Chapter Text
Tommy doesn’t cry.
At least not in front of other people.
He’s sworn himself off of it, vowing to never ever do it for as long as he physically can. No matter how bad the paper cut burns, or whatever someone says, or how watery his eyes get he’s promised himself he would never so much shed a single tear.
Hence why the office bathroom offers him immense support. For how hollow it is, the same fresh, pearly white covering the rest of the office now overwhelming apparently and blinding Tommy as he enters. It’s too big, as most things are for popular companies. Always too flashy, too spotless, too robotic. The cold tiles do nothing but mirror it. With huge spaces between stalls and quite spacious rooms, it’s quite good. And it offers him a moment of solitude whenever the walls start inclosing on him, or if words start echoing just a bit too loudly in his mind, no matter the cause it seems to give him a breath of comfort as he’s sat on the same cold tiles across from the toilet in a bathroom stall. But what is he meant to do as he sits on the railing of a balcony, and the tears slowly collect in his eyes?
He can see the small yellow Taxi that had brought Toby into the office day after day stop in front of their office building for the last time as the small brunette waves it over. He pauses, only for a moment to turn around and spot the blonde, and send him off with a wave and a smile. Who is Tommy not to return it, managing a small sad smile.
It feels stupid, being this upset by such a silly thing. Tommy knows it well, but as he stares at the small blonde roots growing in from Toby’s head he can’t help but ache. It had only been a week of him in office, but somehow it felt like it had been years with him. They had been inseparable, which was pretty unfortunate for everyone in the office.
Not only did the noise levels certainly not please anyone, especially Jack (That fucker got what he deserved) but it also made every minute task a struggle for the two. I mean, it’s kind of hard to fix the Office’s whole security system, after it’s been hacked into for the hundredth time when Tommy falls out of his office chair about every two seconds. Not that it's undoable, no, Toby was brilliant. Despite how often Tommy distracted him from his work, was he able to do it every time. Starting as a mechanic, he slowly grew into one of the best technicians they had seen. But when everything is fixed, what was he meant to do? Stick around waiting for things to break again?
He was practically on speed dial, more of an employee than Tommy himself, but he needed another source of income than just the constant calls of the scrapped-together Sleepy Bois Inc. falling part every other day.
But Toby was more than just a mechanic, no, unlike Tommy, he had a future. A college student, with the promise of being something big, someone important, someone worth something at some big tech company paving the way for the future. Tommy knew he had it in him, though, god, would he miss him. Tommy swore to walk every single day to the campus no matter how far, no matter how many ubers he had to take, he would visit him every night. Toby only smiled, eyes lighting up with the same vibrant energy he always carried. Then he plotted ways to sneak Tommy into his dorm with him.
It felt stupid, they live in the same city, they have each other's numbers, hell, they call nightly over water stupid shit they want to talk about till they're crying from laughter. Maybe the change is what froze Tommy on his spot on the balcony, tears welling in his eyes as the mop of brown hair dashed with a smear of blonde roots finally bobs into the Taxi as the engine starts. He whispers an empty goodbye to the open air as it drives itself away from the office. Tommy’s eyes are left trailing between the hero building and the empty spot of pavement left hollow by the absence of the boy.
Okay, maybe he’s being a little overdramatic.
“‘Was looking for you, wasn’t sure where’d you gone…” Wilbur pauses as he sees Tommy furiously wipe his eyes at his sudden presence. He freezes in the doorway, “Is now a bad time?”
“No, ach,” He takes a deep breath in, attempting to blink away the tears though it doesn’t help much, “Not at all, what’s up?”
They both know he’s not fooling anyone. Wilbur makes his way right next to Tommy, leaning over the rails. Tommy glances over at him, seeing his ocean of brown curls in the corner of his eye. Tommy’s mind seems to physically recoil away from him, his hands instinctively shifting over and gripping the railing further away from him. He doesn’t notice his shift, only staring out. Tommy admires the silence, though it feels more like the quiet is opening his mouth and trying to pry out words, desperate to be filled with something.
He gives into the air particles gripping at his lips, voice barely above a whisper, “Sorry.”
Wilbur tilts his head at Tommy, expression hidden in Tommy’s peripheral. Tommy doesn’t turn his head to see it, carrying the same face over the city as Wilbur had, though his eyes seemed dark in some sense, eyes the cars beneath them as traffic passed rather than the way light glistened off of glass panes.
Tommy can hear Willbur take a breath, words readying themself in his throat. They don’t flow off his tongue, they don’t spill off of his lips, hell, they don’t even manage to form. They die on his tongue, their spirits escaping from his jaw with a sigh.
A beat.
“Did you hear that the heroes are expanding?” Wilbur offers.
