#chapter three is here!

Luke immediately whipped around towards the sound of Jonathan’s laughter, his expression only growing darker with each cackle that spilt from his partner’s lips. Jonathan held his stomach and bent forward, his laughter becoming painful with each intake of breath. It only became worse when the four ex-villains looked up at him with various expressions of shock, looking not unlike children being caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing. 

“Delirious,” Luke warned, incredibly un-impressed. 

Jonathan let out a remaining wheeze as he shook his hands, “Okay- haha! Okay, I’m done.” He straightened himself up and took a much-needed breath of air, tiny giggles spilling out every other intake of air. “Okay,” he repeated after composing himself, striding into the room with even steps. 

The four ex-villains somehow sat up straight even with their binds restricting them once Jonathan neared, placing their palms neatly on the ground directly in front of them. He calmly took his place next to Luke, hands leisurely resting inside his hoodie pocket as he raked his eyes from one ex-villain to the next. With the two standing side-by-side, the air in the room immediately changed and the four men tensed. 

“Care to fill me in?” Jonathan asked. 

Luke growled, “just four idiots who apparently have hearing problems.” His hands clenched, red energy glowing menacingly. “Didn’t I warn you what would happen if we saw your faces here again? Do you think our threats are just for show?” 

The ex-villains frantically shook their heads, their voices once again mixing together as they all spoke at once. Jonathan couldn’t understand a single thing being said, and with the way Luke’s energy brightened, neither could be. Irritated, Jonathan lifted his hand in a stopping motion, hoping that it would stop the noise. Surprisingly it worked, the ex-villains shut their mouths the moment he moved his arm, lips closing in sync. It was kind of cool to witness, though Jonathan didn’t understand why he held that much power over them. 

“One at a time, please~!” he said sweetly, waggling his finger. The others followed the movement, sweat building below their brows. 

Lui hesitantly shifted closer, perhaps nominating himself to be the spokesperson for his friends(?). “We… We want to work with you. To fight alongside your sides, even as sidekicks!” He added quickly after both Jonathan and Luke turned their heads to sigh, the chains around his wrist rattling with his movements. 

“And you thought it would be a good idea to bust into our fake hideout to get caught again because… ?” Luke asked while crossing his arms, his long tail flickering irritably behind him. 

Lui faltered a bit, the confidence he had before leaving him. Terroriser shifted next to him, having decided to take the others’ place. “Well, we had no other way to contact you guys again unless out in the street but- Agh?!” 

His words were cut short by two long robotic arms wrapping around his torso. He jerked back to get out of their hold but his bonds didn’t let him go far before he was yanked into the air. “Oh, come on!” he screeched, his body dangling helplessly above his friends. 

Luke smirked while Jonathan tried to stifle his laughter. “Sorry, I wasn’t really asking,” he quipped, leering down at the other three captives, “I could give a less of a shit why you four are in my presence. What I do care about is that you didn’t listen to my warning so now you’re going to pay.” He didn’t hesitate to raise his hand and fire the built-up energy in his palm, lips curling in a snarl. The three on the ground ducked to the floor with a shout while Terroriser helplessly wiggled out of the way of the dark energy. 

Jonathan tapped his mask with a roll of his eyes, knowing full well Luke missed on purpose to rile them up. To be honest, he was kind of curious. Why would they come back when he and Luke had their personal information ready to be delivered to the Government? Why risk all that just to ask them to work together? He frowned, tapping becoming more violent. It didn’t make sense at all. 

“W-Wait! We’re serious about this!” Lui yelled, rolling out of the way of another blast. 

“So am I,” Luke scowled, another energy ball shooting inches from Lui’s face. 

The man sweated even more at the close call but he jerked right up and looked directly at Jonathan, startling him from his thoughts. “Delirious! Y-You said to me before you let us go that Los Santos needs more heroes to protect it, that you need all the help you can get!” 

Luke paused on his attack and whipped his head around to stare accusingly at Jonathan, who winced internally as the memory of his conversation with Lui resurfaced in his mind. Yeah, he did tell Lui that they needed more heroes around. But, he only said that to encourage them to get better. Not to latch onto him and Luke like leeches! 

“Well, we took your words to heart,” Lui continued with a steady voice, Jonathan wincing further when Luke’s glare deepened, “Los Santos has been getting a lot of activity lately, most of it escaping under the radar of our current top heroes.” 

“Expected of them,” Terroriser spat from above, the part of his face not robotic scowling. Jonathan raised his eyebrow at the obvious aggression though not in surprise as it was well known that the four in front of him had quite the history with Team Seven. 

“Which means that most crimes and villains remain un-checked and monitored. Los Santos is in desperate need for more heroes and not just any hero from the street, but experienced heroes who know the ins and outs of the city. So, what better than us, who lurked in this city far longer than any of these top dogs?” 

Luke scoffed, lowering his arm. The four breathed a sigh of relief. 

“What is your point?” Luke groused, “if you idiots believe in yourselves sooooo much, why the fuck are you bothering us? Shouldn’t you be making your debut as upstanding citizens?” he mocked, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

Lui lowered his head, face pinched, “the thing is… we don’t really know how. We've been the ‘bad guys’ for so long we don’t know how to be good, or at least appear to be good. We need guidance, someone who can give us the little push we need to fully transition from being the trash of society to… not so much trash.” 

“Pretty garbage, if you will,” Ohmwrecker helpfully added. 

Lui shot him a finger gun, “yeah, exactly!” 

Jonathan’s head spun trying to follow along their train of thought. Pretty garbage? Can trash be considered pretty? Maybe if you add glitter to it? 

“Anyways,” Lui continued, thankfully breaking Jonathan’s thoughts from spiralling out of control, “what I’m trying to say is that in order for us to fully give up our wicked ways we want to work alongside an actual hero and learn what it means to be good. So, we would like to humbly ask to become your apprentices, sidekicks even! We’ll become anything you want as long as we work with you.” He bowed low to the ground, directly facing Jonathan. “Delirious, because of your encouraging words, we believe that the best choice for us to succeed is to work alongside you and Cartoonz in order to gain that rhythm of being a hero.” 

