Chapter Text
54 years ago in the old city of Bylaie, a person emerged with a power unseen before his time. He used what was considered at the time an "unnatural force" to control shadows. He made his debut by harnessing the shadows late at night and using them to terrorize the city by turning cars, breaking storefront windows, and, at his peak, collapsing a large section of Town Hall and having audacity left to leave a letter about himself in attempt to mock the detective squad's investigation skills. No one could see him through his veil of darkness during these attacks so he couldn't be identified despite leaving the same symbol at every scene: the most prominent or whole part of the destruction was tagged with the word "Critic".
Critic's reign didn't last long. Though he used his power to shorten the days and lengthen his reign of chaos during his strongest points, another "unnaturally gifted" person rose up against his power. This unknown person displayed their ability to manipulate sand by using a shallow wave of sand to sweep the floor of the city to find Critic's location and trap him. Police rushed to detain and question Critic, and the news reporters weren't far behind with their own assault.
"How did you find out you could control sand?"
"How does your ability work?"
"How long have you been working to perfect your sand powers?"
"Woah, Woah!" The hero stepped back as half a dozen reporters cornered him and shoved as many microphones at them as they could. They counted out on their fingers to answer the reporter's questions. "Um, I don't remember when exactly, early childhood. I just kind of will it to move or compress or loosen and it does. Again, early childhood, but no one but my partner has ever believed me when I tell them,"
"What's your name?"
"Were you scared to go up against Critic?"
"Not really scared of him, exactly. I was more scared that it wouldn't work and I'd look like a fool," the hero laughed awkwardly. "He kind of reminded me of the Boogeyman story's my dad would read me when I was a kid. But I just couldn't sit by and let Critic reign terror on our city anymore."
"What is your name?" one of the reports yelled again, more adamantly.
"Um-," the hero stalled, laughing again, "I think Sandman is taken? The Sander? Sand--"
"How are you feeling after the fight, Sander?"
"What was your attack strategy?" The news crews wasted no time interrupting and rattling off more questions.
"Excited! I'm on, like, a massive adrenaline rush. It wasn't an attack, really. I swept sand through the streets and when I came into contact with his feet I compressed it around his legs and arms to keep him from moving and to try to stop him from using the shadows. I'm kind of surprised it worked since no one knows how he uses the shadows, whether it's motions or more mentally. Mine's a combination of mental and physical."
"To wrap this up would you demonstrate using your power for us?" Sander flourished their hand and soft sand rushed onto their palm to form a perfect sphere. They snapped their fingers on their other hand and the sphere rearranged itself into a heart. They snapped again and it formed an intricate rose, and one more snap and the sand compressed, keeping its shape, and Sander walked over and handed it to one of the cameramen.
"Well ladies and gentleman, this has been quite an eventful evening!" A reporter talked into a camera, not bothering to contain her excitement, "Hero Sander has brought to us an end of a short but very impactful era! Let us hope that he'll keep watch over our city and- a a a a a--"
"Just hit it," Virgil grumbled to Logan as the CD skipped in the player. He was sitting on the floor in the back of a board meeting room in the doorway to the storage closet. His blanket from his bed was wrapped around his shoulders as he tried to fall back asleep after being dragged, almost literally, out of bed.
"That isn't going to fix it. It's just going to ruin the CD player more than it already is," Logan said as he walked in long strides from the back of the room beside Virgil down to the length of the long table to the television station. "That's why it's broken isn't it?" He asked back as he quickly fixed the player.
"And we have to watch this every morning because-?" Remus complained as he sat at the board table in pajama pants and an open black robe with a cup of coffee looking quite disheveled. "It's six in the morning. Let us wake up,"
"It boosts morale," Logan said curtly as he shut the disk drawer and reached for the remote to start the video again.
"Or so you say," Patton said, looking equally tired but fully dressed for the day. He was sat across from Remus, and Roman was a few feet away at the head of the table.
