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Tommy had had many bad days in his life, as is typical of the average person. This was only one of the many. Maybe the universe just hated him. Things had been going a little too smoothly lately, what with his job at the tower, and his small family growing, and them being able to finally afford basic amenities.
He had been wondering when shit was going to hit the fan again.
Unfortunately, shit tended to come when you were least expecting it.
Tommy had awoken to a mouth full of dirty carpet, and dribble down the side of his face. It wasn't often that he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed, let alone not on the bed at all. But he tried to take it in stride -apart from a few grumbles and rubs at his back- and he moved on with his day.
He had slept on the ground many times, but now that he had an actual bed he had become accustomed to a little bit of luxury. A luxury that many people in Logstedchire were seldom able to afford.
Not that many other people would call the bed he had a luxury item. In fact he was pretty sure that the mattress was already on its last legs when he found it.
Before he left the house he had whacked his elbow on the doorframe, broke his favorite mug, lost his keys -He, Ranboo, Tubbo, and Purpled were relieved when they were finally able to afford more than one copy. Not to mention the new locks- moments after having put them down, spilled coffee on his shirt, stubbed his left big toe no less than seven times, accidentally locked himself out of the house when he realized that he had left his wallet on the table and had to climb back in through the window only to realize that his keys had been in the pocket of his bag the whole time, hidden behind an old receipt for deodorant of all things, which had only made him realize that they were out of deodorant again, leaving him to run to the store and buy a few tubes only to rush and just make his train.
Yeah… great day so far.
The train ride to work was smooth- thank Prime - and he even made it to work with time to spare. But the morning had been spoiled for the “nineteen” year-old and he dragged his feet the rest of the way into the office.
Twitter had been fairly quiet that morning. Maybe he would stir up some chaos later to bring his mood up. It was so nice that this was his job.
As Tommy made his way closer to the Tower he found himself mindlessly shoving his way through a crowd in front of the doors. It seemed as though there was a press conference today.
Whatever it was for, it hadn’t been scheduled.
Must have been thrown together last minute , Tommy presumed, barely looking up from his phone as he maneuvered the crowd. It only lasted a moment, but, he debated on whether or not he should listen in before shrugging it off, having deemed it too much effort to put up with first thing in the morning.
It was probably just another follow-up to the new superhero laws that were being enforced. He could catch up on that up in the tower. Stupid law. It was just one more thing that he had to worry himself and his friends over.
So Tommy moved on, and entered the tower.
“Good morning Tommy,” Kristen called over the quiet din of the lobby.
“Uh, morning Kristin,” Tommy replied with a bit of forced enthusiasm.
“That’s quite a crowd out there isn’t it? You find your way through all right?”
Tommy deflated ever so slightly before giving in to the chortle that had been building up, “Yeah, crowds don’t bother me. I’m a big strong man after all.” Tommy emphasized this with a big manly flex, which was definitely big and oh so flexy.
Kristin laughed, “You certainly do seem to be.”
Tommy chuckled again, before scratching the back of his head, making a split decision that it"d probably be better actually asking about the meeting outside rather than simply ignoring it.
“Say, you know what’s up with that press conference out there?”
“Mmmm, yeah. Some bigshot villain with Seismic powers has been out causing havoc since early this morning. They’re trying to do a little bit of damage control while also warning people about possible hazards and announcing evacuation warnings.”
“Damage control huh? Why didn’t they just call me in? I’m great at damage control.”
“That you are Mr. Twitter-Man. Now go on and get. We got some work to do.” Kristin shooed him away with her melodic laugh.
As Kristin waved Tommy off, a lighter feeling filled his lungs. Perhaps today wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Glad to see your day is looking a bit more peachy Thomas.”
“Shut up, Henry.”
His mood took another 180 degree turn as soon as he reached floor number 69 -yes, haha very funny, and soooooo original- as he had to take a step back into the elevator to avoid being run over by the swarm of heroes that seemed to be rushing to gather materials and weapons and papers and everything else under the sun.
He could have sworn that he saw someone sprint past with a crate of TNT under their arm.
Tommy had to shove his way through the crowd for a second time that day. At this rate, he might as well be given the title of "Professional Crowd Shover".
