Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warnings:
Fandom:
Character:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2025-06-07
Updated:
2025-07-05
Words:
7,944
Chapters:
3/?
Comments:
5
Kudos:
14
Bookmarks:
8
Hits:
908

In The Blink Of An Eye

Summary:

Arthur didn't expect to wake up outside of his house. Let alone outside of his world. But at least he was able to get a decent power pretty quickly.

Notes:

I want to preface with the usual. English is not my first language, so please excuse any grammer mistakes.

And this is also my first time ever writing anything. But dont worry i will try my best to not abandon this like most first time writers usually do.

I am also not going to be coding so i can use italics so if you care enough about that go read on Questionable Questing, SpaceBattles or for some unholy reason Fanfiction.net

Enjoy.

Chapter Text

Arthur woke up in an alleyway.

The alleyway was small, it was narrow and long, stretching from the sidewalk where Arthur could hear people walking, ending at looked like the back of a building. It was dim, for the only source of light was from a lamp post that was off to the side of the entrance to the alleyway.

Arthur himself was a teenager, wearing a black Technoblade hoodie, along with matching black pants. He was about 17. With black hair, green eyes, an average build, and decent looks, standing at 5'10. All in all, Arthur was just a teenager.

And now this might come as a surprise but Arthur isn't used to waking up in alleyways, he's used to waking up in his home, in his bed. Not in an alleyway leaning against a dumpster.

But his confusion was set aside. Because he realized that for him to end up in a random alleyway, would mean that someone must have taken from his home with none the wiser.

Terrified out of his mind, Arthur searched around in a panic, trying to see if whoever did this was still around, but not so secretly hoping that they weren't.

Gradually, after not finding anything, some of the panic wore off, not completely of course. But enough to actually think, with his judgement unimpeded.

And then for the first time since he woke up Arthur finally spoke.

"Where am I?"

His eyes wondered the alleyway he found himself in. searching, in hopes of finding something to explain where he was taken and why.

And luckily or unluckily depending on how you view it, his eyes did eventually find something, right next to where he woke up was a suitcase, a perfect almost unnaturally clean white suitcase. It was completely smooth, without even a lock in place.

Cautiously, Arthur approached the mysterious suitcase, unsure of what to expect.

Slowly grabbing it, Arthur gently turned around, trying to find a symbol or anything that would hint at who kidnapped him. With the way Arthur was handling the suitcase, you would think it contained a bomb with in, which it could. Either way Arthur wasn't willing to risk.

After inspecting every inch of it he could, he finally gave up on finding any info as to his mysterious kidnapper.

Moving to hide as much of his body and the suitcase as possible behind the dumpster. He gently set the suitcase down on the ground, hoping that no one would decide to randomly look down an empty alleyway in the middle of the night.

Nervously, Arthur looked from right to left, trying to make sure that nobody was watching.

Then and only then, did Arthur finally decide to find out what was within. With sweaty shaking hands, Arthur slowly opened the suitcase. Immediately sighing in relief. there were only one item in the suitcase, and it wasn't a bomb.

Said item, was what looks to be a cylindrical stainless steel canister, it was long and thin, with no engraving or markings on its front, or on top of its lid. It looked like I could only fit a pencil, but Arthur thinks that more the likely option is a vial.

The clues that Arthur has been able to gather during the short duration that he has been awake, seem to be painting a dreadful image. That Arthur is hoping from the bottom of his rapidly beating heart, is incorrect. Because he would rather have been kidnapped, had all of his organs harvested, and then left to die in the middle of nowhere, with this being just be some delusion he created on his deathbed.

With heavy breathing, Arthur tried to push the growing unease in his stomach, but it was a futile effort. For if what Arthur is thinking, is true, then his next and last few years of living, will certainly not be fun.

With his features twisting in grief. He closed his eyes to stop himself from tearing up, grabbed his head, and shook it from left to right. No, no, no, there's no way this is real, right?

Gritting his teeth, opening his teary, bloodshot eyes, and then with incredibly shaky hands, that were slick from sweat, along with a rapidly growing sense of dread. Arthur slowly reached into the suitcase, and gently grabbed the canister, trying his best not to shake or jostle it in anyway. Not that it would matter with how shaky his hands were.

He secured a firm hold on the lid of the canister, then slowly and almost cautiously twisted the lid, tensing and moving his face away from it, as if preparing for it to explode in his face the moment it was exposed to air.

Putting the lid back in the suitcase. Arthur peaked over the edge of the canister. With his eyes slowly creeping over to the item it contains. As if whatever was inside would jump out and devour him whole. Which in a sense it would, just not physically but more metaphorically or emotionally.

