Johnny had never truly thought of himself as part of Steve. As far as he was concerned he was Steve’s brother and like any brother he was different from the man who wore the name Captain America. But if Johnny had to say that they were parts of the same person then Steve would be the heart where Jake was the brains. He, on the other hand, was their eyes.
He saw the things his brothers refused to, he remembered the things that they wouldn’t. To Johnny their life was a story written in synapses and neurons, burned into the very core of his being. That was why he noticed the way that Jake watched Aisha, the way that Steve’s words of restraint became softer and softer until they stopped altogether.
Johnny watched and he waited because he could feel it on his skin, that prickle of something other, something wrong and he knew what was coming. He always did, but Johnny’s loyalty was sworn to his brothers before it was given to anyone else so he kept his mouth shut and he waited.
Johnny couldn’t say how it usually started. It was something unexplainable like a fear of the dark despite the knowledge that the monster in your head was worse than any that was hiding in your closet.
It was a crack in the mirror that slithered across the frame until it consumed every inch of the transparent surface. The only difference was that this crack was in their mind….in the very fabric that existed between their souls.
He’d felt it enough times to know what was happening.
He wasn’t sure if either of his brothers remembered where they went when they died but he did.
He remembered the thick, cloying darkness that seeped into his very skin, clogging his nose and his mouth until he couldn’t scream…couldn’t breathe. He remembered seeing them there, Jake and Steve, their bodies hanging suspended in the nothingness that spread before him like an eternity of night. That had been the worst part, seeing his brothers’ suffer while he was bound and helpless.
But neither Steve nor Jake had ever mentioned it so Johnny kept the memories to himself and when the first crack in the mirror appeared Johnny did what he did best…he watched and waited.
The first inky drip of the abyss that slithered through the cracks made Johnny smile because he’d stopped being afraid of the dark a long time ago.
*O*
Pooch knew Jensen. He’d fought beside and with the man enough times to know that Jensen was crazy motherfucker but Pooch trusted the hacker with his life. He knew the man who could spit trivia facts while running from a small army. He knew the tech who wasn’t above throwing a damn tantrum to get the new equipment that their team needed, no matter how much he pissed of Clay and Roque in the process.
Pooch didn’t know the Jensen that was sitting at the table in front of him and the not knowing terrified him.
This Jensen didn’t smile half as much as their Jensen did and there was a light in his eyes that made Pooch’s skin crawl even though Jensen’s attention was fixed on Aisha.
Then there were the man’s brothers.
Pooch wasn’t an idiot; he knew who the fuck Captain America was. He also knew that the man was old enough to be his grandfather so either Jensen was the youngest old person that Pooch had ever met or something really fucked up was going on here.
The scariest thing was that the Captain hadn’t been lying when he said that Jensen was his brother. Pooch knew when people were lying and the man’s expression had wiped the very thought from his mind but that still didn’t explain how it was possible.
Last but not least there was the one called Johnny Storm, different last name but the same face as Jensen and the Captain. Out of the three of them Johnny was the one that was pressing Pooch’s buzzer the hardest.
There was something about the way that the blond held himself….lax like he knew none of them could pose a threat to him, while his eyes scanned the room. Pooch wasn’t even going to mention the flames that kept dancing over the man’s skin.
This entire thing was already so fucked up and something told Pooch that it was about to get so much worse.
*O*
Steve had always been there for the aftermath of Johnny and Jake’s rages. He’d always been too late, too weak to stop them both and his brothers had long ago mastered the divide and conquer technique.
At first he couldn’t understand how they could do the things that they’d done but that was before Steve had faced a mad God and watched the people he called friends fall in front of him. To Johnny and Jake no one had mattered but each other and Steve. Their only concern was their own existence and happiness and while they loved Steve he had still been held apart from them. The bond that twisted between the three of them had never pulsed through Steve as it did after their first meeting in that little café. It was as if for the first time his brothers had truly accepted him and with their acceptance came a darkness that was deceptive in the gentle way that it flowed through his mind.
