Chapter Text
The masked boy jumped from rooftop to rooftop, his two partners jumping alongside him on separate ones. The city was quiet, having shut down for the night, spare for a few cars passing by and small instances of chatter. The boy tapped into the communications device in his ear to connect with the boy behind the computer. The masked boy cringed as he heard his best friend yelling at him through the com. “Stormfly! Get to the bank! There’s a group of bank robbers there!” The boy called “Stormfly” glanced at his two partners and nodded.
“On it,” Stormfly said, and then began to change directions, heading to the city bank quickly, blue sparks flashing around his hands. He figured that his partners had everything else handled. The boy landed on the roof of the bank, glancing down towards the entrance of the building. He scowled behind his white mask, the mask only covered half of his face—very Phantom of the Opera-esque.
There was a black minivan parked in front of the bank, supposedly waiting for the robbers to come back. Stormfly quickly came up with a plan and jumped down onto the sidewalk next to the van. He looked inside to check if there was anyone waiting for the robbers, cursing when he saw the man in the driver’s seat. The boy quickly walked around the van and broke the window to place two fingers on the man’s neck. “Say night-night.” He said before shocking the man and knocking him out. Stormfly then opened the door and tied his arms and legs together, dragging him towards the bank entrance.
He swiftly entered the bank, figuring they had disabled the alarm system. Stormfly smiled as he heard the robbers, four if the voices were anything to go off of. Once the robbers were in his peripheral, he summoned blue lightning between his hands, making sure to not have the lightning engulf his entire body. The robbers stopped once they saw Stormfly, examining the boy’s outfit and lightning with fearful eyes. “You guys have been very bad.” He taunted, grinning when he saw one of them scowl at the boy. “I’m sorry, was it a shock to see me?”
“You bastard.” One of the robbers, this one seemed to be easily aggravated, growled, grabbing a bat and running at the boy. Stormfly rolled his eyes and sent a lightning strike into the man’s body, watching as his eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground. The lightning controlling boy smirked at the other three, messing with the lightning in his hands.
He curled the lightning into a ball and tossed it between his hands nonchalantly as if he wasn’t tossing a ball of lightning around like it was a basketball. “Anyone else?” He asked, laughing at the robbers’ shaky figures.
“Who the hell are you?” One of the robbers asked. Stormfly cocked his head in confusion, surprised that someone didn’t know who he was. He had been all over the news recently, even turning up in the news of a few different countries. How did someone not know who he was? Did they live under a rock?
“Idiot.” Another robber said, slapping the first robber’s shoulder. “He’s been all over the news recently. That’s Stormfly, The Lightning Hero.” Stormfly smiled, the blue lightning ball growing and sparking more and his eyes slowly began to glow the same color blue as his lightning. He shot the lightning into each man as soon as the man had finished speaking. He rolled his eyes, approaching the four unconscious robbers and dragging them outside next to the driver before tying their arms and legs together like he had done the first man. He tapped his com once he saw the sun was coming up. “Endermind, Warped Neutralizer, Shadow Sword. Go ahead and meet at the base. I need to get home now before Dad sees I’m gone.” He listened to the three bid him goodbye before shutting the com off and heading to his house.
Stormfly was lucky that his room was on the ground floor or he would have had to enter through the front door. And he would rather not risk his family seeing him in his hero outfit. The townhouse they lived in was small, but it was enough for the family of four, half the time his brothers weren’t there anyway. He pushed the window open and after listening for a bit, climbed inside his room.
The boy quickly closed the window and took off his mask carefully, placing it in his backpack for school. Then he tapped the golden bracelet he always wore. The long brown ragged cloak that stayed on his shoulders through a gold chain connected to the ends of the hood and a long-sleeved white shirt with the sleeves colored a dark red began to glow gold. The golden wreath, reminiscent of the wreaths given to victors in Greek culture, dissipated into golden particles. The belt, the black cargo pants, the black fingerless gloves, and the brown combat boots disappeared into the golden bracelet. Stormfly honestly had no idea how Warped Neutralizer was able to program a bracelet that held their vigilante outfits, except their masks, but that’s why Warped Neutralizer was the one behind the computer.
