Chapter Text
“You missed!.” Ash taunted as he leapt from the roof of one building to another, narrowly avoiding a knife that Crimson had thrown. “I expected more from one of the city's top heroes, but you’re just as useless as the rest of them.”
The hero, Crimson, followed him, using his telekinesis to float over the rooftops. “Just give it back Virus, and no one gets hurt.” His voice was distorted from behind his mask, so Ash couldn’t make out many emotions.
“What, this little thing?” Ash held up the flash drive he had stolen from some important tech company. He didn’t really care about what was on it, only that someone had paid him to get it.
Crimson threw another knife at him, causing Ash to spin out of the way again. He could probably easily get away now, but where was the fun in that? He rarely got to fight Crimson alone, and he wanted to figure out what he could say or do to annoy the hero.
“Your aim is shit, how are you a top hero?” Ash laughed as he caught the next dagger Crimson threw, hurling it back at him. The hero dropped out of the air, landing on the rooftop. Pulling out his gun, he glitched behind Crimson and raised his arm, aiming to hit him in the back of the head.
However, the hero decided to turn at the worst moment, causing Ash to hit him directly in the face, hearing a crack from his mask. Crimson stumbled back, and when he glanced up, his broken mask in his hands and Ash caught a glimpse of his face underneath his hood, staring directly into his eyes. Then in a flash of purple, he was gone. Stasis. All heroes had an emergency stasis chamber set up so they could get out of dangerous situations. Villains and vigilantes would sometimes have them, depending on if they could find a cheap way to get one.
With a sigh, Ash returned his gun to his side, and decided to grab one of the knives Crimson had left in his hasty retreat. From the glimpse he got of his face, he looked like a normal guy. When Ash had free time, he would probably try to find him as a civilian, to see if he could get any extra information on him.
With a quick check to make sure he still had the flash drive, Ash teleported to the warehouse where he was supposed to meet Jester, the guy who had paid him to get it. It was dark when the black and purple particles that accompany his teleportation cleared.
“Virus.” Ash spun on his heel, finding Jester standing behind him, with his signature mask.
“Jester.” He greeted the villain, pulling out the flash drive. “Is this what you wanted?” He tossed it over to Jester.
“Thank you. I would’ve gone myself, but you’re better with technology.” Since Ash had powers that allowed him some influence over technology, most villains would ask or pay for help with stuff relating to that.
Ash shrugged. “Just make sure you don’t blow up the city with whatever shit’s on that thing.”
“No promises.” Jester laughed, then handed him a small briefcase. “Your payment, as promised.”
Ash took it and opened it, quickly counted, then shut it and tucked it under his arm.
“Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you, but I’ll be going now.” When Ash glanced up, Jester was nowhere to be seen. So much for even a goodbye. Not that Ash cared, he only really took the job because Jester was one of the most powerful villains in the city, and he wanted to be on his good side.
“Virus!” Ash felt someone hit his shoulder, and he spun reflexively to hit them, but they moved too quickly. He heard laughter, and relaxed when he realized it was just Spoke.
“I told you to stop doing that.” He crossed his arms as he glanced at Spoke, who wasn’t even covering his face. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you! And talking to Cl- Jester. Nothing important though.” Ash sighed, allowing the purple and black glitches that covered his face to dissipate. He trusted Spoke (to an extent), and the two of them knew each other’s names and had seen each other’s faces many times. “Have fun beating up heroes without me?”
Ash shrugged. “I broke Crimson’s mask.”
“Really? What does he look like?”
“A normal guy. Blue eyes, I think red hair, which is pretty funny. He left pretty fast, but I think we should try to find out his real name at some point.”
Spoke nodded. “Sounds fun. See if you can mess with him a bit.” Then he seemed to remember something, and grabbed Ash’s arm. “Also! I found something really cool that I want to show you.”
“What is it?” Knowing Spoke, it was most likely some weird contraption.
“We have to go somewhere more isolated, but Ash,” His smile seemed to stretch even wider. “We’re going to be gods.”
