(Tw. Light cussing, violence, Angst-ish, main character uses they/them pronouns, defenestration)
:D have fun reading also call out mistakes if there's any! <3
…
"Fuck, shit, fuck, shit, fuck, shit. "
Arcie is in deep shit. They don't know how they're going to get out of this one.
"Arcie? Arcie?" Karl's voice crackles through their earpiece, frantic with worry.
"Karl shut the fuck up right now, I'm thinking ," The teenager hisses, crouching down lower when they hears the voices near.
"Arcie don't tell me to shut up, you dick, I told you not to go down that alley," Karl berates and Arcie needs him to fuck off or their not going to make it out of this alive.
They raised a hand to their ear and hastily yanked the electronic out, crushing it in their hands for good measure. Sorry Karl.
"Alright, come on Arcie, think, think ," they mutter to themselve, tone increasing with panic. They can't die here. They're too young. They haven't even passed their driver's license.
They survey the alleyway he has trapped themself in. Dirty, dingy, it's fucking ugly and it smells. They glances upwards, there's railings. But they're so high .
Arcie glances down at their feet. A new prototype. Karl said the boost function wasn't ready yet.
"Where is that brat?!"
They have no time. If the trainers don't kill them, they will.
Arcie stands up abruptly, no doubt catching the attention of the thugs. This is fine. They can do this.
They take a step back to brace, knees bending slightly.
" There you are, thought you could run did you?"
Arcie grins, they turn to the ugly men - honestly, they could at least try to keep up appearances, maybe shave once in a while. Arcie isn't one to judge on looks alone but damn .
"No," they replied, their heel digging into the pavement. "But I can jump."
They leap off of the ground, soaring high. Arcie lets out a noise of surprised elation, laughing in disbelief as is momentarily suspended in the air.
This is so cool!
Then they remember that he they are in fact not flying and are falling fast. They yelp and barely catch onto the railings, scraping half their body on the way down. They wince.
They can hear the ugly men trying to clamber after them and quickened his pace, climbing up the bars with practiced agility.
The teenager is already steps ahead of them as they make their way onto the top of a small bakery. They sell good muffins and the owner always gives Arcie one on the house so he makes sure to tip toe over the roof.
As they jump onto another building, Arcie smirks as they realize they had lost them.
Hah. No one catches Arcie lacking. Not in this economy.
Arcie sighs, exhaustion catching up to them as the adrenaline wears out. They crouch down and sit over the edge of a florist shop. His legs dangle over the edge and they lifts their mask to scratch their chin.
Tonight's patrol was kind of intense. Their back aches after one guy threw a banana at them. Honestly what the fuck. Why was that banana so big? Where did they even get that banana?
Arcie feels a buzz in their pocket, and realizes that they've been sitting on their phone. They pull it out.
23 missed calls and 47 texts.
Karl is going to defenestrate him. They're going to have to replace another window.
Arcie sighs and puts their phone on Do Not Disturb. It's a problem for future Arcie. Who is not present, Arcie.
Arcie is brought out of their thoughts by the sound of shouting. They almost think it's the thugs, back again for more.
But no. They could recognize those voices anywhere.
It's - It's three of the top ten heroes! Arcie's fanboy heart soars. Their favorite heroes! In his area, in his patrol area.
This- this is a miracle . A blessing . A gift from the Gods.
"Hey, you! What are you doing on that building?"
This is a problem.
Arcie stumbles to their feet, almost falling off the edge of the shop.
What should they say? Oh god, oh god.
They deepen their voice, "Oh you know, just, uh, patrolling the area."
Their idol, their hero the Winged Hero Aroma walks out of the darkness of the night.
"Can you show me your Hero License? Sorry there's just been a lot of illegal activities going around lately, don't mean to be a bother mate," The hero explains.
Arcie could faint, right here, right now. Aroma is speaking to them.
Then the words sink in.
Okay, Arcie may need to backtrack just a little bit. You see, well there's no easy way to say this but -
Arcie is not a hero.
Shocker, they know right? Yes, yes, they know they had you all fooled, it's okay. It's an easy assumption to make because they are so courageous and athletic and lovely and charismatic.
But it's true, Arcie is not a hero.
Arcie is a vigilante.
And they are currently being hunted down by their biggest heroes.
"Hey! Stop running, we won't hurt you!" The siren hero Willow shouts out to them. Yes, that's very convincing, Arcie rolls their eyes and then fanboys a bit because oh my god Willow just shouted at them.
"Actually we may hurt you a bit," The sword hero rose confesses as she strides after the teenager, menacing sword in hand. Rose . Oh this is the best thing that's ever happened to Arcie, like ever.
