Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So as you know, plenty of us have powers. But not enough of us learn how to use them in such a way that they can become superheroes. So. Anybody here think they have super hero potential?” The teacher spoke. Logan Rogers, power of telekinesis. Age 22. Alias, Koios. A boy in the front of the class excitedly raised his hand and everyone laughed. Roman Rivera, power of super strength. Age 17. Alias, N/A. “And why do you think that, Roman?” His teacher asked.

“Because I have the determination. And the need to protect people. With the right hunger, you can accomplish anything.” Roman grinned.
“Good answer, Roman. Now. Anybody here think they could be a supervillain?” The teacher jokingly asked and the class started laughing. But one kid in the back of the class raised his hand. Virgil Volante, power of weather manipulation. Age 16. Alias, N/A. Everyone turned around to see who the teacher was looking at. “Um. May I ask why?” He nervously asked.
“Because I have the hunger. Just not in the right way.” Virgil said. His deep voice had an edge to it.
“Well your power can be used for such good things.” The teacher said.

“How do you know what my power is?”
“Any power can be used for good, Virgil.”
“And corruption can turn anything evil.”
“Wouldn’t you want to help people instead? Seeing people relieved to see you is much better than fear! Don’t you want people cheering for you?” He asked.
“Nah. I think people running away and screaming out of fear is much better. I’d be an amazing supervillain. I could conquer the world.” Virgil said.

“And I’d be an amazing superhero! I could take you down before you did anything!” Roman grinned.
“I’ll see you in the future then, Riviera. You know, when I’m standing over your bloody body.” Virgil said and Roman glared at him. 

“Alright. May I move on with my lesson?”

