ERICA

"Are you still bleeding?" My mother looked down at me with a disapproving expression.

I met her gaze without expression. I was only twelve but I knew what would happen if I spoke back. Seeming satisfied with my lack of reaction she dropped a package into my lap.

Confused, I opened it with one hand, the other clutching a rag against my thigh which had been slashed open during fighting practice. I knew that direct pressure was my only chance at slowing down the bleeding.

It wasn't like they were going to take me to a hospital.

To my surprise the package contained a few objects: antiseptic, sutures, and a small book with pictures explaining how to close wounds. I looked back up at my mother, not wanting to voice the question I wanted to ask.

"You have thirty minutes to sew up your wounds before we move on to poisons." Her voice was flat, her eyes making it clear what would happen if I didn't.

I looked down again, my eyes watering at the size of the needle. This was going to hurt.

"You will not receive any local anesthetics or narcotics to numb the pain. " My mother continued, noting my less than enthusiastic reaction. "Pain leads to strength, seeking relief from pain is weakness. Remember that."

She walked away, leaving me to stare daggers into her back.

One day.

One day I would take her down. Take them both down.

Sighing quietly to myself, I grabbed the kit, and prepared to sew on my thigh.

I woke up gasping in a strange room, my hand automatically reaching for the gun under my pillow, and meeting nothing but air. I struck out, my hand hitting a chest that was more like a brick wall. Panicked, I reared back to attack again.

"It's okay, Erica! It's me!" A familiar voice settled me enough to pause, to study my surroundings. We were in a large, open apartment, brightly lit. I was on a couch with someone sitting beside me, grasping my ankle.

It was Henry. I let out a small sigh of relief.

"What are you doing?" He had a jar of ointment on the table beside him, was applying it to my leg.

"You had a burn from the trap that they... from the electrified floor. The captain said you wouldn't want to go to the hospital, so when the field doctor cleared you I brought you back to my apartment."

He seemed uncomfortable, letting go of my leg and gently placing it back on the couch.

"I would have brought you to your place so you could be in familiar surroundings but I obviously don't know where you live and I didn't know what else to do...Crap." He hit his forehead. "I'm making a mess out of this."

"What's in the ointment."

"It's nothing dangerous!" He was quick to defend himself, although I really was only asking out of curiosity rather than suspicion. "It's a pain relieving ointment for the light burns. I didn't want you to be hurting when you woke up!"

His open face along with his simple explanation startled me. When was the last time someone had tried to keep me from hurting, tried to take pain away instead of causing it? It didn't take long for me to remember. It was back when we were kids and still thought we were brother and sister.

Henry always did worry whenever I got hurt.

I sat up, testing my arms and legs, mildly surprised that I felt no discomfort with the movement despite the burns from my parents' trap.

Pain leads to strength, seeking relief from pain is weakness.

My mother's words mocked me, but they were quickly pushed to the back of my mind with his next question.

"They said you poisoned yourself?"

I sucked in a breath, only now remembering what my parents had said before I lost consciousness.

She shouldn't have much longer.

"They were lying right?" Henry's face was pale, his gaze nervously looking me over as if expecting me to fall over any minute. "You aren't dying from a poison, that was just a trick, right?"

I stared down at my hands. "What else did they tell you?"

I couldn't remember anything after telling them I would rather die. They wouldn't have stopped there.

"Please, Erica, please tell me they were lying." There were tears in his eyes, but I ignored them.

"What did they want in exchange for the antidote?"

"..." His face turned blank, he avoided my gaze.

"Hen...Jarrod. What. Did. They. Want?"

A long sigh escaped him. "I wish our lives had been different." He reached out, grabbing my unresisting hands in his own, turning them over. His thumbs rubbed across my forearms, where multiple scars from years of fighting and torture crisscrossed. "I wish I had never left. Wish I had suffered with you sometimes."

"Jarrod..."

