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Chapter Text

Okay, so before we get into this let's take a look at the AUS we will be entering...

The DC Comics Au

An au where our favorite characters take the place of DC heroes

Moon is the Batman of this au named Crescent

Earth/Terra is the Batgirl of this au named Gaia Girl

Monty is the Red Hood of this au named Purple Hood

Sun is the Nightwing of this au named Solar Flair

Lunar/Cosmos is the Robin of this au named Moonlet

Chico is the Green Lantern/Star sapphire of this au named Pink Lantern/Star Lantern

Clipsey is the Catwoman of this au named Cheshire Cat

Sunny is the very first Bat Girl of this au who now goes by the hero named Sunspot

Roxas is the Black Canary of this au and goes by the hero name Howler

Freddie is the Batwoman of this au going by the name Ursa Major

Eleanor is the Question of this au she still keeps the name Question.

The Marvel au

Our favorite animatronics take the place of Marvel heroes

Roxas is the Black Panther of this au going by the hero name Black Wolf

Sunny is the Squirrel Girl of this au going by the alias Cat Girl.

Clipsey is the Black Widow of this au going by the alias Red Widow

Moonie is the Spider-woman of this au going by the alias Spider-Moon

Chico is the Hawkeye of this au, he still keeps the name Hawkeye

Sun is the Deadpool of this au going by the hero name Sunpool (Yes, he is Deadpool)

Moon is the Spider-man of this au going by Moon-Spider

Earth/Terra is the Storm of that au and goes by the hero name Gaia

Monty is the Captain America/Us Agent of this au and goes by the hero name Captain Britain (Cause Monty's british.)

The Astral/Animatronic swap au

The Astrals are swapped with the Celestials meaning characters like Taurus, Nebula, and Gemini are the animatronics while characters like Solar, Monty, and Moon are the Astrals.

The Human au

They're humans simple as that.

Now that this is out of the way, let's get into the story...

Chapter Text

It was a cold, dreary night in Astral City. It usually was in this mostly forsaken city.
The usually dark sky was illuminated not by Crescent's signal but by a streak of bright pink soaring through the sky.

The pink aura engulfed most of his body, keeping him soaring through the sky.
Chico, the pink lantern, was guarding the city tonight due to Crescent being held up by Hero business with the League.

"So, what exactly am I looking for?" Chico asked, speaking into his ring, which was acting as a communicator. After a moment, Moon's voice came through the ring.
"Just keep flying around till you spot something odd. I got a couple more operatives watching over the city tonight for me."

"Anyone I will recognize?" Chico questioned, scanning the city below him for signs of trouble.

"Nah," Moon replied. "No one you've met yet. We're yet to add them to the league, but hopefully, you'll meet them soon. Say hi to them for me if you see them."

"I will."

"Now, I gotta go, Solar Flair, and Moonlet just got back from their mission. Keep me informed if you find anything."
Chico's connection with Moon was then cut. Crescent was off to be with his siblings, leaving Chico to watch over the city.
The usual chaotic city was actually quite quiet tonight. The only noise being made was by the hustle and bustle of the citizens, and the only sign of trouble was two guys arguing over a little fender bender.

Chico was getting bored and was about to fly down and help disengage the argument when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. It was black and moving rather quickly on the rooftops. He, for a second, thought it could be Crescent or one of his siblings returning from their mission, but he had just gotten off the call with Crescent so it couldn't be him, and it couldn't be any of the siblings cause her body type and height didn't match any of them.

Chico flew slowly behind the strange figure. They had rays that reminded him of his friends' Sunny and Sun, but they appeared to be wearing cat ears, too. The figure jumped from one building to another, scaling a wall with the claws they appeared to have. Chico was honestly impressed by whoever this was. They were quite skilled.

Chico watched as they crawled to the top of the building and went straight to the skylight on the roof. The shadowy figure popped out claws from the tip of their gloves and drew a rather large circle in the skylight, cutting through the glass, leaving a rather large hole in the skylight. The figure carefully removed the glass circle they had made before they jumped into the building, disappearing into the darkness.

Chico flew down, closer to the building, and saw what the building was. It was a museum with a rare diamond on display.
"The evergreen gem" it was called a perfect target for thieves and wanna be supervillains. Chico knew that meant trouble. He tried to get in contact with Crescent.

"Moon. Moon. Crescent. Come in, Crescent."

There was no reply. Chico shook his head and decided he'd just catch the thief and explain it to Crescent later. Chico flew up to the roof and slowly dropped into the museum. Chico's feet touched down on the ground. The pink aura that helped him to fly vanished, and Chico began to sculk around the museum, trying to spot the thief.
Chico held up his fist, using his power ring to create a light that exposed all the security lasers in the building.

Chico scanned the area. These lasers were packed tightly, and even the most talented thief would have issues with this. There's no way this thief got through all this, but Chico was proven wrong when he heard the sound of glass shattering. Chico flew back up and through the wider parts of the lasers, skillfully avoiding all of them.

He flew through and around the corridors till he came to the large area where the evergreen gem was held. Chico saw that all the cameras around were disabled, perhaps the thief had shut them all down before they even entered. Chico looked down and saw the figure reach into the glass box that held the evergreen gem and pulled it out.

Chico flew back down to the floor and cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Excuse me, I don't believe that's yours."

The figure jumped a bit, their boot brushing against the pieces of shattered glass that were once a part of the glass box.

"Just put the gem back, and I'll act like I didn't see anything. How's that sound?" Chico stepped closer to the figure, noticing more things about them and their outfit.
The figure was definitely a woman. Those 'cat ears' he saw actually seemed to be some piece of high-tech equipment that just had the unfortunate appearance of cat ears.
She had an odd rope-looking belt wrapped around her waist that gave the appearance of a tail. The figure turned, showing off her crimson lens goggles and a bandana around her mouth that looked like the Cheshire Cat's smile.

