Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Red is a normal guy, he lives in a rundown, cramped apartment and barely knows how to cook without burning down the kitchen.

He is a normal guy! He totally doesn’t mingle with supervillains and superheroes.

Red worked at a supermarket, it belonged to a big company that never really checked up on the building or the workers in it, after all, it was located in what people would describe a “district zone”, AKA, a place where only the worst kind of humans would shop.

Robberies and other crimes were common in the district zones, every day someone would get beaten up for a idiotic reason.

Recently, one of his coworkers at the supermarket he worked at introduced him to the profession of the taxi driver, she explained how it worked, what kind of people usually used taxis and how to get a licence.

One week later Red resigned from his job at the supermarket and another week later he received his licence.

Suddenly, the old toyota corolla he had found under his apartment a year ago and completely renovated had finally found its use. 

The car was cleaned and turned into a comfortable enough car to carry people around. It wasn’t really the best… but it got the job done.

Red really did not know how that car ended up in his driveway, he just knew that the people in his building did not want it and he was in need of a vehicle.

Sometimes, the thought that a homicide probably took place in the car he used every day crossed his mind, but he usually shrugged it off as quickly as possible.

Most of the people Red carried around were just simple people trying to get to somewhere without using the subway or their own car, sometimes some lower criminals with a freshly stolen bag of money entered his car, but Red didn’t care since they were the ones that tipped the most!

It was a quite tumultuous evening, the streets were packed and Red was late to pick up his client, a certain man that on the app called himself “Peter Griffin”.

Reddoons would never admit that he laughed a bit once he saw the name.

The traffic was caused due to a recent attack from the super villains Commander and Maker. They had attacked the Municipality of the city, stealing some important files and the whole city had been blocked to find the two villains.

Red didn’t really care, their Municipality was shit and had made him pay too much for his taxi driver license.

After a few more minutes, Red finally managed to park to the designated pick up spot and his clients immediately entered.

“Dude, drive.”

An altered voice hissed from the back, Red froze and looked at his rear-view mirror.

Commander and Maker were in the back of his car. Two super villains with super powers were in the back of his run down toyota corolla.

“And you are… Peter Griffin?”

Reddoons asked, making sure to repeat slowly the name written on the taxi app.

Maker snorted, trying to keep in a laugh, Commander on the other hand glared at Red.

“Did you seriously call yourself Peter Griffin?”

Maker asked, her voice also altered by a changer built in her mask.

“It was the first thing that popped in my mind! You were the one whining for a taxi.”

Commander replied, shaking his head before looking again at Reddoons.

“Dude drive for fuck sake!!”

He hissed again, making Red immediately start the car.

The ride was mostly silent, no one dared to speak up, letting the car honks fill the air.

“Do you want me to put on some music..?”

Reddoons asked while keeping his eyes on the car in front of him.

His fingers were drumming onto the wheel of the car out of pure anxiety, the movement was supposed to calm him and keep his breath in check.

“I do have to warn you though, I only have one station.”

He added, gathering enough courage to look towards the rear-view mirror.

Commander’s eyes narrowed, clearly confused.

“What do you mean you only have a station?”

He asked, Maker shook her head.

“He means he only has one radio station.”

She explained, making the Commander groan. Red kept looking at the scene unfolding behind him.

“Yeah I got that Maker, I was asking him for more info on why he only had a radio station.”

“I don’t know why I only have one station to be honest, the only thing I know is that it’s in italian.”

Red said, jumping in the conversation.

Maker’s eyes now shone with curiosity.

“They mostly send old music, like Blondie or the Earth, Wind and Fire, but sometimes I do hear some new emergent Italian rappers.”

He explained, tapping slightly on the accelerator pedal, moving forward.

“That’s weird, the italian station shouldn’t even be capable of connecting to this radio. We’re not even in Europe.”

Commander commented, Red replied with shrugging his shoulders.

“The wonders of technology I guess.”

Maker now moved closer to Red, making him get a bit more nervous.

“Can I have it? The radio I mean.”

She asked, before Commander pushed her back on her seat.

“Maker, I've already told you that you have to stop snatching people’s things! If you take that radio this whole car would probably fall apart, have you seen how old this thing is? Also, put on your seatbelt.”

The super villain reprimanded the other, and while doing so he shamelessly insulted Red’s car.

“Hey! I’ll have you know I’ve fixed this car with my own amazing hands, if you insult it you insult my work.”

Red barked out, making Maker chuckle yet again.

“Yeah I can see that you’ve fixed this metal junk with you own “magnificent” hands.”

Commander replied, making Maker chuckle even more.

“I’m definitely charging you more because of that dumb joke, asshole.”

Red muttered, clenching his hands around the wheel. He was getting really tired of the traffic.

He hated mostly two things about his job: Dumb drivers and traffic.

The traffic was his personal hell on earth, he didn’t understand why everytime he was on his shift a major incident or blockage had to happen, and everytime it happen, Red was right in the middle of it and it took him centuries, yes, centuries he was not exaggerating, to get out of the giant mess of cars!

His eyes drifted to a nearby street, an almost empty street.

“Hey, do you mind if I try an alternative street? Maybe that way I can get out of the traffic jam.”

Red asked, his hand moving to the car’s gear lever.

Commander looked at Maker, who just nodded, before speaking up.

“Sure. We don’t really mind as long as we get to our destination.

 
Commander said, leaning back onto the seat of the car.

“Got it.”

Red replied, quickly shifting his gear lever and dashing out of the traffic with a dangerously illegal maneuver to enter the almost empty street.

His foot slammed against the accelerator pedal, and the car began to dash through the streets while dodging all of the other vehicles, Red’s lips morphed into a smirk, while the two super villains in the backseats held on to the car’s grab handles like their life depended on it.

Suddenly, Red forgot that he had passengers in his car, making illegal turns and greatly surpassing the speed limits.