“Sorry Mr. Rogers.” Roman muttered. Virgil rolled his eyes but stopped talking.

~~~

“Janus! I’m home.” Virgil called out, putting his backpack on the floor. Virgil was an orphan. That was until he was adopted by a rather kind man. He never called him Dad though. He also kept his last name because it reminded him of his family. Another amazing thing about the man who adopted him. He was a supervillain and Virgil had beef with superheroes. His parents died because of superheroes. Virgil would do anything to get revenge. His adopted father stepped into the room.
“How was school?” He asked. Janus Darnell, power of manipulation/temptation. Age 25. Alias, Deceit. He always did act like Virgil’s dad, even if the teenager wasn’t comfortable with calling him Dad.

“Good I guess. But in my Hero Studies class there’s this real dick. He’s an aspiring superhero or whatever. Our teacher asked us if we were going to try and be superheroes and he was like ‘Oh yeah, I’ll be such a good superhero!’ so I told him I was gonna be a supervillain and now I’m pretty sure he hates me. Oh and did I mention that it’s Roman Riviera? You know, Re’s twin brother.” Virgil huffed. 

“What about me?” A shrill voice said from the ceiling. Virgil looked up and saw a tan boy hanging from the chandelier. Remus Riviera, power of super speed. Age 17. Alias, N/A.

“Your brother’s a dick.” Virgil said.
“My whole family is! Why do you think I got kicked out?” Remus huffed and crashed to the ground. Remus’ family kicked him out when they found out he sincerely wanted to be a supervillain. So Janus took him in. He couldn’t adopt him and acted more like a best friend to him rather than a dad. Boy would Remus’ family be mad if they knew he lived with Deceit. Honestly all they were giving him was a tragic villain background. 

“Yes I know. I got a call from Mr. Rogers today. He was talking about how I should make sure you don’t actually want to become a villain. And I’d sure hope you do.” Janus scoffed. 

“Where’s Remy?” Virgil asked, sitting on the couch. 

“In his workshop making the most noise humanly possible.” Janus huffed. 

“I’m not anymore, thank you very much!” A voice grumbled from the stairs that led to the basement. Remy Volante, power of love manipulation. Age 24. Alias, Cupid. Remy was Virgil’s older brother. Janus refused to separate them when he was adopting Virgil. “Did you need anything, Vee?”
“No, I just wanted to know where you were.” Virgil mumbled, pulling out his phone. “Oh, would you look at that. Breaking News, Koios and Melampus saved the elderly this time.” He huffed, reading the headline on his phone.
“I hate those pricks.” Janus hissed. 

“Yeah. Titan Lifty Shits is a real asshole. At least from what I’ve seen on TV.” Virgil said.
“He is. Melampus is cute though. And, Titan Lifty Shits?” Remy asked. 

“His alias is Koios which is a Titan god and he has the power of telekinesis. Titan Lifty Shits.” Virgil said. Remy snorted and sat next to Virgil. “So you’re simping for superheroes now?” He asked and Remy rolled his eyes. 

“It’s more like flirting to get into his head. You know, mess him up in battle.” 

“It’s easier to mess with people’s heads when you can gain their trust. Build up false hope. So wonderful job Remy." Janus hummed and Remy snickered.

“So basically if I become a supervillain, I could play mind games with my brother?” Remus asked.

“Only if he cares enough about you.” Janus said and Remus frowned. 

“Oh boo.” He huffed. Virgil rolled his eyes and grabbed Remus’ hand.
“You’ll be fine. As long as you can see certain things coming.”
“I have cat-like reflexes, thank you. I can always tell what’s going to happen.” Virgil nodded when Remus said that and stood up where he had been sitting then picked Remus up and held him over his shoulder. He tossed him to the floor across the room and sat back down. 

“Like that?” He asked and Remus huffed at him. He sat up and sat cross legged on the floor.
“Jay, Virgil’s being a bitch again.” Remus complained to Janus. 

“Virgil’s just being Virgil. But you two should stop messing around. You’ll need to start working on your aliases and disguises soon.” Janus said, pulling out his book.
“What wait?” Virgil asked. Remus looked at Janus with excitement.
“What?”
“You guys have been in training for a long time now. You can fight, you can work together, and you know how to use your powers with far much more advancement than lots of other people. I think it’s time you guys start helping me take down Koios and Melampus. And Proteus but I'm near positive he's dead because where the hell has he been?” Janus said.

“I’m still uncomfortable with the idea of my 16 year old brother going into battle.” Remy huffed. 

“Good thing it’s not your decision.” Janus said.
“Remy I’ve literally been waiting basically my entire life to do this. You are not stopping this now. Besides you make all the weapons and sometimes armour. You can make sure my disguise is safe.” Virgil said. Remy sighed.
“If you get hurt, I’m never letting Janus hear the end of it.” He muttered. 

“I have an idea for an alias!” Remus grinned.

“Shoot.” Janus said.

“Rush!”
“Mm. I don’t know. It sounds a little too heroey.” Janus hummed and Remus groaned.
“You never let me do anything fun.” Remus groaned. 

“I’ve kind of had an idea for a while.” Virgil mumbled.

“What is it?” Janus asked.
“Paranoia. Because storms can strike fear into people. And they’ll always be scared to hear my name. Maybe even paranoid that I might be around.” Virgil mumbled, biting his thumbnail.
“It’s perfect, Virgil. And it works with my whole thing with my alias being Deceit and everything.” Janus said and Virgil let a small smile creep onto his face. Virgil Volante, power of weather manipulation. Age 16. Alias, Paranoia.

“Ooo! I got one!” Remus yelled.

“What?”
“Duke! Because my brother acts like a spoiled prince and they hold power so people fear to mess up around them!” Remus grinned. 

“I love it, kiddo.” Janus hummed and Remus seemed pleased. Remus Riviera, power of super speed. Age 17. Alias, Duke. “You two should work on disguises. Make sure it includes a mask. When it’s finished, bring it to Remy. He can help you make it.” He said, standing up. “I’m going to make dinner now. Virgil, do your homework.” Virgil groaned and grabbed his backpack.

“What do you have homework for?” Remus asked.

“Basically all my classes. You’re lucky Janus homeschools you.” Virgil grumbled

“He only homeschools me because I can’t see Roman at school. And there's a lotta people in school." Remus sighed. 

“Yeah but he doesn’t give you homework.” Virgil huffed, grabbing a pencil out of his backpack. He opened his math binder and groaned. “This is going to take me forever.” He huffed. 

“Good thing it’s a Friday.” Janus said from the kitchen. 

“And good thing you have an older brother who can help you.” Remy said.

“Yeah whatever.”

~~~

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!” Roman called out. 

“How was school?” His mom asked. 

“Great! Mr. Rogers had a lecture all about superheroes and at the end of the class, he said he thought I’d make an amazing superhero!” He said.
“Well of course you would.” His father said from the couch and Roman beamed.

