As the three men left the room, Shindo finally allowed himself to feel weak. He let his ragged breathing out, his body falling soon after. His vest had defended him from Apatia’s kick, but the cumulative stress on his body had been too much. Exhaustion washed over him, dulling his body; he should've included some softening agents under the vest. However, that could come after he got out of here.

Then came the vibration. The cursed power preyed on him, slowly developing on his back as it started creeping upwards, the familiar itch turning into a blazing unnoticeable wound. Next, he heard a familiar hum resonating in his head. It described him like nothing ever did, filling him with a bittersweet sense of nostalgia. It hummed of anger, of loss, of emptiness.

Shindo let everything flow through him as he stabilized his breathing. After all, he couldn’t do much to stop his thoughts. He felt tired. Thus, he let them mix with the dull exhaustion he felt as he laid on the floor, his chest heaving up and down, up and down. He let himself reminisce on his first day as a villain.

It was eight years ago. Shindo didn’t remember much from those times, only that his first outing as Herttz started effectively. He had gone out of his way to pick a fight with any hero he could find by causing mayhem, which scored him the attention of a hopeful superhero duo. They immediately engaged in battle. A flurry of hits almost escaped his thoughts, only leaving the feeling of overwhelming thrill and satisfaction he felt. Yet, he didn’t remember what happened after that. He only remembered the thrill quickly shifting to anger.

The anger Shindo had felt wasn’t like the flame he had felt when he fought Pyro. Instead, it was more akin to a flowing river. The angry current violently flowed through his body, as if a rapid of untamed water burst forth to flood his mind. It was a current that gripped at the seams of any who tried to cross it. And it was addicting. Addicting, joyful, unstoppable. That river of anger flowed, never stopping, never caring; spreading up till the seams of the shoreline started eroding out. Flowing until there was no safe footing for any on the shoreline. All that was left were two battered heroes and a sense of loss.

Then again, what good did musing over his past do for Shindo? He was no longer playing the role of Herttz, The Undaunting Villain driven purely by anger. Or at the very least, he didn’t want to associate himself with that man anymore. Instead, he was now on the other side of the spectrum: a superhero. He wore the mask of Wattz, the former gadgetsmith who only became a hero because he had no choice but to do so.

Is parading as a hero something you did because there was no choice?

Still, he felt it deep within him. Even though he wore a new identity, even though he had retired from his role as Herttz, even though he now wore the façade of Wattz, he was still feeling that disgusting, irritating feeling of loss.

Every man has something to lose.

Ben’s lost eyes and Lighteater’s taunting smirk haunted his mind. Pain burst from his back, the vibrations slowly reaching his shoulders. Shindo gritted his teeth, as a scream of rage built inside of him, but a voice broke Shindo out of his thoughts.

“Wattz…?” Yata called to him, to which the green-clad newbie slowly turned his head towards the source of the voice. Yata’s hood had fallen from his head when Apatia slapped him, revealing his messy mop of pale blond hair. His eyes were quivering a bit, his pupils were a bit retracted. His lips were slightly opened, while his body was shivering.

“Yata?” Shindo called back, his voice strained from the pain of his superpower’s activation, but pain couldn’t hide his disbelief at the state of Yata. He tried shifting his body, to get a better look at him. However, his body protested against him and cramped up.

“Are… are you okay?” Yata asked. Shindo noticed that Yata’s tone had lost a bit of its edge.

“I’ve been better…” Shindo responded. He felt almost worried for him. What did Apatia say to him to shock him into acting more docile?

“Good. Good…” Yata muttered before leaning his head back. He let out a long sigh, before talking again, “What a mess…”

Shindo remained silent for a bit, waiting for Yata to continue speaking, but he never spoke up. Instead, He tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, almost as if he was reflecting on something. That image of Yata angered Shindo a bit.

This surprised him at first, to feel some sort of anger for Yata of all people, but he soon realized it was because he empathized with him. Shindo knew what it meant for others to know your past: they knew exactly where to hurt you.

Yata sighed once more, but his breathing quivered. It started slow, with his shoulders shaking, but then he let out a small cry, not caring for Shindo’s presence at all. He was vulnerable and he didn’t care. He let out his frustration in a low, lost cry.

