Chapter Text
The alarms started blaring five minutes ago which pulled all attention away from current projects such as the two boys sitting in the medical room huddled in on one another. The older of the two was named tubbo, though the only one who called him that was the small child wrapped in his arms. Tubbo was currently working themself through an escape plan because of the situation that presented itself. Thinking semi erratically from the drugs circling through his system, tubbo decided winging it was the best option. Calming Michael with a soothing buzz from his wings and strokes through his hair, tubbo stood up carrying the child in his arms. They peaked through the door frame seeing a desolate hall illuminated with flashes of red. Hurrying through the halls with the somewhat accurate recollection of the map his dad showed him, tubbo raced, trying desperately to keep Michael and himself calm and safe. Unfortunately for them that's hard to do when you run horns first into the boss of the facility that's keeping you hostage. Schlatt, as with all of these alarms, was carrying his favorite weapon. A firework launcher. Thinking on their feet, Tubbo placed Michael behind him, effectively becoming a meat shield.
“T09, go back to your cell, you're not meant to be here and I really don't want to kill my son.”
“Bullshit, you've wanted me dead since the day you made me too powerful. I could defea-”
A bang. A squeal. A scream. It was fair to say at this point that even though tubbo left the room plan-less, this was not going to plan. The firework that blew up his side and hand assured that. Tubbo, as always, ignored the pain and recovered swiftly, scooping up Michael and running for the exit. With the alarm still blaring and Schlatt reloading his weapon of choice the two kids made it to the overly fancy lobby created only to flaunt the fact that the faculty had money. Tubbos' bare feet plodded through the sparkling floors of the empty room, barely heard over the blaring siren used to alert of something, usually a threat, that needed urgent immediate attention from every PEFs member on site. When the pair reached the glass opening, seeing the outside world for the first time in a long time they heard the dreaded sound of footsteps entering their space.
Slow and clacky, clearly from expensive shoes the sound resonated through tubbo shaking his very core. they reluctantly turned round to confirm his worst fears. Schlatt had caught up to them and a firework was now pointed directly at his face. Turning back to the door and covering Michael slightly didn't do much as the whistle of the coloured bullet permeated the room and the top of the cone hit tubbos face. Everything happened at once. The firework hit expanding into a mirage of colour, exploding the right side of tubbos face and the shrapnel of the casing taking out michaels uncovered eye. Beside the almost fatally wounded duo the glass door shatters creating a noise that finally beat the alarm. In a flash between red and incandescent lights tubbo, who had elected to ignore the pain the best he could, stumbled through the now spiked glass door frame trying desperately to keep their breathing steady and feet moving despite the injuries that were now being numbly healed by michael. They worked off of adrenaline alone as he carried the small boy to the perimeter line.
Looking up to the starless city starline the boy took a minute to attempt to catch their gasping breaths whilst Michael focused on healing what needed to be healed. Finally having a grasp on their bearings, tubbo took one last look at his dad and the prison that surrounded him and bolted. With every rushed step the kid took he felt more and more energy seep out of him and the hurt of their bones reach their numbly painful head. With no time for emotions and an ever growing drag holding him back, tubbo knew he needed to crash and he needed to crash now but the small child in his arms prevented him from doing so at every turn and brought them to the surface when they were close to drowning in the relief of giving in to the tug. Stumbling through the near empty city streets populated by the late night drunks or people returning from a closing shift, tubbo and michael stood out like a sore thumb. The elder of the two scanned the pavements, eying up some of the homeless individuals' sleeping bags before spotting a dimly lit alleyway.
Heaving the themselve and the small boy who was ensuring their survival to the ally way, tubbo finally took a look back at the path to his past ten years. A past filled with betrayal and hurt. A past of uncomfortable discoveries. A distant squeal from micheal tore him from their musings. Instantly a wave of fatigued nausea washed over them, so he rushed to the dimly lit cavern built into the street and placed Michael down before throwing up into the industrial bins of what looked to be a diner flat combo. After emptying his stomach of the “ food” he was served at the cafeteria in the facility, tubbo slid down the rough brick wall collapsing from the strain put on his body. Slumping beside Michael he held out his arm and allowed the toddler to crawl onto his lap and cry onto their chest before passing out.
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“Ranboo you're being a dick, big man” Tommy said in a sarcastically aghast tone. The two boys were walking home from school early as both had free periods. They were discussing their lunch plans and ignoring the odd look from the strangers as they walked through Ramease street.
“I’m just saying that we should stop ordering pizza so much, it's not that I don't like it, it's just that we have it too much.” The boy's current argument was one they had a fair bit. Tommy, it was fair to say, had a pizza addiction and due to his family's jobs and favoritism towards him he got showered in gifts. This led to the family fully embracing the pizza to the point of keeping a pizza fund. Ranboo on the other hand had a limited spare cash flow so was forced to enjoy the pizza. Much to his own detriment as he wanted to shake things up for their first day of the school year, however tommys stifling on food consumption was prevailing.
