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Infume made sure the door to the café was actually closed before taking out his phone. He had to put it away so he could clean everything properly, and now he had three unread messages from Blizzard. After Derapchu got annoyed with being made into a carrier pigeon, he reminded Infume that phone numbers existed, so he could just exchange those with the villain and they could figure out where to meet that way. Blizzard also sent him memes he found funny and edits of both of them, which Infume refused to find endearing. The fact that during the last few weeks Feinberg kept asking him why he was smiling at his phone when he was supposed to be serving customers didn’t mean anything.
Despite Blizzard being a villain, Infume found himself looking forward to his messages. There weren’t many people in his life who seemed this interested in talking to him, and the villain was almost freakishly easy to like. And then there were the training sessions.
The first time he was sent an address which led to an out of the way warehouse, Infume was half convinced he was about to get kidnapped or worse in retaliation for what happened in that alley. Instead he was met with a giddy looking Blizzard, who grabbed his hand and pulled him into the building. It turned out the villain had no issues with simply inviting a vigilante into his base of operations, which seemed crazy to Infume, but he supposed it’s not like he could tell anyone without getting arrested himself.
Most of the time they were left alone to spar and work on getting to know each other’s fighting styles, but occasionally Blizzard’s teammates joined them to discuss strategy or share their observations. It turned out that when they weren’t in the middle of committing armed robbery, both Rowl and Mongey were pretty fun to be around. Even if Infume was 80% sure the ‘only for genius’ advice Mongey kept giving them was just an attempt to piss them off. If that’s how their discussions about his Aura went, he couldn’t blame Blizzard for seeking him out just to make it stop.
He actually wasn’t sure if either of them knew he was Auraless. Rowl complained that he lost a lot of money because of him, but they didn’t really talk about it further. Infume supposed it was possible that Blizzard simply told them they were wrong without getting into specifics, but would they have believed him? He felt too awkward to ask so he tried not to think about it.
After training together for a few weeks, Infume had to admit Blizzard was good at fighting, even without Aura. Even when not conjuring ice under his feet, he moved around so fluidly that it was almost like he was ice-skating. His hand-to-hand combat was also decent, and he could easily keep up with Infume, even if in the end he lost most of the time. When they were rolling around on the ground, trying to gain the upper hand with Mongey and Rowl cheering them on from the sidelines, it was difficult to forget they weren’t both Auraless. Then Blizzard would reach for his water and make ice-cubes appear by simply holding the glass, and Infume was unpleasantly reminded that he was still outclassed in an actual fight.
Their opponents, Nerdi and Rekrap, were a formidable duo. When Blizzard revealed this is who they were going to be up against, Infume almost called the whole thing off on the spot. Nerdi was one of the best inventors in the underground, rivaled only by Fulham. At first glance he appeared very friendly, but Infume still remembered the power amplifier he made for Rowl and the destruction it caused. Instead of the seven clones he was usually capable of conjuring, the police chasing him got swarmed by a crowd. Luckily Silver managed to use his Aura to destroy the device from a distance, but it still showed that the inventor was not to be underestimated. Especially since gadgets were allowed during the fight.
Nerdi’s partner, Rekrap, also had a reputation. He got along well with everyone, and even some of the heroes seemed to enjoy speaking with him when they ran into each other during patrol. This didn’t stop him from being one of the best mercenaries in the underground. For the right price he was willing to double-cross anyone, even Nerdi himself on a few notable occasions. His Aura wasn’t publicly known, but a lot of people speculated it had something to do with luck manipulation. Infume thought it made sense- he always seemed to know when someone was trying to trap him and managed to escape. No matter what his Aura was, he would still be difficult to defeat without it, especially with Nerdi’s tech at his disposal.
When Fulham heard from Derapchu that Infume would be taking part in the Equalizer event, he called him immediately and offered to make the gadgets for both him and Blizzard. He said it was to promote his business and show Nerdi that he was the superior inventor, but Infume suspected there might have been more to it. When they met to discuss possible designs, he could swear Fulham looked almost worried. Infume didn’t ask, scared of getting it wrong and getting made fun of, but it was nice to think about.
