Doing Good Guy Things (Chapter One)
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Summary: In which after years of effort, Jimmy is finally ready to debut to the city as Good Guy, Essempy's newest hero. His first encounter with villains is a big one, and the rookie hero begins to doubt the world he has been surrounded in during his hero training...are the bad guys really the bad ones, or is this city built on much different truths than he'd been told?
(WOOOO NEW FIC!!! God forbid I stay on track with only one at a time. I've been working on this one for AGES, it's gonna be another big boy!! I hope you enjoy!!)
CWs: Slight violence
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Jimmy had finally made it.
He beamed at his vanity mirror. His reflection—no, what looked back at him was Good Guy's reflection, his eyes hidden behind an enchanted red mask and his body adorned with a red and blue skin-tight suit, his chest proudly emblazoned with 'GG' stitched in gold.
It was fancy, it was a dream, and it was perfect. Jimmy almost wept at the sight. He had worked tirelessly for years to get here, and finally graduated with his Hero License last week. Today would be the very first day Jimmy Solidarity would take to the city streets as Good Guy, Essempy’s newest hero.
Sure, he would be paired up with two senior heroes for his first week out to make sure he'd be able to handle himself, but in his eyes, he'd already made it.
Jimmy straightened his posture in the mirror and tried to dampen his smile for a more professional look. It didn't really come across as the cool, stoic hero that he'd been going for, but he shrugged and let his smile overtake his expression again.
Today was too big to hide his excitement.
Without another second of waiting, Jimmy pulled himself away from his vanity and strode out the door of his dorm into the rest of HQ.
Immediately, he encountered one of his fellow graduates, a thorn in his side since day one. Jimmy’s happiness dampened briefly at the sight of Joel, but he quickly shook it off and tried to head on his way.
As expected, Joel stopped him as soon as he saw him.
"Hey, it's Good Guy!" Joel jeered, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. When Jimmy had submitted his hero name that first day of class, Joel had been the one that poorly hid a laugh.
Whatever. In Jimmy's opinion, 'Stormbreaker' was an infinitely worse hero name, and he took care to let Joel know as such, in retort.
And so began their rivalry throughout the entirety of their time earning their Hero Licenses, which…mostly consisted of Jimmy getting dunked on by Joel.
Today, though, Jimmy refused to let Joel get to him.
"That it is, Thunder Boy!" Jimmy grinned and saluted as he waltzed past, snickering at the gobsmacked look on Joel's face. He'd been saving that nickname for a while since he thought of it, and it turned out exactly as he hoped it would.
Before Joel could regain his wits and retaliate, Jimmy hurried off to the deployment wing to meet with his mentors.
The deployment wing was more akin to an airplane hangar, with large openings on the left and right sides of the massive room. Heroes milled about in groups, discussing their missions around Essempy that were assigned by management.
Jimmy had passed through the deployment wing many times in his years earning his license, always wistfully watching as the heroes received their missions and headed out to protect the city.
Today, he would finally be among them. Jimmy would've squealed and danced if he’d had a tad less self control.
Jimmy proudly stepped foot in the deployment wing, and promptly tripped over his own feet.
Before he could react, somebody caught his arm, and he had a moment of wrestling with inertia while attempting to right himself. He looked up to see the face of senior hero Goldeneye.
"Thanks," Jimmy squeaked out, blinking rapidly. He was in the presence of Goldeneye, face to face for the first time.
"No problem." She smiled at him, and Jimmy got the impression that her gaze was warm behind her tinted goggles. "Figured you wouldn't want your first moment as a graduate hero to be on your face."
It was then Jimmy noticed the faint yellow glow around the hero like an aura, and red-hot embarrassment flooded through him. "I fell, didn't I?"
Goldeneye laughed, not unkindly. "Yeah. But I'm the only one that saw." She assured, tapping her wristwatch.
Jimmy didn't say that he'd still have rather been thrown off the roof than have one of the coolest heroes ever see him fall in his face, and instead tried for a smile. "Uh, good. Yes. Thank you, again."
"Don't mention it!" Goldeneye said, and released his arm. "I believe you're following Freeza and Guardian today, by the way." She informed him, and gestured to the information desks in the center of the room.
