Chapter Text
Scott was possibly Joel’s worst enemy. Worse than Vampire, even! Because nobody would give him shit for hating a literal villain, but if he said he hated some random regular? It made people look at him like he was the bad guy.
That smug jerk!
Joel grumbled and continued storming down the sidewalk.
It was fine! He was going to hang out with The Bad Boys at Jim’s place. They were gonna get pizza and watch a movie or something. He was too tired to really remember. Too bad his motorcycle was getting repaired at the time, but walking wasn’t the worst in the world.
Work was long that day. Something about it was so draining. Maybe it was that nobody was annoyed that day for some reason. Even Avid wasn’t annoyed when Scott came in today, which was weird, so there was a whole lot of nothing to supply his powers. The only one annoyed was Joel, and that didn’t feed him.
Grian would probably mess with Jimmy, and if the one fronting wasn’t someone that would annoy Jim, he could just do it himself.
Joel was so deep in thought he didn’t notice the person walking across from him and he ran directly into them.
The woman screamed before turning to look at Joel with a paled expression.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” She panicked. She had a hood over her face, so he couldn’t see her eyes, but she was clearly stressed out for some reason. She pushed dark brown hair, which was littered with light blue flowers, away from her mouth and cautiously held out a hand to try to help him up. “I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry…”
“It’s fine,” Joel was a little weirded out, but maybe the lady had anxiety? “It was probably my fault, anyway.”
“No, you, uh,” She bit her lip and checked her pockets. “Nevermind. Do you have any jewelry on you?”
“Just my wedding ring,” Joel squinted suspiciously. What was she on about?
“I wouldn’t do that to your wedding ring,” She got further stressed. “Um, okay, stay calm!” She smoothed out her hair and prepped to run, bouncing on her feet. “Don’t. Move. Don’t do anything! Stay here! Try not to feel things too strongly, I’ll fix this!”
She kept bouncing on her feet, clearly waiting for him to acknowledge her command.
“Sure,” Joel said after it was obvious she wouldn’t give up until he agreed.
“I’ll be right back,” The woman took off running. “I promise!”
Joel waited for her to turn the corner to continue on his way to Jim’s place. You’d have to be crazy to wait for something like that. He didn’t know her! Something about the interaction just felt… wrong. He didn’t feel like taking that risk today.
He suddenly tripped over a rock and found himself falling to the ground. He let out a yelp and held out his hands to catch himself, squeezing his eyes shut, bracing for impact.
It was coming later than he thought.
He opened his eyes and found he wasn’t on the dark street anymore. Vibrant colors, rainbows, and cutesy things surrounded him as he continued bulleting towards the ground. His eyes burned, the bright shades making his irises feel dry. He cursed under his breath and aimed himself at a tree.
He hissed in pain as a branch slammed into his hip. He grabbed onto the rough bark, kicking his legs to keep himself balanced under the shoulders, and looked down.
It was still much too high to simply drop down; his vision was spinning with the height. He swallowed the dread and anxiety and let go, timing a jump right before he touched the floor.
He felt the very last bit of his battery drain as he landed on the ground with no pain. He felt a slight touch of full fatigue chew on his regular energy levels, a wave of hunger washing through him. That sucked. He needed to be at full strength to get out of whatever this was, and he was running on less than empty.
He straightened and dusted off his… vigilante suit?!
Why was he wearing his Hat Trick outfit?! He hadn’t even had it on him when he was going to Jim’s!
This had to be a coma or something of the sort. Surely, he had hit his head on the concrete and was unconscious right then. That had to be what was happening. But then why would he still feel so awful? Why would hitting that tree hurt so bad? Pinching his arm only led to one more pebble of pain in the quarry.
He redirected, pulling out his phone only to find it had completely broken, and some of the glass was certainly stuck in his leg if the blood and missing pieces of the screen were any indication.
He looked around for a place to sit down to catch his breath and hopefully remove the foreign objects from his thigh. His breath hitched as he took in his surroundings.
