(A/N) Hey guys, time for our penultimate X-Ray and Vav update! We're three episodes into the animated series, which most of you are probably aware will only be four episodes, so we're aiming to upload the next and final chapter just before the finale of the animated series! It's been a long journey, but we're coming to the end of it now, and I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as we have! Now, before we let you all off to read this chapter, I'm going to get back to some of the reviews:

Undreamedgore: We pulled a George R. R. Martin for sure, didn't we? Warned you that there would be twists, after all! The Punster is, sadly, not canon, as Barbara voices O.R.F. in the animated series, but hey, we can have our own canon! And as for Michael uncovering Vav's identity, I guess we're just going to have to see…

Nest of Feasting Crows: "Oooh, I'm a ghost!" Again, not going to reveal spoilers – just wait and see!

Also, we've closed to apps for our Hunger Games/Avengers fic, so look out for In the End, You Always Kneel, coming out in January 2015! We're pretty stoked about it, and we hope you all will be too!

Now, without further ado, enjoy!

Chapter Forty-Three – Terminus

Dr Gavin Free / Vav

Written by Gumby1011

"Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy." – F. Scott Fitzgerald

As Gavin rode the bus through the more run-down streets of Achievement City, it struck him once again exactly how bad the part of town that Ray called home was. Dilapidated buildings, graffiti covering the walls, boards blocking numerous windows, the place was just generally a shithole. It wasn't the first time it crossed the surgeon's mind that he really should front his partner the money to move somewhere nicer. He knew for a fact that Ray would never accept the charity, but still… it was a nice thought.

Nicer than the other thoughts racing through his head, at least.

Ray was probably fine, anyways. He was just tired. After all, they'd done more than their fair share of crime-crushing recently, and he deserved the rest. That would be why he wasn't answering his phone, Gavin was sure of it. He was probably passed out asleep… And Gavin would get to his house, and Ray would be just fine, and he'd call his partner fucking retarded for worrying about him.

It was just an irrational fear at this point anyway, Gavin kept reminding himself. The kind of anxiety with no real rhyme or reason, no logical basis. Just the itching worry gnawing at the back of his mind, forcing him to hop a bus in the middle of the night to check on his exhausted friend. Maybe he was just too tired, as well. He was currently fighting to keep his eyes open in this bus that was just driving so. Damned. Slow!

Of course, it was true to form that the moment he thought this that the bus rolled up to the stop closest to Ray's house. Jumping out of his seat and practically throwing his money at the driver, Gavin darted out into the dark, running down the street to where Ray's house sat crammed between two bigger and slightly-less shitty buildings. Nothing seemed amiss. Breathing a sigh of relief, Gavin knocked on the door. No answer. Not surprising, Ray was asleep, after all. Gavin tried the handle. Locked. Good. Ray had been aware enough to lock up before going to bed. But still… the surgeon looked up to where Ray's house's single window hung open in the night. Ray's single window hung open in the night. Why was Ray's window open?

"Oh sausage!" Gavin shouted, suddenly in a panic. He immediately threw his shoulder into his friend's door. It somehow held fast. "Oh come on you minge bollocking bastard!" The surgeon applied a bit of his enhanced strength and the door crumbled at its hinges, falling flat on the floor. The world had slowed down once again, independently of Gavin's will this time. The scene inside the house was a disaster, there were burn marks all over the walls, and Ray's meagre possessions were strewn about and broken all around! But didn't compare to the hideous sight that greeted him in the middle of the room.

"Ray! NO!"

Gavin sprinted through past the destroyed room to Ray's excuse for a kitchen and grabbed a knife after a frantic scramble through a few drawers. Dashing back into the living-room/landing hybrid that was the front room of Ray's house, Gavin climbed up on Ray's couch and leapt from it, clinging to the rope hanging from the rafters for dear life. Slicing through the rope, Gavin fell almost immediately. He threw the knife away and barely managed to catch Ray before they both hit the ground.

"No, no, no, NO! Don't you do this to me you great prick!" Gavin pulled at the noose around Ray's neck, loosening it enough that it slid off. Immediately the surgeon let his training take over. He checked for a pulse… But there was none to be found. In fact, Gavin's hand recoiled at the realization that his friend felt so cold. There was an ice-cold chill that ran down the doctor's spine as the truth dawned on him. Gavin slowly took Ray's glasses off his face and slid his friend's eyelids shut.

"This… I…" The surgeon slowly slipped into a chain of wordless squeaking noises as he tried to conjure up enough air through his sobs. "X-Ray… Ray!" Then he finally gulped down enough air to let out a pained, blood-curdling screech.

"WOT!?" The man in the lab coat cried out as a red, laser-like beam carved through the air beside him, striking one of the muggers he'd been beating on. Suddenly every face in the alley turned to face the source of the beam: A pale young man with dark brown hair and glowing red eyes. But more oddly, the glowing red eyes had recently burned two holes through the glasses he wore. And on top of that, he was wearing a green t-shirt with a garish X-shaped lightning bolt pattern on xerox paper taped to his chest. And kitchen gloves. He was also wearing kitchen gloves.

"Yeah, that's right motherfuckers, step away from the doctor! Or face the wrath of X-RAAAAAY!"

There was a moment of protracted silence as Gavin and last of the five muggers that had been attacking him shot each other confused looks. The surgeon just shrugged and the mugger wasted no time in running off, screaming bloody murder.