Jimmy immediately spotted the two cool-color clad heroes chatting with each other animatedly by one of the deployment balconies. Freeza held a stack of papers in one of his mittens, and a thrill of excitement shot through Jimmy.
"Thank you!" Jimmy turned to Goldeneye and waved, already running towards his mentors.
"Good luck, rookie!" Goldeneye replied, reciprocating his wave with a smile.
Jimmy skidded to a halt in front of his new mentors, the both of them pausing their conversation as they noticed him approaching, and then smiled at him when they recognized his suit. Freeza’s face was hidden by a scarf covering all but his eyes, and Guardian had a similar mask to Jimmy, only accented in green, over his eyes to keep his identity hidden.
"Good Guy! Glad you could make it!" Freeza greeted, holding out his free hand. Jimmy enthusiastically took it, but then yelped when Freeza's hand suddenly became so cold that it burned through Jimmy's gloves.
Jimmy instinctively snatched his hand away. Freeza was already doubled over by the time Jimmy broke contact, the blue-clad hero’s laughter echoed by Guardian's giggling.
"Oh man, you got him good!" Guardian cackled, clapping Jimmy on the back so suddenly that he flinched. "Welcome to the team, Good Guy! It's tradition to do a little hazing, you understand."
In all honesty, Jimmy really didn't understand. His arm was still residually aching as it warmed back up again. His ears were burning with embarrassment, and something like the annoyance he always felt when Joel picked on him was welling up in his chest, but he tried to push it away to smile back. "Uh, yeah! Thank you?"
"More like thank you,” Freeza replied, shaking the papers in his mittened hand with a pleased look in his eyes. "Since we're mentoring you this week, we were given a lot of interesting missions to take you on!"
"Oh, thank the Goddess!" Guardian clapped his hands together excitedly. "It's been so long since we had a boy's night!"
Guardian's smile was infectious, and Jimmy found himself properly beaming once again. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Freeza and Guardian echoed his enthusiasm, and headed towards one of the deployment balconies with Jimmy in tow.
Jimmy's heart beat fast in his chest as he came to a stop right at the edge. He was looking over the city, as a hero. He was finally here.
"Let's see what you got, Good Guy!" Freeza said, zipping his dual-colored coat back up after slipping the papers in one of his inside pockets. Then, without any other warning, he ran to the edge of the balcony and leapt.
Panic lanced through Jimmy, but not a second later Freeza reappeared, skating along a bridge of ice he'd created into the city with a whoop of exhilaration.
Right. Ice powers. Jimmy felt a bit stupid to forget that, what with Freeza's whole winter getup and all.
Guardian released a sharp, inhuman whistle at Jimmy's side, and within seconds Jimmy noticed a massive flock of pigeons heading right for the tower in a unified group. Guardian grinned at Jimmy, and took a flying leap off the edge of the balcony.
Guardian's body didn't even start to fall before the pigeons caught him, clutching his limbs and clothes so effortlessly it was like the muscular hero weighed nothing. With much more speed than Jimmy was anticipating, Guardian soared right alongside Freeza, weaving around skyscrapers.
Jimmy was suddenly struck with the realization that he was finally going to follow them.
He whipped out his grappling hook from his utility belt, and took careful aim at one of the buildings Freeza and Guardian were flying past.
Jimmy had worked days and nights on a way to get around the city while being completely powerless, and he refused to give up on the grappling hook despite the fact that there were much easier methods of mobility at HQ. Most of his time earning his license was spent perfecting his design, and he could confidently say that he'd managed to make a grappling hook that operated on suction, so it wouldn't take out a window as he flew by, but would still support his weight and speed perfectly.
Jimmy took a deep breath and fired.
With a sharp 'zzzip!', his grappling hook shot right to the building in his aim, and the wire pulled taut as soon as the hook made contact. Jimmy grinned, and before his mind could scream its self-preservation instincts, he leapt off of the balcony's edge.
He yelled out as the wind instantly deafened him, his stomach flipping as he swung high above the city. He was thankful for the protective properties of his mask that allowed his eyes to stay open as he flew by at breakneck speed, because it meant he could see he was hurtling towards Freeza at an alarming velocity.