A million different thoughts suddenly raced through Jonathan’s head, most of them being a stream of question marks and the rest raw panic. He froze at the declaration, jaw falling in disbelief. These four, who mind you were one of the most infamous villains ever to walk the streets of Los Santos, want to work with him? Him, who has both the government and hero organisation after his blood? Who was far from the definition of what a hero should be? And they chose him? 

What the fuck? 

“What the fuck?!” Jonathan chokes out. His outburst startled their captives and they jerked back in fear. He didn’t mean to be so loud but he was still reeling with the onslaught of emotions hitting him at once.

 From beside him, Luke shook off his own shock, a snarl curling on his lips as he reached forward and yanked Lui to his feet. “Why the fuck would we ever want you fucking idiots anywhere near us,” he spat, “if you think we want fucking trash-” 

“Pretty garbage…” Ohmwrecker un-helpfully added with a squeak. 

“-around us, then you’re more stupid than I thought. You’ll just be in the way.” He tossed Lui to the floor, grinning un-kindly from the yelp of pain after the other landed harshly on to the ground. 

Lui used his elbows to pick himself up, jaw clenching from the effort. “We… We won’t be in the way,” he gasped, hopping back up to his feet. 

Ohmwrecker and Mad Ladd staggered next to him, muscles just as intense. Jonathan’s eyebrows rose from the intensity of their stares, sharp and fierce. It was the same even from Ohmwrecker and Terroriser, who had their features blocked by a bandana and robotic mask respectively; a dominating aura of determination. It was an intriguing sight to see. 

“Let us show you that we can be useful! Please!” 

Luke growled irritably, veins popping around his arms as he lifted his palm, energy bursting uncontrollably around it. “I’ve had enough of your shitty explanation. We don’t need you, that’s it-” 

However, Luke quickly shut his mouth when a shiny object flew past him in a precise motion, recognising instantly that it was one of Jonathan’s knives. It twirled in the air like a boomerang, spiralling just above the ex-villains (who cowered to the ground the moment they saw the weapon thrown) and straight towards the ceiling where Terroriser hung. He screamed loudly at the glimpse of the glinting knife, frantically wiggling his body uselessly. 

To all their surprise, the knife missed him completely and instead cut the cables holding him up cleanly off. Gravity did its thing and Terroriser plummeted back down with a pathetic cry. Luke had the grace to catch him before he met the unforgiving floor, but it was more because he was unsure of what to do than any actual kindness. 

“Are you out of your damn mind?! You’re actually releasing him?” Luke asked incredulously. Terroriser laid in their arms in a daze, the patches of skin they could see a few shades paler. 

Jonathan lifted his arms and shrugged, effortlessly catching the knife as it returned back to him. “They said that they can prove their usefulness so I want to see if that is true,” he replied, twirling his weapon playfully between his fingers. 

Luke looked at him in disbelief, dropping Terroriser like a sack of potatoes. The poor man groaned below him, mentally crying when no one batted an eye at him. 

Luke crossed his arms, glaring, “you’re actually going to listen to their bullshit? Wasn’t the first time around enough?” 

Jonathan chuckled, his laugh sending shivers down their captives spine, “they already wasted our time for a while now. What’s a little bit more? Besides, if they dare try anything…” The blue orbs of his mask glowed menacingly, the knife in hand looking sharper than ever. They all gulped (including Luke, who didn’t expect the sudden animosity) and nodded their heads. 

Luke scratched his head with a tsk after regarding his partner curiously, his tail curling comfortably back around his waist. After a few seconds, he sighed, “alright, fine. I’ll play along.” 

He and Jonathan helped release their captives from their bonds, the latter feeling slightly guilty from the red marks on their wrists from being tied up for so long. The two gave their captives time to recollect themselves, crossing their arms patiently. 

Well, in Jonathan’s case anyway. 

“Okay, show us,” Luke said dully, already unimpressed, “entertain me for a bit before we turn you losers in.” 

With a puff of his chest, Lui stepped forward, chin held up high. His body quickly transformed and he once again looked like the monkey hybrid they were familiar with, his long tail swishing excitingly behind him. “I already introduced myself from before but I’ll say it again. My full name is Lui Calibre and my alias is Mega Monkey. When I transform into my other form, my strength, agility, and flexibility go up by twenty percent. I also have full control of my tail so I can use it as a third arm, including holding and using weapons.” 

He demonstrates by pointing at a stray rope on the ground. With his tail, he reached forward and picked up the stray rope and effortlessly tied a knot. Jonathan did his best to stop the scoff in his throat from coming out. He briefly thought back to the last encounter with Mega Monkey when the villain tried to run off with millions of dollars. The hybrid used that blasted tail to rip out a stop sign cleanly off the ground and used it as a bat, smashing both policemen and vehicles out of the way. That robe probably felt like nothing to him. 

“Plus, I saved up a lot of money from my day job and from… another means,” he continued, cringing when Jonathan snorted, “so if you need a sponsor or money for equipment, I’m your man.” He shot the two a grin, which had a strange charm to it even with his monkey-like features.

Mad Ladd peaked out from behind Lui, waving enthusiastically. 

‘I guess they’re going one by one,’ Jonathan thought, acknowledging his wave with his own.

“Hiya! I’m Craig Thompson, you know me as Madd Ladd!” ‘Craig’ chirped, “my powers are telekinesis! As you know since we have fought before and you saw me in action… and you tied me up with chains specifically to stop my hands…” he faltered with each word that left his mouth, shoulders dropping dramatically. However, he recovered remarkably fast, face brightening, “ anyways! Yeah, telekinesis! I’m especially useful if you need certain things or for stealth missions.” 

