The morning air is cold and damp, the sun shining weakly behind a thin veil of cloud. Dan crouches against a brick wall, his breath coming out in puffs of vapour, and pulls his hood over his wavy brown hair. The rest of the villains are staggered around him in the alleyway, bundled up in order to look as inconspicuous as possible. The chill seems to seep into Dan's very bones, and he warms up his skin ever so slightly to ward it off.

Jack sits beside him, watching the street with one shimmering blue eye. Out of all of them, the Irishman is Dan's best friend. They were the ones that got kidnapped and shoved in a van together, and since then they've had an inseparable bond. If Dan is ever feeling lonely or has anything on his mind, Jack is the first person he goes to. He gets along with the other five villains, but none of them compare to Jack.

Stephanie leans against the wall opposite to Dan, a hood covering only part of her long brown hair. She tucks her hands deep into her pockets and exhales, creating her own puff of vapour. Matt and Ryan, two newbies who were only brought in two years ago, stand with a considerable space between them and the only female on the team. Cry, a villain with a mask that he wears 24/7, stands beside Jack and watches the bustling crowds with an unseen gaze.

"Head out one at a time and disperse yourselves among the crowd," Matthew, their mission's control guy, says in their earpieces. "Don't all leave at once."

Jack straightens up and steps out, pulling a hood over his vibrant green hair. Cry disappears into thin air, the rustling of their clothing the only thing signifying that he left. Dan exhales and stands, his signature "all black" outfit helping him blend in with the citizens of San Francisco. The other villains trail behind him and scatter themselves in the crowds.

Missions like these always put Dan on edge. The man in charge of them, known only as 'the Boss', never tells them why they're going out. He simply sends them out and gives instructions to Matthew that will get passed down to the rest of the villains. To Dan, it all seems utterly pointless.

Then, someone screams and sends the entire street into chaos. A man, his suit emblazoned with a single letter, attempts to tackle Jack, but the Irishman just sprints away looking confused. Dan grits his teeth and heats up his fists. Antiheroes. Of course.

He dodges a blow from one of the antiheroes and backs up, creating a protective wall of fire between him and them. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Jack getting manhandled by a dark-haired hero, which causes him to inhale sharply and maintain his protective shield.

A very tall antihero with short brown hair and a beard hesitates outside of Dan's fire wall, unable to get through without getting burned. The villain maintains it despite his growing exhaustion, afraid of what will happen if he doesn't. 

"Come on, villain.  Fight like a man," the antihero taunts. 

"No thanks, I'm good," Dan replies.

The antihero scowls and takes a step forward, but as he does two of his teammates (Dan could swear he didn't see either of them before) race off down the street.  The antihero glances at them, looks back to Dan, and follows them.

The villain extinguishes his fire and looks around, beads of sweat on his forehead despite the coolness of the morning. The rest of his teammates are still locked in combat, and that's when he sees that water hero again. Dan shoots a ball of flame in his direction and the hero catches it in a sphere of water.

In his peripheral vision, he can see Jack's eyepatch dangling from his pocket as Anti, the monster he shares a body with, takes over. A sadistic smile spreads across the demon's face and Dan feels himself tensing up. He doesn't even notice the water hero approach until he gets a face full of water. It evaporates instantly, filling the air with a hissing sound.

"What was that for?" Dan demands, spinning to face the hero.

"Um... I don't know. I'm not used to fighting," the hero stammers, his blue eyes wide.

The villain stares at him, unable to form words. There's a demon on the loose and he's having a conversation with a hero who isn't used to fighting. Dan nearly laughs from the absurdity of it all. "I can't believe this."

The hero opens and closes his mouth, shifting uncomfortably as he struggles for words. He exhales, obviously frustrated, and balls his hands into fists. "What can't you believe?"

"This entire situation. It's absurd."

The hero opens his mouth to say something, but before he can one of the hero's voices rings out and makes him turn.

"Phil! It's Mark!"

The water hero glances back at Dan momentarily before hurrying off after his teammate. Dan watches him go before looking to where Jack is crouched on the ground, the person he assumes to be Mark backed against a wall and shaking.  Jack says something, his eyes wide with terror, before getting up and racing off. Dan's gut twists.

"Jack!" he calls, but the villain is already gone.

Dan glances at the hero he now knows as Phil, who kneels beside Mark and lowers a sphere of water onto him while the other heroes gather round. Normally, his curiosity would lead him to watch, but Jack is in distress right now. That trumps his strange desire to talk to Phil.

One of the heroes glances over, and he takes that as his cue to run off.

—

Phil's brain buzzes as he lowers a sphere of water over Mark. His arm is fractured in multiple places. His body is covered in gashes from the concrete. He talked to that intriguing fire-bending villain again. Phil blinks a few times and shakes his head. Focus.

"What the hell happened?" Ken demands.

"His eye can make you his puppet," Mark replies, closing his eyes and leaning back with a long exhale.

Phil's jaw clenches. He can't let his mind wander to anyone or anything other than the current situation. Mark is injured because of one of the villains, and if there's one person that needs to know what happened, it's Matthias. He stands and brushes his hands together.

"You need to tell Matthias EXACTLY what happened."

Phil and Felix get Mark off the ground and together, they help him back to Curatrix.