Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zedaph smiled as he heard the door open, but then winced as it was closed with a slam as well as something hitting the floor. “Sounds like someone didn’t have a good day.”

“No. No I did not.” Came the reply, along with the distinct sound of a body flopping on the couch. “Tell me you’re making something I can eat too.”

“I am, don’t worry!” Zedaph called back. He had gotten into the habit of cooking for two even when he didn’t need to. He actually constantly cooked enough for more servings than that, but it wasn’t something he could easily mention.

See, Zedaph was in a bit of an interesting situation. Sure, he had a nice apartment and a… decent roommate, his job wasn’t the most standard of things. Mainly because as far as most people were aware, he was a contracted engineer for a few companies. I mean, he technically was, but it wasn’t a full time thing. The full time job was more volunteer work for the city. And that was through being a local hero known as Worm Man.

He had a few friends he was close with that worked in the same field, and he had told his mom about what he was doing, but his roommate was not someone who knew. Which meant hiding his extra servings of every meal he cooked that would help keep up with the energy his powers used. But as long as he pretended it was at least two servings plus a little extra for leftovers, his roommate didn’t make a fuss.

“What is it then?”

“Oh! Soup, specifically a potato one. I got a good deal on them because they were a little older and that just means I need to use them quick!” That was also a lie to explain any extra.

“You need to stop jumping on every deal you see.” Okay maybe a lie he had used before and recently. Or maybe just too frequently. “But whatever. Soup is easy to eat.”

“Long day?” Zedaph asked as he turned the heat to low and then went into the main room, surprised at how rough the other occupant looked. “You look like you’ve been hit by a truck!”

They waved it off. “Eh, I didn’t, but might as well be close enough.” They let their arm fall back down onto their chest, wincing as it hit something sore.

“Xiryyy! You really need to quit that job!” Zedaph scolded his roommate. “Your bosses don’t seem to care at all about safety! One day you’re going to need a hospital and who knows what could happen then! They could just end up firing you!”

“They’re not gonna fire me. They like me because I deal with shit like this.” Zed didn’t like that answer and it showed. “Look, I get paid well enough to live here. Sorry for the newsflash, but I gotta pay for shit in here.”

“But I told you I could just pay your rent for a month or three to find something or other.” Zedaph pointed out, but just got a grunt coming as an answer. “And don’t try your argument again. If you really would just take my money and run off or burn it all somewhere, you would have done that in the past when I’ve asked.”

The closest he got in terms of a reply was a huff before his roommate turned to lie with their back turned to him. The two hadn’t meant to be roommates in the first place. Before living together, they hadn’t known each other at all. But both of them really needed a cheap apartment at the time and splitting one cut down on costs, so both of them had signed up for the room. Honestly, the first time he learned their name was when the two of them were signing the paperwork and Zedaph had gotten to read the name “Xiryla”.

After that, Zedaph had done well in both his part time job as well as his sort of pay from hero work. Enough that he could easily cover when his roommate was short on rent one month or another recently. Which Zed was concerned that it seemed Xiryla was working more hours for less pay.

Zed sighed before going back to the kitchen. He added in the last few ingredients and mixed it up, waiting until it was just right before killing the heat and grabbing a ladle. He scooped two ladles worth each into two bowls, dividing the rest into a few reusable containers. Once those were in the fridge, Zed went back with the bowls and some spoons before placing one of the bowls on the coffee table in front of the couch.

It took a moment, but finally Zedaph watched as Xiryla looked over, then sat up while grabbing the bowl and spoon. The pair were quiet for a moment, the only sounds being silverware against ceramic, and intermittent blowing on spoonfuls to cool them down. But it wasn’t just the soup that was cooling down. Zed could see as his roommate slowly relaxed after a long day at work. It was just getting to the point of Zedaph asking if they wanted to talk about it more when their phone started ringing.

They growled as Zedaph winced. It was one of the custom ringtones on the phone, and one Zed unfortunately knew well. Xiryla’s workplace and more specifically their boss. Because of that, Xiryla basically had to answer it no matter what. They set their bowl down with a clatter, practically slamming it down with frustration, but then they pulled out their phone to answer, giving Zed a Look.

Zedaph sighed before getting up. He didn’t really know what Xiryla’s job was. At the very least, it was something which they didn’t feel comfortable sharing details about. Zed understood on some level since it wasn’t like he could talk about his hero job so openly, but it’s not like that was the only job that needed secrecy. And for all he knew, Xiryla just personally didn’t like going in depth as they tended to be vague about a lot of things.

Zedaph went back to the kitchen to start cleaning dishes, but couldn’t help but do it as quietly as possible. There was basically only a dividing wall between the two rooms, and a thin one at that. Sure, Zedaph was a hero, but it wasn’t like he was above a little bit of eavesdropping. Besides, if he knew more about Xiryla’s job, the more likely he could help find a different job so they could quit and get a fresh start in a better workplace environment.

“ What ? … Look, I just got back from a shift. … Well that sounds like his problem, not mine. … Then can’t we move it back a day instead? I’m already- … Right. … Fine… But I’m trying Moonlit Park first. … Well he deserves me kicking him in the ass. … okay, after. I’ll leave in a minute. … Fuck you, I‘ll be shit if I can’t finish a damn bowl of soup. You could yell at me all you fucking want but starving me ain’t helping. … yeah, I will, bye! … Stupid mobile phones, no receiver to slam them against. Piece of shit boss can’t fucking-”

There was the sound of slurping and footsteps before Xiryla came into the kitchen. They used their spoon to scrape the rest into their mouth before dropping it in the sink with a half hearted apology. Zedaph didn’t get a chance to even reply before they were back out of the kitchen and grabbing their work bag and out the door.

By himself again, Zedaph decided to turn the tv on for some background noise as he fixed up a snack. Soup was good and all, but it wasn’t enough and he had already put the rest away. Besides, salad was a great side for soup. That, or a sandwich. Or perhaps even both!

Zed ended up deciding to toast his sandwich, or at the very least decide to warm it up. He threw it on a plate before tossing that in the microwave for a minute. While he waited Zed stepped back into the main room to look at the tv. And by the time the microwave beeped, he was still just standing there, not moving to grab the sandwich.

He had a habit of always throwing on the news. He was a hero, so it made sense to be up to day with all the semi local stuff. Zedaph had turn it on as usual, not expecting much. But right now the screen was covered with text screaming it was breaking news, which caught just as much attention as the flaming building on the screen as well.

The text scrolling at the bottom revealed it wasn’t just a freak accident, but a purposeful attack. Villains had targeted the building and were actually still nearby. But the more important part was the location of the building.

An extra beep came from the microwave to remind Zedaph that his food was ready. The sound was enough to catch his attention and get him to start moving again. He first rushed to the microwave, taking the plate out, tearing the sandwich in half, then shoving one half into his mouth.

While trying to eat it, Zedaph ran to his room and pulled out his costume cube. It was basically a way to help him quickly equip and remove his costume. Once it was on, Zedaph ran back for the second half of his sandwich, and then over to the window in his room. He made sure the coast was clear before dropping two and a half stories to the ground, glad he had the abilities to walk off a jump like that. And more than like once a month.

“Hey, Worm Man checking in. Heading downtown.”

“What? This isn’t really your type of job.” A voice came back through the line active heroes used to keep base with who was where. “I mean, not to say we don’t need the help.”

“Actually, it’s probably good he’s on his way.” A different hero spoke up. “One of his guys is over here.”

“Which one? I’d rather like to know who’s connected to this and what I’ll be dealing with.”

“Voidtaic. We think there’s a chance he’s actually the main one involved here.”

“Really?” Zed asked, skidding to turn after almost missing his street, wanting to take a different route to pass by the park. “This doesn’t sound like his normal hit.”

“Yeah, but Wels is convinced it can’t be Hels.”

“There’s no way he’s recovered enough after our last encounter. I’ve gotten used to how long his break will last after such a battle.”

“Well, I know he and Void have worked together before. And there’s that rumor floating around about a new villain league.”

“I’m telling you! They totally have something in the works!”

“Why are you on the line Hotguy?! We’ve gone over this! Active duty only!”

“Oh don’t be a stick in the mud. Listening in is how I manage to get some of my info.”

“Look, we can argue later, I’m almost on site. I’m going through Moonlit park right now.”

“What? Why through there? That’s not on your path, is it?” Zedaph winced at being called out for that. “Aren’t you coming from your place? You said you were heading back there after this afternoon and-”

“Yeah, I just went back out for normal people stuff. Coming from a different angle, that’s all.” He lied as best as he could, hoping his panting from running would cover things up.

There was some kind of response, but he didn’t pay attention, looking through the park as quick as he could. The smoke from the fire was obvious from the park, lit up from the flames below making it like a beacon in front of the night sky. Or an anti beacon. Someplace you did not want to be around. Unless you were like Zedaph.

Finishing his sweep of the park, Zed didn’t see anyone, so he quickly ran the last couple of blocks to reach the fire. Riptide was outside, doing his best to douse the flames. Or at the very least keep them from spreading to further buildings. Because it seemed like the fire refused to die down.

Zed gave a heads up that he was going inside before running into the building. Obviously something inside was causing it, and apparently their culprit was still inside. And if it really was Voidtaic, well, that’s where Zed needed to be.

He quickly learned that he probably shouldn’t be in there. There really was fire practically everywhere. Sure, his suit was fire resistant, but it wasn’t completely fireproof. Mainly because his powers didn’t really work with fire. He did better with rocks and plants and stuff like that. Fire? Nuh uh. That was actually part of why his villains preferred stuff like that. Dr. Tangno with fire stuff, and Voidtaic with lightning. Speaking of-

There were some shouts nearby as well as crackling electricity. Zed immediately went in that direction, arriving in what seemed to be a large break in the flames. He arrived just in time to see a bolt of lightning strike Lunis, her giving a scream at the sudden bolt before dropping to the ground from where she had been flying. He looked about ready to fling another attack at her, but Zed ran in before sliding, knocking the villain off his feet and stopping the attack.

“ What?! Worm Man?! ” Voidtaic’s voice came through his helmet with his well known deep and distorted voice. “ I thought you would have had enough of me today. ”

“Well not if you’re going to keep doing crime!” Zed stayed on the ground as Voidtaic got up, knocking them right back down with a kick to their chest when he was as off balance as he could be. “You know, this isn’t your usual M.O. Arson is more Hels’ thing, isn’t it?”

“ Well funny thing about fire. Lightning is hot enough to cause one. ” While the kick had knocked him down again, it had also moved him far enough from Zed that he couldn’t do the same thing, so the two of them got up at the same time. And though Zed got up first, Voidtaic had been charging up an attack while doing the same, and threw it at Zedaph just before he had the footing to react.

He did have the footing to brace himself, and while the electricity went through him, Zed managed to keep his footing, trying to use his powers to weaken what little he could of the attack. Still, it left him open to the following punch to the face that Voidtaic gave him.

The villain kept the upper hand. They weren’t in a situation where Zed could get assistance from his power. And Voidtaic seemed to know it, refusing to let Zedaph get a chance to recover. He was just getting knocked around, and if that was it, Zed would easily lose. But he wasn’t alone.

