Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was another wonderful night out in L’manberg, looking out on the city streets Tommy was looking down at the city from a rooftop. 

“Got a robbery 5 blocks to the right.” A voice was heard in his ear. 

“On it.” With that he set off heading towards the robbery. He got there and saw a basic 24-hour convenience store. Man these people don’t get paid enough for this.

Hopping down from the rooftop he walked into the store. Tommy put a finger over his masked mouth when the cashier looked at him. He silently walked behind the assailant and knocked him out with a hit to the throat. 

Tommy looked at the cashier and gave him a thumbs up as he tied up the robber with some zip ties he saw on a shelf. He wasn’t going to use his own. What was he. Rich? 

“Alright gave the police a tip. Get outta there.”  

With that Tommy dashed out of the store and hopped back up on the roof. He made sure not to speak whenever people were around. Tubbo hasn’t gotten a voice modifier for him. They were expensive and Tommy couldn't find good quality parts for a low price so Tubbo couldn't even make them. 

Running through the city looking for any petty crimes he could solve a voice was heard behind him. 

“Hi there mate.” 

Tommy turned around and saw the hero Philza. He hit a button on his belt making sure that the hero wouldn’t notice. He couldn’t really throw a punch at Philza, so all he could do was try to run. Using his powers was risky especially around a hero so he didn’t want to use them. 

Philza looked him up and down, “So what’s your name?"

Tommy stayed silent.

“Hm. Alright then. I'm sure you know why I'm here. No hard feeling mate, but I'm taking you into custody. Would you like to surrender? Make things easier for the both of us?" 

Tommy tensed up ready to run. He didn't say a word as he and the hero stood there in silence

Philza looked at him a little longer and sighed, "There goes an easy night."

Alright try losing him. Run over to the alleyway on your right across the street. 

Tommy did so hopping down from the roof and running into a narrow alleyway Philza following behind him. "One last chance. Surrender."

Tommy stared at him. 

“Worth a shot.” Phil flew towards him and as he did so Tommy used his grappling hook on the roof and swung up to it. Flipping off Champion from the top of the roof as he ran away. 

Philza looked up. The alley was narrow enough that he couldn't fly up properly without his wings hitting something. “They didn't use their powers.” 

Tommy hopped into the window of his apartment and closed it behind him. He stretched, “Hey Tubs, that was an eventful night eh.” 

Tubbo turned to him, “We should really get a codename for you.” 

“I’ve already come up with one. How am I supposed to tell people it if I can’t speak?” 

“Guess you won’t get one then.” Tubbo smirked, “Unless the public gives you one.” Tubbo looked at Tommy’s outfit. Tommy’s costume was a red hoodie with jeans and a black mask covering his mouth. Tommy also wore some goggles over his eyes along with a belt with different tools. 

“It’ll probably have something to do with the color red.” Tubbo shrugged. “Oh well!” He turned back to his laptop. “Get some rest Tommy, you got some more job interviews to go to.” 

“Fine.” Tommy mumbled as he plopped on the couch to sleep. 

Tubbo was still in school studying under a scholarship for robotics. As for Tommy he lost his job last week and needed a new one as soon as possible. 

“Listen Tommy if you don’t get a job tomorrow, I’m going to have you go to this.” Tubbo showed him a site online and Tommy looked at it. 

“Assistant needed at the hero tower.” Tommy jumped back and looked at Tubbo like he was insane, “YOU WANT ME TO WORK WITH THOSE GUYS!?!?!?!” 

“If you don’t manage to get a job by the interview date, then yes.” 

“Tubs, I can't work with them. I hate those guys' guts. Even before the whole vigilante thing!” 

“It’s a last resort.” Tubbo smirked at him, “There’s no way you're getting the job in the first place.” 

“1% is still a chance.” Tommy flopped back on the couch. 

“You better hope for the 99% then!” Tubbo laughed. Tommy tossed a pillow at him, “Jerk.” Tubbo tossed it back, “Get some sleep Tommy.” 

“Mhm.” With that Tommy did his best to fall asleep. The next day he went to interview after interview. 

He waited a day but got no emails saying that he got the job. He groaned as Tubbo told him when the interview was, and information about it.

Walking towards the hero tower Tommy looked up and frowned. He sighed as he walked in. The place was so clean and nice Tommy felt out of place. He walked up to the receptionist desk. "Excuse me? I'm here for the assistant interview." 

"Oh here you go!" The lady handed him a guest pass. "Take the elevator to the 30th floor. There will be a waiting room there for you to sit at until your name is called."

He walked towards the elevator and heard good luck come from the desk as he walked in. Looking around the waiting room he felt even more out of place. 

Everyone else seemed to be wearing fancy suits that probably cost more than Tommy's rent while he was wearing a simple white button up and some jeans. 

Fucking rich people. Tommy could feel people looking at him as he sat down in one of the chairs. He looked around the room. It seemed the general mood was nervous but Tommy was just bored. 

Waiting a little while people went in and out of the conference room the elevator dinged and someone walked through. Tommy looked and saw Captain Puffy. The hell is a hero doing here?

It was the hero tower so it made sense to see heroes there but it looked like Captain Puffy was talking with everyone. What's going on?

She walked up to him, "Hello! How are you doing?" 

Tommy was startled seeing her talk to him. Captain Puffy was a popular hero being one of the top 10 heroes in L'manberg. 

"Hi." Tommy gave a polite wave, "I'm doing fine." 

"Are you nervous at all kid?" 

"Not a kid. And of course I'm nervous, it's a job interview." 

"You look like a kid." Puffy laughed, "Sorry."

"Don't worry 'bout it. Happens a lot." 

“What’s your name then?” Puffy asked another question and Tommy looked at her, is she like gathering info or something? 

“Thomas. Thomas Underscore nice to meet you.” 

“Nice to meet you Thomas.” She held out her hand for a handshake and Tommy knew what she was trying to do. Pretty much everyone knew that Captain Puffy was a ram hybrid. But what most didn’t know was that unlike most hybrids she had a separate power unrelated to her hybrid genetics. 

She could also feel someone's exact feelings and thoughts with a touch. Pretty much a human lie detector. Because of this she usually wore some type of glove but right now she wasn’t wearing any. 

This wasn't public knowledge so if Tommy didn’t shake her hand it would look suspicious but luckily for him a voice called out his name telling him it was time for his interview. He stood up, “It was nice meeting you.” He walked away from Puffy who looked at him with intrigue and went to talk with someone else. 

Walking into the room it looked like a basic conference room, though Tommy knew that it probably had some high-tech stuff in there. In the room sitting in one of the chairs was the #2 ranked hero. The youngest hero to ever reach #1. Of course, he lost that spot recently, but he was still a very famous and popular hero. 

Philza. 

He was also the same person chasing Tommy down last night. He looked at Tommy with a strained smile. Judging from the amount of people in the waiting room, Tommy figured the man was tired of interviews. They were looking over at some papers before speaking. 

“Thomas Underscore?” He looked at him. 

“That’s me.” 

“Alright, have a seat right there.” Pointing to the chair across from him Tommy sat down. He could tell that Philza was looking him up to down. They spoke, “I’m sure you know my hero name Philza, but please call me Phil.” 

Tommy nodded and started to fiddle with his fingers making sure that the hero could tell he was nervous. Tommy did not want this job. At all. Having to work with heroes would be a nightmare. 

One because he was a vigilante and those were illegal. 

Two he hates heroes. 

Three he was 16. Not 19 like his documents said. 

Those documents were fake anyway, so that’s two illegal things he was doing while working under heroes. 

He really hates heroes. Except for  The Warden. That guy is cool. 

“So, before we start this I need to know one thing.” Phil looked Tommy up and down, “The job could be very dangerous for you. If you can’t handle that, walk out now.” Phil stared Tommy down as if he was trying to intimidate him. 

Tommy shrugged, “It’s either I get the job and have a chance of dying or not be able to pay for food, so I’m at risk of death either way. I can handle it. If I gotta fight I’ve had combat training by a close friend of mine.” 

Phil looked at him concerned before looking at his file, “Oh. You're from the lower districts.” 

“Yeah. Grew up there.”

“I see.” Phil looked at him with what Tommy thought was pity and Tommy hated it. Rich fucking bastard. 

“Well then, why do you want to work here?” 

“I want to get paid.” Tommy deadpanned, “But seriously if I’m being honest my roommate showed me that you were hiring, and I lost my job so I figured I’d come by for an interview. Working with heroes would be an interesting experience. Not like I have powers to become one myself.” 

Tommy internally screamed at himself.

Phil's eyes widened as he looked back down at the documents, “You... don’t have powers.” He seemed interested now. 

“I don’t think that would be a problem, now would it?” He makes sure to keep a straight face.

“Of course not. Just surprising.” Phil smiled at him. It seemed like this was the first genuine smile that Tommy’s seen from him so far. Shutting the file he looked at him, “Are there any questions?” 

“Oh- um no questions.” Tommy stood up, “I’ll be going now.” He walked out the conference room and went down the elevator to the lobby giving his guest pass to the lady at the receptionist desk and walking home. 

Phil skimmed through the rest of the files and a woman walked in. “Phil should I call someone else in?” 

“Nah. Don’t call anyone else in, Kristen. Call Puffy. We need to talk about who I pick.” 

“Got it!” With that she told everyone that the interviews are over due to Philza having things that he had to do. People started to leave and Puffy went to the conference room.

"Hey guys!" Phil waved at the two. 

"Most of the people in the lobby weren't too great if you're wondering." She paused for a moment, "Although. One of them did catch my eye."

"Who?" Phil looked at her. 

"Thomas Underscore I think his name was." 

Kristen smiled, "Oh isn't that the one who just came in?" 

"So what did you get from him?" Phil asked. 

"Nothing other than his name. He was called in before he shook my hand." 

"Sorry Puffy." 

"Don't worry about it Kristen." 

"Well let's look over the files. I have some people in mind, but a 2nd opinion would be appreciated. 

Walking into his apartment he noticed that Tubbo wasn’t there. Guess he’s at school. Having nothing else to do Tommy decided that he would clean up the few things they had and make some food. 

Looking in the cabinets he saw barely anything and remembered that the whole reason he went to that interview was because they were running out of money. Rent was covered thanks to the person that managed to get the two of them the apartment in the first place but everything else was on them. 

While Tommy felt that he should be the one covering the rent, he really didn’t have a choice but to accept it. So he went out to a convenience store and bought some instant ramen for him and Tubbo. 

“Hey Tommy!” Tubbo burst into the apartment, “How’d the interview go?” 

“It went great!” Tommy smiled, “They only gave me 3 questions.” 

Tubbo grumbled, “You shouldn’t be happy about that.” 

Tommy shrugged, “Well this just means I don’t have to work with the heroes.” 

“This also means we won’t be able to buy food!” Tubbo flopped on the couch. 

“Here’s some noodles.” Tommy handed Tubbo a bowl. 

“Instant?” 

“You literally just said we can barely afford food. Of course it’s instant.” 

“Let’s eat then!” The two started to eat and afterward Tommy got into his costume. 

“Are you going tonight?” Tubbo looked at him.

“Yep!” Tommy pulled down his goggles, and pulled up his hood. He made sure to pull the drawstrings keeping the hood tight and using bobby pins to secure it down. Making sure that no one could see his face or hair. 

"Here's your earpiece." Tubbo handed it to him, "I got homework so I won't be paying attention unless you hit the button."

Tommy gave him a thumbs up and climbed onto the roof out of the apartment's window. Going on his usual patrol. 

The city of L'manberg was split up into different districts. There were the upper districts 1-5. The middle 6-10, the lower 11-15 and what people called the abandoned districts. Also known as Pogtopia. 16-20. A maze of breaking stone buildings.

Tommy and Tubbo live in an apartment over in 13th. This is where Tommy patrols. He claimed the territory since the last vigilante who patrolled here got arrested. 

He never talks so no one knows what to call him and makes sure to never use his powers. 

Not when people are watching anyway. 

He does use his powers to make any video footage of him glitch out and distort it. Making sure that all the footage and photos of him are blurry. 

So going on his usual patrol stopping the petty crimes that the big shot heroes don't bother stopping. Tying them up with some zip ties and sending a notice to Tubbo to alert the cops about it. 

Looking out into the city after a normal patrol Tommy decided he would head back home. As he passed by he saw two people seeming to be mugging someone in an alleyway. 

He hopped down and knocked on of the guys on the neck again. They fell over and the other guy swung at Tommy. Oh that’s a pipe. He moved back to avoid it. Luckily the woman who was being mugged also started to fight. Taking the guy that Tommy hit to the ground, putting one of their arms behind their back.

Now fighting this guy one on one Tommy went for a punch, but was hit in the arm with the pipe. He winced in pain as the guy went for another swing. Seeing it come towards him and his right arm writhing in pain.

He used his powers. 

The pipe phased through Tommy with a mix of brightly colored particles surrounding the pipe, to the surprise of the attacker who was aiming right for his head the pipe fell out of his hands. Using the shock Tommy charged forward slamming the guy into the wall and tying him to a garbage can along with the other guy. Both on opposite sides. 

Tommy made sure they were both knocked out before checking on the woman. Tommy got a good look at her. She had pink hair with brown roots coming from the top of it. 

She started talking, “Are you ok?” 

Tommy nodded, not being able to speak. Well he could. Tubbo would kill him though. Tommy pointed at her. 

“I’m fine! I could’ve handled them. Thanks for stepping in.” She looked at the muggers. 

Tommy was going to signal to her to call the police but she went ahead. He hesitated for a moment before the girl spoke again, “I know the drill. I found them knocked out here. Don’t worry about it!” She smiled at him. 

“My name is Niki. I run a bakery in 11th. I was just walking home.” Tommy was going to offer to walk her back but she shook her head no. “Don’t worry about me. What’s your name? Well codename I suppose.”  

Tommy pointed to his mouth and shook his head no. She handed him her phone, “Type it in then.” He did and handed it back to her. She hummed, “Theseus huh. I’ll remember it. You do good work. Have a nice night!” 

Tommy gave her a thumbs up and grappled onto the top of the roof. Holding his arm as he went. 

Niki looked up at where Theseus left. So. That's him huh. Interesting. She walked back home after the police came by to take the muggers in. 

Coming home Tommy had to knock for Tubbo to let him in. His arm hurt. A lot. Tubbo opened the window and Tommy went inside. 

"What the fuck happened?" Tubbo was looking for some bandages. 

"Guy with a pipe. Hit my arm." Tommy sat on the couch taking off all his gear and hoodie. 

Tubbo looked at the bruise and winced. "We should have some ice." Tubbo examined Tommy's arm. "Doesn't seem like it's broken." 

A bruise was forming on Tommy's forearm just below his shoulder. Tubbo looked in the fridge. "We don't got ice you dumbass." 

"I'll live." Tommy shrugged. 

"Whatever. Get some sleep." Tubbo was pretty mad so Tommy went along with it. 

The next day Tommy woke up to Tubbo shaking him. 

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP YOU DUMBASS!" 

Tommy rubbed his eyes, "Whaddya want Tubzo?" Tommy sat up. 

Tubbo shoved the laptop in his face, "LOOOOK! YOU GOT THE JOB TOMMY!" 

It took Tommy a second to register that. "Oh really sweet. WAIT WHAT?!" 

And that was how Tommy was now working for the people that he absolutely despised. 

Now Tommy as the vigilante Theseus was working for the heroes who's literal job was to arrest him. 

This is going to end horribly. 

Chapter Text

Walking into the hero tower he walked up to the receptionist desk. Before he could talk the lady there did first, "You're the new assistant here right?" Tommy nodded. "Great! Nice to meet you Thomas. I'm Kristen." 

"Nice to meet you. Call me Tommy please. Hate formal shit." Tommy paused for a moment, "Wait can I swear?" 

"People do all the time, don't worry about it." 

"Fuck yeah." 

Kristen laughed, "Well here's your badge. It will give you access to the floors you will need to be able to access while on the job." 

Tommy took the badge and put it over his neck, "Thank you!" He walked towards the elevator. "Which floor do I go to?" 

"69th floor." Kristen said sadly. 

Tommy just looked at her thinking she was joking. 

"I'm serious. Chayanne thought it would be funny." 

"You gotta be fucking kidding me. Welp cya 'round Kristen!" 

She waved at him. As Tommy walked into the elevator. Heading up to the floor the elevator doors opened and Tommy saw a nice lounge area probably for the heroes on this floor. 

Speaking of which he saw Chayanne on the couch who shouted towards him, "Hey Thomas! How are you doing kid?" 