"Nice suit," Chico said, trying to make conversation with the thief.

"Better than yours, Pinkie." She smirked, pulling down her bandana, showing off her confident smile.

"A thief and rude. You're just the worst of the worst, aren't you?" Chico said sarcastically.

The animatronic thief tossed the gem from one hand to another.
"Yep, bad to the bone. Now, if you don't mind, just fly away, birdie, and I'll be out of your hair.. or feathers."

Chico waved his finger at the thief like she was a misbehaving child. "'Fraid I can't do that, Miss... um.."

"Call me Cheshire Cat, or just call me Cat. My sisters do." The female thief replied.

"Cat. Little on the nose, but alright. Cat, look, I'm watching over Astral City tonight for Crescent, an-"

"Yeah, I know," the cat thief replied. "That's why I'm doing this."

Cheshire Cat tried to step away, but she was blocked by a large, pink, translucent wall that Chico made with his ring.
"Well, I'm afraid you can't do that. Just cause the Moon's away doesn't mean the cat can play."

Cheshire Cat smirked. She slipped the gem into the satchel bag on her hip. "Alright, you want that gem? Come take it."

Almost as fast as a blink of an eye, Cheshire climbed up Chico's construct, jumped off it, scampered up a nearby column, and jumped out a nearby window, shattering it with her elbow and knee pads.

Chico's beak fell open. That did not just happen! There was no way she was that quick. Chico shook himself out of his shock and flew after the fleeing thief.

Cheshire Cat sprinted across the rooftop. She pulled out the large green gem, almost as big as her hand, and smiled at her emerald reflection. However, that smile quickly faded when she spotted the bird's reflection in it. He was gaining on her and fast.

"You know, it's gonna take a lot more than some fancy piece of jewelry to catch me." She said, hopping across one rooftop to another.

"Oh please, I wouldn't even need this fancy piece of jewelry to catch you." Chico said, rather smugly. Chico was a lantern, a guardian of the universe. He had dealt with regular thieves before they were no match for an animatronic with a ring that allowed him to create anything his heart desired.

"You're very confident. I like that in a man." Cheshire teased. Chico blinked a couple of times, trying to process whether that was a genuine flirt or if she was just teasing him.
"C-can you repeat that?"

"Nope."

Chico watched as Cheshire grabbed her belt, unraveling it to reveal a whip. She jumped from the building she was just on, doing a swan dive on the way down before the whip wrapped itself around a flagpole hanging off the side of the building, allowing her to swing away from the bird with immense speed.

"Okay, that was cool." Even Chico had to admit that. He clenched his fist, his pink lantern ring glowing brighter due to how much energy he was using. Then, like a jet engine, he blasted towards Cheshire Cat with enough speed to break the sound barrier.

Cheshire was swinging from building to building. She could hear the faint boom off in the distance, but she didn't let that deter her.

Chico flew up right next to her, catching her by surprise. Chico held up his fist and created a large net to catch her in, but Cheshire just swung through the holes in the netting. Chico was bewildered. A normal thief had never given him this much trouble before.

If anyone looked up into the sky, they would have seen some dressed in black and red swinging above their heads while a comet of pink chased after them.

"Gotta say you're a lot of trouble for one thief."

Cheshire snickered. "Please, this is probably the most fun you've ever had chasing someone."

"It'll be more fun when you return that gem to the museum." Chico replied, creating a simple hand construct, silently asking for Cheshire to drop the gem in the hand.

Cheshire Cat laughed, hanging upside down from her whip as she swung, her rays flowing forward in the breeze. "Aw, come, birdie. You'll have to try harder."

Cheshire then flipped herself back up and swung across to the building to the left of Chico. She swung right past him, shooting him a playful wink as she did.

This was all just a game to her, and clearly, Chico was losing. Chico slowed to a stop before flipping around and flying after Cheshire, who was now going back the way she came.

"Going to return that gem, I hope?"

Cheshire chuckled. "Ha. Nah, I just wanna see how long you'll chase me for. Let's see what you can do, Lantern."
Cheshire then wrapped her whip around another building before swinging between another. Chico rolled his shoulders and readied for what looked to be a very long chase. Chico darted into the alley that Cheshire went down. He wasn't gonna let Crescent down when he entrusted him with his city for the night.

Cheshire twirled in the sky, making sure to check that Pink Lantern was still chasing her, much to her surprise he was. He wasn't giving up the chase just yet. Maybe this hero actually knew how to have fun.

She continued to swing between buildings while Chico flew between them. Cheshire ran on the side of a building. She checked over her shoulder and spotted Pink Lantern still chasing after. She tugged her whip, pulling herself up, and began running up the building.

The quick directional change didn't stop Chico, though. He stopped only to shoot upwards towards the cat-themed thief.

Cheshire dug her claws into the wall, scaling the building now. Chico thought that move was odd.

Why start climbing when swinging was far quicker?

He got his answer when she ripped a brick out of the wall and let it drop towards Chico. Chico used his ring to create a shield, turning the falling brick into nothing but small red chunks that slid off the shield and fell past him.

The shield disappeared, and Chico returned to the chase.

Cheshire continued to rip out the occasional brick and chuck them towards the pink-clad hero.
Chico created a protective aura around himself, protecting him from the falling bricks.

"Hey!" Chico shouted. "You're gonna hurt someone!"

Cheshire Cat paused. "Um... yeah, that's the idea, dude."

Cheshire climbed up to the roof and peered over the edge, watching the small pink dot grow larger and larger. She had to admit she was enjoying the chase far more than she thought she would.

She reached into her satchel bag and pulled out five small capsules. She let them fall out of her hand, falling towards Pink Lantern like rain. Chico saw the small black balls falling towards him. He thought nothing of it at first, only for the small black balls to crack open on his shield and create a large cloud of smoke.