"Wish I had taken you with me, more." He looked up at the ceiling, and then closed his eyes, tears escaping from the shut lids. "Wish I hadn't been a self-centered prick who wanted to be strong before I came back. Wish I had saved you, or died trying."

"Jarrod..."

He let go of my hands, hid his face behind his own, but tears continued to fall. "No one deserves what you've gone through. No one deserves to live a long happy life more than you."

My vision blurred. Was I crying too?

"Henry..."

"You were my sister, my protector, my other half. You meant everything... still mean everything to me." He stood up, and walked towards the door. "I won't let you die. Not while I'm still breathing."

I tried to call out one last time, but he was already gone.

HENRY/JARROD

I left her behind, my mind racing, feeling strangely calm despite the emotions that had threatened to overwhelm me just moments before.

I wasn't going to fail her again.

But to pull it off, I needed a few things.

The anti-super power technology her parents wanted. A location. And to see the Captain.

First, the anti-super weapon. I sighed quietly, turning towards the Hero Assistance Unit Headquarters.

Fortunately, being a hero had its perks. I knew a guy.

"Hey Jarrod!"

Greg was practically jumping up and down with excitement, his hands clutching a black briefcase. "I'm so glad you called, I was worried after that raid I did went south that you wouldn't want my help ever again!"

The raid? My forehead wrinkled as I tried to puzzle that out briefly, before realizing that I had given him a location of a base as part of Erica's plot to unmask the mole. I thought we had contacted everyone else the next morning to clarify that the "raid" was off... but I guessed we missed someone.

Had he gone to a supervillain base all by himself?

Shrugging mentally, I decided not to ask further.

"Did you bring what I asked?"

"Of course, Jarrod! What else is the HAU for if not to assist heroes like yourself?" His groveling set my teeth on edge, made worse by what I knew he had tried to do to Erica. Of course, the moment he had tried to touch her she had put him in the ICU.

I smiled at the thought, and Greg beamed back at me, thinking I was happy about his words.

"Here it is!" He opened up the briefcase in his hands. "The Anti-super power gun! VSU had been working on the technology for a while now, but HAU took over since the VSU is just small time agents anyways." He snorted loudly, apparently forgetting that he had once been part of the Villain Suppression Unit and had been kicked out for sexual harassment.

I checked the weapon, a sleek, silver appearing gun. The muzzle was oddly shaped. "Does it shoot bullets?"

"Nope! It shoots a dart, that injects the anti-super power serum." He pointed to the small box of ammo. "It is made to look almost exactly like the HAU stun dart weapon, so you need to be careful.." He laughed loudly. "Don't want to accidentally shoot someone with one of these puppies instead of a stun dart or something."

I looked at the dart closely, with a morbid fascination. "Is there an antidote for the anti-super power serum?"

"They've been working on it, but no luck so far!" Greg paused, seeming slightly uncomfortable for the first time. "Hey, Jarrod? What are you going to use this for? I can take it out of the HAU because I'm on the security team, but it needs to be back in 24 hours."

I snapped the briefcase closed, smiling brightly. "No worries. That's plenty of time."

Leaving him behind, my hand tightly clutching the handle of the briefcase, I moved on, a plan forming in my mind.

I had the weapon.

All I needed was a way to contact the Shadow Couple.

Which meant I needed to have a little talk with my younger brother.

"What do you want?"

My brother looked tired, as he eyed me with suspicion. We were in a private visiting room, another perk to being a super-hero. I guess even with Michael's powers of invisibility and speed they didn't think he could get past me to escape.

Which worked for me. I wanted the privacy.

"I've given up on asking you why you never helped Erica, a little girl who was suffering." I sighed as I leaned back in my chair. "At first I thought maybe you were scared. You didn't want to tell me my 'sister' was being hurt. I even thought that maybe the Shadow Couple captured you as a child and forced you to work on their side."

"..." Michael warily said nothing. I continued on as if talking to myself.

"But then, I thought back to all our 'training fights' before I regained my powers. Back to how mom and dad treated you like glass once I was stronger than you. How I was 'the weakling' when I couldn't beat you, but I was 'a bully' once I could... All of that started to make sense, and I came to a conclusion."

