The Darkness in the Light

[King]

∅ DAMON STOKER ∅

The coffee was sat on the table, Damon picked it up and collected his stuff to leave. He'd probably hit the gym before calling it a day. When Zaden mumbled about having no money and wanting to do it tonight, Damon begun to get suspicious. Why was he was different? Damon dismissed it as he stood up, drinking his hot coffee. "10PM, Hotel Rouge. If the thing isn't ablaze then, then you don't get your smokes." Damon sighed, he'd buy Zaden whatever he needed, he knew that Zaden was nearly always broke.

"I'm hitting the gym, I'll meet you later, okay?" Damon kept calm, putting on his sunglasses and leaving quickly. He was a little pissed off at Zaden, but after a gym visit, hopefully he'd be prepared for tonight.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

It had been a relatively easy start back home when he got off from work, and given the mood he was in, he did need just that: relaxation and calm. The paper he worked on, the offices, had been completely chaotic in reporting on some politician who had had an affair: pure gold if they could get photographs and put together a story for tomorrow before the other newspapers in the area, and with August being sent to draft the story with another journalist, it had been hectic trying to piece together the evidence and fill a two page spread.

And so, once managing to do it with only sacrificing an hour of his time, he arrived home at six with pizzas in hand and a few cans of soda - he himself never did have the taste for any alcohol stronger than shandy, but right now, soda could cut it. For four hours, he didn't really do anything but sit in front of the TV and relax, only moving really to have a shower and clean up. That was, until, he had to sit forward abruptly with a stirring feeling in his gut. The benefit of his power, control of the elements, was that if something was happening involving them, he tended to know. If an earthquake was bound to occur, he would know beforehand, likewise with a hurricane, or a flood, or forest fire. None of which he had really had to detect before beside a mini tornado a few miles away, or fires in buildings, but he could detect them before they happened if need be - but right now, it was the more volatile of his elements, fire, that was causing him a weary feeling in his gut. He had detected fires before, but nothing of the magnitude that was causing him to grow a little pale. "Hey, Leon? We should check something out," he murmured quietly to the blonde, already on his feet and reaching for the hooded jacket he usually wore when out on the 'superhero' duty. He couldn't wear it out normally, or people would twig that he was Enigma. "In a superhero sort of context. I think there's a fire nearby."

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

There was always something so... calming about fire that made even sadistic thugs like Zaden just sit quietly and stare, and that was what the boy was currently up to - sitting on a closed dumpster opposite the burning hotel in his full mask and hoodie, waiting for Damon to make an appearance. It was ten past ten at this point, but he didn't particularly care. Right now, he was somewhat consumed with conflicting emotions: once setting the fire, that instinct in him, the lust for violence and crime had kicked in, and he was revelling in the thought of murder by that point.

He did look the part, in his mask, and with a knife in his pocket and baseball bat in hand, he did have a desire to hurt someone that night. Except, the other emotion in him did seem to want to prevent Leon from pain. He felt crappy enough having to ignore texting him, so knowing he would inevitably turn up, come face to face with him and Damon expecting Zaden to kill without hesitation was hard.

But he didn't plan on doing that. Enigma? He had no such reservations for, but for Leon -or Lux-, he did decide that he would have him safe, however hard that would be.

​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LUX ♥

As soon as August appeared with the pizza, Leon lit up, not literally. Zaden hadn't texted back and Leon had given up checking. He was neck deep in a sci-fi novel, picking out the flaws in the science. But pizza was always flawless. He jumped at the box and brought it to sit on his lap as he leaned against the couch. He only got through one slice when August switched into Enigma-mode.

"Okay." Leon stood up, always trusting August's judgement. He must of looked like a right twat as he began to stretch out a little. He was certainly not as strong as August, so he had to make sure he was as agile as he could get. Once Enigma had his hood on, Leon nodded. "Ready?" He asked before turning to the TV, sucking up the energy. He took all the light from the apartment until he was a yellow-white glowing man, his eyes a neon white. The light could charge so he could fly a little. Nothing like a bird, but it made him levitate to move faster.

Lux stayed close to Enigma on the street, following him closely to make sure nobody could see his face. Once they made it to the flames, Lux stood still, "Oh wow." It was a lot of fire energy. "I can try to take the light energy, but it do no stop the damage." Lux shouted over the sound of engines and screams around him. This looked like something Enigma would have to deal with whilst Lux protected him.

∅ DAMON DECEPTION ∅

Watching the fire blaze in front of his white mask, Damon made his way towards the dumpster, spotting another masked figure sitting on it. He was still in a black shirt and pants as he carried a bloody baseball bat. Damon did very little actual fighting, his illusions caused all the chaos. But, the bat was just in case.

