We Can be Heroes {Sanders Sides Superhero AU}

Prologue

It was late, yet the streets of the city were still crowded and loud. In front of a small café, at least a  dozen people were enjoying their time outside. From where the teen boy hid, he watched them, a family of three sat at a table. The mother, father, and a young girl, who couldn't have been any older than the boy watching, were talking back and forth laughing at the jokes the others told. He smiled slightly, wishing that could be him one day. Somebody placed a hand on his shoulder, his smile fell and he looked at the gloved hand before up to the face it went with.

Despite having known the man for years now, he knew the hand on his shoulder had no special meaning. It wasn't encouraging, or loving, it wasn't there to show support or kindness. If anything it was there to keep him from changing his mind or from running away. It took some effort to keep himself from pushing the hand off him, instead, the boy looked back to the families in front of the cafe and continued to stare. He knew this moment of peace wouldn't last long.

The man glanced down at the boy before he leaned closer so that they were the same height. "It's time. Are you ready?" he asked the boy, who flinched at the closeness.

Hesitation lay in his voice as he replied "Yes. I'm ready." he said, trying to feign determination. The young boy closed his hands into fists and set his jaw before the man pushed him forward slightly. The boy pulled up his hood and brought a mask down to cover his face as he moved towards the street. He glanced behind him towards where the man used to stand, but he was gone now. Or at least pretending to be.

The boy gulped, beginning to regret what he had agreed to. But he had to if he didn't do this then he'd be in more trouble than if he did do it. So the boy walked towards three other boys, just a couple years older than him. He looked at them as he approached, they were much taller than he was, possibly in their last year of high school. He took a deep breath before he tapped one on the shoulder, "Daniel Erickson?" he asked the boy he had tapped.

"Who's asking?" Daniel replied

"I have a message for your father," The boy told him.

Daniel raised an eyebrow, then looked back at his friends before all three began laughing. "Isn't it a little early for Halloween?" one of the other boys asked, not so subtly taking in the boy's costume. The others laughed.

Daniel stood taller now, puffing out his chest and trying his best to intimidate the smallest boy. It was working. "What's the message tiny?" 

The boy took a step back. His breathing became slightly heavier. He opened his mouth to speak, but no noise came out. He tried again, "The message- the message is- is..." he trailed off and his heart began to beat faster.

The older boys began laughing again, Daniel took a step forward, the boy took a step back again. Daniel took a step forward and this time grabbed the boy in the costume before he could move away "How about this, next time you go around saying stuff like that, you'll have me to deal with" Suddenly Daniel shoved the boy and he fell backward, landing on the pavement with a slap. They all began laughing again, the boy could feel his head beginning to spin thoughts that he didn't want to be thinking. "Now why don't you go home and go play dress-up somewhere else. Loser" Daniel said before motioning for his friends to follow him.

The boy looked back to where he had been standing earlier, the man had returned now. He looked at the boy, glaring at him and anger burned in his eyes. The boy stared at the ground before he pushed himself up. He pointed his hand to where the boys were now, their shadows, cast by the street lights above them, began to move. The shadows grabbed the boys by their arms, restraining them as they began to struggle. Daniel looked back at the boy, his eyes hardening as he realized it was him who was controlling the shadows. Daniel began to transform, and morph, suddenly becoming a large bear and breaking free from the grasp of the shadow. The bear clawed at the other shadows as well, causing them to die down and free his friends.

People were screaming now, running away from the scene in fear. The boy rose his other hand, capturing the shadows of the fleeing people and forcing them together to create a large beast that roared at the boys. Daniel's friends stared at the scene in front of them, the fire that burned in one of the boy's hands suddenly died away and they began pulling at Daniel's fur to try and get him to leave. Daniel resisted though, moving towards the shadow monster slowly. His friends looked at each other before running off. The boy moved one of his hands towards a car and then pointed it at the fleeing boys. The shadow from beneath the car sliding towards them and turning to an octopus, the boy forced the shadow to wrap its tentacles around them, holding them tightly as the air began to leave their lungs and their faces turned blue. Slowly the boys had passed out and the boy released the octopus from them before making it join the large monster in front of Daniel.

Daniel was still fighting the large giant, despite having large gashes on his body and blood dripping from him. The boy thrust his hand forward and the monster leaped towards Daniel, entering his body quickly and then leaving. Daniel began falling, and by the time he hit the floor, he was back in his human form. The boy suddenly fell to his knees in exhaustion, spots danced in his eyes, sweat had formed on his forehead, and his chest hurt from the deep breaths he was taking. He pulled the mask off. Then looked around, trying to force his vision to work properly again. The once crowded streets were no empty except for him and the unconscious boys. Suddenly he heard footsteps and the boy's hands began forcing the shadows towards him again. He closed his eyes, tears coming down his face as he lifted his hands, ready to fight back whatever was coming towards him.

Someone grabbed at his hands and he gasped in surprise, "Let go! Let go!" he shouted, the shadows growing and beginning to slither closer to them.

"It's okay, it's okay. Calm down. It's me, it's just me" A familiar voice said. The boy opened his eyes, the man from earlier kneeling in front of him and holding him by his wrists. The boy began taking long deep breaths as he tried to calm his sobbing breaths. His hands shook as the shadows began to fade away.

"Did- did I do good?" The boy asked as the man stood up. He looked at the unconscious bodies, kicking slightly at Daniels.

The man looked back at the boy, smiling slightly. His yellow eye-catching the light of the moon and glowing for a second. "You did wonderful, Virgil"

Word Count: 1240*