I leaned forward, a slight smile on my face.

"You are a coward. A coward who enjoys watching people weaker than you suffer."

" You son of a..." Michael's face contorted with rage, he reached towards me, only to break off on a squeal of pain as I grabbed his hand in my own. I squeezed until the bones started fracturing into multiple pieces.

"It hurts, doesn't it? It hurt me when you broke my bones too. All those 'training accidents' when we were kids. You were quite a sadistic little bastard."

Michael tried to pull his hand away, his face pale and sweating with the pain.

"I forgive you though. We were kids. Our parents enabled you, taught you to bully the weak and cower before the strong. A strange lesson for a super hero, but I don't really think any of family qualify for a term like 'hero.'"

"If you forgive me, then let go..." He forced the words out with a groan of agony.

I tightened my hand instead, feeling a few more satisfying cracks. "I forgive you for what you did to me. What you did to Erica on the other hand..."

"PLEASE!"

"I'll stop when you tell me how to contact the Shadow Couple." I grinned as he shook his head slightly and shifted my grip to hold more of his hand. "Otherwise I'll break every bone in your hand one by one, and then move onto the next. You're in with a hero, no one will even bother to check on you. We can be here for a very, very long time."

My smile turned bitter as he quickly spit out a number that would reach them.

"See, that wasn't so hard."

I fired my weapon under the table.

He leaned forward with a groan as the dart struck Michael in the stomach.

"What did you...?"

I quickly put the weapon back in the hidden holster under my pant leg. Slightly dismayed but relieved at how easily I had snuck it past security, I leaned over the table, reaching out to remove the dart and stored that as well.

"That was the 'anti-super power weapon' the Shadow Couple is looking for." I smiled. "I thought I would test it out before handing it over.

Michael shook his head. "ARE YOU CRAZY! You can't give them technology like this! They'll destroy everything!"

I raised an eyebrow. "So its okay for you to help them for money, but not okay for me to help them to save someone's life?"

"Save... " He trailed off, his eyes narrowing. "You're doing it for that bit..." I pushed the table lightly, and it flew into his stomach, cutting off his words.

"Don't worry about the world, brother dearest. You have much bigger problems." I stood up, straightening out my jacket with a casual motion.

"I've arranged for you to be transferred."

Michael mouthed a single word. Where.

"Blood Row." I smiled as his eyes grew wide.

Blood Row. The most notorious layer of prison for the worst kind of criminals. The kind that hated heroes the most.

"Don't worry, they are well aware that you were working for the Shadow Couple... and betrayed them to get a better deal. You should fit in nicely there. Especially now that your powers are gone."

I turned towards the door and knocked, waiting for it to open.

"Wait!" His voice cracked on the word. I turned back towards him with a small hint of curiosity.

"Blood row is... death sentence... please... I'm your brother." He was struggling to talk after the blow from the table but he pushed on, his face desperate.

I watched him silently for a few moments. "Sorry, I've come to the realization that despite being a superhero, I'm not all powerful. I can only protect one person. And she deserves it a hell of a lot more than you."

The door opened, and I walked out.

"WAAAIT!"

I didn't turn back again.

ERICA

"Where is he?!" I slammed my fists on the Captain's desk.

He raised an eyebrow, looking up at me with a sarcastic grin. "Hello to you too."

"Cut the crap, Captain." I was not in the mood to joke. "I've been following Hen... Jarrod's tracks all day. He stopped by the HAU, picked something up. He stopped by the prison and saw his brother, and then he came here. What did he tell you?"

"Would you believe it if I said he didn't tell me anything?"

"No."

He sighed. "Yeah, I wouldn't either." He looked me in the eye. "He told me the truth. About the poison."

I sank down into a nearby chair. "Crap."

"Yeah." He glared at me. "Were you ever going to tell me that you were dying?"

I shrugged. "Probably not."

"Great."

"At least I'm honest."

