Chapter Text

Scanning the streets below I listen intently for any foul play. The nights had only gotten colder as I upgraded my costume yet again, now donning a puffy pink jacket, thick fingerless gloves, and leggings underneath my usual shorts. Shivering as the wind whipped at my face I playfully cursed the sky.

“Damn you and your seasons Aeor!”

Suddenly a gunshot pulled me from my lull.

“Shit” I whip around to find more abuse building in a nearby alley. Diving down immediately I find a mob of civilians surrounding someone. “g̩̈́͋̒̑ͫet̶̗̯̓͋͞ bͭͣ̕â̏̓̂c̷̑ͧ͐̌k̵̛̻̼ͨͣ͜” i command as i rush the group, causing them to jump to the side in surprise.

I pause as i'm met with the sight of Hot Guy, half dead on the cold pavement, his skin a dangerous shade of blue.

Sucking in a breath I draw my guns on those around me, guarding the unconscious hero behind me.

“What are you on his side now?” someone in the mob sneers ‘Tall, rough looking man, can clearly fight… blood on his hands’

“I̯̥'̽m̱̹̓̑-” i clear my throat “you know i'm not”

“Then what are you doing?” i woman asks quietly ‘skinny, abused, scared, not much of a fight’

“I'll deal with him” I growl, whipping a gun towards a man who tries to approach. “Now get out before i deal with you too”

The woman's eyes widen as her and most of the others back away, clearly not wanting to get shot. The few that remain look hesitant, not sure i'm going to harm the hero until I turn and crack my gun over his temple.

Without any doubt that I'm going to commit a murder, of a beloved hero no less, they run and leave no one behind.

The second the last one is out of earshot the tense breath I'm holding is released in favor of hyperventilating. “Sweet Aeor above” i gasp turning again to the hero “what did you do?”

Crouching down I dress the most prominent wounds then, after I deem him movable I try to pick him up. “Holy!” I squawked, dropping the hero back down “what are you made of?!”. Knowing he can't hear me, I sigh and assess the situation. “You better be worth this” I groan.

Taking a deep breath I feel his strength flow through me as I hoist the hero into my arms, taking off into the night.

***

I panic as I rush through the underground tunnels below the city ‘is it here?’I wonder and curse to myself as I find yet another dead end. “Ȩ̝͚̓t̮̞̪͆͜h̄͛́̒͝o̮͉͋ͣ̕͡” i growl under my breath before sighing in relief as a faint set of footprints become apparent in the dust. Following them I come across a metal door, tall and imposing, made so strong that no power could ever break through.

“É̬̤͕̻͗͢T̸͓ͨH̜͌̍͆͑O̯” i shout and bang my foot on the door. After more banging and even more shouting and cursing the door is finally opened. “F̞͉͑̏ͭ͝i͇̥ͭ́ͣ̃n̸̰ͣ̑̕͠a̴̟̖̓̽̊l̥̩̏̑l̤ͤy̶̨̜̲̋” i growl, pushing past the man, tall with short white hair, a dark green jacket, a black mask covering his lower face, and a jagged scar running across his glowing red eye, a redstone replacement.

“HEY!” he yells after me as I drop Hot Guy onto his operating table. Ignoring his protests, I grab the nearby surgical scissors and begin to cut the hero's torn shirt off.

As I dump the shirt my hand is grabbed and I lock eyes with Etho. “hè̴̶ļ͇̜̤p̡̈́̓̆ ḩ̰̈̿̑i͋m̩̈́ͯ̚” I growl, my eyes cold and glowing a deep purple. I leave no room for choice.

Etho’s eyes widened for a moment, seeing what I have and would do he knows not to disobey.

“You owe me” he sighs, shoving me roughly to the side as he continues to prepare the hero for surgery with a practiced ease.

***

The next few hours passed in a tense silence only broken by Etho’s barking orders.

Now Etho had been listing off every one of Hot Guys injuries, how they healed or how he fixed them and how I needed to take care of them.

“Did you get all that?” He looks at me expectantly.

“Yes” I mutter, rolling my eyes.

“Do I really need to know this?” I ask, exhausted.

