Handsome Cowboycat

Turns out it wasn’t a jellybean,

it was, in fact, my nail 😐

chapter 1

Unpredictable

chapter 2

4:52 AM. The sun wasn’t up yet and the entire city fell silent with sleep, the only sounds that disturbed the tranquility of the atmosphere were the chirps of the first birds of the morning and the occasional echoes of young citizens that overstayed their welcome at the many clubs in Supercity. A single window in the entire apartment building was glowing dimly in the dead of night.

The faint sound of his alarm was subdued by the music that was already piercing through the stillness of his house at that ungodly hour. The sheriff opened the door to his bedroom, heavy clouds of steam escaping from the bathroom and into the adjacent room. He unwrapped the towel resting on his hips and changed into the proper attire, chosen a night before, for the road trip: a simple white t-shirt and some jeans, nothing much but he still managed to pull if off, he always did.

Colt wasn’t anything if not a man of routine and he believed in reducing his stress to a minimum before an important mission. He liked mornings. There was something so…optimistic about them. A fresh start, an opportunity for a good day. It also helped that waking up early had always come natural to him.

 He walked towards his nightstand to stop the alarm from going off again for probably the 5th time and decided to give his road-buddy a heads up. He paused his music for a bit as he awaited for Shelly to pick up. *user busy*… sure she was. Busy sleeping. He rang about two more times before being greeted with a grumpy whine muffled by what he assumed was the pillow she was digging her face into. Shelly was not, by any means, a morning person.

“Morning sleepy, stop snoozing that alarm and get out of bed. I’ll be there in an hour and I know how long it takes you before being fully functional after you wake up.”  There were a few moments of silence before a groggy “fine” was muttered on the other end of the line, followed by the sound of a very moody Shelly struggling to hang up, mumbling a few cusses in Spanish before finally finding the ‘end call’ button. 

Colt laughed to himself, he had always found Shelly’s inability to properly function in the morning quite amusing. It didn’t really match the rest of her lifestyle, even more, it kinda went against everything she stood for. She always made a really big deal of being punctual and yet never EVER managed to wake up on time.  It didn’t help that she could not stand the taste of coffee either.

5:23 AM. The music started playing again as the man made his way from the bedroom and into the kitchen, the air laced with the earthy aroma of freshly brewed coffee. He stopped before the espresso machine and took in a deep breath. He agreed with Shelly, coffee was, indeed, an acquired taste. One that he took a liking to in his days as a barista. It is true what they say: give a man a coffee and you wake him up for a day, teach a man how to make coffee and you’ve got yourself a coffee nerd right there.

 It was his guilty pleasure. He didn’t necessarily miss those days he worked in the café but the smell drove him crazy. Such a versatile drink needed to be appreciated the right way, and dang it if Colt didn’t make a damn good coffee every which way he knew how to. For him, however, the best cup of joe would always be plain black. It was the only way to savour its rich flavour to the fullest.  

He poured the drink into a travel mug before he took a last look around the adjoined kitchen and living room to see if there’s anything else he needed to pack. His eyes darted onto the discarded map on the coffee table, the one from Shelly that he examined the night before. He rolled it up, stuffed it into his already-full road backpack and started towards the door.

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It was about 5 AM when Colt called. Shelly dreaded him for always waking up so early with such ease. It was inhuman, impossible that someone didn’t need at least two hours to feel like they could face the world after waking up. She had never been like that. If there was an opportunity to snooze that alarm, to skip a step in her morning routine for a few more minutes of sweet, sweet sleep, she’d gladly do it.

Her phone lit up once again, this time not because of her alarm, no, that would’ve been better. She was getting a call. “Hell. No.” she mutterd before hanging up. The phone rang again for a few more times when she finally accepted her defeat and answered. The woman couldn’t help but burry her face in her pillow and groan.

“Morning sleepy, stop snoozing that alarm and get out of bed. I’ll be there in an hour and I know how long it takes you before being fully functional after you wake up.” His voice beamed from the other end of the line. She hated how right he was. Finally, Shelly lifted her head up from the pillow, eyes still heavy with sleep, and whispered a low “fine”. It was all she found within her power to say to him at that hour of the morning. 

Her hair was a mess. Not straight but not curly either, just crazy waves that she felt didn’t even follow a certain pattern. She didn’t really bother to brush it, rather just putting it up in her day-to-day ponytail and going to the bathroom to take a shower and get rid of that morning breath. 

Everything else was exactly where it was supposed to be. Her bag was at the door with everything on the list checked the night before. No dirty dishes or dirty laundry in sight, she hated coming home from missions to a messy house. She already spoke to her cousin, Primo, to come by to water her plants and feed her cat while she was gone. All she needed to do was change from her pajamas into the clothes she prepared. 