Ok, that’s the last thing I wanted to hear. Tommy bit back a scoff, unable to stop the roll of his eyes as he stills further. Wilbur’s eyes flicker over to him for only a moment. Sticking out his index and thumb, he points to each area yet to be consumed by the heroes, Tapping over the imaginary structures as if he has the power to form them from the sidewalk innocently sat, doomed to be dug up and replaced..
“Bam, Bam, and… there.” Tommy is almost sickened by how close it sits next to Sleepy Bois Inc.
“Will you move?” He mumbles, eyes following Wilbur’s hands.
“Move? Course not. They’d have to physically pick up our building to get us to go anywhere. That marble was hella expensive.”
Tommy can’t help but manage a smile at the image of Sleepy Bois Inc. being carried in the sky by a massive crane, a small chuckle escaping his lips.
Wilbur can’t help but return the gesture, though it seems to slip off his lips, “You know, I had a friend once do that.” Tommy’s somber eyes meet his, the curiosity filling his eyes overshadowing the smile slowly falling from his face. Wilbur looks away, “I mean, he didn’t go off to college. He’s probably halfway to France after living in Belgium for a month. Only eight weeks since he saw the pyramids and sixty weeks since he saw Vienna, but he’s back on the road. He, he just needed to get out. I think… I think he’s better now. He never learned to settle down though, I hope he does.”
Tommy paused, “Do you really think I’ll be ok without Toby?”
“Without him? Tommy, what are you talking about? He’s moving like four miles away, and you know his address, and phone number by heart, and hang out with him daily even out of school? He’s not gone Tommy, you’ll just have to deal with a miserable Nine-To-Five like the rest of us.” Wilbur snorted.
The blonde sat there for a vapid breath. Ok, maybe he was being a bit dramatic. He nodded, feeling oddly ashamed of his still-damp cheeks.
“Hey, if you ever miss him, my office’s always open,” He offered with a smile, energy shrinking when he saw how Tommy perked up, “Ok, maybe not always, but most of the time I’ll be open.”
“Just, please , don’t make me late for another meeting… again”
At this point, Blaze’s usual scouting for trouble needs no introduction. What started as an almost monthly thing had slowly morphed into an almost nightly ordeal. It would be every night if not for how his eyes sagged shut after work, though just sometimes, he had enough energy to go out running into the night.
He can hear the woosh of a hero running by right after the swoop of wings. He can’t clock the villain just yet, though from his perch atop a building he can make out the obvious figure of Ivy in her bright green suit, budded vines twisted around her body and arms, mid-stride. His small grin is illuminated in the moonlight as he silently climbs down the wall, boots sticking to the bricks as he descends into a patch of empty sidewalk into a rather unfortunate-looking alleyway, unclosed on all sides except for one across from Tommy leading to Prime knows where. Tommy swears he can see a rat skitter across the ground.
He can hear the harsh turn of the villain… in the opposite direction. His view is immediately lost, and in that split second, the two have vanished from Tommy’s senses. He can’t even hear the rampant destruction that usually follows both the villains and the heroes.
He sighs into the wall next to him, kicking a rock with the roll of his eyes. Great, now he has to go find some other villain to stop. Whatever, there’s probably some corner store getting robbed or something.
He glances up at the brick above him, how the fuck am I gonna get back up that? He looks down at his boots, wondering if he can hobble his way into a spider crawl and awkwardly scale up. The rustling of fabric from further in the alleyway grabs his attention, sending shivers down his back and forcing heat into his arms that slowly pools in his veins. If there’s any way he can get the fuck out quicker, it’s worth a try, if not he’ll be stuck in this grimy-ass alleyway which he’d prefer never to enter again. The thought of being here any longer makes him want to gag. He needs out, now. Blaze spins around on his heels, pressing his hands against the wall trying to find a place to grip, when he freezes, deathly still.
Blaze hears the symphony of the click of his boots before he sees him. Adorned in his same villain suit as always, jacket only slightly tattered, Echo stands right in the open end of the alleyway, staring right down into his soul. And he looked pissed.
Frowning so hard it looks painful and snarling like he’s ready to sink his teeth into Tommy’s skin like some sort of a rabid dog. Blaze wouldn’t be surprised if the fucker bites.
“Well,” Echo’s voice is low, a kind of controlled fire waiting to combust out and singe the walls hiding within the tone, “Would you look at that.”
Tommy’s whole body tenses, leaving him cursing at himself as his hot palms touch the walls. Echo seems to catch on immediately, quicker than Tommy himself even conceptualized what he was doing, leaving the wall to be swallowed up in a portal.
For a moment, Tommy’s falling. Falling straight into nothing, seeing the ground he stood on moments before become further and further away from him, until he lands, hard , on pavement.
“Uh uh,” Echo tuts, standing over Blaze. Tommy can feel the chilled air seeming to reverberate off the man in comparison to Tommy’s never-ending heat as he leans over him, only extending the growing pit in Tommy’s stomach.
