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Most people would have considered that night to be a perfect night. It hadn’t been so warm that one would need to remove layers to avoid discomfort. It hadn’t grown cold enough that one could’ve been justified if they retreated inside for a warm drink. The moon shone brightly in the sky, undisturbed by any clouds, and provided light in the darkest, dampest corners of the city. There hadn’t been any sign of illicit activity either. For most people, it would have been a wonderful night.
Wilbur Soot wasn’t most people, however, so he had an issue with the quiet.
“Okay, tonight’s been quiet for me, anybody got anything?”
“Dryad and I helped a cat out of a tree.”
“It was all Harpy, but I appreciate the attempt at sharing credit.”
“We’ve found nothing on our end, sorry Víl.”
Wilbur — Víla — sighed, “It’s fine, Nix. We should be happy no one is in danger…”
Wilbur let the sentence trail off, his attention caught as he made another careful leap between the rooftops of the rundown district he patrolled. Before he became a vigilante, leaping between rooftops was fun and required no caution on his part. Now he needed to keep up the charade. Even when he was completely alone, with no one around to catch his ‘recklessness’.
There were a lot of consequences to being a vigilante. The Hero Committee was ruthless in its pursuit of control, of the spread of propaganda in the city. Vigilantes threatened everything when they protected those the Hero Committee deemed unworthy of protection. The lower-class districts were fair game for criminals, unless a vigilante decided to take up residency in the area. Which made the all the stories they fed to the middle-class districts about heroes come into question.
When he looked back on it, Wilbur couldn’t believe he had ever been a hero. But hindsight was funny that way.
Yeah, once Wilbur had been a hero. Which meant that if the Hero Committee found out about him, unlike the others in his little vigilante crew, he wouldn’t be sent to prison. If his father found out about him, he’d most likely be sent to ‘rehabilitation’. If not, he would be killed, and his death would be covered up. Either way, prison would be a blessing in comparison.
“But it’s been quiet for a while” Puffy — Changeling — continued for him, “Which is never a good sign in this field.”
“Calm before the storm. Or so the saying goes” Niki, better known as Nixe, said.
“Whatever it is, we’re unlikely to be the ones that deal with it. This is looking like a big scheme, which means it’s getting passed to the heroes” Wilbur sighed.
“Oh, who do we think it is? Demon Cat?” Tommy — Harpy — asked.
Wilbur paused, “Who the fuck is Demon Cat?”
“She’s a new villain. A demon who disguises her horns with cat ears. She doesn’t have any known powers beyond her abilities as a demon” Hannah — Dryad — explained.
“Well, she has my respect. She sounds like a badass.”
“You only just found out about her” Puffy commented.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t respect her. I’ve seen female heroes get harassed, beaten down and passed over in favor of mediocre heroes all because of their gender. Not to mention they’re held to way higher standards in terms of beauty” Wilbur shook his head, “For villains, it’s even worse because they don’t take women seriously as threats, so they almost never get onto the media.”
“I bet it’s Diamond, he can’t go too long without doing something for Infernal’s attention” Ranboo — Shadow — said.
“Well we all know it’s not that loser villain Thunder.”
Niki sighed in exasperation, “Harp, you’re always messing with. You need to stop, he’s pretty nice… for a criminal. Speaking of charming criminals, what about Monarchy?”
“Nah, I don’t think she’s up to something. He’s usually pretty quiet. What about you, Víl? Who do you think is causing trouble?” Puffy asked.
“Yeah Víla, who do you think it is?”
“There are so many villains out there, who could possibly be the first villain to come to Víla’s mind.”
Wilbur groaned, “I know where you’re all going with this. I’m not entering this.”
“Entertaining what?” Tommy asked, “Why do you think we have ulterior motives, Víl? We’re your friends.”
“I think he’s so defensive because he’s hiding something.”
“But what could our darling Víla be hiding from us?”
“For the last time, whatever is going on with Wisp it is completely one sided and I have no stakes in whatever bullshit he’s decided to do this time” Wilbur replied, “And we all know it’s him because he can’t go a week without doing something to get himself attention.”
As Wilbur jumped across another gap between rooftops he paused for a moment and tuned out the teasing remarks from his team. For a second, he could have sworn he heard a second pair of feet land just after he had. It had been faint, which meant one of two things. The person that tailed him was far away. Or the person who followed him was an avian, and therefore much lighter than the average person.
The vigilante continued his patrol but kept his ears alert for anything out of place. For a brief moment he heard another pair of footsteps, before they matched his own and he couldn’t distinguish them anymore. Wilbur made a show as he stretched himself and ‘casually’ glanced around the rooftops he patrolled. He didn’t see anyone around which only made him more suspicious.
Tommy’s voice cut through Wilbur’s thoughts, “Oh Víla! You’ve been ignoring us for the past couple of minutes.”
“You know if we’re taking the joke too far we can stop, right Víl?” Niki added.
“I’m fine, just distracted by something I stepped in” Wilbur replied.
There was a pause before Tommy asked, “Where are you?”
“I think I’ll just finish up my patrol real quick” Wilbur ignored, “You guys should do the same, we can meet up back at the base soon.”
“Víla, give us a location. You know Harpy and I will fly around this entire district looking for you. You shouldn’t engage in with someone bold enough to stalk you” Hannah countered.
