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The first one holds his hands out and a hole is immediately blown into the side of the building with enough force that it flings August back and caves a part of the building that begins to teeter. The crowd is so close that as it begins to collapse, there’s only chaos as people fight to get back. My eyes flicker back to August who has disappeared, telling me he froze time.
“I… saw the building caving, and I knew it’d kill the people over here,” he says as he points to where he’d ended up. “I pulled as many as I could out of the way before time started up again, but six people still got hurt and two died. One of the survivors still can’t walk to this day.
“By this point, the villain clearly knew I was there, and I’d lost any opportunity to sneak in and save the hostages. I’d also used up quite a bit of my power pulling bystanders out of the path of the collapsing building, but I couldn’t stop. I… rushed toward the opening the blast had created and found all six of the wannabe supers who’d gotten in my way slaughtered. He just… he used some type of metal to… just… cut them into pieces. Their body parts were everywhere but this was… it was the closest way in to get to the hostages, so I had to walk through the blood… I had to step through the massacre to get into the building, but before I could reach the hostages, Alloy found me.”
My attention shifts to the screen, but I can only see August being thrown back before he disappears from view.
“I kept freezing time to try to detain him, but I’d used up too much of it trying to save the people who were going to get crushed. And I just… I just kept thinking how absolutelyno onelicensed to help was helping. Everyone stood back and fucking watched. Someone could have shot at him or donesomething. Someone who was trained for this. Not some stupid fucking kids off the street who think because they have some kind of power that they’re invincible.
“The supports on the building were weak and he kept tearing the building apart trying to kill me, but I remember thinking, I just need to keep him busy until they retrieve the hostages. I just need to give them time to get them out.”
He taps at the video as he shakes his head.
“They told me they did… they told me that they saved them, that they got them out, but there isn’t a single fucking person who goes into that building to help them, is there? Not one goddamn person… I should have looked. I should have checked… but I just… I wanted to believe they were fine,” he says as I watch the building begin to crumble. It caves in on itself as a cloud of dust erupts around it. “I was told they were fine, so I believed that. But I know Annalee was one of them there that day. I know that name. I know all of their names.”
The weight of this on August’s shoulders kills me. August, who always thinks the best of everyone, who always wants the best for everyone, laden down with guilt over something he couldn’t control. He’s kind enough that I’m sure he even feels guilty for the death of the supers who’d caused the death of others.
“I didn’t know they died…”
All of us turn around to see Valerie standing in the doorway. Deus seems to be the only one not surprised by her presence.
She grips onto the doorframe tightly. “I was focused on the people who’d nearly been crushed. I… didn’t know what was happening. The whole thing was an absolute nightmare. I had no idea that when the higher-ups swept it all under the rug to keep things quiet, they also swept that under the rug.”
“I quit,” August says. “I’m fucking done. Find someone else.”
Valerie looks startled before rushing up to him. “No, August, please. No, you can’t just quit. I can’t do this without you. And there’s no one to fill your shoes, August. If you quit… Landon will go and…” She looks at the rest of us as she seems to realize that without August, there’s none of us. Maybe Lex and Ellison will stay, but Lex seems forced into this more than anything and Ellison appears to do his own thing.
August shakes his head, his expression staying cold. “I’m going home. They can fucking come to our house and try to kill me; I’m not staying here.”
“August, please, think it through. This city cannot stand without you. The villains would take over the city.”
“There are plenty out there who think they could do a better job. Let them have at it,” he says. “Landon, let’s go grab Zacia and go. The rest of you are welcome to stay or come with us.”
“August, we can’t survive without you,” Valerie says, sounding desperate.
“Then maybe the fucking city should have appreciated us while we were here, yeah? Maybe instead of pointing fingers at us when shit went south, they could’ve stood with us. Maybe when I fucking asked them to stop getting in my goddamn way, they should have listened,” he says before pushing past her.
“August, just think things over. We’ll figure something better out soon.”
“How about instead of worrying about me, go have those assholes who stood back and let Ned’s wife get crushed by a fucking building apologize to him.”
“I will. I will make sure things are put right. But if you leave, August, villains will overtake this place. Alloy will not stay in hiding. What will keep him from returning and killing more?”
August stops halfway down the hallway. “I don’t know, Valerie. I just… I don’t know how this whole huge fucking city came to sit onmyshoulders and my shoulders alone. All of these people here,” he says as he waves to the group of us, “they’re not given much choice either, are they? Landon’s forced into the limelight because he loves me and has to deal with shit like Hannah and others questioning who he is every single day. Lex is fucking terrified of his power, and if he had the choice, I don’t think he’d be here either. Deus… Deus just wants someone to care about him and he had the shit luck of stumbling upon us. Even Ellison, who fucking follows the rules as well as you do, sees the issues with all of this and goes behind your back to help us.”
Valerie is quiet as she watches us. Then she takes a deep breath. “I am going to stand right by you, August. You have sacrificed so much of your life for this world. I truly hope I don’t lose you. And I hope that I can show you that this citycanchange for the better. That the people can change for the better to help you and to keep incidents like this from happening again. We will right this. And when it’s right, I hope that you feel welcome to come back again.”
August is still for a moment before giving her one curt nod and heading to the elevator.
Once inside, I reach down and take August’s hand and find that it’s trembling. As I squeeze it, he immediately squeezes back.
“I can’t believe they swept that under the rug,” Ellison says. “I just…”
“You’re all welcome at my house if you want. If you want to stay here, that’s fine too.”
“I don’t think you two should be alone while this stuff is going on,” Lex says. “We don’t know that August leaving is going to stop people from coming for him. And… my loyalties lie with you guys more than it does with Superheroes United. Even knowing that I can’t control my abilities, they toss me out there because they like showing off my power. They like showing how strong I am… but with no control, there is no strength to it.”
“Lex, you’re stronger than you lead yourself to believe,” I assure him.