—
Ash followed Spoke into the bar reluctantly. He was never a fan of them, but Spoke had insisted on celebrating. It had been a few days since Spoke had shown him some power enhancers, ones he claimed could make the both of them gods. As much as Ash liked the idea of more power, Spoke had just shrugged off his question about negative side effects.
The bar had a good amount of people, but the two of them were able to find a seat. Spoke almost immediately got up to talk to someone, so Ash quickly lost track of him, instead enjoying his own drink. He would probably leave after he finished it, seeing as Spoke had abandoned him.
A cheer sounded from the group of people a few seats away from him, causing him to glance at them. It was a group of about five people, who seemed to be celebrating. Ash was about to leave, when his eye caught on one of the people from the group of five.
The man had bright red hair and blue eyes and glasses. He looked oddly familiar. Ash spent a while trying to subtly glance at the man, trying to figure out who it was. He wasn’t great with remembering faces, but he knew he had seen this guy before.
The next time Ash glanced over, the guy was looking at him, and they made eye contact. Ash immediately glanced down, embarrassed, but it clicked that the guy looked like Crimson. He had wanted to find the hero as a civilian, but preferably from the safety of a computer screen.
“You know, most people who stare at me the whole night end up talking to me at some point.” Ash’s head snapped up and he found Crimson leaning against the bar next to him.
Ash felt his face heat up out of embarrassment as he stumbled for a reply. “Sorry, you just looked familiar.”
“Well, I don't think we've met before, since I'm sure I would've remembered someone with a face like yours. My name’s Red.” He slid into the seat beside Ash, who almost laughed, at both the compliment and his name. His hero name was Crimson, and his real name was Red? That was so stupid.
“I’m Ash.”
“Well Ash, may I buy you a drink?”
At this, he did laugh. “Sure, why not.” Usually, he didn’t let strangers buy him drinks, but he wanted to see where this would go, and what he could get out of this guy.
“So,” Red passed him a drink. “I haven’t seen you around before.”
Ash shrugged. “I don’t get out much.”
“Then what brings you here on this fine night?” It was obvious Red had more than a little to drink, but Ash was a bit tipsy as well, and talking about his life with someone who was most likely his “rival” could never go wrong!
“My friend dragged me out here, then abandoned me.” Ash huffed, taking a sip of his drink. “What about you?”
“My friends wanted to celebrate a birthday, and this is the afterparty of sorts.” He nodded toward the group of people he was with before.
One of them waved back. “Red! You ready to go?”
Red sighed, then glanced at Ash. “It seems I must be going now. Do you have a ride home?” Ash nodded. He was planning on teleporting home, but this guy didn’t need to know that. Red stood up to leave, but stopped. “Before I go, can I have one thing?”
“What?”
“Your number,” Red said with a sheepish grin, pulling out his phone. “Just to, y’know, make sure you get home safely.”
Ash rolled his eyes, but took the phone and put his number in.
“Thank you!” Red called as he took his phone back and headed for the door. Ash started to respond, just to say good night or something, but he was already out the door.
It was just his luck that he’d find the hero he was looking for, and that he would buy Ash a drink. It probably wasn’t the best idea to have engaged at all with Crimson as Red, but what was the worst that could happen?
—
Ash awoke the next morning with a small headache. As he was fixing himself some form of breakfast and trying to find caffeine, he heard a buzz from his phone. Glancing at it, he saw it as a message from Red. It said:
Hey this Red, sorry for however I acted last night, I was a bit drunk.
Ash grabbed his phone and responded:
Don’t worry about it, I was a bit drunk too lol
He waited for a moment, almost deciding to put his phone down, before another message came through:
I still feel bad about it though. Can I make it up to you over coffee tomorrow?
Ash stared at the screen, almost laughing. One of the city’s top heroes had basically just asked him out on a date. As laughable as the situation was, he could probably get some valuable information out of him. It was a very bad idea, but it couldn’t turn out terribly. So he replied:
?What time