Tommy's whole body riggled, grabbing onto the man’s leg and pulling on it as hard as he could, leaving the man to desperately train and gain some sort of balance, which he never finds.
Left like a dog cornered in the alleyway, Tommy does the first thing he can think of. Clung onto the man’s leg like a mut to a bone, Blaze opens his mouth, bandana lifting over his lips as he sinks his teeth into Echo’s ankle. Ok, maybe it wasn’t his brightest idea, but it certainly leaves Echo stunned.
“OW! Did you just bite me?!” He cried, shaking off Tommy and leaving his scattered across the ground. Echo furthers the space between them by portalling Tommy a good extra foot away, finally giving him a chance to breathe. Echo checks the spot, staring up at Blaze in bewilderment. Blazes stares back, seeing the set of teeth marked into his skin.
“Wha-” He sighs exasperatedly before yelling, “What the fuck?!”
Blaze brushes his blonde curls out of his eyes, staring down Echo silently, breathing frozen in his throat as if it had been trapped in a vat of ink, slowly drying. He can feel the ink about to pour out of his lips and all over the concrete, right with the contents of his stomach. Maybe he’d be able to think of a cool quip if not for being just as surprised as Echo and being a million times more terrified.
There’s no way I just bit Echo.
A rocketing punch to his stomach reminds him very clearly, that yes, he had. Blaze desperately skitters up onto his feet, only for his legs to be swept out from beneath him, sending him to the ground again. Echo stands over him again, propping him up against a brick wall. Tommy can’t help but freeze, This is it. Unless…
Despite Echo’s sinister smile and the way Blaze can’t even fathom bringing his eyes up to meet his own, even if they’re veiled by the mask, he’s somehow able to lift up his palm and catch Echo’s smile diminish as a cloud of fire comes out of his hands. Echo falls through the floor and appears beside him before the flame fades leaving only a puff of smoke trailing from his gloved fingers.
Blaze lets out a blast of inferno through the air, an orange glow lining the walls around them and bathing Tommy in golden light. It doesn’t last for long, Tommy immediately whipping around as the fire dissipates into soot and the lingering smell of ash in the air. Echo stands barely a breath away, sending a kick straight into Blaze’s chest. He hits the ground with an empty thud as his head screams at him.
Get up
Get up
Get u-
And then he’s failing again, seemingly into nothing. Tommy’s fallen before, from intensely dangerous heights before too, but they don't compare to the feeling of Echo’s portal. Falling, with no end, just a start where you can remember how it felt to stand on solid ground. At least when tumbling down from a building you have the taste of cold air engraved into your mouth and the sound of wind echoing through your head and whipping around your hair. No, in Echo’s portals, you can only hear the empty sounds of the world around you, of the distant echoing of tapping heels or your own shouts carried throughout the air and back into your head. No air rushing through your hair, only the hollowness that seems to occupy the portals.
He’s spat back out straight into a wall, throwing him back onto the ground. He can spot the glow of the fading portal behind him as it’s reopened by the man of the hour himself. Echo flashes his teeth at him, forming a new small portal in his hand leaving a small entryway made in the portal behind him.
Tommy can’t even care about Echo slowly approaching him, instead staring at the small inclusion laid in the portal behind him. A direct gateway, no, even better, a direct portal straight to him. He glances around at the other small portals laid around, set for Echo to easily hop into. They all reflect the same image, of Echo, and of Tommy.
They’re all connected.
Tommy can see the small holes in the ground that stand as closing portals. They don’t look all too easy to close. Blaze can ignore the weak stream of steady blood leaking from his nose for now, eyes facing his burning palms. Hot and ready for the burst of energy that fills his body. With all the sudden energy of a lightning bolt, Blaze runs straight for Echo, only dodging a portal narrowly and before clinging onto a wall which is promptly portaled by Echo all the same. Each surface can be stayed on only for an ephemeral second before Blaze is back to running straight at Echo and dodging each blow and portal. He can tell how the Villain’s portals grow weaker and left-open voids scatter the ground.
Blaze only catches a glimpse of Echo’s fading grin as his eyes widen before Tommy’s fingers release a blow of fire straight into the open hole of a portal and as wisps of smoke seem to explode from all around them. Rays of fire dart out from every small pit made by Echo, leaving him dizzied from dodging the rays. He attempts to Portal his way out, forgetting a key issue. The second he portals up into the air he finds himself face up staring into the fire waiting for him. Without a moment to lose, he shuts the portal and all remaining portals, though can’t steady himself in enough time to land on his feet, hitting the concrete back first and then head second
Blaze’s body is still tense, ready at any moment for him to get up… but he doesn’t.
Oh shit, I killed him, Blaze thinks to himself as he shuffles his feet over by Echo’s still body.
