Like an old car that just wouldn’t start, Liam’s brain stuttered for a moment, trying to understand what it was seeing. Why was his face on the news? Why was the word ‘traitor’ in blood red text plastered under it? Was this some sick joke? H-Bar liked to think he was funny, but this seemed a little too much even for him. Still Liam waited, hoping the team would jump out from behind a door and yell surprise! Only to be disappointed when that never came.

What did come were the memories. And once the plug was pulled, there was no stopping them as the last twenty-four hours came bursting in. Threatening to overwhelm him. He couldn’t even stem the tide as the memories rushed through. One after another flashing before his eyes.

Frozen to the spot Liam relived the previous day. Wishing to stop the betrayal, but unable to do anything with what he knew was to come. With each scene he saw the clues that’d been right in front of him. Ullr asking if all the evidence was together, H-Bar and Gladius flanking him, and the weird conversation when Ullr first confronted Skip. With each oddity his present self screamed at the Hero from last night to use his head. To escape and tell everyone what he’d seen. But the past was untouchable. You could watch and wish for change, but it would never come to pass.

The betrayal was planned and carried out meticulously. The team knew a fight was coming. The understanding Liam would have to die already accepted. With that mentality, there was no hesitation when fists started to fly. They struck to kill.

The fighting was quick and fierce. Liam was able to hold his own through the first round, with his gadgets, but was injured in the process. As The Hunt circled around, ready to tear apart their wounded prey, Liam pulled out his trump card. Using the jet boots, he made his escape. He was nearly home free when a last second attack from Ullr sent him rocketing out of control. The last thing he remembered was the earth and sky becoming one as he spun through the air.

It was all so fast. Both remembering it now and the fight itself. He didn’t know where to unpack what happened.

Looking back at the TV screen the picture had changed. His face was moved to the corner, replacing the rest of the screen with a news desk and several pundits talking about what they’d just witnessed. The unmasking of a Hero, even one accused of turning Cowl was an unheard of moment. And the pundits loved it. Each one speaking over the last, saying how they always knew there was something wrong with Source.

Watching it all unfold, Liam’s eyes were drawn to the picture in the corner of the screen. His face still glued there. It was his graduation picture from the Academy. The label under it didn’t match the face above. In the picture his eyes glinted with the possibilities of the future. A small knowing smile playing on his lips, years of training convincing him he could face down any threat. The picture was the epitome of hope he’d wanted to bring as a Hero. Mocked now by what was happening around it.

The people on the screen continued to talk about Liam’s career as a Hero. They tried to make every action he took related to the crimes. As if his entire life was leading up to this moment. By then, Liam had long since stopped listening.

With his face out there it was only a matter of time until someone from his past recognized the photo. Placing a name to his face. Ullr decided against doing that himself. Feigning some sense of decency or privacy. But everyone knew, in the age of technology nothing was ever truly buried. After his name was discovered his family and sister would be thrown into the spotlight. What that’d do besides ruin their lives he had no idea.

While the rational part of his brain tried to calm down, give himself time to think and make a plan to fix this. It was the irrational side of his brain that won out.

Liam collapsed to the ground, pulling his knees to his chest. Wrapping his arms around his legs, before he started to rock back and forth. Curled up into a ball to protect himself. Hoping to find what little defense he could from a world out to get him.

His mind tried to calculate the odds of what he’d remembered having been true. To say they were bad, was putting it nicely. Which spurred him to question if this was actually happening. This was only a nightmare he thought. One he’d wake up from in a minute, drenched in sweat and out of breath, but otherwise ok. Not in this upside down world he saw on the screen.

Pinching himself Liam tried to wake up. It caused a sharp bite of pain on his arm, not something that should happen in a dream, he thought. Looking around, he was still on the ground. The TV in front of him still blaring its lies for all to hear. This was just a dream he couldn’t wake up from, Liam thought, but knew it was a feeble hope.

Liam focused back onto the TV, hoping to find some hint of a lie on the screen.

“How can we know he’s working alone?” one of the reporters asked.

“We can’t and that’s why the entire Hero Certification process at the Academy has to be reviewed,” the Co-host said.

“That’s what I was thinking. Where there’s one there’s bound to be more.”

Liam tuned out the TV again, it wasn’t helping. There had to be another reason for this. With a jerky motion Liam looked up at the man he’d just met. Leaning against the wall with his eyes focused on the screen. Was this because of him? Had he affected Liam’s mind and made him believe a lie? That had to be it, this was all some super power the man was using to get information from him.

