#savant.threads

shit, JAMES thinks. he briefly puts a hand to his ribs, sensing that they most likely are not broken, just bruised. but even that is more of a guess than anything else — all but strung together with hopes and fairy floss ; he's never had anything even close to a formal medical education, after all.

he rounds the corner, all but prepared to take the subway home. he's grateful that it's halloween. all that his already all-black outfit needed was quick swaps out for less protective gear and a pair of black cat ears for him to fit in ( the all-black is not his usual go-to as savant … but tonight's mission had required him to be someone else ). some whiskers were drawn on with a cheap eyeliner bought from cvs, and now he's ( jazz-hands ) festive. then, he sees a woman bracing herself against a wall, clearly injured, and approaches her.

the life of a villain (anti-villain?) is not too dissimilar of the life of a hero. now, this may anger quite a few folks working at cerberus, so let him clarify. by that, james doesn’t even mean that cerberus corp is a villainous organization. may that be true ? who’s to say ! certainly not james, who had apparently missed the most eventful part of a rather stressful gala. ( he was out getting pizza with the most beautiful girl in new york. so he considers that a win. ) like the rest of new york city’s humble citizens, he had to read the transcript of the speech by the gala’s host behind a paywall in the new york times.

no what he means is that sometimes, much like a level iii agent, he doesn’t know what the fuck he should be doing. there’s a fine line between being a campy and fun villain vs. being pathetic in a dr. doofenshmirtz way ( only fun in cartoons, where the media isn’t out to cyberbully you ). attempting to steal from a cartier store with its holiday decor still up doesn’t quite feel like sticking it to the system. not that savant is out to send a message or anything. but he’d like to do something interesting, and currently his contacts have been quiet. so he’s on a rooftop, in costume, looking over new york city like he’s daredevil ( if daredevil were real ). he can’t exactly hear shit past the distant traffic far below him. how was he thinking this would go ? he doesn’t exactly have enhanced hearing like daredevil does, now does he ?

well. at least he’s getting fresh air. and he’s alone.

over a decade into having an ability, JAMES's power now fits him as well as the gloves he wears as savant, and using it feels just as easy as using any limb he was born with. yes, there was a time when james was just like any other human, and he made do without his ability, but he cannot fathom going back to a life without his ability. it's a part of him now — even if his ability was given a name that was frankly ridiculous by all those eo hero ( and villain ) fanatics. miming ? really ? they couldn't have come up with something ... less lame ?

the things that JAMES does for his friends ! in any other situation, james would not have attended an event that expressly seemed to invite eo's only, especially when said eo's included … heroes and other villains that did not in fact know who he was. contrary to popular belief, he actually isn't self-important enough to think that he has a host of enemies, but he also isn't naive enough to think that there aren't heroes and villains who'd like to see savant apprehended ( or, for some, villains — dead ). heroes which include his girlfriend( ? too soon ?) esen, who had apparently gotten herself nearly killed since the first time he had met her years ago. esen, who does not know that james is also an eo, one that more or less goes up against her co-workers for his own occupation ( if you could call it that ). murphy's law is a hell of a time.

long story short, he's here for hiroji. he's here not as james, not as savant, but as a secret third thing — hiroji's unnamed, mysterious, sexy, masked sidekick. only hiroji had left him to all but die ( sorta dramatic, yes, but james has never pretended not to be ). he turns the corner of the hallway, nearly running into a woman. he opens his mouth to apologize, but then he somewhat belatedly realizes that the woman isn't wearing a mask. her eyes are red-rimmed, a little wet, and he knows them —