Whatever the reason, his vigilante costume got upgraded with better armor, and he now had a separate battery for listening to music, which would be very useful during future patrols. He also got a few smoke grenades, which Fulham told him could come in handy against Nerdi. During fights he usually relied on his Aura, which gave him x-ray vision, to see everyone, so his sight being obscured would be more likely to mess up his concentration and make him slip up. When he mentioned it during one of their strategy discussions, Rowl seemed to think it seemed likely, which filled him with more confidence than Mongey’s enthusiastic agreement.
Aside from training and texting with Blizzard, Infume spent the weeks leading up to the fight watching the weird thing between Feinberg and Couriway develop. After his boss told him he would take care of the hero from now on, he spent more time outside of the staff room than ever before. Infume didn’t really understand it- after serving Couriway whatever it was the hero decided to buy that day, and looking personally offended when he never ate or drank any of his purchases, he walked out from behind the counter to join him at his table. They spent a lot of the time arguing about the state of hero society, and Infume cringed every time he heard ‘from my personal experience in the industry’ coming from Couriway. The guy was really bad at staying undercover. Infume did his best to behave like a civilian, scared of his vigilante identity getting found out, but with every day that went by he felt himself relax more and more. Maybe it really was a coincidence that the hero started frequenting the café the day after he first met Blizzard. His boss seemed weirdly happy after each conversation, so Infume supposed it was fine.
He read the messages after he got back home. It was another edit of him in his vigilante costume, parkouring up a building while running away from the police. There was also a picture of two cats sitting in front of a burning building, captioned ‘us!!!’ , which made him smile. He used the time he had left before he had to go meet up with Blizzard to make sure all of his gadgets were working for the last time. He couldn’t afford for any of them to fail during the fight. After confirming everything was in order, he decided to take a quick nap, so he would be at full capacity when the event started.
Sooner than he would like, he was woken up by the alarm he set before falling asleep. He put everything he would need in his backpack and left the apartment. He made sure no one was following him before ducking into an empty alleyway to get dressed. He didn’t want to risk getting caught leaving his apartment building in is vigilante costume.
Blizzard met him at the halfway point between his base and the location they were sent that morning by Equalizer. Infume heard the characteristic sound of his Aura, and when he turned around, the villain was skating down an ice slide he’d made to get down from a roof. He gave him a wave, and Infume returned it happily. They continued their journey in silence, and he felt himself growing excited. Despite the fact it was dangerous, he was looking forward to testing his abilities against the other duo, especially when he knew he could count on Blizzard to have his back. The possibility of winning money only sweetened the deal, especially since the villain offered to cover the whole entrance fee.
The coordinates led them to an abandoned warehouse close to the docks. Infume was starting to notice a theme when it came to villains and their hideouts. He put a hand on Blizzard’s shoulder to stop him from charging ahead, and went first, carefully checking the inside using a flashlight. He heard the villain let out an amused huff, but decided not to answer until he was sure it wasn’t a trap. Equalizer’s event had a good reputation, but in their line of work it was always better to be careful.
The warehouse seemed to be truly empty, so Infume decided it was fine to come in. He gave Blizzard the signal for ‘go’ they worked out during their training, and the villain immediately stopped being subtle.
‘Yo Infume, did you see the meme I sent you?’ he seemed genuinely happy when Infume nodded. ‘Why didn’t you reply then? You can say you hate me by the way, it’s fine.’
Before Infume could say anything aside from an indignant ‘What?’, he was interrupted by the approaching sound of two pairs of footsteps. They fell silent and he saw Blizzard getting ready to use his Aura, in case they were about to be attacked. He reached for the smoke grenade, hidden in one of the many pockets his costume had.
Luckily, the two people that came in turned out to be their rivals for the evening. Nerdi and Rekrap seemed immersed in conversation, but stopped when they saw they weren’t the first to arrive.