Since Stormfly was now wearing his pajamas, he collapsed onto the bed, exhausted from the night activities. It took no time for the boy to pass out.
It seemed that as soon as the boy fell asleep, he was being woken up by his father. “Hey, Toms. Tommy, you need to wake up for school.” Tommy groaned, patting Phil’s hand away as he lightly shook his son awake. “Tommy, come on. I already let you sleep for an extra half hour.” Phil sighed as Tommy continued to refuse to get up. He picked up the boy, ignoring the yelp in surprise from the tall blonde. Tommy might have been taller than his father, but Phil was strong enough to carry the 6’1” seventeen-year-old.
Phil dropped Tommy onto the couch, crossing his arms and giving Tommy what Phil’s sons had dubbed the “dad look”. Tommy groaned, getting up from the gray sectional and entering the kitchen. “But, Dad,” Tommy whined. “I stayed up way too late on a call with Tubbo, Ranboo, and Purpled. Can I stay home today?”
“Well, who’s fault is that?” Phil asked, joining Tommy in the kitchen as Tommy grabbed a bowl and a box of cereal from the pantry. “Besides, didn’t you tell me you had a big history test today?” Tommy froze mid-pour, staring at Phil like he had just been caught doing something wrong. The father chuckled at his son’s face. “That’s what I thought. You’re lucky I don’t have to go to work right now. I can drive you.”
Tommy watched as Phil sat at the kitchen table and turned on the television. The blonde quickly finished making his breakfast and joined his father at the table as the news began to play. “The Lightning Hero: Stormfly is at it again.” Tommy grinned, hiding it with a spoonful of cereal. The spokeswoman continued, “This time, he was able to stop five bank robbers from robbing the city bank.” On the screen, it showed a picture of the men Tommy had tied up the previous night. “The men had the same blue lightning mark on their skin that everyone caught by Stormfly had.” The mark Tommy always left when he struck someone with his lightning shown on the screen. “The police have been after this group for months now, but Stormfly was able to catch them in one night. The men confessed everything to the police as soon as they arrived on the scene and the men were arrested. We’ll see how this continues to pan out. In other news...” Tommy secretly smiled, seeing the pictures of himself from the back and side. Tommy never allowed anyone to take a picture from the front, afraid that his family would recognize him if he did.
“I don’t get why the vigilantes that have appeared over the last year are so special. All they’re doing is doing the police’s job for them with powers.” Tommy’s grin faded as he heard his own father rant about his own son, granted Phil didn’t know that was Tommy, but it hurt nonetheless. “I’m sure kids love them, but they’re putting others in danger. What if they can’t control their powers?” Tommy gripped his spoon tightly, the whites of his knuckles showing while blue sparks light around his ears and hands. “And this Stormfly kid, he may be the face of the newly surfaced vigilantes, but he’s the most reckless of them all. Not only is the power dangerous, but he could also kill someone. Then where would we be? And, really? Marking them? How self-centered could you get? They-”
Tommy stood up abruptly, the chair falling back from the force, unwilling to hear anything else that his father had to say about his friends and himself. “Actually, Dad, I think I’m gonna walk to school,” Tommy said, placing his dishes in the sink and going to his room to change into his clothes. He fidgeted with the green bandana in a way to calm himself down before going back to his father. He grabbed his backpack and headed out.
Phil tried to stop his son. “Tommy, did I say something wrong?” Phil was shocked when Tommy completely ignored him, walking out of the house quickly and closing the door softly. Phil was left standing in the middle of the kitchen, wondering what he said wrong.
