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.