He bought enough time for Lunis to wake up again and suddenly she was on the villain. And by that, she had come up from behind and wrapped Voidtaic into a choke hold. She couldn’t actually choke him as his armor kept that from happening, but it also meant he couldn’t attack her. Well, at least not with his own powers. Despite having electrical attacks, he was just as affected by electricity, so if he tried shocking Lunis, it would just hurt him as well.

He tried to wrestle himself out of Lunis’ grip, but that was all Zed really needed. With Voidtaic held in place, Zedaph presses his hands to the floor below the villain, making start to crack and crumble. Soon, a hole had formed under the villain and he was stuck in it, too small of a diameter for him to really move, his arms pinned to his side by the concrete.

With him stuck in place, the heroes were able to find the source of the fire. It was some sort of gizmo that had all of Hels’ signature style, which made things more confusing on why Voidtaic was there instead. Maybe the villain league theory just got more evidence. But first they would have to interrogate Voidtaic. Though it would be easier if he were still there.

Looking at the now empty hole, Zed realized that it had opened downward, giving the villain an escape. Thankfully, he was a good deal smaller than the villain, at least, enough that he could easily go down the hole. At first, all that he saw was the dust and ash that was kicked up by his landing, but then he spotted the familiar glow of Voidtaic’s electricity. 

Zed reached the villain as they were trying to use their electricity as some sort of plasma cutter to open the emergency exit door that had ended up jammed shut due to everything damaged from the fire. As he fought more with the door, Zed just leaned against a nearby wall. Or was it just a pile of rubble? Either way, after watching Voidtaic fight more with the door, Zed finally coughed to get his attention, and also clear the ash and dust he had breathed in before.

Voidtaic jumped, turning around and preparing another attack. “ Couldn’t just let me leave, could you? ”

“Of course not! You did a lot of damage upstairs, and we have lots of questions for you, and you certainly have to answer! Either to the questions, or for your crimes!”

“ Look, can we make this quick? I didn’t want to be here in the first place. ” And the electricity changed back to how it had been before as Voidtaic went back to trying the door.

“You didn’t? Then why are you here?”

“ I was just setting the charges. They weren’t supposed to go off yet. But someone didn’t write clear enough instructions. ”

“So does that mean you’re working with Hels?”

“ Sort of. ” He kicked the door before cursing at it. “ Look, I got places to be. Cut to the chase. Maybe if you’ll let me go, I’ll even answer more questions. ”

“You mean once you answer more questions, I might, might! let you go.”

Zed was flipped off before Voidtaic tugged at the door one more time before huffing and turning around. “ Yeah, and I know you would give me that, why? You could just take me in anyway. ”

“I’m a hero! I wouldn’t just lie like that.” Completely ignoring his lies to his own team about what he was doing. And also lies to most everyone he knew about who he was.

“ Yeah, but a hero is also supposed to stop the villain, so which is more important? ”

Zed hesitated, and while he had a mask, it didn’t really hide his emotions, so he was easy to read. Enough that Voidtaic started to charge a new attack. Panicking a little, Zedaph ran forward and gave a hard punch to the villain’s gut, managing to knock him to the ground as the door finally gave way. “Huh, I guess it was a push, not a pull.”

Voidtaic didn’t respond, they just rolled over, on their knees, and keeping themselves up with one arm, the other clutched where they had been hit. Before Zed could say anything to ask if they were alright, the other arm suddenly moved, reaching up to Voidtaic’s helmet and pulling at it. A moment later, the whole lower face section was detached from one side and hung from the other. Another moment, and then Zed saw an unfortunately familiar motion of Voidtaic heaving. 

Looking away and covering his ears, Zed tried to ignore it until the smell hit his nose, making him scrunch it up. It wasn’t the worst smell he had dealt with, but bile and stomach acid sucked. Turning back, it looked like Voidtaic was done, just sat back and panting.

Zed stared at the villain, never having seen any part of them under the helmet. He took a step closer, but managed to catch some rubble, making enough noise to catch Voidtaic’s attention. He glanced over to Zed before reattaching the piece of helmet, then running off. Zedaph watched as he ran before looking back to where he had been. Zed’s first thought was wondering if somehow the villain had left something behind. Maybe when taking off his mask, a hair could have escaped, or maybe he wore some kind of piercing they could track down. But no, all that was there was the uh, former food. Something Zed didn’t really want to try bagging up for a potential DNA sample.

Instead, Zed turned his head away to get a deep breath of sort of clean air, preferring dust and ash to… that. Then he moved closer and reached his hand out to the ground nearby to quickly decay it into nothing or close enough to it that it wouldn’t stink so much. Unfortunately, getting closer made it worse as Zedaph could see it better, making him gasp. He quickly regretted that, gagging on the smell before destroying the source. 

“Alright, checking in. Still alive but Voidtaic got away. That being said, I think I know where he could be going and am going to try and follow secretly. If you don’t hear from me by tomorrow morning, I could have been caught. Well, late morning, I might sleep in based on how late I’m out.”

“ Alright Worm Man, but you might get a check in from one of us before then to make sure you don’t forget. ”

“Yep. Talk later.” And Zed disconnected from the comms before going home. He stopped by one of her personal checkpoints on the way back to switch out of his hero outfit, knowing the bright pink and yellow would stand out. But even after the change, he still smelled of smoke. He at least had an excuse no matter what he would come home to. His roommate was supposed to be over at Moonlit Park, or at least nearby. And then the news said there was the nearby fire. Zedaph was very concerned for his roommate and went to check on them. And then he worried more when not seeing them and got closer to the fire. Maybe they had gone right home and were there now and were on the couch or in bed, frustrated but otherwise fine. 

Or maybe they were getting back to the apartment right now themselves, licking their wounds, smelling just as much of smoke, and feeling rather hungry, on an empty stomach after being punched in the guts by Worm Man. Zedaph really hoped it wasn’t that second one. He was really hoping that his soup wasn’t actually that distinctive. But Xiryla had just gulped it down, and not that long before everything happened. But Zed was really wishing he was wrong.

Chapter Text

Knowing the smell would be obvious, Zed immediately went with plan A. Fortunately plan A was already half the truth. Zedaph had gone out to check on his roommate and make sure they were safe. He just also happened to then go to the fire to fight the person who caused it. Was he wearing the same clothes as before? No, but it was chilly out and so his top could be another layer he put on and he wore enough jeans that it probably wouldn’t be noticed that they were a different pair.

Zed fumbled with his keys before unlocking the door and going inside, not immediately seeing Xiryla. He panicked for a moment, starting to move to check their room. But then a voice stopped him. “Where the hell were you?”

Zedaph whirled around, having missed that his roommate was in the kitchen, currently with one of the soup containers in their hands. Well, that didn’t help Zed’s worries. And speaking of worries- “I kinda overheard a tiny bit of your call and heard you were going to Moonlit Park and then I turned on the news and there was a fire and it was close to there, so I panicked and ran there to make sure you were safe, but then I didn’t find you!”

“Oh, uh…” Xiryla blinked, seemingly surprised at the answer. Or maybe they were just trying to figure out a lie to give on why they were there but safe now. “Yeah, I did stop at the park. One of my coworkers sometimes skips his shifts and we can find him there. I thought he could be there, but didn’t find him. Then the fire happened and I was allowed to not do my shift and come back here.”

Zedaph had forgotten that Xiryla had gone out for an extra shift forced on them. Maybe it was actually all true. Like really, Zed had heard calls like that before. If Xiryla was a supervillain, they would have also had a super- er villain ordering them around. One that none of the heroes had heard about or knew of. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. If anything, talking to Xiryla that little bit didn’t confirm things either way. So more talking it would be.

“Well, After checking the park, I did sort of get closer to the fire.” Zedaph admitted, and he could see as his roommate looked worried for a moment. “I didn’t get that close.” Again, a lie, but he couldn’t say that he was in the middle of the fire and fighting Voidtaic, who was also potentially his roommate. “But I did get to see some heroes for a little bit.”

“Oh really, which ones?” And Zed was surprised how Xiryla lit up with the question. Because it was technically work, Zedaph didn’t often talk about heroes, and even when he did, he never really watched Xiryla’s reaction. Were they actually a giant superhero fan? Which was like, one step away from being the opposite of a villain as far as Zedaph was concerned.

“Uh, well, since it was a fire, Riptide was there. I remember seeing Lunis come out as things were dying down. Oh! And Worm Man actually got there while I was looking around to make sure you weren’t somehow at the fire.”

“Really? Worm Man was there?!” Zedaph was surprised at how excited Xiryla sounded.

“Wait, have I not known that you’re a giant Worm Man fan in the like, two years we’ve been living together?”

“I uh, don’t know what you’re talking about. I am simply a fan of all the heroes.”

Zedaph raised an eyebrow, and only now did Xiryla seem suspicious at all. And Zedaph was now rather glad he had never told his roommate his identity. “Hey, I wouldn’t say he’s my absolutely favorite hero, but Worm Man is at least in my top five. Maybe top three.”

“He should be your favorite! Everyone is always looking at the hero that looks the strongest, but you don’t go into the nuance of it. Worm Man’s power is decay, he’s said it himself, and there’s footage showing it in action. It works on a number of things, but he’s best with using it on plants, which is great in wooded buildings, but he’s not useless in stone and metal ones. And I think some of the villains have noticed to since his main ones have tried to stray away from wood based buildings, which is easier in the city, but wood floors are still common enough, not to mention any older buildings, especially since age can determine it too. See, in a battle within the original town hall-”

Zedaph stopped listening. He wanted to take back his idea of a superfan being the furthest thing from a super villain. It was actually strategically a very good thing. Villains could play it off as actually loving their biggest rivals, while at the same time going in depth with their research against the hero and how they could beat them.

He was still stuck in his head, thinking of the implications, when Xiryla asked Zed a question. He was on autopilot and just nodded, not listening to the question. Apparently his yes meant him being dragged into Xiryla’s room. And then even further to the closet space between his bedroom and individual bathroom. And Zedaph was met face to face with a conspiracy board looking thing.

Zedaph caught Xiryla saying for him to take it all in, and he sure did try to. There were a number of pictures of him, showing off various outfits he had had over the years. There were notes about his powers, including some details he hadn’t even noticed himself. But then there was the thing that confirmed Zedaph’s fears. Pinned in a way to be connected to one of his outfit pictures, was a piece of his cape. At least, the cape of his previous costume. At one point, Voidtaic had grabbed him by the cape, and while it had thankfully been designed as detachable at that time, the villain had grabbed the cape to try and keep himself from falling. The sudden tug had still pulled Zedaph in that direction, making him aware of the situation. 

As the cape had pulled away, Zed had grabbed onto it, not wanting the villain to fall despite their evilness. He had decayed part of the floor to give himself some footholds to not slide from the weight, and even tried to help Voidtaic climb up, but the cape wasn’t meant for just a thing. And as Zedaph had started to reach a hand toward the villain and he started to reach back, the cape began to tear. And while Zedaph was left with half a cape, the only person who could have the other half was Voidtaic. And since Xiryla had it, then it meant…

“Hey uh, Xiry? Not to cut you off, but it had been a long day, and I did kind of run into the city worried for your life. I wouldn’t mind hearing more later, but I would hope that could be after I get to bed.”

“Oh yeah of course. I should probably do the same.” Xiryla nodded along, and Zedaph started to leave before trying one more test. He had to be subtle about it, which would be hard. But Zedaph managed, turning on his heel in a way that would ‘accidently’ whack them in the gut in the same place the might have been hit earlier. “Fuck! Ow!”

