Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ParrotX2’s life literally sucks, even he doesn’t know how badly his past life fucked up to give him the current life he has now. He’s barely surviving, his meals ninety percent of the time consists of instant noodles and actually, pretty much nothing else.

 

Sometimes cereal if he was lucky or a sandwich, but to him, instant noodles were their own food group.

 

Next, his job is quite literally in the middle of a battleground. Vivian’s coffee shop is quite literally prone to more attacks than anywhere else.

 

He has evacuated the premises of the coffee shop more times than he could count and he’s seen more supervillains than anyone who has a stable 9 to 5 will.

 

Oh and that’s not even scraping the edges on where he lives. His flat is in the dingiest, most disgusting, most worn down building you will ever lay your eyes on. The way home however? Even worse, the alley he takes home is absolutely filthy.

 

Parrot’s probably seen everything there is to see, common robberies, passing vigilantes who need a place to heal, rats, prostitutes out in the street, the occasional dead body, rats, drug dealers, rats, racoons, rats, rats, oh and did he mention rats?

 

It’s disgusting and unsafe to live in and you would probably ask “How does someone live like this?” Well, to answer that question. They don’t, the word that you’re looking for is survive, and Parrot? He does one heck of a job at it.

 

Honestly, Parrot expected the rest of his years to follow suit, barely holding on to life until the day he died. But considering how things were going, his death might not be very far. Especially how the events of today would turn out.

 

He was wiping down the counter after a busy afternoon, or at least, by the coffeeshop’s standards. There weren’t that many but he was pretty much the only employee around, of course he was. Who in their right minds would want to risk their life for a job? Entering this place was a death wish on its own let alone work here.

 

Sometimes there would be someone suicidal who took the job because they wanted to die or whatever, but they’d leave after the first month, Parrot’s been the longest person to work here as a matter of fact, the record of eight months.

 

Sometimes people come in, give him a pitying look. Ask how he manages to work here, but they leave before he can give his answer.

 

Pretty much the only good thing about this job is that he can do whatever he wants, it’s not like they can fire him, they’re already understaffed and by understaffed, he’s basically the only one here. But the cons totally overshadow the pros.

 

Parrot was about to take his lunch break when suddenly, the door opened. Unless it was rush hour, no one really ever came in. So this was a slight surprise to the quarter avion. He was about to take his apron off but he figured he could take one more order before taking his lunch. Besides, the more customers he serves, the more he gets paid.

 

“Oh welcome to Vivian’s cafe, what wou-” Parrot got caught off guard when he looked up.

 

A tall and slender man wearing a black and red clown costume stood at the doorway. Decked in red jewels that Parrot could never dream of wearing, horns on the side of his mask, green and orange heart shaped eyes.

 

Parrot gaped, he knew this face, or rather mask, all too well.

 

This was Assassin, or Clown. Whatever you fancy to call him, the deadliest villain in Lifesteal was currently standing in his doorway, slightly injured and quite literally, in broad daylight. Parrot stood still, unsure of what to do.

 

He’s seen villains, well of course he has. He lives in the battleground that is Vivian’s cafe. But he’s never actually seen one up close, he always evacuates before anything really happens. So you couldn’t really blame him for being surprised.

 

Parrot realized this wasn’t anything new to him. So it should be fine if he treated this murder machine like any old customer right?

 

“Um, what would you like to order?” He said, a little quieter than he would’ve liked but hey, he was talking to the number one villain, who wouldn’t be a little scared.

 

A soft chuckle was heard from the other man’s mask. Parrot froze, goosebumps rising but he stayed calm.

 

“You know, if someone normal saw the number one villain in such a vulnerable state, their first action probably wouldn’t be to ask their preference of coffee.” Assassin said mockingly.

 

At those words, Parrot took a closer look at the villain in front of him. Sure as he said, Clown looked to be in a much worse state than when Parrot first looked at him.

 

He was bleeding. Though it was hard to see, there were cuts and bruises. His costume looked extremely worn down from fighting or whatever.

 

But no matter how injured Assassin was, Parrot was sure he could still get his ass kicked if he tried to do anything that wasn’t to the other man’s liking.

 

“Well a customer’s a customer, no matter who you are.” Parrot said absentmindedly, trying not to take notice of the very obvious eyes staring into the back of his soul. His hand shook as he held the towel as he tried to clean the counters.

 

“Aren’t you worried I’m going to kill you?” Assassin asked, even though he was wearing a mask Parrot was sure those interested eyes were stabbing into the very depths of his brain.

 

Parrot shook his head, “Bro, to be honest, dying to you personally would probably be more honorable than the way I was probably going to go.” He said, washing his hands.

 

Clown seemed to pause for a moment, thinking about Parrot’s answer. They stayed in silence for a while. Parrot was hoping no superhero would take notice of the very obvious clown in his coffeeshop. He was about to say something until Clown cut him off.

 

“What do you mean by that?” He asked curiously, sitting on the chairs and Parrot cringed. He was going to have to clean the bloodstains left by Clown.

 

“Bro, I literally work in the worst place to work at. I’m probably going to be stuck in the middle of some sort of, I don't know, battle between heroes and villains and then I’ll die because I was just unfortunately caught in the crossfire. Then they’ll cover up my death and my name will probably never be spoken again” Parrot mused.

 

Clownpierce chuckled softly. “You seem to be very aware of how you’re going to die.”

 

“Yeah, well, thinking about my inevitable death brings me greater entertainment than working all of the shifts at this coffeeshop.” He retorted sarcastically.

 

“Hey, are you fond of superheroes?” Clown asked.

 

“No.”

 

Honestly Parrot might’ve only said that to not anger Clown, but he knew that he meant what he said. Heroes, as great as people make them out to be, weren’t totally innocent.

 

They still beat people up and sometimes kill people, in fact. His parents were killed by superheroes many years ago. So he’s held much resentment for them since.

 

But that doesn’t stop him from being afraid of them, the hero’s committee holds more power than the government. So fearing heroes and villains have become like second nature to him.

 

Clown just looked at him with surprise. “Huh, I thought all civilians love heroes. Guess not.” He said,

 

Parrot shook his head, “They’ve covered up far too many deaths, and, I’m not saying villains are any better. I’m saying that at least they’re honest about the people they kill.” Parrot said. But he shut up right after.

 

But Clown didn’t exactly look mad? Well not that he could show it, he was wearing a mask, but his movements felt normal at least.

 

“Well, that’s nice to hear from a civilian.”

 

and they stared at each other in pure silence. Parrot was going to say something until Clown cut him off.

 

“Do you have a medkit?” The man asked, Parrot stopped dead in his tracks.