“I’m gonna go do my homework. Can you call me when dinner is ready?” Roman asked.

“Of course.” His mom nodded. Roman ran upstairs with his bag and walked into his room, closing the door behind him. He stared at the side of his room that had a bed with green and black bed sheets on it and sighed.
“Hey Remus! School today was great! Mr. Rogers said I’d make a great superhero! Maybe one day, when you’re a supervillain, I can battle you. I’ll stop you from doing so much evil, just you wait.” He said, setting his bag down next to the chair on his desk. “I’ve got a lot of homework to do though. Oh and there was this really creepy guy who was all like ‘I’m gonna be a supervillain and kill you, mwahahaha’. I think his name was Virgil.” Roman spoke to himself. It was easier for him to live this way. In denial. If he acted like his twin brother and his best friend still lived with him, he could live his life in peace. Remus was the only person who ever truly understood Roman. And now he didn’t have him. His parents had tried cleaning out Remus’ side of the room so Roman could have more space and he made sure they didn’t touch a thing on Remus’ part of the room. In case he came back. It was still a mess, the way Remus had left it. Roman was too devastated to touch anything, afraid it’d ruin the illusion of Remus still being there. 

“Well I’ll leave you alone now so I can do my homework. Oh and, stop eating my deodorant. It’s weird.” He huffed and opened his Science notebook and textbook, starting on his work. 

~~~

“So would you rather want to be an undisguised hero or a disguised hero?” Mr. Rogers asked. Roman excitedly raised his hand. This was his favorite class.

“Roman.”
“Undisguised! If you were disguised, how would you get recognized for all the glory?” Roman said. 

“You make a valid point. Anybody else?” Mr. Rogers asked. “Ah. Virgil.” Roman turned around to see the black haired creep who sat in the back of the class with his hand raised. “Remember, superhero’s point of view.” Mr. Rogers said.

“I know. I say disguised. If you were undisguised, every single villain would know your real identity. Not to mention you’d be on live television all the time. Which means every villain would know your exact location. You’d have to keep your guard up at every given moment, basically just living your life in fear. Not to mention social media. If you were an undisguised hero and had an Instagram, well that would just be asking for it.” Virgil said and Roman glared at him. Virgil gave him a sly smirk and looked back at the teacher.

“You make a very good point, Virgil. I’m interested in hearing what your opinions on this matter would be as a villain.” Mr. Rogers spoke.
“Still disguised. Say you’re just walking down the street, doing your everyday tasks. Suddenly you’re surrounded by police cars and are imprisoned for life. Bad idea. And again I bring back the point of social media.” Virgil said. Roman huffed. 

“It is indeed safer for heroes to remain anonymous. While the glory can be nice, it is also extremely dangerous.” Mr. Rogers continued on with his lecture. Roman was embarrassed. Embarrassed that an aspiring villain showed him up in Hero Studies. About 30 minutes later, the bell rang. Roman started gathering his stuff as the other students poured out of the room.
“Roman may stay for a bit. I need to talk to you.” Mr. Rogers said.
“Um… okay.” Roman nodded and sat down. Roman watched everyone walk out of the class. Virgil walked over to Mr. Rogers and handed him something.
“What is this?”
“My project. You know, the one you assigned me to make up for all my missing work.” Virgil said, crossing his arms. 

“Ah yes. Thank you. And you know, being good never did anybody any harm.” Mr. Rogers said to him.

“Yeah, well... being good doesn’t bring my parents back.” Virgil said, his voice shaking. Mr. Rogers looked the boy in the eye for a second before Virgil turned around and walked out of the room. Roman watched him walk out before he cleared his throat.

“So um… What did you need?” Roman asked.

“You know of the superhero Koios, correct?” 

“Of course I do! He’s only the greatest superhero of all time!”
“Well thank you.”
“Um… you’re welcome? You’d have to be a fool to say he’s a bad hero.” Roman said. “He’s on the news almost every day! I wish I could be like him!” He added.
“You know, people have said I look like him.” Roman tilted his head when his teacher said that.

“Mmm. I can’t see it.” Mr. Rogers pinched the bridge of his nose and opened his desk. He pulled a dark blue and silver masquerade mask out of his desk and tied it around his head, pushing his hair in front of his face.
“Oh woah you do look like him! Exactly like him! Why’d you have that mask?” Roman asked. 

“Roman I am Koios.” Mr. Rogers sighed and looked at a stack of papers. Soon the papers were floating in circles around Roman until they neatly stacked on top of each other right where they had been.

“Woah! No way my teacher this entire time had been my idol?! Wait, why are you telling me this? Am I gonna die?!” Roman gasped, standing up.

