#ptvw

[dominoeswrites]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

What's this? A brand new, never before seen chapter of Patton the Villain Wrangler?

[honey-sunny-bee]

Tbh I'm seeing a lot of discord servers for particular fics popping up, and it's kind of making me want to start one for Patton the Villain Wrangler. Thoughts?

[dominoeswrites]

Patton the Villain Wrangler Chapter 8

Summary: Patton and the Vigilante keep meeting, and the Vigilante reveals a secret. The mutual pining begins

Warnings: none, but let me know if I do need to tag anything.

~~~

The next day, Patton poked his head into Logan’s office. “Hey, Logan?”

“Yes, Patton?”

“I’m gonna take off a little early tonight. I’ve got a meeting with the Vigilante.”

Logan looked up from his paperwork. “Do you have a request for a villain?”

“Yes?”

“If I find out you’re lying…”

“Don’t you worry! I’ll work later tomorrow night.”

“Okay.”

Patton hurried to his car, getting to the diner at the same time as the Vigilante. They sat down, and the waitress took their order.

“So…” the Vigilante began after a moment of silence, “Anybody request a villain?”

“Not today. But we can expect more soon, after Riley tells all their friends.”

“Um… Okay.”

They sat in silence for a minute, both of them trying to think of something to say.

“So…” the Vigilante said again.

“So…” Patton replied.

They sat in silence for another minute. The waitress brought their meals.

“I’m sorry. Asking you here was probably a mistake,” The Vigilante said.

“No! It… I just- Uh… I’m not sure what to talk about.”

“Me neither.”

“Ooh! Tell me about some of your evil schemes?”

“My… what?”

“You know, your plots to take over the world or-”

“You… You want to know about my projects?”

“Is that not something you want to talk about? Because we can-”

“No, it’s just that no one’s ever… asked me about my projects.”

“Oh. Well, is it okay that I ask?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“So?”

“Right. Duh. Sorry.” The Vigilante started talking about some of his older projects. They again sat there for hours, the Vigilante talking about his projects with excitement in his eye, Patton listening, a huge grin on his face.

~~~

Patton and the Vigilante began to develop a familiar rhythm. More kids began asking for “bad guys”, and the Vigilante would help the volunteer find those villains that they asked about. Patton sat in on every visit, making sure that each went smoothly, and no harm came to the children. Patton left work early on the days he went to meet the Vigilante, and they talked about how the visits went, upcoming visits, new wishes to be fulfilled. And when they were done with all that, they told each other about their days and weeks and lives.

It was one of these days where they scheduled to meet when Logan stopped Patton as he was about to leave.

“Patton, I cannot have you leaving early anymore.”

“Why not? I’m going to meet the Vigilante. We-”

“Do you have any villain requests?”

“Well, no, but-”

“Have you had any this week?”

“No, but-”

“Have you completed your paperwork?”

“No, but I-”

“Then you are to stay here and finish.”

“Ah, come on, Logan! I’ll stay later tomorrow!”

“Patton, paperwork is half of what we do here. You are to stay until it’s done.”

“I only have 30 minutes until I’m off, and a lot of paperwork. You’ll have to pay me for overtime.”

“I am aware of this.”

“Logan-”

“If you wish to meet with the Vigilante, I suggest you hurry.”

Patton sighed, then sat at his desk and began working on the tall stack of paperwork he had to complete. Logan walked back into his office.

~~~

The Vigilante sat in the diner, waiting for Patton. He wanted to show Patton something to let him know that he trusted him. That the Vigilante could be trusted.

He checked his watch. 7:45. Where was Patton? He always showed up within five minutes of 7:30. Well, he always had . Where was he? Maybe you were annoying him. Maybe he just was entertaining you all those weeks and now he’s finally decided that he’s had enough.

The Vigilante leaned forward, clasping his hands around the back of his head. The waitress brought his usual burger and coffee.

“He stand you up tonight?”

“No. He’s just… delayed.”

That must be it! he thought, He told me that he’s been getting off early to talk with me, so maybe he’s just staying late, maybe his boss made him stay later.

And that thought process gave him hope. Until 8:15 rolled around.

If he were staying until he got off, he would be here by now, he thought as he took a small sip from his now cold coffee. Where is he?

~~~

It was 9:00 when Patton finally finished the last page. Everyone else had gone home a long time ago. He grabbed the stack of paperwork and walked into Logan’s office.