To calm his nerves, Damon had downed two things of whiskey before heading out. It had made him more rowdy than usual. So when he was close, Damon flash-stepped right to the side of Zaden, greeting him with a loud shout before laughing at the shock, "Got-ya." He grinned, even though it wasn't recognizable behind the mask.
"Good job." He nodded towards to flames, "But watch this." Damon used one hand to pull at the flames, creating the illusion of a large snake made of the fire, which his sent slippering towards the traffic. It caused people to fly backwards into other cars, creating even more chaos. This, this is why he did it.

Before he could get too carried away with his flame snake, Damon caught a bright light out of the corner of his eye, "Oh, like flies around a streetlamp."​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]
​

"Look, I'll sort it. You just... protect my back, okay? But if you see any way in helping with the fire, go for it," he grinned quietly, ducking his head just a little more as he left Leon to his own devices. Normally he would try to stick close, but given a fire of this calibre, he did have no choice but to head forward and help - mostly by drawing upon the element of water.

Though before he stood a chance at using it to help calm the raging fire, Damon's illusion drew his attention from helping, like it had with the public services whose shouts and screams stirred out bravery in August who moved closer despite the sheer size and danger surrounding the illusionary serpent. There was no way that could be real. Despite that whispering to himself, he still found himself rooted wearily to the spot, hardly acting like a superhero at the current moment. He dealt with criminals, lowly thugs... not a fire snake four times his size.

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

"Fucking hell, dude! D-Don't do that!" He snapped, rolling his eyes beneath his mask as he lightly punched his shoulder, before simply moving to stare over at the heroes that had arrived, his eyes glued on Leon as was probably expected. It was a good thing he had a mask, however ominous it was - it prevented the small smile he had at seeing Leon -or Lux as he ought to call him right now- from being soon.

"Yeah, so they came, as we expected. Can we go kill 'em now?" He sighed, the light tone to his voice at least connoting that he did find it fun. It was everything that he loved, all rolled into one. He'd set fire to a building, and was looking forward to seeing Enigma dead, at least. And he could save Leon and still meet up with him tomorrow, if he wanted. He still had to figure out how to save him, but he would. "You can go get Enigma if you want, I'll settle with the torch-boy."​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LUX ♥

"I got it." Leon nodded, his eyes glowing whiter than the rest of his luminous body. He looked around and sent some light to the broken streetlamps to lead Enigma's way before jogging over to the car-crash. On his way, a giant, fiery snake took to the streets. Leon dodged out of its way. How was that possible? Leon ran quicker over to the car crash, hopefully he could pull some people from there. He flickered to thermal vision, only to see everything was red. Bad idea.

Instead, he went to X-ray cam, spotting the skeletons of people. Especially some of small people in the back of a car. Leon quickly made his way over to the crunched up car. "Are you alive?" He shouted down at the broken car, reaching in quickly to help a woman out of the car. She squinted up, only seeing him as a light. He then reached in further to grab a small child, using his strength to tug him from the seat and handed him to his hysterical mother. Leon reached for the second one, a baby. He shook his head as he pulled the baby out, what sort of monsters did this? Once each child was out safe, Leon heard somebody screaming for help from across the road, even though he couldn't see anyone. "I am coming!" Leon shouted, looking back before he went over to Enigma, hoping he was covered enough.

But just as he ran across the road, a police car was making its way towards him. Leon's extra-quick perception made him realize it was gonna hit him. His reflexes weren't as good. Leon just managed to jump out the way as the car came flying past, it just managing to hit his hip, sending the ball of light hurdling onto the street.

∅ DAMON DECEPTION ∅

Damon let out a dark chuckle as he watched the snake bring out the heroes. "Yeah." He replied, looking at the sidekick who was eyeing the ball of light, which made its way past the snake. "Okay, I'll just get him out here." Damon flicked his fingers over to the darkness near them, creating the gross screaming of an imaginary woman. "That'll bring him your way. Lets get rid of them." Damon nodded before teleporting right behind Enigma.

"Boo." Damon whispered over the hood, before raising his bat and smacking it around the heroes knee. He took some steps back and looked around, noticing the chaos wasn't still quite enough. With the flick of his fingers, he created the image of more flames and screams, sending the people around fleeing and screaming themselves.
​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

The instant screaming of a woman, despite it not being real, sent the hero hurtling back to reality. In fact, if it hadn't been for Damon's sudden interference, the hero would have turned easily to start assisting the firefighters and wield water to tackle the suddenly far more ferocious flames. Or so he thought, at least.