“No no no! You’re not gonna die!” Mr. Rogers said and took his mask off. “I’m telling you this because recently Melampus and I have been looking for a new hero. We need an uneven match if we’ll be able to defeat Deceit and Cupid. And I think you have great potential. Not to mention you know how to properly use your powers because of the lessons your parents pay for.” He explained.
“You want me to be a superhero with you?” Roman asked and his teacher nodded.

“I’ve already had a meeting with your parents as my alias. They said they’d be delighted to have you working by my side.” 

“I’d love to! I’ve literally dreamed about this!”
“Okay that’s- that’s a little weird but I’ll ignore it. There is one small matter that your parents said you might not like. You’ll have to move into the hero’s base. Where Melampus, Proteus, and I live. It’s to avoid anybody finding out about who you are and things like that. Also, you don’t have to call me Mr. Rogers unless we’re in class it’s just weird.” 

“I don’t know your name.” Roman mumbled.

“Right. Logan.”
“Okay. Um, I have to move?” Roman asked. He didn’t want to leave Remus’ stuff behind.

“Yes but you can bring anything you’d like.” Logan said.
“Um… Can I bring my twin brother’s stuff? He doesn’t live with us anymore. I just feel weird without his things there.” Roman mumbled awkwardly.
“If that’s what you need to feel comfortable, sure.” Roman nodded. He couldn’t believe this was happening. Roman Rivera. A superhero. 

Chapter Text

Janus sighed as he waited.

“Can you guys hurry up? I want to see the costumes before I go to work.” He huffed. 

“We’re coming!” Virgil hissed. Virgil walked down the stairs to show off his outfit. He wore a black dress shirt with a low V cut and the sleeves were cuffed to just above his elbow. His waist was accented with a black half corset with spider web designs on it and paired with skin tight black pants and a waist cape, the black cape going down to his ankles. Along with it he added black combat boots, fingerless gloves, a black leather choker with a yellow gem hanging from the middle, and a black masquerade mask with spider web designs all over it. “So? How do I look?” He asked. 

“Good. Not sure I like how low the cut is, but good.” Janus said. 

“Yeah well that sucks old man.” Virgil said. Remus was staring at him, his face red. “What are you staring at? Do I look good or not?” Virgil asked.

“I… yeah yeah. You look amazing.” Remus stammered. Virgil’s face dusted with a light pink.

“Thank you.” Virgil muttered. Janus looked between the two and then looked at Remy who’s eyes were wide in his ‘omg tea’ expression. 

“Remus, go get in yours quickly please.” Janus said. Remus jumped up and ran upstairs. Virgil took the seat Remus had just been in.

“So. What was that about?” Janus asked.

“What was what about?” Virgil asked. 

“That thing between you and Remus?” Remy scoffed.

“What thing?”
“The whole, ‘do I look good’, ‘amazing’, ‘hehehe thanks’.” Remy said in mocking voices.

“First of all, I did not go ‘hehehe’. Secondly, Remus and I are just friends. Nothing more.” Virgil said. 

“Yeah. Sure.” Remy mumbled.

“I’m ready!” Remus yelled down the stairs.

“Well come down already. I have to leave soon.” Janus said. Virgil grabbed his can of soda and took a big sip of it as Remus walked down the stairs and showed off his own outfit. He wore black pants and a black shirt that was barely visible under the black trench coat he wore. Over top the trench coat was a velvet green cape that rested against his shoulders, still showcasing the rest of his outfit. Over the trench coat, his waist was cinched with a green silk half corset. The corset was studded around the rims and had a black belt fitted over it. The black belt helds a series of chains that rested against his hip. His outfit was paired black combat boots, an assassin like mask that hung around Remus’ neck when not in use, a green and black masquerade mask that had octopus like designs on it including tentacles that extend over his face, and a black sparkling crown with a single yellow gem in the front. Virgil looked at him and spit out the sip of soda he just drank, choking a bit. Everyone looked at him as he caught his breath.
“Friends.” Janus nodded. 

“So? Do you like it?” Remus asked.

“I think it looks wonderful. And a lovely idea with the cape and the crown to match the whole ‘Duke’ thing.” Janus commented and Remus grinned. He glanced over to Remy.

“Outstanding. I’d say you look better than me but nobody does.” Remy grinned and Remus snorted.

“Virgil?” He asked. Virgil gave a thumbs up, his face still red. A small smile creeped onto Remus’ face along with a light pink on his cheeks.
“O-kay. I’ve got work, I'll be back soon. Virgil clean up your room. You’re lucky enough I let you stay home from school today.” Janus said and Virgil rolled his eyes as he untied the mask that was around his face.
“Yeah whatever.” Virgil huffed. “When do we get to start working with you?” He asked.

“The next time the heroes get on my nerves.” Janus said and grabbed his cane. And with that he was gone.

“What he means by that is soon. They get on his nerves a lot.” Remy said. Virgil nodded. He was excited to finally start his career as a villain. 

