Chapter Text
One Week Ago…
Breathe, Eduardo, breathe.
He was okay, it was just some random fight between- What? A villain, a superhero? Right outside his window, while he was home alone babysitting? And God, Val was hugging his arm so tight a far off part of his brain was stressing for his circulation.
“Ed-”
“Please, Val.” He murmured, “Don't talk.”
He was probably scaring her. His hurried tone was fragile when it came to facing this reality, but right now it was all he could do to let her squeeze as tight as she wanted to.
Everything was too loud to process, sounds came in to invade his ears from all directions, all frequencies, all volumes, it all almost made him feel like the world was being ripped apart in its seams.
“Hey! Seriously, stop! You're going to demolish this entire complex!” Moon Girl reasoned.
Crying.
“While that would be fun?” The villain replied-
Bang.
“Though, I think you’re nice enough to take all of the blame.”
Clash.
“After all, this did happen, on…”
Scream.
“Your watch.”
Clatter.
“It's honestly sad to think you'll never get the chance to-” The villain's speech froze midair, as a body collided with the newly as of this fight caved in wall…
Right outside the closet, and the thin doors between Eduardo and Val, was a fight of the century Eduardo would pay to miss.
He watched the hero desperately fight and lose against her enemy through the blinds, horrified, as his living room was destroyed and reduced to shreds.
“Are there and civilians in this apartment?” Moon Girl called, dodging a punch that was clearly too close for comfort to her face.
Val squirmed as Eduardo lightly covered her mouth, shaking his head in the hopes that her six year old brain would somehow get the message:
‘Don't… Don't even try it.’
“If you're here, come out-” Moon girl gave an upward kick to what Eduardo guessed was the cloaked villain’s groin.
The villain grabbed her shoulders, and as she shook them off she started again.
“Please, you need protection, and I can't give it to you if-”
Pinned.
Moon Girl was pinned. To the ground.
Eduardo didn't know anything, suddenly his entire brain was blank and running out of thoughts, ideas, or anything else helpful at all.
His niece looked up at him with wide and fearful eyes, and it felt like her pupils themselves were almost shaking.
Just one vague feeling in the back of his brain, poking, stabbing for him to listen, it was physically painful not to. To go against the little common sense he had.
He needed to help.
“Stay here, okay Val? Stay here, nomatter what.”
“N-“
He covered her mouth again.
“Please, Val, just… Quiet. Please. Stay here, don’t come out, don’t move, don’t scream. This matters more than anything else I’ve ever told you, okay?”
She nodded, shaking more than before today he would have ever thought possible. He removed his hand, and this time, she bit her lip to keep silent.
He looked around frantically, trying to think of something to hide his face, something that wouldn't put him or Val in more danger than they were already in.
His eyes landed on the Ghostface mask from last year's Halloween, the one Lunella Lafayette had commented on as, ‘Too fake to scare anyone,’ Right before flinching for the rest of the day whenever he walked into the room.
She'd also been the one to suggest that Halloween costume.
To think, he'd never have thought he'd save moon girl with the help of Lunella Lafayette. He'd thank her later.
He frantically pulled it on, and burst out of the closet, making sure Val was hidden from view, before closing it again.
“Hey! Get away from her!” He shouted, grabbing the offender around the neck with his arms, “MG,” He started again as he locked them firmly into place, just enough room for them to breathe, “Do you remember how to get out of a pin? I'm loosening their strength, but-”
“I don't know how!” Moon Girl's voice was shrill, and panicked.
“Oh- Okay, you're just going to have to use your legs against their midsection to push them away, and-”
“I'm fine, whoever you are, just hide!”
“I was hiding, but the whole entire complex could come down! Seriously MG, listen!”
“You need to hide!”
“And you need to listen-”
Suddenly, his entire body weight shifted against his will. What was happening? He wasn't that strong or heavy but it should have been enough to at least-
The villain.
The villain was lifting him off, without even lifting a finger. He struggled relentlessly.
Without thinking, he pushed his foot away diagonally into the villlain’s stomach for Moon Girl, as a last ditch effort.
They fell back, off of Moon Girl, and onto the floor. He didn't see the ribbon of green light travel shooting past for the closet.
Moon Girl put them swiftly in a water bubble, as Eduardo watched.
Then, she did something un called for.
She turned to stare at him, or rather, at least it seemed like she was almost glaring at him.
