Chapter Text
Morgan had always been able to see colors.
It was rare for someone to be born without a soulmate. Once they were believed to be soulless, capable of ending the world and generally being bad omens for things to come. But nowadays, most families would just be perfectly happy to have a whole and healthy child. The Cadmens were not most.
The Cadmen family was a long line of heroes—not just metas, but Heroes. They had been in the public eye for longer than heroism was legal, in fact they’d helped legalize it. It was that public good will that had allowed the Cadmen's to live to the standards they did, so they did everything they could to keep a stunning public image. And Morgan not having a soulmate would be a blemish.
Erin Cadmen, the current matriarch of the Cadmens and Morgan's mother, was not a superstitious woman, but she was not a nice woman. Adam Morelli, Morgan's father, was a superstitious idiot. So one of the first things Morgan learned how to do was to lie.
- - -
When he was younger, Morgan did everything he could to make his parents proud of him. Listened to every direction, went above and beyond in every academic avenue, pushed his powers to their limits. It was never enough.
He graduated early, far too early. His parents made it to the ceremony out of obligation more than anything else.
"Morgan's one of the most skilled meta's I've ever had the pleasure of teaching. I can't imagine how proud you must be." One of his teachers had told his mother.
She responded with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "I'm glad he's doing the family name well."
- - -
He left with a just a duffel bag of his things. His sister had made him promise to visit, his brother told him to call. They both watched him leave with watery eyes.
His parents never noticed.
- - -
Bars were horrible. They were loud and crowded and thrummed will an energy that made him nauseous. But they were so much better than every gala he'd ever been forced to attend.
"Cadmen," a voice far too close to his ear said, "You're in the wrong part of town."
Morgan flinched, "I'm looking for a job."
The woman laughed, a noise he recognized despite not knowing her face, "Why would anyone be stupid enough to hire you."
"Spite."
She gave him an incredulous look, "Spite?"
"What better way to get back at the Cadmens than having their eldest doing your bidding."
She tilted her head, cat-like eyes catching the light. "Well, what can you do?"
- - -
Morgan had gotten very good at holding a flashlight by the time being a glorified errand boy had started to grate on his nerves.
He was currently breaking into some dead man's mansion to steal... something. The pair of villains he was running with hadn't been too forthcoming on details. After all, he was only there to help carry the loot. That's it. They didn't even give him a flashlight.
"Ves, we have a problem." Jay—the villain he was ghosting—said suddenly, startling Morgan from his thoughts, "The door's electronic." They paused, listening to Ves's response. "I'm looking at it right now, I have no way of telling the wire colors."
Morgan hesitated a moment, "I can see colors." He'd never told anyone that.
"Well then," Jay said, passing him the earpiece, "Ves will talk you through opening this."
- - -
The easiest place to find someone without a soulmate was through a villains' guild. They weren't predisposed to it, as was once believed, but rather the sum of a number of things. For one, coupled pairs were less likely to take the risk of crime, having something important to lose. Along with that, metas as a group were at a much higher risk for not having a soulmate. Finally, there was a lot less stigma about the whole thing in villainous circles; many had lost or didn't care for their soulmates.
These were among the reasons Morgan slipped so easily into a life of crime. It also helped that he was rather good at rewiring locks.
- - -
Capital city was... well, it was a lot of things. Loud, crowded, expensive. The first true taste of freedom he'd ever gotten. Was moving to the other side of the country stupid? Incredibly. But he'd first burn the world to the ground than go back.
Getting anywhere in the social ladder was hard, and made harder by his outright refusal to take any money from his family. But no one recognized him out here, and it was worth every blow to his pride. So Morgan pushed himself, got into every guild and apprenticeship position that would take him. But he very pointedly did no better than average.
Eventually he was decently well respected. He had a nemesis he had fun with and a niche he was comfortable. The bump from E tier to D tier was accidental, but it wasn't half bad. Life was easy, predictable but not boring,
Then Alex, quite literally, fell into his life.