Yet Wilbur was certain he knew who he was being stalked by, “Glad we all agree with my idea. Shadow, I’ll message you for pick up.”
“Wait, Víl—”
Wilbur shut his communicator off, then scoured the surrounding area. He needed a decent spot before he confronted his tail, somewhere he can easily escape from if required. If he turned out to be correct in his assumption, then he would be screwed if he didn’t plan for every worst-case scenario.
“You need to come up with a better code for being followed.”
Wilbur suppressed a sigh before he turned around, “Flies over the head of most stalkers. So, what is the city’s most wanted villain doing in this district?”
Wilbur felt himself go still when he saw Wisp. It was at this moment that he felt the weight of the villain’s absence. Well, he wasn’t a villain when Wilbur last saw him face to face. That had to be the reason why the world suddenly felt off kilter. Wilbur had seen the news; he knew what Wisp looked like and had heard about his numerous crimes. But a part of him couldn’t help but remember Fallacy, his rival and the closest thing he had to a friend.
The vigilante felt underdressed at that moment. Back when the last spoke with each other, they had both been dressed in their assigned hero costume. Boring, but practical. They had been on even ground. Now, Wilbur was Víla, he had a ratty trench coat, a hoodie underneath to hide his hair and some jeans. The only thing that anyone in his team spent money on was their masks. Víla’s mask was shaped like a bird with golden feathers, the eyes hidden by black lens made from an optic polarizer. It cut down contrast, which made patrols a lot easier no matter what time they did them.
The villain was treated kindly by his career change where it came to his costume. He donned a plain button up, covered by a sleeveless long tailcoat in a royal blue color. A card motif pattern made the coat distinctive and recognizable. He wore black slacks, neatly tucked into combat black boots. Knives stuck out of boots, and Wilbur was certain that he had some hidden up his sleeves.
Wisp’s mask was the most identifiable part of his getup. It covered most of his face and left only the bottom right of his face uncovered. The mask was completely white. The left side had a downturned eye with a tear and a frown. The right eye was upturned, and the look was completed by the villain’s own wicked grin or cruel smirk.
“I came to look into some fascinating rumors I heard, of course” Wisp answered, “There are many who speak very highly of you, Víla.”
“Well I’m always happy to meet with my fans, but I am really busy right now so I have to be going” Wilbur said as he turned to leave.
“You’re not using a voice changer.”
Wilbur tensed at that. Víla couldn’t use a voice changer, his powers would be rendered useless with it. In most cases this wouldn’t matter. As Mockingbird he always wore a voice changer, so most people wouldn’t recognize his voice. Just his parents and the one other person he had trusted to drop the voice changer around. He had hoped that enough time had passed that Wisp wouldn’t recognize his voice from those few conversations.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re implying.”
Wisp sighed, “Are we really going to this? I know who you are. You know I know who you are. Can we just skip the theatrics?”
“I thought you liked the theatrics” Wilbur said.
The villain laughed without humor, “I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know what happened… but you could have come to me with anything. I would have supported you” Wisp said.
“It’s not as simple as you think it is” Wilbur replied.
Wisp scoffed, “Of fuck off. You faked your death and became a vigilante. Of course it’s not simple, but it’s not rocket science.”
“I didn’t fake my death” Wilbur countered.
“What do you mean?”
“What do you think I mean? Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I didn’t want to run to you? I couldn’t, Wisp. I needed to get away from the heroes patrolled districts and my wings were clipped. My options were kind of limited” the vigilante explained.
Before he could even react, Wilbur’s face was gently cradled in the hands the villain. For a brief instant, Wilbur was reminded of their youth. Steamy make-out sessions in dark corners at the birthday of some hero neither of them cared about. Banter that toed the line between jesting and real flirting. Honest, intimate conversations when they were both above the clouds, away from the eyes and ears of everyone else. It was pathetic how much Wilbur longed for those simpler days.
But those days were far behind him, and he couldn’t return to them no matter how much he wanted to.
“Give me their names” the villain whispered, “Just give me their names and I’ll take care of everything.”
“I can’t, Wisp—”
“No, no, we’re not worrying about morals or anything, okay? You’re just gonna give me some names and anything that happens is not your—”
Wilbur shook his head, “I can’t because they’re dead.”
“Oh. Pog.”
“You can’t just ‘pog’ my acts of murder” Wilbur laughed.
Wisp shrugged, “Nothing was ever proven in court, so I think it’s fine.”
That pulled another laugh from the vigilante. He had forgotten how easily Wisp could take his mind away from the dark corners it wondered to. How easy it was to smile and laugh when in the company of the other. It was moments like this one that made Wilbur realize how trapped he had felt after everything that had happened to him. How warped and suffocating his fate had become.
“I missed this. I missed you so much” Wilbur whispered.
“You could always join me” Wisp offered, “Run away with me and become a villain. We could take over this city together and make everyone who ever hurt us pay.”
Wilbur pulled away, completely turned away, “I really can’t. There… there is so much I can’t really explain right now. But I can’t join you, Wisp.”
Wisp sighed before he grabbed something from a hidden pocket in his suit, “I have a communicator. It only has my communicator listed as a contact. You can throw it away if you really want. But if you want to get into contact with me, I’ll always be waiting.”
And with that, Wisp took off. Wilbur was alone once more.
It took every ounce of self-restraint to resist the urge to follow the villain.