Without thinking, Jimmy clicked the release on his grappling hook, and for a split second that lasted an eternity, he was flying hundreds of feet in the air with nothing to catch him.
Thankfully, his instincts ingrained in him from the Hero Mobility Training class meant that he didn't even need to think before redirecting his grappling hook and firing at another building. His course sharply corrected, and he swung right over Freeza's head without incident.
Freeza cheered as he flew by, and Jimmy's cheeks hurt from how hard he was grinning. He whooped right back, releasing some of the adrenaline that was threatening to burst out of his chest in the form of a crazed laugh.
Jimmy knew immediately that even the fastest roller coaster in the world wouldn't replicate this feeling. Once his fear took a backseat, swinging through the city was pure euphoria.
Guardian soared up to Jimmy's left, his flock of pigeons seamlessly sending him up and over Jimmy's path as he redirected his shot once again.
’Zzzip!’
Guardian cheered and whistled a tad too sharp to be human as Jimmy whipped around the corner of a massive glass skyscraper. Jimmy’s arms and core were burning from the effort of keeping his center of inertia steady, but he still felt lighter than air, electrically charged, like nothing on Earth could make him touch the ground again.
Unfortunately, all too quickly, Freeza shot ahead of them and skated to a stop on the rooftop of an older building. Guardian's flock sharply dove after him, and the pigeons gently settled him beside the frozen hero with surprising grace.
Jimmy was the last to arrive, and in his adrenaline-fueled line of thought, he figured that trying for a dramatic entrance was a great idea.
Jimmy clicked the release on his hook, and with the momentum of his swing, he maneuvered his body into a dizzying triple backflip.
Somehow, he'd timed it just right, and his feet hit the rooftop instead of his face. Elation shot through him, but was quickly flipped to alarm as his momentum didn't stop.
Jimmy tripped.
Pain lanced across his hands as he fell onto the concrete, rolling to a pathetic and painful stop right at Freeza and Guardian's feet.
Of course, the senior heroes immediately howled with laughter.
"Oh my Goddess! Good Guy, that was amazing!" Guardian shrieked with laughter, the visible parts of his face red with mirth as he knelt to help Jimmy to his feet.
"Really pulling out the stops on your first day!" Freeza wheezed so hard that Jimmy thought he was genuinely going to pass out from lack of oxygen.
Jimmy kept his mouth shut and pressed into a thin line at their jeering, but his irritation was quickly overshadowed when he hissed with pain as Guardian helped him up.
"Oh goodness, where does it hurt?" Guardian asked. His voice was still dripping with amusement, but he'd stopped laughing to (assumedly) look Jimmy over for injuries.
"My hands," Jimmy admitted, muttering like a slighted child that didn't want to admit they needed help. Embarrassment coursed hot and terrible through him, but his palms stung severely from where he presumably cut his hands open on the concrete when he tried to catch his fall.
Guardian tutted like an sympathetic old woman, and went to pull off Jimmy's gloves to see the damage, to which he immediately snatched his hands away. "Wait–"
"Oh, relax." Freeza said, meeting Jimmy's eyes with startling understanding as he turned. "Let him help you. Guardian doesn’t bite unless you want him to."
Although his words were a bit inconsiderate, Freeza's tone was kind, and it was enough for Jimmy to reluctantly extend his hands back to Guardian. The green-clad hero smiled, and removed Jimmy's gloves with as much gentleness as possible.
As Jimmy suspected, angry red scrapes were scattered across his palms, and he was willing to bet the arm he landed on was in a similar state if how much it stung was anything to go by. Guardian's lips pursed together in a worried expression Jimmy was surprised to see.
Then, without warning, Guardian leaned over and planted an exaggerated kiss on both of his palms, smooch sound and all.
Jimmy squeaked and wrestled his hands away again, his ears burning, and he snapped open his mouth to ask what the heck Guardian thought he was doing, but a strange warmth made Jimmy turn back to his palms.
A warm yellow light, like sunshine, was pouring out of Jimmy's wounds, and he watched with wide, round eyes as the scrapes began to close up. In less than a few seconds, it was like Jimmy had never been hurt at all.