Shindo pitied the man beside him. He remained silent out of a sense of compassion. Of understanding their mutual defeat at the hands of their captors, at the hands of Agent Cyan, and... at the hands of themselves. They had screwed up, and Shindo’s frustration threatened to escape him. There was nothing he could do.

There is always a choice!

Shindo gnashed his teeth, the vibration slowly numbed his right forearm. Damnit! What could he do here? He was bound by his hands, and his body was exhausted from the continuous fights with Cyan, Mardav, and the security personnel. He was also weaponless, As Mardav had taken his weapons for himself. He wasn’t in any reasonable fighting condition. There were no further choices! There were no further options from which to choose!

There is always a choice!

No. He had to adapt to this mess. Find something, anything he could use to get out of here. So, what did he have in his favor?

Firstly, he had a bit of time, some breathing space to think, depending on how long it took for Mardav and Apatia to deal with Agent Cyan. Secondly, he had his visor; thankfully, Mardav hadn’t taken his prized visor from him. His eyes hadn’t been exposed, but it left him with an invaluable reconnaissance gadget.

Lastly, he also had Yata. To his credit, Yata was still the recon unit of the team. For the most part, he fought efficiently. He was also used to these types of environments and acted upon decisive intel, evidenced by how he took Shindo’s intel and determined the best infiltration entrance available to them. Yet, there’s a caveat to all of this. Yata was difficult to work with.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He was too emotionally driven. If they encountered Apatia or Agent Cyan, they would probably goad him into fighting recklessly once more. Yata wouldn’t cooperate with him if that happened. Instead, he would be tunnel-visioning to the wrong target, just like what happened during the exam. Worst yet, he was also in a similar state to Shindo: both weaponless and physically drained. The only variable that was out of his enemy’s control was Yata’s superpower.

On one hand, it was a very precious advantage, as there was a low chance their enemies didn’t know of Yata’s ability. On the other hand, though, Shindo knew Yata was also incredibly reluctant in using his ability, to the point he has never used it once throughout the entire mission, nor during his exam. Then again, Shindo didn’t have much to work with, so he might as well try.

“You know, I agree with you. This is a mess,” Shindo commented, hoping his tone was condescending enough to elicit a reaction from Yata. The Cat Hero opted to ignore Shindo’s remark, remaining silent at the obvious provocation. Or at least that’s what he thought until Yata proved him wrong.

“Wattz, I’m not in the mood for your–” Yata sniffled at Shindo’s expense, his eyes closed.

“I’m not trying to insult you this time, Yata,” Shindo interrupted, raising his voice a bit. He wouldn’t give him time to return to wallow.

“What do you fucking want then, Wattz?” Yata cursed in a tired voice, shifting his body to finally give Shindo his full attention.

“Your help,” Shindo replied as honestly and as directly as he could. Yata looked him over, doubt filling his eyes. Shindo met his gaze, steadfast.

“Fine, I'll humor you. What good would come from me helping you?” Yata challenged. His furrowed brow betrayed his mistrust for Shindo’s words.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I just thought you could do something about this,” Shindo answered back as he tried to shrug his shoulders. However, the pain of the vibration made them cramp up. “After all, as a recon unit, this is your field of expertise.”

“We have little to work with, Wattz," Yata spoke, his tired voice rising a bit in volume, "First of all, it’s obvious that your power is active at this very moment, and from the looks of it, I will assume you can’t control it. It also looks as if it causes you pain, evidenced by your outburst before we confronted Cyan. We are also without our tools. I don’t see your gadget belt nor do I feel the weight of my weapons on my body. The only things we have on us are both of our armors, your visor, and thankfully, my limiter.”

“And your superpower,” Shindo added, “That’s the only other thing that could help us right now.”

“Forget it, Wattz,” Yata replied in a bitter tone. He looked at the bracelet on his left arm, which Shindo assumed was the limiter he had mentioned, and then glanced back at Shindo, “I’m not going to use Desolation.”

“Desolation? With a name like that, it can probably help get us out of these bindings,” Shindo pushed, hopeful that he could still convince Yata.

“Don’t you think I didn’t consider that option? Of course, it can easily get us out of these bounds!" Yata raised his voice, his gaze filled with desperate denial. "However, it comes with a caveat. It requires me to be stable emotionally. If not… you could lose your life!”