Breaking out of the foot traffic he makes it to the hall leading to his office where he finds Mr. Philza Minecraft himself, looking like he hasn’t slept in a week, sipping on a cup of coffee.
“Ayup Mr. Philza Minecraft.”
“Don’t start this now Tommy. It’s too early in the morning for this Mr. Minecraft business. I don't know how many times I have to ask. Please, just call me Phil.”
“No can do Philza, Mr. Only-Man-Ever.”
“Haven’t heard that one before,” Phil mutters under his breath before returning to his much-needed caffeine break.
“You not gearing up to fight the big bad villain today Philza?”
“Who me? Psssshhht, Nah, mate. I’ve been at that pretty much all night already. Can’t save the world while dead on my feet now can I?”
Both Phil and Tommy laugh awkwardly and look for anything else to catch their attention. They both know how much bullshit just came out of Phil’s mouth. But he would never call the Great Philza Minecraft out on his lies.
Phil would be out there right now, just like anyone else if someone hadn't stared him down in and told him off for just how tired he looked. There was no hiding those eye-bags from anyone.
With a satisfied sigh, Phil turned back to Tommy, “Well then. I will see you later. Got lots of paperwork to catch up on. Bye, mate.”
Tommy scoffed as he turned back towards his office. He knew for a damn fact that Phil didn’t have jack shit to do. Most of the paperwork had been done last night, by him before he went home.
He hoped Phil had gone off to at least have a nap.
Either way, Tommy was grateful for the excuse to head off to his office and get his shit together before anything else happened.
As the day moves on, things in the office building begin to calm down.
The villain had been spotted setting up shop closer to the coastline. Everything else seemed pretty normal from then on bar the supposed epic battle that was going down.
Tommy had gotten some editing done, browsed Twitter for potential brand opportunities, rejected offers from Netflix again , and surprisingly Hulu for once had some interest, but like all the other offers, he had turned them down.
Tommy had grown more than a little bored. He needed something else to focus on, or reset his productivity, and so he decided it was time for him to stretch his legs -ugh.
Grabbing a glass of water from the kitchen sink, he downed half of it before moving back toward his office.
That plan was quickly abandoned as Tommy was promptly knocked on his ass as a shockwave flew through the building.
Alarms went off left and right, he could hear cars down on the street go off, buildings had caved in, fire extinguishers had blown their tops, and were now spewing water onto the streets.
“What the fuck?”
This could only be from that villain the rest of the tower was battling.
Tommy ran back to his office, grabbed his bag, and raced to the stairs, skipping three at a time until he reached the bottom. Peeking out from the stairwell, Tommy looked for some shaded corner he could use to change into his costume and not be seen.
Making a break for it, he moved around the lobby calmly so as to not draw attention to himself and changed, watching over his shoulder for movement. When he was dressed, he looked towards the back of the building for a cleaner exit.
Helping people evacuate while you are a vigilante was not all that it was built up to be.
Tommy had been on the receiving end of sneers, a few sharp words, screaming, a few people calling the authorities on him.
Thankfully, there were others who had gotten to their feet hand helped him. Some had given him tearful hugs accompanied with well wishes and “thank yous”. Some had confessed their adoration towards him and expressed how they wished they could be just like him -these mostly being younger children with shaken yet no less cheerful parents and siblings-. It was hard work. But it was good work all the same.
As far as he could tell, this area had been completely evacuated, with minimal casualties might he add. So many people could have been much worse off. At least the reports Tubbo had given him after he had called in a rush had told him that the quakes had been localized. They mostly stuck to the coast just offshore, a ways away from the tower. This area had received some aftershocks at worst.
He pulled out his phone for the newest reports, scrolling through to see if there were any more zones in need of help. It seemed that most places had been taken care of by other heroes for now though.
All in a good days work.
"Finally," Tommy breathed in satisfaction.
Tommy was more than ready to go home and take a load off. He wanted to eat some pizza and play Mario Kart with the boys. His brothers, and Ranboo. He could use a night of whooping their asses at rainbow road. Tubbo would have laughed if he were there.
As he scanned the street, ready to leave, something caught his eye. There, just peeking out of a storm drain, was something shiny. Something techie.
