#hero team

“Hey! Asshole!” Whumpee yelled, rolling up his sleeves. Villain stopped short, his brain short circuiting and glanced over at Whumpee. Whumpee kept advancing on Villain without a care in the world, tapping his watch on his wrist. “You gonna wrap this up anytime soon? I’m missing my first coffee of the day here.”

Villain blinked at Whumpee. “How are you moving?”

“Probably from fucking anger at not having my caffeine intake for this time of the morning! Now are you gonna reset time or do I have to kick your arse to get what I want?”

Villain looked at Leader and scoffed. “Can you believe this guy?”

Whumpee cracked his knuckles. “Fine. The hard way.”

Needless to say, time restarted and Whumpee got his coffee after he was finished with Villain. After he had sat down at the coffee shop he noticed Leader walk in, searching the room for Whumpee. When her eyes landed on him she smiled a bright grin and walked over. He merely raised an unimpressed brow at her.

“Howdy.”

“Not interested.”

Her demeanour dimmed. “You don’t even know—”

“You want to convince me to be a hero. Not happening.”

Her smile returned as she slid into the booth. “Actually I wanted to buy you a coffee to thank you for today. It’s not everyday a citizen steps in to help us.”

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

“It usually is,” she replied candidly, despite Whumpee’s hostility towards her. “Though Villain just keeps coming at us with new tricks that are impossible to counter or predict.”

“My heart bleeds.”

Leader tilted her head, her warm smile still on her face. Blue eyes bright and glimmering with cat like interest. “How come you were able to move through his time freeze?”

Whumpee shrugged. “Just lucky I guess.”

Leader’s smile sharpened. “You don’t play coy very well.”

Whumpee stared at Leader, and Leader stared at Whumpee. The silence between them filled with the bustling of the cafe, of traffic outside the window and footsteps falling on the pavement.

“Tell you what,” Leader said eventually. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a card, sliding it across the desk to Whumpee. Whumpee didn’t even look at it. “If you decide you want to amount to something more than you are right now, call me. I’ll show you around the base, no strings attached, show you how we operate.”

Whumpee nodded though he had no intention of ever calling. Leader smiled. “Good. Great meeting you—?”

Whumpee stared at her blankly. Leader got to her feet, head dipping. “Do I not even get your name?”

“It’s Whumpee,” Whumpee said, though he didn’t know why he offered it. It’s not like he owed her anything.

“Nice meeting you, Whumpee. I’m Leader. I hope you call.”

And Whumpee did call, eventually. After he realised his talents were being wasted on him, that the world would benefit if he put himself out there. Defending the city from villainous threats and crimes.

The family he found in the team was an added bonus. The camaraderie and friendship and being needed and wanted by others, it was addictive and he coveted it. He wanted to lock it all down in his chest and never let them go, never stop loving them and being loved in return.

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Other Villain and his crew were attacking the docks. Other Villain was easy to manage most of the time, but Nemesis? Nemesis wasn’t supposed to show up. They didn’t have any intel that Nemesis was even in the city, which is exactly what Nemesis had been counting on judging by the smirk on his face when he appeared.

Second’s eyes blew wide and he turned to shout in warning when Other Villain blew sleep dust into his face, grabbing Second’s face and slamming their hand over his mouth to keep him from screaming. Whumpee sensed them before he saw them.

He turned and Nemesis was grinning at him. The last time Whumpee had seen Nemesis he had just helped Leader defeat him. Whumpee remembered Nemesis’s yellow eyes locking onto him with interest. It was the first time Whumpee had exposed himself during a fight with a villain who got away in the end.

“So nice to see you again, Whumpee!”

That drew the rest of the team’s attention. Rogue was the first to turn and advance on Other Villain who dropped Second’s unconscious body to the floor.

“Rogue! Don’t!” Leader cried and Rogue froze, their lips pulling back into a snarl.

Whumpee stepped out of cover finally. He was caught, and he walked over to Leader, standing tall beside her.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Leader said to Nemesis. His yellow eyes flashed with mirth, and a horrible knowing that sent Whumpee’s guts twisting themselves into knots.

“Oh, I know. I was away on business, retrieving something for our dear friend Whumpee here.”

Whumpee knew it was true before he said it. He could feel something, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. A draw of magic, pulling at him, like a moth to a flame, guiding him back to the source. But that… that couldn’t be… they were dead. Nemesis must have done something to make them feel this.

But how? A voice in his head asked. How would he know?

“Walk away, Nemesis. Unless you want us to flatten you again,” Medic growled. Nemesis laughed.

