summary: virgil was a superhero, but he was captured and tortured one day; the other heroes in his group are too late to save him. five years later, roman (who is still a superhero) reunites the group to take down their final foe, the purple hood.
word count: 2161
roman is the prince (think kid flash's costume with a cape and batman-type of skills), logan is the falcon (the same suit and skills as falcon in the marvel movies), patton is beast boy (the exact same suit and powers as beast boy from teen titans but he's blue instead of green), the purple hood is identical to the red hood from the dc comics, just purple instead of red, and the duke is basically like the joker from the batman animated series. it's a lot, ik, but bear with me plz ksdfkjkj (yes, it's another superhero au, and yes, it's 2000 words, let me be T-T)
tw/cw// violence, mentions of m*rder/de*th, injuries, explosions, sad bois :))
~~~~
Virgil groaned and slowly raised his head, glaring up at the Duke. "You're not getting away with this." The Duke giggled. "You are adorable! I wish I could keep you." The Duke was a frequent criminal/nuisance in Gotham City; Virgil had fought against him on more than one occasion with the Prince, Beast Boy, and Falcon.
"Unfortunately, I should be taking my leave, you-know-who will be here any minute, and I don't want to be here when they are." The Duke grinned down Virgil. Suddenly, Virgil was much more aware of the injuries inflicted by the demented criminal before.
"Let's wrap this up, shall we?"
~~~~
Falcon forced himself to fly faster, hoping to get to Virgil as soon as possible. "Logan, be careful; you won't be able to land if you're going too fast." Logan rolled his eyes, 'What does that matter? We should be worrying about Virgil right now.' He slowed down and landed smoothly in front of the building Virgil was being kept in. He rushed to the door before being blown back by an explosion.
Logan coughed and stood up as quickly as he could. He searched around the rubble, desperately hoping Virgil was okay. He spotted a hand beneath a plank of wood, 'Virgil...'
~~like a five-year time skip :))~~
Roman groaned in frustration as he reentered his home base. He pulled his mask off and quickly logged onto his computer, searching through the city's security cameras. "What happened?" Roman didn't turn to face his roommate Thomas, still focusing on the camera footage. "There's a new criminal. He goes by The Purple Hood; I was trying to stop Black Mask and his goons when the Hood showed up and completely killed all of them."
"Geez, are you thinking he's a criminal or a vigilante?" Roman shook his head. "I don't know. I'm checking to see if he left behind anything we could use to track him down." He rewinded the footage of the building he had just been at, pausing it when the Purple Hood swung to another building. The hero tensed up, clenching his jaw.
Thomas walked over to Roman, getting a better look at the paused video. "Isn't that Virgil's-" "Yeah." "But how?" "I don't know." Thomas thought for a moment. "Should I call them? They have a right to know." Roman sighed. "Fine. But I'll visit them myself; they should hear it from me."
~~~~
Roman entered the flower shop, smiling softly at the small decorations. "Hold on! I'll be with you in just a second." A familiar voice called out. The short man popped up from behind the counter, his curls bouncing a bit. "So, what do you need today?" He asked with a bright smile. The moment he looked up to see Roman, his smile fell. "Roman. What are you...come here, let's talk in my office."
Roman followed his old friend and sat down in one of the chairs. "Roman, what are you doing here? I thought we agreed-" "Yeah, I know. But this is important, Patton. There's a new threat, and I can't take him on by myself. Just check it out, then you can go back to this and forget everything for good."
Patton sighed. "You've never had trouble before; what makes this guy so bad?" Roman looked down at his hands. "He knows all of my techniques, and he knew every move I was going to make before I made it. And, he has Virgil's grappling hook."
Patton shook his head, "We buried that with him-" "Which is why I need your help. This guy could be messing with my head or..." Patton scratched his hand, deep in thought. Roman eyed the rash on his old friend's hand for a moment before speaking. "How long have you been shifting?" The shorter man avoided eye contact guiltily. "That's not good for you, Patt." "What am I supposed to do, Roman? I can't exactly go under the radar if my skin is blue. It's easier this way."
