#poor hero

The thought alone raises your concern. Heroes of the city are more aggressive towards criminals these days, beating them up and leaving them half-dead on the streets. Knowing this as you are a hero yourself. You dare not to imagine his beaten body on the streets just because he works as a criminal for a living.

So long as he continues his work, your worries about him won't fade and you're tired of this, you're tired of seeing your father hurt every time he goes home. You hope to find this "villain side" of him soon and convince him to look for a normal job where hurt isn't involved...

Deep down, the whole idea of your father being a criminal is ridiculous. He's not a bad person, it's that–you assumed the worst of him since he never talked about his work to you at all, nor did he mention heroic deeds either if he was, a Hero. Isn't that something to brag about, when people praise for his noble work protecting the city?

The next day of your class. You were zoning out and didn't really care about Ms. teacher's lesson about the history you live in, only for your ears to be wide clear the moment she mentions someone you recognize. It's about the city's representative: Superhero. The current protector of the city. You subconsciously glance at the window, seeing the hero tower at a distance reminiscent of his symbol.

You admire him. His confidence and fighting skills are just, amazing. He does not back down despite the challenges. You want to be like him, to fight and protect your home. Maybe one day you save your father from his villainy, you could make him proud of you too.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

You still ponder about your idol on your way home, tracing down the familiar path. The atmosphere felt still, soothingly nice and quiet the way you wanted. That is, until you hear murmurs of voices getting louder, a silhouette of shadows emerges on tracks blocking your way. You glance up and see a crowd of people gathered on the road, all too excited about someone.

"Whoa, what's going on, is there a celebrity?"

You went along the crowd to see who it is, everyone here has their phones up while you struggle to find the right spot. And finally, with a small glimpse you saw of an all too familiar outfit–

Gasp, it's Superhero! Your heart flutters seeing him in the crowd, he seems to have an assistant beside him doing their best settling down the overwhelming crowd. You wish to tell Superhero of how much you're a big fan, If you could get closer.

Amidst the chaos–there's no way you can get to him. You're a nobody, like everyone else. You can only see a small portion of your idol among the crowd, the sun is also completely out. Left with no choice, you turn around and skip this moment. You still have other things to do anyway.

Just as you're heading out, you feel strange yet a familiar presence following you. Looking back only to meet his gaze, the one you're supposed to see a moment ago–out of everyone's thirst for attention you're the one that he took interest, despite that you're no longer in the crowd.

...or Perhaps Superhero must have seen you leaving his presence, a silent question 'why would you miss the chance to meet the City's greatest hero?'

The assistant is already seeing double, exhausted dealing with the overwhelming crowd. They notice their superior is acting strange, his eyes beyond people's view. Worried, the assistant shook his shoulder, snapping him out of the trance–

"S'hero, Superhero! What are you doing? Everyone's waiting for you!" They whispered, scolding his unprofessionalism.

His body flinched but quickly went back to his posture "Huh? Oh, right. I thought I saw..." He points out at the distance but you're nowhere to be found.

"...someone"

The assistant shook their head, "Think about that later! We have people to deal with."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

You suit up and take down small petty criminals at night, then go home like nothing happened. You change to casual clothes and wait for your father, but knowing his work schedule—like a workaholic he is.

You're about to go upstairs when you hear the front door creak. You immediately rush down the stairs to see your father–expecting him with cuts and bruises again but to your surprise, he's damped in sweat like he just fell from a pond.

"Goodness, wonder what happened to you?" You asked. Silently relief knowing he isn't hurt this time. You secretly put away the medical kit and went next to him on the sofa.

Your father sighs tiredly, his body left with exhaustion "Heh, well let's just say... I was chased by a lot of people."

You raise your eyebrows questionably. Now that's new... usually he gets injuries from work but never once being chased.

"Oh come on. Don't look at me like that, sunshine! it's not like I got hurt this time." 

"Yeah, well... at least that's an improvement." Perhaps your father got lucky to be outrun by some brutal heroes.

He paused for a moment, not liking where this was going. "Let's... not dive into this subject further, I bought us some dinner though." He presented a delicious packed food from his bag, the aroma is already seeping through–your eyes flickered bright. Both of you ate the meal at the end of the day.