He snapped out of his speed hungry trance only when his car parked in front of the building the app had pointed out to him.

“Oh. We’ve arrived.”

Red muttered, looking back at his passengers.

“Sorry for the bumpy ride, I got.. carried away.”

He added, nervously scratching his neck.

The two villains shared a look before looking back at Red.

“It’s fine.. I guess.”

Commander muttered, grabbing his wallet from one of the pockets of his villain costume and handing Red three 100$ bills.

“Yeah! You got us to our destination and avoided the traffic. It’s fine.”

Maker added, offering two thumbs up to Reddoons.

The two villains bid their goodbyes and got out of the car, entering a closed alley and then proceeding to vanish.

Red stared at the alley, then at the car’s wheel, then at the alley yet again.

Huh. Giving rides to super villains did not disappoint.

He looked one last time towards the alley before speeding away back to his apartment. Red was definitely skipping work tomorrow.

Well that was absolute bullshit.

Those were the words that rang through his head while two new super villains jumped in his car.

That morning Red had woken up at 10 AM, slowly enjoyed breakfast and then decided to take his car to go to his favorite coffee shop and hang out with some friends.

What he didn’t expect was his car stopping on the road, not because it was broken or anything, because the supervillain Leonis grabbed his car from behind while his companion, Ignis, entered his vehicle.

“Yo! Are you the driver that helped Commander and Maker?”

Ignis asked, tilting his head while Leonis entered in the backseats.

Red stared at the two smiling masked villains.

“Yeah- yeah uhm.. I did. But I’m not working right now.”

Red muttered, ignoring the various honks that echoed around his car.

“Oh shit, our bad dude. We do need your help to reach a destination though.”

Ignis replied, comfortably leaning against the seat and stretching.

Leonis nodded.

“Yeah! Don’t worry about the money. Now drive us to the bank please!”

He added, smiling brightly while Ignis set the GPS to the bank.

“Sure..?”

Red said, stepping his foot on the pedal and starting the car.

He drove slowly, listening to Ignis and Leonis chatting while just having fun and cracking jokes non stop.

Even with their menacing armors on they looked like normal people that knew how to have fun.

The two acted like brothers, jokingly punching and insulting each other.

Slowly, Red came to a halt.

“Uhm.. guys?”

He interrupted, tilting his head.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

Ignis asked, looking at their driver.

“The police.”

Red said. The joyful atmosphere in the car scarily plummeted.

Cold sweat began trickling down Red’s neck, he couldn’t possibly explain to the police that he was helping two super villains reach the bank.

He looked at the group of police officers checking thoroughly every car that stopped in front of them, Red’s eyes snapped to Ignis.

“You two are running, aren’t you?”

He mumbled, earning a guilty frown from Leonis’ face and a small grunt of annoyance from Ignis.

“Yes, we are. You and your car were the safest option we had at escaping, the police, Monarch and Tartarus-”

Ignis tried to explain, before being cut off by Red’s panicked voice.

“You’re being hunted down by Tartarus?!”

He interrupted. Tartarus was dangerous, he was part of the hero council but had his own moral and work related rules. The super hero had been gifted with enhanced senses and a pair of majestic wings but of course his gifts came with a price, in fact Tartarus’ eyesight had been almost fully taken away from him.

“Well Tartarus has more of a personal beef with us.. he always tries to catch us when we show up.”

Leonis said, making Red even more worried.

“And you’re telling me all of this just now?! You two have personally made Tartarus so mad that he just.. hunts you down whenever y’all get spotted?!”

Ignis and Leonis nodded, muttering a few confirmations.

Red looked ahead of him, two cars were in front of him, waiting to get checked by the police.

His eyes scanned the perimeter.

To reach the bank, they would need to get over the bridge, that was currently heavily guarded by the police, and then reach the center of the main city.

“Do you really have to reach the bank?”

Red asked, his hands clenching nervously at the wheel. Why did he always end up in these awful situations?

Leonis and Ignis looked at each other, muttering something under their breaths, deciding if going to the bank was really worth it.

Ignis looked at Red, a frown on his lips.

“Change of plans.”

He announced, grabbing Red’s phone and changing the GPS location.

It indicated a nightclub 20 minutes from the bridge, the front looked completely normal, nothing too crazy.

“Alright. Hold on to the grab handles.”

Red announced, shifting his gear to the rear and pressing down the accelerator pedal. The car dashed backwards, making the two villains in the car immediately reach the car’s grab handles, clenching the hanging pieces of plastic like their lives depended on it.

Red adjusted his sunglasses and pressed his foot on the brake before quickly swearwing the wheel to the right, making a turn.

The police of course noticed, and some of them jumped in their cars to follow the mad driver.

Red didn’t look back, just pushed the accelerator pedal again and took a few secondary streets, confusing the officers while being hyped up by the two super villains in his car.

They reached the club at least half an hour later, taking all the secondary roads that did make their trip much more lengthy.

When Red finally stopped his car in front of the club, he let out a long, exhausted sigh.

His hands rested on his face, hiding his exhaustion.

While Red had his totally normal crisis, Leonis left a hefty stash of money on the center console.

“Thank you for the ride dude!”

Ignis exclaimed, getting out of the car.

“Yeah yeah, sure. Please don’t tell anyone about this..”

“Can’t promise it, man!”

The villain said, before disappearing with Leonis into the club’s door.

Red sighed yet again, his eyes fell again on the club’s front.

It was made of bricks, no windows on sight, just a door lightened by a neon sign.

He didn’t dare to get close, he just started his car and drove back to his apartment. Red was silent during the whole drive, not muttering a word, just thinking about what was happening in his life recently.

He parked his car in the garage, walked past the always empty reception of his building and took the elevator to the fourth floor.

Red opened his apartment’s door, closing it behind him before turning on the light.