 

His mind whirling to see what he should. If he gave Clown a medkit and it just so happened that someone saw this interaction, Parrot could be in serious trouble.

 

He could be a potential assist for a villain and that would either lead to him going to jail or something.

 

But if he didn’t, Clown would probably kill him and get the medkit regardless. Either way, he was surely fucked

 

As Parrot stood still, he noticed Clown was getting impatient. So he didn’t have much time to think before Assassin ran out of patience and sliced his head clean off or throw him like he was a volleyball or something.

 

“It wouldn’t hurt for me to give him a medkit right? In any case, I can just tell the authorities that he threatened me and I had no choice. Right, I’m good at making excuses, It’s all I ever do anyways.” Parrot thought, then he went into the storage area, slower than he would’ve liked.

 

Although it was called the storage area, it was pretty much a breakroom for the very few workers, and by few, meant basically him and whoever suicidal fuck was in that month.

 

The place was small and smelled of soggy sandwiches and instant ramen.

 

Parrot went over to a cardboard box and grabbed a dusty medkit that looked as if it hadn’t been in use for the past five hundred years or something.

 

He opened it cautiously, it was filled with bandages and rubbing alcohol and whatever was supposed to be in a medkit. Parrot was unsure if things like this had expiration dates but it should be fine.

 

Well, it was required by law to change medkits every year, but then again, there were also laws for safety of workers and they haven’t really been doing that.

 

Honestly this place should really change locations, being here was a safety hazard on its own.

 

Parrot walked out of the storage room with trembling fingers on the handles of the medkit and handed it over to the Assassin.

 

Clown took the medkit and started taking out the items inside the medkit with utmost care. Parrot had never seen Clown handle things so delicately.

 

Well that’s probably because Parrot’s only ever seen the man bodyslam and cut people with his scythe.

 

If Parrot never heard of the man, he would’ve thought Clown was the most gentle man on earth. But alas, the number one villain, is a villain for a reason.

 

Clownpierce paused as he looked at the labels but Parrot guessed they were to his standards and he looked as if he was going to heal himself here.

 

Parrot, not wanting to have the threat of knowing Assassin's identity looming over his head, spoke up.

 

“Dude, if you’re going to bandage yourself, do it in the break- I mean storage area.” Parrot said, taking his apron off. He felt himself be torn apart by the other man's eyes for the second- third, whatever time it’s been.

 

But surprisingly enough, instead of Parrot having his head sliced right then and there. Clown just stood up and obediently walked to the breakroom holding the medkit.

 

When Parrot heard the familiar shut of the doors and the click of the doors locking. He could finally breathe a sight of relief.

 

“That… Was easy, huh. Guess all people tend to not be in their right minds when they’re injured, then again, that guy never was in his right mind,” Parrot thought as he went to eat his lunch on one of the stools, because well. The breakroom was occupied.

 

His lunch was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he meal prepped these for lunch. The only thing he ever really looked forward to, it was nice to have something sweet after instant noodles every day.

 

He was about to grab a cup of water until the door opened.

 

“Not again.” Parrot thought as he placed away his lunch, he’ll have to finish it later, after he finishes talking to this customer.

 

“Welcome to Vivian’s cafe, what would you like to order?” Parrot muttered, putting on his apron for the second time that day.

 

The red apron strikingly different against his green wings. He turned around, expecting a random civilian. Perhaps someone who just moved.

 

But as he stared at the woman in front of him, wearing a pink mask and rose thorns covering up her arms pretending to be sleeves, only one thought plagued Parrot’s mind

 

“Oh not this again.”

 

Parrot clenched his fists as he stared at the hero in front of him. Thorn wasn’t the strongest hero around, but she was a force to be reckoned with. If Clown wasn’t injured, she’d be screwed, but with the way Assassin was injured at the moment, Parrot wasn’t sure how the ending would be.

 

But then again, either way. It probably wouldn’t end well for him.

 

If he told Thorn about Clown and she lost. Clown would definitely kill him for trying to betray him. But if Thorn did somehow win, he’d probably go to jail for assistance in trying to help a villain. So his best course of action was making sure Thorn didn’t know that the man inside the breakroom was the number one villain.

 

“Hello, um, are you the only one working here?” She asked.

 

This place gave itself quite the reputation a few years back for being the only building that hasn’t been destroyed in the left quarter of Lifesteal despite the amount of villain and hero fights that took place there, that’s actually the reason why Vivian’s coffee shop gets any customers anyways.

 

Parrot nodded. “Are you going to order anything bro?” He asked, trying to keep his voice neutral despite the flood of emotions waiting to burst through.

 

Thorn shook her head, and Parrot shrugged, pretending as if he was none the wiser of the real reason she was here.

 

“Have you seen a villain around here by any chance?” Thorn asked.

 

she obviously looked like she didn’t want to scare him. So that was what he was going to manipulate, he was going to become the perfect example of a terrified civilian.

 

“A villain? Dude, another one? I thought we weren’t going to have to deal with another one this month, sorry bro I have to go. I can’t be here any longer.” Parrot said.

 

Thorn’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry, but this is important, but have you seen someone wearing a clown costume?”

 

Parrot tried his best to look mortified. “Clownpierce, bro what is this? I seriously can’t get one day off, sorry no I haven't. I'm going to close up shop early, if there’s been a villain sighting, everyone has to evacuate, it’s proper protocol, sorry Thorn.” He said, quickly taking his apron off.

 

“No, you’ll be fine, Assassin’s injured, he probably won’t be able to take down any citizens, you’ll be safe. Especially because I’m here.” Thorn said cautiously.

 

“Sorry, can’t take any chances, and I just said no, if I did I would’ve told you dude.” Parrot said, acting as if he was rushing to close down shop.

 

Thorn shook her head in defeat. “Well, if you see anything please just scream, we’ll have people stationed around the left quarter, we might just finally close in on him.” She said hopefully

 

“Well bro, good luck, I really hope you do, left quarter can finally rest with one less villain off its back.”

 

Thorn nodded, slightly hesitant as if not to scare him. She looked as if she wanted to say more but she then left right after, as if to let him close down shop in peace. Parrot wasn’t that bothered closing down shop as a matter of fact.

Business owners are legally required to pay their workers how they normally would when there’s a villain sighting, and judging by the man inside the breakroom. Parrot was sure he could get away with closing shop up.

 

He took his apron off AGAIN, and was about to change the sign on the door to ‘closed’. The back door opened.

 

Parrot froze. “Am I going to die, honestly. It’s fine, I’m not that attached to life anyways.”

 

He tried to make up reasons why Clown would kill someone who saved his life. Not really, but it should make up a good enough excuse. But he was trying to not turn himself.