Chico had to work through the smoke to get to the roof, but when he got up there, he saw... nothing. Nothing but the roof and the night sky. Chico landed on the roof, and he let his shield drop, feeling like he didn't need it. Which unbeknownst to Chico was what Cheshire was hoping for.

The crack of a whip echoed through the cold night air. Chico was about to turn towards the direction the sound came from, but before he could, he felt the leather rope wrap around his neck. Chico frantically tried to dig his large metal fingers into the whip. It wasn't choking him out, but he could feel the whip growing tighter around his neck.

He could hear Cheshire Cat's steps echoing closer to him. "Neat little gadget, isn't it? Looks like rope, feels like leather, but is actually a bunch of super tiny nanobots all blended into this sleek little weapon."

"Would be... cooler if it wasn't.. st-strangling me." Chico managed to choke out.

Cheshire chuckled and stepped closer to the struggling bird. "Aw, it's cute watching you struggle."

As she got close, Chico couldn't help but notice how similar she looked to his friend Sunny. She looked as if Sunny had gone through a rebellious phase.

"You know, you look like a friend of mine."

Cheshire's curiosity was piqued. "Who?"
Just as Chico hoped, Cheshire's grip loosened on the whip. Chico grabbed the whip around his neck and threw the whip across the roof. Cheshire let out a surprised gasp as she was flung across the roof. That bird was full of surprises.

She stabbed her claws into the roof, skidding to a stop. She hopped back up and picked up her whip. She wrapped it back around her waist and showed off her shining silver claws.

"Those nanobots too?" Chico asked, his ring glowing brighter as he got into a fighting stance.

Cheshire shook her head. "Nah. Just good old-fashioned steel."

Cheshire got into a more elegant fighting stance, and after a moment of quiet tension, Cheshire darted towards Pink Lantern. Chico spun around Cheshire Cat, avoiding her strike. She grabbed her whip off her waist and twirled in the air, striking at Chico's face, but Chico put up a shield just in time.

Chico flew back and began to fire off pink fiery shots, trying to catch Cheshire off guard but she avoided every single one of them like she was an Olympic gymnast, twirling and jumping over every single one. She grabbed her whip again, trying to hit one of those blasts back at Chico but the blast was too much for her whip, shattering the top of it, returning the top to nothing but a pile of small ant-like robots.

She stared at her destroyed whip for a second before glaring at Chico. She quickly reached into her satchel bag and threw three more black pellets at him. Chico created another shield to block the smoke.

However, Chico didn't make the shield big enough to cover his legs. Chico felt the whip wrap around his ankles before feeling the hard cold ground against his back. Before Chico could pull himself back up, Cheshire landed on him, nearly cracking his metal ribcage.
The thief smirked, staring down at the seemingly defeated hero. She playfully flicked Chico's hair.

"Next time, make sure your shield covers all of you, dingus."
She said, not in a rude tone but almost playful and teasing.

"And next time, don't get within firing range." Chico replied. Before Cheshire could react, Chico created a large boxing glove and sent the cat-themed thief flying off him and across the roof again. She rolled against the roof before sticking her claws back in the roof and coming to a stop once again.

She jumped back up and checked her claws, realizing she had dented one and broken another when she stuck them into the roof to slow herself.
She hopped back up and smirked as Chico got back up to his feet.

"You are one persistent cat." Chico said, stopping to take a breath for a moment.

Cheshire shrugged. "What can I say? I'm determined."

Chico couldn't help but chuckle at the cat lady's reply. He summoned a pair of pink translucent boxing gloves around his fists and motioned for Cheshire to come at him.

Cheshire smiled mischievously.
"This guy knows how to have fun."
She thought to herself.

She rushed towards Chico, running up the entrance to the roof before coming down with a strong kick, but Chico blocked them with his gloves. He took a swing at Cheshire, but she ducked under his fist and swept his legs. She stood up and tried to drop her leg down on Chico's head, but he rolled out of the way.

Chico used his ring to send a blast at Cheshire. Cheshire was sent flying through the entrance to the roof by the blast, knocking the door and Cheshire down the stairs.

Chico scrambled to his feet and rushed over to where the door once stood. Chico always tried to be careful when fighting criminals and avoided excessive force... but that might have been a bit excessive.

Chico searched the stairway for the cat-themed crook but saw nothing but the busted door.

"Are you okay? C-can you hear me?" Chico called down the stairway. He got his answer when she came down from the roof and kicked him square in the chest, now sending him across the roof.

She jumped down and blew the dust off his remaining claws.
"Didn't your momma teach you to never hit a lady?"

Chico forced himself back up despite the pain in his chest.
"Yes, but she also taught me to throw hands with everyone if needed."

"Smart woman." Cheshire ran at Pink Lantern. Chico used his ring to make a wall construct that Cheshire climbed up and flipped over, trying to pounce on Chico but he quickly altered his construct, turning it into a hand that grabbed Cheshire and threw her towards the next building. She landed on the roof nearby with a thud.

Cheshire's head was spinning. This guy didn't give up easily, did he? What fun!

Cheshire watched as a bright pink orb floated over her. Floating above her was Pink Lantern looking very determined to bring her in and get that gem back.
She hopped back up and let out a whistle. "You show off for all the girls, or am I just special?"

Chico had no idea how to react at this point. Was she flirting with him? Toying with him? Was she actually enjoying this fight?
Why did his face feel so warm all of a sudden?

"You do realize I'm trying to arrest you, right?" Chico asked her just to be sure she knew he was trying to stop her.

Cheshire nodded.
"I do. What a girl can't enjoy a good fight?"

This was definitely one of the more odd fights Chico had been in, not that he was complaining, though. There was something about this girl that made fighting her quite fun. It was like she saw all this as a cheap thrill. That attitude was oddly infectious. Chico couldn't help but smile.

"So, you gonna fight me or just float above me all night?"

Chico rolled his shoulders and flew back down to the roof. Cheshire smirked. "Finally, a hero who knows how to have fun."
Cheshire ran at Chico, whipping out her sharp claws once again.

