Chapter Text
In the city of L’Manberg, there was no such thing as safety. Alex knew that better than anyone. She was doing her best to fix that though, since the heroes definitely weren’t. Sighing, she slipped her goggles back on over her glasses. She had to periodically stop to adjust her goggles, as they were pressing in on her glasses, and it kept bugging her. She glanced over the city, and checked the time on her watch. It was almost midnight. Alex silently cursed, knowing that her friends would kill her for being out so late. She quickly started jumping the rooftops, occasionally using her ability to boost her. She made it to the street right in front of their apartment before stopping to the sounds of a mugging. Alex knew that she had to get home, but she just couldn’t stop herself from racing over to the alley. When she got there, she instantly took in the situation. There was a mugger and a victim. The mugger was a guy, and the victim was a kid. She hated these situations, where people got desperate enough to attack children. Although to be fair, he looked about 16, maybe 17, and that wasn’t actually a child. In fact, if she was gonna call him a kid, might as well call herself one too. She was barely 17, having turned it last week. Shaking out of her daze, Alex quickly raced forward, using the shadows to restrain the mugger and pin him to the wall before she knocked him unconscious. Alex turned back to the kid (but again, was he really a kid? had life allowed him to remain young?) who was standing in shock at how fast she took out the mugger.
”Hey kid, you alright?” Alex’s question shocked him out of it.
”I’m not a kid. But yeah, thanks. You’re Erebus, right?”
He looked at her, recognizing her signature all black outfit, hood up, steampunk goggles and black bandanna on, hiding her face. Her toolbelt with the silver skull and crossbones buckle visible, black fingerless gloves and tall black boots. Alex, or Erebus as she was known to the public, was quite proud of it. Unfortunately, when she had just been starting out as a vigilante with her friends, people kept thinking she was a villain. Luckily, she had proven that just because she wore all black and had a skull on her belt, and just in general looked pretty intimidating she was, in fact, trying to help people.
She nodded at him. “Yeah, I am. Anyway, if you aren’t a kid, what’s your name? I don’t wanna just call you kid.”
He gave her a surprised look. “I’m Tommy. Normally people keep insisting I’m a kid.”
Alex quirked an eyebrow “You want me to call you a kid?”
Tommy quickly backtracked “No no, just thought that it was unusual. Anyway, I’ll be off then. Nice meeting you, despite the circumstances.”
Alex nodded back at him. “Get home safe, alright? I don’t wanna have to save you twice in a row.”
He gave her a thumbs up, and raced off in the dark.
Alex watched him go, and jumped up to the nearest rooftop, using the shadows to propel her. She quickly headed off towards her apartment, not realizing that it was the same direction Tommy had run off towards. She arrived at the building and slipped in her window, careful not to make any sound. The lights were all off, and she didn’t want to risk waking up Jackie or Michael, even though they probably were still awake. She quickly took off her costume, hanging it up in the secret closet next to her friends’. Groaning, Alex flopped down on her bed. Her thoughts vaguely drifted towards Tommy, the kid who never got the chance to be young, before she slipped into the darkness.
Alex woke up to the sound of their trashy coffee maker rotting in the kitchen. She groaned, checking her alarm clock for the time. It was 6 am, far too early after her late night patrol. Unfortunately, she had work in a few hours. Alex dragged herself out of bed, slipping into the shower, before heading to the kitchen. Michael was leaning against the counter, sipping on a coffee. Black, probably, and boiling hot knowing him. Jackie was sitting at the table, and she slid another coffee in Alex’s direction. Alex gratefully took it, and took a sip, wincing at the temperature. Jackie raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. Alex knew that her friends weren’t going to say anything about her late patrol, but she still felt guilty. The three of them had been vigilantes for almost 3 years now, since they were 14. Alex hated thinking about their early days, about how they actually became vigilantes. She started thinking about it more when the anniversary was coming up. About a month from now signified the anniversary of them becoming vigilantes, and all the consequences of it. Alex sighed, and glancing at the time once more, grabbed her things for work. Saying a quick goodbye to her roommates, she headed off to the cafe where she worked.