You just entered the school courtyard when you can already hear students screaming and bolted past you towards the gates, you stood clueless by their terrified look... should you go along with them? Nah. You're a hero, instead of running away you look for the source of the cause instead.

You head deeper to the school's heart, seeing side structures broken down to pieces. And most of all; an ominous figure stood at the center, surrounded with dark energy. It's none other than a most dangerous mastermind criminal; Supervillain.

Facing the mastermind criminal is definitely not what you expect. You never actually met him during your hero-duties and yet here he was, causing destruction at the school you attend to.

Seeing Supervillain's powerful capabilities, there's no way you stand a chance against him. You'd rather not risk your life and wait for other heroes to deal with him instead.

You'd secretly hope the villain didn't see you here and slowly tip-toed away, he seem rather busy  whatever the schemes are...

The moment you turn back, someone bolted and you were snatched off the ground. Carrying you high up in the air as you dangle in their arms for dear life.

"Let me go!" You scream, panic rises as you struggle to fight off the grip. Supervillain simply laughs "You want me to drop you and splat like a pancake?"

You didn't say anything, anxiety overwhelms you. Having to not face a dangerous criminal before, not realizing a silent tear falls free on your face. "Aww, don't cry little one." He coos and wipe off your single tear "Just hold still and you won't die."

Supervillain continues to glide high above the sky as you helplessly cling onto him, fearing he might drop you off anytime, and he knows it.

Live cameras are targeted towards the hovering criminal. The world is watching, anticipating his next move. Supervillain is delighted.

"O dear nemesis! Come out, come out now! Otherwise, this hostage will never see the light again!" He laughed menacingly.

As quick as lighting. Superhero shows up and boy, he looks pissed. Before Supervillain could even start the monologue–the crime fighter lunges forward and tackles him, freeing you from the villain's clutches. However, it doesn't mean you escaped from falling to death. Superhero realized his mistake and immediately went after you, grabbing you just in time before your feet touched the ground.

Superhero cradles you as you tightly clung to him, fearing for your life. He murmurs comforting words as you're in a panicked state. When you're finally at ease, you look up to your savior with big, watery eyes. 

"S'superhero?" You whispered.

The master crime-fighter simply smiles, his heart strings tugged by just looking at your adorable face. He puts you down and gently pats your head, then flies up and chases after his nemesis.

You witness your savior disappear from the sky, sadly, it's too high up as you only see a silhouette of movements and their abilities clashing—

A light shuttered in front of your face. You didn't notice the reporters and cameras surrounded you, bombarding with questions:

"What happened up there?"

"How did the villain get you?"

"Did you witness their powers?"

"How does it feel to be saved by Superhero?"

Tsk! Reporters, they didn't even ask if you were okay, can't they see you just got threatened by a dangerous criminal?! Nevermind being saved. You simply declined their questions and told them to leave, save those cameras for the City's Savior! But their brain is dense as a rock and still insists, begging for more info about you.

You finally had enough of their nonsense and with no second thought–you bolted. Away from the nuisance. You turned around the corner of the streets and hid behind the dumpsters, hoping they slipped past where you went, and it worked! As soon as their footsteps faded, you sprang out of your hiding spot and ran home.

You opened the door after the long run, you placed down your backpack and flopped on the sofa, not bothering to change your school clothes as you're too tired to care. You grab a pillow, put it on your face and sigh heavily.

Not long after, your heart jumps by the sound of the door slamming wide open.

"My little Sunshine, are you alright?! I saw you the news earlier and came here as soon as I could." Your father looks like he ran a mile with that heavy breath and all and swiftly rushed to your side.

"Are you hurt, do you need any medication?" He grabs your arms to check any signs of bruises, then he cups your face inspecting each side of your chin. His expression is frantic and worried, since when did he care about your well being?

"I'm fine, dad. Not like I was hurt anyway."

Your father sighs in relief and hugs you protectively. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw you fall down" he murmured, holding you tighter "you could have died for all I know."

You hide your face on his shoulder, you don't want to remember that. Your father senses your discomfort and gently rubs your back, stroking your hair softly.

Now that you think about it how did he even know about your situation, or knew you were home today? Wasn't he like–working most of the time? You still have no idea what his work truly is about.

