Chapter 5
“I did tell you about it!” James exclaimed.
“When?” Sirius yelled, layers of confusion lining his brain.
“You already know I’m friendly with the local vigilantes, I told you I had dinner with one once and you nodded and moved on.” He said.
Sirius grasped his nose between his fingers, frustration bubbling up. James was famous among the hero department for being friendly with vigilantes. In Sirius’ opinion, James Potter would find a way to be friendly with anything in the world. His initial surprise was being the only one to have never heard of Lunaire in his life.
“He’s a nice guy, you know. He runs around Hogsmeade most of the time. The place is small but the rate of small crimes there is insane.” James said, trying to find something to talk about.
“It’s a district famous for nightclubs and bars right next to a prep school.” Sirius chose to talk about Hogsmeade instead of its vigilante.
James shrugged, before fixing his eyes on his brother, “You are…ok, right? The newspapers have been going insane, it’s the first time since ages that a villain and hero fought and it’s…you and Dementis.”
Sirius felt the pang of heaviness in his lungs. How was he feeling? Not well, to say the least. He had quit being a hero after the last fight six years ago, he remembered the time in the hospital wing with Rosethorn absolutely beside herself grieving that she couldn’t save Wicker.
He’d woken up screaming in a hospital gown as an apron of nurses tried to placate him. The doctor had told him Dementis’ power had permanently damaged his lungs and that one of the four heroes had succumbed to his injuries.
And now he had fought her again, and the fight was so fast and he hadn’t even been able to catch her.
“I mean, I’m alive. So it’s all ok.” Was all he could manage to tell James, “How is the search for her going, by the way?”
His fellow hero shrugged, “They’re searching the directions she ran in. She just disappeared. And the way she randomly ran away was pretty unnatural since she was pretty wounded. They’re setting up extra patrols near the districts in the direction you heard her come from, we’re suspecting she’s crashing somewhere near the Lestrange Manor since that was where she was spotted once after she escaped prison.”
Sirius blinked, he had forgotten James was actually good at summarising hero searches. One forgets a lot of good things about their friends when they’ve seen said friend try to drink milkshake while doing a keg stand.
A cell phone rang, sounding the Sofia the First theme song across the house. James took out his phone from his jeans and answered the call, a smile forming his lips.
‘I gotta take this.’ He mouthed and left.
Sirius frowned as the man ran out towards the front door, excited as a puppy. He raised his arms to ask what the fuck this man was doing.
“I’ll tell you later, but I gotta go. If you run into Lunaire again, tell him I said hi. He’ll know me, I paid for the tacos.” James reasonably explained everything Sirius needed to know, minus the phone call he was actually asking about, and bolted through the front door.
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It wasn’t until three months later that he thought of the blindfolded vigilante again. Part of the reason was him choosing different time shifts or districts to patrol, part of it was Dementis being spotted with another villain setting a mall on fire.
She had a healer. That was the most logical and possible explanation. She had been spotted healthy and uninjured within a month after that brutal fight at Hogsmeade and was now causing havoc in the districts.
He was patrolling over Hogsmeade again, a few concerned reassurances and an upgrade on technology, although they still didn’t know how Bellatrix had caused a power outage and stopped hero devices from functioning, and without that knowledge he was sent back to the place like nothing had happened.
The wind whistled in his ears. It wasn’t as cold as it had been with Dementis around the corner. A few people spotted Grim Reaper jumping rooftop to rooftop and waved at him excitedly. He waved back although he had no idea who they were.
“Sirius, can you hear me?” Mary’s voice echoed through the earpiece.
“Yes. Where do you want me to go?” He responded, her presence comforting him as he gazed at the new buildings being constructed in place of the ones that had been burnt down just a few months ago.
“Well, I suggest checking the back of Borgin and Burkes. Multiple branches closed down but there’s still shops running. The place just reeks of illegal shit to me.” She claimed.
“The one in Hogsmeade is still open?” Grim Reaper froze his stance at the implication.
“They’re a rich company.” Mary said bitterly, “And they sponsor the hero department alot.”
“So they just let them go?” He asked incredulously.
“Unfortunately.” She grumbled.
He reminded himself to move, reaching the shop within minutes. The glass front door had been replaced and dark curtains covered the stained windows. The place was clearly closed, but not out of business. He placed his hands on his hips and watched the stupid building’s front sign.