Pinching the bridge of his nose he sighs “yes Cute Guy”

We both freeze as the hero groans on the cold metal table, now dressed in a loose hoodie and pants. his glasses however were almost untouched as Etho had made me leave the room when he did, preserving his identity.

“Shit” Etho curses.

“Language” Hot Guy slurs as he tries to sit up pulling at the straps restraining him.

Before he's able to process this Etho injects a high grade anesthesia into his arm, causing him to fall back asleep.

“You have an hour” Etho states, gathering the hero’s belongings before turning to me.

“I'm sorry, what?” I ask, the stuff being dumped into my arms.

“One hour” he grins “he's got one hell of an immune system” chuckling his eyes grow darker “now get out”

Knowing I've stayed my limit I quickly steal the hero's power once again and hoist him into my arms, slinging the bag of stuff over my shoulder. Eyeing my watch I exit a different door than I came in and begin to run down the hall. The only thing worse than the hero waking up is him waking up in the tunnels of a villain's lair.

After running for half an hour down twisting halls I finally breathe fresh air as I burst out of the abandoned building the exit had led to. Checking my watch once again I curse, I had 20 minutes left and knowing Etho, that was being generous.

Getting halfway down the abandoned street I spotted a hero scanning the area and panicked, without much option I duck into the nearest building.

Running silently down the rows of warehouse shelves, I curse under my breath as the hero stirs in my arms.

“No, no, no” i hiss, setting Hot Guy down “sleep you stupid hero”

I groan as he blinks awake in front of me. I kept an ear out for the other hero nearby, wishing I knew who it was.

“W-what?” I'm quick to cover his mouth, silencing him “shhh”

Upon registering my voice his eyes widen in terror, crazed and murmured apologies falling from his lips as he weakly struggled to get away.

Noting his fear I quickly take my hand off him and back away, giving him some space while still being in distance.

My brows furrow in concern ‘He’s acting like a scared child. What happened to him?’

Suddenly the hero began to sob, silently.

I was stunned as I watched Hot Guy, trembling like a leaf in the wind. I had seen this terror before, i had lived it. He had been tortured, and it broke him.

Slowly putting my hands up, showing I wasn't holding anything, I approached the hero and began to hum.

Hearing the low tune, Hot Guy began to relax, swaying from exhaustion.

‘Huh, this is familiar’ I chuckle and continue to hum until the hero had long since fallen asleep.

***

The light began to fade as Hot Guy slept, now fully curled up in my lap with braids in his hair. My phone illuminated the darkness around us as I scrolled through the news.

Suddenly the feeds began blowing up with critical news. The bunny hybrid standing at the desk said “hello, my name is Fama and this is Hermit News. We are now getting reports that the villain Cute Guy has been seen abducting our beloved Hot Guy. heroes are quick to track them down, unsure of the villains motives. If you see the villain or know anything that could help our investigation please come forward, and stay safe. A curfew will begin at 5pm as a safety precaution. We wish the heroes luck. Now back to your regularly scheduled program”

Shutting my phone off I groan and run a hand down my face ‘seriously? They think I kidnapped him?!’

As the hero shifts closer into my chest I freeze, a faint noise of movement coming from the warehouse entrance. ‘Shit’

I prepare to wipe whatever turns the corner off the face of the earth before, to my surprise, a cat patters its way towards me.

“Oh!” I whisper “hello kitty, are you lost?”

The cat meows at me and paws the hero’s foot.

“Ya i know he's out cold, has been for hours and my back is killing me” i joke.

I sigh and watch as it moves closer, settling on Hot Guys legs.

“Great, just great. I'm talking to a cat”

Seeing the cat stare at me i notice the intelligent sparkle in its eyes “although, maybe you can understand me, nod twice if you can”

I gaped as the cat in fact nodded twice “sweet Aeor, am i dreaming?”

I had to hold in a laugh as the cat shook its head “oh thanks” i roll my eyes, a small smile on my face.

“Pretty kitty” I muse, scratching the cat behind its ear.

“What am I supposed to do? The stupid heroes think i kidnaped him! Why would I do that?”

The cat quirked its head in confusion as I froze. “don't tell me that's another cat” I whisper in concern, drawing Hot Guy into my arms.