And then came the hit, so hard and unexpected it caused the man to groan loudly and ashamedly fall to his knees, all while clutching the inflicted area and fiercely glancing around for the attacker. Or as much as he could without letting his face be seen. Catching a glimpse of the masked man flicking his finger did set reality into place. This was Deception, it had to be. August sighed to himself, the pain not really that prominent now he knew that this was the villain he had predicted would attack sooner or later. He just didn't think he'd have gone to these lengths to kill him and Leon - not that he was giving up without a fight. Flicking his own finger up, he did smile to himself a little at the rather inane thought that crossed his mind when two vines grew from under the concreted road, growing thicker in width in an attempt to grab Damon's ankles. 'I suppose that road will need to be resurfaced,' he had thought quietly, managing to clumsily stumble to his feet, even if he would have to limp from the pain. "...You're that Deception bloke, aren't you?" He hissed, wiping his forehead free of the ash flowing out from the burning building, which had, in the meantime, pushed his hood back a little. "You really went this far? Really? You've hurt innocent people; children! Don't you even care? Villain or not, this is sick."

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

Zaden sighed heavily to himself once observing Damon get into it with Enigma, rolling his eyes as he finally eased himself off the dumpster and let his eyes scan about for the burning light that was Lux. Expecting to see him with some people and helping out, predictable for a superhero, he instead saw him just as he was hit by the car. He may have only really known him for a day or two, but that didn't mean he liked seeing the boy thrust across the sidewalk like that.

Fearing Damon would still see him helping Leon rather than taking advantage of the situation and killing him, he did run off into the street under the cover of invisibility, dodging another car that drove past by centimetres, until standing right over Leon. If he tried helping whilst invisible, it would be a bit weird, and probably unnerving on Leon's part, so he, with a heavy sigh, undid that and knelt beside the slightly younger male. Only, his luck wasn't apparently in. Just as he revealed himself in all his currently frightening glory, a young human woman who had turned up to help from across the street had been passing, about to help Leon in fact, until a man appeared out of nowhere with a bloody bat and a mask: the stuff of nightmares, really. Though she didn't necessarily get a chance to scream, a hard hit to the head from the bat sending her crashing to the floor. He would have revelled in that, if it wasn't for the reminder that he was supposed to quickly help the blonde, and time was of the essence."Oi, if you don't wanna fucking die, then keep that shitty little mouth shut. No damn screaming, got it? Now, can you walk, or do I have t' carry 'ya, because honestly, I ain't that strong."​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LUX ♥

It took the hero a moment to wake up properly. He sat up, instantly feeling a burning sensation in his arm and hip. He just got hit by the car, great. Leon squeezed his eyes together as he took the light from the streetlamps and cars around him, trying to cover up the tears in his eyes. As he opened them, he looked around with his neon white eyes to see a young woman running over in heels towards him. Lux couldn't be seen getting helped could he? He attempted to stand up too get away from her, but all of a sudden, a man popped out of nowhere. The bloody masked man attacked the woman, knocking her out cold. As he looked up, he instantly recognized it as Ghost.

But as soon as Ghost spoke, Leon heard the voice of the boy he was seeing hours before. "What?!" Leon gasped as he realized the small time thug he was crushing on happened to be the biggest villain, after Deception. He pulled himself to his feet, ignoring the pain in his hip and reached forward, knocking Zaden's mask a little. "Z-Zaden?!" The neon ball of light wasn't sure how to react. He looked around to see Enigma and Deception in mid battle before looking back at Zaden. What was he meant to do? Attack him?

∅ DAMON DECEPTION ∅

Vines came pushing through the concrete towards Damon's feet. He had barely any time to react. He just about pulled one foot away from the vine, the other getting tangled in the thick plant. Damn it. Damon had forgotten this guy was a jack of all trades, controlling each element. But, he could at least fuck it up for him. Which seemed like he already was.

He waited for silence of Enigma before chucking, "What did you expect from Deception?" He looked around before creating the illusion that he had escaped, "Or am I Deception?" Damon created another version of himself, "Or am I?" He made another imaginary clone, he created a few, which surrounded Enigma, "Or am I?" One popped up behind Enigma, whispering the question quietly.

"This isn't sick-" He and all his illusionary clones spoke in unison, "Are they really innocent?" He tilted his head, watching the hero. As his clones stood around Enigma, Damon took the chance to struggle out of the vine. The man practially skinned himself as he struggled free from the vines, the plant taking a layer of skin from his leg.

