This story is AU with minor cannon compliance. I have altered multiple characters and their personalities for the needs of my story. This story also contains original characters added in for plot construction and expansion.
Warning: this story is for older readers and has themes that could be frightening for younger readers, strong language, and mentions of minor gore.
Flashing lights and pounding music shattered the air. This wasn't his scene. This was supposed to be a party, a time for fun, but all he was doing was developing a headache. Thankfully, he could at least stay sitting as his girlfriend had about as much intent to go dance as he did. He rubbed his temples, the music in here was too loud for him to even hear what his girlfriend and her Pixie were talking about from next to them at the table, let alone try to hold a conversation with anyone. He turned his attention back to the dance floor where their friends were a moment too soon.
On the table, his phone began to vibrate, startling the pixie who had been sitting on it. She quickly moved and let her fairy pick it up to see who it was.
Restricted? But it had a call icon like a listed contact. Why would he have a listed contact named "Restricted"? Despite the oddity, she supposed it technically wasn't her business. Maybe it was some sort of inside joke? She turned and tapped his shoulder to get his attention.
"Your phone's ringing." She held it out for him, only for her brow to furrow when he visibly paled and took it from her quickly. He stood and started for the exit when she grabbed his arm.
"Is everything okay?" She shouted over the music.
He only nodded, looking like he was being hurried. "Yeah. I just have to take this." He responded quickly, his voice barely carrying over the beat of the drums. He kissed her forehead before quickly stepping outside and pressing redial. Or rather, he'd meant to. Before he could, it rang again. He answered it with silence. It was a passive way to let whoever was on the line know it was him. Anyone else would have probably answered it with a greeting of some sort.
As soon as the voice spoke his blood boiled.
"What do you mean I've been reactivated?!" He fumed; his tone lethal. He was supposed to be done. They had assured him that this wasn't going to happen. He had a life here now. He wasn't just going to give it up.
"P-Please, sir. We don't want-" the person was cut off by a background voice and there was a shifting sound, like the headset was transferring between people.
"Hotwire..." A familiar, calm voice sounded over the line. One that he missed hearing in this tonnage.
He immediately felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. "Viper." He acknowledged in a much calmer tone than before, though the bite of underlying anger left his voice rough and a bit sharp. "Have you been reactivated as well?"
"I have." She responded calmly, though, there was a slight tightness, an underlying stress, in her voice. She was lying. But it wasn't about the reactivation. Her words seemed tentative, like there was more she couldn't say. Not that that was unusual in their line of work. "There have been some anomalies that the techs are having a hard time getting to the bottom of. They need to send two agents in manually." She continued.
Hotwire huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose, then ran his hand up through his bangs. She had always been blunt about the things that needed to get done, but there was urgency in this. "You said two people. The other one better be Archangel." The words were reflexive, second nature by this point. When he realized what he'd said, he sighed heavily before glancing back in the door to check on his girlfriend, then turned his attention back to Viper. "Ignore that." He muttered. "When are we supposed to do this? What sort of assignment is this?" He may as well ask now since his participation in it was inevitable. There was no way to truly disappear or walk away. Not from them.
This time it was Viper who sighed. "That is part of the problem. We have very little information about what you'll find when you get to the drop zone. The place they are sending you is highly irradiated. Archangel's shields are the only thing that they've found that the radiation didn't shoot right through, and even they can only hold up for 2 hours; meaning you have to be fast and accurate. Failure or falter could mean death."
Hotwire smiled wryly. Grim circumstances and death-defying missions; truly, nothing had changed.
Cracking the door open again, he checked on his love. It seemed that the rest of their friends had taken a break from dancing and were back at the table with her. When spotted, he gave her a smile and held up one finger, telling her he would only be another moment or two.
"I don't like this." He wasn't complaining, but he was none too pleased at being yanked back into this after they were the ones to discharge him in the first place. "Why do they get to just rip us away from the lives we've built whenever they see fit?"
"That's something you'll have to take up with them." She tried to lighten the tone, if he got mad enough, he may not come, consequences be damned. "So where's the party? I can hear the music." It was breaking protocol to use the secure line for chat, but she needed to cool the specialist off. He hardly ever let it show, but he actually had a volatile temper and an acutely violent nature. The truest definition of a Merciful Monster. If she didn't calm him before the call ended, she feared he may try to go AWOL.
He faltered and let the door close to muffle the sound. "Here at Red Fountain. The headmaster put the weather dome up over the training arena and let us set up a party. I don't recall what it's being thrown for though."