“Done!” he exclaimed as he placed the pile onto the desk.

“Excellent. You may go.”

Patton nodded and said his thanks before running out of the building to his car. He got in and started driving as fast as he reasonably could toward the diner, checking the clock as often as he could.

Please still be there, please still be there, please still be there.

~~~

9:30. The Vigilante had given up hope that Patton would show. He stood up, placed his cash on the table and began to walk out. Patton came running in, breathing heavily.

“Patton?” the Vigilante asked in shock.

“Hey!” Patton took a deep breath, bending over with his hands on his knees. “I… Sorry I’m… late… Boss… made me… paperwork.”

“You okay?”

Patton nodded. “Yeah. Just gotta,” he waved his hand around, “catch my breath.”

The Vigilante placed a hand on Patton's back, steadying him.

“You good?”

“Yeah.” Patton stood up, shaking his head slightly. “Boy am I out of shape!”

The Vigilante chuckled a little bit. “You came.”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t miss our meetings for the world!”

“Can I- Can we go outside? I want to show you something.”

“Sure thing!”

The villain took the volunteer by the hand and led him out into the parking lot.

“What do you want to show me?”

The Vigilante took a deep breath. Shadows surrounded him, his mask and cape melting into them until standing before Patton was a… guy. A regular guy, wearing a leather jacket, a purple t-shirt and jeans. His bangs were in front of his face, as if he were still trying to hide it. He looked… vulnerable.

“My name’s Virgil,” he said quietly.

Patton gave Virgil a small smile. “Nice to meet you, Virgil.”

Virgil smiled a little, then realized, “Wait, you haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

Patton shrugged and said, “I can always make grilled cheese at home.”

“Okay. Well, drive safe.”

“You… travel safe, I guess.”

“Nothing can harm me in the shadows,” Virgil said as he became them.

Patton smiled a little at the cheesy line as he made his way back to his car and started driving home. And then he started thinking.

He trusts me. The Vigilante trusts me.

The Vigilante had trusted Patton with Virgil. He didn’t know what Patton would do. He didn’t know if Patton would take this information directly to the police, or a superhero, or all the news media outlets. But he trusted that I wouldn’t.

Patton silently vowed right then and there that he would never willfully break that trust.

~~~

Virgil materialized in his lair, wearing sweats and a hoodie instead of the leather jacket and jeans he’d revealed himself in.

What was I thinking? he thought, leaning against a table. A sketch of my face is going to be all over the news tomorrow.

He looked up, and his gaze landed on the chair that he kept his hostages in. The chair that he had kept Patton in all those weeks ago.

“You- you lied to him?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t want him to worry.”

“You- I’m a supervillain. I’ve captured you. You- you are literally the hostage of a wanted criminal and you don’t want your brother to worry about you?”

Virgil smiled at the memory. He knew that Patton wouldn’t tell.

Virgil lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of Patton. Thinking of the way his glasses perfectly framed his kind, blue eyes. He thought of the way that he constantly adjusted the cardigan around his shoulders, that he was always doing something with his hands and-

Stop . What was he thinking? He had no shot with the guy. Virgil was a supervillain, Patton was… well, he was way out of Virgil’s league. Probably straight, too. Virgil sighed and turned over, trying to get the miracle worker out of his head. It didn’t work. He could still see Patton’s bright grin in his mind’s eye, always present when they were together. Maybe Patton did like him in that way? Probably not.

~~~

Patton got home and started making himself a grilled cheese sandwich. He started thinking about the person behind the mask. He remembered those eyes that looked like pools of chocolate in the lamplight, the dark circles underneath that made it look like he hadn’t slept in days. He remembered how the Vig- how Virgil had nervously kept his hands shoved in his pockets, and his bangs in front of his face. He was really cute, Patton realized as he flipped the sandwich over in the pan. But he probably doesn’t think of me like that.

[dominoeswrites]

Patton the Villain Wrangler Chapter 17

Summary: The Brain continues his interrogation of Patton, and the Vigilante is not having it.

Warnings: mention of torture, death threats, ask to tag anything else

~~~

“You’re lying,” the Brain said.

“I- Why would I?”

“To protect him, perhaps. Maybe he threatened you.”

“No, I-”

“Yo Brain,” someone said, cutting Patton off.

“I told you not to interrupt, Morpheus.”