She didn’t bother to dress up, after all the trip to the Ranger Ranch was rather lengthy and she wasn’t about to be uncomfortable sitting in a car for 4 hours. She threw on an old zip up hoodie over a gray tank top, got the pair of jeans that she had been wearing for the last two days from her ‘laundry chair’ and called it a day.  

After a few moments of looking at herself in the mirror —or rather looking through herself, it was too early to make sense of what she was doing— she stumbled to the kitchen that was now only lightly illuminated by the first rays of the rising sun. She stopped to savor the gentle warmth of the sun caressing her skin. It was…nice. She decided it was something she could take a little break for. 

She soon snapped back to reality when she heard her doorbell. Shit. She looked at the time on her phone. 5:45 AM. “How?” she sighed under her breath before heading towards the door to let Colt in. 

“Did the intercom not work, how did you get in the building?”, no ‘hello’, it was too early for formalities. 

The man standing on her doorstep fell silent for a few seconds, he wasn’t fully paying attention. Shelly was right, it really was too early. He then snapped back from wherever his mind went “Oh, the nice lady walking her dog let me in.” 

Shelly looked at him for a moment too long, wondering how do people just trust him. She then realized she didn’t welcome him in yet. “She just let you in? just like that? Did she know you’re not from this apartment complex?”

Colt entered and started walking towards her kitchen where he sat down at the bar table. “yeah, I told her I’m here to pick my friend up and then we got to talking. She’s from apartment 351, she said if you ever needed a cup of sugar, don’t hesitate to ask.” 

How did he do that? How did people always open up to him, why were her neighbors nice to him and not to her? Oh well, doesn’t matter. “Why did you come up anyway” Shelly asked, brushing off her other irrelevant questions.

“I thought you might want some help with your bags?” of course he did. He’s Colt, he just does things like this. A slight smile made its way upon her lips, it faded just as quick when another thought crossed her mind ‘Did he think she couldn’t handle it on her own?’ ‘Was he taking pity on her??’ ‘Was it because she didn’t wake up on time?’ ‘God, Colt, im not helpless and I certainly don’t need someone to do my chores for me!’, but before she could say anything, Colt added “I know how it is to have just woken up, honestly, I wouldn’t like having to carry my stuff down 8 flights of stairs first thing in the morning either. Plus, I know you would’ve done the same thing for me too, right Shell?”

Huh… crisis averted, he was just polite after all. It seemed like they were going to get along today.

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Okey doke guys, chapter 2's posted!!

word count: 1.5K

Unpredictable

Chapter 1

“You can’t be serious!” the purple haired ranger whined in disbelief. “With him?? Why? Why send us? Why send me with HIM of all people?” she went on.  From the other side of the strategists’ table a smooth voice quipped “as much as I hate agreeing with ponytail there, she does have a point.” “Don’t call me that.” she interrupted, her tone low and somehow even more irritated than before. Colt cleared his throat in annoyance “As I was saying,” he continued, his voice more serious this time “why send two brawlers with no useful powers whatsoever on a mission to catch a speedster outlaw on a stealing rampage?”. 

Shelly didn’t like the fact that he was right, unfortunately for her, if she didn’t back him up now she’d end up stuck with him on a mission that could take anywhere from 2 to 14 days. And she wasn’t about to risk an unsolicited ‘camping trip’ with the sheriff just because she couldn’t step on her pride. “Can’t you send Piper? We’re talking about chasing this outlaw through the Enchanted Woods, with her super she could scope the area in no time.”.

“Or Lily, she knows the woods better than any other brawler, not to mention how she gets when anyone else steps on her turf. If she were there to guide Piper she could pinpoint her to the target and she could teleport right behind.” added Colt. The rangers both made compelling arguments, none of which however, impressed Ricochet. Even if he retired from brawling, he still managed the brawlers as the Head Strategist of the agency. A job which he enjoyed less anytime the troublemakers of StarrCorp argued against his ironclad logic.

Ricochet’s voiced boomed from across the table, putting the two brawlers in their place: “Unfortunately for EVERYONE involved, you are our best strategists that can still work the field.” —It was true, you couldn’t maintain such a high position as an almost normal human being amongst so many brawlers with meta-abilities without having the skills or the brains for this job—“What you will not do is whimper around about how much you hate working with each other.” he stopped for a second, if he were human he would inhale harshly through his nose in annoyance, instead he just stared the rangers down and continued “I expect you two back in two weeks maximum, if you don’t find the target by then, return to headquarters at once. We cannot afford losing any more time.” 

