warnings: teenage whumpee, conditioned whumpee, cursing, betrayal, being chained to a wall
part one | part two | part three | part four | part six
Vigilante curls up on the bed, ignoring Villain’s eyes boring into his back. He pulls the blanket up to his chin and stares at the wall, gently tracing circles onto the back of his hand to calm himself down.
After a moment, Vigilante rolls over and croaks, “Leave me alone.”
Villain’s mouth opens, then shuts, then opens again before he nods and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. He walks down the hallway and flops onto the couch with an exhausted sigh. “What the fuck.”
In his pocket, Villain’s phone rings; he answers the call and hears Hero’s ragged breathing. “Did you come take him?” she rasps. “Villain, I swear to god-”
“What are you talking about?” he interrupts. “Take who? What’s going on?”
He can hear her thinking on the other end of the line, turning over everything she knows about him and seeing if it was possible that he’d do what she’s accusing him of. “You didn’t come over to take Vigilante? And you expect me to trust you?”
Villain takes a moment to come up with a reaction, “He’s missing? You said you’d keep him safe! I’m coming over, we’ll look for him together. I’ll be there as soon as I can be.”
She grunts something and hangs up, across the street from Villain’s apartment, she can see him set the phone down and run his hands over his face. She frowns, watching, waiting for him to do something to prove that he’d been the one to get Vigilante. He walks down the hall.
Vigilante doesn’t move when the door opens, he stares absently at a scratch in the wall and waits for Villain to say whatever he needs to.
“I need to know if it was Hero who did this to you.” he whispers, squatting down to eye-level with Vigilante. “Because she just called me, and I’m going to meet with her. And I need to know if I can tell her you’re with me, or if I need to keep her away from you.”
Vigilante closes his eyes and tucks his face to his chest. Villain sighs and leans against the wall.
“Look, kid. You don’t have to tell me what happened. But I need to know if she did this to you…so I can keep you safe this time.”
Vigilante peeks over the blanket and stares at Villain, he takes a deep breath and nods, watching as Villain’s face contorts from concern to rage.
Taking a deep breath, Villain stands up and leaves the room. He gently closes the door and walks down the hallway to get his things and leave to meet with Hero. She wouldn’t get away with what she’d done to Vigilante.
Hero looks up when someone knocks furiously on the door, she sets her book face-down on the table and opens the door. “What took you so long?” she asks, feigning worry. “He’s been missing for almost two hours! I don’t even know what to do, I can’t find my phone, all his things are still in his room…” she throws her arms around him and sobs into his chest. “What do you think happened to him?”
Villain forces himself to comfort her, he pats her back firmly and wraps the other arm around her. “I’m sure he’ll be back, maybe he just needed to get some air.” he leads them both to the couch and has her sit down. “How about I make us some tea and we wait a little longer to send the troops after him? Do you still like yours with milk?”
She forces a smile and nods, “Yeah, I can’t believe you remember that. Thanks.”
He drapes a blanket over her and shakes his head playfully, “Of course I do. Kitchen is still at the end of the hall?”
“Kind of hard to move it somewhere else,” she chuckles. He laughs with her and turns down the hall.
The door to her room is closed, but what he assumed was Vigilante’s room is open. He takes a step inside and the first thing that jumps out at him is the lack of a bed. The carpet is stained with old blood and torn cloth. Villain walks out of the room, shaking his head and muttering to himself, “He’ll tell you if he’s ready. Don’t invade.”
Hero puts her hand on his shoulder and he jumps, turning to face her. “Yeah, don’t invade, Villain. It’s not very polite. But, since you’re already here, might as well have a seat. The show’s about to begin.”
She pushes him back and he falls down to the ground with the impact of the wall on his back. Then, before he can react, she puts cuffs around his wrists and hooks the chain to a hook on the wall.
“Hero, what are you doing?” He struggles against the cuffs, but freezes when he sees Sidekick walk into the room holding a struggling Vigilante by the collar of his shirt.
