▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 ━︎━︎ 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐫𝐠 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 Aphrodite made enough breakfast for four people. Clarice and Marcos were supposed to come to the apartment to discuss what they were going to do. Clarice had shown on time, smiling at Aphrodite and helping her cook. The finished eating and Clarice offered to do dishes and John helped her, leaving Aphrodite to wipe off the table and feed Zingo.

"There's no guarantees, but if we want to find Andy and Lorna, we need all the help we can get." John said, looking at Clarice as he took some of the dishes over to the sink.

"I'm still hung up on this dude's name." Clarice replied, taking the plates from John. "Erg? And he lives with his buddies in the sewer?"

"See?" Aphrodite said, pointing at Clarice and looking at John. "I'm not the only one."

"Let's meet him before dismissing him." John told them both. John went to say something else but stopped when the door opened.

Marcos stood there, having just woken up, and he looked awful. "Sorry I'm late."

"Well, I just fed your food to Zingo." Aphrodite apologized. "Hope you weren't hungry." Marcos just waved her off.

John continued. "Caitlin is going to be looking over the information we got from Evangeline. I figure you, Aph, and I can head downtown."

"I could join you on that." Marcos spoke up.

"No." John immediately shot him down. "You're gonna sit this one out."

"What?"

"You're a mess, Marcos. I can smell the booze on your breath from here."

"Come on, I'm fine."

"What about your little light show last night?" John challenged, walking towards him. Clarice and Aphrodite exchanged a look as Aphrodite moved to stand beside Clarice. "All over the news. What the hell were you thinking?"

Clarice walked forwards, placing a hand over Marcos's. "The next time you drunk dial your ex, just make sure you don't include the entire Eastern Seaboard."

Marcos sighed. "I know I shouldn't have done it. I just. . ."

"Get your head right. We'll need you soon enough." John walked away from him and Aphrodite softly sighed. She looked at Marcos and gave him a small reassuring smile, letting him know she would handle it. With a sigh, Marcos left.

Clarice moved to stand beside of Aphrodite. "Alright, what's going on with him?"

"I might have an idea, but I'm not sure if I'm right."

Clarice shrugged. "Test the theory."

"Yeah, I think I will."

John walked back out, looking at the two. "Ready?" They both nodded and followed him out of the room.

Clarice walked behind Aphrodite and John, watching the two with curious eyes. Aphrodite sighed as she finally started the conversation. "So, John, do you want to tell me what's going on with you?"

John looked at her. "What are you talking about?"

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Ever since we've gotten back from seeing Evangeline, you've been weird." Her eyes fell down to his hand. She grabbed it, holding it up and coming to a stop. "What's with the bruises?"

"This? I just couldn't get back to sleep." John answered. "I was doing some training."

He continued forwards and Aphrodite clenched her jaw, following after him. "So they're just your standard 'disappear into the middle of the night because everything is just fine' kind of busted knuckles?" She had noticed.

"If I hit something hard enough, my skin breaks. I'm not a robot." John retorted.

"John." She stopped him, moving to stand in front of him. "I have known you for several years now. I have seen you punch things, break things, anything you can think of I've seen, and out of all of those times I have never once seen your hands look like that."

"Aph, it's fine. They're gonna heal." John said with a slightly amused smile.

"Jesus, John, I'm not worried about your fingers." Aphrodite scoffed. "Don't. Don't smile at me like that. You're supposed to tell me things like this, it's what you do when you're in a relationship."

"I'm going to the car." Clarice whispered before walking away.

Aphrodite sighed. "You can tell me about this stuff."

John shook his head. "I don't know what to tell you. There's nothing wrong."

"Fine. If you say nothing's wrong, nothing's wrong." Aphrodite shook her head and began to walk away. She paused, turning to look at him. "But you forget, I have a daughter, it's part of my job to know when something's wrong." She turned back around and followed after Clarice.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐑 ride was silent, with Clarice and John having a small conversation here and there, but Aphrodite didn't speak a word. When they got to their destination, John was the first one out of the car with Clarice and Aphrodite following him.

     "Do you think this whole thing was just Evangeline messing with you?" Clarice asked, following John as he made his way past the car. "Erg lives in a tunnel. Just go there and find him."

     "If there's a shot at getting help down there, I'll take it." John answered. They stopped for a moment before John turned his head and began walking into one of the tunnels.

