Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

X was trying to have a peaceful day. There were no missions he needed to be sent out on, he’d already caught up with his paperwork, and he was going to see his brother this evening. The recipe for the perfect day, if only it went ahead as planned.

Spoiler, it didn’t.

The higher ups at the hero commission wanted him to see some of the new recruits and talk to them about the perks of being a full hero. Not anything too unusual, he’d done it before and it generally got some positive feedback from the newer heroes. However, this time was different. There in the training grounds was the new group of recruits all right, but none of them looked very old. This just may be Xisuma, he was very bad at getting people's ages right but even some of the older looking ones couldn’t be older than twenty. X himself was only twenty six, not long finished hero training himself but he had been eighteen to sign up. If he was right then they would have had to start training at fifteen, or even younger. Something wasn’t adding up here.

“Ahh, XV, pleasure to see you down here. Ready to talk to the new recruits, they’ve been training ever so hard the past couple of years, they’re going to make for an effective group against EX and his minions!” An old musty white guy with a receding hairline greeted Xisuma, looking very out of place in the hero commission with an old wrinkly suit. He looked like the type of guy to not be allowed near schools, or children really. He gave X the creeps.

“Sure, look a bit young don’t they?”

“Oh but not at all, they’re all over the age to consent to being in this program, 100%.” Well, that isn’t suspicious. Moving forward, X walked into the training room to talk to the recruits. They can’t be adults, the small one with the wings looks about 5’3 when he stands on his tiptoes and the one with the clearly fake moustache isn’t fooling anyone.

“Hello recruits, my name is XV and I’m one of the heroes in this building. I’m here to answer all questions on being a hero. Whose first?” All the children(?) shot their hands up and asked a series of complex questions about heroics and their benefits, which was pleasantly surprising but he still couldn’t shake the feeling about their ages. The looks on their faces were too innocent, too pure for this line of work, too childlike.

After their little session, X pulled one of the recruits aside privately, the one with the wings. He looked too tiny in his training gear, it was practically hanging off his skinny frame. “Hey kid, what’s your name?” Upon being called a kid, his wings puffed up to presumably make him look taller.

“Hey, I’m not a kid, my name is Grian. I’m sixteen thank you very much. Definitely not a child.” Okay, what the fuck? Kid just admitted to being underage, and doesn’t seem to care? Has the commission really stooped so low to get child soldiers for them? “Okay, that’s fine, just wanted to know. Have a good day, Grian.”

He needed to speak with Alex immediately.

-------

Every Friday night, X would meet up with his brother Alex to watch movies as twin bonding time. Without a doubt for the past ten years they both cleared their schedules for this movie night. Even if X was deep into paperwork, or Alex was in jail, both made it.

It made it the perfect opportunity for talking to his brother about the new recruits.

He waited until the movie was over, as to not ruin the experience of watching trashy horrors and critiquing everything they do. As soon as it finished, however, Alex turned to his brother.

“Spill, what’s been bugging you the whole day.” And so he told the story of the recruits, and how they must be around sixteen and nearly trained to go out onto the field. There was one task they had to do before field missions however.

Alex can remember the day well. His brother came back from hero school with a letter congratulating him on passing and becoming a hero. Their parents took them out but Alex could see a difference in his brother. It was only when they got to Alex’s little flat he shared the truth. The last test was to see if the threat of human life will cloud their judgement. He held his younger brother as he sobbed and sobbed for the life he was forced to take, and vowed he would protect him at all costs.

The only way for that was to become a really scary villain and mock fight his brother. Sibling love at its finest.

But admittedly X was an adult at this point, just turned twenty one, and literal children will be told to kill another.

That will simply not do.

Before either brother could speak however, a knock broke their silence. Alex went to get the door, leaving his twin on the sofa to clean up the empty wrappers. “Xisuma, I need your help.” A blue haired Scotsman stomped past Alex and into the flat, not noticing the villain's suit hanging on a coat peg and the actual Xisuma putting stuff in the bin and sorting drinks in the kitchen.

“What’s wrong, uhh, Scott?” Hopefully Alex remembered his name right, there can’t be many blue haired people from Scotland around here surely. “The recruits, the one’s just finished training! The oldest is eighteen, eighteen! That’s how old we were when we first signed up! This is outrageous, we need to get those kids out of there. I can’t do anything, they kicked me out so you need to help them.” The tragic tale of the hero SMajor, loved hero by all, kicked out for being gay. Sure, Alex may only like one hero, that being his brother, doesn’t mean he didn’t like having little fights with Scott every once in a while. And if no one knew it was him that sends him chocolate every month cause he felt bad then no one has to know.

“Scott, lovely to see you buddy. Come have a drink for a bit and we’ll discuss that topic, I may have a way to save them.” Scott, upon realising there were now two Xisuma’s, and the awfully familiar red suit hanging up and the helmet resting on the table, followed them into the kitchen and fell onto the bar-stool. “Okay, why are there two of you?”

“This is my twin Alex, I was going to introduce you to him after we passed, but then he had a change of career path.”

“No kidding, you told me your brother was a mechanic.”

“No, that's true, I am a mechanic. Villainy is a side hustle to keep Suma alive,” Both twins received a less than impressed look from Scott who was not very amused at the secrecy, “But it also means I can help with the kids from the asswipes at the commission.” He was given a gesture to continue this train of thought, so he looked at X and gave him a little smirk.

“Well then lads, who wants to join the HC Crew?”

—----

The HC Crew are a gang of villains that help benefit each other in various ways. Some have a disapproval of heroes entirely, some want revenge. A real mismatched group banded together. Alex, although when he was playing villain he called himself EX, ran this little group and gave everyone a schedule for what to hit and when so everyone could have free time to relax. Everyone also knew about his Friday Rule where no one was to contact him after a specific time, so Doc was confused about why had stormed in with two other people.

“Why are you here, it’s Friday remember?” The scientist asked, confusion lacing his voice.

“Important matters Doc, the commission is sending child soldiers after us.” This caught the creeper hybrids attention, especially the child soldier comment. It was well known within their little group that Doc had a soft spot for children, generally the one they send when a child is involved in a hit. Sure, he looks terrifying to the heroes, but the kids get to see him fumble over card tricks and make little toys from whatever he has on him.