“We can have what you want when you pay.” Tommy was being unfair. He knew that. Ranboo knew that. It was light hearted and Tommy just really wanted a pizza. See ranboo had had a tough life. Everyone knew that he was a permanent stay at eris house and no matter who you talked to in pogtopia, or lmanburg or even a couple of further out places like boatem, eris house had a reputation. The rep it gained wasn't bad and it also wasn't exactly untrue, but the fact that everyone knew about eris was annoying to both tommy and ranboo. Eris was a rehab centre for people with encounters from villains. It was a home for those who have been kidnapped and a safe place for the scared, so it was unsurprising that ranboo ended up there. Tommy was thankful for it, however that didnt mean he wouldn't use the fact eris only gave out a small allowance in order to get that sweet, delicious pizza. Tommy had been dreaming about the pizza all day whilst he was ignoring classwork, peperoni slightly crisp at the edges, cheese stretchy and gooey and the perfect base. Maybe ranboo was right about his addiction but he didnt care.
Just as ranboo was about to retort the two teens were put on high alert by what sounded like a distressed squeal coming from the upcoming alley way. A little known fact about the two was that they were the famed vigilantes strix and proto who were known to save anyone that was in danger regardless of their own safety or the reveal of their identity. They had cut it close a couple of times but were still going under the radar so when they heard the sounds of an anxious piglet they rushed to its aid.
The boys were met with a scene horrific and unexpected. A body covered in a dirty blanket that was painfully obvious to have come from the bin with a small piglin hybrid child hunched over sniffling. The child had gold specks dancing on his cheeks that sparkled as he looked up at the school pupils. His face was half destroyed looking like somewhat healed burn wounds. The piglin squealed at the two moving to cover himself and the body.
“Hey buddy, I can see you've got some serious injuries there and if i had to guess so would the guy under the blanket. So me and my pal here want to help you two, but to do that we need to see the extent of the injuries. Don't worry we don't mean either of you harm.`` Tommy finished his speech with a smile and an extended hand as he worked to try and coax the little boy away from the body he was so protective of. The little boy raised his hand slowly and reluctantly as he looked at the teen in suspicion, an air of mistrust, disbelief and hope seemingly congregating around the small child. As he got up ranboo began to circulate his power.
“Now my friend, you see the giant I'm with?” Tommy waited for a nod which came after a few more than ten seconds, “well he can help both of you. Your friend over there looks to be in pretty bad shape and given you aren't already in the hospital I'm going to guess you avoided it for a reason and can't go. We're not going to force you and besides we've got our own healing machine in this big idiot.” Tommy pointed at ranboo and Michael looked at the taller teen who appeared to be itching to do something. Micheal toddled over to ranboo reaching up. Fuck that kid trusted far to easily, pulling his eyes away from the adorable sight of boob boy with a toddler, tommy focused on the possible dead body lying on the ground. He approached with what he felt was a reasonable amount of caution and lifted the crudely placed blanket to reveal the mutilated but still alive form of a teen. The wheezing figure looked to be barely alive and in need of urgent help.
“Hey ranboo i think your going to need to teleport this guy. Whoever they are, they look like they're at death's door.'' Tommy said as he quickly looked over the mangled but still somehow alive form in front of him. “If you teleport him to the base and start some medical care, I'll take the little guy and buy some supplies.”
Ranboo looked over and put the child down, saddened by the action and walked towards the living corpse. Taken aback by the condition the body was in for it to still be breathing ranboo looked back at the child worried about their mental health to even see injuries like this let alone be attached to whoever it is. He then lowered himself so he could touch the body. Finding an open patch of skin Ranboo felt his magic flow through him as he prepared to teleport the injured person back to him and Tommy's hideout.
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After Ranboo teleported with the boy, Tommy turned back to Michael. “ Alright big man we're going to go get some food and some more clothing for you too. We also probably need to pick up some more medication and bandages, especially looking at that friend of yours.” Michael looked up at Tommy and replied with a small squeak that seemed to be affirmative although he didn't look like he quite knew what he was talking about. Tommy opened his palm and held it out to Michael hoping that the boy would take it so that he could lead him to the nearest shop but when Michael's small hoofed hand reached into his own much bigger hand Tommy couldn't help but feel worried again for the small child's safety. After Tommy made sure that Michael was going to follow him he grabbed his and ranboo bags that had been abandoned and made his way out of the alleyway. Tommy knew his way to the nearest Tesco's like the back of his hand he also knew the way to to the nearest Domino's and he was still hellbent on getting that pizza, but now he had someone else to share it with and by the looks of things that person had never experience the true joys of pizza before.