 

“You didn’t rat me out.” Clown said, and Parrot breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, if he played his cards right, Clown should leave him alone and let him live his miserable life.

 

“Well, it’d do me no good would it.” He said, slightly hesitant.

 

Clown seemed to take that for an answer thankfully. Parrot was about to leave the shop himself, he didn’t want to be dragged into whatever mess Clown had going on. He was probably going to go out to buy a cup of noodles and go home or something.

 

“How much should I pay you?” Clown asked.

 

Parrot wasn’t sure what he meant, he didn’t really do anything but let Clown go inside his breakroom and bandage himself up. Parrot was just going to say nothing and then go on his not so merry way. But he figured this could be a way to get some extra cash.

“As much as you think I should be paid.”

 

That was a decent answer, if Clown decided he should be paid a dollar or a heart, it wouldn’t be Parrot’s idea. Plus, being paid more is something Parrot would welcome with open arms.

 

“What’s your paypal?” Clown asked, his voice was calm.

 

He handed over his phone obediently, it was pretty old but well taken care of. He only ever used it for calls or whenever he wanted to doomscroll after attacks. He wasn’t going to deny the number one villain anything.

 

They stayed in silence for a few more minutes until Parrot’s phone was handed back to him.

 

“If a hero asks you anything, nothing happened here.” Clown threatened, and then he went back to the breakroom. Probably going to go use the backdoor or something.

 

“Okay!” Parrot said, after he knew Clown had left. He dropped himself on one of the chairs and breathed out a sigh.

 

“Oh my god.” He muttered, putting his hands on his head. He didn’t know how to respond to this, but he’ll be fine. He stood up and finally closed up shop. As long as he doesn't get dragged into meeting another villain, he should be fine.

 

He took a heavy breath of relief and walked out of the shop.

Chapter Text

It was only when Parrot arrived home where he finally took in everything that happened earlier that day. He had just broken so many laws, he was so screwed if anyone found out about what he just did.

 

He fell to the ground when he closed the door, His legs finally decided they were done pretending to be reliable. After realising he had just let Clown patch himself up,

 

Thankfully, Clown didn’t look like he was going to tell anyone anything, not that the Assassin could tell the heroes anything anyways.that alone gave Parrot a tiny bit of comfort.

 

If his life went the correct way, he would never see face to face with another villain or hero, or even vigilante.

 

He could live his miserable life in peace and die in the same way, that sounded nice. Well, nice enough, At least, in the way Parrot ever allowed things to sound nice..

 

But then again, life never did go the correct way for him.

 

But what was the chance he’d meet another villain on his doorstep? Seriously, once is a coincidence, twice is well. Something’s definitely going on.

 

Parrot’s flat wasn’t very nice, no that was an overstatement, Parrot’s flat was filthy.

 

He tried to keep it clean as best as he could, but you can only do so much for an apartment that had the rent of four hundred a month and didn’t care if you were a minor.

 

There was mold on the walls and floor, the thrifted couch had scratch marks and sagged in all the wrong ways, the carpet looked as if it had been there for a hundred years, honestly. Parrot held absolutely zero affection for this place.

 

The only good thing was the cost compared to his payment. Well, good was a cutting a little close, but Parrot could let it slide.

 

Vivian’s coffee shop paid him around nine dollars an hour for six hours so that basically meant he was making about a thousand six hundred a month which left him about one thousand two hundred after rent.

 

If you count the water bill, heating, electricity, health insurance, transport and five hundred that went to savings for college, he’d have about forty dollars left, which he’ll put in a separate savings account.

 

So he basically had no money for things he wanted whether it be snacks or perhaps some new clothes, but taking a nice walk or preening his wings in complete silence substituted in a fucked up way.

 

If Clown paid him thirty for his ignorance, he could probably pay his heating bills, and would have more money to save for unexpected situations like medical costs, although he had health insurance, it sure wouldn’t pay for everything.

 

He took off his clothes and walked into the shower. Today was a long day, despite it only being two in the afternoon.

 

Time had such a peculiar way of folding into him, stretching the boring hours and shrinking the good ones until he couldn’t tell what kind of day it was.

 

He shivered as the hot water touched his wings, he hated that part of him the most, he had wings, but he could never use them.

 

It still affected his entire life like when he was sleeping, showering and getting dressed. Doorways or even Bus rides.

 

His wings were just there, annoying and useless. Parrot always wished he was at least half avion so he could fly and waste less money on transport.

 

Whenever he thought he could stop remembering them, they came to pester him at the worst times possible.

 

But alas, things never worked out for him and Parrot left the shower wearing whatever he could find in his flat. He rubbed at his hair with a towel that looked like it had seen better days.

 

He took out his phone because he heard the familiar ding of a notification and nearly dropped it when he saw what the notification entailed. His hands shook as he read the numbers.

 

“Four… Four thousand dollars?” He muttered, that was more than two months of work, he could buy groceries, save more for college. He could buy proper cleaning products, this was amazing. Did Clown mistype? Maybe his finger slipped. Gosh, rich people were insane.

 

Parrot wasted no time, if Clown sent him four thousand, then he was going to put it to good use, he took out a piece of paper and got ready to budget.

 

When you live in left quarter, spending your money carelessly was a luxury no one could afford.

 

By the time he was done, the sky had darkened considerably and Parrot had a grin on his face, the first in a while.

 

He could pay four months worth of rent, heating, water and electricity and still have about two thousand left for groceries, savings, perhaps even a small treat and Parrot was just simply so happy to have money to rely on.

 

If he was going to be paid this much, then he’d be glad to ignore villains inside his shop for the weeks to come. He wouldn’t even care if Clown returned to his shop for weeks or maybe even months.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

Unfortunately, Parrot would not see another villain inside his coffee shop that week, or the week after as a matter of fact but his spirits didn’t dampen.

 

He had enough money to buy real groceries for the next few months. Like actually green vegetables and bread and cheese instead of the same old instant ramen.

 

Pay his bills on time and still have money left over to save and buy whatever he liked.

 

He’s even become slightly more bearable to customers, money does change him. For the better? Not really, but at least he doesn’t show complete hate towards most of the customers.

 

He’s even smiled at a few of the nice ones. You know, like the ones who tipped generously and the ones who ordered fast and had simple orders. Oh but he was still pretty rude to the ones who held up the line.

 

After rush hour, he was cleaning the cups and listening to whatever was playing that day.

 

The beat was catchy, Parrot guessed. But the speaker quality was horrible, Parrot had a hard time trying to hear the lyrics.

 

Still it was better than nothing.

 

He had eaten a big enough breakfast that for once, an actual sandwich that tasted pretty damn good and filled all the major food groups so he wasn’t as hungry for lunch.