“Well there's a show on I think you'll wanna see.”

“What?”

Morpheus, a person with blond hair, a leather jacket, and dark sunglasses, walked over to a TV nearby and turned it on. Sure enough, there was the Vigilante on screen, standing in front of the Prince, who was attached to some sort of machine. The Brain glanced at Patton, grinning at the anguish on his face. He couldn’t have planned this better if he’d tried.

“Who?” they heard the Vigilante say.

“Like I'd tell you.”

"Not your brother, the guy who threatened him."

"Again, like I'd tell you."

There was a second of silence before the Vigilante started asking questions again. The Brain turned back to Patton.

“Would you care to tell us who’s on the screen?”

“The Vigilante and the Prince.” Patton winced as he heard the superhero scream in agony.

“Very good, Patton. Now, care to tell us who is-”

“...the Brain permission to ask Patton about your identity,” came the Prince’s voice from the TV, causing them all to look at the TV again.

The Vigilante’s response was low, menacing. “Patton Sanders?”

They watched the Prince nod his head.

“Well, since you’re so eager to find out my secret identity, why don’t you tell us yours?”

“Roman. My name is Roman Sanders.”

The Brain whistled as the screen turned black. “Well, would you look at that. Your own brother let me do this.” He turned back to Patton, who was staring at the screen, horrified. The Brain looked at Morpheus with a smile. “Thank you for showing us that.

Morpheus nodded, smirking.

“So now that we know the Prince’s identity, why don’t you tell us-” the Brain was cut off yet again by Patton's phone ringing. The Brain sighed and took it out of the man's shirt pocket. “Can people stop interrupting?” He looked at the screen. “Someone named Virgil. Keep him quiet,” he said to Morpheus, who covered Patton’s mouth with their hand. The Brain answered, putting the phone on speaker.

“Hello?” he said, in an almost perfect imitation of Patton’s voice.

“Patton, thank god. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. What’s going on?”

“I’m so sorry, Pat. If I’d known…”

“Known what?”

“About your brother. I never would have-”

Patton bit the hand that was covering his mouth, causing Morpheus to shriek in pain.

“Virge, it’s not me! It’s-”

Morpheus covered Patton’s mouth again, this time with a cloth they found handy.

“Darn.” The Brains voice reverted to normal. “And he was doing so well.”

“Brain.”

“Yes. Now, unfortunately, I have to go.” The Brain hit end call and looked at Patton, then at Morpheus. “Do you think the Vigilante is done with his device?”

~~~

Roman walked into the kitchen only to see the Vigilante sitting on the counter.

“Haven’t you tortured me enough for one day?” he asked.

“Your brother just risked his life to save my identity.”

“So he does know?”

“That’s beside the point, Princey.”

“Why are you still calling me that? You know my name.” Roman sounded like he’d given up.

“Force of habit, I guess. But that’s not important. What is important is the fact that the Brain has Patton, and Patton just risked his safety for mine.”

“The Brain isn’t going to hurt him. I made him promise.”

“And since when does the Brain keep promises that don’t get him what he wants?”

“He won’t hurt him.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do, okay? You’ve already gotten most of my secrets today, let me have something.”

The Vigilante took a deep breath. He’d never seen anyone look so… broken. God, what have I done? “I- I’m sorry.”

“Sure.” Roman leaned forward on the counter, putting his face in his hands. “What am I going to do ?”

“About what?”

“About him . How will this affect our deal?”

“Your-” the Vigilante stopped, the Prince’s earlier words echoing through his head. He threatened to kill my brother . “The guy who threatened Patton,” he said quietly, trying to contain his rage at whoever would dare to even think about hurting his boyfriend.

Roman nodded, face still in his hands.

“What do you know about him?”

Roman rubbed his hands over his face. “Not much. I don’t know his name, and I’ve never gotten a good look at his face.

“About five years ago, he… I don’t know, I guess he… commissioned me to stop you. I told him no, at first."

The Vigilante snorted. “I find that hard to believe.”

“I’m telling the truth. I didn’t agree with your methods, but overall, I thought you were wanting to do good.

“But when I told him that I wouldn’t, but he gave me evidence saying that you were falsely accusing good people. And I believed him. It was two and a half years before I started doing my own research. It was mainly to figure out how I could better protect those people, but I found out that some of the evidence he’d given me was extremely biased, if not blatant lies. I confronted him earlier this year about it, and he accused me of joining your cause.

“He called me back a couple of days after that. He told me that if I didn’t do my best,” Roman cleared his throat in an attempt to keep himself from crying. “If I didn’t do my best to stop you, he'd kill Patton."

The Vigilante closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "Take me to him."

Roman was about to respond when a beeping noise came from The Vigilante's pocket. He pulled out his phone, took one look, then said, “Suit up, we’ve gotta go.”

“What? I-” Roman stopped when the Vigilante showed him what was on his phone.

“I’ve got an intruder alert.”

“I’ll be right back,” Roman growled, turning toward his bedroom. When he came out, he was the Prince, ready for battle.

The Vigilante grabbed his arm, and transported them to his lair.

