#vendetta snippets

Vendetta Snippets

Hero x Vigilante moments

Months before the War:

"How did I know I would find you here?" Vigilante asked, a smile in his voice. Hero didn't reply. She only had one sword out, furiously attacking the training dummy as if it had personally wronged her. Vigilante leaned against a tree in the cleared training area, crossing his arms over his chest and just watched Hero move.

She was lethal and dexterous. Her back muscles were on show through her tank top, and he took in the show with a small quirk in his lips.

"Your opponent looks very dangerous," Vigilante commented dryly. "Go for the throat, show no mercy."

Hero didn't reply. She was lost in the regiment of her movements. Forward, strike, slash, back. Change grip. Forward, strike, slash, back. Back, lunge, turn, strike, back. And on and on her dance went, sweat pouring from her limbs. Both of her hands were wrapped up to the elbow, and when she lunged from her left foot she faltered slightly and winced but kept her rhythm, kept her attack up.

Vigilante narrowed his eyes on her waist. "You're hurt."

"I'm fine."

"She speaks."

"I'm not in the mood," Hero said as she lunged again from her left foot, her spine too rigid, her movements too stiff as she continued her array of attacks on the dummy. Vigilante pushed off the tree and walked closer to his Hero. He got within two feet of her before she turned in a flash, as swift as lightning and there was a sword an inch in front of his chest.

She had bags under her eyes, and her face was flushed, but there was a fire in her gaze that threatened to burn a hole through Vigilante's skull if he pushed her.

"I said," Hero panted, brows falling over her eyes, "I'm not in the mood."

Vigilante smirked at her. He shrugged, slipping his hands into his pockets casually. "Fine," he said, looking away. "You just want to attack a defenceless dummy who can't fight back, I won't disturb you."

Hero narrowed her eyes. "Your presence is disturbing me."

"That sounds like a you problem," Vigilante said, shrugging again and walked over to one of the flat rocks and settled down into it with a loud exhale, leaning back and nodded at Hero. "Please. Carry on."

Hero rolled her eyes and dropped her sword. "Whatever. I'll go then."

She walked over to her discarded sheath, towel and water bottle and bent to pick them up, grabbing her sheath first and slipped the blade in before she took her water and drank greedily. While she did, her sheath levitated and inched away from her pile, before it landed behind Vigilante's rock, hidden below foliage.

It took Hero a total of two seconds to realise what Vigilante did before she whirled on her heel and stalked towards him. He grinned at her, eyes dancing.

"Vigilante, I am not -"

"In the mood?" he interjected with a charming smile. Hero stopped in the middle of the clearing and placed her palms over her eyes, rubbing the tension from them before smoothing the stray hairs back from her forehead.

"Give me my blades back."

Vigilante tilted his head. "How long have you been out here?"

"Give me my blades back, Vidge."

"How long have you been out here?"

"Just give me -"

"Have you slept since your encounter with Villain?"

"For fuck's sake, this has nothing -"

"You look like shit."

Hero scoffed and turned her body away from him, shaking her head and rubbing the tension from her eye with her palms. "That's exactly what I needed to hear, thank you Vidge. You always know the right things to say," Hero replied, but there was no real bite in her sarcasm. She just sounded tired. Weary.

"So, there's something you need to hear?" Vigilante asked, getting to his feet.

"Vigilante please. I'm tired, alright?" He continued approaching, even as Hero turned to face him again and levelled him with a glare that could stop time. "Just... just... I'm not in the mood."

When he reached for her, she shoved him back. "No, Vidge. Go away. Get off me. I'm fine. Just piss off. Don't fucking touch me!" She snapped and gasped when she over-exerted herself, doubling over and grabbed her waist. Her other hand shot out and grabbed the nearest thing to her for support, Vigilante's arm. Hero let out a groan of pain.

"Let me see," Vigilante said quietly. Hero winced but didn't fight him as he stepped closer and lifted her top to expose the bandages wrapped tight around her abdomen. She leaned her head against his shoulder as he frowned, focused on the slowly growing red spot a few inches above her left hip and towards the centre. The bright blood was growing in a spot of dark crimson already. Vigilante tsked. "You aggravated the wound."

"You aggravated me," she mumbled, "this is your fault."

"You aggravated the wound before I came," he replied, dropping her shirt and turning his attention to the lethargic Hero leaning on him. He put his hand under her chin and tilted her head up to look at him. "How long have you been out here?"