When line of sight between Arthur and the item was established. he slumped down onto the wall.

Because unfortunately, it would seem that the world did not care for Arthur's hope. Because what Arthur found in that box, was exactly what he hoped wouldn’t be in there.

A vial

A transparent, glass vial. About as long and thin as a pencil. Along with a black rubbery cork, which was sealing inside a red and blue, slightly metallic, semi-transparent mixture.

He slumped in despair. Falling to the floor, with his back against the wall, and the dumpster to his side.

Returning the vial to the suitcase. Arthur sat in silence. Wearing a blank expression, and matching body language. Why?

I had a family, friends, an entire life. And it was all ripped away from me, they were all ripped away from me. And now I'll never see them again. Do they even remember me anymore? Or do they just think I disappeared out of nowhere? I doubt I will survive the next few years. Let alone what comes after them. And even if I do, what are the chances I will be able to find a way to go back to them?

Why would whoever did this choose me of all people? They could've picked anybody, literally anybody would have done the job. I mean what could seventeen year old Arthur do? They could have picked any one those, lonely, fucking losers, that would've been over the moon if this had happened to them.

Arthur grit his teeth. And reached for the vial that was inside the suitcase. Feeling an intense urge to crush the fragile glass in his hands. As his feelings of sorrow, and grief, started to give way to frustration, and anger, all he wanted was to ruin the plans of whoever did this to him, in an act of rebellion.

But he knew that it would amount to nothing in the end. And so his logical side won out in the end. Realizing that the only result of his "rebellion", would be losing out on his only chance of acquiring something that could make the next few years less miserable. Maybe it even turn this death sentence into an opportunity.

Sighing, with a defeated expression, Arthur stood up, twisted open the black cork, threw his head back, and downed the entire red and blue liquid in one gulp. Careful to not spill a single drop, after all he wouldn't want to miss this opportunity, because he spilled some of it.

Then Arthur tensed, awaiting the incoming trigger event. Or more so the visions that usually accompany it.

But then… nothing happened?

Sensing that nothing was happening, Arthur didn’t hesitate to use this brief window of time, to wind his arm up as far as he possibly could, before swinging his arm forward, and smashing the vial in his hands into the wall. Arthur then covered his face with his arms, to prevent his face from getting cut up, from all the glass shards that were sent flying.

When he moved his arms off of his face, it was clear that for the first time since he woke up, Arthur was smiling.

Arthur's smile was wiped from his face.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Arthur, with his face twisted in an expression of pure pain. thrashed around, and grabbed his scalp with his hands, digging at it as if to try and itch at his own brain. All the while, letting out a horrifying screech. Which caused all the people that heard it to start speeding up.

Feeling as if something was growing inside of his brain. which wasn't actually just a feeling. It was his shard, creating an organ which will allow Arthur and it to communicate more effectively. through something called a Corona Pollentioa.

A Corona Pollentioa(which is in no way related to Covid-19), is a growth inside of the brain, that allows a parahuman to effectively control their powers. Because even without a Corona Pollentioa, a parahuman can still use their powers, they just won't have much control over them.

For a normal parahuman, this process is usually a painless ordeal, with the trigger event only increasing the size of their Corona Pollentioa.

But unfortunately for Arthur, he was not a normal parahuman, and neither was his trigger. And like all capes that purchased their powers from Cauldron, or acquired a vial, he did not have a functioning Corona Pollentioa. In fact he didn’t have one at all.

So, his shard had to form a Corona Pollentioa.

And I believe it goes without saying, that growing an entire organ, is not a painless ordeal.

But gradually the pain subsided. Allowing Arthur a moment of respite, from the agony he was subjected to. Arthur then relaxed his entire body, with his expression returning to a more natural form.

Only for a different pain to immediately take it place. Twisting his expression back into pure pain. Except this agony was different, for it was accompanied with an itch. An itch that went down to Arthur's very bones.

No, it went down to his very soul.

As if possessed, Arthur manically scratched at his body. He scratched his arms, legs, torso, neck. Nothing was spared. except weirdly his face?

At first it was just the itch, then it was the sensation of something growing inside of him returning, but this time instead of it being in his brain, it was his entire body.

Then the lines started to appear, They were ugly, and unsymmetrical, their shapes and sizes would suddenly change from one part to the other. With neither rhyme nor an apparent reason. They covered his entire body, arms, legs, fingers. Nothing was spared. Except, yet again his face.

The lines, didn't seem to follow neither pattern, nor methodology in their chaos.

But even the absurd, mind bending twists and nonsensical shapes that they made, were not the most peculiar thing about them.

No, that honor goes to their color.