Stunned, Jimmy turned back to the senior hero, who had a smug grin on his face. "You—you have healing powers?"
"A gift from my Goddess!" Guardian explained proudly.
"But—that wasn't on your file!" Jimmy protested, looking back and forth from his healed hands to Guardian and back again. The hero giggled at his expression.
"Well, yeah, it wouldn't be on the one you had access to." Guardian replied. "Heroes have secret files, you know! Otherwise any old villain would have all of our tricks!"
"Oh." Jimmy said. That...actually made a lot of sense, especially considering that Jimmy remembered filling out a file of his own that had his identity on it for background check purposes. But to the public eye, the only name that was on a hero's file was their chosen name they used on duty.
"Besides, it's not much of a power to make a fuss about." Guardian waved his hand dismissively. "I can only heal little things. Nothing like what a hospital can do."
Jimmy was nodding along with Guardian's words, before he was suddenly struck with realization. "Wait, is—is that why you're my mentor this week?"
Guardian and Freeza shared an amused look that confirmed Jimmy's suspicion, and he groaned into his hands.
"To be fair, it ended up being for good reason, ey?" Freeza teased, nudging Jimmy with his shoulder. "Mister Big Flip Boy?"
"That's not my name!" Jimmy whipped his head to glare at Freeza, who looked gleefully and unflinchingly back. "Don't you dare call me that!"
Guardian giggled and patted his shoulder. "We're only joking, GG, calm down."
"'GG'?" Jimmy furrowed his brows at the nickname. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not.
"Be offended later, okay?" Freeza interrupted Guardian's response before he could start. "We're out here for a reason, you know."
"Right!" Jimmy snapped back into the mindset he had before leaving HQ, thankful for the distraction from the teasing as he pulled his gloves back on. It was hero time, and they were doing hero things.
"Now, Recon says that building over there has been confirmed to be in contact with the Soup Group." Freeza pointed to a smaller office building at the end of the block, clearly visible from the rooftop they currently stood on. "Our job is to go in there and investigate further. If things go to plan, they should see our whole getup and give us some more info without fuss."
Jimmy's eyes widened behind his mask. The Soup Group, as silly as their name was, were essentially a terrorist group that had been steadily trying to take down the Hero Society for years, even before Jimmy had the thought to join. They'd never used physical force, and instead focused all their efforts on disrupting the way the Society functioned. Sabotaging their supply warehouses, hacking into their security, vandalizing HQ on several occasions, even downing HQ's WiFi for a week—physical violence seemed to be the only thing the Soup Group held back on.
They had been antagonizing the Society for years, and in return, even HQ's best heroes haven't been able to garner anything about them. The only inclination to the identities of the Soup Group was their name, and even following that lead to every soup kitchen and restaurant in the country turned up absolutely no leads.
"This is a really big deal." Jimmy breathed, shock spinning in his head. No way this was his first mission.
"I told you, rookie!" Freeza's eyes crinkled in a hidden grin. "We're getting you in the thick of it right away!"
"And if anything happens, we'll be right there." Guardian assured warmly, correctly interpreting the look on Jimmy's face. "But you got this! I can already tell you're gonna be great."
"Thanks, Guardian." Jimmy replied, genuinely moved by the encouragement.
"Call me Sausage." The hero smiled. "When we're not in public, I mean!"
Jimmy blinked rapidly. "Y—that's your name?! Why would you tell me your name?!" He squawked, dumbfounded.
"All us heroes know each other's first names." Freeza said casually. "It's an honor thing. We trust each other to keep it a secret, you know?"
Freeza winked at Jimmy. "And, you're on the team now. So, you can call me Martyn when we're not in front of civilians."
A strange warmth flooded through Jimmy, easing his buzzing nervousness at knowing something he felt like he shouldn't. He'd seen Freeza and Guardian walk the same halls as he had for years, but only in his dreams did he see himself here. In their ranks, trusted enough to reveal their identities, at least somewhat.
"I'm—I'm Jimmy." He said, the nervousness returning full force as he spoke, but it came alongside a strange relief. Like he was actually a part of their team, now.
"That's a wonderful name!" Sausage praised, a big smile on his face. "Ready to get to business, Jimmy?"