His hands turned an orange hue, the energy softer in nature compared to Luke’s own destructive one. The knot around Lui’s tail suddenly lifted into the air, the same orange energy pulsing around it, and twisted itself. The one knot became four and continued to multiply with each new twist. Lui rolled his eyes with a smirk, “show off.” 

Mad Ladd grinned, “but wait, there’s more!” 

Both Luke and Jonathan raised their brows, “more? What else can you do?” 

The other man gave the two a peace sign, “this is completely random and I have no idea how it connects to my telekinesis but I always have wifi no matter where I am. I could be in the middle of nowhere or at the bottom of the ocean and I’ll still have full bars. It’s absolutely stupid but I ain’t complaining.” 

Jonathan jumped up and down, stars appearing in his eyes, “whoa! Really?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, the action stunning the others in the room, and skipped up to Craig with a laugh. Ignoring Craig’s discomfort, he held his phone next to him and disconnected his previous wifi connection, squealing with glee when his phone immediately picked up an extremely powerful connection and the wifi returned to full bars. “It really works! No passwords or anything!” he said with glee. 

Craig smirked smugly at the positive reaction, “see? So, if we’re stranded somewhere, we’ll always have a way to stay connected!” 

Luke gave Jonathan a deadpanned glare as the other continued to fiddle with his phone, the latter distracted from the extremely good connection he has. He pulled his partner by his hoodie and shook his head when the other whined, cocking his head in a silent warning. Jonathan schooled his excitement and nodded, slightly embarrassed he got carried away. They were supposed to have a unified front so it didn’t help that Jonathan was already getting worked up. Especially since they still had two more ex-villains to judge. 

Luke signalled for the last two to continue, sneering meanly at Craig who scurried away from the front with a yelp. 

Terroriser stepped forward with calculated steps, back straight and posture firm. Out of the others, the confidence and the overall asshole-ness oozed naturally from his body, like it was genuinely a part of him. Which was kind of hard to believe after Jonathan has seen the man cry twice from falling a short distance.  

“I’m Brian Hanby, alias Terroriser. A fitting name, don’t you think?” ‘Brian’ started off with a hand on his hip. 

Oh, the name definitely fits him. Quite nicely, actually. Jonathan more than once watched Terroriser play with the police force on several occasions, sometimes even faking a kidnapping or a bomb threat just to laugh at the force’s panic expressions. His favourite targets were the heroes themselves, especially Early Bird, Nogla, and WildCat. From massive glitter bombs that covered an entire block to dumping the unsuspecting heroes in a lake before electrocuting the water; the man had no limit to his ‘pranks.’ 

Jonathan had a sneaking feeling that the crimes that Terroriser genuinely committed were not done for evil purposes but more so that watching the proud heroes fail to apprehend him brought him immense joy. 

“My speciality is designing and engineering weapons and gadgets. If you need something repaired or an upgrade, I’m the guy for the job. All the mechanical suits and weapons I have on me were made by yours truly so you can see for yourself how beneficial I can be.” 

Jonathan reeled back, eyes wide. “Wait, so you’re not a robot?” he asked incredulously, circling Brian in amazement. The only thing he could see where the mechanical parts that made up the man’s arms and legs beneath his clothes. He couldn’t make out any parts that were human save for small parts around his face and neck. 

Brian shook his head with a smirk, “nope. All human right here. I just use my nanotechnology to make it look like I’m made of metal.” As he said that, the metal plate covering his right eye pulled apart, crawling away until it revealed his face beneath it. The same happened to the rest of his body, revealing a relatively good looking gentleman with a thin beard and mischievous blue eyes. 

“Wow, that was so fucking cool,” Jonathan breathed in awe while Luke scowled, muttering disdainingly how ‘unfairly good looking these punks were.’ 

In the back, Lui and Craig high fived, “yessss! We’re doing good so far…!” 

Luke sighed, once again dragging Jonathan away from Brian, who was touching the other’s arm and face giddily. “Alright, we got someone who knows how to use his noggin. What else?” 

He flickered his eyes at the last remaining captive, one eyebrow raising when the other continued to fiddle nervously with his fingers. Brian thumped Ohmwrecker encouragingly, offering him a quick thumbs-up before nudging him forward. 

Ohmwrecker took a deep breath and straightened his back, a friendly grin making its way onto his face. “Well, uh, I’m Ohmwrecker! You can call me Ohm, hello!” he made a quick bow, cursing lightly when he stumbled. Jonathan stifled a cackle as Luke suppressed the urge to groan while the other man struggled to speak. “Um, well, my speciality is my eyes,” he pointed to his face with a bright smile, cocking his head in confusion when Luke palmed his forehead. 

“Soooo, you’re expecting me to believe you can see through that damn thing?” Luke asked tiredly. 

“Huh? What do you mean?” Ohm asked, gently touching his face. He let out a loud ‘oh!’ once his fingers brush over his bandana, the source of Jonathan's amusement and Luke’s despair. “Oh yeah,” Ohm chuckled, the nervousness around his shoulders lessening. “I forget sometimes that I have this thing on. Well, to be honest, yeah I can see you just fine.” He pulled gently against the side of the grey bandana covering his eyes carefully so it didn’t slide off, “ this just helps keep my powers under control.” 

“What, you can see through walls or something?” Jonathan asked excitedly. 

“No, nothing like that,” Ohm said with a laugh, the sound light. Jonathan felt Luke tense beside him. 

“What I can see is people’s brain activity and their stats.” 

The windows shut-down sound returned. 

“Can see what now?” Jonathan was kind of glad that they couldn’t see his expression through his mask because right now he was sure he looked dumb as hell. 

“Basically, if I look at someone, it's as if I’m seeing their profile right next to them. I can see their age, power type, and little snippets of information like if they ate that day or if they're stressed currently. I can even see their brain activity, like the exact moment your brain tells you to move a finger or open your mouth. So, I can help you with stealth missions or if you need to have an extra set of eyes.” Ohm pointed at his eyes with both hands, smiling with all teeth. 

Jonathan didn't know what to do other than stare at him. 