The boys reached the local Tesco's after Tommy led them there and they immediately belined for the medical aisle. Tommy began picking up painkillers and other useful medicines and salves for whatever the boy's condition was, meanwell Michael was seemingly fascinated by the lower shelves and their array of coloured vitamin and cough medicine packets. Grabbing Michael's hand again Tommy put the bandages he had in his other hand into the basket and then picked the basket up and headed to the non-perishable items. First on the agenda was pasta. The two teens typically held a plentiful supply of different pastas due to ranboo and eris houses' past, however they'd forgotten to restock in a while because of Tommy's pizza obsession . Tommy also decided that it was a good idea to get things such as noodles, bread and snacks as well as some fun cereal for Michael. When reaching the cereal aisle Tommy let go of Michael's hand and told him he could choose up to three cereals. Michael immediately dashed towards the most colourful and fun looking boxes, eventually picking up a box of frosties, Coco Pops and golden nuggets. Tommy wasn't exactly happy about the high sugar content for the toddler; but he certainly wasn't going to stop him when he saw Michael's happy face, plus he really wanted some of that cereal.
The Boys made their way over to the counter and Tommy paid for all of the items including a small stuffed animal that he had gotten for Michael and a black and yellow striped blanket plus new clothes for the Boy who’s injured, as well as some new clothes for Michael. They began heading out when they bumped into Nikki who asked if Michael was alright and who he was and then gave Tommy some baked goods.
The two then started heading towards Tommy and ranboo secret hideout or as tommy like to call it the big man base.At this point on me started to question Michael about the come across earlier Michael only made grants and squeals in response to most questions apart from when Tommy asked the boy about who he was with to which he he answered with an excited ”bee”. Tommy soon figured out that although he was stubborn it wasn't going to help in getting answers so he may as well just wait for the older person to be healed and wake up. Tommy quickly ordered Domino's on his phone to arrive soon after he and Michael got back.
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Ramboo teleported with the body landing on dusty concrete floor of his and Tommy's hangout spot he quickly got to work on changing over his power from teleporting 2 healing. you was very anxious about the body Dr not surviving as it looked to be a corpse however despite all odds of what looked to be an explosion had gone off on half its body ranboo could still feel steady heartbeat and the soft breaths but the body was taking holding onto life as if it was something precious. whatever this person had been through it was going to cause a hole trauma and given randy's passed he feels a strong connection and wants to protect the person. as he needed to less Focus to heal the body he started taking its appearance beyond the damage that had been cost. it looked to be some sort of mixed hybrid maybe a beetle or some sort of fly had wings that were thankfully undamaged and we're iridescent drawing in the eye on the person's head he had an undamaged horn that started to curl in on itself and beside that an antenna that still matched on the other side however that side horn had likely been decimated in the blow-up. the person's hair with Shaggy and if it was resting well standing he would have had it go over their eyes. however the thing that Drew ranboo in the most was the clothing that was placed on the body. he could still recognise it. anyone could have to go in through that. this person had obviously been taken and had run away from the very place that the tortured Rambo all those years ago.
Because of this ranboo felt a responsibility to protect and teach like he had been before. for him and Tommy to take the role that eret and Nikki took for him. he wanted to show whoever this person was and Michael the world's and the beauty that it could bring regardless of what they had been shown so far. so Ranboo focus on healing, he wouldn't let this person die today, he couldn't, it was too important to him. he needed this person to survive, he needed this person to live a life worth living with the knowledge that they hadn't before. regardless of what anyone said he would stick by this person side and would pray, even though no he didn't believe in a god, he would still pray for this person safety.
Eventually Tommy Returned with Michael and boxes of pizza and sides stacked high in his hands. Michael's little hoof hands were wrapped around a bag that looked to be from Nikki or at the very least from the Eris House and on Tommy's back was his is and ranboo's backpacks, a lot fuller than they were before they were haphazardly strung over Tommy's wings in a way that if Ranboo didn't know him he would have thought was damaging them. ranboo internally facepalmed seeing the Domino's boxes and decided to leave it as there were more important things to worry about, such as the body who hasn't woken up yet. Michael immediately dropped the bag and ran over to the person who is currently strewn over the cheap but still pretty comfortable couch that Ranboo and Tommy had found on the side of the road and had dragged into the hideout. Ranboo was watching the body, internally still hoping for it to wake up however, he let Michael running to its Arms and hug the body knowing that these two were closer than ranboo could probably imagine.
Tommy went through to the kitchen to get plates and divide up the pizza. He knew ranboo would want to play with the child and he could definitely do a better job then Tommy at keeping things under control. Ranboo immediately started to try and entertain the child to distract from the body’s state. The enderman hybrid started to gather the soft things that were scattered throughout the place and encouraged Michael to follow. Soon the boy was waddling after ranboo like a duckling carrying blankets and pillows which were piled high against the couch to make an eating and sleeping den close to the injured person. By the time they had finished Tommy came through and out on Up ignoring ranboos protests and the boys snuggled in devouring the pizza.
Tommy left quite late having to go home or else his family would send out the entire country to search for him and he didn't need that again. When he left he looked over ranboo and the guests with a content smile. He knew it wasn't a good situation but they helped and they got to meet Michael who is just the cutest though he wouldn't tell anyone that. All that could be heard was soft squeals and wheezes coming from the newbies and ranboos regular happy trills as tommy shut off the film and traveled down the vigilante alley and made his way to the hero offices for his brother to pick him up.