“I cannot fucking believe it.” He groaned, “The place didn’t even bother hiding it’s shit! It had them in cardboard boxes with smiley face tape!”
He heard Mary snort. Her chair reclining echoed through the mic for Sirius to pick up.
He dropped to the street from the roof and inspected around the outside of the place. A guy on a date in the restaurant next to the shop spotted him through the window, doing a double take to see the fang-masked hero.
He made his way to the back of the shop, a small area that was sheltered by the back roof of the shop covering a bunch of kids smoking weed from the road behind the shop.
“Aha!” Mary made a sound of victory as the kids startled at his presence.
“Oi! Do not do that shit! Go home and get some sleep.” He dismissed the kids all grumbling.
“Party pooper.” A kid muttered under his breath. His friend giggled next to him.
“Count yourself lucky you’re being let off with a warning, I will complain about this the next time I catch any of you.” He called loudly.
He sat himself down by the sheltered area. The vague smell of weed still hung around in the air. He recalled his friends smoking in a similar corner like this when he was still attending the school. Their spots were smarter than this, though. He sat there wondering when he became the responsible adult.
He was all out of the place since he came back into action. He was the one slapping his forehead at James’ antics, placating Mary when she was guilt-ridden, he was the one telling kids off for smoking weed out in the open.
A warm gust of wind knocked around the place. Humidity rode the atmosphere making the air dense. The Grim Reaper sighed and leaned back. His back took support for the walls of the shop. Mary’s soft gasp relaxed his lungs. He closed his eyes as the shadows shifted.
“You know, you acted more like a hall monitor than a hero there.” A man with a red mask commented.
“Ayyyy! Is that the vigilante you told me about?” Mary cheered loudly from the earpiece.
Lunaire raised an eyebrow, “So you did tell someone about me. I thought you just took the credit for yourself and moved the fuck on.”
Sirius cracked one eye open and saw a tall figure seated next to him. His back was bent forward. Terrible posture. His lips quivered upwards before he even sensed it.
“I covered for you because you would have been arrested if I didn’t, and didn’t tell them the story because I would have been in trouble for not arresting you.” He corrected the man, “And how did you even hear through my earpiece?”
The vigilante opened his mouth to say something before Mary interrupted, “Hey Lunaire do you think Grim Reaper is a suitable name for our hero over here.”
“Mary!” Sirius exclaimed, slapping a hand on his mouth. He just revealed his operator’s name to a criminal.
The vigilante took no notice, thinking through the question he was given. He hummed. His sandy hair fell on his forehead, blurring the line between blonde and brown, “Looks wise? Yes, the fangs remind me of that. But Cerberus would suit him better.”
Grim Reaper paused. Cerberus. The three-headed dog guarding the Underworld in Greek mythology. Funny, since his real name was the dog constellation.
“That would have been his hero name if he had any sort of creativity.” He could hear Mary nod in her seat, taking no notice of his slip either.
She really was one of the worst operators in history. How was she so respected among the hero department?
Lunaire chuckled.
Sirius frowned, “You realise I have to arrest you now, right? We’re even, and you are illegally patrolling the district.”
Lunaire’s chuckle froze and he turned his head slowly to face Grim Reaper. His facial expression didn’t change even a fraction before the shadows engulfed him and almost comically swallowed him away. The hero sprung from his seat and checked the place, only for the vigilante to have vanished into thin air.
“You scared him away, idiot.” Mary echoed his thoughts.
“What is he, a vulnerable street dog?” He grumbled. The humidity in the air dissipated and he realised it was the vigilante’s doing. The shadows shifted again, lighter than before.
“Well, it was nice meeting him. I swear I feel like I’ve seen him before.” Mary sighed, “Can you check that alleyway again? The one you did last time?”
“You mean before absolutely nothing happened in the alley but Dementis attacked the whole district?” He sarcastically tried to confirm.
“Yes, I mean that. I just have a bad feeling about that place.” She claimed.
“How are you an operator again?”
“Just check it. There’s no way Dementis will attack the place again.”
“You don’t know her like I do.” He groaned, moving his feet to check the instructed place anyway.
“You don’t know her like I do.” Mary mimicked jokingly, “Who is she, your cheating girlfriend?”