“Child soldiers aside, we will be going back to that later, why is there a clone of you and SMajor here?” Doc gestured to the two heroes, and got a small wave in return. “They’re with me, they have the information and helped with the plan.”

EX led them to one of their conference rooms, and called an emergency meeting. It would take a while for everyone to get there, so they got comfy and made small talk until the next person arrived. The newcomer arrived about five minutes after the meeting was called, possibly still in the base and moved rooms so he could attend the meeting.

“Well if it isn’t the fire to my ice, how are you handsome?” Scott recognised him as Tek, the villain with pretty blue fire he always fought against and looked even cuter without his mask on. Another plus to the no mask situation he had was that his face flushed a light pink with the flirting. “Damn, I wish I could have seen you without your mask on before I was fired because you just got even cuter.”

“Well then SMajor, I’m glad you did because I don’t think my reputation would hold afterwards.”

“Call me Scott, you’ll be seeing me around a hell of a lot more handsome.”

“Then call me Tango, darling.”

“Please for the love of void stop flirting, it was painful enough when you were fighting and I can’t repeat that.” Xisuma piped up, rubbing his temples in an attempt to forget their flirting. He felt two hands cover his ears and looked up to see his brother telling them to continue, albeit muffled. EX couldn’t care less about the flirting, and he was sure to start a betting pool to see when they would start dating.

Fortunately for X, the flirting stopped due to their embarrassment and the group decided to sit in silence until everyone arrived. There were quick greetings to all the newcomers and no explanation about why there were two heroes who sat quite comfortably next to EX. When everyone was accounted for, EX started talking.

“Sup nerds, we need to kidnap a bunch of heroes in training from the commission.” This caused everyone to start shouting in confusion, so Scott shouted at them to shut up.

“To cut a long story short, the commission decided to train a bunch of children to fight you lot. I don’t take kindly to child soldiers so you are getting them out.” Scott spoke, glaring at everyone so they would keep quiet while he explained. Horrified faces looked at him, understanding the weight of those words and what would happen if the children passed their training. “As SMajor explained, we’re going to be using the next few days to plan how exactly we are getting the kids out with the inside help from SMajor. Any original plans you had can go ahead because we don’t want to get suspicious, but this mission should be your main priority. We are villains, not monsters.”

Nearly everyone in his crew had some trauma or incident from when they were children, so he understood how much it would affect them. All were overprotective of anyone younger than them, much to the misery of their youngest member who was constantly being babied from everyone. Their faces went from horror to determination, and that was how EX knew they were all down.

“One last thing, when did you clone yourself because it looks so much like you.” This comment caused X to start giggling hysterically while his twin explained in the worst way possible.

“I was cloned twenty six years ago actually.”

“But you are twenty six? So they cloned a newborn?”

“Jimmy, he’s trying to say they are twins.”

“Wait, you have a brother?!”

Chapter Text

Just like they had planned, there was a big showdown between the hero XV and EX that had many people watching. The public could see XV turn himself into void matter to dodge attacks and EX making portals to throw different attacks at him. Everyone was rooting for the hero to win, everyone except the HC Crew. They knew this had all been choreographed the last couple of days, and half the portals were not even EX’s anyway. Both twins had the same exact power, just utilising different aspects of it to keep everyone unaware of their heritage.

The fight was going well, Alex saw some cameras directed at them and some news companies covering the fight.

Good.

He wanted the whole world to know about what was about to go down.

The plan has been set, and on Xisuma’s mark phase two would begin. As soon as he gave the signal, he created a portal beneath his feet so he fell through it. The public watched for several minutes at the battlefield, waiting for the hero to dramatically appear and continue the fight. When the hero appeared again, he looked beaten and bloody. They watched as EX delivered the last blow, the hero falling to the floor and not getting up.

“Let this be a lesson to you all, if I can do this to XV who knows what I can do to your other precious heroes.” With those parting words, another portal took them away.

The public wanted to mourn for the hero, but the event was overshadowed by the commission announcing their newer, better, heroes.

The seed of doubt was planted that day.

—----

“Thanks Jimmy for helping, it really helped sell it all.”

“No problem Xisuma, it was fun to do something different.” The resident hacker was helping X wash off all the makeup and fake blood they used to fool everyone. During the minutes he supposedly disappeared, he actually went to the techie to have the special effects done so it looks like he had been tortured. Alex had gone to shower first, something about being the oldest so he has more priority, leaving X in sticky fake blood he really wants off.

“What was the point in killing you off again?” Tango was watching all this go down, burning all the dirty rags they couldn’t clean afterwards. He just wanted to burn something honestly.

“By killing me off, they wouldn’t expect me to be helping you. Scott’s file has already been hacked so they think he’s living somewhere else and if they think I’m dead then they don’t suspect me to be a traitor,” Solid reasoning for killing him off, and an added bonus is the element of surprise. “Besides, we have a plan to introduce me as EX’s clone so no one will suspect a thing.”

The clone joke is really going far huh.

After what felt like hours, X was finally able to get all the junk off and change into a comfy pair of clothes for the rest of the day. Waving to some random people as he walked to the kitchen, he made a sandwich for himself and his twin before going to their room. Both decided that they would share a room to make it easier for everyone, and to leave more spare ones for when they get the kids.

Pushing the door open with his foot, he put the food on the small table and turned the Tv onto some random show. His brother soon joined him in eating and watching crap before Alex turned it off to look at him.

“You know, this is it. You’re dead in the commission's eyes, so they would probably start to speed up the kids' training to get them out quicker so the public doesn’t have a hissy fit now their main protector against me is gone.”

“Good thing we planned for this. We will get them tomorrow night.” The brothers fell silent as they ate what remained of their food, both reviewing the plan in their heads.

The commission won’t know what hit them.

—----

As the night fell and the last of the people left the building, a portal was opened into an office and four figures entered the room. They split off into pairs and searched the building for all traces of the kids. One pair headed for the main office while the other searched the training grounds to gather intel about their whereabouts.

X was in the office planting the virus Jimmy made into the computer system so he could pull the files from it when Alex ran back in and shut the door quietly. He grabbed the memory stick that contained the virus from the computer and warped it to Jimmy so he could start investigating while they continued to search the building. A crackle in their ears was the only warning they got before a voice spoke to them.