Suddenly your father snapped, like he just woke up. He lets you go from an embrace and goes straight towards the door...

"W-wait dad! you're leaving? But you just got here" You felt hurt and disappointed, the overwhelming emotions that happened today were exhausting. But seeing him leaving just like that adds salt to a wound–as if he didn't consider your emotional state.

Page 1

Hero: Ha! You know I used to be a Minish, right?

Knight; oh really? I love Minish!

Hero: yep. I made a sword for Hylians and helped them with evil! I was known as the hero of men!

Knight: wow!

Hero; fell in love, she convinced me to become Hylian and so I did! My ma and pa were so supportive.

Knight: aaaww

Page 2

Hero: and THEN she left me for another man and stole the sword I made!

Knight: o-oh…

“You fucker,” Hero hissed, her mind flashing back to last night when Supervillain fixed her nose. Flynn had settled her mind for her, leaving her in his artificial weightless-haze. “You said you wouldn’t use your powers on me.”

Flynn shrugged. “I didn’t want you to suffer.”

“No, you didn’t want to see me suffer, and there’s a chasm of a difference between them,” Hero huffed, crossing her arms over the shirt she was wearing. “Then sleeping with me?”

“You never complained before,” Flynn said with a lazy, cocky grin.

“That was before I knew you were a fucking scheming bastard, who,” Hero continued, walking towards her door and opening it. “Coincidentally, has his own room in this hell house. So please, get out.”

Flynn stared at her through half-lidded eyes, two hands behind his head now. Hero hated when he did that. She hated how it exposed his muscles and somehow made him hotter. He knew it too. He knew that she liked it when he reclined like that, because she told him once after a long night.

“I’m comfortable.”

“You’re a liar.”

“I’m a comfortable liar.”

“I hate you,” Hero snapped. The cocky smile dimmed on his face, and she took a little bit of satisfaction at it. Ignoring how it pulled a little on her heartstrings too.

“I know,” he replied softly.

Hero swallowed, lingering by the door, arms folded across her chest. “Were you here all night?”

“Yes,” he said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair as he sat up.

“Why?”

“Because you said you didn’t want to be alone,” he answered honestly.

Hero scoffed. “No doubt from your loopy induced haze in my head.”

“Despite what you may like to believe,” Flynn said, getting to his feet. He was fully dressed in the shirt and tracksuit he was wearing last night. Decent and gentlemanly. Infuriatingly. “I can’t sway your ideas in your head. If you want me to, I can find a telepath for you to put all your blame on.”

“Oh yeah? And will you kidnap them too?” She snapped, eyes blazing.

Flynn scoffed, grabbing his socks and shoes before walking towards Hero by the door. Hero’s heart beat double-time the closer Flynn got to her, but she maintained her resolve.

That was, until Flynn stopped in the doorway beside her. She shifted her feet under his gaze, feeling his eyes travel over every pore, lingering on every feature, tracing a line down the curve of her neck.

Her breath hitched when he reached forward, a hand cupping her cheek, the heel of his palm tilted her head up. So gentle. Filled with too much everything— Flynn knew her better than anyone, knew what made her tick, what made her nervous, her fears. His touch lit a fire under her skin, but his eyes laid her naked before him, and sent shivers down her spine.

“We could make this so nice,” he whispered like the snake tempting eve in the garden, his thumb running over her bottom lip. “We could go back to the way things were. We were happy.”

How Hero ached for that to be true. How she wanted to abandon her defences, to forget the heartache at his betrayal, and run into his awaiting arms. He could make her forget everything, what he did to Sidekick, what he was doing to her. Hell, he could make her forget that she was ever a Hero and it would be so easy.

Her eyes burned with unshed tears as she swallowed a sob and covered his hand with hers. “That was before you betrayed me, and everything I thought you were.”

“Hero…”

“How can I believe anything you say? How do I know that you weren’t seducing me as some plan you concocted with your father?” She asked, breathlessly. He dropped his shoes and socks with a clatter to the floor and stepped closer to her, caging her in against the door.

His eyes implored her to trust him, to love him, to believe him. She couldn’t look at the desire in them, so she looked at his lips instead. His soft lips.