The fight and fire extinguished from her features, replaced with a heavy tiredness. Vigilante pushed the hair from her eyes, shaking his head lightly.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" he whispered. "You're already the best swordsman I know."

"Swordswoman," she corrected with a watery smile that vanished at Vigilante's chiding stare. She deflated against him, looking away. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Hero's anger returned, pinching her features, but... no, it wasn't anger. Frustration. She reached a hand up and pressed it against her brow.

"Hero."

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me."

"Just... leave it alone, alright? Talking won't change anything."

"It might make you feel better."

Hero scoffed and pulled her head back to glare at the slowly darkening sky. Gods... how long had she been out here?

"Vidge..."

"Hero," Vigilante echoed, tilting her gaze back to his and letting the concern show for her. "Medic said you were gone before he woke up this morning. Were you training all day?"

"So, what if I was?"

"You're injured."

"Oh, am I?"

"You should be healing."

"I shouldn't have gotten injured in the first place!" She snapped, anger swirling in her eyes now that quickly faded to frustration as she looked away and stepped back out of his arms.

Vigilante's frown deepened. "Hero. Getting injured is like bread and butter in our line of work," he told her softly.

She shook her head with a hollow laugh. "You don't get it."

"What?" he asked. "What don't I get?"

"I don't have powers!" She cried. "I don't have anything flashy like you, or useful like Teleport. All I have are my skills, alright? My swords and my discipline and my strength. Do you know how hard that is? How exhausting that every time I'm sent on a mission, I'm usually at a disadvantage and I fight anyways. Try anyways."

Vigilante stepped towards her, but she matched it with one back. "You're Superhero's second in command, Hero. You don't have anything to prove to anyone."

When she looked at Vigilante again there were tears in her eyes, slowly filling as she lifted her arms in the air, a helpless gesture. "I'm no match for Villain," she whispered. "I can't stop him, he's... he's too strong and h-he terrifies me."

Vigilante didn't let her evade him again. He grabbed her and wrapped her in his arms and Hero grabbed his shirt, bunching the fabric into her fists as she sobbed into his chest. Vigilante held Hero like she was something precious, holding her tightly against him.

"Hero that's not a reflection of your skills," he told her, "Villain is a scary bastard, alright? I can't even evade his powers, hell, even Teleport would have a hard time of it."

"You're just saying that" she said, her voice muffled in Vigilante's shirt.

Vigilante chuckled. "I'm really not."

Hero tightened her grip on Vigilante, squeezing him tightly back as she calmed down. She was tired. No, she was exhausted, and Vigilante was right. She probably shouldn't be training so soon after her fight with Villain but sitting with her thoughts seemed too big a task. Especially when her brain was determined to tell her how useless she was, how weak, how delusional to try and fight when her abilities were inconsequential to everyone else with their mutation.

"Are you okay?" Vigilante asked, stroking his hand down her back, squeezing gently. Hero nodded numbly against him. "Good," he said softly after a long silence stretched between them. "Because you stink."

"What the hell-?!"

Hero tried to get out of his arms, but Vigilante tightened his grip. "I mean, you reek, Hero. My eyes have been watering this whole time -"

"You are such a dick."

"I found you through scent alone."

Hero stopped fighting him and went limp in his arms. "I hate you so much."

Vigilante laughed, loudly and booming and full of joy. It warmed something in Hero's chest as she looked up at him, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "No, you don't," he told her, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. She closed her eyes at the tenderness. "Mmm, salty."

"Oh, for crying out loud, Vigilante!" She yelled, shoving him away from her and this time he let go, his laughter raucous. "You're so annoying," she snapped, turning on her heel and stomping back towards the guild.

Vigilante's laughter followed her. He lifted his palm and waited until her jacket; water bottle and swords were in his arms as he trailed behind her. "At least you're still beautiful."

Hero threw her middle finger up over her shoulder and Vigilante laughed harder.

Fifth Meeting:

“You’re fast,” Vigilante commented as he jumped back to evade a sweep of Hero’s swords. It cut the fabric of his hoodie, and he grinned. “And lethal. That’s very sexy.”

“You’re annoying,” Hero answered as she lunged. “And cowardly,” she huffed when Vigilante continued to evade her and refused to go on the offensive. She wanted a fight; her blood was pumping. This was a game of chase.

Vigilante laughed as Hero stopped chasing. “Cowardly? How so?”

“You refuse to fight.”

Vigilante quirked his brows. “Maybe I just like how elegantly you move.”

