Chapter Text
Ze finishes wiping off the counter, stretching out his wings lightly.
“Yo wassup.” Avery approached him, a coffee he probably wasn’t going to pay for in his hand.
The two worked in a small cafe together, the owner rarely showed his face around the building but “Coffee at Carcosa” was a nice little hole in the wall spot.
“Hey Avery.” Ze greeted, throwing the napkin he used into the trash.
Avery sipped his coffee. “I got the outside chairs in already, you sure you don’t want a ride? Derek says he doesn’t mind.”
Ze shook his head. “Nah, the walk is nice anyway.” Truthfully he didn’t want to impose, even if the couple insisted it was no problem to drive him.
“Well, cya later Zegater!”
“Never call me that again.”
“I’ve called you worse.” Avery grimaced, pushing the door open with his shoulder.
“Psh, yeah.” Ze grabbed his small bag he used for storing his stuff out from under the counter and threw it over his shoulder.
He flicked off the lights, locked the door and texted Regect he was on his way back.
Not in the “Oh I want you to know I’m safe” way. More in the “If you’re doing something I don’t wanna see, hurry it up” way.
Regect replied with a middle finger reaction to his text.
The two weren’t strangers, but the only reason they live together is because they both needed another warm body to sign the lease, and neither had any other roommates in mind. So they essentially got the college some treatment as fully grown men.
The walk back to his apartment wasn’t long, half the reason he worked at a cafe and not at a job more his style was the distance.
Ze stepped up to his building, he muttered a curse to the broken elevator and took the stairs.
Opening the door, he spotted Regect taking up the entire couch while watching something on TV.
“Sup.” Ze greeted, setting his bag onto the coat rack to the left of him.
“Sup.” Regect replied.
“Wait, are those my jeans?” Ze pointed towards the baggy pants Regect was wearing. It was a specific pair Ze liked a lot, they had a bit of black and white cloth woven around the belt loops.
“What if they are, what are you gonna do?” Regect rolled up the sleeves on his black sweater, his dark brown skin along with the marks of black and gold being visible on his arms.
Regect had large, poofy curly hair with a few braids in the front. His hair was darker than his skin tone but not by much.The man’s obsession with gold left Ze baffled, the man had gold eyes with black irises and golden colored beads on his braids.
“Beat your ass, probably.” Ze retorted, slipping off his shoes and throwing them down somewhere near the wall leading to the front door.
“Like you could. Also, stop leaving your fucking feathers everywhere! It’s gross.”
Ze scoffed and entered his bedroom, grabbing a few clothes to change into. He then went into the bathroom to wash the smell of work away.
Twisting the shower faucet and testing the water before he turned towards the mirror, Ze groaned at the sight. Dark bags under his eyes and some new acne on his skin.
Ze had very dark brown eyes and tanned skin. His black beanie revealed a rat's nest of brown hair underneath. His white wings with black tips looked pretty dirty, he needed to preen.
As steam filled the room, Ze took off his clothes and stepped under the water.
Untangling his hair was a bit of a challenge, but a small comb helped him out.
Ze scrubbed as much of the coffee smell from his skin and feathers as he could. The smell was nice before it embedded into his skin like a leech.
He finishes up rather quickly and goes back to the couch. Regect had his legs over where Ze normally sat.
“Can you move bro?”
“Nah.” Regect dug his feet deeper into the couch.
Ze picked up his legs and set them on the coffee table.
“Dude what the hell!” Regect grabs the back of the couch and tries to pull his legs free.
“You’re in my spot, asshole.”
“Glad you have eyes.” Regect moved his legs over Ze’s when he sat down.
“What the fuck no!” Ze kicked his limbs back and sat with his knees to his chest on the cushions.
Regect blew a raspberry like a child and kicked Ze’s ankles before setting his legs back on the coffee table, in the way of Ze’s leg room.
He gave up and made himself more comfortable with his feet still on the couch.
Ze brought his attention to the TV screen playing some news report.
A red haired vigilante in a colorful costume was helping out to stop a tall college dorm building on fire, Ze vaguely remembered getting an alert on his phone for a fire somewhere. The fire department chief stood next to her, nodding in approval.
