Chapter Text
Tommy hated days off. While this technically wasn’t a day off, he wasn’t out in the field. Which was torture. He was playing Bee today. Both Ranboo and Tubbo were out today. Tubbo needed to do some “stress relief,” and Ranboo wanted to follow some leads he’d found while sorting files at the Syndicate. Tommy wasn’t the renowned hacker that Tubbo was, but he could get the job done.
Tubbo was launching himself across the city, heading towards a warehouse that supposedly housed a money laundering organization. To relieve the stress that his father’s escape had brought on, Tubbo was no doubt planning to level the building. Ranboo was headed off in the other direction. He had been seeing increasing reports of people in the lower districts going missing. Obviously, not many people gave enough of a shit to actually look into it, so Ranboo was checking it out.
Ranboo’s ability had always fascinated Tommy. On the surface, it just seemed like teleportation, but in reality, it was a complex ability called “particle displacement.” Ranboo could essentially disassemble himself and anything he was touching, then reassemble in a different place. The only drawback was that passing the particles through water seriously messed up his memories. He’d done it once as a kid and could no longer remember who his parents were.
The power itself and the water-related drawback had led to Tommy suggesting a name related to mythical hydrophobic creatures that could teleport.
Speaking of water, Tommy caught the telltale smell of oncoming rain through the open window. “Ender, be careful. It’s gonna rain,” Tommy warned. Rain meant no quick escapes today.
“Okay, I’ll start heading back in…” Ranboo trailed off. “Oh frick.”
“Ender?”
-
“Ranboo!” Ranboo jolted out of his thoughts.
“Yeah, sorry,” he mumbled. “There’s,” he swallowed nervously, “I think I found where the people went.” Ranboo was staring at a pile of bodies. Their veins were blackened, and there was blood on their lips. “They…” he took a shuddering breath, “They’re dead, Tommy.” a sharp inhale was heard through his comms. “All of them.”
As Ranboo was about to get a closer look, he clocked the sound of footsteps. He slipped behind a nearby dumpster in the alley. Ranboo watched as someone came into the alleyway, a limp body thrown over their shoulder. They threw the body onto the pile with the others before waltzing back out the way they came.
“Someone just dumped another body,” they whispered to Tommy. “I’m gonna tail ‘em.”
“Okay, but be careful. The rain’s about to start.” Ranboo glanced up. Despite not seeing signs of a downpour, he trusted Tommy. The guy was weirdly able to predict the weather. Ranboo adjusted his heavy, black hood, ensuring his hair was completely covered before moving.
“I will.” Ranboo trailed at a slight distance, not close enough to be spotted but not far enough to lose him. The vigilante followed the man towards the upper districts of the city, careful not to be spotted by anyone.
Eventually, the man stepped into a warehouse. Ranboo stepped in after him as the first drop of rain hit the pavement.
-
Tommy was nervous, to say the least. Ranboo was alone in a place that had produced a literal pile of dead bodies. Ranboo wasn’t the strongest fighter. Sure, Tommy had taught him basic self-defence and first aid, but Ranboo really didn’t know more than that. He thrived at infiltration and espionage, but the rain removed his way to escape. Tommy’s hands shook at the keyboard. If something happened, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. He didn’t have powers, and he wasn’t a master hacker. He was good in a fight, but there wasn’t anything for him to fight here. His leg bounced rapidly under the desk as he listened to Ranboo’s quiet breathing.
“Hello?” Tommy startled. There was a child’s voice coming through the comms. He heard Ranboo’s breath hitch.
“H-hey there,” Ranboo answered quietly. Tommy wished desperately that he could see what was happening. If he were Tubbo, he could have a security camera feed pulled up in an instant. But he wasn’t Tubbo, so he’d have to just listen closely. “What’s your name?”
“My name Michael,” the child had lowered his voice to match the volume Ranboo had set. “Wha’s your name?” Tommy heard Ranboo let out a shaky breath and let out one of his own. This kid was young . He was having trouble enunciating his words. Tommy guessed that he was probably around four-years-old
“My name is En- my name is Ranboo.” Tommy bit his lip. Telling anyone his real name was risky, but he understood why Ranboo had done it. This kid was in a dangerous situation, Ranboo needed to establish trust with him.
“Okay, Boo,” Michael said. “Can I be done now?” Tommy’s heart ached. He didn’t know what Michael wanted to be done with, but he was sure that whatever was going on wasn’t good. He noted sadly that Michale didn’t ask to go home, or where he was. That meant that he’d probably been there a while, that he didn’t know that he shouldn’t be there. All the kid knew was that he was doing something and that he wanted to be done.
“Y-yeah, I’m gonna get you out of here,” Ranboo sounded on the verge of tears. There was a distant bang, and Tommy flinched. “Wait right here, buddy.”
“Ender, be careful,” Tommy warned, listening closely for another sound. Far-off shouts and the sounds of fighting filtered through the comms. “Don’t do it, Ranboo. Get the kid and run,” Tommy instructed, and he heard Ranboo hum in agreement.
Tommy glanced behind him. With a little child-proofing, they’d be able to take care of Michael just fine. Tubbo was home most days, and Ranboo worked a nine-to-five. They could manage it.
“The rain’s still light. I’m gonna-” he heard a sharp intake of breath. Before Tommy could ask what was wrong, Ranboo gave him an answer. “I- I can’t teleport him out.”
“Wh- Ran, you have to!” Tommy didn’t understand, was the kid too injured or-
“No, I mean, I can’t . He’s like you.”