Hearing Guardian, the senior hero, say his name like he was an equal filled Jimmy with a confidence he didn't know he possessed.
"Absolutely." He nodded with determination. He'd make his first mission a success, because that's what good guys do.
"Atta boy!" Martyn praised, and stepped back to launch himself off the roof. Sausage and Jimmy followed suit, and leapt to the little nondescript office building below.
-
Martyn took the lead as they walked up to the entrance, casually pushing open the glass door with a ding and held it open for the other two heroes. Sausage and Jimmy nodded in thanks before focusing their attention on the lobby they walked in on.
It was pristine, with cream colored couches sat on patterned carpet that Jimmy felt like he'd seen in every office he'd ever been to. A few potted plants sat in the corners, and a pleasant floral smell emanated from a scent lamp that sat on the receptionist's desk.
The receptionist herself was clicking away on her computer when the heroes arrived, but looked up when the door chimed.
For a fraction of a second, Jimmy saw something like alarm flash across her face. It was gone as quick as it came, and a polite smile sat in its place.
Jimmy thought he must have imagined it, and shook off the thought. Who would look at heroes with fear, anyway?
"Hello there, heroes! To what do we owe your visit?" The receptionist chirped. Martyn's eyes crinkled in what Jimmy assumed was an easy smile under his scarf.
"Hello! We're here on some new information about the Soup Group?" Martyn replied. "We're just here to ask a few questions."
"Oh, you probably want to talk to my boss." The receptionist smiled and picked up her phone, pressing a button on the keypad. "Sir? Some heroes are here meddling where they shouldn't be."
And that was when it all went wrong.
Before any of them could react to that statement, the walls came alive with tech that Jimmy immediately assumed was weaponry.
Panic flashed through him like a grenade, but before he could even move to retrieve his weapon, a chill set upon his very bones as he was encased in a cage of ice.
"Hey!" Jimmy snapped his head to Martyn, to either demand what was going on or see the reasoning for himself, but the hero wasn't looking at him.
He was instead up in arms beside Sausage, tense as steel. The outside of the ice cage was warped slightly with how the light refracted through, but Jimmy could still see a very uncharacteristic seriousness in Martyn's eyes.
"Sorry, Good Guy, chill out for a bit." Martyn ordered, his words clipped. In a different situation, Jimmy would've groaned at the pun that Martyn didn't seem to realize he even made, but the hero's tone just made Jimmy's eyes widen.
"I can handle myself!" Jimmy argued hotly, but the rest of his words died in his throat as a new figure appeared in the lobby.
Their identity was obscured with what looked like a gas mask that completely covered their face, and then went the extra mile to extend into metal ram horns over their head. One of the goggles of the mask was lit up with an eerie red glow. A torn lab coat hung from their built frame, perfectly showing off their very complex-looking robotic arm and chestplate.
They were, admittedly, a very intimidating sight.
"I would not move if I were you." The person said, their voice heavily distorted within their mask. Jimmy saw Sausage tense.
"Goatfather." Martyn acknowledged coolly, and Jimmy froze up at the name.
He'd only heard legends of the Goatfather, a man so ruthless and crazed that he altered his own body for the purpose of world domination. His tech was unmatched by anything the Hero Society could do, and he was terrifyingly effective when he clashed with heroes in broad daylight.
The Goatfather hadn't been heard from in nearly three decades. Many assumed he'd died from his self-experimentation, that playing god had finally ended in his own demise.
And yet, here he was. And all of his tech was pointed right at them.
The receptionist had disappeared, presumably during the Goatfather's entrance. Jimmy was slightly relieved he didn't have to worry about civilian control, even if she did seem to be the one to sic the Goatfather on them.
"What is your purpose here?" The Goatfather asked, and Jimmy shivered at his mechanically deep voice. It was probably built to be unsettling, and it was very effective.
"We came here to investigate." Sausage answered, all the warmth and playfulness in his tone earlier completely gone. "We have no quarrel with you, Goatfather. We're looking for the Soup Group."
The Goatfather laughed at that, and Jimmy cringed.
"Ah, you see...that is a problem." The Goatfather said, folding his hands behind his back. "I cannot have you going after my allies."