     "You think it's down there?"

     John peeked through the small window that lead to the underground tunnels and nodded. "Yeah, that looks like it goes to the sewer all right."

They pushed open the door and made their way through. Aphrodite couldn't help her nose scrunching up in disgust. Moss and rats covered the place and Aphrodite was immediately uncomfortable. John reached forwards to touch one of the moss-covered and Clarice went to make a comment but stopped herself when he touched it and let out a noise of disgust.

     Clarice nodded. "Okay. That's gross." She looked at Aphrodite. "I really should have brought some hand sanitizer." Aphrodite couldn't help but nod in agreement.

     John stood up. "We're on the right track. People came through here recently. This way." He began making his way down the hall and the two women exchanged looks before following after him. It lead to a concrete wall causing him to take another path that lead to multiple more paths. He stopped for a moment before turning left.

     "You know, I've got an amazing idea for this Erg guy: owning a fricking cell phone." Clarice commented and Aphrodite smirked. "Another idea? Meet at a Starbucks and not a. . . moldy, dark labyrinth." When they came to another dead end Aphrodite had to suppress a sigh.

     "That's strange." John mumbled, looking around. "Something's wrong down here."

     "What do you mean?" Clarice inquired, following him with Aphrodite following her.

     "Someone's trying to get us lost." He looked at one of the walls before reaching his hand out and touching it only for his hand to go through it. He looked at the two before immediately entering through the wall, ignoring Clarice's protests. When neither of them followed, John stuck his head out and smirked. "You coming?"

     "Do we have a choice?" Clarice sarcastically smiled. John went back through the wall and Clarice nodded. "Okay." She walked through the wall with Aphrodite following after her.

     They kept walking for a few minutes and they had yet to find any sign of life. John shook his head. "We really should have found someone by now."

     "Well, maybe Erg moved to the sub-Ergs." Clarice suggested and Aphrodite gave her a blank look. John just glanced at her before continuing forwards.

     "Okay. It's probably this way. Come on."

     They followed after him. "Are you sure? It kind of feels like we're going in circles." Her eyes narrowed in on something that was on the walls. "Yep, we are. I recognize that goop on the wall." Despite that, John kept going. 

     When they came to another dead end, he slammed his hands against the wall. "Dammit! It's not just the illusions, all right? There's something interfering with my tracking." 

     "Maybe we should bail." Clarice suggested. "Retrace our steps back to the surface."

     "No, we're not giving up!" John snapped.

     Finally, Aphrodite spoke up, taking a step in front of Clarice. "John, calm down. Don't yell at her like that."

     John sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. This is our only lead, okay? If we don't find Erg, we have nothing. Just. . ." He didn't finish his sentence as he began to walk away. Aphrodite rolled her eyes.

     "Just hold on a second." Clarice sighed. "Let me try something." She took the contacts out of her eyes.

     "What?"

     "I can see energy fields I use to portal." She began opening a portal. "I can try and look past what they want us to see." She opened multiple portals in one before nodding. "There. That's like a couple feet ahead."

     John tilted his head slightly. "I can hear sounds. Something's in there." He ran through the portals, Aphrodite following and then Clarice.

     "You want to keep breathing, don't move." A gun could be heard cocking and they turned their heads to see a man pointing it at them. Multiple people appeared with weapons and Aphrodite couldn't help but roll her eyes.

     "Don't try anything." One man said.

     And then another said, "You're coming with us."

     The three were pushed in the middle, completely surrounded by the people. Clarice was on edge and Aphrodite was just bored. "Can't you do something about them? Aren't you bulletproof?"

     "Yeah, but there are five of them and neither of you are bulletproof."

     "I could take them." Aphrodite shrugged.

     "Then why don't you?" Clarice hissed.

     "Because I'm interested in where this is going."

     They walked for a few mor seconds before one of the men in front of them turned to look at them. "Just stop. That's far enough."

     "I hear we have visitors." A mans voice echoed. They turned to look at the end of a tunnel where a man in hooded cloak walked out. "Why are you here?"

     "Evangeline Whedon sent us." John answered. "She worked with the X-Men and the mutant underground."

     "I'm familiar with it."

     Clarice spoke next. "Look, we just came down here to talk."

