A few days had passed since he had called Momentary, and arrangements had been made rather quickly.

Grian was to meet up with the villains Drain (who could drain people of their energy, hence the name) and Ignis (who could control fire) by some random alleyway somewhere (presumably Grian wasn't trusted enough to go to the villain headquarters yet, which was fair enough).

He just had to wait until his roommates left for work (he didn't want any awkward questions asked about where he was going, because he as an awful liar). Mumbo had already left, but Scar (who's schedule seemed so incredibly random and chaotic that it actually frustrated the parrot hybrid) was sat on the couch staring at his phone intently.

"Hey, uh- don't you- have work?" Grian tried, sitting down next to him awkwardly and attempting to look at his phone.

"Uh... I haven't been called into work yet. We're meant to have..." Scar paused thoughtfully. "A... meeting? With... another less cool company, but they're surprisingly quiet today and- haven't shown up?" Okay, I'm gonna have to analyse that later, but-

"I mean, you could still go just in case. What if they've forgotten to tell you or something, or their WIFI is bad? You might be missing the meeting." Grian added ominously.

Scar paused, chewing his lip with a somewhat nervous expression. "You think?" He glanced back at his phone again.

"I mean, I don't know, but there's certainly a chance." Grian said slowly.

The brunette sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Have a good day doing- nothing, I guess." Scar got up, glancing at his phone again before switching it off, grabbing his bag and walking to the door. "Bye!"

Grian waved as Scar left the apartment, letting out a sigh of relief as the door closed. Just need to wait a few minutes till he's definitely gone... He switched his phone on, scanning the messages he had been sent in regards to the location of the meet-up with the villains.

The parrot hybrid paused for a few minutes, looking through the website dedicated to hero-villain fights and reporting on them (there was the occasional mention of vigilantes, too).

After noticing that there were no fights reported today, the dirty blonde got up, opening the door, walking out of the apartment and, after searching for his keys in a panic after thinking he'd lost them, locking the door behind him as he went to the agreed meeting point.

——

Grian paused as he approached the rather ominous looking alleyway that lead to a maze of other confusing alleyways, his gaze flicking between the two villains.

One was Drain, a relatively tall man with brown hair, oddly shaped horns, tired brown eyes, a mask covering his mouth and nose and a yellow 'I' painted crudely onto his shirt. As well as his ability to drain the energy of others (hence the name), he could also gain small parts of their power.

Stood next to him was the excitable villain Ignis, a yellow haired man with piercing red eyes, a thin, wiry tail and pointed, elf-like ears.

Both paused as Grian approached, and Ignis simply trailed off halfway through a sentence as Drain cleared his throat. "What's your name?"

"Uh... Grian... Gotts?" He said slowly, and both villains visibly relaxed.

"Oh, okay, just wanted to check we weren't grabbing some random guy off the street. Follow me." Drain almost immediately disappeared around a corner as Ignis shot Grian an apologetic glance as the pair started following the brunette.

"So... you're the guy who saved B-" The red-eyed man cut himself off, looking slightly confused before continuing just as enthusiastically as before. "Momentary, right? Why did you do that?" Grian shrugged.

"I don't know, I just- felt bad. Besides, from what I've seen, heroes, uh... they aren't exactly what everyone paints them to be. They aren't the greatest." The dirty blonde added with a laugh as Ignis nodded in agreement.

"True! Finally, someone who gets it. So, why was a bag your choice of weapon?" Before Grian could respond, Drain sighed.

"Ignis, don't talk the new recruit's ear off." The brunette called over his shoulder. "You'll scare him off." Drain added with an amused expression.

"Oop- sorry. I'm not talking your ear off, am I?" The red eyed man whispered to Grian, who laughed and shook his head.

"Not at all. Trust me, if I didn't like people who talked a lot, I wouldn't live with my roommate." The dirty blonde added with another giggle. Maybe the villains aren't that bad. Actually, yeah, I should probably have a more positive mindset about them if I'm gonna join them.

"Ah, I see. Fair enough then." Ignis added with a laugh. "So why did you use a bag? And why was it so heavy?"

——

It took about ten minutes of walking until they turned a corner to see a group consisting of about six or seven people.

Chloro and Momentary, he recognised, but he had to stare at the others for a moment to figure out who they were.

A woman with plaited brown hair and blonde streaks (she also had a mask covering her mouth and nose, and heterochromic blue and purple eyes) was chattering excitedly to someone stood next to her. Sense. The villain who could sense people's emotions (again, hence the name) and also brainwash people.

The man she was talking to had black hair, blue eyes with dark gray sclerae, tanned skin and glasses. He also wore a very tattered lab coat and had midnight blue vines wrapped around multiple parts of his body. Warden. He could control the plant that wrapped around him ('sculk') and also temporarily control people.

The remaining two were a confusing pair. One Grian knew- the villain Dynamite, an incredibly tall man with brown hair, a bionic eye and arm, curved goat horns and green... fur?

He was well known enough.

But Grian had no idea about the man stood next to Dynamite. He was wearing an odd green armour suit and was holding a helmet with a bored expression. His eyes were a dim shade of purple, he had brown hair and there was a pale scar in the shape of the letter 'X' on the middle of his face. He was quietly explaining something in a monotonous voice.

The man paused as Grian approached, letting out a muttered hello and taking a few steps away as Grian's attention was brought back to Momentary, who brightened. "Grian! Everyone, this is Grian! He's the bird guy."

Sense shot him a curious look. "Ooo, cool wings. So you're the one joining us? Can you really control birds?" She added excitedly.

"Uh..." Grian glanced at a pigeon awkwardly eating crumbs off the ground and whistled quietly. The bird's head snapped up as Grian held his arm out and it flew over, landing on the man's outstretched arm. "Ta-da?" Sense laughed.

"That's so cool! And you can fly, obviously, but- cool!" The brunette finished brightly.

"Yes. He can fly. Well noticed, Sense." Dynamite remarked with an amused expression (it was at this moment that Grian noticed the hybrid's thick German accent).

This earned the cyborg a light smack over the head from the brunette.

Momentary shot the pair a skeptical look before glancing back at Grian. "So... I take it that you're still set on being a villain?" The man with heterochromic eyes asked brightly.

"Absolutely."

"Oo- I have a name idea!" Chloro blinked as everyone turned to look at her before continuing. "Villain name, I mean. What about Volare? It means 'flight' in Latin, I'm pretty sure." The green eyed villain added.

There was a general murmur of agreement from the group as Grian nodded. "Sounds cool! I'll, uh... try to find a mask on my own, but still cool."

Ignis nodded. "Great! We'll call you when we need you!" He added cheerfully.

Slightly long chapter but wooo

Drain- Impulse
Ignis- Tango
Sense- Pearl
Warden- Cub
Dynamite- Doc (obviously lol)
Strange unnamed mystery man- Xisuma

Anyway he's a villain now :DDD