Luke, however, seemed very capable. 

“The fuck?” he said with a chuckle, for once his stare is not cold, “‘extra set of eyes,’ really? You couldn’t stop yourself from making that shitty joke, huh?”  

“Nope!” Ohm replied cheekily, earning him another snort.

The windows shut-down sound changed to windows crashing; Jonathan couldn’t believe his ears. He’s never seen Luke laugh like that in front of other people before, the man despising everyone that wasn’t himself or Jonathan. The reaction caught him off guard. 

“So, you’re like a human scanner?” Luke asked, schooling his face. 

“Kind of, yeah! With these eyes of mine, nothing can get past me. At full concentration, I can see the moment they decided to move before they even complete the action. That’s how I get away very easily.” 

“It’s not fair, it’s like he has a map that reveals everyone’s location,” Brian grumbled, bumping his shoulder with Ohm who only laughed. 

Jonathan felt a little bit uneasy after all the information finally sunk in. 

“So, uhh, how much information do you see? Like, how does it work?” he asked as casually as he could. 

Whatever mirth Luke had disappeared in an instant, a dangerous expression settling on his face. The change in the air was obvious to everyone there and Ohm stepped back, sweat building up rapidly under his brow. 

“J-Just the basics at first glance… like how old you are, your gender, if you're injured or healthy and what your mood is currently. I can see brain activity and thought processes after I focus on them, but I need to see their full face to get more personal information like their real names or their powers. S-So people in masks are safe!” he said hurriedly, darting his eyes back and forth between the two heroes. 

Jonathan subtly sagged his shoulders in relief, whatever anxiety he built up disappearing little by little. 

“Oh, that’s good!” he said with a laugh, flicking his knife in the air before catching it with his left hand, “for a second there, I thought I was going to have to…” he stopped there with a snicker, pocketing the knife. When he looked back, Ohm looked slightly fainter. 

“Your powers are cool though, I never heard anything like it.” 

“Kind of useless in battle, though,” Luke observed. 

Ohm smiled, shrugging, “I’m more of a strategist, plus it helps learning passwords and breaking into buildings without being seen.” 

Lui smirked, “how useful is a guy that can get in and out of places without resorting to violence? It makes interrogations and stakeouts a hell of a lot easier.” The four stood side by side, looking expectantly at the two heroes. 

Jonathan crossed his arms, humming quietly to himself. 

Their powers were phenomenal, that was certain. Jonathan had fought them enough times that he didn’t need this whole explanation. He knew that they were useful, knew that having them around could be beneficial for everyone, not just them. They could have a leash on the top four most villainous people, ready to be delivered to the government if they so much as return to their wicked ways or betray him. And if they didn’t have to resort to that, they have access to a whole new arsenal to fight off the corrupted scum of Los Santos. 

However, there were too many things that were making him hesitant. The media is going to have a field day when the four finally debut as heroes, Jonathan isn’t stupid enough to believe that those vultures would make this event positive. He’ll have the government and that bastard of a hero team breathing down his neck more than ever. He wasn’t even sure if the four ex-villains were even capable of being good, what’s going to stop them from betraying them the moment something better passes along? Accepting them meant having them around him for a long period of time, working together and learning from one another. Jonathan doesn’t know if he is able to do that with another person that wasn’t Luke or Squirrel, let alone four. 

Trust was so important to him. Jonathan knew that he couldn’t give that to them. There were things about him that he couldn’t allow anyone to find out. 

Luke rubbed his face, “So, what? You told us what you can do and told us your real names, fucking stupid but thanks for being honest,” he added with a roll of his eyes, “but I don’t see how any of this stuff is going to convince us we need you.” 

The group spluttered, eyes wide in shock. 

“But… But we told you, even showed you how useful we can be!” 

Luke glared, palms exploding with energy, “useful how? As far as I can tell, me and Delirious have just been fine on our own. Having you here means there are more mouths to feed, more people to look after, and more ammo for the media to come after our asses. What would they think of us now that we have a ragged team of villains-” 

“Ex-villains!” Craig interrupted desperately. 

“-hanging around us? I just can’t see anything good coming from this. The answer is no.” 

For some strange reason, Jonathan’s chest clenched painfully at their crestfallen expressions. He pressed his hand gently over his heart, frowning. Why should he care? Luke was right. They can’t just drop everything they have been working for just to risk everything on four strangers. 

And yet… 

And yet, it felt like Jonathan was making a mistake. 

Luke’s wings flared as he stepped forward, getting ready to knock out the four idiots and take them away once and for all. They’ll reinforce the base and get rid of the fake hideout, they couldn’t risk having any more people use the same ploy to gain contact with the two. Jonathan looked away, resting his hand uncertainly on his chest while Luke raised his hand to make the first blow. 

But before he could swing, Brian screamed. 

“I’m not accepting your stupid answer!” 

Luke stopped, nostrils flaring as he bared his sharp pointed teeth, “excuse me?” 

Brian stepped up with a matching snarl, uncaring that he was now right in front of Luke’s palm and sharp claws. Without the mechanical mask, Jonathan could clearly see the fire burning behind those eyes. 

The pain in his chest lifted. 

“Look, I get that you guys have a lot of things going around, and the last thing you want is to babysit a bunch of adult children,” the last comment looked like it hurt for him to say but he pressed on,” but I swear that we are worth giving a chance to.” 

He lifted his right hand and pressed it confidently against his chest, “I’ll build you guys weapons and modify your base.” 

Luke and Delirious stilled, eyes wide in shock at the declaration. 

“I'll build you the latest tech so you can pick up crime and radio waves faster than anything you have here, plus I’ll even lengthen the range it receives them. Whatever you need, I’ll build it.” he pointed at Lui, who straightened his shoulders, “Lui is more useful than you think. Not only does he have a lot of money but he also has a lot of connections that we can tap into. And he is smart as fuck, like scarily smart. Remember, he was the one who found you guys in the first place.” 

