[Heyyyyyyyy i'm backkkkkk with a (hopefully) interesting chap for y'all!

TW:

words:

w o o p w o o p let's do this.]

Knockout jumped from rooftop to rooftop with ease, Nightmare not trailing far behind. Under the cover of the dark veil above them, streets visible below only by a warm, dim glow and all alleys and cracks between buildings pitch black as they cleverly, artfully vaulted over them. Wind hitting the parts of the two Villain's faces that weren't covered, keeping the two awake and lively. Adrenaline coursed, a shared feeling in the now duo despite doing a similar routine to this each and every night.

Everything's much better when you're not solo, though.

"C'mon, gurl! I gotta slow down just to have you keep up!" Knockout taunted, turning their head to speak to the boy behind him, smirk ever present on his face as the words he spoke were nearly lost in the breeze. Nightmare just caught them, though.

"Oh shut it, it's not like you have a professionally made suit while i'm stuck with scraps i find that only j u s t cover my identity, never mind have speed springs." Nightmare retorted, snappy and so clearly anxious that it was unsettling. It made Remy- or, Knockout, backtrack to meet with the other, stopping in the middle of a rooftop.

"Gurl- you're- very literally- radiating anxiety. You good?" Remy asked, gesturing to the black shadows creeping around Virgil' hands. Virgil just sighed, taking a deep breath and dusting his fingerless-gloved hands on his black and purple suit, before looking back to Remy wearily.

"I- yeah, just a little on edge i guess. What with Roman thinking- well- yeah, and Patton keeping such a close eye on me-"Virgil trailed off, and Remy understood, nodding a little.

"It'll work itself out.Now, c'mon gurl!Only a couple buildings to go." And with that, the two boys were off again.

------------Patton's POV-----------Time skip---------------

2:00am.

2:00 am, and still no sign of Virgil. In fact, he hadn't been back home once since he ran out earlier, and Patton was a little worried he'd been too harsh on the man.

Corrected. He was tearing himself apart.

Roman had 'fallen asleep', since he was now fully reassured that Virgil wasn't up to anything he shouldn't be.

Corrected. Roman hadn't fallen asleep, he left the house at about 1:00am and hasn't returned either.

Logan was in the study, apparently "working" despite having been really worked up about the two boys fighting earlier.

Corrected. Logan was crying. Patton heard the broken, heart-wrenching sobs coming from the man as he walked past the office like room that only Logan ever occupied, despite hearing Logan stifle them one he caught the sound of footsteps. Now, despite Logan being pretty sensitive, due to- r e a s o n s- the two fighting had never affected him this much, ergo there was something else on his mind. Patton was trying desperately to work it out, he couldn't seem to.

Besides, Logan has recently began disappearing off the face of the world about 2:30 am anyway, only to creep back in the house at around 9:00am and say he 'fell asleep' in the study.

Now, normally Patton wouldn't notice, but tonight was different. As much as he knew Morale was very much needed in the scene, he couldn't bring himself to change into his suit until about 1:00 am, and even now he hasn't left. Normally, the man is gone for 12:00am, only knowing the boys and when they left and mysteriously reappeared from the camera they had outside for criminls. He never asked, never pried- aside from Virgil who he was fairly sure was either cheating or trying to destroy the city- Patton couldn't tell yet- because their life was, well, their life. Still, he couldn't help but let his mind wander as tow h a t they could be doing, were they okay? What if they were being hurt, doing something bad, hurting someone else, trying-

that was it. Patton needed out. Now.

And with that, Morale launched himself out of his window, landing gracefully on the grass anjd taking off to the normal battle grounds for Heroes and Villains alike, the town centre. The man- now clad in a mask that covered his face, sky blue with a grin printed on the front, and his usual Baby blue and silver suit- took the street route, not caring who saw him as he ran down them, using his small size and agility to his advantage. He climbed a building, looking over the area to look for somewhere he could assist, if anywhere at all.

He was expecting chaos, but nothing like this.