~~~

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want this side of the room to be neater?” Logan asked, looking at the side of Roman’s room that was mostly green.
“Mhm.” Roman nodded.

“Okay.” Logan sighed. “I need you to start thinking of an alias and disguise. I need to go talk to Melampus for a second.” He said and walked out of the room. “Hey E?” He called out. A younger man dressed in a tan sweater poked his head out of a room. Emile Picani, power of communication with animals. Age 21. Alias Melampus. 

“Yes?” He asked. 

“Where’s Patton?” Logan asked.

“Uh. I don’t know.” Emile shrugged. “Last time I saw him he was taking a cat nap on the couch.” He said. Logan stared blankly at Emile.

“I’ll check downstairs.” He said and walked down the stairs. He saw a white kitten curled up on a pillow and sat next to it, petting the cat’s head. “Patton?” The cat looked up and moved out from under Logan’s hand, jumping to the floor. Soon stood a person rather than a cat. Patton Rogers, power of shapeshifting. Age 18. Alias, Proteus.
“Hi Logan! Whaddya need?” Patton asked.

“Well as you know we’ve acquired a new superhero. He’s closer to your age than mine so I think it’d be beneficial for you to go talk to him. His name is Roman, by the way.” Logan said.

“Okie dokie!” Patton took a step forward and shifted back into a kitten. He ran up the stairs and wandered around the hallway until he saw the once empty room now occupied. He pushed through the small opening in the door and sat in front of the person’s legs. Roman looked down and cooed.

“Aww.” He knelt down and held his hand out to the cat. “Hi.” Patton looked around before looking back at Roman. He backed up a little and shifted back into a person.
“Hi!” He grinned. Roman jumped back.

“Holy fuck!” He yelled, holding his hand to his heart. “Who are you?” 

“I’m Patton! Logan’s little brother!” Patton said.

“Ohhh. Are you the superhero Proteus?” Roman asked.

“Yeah! How could you tell?” Patton asked.

“Well you shapeshifted and Proteus can shapeshift so.” Roman shrugged. “You kind of scared me there.”
“Yeah sorry! Logan said I gotta stop doing that but it’s holy happened twice now.”
“Twice?”
“Once with Emile, once with you.”
“Who’s Emile?” 

“Uh, the other person who lives here? Melampus?” Patton said.

“Melampus’ real name is Emile?” Roman asked.
“Oh you’re like, new new. I thought more would have been explained to you.” Patton giggled awkwardly. “You do at least know about Deceit and Lo’s past, right?”
“Uh… no.”

“Oh wow he told you nothing. Okay if Logan ever tells you this, act like you didn’t know.” Patton said. “But Deceit and Logan knew each other in high school. I’m pretty sure they dated but anytime I ask, Logan makes an excuse to walk away.” Patton explained.

“Oh. So do they know what each other looks like?”
“Yeah but they haven’t seen each other in ages out of disguise.”

“Well at least soon, you guys can finally beat Deceit and Cupid. I mean, it’ll be four against two!” Roman said.

“I like your energy.” Patton giggled. “And yeah. Maybe we can finally stop their reign of terror.” He said. 

“Thank you! I just can’t believe I’m finally going to be a superhero!” Roman grinned.

“Yeah it’s pretty cool! Until you break something. Or get really hurt. The reason I haven’t been on the news lately is because Cupid hit me on my thigh with an arrow and I couldn’t move my leg for a while. Logan’s making me stay inside until I’m completely healed.” Patton said.