“Oh no I’m so sorry! I didn’t think I would have hurt you that bad!” Zedaph apologized but was waved off.

“Nah it’s… It’s fine. Just… managed to do something to myself earlier. Got some bruising. Really bad there. Uh, pro tip, don’t do… uh, push up lifts on the uh… bathroom sink.”

Zedaph was too tired to argue, just accepting what was clearly a lie before going to bed. Since he had just thrown on the new set of clothes, he didn’t care to change before flopping onto his own bed. The only time he did move again was to close the window he had left open before, but then he flopped back down and almost immediately found himself in a dreamless sleep. If it weren’t for feeling a bit less tired and finding himself in a much brighter room, Zedaph would have thought he merely blinked. But no, it was morning.

With a groan, he pulled himself out of bed, aches that had been hidden from adrenaline before now making themselves known despite the rest. Zed shuffled to the bathroom, grabbing his communicator on the way to message the other heroes on the fact that he was safe. At least, he was pretty sure he was safe. There was no way that Xiryla knew that he knew that they were Voidtaic. Right? …Wait Xiryla only used they/them pronouns and got angry when people didn’t use them, were the heroes all misgendering Voidtaic? Or was it a cover?

Zed looked at himself in the mirror. Yeah, he was still too tired to try and think that all through. But he couldn’t really just go back to sleep. He was awake, so he was on call. He just needed to splash water in his face and hope for the best. A message came back in that the others knew he was safe, but also questioning what had come of him following Voidtaic down. Which, huh, he did not know how to easily answer that.

He could just go with the quick ‘it turns out my roommate is actually one of my arch nemeses, but I don’t think they know it.’ but the idea of actually saying it aloud would make it feel too real for him. Saying he found absolutely nothing out would also suck, since he should have something to show for concerning all the others. So, with a sigh, Zedaph went with something that was a middle ground. He lied saying he had gotten a potential lead into Voidtaic’s true identity, but needed to investigate further.

After sending the message, Zedaph started to brush his teeth, watching for responses from any of the heroes. Hot Guy said that he could help look into whatever Zedaph’s lead was, but Zed said he wanted to look into it himself. Hot Guy still insisted, and he was about to get another rejection when Zed hesitated. While he couldn’t look into Voidtaic himself/themself, he could look into the person that had called Xiryla. It was too much of a coincidence that their boss had called making them take another shift, and then Voidtaic was doing a crime that he/they shouldn’t be involved in normally. 

So Zedaph mentioned his suspicion that there could be another bigger villain pulling the strings. And that if so, they were likely connected to both Voidtaic and Helsknight. Hot Guy seemed immediately receptive to the suspicion, which made sense with how he had brought up the potential villain team last night. In fact, since Zedaph had a suspicion somewhat unconnected with previous evidence, it just made it more likely that there had to be some evil web hidden from the heroes’ knowledge.

With a quick pairing of thank you and you’re welcome, Zedaph put the communicator away before finishing up in the bathroom. Well, then he decided he wanted to shower to clean out soot from his hair, but then after that he was done. Donning a fresh pair of clothes, he finally walked out into the main room, hoping he wouldn’t see Xiryla there, and not sure whether to be relieved or worried about them not being there. Still, their bedroom door was closed, so maybe they weren’t up yet.

Zedaph continued into the kitchen, just making himself a bowl of cereal. Anything else seemed like too much work right then, even instant oatmeal. It wasn’t even really instant, you still needed to boil the water, which meant getting out the kettle and filling it. The only thing he would want to get out and fill would be the coffee brewer. Which, if Zedaph thought of it, sounded great right now.

With a little bit of struggle, Zedaph pulled the machine out and started it up. He continued with his cereal as he watched it brew, and even just the smell of fresh coffee was helping wake him up. And it seemed he wasn’t the only one, as he heard Xiryla’s bedroom door open and they immediately made their way to the kitchen, sad when there wasn’t a mug already ready.

“Morning Xiry. Sleep okay?”

“No. Kept tossing and turning. Turns out having a bruise here does not make it easy to sleep.” And they gestured to the bruise that had been brought up the night before. “What about you?”

“I guess I did. Felt like I only closed my eyes for a moment before it was suddenly day. I don’t really feel all that rested afterwards.”

Xiryla nodded, and then the two of them stayed quiet up until the coffee was ready. Each of them poured their own, Zedaph into a small teacup and Xiryla into a mug. Zed didn’t want to overdo it, since he normally just had caffeinated teas, so he was keeping the same amount. His roommate, on the other hand, owned the machine for a reason. They tended to have at least one mugful a day if not more. And on a day like the one they woke up to, it would probably end up being multiple.

The two sipped at their drinks, once again in silence. Xiryla was definitely waiting for the coffee to wake them up, but Zedaph was already feeling a lot more awake after a few sips. Well, maybe it wasn’t the sips, so much as him remembering that oh wait, he was in the same room as one of the villains he fought regularly. And now he needed to make sure he didn’t act so obvious and reveal that he knew that fact. Or just look suspicious in general. Which it seemed he was failing at, because Xiryla started to look at him like he was trying to figure out what was wrong with Zedaph.

Just as it looked like they were about to say something, a noise came from the other room. Zedaph immediately used that as a way to escape, recognizing it as a message for him. A heroey message at that. He quickly read the message to see that he was needed as Worm Man, so he in turn used his normal excuse of a company needing him to come in for physical engineering work. It wasn’t until he said it again that Zedaph worried it could be a flimsy and suspicious lie, but Xiryla had heard it enough that they didn’t question it, letting Zed easily grab his bag and leave the house.

He did his best to be extra cautious as he approached the threat and changed into his hero suit. Once he had changed, he took a moment to look at what he was dealing with. He had heard he was up against Dr. Tangno, but his villainy depended day to day. Today it seemed like robots. A classic, which meant it would be easy enough for Zed to deal with.

Mentally preparing himself, Zedaph started towards where he was pretty sure the doctor was. At least he was usually by the one special robot since that was supposed to be the one guarding him. The robots between the hero and villain didn’t last long, Zedaph decaying them where he could and turning them into various forms of rust.

It seemed Dr. Tangno noticed the dropping numbers of robots and soon the main robot was looking for the source. It swung around before foolishly grabbing the hero, making it very easy for Zed to destroy whenever he wanted to. But that would be for later. “Hiya Tangno. Robots again?”

“I’ll have you know my Iron Titans shall bring the city to its knees! Th-this time at least.”

“Oookay. Hey, weird question, but what are your pronouns?”

There was a pause and the doctor just blinked at Zedaph. “…What? I’m sorry, you are Worm Man, right? Not some stupid citizen dressing as him?”

“Of course I’m Worm Man!”

“We’ve been rivals for almost a decade now, how do you not know?”

Zed was glad his arms hadn’t been pinned in the robot’s grip as he waved them to stop what Dr. Tangno was saying. “No no no, I know that. I just may have had a minor worry about someone else’s and I’m trying to make absolutely sure I’m getting it right.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yep! As serious as fire and brimstone.”

The doctor mulled it over. “That is very serious.” He was a fan of both of those things, so them being brought up helped convince him. “Well you’ve been doing it right so far. At least for me.”

“Oh good. I would have felt really bad if I was doing it wrong this whole time.” And Zedaph mimed wiping sweat from his forehead.

“But I will say I am curious, who exactly do you think you’ve wronged?” Zedaph tensed up and even let out a small “ meep ” when attention was turned back to him. “You’re the one who brought it up in the first place, so how about you talk?”

“I didn’t realize you were so interested in the other villains.”

“Oh I’m not really. But hearing about how Worm Man has messed up? Well, that is something I enjoy.” Dr. Tangno stared Zedaph down, just waiting for him to explain. Zedaph really didn’t want to elaborate, so he took the next best option of destroying the robot to escape. “Hey! You can’t do that!”

“I mean, I obviously can. I already did it, in fact!”

“Iron Titans! Attack Worm Man!”

“Uh oh.” Despite their bulk, the robots could be extremely fast when they wanted to be, and Zedaph found himself almost immediately surrounded by them. He sighed as they stood there for a moment before he moved to dodge as the first robot attacked. Before, they were just programmed to just try and take over the city, then defend themselves and retaliate if they were attacked. And that was for each individual robot, so Zed could take them on one at a time. Now, Tangno had given them the new command of just attacking Worm Man, so Zedaph was a bit overwhelmed in fighting against them. He was still managing, but at the same time, he could tell he was slowly losing ground. If the doctor didn’t run out of robots soon, then Zedaph would either need to call in backup, or he would be on the losing side.

Well, technically there was a third option. “Wait wait wait, time out!” Zedaph yelled out, and then a moment later, the robots stopped, well, excluding the still damaged main one that Dr. Tangno was with.

“Time out? What are you calling time out for?”

“I’m uh, ready to answer your question?”

That caught the doctor’s attention and he leaned forward in interest. “Oh really? Do tell.”

“Huh, I didn’t think you were one for gossip.” Zed was stunned, but then he shook his head to try and clear his mind and get back on topic. “Anyway, you heard about last night, right?”

“I keep track of your exploits, yes. That’s why I’m attacking so early today. I was hoping you would have been worn out from helping yesterday.”

“Wh- do all my villains keep track of my entire hero life?”

“Well it’s helpful to know more about you. The more we know about Worm Man, the closer we could get to what’s under your mask. And once we know who Worm Man really is, we can go after who you care about. You know, classic villain things.”

“Uh, okay, well… Even though it would be more of Helsknight’s thing or maybe even sometimes yours, Voidtaic was the one doing fire villainy last night.”

“Really? I thought you went because you thought it was me? He can’t just take my thing! I’m the fiery Worm Man villain!”

“Honestly I think Voidtaic was just filling in for Hels for some reason. But that brings me to my point. After everything went down, I may have learned more about him slash them.”

Dr. Tangno blinked. “Wait. Voidtaic? You think that— Wait does that mean I’ve been doing the same thing?”

“I don’t know!” Zedaph threw up his hands in slight exasperation, but also glad he wasn’t completely crazy in worrying about it. “Maybe it’s that he prefers certain pronouns while doing villainy, but maybe we’ve just been misgendering them! I haven’t seen him/them since I found out and started questioning it, so I haven’t been able to ask.” Okay, technically he had seen the villain, but again, he was not going to reveal that he knew their identity.

“Well you’re still good with me. I mean, you’re very bad with me! Because I’m evil! And you being good towards me is actually bad since you should be fighting me! And stuff!” Tangno looked around. “So like, is time out over, or—”

“Oh yeah sure!” Zedaph nodded, then got back into fighting position, but before anything else could happen, there was suddenly a crunching sound before Dr. Tangno’s robot lost power. “Huh, that works too! Hey Impy!”

A wave came from a new hole in the robot, leaving Zed with cleanup on the rest of the robots that were left stuck in place now that the main robot couldn’t send new commands. While Zedaph did that, Tangno was taken away by the new hero. Then, once all the robots were taken care of, Zedaph went in the same direction, knowing exactly where the two were headed.

Not far from the attack was one of the various buildings secretly owned by the hero association. Mostly that was because a number of the heroes working for the hero association had a different business in their civilian name, and if that business had a building, then the heroes did too. Well, for the most part. Usually it was just like a floor or two. One for hero meetings, and one for villain interrogation.

