Chapter Text
2007
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The sun was low in the sky over Torrance, the evening growing closer. Y/N walked through the alleyways while studying a wallet he’d managed to snag from some rich looking guy earlier. The ID showed a stoic looking man with dark hair and a grave expression, Y/n places the wallet back in his pocket before allowing his skin to ripple and reform.
Slowly his bones creak as they elongate and shift places, his hair changes slowly and his eyes shift colour as his chin squares. His body expands slightly as his skinny form changes to a more firm and muscular build… Y/n stands for a moment in a stupor before shaking his head slightly “Fuck…”
Y/n stretches and tests the new body, his clothes now fit more snug against his frame and he made a conscious effort not to breath too largely in case of ripping the already tattered clothes, he’d definitely have to make a trip to a clothing shop and soon.
Just as he’s getting his bearings however he feels a giant force ram into his back and nearly topple him over in its strength “Hey! What the fuck?!”
He turns on his heel quickly and looks down, a girl was down on her knees panting and rooting around in her pockets “Whoa… hey hey relax…” the girl had long dark Violet hair that was messed up and choppy almost like it’d been cut with blunt scissors
“Need…” the girl dragged in ragged breaths as she kept rooting around in her pockets “Asthma…” she took in another wheezing breath and Y/n quickly got the message. He pulled her hands away and patted down her pockets and found the little blue pump.
She took the inhaler with a shaky hand and took a deep inhale, her breathing took a few moments to even out as Y/n rubbed soothing circles on her back “There we go… your okay now… it’s alright.” The girl nodded slightly and coughed as she let her breathing even out.
“Sorry… didn’t see you and I…” the girl was interrupted by an angry shouting as a man in a security uniform started running towards them, Y/n heard the girl take a gulp of air but as he turned to face her she’d disappeared?
The security guard stopped in front of him “Did you see where that girl went? She stole from the pharmacy.” Y/n just shook his head and the guard huffed before turning around and muttering something underneath his breath.
A few more moments passed before the girl reappeared but this time standing a bit further away, Y/n stood up along with her “You should be more careful.” She nodded slightly her hands still shaking “You ever done that before?” She shook her head slightly
“Thought about it… parents couldn’t afford the inhalers so I tried to get by but… it’s gotten worse…” Y/n doubted she’d be telling him all this if she knew he was just another teen
Y/n just sighs and lets his form shift once more, he bones settling back into place and his clothes hanging off his frame “C’mon… let’s talk.”
The girl just gaped at him for a moment before nodding and they start walking together.
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The sky was a deep dark blue now as the two teens sat on the old swing set, the chains rattled softly under their movement “So… you can shape-shift? That’s pretty cool…” the girl - Courtney - looked over at Y/n from where she sat with a bag of gummy worms in hand
“Yeah… guess so… I mean it’s cool in theory.” She raises an eyebrow at him and he lets out a self-deprecating chuckle “The most my powers let me do is pretend to be important people and sneak around… I mean who’s gonna judge a cat for stealing some fish?”
Courtney shrugs “I feel the same I guess… I mean… invisibility isn’t the most useful superpower… it allows me to sneak around at least…”
“Guess we’re just two people with sucky powers huh?” Y/n looks up at the sky and sighs before throwing a sour patch kid in his mouth and chewing
Courtney stands up and stretches “I should be going home… my parents will worry about me. Have you got somewhere to go?”
Y/n smiles “I’ve got plenty of places I can go tonight.” He jumps off the swing and transforms midair before landing on the floor as a little brown cat, Courtney laughs slightly and pats his head before wandering off.”
“Maybe we’ll see each other again… bye Y/n.” And with that she turned invisible and the two teens went their separate ways.
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2022
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Y/n sat on the floor of his small cell, his bunk mate had been placed in solitary confinement for starting a big fight the other day so it was quieter than usual… it allowed Y/n’s mind to wander as he thought about what led him to the prisoner. He looked down at his wrist where a small power inhibitor sat, the small green glow showing its active status.
He hated the feeling of being unable to transform, it hadn’t even changed him back but kept him in the form he’d been arrested in… Y/n stood with an annoyed huff that quickly dissipated as the sound of heels clicking on the floor approached.
Hey hated looked up as the key jingled and his jaw slackened in shock and none other than Blonde Blazer stepped into his cell “Hoooly shit… uhm, hi… what are you doing here? Are you going to beat me up or something?”
Blonde blazer laughed softly “No, I assure you nothing bad will happen to you. I’m here to give you a proposition. If you’re willing to hear it?” Y/n nods slightly and Blazer walks into the room and stands in front of him. “I want you to work in a program I’ve been asked to run, you’d be working at the Superhero Dispatching Network.”
“What? I don’t know if you’ve seen my rep sheet lady but I’m not a hero.” Blazer nodded softly
“I have, that’s the point. This program is to rehabilitate villains such as yourself. If you want it. We’d be happy to take you. You’d be given a place to live and paid for the work you do.”
Y/n looks down at the ground for a moment to contemplate before sighing “Alright. I’ll join but I want something in return, nothing big or bad just a favour and I’ll try my damn best.” Blazer nods softly but there was a look of trepidation in her eyes “I want you to get rid of this”
Y/n pulls his shirt up revealing a network of metal and red glowing lights across his abdomen, the red glass was dim and inactive “I worked for red ring briefly but I managed to pay them off… but apparently I had hidden fees… I jumped ship so to speak and my augments stopped working…” Y/n let the shirt drop back down over his abdomen as he looked up at Blonde Blazer once more
She looked shocked, Red Ring wasn’t a big group when Y/n had been part of it but he’d heard whispers from new inmates… their forces were growing quickly and they were strong. “I want you to either figure out a way to reverse engineer them into working again or getting them out. I can’t just pry them out because it’d rip my guts out.” Y/n thought back to the day he’d woken up with them and the absolute pain he’d been in.
Blonde blazer’s eyes widen before leaning down to inspect the network of metal “I’m sure we have someone who could find something to help you…” she stood up straighter and her face turned serious “as long as you’re on our side we can help you…”
Y/n smiled and tried to make it look as genuine as he could. “Im like a dog… I don’t bite the hand that feeds.”
Blazer looked slightly wary still, his statement wasn’t completely true of course…he’d abandoned the Red Ring but that was different. Blazer let out a small huff and held her hand out for Y/n to shake which he did so enthusiastically.
It took a long time for everything to be settled, Blazer had to fill out a few piles of paperwork before Y/n was handed his old clothes and the power inhibitor was disconnected and removed, but once he was changed and out from the walls of prison he felt his shoulders relax…
It was time for a new life… a heroic life.