~~~

“Cold cold cold cold cold,” the Prince said as they came out of the shadows. The Vigilante ignored him, instead focusing on the Brain who was holding Patton right next to the torture device.

“Let him go, Brain.”

“Ooh, exciting! A supervillain and fallen hero crime-fighting duo! Hello, Roman. Hello, Vigilante.”

Patton hadn’t told yet. The Vigilante kept his relief to himself, instead focusing on his anger toward the Brain. “I told you to let him go.”

The Brain glanced at Patton and shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

Patton looked at the Brain in fear, causing Virgil’s heart to wrench.

“Fine! You guys want to know my identity so badly?”

“No! I’m not worth it,” Patton cried out. The Vigilante just smiled at Patton and summoned shadows to cover himself. When they dissipated, the Vigilante was gone, just a man standing there.

Virgil looked the Brain in the eye, hoping to convey every bit of hate he felt. “My name is Virgil Greene and I am the Vigilante. Now, for the last time, let go of my boyfriend.”

[dominoeswrites]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

I don’t remember if I’ve posted any updates on tumblr lately, but here, have chapter 22!

Also, join the discord!

[dominoeswrites]

Patton the Villain Wrangler Chapter 2

Like I said, it’ll be a chapter a day every day for the next now 24 days, get used to it.

Warnings for this chapter: brief NSA mention, brief mention of cancer, implied threat, ask to tag anything else

Patton poured himself into research. He never was particularly good at it, but he had made a promise. A promise to Logan, to himself, and to that little girl that he would find the Vigilante before she died.

And he was so close. After 3 weeks of looking up dedicated blogs and Vigilante sightings, both confirmed and rumored, he believed that he finally could get him.

Thanks to Logan’s friend Joan in the NSA, Logan being out of the office on a sick day for once in his life, and the fact that Patton could sound exactly like Logan over the phone, Patton was able to figure out that the Vigilante had a bank account, and that there were withdrawals from it at seemingly random days once a month, but Patton was able to find a pattern in it. A call to the diner confirmed that someone fitting the Vigilante’s description did come in, sat at the same booth every time, typically arriving at 7 on those nights, staying for about an hour and a half, then leaving about five minutes after paying. Patton had a plan, and would definitely be waiting for the Vigilante.

Patton sat outside the diner in his car, debating on whether he should go in before the Vigilante got there, or wait until the supervillain had his food (Patton refused to think of the Vigilante as a “bad guy,” as he believed that even serial killers were good at heart).

He watched as the Vigilante materialized by the side of the building and the air seemed to chill, as though the Vigilante was creating an aura of cold and fear around him. The only skin Patton could see on the Vigilante was the half of his face not covered by his dark mask. He wore a dark gray jumpsuit with a black cape held on by a silver chain and black gloves on his hands, with black boots that went up to his knees.