"In some ways, I guess." He leaned back, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "Is this why you've been so desperate to put away as many villains as possible these last few years?"

I waved a hand dismissively. "We can pick apart my psychological motivations at a later date. I want to know where he is right now."

"I don't know." He held up a finger, stopping me before I could argue. "And that IS the truth. He wouldn't tell me where he was going, wouldn't risk his plan going off course."

My stomach dropped. "What is his plan?"

"Here." He handed me a letter. "Everything he told me should be in here."

I opened it with trembling fingers, scanning over the contents quickly before tearing it in half.

"We have to stop him."

"It's too late." The captain sighed. "By the time he had come to talk to me, he had already sealed his fate. There was nothing I could do but let him try to save you."

I laughed, but it sounded more like a sob as it caught in my chest. "It won't work. They'll kill him."

He nodded. "They might."

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"Because I couldn't."

"You wouldn't."

He shrugged. "Maybe so. He and I happen to agree on something, though."

"What?"

"That you're worth saving."

I stood up, my feet unsteady. "And if I tell you I'm not going to let him die?"

He clapped my shoulder, handing me a tracking device. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

I walked out of the office, one thought and one thought only dominating my mind.

I would save him.

HENRY/ JARROD

"That didn't take long." The woman I had once thought was my mother smiled with the slightest hint of exasperation.

I didn't smile back. I simply clutched the black case tighter. "She doesn't have long. I wouldn't waste time."

"Honestly," The man sighed, turning to his wife. "If we'd known it was so easy to get a hold of this technology... I feel like we wasted years of planning."

She patted his shoulder. "It's fine dear, what matters is that we win in the end."

Turning on a device in her hand, her smile widened when it beeped and flashed green. "You didn't lie and came alone. I'm impressed."

I shrugged. "I won't risk her not getting the antidote."

"Indeed. Then I assume you brought the anti-super power device?"

I nodded, holding up the briefcase. "Here."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "You open it."

I set the case on the ground, opening the lid to reveal the dart gun and ammo.

He smiled. "Looks good so far." He sighed. "Take the gun out slowly and hand it to me."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I trapped the case?"

"I trust no one."

"I won't risk Erica not getting the antidote."

"So you've said. Take out the weapon. Slowly."

I lifted the weapon by the muzzle, pointing it at myself and handing it handle first to the man. He grasped it, his hand tightening around it with a satisfied expression.

"And the ammo next."

I lifted the case of darts, handing it to the woman. She lifted one out, studying it closely. "Such a powerful little weapon, in such a little dart."

"Will you give her the antidote now?" My voice sounded weak, defeated.

She raised an eyebrow. "Not so fast. How do we know you didn't give us something fake?" She handed it to her husband who loaded the dart into the gun.

"I didn't..."

"I know, I know... you wouldn't risk her not getting the antidote, blah blah blah." The man pointed the gun at me with a smile. "Only one way to find out."

The dart hit my arm. I pulled it out with a groan. They both studied me a moment.

"Did it work?"

"How could we tell? It's not like there would be a flash of light or something to say he's lost his powers."

The woman chuckled. "I have an idea."

I fell to the ground, A knife in my left chest.

"Nice throw, Honey!"

"Thanks!" She stepped closer, looking at me closely. Reaching down, she slowly pulled the knife out. "It's not specially coated like the anti-super darts. If he still had his powers it shouldn't have penetrated his skin so easily."

"He lost his powers?" The man whistled. "What a fool. He gave us exactly what we asked for."

I curled up in a ball on the ground, my hands clutching the bleeding wound in my chest. I was having trouble breathing, was my lung collapsed?

"An-Antidote..."

The man rolled his eyes. "So persistent. But we did make a promise." Pressing a button on his belt, a screen behind him turned on. It was live security camera footage, showing the front lobby of the VSU. A man dropped a package off at the front desk dressed as a courier, before turning and walking out with a quick wink to the camera. "There. The antidote is delivered to her doorstep. Beyond our reach." He smiled. "Congratulations. You saved her. Just like you wanted."