Roman raised an eyebrow and stared at Patton, who let out a heavy breath. "Fine. Just for a second." He shifted into his true self, his skin and hair turning dark shades of blue while his eyes shone bright blue - the shapeshifter subconsciously sighed in relief.
Roman lightly smiled; he'd known Patton since they were 12; the boy used to flaunt his true self and his powers proudly. Of course, that changed when the group of superheroes broke up, and Patton and Logan decided to live normal lives. It was nice to see the boy comfortable again.
"So, what do you think, Patt? I can't do this without you." Patton winced and sighed. "Okay. But I can't be doing anything dangerous. I have dogs, plants, and employees now; there are living things that depend on me." "Done, and done."
~~~~
"Please, Logan." Roman pleaded. "No." Logan said with a straight face. Roman pouted, following the logical man as he moved around his auto repair shop. "But Logan, you don't understand. This guy is not someone to mess around with-"
"You don't have to repeat yourself, Roman. I heard you the first time. This man is dangerous; you said he killed fifty crooks in under ten minutes, and he supposedly has the tool we buried you-know-who with. Why would I willingly put myself in the way of someone that deadly? I'm fine where I am."
Logan stopped in front of his office and turned to face Roman. "You thought you could come in here, and I'd jump on board because this man needs to be stopped, and, of course, I'm the most prominent advocate for justice, right? But real life isn't like your daydreams, Roman. Have you ever considered that maybe this person is doing a better job at protecting the city than you are?" Roman stared at Logan with a 'really?' look.
"You don't believe that, Logan. I know you; you hate violence, and the fact that this guy is willing to use violence to get his way scares you. But I also know that you're the only one who can come up with a good plan, the only one who will understand what's going on. And if this guy is who I think he is, we will need you. I need you."
Logan gulped and looked at the ground, shaking his head. "No, you'd be better off without me." Roman sighed. "Logan, Patt and I can't do this without you; we're both scared too. I promise you; you won't be alone." Logan looked into Roman's eyes; Roman couldn't help thinking he looked like a scared, uncertain child. "But, what if I can't do it? I've been out of practice, and the memories could become rather intrusive at the worst possible times-"
Roman shook his head. "Logan, I promise you that we'd be better off with you than without you, no matter what happens." Logan scanned Roman's face nervously. "Fine, but the moment things get too dangerous or go wrong, I will leave." "Deal."
~~~~
Logan shifted his shoulders uncomfortably as he flew his drone around the city. "What's wrong?" Roman asked. "I haven't worked out in years; the suit is a bit big on me." Patton snorted. "You'll be fine, Lo. Do you see anything yet?" Logan shook his head. "No, not yet-" The camera cut out. "Nevermind. Either my camera failed, or someone purposely deactivated it."
Roman nodded. "Okay, let's go to where it stopped-" Logan and Patton took off, the former activating his mechanical wings while the latter transformed into a hawk, leaving Roman alone on the rooftop. The hero groaned and launched his grappling hook, swinging to another building. "It's great to have you guys back too." He mumbled sarcastically.
Once they arrived at the small apartment where the drone fell, they discovered someone tied up in the corner with a bag over their head. Logan ripped the bag off, revealing the Duke with a bloody smirk. "Well, who knew? Guess I'm the damsel in distress this time. Can I give my hero a smooch?"
Logan rolled his eyes and turned to Roman and Patton, covering up the fact that his hands were now anxiously shaking. "So, what now?" "Now, you're going to stop running away." A deep voice said, suddenly in the doorway. The three heroes turned to see a man wearing a purple mask and a black and grey uniform, aiming two guns at the men. "That was cryptic." Roman mumbled.
"We aren't running away." "Princey over there was, just last week." Roman rolled his eyes. "I wasn't running; I just needed to catch you on the security cameras." "The cameras that are recording all day?"