They were a beautiful dark violet, with varying degrees of brightness. Warping, as if they were portals that allowed you to see into the far depth of space, with that you see shifting depending on the angle that you viewed it from.

As the connection between him and his shard was established, Arthur collapsed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incomprehensible, eldritch, monstrosity, all of these words and more would be perfectly fitting ways of describing these Beings, but of all words, of all ways that could be used to make sense of these Beings, the most fitting of them all was

Entity

Their bodies were impossibilities given form. Utterly incomprehensible to a human mind. They were three dimensional, yet simultaneously they were two dimensional, existing in an unfathomable number of dimensions. they warped the very fabric of reality and space-time, just by existing.

Even as their bodies twisted and shifted across countless dimensions, bodies occupying the same space, yet never changing in shape nor size, you could still clearly tell there wasn't just one of them. There was Two, to be exact.

Color was impossible to make out, so was an exact shape of how they looked like. The best image that a mortal mind like Arthur's could create, was of worm like beings, it imagined them slithering and wiggling like a worm would across space, and the countless dimensions that housed their bodies.

As they moved across space, another one of their kind suddenly appeared.

An Outsider

Exchange. Meet. it sent over in a garbled mess .

With The Entity needing to take a moment to decipher the contents of the message.

Agreement. Replied The Entity.

The Outsider then started heading directly to it, before briefly colliding, both shedding parts of their body and sending them to the other. It seemed that the sudden attack was merely an attempt at a form of alien communication.

After concluding their short but fruitful exchange. The Outsider immediately left. Propelling itself into the distance, with a more primitive form of transportation than the Duo.

Concern. The Warrior sent.

Quickly, to calm its concerned companion, The Thinker, sent over the details of what occurred during the exchange.

Confidence. It replied.

Satisfied, The Warrior continued on it's path towards the blue planet.

The Thinker, collected any shards it hasn't already. And started to sort through all that was exchanged.

The shards of The Outsider contained within them a wealth of information, of experiences and possibility's.

The amount was overwhelming for The Thinker, it unlocked much of what was considered for being like these Entities.

Imagination, being the one of most importance.

Their inability to imagine, was the reason they preform these Cycles in the first place. They hand out their powers to species much their lesser. Simply because for the Entities, imagination was not something they were capable of, and so they needed to harness it from those that could.

But now it seems one of them has unlocked the ability that was previously unique to mortal minds.

The possibility's that this discovery made possible are staggering.

The Thinker however, so preoccupied with going over what it gained from the exchange, along with it's Companion's constant pestering, didn't quite notice how close she was to the planet they were set to land on.

Resulting in her crashing, and incurring major damages to itself, along with minor damages to the shards that were acquired from The Outsider.

With the most important of said shards getting the worst of it, losing much of it's mass. And as a consequence much of it's power.

Concern. The Warrior sent over yet again.

Confidence. The Thinker also mirrored it's previous reply.

The Thinker then turned it's focus towards recovery.

The vision then shifted over to a later time. Showcasing the new form of The Thinker now called Eden in what seemed to be a human body.

Eden was experimenting with her newfound ability to imagine and think creatively.

Her first experiment, and the only experiment as a sort of trial.

Was attempting to fix the shard that sustained the most damages during the crash. The shard originally was able to manipulate time to an extremely high degree. A level far beyond what Eden and Zion - The Warrior - have ever seen.

Unfortunately however, it seems that during the crash, the shard lost a sizeable portion of itself. Resulting in the shard now only being able to stop time, just with an extremely high degree of efficiency.

And even worse it can no longer choose what is affected by it's power. Meaning that if it's power is used, everything within it’s radius will be indiscriminately affected. And while that is still useful, it could've been capable of so much more.

So, Eden using her newfound ability to imagine, decided to attempt a fusion of two separate shards, to create one stronger combination.

This idea was initially created when Eden saw the issue, and realized that she had the perfect shard to fix it.

Well actually that statement is slightly false, it was not the shard that was being fused, but only one part of it.

Said part is the ability to separate a target from time or put said target in stasis, suspending it from time.

So, Eden had the idea that if she could fuse these two shards into one, the resulting shard would be able to stop time and choose who is targeted by it's power, through separating anything that it does not want frozen, from time itself using the second power.

Deciding to finally start, Eden duplicated only the necessary part of the shard that was needed, so as to not damage the shard.

Eden then started the slow and sensitive process of fusion.

Only to be interrupted right before completion by a small hidden fragment of The Outsider, that he left to monitor and leech any future data she acquires. Unfortunately his plans were foiled by pure coincidence.

If Eden hadn't decided on doing this fusion, then she would have never discovered it.

