Chapter Text
Ender follows the trail of havoc, stopping by each injured citizen and alerting the professionals of their condition. Someone capable of this shouldn't still be out and about. Ender knows this, so they know that they have to work fast.
The lights in the city are dimmer tonight, much to their dismay. The trail ends with a car that has a giant dent in the roof of it. They glance up, immediately meeting the eyes of the villain that created all of this mess.
He darts away, and Ender decides to go invisible. They chase him for a while, but soon he just stops. They're on the roofs of buildings across from each other.
They get a good look at him. He's tall, not as tall as them, but tall nonetheless. He's wearing a skin-tight red and white long sleeve, khaki cargo pants, and a navy blue puffy jacket. His hoodie covers his hair, and there's a mask covering the entirety of his face.
Ender appears.
"Who are you?" They ask, staying in place as not to scare him off. Ender himself is fitted with a green and red jacket that covers a black and white suit. Their face and hair is also covered.
"My name is... Mellohi. Pleased to meet you. Sorry for the," He swooshes over next to Ender, who flinches, "the damage, darling. I'm still getting a hold of these.. abilities." The accent catches Ender's attention. It's American, country specifically, but it doesn't sound right.
"It's not just collateral damage. You injured about a dozen innocent people!" They spit the words, glaring at Mellohi.
"Cool it, cookies and cream. Things happen, people get hurt. It's kinda difficult to find an empty spot to practice in a city like this. I assume you're special as well? You understand." He pats Ender on the shoulder.
"That's no excuse to—!" Mellohi is back on the other building.
"Sorry to cut this short, but I've really got to get going! Nice meeting you!" And just like that, he's gone. Ender rubs at his temples before going to help those that were injured.
—
"Thank you so much for your help, Ender. You're a hero." One of the family members of a victim says. Ender shakes their head.
"The paramedics are the real hero's. I have to get going, but I wish you all a quick recovery." They wave at everyone before disappearing into the night.
But they don't really disappear, do they? They end up climbing up the fire escape, pulling their mask off.
Then Ender becomes Ranboo.
He gets the gear off, takes a much needed shower, then gets in some more comfortable clothes. His mom calls him for dinner, and he walks out of his room and to the dining room.
His sister, brother, and Mom sit around the table, filling their plates and conversing about their days. He takes a seat. "Ranboo!" His younger sister says, handing him a plate.
"Hi, Lyn. Thanks for dinner, Mom. How was work?"
"Nice of you to join us, dear. Work was exhausting. I delivered a set of twins and a stillborn. I tried to call you." Twins and a stillborn. Miracle and tragedy.
"Sorry.. I had to take over Toby's shift."
They eat together, discussing schedules and school. Ranboo likes when he gets to do this. When he comes home early enough to catch his family. His ever-so-busy family, getting to enjoy each other's company.
But at the end of the day, saving lives is exhausting, and he needs rest to be able to do it again tomorrow.
And he decides that he really needs to find Mellohi.
-—-
"Sorry to cut this short, but I've really got to get going! Nice meeting you!" Mellohi says, quickly making his way out of Ender's line of sight.
He hurriedly ducks into the window of his bedroom, tearing off the suit and stashing it away. He let his hair flood down his shoulders and reach his back in golden curls.
His blue eyes flash with fear as he removes the constrictions on his chest and takes a deep breath.
Then Mellohi becomes Tommy.
And Tommy becomes Emma.
But that’s not really his name, is it? He tells himself that as he gets dressed in a large t-shirt and some shorts. The water is probably freezing by now— he’ll have to take a shower in the morning.
As he opens the door, he gets hit with smoke. The sound of heavy snores fill the house as he tip-toes around and puts the cigarettes out.
He cleans up, trashing beer bottles and trash that his father littered around their flat.
Only one more year. One more year of living in this shithole. But he has powers now. He’s not weak anymore.
So he heats up his dinner in their microwave that’s older than him, then he decides on eating it in his room. There’s research to be done, anyway. A stack of comics and articles on the make-shift desk to sort through and try to understand this new part of himself.
As if he hasn’t done enough of that already.
Tommy’s mum died when he was only a young child, 3 years old, give or take. He doesn’t remember a lot, only the sweet sound of her bubbling laughter and the warmth that she carried with her.
The only idea of what she looked like comes from his dads comments about him ‘looking more and more like her every day’ in a drunken haze. He hoped so. Because if there was already a girl that looked like that, he could be a boy and not betray his features’ fate.
Back to the powers. All of this is rather exhausting, and he has a full day of training ahead of him. He’d better get some sleep.
Plus, he needs to do something to catch the attention of that hero.