Tommy scowled, the sparks slowly dying down as he walked away from his townhouse. He hated hearing his father disregard the work he and his friends did, but it felt like he had been shot in the heart when Phil specifically talked about his work and powers like he was nothing. Tommy jumped when he felt Tubbo pat him on the back and Ranboo sidled up next to him. The three of them had always been considered a trio ever since Ranboo had moved to their city a few years ago. Of course, Purpled had always been friends with them, but he wasn’t close with them until after the incident . “What’s up with you, Tommy?” Ranboo asked, always the most observant.
“I don’t know if I can take it anymore,” Tommy said, covering his face to hide the heartbroken expression he held. “Dad continues to fucking bash our…” Tommy peaked at Tubbo and Ranboo. “ job , and it’s just so fucking painful listening to him. I just can’t bear it. I know he doesn’t know, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt listening to him.”
Tubbo smiled sympathetically. He was lucky enough to have a dad who actually admired or couldn’t care less about the vigilantes, Tubbo wasn’t sure which one it was. “I’m really sorry, Tommy.” He said, rubbing the boy’s shoulder. “If you want, you can stay at mine or Ranboo’s place for the night.”
Tommy shook his head, his curly blond hair moving with his head. “No, it’s fine. I’ll be fine. I’ll go to either of your places if I just can’t take it. I promise.” Tubbo nodded, pulling the seventeen-year-old into a bone-crushing hug.
Ranboo nodded, placing an arm around Tommy’s shoulder. “Well, know you’re always welcome at my place. My folks are never home so they wouldn’t be there to ask any questions.” He said as they approached the high school. This high school was the same school Tommy’s older brothers and their friends went to, but the only people who remained there were Tommy, Tubbo, Ranboo, Purpled, and Drista, the younger sister of Dream, who was an old friend of Tommy’s brothers. However, Tommy, Tubbo, Ranboo, and Purpled didn’t really interact with her, all they had were themselves.
“Boo.” Purpled whispered into Tubbo’s ear, causing the smaller boy to jump. Purpled laughed at Tubbo’s reaction, swinging an arm around the younger boy. “Did any of you guys study for history?” All four of them decided to figure out a way to have all of their classes and lunch periods together. By figuring it out, they meant that they had their parents call the school multiple times to get their schedules the same. When Purpled got three negatives, he groaned. “Dammit. I was planning to cheat off one of you. Having a job sucks when you’re going to school.”
“We can fail together!” Tubbo cheered, throwing his arms up in the air and causing the other three to join in his cheer. The other students around them looked at the four teenagers weirdly, but they were used to it by now. Tommy laughed loudly at Tubbo’s cheeriness. Purpled and Ranboo smiled at each other, wondering how they had gotten stuck with the duo.
By the time lunch came around, the quartet was mentally exhausted. Luckily for Tubbo and Ranboo, they think they had done pretty well on the history test, having studied in every class period before history. Unfortunately, Tommy and Purpled hadn’t. When Purpled slid into the lunch table with a serious look, the others knew that he had something important to tell them. “Okay, so I heard from my friend, who heard from Drista’s best friend’s sister, who heard from Drista’s best friend, who heard from Drista, who heard that Dream, Sapnap, and Technoblade are going to the warehouse tonight. Y’know, that place we went to three years ago.” Purpled glanced at Tommy, not surprised to see Tommy glaring angrily at the table, small blue lightning sparks sparking around his hands.
Tubbo touched Tommy’s hand gently, causing the sparks to disappear almost immediately. Purpled guessed that Tubbo activated his power. “Are you sure?” The boy asked cautiously. “I mean, you heard it from a secondary—if that can even count as secondary—source. It may be wrong.” Tubbo said, trying to be the logical thinker.
Purpled nodded digging into the sandwich that he had packed. “That’s what I thought,” He began, talking with his mouth full. “So I checked with Drista and she confirmed it.” He said in a dejected tone.
Ranboo sighed, combing through his dirty blonde hair. “So, it looks like we’re gonna be busy tonight. A mission to stop stupid college students from getting into the same situation we’re in.” He said, pointing towards Tommy who had yet to calm down.