"Crescent isn't fun?" Chico asked, dodging the strike.

Cheshire snickered. "Are you kidding me? Have you met that guy? He's way too serious about everything. Acts like he has the weight of the world solely on his shoulders."
Cheshire said all this while continuing to launch a series of strikes and blows at the glowing pink hero.

"You sound like you know him personally." Chico pointed out as he blocked a kick she sent his way with his forearms.

"I've crossed paths with him a few times." Cheshire admitted, finally managing to land a slash across the glowing star symbol on Chico's chest.

Chico pushed Cheshire back before trying to send a roundhouse kick her way, only for her to avoid it. He continued their conversation as they fought. "Well, you have to cross paths with other fun heroes."

"You'd think but no." Cheshire admitted as she flipped over Chico, throwing more smoke bombs at him when she landed.
"Solar Flair is fun, but he's way too frantic and nervous. I can see it in the way he fights. Moonlet takes nothing seriously, which is fine at first, but it gets annoying after a while, and Gaia Girl and Purple Hood are fine in small doses."

Chico finally freed himself from the cloud of smoke and sent a bunch of arrow constructs at Cheshire, which she to no one's surprise, avoided.
"You've fought all these people?"

"Yep." Cheshire said proudly, rushing at Chico, she managed to send another slash across his chest, tearing up his symbol more, but Chico grabbed her by the leg and threw her into an air vent, breaking the cat ear-looking devices on her head, and shattering one of her lenses.
Cheshire quickly brushed off the damage and ripped the vent cover off the vent, throwing it like a frisbee at Chico, who just used his ring to make a hand construct and swat it away like he would a fly.

"Any other heroes I should know you fought?" Chico asked jokingly.

"I fought Superbear once, but that was way too easy. The guy barely chased me for five blocks before he lost sight of me. Can you believe it?"

Chico chuckled and shook his head.
"Well, Supes has other things to worry about than an emo furry."
He teased, pointing to her currently damaged cat ear-looking devices.

"Says the chicken in spandex."
Cheshire said, pointing out Chico's hypocrisy.

Chico put his hands up in defense.
"Touché."

Chico held out his fist. His ring began to glow again before creating a giant Pac-Man construct that Cheshire avoided by jumping out of the way. "Pac-man?"

Chico shrugged.
"If you had a ring that let you create anything you can think of, you'd do the same."

Cheshire smirked. "True, maybe I'll take that ring from you while I'm at it."

Chico rolled his eyes and laughed confidently. "I'd like to see you try."

Cheshire smiled. She did enjoy a challenge. She reached back into her satchel bag and threw large metal balls towards Pink Lantern. He used his ring to create a comical large baseball glove and caught all three metal spheres.

He looked at them confused for a moment, but suddenly, the metal spheres burst open and out popped dozens, if not thousands of little ant-like nanobots like the ones that made up Cheshire's whip. The nanobots began to climb up and constrict Chico's body.
Eventually, Chico's bright pink suit and white feathers were consumed by a mass of darkness.

He struggled beneath the mass of nanobots. Cheshire Cat hummed as she stepped closer to Pink Lantern. She whistled, commanding her nanobots to expose his ring. The nanobots slithered away from the glowing ring on his left hand.

"Told ya I'd get that ring." Cheshire had only put to claws on the ring when it began to glow brighter and began to make a strange whirling sound. It then dawned on her what was happening. Cheshire tried to run to cover, but it was too late.

All the nanobots and Cheshire were blasted away in a large bright explosion. Chico took a breath, finally being free from that prison. His eyes fell on Cheshire just in time to see her holding onto the edge of the roof.

The blast had nearly thrown her off the roof completely. Chico was about to help her back up when the claws Cheshire had stabbed into the roof broke. Cheshire's scream echoed as she fell.

"Cat!" Chico exclaimed. He didn't waste a second he jumped after her, trying to catch her before she hit the ground.
As Cheshire fell she reached around her waist again and was about to use her whip to swing to safety when she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her and slow her to a stop before she could ever hit the ground.

She was surprised that he actually jumped after her. She turned in Pink Lantern's arms to face him.

"You jumped after me?"

"Yes!" Chico exclaimed, surprised she was even asking that. "What hero wouldn't jump after you to save you?"

"Crescent." Cheshire said, plainly.

Chico tried to argue but he knew he couldn't argue with her there. While Crescent was his friend... he knew Crescent tended to be quite brutal with his enemies, never killed them, but concussions and comas were okay in his book.

"Well, Crescent is..."

"Deranged? Psychopathic?"

"I was gonna say rough around the edges." Chico said, trying to be nicer than the cat thief.

Cheshire laughed at the hero's attempt to find kinder-sounding words to describe his friend.
She took another look at the busted whip in her hand and sighed. Chico's gaze fell on the broken technically advanced whip.
"Sorry."

Cheshire shrugged and wrapped the whip back around her waist.
"Meh. I have been working on blueprints for a new one anyways. You just gave me an excuse to break them out."

Chico chuckled, happy to hear she didn't hold any animosity towards him for breaking her whip.
"Well, I'm glad to be of service."

Chico had just now realized how close he had Cheshire. His pale face was beginning to glow pink and not just from his ring. Cheshire's eyes fell onto Chico's ring before returning to his blush-dusted face. She smirked, getting a mischievous idea.
"You know, you're a lot of fun... for a hero anyways."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Chico questioned.

Cheshire shook her head and laughed. "Yes, you dork. And... ya know, you did save me from falling so... I suppose I owe you a 'thank you.'"

Chico's blush only grew. "Well, you were falling I wasn't just gonna let you dr-" Chico felt Cheshire place her hands on his face followed shortly by her lips on his beak. Chico's eyes widened in surprise. One minute ago he was fighting this lady and now they were kissing?
Chico really didn't know what to do next. His mind was racing with so many thoughts "She's a bad guy! We shouldn't kiss her!" He knew he shouldn't be enjoying this but he was.