“Got the records of the safe house they’re housing them in, sending co-ords now.” The voice cut off and a quiet ping on their suits system showed the co-ords Jimmy found. EX created a portal so he could go while X grabbed Scott and Tango from the training grounds, most likely not searching for evidence but causing mischief for them to find in the morning.

Leaving them to it, EX went to the co-ords and was met with a dishevelled looking building. Jimmy had sent another message detailing the layout of it along with what floor they were being kept on. They were on the highest level so he would have to scale up the side and hopefully find a window to break into. Doing just that, he found a window and thankfully it was unlocked so he pulled it up and landed in a heap onto the floor with the wind knocked out of his lungs. Trying to catch his breath, he looked up to find the wide eyes of a boy staring at him, his wings puffed up in an attempt to look intimidating.

“You good down there?” The boy said quietly, likely terrified out of his mind at the villain on the floor.

“Peachy, just give me a sec.” The boy didn’t say anything as the villain slowly rose to his feet and looked down at the boy. “That’s better, now, I’m going to kidnap you and your friends.”

“...ok?”

EX looked at him confused, he was a hero trainee, shouldn’t he be trying to fight him right about now? Instead, he calls for his friends and brings them over to him. Another boy appears and two girls walk up to him, all looking relatively calm given the announced kidnapping.

“Shouldn’t you be fighting me now? I just said I was going to kidnap you, and I’m the villain that just killed XV.”

“Well, yeah, but Gri said you were going to save us yesterday so we trust you.” The girl with the small antlers spoke up, sounding way too young to be involved in this.

“Now I’m confused again. How did you know I was coming?” They all pointed towards the boy with the wings who was looking down at the floor. Before he could question them further, his brother and their friends warped into the room and now it was an awkward showdown.

Both hero trainees and villains were looking at one another, expecting a fight but not starting one. The silence was broken by Scott declaring this was awkward, causing some uncomfortable giggles to break out. EX and X created a portal and told everyone to walk through it, not hiding his surprise very well when the children walked through first without being threatened to. His twin shrugged and leapt into the portal, being met on the other side with the children looking stunned at everything and a grumpy looking Doc with his arms crossed.

“Well kids, this is where you’re staying for the foreseeable future. Now, how in the hell did you know we were coming for you?” They all started to shift on their feet, clearly not wanting to talk. X looked at Grian, the one he spoke to the day this all started.

“I have a secondary power I didn’t tell them about.” Grian mumbled out, not wanting anyone to know about this ability. With some gentle encouragement, he continued on and explained that ever since that day they met he has sent one of his eyes after X to watch him because of a gut feeling and found out about their plan that way. After confirming they had good intentions with them, he told his friends and they all wanted to get away so they let themselves be taken. When he finished his explanation, his friends introduced themselves and stated their powers.

“Errm, hi. I’m Mumbo. I don’t really have a power, just a talent for making things.”

“And by things he means bombs. I’m Pearl, the oldest of the bunch, I just shoot light from my hands.” She demonstrated by lighting her palms up and waving her hands around.

“XV already knows me but I’m Grian. I can fly along with what I just told you.”

“My name is Gem, and I’m a deer hybrid!”

“She’s also the youngest, so if anything happens to her I will blind you.” Pearl being the oldest made it a point to be protective of everyone else. She had just turned eighteen a few weeks ago, but she had been a mother figure to them for much longer. Gem was coming up to her sixteenth birthday, while Mumbo and Grian were a few months away from being seventeen. Even Pearl knew what had happened to them wasn’t right, so as soon as Grian said people wanted to save them she all but jumped onboard with the crazy plan. Anything for her family she had found.

Meanwhile, the adults were all wondering how they were going to care for the children. They could tell Pearl was the one in charge and wouldn’t let any harm occur to the others, while Gem looked frightened at everything and Mumbo and Grian were staring in awe at their surroundings. EX could tell they would need to be roomed near one another so they could see each other freely, along with slowly introducing everyone at the base so they wouldn’t get overwhelmed. It seemed there was some level of trust already between them, so that would have to get built upon.

EX decided to take them to the spare rooms so they could sleep and they could talk more in the morning. The spare rooms were in the same part as his and X’s room so they were nearby if they needed them, and each room had two double beds if they didn’t feel like being separated. Xisuma fetched them some clothes he robbed from other inhabitants of the base so they could have a new pair of clothes to sleep in, and they thanked him before going to their rooms. Pearl and Gem were sharing while Grian and Mumbo took the other room, so with that settled the twins crashed in their room and fell into a light sleep.

—----

Gem couldn’t sleep. Pearl was mumbling in her sleep, and she could hear the steady heartbeats of the boys in the next room sleeping. She felt it necessary to memorise their heartbeats while they slept, in case they had a nightmare so she could help, and so they couldn’t sneak up on her.

With sleep nowhere near, she slipped out of bed and quietly left the room to go for a wander around their new place. For once she was thankful of how hard they trained her in stealth because her footsteps made no noise as she walked deeper into the base. Seeing a faint light in one of the rooms, she quietly opened the door enough to peek through to see a blond man sitting at a computer typing away. He didn’t notice as she entered the room so she walked behind him to see what he was doing.

A few minutes later he finally looked up to see her stood over his shoulder, and let out a tiny shriek. “What are you doing?” It was an innocent question but he was still getting over his heart attack and her presence. “I’m decoding the files we stole from the hero commission about you and your friends. What are you doing through, up at this hour giving people heart attacks?”

A simple shrug and a couldn’t sleep was all he got before being bombarded with questions about hacking and everyone who lives here. Jimmy really tried to answer all of the ginger's questions, but truthfully he didn’t know the answer to most of them. He didn’t know how to describe hacking, it's just something that comes naturally to him thanks to his power.

However, the questions were cut short when a new figure entered the room. One with red hair and decaying flesh.

“Jimmy, who’s this sweetie and why is she with you at this late hour?” Cleo had originally walked in to drag Jimmy’s arse to his bed because she could also see the light from the computer lab, but hadn’t expected one of the hero children with him.

“Cleo! Oh no, urm, this is Gem. She couldn’t sleep and she found me here. What time is it?”

