Chapter Text
Alias: CuteGuy
Civilian Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown, assumed mid-20s
Status: High Villain
Species: Human/Buteo (Buteo regalis) Hybrid
Abilities: Heightened senses can detect heroes early, and has natural avian agility. The fastest and strongest flyer among all local avians. Has wings, wing-ears, feathered tail, and talons typical of avian (referring to the Hybrid type involving the family Aves) Hybrids. Rusty brown and white patterned feathers. Extremely sharp Buteo eyesight.
Weaknesses: Highly sensitive wings. Wing injuries can cause CuteGuy to retreat early.
Notes: Copied HotGuy’s branding. Black talons instead of the usual Buteo talons. Skilled with knife fighting and hand-to-hand combat. Enjoys the thrill of a good fight, and frequently causes trouble for the heroes seemingly for fun. Call for backup before approaching.
𓈒°･𓏸｡°･☼･°｡𓏸･°𓈒
- Grain -
Ssk-ssk-ssk.
The avian wiped off the counter, rag in one hand, spray bottle in the other. He paused, folding the rag over to finish that side of the counter before moving to the other side of the display case. Lizzie- Grian’s pink-haired boss- glanced over at him as the spray bottle made another ssk, ssk sort of noise. The blonde holding it finished cleaning off the counter and set the spray bottle back in its place, after which he jogged into one of the back rooms to put away the now-dirty rag. Grian reappeared as he began untying his apron, only to have a cookie pressed into his hands.
He glanced up. “Free food, Lizzie? Thought you weren’t supposed to give handouts.”
His boss chuckled. “True, but it’s not like these are going to be fresh by tomorrow. Might as well enjoy them, hm?”
Grian smiled, biting into the soft (albeit room-temperature and slightly crunchy) cookie, humming softly as he closed his eyes and savored the baked good. Lizzie laughed lightly, and the blonde could hear how she turned away, probably passing one to BigB as well.
The avian stretched, finishing off the cookie. “Alright. I’m headed home, see you later.”
BigB paused where he was sweeping the floor. “Are you sure? It's awfully late, isn’t it?” Lizzie nodded, agreeing.
The blonde shrugged. “It’s fine. Not too dark to see yet, and besides, it’s not a long walk home.” He waved over his shoulder as he slipped out the door before the two could question his confidence.
Sweet of them to be concerned and all, but Grian wasn’t too scared of a couple of villains.
As he walked, the avian pulled out his phone and began scrolling through a news app. There wasn’t anything of note- and if there was, it hadn’t been posted about yet. The blonde felt fine scrolling on his phone while his feet- his talons, really- carried him home.
The blonde paused with a sigh, debating whether it would be worth it to let them out. On the one hand, they'd be more comfortable bare, and he could use his talons in a fight. On the other, they made a distinct sound against the material of the streets and sidewalks, and might draw him unwanted attention. Besides, a lot of people would see black Buteo talons and instantly suspect Grian to be the infamous villain CuteGuy, who was known for dark talons and hawks’ wings.
Well. Not like they were one hundred percent wrong- one could argue that the blonde wasn’t exactly innocent, though he hardly considered himself a bad guy- but that didn’t mean Grian wanted that sort of attention.
The blonde picked up his pace again, talons still hidden in his shoes. No need for senseless accusations he didn’t deserve on the off chance he passed someone too observant.
He walked a few more minutes in near-silence, nearly back to his apartment now-
A flurry of footsteps, rapidly growing louder, caught his attention quickly. Grian looked up from his phone in time to see…
Fuck.
Out of seemingly nowhere- in reality, the blonde knew, it was just a well-hidden alleyway- a human figure with different pieces of technology strapped to his limbs appeared, sprinting at full speed. Behind him, two heroes were hot on his trail- Grian immediately recognized the High Hero Red Fang and the Low Hero Nymph.
The blonde also recognized the moment the villain’s eyes landed on him.
Outage, a High Villain known for kidnapping and holding hostages.
Double fuck.
The human surged towards Grian before he could react, seizing the avian in a headlock and lifting him to use as a human shield. The blonde dropped his phone, both hands lifting to pry at Outage’s technology-enhanced grip for even the slightest relief from the chokehold the High Villain had put him in.
“Stop moving, or the civilian dies!” Outage shouted mercilessly. The heroes obediently skidded to a halt.
Dies? Little over the top, don’t you think? Grian thought ruefully through his panic.
Nymph stepped forward cautiously, hands lifted in a placating gesture. “Calm down, there. No need to involve him. Why don’t you let him go, and we’ll leave you be?” She spoke soothingly. The villain holding Grian scoffed.
“Sure you will.” He spat. Red Fang twisted his grip on a weapon, but stayed back, since Outage would probably be more aggressive near the High Hero. Not that Grian knew much about different villains’ mannerisms- he definitely wasn’t a tad bit curious, even a little excited, around that subject. Not at all.
Nymph continued. “Listen. You’ll be in a lot more trouble if you kill a civilian. As is, we can just… accidentally let you go. We can’t exactly do that if you hurt him.” However, the hero went rigid and rapidly reversed the step she’d just taken as Outage tightened the headlock.
Grian gave the Low Hero a pleading, terrified look. He actually couldn’t breathe, now. Curse the stupid decision to not free up his talons- suspicions be damned, at least he’d have been able to defend himself. Seemed like no matter what he did, these days, it was always the wrong choice.
