Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I

Sometimes, when he looks at Hermes, he can't believe he took a random baby out of a cardboard box and decided to take care of them. Because honestly, who does that? Yes, he was reprimanded a lot by basically anyone who knew that he was Stratos (and even a couple of friends who didn't) however, he can't say he regrets it. 

He has a son now. 

He is a young, beautiful kid who now has two parents, many uncles and aunts, and many people who care about him. 

A young beautiful kid who happens also to be a shulker hybrid that he swore to protect with his life. That kid that brought him so much joy and stress at the same time. He would do anything for his kid, even revealing his identity. 

That kid was now his reason to try to enjoy life. He needs to be a great parent now. 

When you are a villain co parenting a kid with a hero the excuses can get tricky. It's not like Joel enjoys lying, of course not. It's just that the situation requires a lie. Because honestly, how could you justify disappearing for a couple of hours without any way of contact? His incredible excuse was to say that his phone died. When he arrived bruised to pick up Hermes from Sausage's house two hours late? He was collateral damage from a villain attack, which honestly was technically the truth.

However, sometimes the lies were a little bit more difficult.

The sound of the explosion rang in his ears. 

The rubble and ash were filling his vision, making it hard to distinguish anything in front of him. Luckily, he was fine. The explosion occurred in a few buildings next to him. 

“Stratos, are you there?” The voice of Watcher put him out of the initial shock.

“Yes, I'm fine. The explosion wasn’t near me” he said as he cleaned the ash from his visor “ what was that?”

“I honestly don't know” 

“Want me to go check?” Watcher's asked.

“I will distract the heroes while you go”

“Deal”

And then Sanctuary's punch hit directly to his face. Now, after all those years taking care of Hermes, Sausage ended up telling him his hero identity. He didn't share it with anyone, of course, he wasn't that kind of person. However, sometimes as Stratos, he wanted to just curse out his name, which wasn't possible of course . He may be a villain, but that was just his job. 

Now, that wasn't his main concern. His main concern at the moment was that Sausage was supposedly taking care of Hermes today, not fighting villains. To be fair, Hermes wasn't a baby anymore. He was a five year old, he just needed a bit of supervision to be sure he didn't poison himself by accident. Yet, his papá was supposed to take care of him and call him paranoid if you want, but he currently didn't know where his kid was or with who.

So, after gracefully blocking a few punches from Sanctuary he heard Watcher's voice on his head once again. 

“Hey Stratos, you might want to take a look at the place of the explosion”

“Why?” Joel answered out loud without paying attention to the weird looks Sanctuary gave him.

“Because it happened at Sausage's apartment complex” Watcher responded. 

Now, Joel never knew if Grian actually knew about Sausage's hero identity , because he never mentioned anything about his other identity. However, he knew that Sausage was a hero and Sausage was pretty close to Pearl and the bond that the siblings had was incredibly tight.  

Yet again that didn't matter at the moment. He was clearly focused on the part where the place that his son was supposed to be was completely blown up by an explosion. 

“Wasn't that whole apartment complex created for heroes?” Joel answered 

“Yeah, but I know you are a parent who is going to be worried for your kid so…” 

“Yes, you are right. I'm going”.

“I'm going to distract Sanctuary for you,” Watcher said. 

He knew his kid was supposed to be safe. They will prioritize the safety of a kid over themselves. That's something they do. Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling of his kid being in danger. 

He continued blocking Sanctuary's punches until Watcher finally arrived. 

“It was a pleasure playing with you but unfortunately I need to go, so I let you with my good friend Watcher” Joel said with a cocky smile as he started to get away.

“Wait! Don't run from our fight” before Sanctuary could follow him Watcher started throwing punches at him.

“Goodbye!” He shouted to Sanctuary teasingly.

“Hey! Don't run!” He managed to hear Sanctuary say before he was gone. 

Truth to be told , he knew he didn't have to worry. Hermes was in good hands, he was trying to force himself into understanding that. Yet, he couldn't keep himself calm. He didn't know where his kid was.

When he arrived at the apartment complex, he was expecting way more chaos. Of course, he couldn't come near them, they would think that he was the perpetrator of the attack and, honestly, he didn't want to deal with heroes when he was worrying about Hermes. 

So he did the most logical thing that he could think of, stalk the heroes in the shadows with the help of the rubble. Listen, his idea might sound crazy. However, it was the safer bet. He just wanted two things, to be sure that Hermes was safe and to be able to see with who he is . 