He could feel it growing with every tap of Jake’s fingers against the wooden surface of the table. It took Steve a moment to realize that Jake’s fingers were copying the pulse that he could see beating in Aisha’s neck.
The simple action reminded Steve that he wasn’t the only one that the serum had affected, no matter how much Jake usually hid it.
Jake’s C.O. was talking again but Steve couldn’t tear his eyes away from that spot.
There was only a thin expanse of fragile skin protecting the vital liquid flowing through the woman’s veins and he knew that any of the three of them could snuff her out before the Colonel could react.
The knowledge hung there like a siren’s song stretching between them and it took Steve longer than it should’ve to realize that the thought, that started this downward spiral, hadn’t been his own.
Steve couldn’t help the tiny smile that tugged at his lips because it didn’t even matter anymore. The lines were starting to truly blur now and all he could hope was that what emerged on the other side was something that he could be proud of…or something that he could accept.
*O*
Cougar knew Jensen almost as well as he knew himself. He’d been aware from the start that Jensen was different, he’d just never truly know what that difference was but now he did. He could see it now in the way that the three men moved like each brother was simply a part of the same body.
On a good day it was damn hard to follow Jensen’s train of thought and on a bad day it was nearly impossible but Steve and Johnny not only followed, it was like they were in Jensen’s head. Considering all that Cougar had learned it was a distinct possibility that that was exactly what was happening.
Aisha was tiring; he could see it in the slump of her shoulders and the way that tension seemed to gather at the corner of her eyes. Hell they were all tired but none of them seemed willing to leave the room…well none of them other than Stark. The man had been and out of the cabin several times in the last few hours and it had been on one of his last trips that Cougar realized it was dark outside.
The realization was enough to make him frown because though he could feel the passage of time it almost felt like they were frozen at the same moment that they had been since Jensen sat at the table.
Under any other circumstance Cougar would have shared his thoughts with Jensen but he couldn’t now, not when the man was busy.
The thought made him glance at his lover and he wasn’t surprised to find Jensen watching him, his eyes hidden behind the darker glasses that had been waiting for him in the room. Cougar didn’t need Jensen’s words to know that the hacker was well aware of what was happening and when Jensen turned away Cougar stood.
Maybe it was time to help Stark with whatever he was up to…if nothing else it would give him something to do, instead of just waiting.
*O*
Aisha licked her lips for the third time and she was surprised to find them cracked beneath her tongue. Now that she thought of it, her throat hurt too which didn’t make sense because she hadn’t been talking much or loudly. She wasn’t going to let them rile her up because mistakes came easily when you were angry and Aisha wasn’t going to make a single mistake. Not when she was damn sure that her life depended on it.
The way that Johnny was staring at her said that the man would gladly flambé her with the flame that was dancing against his palm. She didn’t even need a reaction to know that Jensen felt the same because Jensen had never truly trusted her from the moment that she’d shot him.
That had been her mistake…she hadn’t done her research because she’d been so focused on getting revenge for her father. She’d been sloppy and now she was paying for that but she would get out of this, just like she’d gotten out of all the other tight spots she’d found herself in.
Exhaling slowly she refocused on the blond sitting in between the other two.
Steve Rogers was watching her like he was trying to figure her out but there was no sympathy or pity in the man’s gaze.
This wasn’t the paragon of good that America rallied its troops behind. The Steve Rogers in front of her was just a soldier and that was where her main problem laid.
She’d seen enough of their dynamic to understand that Jensen and Johnny would follow Steve’s orders, at least for a while.
The very thought had boosted Aisha because all she needed was to make Steve hesitate for just a second and she could exploit her opening. Yet the longer that she watched the man, the more her hope faded.
Captain America would never stand by while an injustice occurred but Steve Rogers wasn’t just Captain America and Captain America didn’t control Steve Rogers.
Aisha licked her lips again, her brows pulling into a frown when the beat of Jensen’s fingers faltered against the wooden surface.
It only took her another minute to realize that the sound was echoing the thundering beat of her heart.