Colt and Shelly sighed in unison. They both accepted their defeat. After all, it was useless to try and argue against the captain. Once he made up his mind about a plan, there was no turning back. 

 The meeting continued, but Shelly was only present physically, an absent-minded expression taking over her face. She started involuntarily fidgeting with her hands, popping her knuckles repeatedly and pressing on each one even after there was nothing left to pop, processing the information she had just received. The sheriff didn’t react all that differently. He could mask his mixed feelings about this mission better than her, that he was sure about. After getting the orders he took a more relaxed stance, laying back in his chair at the conference table, across from Shelly. He proceeded to stare at her for the remaining of the meeting, not voluntarily, of course, she was just in the spot his eyes felt most comfortable resting on. 

“Meeting Adjourned.” Ricochet’s final statement woke them both up from their preoccupied states. The red head then stood up from his chair, adjusting his shirt that had wrinkled during the summit and finding his way out of the meeting room while toying with the hem of his sleeve. The ranger followed shortly after.

The sheriff much rather preferred the action days rather than the ones he had to spend in the StarrCorp offices, but coming up with strategies was part of his job description and he had to go through the boring parts too if he wanted to return to the battlefield soon. A normal working week for brawlers consisted of alternated days of working in the offices and on the field.  Truth be told, nobody really talked about the “corporate” part of the job, brawling was always what caught the public’s attention. 

Besides the lack of fans cheering him on, what Colt disliked even more about working inside was arguing with his coworker about battle plans. They worked so well together in matches, it came natural for them, they didn’t even have to talk much about it. After all, when you worked so long alongside someone, their moves, their body language, understanding them becomes second nature. And all the analyzing of the other’s moves from back when they were sworn enemies sure helped in its own toxic-but-ultimately-useful way.

It was the theoretical side they always had trouble with. Not once when they had been put on the same strategy team had they agreed on a plan, not even if what they said was basically the exact same thing in different words. Even the others were starting to think they were arguing just for the sake of disagreeing with one another. Neither of them took the high road. Ever. Colt couldn’t possibly put his ego aside and Shelly refused to feed it even more by giving him the satisfaction of being right.

They’d always had a weird relationship. There was some sort of tension between them from the very start. They weren’t supposed to work well together, and regarding some aspects they didn’t. But then again, they shared a bond that was hard to describe. When they put ther jealousies and differences aside, one was the only person that the other felt comfortable around and vice versa. They had their highs and their lows, one day they could be at each other’s throats, sparing no mercy, and the next they could be sharing a drink at Barley’s like nothing happened. And judging by the banter from earlier in the meeting room, today wasn’t one of their good days. 

Colt inhaled sharply through his nose in preparation for the discussion which he wasn’t quite keen on having and entered Shelly’s office. The woman raised her gaze from the map she was carefully analyzing before being startled by the sound of her door opening. A paper cup with a plastic lid on was placed on her desk. “I don’t like coffee” Shelly commented sternly, her eyes returning to the blueprints on her desk. 

“It’s tea. C’mon Shell I’m not that forgetful.” The sheriff replied coyly, he hesitated for a second then he moved on “What did you have in mind for the mission?”. “You know what?” Shelly sighed, leaning back on her chair and turning her head to look up at the man standing next to her, his hand leaning on her map of the enchanted woods. “Why don’t you take the reins on this one? I always do all the work and you end up profiting off of me anyway.” Colt stared wide-eyed at the ranger, opening his mouth to say something but being interrupted “What was the oh so mighty sheriff thinking we do for this mission?” she added, irony oozing from her tone. 

“Glad you asked.” Colt replied sternly, his eyebrows furrowed but his faint smile never left his face. He continued “I was actually thinking we’d drive to the Ranger Ranch House tomorrow, pack our bags for the road and start from there. It’s a 4 hour drive from Super City to Brawlville so I’d say we wake up early and leave at 6AM for the ranch?” he paused to take a sip from his coffee then carried on “we can spend the rest of the day tomorrow brain-storming plans.”. He handed her the two stacks of papers he was holding “these are the files I could find on our outlaw, look over them and we’ll talk more tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at 5:55AM”

An expression of genuine surprise crept up on Shelly’s face. She was so used to the Colt who treated his job as optional, making every plan on a whim and just “going with the flow” as he liked to put it, that she forgot he wasn’t actually dumb nor incapable. But laziness was one of his worst vices and he rarely showed this side of himself to the public. Shelly believed it was partly because he thought it would ruin his image, he liked it when people thought he was stupid, it meant they wouldn’t ask many questions and the “loveable idiot” persona was working wonders for him. She had to admit, sometimes he even fooled her. 