"Not a kid. I'm 19. I’m a big man you just don’t realize it." 

"You look like your 16 mate." Tommy heard a different voice and looked over and saw. "Then again, Chayanne's younger than you." 

"Philza Minecraft." 

"Pleasure to meet you Thomas." Phil walked over to him. 

All Tommy managed to do was say making a squeak when he saw Phil, "Pleasure." 

Philza was the #2 hero. Also known as the winged hero, because of his wings that he uses mainly when fighting. Philza was Tommy’s role model growing up back when Tommy wanted to be a hero. 

Maybe that part of him never faded away. 

"Did we hire a fanboy?!" Chayanne stood up and walked over to Tommy. 

"I'm not a fanboy! Philza is just like the coolest person ever." 

"What about me?" Chayanne asked with a joking tone and Tommy just blinked at him and shrugged. Which left Chayanne defeated. 

"Thomas, you know what you're going to be doing, yeah?" 

"Mhm! Said in the email." 

Phil glared at Chayanne, "Did Chayanne not tell you during the interview." 

"Dadza there were like over 100 people there. I got sick of telling people the job description after like 20 of them." 

"Why the fuck did you hire me anyway?" Tommy looked at Chayanne. "There were so many people there who came in actual suits and shit while I answered 3 questions." 

Chayanne scoffed, "We don't want some stuck up prick who just wanted the job to say that they worked at the hero tower." 

Phil nodded, "Wanted someone who wasn’t here to make connections with the heroes.” 

“Puffy said that when she walked in you just ignored her and that when you two talked you barely talked about yourself.” Chayanne laughed, “Most people asked her to put a good word in for them.”

“Oh.” Tommy was surprised by that, “Ok.” 

“Follow me Thomas.” Phil started to walk away so Tommy followed behind, “Call me Tommy. Hate formal shit.” 

"Well if that's the case call me Phil." He showed Tommy a door and opened it, “This is your office Tommy. As you know you will be working as an assistant to me and Chayanne. Helping with paperwork, bringing things to different floors, answering emails.” 

Tommy looked in the room. There was a desk with two monitors on it with a couple bookshelves in the room.

“You can bring things if you want to put it in the office. For breaks.” Phil thought for a moment, “Oh yeah you can head downstairs to the cafeteria for food. Free of charge.” 

Tommy walked in, “Alright then boss man what do I do first?” 

“Shadow Chayanne for today. Help him out with all the paperwork he hasn’t filled out yet, and just follow him around.” 

“Got it.” Tommy put his bag down in the office and went over to where Chayanne was. 

"Hey Chayanne what are you doing?" 

"I have to fill out these forms." Chayanne grumbled angrily. 

"What for?" Tommy sat down, "I'm supposed to help you." 

"Daily patrols. We have to report everything that happens." 

"Sounds boring." 

"It is." 

Tommy sat down, "How do I help? Gotta get paid." 

"You worry about money too much." 

"Some of us don't have enough money to not worry." Tommy seemed a bit spiteful at Chayanne as he spoke. 

Chayanne went silent at that, "Just sign off on them. Everything else on that pile is filled out."

"Got it." Tommy held the pen in his right hand and realized his arm was in immense amounts of pain. He couldn't write without Chayanne noticing. 

“Tommy, is something wrong?” 

“Huh? No! Not at all. This is just boring. Y’know.” Tommy says lying through his teeth. 

“You sure?” 

“Yep!” 

“Ok. If you're sure.” Chayanne and Tommy continued to work filling them out so Chayanne decided to make some small talk. 

“So is there anything you like doing for fun?” 

“Hm.” Tommy thought for a moment. Vigilante stuff yeah. But he couldn’t say that. He’d just be asking to go to jail. “I like reading. I guess.” 

“Reading?” 

“A friend of mine gives me books to read. I have nothing else to do, so I read them.” 

“That’s nice.” 

“Mhm! I might bring some here to read on breaks since Philza said I could.” 

“Nerd.” 

“Who the fuck you calling a nerd!” 

“You.” Chayanne gave him a smug smile. 

“I will destroy you.” 

Chayanne laughed, “I’d like to see you try.” Chayanne elbowed Tommy’s arm which sent a spike of pain through it. 

“OW!” Tommy held his arm. “Shit that fucking hurts.” 

“Is your arm ok? I didn’t think I hit it too hard.” Chayanne seemed pretty worried.

“It’s fine, it's fine.”

“So that means it’s not. Let me see your arm.” 

“NO!” 

“Philllllll Tommy hurt his arm!” Chayanne yelled. 

“Hey you bitch stop it!” 

Phil walked in, “What happened?” 

“I elbowed Tommy but it wasn’t that hard and it seems like his arm hurts a lot.” 

"Snitch." 

Phil walked up to Tommy, “Can I see your arm?” 

“No.” Tommy pouted and turned around.

“I just need to see if it’s ok. Can’t have our assistant be hurt in the workplace.” Phil gave him a smile. 

Tommy looked at him with skepticism. “Fine.” He muttered, “Just don’t do anything stupid.” Tommy rolled up his sleeve and Phil and Chayanne gasped when they saw the bandages. 

“Tommy what happened!?” Chayanne was shocked. 

“I got mugged.” Tommy rolled his sleeve back down, “It’s just fucking bruised. Just put bandages around it for good measure.” 

Phil looked at him worriedly, “Tommy that’s a big bruise for just a mugging.” 

“You two have clearly never spent a day in the lower districts.” Tommy sighed, “I can still do work, don't worry about it.” 

Chayanne and Phil looked at each other worried before Phil brought up a suggestion. “How about you go bring some things down to Sam.” 

“Huh?”

"It should be easier on your arm and you can get a feel of the layout of the tower." Phil handed Tommy some papers. 

"We should have painkillers in the kitchen cabinets over there. I'll go get some ice for you when you get back." Chayanne thought if they still had any. They probably did. He didn't get too hurt on his last patrol. 

Chayanne realized he still had to investigate the vigilante in district 13. Maybe he could use that as an excuse to stop filling out forms. 

Tommy nodded and stood up, "Ok! I can do that. Which floor is it?" Taking the forms from Phil he walked towards the elevator. 

"His lab is on floor 45." Phil called out to him. Tommy gave him a thumbs up as the elevator doors closed and started its descent. 

He tapped his foot as the elevator went down. Tommy should've just used the stairs. Felt cramped. Why the hell does this stupid tower have so many god damn floors. Fucking heroes got this entire tower that could probably afford the entire costs of making Pogtopia an liveable location. 

Tommy just wanted to get paid and get out.

Simple! 

Well it should be. 

The elevator finally came to a halt and the door opened to a lab full of high tech gadgets. 

"Holy shit." Tommy muttered as he stepped in. 

"Oh! You're Phil's new assistant!" 

Tommy jumped as he looked to see the #4 ranked hero in L'manberg. "Oh shit. You're The Warden." 

He laughed, "I am! Are you a fan?" 

Tommy nodded. "You're one of the 2 heroes I like. Like your stuff is so cool." Tommy realizing that he spoke too much started fumbling with the papers, "Oh uh here! I was told to give these to you." 

"Thank you. Thomas, right?" 

"Call me Tommy."

"If that's the case, call me Sam." He took the papers and shook Tommy's hand. Which the boy responded by bouncing up and down like an excited puppy.

"Alright then. Would you like to take a look around? I need a new perspective on this. I'm kinda stuck." Tommy was absolutely ecstatic at the question.

"Yeah! Of course!" 

"Alright then follow me." Sam walked over to a desk with blueprints for a hero suit on a monitor. 

"Blueprints?" 

"You see, Phil's suit has encountered a malfunction recently." 

"How?" 

"It's made to be aerodynamic, but Phil complained about it being hard to fly in." 

Tommy nodded, able to follow along with what Sam was saying. Tubbo did this sometimes. Telling him about the issues he was having with a robot or some code and have Tommy look it over.

"So what's the problem?" 

"I can't seem to get a material that works for him."

Tommy looked at the blueprints. "Well the material should be fine. You put it through tests yeah?"

Sam nodded, "Made sure of it."

"Ok well, maybe the problem is the way you've integrated it into the suit. Maybe you can try-" 

Tommy and Sam talked about how the suit would work, they didn't even notice the elevator ding. 

"That's a great idea Tommy! I'll be sure to try it."

"Tommy!" The two turned to see Phil who was walking towards them, "What have you been doing here? It's time for lunch, let's go eat." 

"What!? What time is it?" Tommy checked his phone and he could've sworn he saw Phil's eyes widen seeing the old model. "AH! I'm so sorry for taking up your time." 

Sam laughed, "What do you mean?! This was a great help thank you Tommy! If it makes you feel better this is Phil's suit so you were technically helping him." 

"I guess." Tommy mumbled. "Well, gotta get going. Bye Sam!" 

"Bye! Come down here when you get the chance!" 

"Will do!" 

Phil and Tommy walked to the elevator and Phil pressed a button heading up to their floor. 

"Isn't the cafeteria on a lower floor?" 

"We eat up on our floor. Don't worry about it, mate." 

"I didn't bring lunch." Tommy was tapping his foot again, uncomfortable. Not with Phil though.

"We'll make you something, don't worry. Are you on a diet?" 

"Do you think I can afford one? I can barely afford cup noodles." Tommy scoffed. 

"Just making sure." Phil paused before he realized what Tommy said, "Wait what?" 

The elevator dinged as the doors opened. Tommy got out as fast as possible and went straight to the kitchen on their floor. Walking in there was one thought on his mind. This place is bigger than my entire fucking apartment. 

"Tommy, don't go ahead of me!" Phil ran up from behind Tommy. "I'll make you something. Sit down." Phil practically pushed Tommy into a chair as he went to cook something. 

Now Tommy was perfectly capable of cooking. According to Tubbo he was actually pretty good at it. But he wanted to see how this went. Phil made some nice food and put on three plates, "Chayanne! Food's ready!" 

"WHAT?!" Chayanne sped out of his room. "I wanted to cook today!!" 

"You should've spent more time outside your room then." 

“Why the fuck is your guys’ food so fucking high quality?” 

“That’s how the food normally is Tommy.” Chayanne shrugged. 

“Rich fucking bastards.” Tommy muttered under his breath. Phil could barely hear him say it. Then again Tommy did say that he didn't have much money. 

Unfortunately Phil wasn’t going to let his new assistant be a total loner, “So Tommy, you spent a lot of time down at Sam’s lab. Did you have fun there?” 

“Mhm!” Tommy nodded, “Loved it!” 

Phil laughed, “I should send you down more often then.” 

“You could head down there during your breaks if you want.” 

“Can I?” Tommy’s eyes lit up with excitement. 

Chayanne nodded, “Yeah you can go wherever for lunch and breaks. We just all go here for lunch. Also we gotta introduce you to the other interns and assistants.” 

“Do I have to?” Tommy frowned. He didn’t want to get attached to the people here considering he was a well known vigilante. Then again well known is a bit of a stretch. He’s more like an urban legend. 

Thanks to his powers Tommy managed to have no one film or take photos of him. The photos became very blurry and some even got corrupted, so the vigilante in 13th is just a rumor that only the heroes, police, and government know is true. 

“You’re gonna meet them eventually.” Chayanne shrugged. "I had to meet them too." Chayanne whispered to Tommy. "It was actually pretty fun!"

“Then I’ll meet them when I do.” Tommy muttered. 

Phil chuckled, “If you say so Tommy. I’ll put some TV on.” Phil went to turn on the TV and when he turned it on a news channel came up. 

“Hello everyone! I’m Karl Jacobs and this is the heroes section of L’manberg news.” 

“The thing you put on the TV is fucking news. You really are an old man.” Tommy looked at the screen. 

“I’m not that old!” 

“Yes you are.” Tommy and Chayanne said in unison, which made the two of them laugh. Not really helping Tommy's goal of not getting close to these guys.

“It’s the heroes section. Helpful. Especially for us.” Phil paid attention to what the news reporter was saying. 

“So we have news that a vigilante is going around in district 13. Nobody knows their name yet and has been seen wearing a red hoodie.” 

Tommy smiled but noticed Chayanne grimaced at that, so being the vigilante that he is decided questioning him was the best thing to do, “What’s wrong?” 

“That guy got away from me the other day.” Chayanne seemed angry. Which made sense. Champion was the #5 ranking hero because not only was he popular, he also turned in the most vigilantes compared to the rest of the heroes. 

“L.” 

“And on that note vigilantes seem to be teaming up. Ever since the syndicate started it seems like more vigilante teams are forming in the lower districts. People have been wondering now. Which vigilantes are in the syndicate? What is the district 13 vigilantes name? When we have these answers we will announce them immediately. This is Karl Jacobs signing off!” 

A commercial started to play, but Tommy didn’t pay attention to it. He was smiling at the news. But it seems he didn’t read the mood correctly. 

“Tommy, why are you smiling?” 

“Huh?” Tommy saw Chayanne angrily looking at him while Phil sat there and seemed to be sad about something. “Why wouldn’t I be happy?”

“Because it’s vigilantes. ”

“I don’t get it.” Tommy didn’t get why Chayanne was so worked up by this. Why would it matter what Tommy thought about vigilantes? 

“They’re illegal Tommy.” Chayanne tried to emphasize this but Tommy thought it was so incredibly stupid. 

“And? Not like any heroes patrol in the lower districts. Hell, I haven't seen one show up there when they weren’t arresting a vigilante in a while.” He looked Chayanne dead in the eyes, “They get shit done. Vigilantes actually help people in the lower districts. Which isn’t something I could say about you.” 

Making sure the amount of hate he has for the heroes got through he stood up and went over to his office, “I’m gonna go do some work now. Thanks for the food!” Leaving a dumbstruck Chayanne and an upset Philza behind he went into his office and locked the door behind him. 

He knew that this job was a bad idea. But it paid well. So having to deal with the heroes that failed him years ago was something he had to accept. NOPE NOPE. Not thinking about that right now. It was years ago he was over it already. Tommy could barely remember what happened anyway. One second he was at home and the next thing he knew he was laying in a hospital bed. 

Sitting at the monitors Tommy opened the emails he was supposed to reply to, choosing to immerse himself in work than think about things like that. Tubbo said he couldn’t go on patrol today, so maybe he could get some extra rest. His sleep schedule wasn’t too great so he would probably stay up till 4 am either way. 

He was working until there was a knock on his office door. "Come in!" Phil peeked through the door. "Hey Phil, did you need something?" 

"It's time for you to go home Tommy. Works over for you." 

Tommy's eyes widened. "Oh. I'll get going then." 

Phil hesitated for a moment before nodding and letting Tommy step out. He noticed Tommy walking towards the stairs instead of the elevator. 

"Why are you going down the stairs mate?" 

Tommy froze, "Oh uh… I wanted some extra exercise!" 

"Alright." Phil paused for a moment, "About earlier," 

Tommy became a little more serious, "What about it?" 

"Sorry about Chayanne. He doesn't really like vigilantes." 

"That’s an understatement." Tommy deadpanned.  

"I get that, but it has to do with me more than him. Don't take it personally." 

"I won't then. Cya tomorrow boss man!" Tommy waved to Phil and started to walk down the stairs. It was a lot more comfortable for him this way. 

“Bye Tommy!” Kristen waved to him as he left. 

“See you tomorrow!” Tommy waved back and left the hero tower and started his walk back home. 

Taking the train over to district 10 he made sure to keep his head down on the way over to 13. Surprisingly enough thanks to a friend of his Tommy didn’t have to worry about people messing with him, but he didn’t wear the necklace that was given to him that day so it was easier to play it safe. 

When he got home he noticed that Tubbo wasn’t back yet. While he could’ve just taken a break, he decided to patrol that day. Leaving a note to Tubbo saying he left that would definitely get him a lecture later. 

Putting on his costume and leaving the earpiece behind Tommy hopped out the window and onto the roof of his apartment. It wasn’t completely dark outside yet. This was the time around dusk, but Tommy was still careful to not get spotted. 

He chose to start patrolling over at the edge of 13. The border between that and district 14. 

It seemed like another vigilante had the same idea. 

“Hello!” 

Tommy was caught off guard before he saw Traveler. He sighed and waved back. Traveler handed him a notepad for him to write on. 

“How’ve you been Theseus?” 

“Good.” 

“That’s great to hear! I heard about you on the news.” 

“I finally got some recognition.” 

“About time. They still don’t know your name though.” Traveler reached into his messenger bag and tossed a red spray can to Tommy. “Head to a well known building in 13 and tag your name.” 