Bringing a hand to his mouth he calls for backup.
“Tubbo.”
“What’s up bossman? Everything ok?”
“Yeah, just need some advice on something technical, and possibly dangerous.”
Tommy crept closer to the manhole cover he had seen from the edge of his periphery, keeping a wary eye on the visible machine parts.
“I need you to tell me what it looks like.”
"Hold on. I need to get a better look," Tommy grunted as he tossed himself down the manhole.
"Sure thing."
He landed in a crouch. The machine lurked in the shadowed halls of the storm drain. He didn't like this one bit. It looked complicated, but not unlike an Apple product in design.
“Well, it’s-," static cut into his ear.
"Tubbo?”
Grumbling, Tommy peeked his head back above ground to get a signal again. Fuck. He couldn’t see anything from here. Hoisting himself out from under he called Tubbo again.
“Hey Tubbs, can you hear me?”
Nothing but static answered back. Heaving a dramatic sigh, Tommy once again pulled out his phone and made his way back down toward the machine. It had been plopped down in what seemed to be an abandoned drain for the sewers. It was weird seeing how this drain ran along a semi-busy street. Everything was… too clean.
The machine looked to be powered off. It was shiny and sleek, and smooth edged. What was it with supervillains and their stupid ‘pretty’ gadgets? He’d much rather use something more practical, clunky, and ugly any day. That was way easier to wreck while not knowing what you were doing.
He took a couple of pictures of... whatever it was, and sent them off to Tubbo and was about to make his way back up the storm drain when his phone sent off a ping.
The machine had started up.
Tommy was blasted off his feet, hit by wave after concussive wave. His head throbbed both from where it had hit the wall of the empty sewer and the waves themselves which nearly burst his eardrums and pressed against his temples.
The waves only seemed to get stronger, and stronger, and STRONGER. Eventually, they were strong enough to rip apart the very street Tommy laid under.
His ears bled, his eyes were forced screwed shut, his fingernails scraped wherever they could in order to get some purchase to haul himself up. Everything was so loud, and then suddenly, his vision went black as something crashed into the back of his head.
When Tommy was able to see and think clearly again, something was very wrong. His body felt squished. His body felt very squished.
As he came to he tried to take a big breath in, his first mistake. His ribs were broken. Again. He just knew it. Its not easy to forget that feeling.
Can a guy ever catch a break?
His second mistake was looking down at his torso. Everything on the right-hand side of his body had been crushed. He couldn't move any of it a single inch.
But the worst thing, no, the worst thing was the fucking rebar sticking out of where he knew one of his kidneys would be.
Tommy quickly realized very quickly that he probably wasn’t going to be getting out of this one. He could try using his powers to get the slabs of street off of him, but he definitely wouldn’t have enough to do both that and pull himself off of the rebar. Even if he managed… he didn’t want to have to think about that.
Tommy at least wanted this rock and asphalt off of him. He could do that, he hoped. His energy was waning by the second.
As quick as he could, with a wave of his arm, he forced the rocks off of his body. He heard a squelch-which would have made him sick if he weren’t so damn scared- and a snap.
It hurt.
It hurt so fucking much.
He had moved too far.
His ribs which had only just been healed not too long ago by Techno had broken again. This time, although he didn't know it, his ribs were broken in several places.
His lung was filling with blood.
He was drowning.
And his heart, yeah, pretty sure his heart was nicked if not punctured.
Tommy may not have known all of that, but he knew enough to say with confidence that he was fucked.
He was all alone.
He was here in a broken down sewer and he was all alone.
He had no idea what it looked like up above but he was sure it was bad.
No one was going to find him. He was going to die down here, in a sewer, all alone.
Well, at least this wasn’t the first time he had that thought. … How depressing.
Tears were pouring out hot and heavy from his eyes now. What a shit way to go out. He wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy.
The worst part was that Tommy just wished he had someone to talk to.
Someone to tell him everything is going to be alright. A small part of his mind, the dying part, told him to be realistic.
Of all the things he hoped would be true when he went out, he would never have asked for it to be quiet.
Tommy hated quiet.