Luke lowered his arms, energy dispersing. He regarded the four carefully, face scrunched up in thought. 

“Craig is a walking radio for crying out loud. He could channel into frequency waves during a battle, including radio waves and sound waves; we could know about any situation before the police or other heroes could lift a finger! He could even pull us out of any situation with his telekinesis, he’s far from useless despite his looks.” 

Craig, who was nodding along to every word, immediately squawked in offense. 

Brian waved him off, he was on a roll. “And Ohm is a great profiler and strategist! He could help you, Cartoonz, with coming up with plans and collecting data for missions. The man can see almost everything about a person just by looking at their face for fucks sake, how is that not worth anything?!” 

He was heaving by the time he finished, chest rising with each haggard breath. 

His teammates(?) stood next to him, side by side, and held their heads high. Any fear or hesitation they had before had all but disappeared as if it never existed. 

Cartoonz met their glares head-on, silently impressed that they didn’t back down like before. 

As for Jonathan, well, he was practically sold. In fact, he was vibrating with excitement. 

How could he forget? The four in front of him were once strangers as well. As their alias, they all prefered to work alone and stayed out of each other's way when one of them decided to attack the city that day. On rare occasions, they do end up encountering one another and end up fighting like they were sworn enemies. 

Mad Ladd and Terroriser had once fought for the same territory half a year ago and nearly killed each other. They both left the battlefield with heavy injuries and revenge on their lips, just barely getting away from both the police force and heroes who tried to use the situation to their advantage. And now here they were, standing side by side like they were old friends. Brian defended them all for crying out loud, hyping up their powers and abilities despite the looming feeling of death from Luke. 

If they could look past their own pride to try to reform together and lower themselves further to ask for help, then why couldn’t he? 

“Cartoonz…” he whispered, tugging gently at the other’s sleeve. Luke flickered his eyes at him, expression blank. 

The four in front of them held their breaths as a silent conversation passed between the two. Jonathan tugged the sleeve twice, the blue orbs on his mask squinting happily. Whatever battle Luke had inside him ended and he sagged his shoulders, his wings (cutely) did the same. 

“We are not taking apprentices or sidekicks. That is final,” Luke said after a second of silence, turning his back to the group. 

Ohm and Craig wilted while Brian and Lui bristled. They opened their mouths, ready to argue once more, but were stopped by Jonathan lifting his finger to his mask and shushing them. 

“But… fuck, I can’t believe we’re doing this… ” Luke continued, nose scrunching up uncomfortably, “We’ll… We’ll accept you, idiots, as honorary members of our gang- for now!” he warned after they gasped, “we won’t reveal everything to you like you guys did because we’re not fucking stupid. But we’ll put faith in you for now, as long as you deliver the promises you made today.” 

He didn’t get to finish his whole sentence before the four started jumping in joy. 

“We did it, we did it!” Ohm cried, throwing his arms around Craig and Brian. 

“You won’t regret this, we swear,” Lui replied, the same burning determination they saw a while ago reflecting in his eyes. 

Cartoonz loudly snorted, “oh, no. I’m definitely going to regret this. That I am one hundred percent certain on.” 

He shared a glance at Jonathan, who was happy enough to watch the others celebrate their small victory. He noticed his partners stare and he looked back. 

With a laugh, he lifted his fist towards Luke’s chest, “come on, let’s make more regrets together.” 

Luke laughed quietly, thumping Jonathan’s fist with his own, “that’s something we’re good at. We should really change that one day.” 

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Smitty huffed as he put the last remaining box into the room, straightening his back with a groan after he heard a few pops on his shoulder. He knew he shouldn’t have packed so much but the apartment looked so dull despite being well furnished and clean. 

The apartment Chief Kjellberg chose as their new ‘home’ was decently sized with two rooms, one bathroom, a living room and dining area, and a properly furnished kitchen. Smitty should probably thank Felix for choosing a place that offered more space for him and his new ‘roommate’ to move around in. He knew that if he left it off to the other officers in that shit-show department he would have gotten a small studio in a shady area or a janitor closet crammed in a corner. 

Speaking of his new roommate… 

“What? No help?” Smitty huffed, pushing the box further into the room. 

Kryoz laid face first on the couch, legs sticking out on top of the armrest. 

“That’s all your crap, why should I carry it?” was his muffled reply. 

“Common courtesy?” Smitty said with an easy smile, dropping onto the couch cushion beside Kryoz with a sigh. His roommate didn’t mind, instead, he sunk himself further into the couch with a relaxed sigh. 

That’s where he has been the entire time since Felix and the other officers dropped him off. He had looked around the room, replied “Oh, nice,” after giving the apartment a once over before chucking his restraints at an unsuspecting officer and made a dive for the couch. The man did not so much as stir during the final inspection of the apartment and Smitty’s last briefing of his case. He could have fooled Smitty into thinking he was a statue with how still he was. He only knew that Kryoz was alive was the fact that he screamed, “fucking finally,” when the other officers finally left. 

“...I’m tired!” Kryoz cried into his pillow. 

“You haven’t done shit,” Smitty quipped, popping his neck with a satisfied groan. “Am I going to have to decorate your room by myself as well?” he joked, eyeing the pile of boxes. 

He went shopping for things to liven up the place, the space too dull for his liking. With the number of items piling up by the corner, however, he kind of regrets how much he bought. 

“Eh, if you want to. I trust your artistic style,” Kryoz replied, stretching his legs while yawning, “I’m just going to hang out here until I either die or my sentence ends.” 

Smitty furrowed his brows and turned his head to inspect his new roommate. The man was nothing like he expected. Kryoz was known for his flair of dramatics, he deliberately chose the more difficult path solely because he found it more entertaining. He plotted his entrances and costumes way more than the actual scheme against humanity. 

That was the person Smitty remembered. Not the one currently trying to become one with their couch. It wasn’t exactly a bad thing, but the difference in personality surprised him. 

