Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Patton stared at the well-known villain standing across from him, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else but babysitting their latest young hostage. He missed the days when they were just robbing banks and being general nuisances for the hell of it.

“You aren’t gonna tie me up?” he asks hesitantly, mostly out of his confusion rather than a lack of brain cells. The scary man that had thrown him into this place was gone, but had told “Deceit”, his lackey, to “tie the kid so it doesn’t go anywhere.”

Deceit had just nodded, but the second his apparent boss was gone, he had just plopped Patton in the chair with an eye roll and muttered badmouthing. 

“If you listen and stay put, I won’t have to, kid. And no talking.” 

Patton twisted his scraped-up hands into his blue shirt. He was uneasy with all this, and couldn’t stay quiet for long from sheer nerves and the silence making it worse. The 9-year-old was mildly sure this… henchman? Sidekick…? This not-as-bad guy wouldn’t tie his mouth shut for it.

“What’s gonna happen? Won’t you get in trouble? J–Julius always plans something big.”

Janus scowled down at him. “Can’t tell you. You’re our prisoner. You just better hope the heroes aren’t too stupid to find you.”

“But… why are you villains?”

Janus sighed for what he thought was the 19th time that day. He hated that he’d been put on babysitting duty. He was a villain, thank you: one of the most well-known in Mindside City. Mind you, that was at least partially due to his boss being a big name, but guarding a little snot-nosed pipsqueak to make sure he didn’t run off or break something in this outpost lair was far below his pay grade. As it was, boss only had two lackeys he kept close and one of those was off being the unhinged menace to society that he was to the city, stirring up a distraction.

“Because being a goodie-goodie is overrated, kid. Why shouldn’t I be a villain? Maybe we just think it’s fun.”

Janus stares at the kid waveringly, honestly wanting to just dump the brat outside and let him wonder back to the city, they could find another kid who was smart enough to act scared for their stunt. Why wasn’t he scared? Most people would be terrified by Deceit’s face alone. He scowled. 

“Maybe I like being a villain and scaring people. It makes them respect me.”

The kid looked undeterred. “But why’s it the only way? I don’t think…you actually like your boss or what he tells you to do. He’s mean to you guys.” Patton frowned quietly at the door for a moment. “And my brother says—“

“Look, I couldn’t care less what your brother might say. I’m working for one of the biggest supervillains in the state, and any deviation will spell disaster for me. It ain’t that easy to just leave. What do you think would happen if I tried, hmm? The police and heroes would just let me go because I changed my heart?” he scoffed, “It’s easier to just stay in line here. I ain’t got any other options. And besides, Destructo loves it here. I’d never leave him anyway.”

“Maybe he’d go with you? And if you help me, they’ll see that you’re good! And my brother could help, he’s a attorney!”

“What, so he can tell me just how many lifetimes I’ll be in prison after I turn myself in? No thanks. Look, I already told you I’m a villain. Quit your meddling—“

“But you do want to leave?”

Janus grimaced. Maybe he shouldn’t have let on that he didn’t truly want to be here. Why had he even said that out loud? He never talked to their hostages this much. If Julius caught any wind of that… 

Patton put a considering hand on his chin, as if this elementary schooler actually understood and had thoughts on the complexities of an unjust world.

“But it hurts people…”

Janus frowned. “Yeah, that’s literally the point. Maybe we were hurt first. It’s only fair to get them back. Most of them deserve it.”

“But lots of innocent people get hurt,” Patton stressed, leaning forward as if his proximity to the villain would further prove his point. He didn’t leave the chair, though.

“We were once innocent too, you know,” Janus snapped.

“And we were still hurt unfairly. So why should we care if others do? Sure, we didn’t always agree with it, but don’t pretend like it's just some easy choice we get to make or that everything would be okay just because we changed our minds. We were forced to and now no one knows the difference. All they’ll ever see is villains anyway.”

Janus really needed to stop talking. What was wrong with him, and why the hell was he impulsively spilling personal thoughts he didn’t even speak aloud to Remus anymore to this kid he’d been talking to for all of seven minutes total?

Patton pushed his too-large geometric glasses up and frowned, looking as if he were learning something new now. “But…that doesn’t mean you have to be. You aren’t stuck.” 