“You seem prepared for this.” 

“I was going to look for you kid.” 

“Not a kid.” 

Traveler laughed, “Whatever you say.” Tommy handed him back the notepad. “Gotta go already? That’s a shame.” 

Tommy waved to him and Traveler spoke as he went, “I hope to see you in the news tomorrow Theseus! Traveler signing off!”

With that the two parted ways into their separate districts going for their daily patrols. Traveler was the first vigilantes that Tommy met when he first started. He’s a nice guy and has an actual voice changer, so unlike Theseus, he’s able to talk. 

Traveler gave him some advice. Like how to avoid the police. He also told Tommy to avoid his abilities depending on what they were. Most people had abilities, so the government could look up things like fire manipulation and figure out who you were. Tommy wasn’t on these records due to claiming he didn’t have powers. Traveler said that if he had extremely rare powers, to hide them as best he could so that heroes would have a harder time tracking him down. 

According to Traveler, his ability was not only extremely rare but also had high potential. Kinda like Theseus. 

Tommy looked at the spray can in his hand. Deciding to spray his name on something when he apprehended someone tonight, since police would definitely be there to see it. He just so happened to see a person trying to break into a car. Jumping towards them he slammed their head against the car. They turned around and Tommy punched their face. 

They slid down to the ground and Tommy zipped tied them to the pole nearby. He looked at the car. He wasn’t going to spray paint that. Cars are expensive, so he turned to the building in front of the car and wrote THESEUS in red spray paint. 

Smiling at his handiwork he left and continued his patrol. 

After some time Tommy decided that heading back would be a good idea. As he left the last guy that he tied up and ran on the rooftops someone called out to him. 

“HEY! THESEUS!” 

Tommy turned around and his eyes widened as he saw who it was. Why wouldn’t he? Standing behind him was Nemesis. 

A member of the syndicate. 

Everyone knew who the syndicate was. A group of vigilantes that are extremely powerful in many different ways. Having influence on all big events in the lower districts that the heroes won’t take care of. While the government and heroes absolutely despised the syndicate, everyone in the middle and lower districts loved them. Even those in Pogtopia liked them. 

The problem is that the syndicate never approached anyone directly. Sure they patrolled but the only times they approached others outside the syndicate is when they fucked up. 

Tommy stood there nervously. I shouldn’t have left the earpiece behind. He could run. Wouldn’t get far though. If Nemesis was here he suspected that at least one more member would be around somewhere. 

What the hell did I do to piss off the syndicate?!

“Don’t worry I’m not going to hurt you.” Nemesis put her arms in the air as if to show she wasn’t a threat. “It’s the opposite really.” 

Tommy held up his hands. If she doesn’t know sign I’m out. He said, “What do you want?” Using sign language. The only reason he knows sign is because he had nothing to do one day and decided to start learning, and it was useful since he couldn’t speak on patrol. 

Nemesis tilted her head, “Sorry I don’t know sign language.” Tommy put his hands down. “You want to know what I want right?” Tommy nodded. Nemesis thought for a moment, “Well, I want you to join the syndicate!” She clapped her hands together excitedly. 

Tommy froze. WHAT!? 

Nemesis laughed, seeming to know what his reaction meant, “You don’t have to of course. Thumbs up if you're interested, thumbs down if you're not.” 

Tommy thought for a moment before giving her a thumbs up. 

She seemed to beam from behind her mask, “Great! Here’s what you have to do. There’s a bakery in district 11 called Niki’s Bakery. Order something and then the waitress there should knock on the table like this.” 

Nemesis crouched down to reach the floor and knocked, da da dadada da da da. She looked at Tommy, “If you hear that knock this back.” Knocking on the floor again Tommy heard, dadada dadada da da da. 

“Got it?” 

Tommy nodded. 

“Come by when you get the chance. I’m assuming you have a life outside of vigilante work so stop by anytime you want to this week. I’ll leave you to it! Sic semper tyrannis." With that Nemesis vanished in smoke, and when it cleared she was gone. 

Making sure he wasn’t being tailed, Tommy quickly went back home. Hopping through the window and falling on his face he stood up to an angry and surprised Tubbo. 

“Tubs you won’t believe what just happened!” 

Tubbo looked at Tommy shocked as he just heard about his day. 

“Hold on. So you're telling me you spent time with The Warden, told your boss that you liked vigilantes, and was just offered to join the syndicate.” 

“YEP.” 

Tubbo thought about this, “Tell them to let me in too.” 

“You want to join the syndicate?” Tommy didn’t think Tubbo would want to do that. 

“We’re partners. If you join, I join. Simple.” Tubbo ate the spaghetti that Tommy had brought from work. 

“Poggers. You want to come with me to the bakery then.” 

“Sure. I should be free tomorrow, want to go then?” 

“That’s fine with me.” 

After that it was a normal night of Tubbo ranting about schoolwork, and different robots as Tommy laid on the couch trying to sleep. 

The next day would be a busy one after all

Chapter Text

Tommy woke up and did his basic routine. 

"Hey Tubbo we meeting up at the bakery later?" 

"I think it would be better if you just brought the earpiece. This could be a trap." 

"You have a point." Tommy grabbed the ear piece and put it in his bag. "Same time though?" 

Tubbo nodded. "Bye Tommy!" 

"Cya Tubbo!" 

Making sure to put on his necklace Tommy left the apartment and made his way to work. Taking the train to district 1 he got into work the same as usual. 

Saying hi to Kristen he once again went up the stairs to the floor SBI was on. Tommy had only been working there for a day but something was clear. There was something missing. 

The space in SBI's floor felt empty. Like there was something that was supposed to be there, but wasn't. Tommy saw a door next to Chayanne's private room. It seemed like no one occupied that room though. The only people on the floor were him, Chayanne, and Phil. 

But there was always the lasting feeling that something was missing in SBI. Tommy found it weird in the first place. Why would 2 people be given the name SBI? Usually group names like that were given to groups of 3 or more. Like the dream team. 

“Hey Tommy.” Phil greeted him as he walked in. “Can you take these to the dream team?" Phil handed him some basic paperwork. 

"Of course boss man. Which floor?" Tommy flipped through the papers. 

"They're up on floor 80. When you come back down can you fill out some of the forms that Chayanne needs to fill out."

"Where is he anyway?" Tommy looked around but didn't spot him. 

"Oh he's out patrolling right now."

"Ok. I'll be back down soon!" Tommy went to the stairs and started his walk up to floor 80. 

When he got there he noticed that there was no one there. He walked in front of the elevator and cleared his throat. 

"Excuse me? I was supposed to bring some papers up here. For the dream team." 

A heard a door open but instead of one of the dream team walking out it was this tall kid who seemed to be around 16-17. Around the same age as Tommy. 

Their eyes widened as they saw Tommy, "Oh. Uh. Cl- Dream's not here right now." They looked around nervously. 

"That's alright!" Tommy handed the papers to him, "Are you their assistant?" 

"Uhhhh." They seemed unsure how to respond. "I guess?"

Tommy looked them up and down. They had red and green eyes and appeared to be some kind of enderman hybrid, black and white hair with patches of black around their skin. Also they were extremely tall. He was wearing a basic suit with a red tie.

"We'll be seeing each other often then! Names Thomas Underscore. Call me Tommy!" He outstretched his hand for a handshake.

"Alright Tommy." They shook Tommy's hand. "I'm Ranboo." 

"Ranboo?" Tommy thought for a moment. "Sounds familiar. Oh well! Phil probably mentioned you." 

"You really don't know who I am." Ranboo accidently muttered aloud to himself. 

"Hm? Whaddya say big man?" Tommy was looking around but brought his attention back to Ranboo.

"Nothing! Uh you should get going now." Ranboo pushed him towards the elevator. 

Tommy stopped him. He was going to be pretty bored during his breaks and this guy seemed to be around his age. Maybe talking to him wouldn’t be too bad. "Wait wanna hang out later during our break?" 

Ranboo froze for a moment, "When's your break?" 

Tommy squinted at him confused, "Assistants and interns all have the same time for breaks, 2:00. I’ve only been here for a day and I know this." 

"Haha yeah I just wanted to make sure y'know." Ranboo started to sweat. 

"You're forgetful huh. Surprised the dteam hired you." Tommy didn’t really feel like he had the right to say that though. He doesn’t even want this job. 

"I know right! I could hardly believe it myself. Welp." Ranboo clapped his hands together, "You should be heading back now. Don't wanna get fired!" 

Ranboo pushed the elevator button and when it opened he practically pushed Tommy in, "I'll be down in the cafeteria later. Bye!" 

The elevator doors closed in front of Ranboo and he sat down on the floor looking down at his feet. "What did I just doooooo." 

He covered his face with his hands, “Clay’s going to be so madddd.” Then he realized something, “That guy didn’t know who I am.” He looked at the elevator and smiled, “I could actually make a genuine friend.” 

Ranboo stood up and patted himself down, “2:00.” He put a reminder for 1:50 on his phone, “I’ll make sure to meet with him.” He walked back into the room he was in before as Tommy was now heading down the elevator to SBI’s floor. 

Tommy tapped his foot impatiently heading down the elevator. When it dinged he went out as fast as he could, to the notice of Phil. 

"What are you rushing for Tommy?"    

“I’m not rushing!” Tommy said. Definitely rushing. 

“You’re a horrible liar mate.” 

“Really?!” Tommy was a vigilante working for heroes and apparently he was a bad liar. Sure. 

“It’s either that or you're really obvious. Did things go well with the dream team.” 

“They weren’t there.” 

Phil seemed surprised, “Really? Do you still have the forms, I’ll just take it to them later.” 

“I gave them to their assistant.” 

“Oh you met them?” 

“Mhm! Said his name was Ranboo. I asked him to hang out with me during my break, so I’ll be leaving then.” 

“Ranboo?” Phil’s face dawned in realization, “Mate Ranboo’s not their-” Then he thought for a second. Maybe Ranboo could use a friend.

“Ranboo’s not what Phil?” 

“He’s not their assistant!” Phil decided to do his best to cover up his mistake, “Ranboo’s the new intern that they hired.” 

“Alright?” Tommy was confused at Phil’s tone of voice. It sounded like he was hiding something. “I’m going to go fill out the forms.” Tommy walked into his office carrying a stack of papers that Chayanne was supposed to fill out.

“I’ll get you when it’s lunch!” Phil called out to the boy getting a thumbs up in response. 

Walking into his office Phil sat down in his chair, I’m glad Tommy’s going to talk with someone during his break. He seemed reluctant before.

Tommy filled out forms for a while and it was extremely boring. He didn’t think heroes had this much paperwork to fill out. 

After some time he heard the elevator ding. He stepped outside to see who it was. “Hey Chayanne.” 

“Hi Tommy.” Chayanne seemed to be tired. 

“What happened to you, boss man?” 

Chayanne flopped on the couch and groaned, “I was chasing down a vigilante today and they got away.” Chayanne put his face in one of the cushions, “Lucky jerk.” 

“Ha.” 

“Shut it Tommy!” Chayanne threw a pillow at him. Tommy caught the pillow and threw it back at him, “So who was it?” 

“Coin Flip.” 

Tommy thought for a moment trying to figure out if he met the guy before, “Isn’t that the guy who carries the poker chip everywhere?” 

“That’s the guy.” Chayanne sat up, “We’re pretty sure it has something to do with his powers. Or it’s a fidget. One or the other.” 

“I heard some rumors that he was a member of the syndicate.” 

Chayanne turned to him wide eyed, “That’s classified information Tommy. How do you know that?” 

Tommy scoffed, “It’s not classified if the majority of the lower districts knows about it.” 

Chayanne thought for a second. “You're from the lower districts.” 

“Yes we’ve been over this.” Tommy deadpanned. 

Chayanne started to grin like a maniac, “This is perfect! You can help me!” 

“Help you with what exactly?” 

“With tracking down vigilantes.” 

…

“WHAT!?” 

“Think about it Tommy!” 

“I’m not thinking about shit! Are you going to send me out in the field or some shit. I’m a fucking assistant. This wasn’t in the job description.” 

Tommy wanted no part of this. He just wanted to make some money. Now his two worlds were colliding and not in a good way. This could get him arrested.

“No, not like that! I mean you're from the districts where vigilantes are the most rampant. You can give me some info about them that people in the lower district know.” 

Tommy blinked at him, “Don’t you guys have like investigation teams? You're asking the assistant that you hired a few days ago instead of them.” 

“That doesn’t matter, follow me!” Chayanne dragged Tommy to a room that Tommy assumed was his office and what he saw wasn’t too surprising. 

“Of course you have a red string wall for vigilantes.” Tommy looked around and realized there was more than 1 board for different things Chayanne was investigating, “You’re a fucking maniac.” 

Chayanne pointed to the biggest board ignoring Tommy’s comment, “This is the board regarding the syndicate. I don’t think you have information on them so I won’t bother.” 

The board with information on the syndicate had strings that led to other boards. He could see one attaching to one labeled district 14 and another going to district 11. He had boards covering every district up to 15.

“This is the one I want you to see.” Chayanne brought him to a whiteboard with the words DISTRICT 13 over it. 

“Is that-” Tommy squinted at it, seeing different words over distorted photos. 

Chayanne nodded, “I’m sure you have information on the vigilante that patrols your district.” 

Tommy turned to him, “You do realize that the guy is a fucking urban legend right? Not many people know if the guy’s real or not.” Tommy pointed to the board, “See. There’s no fucking clear photos.”

“That’s because all of the photos that our team have taken of him seemed to be distorted in some way.” 

Tommy stared at him in disbelief, Is this motherfucker going to make me investigate myself? “And why is that? Don’t you guys have extremely good tech?” 

“I suspect that they have some kind of technology power that they use to distort the videos, and photos.” 

Well that’s one thing that my powers can do. 

Tommy looked around and one board in the corner of the room caught his eye. “Hey what’s this one-” 

Chayanne dragged Tommy away from there and put a sheet over the board, “Secret.” 

“That’s not suspicious in the slightest.” Tommy deadpanned. 

“That’s a personal investigation.” 

“Are you stalking someone or some shit?” 

“No.” Chayanne seemed a little sad, “Just looking for an old mentor.” 

Tommy raised an eyebrow but didn’t push on the subject. Chayanne seemed to be sad at the mention of it. “Well whatever. Can we eat?” 

"Yeah sure. You gotta help me out though!" 

"As long as I get paid for it." Tommy walked out of the room, Chayanne following behind. This was an opportunity to get the heroes off his trail.

"HEY PHIL LET'S EAT!" Chayanne shouted to Phil who walked out of his office. "Did you cook something?" 

"No, I bought chinese food after my patrol."

"Ok. I'll put on the tv. You two can start eating." 

"Kay." Tommy went over to the island and sat down. They started to eat and once again Phil put on the news. 

"You really need to find a show we can watch during lunch." Tommy was bored. 

"I can recommend some good ones."

"Like what?" 

"Boys boys settle down. It's the heroes section." 

Tommy paid more attention now. He wanted to see if the reporter mentioned him. 

"Hello everybody! This is Karl Jacobs from L'manberg news. We have breaking news about an up and coming vigilante." 

Tommy could see Chayanne get a notepad out in the corner of his eye. 

"Police reports say that when arresting criminals in district 13 there was graffiti around those areas that said THESEUS."

"So that's their name!" Chayanne exclaimed excitedly. 

"There we have it, the vigilante in district 13 has dubbed himself Theseus. We still don't know their powers but it seems Theseus saw the news yesterday about their name so hello!" 

"Isn't that the one you've been investigating Chay?" 

"Mhm!" 

"In other news there was a sighting of Nemesis heading past the 11th district that she normally patrols in towards the lower ones. Is this the sign of something big brewing-" 

Tommy took his attention off of the tv and stretched. "Glad people know Theseus's name now." 

"Did you know it before Tommy?" 

Tommy sputtered, "What?! Of course not! I'm just happy we don't gotta call the guy the district 13 vigilante." 

Then something caught Chayanne's eye. "Hey Tommy, are you wearing a necklace?" 

"Huh?" Tommy pulled out the necklace he kept in his shirt, "Yeah. Wanna look?" 

Chayanne leaned close to it, "An emerald?" 

"Yeah! A friend gave it to me. Pretty cool huh!" 

"Yeah. Yeah it is." Tommy noticed that Phil seemed a little sad, "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing!" Phil said convincing no one.

Tommy raised an eyebrow, "Ok then? I'll get back to doing work." Tommy went over to his office and Phil sat there silently. 

"You still have it?" Chayanne asked. 