     "Alright. Let's talk." The three began to move towards him but the man stopped them. "Not you two. Her."

     John shook his head. "No. We're together. She's not leaving."

     "John, I can do this." Clarice silenced him.

They watched as she walked away before Aphrodite leaned against the wall. She held out her hand, letting the chaos magic dance in her hand. John leaned against the wall beside her and watched.

     "Stop." One of the armed men demanded.

     Aphrodite rose an eyebrow at him. "No." She looked away from him and went back to her hand.

     "Please don't get us shot at." John whispered.

Aphrodite glanced at him before rolling her eyes and letting the magic disappear. She crossed her arms over her chest and stood there in silence. She could feel John's gaze on her but she simply chose to ignore it. A few minutes later when footsteps were heard they turned their heads to see Clarice making her way back towards them. Aphrodite used her foot to push herself up off the wall.

     "Clarice, you alright?" John asked.

     "Yeah. I talked to Erg."

     "And? Did he know something about the Inner Circle?"

     "Do you remember that green goop we saw on the walls? There's a mutant down here that watches this place through it. He said the Frosts were in a utility tunnel with some city worker. They were tapping into a data cable under the Health Department."

     "The Health Department?" John asked with a frown.

     "Yeah."

     "Did he say why?" Aphrodite questioned.

     Clarice shook her head. "No, that's all they know."  She looked around before looking back at the couple. "Can we, uh. . ., can we get out of here?"

     John looked at the armed people who moved slightly out of their way. "Alright, come on." He put a hand on the small of Aphrodite's back as Clarice walked in front of them and they followed after her.

When they got back to the apartment, Artemis was asleep in her room. Aphrodite tucked her in, pressing a kiss to her forehead before turning off the lamp and closing the door. She looked at John and took a seat at the desk behind the table he was sitting at. Clarice was over, the trio talking about the information that Erg had given them.

     "If we can figure out what the Inner Circle got from the Health Department, then maybe can do something about this." John told them, looking at his computer.

     "Yeah. Sounds good." Aphrodite mumbled, grabbing one of her books and opening it.

     John closed his laptop and looked at Clarice. "When you were with Erg, what happened?"

     "He just, uh, showed me around." Clarice shrugged. "You know there's a whole society down there."

     "Yeah, but he didn't exactly seem enthusiastic about helping us."

     "I talked him into it. What else could I do? Like you said, we couldn't go home empty-handed." Clarice glanced at Aphrodite before sitting at the table and taking a seat beside of him. "John, you're so desperate for answers that I. . . I don't even know what's going on with you, and neither does Aph."

     "Aph and I already talked about this." John told her.

     "Then what's going on?" Aphrodite piped up. "Is there something with us that's going?"

     "It's not us." John shook his head.

     Aphrodite closed her book and stood up. "Then what's going on?"

     John looked between the two of them before sighing. "When I. . . when I went to see Evangeline, she told me something. She told me I failed. And she said that Lorna and Andy are never gonna get out of the Inner Circle. That we're probably going to have to kill them. This is my fault."

     Clarice shook her head with a frown. "I didn't know."

     "It's not your fault." Aphrodite softly told him, making John look at her. "You did everything that you could John, it's not your fault." He reached out for her and Aphrodite looked at him before grabbing his hand, pulling her closer to him. He wrapped his arm around her waist as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Aphrodite looked down at him and offered him a gentle smile. She pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

     "I keep thinking about it." John said, his voice cracking. "If that's true, I-I don't even know if I could do that. But I―︎" John cut himself off and his head immediately snapped towards the door.

     "What's wrong?" Aphrodite asked with a frown.

     "What is it?" Clarice continued.

     "Someone's coming." His arm fell from Aphrodite's waist as he stood up just as the door flew open only to reveal a very disheveled Marcos. "Hey, Marcos!" Marcos fell to the ground and the three quickly rushed over to him. "What happened?"

     Artemis was startled awake and ran from her room. "What's going on?" She noticed Marcos and frowned. "Marcos?"

     "They came for me." Marcos weakly answered. "And they-they took the baby."

     "Oh my God," Clarice breathed out.

     Marcos began panting and John shook his head. "Hey. Hey, don't talk. Just rest."

     "I-I don't want to rest." Marcos angrily said. "I want to hit 'em back."