“Its three is the fuc- freaking morning! Now, Jim, off you pop to bed while I take the little one back to her room.” Gem was silent throughout the whole interaction, watching her new friend stutter and run out, probably to his room. She wanted him back because this new lady looked scary. “Come on darling, let's get you something to drink before you go back to bed.” With surprising care, she grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen, where she got two cups from the cupboard and filled them with milk.

“Now, Gem was it, why couldn’t you sleep.” Cleo looked into Gem’s eyes, using a soft tone of voice to calm her. “Dunno, just couldn’t.” She took a sip of her milk, closing her eyes at the taste. Milk was very rare for them to drink because the lousy excuse of an apartment didn’t have a working fridge, no matter how many times Mumbo tried fixing it. “Well, why don’t we drink this and walk back to your room, and I’ll stay until you fall asleep. Okay?” Gem agreed and continued to sip her milk with Cleo.

When they were finished, Cleo took their cups and put them in the sink for someone to deal with in the morning. She took Gem’s hand again and walked her back to her room. In the room, Pearl was still sleeping, thankfully, and Gem climbed back into her bed.

Just like she promised, Cleo stayed with her until she fell asleep, stroking her hair carefully so she didn’t catch onto her antlers.

It was the best sleep Gem had gotten all her life.

Chapter Text

Morning came and Alex just wanted to sleep in for once. Going out last night was exhausting and the confusion with the children on top of that was just tiring. One thing he was thankful for was that they seemed okay with staying here for the time being.

Dragging himself out of bed he passed his twin still knocked out on his bed and headed to the kitchen to start making breakfast for everyone. Using the pancake mix he started to make several loads of pancakes to feed everyone as others slowly filtered in for the morning. Some like Cleo just grabbed it and left to eat in their rooms, not without thanking him first, while the odd one like Doc sat at the table and watched him make breakfast.

Grian was the first of their guests to make an appearance in the kitchen, still wrapped in a blanket and not happy being awake.

“Morning Grian, would you like some pancakes?” The response he got was a small chirp followed by a coo as the teen sat at the table opposite Doc, who had somehow gotten the morning paper. Drowning his pancakes in golden syrup, he started to eat and looked less grumpy with every bite. Pearl soon appeared and was also served some breakfast, followed by a too happy looking Mumbo. Gem was the last one to appear, looking too much like a deer as she rubbed the last of sleep from her eyes. The blanket Grian had was soon stolen by the deer hybrid as she fell back asleep at the table, wanting to continue sleeping for a while longer.

“Now children, EX and I need to go to some meetings today with other people at his base to decide on our next move. Don’t panic though, no one here wants you gone, we just need to agree on how we're taking the commission down.”

“One problem with that Suma, who’s watching them.” EX made his presence known, smirking at the giggles coming from the teens as Xisuma yelped.

“I’ll do it.” The giggles stopped at a gruff voice. All eyes turned to Doc who was still looking at the paper. The teens seemed a bit apprehensive at this, but the twins were thrilled. They knew Doc would take very good care of them while they were away, and they would be the safest with the creeper hybrid.

Waving goodbye, they left Doc all alone with the teens still eating their breakfast. He resigned to watching them quietly as they ate, before downing the rest of his coffee and taking their empty plates. It was now he realised the one with the moustache was wearing on his tshirts, specifically the one with ‘The Bomb’ written on it in comic sans. Thinking about it, all of them were wearing clothes either stolen or given to them by others living here.

“Alright, we're going to go see Cleo. She probably has some clothes you can have.” Doc led the way, checking behind him a couple of times to make sure they were still following. The base could be like a maze at the best of times, so he didn’t really want to have one of them panic about being lost.

Cleo was the main seamstress and made all of their outfits for causing crimes. No doubt she's already made them tailored clothes and stolen all of their possessions from their old home by now. Lo and behold, the first thing the children were greeted with was a mountain of clothes each, and more being made, and some personal items from their life before being kidnapped. Several of Cleo’s hands were scattered in the room, with various pins and needles between the fingers working on more fabric.

The zombie was having the time of her life. It was rare nowadays she made normal clothes, especially for teens. It almost reminded her of life before she died. All her reanimated hands were helping her make everything, so each kid had multiple pairs of everything and it was made with different materials so everything was comfortable. She even added some adjustments for Grian’s wings and some gloves for Pearl so the girl didn’t have to worry about accidentally blinding someone.

“I’ll take this to your rooms later when everything is made. You’ll also find some of your stuff on that table.” The red head made a gesture to the table, and with a nod from Doc they started sorting it.

“My plushies, oh how I’ve missed you. How did you find them?”

“Wait, this is my blanket. I hid this, didn’t I?”

Several more questions followed about how the items were obtained despite them being hidden. Cleo waited until they stopped, and was met with four different faces all with their best attempt at puppy eyes. The only one who succeeded was Gem, and that was because of her doe eyes from being part deer. Mumbo, bless his sweet soul, looked like he had seen some things in his life while Grian and Pearl looked like they had a screw loose.

“Simple, I sent Reginald to look around and he found it all and brought it to me.” Reginald decided at that moment he was going to detach himself from the stump of her arm and run at the kids. Right, she should have started with Reginald was her hand that somehow grew sentience after it was cut off by a prick. Now they were screaming. Calling the hand back, they calmed down and looked at her in awe.

Doc just had a smug look on his face. He knew Cleo would do something like that, but every time it happened it just got funnier. They all chatted for a bit longer before leaving to go to his lab. Honestly, he didn’t want to bring them to his lab with all the explosive chemicals and sharp machinery, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Besides, what can go wrong.

—----

God is now dead.

In about an hour they’ve had five fires, one makeshift bomb, a glitter bomb, burnt some metal to see if Pearl could light her hands up brighter, and knock over several tools.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Doc and the teens didn’t have a blast while doing this, it just meant when the twins came in to check on them and saw the mess they just left immediately. No one was getting hurt so they were fine with it.

For the majority of the time it was Doc teaching Mumbo on how to make different types of tech, like lasers and smoke grenades, while watching the others to make sure they were safe. The creeper hybrid made all of them wear lab coats and goggles because he may be a mad scientist, but he still followed lab procedure and safety. Especially with kids.