The ground was entirely coated in moss and pastel flowers, the trees were prismatic, there were rainbows everywhere, the sky was pink, the rocks iridescent. The entire place was wildly overstimulating and bizarre. His Hat Trick outfit blended right in.
This place was a twelve year old girl’s dream come true, and a fourteen year old girl’s worst nightmare. He wouldn’t be shocked if a unicorn burst from the roots and trotted right past him.
Nothing about this place was normal.
Something in the back of Joel’s mind told him that this place was safe, normal. He didn’t listen to it. Something about this was very wrong. It felt like the world was crumbling and he had fallen through the cracks.
He looked up from where he had fallen, hoping to find some sort of indicator of a portal– any sort of disturbance that could have been his entrance.
The bubblegum skies offered no hints to his arrival. Not a single disturbance. The only indication of his tumble was a few stray branches and leaves on the ground where he had landed.
The adrenaline wore off and suddenly the pain hit full force. His hip was in agony, both from slamming full force onto a tree and from the shards of glass embedded within, his head sort of hurt, and he was exhausted in all possible ways.
If this was meant to be wonderland, he did NOT want to see hell.
He wasn’t sure why the name ‘wonderland’ came to his mind. It was strange, and he was sure he didn’t like it.
His eyes finally landed on a cottage covered in hearts and rainbows that he could have sworn wasn’t there before.
Everything was weird, unsettling, and it made Joel want to cry a little bit because he was so fucking tired.
He swallowed any sort of apprehension and walked to the stupid house.
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Scott was most certainly jealous, and Avid was delighted that he had been able to rub that in Scott’s stupid face. Sure, he did have to claim that he and Vampire were full on dating, but it was probably fine! He would ask Vampire if they could be boyfriends next time they met. He was clearly just as interested as Avid was, which was actually a dream come true.
Who knew that he just had to be Avid for Vampire to like him?!
Avid was possibly the most delighted he had been in years. He was downright elated. He just had to make sure that Vampire didn’t find out that Avid knew him already.
He’d known Vampire for ages, as Hunter, at least. He knew Vampire’s favorite fruit based on what ones he grabbed when robbing stores. He knew his music tastes. He knew his fashion sense. He knew that Vampire was a gold jewelry kind of guy. He knew that he didn’t like feeling cornered. He knew he loved to run when the air was clear, and teleported more when it was foggy. He knew his favorite colors. He knew his laugh. He knew everything except what would reveal his identity.
Vampire couldn’t know that he knew him. It would make him seem like a stalker!
Well, maybe he was, in a way.
It didn’t matter! Vampire knew his name was Avid! So maybe they knew each other as civilians…? That was a scary but exciting thought. To think he might know Vampire in his most vulnerable identity. To think that maybe they’d be able to reveal their identities–
He needed to stop daydreaming. Stay in the present, Avid! He snapped himself out of it. Their relationship would play out! He just had to lean back and wait. He couldn’t just charge in head first like he had yesterday– as much as he wanted to run into Vampire’s arms and tell him everything. About how he was Hunter, about his hopes and fears, about–
He seriously had to stop daydreaming.
He took a deep breath, grabbing his coat and walking out of his apartment to the store.
He was going to stock up on some of Vampire’s favorite drinks and snacks.
It wasn’t creepy!
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If Owen was going to pull this off, the doctor needed to believe that his plans to ‘fix’ Owen were working. Owen needed to act only slightly warmer to the doc, convincing him that his plan was working.
He wasn’t exactly sure how to do that though.
He settled on approaching Legundo first and acting the exact same. Surely, the doctor would take Owen approaching first as improvement. Surely.
There were other benefits than stealing someone so useful, so rare. He needed to take him before some other villain group, or worse, those horrible, careless heroes found out about his secret.
Not only did he have one of the most valuable traits, the mixture recipe actually worked quite well. It was shockingly soothing, Owen couldn’t lie.
What other secrets could the doctor be hiding?
Owen was determined to find out.
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Owen was probably warming up to Legundo. Just slightly.
He had approached him first for once. That was progress.
“Are you ever not working, doctor?” Owen snarled. He was likely trying to keep his reputation as venomous.