"Now let me get a look at who I am gonna kill. Can't kill the Enigma without seeing it's face!" Damon ran forward, through the illusion to Enigma, reaching forwards for the hood.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

He had only really done adequate research on the villains, and not at all enough to know what abilities they had. In fact, he wasn't too sure if that was even documented anywhere, if his guessing game with Leon had been anything to go by earlier that day. Ghost was hardly the problem at the moment, but he knew the sidekick would be around somewhere, but Deception he now realised dealt with this, illusions, and even with that in mind, August found himself warily staring at all the sudden copies, staring at each one closely in fear that it was the real Deception. Plus the pain below his knee wasn't making any of this any easier.

So when the real one came darting forward and making a grab for the hood, he wasn't entirely prepared for it like he would be normally, landing on the ground on his back because of it, and with hood now thrust backwards. Expecting Leon to jump in with the light to disguise him, he did sigh heavily under his breath when that didn't come, instead trying to conceal himself by simply shoving his hood back up and clambering back to his feet. He really did need a better disguise. "Look, Deception, right? You... You want to kill me? You didn't need to cause all of this. Children could have died in the cars over there, that has to mean something. Even to a cold hearted loser like you, because you're a loser. All of this-" he motioned to the chaos behind him. "Isn't right. Not that you'll listen, psh. You've seen y face, yeah? Then just kill me already, go on. Try it. I dare you."

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

"Hey man, don't touch the fuckin' mask. This baby's all mine, yeah?" He snorted, resting on the bat as he lifted the mask up for a moment, smiling at him with a bashful shrug. "Hey. Look, mate, I don't wanna kill you, and trust me, Dam-- Deception would kill me for letting you go, so we're gonna just pretend you hit me and ran off, got it?" He said quickly, hesitating before rolling his eyes at the shock. "Get over it, what did you honestly expect, hon? I'm scum, yeah? I like beating people up. See the woman?" He nudged her with his foot carelessly. "I would be bashin' her head in if I wasn't in such a goddamn rush. That in mind, punch me already, gimme a black eye. I'll say you tore my mask off and hit me."

He calmly straightened his shoulders back, peering at the fight in the road to assure himself Damon wasn't aware of what was going on. "...After this, after Engima's killed, you wanna go out for a drink or somethin'? After you grieve his death or whatever, because... we were supposed to kill both of you. But guess who just happened to have a crush on the good guy~?"​

​

​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LUX ♥

The pain in his hip was a burning one, but it was the least of his worries. Watching Enigma fight Deception made him nervous, he should be helping him out. Leon couldn't help smile back at the smile from Zaden, but wiped it off when he realized what was going on. "Okay, Okay." Leon really didn't want to hurt him. Plus, he couldn't really. Leon was so useless when it came to throwing fists.

The mention of Enigma getting killed made Leon panic, "You can no kill him!" Leon was angry now, Zaden obviously didn't understand the concept of 'friends'. With that, Leon decided he needed to help August. "Okay, I am sorry for this. The pain is only temporary." The neon man took steps backwards before blasting light towards Zaden. It was strong enough to knock him backwards, but not too much to blind him. When he had done so, Leon looked back to August, "Okay, if everyone make it out alive, we can drink." He said quickly before running off towards August, the pain in his hip becoming unbelievable now. Leon still wouldn't pass up the chance to see someone he actually liked. And liked him back!

Leon got to Deception and decided to use more energy on this one. Taking as much light from the fire as he could, Leon blasted the light towards Deception, sending him flying into the back of a firetruck, unnaware of the conversation they were just having.

∅ DAMON DECEPTION ∅

As Enigma fell to the ground, Damon prepared his baseball bat to savagely beat the life out of the hooded hero. But when the hood came off, Damon recognized a face he hadn't seen in years. August. His best friend. Well, ex. So many questions came to his head as he took steps backwards. Why didn't August tell him about his powers? Then Damon wouldn't of felt like such an outcast. Why did he have to become his enemy?

When August had stopped talking, Damon didn't go to kill him. Instead, he stood there, bat hanging out of his hand, "A-August?" He muttered, taking a step forwards, "Why didn't you tell me?" Damon took a moment before he slid the white mask off his face to rest on the top of his head, revealing his face. His expression was hurt, and confusion. He had no idea if this was gonna make it harder or easier to kill him.