Phil played with his earring. "Mhm." 

"I'm still looking." 

"I said you don't have to." 

"I'll find him eventually."

Phil sighed, "I hope you do." 

With time 2:00 came around so Tommy started to walk down to the cafeteria to meet with Ranboo. 

Taking the stairs meant he got there later than he should've.

Shit I'm like 10 minutes late. Tommy looked around the cafeteria but didn't see Ranboo. There weren't many people there so it should've been easy to spot someone as tall as him. 

Where is he? Then Tommy spotted black and white hair poking out from behind the bathroom door. He smiled to himself before walking over to him. 

"Hey." 

Ranboo jumped from behind the door and quietly mumbled, "H-Hi." 

"What are you doing?" 

Ranboo looked around anxiously, "There's too many people in the cafeteria." 

Tommy looked around. There weren't that many people but he guessed Ranboo was just shy. "Follow me then." 

Tommy took Ranboo's hand and led him over to the stairs. Ranboo looked around, "I didn't even realize there were stairs here." 

"If there weren't then the heroes would be breaking several different safety codes." Tommy sat down at the steps. "There's no one here so I figured it would be fine." 

"Yeah." Ranboo laughed, "Only crazy people would use the stairs here." 

"Haha yeahhh." Tommy rubbed the back of his neck.

"So what do you wanna do Tommy?" Ranboo sat down next to him. 

"Hm. Well I didn't think I would get this far." 

"Anything interesting happen lately?" Ranboo tried his best to make some sort of conversation. 

Damn. Nothing other than my vigilante work. 

"Well I'm going to meet with someone after work." Tommy shrugged. "Me and my roommate are going." He was technically telling the truth so he figured it was fine.

"That's nice!" Ranboo thought for a moment before pulling out his phone and handing it to Tommy, "Put your phone number in! That way we can talk whenever." 

"Sure thing!" Tommy took the phone, "Holy shit isn't this the latest model?!" 

Ranboo tilted his head, "Why, is that surprising?" 

Tommy put his number in and handed the phone back, "I don't really know people who can spend money on that kinda stuff." Tommy paused, "Actually there's one guy but he just keeps one of the older models since his phone is still functional. Not as old as this thing though." 

Tommy pulled his phone out of his pocket and Ranboo grabbed it, "This thing is extremely old." 

"Mhm! Found it in the trash and fixed it up myself." Tommy was a lot more proud of this than Ranboo would've liked. 

"That's impressive. I can get you a new one if you want." Ranboo handed the phone back to Tommy. 

"What?! No no I can't accept something like that. That's a lot of money."

"It's fine! My family has plenty of money." 

"Damn, so you're rich too huh." 

"Is that a problem? Or-" Ranboo looked around nervously. 

"No, not a problem at all! It's kinda weird. I seem to be the only person from the lower districts working here as far as I can tell." 

Ranboo thought for a second before agreeing, "Yeah I guess most people are from the middle or upper districts." 

"Wanna talk about controversial shit?" Tommy jumped to the next conversation topic.

"How controversial?" Ranboo asked nervously looking around for some kind of camera. 

"Whaddya think of vigilantes?" 

Ranboo seemed surprised at that, "Seriously?" 

"Yep! There's a new vigilante in 13 so I wanted to know your thoughts. Seeing as I'm from district 13 and all." Tommy started to walk up some of the stairs jumping around playfully. 

"Tommy be careful!" Ranboo followed behind him more cautiously. "Vigilantes huh?" 

Ranboo thought for a second, "They're cool I guess. Help out around the lower districts so I don't see a problem with them." 

Tommy beamed at his response, "Exactly! Heroes never go to the lower districts. We learned to rely on ourselves." 

"Do you know how to fight then?" 

"Of course I do big man!" Tommy kept walking, "I don't have a power so a friend taught me how to do hand to hand combat." Tommy swung his arms around mimicking karate chops. 

"Really?" 

"Of course I do! I'm Tommy the biggest-" Tommy was cut off by Ranboo grabbing his hands and looking at him directly in the eye, 

"Can you teach me how to fight?!" 

"Huh???? You wanna know what?!" Tommy was expecting a comment about how he didn't have powers.

"How to fight!" Ranboo seemed really excited, "I want to be able to protect myself. But my brother isn't going to teach me no matter how much I ask, so can you?" 

Tommy got Ranboo's hands off of his, "Why do you wanna learn?" 

"Because I-I" Ranboo hesitated and seemed to be embarrassed when he answered, "I want to be a hero!" 

"You do?" 

"Of course I do! I wanna help people using my powers. You said you don't have any right?" 

"Yeah I never got any powers." Tommy felt bad lying to Ranboo but he had to maintain some kind of cover. 

"Well I want to become a hero and protect people! But I wanna know how to fight first since I don't have my powers under control yet."

"Well. What can you do?" 

Ranboo proceeded to teleport behind Tommy and touch his shoulder. Tommy jumped as he turned around, "WHAT THE FUCK!" 

Ranboo laughed, "I can teleport for one. There's some other things as well but that's classified information." 

"You can just say that it's a secret." Tommy laughed. 

Ranboo paused for a moment before realizing, "Haha yeah I guess I could. Uh. So can you teach me?" 

Tommy proceeded to punch the air just above Ranboo's shoulder, shocking the taller boy, "'Course big man! How about everyday we go here during our breaks and I can teach you everything I know." Tommy put his hand down. "I hurt my arm a while back so nothing involving it for a while." 

Ranboo beamed, "That would be great!" His phone buzzed. "Oh we should be heading back now." 

Tommy started to run up the stairs, "Come on! First lesson stamina!" 

"Huh?! Tommy, wait up!" Ranboo ran after him until the two were standing in front of the door leading to SBI's floor. 

"Cya tomorrow Ranboo!" Tommy walked in.

"Bye Tommy!" Ranboo continued up the stairs smiling to himself. I made a friend! 

The rest of the day was normal after that. Tommy’s job right now was helping Phil fill out all of the forms he decided not to fill out before. But because his arm still hurt a little Phil got him a stamp that he could use instead. 

“I’ll be going now.” Tommy stood up and got his bag. 

“Bye Tommy!” Phil waved to him. 

Tommy gave him a little nod before entering the elevator. Normally he would just use the stairs but he was meeting with someone so he should get there as soon as he possibly could. Getting his earpiece out of his bag he put it in his pocket. 

The elevator doors opened and Tommy stepped out. Saying goodbye to Kristen, he went over to the train station and got onto a train leading to district 10. 

The subway was a little weird in L’manberg. There were 10 stops in total starting from district 1 and ending at district 10. There were some subways in each district but they never went past district 10, leaving the people in the lower districts to have to walk all the way to district 10 if they wanted to use the train. 

On his walk to Niki’s Bakery Tommy put in the earpiece. 

“Hello? Tubbo? Are you there, big man?” 

“Hiiiii.” 

“Alright sweet.” 

“I’ll be listening, don't worry about me.” 

“Make sure you're muted, I’m putting the earpiece in my pocket.” 

There was a beep noise in the earpiece which meant that Tubbo had muted himself. It would be bad if they gave it away that Tubbo was in fact listening. 

Taking the earpiece out of his ear he put it in his pocket. He made sure to put on a basic black mask and kept walking until he saw a quaint little shop with the words Niki’s Bakery above it. 

He stepped inside and saw the woman with pink hair that he saved from a mugging the other day. She turned and greeted him, “Hello!” 

“Uh hi.” Tommy waved nervously. He walked up to the counter and took a look at the different food on display. 

“Is something you want?” Niki put her arms on the counter and smiled at Tommy. 

“Hmmm. What’s that?” Tommy pointed to one of the items. 

“That’s a cinnamon roll! Would you like one?” Niki went to grab a tray and a bag. 

“Could I get 2 please?” 

“Of course!” Niki went to grab some, “Why do you need 2? Want one for later?” 

“It’s for my roommate.” Tommy was getting less and less nervous as the conversation went on. 

“That’s nice of you.” Niki put the bag on the counter. “That’ll be $8.45.” 

“Alright uh.” Tommy reached for his bag, “Sorry I left my wallet in my bag.” 

“No worries take your time!” Niki smiled at him. 

And while Tommy was getting his wallet he heard a noise coming from Niki. As she tapped her finger on the counter Tommy heard a familiar noise. 

da da dadada da da da. 

Tommy’s eyes widened hearing the noise, but he kept his composure and gave Niki a 10 dollar bill. As she put the money into the cash register he knocked back. dadada dadada da da da

Niki’s eyes widened as she handed him the change. “One moment.” She walked to the door of the store and flipped the sign to closed, and locked the door. And in that moment Tommy thought to himself, and this is where I die. Buying two cinnamon buns.

Niki turned back to Tommy and extended her hand, “Nice to meet you Theseus! I’m Nemesis.” 

Tommy did a visible sigh in relief as he shook her hand, “Nice to meet you too.” He let go of her hand and sat down on the floor “I thought I was gonna die for a second there.” 

Niki laughed, “Sorry about that.” She looked him up and down, “You're younger than I thought you would be.” 

“Hey! I’m a big man!” 

Niki laughed, “Follow me. You should meet some of the others.” 

Tommy stood up and followed her, “Wait what do you mean?” 

“Well you're a part of the syndicate now. You should meet some of our members. Not all of them are here right now though.” Niki opened a door to the backroom and Tommy’s eyes widened with what he saw. 

Now when Tommy heard the name syndicate he knew what it was. A group of powerful vigilantes that the heroes have been trying to apprehend for a while now. When he imagined their hideout he pictured a cool villain type base with flowing lava, dark lighting, 

Instead it was a backroom at a bakery with a couch, a couple chairs, a TV, and a table in the middle. He saw someone looking over different papers and someone sitting next to them who appeared to be helping them out. 

“Hey guys! Meet Theseus!” Niki shouted at the two and one of them turned around excitedly.

Tommy saw a man with brown hair and glasses coming towards him, “I’m Slimecicle!” They turned and pointed to the guy looking through some papers, “That guy over there is Coin Flip. Come sit down!” 

Slimecicle lead Tommy over to a chair and made him sit down. “Oh wait I should say my real name huh. Well I’m-” Tommy cut him off. 

“I have something to tell you guys before you reveal your name.” 

That made Coin Flip pay attention, “What is it?” 

Tommy pulled the earpiece out of his pocket and put it on the table, “Hey you can unmute now. I have you on speaker.” The other three glanced at each other and out of the corner of his eye Tommy could see Coin Flip flip a coin. I guess it made sense the public dubbed him Coin Flip. 

“Fucking finally! About time.” 

“Who is this?” Niki spoke up first. 

“Not telling you my name.” Tommy sighed knowing that Tubbo wouldn’t explain anything, “This is my partner in crime. He made all of my gadgets and shit.” 

“Yep! If Theseus joins the syndicate I join too. Also why the fuck did you think it was a good idea to name yourself Theseus. Such a stupid name.” 

“Hey! I’d like to see you come up with better.” 

“Why aren’t you here in person?” Slimecicle seemed to be less suspicious than the other two. 

“Because I thought that this would be a fucking trap. Like seriously, imagine being out on patrol and a person who you know only approaches others if they fuck up shows up outta nowhere.” There was a brief pause before Tubbo continued, “Also I got exams in like a month.” 

Coin Flip nodded in understanding, “I feel that.” 

“Well is it ok if I just join the syndicate by proxy. I can help with hacking and shit.” 

“How do we know that you can hack?” Niki raised an eyebrow. 

“Fucking. I’m studying robotics right now under a full paid scholarship. Actually, is there a TV in there?” 

Tommy looked around, “Yeah.” Then a few seconds later a bunch of different photos of bees showed up on the screen. Tommy heard Tubbo disconnect from the earpiece and now his voice was coming from the TV. 

“Is this enough proof?” 

“Why do you have bee photos on the ready?” Slimecicle really wasn’t focusing on the main issue at hand. 

“Because bees are fucking awesome.” 

Niki laughed, “Sure you can join by proxy. Is it ok if we ask you for any hacking things we might need?” 

“Run it by Theseus, and he’ll tell me.”

“Well then should we introduce ourselves without any codenames.” Slimecicle made Coin Flip turn away from his papers by pushing the chair towards Tommy.

“I’m still not telling you guys my real name. Cya around. Theseus you better be back home at a reasonable time.” With that Tubbo disconnected from the TV, so Tommy took the earpiece and put it in his bag. 

“I’m guessing that's your roommate.” Niki seemed to be more relaxed.

“Yep. That’s him.” 

“I’ll start with introductions then. I’m Niki! I run this bakery which we use as a hideout. As most people know, my powers let me start small sparks that I can turn into flames.” 

Slimecicle waved excitedly, “I’m Charlie! I work for the syndicate and I can make this green slime that can heal injuries!” 

“Really?! Can you fix up my arm? I got hit by a pipe on patrol and it got really bruised.” 

“Of course!” Charlie went over to Tommy and fixed up his arm, “There you go!” 

“Holy shit. Thanks!” 

Niki looked at Coin Flip who was still mumbling to himself looking at papers, “If you don’t introduce yourself I won’t let you study in the bakery for a week.” 

With that Coin Flip looked at Tommy, “I’m Quackity. I’m studying law at L’manberg University under a fully paid scholarship. Like your friend said exam are in a month, so you're usually gonna see me studying. My powers affect luck.” 

Quackity showed Tommy his coin, “When I flip something like a coin or a poker chip I can affect the luck of a person. I can only flip it once per person though so when I fight I have to flip it once for each enemy. The effect lasts 24 hours, so after that time period I can affect their luck again.”

“That’s so cool!” Tommy looked at him in amazement.

“Thanks kid.” Quackity smiled.

“I’m not a kid!” 

Quackity looked at him with skepticism, “How old are you?” 

“16.” Tommy muttered. 

“Exactly. So what’s your name?” 

“I’m Tommy. I work for SBI as an assistant.” 

Niki’s eyes widened, “You what!?” 

“I got a job there that I didn’t want. My roommate made me go to the interview and my dumbass got the job.” Tommy shrugged. 

“Are you insane!?” Quackity was understandably freaking out, “You're a vigilante! If they find out you're getting arrested on the spot.” 

“Quackity we can use this actually.” Slimecicle thought for a moment, “If we need intel that only the heroes have access to Tommy could find a way to access it.” 

“That’s a great idea but I’ve only had the job for a day. The only reason I have it in the first place is because we needed money. I fucking hate heroes.” 

“Well I won’t question it. Also you don’t have to find intel on them.” Niki got a sheet of paper from a filing cabinet. “Here’s the rules to the syndicate.” Niki handed him the paper. Tommy read it to himself. 

The syndicate is a network for fellow vigilantes to meet, exchange information, and cooperate in the mutual pursuit of helping those in need and showing the government who’s boss. 

We shall have no leader; no member should be compelled to act against their will.

No member shall reveal information about the syndicate to outsiders. 

Anyone can recruit new members into the syndicate with approval from a majority of members. 

Sic semper tyrannis 

“Damn didn’t realize there were rules.” Tommy muttered. 

“It’s an honor system in a way.” Charlie shrugged. “There’s more people in the syndicate but they aren’t here right now.” 

Niki nodded, “The guy who put all this together is out on a trip right now.” 

“Actually what are your powers?” Quackity looked him dead in the eye, “Niki gave us a brief description about how you made a pipe phase through your head, but you can also corrupt photos and videos of you. So what exactly are you capable of?” 

Tommy gulped, “Uh. It’s hard to explain.” 

“Take your time.” Niki gave him a reassuring nod.

“Ok. So I think demonstrations best explain it.” Tommy stood up, “I don’t really know what my powers are.” Everyone seemed surprised by that, “I can use it for a lot of things. For example I can phase myself in and out of reality.” Tommy swung his fist into the table and it went straight through it with a multitude of different colored particles surrounding his arm. He then vanished into thin air and appeared in the same spot. “I can do the same with objects.” 

“If I want to be somewhere else, I can teleport. I have to concentrate though” Tommy focused for a second before teleporting across the room with the same different colored particles covering his body and the space he used to be in.

“I didn’t make the photos distorted intentionally.” Once again everyone was surprised, “I wanted there to be no photos of me online when I saw someone snap a photo of me, and the next day I looked online and saw a blurry image of me online. The problem is that it wasn’t blurry before.” 

“After that all photos of me as Theseus just became blurry. I don’t know what I can do in all honesty.”

Quackity thought for a moment, “Can you phase other people out of reality?” 

“Uh. Never tried!” 

“When you phase yourself out of reality, where do you go?” 