—----

With the twins, they both sat through boring meetings trying to come up with a coherent plan. Alex had left to go grab a drink so X was left alone in a room full of villains, but he was surprisingly at ease.

That was until a masked man approached him.

“So, EX’s twin huh? What's it like being related to him?”

“How’d you know we’re twins, everyone thinks I’m his clone.”

“Cause if you were his twin, you’d be identical. You have slightly different eye colours and your jawline is more uneven. That and I’m not stupid.” The man then introduced himself as Etho and the pair chatted until the meeting started back up again. All the villains that joined agreed to speed up their plans and start causing as much chaos as possible to distract the commission from the missing heroes and to spark more distrust in the public. Once the public sees how they are dealing with things, then hopefully they turn on the commission and rally with them when they overthrow them.

Nearly every villain in the meeting didn’t start as villains. They were people with powers and abilities that could help, but the commission wanted someone for their shiny new poster boys to fight so all vigilantes in the area were suddenly villains and being attacked for stopping small robberies or helping drunks walk home. With time, they became what the media and the commission wanted them to be because they could only last so long trying to do good while being beaten and thrown in jail by ‘heroes’ who wanted money and attention. X himself tried to change the system from the inside with Scott, and look how that turned out.

This meeting was filled with people who were abused by the system for trying to help, and here they are, plotting the system's downfall.

All because they are pure of heart.

Chapter Text

X couldn’t wait. He knew the plan and was waiting anxiously for his debut as Clone. Alex had gone with Doc to fight some higher class heroes and soon as he got the signal it would be his time to shine.

He’d never had a grand debut like this, hell, the commission just started sending him on missions as soon as possible without any warning.

All things considered, he loved his new suit and the chance to use all of his powers without holding back. Instead of the boring purple body suit that was quite frankly hideous he got a green jacket paired with some comfy black trousers with pockets along the sides, and a helmet based on his favourite video game. Overall, a major glow in his opinion. His brother wore something similar, the only difference was that his jacket was a dark red.

“You think you have a chance, that we don’t have backup? Well you’re wrong.” That’s his cue. EX and Doc looked like they were cornered by a small group of heroes, all pointing various weapons at the pair and not keeping an eye on what was happening behind them.

It was the perfect opportunity for X to start picking them off one by one.

He started by creating a portal under a couple on the outskirts of the group, depositing them far away from any help but close enough where it would be an annoying walk of shame back to the commission. Then he camouflaged himself with the surroundings and knocked a couple more out quietly, dragging them away and propping them up against a wall. It was then after the hero had finished monologging that he realised his team wasn’t there, and the two villains weren’t looking at him but rather looking behind him.

“It’s about time I introduced him to the world. Meet my clone.” The smirk was clear in his voice, and the hero had started to sweat a little bit. Who knows what this clone is capable of if he managed to take out his entire team. “Isn’t he great? Took a long time to replicate my powers, but then I thought why not stop there? After all, XV’s skill set would be useful for my purposes.” A look of horror morphed onto his face before a fist met it, knocking the hero out.

“Really, bringing my death into this?”

“It's funny, ok, you’re legally dead. Let me joke about it.”

—----

Gem was enjoying her time being kidnapped. She’s met new friends, got away from people using her, and gets treated like a human being instead of something expendable. It was clear on Pearl’s face too that she too was enjoying it, the stress had practically gone from her face at not having to mother three teens. Grian and Mumbo were enjoying it too because they could get up to mischief as much as they want with no punishment. No one cared there when Grian sneezed and several eyes busted into existence for a brief second, or when Gem froze when someone shone a bright light at her, or the scorch marks from both Pearl and Mumbo.

This new comfort then led to Gem sat with Cleo as the zombie fixed someones villain get up. Despite the fact most people were scared of her, the deer hybrid thought she was pretty cool even with her severed hand she called Reginald. The pair sat in silence, until a question Gem had been wondering slipped out.

“How did you become a zombie? Like, were you born one or is it a mutation?” Soon as she said it, she slapped her hands over her mouth and started apologising. It was probably a private thing and Gem didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. Cleo stopped what she was doing to look at the girl, taking in her round eyes and her rushed out apologies. “Hey sweetie, it’s fine. I don’t mind telling you.” The zombified woman waited until she got a nod from the deer to tell her tale.

“Before I kicked the bucket, I was a seamstress. I had a job in a tailor made clothes shop making adjustments for people, and I was doing so when a hero threw some bomb of sorts into the shop. We didn’t have to move before it went off. From there emergency services had to find all the parts of our bodies so they could have something to give our families to bury. When they matched all my body parts, they started to fuse back together eventually before they buried me in some unmarked grave because I have no biological family. It’s some gene I had that only kicked in after I was blown to bits.” Gem couldn’t stop the look of horror on her face. Knowing that it was heroes that caused a whole shop full of innocents to die, and that they couldn’t even give families to all of their loved ones, sparked something inside her.

“What happened to the hero, they didn’t get away with it, did they?”

The sad look on Cleo's face was the answer. The hero got away with it. They got away with killing innocents for god knows how long. Note to self, bring Cleo’s murderer to justice. Acting on impulse, Gem rushed forward to give her a hug. She ignored how she could feel her ribs and that under the perfume she could smell rotting flesh, right now Cleo has the closest thing she had to a mother since her birth one sold her for drug money. Eventually the hug was broken, but they stayed close to one another.

“What about you, how did the pigs at the commission get their hands on a sweet thing like you?”

“Sold for drug money by my birth mother. Didn’t want me and wanted to fuel her addiction, and the commission was more than happy to take me away.” Now it was Cleo’s turn to look horrified, but there was anger mixed in too. A gentle hand was placed on her knee, with her arm attached to it. “I will never let that happen to you, you hear me? If you are ever in trouble, I’ll come running.”

Sadly, the heart to heart couldn’t last as sirens wailed and lights started to flash. A robotic voice started instructing them to run, and what they couldn’t take to burn as heroes were on route to their base. Cleo swore and animated her skeletons to start picking up everything and to take it through her escape tunnel. She grabbed the teens hand and ran out the room to where the other teens were chilling.