A black dressed figure welcomed him.

Tartarus was sitting in his living room, staring at Red. The super hero was holding one of the driver’s best glasses, it belonged to a set of crystal glasses the old apartment’s owners had left when they moved away.

Another identical glass and an expensive bottle of wine, that was definitely not Red’s, sat on the coffee table next to Tartarus.

“So, you are the person people have been addressing as The Driver.”

The super hero spoke, inviting Red with a small hand gesture to sit next to him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here for you. I’m very well aware that you are just a simple taxi driver that got thrown into this madness of a world we heroes share with villains and vigilantes.”

Tartarus explained, watching as Red sat on the chair next to the coffee table.

Asking how Tartarus had found his apartment was useless, Red knew that, so he decided to avoid any stupid questions.

“You’re here because I helped Ignis and Leonis, right?”

He asked, sitting down on the only available seat while the hero poured the wine in the empty glass clearly meant for Red.

“Yes, but I’m also here to try and make a deal with you.”

“What kind of deal? I’m not gonna rat them out, I don’t even know their base–”

“I’m aware of that.”

Tartarus interrupted him, pushing two different letters on the coffee table.

They were both black but had two different colored wax sigils to seal the letters shut. 

One sigil was red, one had more colors mixed together, almost representing a rainbow.

“Commander is probably gonna visit you soon, I heard from a contact that he wanted to give you a gift as a thanks for your service.”

Tartarus said, taking a sip from the glass.

“Give those letters to him when you see him, and I will leave you alone.”

“Who are they for?”

Red asked, he couldn’t hide his curiosity.

Tartarus’ eyes widened, surprised by the question.

“Something of mine had recently slipped from my hands and I’m trying to convince them to come back to me.”

The hero explained, taking another sip of wine, this time more generous.

Red stared at Tartarus, in his almost white eyes shone a glint of regret and fury.

His eyes analyzed more the letters, he picked one of them in his hands, running a careful finger on the bright red sigil.

Tartarus tried to reach for the letter, but Red moved back.

“Trust is fundamental in deals, I’m sure you know that Tartarus.”

Red hissed, frowning deeply.

“Do these letters have anything dangerous in them? Anything meant to force what left you to come back?”

He asked, Tartarus didn’t reply, clearly still a bit shaken by how Red had turned the tables.

“I’m not going to give them to Commander if they do.”

Tartarus shook his head.

“Those letters are pleas, Driver. Nothing nefarious is hidden under the black paper.. it’s just me begging my boys to come home.”

The hero revealed, he didn’t look embarrassed, just annoyed that he had to reveal all of this to a stranger.

“I’m sure Ignis and Leonis are helping them hide. I’ve been trying to contact my boys for months but they keep ignoring me.”

His words were strained with preoccupation and fear. Tartarus never seemed more human to Red’s eyes than now.

The driver poured more wine in the hero’s glass, he definitely needed it.

“I’ll give those letters to Commander. Don’t worry.”

Red reassured Tartarus, who just replied with a small hum.

Suddenly, the watch around the superhero’s wrist lightened up, showing a yellow point in the center of the screen, underneath it a street and the name of a criminal flickered urgently.

“I have to go.”

Tartarus announced, putting on his coat while he opened the window that led to Red’s balcony.

“Wait- your wine!”

The driver said, grabbing the expensive bottle by its neck.

“Keep it, consider it a gift.”

The hero replied, before flying away, leaving Red alone and more tangled into this mess he didn’t belong to.

Chapter Text

“Tartarus came to visit you?!”

Commander exclaimed, making Red tense at the villain’s angry voice.

“Yeah.. and he left two letters.”

He said, pointing at the two black envelopes on the table.

“Of course that bastard did…”

The villain hissed, picking up the letters and putting them in the inside pocket of his trench coat.

Commander had barged in his apartment through the window a few minutes ago, while Reddoons was making himself his usual cup of coffee.

Almost a week had passed from Tartarus’ visit and Red had been anxiously waiting for Commander to show up so he could get rid of the letters the superhero had left on his table.

“Listen, I seriously don’t want to get mixed up with the problems you supervillains share with the heroes. I’m just a simple driver-”

“It’s too late to escape this mess now, Reddoons.”

Commander interrupted him. Even with his eyes hidden by a dark veil, Red could still feel the villain’s harsh gaze on his skin.

Commander was a high risk category villain, he used his voice to manipulate and force people to submit to his orders, his power usually worked best on the masses and he had no shame in showing how well he had trained his power to slither right into your ear, making you just another puppet of his.

“You’ve been involved in too much of this business, the heroes are definitely gonna keep an eye on you while the villains will continue to use you and your job now that they know that you don’t immediately run to the police, plus, the Director has been informed of your existence…”

The villain explained, walking towards Red’s extremely small kitchen and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Red frowned. He had never heard of the Director, but from what he could understand from Commander’s words, the villain was definitely someone important with quite some power.

“What am I supposed to do then?”

Red asked, leaning against one of the kitchen’s counters.

“If I were you I would run away, change my identity, cut ties with all of my acquaintances and create a new life somewhere far away.. but of course, you’re a normal human being with a budget, aren’t you?”

Commander said, smirking proudly at his not so polite comment.

“Wow you guessed I don’t rob banks and make extremely illegal deals to earn money, how did you figure it out, asshole?”

“Well, I just looked at your shitty apartment and car. And even if I am a genius it didn’t take one to figure out that you barely get through and struggle to pay rent.”

Commander replied smugly, pointing at the various letters from the building’s landlord relentlessly asking for the month’s payment or warning Red about an abrupt increase of rent.

“By the way, if you want that dipshit gone you just have to ask me.”

The villain said, earning an eye roll from Red.

“I don’t need you to take out my landlord, Commander.”

“The offer is always open.”

Red just sighed and put down his cup of coffee.

