of where he is in case he needs it for future reference. There are buildings all around from what he can tell, but nothing that could be used as a landmark to work it out. There are no signs that are close enough to read, simply a park a little ways away with a pond. He can just about make out the ducks landing in it.

He glances around the room and notices the camera in the top. There are a few books on a shelf and a fridge with drinks. He opens it and takes one - it's the least they can do - and he explores. It's actually a comfortable room and he'd have taken delight in relaxing here were he not a prisoner.

The minutes tick by and Remus takes one of the books. He gingerly sits back in his chair, pulling his legs up as he does, and he starts to read, sipping the soft drink as he goes. He's tired, he's aching. He needs to relax and not panic too much. The risk of transforming is lower now, because the wolf has already burst out of him, but he thinks it's still possible for it to appear again. It's a risk he doesn't want to take.

As he reads the book, Remus forgets about the world around him, forgets about what he's gone through that day, because he can lose himself in the world that the book offers.

It's half an hour before the door opens again, and Remus doesn't move from his position. He glances up from the book and Padfoot walks into the room. Carrying pizza boxes.

"We're all coming in, is that alright?" Padfoot asks.

"All?" Remus checks.

"Well, there's just a small group of us here. The others are at the main HQ, so it's just a small team. Five of us. Is that okay?"

Remus shrugs his shoulders. He's sure they'll come in anyway, even if he disagrees. But he doesn't want to let on that he's nervous. He gently lifts his legs down and tucks the book down the side of the chair. He winces as he leans forward.

Padfoot puts the pizza boxes on the coffee table. "They're just getting plates and stuff," he says. "I read your report whilst I was waiting. The head wound is from the transformation, Angel suspects. There are a few wounds on your torso, but she's worried about your side. She said that you seemed to be uncomfortable when she was examining it."

Remus knows exactly what Padfoot is talking about. His side has been giving him a lot of trouble. It's bruised quite badly, and he's not really sure how to explain that.

"The bruises are a little older than the transformation. But you weren't hurt on the job earlier, unless I knocked you into something when the glass was coming down. Did I?"

Remus shakes his head. "No," he admits. "Look, it was… it was this morning. Me and someone else had an… encounter in his room. We were a bit too excited and I smashed my hip on the side of the bed. It hurts like hell but it was an accident."

Padfoot stares at him concerned.

"Of course if we hadn't been in such a rush, it wouldn't have happened," Remus continues. "He cares about me."

Padfoot nods slightly. "You know, I was in a relationship that sounds a bit like yours, about three… four years ago."

He pauses and Remus bites his lip, because that's around the same time that Padfoot was at the agency. Perhaps just after?

"I made a lot of excuses for a man who… wasn't all that careful because all he cared about was his own needs and desires, and I was just an instrument in him having as much enjoyment as he wanted. I felt I couldn't say no. I told myself I was comfortable with it. When he asked, I'd give consent and not speak up. It went bad, like all of those sort of relationships do, and… leaving was the best thing I ever did. Don't feel like you have to make excuses. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe Gilderoy didn't mean to do that, but did he stop to check you over? Did he make sure you're fine, or did he carry on like nothing had even happened?"

Remus doesn't want to answer, because somehow Padfoot is spot on. Gilderoy laughed it off, made a comment about not knowing his own strength and just carried on like it hadn't even happened. At the time, Remus just told himself that the other man had just not realised how hard Remus hit the side of the bed, or how sore it was. Or maybe it was Remus that was weak, and Gilderoy expected the other Superheroes to be stronger.

Or maybe Gilderoy was under the impression that Remus could just go ahead and heal himself, since he's a healer. The Agency knows that he can't use those powers on himself, but Gilderoy might not. After all, a big hero like him couldn't be expected to know what powers everyone had and how good they were with those powers.

"It's all fine," Remus says quietly. He doesn't have to explain himself to Padfoot.

Padfoot doesn't push this. He just starts opening the boxes and lets Remus help himself.

Prongs comes in a few minutes later, his mask off too, and the others walk in. The last two are men that Remus is certain he hasn't seen before. "My brother, Starling, and our friend Electron."

Padfoot smiles at the newcomers. "Right. help yourself, but don't you dare touch my garlic tear and share. I'm not sharing with anyone."

Being a prisoner is weird, Remus decides.

---

"You're being so nice, James says as they clear away the boxes. "Explain yourself."

"We caused this, I already said," Sirius mutters. "There's something about him."

"You fancy him," James accuses. "I know you recognise him, it's there on your face. 'James, look at the guy in the cardigan. He's adorable. I wonder what his name is?' I remember it like it was yesterday. That little crush you had ages ago, just before we left the Agency."

"That was years ago," Sirius points out quietly. "He is cute, but that's not why I'm doing this. We fucked up and handled this badly, and I've got to make it right. We've got to earn his trust." He's quiet for a moment. "He's in a relationship with Lockhart."

"Oh," James replies quietly. "Is he…"

"Lockhart got a bit rough by accident. It's always by accident. We both know it's because he simply doesn't care to make sure that his partner is good. I don't want to see what happened to me happen to him. I just want Lockhart to pay for all his crimes."

"It won't," James says, though he's clearly not convinced by his tone. "When the device is ready, Lockhart is going down, Padfoot, and you're going to be the one to pull that trigger. Now, wanna tell me why we took him here? You're being cagey."

"Part of the reason he's here is because I worked out the relationship pretty quickly. Gilderoy doesn't do things out of the kindness of his heart, so he must need Moony for something else. He wouldn't share his spotlight unless there was a reason."

"Moony had a camera. Publicity?"

Sirius shakes his head. "Moony is valuable to him, but it's clear from today that it's not affection or love or anything like that. I think he must have a power that suits whatever Gilderoy's needs are, and I wanted to get him away. Just to breathe. But that's not the main reason, no. I think… Well, I think Moony would make a good asset to our team."

"Oh. But he's unpredictable?"

"Not his fault," Sirius points out. "Come on, we've kept him for a while. Let's get this done, and then we can bring him home."

He shoves the boxes into a recycling bag and leaves the room. He leads the way back into the room where Moony sits with his book. He looks more at ease than he did earlier.

"I want to know more about your powers," Sirius states bluntly as they walk into the room.

Moony clearly wasn't expecting this, because Sirius notices his adorable amber eyes widen, and he puts the book back down.

"There's not much to know. I was a shifter, and for obvious reasons, I can't do that anymore. You see what happens when I shift, and until I can find someone with the right power to heal me, I'm stuck like this."

"And the rest?" Sirius pushes, taking a seat and watching Moony.

"I can heal others. It's gotten weaker over time." Sirius shares a look with James at this. "But I've been weaker because of my affliction."

Sirius moves closer. "Is… that it?"

"Yeah, I don't have a lot," Moony admits.

"But… earlier," Sirius says. "You saw through one of my abilities, one of Prongs' abilities. How?"

"What? No, I just came and… you were hurt, so…"

"Prongs can become invisible," Sirius points out, because it's cute that Moony doesn't realise this. Sirius just doesn't want to drag all of this out. "You saw him, and no-one else can. I mean… there are some with sight-related abilities, and they can work out he's there, but… did he look different at all?"

"He looked as he looks now," Moony says, visibly confused.

"And me." Sirius pauses, Moony's gaze on him. "I can communicate with people by speaking, but no-one can hear me. Except that person, that is. I used my power to talk to James and you heard every word. I'm at a loss of what this power is."

Moony stares at him. "You mean, I have more powers?" There's a hint of excitement in his voice at this, though he's clearly trying to hide it. "I'm not that useless after all," he mutters as an afterthought.

"Mate, should we be telling him that he can see through our powers?" James mutters quietly from behind him.

"Trust," Sirius says, glancing around. "Moony, you're not useless, so don't think that. You actually have an amazing power. Perhaps you want to stick around and we can help you hone it?"

"You're Supervillains," Moony murmurs.

Sirius nods. "In a sense - if you're the Heroes, we are certainly working against you. But not in the way you've probably been told. Look…"

An alarm starts ringing, and Padfoot straightens up. "We're being breached," he says. "Looks like they've come to get you." He sees surprise in Moony's eyes before the man smiles. Sirius' heart hurts for this man because he clearly didn't expect anyone to come for him. He clearly has no confidence. He doesn't see his own value or potential. Sirius has only known him for a very short time, and he'd come for him a lot quicker if needed.

"We're here, if you change your mind," Sirius says instead.

"Oh? And where is here?" Moony asks, raising an eyebrow.

"We'll come and find you," Sirius says, a smirk on his lips. "You'll be seeing a lot more of me."

Something flickers on Moony's face and he's almost certain that Moony is amused by this.

"I'm sure I will."

---

Prongs leads Remus to the front door and lets him leave, with a cheerful farewell. "I'll need those trainers back, we'll come pick them up." The door shuts behind him, and Remus is free to go, and he's a little baffled. He had half-convinced himself that this was some sort of trick or trap. Once outside the main door, he looks over to the gates, and they swing open, Gilderoy rushing in.

Remus feels a surge of affection. Gilderoy cares. He's probably here because he genuinely has feelings for Remus. Insignificant little him. He's not sure how this has happened, but he's glad that he matters. It makes things easier, somehow.

The man stops, observing Remus for a long moment, and he walks towards the gates and out of sight again. Remus almost reaches the gate when Gilderoy appears, hood removed, and a wide smile on his face.

"It is I, Gilderoy Lockhart, here to save you from these vile villains!" he declares.

Remus laughs at the dramatics of it. "It looks like they didn't want to face you, they just let me go," he replies.

"A pity. I was ready to rush in there and save you from all of them. No foe is too deadly for me!" They walk away from the building and through the rows of warehouses and out onto a main road, Gilderoy handing over his own mask just before they reach the street. Remus gladly pulls it on, hiding his identity. Remus isn't sure where it is, but cars start stopping and people pull out their phones and start recording. Remus glances around for street-signs, trying to memorise where they are in case he ever needs to return for any reason. Not that he would, of course.

Gilderoy pauses, beaming at the camera. "Yes, it's me, Gilderoy Lockhart," he says. "Saviour of the whole of London. Today has been the same as every day. I foiled a museum heist and then saved my grateful companion and mentee from the clutches of the evil villains!"

Remus is pulled against him and he stands there awkwardly as the pictures are taken. He tries to smile, but he doesn't like this. He's never been one for attention. He just wants to blend into the background or be a part of a group. He hates this focus on him.

But he endures it because Gilderoy did come to save him, even if he's exaggerating a little. It'd look silly for the hero to admit that he didn't. Plus, maybe Gilderoy is right - maybe the group were too scared to fight. In that case, it really was Gilderoy that saved him. He doesn't like being referred to as a mentee though, but he says nothing.

Time passes and Remus feels tired. "I think I'm going to head back," he says, because the transformation took a lot out of him, and Gilderoy smiles.

"I think that's enough," he tells his audience. "My sidekick needs rest. He's been through a traumatic ordeal, and needs me." He leads Remus away, Gilderoy still waving at people and stopping to sign photos.

It takes ages still, but Remus tells himself not to feel ungrateful. Gilderoy cares. He clearly cares. He's just excited to talk to people about it.

That night, Gilderoy is just as excited in bed, and Remus allows it, he nods his consent, even if his body is still sore and he'd rather recover and get rest.

---

"You brought him to one of our bases," Kingsley says. He's clearly trying not to lose his temper. "You took a hostage. You know how that makes us look? Like we're the villains that they paint us as, Sirius. You need to tell me now why you're so reckless."

"I think he'd be a good person to bring to our team," Sirius says. "Look, hear me out. He thought we took him because Greyback… he's one of Greyback's."