Quiet meant nights spent in fear, sneaking about looking for any means to survive.
Quiet meant pretending everything was alright all of the time when it wasn’t.
Quiet meant dying alone stuck at the bottom of a collapsed sewer.
His thoughts drifted as his mind clouded; focusing on hopes, dreams, regrets, wishes, anything other than what was happening. His legs and arms had long since lost all feeling. He was cold. His vision swam. His hearing went in and out, interrupted by the ringing from the machine that still haunted his mind.
Worst of all, he was tired.
It was a shock when there was a muffled buzzing coming a short distance behind his elbow. The ring was different now. It sounded warped, slow, hollow. Tommy knew what that meant. He had to move, and he had to move fast.
Slowly, and ever so gently, Tommy tried to sit up. This was his last chance. This was the last time he would possibly talk to another person ever again. Desperately, he moved to sit up.
This was his chance to say goodbye to someone. Even if it was some robot.
It hurt.
It really, really hurt, but, Tommy had sat up successfully. Now all he had to do was reach for his phone while he couldn’t see it. He swiped for it, and missed, and swiped for it, and missed again.
His energy boost was nearly gone.
"Please."
He tried one more time.
He got it.
With semi-uncooperative fingers, he pressed the answer key and somehow managed to get it set to speaker mode. His fingers hurt. The screen was entirely shattered. Little glass bits dug into the palms of his fingertips.
“Hello? Tommy? Are you there?”
Techno.
He could just picture his face. This was the last voice he was going to hear.
“Tommy? You picked up, I’m assuming you are there. You good? There were reports of Theseus aiding in the evacuation efforts. I found a second to step away and check in on you. Are you ok? Did everyone get out alright?"
Tommy wished he could beg for the energy to talk.
"Hello?”
“T- Techno.” Tommy rasped.
“Tommy?! Are you ok? What happened.”
“Technh. M-mach-nes. ‘N Sewwars. Sohnk Wavvs. L-l- le. Don... bring… phons. Signul, make, boom. ”
“Oh. Oh, Prime. Fuck. Just, just stay where you are. Do you need help?”
“‘M nah gunnah… make it. Too lay.”
“Don’t you dare talk like that Thomas Underscore. Help is coming. Do you know where you are?”
“Can... remeber.”
“Shit. Jesus. Fuck.”
Every word hurt more than the last. He was losing precious seconds. He had to say something that mattered. He had to say it quickly.
“Tech, I-”
“Speak up Tommy, please, I can barely hear you.”
Just say it, Just say it, come on just FUCKING SAY IT.
SAY, I LOVE YOU. GODDAMMIT. TELL YOUR BROTHER JUST HOW MUCH HE FUCKING MEANS TO YOU.
“ Tommy, please tell me that you’re still there.”
“Tecno, I-, I-, help.”
Tommy's own voice sounded so small. How pathetic.
And with that, the last of his energy had faded.
All he could do, was wait out his own last moments.
And all Techno could hear from his end of the phone was a heavy thump and a final hitch in Tommy’s breath as the phone skittered over broken pavement.
“Tommy? Can you hear me? Tommy?! Tommy, please answer me.”
“TOMMY!”
The dial tone was his only answer.
And as Tommy drifted off to sleep he could hear the distant crashes of waves, of water beating against the stone. Such a pretty sound to fall asleep to. He’d… miss it.
Techno had to physically drag Wilbur away from the aftermath of the fight. If he weren’t a hero he would have beaten the smug-faced villain within an inch of his life. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t still debating it. But he had other priorities.
Tommy had gone silent only minutes ago. But he knew that in a disaster like this, seconds were very precious. And while Wilbur had been dragging his feet behind him -literally- while Techno dragged him over the rubble -again, quite literally- complaining loudly that there was already so much to do Techno didn’t bother giving him any mind aside from making sure his hold on Wilbur was secure, it was only when Wil had phased through his grip when Techno turned to look at his brother.
“What the fuck has gotten into you? We were in the middle of trying to figure out demolition and evacuation. We really don’t have time for your dramatics right now, so if you could-”
“Tommy’s hurt. Bad.”