Well mainly still, aside from the rising and falling of his chest. Tommy sighs, almost a little annoyed he wasn’t dead. I mean, it would save Blaze a lot of trouble. He runs a hand through his hair, letting out an annoyed groan at the situation before a rustle from god knows what resounds through the city. That’s when the reality of the situation hits him.
Tommy's sat in the middle of two buildings, with one of the most wanted and dangerous villains, simply sat at his feet, knocked unconscious. It’s a hero’s goldmine, nothing else could as easily bounce you up to number one in the ranks then this. This could easily make Tommy the greatest, the best, he could even help other vigilantes out of prison!
And yet, seeing him silently sit on the ground, Tommy’s reminded that beneath his mask lies a man no different than him. Okay, maybe a little different, Tommy isn’t a psychopathic villain laying waste to everything around him with a body count of what’s said to be the hundreds if not thousands, but still. Echo’s a human being. A human being with a family, and funny enough, chased after as much as Tommy is. And, plus, dying in a rank alleyway as a Top Villain gives Tommy too much second-hand embarrassment to just let it happen. He glances back at Echo, lying so still it’s almost peaceful.
“Fuck it,” He shakes his head, walking over to the Villain.
Tommy kneels down, hooking his arms over the villain's chest and yanking him into a concealed corner. God, what am I doing?
The small area of shadow probably won’t help him all that much, but if Tommy can get it right he’ll look like the average L’manburg drunk and less like the peculiarly awful villain Echo is. No offense, (Complete offense) but Tommy expected a LOT more from the world's top villain. Either this guy is just really good when he’s not against Blaze, Blaze is actually the best, or everyone else fucking sucks.
He groans at the faint trail of red left on his hands from a small gash in Echo’s head, right behind his ear. Blaze is sure that he’ll be fine, or at least hopes, but for now, the crimson staining his palm is really fucking annoying.
Echo’s probably rich with all the damn bank robberies, you’d think, maybe Tommy should charge him for how many washes it’ll cost to get it out. With it being made by the heroes he knows it’s not ruined, but Tommy’s bank account is about to be embarrassingly sucked dry by a fucking laundromat.
He lets go of one of Echo’s arms, setting out a quick puff of flame to attempt to burn away the liquid only to return dragging the man, this time carefully avoiding his bobbing-around head. It semi-works, the stain looks more dark and rather crisp than vibrant and bloody. He hasn’t noticed how the blood from his nose dripped loosely onto his hoodie, which definitely’s now stained.
He manages to hobble him into the dark shady corner, almost tripping over discarded spray paint cans and rubble, just as a small metal box falls from the brunette’s pocket. It looks like a calculator with an odd antenna sticking out of it, like one of those ancient blocky phones or something straight out of a cartoon. It comes to light as it hits the concrete with a few small taps of the metal casing against the pavement.
A small green glow admits from the device as Tommy picks it up, eyes scanning over small numbers running across the screen.
Tommy blinks hard as his eyes momentarily burn from the flashing screen of the device, switching between channels and bouts of static before finalizing on an empty screen, messages displayed. Tommy recognizes it immediately, cursing at himself for not recognizing it sooner.
Blaze stares at the communicator, eyeing Echo soon after. God, what has he gotten himself into? His eyes flicker up to the wall above him, and the empty spray cans at his feet. No, surely, he shouldn’t… Ok, maybe just this once.
Echo rubs sleep out of his eyes, pressing his palms to his aching forehead. Fuck, his head hurts bad. He grabs his communicator off of the side of his bed, about to ask for ibuprofen, a bottle of Advil, and maybe a mallet to bash his aching head in when he sees the pixels form into messages.
11:56-h
11:57-help
11:57-16.787,-89.073
They send him into a panic immediately, sitting up before the throb in his head sends him straight back down with a thud. He groans as the burning sensation only grows in his head, gathering in the back of his cranium.
He’s left staring at the screen, anxiety dripping down his throat like swallowed bile and pooling in his stomach. He was asleep, closer to unconscious but whatever, when these were sent. He has to go now, he has to go make sure they’re ok, to type in the coords… till it hits him.
Right in front of them, lies his name. They’re his messages, though he doesn’t recall typing them. Only a moment passes by with him pondering over brain damage and amnesia till he grabs his phone to see what day it is. Only a day passed, with a new text on his phone.
Had to save this nerd after he got his ass kicked smh
The text read simply, with an image attached. Echo’s head would’ve exploded right off his neck if it wasn’t already exploding internally with pain. The one and only E c h o, One of the Top Three supervillains in the whole world, wanted by every government and every hero out there, was sat slumped over in a lone alleyway with Phoenix at his side. That was expected, if not slightly embarrassing.
However what wasn’t expected was the large spray paint over his head, bright red paint illuminating his slouched-over body but better yet, in an iconic red, read the proud name, ‘Blaze’, claiming his victory.
Yeah, Echo was going to kill him.