Kingsley sucks in a breath. "Dangerous," he comments. "Greyback's victims were all civilians, except for one hero. I remember this, he chose Moony because they both shift into wolves and he thought them to be the same. He wanted to entice that hero over to his side. When that didn't work, he tried to force it by experimentation. Does he have trouble shifting?"

"He turns into a wolf, but he becomes feral, savage," Sirius says. He feels like there is no reason to talk about the black eyes and the bones breaking. "But that's something that can be contained. It's clear that he's used to it, and the Agency must have precautions to keep people safe. So it can be managed."

"What else?" Kingsley asks.

Sirius hesitates. "When we left the Agency and had nowhere to turn, you took us in and told us… told us the truth about Lockhart. After my relationship…" he trails off. There are other people here, but the only people he's told the details about the relationship are James, Peter and Kingsley. He doesn't want to discuss it. But they all know what the 'hero' is capable of.

"He's where I was, weeks before leaving the Agency. When things were still good, before I felt like my life was falling apart," Sirius explains. "The same, Kingsley. If I could convince him to stay yesterday, I would have. Yesterday was about trust."

"You said you removed your masks in front of him."

"We did. Again, I wanted him to trust us. He met us, back at the Agency years ago. He knows me and James, and I think if he really thought about it, he'd remember quite a few people that left and joined here. I don't think it was really that big a loss, him seeing us. But it made him more comfortable."

"And you spent time ordering pizza and hanging out?" Kingsley asks. He clearly doesn't know what to make of that aspect of the kidnapping.

"He was hurt after the transformation. When he turned back, we provided medical assistance, let him shower and gave him clean clothes. We also gave him food, and then I talked a little about his powers. I had hoped to talk more about us and what we do, but on a gradual basis, because I think he's still caught in Lockhart's web, but I think… I think he's good for our numbers."

"Plus Sirius fancies the fuck out of him, always has," James pipes up.

"Fuck you. I was trying to take care of him before I realised who he was," Sirius snaps. He turns back to Kingsley. "He's better on our side than theirs. He has potential. He can heal, for a start. His powers are diminished, but we know why that is." They share a knowing look. "But it's not just that, Kingsley. He can see through powers. I've been thinking about it since last night and reading about powers to try and get an idea. I think… I think that he has enhanced senses. There's also something that Lockhart values about him and I want to know what that power is. Because if we go after Lockhart, Moony will get hurt in the cross-fire, possibly as one of Lockhart's weapons because we know he'll hide behind anyone and everyone."

"Give me more." Kingsley is interested now, a little less annoyed.

"He saw James when James was invisible, so sight, and he could hear me when I was using my ability to talk with only the other person being able to hear the conversation, which is sound. The other side don't value him, but you know how I always complain that I can only communicate with one person? Well, if he can hear me… also, imagine the potential."

Kingsley nods. "Senses. Do you think he'll have any wolf senses outside of the transformation?"

"He can blend into the background really well," Sirius says. "That's something I noticed before. I don't think he realises that it's an ability to be hidden from sight. He's not invisible, but someone not paying attention, their eyes would skate right over him."

"I worked that out," James interrupts. "Years ago, actually. I couldn't work out which 'amber eyed beauty' Sirius was going on about at first, because he was using that power to be unnoticed and my eyes would just drift over him until I paid more attention to each person, then I could see him."

"He sounds perfect for your team," Kingsley agrees. "But Sirius, do you have a personal interest? Are you letting your feelings cloud everything?"

"No, my feelings aren't clouding anything." Sirius shakes his head. "Actually, my feelings for Lockhart are clouding it a little. But yes, personal interest. Let's leave a 4 year old crush out of this, it's simply because I want to help someone who is getting hurt in a way I did. I hoped to try and… maybe there could be something I could say that'd make him wake up to Lockhart."

"Mate, I was wary and you didn't listen to me," James says quietly. Sirius turns to glare, but James holds his hand up in defense. "No, it's not a dig, Pads, I'm just pointing out that you were so caught up that even the person you trusted the most couldn't help you see that something wasn't right. I don't think you'll be able to get through to him - you just need to be there to support him when this all goes tits-up."

Sirius nods, a little miserable at that idea. He doesn't want Moony to get hurt.

"Now, let's talk about the mission," Fabian states. "It went quite well, except for one little problem. You got the wrong thing."

"What, but—" Peter begins, frowning.

"It's not the fault of your team. The museum displaying it switched it out for something else earlier that day and hasn't changed the information. When we're prepped, we need you to go into a laboratory in West London. This time you'll find what you need."

Sirius looks towards James and then to Peter, before nodding.

"And for the rest of us?" Alice asks.

"I have a new idea," Gideon says, leaning forward on the table, his eyes almost glowing with excitement. "We have a rabid wolf going to join us? Maybe the way to do that is by offering him a way to be less rabid? Maybe we can start looking for… well, not a cure, but perhaps something that'll help him in some way. A cure would be a long way off, but it's a starting point."

"Do it," Sirius insists quietly. "But if we do develop it, we should hand it over, without the clause that he join us first."

"I agree," Kingsley says. "People choose to join us for our cause. We don't force them in by withholding something that could help them. It'll be another step to earn his trust." He glances towards Sirius. "If you truly believe he'd be able to help us, I'm going to trust your judgement. Don't let it get in the way of your other duties though."

---

"We meet again," Sirius says, as he sets the box with the stone down. He knows James will come for it, and he moves away, diverting the attention.

He wonders if Moony will say anything. If Moony will give away that he can see James.

"So it would seem," Gilderoy says, his voice muffled by his mask.

Sirius smiles. He looks towards Moony. The man is wearing a different outfit now, but Sirius knows it's him. The new outfit is a terrible shade of blue with a moon on it. Whoever designed it did not give a shit, but it's better than the last outfit at least.

"I was talking to you, actually," Sirius says, using his power to send the message to Moony and only Moony.

The man says nothing, but there's the tiniest quirk to the corner of his lips.

"I'm here to save the day," the man says, and Sirius rolls his eyes at the cheesy line. Gilderoy rushes at him, but James is quick into place, tripping the man.

Sirius darts out of the way, knocking the box in James' direction as he does so. He knows that the man under the mask will come after him as a priority, not being able to see James.

"Sidekick now?" Sirius asks. He may have looked up after Moony was taken away and read the comments. "Why not a partner Superhero? You're strong enough to be a hero." The conversation is private, only between the two of them.

Gilderoy struggles to his feet and comes for Sirius once more. Sirius dodges the attack, spinning around on his heel and trying to get a read of the man's fighting style. It changes often.

"Gilderoy works alone. I'm lucky he's even bringing me. It's an honour to be… I'm not strong, Padfoot." The beauty of the ability is the power to send a message back. Sirius one day plans to expand this power, so people can choose to converse silently with him first, but it takes a lot of effort and a lot of energy. It's not something he can manage right now. His focus is distance before anything.

"You are. You should realise your own potential. I've been thinking about you since we met and I've actually sat down and read some books, looking up your powers."

"Maybe you should read more often. Books are amazing. All of the worlds that you can read about, getting invested in characters…"

"Maybe if you read them to me, I'd be interested. I'm not the reading type. But, for you…" Sirius shoots him a wink. Gilderoy attacks again, but Sirius is a little too quick, managing to slip underneath his outstretched arm.

"Look. just give the item back and leave," Moony says, grasping onto the power and sending the message. "I'll get him to leave you alone."

"What? How?" Sirius asks.

"I'll…" Moony hesitates. Sirius can hear it in his tone. "I'll owe him. Whatever, just leave."

"Sounds like you really care, luv. But if you owe him anything, he will collect and it's not all that great."

"I don't like anyone getting hurt," Moony admits quietly.

"Well, if I get hurt, I know you've got me," Sirius says. "But what about you? What about you getting hurt? Are there people looking after you?"

This time the punch connects and Sirius stumbles back. "Dammit. I enjoy talking to you so much, that I'm not focusing," he says. "Those eyes have me so distracted, it's hard to look away." He shoots Moony a wink before turning his attention back to the fight.

Gilderoy advances, and suddenly falls back, as though being pulled. He spins around, and turns again as something hits against him, and tries to fight the unseen assailant. Moony is clearly hiding his smile.

"I have a mum," Moony says. "I got my healing from her. She… she looks after me."

Sirius' heart breaks for him, because all Moony has is his mum. He needs more than that. But he's a little distracted and Sirius sees his opening to leave.

"Starling, it's go time," he mutters.

There's a shimmer to the air and Sirius steps towards it, but his gaze moves to Moony, and then to Gilderoy. No. He's going to try again, no matter what James says. He has nothing else to do today, and Moony is right here.

"Sorry, but it's this, or it's blindfold and rope, and I prefer the one to be tied up," Sirius murmurs, throwing his arm around Moony's waist and using all his force to push Moony into the portal.

"Prongs, now," he says in his mind, as Moony disappears. They need to capture Gilderoy, but not just yet.

He'll have a few hours with Moony at the very least, and that makes Sirius smile as he hears James' confirmation as James falls through, and he's last in.

The light closes behind him, and he falls to the floor in the warehouse once more.

Moony is already standing. He lets out a loud sigh and reaches to remove his mask.

"Is there a reason I'm here?" he asks. He doesn't sound scared this time. Sirius longs to reach out to feel his emotions, but he's already said that he wouldn't do that. That's only if there's an emergency. Moony wouldn't know, but Sirius is sticking to his word anyway.

Sirius removes his own mask. His face hurts, but he doesn't care that much about that. All he cares about is getting Moony away from Gilderoy. The more time he spends away, the easier it'll be for him to come to his senses and realise what a fraud the other man is.

"I'll turn this in," Alice offers, reaching for the box. Moony looks like he wants to grab it, but his eyes simply follow it and he sighs as Alice leaves the room. Once his gaze returns to Sirius, he approaches and reaches up, his fingers pressing against Sirius' face. Sirius' eyes widen in surprise.

"You didn't have to…" he trails off. "Moony, the reason you're here today is because we're short a player. We need even numbers, and I saw you and thought… hey, Moony is cool, maybe he wants to hang out?"

"Wait. So you… you abducted me, one of your enemies, because you wanted me to… play computer games or something?" Moony just sounds amused now.

Sirius glances around at his friends, and they all nod their heads. He has to give it to them, he came up with this on the fly, but it just works out.

"I suppose that Gilderoy will be here soon to get me. I suppose… it wouldn't hurt to hang out for a bit till he gets here," Moony decides. "Should I put in for pizza, or… I mean, I don't have my wallet. I didn't think of bringing it. Should I start carrying it around on missions?"

"Oh, the rule here is that the hostage doesn't pay for the food," Sirius jokes. He notices Regulus slip away with a portal and knows he's heading to Sirius' apartment to collect the console so they can play something. " Meat feast pizza?"

Moony nods his head, a grin forming on his lips. "You know, if you keep this up, I might actually start looking forward to being your hostage."

"That's the plan," Sirius teases.

---

The third time Remus is abducted, it's when he stumbles upon Starling and Prongs stealing some semi-rare metal. Prong grins at him and Remus realises what's happening a second before it does. He's pushed into a portal.

"You came to my birthday party," Padfoot says, delighted when Remus gets up off his feet. He's in the middle of opening some presents. "My brother said that he'd have a great gift for me, I didn't realise it would be getting to see you. And Remus is shocked beyond belief when Padfoot approaches and hugs him.

They're not in the same building anymore. Remus can tell that already. There's a different feel to this place, and he gets the impression that this matters more. Another warehouse, perhaps? Maybe even the headquarters.

There are other people there. Most of them are wearing masks, except the ones that he's seen the faces of already.

He keeps his own mask on this time. He may be starting to trust Padfoot - despite reminding himself over and over that the other man can't be trusted, that he's the bad guy - but he's not going to blindly trust these strangers.