"It's like 60 years old too," Roman chimed in. "The camera quality is horrid! We should remake it with the current Top Ten!"
"Like we'd all be able to stand being around each other long enough to make a movie," Remus mumbled into the table as he laid his forehead against it, his long hair falling to cover his face and pool on the table. When the screen turned off completely, Patton looked to Logan, but he was glaring half-heartedly back to Virgil who had the television remote whereas he only had the disc player's remote.
"I think that's a sign we should wrap this up," Patton said, getting up from his seat and going to the counter opposite the closet to pour himself a cup of coffee. Remus at that cue took his own mug over to Virgil's little nook, wormed his way under his arm, and pulled his blanket up over himself.
"Should I call them all though?" Roman asked Logan. "If it's truly a morale booster then perhaps showing how far heroes have come since old Sandy's time could inspire civilians and other heroes alike."
"It would in theory..."
"We're not shooting a movie, Logan!" Remus loudly insisted as he situated himself in Virgil's lap.
"It's hardly a movie though! It would be 45 minutes at most," Roman defended.
"Imagine how much closer you could get with the other heroes too," Logan pointed out. "And if you're closer with the other heroes it could make emergency missions more cohesive since there's no infighting."
"We never let the infighting affect our missions," Patton chimed in. "The civilians and the city come before our bickering every time. Besides, legally there's no infighting,"
"And legally you're-" Remus couldn't finish since Virgil slapped the back of his head. Patton thought he heard Virgil say "too mean", but all five of their pagers went off in quick succession. Patton was the first one out of the door and headed down to the prep room. He went to his of the line of lockers and sped to put on his hero costume with the others not far behind him down the stairs.
Roman was the first on the scene despite being second out of the agency building. There weren't any other heroes on the scene yet but the cause of the call was obvious. A large group was gathered outside of a store, and about six people were in the middle of the circle looking ready to throw punches.
"Excuse me! Need through!" Roman yelled as he parted his way through the crowd. "You all need to leave before you get injured!"
"And miss this? No way!" Someone yelled from the crowd just after the first punch was thrown.
"Would you rather miss a fight I can guarantee will be on YouTube in twenty minutes or your arm?" Roman yelled as he finally made his way to the center of the disturbance. He looked over most of the crowd and saw Patton lingering at the back of the crowd trying to assess the situation, "Frogger! I need an out!" Roman shouted and Patton in a few seconds had a path cleared in the cluster of on-lookers, and before Roman could even start to grab the hooligans one of them scrambled out with a bloody nose, tripping over their own feet as they tried to get away from the scene as fast as they could.
As soon as the path was clear again Roman grabbed one of the brawlers by their waist, hauled them over his shoulder, and bolted to Patton for his special temporary paralysis poison. He already had a patch on his arm with the poison ready. He swept some onto his finger and onto the person's skin. Roman got the now limp body probably half a mile away from the scene in less than three seconds.
"That's gonna wear off, but not before you're cuffed and questioned," Roman assured before he went back and got the next thug. Remus was running down the street pulling his belt tight as Roman was trying to catch the second person.
"Is anyone dead?" Remus asked Patton as Roman broke through the slowly closing gap in the crowd as the fight in the middle worsened.
"No," Patton said as he paralyzed the new person in Roman's hold. A sickening sounding hit grabbed Remus's attention, and a flash of purple lightning struck fear into all 3 heroes. "Not yet," Patton amended weakly. Remus wasn't there to hear him, though, as he didn't waste time with niceties and started shoving people out of his way to get to whoever the lightning wielder was.
His answer came quickly. As soon as the wielder noticed him, he shot a bolt directly at him. Before it hit, Roman was there with a rubber shield he got from Virgil while on his way back from dropping off the second person. The last two from the fight fled out the path Roman made as the powered person stood frozen as Roman cornered him with the rubber shield in front of him and Remus rounded to his back, taking a pair of handcuffs from his belt and securing the person's arms behind his back.