“You know what we had was real,” he murmured, his hot breath fanning her face. “Believe in us. Believe in what your heart knows to be true. I love you, Hero.”

Hero’s bottom lip trembled against his touch. She swallowed and turned her head away, pressing her hand against his chest with more restraint than she thought herself capable of.

“Please, Flynn,” she said, her voice soft like the static in the air before a thunderstorm. “Just leave me alone.”

Flynn paused, his touch faltering and for a second she thought he was going to kiss her anyways. Something heartbroken inside her that still loved him told her that he would never do something like that. That there were lines of decency even a traitor wouldn’t cross.

“Fine,” he said, dropping his hand from her face and stepping back, scooping up his discarded shoes and socks. Hero did the right thing. She knows she did the right thing, so why does it feel like something just tore a hole through her chest? “Look, I know we were friends once, maybe more than that, maybe not, but right now Hero? I’m your only friend here. Your only refuge.”

Hero felt as if she had just been slapped. “Is that a threat? Be nice to me or else?”

Flynn had the audacity to look hurt. “No, that’s not—”

“Goodbye, Flynn,” she ground out through clenched teeth, stepping away from the door and grabbing it in her hand, ready to slam it in his face.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “See you later.”

The moment he stepped out of door frame she closed the door and leaned her back against it, sliding down and hugging her knees to her chest. She let the tears fall when she was alone, unaware that on the other side of the door, Flynn was listening to her, a pained expression colouring his features.

*~*~*~*~*

Hours later a knock sounded on her door. Hero ignored it. She watched the door handle open from her bed, her back propped against the headboard, her legs stretched out, crossed over at the ankles a book with its spine broken between her fingers. She inclined her head when the door opened, expecting it to be Flynn but froze when she saw a mess of black hair.

Villain was wearing a red leather jacket, contrasting against his sharp pale features and dark hair, making him seem other worldly. He smirked when he noticed Hero’s tension, he kicked the door open with his foot, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

“I’ve been told to call you for dinner.”

“Like the good dog you are.”

“Woof,” Villain replied, a grin that made her skin crawl spreading across his features. “Of course, you hurt Flynn’s feelings so he’s licking his wounds in his room. You get me instead.”

“Yeah, well, I lost my appetite looking at your face.”

Shadow hands sprung from the backboard of the bed and grabbed Hero’s wrists before she realised what was happening. They squeezed, hard, until she dropped the book, shackling her in a ring of icy coldness, that yanked her arms back sharply and pressed them against the headboard. Hero didn’t even struggle and suppressed her whimpers of pain, but it must have shown on her face because Villain’s grin got wider as he stepped into her room.

“I would be nicer to me, Hero.” Villain cautioned, his fingers curling slowly into a fist in his hand, the shadows tightening more until Hero couldn’t keep her cries locked behind her teeth anymore. “We could be friends, like you and Flynn, hmm?”

“Friends don’t hurt each other,” Hero ground out, pulling against the shadows keeping her pinned. With all the effort she put behind it, it only resulted in her muscles shaking in her arms.

“Well, we’re not friends yet, and besides, it’s not hurting each other. I’m just hurting you.”

Hero looked away from Villain, staring pointedly at the wall to her right just to piss him off. Who did he think he was? Another cold hand stroked a finger along her jaw. Hero shivered at the touch, but refused to look at Villain. That’s when she heard footsteps round her bed until she was staring at worn, red leather in front of her.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Villain said, crouching down so he was eye-level with the stubborn Hero. He tilted his head with a smile. “Hmm? You’re stuck here, y’know. Unless you grow a spine and want to kill your friend, in which case, well, you’d belong here.”

“Let me go,” Hero snapped, pulling against the shadows. Villain let out a dark, breathy laugh, standing again as he shook his head. His hand shot out, as cold as his shadows and pinched her chin between his fingers tilting her head up sharply.

“The sooner you learn your place here the better, I mean,” Villain said, sucking in a breath as if it hurt. “Upsetting Flynn? The only person here on your side? Not a smart move, not one I would make. Or Supervillain if he were in your shoes. I mean, aren’t you supposed to be smart? Isn’t that your whole thing? Cause god knows you’re not strong.”