The woman leaned over me, using her foot to turn me onto my back. "Want to know a real kicker of a secret though?" Her grin was vicious. "We would have saved her either way."

"Of course."

"We love our daughter."

"She's to inherit the family business after all."

"Hopefully she'll be more inclined with you having betrayed her."

"And dead." The man laughed. "Don't forget he'll be very much dead by the time she finds him."

They both pull out knives, one clean, one already slick with my blood, and moved forward.

"Fast or slow?"

"Better be fast, we have work to do with this special weapon." He patted the dart gun at his side.

...

It was done.

I couldn't help it. I started to laugh, so hard that I started coughing up blood.

The woman paused, disconcerted. "What's so funny?"

"You think you have the anti-super power weapon." I chuckled, spitting to clear my mouth before continuing. "You think I would betray her?"

The man shook his head. "You've obviously lost your powers, don't lie to us."

I grinned, feeling a wet pool start to form beneath me. "Shot myself with the REAL anti-super weapon before I came. You only have blanks."

The woman's face contorted as she reared back, kicking me. "YOU'RE LYING!"

"Even an idiot like me knew you would test out the weapon. My bet was that your first target would be me." I leaned back my head on the ground, exhausted. "Turns out I was right."

"So we gave up the antidote for nothing?" The man sighed. "Well, we were going to cure her anyways."

"How disappointing."

"Let's kill him anyways before we leave, so we haven't wasted the trip." She leaned over with her knife... I closed my eyes, resigned.

"HOLD IT!"

A loud voice called out. A familiar voice. My eyes shot open again.

"Erica...""SWEETIE!"

The woman called out as the same time as me, opening her eyes wide. "How long have you been there?"

She stepped forward, her armor and weapons gleaming in the florescent lighting of the villains hideout. "Not long."

"You missed it, dear. We mailed the antidote to the VSU! You're saved!"

The man shook his head. "But your dear old brother betrayed you." He lifted the dart gun in his hand. "Gave us anti-super technology."

I looked over at Erica, wondering if she had seen my letter. She met my eyes briefly, and then looked up. "Is that so?"

"Yes of course. What a disappointment he is. So weak." The woman reached out to touch her. "You should join us, dear. You belong with your family."

Erica smiled. "You're right. I do."

With that, she kicked her mother across the room.

BAM! She hit a wall of computers, sliding to the floor with a groan.

The man sighed. "You never learn."

"No." Erica's smile only grew wider. "You two are the ones who never learn. Falling for the same trick twice."

"What do you...?" Mid-sentence, the two collapsed on the ground, unable to stand or move. I sighed with relief as Erica stepped closer, helping me to my feet.

"You're an idiot."

"That poison took longer than I thought."

She glanced at her parents with a sigh. "The same poison I used all those years ago. I can't believe the Captain let you have the only sample. Where did you put it? On the dart gun?"

I grinned. "No, on the darts. I didn't want to touch it myself."

"You would have died if I hadn't made it on time."

I started to laugh, and then groaned as the action aggravated the wound in my chest. "I guess I owe you another coffee for saving my life."

"And don't you forget it." She walked towards the Shadow Couple, her feet slowing as she neared them. I wasn't sure what she was about to do, but unsurprisingly, I found i didn't care.

"I won't say anything, no matter what." I meant it. She could hurt them; kill them. After what they had done to her, I would look the other way.

She grinned at me. "Good to know I'm a bad influence on you." Leaning over, she injected something in each of their arms.

"It's a capsule." She informed them seriously. "Contains a deadly poison. Set only to release if I press a button."

"...." They stared at her in shock.

"Don't worry, I won't push it... as long as you stay nicely in prison where you belong. Understand what will happen if you escape again?"

She spread her hands helplessly, then turned to grab me as I swayed on my feet, almost falling.

"Let's get you to the hospital."

"What about..." I tilted my head towards the temporarily paralyzed couple.

"My team's got it. They're just cleaning up the rest of the gang I took out on my way in."