Martyn's eyes widened with the same realization that dawned on Jimmy.
"You're allied with the Soup Group?" Jimmy repeated, feeling a bit faint. The Soup Group was a threat to the Hero Society, but their actual presence was an ant compared to the Goatfather. The villain in front of them right now had destroyed entire buildings with devastating efficiency, uncaring that there were heroes still inside. The Goatfather had killed people before, heroes and civilians alike.
If a force like that was allied with the people that had already gotten into the Hero Society's security-
Jimmy didn't have the stomach to finish that thought. Panic prickled at his neck as his hairs stood on end, a very unfamiliar fear crawling up his spine.
The Goatfather seemed to pick up on the heroes' shift in mood, and he let out another eerie laugh.
"Don't be so shocked, new guy." The Goatfather said, and dread pooled in Jimmy's gut as he realized the villain was talking to him. "I bet you don't even know what kind of war you're fighting."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Martyn snapped, taking a step forward. Even through the ice containing him, Jimmy saw frost beginning to grow on Martyn's sleeves, sharp and sudden.
In clear contrast to the hero's anger, the Goatfather leaned back in place, and put his hands in his pockets. Jimmy got the feeling that the villain was smiling under his mask.
"Do you even know the whole story?" The Goatfather ignored Martyn entirely, and Jimmy swore he could feel the Goatfather's eyes piercing right through him. "Do you know why we do what we do? Why the Hero Society is so desperate to call us 'villains'?"
"That's enough, Goatfather." Sausage's voice was uncharacteristically steely, and it made Jimmy wince. The Goatfather raised his hands in mock surrender.
"Alright, I'm done." The villain appeased, sounding not the least bit apologetic. "But for what it's worth, new guy, I wouldn't blindly follow what you have been told."
Before Jimmy could even think of a response for that, the weaponry in the walls fired.
Jimmy immediately dropped to the floor, but it ended up being an unnecessary action, as the cage of ice protected him from the projectiles that shot towards the heroes at terrifying speed.
Martyn and Sausage, however, were not so fortunate.
The senior heroes flinched when the weapons went off, and moved to defend themselves, but they both suddenly swayed in place.
Then, almost comically, the heroes fell to the floor, crumpling into dead weight.
Jimmy screamed.
"Guys!! Oh my—GUYS!!" Jimmy yelled, jumping to his feet and slamming against the cage of ice, trying to get through to aid his teammates.
The wall of ice didn't move under his force, but Jimmy saw it splinter.
With renewed vigor, Jimmy slammed into the same spot again and again, gritting his teeth against the pain that exploded over his shoulder.
The next time he slammed into the ice, it finally gave, and Jimmy found himself falling forward with all the force he used to break through. He managed to catch himself at the last second and redirected his fall so he didn't land on Sausage.
Jimmy scrambled to his feet, hissing in pain as he cut his palm through his glove on a shard of ice from his broken cage. Swiftly ignoring it, he moved to the senior heroes' sides, his heart beating so loud in his chest that he couldn't hear his thoughts.
Darts stuck out from Sausage's arms and neck, empty of whatever had been contained in the tiny capsules. He was limp when Jimmy touched him, but he could see the hero's chest rising and falling at an even pace, and relief turned Jimmy dizzy.
A closer look at Martyn revealed the same, though there was only one dart that managed to hit his skin, thanks to the surprisingly dense armor of his coat. Evidently, it was enough, because the hero was just as thoroughly unconscious.
Jimmy jumped to his feet, suddenly remembering why his fellow heroes were in this situation in the first place, and cursed under his breath when the Goatfather was nowhere to be found.
He should've gone after the villain, Jimmy realized belatedly, and guilt clawed up his throat from his stomach. He should've apprehended the criminal no matter what, like he had been trained.
But now, because of Jimmy and his stupid fear for his teammates, one of the most dangerous villains to ever exist had disappeared right under their noses.
Jimmy swallowed dryly, the guilt a heavy, constricting ball in his chest. He was the only one not hit. He could've followed the Goatfather.
Jimmy silently activated his comms.
"Requesting backup at Animalia Boulevard. Two heroes are down."