Chico kept one hand on Cheshire to prevent her from falling and moved his left hand up and placed it over her hand that she had on his face. The two stayed like that for a moment, floating above an alley, just sharing the moment. However, the moment was cut short when Cheshire quickly pulled her hand back, yanked Chico's power ring off his finger, and wrapped her whip around the fire escape.

Chico's costume disappeared, along with his powers, leaving him powerless and in his normal streetwear. Chico fell for a few feet, landing in an open dumpster below.

He shook his head, trying to stop the stars from spinning around his head. He was pulled out of his daze by the sound of Cheshire's laugh.
"Oh man! You fell for the oldest trick in the book!"

"Hey! I-it's not funny!" Chico stammered, trying not to feel embarrassed or upset that the kiss was just a trick to steal his ring. He couldn't believe he fell for that! Why did he fall for that?

"Told ya I'd get your ring." Cheshire teased before flicking the ring with her thumb towards Chico. Chico held out his hands and caught the ring. He was a little confused on why she gave it back to him.
"Y-you're not gonna steal it?"

"What? No. If I did I wouldn't be able to mess with you anymore."

"Oh." Chico replied, unsure how to feel about that response.

"Plus," Cheshire said, dangling upside down from her whip "I know those Lantern rings of yours only work for the specific user, if I tried using it, it wouldn't work."

Chico raised an eyebrow curiously. She knew how his ring worked? How? Only the heroes closest to Chico knew that.
"Hey, how'd you know that?"

Cheshire chuckled and said, "I can't reveal all my secrets. Now, I gotta get this gem to the boss-man."
Cheshire blew a kiss with her free hand towards Chico before sprinting up the fire escape and disappearing on the roof.

Chico stood there processing everything that had just happened for a moment before it dawned on him that she still had the Evergreen gem!

Chico frantically slid his ring back on and flew back up to the roof but by the time he got up there Cheshire was gone.

Chico shook his head and pinched the bridge of his domino mask-covered nose.
"Moon is gonna kill me."

Later at the Hall of Peace Chico was walking through the halls with Roxas a.k.a. Howler walking beside him.
"So, let me get this straight, some girl dressed as a cat stole the Evergreen gem, kicked your ass, and then kissed you?"

Chico nodded. "Y-yes. I.. I have no idea what happened. I-I don't get involved with villains, but.. I... she kissed me."

"And you kissed her back?"

Chico reluctantly nodded. A part of him was still thinking about that thief from last night and the kiss they shared.

Roxas laughed.

"It's not funny!" Chico said, swatting his leather jacket wearing friend.

Roxas wiped away a fake tear.
"Man, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but... that is too funny. Our little Chico, Mr. Love-dovey Lantern ring got his heart broken by a criminal."

"Shut up." Chico said in a quiet defeated tone. Roxas patted Chico on the back offering his bright pink friend some comfort.
"Hey, it's okay. We've all had a thing for a villain at one point or another. Do you know how many I've been with?"

"Seven." Chico guested. Roxas was about to speak but shut his mouth. "Wow... you... you guest that right away."

"Me and the other heroes talk. You're kind of a controversial topic." Chico admitted. Chico rubbed his face, ruffling his white synthetic feathers. "Ugh. Crescent is gonna kill me when he finds out I let the Evergreen gem get stolen on my watch."

"Yeah... he might." Roxas said, giving Chico one last pat on the back before walking ahead of him.

Chico stared at Roxas frankly bewildered. "That's it? No reassurance that he won't kill me? Not even a reminder of his no-kill rule?"

Roxas scoffed. "Shoot, man, you let the Evergreen gem get stolen when he asked you to watch his city. I'd be surprised if he even kept you in the League after this."

Chico groaned and marched towards what was sure to be his death. He entered the dark large meeting room, the only light in the room was the large glowing blue hologram of the globe that constantly rotated.

Chico watched as Howler settled into his seat next to his girlfriend Sunspot. Chico ran his pink-gloved hand through his white feathery hair, trying to calm himself down and convince himself that Crescent wouldn't kill him for failing to stop the thief from stealing such a priceless jewel.

Chico slid into his seat next to Purple Hood and Gaia Girl. Sunny couldn't help but notice the defeated look on Pink Lantern's face.
"Is Chico feeling okay today?"

Roxas snickered. "He did something dumb last night. I'll tell ya about it later."

Sunny nodded. Everyone looked towards the entrance door as Crescent stepped into the meeting.
"Alright, everyone, let's make this quick, The Commissioner wants me and Sun back in Astral City before mid-day so let's make this quick. Terra, how'd yours and Monty's stakeout go?"

"Good," Terra replied. "We found those weapons dealers Mars tipped us off to. They've been dealt with."

"And I got a new shotgun for my troubles." Monty said, proudly brandishing his, thankfully, empty shotgun.

Crescent nodded. "Alright, Roxas how'd your mission with SuperBear go?"

"The man has Super hearing and I have a sonic howl, how do you think it went?" Roxas said in a sarcastic tone.

"Ask Freddy if his ears are okay. Got it."
Crescent then turned to Chico who looked like he wanted to disappear into his seat.
"Chico, anything happen in Astral City while I was away?"

Chico could have sworn he felt his heart stop when Crescent asked that. He swallowed hard before answering "N-no. I-it was pretty... uneventful."

Roxas laughed. Chico shot Roxas a glare.

Crescent eyed Chico skeptically. "Are you sure nothing happened?"
Crescent knew a liar when he saw one and in Chico's case he wasn't a very good one like at all.

Chico lowered his head and resigned himself to his fate.
Chico stood up about to speak when the entrance doors opened and in walked the very same thief from last night. "Hey, Cres, got that thing you wanted."

Roxas, Sunny, and Chico's eyes widened. "Sis?" Sunny said surprised.