In a shaky voice Liam asked, “Why?”

Such a simple question but now it was all too important.

The man turned and looked at Liam. Eyes regarding the young man in front of him. Something being calculated behind those brown orbs. Satisfied with what he saw, the man’s mouth moved, but the words didn’t reach Liam. His mind couldn’t focus on what the man was saying with everything else going on. All he caught was something about this not being the first time it happened, whatever that meant.

“Why me?” Liam asked again. This time trying his hardest to listen.

“You found their secret. Which means it comes down to them or you, and that’s not even a choice they have to think about.”

That’s not what he meant. Liam wanted to know why the man did this to him. Was he getting some sick joy out of all of this?

“No that’s a lie. This is all a lie.”

“As far as I can tell the fourth time Ullr failed the entrance exam to the Watch set him off. He’d always been the best at whatever he did, and this was his first time failing so spectacularly. Trying to get into the best Hero team in the country was too much for him. Add in he did it in such a spectacular way for everyone to see. From then on he did whatever it took to strengthen his image. To prove to the world that he was unjustly denied his rightful place.

At first he tried to stay legitimate, but soon realized he needed a boost. Bringing the gangs under his thumb was the obvious next step. It let him limit the ‘Cowl’ related crimes in the city. Though the Broken Crest was always a thorn in that plan, refusing to follow the rules.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Liam wasn’t even listening to the man as he spoke. He was so focused on wanting to prove it all wrong.

Cutting the man off Liam said, “You did something to me.”

“I saved your life, if that’s what you mean,” the man said. His monotone voice gaining an edge to it at Liam’s accusation.

There must be something else. Some secret he was hiding to do all of this. This man couldn’t be trusted. Or could he? Liam’s mind spun at what was happening around it. Unsure of everything.

“Gladius and H-Bar’s reasons are easy to explain. Gladius loves to fight, Ullr funnels her aggression as she doesn’t care who’s against her. Until the one time it got out of hand and she killed an innocent. Ullr was there though and covered her crime. While H-Bar has a niece that needed special medical treatments. A few favors from Ullr and she got them.”

Liam listened, unwilling to believe what the man was saying.

“Skip is similar to Ullr. He has-”

Liam cut off the man. “If that was true they’d be in jail.”

“Knowing something and being able to prove it are two different things.”

“You’re trying to trick me into believing all of this? These obvious lies.”

The man laughed, a short bitter bark more than the happy sound Liam was used to associating with laughter. Then he said, “If only my powers worked that way, unfortunately they don’t.”

“So you admit you have powers!”

The man tripped up, Liam was sure of it. This was the proof he needed! These lies came from whatever power he was using right now. Liam pressed his back harder against the wall, subconsciously trying to create more room between the two.

“I do. How else would I’ve saved you from the rest of your team?”

“No that’s all in my imagination. A bad dream you created.”

The man needed to stop with this whole charade. He’d already been caught in his lie. As is, Liam was having trouble keeping it all straight in his head and the man wasn’t making it any easier.

“Wake up kid. You’re in the real world. Bad stuff happens.”

No, he couldn’t trust this man. There had to be something else going on. This man was lying to him.

“Listen, the name’s Mr. Hat. If I could get you out of this I would, but I can’t. You’re stuck here just like me.”

The man’s face softened ever so slightly when he said that. Like he’d finally expressed some great truth he’d always kept hidden.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not the only one The Hunt’s hurt.”

Despite the denials still ringing in his ears, Liam piqued up at this. The man, Mr. Hat, who’d call themselves that? Unless it was a code name like Cowls and Heroes use. He’d said he had abilities so maybe that’s what it was? But still Hat? What a horrible name. Why not pick a more useful piece of clothing or anything else for that matter?

Liam realized what his subconscious was trying to do and pulled his mind back. He couldn’t afford to ignore what was going on. Focusing instead on what Mr. Hat just said. He had a history with the team? Was that why he’d gone after Liam, the newest link on the chain? That still left the question, was he lying or telling the truth? Liam’s mind screamed that this was all wrong, but there was a nagging feeling, creeping up his back, that was questioning everything. Asking if what the man said was possible.