"Everyone leave!" Remus commanded as he helped the detained person to sit on the curb. "Show's over!"
"Two guys from the Northern district are with one of the other guys, and Logan is with one. Rowen Younge and Jonie Nelson. 22 and 21 years old," Patton reported back. "Both say that Fredrick and Rowen were the instigators, two of them that ran and Jonie were defending the first person that ran away which was who was attacked and that the crowd wasn't involved,"
"I'll go do a check-in with each of them," Roman stretched his legs, and after he zoomed to the other stations Remus and Patton turned to their person on the curb.
"Okay buddy," Remus sighed disappointedly and sat in front of him on the berm of the road. "Do you have an ID on you?"
"It's in my jacket pocket over there." He nodded over to about where the conflict happened to a dark denim jacket. Patton went over for it as he listened to his earpiece.
"Everyone good?" Remus asked when Patton dropped the jacket in his lap. Patton nodded firmly and mouthed "yeah" before he turned away, clicked a button on the earpiece, and said something to whoever was on the other line. Remus took out the wallet in the pocket and looked at the driver's license. "You're Fredrick, huh? We've had some run-ins before haven't we?"
"I changed up my hair."
"You did!" Remus looked from the driver's ID to Fredrick. "Well you know how it goes then. We're going to have some of the boys take you back to the agency, ask you and the other two a few more questions, and from what it sounds like right now you and your Rowen friend might be staying a night or two. And, just for the record, a lightning superpower? I think that's a hell of a lot more different than changing your hair up."
"Whatever."
"How bad are your injuries? Just the bruised eye?"
"And a few scrapes and dings. I'm fine."
"We’ll get you looked over better when we're not in the middle of the street. Wanna tell me why it sounds like you started the fight?"
"Family issues."
"You're related?"
"Hell no! If I ever found out I was related to him I'd move to another country and change my name."
"Yikes. What'd he do then? Did he shove you, threaten you, hurt another family member?"
"No. He's from down the street. His little sisters said something to my cousin or something. She told me she was having issues with that guy's family so I figured the whole family was trouble."
"Hold on," Remus presses the space between his eyebrows. "You hauled off and started a fight with someone because his younger siblings 'said something' to your cousin?" Frederick nodded, "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"You do realize that that's absurd right? Like, you could have solved this through a phone call!"
"I mean, I guess but-"
"But you'd rather start a street fight?" Remus stared him down until he nodded, "Is it true that that other dude Speedy-Mcgee took was your buddy, and that he came along to help you with all this?"
"Yes sir," Fredrick said quietly, keeping his eyes trained on the pavement.
"Well then... Since you're okay, I'm gonna go talk to Mr. Frog Man for a minute. Stay right here. I don't wanna have to drag you back to the station limp." Remus made a gesture with two of his fingers to show he was going to be watching Fredrick before he went across the lot to where Parton was sitting on an abandoned crate. He asked in a hushed voice, "Okay, how's everything going everywhere else, and where's Virgil?"
"Virgil was headed back to HQ to set up the station for questioning. Logan said Jonie's paralysis is fully worn off and that she's agreed to come back and give a more detailed account. Teal from the northern agency says Rowen's paralysis has worn off everywhere but the arm I had applied the goop to and that he instantly tried to make a run for it, so he had to put handcuffs on him." Patton rubbed his eyes under his glasses and his voice sounded tired as he continued, "Roman's going to go check Virgil then come back here, but Logan told me he's not going to make it back to base after that so I'm gonna have to carry him again."
"He needs to bulk up," Remus laughed at his brother light-heartedly.
"He needs to pace himself better."
"He got everything taken care of and nobody got severely hurt."
"That's true. Everyone that was there that we could question said the first lightning bolt missed, thank God. Worst injury reported across the three involved that we have is Rowen's broken nose. One of the medics from the north came with Teal so they already have him taken care of and given some mild painkillers. One ran before you got here, and he was about the same as Rowen. Hopefully he got to a doctor."