Not letting this stop her, Eden continued onwards anyway. Now with the added task of erasing the small fragment.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur, yet again awoke with a startle. Still in the same alleyway, with very little change to it, one being that the ground had a new edition to it, or a lot of very small editions. And the second, being the sun starting to rise in the sky, which illuminated the previously dark alleyway.

Ow.

Arthur sat up, groaning in pain. Most of his body red, covered in the scratches that were left by him during the trigger.

This better have been worth it.

Taking a moment to gather his bearing. Arthur, with his brow furrowed, looked down, trying to find the reason for the pain and itching.

He first saw them on his hands. he was confused, initially thinking they were just some weird tattoo from his power mutating. But then he moved his hands and the pattern changed with it. He then realized that they were more like a portal or a window looking into somewhere.

Both mesmerized and concerned, he grabbed one hand with the other, carefully tracing the lines with his fingers. Expecting some sort of feedback, instead all he got was the texture of smooth skin.

As he traced the lines, Arthur saw them continue into his sleeve. Pulling his sleeve up he saw the lines climb his entire forearm in confusing and mind bending patterns, with arrays of stars and constellations held within them.

Grabbing the neck of his hoodie, and pulling it as wide as he could get it. He peered through the opening, and looked at his chest. Only to find more of the same patterns all over his torso. Continuing to search, he found them on his legs, feet and back.

"What the fuck?" said Arthur with a hoarse voice. Heart speeding up, and fear starting to creep onto his face. Wondering what power could possibly cause this type of mutation.

Arthur put his hands on his face, grabbing and twisting the skin attempting to feel any lines on his face, but he felt nothing in the end.

He then looked around, trying to find anything to use as a mirror. Finding nothing, he then decided to look inside of the dumpster he woke up next to, locating a green glass bottle, he brought it up to his face, hoping the lines would stand out enough to be visible through the distorted reflection.

Arthur let out a sigh of relief, His face losing some of the fear. as far as he could see there was nothing.

Small mercies I guess.

He then looked down at his naked feet, and pursed his lip. But… how am I gonna hide this?

Taking a quick glance in the dumpster again, making sure there wasn't any shoes that were still usable. Initially finding nothing he looked away, but as he looked away he caught something in the corner of his eye.

It was a shoe. It looked well worn in all the worst ways. But a shoe is a shoe. And if it helps temporarily hide the unfortunate side effects of getting superpowers, Arthur will take it.

Shrugging. he grabbed them out, and put them on.

Afterwards, Arthur decided that he has put off thinking of his trigger event long enough. he would've loved to put it off for longer, but he is currently in an alleyway and homeless, so attempting to procrastinate his problems away will not work this time.

A while later. after giving it some thought, Arthur was able to narrow it down to a few questions that he thought were most important.

1- Why do I still remember what I saw?
2- Why was I shown a cutscene instead of a vision of the Entities?
3- When did Eden ever get her hands on a time Shard that strong?
4- How do I know that it was a time Shard?
5- Why did the "cutscene" focus on said time Shard so much?
6- Is that Shard mine by any chance?

A few minutes later, after giving it even more thought, Arthur was able to think of a few answers to some of the questions.

1- Eden's death?
2- Eden's death?
3- ???
4- Shard fuckery.
5- Mine?(Please.)
6- Probably(Hopefully).

Those were his best guess's. though technically 1 and 2 could actually be the damage from the crash that then ruined the shards ability to erase the memory properly.

Arthur realized that he was not going to be able to get much further without any actual info, which was impossible to get.

Arthur decided to finally get to most important thing that he needed to investigate.

His power.

If that time shard is mine, then I should be able to stop time like it can, no?

Or wait no, that’s the shards power, I might have gotten something different?

Shaking his head to get rid of distractions. Closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath. he tried to reach for the instinctive knowledge that parahumans get of their powers.

Chapter 2: A Whole New World(Not An Alleyway This Time)

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

With furrowed brows and a confused expression, Arthur opened his eyes. Scratching his head, he tried to decipher the vague feelings he was provided by his powers.

Still standing in the same alleyway, now facing the dumpster so as to not have to lean against or smell it to for any longer.

After a minute of glancing around the alleyway in confusion, well not just confusion there was also some thoughts going on in his head. though mainly confusion.

A few moments later he seems to have decipher some of it. Looking down at his hands, he clenched and unclenched them a few times, taking deep breaths all the while. Trying to shake of any nervousness and build enough courage to do as his instincts are saying.

After a few more minutes of this. He decided that enough was enough, and there was no need to be so scared of his powers, because there is simply no way that just using it for the first time would hurt(Right?). Taking one last extra deep breath. He went for it.

"Uhhhh, Jump?." The moment the Command left his mouth Arthur knew it was rejected. How does he know it failed? No idea. Why did it fail? Still no idea.