“I have this little pocket dimension that I stay in before I want to get out of it. I can only stay there for like a or two minute though. When I want to teleport though I just think I want to be over at then I think of a location then boom. I’m there. The only thing consistent with my power is the particles that appear whenever I use it.” 

Quackity flipped a coin and threw his pencil right at Tommy’s head.

“WHAT THE-” The pencil stopped right before it hit Tommy’s eye and fell to the floor with particles covering the pencil. “The fuck was that for!?” 

“So it can happen involuntarily.” Quackity hummed, “What were you thinking when the pencil came towards you?” 

“The fuck? I was thinking holy shit why would he do that. I don't want this to poke my eye out.” 

“Hm.” 

“Quackity don’t experiment with his powers.” Charlie sighed, “We can figure this out together. Probably.” 

“Let’s just play some games and eat guys! Let him have some fun while we’re here.” Niki went out of the backroom

"You guys can do that. I'm gonna study." Quackity went back to his papers. 

"Nope!" Charlie grabbed him and dragged him over to the table. 

"Slime let me go!" 

"Come onnn it's not everyday we get a new member of the syndicate. Take a break once in a while.” 

“Foods on the house!” Niki brought a tray of different kinds of bread and pastries and set it down on the table. “Tommy, we'll introduce you to the guy who started the syndicate once he comes back.” 

“Why are they gone anyway?” Tommy grabbed some bread and started to eat. 

“They’re gathering information on something that they’ve been investigating for a while.” Quackity also got some bread. “No clue what it’s about though.” 

“Are you guys patrolling tonight?” Charlie spoke through mouthfuls of bread, “If you need fixing up give me a call.” 

“Oh wait, give me your number guys.” Tommy handed Charlie his phone.

“This thing is fucking ancient.” Charlie put his number in. “I’ll put in your guys’ too.” After putting in the different numbers Charlie gave Tommy his phone. “We can buy you a new one if you want.” 

Tommy immediately vetoed the idea, “No way. That’s like the second time I’ve been offered today. Unless the phone breaks I’m not replacing it.” 

“Hey can you give me your phone Tommy?” Quackity held out his hand. 

Niki elbowed him, “Don’t break his phone!” 

“Worth a shot.” Quackity put his arms in the air playfully and leaned back in his chair. "Let's play poker." 

"You're obviously gonna win Quackity!" Judging from how Charlie reacted Tommy guessed they did this often.

The four of them laughed and talked before Tommy had to head home. Walking into his apartment Tubbo immediately turned around, “You better have brought some food.” 

Tommy chuckled under his breath, “Here ya go Tubs.” Tommy handed the bag with the cinnamon rolls in it.

“Holy shitttt! This is such a full bag.” 

“What? I only bought two things.” Tommy peered into the bag and saw it filled with cinnamon rolls. “Oh you gotta be kidding. I didn’t pay for this much!” 

“You can just pay her back next time you see her.” Tubbo shrugged and immediately got one out, “At least we got breakfast for the next few days.” 

“Will they even last that long?” 

“We can put them in the fridge and heat them up later.” 

“I guess.” Tommy layed down on the couch. 

“You can sleep on the mattress y’know.” 

“Nah.” 

Tubbo sighed and went back to his work, “Bitch. Go to sleep then.” 

Tommy smiled to himself, “Alllllright.” Tommy tried to sleep, but he was thinking about everything that had happened today. 

“Tubbo. Can we figure out what my power is?” 

Tubbo immediately stopped what he was doing, “You wanna try again?” Tommy nodded. Tubbo looked at him concerned before sighing, “We could ask Big T for help when he gets back from his business trip.” 

“When's he coming back anyway? It’s been a few months now.” 

“It’s only been 2 Tommy.” Tubbo jokingly elbowed him. 

“Exactly. A few!” Tommy laughed. 

“Well he’ll probably be back soon.” Tubbo smirked, “Might be sooner than you expect.” 

Tommy squinted at him, “You know something don’t you.” 

“I know a lot of things. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tubbo shrugged and smiled. 

“Tell!” Tommy threw a pillow at him. 

“Hey!" Tubbo threw it back to him, "Just get some rest." 

"You and your fucking secrets." Tommy muttered. 

"Quit acting like you don't have yours." Tubbo wasn't spiteful at all when he said that. He was laughing and joking like the two usually did. 

"Fine, fine. I'll sleep." 

"Good." Tubbo turned back to what he was working on before an arm pulled him onto the couch. "HEY!" 

"You gotta sleep too Tubbo!" 

"Tommy! I have stuff to do." 

"Do it tomorrow, go to sleep. If I have to sleep you have to too." 

Tubbo head butted Tommy to get him to let go of him, "Owww. You and your stupidly strong horns. Forgot you hide those under that mess you call hair." 

Tubbo stuck his tongue out at him, "Fine I'll go to bed." Tubbo walked over to the room with the mattress in it and a faint celebration was heard from Tommy. 

Tubbo smiled, "Night Tommy." 

"Night!" 

The night went on as it normally did while a plane flew towards L'manberg. 

Looking out the window he smiled to himself. I should go visit Tommy. Tubbo said he got a new job, a surprise visit wouldn't hurt. 

He stretched and pulled a book out of his backpack. Who would've thought the one person who seems to hate heroes more than me got a job at the hero tower. 

All I have to do is wait a few more hours. 

Chapter Text

When Tommy woke up the next day Tubbo seemed like he wanted him out of the house more than usual. He was practically pushing Tommy out of their apartment. 

"Tubbo! The hell's up with you?" 

"Nothing! Have a nice day at work." Tubbo pushed Tommy out of their apartment, shutting the door behind him. Leaving Tommy standing there a little dazed and confused.

With that Tubbo successfully got Tommy out of the apartment. Of course he did give Tommy breakfast, handing him a cinnamon roll and immediately shutting the door again. 

"What the fuck?" Tommy decided to just go to work not wanting to deal with whatever that was. He would probably get there earlier now that Tubbo basically kicked him out of the apartment. He was on the train when he got a phone call. 

He answered, “This is Tommy.” 

“Hey Tommy. Where are you?” 

“Phil? I’m on the train, why?” 

“Which stop are you heading to? Right now?”

Tommy looked at the signs above the train doors, “Heading to district 5 right now.” 

“Can you get off there?” 

“Uh sure? How’d you get my number anyway?” 

“Tommy, it's listed in your file.” 

“Right. Forgot you had that.” Tommy thought for a second, “Why do you need me to get off at district 5 anyway?” 

“I’m giving you a ride.” 

“Fine. The train just stopped.” Stepping off of the train and out of the subway Tommy looked around.

“Tommy over here!” Tommy looked to see Phil waving at him from across the street. He hung up the phone and walked over to him. “You didn’t have to do that.” 

“Well, I had some business and I wanted to speed things up for you.” 

Tommy stared at him dumbfounded, “Why would you do that?” He got into the passenger seat. 

“I just want to make sure my new assistant has a good time.” 

Tommy looked around Phil’s car, “Damn, your car is more expensive than my rent. People will break into the car when you turn your back on it for even a second. Then again they're gonna be pretty disappointed seeing all of these coffee cups in the car. How old are these?” 

“Not a lot of people want to mess with me.” Phil kept his eyes on the road. "The coffee is Chayanne’s."

“Heroes aren’t treated with respect in the lower districts. Lot of us don’t like you guys.” Tommy looked out the window of the car. "See. Now I can blackmail you by telling Champion about how messy your car is. And if you don't do what I want I will tell him." 

“Glad we hired someone who does like heroes then.” Phil gave him a little nudge. Tommy bit his tongue not wanting Phil to know that he didn’t even want the job in the first place. 

“You can walk with me to work but there’s no way in hell you're taking this car to the lower districts.” Tommy didn’t want Phil to see his apartment. “Or you can wait for me in district 10 just in front of the subway entrance.” 

Phil sighed, “Do you want to know the real reason I want to pick you up Tommy?” 

Tommy groaned, “Sure.” 

“I need to get a good layout of district 13.” That definitely caught Tommy’s attention, “What?” 

“You see Chayanne’s tracking down Theseus right now, and I realized something.” Tommy kept quiet wanting Phil to continue, “They have a home field advantage. I don’t know the layout of district 13, but Theseus has been patrolling there for a while now. They probably know the place like the back of their hand! I wanted to help Chayanne a little by mapping out the district for them.” 

Phil wasn’t wrong with that assumption. Tommy pretty much grew up in district 13. His patrols definitely helped with memorizing the area. He forgot that Phil is in fact the #2 hero and that Chayanne had arrested more vigilantes than the current #1. 

“I forget that you're actually competent with hero stuff.” 

“I’m literally the #2 hero in L’manberg. I don’t want Chayanne to patrol as much, so I’m going to be taking care of some of his work.” 

“And you’re too lazy to fill out paperwork sorry for forgetting.” Tommy tried to be as sarcastic as possible hoping Phil wouldn’t see his nervousness. Then he realized something, “How about I just show you around.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean show you around district 13. I grew up there y’know. I know the place pretty well.” Tommy was coming up with a plan in his head. He would show Phil around and leave certain areas out that he could go to if Phil ever chased him down. 

“That’s a great idea Tommy! We could probably go during work sometime this week.” 

“Sure thing.” Then Tommy realized that Phil would stand out too much with the giant wings and as one of the top ranking heroes. “You gotta wear something inconspicuous though. You stand out too much.” 

“Will do. Actually. Can I pick you up at district 10? Just to make your commute faster.” Phil sounded a little hopeful when he asked. 

“Sure. Free ride sounds nice.” Tommy put his feet on the dashboard. 

“Get your feet off.” Phil swatted his hand at him.

“Nope!” 

“You're gonna get hurt Tommy.” Phil laughed a little.

“How about you get better at driving then.” 

“I drive just fine!” 

“Hahahaha.” Tommy started to laugh as Phil continued to drive over to the hero tower. 

They got to the parking lot underneath the heroes tower and Tommy looked around. “There’s nothing interesting here Tommy. Just a normal parking lot.” Phil gave him a fond smile

“Never been down here before.” Tommy muttered. 

“Well come on let’s go.” Phil walked over to the elevator and then Tommy realized that he would have to go in it. 

“Uh, can I just stop at the lobby first?” 

“Why?” 

“Need to check up with Kristen! Make sure that there's nothing I have to tell or give you guys.” 

“Let’s go together then.” Phil pressed the button for the lobby. 

“It’s fine, don't worry about it.” Tommy was getting more and more nervous. 

“I’m going with you Tommy. Besides, I should say hi to Kristen.” 

Knowing that he wouldn’t get out of this he just sighed and waited for the elevator to stop. When it did Tommy left as fast as he could and went up to Kristen. 

“Hey Kristen!” 

“Oh hello Tommy. You usually walk in through the front doors. Did something happen?” 

“Nope. Phil just drove me to work this morning.” 

Phil waved, “Hi Kristen.” 

“Hey, Phil.”

Tommy could feel the tension between the two and wanted none of it.  “Is there anything today Kristen?” Tommy decided to end this conversation as soon as possible. 

“Yep! Give this to Chayanne and here you go, Phil.” She handed the two of them different folders filled with different files and paperwork. 

“Alright thanks Kristen!” Tommy started to walk away. 

“I’ll see you around Kristen.” Phil followed behind and walked towards the elevator pressing the button. “Alright let’s head up.” Phil walked into the elevator and Tommy reluctantly followed.

Tommy pressed the button to head up and the elevator started to rise. The only thought on Tommy’s mind was, I want this elevator ride to be fucking over. 

And it ended. 

Just not in the way Tommy wanted. 

The lights went out inside the elevator. Spooking the hell out of Tommy, “What the fuck!?” The lights started to flicker and Tommy looked at the number displaying the floor they were on. It said floor 45. He waited for the number to increase but it never did. 

“What’s going on?” Phil pressed the emergency button inside the elevator. He also pulled out his phone, “I’ll call Chayanne, wait a second Tommy.” He turned away from Tommy and in doing so Tommy started to really freak out. 

He dropped to the floor and curled himself into a little ball, trying to get his breathing under control. It’s fine IT’S FINE. Taking deep breaths Tommy did his best to stop himself from hyperventilating and failing to do so. All he could think of right now is what happened back then. 

This is a elevator not a fucking collapsing building. Nothing bad is even happening, it's just an elevator. Maybe a hero will actually help this time. You never know. 

Phil was on the phone with Chayanne and noticed that Tommy was freaking out, “Hey, I’m going to hang up. Tommy’s not doing too well.” 

“Alright stay safe.” 

Phil hung up and went over to Tommy, “Hey Tommy you doing ok?” 

“Of course I am! It’s just stupid fucking claustrophopia.” Tommy muttered the last bit but Phil managed to hear what he had said. 

“You’re claustrophobic?” 

“I figured it was fucking obvious.” Tommy was shaking, still curled up in a ball. Hugging his knees that he put close to his chest. 

“Hey hey don’t worry about it. Just take deep breaths.” 

“I’M FUCKING TRYING!” 

Tommy was still hyperventilating, luckily it wasn’t a full blown panic attack. Phil looked around to see if there was anything he could do. Then he saw the number displaying the floor they were on. For a second he also thought he saw a brief flash of different colors on the buttons Tommy had pressed, but that was probably his eyes adjusting to the flickering lights. 

“We’re on Sam’s floor. I’ll give him a call to pry the doors open.” Phil pulled out his phone. “Hey Sam, the elevator got stuck on your floor. Do you think you can pry it open? Tommy’s freaking out right now.”

“I should be able to. Give me a second.” 

“Tommy, Sam’s going to open the doors in a second and you stand?” 

“I’ll stand when we aren’t in a tiny box.” Tommy muttered closing his eyes, “Fucking hell.” 

Then there was a noise of a creaking door and Tommy could see a platform near the top of the elevator doors. 

“GUYS! ARE YOU DOWN THERE?” Sam called out to the two of them peering in the space. “You guys aren’t on the floor completely yet but you should be skinny enough to fit through the gap.” 

"Tommy, come on, I'll help you up there." Phil helped Tommy stand and they walked over to the gap. 

"Alright just put your arms on the platform. Phil, can you push Tommy up?" 

"Got it Sam! Tommy, are you good to head up there?"

"As long as I'm not in this shitty box I will go anywhere." 

“Alright, Tommy here,” Phil picked up Tommy to help him reach the platform.

"On the count of three guys! One. Two. Three!" With that Sam pulled Tommy up and got him out of the elevator. 

Tommy sighed in relief the moment he was out, “I’m never going in a fucking elevator ever again. Too cramped.” 

Sam got Phil out as well. Phil looked down at Tommy who was currently laying on the floor. “Are you alright Tommy?” 

“Yeah. I’m out of that stupid elevator. Should’ve just taken the stairs.” Tommy groaned, “I hate it hereeee.” 

Sam looked at the elevator, “I’m going to go run a check later on what exactly caused this thing to malfunction. I’m sure everyone knows what happened seeing as I’m getting several emails as we speak.” He sighed, “Want to look around Tommy? Chayanne will probably be down here in a second.” 

Phil opened the door to the stairs and propped it open, “He needs to stop doing this.” 

Tommy stood up, “Sure boss man. A distraction would be nice.” 

“Oh yeah Phil I fixed up your suit!” Sam led the two over to the suit and was telling Tommy about how his idea worked when the three of them heard a voice. 

“Are you guys alright!?” Tommy jumped and turned to see Chayanne sprinting towards them at full speed.”

“WHAT THE FUCK!” 

Tommy barely managed to dodge the extremely fast hero. Tommy jumped out of the way as Phil was tackled to the ground with Chayanne hugging him. Sitting up Chayanne looked Phil up and down, “Are you ok??” 

“Champion, I think you just killed him. You tackled him to the ground.” Tommy was shocked while Sam just went back to what he was talking about like this was a normal Wednesday.  “Are we not gonna talk about how Chayanne tackled Phil to the ground?” 

“He does this whenever I get hurt on patrol.” Phil pushed Chayanne off of him, “Alright son quit it.” 

Tommy looked to Sam ready to ask about the nickname and Sam knew what Tommy was thinking, “Because Phil trained Chayanne he is incredibly overprotective of him. Plus, Chayanne started training when he was very young, so some people started calling them father and son.” 

“Ah. I see.” 

“Tommy, are you alright mate?” Tommy turned to see Phil looking at him now, “You weren’t doing too well.” 

“I’m fine!” 

“Tommy, your hand is shaking.” Chayanne pointed to Tommy’s shaking hand. Realizing this Tommy tried to get it to stop shaking and when he failed he just put his hand in his pocket. 

