Chapter Text
Sam sighed, and leaned back in his chair. He had been in his workshop for hours by now, trying to perfect his newest invention. It was a cuff that would be able to keep people's powers at bay.
In theory.
In practice, it smoked, maybe dampened the powers a little, and then blew up.
Every. Single. Time.
He knew that it was probably never going to work, but he still had to try. The villains were getting more bold, causing more property damage, attacking more sites. They even killed a few politicians. (If they happened to blow up buildings that needed to come down, but the heroes weren’t allowed to bring them down, he didn’t notice. If they happened to attack and destroy areas in desperate need of repair so that the heroes had a reason to fix them, he didn’t notice. If all of the dead politicians happened to be extremely corrupt and cruel, he turned a blind eye.) Sam was a hero. Dream was their leader, technically, but no matter what Dream seemed to know, one way or the other, he was going to bring all of the villains into custody.
Setting aside his power dampener, he pulled up a bunch of blueprints. Pandora’s Vault. A prison that would be able to hold any villain. But only if he figured out the power dampener. He groaned, and stood up, shoving his chair back. He wouldn’t be able to do it alone. Unfortunately, the only other people he knew that were good with technology were Engineer and Bee, and he couldn’t ask a villain or vigilante for help in creating a device that was designed to capture them. He would have to figure it out himself. For now though. He needed a break. He walked over to the door, grabbing his mask. He couldn’t breathe the normal air, but he had engineered his workshop so that it added just enough smoke and gunpowder in the air that it was comfortable for the creeper hybrid. A non creeper hybrid would struggle to breathe in it, or they might accidentally blow it up, but it was perfect for him. When he wasn’t somewhere with that air, he wore a mask that helped filter it for him. When he was in his hero uniform, he had a full face mask that had the air filter built in, but he had a normal civilian mask that covered the lower half of his face. Most creeper hybrids had one these days, since the heroes provided as many as they could for free.
They never talked about how the heroes had gotten the money or materials to make so many masks. (He wanted to know though. They couldn’t fix the broken down shelter for the homeless down the road, yet seemed to have an infinite number of masks for creeper hybrids. Wing supports for avians. Various things he invented and the heroes used, that the public could use too. But they never fixed a building until the villains destroyed it.)
He headed upstairs, towards the training center. He was probably gonna see if another hero was there that wanted to spar. He needed a break, and training could be helpful. Clear his mind.
(Stop him from thinking about things too closely)
* * * * * * *
Sapnap ducked, narrowly avoiding the object thrown at him. He slid under Dream’s desk, hiding from the people in the doorway. Another object came flying over. An apple this time.
He peaked over the desk, seeing George rapidly scramble to find another object to throw while Dream leaned against the doorframe, amused. “Hey Dream, you wanna help me out?”
Dream considered it for a moment. “George is almost out of ammunition anyways, and I’ve got paperwork later. I think if I let George keep attacking you, that delays my paperwork.”
Sapnap ducked as George chucked a roll of paper towels (Where did he get those from???) at him. “But Dream, isn’t that paperwork the only thing keeping this tower standing? Sure, we’re government funded, but technically, as our leader, you are the only one keeping us together?”
Sapnap was grasping at straws, and Dream could tell. Still, he had been under bombardment for a decent amount of time, and he was running out of objects to summon for George. He let George throw one more object (A rubber duck) before stopping him. “Alright, I think he’s had enough.
George looked at him with big eyes, clearly wanting to throw more stuff. “But Dream, he stole my goggles! And still hasn’t given them back!”
Sapnap poked his head up. “In my defense, they are shiny, and important, and I was in my instincts. And also, you never asked for them back.”
George looked at him, and crossed his arms. “Alright, then give them back.”
Sapnap tilted his head, as if thinking about it. “Mmmm, nah.” He slammed through the window behind him, shattering the glass. He unfurled his demon-phoenix wings as he fell, letting them catch the air and sending him soaring upwards.
George groaned in frustration. “I’m never going to get my goggles back, am I?”
Dream shook his head, smiling a little. “Nope. Maybe if you raided his nest while he’s out, but you better hurry, he might be back soon.”
George nodded and ran out, heading for Sapnap’s nest on one of the top floors. Dream knew George wouldn’t be able to find the goggles, but if Sapnap came back and George was in his nest? Well, they were going to be distracted for a while… And George would get to deal with an instinct-driven Sapnap again.
Dream walked over to his desk, brushing the broken glass aside. He needed to finish up the paperwork that was keeping the tower afloat. Sapnap wasn’t totally wrong. The government could give them money, but it was up to Dream to make sure that they didn’t get shut down.
Well, him and his “friends”.
Things could be fixed if the villains destroyed them.