"Right, so I've just been opening gifts, and then we've got cake," Padfoot says. "Some food, a bit of music and dancing, and then we'll get you back to the warehouse in time for… your pick-up." His voice cracks a little on that, and whilst Padfoot is trying to maintain the smile, it flickers and there is suddenly something really false about it.

Remus, as always, is curious. What is bothering Padfoot about the pick-up? Why does Padfoot seem to have it in for Gilderoy Lockhart more than anyone else?

More importantly, why on Earth did they bring him to a birthday party, and why does this seem like it was planned with everyone in this room knowing, except for Padfoot himself?

Still, he's stuck here for a while, and he can relax knowing that he won't be harmed. The first time he was abducted, the ropes hurt him, but the rest of the pains he left with were because of the transformation. The rest of the time, he's been safe and he can trust Padfoot to keep him safe at the very least.

"I'll do the rest of the gifts later," Padfoot says. "Let's make the most of Moony being with us. Come-on, there's a cake somewhere with lotsa candles. I asked for a rainbow one this time, so let's hope that Prongs got the hint."

"You didn't hint," Prongs responds, putting his glasses on as he comes back into the room. He's not wearing his supervillain outfit anymore, instead he's wearing jeans and t-shirt. "You came to me and threatened my life if your cake didn't have rainbow slices."

"And it worked out for everyone," Padfoot says cheerfully. "Rainbow cake with chocolate buttercream, and…"

"Chocolate buttercream?" Remus asks, unable to help himself.

"Yeah. I hate that usual icing stuff, so it's chocolate buttercream," Padfoot points out. "Okay, you all better get singing when the cake comes out, because if you don't sing, you don't get a slice."

This has to be the most confusing kidnapping ever, but Remus sings along when the cake is brought out, and Padfoot acts like a big kid as he makes a show of blowing out the candles.

Remus takes time to observe him. Usually he sees Padfoot in one of his supervillain costumes, but not today. Today Padfoot is wearing tight jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket. He has clunky boots on his feet and his hair is pulled back into a bun.

The cake is cut, it's handed out and it's delicious, and after that, somehow Remus ends up dancing along to the music when Padfoot pulls him up to dance. He's grabbed by Angel as she pulls him to dance with her, and then Prongs attempts to get him to waltz, which has Remus tripping over everywhere, so Starling pulls him aside with an apologetic look and a nod towards where Prongs and Padfoot are waltzing spectacularly.

"Oh. Are they…" Because they're dancing really close, and they just seem so in sync with each other that he can only assume that there's more to their relationship. He tells himself that this feeling isn't jealousy. Why would he be jealous when he's with someone? And why would he be jealous of a villain?

Starling laughs. "Oh, I hope they aren't, because J… Prongs is my fiance," he says. "They're just really close friends, and morons."

Remus laughs softly. He's relieved to know this, though he's not really sure why. What does it matter to him if Padfoot is single or not? Because Remus isn't. He's got a boyfriend-type-person and that's Gilderoy.

This is probably the first time he's thought about Gilderoy since arriving, and he quickly tries to think of something else because there's a part of him that is dreading when Gilderoy picks him up and 'saves' him. Gilderoy has a high after doing so for hours, and that seems to cross-over into bed, and Remus isn't all that keep on that sex. Or any sex with Gilderoy. But still, he always consents because they're together now. Undefined, but together. Still, he tells himself that he'll get used to it. He's only dated one person before Gilderoy. All relationships are different.

"How about some karaoke," Padfoot insists. "Look, I got a mic, and…"

The light on the wall starts to flash red, and Padfoot's smile fades. "Oh. Maybe… maybe next time. Moony, how about it?"

"Yeah, next time," Moony says, thinking about how utterly ridiculous this whole situation is. He should be trying to escape. He shouldn't be entertaining this behaviour.

He shouldn't be agreeing to having someone kidnap him. That's not a sensible thing to do. He should be telling them to leave him alone.

But he can't bring himself to do so. For today, he forgot about Gilderoy and didn't have to worry about any expectations that followed when he got back to the Agency. He didn't see anyone look at him in the wrong way. Yes, there were some wary people, but it felt like their wariness was more to do with a hero inside of their base more than anything else. The wariness faded as time went, and everyone just had fun.

Strangers were dancing with him and having a laugh and offering him food and drink, and just including him. He didn't feel like he didn't belong, he didn't have to worry. In fact, he forgot all about the curse that plagues him when in the agency building.

But it's more than that. He likes the way Padfoot's face lights up at the sight of him. He likes the way Padfoot takes his hand and pulls him around places, like when he was doing the cake earlier. That Padfoot looks out for him.

He likes the first day when Padfoot checked over his wrists and was just so kind and gentle. The way this man actually cares about him, because at this point, Remus is sure that it can't be faked. That Padfoot's words are so genuine, when Padfoot talks about Remus' worth. No one except his mum talks like that about him, and she has to do that because she's his mum.

"I suppose I had better go," he mutters, feeling a bit down. "Maybe next time I see you, I'll bring a gift, since I didn't get to get you one today."

"Seeing you is a gift in itself," Padfoot insists, with a smirk on his lips. "That's all I could hope for. You've made the night even better. See you soon, luv."

"Maybe next time you could just call if you wanna hang out?" Remus teases, though it'd be easier.

Padfoot shrugs. "Phones can be tracked."

"I wouldn't—"

"I trust you," Padfoot interrupts, and his tone is so truthful that Remus can't even consider that Padfoot is lying. "But someone could get a hold of your phone and potentially find us and we can't risk that."

"We know where your other base is," Remus comments.

"Yeah, and that's just one of many safe-houses we have. Let them come and get you there every time. It's just easier. Though we can drop you to your door if you'd prefer."

Remus considers it. He could avoid all of the people in the street who Gilderoy stops to talk to, he'd avoid the news articles, the interviews and the photographs.

But Gilderoy might be upset if he doesn't get to play hero, and Remus isn't sure that he wants that, because… because Gilderoy cares too. It's why he comes every time.

"The building is fine," he says quietly.

Padfoot nods and turns to his brother. A portal is made up and Remus steps through, appearing by the door.

He walks towards the gates as they open, a man in sky-blue waiting on the other side, blond hair blowing in the breeze.

---

Sirius is angry. No. Not angry, he's more than angry. He's completely and utterly furious.

The invention is almost done. Just a few more components, and Gilderoy turns up with Moony following, which is fine. Because Sirius has cooked them a private meal for when he kidnaps Moony later. As much as he wants Moony to have a good time and to get along with everyone, he kind of wants some alone time with the other man so they can talk and learn about each other.

But then the Green Peacock of all people swoops in with his feathery-arse and somehow manages to kidnap Moony, and Sirius is ready to hurt someone because first off, how very dare.

But secondly… and more importantly, Lucius has been known to work with Greyback at times, and Sirius will do anything to stop Remus from getting hurt. He will get hurt if Sirius doesn't do anything.

"It feels weird, doing good," Regulus says, as he twists his hands in the air, opening the portal. "I mean, our end goal is good, but it's strange being the heroes in a scenario like this."

"We've got to save Sirius' boyfriend," James teases. "And that takes all of us. Maybe he'll realise that we give a shit. I like the guy, he's fun. He's already one of us, he just hasn't accepted it to himself yet, just hasn't fully realised it."

"He's too caught up in Lockhart," Sirius explains. "But he'll realise that we actually care about him, don't you worry about that."

"I don't worry," James mutters. "Peter, you ready?" He glances towards Peter, and Peter reaches out to one of the many computers and places his hand on the screen. His skin glows a bright green and his eyes turn white. The tips of his fingers go through the glass and he gives a slight nod of his head.

"Barriers down," he says. "You have thirty seconds before they get them back online."

"Do you see him?" Sirius checks.

"The South Wing. Three doors in. They're trying to figure out what to do with him. No calls, no messages, they haven't contacted Greyback yet, but Peacock is giving orders and it could happen soon."

James is first through the portal. Regulus sighs. "I can't keep doing this," he mutters. "It's draining me." He meets Sirius' gaze. "Get your boyfriend quickly because I'd like a nap." Sirius grins, knowing it's Regulus' way of showing his approval. By complaining.

"Once you get used to the power, you'll find it easier," Kingsley tells him. "After they return, you'll need to take a break from it until you've recovered."

Regulus nods and he joins the group as they look towards the big screen where Peter is sending all of the camera feeds, and any feeds from any machines that he can access on the property. His hand still raised, the portal still hovering in the air.

They see a shimmer barely at the edge of one of the screens. It's there for a split second before the camera is turned a little, and the shimmer is out of sight.

Sirius gives the others a nod and he steps through it himself before the portal closes behind him.

He's glad that Kingsley approved this mission, and at very short notice, because he didn't want to go behind their backs to do this. He would have, because the few times he's encountered Moony - their six… Well, not dates because Moony is 'seeing' someone, but times together have been perfect and he wants to spend more time with Moony, and protect him from all harm.

Most importantly though, he wants to help Moony gain confidence and hone his powers, because if Moony does that, he knows he can be very strong. But Moony doesn't know what he's capable of, he's so focused on the fact that he's a healer (and so very down that he's not strong enough to heal himself), that he doesn't really think much about the other powers that are appearing as time goes on and as he gets better and stronger.

"Two guards," comes James' whisper. "Thirty seconds."

Sirius melts into the shadows as he waits, and it's not long before two men in feathered suits stride down the hallway, heading away from where Sirius and James need to be. Sirius recognises the pair as two of the men from the camera feed who were bringing Moony into the place, and that just confirms that they're going the right way.

He waits for James' whisper before he continues on, and they take a few turns, and finally they find the holding cells.

"We've been offered a pretty penny for you," The Peacock says. "I'm glad you've started going on duty again, Moony. It's been hard to try and find you whilst you've been in hiding, but now you're back doing your superhero duties, it was only a matter of time before we found you."

"Who is paying you?" Moony asks, and Sirius wonders if he can get through the partially open door. He quickly realizes that it'd draw attention, because whilst this man is a perfectionist, doors can sometimes squeak. Even if Sirius is silent, it doesn't mean he can open doors quietly.

"An old friend who is dying to see you," the Peacock replies with an amused smile. "Greyback himself."

There's a sharp intake of breath. "Gilderoy Lockhart will save me," he says. Anger flares inside of Sirius because what has Gilderoy even done to deserve this? Moony deserves someone who cares about him truly. Not someone who is just using him.

"Will he? I think he's a bit held up," Peacock says. "I've been hearing stories, Moony, that he takes hours to save you. Hours, when he knows where you are each time. Shocking, isn't it. But don't you worry, I can tell you exactly where he is."

Peacock clicks his fingers and Sirius peeps through the gap in the door as a screen is lowered and a picture appears of Gilderoy Lockhart in a passionate embrace with a well-known reporter, Rita Skeeter. A woman Sirius also hates. She's written so many awful things about his group, that he'd love to get revenge. The picture changes, showing Gilderoy with an unknown man pressed up against the wall, their lips locked. Gilderoy is wearing an ugly lime-green outfit, which Sirius knows is new, which means that the pictures were taken when Moony was involved.

Moony doesn't say anything after the picture comes up and Sirius wants to go and check that he's okay, but he has to bide his time. He has to wait. The Peacock can't know that he's here. Hopefully they'll be in and out before the Supervillain even realises that he's been there. But worst case, they wing it.

---

Remus stares up at the picture of Gilderoy - his Gilderoy - in the arms of someone else. He tries to tell himself that the picture itself might be deceptive. It could be faked. Faked pictures happen all of the time.

But they are right about one thing - Gilderoy always takes so long to show up. What is he even doing in that time? Remus has wondered this a few times, but he doesn't like to be pushy and demand answers. He's happy just to be cared about.