Well, that’s a lie, he actually has a pretty good idea of what caused the Command to fail.

You see, Arthur didn't come up with the word Command on his own for the way his power worked. No that came directly from his power. In fact all he got from his power was the word Command, and the general feeling that it needed to be a physical action.

And the reason he believes the earlier Command failed was in the name. It quite literally needed to be a Command for his power to register it. And to be using the power itself obviously, or it would just trigger every single time he said a verb.

And so because it was his first time using it he wasn't confident enough to say the Command properly.

"Alright, say it properly this time." Arthur reassured his self yet again, this time a lot more calm now that he already tried it once. Even if said try ended in failure.

"Jump Once."

As soon the words left his mouth, Arthur found himself in the air. And in that brief moment, he realized that he made one very crucial error.

He only said jump.

Falling to floor completely unprepared to land. He leaned forward to try not fall on his ass, but it seems he was still destined to fall, just now to the front instead of the back. He tried his best to stop the inevitable but ultimately like most that do he failed.

As the sound of something meeting the front of the metal dumpster echoed through the alleyway. Arthur sat on the floor, his head slowly alternating from left to right. Wondering where up and down went.

"Ow."

On the bright side, Arthur hopes of not getting hurt too badly from using his powers for the first time came true. He only got a minor headache, which… at least it wasn't a concussion.

He didn’t even know where he was sleeping tonight, he couldn't handle a concussion on top of that.

As directions started to come back to him a few minutes later. Arthur decided to finally stop dirtying his only set of clothes and get off the filthy alleyway floor.

Sitting up with the support of his arms. Then trying to stand before almost falling to the floor again. Barely catching himself with wall that was next to him. Pushing off the wall too hard In the opposite direction didn't work out well either. With him now leaning against the dumpster now instead if the wall.

Recognizing that he has to do it a little slower from how weak his balance still is. Arthur slowly pushed off of the dumpster. Now standing on his own, with his arms spread out wide like he was balancing on tightrope. His eyes closed trying not to vomit.

After a few seconds Arthur opened his closed eyes. "Maybe it was little worse than a headache."

Taking a few minutes to get his shit together as best as he can. Before giving up on that and moving on anyway. Now with a suddenly not so mild headache, he decided to finally get out of this damn alleyway. With his new goals being water, food and something for the headache.

Taking yet another deep breath and shaking his head to prepared himself. Which he immediately regretted. Holding the top of his head, slowly caressing his temples in circular motions. For the second time in the last minute he opened his eyes. Almost shaking his head to clear the pain again before catching himself.

Turning his head, Arthur's eyes landed on the exit of the alleyway. His expression blank, thinking about a million different things at the same time. A hundred different ways leaving this alleyway could go. Unknowingly he came to feel safe in the alleyway, isolated from the rest of the world. But that has to come to an end eventually.

His hands clenched tightly at his hands. Arthur turned to fully face the entrance. Shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and pulling up the hood to hide the marks from his powers that were on his hands and neck.

Finally Arthur steps out of the alleyway that he has woken up in twice now. But early as it was there was still people walking around, and so Arthur's first experience with a person in this world was getting shoved out of the way.

Realizing his mistake he moved out of the way and started walking too. Now moving in a random direction, hoping to find some food or water. Its been hours since he woke up, and the whole trigger thing left Arthur very hungry and even more thirsty.

Wandering around Brockton Bay with no idea as to where he's going was… an interesting idea. Not a good one, but an interesting one.

Walking past people who were going to work, school or what ever else people wake up this early for. Arthur contemplated asking one of the people walking by him for a place he could eat at.

Knowing that it would take him far too long to find one him self that was open, he quickly decided to ask a random person for directions.

After a few minutes of surveying the surroundings, he ended up choosing a middle-aged man with very short brown hair that was mostly covered by one of those small Irish hats, and an apron that hid most of his clothes. He was inside a egg themed breakfast food truck, that he seemed to be getting ready to open.

Approaching him, Arthur raised his right hand to bring attention to himself. "hey sorry, do you know any breakfast places open right now?"

The man glanced up from what he was doing with an expression that said really clear on his face. Arthur after a moment looked at the menu of the truck for the first time.

"Ohh." Arthur muttered in embarrassment. Looking at the variety of egg base of food on the menu, he realized that they were all surprisingly cheap.

Which was immediately followed by the more important realization that he didn't have a single cent on him.

"Yeah, just give me moment to set everything up and I'll be with you…" The man paused for a moment. "… If you were planning on buying?" Expecting Arthur to walk away with some excuse as to why he wouldn't buy anything.