“Grab your shit, heroes are on their way. Whatever you can’t take now I’ll send one of the void boys to portal to you. Just get yourselves out, you are not going back to them.” Panic then ensued of them running to their rooms to pack a bag for them to leave with. Personal belongings were the first as clothes can be replaced, but it still didn’t stop them from grabbing as much as the bags could hold. Cleo ran back to her workshop to see how her skeletons were doing, the room was cleared of everything and the escape hatch closed behind them. That should take them to her warehouse so she can pick it up later.

Doc was having a blast after he packed away all his plans and blueprints, shown by the room engulfed in a blue fire. All of it was too important to fall into wrong hands, so burnt it would be. His emergency bag packed and plans safe, he ran to the kids room to help them out of the building. When they were all ready, he took them to the twins so they could go to a safe house out of the city to keep them safe. They ushered them in, along with some other inhabitants of the base, and Scott who was visiting on the wrong day.

“Is that everyone?” X asked, not sure if everyone was out of the building.

“Negative, I’m staying behind to man the defences so they think you’re still here.” Jimmy’s voice crackled over the intercom system.

“Jimmy, what if they find you? Void knows what they’d do to you if you got caught!”

“Trust me, they can’t find me. Now go, they’re here.” At the sound of explosions, the twins ran through the portal and closed it behind them so no one could follow. Tango was doing the attendance, and paused at the hackers name. “He wanted us to leave, said he was going to man the defences.

Tango just stopped. He couldn’t register the words being said. “Get him out of there, now! Portal him out or whatever, just get him OUT!” Tears started to fall down his face, knowing the protocol. No going back until the heroes left so everyone else is safe. Scott moved over to comfort him, giving him a side hug as he moved him to another room so he could have his privacy. The teens had tears in their eyes at the thought of losing a friend, and everyone was trying to comfort them to the best of their ability.

All they could do was hope Jimmy survives.

—----

It was on the news that their base was raided. Most people didn’t want to watch, not wanting to see their home in flames. The next night after the raid is when Tango and X portaled to the base to salvage anything. Some of their clothes could be saved, along with some of their kitchen stuff. Mostly Doc’s lab and the front entryway were unsalvageable so far. As they ventured further, they got to Jimmy’s computer room.

Tango had to kick the door down to get in, as too much damage had happened to the outside. Inside the room was a mess, some broken monitors and tables littered the floor. The only thing that looked like it survived was his main monitor. On the display, it showed that a password was needed to unlock it. Without thinking about it, he entered Jimmy’s password to copy all the files onto a memory stick.

But it didn’t take him to the desktop. Instead, lines of code showed up, before it kept repeating his name. Before he could get a better look, what looked to be lightning and code shot out from the monitor and behind Tango. He got in a defensive position, ready to attack, before he realised who it was.

“I told them they couldn’t find me.”

“JIMMY!” The man all but ran to him, wrapping in arms tight around him. Without thinking about it, he gave him a quick kiss before yelling at him never to do that again. Jimmy just stood there and expected his fate, giving X an awkward smile after he walked in. When Tango finished his lecture still holding the blond in a death grip, he told them about his hidden laptop under the desk and all the information was on it. X grabbed it and created a portal for them to leave as there was nothing else to salvage.

The fire user still hadn’t let go of Jimmy, but had instead decided to hold his hand as they left through the portal. Everyone was ecstatic to see Jimmy alive, and he got plenty more lectures about telling them his plan instead of worrying them to death.

X left the reunion to find Alex. It looked like he had just got off the phone with someone, so X raised his eyebrow in question.

“Just got off the phone with Etho, he and his team know about the base and are hiding out in some underground cave Bdubs found. False has apparently successfully infiltrated into the commission and is sending Jimmy all the dirt she can find on them. It’s happening soon. The commissions rating are going down as the newer heroes are causing more carnage then us. Think if we fight them soon, they’d be on our side?”

“Honestly, I think so. They were promised better heroes, but they’re losing their homes and businesses. The doubt has been placed, we just need it to grow. And I know how we can do this.”

Throughout the night, they pair stayed awake to finalise the plan, with input from others to make it perfect.

Time to show who the real villains were.

Chapter Text

When Etho had the call that EX’s base had been invaded, he started to relocate his team somewhere temporarily until the heat died down. Bdubs somehow knew of a comfy cave they could chill in and made quick work of taking them all there. While they were chilling, Etho was going to get some supplies for them since he could change his appearance at will so would be the least likely to get caught.

This was definitely something he hated doing because socialising was not his strong suit by any means, and he’d had to leave his signature mask with the others so he could avoid awkward questions from strangers. Generally, he sent Bdubs and the gremlin of a man would always come back with a new story that was most likely exaggerated to make him sound more impressive. The only of his stories that are remotely true is when he scared a bunch of drunk adults in some woods and shortly after they started the ‘Mossman’ rumour that soon spread to the whole town.

Etho may have helped in that rumour.

While he was walking back, he bumped into a very peculiar looking guy. He had some high-vis vest on so he stood out like a sore thumb. The two made eye contact, and it was the moment when Etho realised who it was. It was one of the newer heroes that honestly didn’t seem too bad, just doing damage control and helping civilians to safety. Here is when Etho’s poor social skills come into play because as the hero tried to make small talk and greet him, his first reaction was to punch him in the head.

Hard.

The poor hero was out like a light and started to fall to the floor. Thankfully, Etho caught him and adjusted his hold on him so it looked like he just needed help walking and not like he’d been knocked out. The walk back was even longer due to the unconscious man and carrying for their food, but he managed.

“Etho’s back and OH MY GOD WHO IS THAT?!” There’s Bdubs, shouting the place down.

“I panicked! He’s a hero and I got nervous and he was about to say something so I, you know…” He mimed punching to prove his point as Bdubs took the unconscious man and laid him down on a soft piece of moss. The shorter man started to mutter about why they never let Etho out by himself and that he’s lucky he likes him as he started making the hero comfortable. Etho took this as an excuse to leave and check up on False to see if she sent over more information because he didn’t want to be near an angry Bdubs.

Slowly, the hero had started to wake and Bdubs stood over him to watch as he opened his eyes. The hero sat up with a yelp and looked at the moss covered man with wide eyes. Abnormally large eyes analysed him before a confused look of recognition flooded his face.