“You flatten me? You couldn’t do it before Whumpee here, Medic. The freak, the abomination.” Whumpee swallowed the lump in his throat at the words. They still stung, even after all these years. He was an abomination. A magical anomaly. Magic had no effect on him. Pyrokinetics couldn’t burn him, Time wielders couldn’t freeze him. Other Villain’s sleep dust didn’t put him down.

A chill carried on the breeze caused a shiver to run down his spine. Whumpee sucked in a breath and turned on his heel, towards the source, towards the flame and he froze.

“Besides, I’m doing a good deed, Heroes. Reuniting family.”

Whumpee stared at the man in front of him. He was older than Whumpee remembered, jeez, he must be in his thirties now, but there he was. His brother. His hair was longer, and he had a stubbly beard, but he still had the same weathered stormy eyes.

“Whumper?” Whumpee whispered, his voice cracking. Whumpee took a step forward. “Is this real? Are you— are you really—?”

“I’m real, Whumpee.” Whumper said. His voice low, raspy, as if he had emerged from a forge that was billowing smoke into his throat all day. “I’m alive.”

Tears sprung to Whumpee’s eyes. “I thought… oh my god. I thought you were all dead. I thought— how are you alive?”

Whumpee stumbled forward as he spoke, closing the distance between them. Leader grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks. He snapped his head towards her, betrayal painting his features. “Whumpee. He’s here with them.”

“He’s my brother.”

“I know.”

“You can’t— let me go, Leader.”

“She’s right, Whumpee.”

Whumpee looked back at Whumper. He had straightened. The dark strands of hair that weren’t tied back into a bun at the back of his head obscured his eyes, making him look more menacing. Whumpee stopped struggling against Leader. He even fell back a step.

“Whumper?” Whumpee asked. His voice terribly small.

“Whumper was kind enough to follow me back once he found out what you were doing here, Whumpee.” Nemesis said behind Whumpee. “Running around with heroes. What would your dear uncle think?”

“Fuck the king,” Whumpee growled, ripping his arm out of Leader’s grip. “He didn’t do anything for me when he found out what happened to us, Whumper. You can’t side with Nemesis! I’m your blood. I’m your little brother, you— I looked up to you.”

Whumper levelled his gaze to catch Whumpee’s eyes in his snare. The weathered grey turned bright like headlights and Whumpee couldn’t look away. “I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

“Whumpee what—” Leader began at the same time that Whumpee pushed her back behind him and said, “get behind me!”

Whumper spoke the old tongue and Whumpee screamed as a spear of pain shot through his temples. He reached up and grabbed his temples, trying to walk through the pain but on his third step it became too much and his leg faltered. Whumpee fell to one knee but shot up again.

“Whumper!” Whumpee cried, gasping as he fell again. There was a hand on him and he could feel more than hear Leader speaking to him.

“Don’t bother, Leader,” Nemesis said as a particularly piercing scream came from Whumpee. Leader turned, glaring over her shoulder at Nemesis. He was closer now, strutting tall towards the pair. “Whumper told me of a certain curse on Whumpee’s family. Royalty, did you know that?”

Leader glanced down at Whumpee who was panting, eyes screwed shut and trembling. No, Leader thought, she didn’t know that.

Nemesis continued. “There’s a myth about the first royals. Two brothers. One who could resist magic, the other who could control it. Can you guess which one ruled in the end?”

“Whumper! Please,” Whumpee cried. Then he went boneless and Leader got pulled down with him. He stared unblinking at the sky, tremors ripping through him every few seconds. A hand grabbed Leader by the hair and yanked her back to her feet.

She clawed at Nemesis’s grip but he didn’t falter, his other arm wrapping around her throat and squeezing. She struggled to get out from under him, but he pushed her back flush against his front. She could only watch helplessly as Whumper advanced on a barely conscious Whumpee.

“Thank you for your assistance, Whumper.” Nemesis said with a smile. Whumper grunted in response as he crouched beside Whumpee.

“Don’t touch him!” Leader spat, kicking at Whumper and barely missing him as Nemesis yanked her backwards before her foot could make contact.

“Don’t worry about him, Leader,” Nemesis cooed. “You’re coming with me.”

Leader threw her weight forward suddenly, but Nemesis recovered quickly and this time when he grabbed her he started to squeeze her throat. She struggled in his grip, but that only tired her out quicker. The last thing she saw was Whumper throwing Whumpee over his shoulder and turning his back on her.

“That’s it Leader, just relax.”