Logan narrowed his eyes at the masked vigilante. "It is you. I thought Roman was unreasonable when he suggested it." Patton furrowed his eyebrows. "Who?" Logan clenched and unclenched his jaw. "Who is the only person that has ever called Roman "Princey"?" Patton's eyes widened as he stared at the Purple Hood. "But that's impossible, isn't it?"
Logan shook his head. "Not if you have access to a rejuvenation lake, like Black Snake." The Purple Hood pulled off his mask and dropped it on the ground; Patton let out a soft gasp. "How did you get access to Black Snake's lake, Virgil?"
Virgil rolled his eyes and moved over to the Duke. "Sorry to break it to you, but I didn't care, so I didn't ask; I just woke up there. What I care about is the fact that he is still here." He sharply kicked the Duke, still not taking the large, red grin from the man's face. "Who knew the kid had it in him, right?" The Duke roughly giggled.
"I trusted you; I was okay with dying as long as I was the last one. I thought I would be the last one he'd ever hurt. But that's why you're weak, and you always have been. You'd rather follow some moral code than spare the lives of hundreds of people." Patton gulped. "Kiddo, you have to understand. We'd be just as bad as him if we just-" "Shut up." Virgil growled.
"I know now that it was naive to trust you to do the right thing. You love doing things the easy way, not the practical way, so I have to do it myself." A beeping noise made itself known; everyone darted their attention to a pack of bombs, ticking down from 10 seconds. "Finally! Some excitement!" The Duke exclaimed.
Logan ran to Virgil, grabbing onto the man and jumping out of the nearest window. Roman grabbed the Duke as Patton shifted into a pterodactyl, gripping onto Roman and flying out the window opposite Logan and Virgil.
Logan held Virgil tightly, despite the man's struggling to escape his clutch. "Let me go, Logan!" Logan shook his head. "No, not again; never again." Logan activated his mechanical wings and eased their fall away from the explosion.
"Why did you do that?" Virgil asked lowly, not angry, more weary. Logan spotted Patton and Roman safely flying to the Arkham Asylum. 'Good.' Logan thought before turning back to Virgil with a sad expression. "Because you're my friend. You always have been, always will be. That'll never change."
Virgil's expression softened, staring at Logan. From that one look, Logan knew he was silently apologizing. It wasn't to mend their relationship, just to allow the two to take a sigh of relief after five years.
~~~~
"Let's go, Black Parade! We don't have all day!" Roman called up the stairs. "Roman, leave him alone. You remember how excited you were when you first put on your suit, let him have his fun." Patton scolded with a smile.
Logan smiled at his friends, observing Patton's suit, an adaptable suit that disappeared once he transformed into another living thing. Roman's suit was simple, a full-body suit with a cape and a face mask that covered everything but his mouth, eyes, and hair. Logan's was a full suit with various gadgets attached around his waist and wrists; the man also created mechanical wings that retracted when he needed them to and goggles that he could use to control his other gadgets.
They'd all designed Virgil's suit, but none of them had seen it on the new member yet. Logan spotted Virgil sneaking up behind Roman, deciding not to alert the dramatic man of the sneak attack. Roman whipped around and yelped when Virgil jump scared him.
The emo hero laughed at Roman's reaction while the princely man pouted angrily. "Wow, you look amazing, kiddo!" "It indeed suits you. Since you don't necessarily need any weapons and you don't have powers, nothing should be weighing you down." Logan informed him. Virgil nodded. "Yeah, I'm not a fan of skin-tight clothes, but you made this one bulky enough. Thanks for that."
Logan nodded politely at Virgil as the four made their way to the exit of their headquarters. "Welcome to the team, Virgil."
~~~~
this was heavily based on batman: under the red hood, i loved that movie when i was younger, so this was just perfect. ik it's weird that i mixed marvel and dc, but it's a fanfic; it doesn't matter kshdksja. this was mainly in roman's pov, but i tried to make it analogical akdfkj i hope you still enjoyed this, love you all, stay safe, buh bye!!
5/18/21