 

He could probably grab a snack after work to get him some more energy at the very least.

 

As he was beginning to fall into the steady rhythm of the next few hours that were supposed to be peaceful, he heard the forceful opening of doors, hard enough to rattle the windows.

 

Before Parrot had the time to turn around however, he heard a rough accented voice.

 

“Is this the place Clown mentioned?”

 

Parrot froze, unable to turn around, his hands frozen inside a cup. He recognized that voice changer, it was everywhere when he was younger, on the tv, on billboards. It was Dragon’s voice changer, Clown’s mentor, the original number one villain until he retired and gave that title to Clown.

 

There is probably one reason why dragon was here, that was probably because the man that was behind him was injured and needed a place to rest away from hero’s or the man had landed here and didn't have the strength to return.

 

But Parrot had done this once already, he can do this again without much trouble, he wasn’t completely panicked on what to do.

 

He cleaned up the blood, got himself mentally ready enough to lie to the heroes in front of their face. His body wasn’t shaking, well not that badly.

 

“Welcome to Vivian’s cafe, if you need a place to rest go into the storage room. If you are injured please say so, I have no idea if you have your mask on and I don’t want to know what’s behind your mask.” He said, turning off the tap and letting his wings block his eyes.

 

“Oh,” Dragon said.

 

He was probably surprised to see how calm Parrot was, it wasn’t everyday you walk into a coffee shop as a renowned villain only for the barista to act completely calm around your presence. Dragon was probably expecting some sort of reaction from him.

 

In reality however, Parrot was really fucking scared, this was only the second time he had been so close to a villain.

 

His heart was beating a hundred times faster than it should have. But it was fine. He was good at pretending he wasn’t scared.

 

Dragon didn’t move, Parrot kept himself busy by cleaning the countertops and organising the cabinets.

 

it was pretty easy trying to forget that the former number one villain was behind him. Probably wondering how a random civilian could be so calm.

 

“Are you going to go in the storage area? I wouldn’t want you to be spotted,” Parrot said, folding up the towel.

 

“Especially since you’re probably injured and behind you is probably a window.”

 

Dragon shifted to the side. “Is there a medkit inside there?”

 

Parrot paused and then shook his head “Bro, I’m going to be honest with you, the people who own this business haven’t ever touched the storage area, so I would assume not. If you really need one, I could temporarily close up shop and buy you one. There’s a pharmacy down the street”

 

The words slipped out easier than he had expected, Parrot had never been this selfless, seriously, he was buying a medkit for a villain, spending his own money for someone else.

 

Damn he’s getting nicer, it was nice to think about. Even if he’s being nice to a renowned supervillain.

 

“Yeah, that’d be good.” Dragon said.

 

Parrot turned away when the other man walked inside the breakroom when the doors clicked shut, Parrot sighed.

 

Great, this was totally what he wanted.

 

First Clown, then Dragon, he’s gotta set some boundaries, it wouldn’t be very nice if one of them barged inside his doors during rush hour and there were customers to witness, that’d be a nightmare to deal with.

 

but then again. Those guys probably didn’t care about boundaries, well, he was just an ordinary civilian, and they were the most renowned villains.

 

It’d be funny if they care about anyone’s boundaries. They were strong enough to not care about anything.

 

But Parrot guessed they still had some manners. Perhaps Dragon would be nice enough to leave a tip… Did villains carry money on them?

 

“This isn’t how I was expecting my evening would go.” Parrot thought as he flipped the sign on the door.

 

Parrot grabbed his wallet and headed out of the door, the evening air hitting him straight in the face. Parrot didn’t like Left Quarter, it was too cold on his wings, there weren’t any wing warmers in Left Quarter, if they even existed.

 

But it was the cheapest quarter to live in, when Parrot was younger, when he was a little more hopeful.

 

He had dreams of leaving, buying a house in Right Quarter and living out his days peacefully; he'd have a pet hamster who he’d let run around in his backyard and never see another villain again. What childish dreams he had.

 

After a quick turn, he met with the pharmacist. It was a little lady who lived there after college. Parrot wondered why someone would willingly live in Left Quarter, but she had said everyone needed access to medicine.

 

He bought a medkit and returned to the coffee shop with a kit in tow. Using his key, he locked the doors to the coffee shop and using his wings, he covered his eyes and opened the breakroom using his keys.

 

“Do you have your mask on?” Parrot asked as he set the medkit down.

 

“Yeah” Dragon said, Parrot still wasn’t sure if he could retract his wings just yet, better to be safe than sorry.

 

“Are you okay with me leaving you alone with this orrrr.”

 

Parrot was actually kind of hoping Dragon was okay enough to use the medkit on himself. God knows how Parrot could ever help someone like Dragon. But it looked like his dreams weren’t going to come true.

 

“Not really, can you help with the scars on my back.” Dragon said, Parrot screamed internally.

 

Parrot was pretty good at first aid, but doing it on a villain was probably going to get him killed. What if Dragon felt pain.What if he did something wrong?

 

There were simply too many variables if the littlest thing went wrong, Parrot could kiss his life goodbye.

 

“Bro, are you sure about trusting me with your scars?” Parrot said, trying to have Dragon reconsider.

 

“I don’t see why not, you bought me a medkit when you could’ve easily called the hero committee to take me in. Also, Clown trusts you enough I guess.”

 

Alright, there was simply no getting out of this, okay. He could do this.

 

“Can I lift my wings to see your scars?” He asked,

 

“Sure.”

 

Parrot slowly opened his wings, Dragon had his mask on but his back was exposed to show a bunch of fresh scars made by some sort of animal,a cat maybe. They were still red and a few were dripping blood.

 

“Nasty fight with breakout.” Dragon explained.

 

Parrot guessed that made sense, Breakout was a cat hybrid, so those scars were pretty easy to explain. But it was hard to believe that Breakout caused those scars without some helping him or if Dragon was already injured.

 

“I just fought against Monarch too, so I was injured enough already.” Dragon complained.

 

Wow it was like this guy could read his mind or something. Parrot was pretty impressed.

 

“Okay I need to start by cleaning them” Parrot said, He went over to the sink and poured some water and took some soap.

 

He glided the soap over the scars, making sure those scars were clean before anything else. Then doused those scars with water to clean the soap.

 

Once Parrot was done, he pressed a clean cloth against the scars to stop the bleeding and held for a few minutes.

 

Dragon tensed up a little, but the man couldn’t complain, he wanted these scars to heal and Parrot was just doing his job.

 

Thankfully, the first aid kit had bacitracin and after making sure Dragon wasn’t allergic to that, he applied a thin layer of it, just to avoid any bacteria entering the scars.

