#hero sidekick

They almost didn’t believe it. Hero was entirely folded over on the ground, uniform ripped and splotchy with blood. Any exposed skin was covered in deep purple and still blooming red bruises and welts.

Their chin was tucked down to their chest, arms up and cradling their head protectively. It was like they expected whatever assault they had been through to continue at any moment.

Villain almost flicked the light off. Almost walked away. They had a conscience, sure, but not so far as to stay in the situation. At least, never before. They were a runner. That’s what they did. They fled and left the situation for someone else to deal with. So why were they moving to kneel beside Hero.

“Please…” Hero’s voice came out in a croaky whisper, like they had already spent it all.

Villain reached out to touch Hero’s shoulder, earning a flinch that drove them impossibly closer to the dirty brick wall of the alley.

“Who did this to you?” Villain asked, suddenly enraged. What monstrosity looked at Hero, who was good and kind and helped everyone, even to the point of self sacrifice, and thought that they deserved to be anywhere near this hurt?

Hero gasped in a shuddering breath, and Villain realized they were whispering something, and endless litany, almost prayerful in its desperation. “Please please don’t hurt me please I’ll—I, I’ll be good, I won’t tell, please leave me alone please don’t, please—”

Villain’s jaw set as an unprecedented fire cemented into their bones. Oh, no, they wouldn’t be walking away from this one.

They gently pried Hero’s arms off of their head, cupping the masked face in their palms and tilting it towards them.

Their face, too, was a cacophony of bruises, lips swollen and split from being hit over and over again. Mask ripped at the corner with blood weeping from the wound, intermingling with Hero’s own tears that drenched their cheeks. Their eyes were droopy, half closed.

“Hero. Hero, look at me,” Villain breathed, jostling their head slightly. Oh, heavens, did they need a hospital? Villain couldn’t go there with them. “Hero.”

Their lashes fluttered as their eyes flew open. Yet they stared past Villain, fixed on something that wasn’t there, at least not anymore, as tears rose to further cloud them.

“Please no…” Hero mouthed at the invisible horror they were seeing.

Villain glanced behind them to ensure there wasn’t someone there after all. Only shadows. They shivered nonetheless.

“Hero, who do you see?”

At this angle they could see even more wounds spattering Hero’s torso. A dent in their ribs where there shouldn’t be one (was that why their breaths where so raspy?), bruises etched deeply into the sensitive skin of their neck. Overlapping handprints, pressed down hard again and again. Villain swallowed drily.

“Who do you see?” They were practically begging now.

Hero’s brow ruffled, eyes focusing blearily for just a moment. “Villain…?”

“Yes,” was all they could manage.

Hero’s throat clicked when they tried to swallow. They winced in pain, blinking back the delirium creeping back into their eyes. Something was dripping blood into their forehead. “You, you need to go.”

“What?” Villain’s grip on their face tightened slightly, loosening again instantly at the flash of terror in Hero’s eyes. “No, Hero, you need to tell me who did this to you.”

Something tensed in Hero’s face, and they seemed almost venomous when they spat out a “no.”

Villain blinked, and when Hero jerked their face out of Villain’s hold, they let them. It seemed to pull on Hero’s wounds though, and they made a strangled yelp, falling back in on themselves and shuddering with sobs.

Villain muttered a curse, jumping when Hero jerked back.

“Plea—please, it, it, it hurts,” Hero hissed. Villain almost thought that Hero had forgotten they were there all of a sudden, overwhelmed by the pain, but their voice raised just a little then. “Villain—”

“I’m here,” they brushed their fingers over Hero’s forehead. “What can I do?”

“Get away from them,” a voice snarled from the front of the alley. Villain jumped back, spinning to face them, weapon jumping into their hand.

“Sidekick!” They didn’t get another word in before Sidekick was upon them, a flurry of motion.

Seconds later they had Sidekick at a stalemate, fuming and weaponless.

“Listen, it wasn’t me,” Villain gasped, moving to gesture towards Hero.

In that movement though, they saw the state that Hero was in, and it was very different than mere moments before. And very, very bad.

Hero was scrambling to shove themselves against the brick, even as they cried out against the aggravation to their wounds. Their eyes were wide, whites visible even in the dark, fixed solely on Sidekick. Their tears were starting anew. And then they started shrieking.

