Chapter Text
Sam sat on the curbside with his hands in his hair. The garage door was wide open and the place looked like a total wreck. The Warden was partially dismantled and the little body that once held Tommy was on the ground, discarded with no hard drive. He felt like a complete and utter failure. He’d found what was apparently a whole missing kid and then he lost said kid! There was no way he would ever be able to live this down, no way he could forgive himself.
The sound of a car rolling up pulled Sam out of his stupor, and he looked up as a large van parked, several people piling out and he couldn’t help but sigh in relief. He stood, making his way over to greet the driver.
“Dream,” Sam spoke with strain in his voice, shaking the man's hand. “It’s good to see you again, thanks for coming on such short notice.”
“Of course,” Dream shrugged as he stepped past Sam to get a better look at the trashed garage. “You said it was an emergency, right? What happened, some sort of break in?”
“Sort of, it was something more along the lines of a… kidnapping.”
Dream spun around to face him, shock and a hint of concern painting his face clear as day. “Kidnapping? Is Ponk-?”
“Ponk is fine,” Sam amended. “It was actually- God, how do I explain this? It’s so insane I don’t even know where to
start
.”
“Why don’t you start with the who . Who got taken?”
Sam carded a hand through his hair, stress lacing his voice. “That’s the thing! I don’t know anymore. I thought- listen, you’re going to think I’m crazy, but you need to let me explain, alright? I thought he was… an AI.”
Dream blinked, holding Sam in a bewildered stare when his eyes opened. “You’re right, that does sound absolutely batshit insane, Sam.”
“Yeah, I know, trust me, I know.” Sam laughed bitterly to himself, then dove into the long explanation of how he had found Tommy, the oddities of the little A.I., and then how just a few hours earlier, he’d found out that said A.I. shared a face with a missing child. “And I don’t think it’s just a case of someone just ripping a face and name off of the internet, either. He- Dream, he acted so real .”
Dream placed a comforting hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, I know, I know. You care a lot about that kid right? We’ll find him, Sam. Trust me, we will. I need to make a call, can you give everyone else the rundown while I do?”
Sam nodded as Dream stepped away, pulling out a phone and dialing… whoever it was that he apparently needed to talk to. “Yeah, of course.”
He gathered the rest of the group, taking them on a short tour through the now wrecked shop explaining and answering questions where he could. Sam knew them all well, they called themselves ‘The Hunters’, which sounded pretty foreboding, and it was, if you were on the wrong side of their work. But Sam had always considered them friends.
Dream was their leader, technically. There wasn’t much of a hierarchy among them, but he was always the first to run into the fray, the others soon to follow after. George liked to focus more on the technical side of things, if there was online information, he would be the first to find it. Sapnap was the brawn, and wherever Dream was, it was typical of him to be just around the corner. Bad was like a shadow, staying hidden until the right moment, which should be impossible, with the way he towered over just about everyone he came across. Lastly was Ant, his skill lain in his mix of agility and stealth, where everyone else could keep a target distracted, Ant was able to sneak around and either flank them or take whatever items the group had come for.
All together they created a monster of a team, Sam had yet to hear of a venture of theirs that ended in failure. Which is why he was so curious about why Dream would need to contact someone else, he would’ve figured the team would have everything figured out on their own.
He wasn’t left wondering long, of course, when a truck pulled up to the curb and parked. Dream was the first to make his way over and greet the man that climbed out. He was unfamiliar, light, gray-blue eyes and platinum blond hair.
Sam walked over curiously, just barely catching the last few words Dream muttered as he got close. “-e’ll hopefully get you what you need for the next few months.”
“Hello,” Sam greeted when he was close enough. “You must be…?”
“Punz,” The stranger answered. “I needed some extra cash so Dream called me up because this case has a pretty big reward.”
Sam’s face pinched at the reminder. It didn’t matter how much he might care about Tommy, when this was said and done, the kid would have to be returned to his family. Maybe, if Sam was lucky, they’d allow him to finish the project he was working on before, of creating a physical body for Tommy to use.
“Well,” Dream spoke loudly, clapping his hands together to draw the attention of the rest of the group. “Now that we’re all here, I think it’s time we get this show on the road.”