Unlawful Good- A Last Life Superhero AU

~13~

He glanced at BDubs, eyes wide. "Absolutely not."

His friend frowned. "What? Why? We've started working with the heroes now, and you, Mumbo and Scar are all on speaking terms again. We need as much help as we can get, and heroes are technically the best of the best-"

"No. I don't want to get them involved." But not for the reason you think. Grian was starting to feel like everyone who got involved with him ended up in trouble. Mumbo and Scar are just about on speaking terms with me. I don't want to ruin that by getting them or one of their teammates killed. "This is... kind of my fault for trusting Cleo. I don't want to drag them into this."

"Grian, this isn't 'dragging them into this'. It's asking for help." BDubs said softly. "I'm sure Mumbo and Scar will want to help, I'm sure their teammates will as well, and besides, I was talking to Viridian before and he said they think they've figure out where the villain headquarters is." He grinned, nudging Grian with his elbow. "See? Information gathering does come in handy."

"I guess you're right." Grian said with a weak smile, getting to his feet. "Come on. I think Aeor and Viridian said they still needed to patrol for about twenty more minutes, so if we hurry, we might be able to catch them." I feel so bad for dragging the heroes into this, but we need to get Pearl and BigB back.

——

"AEOR! VIRIDIAN!" BDubs shouted.

The two heroes turned around with slightly bewildered expressions.

"Oh, it's you two." Grian heard Viridian say as they caught up to them. "Did you sort... whatever that was out?"

"Not exactly." Grian mumbled.

"Elenchos kind of kidnapped- mind controlled- whatever- Velox and Luna, and she's taken them to the villains and we wanted to ask if you and the other heroes could help us get them back." BDubs explained, and Aeor and Viridian exchanged a shocked glance. "I remember that you mentioned you had an idea of where their headquarters were."

"Of course we'll help." Aeor said with a frown. "I know for a fact that Warlock, Engineer and Thunderstruck are on patrol a few streets that way. Viridian, can you-"

"On it!" The brunette hero called over his shoulder- he had already started running in the direction that the cyan haired man had pointed.

"Okay, so can you-" Aeor broke off with a frown. "Avis. Don't freak out, but your eyes are green." The cyan haired man exchanged a glance with BDubs, who looked back at Grian with a frown.

What? Oh no, that isn't- that's not- Grian could see BDubs attempt to speak but the noise around him had faded into silence, and suddenly he realised he could hear... whatever was going on in the villain's headquarters. Sync swapped my hearing with his.

Grian sighed, and then flinched with a sob as he heard an ear splitting scream echo in his ears. PEARL! His hands flew up to cover his ears the same way they had previously, and he leant against the wall.

He could hear brief sobs inbetween screams, and he could feel his breathing become shakier by the second as tears started to roll down his face. What are they doing to her? What are they DOING?! Grian paused as he heard a sound he thought he would never hear. Is BigB... crying? But BigB never cries! In all the time that Grian had known the incredibly friendly man, he had never known BigB to cry, not even once.

Then suddenly the sound was replaced with a shout from BDubs. "-GRIAN! ARE YOU OKAY?!" He removed his hands from his ears, shaking.

"Pearl..." He whispered, blinking. "They're hurting her. I don't- and BigB was c-crying."

BDubs recoiled, confused. "What? But BigB-"

"Never cries, I know. We need to find them now." Grian mumbled, glancing at Aeor, who was staring with a shocked expression.

"You're... Grian?" It was then that it clicked where he had heard Aeor's voice.

"Scott?" He mumbled, rubbing his eyes and staring as his sleeves became slightly soaked in his own tears.

Scott pulled his mask off, staring with a frown. "They switched your hearing so you'd be forced to hear your friends in pain...? What- what on earth is wrong with them?!" He looked more sad than angry. "We'll find them, Grian. Don't worry. Just give us a few days to-"

"We don't have a few days." Grian said through gritted teeth, attempting to steady his breathing. "You didn't hear how much pain she was in, Scott. I'm not leaving her there any longer than I have to. I'm not leaving BigB either. We need to find them now."

Scott nodded, pulling his face mask back on as Thunderstruck, Warlock and Engineer appeared. "Where's Viridian?"

"Gone to get Axolotl." Thunderstruck informed him breathlessly.

"Did you run all the way here?" BDubs asked, staring at them with a mix of admiration and confusion.

"Yep, I- you okay, Avis?" Scar asked, staring at Grian's tear-stained face.

"Not particularly. Now where do you think their headquarters is?" He asked sharply, glancing at Thunderstruck.

"We think they're operating out of the tech shop I go to." Mumbo informed them. "We've seen them hanging around there a lot and I've seen some pretty odd stuff when I go there. I'm pretty sure it has an underground area- kind of like a big basement?" The black haired man paused with a frown. "As upsetting as it is to think that Impulse might be aiding villains, it's a real possibility. And the shop has been searched while Impulse hasn't been there, and Axolotl is pretty sure that there's an entrance to an underground area."

Grian nodded quietly. "Then let's go. We need to find Pearl and BigB- Luna and Velox," he added at the others' (excluding BDubs) confused expressions. "-as soon as possible. Like, right now. So we need to leave. Again, right now."