But the Peacock has gotten underneath his skin, because he makes good points. If Gilderoy takes that long to arrive at the warehouse - and from what Remus gathers, it's just arriving, and not trying to enter - then how long would it take him to find Remus here, in a place he doesn't even know. It'll take him days, most likely.

And in that time, Greyback will come for him, and Remus is screwed, because nothing scares him as much as that beast. Gilderoy won't be here in time, so Remus is alone.

He stares at the picture for a long time. Long after the Peacock leaves the room, but finally he turns his gaze away from it. He can focus on that later - right now he needs to survive this. He needs to get free, and if there's a time for a new power to spring up, now is the time. He just has to make a plan so he knows what power to try and force.

His fingers clench around the bars as he considers it.

Padfoot talks about senses, but he's not sure how that'd help him. But he closes his eyes and he focuses. He tries to use his senses to see if there's a truth in what Padfoot said to him before.

The sounds hit him quickly and he winces. The sound of footsteps, but his heart leaps in his chest when he hears the familiar voice, a slight echo to the sound. He knows this person, and this person has come for him, and he's shocked that he matters.

He's learning to determine the difference between Padfoot actually talking and Padfoot using his power to talk silently, and this is Padfoot using his power. That power has a limit, Padfoot has already told him, which means he's not that far away. Perhaps even in the building, or maybe just outside of it.

'...Gotta protect him, James. Fuck, Lockhart is already fucking around with him and he's going to end up like me, and now this arsehole has him and he's going to get hurt. How is it us - the so-called bad-guys that are the only ones actually trying to protect him?'

'Because we're not the bad guys. Lockhart just wants people to believe we are. And you care about your friends, Sirius. You care about Moony and I'll follow you anywhere. Like I said, he's great. We really like him. We like how happy you are around him.'

'If they've harmed him, even in the slightest. One mark, one bruise, and I'm setting this place on fire and watching it burn.'

'Kingsley won't be pleased.'

Remus can feel the power swirling as he gets closer, and he's communicated back to Sirius - because now he knows his real name, and the name of Prongs too - with this power in the past, but can he hijack the messages, he wonders.

'Padfoot?' he calls, trying to cling to the sound of the voice. At first there's no answer, and he sighs and tries once more. It still doesn't work, but he takes a breath and suddenly he can almost smell Sirius' aftershave.

Sirius was right about senses. Sirius is close, and Remus can't help but smile.

That's when the door handle rattles. Remus' fingers tighten around the bars, and suddenly they are crumbling under his touch. It's not quite enough, but it's helping. He reaches for the next bars and tries to focus, though the door swings open and Sirius and James sneak in, closing it behind them.

The fury on Sirius' face gives way to relief when he sees Remus, and a smile crosses his lips. In the far distance, he can hear alarms.

"You're here," he mutters. "Come on. I gotta get you out."

"I can't believe you came here," Remus comments. "But you've triggered something. I can… I can hear alarms."

"You can?" Sirius and James both listen, but they shake their heads. "Are you sure?"

Remus nods. "I've been trying to test out my senses. We've got to move. We need to get this…" he lets go of the bars and they melt away. "Can I disintegrate things, or just control metal?" he wonders.

"It's sort of big enough. There's no time, climb out," Sirius says. Remus grabs the bed in the cage and it scrapes harshly against the floor as he drags it over. He stands on it and realises that he can't go out one leg first, he's got to shimmy through.

He scratches himself on a bit of a bar that is remaining, but Sirius and James are there to help him climb out.

"Prongs?" Sirius says, as Remus hears people running towards the room.

James' eyes turn gold and he grabs Remus and Sirius just as the door bursts open. Remus is stood in shock, expecting them to grab at him, but Sirius touches his hand, drawing Remus' attention. He motions for Remus to be silent, placing a finger on his lips, and he gestures to James once more.

James' ability to become invisible. He's extending it over all of them, and it's clearly a lot of effort, because James is struggling.

So Remus touches his shoulder, trying to push some of his healing through to help keep the spell going, and a bit of colour returns to James' cheeks and he stops swaying.

The men rush out, and James drops the spell.

"What did you do?" Sirius asks, as James opens his eyes. The gold disappears and his eyes turn hazel again.

"How did you do that?" James asks.

"Healing," Remus explains. "Your energy was depleting. I shared mine."

Sirius beams at him. "I told you that there's so much more to you than you realise, and I hope you're starting to realise that for yourself. It's going to be hard to get back to the main doors, but there is a weak-spot in their defenses and that's the only place Starling can bring up his portal for now. We've got to sneak out of here."

"I'll try," Remus says. "But I don't want you both to get hurt. Maybe leave me and…"

"Moony," Sirius begins, but Remus takes Sirius' hand in his. "Remus," he says. "I heard you both. I know your names, so I'm going to offer my own. Let's call it a show of trust."

Sirius beams at him and it does funny things to his stomach.

"Remus," Sirius says, testing the name out. "If guards appear, I want you to move into the shadows and stand as still as possible. I'm going to try and hide you with my powers, but I think you have your own powers to help hide you. I noticed that back when I first saw you. I saw past those powers, but… there's no explaining. You just need to think about being hidden and hope for the best. If it doesn't work, we'll work out a new plan on the spot."

Remus nods because he trusts Sirius. Sirius broke into this place to save him. He didn't wait for hours. It's been less than an hour since Remus was grabbed, and that accounts for Sirius finding the place and sneaking around to find him. Sirius came here as quickly as he possibly could and that means that Sirius thinks he's important.

This isn't about Remus' powers, or what information that Sirius and his company can get from Remus. They wouldn't risk themselves like this unless it was personal.

"I trust you," he tells him quietly. "You tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

Sirius swings the door open and the alarm rings even more loudly. He curses. "They must have reset the alarms on the doors. Come on, let's go." He grabs Remus' hand and pulls him out of the door, and James is visible as he runs along-side them, not wanting to use any of the energy.

And then they run.

---

"I made you dinner," Sirius says, as he looks Remus' arm over. "Just a bruise. Are you okay? Is something bothering you?"

"Relieved," Remus admits. He notices that he's in the headquarters building again, and if that isn't a show of trust, he doesn't know what is. "I was scared, Sirius. What if he did hand me over to Greyback? I don't think I'd survive more experimentation. I barely made it through the first bout."

"I'll do everything in my power to protect you," Sirius insists. "Come on, I cooked everything myself, even the dessert. I had Starling cover it up to keep it warm for us, so… I hope you like home-cooking."

"I love it," Remus admits. He's still feeling quite drained from the transfer of power that happened when he was healing James. It's something he needs to think about, because he didn't know he could give power to people. He has to wonder if he can make people stronger. He did it more than once on the way out, using his ability to help James keep them all hidden as they snuck around the place. Thankfully, Sirius had said that the cameras were all turned off, helping to hide their location. But he's going to be exhausted for days.

Remus is guided over to one of the chairs and Sirius goes to get the plates. He takes them off the kitchen counter and walks over, setting one in front of Remus and removing the kitchen foil as he does.

The small hits Remus and he closes his eyes and breathes it in. Homemade shepherd's pie, one of his favourite meals.

"I went with something basic, because I wasn't sure what you'd like. But everyone likes shepherd's pie," Sirius explains. "I made chocolate cake for dessert too. I thought it'd be a good time to chat and hang out again."

"You… Did you cook, just for me?" Remus asks. His smile widens so much that it almost hurts. "You made me chocolate cake?"

Sirius loves the smile on Remus' lips. He'd cook for Moony every single day if he got to see that smile, and that's the moment when he really realises just how screwed he is, because he's head over heels for this man. To the extent of putting himself in danger, just to protect him and help him be safe. Somewhere in these fake-abductions (because let's face it, Remus wants to be here), he's started falling in love, and it's only just occurred to him that it's happened.

"I've got some films afterwards for us to watch until you… until they figure out you're here and you have to leave." Sirius frowns because why does his Moony even have to leave? He can just stay here forever. Have dinner every day at this table, cuddle on the sofa together, and fall asleep cuddled in each other's arms in the bed in the other room. Sirius will make him know that he matters, that he's important and that he belongs.

Maybe… maybe one day he'll get Remus to feel even a fraction of this in return. But Remus has to have his heart broken by Gilderoy (because that's the way things go when Gilderoy is involved) and then he has to heal and recover and move on, and maybe then is Sirius in with a chance. He doesn't want Remus to get hurt, but there is little other path that this will go. Sirius can just be there to be a friend and help him through.

They sit down and eat. Remus clearly enjoys the food, savouring each bite, and Sirius feels so happy as he watches Remus eat, because it's great to have his cooking appreciated this much. He likes that Remus looks so happy and content, and it doesn't take long for the pair to clear their plates and retreat to the sofa. Sirius sticks a random film on, but he turns the sound down and adds the subtitles.

"Why do you do these nice things for me?" Remus quietly asks. "I honestly can't work this out. You've got amazing friends, Padfoot. You have a happy life here. I just can't grasp why you keep kidnapping me. Why do I even matter to you? I'm not complaining. I'm just wondering."

"Is it really kidnapping if you know it's happening and let it happen?" Sirius finds himself asking with an easy smile. "As I keep saying, you don't understand your potential, Moony. But not only that - I really like being around you. You're fun, you're kind. I hate that I can't see you more than I do."

"It's a shame," Remus admits. "I have fun with you. Why, though? You're the bad guy, but you're not bad. None of you seem to be. Unless you're really good actors?"

Sirius shakes his head. "I left the agency after being in your shoes," he says quietly. "I was in a relationship with Gilderoy Lockhart. It's not something I talk about often, if ever, but I think it might be something you need to hear, something you need to understand because I want to help you, and I don't even know how."

"What happened?" Remus asks, just as quietly.

Sirius considers this question for a long time. "It went bad," he admits quietly. "He's not the man you think he is, he's not even close. The Agency like to tell people that Gilderoy is perfect, so people start measuring themselves against him. Gilderoy uses people. He used me, he's used others like me. Even others in my organisation. He's using you, I believe, and I don't want you to get hurt, but I suspect it's going to happen."

Remus stares at him. He's not walking out, he's not arguing. He's processing and he's listening.

"I may not agree with you on the last part, but that doesn't mean I won't listen to you," Remus replies quietly.

"I thought it was love," Sirius explains. "I was… shocked when he looked my way, took an interest in me. I couldn't believe that Gilderoy wanted stupid me when he could have anyone he wanted. The truth was… well, he did have everyone. I meant nothing. But I didn't realise that at fist. I thought I had to do certain things to make him happy. He'd suggest things. He'd say to me that I would like them if I tried them and I'd agree. He only cares about himself, Remus. You deserve… so much more. You are important. You're amazing, and… and he's going to continue hurting you and… and I don't know what to say to stop that from happening."

"So you left and became a villain?" Remus asks.

Sirius shakes his head.

"Imagine a world where the hero is actually the villain and the villains might actually be the good guys," Sirius says, a wry smile on his lips as he says it. "The hero hurts everyone whilst maintaining the illusion of perfection. The villains just want to stop him from causing the harm that he continues to spread, and they're painted as the bad-guys because anyone who is against the hero would be portrayed that way."

"I… I understand, in a way," Remus answers quietly. Whilst it's clear he can't see Gilderoy as the bad guy, he understands what Sirius is trying to tell him.

Sirius lets out a sigh. "Just… one last thing, Remus. Go back through all the interviews with him and read through and see what doesn't make sense. Look through with interviews with the family of the guys that Gilderoy takes down and see there too, and the trials in court for these people. You'll see that nothing makes sense."

"I'll look," Remus agrees, but there's something in his tone that tells Sirius that he wants to finish this conversation and move on. They turn back to the screen instead, but Sirius isn't watching the film. His attention is on the man on the other side of him.