He had said it so matter-of-factly, like a mini professor or life coach before he looked suddenly uncertain. He wrung his hands, looking away as he thought about it. “A-At least– I mean anyone can change. It might not be easy to…make people believe you. But I’d believe you,” he said, glancing up hesitantly, tapping his index fingers together. “You sound like you’re being bullied by Julius to do it and…and that’s different than a choice.”

Janus stared, almost slack-jawed at this kid, because how the hell did he make it sound so simple? It wasn’t. It wasn’t that simple. Adults made things more complicated than they needed to be for a variety of stupid reasons and this kid had just laid it out so simply. Janus had to remind himself though that he would not be received the same outside of this room, even with good intentions. Road to hell and all that.

Forced or not, he had had choices and he’d made them selfishly. There’d be consequences for that. He would not get the same understanding in a court standing before a jaded judge after all they’d done. All the lives they’d ruined for years, and one conversation with this random hostage was not going to change that at all. Janus had seen what he was doing and saw no way out. He’d doubled down, because that was easier than trying to change things. It didn’t matter what he or Re–- Destructo actually wanted. They were just as trapped as hostages themselves. But no one would believe them. Well. Almost no one.

“What is this, trying to get a confession out of me or something?” he asked, eyes narrowed. Janus folded his arms, eyeing Patton. Maybe the kid was a plant and had a listening device on him or something after all.

“I just think you aren’t bad if you got forced to do the bad things,” Patton said, sounding a little more confident.

Janus scoffed. “Some of those things I did choose, though. So what then? What if I’m not some perfectly innocent victim with a clean record before I was supposedly forced to do bad things, hmm? Still feel like I’m redeemable?”

Patton paused before slowly nodding. “Do…do you feel bad for doing it?” 

Janus rolled his eyes. Of course he was going there with it. “Is that the criteria for you? If I ‘feel bad’? Maybe I don’t feel bad for hurting people who deserved it. I’d do it again, given the chance.”

Patton winced slightly, tapping his fingers unsurely and Janus could see his resolve wavering, just as he’d suspected it would. “Oh. W-Well– you…maybe you thought it was the right thing. Did you do it to protect yourself? Or someone else who needed you?”

Janus just stared, hesitating.

Patton allowed a small smile then: apparently Janus’ floundering was answer enough. “Then it wasn’t bad. You’re not bad either. You aren't bad for truly defending yourself or others who needed you. That’s what my brother says. It’s what heroes try their best to do.”

Janus frowned. Oh, he was really trying to just make it that simple? This kid surely hadn’t had his starry-eyed worldview properly shattered yet.

Janus stared at him, but before he could argue how that was absolutely not a good reason, and how vengeance was hardly self-defense, Patton continued.

“Heroes…heroes sometimes struggle with it, too,” he sighed. “They… hurt …some to help more people. They hurt people they think deserve it and other people agree, but…I don’t really like that,” he admits, almost looking ashamed. “I know they were hurting other people and should be stopped! And I already know that it is the only way sometimes. But… a lot of the times, it isn’t. It doesn’t make them just as bad as the ones hurting innocent people either. But I think that someone who wants to change can still choose different with another chance. Even if it’s not easy or forgivable to who they hurt… they can try to move forward after.”

Janus really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. What was with this kid and who was the one raising him? Did he seriously believe what he claimed? All Janus’s life, he’d let those things define him and everything he did. Now some kid therapist was telling him it didn’t have to forever. There was no way.

So many negatives against the very ideal swirled to him. Not every villain was redeemable, no matter how sorry they might feel. But maybe the point wasn’t always redemption? Still. Some acts were too far and one couldn’t just move on from them. Some consequences were too steep to come back from, and that was just the world they lived in. The world wasn’t very forgiving even in the mildest of cases. And Janus worried for Remus, most. 

Could his friend come back from the things he’d done? The courts would not be kind to either of them, least of all his volatile destructive force of a friend. No judge would be sympathetic to their plights or care about the circumstances, only their results. He couldn’t call that unfair, but it certainly did not feel like justice for what had happened to two neglected kids that just fell through the cracks and been forgotten. It was too late for them, and he often lamented a different outcome, an alternative future that could have been for them in which they’d been saved too by these so-called guardians of the innocent. The heroes that hadn’t managed to save them.