Chico turned slowly towards Sunny. Did he hear that right? Sis? As in sister?
"S-sis?"

Sunspot nodded. "Yeah, that's Clipsey. Me and Moonie's other sister."

Roxas just had to laugh at this point. Chico kissed his friend's sister and didn't even know it!

"Hey, sis." Clipsey said, casually saluting to Sunny. Clipsey then handed over a small purple pouch to Moon. Moon reached into the pouch and pulled out a sparkling green gem, not just any gem, the Evergreen gem!

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. Chico was just confused at this point. Why wasn't Crescent arresting Clipsey? Why was she handing him the Evergreen gem? Did he order her to steal it? Why?!

Chico got his answer when Crescent dramatically threw the gem on the ground shattering it like glass, much to everyone's horror.

"Relax." Crescent ordered. "It was a fake. Just as I suspected." Moon picked up the shattered pieces of the fake gem and examined it. "This gem is a fake, meaning my theory on the real Evergreen gem getting stolen earlier was correct. I'll have to get Solar to investigate that while me and Sun deal with another case."

Moon turned to Clipsey and nodded. "Thanks for the assist, Cheshire."

"Don't mention it." She said in reply, scanning the room of shocked heroes till she spotted a very familiar bird. She waved to him playfully and said in a low almost flirty voice "Hey, Pinkie."

Sunny's eyes darted towards Chico, along with everyone else in the room's eyes. Chico gulped, tugging on the collar of his super suit.

"You two know each other?" Moon questioned.

Clipsey nodded. "Yeah, we ran into each other last night while I was working my case."

"Oh, so I see you've met our newest operative then."

"O-operative?" Chico asked, wanting to make sure he heard that right. Sunny gasped and stood up in excitement. "Wait?! Clipsey, does this mean..."

Clipsey nodded. "Yes, I joined your little hero club."

Sunny squealed with delight before running past Roxas, towards her sister, and trapping her in a big hug.
"Aw, sis! I'm so happy you're finally a part of the League!"

"So, finally on the side of the Angels?" Monty asked, leaning back in his seat.

Clipsey eventually freed herself from her sister's grasp. "Yes, and no. I'm still doing this for fun but... maybe that fun can help people too."

"I'll take it anyways!" Sunny exclaimed. "Welcome to the team, sis."

"Good to be here." Clipsey replied, her eyes moving away from her sister and back onto the shocked chicken animatronic.

"I guess that solves your "You kissed a villain problem." Roxas whispered to Chico.
"Shut up." Chico said, quietly but sternly.

"Alright, I think that's all I had for today. Everyone's dismissed. Terra, Monty, I'll see you at home."

Everyone left the meeting room, leaving just Chico, Roxas, Sunny, and Clipsey still in the room.

"Ooh, I can't wait for you to come on missions with us!" Sunny said, cheerfully.

"I'm surprised you actually joined this thing. I thought you were all "In this for myself and for fun." Roxas asked, leaning against the meeting table.

Clipsey nodded. "Oh, I still am. I'm only a part-time agent and Crescent says as long as I only rob bad guys, he won't throw me in jail."

Chico stared in disbelief. Cheshire Cat was not only a League member but also one of his best friend's sister?!

"S-she's your sister?" Chico asked, pointing between Sunny and Clipsey.

Sunny smiled wide, showing off that gap in her teeth. "Yep! Ooh, that's right. You guys never met. Clipsey, this is..."

"Pink Lantern, I know." Clipsey said, smugly. She marched over to Chico, towering over him. She ran her newly reclawed glove up Chico's chin, playfully flicking the feathers under his chin. "Good to see you again, Pinkie. You didn't think you saw the last of me, did you?"

Chico really had no idea what to say or do now. Whenever he tried to think of something to say his brain seemingly malfunctioned. Clipsey chuckled to herself. It was clear the bird was shocked for multiple reasons but she knew that one of those reasons was the kiss they shared last night.

She playfully booped Chico's beak before walking towards the exit. "I look forward to working with you, Chico."

"Um... Chico, did something happen last night between you and my sister?" Sunny asked, eyeing her bird friend with curiosity. Clipsey and Chico's banter seemed friendly and familiar... maybe a little too friendly.

"I-I'll explain later." Chico finally managed to stammer out.

Roxas laughed and shook his head.
"You're gonna love this story."
Roxas said to Sunny.

Clipsey watched the three from the doorway. She knew it would take a while to get used to this whole hero thing but if it meant she got to hang out with her sisters and mess with a certain birdie then she had a feeling she might like playing hero.

Chapter Text

Sunny merrily skipped through the silver, gold, and purple halls of his boyfriend's castle.
There were a lot of perks to dating the king of Wakanada and getting free rein of the castle, allowing her to bring her small army of cats everywhere with her was definitely one of them.

Sunny counted to make sure the main five cats were with her. Tippy-toe, Ringo, Cleo, Salem, Muffin. The cat-themed heroine stretched and smiled as she explored the vibranium-filled castle. She had just gotten back from a quick mission with Moonie and was now looking forward to resting in her boyfriend's comfy bed hopefully with him next to her if he was back from all his kingly duties now.

As Sunny entered her boyfriend's quarters, her tail and ears twitched when she heard what sounded like arguing. She held the door open a little longer for her cats to enter. She placed her finger to her lips, silently asking her cats to be quiet. She quietly stepped closer to the sounds of an argument.

She hid behind a wall and peeked around the corner, spotting her boyfriend Roxas, Black Wolf, King of Wakanada pacing in a circle while speaking with one of his advisors.
"We lost how many?"

"Seventeen, sir." The animatronic advisor replied. "Seventeen have abandoned the castle. They were going to join that extremist group that's been plaguing us for a while but the Wakanadain forces apprehended them before they could make it out of the kingdom."