"When's Virgil getting here with the cruiser?"
"About 5 minutes I'd guess?" Patton said. "He already has Rowen and he was getting Jonie last I heard from Logan."
"You wanna go get lunch after this?" Remus asked as he stood up and checked his pager for the time, "Brunch I guess?"
"You wanna order in brunch?" Patton countered with an emphasis.
"Deal! I'll go sit with him for a bit while you take a second." Remus went back and kneeled behind Fredrick and unlocked his handcuffs. "I'm gonna take these off because you were good; Don't make me put them back on."
"Is everyone okay?"
"Everyone's fine Freddy. Rowen got a broken nose but he's already taken care of. You'll see him in- right about now, actually." Remus smiled as he saw the familiar black car turn into the parking lot. "Nice to see you're concerned though," he added in a serious change of tone. "Lots of people we end up dealing with don't think twice about the people involved or even their own partners. It's...reassuring, to hear you're concerned, ya know? I know you're not a bad person, just kinda mixed up in some not so great choices."
Virgil got out of the driver's seat once the car was parked a few spots down from where Remus and Fredrick sat on the curb. He had gotten more dressed, now in a deep purple button-up tucked into a pair of pressed slacks and dark sunglasses. Remus wolf-whistled at him as he helped Fredrick up off the ground and into the back seat of the car. Jonie was in the front with Virgil behind a plexiglass divider.
"You said he didn't cause any trouble?" Virgil confirmed after shutting and locking the door after he situated everyone.
"No, but apparently the other guy did!" Remus laughed slightly and held his hand out to ask Virgil to pull him up. "Where's Roman? Patton said he was going to help you."
"He wasn't there when I left." Virgil grabbed Remus's wrist to pull him up off the curb. "Wanna get lunch after we get things squared away?"
"That's what I was thinking, but Pat said we should order in. And its brunch 'cause it'll only be eleven by then."
"Okay, Logan." Virgil teased him and rolled his eyes.
"And good call with the shield! Saved my ass!" Remus gave him a quick kiss before he got back in the car.
"Why predict the future if you can't save your boyfriend?" he called out the open window, then pulled out back towards the southern agency building. Remus checked his pager for any news from his brother but had nothing.
"Roman was at the northern district," Patton heard from across the lot and used his earpiece to call Roman. There was a gush of wind and a quick patter of slowing footsteps as Roman came from Teal's agency, collapsing against Patton with a wince. "And now he's here. Come on," Patton cooed and carefully hoisted Roman into a fireman's carry. "How's this?" he asked, looping his arms around one of Roman's knees and one of his arms.
"It's fine, let's just get going."
The heroes walking back to headquarters was always a sight to see. On the left, in all his glory, is the Number One Hero, Pontus. His costume's material was close to that of a wetsuit to best fit his morgawr abilities, but doesn't limit his mobility in situations he doesn't need to, or can't, use any powers. It's colored a light blue with teal and green stripes and spots with a low neckline and openings on the back below his shoulder blades and sides below the long sleeves for when he needs his tail or fins, and a belt with a few tools sat below those openings out of the way. His height always comes as a shock to people, though. Most assume him to be over six feet tall, but unaided by his power he stands at five-seven.
Patton's usual role in their walks home is what surprises people most. The least visibly muscular of the three carrying the tallest person from the southern district over his shoulders is far from what's expected. His costume displays his lean muscle nicely though, with a dull green spandex tank top with a turtleneck cut showing off his arms. A layered wrap around his waist is raggedly cut to his mid-thigh in the front and to the backs of his knees in the rear and covers his black cargo pants coming to his mid-calf.
"I wish I had a cape I could flail dramatically," Roman pouted in a strained tone with a weak laugh. His costume is a white lycra bodysuit with red detailing and trimming and a gold crown on the chest. He had bright red special boots with thick bottoms and supports up to his knees. The glitter the costume's designer put in the fabric made Roman sparkle from every angle and gave him a knightly effect he built his hero persona on.