Wilbur had entirely frozen at Tommy’s name. His face had drained of all color and his eyes had hollowed ever so slightly. The post-battle exhaustion had erased itself from his shoulders which sat straight and tense once again.
“Do you know where he was last?”
“The last I heard he was coming from the direction of the tower.”
“Shit! He could be anywhere by now.”
Wilbur didn’t waste any time breaking into a sprint, phasing his way through bigger obstacles to save time. Techno followed matching the pace easily. He shoved big pieces of crumpled buildings and jagged road out of his way as he went, all while keeping an eye out for Tommy, calling out his name all along the way.
They made it back to the tower in 15 minutes. There was still no sign of Tommy. They tried calling his phone again and again. They tried pinging the nearest service tower for the general location of his phone. All that came back was a dead signal.
“What was Tommy even doing out here at a time like this? He should have been evacuated!”
Techno only huffed through his nose and avoided his brother’s eyes as he thought of where Tommy could have gone in the turmoil.
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything.” Techno looked for every possible route Tommy could have taken to get down to the coastline.
“You only huff like that when you’re hiding something. What aren’t you telling me Techno?”
Shit. Techno stands still debating whether or not to tell Wilbur. Logically he should, but he really shouldn’t. He couldn’t. He had just gained Tommy’s trust back. That was hard enough to deal with on top of the fact that this kid who had so suddenly found himself entwined into his life and embedded into his heart threw himself into danger every other night. And now that fucking kid was possibly dying if not dead.
So with teary eyes, he turns to Wilbur.
“What could possibly be so important that you’d hide it from me, your brother of all people?”
Wilbur settles his hand on Techno’s arm, grip firm and steady, waiting for his answers. Is it worth it? Is it worth sharing this piece of Tommy’s world with his brother? Is it worth bringing Tommy’s life under this much scrutiny? Yes. He decides yes. He would rather Tommy be alive and bitterly, if not loudly mad at him rather than dead and quiet.
The tears fall hot and fast, and yet they aren’t fast enough. He tries to open his mouth. He just needs to open his fucking mouth. Just the slightest bit. And then-
“Tommy- Tommy is Theseus.”
His voice comes out a wretched and small thing with barely enough strength to carry itself to Wilbur. But he hears it nonetheless. He can tell because the grip on his arm has suddenly both strengthened tenfold and immediately released, falling to Wilbur’s side.
“.....What?”
“Tommy is Theseus,” Techno spoke with more surety.
“Are you telling me, that I fucking kicked our baby brother off of a building?”
Wilbur’s voice is hollow. Techno had expected at least some form of shock, maybe even a little bit more hate, but baby brother , he hadn’t been prepared for. But Techno nodded nonetheless.
“No. Wait. You said that Theseus is a kid. Tommy is nineteen.”
The look Techno gave Wilbur must have been enough to convince him of the truth. Enough so that Wilbur laughed. It was an empty, lifeless kind of laugh. One that dried up one’s throat, and did the same to another’s just from sympathy.
What a hollow little thing it was.
Wilbur whipped around and with more urgency than he had previously shown he cried out for Tommy. His voice was cracking and dry, as though he had run miles through the desert without water.
The two searched the wreckage of the town for hours. Techno had climbed down into crevices and sewer drains, tossing Wilbur his phone as they went. Just like Tommy had said, there were seismic devices set up in some of the older sewer systems of the town, just waiting to be set off by some poor unsuspecting city worker with a phone and an open Bluetooth connection.
No one would be able to doubt it now. Tommy was a fucking hero, no matter what other sources said.
Techno and Wilbur tore apart the already wrecked buildings and toppled over toppled piles of debris. They had to find him. Please just let them find him. They had both already lost so much of themselves. They couldn’t afford to lose someone else. Not again.
Another hour had passed and Phil had to come to drag them out of their search, only to join them once he understood the gravity of the situation.
They searched.
And they searched.
And they searched.
And then they stopped. They stopped when they could no longer stand. They stopped when all that was left of their hands were bloodied and mangled messes. They stopped when they were so starved and dehydrated that they were physically ill from the effort.
They stopped because they were broken.
They stopped because a hero of 16 had disappeared. Was he really only 16?
They never found his body. And they never would.