 

Once he was done he wrapped the rest of the scars with bandage, slightly loose but tight enough for the bandages to not fall out, he only did this to allow some airflow.

 

“You should watch out for infection, I’m not an expert so I can’t say anything. Oh and you should also check them again when the wound closes in a few days.” Parrot said, finally finishing up the last of the bandages.

 

“For someone who’s not an expert, you sure are good at this.” Dragon said softly.

 

“Yeah, well I’m trying to get into med school so I kind of have to.” Parrot retorted, getting up from where he was seated.

 

“You wanna get into med school?” Dragon asked, Parrot nodded.

 

“Yeah, why do you think I work here? I gotta afford the tuition somehow.” Parrot said, placing medkit back on the shelf. “You can stay here for a little bit, head out the back door once you’re done. Oh and, for my sake, could you be quiet please.”

 

Parrot walked back outside into the coffee shop and took a big sigh. He was so screwed, there was no coming back from this was there?

 

Hey at least he was probably going to be paid for this

Chapter Text

Around a month after he got paid for helping Dragon with his cat scars. He’s taken to ignoring the villain whenever he sees him causing mass destruction or whatever.

 

Which wasn’t too often, but it was the thought that counts. Clown’s been seen less often too now that Parrot thought about it. Guess they’ve both been busy recovering.

 

Speaking of Clown, Parrot put the money Clown gave him to good use, putting most of it into the savings for college.

 

Having to pay sixty thousand is not cheap, especially when he makes minimum wage. Clown’s monthly payments helped him more than his job ever had. It was like a really nice bit of good luck against all the bad luck.

 

Honestly, Parrot’s been living pretty good, despite knowing that he could go to jail for assisting in the healing of a villain every once in a while.

 

But he spends more than enough time making up excuses to make sure he doesn’t go to jail or something worse. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was something to make the fear go away, at least for a little while.

 

It’s a fucked up coping mechanism but whatever helps he guessed.

 

Parrot knew he was smart enough to get a scholarship, he knows that much at least. But the school he wanted to go to was in Right Quarter and god knows he doesn’t have enough money to live in Right Quarter.

 

The ‘paradise’ that guarantees safety, you know. With the hero headquarters being stationed right in the middle.

 

An old friend of his moved there a few years back, Derap was his name. They still keep in contact, but they haven’t been talking recently, with Derap being a Hero’s apprentice and all.

 

Honestly, he had to thank Clown, if not for his very surprising encounter with the man, Parrot would still probably be struggling in his day to day life.

 

Counting pennies or stretching meals. But he couldn’t help but still feel like the amount of money was a little bit too much.

 

Gosh, he was becoming less of himself. He used to save every bit of money that he could get. Now he was starting to think he didn’t deserve this amount. God he was becoming soft.

 

But there was a good upside to this, with rent, bills, and food out of the way. He had more time to study for college and save for it too.

 

It felt nice to actually be able to breathe for once. But Parrot knew the money wouldn’t last forever so he'd do as much as he could before that.

 

It was supposed to be another regular day, he woke up, got ready. Mentally prepared himself to put on the same happy tone, and every day, he would hope that the customers would tip well.

 

But by the time he walked out that door, that little bit of hope would be pushed away into the corner. As Parrot used to say, no hope was better than false hope.

 

He was supposed to finish rush hour, barely alive and after rush hour, he was supposed to doom scroll and study for med school.

 

And it did seem normal at first. He had quite literally just finished the order of someone who had an order so complicated Parrot was sure the girl had a few screws loose.

 

By this time Parrot pretty much realized that after every time he finished rush hour, his body would tense up and his wings would instinctively cover the sides of his eyes.

 

It was only after he realized there was no one would he finally relax and start studying.

 

He pulled out his textbook, and let the world shrink to his notes and brain. This was one of his favourite moments of the day, where he didn’t have to pretend to be nice or apologize or as a matter of fact, talk.

 

But alas today did have someone, and it sure wasn’t a villain. Or at least Parrot didn’t think it was. His luck was weird like that.

 

The chime of the bell made him tense up again. The door just opened. He was about to listen for anything suspicious, he wasn’t trying to look at a villain’s real identity.

 

“Uhh.”

 

Parrot breathed a sigh of relief, it was a normal person, Parrot mustered up a smile and turned around. Much more relaxed to know that person wasn’t using a voice changer.

 

The man in front of him seemed to be about Parrot’s age, probably a year older. He had messy greyish-blackish hair and was wearing a purple sweater, he held a black bag in his hands. The most striking detail seemed to be his ears.

 

Hybrids weren’t rare. You could probably see them walking around, or flying.

 

But what surprised him wasn’t the fact that he was a hybrid, it was the fact that the man was a wolf hybrid.

 

Those weren’t very popular, especially since the rise of the Director. Wolf hybrids weren’t totally discriminated against, but they weren’t talked about in the best light.

 

But Parrot wasn’t one to discriminate.

 

“Oh sorry, welcome to Vivian’s cafe, what can I get you?” He asked, closing his textbook and grabbing a notepad from the counter.

 

The wolf hybrid stared at him for a second too long before ordering. “Can I get the caramel macchiato, medium size please.”

 

Parrot wanted to go back to studying once he was finished with his order but he was surely wrong.

 

“Would you like it to go?” Parrot was pretty sure this guy would leave after getting his order, Parrot didn’t know anyone in their right mind who would willingly stay here after getting their stuff.

 

Parrot still wondered why people willingly went here in the first place. Sure it was the last building that hadn’t been rebuilt once in Left Quarter. But Parrot was sure that that didn’t count for anything.

 

“No thanks. I’m good.” Parrot raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, if this guy had a death wish. Parrot wasn’t going to dwell on it. Not his problem to deal with. He wasn’t going to start begging for this guy to leave and never look back.

 

“Alright, name?” Parrot asked, starting up the machine, for something that looked like it was decades old, It sure worked pretty damn good.

 

“Wifies.”

 

Parrot thought that it was a strange name, but he couldn’t really be saying anything about it, because well… His name was Parrot, like the bird. You can laugh, it’s funny.

 

“Alright, that will be 3.20” Parrot never ordered coffee, why would he bother. It was expensive and did practically nothing except give him five minutes of fake energy.

 

Yeah that was right, Parrot, a barista. Didn’t like coffee, thought it was a scam. But here he was, treating coffee like liquid gold to some unsuspecting customer. What a twisted fate Parrot had.

 

Instead of Wifies acting as if paying so much money for a cup of coffee was a crime and trying to bargain with him. The guy actually just handed over a ten and sat down on a stool nearby him.