Oh wait, Damon stared at the pretty face. The muscular body. Oh God, everything Damon never had. He was already Damon's enemy. His facial expression went colder. He was about to start yelling when a ray of light attacked him. It thrust him backward, slamming him into the firetruck. It took him a moment to comprehend what had just happened.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

"Damon? Y-You're... Deception?" He blinked, the shock showing on his face, so much so he completely ignored the question, unintentionally. It was rather surreal - his ex best friend was the renowned Deception, though he wasn't too surprised to realise that the villain would be feeling very much the same. August hadn't exactly been truthful with him back in their youth, either.

Before he had a chance to question him in return, he saw Leon and the beam of light that thrust Damon back. As much as he felt he trusted Damon, even now, how could he really? The man's expression had turned cold only seconds prior, and how was August to know that he wouldn't just turn the bat on him and beat him dead? Because of that, he quietly motioned more vines up from the ground, having to clutch his chest now he was choking from the smoke spiralling out from the building, but made sure to at least secure Damon to the fire engine. It would be a while before they left anyway, and he didn't want the villain making any attempts to kill him.

"Thanks Lux," he breathed heavily, managing a small smile to the other as he eyed Damon warily. "...I'll explain it to you later, kid. Just... ugh, I feel sick. This is insane. D... Damon, you... you're a fucking villain! Do you realise how idiotic that is?!" It was rare for August to swear, but given the circumstances, he decided not to correct himself.

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

Once he was hit with the light, he stumbled back as expected, unable to really see for a good few seconds, and as such, he really didn't feel that great. In fact, he was pretty pissed at Leon for that, rubbing his eyes angrily with the growl leaving his lips. The one thing that did get his anger out was hitting the interfering woman with the bat, at least five times, just to make sure she was either deeply unconscious, or dead. Hopefully the latter.

Sighing heavily at his blood-splattered clothing, he tutted and tugged the mask back over his face, just in time to see Damon tied to the truck, and the two superheroes standing opposite him. That was hardly fair. Trudging across with bat in hand, he at least sought comfort in his invisibility, and while he wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of August, he leant against the truck tiredly in an attempt to tug at the vines. "Shit, these things are hard, man," he muttered under his breath to his friend, glancing at him when finally comprehending what wasn't right. "Why the fuck did you take your mask off, you idiot? He knows what you look like. Fuckin' hell, Damon."​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LUX ♥

Leon watched the vines spew from the ground, pinning the man against the wall. He took a moment to look at the face of the villain, amazed that he looked like a pretty normal, grumpy looking man. When he watched, he took a couple of steps away from the villain, a little intimidated. But when August began talking, Leon frowned, "Wait, you know this guy?" He was taken back by the swear from August. This guy must be some douche for August to actually swear at him.

When Zaden came over, Lux looked at him with fear, the male was covered in blood, the bat wet. August would probably throw up if Leon mentioned that he was interested in that guy. "What the hell is going on?" Leon frowned, how did these two know each other?

∅ DAMON STOKER ∅

When Damon opened his eyes, he realized what had happened. Maybe he should of stopped underestimating the Lux character. "You little bitch." He hissed at the glowing man. He was pissed now. When August began to grumble and yell, Damon rolled his eyes, "What else am I? I've always been the villain, August." He moaned. It was true. Every school play, August was Peter Pan and Damon was captain hook. Even in his day job he was regarded as a villain. But Damon had recently embraced that, taking tips from his sidekick.

"Shut the fuck up Ghost." He grumbled at Zaden who came over, "He already knows what I look like. And I thought I told you to end that little shit." Damon hissed at Zaden. He slipped one of his hands from one of the vines. The rest were too strong, so Damon used it to slip his mask on. "I should of guessed All-Star-August was the Enigma." He said back to August. To buy him some time, Damon created the illusion of a giant explosion inside of the building, creating the sounds of painful screams.

"Sounds like they need you." Damon said, a with horrible chuckle.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

"I... went to school with him." August said quietly in return to Leon, peering warily at him to inspect his reaction, and to at least look away from Damon and who he assumed was his sidekick if the blood alone was anything to go by. The mask and appearance, and his affinity with Damon was the obvious giveaway before that. He couldn't really bear looking at Damon at the moment, both out of complete horror, and because he himself felt guilty. It couldn't be entirely his fault that Damon was a villain, he made that choice, but... he couldn't help but to admit how unfair it must have been for his former friend.

"Since I was young, really. We were best friends, and... and then I got a scholarship," he sighed, only jolting from the conversation once hearing the illusory screams, believing them to be true as anyone would, and shot Damon a now disgusted glare. "You're sick, I hope you know that. You're actually a psychopath, and... I'm gonna make sure you get put behind bars, like all criminals-- c'mon Leon, let's just go help out, okay? Leave them to it."