She twisted her hands up, the flames shook as she interlocked her fingers before they dissipated entirely.
“Where were the heros.” Regect muttered, changing the channel after the vigilante gave a large thumbs up to the fire department squad.
Ze kept his mouth shut. His dad had been very insistent that he become a hero, “an icon for the masses, a savior to humanity” and other corporate quotes.
Both his parents were stationed at various hero training camps, either training young adults or working to recruit young, fresh-out-of-highschool trainees to sell their skills and powers over to the government.
It wasn’t Ze’s cup of tea.
Ze’s stomach loudly grumbled, causing Regect to turn his head and look at him.
“Fatass.”
“Whuh. Jeez, jackass.” Ze retorted.
“Don’t touch my leftovers in the fridge.” Regect’s phone started ringing so he left to go answer it in his room.
Ze flicked off the TV and walked down the small hallway leading to their kitchen, dining area and spare empty bedroom.
Dining area was a bit of an exaggeration, it was more of a table and a few chairs with random items piled up on top.
Ze opened up the fridge in the kitchen, groaning to see that Regect’s name was on almost every piece of food.
He could eat his food, but Ze didn’t have the energy to deal with a fight over five day old meals.
He dug around for a few minutes before retrieving a small tupperware container with his own name written on it.
Ze opened the container and the smell of pure, rotten meat and dairy spilled out.
Covering his nose with his arm and shutting the container, Ze threw it in the trash and huffed out a breath. His feathers proofed up as he shuddered from the stench.
He checked his phone for any cheap places still open to eat because he was not in the mood for finding what ecosystems his fridge had cultivated.
A small burger shop a few minutes away, he’s been there a few times.
Ze grabbed his keys from his room and exited his apartment, mentally preparing to see a text from Regect asking where he went.
Walking down the cracked sidewalk, Ze felt the damp parts of his hair get cold from the cool air outside.
He turned the corner on a street and saw a small neon sign saying “Open.”
Ze entered the building, nobody else was inside except for a teenager at the register who was probably working past the legal curfew.
Eyeing the menu, he saw a cheeseburger and fries meal with a medium soda.
“Yo.” Ze greated.
“Uh, hello sir.”
“Can I get the number three with a coke?” He grabbed out a ten and a five to pay.
“Yeah. That’ll be… twelve dollars and thirty-five cents.”
Ze nodded and handed over the money, stuffing the change in his pocket that he most likely would forget about.
A text from Regect dinged his phone. Three eyes brimming with tears emojis.
Ze responded with a photo of his receipt followed by “Ur Fatass wishes lmao”
After a few minutes of waiting, he got his food
The burger was covered in grease but he didn’t really care. The sugar in the soda was pretty nice since he had been craving something sweet.
Stuffing a fry in his mouth, Ze passed by an alleyway.
He swallowed and spotted a small flyer for a hero’s requirement taped to the brick wall.
He got an idea.
Rubbing his fingers together on his left hand, he let his short temper escape his chest and run down his entire body.
Latching onto the feeling, he spread his hand out as a small, glowing yellow bullet materialized between the tips of his fingers.
Flicking his middle finger at the poster, the small bullet burned right in the center of the proud hero’s eyes, letting the paper around their face turn a dark purple-black color.
Very few people were properly powerless, even fewer were 100% human. Most individuals wielded an ability and had some form of non-human adaptation. Something about evolution that made every person look like a teenager who discovers tumblr.
Ze was part of the larger percent. He had bullet summoning and avian parts. The avian blood came from his mom while his power came somewhere from his dad’s side.
His dad had been ecstatic, seeing his only son have a heroic power.
So when Ze was most of his way through 17, he got shipped off to bootcamp to become a hero.
He dropped out as soon as he could, cutting off his family and buying an apartment in the city.
Ze vaguely considered becoming a villain when he was fresh out of boot camp just to piss off his dad, but shrugged the thought off.
Bootcamp didn’t train him how to use his power more effectively, more the “morally” right way to use it and how to fight without it. So it would be pretty hard to be a scary, city destroying villain when he threw one bullet at a time that scraped skin and burned paper.