“I was gonna ask about that. Hey um, can you help me think of an alias and disguise? I have so many ideas and I need help narrowing them down.” Roman said.
“Sure!” Patton grinned. 

“So how’d you think of your alias?” Roman asked.

“Well Proteus is the Greek god that can take any form he pleases. So I thought it worked. Emmy thought of his because Melampus is the god that can communicate with animals. Lo thought of his because Koios is the Greek titan god of intellectual thinking I think.” Patton explained. “So what’s your power?”
“Super strength! I was thinking something like King Strong.” Roman said and Patton kept his big smile on his face while shaking his head.
“No. What about… Hercules? He was one of the strongest heroes and it fits with all of ours.” Patton suggested and Roman gasped.

“That’s perfect!” He said.

“Okay! Now your disguise. First things first, you need a face covering. Most people go with eye masks but you can do whatever you want. Like I just wear a doctor’s mask and put my hair in front of my eyes.” Patton said. 

“What about masquerade masks?” Roman asked. “Because I have this red and gold one that’s so me and it has jewels and flowers. It’s really cool.”

“Emmy and Lo use them so sure! Can I see it? It might be easier to work your outfit around it.” Patton said. Roman got up and shuffled through one of his boxes before pulling out the mask. “Oooo it’s pretty! Okay so it’s easier if you design your outfit with me since I’m the one that sews them.” 

“Okay!” Roman pulled out a sketchbook and sat on his bed next to Patton. “I’ve dreamed of this day since I was little so I already have a bunch of designs. Most of them include the mask.” He said. Patton looked at the pages as Roman flipped them.
“I could definitely make that one. If you’re okay with it.” Patton said, pointing to one.
“That’s actually one of my favorites.” Roman smiled. He looked down at the drawing that consisted of a white dress shirt with a buttoned up red tailcoat over it, golden accents all over it, a dark red victorian silk cravat and a red and gold half cape with a golden chain clasp holding it together, red pants with dark red and gold accents, paired with red gloves, red boots with gold accents on the top, and his masquerade mask. 

“Okay! I’ll go and see if I have some fabric! If not I’ll just make Lo run to the store. I wanted popcorn anyway.” Patton smiled. Roman nodded and watched Patton walk out of the room. Maybe when he was a superhero, he could try and find Remus. 

“Roman!” Patton ran into Roman’s room holding something very red and a bowl of popcorn. Roman looked up from his phone and watched as Patton sat down, rubbing his leg in what looked like pain. “I finished your disguise!” He grinned, setting the bowl in his lap after he handed Roman the disguise. Roman looked at it and smiled at how well it resembled his drawing.
“It looks so good Patton! And how did you make the shoes?” Roman asked.
“I don’t tell my secrets.” Patton smiled. “I know I took your measurements but you should try it on anyway.” He said as he stood up. “I’ll wait outside.” Roman got off his bed as Patton walked out. Within a few minutes he was in the outfit with his mask.
“Okay I’m ready!” Roman called out. Patton peeked into the room and clapped.
“You look so cool! Lo! Come look at the outfit I made!” He called out. He waited a few seconds before huffing. “Logan!” He yelled.

“I’m coming!” Logan groaned. Roman saw him in the doorway when he looked over. “It’s wonderful, Patton. Roman made the design, I presume?” Logan asked and Patton scoffed.
“What you think I couldn’t?” He asked. 

“No you’re terrible at outfit design. And I’ve seen Roman’s artwork before, he is one of my students.” Logan said. 

“You’re so mean.” Patton huffed, puffing his cheeks out. 

“You asked a question, I answered.” Logan said and walked away only for Emile to later walk over.
“Where’s Logan?” He asked Patton.
“Uh he just walked downstairs. Why? What’s going on?” Patton asked.
“Deceit and Cupid just attacked the town. With two seemingly new villains.” Emile said and Patton’s eyes widened.
“Two? I thought we had them beat in numbers now, all we did was match them. Logan!” Patton called down the stairs.
“What is it now?” Logan asked, sighing. Emile turned to him and recited what he had just said to Patton.
“Lo these new villains could be dangerous. I'm not letting you and Em do this alone.” Patton said.
“Your leg is still hurt.” Logan said.

