From the corner of his eye Alfred spotted a figure obscured by smoke and debris. He broke into a smile. A firefighter or a medic. It had to be. Turning around, he watched a young man with blond hair and a single curl near the bottom of his head enter the room. He walked slowly, hunched over and looking at the ground. His face was devoid of emotion. Like he couldn't care less what happened to anyone, Alfred decided.

"Hey!" He tried to shout but broke into a fit of coughing. It felt like nails were raking down his throat. "We're over here," Waving his arms around in the air, he called again for the man's attention.

When he turned towards the two brothers, the man's expression darkened. Alfred's smile fell. He knew that man. Lukas, that was his name. But he didn't know how he knew. All he knew was that he wasn't here to help. He was about to call to Lukas again but was interrupted.

"You're here. You're still alive." Lukas whispered, shaking his head. "Well one of you anyway." He added, glancing to Matthew.

Glaring daggers at the man, Alfred could feel his rage rising inside him. Like a tidal wave, it threatened to crash over him. This was his brother the guy was talking about. Matthew wasn't going to die, not yet.

"What a shame." Lukas turned away from Alfred. Raising his voice, he called out, "Come in. Only one of them is still alive."

Before he was even done speaking another man was already bounding into the room. A shiny smile was stretched across his face and he was significantly smaller than Lukas. When he saw Alfred and Matthew on the floor his smile widened and he said,

"Oh good. We got one."

He was closely followed by another man. His hair was spiked up and he walked with an air of confidence. Like he owned the very ground he walked on, thought Alfred.

As they came in, carelessly sidestepping the smoking rubble that littered the room, Alfred's head felt fuzzy. Those people were here to kill him. They thought they killed Matthew. But why? Although his knees were weak and his ears still buzzed faintly, he wanted nothing more than to attack them. Throw them across the room like he had with the desk.

He wanted to make them pay for his brother's suffering.

"Why aren't they dead Lukas?" Asked the confident man.

"What are you doing here Tino?" Lukas ignored him and directed his question to the smaller one. Alfred made a mental note of the name. The man named Tino grinned cheerfully when he replied,

"I thought I'd tag along, right Mathias? I wanted to see the new guys before you finished them off."

"If you're here, who's guarding the base?" Lukas never raised his voice, Alfred noticed, but his tone changed slightly.

"Berwald and Emil will be okay for a little while."

Berwald. Emil. Tino. Mathias. And Lukas. They were the people responsible for this.

"But you were supposed to—"

"Lukas," The confident one, Mathias, interrupted him, gesturing to Alfred. "Why is he still alive?"

"I guess the rest of the bombs didn't go off." Lukas replied, reverting back to his monotone voice. Tino shot him a suspicious look.

"Oh well," Mathias took a step towards Alfred with a wolfish smile. "We can take care of that now."

Alfred scrambled back. Matthew laid beside him, his breathing as shallow as a puddle. For a moment he was glad that his brother wasn't awake. As long as a he stayed unaware, Lukas and the others wouldn't touch him.

Gradually, he could feel the heat from the fire lessening the father he crawled. Mathias stepped casually over Matthew. Alfred gritted his teeth. Ignoring buzzing in his head and the black spots floating in the corner of his vision, he pulled himself up.

His legs quivered. Searing pain shot through him. Red, blistering skin peered out from underneath his blackened sleeves. As Mathias approached him, Alfred felt his heart thudding. The feral smile Mathias wore reminded him of a wild animal. A leopard stalking it's prey.

"What's your name kid?"

"Go away!"

"Oh come on, don't be like that."

From out of nowhere, a flash of harsh red light blinded him. As he blinked, he saw that Mathias now held an axe. It was bigger than Alfred. The blade shone, and was obviously polished and sharpened often.

For a moment all Alfred could think was, Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit. He took another step back and almost tripped. Glancing down, he saw the desk he had hurled off of Matthew. Immediately, sparks flew. He had an idea.

