In My Hazy Memories, You Did Nothing (Completed)

[miscellaneous_section]

If you have ever read my Floyd manifesto I talk about in the story of The Forever Factor, where Matt Trakker decides to use an untested piece of technology to wipe Malloy's memory of a part of the day and dump him at a hotel. Basically, I decided to not let it slide and wrote it all down; where Floyd pieces it together by how much he can remember and is pissed by M.A.S.K's choice. I think I did okay for the most part, but what do you think?

You can read the fic on AO3 here, or you can read it under the cut as well!

As he ran through the rain forest, avoiding Vanessa’s wrath and Julio’s hot pursuit, Malloy knew their usual mission of the week was treasure related, but this one took the cake.

Supposedly, there was hidden treasure somewhere at the Nazca Plains in Peru, and the points in the drawings would reveal the way to it. He was helping Vanessa in the air spraying down a chemical that Nash Gorey created that would help them find these points. As they were releasing said chemicals, Malloy had this gut feeling whose temptation grew the longer they were here.

He couldn’t exactly explain when and how but he found himself caving and flew off; its spell had wrapped its cruel hands around his mind. It was if it was calling to him; to reveal a secret that had been eating at him for a long time now.

A memory that’s inaccessible for one reason or another, and he had to know what it was and why.

‘It’s gotta be this way, whatever it is,’ thought Malloy.

He ran further into the humid woods, the sounds of leaves and plants rustling by him. The unnerving instinct pushed him to the point where he couldn’t tell if it was himself, or if someone was following him anymore. That was until he happened upon a clearing ripe with signs of a past skirmish. Malloy stopped and carefully tread the area. Five minutes barely passed when he kicked something; his eyes traced to the source and widened by the sight below.

The skeletal remains of a man in armor and a horse, the grass had slowly reclaimed their prize. And yet, despite the mental haze, there was an eeriness to its familiarity. Something about all of it screamed at him on what happened to them and himself; it made his stomach turn thinking about it.

Despite it, Malloy attempted to pick out the fuzz from his memories, as one would try to remember a fleeting dream, of the skeleton in question.

He wasn’t sure, but it went something like this.

The skeleton was once a man who was out of place in time, and Floyd happened to stumble upon him while fighting Julio. The man had discovered something a long time ago that kept him that way for all those centuries. And the way he explained it made it sound like it was worth more than any precious gemstone on earth.

At some point the two of them set off for the place. The man led the way since he was the only one who knew where it was, and then MASK intervened in the process. During this the man died (he won’t be surprised if Cliff Dagger had something to do with that) and MASK apprehended him.

But then, what did they do after? He had a feeling it was Matt Trakker’s doing but couldn’t put his finger on what, though.

And that’s when Malloy found himself in a hotel of all places.

It felt oddly about right, but there was still so many pieces that were missing that it infuriated the VENOM agent. He wanted answers from the one person he hated but knew the full story.

Malloy didn’t have to turn to face who was behind him as they rushed out of the thick foliage. He could tell who it was when they spoke.

“Malloy!” shouted Julio.

He stopped when he saw those same remains and murmured, “Floyd.”

There was something the way his foe said it that made the feeling worse for Malloy, and the longer he stared at the bones, the more the anger and disgust bubbled. He quietly growled, “What did you bastards do to me?”

Julio was silent. How could he explain it to his enemy of all people what exactly happened that day.

But the silence put the VENOM agent closer to the edge. He looked to Julio straight in the eyes and repeated, “Julio? What did you and your little gang do to me?”

Julio chose his words as carefully as he could and explained, “Malloy, we had to use the mind wiping device because we didn’t want you telling Mayhem about the spring of eternal youth.”

Julio desperately reassured. “We- I didn’t want them to use it. But, we didn’t have choice.”

That last sentence was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Floyd screamed, trembling with at every word. “No choice? No choice?! Miles already thinks I’m crazy! The man would have thought I was more so than usual if I did tell him!”

Julio hesitantly stepped back, but it seemed that Malloy took two steps forward in response.

He continued, “And don’t give me that shitty excuse about ‘You didn’t want to do it.’ Matt back there was dead set on using that ‘mind wipe’ device you guys had!”

Julio couldn’t counter any of it because the VENOM agent was right.

“I know, Floyd. It is a poor excuse, and I have to live with myself everyday for what Matt and the others had done to you.” Lopez further lamented, “Sometimes, I wish I had done more to stop them. Then maybe, none of this would’ve had happened.”

By this point, Malloy was getting too close for comfort. And what he said next was drenched in malicious. “Oh, I know how you’ll pay for it.”

The MASK agent couldn’t get another word in as the force of tensed gloved hands started squeezing around his throat. The two of them fell onto the hard earth as Floyd squeezed his hands even tighter.

His words to stop Floyd, and the commands for his Streamer mask, were lost to Julio as Malloy’s grip tighten. The world was growing darker to Julio as Malloy continued to strangle him. It felt like an eternity for Lopez, wishing for the end take him already.

Floyd Malloy was about to put the one and only quick push to break his foe’s neck until a beam of concentrated light zipped passed him.

He let go as he faced whoever fired, but Floyd wasn’t surprised to see who it was.

“Julio!” Matt cried.

He hurried to Julio’s passed out form with Bruce Sato following behind.

Floyd Malloy wasted no time to attack. “Buckshot, fire!”

“Lifter, on!”

The gravitational force sent the buckshots back to Floyd. He narrowly dodged them but found himself being cornered.

Bruce was about to reactive his mask when suddenly an energy whip came right at him. Malloy took the chance and fired one of his smokescreen ammunition. He booked it out of there before Bruce could do anything else.

The smoke was thick but quickly faded like a dust. He was about to give chase but was stopped when he heard Matt call out to him.

“No, let him go,” ordered Matt.

And with that Bruce went back to Matt’s side. “How is he, Matt?”

“He’ll be okay but he needs full medical attention.”

Matt gently picked up his unconscious teammate, remorse filled his heart by the sight of it. ‘Julio, I’m sorry.’ He reflected, ‘I should have listened to you, then maybe none of this would’ve had happened.’

Somewhere in the outer edge of the jungle, the two VENOM agents found their vehicles but not before Vanessa gave Malloy an ear full for his latest stunt.

“Malloy! What the hell got into you?! And, what was going on back there?” demanded Warfield.

For Floyd, even though everything was still barely clear to him, only lied to her. “I thought I saw Julio spyin’ on us, so I pursued him.”

Vanessa wasn’t convinced but only replied, “Whatever you say, you paranoid runt.”

He hopped back on to his motorcycle and converted it back to jet mode as Vanessa did the same with her car. He thought back on those hazy days but ultimately concluded, ‘Who cares? You and the other would’ve never believed me anyway.’

Without another word, they set their course back to where Miles and Gorey were stationed. The only thing on their minds was making up an excuse for why they were running late. here.