“Why did you barge in my apartment?”

He asked, turning around. Abruptly at least five different car plates were on his table and Maker was next to them.

“Surprise!”

She said, while Commander took one last sip from his cup.

“We figured that you would need a few new.. look changes now that you helped us villains.”

Red stared at the two proud looking villains, his eyes wide as humanly possible.

“You guys seriously want to see me in jail.”

He hissed, motioning to the highly illegal pile of car plates on his table.

“And how the fuck did you get in?”

Red asked Maker as they shrugged.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want an answer to.”

The villain replied while adjusting their enormous tinted sunglasses.

“Okay well– what am I supposed to do with those? Change one of ‘em every time I help you villains with some of your illegal shit?”

Commander nodded, walking closer to Maker and helping them to jump down the table she was on.

"Exactly! See you’re starting to think like a criminal already. Whenever you need new plates Maker will make them for you.”

Maker had the ability to use an already existing object and mold it into something completely different, sometimes the villain would even use that object while it’s in an almost liquid state and use it against heroes.

People that got attacked by the liquid state of an object ended up with harsh burns all over their skin and various skin problems.

Seeing that Reddoons did not reply, the villains decided that this was the perfect time to go.

“Well, our time to disappear has come. Thank you again for the help, dear Driver!”

Commander announced, walking towards Red’s window with Maker behind him.

Soon enough, the two disappeared from Red’s apartment, leaving behind them just the pile of car plates.

How come whenever someone with super powers visited him always left something behind? Was this their way to say sorry for the blatant intrusion in his private space?

He should really start documenting all of the things unwanted guests give him or leave in his house.

The next couple of days, Red conducted a normal and quiet life. He avoided the news like the plague, too scared to know if the journalists had already caught up on his existence.

Sometimes, he found himself staring at the police officers on the side of the road, probably having their break, thinking on how a communication from their walkie-talkies could be transmitted any moment and he would find himself in cuffs.

Paranoia had been Red’s best friend for so long, falling back into his old self-doubting habits was definitely not going to help him.

Eventually, his mind got the best of him when he stopped to pick up a client and instead of an old lady named “Ms. Margaret Fount-Colden” fucking Monarch jumped in his car.

He didn’t even sit in the seats behind, he sat in the seat right next to Red.

The driver’s eyes slowly drifted towards the superhero, his brain struggling to understand what was really happening.

Monarch, one of the top heroes, was in his car. Car that had also hosted four other supervillains.

“I suppose you’re not Ms. Margaret Fount-Colden.”

Red muttered, his eyes falling on the sword attached to the hero’s hip.

“You’d be right. Drive.”

Monarch said, keeping his gaze right forward.

Red mindlessly nodded and began driving towards the destination while keeping an almost religious silence.

Monarch was known for his manipulation of light, his strength tripled every time he was under the sun, making him an almost unbeatable warrior, plus, he had the capacity of releasing solar energy onto anything he touched.

“You’re The Driver, right?”

Monarch asked, Red nodded his head. No point in lying now.

“Tartarus talked about you, he says you’ve helped him with those damn letters..”

Red nodded again, the hero finally looked at him.

“Is nodding all you do?”

“Uhm.. no.”

“You can speak, I’m not gonna blast you into the ocean. That’s something only reserved to Charon.”

Charon was not a hero, or villain. He was a mercenary, Red had heard stories about his assassinations a couple of times on random news outlets.

“Why are you in my car?”

He asked, adjusting his sunglasses.

“I was just curious. I don’t need your help since I don’t have any sad urgent family problems like Tartarus or have to constantly escape from a psychopath like Icarus.”

Monarch explained, looking at the GPS on Red’s phone.

Red’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Icarus, the hero had basically retired a few months ago after the death of his companion.

He had been ranked first for two years in a row before he decided to retire.

“I just.. wished for some normality, even if I’m wearing my work clothes.”

The hero admitted, the Driver hummed softly, understanding the need of the hero to be normal.

“You know.. I’ve been searching for some normality too lately. Being thrown into this mess between heroes and villains has fucked me up quite badly.”

Red mumbled, making Monarch smile.

It was weird connecting on such an emotional level to a hero, but Red enjoyed it, the words they were sharing felt real, something that lacked in the usual interviews Heroes were forced to give after especially huge fights or during important events.

“It seems I’ve found someone that shares my same problems.. It’s rare these days.”

The conversation ended there, both didn’t dare to speak, just enjoying the silence.

Reddoons drove lost in his thoughts, it was weird having an hero admit to him how even they, whom people saw as idols and almost gods, yearned for a normal life.

The Driver’s eyes fell onto the hero as they were waiting for a red light to turn green, even with all the armour and suit on it was clear Monarch had suffered many wounds, Red didn’t even want to think about how many scars the hero must have on his body, hidden under various layers of probably fake ego and heavy responsibility.

Red stopped in front of the Hero Headquarters, Monarch paid what he had to pay plus a quite large tip before disappearing.

Reddoons didn’t do much after, he only drove four customers before going back home, he felt drained yet calm, he needed to think a bit more about the conversation he had with Monarch.

He entered his apartment and walked straight to his bedroom, opting for a quick nap, not noticing the open window in his living room.

Red woke up around three hours later after the most numbing nap he had ever had in his life.

A crash of someone against something made the Driver rush to his living room with his hair and clothes still messy, two masked individuals were bickering in his apartment.

“Oh come on!! This is like the third home invasion I’ve had in less than two weeks!”

Red yelled, running a tired hand over his face.

Was it that hard for villains and heroes to stop entering his place without permission? Did he need to put a sign outside of his balcony just to let them know they were not welcomed?!

The two stopped bickering with each other and began staring at Red like he was some kind of rare animal.

“What are you staring at? You two just ruined my nap! Is this how y’all usually act?!”

