Last Time, on Project HermitVengers:

Alex and Xisuma do something pretty sweet for the other Hermits (getting the money through totally legal actions...), and overall it's a nice Christmas!

Then the day after, Xisuma and Ren stumbled across a certain trio (all of which got each other trinkets- awww /pos), and now we've got another three added to the Hermits!

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"Please stop laughing and help me-"

Joe sighed with an awkward smile, trying to get his foot out of the sewer grate under the sidewalk.

Ignoring his pleas for assistance, Cleo, Zedaph, and Bdubs just continued to cackle at the sight.

The night before, Ren and Xisuma had stumbled upon the ZIT trio, as they had named themselves, eating their dinner of cheap Mexican food. After that, Xisuma's adoption habit kicked in... much to Alex's amusement and annoyance.

Anyway, back to Joe's suffering.

"Please help-" The southern teenager held back a laugh of his own derpiness.

Patting Joe's head, Cleo simply grinned and said, "Sure, once it stops being entertaining!"

With a sigh, the young poet continued to squirm to try to get free. "Y'all suck-"

"We love you too, Joe!" Zed laughed even more, keeping Bdubs from falling over.

Yes, Joe did eventually get free.

Eventually.

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The next morning...

"WHOOO!!"

A cheer rang through Bdubs' head as he was startled awake. Also awakened, Tango blinked groggily and looked towards the source. "Huhh-?! Ren- why are ya yellin'?"

"Happy New Years, baby!"

Iskall, also awakened, sleepily glanced over in confusion. "Ugh... I know you're excited, but can you let us sleep..?"

"Nah- WHOA-" Ren quickly leapt out of the way of a flying something that came from Bdubs' direction.

"Run while you still can, Ren." Alex chuckled, watching Bdubs stand up.

And that's how Ren learned to not poke the sleeping Bdubs.

After all, the night before, the group had stayed up until midnight to celebrate: listening to all the people and celebrations and such from the alleyway. Needless to say, they hadn't been able to sleep that much. But they still had fun, talking and joking around until their brains and bodies forced them to shut down and rest through the noise.

Good times.

New Years went by quickly, the group spending most of it doing their separate things, occasionally poking fun at Ren for getting beat up by tiny yet feral Bdubs.

And yet, today... Alex wasn't one of them.

Just like the rest of that day, all he could think about as he waited on a rooftop alone was his old home. This is what he had wanted for so long and more, right? The chance to get out, do his own thing for a bit, have his own friends, to be away from the same old routine.

Yet he still missed Kamar Taj.

As he messed with his gloves, he thought about how at night he still half expected to go to his usual floor-level bed, have someone make sure he and the other teenagers were in bed, and then stay up longer than intended studying.

But also he loved his new family, his new usual. Getting up whenever he wanted, wandering wherever he pleased as long as his friends knew vaguely where he was going, daily shenanigans that made each new day interesting. And yet...

Groaning out loud, Alex clutched his head. 'Why is this so complicated?! I like my new life, and I can't go back to what I had before. That's that! Stop moping!'

He sighed and looked around, head still in his hands. Maybe being alone wasn't the best idea... he rarely was, after all, with Xisuma usually with him 24/7.

"Should I find someone?" Alex asked himself, nudging a pebble with his foot. "Nah... they're all probably busy."

"I mean, not all of us."

Asked jumped at the familiar voice coming out of nowhere. "Shi-!? Oh- Dear gods, Zed!"

The blond laughed a bit as Alex scrambled to his feet. "Sorry!"

'Thank gods I didn't say everything out loud-'

"You alright, Alex? You haven't really spoken much for a while." As Zedaph gave him a worried smile, Alex felt a bit guilty. If Zed noticed something was off, surely Xisuma did too... "Alex?"

Once again snapping out of his thoughts, Alex looked up at Zedaph (his eyes had wandered to look towards the streets) and chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry- Yeah, I'm fine! Just, you know..."

Zed tilted his head in confusion as Alex made some random hand gestures.

"Just... ugh, I don't even know." The Void signed, adjusting his mask a bit. "Just been in an odd funk today, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get that. Wanna talk about it..?" Zed offered with a small smile, going to stand next to Alex, who was nudging some of the pebbles on the rooftop with his foot.

'May as well..? That's what friends are for, right?' So he spilled the beans. "Yeah. Just..."

His frustrations flowed out of his mouth faster and smoother than he expected, his tongue managing to put his feelings into words without Alex having to think through it. And Zed simply nodded and listened, to Alex's surprise.

Despite the few weeks with the others, Alex had never really vocalized the entirety of how he felt about leaving home for good until now, he'd never even considered it. The pressure of suddenly becoming one of the leaders, the stress of just trying to get money and food every day without drawing the attention of the wrong people...

"And it's just- it's... so much.. but it doesn't feel like it should be this... intense." Alex slowed to a stop, realizing how long he'd talked. "But losing Mum..."

Zed nodded with an understanding frown. "It piles up, yeah. I get that. Not the exact situation- but the... overwhelming-ness."