Tommy clenched his fists, slamming them on the table angrily, catching the attention of nearby tables. “If that bitch gets into the stupid things that I did, I’m gonna fucking stab him,” Tommy growled. “I knew we should have used your fucking bee nukes, Tubs. It’s far enough away that it wouldn’t affect anyone.” Tommy groaned, falling into his arms on the table. “My brother is so stupid.”
The other three nodded in agreement, beginning to make plans for the night. They decided, since their main priority was to stop Dream, Sapnap, and Technoblade, that Tubbo would come with them. When lunch ended, Tommy was left fuming for the last of his classes.
Tommy had planned to walk home today, so when he saw his dad’s car parked in the school parking lot, he was surprised. Tommy was even more surprised when his dad didn’t exit the car, but Technoblade did. After a few moments of Tommy staring at Techno, he ran to his older brother, jumping up into Techno’s arms and wrapped his arms and legs around Techno. Tommy was way too old for this, but Techno wasn’t complaining. He had, admittedly, missed Tommy too. “Techno!” Tommy yelled happily, completely forgetting about what Purpled had informed him earlier that day. “Why’re you here?”
Techno smiled, hugging his baby brother back. “Well, finals just ended for me, so I thought I’d surprise you. Seems like it worked.” Techno laughed, pushing Tommy away gently, trying to make sure the boy doesn’t fall. “C’mon. Let’s go home. And on the way there you can tell me why you seemed upset with Dad this morning.” Tommy looked at the pink-haired man in shock as he got into the passenger’s seat. “Yes, he told me.”
Tommy crossed his arms in defiance, making him look like a little kid as Techno pulled out of the parking lot. “I don’t want to talk about it. Besides, it’s not like you’ll believe me.” Tommy finally remembered what Purpled had told him earlier that day. “Oh, wait. Okay, so Purpled heard from Drista that you, Dream, and Sapnap are gonna explore that warehouse that’s out of town that has rumors to have been the place where human experiments were held.” Tommy said, trying to feign excitement and interest.
Techno raised an eyebrow, fully aware that Tommy was trying to change the subject, but he let it slide. “Not anymore. Well, at least I’m not. When I told Dad, he basically grounded me. And besides, I’d rather spend time with my little brother than try to find something that doesn’t exist.” Tommy snorted at that as Techno ruffled his hair.
The boy laughed loudly, batting his brother’s hand away. “What about Wilbur? Is he coming home too?” Tommy asked, not only excited to see his theater-obsessed brother, but also to know if he should close his door tonight. Wilbur was a light sleeper if he even slept, so Tommy always closed his door when Wilbur was home. Techno just shrugged, telling Tommy that Wilbur wasn’t coming home.
“Sorry, kid.” Techno said. “Wil was busy with theater so he couldn’t make it.” Tommy sighed in disappointment, but he let it go. Finally, Techno pulled onto their street, pulling next to the curb in front of their townhouse. As soon as he parked the car, Tommy bolted out. Techno laughed as he watched Tommy run inside the house, not expecting him to run to his room when he got in. When he entered the house, he was forced to watch a blur of red and white disappear down the hall. Techno looked at Phil in amusement. “He didn’t apologize or even explain, did he?”
Phil laughed. “No. It’s fine. He always disappears into his room after school. Been doing that for the past few months. He’ll be there tomorrow. I’ll ask then.” Techno sighed, wondering what had happened to his little brother to want to stay the whole night in his room. Well, Tommy was going to wake up to a shock.
Tommy landed on the electric fence of the warehouse, watching for the two young adults and listening to his earpiece for any alerts from Tubbo, Ranboo, or Purpled. The electric fence didn’t bother Tommy, but Ranboo, Purpled, and Tubbo had to stand in front of the fence. The team had already searched through the entire warehouse in case they got there before the college students. Tommy pulled his hood up and fixated his mask on his face. Dream and Sapnap had seen his face multiple times, so he didn’t want them to recognize him.