“See! I’m fine. I’ll just never use the elevator in this building ever again. There’s stairs I can use.” Tommy then remembered he was in fact at work and had a job to do, “Oh yeah Kristen said to give you these.” He handed Chayanne the folder. 

“You were just trapped in an elevator that malfunctioned for seemingly no reason and you're worried about giving me some papers.” Phil looked at him amused 

“Need to get paid somehow, boss man.” Tommy shrugged. 

“I’ll work on fixing the elevators. You guys should start heading up the stairs.” Sam went to grab some tools so the three of them went up to their floor. 

Chayanne groaned, “Why are there so many stairsssss.” 

Tommy laughed running ahead of the both of them, “That’s what you guys get for making a tower that has like 100 floors.” 

“Come on little hero, our assistant is doing better than you. Do you need more physical training?” Phil laughed a little. 

“I’ve trained enough!” Chayanne pouted as they continued to walk, “Tommy, are you seriously gonna walk up and down these things each day?” 

“Yep!” Tommy popped the p as he spoke. “It’s exercise. Plus a lot more space than the elevator.” 

Phil looked around, "There aren't even cameras here."

"Wowwww you guys can't afford a buncha high tech cams." Tommy jumped up to the railing next to him and started to walk on it. 

"No one uses this place after all. Maybe we should replace the cameras in the main building first." Phil typed something on his phone as he walked. When they made it up to their floor Philza clapped his hands, “Alright, boys back to work.” 

Lunch was the same as normal. Phil put the news on as they ate and Chayanne made some food in the kitchen. The part of his day he was really looking forward to however was him hanging out with Ranboo during their break. At 1:50 he made his way down the stairs to the cafeteria floor, waiting for Ranboo to show up. 

"Tommy!" He looked up and saw Ranboo running down towards him. Ranboo was clearly out of breath, "I can't believe you aren't tired. There's so many stairs."

"Haha! Couldn't you have taken the elevator?" 

"People will see me if I take the elevator. Plus it malfunctioned today. Weren't you there for that? Are you ok? I heard you and Philza were stuck there until The Warden got you out." 

"I didn't get hurt, don't worry. I figured Sam would've fixed it by now." 

"They did." 

"Really? Why aren't you using it then?" 

"The problem is that they don't know the cause." Ranboo sat down at the stairs catching his breath. "It should be safe to use but they still don't know what caused the elevator to stop."

"Huh. Weird." Tommy stretched before standing in front of Ranboo, "Alright! Shall we start?" 

"Huh? Now? Lemme catch my breath first." 

"Nope!" Tommy pulled Ranboo up and started to drag him up the stairs. "When in a fight they won't even give you a chance to speak. Start running!" 

Tommy started to run up the stairs with Ranboo trying to follow behind. 

"Tommy slow down!" 

"Meet me 20 floors up Ranbow!"

The two made it up there and Ranboo just layed down on the floor and tried to catch his breath. "This feels like how it was after the pacer." 

"What's a pacer?" 

Ranboo froze and immediately sat up straight, "What do you mean what's a pacer. Have you never been to school?" 

"Took it online. What about you? What kinda school did you go to?" 

Ranboo sighed, "Private school." 

"Hm. Didn't seem like the kind of guy who went to a private school." 

Ranboo layed back down, "I wanted to go to a public school but my brother enrolled me in some preppy private school for safety." 

"That's a weird thing for a brother to do." 

"I know right!" Ranboo threw his arms in the air, "He's only like 22, I'm 17! I don't get why he's making all these decisions for me. Only like 5 years older than me, and he has total control over my big life decisions. Like the school I go to, if I can go outside, me being here is because of him. I can’t even walk outside on my own! Champion was already training to be a hero when he was my age!" 

"You still care about him though, right? He cares about you too. Probably just overprotective." 

"Of course. He's my brother. I care about him a lot. He's definitely too overprotective though. Do you have an older brother?"

"I guess? There's my roommate but he's like my best friend y'know. We're kinda like brothers though." Tommy paused, realizing what he said, "Never tell him I said that." 

Ranboo laughed, "Never would've thought that you were a big softie." 

"I am not! I'm the biggest man that has ever walked the planet." 

"Sure Tommy. So anyone else?" 

"Yeah! Big T!" 

"Big… T?" Ranboo was confused. 

"Mhm! He took me and my roommate off of the streets 3 years ago. We stayed at his place before he managed to get us an apartment in district 13."

"That's nice of them." 

"He's paying for the rent right now since my roommate is going to school. Everything else is up to us." 

"Oh. He didn't want to pay for everything else?"

"He wanted to, but me and Tubs agreed that we should pay for stuff on our own." 

"Tubs?" 

"My roommate." 

Ranboo stayed silent for a moment, "I feel like I've heard that name before." 

"I probably mentioned him before. Oh well! Let's head up 20 more floors. We gotta get you up to the dteam's floor before our break ends." Tommy stood up and dragged Ranboo up with him. 

"Let's go big man!" 

"Wait up!" 

The two kept running up the stairs until they got to floor 80. When they got there Tommy waved to Ranboo and went down to floor 69, “I’ll see you around!” 

“Ranboo who’s that!?” 

Tommy heard a voice coming from the dream team's floor. Ranboo froze knowing who it was, and Tommy saw a man wearing a white mask with a smiley face come look down the railings. The number 1 hero in L’manberg. 

Dream. 

“Uh well um I-” Ranboo was clearly stuttering and Tommy went back up the stairs to help him out. 

“Hello! I’m Thomas Underscore. I'm the new assistant for SBI. Nice to meet you.” Tommy immediately decided to just play nice. He didn’t want to get Ranboo fired. What kind of friend would he be if he did.

“What were you doing?” Dream sounded like he was suspicious and a little mad at Tommy. 

“Dream I-” 

Tommy cut Ranboo off, “Well I was heading back to SBI’s floor after getting some food in the cafeteria and I saw Ranboo on my way up the stairs. I asked him where he was going and he said he was going to floor 80, so I just accompanied him up.” Tommy gave a basic customer service smile. 

“Why didn’t you take the elevator?” 

“I got stuck in the elevator when it malfunctioned earlier today, so I’m never going in that thing again!” Tommy’s smile became a little strained. 

“What about you Ranboo?” 

“Well um the elevator malfunctioned and they didn’t figure out the cause right? I just wanted to take the stairs in case it broke again.” Ranboo seemed a little nervous. To be fair they were training in secret. Tommy just assumed Ranboo didn’t want anyone knowing. He is pretty shy. 

Dream looked at the two of them and sighed, “Ranboo that’s smart but why did you go downstairs in the first place.” 

“Uh I- I wanted to get Kristen some cupcakes I baked as a thank you for helping out so much.” Ranboo hid his face in his hands as he spoke. “I noticed that she never uses her breaks so I wanted to get her something.”

Tommy and Dream were silent for a bit before Dream went over to Ranboo and patted his back, “That’s so nice of you! We can go together next time.” Dream turned to Tommy and seemed to be in a better mood, “Thanks for bringing him up here. Sorry if you skipped your break for him.” 

“No worries! It was rather fun actually.” 

“Glad to hear it. See you around!” Dream and Ranboo walked into the main area of their floor and when the door closed Tommy’s smile immediately fell. 

“What a dickhead.” Tommy made his way down to SBI’s floor and the day continued as normal. 

The problem was when he was leaving, Phil decided to tag along and drive him home. Something about how Tommy would be tried after having to walk down all of those stairs since he walked home. 

Kristen called out to the two as they left, “Have a nice day!” 

“Thanks Kristen.” Phil responded as the two walked out of the hero tower. 

Because Tommy wasn’t going to go down the elevator they couldn’t reach the parking garage from the inside because no stairs connected to it. It was a design flaw but they couldn’t do anything now. 

“I don’t think anyone would’ve thought people would actually use the stairs in this building.” Phil muttered as the two stepped out. 

“Maybe the elevator shouldn’t have stopped out of nowhere.” Tommy shrugged and started to walk over to the parking garage entrance, but as he walked someone but their arm around his head. Putting him into a headlock. 

“AH! WHAT THE FUCK!” 

Phil wasn’t really paying attention but then he heard Tommy yell and a million thoughts came to his mind. 

Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have left at the same time as him. Is someone holding him hostage? If he’s in danger I need to stop it as fast as possible- Phil’s thoughts stopped when he actually looked at what was happening. Tommy was… smiling?

“AHHHH! Holy shit!!!! I can’t believe this! Big T!” Tommy got out of the headlock and gave the person a hug. “It’s been too long!” 

“Haha, I can’t believe I wasn’t lied to when I was told you got a job at the hero tower.” 

Phil got a good look at the guy. There was a scar on his nose and he had long pink hair put into a braid over his shoulder. They were wearing a basic red jacket and had square-framed glasses resting on their nose. Wait. Is that a Dora the explorer themed backpack? 

Phil walked up to them, “Uh. Tommy? Am I interrupting something here or-” Phil and the guy Tommy called Big T made eye contact. It was then Phil noticed he had two suitcases. 

"Did you just come here from the airport?"

They ignored Phil entirely and turned to Tommy, “So how’ve you been!” 

Tommy also noticed that he had suitcases, "Wait did you just come here from the airport?" 

"Yeah. Got here as soon as the flight ended." 

"The airport is like 30 minutes away? How did you get here so fast?" All Phil got in response was a strained smile from them before they put their attention back to Tommy.

"So yeah I ran all the way over here since I figured I could surprise you."

Tommy sighed, “Please don’t act like that in front of my boss. I get that you don’t really like heroes, but don’t ignore my boss.” 

Their eyes widened hearing that Phil was Tommy’s boss, “Heh?” He glanced between the two, “Why didn’t you say that before.” They walked towards Phil and sighed, “Call me Techno.” 

Phil looked at him wide eyed, “Philza.” 

“I knew that already. The one who lives under a rock is this idiot.” Techno pointed to Tommy. 

“I’m not a fucking idiot!” Tommy shrieked as Techno karate-chopped his head. “If that’s the case you would’ve told me about your new job!” 

“You fucking hate heroes! Of course I didn’t tell you.” Tommy rubbed his head in the spot Techno hit him.

“Oh please, you're the one person I know who hates them more than I do.” 

“At least I talk to police officers when they approach me.” Tommy stuck his tongue out at him. 

“Bruhhhhhhh.” 

Phil’s eyes widened, remembering something from before he had taken Chayanne under his literal and metaphorical wing.

“Who’s your friend? I won’t tell Phil.” 

“Bruhhh. Liar.” 

“Man you're no fun.” 

“At least I’ll be able to become a hero before I turn 18.” 

“I’ll become a hero before you!” 

“Really? I’d like to see you try, little warrior.” 

“I told you not to call me that!”

“Haha.” 

“Phillllll.” Tommy snapped his fingers in front of his face, “Hello???” 

“Huh!?” Phil snapped back into the present. 

“You zoned out man. Everything ok?” Tommy looked a little concerned while Techno seemed indifferent. 

“I’m alright. I think I’m just tired. I didn’t get coffee this morning.” 

“Am I gonna have to go for coffee runs?” Tommy deadpanned. 

Techno laughed, “I thought you were an assistant. Not an unpaid intern.” 

"Shut up." 

Phil felt a little awkward butting into this reunion, “Uh well Tommy should I still drive you home?” 

“Are you driving him?” Techno seemed interested now. 

“Yeah. It’s just the ride home.” 

Techno gave him this wicked grin before getting something out of his bag and handing it to Tommy. “Hey, Philza, take Tommy to the bank for me.” 

Tommy’s eyes widened and he realized what Techno handed him, “YOU BITCH GET BACK HERE! I CAN’T ACCEPT THIS!” 

“Buy yourselves something nice! See ya later Tommy!” Techno ran off abnormally fast considering he was carrying two suitcases and a backpack.

“That fucking bitch. He knows I hate being given shit like this.” Tommy muttered to himself angrily, “And there’s no way in hell I can catch up to him.” 

“What did he give you mate?” Phil peered over to see what it was. “That’s just a check.” 

Tommy looked around anxiously before running towards Phil's car. “Unlock it!” Phil unlocked the car and Tommy got in.

“What’s wrong Tommy?” 

Tommy shoved the check in his face. “HE GAVE ME $500!” 

Phil tilted his head, “And? I don't see why that's an issue.” 

"I can't accept this much. I didn't do anything for him to give me this." Tommy slumped in the seat. “Just take me to the bank."

"Sure thing." Phil started to drive. He decided to make some kind of small talk. "So, you don't like heroes huh." He winced realizing what a horrible topic that was.

"It's nowhere as much as Techno though. He calls in criminals on the streets and when police get there he just walks away. Surprised he talked to you." Tommy kept his eyes out the window.

"Why did you get a job at the hero tower if you hate heroes? That doesn't make sense to me." 

"I told you. Needed the money." 

"Is there a reason? That you hate heroes I mean." 

Tommy stayed silent. He shut his eyes and sighed, "You guys don't help the lower districts. Simple." 

Phil could tell that there was another reason. He chose to not pry though. It's not like he didn't have his fair share of secrets. A change of topic would probably be good. 

"I expected you to run after him." Maybe a joke would lighten the mood.

"He's too fast!" 

"Really?" Phil had just seen Tommy run down 69 flights of stairs, not being able to catch up to Techno surprised him. "Is that his power?”

"Uhhh. I think?" Then Tommy realized something he probably should've realized years ago. "Wait, does Techno have a power?" 

"Aren't you his friend???" 

"YEAH! I don't think he's ever shown me his power though." 

"Are you going to ask?" Phil was dumbfounded. They're so close and Tommy doesn't know what Techno's power is. Most people would let each other know their powers after becoming friends. 

"Uhhhh I guess I should." 

"YOU GUESS???"

"IT MIGHT BE A HARD TOPIC I DON'T KNOW!" 

They got to the bank. Tommy went to cash the check and Phil sat down in one of the chairs waiting. 

"Wow you actually took him to the bank." 

Phil looked up and saw Techno. "What are you doing here?" 

Techno sat down in one of the chairs, "I brought someone here as well." He pointed to someone who was standing next to Tommy. They were wearing a blue hoodie and some jeans. "They're pretty shy so I went with him." 

"Oh I see." Phil nervously glanced at Techno. He was drinking some coffee. "What kinda coffee is that?" 

"Black coffee. I just got off a flight." 

"Why were you overseas? If you don't mind me asking." Phil didn't understand why he was so nervous around this guy. Maybe it was his voice. 

"Business trip. Needed to get some information on… stuff." 

"Information?" Well now this guy was sketchy. 

"Yeah. How do I explain?" Techno shut his eyes and thought for a moment, "You know those databases about people. Like population statistics and stuff." 

"I don't know much about it but I've seen some charts." 

"Well you know the Badlands right?"

"Of course I do." 

"I was gathering information on some of the people there. Y'know like jobs that people had plus their income. Took a lot longer than I thought though." 

"I see. That's a pretty cool job though." 

Techno blinked at him, "You are literally a superhero." 

"Technoooooo!" Phil looked over and saw Tommy walking towards them with the person in a blue hoodie. He noticed that they were wearing a mask. 

"You kids done?" Techno stood up. 

"The fuck are you doing here Techno? And I'm not a kid!" Tommy pouted. 

"Whatever you say Tommy." Techno pointed to Phil, "Want him to drive you home or do you wanna walk with us." 

"I can just talk with Phil at work. I'll head with you guys." Tommy waved to Phil, "Thanks for the ride I'll see you tomorrow." 

"Bye Tommy." Phil watched the three of them walk away. He also got up and went into his car. What a strange group. 

Tommy suddenly remembered why he didn't like walking with Techno. That fucker was absolutely loved in the lower districts. He made himself a reputation thanks to all the work he does in the lower districts. 

The reason people knew him was because Techno would help anyone and everyone. Some guy was filling up a moving truck, and Techno would stop what he was doing and help them. Cat stuck in a tree? Techno got it out. Some kid crying on the street? Techno would help them cheer up before either taking them to the orphanage or finding their parents. 

That was the whole reason Tubbo and Tommy knew Techno in the first place. 

3 years ago Techno found Tommy and Tubbo in an alleyway trying to get Tommy's powers under control. Techno took the two in after that. Then he found the two an apartment in district 13 and paid for the rent. 

So now he was walking with Techno with so many people saying hi to them. Tubbo groaned, “Why the hell do you have to be so popular.” 

“You're acting like I asked for this.” Techno muttered, “I just helped a couple people out.” 