"I like this part," Moony finally mutters, gesturing to the screen, and Sirius realizes that the topic of conversation is finished. Remus hasn't walked out, which is a good sign, but he's not sure what to make with it.

Sirius leans back, his arm around the back of the sofa as he turns his attention to the film. He's not sure at what point throughout the movie it happens, but gradually, Remus sinks further and further back against the sofa, and Sirius leans that little bit closer, and Remus is leaning against him and it's a beautiful moment.

The second movie is playing when the alarm goes off. Remus has been kidnapped for almost five hours, and Sirius wonders why it took Gilderoy so long to get here. He was probably too busy, what with his schedule and all, to come and help Remus.

---

It's the same as always. "My sidekick was kidnapped. Again," Gilderoy states, looking around at the people with a pout on his lips.

Remus listens to the words and there's a new light shed on them. With Sirius' words, Remus hasn't been able to stop thinking about everything that has happened. He can't help but to compare the two men. One, taking hours and hours to find him, even when he knows where Remus is. The other, coming in, ready to fight anyone and everyone to ensure Remus' safety. No waiting around, just clearly reckless planning. He doesn't approve of recklessness because Sirius or James could get hurt, but he appreciates that they cared so much that they didn't waste time.

And whilst the thought is in his mind, he realises that he hates the idea of Gilderoy touching Sirius at all. In fact, the more he thinks about it, the more he considers how much he's crossed from his comfort zone, trying to do the things that Gilderoy says he likes, and thinking about Sirius being out of his own comfort zone, trying to meet the superhero's demands, thinking he owed Gilderoy something.

He imagines a Sirius that is so hurt that he feels he has to leave the Agency itself, though he knows that's not exactly the case. Sirius said it was because of something else, but he's sure the failed relationship played a large part in their choices.

Rather than feeling grateful that Gilderoy finally came for him, and that his partner is including him, he considers the fact that Gilderoy wants to stop and spend time on the streets, talking about how he saves his sidekick. That's what matters more than actually getting Remus back and to check he's okay. To debrief, to talk about what happened. Remus has been gone all night (and woke up cuddling Sirius on the sofa).

Remus bristles at the word. It never sat right with him because he's more than a sidekick. He was a hero, once. He was trained as a hero, he has the powers of one. He's more than a sidekick, but being the partner to a superhero like Gilderoy wouldn't work because it's clear that he won't share a spotlight like that.

Remus is only there to take notes. To take pictures. He's only there to be kidnapped so Gilderoy can tell the world what a good person he is. He's there so Gilderoy can imply Remus owes him something, without actually uttering those words.

They head back to the apartment, and whilst he still finds himself giving in to Gilderoy's needs, he's noticing a lot more about the man's behaviour. It's something that keeps him up all night. He can't stop thinking about how comfortable he had been that morning when in Sirius' arms. He hasn't felt that comfortable in a long time.

---

"Come on, Remus, we're needed again," Gilderoy says. "We must stop them." He pauses long enough to send a message on his phone and Remus can't help but wonder who exactly is he texting. Rita, perhaps? The unknown man that the pictures showed Gilderoy kissing?

Remus is torn. He had been planning to tell Gilderoy that he's not sure about this - about them - anymore. That he deserves better than standing around when they're on a mission. He's a hero and he wants to be treated like one.

Gilderoy can have the spotlight. Remus just wants to help people. He's bored. He's unhappy. His body is a bit sore, and he recalls what Sirius said before about Gilderoy pushing limits, suggesting things. Does Gilderoy pick the insecure? The ones that he knows will be more likely to do these things out of fear of losing him?

But… he wants to join in and he's still scared that Gilderoy will say no. He doesn't want the man to change his mind, and if he goes, maybe he'll get to see Sirius once more. Maybe Sirius will throw him that cocky grin before taking his hand and pulling him into the portal. Maybe they'll have dinner again and cuddle on the sofa. Maybe…

He stops there, because his brain is supplying ideas that he doesn't think he should have, since he's in a relationship. He won't be in it for long. One last mission and then he's going to tell Gilderoy that this isn't working out anymore. Even if he ends up doing research for the rest of his time at the Agency. He'd rather do that than force himself to participate in this mess of a relationship.

So Remus heads out to his own rooms, ignoring the looks he gets when he walks past. He doesn't realise why until he goes into his room and notices the vicious red mark on his neck from Gilderoy, and he sighs.

He pulls on his costume and he gets going. He meets Gilderoy out the front and lets the other man lead the way to the car, and he drives quickly.

"I'll be there in a minute," Gilderoy says. "I have to put my mask on over here." He gestures to a nearby building and Remus nods his head. Gilderoy always needs time to tuck his hair up just right, insisting that if he does it wrong, his hair will get messy and knotted.

Remus waits five minutes, and Gilderoy approaches, walking a little stiffly, but again, it's something Remus is used to.

"Let's go," Remus murmurs. He looks to Gilderoy for direction, and Gilderoy strides over and he opens the door to the building. The locks have been disabled. But as he looks them over, he notices a strange green glow to them.

From what he can tell, Sirius' power doesn't leave a green glow. He's not sure what this means, but something isn't right about this. Maybe this job isn't involving Sirius after all?

They rush in and Gilderoy announces himself. Remus peeks around him, unable to get past him in the doorway, and he looks over the events that are happening in the bank.

Sirius and James are there. James is messing with the Peacock, pulling his feathers out, distracting him and causing him to get angry. Sirius, on the other hand, is being restrained by about three minions. He's fighting to free himself, teeth bared.

But as the pair enter the room, a figure emerges from the shadows and James freezes, backing up quickly.

It's a figure that fills him with complete and utter fear.

Greyback.

'Run!'

But there's a flash of light and Gilderoy goes flying out of the room, before the doors slam shut behind him. They're trapped in there with Fenrir, and Remus can't grasp onto any thought that could help them. He's frozen in terror.

"My little pup," he says.

Remus' blood runs cold at the sound of his voice.

"You've got yourself a little friend, " he says, dragging the words out slowly. "How… sweet."

Remus wants to run. He could probably escape if he wanted. He didn't hear the door lock. It might be able to be opened.

"Perhaps this is the way to get your attention, child, by having your friend join us too." Remus' gaze moves over to James, who is standing near the unconscious body of the Peacock, eyes wide as he watches Greyback. He takes a quiet sep towards Sirius, who is straining against the three people, fighting as hard as possible. Greyback takes a deep breath. "Oh wait. Two of them. Well, two little toys. Two soldiers for me."

If he leaves, he leaves them. They'll suffer what he did, perhaps worse. That single thought is what keeps him there, because he can't think of anything worse. James has been so nice to him, and Sirius… Sirius has been everything.

"It's a bit pathetic that you have to try grab my friends in the hopes of getting my attention, Fenrir. It makes you look like a desperate ex that can't let go. I actually feel sorry for you." Remus hides the quiver in his voice. "Have you heard of ghosting? All the kids are doing it these days. Take a hint."

Sirius laughs, despite being restrained, and Remus can't help but shoot him a smile. His words might be taunting the other man, but it doesn't mean he's not absolutely terrified.

'You can leave me. As long as you're safe,' Sirius says.

'No. I'm not going to let anything happen to you or James. I don't have the power to save you, Sirius. But I have faith that you can both save me. And if you can't… I'll know that you at least tried.' He shoots Sirius a smile and Sirius struggles even harder.

"I'll go with you if you let them go," he says quietly, turning his attention to Greyback. "Whatever you want, no fuss. But you can't hurt my friends."

Greyback's smile is twisted. His lips curve upwards. "A beautiful specimen for my collection, pup," he says.

"I'm going to say goodbye, then we'll go. I assume it's the same place as before?"

Greyback shakes his head and Remus approaches Sirius. He trusts Sirius to save him, and even if Sirius can't, at least Remus can protect his friend.

He reaches out to hug Sirius, pressing his gaze down against Sirius' shoulder.

'You can't do this.'

'I'm going to transfer some of my energy to you. Try and hold onto it as long as you can. Send James a message now to approach me so I can do the same to him. If I don't see you again…'

'Fuck that. I'll find you, luv.'

There's a split second of silence before:

'James, walk to Remus and let him do that boost thingy. We'll have to save him.'

Remus glances up quickly enough to see James nod his head. He closes his eyes and shifts as much energy as he can muster into Sirius, before letting go. The three that were restraining him double their efforts as Sirius fights even harder.

'Regulus. Can you hear me? We need help. We need a portal. Peter, can you see us? James, if he makes the portal in front of Greyback, can you make the portal invisible?'

Sirius uses his ability to try and plan with the others, but Remus knows Greyback. This man will rip them to shreds should they get in the way. Right now, they're a bargaining chip. They're amusing. But it won't stay that way for too long.

"If I agree to your terms, will that be enough?" Remus asks, as he turns to look into the face of the man who haunts his nightmares. He wants to know what to expect when he leaves.

"Oh, little pup, you've spent so long disobeying. We'll have to teach you to listen a little better. I think a trip to my lab is in order. You only spent five days there. You're not even half-way ready, and I've learnt a lot since your beautiful transformation to my kind." He glances around and Remus feels a hand on his arm. James.

Whilst Greyback's gaze isn't on him, he pushes the rest of his power out, and the force of that almost makes him fall to his knees. As quickly as he appeared, James moves away.

"Peacock, a portal," Fenrir orders.

Remus is shaking now, but he has to trust Sirius and James. It's almost every bit of his power to both of them, and he feels his vision fading in and out of black.

The last thing he sees is the portal.

---

Sirius stares at Albus Dumbledore. "Your moron hero let Remus get taken by Greyback," he snaps. "Where's Remus' mum? I need to talk to her."

Albus frowns. "I didn't realise that Greyback was back in the city," he says. "Why don't you come in and we work together?"

Sirius looks over to where Gilderoy is standing with his stupid hair. Working together isn't what'd happen. It'd be them working with Lockhart, and having to clean up his messes.

"No. If you want to help him, you can work separately to us," he says. "I'm here to talk to his mum."

"As you can understand, we can't send people out and put them at risk," Albus insists.

"Tell her. Tell her that someone is outside with information about her son and let her make that choice. Tell her that Greyback has him and we'd like any information she can provide."

"Why not involve us? We can share the knowledge," Albus insists.

"Because I don't trust this Agency and what it stands for, or who it employs," Sirius tells the man who had once been like a mentor to him. "Whereas Remus' mum, as his family, will be allowed to take that file and bring it to me. Look, we can get into your building if we truly wanted, I'm taking the civil route, but I'm not willing to stand around and wait much longer. Remus could get hurt, and we're wasting time."

Albus nods at one of Lockhart's lackeys, and the man heads inside. Five minutes pass and a woman comes running out. She's pulling a long cardigan on and is clutching a handbag. A file is sticking out of it, and she ignores the other heroes, heading straight to Sirius.

"I'm ready," she says. "I have what you need."

She grabs his arm and starts pulling him away, and Sirius steers her across the street to where his brother is waiting.

"Fenrir Greyback set a trap," Sirius explains. "We thought that it was just The Peacock trying to get Remus. We went there to stop him, but we couldn't. We're going to free him somehow, but we need to know what he told you about the place."

"I'm Hope," she replies. "Are your Headquarters close?"

"Just through a portal." The portal appears by Regulus as they approach, and Hope lets go of Sirius and strides through without a second thought, determined to find out about her son.

Hope sits at the meeting table as she talks about everything she can remember from the last time Remus had been taken by Greyback. She hands over the report from her handbag.

Peter's skin has slowly moved from green to blue as he zips around every camera near any energy pulse in the city. Sirius watches the map as the flights flicker as he searches. He watches the screen as they scroll through every camera in the area, searching for any trace of Greyback.