‘Hi Phantom! It’s so cool to finally meet you man, I don’t think we’ve had the opportunity before. I’m Rekrap’ Infume could see why everyone found the mercenary likable. They were supposed to be fighting soon, and yet he seemed genuinely happy to see him. He was wearing his signature jacket, which Infume knew was heavily armored and usually full of useful gadgets.
‘Legitimately, you’re one of my favorite vigilantes’ Nerdi also sounded enthusiastic, but his gaze was a lot more openly curious. ‘I can’t wait to see how you’ll do against us.’
Infume muttered out a thanks, feeling awkward. He didn’t expect the illegal fighting tournament to require so much social interaction. Somehow he knew Blizzard was amused, even though he couldn’t see his face behind the mask.
He didn’t have the opportunity to embarrass himself further, before they heard a clang and they were joined by Equalizer himself. He looked very intimidating in person. He was wearing light blue armor with pink accents, and his eyes were hidden behind a visor. He was taller than both him and Blizzard, which only added to the effect. In his right hand, he was holding a briefcase, and in his left something that looked like a drone with a camera attached to it.
‘Are you familiar with the tournament format?’ his voice sounded unnaturally deep and distorted, and Infume concluded he must have been using a voice changer. He nodded, and saw the other three competitors do the same. Equalizer seemed to accept their answers and opened the briefcase, showing that it held four syringes, full of bright pink liquid.
‘All of you will be injected with the serum, after that you will wait for my signal to begin. The fight will be recorded, to make viewing possible and to catch any possible cheating attempts. Is that chill with everyone?’
They all nodded again, but before even one of them could be injected, the warehouse suddenly lit up with red and blue. Infume heard Equalizer curse, before the night’s silence was broken up by the shouting amplified by a police megaphone.
‘You are surrounded. Please come out with your hands up, or we will be forced to send in heroes!’
Infume felt his breathing speed up. This was bad. If he got caught with four villains while taking part in an illegal fight, he wouldn’t even be considered a vigilante. Before he could consider trying to run away, the warehouse gate was thrown wide open with a groan. He saw two silhouettes, lit up from behind by police floodlights. One of them had characteristic wings, which almost blocked the whole entrance.
‘Couri?’ Equalizer sounded shocked, which made sense. Infume had never heard of one of his events getting raided. The location must have gotten leaked somehow.
He heard the sound of Silver charging up his Aura and felt Blizzard pull him backwards. The briefcase which was being held by Equalizer as of a second ago sailed inches away from his head and straight towards the waiting heroes. He heard Equalizer curse again, this time with more ferocity.
‘Nerdi!’ Rekrap sounded distraught, and Infume looked over just in time to see the inventor get tangled up in a net weaved from metal threads, Silver’s signature weapon. He was shouting and struggling the best he could, but before he could do anything he was flung away outside, towards the waiting police cars. It happened so quickly it almost didn’t seem real. For a moment Equalizer stood still, looking like he was considering something before his visor faced in their direction. Without a word, he took out something which to Infume looked like a supersized version of his smoke grenade, and threw it on the ground. It let out a cloud of white smoke, which quickly started spreading across the warehouse, making it look like the streets of Ranked City on a particularly misty morning. Even Blizzard, who was standing next to him, was practically invisible.
Infume quickly threw as many smoke grenades as he could and lunged behind a nearby shipping crate, pulling Blizzard behind him. He needed to get them both out of the warehouse, before the heroes got used to not having visibility. He held his breath, unsure if it was safe to inhale whatever it was the villain released into the air. He quickly felt himself getting lightheaded and realized he wouldn’t be able to keep it up for much longer.
Infume breathed in, feeling his lungs burning. Whatever was in the air smelled kind of like a hospital and coated the back of his throat with a sickly sweet aftertaste. He hoped it wasn’t poisonous. Next to him, he heard Blizzard cough and inhale deeply. He reached blindly through the smoke and found his hand. With each breath, he felt more relief. If it was poison, at least it wasn’t a fast-acting one.
Blizzard pulled at their joined hands, so they were almost hugging, hidden behind the stack of shipping crates. Infume cursed how easily he got flustered around the villain. Now was not the time! Around them, he could hear confused exclamations.
