It had been a day since Tango's death, and Ren was still running rampant, so the heroes and vigilantes had split up to go find the villains and deal with them. They had been searching all day, but had yet to run into the villains- they always just about missed them.

Grian glanced quietly between Scar and Etho. "So... what's the plan?" He asked awkwardly, and Scar shrugged.

"Presumably, we find Ren and just- kill him? And apprehend Cleo and Martyn while we're at it, hopefully." Etho added with a shrug. "I still want to kill Cleo though." He added darkly.

"Well, where was Ren last sighted?" Grian asked, and Scar pulled out his phone with a bored expression.

"Near Impulse's tech shop. Again. Seems to be a recurring theme." The brunette commented with a tired shrug before walking ahead.

Etho and Grian exchanged a mildly concerned look. "Is he... normally like this? Because from what I've seen-"

"No, he's not, but to be fair, his friend did die like- two hours ago." Grian said with an uncomfortable shrug, glancing around to see that Scar had disappeared around a corner. "Oh- Scar! Wait up-" He added with a sigh. "There he goes. I'm really worried he's gonna do something reckless." The dirty blonde said to Etho in a whisper before running after the brunette.

When he reached Scar, the green eyed man was muttering in an irritated, slightly cracked voice under his breath. Only a few words were discernible from the mumbling. "Stupid... where the hell is... I'm gonna kill..."

"Scar?" Grian called quietly, and the hero paused with an irritated hiss.

"What?" Scar snapped, turning around.

"Why'd you run off? We need to stick together. Please don't do something reckless. Like running off when there's a trio of villains running around causing chaos and killing people." The dirty blonde paused as his friend rolled his green eyes. Huh. Plant spell today.

"Oh, shut up." Scar muttered, and Grian blinked, more than a little hurt at the annoyance of his normally cheerful friend, although he understood why the brunette was acting in this way. "I'm just gonna find the villains, kill all of them, and call it a day."

Grian paused. "I mean... it wasn't all of them that set the explosives up. It was just Cleo. From what Jimmy's told me, she's the only one with any knowledge of explosives." The winged man added quietly. He blinked at the lack of light, summoning a small sphere of purple flames to light up the area.

"I don't care. They all deserve to die." Scar spat, staring at the ground.

Grian sighed. "Scar, I know you're mad. I would be too, but-"

"How the hell would you know? You've never lost anyone in your life. Don't even try to pretend you understand even the tiniest bit of what I'm going through right now. Because you don't." The brunette hissed.

Grian paused for a moment, wincing slightly at his friend's harsh comment. He's just lashing out. Don't get upset. Don't get upset, don't get upset, don't get upset. He waited for a few seconds more before speaking, although he hated how small his voice sounded when he did so. "I know. I know I don't know what you're going through. I'm trying to avoid ever going through it. That's why I want you to be smart about this." He paused again. "I don't want to lose anyone." The dirty blonde whispered.

Scar's frustrated scowl softened slightly, vanishing and being replaced by a mildly sheepish expression. "I know. I'm just... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I'm just... I don't know." He finished quietly. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I'll, uh... try to be less reckless." The hero added with a crooked smile, laughing.

Grian smiled slightly as well, even though it couldn't be seen under his mask. The winged man blinked as he heard footsteps. "Good. I'm... I'm glad." He turned around as Etho approached them. "Found him!" He added to the white haired man, grinning and extinguishing the flame as he glanced at the flashlight in Etho's hands (it was relatively late, so it was quite dark out).

"Ah, okay, good. Because the villains have been spotted again. Somewhere else. On top of like... a building? Cleo's dropping TNT off the top of it." The former villain added scathingly. "Thankfully not many people are out. But... I think we're closer than the others." Etho said quietly. "So if we're quick, we can stop them."

Scar and Grian exchanged a glance, and both nodded rapidly. "Let's go." They both exclaimed brightly.

——

Scar and Etho managed to reach the top of in a very haphazard way- Scar practically carried Etho up using vines while making a plant like staircase for himself.

Grian simply flew to the top- the convenience of having wings, he supposed.

Somehow the villains had yet to notice them- they were talking quietly amongst themselves with the occasional cackle from Cleo as she dropped off the building.

There was a small structure housing the entrance to a stairway that lead to the bottom of the building that the ragtag trio could hide behind as they came up with a plan.

"Okay, so they're... somewhat distracted. Etho, you go for Cleo, Scar... you wanna take out Martyn?" Grian queried. "I do not mean 'kill' by take out. Try and knock them out. Although, Etho..." He winced at the memories of Pearl's screams. "You can kill Cleo if you want." Etho muttered something along the lines of 'I was planning on it,' as Grian continued. "And I'll deal with Ren." The gray-eyed man added sharply.

Scar nodded as Etho peeked around the corner of the structure before jumping out and throwing a knife at Cleo. It hit the zombie hybrid in the shoulder and she rolled over with a shriek of pain from her position crouched next to the edge of the building. Etho flickered out of sight as Ren and Martyn both turned and stared- staring for long enough that Scar and Grian could sneak up behind the pair.

Scar wrapped one arm around Martyn's neck, clearly attempting to choke the villain into unconsciousness. The blonde let out a startled gasp as the brunette did so, and Ren spun around with an irritated hiss, his dog-like ears flattening against his head. "You. You know, I swear you'll be the death of me, always popping up at inconvenient... times."

The villain paused as his gaze landed on Grian, who was studying his bow with a bored expression.

Grian smiled slightly as Martyn stopped struggling, and the winged man looked up at Ren. "Hello, brother."

IM SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATES SJSKDKJQKSOA MY MOTIVATION VANISHED

ANYWAY

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Ren and Grian brotherly angst time 💃