Remus and Janus had had to be that for themselves at a pitiable young age. That was done and the past could not be realigned. It had set them locked on this path for years. And now a small kid that was the same age he had been when he’d desperately been in need of help and someone who cared was telling him there was a way off before their inevitable doom? That they had a choice to escape the one who had pitied them and molded them to become this…the one who had a harsh grasp on all their lives?

The very thought terrified him. Because there was no way out that wouldn’t end in blood. He’d went over it, over and over. There wasn’t for him or Remus. There wasn’t. They were just as trapped as hostages themselves, even if their chains extended to the entire prison yard that was the Mindside Metro Area.

He didn’t want to drag anyone else with him, though.

“...ugh, just-- come on. Get over here.”

He was just going to have to think up a lie about how Patton used some mystery power to escape while throwing this kid out. Jan couldn’t deal with this, Jul could throw all the flaming projectiles he wanted at him in his fit about it. Though just as Janus was going to snap at him to hurry up, the large metal doors flung open on the other side of the room and Julius returned, dramatic black cloak billowing behind him from the gust it caused. Both Janus and Patton flinched, Patton only halfway out of the folding chair as he shrunk in on himself behind Janus.

He thankfully didn’t look like he wanted to start debating morals with the cruel man, and Janus was just glad because the kid might not get the chance to make it out of the building then.

He didn’t even acknowledge how Janus had ignored his instructions to tie Patton up and just grinned menacingly, towering over both of them. Jan hated how he had a foot of height on him, and still wore heeled boots that made him loom. It was on purpose. Janus had to resist stepping between them as Julius towered with practiced silent intimidation.

“Time to go. The entire metropolis is waiting for the guest of honor to appear. Just as I predicted, the heroes noticed immediately,” he smirked, looking down his nose at them.

“I don’t know if this is going to work,” Janus cut in as Julius stepped towards the kid, who shrunk in his chair but seemed too afraid to run. “This kid isn’t even cowering, the heroes will see right through the trap.”

Julius just grinned.

“Oh I wouldn’t worry. He’ll be plenty scared once we get there. The heroes will be quite invested, as I believe I’ve found someone quite personally important to them.”

Janus’s eyes widen as he glanced down at Patton, who looked nervous and beyond confused, clearly unaware of this. Before Deceit can say more, Julius snatched Patton up in a harsh grip on his arm and made him start walking while dragging him at his side, unyielding as Patton cried out in alarm and pain, near dangling from the hold on him. He shot Janus a pleading look.

“The heroes are going to watch as one of their precious little fanatic citizens can’t be saved! And a child, no less. Imagine the devastating headlines!” he laughed, “The media will be on this story like starving rats in the garbage and will do the work of destroying the heroes for us.”

As he talked, he strode into the building’s elevator. Janus hurried after them, staring up at Julius in disbelief, because this…this they’d never done. It took everything in him to keep the concern out of his voice, as he could not be caught being soft or worried right now. “W–what? Then what’s going to happen to the kid?”

“Who cares what happens to him? Probably won’t live to see tomorrow, knowing how incompetent the little heroes are. Either way, we win!” Julius laughed while Patton whimpered, pulling at his arm and trying to get the large hand to let him go as he was yanked along. “It ain’t personal, kid. But chin up! They’ll never forget the one they couldn’t save! You’ll haunt this retched city for years!”

The elevator stopped after a very long climb, and Janus started to wonder just what building they’d snuck into as Julius throws open the doors to the roof of the tallest building in the city: Evercross Spire. High wind whips at their faces and clothes stealing Patton’s breath. Janus swore under his. As he was dragged out, Patton could barely see the other tall buildings beyond the ledge, this one was up so high. A helicopter hovered far off to the left. Destructo is already up here, giving Janus a silent look as they walk out.

Julius laughed, dropping Patton far too close to the broken railing and a several hundred-foot fall to the pavement and bystanders below. Patton caught himself, pale as he saw himself in the broken shards of glass that appeared in front of him, floating like a platform for him to climb on.

Julius faced the news camera zeroing in on their appearance. Destructo had done his job drawing their attention up here. 

“It’s showtime, boys!”