Alex absolutely hated doing customer service. Unfortunately, as a cashier and barista, it was half of her job. She hated it more when people actually tried to interact with her, preferring to just get their order and make the drink, minimum contact needed. She also hated dealing with Karen’s, but honestly, who didn’t? Of course, she had to deal with a Karen the one day that she had barely slept.
“Listen, ma’am, the drink is to your exact specifications. I don’t understand what is wrong with it.”
Karen huffed, clearly annoyed. “And see, that’s the problem. Something in this drink is wrong, and you need to find out what. I demand you remake it and give me a new drink for free because of the stress you're causing me.”
Alex sighed, really not in the mood to deal with her. “Ma’am, that’s not how it works. You need to tell me what you are unhappy with in the drink for me to be able to fix it. And we can’t just give you a free drink, its against the policy.”
Karen was really getting worked up. “No, that’s not how it works. The customer is always right! I want to speak with your manager!”
At this point, Alex was just done. “Alright, if you would like to wait here for a few minutes I’ll get the manager.”
Karen looked smug, and Alex headed to the back to look for Niki. “Niki? We have a customer demanding to speak with you.”
Niki looked up from organising the boxes in storage. “Another Karen? I’ll be right out.”
Alex sighed with relief, and headed back up front with Niki in tow. She adored her manager, especially since Niki knew how much talking to people could annoy her, and actually helped work her through it. There was a deeper reason towards her dislike of talking to people, one that stirred up a part of her she had shoved down deep inside, one that she avoided at all costs.
By the time Niki had dealt with Karen, Alex had successfully managed to prepare herself for another few hours of painful social interaction, when Niki suddenly turned toward her.
“Oh, by the way, you can head out early today Alex. I’ve got another kid coming in soon for this next shift, so you don’t have to work it. Also, I figured you wouldn’t want to talk to him just yet, given the whole Karen thing today.” Niki made a gesture in the air as she said the last part, but Alex couldn’t be happier.
“Thanks Niki. I’ll head home. Call me if you need me.” Alex quickly packed up her stuff, deciding that while she would eventually have to meet her new coworker, she would rather do it on a different day. One where she did not have to suffer through a Karen on almost no sleep.
By the time Alex got home, she had decided to flip a coin. Heads meant she would go on patrol, even though she would be at a disadvantage with the lack of shadows. Tails meant she would take a nap in preparation for another patrol tonight. Alex opened the door, and just barely had time to react when Michael appeared and yanked her inside.
Jackie was standing eerily still in the middle of the apartment, not moving a muscle. Instantly, every single alarm bell went off in Alex’s head. Michael was clearly worried and Jackie wasn’t moving. This had happened once before, almost 3 years ago. Alex took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Jackie had the ability of prophecy, as they liked to call it, but really it was just her looking into the future. Normally. Unfortunately, she could also give out prophecies. Most of the time they were “fake”, with her looking in the future and making one up, but once before this time, it was a real prophecy, forced upon her by a god. Alex had no idea what to do, they had barely survived the last prophecy.
Alex didn’t have much time to think about it, however, as Jackie’s mouth opened, and words poured out in a voice that wasn’t her friends.
“The sky will crack and sea shall boil
Land will shatter and cities will tumble
4 shall come to save or kill,
The fate of the world lies in their will
The child of sunlight, found prior by darkness
Shall be the bonds that hold the group
Father of birds, chained to the ground,
Stern but loving, unyielding shall be he
Lord of blood, living peacefully with potatoes,
Slaughtering those who oppress them
Singer of the depths, without his voice,
Shall speak the command and choice be given
4 shall rise, but 4 may fall
For these 4 have the power to end it all
The trio of Ebony may come to their aid,
But the decision alone the trio must make
Beware, for danger awaits this 4,
Don’t let 4 become 3 once more.”
Jackie collapsed, tilting forward, and Alex and Michael quickly caught her and laid her on the couch. Alex and Michael looked at each other, silent.
Finally, Alex broke the silence and said “Well, that was ominous as shit.”