They both sat in silence for a moment. Zedaph gently grabbed Alex's hand in an offering of reassurance, and they smiled at each other.

"Thanks for listening, Zed. Sorry if that was... a bit much." Alex stared at the floor for a moment, his free hand fidgeting with his fingerless glove.

Chuckling, Zed replied, "Don't be sorry, man. Everyone needs things like this, even if they don't like it."

They both smiled at each other again, and after a second the sorcerer broke the silence with a chuckle.

"You've done this before, haven't you?"

Zed snorted and went to stand, helping Alex up. "What gave it away, man?"

"Literally everything, Mister Therapist."

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[TW: Gunshots, kidnapping, implied death]

Sneaking to the edge of the roof, Taurtis and Grian carefully waited for the right moment to swoop in and get the poor girl. This wasn't the first time they'd seen these guys too: men in black and red uniforms, talking about some science shit while trying to kidnap random kids about their age. One time, they'd even gone for their friend Jimmy (big mistake, even if the two heroes-in-training hadn't stepped in, Joel was mad enough to kick them all where the sun don't shine).

"What about now?" Skid jokingly whispered.

"If you wanna die, go on ahead!" Grian rolled his eyes, also keeping his voice down. 'I swear, he makes ME seem patient.'

Sighing, Taurtis leaned against the edge of the roof. "You're no fun-"

"Shh!"

Grian narrowed his eyes as he heard and saw a car driver into the alley, and about three people stepped out.

"Let me go! You said you'd take me to Mommy!" the little kid cried, trying to wriggle out of the grip of the person holding her. It made Grian's heart hurt, but he knew they had to be careful: the last few guys were getting smart and tended to carry guns or tranquilizers with them.

"Wait..."

Skid tensed. "Grian, we have to do something-"

"We will, but-" Before Grian could finish, Taurtis was already moving back to stand up.

And he slipped.

"What was that?!" One of the agents blurted out as Skid scurried back onto the roof.

'Crap-' Blitz grabbed his friend and pulled him further out of view.

"Who's there!?" The pair heard the sound of guns being loaded, and Blitz shot his adopted brother an annoyed look, not even having to open his mouth to say "nice job, now we're getting shot at".

"Well, sorry if I thought you were taking too long!" Skid huffed, "Now let's save that kid!"

Before Blitz could stop him, Skid was off, skidding down the roof and landing on one of the bad guys.

"Wait-! ... or not-" He sighed and went after him.

'Aim for the legs, then grab the kid.'

Before most of the agents could even blink, red and blue blurs were knocking them over like bowling pins. Proud of their quick work, the duo quickly high fived and grinned at each other.

"See? Easy." Skid swiftly scooped up the little girl, starting to comfort her, and that seemed like it'd be it. That's what Grian had thought.

"Let's get her home, her parents must be-" Blitz started to say, but was interrupted by a gunshot that made his ears ring painfully.

The little girl screamed as Taurtis stumbled, starting to bleed from his leg.

They'd missed one. One had played dead amongst the ones that had been knocked out.

One of them was smart.

"Sh- Skid, go!" Blitz quickly helped his best friend up, looking at his injured leg. 'What-!? Is that a tracker? They have tracker guns!?'

The little blinking device forced into Taurtis' leg couldn't be anything else. Holding back his panic, Grian went to run and drag his best friend with him, helping him hold the scared little kid. Everything started to blur from his panic.

The rest... God, the rest couldn't have gone more wrong.

A gunshot. A plea to run. Returning the kid home, trying to stay calm.

"Will he be okay?"

His voice told the girl yes, but he didn't feel like he was saying it. He wanted to believe it.

Everything felt numb. Grian couldn't think anymore, he couldn't get the image of the wounded body out of his head.

He just ran. As far, and as fast as his legs could take him. Not to home, no. Not after losing...

Clenching his fists and closing his eyes as tears formed, all Grian could hear over the rushing wind was...

"You've always been the faster one..."

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"Well, that went well." Sam Wilson sighed, watching the news. "Still don't know why someone, even HYDRA, would ever want to pull that kind of nonsense the day after Christmas."

Steve just sighed in response, knowing HYDRA wasn't above much to get what they wanted. He just hoped they could do enough damage control before things got worse than they already were...

"How many kids do you think they got a hold of?" Sam asked, a bit nervous.

"More than they should ever have." Cap said with a sigh, going to sit down. He thought for a moment. There were several dozens of children that were still alive, running around, and likely scared out of their minds. HYDRA wasn't the kind of organization to leave loose ends... it wasn't likely their families were able to take care of them once they were out.

'I'm sorry... to whoever might be out there and suffering because of this...'

Meanwhile a scared blond boy shoved on a red sweater threw away his cloth mask that held so many memories, as far from his home as he'd manage to run. Out of fear, shame, and grief.

But his story isn't over yet. Far from it.

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WE LIVE :)

Sorry for the slight hiatus, promise we didn't drop this- Just needed time to... get our shit together, let's say.

Hope you all enjoyed, have an amazin' day, evening and night! GOOOOOOOOOD BYE <3

- CinnabonSys (be back in the writing game, baby :D)