I heard the screaming people before I saw them. I rushed outside of the cafe to see Crepitus fighting off Sceptre and Nightmare.

Mercator had appeared out of nowhere and was fighting off police with chemicals that made those it hit recoil and scream in pain.

Looking closely, I noticed that there were two others fighting the villains- two others that I didn't recognise as heroes.

Vigilantes.

The two in question were the youngest and oldest vigilantes.

The youngest was Deactivator. He had been a publicly know vigilante for about six months, and was doing surprisingly well against Spectre, who was constantly flickering in and out of sight and attempting to catch Deactivator off guard with his axe, but the young vigilante kept blocking the attacks with his surprisingly sturdy wrist guards.

Deactivator's gift was the ability to temporarily remove/erase another's gift. When he used his gift, his eyes glowed bright white.

The oldest vigilante, who had started fighting Mercator, was Slimecicle. Slimecicle and Paradox were the oldest vigilantes, both having been a publicly known vigilante for three years. Slimecicle was able to create a slimy substance out of thin air and used it to hold his enemy's in place.

I studied their outfits- obviously they weren't as well made as the heroes' outfits, as the vigilantes had made them themselves.

Deactivator was wearing a white 'masquerade' mask that covered his eyes, and he had white wrist guards made out of some kind of metal. He was often seen wearing a white hoodie with red sleeves.

Slimecicle had clear green sunglasses with only one lense and a green hoodie which had a shield of sorts built into the chest.

It was incredibly risky for the vigilantes to be fighting out in public like this, as they were heavily outlawed.

Their bravery was almost admirable, and even though I thought it was cool, I still felt a twinge of disappointment. Yet more people who got to do what they wanted.

I stared at Crepitus, who was now fighting a different villain, Black Rose. She had long, smooth brown hair and a flower crown made of twisted thorns and- hence her name- black roses.

Where did Nightmare go?

I shrugged it off, continuing to study the fight.

Another hero had arrived. Gemstone, often referred to as 'the diamond hero' and ranked the No. 8 hero.

He had blue armour that was made of the same material as Lucendi's, and narrow blue cyclops glasses. He had blue diamonds encasing his hands, and I wondered how he could move them. His hair was dark brown, and had a streak of dyed cyan blue.

"What are you doing out here? Aren't Lucendi and Crepitus meant to be guarding you?" Gemstone asked, noticing me.

"They're fighting." I said, pointing in turn to Crepitus, who was still fighting Black Rose, and Lucendi, who was now facing off against Nightmare.

"Well we need to go get you out of here- it isn't very safe."

I sighed. "Why? The fight is interesting."

"Yup, because nothing can go wrong with the (daughter/son/child) of the president in a place surrounded by villains. Nothing at all." Gemstone said sarcastically.

"You know, you're right. We're entirely uninterested in Y/N."

We both spun around to see yet another villain facing us. Is this like... a villain gathering or something?

It was a man with long, plaited pink hair. He had half a boar skull covering his face, red robes trimmed with bloodstained white fur, and he was easily 6 foot 6.

Blood God. The most notorious of all the villains.

I noticed Gemstone looked more annoyed than scared. Which was strange, because this man could probably kill them as easy as breathing.

"Blood God." The No. 8 hero said through gritted teeth.

"Gemstone! My god, it's been ages since I've seen you!" Blood God said with a cold laugh. "And I would like to reiterate that we are not interested in the (daughter/son/child) of Schlatt. The families of heroes are much more interesting." He smiled cruelly as Gemstone froze on the spot. Does he have a family? I wondered to myself. Most of the heroes I had talked to didn't have kids or spouses.

"I'd be careful about what you say next, Blood God." Gemstone said, his voice so void of emotion that it was kind of scary.

"You think you can scare me? I heard you got married a few years back, by the way!" Gemstone stared at the villain, looking slightly more scared. "Congratulations! Where did you go for your honeymoon again? Ah yes, Kinoko Kingdom. I hear it's lovely this time of year."

"How do you know that?" The No. 8 hero asked angrily, silently reaching for the diamond axe on his back.

"I do a bit of research here and there. You know, light reading. Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be in peril." He shot me a toothy grin. "That's a Sun Tzu quote, kid. Don't forget it."

Gemstone turned towards me slightly. "Get out of here." He muttered. "Go find Azalea or Swift- they'll help you get to safety. This area isn't safe right now."

Blood God sighed, turning towards a bag that had been discarded on the floor. "Ooo, what's this?" He said with a playful tone, reaching over and grabbing it before Gemstone could. He began looking through the bag, and pulled out a framed picture, waving it triumphantly in the air. "Now this is the family I'm interested in." Blood God held the picture up in the air with an evil grin as Gemstone lunged for it.

The villain studied the image before tossing it to Gemstone. "I have all the information I need." He said with a grim smile, pulling out two glass flasks filled with red liquid that had swirling red vapour trapped inside. "Until we meet again!" The villain threw the vials down as hard as he could, and when they smashed, the liquid released a large cloud of smoke.

By the time it had cleared, Blood God was gone.

I turned to Gemstone to ask him what just happened, but to my surprise he had collapsed onto his knees, his face in his hands. He seemed to be shaking slightly, and appeared to be genuinely scared.

I reached tentatively for the photo. It showed two men and a small boy who looked about two. I immediately noticed that one of the men had the exact same hairstyle as Gemstone. Is this his family? Is that why he's scared? Because Blood God... knows what his family looks like? .....knows what he looks like?

The other man had very fluffy light brown hair, a black hoodie with a red trimming, and the stereotypical 'demon' horns and tail.

The child had black hair and a piece of cloth tied around his head.

I quietly passed the picture to Gemstone, who moved his hands away from his face.

"What do I do now? He knows what I look like, he- he knows what my husband and my son look like-" he buried his face in his hands again.

"Do you want me to go and get Swift or Puffy? They're the heads of the league, they might be able to sort something out." I offered.

He nodded mutely, and I rushed off to find them with a muttered, "Wait here."