"Ha! Yeah, this super-heroing shit's easy! I could do this all day!" the young man grinned, walking over to Gavin. "That guy didn't make off with anything, did he?"

"Um… no." Gavin looked down at the three mugger's he'd taken out on his own. "I mean… I… Okay, first thing's first, you've got bloody laser eyes!"

"Yeah. Sure do."

"... You should really get that looked at."

"Yeah, no."

Gavin didn't feel anything. As he sat on the curb in front of Ray's house, red and blue flashing lights surrounding him, he felt numb. He felt cold. He was gone. His partner, X-Ray, half of the duo that saved Achievement City, gone! Just like that. Not a day ago he'd been risking life and limb for the sake of the city, his home, but now…

The FBI was there. They'd showed up about ten minutes after Gavin had called them. Since then they'd spent hours going through the crime-scene with a fine-tooth comb, looking for any possible clue as to the perpetrator. Not that any of that mattered. The MO and professionalism of the deed alone were enough to let everybody know who was responsible.

The Community.

There were no fingerprints. No trace DNA. Whoever did this was good. Too good. Although, considering the circumstances… Maybe they were just good enough. They'd left nothing behind but the rope and the body. That only left one possible lead for a particular agent.

"And that's it? You didn't see anybody?" Agent Heyman asked, pen and notepad in his hands.

"Nobody. Got in, and he was just… swinging there." Gavin recounted, his voice almost a whisper. This wasn't how it was supposed to end. This wasn't how a hero was supposed to go down! Snuffed like a candle, murdered in his own home…

"I see…" Heyman scribbled something on his notepad. Then he looked down at Gavin and paused awkwardly. Crouching down to the hero's level, J-Roll's voice dropped to a whisper. "Hey."

Gavin looked up from the ground at the agent.

"We're going to catch this guy."

"Yeah." Gavin looked back down at the ground, barely registering the comment. "You're going to catch the guy." If anybody could catch the murderer, it would be the FBI. It certainly wouldn't be Gavin. He couldn't even keep his own partner safe.

J-Roll blinked, confused for a moment. Then he bowed his head and rose to his feet. "We'll keep you posted as things progress."

It was then that Gavin heard the clattering of a medical gurney behind him. Two police officers wheeled the black plastic bag that was all too familiar to him out of the house. The surgeon looked back down, red, puffy eyes welling up again.

Joel just shook his head. "Would you like a ride back to your own place, at least? I can arrange for one."

Gavin didn't even look up this time. "No… No, I need to think about some things…"

"Look, you can't just go around pissing off criminals! Have you seen the city we're living in?" Gavin asked, exasperated.

"Yeah, I've seen it!" the youth answered, a profound frown on his face. They were speaking in hushed tones at Gavin's favourite crepe place, "X-Ray" having stuffed his glasses, logo and gloves into his pocket. "I live in one of the shittiest parts of the city. And I'm sick of it! Sick of having to see drug dealers and gangsters on every corner, sick of only making it home from work every day because no punk with a mask decided to fuck with me that day. And you know what?" The youth tapped the side of his head near his eyes. "I've got the tools to do something about it, too!"

Gavin sighed, a little bit exasperated with the 'super hero'. "Alright then. Well, if I can't stop you, I guess I might as well give you a hand."

"Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do?"

"You remember those three guys who were already on the ground when you showed up?"

"Um… no."

The answer took Gavin aback. "What you on about? I took 'em down with my bare hands!"

"Um…" Ray took the broken glasses out of his pocket. "I kind of, um…"

Gavin just smiled, suddenly remembering how X-Ray had been squinting at the menu earlier. "You know what? Don't worry about the glasses. I can start by getting you some replacements. Something a bit sturdier. I know a guy."

"Thanks, uh…"

"It's Gavin."

"Alright. Well then, I'm Ray." the youth held out his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ray!" Gavin took his hand and shook it.

The police cars had gone now, and yet he remained. Gavin hadn't moved from his spot on the curb under the streetlight. He was gone. It didn't matter how much he dwelled on that fact, or on his and Ray's past. His partner was gone!

"Hey. Don't you know better than to sit there like an idiot in a neighbourhood like this, dumbass?"

Gavin looked up to see Michael leaning over him. And while his tone was as harsh as usual, in his eyes there was clearly worry.

"He… He's gone Michael." Gavin looked back down at his feet. "It's… It's all my fault…"

"What?" Michael's tone softened a little. "Okay, now you're not making any goddamned sense. Like, way less than usual, I mean. How the hell could you have known? Random shit like this has been going down everywhere while the cops wrangle up the last of those psychos."

"I… I don't want to talk about it… I don't… I don't know what to do." He felt the tears welling up again in his bloodshot eyes as they turned to the ground.

Michael sighed before crouching down to get on Gavin's level. "How about we start by getting you home first, okay?" he whispered.

Gavin didn't want to think. He didn't feel like doing anything at all. But still… He felt too drained to protest. Looking back up, past Michael, he saw where Lindsay was watching from the passenger seat of Michael's car. "Alright… Okay..." Gavin finally stood up and slowly drifted into the back seat of the car. He felt so… tired. In however many hours he'd sat there on the curb, he'd only managed to come up with one solid thought: He was done.

"How did you know that guy, anyway?" Michael asked, curiously, as they made their way through the city streets.

Gavin just shrugged, and looked out the window. "It's a long story," he murmured, and shut his eyes, a single tear drifting down the left side of his face.

There would be no Vav without an X-Ray.

There couldn't be.