Hero felt her cheeks redden as she glared at him, happy that the shadows concealed her blush from this very lippy Vigilante. “I bet you think that was really smooth,” she deadpanned.

“Oh, no, not at all,” Vigilante said as he straightened, his grin turning to a full-on smirk. “Trust me, when I’m flirting with you, you’ll know.”

Hero smiled sweetly back. “Good. You’ll know I’m flirting with you when I put you in handcuffs.”

“Ooh. Kinky.”

Hero lunged again but her sword hit a wall.

Not a real wall.

More like a heavy pocket of air that was as solid as concrete that seemed to melt around her sword and lock it in place in the air.

“What the…” she yanked her blade back, but it wouldn’t budge. Her eyes flashed to the Vigilante who remained where he stood before, the tip of her sword about to slash his shoulder.

Vigilante smiled at Hero. She abandoned her stuck sword and used the other instead to cross her body in a defensive position. Vigilante tilted his head at her, calculating eyes that were initially hidden behind a quippy demeanour exposed and making Hero feel vulnerable and raw.

Vigilante stepped forward and Hero matched it with a step back. He stroked his fingers down the metal of her blade before he grabbed the hilt of the sword suspended in the air in his palm. The air dissolved like butter as Vigilante touched it. He inspected it like a blacksmith checking the quality of his creation, pinching his lips as he swung it in an arc, adjusting his grip to get the balance of it.

He raised his gaze to Hero again. “This is very nice,” he told her.

Hero swallowed. “It’s not for sale,” she told him.

Vigilante laughed, spreading his free arm to the side. “It’s not? What a pity.” He bowed and stuck his arm behind his back, before straightening, a look of mischief dancing across his features. “If you want it back, you’ll have to win it from me.”

Hero couldn’t help the scoff falling from her lips. Vigilante tilted his head. “What?” He asked, an amused smile quirking the edges of his lips. It was annoyingly attractive. “If you’re so sure of beating me, why not agree?”

“I feel it would be unfair for me to accept those terms,” she said with a smirk of her own. “It would be like taking candy from a particularly defenceless baby. With their tiny hands tied behind their back. Or sleeping with the sword balanced on their crib.”

Vigilante shrugged. “So, you accept?”

Hero paused at the arrogance of the vigilante’s tone. Something that sent a warning bell through her temple, something she should listen to, but she was intrigued by him. She couldn’t help it, and she hadn’t had this kind of fun in a while. Hero quirked a brow at the Vigilante. “And in the incredible, and I mean incredible, off chance that I lose?”

Vigilante swung the sword in a circle deftly, and Hero was impressed that he didn’t cut himself on the shoulder in the movement.

“Hmm…” he mused, pretending like he was thinking it over. Hero rolled her eyes at his theatrics. This was more like someone performing a one man show than a fight. “Oh, I know,” he said brightly. “How about a kiss?”

Hero tried to stop it. She really tried to stop it. But she couldn’t and the laugh in her stomach bubbled up her throat and erupted into the night between them. For the first time since they got to the rooftop, Vigilante’s smile fell from his handsome face and he frowned, his brows pinching together as Hero cackled.

She wrapped an arm around her gut and the other slapped over her mouth as she laughed, trying to contain it. This was embarrassing. It wasn’t even that funny.

“Heyy,” Vigilante whined. “Come on… it’s not—”

“No, no,” Hero managed to say between laughs. “No, I’m sorry. It just— pahahahahahaha… sorry, it caught me off guard. I’m—” she dissolved into giggles again. Vigilante blushed and ran a hand through his hair. After too long of a moment, Hero straightened, residue breaths of laughter streaming sporadically as she settled her face into one of neutrality. “I’m sorry. That— I just—” she snorted. “I’m sorry. That probably came off very offensive, I couldn’t— I just usually criminals ask for like… immunity?”

Vigilante bristled. “I’m not a criminal.”

“You broke the law.”

“I bent the law, and showed you how flexible it is to mould,” Vigilante corrected, his easy confidence sliding back into his voice. “There’s a difference.”

“I think breaking and entering is a criminal offence.”

“Yeah, but,” Vigilante said with a shrug, “not if the breaking and entering is going to stop a whole lot of crimes being committed down the road.”

Hero tilted her head, a hand on her hips. “Is that a moral argument or a legal one?”

“I feel like you’re deflecting so you don’t have to accept my offer.”

“Now who’s the one deflecting?”

“Do you want your sword back or not?”

Hero pursed her lips. “Fine. I accept your terms.”

Vigilante raised his brows. “You do?”

