"But oh, my heart was flawed. I knew my weakness. So hold my hand, consign me not to darkness."

-Broken Crown, Mumford and Sons

"Five more."

"That's what you said five ago. My arms burn!"

"Pain is temporary–"

"Glory is forever. Yeah, yeah, well you're not... the one... doing pull ups over here..." I retort. Dante smirks at me, clearly enjoying my discomfort. The bastard.

"Lunch is in ten!" Kasper calls through the trees. The rest of the team is here in the woods too, running different exercises or practicing combat. The forest has officially become our makeshift gym.

The cool air and shade help to keep everyone energized. The dying leaves turn the landscape into a beautiful painting, reds, oranges, and browns everywhere I look. Training in autumn isn't so bad. Just a little tiring.

"Two more! Come on, you're shaking like a chihuahua," Dante snickers. I think I'm going to punch him when I'm done. Well, I would, if my arms weren't so sore from pull-ups.

"Was that so bad?" Dante asks when I'm finished. He pats my back hard, leaving a stingy feeling. I glare at him, but only for a few seconds before breaking into a playfully annoyed grin. "Let's go get lunch. I'm starving."

"I'm just glad we got a new cooking team. The stuff they were serving after the attack was crap," Dante wrinkles his nose in disgust.

"The old cooking staff died, you insensitive oaf!" Kasper calls, joining us on the dirt trail back towards the base.

"Oh. That's morbid," Dante replies.

We reach the only part of the base that sits above ground. It appears to be an abandoned warehouse, shattered windows encrusted with rust and vines growing on nearly every white-washed, dirt-stained wall. The inside isn't spectacular either. It's really just a big empty room, all concrete floors and overgrown weeds, as well as a few pieces of abandoned rusty machinery. A sign overhead points to an emergency exit, but this is an ironic cover for an elevator hidden in the old emergency staircase. Apparently there's also a larger lift somewhere in the warehouse that is used to transport vehicles from the underground hangers to the surface world. I'm still caught up over the fact that underground hangers exist, although they tell me that most of the flooding has been staunched. At this point I could believe just about anything.

We hop on the elevator in a comfortable silence. We've been training hard for the past two weeks, and I've grown close to these guys, closer than all of my friends back home. I guess that makes sense; hard times forge the strongest bonds.

The base is pretty much full to capacity nowadays. Restorations have finished on all but the gym, so that leaves a lot of agents still stuck here until they receive further assignments from the board of the Department, and more specifically from Mr. A.

As we wade through the literal tide of agents, I realize I'm a lot more energetic these days. It must be from all the exercise; in these two weeks alone I've made considerable advancements. Not that I was fat or anything before coming to the Department, but I am a lot leaner and healthier now than I've ever been in my life.

The cafeteria is just as full as the hallways outside. There are people at nearly every table, a stark contrast to the rows of empty benches when I first arrived at base. I spot Liam and Comrade at the normal spot, so after I grab some macaroni for lunch, I join them. Kasper and Dante follow, with Emma and Kaishi showing up only a few minutes later. Emma gives Liam a little wave, who in turn blushes a bright pink color, them scowls to himself.

"How's your side, babe?" Dante asks Kasper, who sits at his right.

"It's fine, just like it was fine last time you asked," Kasper says, a little too bitterly. She smiles and chuckles to soften the blow. Dante smiles back, but I can see the hurt in his eyes.

"What are you going to do on the battlefield? I mean, you are going to have to use your powers at some point," Liam asks coldly. I stare at him in shock. After what happened to Kasper, the subject of Dante's powers has been touchy, to say the least.

"Liam! That is not ok!" Comrade glares at the boy she is sitting next to.

Liam gives an innocent shrug.

"It's ok Comrade. It was a fair question," Dante says, holding up a hand to calm things down. "I plan on carrying a gun. I'm not going to hurt anyone else."

"You do realize we were brought on this team because of our powers though, don't you? You are useless without them. What's holding you back, huh? Some sad backstory that I'm sure we'd all care to hear?" Liam presses.

"What the hell man? You can't just say things like that! Lay off the poor guy!" I shout.

"Why are you so interested? I didn't see you using your powers the last time we were attacked? We could have used your wolf form then, couldn't we have?" Kasper spits.

"Guys! It's alright!" Dante silences. "Yes Liam. I do have a sad story. But it's in the past, and I don't think it matters anymore."

"We are a team, aren't we? We should be honest with each other. Whatever you are keeping from us obviously has to do with your powers, so tell us," Liam pushes, scowling at Dante.

"I-I'm kinda with Liam on this one," Kasper unexpectedly says. "I mean, we should all be honest with each other. That doesn't mean you can be an asshat," she glares at Liam,"but I think we should all come clean on our pasts so we can work towards our future. As a team. Together."

Everyone is silent, clearly reluctant to divulge personal information.

"Here," Kasper finally says,"I'll go first. I was raised by my dad because my mother left us before I knew her. I went to school until I was sixteen. A few years before that, I found out about my powers, but so did some of my old 'friends'."

"We grew further apart until they stopped talking to me. My grades dropped, and I just stopped caring. I ran away from home. I-I hated seeing my dad's face when he found out about my grades... I loved him so much, and I was letting him down. I couldn't- couldn't bear the pain of hurting him. I ran away from home. Mr. A picked me up a week or two after that, so now I'm here." Kasper finishes. There are tears in her eyes, but she smiles all the same.

"Who's next?" She asks.

Everyone looks around.

"I'll go," Kaishi says flatly. "I was born in Japan. My mother raised me alone. I could see and I didn't have this metal prosthetic. When I was thirteen, a violent gang broke into my house. They– killed my mother. They forced me to watch, the sick bastards." Kaishi stares at a spot on the table with a distant gaze.

