Chapter Text
Vyncent wasn’t expecting a hero to be showing up outside aer base in the middle of the night. It’s a fairly unexpected situation, after all. But there DC was, standing outside aer door, glaring at aer through his bangs and breathing heavily. Vyncent took DC’s condition in, trying to let the shock of him showing up set in before ae opened aer mouth.
DC was obviously not in good condition, but it was hard to tell what exactly was wrong in the low lighting.
“I-” DC coughed, breath rattling in their lungs. “I had nowhere else to go,”
Vyncent had no idea what to do, in all honesty. Ae and Will had fought DC on multiple occasions since heroes and vigilantes didn’t really get along. But the thing about vigilantism was helping people and right now, DC was a person in need of help.
Vyncent really hoped Will wouldn’t be too mad at aer for this in the morning. After all, it wasn’t aer fault Will didn’t wake up to answer the door.
Vyncent stepped aside and waved DC through the doorway.
DC nodded curtly, obviously upset at the prospect of having to be in such close proximity to vigilantes. He was swaying on his feet and clearly suffering from a pretty bad concussion, eyes coming in and out of focus.
Vyncent sighed. Ae was going to have to patch this self-righteous hero up, wasn’t ae? Well, ae did sort of promise to help. Vyncent got the first aid kit.
Ae came back into the room to see DC rocking back and forth in the middle of the room, a far-off look in her eye. Vyncent snapped in front of his face to pull him together. She jolted and blinked, scanning the room frantically. Vyncent took a step back to give him space to get his bearings. When they seemed to settle down enough to be present, Vyncent gestured to the couch.
“Sit here,” Ae said quietly, trying not to wake Will. Though it would probably take a category 5 hurricane directly outside his window to do that.
“Why?” DC asked suspiciously, eyeing the couch as if it was booby trapped.
“So I can fix you up.” Vyncent said with as much patience as ae could muster given that it was almost 2am. “I’m not letting you bleed out on my living room floor.”
DC seemed to think this was an acceptable response and sat down with a whoosh on the couch. Vyncent sat next to him and opened up the first aid kit. DC reached for it but Vyncent grabbed his wrist before he could.
“I’m also not letting you patch yourself up in this state.” Vyncent said in a tone that ae hoped left no room for argument. DC glared at aer and huffed out an annoyed breath but put her hand down anyways. Vyncent gave the hero a small smile and turned on a small light by the couch to get a better look at their injuries.
What ae saw made aer see red.
DC was covered in bruises and scrapes, ranging from small cuts to deep gashes. Their arm was bent at an unnatural angle and they were clutching there side, blood seeping out between their fingers. Vyncent was surprised she had even managed to get here.
Ae slowly put aer hand on DC’s shoulder and made eye contact with her. Ae tried to control the anger in aer voice with little success.
“DC.” Ae said slowly. DC flinched and Vyncent's vision flared crimson before continuing. “Who. Did. This. To. You.”
It wasn’t a question. Not really. They both knew that. DC answered anyways.
“They said I was a danger.” DC said quietly. “They were going to-”
DC made a strangled sound and leaned heavily into Vyncent's hand still on their shoulder. Vyncent connected the dots.
“They were going to depower you?” Ae hissed, all thoughts of controlling aer rage out the window. Ae could feel Alphonze fighting for control, righteous fury sweeping over aer in waves. Ae closed aer eyes and took a deep breath.
“I should get Will.” Ae said, looking to DC to gage his reaction. DC looked quieter than Vyncent had ever seen her, eyes turned downwards and hands clenched in her lap. She was shaking like a leaf and her eyelids were drooping and she’d obviously not had a place to stay in at least a week.
Vyncent stood up to get will before ae ran out the door to single handedly overthrow the government.
Will was sound asleep, as expected. Vyncent grabbed a cup of water from the nightstand and dumped it on his head. Will shot up, sputtering.
“What the fuck, Vyncent?” He shouted. Vyncent grabbed face and moved him to make direct eye contact with aer.
“They tried to depower DC.” Vyncent said, voice trembling with barely contained anger. William froze.
“They what ?” He asked. Vyncent knew it wasn’t a real question so ae just grabbed Will’s hoodie and shoved it at him, a silent request to help. “They do know he’d die if they did that, right?”
“If we know it, so do they,” Vyncent said grimly. Will cursed and tugged his hoodie on as fast as he could.
“Where is she?” Will asked, grabbing his flashlight and a pair of socks.
“Our living room,” Vyncent said. Will stopped what he was doing and slowly turned to look at aer.
“You couldn’t have led with that?” Vyncent shrugged. It hadn't felt as important. William put the socks down and let Vyncent lead him out of the room, since it was still dark and Vyncent could see in the dark far better than Will.