Roxas ran his shining vibrainum claws through his long currently messy mane. Sunny could see the tired and frustrated look in Roxas' eyes. Roxas had been having a loyalty problem in his kingdom lately. For some reason, more and more people were turning against the leader of Wakanada. Roxas had already lost thirty-five percent of his kingdom, turning against, protesting, and even trying to attack their king.

Sunny had her suspicions about why people were abandoning King Roxas but she kept that to herself. She didn't want to accuse anyone of anything but the thought was there.

"Seventeen." Roxas mumbled to himself. His mask folded in on itself vanishing into his black, silver, and purple suit, revealing his tired-looking face. "What are we doing wrong? What am I doing wrong?! I give them anything. We're the most prosperous and technically advanced cities in the world. There's no war. No homeless. No famine. I do all I can... and they still... hate me. Is it something I'm doing? I think I'm doing everything right."

The advisor looked like he was about to say something maybe a little rude but he slowly shut his mouth and choked back his words. The advisor put on an obviously fake smile before saying "It's a mystery, truly, my king."

Both Sunny and Roxas could tell the advisor wanted to say something else. Roxas turned away from his large window that overlooked the kingdom and looked at his annoyed and tired-looking advisor.
"Is there something you want to say?"

The Advisor shook his head.
"No, my king."

Roxas didn't buy that one bit. He stepped closer to his advisor, towering over him ever so slightly.
Roxas stared down at the advisor who just looked annoyed at this point.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Roxas said in a stern authoritarian tone.

Sunny's tail fluffed up slightly hearing Roxas' voice grow angrier. She never liked it when her boyfriend got mad but with all the recent betrayals he had been experiencing she had heard that voice a lot, not towards her, but towards almost everyone else.

The advisor closed his eyes and shook his head before asking, "Are you sure you want me to be honest, my king?"

"Tell me, why do you think they're abandoning me?" Roxas crossed his arms and eyed his advisor skeptically. He was gonna 'love' this.

The advisor brushed the non-existent dirt off his shining purple robe, cleared his throat, and then said in a voice that sounded like it was meant to hurt "They don't want you."

Roxas' eyebrow raised in morbid curiosity. "What do you mean by that?"

The advisor continued his long rant about why no one seemingly wanted to stay by Roxas.
"They don't want you! You can give them everything in the world but you can't give them what they actually want! You act like everything's fine! You think if you throw more luxuries at them they'll love you, but that'll never change anything. You're not what they want."

"Then what do they want?!" Roxas asked, demanding an answer.

"They wanted the old you!"
The advisor finally said.

Sunny let out a quiet horrific gasp. She covered her mouth with her palm, and even her cats seemed to freeze when they heard the advisor's outburst.
Roxas seemed to freeze.

The advisor took a breath for a moment before continuing.
"They wanted a queen of Wakanada, not a king."

The advisor stepped forward and poked Roxas' chest.
"These scars you so proudly and crudely put on your armor, I-it's a mockery to us! Thousands of years of tradition, out the window! Look, you could have been The Black Wolf and been a girl. We've had female Black Wolves before."

Roxas had to stop the advisor there. "Y-you think I transitioned cause I wanted to be Black Wolf? No! I transitioned cause this is me."

"No, this," The advisor said, waving his hand in Roxas' general direction.
"Is the passing delusion of a little girl who never got told no."

Roxas bared all his fangs to the advisor and popped his claws out. The advisor rolled his eyes like this was a minor annoyance and not a threat to his life.
"Oh, yeah, attack me, I'm sure the kingdom would just 'love' that. I'm sure that will get them to love you more."

Roxas closed his mouth and retracted his claws. The advisor felt comfortable enough to continue his berating of Roxas.
"You have everything. We give you everything... but it's not enough for you. You decide to go and do... this! If your parents were still here they'd be rolling in their graves. What did we do to deserve a queen like you."

"He's your king!" Sunny said, finally making her presents known. While Roxas was happy to see Sunny, his advisor wasn't. The advisor just looked more annoyed if anything.

"And then there's you..." The advisor said, now stepping towards Sunny.
"You bring these... wild felines into our castle and they use it as a scratching post and litterbox. I-I genuinely can't explain what Roxas sees in you. Clearly, you're either an ego boost or our 'king' just likes having someone to co-sign his bad decision."
The advisor held his head in his hand. "He let you... an outsider... into our kingdom."

Roxas had heard enough.
He grabbed the advisor by the shoulder and turned him around to face Roxas.
"Get out! You don't talk to her like that! Insult me all you want but you don't drag Sunny into this!"

"Gladly." The advisor said, pushing Roxas' hand off his shoulder. The advisor took off his purple vibranium-laced robe and handed it back to Roxas. The advisor walked towards the door getting scratched by Salem on the way out.

The advisor hissed as the cat swatted his ankle. He glared down at the cat, then looked back at Roxas and Sunny. "Thousands of years of tradition were wasted on you."

And with that, the advisor left. Roxas was about to throw a vase at the door but Sunny beat him to it. She grabbed the vase and threw it at the closing door. The advisor panicked and booked it away right before the vase made contact and shattered on the door. Sunny huffed and smoothed out her tail and rays, trying to calm herself.
"What a jerk, huh?"

Sunny didn't hear any reply from Roxas. She turned and saw him marching towards his bed. Roxas sat down on his bed and made some more of his suit fold in on itself. As the nanontech armor retreated into itself, the silver scars on the chest of Roxas' armor vanished, replaced by the actual scars on his chest. He ran his fingers over his painted-on scars and sighed.

Sunny didn't hesitate to come comfort her boyfriend. She crawled onto her bed and wrapped her arms around Roxas' chest, her fingers brushing against his chest scars.

"You know he just said that to hurt you. None of it was true." Sunny said, quietly, resting her head on Roxas' shoulder.

"Part of it was."

"What part of any of that was true?" Sunny said, squeezing Roxas gently, wanting him to know she was here for him.