Patton took a deep breath and got out of his car as the Vigilante walked toward the door. He took a second to adjust the cardigan draped around his shoulders, then followed the Vigilante inside, deciding to sit down shortly after the villain.

~~~

It had been a long day for the Vigilante. First, he’d worked on his scheme to try and lure the so-called super “heroes” of the city into a trap that would make them confess their crimes against humanity to the public. That had been going well, at least until his stupid assistant spilled their coffee all over the plans. And as he was yelling at the assistant, the Prince, the Vigilante’s least favorite of these superheroes, decided that today was a good day for a good, old-fashioned battle, which meant that the Vigilante had to move his lair again , a long and boring process. He still had no idea how the fool managed to keep finding his lairs, but he did, making the Vigilante’s life ever more complicated and tedious. He was just glad that today was his diner visit. Maybe I should start changing my pattern, he thought as he sat down. Nah.

Then a guy who literally looked like the human version of Goofy from the Goofy Movie plopped himself on the opposite side of the booth.

I really need to change my pattern, the Vigilante thought as he looked at the strange figure over. He wore a blue polo shirt, with a gray cardigan tied around his shoulders. Everything about him screamed ‘I’m a suburban dad that goes to all my kids’ soccer games while my wife works in a professional setting!’

“Are you the Vigilante?” Goofy asked.

“Who’s asking?”

“My name’s Patton.”

The Vigilante took a deep breath. Even his name sounded like an upper-middle-class dad. Looking him over, the Vigilante noticed that Patton looked vaguely familiar…

“If you work for the Prince,” the Vigilante finally said, “Just give him this message for me.” He leaned across the table toward Patton. Patton for some reason leaned in to hear what the Vigilante had to say, except he didn’t say anything, he only flipped Patton off with both hands.

“I don’t work for the Prince?” Patton said though it sounded more like a question than a statement.

The waitress came to the table, asking for the order. The Vigilante ordered his usual, a cheeseburger and black coffee (yeah it was evening, but the Vigilante didn’t care). Patton ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate malt. The guy had some nerve, ordering on a supervillain’s dollar. After she left, the Vigilante turned back to Patton.

“Well, whoever you work for, you need-”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about!” Patton said before the Vigilante could finish his threat. The Vigilante blinked in surprise. “Do you want to work for me?” he asked in shock.

“No,” Patton said, “Though that would be kinda cool. No, I work for the Grant-A-Wish Foundation-”

“The one that grants wishes to dying kids? What’s that got to do with me?”

“Well, there’s a little girl who wants to meet you!” Patton handed a crumpled-looking star to the Vigilante. The waitress brought their meals as he read it.

“Leukemia, huh?”

Patton nodded, his mouth full of cheese. He swallowed, “Yup! I’ll make sure that there aren’t any superheroes or authorities. I mean, I’ll be there, I have to be, that’s just protocol…”

As Patton continued his rambling, the Vigilante looked at the star again and sipped his coffee. Then he stood up and grabbed Patton by his collar, dragging him outside. He left cash on the table as payment. I’m getting rid of my bank account after this, the Vigilante thought.

~~~

The staff of the diner watched as the Vigilante pulled the fool behind him.

“That poor man is never gonna be seen again,” the waitress coolly remarked to the chef after they were out of earshot. The chef shrugged, and they went on with their evening.

~~~

Outside, Patton had stopped rambling and started trembling in fear. Yeah, he had his stance that murderers were good people, but they were still murderers!

The Vigilante let go of Patton, almost throwing him to the ground. Patton stood up and straightened his shirt, hoping that he didn’t look as scared as he felt.

“Look,” the Vigilante said, not making eye contact, “I, uh, didn’t want to say it in there, ‘cause I’ve got a reputation to maintain, but-” he took a deep breath, “I’ll do it. I’ll go see her.”

“Really?” Patton asked, silently grateful that he wasn’t going to die today.

“You don’t need to sound so surprised.”

“Right. Sorry.” Patton had a sheepish smile on his face.

“But no superheroes and no cops, like you said.”

“Oh, of course!”

“When should I go?”

“Uh…” Patton pulled a small black book from his back pocket, his planner. “Well, like I said, I have to be there, but that’s just protocol, you know. So how does…” he leafed through the pages, “Tuesday at 9 a.m. sound?”

“Good, I guess.”

“Alright! St. Agnes Hospital on Tuesday at 9!” Patton said as he scribbled in the little book. “See you then!”

The Vigilante nodded, a small smile on his face, then stepped away from Patton and disappeared into the twilight.

~~~

Friendly reminder that I won’t be posting a taglist for this fic until I’m caught up with the AO3 version!