It's almost an hour before Peter finds something. In North West London, a few miles from the airport is an old set of warehouses, away from everything. There's a single sighting of Greyback going through a wire fence, taken from across the road, and Peter hones in on the area.

People gather around the table now. Everyone has turned up for this mission, just in case their skills are needed, but Sirius knows that he's going.

"Can we get more eyes on this?" Kingsley demands.

Peter continues to scroll, and finally he gets what he needs. A webcam on a laptop. It's pointed at a hurt Remus.

"Come on, little pup, you need to transform so I can see what I'm working with."

Remus is clearly fighting to hold back the anger. He clearly doesn't have the energy to transform, but if he pulls from his last bit of reserved energy, he could manage one more. But at extreme risk to his health.

Sirius can feel the energy that Remus sent his way flow through him and he has a thought. Can he communicate? 'We see you, Moonpie. Computer. We're coming for you.'

Remus' glazed look sharpens and he straightens up slightly, his gaze moving past Greyback. The beast is pacing around him, and the corners of Remus' lips curve up ever so slightly, before that smile fades.

'I'll try and keep him distracted.'

"I think I need to rest," Remus says quietly. "One day to rest and then I'll transform."

"One hour, and then you'll have no choice but to do so." Remus winces when a needle pierces his skin and Hope lets out a pained gasp at the sight.

Sirius turns to the group.

"Regulus, portal?"

Regulus shakes his head. "From the reports, it sounds like Fenrir can feel the energy from one of those. He'll be alerted if I make one. I can do it if we need, but I don't think we should start with that."

Sirius nods. "Stealth it is. James, Peter, you're working with me. Regulus, on standby for when we get Remus. Alice, Frank… and…" he looks around at the people he's been working with for the last few years, sizing them up. "Kingsley."

Kingsley looks surprised. "You know, I have always wanted to get back in the field," he says. "But I am not sneaky or silent."

"This won't ever stop unless we take care of Greyback. You can control animals and he can shift into a giant monster wolf. It might not work, but we've got to cover that if we need to. You'll be waiting with Regulus and if the opportunity presents itself, Regulus gets you there."

"What will we do with Greyback?" Regulus asks.

Sirius shrugs. "We…"

"Make sure he never comes back," Hope says. "How far away can you open a portal?"

"All of the way across London," Regulus says.

Hope hesitates. "I don't condone murder," she says quietly. "But unless there's a prison that can hold him…"

"Which is where I come in," Charlus says to her. "I can remove him from this dimension. It's what we did in the old days with the worst of the worst villains until laws changed. But what is decided in this room, stays in this room."

Hope nods, pleased. "I can heal anyone who gets hurt," she tells them. "I have a few other… I haven't kept up with my powers in a long time, just focusing on the healing because Remus needs a strong healer. But I'll be here and I'll… if I can help, I will."

"We're ready to move out," Sirius says. "I don't want to waste any time." He looks back at the screen just as Fenrir Greyback strikes Remus, trying to push the anger. As much as he wants Peter to take this off the screen, they need it up there so they know when Greyback becomes aware of their presence.

The group get ready to leave, and Hope finds Sirius and pulls him away from the group.

"I have to say that the constant kidnappings are very confusing to both me and my son. But judging by what I'm seeing today… maybe you should do what all the other kids do and go to a coffee shop or go out and have dinner?"

"He's in a relationship with Lockhart," Sirius points out.

Hope frowns. "All the more reason for you to step up your game, dear. That man takes delight in the kidnappings because he gets to look like a hero for doing so. That man is… there's something so very off about him, and my son is unhappy. But when he comes back from wherever you take him each time, he returns with a smile. He's at ease. Confident. He feels… like he matters." She pauses, glancing around.

"They tell us that you're the villains. One group of many, but there is a particular attention on this group over all others. Yet you're the ones ready to risk your lives for my son. For one person. You're not sitting around and weighing the risks. You're not making plans that take hours to agree upon. My son matters to you and to the people here. I know that not everything in this world is black and white, and my Remus knows that too. Bring him back safely."

"I'll… I'll do my best," Sirius insists.

Gideon chooses that moment to walk over. "Remember what we were talking about before? Well, I think we've got something." He holds up a small vial. "It's very short term and it tastes like crap, but… it may help."

---

Remus remembers all of the tests now. Like the wall that he put up has been broken down and the memories come flooding in.

In a strange way, he's relieved that he remembers these tests. Because Fenrir believes that they need to start from the beginning all over again, otherwise it might not work.

Remus survived through these tests before. He'll survive again. It just means he'll suffer the same side-effects. They were horrible the first time, he felt close to death, but it buys them time. It means that nothing new will be done to him before they get here.

The attacks, the random hits, the harsh words, they're all designed to make Remus angry. If he's angry, he might shift, and he's worried that they'll speed this along if that happens, so instead of letting the anger take him over, he tries to ignore the needles piercing his skin, the attacks that he can't avoid due to being bound.

He thinks about Sirius. He thinks about the Order Headquarters. He thinks about the birthday party and how it felt to be a part of that.

Another blow hits his face and Remus winces in pain and tries to not cry out or say anything. He remembers dancing with Sirius, with Sirius grabbing his hand and not letting go.

A knife cuts into his skin as they take a blood sample and he knows that's going to leave another scar. He clenches his teeth and thinks about cuddling on Sirius' sofa as they watch a film.

Fingers press against the cut, forcing more blood out. Remus turns his thoughts to how he woke up in Sirius' arms the next morning and there was just this moment where they looked at each other and neither wanted to move. The thought fills him with happiness and he feels the energy return a little to him, and that energy winds around him as a whilte mist, forcing the others back.

He smiles. He's not sure what this power is, but he knows it has something to do with his happiness. He tries to focus on keeping that up, so he thinks about Sirius again. Sirius binding his wrists. Them sharing pizza and chatting on the first kidnapping night. He plays the thoughts over and over again, just trying to keep that wall of fog up.

He's in a lot of pain. He's been here about three hours before Sirius sent the message saying that he found him, and he knows Sirius would have been looking from the first moment he could. He's dealt with tests, being beaten, and the sicknesses that only Fenrir can cause, twisting around inside of him to test his endurance.

But Sirius is coming. That thought is the happiest he has, and that white fog keeps the monsters at bay.

---

Regulus disappears from sight, and Sirius is on edge. They need to give him time to be distracted by the others, before going in. They count to thirty. Sirius is more on edge than he's ever been in his life, because he's had to watch Remus suffer. He hasn't taken his eyes off the screen.

Dorea is sitting with Hope, trying to keep her calm, and the woman looks like a force of fury. The only thing keeping her in that chair is the knowledge that if she doesn't contain her powers, there is no-one to heal Remus from this encounter. She needs to save her energy for that. Sirius has insisted that if it becomes dire, that Regulus will bring her through, but to trust that they'll do anything they can to bring Remus back.

Thirty seconds pass, and Peter gives the nod. The computer glow had surrounded him now, and the sounds coming off him are like those of a machine. He's watching all of the cameras. He's been stopping Greyback's machines from working. Whilst they've had to watch Remus coming to harm, Peter has been switching bigger and scarier machines off and making them short-circuit.

They're going to be suffering a lot when they're all back, safe. But that's a problem for when they all return, and it's worth it.

The portal opens and Sirius is the first through. James quickly follows him. Whilst James can't get through the white mist that surrounds him, Sirius finds that he can touch it, reach through it.

"Hey, luv," he says gently. "I'm here now. Told you I'd be here." He takes the risk and steps through and he feels a wave of calmness, safety. He kneels down, his hand gently lifting Remus' face. He knows Remus is alive because he's conscious enough to maintain this power.

"I'm here, luv," he says softly. "Greyback is distracted. We've got the team and we'll do everything to get you out of here. But can you drop the… misty stuff?"

It begins to fade, and Remus doesn't reply straight away. James rushes to untie Remus from his binds, and Sirius takes a moment to push some blood-soaked hair from his face.

"You can sleep when we're safe," Sirius tells him, and Remus' eyes open the smallest bit.

"He injected me with… I think that it forced the transformation last time. I could change at any moment."

"That's fine," Sirius murmurs. "Through the portal now, and we've got a… well, it's a bit prison-y but it's secure, and you can transform there and your mum is there, okay? Not in the prison bit. I mean, you won't have to stay in there. Just transform and when you're back…" He guides Remus out of the chair and towards the portal, but as they approach, they hear a growl from the doorway.

Greyback pounds his hand against the door of the warehouse, and the portal crackles and fades away. The beast smiles.

"Did you think it'd be that easy?" he asks. The door splinters and breaks underneath his touch. "Do you think that you can take my prodigy? The one I've been searching for since I lost him before?"

"Yeah. That's what we think," James spits. He grabs Sirius and Remus, one with each hand, wrapping his arm tightly around each of them. "Fuck, I hope this works," he mutters, and he leans back against the wall behind them, pulling the others with him.

They fall out of the other side, and James is pale, dazed as they hit the floor.

"How the fuck?" Sirius asks, scrambling to his feet. He pulls Remus up first, before offering James a hand up. "How?"

"The power boost," James points out. "He can break portals, that's a problem." Remus is a little unsteady but they run towards the noise. The plan had been to push Remus through and then return to get everyone to safety.

Behind them they hear a roar. They round a corner and Sirius is relieved to see the entire group safe. The shifters that have turned into wolves are being controlled by Kingsley. Alice's eyes are entirely grey as she allows Regulus to see through her eyes, but they flicker blue because somehow Peter has worked out how to access those visions too. There are cameras embedded into the suits and everything is being monitored so Peter and Regulus can send the portal if they find the opportunity, or intervene should they need help.

They jump into the fight, but not before Sirius presses the vial into Remus' hand and explains what it is, should Remus end up transforming. It's yet another show of trust when Remus drinks it back without question.

Then Remus transform. Bones crack and break and he's clearly in agony and Sirius tries to stop him, tries to tell him that the potion was just in case, that he didn't expect Remus to do this.

But then there's a growling, snarling beast where he once was, but Sirius is relieved to see amber eyes rather than black, and the beast turns towards Greyback's minions, and throws itself into the fight.

---

"That's enough, Pup." Greyback makes a motion with his hands and suddenly Remus is falling to the floor in human form.

"Here." A costume is thrown towards him and he pulls it on, his legs shaking as he does. There's no time for modesty right now.

"Is this what you want, little one?" Greyback asks. He twists his fingers in a motion and Remus feels like he's burning. At his side, Sirius cries out.

"Their deaths will be your burden." He presses his fingers again and pain shoots through Remus' head. This time, James is the one to make a noise of pain.

He knows what Greyback is doing. Greyback is trying to show how easy it is for him to hurt others. He's trying to get under Remus' skin. He's not sure he has the energy to do anything. The world has a fog over it and Remus isn't sure how he's even conscious at this point. Everything hurts. His body is already protesting the things he's been injected with, he gave his energy to the others, and somehow he still managed to find enough to protect himself with the white mist earlier, and transform.

He's spent, but still he struggles to his feet, and Sirius moves to his side, completely pale. James joins them, and when Remus looks around there are others there, ready to fight.

These people barely know him and they've risked themselves for him. He'll find energy from somewhere. His legs threaten to give out, but Remus is sure that there's got to be a tiny sliver of power somewhere in him.

There's a blue glow as a portal opens, and a woman steps out and Remus is horrified at the sight of his mother.

She's wearing a borrowed mask, but has her casual clothes on. The mask is green and as he watches, vines spread over it, attaching it to her head.

"So, you're the man who took my son. Twice."

Sirius shifts nervously at this and if this wasn't so dire, he'd have laughed.

Kingsley starts forward. "Wait—"

But Greyback leans down and pounds the ground and it sends a wave which throws Kingsley off his feet.