 

Which gave Parrot the suspicion that either this guy was rich, or he didn’t care about spending money because he knew he was going to be in a boatload of financial pain anyways. Parrot couldn’t tell which one he preferred more.

 

He was about to open the register before Wifies told him to keep the change. Parrot gaped. Like the mouth full open, if he didn’t know how to keep his wings shut, his wings would’ve already puffed out.

 

Wifies was already his favourite customer of the day, no one, definitely not people in Left Quarter would give him such a big note and tell him to keep the change.

 

Normally they would argue, pay with coupons that expired ages ago. But this absolute amazing god of a man just told him to keep the change.

 

“Oh thanks, anything you wanna eat? It’s on the house.” The words slipped out faster than Parrot could stop them.

 

Wow he was actually going insane, okay. That was cool, he was a citizen in Left Quarter, offering something for free. Yep, he was definitely going to have to do something about this change in personality.

 

Wifies stared down at the menu, letting Parrot have more time to make his coffee.

 

“A donut would be good, thanks.”

 

Parrot nodded, the snacks were decent. They weren’t bad, according to Left Quarter’s standards, but to someone like Wifies. They probably were that bad.

 

As Parrot was about to drizzle the caramel onto the cup, Wifies spoke up in what Parrot thought was a mutual agreement of silence.

 

“You don’t get many customers?” He asked.

 

“Not after rush hour, no. It gets really busy in rush hour though, then again I’m only saying it’s busy because I’m the only one here during it. But on a good day there'll probably be two customers afterwards.” Parrot explained, handing the tray of drink and dessert towards Wifies.

 

Technically a good day would be if a villain connected to Clown came in injured. But Parrot wouldn’t tell him that.

 

“Thanks,”

 

Somehow, that one word made Parrot’s feathers twitch, which only happened if he felt something was off, and this guy was surely weird.

 

“You live in Right Quarter?” He asked, he guessed he was going to do his homework on the counter because he couldn’t get off it unless Wifies left, and this guy sure looked like he wasn’t going to anytime soon.

 

“Yeah, near the middle.”

 

Parrot had a sharp intake of breath, near the middle basically meant, the most expensive area. Where you basically had a hundred percent chance of dying a natural death. Instead of being crushed by a falling billboard or some random villain explosion. Parrot got a little jealous for a second.

 

“Good for you bro, you’re like what? Seventeen, eighteen.” Parrot asked, but he wasn’t actually expecting Wifies to answer, you could call it a rhetorical question.

 

“I’m eighteen.” Wifies said, taking a bite of the doughnut. Parrot widened his eyes.

 

Parrot knew he looked young, he was only seventeen himself. But he just assumed the guy was older. Guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover. Even though the opposite of that was the motto Parrot lived by.

 

“living with your parents?”

 

“No, I’m an orphan.”

 

“Oh”

 

Parrot wasn’t even guilty, he was kind of impressed. If you made it in life enough to live in Right Quarter, Parrot was proud of you. Perhaps one day he’d make enough to live in Up Quarter, where all the middle class people live.

 

“That’s really nice bro.”

 

“You don’t care about me being an orphan?” Wifies asked.

 

Why would Parrot care? Most of the people in Left Quarter were orphans, it was hard enough to see an old person, Parrot’s pretty much only ever seen one. Let alone someone with living parents. It was pretty much an anomaly to have parents.

 

“No, I’m one too.” He said calmly.

 

Wifies just looked at him before taking a sip. “Villains?”

 

Parrot shook his head, it wasn’t a big deal, but he would’ve liked having parents. “No hero’s.”

 

Wifies eyes widened at that fact, he obviously wasn’t expecting heroes to kill, most of the people in Right Quarter believe the hero’s as some sort of angels destined to save them from apocalypse or something.

 

Parrot nearly laughed, not because it was funny or anything. But the fact that he easily predicted Wifies’s reaction.

 

He always loved the look on people’s faces when they realised that Hero’s killed just as easily as villains. The only difference was that Hero’s had a PR team, villain’s didn’t.

 

If there was one thing good about Left Quarter, then it would be the fact that since you see so much. You aren’t completely stupid.

 

“Huh, I guessed that much.”

 

Parrot raised an eyebrow, what did Wifies mean? Does this guy know something about him? It made sense, why would someone from Right Quarter go all the way into Left Quarter if he didn’t want something from him.

 

“How do you feel about hero’s Wifies?” Parrot asked, he was going to clean the place up, there was a small spill from earlier that Parrot forgot about when he was talking to Wifies.

 

“I don’t like them.” Parrot was surprised, guess someone had enough brain cells to believe that not all heroes are angels. Most kids in Right Quarter were raised and filled with propaganda until they bursted.

 

“That’s cool.” Parrot said.

 

He finished cleaning up the last spill when Wifies finished his drink. Parrot felt finally free to continue studying, but he was going to miss the conversation he had with Wifies. Parrot would never admit it, but the guy was cool to be around. Even if he was only probably there for a reason Parrot didn’t know about.

 

“Would it be alright if I did some work? I quite enjoy this place.” Wifies said, a soft smile plastered on his face

 

Parrot nearly chuckled at the obvious lie, no one like Left Quarter let alone a building within it. But he guessed he would play along, just until Wifies got bored.

 

“I don’t know why you would enjoy Vivian’s but I won’t say anything.” Parrot said, taking off his apron and tossing it on the hook besides the counter.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to still be on shift?” Wifies asked, Parrot smiled.

 

But inside, he knew something was wrong, Wifies wasn’t supposed to know he still had a few hours left at work.

 

But at this point, Parrot was in too deep. If the guy wanted to kill him, Parrot would let him. There wasn’t much he cared about. Except maybe the spyglass that always just sat on his table. The only thing he still bothered to clean until it shone.

 

“Well I said earlier, there’s almost no customers after rush hour, so I’m just forced to stay here until my shift ends.” Parrot responded by opening his textbook, preparing to sit in silence… If Wifies lets him of course.

 

As Parrot heard Wifies clicking on his laptop, he was prepared to have a few hours of silence before leaving.

 

But then again, life really didn’t want him to have any moment of peace

 

“Do you wanna go to college?” Wifies asked.

 

It wasn’t a strange question, Parrot knew that. Everyone in Left Quarter dreamed of going to college and working in another Quarter, where they could afford meals they couldn’t buy before, and live in a house that didn’t rot or mold. But why Wifies wanted to know that was a question Parrot wasn’t sure he would be able to answer.

 

“Yeah, I wanna go to med school.” Parrot said, writing down on his flashcards. Wifies probably didn’t expect that answer.

 

“Med school, really?” Wifies asked and Parrot internally rolled his eyes.

