He clenched his fists and grit his teeth, standing atop the city as he faced off the two most nefarious supervillains the city has yet to see. His brother stood forward in the spotlight, while he waited behind his left shoulder, back a few feet. He liked standing back in the dark. It gave him a chance to observe.

It was the most important battle yet, or so it seemed. Come to think of it, it was starting to feel like every face-off was more important than the last. This one is the most important though. The fate of the city is in the hands of two heroes. It's two vs. two. Anyone had the opportunity to come out on top. 

He looked at his brother, who wore a deep red mask over his eyes with a matching red hooded cape. Below the cape is a blue long-sleeve with flame-like patterns running up the arms. This made sense for him because his superhero name was Flamethrower. His superhero powers were pretty self-explanatory. He threw flames.

He looked away from his brother and back to the two supervillains they just so happened to be facing off that night. The villains the two heroes would usually fight would often rotate between three or four different people. On most nights, it was Bowser, who didn't even bother giving himself a super-villain name or hiding his identity. He was powerful, but mostly harmless. His plans were never actually thought through. He relied on impulse, which made him easy to stop. 

The Phantom was his least favorite villain to fight. He had a few guesses as to who The Phantom could be, but he wasn't going to go out in public and expose him. Secret identities were serious. It was important to keep superhero lives separate from their everyday lives, so exposing The Phantom was the last thing he would want to do. Besides, no prison cell could hold a ghost. The Phantom was a particularly annoying villain for him because the villain knew about his fear of ghosts and used that against him. On top of that, because The Phantom wasn't exactly alive, fighting him was particularly challenging.

The next villain, (or villains,) that were most common for him and his brother to fight were the Greedy Gamblers. The two of them never made any plans that would actually put the city at risk, but had a knack for stealing and causing minor inconveniences. The taller of the two, the one who often dressed in purple, tended to get under his nerves, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. 

These two villains, though, they were new. They were smarter and they were stronger. 

Flamethrower held his right hand up and made a dark red flame appear, bouncing between his fingertips. "Get ready, Mr. L," he warned. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long night."

~ A Few Hours Earlier ~

Mario and Luigi were simple plumbers who lived in the city of Brooklyn. They grew up in the city, so they knew it well. All the streets, all the local businesses, everyone who lived near them, everything. It was home, after all. Not just their house, but the entire city was home. 

Luigi sat in the dining room with a fresh sandwich, listening to the faint sound of the news coming from the TV in the other room. He never bothered really watching, since the news had been pretty much reporting the same thing for the last few months, debates between Mayor Pauline and her upcoming opponent for the election, Peach. 

He didn't care who would be elected mayor next, they both were good people. He was actually fairly good friends with both of them. (Though Mario knew them better. There used to be somewhat of a love triangle going on between them. Honestly, he stopped paying attention to his brother's relationship drama. It was better to stay out of that stuff.)

The only reason he and his brother kept the news on was to keep an eye out for any supervillain action. Not that it mattered during the day, villains and heroes only fought at night. Daytime was a time dedicated to their everyday lives. 

There was a fine line between a hero and a civilian, between Flamethrower and Mario.

Between Mr. L and Luigi. 

He tried not to even think about his superhero persona during the day. He didn't think of superheroes or supervillains, he didn't think of bad guys plotting to take over the city, he didn't think of any of that. 

He wiped the breadcrumbs from his sandwich off his mustache, then stood up and walked toward the growing pile of mail situated on the counter. "Mario, have we paid our water bill?" he asked, raising his voice slightly to make sure he was heard. 

"I did it last night," Mario replied quickly, and Luigi knew exactly what that meant. It meant he didn't pay the bill last night, because last night the both of them were busy turning the Greedy Gamblers in to the police for the fifth time that month, (Why do they keep breaking out? Someone needs to update the prison system.)

"Okay," Luigi breathed, setting the bill down and placing his fingers on his temples. He let out a yawn as Mario practically skipped into the dining room, grabbing a toolkit and waving his younger brother forward. 

"Come on, we're going to be late," he urged.

Luigi yawned once again, then grabbed his own toolkit and followed. His kit was almost identical to Mario's but held different tools. Mario had more of the general supplies while Luigi had different kinds of wrenches and such for different-sized screws. Honestly, they probably had more tools than they needed, but it was always better to be overprepared than underprepared. 

Neither of them spoke of their superhero lives when they were Mario and Luigi in the day. They never had to. When something went wrong, the most they would need to do was exchange a brief nod before running off and changing into their costumes. (Call them what you want. Disguises, super suits. They were costumes.)