"Yeah, I was planning on buying." Arthur replied with a tone that indicated a clear but was coming. feeling a bit bad for having to tell the man he couldn’t buy.

The man simply sighed and as he was about to reply. Arthur's eyes lit up, interrupting what the man was about to say, after coming up with what he thinks is a brilliant idea.

"I will be back." he let out quickly before turning around and walking away.

A look of confusion appeared on the man's face before it disappeared and he went back to setting up his shop.

Arthur was now walking with no idea as to where he was going. But now with a propose. You see his "brilliant" idea was to do what every other person in his situation does. And he doesn't mean being out of money or being homeless thought it would technically still apply. No he meant waking up in a different world.

And what is this thing that everyone does in this situation you ask. Of course, they rob someone else for their money. I mean what else would someone do. But there was one crucial problem that Arthur was facing, they usually do the robbing after getting robbed.

But Arthur didn't want to just sit around waiting to get robbed, that would take way to long. So he decided that if was going to rob them anyway why wait until they come up to him when he could just skip the unnecessary step and go to them himself.

With his course of actions already set in stone Arthur marched forward to…

Who am I supposed to rob?

With a new step added to the plan Arthur now actually marched forward. Not really, he stood in place and searched the not so busy streets for suitable targets. Hoping that with the reputation that the Brockton Bay holds it would be pretty simple to find gang affiliates any kind.

His eyes almost immediately landing on a group of three clearly empire thugs that were stood right on the entrance of an alleyway. It was clear they were empire thugs because it looked like they were cosplaying as Hookwolf.

Especially the one in the middle. It obvious he was a leader of some sorts among this trio. He had long blonde hair almost exactly like Hookwolf's, tank top(though he would be topless like Hookwolf if he could) and jeans. The others mirroring the outfit, but without the hair. Not by choice from the signs of balding that were showing.

And of course the stylized double eight of the empire tattooed on their arms.

Arthur sauntered over to them in plain view. Wearing the biggest grin he could manage. With the look in his eyes you would expect him to start rubbing his hands together like a greedy businessman about to make the deal of his life, which isn't completely wrong.

As they noticed him coming over to them, they turned to him one by one. Immediately they looked him up and down. Trying to asses why he was walking up to them.

"Hello, have you ever hurt someone innocent for no real reason?" Arthur asked with a voice that matched the grin on his face. Making sure these weren't innocent people he was about to rob.

The thugs were left immensely confused.

After a few seconds seeing as they stunned speechless. Arthur snapped his fingers attempting to bring back their focus.

"Kid, why don't you just fuck off." The Leader responded, not even doing his usual voice. Which was a poor attempt to mimic the authority he would hear in Hookwolf's voice. Recognizing that something was off with the person in front of him. And in Brockton Bay a weird person is more likely to be cape than not.

But wasn’t actually why The Leader was trying to talk it out instead of just swinging at Arthur, or worse. For a brief moment Arthur seems to have forgotten the very obvious signs of his powers, that being his hands that were previously in his pockets.

"Ahh, I'll take that as a yes." Arthur nodded as he said this, clearly not having realized his mistake. Pressing the tips of his fingers together.

As the thugs all attempted to put distance between them and Arthur. Slowly backing away, their hands reaching towards the weapons they usually carry. Hoping the nutcase in front of them isn't actually a cape or really high on drugs. And if he was at least not a high level brute.

"If you would please hand over all of your cash, as I am robbing you."

Notes:

Hello again.

Sorry for the short chapter. just thought it would be funny ending it there.

First of all I haven't been able to write because of exams and I still won't be able to for another two weeks of so. I'll still try my best but i just don't have much time. So updates might a little slow for 2 weeks or so.

Would you believe me if i said the similarities to King Crimsons powers was only noticed after posting the story. i actually came up with the idea for this power like years ago just never got to writing anything with it.

But anyways I hope you enjoyed this. And any help or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. And so would any support you could show to the story.

Goodbye.

Chapter 3: Commen Sense

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"I only do cash." Arthur said to the empire thugs he was robbing as they slowly tried to get away.

Said thugs now stood completely still after processing what he had to say to them. Jaws hanging from shock, with their mouths wide opened, stunned at the audacity of this teenage cape who apparently wanted to rob them in public.

The silence lasted a good few seconds before being rudely interrupted

"Cash, Please." Arthur answered still smiling. Unaffected by their shock.

The confirmation that they were in fact getting robbed out in the open in broad daylight snapped them out of their daze. They exchanged brief glances between each other. Quickly deciding not to risk their lives for some pocket change.

Not wasting a single second, they all took their wallets out, emptied all of the cash inside all over the floor and ran down the alleyway they were standing next to, immediately turning the corner and disappearing from his vision.