Sometimes, he thinks about telling Hermes everything about his job. He knows it's not healthy to hide that kind of information from his kid, but Hermes isn't at the age to hold that information on his own. Maybe in a few years, when Hermes is able to understand, he will finally tell him.

Chapter Text

II

When Hermes turned six, what Joel had been warned about happened. Little spots that looked like void covered Hermes' arms. He knew it was time to give his son a few answers. Let's be honest, he knows Hermes never thought Joel was his biological father. It was obvious and, to be honest, it was never hidden from him. On the first days of school when Hermes advanced to a new grade Joel was questioned by the teachers, it was logical and it gave him pleasure to know that Hermes' teachers cared about him. However, repeating the same questions over and over again on different days in slightly different ways to see if he would confess something was exhausting. Sometimes he even had to go so far as to ask for interference from Sausage or Grian to stop interrogating him. 

Back to the subject at hand, Void Vitiligo. Now, Void Vitiligo might not be a risk to Hermes, but to everyone else around him? End Hybrids were almost extinct in the Overworld. There were no more than a thousand recorded as still alive, information obtained from censuses thanks to Sausage's connections, there was no way of knowing if he was a risk to the others around him or not. 

Calling Scott for help was not something he expected to do often, especially given his lineage. The Smajor family was not a family you could call on for help without fear of future repercussions. The Smajor were kept in power for a reason, even now as the second most powerful family they were more feared than the first. You should never trust a Smajor no matter what situation you were in. To his good fortune, he was close friends with the eldest of the heirs. Scott was the type of person who avoided using his surname unless necessary. He hated pushy people no matter how much they pretended to be pushy to keep up appearances. Honestly, if you asked him at what point he became a close friend of Scott's he couldn't tell you. It was a transition that felt natural to stop being afraid to call him for help. Still, Joel knew he couldn't be too much. As much as he was his friend Scott was still a Smajor, he still felt he had to demand something in return if it was a favour he considered big. 

As Joel's luck would have it, taking Hermes in for a check-up was not a big favour for Scott. 
To be honest, he doesn't know where Scott takes Hermes for these ‘check-ups’. The Smajor family has many contacts, some more illegal and dangerous than others, so he doesn't feel empowered enough to demand the name of the contact or at least where he takes Hermes. He knows Scott would not risk Hermes unnecessarily. Truth be told, he likes to assume that the contact he is going to is a close friend or someone he has enough blackmail with to trust with a secret as big as Hermes' existence as a lab baby. 
Joel sometimes still couldn't process the fact that Hermes was a lab baby, especially because of what it would do to his genes. He knew the problems involved in being a lab baby, he had seen Pearl's rescues with children in labs. Those kids were always in trouble, after all they were chimera kids for a reason. 
Whenever Scott came to pick up Hermes there was something inside him that told him not to let him go, it was commonplace. Part of him still couldn't get over the fact that Scott was a Smajor and that it was a bad idea to leave Hermes with him, but he had to get over it. 

So it was that a six-year-old Hermes and his ‘Uncle Scott’ arrived at the door of the flat inhabited by three avian siblings whom Hermes also considered his uncles. 
"Aunt Pearl!" said Hermes as soon as he recognised the person who opened the door. 
"Hello Hermes" replied Pearl with a smile on her face as she saw the youngest before turning to Scott "I assume you're here to see Grian?"
"Yeah" said Scott “look at Hermes” little arms’.
Hermes at the mention of his spots showed off his arms, not letting go of his huge grin. 
"Oh, has the Void Vitiligo started showing up yet? We honestly expected it to take longer. Come in, I'm going to get Grian."
"Thanks."

"Hey Hermes" Grian said as soon as he saw the little guy "I already saw the spots Scott, is that why you came?"
"Yeah"
"I told you before, Hermes can't infect anyone. You know why."
"Contagious? Uncle Grian, am I sick?" Hermes asked doubtfully.
"Oh Hermes, I think it's time to have this conversation."

The Void Vitiligo is not contagious, or at least it is not currently. Advances in medicine have created more than Grian thought in relation to The Void Infection. After the first major epidemic following the fall of Evolution, a large portion of the Overworld's population succumbed to the disease. The younger hybrids survived, as their bodies were still willing to be modified with what will be needed to ensure survival. 
The human population was the hardest hit, their genes were not as adaptable as those of the hybrids, which did not allow them to generate antibodies as easily to the disease. After the human population was greatly reduced during the first wave of infection, much work was done to ensure the survival of the species. Humans took refuge and moved away from the hybrids, believing that they would be infected by beings who already possessed the antibodies and were asymptomatic. 
After the second wave of infection hit the human population, the species desperately sought help from the hybrids. The few remaining humans banded together to develop vaccines that would allow them to survive the disease. 
This was the first time humanity worked side by side with the hybrids, and it was the first step towards the hybrid rights we know today. 