“Mossman?”

“Oh, you scare people one time out of costume and suddenly there’s an urban legend about you. Seriously, the statue doesn’t even remotely look like me!” More confusion followed before another look of recognition at the familiar tone of voice used.

“I’m sorry, Double0 is responsible for the Mossman legend?”

“NO, I mean technically yes but that is not the point!”

“Okay…why am I here exactly?”

“It’s all Slab’s fault. We sent him out to get food and he decided ‘oh yeah I’m going to knock the lights out of some hero out of panic’ so now you’re here.” It was the bluntest way to put it, but Bdubs didn’t care all too much. It’s all Etho’s fault apparently.

The hero is quiet for a few moments. It was not the story he was expecting but it sounded bizarre enough to be the truth. That and he remembered making eye contact and being met with a fist.

“Well, it makes this somewhat easier. Any chance you’re applying?”

Now it was Bdubs turn to be confused. What did he mean applying? He was a new hero with his career ahead of him, what on earth would he want to apply for?

“As a villain. I want to apply for a job as a villain.” This summoned Etho back, with his mask on, to talk with the hero. Bdubs should have been listening but his clock was saying it was bed time so he went to a corner to lay there for the night.

—----

Keralis didn’t expect this to be how his evening went. After essentially being kidnapped by a villian with more social anxiety than evil plots, to discussing how his powers and skills would be helpful in their line of work. Slab pulled out his phone and dialled the number, and asked whoever answered to go to their location. Soon as he hung up an all too familiar portal opened and out popped EX and his clone.

“So, the hero only known as K wants to be a villain. Why, may I ask?” The one in green asked.

“To be very honest, they don’t appreciate it when I leave the others and go help civilians get out of the danger zone, they’re underpaying me because I’m not doing good enough, and in general they’ve been doing some dodgy things. Figured if I actually want to start helping people why not ask the villains, I knew you’d at least hear me out.” The pair started talking between themselves, but he couldn’t overhear anything because they were only communicating in vwoops, whistles and clicks.

It reminded him of when XV was still alive and made random noises while doing paperwork.

The red one pulled out his phone also to send a text and waited for a response. Keralis swore he could see a massive purple eye watching him, but it disappeared when he blinked.

“After a third opinion from our lovely Watcher, welcome to team K!” Well, that was simple. Maybe the massive eye was real then.

“Keralis, my name is Keralis.” He introduced himself to his new teammates.

“Nice to meet you. Sorry for knocking you out and essentially kidnapping you. Name’s Etho.”

Just as EX was going to say his name, a loud snore echoed in the room. Etho started to giggle while EX looked tired. “That’s Bdubs, or Mossman. He’s an old man who has to sleep everyday at exactly 8pm. Nothing can wake him.” Etho said in between his giggles. If Bdubs were awake then he would be shouting at being called Mossman.

“Moving swiftly onwards, I’m Alex. Good to meet you.”

“Oh no it’s my turn. Umm, my name is Xisuma. No one can pronounce it so they call me X.” He followed up his introduction by taking off his helmet. Alex followed in suit so now he was staring at two identical faces. But something seemed vaguely familiar about them.

Xisuma was nervous. Keralis was one of his friends from when he was a hero, and the two mainly talked when doing paperwork. It would be any moment now when the penny dropped.

As Keralis pondered if he’s met Alex before, he left to talk with Etho about some business leaving the two of them alone. To be fair, it could be worse but now he was left with a clone and he had nothing to talk about. What do clones like? Are they an exact replica of their original or do they have their own opinions?

“Do you have any friends?” Bad Keralis, why ask that of all questions.

“Several, but I’ve recently met one of my old friends.” X was trying to hint the truth to Keralis, get him suspicious enough and he’ll figure it out. They continued to talk, X giving slightly vague answers while Keralis started to slowly figure something out.

“Be honest, are you a clone because you seem to have lots of knowledge about living for someone who’s supposedly been alive for a week max.”

“No, I’m Alex’s twin. When I started and met everyone they kept assuming I was his clone so when we faked my death we used that as my cover story.” That rang some bells. X watched as Keralis slowly put the pieces together. The fake death, not being a clone, meeting an old friend. Xisuma had to be XV, ain’t no way he’s not.

Taking a breath, he looked into his eyes and said something he didn’t think he’d say again.

“Shishwammy?”

A grin found its way onto their faces as they hugged. There were mumbles of don’t scare me like that again and apologies, but both were ecstatic to be together again. Now all the truth had been said, the pair properly caught up and kept talking into the night, only stopping to get some rest before the sun came back up. Neither wanted a lecture from Bdubs because they didn’t get sleep.

—----

Opening his eyes again, Grian texted back Alex and went back to spying on his old handlers at the commission. Cleo had made him a special mask for him to use that covered his eyes and face so he could use his other power more freely to spy on people. In the past he could only use it at night when he had the blanket over his face but that didn’t always work cause it could get thrown off easily.

Switching eyes to the one overlooking the safe house, a man was approaching. He was using a walking stick and had some funny looking hat on. Moving the eye closer, he noticed the bow hidden in his long coat and the several scars littered on his face. The man wasn’t too close yet so he did the smart thing and headed to the nearest adult, Tango.

“Funny looking hat you say? Must be Scar then.” Grian thanked him and walked over to the front door so he could meet him properly. The man, who seems to be called Scar, hadn’t noticed his presence yet so he stood behind him and waited until he turned around.

The scream he let out was worth it.

Grian let out a cackle and ran off to Mumbo, who was chilling with Doc making various bombs for the showdown.

—----

Scar had just wanted to pop in and make sure everyone was alright after the raid and did not expect some feral winged boy to scare the life out of him. Another girl he didn’t know walked past and stared blankly at him, before walking past without saying a word. Then he swore the old hero SMajor walked past while chatting to Tango and Jimmy, and their conversation looked to be going well since Tango looked smug while the others had pink cheeks. Honestly, he left for a month to sell his magic crystals in the next city over and he came back to absolute chaos.

A deer hybrid talking with what looked to be a severed hand casually walks past and Scar believes he’s just about seen it all.

He decides to find Doc because he must surely know what on earth is happening.