“H-Hey MG! I… I guess it's nice to meet you?”
“What's your name?” She suddenly questioned.
“My name?”
“Yes.”
“Well, problem is I got the mask to kinda hide that.”
“A plastic scream mask is the best you can do?”
“Hold on, who saved who's butt here? It wasn't the one with all the fancy tech.”
Moon Girl scoffed. “Alright weirdo - boy, you may have some self defense tricks, but that doesn't change the fact that-”
He couldn't help but snicker.
“Weirdo boy? Seriously? What are you, nine?”
“I'm almost fourte-” She rushed to cover her mouth, eyes wide and popping out of her skull, like that would stop her from saying what she'd already admitted.
He pursed his lips in a mix of surprise, and trying to not reveal anything personal at all. But if she was almost fourteen, then that meant…
She was his age?
How could she go out a full fledged super hero, at thirteen, and most importantly?
Clearly self trained?
“You need to leave, MG. And learn some new fighting skills when you have the time too, all alright? Everyone would have been in a lot of trouble if they-”
“If you hadn't ‘Saved the day?’”
“No, if you, the protector, hadn't gotten lucky and had someone in the apartment you wrecked know actual fighting? You're a hero, MG, and you're saving a lot of folks, I get it! But maybe you should try to be a bit more reliable when it comes to the protection part. The damage to this apartment alone could have killed a lot of people!”
He gestured to the now scattered sofa. “What if someone was hiding under there? They wouldn’t just come out because you asked them to. And if they don’t speak English? Then what? They don’t know who you are or if you're the villain too.”
Moon Girl scoffed. “What? Seriously? Some random kid with a cheap mask and basic fighting skills is telling me, the hero, to back out of the job she's been crushing for almost a year?”
“What? No, of course not! I'm just saying you can't always just kill 'em' with tech when it comes to fighting. At least take some classes, or something!”
Moon Girl rolled her digital eyes, before promptly gesturing out the window for her dinosaur to take out the villain bubble, and flying away.
Eduardo watched her for only a second, before rushing to the closet the moment she, her opponent, and her t-rex were gone.
Val was curled up in a ball, sobbing like there was no tomorrow. “Hey- Hey, Val.” He started, “We're okay, ‘right? You know everything is gonna keep being okay, because- Mom! Mom is gonna be home soon.”
Val looked up. “Mine or yours?”
“Both?”
Val bit her lip, tight. “Who was that?” She asked, looking like she wanted to have a rare occurrence for her: A hug.
“I- Don't know. But um… You want a hug, Val?”
She froze, and then proceeded to nod, so slowly she could have been beaten by a sloth in speed.
“Yeah, c’mere.” He offered a hand, and she took it, before hugging him so tight he almost didn’t breathe for fear of breaking it.
“You’re really brave, Uncle Eddy.”
“Yeah? I think you’re braver. I wouldn’t have been able to keep you safe if you weren’t quiet.”
“I think we’re both brave.”
“Yeah… I think I can agree to that.”
Val sniffled, and Eduardo did his best not to shake as he pulled away from their hug, to help her stand up.
“Everyone will be home as soon as they can, okay Val?”
“I’m starving.”
“Yeah, well, the kitchen’s not cooking anything- I’ve been saving up, and… You want some Ramen, Val? We can go to your favorite spot.”
“What are you saving for?”
“Nothing more important than you.”
Val paused, considering. “‘Kay Eddie, let’s go.”
-
“So, Lu… You’re saying ghostface, saved you?”
“No, of course not, Case! That jerk, he- He- He made the fight even more risky! And then he had the catastrophic nerve to tell me to learn how to fight? I do just fine!”
“Yeah, but Lu… These villains, they keep getting worse. A lot worse. Maybe… Maybe you should try to, I don’t know, take lessons? One of these days, watching online videos and practicing by trial and error isn’t gonna cut it, and… I don’t know who can help you then.”
“I don’t need help, Case! I’m doing just fine, and I’ll keep doing it. I just need-“
He stomach rudely interrupted her with a growl louder than police sirens.
“I need food, apparently.” She finished, glancing at Casey.
“Fine, Lunella. Just, think about it, please?”
“I’ll do that, but only if you check out that old ramen place with me? Didn’t your cousin say it was the best she’d had since Tokyo?”
“Ooh, yeah! I’ll go get my wallet!”