The driver hissed, walking towards the masked boys and adjusting the frames they had pushed to the ground onto a small table with some flowers on it.

“Bro we’re sorry-”

The first boy muttered, looking quite guilty. He was the one that made the frames fall on the ground.

“Yeah dude.. we were just curious!”

The second said, backing the other up.

Red analyzed the two’s outfits, the one with the dark short hair was wearing a black compression shirt and a pair of cargo pants with a familiar color pattern on it, they almost created a rainbow..

Red’s eyes widened and moved to the other boy and the hoodie he was wearing.

Two red stripes ran from the shoulders of the hoodie to the very end of the sleeves.

“You’re Tartarus kids.”

Red let the comment slip from his lips.

The two boys stared at the Driver, dumbfounded, their expression showed to Red that he was right and they certainly did not expect it.

“I told you dude! I told you he would notice!”

The one wearing the hoodie yelled, running a hand through his messy dark brown hair.

He looked stressed.

“Bro I know but we still had to do it! The Director asked us to—”

“Halt! Stop for a goddam second!”

Red interrupted, harshly slamming his hand against the wall, making the boys shut up.

“First of all! You’re gonna help me close and lock every window in this apartment and shut every blind if you don’t want your father to barge in and force you two back home.”

He said, immediately switching something in the boys’ brains. The duo began rushing through the apartment, closing everything that came in their way, at the end of their rushed yet perfect work the only light in the whole apartment was the one of the kitchen.

Red sighed and began pulling out of the fridge enough food to make at least three sandwiches.

Gosh, kids these days are so erratic.

“While I prepare something to eat, because it’s almost dinner time, you’ll explain to me how the hell did you find my apartment and why you barged in.”

The boys nodded.

They began to explain with extreme detail, talking about their current anger towards Tartarus, how Commander told them Red was the one that had given him the letters and many other things.

While they talked sometimes they would mention the Director, talking about his weird behavior, before going back to bickering.

“Wait wait, who’s this Director?”

Red interrupted once the two boys had finished explaining and were more focused on discussing another argument.

“He’s like… the one that directs a lot of the other villains’ actions.”

Prometheus muttered, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

He was the one with the red pattern, the one that had gone against Tartarus first from what Red had understood from the poor explanation he had been told.

Prometheus had been gifted with frightening powers.

His most powerful yet hidden power made him able to forcefully take over one’s body with just the touch of his hand, the downside was that his own body would then suffer greatly during and after the takeover. His secondary power, the one that he used the most, was simpler yet still extremely useful. Prometheus had the capacity to summon dark red vines from his hands, making him capable to do various actions on a vast scale.

“Yeah, he also has a weird obsession with Icarus… at least that’s what I’ve heard from Balatro.”

Atlas added, the boy with the rainbow pattern had more stable powers than his brother.

His whole body produced particles that almost looked like stars by how much they shined, which had a chaotic effect. Somehow, they would make the nervous system of a normal person go haywire, making them anxious and nervous. A prolonged exposure to the particles would cause serious mental and physical health problems.

The two were quite the dangerous combination.

“Bro you can’t trust Balatro. The dude has the same problem as the Director with that vigilante girl. What was her name..? Leucus? Lemus?—”

“Her name is Lepus you dumb idiot! And he has a valid reason, Lepus is his sister. The Director on the other hand has an obsession!”

The boys began fighting again, Red didn’t even try to shut them up, he just finished his sandwich and reached for the wine Tartarus had gifted him, pulling out from his cabinet a glass.

The boys abruptly stopped fighting, staring at the alcohol bottle.

Red didn’t even look at them, just sighed and grabbed two more glasses.

“Does your father know you drink?”

He asked.

“No, and he doesn’t need to know.”

Prometheus said, watching carefully as the driver poured his own glass first and then their glasses. He put less wine in theirs.

The driver gave the two boys that were now sitting on his counters their glasses.

“You two are gonna get me in big trouble…”

Red muttered, making Atlas snicker and nod while Prometheus carefully tasted his drink.

The conversation continued and turned into something less serious and more casual, the boys talked about their last adventures and findings, mentioning a.. wormhole? Red didn’t really understand that part, but he just kept nodding his head, trying to convince his guests that he had understood.

They talked until extremely late in the night, the two boys ended up falling asleep on the driver’s couch.

As Red tidied up his kitchen, a text appeared on his phone.

Unknown: “Are they asleep?”

He had a feeling who the unknown person texting him was.

Reddoons: “Yes, they are. I made them sandwiches for dinner.”

Unknown: “They still don’t want to see me?”

Reddoons: “Definitely not. They shit talked about you for the whole night.”

The texts stopped, Red’s grip on his phone tightened.

Had he been too harsh? Was Tartarus mad at him?

Thoughts swirled in his head, the fear of having broken the family further apart made him sick to his stomach.

The ding of a text brought Red back to the real world.

Unknown: “I understand. Thank you for your hospitality towards my boys. Your help will not be forgotten.”

His heart rate calmed down. He didn’t completely ruin a family, he could go to sleep with his soul in peace.

Slowly, the driver went back to his bedroom but not before checking on the two sons of the hero, making sure they were doing okay, before actually retreating to his room.

When Red eventually woke up, it wasn’t because of his alarm clock. In fact, his alarm had been turned off.

Slowly, Reddoons walked to his living room, still groggy and confused.

Fortunately while he was asleep no one had barged in his apartment. 

The two boys had already left his house, on his table a small gift box immediately grabbed his attention.

Red slowly walked closer, taking the black box in his hands.

Another gift he had to add to the list.

Slowly, the driver opened it and found.. a phone?

He stopped in his tracks.

A phone. A brand new phone of the latest generation.

The card in the box read:

“A thank you gift for last night. Inside, you can find a few important contacts you’ll definitely need.

                                                                                             - Tartarus”

Red slowly put down the gift, running a hand through his hair.

