Unlawful Good- A Last Life Superhero AU

~14~

Grian followed Mumbo closely as the black haired man opened the door to the tech shop, and he heard a bell chime quietly somewhere nearby.

"Impulse." Mumbo- Engineer- said quietly.

Impulse, who was sorting a box of oddly coloured wires at the back of the shop and hadn't yet turned around, brightened. "Engineer! Lovely to see you again. I must say, I did think the parts you bought last time would last you a bit longer than-" It was at this moment that the brunette turned around and spotted all of the other people that had followed Mumbo. "Oh. You... brought friends." He shot them a slightly forced smile. "Have a look around, and if you need anything, I'll be in the back."

Thunderstruck jumped forwards quickly before the brunette could retreat to the room at the back of the shop. "Wait a minute, Atrotos." Impulse's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Atrotos?" He drawled. "I think you have the wrong person, Thunderstruck."

Thunderstruck sighed. "There's a very easy way to find out. Atrotos has invulnerable skin." Impulse frowned, mouthing something quietly. Grian followed his gaze with a frown. There's nobody there? The brunette was staring directly behind Aeor, who was whispering something to Speculum.

All of a sudden, Aeor pulled away from... somebody who had grabbed him? But nobody's there? His gaze landed on a small knife that had been stabbed into the hero's arm, and the dirty blonde's eyes widened in realisation as Aoratos flickered into sight.

Impulse sighed. "If you're gonna do a grand reveal, make it a bit more grand than that, E- Aoratos." So he is Atrotos! Grian frowned as something occurred to him. That means that Ren's been unknowingly working with a villain. I'll have to tell him when this is all over.

Thunderstruck let out an irritated hiss, stepping forward and grabbing Impulse by the shoulder, his other hand covering the brunette's mouth. "Where is the villain headquarters?"

Impulse's eyes widened as he frowned, shaking his head.

The hero's eyes narrowed, and Grian glanced at him with a slightly surprised expression as he saw a few sparks light up Thunderstruck's other hand, which was resting on Impulse's shoulder. He hadn't exactly pictured the hero to be the threatening type. That must have been a warning. It won't have done anything, because it wasn't by Impulse's eyes, or ears, or mouth. Unlike Thunderstruck's right hand, which was still covering Impulse's mouth and would definitely cause some damage if Thunderstruck decided to attack using that hand.

Impulse shot a look at what Grian could only presume was Aoratos- how does he know where he is?-, who had disappeared again.

Thunderstruck opened his mouth again, but was cut off by a triumphant cry from Warlock. "Hey, you think this button does anything?" He was pointing at a dark gray button which had been partially concealed by a pile of redstone repeaters, which had been pushed aside by the hero.

"Maybe. Check." Speculum suggested, loading his crossbow with a wary glance around.

His green and pink (showing that the hero had selected a healing spell to use that week) eyes lit up with excitement as Warlock pressed the button. There was a small pause and some odd noises from behind the nearest wall as part of the wall was pulled away to somewhere else, revealing what appeared to be an elevator. He heard the brunette triumphantly mutter, "I knew it!", under his breath, and Grian bit back a laugh.

Thunderstruck glanced at Impulse with a frown, removing the hand from his mouth. "Engineer, Aeor, tie him up quickly and catch up to us when you're done." He shoved Impulse towards Engineer, who grabbed the brunette's arm quickly. "Speculum, Avis and Warlock, you come with me." The hero nodded at them as he walked over to the elevator.

Grian was the last to follow, shooting a look at Engineer before rushing after the other three.

——

He glanced around as the elevator drew to a halt and Thunderstruck walked out of the door. Based on how long they had been in the elevator, the base was pretty far underground. They were faced with a room with two longs hallways on either side. That's not suspicious at all.

Thunderstruck nodded at the other three. "Split up. Avis, Warlock, you go that way." He gestured to the hallway on the left. "Speculum, we're going this way." Grian nodded quietly, muffling a yelp as Warlock grabbed his wrist, determinedly leading him down the corridor.

The first room they entered was completely empty apart from a few boxes (Warlock was incredibly disappointed by this).

The second room (oddly enough) seemed to contain some fish tanks filled with cod.

"I bet I can guess who those belong to." His companion had whispered with a laugh.

It felt oddly eerie looking around the villain base. Grian had expected to have at least encountered... oh, maybe a guard or something? But him and Warlock had searched seven rooms now with no sign of Pearl, BigB or any villains whatsoever.

Have we been absolutely bamboozled? Is this not even the villain base?

But it had to be- otherwise, why would Aoratos have been waiting in Impulse's shop invisible?

Maybe this place was bigger than it looked. He wondered briefly if it was like an underground labyrinth, and if they would be stuck walking around for the rest of their lives.

It was in the twelfth room- a room with two entrances, he noticed- that they found anything remotely remarkable.

Warlock made an appreciative noise under his breath as he glanced over the array of weapons. "There's a lot of weapons here, Jesus Christ- Ooo, a crossbow!" The brunette walked excitedly over to the weapon that was similar to the one Speculum used.

Grian nodded, pausing as he heard footsteps behind him.

"Do you... hear that?" He asked Warlock curiously.

"Hear what?" His friend asked with a yawn.

Grian glanced over his shoulder as he heard a voice.

"Oh, there you are!"