“No nononono please, please, Sideki—please I’m sorry I’m sorry please don’t hhh—” And their sobs turned their yelling incoherent.

Villain’s vision turned red. They shifted in between Hero and Sidekick, weapon poised. “Sidekick,” they said very carefully, dangerously, “why is Hero saying that?”

“They don’t even know what they’re saying.” Sidekick’s voice was shaking, thick with anger. Hero had gone still at the sound of it, just before their disjointed thrashing resumed in earnest.

Sidekick rushed a few steps forward, and Hero screamed and sobbed and begged, cowering behind Villain’s protection. And Villain seethed.

“Don’t come any closer,” they snarled. “You don’t deserve to be within a mile of them.”

Sidekick barked a laugh. “That coming from a villain! You’re clearly just trying to pin your crimes on me.”

Another heartbreaking sob came from Hero, a tearful please please please.

Villain’s jaw creaked from how hard they grit their teeth. “Get out of my sight. Or I’ll skewer you here and now.” Their powers flickered dangerously around them, so close to raging unleashed.

Sidekick stared at them, and Villain stared back, rage against rage, and for once, it wasn’t Villain who ran away.

When they did leave the alley, it was with Hero scooped up in their arms, limp and muttering, but safe. Safe from, horrifically, the one meant to have their back, to always be by their side. Safe from the one who hurt them to the point of begging delirium. And the next time Villain saw Sidekick, they swore with all the fire in their blood that only one of them would be walking away.

—

The Masked Mender was slowly walking through an alley on one of her day patrols. This was one she had without Lady Alexandria, so it had been fairly boring without the older hero's company. Mender yawned as she caught the last glimpse of the summer sun before it went behind the mountain. Turning left at the next corner, she walked further into the slowly darkening alley.

After turning another corner, this time to the right; as she often liked to make patterns when she did solo patrols to make things a bit more enjoyable; she suddenly spotted something ahead. Instantly, she was awake and alert… ish. She's more alert than previously, but still not fully awake. Moving closer, she sees that the item is just a random floating knife, with a small sticky note attached to it. In a messy scrawl, “hold on to me :3” was written. 

Any other day, Mender would have laughed at it! But today… today had been too long. So she took it before even slightly thinking about it (maybe she wasn't that alert at all).

Studying it in her hand, she mumbled to herself  “It looks like one of Hirra’s knives, what is this doing here—”

Her train of thought was cut off by surprise. Out of nowhere, the dagger had suddenly begun to move! Mender got dragged along by the knife as it shot up into the air, and then hit a nearby pipe with a loud twang! The echoes through the alleyways made the noises even more deafening, something Mender's exhausted mind did not appreciate. 

As the sound faded, Mender tried to figure out what on earth just happened. But she was soon distracted by another sound. 

Giggling. 

There was a mad giggling close by, and Mender did not need to see the person to figure out whose it was. 

“HIRRA!” she yelled, tuning around as steadily as they could.

Hirra was down on the ground, giggling like a child. “You should have seen your face!” was all she was able to say in-between more laughing.

“Hirra! Seriously, why would you?! Wait… ” It was at this moment Mender realised it, she turned back to the knife and tried to let go… but she couldn't… “You used superglue on your knife?!” 

“Oh, don’t be so mad!” Hirra said, having finally got over her mad giggle. While starting to take a few celebratory selfies. “I just needed you out of the way for the bank robbery tonight!” At that, she began to move backwards, so Mender couldn't kick at her. 

After a few failed attempts to break free, Mender finally processed what the other sidekick had said. “So… you are planning to rob the bank… again?” Mender asked casually, as if she wasn't currently trapped.

“Yeah!” Hirra yelled, clearly proud of herself. 

“Huh…” was all that Hirra got back, making her turn her head back up from her phone, to the trapped sidekick. But by the time Hirra realised what was about to happen, it was already too late.

Mender had quickly and quietly taken her phone (only one hand was trapped) and dialled Lady Alexandria. “Hey, Alexandria. Just going to inform you, Hirra is planning a bank robbery tonight. She is currently at-” 

There was a loud “HEY! That’s cheating!” from Hirra, but Mender just smiled at her smugly. 

“Lady Alexandria will be here in 15 minutes so you get a small headstart.”