The situation was now reversed with Arthur standing with his jaw hanging, stunned in disbelief.

Choosing not putting much thought into it and focusing on how close he was to getting what he wanted. He shrugged and bent down to grab all the money, almost falling in the process from a sudden wave of dizziness. Picking up all thee money and standing up, Arthur stood still waiting for the sudden dizziness to pass.

After it quickly passed, he got back to his quest of acquiring food. Starting to walk back over to the food stand. Assuming the source of the dizziness was the lack of food or water or both.

Quickly getting to the food truck, not noticing the weird looks from the owner of the stand. Who seemed to have finished setting everything up.

"I'll take a Double Ham, Egg and Cheese please," Arthur just picked the first item he saw on the menu, "And an Orange juice."

"Alright, one moment." The owner immediately got to making the order, which didn't take much time since he was already cooking the eggs for Arthur before he ordered.

Arthur stood still, well as still as he could anyway, in front of the truck waiting for his sandwich. Completely zoned out staring at the eggs, his expression blank.

A few moments later Arthur was snapped out of his daze by the owner. "Hey, are you alright?"

he looked up at the man while blinking. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You sure, you look.. out of it." the owner answered, his expression and tone conveying his clear concern. Arthurs behavior was obviously off. Along with how young he is and what the man just saw. He was a little more than concerned. And very tempted to call the PRT.

"Yeah, am fine." Arthur replied to the man, waving off his concern. Not really paying attention to what the man was saying. What he was actually was concerned about was getting his sandwich and juice.

The man knowing he can't do much more to help. His shoulder slump slightly with a small sigh.

"Alright then, here, Double Ham, Egg and cheese and Orange juice." the owner said as he held out the order for Arthur to take.

Who took the order with both hands and the biggest grin on his face. Taking a deep breath to inhale the scent of the sandwich first. He then looked up at the owner and asked. "How much?"

The owner instead shook his head. "Its on the house," the man paused for a moment contemplating if should even say more than he already has. "just go to a Hospital right after it." the man finished with a sigh again, for the hundredth time since he spoke to Arthur.

"Really?" Arthur was skeptical but a nod from the owner along with his general body language was enough for him to decide to move on and accept the kind gesture. Shrugging, a smile appeared on his face. "Thanks."

The owner never followed through with the temptation to call the PRT however. He doesn't know the kid nor his living situation, which while clearly not good just wasn't his place to stick his nose in. And in Brockton Bay you don't stick your nose in other people's business, especially cape business.

"Uhh, thanks." Arthur thanked the man again after a few seconds went by of awkward silence. Before turning around and walking away even more awkwardly.

The owner continued staring at Arthur back for a few moments before getting back to getting everything ready properly for other customers. He wasn't able to get ready fully earlier because of rushing to get to Arthur.

Said person was now walking aimlessly yet again now in search of a place to eat the food and water he set out to acquire.

He continued walking for a few minutes, after which he started to think eating it while standing wouldn't be too bad of an idea.

But he fortunately stubbled upon a children's park with benches placed around it for the parents. Thankfully it was completely empty considering how early in the morning it was. If it wasn't Arthur wouldn't have cared anyway, but it was the thought that counts.

Walking over and sitting on the benches he put the meal on the vacant spot next to him. Taking a moment to enjoy finally being able to relax in an actual seat.

Not wanting to be hungry any longer he took the sandwich in his lap and immediately started to devour it without an ounce of hesitation. Only taking an occasional break to drink from the orange juice, to help wash down the mostly unchewed sandwich from the speed he was eating at.

"This might be the best thing I've ever fucking had." Arthur has never been this hungry before either. It seems trigger events like his were calorie hungry. Or it the was the that and the fact that he didn’t have breakfast.

No matter the reason for his hunger, it was very real and very painful. But thankfully that didn't last much longer. And neither did the sandwich and juice.

Now sitting with a full stomach, an empty rapper and cup. Which he put to the side back on the spot next to him, planning to throw them in the trash when he gets up.

Arthur got to thinking about his next move. He was no longer dying of hunger and thirst so that was something he doesn't have to worry about for a while, as in a day or two with the pocket change the three cosplayers had on them. So the next immediate requirement for survival was shelter, which was a little harder to acquire than the other two, but was usually a one and done thing for a bit.

Dusting the crumps off of his hands and legs he got to thinking about what to do next, or more like how to do it. He knows what the next goal is, but he has little idea of what to do. The only thing that’s at least somewhat feasible was the typical thing those in his situation seem to always do.

Warehouse.

It makes sense, especially in Brockton Bay with how many of them are abandoned for various reasons. They're empty, spacious, and most importantly most people never bother looking at or in them. They're perfect for the dimensionally displaced homeless.