Keeping a careful eye on Matthias and his axe, Alfred reached down and lifted the desk up. Pushing it effortlessly above his head, he glared daggers at the three attackers. Daring them to come closer. He still hadn't gotten used to the fact that he now appeared to have super strength. Although he knew how heavy the desk really was, it felt like it could have been made of styrofoam. It did hurt though, the rough wood irritated his cut up hands.

"Get back." He demanded.

"Make me." Snarled Mathias, taking a step. Alfred held his ground.

"Do you need any help?" Tino hadn't moved since he first waltzed in, Alfred saw. Lukas on the other hand, was leaning against an unburnt part of the wall. His face was stoic as he examined his fingertips. Mathias shook his head, keeping that wild grin stretched across his face.

"No, this will be easy. I doubt this kids ever used his powers before."

"Well you should hurry up. We don't want to be late."

For a moment Alfred thought he was going to argue. Then, as Tino clenched his hands, Mathias nodded.

"You're right." He turned back to Alfred. "Let's do this."

Alfred's breath caught in his throat. He had to make the first move. He had to do something. With his heart threatening to burst out of his chest, he heaved the desk at Mathias. The axe wielding maniac jumped out of the way, easily avoiding it. Holding his weapon high, he charged. Instinctively, Alfred lunged at him. The unexpected move threw Mathias off. Alfred took advantage of his hesitation and grabbed for the axe.

As soon as his fingers closed around the wooden handle, it pulsed a deep blood red. Alfred's hands suddenly felt like they were gripping searing hot metal. He cried out and ripped his hands away. Blisters had appeared on his palms. Laughing, Mathias stood up.

"No one touches my axe but me."

Alfred barely had time to register what was happening when Mathias swung the axe at him. He ducked and stumbled back. Grabbing whatever was closest to him, a chair, he hurled it at Mathias. Again, he sidestepped it with ease. Alfred turned and ran. Flames nipped at his ankles as he jumped over the wreckage. His glasses were askew, just barely hanging on.

Mathias thundered behind him. Alfred turned just in time to see Mathias trip. His foot caught on a piece of debris and he went tumbling to the ground. Before he had time to feel even slightly relieved, a hand shot out and grabbed his ankle. It yanked hard and he went sprawling across the floor. Before he could scramble to his feet, Mathias was on top of him, pinning him down. His axe lay discarded a few feet away.

Mathias suddenly stood up, keeping one hand pointed at Alfred. For a moment he was confused. When he tried to sit up, his confusion morphed into panic. As he struggled to move, the ground seemed to slip out from under him. His breath came in short, rapid gasps. At first he thought that he had fallen through the floor. When Alfred saw that he wasn't moving, he gasped. He was floating,

"Levitation is a really useful power, especially for times like these." Mathias said, smirking.

Keeping his hand outstretched, he slowly backed up and grabbed his axe.

"Wait! Why the hell are you doing this?" Alfred cried. He felt helpless and overwhelmed. Although he tried to struggle and squirm, he was trapped. His stomach churned and with nothing left to lose, he tried to stall.

"What did we ever do to you?"
Mathias didn't answer. Instead he lifted the axe up. Alfred's muscles tensed. He clenched his fists, which was about as much movement as he could manage. As he swung it down, Alfred wanted to scream. He wanted to yell and plead and curse but his voice was stuck, a lump in his throat. He didn't even know if Matthew was still alive. Knowing that his brother was bleeding out, alone and probably in pain only a few feet away killed Alfred.

He closed his eyes as the blade descended and everything disappeared.

There was no pain. No blinding light. No grim reaper. When he heard a frustrated cry, Alfred realized it was because he was in fact, not dead.

Hesitantly, he opened his eyes. Immediately, he was greeted with the sharpened weapon less than an inch from his face. If he hadn't been flooded with an alarming mixture of terror and relief, he would have screamed. Still in front of him, was Mathias. His face was contorted in rage as Alfred watched him pull at his axe. It was hanging in the air like it was frozen in time.

"Step away from him Mathias."