The large number of antibodies that the majority of the population developed thanks to the vaccines that were created at the time allows that, although Void Vitiligo and Void Infection are very rare because they are diseases that mainly affect End hybrids, most people have a high tolerance to either disease. 

After the great revelation of Void Vitiligo to Hermes' little head, the little boy fell silent. It was to be expected, it's not every day that you find out you have an incurable disease that almost no one in the world has and that used to be fatal. To tell the truth, if they could have told Hermes nothing, he had no need to know about it. He was just a six year old boy with his life ahead of him, but the world was cruel and Hermes had to learn about Void Vitiligo at such a young age.
"Hey, everything is going to be okay" Grian said to Hermes as he smiled "I promise."
A shy smile sat on Hermes' lips. 
"Okay"
"Well, I should still give you a check up" Grian stated.
"Check up?" Herme asked. 
"Yeah, that doctor who does checkups on Void Vitiligo? It's me" Grian said, smiling. 

There were many reactions that Grian expected from Hermes when he took his Watcher form. Honestly, he didn't expect any really negative ones, after all, it wouldn't be the first time Hermes would see him in his Watcher form. And, if the time he saw him as a baby was anything to go by, he had no idea how he would react. 
Definitely, the last reaction he expects is the one Hermes had.
"You are Watcher?! That's so cool!" Hermes said as he started babbling about heroes and villains. 
And honestly? Grian couldn't contain his laughter. However, his laughter as Watcher sounded very different than as Grian. 
"You sound very strange uncle Grian" Hermes said with a pout.
Was it endearing that even know Hermes called him Uncle Grian? Of course it did. Would he admit it? Of course he wouldn't. 
"Hermes your papá is a hero and you like villains?"
"Well yeah!" Hermes seemed to stop and think for a second "but it's just that they are so cool! You are so cool! I mean my papá is cool too, but sometimes heroes are just boring. They have to mane rules!"
"Let me ive you a check Hermes"
"Okay!" Hermes said as he swung his little legs off the bed while he hummed a kids song.
Yeah, definitely Joel wouldn't have any problem telling Hermes about Stratos.

Chapter Text

III

When Hermes came home from school excited one day with the news that he could do a little research on some hero or villain Joel thought his cover was blown. Especially when little Shulker told him he wanted to do Stratos, to be honest, he didn't know if someone had influenced Hermes to want to do Stratos or if it was just his son's wish. 

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Hermes' teacher knew Sausage, or simply that all the teachers at the nearby schools shared project ideas for their students. Joel knew that Grian was among those teachers, and Grian loved to play with fire about his identity no matter who was around him. Despite this, Joel knew that Grian would not play with it if it meant revealing the identity of someone close to him or his family. Grian might be a lot of things, but he wasn't a loudmouth. 

That was what gave Joel peace of mind, it could be a simple coincidence that Hermes had decided to do his Stratos research instead of Mythical, he just hoped that Sausage didn't know about the assignment, because oh boy, Sausage loved theatrics. Despite what Joel would expect from Sausage when he became a father, he had no problem telling Hermes about the fact that he was a hero. Sausage knew that his life was often affected by his work and he didn't want Hermes to feel pushed aside because of it. Even in the beginning Sausage had taken the time to explain to Hermes all that was involved in him knowing the truth about his father's work and what he could and could not say, even going to the trouble of creating a fake story for him to tell when Hermes was asked about his father's work. 

Despite all that Sausage hoped his son would not follow in his footsteps as a hero, he wanted Hermes to have respect for heroes but he didn't want Hermes to suffer the same as he did as a hero. Sausage loved his job, he had told Joel that many times, yet sometimes he wished he could leave it all behind for a day without consequences. He knew he couldn't, but that didn't stop him from longing for a simpler life.

Vandal was a good teacher, even though Joel didn't like him so much now because of this project, he had only given them the basics. A short piece about the hero or villain with a description and why he or she was chosen. The man loved his students and he wanted them to understand the world around them, he understood that sometimes those that society considered heroes were considered villains by the government and it could only be an open secret that society supported them, especially if they were vigilantes. Sheriff was one of them, the government had several warrants for their arrest and the heroes had orders to prioritise their capture over that of lesser criminals. The heroes ignored them, of course, even they saw the vigilantes as neutral, even if they committed minor crimes, they simply scolded them and let them go. Many vigilantes were young people who did not have powers conspicuous enough for the hero associations and being vigilantes they just lived off the kindness of the civilians around them. 