“I take Thursdays and Mondays off,” Legundo responded cooly, feigning ignorance to Owen’s genuine curiosity. “I like to take weekends, a lot of people get hurt or sick then.”
“Hm,” Owen nodded, still glaring. “Interesting.”
“Do you need something, Owen?” Legundo inquired.
“No,” Owen turned and immediately walked off.
Damn it.
All that had done was remind Owen what he was doing and scared him off.
Until next time.
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Drift had a really long day at work and she was about ready to go home. She had tomorrow off, so she was ready to leave that office ASAP.
Unfortunately for her, she was going to have to do a few minutes of overtime.
“Seriously?” She groaned as she typed on her computer, sighing at the notice. “The Scarlet Witch has a possible rogue alert?”
She wanted to go home, but calling someone in to go check it out was necessary.
But first, she needed to see which heroes and bounty hunters were marked as clocked in to pick the best fit. Not everyone was suited to go against a witch.
Thank the stars, Thorns was marked as online.
Thorns was the top pick for witch alerts, as his powers allowed him to catch and reflect abilities. They weren’t 100% certain it would work for everything, but it hadn’t failed him yet, and he had reassured them many times he wouldn’t be mad if he was cursed, so he was quickly deemed their go-to witch call.
He wasn’t directly in-network for her specific branch, so it took a little extra effort to connect to his comm, but she managed.
“Well hello there!” Thorns’ voice cheerfully rang from her headpiece. “What’s going on?”
“Hey, Thorns,” Drift couldn’t help but smile. Thorns was a kind soul, always happy to be helpful. His cheerful nature made people let their guard down anyway, along with his cat costume. He was a perfect balance of strength and being unassuming. “We’ve got a possible defecting from Scarlet Witch, could you check that out?”
“Sure!” Thorns chirped from the other end. “Just send me the coords and I’ll be on my way!”
“Sending them over,” Drift pushed away from her desk slightly. “Would you mind reporting your findings via the app when you’re done? I want to head home.”
“Of course, of course!” Thorns spoke so enthusiastically it was almost hard to believe. “You head on home and rest! I’ll take care of everything for you!”
“Thank you,” Drift started to gather her things, making sure to stay logged in enough to finish the call. “You’re an angel.”
“Oh, stop,” Thorns laughed. “Bye-bye now!” The comm went silent and Drift quickly logged out of everything and clocked out as she packed up her things.
It felt good to be walking out of her office and down the hallway. She was grateful it was close to the exit. She waved at passing heroes as she walked out.
“Oh!” A familiar voice called from behind her. One she hadn’t heard in a while. “Hi, Drift!”
“Double-0!” Drift smiled as she turned around. He hadn’t been here in a long time. She suddenly furrowed her brows in confusion and concern. Double-0 was only called in for drastic plans, as his powers were very strong, but also very draining. In addition, being in the radius of his powers stole anyone else’s power batteries as well. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry!” He beamed as he spoke. His smile was infectious, such a big smile with such wide eyes should be impossible. “They’re just bringing me here for the party!”
“Oh, right!” Drift smiled. “The party! How could I forget!”
“Before I forget, I’ll let you know before your bosses do at the last minute– you know how they are…” Double-0 leaned in as if he were sharing some big secret. “It’s not actually a small party. They’re calling in a lot of people. Hoping to use this new person’s power. They can detect curses and witch magic. Cool stuff! I don’t know what they’re trying to get out of it, probably checking everyone for stray curses, make sure everyone has a curse ward.”
“Well, that’s not a bad idea,” Drift nodded. “I’m sure there are people that have no clue they’re cursed– maybe that’s why they ordered so many durable necklaces, they’re going to have one of the good witches make the wards for anyone who didn’t know!”
“THAT’S SMART!” Double-0 shouted before looking a little embarrassed at the volume. “Oh, that’s going to be helpful, actually.”
“I know, right?” Drift slung her bag to be more comfortable. Double-0 was giving her some actually useful information instead of coworker smalltalk, so she didn’t mind staying a little longer. “At first I thought it was useless– like– I feel like we’d know if we had a witch working undercover as a hero, right?”