[dominoeswrites]

Patton the Villain Wrangler Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry for not posting, I lost access to the computer I was working on for a hot minute

Summary: Logan publishes an article about Patton

Warnings: Cancer mentions, cliffhanger, let me know if there’s anything else

~~~

As he walked into the office the next morning, Patton saw that everyone was looking at him. He walked to his desk, all eyes trained on him. He sat down and pressed the power button on his computer. He then turned to Terrence, who worked across the aisle from him.

“Why is everyone staring at me?”

“Just check your email,” Terrence said, a mischievous grin on his face.

Patton shook his head, unsure of what Terrence was implying. Did the media know about Virgil? Impossible. Even if Patton wanted to expose the Vigilante, he hadn’t had opportunity to do so. He hadn’t talked to anyone after leaving Virgil last night.

His computer started up, and he opened his email. Since he’d cleaned up his inbox yesterday, there was only one email.

“It’s just the monthly newsletter,” Patton said, confused.

“Open it,” Terrence called from across the aisle.

Patton clicked on the email. On the front page of the newsletter was a picture of Patton, the Alley Cat and Riley sitting at a picnic table in the mall courtyard, deep in conversation. The caption by it read Patton Sanders: Villain Wrangler, see page 6

Patton scrolled down to read the article about himself. The same picture was next to the article.Patton Sanders: Villain Wrangler

By Logan Andrews

Picture submitted by Anonymous

Lately, Patton Sanders, one of my volunteers, has been talking with supervillains in order to fulfill certain wishes. At first, I was averse to working with wanted criminals; however, Patton has had an abnormally high success rate in both talking to these villains and granting villain-related wishes. Thus far, no children have been harmed in implementing this program. Because of this, I have begun to dub him as a “Villain Wrangler.”

The article went on to talk about some of Patton’s successes, particularly with the Vigilante. He got to the end, where Logan said:

In conclusion, I am incredibly proud of Patton’s success in this venture, and I highly suggest that every chapter implement a “Villain Wrangler” program to successfully fulfill more wishes.

Patton stared at the article for a minute, before a shocked smile made its way onto his face. He suddenly wasn’t so mad at his boss for making him stay later the previous night. He printed out two copies of the article, one for his desk, and one for Virgil.

As Patton walked back to his desk from the printer, the papers still warm in his hand, he heard a clap of thunder and watched as the Prince walked toward Logan’s office. And boy did he look angry.

~~~

No taglist yet, but there will be one when I get caught up! DM me or send an ask if you want to be on it!

[dominoeswrites]

Patton the Villain Wrangler Chapter 6

Summary: The Vigilante gets the Alley Cat to talk to Patton

Warnings: None that I can think of, but let me know if I do need to tag anything!

~~~

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Kitty, please!”

“No. I’m not gonna meet with some random guy you found on the street.”

“First of all, he found me, and second, he’s got some important stuff to say! Just- just give him ten minutes. That’s all I ask.”

The Alley Cat raised their eyebrow.

“Just hear him out. For me?” The Vigilante put on his best puppy dog face.

The Alley Cat sighed in defeat. “Fine. But just ten minutes, and I’m only doing this because I like you.”

The Vigilante grinned. “Thank you. You won’t regret it.”

The small supervillain just rolled their eyes. “When does he want to meet?”

“Uh…” The Vigilante hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. He thought that they would suggest a time. “How does, uh, Tuesday at nine sound to you?” he asked slowly.

“Fine. That’s great.”

“Where do you want to meet?” the Vigilante asked before they could.

“I don’t know. How about your lair?” “No. He doesn’t want to shadow travel, and that’s the only way he’s getting in there.”

“Fine. How about here?”

The Vigilante pondered this for a moment, looking around the well-lit room. “This should work fine.”

“Alright, Tuesday at nine. Ten minutes.”

“Thanks Kitty!”

“And don’t call me Kitty.”

“You know you like it.”

The Alley Cat rolled their eyes. “Shut up and get out of my house.”

The Vigilante grinned once again and disappeared into the shadows.

~~~

Patton was unlocking his car when the Vigilante materialized in front of him.

“I thought you said that you were gonna leave a note?” Patton asked, a small smile on his face.

“Yeah, but I thought it would be more polite to tell you in person.”

“So when and where?”

“Tuesday at 9, the Alley Cat’s lair.”

Patton pulled out his planner, marking the date. “I’ll need directions.”

The Vigilante just stared. He didn’t know how to get there any other way than through the shadows.

“Do you at least have an address?”

“Oh, yeah!” The Vigilante told him the address, with an admonishment not to tell anyone. Patton wrote it down in his planner.

“Okay, thanks!”

“Um… I, uh, I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be there. You know, just in case…”

“Just in case something goes wrong?” Patton asked, putting the little book in his back pocket.