“Hey there Impy! Wanted to thank you again for the help. Was going to try calling for some earlier, but glad I didn’t need to.”

Impy, or rather, Impulse, was another hero that Zedaph had become rather close with. He was some sort of demon-like creature that lived in the bowels of the Earth or something like that. There was something to do with governments helping keep their civilization a secret or something like that. Either way, Impulse had been one of the citizens there who wanted to try out the surface world, and he was helped out by the hero association. He didn’t really have a real identity in terms of humans, so he had actually chosen his own name as his hero name.

“Well I had been itching to stretch my legs, and it was close by and all. The doctor wasn’t too pleased about it though.”

Zedaph shrugged. “He doesn’t like others butting in. Oh! By the way, I want to try talking with him some more. Where did he get put?”

“Oh, room 27.” And Impulse gestured in the general direction of the room. “But don’t take too long, alright? I was told I needed to let you know that you were being asked for in the main meeting room.”

After a sigh, Zed nodded, then thanked Impulse for both pieces of info before looking for the specified room. It didn’t take too long, all the rooms numbered sequentially. There were a couple rooms with other villains being held there, but there were more being fixed up after being used, or just generally being repaired. Sometimes a villain that could spontaneously explode wasn’t the easiest to keep in a cell. But also, trying to sneak in the equipment to repair it with was easier said than done. The building wasn’t entirely hero stuff after all.

“Hi there Tangno. Sorry someone else got involved. Didn’t really get the chance to tell him no.” The doctor was sitting in a chair provided in the room, but turned away so Zed could only see his legs and crossed arms. Oh, and also as he slumped in the chair from the comment. “Aww, don’t be like that! I’m sure you’ll escape in no time and you’ll get the chance to try again real soon!”

“But I can’t do robots again just like that! They still take a lot of time to build!”

“I know, but there were maybe a few too many robots today. Like, just a handful.” And that got Dr. Tangno’s attention. See, he was evil and all, but it was mainly for the thrill. Zed didn’t want to admit he knew, but another hero had apparently gone into an alternate future where the villains had won, and the doctor actually turned good to fight the villains because he just needed that fun of battle. If he won, he lost his purpose and just didn’t have fun anymore. He seemed to understand that on some level, so he was actually very receptive to Zed’s comments on the fights. The more of a toss up between good and evil, the happier he was. Too close to one side being an obvious winner, and it just wouldn’t work. “I could just tell I would have to call in help. But I did not call Impulse. He came over on his own.”

“Hmm. Fine. If you could already tell. But you should have said so during the time out. That’s why I even let you try it that first time!”

“I could have sworn you tried using time out first.”

“Only because you were so surprised that you froze and let it happen!”

“Okay maybe.” Zedaph relented, but then went to what he wanted to talk about, using a little bit of a segway between the two points. “So, of course you know I would call in help if it were too hard for me, but like, what would you do if it were too hard for you?”

Dr. Tangno laughed. “Hah! I’d never make such a plan or plot that would be so terribly easy for you that I would need help! That would be ridiculous!”

“Okay, but say somehow that happened. Is there like, some sort of villain call? Or secret evil team?”

“Gross, no there’s not.” And he made a face at the idea alone. “You really think we want that? Cooperation? Friendship? Bleck!”

“Really? Because you remember what I mentioned, right? With Voidtaic and Helsknight?” Tangno nodded. “I know we talked about the pronoun thing, but the fact that it seemed like Voidtaic was filling in…”

“That is weird. I certainly am not working with any other villains.” It seemed like he was going to stop there, but then Zed could see his eyes squint, okay well, eye. Like, just the one that wasn’t hidden under an eyepatch. “Well, there have been some rumors. Look, I’m not friends with the other villains, but we do like a good gossip when we’re stuck in cells.”

“Ooo, and what have you heard?”

“Well, sounds like a number of them might be getting help from someone a little higher up on the foodchain if you catch my drift.”

“Which is more like they’re “asked” to help.” And Zedaph added in the air quotes. “But there’s some other benefit that makes it seem like they’re getting help? I remember we dealt with that a few years ago. Wait wasn’t that actually Voidtaic who did that? It was only for about a month or two.”

“Yeah, he tried it with me, but he’s got to work on his threats.” Dr. Tangno joked, but then got serious. “Look, I’m not going to confirm anything, but I’ve heard of two others that might be involved with whatever connection your two got. Before you ask, I’m not giving that info to you, mainly because you don’t have the key to this cell.”

“Darn! Information bribery!” Zed huffed. “Well, I can mention it at the meeting I apparently also need to go to.”

“Apparently?”

“I was told about it just before coming here. Didn’t know before that.”

“Last minute meetings, they are not fun.”

“Nope, at least you have a nice cozy cell. Oh, by the way! Apparently they added a new game to the collection you can play in there.”

“Oh boy. Can’t be any worse than Disappear Birds, Beware Cross, or Frogs Jump 2.”

“Game complaints have to be forwarded to the person in charge.”

“And that is?”

“I have no clue! Anyway, bye!” and Zed left before Tangno could complain more. Well, technically Zedaph could still hear him. He just wasn’t nearby, instead running to the elevator at the end of the hall and taking it up a floor. He wished he could just take the stairs, single floor and all, but there was some fun tech with the elevators that would guarantee it would be safe to use in costume while the stairs didn’t have the same guarantee.

After the wait for the elevator and the ride up, Zed exited and went to the main meeting room, finding a number of heroes already sitting down. At the head of the table was Voidwalker, which made Zed gulp. He was one of the main heroes of the hero association. If he was here, this was likely an important meeting. Even more so since they were in the main meeting room. Along with him were Impulse, since he likely was asked to return there, or maybe just because he wanted something to do. Then there was Lunis and Riptide, which implied that this had something to do with last night. That was further supported by Welsknight also being present, since there was some kind of connection to his main rival.

“Hi, sorry if I made everyone wait.” Zed apologized, then jumped as the door behind him closed. He turned around to see the cause, finding that there was one more person at the meeting, the former top hero, Hot Guy.

“Oh no need for apologies, Lunis only got here a minute or two before you did. You know she’s not one for early mornings.” There was a noise of offense from Lunis, but more of a joking one than one of actual offense. “Now, sit down, and we’ll start the meeting.”

Chapter Text

Zedaph hadn’t really been in a room with some of the heroes present. Impulse of course was the big exception, but the others, not so much. Zedaph was sort of used to doing his own thing as Worm Man, and the other heroes seemed to understand. Riptide had helped him once in the past with Dr. Tangno getting too overwhelming with fire one time, and of course there was the previous night, but other times it was maybe seeing each other in passing.

Lunis lived up to her name and mainly worked during the night. Other heroes tended to work whenever, but Zed was very firmly in the ‘daytime only’ category with exceptions regarding evenings. In fact, the only thing that he knew about her other than her hero name and her being a night owl was that she could fly.

Welsknight tended to be busy with hero work and just didn’t have a schedule that tended to overlap with Zed. Otherwise, Zedaph wasn’t too sure why they hadn’t interacted much. Maybe just different heroing styles? Maybe that was it.

Then the last two, while Zed had seen more of them, they were still heroes that anyone would be nervous to be around. Okay, well, hero and ex hero. Except ex hero sounded like he turned evil, so maybe best to just go with retired hero? Hopefully Zedaph didn’t need to call him by some sort of role title and make a fool of himself.

“Now then, I’m going to guess you have some suspicion on why you’re here, right?” Hot Guy spoke as he found a place at the table. Zedaph started to nod in reply, but then noticed the other heroes were nodding as well. Oh, well that made him feel a little less worried. He thought there would be some big focus on him and that maybe they had suspicions he wasn’t telling the whole truth. “Well, as you know, I’ve been looking into a theory about a secret evil villain team! And it sounds like there might have been some evidence of that last night, but I want to hear it all from you guys!”

“Can’t you just wait on our reports?” Lunis asked, and Zed could see that she looked tired. “Why do we need a physical meeting?”

“And I was not directly involved with what happened last night.” Wels pointed out. “Yes, there is evidence of Helsknight having some influence, but that would be my only connection.”

“I mean, technically you were on the comms last night.” Zedaph pointed out. “And you talked about why it wasn’t Helsknight attacking, so maybe more insight like that is helpful?”

“Exactly right!” Hot Guy spoke again. “Even if you hadn’t been there last night, I still would have wanted you here Worm Man. Which is also why I asked Voiidwalker to be here too.”

That got Zedaph to look at the lead hero. He wore a full head helmet as part of his costume, which made it hard to read him. That in turn made him seem more intimidating. But his voice never matched that feeling, and it always took Zed off guard when Voidwalker spoke. “Right, yes. I believe some of you recall that I used to deal with Voidtaic when he first appeared.”

Zedaph nodded. Right, that was before he was a hero. Voidtaic had appeared and proclaimed themselves to be Voidwalkers rival, even choosing their name to reflect it. Well, that, and their own power, lightning. But as Voidwalker became more of a big name hero, Voidtaic had stopped attacking him as much, going after smaller name heroes before finally settling on Worm Man. And Zedaph was fine with that change, he liked being a more lighthearted and sometimes goofy hero, and Voidtaic seemed to fit right in with that. But sometimes they did get more serious, last night being one example. Sure, the banter had still been there, but the tone itself was off.

“So he’s here for some potential alternative insight into what could be going on. But what is going on you may ask? As stated before, potential evil villain league!” And with a speed that surprised Zedaph, suddenly a projector screen was yanked down, the lights were turned off, and the screen was lit up with a presentation. “Now, I have been working on this for a few weeks now. Or maybe a few months? Either way, I’m sure I’ve got plenty of evidence to convince you all.”

The next half hour was filled with Hot Guy’s theories, backed by evidence that ranged from making the idea very plausible, all the way to stuff that just made things look like some crackpot theory. Some of the evidence didn’t even make sense, like there was a photo of Worm Man in his early days when his suit wasn’t quite up to snuff and to put it lightly, after one fight, the backend had needed plenty of work. Zed had shrunk back slightly when the image appeared on screen, along with some muffled laughs from the heroes around him. The one consolation was that he wasn’t the only hero with an embarrassing image in the presentation.

“Well, now that you've seen all my evidence, I want to hear what all you learned yesterday! Welsknight, your tussle with Helsknight happened first, so you start us off!“

Wels was stunned for a moment before going into detail on his previous battle with Helsknight. Zedaph knew that both of them preferred using actual weapons, so it wasn't much of a surprise to learn that it had ended with the villain seriously injured. Enough that he likely would have needed medical attention. Despite that fact and Wels looking into hospitals receiving patients with similar wounds, nothing came of it. There was of course the possibility that it wasn't something any of the doctors could reveal, at least to the heroes. Zedaph honestly didn't know the protocol for such a thing and how much it might differ between heroes and police, and if the shows he saw sometimes were even realistic.

Hot Guy seemed happy with the information, believing that meant that there was a chance Hels had a connection to someone who could take care of him. Wels pointed out that it could also be that Hels was able to deal with the injuries himself. The two of them had been in similar fights in the past, the villain could have been used to it. And of course, there was also the possibility that they just hadn't found whatever hospital he had gone to.

While there was some agreement, Hot Guy still wrote it down as potential evidence, then looked towards Lunis. “Now, I believe you were the first one on the scene? You started your rounds when everything went down.”