"Ask Remy about getting you one," Patton suggested. "I'm sure he could get you one pretty soon."
"Speaking of Remy," Remus asked, "why was that categorized as an Emergency? We had everything under control in 10 minutes? That was a two-person job at most."
"Remy doesn't do the alerts anymore. He got his beeper taken away because of 'non-critical communication'. Joan just puts them out for everyone now depending on location."
"Yeah, I was wondering about that too. I'm about to have a word with them," Roman agreed with his brother. "Put me down, Put me down," he rushed as he saw a mother and her son rush across the street towards them. He subtly leaned on Patton as the woman waved them down.
"My son loves all you guys," she explained, putting her hand on his shoulder as he bounced beside her patiently and beamed up at the trio. "I swear he could list every hero and their power for the top fifty ranks! Would it be okay if he got a picture with you three?"
"Of course! It would make our day!" Remus smiled just as brightly as the kid as he kneeled down beside him and struck a flexing pose for the mom to capture with Roman and Patton smiling behind them, Patton with a simple peace sign and Roman with a pose just as dramatic in his own style.
"Wanna see a morgawr trick?" Remus offered and the kid squealed with excitement. He showed off his teeth, which looked normal at first, but then he jutted out his fish teeth which were over an inch long and razor-sharp. It scared the lady's son and he ran off screaming. "I'm so sorry!" he yelled after the kid and apologized profusely to the mother who was already headed off to catch her son.
"No one ever likes that one," Remus mumbled, disappointed.
"Stop doing it then!" Roman beat the point into the ground like he has to every time Remus accidentally scared a little kid. Patton stretched his back since Roman was standing fine with Remus's help, but he kept his break short so they could get back to help Logan and Virgil with questioning.
"I'm gonna go see Logan and probably get started with Jonie's side of things. You two go get settled," Remus told them as he got the garage entrance to the agency open since it was closest to the detainment wing of the building.
"Human joints are not meant to go six hundred miles an hour," Roman winced as he gripped the stair railings for dear life. Patton was right behind him to make sure Roman didn't fall, carrying the clothes each of them had left in the storage closet.
"I can't imagine it," he sympathized.
The agencies existed as a home base for the top heroes, so naturally, they included apartment-style homes for them. With 18 living spaces between each building, 5 heroes and 3 supports live in the northern district, and the same at the southern district, each with an extra flat for anyone who might need an affordable roof over their head for a night or a few. Roman's was on the second floor of the building, which meant two tall flights of stairs starting from the garage.
Patton made sure Roman had everything he needed when they got him settled comfortably on his couch before changing out of his own hero costume and heading back down to help with questioning. Each of them down there was in a separate room with someone that was involved. Remus was with Frederick instead of Jonie, who Logan was with, and Virgil was with Rowen.
"Need anything?" Patton asked in to Virgil as he sat tapping the desk with a pen and his head in his free hand.
"A water, please, if you don't mind?" Virgil sighed, glaring across the table at Rowen.
"Not at all," Patton said softly. He got two from the mini-fridge in the wing's office and when he brought them back he stood in the doorway for a moment and listened in as Virgil stood leaning against the table.
"-and based on everything we've gathered, both from questioning and videos we've received, it's clear that you and that other guy started this." Virgil tone was deep and gruff, and he got louder as he continued. "Now you can call someone and tell them you're gonna be here for 3 nights, or you can continue to be a stubborn, non-compliant, LITTLE-,"
"Here you go," Patton stepped up, giving Virgil one of the drinks and sliding the other across to Rowen. "Anything else? Want to step out for a minute?"
"Please! Sorry, this is just... frustrating." Virgil softened again and turned out of the room, running a hand through his hair.
"Here's the phone." Patton turned a receiver around on the desk so that Rowen could reach it and sat in the chair Virgil had been in. Rowen gave him a side-eye before dialing a number. Patton tried to tune out the call Rowen made, but he couldn't ignore the audible yelling through the phone. When he hung up, Rowen slid the base back across to Patton and held his head up with his hands, his face a mix of shock and emptiness.
