Chapter Text
All he could hear was the steady beat of his heart and his breathing. Normally, he would be grateful to hear such sounds, as it meant he was alive. This time, not so much. William had just watched Xavier get dragged away by a team of Belltech employees, and now he waited. Vyncent had left with Tide (thank god), and Dakota was who knows where. It was just him, standing in a hallway, all alone with the bodies of various Belltech guards around him. That was, until he felt a hand touch his shoulder.
He immediately jumped, swatting the hand away, and reached for the axe at his side. He hadn’t ever done that before–reach for a weapon by instinct. Luckily, he wouldn’t need to use the axe any more this evening, as the hand belonged to none other than his brother.
“William.” David said cooly, ignoring the small spatterings of blood that had found themselves on Will’s clothes and skin. “You did the right thing. Thank you.” William swallowed, and nodded hollowly. He did the right thing.
He took a shaky breath, and steeled himself enough to look at his brother. His eyes were a dark brown colour, one of the only similarities he and David had until recently. William’s eyes were a much paler and glossed over shade these days.
“Can, uh... Can I like–go?” William asked. All he wanted right now was to be with his friends–especially Vyncent. He needed to tell him the full story, that he had done the right thing, that he saved so many people.
“You can go, I won’t stop you,” David started. “Though, you did great today, and I was wondering if you would want to talk to me? In my office?” William stopped. He was curious, painfully so, of what David might be plotting.
Begrudgingly, William sat in David's office. It was a boring, barren room with no personality. William sat on a particularly uncomfortable armchair across from the desk where David was.
“I have a proposal.” David's arms laid on the desk casually, and his eyes gleamed with sincerity. “You have been a wonderful assistant to this job, and I would like to offer you a full position.”
Williams eye twitched. Would he be willing to do that again? David saw the look in Will’s eyes, and kept talking.
“Now I know you don’t want to, but just think. You could do so much good.” He said with a smile, spinning a pen steadily between his fingers. “Working with heroes will only get you so far. Being stuck in such a black and white structure isn’t for you, you know that. You have a strong sense of justice, and you know it doesn’t align with WATCH all the time. You could bring this world to justice, William! These people are keeping medicine away from those who need it. They think the life of one alien is the same as, quite possibly, an entire planet. Though, you’re smart. I’m sure you already know this. It’s why you sided with me today.”
William paused. He had a point. WATCH wasn’t the perfect organization it said it was, and if he had a chance of exposing it for its less than savory practices, he might as well take it. And the medicine thing… his brother was raising prices, but he was still getting medicine to those who needed it. Maybe Will could talk him into lowering the cost. Maybe he could make a difference here… He snapped out of it, and remembered the glaring flaw in the plan. “My friends.” He blurted. He couldn’t just leave them. “They need me.”
“For what, fighting? With all your great, heroic power?” William looked down at his scrawny frame and his rotted hands, a symbol of the abilities he once had. “William, you can’t help them. They’re strong, they’ll be fine without you. The real change you can make is here. Working with me.” David assured.
William adjusted himself in the chair. Maybe he could do better working with his brother. He already proved that he wasn’t a very good hero based on the events of the day. Vyncent watched him hurt Tide, and he didn’t think Dakota would ever understand what happened that day, no matter how much he explained it. It would be easier if he just left. He had run away from his problems all his life–why stop now?
A pen dragged across paper, writing the name “William Wisp” in neat handwriting. The form was signed, and he was working with his brother officially. A knot formed in his stomach as he slid the contract across the table. It had been decided that William would be doing some work for David when he needed someone “taken care of” and would be paid handsomely for it.
As William turned to leave the building, he realized that without the Winnebago, or WATCH support, he was effectively homeless. He turned around to face his brother and awkwardly explained his situation. David sighed and begrudgingly handed over a wad of cash from his briefcase.
“Get a motel or something,” David suggested with a shrug as he swerved around one of his bloodied workers slumped on the floor and walked out the glass door, briefcase in tow.
William glanced at the money in his hand, at the bodies, at his brother, and at his phone. Twelve missed calls from Vyncent. He swiped away the notifications. He would call back later.
The shrill sound of a phone ringing blared into William’s ears. He hoped it was a call from Vyncent, but he found that it was from his brother instead.
“William, I need you at Belltech at 7 p.m. for your first job.” William almost started yelling at David for waking him up, because 7 was so far from now, but after a glance at the glowing red digital clock, he realized it was 5 p.m. already. It was also Thursday, though he could’ve sworn the day before was a Tuesday. He figured he just lost track of the days and had gotten confused.
As he wrestled a pair of jeans on, he glanced outside his window and noticed an billboard for WATCH. Looking at Ms. G’s beaming face plastered on the advertisement, all William could think of was her lying weakly in her hospital bed. He hoped that the medicine was getting to the right people. William stepped out of the room and outside. His sneakers clanged against the grated metal stairs as he hurried down the steps. He held his hand over his eyes to avoid the glaring sun. It was a while until he had to be there, but he had to walk due to a certain Winnebago that was not in his possession. The city was sprawling and mostly consisted of cars and heavy traffic, so it was a long and less than pleasant walk.
William got to Belltech thirty minutes before he was meant to. Wandering the halls, he noticed that not a single remnant of the previous day was left. No bloody smears, no axe markings, no splashes of purple liquid merging with carpet. Nothing. He found it comforting knowing that the night would remain secret. For the most part, at least.
In the middle of his self-guided tour, William bumped into David, who was wearing a button up and slicked back hair. William glanced down at his jeans and hoodie, one he’d had for years, and felt a bit underdressed.
“You’re early,” David said, matter of factly.
“Uh.. Yeah. Sorry, I just–”
“No, it’s fine.” David said, walking to his office and gesturing for Will to follow. He opened a drawer, and handed William a piece of paper. “This is all the information you’ll need.”
The paper had an excerpt from a news article on two smaller scale villains who were deadset on taking down Belltech. David coughed as William finished reading.
“I have reason to believe they’ve created fraudulent evidence against me and my company and are planning on releasing it. Of course, if they did, our entire mission of helping people and delivering healthcare would be completely undermined.”
William was handed several syringes with a purple liquid sloshing around inside, along with a crossbody holding device that secured each vial to his chest. William found his gas mask and axe sitting in David's office and grabbed those as well.
This was going to be his first real job with Belltech.
And he was going to be great at it.