“Yeah, sounds about right.” Lunis nodded. “See, I was just waking up and sort of autopilot. Went my normal route up until I heard the initial fire charges going off. I called it in to everyone on duty as you know. Riptide got called in independently since he's on call for these sorts of things. I did my best to keep the fire contained until he showed up, then when he did, I went in. Probably a little before then is when Worm Man said he was on his way.”

“Yeah, it was just after you went in.” Riptide spoke up. “He said he was on his way, and I didn't think he was really built for fire jobs. But then you spoke up that you saw Voidtaic.”

“Oh yeah! That does sound about right. I think I had just spotted him and was trying to figure out how to handle him. Then once I jumped in, I was holding my own up until some more charges went off.”

“Is that when I came in? I remember seeing you falling, but I thought it was because of Voidtaic hitting you.”

“Oh no, you thought right. I just got a little banged up from the extra charges. Made it a little harder to move around too. More debris in the way. I'm not as good of a flier as Solis is. I was barely dodging attacks before you arrived, and obviously failed at it by then.”

“Well I'm sure you still had them on the ropes.” Zedaph did his best to reassure Lunis, which seemed to work, but he also noticed Voidwalker give him some sort of look from across the table. “Uh, well, so Riptide's next?”

“I guess, but I don't have much to say. I fought the flames as they came. Lunis did her best to keep them contained, but they had still started spreading. I had about three buildings to deal with when I got there. I was lucky they were positioned in a way where I could get at all of them pretty easily. By the time I got it down to just the one building again and had it almost shut down, the new charges went off, and I was nearly back to square one. I never went inside and never got my eyes on the cause, either in terms of the tech, or any villains behind it.”

“So you agree that there's multiple villains involved?” Hot Guy leaned in, or at least tried to. He wasn't really in the position to easily do that.

“Well, there's some connection between Voidtaic and Helsknight. We know that much. It could be the two working together, could be a big team up, or it could also be that it was just wrong place wrong time. Maybe the two were each after the place, Hels rigged it, and 'Tayic got there when they were scheduled to go off.”

“Hmm, then I suppose we should hear from Worm Man!” And then attention was on Zedaph again. “You took care of him after he tried running off. What happened then?”

“Oh, y'see, Voidtaic escaped to the basement, or at least whatever that lower level was. It had some sort of emergency exit leading to the street level, so I wasn't sure. Either way, he went over to that and was trying to get out. We fought a bit more, then I gave him a really good punch to the gut. He ended up having to take off part of his mask helmet thing to recover from it. I uh, got a little bit of a look at him. Not much, but enough for me to try and look into his identity. I actually have a couple leads that I could look into, but I don't want to make any accusations yet. Plus, if he found out someone was looking into him, well, then he could try running off and we lose anything we had.”

“All very good points.” Hot Guy nodded, writing down more of what Zed had said. “You'll keep us updated if you do find more out, right?”

“I can certainly try, but I also can't guarantee anything. I'll probably be keeping it solo until I really think the help will benefit the situation and all. Try my own hand at the investigative work. A real Sherlock Grian role.“

Zedaph finally convinced his own mouth that, yes, it should stop talking, but it didn't seem like the others were suspicious of his rambling at the end. Though he wasn't entirely sure of Voidwalker.

”Well I think this was a very productive meeting. Impulse, I hope you won't mind if I ask for just a little bit of help with the projector screen. Pulling it down is a lot easier than getting it up, am I right?“

Zedaph did his best to quickly leave the room after that. He checked the time and was a bit worried with how late it had gotten to be. It was a bit past lunch and he hadn't eaten. Oh, and not to mention, he was normally back by lunch for any actual onsite jobs, so if Xiryla was still at the apartment, they might start getting suspicious.

With a little bit of rushing, Zedaph managed to get home in what was probably record time. He still had to just stand around outside the door for a few moments to get his breathing back down to a normal level, but then he went in. Immediately he could hear movement going on further into the place, so Xiryla was definitely still there. At the very least, the travel time gave Zedaph a chance to think of an excuse which he quickly gave. “Hey! Sorry I'm back so late. I ended up getting pulled into a meeting that went longer than it should have. And it wasn't even a meeting I really needed to be in! The nerve!” And then he saw Xiryla and how they were pacing. “Hey, what's wrong?”

“I have no idea!” They practically shouted, throwing their hands in the air. “Out of nowhere my brother decided he wants to pay me a visit. No reasoning or anything. The only warning I got was that he's going to be here tomorrow. That's it. Couldn't have given me twenty four fucking hours notice?!”

“Hey, I'm sure it's fine.” Zedaph tried to calm Xiryla down. And who knew, it could help him out. Zed remembered Xiryla's brother Xisuma from the handful of times he had been there in the past. He was a sort of no nonsense kind of person, so he might know more about Xiryla and their almost guaranteed second life. That could also potentially lead into Zed's own identity being revealed, or even the possibility that maybe the secret big bad ordering Xiryla and Hels and oh damn it he had forgotten to mention Tangno's tip in the meeting.

His previous thought forgotten, Zedaph said he would work on food, then he ran to the kitchen before shooting a message to Hot Guy about what Tangno had said, apologizing for not remembering about it before. Thankfully the retired hero was understanding about it and said he would follow up on it. And that left Zed to actually make food, settling for a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches. He made half a dozen, and they were gobbled up by both him and Xiryla faster than they were made.

The two just sat in the main room afterwards to chat about their days so far. Zedaph went along with his regular excuses, substituting what he really did with similar stuff. Dr. Tangno was an annoying coworker who was always trying out new stuff and getting Zed involved and then the meeting was easy to excuse, especially since he had already mentioned it.

Xiryla apparently had an uneventful morning, other than another call from his boss talking about their missed shift last night. Since Zedaph had his suspicions on the mysterious and potentially villainous boss, he tried asking a bit more, but was shut down. Questions about what was going on at Xiryla's job, what happened last night, what their boss said or even who it was didn't give any answers, just deflections.

Eventually, it seemed Zed got on Xiryla's nerves as they finally said they wanted to just be alone in their room to work on “stuff”. Zedaph was of course suspicious at first, but then remembered not everything he did was hero stuff, so not everything Xiryla did was evil stuff. At least probably.

Zedaph retreated to his own room, overthinking the conversation and wondering if he could have said something different and have it end better. But then a message came in. Voidtaic was seen downtown again, but this time doing his normal shtick. Zed was surprised at first, but then jumped up and went across the main room and over to Xiryla’s door. He tried opening it, but the door was locked. Knocking on the door had no response, and Zed frowned. At least until he remembered they had given eachother door keys to each other for emergencies.

Unlocking the door, Zed knew what he was going to see on the other side. Yet at the same time, he was hoping he was somehow completely wrong still. But as he opened the door, he noticed the window sitting wide open and Xiryla nowhere in sight. With a sigh, Zedaph put his emergency key back, went into Xiryla’s room, locked the door, and left out the same window. He knew where his roommate was, so he would just have to go see them.

Before long, he was downtown as Worm Man, fighting one on one with Voidtaic. Well, It had started with Zed getting put in a trap, but that didn’t last long, and it seemed like the villain just wanted to burn off some steam. Which made Zedaph open his stupid mouth, asking if they wanted to talk about it too.

“ Actually, that sounds good. Long and short of it, family sucks. ” Zedaph’s eyes widened, did that mean that Xisuma was the big bad like he had started to wonder earlier? “ Oh come on, I’m still a person. I have a family. I’m evil, not artificial life. ”

“You know, up until yesterday, I wasn’t entirely sure.”

“ Oh ha ha. You just got lucky. ”

“Maybe I did! And maybe more than you realize.”

“ What exactly does that mean? ”

“I dunno exactly. But some big name heroes were interested in what happened. Even Voidwalker was included.”

“ He was what?! ” Zedaph didn’t expect them to get so angry at the name. “ Of course he— Oh is that why? Why was he so interested in it? There’s nothing to be interested about. I haven’t been his villain for years. Years! ”

Zedaph could only shrug. He knew, but he couldn’t say it. But Voidtaic didn’t like that and threw an attack at Zedaph. He reacted a little late, still caught up in the conversation and tried to move and turn at the same time. And then he wondered if someone up there either really hated him or really liked Hot Guy and his ability to get embarrassing images, because Zed realized quite quickly that his suit had been damaged.

“ Shit. I did not mean to do that! ” Voidtaic sort of half apologized. “Wait, I thought your suit could deal with that? ”

“It was probably worn down from yesterday. And maybe this morning.” And Zed pulled his cape off to wrap around himself. “Oh it’ll take forever to get it repaired. Not to mention all the comments…”

“ ...I could probably fix it. ”

Zedaph looked up, stunned. “What?”

“ I made my own costume. Repairing yours couldn’t be that hard. ”

“Except I would need to take it off first?”

“ Okay, look, fight off. There’s a good place for outfit changes over here. Keep the mask on and I’ll throw you some junk clothes. Make your cape into a skirt for all I care. But hand me the suit and I’ll fix it. ”

“And what about getting it back to me?” Zedaph asked as he started to follow Voidtaic behind. Did they know his identity?”

“ I have ways of getting it to you, now just go change!”

Zed shrugged. He wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or a roommate slash villain in the… mask? Okay that needed work, much like his suit. Hah! He still got it. A quick change later, and Zed was in an outfit made of some old generic sweats, and of course his cape to help make it look just a touch more unique. But he wasn’t really going to be wearing it long, just until he could get back to his normal clothes.

Voidtaic took the costume and bid Zedaph farewell, and then it was a race back to the apartment. Zedaph was thankful to get back first, returning to his room and sitting at his desk. He threw on some headphones to make it seem like he had been busy doing something else, which was especially helpful when Xiryla came through the front door.

“Oh hey, I didn’t hear you leave.” Zed said, pushing his headphones down at the same time.

Xiryla seemed relieved at the comment, but then held up their bag. “Yeah, ran to the store. I’m actually working on a replica Worm Man suit, for conventions or whatever. I managed to damage part of the fabric, so I went out to get more. It took a while to match up the fabric, I mean, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find persian pink over rose pink fabric.”

Zedaph blinked before peeking into the bag. Yep. absolutely 100% confirmation. That was his suit. Though he was impressed that Xiryla was going so in depth for a small repair. Maybe there was something more to his obsession with Worm Man. Because if it was just villain interest, it was a concerning amount of obsession. Though maybe even a different explanation wouldn’t help it. Ah well, who knew?

Chapter Text

The rest of the day had been uneventful. With Xiryla’s excuse about the costume being a replica, they actually worked on it in the main room here and there. Zedaph actually stuck around to give some tips since it was his costume after all. But he also had a few anti-tips, and at least one comment asking if it would even fit Xiryla. He knew it wouldn’t as one time when their washer broke, Xiryla had needed a shirt and when they tried to wear one of Zed’s it was too small. Still, they lied and said it would totally fit and the fabric would stretch enough for it.

It wasn’t until dinner that Xiryla had remembered that, oh right, their brother was coming over. They had jumped up and started cleaning the place. Or more accurately, they started shoving things wherever they could hide them and hope it wouldn’t be spotted. Zed helped a little by actually putting a few things away, but he also half assed it and just hid a handful of items as well.