Chapter Text

This was absolutely Logan’s Worst Case Scenario. One from his nightmares that kept him up for nights on end.

They’d somehow figured out a link between him and Patton– or at least between one of the heroes and his civilian little brother. Logan was panicking out of his mind for the first time since middle school and he was not coping with that well. Two hours since Logan learned his brother had not made it down the street to his friend’s house, which he’d done without issue since he was 9.

Logan was used to managing stressful situations professionally, but this was personal; he would never judge anyone for struggling to keep a cool head under anxiety like this. Currently, only Virgil and Roman were managing to keep him from tearing through every back alley and abandoned building in the city with promises of a better, more effective approach. And they’d been doing well up until the culprits themselves had only 8 minutes ago decided to make an announcement about the alarmingly familiar hostage they’d plucked off of 6th Street. 

Destructo made a huge scene downtown, causing massive property damage to a few investment firms as he tore the windows off of business and affluent residential skyscrapers in preparation for…something. Logan didn’t like whatever it was, but for the creative villain to be gathering this much material on the same day they had taken their youngest hostage ever? 

Only the heroes closest to Mirage knew Patton had some connection to him, and that was for the better. He hoped they wouldn’t go announcing such things. To the rest of the city, his brother was just a random unlucky civilian. Logan was terrified. Patton had no way to defend himself. Their family didn’t really have offensive powers on either side. Even his “Mental Projection” could barely be called a defensive one, and it was sorely difficult to make useful without aid or elaborate strategy, which Logan did learn to excel at. He was a hero who worked best with collaboration, and he needed all the help he could get now on the scene.

He was currently sprinting to the location his colleagues had already converged on that seemed to be the main stage of all this.

“Mirage!! They’re there!!” Roman’s voice buzzed over their comms. “I see the kid they’ve got hostage, get over here!”

“I’m coming, keep eyes on him!” Logan instructed as he booked it for the business district, cursing how far he was and his lack of mobility powers. He really needed some sort of transport upgrade in his arsenal, promptly: yesterday.

Just hang on, Patton, I’m on my way.

—-

Patton was shoved forward, and Janus flinched imperceptibly as Patton stumbled onto the unstable platform before him. It was a miracle he didn’t trip on the uneven surface right then.

“It's nice and easy, kid. All you gotta do is walk to them.” Julius taunted, grinning.

 “It’s Child’s Play. How good at Hopscotch are you? Hope you’ve been practicing.”

Patton didn’t answer as he shook, trying to keep his balance on the mangled glass platform. He whimpered, holding his arms out for balance as it started moving at Julius’ command. 

Janus glanced at Remus who seemed particularly concentrated, going slow as he controlled his creation. It was narrow, to the point that the kid couldn’t fit both feet on it if he put them toe-to-heel. It was as long as his trembling arm span, and Patton was fighting to not just fall to his knees and hold on for dear life to the sharp edges. He was terrified that at any moment it would drop out from under him and he’d plummet.

It stopped very carefully when it got far enough that Patton had no hope of getting back to the building the villains were on. Though Janus wasn’t sure Patton wanted that either. The kid looked back, terrified and pleading. Janus was gripping the metal railing as he stared out at Patton, face carefully schooled to hide his worry and confliction. He made eye contact with Patton and grimaced, but looked determined. 

“...hey, it’s easy! Destructo will keep ‘em still and you just walk on over. See the heroes?” he stressed.

Patton looked at Destructo. The villain wasn’t blinking, his arm out to keep the platforms steady, but it seemed to be taking a lot of his power and focus. Patton glanced back to the path in front of him and he did see them. He saw Regalis and Phantombra over on the roof, but they weren’t moving to save him. He also saw why Destructo was so focused and tense: he was holding up at least 10 of these mangled glass platforms and Patton’s stomach twisted with anxiety at how far he had to walk.

Janus couldn’t say too much, but he had to keep Patton from freaking out any more than he already was. “It’s a walk in the park! Even a baby could do it, it’s not that far. Just like stepping stones.”

Julius side-eyed Janus’s weak taunts but started back again. “Come now, even you can’t mess it up! Go on and save yourself, because they can’t help you, kid.”

Patton shook as the strong crosswind gusted past him, and he seemed to process the full situation he was in now. Before he could panic (because there was no way it was so simple that they’d let him make it), Logan burst out onto the rooftop, clutching the concrete edge in time to see his baby brother out there in mortal danger. 