Lots of light. So much, it was almost blinding as Morale looked into it, trying to see what was going on. Well, going from the bright light and black shadows trying to snuff it out, The Prince and Nightmare were throwing down. Now, normally Morale would've been worried- last time the pair faced off, it didn't end too well for The Prince. However, the superhero was too occupied in noticing the monochrome figure- almost invisible as it moved- inside the jewellery store behind them.

N o w Morale was confused.

Nightmare was working as a distraction, while the figure- who Morale had to assume was Knockout- infiltrated the store.

The two were together.

Oh shit.

The two were bad enough alone! Knockout was one of the most known villains in the state, let alone the city! And the usually bubbly superhero knew firsthand that Nightmare was incredibly underrated, the first face off (One that Patton had assumed would be a piece of cake) completely wrecking Morale.

Patton was about to jump down, but stopped himself, smiling proudly under his mask when he saw a just visible midnight blue blur in the shadows looking up at him. Intellect. Tech was Intellect's forte, and the place was heavily alarmed and had many precautions in place that the smart new superhero could tweak. the man had it covered, so Morale decided to help Prince, who was pretty evidently fighting a losing battle. He ran into the shadows of a close alley after climbing down from the roof, ignoring all the anxious energy he felt from the black surrounding him and listening in.

"Losing again, are we Prince?" Nightmare's voice literally echoed, as always as he pushed the black shadows swirling around him closer to Roman, who only snarled as his light began to snuff out, pushing the shadows back again.

"I wouldn't be so sure. Nightmares are for children, no match for a hero." The prince boomed theatrically, confident and unwavering as his voice always was. It was like one you felt like you could place, but the name it belonged to was just out of your reach.

Or maybe that was just Morale.

Morale watched as the hero and villain continued to fight, only stepping in when he saw The Prince beginning to tire, and Nightmare just holding out a little better, now so obviously winning. He snuck behind the villain, now radiating a happy aura that was beginning to dissolve the shadow cloud surrounding Nightmare. It was tiring, much more emotionally charged than his shadows usually were, fighting the urge to wince as he felt the anxiety roll over him from the boy. He began to speak in the overly cartoon voice he put on, so he couldn't be recognised from his voice.

"Hey kids! Nightmare, nice to see you're causing trouble. Need some assistance, Prince?" he asked loudly, now away from Nightmare and making a sort of triangle between the three, The prince visibly relaxing and Nightmare cursing a little under his breath. The prince just nodded, smirking. The two turned, expecting to see a scared villain but rather seeing the man with an unbeatable smirk in his face, a black and silver figure materialising behind him.

"Actually, this is when we take our leave. Tata, gurlies!" Knockout said fRom behinmg Nightmare, waving mockingly before dashing into shadows, one that the other villain had amplified so none of the alley that they ran into was visible. The Prince looked confused, tired, and scared. He looked at Patton a second before crumbling, Morale reaching forward to catch him and lower him to the floor safely.

"You good, kiddo?" the bubbly hero asked, concern in his eyes.

"--not r-really. It's been a hell of a day, and then letting the- the t w o of them get away- them teaming up it bad news- we can only just deal with the others- the two of them together- we have n o chance-" The Prince panicked.

"Hey, hey now. We are going to work it out, okay? You need more training, we can get that done. We need more heroes, i'll recruit. INtellect is getting stronger by the day, i'm fairly sure that he's stopped Knockout from taking anything from the jewellery store. Speaking of-" Morale said, seeing a man in a black and blue suit approaching. The closer he got, the more concerned the two became. He appeared dazed, normally pristine suit completely wrecked, a visible black eye visible even under his mask, a worried look in his eye. He stood before the two a second, before speaking.

"Salutations." He said simply.

"Hey, kiddo. Did you---?" Patton asked, a hopeful tone in his voice. Logan looked dow, a little ashamedly.

"He took the money, and much more, too. It appears we have one hell of an issue on our hands."

The Prince gasped. "Wait- he took it? A-and- oh god, they've partnered haven't they." He sighed, putting his head in their hands. Patton shook his head a little.

"I think they have. Oh b o y are we screwed."