“Sorry man, I can’t let you waste away on our couch,” Smitty laughed, lightly tapping Kryoz’ ankle. He still was unsure where their relationship lied so he didn’t want to cross any sort of boundaries. They may technically have a prisoner and guard relationship but that didn’t mean Smitty had to be a dick. 

Kryoz suddenly turned his head, eyes peeking under stray strands of hair, “our couch, huh…?” he murmured. His tone sounded light as if he was happy. 

“Yeah, our couch. Well, I hope that is. Not if you take it all for yourself,” Smitty replied, “over there is our kitchen, which I’m pretty sure I’m going to be using the most, and past that is our bathroom that has definitely seen better days.” He continued to map out their apartment, observing how Kryoz relaxed into the couch while following along to Smitty's explanation. Kyroz seemed to like it when he referred to things as ‘theirs’; he made a pleasant hum in his throat whenever Smitty brushed over those words. He was not sure why Kryoz liked it so much but he made a note of it in the back of his mind. 

He makes himself comfortable in the little space he had before tapping the other’s ankle again, “sit up for me, will ya? We have to go over more things before you can rest.” 

Reluctantly, the man does so with an exaggerated groan, “making an old man move, have you no shame?” 

“You’re only twenty-six,” Smitty said with a laugh. 

“Wait, how old are you?” 

“Twenty-two.” 

Kryoz gasped, “a whole baby. I can’t be associated with a child. I’m sorry but I’m going to have to call child services, who left you unattended?” 

Smitty couldn’t stop the laughter building up in his throat from the other’s ridiculous tirade. “Bruh, I’m a grown-ass man.” 

Kryoz grinned as he reached forward and squished Smitty’s cheeks together. “I don’t know man, this looks like a baby’s face to me.” 

Smitty pushed his hand away with a giggle, “my face may look like a fetus but from the neck down, I’m all man, baby.” He emphasised by sensually running his hand down his neck and over his stomach, lips quirking in a confident smile. 

What he didn’t expect was for Kryoz to follow the movement obediently, eyes lingering where Smitty laid his hand between his thighs. 

“Really?” he asked, interest colouring his tone, “how much of a man?” 

The conversation was travelling somewhere Smitty wasn’t remotely prepared for so he did the one thing he’s good at. Changing the subject and pretending it never happened. 

“I-uh, I actually wanted to talk to you and go through the rules and all that,” Smitty coughed, flickering his eyes away from Kryoz’ intense gaze, “I don’t want the guys breathing down my neck and tell me that I didn’t do my job properly.” 

Kryoz hummed thoughtfully, “rules, huh? What kind of rules? I can follow certain rules really well.” 

There it was, that sensual tone. 

“Probations rules, all that nonsense,” Smitty quickly explained, smiling nervously. 

Kryoz hummed again, a finger coming up to rub his bottom lip. Smitty willed himself to not follow the movement. “...Alright, what do I need to do?” Kyroz asked, the drawl in his words returning. 

Whatever strange energy they had between them disappeared and Smitty took an easy breath of air. 

“I’ll make it quick and skip over all the stuff you should already know. I’m sure you’ve been through this more times than you would like.” 

“Tell me about it,” Kyroz replied with a roll of his eyes. Smitty patted his knee sympathetically, making the other smile lightly. 

“So basically, you’ll be under my care for the foreseeable future until I deem you fit for society. However long that takes depends on you.” 

“Ohhh?” Kyroz replied, looking intrigued. 

Uncertainty filled Smitty as he continued, “for the first month, you cannot go outside. This is just so we can have a standard model of data on you. After that, if you want to go outside you’re going to have to be accompanied by me, or if I’m unavailable, by another officer.” 

Kryoz sneered at that, “if you’re not here then I wouldn’t want to go outside anyway. Anything to not be anywhere near those retards again.” 

Smitty winced at his cold tone, “that’s fair. I’ll make sure they come over as little as possible.” 

Kryoz huffed, “good. Please continue.” 

“Because we have to be extensive on the data, I’m expected to ask you a lot of questions or bud into your privacy at any given moment. But don’t worry, I could give a less of a shit of what I’m supposed to do,” Smitty remarked with a frown, remembering the way Frank railed on him about his duties and what was expected of him as a ‘proud officer.’ Every word that left him made his skin prickle with anger. 

“You’re still a human being who deserves their space and I’m not going to barge in as if I have any right to be there. That’s why I don’t care how long this takes. If you want to tell me something then please do so! I’ll listen to you with open ears and if it’s something you’re not comfortable being written in a report then I won’t, consequences be damned. If you don’t want to tell me anything, then that’s fine too. All I ask is that you don’t burn anything in the apartment, keep the bathroom clean, and please spare me if you decide to return to your evil ways and kill us all.” 

Kryoz listened to Smitty’s rant with a soft expression, his blond bangs swept to the side so he could look at his new roommate without it getting away.  

“...Thanks, I appreciate that” he said, “for a dog of the government, you’re alright.” 

Smitty rolled his eyes with a snort, “aww, thanks, Kryoz. That means a lot.” 

“...John.” 

Smitty looked down at him in surprise, “What?” 

“John,” the other replied, lifting his hand over his mouth to stifle a yawn, “that’s my name. Kryoz is my super name and I don’t like it being used when I’m not being super.” 

Before Smitty could say anything, ‘John’ suddenly disappeared with a poof of smoke. In a panic, Smitty whipped around, darting his eyes frantically around the room. If he lost his charge already he swears to fuck- 

The sound of the fridge being open alerts him from his thoughts and he turns around to see the man rummaging through the frozen boxes. He let out a little ‘ahah’ once he found what he was looking for and pulled it out, closing the fridge door with his foot. 

Another poof later, Smitty feels the couch dip below him and he looks back to find John back to his original position, now with a can of soda and bag of chips under his arms. 

“Well, I don’t like people calling me John either,” he continues on, as if he didn’t just give Smitty a fucking heart attack, “they try to use it to mock me for knowing who I really am and I fucking hate it. They don’t know me so they have no right to utter my name under their nasty breaths.” 