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

"Yeah? Well, Enigma was supposed to be dead too, so you can't take the moral fucking high ground when you're trapped to a truck." Zaden snapped back angrily, glaring at the heroes, including Leon, when Enigma -or August- began to talk. Once hearing his name, it did click into place how they knew each other - he had heard about August from Damon, mostly when they were both drunk and reminiscent. "This is August? Oh, right. Even more of a reason to kill 'im, right?" He muttered under his breath, continuing to try and tug at the vines as August made his way over to a group of gathered firemen to lend his assistance, as expected.

"I can't fucking believe this," he hissed, wiping his forehead from under the mask, spitting out at the ground shortly after. "We both failed, obviously, so I'm done. This is ridiculous. It's your battle; your former best friend and he happens to be a hero too, so you fight 'im, how 'bout that? I'm gonna go home and get drunk."​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LUX ♥

The idea August was this guys friend, this sicko, made Leon also feel ill. He wasn't even listening to him as he watched Zaden argue with Damon. So that was his 'friend.' Leon didn't really know how to feel as he watched August talk to Damon. What had he done? Leon felt uninterested in running about this right now.

When the two walked away, Leon finally showed anger, "You did no tell me about your old best friend." He sighed, "He is a villain now! You were friends with this guy!" Leon sighed, looking about as they jogged into the explosion, only to recognize that the firemen had cleared out the building. It took Leon a second to realize it was an illusion, "That man. He is a demon." He spat before storming off in the direction of home, not really caring if August followed or not. In reality, Leon didn't believe it was August's fault, but still, the entire situation was getting to him - The villains, his friend being close to the villain, and the one boy he was interested in wanted to beat people up for a living. Great.

∅ DAMON DECEPTION ∅

"Good luck."

Damon smirked with a dark, drunk smile before turning to Zaden. He managed to pull himself from the vines before standing, "Yeah. The quicker he's dead the better." He mumbled, before pouting, "Calm the fuck down Zaden. Go home and get wasted, but if you think you can escape the deal we made you're sorely mislead." Damon leaned in, his words not fitting his calm tone, "Fuck off if you're gonna be a pussy but you're stuck with me." Damon said before walking away. There was no way he was looking into finding another sidekick; Zaden was good. Even if he was pissed at him, he'd let him leave now.

When Zaden left, Damon decided to walk away from the fire. He'd plan his next move as he walked into the alleyway, going home the long way.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

The second he realised it was an illusion, August couldn't help but to admit that perhaps Leon was right in that Damon was a demon. But he hadn't always been, and Leon didn't know that. August did, however. He knew all the times they had hung out in his bedroom playing video games, or helping each other in class through the years, and that nostalgic past did make him sigh as he headed on after Leon.

"Don't get mad at me. It never came up. I haven't thought of him for years now, I lost friendship with him years ago, okay? What, did you expect me to spiral out all of my past to you? There's some stuff that hasn't come up. Do you want to know that I once broke my hand when I was forced to take gymnastics as an extra curricular activity? Do you want to be informed of the fact I hate the dark sometimes? It doesn't come up, Leon, so quit taking it out on me," he sighed, even if his own bitter tone was from the whole experience, though mostly at realising just what Damon had become. "My ex friend is a villain, Leon. Have a little understanding that I really am not in the best place right now, okay? I... I need a strong coffee and something sugary..."

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

Hissing in anger at the other's words, he did realise he was probably in too deep to get out now - but it was worth a try nonetheless. Dragging his bat along the ground, lacking the energy to lift it properly at the moment, he headed straight for the downtown area, where he knew best. He could get alcohol on the cheap, and even if he had no money on him, he could just convince some guy to give it to him easily enough. The bat in hand and his general demeanour helped a lot.

Ten minutes later, he entered the apartment with two bottles of strong vodka in hand, cracking one open and taking a swig. It was pure vodka, and amazingly strong, but after the day he had had, he didn't care much. But then again, he always got drunk, so it was nothing different. He may be furious, and already a tad tipsy from its strength, but he still reached for his phone tiredly. A text to Leon was overdue, particularly now they both knew of each other a great deal more.

'I'm sorry about the whole villain thing. Still wanna go for a drink sometime? x'

It was a feeble text, he knew that, but given his state of mind and presumably Leon's own at the moment, it didn't matter that much.​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LANDALL ♥

It was unusual for Leon to feel anger, let alone express it. It was all bottled up, and now he was getting angry at his best friend for no real reason. He stood still when August began spilling out random facts before slowing down. "Yeah well, do you ever recognize that other people are no in the best of places too?" Leon said, angry in tone. He gritted his teeth as he looked at August, with his neon white eyes. He looked around before realizing they were almost alone. Leon dispelled the light back into the lamps around them, turning him to his original form.