In a blur of movement, Outage pulled something off his belt, dropping Grian as he used his other hand to pull at something before hurling the object towards the heroes. The villain fled, and before Grian could see what was happening, Red Fang had lunged forward and Nymph had pulled the blonde down, covering him with her body. The avian heard a muffled (yet still rather loud) bang, before the ginger stood and glanced at her companion. Red Fang got up from where he’d covered the object- likely a grenade, Grian realized- with some sort of helmet. Probably one he’d been instructed to wear but hadn’t. Because Grian also definitely wasn’t a tad bit curious about the heroes’ behavior patterns, either.
Nymph carefully pulled the avian to his feet. “Sir, are you okay?” The hero’s tone was formal but not unkind.
Grian nodded. “Y- yeah, I am. Thank you.” He let a little awe bleed into his voice- so maybe it was faked, but in his defense, both heroes might find it odd if he went unaffected by their presence. He felt perfectly justified in pretending.
The blonde glanced at Red Fang, eyes wide, as the High Hero dusted himself off and walked over. “I apologize for such an experience. You must be rather shook up after that, yeah? I can escort you home, if you’d like.” Figured, the Canis Hybrid was probably a little suspicious as to why Grian was out this late.
The avian shook his head. “No, I’m alright- thank you, of course, but my house isn’t far. I’m just going home from work. I’m sure you have much more important things to do.” To the blonde’s relief, Red Fang’s features- at least, his visible ones- smoothed, content with the answer.
“Alright then. Take care of yourself, civilian, and don’t stay out later than you have to. Outage isn’t the only villain on the streets tonight.” Grian nodded, still holding that awestruck look as Nymph nodded at the High Hero, and the two chased after where Outage had disappeared.
He dropped the act, though, as soon as they were out of sight. He spent the next handful of minutes or so walking with rhythmic steps back to his apartment. It only took him a few seconds to find his keys and unlock the door. Once he had, Grian kicked it shut behind him, simultaneously draping his apron across the counter with one hand and stripping off his oversized red sweatshirt with the other.
He paused and stared at himself in the mirror. There were scars on his bare chest, but they were faint and few, raised silver lines from his days as a Low Villain. (There were others- scars from before even then, but they weren’t as visible). Those days- the Low Villain days of small thefts and robberies, giving the avian just enough cash to live by- had ended quickly. Grian had decided he didn’t like that life after one too many Low Heroes sent to deal with him.
Not to say he was any more innocent than he used to be.
No, Grian just liked attention. And Low Villains didn’t get nearly as much attention as, say, Outage or Wolf did
Because of that, Cute Guy had debuted as a High Villain not long after Aeor had seized the spot of Top Villain. And now, he wasn’t dismissed as “throw a Low Hero at him, he’ll run away”- people feared him. Heroes feared him. It was exhilarating.
Grian might never admit it, but Aeor had nudged him in the right direction more than a few times. He owed his infamy to the Chimera, but the Top Villain owed him considerably more.
Grian flexed his chest muscles, watching silver scars ripple and massive Buteo wings shift. He huffed softly, proud of how well-kept his massive wings were. Considering that he spent most nights rocketing across the city faster than any other avian should be able to, it was no easy task. Well, the heists and fights also probably messed them up a little. But those didn’t matter as much. They barely fazed Grian.
The avian pulled his Cute Guy outfit from a hidden compartment in his closet.
He supposed he might as well see just how chaotic it really was tonight.
~〜~⋆⁺₊⋆☾⋆⁺₊⋆~〜~
- Scar -
The vex moved quickly, stealing bites of pizza in between getting dressed in hero attire. The TV droned in the background as Scar fastened the armor-clad top, rushing to simultaneously finish his dinner and get dressed.
To add to his problems, his phone began ringing. I really don’t have time for this, Scar thought in exasperation. With an exasperated sigh, the brunette stretched to grab it, answering the call and pinning the device between his ear and shoulder.
“Get dressed. Someone claims to have seen Aeor, we need you out there.”
“I know, I know! I’m working on it, Cub. I have the TV on.” The vex responded. His older brother by two years began to give him details, pausing only as Scar interrupted him, not wanting to miss anything as he transferred the call to his headset. The minute he was ready, he threw the rest of the pizza back in the fridge and threw himself out the (open! Very much open!) window.
Great foresight on him to open it earlier, otherwise it was entirely possible he would have not realized and broken the glass on his way out.
Scar lifted his bow, firing an arrow attached to a grappling line and swinging to halt his descent. On the upswing, a sharp tug at the right angle freed the arrow from the wall and the brunette landed on the adjourning roof in a crouch. The vex broke into a run as Cub directed him and fed him details- as he mentioned who was also on the way to the site, Scar scoffed.
He raised a hand to activate his mic. “Cub, everyone should be there. If not to find and deal with Aeor, then for crowd control.”
“I know, Scar. How close are you?”
“Not far.”
Scar slowed and shot another grapple-arrow at his feet, taking hold of the wire that unspooled to rappel down the building into the mostly-abandoned park. Archangel and Coder were already there, searching for and traces of where Aeor might have gone to.
Coder glanced up. “We’ve got a few Low Heroes on crowd control. There’s a surprising number of people both already out and who’ve come out to see what’s happening. Dagger’s vanished- Goodness, Hot Guy, there’s too much going on.”
However, as Scar opened his mouth to respond, as if to prove the Top Hero’s point-
An explosion rang in the distance.
A short crackle of static sound in Scar’s ear, before Cub started talking again.
“Explosion. Wolf’s robbing a bank-” There was a pause before Cub told him which one.
Scar turned and relayed the information to Coder and Archangel.
Coder nodded. “Alright. You can deal with it?”
The brunette nodded firmly, turning and running down a street as he began to make his way towards the bank.