"No matter what I do... they're never gonna want me. The real me. They want Roxanne."
Roxas hated saying that but it was true unfortunately. They didn't want a king of Wakanada, they wanted the queen, but she was gone and she was never coming back.

Many couldn't accept that fact and even left Wakanada.
They left a utopia for their own prideful beliefs.
Many joined extremist groups with ulterior motives just to get rid of the king.
They became villains for their own self-righteous beliefs.

Sunny cupped Roxas' face, turning it to look at her.
"Well, Roxy's gone, and they'll just have to live with that. You're your own person. Yes, you may be their king but you're a person too, with feelings, and if they don't like Roxas, well, then let them leave."

Roxas appreciated Sunny's attempt to make him feel better but even though he knew his existence wasn't a crime he hated that a quarter of his kingdom was treating him as such.

Roxas' eyes fell towards the pictures of former kings and queens in the living room section of his quarters.
"Thousands of kings and queens before me. Sure, they had their faults but none of them drove a quarter of their kingdom away."

"Well, they didn't know situations like this would happen. Don't compare yourself to people in the past, My Dad tells me that's how you get stuck in it." Sunny said, hoping Roxas would understand what she meant.

Roxas let out a weak chuckle.
"Well, your dad's a wise man."

"You still feel terrible, don't you?"
Sunny moved her arms back down to Roxas' chest, resting her hands over his scars.

"Hard not to." Roxas stood up and returned to pacing around his room.
"I... I don't know what to do. I can't please. I can't convince them otherwise. I'm not changing myself for anybody... but.. what do I do? They're turning against me and I... I can't do nothing but stand there and watch... the people I care about... don't care about me."

"Well, you got someone who cares about you here." Sunny said, pointing to herself. She stood and walked towards Roxas.
"And my siblings care about you. Moonie cares about you. Chico cares about you. Clipsey cares. We all care."

"Even if your kingdom doesn't love you, you've got a lot of people outside who do." Sunny's tail curled around her leg nervously as she spoke. "I wish I could give you some advice or some grandiose speech that will make you feel better or convince the kingdom to give you a chance... but I can't. All I can do is be there for you and hug you when you're down."

Sunny's cat Ringo jumped into her arms. "Oop. And the cats are here for you too." Roxas snickered and ruffled Ringo's fur.
"Thanks for being here little buddy... and thank your momma for being a lovely woman."
Roxas said, shooting Sunny a smile.

Sunny could feel her cheeks warming up seeing Roxas' smile. Roxas cupped Sunny's face and kissed her. The two however quickly parted when Ringo hissed and swatted at Roxas' chest.

"Watch it, little buddy." Roxas said, wagging his finger at the cat who tried swatting at Roxas' finger.

"Hey! No, Ringo. No swatting Roxas." Sunny set Ringo back down before throwing her arms around Roxas, returning to their kiss.

Roxas still felt a little sad. Having most of your kingdom turn against you cause of who you are was nothing to scoff at but at least he had Sunny here to make him feel better. Roxas' tail curled around Sunny's, making Sunny giggle in the process.

Eventually, the kiss came to an end and Roxas spoke. "Thanks for sticking up for me with my former advisor."

Sunny smiled and shrugged. "It was no biggie. That guy was a jerk anyways."

"Ya know he's probably gonna say you assaulted him or something."

Sunny waved off her boyfriend's words. "Meh. Let them talk. All I care about right now is passing out in bed with my favorite hero next to me." Sunny said, kicking her boots off and setting them at the edge of Roxas' bed.

Roxas chuckled and joined Sunny in bed. "Your favorite hero, huh? Well, I guess it's only fair then that I join ya."

Sunny set her coat aside and wrapped her arms around Roxas. Roxas threw the silk purple and black sheets over them.
Sunny rested her head on Roxas' chest and smiled.
"And I for one like the scars on your armor. They look cool."

"They do. I don't know what that guy is talking about. Those look sick." Roxas chuckled. He pressed a quick kiss to Sunny's forehead.
They both nestled in bed. Salem, Ringo, and Tippy toe joined the couple in bed, lying at their feet, while Cleo and Muffin used Roxas' sparkling purple curtains as a scratching post.
"Those cats are lucky those are lined with Vibranium."

Sunny chuckled and rubbed her cheek and rays against Roxas' chest.
"Yeah..."

As the two heroes were about to fall asleep Roxas heard the door to his quarters open. He thought it was his advisor returning to apologize or beg for his job back but that theory was thrown out the window when he heard the sound of glass cracking under the person's foot, followed by the person hissing in pain and mumbling the word "Shit!" Under his breath.

Both Sunny and Roxas sighed. They sat up and saw Sunny's male variant pulling glass out of his foot.
"Hey, Sunpool."

"Hey, femme me." Sunpool said, flicking the piece of broken glass away. "Why's there glass on the floor?"

Roxas sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Sunpool, why are you in our dimension?"

"Long story, and to make a long story short can I crash here a few days?" Sunpool asked, watching Cleo slide down the curtains, tearing them slightly.

Roxas looked to Sunny who gave him a look that said "If we don't say yes, he'll just annoy us till we do."
Roxas nodded and turned to Sunpool.
"Yeah... knock yourself out."

"Thanks, Rox." Sunpool said, immediately going to Roxas' wardrobe and wrapping himself in one of Roxas' robes. His scabbards peaking through the top of the robe. Sunpool marched towards the living quarters, grabbed a nearby phone, and began to order food, treating this place like a hotel room.

Roxas turned to Sunny who already looked annoyed and tired of Sunpool.
"Remind me to burn that robe later."

"I'll help you burn it." Sunny shut her eyes and rested her head back on Roxas' chest, gently running her fingers over his scars. Feeling Sunny's fingers glide across his scars did bring a smile to Roxas' face.
He squeezed her softly before turning off his bedroom light and joining Sunny in peaceful rest after the long stressful day they both had.