“I don’t do incest, I thought I told you I am breaking family traditions.” He retorted with a laugh.
He expected her to knowingly chuckle or even scrunch up her nose at the joke like James did. Instead he was hit with
“How is incest a family tradition?”
He made a face underneath his mask and visor.
“Grim Reaper?”
“Which alleyway were you talking about, again?” Sirius interrupted her train of thoughts.
He flinched comically when he heard loud typing noises through the earpiece.
“Don’t tell me you’re googling the Black Family ancestry in the middle of patrol.”
He was answered with horrified screaming, “Your parents are cousins?”
A glass bottle shattered from the alleyway he was nearby. The alleyway Mary told him to check out.
“Mary.” He tried to tell her.
Her horrified screaming still echoed through the office, and his earpiece.
“Mary, now is not the time to be digging up dirt on my family. They’re all dead or wanted dead anyway.”
More glass shattering. Something nauseating curled up in his stomach and his blood turned to ice. Dementis? Certainly not.
The feeling was different yet all the same. It felt like invisible dust was gathering on his skin and making itself home. He had the urge to vomit. The air coiled around leaving a stench, but not Dementis’. It was cold and artificial like a sterile white painted house. The sickening scent of a familiar perfume wafted through the air.
“Mary.” His voice turned gravely serious.
Even Mary froze, “I can feel it through the technology.”
“You can?” He asked.
She made a noise of affirmation, “I could feel it last time too with Dementis. Her mind-sickening ability caught up to me.”
Bellatrix did not have any mind-sickening ability, especially one that cut through miles and miles of distance through an earpiece, but he kept that part to himself.
More glass shattered as the air turned thick as batter. The disgusting artificial-smelling perfume wafted everywhere, making him want to puke.
“Clytemnestra and Agamemnon.” Mary whispered.
Despite the dangerous situation, Sirius still felt a dark smile coat his face, “Those are their villain names?”
“Yes. They sound a lot like actual people’s names, don’t they?” Mary said cluelessly, “A villain couple. Clytemnestra was also spotted with Dementis in that mall fire.”
This made him pause. The wretched feeling was beginning to fade. He forced his feet to move. Bellatrix was spotted with Clytemnestra, who was present in the alleyway with her partner Agamemnon. They were getting more violent. They all fed him the same terrible gut feeling and reeked of signature scents.
“I called for backup. Starchaser and Knight are on their way.” Mary informed, “Clytemnestra and Agamemnon apparated away, you can check the alleyway but be careful, there might be traps.”
“Wha-they’re gone?” The Grim Reaper leapt over to the flat rooftop he had been sitting on before Dementis attacked.
They really were gone. He imagined Clytemnestra’s platinum blonde hair. Her upper face obstructed by some sort of mask matching her husband’s. He tried to picture her haughty look as she lined her thin lips in a straight line like his mother would do as she tilted her head up high.
Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. Clearly, she had picked the names and told her husband they were a Greek mythology couple to make him agree. If he had been even slightly educated on the myths, he would have outright refused.
Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. The fucked up husband and wife in the Trojan War. Agamemnon was haughty and arrogant, inflicting Apollo’s rage upon his army in the form of a plague as he took a priest’s daughter as his bed slave and prided himself too much to see her returned home. The king that united the Greeks to fight against the Trojans, or so he claimed, but also slaughtered his own daughter to appease Artemis.
Clytemnestra, his cutthroat queen. She helped Agamemnon in many ways, even helping him kill her own father. But once Agamemnon killed their daughter, she took on a lover at their kingdom and murdered him the moment he returned to his home.
Sirius’ cousin was clever with her warnings. Not as manic as Bellatrix but cold enough to send the message clear. ‘I will save you and love you, but if you wrong me I will hurt you.’
He wondered how true her warnings would hold. Queen Clytemnestra was a brave woman who was clever and efficient. The villainess Clytemnestra was raised in a way to be complicit and silent which she never grew out of but embraced. The villain Agamemnon could do what he liked, she would reach to him and welcome his blood-stained hands with outstretched arms.
The blood stains dripped on the walls of the alleyway they had left. Sirius stared at them with empty eyes as the blood dripped onto the floor littered in shattered glass bottles. Villains and their love of sending a message to heroes. This message was something the heroes would have to heed.