"You get to throw parties!?" Hotwire yanked the phone away from his ear to avoid the shocked screech. Only tentatively putting it back when she spoke again. "Man, Miss Griffin would have had our heads if we tried to throw one."
A laugh bubbled past his lips despite himself. Picturing Cloud Tower decorated for a party was just too bizarre a thought. "Yeah, I bet she would have."
They lapsed into silence for a long moment before he tipped his head back and let it hit the wall he was leaning against lightly. "When?"
"Tomorrow night. Drop at 2300." She replied.
"Alright, let's do it. I'll be there in a few hours." He genuinely laughed, leaving the taste of insanity on his lips.
He knew exactly why they had been reactivated. Humans were so easily amazed by powers they couldn't fully understand. It had nothing to do with their abilities. They were their instant miracle. A walking cure all for when nothing else would work. Archangel especially. And he was about to follow her onto the frontlines again.
His smile widened a bit as he hung up the call; he wouldn't have it any other way. A small, sick part of him was looking forward to it. How utterly twisted.
He propped the door open again and steeled himself, smile falling from his face. He didn't want to face them. He couldn't. They didn't know about his previous... job, of sorts, and now wasn't the time to tell them. He quickly stepped back from the door, letting it shut again. It was better this way. He just had to keep reminding himself that it was better, and safer, for them not to know. They didn't need to see the side of him he worked so hard to hide and keep in check.
Shaking his head, he backed up a further before turning and heading toward the main building. He needed to get his gear and talk to Headmaster Saladin about emergency leave.
[C]•••••
This was more headache inducing than the music. They had been at this for nearly twenty minutes now. Running in incessant circles of restricted information and explaining that there were some things that Hotwire just couldn't tell the headmaster.
Saladin leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could tell that this was of utmost importance but the boy wasn't giving him anything to work with, and certainly nothing that would count as a valid reason for emergency leave from the school. "Okay. So, you can't tell me where you are going other than to Earth. You can't tell me why you need to go other than you have something very important to do. And you can't give me any information at all about what you will be doing when you get there." The elderly man sighed again. "Is there anything else you can tell me?" The headmaster asked, trying a new approach.
Hotwire shifted, finding great interest in the grains of the wood of his desk for several long moments as he chewed his bottom lip, contemplating how to answer. "Before I came to Red Fountain, I had a job on Earth. A very special job that I can't share the details about. But this job lets me help a lot of people and save a lot of lives. I've been called back in by a-" his nose wrinkled as he tried to find a good word, "-coworker-" of all things that's what he spit out? "-to do something they have to have me, specifically, to do."
Saladin processed this before speaking again. "How long will you be gone?"
Hotwire grimaced. That was a hard question to answer given the vagueness of the details. "Ideally, it shouldn't be any longer than a week. If all goes smoothly, it should only take a couple of days." He responded, though his tone did seem quite so steadfast as his statement. In truth, it could only take that long, but if this led to something bigger? He may be staying far longer.
Taking a deep breath, Saladin nodded. "I want updates every 6 hours do to the unusual circumstances. Can you do that?"
"Yes, but there will be a period during the actual… activity that I won't be able to. That should start late tomorrow night and span into the early morning."
The headmaster nodded. "Alright. But I want you to check in right before and right after. You may take one of the Jumpers to get to Earth."
Hotwire nodded and stood up. "Thank you, headmaster." He walked over to the office door and opened it before pausing just on the other side. "Headmaster?"
Saladin looked up, his stomach clenching at the grim look on the young man's face. "Yes?"
"Please don't tell the others where I've gone. If-" he cut himself off. There was no "if" about it. "-when they ask. Please tell them I had a family emergency and will be back soon."
He didn't wait around to listen to the headmaster's reply, nor to see his reaction.
Part of him felt like a traitor as he grabbed his go-bag from the hidden compartment. These were his friends and he was hiding a large part of who he was from them. But once again he reminded himself that they were better off not knowing.
His footsteps cast a hollow sound off the walls as he hurried to the launch bay. With everyone at the party, there wasn't really a need to rush, but it was a habit by this point.
He had just entered the bay and approached a ship when his hair stood on end. A chill ran up his spine, the air around him thickening, leaving him choked.
"Lovely night for a trip through the stars." A deep voice rumbled next to his ear, making the smaller males heart jump to his throat.
His lungs greedily pulled on the stifling heavy air. The other male's very presence had once been enough to bring him to his knees. Even now, he nearly shook at the power that seeped into everything around him. Chapped lips pulled into a lopsided smile.
"Hello, Lucifer."