Hero’s lips curled back into a snarl and she shot her leg out. Shadows caught her ankle before it made contact and yanked her down the bed, but the hold on her wrists didn’t budge and so her body was stretched taut, pulled in two directions.

Villain released his grip on her chin when his shadows caught her foot and now he just stood back as she cried out and tried to gain purchase on the bed with her other leg for support.

“You know, it’s not nice to kick people.”

“Get off of me!”

“I’m not on you, Hero. Why? Do you want me to be?” Hero’s breath caught in her throat at the very thinly layered threat in Villain’s voice, and the sick fuck seemed to feed off her panic. “Relax Hero, I’m not that kind of Villain. I won’t touch you until you beg for it.”

His words sent shivers down her spine, and when the shadow on her ankle dissolved Hero quickly pulled it into her chest, retreating up her bed back to where her hands were pinned, not taking her eyes off him for a second.

Villain hummed, then turned and walked towards the door. He lifted his hand and clicked his fingers without looking at her. The shadows dissipated, leaving her wrists red raw but otherwise unharmed. “Come along, Hero. Like I said. Dinner’s ready.”

On the way downstairs, Villain rapped on Flynn’s door and yelled: “grubs up.” Hero didn’t take her glare off of Villain’s back the whole way down her U-shaped stairs to the second floor. It wouldn’t matter either way considering all the shadows he could utilise to torture her, and there was no way she could keep eyes everywhere.

Though when Flynn’s door opened, she paused on the last step of her stairs, watching him as he walked out of his room and shut the door. He didn’t look at her as he followed Villain down the stairs. He may as well have slapped her in the face. Actually, she’d rather he would have slapped her, or looked at her, or even paused when he saw her in the corner of his eye. But he continued through the landing and to the stairs like she wasn’t even there, and Hero swore her heart broke inside her chest all over again.

She followed the brothers down to the dining room in silence. Flynn and Villain were already sitting down at the Supervillain’s side of the table, both on either side of where Supervillain sat. Hero stared at the chair beside Flynn, something urging her to sit beside him, but instead she sat at other opposite head of the table. Yanking her chair out and sitting down.

Why should she be the one who’s suffering or feeling guilty? Flynn should be the one feeling guilty. It was his fault she was here. His fault that she was on Supervillain’s radar in the first place. His fault that Sidekick is in the hospital.

Villain’s cunning eyes went between the pair. “Trouble in paradise, lovebirds?”

“Oh shut up, Vil,” Flynn snapped.

Hero leaned forward, clasping her hands in front of her as if she was about to conduct a meeting. She smiled sweetly at Villain, sickeningly sweet. “Yes. No trouble at all, Vil. I wouldn’t touch a villain with a ten foot pole if I could help it, but considering I’m on house arrest with a family of villains, I’ve had to make some concessions.”

Flynn shot her a scathing look, his cocky smirk sliding onto his face. “That’s not what you said when you were cuddling me this morning.”

Villain’s entire face lit up, eyes going between the pair, enjoying the two of them silently fuming at each other. “Damn. You could cut the tension with a knife. Get a room, guys.”

Supervillain stepped through the doors that joined the kitchen to the dining room with two steaming plates. “Dinner’s ready!” He exclaimed happily. Noticing the atmosphere, he raised his brows. “What’s wrong?”

“A lover’s tiff,” Villain answered at the same time that Hero and Flynn bit out: “nothing.”

Supervillain hummed, walking down to Hero and sliding a plate in front of her. It smelled divine, like last time, and Hero’s stomach grumbled at the sight. Two steaks of salmon and green beans and cauliflower. “For your strength,” Supervillain beamed at her, then walked to Villain and served him next.

He disappeared through the doors again. Villain smiled at Flynn. “I got mine first, I’m the favourite.”

“You wish,” Flynn said, folding his arms across his chest. “He serves me last because hr wants to make sure my dinner is still hot.”

Supervillain appeared again and sat at the table beside Flynn, handing him his plate too. “Ah. Bon Appétit.”

They ate in relative silence, Villain or Flynn would say something and they’d start a conversation that would ebb and flow while Hero ate quietly, trying her best not to scoff the whole plate down in seconds, but she didn’t have breakfast or lunch today, so she was starving.

“How’s the nose, Hero?” Supervillain asked.