Alfred looked past the axe and saw a young blond guy standing in the doorway. The man had a british accent, he noticed. His arms were outstretched his hand out like he was holding something. For a moment he was confused. Then the man made a throwing motion and the axe flew across the room and buried itself in the wall.

"Arthur."

Alfred was surprised when Lukas spoke up. He was almost forgotten that he and Tino were in the room. When Arthur walked, Tino lunged at him. Alfred started to warn him but there was no need. Another man, this one built like a house, came into the room. Grabbing Tino, he shoved him into the wall. Tino fell to the ground and glared up at him.

"And Ivan." Lukas didn't appear concerned at the appearance of the two. Mathias on the other hand, did. The exhilarated smile he wore before had vanished. In its place was a snarl.

" Lukas, Tino, take care of them."

Tino seemed ready to oblige. He stood up eagerly and clasped his hands together. After a moment, a second, identical version of Tino appeared beside him. Ivan rushed at him, knocking him to the ground again with a swift blow to the jaw. When he got up however, Tino didn't move. As Alfred squinted, he saw that he had taken on a light blue shine. Ice crystals dotted his cheeks and Alfred realized with a jolt that he was frozen.

At this point Alfred decided to skip over any panicked thoughts that doubted his sanity. This wasn't a dream, it wasn't a hallucination, this was real. He was seeing real life superheroes and supervillains. When Matthew woke up he was going to get a face full of 'I Told You So.' That is, if he woke up, Alfred thought frowning.

While Ivan fought the second Tino (who didn't appear to have the original's powers to replicate himself) Arthur was occupied with Lukas. He would push his hands out, like he was shoving something forward, then Lukas would jump impossibly high and out of reach. Alfred watched in awe. When Lukas landed, Arthur sprang up and tackled him to the ground. With one hand, he grabbed Lukas by the throat. The effect was instantaneous.

Lukas jerked away. Thrashing and screaming in pain he desperately clawed at the fingers wrapped around his neck. Mathias whipped around at the sound and cried,

"NO!"

Forgetting Alfred, Mathias ran to Arthur and Lukas. Alfred crumpled to the floor, hitting his head and then his back. He groaned and tried to stand up. The world spun, twisting and turning before his eyes. He dropped to the ground again. Groaning, he watched as Arthur lifted Lukas, withering in pain, and threw him across the room. Another cry of pain escaped him as he hit the desk and sunk to the ground. Immediately, Mathias threw himself at Arthur, punching and clawing.

Ivan and Tino continued to fight on the far side of the room. Wielding a chair like a shield, Tino darted out of the other man's reach. Fury was etched into his face.

As the world came into focus again, Alfred slowly got to his feet. Leaning against the wall, he gritted his teeth. Quickly scanning the room, he sighed with relief when he saw Matthew. Deep breathes. In and out. He took one step. Then another. Another. He swayed on his feet. A faint buzzing still crowded his ears. The black spots that floated lazily across his vision grew. He had to get to Matthew.

As he slowly made his way to his brother, the crunch of footsteps came from behind him. He jolted around and saw Lukas prowling towards Arthur and Mathias. Blood flowed down his face from a gash on his head. Although Alfred noticed he was limping, he didn't seem deterred. Stretching out his hands, Lukas ran at Arthur. Alfred didn't think about it. He didn't have time.

It was pure impulse when he dashed to Lukas on his less than reliable legs and tackled him.

Viciously punching anything he could reach, he heard Lukas curse loudly. Grabbing Lukas's wrists, he twisted around, pinning him down. Before he could figure out what he was supposed to do next, the lack spots in his vision started to grow. The British guy was yelling something but everything sounded like he was under water. Lukas was still struggling to get away. As his legs flailed around and he tried to yank his arms away, Alfred felt his grip getting weaker.

Lukas gave a final push up and he tumbled off, smacking his head on the floor. He tried to get back up but his legs might as well have been made of lead. Alfred closed his eyes and let the darkness eat away at the remaining light. Silence filled him as an inky black ocean stretched out, covering the world.

Without a second thought, he jumped and plummeted into the void. Through the darkness, he began to dream.