"Let's go home." Leon decided it was easier for him to stop arguing than to keep going, but he couldn't get rid of the annoyance on his face. They walked home, Leon keeping his silence as they got to the home. He quickly picked up his phone and sat down into his circle of books, when he saw the text. Zaden was another person who pissed him off, why did the one boy who showed interest in him have to be a villain. "Only if you do not try to kill me." He put. The boy put down his phone and felt a sharp pain in his hip. Wincing, Leon lifted up his sweater to see red, developing bruises.

∅ DAMON STOKER ∅

Damon almost broke the door down when he appeared at his apartment. He had visited the nearest shop and robbed it of its liquor, and now he was even more drunk than before. It wasn't like it was a new sight to Zaden, the two got regularly drunk together. "I just want them gone!" He slurred, annoyed that August was Enigma. Of course he was, it wasn't any different to when they were kids, "He's a pretentious guy, you'd of beaten him up by now if he wasn't so...powered." He wondered why they never shared their secrets.

"Or do I want him dead?" Damon passed Zaden as he slopped down onto the couch, dropping his bloody bat and mask. Damon wondered what would of happened if the two did share secrets, maybe things would be different. "I don't care." He whined, "I hope you're not too pissed off at me." He looked up to the boy. "You're the only... Person who can stand me." He hated calling people friends, but that was what Zaden was to him.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

"I hope you understand that I strongly resent being the target of your anger at the moment," he said in a rather calm tone, one in which he used often at work. The office was a stressful place when trying to get a headline and a story together, so keeping calm was highly important, and thankfully, he managed to do that efficiently, mostly by holding his stress back behind the calm wall. Although, when he was acting calm, it was often something that provoked more annoyance from others who saw it to be an irritant, though that wasn't his fault.

"So I recommend calming down. I'll make some herbal tea," he decided, trailing into the kitchen where, in that room on his own, he finally let an angry breath leave his mouth. It was a lot to take in, and while he knew that he and Damon had this friendship that at some point had been great, he also realised Damon was this villain now and wasn't going to leave August alone. Though facing him again was something he really didn't want to do.

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[ Z a d e n ]
​

Shoving his phone away after receiving the text, he decided that he ought to wait a day or so before replying. He realised that Leon was probably annoyed, and so waiting for him to calm down was best. Besides, it was just at the point that Damon walked in, and he wasn't going to risk texting in front of him when the two of them were drunk, and more than that, the other was at a point of fury.

"Oh, I'm pretty pissed off, yeah," he muttered, taking another swig from the vodka as he eyed him quietly. "But I understand, alright? It's... fine, I guess. I don't have friends, but you're the closest I have, I guess you're a good mate t' me. Now just... we'll sort out a plan or somethin' tomorrow, okay?"​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LANDALL ♥

Leon looked up to August. He probably wouldn't calm down inside til tomorrow, but his face had quickly flattened to his usual stony emotion. He hadn't noticed that he had scratches along his cheekbone from the car before. It wasn't half as bad as his hip. He stood up and limped a little over to the kitchen, "Okay." He said flatly, reaching around to collect their green tea and some cups, "You should get some too." He said, looking at August before laying out two cups to make them tea.

For the rest of the night, Leon lazed about on the couch, he was tired and reading books wouldn't make it better. He watched the TV for a bit. He flicked onto the news channel to see news about the events from before, "You see this?" He asked quietly, watching some Cellphone camera footage of him getting hit by the car, then shots of August fighting with Damon, then one of Zaden beating up a woman. The masks were pretty scary, "We need to stop them soon..." He mumbled. He actually didn't want to see Zaden in jail at all, but he wished he would stop the whole crime thing. It wasn't long before Leon completely fell asleep on the couch, the entire day had worn him out.

∅ DAMON STOKER ∅

"Right, just don't get sentimental on me." Damon smiled at Zaden tiredly. It was nice to have somebody who is there for him, Damon hadn't had that well, since August. "Yeah, maybe we have to try something less... Big." He frowned, unsure if his drunken words were making sense. He couldn't formulate anything in his mind while he was like this.