“Citizen! It will be alright!” he called, stepping up on the ledge as the boy looked up at him, eyes wide. He was so far away. Logan needed to get Patton down safely, now. “Just don’t move, wait there–”

“Ah ah, hero! Make one move off that roof, and Destructo will crush your precious little civilian faster than you can say Pattycake!” Julius laughed.

Patton teared up, afraid, and Mirage gritted his teeth in fury. “How dare you kidnap a child for your cruel stunts!” he snarled, though behind his mask he and everyone else on the roof were anxiously watching Patton trying to keep his balance.

“Your criminal clique is never going to leave the prison we lock you away in!” Regalis growled, his powered sword gripped hard at his side.

Janus could only frown at the words. Because that was the fate that awaited them when they inevitably screwed up. It was only a matter of time before they couldn’t outrun capture…or someone with less reservations about killing them. The kid’s entire world view was naive and flawed. A change of heart would not save him or Remus, nor should it at this point. He’d already accepted that when he took on this role. There was no out for people like them.

Destructo managed a silent sneer at the words and Julius scoffed. “As if you weak moralists are capable of creating anything that could keep us contained,” he grinned darkly. “Too cowardly to try and kill us, but we hold no such reservations for you, and definitely not your pathetic fans. You’re certainly welcome to try it, though.”

Mirage only wished he had the power to hurl the man into the next state. It was unfortunately not in his skillset, that felt fairly useless now. Even his colleagues had been rendered helpless with their physical powers. He was terrified, because had the villains somehow learned of his connection to Patton? Had he made a mistake, and now his younger brother would forever be in danger? He didn’t have answers to that, and even now he restrained himself from jumping to those conclusions. He could figure that out later. For Patton’s sake, he had to remain calm. He had to focus on what he could control. 

“Hey, it will be alright. All we need you to do is walk to us, we are right here. Just look at me,” he called so Patton could hear him.It was easy to say…but he was hardly embodying it himself.He had half a mind to make a projection of himself to comfort Patton, but that might raise questions later. And there was the risk of Patton noticing something familiar about his powers. He decided against it.

The boy at least seemed focused on him more than the height right now, which was progress. Logan encouraged Patton to come to him, opening his arms and coaxing. Patton looked mortified at the very suggestion of moving, limbs shaking even as he nodded to listen to the hero and glanced down just enough to see the next step before him. 

Patton didn’t even know that his big brother was right here, but Logan hoped he was at least comforted by heroes being here for him should anything go wrong. For now, they’d follow the rules to protect Patton. If Logan thought for one second that he or any of his colleagues could get to Patton faster than the villains could react…he’d get him, then make the villains regret waking up today.

Quietly, Mirage instructed Phantombra to get down to ground level just in case. The vigilante stepped back into the shadows, unnoticed: all eyes were on Patton.

“Keep your legs locked, alright? Take your time,” Logan coached, hoping it was more helpful than distracting– he wasn’t sure Patton really was listening, but he could focus on Logan’s masked voice. “Eyes forward, not down. You can do it.”

Patton nodded rigidly, lifting his gaze a little more. He slowly took the first step, pushing off to keep himself from getting stuck. Logan held his breath each time Patton stepped over a gap and the previous platform fell away shortly after. He hoped someone was protecting the people below.

Where he walked, the bridge shifted slightly to adjust to his weight and creaked under his sneakers, crunching on the flat side of the glass. It didn’t look stable in the slightest, but Logan instructed him to step carefully and futilely reminded him to keep his eyes up. 

The wind blowing at his side did not help matters. The steps behind Patton became less as he stared waveringly forward, trembling as he tried not to misstep or slip with no handrails. He never took the stairs without holding onto those, for safety. Logan always told him it was so he didn’t accidentally fall. This…was a high fall. 

He was good at this game before, on the playground toadstools a foot off the ground. There, with the assured safety of fine sand to break his fall, he was brave. He could skip and sprint across them as fast as he wanted with the other kids, playing pretend with imagined danger underfoot. The worst that would happen was a scraped knee or a less-good bump to your head that you’d still walk away from. 