‘Phantom, my Aura is gone’ Blizzard whispered into his ear.
Suddenly the fact that he didn’t feel any effects of the gas made sense. He had no Aura, so it made no difference to him, but must have felt very disorientating to everyone else.
‘We need to get out of here dude, before they get used to being Auraless. We trained for this, remember?’ Blizzard squeezed his hand in response, which Infume chose to interpret as agreement. He fumbled in his pocket, looking for the goggles given to him by Fulham, in case he decided to use the smoke grenades in a fight. There wouldn’t be much point in taking away their opponent’s visibility if he was also blind. They were too small for him and he winced at the feeling of them digging into his head. Fulham told him he didn’t have enough time to alter them, since he had a lot of clients and wasn’t getting paid enough, or frankly at all.
Nevertheless, the goggles worked and Infume could see the interior of the warehouse. It reminded him a bit of the night vision cameras he sometimes watched to analyze the fighting styles of other vigilantes or heroes. Everything was monochrome, except the blinding lights coming from outside the building. He turned his eyes away when he felt them start to hurt. His gaze landed on the hero, which he could now easily identify as Couriway. He was standing in the middle of the warehouse, looking around himself and shouting into his earpiece. His wings, which he usually spread out to appear bigger, were laying limp on the warehouse floor behind him. Infume winced. That didn’t look comfortable. He heard a clang and looked over, just in time to see Rekrap slipping away through a back entrance he hadn’t noticed before. He gripped Blizzard’s hand tighter and started running towards it, dragging the villain behind him. On the way he had to dodge around Silver, who was holding another net, even though he couldn’t control it at the moment. In no time at all they were running outside, and Infume appreciated being able to breathe in clean air. Behind him he heard Blizzard laughing, which seemed on brand.
He let the villain’s hand go and powered up his boots, getting ready to jump onto a nearby building. They needed to get far away, before the police realized they were gone and spread around to search for them.
‘Yo Phantom, wait!’ he looked over at Blizzard, who looked uncharacteristically hesitant.
‘What? We need to gain distance, we’re so getting recognized if they see us.’
Blizzard scuffed his boot on the ground, not looking at him.
‘It’s embarrassing to say, but I don’t think I can get up there without my Aura.’
Infume felt a bit bad for not considering this. Without his shoes, he would also be hard-pressed to scale a whole building. He looked around for any nearby fire escapes or dumpsters Blizzard could use as leverage, but there were none. This was bad. If they couldn’t run away far enough, they might still get dragged to a police station, especially since Blizzard didn’t have his Aura. He searched his pockets again, hoping for a miracle. He felt his hand close around the key to the café, which he must have transferred over from his backpack by accident. He suddenly had a very stupid idea.
‘Blizzard, you need to take off your costume’ he started taking of his own, quickly stuffing each piece into his backpack. He looked over at the villain, who seemed to be frozen. ‘Come on, we don’t have much time!’
Blizzard also started getting rid of his costume, and Infume offered him his backpack, since he clearly wasn’t planning on changing until he got back to his base. When they were done, they looked like any two regular civilians, expect for the suspiciously bulging backpack. He started walking in the direction of the ‘Local Brewery’ and motioned for Blizzard to follow. He hoped he wouldn’t regret leading the villain to his place of work.
For the second time that day, Infume found himself checking that the café doors were actually closed. When he made sure they were, he let out a giant sigh of relief. Behind him, he heard Blizzard walking around the place.
‘Don’t touch anything, my boss will kill me if he finds out I’ve been here after hours’ he called out quietly. He was almost sure Feinberg wasn’t spending the night at his flat anyway, since he told him he would be out of town for the next two days, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
‘I’m actually being so careful, you don’t need to worry’ Infume really doubted that, considering Blizzard was currently opening all the cupboards he could reach. When he didn’t find anything interesting, he turned around and sat on the counter. Out of his costume, he looked nothing like a villain. If Infume didn’t know better, he would think he was just another college student, like the ones that usually visited the café. His light blue hair fell over his eyes, making him look mysterious, and he left the scarf he wore as Blizzard wrapped around his neck. Infume noticed he was also being looked over and felt himself flush with embarrassment. Blizzard’s gaze felt much more intense when neither of them was wearing a mask.