 His assertiveness today was a nice reminder that they were, in fact, a duo and that she could maybe even relax a bit. But with Colt, you couldn’t take any chances. He was unpredictable in his actions. Nevertheless, Shelly took the files Colt handed her and in exchange, she gave him the blueprints to the Enchanted Woods.

hi guysss!!! im so happy my post actually reached some people omfg and thank you so much to the ones that commented and want me to post, y'all im so grateful!!

I was thinking I could start off with some headcanons I have for both Colt and Shelly to kinda explain their backstory a little?? and im also figuring out the world building too so you guys are gonna have to go with my indecisiveness here lol

ok so without further ado, let the headcanons begin

Brawler genetics

Brawlers are basically mutated humans that possess a certain dormant gene that "awoke" once they had been exposed to the radiation of the purple gems. However, as the Starr Park (not to be confused with StarrCorp) fiasco had only happened a few years before the time at with the action is taking place, the gems and gem radiation are not that well researched, so the mutations vary widely, from enhanced-but-still-human-capacities like strength (primo), intelligence (jessie) or even pulmonary capacity (Amber) to superhuman abilities like Nita's force-waves, Tara's ability to summon her shadows and Leon's invisibility.

Some brawlers lost the 'genetic lottery', the gem radiation only enhancing a hue from their hair and bringing it forward, hence Colt's and Shelly's crazy hair colors. Still, most of the brawlers with standard weapons eg. Piper, Shelly, Colt, Brock etc. have slightly better vision acuity than the normal human. Think of it as 30/20 vision instead of 20/20, so not that impressive but also not nothing.

Something that all brawlers have in common, regardless of the secondary powers they might possess, is their durability and their rapid regeneration. this is also what makes them apt for taking down bigger threats.

The headquarters

So basically the way I see it, StarrCorp acts as a company dispatching heroes, in this case the brawlers, on different missions, say to protect a certain area from natural disasters or to catch rogue brawlers/ high-rank criminals that the police (the normal police, people that do not possess the ability to regenerate rapidly and other powers/mutations) cannot deal with.

StarrCorp is a company ran for brawlers, by brawlers. Unfortunately since there are only so many brawlers and not many people possess the brawl gene (the name is a work in progress lol), some brawlers also work in the offices to come up with battle strategies and basically glorified detective work. This position is usually filled by the more skilled strategists, the brawlers that have been in this field of work for longer.

But in such dire times people also need entertainment, which is also provided by StarrCorp in the form of brawl matches. Yes, friendly matches between skilled brawlers broadcasted live for every enthusiast to see (makes Colette much more relatable in these circumstances right? lol), so brawlers are bound to have fans. (some more than others *ahem* *ahem*)

The headquarters of StarrCorp are based in center of Supercity, a short walk from the Brawl Arena, the stadium where the fellow participants brawl for sport. Of course, StarrCorp has centers all around the globe but the main one, with the most qualified work forces, aka the profesional brawlers, is located in Supercity. Basically the brawlers in game are the best of the best, the big league if you will, which kinda explains how new brawlers appear too, as in joining the elite force from their previous centers and trainings!!

Colt

Colton Bronson Price (he changed his name as to not be affiliated with his true family later on) — Alsoooo Im pretty sure I read this name in a fanfic when I was like 12(??) and it stuck with me ever since. I remember it was on Wattpad but I don't have the app anymore, anyway great fanfic I'll look into it and tell you guys how it was called.

he's in his late 20's early 30's somewhere around that age, I wanna say 29.

Has a southern accent but he hides it most of the time. however, in true 'reformed redneck' fashion, it still resurfaces when he drinks or when he (very rarely as to not displease anyone) argues with someone.

PR loves him, he's the Cover Boy for everything StarrCorp related. I'm talking interviews, magazines, photoshoots, advertisements, basically the whole package. He's THE celebrity.

He is very well mannered in a southern charm kind of way, he has crazy people skills, he could talk up a rock if need be. This is why mostly everybody loves him.

He loves loves LOVES the attention as he never really got it as a kid, his parents being preoccupied with other things (like figuring out how to not get caught by the law)

He was homeschooled for most of his academic life and didn't really get to play or even comunicate with other people his age which is why he always felt like he had to prove himself in relation with others (this also contributed to his huge 'yes man' attitude). *can y'all see I got my inspiration from Brett Hand from Inside Job? lmao

Has major mommy issues. Major. Huge.