Still, there were even villains who, although society knew they were dangerous, had a certain respect for them and did not report them. A clear example was Tek, who had committed several arson attacks on the homes of corrupt politicians, just for fun, in addition to his common crimes. Despite doing good for society, the whole society knew that arson was a serious crime. Being a Robin Hood for the people gave him respect, but did not prevent them from knowing that he was dangerous. 

There were also certain rumours of villains breaking into government centres to disappear information from hybrid shelters, those shelters that operated outside of the law to save children with hybrid traits that were often ‘contained’ by the government as dangerous. At times, rumours even spread that much of the information journalists obtained to uncover hybrid trafficking networks was obtained with the help of villains infiltrating those networks. 

While it is true that he knows which of these rumours are true and which are not, Joel can say that those actions are not the only ones that villains have done to help society because they do not have a contract that prevents them from getting involved. At times, Stratos was recruited along with other vigilantes and villains to complete secret missions that Pearl as a hero could not do.

Knowing that, Vandal allowed them to choose heroes or villains, kids had to know from a young age that the world wasn't just black and white. Scratch that, Joel still liked Vandal, even if he thought that Vandal was an allay hybrid who just didn't want to admit to being one.

He knew that Stratos had never been one of those villains categorised by the public as Robin Hood. He wasn't afraid to rob a bank just because the money wouldn't make ends meet, his moral compass didn't exist. He was not a monster though, he would never dare to rob small businesses. And also he had a kid know, he wasn't able to commit crimes freely as he wanted. He needed to be free so he could take care of Hermes
He had always done what he wanted with his identity as a villain, regardless of how society would judge him. 

It was very amusing for Joel to watch as Hermes started typing some searches related to him into his computer. He even indulged in a good laugh at the nonsense he was suspected of as Stratos. 
To be honest, Joel doesn't understand how people have the audacity to write baseless articles about villains. Unlike them, articles published about heroes had to follow certain criteria in order to stay published. 
Heroes do not get unscientific, unsubstantiated articles published, their reputations are sought after. If something were to happen that damaged their reputation, the media would not report it, and if they did, they would be reported or, in some cases, arrested. 

Sometimes what people said about Stratos made him laugh, the stuff some people invented about him was impressive to say the least. When people didn’t know villains’ powers they invented them, that was normal. Heck, even he had managed to find some crazy theories about Grian’s powers online, for some reason a lot of people seemed to believe that he was blind and had mind reading powers, but sometimes those ideas seemed more delusional than possible. There were some interesting internet forums trying to guess about him.

Stratos’ powers??

user-93r

Hey everyone! I’m trying to get info about the powers of a couple of villains for a school project and I was wondering if we know a lot about Stratos’ powers? Based on this clip there we can assume that he has at some degree of weather control powers as well as some thunder based powers and we know that he’s able to fly/levitate/float?? (shown in this clip ) Also!! He has been seen multiple times with Watcher so I assume he is powerful enough to be with him?.

Edit: thanks for all the info guys!!!!

user-91038

Hello! I also did some research about him a few months ago and a lot of good info about him was by this account . They have a lot of info about him. Also I’m pretty sure online you can find a clip of Sherrif saying that “maybe we work together because we are friends” or something like that. 

user-39riuo

Also!!! There’s a guy called Gona who has videos talking about a lot of villains and vigilantes. That's also a great way of getting info, he even contacted some reporters who were able to get some interviews of them.

user-4ui9hf

Also I’m pretty sure there are like 2 reporters who were able to get him on camera for a talk so that may help.

    user-93r

      Do you know the names of the reporters?

         user-4ui9hf

           Nope, but look it up like something like Stratos interviews or something like that.

user-u8j

Look up his name like Str4t0s on social media!! People normally share the clips under that!!

user-g8954

Heyyy!! If you still need the info I can give you a link with info I got a few months ago for fun! Dm me 

Honestly, the only good thing about this is that now he knows that he needs to be more careful with what he does as Stratos, because after following the recommendation of that user, oh boy, there’s thousands of clips of him doing a lot of stuff.

Maybe after all, when he eventually tells Hermes about Stratos he can laugh with him about the dumb rumours that he put on his homework.