“A couple?” Tommy raised an eyebrow. “We have been greeted by more than 30 people. 30!” 

“Maybe I helped too many.” 

“Ya think? Did you tell Tubbo about this?” 

"Nope. Didn't tell anyone I was heading back." 

"What?" Tommy looked at Tubbo, "Why were you acting so weird this morning?"

"I don't know what you mean." Tubbo ran ahead of the two, “Come on! Techno bought food!” 

Tommy turned to Techno and shrugged, "Let’s go Big T!” Tommy started to drag Techno over to their apartment. When they got there Techno went over to the kitchen and started to cook.

A little while later Tubbo walked over to what Techno was doing. “What are you cooking?” Tubbo tried to see what Techno was making. 

“Food.” Techno deadpanned. 

Tubbo pouted, “Just tell us.” 

“Tubbster we both know it is made entirely of potatoes.” Tommy was looking at his phone sitting on the couch. 

Techno started to sweat, “I don’t know what you mean.” 

“As long as it’s good I’m fine with it.” 

“Are we gonna be eating fucking potatoes for the next 2 weeks?” 

“Probably.” Tubbo sat down next to Tommy.

“How about you guys quit complaining then.” Techno brought some plates and bowls of different food. There was mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, and some fries. All freshly cooked by Techno. “Eat up!” 

“WOOOOO!” Tubbo and Tommy said in unison before starting to eat. 

“This is always the best part of your trips Techno.” Tommy started to talk with his mouth full of fries. 

“Heh?” 

“Yeah!” Tubbo agreed, “Everytime you come back we eat like this.” 

“I guess that’s true. Have you guys been well?” 

Tommy and Tubbo glanced at each other, “Yeahhhhh.” 

Techno went on his phone and looked something up before showing it to Tommy, “I’m glad you got a new hobby.” 

Tommy almost choked on his fries as he saw what Techno showed him. It was a news article about Theseus. “I don’t know what you mean. Haven’t written any articles before.” 

Techno karate chopped his head, “Did you seriously get a job at the hero tower when you knew that you are currently a vigilante that is starting to make headlines.” 

Tommy just silently pointed to Tubbo who gave him a look of betrayal. “I can explain.” 

“Start.” 

“So Tommy lost his job and he needed a new one. I gave him a list of different interviews he could go to and the hero tower pays well.” Techno didn’t glare at Tubbo but that just made him more nervous, “Uh, I was not expecting him to actually get the job I’m gonna be honest.” 

The two sat there nervously eating food. Techno sighed, “You guys know you could’ve asked me for help right?” 

“Yeah. We just chose not to.” Tommy ate more fries. “How’d you figure it out anyway?” 

Techno just hummed, “My job is gathering information, what do you expect?” 

“Alright keep your secrets fucker. Aren’t you a freelancer?” Tubbo got a karate chop to the head for that, “ow.” 

“Well, let's just eat." Tommy could've sworn that Techno said something else but Tommy couldn't make it out. 

“Huh? What did you say Techno?” 

“I didn’t say anything.”

Tommy doubted him but just kept eating. Techno’s potato dishes were amazing. 

Later that day after Techno left Tommy debated going on patrol. He didn’t go yesterday so going today would be normal. Right? Yeah not a chance. 

He went out and started his patrol as normal. Tubbo was listening in like he usually did, so Tommy went out. 

It was a normal patrol at first. Stopping petty crimes and helping out people he saw out on the street. 

The most interesting thing that happened was that one guy getting a punch on his face, but that wasn't too special. 

Then he noticed someone standing on the rooftop in front of him. They were wearing a black cloak with what Tommy assumed to be combat gear underneath just by looking at the boots. There was a small golden crown on top of their head and they were wearing a pig mask that covered their face.

Tommy instinctively took a step back. The person put a finger over their mask as if he was telling Tommy to be quiet. They looked around before adjusting their mask the person moved it to the left so their face was just barely visible for Tommy to see. 

His eyes widened realizing who it was. 

"Techno?" 

With that Techno hopped to the roof Tommy was on and started to led him across the rooftops. "Don't talk kid." He readjusted his mask and started to run. 

Tommy nodded and followed after him. Not getting a chance to ask about anything. Heading towards district 10 Tommy realized where they were going. Techno leapt throw the open window of his apartment and Tommy followed.

"Alright are you gonna fucking explain." Tommy took off his mask and tossed it on a table. 

"Your not the only one in the vigilante business." Techno turned on the lamp in his house and groaned, "What are you guys doing here." 

Tommy looked and was visibly shocked when he saw who was there, "Why are Niki and Charlie here?!" 

"Quackity wanted to come too but his dorm has a cerfew." Charlie smiled at him. "We have him on a call though!" 

"Hey guys." A clearly sleep deprived Quackity was heard from Charlie's phone. 

"If we knew that you knew Techno we would've just told you Tommy." Niki was petting Techno's dog, Floof. 

"Tell me what?" Tommy looked at Techno with suspicion in his eyes.

"He hasn't told you yet? Ha." 

"You guys are the worst. How did you get in my apartment?" 

Niki held up 2 bobby pins and all was understood. 

Techno rubbed his temples, "I'll tell you in the most obvious way possible. I'm the founder of the syndicate. Niki's the other founder." He pointed to her and she waved. 

Tommy's jaw dropped to the floor, "How long have you been the founder of one of the most well known vigilante groups in L'manberg?" 

Techno thought for a moment, "2-3 years." 

"I've never even heard of a member of the syndicate who wears a pig mask." 

"That's because Techno usually only intervenes if it's really important." Charlie was looking through Techno's fridge. 

"He also gathers information." 

"That's actually your job?!" Tommy shrieked as he decided to sit down in Techno's couch. 

"Are these pictures of Tommy when he was younger!? Oh he's so cute!" Niki was looking at photos that Techno had on a shelf. "Who's this brown haired kid. He looks familiar." 

Techno and Tommy immediately ran over and got as many photos in their arms as possible and put them under a pillow. 

"Techno do you have a codename?" Tommy tried to act as normal as possible after Niki saw those photos of him and Tubbo. 

"Yeah. It's the Blood God." 

"NO IT'S NOT!" Everyone else had a different attitude about this. 

"His codename is fucking Protesilaus because we aren't letting him go around and call himself the blood god." 

"I don't understand why no one likes that name!" 

"We're vigilantes Techno not supervillians." Charlie was eating some snacks he found. 

"Is this all you guys wanted to tell me?" Tommy went over and pet Floof. 

"Pretty much yeah. It was going to be a lot more serious but SOME PEOPLE decided to break into my apartment." 

"I'm in my dorm right now." 

"Exactly Techno. Quackity isn't in here." Charlie gave him a smug smile. 

"Why did I recruit you two." Techno was done with these two.

"You got Quackity in and I just tagged along." Charlie shrugged. 

"You beat me at poker so I joined." 

"That's one way to summarize it." Niki laughed remembering how Quackity joined the syndicate, "A lot of accusations about how Techno cheated even though you messed with your luck. Accusations and screaming. That was certainly a night to remember." 

"You guys are a buncha fucking weirdos." Tommy continued to pet Floof. "OW! Fucking- fine." 

"Tommy is something wrong-" Techno was cut off by Tubbo screaming through Tommy's ear piece.

"HEY TECHNO YOU BETTER BRING TOMMY HOME RIGHT NOW! I've been waiting for him to be back for 30 minutes. GET OVER HERE!" Tubbo disconnected from the earpiece presumably to go sleep. 

Techno sighed, "You heard him Tommy. Let's get going." 

"Alright!" Tommy put on his mask making sure to grab his ear piece, "See ya later!" Tommy hopped out of the window and onto the roof. 

"If you guys aren't out of my apartment when I get back I'm not telling you guys anything about what I investigated." Techno hopped out the window following after Tommy. 

The three left in the apartment were silent for a bit. 

"I'm going to fucking bed." 

Tommy got home later than he normally did. He saw that Tubbo wasn't in the living room. They were probably in the actual bedroom getting sleep. 

Tommy hopped onto the bed after taking off his vigilante gear. 

Motherfucking Techno is a founder of the syndicate. Never would've thought.

Chapter Text

It had been about a week since Tommy started his work with the syndicate and the hero tower. 

Things had been going pretty well. No one at work knew that he’s Theseus and the members of the syndicate were actually pretty chill. Well the ones he had met anyway. According to Techno there were more members but one never showed up at Niki’s for privacy reasons and the other was busy with other things. 

He learned a lot about how the syndicate works. Mainly because of Techno. Tommy was out on patrol and Techno was following around so he decided to make some small talk. Without talking of course. Luckily Techno knew sign language and signed back. 

“So what exactly do you guys do?” 

“Beat up criminals.” 

“Ok. But like, don’t you make money?” 

“Yeah.” 

“... how?” 

“People put in requests through the underground and we do them.” 

“What kind of requests?” 

“We don’t kill people if that’s what you're thinking.” 

“That’s a lot less intimidating.” 

“We find information on different people, pretty much whatever the client asks for. If they have the money of course.” 

“Do I have to help?” 

“If you want to, and if you can. Usually I’m the one doing that job. Watch out for that fist." 

Tommy remembered he was in fact in a fight and got punched in the face.

"HA!" Techno laughed and the guy looked around to see who it was, so Tommy took the opportunity to knock them out. 

Tommy glared at Techno who hopped down from where they were. "Gotta get better at your job Theseus." 

Tommy flipped him off and continued with his patrol. 

During the week he also got closer with Niki, Charlie, and Quackity. 

After work he would stop by the bakery and hang out for a bit. Niki was extremely nice but there was also the lingering feeling that she would destroy Tommy and burn his house to the ground if she got mad enough. 

Made sense for her reputation as one of the strongest vigilantes in L'manberg. The bread she made tastes amazing though. It's amazing how warm it lasts after it's out of the oven. 

Charlie was really funny. Like really funny. Good at making jokes and lighting up the room but sometimes he would switch to saying the most serious and reality hitting things he could. 

Also he played DnD on Fridays with some friends of his. Charlie showed him some of the recordings of their games and Tommy did not cry. Totally. 

Quackity was the one Tommy got to know the least. Studying law under a scholarship, Quackity was busy most of the time. His dorm had a curfew for those who didn't have class past a certain time, so Quackity was the only vigilante Tommy knew that patrolled in the middle of the day.

However he was confident in his abilities and has outran Phantom many times. He also liked to play poker and tried to get Charlie to play as often as he could. 

Quackity warned him though. If he ever came across Phantom out on patrol it would be best to run as fast as possible and lose him. Quackity said that Phantom will try to capture him with whatever means necessary. 

That scared Tommy a little but it was just Wilbur. It wouldn't be too bad. Right? He'd just figure it out. 

After going to bed after a successful patrol (successful meaning he didn't get arrested) Tommy woke up and realized that he was running late for work. At this rate he would miss the train. 

“Shit shit shit. TUBBO I’M HEADING OUT!” 

“BYE TOMMY!” 

Tommy rushed out of the apartment and ran as fast as he could do district 10. He got there just as the train zoomed past him. 

Tommy ran out of the subway and started to run as fast as he could. Why the fuck are people staring at me. Never seen someone rushing before? Arriving at the hero tower he checked the time. He was 20 minutes late and since he was going up the stairs it would take even longer. 

He ran in, “Hey Kristen! Sorry I’m late, is there anything I need to know?” 

"Here you go Tommy nothing too speci-" Kristen looked at Tommy and just stared at him for a moment, “Are you ok?”

“Huh? I’m just out of breath. Why?” 

“Oh Wilbur’s gonna freak out. Uh one second Tommy.” Kristen started to rummage through some things. “Come over here.”

Tommy walked behind the receptionist desk and Kristen handed him a compact mirror. His cheek had a huge bruise on it, “You gotta be kidding me.” 

“I have some concealer that should work. Here I’ll put it on for you.” Kristen started to apply the concealer on Tommy’s face, “What happened?” 

“I got mugged last night. Didn’t realize that it would bruise.” In reality Tommy was stopping a mugging while having a silent conversation with Techno, and got decked in the face. 

"Hm. Ok." She put on the concealer and when she was done she gave it to Tommy, "If Wilbur notices he's gonna freak out. Try not to let him see." 

"Thanks Kristen. I gotta get going now." Tommy grabbed the folders for SBI and started to go up the stairs. They were detached from everything else and were more of a fire escape that everyone forgot about. 

Tommy checked the time. Kristen took some time putting on the concealer. If he was any later Wilbur might get suspicious or something. It was risky but he closed his eyes. I want to be on the stairs at floor 69 in the hero tower. 

He opened his eyes and looked around. There was no one around and Phil said no cameras were in the stairwell so he should be safe. Shooing away the particles he stepped in making sure to act like he just ran up 69 flights of stairs. 

Having worked there for about a week now he learned some of Wilbur's habits. Walking in he yelled making sure they would notice his presence. "Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!" Tommy went to sit on the couch like Wilbur did when he was tired. 

"You alright Tommy?" Wilbur went over to him. 

"Yeah. I just ran here all the way from my house. Fucking tired as shit. Missed the train."

"Well you're gonna have to walk more! Come on Tommy." Wilbur picked up Tommy and started to carry him over to the elevator. 

"If you put me in that fucking elevator I will murder you on the spot," Tommy hissed and started to punch Wilbur. 

"Sure Tommy you can try." Tommy started flailing in Wilbur’s arms. “Put me down bitch!” 

"Look either you show me around district 13 or I'm taking you to meet some of the workers here around your age." 

Tommy gasped, "You wouldn't dare." 

"I think some of them meet up at the cafeteria at lunch. How about we go meet them later!" 

"Hey put me down!" Tommy bit Wilbur's arm as hard as he could and Wilbur dropped Tommy. "OW! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" 

"BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T PUT ME DOWN BITCH." Tommy stood up. "Look. I'll show you around L'manberg after my break. That way I can just head home immediately after showing you around." 

"Mmm but still. I wanna go see it!" Wilbur tapped his foot like an impatient child. 

"It's the 13th district, not an amusement park. Either this or I'm not showing you around at all!" Tommy was fed up with Wilbur's bullshit, "So what's it gonna be?" 

"Fine. I can believe you just negotiated with your boss." 

"One of the many things in my skill list." 

"Is murder included in that?" 

"Hm." That is all Tommy said before walking into his office. 

"Wait what do you mean hm . Tommy, get back here!" Tommy laughed as he closed the door to his office and locked it. Wilbur phased through the door. 

They stared at each other for a moment. "Forgot you could do that. PHILLLLL WILBUR'S BOTHERING ME!" 

"WILBUR LET TOMMY DO HIS JOB!" Phil called out to them from his office. 

"You heard him. Go. Shoo." Tommy swatted him towards the door since Wilbur was still intangible.

"Alright I'm going." Wilbur turned towards the door before stopping and giving Tommy a smug smile, "You're still going to meet the other interns." 

"You can't make me!"

“I’m not leaving until I hear why you don’t want to meet them so badly.” Wilbur turned tangible and leaned on the door. 

“Look man, I just want to live my life here as a reclusive hermit sitting in this office, and not interacting with others unless I need to.” 

“Where are you going during your breaks then?” 

Tommy froze, he noticed that??? He cleared his throat, “I just get snacks at the cafeteria and then chill in the stairwell until my breaks finished.” It was another half lie. Tommy always told about half the truth with anyone in the hero tower. He technically wasn’t lying, he was just omitting some of the truth. 

"Seriously? That sounds so boring." 

"What else am I supposed to do? Not much else I can do if I'm being honest."

"Play video games or hang out with friends. Y'know like most teenagers." 

"I'm 19 Wilbur. I'm not a fucking child." 

"Nineteen. It even has teen in the word. You're still a child." Wilbur twirled around Tommy and put his arm on his head. Tommy was shorter than him but he was still taller than most so he just pushed the arm off. 

"You can't just say teen and then switch to child!" 

"Little baby man." 

"Shut up and get out of my office," Tommy pushed Wilbur expecting him to turn intangible but instead Tommy just started shoving him against a door. 

"Tommy. Can you stop." Wilbur laughed a little at Tommy’s antics. 

"Get out then I'll stop." 

Wilbur sighed and put a hand up, "Fine." Wilbur turned intangible and phased through the door, "You better show me around later!" 

"After my break Wilbur. Go prepare an outfit that helps you sneak or I don't know, HELP WITH THE PAPERWORK!" 

Tommy punched his door for dramatic effect and sat down in his chair. He decided that answering emails would be the best thing to do before lunch. 