He stared at the phone like it was something crafted by an alien.

He knew he shouldn’t have this, he knew he shouldn’t accept the gift, all of this would just throw him further in the mess he did not want to be part of.

Red stayed away from the gift all day, doing mindless tasks around the house like cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom or vacuuming the whole living room just to keep his head occupied.

But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t.

It was late in the evening when Reddoons finally took the decision to turn on the phone. He promised himself it would be just a peek, something quick.

It wasn’t, oh gods it really wasn’t.

He spent hours playing around with his new phone, installing new apps and moving his contacts from his older phone to his newer one.

While he figured out how the gift worked, he noticed quite a few contacts had already been saved on it.

Commander, Tartarus, Maker, Monarch, Prometheus, Atlas and many others he still hadn’t met had their numbers in his contacts.

If sold this phone would probably cause major problems and identity crises to the members of the Heroes headquarters and the community of the Villains.

A jolt of electricity went down Reddoons’ spine. He held so much power in his hands, it felt surreal.

The paranoia immediately hit him, not letting the driver enjoy even a bit of the happiness that had been gifted to him.

He wasn’t enough, he wasn’t what the heroes and villains needed.

Red knew it, everyone did, everyone had always doubted him.

And he listened to them, following their advice and mean comments.

His eyes fell on the photo that Atlas had accidentally pushed to the floor, on it Red stood with a proud grin while in his hands a bachelor degree of science, around him a few of his college friends cheered behind him.

His eyes traveled to the mirror attached to the wall next to him.

Red looked… different. In the photo, he had a more carefree look on his face, his chest was puffed out, proud of his achievements.

Now, he looked like he had aged at least 20 years from when the shot was taken, which was not true. From what he remembered, only five years had passed, and so much stuff had happened in between.

With a gentle hand, Reddoons carefully pushed the frame so it could face the surface of the table. He really did not want to think about all of the missed opportunities he had avoided all of his life.

Maybe all he needed right now was a simple ride around the city to clear his mind.

Just a simple ride.

Chapter Text

As Reddoons wandered around the illuminated streets of the city, his mind tried to block any bad thought that insisted on tormenting him while music softly played from the old radio of his toyota corolla.

Sometimes, his eyes fell on the small compartment on top of the radio where he used to keep his cigarettes. The phantom feeling of the paper wrapping of the tobacco stick currently haunted his lips, his eyes skipped past the smoke shops that were littered all over the city’s streets.

Red’s head slowly fell on the wheel, his mind was exhausted.

Slowly, he looked back up towards the red light and quickly determined that maybe driving in his disturbed state of mind was not the best option.

When the light turned green, Red opted to move towards the beach and go for a walk. He had always found peace at the seaside, it almost felt like his soul calmed down whenever his eyes locked with the relentless movement of the sea.

Reddoons parked in a not so full car park and after a couple minutes filled by long and deep breaths, he finally got out of the car and began walking to the beach.

Each step he took, his mind became quieter and quieter, making him feel empty. Empty of fear.

His steps brought him to a bench where another man was staring at the sea.

He had a small keychain that had the form of a 2d spyglass, the man kept nervously playing with it.

Red didn’t dare speak up, he didn’t want to scare the obviously nervous man away and worsen his already bad mood.

The driver stole a few glances towards the man, he had a simple black sweater on, on top of it Red could clearly see a necklace with a feather charm attached to it.

The man suddenly lifted his gaze from the sea and looked at Red, making him jump back slightly.

“Hello.”

The man spoke up, his voice was low and calm but Red could hear the faint strain of his vocal cords. It probably implied he had recently cried or he had been silent for a very long time.

“Hi.”

Reddoons replied, adding a small wave of his hand to his words.

The movement made the man smile nostalgically for a brief moment.

“Quite a cold night, isn’t it?”

Red muttered, making the man nod slowly.

They both looked back at the sea.

“Quite nostalgic too, it’s something in the air…”

The man replied, letting his words die in the soft wind that caressed their skin while setting his chin on top of his hand.

Red answered with a nod.

The silence that had settled between them was nice, but it didn’t last long.

“Do you also enjoy the sea?”

The man asked, clenching in his hand the keychain he was holding oh so dearly. 

“Yeah. I find it calming, the sound of the waves is like..”

“A constant lullaby?”

Red wouldn’t have described the hauntingly slow movement of the sea like a lullaby, he saw it more like an everlasting hymn at stability.

“What do you miss?”

The driver asked, finally relaxing his body.

“Sorry?”

The stranger replied, tilting slightly his head towards Red, confused.

“Well.. not a lot of people come to the sea at night, and when they do they do not usually talk with whoever they have near about the nostalgic air of the sea.”

He explained while the man hummed softly and looked back at the sea.

“I miss a relationship I had.”

Red pointed to the keychain.

“I suppose that’s something connected to that relationship?”

“You suppose correctly. It’s something I kept, even if the other person in the relationship wanted it back. To be honest, he wants a lot of things back that I refuse to give up.”

Red frowned softly, he almost saw himself in the man, selfishly keeping for himself something that had now disappeared.

“Don’t you feel.. guilty?”

“No.”

The reply was immediate, the stranger did not even think once before answering.

“Woah. Straightforward.”

Red commented, earning a small smirk by the man.

“How about you? Something you miss?”

“Yeah, but it’s not as heartbreaking as yours.”

He joked, now making the other chuckle.

They were getting somewhere.

“I miss what I gave up, all the trains I’ve missed…”

The words settled harshly on top of Red’s lungs, he shouldn’t have shared so much, he always overshared-

“That’s.. understandable. Sometimes life forces us to accept the choices we made, even if we consider them wrong.”

The stranger interrupted his swirling thoughts.

“I hate many of my choices too. I hate how much I hurt the people that were close to me.. but I do not repent it.”