“It would be a little silly of them to try that,” Double-0 laughed a little. “That would be a real stupid idea.”
“It certainly wouldn’t be too smart,” Drift giggled.
“Well I won’t keep you here too long!” Double-0 grinned again. “Go ahead and have a nice night! I’m going up to the top floor for my meeting!”
“Have a good night, Double-0!” Drift smiled back as she turned and walked out the door.
The cold night air hit her face and she sighed contentedly. Fresh wind through her hair and in her lungs felt amazing after sitting in an office most of the day. The sidewalk made such satisfying clicks as she walked down the path.
She didn’t want to go all the way home tonight, she decided, her legs ached. She picked up her phone and rang Shelby.
“Drift!” Shelby picked up almost immediately. “It’s been forever! How have you been? Do you need anything?”
“Hi Shelby!” Drift smiled, despite knowing Shelby wouldn’t be able to see it. “So sorry, but do you mind if I come over to yours tonight? I know it’s short notice and out of the blue, but your place is closer than my apartment.”
“For sure!” Shelby squealed on the other end. “I'll get us popcorn, we can make it a movie night! Ohhhhh we’re gonna have such a fun night!”
“See you in a bit then,” Drift took a deep sigh of relief. She really didn’t want to walk up all those stairs. Shelby was friends with some rich person that they were super cagey about. They helped her buy their very own house. It was a nice one, too. And Drift wouldn’t have to go up all those stairs or go up that horrible screeching elevator that smelled like vape all the time. “Thank you so much.”
“See you soon!” Shelby hung up quickly, most likely too excited to start setting up. It wasn’t worth it to call back if she needed anything at this point, as Shelby was prone to silencing their phone during gatherings.
Now Drift just had to call Avid and make sure he knew that she was fine. She typed up his number and was surprised when he answered just as swiftly as Shelby had.
“Hi Drift!” Avid was shockingly chipper, or maybe nervous? He was loud. “What’s going on? Do you need help?”
“I’m fine, Avid!” Drift quickly reassured him. Maybe just cold calling people wasn’t the greatest of ideas. “I’m just calling to let you know that I’m staying over at a friend’s house tonight.”
“Oh,” Avid audibly relaxed. “Okay! Um, have fun! See you tomorrow– maybe– bye!”
“Bye, Avid,” Drift smiled. “Have a good night.”
She ended the call and shoved it into her back pocket, rubbing her temple with her free hand. She was done with phone calls for the next several hours. She was ready to go to Shelby’s house and forget that phones existed for a good long while before she could feel normal again.
It wasn’t like anything crazy was happening, and it wasn’t like Shelby and/or Drift would be desperately needed any time soon.
Drift didn’t have to worry about anything.
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Marmalade’s face fell when she rounded the corner, holding the cheap necklace she bought from some store in the nearby mall, only to find the man she had accidentally cursed nowhere in sight.
She couldn’t help but let out a sound of frustration as she crumbled against the wall. She had the worst day ever and this was just the cherry on top. First, she and her tiny makeshift coven had to vacate their base of operation because the abandoned building they were in was being torn down. Then, she spilled soup on her dress, which wasn’t the end of the world but it was still annoying…
And then there was the worst of it. Some villain had approached her and said he knew she was a witch, which was terrifying! She hadn’t even been able to hear whatever threats he must have had because she had NEVER run as fast as she did as soon as she heard the word ‘witch’ leave his mouth. She had run until her lungs burned, only to find she had likely long left him behind.
And after all that, right before she could thank her lucky stars, she ran straight into some poor, unassuming random civilian and went and cursed him in her panic.
And, of course, the final blow, she couldn’t fix her mistake because the man was gone. There was an innocent man walking around having no clue he had been cursed.
How long would it take for him to find out? Would she ever see him again? Would he vouch for her? No way. No one but witches and Musithical would ever speak positively of witches– and even then they couldn’t truly speak their minds without risk of capture.
So much had happened today and just about all of it sucked.
When would she ever get answers to what happened to these people?