In the dead middle of an ocean, far out from any landmass, resided the alcatraz-esc prison for super villains known as 42. Thanks to a few tech based heroes, the prison was shielded by an impassable force field. The only way to access 42 was through portals, located at different points scattered across the globe. At the moment, a group of ex-prisoners were staring down the outside the a facility housing one of these said points.

"Daddy dearest couldn't teleport us into the actual prison?" Ricky sneered at Beau.

"No one could've. They have technology in place to block all kinds of teleportation magic." He responded.

"Ryan could've." He grumbled. Ricky sighed, "Stay here. You'll only get in my way."

In all honesty, he was thinking how he could manage this entire mission without them. Beau started yelling at him about how the plan was to send Vinny in as a decoy, but Ricky wouldn't listen. He had no need for their idiotic ploys. Within ten minutes, he'd found his way into a supposedly impenetrable building and killed the guards on duty. While the others weren't too fond of him taking their lives when he could've just as easily tied them up, they weren't stupid enough to pick a fight with him.

Vinny approached a large control consul one of the men had been working at. He discovered that they had several hours until shift change, meaning no one would be finding the bodies for awhile. Intrigued by his advanced maneuvering of technology, Beau asked, "Do you think you could find information on this project of theirs that involves stealing superhuman powers?"

"If they have it on this computer, yeah, but I don't know if these guys were important enough to know about something like that." He answered.

"I doubt it, but there might be a map of the prison in there." Ricky responded.

They watched on as Vinny typed away, easily discovering 42's schematics. Ricky pulled out a card, similar to the ones used by the guards and heroes to access the prison, and inserted it into a slot on the computer's dashboard. With the data downloaded, he retrieved it, along with stealing an access card off of one of the dead bodies at his feet.

"I'll go ahead and scout things out." He said, walking towards the portal.

"Hang on!" Beau called after him, "We shouldn't split up like this."

"I'll be fine. I'm used to working alone." Ricky crassly replied. Given the company and the situation, he was ready to be done with this whole ordeal. Before anyone else could object, he stepped through the portal and entered 42.

While Ricky's primary objective was to search and destroy the equipment allowing 42's staff to extract superhuman abilities, Beau was more concerned with accessing information on the case first. As much as he wanted Jasper's power back, he needed to know why they took it in the first place, and what they planned to do with it. In the midst of Vinny trying to find said information, a massive warning message popped up on the screen.

"The Hell's that?" Croc scoffed in the back of the room.

"It wasn't my doing, I swear." Vinny said, "Someone shut down access to this portal from the main control panel inside the prison."

"Did Ricky get caught?" Friday asked.

"No," Beau responded angrily, "He was the one who shut it down. I should've known trusting him was a bad idea! I don't know why I keep trying to put faith in him!" He took a deep breath, knowing his rage would get him nowhere. "We'll have to go back, have my father teleport us to another access point."

The others turned for the door, but Vinny was hesitant to follow. Beau realized he was lagging behind and glanced back at him for an explanation. "Maybe, this ain't so bad?" He timidly said, "All of us, if we get caught, they might take our powers too, but Ricky doesn't have any. Maybe we should let 'em do it on his own."

"He's broken into a lot of impressive places before, but 42 is different. There's no way he could do this on his own. Besides, I can't trust that he'll return Jasper's power. In fact, I'm almost certain he'll either steal it, or try to destroy it." Beau explained.

"Hey, guys?" Friday piped in, "...Where's Asher?"

—

Knowing 42's interior staff wore heart monitors that would alert others if they were attacked, Ricky simply beat them until they were too sore to move. He stole yet another access card in the hopes theirs would have higher clearance than the outpost guards. The access codes embedded within the cards allowed him to disable the laser sensors in the air ducts. He didn't have much time until either the staff caught on or Beau's team caught up.

The map Vinny had so naively helped him obtain wasn't as helpful as he wished. There was a section blacked out, of which he could only assume was the prison's lab. If it wasn't, going there would be a waste of time that could easily cost Ricky the mission. Usually his gut instincts didn't lead him astray, and thankfully, this time wasn't an exception. He looked through the mesh of the vent cover into something straight out of science fiction.