If Arthur's memory is correct then all the warehouses are usually in a specific area of the city, which he saw on a map of Brockton Bay once.

It was in the… Docks?

Not really sure of how correct the information is and not wanting to ask someone to find out, he figured out the first part of the find an empty warehouse plan.

The Library.

The main source of info that was used in the main story and a lot of other worm stories too. Well, not the library itself more the free computers that were available to the public.

Getting off the bench, now with a plan of action. Without of course forgetting to actually take the leftovers of his meal to throw in the trash.

Where's the library?

Arthur knew then that avoiding socialization was no longer possible, that’s a lie its definitely possible it was just… a waste of time. Now he has to speak to another person, that makes five now, in less than an hour too.

The thought of asking the owner of the food truck did cross his mind but was immediately dismissed. Remembering to keep his hands in his pockets this time.

He picked the first person that caught his eye. Who was wearing a medieval suit of armor. Huh?

What hour is it, isn't it a little early for cosplay, or at least wearing a full suit of armor?

Not really caring enough to continuing thinking about it Arthur simply shrugged and walked up to the fully armored knight, helmet included.

"Hey, Excuse me, do you know where the library is?" Arthur asked the man as he walked up with a small wave to get the mans attention.

"No, I do not good sire." A muffled voice replied from inside the helmet.

Arthur stared into the slit that showed the mans eyes before replying. "Oh, alright, thanks."

Before promptly walking away from the extremely short interaction. What the fuck was that.

The only thing he could think of was unproductive.

Shaking his head with a sigh. Arthur mourned his wasted time and social energy for a few seconds, but he couldn't for too long, he had libraries to find after all.

Arthur sighed yet again, knowing he still had to do more asking random people questions.

He wished he could describe the next 20 minutes as productive but that would be pure lies. Turns out It was a lot harder to find someone who knew where the goddamn library was than most stories make it seem. Who would've thought that libraries just weren't used or even known about by most people with a phone.

But thankfully Arthur didn't have to waste too much more time, someone did eventually know where the library was, he would've been happier if it just didn't take half an hour.

The entire time the headache he got from slamming his head against a dumpster slowly got worse and worse. Arthur already wanted to get this all over with, but now he wanted it to be over even more, so he could get some sleep to get rid of this headache.

Finally knowing where the library is, Arthur didn't waste a single second and started heading to it immediately. It didn’t take too long thankfully since he was apparently pretty close to it.

It fortunately didn't need some sort of pass to get inside or use the computers. And he wasn't too early for it to be open, and he even know its nine am now. It seems its been a little longer since his kidnapping than he thought.

Finding the computers and sitting down he finally got the info that he needed. Which was… where all the warehouses were. Which turns out was the Docks. So he was correct with his first guess, and didn't really even need all of this anyway.

God damn it.

Deciding to get it all over with now while he's at it. He also got the date which was April 1st. All he really remembers from the story about dates, is that it starts around mid April. So if he remembers correctly then he has two weeks-ish before Taylor goes caping for the first time.

Then he planned a route to the Docks using the map he found online. Before leaving the library right after.

Heading over to there took very little time from how close the library was to the Docks.

Finally Arthur has gotten to the Docks. After "hours" of searching and walking he has finally done it. He could feel the sleep getting to him already. Wanting to get to it as fast as possible Arthur didn't stop walking, heading well into the Docks, intending to find somewhere completely isolated that no one would care about.

On the way he glanced at a blonde who seemed to be having a morning coffee while looking out of the window. And had he been able to focus more through this headache induced sleepiness he would have probably recognized the person in the window. But alas he wasn't and so he didn't.

Finding an empty warehouse wasn't difficult in any way, but finding one that wasn't already used by the homeless or didn’t have a way for Arthur to get into was not so easy. But eventually he found one, it wasn't the biggest warehouse but it was more than enough to sleep in.

By the time he got in Arthur could barely formulate a thought, and his eyes were no longer responding to him. Not wanting to just sleep on the floor he gathered whatever looked softer than the concrete floor of the warehouse. Before throwing it all in a pile big enough to sleep on.

He got it done just in time to pass out on said pile.

Notes:

Hey again, its been a good while so sorry for that. Some stuff has been happening recently but they've calmed down now. But either way sorry for the delay.

So anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter. And if possible i would really appreciate any advice in general. but Ireally wanted to ask about the pace of the story, i just feel like i might be stretching things out a little but i am not really sure so any advice would be really helpfull.

and the dialogue too, first time writing dialogue not sure if it turned out alright.

And any support goes a long way to helping stay motivated so any comments or like would help.

Goodbye.