“It’s fine,” Hero replied coldly, then stiffened, thinking better of disrespecting him and added a quiet, “thank you.”

“Good. Glad to hear it. I actually got you some papers today.”

Hero raised her brows. “Oh.”

“To keep you up on the news,” Supervillain told her, his smile reminiscent of his son’s, though maybe a bit more civil, but no less shark-like and menacing. “Don’t want you completely disconnected from the world.”

Hero pushed at the remains of her dinner with her fork, tightening her grip on the utensil. “You just want to torture me as much as possible, is that it?”

“Torture you? What would be the point? I have you immobilised and incapacitated. I don’t need to torture you any further. I just thought you’d like to know—”

“How the world’s doing outside my fucking prison?” She demanded, raising her gaze to meet Supervillain’s. Supervillain’s smile remained on his face and she wanted nothing more than to climb over the table and slap it off. “No thanks.”

“Things can be pleasant for you here, Hero.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

Supervillain tilted his head to the side, steepled his fingers in front of his face. “You didn’t let me finish, Hero. Things can be pleasant for you here, Hero, or—”

Hero felt the cold hands of Villain’s power grab her wrists again and yank them behind the back of her chair, her fork clattering along the floor of the dining room. “We can make it very, very difficult for you if you’d prefer. Which would you rather, now that you’ve tasted the cell and the room?”

“I’d rather you let me go, you fucking dick!” She hissed, trying to yank her hands free, but each time she got an inch her hands were clamped down tighter, almost dragging her over the chair, but she planted her feet on the ground, resolute, and glared at the man. “Stop threatening my friends and give yourself up to the proper authorities while you’re at it! That’s what I’d prefer over this playing house bullshit!”

“Hero,” Flynn cautioned. Hero scoffed. She would have threw her arms up if she could, bordering on hysterical.

“Now you deign to talk to me?” She cried. “Save it!”

She turned her gaze, crueller now, back to Supervillain, adopting a false sense of innocence. “I mean, this isn’t really a proper family, is it? Where’s the mother figure after all?”

Hero only got the briefest of seconds to enjoy Supervillain’s easy smiling expression dipping, turning to cold fury before a shadowed hand grabbed her throat, followed by Villain who grabbed her where the shadow hand did, and slammed her back against the wall.

“You fucking bitch,” he seethed. “You really don’t know when to shut up, do you?”

Hero spit at him in reply, cracking a smile despite her face that was steadily changing from red to purple at her oxygen being cut off. It wasn’t a proper glob, more like a spray of saliva, even her fucking spit was limp at her circumstances.

“Villain,” Supervillain said as Hero gasped on air that she wasn’t getting. Hero could barely hear him when he spoke again, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she clung desperately to air. She fell to the ground deadweight, head smacking off the floor but she barely noticed it as she gasped in oxygen like a fish being thrown back into a river.

Her throat screamed at the abuse, screamed at her to stop fucking tempting fate and cruelty of the family of villains but she couldn’t bring herself to care if they killed her or not. It would be preferable, honestly.

But then who would help Sidekick? Her stupid, logical voice chimed in as she pushed herself up by her hands. A pair of tailored trousers met her gaze as she righted herself, she had only begun to tilt her head up, her mind cloudy when she felt a hand lock around her upper arm and drag her to her feet.

She stumbled up, her leg faltering behind and falling again but the grip didn’t loosen and the legs didn’t slow down and Hero was forced to make her legs work after depriving them of oxygen for the last twenty seconds.

“Dad.” Flynn’s voice. “Dad!”

“Enough, Flynn.” They were in the kitchen Hero realised, the wood of the dining room floor replaced with the black tiles. Supervillain was holding her, dragging her to the far side of the kitchen and she had the sense to start digging her heels in when they reached a door she wasn’t familiar with. “We tried it your way, Flynn. Now, we’ll try it Villain’s way and compare notes.”

“Dad, no. Wait!” Flynn cried. Hero turned her head over her shoulder to see Villain’s sharp grin, arms around Flynn to stop him from following Hero and Supervillain wherever they were going. “Dad!”

“Ladies first,” Supervillain said after he opened the door and with a pause, he pressed his hand to Hero’s back and shoved her down the stairs.

*~*~*~*~*

Continued here