The tunnels are warmer than they should be.

The air is thick and damp, carrying the sour, organic smell of something that shouldn’t be alive. Your flashlight beam shakes as you and Steve push deeper into the pulsing red veins of the underground, the walls breathing faintly around you.

“Okay,” Steve says, voice a little too bright, “on the plus side? If we die down here, at least I finally get an excuse for my bad hair days.”

You snort despite yourself. That’s what he does, fills the silence so fear doesn’t have room to grow. But then the ground shifts. A low, distant rumble ripples through the tunnel, and suddenly the path behind you collapses in on itself, dirt and vines sealing you in. The sound echoes until it feels like it’s inside your chest.

Steve freezes. For a second, the jokes stop.

You turn toward him, heart hammering. “Steve?”

He swallows, throat bobbing. The flashlight trembles in his grip now, casting long, distorted shadows across his face. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m here.” He forces a grin that doesn’t quite stick. “Guess we took a wrong turn.”

The tunnel narrows the farther you go. The walls press closer, brushing your shoulders, your arms. You can feel the heat, the slow pulse of the living earth around you. Each step feels like the tunnel might decide to close for good.

Steve walks ahead of you, bat slung over his shoulder like a shield he doesn’t quite trust.

“Hey,” you say softly, reaching out to tug his jacket. “Slow down.” He stops. For a moment, he doesn’t turn around. “I was supposed to be better at this,” he says quietly. “Protecting people. Knowing what to do.”

You step closer, the space so tight your chest almost presses to his back. “You are.”

He laughs, but it’s brittle. “I don’t feel like it.” He finally turns to face you, eyes dark in the dim light. “Everyone else? They’ve got brains or powers or… something. I’ve just got a bat and a bad attitude.”

“That’s not true.”

“I keep thinking,” he continues, voice dropping, “what if I mess up? What if someone gets hurt because I didn’t swing fast enough, or I went the wrong way-” He cuts himself off, jaw tightening. “I don’t want to be the reason people don’t make it back.”