Even as intelligent as he was, he wasn't about to pretend he knew what he was looking at. A group of scientists surrounded by armed guards were working in a lab rich with abnormal items. A lot of strange tech, yeah, but more importantly, a large glass tube containing some kind of wild energy. It was black and sparkling, appearing to be a sentient fog. The door abruptly opened and in walked two guards dragging a hero Ricky was unfortunately very familiar with. He was heavily sedated, and within a few minutes, thrown in restraints.

Ricky figured this was about the time to do something. He didn't want the hero dead—There's a sentence he never thought he'd say—which meant he needed to be careful about this. It's possible they'd rather kill him than allow him to leave that lab. Ricky retrieved a medium sized disk from his supplies that glowed an icy blue. He attached it to the vent, activating it and filling the room with a thick smoke. Though it did activate the sprinklers, that wasn't his goal. It was, after all, one of Ryan's toys. A very fine dust laced into the smoke caused any who breathed it in to enter a state of hypothermia. In an instantly, everyone in the lab was nearly frozen and unable to move.

Thankfully, the hero would be just fine. It was a weak enough attack that the magically inclined wouldn't be affected. Unfortunately, that wasn't Ricky and he was forced to place a mask over his mouth before breaking into the room. He unloaded a few bullets into the guards and left the scientists to suffer on the floor. Ricky approached the hero bound to an upright table. His choppy black hair hung over his drooping eyes. He was barely staying conscious.

"I swear to fuck," Ricky muttered as he pulled an injection from his pocket, "If you try to take me down after I saved your life, I will turn you inside out." He jammed the needle into the hero's neck, pouring straight adrenaline into his veins. That certainly woke him up.

The hero used his magic to undo his restraints and return his feet to the ground. He cracked his neck, still trying to recompose himself after everything that had happened recently. He'd become known to the public as the Mystic—The creepiest member of a band of beloved heroes. In the past, this man had cornered Ricky and Ryan many times. Eventually, bringing them in became personal for him and his team.

"I thought you were behind bars." Mystic groaned.

"Things change." Ricky responded, "They were going to take your power from you. I thought this was going to be some bullshit about making a new weapon against villains, but clearly, they don't give a shit about the good guys either. I'm going to destroy this place and any data backups they have. I suggest you leave and we act like none of this happened."

"I can't act like the government didn't kidnap me." He deadpanned.

Ricky started going through files on a nearby computer. He glanced over his shoulder, answering, "Then you and your team can deal with it your own way. Just leave like I told you. I didn't have to save your life."

"Why did you?"

Ricky glared at him again. Mystic realized he wasn't getting any answers this way, and he probably didn't want to stick around a place like this anyways. He used a teleportation spell to disappear and return home. There was no way he was letting this go. Ricky knew that and he was counting on it. Any corruption that manages to slip through his fingers will be snuffed out by the heroes now.

He finished downloading the information he needed. Then, he attached some very powerful explosives on every surface of the lab, including the large glass pillar housing that strange energy. Just as he turned to leave, someone pounced on his back unexpectedly and knocked him to the ground. Ricky looked up to see Asher on top of him. The little shit had turned himself invisible and followed him through the portal before he'd managed to shut it down.

Ricky had felt a sharp prick on the back of his neck when he was attacked. As the world around him was darkening, he realized Asher had poisoned him. The demon broke open the glass container, causing the fog to rush out and wrap around him, almost like a pet that was happy to see him. He retrieved an antique pillbox from his pocket. Upon opening it, the fog dove in, somehow managing to fit itself inside the small object.

Asher searched through Ricky's person and located the bombs' detonator. He started to hurry out of the room, when the other half of his brain began guilt tripping him. Ricky only agreed to do this for the sake of his love's safety. A story as selfless as that pulled at the heart of a hopeless romantic. With a frustrated sigh, Asher turned around and picked up the mercenary's unconscious body.