Unlawful Good- A Last Life Superhero AU

~11~

"I don't see what the point of joint patrols is." Speculum said pointedly, following Grian closely.

"The point is that by doing patrols with the heroes, we'll understand them better and be able to fight alongside them more effectively. It's the right decision for the greater good." Grian pointed out.

"Greater good, sure." Speculum muttered crossly.

"Oh, shush you." Grian scolded him, turning a corner to see two heroes, one of whom he hadn't seen up close before- Viridian and Aeor. "Viridian! Aeor!"

Viridian glanced over brightly. "Avis! Glad to see you could make it. And you too, Speculum." The brunette added with a laugh.

Aeor nodded quietly. "Nice to meet you two." His blue gaze flicked to Grian. "I've heard a lot about you two. You in particular, Avis. You'd be surprised how much effort it takes to get Warlock to shut up about you." He added jokingly.

That's sweet. Kinda. "Nice to meet you too, Aeor. I've heard great things about you as well." The dirty blonde responded, looking the hero up and down. Aeor had bright cyan hair with golden stag-like horns poking out of it, icy blue eyes and his hands were slight frosted over, forming an icy pattern. He was wearing an extravagant blue cloak with a gold pattern that was lined with white fur. He was also wearing a white blouse, gray pants and large black leather boots. As well as that, he had a dark blue mask with gold and white swirls covering his mouth and nose.

It appeared as if half of the heroes' costumes were entirely for show- this one- as well as Warlock's- was rather flashy in particular-, but they seemed to get the job done without the heroes getting any major damage done to them, so there must have been something that Grian was missing.

"Should we get on with the patrol then?" Aeor asked, shooting a wary glance at Speculum, who was slightly more enthusiastically quizzing Viridian about how his powers worked- what could Viridian make, how much energy did it require to make things, was there a limit to the energy he could absorb? The usual questions for Viridian, Grian supposed. Why do I feel like I've heard Aeor before? Well, I've heard him on TV obviously, but it feels like more than that...

"Yeah, let's go. Speculum! Leave poor Viridian alone." Grian called to his teammate with a laugh.

"I just want to know how his powers work!" Speculum whined. "You always say the more information we gather the better, bird boy!" Wow, that's the most he's spoken to me since he saw- thought he saw?- Cleo meeting up with the Red King. He thought with a smile. Not that I care. He's an overly suspicious idiot. Grian blinked.

What? No, he isn't. Where'd that come from? BDubs is one of my best friends. He's right up there with Cleo, Pearl, BigB and maybe Scar and Mumbo. Scar and Mumbo have been pretty nice since we hung out a few weeks back. He shook it off, speaking up again.

"I only meant gather information when we're near villains, mirror boy!" Grian shot back playfully, grinning even though the others couldn't see it under his mask. "Not when we're hanging out- patrolling- with heroes." He corrected himself.

"Whatever! Let's get this over with." Speculum declared, stepping away from Viridian, who shot Grian a grateful look.

——

"You know what, that street was reasonably quiet. More so than usual." Aeor commented as they turned the corner out of a reasonably peaceful street that was normally rife with criminal activity. The hero summoned a small crystal-like cluster of ice that hovered slightly above his hands, glancing around with a frown.

"Yeahhh. It's kinda weird, actually." Speculum commented, glancing around. "I haven't seen any reports of villains all day. There's normally at least a report of... oh I don't know, Sync annoying Piscis on the outskirts of town." The other vigilante shuddered. "It's eerie."

"I'd rather fight all of the villains at once than have to sit around and figure out what the hell is going on today." Viridian muttered in agreement.

"I mean, I wouldn't go that far, but yeah this is pretty creepy." Grian agreed with a frown. "I mean-" He broke off with a gasp so loud that it caused Aeor to jump and drop the crystal-like ice cluster, which shattered into multiple pieces.

"Avis? You okay?" Speculum asked with a nervous laugh as Grian's hands flew up to cover his ears.

"No, I-" He paused as the same thought echoed violently through his head, over and over. GET BACK TO THE VIGILANTE HEADQUARTERS. Over and over and over again. "We need to get back to headquarters."

The other vigilante just looked confused. "Why?"

Grian briefly heard Viridian mutter something about red eyes while staring at the dirty blonde and he shook his head. "I don't- Cleo?- I'm not sure- I-" He closed his eyes briefly, but not before he noticed his friend's gaze darken at the mention of the former villain.

"Who's Cleo?" Aeor asked, sounding just as confused as Speculum had looked.

Grian didn't respond, opening his eyes again as the thoughts drew to a halt. He was greeted by the other three staring at him with concerned expressions.

"If it's that important that it made you do all that, then I think you should go to wherever your headquarters is." Viridian said with an uncharacteristic frown.

"Yeah. That's probably- yeah, let's go." Speculum muttered, glancing at Grian. "As nice as this was, it sounds important." His eyes widened as he stared at his friend. "Oh, your eyes are back to normal."

"What?" Grian stared back at Speculum, slightly confused.

"Well, they've been a bit red for the past month or two. I have my guesses as to why," The other vigilante added to himself, "But now they're normal. I- come on, let's go."

——

Grian opened the door to the headquarters and was greeted by the unpleasant sight of Cleo holding a struggling Pearl by the neck and holding a knife to the brunette's throat, her eyes glowing a menacing blood red.

HaHahAha BDubs was right.

Or was he?

No I'm kidding he was right.

Angst starts in the next chapter or two (unless you consider this to be angst in which case the angst has already begun)

Prepare yourself for character death in the next three to seven (I haven't decided yet) chapters mwahahaha