Could there be some truth to it? Maybe a grain or two hidden within the rest. What those could be Liam didn’t know. Even whether Mr. Hat was here to help or hurt, Liam had no way of knowing, so he changed tactics. If the man got tripped up with his story, that solidified he was lying. If not...if not, then Liam had to rethink a few things.

“The team tested me and I passed.”

“Let me guess, they tested if you’d break the law and you didn’t. You stopped a crime, or didn’t lie on a report, or maybe it was stealing. Regardless, that wasn’t a test to see if you were bad. But to see if you were corruptible.”

No! No! No! Liam’s brain screamed. How’d he know about the test? Not the exact details, but he’d guessed close enough on his first try. There shouldn’t be any way for him to know that.

Then there was what Mr. Hat said, it almost made sense. Why would a team test if he was good? He’d graduated from the Academy and worked with them for months. That time together should’ve been enough for the team. Yet they still went through with their test.

Hadn’t he had the same thought when he first learned of the test? Even the team’s past with a traitor wasn’t a justification for it.

Thinking back to that day Liam remembered it in vivid detail. The man in the alley, Skip leaving the evidence behind, H-Bar asking Liam if he wanted any of it. Each moment came to him like it’d just happened, but one point in particular caught his attention. When Liam said he wasn’t taking the equipment H-Bar had glanced over at him. It was a look Liam hadn’t given a second thought, at the time. But now, with what was happening around him, it was falling into place. That was the look of someone who was weighing a new danger as a friend changed to something else.

No! Liam thought as he shook his head, that’s not right. This was all part of Mr. Hat’s plan. Even if the memory was so precise, a voice in the back of his head asked.

“All the victims went to the same gym,” Liam said. Trying to draw the conversation away from the pit it’d been going toward.

“Ah yes, I’d noticed that one as well. It had me stumped for a moment until I looked into the third victim’s account. Turns out the card was a gift he’d received the night before.”

“How would you even know that?”

Without responding, Mr. Hat turned, went into the kitchen and rummaged around. Returning a moment later with a piece of paper.

“Read it,” was all Mr. Hat said when he handed it over.

Fighting down the urge to rip it to shreds Liam grabbed the paper. Skimming through the page his heart sank. It was a report from the gym that showed what Mr. Hat said it would. The gym pass, of the third victim, was paid for in cash as a gift just before the murder.

“There are cameras at the gym. Whoever purchased this must have been captured on one of them.”

“None in the entryway,” Mr. Hat said.

Leaving the identity of whoever bought it a mystery. Liam’s brain tried to rationalize what he was hearing. Make it fit into the story he wanted to hear and came up with one response.

“This is fake,” Liam said. It came out hollow to his own ears.

“Do you think I carry around fake evidence? Ready to hand it over when the time was right. How would I even know you’d ask for it? Or do you think I have stacks of fake evidence in the back?”

“You have a power like Page. You can make things appear as you need.”

It was a stretch, even Liam knew that. But he had to hang onto something. Anything except what Mr. Hat was trying to say.

“The origami man? You give someone whose power is folding paper a lot of credit. Far more than he deserved.”

“No one knows what he’s capable of. He might be able to read what’s on a piece of paper or spy on what’s happening around it.”

“Nope, just folding paper and making it fly. Very limited if I’m being honest.”

“How do you know about his powers and the gym pass?”

“I need to know what’s happening in the city. It’s my... you can call it job, to know,” Mr. Hat said with a shoulder shrug.

“That means nothing.”

“I follow what the team’s doing. It’s the easiest way to make sure they don’t interrupt my plans.”

Mr. Hat must be a Cowl. It’d make sense he followed what The Hunt was doing if that was the case. Knowing about the gym pass was a little much, but not out of the realm of reasonable.

Liam looked around for some other tell that this was wrong. Before he could come to anything the motion on the TV caught his attention.

“The news could be faked.”

Mr. Hat didn’t respond. Instead he walked over to the screen and changed the channel. On each station they found Liam’s picture. Traitor or something similar scrawled next to it. With every station showing the same thing, the hope the man faked the news began to lose steam.

The idea Mr. Hat was manipulating him fell away. With each point they’d covered the pieces had fallen into place. Even with a power there was no way Mr. Hat was making all of this up. It was too precise, a response always at the man’s finger tips.

With the realization that this wasn’t all a lie Liam started to change. His refusal to see what was happening around him was gone. Something new bubbling up to take its place. Red and sharp, it came to the surface demanding its release.