In the Shadows(Sander sides fanfic)

10:Rising Heroes

TW:stil bad at writing combat, unsymp. Remus/Janus,

a note about the masks cause it's something that's kinda important, Roman and Logan have masquerade stye masks, Patton and Virgil have face masks(the kind we all should be wearing now) and Janus and Remus have full face masks(currently ;) ) Just wanted to clear that up!

Arachnid and Janus were locked in a staring contest. They were both waiting for the other to make a move, watching for any sign that the other was about to strike. Things over with the others was much more chaotic. Froggy was using the pigeon stagey but in a different way.  They created a shield of pigeons for them, L.O.S.T and Princey. The three moved around and threw attacks at Remus whenever they could. Considering it was a bunch of pigeons, someone who created sound and someone who was just naturally very loud, things were far from quiet. The distant sound of sirens started, and all six knew exactly what was about to happen.

"The cops will recognize you," Arachnid said and flexed his fingers. "They'll know who you are."

Janus scoffed. "And they won't know you. They'll assume you're just like us, after all, they view all of us as freaks." They spat out angrily. The figurative mask was off, no more Mr. Nice Snake.

Arachnid glanced back at his friends, before returning his gaze to Janus. "You've lost. Give it up Janus."

"This isn't over yet Fear," Janus said, shaking with anger. "You will pay for this." They melted into a puddle, and from that puddle came a mass of steam making it impossible to see.

Slowly the steam cleared, the reveal that Janus and Remus had vanished. Arachnid ran over to his teammates. "We need to get out of here." He said, looking around for an easy escape.

The sirens were getting louder, and they all knew that Janus was right. The cops wouldn't be on their side.

"Follow me," L.O.S.T said, quickly running down an alleyway. The others looked at each other before following. "We can't go straight to the apartment, it'd be too easy to follow us. We need to take a lounger route.

"Right... That makes sense." Princey said with a nod, looking over his shoulder. He didn't seem at all like his normal self. Even after their other hard battles Roman had bounced back very easily. Something had gotten to him, and all three of the others could tell.

After 5 minutes they reached the back of the apartment building. They took their normal way through the window, though with them all being tired and Princey and L.O.S.T being hurt it was harder.

Once they were all inside Froggy closed the window and locked it, turning to face the others cheerfully. "We should all get cleaned up!"

L.O.S.T nodded. "I can go get a first aid kit." He went to go to the bathroom but Arachnid stopped him. 

"No, you go sit down. I can get it," Arachnid said, and before L.O.S.T could protest the spider themed vigilante shoved him gently and smirked under his mask. "Relax nerd,  you're hurt, I'm not. It makes sense for you to sit and rest."

L.O.S.T sighed and joined Princey on the couch, watching as Froggy went into the kitchen to get food and drinks. L.O.S.T removed his mask, which made Princey give him a look.

"Dude," Roman said. "You sure you want that off?" He pointed to the mask in Logan's hands. Logan looked at him and nodded.

"I have noticed a figurative divide of sorts between the team, we lack trust. If we are to function properly it would be ideal for us to know our other identities." Logan said and put his mask on the table.

Roman nodded slowly. "I guess you're right." His hand drifted to his own mask, and after a few seconds he took it off and put it next to Logan's.

Silence followed that, it wasn't too awkward but it wasn't comfortable by any means. Soon Arachnid returned from the bathroom with a first aid kit, and froze when he saw Logan and Roman without their masks.

Logan looked at him. "I assume your confusion is due to the lack of masks?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Arachnid rolled his eyes and put the first aid kit down. "Uh, duh. What else would I be confused about."

Logan looked like he was about to say something but shook his head. Instead he said, "There is a lack of trust on this team, and therefore I believe that it would be beneficial to our out of costume identities known."

Arachnid nodded slowly. "Uh... Right," He said, hands curling in and out of fists. After a few seconds of standing still he removed his own mask, nervously biting his lip.

Roman's eyes lit up. "Hey I know you!" He said loud enough to startle Virgil into taking a step back. "You were that dude that Patton knew!"

"Hm?" Froggy said looking over form the kitchen. "I heard my name?"

The others all looked at them, before Virgil snorted, which caused Roman to start laughing. Even Logan cracked a smile.

"Whoopsie," Patton said with a giggle. "Guessing I don't need to take this off now." they pointed to their mask. Still, they took it off and put it on to counter.

"Kinda weird, that we had connections." Virgil said as he opened the first aid kit.

"It must be fate!" Roman declared, again pretty loud.

Patton walked into the room and put down a plate of vegetables and chips, grinning. "Ooo! Yeah! We were meant to become a team."

Logan shook is head. "Fate is a made up construct, it is merely a coincidence."

"Pretty big coincidence then," Virgil said, starting to work on patching Logan and Roman up. "I mean Patton moving into the same apartment I live in, Roman and Patton being friends, Roman and Patton coming to the place I work the same day an evil group of bastards announced themselves."

Logan shock his head. "The town is quite small, fate is made up completely."

The debate continued as the four ate. Slowly it shifted the normal more casual conversation. They pointedly avoided talking about the things that had happened. Like Roman being Remus's brother, or Janus implying their past relationship with Virgil. That was avoided in favor of debating which Disney villain was the best, something Virgil and Roman got really heated about. Needless to say the team's walls had finally been broken down.

Quick PSA:This will include LAMP and Demus, I don't think that was too clear so just wanted to give a heads up before things got too gay. Things are also going to get more slice of lifey and backstory stuff, so the action is on hold for now <3