The Vigilante nodded, trying not to let worry show on his face. He didn’t know why, but for some reason, he cared for the volunteer.

“Relax! I’m sure that they’ll be totally willing!”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. But, just in case.”

Patton smiled. “Just in case.”

~~~

Patton stood outside the building that matched the address that the Vigilante had given him. It didn’t look too intimidating, just like a regular house. He took a deep breath then rang the doorbell.

The Alley Cat was a lot smaller than Patton thought they would be. And gosh darn it, they were so adorable!

“Who are you?” they asked. Patton tried hard not to squeal and

“I’m Patton Sanders. I think the Vigilante told you we were meeting today?”

“Oh, right.” The Alley Cat opened the door further to let Patton in. “Come on in.”

Patton walked in and saw nothing but cats. There were cats all over the house. Patton tried very hard to contain his excitement, glad he'd taken his allergy pills today. The Vigilante was sitting on the couch, an orange tabby in his lap.

“Move,” the Alley Cat said to a fat calico cat sitting on a chair as they shoved it off. “Uh, sit down, if you can find a place.”

Patton maneuvered around, almost tripping over a small black cat. “So is this why they call you the Alley Cat?”

“Sort of, I guess. I don’t know why, but it’s like I’m a literal cat magnet. Might as well use them to take over the world.”

Patton chuckled as he found an empty seat. He started to sit down, but then a loud yowl came from under him. He stood up to see a cat the exact same shade of brown as the couch sprint away from the scene. He cautiously sat back down again, making sure no other cats decided to move beneath him.

“What do you want,” Alley Cat asked.

“Well, I’m with the Grant-A-Wish Foundation, and there’s a kid who wants to meet you!”

“Why?”

Patton took out his planner and took out Riley's star. He stood up and handed it to them as he put the black book in his back pocket.

“Someone wants to hear from me? Why not the Fox? They’re nonbinary too.”

“They asked for you, Kitty,” the Vigilante put in. The Alley Cat glared at him and Patton tried to suppress his delight. Even their glares were adorable!

The Alley Cat looked at Patton after taking a deep breath, trying to calm themselves. It would be bad form to attack the Vigilante in front of a civilian. “So let’s say that I do this. Hypothetically.”

Patton nodded, hope evident on his face.

“Where would I meet them?”

“Well, according to their file, they’re healthy enough to be living at home, so you, hypothetically, could visit them in their house, or you could meet them in a public park. I would have to be there, just for protocol, but-”

“So even if I met them in a public setting, you would have to be there?”

“Yeah. But like I just said, it’s just protocol. I was there when the Vigilante visited Maddie.”

“And that turned out great, didn’t it?” the Alley Cat said sarcastically, throwing a teasing look toward the other villain.

“That was not my fault,” the Vigilante said.

“Oh?” they asked, raising an eyebrow, “I could feel my ears pop from here, and that hospital is at least ten miles away.”

“That was him, not me!”

“What was?” Patton asked, confused.

“Right,” the Vigilante said, rolling his eyes, “I forgot how vague Princey is about his powers. So basically, he claims he can control the weather, but really, he can only control the barometric pressure and temperature. Oh, and the wind. That’s how he flies.”

“Well don’t those three things make up the weather?”

“Whatever.”

“Well,” Alley Cat interrupted, “Whatever he can do, that’s not what we’re here to talk about.”

“Right. So what do you say, Ki- Alley Cat?” Patton asked, catching himself from calling them Kitty. They glared at him but didn’t say anything about it.

“Fine. But I’d rather meet them in a public place. Don’t want people getting the wrong idea.”

Patton nodded. “That’s totally understandable. How about the mall courtyard?”

“That’ll do. When?”

Patton pulled the little black book from his back pocket. “How does the tenth work for you? At eleven?”

“Perfect. Now get out of my house.”

“Uh okay.” Patton had to carefully move the dark brown Scottish Fold that had decided to lay on his lap during the conversation. “Have a nice day!” he said as he walked out.

The Vigilante looked at his watch, then looked up at the Alley Cat smirking. “Eleven minutes.”

“Get out means you too, Lanny.”

The Vigilante glared at the Alley Cat. And suddenly, an open bag of catnip appeared in the nonbinary villain’s lap, causing all of the cats in the vicinity to flock toward them. The Vigilante laughed maniacally as he disappeared into the shadows, the Alley Cat’s curses filling his ears.

~~~

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