"When they were done with her, they screwed up my eyes with some kind of chemical, and ripped off my arm as some kind of sick amusement. They thought I was dead when they left my house. I wasn't."

"Some agents from the Department brought me here. They fixed up my arm and told me I had powers. I'm blind, that's true, but I can see. Not like you all do. It's more like sensing where things are, like people or objects. Sometimes I can glimpse more, like a face or a bullet heading my way. So...yeah. Who's next?"

At this point, I'm just flat out depressed. I've lived such a comfortable life compared to these guys. Who can I even think about my own problems when these guys have been through hell and back? I brace myself for the next sad story.

"I was born albino, obviously, and I never knew my parents," Liam jumps in. "I was rescued from the orphanage by a private sect of scientists, some criminal syndicate. They gave me this," Liam points to a tattoo on his right arm that I've never noticed. It's a string of numbers, some kind if serial code. "They tested on me from a young age, injecting stuff into my arms. It made me stronger, faster. But I never got any love. Not that I needed it. I'm fine on my own. Anyways, I was showing good results, so the scientists shot me up with more chemicals until they turned me into a monster. I don't care; I'm stronger than my enemies. They did me a favor in those labs. Mr. A brought me here before they could run any more tests. That's pretty much it."

"Ok... Next?" Kasper stumbles, quickly changing the topic before Liam can get too riled up. "Comrade? Why don't you go?"

"No," Serik-Zauresh refuses, shaking her head vigorously. "No. Alright, fine."

"I was born in Sokovia. I was trained in ballet and combat. I grew up with brother, and I loved him very much. I was taken from home only a few years ago. Mr. A requested I join the Departement, and father was happy to send me away to make better life for myself. That is all," the Eastern Block girl ends,with finality.

"I might as well go next," Emma says, albeit a little awkwardly. "As you guys know, I worked with F.E.A.R. for a while, testing technology. Nothing too tragic in my history. You see, I'm good at science and math, so I was a leading researcher and test subject before I found out how corrupt they were."

"Guys, I'm not sure how much more of these I can take," Kasper says. "If you heard a loud crack around Comrade's story, that was my heart breaking into pieces."

"Don't worry, it's only going to get worse from here," Dante says. "Hey, why don't you go Kyle?"

I already feel my cheeks burning. The thought of bringing up my life story...

"Uh... ok... Well, I wasn't really... Well I mean... I was an actor in high school. Not really popular... I had like two or three close friends. Oh, before I came here, I got the lead in my school play! Uh, I guess that doesn't really matter now... I mean, I was bullied a lot. And I didn't really talk. Yeah, I was kind of a loser at home. I played soccer, but I wasn't really good at it. People called me a sissy. So, yeah. Before I came here, I— there was, a uh. My friend, she..." I can feel a lump in my throat, tears blurring my vision.

"Amy?" Kaishi asks. "You yell in your sleep a lot. Did she get hurt?"

"Before I came here, Amy and I were in a car accident," I say, pushing through the tears. "The only reason I know I have powers is because I saved myself with a force shield. Amy was killed in the collision. If I knew I could have saved her... If I just could have saved her..."

Everyone is silent and I know I'm just making a fool of myself.

"I'm sorry. I'm such a sissy. Look at me, crying in front of a bunch of badasses. I don't belong here, not really. You guys are the real heroes."

"Shut up!" Dante commands, with a harshness that shocks me out of my tears. "You have every right to be on this team. Do you know how far you've come in the past few weeks alone? Can you imagine how far you can go if you keep going? You're brave; braver than you know. So stop acting like you aren't."

"T-thanks," I mutter, my cheeks burning even worse now. I don't mean to look at anyone, but when I glance up, Kasper is also crying, and Comrade and Kaishi look equally concerned. Liam looks like... Well, Liam, but I don't really expect much else.

"I guess that just leaves me then," Dante sighs. "Well. I was really nerdy in middle school. I got good grades, but I was bullied. A lot. In high school, I bulked up, joined the football team, hung out with all the cool guys. I was on top of the school. I looked good, felt good, lived like a king. I–I had a girlfriend," Dante glances at Kasper with a concerned look, but she gives a reassuring smile and nods for him to continue. "And a little brother. Anna and Glenn. Anna was a cheerleader, but she wasn't like the other girls. She was sweet and pretty. People said we were a cute couple and we had a lot of fun together. We were gonna go on vacation. All of us; my parents, Glenn, Anna. Our plane went down though. Some malfunction. My parents– they were killed on impact. Anna, Glenn, they survived. We made it out alive, but Anna never really recovered. Her head got messed up real bad, she was paralyzed and she couldn't talk without a stutter. I-I told her I'd... visit her. Everyday. But then... I didn't know that I had been taking energy from people, stealing it by touch and storing it up. My neighbor came over a little while after the accident to check up on us boys. I couldn't control myself. I fried him right in front of me, on my front porch. Well, when the cops found out, I was a wanted man. Mr. A saved me from that mess, but it wasn't until later that I found out my brother had died in his sleep the exact same night as my neighbor. I-it's painful to talk about. Knowing how many lives I've ruined... That I can't touch the people I love because I know I might kill them..." Dante chokes up and a tear-stained Kasper rubs his shoulder in comfort. By now, even Liam looks at least a little phased, and I can feel the promise of even more tears burning at the back of my throat.

We all sit in a sort of depressed silence, and I notice that we are the only people left in the cafeteria.

Kasper looks around the table, composing herself. "Do... Do you guys wanna go get ice cream?"

XxXxX

Well how was that? Sorry for the wait, but this weekend was crazy! Hopefully I can crank out updates more quickly. So if you liked this chapter, please review above. In the next chapter we will see some more of our more silent characters before we get to the story's climax! Thanks for reading!