Zedaph was begrudgingly up the next morning as he was asked for some help with a villain. They were plant based, and fire alone couldn’t cut it. People didn’t just use fresh green leaves and newly cut wood for fires. Okay, well, people could, but it wouldn’t be a good fire. Zedaph getting his hands on the plants helped decay them to a flammable state. Then, before long, the villain was being taken away and Zed thankfully got a ride home from someone else. He still needed to do the last leg of the journey himself to get back out of his costume, but it was better than walking the whole way.

He unlocked the door before making his way to the couch and flopping on it. His flop was a bit forceful and apparently loud, as moments later Xiryla came out of their room to figure out what made the noise to wake them up. Zedaph apologized, saying he went out early to try and grab something from a store, completely forgetting they wouldn’t be open yet. Xiryla at least got a laugh from Zed’s fake misfortune, and then sat in one of the nearby chairs, claiming that it was too late for them to go back to sleep.

When Zedaph next got up, Xiryla asked him to make some coffee, which he did along with starting a kettle for some tea. Seeing the tea, his roommate then asked Zed if he could also grab the extra cup and tea bags. Their brother liked tea over just about any other beverage, so if he was coming over for a bad reason (or at least bad for Xiryla) hopefully the tea would take the edge off of him.

Zedaph is just watching his mug when there’s a knock on the door. Xiryla is up and at the door before Zed can even consider turning to answer it himself. And then Xisuma walks in. Zedaph doesn’t see him until the door closes, but he looked just like he did the last time he had come to visit, if maybe a little scruffier. Like he didn’t bother brushing out his bed head or something. Zedaph piped up, saying he could start the kettle again, and that got Xisuma’s attention. He looked over and seemed to tense up for a moment before shaking his head and following Xiryla into the main room.

Even as he moves out of sight, Zedaph’s eyes follow Xisuma. Did he know that Zedaph was Worm Man? Admittedly he could do more than just wear a mask to hide his identity, but every so often he did something to make it seem like it was someone else underneath. Like one time he got some spare contacts and put one in, then panicked about losing one and “No! Don’t look at his real eyes!”, or another time where he got some wash out hair color spray and recolored his roots, again pretending to panic when someone noticed. Not to mention, if Xiryla shared their conspiracy board of evidence to Xisuma, that thing had to have those two incidents on there somewhere, so he would know that too.

Once the kettle started whistling, Zedaph poured the water into a teapot with a teabag, bringing both the pot and a few teacups and saucers out on a tray. Probably only Xisuma would use one, and specifically the one that was “his”, but it was best to make it look like the tea wasn’t just for him. When Zed got into the room and set the tray down on the coffee table, the siblings seemed to be catching up with what they had been doing. None of it seemed to be villain stuff, but there were also plenty of vague answers, so Zedaph wondered if they were speaking in code. So, to try and get a break in their talking, he coughed a little to point out the freshly made tea.

“Ah, well, I’m sure you just made it, so I’ll have to wait a little longer for it to steep well.” Xisuma said, but did grab his cup and saucer. “Thank you for making it.”

“Of course. I hope it’s the right kind. I would have gone out to make sure we definitely had your preference in the place, but it was a little hard on short notice.”

“Yeah, Zedaph’s right.” Xiryla agreed and crossed their arms. “Why exactly did you decide out of nowhere to pop in and visit?”

“I gave you some warning.” Xisume tried to defend himself, but just got a glare from Zedaph, and an even harsher one from Xiryla. “Alright, fine. But it was important.”

“What’s so important that it couldn’t get a full day’s warning?”

“Well, you know what my workplace is like.” That got Zedaph interested, and he looked quizzically at Xisuma, hoping for an answer. Unfortunately, he didn’t get one. “And one of my coworkers mentioned something rather concerning regarding you.”

“Concerning? Me? I haven’t done anything of the sort.” Xiryla deflected, but it didn’t seem like Xisuma was having any of it.

Xisuma glanced over at Zedaph first before speaking again. “And would your boss agree with that?”

That seemed to get to Xiryla and they immediately looked shocked and slightly panicked. They then looked over at Zedaph, and he realized it was because they couldn’t just deny anything with said “boss” since they had mentioned it to him before. “How did— But I had just— Can’t a guy just help out a friend?”

“It sounded like it wasn’t just helping out .” Xisuma used some air quotes for the last bit, but was also starting to sound a little heated, and Zedaph could tell he needed to try and get away from the pair. Or try to cool it down.

“Heyyy I’m sure the tea is steeped well enough now!” And Zedaph poured some into Xisuma’s cup as well as one for himself, quickly sipping it down and trying not to react to the burn of still hot tea. “Mmm, yep, good stuff!”

Xiryla seemed to not care or notice that Zedaph was trying to help as they just continued the conversation like he hadn’t spoken. “Okay, fine, I’ve been taking some overtime jobs to get some extra pay.”

“Extra pa— you know where that money comes from!”

“Yeah, and you do too, but you don’t care.”

“Regular pay is different from your so-called overtime pay.”

“Oh okay, cool, this is an intervention, huh?” Zedaph tried again, and this seemed to get the siblings’ attention. “I was actually trying to talk about this with them the other day. I swear if you want to quit and look for a job with a better boss, I can cover a couple of months of rent for you. And maybe if Xisuma really cares so much to ask you to stop, he can contribute a little too!”

Zedaph wasn’t sure why Xiryla suddenly gestured towards him if they were against quitting, but it seemed to be something Xisuma understood. He frowned and shook his head before getting up from where he was sitting, then pulling Xiryla out of their seat. “Sorry, but I believe this may need to be a more private conversation.” And then he was pulling the two of them to Xiryla’s room, closing and locking the door behind him.

They were there for maybe half a minute as Zed sat there. Well, they were there longer, but then Zedaph remembered that the walls of the apartment weren’t the thickest in the world. So he got up and carefully moved closer to the door, trying to make sure his footsteps weren’t heard. The voices were still a little muffled, and at the very least Xisuma was still trying to talk quietly, but Zedaph could still make out the bulk of it.

“Look, I just want to know who it is. Is it just Helsknight? Or are you working for him again?”

“What if I am?!”

“Xiryla you can’t— Do you remember the last time you tried working for him?”

“Yeah!”

“I’m not sure you do. You were afraid to contact me if it was through civilian stuff, and only interacting with me as a villain was tearing you up.”

“I was fine!”

“You were not!” Zedaph had to back up slightly at the shout. It was loud enough that he could have heard it clearly if he hadn’t gotten up to eavesdrop. “You changed up targets just so you could have something safe and easy. I— I know how this goes. There’s a chance you go in too deep and he tries following. And when that happens, one of you isn’t coming out of it. Do you really want to risk a coin flip like that?”

“You know I’d just rig a coinflip like that.” It was meant to be a joke, but the noise that seemed to come from Xisuma showed it wasn’t received well.

“No! You won’t! You’re not going to get the chance to try if it comes to that. We barely kept him away the last time this happened.”

There was a long pause, and then some muffled speech that Zed wasn’t sure who it came from, at least until Xiryla spoke again. “Look, it’s just for a little bit, but then I’ll leave and—”

“No, we know that’s not how it’s going to go. If you’re not going to leave on your own, I’m informing the others involved on what’s going on.”

“Wait! What the fuck no! You can’t do that!”

“I will if I have to.”

“He’ll fucking kill me iif he finds out—”

“Then leave on your own!”

“No I just said I’m just going to take a little longer and— no put that away!”

“Stop shouting, your roommate will hear you.”

“I don’t give a shit! Hand it over! Give! Gimmie! Just gi— FUCK!”

“Alright, well, I suppose you can’t blame me for sending it now.” And just before Xisuma spoke again, Zedaph felt his hero comm buzz with a notification. He had forgotten to put it aside when he had gotten back to the apartment, and honestly he just wanted to mute it now. What was going on now seemed more interesting. He would just need to say he was unavailable first, then put it away and—

On the screen was a message from Voidwalker. And it was about Voidtaic. And how he was aware that the villain was indeed working under a different villain. Well then, that certainly proved Xisuma wasn’t Xiryla’s secret boss. But instead that proved he was—

Zedaph didn’t think about the consequences, he just grabbed the door handle for a few moments before pulling the door open, making the siblings jump. “Okay, are you seriously telling me the old arch nemesis thing was really just sibling rivalry? Wait, and also the name thing?!”

“...Since when does your roommate know who we are?”

“Since right fucking now apparently!”

Chapter Text

Zedaph barely got a chance to react before lightning was thrown his way. The only reason he managed to dodge at all was because Xisuma grabbed Xiryla’s arm at the last second and tried to redirect it. The lightning attack instead hit the flooring, leaving a large charred mark. Zed's attention was caught by that, and he briefly complained about their deposit before another attack was being flung at him.

In the current situation, all Zedaph could do was dodge. He didn't have his suit and as far as he knew, Xiryla hadn't figured out his identity yet. He wasn't about to start fighting back and potentially lose that edge. Even though dodging as well as he was could do the same, but again, no suit. And even if he could manage to steal it back, he wouldn't have a chance to put it on.

Suddenly, no more lightning was being flung at Zed, so he looked up to see why that was. The reason was that Xiryla couldn't, being held in place by Xisuma, who was now wearing his hero suit minus the helmet. Seeing that was honestly pretty strange since even though that was definitely Voidwalker's outfit, Zedaph knew him mainly by his helmet. But if he squinted and just looked at the upper part of Xisuma's face, maybe hold up his hand to cover up his mouth and nose... Oh yep, that was him.

Despite being held in place, Xiryla was still trying to escape, trying to bite at Xisuma's arms. It wasn't working because of the suit's armor, but they were trying nonetheless. Since they were stuck, Zedaph started to get up from where he had ended up after his last dodge. But apparently it was the wrong decision as that got Xisuma's attention. The next thing Zed knew, his feet were being pulled above his head and he was scrambling to grab onto the couch. Great, he was on the receiving end of Voidwalker's powers: Gravity Distortion.

“Look, I'm sorry about this, but until I know how much you might try sharing with others—” Xisuma couldn't say more as Xiryla managed to shift down enough to then pop back up and headbutt Xisuma in the jaw. The hit was enough to loosen the grip holding them in place, and then Xiryla was free, immediately using their lightning on Xisuma. It was enough that even Zedaph was taken aback, scared for Xisuma and if he would be okay. But then regular gravity kicked back in and he had to make sure he fell onto the couch cushions and not the floor.

Zedaph started to get back to his feet, but the movement caught Xiryla's attention. Immediately he hit the ground and hid behind the couch where he couldn't easily be hit by any attacks. Stuck in place, he had to quickly come up with a plan on what to do. He needed to get to Xisuma and make sure he was okay, but also try and keep Xiryla away long enough for him to do something. And maybe he could just manage to do it.

Staying hidden behind the couch, Zed waited. The only way for Xiryla to effectively attack was for them to move closer. And to move closer meant moving out of their room, where Xisuma was. And then, Xiryla moved close enough that Zedaph felt ready to move. He was up quickly, taking a few quick steps before quickly dropping again, this time to slide under Xiryla's legs. Getting back up was a little harder, but Zed managed, grabbing the door to pull himself up while also closing it behind himself.

Quickly looking around, Zedaph's eyes landed on a bundle of yarn. He wasn't sure if it was for crafts or for the conspiracy board, but it didn't matter right now. He quickly shoved one end of loops around the doorknob and the other around some thankfully conveniently placed hooks on Xiryla's nearby and rather heavy desk. It wasn't the strongest thing in the world, but Zedaph had destroyed the lock and the door opened out into the main room, so it was the best he could do in terms of keeping the thing shut.