"What's the job, today?" Luigi asked, hoping that it would be a quick one so he could go home and catch up on some rest. Usually, the same five people would call their plumbing company for service, and usually, fixes would be very quick. Most times it was Mayor Pauline or Peach who called, and whenever that happened, they didn't really have major plumbing problems. Luigi was fairly certain that they just called because they wanted to see Mario. He couldn't tell if it was sweet or desperate. Perhaps both. He was thankful that Daisy never did stuff like that. 

"Some new guy," Mario claimed, holding his phone out in front of himself and reading the job description over once again. "He apparently owns a bakery. I have no idea how he got our number, but business is business."

Luigi nodded, then shifted the toolkit from his right hand to his left hand. 

The sweet and soft scent of bread danced through the streets before they even arrived at the newly opened bakery. Luigi recognized the bakery to be the old barber shop, and he briefly wondered what happened to Gary and his business. He wasn't aware that it was sold.

"Are you two the Mario Brothers?" A slightly soft voice asked from behind the pair as the two stopped before the bakery. Luigi nearly flinched and quickly turned around to see a tall man with deep blue skin and messy blue hair. It wasn't uncommon for people to look like this. All kinds of people lived in Brooklyn now. It was normal. 

"Yep," Mario breathed. "Are you the baker who called us?"

"Blumiere," the baker said with a soft, slightly crooked smile. "And yes! We just have an issue with the sinks. They're not... uh... doing the thing where water comes out."

He brought his hands together and awkwardly started to fidget, and Luigi almost wanted to smile, because that awkward behavior reminded him so much of himself. 

"Oh, easy peasy!" Mario chimed. "That's a one-man job. Luigi, you go wait outside and rest up, I'll handle this."

It wasn't a one-man job, but Luigi knew that Mario was just making an excuse so he could catch up on some rest, and he wasn't about to argue. 

Luigi nodded and set his toolkit down by the bakery entrance, then slowly dragged his feet away. Across the street was a small library, he knew the place well. The idea of sitting down with a good book and recharging was so enticing, that he simply couldn't resist. As he walked in, the smell of paper quickly made his shoulders relax and he walked over to the sci-fi section. He searched the authors by name until he came to the one he wanted, then began looking for one specific book. 

He stilled when he couldn't find it amongst the other books written by the same author, then searched once again, hoping that his eyes had just glossed over it somehow. 

Nope. Not there. Had someone checked it out? 

He let out a slightly disappointed sigh and bowed his head slightly.

"Looking for volume six of Take to the Stars?" a voice asked from behind him, and Luigi flinched.

He hesitantly turned around to see a smaller man, about his age. He had black hair and an eyepatch over his left eye, which made Luigi wonder what happened. 

"Um, yes, actually," Luigi awkwardly answered.

Luigi brought his eyes to the book in the man's hand. Surely enough, it was the very one he was looking for. 

"You've got good taste," the man chuckled. His laugh was quiet, but there was something almost theatrical about it. It seemed like something he had worked to perfect. 

"Thank you," Luigi mutter. "Mr...?"

"I'm Henri," he smiled. "Just Henri. No Mr."

"Luigi," Luigi said, bringing a hand to his chest and bowing his head slightly. He felt silly and slightly awkward, but he always felt that way.

"Nice to meet you," Henri said, and he handed the book over. Luigi took it and looked down at the hardback copy. It was still fairly new-looking as if it hadn't gotten a lot of use out of it. He silently wondered if Henri was the only person to read it. Not many people bothered to read anymore. He hated to say it, but with TV and social media, the art of literature was slowly becoming less and less relevant, which was unfortunate because he loved the feeling of being transported into another world while reading. He loved having that sense of adventure without the risk. 

"Are you new here?" Luigi asked. "I mean, I've never seen you before."

"My friend and I just moved to this part of town," Henri answered, and he pointed through the window at the bakery. "He bought the building just over there. Don't ask me how he could afford it, because I have no idea. We're just... trying to get a fresh start. You should come over sometime. We have pastries!" 

"My brother's actually over there right now," Luigi smiled, chuckling at the coincidence. "He's fixing the sink."

"Did Blumiere actually call a plumber?!" Henri asked. "I told him we could figure it out tonight."

"He did," Luigi answered, not sure whether or not that was meant as some kind of insult. He wasn't good at picking up on social cues. 

Henri shook his head and placed his hands on his hips, smiling slightly. "Oh well. We probably would have had to call one eventually anyway."

"Yeah," Luigi breathed, though he wasn't sure why he was agreeing. 

His watch buzzed and he looked down. 

"Shoot looks like I have to go," Luigi muttered, bringing his gaze back to Henri. "Um, thanks for the book."

"Anytime," Henri shrugged. Luigi nodded, then quickly turned away, clutching the book tightly. 

"Oh, wait, before you leave, any advice?" Henri asked, making Luigi stop in his tracks. "I'm still new here."

Luigi stilled, then nodded. "Yeah. Just stay indoors at night," he shrugged.