The door bangs open as stratos bellowed “GET OUT HERE VILLAIN!”

“Shit” i curse as the heroes yelling echos through the warehouse, standing up with Hot Guy cradled gently in my arms ‘of course he gets to sleep like a little baby’

I start to move clumsily with Hot Guy through the rows of shelving, having to stay low to avoid Stratos's view.

Suddenly I feel a presence before me, one I can't see and frightened I take a step back “W-who-?”

Before I can get a word in, stratos blows down the shelves, leaving Hot Guy and I on the floor, the cat running off in the commotion.

I move to cover Hot Guy as the heroes approach.

‘Stratos and Zodiac’ i note.

Zodiac sighs, clearly exasperated “Stratos you need to let me do this, you've just been released and the only way they're letting you out is because they need all the help they can get.”

Stratos then pauses, a look of confusion on his face “that's the bimbo” he states abruptly, interrupting the other hero.

“Excuse me?” I pause as well, the strangeness of the remark stunning me.

For a moment we all stop in a standstill, stratos and zodiac looking down at me while I cover Hot Guy.

“Stratos that's Cute Guy” zodiac states looking worried, glancing between us.

“OHHHH, BLOODY HELL” stratos yells “Hot Guy you're sleeping with your rival?!”

“HE’S NOT SLEEPING WITH ME!” I exclaim, my face turning bright red.

“You're not?” the hero asks, genuinely confused.

“NO?!”

“But on that rooftop? You and him, you were the shirtless bimbo in a storage shed?” he questioned.

“I'm sorry they were what?” zodiac turned to stratos.

“W-well i-”

Zodiac cut off the hero “don't suppose you should have told someone about that? That it's not pertinent information to know that Hot Guy is sleeping with villains?!”

“Vigilante, and not sleeping with him!” i call indignantly.

“You kidnapped a hero that makes you a villain” she sighs.

“I didn't kidnap him!” I squawk.

“Then what are you doing right now?!” zodiac yells.

“OH MAYBE HE’S-” stratos chimes in.

“NOT SLEEPING WITH ME” I interrupt.

Sighing i keep an eye on the heroes while i look for an escape from this hell.

Rolling her eyes Zodiac tells Stratos “Relationship or not we still need to take him in”

“OH YA” the loud hero startles everyone before running at me.

Pulling Hot Guy into my arms I strain to get into the air as my wings fight Stratos’s currents.

“NOT SO FAST YOU BLUMMING BIRD” the hero calls, summoning his powerful wind to throw me off.

I squawk and almost drop Hot Guy causing everyone to panic with how high up I am. Rebalancing, I manage to get on the warehouse's walkways, laying the hero down while I deal with the others.

I draw out my gun reluctantly aiming it at Stratos “leave me alone” i command.

“And why would we do that?” the hero sneers noting the weapon.

Gritting my teeth I swing my aim to Hot Guy “what about now?”

Stratos’s face falls as he begins to take the situation seriously “what do you want?”

“For you to pretend you never saw me. To let me go, safely”

Glancing back at zodiac they share a nod “if we let you go you'll give him back?” she asks.

“I-” as I answer a shot rings out and the heroes yell, thinking I shot Hot Guy.

“no͓̼t só̼́͛́ f̬͊a̦̠ͨ̌̒ͦs̻͆t” a new voice sings through the old metal walls. My gaze flicks to Hot Guy as he flinches at the voice and Zodiacs eyes widen as she steps in front of Stratos “what do you want Pearl?”

“o͔͙̠͈͑ͨͦẖ b̭̎̕͡u̢͇͝t͔͇͙̝̀͜ Ĝ̺̰̝̼̞eṃ̛͒͢,̖͋ͮ͒̆̈͠ ȳ̖͈͈ou k̛̠̣̗͚͛ͯn̨̩̹̈́̏͜͡oŵ͍̥͗̈́̿ w̉̽̀̚h̷̫͖̃͛͒̕a̙̖̽̔ͮ̚ͅt̤ͦ i̼ͣ͆ͬ͒ w̩̼ͣ͞a̠͋n̢͐ͦẗ̛̼̓̎”

Stepping out of the darkness, Pearl's eyes flash a predatory red. ‘Why does she seem so familiar?’