Yeah, Arcie may just die tonight.
But, hey, they met their idols. They will probably die happy.
Arcie leaps from building to building, breath quickening. "Um I actually do have a license," they keep their voice dropped an octave. "It's at my house, so I'm just going to go get it."
"For some reason we don't believe you," Aroma calls out. "Willlow, can you get them for us please?"
Arcie speeds up because oh shit .
They hear the hero quickly catching up on them.
"You are being quite difficult right now," Willow huffs and Arcie looks behind momentarily to see her eyes turning red. Holy fuck that is the coolest shit.
" Come here." The whisper carries through the empty streets, sinister and sweet.
Oh god. This is it. This is how they go down. Pretty epic but still, they wanted to at least tell Karl that he ate the last packet of skittles and that no it was in fact not Henry the very cute tabby cat that sneaks into their balcony.
They suppose that secret will follow them to the grave.
Arcie's still running though. Which is odd. Because well, Willow just spoke in the voice.
But well, Arcie doesn't feel like they're under intense mind control. Then again, they've never been put under intense mind control so they're not too sure.
Arcie looks behind them and almost trips when they see all three heroes standing frozen on a roof.
"Did you guys give up? Cause' that's like totally fine," Arcie says, clearing their throat as the silence goes on for too long. They glances at Willow, who stands stock still. Is she frozen? Arcie frowns.
"I uh," Arcie starts, not knowing how to break this to the hero lightly. They hate to be the bearer of bad news. "I think your powers are broken? It's not a bad thing of course, but like, I swear you tried to mind control me and it like, totally failed. Which is fine, honestly, don't feel insecure. Everyone's power stop working sometimes… I think." Arcie huffed in thought
Sheesh, this is very awkward. Why is no one else talking? Why is looking at them like they grew three heads? Why is Rose staring at them so intensely? Why is Willow still frozen?
"Did I, did I hit a nerve? Yikes," Arcie hisses, "Well um," they step back, bracing their legs and bending their knees, "This was like super fun, but I'm - I'mma head out."
And with that they shoot off into the air and wow this does not get old. They'er never taking these shoes off.
This time Arcie actually aims where they jump and lands in a pond far enough away from the heroes.
They sputter water out of their mouth as water pools around their waist. A brown and white speckled koi fish swims around their legs, nudging their shin. They pick it up.
"You're gonna help me with Karl," they whisper fervently to the fish as it gapes at them.
…
"Arcie fucking letherhouse! How dare you destroy the earpiece that I made, that was the fourth one! And then you ignore all my calls and don't even text me back?! Unbelievable. Unbelievable. You are sleeping on the couch for a week. You better hope I don't throw away those bloody shoes, I told you they weren't ready and you stole them. Honestly, why do I even try with you?! You'll be lucky if I ever make dinner again, or do the laundry or do anything. In fact! I quit, I'm going on strike! From now on, you can do everything and be the responsible one and see if you can keep your sanity!"
Arcie holds out the fish. "I bought you Mr.Baine." He offers as a sacrifice. The fish gapes.
Karl stares at them. They take the fish carefully. Arcie watches in silence as he walks into the kitchen and places the fish in a cup of water.
Karl then walks over to the kitchen window and beckons them over.
Arcie sighs. Mr.Baine wasn't good enough it seems.
Arcie thinks it worth it as Karl picks him up and chucks him out of the window, closing the doors shut. He looks at Karl's seething expression from their placement in the dumpster and grins.
Such is the life of Arcie the courageous and athletic and handsome and charismatic vigilante.
…
Willow watches, stunned as the tall masked vigilante launches off into the air and out of sight.
"Did they just - did they just break out of your mind control?" Aroma questioned in disbelief, hovering just above the ground as she too looks towards where the vigilante once was.
Willow frowns.
Rose snorts, "they just violated your ability, like they weren't even trying to be mean and they just, just completely destroyed you."
Willow grits her teeth, "My powers aren't broken ."
Rose smirks, "You sure about that? Because from what I just saw, you totally just failed to mind control them. Was I the only one who saw that? Aroma I know you saw it-"
" Go walk off the edge of the building."
Aroma sighs, "Willow, I told you to stop doing that."
Willow shrugs, "She was being a dick," she explained as she watches her twin dive over the edge of the building.
"That's not a reason Wil, now she's going to be all pissy for the rest of the patrol," Aroma grumbles.
Willow shrugs again, "Not my problem."
Willow needs that vigilante. How dare they resist HER control, how dare they - they make such a fool out of him.
"Aroma, we need to find that vigilant now."