Something in those words settled deep in Red’s mind, they attached themselves to his brain, he knew he was going to remember for the rest of his life this moment.

Now that Red looked more closely at the stranger he noticed how off he felt, how a dangerous and mysterious aura surrounded him.

Chills went down his spine, which was weird since Red had never felt that creeped out by anyone he had ever met, even super villains did not have that effect on him.

Suddenly, Reddoons’ phone dinged. A text from Tartarus appeared on his screen, he was asking him to reach the Heroes HQ because he needed a hand on something.

His eyes lifted and found the stranger staring at the phone, a small smile on his lips, like he was waiting for this exact moment.

Another chill ran down his spine.

“I guess this is where I take my leave. I’ve enjoyed our talk, stranger. I’m sure we will meet again soon.”

The man said, standing up from the bench and slightly stretching his upper body before walking away, not waiting for Red’s response.

Woah.

Okay well.. this certainly cleared up his mind. Now he had to go to the Heroes HQ to help Tartarus.

Red speed walked to his car, his mind now extremely clear and just preoccupied to quickly go to the HQ so Tartarus wouldn’t have to wait.

He entered his car and looked at the time. 

1:04

It seemed that the heroes struggled to sleep too.

The driver flicked on his old radio, and “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees began playing. The Italian radio host said something in his native language before letting the track play smoothly.

A smirk appeared on Red’s face, he liked the station, they did send quite some good songs.

He rushed through the streets, almost no one was awake at this hour so no usual traffic held Red back from reaching the HQ.

Once he arrived in front of the huge glass doors, two bodyguards ushered him inside where Tartarus was waiting for him. He looked like he had just woken up.

“Did you just wake up or are you pulling an all-nighter?” 

Red asked, adjusting his usual sunglasses so they sat more comfortably on top of his head.

“I was trying to sleep. But.. we encountered some problems in the dorms of the HQ, and I need your help to calm down the problem.”

The driver’s eyes widened, he was going to enter the dorms of the heroes? 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

He shyly asked, but his doubts were immediately cut short.

“Yes. You helped my boys, so I’m assuming you can also help a colleague of mine.”

Tartarus explained, grabbing Red’s arm and pulling him towards the dorms.

“Wait- Tartarus I am not a doctor! I haven’t studied anything regarding mental or physical health. I seriously cannot help you!”

He exclaimed, desperate for Tartarus to recognize his uselessness.

The hero shook his head.

“We don’t need a doctor, we need a human being. And you’re the best pick we have.”

“What?! Are you out of your mind? There’s so many heroes here you do not need a civilian like me.”

Tartarus halted a couple steps before a dark green door.

He turned around and stared at Red.

“What I need is someone not affiliated to the hero or villain world that I know won't run to the media after all of this is finished and has a little bit of empathy.”

Silence filled the hallway, the heroes had started to come out of their dorms, worried.

“Are you in or are you out?”

Tartarus asked, Red could see the desperation in his eyes. This was important, extremely important, on a personal and professional level.

“I’m in. Tell me what I’m working with.”

Tartarus let out a small sigh before bringing him in front of the dark green door.

“Icarus is inside. He’s been going through some.. hard times. A series of unfortunate events happened and now he is in a terrible mental condition, but he refuses to tell us anything.”

Red nodded slowly, looking at the door next to him carefully.

“I suppose you’ve already tried bringing doctors in, and they didn’t work.”

It was Tartarus’ turn to nod.

“He doesn’t talk to anybody. It’s like he’s scared we’re gonna tell his secrets to someone.”

Well that was weird. Icarus was supposed to feel safer next to his fellow heroes and the highly specialized doctors they had brought in.

Maybe he felt threatened?

“Have you had any problems with spies recently?”

Red asked, lowering his voice.

Tartarus looked around, making sure no one would hear them before leaning next to his ear.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this but.. Some workers have discovered that a lot of files, especially on Icarus, had been stolen.”

Red hummed softly, understanding now why Tartarus had brought him over.

“So you think he’s gonna spill his problems to me? Just because I don’t work here?”

“Listen, I’ve seriously tried everything with this guy and he just doesn’t break. You are my last shot.”

Now that wasn’t scary at all. 

The idea that the future of a hero was in his hands gave him a cold sweat.

Tartarus didn’t even prepare him mentally, he just showed Reddoons inside of the room and closed it.

Reed stumbled inside, avoiding falling just out of pure luck.

Immediately an intense floral scent filled his nostrils, almost making him cough.

The room he was in looked gorgeous. It had a dark yet vibrant atmosphere, the walls were painted a forest green. The room was decorated with various plants and flowers sprouting from pots that had been attached to the ceiling with some ropes.

Icarus was nestled up on his bed, trying to make himself look smaller by burying his body in a corner of the dorm.

“Hello, I’m Reddoons.”

Red greeted, still looking around.

He noticed many flower bouquets that had probably been gifted to the hero, maybe too many of them. It looked like the work of an obsessed person.

“You work here?”

Icarus spoke up, still nestled against the corner.

“No, I’m a taxi driver that Tartarus has been tormenting.”

He explained, not getting closer to the hero and giving him space.

Icarus relaxed more after his words.

“You’re the one helping him out with his kids?”

“Exactly.”

That’s where their conversation ended.

Red still looked around himself, the bouquets looked pretty fucked up. He would bet his car that Icarus had been throwing the gifts around his room non stop, trying to crush the flowers without throwing them out.

The bouquets consisted of purple hyacinths and a single black dahlia in the center of the flower composition.

Red slowly reached for one of the bouquets and Icarus’ eyes snapped towards him. The hero didn’t say anything, but he visibly tensed at the sight in front of him.

“You don’t like these, do you?”

The driver softly asked, waiting for an answer that never came from Icarus.

When he attempted to throw the bouquet in the nearest bin, the hero worriedly stopped him.