"Whatever, I'm gonna Knock out. See you tomorrow." He said before standing up and stumbling to his bedroom. He got into his underwear and collapsed onto his bed, completely blacking out as soon as he hit the pillow.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

Unlike Leon, August could only really dream of getting to sleep now that he had seen the news report. Given its magnitude, it was on for most of the night, up until about midnight, and he did sit there glued to the screen as he watched, his eyes mostly stuck on the villains. Usually, he would watch a news report to see if he had been recognised, though that was of little importance at the moment. Instead, he had to watch the villains, specifically Damon, and struggled still to accept this was the boy he had cried in front of and been comforted by.

His best friend was this masked, villainous danger. He could hardly get to sleep after learning something like that.

So come morning, the hero had busied himself making breakfast -scrambled eggs and bacon- whilst listening to the radio, trying to keep himself humming along to the tune to avoid dwelling on what had happened the previous day. He had tidied the house up, and called the office to get the day off from work. He couldn't entirely risk it at that moment, and aside from that, he really couldn't bear it either.

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[ Z a d e n ]
​

On the other hand, while being awake, Zaden's morning wasn't entirely as... nice as that. He woke up on the couch, two empty vodka bottles beside him and with a headache far too powerful to rid by himself. Trudging to the medical cabinet in the bathroom, he took two aspirin quickly without the aid of water and slumped back down on the couch. Right now, he had nothing to really do but wait for Damon to wake up and then probably work out some sort of plan.

At least when he sobered up, because even now, he still felt a little tipsy. Two bottles of vodka was hard to work off in just a few hours' sleep, after all. ​

 

[King]

♥ LEON LANDALL ♥

Leon woke up in the morning feeling less angry. In fact, he sort of regretted getting so pissy with August. He leaned up, his blond hair sticking up in the direction he was lying down. "Morning..." He mumbled, hearing August listening to the radio in the kitchen. He stood up, cringing when he realized he had slept in his clothes. On the way to the kitchen, Leon checked his phone to see no nexts. With a pout, Leon put the phone into his pocket again. The blond picked up a glass and filled it with orange juice before turning to August, "No work?" He tilted his head.

After eating some toast, Leon decided he should sort out his hair. He got into the shower and cleaned up, hissing as he realized his entire hip had bruised up pretty bad. He got into a clean white shirt and jeans, walking back into the main room with wet, fluffy hair. "August.. I hurt myself yesterday." He said, walking over to him. His cheek had bruised a little, but was gonna heal fine, "Look." He sighed, pulling down the waistline and pulling up his shirt, showing his black and blue hip.

∅ DAMON STOKER ∅

As he woke up, Damon regretted the drinking. This morning was worse than usual. He made his way to the medicine cabinet and took some pills before walking into the kitchen, the alcohol still swimming in his blood. He walked into the living room in his underwear, nodding at Zaden, "Thank fuck it isn't a work day." He grumbled.

Damon collected some water and sat down onto the seat, sitting cross-legged. "Wanna go out for lunch? I need some bread to soak up all this drink." He snorted, reaching for the remote to turn on the TV. The first channel on was the news, still playing the footage of the four. "Oh shit." He chuckled, proud of the recognition they got, "At least they don't see our faces." He mumbled, knowing it would ruin everything if they did. "That's one of the biggest things we've done." He mumbled before checking the time, "Ya, I gotta shower."​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

"Huh? Didn't we all get hurt?" He questioned, plating the food out and onto the table before freezing. He had been expecting just some little scratch, or worse, a burn, but seeing the darkened bruise, he immediately grimaced. It must be sheer agony to endure. "And you didn't think of going straight to the hospital? What if you've broke a bone or... jeez, Leon, sit down," he demanded sternly, albeit kindly and with the desire to help as he peered at the other's hip.

Rubbing his head quietly once having examined the bruise long enough, he reminded himself that if the other had broke something, it would probably be evident from the other not being able to walk without showing pain, but he seemed... well, still in pain, but not enough so for August to recognise anything major. "It's just a bruise, albeit a horrendous one. Take some paracetamol, and keep yourself rested, okay?"

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[ Z a d e n ]
​

"You were tied to a truck with no fucking mask, you'd better be fucking glad that whoever was holding the camera was focusing on other stuff for a good part," he reminded, his eyes glued to the screen, unable to stop a smirk lifting his lips once spotting himself brutally beating the innocent woman. It was something only he could really take pride in - he knew he was probably messed up in the head, because it was hardly normal, but he really didn't care enough to change himself.

"I could do with something greasy, so going out sounds cool," he shrugged obligingly, stretching out once the other got up again. "Yeah, I'll just lounge here 'til you get out then. Seriously, you're ages in there, all the time. You're really into looking good, you know."​

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