Oh. Oh-
“SHIT!” Tommy’s hands flew across the keyboard, swiftly switching to Tubbo’s line. “Nuke-” Tommy was cut off by the sound of an explosion. “Nuke, I need you to go help Ender. The kid he’s trying to save is immune. He needs backup.” As soon as Tommy relayed the location and a summary of the situation, he switched back to Ranboo. “Okay, Nuke is on his way. Just stall.”
“Okay. Okay, I can do that, Bee.” Prime, Tommy hated being Bee. He was better as Wild Card, but they needed someone at home base. Tommy couldn't just suit up and jump into action, no matter how much he wanted to.
“Bee!” Michael repeated. Tommy sighed. He had no time to feel sorry about his situation. This kid was the priority.
“Michael, I need you to wait right here for me, okay? My friend and I are gonna get you out of here, but I’ve gotta go- uh, talk to the people you hear.” Michael agreed easily to what Ranboo was saying.
“You only need to distract them for a little bit, okay? Nuke is on his way,” Tommy assured him. It was times like these that he wished they had trackers in their suits. He understood, logically, that it was a bad idea, that it could easily be a way for someone to find them; but not being able to know how close Tubbo was without asking was killing him. And there was no way he was switching lines. Ranboo’s voice was shaky at best, and he had little combat training. Ranboo needed reassurance more than Tommy needed an ETA.
“Yeah,” Ranboo breathed. “Yeah, I can do that.” Ranboo, while he couldn’t teleport home, could easily move around the room he was in. Tommy had trained with him for hours to make short jumps fast. It kept Ranboo alive the few times he needed to fight rather than run.
“Hiya, fellas,” Ranboo sounded like he was trying to mimic the tone that Tommy used when fighting. It wasn’t really working, but Tommy wasn’t about to tell him that. The tell-tale crackles sounded through the comms, letting Tommy know that Ranboo was teleporting around the room.
Tommy strained to understand what each thud and grunt meant. The fact that the crackling still interrupted the noise let him know that Ranboo was still moving, still fighting.
“Welp,” Ranboo said, and Tommy slumped in relief. “That’s that group.”
Tommy listened as Ranboo took on more opponents, listened as they fell, as Ranboo said something stupid at the end. As time passed, Tommy’s nerves eased. His training with Ranboo had paid off. They were okay. And Tubbo would get there and get them out. Them and Michael.
“Okay, — think that’s ev—one, all — gotta do is wait for N—“ Ranboo’s voice was barely intelligible. After teleporting a bunch, the comms usually ended up like this. Multiple disruptions of the signal tended to leave the comms a little buggy. Luckily Tommy could make out most of what he was saying.
Before Tommy could inform him of the crackling, he heard a garbled voice. Someone was still around. “H— on.”
Tommy strained his ears, listening as he heard a fragmented conversation come through. The rain was louder in the parts of the audio that Tommy could hear, telling him Ranboo was likely outside.
“N—, I didn’t-“ Ranboo was saying.
“— c— with me,” said another voice.
“N— can’t. There’s a ch— in th—re. — needs —lp.”
“—t’s enough.”
The comms seemed to right themselves in time for the next part to come through clear as day. Though Tommy almost wished it hadn’t.
“No, wait, please!” A sound that could only have been a blade slicing through something followed the words. A choked noise of pain.
Crackling.
Tommy screamed. Ranboo had been hurt- likely stabbed- and had teleported in his panic. He’d been standing in the rain, which meant his memories had probably been fucked with.
A loud thump behind him startled him out of his panic.
Ranboo.
His friend was lying on the floor of their living room, blood soaking the carpet beneath him. His heavy hood had dropped back, revealing dishevelled black and white hair. Tommy yanked off his headphones. Half of a sword was sticking out of Ranboo’s stomach. The rest must not have been teleported with him.
“Th’ kid,” Ranboo slurred. “I h’ve to go help him…” Ranboo did the worst thing he could’ve done at that moment. He forced himself into a sitting position and yanked out the blade.
“NO!” Tommy threw himself forward, jolting into action. If there was one thing he knew, it was that you never remove the weapon. It was the only thing holding in the blood. Tommy yanked his hoodie over his head, balling it up and shoving it against the wound. He pressed down as hard as he could, pushing Ranboo back onto his back. “No, no, no, no, no,” Tommy murmured. “No, I can’t lose you, don’t die, Ran.” Tears clouded his vision.
Ranboo was one of the only two people he loved in this world. He could not lose him. “T’mmy?” Ranboo reached a gloved, blood-soaked hand to Tommy’s face. “Tommy, what’s wrong? Why’re you crying?” They sounded so worried. Like he was the one bleeding out on the ground.
“N-nothing, Boo. It-it’s gonna be okay,” Tommy told him, knowing he couldn’t keep that promise. A sob wracked through him. He collapsed onto his friend, pressing his forehead into Ranboo’s collarbone. He felt his hands become slick with blood where they pushed the fabric of his sweater into the injury. Ranboo’s shaking arms came up to wrap around Tommy’s trembling form.
Tommy sobbed into Ranboo’s chest as he felt those loving arms fall away. As the tension drained out of the body beneath him.
Tommy screamed. He didn’t know if any words made it into his wailing, but he never let up the pressure he kept on the wound. Tommy kept pressing like he could push the blood back into his friend’s body. “PLEASE,” he sobbed. “Come back…”
Tommy had long shut his eyes, but they flew open when a bright glow filtered through his closed eyelids. Much like the sun, a warm light was emitting from his hands. Ranboo was glowing too. The colour returned to his friend’s face, his breathing became steady. Tommy gasped, feeling his hands grow hot, but he didn’t dare move. Whatever he was doing was healing Ranboo.
Soon enough, the glow faded, and Tommy felt like all the energy in his being had been sapped away. He slumped back down onto Ranboo’s chest, and the world went dark.