you got it dude. kinda a little incredibles inspired??? idk
it’s a dumb joke, at first. of course it is - vigilantes and superheroes have been outlawed for years, not to mention that… they’re a bunch of kids. they wouldn’t even know where to start. sure, some of their parents were superheroes or villains or vigilantes before they were forced into retirement, but it’s all a joke anyway, really. they each pick out their superhero names, laughing at how silly they feel, each one of their names dumber than the next.
mal decides she’d be the enchantress, playing on her mother’s villainous alter ego and use of magic. evie would be blue queen, referring to her mother’s penchant for stealing coveted jewels. jay laughed and tossed in his own name, genie, for his father’s powers. carlos says fuzz, for his mother’s love of furs, and everyone laughs. doug claims the brain, hoping to break away from his father’s reputation for being the goofy comic relief. and ben finally settles upon taking up his father’s old moniker - the beast. (mal suggests that he be the pup, since technically he’s his father’s son, but ben rolls his eyes and throws a pillow at her.)
it’s all a joke. until…. until one of their own gets taken. evie bursts into their hangout, crying. “dizzy is gone,” she says. everyone sits up, confused and concerned, mal rushing to her side. “what do you mean dizzy is gone?” carlos asks, from his spot on jay’s lap. “she’s gone,” evie sobs, nearly collapsing in mal’s arms. “they took her.”
everyone freezes. they know who she’s talking about - a source of evil so powerful that no one dares speak their name. they’re the source of evil that the superheroes and vigilantes fought against for years, until the government decided that they could handle them and the independent villains themselves and made it illegal to take crime upon oneself, even if you had superpowers. they take children. they deal in slave trade for villains seeking henchmen. mal swallows, remembering when her own mother tried to make a deal with them.
mal swears fervently, and ben stands. “we’ll find her,” he says determinedly, and everyone, even evie, turns to look at him incredulously. jay scoffs. “how?” he asks. “it’s not like we can do anything.” ben swallows. “remember when we talked about being vigilantes?” they call a group meeting.
they sit at the round table in the center of their hangout, called that because it is not only a literally round table, but because king ben and his band of knights gather here much like former superhero, king arthur, once did. “that wasn’t a serious suggestion,” carlos says eventually, breaking the silence. everyone looks to him and he swallows. “i’m as upset as the next person that dizzy was taken, but… the government thinks they can handle it. plus half of us aren’t even superheroes. we’d just be…” “vigilantes,” doug finishes. he looks nervously around the table. “carlos is right. he, evie, and i wouldn’t really be able to do… anything to help.” “evie knows combat,” mal defends. evie, still sniffling puts her head in her hands and begins to cry anew. ben shakes his head. “you can’t think that?” he asks, and both doug and carlos say nothing. “doug, you’re the brains of the operation, and carlos, you’re the heart. we need you.”
jay pipes up, finally. “it’s not safe,” he says. “the government would catch us instantly.” “not if we don’t tell anyone,” ben says surely. jay raises an eyebrow. “you sure you can handle dropping everyone you know like that, princey? your mom and dad? because i had my parents ripped away from me.” ben swallows. “i know, jay,” he says. “i know. i love my parents. but we can’t just… sit here while evie’s sister is gone. we just can’t.”
doug takes in a deep breath, and grabs ben’s hand above the table. “i’m in,” he says. “my parents… my parents would barely notice. my father’s barely even lucid half the time. i’ll help.” “you know i’m in,” mal cuts in. “i go where evie goes, and i want to help her find her sister.” carlos and jay look at each other. carlos has fear in his eyes, but slowly, he nods. “okay,” jay says. he looks back to ben. “okay. we’re in.”
they run. they run fast, far, and they hide. evie sews them suits out of scraps from inside her mother’s old dress store. mal constructs armor based off of designs she found in dizzy’s sketchbook, of all places. doug tries his best to erase all traces of their identities. jay steals what weapons and supplies he can find. carlos takes to the streets, attempting to get any information on them and their warehouses. and ben trains everyone, teaching mal and jay to better control their magic, and teaching doug and carlos hand-to-hand combat and weaponry.
they’re small, but powerful, and within weeks, everyone across the country has heard of their team. women gossip about it in beauty salons, children tell each other stories on the playground, convenience store employees discuss it on their smoke breaks. they talk about how the enchantress is angry and vengeful, using her magic to get information out of each opponent. blue queen is sad but strong, using her daggers to pin her enemies to walls and holding blades to their throats. genie uses his own magic to push his own wills onto others, controlling their minds as easily as anything else. fuzz uses his bow and arrow, shooting at any member of them he can find. the brain is constantly setting traps and hacking them into different locations. and the beast, seemingly returned after years and years of retirement, leads them into battle. like any good king. their goal? find one girl. their mission? take them down.