"Ms. Moony, what an absolute pleasure. My creation is here - my Pup, I could call him my son, at this point. And now you. Of course I'd always welcome the person who first gave him life, into my life."

Hope smiles wryly. She walks forward, and as she does, grass begins to sprout from between the cracks in the ground.

"Such an ugly place," she comments quietly. "There's so much concrete here."

"We prefer the wilds, milady." Greyback gives an exaggerated bow and Remus is quite disgusted. Is his arch-nemesis trying to flirt with his mother?

"This is so gross," Sirius whispers, and Remus nods in agreement.

"Anemone," she murmurs. "That's who I used to be. But… you hurt my son." She slowly leans down, her fingers touching one of the sunflowers, causing it to grow as tall as her.

Remus notices both Charlus and Kingsley taking a step back at the mention of her name. He never knew his mother was an active Superhero at one point. She had never told him this.

"And for that, you're going to pay!" And with those words, ivy shoot through the cracks in the concrete, crawling its way towards Greyback, and even thicker vines break the concrete as they burst their way through, winding around him.

He lets out a snarl, and his bones start to crack. Remus rushes towards his mother, shifting into his own form, and blocking Greyback, but before he can reach Remus, the vines wind around the giant wolf and bind him. He bites and snaps at the vines, he fights, but more and more follow, destroying the concrete and revealing the land underneath.

As the land is revealed, grass starts to grow and flowers follow and it starts to look healthier. She doesn't stop until the wolf is unmoving, only a paw and his face left uncovered, though vines force his jaw shut.

"I think we're ready to get rid of him," she says, glancing over her shoulder towards Charlus. "If you'd like to do the honours."

Remus feels woozy as he stands guard, protecting his mother. He can see Greyback isn't a threat right now, but he's not going to move until she's safe. Charlus approaches, and Remus wonders what the man's power is, and he stops next to Hope.

"You never mentioned that we met before," Charlus says.

Hope just smiles. "An epic fight," she comments. "It wasn't relevant earlier."

"Greyback, for your many crimes, I'm banishing you from our dimension. You'll exist in a dimension where you may find happiness, one without humans, but with wilderness best suited to you." He steps forward and, suddenly the vines are burning, and Greyback hits the ground with the heaviest of thuds.

"It is I, Gilderoy Lockhart, come to save you!" comes a shout. Greyback gets to his feet and runs, the large wolf disappearing fast.

Remus turns and growls, before everything turns black.

---

Sirius gets Remus into the portal before Gilderoy can reach him. Hope follows, and everyone else comes in. It's so very awkward, carrying a man in his arms, and it's not at all like the films make it out to be, but Sirius does it anyway.

He strides from the room before anyone can see the state Remus is in, and he heads straight for his own room. Hope is on his heels, though she looks drained herself. Sirius feels fine. Stronger, but he's not sure how he can help Remus. He doesn't have healing abilities.

He lays Remus on his bed and Hope throws a blanket over his lap.

"Oh. That's a…" she reaches for one of the new marks. "My poor baby."

It's clearly a strain for her to heal, and Sirius reaches out and puts his hand over hers.

"Remus gave me energy earlier," he says quietly. "Take it and use it."

"I can't take it," Hope says. "Try and give it back."

Sirius feels her squeeze his hand and he tries to focus. His eyes are closed and he tries to feel the energy inside of him.

He pushes it towards his hand, towards Hope and he wills it to flow from his body to her. It takes a minute, but it's successful. He gives away the energy Remus gave to him, but he looks down at Remus, his eyes move to the wound running down his face and he wonders how Remus got that, and his eyes move to the blood soaked hair.

He pushes as much energy as he can, and things start looking dark.

"Heal him," he mutters, and faintly, he feels arms pulling him around to the other side of the bed and pushing him to lay down.

---

"He's a dumbarse," James mutters, as they all sit around the table. "He gave almost all his energy to your mum."

Remus is exhausted. He can see his mum is and James is wrapped in a blanket, no doubt given by his own mum. They're sitting on sofas rather than the meeting room, and Remus remembers the party being in this room.

"I want to know everything," Remus insists quietly. "With Lockhart, you need to tell me."

James hesitates for a long moment. He looks towards Hope, who gets the hint and walks away, taking a seat at one of the small tables where Dorea is.

"He hurt Sirius," he finally says. "Did the same things to him as you. Exactly the same. The bruises on your side, you got them because he got carried away. Threw you on the bed?"

"A little bit."

"Sirius got knocked unconscious once. Gilderoy made him feel so guilty for it like Sirius owed him for Gilderoy missing out on a shag. When Sirius saw you that first time - not at the Agency, but the first time on a mission - he realised the relationship pretty quickly, and that's one of the reasons he grabbed you. Honestly, I think that's the main reason. He panicked, and wasn't thinking straight."

"I thought it was about my powers," Remus admits.

"I think… with Sirius, that may have been second to just attempting in his own stupid way to help you." James runs a hand through his hair. "Gilderoy has a special interest in you, but… I'm sorry, but Gilderoy doesn't 'love', he doesn't care about anyone but himself. Relationships are a means to an end. Everything is designed to make his own life better. So when we saw you, Sirius realised that there was something more to you. You've proved that. You are very powerful. You can make others more powerful. I think that's why he picked you."

"How would he have known?" Remus asks.

"Gilderoys powers are… questionable," James tells him. "Gilderoy isn't the hero that people think he is. He's a fraud. Look at three days ago. He came in, threw out a random ability as though he was the one who had captured Fenrir." James sighs.

"A fraud?" Remus is ready to listen. He trusts this group more than he trusts anyone. More than he trusts the Agency.

"Every mission, has he disappeared right beforehand, reappeared, and done it again at the end?"

"Yes," Remus replies.

"And the interviews Sirius asked you to read. All the people weren't the sort to do the crimes they were charged with? All the civilian people, anyway?"

Remus frowns. "James, get to the point please."

"Gilderoy's greatest power is mind-control," James says. "He leaves and gets someone else to stand in for him, pretending to be him. Then he jumps back out and makes out he did whatever. Sirius used to notice him bringing spare costumes out with him. But there's more than that. He uses mind control to make people commit crimes. He probably gets them to be taken down easily by him, making him look the hero. He brings you out more so now because of the kidnappings, so he'll get attention. But…"

"But?"

"We think that his power has developed so he can read people and see who will benefit him the most. Some sense or something, we're not entirely sure. We know he picks relationships with those of us that are insecure, he honed in on Sirius very quickly, and he's found you. But… he also drains power out of people."

"I'd know if he did that," Remus quickly says.

"You're a healer. Your abilities stem from giving, so you might not have, if it's just sapping a little here and there, or when you're in a heightened state of emotion." James shrugs his shoulders. "Do you ever feel really tired after sex? Like extra tired? More than with anyone else?"

"Oh. I… I've only been with someone else before him very short term," Remus admits, his cheeks red. "I just assumed that being tired was… normal."

"You're just an accessory to him. Someone to use. But, Remus, we actually all care about you here. You're cool, we want to help you. I know it's a lot to ask, to invite you to join us, so I won't make that offer right now. Not until you're ready for that. But when you are… well, you know where the warehouse is. You come there, and we'll collect you and bring you here."

"You're not a villain, are you?"

James grins. "We're actually the good guys," he says. "We'll always have your back, Remus, and we won't take your energy unless freely given during missions. We won't use you to look good. Me, Sirius, Peter… we actually want you on our team. We want to work with you, as equals."

Remus thinks hard about this. He wants that, but there's one obstacle first.

"I won't take that offer," he says. "Because we need to expose Gilderoy. How do we do that?"

James grins. "All in one go. He's telling people that he saved you and then we knocked him out and took you. But… we're sitting on the footage that says otherwise. Of course we want your consent to—"

"You have it. What else?"

"When we first met, we were after something that'd take away his powers," James adds. "It'd be attuned to him, but our scientists think that they can change it afterwards and use it on Greyback."

"I'm in. You tell me when it's ready, and I'll get him there and into position," Remus says. "I've been gone long enough, I'm going to go and sit with Sirius in case he wakes up, but… you let me know when the plan needs to go into action. I don't want him to wake up alone."

"He won't. If you have to go, I'll be here," James promises. "Oh. We also have someone here who can use their powers to make Lockhart tell the truth. One of my mum's abilities. Made it fun growing up." He pulls a face and Remus can't help but laugh.

He's going to take up this offer, but he's going to expose Gilderoy Lockhart first.

---

Sirius wakes up a week later, and the first thing that happens is Dorea hugging him and almost crying. The second is her scolding him for using way too much energy and almost putting himself into a coma.

"We've been bringing Hope here daily to heal you. They had to leave two days ago. The heroes did an outright attack on the warehouse, and they went to avoid anyone getting hurt. Remus wanted to be here when you woke up," James explains. "But he's coming back, Sirius. He said he's coming back."

Sirius nods slightly. "How long has it been?"

"A week. A few hours off eight days. Hope said you're stable and it's just a waiting game for your body to heal itself now."

Sirius sighs. "I wanted to talk to him before he left to go back," he mutters. "Didn't envision that things would go this way." He lays back down, sulking a little. Not at Remus, never at Remus. Just at the fact that Remus can't be there with him. "He's gone back to Gilderoy?"

"I told him everything. Not so much on the details of your relationship, but enough for him to realise what you also went through. As for Gilderoy's powers, I told him everything. He's an inside man now, just you wait and see. In fact, we've got to send a message to him. You're awake now, so we've got to step up our plan."

"Plan?"

James grins. "The machine is ready. The day to expose Lockhart is upon us, my friend. Let's do what we've been trying to do for years, and then you can finally get your man and live happily ever after."

Unfortunately for Sirius, he's left out of lots of the planning stages of events. He's left to mope around the top floor, but nothing is interesting. He wants to be involved. He wants to help make plans, he wants to go and see Remus.

So whilst everyone is distracted, he does just that. He walks the street where the secret Agency headquarters are, and he uses his power to send a message into the tower, to Remus. He hopes that Remus gets it, that Remus is awake, because maybe Remus is still recovering.

'I'm going for a walk in Hyde Park. I'll walk slow.' And with that, he walks away, heading towards the park to get some air.

He stops in the shop to buy a couple of milkshakes and as he leaves, he sees Remus slightly ahead of him, walking fast.

"Hey, what's a Moony like you doing in a place like this?" he calls, and Remus spins around, his face lighting up.

"You're awake!" he exclaims. "I mean, I got the message from Peter on my computer, but… but seeing it with my own eyes…" he strides over and throws his arms around Sirius.

"Hey, don't spill the milkshakes," Sirius jokes. "You can hug me all you like when my hands aren't full and I can hug you back."

Remus beams at him as he lets go, and Sirius holds the milkshakes up.

"Strawberry or chocolate?"

Of course Remus takes the chocolate milkshake and he sips away as they resume walking, heading towards the park.

"They came for my mum," Remus explains. "She's an asset to the Agency, and they were ready to fight to get her back. Thought you guys were keeping her against her will, or something. I mean… I think that's the story the Agency is getting behind. I'm not sure that they even believe that, to be honest."

"I know. James explained. You did what you needed to in order to stop the fighting," Sirius says. "I'm not planning to hold that against you. I just wanted to get out and get some air. To see you. They're all making plans indoors."

"Yeah, they had me helping. I think Peter and Alice were doing some combined… power thing? I'm not sure. I just said I had a meeting to get to and bunked so I could see you."

Sirius laughs. "I matter that much?"

"More than you realise," Remus replies quietly. "I'd have stayed. James said he won't make the offer because he thinks it'll make it too hard for me, not until he's certain that I'm sure about it. But I'm already sure."

"What changed your mind? What's holding you back?"

"You, and you," Remus says. "You and the Order were ready to give your lives to save me, and I wasn't even one of you. You make me feel important, like I matter. You make me feel…" he trails off. "Things I've never felt before," he finally adds.