Yata’s extreme response prompted the ex-villain to shut his mouth. Yata took this as a chance to take a few deep breaths, visibly calming down before addressing Shindo once more. “Look, we both know we don’t particularly like each other. We both made that clear earlier today, which is what led us to be captured in the first place. And yes, I’ll admit that I’m partially at fault for fomenting this fracture between us. However, I cannot use my powers with you here. I don’t want someone to die in the same manner as… her. I do not want more blood on my hands.”

Yata’s words hung in the air, as silence dominated the room once more. A truth had finally come out, a truth kept well guarded. One that neither expected to come to light: The Cat Hero’s feelings were finally laid bare for both men to see.

His recklessness in fights, his devotion to The Crisis Nemeses, his mistrust for Shindo. They all hid his fear of killing someone again. His fear of losing someone in the same manner as his former leader. His fear of becoming the man people think him to be: of going back to being Thirteen, the man who had caused the Unlucky Seven Incident. A fear Shindo understood more than he ever wanted to.

Every man has something to lose.

“What did Lozen ask of us? Before we left for this mission?” Shindo asked Yata, breaking the silence. The cat hero sighed at that question.

“She told us that we're both going on this mission as a duo.” Yata replied, his eyes darted left, as if he was remembering something, “Then we would gather the StreetSender info, and after that, both of us would get out of this place and report back to her. Shame we failed to obey her orders.”

“We haven’t failed,” Shindo refuted, “Remember, we may have lost the information, but Lozen’s orders were clear. We are to return to her.”

Yata seemed hesitant, a good indicator that Shindo’s words had finally come through. Now he just needed another push.

“You don’t trust me, and I don’t respect you, yet… I understand. As much as you delude yourself with whatever anger you may have for me or anyone, your recklessness is not without reason. You only lash out when those who you care about are attacked, or when they hint that you would try to attack those people, as you have done so once before.” Yata’s eyes hardened at Shindo’s statement, ready to refute everything he would say, but Shindo met it with a deadpan face. “You are someone who cares too much, Yata. You care for yourself. You care for others. You care because you fear becoming Thirteen again. I know this fear all too well. I’m… I’m also frightened of regressing into who I was before I joined HOC.”

Yata’s eyes widened, similarly to Oscar’s when Shindo had told him about his plan to save Ben and Angela. However, Shindo forced that thought down. He kept talking, pushing just a bit more, “However, neither of us have the luxury to care about that right now. We are battered, beaten, and our enemies are hoping to extract all the information they need from us. Our only option is to act. We have to retrieve our weapons, get out of here, and report back to Lozen.”

Once more the two heroes studied each other. Yet, unlike the many times their sights clashed in the past, their eyes didn’t reflect animosity. Yata’s green-tinted eyes reflected loss, fear, anger; he had laid bare a truth he didn’t want to revea. Wattz’s eyes were veiled under green-tinted glass. It did much to hide his intentions, but he too had laid bare a truth. For he understood his partner's pain. For he knew the horror of a past better forgotten.

They were in the same situation. They were both shouldering a similar pain.

“Fine, I’m going to help you see this escape through.” Yata called to him, “However, what this will involve me overriding the limiter’s module, putting every person on this building in danger. It will take a while before the limiter reboots back to how it was before override. So, do not, under any circumstance, touch me with your bare skin when I activate Desolation. Can I trust you with that?”

Shindo solemnly nodded at Yata’s words, but what happened next caused Shindo to grin.

“Limiter Override function, Code 786-09. Release Limit A,” As soon as Yata spoke, a small metallic whine came from the bracelet in his arm. Soon after, what looked like black tendrils of misshapen electricity surrounded The Cat Hero. They danced around him, moving unnaturally slow for an electric tendril. Cracks spawned behind the tendrils, leaving a small trail of black cracks in the air, but soon, the show stopped. The tendrils flocked behind Yata, and in seconds, his hands where free from the rope.

Standing, the cat hero approached Shindo, who did his best to turn upside down. Shindo managed to do so on the first try, his body feeling weirdly energetic, even with the vibration still active on him. Yata leaned down, the tendrils gathering on his right index finger, and soon after, Shindo was also standing, his hands unbound. The ex-villain made his way to the door oppened it. He was flanked by Yata as both finally got out of the room. It was about time they started to make their move.