A quick check of Xisuma showed that he was unconscious, but alive and breathing. After verifying that, Zedaph quickly threw on his costume, not caring about if the repairs were complete or not. He always tried to keep one of his masks on him in a pocket or whatnot, so he was about to throw that on, but Xisuma was another story. He had no clue if Xisuma had even brought his helmet, so putting it on him wasn't going to happen. And Zedaph didn't really have time to pull him out of the suit. He needed to get the other hero out of the apartment and to safety, but the closest hero building was still through a normally crowded part of town. There was no way that no one would notice who Voidwalker really was if he didn't have his helmet on, so he needed something to hide his identity. Quickly looking around the room, Zedaph's eyes landed on one solution. It wasn't the safest, but he didn't really have the time to get anything else.

As the door was flung open, Zedaph was escaping out the window, dragging Xisuma along on his back. His head was covered up by a reusable shopping totebag with a few holes that had quickly been made in the cloth to make sure it wasn't too much of a suffocation hazard. Once they were on the ground, Zed quickly adjusted Xisuma into a comfortable position before booking it towards the nearest hero building. He didn't have much time to do it as moments later, Xiryla was on his tail, having also changed into their suit, though at least they had their helmet.

It was quickly apparent that Zedaph was not going to make it. Xisuma, like Xiryla, was larger than him. Trying to run while carrying someone larger than yourself was not an easy task. Even if he couldn't see Xiryla, Zed could hear then getting closer and closer. And there was no way to try and ask for help. Zedaph didn't have his communicator in a place where he could quickly take it out, and he wasn't wearing his voice comms to try a vocal call. The only chance Zed got to try and gain some ground was suddenly cutting across traffic. He barely made it, but the sudden chaos that was left on the road acted as a little bit of a blockade to slow Xiryla down.

About a block further into the chase, and it suddenly got harder. Xisuma started to stir, and the movements caused Zedaph to almost drop him. He had no clue if the other hero was fully conscious or still out of it, but he had to try something. “Hey! Voidwalker! We're currently getting chased down and I can't call for help while carrying you and running! Please tell me that you can still call for help even without your helmet on! Which, by the way, you're wearing a bag instead. Please don't take it off!”

There was a bit of a groan before some movement that risked another drop. Xisuma moved a bit more, and then Zedaph could just barely feel a buzz in his pocket. Hopefully that was indeed a distress call message, and if luck was on their side, Zed could stay ahead just enough until help arrived. Except it was definitely not as moments after they had the glimmer of hope, he was hit by lightning.

Not realizing the attack was coming, Zedaph wasn't prepared to try and weaken it, so he was hit by the full force of the attack. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the sidewalk, pinned under Xisuma, who had also been affected by the attack. As Zedaph struggled to push Xisuma off of him, the other hero was moved for him before Xiryla was grabbing Zed and picking him up by the collar.

“ On the one hand, I'm impressed. You got past me and actually tripped me up a few times. Got further than I thought you would. On the other hand, I'm pissed. You stole from me, you're helping him out, and you're pretending to be my nemesis. Not to mention I was already having a horrible day. But to think after all this time, you were right there, and then you went and did this! ”

“Xir-”

“ Shut up! ” Zedaph was thrown against the wall of a nearby building, hand still on his collar but now pressing against his neck uncomfortably. “ If you really want to play hero so bad? Fine! I'm a villain after all, so how about I give you the full experience. ”

Black creeped into the edges of Zedaph's vision as electricity ran through him. He was out of it from the first attack and slamming against the wall, so he still couldn't try dulling the attack. But just as soon as it had started, it stopped again. Not because someone stopped Xiryla, no, they had stopped themselves.

“ So, how is it? Feeling good about yourself? Think what you did was really worth it? ” Another charge came, but thankfully not as strong as the previous two. “I'm sure you heard. I've got a new boss. And one I'm sure doesn't want you sticking around.”

Somehow, Zedaph managed to lift his leg enough to weakly kick at Xiryla's leg. They just laughed at the attempt and began to mock Zed, up until another hit came, but this time from the side.

Zedaph fell to the ground and to his knees, coughing. After he rubbed at his neck where the pressure had been put, he looked around to see Solis having arrived and tackled Xiryla. He had moved back after doing so, now dodging attacks from the villain, but every so often swooped down to give another punch.

When someone grabbed him again, Zedaph nearly punched them, only calming down when he saw the familiar face of Impulse. He was then further confused when Dr. Tangno was also there and seemingly helping. Impulse seemed to notice the confusion, explaining that the doctor had escaped on his own around the time Voidwalker's message had come in, then insisted on showing Voidtaic who was the real Worm Man villain when the help request and other civilian reports came in.

“As long as you don't try kicking me while I'm down.” Zed replied, voice raspy from both the running and pseudo-choking.

“Of course I wouldn't! Don't be ridiculous. That would be far too easy and unsatisfying.” He then ended up being the one left holding Zedaph up as Impulse went to help with the fight. “So, did the pronoun discussion go that poorly?”

Zedaph managed a laugh, but shook his head. “No. I kinda revealed I knew their identity in the worst way possible. But fun fact, apparently Voidwalker did too.”

“Huh. Guess that makes a little bit of sense.” Tangno shrugged, then regretted it as the shift nearly caused him to drop Zedaph. At the very least Zed was sympethetic after carrying Xisuma the whole way. Speaking of, where was the other hero?

Looking around, it seemed Dr. Tangno realized what Zed was looking for, then pointed to some other heroes that had pulled him further from the fight. In fact, once he had done that, he started going in the same direction to give Zedaph to them. Or at least, he started to before Zedaph stopped him.

“No. I need to deal with them.” Zedaph complained, trying to turn back towards the fight.

“Uh, yeah no. You're in no shape to be doing that.”

“But I need to.” Zedaph insisted. “If I don't talk with them, it's just going to get worse.”

After some deliberation, Tangno relented, leading Zed back towards the fight. The pair quickly realized when Xiryla noticed them as the villain's attention immediately locked onto them. They ignored the other heroes, other than when they were almost on top of them. They were just on a war path towards Zedaph. When the other heroes noticed, they tried to get in the way, but some lightning bolts made quick work of them as far as Xiryla was concerned. And then once they were a few feet from Zedaph, they stopped.

“ I thought you were supposed to be locked in a cell. ” They spoke to Dr. Tangno first.

“You know those never hold me for long. I thought you stopped being so serious.”

“ Because Worm Man isn't a serious hero. Last I checked, he isn't here. ”

“What am I, chopped liver?” Zedaph piped up, getting growl from Xiryla.

“ You're an imposter is what you are! ” Lightning crackled in their hands, and Zed could feel Tangno tense slightly.

“What are you talking about? This is Worm Man.”

“ It's not! Yesterday, I damaged Worm Man's suit and offered to repair it. This is some asshole who stole it and is masquerading as Worm Man! ”

“Could some asshole do this ?” Zedaph joked before fumbling to grab something, finally being handed a stray piece of fresh sidewalk rubble by Dr. Tangno. The piece didn't last long before iit crumbled to dust, leaving Xiryla speechless. “And I'm not doing that again because apparently getting electrocuted is very tiring. Oh and running. And other stuff.”

“ That's impossible !” Xiryla finally got their voice back. “ How did you even get there so fast?! ”

“Trick question, I was there first. No, wait, I was out this morning.”

“ In an older costume while I had the one you are currently wearing. There is no way you could have staked out where I was staying. ”

“Didn't need to. Figured it out.”

“ And just how did you do that?! ”

“I would also like to know.” Dr. Tangno piped up, getting silence in return. “What? I want to try and avoid the same thing.”

“I apparently make a very recognizable soup.” Zedaph gave the shortened explanation despite it being very vague. “Oh and you're the only one who could have the piece of cape that you had on your conspiracy board.”

“ Excuse me?! ” Xiryla's voice sounded strangled despite the voice modifier. “ No! Absolutely not! I did my research! You don't look like that! You are not— ”

“Nah, I faked that stuff. Hairspray and colored contacts exist.”

“Oh that's helpful information.” Tangno piped up, and got simultaneous responses of “Not helping” from both Zedaph and Xiryla.

“ So. You're telling me. That this entire time. You and I—? ”

“Yeah, but can we talk out the details when I'm not like... feeling halfway dead. Maybe talk with Voidwalker too?”

“ I... suppose that is something that can be done. ” Xiryla relented after some hesitation.

“Cool. Oh and also tell your boss to f-screw off.”

“Oooo you were gonna say a curse word.”

“Oh shush Taggie.”

Chapter Text

Zedaph’s eyes nervously flicked around the room. He thought the last meeting he was stuck in was nerve wracking at the start, but this was plenty worse. All windows into the room from the hallway were blacked out, no one could see in, and he certainly couldn’t see out. And it was necessary for meetings about sensitive topics. Much like this was going to be.

Of the four people in the room, only one wore their mask or identity concealing equivalent. Zedaph’s mask was on the table in front of him, and both Xisuma and Xiryla had their helmets off and set to the side. The only one with their identity concealed was probably the one who normally needed it the least, that being Hot Guy.

“So! One of you will have to start us off. I did it for the last meeting after all, so it’s not my turn.”

“Well it’s his fault!” Xiryla piped up and pointed at Zedaph, making him feel guilty. “Make him do it!”

“Well only if he wants to of course.” Hot Guy tried to calm the situation down. “And it’s not like someone else needs this room, so there’s no rush. I just wanted to make sure you guys knew I wasn’t the one who would start this thing.”

“Technically, since you were the first to talk, doesn’t that mean you did start us off?” Zedaph timidly spoke up, making Hot Guy think for a moment before he snapped his fingers with a “darn”, having to admit that Zed had a point.

“Well then, I suppose you will have to give us some info on just what happened. I mean, you mentioned a little in our previous meeting, but certainly not this! Which is not entirely a bad thing, heroes and even villains have identities they need to be secretive about.”

There was a bit of hesitation before Zedaph began to explain what happened, the soup, the excuse, the news, the fight, the accidental reveal. Xiryla’s eyes widened during the story, though mostly in disbelief on how they were found out. “Soup. I was done in. By soup.”

“I mean, no?” Zedaph shrugged. “Not entirely. It was whoever put you up to causing that mess. We already had a long day and I made food for the two of us and then you got called by whoever to do a job that didn't really fit your M.O. and then you gave an excuse to where you were going and of course you said it was close to where the fire ended up being and—”

“Alright, two things, first, breathe.” Xiryla cut Zed off when he tried to continue the already long sentence further while still on the same breath. Zed thankfully replied with a large inhale. The two had found out they were a rival hero and villain pair, but without the masks, it was easy to fall into the habits they were familiar with as roommates. “Second, fine. I'll admit that claiming I was so close to the scene of the crime was a mistake on my part, but half truths usually work out, and I was going over there to look for Helsknight. I was just supposed to set up the tech and get out of there, but I wasn't used to the stuff and it went off on its own and then heroes were showing up. Which of course included you.”

“Let me see if I understand this correctly.” Hot Guy spoke up, bringing attention back to himself. “The two of you have been roommates for some time now without knowing one another's identities up until now?”

“Essentially.” Zedaph nodded. “I'm a little surprised though. I saw that whole conspiracy board Xiryla had, but they still never connected the dots. I guess that means I was doing a really good job of hiding my identity.”