The two made their way into the living room where DC was in the exact same position Vyncent had left them in. William saw his condition and froze for the third time that night. DC looked up at the sound of footsteps. A look of fear washed over his face at the sight of not one but two vigilantes. Vyncent quickly made aer way over to her to calm her down.
William sat down next to DC as gently as he could. DC still tensed up at the close proximity. Will gently cupped his cheek and looked at the beat up hero with teary eyes. DC leaned into the touch almost desperately and choked out a sob.
“They were trying to- to kill me…” They got so quiet towards the end Vyncent could barely make out what they were saying. William held his arms open and let DC collapse into them, running a hand through her hair soothingly. Vyncent sat across from them and pulled the antibiotic and bandages out of the first aid kit.
The three of them sat in relative silence, interrupted only by DC occasionally hissing in pain as Vyncent worked on his wounds and Will humming something softly. Vyncent finished everything except for their arm and the gash in their side.
probably got a couple ribs with that slash too , Ram supplied in aer head. Vyncent felt sick to aer stomach.
“Hey, DC-” Vyncent started.
“Dakota,” she interrupted quietly. “My name is Dakota.”
“Alright. Dakota, I need to-” DC- no, Dakota, interrupted aer again, sitting up a little. Will tried to pull them back down so they wouldn't aggravate their wounds, but even a weakened Dakota was far stronger than both of them combined.
“You’re supposed to introduce yourselves too!” He said loudly. After a moment, they seemed to process their outburst and sunk back into William’s arms sheepishly. “It’s polite.”
“Alright,” Vyncent agreed. “My real name is Vyncent. This is William.”
Dakota nodded and relaxed again, seemingly satisfied. Will cracked a small smile at Vyncent, looking thankful for Dakota getting some of his energy back. Vyncent shared the sentiment.
“Well, Dakota, I need you to move your hand away from your side there,” ae said gently. “I need to give you stitches so you don’t loose any more blood.”
Dakota blanched a little at those words but shakily moved her hand away anyways. William took hold of it and gave it a gentle squeeze. Dakota looked grateful.
Vyncent slowly cleaned the wound and stitched it up, hearing William's grunts of pain as Dakota squeezed his hand in the background. Once ae was done, ae wrapped the wound in a bandage.
“We’ve got to fix up your arm now,” Vyncent said gently. Dakota squeezed her eyes shut and waited for it to happen, squeezing Will’s hand in anticipation. Vyncent gently put a hand on their arm and they flinched. Vyncent’s heart broke at the sound.
Ae carefully examined the break. It was a clean break, no bone sticking out or anything (the thought of that made aer feel nauseous). Vyncent realized that neither aer nor Will had ever set a bone before. Whenever someone had to, it was always one of the Greats.
As if summoned by the thought, Vyncent felt Ram push his way to the front. Not wanting to set the bone wrong, ae let him take control of the body.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When Vyncent “came to” again, ae was standing in the kitchen holding Dakota in aer arms in a bridal carry. Ae took a second to get aer bearings. Will was putting garlic bread in the toaster and Dakota was hanging off of aer like a koala and talking animatedly with Will. Will seemed to take notice of Vyncent’s eye color changing back to gray and smiled at aer.
“Hey, Vyn, you back with us?” He asked. Vyncent nodded and shifted Dakota so ae could hold her more comfortably.
“What happened there?” Dakota asked. He was hanging on to Vyncent with one arm, the other one in an impromptu sling made out of one of Vyncent’s shirts. they looked way better than before, Ram must’ve healed them with one of his healing bullets. Vyncent wondered in the back of aer mind how Dakota had reacted to having a gun pulled on him.
“Oh, that was just one of the people in my head,” Vyncent explained. “His name’s Ram.”
“Ram’s pretty cool,” Dakota said. Vyncent felt Ram beam at the praise.
“Vyn, you want garlic bread?” Will asked.
“Hell yeah, I do.”
“Garlic bread is great!” Dakota shouted. William chuckled and slid a couple more pieces into the toaster. Vyncent made a hum of agreement.
“How’re you feeling, Dakota?” Vyncent asked.
“I’m doing great!” She exclaimed. It was very clearly a lie but Vyncent decided to leave it alone for the time being. Dakota was still a hero, ae reminded aerself. He would turn them both in the second he got the chance. (Ae was having a hard time believing that, looking down at the broken person in aer arms.)
The three of them sat in relative silence until the garlic bread was done. The toaster popped, bringing Vyncent back to reality and making aer acutely aware of how tightly Dakota was gripping aer shirt and shaking, face buried in aer chest.
“Hey, Dakota,” Vyncent soothed. William looked up from where he was plating the garlic bread at the noise. “Hey, shhh, what’s wrong, ‘Kota?”