 

“Yeah, my powers aren’t great, but I’d still like to help where I can. Even if I am just helping on the sidelines.” Parrot smiled, he knew he probably wouldn’t be able to achieve it in a short time, but at the very least. He was going to try.

 

Now that he thought about it, there was a very high chance he would probably have the same fate as the old woman in the pharmacy. What a weird turn of events.

 

“Well, you sure look smart enough for it.” Wifies said. Parrot knew it was a compliment. Probably an empty one, but it still made him a little happy to hear.

 

“Are you in college Wifies?” Parrot asked, flipping through his textbook.

 

“Yeah I am. Lifesteal university.” Wifies responded.

 

Parrot couldn’t help but gasp, Lifesteal university was the most prestigious university a player could ever dream of going to. It was the place where you were guaranteed a six figure salary and could retire in just a decade.

 

“That’s really nice, major?” He asked, he knew this was crossing a boundary that he himself had never broken. Normally he never even spoke this much to one person. But he could let it slide.

 

“Oh law.” Wifies said casually as if those words didn’t put a financial strain on Parrot just from the thought of it.

 

“Bro you must be loaded.” Parrot laughed, like an actual one. Something he hadn’t done in a very long time.

 

“Yeah well, I live in Right Quarter.” Wifies said, the soft clicking and Parrot’s pen made such a cozy atmosphere.

 

“What college do you wanna go to?”

 

“How long have you been studying?”

 

“Do your wings get tired when you’re writing all day?”

 

The Questions kept on rolling one after another and soon enough, Parrot found himself lost in time.

 

Parrot realized that just those little questions could make him open up so much, it was like Wifies knew all the questions to ask to make Parrot enjoy Wifies’s company rather than just dreading it.

 

The things he normally swallowed down were rolling off the tongue as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Honestly, by the time they were done talking Wifies probably knew more about Parrot than his oldest friends.

 

He knew how Parrot enjoyed studying anatomy the most, how he wanted to have a pet hamster when he was younger, and how his wings bothered him so much when doing simple tasks.

 

They kept talking and Parrot realized, he stopped questioning Wifies’s motives, he felt himself completely enamored in the conversation. He wasn’t waiting for Wifies to leave, he was waiting to see if Wifies would ask if he could come back

 

He found himself smiling, laughing, enjoying himself. This was never natural for him. These were things he would only let show to his friends, people who’ve now left. Or died, either of those weren’t uncommon in Left Quarter.

 

Parrot knew the feeling felt unfamiliar, but perhaps. It wasn’t so bad.

Chapter Text

Arson + Glitch

“Can I come again tomorrow?” Wifies asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

 

“Sure.” Parrot said, he very well knew how this story would go. Wifies would probably never return. No one ever did. They would come talk for a moment, leave and never return again.

 

As he always said, no hope was better than false hope. So when Wifies left that door, Parrot pushed the little emotion of sadness into the back of his head.

 

…Turns out, Wifies was being serious at asking to come again, because the guy would end up returning to the coffee shop the next day, and the day after, and sure enough.

 

Without a pause, he would return to Vivian’s cafe for the next two weeks.

 

Parrot was actually kind of glad he was getting his first regular.

 

Sometimes, they would talk, and talk, and talk, they would laugh for hours at nothing and everything all at once. Laughing until their sides hurt.

 

Other times, they existed in each other’s space, Parrot would sit on the counter studying, and Wifies would do whatever he did on his laptop.

 

It pretty much got to the point that when Wifies walked in, Parrot would have his drink on the counter, perhaps a dessert to go along with it, and every time, Wifies would make sure to slip an extra thirty into the tip jar.

 

At some point, Wifies asked for his number, and Parrot gave it to him. As if it was the most natural thing in the world for him.

 

So every time after work, they would text and call and they would just live. In the other’s comfort, just knowing they were there felt nice.

 

Parrot wasn’t the type of person to enjoy small scale things like this, like small talk or late night calls.

 

He wasn’t the type to enjoy much other than gaining enough money. But perhaps, Wifies was enough to change that.

 

It was around ten in the morning on a Saturday. He had no work that day, so he was planning to just lay down on the comfort of his bed and never rise until the afternoon.

 

But he was unfortunately awoken by the spam of notifications. He knew it wasn’t Wifies, Wifies didn’t spam, definitely not in the morning. So he had a hard time guessing who it was until he picked up the phone.

 

Then he would later end up dropping the phone on his face when he realized who the spammer was.

 

Clown: @ParrotX2
@ParrotX2
@ParrotX2
@ParrotX2

 

“Shit, shit oh god.” Parrot thought before fumbling with the phone and typing back. He remembered Clown had added him as a friend on fucking discord.

 

Very weird, but that was only because he needed to relay a message when Parrot got paid.

 

Oh sorry, yes? :ParrotX2

 

Parrot wondered if his tone sounded not to Clown’s liking, what tone did Clown even like anyways? But there was no point worrying about that now, there must’ve been something going wrong if Clown was texting him like this.

 

Clown: Address

 

Parrot: Um, Unit 2B, 46 Cart Street

 

Clown: Don’t be surprised.

 

Okay, Parrot should’ve been a little bit more careful giving his home address to the number one supervillain, but the guy knew where he worked. So one second of hesitation could probably cost him his life.

 

Besides, what could be so bad. Perhaps Assassin was just here to talk. Okay Parrot might be going a little crazy trying to make up an excuse for Clown asking for his address.

 

It’s hard to believe that the Clown would want to go to his flat for a cup of tea.

 

Just as he was about to mentally prepare himself. Two people suddenly appeared before his eyes.

 

“Oh my god what the fuck.” Parrot internally screamed, every bone in his body was telling him to run, leave the fuck out of there. But he couldn’t help but stay still. His feet rooted onto the ground as if he was a tree.

 

He noticed the male first, he had black hair with a purple streak, a purple suit, his fur coat, amethyst encrusted jewelry.

 

Everything about the man looked to be purple. But there was something about the man that Parrot couldn’t quite recognize.

 

“Oh, his face!” Parrot thought.

 

He couldn’t see the man's face, as if it was blocked by some sort of game bug. Purple and black square looking things covered the man's face, giving Parrot a perfect opportunity to recognize him.

 

“Glitch…” He realized. Glitch wasn’t a fighter villain, he was a villain assist. But that didn’t mean he was any less dangerous than a fighter villain. For Parrot’s case, Glitch might be someone he wanted to see less than Clown.

 

You see, one of Glitch’s powers is called time pause, which allows him to stop time for a small amount of time, which meant that he could teleport, oh and yes. You heard that right. One of Glitch’s powers.

 

Something special about this villain was he was the special one who had more than one power, other than time pause.