"Did I ever tell you that you're a total badass?"

She smiled. "Oh, don't worry, I know."

The VSU streamed in, packing away the shadow couple as the world started spinning around me.

"Could you stay awake, Henry?" Her voice was slightly panicked. "I can't carry you alone."

"Sorry I guess I'm a deadweight..." I started to apologize and then the world faded into darkness.

ERICA

"Why did you want to talk to me?" I asked, sipping on the office coffee and then setting it down, making a face at the bitter taste.

The captain sighed loudly. "For once in your life, would it kill you to treat me with the respect due a superior officer?"

I considered it carefully. "Yes. It might actually kill me."

"I should fire you." He grumbled.

"You won't."

"You're right, I won't. Dammit."

Shaking his head slowly, he leaned back in his chair. "I called you in here because you're being assigned a new partner."

SLAM!

I had been in the process of putting my feet up on his desk, and they slammed down on the floor as I sat up in shock. "Wait! I'm working with the HAU liaison, remember?"

"I remember, even if you've conveniently forgotten that you were the one who protested loudly and frequently about 'babysitting a tights-wearing goodie two shoes.' As you so eloquently put it."

"Still, you overruled my objections and teamed us up. So I can't have a new partner." I smirked.

"You have to, since the liaison position has been terminated. "

"No. No, Henry is the liaison."

The Captain frowned. "Jarrod was the liaison. He has since resigned. You are working with VSU's newest recruit."

I blinked in shock. Why hadn't he told me? I had been to the hospital every day while he recovered, but he had been discharged two weeks ago, and hadn't contacted me since. Just as I was starting to plan all sorts of vaguely sinister plans for getting back at him for quitting being the liaison without telling me, a knock at the door caught my attention.

"That must be your new partner now." The captain gestured towards the door. "Could you let him in? His hands are probably full."

What did that mean? I groaned and stood up, making sure my face had been configured into my best glare before opening the door. But as i saw who stood behind it, my jaw dropped.

"Henry."

He stood in the doorway, precariously balancing three coffees in his hands. "Erica" Henry grinned, the expression causing me to smile back unconsciously. "A little help?"

He handed me a cup, holding the other two more securely with a sigh of relief. "That one's yours. Black, sugar, no cream." He placed another one on the desk. "Captain. Triple espresso, and don't you dare tell your wife I'm getting this for you. She's terrifying."

The captain drained the steaming hot coffee in one gulp, as if daring it to try to burn his mouth. "Almost strong enough."

"And my perfectly normal drink." He sipped at it quietly, I noticed he kept a lid on it.

"You ordered extra sprinkles again, didn't you?"

"No comment." We laughed.

As we all sat down, I studied him carefully. "So you're the new recruit to the VSU?"

"That's right."

"What about hero work?"

He shrugged helplessly. "Well, for now, I'm powerless, thanks to the anti-super power serum. They're working on an antidote, but who knows if or when I'll get my powers back."

I glared at him. "It's all your fault you lost your powers."

"Worth it." He was unrepentant. "But until then, I'd like to work where I could do the most good." He held out a hand. "As the partner of the best agent the VSU's got."

The captain snorted quietly, but I ignored him. Instead, I studied the hand in front of me, thinking back to a time he had made a similar gesture in this office and had been ignored.

I had grown up learning to never trust anyone, especially heroes.

But looking at the idiot who risked his life just to get an antidote for me, I thought that I might be ready for something new.

I might be ready to have someone watching my back.

I reached out, and took his hand, shaking it firmly. Henry's face lit up with a bright happy smile.

"Let's do it."

"Good. Now sit down!" The captain yelled, obviously uncomfortable with the emotion in the room. "I have your next assignment, and I would appreciate it if you could do it without remodeling the villain lair using the unconscious bodies of the henchmen like last time... not that I'm naming names... Erica."

Laughing, we took down the information, and headed out of the VSU headquarters, walking side by side.

Teammates.

Partners.

Family.