‘It’s so weird to think of you as Phantom outside of your natural habitat. What’s your actual name?’
‘I’m not telling you that, are we stupid?’ Infume ignored the fact that they were currently in a place he spent eight hours in on most days, so it would be trivially easy for Blizzard to find out more about him. He bet he was much better at spying than Couriway.
‘Come on, I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours?’ Blizzard looked like he was pouting under his scarf.
‘You can go first, if you want to know my name so bad’ Infume couldn’t believe he was actually considering this.
‘Wait, that’s so easy! It’s Hax.’
‘That’s your name? You’re actually not real’ despite sounding strange, Infume thought it fit him surprisingly well.
Hax looked at him expectantly and he supposed it was only fair for him to share his name as well.
‘It’s Infume’ whatever reaction he was expecting, it wasn’t for the villain to let out a defeated groan.
‘I was planning on making fun of your name but it actually sounds nice, that’s so unfair!’ the thought that Hax thought his name was pretty made him feel warm.
‘Whatever, how long do you think until your Aura comes back?’ Infume opened the cupboard where they kept the tea. After the night they’ve had, he figured both of them deserved it.
‘I don’t know actually’ the villain flexed his fingers and let out an annoyed huff when nothing happened. ‘Usually he gives everyone the antidote after the fight is finished, so it genuinely might take hours. Do you think there’s a chance I’ll remain washed and Auraless forever?’ he said it in a joking tone, but Infume noticed that Hax seemed pretty put off about losing access to his Aura, even if he did his best not to show it.
‘There’s no way it’s permanent, that would be so OP. I’m sure it’ll come back soon’ he left the tea to brew, sat down at one of the booths and took out his phone. He saw Hax hesitate for a moment before he joined him, choosing to sit next to him instead of across.
‘Do you want to watch something until it comes back?’ Infume rooted around in his backpack for the headphones he usually used during patrol and offered one to Hax, who put it on. Infume hoped whatever Equalizer released into the air would wear off soon. He needed to come in early tomorrow, since Feinberg wouldn’t be available, and he was not going to invite Hax into his apartment. It was bad enough that he knew where he worked- knowing the villain he was already planning on paying him a surprise visit. Infume ignored how he was kinda hoping that would happen.
It must have been at least three hours before Hax nudged Infume, who was half-asleep on his shoulder, to let him know that his Aura was coming back.
‘That’s awesome man, I’m happy for you’ he yawned and stretched, looking at the clock hung up on the wall with a wince. It was so late it would make more sense for him to just stay at the café overnight at this point. ‘You can find your own way back, right?’
‘Yeah, it’s chill’ Hax laughed a little at his own pun. ‘And Infume? Thanks for not leaving me in my chopped state.’ he marveled at the way the villain managed to make the stupidest sounding phrases sound genuine.
‘That just sounds like you think having no Aura makes me chopped’ he answered, enjoying the way Hax’s eyes widened in alarm. When he could see his face, it was much easier to read him.
‘No, no, no, I think not having Aura is tas actually. I mean, that’s lowkey why you didn’t tweak out back at the warehouse’ he looked conflicted for a moment, before he smiled at him and Infume felt himself blush. Then he realized Hax could see his face and blushed harder. ‘And if we’re really chopped, then we can be chopped chuds together’ he opened the door and disappeared into the night with a wave and a final ‘Goodnight Infume’, leaving him standing alone in the café.
‘Local Brewery’ felt very silent with someone as expressive as Hax gone. Infume considered it for a moment and went to the staff room. There really was no point in going back home, and Feinberg clearly found it comfortable enough to rest during the day. He tried not to think about Nerdi and what would happen to him. Infume knew he was a villain, but he still couldn’t get the fear on the inventor’s face when he was getting dragged out of the warehouse out of his mind. Despite his worries, he quickly drifted off into a restless sleep, exhausted by the night’s events.