 

He had something known as hack. A power that would more or less in theory make Glitch a god, create bombs of power, fly, give effects that would kill in a blink of an eye.

 

The only reason that it’s said in theory was because well… Glitch in no way had the mental fortitude to handle all that.

 

His powers had a huge setback. It would make the user go crazy if they used it for too long, or if they used it too much.

 

“Are you the healer?” Glitch asked, his tone unnervingly calm. He was carrying someone, Parrot realized.

 

It didn’t take him long to find out what Glitch wanted. When he saw her, he didn’t even care about what Glitch called him.

 

“Lay her down on the couch.” Parrot said, his voice shaking slightly. But he’s seen villains, not in his house. But he’s seen villains, but seeing them in his house made all the difference.

 

His couch probably wasn’t in any condition to hold someone, but Glitch didn’t worry about that, as he laid the woman he was carrying down with utmost delicacy. Parrot was nearly reminded of Clown.

 

She was also wearing a suit, an orange one this time, her ginger hair was short, falling down to her neck.

 

Parrot knew who this was. Almost everyone did, she was quite literally synonymous with the word chaos. The one name that was whispered in fear

 

Vigilante Exploit, former villain Arson. She was a villain for a short time, working with Gambit, but after Gambit betrayed her, she chose to erase her identity as a villain and became a vigilante.

 

She was half the reason why Left Quarter kept having to rebuild their buildings.

 

Not even by force. But by chance, whether her movements caused a fire or a villain attack. Wherever she walked would bring chaos.

 

Parrot realized her condition was much more severe than he expected, Her abdomen had been torn open, nearly exposing her insides, and burns streaked across her body in angry, blistered patterns.

 

Cuts and lacerations crisscrossed her arms and legs, and dark bruises mottled her skin. She was probably in the worst pain a human could go through.

 

He didn’t even have a medkit on something, he wasn’t expecting a villain to come over to his house, let alone them carrying someone who looked like she came from a war and back.

 

He couldn’t even go to the pharmacy, she’d die before he’d get back.

 

There was nothing parrot could do, she was going to die. This was only his second patient, and he couldn’t even do anything as he knew she wasn’t going to make it.

 

He didn’t have the right equipment, he was useless. How couldn’t he have seen this coming?

 

It seemed like there was no other option… There was something Parrot never said to people, whether it was his friends, or anyone he’s ever met.

 

Not a single soul, all the times he said he didn’t have a power was a lie. But seeing Exploit bloodied, beaten and an inch from death, Parrot knew he had to act fast.

 

His power was useless, or at least Parrot thought it was. But at the moment, he’d heal Exploit, no matter the cost.

 

His power was a healing type power, and you might think that was great, healing powers were nearly impossible to find. Those who had them were coveted and fought over.

 

But there was such a huge drawback to it that you might as well consider it useless.

 

He could heal everything, whether it be illness or injury. But all the pain the person feels, will be transferred to himself… Amplified tenfold.

 

He’s never even used it before until the first time when he was younger. He nearly died because of it, the pang of pain was the worst he ever felt but if it was to save a patient, that was the least Parrot could do.

 

Whether Glitch wanted him to do it or not. He would save Exploit no matter the cost

 

He wanted to become a doctor, perhaps this was his first test.

 

“You will save her.” Glitch said, it wasn’t a question, it was a demand. Something Parrot knew he could fulfil.

 

He placed both hands and focused all his energy into her body. The pain was small at first, pretty dull even. It felt like a mild stomachache.

 

But as he continued pushing more of his power, he soon regretted it because he felt like he was dying.

 

Every part of his body felt like it was going to rip open and swallow himself whole, a searing pain that made it hard to breathe.

 

His arms burned and throbbed and backs felt like it was being cut open. Like surgery but without the anesthesia. He’d never felt such intense searing pain.

 

But yet, he didn’t yield, he didn’t try to even take his hands off her for even a second, because he saw. He saw how her breathing eased and how her wounds were healing steadily, and that was enough to keep Parrot from trying to stop.

 

The more Exploit was healed, the more Parrot hurt, it was as if he was feeling divine retribution.

 

He felt like his intestines were bursting and recreating themselves. His heart felt like it was about to explode, every part of his body screamed for the pain to stop. But his brain forced him to push on.

 

To save Exploit, no that wasn’t the right word. To save a patient. This was his goal, nothing more than that. No matter if she destroyed buildings for fun, she would live, even if the cost was Parrot’s life.

 

When he finally realized her breathing was stable and the wounds were gone, Parrot stopped feeling the burning pain that plagued his body for forty minutes. He let go.

 

Arson was okay, Parrot still felt like he was going to die, but the aftereffects would subside soon enough. All that mattered was that Parrot didn’t let a patient die.

 

He didn’t even have time to stand up when Glitch rushed over to the vigilante and hugged her as if his life depended on it. Parrot shook off the sweat off his head and face, he grabbed onto the table for support as he struggled to get up.

 

“Thank you.” Glitch whispered, and Parrot nodded. Albeit a little shakily, his head was still dizzy. He needed some good sleep after this.

 

He held her head. They stayed in silence for a little while longer, until Arson woke up. She blinked her eyes and Parrot wondered if he would be in a whole lot of trouble since he saw her face.

 

“Ugh, that was a horrible dream.” She muttered but her eyes widened when she was put into a bone crushing hug by glitch.

 

“You're alive.” Glitch said, and he repeated those words as if they were the only things he could say. Exploit was surprised but she hugged back nonetheless.

 

Exploit was then caught up on everything by Glitch while Parrot threw up in his bathroom. After what he went through, throwing up felt like the most relaxing thing ever.

 

“How did this even happen?” Parrot asked, wiping his mouth. Glitch was slightly hesitant to speak.

 

“There was an ambush by Enforcer, I wasn't expecting him, let alone seven other LAW members. They surrounded the buildings and placed tnt all over the perimeter. Glitch didn’t get to me in time.” Exploit explained, she sat cross legged on the floor.

 

“Thanks a lot… How could we repay you?”

 

Parrot thought about it for a second. “You could repay me as much as you like. But I don’t put a price tag.”

 

“You're an actual lifesaver, perhaps we’ll see each other again.” Exploit said.

 

“I hope not.” Parrot thought, but he couldn’t say that so he just nodded in response.

 

Neither Exploit nor Glitch seem to have wanted to kill him so Parrot guessed he was fine as he waved them away. Although he’s seen Glitch’s time manipulation energy already, it was still such a fun thing to look at

 

A few hours later, Parrot was back on his bed, scrolling on his phone watching whatever felt good. When he got a notification.

 

Now Parrot doesn’t scream, but he definitely did when he saw the message.