But up here, there was no safety net or soft ground to catch him. He knew a mistake here would be really bad. Patt remembered falling from the swings before. The treehouse ladder once, too, and he’d had to get a leg cast for that one. Logan had carried him to their mom’s car. That seemed like nothing compared to this, where he couldn’t even see the ground clearly. He was old enough to know that a fall that far would hurt worse, and he knew a friendly doctor with a cast couldn’t help him this time. 

He wanted to cry— he wanted Logan— and glanced up fearfully as the heroes were still so many terrifying steps away and couldn’t help him and why did the steps look further apart now?? And he froze up. 

He made the mistake of looking past the bridge and his feet to the city far, far below and his legs felt like jello. Patt got stuck. He was sure that if he moved, his knees would buckle and he’d fall through the gap he was standing over. He couldn’t grab on if that happened, because it would surely cut his hands.

He felt ill and wobbled. His arms waved desperately to not send him teetering over, and he heard someone yelling words he could not make out over the loud rush of blood in his ears.  

He stared down at the hundreds of feet under his shoes despite Logan calling desperately for him to not look down, to focus on him. Patton’s glasses slipped off his face and he was too terrified to grab for them instinctually. Logan swore, his own panic getting the better of him.

Patt could no longer see clearly 3 feet in front of him. It broke him out of his paralysis. His blurry gaze snapped up to where he’d last seen the heroes and they were entirely distorted against the buildings. His eyes went wide and he looked down at his feet again, desperate to see anything. But they too were fuzzy: two blue blocky shapes against the grey and green and red through clear glass whose borders had practically vanished. The colors of the platforms blended with the cityscape below and were hard to distinguish. His vision blurred more as fear sparked tears in his eyes and he bit back a sob. 

A harsh voice snapped at him to keep walking or they’ll drop the bridge out from under him. Patton let out a scared cry, breath starting to panic. He wanted his brother. Logan always helped him feel safe. He desperately tried to move his back foot, but it was as if it was glued to the edge of the platform. He couldn’t even see where to put it, if it was actually a safe place to step, or if it was a smudge of a building far below in the open air.

The glass structure crumbled more. 

“Fuck,” Logan cursed again under his breath as he tried to think what he could do if this failed.

His brother was too far, and running to get him will almost definitely end up with it being dropped out from under him and possibly Patton as well, if not worse. He couldn’t act yet.

“Patton!!”

Patton’s last platform jerked him and he didn’t get the chance to rethink when he was startled into lifting his foot. The platform fell away as soon as his foot wasn't in contact with it. Patton tried desperately to gain that footing back. He flailed wildly to go forward. But the lack of balance had him teetering on one foot and he overcorrected. He went back. Logan screamed and almost jumped out onto the glass to go after him if not for Regalis stopping him. The rest of the glass plummeted away seconds later. Roman yelled at someone in his comm, possibly Buzzard– another hero from their agency– who had been doing surveillance above them, but she’d never make it down fast enough. 

Patton shrieked as he plummeted backwards through the sky, trying to twist around as if that’d slow his fall.

The wind shoved at him, pushing him at an angle as he tumbled head over heels through the sky. He couldn’t right himself and didn’t know if he’d be able to. The sides of the taller buildings started to surround him as he passed them quickly. Patton didn’t know how long the wind cut at his face and back and legs, but it must not have been very long because suddenly he saw a blur closer and more formed than the others and what was quickly recognizable as a hand grazed his wrist lightly. Patton’s stomach flipped as he immediately slowed down and the world spun disorientingly until he landed heavily in someone’s scrabbling grasp. Patton clutched their suit tightly as he caught his breath, shaken and scared to fall hundreds of feet again. He was still not on the ground but he wasn’t falling anymore.

“Hold on!” a voice ordered, as if Patton was about to do anything else.

A second later, it was like the air had become a net, dipping under their weight but slowing them down.

Patton hid his face in their shirt, trembling as arms tucked around him protectively and they rolled sideways dizzyingly. 

Glass shards fell past them, and his savior hissed as they got nicked, but Patton didn’t feel any hit him.

He was shocked to have been caught so far down, but he supposed the heroes would have had a backup plan ready. 

 Only, it wasn’t a hero he recognized who had him once they slowed down and he opened his eyes.