“It’s not like you’re going to win anyways. So, I have nothing to worry about.”

“It’s sexy how confident you are,” Vigilante told her.

“Save it for the judge,” she replied sweetly as she raised her sword. She only moved it a couple of inches before her arm stopped in mid-air. She froze completely, not wanting to take her eyes off her opponent but she could swear she could feel a hand on her arm, forcing it down as she tried to push it up.

Vigilante’s expression didn’t shift. He still looked as happy as a puppy that she accepted his terms, but… what the— don’t show any trace that somethings wrong. She refused to move her gaze from the Vigilante. She cocked a brow instead, shooting him her own cocky grin.

“Getting cold feet?” She asked, tilting her head. “Or is your tactic to wait me out until I keel over from exhaustion?”

Something darkened over Vigilante’s features, something knowing and glinting and for the first time in their meeting Hero was suddenly, and very belatedly, scared of her opponent. His charm was disarming, and he played the cocky arrogant fool in over his head far too convincingly, and Hero wanted so desperately to take a step back from him and flee, abandon her swords completely, because no villain or hero or vigilante or criminal had ever caught her so off guard.

Vigilante straightened, fixed his posture and smoothed back the hair that fell in front of his eyes and made him look more innocent.

“You know,” Vigilante said, his voice suddenly deeper, clearer, as if he had removed a mask from the tonality and pitch. “You should really be more careful about striking deals with your enemies, Hero.”

Despite her frantic heartbeat and her very subtle tugs at her sword arm, trying to move it, Hero kept her voice even and her face unchanged. She was just as good as keeping a ruse up.

“This is hardly a deal, more like light entertainment.” She shrugged to show how unbothered she was. “It’s a slow night. So, are we going to fight or…?”

Vigilante didn’t answer. Instead, he stepped towards Hero. Hero instinctively stepped back. Except she didn’t. She didn’t move. There was a wall behind her that hadn’t been there five seconds ago as Vigilante advanced on her. She yanked her sword arm up, but it remained stubbornly down, and she could do nothing as the dark-haired Vigilante got within an inch of her and smoothly pulled her second sword from her frozen grip.

He smiled down at her, equal parts victorious and vicious. A knot of dread tied itself in Hero’s stomach as she stared at her opponent, disarmed, frozen and completely at his mercy. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she stared up at him, petrified.

“You’re telekinetic,” she whispered said, the breath stolen from her lungs. This time when Vigilante smiled, he flashed his teeth like a wolf looking at a particularly helpless prey he knew he could devour. Her brows fell over her eyes casting them in shadows. “Not fair. You cheated.”

How Vigilante made his shrug look lethal and venomous, Hero would never know as he said, “you didn’t ask, Hero. All is fair in love and war.”

“You— you— it— you knew you would win. That’s—”

“Not any different to when you thought you would absolutely win?” Vigilante asked, dipping his chin so he could somehow stare deeper into her soul and expose every lie and truth and futile hope, reading it all like it was on the back of a cereal box. “True, Hero. I agree.”

Hero opened her mouth to protest. Vigilante cocked a brow as he stepped around her and she closed it again as she felt his hands on her scabbards. Panic flared hot and vibrant in her chest as she felt him lift the one on her lower back away from her body. A soft shink and a weight settled comforting against her spine. Hero was speechless. Completely and utterly speechless.

She had a million questions and none of them seemed good enough or prudent enough to help her wade through the panic that seized her chest and her limbs. A thousand thoughts barraged through her mind as she stayed frozen while Vigilante walked around to face her again, pursing his lips as he took hold of the scabbard by her hip, his knuckles brushing against her thigh as he slid the second sword into its scabbard and Hero was whole again.

Her breath absolutely didn’t hitch when he touched her. It didn’t. She was just… her heart was beating stupidly fast because she was panicking. That’s why. Not anything else.

“You’re speechless,” Vigilante hummed as his fingers went to her chin and tilted her head up to look him in the eyes. “You were all talk a minute ago.”

“All you asked for was a kiss,” Hero told him, then cleared her throat as her cheeks flooded pink. “Not immunity. So, kiss me so I can arrest you already.”

Vigilante smirked, his fingers tightening, not unpleasantly, on her jaw. “You’re a sore loser,” he told her. “Anybody ever tell you that?”

“I don’t lose.”

“Mmm. There’s a first time for everything. Always good to try new things.”