When he grew up a bit more he decided he didn't want to be associated with his parents anymore as their tactics were questionable at best (especially Belle's) so he moved in with his aunt, Pam, and his little cousin, Jess. Junior year he joined a high-school in the Junker family's town where he met his best mate, Brock, and later after he graduated he went on to pursue his dream career in the big city.

Was an absolute Frat bro in college. but a likable one (he is and always has been a people pleaser after all). getting that strategy tactician degree by day, absolute party animal by night. However his 'party animal' tendencies died down over time as he matured.

He is very comfortable in his sexuality, a lot of people think he is quite feminine in his manner of being. He cares about his appearance a lot and it helps that his PR managers push stage makeup onto him because he genuinely doesn't mind it, he even likes it sometimes (he practically grew up with a little sister, sure she is a genius but what little girl doesn't like putting makeup on her big cousin/ soul brother)

He's not as shallow as he leads people to believe. Colt likes putting on this show for the people around, acting like a big Himbo because when people feel like you have nothing to hide, like your heart is on your sleeve all of the time, they tend to not look into your past all that much.

in reality he is actually a very intuitive and emotionally intelligent person, it helps a lot when trying to get information out of people. He doesn't like giving it that much attention but he is also pretty skilled in what he does, as in detective work and plans (since he always felt like his parents were hiding things from him, he learned how to look for clues and read between the lines at a pretty young age). But since he's got shelly with him most of the time, he feels like there's not much need for his skills since she's so independent and doesn't like when people don't follow her plans.

Shelly

Michelle (Shelly) Torres — again I read this name Torres in that same fanfic and I absolutely loved it, I feel like it's just too late for me to change it, anything else just feels unnatural to me ToT

Doesn't like people to know her real name and very few do, only her mother used to call her that...

In her mid to late 20's (like 27-28)

an ex-child-thief turned vigilante, she doesn't like to talk about her life from 16 to 19.

after she got caught she had the choice to either face 3 years in prison or enroll in the Brawl Academy and help catch rogues alike.

they only gave her the college option because she was outstanding in all of her crimes and even the most experienced of officers at the time couldn't get their hands on her. however luck has it that some idiot newbie sent on his first mission just so happened to stumble upon her and proceed to chase her for a few days until he caught her.

turns out the newbie was also a student at the academy on his first practice mission (even more embarrassing for her in her opinion), but they didn't get to see that much of each other up until they started coincidentally working together at StarrCorp.

Likes to keep up a façade but in the opposite way Colt does. She likes to let others believe she is this unbreakable, ruthless leader who has everything in control all the time. unfortunately for her, there are times where she wants to put less effort in and let somebody else help with the huge headache that is called being a brawler, yet she feels like there is nobody there for her when she needs it. She doesn't really blame anyone else, she knows she did this with her own hands.

contrary to her partner (as in work partner) she puts way more value on being respected rather than being perceived as a nice person. She is not nice by any means but she is good.

she rarely lets people in because she's afraid of getting hurt, she spends most of her time denying any feeling that she ever had for anyone ever. only a few people ever managed to tear her walls (in which she self-isolates all that often) down.

Successful Girl Failure™

Hates all the attention Colt gets and hates the fact that she is jealous of him even more. She knows that it's downright immoral to do that, plus Colt is actually nice to her and treats her like an actual human being rather than a soldier made of titanium like most of the people.

Ok I made Shelly a bit too miserable so im ending this on a nicer note, here are some fluff headcanons

She likes tea. like, a LOT. she has a tea collection with at least 7 types of leafs and flavors in her cupboard at all times. it's like her little ritual at the end of the day, to sit down on her couch with a hot cup of tea and watch tv in peace.

huge huge HUGE literature enthusiast. She loves a good classic, not to mention crime novels.

Was Kit's #1 biggest fan growing up (and sometimes watches his show even now, it's her guilty pleasure shh) and named her cat after him.

on that same note, she's also a cat person. she likes every animal that has ever walked the earth but there's just something about cats... they're so distinguished yet so careless at the same time. their mood cages in .2 milliseconds and and nobody bats an eye, they are truly free. in a way, she wishes she could be more similar to them. like as in the way people perceive her.

Would y’all be interested in a fanfic i wrote revolving around Colt and Shelly where Starr Park is more of a corporation and brawlers are both heroes and celebrities? I can elaborate further on the concept if you guys like the idea :)) This is also the first ever piece of fanfiction i wrote so it might not be that good whoops

Anyway so both my tumblr AND twitter accounts got deactivated today when i tried to put in that age verification thingy which is really annoying and basically im crashing out rn and i feel like i have nothing to lose so it kinda made me less shy about posting this question lol

Crashing out,