When Tommy saw the familiar green hoodie and white tee, Tommy called into the com. “I’ve got eyes on them.” Tommy said, hiding in the shadows as Dream and Sapnap approached the fence. The fence was electric, but that never stopped Tommy, Ranboo, Purpled, or Tubbo three years ago.
“Copy that.” Tubbo said, receiving similar conformations from the other two. When Dream began to dig under the fence with a shovel he brought—they must have planned ahead—he sent a lightning bolt from the sky to strike the ground in front of Dream. The boy then jumped down, blue lightning wrapping around his arms and hands. “Stormfly, don’t shock them. Do not mark them, I repeat, do not mark them.” Tubbo instructed Tommy.
Ranboo teleported beside Tommy, his suit still perfectly ironed out, despite having squatted down and running to the warehouse. Tommy hated that Ranboo’s vigilante outfit was always perfect. Even the goggles and half white, half black mask were barely skewed. Dream and Sapnap backtracked quickly. “That’s the Lightning Hero and the Mind Hero. Stormfly and Endermind.” Dream said, more to himself than Sapnap. “W-What?”
Ranboo had never met Dream and Sapnap, so he was able to talk. “You shouldn’t be here.” He said. “This is a dangerous place. I still don’t know why this place hasn’t been destroyed. Don’t make a decision you’ll regret forever.” He used his telepathy to speak into their minds. The two looked scared as they heard him in their minds, but he never seemed to move his mouth.
Dream was about to speak, but Tommy struck the ground with lightning again, this time behind them. It was then that Endermind increased the melatonin in Dream’s and Sapnap’s brain, causing them to fall asleep. Fortunately for Tommy, since he was willing to shock the two unconscious if needed. Ranboo shrugged, straightening his red tie with his gloved hands, one black and one white. “Hey, Stormfly, I know it takes a lot of energy, but can you pass through the electricity in the air and bring these two back to their college.”
Tommy sighed but nodded altogether. He hoisted Dream, since he was the lighter of the two, onto his back and grabbed a hold of Sapnap. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the hair-raising electricity around him. The blue lightning began to engulf his entire body before lightning struck Tommy and the trio was gone.
Tommy landed in front of one of the dorm buildings on the university campus. He sighed, wiping at the sweat drenching his hair. And he’d have to do it again to get home. The university was too far away from his home to try to travel by rooftop. He placed Dream and Sapnap against the wall and grabbed a piece of paper from Sapnap’s pocket. He wrote on it “If lost, return to George.” Tommy chuckled to himself before tapping his com. “I’m gonna just head home, guys. I’m too tired to go back to the base.”
He received agreements from the rest of his team before he used the lightning to return home. He landed in his room, his vision swimming slightly. He caught his balance on the bed’s footboard and pushed his hood off before he heard something shatter in his doorway. Tommy snapped his gaze to his doorway, blinking in shock when he saw Wilbur staring at him like he had two heads. Tommy didn’t need to be a genius to figure it out—Wilbur had seen him return home with his lightning.
Wilbur looked at Tommy in shock before he called for Phil, who, shockingly, was still awake. “Dad?! You’re gonna want to come here!” Tommy’s eyes widened as he heard his father come into the hallway.
Tommy was still frozen in place when not only Phil, but Techno as well came to see Tommy in his vigilante outfit. “What was that sound, Wil? What’s-” Phil trailed off as he locked eyes with his youngest son, dressed in his Stormfly outfit. Techno, Phil, and Wil stared at their youngest family member, still processing what was happening.
Phil was the first to break the silence. He stepped into the room, surprised to feel the stifling electricity in it. “T-Toms?” That seemed to break Tommy out of whatever stupor he was in. Tommy shook his head, summoning the lightning to take him away, specifically the base where he hoped the other three were.
Tommy fell to the ground once he was in the base, his vision blurring. Tommy could barely hear Tubbo, Ranboo, and Purpled yell in surprise and concern, feeling his head being moved to something softer. “Dad...Wil...Tech...they know.” He said, the last thing he saw before darkness consumed him completely was the worried faces of his best friends.