Chapter Text
tommy saw the two figures in front of him. the new hero had cornered cyclone in an alleyway.
a quick look showed that they were both fighting each other, and then the new hero threw the villain into a nearby street lamp with ease.
“you shouldn’t be here, cyclone!” the new hero said, his voice booming in the silence of the city.
“neither should you, idiot!” cyclone shot back as he landed on the sidewalk.
“HEY.” tommy shouted towards the two.
the new hero turned towards tommy, now revealing he had a yellow eye and a mask just like tommy’s. he was wearing a large winter coat with fur around the neck and a very ripped pair of jeans. he was hovering several feet off the ground on a hoverboard, but it looked like pieces of scrap metal.
“civilians shouldn’t be here either, go home!” he spoke.
“i’m not a civilian! i’m a vigilante, and i can help you.” tommy breathed heavily, that running took him out. he had to make it seem like he was legit and not just a random kid. this new hero seemed really cool. “i have powers!”
“oh.” you could barely hear the ‘hero’ say it. “well, i’m a vigilante too, i guess.”
tommy stared. this guy has a fucking HOVERBOARD, and he’s just a vigilante?!
tommy nodded slowly. “cool cool cool cool cool cool cool.” his head was spinning, whether it be from the running or the newly-found-out information. he didn’t know what he expected of another vigilante, but this was not it. this guy was far too advanced.
cyclone had just been sitting on the sidewalk this whole time. he finally said, "so are you going to keep trying to kill me or can i go?"
"wh-” the ofher vigilante sputtered then shouted “I'M NOT TRYING TO KILL YOU!"
cyclone scrunched his face behind his mask. “i don’t believe you.”
tommy could practically hear his heart beating faster. this could be his break, maybe him and ranboo could be a trio with this guy.
"wait, what even is your name, dude? lemme guess, you have bombs, so you gotta be explosor or something!" he waved his hands to emphasize the name.
"my name is much cooler than that!"
tommy snorted at this. "do you even have a name?"
he sighed, annoyed by the question, "yes, i do! it's..” he trailed off. it appeared that he actually hadn’t thought of a name.
"...is it explosor?" tommy offered.
"n-” the other vigilante started before being cut off by cyclone.
“hold on, hold on! you’re attacking me, for no reason might i add, and you haven’t even picked a name yet?”
“i do have a name!” tommy could practically feel him frowning.
“then…what is it?”
he hesitated for a moment and then said, “it’s tubbo.”
“oh, well that’s neat!” tommy responded.
cyclone took the split second tommy and tubbo looked away from him as an opportunity to escape, and did just that. by the time they looked back towards the sidewalk he had disappeared.
"goddamnit, he got away!" tubbo shouted and hovered his board a few feet off the ground before jumping off.
"how the fuck he get away so quickly??"
"who knows, maybe he's going to tell someone about us." he said, grabbing his hoverboard from the air and leaning on it. tommy noted that he avoided putting any weight on his left leg.
“urgh. it’s fine we’ll get him another time. i’m morpho by the way! that’s my super cool vigilante name.”
“cool, nice to meet you, morpho!” tubbo extended his hand outwards for tommy to shake. tommy could see him smiling behind his mask.
grasping his hand, tommy grinned and said, “y’know you should really meet my partner, veil! we could be like a trio!”
he felt tubbo’s grip loosen.
“oh, um. i don’t know. maybe some other time, i really have to get home.”
tommy didn’t stop grinning even when tubbo completely let go of his hand. “that’s okay! but when you have time you should totally do some vigilate stuff with us! veil’s great.”
“i’ll think about it. good luck out there, bye.”
tubbo remounted on his hoverboard and flew off. tommy stood there alone. where was ranboo? he hadn’t seen them in ages. why did he tell tubbo about them? was he seriously that desperate for a human connection that he told this random person about his only companion?
its fine. he won’t mention to ranboo that tubbo knows they exist just yet.
—
tommy paced the city in his cat form for at least an hour before finding ranboo. they were sitting at the corner of a building holding their head. blood was stained on their hands.
tommy morphed to his human form, “ranboo? what the fuck happened to you, man?”
he knelt down in front of them. he saw no other wounds and the cut didn’t look deep, but ranboo definitely hit their head and probably had a concussion. they didn't respond to tommy, so he attempted to pick them up before immediately failing. it turns out you can’t lift someone twice your size, especially if they’re half conscious (and therefore not able to control their own limbs).
“okay, its okay ranboo. i’m gonna get you out of here.” tommy wasn’t going to let himself cry. how long had ranboo been here? tommy was so careless to chase after some stranger when his only friend was practically bleeding out in the street.
tommy wrapped his arms around ranboo’s chest and lifted them to their feet. they groaned and started to fall onto him. “no no, ran c’mon, you can do this. you know how to walk man, c’mon.”
he was so stupid, how could he let this happen.
ranboo grasped at tommy’s shirt and mostly stabilized themself.
tommy wished he could fly without having to turn into a tiny little bird. he wished he could sprout huge wings and carry ranboo to safety, carry them both to safety, like a proper hero. what had even happened? was there another explosion? no, couldn’t be. tubbo was with him and cyclone the whole time, so who could’ve messed up this part of the city…? he’d figure that out later. right now he had to worry about getting ranboo home.
he had walked at least a block, trying to keep ranboo on their feet when suddenly he heard voices around a corner. he stopped and leaned against the storefront of the building to listen, and peered his head around the corner into the alley.
there were two figures facing each other who were seemingly having an argument. the first figure was a lady with half pale blonde and half dark blue hair. she was wearing some armor on her arms and legs and a blue long sleeve shirt with a large lightning bolt on the front. her shoulders were wrapped with a short black cape that appeared to have been ripped recently. she had a black mask that covered the upper half of her face, unlike most other villains who covered the lower half.
she spoke, “you know, you could’ve easily killed that kid.” she crossed her arms before turning her head towards where tommy was peeking from. he pulled his head back quickly, making sure to still be holding up ranboo. he felt the woman’s eyes shift away from tommy’s presence and back to the other figure. “especially if he’s a brand new vigilate!”
they had to be talking about tubbo.
“you’re right, i could’ve but there was another kid there! i didn’t want to have witnesses. plus this new vigilate had a hoverboard thing and i wasn’t going to risk getting my ass kicked if he has super advanced shit!” it was cyclone. of course tommy just had to run into cyclone again today. and he was with this other villain? her name was right on the tip of his tongue but he just couldn’t remember.
ranboo stirred with a small hum. tommy was afraid they would alert the villains who were just around the corner. he didn’t know what they would do to him or ran, but he did know that they were most definitely very evil and would not hesitate to kill both of them if they found out he was eavesdropping. so he did his best to quietly shimmy away while still holding up ranboo’s much taller and very much less awake body to somewhere safe.