When the hero Angel (or, one Skizz Leman) loses his job, he doesn't really expect much. A return to normal civilian life, a normal job, an escape from the shitty workplace environment that he really should've left years ago but by then it was all he knew how to do, and anyways it paid enough to live, and at that, live... well. He'd say live comfortably, but actually, he's pretty sure said shitty workplace environment was making that impossible.
So, really, he should've been glad when he yelled at an invasive reporter on live television (they were being rude! and nosy! and quite frankly crossing a lot of boundaries! not to mention he'd had a long day, and had already been heading home when they just... stopped him in the middle of the street) and then, about half an hour later, was fired.
But he wasn't. Instead he was stressed out of his mind in the safety of his own home, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now. He hadn't had a normal job in five years! And he couldn't exactly have that random gap in his resume that came from the secrecy of being a "professional" hero.
Not that he'd ever kept that secret very well. From the beginning of his career, one person knew of his identity as Angel; the known vigilante Geoshock, AKA his best friend Impulse St. Valentine. They'd pretty much always known each other's identities. And pretty soon, that spread to most of the small, organized group of vigilantes Impulse was part of, known by the media as the "Lifers". None of them are really sure why they're called that, but they are, and anyways it's probably better than the names any of them could come up with ("Scar, no, we are not calling this group that name"), so they kept it.
Anyways, point is, they all eventually learned each others' civilian identities, and Skizz ended up as kind of an... honorary member, of sorts. They had a mutual agreement to avoid fights with each other.
So when Skizz got fired, he should've expected Impulse to invite him to join the group in their little, to quote Grian, "illegal heroism". But he didn't expect it-- of course, he was still overjoyed, and did, in fact, join the group, but he didn't expect it.
Their first step was to get Skizz a new name for those non-aveage-civilian activities. He'd never really liked "Angel", anyways-- it's what the hero organization chose for him. Something something, "his shapeshifting and main form with the feathery white wings and bright blue halo of eyes, combined with his selfless personality, is truly befitting of an angel", something something.
Well, Skizz thinks he deserves to be a little selfish, doesn't he? It's what the others tell him every day; Geoshock with his little gifts, and King with his words of praise, and Corpse Flower with their snarky but affectionate jabs, and... well, the list goes on, really. If he wanted to talk about everyone, he'd be here all night!
First step in learning to be selfish, he guesses, is choosing his own name (he's known that for a while, ever since he was seventeen years old, going from Ally to Skizz with the help of his older sister, but he doesn't think he's felt that freedom in a long time). He decides to go with Ender. It's not permanent; he'll probably change it when he finds something better, but that's the beauty of it, isn't it? Having the ability to change it? It's what he's always liked about his shapeshifting; it's what the hero organization tried to stifle, keeping him bound through fear of consequences to one form while on the job (and off it, too). He'd almost forgotten how to change to anything else.
But, slowly, surely, the other Lifers are helping him gain that back.
(this is just my lil hero au that I'm writing a fic for, except I made it poly lifers (except for Lizzie because she and Skizz are siblings in this au). also all non-civilian names except for skizz's are placeholders, this au is a wip)