Only to find his lab to see a lanky teen wielding a screwdriver in the air and shouting about how it's now a sonic screwdriver.

“Doc, am I crazy or are there children on the base?”

Said scientist looked at Scar confused for a brief second before the realisation dawned on him.

“Scar, did you not know we kidnapped the hero recruits?”

“You kidnapped who now? Isn’t that illegal?”

“First off, it was a good kidnapping, one of them only just turned eighteen. Second, you are literally a con artist, you can’t judge morality.” The screwdriver wielding teen looked like he wanted to add something into the conversation, but kept his mouth shut. Most likely wanting to go against the comment of being a child, but decided against it.

Chapter Text

“..and that's the plan. Everyone understand?” X finished briefing everyone on the final plan and when no one had any questions he dismissed everyone to bed. The plan was starting tomorrow so they all needed some much needed sleep to produce the best performance of a lifetime.

X watched as everyone said their good nights and left for their rooms until he and Alex were the only ones left. They sat in silence for a while, until X spoke up.

“You think mum and dad are proud?”

“Definitely, they’re looking up and telling all the other demons were their kids and how proud they are of us.” X smiled and gently bonked his twins head. “It’s late. We should sleep too. Tomorrow is the big day after all.”

“Big day indeed. Race you to the room?”

“You’re on.”

—----

Chaos flooded the streets. Bombs were going off left and right. Sleeping gas flooded the street. Portals with falling debris appearing all over.

The heroes were struggling to keep up with what the villains were doing, especially Evil X’s clone who knew all their attacks. There were even new villains they hadn’t seen before, a girl shooting light dressed in a dark cloak, a man in a mechanical suit throwing bombs, a honestly terrifying figure flying around with massive eyes surrounding him and a girl charging at people with her antlers. These new villains were wildcards, causing distractions for the heroes rather than fighting.

These new faces knew everyone's attacks and how to counter them. Any hint at fighting them and another one came running, constantly covering each other's back and hitting where it hurts. The worst moment was when the man in the mechanical suit got hit by a hero and that hero was impaled with the girl's antlers and blinded.

Evil X ran over to the newcomers, it looked like he scolded the girls based on their body language, but he gave them both a fist bump so anything could have happened.

There were also very creepy looking skeletons running around, taking what would be fatal hits before building themselves back up and running to the next person.

The fight looked well coordinated. Staged even, with each person playing their role to their fullest.

A Tv broadcast was going on too, showing a masked man with blond hair calling out to the public to stop supporting the heroes, detailing every little secret they tried covering. Attention was drawn to the corrupt system, how these so-called villains were trying to help, how they had been beaten by those considered better until they embraced the role they were forced into.

Heroes noted how the cheers for the villains replaced the ones they usually received.

Then the hero trainees were mentioned, how children were brought from parents, kidnapped from homes to be trained into the perfect weapon. How children were forced to fight, to kill, or they would be discarded.

The public did not like that.

Now the heroes were being targeted. Debris was thrown at them, the random power stunning them, and innocent people standing in the way of the fight.

The commission, sitting in their safe room didn’t know what to do. Their reputation was down the drain at this point, the favour for the villains they created becoming more popular. They couldn’t pull their heroes from the fight, that was cowardice and being weak, so sat and waited. Waited for the battle to finish and manufacture a story about mind control and how the villains couldn’t be trusted, that they spoke lies.

Then Evil X and his clone burst into the safe room.

Portals were created and a camera was thrown in. It was livestreaming so everyone sitting at home could watch. All these ‘powerful’ people sitting like ducks waiting for everything to pass. Not helping, not lifting a finger to help the civilians who were losing homes, losing their lives to a twisted idea of justice.

If they didn’t already, the public now despised the commission.

Bystanders stood next to the people they were told to fear. Heroes getting overwhelmed due to the amount of people they were swarmed by.

They had no choice but to surrender.

Heroes' crimes were being leaked onto every social media platform they either got arrested or had to go into hiding. Villains were being praised for standing up against corruption.

Yet some couldn’t let go about how everyone started supporting them so quickly.

Some like Etho’s team went underground in the aftermath, becoming vigilantes hiding in the shadows. Not liking the limelight but still helping.

They gained a new name for themselves, the Shadows, and lived up to it. Although Bdubs still had the occasional Mossman comment that never failed to make him shout in denial. Etho in particular used his shape-shifting ability to stay under the radar as most as he could, with crippling social anxiety and that. Keralis still brings up their first encounter.

Speaking of Keralis, he started helping people in the way he always wanted too. When people are in danger, Keralis always has his high vis vest on leading people to safety, and hypnotising them to calm down and evacuate. He mainly worked with X and his twin to help with any major disaster, or when they become too overwhelmed.

Jimmy ended up moving in with Tango cause his place was destroyed, but he hasn’t moved out yet so it looks like he’s there to stay. No one quite knows if they’re dating yet, with pet names like ‘my rancher’ and ‘darling’. Cleo has £50 on them dating by the end of the month.

X didn’t quite become a hero again, not wanting to go back to the system that left him so scared, that tried to weaponize children. So he also became a vigilante, a more prominent one compared to Etho and his team, but it left him feeling free from the shackles of being a full time hero. The ghosts of the past won’t stop him living his dream.

As for Grian, Mumbo, Gem and Pearl? They all live in a large house with Cleo. The zombie took them all in, made them clothes, and started giving them a proper education. Doc would help out with teaching them some subjects like maths and science, and Jimmy would pop in to help them learn about technology, so they can catch up on all the learning they missed. Doesn’t mean they like learning these subjects again, but Cleo was scary enough to the point they didn’t complain. That and her lessons were very fun, at least compared to Doc rambling about science to the extent that not even Mumbo knew what was going on.

Over time, people forgot about the old heroes. They forgot about the fear they felt, about the numerous deaths and homes destroyed. It became something children were taught about in school, about the fall of the commission and the heroes they employed. It’s said the best teacher who taught this part of history was a winged man in a red jumper, tailor made to fit his wings.

Vigilantes are still needed. People creating organisations to mimic the past commission, led by past heroes who went into hiding or someone who idolised the wrong people.

But never call them heroes. All vigilantes, old and new, spit on that name.

Heroes abused the system. Vigilantes are born to take that system down.