"But I'm the one holding you back from joining?" Sirius pushes.

"Yes and no. Not just you, but… Gilderoy hurts people. He's hurting me, he's hurt you. When I end things, he's just going to hurt someone else. I had to go back, just to stop him from finding a new victim. We take him down, Sirius, then I can leave. When he's exposed and not a threat anymore."

"You're not still sleeping with him, are you?" Sirius asks, horrified, scared that Remus might still be getting hurt.

Remus laughs softly. "Mum keeps on about how fragile I am, and how it's best I don't get involved with any relationship stuff, not even kissing, until she's sure that whatever Greyback did is out of my system. Just a ruse of course, but Greyback doesn't want to risk catching something, so… yeah, he's staying far away. But I told him earlier that I'm feeling better. We're setting the plan in motion."

"Good. I'd hate to think that he's still…"

"Mum thinks you fancy me," Remus says, his cheeks reddening at the words.

"Yeah, well, maybe… maybe I had a crush on you, four years ago."

"Four? Oh." He looks so disheartened at these words.

"And maybe… maybe in all the time we've spent together, that's grown into something that wouldn't be right to discuss whilst you're still in a relationship with someone else. We both deserve to do this right. If you feel… if you want, but we can just be friends if you don't."

"I want that," Remus says. "But this is the end of the conversation until I join your group. We'll do things properly. I expect a real date, not just being kidnapped over and over again." He grins. "On that note, I've got places to be. I just… I had to see you." He leans in, his lips pressing against Sirius' cheek. "See you on the other side."

Sirius beams at him. "Yeah, I can't wait." He watches as Remus walks off, and doesn't move until Remus is out of sight. It's only then does he look around and notice the portal.

He steps through, and he's back at Headquarters. There, on the screen, is a zoomed-in picture of the spot he was just at. The smaller screens around it are following Remus on his walk home as he sips the milkshake with a happy smile on his lips.

"Can't be too careful," Regulus says, his eyes on the screen. "Had a nice date?"

"The best," Sirius mutters. "So, now do I get to be a part of things?"

James grins. "It's all ready to go, we're just planning when. Take a seat and we'll fill you in."

---

Remus fixes his mask over his eyes and smiles. The costume was waiting on the steps of the Agency with his name on it, and the outfit is so very beautiful. The material is soft and feels amazing against his skin, and it's a dark blue, almost black. Silver and gold thread shimmers against it with moons, but also a handful of stars, but not enough to clutter it. The mask looks like a crescent moon on its side.

Gilderoy sits at his side, leaning in towards the woman interviewing the pair, a wide smile on his lips. But Remus shares a look with the woman. Her hazel eyes regard him in amusement from behind her glasses. He's been answering questions from the audience for the last ten minutes, but Remus can see the empty seats being filled, and it's time.

The camera is switched on and the interview starts. "Good morning, everyone, I'm your hose for today, Dorea Potter, filling in for today only. On today's show, we have the biggest name in England, nay, the biggest name the world has ever known, Gilderoy Lockhart."

There's a burst of applause and Gilderoy starts to talk about himself, as he always does.

"A question for you, Moony," the woman says.

"Me?" Remus pretends to be surprised. "If Gilderoy is okay with me taking this one."

He's put on the spot, Remus can tell. But still, he smiles as though doing Remus a massive favour. "You go right ahead," he offers, generously.

"Mr. Moony, you've been kidnapped no less than…" she checks her pad in front of her. "Eleven times by Criminal Organisation, The Order. The fans of the show have been moved by the friendship between you and Gilderoy. But you've been attacked more recently by The Peacock, and by Greyback himself. How has that ordeal changed you?"

"Well, thanks to an amazing Hero, I'm still here. A little tired, still recovering, but alive."

"And we have Gilderoy Lockhart to thank for that?" she checks. "From the reports, he… he shot fireballs and burnt Greyback so badly that Greyback ran for his life, thus freeing you."

Remus shakes his head. "Oh, you've been misinformed. The Order gave their lives to save me, and Gilderoy turned up at the last moment, freeing Greyback from his binds and allowing him to escape. He—"

"Now, wait a minute, I think you've gotten a little confused due to your health," Gilderoy says. He turns towards the audience, towards the camera and beams at them. "Let me tell the story again."

He delves into the story as the large screen behind them switches on. Silently it shows the scene, with the Order stepping in and trying to free Remus. The masked group taking on the Wolf and his minions, and Gilderoy pauses, half-way through his retelling, as he realises that no-one is paying any attention to him, their gazes all moving past him.

It shows Hope in her mask, winding the vines around Greyback. "Hey, isn't that Anemone," Dorea says. "I remember her from when I was younger. I wanted to be just like her. Isn't she amazing!"

Remus hides his smile. His mum is somewhere in the audience. Everyone from the Order is.

"Wow, did you see that? The Order captured Greyback," Gideon calls. "I thought Gilderoy did."

"A team effort, led by me—" Lockhart starts, but then the sound is turned up, and on the screen, they hear Gilderoy announcing himself as flames hit the vines, freeing Greyback. The video splits into two side-by-side screens. One of Gilderoy's flames, and the wolf escaping, burned. The other of the man standing in a ridiculous pose, not making any move.

The long clip shows the Order fighting. It shows the Order doing good, and looking out for each other.

"Hey, I have a question." James calls, but Gilderoy stands up, pouting.

"That Order," he says, shaking his head. "Doctoring this video to make themselves look good and me look bad."

"Is that what happened?" Dorea asks, and her eyes shift a forest green for a moment, before turning back to normal.

"Of course not. The video is the truth." Gilderoy pauses after the words, before letting out an awkward laugh. "I mean…"

"If you didn't save Moony - because it looks like he was holding his own - did you ever save him?" Dorea asks, leaning forward, watching him curiously.

"No. The Order just let him walk out every time."

"So… why tell people you did?"

"It's good for my image. What would people say if they knew I didn't do any of the things I said that I've done?"

Silence falls over the crowd, and Dorea looks towards the camera. Remus follows her gaze and Peter grins from behind it. His fingers have a slight green glow to them as he broadcasts this onto every single television in the country.

"So, you've never saved Moony?" Dorea asks.

Gilderoy fights the words a little. "No," he admits.

"What about the bank robberies. The people confessed to them. If you say you didn't do anything, I don't understand. Is today the day you're coming clean and telling the truth? The guilt eating away at you?"

"I convinced those people to rob the banks and commit the crimes with my powers," Gilderoy says, and Remus forces himself to look suitably shocked and horrified. "I use mind-control to make them do it, and then to fight with me a little, and surrender out of fear." His eyes are wide now, because he doesn't understand what is happening or why he's compelled to tell the truth. "When facing other villains, I simply go to the gym or sports centre and find someone with a similar build and get them to stand in for me. If they think they're going down, or if the fight is won, they leave and I rush in and take the credit."

Dorea leans in a little more. "One more. When you dated my adoptive son, or any of the relationships you have with other Supers, did any of them matter to you, or do you use every person for your own needs and desires and not care about them?"

"I…" he fights this too, but people are staring, watching. "They don't matter to me. None of them."

Dorea turns to the camera and beams at it. "And that concludes our interview. I'm sure The Heroes Agency will be investigating this matter, as Gilderoy is known for his expenses for his informants, which clearly do not exist. He's also broken many, many laws." She pauses. "And I'm sure the families of those convicted of crimes will be glad to know that their family member had no control over their actions, and was, in fact, innocent."

The music plays and Gilderoy jumps up. Peter steps out from behind the camera, and Kingsley pulls the fire alarm. People start leaving, and then, only the Order remain. Peter quickly touches one of the screens, turning off all of the cameras.

"Remus, my love, would you like to do the honours?" Sirius asks. He approaches, the weapon in his hand.

Remus wants to, but he shakes his head. He's been hurt by Gilderoy, but he's gotten his moment to humiliate him on stage. Sirius has been feeling this pain for too long.

"He's all yours," Remus tells him, stepping away. Sirius doesn't hesitate, he shoots him quickly, and Gilderoy falls back weakly into the chair.

"What did you do?" he asks.

"I just made your worst nightmare come true." Sirius laughs when Gilderoy starts to panic and reaches up to touch his hair. "No, not that. You've got no powers, Gilderoy. You're ordinary. You're just like everyone else."

He lowers the weapon. "Come on everyone, we're done here. Even if his powers come back, he's going to be the most hated man in England. The world, when this goes viral."

Remus and Hope step into Regulus' portal, bringing them back to the Agency. Sirius had said that there's no rush if they still need time, but he knows where he belongs now. He knows that he belongs with the Order, and his mother is in agreement. She looked happier there than Remus has ever remembered her looking at the Agency.

---

Sirius watches the one screen that is showing the gates of the warehouse, and he's been watching that since the moment they walked through the portal back to the headquarters.

Every so often, a camera changes and he glimpses what others are doing. Dorea and Charlus are emptying the little apartment by the garden that has been used for storage, hoping to give Hope somewhere as close to nature as they can offer, and… well, Sirius wants to offer Remus his own home, with Sirius. Though a set of rooms has been made available to him should he want it.

Thankfully it's the one facing Sirius' room, so they're close and Sirius likes that.

If Remus comes, that is.

Eventually, two figures walk to the warehouse, each of them pulling suitcases, and Sirius stands up and waits for them to come through the portal.

Hope comes through first, and Sirius is on edge as he waits. But Remus follows only seconds later, and Sirius can't stop himself. He's waited too long for this.

He strides over, pulls Remus close, and he presses their lips together.

"Come on, you have a choice of two rooms," he says, taking the suitcase in one hand and Remus' hand in his other. "Unpack and how about we go on a real date?" He glances past Remus at Hope, who nods in approval, a smile on her lips as she does.

"We've made suitable accommodation for you," Charlus says, reaching for Hope's suitcase. "Unless you want to share with your son, we've got a small apartment downstairs. It's not as big as the others, but it's on the grounds and we can expand it for you."

"I don't take up a lot of space," Hope insists with a smile. "The gardens is fine."

Sirius leads Remus upstairs to his floor. "So, this is your place," he says, opening the door and hanging Remus the key. And across the hall is mine. Ours, when you wanna, if you wanna."

Remus nods slowly. He opens the door and shoves the suitcase inside. "All done, let's go on that date, shall we?"

Sirius grins and slips his arm around Remus' waist as he leads them back towards the stairs. "On me, anywhere you want to go and I'm happy to go. As long as I'm with you."

Remus stops and their lips meet again. "We'll work it out as we go," he murmurs. "As long as I'm with you."

---

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Hogwarts - Assignment 3 - Muggle Art - Task #6: Le Pigeon Aux Petit Pois (Pablo Picasso) - write a fic including more than one point of view.

Writing Club

Bromance to Romance - 10. (genre) Crime

Written in the Stars - 9. (color) golden

This or That - 4. (Genre) Crime

Book Club - 2. Seth: (au) superhero, (word) fire, (trope) friends to lovers, (action) blushing

Showtime - 13. Bad Idea (Reprise) - (food) Chocolate

Film Festival - 5. Trope: Superpowers

Lizzy's Loft - 19. Battle Cry - Fear is ever-changing and evolving

Elizabeth's Empire - 22. (au) supervillain BONUS

Amber's Anime Adventure - 3. (action) smiling

Lyric Alley - 9. I didn't know my own strength

Entitled - 4. Murphy's Law - Trait: Leader

Hobby Hole - 18. Genre: Fantasy

Artist Appreciation - 10. Prompt - Write about someone dropping their masks in safe company. (BONUS)

Resolution Evolution - 5. Write a fic including the genre: Adventure

Fight Club - Stage 1 - (Dialogue) "Is something bothering you?"