The way he spoke sent chills down Smitty’s spine, the amount of malice in his tone so poisoning to hear. 

But then, John fluttered his eyes up to meet Smitty’s gaze, calm and unguarded. “But, I don’t mind if you call me by name. You’ll be the first to have my permission so you better be honoured.” 

With that, John relaxed back into the couch and stuffed his hand into the chip bag, making a steady stream of crumbs on his shirt. 

However, Smitty couldn’t bring himself to care at that moment. 

Instead, he felt very warm. 

“John…” he whispered, testing the way it passed his lips. 

Such a common name, he was sure he had said that name countless times in his lifetime. And yet, his lips felt tingly after saying that name. 

“John,” he tried again, smiling to himself. 

It felt nice. 

“Smitty,” John said back, making Smitty jolt 

“Smitty,” he repeated, a knowing grin slowly forming on his face. 

Cheeks flushed, Smitty jumped to his feet. “Uhhhh, I should really start unpacking before we get too lazy and end up leaving those boxes there forever.” He didn’t wait for the other to respond before he began moving boxes, cursing quietly under his breath. “That was weird, that was weird. Why did you make that awkward,” he scolded himself. 

He lifted a decent size box and carried it to John’s new room. True to his word, the man stayed where he was on the couch. He idly played with his chips, tossing the snacks into the air and catching them in his mouth. He failed more than he ate, scoffing loudly and calling the abandoned chip a ‘little whore’ before trying again with a different chip. 

Smitty watched him in the corner of his eye as he took boxes to their rooms, amused more than annoyed by his roommate’s antics. He had a feeling this was going to be a recurring thing. 

Really, this person felt so different from the man who terrorised his television screen every other morning. But, after Smitty thought about it, he realised that he was the same. He forgot that people weren’t one dimensional and couldn’t act a certain way. Chief Smitty was entirely different from average every day Smitty. So was morning Smitty, tired Smitty, and angry Smitty; there were many versions of himself that were all still him. 

And John was no different. 

Teenager Smitty only knew Kryoz; an over eccentric man with a dramatic cape and even more dramatic personality. Current Smitty was now going to know John; the laziest piece of shit he’s ever met who told shitty jokes and wasn’t afraid to show their attraction. 

“Smitty~! When are we going to eat?” John drawled, poofing from the couch and appeared sitting at their dining table, fork and spoon in hand, “let’s break in this kitchen together, hard and fast,” he said, grinning. 

Smitty sighed quietly, looking over at the boxes he hardly made a dent in. 

Another burst of smoke and suddenly the weight on his arms disappeared. He looked up to see John carrying the box with ease to the other side of the room, carefully setting it down with a huff. “Come on, we can deal with this later. For now, let’s go eat. I can survive on bags of chips for so long.” 

Smitty stretched his arms over his head, “We?” he mocked playfully. 

He didn’t expect John to intertwine their fingers before tugging him along. “Yeah, we. Let's fix up the room together after we eat. But first, let’s eat. I can’t wait to eat food that isn’t slop…” he said, practically drooling as he dragged Smitty to the kitchen. 

The warm feeling returned, blooming comfortably in Smitty’s chest. 

He may be used to Kryoz the villain, but he thinks he’s going to really like the one behind the mask. 

OoOoOoOoOoOo

A month has passed since Luke and Jonathan have taken the wanna-be heroes under their care. A full month of trial and error as the two tried to settle with their new ‘teammates.’ 

As promised, the ex-villains were working hard to showcase their resolve in becoming heroes. While Jonathan patrolled the city as Delirious, Luke stayed at the base to monitor their progress. The four busied themselves in the training room where they discussed how to use their abilities to contribute to the team as well as practice their abilities. Luke had Brian build them fighting units and flying droids to train alongside the training system already implemented. He also had Brian deliver his promise in upgrading the base and the technology.

After he proved his competence by fixing their radio signal and upgrading their defence system, Luke offered a spare room to be used as Brian’s personal lab. The fake android was ecstatic, quickly making himself right at home by dumping his tools and decorating the walls with equipment and weaponry. 

As well as upgrading their computer system, Brian also made them a new control panel and a larger computer screen, including building a second radio that connects to both police radios and news outlets the second they are broadcast. “This baby can pick up local and international signals, we’ll be able to learn about trouble at the same time as the police, heck maybe sooner.” he had said after he finished the final touches, the nanobots around his fingers disappearing as he tapped the machine. 

Luke hated to admit it, but he was impressed. 

Brian was even considerate enough to allow Luke to set the passwords and program voice activation and protocols solely for his and Delirious’ own use. “It’s so you can still have control over everything in case things go south. I know that you don’t fully trust us, but I hope this helps in at least giving you guys some insurance. I only have access to basic settings and commands while you and Delirious have the rest, and I can’t override anything unless it has a direct command from you. It is your base after all.” 

Brian went beyond Luke’s expectation, and it still kept going as the other immediately went to work in building more weapons and gadgets to use in future missions. “I’ve been working on a few things before I decided to go good so I think this is a great time to continue perfecting them. Once we go on a few missions, I'll get a feel on how you guys fight and function so I can build you some nifty tools to use.” He had told Luke while he fiddled with a tiny microchip, so small that it could fit on his fingernail.

The others were not far behind. 

They became familiar with their new surroundings and even began choosing random areas around the base where their new ‘rooms’ are going to be. “The fuck they are,” Luke argued as Brian took note of their wants, the other three completely ignored him. They still feared him to some degree, but it waned bit by bit as they interacted together, only spiking back up when they sparred. Luke gave them no mercy during their fights, attacking them with the intent to kill. Only Ohm ever left the room unscathed, the bastard using his ability to dodge out of the way and scurry out of the room. The others were not so lucky, becoming great friends with Luke’s claws, kicks, energy balls, and once in a while a mouth full of a wing. 