Propaganda be damned, sometimes Ze caught himself seeing vigilantes and thinking how much of a “waste” they were.
Unlocking the door to the apartment, Ze walked into the living room and was face to face with a familiar red haired vigilante.
His heart dropped all the way to the ground, and lower. He heard that this vigilante was a nice one, but that did little to settle his nerves.
Ze could get a proper look at her now. She had long overalls with a green-yellow split across the middle. A large jesters hat with a few strands of red hair sticking out. She had a large red clown nose and colorful facepaint.
“Oh shi- sorry I’ll go-“ He stuttered out, pressing his wings to his back. He wasn’t gonna question why a literal fire bender was in his apartment until after she was gone.
“Ze chill out, it’s just Moe.” Regect motioned for him to come sit down.
“Moe?”
The vigilante, Moe, honked out multiple loud, angry sounds from a horn at Regect.
“Uh, sorry?” Ze tilted his head.
“Oh she’s mad I sad her name, Moe don’t worry he’s chill he’s not gonna snitch on you.”
She turned her head towards Ze.
“Uh-yeah, I’m not a snitch. Those get uh, stitches.”
She looked back at Regect, raising an eyebrow.
“Ze can know it’s fine, trust. He was gonna find out eventually anyway.”
Moe honked out a couple more sounds, less angry.
“I think we have some around here.” Regect replied, looking around for something.
He grabbed a notebook and pen, passing it to the clown vigilante.
She scribbled words down quickly, then on the back. She ripped the page out and passed it to Ze.
At the top was written “Horn Translator” with different horn honks and meanings for them.
Ze made an “O” shape with his mouth and nodded, he set his food bag and soda down on the coffee table.
“Okay, so.“ Regext started, bringing his hands together. “This is Moenella, aka Moe. She’s gonna be our new roommate."
“Wha-what?” Ze questioned. “Why?”
“Well, two reasons.” Regect held up two fingers. “First, our landlord said he was gonna kick us out if we don’t have a third roommate."
“Dude what the hell!? Thanks for, y’know telling me before but whatever.” Ze huffed out an angry breath before deciding to calm down. “Okay, whatever. What’s the second reason?”
“She’s gonna help me get into vigilantism.” Regect replied.
“You’re, you’re gonna become a vigilante?” Ze rubbed his eyes. “That is so, fucking dangerous.” He muttered.
Moe honked for a second so Ze consulted the paper.
“‘I have-‘ Oh wait ‘I don’t have to be ass?’” Ze muttered, trying to get the translation correct.
He went silent for a second processing what she said. Moe was saying he was sounding like an ass.
“Oh I understand. Look, Moe, you seem cool, it’s just- rooming with two vigilantes seems pretty uh, not dangerous but definitely, an issue.” He admitted. “Regect do you even have powers!?”
Regect scoffed. “Yeah, obviously dipshit of course I do!”
“Like what?” Ze crossed his arms.
Regect pushed himself off the couch and instantly flew towards Ze, stopping just before collision to make him jump.
Moe honked out a laugh.
“Jesus! Okay, thanks for the demonstration! Dick.” Ze muttered the last part out. “Okay so you fly, cool, that’s like the most basic power I’ve ever seen.”
The black parts on Regect’s neck expanded out by him flying.
“Duh, of course it’s not the only thing.” He twisted with his fingers for a second before all the light in the room started dimming as shadows expanded almost completely. Then, he turned his wrist and the room lit up instantly to normal. The black-gold skin on Regect went to its normal size as well.
“Damn, that’s cool.” Ze muttered. “So wait, you have two?”
“No, it’s these that let me do that and the flying thing.” Regect pointed towards the black and gold lines returning on his skin. “So it’s like one power.”
“That makes zero sense.” Ze retorted. “How can someone fly with like, light manipulation?”
“Oh yeah I’m aware.”
“Great, so you guys are gonna do you vigilante shit, do you even have names?”
“Regect and Moe.” Regect replied.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah I do, heh.” He grinned. “Well, Moe’s already got a name, it’s ‘Fiamma.”