It was Deceit, slowly floating them down through the air.

Patton gaped, shakily trying to lift his arm to wipe his eyes, but was unwilling to relinquish Janus’ jacket.

“D-Deceit!” he sobbed out, new tears making his efforts in vain.

“Relax, we’re fine. We weren’t just gonna let you fall.”

Well. He and Remus weren’t. Julius, though…

“I-I knew you were a good guy,” he whispered, hugging his arms around Janus and trying to feel assured now that he was safe.

The villain scoffed with no bite as he held onto Patton and looked for the closest place to set down safely. “I’m far from good, kid. Not everything is about good or bad.”

Patton looked chided, and he didn’t answer, just hanging on silently, and Janus sighed. This was clearly an elementary schooler trying to just make sense of the world. The nuance would make more sense to him when he was older. “But maybe I’m a little on the good side of bad, okay?”

Patton gave him a tiny smile and nodded sheepishly.

Still, Janus’ face softened as he held Patton protectively. This wasn’t so bad, but it was only a matter of time before he would be facing the consequences of this. Even if he wouldn’t have changed his choice, he wasn’t looking forward to when he reached the ground, if they got that far before someone caught up to them. Maybe he could still make a getaway, if he hurried up?

But before he could even plan that out, he heard his name screamed out above and the next thing he felt was pure boiling agony on his left side. Patton had cried out too, but Janus couldn’t see why. He couldn’t see much of anything, as his vision went spotty from the world-ending pain. He hoped Patton hadn’t been hit too.

“Traitors don’t get to live, Janny!” a cruel voice howled down at him, “you knew my rules from day one!”

All Janus could do was tuck around the boy as strong winds tried to blow them out of the sky. His powers wouldn’t work anymore, he couldn’t focus. He blinked and saw the sides of the high-rise buildings, the clouds, all getting further away and oh. They were falling. 

Patton was screaming and begging for him to be okay and it’s all Janus can do to clutch him so he doesn’t get yanked out of his arms by the rush of air around them. He’d be foolish to think he could break his fall like this though. This was it for both of them, because he had never had any faith in the heroes. 

He wished that he did, though: that they’d be fast enough and competent for this kid’s sake, just this once. But he had no delusions. The pain was overriding the part of his brain that was usually easy to access, the one where with focus he could call upon his power. 

He felt Patton pressing into his chest painfully and Janus wished he could tell him sweet lies about it being okay, to not be scared. For what it was worth, he covered Patton’s head feebly, unsure if it was just for his own comfort and not being alone. 

Patton held tight, eyes shut as they were in free fall. There were bright blue sparks in the edges of Janus’ vision and he wondered if he was about to pass out. 

A sudden gust of wind slammed into them sideways, nearly ripping Patton out of Janus’ arms again. Janus didn’t have the strength to hold on any harder but Patton had a vice grip on him. They both cried out as they went tumbling off course, not so gently shoved through the air as they lost a bit of their vertical momentum.

They narrowly missed a low sky bridge between two buildings, falling just under its shadow.

“SHIT, WHATHEFUCK—“

The next moment they’re encased in cold silent darkness, and they’re weightless. 

Before either of them gather their bearings of how they ended up in a void— and Janus had a passing thought that his world simulation theory might be true if they’d just clipped through the fucking ground— they were flipped again, and Janus just wished they’d spare him and stop the moving.

The two went rolling sideways as gravity reclaimed them and daylight and grass became the only two things he could see. The landing still knocked what little wind Janus had out of him, bruising, and he shielded Patton to the best of his ability until they hit something solid and stopped. Janus managed a weak groan and coughed, and Patton immediately started squirming. He held fast, not knowing what was going on and unwilling to relinquish his charge quite yet with that uncertainty.

People were yelling around him in his buzzing ears and he winced. His head pounded and his body screamed that something was so wrong right now. The kid was pulled away by someone unknown despite his dazed protesting. But then the hands were everywhere and he felt them grabbing, restraining, and bright lights flashed in his vision as the touching felt like fire. Janus gave up if it meant they’d show some mercy. He was definitely dying, didn’t that and his final noble deed warrant some consideration? He guessed not. 

He let them take him because it was easier to fall into the dulling darkness than continuing the fight with no energy left.