No Matter The Cost - Tumblr Posts

Well ladies and gents… I messed up the ask thing again. The request was from @frenchfries893 , and they asked for a phys!cally @bused hero (courtesy of a mentor character,) and a villain finding out and becoming their caretaker… sorry if I missed anything!

No Matter the Cost

TW: death, past murder, blood, implied abuse

~~

They were shaking so badly, their breaths ragged, near heaving. Villain took another small step into the alley, hands out to gesture they meant no harm. Not like it really helped.

Hero was so frightened…

They had to help them. No matter what the others would think. They couldn’t leave them alone to die, not like this. And where was Superhero? It wasn’t like them to leave Hero alone for too long, or at all, really. The hero glanced to their left. And Villain involuntarily looked too.

Barely visible in the dark lay Superhero’s lifeless, crumpled corpse. The dumpster behind the them had partially caved in, they could only guess Superhero had been thrown into it. Hero took a limping step between them and Superhero. One hand became a fist. The other, latched to their shoulder.

They couldn’t leave them here, there was no doubt about it now. Villain took another step closer, then another, until they were just out of Hero’s reach. Villain lunged, wrapping their arms around Hero. The teen flinched. They thrashed, jerked, pushed—fought against their grip. But Villain wasn’t letting them go.

And slowly their attacks ceased, until Hero became a mess of tears and hiccups and blood in their arms.

“Why are you doing this?“ They were broken, quite literally beaten. They needed someone to distract them. To keep them away from… this. Hero was just a kid. They shouldn’t have to see these kinds of things. But then again, they had already seen so much because of Superhero. They had been through so much because of Superhero. And when Villain found out about Superhero’s ‘training’ sessions with Hero, they decided enough was enough.

Hero’s cries quieted as they began to drift off in the villain’s arms. And once they knew Hero was asleep, they picked them up and carried them out of the alley without so much as another sound. Villain promised themselves they would get Hero out of Superhero's grasp, whatever it would take. And they had. Superhero was dead, and Hero would never find out which of their people did it.

Villain looked down at Hero’s too skinny frame once again. They spotted the red stain on Hero’s suit, suddenly remembering where it came from.

They ran a little faster.

Part 2

Can you do a continuation of my ask about the phys!cally @bused hero?

No Matter the Cost, Pt. 2

I gotchu! @stopstealingtomatoes

Part 1

Tw: description of wounds, knife, blood, accidental violence (marked as violence in the tags)

~~

Two cracked ribs. One fractured vertebrae. A dislocated ankle. A stab wound to the shoulder. All fresh, and the only one that had come from the fight was when the kid jumped in front of the knife to try and save their mentor. Hero was asleep, but Villain doubted they would stay that way if they started working on patching up Hero’s wounds. They needed sleep, evident by the dark circles under their eyes, but Villain needed to patch those wounds, and soon. Sleep wouldn’t help Hero if they bled out or died from an infection.

“Hero? Hero, wake up.” Villain reached for Hero’s uninjured shoulder, shaking them slowly. The kid’s eyes snapped open in an instant, their entire body going rigid when their eyes met Villain’s. “Hero, hey, you’re safe here. You’re okay.” They recoiled from Villain’s touch, but still stayed on the table. They weren’t running, which Villain perceived as miracle in itself. The kid looked around with wide eyes, no doubt taking in every detail of the place they could.

“You’re at my base Hero. You needed medical treatment, and I didn’t want to leave you where I found you after um… all that. This was the best option.” Hero took in a sharp breath. Tears formed in Hero’s eyes as they murmured the superhero’s name. They tried to sit up, but collapsed against the table with a whimper. Villain watched the irregular rise and fall of their chest speed up with a grimace. It must hurt when Hero took a breath.

“Look kid, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now.” They placed a hand on Hero’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. To Hero’s credit, they didn’t shy away again. “I need you to stay still so I can get you somewhere to rest. Can you do that for me?” Hero nodded and squeezed their eyes closed. Villain picked up the hero, only for them to start squirming.

“Hey! What- let me go! I can walk!”

“Not on that ankle you can’t. It’ll have to be popped back into place before you walk anywhere.” Villain shushed their continued protests until Hero finally fell completely silent. That was, until the hero suddenly tensed in Villain’s arms. “Is… is that-”

“Villain…” Supervillain strolled down the hall towards them, looking not at the villain, but towards the hero. “I have a few plans to discuss with you. But first, why is Hero here?”

“Supervillain, I’ll explain everything in a minute. Could you get Healer for me, while I get them situated?” Supervillain— albeit confused— nodded to the other and watched as Villain carried Hero past them and stopped at the door of a small guest room.

Villain looked around at the room- just a bed and a small table off to the side. They brought Hero in the room and carefully set them on the bed. Villain moved to the table and grabbed the first aid kit. They reached in and pulled out a cold pack, holding it out to Hero.

Hero swatted the hand away, pulling themselves up to a sitting position and swinging their legs over the side of the bed before Villain could stop them.

"Hero lay down, you need to-"

"No."

"No?"

"I need to get back to them. I can't leave Superhero." They slid off the bed, failing to hide a hiss from the criminal.

“Superhero is gone, Hero. There’s nothing you can do.” They started softly. But when Hero didn’t stop, Villain stepped in front of them and tried again. “Hero, they’re dead. Now lay back down. You’re going to hurt yourself even more.”

Hero didn’t budge.

“Please let me go.” They whispered. But Villain didn’t move. “Please… Please let me go. You- you don’t know what they’re capable of. Please-

“Hey. Look at me.” Villain set a firm hand on Hero’s shoulder, and Hero looked up, eyes wide, jaw trembling, the poor thing was still afraid of-

Hero punched them square in the jaw.

Stars exploded in their vision. They barely heard the terrified apologies and questions of concern spewing from Hero’s lips as Villain stumbled back into a wall. A figure slipped past them into the room, Hero suddenly crying out in agony.

Villain honed in on the supervillain standing over the hero laying at their feet, curled up so tightly Villain couldn’t see their face. “Supervillain don’t hurt them! It was an accident!” Supervillain turned to look at Villain, their normal mask of indifference gone, replaced by something the villain couldn’t comprehend.

“Get Healer.” Villain didn’t know how they’d suddenly gotten beside the two, but they really didn’t care at this moment.

“All I did was touch them…” Supervillain gestured to the trembling human ball of limbs with a bloodied hand before turning back to Villain. “Tell me the person responsible for turning Hero into this is dead.”

Taglist: @valiantlytransparentwhispers