“Stop! If you throw them he’ll send even more.”

Icarus' frightened body had moved closer to Red, he was now standing a few feet from the driver.

Slowly, Reddoons settled the bouquet on the floor, keeping his hands visible.

“Okay.. Do you know who's been sending you these bouquets?”

Icarus shook his head, he had never seen a hero in such disheveled state.

“Have you told the others? Maybe they could help you figure out who-”

“I don’t need help! I can do this on my own!!”

Icarus harshly interrupted him, his fear turning into anger.

“I’ll take down whoever has been doing this! Alone, with no help! I don’t need the others, and I am going to make sure he knows this too.”

The hero hissed, his eyes sparkling with a dangerous determination that sent shivers down his spine.

Just like what happened with the stranger on the beach.

Both had this innate determination, each against their own problems, that made Red deeply scared of them.

He took a step back, giving Icarus some space to breathe comfortably.

Something inside of him insisted that Icarus knew, at least to an extent, who had been sending all of these gifts.

“Do you know who’s been sending the bouquets, Icarus?”

Red asked again, staring at the hero’s eyes with deeper seriousness now.

Icarus stilled for a moment and bit harshly on his lower lip, seemingly trying to keep in the truth.

The hero suddenly got up and strode towards his wardrobe, opening it and revealing thousands of sticky notes and pictures attached to the doors of the wooden object.

“I have some leads.”

Icarus admitted, before slowly closing the doors of the wardrobe.

“Please don’t tell anyone. I don’t trust them.”

He asked, his voice low.

Red remained stunned for a couple of seconds, he didn’t know how to react to something like this.

“I’m not. I can’t interfere in your work and relationship with the other heroes. But I know for sure that once this gets out you’ll have to go through a tough time.”

Tartarus and the other heroes were not going to take this lightly, after all Icarus was going against the rules and doing something behind everyone’s back.

“I know, but it’s worth the trouble.”

“What are you gonna do once you find him? And how are you so sure it’s a man?”

Red asked and watched as Icarus grabbed one of the bouquets, while making a disgusted face, and threw it at him.

“It smells like cologne. It’s light, but it is meant to be recognised.”

The hero explained while pointing at a couple of cologne bottles he had messily stacked up on his desk.

“Those four are the ones he had used the most lately, they’re all from different brands.. I’m starting to not understand him anymore.”

Icarus muttered, running a nervous hand through the small feathers located right behind his ears.

They were colourful, light green, red and blue mixed together to create a beautiful sight.

Red moved closer to the bottles, reaching for his phone before stopping.

“Uhm.. Icarus, do you mind if I take a picture of the bottles?”

The hero shrugged his shoulders, motioning at him to do so if he wished.

Red quickly took a couple of pictures of every angle of each of the bottles.

“How did you get these bottles?”

The driver asked, something was wrong. He had a bad feeling about this whole situation, was Icarus following a fake lead?

“I just bought them online and got them shipped to the HQ? A lot of heroes do the same thing.”

Red hummed, he would ask Tartarus later to show him where the packages were delivered.

Him and the hero chatted a bit about possible leads and when all of this began.

Icarus explained how a few months after the death of his hero partner Eurus he began to find bouquets in front of his room, in the beginning they were vivid flowers, snapdragons, sunflowers and orchids. With time the bouquets became darker, before settling to the usual combination of purple hyacinths and black dahlias.

Icarus also mentioned that every time he discarded one of the bouquets in the bin the following days he would find the double of the flowers on his desk and around the HQ.

The flowers always looked fresh and the bouquets were supplied by the best florist in the city.

“Bro I’m not even joking, that shop is capable of charging a single small bouquet of flowers up to a hundred dollars.”

“Maybe whoever is giving you these flowers works there?”

The hero shook his head, his feathers shifting in annoyance.

“I already checked every one of the workers and their families and friends. I found nothing.”

This confirmed it was a client with too much money in his pocket.

Not many people could afford to buy such expensive items, especially in large quantities. 

“It’s definitely someone important.”

Icarus mumbled, the mood in the room plummeted. Important people were the worse ones when it came to stalking - because this was definitely stalking - since they had more connections and possibilities compared to normal civilians.

Their sour mood was interrupted by someone knocking at Icarus’ door.

Tartarus peeked inside, behind him Monarch loudly whined to be let in too.

“You two alright?”

The hero asked, still keeping the door slightly open.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we?”

Icarus muttered, confused, while Red just gave a single thumb up.

“Well.. you’ve been in here for almost four hours.”

Oh. Well they didn’t really notice the time passing so quickly.

Red looked at his watch, 4:39, he looked back up at Tartarus.

“I should really go home. I’m not working tomorrow.”

He said, the others nodded in agreement. Red had helped them enough, he definitely deserved to have a good sleep.

Quickly, Reddoons and Icarus bid their goodbyes, and the driver followed Tartarus to the lobby.

“Tartarus, I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Who’s permitted to deliver the boxes to the Heroes’ mail lockets?”

The hero replied with a confused glare.

“Everyone that goes through the controls scan, why?”

Red didn’t respond, that was the reply he needed.

On their way to the lobby they bumped into a couple of heroes, everyone greeted them naturally but only one stood out to Red.

Mantis. She wasn’t considered one of the top heroes, but she was known for her work in the spying field, having a whole squad assigned to her that especially worked in infiltrations in villains and criminals’ lairs and plans.

The hero had just arrived back to the HQ after a long patrol, she had a weird smell on her.. was it bubblegum? Or even.. cucumbers?

She didn’t say anything once she saw Red, she kept her head low and speed walked to the nearest room.

After that encounter Red said goodbye to Tartarus and went back to his apartment and surprisingly, no villain had broken in while he had been gone. Maybe the sign outside his window that explicitly said that no villain was welcomed in his apartment really worked.