Somehow Vigilante’s face changed along with his personality. His features seemed sharper, his eyes more focused, his lips— not that Hero was staring at his lips, it was just they looked… he looked— like someone that Hero would never make a deal with; like someone who triggered the fight or flight response in your body; like someone who was so confident in his abilities that he could play with his food every now and then. He reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t put her finger on who and it was irritating her.

Vigilante’s edges softened a little again, exposing a little of the puppy-like persona from before. “You’re not at all what I thought you’d be like,” he told her, brushing a stray piece of hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear. Her heart didn’t stutter. Her eyelashes didn’t flutter.

She didn’t— it didn’t— ugh!

She got an idea from her brief weakness, and she gazed up at Vigilante through her lashes and sagged a little in his hold, letting out a breathy laugh.

“You’re right,” she said. “I’m a bit of a sore loser, but not enough to back out of the deal.” Vigilante cocked a brow, something suspicious in his gaze but he smiled at her. “On one condition.”

“Ah… a condition, let me guess, a kiss on the cheek?”

Hero tried her best to look flustered and glanced away briefly, embarrassed before looking back at him. “No… I want to be able to touch your face, I don’t want to stand here like a dead fish when you’re kissing me.”

Vigilante laughed. “Yes, and you absolutely won’t reach for your swords the minute I release your hands.”

“I won’t!” Hero said with conviction. Vigilante paused. Hero prayed. He tilted his head.

“You know for whatever reason, Hero, I trust you.”

Good, Hero thought happily as she felt the invisible bonds fall away from her wrists and she stepped towards Vigilante. Vigilante tilted his head as he gazed down at her, his eyes dancing with mischief as Hero stepped up close to him and reached her hand up to cup his face.

His eyes darkened as Hero leaned up on her toes and with a slight hesitation, pressed her lips against his. She could feel his surprise, feel his thoughts almost as he stiffened and then released the tension from his body as he put his hands on her waist and kissed her back. It wasn’t an innocent kiss, and the memory of it later would make Hero blush for being so bold as the kiss got heated.

Vigilante squeezed her waist and Hero grinned against his lips as he pushed her back against the door for roof access, eliciting a gasp which Vigilante took as permission to deepen the kiss. He almost swept Hero’s feet from under her, he almost made her forget what she was trying to do, but crime needed to be impeded, and Hero needed to get on with it or this night would end very differently.

She ran one hand down his chest, to his hips and pulled him closer, flush against her body and bringing her hand closer to the hilt of the sword on her own hip. He smiled against her lips and Hero struck.

She ignited her power, blocking his, feeling him buck in shock as he was cut off from his power, but before he could recoil Hero’s sword was drawn behind his neck, the blade biting into the skin. Hero pulled back, grinning up at Vigilante. Her eyes dancing with the same mischief his did moments ago.

“Gotcha,” she said with a smile, slightly breathless.

“Hmm… you’re just full of surprises aren’t you, Hero?”

“Not so bad yourself,” she said. “But I told you I’d win. Candy from a baby.”

Vigilante laughed, leaning over her ducking his head down again. “Fine,” he conceded, breath fanning her face. “You win, Hero. I was a fool to doubt you.”

“Damn right,” Hero said, her eyes flicking to his lips and up again. “But I think I proved my point.” She manoeuvred her blade back into its scabbard and hooked her hands around the back of his neck instead.

“I think you did too,” he said, running his thumbs over the skin at her hips just over her belt. Hero shivered lightly, the goosebumps making a trail over her skin as she stared up at him. “Do you still need the handcuffs, or can we go from here?”

Hero pulled him down and smashed her lips against his again in answer. Technically, by keeping Vigilante on the roof she was, in fact, stopping crime. Vigilante's lips and hands soon made her forget about her duties as a Hero as he pinned his body flush against hers. For the second time in what felt like forever, Hero smiled against Vigilante's lips and let herself get lost in him.

*~*~*~*~*

Some pre-war moments between Vigilante and Hero for you ^.^ I found this in my drafts and ran an eye over it, so here you go Anon, some vendetta snippets, pre-war, you can see their first kiss and how they interacted together after knowing each other for years

I am gonna tag Vendetta enjoyers in case you'll want to see these, and Vendetta will be updated soon, after Defiant Leader x Confident Villain, so thank you for being patient and thank the Anon for some cute (and innocently steamy) moments between my OTP <3

Oh my god I went looking for the tag-list and I last updated Vendetta in March, GUYS, I'M SO SORRY OH GOD, JESUS WHAT!!!!!! THE FUCK!!!!!!! SORRY love you all, oh god