“What?”
Moe honked that her name means “Flame” in Italian.
“Woah, that’s kinda cool.” Ze nodded.
“I’m still thinking, but ‘Antagonist’ seems pretty fuckin’ awesome.”
“‘Antagonist’ That’s a bit, uh, like on the nose don’tcha think?”
Regect huffed. “Yeah whatever, it’s cool, bird shit.”
“Wha, nah don’t call me that.”
“Don’t care.” Regect paused. “Do you have any powers?” He added much slower.
“There is no reason for you to be asking, y’know I don’t think we’re close like that.” Ze hurriedly replied.
“You suck at lying, also that wasn’t a no.”
Moe honked that it was probably personal and that he should back off.
“Nah what are your powers, c’mom you can tell us.” Regect out his hands in a praying motion.
“I don’t have any.” Ze lied.
“Bullshit.”
Regect tackled Ze onto the floor, he held both his arms down and waited.
“You sure you don’t have any?” He teased.
“I-“ Ze kicked Regect’s stomach with his knee. “-don’t.”
Regect coughed but didn’t falter.
“Asshole.” Ze hissed through gritted teeth.
“Wah wah wah.” Regect mocked. “C’mon Moe help me.”
Moe shook her head and stepped back.
“Fine.” He started tickling Ze with one hand.
Ze shouted and punched him square in the chest, Regect loosed his grip on accident and Ze slipped out, quickly running to his room.
“Dick!” He shouted.
“Fuck you!” Regect flipped him off, huffing from pain.
Ze locked his door and stretched his wings out as big as he could.
Having a power that was cool was fun to boast about when he was in school, but people were sometimes scared of him when they saw him summon bright yellow bullets.
He didn’t want to create a weird power imbalance or make Regect think he was weird. Ze would be fine with making the guy at least a little scared, that would make him bully Ze less.
A few quick knocks lightly tapped on his door. Ze waited for a second before they knocked again, followed by a honk.
He timidly creaked the door open, seeing the red haired clown.
She smiled, and passed him the food he forgot on the table.
“Oh! Thanks Moe.”
She honked again, asking if he was okay.
“Uh, yeah I’m good, this is pretty normal since Regect’s just an asshole.”
She honked another laugh, saying she’ll talk to him.
“Yeah, that’ll work.” He replied sarcastically. “How long have you guys known each other?"
Moe held up a six.
“Six years?”
She shook her head, honking “months.”
“Ohh, yeah that makes sense.”
Regect called out to Moe for something, so she waved goodbye and he quietly shut the door.
Ze’s room was decent sized, a window next to his bed on the left corner with a desk covered in papers next to it. A closet with clothes on the right was shut and some posters littered the white walls.
He sat down on his bed, finishing out his now slightly cold food. Taking note that his room was probably going to smell like grease for a while.
He scrolled for a while on his phone, mindlessly liking short form videos.
Ze watched as a feather fluttered down from his wings onto the floor and remembered he had to preen his wings. They started getting itchy as well.
He quickly finished his food and stuffed all the food trash in the brown paper bag which he set on his desk.
Pulling his wings within arms reach, he slowly started pulling out the bad feathers and adjusting the good ones.
He picked out dirt and dust, then poured all of the feathers into the small trashcan he had by nearby.
After finishing up, Ze got an alert on his phone.
“Vigilante Fiamma spotted near the south end of the city, another unidentified man accompanying her.”
A photo of Moe and Regect, both in disguises, sprinting through an alleyway being chased by three police officers.
Regect wore a dark tanktop with equally dark cargo pants. The black-gold spread all around his arms, shoulders and face. Acting as a half decent coverup.
Moe has the same outfit on, but with tips of fire at the ends of her hair.
The image swapped to a live video. Regect grabbed Moe around her waist and sped forward, feet lifting off the ground. The camera followed them before Moe shot a thin flame of fire at it.
The feed cut to show the news reporter again.
“Police are still trying to identify the two, if anyone has any information, please call the local authorities at this number.” A phone number flashed on screen.
Ze closed out of the news and texted Regect.
“You’re fucked.” With a crying emoji.