Chapter Text
Exhaustion sat heavy on your bones, but you hardly registered it. You were knee-deep in forums and archives, searching for an article about some random hero that their client swore existed. It was easy to find allusions to the document, but finding it itself? Not even the Internet Archive had a copy. You had triple-checked.
You were tempted to tell your client that it had been completely wiped, or didn’t exist in the first place, but you were getting paid just enough that you wanted to keep looking.
A Discord alert played through your headphones.
lavendereyes > are you still awake or did you leave your computer on again
You hesitated.
sunnydays > i’m awake
lavendereyes > why are you still awake
sunnydays > why are you <3
lavendereyes > insomnia, but i know you don’t have that
sunnydays > maybe i do…… you don’t know me……
lavendereyes > lmao
lavendereyes > go to bed dumbass
sunnydays > im working on something
lavendereyes > and it’s not gonna disappear overnight
You sighed, leaning back from your computer. You’d been friends with lavendereyes, or Lav, for about five months. And that was a long time, comparatively. You had joked that he was going to overtake your longest online friendship soon. You liked him a lot, but something in the back of your brain itched. A fear gnawing at you, whispering that soon you’d slip up and piss him off and he’d leave you, too.
So you were as careful as you could be.
sunnydays > …alright. good night
lavendereyes > gn, sunny
You shut down your computer and curled up in bed. It was the start of April, but starting to warm up, and your fan quietly whirred through the room. Tiny fairy lights twinkled above you. Only a few cars passed below your window, and the sky was dark. All in all, it should be perfect conditions to sleep. Still, worries dragged at your mind, twisting and whirling and making you toss and turn. Eventually, though, you must have nodded off.
Morning came sooner than you would have liked. Your alarm buzzed through your room, and you dragged yourself out of bed to shut the unwanted noise off. You stretched, blinking away sleep, before dressing in your school uniform for the day. You scrolled through social media idly as you made breakfast.
lavendereyes > morning
sunnydays > good morning
sunnydays > back to school :frown:
sunnydays > you were trying to get into a top school, yeah?
sunnydays > did you pass?
lavendereyes > no
sunnydays > aw shit that sucks :/
lavendereyes > i got in their gen ed program though
sunnydays > oh thats good ig
lavendereyes > their exam is rigged against certain quirk types
sunnydays > ew
sunnydays > give me the name
lavendereyes > lol
lavendereyes > its fine
sunnydays > well. if you need anything
lavendereyes > yeah i’ll get you
lavendereyes > resident master hacker
sunnydays > all information i use is publicly available!
lavendereyes > i’m suuure
lavendereyes > heading onto the train now, talk later
sunnyeyes > bye
You slipped your phone in your backpack and grabbed your lunch before heading out the door. You unhooked your bike from the rack and hopped on, driving through the winding streets to your new high school. You had already been to orientation, but nerves still wound through you. What would your new classmates be like? Would they act oddly with a foreigner? You had lived here for six years already, but sometimes people acted like you hadn’t.
It ended up fine. You were awkward, but so was everyone. It was your first year of high school. Everyone was worried about their first impressions and settling in. You hadn’t made any friends yet, but you expected within a few days you would have one or two or possibly settle in the back of a group of kids.
You spent time in between classes on the forums, answering questions and providing relevant articles. Your job – well, hobby that occasionally gave them money – whatever you wanted to call it, was finding information. Rabbit holes had given you a lot of resources, and when you started a blog to ramble about your findings, people had been interested. Due to popular demand and your own interest, you had slowly shifted towards heroes and villains research. You were careful to never take a stance. Villains had major problems most of the time, obviously, but heroes weren’t all sunshine and rainbows either. Controversies, civilian casualties, generally caring more about the rankings and money than saving people.
Nowadays, battles between heroes and villains felt more like a show than anything.
One evening, you were online on Discord. You had made a server once your following had gotten big enough, and it hovered at about a hundred members. You were typing a response to someone about Quirk discrimination, when a couple pings came from the real-events chat. You frowned, finished your message, and checked the chat.
blooming-sparks > guys did you see the news
yuordevil > @sunnydays sorry for pinging you but you shoul;d see this
yuordevil > [link]
the.yapperrrr > holy shit??
buzzbuzzbuzz > i thought ua was supposed to be secure :sob: :sob:
miri11 > @sunnydays you seeing this shit
You frowned. You clicked on the link, which led to a news channel – and your eyes widened. UA had been attacked.
You messaged back in chat to confirm that you had seen and were investigating, before proceeding to do exactly that. The attack had been performed by what the news called ‘The League of Villains,’ – God you hoped that wasn’t what they called themselves – and there was… no other information. The police and UA were being incredibly secretive about it, which, fair, but irritating. You had nothing to work with. You admitted as such to the server, to the members’ disappointment. Hopefully more information would come out.
Two weeks later, an interesting email arrived.
From: [email protected]
[No Subject]
You find information, yeah? Articles and whatever?
You narrowed your eyes at the email address. It could be a coincidence. But it might not be.
From: [email protected]
[Re: No Subject]
Ha, ha. Funny email address. But yeah, I do. Not for free, though
You screenshotted the email and sent it to Lav.
lavendereyes > wtf why are they using that email lol
sunnydays > do you think theyre real or
lavendereyes > lmao?? no of course not. why would they email with that email
sunnydays > right right lol
From: [email protected]
[Re: Re: No Subject]
I just forgot to change my default email, fuck off. Yes, I’ll pay you if you find anything interesting. Look into Endeavor.
You frowned. The number two hero? Why?
sunnydays > [image]
sunnydays > should i do it lol
lavendereyes > i mean why not
lavendereyes > theyre either making things up or there really is something there
sunnydays > true
sunnydays > okay brb
A half hour later, an interesting story had started to form. Endeavor was a controversial hero already – some complaining he was too ruthless, others arguing that that was what made him a good hero – but there was more to it. Rumors about his homelife, and a dead son in a forest fire.
From: [email protected]
[Re: Re: Re: No Subject]
I found some things. Let me know + send payment if you want anything written.
[link] [link] [link] [link] [link]
From: [email protected]
[Re: Re: Re: Re: No Subject]
Nah. Just checking. Thanks
Well. That was thirty minutes wasted. Alright, then.
lavendereyes > oh it definitely cant be the real lov lol
sunnydays > ?
lavendereyes > theres an attack by them like rn
lavendereyes > [link]
You followed the link to a live stream, where someone with shaky hands trying to record the attack. They narrated in a low voice, shuffling around in their hiding place. You squinted at the figures, taking note of any indicators of their Quirks, appearances, and so on. In another window, you searched for any other videos or photos. You built up a small profile for the villains, but there still wasn’t a lot of information. Even forums and social media hadn’t figured much out – though there was an lovupdates Twitter that you quickly followed out of curiosity.
They didn’t seem to have a pattern to their attacks. One seemed to be able to shapeshift, another had fire, a third had clones, and so on. You started looking for individual attacks by each member – they hadn’t always been a League, and they seemed too prepared to have just started crimes – and a Discord notification appeared.
lavendereyes > sun? you ok?
sunnydays > uh. sorry. i’m fine
sunnydays > impulsive research
lavendereyes > anything interesting?
sunnydays > maybe
lavendereyes > oh?
You tabbed back to your research and frowned at the bare profiles. There still wasn’t much.
sunnydays > we’ll see