Mathew was laying in his bed, absentmindedly scrolling through the news, looking for anything of note. At the moment it was nothing but sports, cooking, and scam ads for products. Man his algorithm sucked. As he refreshed the page for the umpteenth time this morning, an article caught his eye.

NOTORIOUS VILLAIN RAZOR LEAF CAUSES PRISON BREAK.

He clicked on the article as he felt his heart sink. He knew that at the moment he was safe where he was, but at the same time this was Razor Leaf they were talking about. Mathew shivered as a chill ran up his spine. Razor Leaf was a supervillain known for his use of vines to wreck havoc across the city, kinda like if Doc Ock's appendages came out of his neck/head area instead of his back. Mathew and his brother had previously taken him down during their big break into the public consciousness, but a previously unknown villain in a gas mask going by Vampa had caused a distraction that'd let him get away.

Mathew stretched as he slid out of bed before making his way to his brother's room. The apartment was starting to feel more familiar since the move, but it was still weird to not be living in the same house as their parents. It was for the best though, they'd all agreed this was for the best to keep everyone's identities safe.

"Alfred, you there?" he said as he knocked on the door.

"frrph mrrrh mrnph"

"What?" He really didn't want to yell. "It's about Razor Leaf." but it turned into more of a whisper yell.

Behind the door there was an annoyed "mhph." followed by an Alfred sized thunk.

Mathew took a deep breath as he waited. He heard the noises of bedding hitting falling off the bed, plus some creaking of floorboards. The door swung open, revealing the worst case of bed hair he'd seen in a while from his brother.

"Dude you really need to be louder..."

"I'm trying..." Mathew rolled his eyes. "Not my fault you have hearing damage" he muttered under his breath.

"What were you saying about raising beef?"

"I said it was about Razor Leaf, and he's been spotted again."

"Why didn't you say that earlier we need to go!"

The 2 brothers walked over to a seemingly empty stretch of wall. Alfred was speedwalking towards it, while Mathew trailed behind him.

"Ready?" Alfred said, flashing a grin.

Mathew smiled, "Ready."

As the duo put their hands on opposite sides of the wall, a door sized piece of the wall popped backwards before sliding behind. Inside was almost a mix of a walk in closet and a retail changing room, plus display cases for the costumes on either side.

Mathew quickly got into a familiar rhythm, grabbing the costume labeled "Umbra", while his brother grabbed the one labeled "Sonic Boom." He slid into his changing room and threw his current clothing in a pile but gently placed his glasses on a corner shelf (those things aren't cheap when you're almost legally blind). Unlike his brother, he actually needed his.

Knee, elbow, and shoulder padding went on first. Then goes on the black bodysuit followed by a 2 layered cloak with a pattern like someone had taken out perfect semicircle shaped bites out of the bottom of the fabric. Boots, belt, and cloak had downturned crescents as clasps, and his mask was a see through version of the same shape.

By the time Umbra emerged, Sonic boom was putting on the last of his upgraded equipment.

Where Umbra had the advantage of coverage, Sonic Boom had to have lots of activewear because of how he acted as the offense to Umbra's defense. His padding was also more thorough and extended to covering his chest.

Unlike what they tell you in superhero movies, lots of supers are victims of physics.

"I like these costumes wayyy better than the old ones, but... I kinda miss the cape." He mimed a cape flowing majestically behind him "At least I never looked like I was wearing pjs."

Umbra closed the passage behind them as they walked, "I was comfortable!"

"And I looked like a hero." He said as he posed in a way he thought looked cool.

"Your old costume looked like if Captain America and Megamind had a baby."

"Pfft- I mean you're not wrong," He chuckled as he slid on his headphones. "First one to the car gets to drive!"

Sonic Boom pushed off the ground as he let out a loud "WOOHOO!!!", propelling himself forward.

"Hey wait that's not fair!" Umbra felt himself becoming more transparent and losing his physical body as he melted into his shadow. Feeling stable, he quickly half swam half dashed through the shadows in the hall and down the stairs.

Catching up to his brother, he used his shadow like a stepping stone, pressing down as he landed, and stunning him.

Sonic Boom felt shivers running up his spine, like when you hit your funny bone but all over.

Rematerializing in front of the driver's side of the car, he shook his cloak out. His brother arrived at the passenger's side, and the two got in.

Note: The song is Skeleton Man by Axis of Awesome, but since I'm trying to revamp this old fic without changing too much, I kept most of the story beats without the song lyrics.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred plopped down on the passenger seat "No fair dude, you used your powers!" Mathew gave him a withering stare in response.

The two sat in silence as he backed out of the parking space and pulled out of the parking lot.

"...Do you wanna put on some music?" Mathew asked.

"Sure."

He could see his brother scroll through something before a very familiar tune started coming out of the car's speakers.

Alfred glanced at him expectantly "Come on bro, I know you know this song by heart!"

"I've gotta stay focused on the roads, feel free to sing if you want to."

Alfred danced and bobbed around in his seat, doing little moves and motions to the song, trying to get Mathew to notice and join in. He was even matching the inflection of the singer during the mock monologue portion of the song, plus some jazz hands because why not.

Mathew finally gave in and started singing along to the other part.

As the instrumental kicked in, Alfred smiled "I knew you'd join in." Mathew just huffed in response.

They both sang along to the bridge, and Mathew was taken back to when him and his brother were younger. Alfred would always beg their papa to play it, and over time, he'd just memorized it due to just how many times it was played.

He smiled to himself while Alfred jammed out with an air guitar.

The song cut off and the two burst out laughing. They continued to talk as Mathew drove, until they were driving past the oh so familiar ruins left in the wake of Razor Leaf.

Seeing the carnage, his heart grew heavy.

"Uh, hey... can you check the news for me?" He saw Alfred turn on his phone out of the corner of his eye.

There was a moment of silence before he piped up "Good news, he's been spotted, bad news is he's back where the construction is starting on 6th street."

"What would he want there..." Alfred just shrugged at him and went back to his phone.