"Starting to regret it, huh?" Patton played up. "We still have to keep you, but maybe you'll learn better and not have to wind up back here, okay?"
"Don't talk down to me, kid," Rowen spit.
"That's not what I'm trying to do, but if it's that upsetting, maybe learn to not act like a kid and start fights over petty issues," Patton ended as Virgil came back in to lead Rowen to his holding room.
"Thanks for keeping an eye on him. Logan called in food if you wanna keep an eye out for the delivery, they should be here in about twenty minutes, his treat," Virgil said before walking Rowen down the back hall. Patton peeked through the glass in the room Logan was in, but before he moved down to Remus's, Logan was waving him in.
"Jonie, this is one of the heroes that dealt with the incident.”
"Sorry about goop-ing you," Patton smiled awkwardly and Jonie reassured him with a mumbled "It's good.” "It's kind of hard to tell who's who in those situations. Is everything going okay in here?"
"I need to go get something else done, would you mind finishing up her account of the situation? I have everything written down so you can catch up on that if needed, just make sure you get her last few points alright? Thank you." Logan rushed out of the room, and his footsteps could be heard running through the almost empty garage and up the first set of stairs.
"Okay." Patton laughed at the hurry Logan was in, "Looks here that everything lines up with what those everything else has said; Fredrick started it, Rowen was his backup, you and two others none of you knew got involved trying to defend the person they jumped, who was the first person that ran off. Fredrick used two lightning bolts during the encounter and no one else exhibited any superpower or anything. That was quite brave of you all!"
"I mean, I guess?" Jonie shrugged off. "That's about it though. I've just been repeating myself for the past half hour."
"Sounds good! Did medical look you over? Is anything hurting or bruised or scraped up?"
"Yeah, I got a look over. I just had a bit of road rash on my arm from when I got knocked over." She showed him a patch of gauze above her elbow where they disinfected and covered the scrape.
"Well if there's nothing else you'd like to add, you can head on home then! We advise you not to speak about or share any of this stuff, but since this one is kind of solidly squared away I don't think our upper members will give us too much boo if you slip," Patton gave Jonie a sneaky wink and lead her to the upper entrance past Remus's room that didn't look to have too much going on inside. Fredrick was sat across from Remus as with all the stations, and Patton could tell from his gestures that Remus was giving him practically a lecture about life lessons.
Jonie left without much more small talk, and Patton lingered in the central lobby until the delivery person rang the buzzer to be let in about 10 minutes later. He handed Patton 2 large paper bags and held out a phone with a card swiper.
"It'll be $56.75, please."
"Oh! I don't have the card on me...." Patton checked his wallet and eventually took out his own card, "This one should work though."
"Thank you, have a nice day."
"You too!" Patton smiled as he brought the bags up to the boardroom where he was greeted to a scene quite similar to the one he had started his day with. Roman was at the head of the table, leaned with his legs propped up, and iced beside him on a spare chair, Remus was claiming he was going to die if he didn't get back to bed, and Logan was stood at the front of the room with a PowerPoint presentation on the television titled "How We Can Improve Our Poor Emergency Alert Responses (Alert Rundown #39 And Counting)"
"Soup's on," Patton smiled weakly at the sight and put the bags on the table.
"Are the waffles on? That's what I got," Remus perked up and grabbed one of the bags, taking out Roman's order and sliding it down the table to him.
"Is no one going to acknowledge the more pressing matter?" Logan circles the screen with the laser pointer he had in hand.
"No, not really,” Virgil said as he came through the door from downstairs, nodding back down behind him in references to the holding cells. "Someone's with them, I think. Let's have lunch first and then we'll watch your 'what we did wrong this time' show."
"It's brunch!" Remus and Logan said at the same time. They looked at each other, Remus proud he got the difference and Logan as if he regretted explaining the difference to him in the first place.