Dakota didn’t say anything, only quietly sobbed into Vyncent’s chest.
“Why?” She asked quietly. Vyncent and William exchanged a look. Vyncent brought Dakota over to the counter and sat down on a bar stool, keeping the former hero close to aer chest the whole time. Ae rubbed their back soothingly as they shook. William sat down on Dakota’s other side and put an arm around her shoulders.
“I did everything right!” He sobbed, clutching Vyncent’s t-shirt tightly in both hands. Vyncent scooted closer to Will, allowing the other boy to embrace both of them. “I did everything right, and they still acted like it was all my fault! What did I do wrong?”
Vyncent held her tighter. Something in aers stomach tightened at the words and ae had to fight back Ram coming back out to console Dakota.
“It’s not your fault, Dakota,” William said in a tone that left no room for argument. Vyncent could tell that he was also furious. The two of them would have to do something really nasty to the heroes for this one. “The heroes just aren't fair to people, the problem was never you.”
Vyncent hummed in agreement, wishing ae could contribute more to the conversation but being preoccupied with having to fight off six people for control of his body.
Dakota choked out another sob and looked up to meet William's eyes. This was the first time Vyncent had ever actually seen their face since it was usually hidden behind a mask and ae was more focused on keeping them alive earlier. Vyncent thought he looked very pretty. She had freckles and a nose ring, and bright yellow-amber eyes. Vyncent only wished that aer first time seeing his real face didn’t have to be through tears and bruises.
“But, but they're heroes!” Dakota said loudly in between sobs. William hugged them tightly and Vyncent rubbed their back, both trying their best to console them. Dakota tried to say something else, but it was unintelligible through the crying.
The three of them sat together like that until Dakota seemed to be done.
“Can I have my garlic bread now?” He asked in a muffled voice, face still buried in Vyncent’s chest. Vyncent and William laughed at the unexpectedness of the request and pulled back from the hug. Will handed Dakota a plate of garlic bread, which the smaller scarfed down like she’d been starved for weeks. (Vyncent didn't want to think about the fact that that was a possibility)
They all ate in silence, only interrupted by the occasional cricket or cicada from outside. When they were done, Dakota cleared her throat awkwardly.
“So, I can take the couch. I’ll be gone by morning, it’ll be like I was never here.” He started to detach himself from Vyncent, only to stumble and barely catch himself on the counter as soon as he was on his own two feet. Vyncent reached out to steady them, holding on to their shoulders firmly.
Will and Vyncent shared a look.
“No, you won’t take the couch.” Will said. Dakota looked up at him, the remnants of tears still in his eyes. Will quickly finished his thought. “You should sleep in our room to make sure your ribs don’t get any worse while you sleep.”
“Also you have a concussion,” Vyncent pointed out, remembering Ram’s assessment of her injuries from earlier. “You’re not supposed to sleep, like, by yourself if you have a concussion.”
“Yeah, that too,” William nodded. Dakota stayed silent, staring down at their feet. Will continued. “Listen, we’re not going to make you to if you don’t want to, but it’ll be better-”
“You’re not going to make me leave?” Dakota interrupted. He was shaking again, looking as terrified and fragile as he first had in the doorway an hour earlier.
“No! Of course not!” Will exclaimed, eyes wide. Vyncent pulled Dakota in for a hug, running a hand through her hair.
“The heroes may have abandoned you, but we won’t. Promise.” Vyncent said quietly into their ear. Dakota sniffled, leaning heavily into Vyncent.
“Th-thank you guys,” Dakota said quietly. “I’m sorry for crashing in here in the middle of the night…”
“You don’t have to apologize,” William said firmly. “We’re happy to help.”
Dakota went limp against Vyncent and ae panicked before hearing loud snores coming from them. Ae sighed in relief and picked up the smaller person (ae tried hard not to think about how fragile she looked in aer arms. How the “ heroes ” had done this to a kid no older than William or Vyncent) and stood up fully.
“Should we set up a mattress or…” Will started. Vyncent looked down at how tightly Dakota was clutching aer and made up aer mind.
“I think they need the comfort right now,” Vyncent said. William nodded and the two of them lumbered back to their room. Vyncent collapsed on the bed with Dakota still in aer arms and waited for Will to pull his hoodie off. Will climbed into bed and curled up against Vyncent, putting Dakota in the middle. She deserved the cuddles.
Vyncent and William stayed up for a little longer to chat and plan revenge on the heroes, but William fell asleep pretty soon after. Vyncent thought about the least destructive way ae could make the heroes pay for what they did, but decided that could wait until morning.
With that thought, and aer arms around William and Dakota, ae drifted off to sleep.