Xiryla's face was quickly covered by an embarrassed blush before they ducked down, trying to hide it behind their crossed arms on the table. “Yes, you did throw me off with some things.” Their reply was muffled by their arms, but their hesitancy to reveal that answer was still clear in their voice.

“And I of course didn't realize either.” Xisuma piped up making Zed realize that, yeah, it should have been just as likely that Xisuma could have found out his identity. The heroes were more likely to share personal details with one another, though there was still some restraint due to the all too common event of heroes being mind controlled or possessed or what have you. Just because they were all on the same side didn't mean that information couldn't be used for less than ideal reasons. “Though I supposed I took Xiryla's excuse at face value.”

“Shut up Xisuma.” Xiryla's muffled reply lacked the bite it normally would have. And that make Zed wonder just what the excuse was. Still, when he asked, that was enough for Xiryla to pop back up and slap a hand over their brother's mouth. Hmm, wait. They were actually siblings, right? Or was that another identity lie. It wasn't, right? Because it wasn't known that the two voids were siblings, just assumed to be former nemeses at this point.

“Okay, I have to ask because it's been bugging me for days now.” Zedaph spoke up. Sure, this wasn't exactly related to the current discussion, but he wanted the answer, and Dr. Tangno probably wanted to know the answer too. “You insist I use they and them for your civilian life, which is perfectly reasonable, but as Voidtaic you use he him. Am I misgendering villain you?”

It was quiet in the room for a few seconds. Long enough for Zed to feel awkward about his question. Xiryla was both stunned and confused about that being Zedaph's question and couldn't get an answer out of their mouth right away. “I uh, no?” They finally spoke, still a bit confused. “I started as a villain before changing things up. It felt weird to then go “Hey, by the way heroes, I know I'm a villain and all but I changed my pronouns so you better shape up and respect them.” Or something like that. Or, I don't know, because my pronouns were different between my two selves, it would be harder to make the connection.”

“Oh like me and the fake contacts!” Zed agreed.

Xiryla rolled their eyes. “Yeah, sure, close enough I guess. With the mask on it kind of feels like I'm acting or whatever so it doesn't really feel wrong having those used then. But we'll see if that changes up with you.”

“Assuming you stay his nemesis.” Hot Guy spoke up once again. “See, now that you know who one another are, it could further complicate that whole thing. Worm Man, did it feel off fighting him— er, them, er— Okay I can see why you had to ask for clarification!”

“Exactly! Thank you!” Zed smiled, glad someone else understood why he felt the need to ask. “And we didn't really get much of a chance to fight after I found out. By the time we did, Xiry knew that I knew.”

“Ah, right.” Hot Guy nodded. “Well, now that you know you're fighting someone you know in real life, does that complicate things?”

At the same time Zedaph replied with yes, Xiryla said no. Zed then looked over at them with some confusion which only grew stronger when they once again tried to hide an embarrassed blush appearing on their face. “Why wouldn't it for you?”

“I uh, may have specifically stuck around as your roommate because you looked like Worm Man.” Xiryla admitted. “And not in the “I'm suspicious you could actually be Worm Man.” kind of way.”

Zedaph didn't really understand what that meant until Xisuma elaborated, apparently having such a conversation with Xiryla in the past. “Despite being a villain fighting Worm Man, they looked up to you. Fanboyed over you really.”

“Xisuma!”

“So it wasn't entirely an act?” Zedaph asked. “Like, when you showed me your theory board, I realized that it would be a good cover to try and look into me without raising a boatload of suspicion, but if you're actually a big fan of mine.” Zed sort of trailed off. This certainly was a day of revelations, now wasn't it?

“No, it wasn't.” They admitted. “Look, I'll like being a villain and all that, but I can still really like certain heroes.”

“Speaking of you being a villain.” Xisuma spoke up to change topics. Or at least go back to earlier discussions. “What happened downtown with the fire. And then our own discussion before the complicated reveals. You're working for Greed again, aren't you?”

It wasn't exactly a name Zedaph was familiar with, but Hot Guy had a sharp inhale at the name, and based on the tone Xisuma took when speaking, the name Greed did not mean anything good.

“He was promising some extra money if I helped out. Villainy doesn't exactly pay well.” Xiryla crossed their arms, making Xisuma frown.

“Why not try being a hero then?” Zedaph suggested. “It's not like switching sides is unheard of, it's just a little difficult going from villain to hero instead of hero to villain.”

“They tried once.” Xisuma answered. “With their powers, they couldn't just try a normal life.”

“I couldn't use them as just some normal guy. It would turn into some whole thing. And not using them just felt wrong. Like I was sick, but also not.”

Zedaph couldn't say he knew what that was like. He didn't have to use his powers, but he figured they could help others, so he became a hero. “So, why did you only try to be a hero?”

“Because my powers suck for actually being a hero.” Xiryla crossed their arms and looked away from the group, unable to meet anyone's eyes. “Your decay powers can be dangerous, but they can get rid of rubble, or break the chains trapping someone, or break down other dangerous things. Xisuma's gravity powers trip up bad guys, make it harder for people to get hurt from projectiles or whatever, save them from falling out of a building. You can do good stuff with flying or speed or water or whatever, but what can I do with lightning?”

“That's it? That's your reasoning for not being a hero?” Zed asked, feeling a little dumbfounded. “First off, it's just generally good for fighting. Second, I'm sure if there were power outages or whatever, you could help with that. Doctors use an electric pulse to get someone's heart beating again. I'm sure there's loads of other stuff, we just need to take the time to brainstorm more.”

“Oh.” Xiryla replied simply. When they said they had tried to be a hero, it had been just the smallest attempt. They couldn't think of anything heroic for their powers and almost immediately gave up. But then Zed had immediately come up with two good uses they had never even thought of. Still, they hadn't tried hard for a reason. Was it a good reason? Probably not, but it was a reason for them. “I just sort of also like to get out my frustration.”

“Oh, well that makes sense.” Zedaph conceded. “Still, you could maybe consider being liiiiike, an anti-hero! Someone a bit too rough to be a normal hero, but too kind to be a villain.”

“Anti-hero vigilantism is certainly an option.” Hot Guy piped up. “We can't really fund that ourselves, but I believe there is a collective that you could join for pay if you want. I think I have the contact details somewhere around here.”

“How have I never heard of this?” Xisuma asked, but he was waved off by Hot Guy.

“It never really came up. Ah, here it is.” And he pulled out a binder, opening up and flipping through it. “The pay isn't the best, mostly licensing stuff for toys or mugs or whatever. You'd be surprised how people will look up to anti-heroes despite their methods. Still, it will probably be consistent pay compared to whatever you have going on now, not to mention whatever we'll chip in.”

The other three looked at Hot Guy, then at each other, then back to the veteran hero. “Why would the hero organization chip in for Xiryla?” Xisuma was the first to speak the confusion they were all feeling.

“Hmm? Oh no no no, we can't possibly pay anything to Voidtaic, he's still a villain and certainly does not work for us.”

“Then why did you say—” Xiryla started to speak up, but was stopped by Hot Guy holding up a hand.

“However, it sounds like Worm Man's roommate has found out his secret identity. Now we need to go through the proper procedures for such a thing. Make sure the roommate is trustworthy and unlikely to spread what they have learned. If they are going to spread it, that will be quite complicated. But if they're trustworthy, well, that's another story. A hero can keep themselves safe, but a civilian who knows your identity is a different story! We'll have to get you two a new residence that can keep them safe. Especially since it sounds like a very nasty villain has his eyes set on them. Oh but shucks, it sounds like that roommate of yours is having some trouble with money, enough that moving isn't quite that easy. I suppose we'll just have to finance such a thing ourselves.”

Xiryla was stunned, Zedaph was smiling about them having a loophole like that, and Xisuma looked relieved that Xiryla had a way to improve their situation. “That sounds like a wonderful plan for them.”

“Of course it is, I thought of it.” Hot Guy beamed at the agreement from Xisuma. “Of course, we'll also need to deal with the villain themselves, potentially use this roommate of Worm Man's as bait, but we can make that plan at another time.”

“Oh yes of course.” Zedaph nodded. “But it sounds like for now I should get home and start packing things with Xiryla.”

“Indeed you should!”

Zedaph got up, putting his mask back on as he stood. The siblings also stood, Xisuma putting his helmet back on while Xiryla started removing their suit to get back to their civilian clothes. Their outfit was then packed in a bag before they were given a blindfold to wear as the three previously unmasked people left the room.

“Now, I'll contact you for a follow up meeting at a later day Voidwalker.” Hot Guy called out as the others left, making sure his voice was a bit louder than it would normally need to be. “We got some good information, but the mega base protocol is a bit more time sensitive as you know.”

Xisuma gave a nod back in Hot Guy's direction while Zedaph led the blindfolded Xiryla to the elevators. There were a few other heroes walking the halls, so the act was needed for the short trip, but once Xisuma waved them off saying he would catch the next one, the elevator doors shut and Xiryla could rip off the blindfold.

Zedaph hit the button for the ground floor, also hitting the hidden switch for a costume change. The elevator then took its time heading down, letting Zed have the time he needed to take his own costume off and shove it in the bag before flipping the switch back to its original position.

“So, I guess I get to stay roommates with Worm Man, hmm?”

“Oh of course!” Zedaph replied. “Would you ever want to lose living with a pretty face like this?” And he batted his eyelashes at Xiryla up until they shoved his face away.

“Speak for yourself.” They rolled their eyes, quiet for a moment before continuing. “But yeah, you are a decent roommate.”

Zedaph mocked offense. “Decent? I am the best!”

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say.”

“I'm just glad you being Voidtaic and me being Worm Man didn't change things too much.” Zedaph said, though whispered the names just to be safe, which was good since the elevator doors finally opened and they were now in public.

“Yeah, I still love you even though you're a worm.” Xiryla joked, and Zedaph lit up.

“Even though I'm a worm? You'd still care for me? Feed me all the food scraps? Still give me little goodnight kisses?”

“Stop making it weird. And I don't even give you goodnight kisses now.”

“But you could!”

“Absolutely not!”

The two playfully argued the whole way back to their apartment, though it stopped as they started to pack. Or at the very least it mostly stopped, a few playful jabs spoken here or there to keep the work from becoming a chore. They managed to have everything packed by the next day, and a few strings were pulled to get the pair out of their lease early.

Moving into the new place felt a bit odd since Xisuma was there to help out, and the new place was owned by the hero association so they could all openly talk about their real work. They could also more openly use their powers, though for the most part it was just for Xisuma. Xiryla did get the chance to use theirs once, testing Zed's suggestion the day before. Without being near the lightswitch, they pressed their hand to a wall and managed to power the circuits. That got a smile from the other two since it was proof that Xiryla could indeed use their powers for things other than villainy.

By the end of the day, there were still boxes to unpack, but Xisuma had left for work, and there wasn't a rush for them to unpack their boxes as opposed to packing them. And it had been a long few days anyway. The two crashed on their new couch since the old one had belonged to the apartment. It definitely needed to be broken in, but they had time. Xiryla slung a leg over the arm of the couch they were next to, and Zedaph stretched himself out along the remaining space.

Despite everything— the new place, the identity reveal, all of it— it was still familiar. And that was just how Zed liked it. Different yet familiar.