“I can walk and run. I’ll be fine.” Patton said and squeezed past him to go get dressed.
“I didn’t expect to need you out so soon but, if you’re prepared, can you come out with us? I’m assuming this stunt is just to show off his new villains so you might not need to actually fight.” Logan said.

“I- yeah. And if I need to fight, I can. My parents didn’t pay for all those classes for nothing.” Roman stammered. Was this actually happening? 

~~~

“Why are we doing this again?” Remus asked.

“Because I’ve yet to figure out where the hero’s base is and being on the news gets their attention.” Janus huffed.
“Okay so if it gets their attention, where are they?” Virgil asked.

“Just wait. Soon they’ll be here all like, ‘Deceit, Cupid! We’ll get you this time!’. And then they never do.” Remy said. Virgil looked down when a white cat rubbed against his leg. 

“Aww. Look.” Virgil held his hand out to it.
“Paranoia! Bac-” Before Janus could finish his sentence, the cat bit Virgil’s hand and stepped back.
“Ow! What the hell?”
“Yeah, that's not just a cat.” Remy said.

“You know, you guys took two minutes longer this time!” Janus yelled out. Suddenly the cat was a person.

“Yeah well you guys attacked with literally no notice!” The person huffed.

Holy shit that’s Proteus. Virgil thought to himself. 

“So. You got new villains?” Koios asked, apparently from behind Janus. Virgil turned around and saw a very red person next to Koios and Melampus. 

“You got a new hero.” Janus hummed, looking at the red dude. 

“He looks like a period vomited on him.” Remus said and Remy snorted. 

“Okay first off, rude. Secondly, I’m like, 100% sure periods don’t have gold in them.” Red dude huffed.

“Oh no they totally do.” Virgil said. He knew they didn’t.

“Hercules, just ignore them.” Melampus sighed.

“Hercules?” Remy asked. “That’s so fucking cheesy.”
“How so? He was one of the most brave heroes in history.” Proteus said from behind them. Virgil stared at Hercules for a few seconds.

“You look familiar.” He said. And Hercules did. He had a familiar facial structure and body shape. “Very familiar.” Hercules shifted awkwardly and Koios stepped in front of him.

“I suggest you leave.” He spoke up.
“Please do you think we came here to walk away without a fight? Come on, I'm bored.” Janus said with a smirk. He took one step closer to Hercules and flew back into a trash can. 

“Can you give me a warning before you do that?!” He hissed. 

“That- no. Why would I give you a warning before fighting you?” Koios asked. Janus rolled his eyes, one of them now glowing yellow. Koios, Melampus, and Proteus closed their eyes and covered their ears but Hercules didn’t seem to know what to do. Janus took advantage of this and soon enough each action Hercules made weren’t his own, now being under Janus’ manipulation. He started to attack Koios but the other very quickly took ahold of him tightly, pushing into the back of his neck for about a minute or two while Remy started to attack Melampus, Remus started attacking Proteus though was unsuccessful as the latter kept turning into a bird, and Janus was trying to make Hercules fight Koios off of him. But soon Hercules fell limp in Koios arms and the other set him on the ground.
“What the fuck? Like everytime I do something cool you ruin it! Also what even was that?” Janus huffed, standing up. Koios rolled his eyes.

“They’re called pressure points, genius.” He huffed and a trash can came flying at Janus. Janus ducked and it knocked into Virgil.

“Oh wow thanks Deceit!” He huffed and saw a blue bird fly past his head. Remus scowled.

“I hate Proteus.” He growled. Virgil watched the bird pass by again but this time he reached his arms out and caught it. He felt the form change in his hands and soon he was holding a person who Virgil quickly stomped on his foot. Virgil shoved the person back into Remus who very happily pushed Proteus to the ground. Seconds after, there was only a small pill bug running around, basically out of sight.

“Okay this is annoying.” Virgil said to himself and looked at the sky, watching as the puffy white clouds started to cling together and became a dark grey. And soon there was heavy rain pouring down on the heroes and civilians but not on the villains. A bolt of lighting struck Proteus as he tried shifting into another animal. He now laid unconscious on the ground, a small grin forming on Virgil’s face. 

“Koios! We need to go!” Melampus alerted when his eyes landed on Proteus. Koios glared at Janus.

“Fine! You win this round. But I’d run before you hear the sirens.” He huffed and picked up Hercules, the heroes officially retreating.