However, nothing was more humiliating than being smashed to the ground by Luke’s tail. 

It made Lui bristle with jealousy how easily the man was able to wrap his tail around his ankle and send him flying into the wall. His pride on his own tail taking quite the blows when they sparred. 

Overall, the ex-villains were doing better than expected. 

Jonathan entered the base by slide, squealing loudly with his arms and legs spread wide as he was flung into the air. He was caught by Craig using his telekinesis, the orange hue glowing brightly around his body. 

“Nice catch,” he laughed as he was gently put back down. 

“I gotcha!” Craig said back, shooting him a finger gun. However, he wavered a second later, giving Jonathan a short wave before he quickly walked the other direction. 

The others were still awkward when they interacted with Jonathan. They didn’t have the same exposure with him as they did with Luke, so from time to time, they looked at him as if they were walking on eggshells, guarded and uncertain. He valued the few moments when they forgot ‘who’ they were talking to and replied to him with the same level of playfulness they used on everyone else. 

“How are our new teammates doing?” Jonathan asked Luke once he caught sight of the man. 

His partner hummed in concentration while he observed the screen, mapping out possible locations for new patrol routes and places of interest, “they’re breaking in the training room really well, we might have to have Brian build us a cleaning robot because there is absolute carnage.” 

Jonathan snickered, “isn’t it kind of fucked to have a robot clean up its dead brothers?” 

“...” 

Luke blanched. 

“...Maybe I’ll just have them clean up their own mess after training,” he muttered with a disturbed look on his face. 

“You’re relying a lot on Terroriser,” Jonathan observed, changing the screen to look at police activity with a touch of a finger. 

“I didn’t know what we were missing out on,” Luke admitted, dividing the screen so they could see police activity and the map of the city simultaneously, “it’s not like our stuff was shitty, but it’s really nice to click on things without a delay.” 

“You have a point, everything is so shiny now,” Jonathan mused, playing with his reflection on their brand new control panel, cackling when Luke smacked him. “You think they’re ready?” he asked suddenly, sweeping his eyes to the training room where Craig and Brian were sparring, their loud and crude battle cries breaking the usual silence. Lui and Ohm cheered them on, picking different simulations for the other two to battle in. 

Jonathan leaned against the panel, “I could take them with me on patrols, show them the usual routes and spots we take. Y’know, ease them into the hero business.” 

Luke paused with slight hesitation, a growing sigh on his lips, “I don’t know Del, I don’t think-” 

“Calling all units, we have a 915 in Vespucci Boulevard,” their radio system beeped into life, relaying the crystal clear message of a dispatcher. Both the two heroes and the four ex-villains stopped their activities and rushed over to hear the message. “Suspects have escaped in a white van with no license plate and are currently speeding away. Suspects also appear to be heavily armed. Head with caution.” 

It looks like a heist gone wrong, judging by the video footage of a van spiralling down the road, it’s back doors wide open with around three guys shooting out. Behind them, Jonathan could see cargo boxes and large bags filled with cash. 

Bingo! 

He grins and smacks Luke on the back, jumping excitingly on his heels, “this is perfect! This could be their chance!” 

“What? You want to start their debut now?” Luke asked doubtfully. 

“Why not? Not only is it close by, but it is also exciting enough for the news to cover it! We could get the attention we need to show the world that they are fighting for the good guys. Plus, we dealt with this type of thing before! If things start going downhill, we can stop it quickly and get the guys back here before the police or those idiot heroes can do anything.” 

Luke still looked unconvinced. 

Jonathan rolled his eyes and quickly pulled up the city map and pinged the runaway van, silently marvelling in amazement that he was able to do that now, “look, Ohm can keep track of the van here at the base and notify us if anything changes. Terroriser and Lui will come with me to stop the van in its tracks and take care of the bad guys while Craig uses his telekinesis to take back the stolen goods! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!” 

Luke narrowed his eyes. “First of all, you never said that sentence before in your life and I don’t want you to ever again,” he warned, making Jonathan laugh, “and second, are you nuts? We barely broke them in with training and we haven’t covered the do’s and don’t of being a hero.” 

“Like we even follow those rules,” Jonathan scoffed. 

“That’s beside the point,” Luke argued, “we need to take baby steps, monitor the media and what the hero organisation is up to. If we don’t do this right, then their debut is going to be one shit show. We don’t even know if they’re ready-” 

“Mom, Dad, can you two stop fighting for a second,” Brian scolded, his metallic face mask crawling into place as he zipped up his black leather jacket. Behind him, the others were also suiting up, fixing their masks and accessories in a hurried fashion. “The more you guys argue the more the situation is going to get worse. Are we heading out or not?”

Jonathan looked back at Luke with his hands on his hips, eyebrows raised behind his mask, “well? Are we?” 

His partner glared, “this is not fair and you know it.” 

Jonathan grinned, “when is it ever fair?” 

Lui put on his red jacket in a dramatic fashion, shooting Luke a judging stare, “since when do you ever hesitate. What, are you seriously going to leave it up to Captain Owl-man and his rag-tag gang?” he quipped, smirking as his features became more monkey-like. Luke's expression turned disgusted, veins popping around his knuckles as he clenched his fist. 

“Anyone other than those bastards,” he swore. They knew they won when Luke pointed at Ohm, snarling loudly with sharp teeth, “you. Hurry up and come with me. We have a damn van to follow.” 

Everyone cheered, including Jonathan who pumped his fist into the air. “Alright, let’s go!!!” 

“Yessir!” the other’s chorused, following Delirious with confident steps. 

Luke rubbed his face in exasperation, meeting Jonathan’s before he left the room. 

“Be careful! I got a bad feeling about this…” he warned. 

Jonathan gave him a thumbs up, blue orbs brightening almost scarily in the room. 

He has been fighting crime for a long time, he knows better than anyone how things can turn ugly in a flash, no matter how much you plan or prepare for it. But despite the danger and uncertainty coming his way, Jonathan wasn’t afraid.