Lunch was just Phil scolding Wilbur after he attempted to make food. Luckily Phil made something for the three of them and they all ate. 

Phil made some small talk, "Wil how's hunting down Theseus been? Usually you would've caught them by now."

"It's hard to find info on them ok." 

"Haven't you been tailing him for the past week?" 

Tommy almost choked on his food and coughed before yelling, "He's been doing what?!" 

"Yeah I have." Wilbur said it so nonchalantly it scared Tommy a little. 

"Then why haven't you caught him?!" If Wilbur really was tailing him then how come he never noticed. Did Wilbur figure out where he lived?

“It’s hard to tail someone who runs across rooftops from the alleyways and not be spotted. Theseus never noticed me though. Their guard wasn’t up at all.” 

“...and?” Wilbur was being so dramatic about this. 

“Someone's helping them,” Wilbur smirked. “I know that for a fact now.” 

Then Tommy realized and thought to himself. How the hell did he know about Tubbo?! Tommy tried to keep his expression neutral, or at least curious. “So… who exactly is helping them?” 

“No clue,” Wilbur put his feet on the table and Tommy’s fear was instantly gone. “They were with them during patrol last night, that's for sure.” 

“How’d you figure out someone was there?” Tommy and Techno made sure to only speak using sign language last night. Plus Techno’s outfit was entirely black, except for the mask, and covered any notable features about him. 

“Theseus was distracted the entire night. His hands were moving a lot, but the thing that gave the person away was when they laughed,” Wilbur spoke in hushed tones as if this was classified information that Tommy couldn’t know about. Which to be fair. It was. 

“They laughed?” Tommy doesn’t remember Techno laughing at all… then Tommy rested his head in his palm and remembered. That idiot. Then he realized what Wilbur said, “Wait, they were moving their hands a lot?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

Tommy just stared at him, “Do you really not know what fucking sign language is?” 

“I know what sign language is! I just don’t understand it.” 

Tommy groaned, “You could’ve just said he was using sign language.” Then Tommy thought of something he could do to mess with Wilbur. An ingenious idea really. Just make Wilbur think that Theseus couldn’t understand a word he said when he ran into him the other day.

“Do you think Theseus can understand you when you speak?” It was a simple question that Wilbur hadn’t considered. “They can’t read lips because of your suits mask and they were talking with someone using sign language. Are you even sure Theseus can hear you when you talk to them? No ones ever heard them speak as far as I’m aware. They could be deaf.” 

Tommy snapped his fingers and pointed to Wilbur like he came up with an idea, “Oh maybe that can help narrow your search! If you can’t bring them in you can look through medical databases or something and find deaf people who match Theseus’s physique. But who knows maybe they are, maybe they’re not. Since it’s district 13 there’s no way they could afford decent hearing aids.” 

Tommy kept talking as Wilbur then thought back to his first encounter with Theseus. They didn’t speak, and didn’t react when Wilbur talked to them. The only reaction that Wilbur got from Theseus was the vigilante running away from him when Wilbur charged towards him. 

Wilbur’s face plummeted into the table with a loud thud startling Phil, and a muffled scream was heard before he lifted his head a little, “I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to be the #5 hero in L’manberg,” Tommy giggled. “Didn’t even consider that the new vigilante could be deaf.” 

“Usually vigilantes don’t speak because they don’t get a voice changer and aren’t stupid enough to speak. But Theseus knows sign language and there's no way a person would learn that for vigilante shit.” 

That's the whole reason I learned it. “Wow, Wilbur. You just called so many people stupid.” 

“The fact they’re vigilantes in the first place is stupid.”

Now Tommy was just getting offended, “And what’s the problem with vigilantes? If it weren’t for them I’d get mugged 10 times more often than I do normally.” 

Wilbur raised his head fully in concern but Tommy kept going, “Vigilantes help curb the crime rate. After Theseus showed up, the crime rate reduced significantly. If you arrest him then more crime shows up in district 13, but no one cares about that now do they.” 

“Tommy…” Wilbur closed his eyes like he wanted to say something but changed his mind, “Nevermind.” Wilbur looked at Tommy’s face, “You have food on your cheek.” He pointed to it before getting a tissue from the table, “Here let me get it.” 

Tommy then remembered the giant bruise on his cheek that Kristen helped cover. When Wilbur touched his face his eyes widened, “Tommy? Are you wearing concealer?!” 

Tommy started to sweat. Shit shit SHIT! Act natural. Tommy acted offended, “Kristen offered to put some on me this morning. Got a problem?” 

Wilbur immediately shook his head, “No not at all! I was just wondering. It is concealer right? Why would Kristen want to put that on you?” 

“Pulled an all nighter last night and Kristen saw I had eyebags. Simple.” Tommy was clearly defensive but he assumed Wilbur would think he was embarrassed to wear makeup. He wasn’t really embarrassed though. He looked fucking great, so he didn’t care. 

“That doesn’t explain why it’s on your cheek.” 

“Wilbur you can’t just cover up the one spot. I don’t have foundation on. Kristen had to make sure everything blended together since she wasn’t certain it would match my skintone.” 

“Tommy, you're hiding something. Take off the makeup.” 

“The fuck?! No! Then I have to redo it!” 

“Boys.” 

Tommy then turned to see Phil smiling at the two menacingly. “I forgot you were here Philza.” 

“Wilbur leave Tommy alone. He’s just wearing makeup.” 

Tommy stuck his tongue out at Wilbur as a sign of victory. 

“Fine,” Wilbur stood up, “Me and Tommy are heading out after his break by the way. We’re gonna go around district 13.” 

“Have fun you two. Try to get all the paperwork that Wilbur didn’t do before done. He’s going to be called out for patrol more often soon.” 

“Got it boss man!” Tommy went into his office and plopped into the seat before starting on the stack of papers that was given to him.

2:00 came around and Tommy started heading down the stairs to when he and Ranboo always met. Instead of Ranboo showing up as he ran down the stairs like usual Tommy saw a flash of purple particles in front of him and a vwoop was heard as Ranboo fell in front of him. 

"Oww."

"Afternoon ender boy," Tommy outstretched his hand. "Want some help?" 

"Thanks Tommy," Ranboo grabbed his hand and Tommy helped him up. 

"So how many times did it take for you to teleport down here?" 

After a week of stamina training Tommy decided to start having Ranboo get used to his powers. Since Ranboo didn't want to tell him everything about his powers (Tommy couldn't judge) he decided to have him practice his teleporting. 

Although there weren't many places to teleport in a staircase. 

Ranboo sighed, "More than 50 tries." 

"You just made your way downstairs slowly teleporting didn't you." 

Ranboo nodded. 

"Better than I expected for the first day of trying. Let's start running, king!" Tommy started to sprint up the stairs with Ranboo following behind. 

On the staircase on floor 70 Tommy was now teaching Ranboo basic hand to hand combat. All of a sudden Ranboo got a call on his phone. Tommy couldn’t hear who or what the person was saying but he did see Ranboo move the phone from his ear slightly when he answered it. 

“I’m on the stairway. Why?” Ranboo looked around. “I’m on floor 70.” 

Ranboo’s face all of a sudden had a scared look as he quickly stood up, “I’m going to be heading to the SBI floor. It’s closer. I’ll see you later.” He hung up and grabbed Tommy’s arm and started to run down the stairs. 

“Hey hold on Ranboo let me get my things! What’s going on?” 

“There’s an attack!” 

“Where!?” 

“HERE!” 

Ranboo kicked the door to the SBI floor open and ran around frantically, “The heroes don’t know where the intruders are but we need to hide. Now.” 

“Shit. Uh,” Tommy looked around. “Let’s head into my office! We can barricade everything in there.” 

The two ran into Tommy’s office and pushed the bookcases in front of the door. They hid behind the desk and Tommy went to open the window just in case.

“So what exactly is going on?” Tommy spoke in a hushed tone and tried his best to whisper. 

“Dream called me saying that there are intruders in the hero tower. He said they were running throughout the hero tower and are keeping the people in the lobby hostage.” 

“Oh shit Kristen!” 

“He said that the people in the cafeteria would be held hostage next since it’s mostly interns and assistants in there right now.” 

“I never thought I would be grateful for your social anxiety.” 

“Hey!” 

“Shhhhhhh.” 

Ranboo realizing how loud he was quickly switched back to a whisper, “Sorry!” 

CRASH

A loud noise was heard from the lounge along with several footsteps. Voices were heard but Tommy couldn’t make out what they were saying. Shit. I want to hear what they’re saying. Tommy then heard one of the guys outside loud and clear. 

“Look around there could be people hiding.” 

Tommy then immediately covered his ears in case particles were around them. He also wanted to check if he really did just give himself enhanced hearing somehow. 

“Look around for important documents!” 

Yep. Loud and clear. 

Now Tommy knew what they were looking for, but before he could think about it the doorknob shook. 

“Hey guys, this door is locked! Help me out here!” Loud banging was heard from the door as they tried to get it open. The bookshelves would hold them off for a little bit, but not long. 

Ranboo glanced nervously at Tommy. Making sure he was extremely quiet he got closer to Tommy and whispered, “What do we do?” 

“Teleport out of here. Find some heroes. Message Dream that they’re here.” 

“What about you?” Ranboo got his phone out and quickly sent a message to Dream. 

“I’ll be fine.” 

“They could have weapons. If I teleport with you we could land somewhere completely different.” 

Tommy turned to Ranboo, “Listen. Can I trust you?” 

“Where’s this coming from?!” 

“Can I trust you with a big secret, Ranboo. I need you to swear that whatever’s about to happen if those guys get in here you don’t tell a soul.” 

“Will you explain later?” 

“Yeah,” Tommy smiled. “Of course.” 

“You can trust me,” Ranboo looked Tommy dead in the eye, which is something he never did. When Tommy looked at him he could tell that Ranboo was telling the truth.

Looking around Tommy didn’t see a security camera in the room. He grabbed his phone and handed Ranboo a book. Taking a pencil off of his desk and making sure it was as sharp as possible. 

“Alright. If those guys bust in here, follow my lead.” 

“Do you have a plan?” 

“If they come in, take the book and toss it at their head or throat. I’ll stab them with this pencil.” 

“Will that work?” 

“Of course not. After we do that we run past them and into the stairs. Wanna run up or down?” 

“Up. That way we won’t be ambushed on both sides if more people show up. Plus we could jump down the stairwell if we needed to.” 

Tommy nodded and the two turned around to face the door. People were still trying to get in. 

“Your training is going to be useful here. Remember what I taught you.” 

The door opened when the guys on the other side of the door realized it opened outwards. 

“I GOT IT OPEN!” Then Tommy heard two more sets of footsteps head over to where they were. The bookshelf fell to the floor and Tommy shouted. 

“NOW!” Tommy threw his phone at the intruder's eyes hitting them square in the forehead. 

“WHAT THE FUCK!” The intruder covered their eyes as Ranboo slammed the book on their head. Running past them Tommy used the pencil to scratch their arm with it. The other intruders saw him and Ranboo start running then all of a sudden. 

BANG

“That’s a gunshot,” Tommy grabbed Ranboo’s arm and dragged him to the lounge and flipped the coffee table up. 

Ranboo peered over the table but another gunshot was fired and he moved back for cover. “Eep!”

“Shit shit shit,” Tommy looked around for security cameras. If he distorted them it would be suspicious, but there weren’t any around. “You remember what I said earlier?” 

“Yeah!” Ranboo was clearly panicking like most people would in this situation. 

“Don’t tell a soul,” Tommy moved his hands and the table flew across the room and into the intruder. 

“You have telekinesis!?” 

Tommy shrugged and ran forward. Tommy punched one guy in the face and slammed his elbow into their arm making them drop their gun. 

“Shit! Go for the other kid!” Tommy turned around and saw the other guy rushing at Ranboo with a knife. They swung at him and Ranboo dodged before kicking their shin.

Tommy shot the gun causing everyone in the room to freeze. 

“DROP THE KNIFE! I’LL FUCKING SHOOT!” Tommy held up the gun with a more steady stance than he would’ve liked, but there weren’t any cameras so he didn’t have to worry about that. Tommy put his back against the wall and aimed the gun around the room. 

It was at a standstill before Ranboo yelled, “Tommy watch out!”

Tommy turned and saw the guy that he took the gun from charging towards him. Instinctively Tommy turned intangible with a flash of particles surrounding him and they phased through Tommy, knife in hand. Falling to the ground Tommy shot the gun right next to them and slammed their head into the ground knocking them out. 

Pointing the gun to the other attacker they put their arms up and dropped the knife which Ranboo took. Tommy took his sleeve and wiped the concealer off of his face revealing his bruised cheek. He looked at the intruder who was still conscious and smirked, “Good luck~” 

The door leading to the stairs opened and Tommy aimed the gun towards it expecting more intruders instead he saw Dream running in followed by Wilbur in his hero costume along with a couple security guards. 

“Ranboo where are you!” Dream looked around frantically and he spotted Ranboo knife in his shaking hand and immediately put the person near Ranboo in handcuffs. 

“Tommy, is that a gun!?” Wilbur ran towards him and security guards handcuffed the guy on the ground next to him. 

“Wilbur! This guy had a gun. He shot the coffee table and he was gonna shoot me. I took the gun from them. We were going to run to the stairs and leave when they broke into the room we were hiding in but then they started shooting and they ran towards Ranboo with a knife. And and-” 

Ranboo’s eyes widened as he saw Tommy acting so differently than he was a couple minutes ago. Tommy knew what he was doing. Any normal civilian in that situation would’ve been too scared to move. Tommy knew this. He could easily say that he knew how to fight due to growing up in district 13. Tommy was pretending to be scared. 

Ranboo knew for certain that Tommy wasn’t just some regular guy after this. 

“Your cheek!” Wilbur looked at Tommy’s face and saw the giant bruise. He glared at the person on the ground next to Tommy. “Arrest everyone here!” Wilbur pointed to one of the security guards, “Take these two to the medbay. Don’t take the elevator. People could be in there.”

—---

Tommy was internally grateful for Wilbur giving him an excuse to not use the elevator. As he and Ranboo were led by this security guard down to the medbay. When they got there a doctor led them over to a couple chairs and examined the two. 

Ranboo glanced at Tommy a couple times with a curious look in his eyes. Tommy assumed that he wanted to ask about what happened earlier. But before he could say anything Dream and Wilbur ran towards them. 

“Tommy, are you ok?” Wilbur looked him up and down. 

“I’m fine boss man. Tis but a scratch.” 

“You have a giant bruise on your cheek!”

“I’ve had worse.” 

Wilbur’s eyes widened but before he could ask Dream spoke, “Ranboo you're ok right?” 

“Mhm! Tommy did a lot of the fighting.” 

Tommy could feel Dream glare at him from under the mask, “You know how to fight?”

“Just basic hand to hand combat. I can knock a person out if I need to.” 

“Dream what happened?” Ranboo spoke up. “How’d those guys get in, what did they want?” 

“Oh shit yeah is Kristen ok?” 

Dream completely ignored Tommy’s question and focused on Ranboo, “I wonder how they got in. How about you explain it for us, Thomas.” 

“What?” Dream thought that Tommy did this. He didn’t know if he should be proud or offended. 

“Dream what?!” Wilbur was more outraged than Tommy expected. “You can’t seriously be saying that Tommy did this.”

“He’s only been working here for a week. He’s the most suspicious person here." 

"If it weren't for Tommy I would've gotten stabbed!" Ranboo immediately defended Tommy. 

"They just so happened to go on the floor that you were on Ranboo." 

"That could've just been because it was SBI's floor!" 

"You can't just blame this on Tommy Dream!"

Wilbur, Ranboo and Dream were now arguing about this. Pretty loudly Tommy might add. 

Y'know what. Tommy would just make these guys feel so incredibly bad for him. He's done it before with Techno before he figured him out.

"Guy's stop fighting." Tommy purposely made his voice quiet and small. He frowned and let a couple tears fall from his face before quickly wiping them away. 

The three didn't notice but that wasn't Tommy's goal. Instead someone completely different walked up to Tommy noticing his tears. 

"Hey. Are you alright?" It was the head doctor. Ponk. 

"Yeah. Don't worry bout it." 

The three were still arguing so Ponk yelled, "Hey! Quit yelling you're scaring the patient."

The three of them froze and looked at Tommy. 

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” 

Ponk patted his back, “It’s perfectly normal for you to be scared after a traumatic incident. Sometimes you need time to process things.” 

Tommy stayed quiet for a moment before muttering, “I shot a gun. Holy shit. I actually fired a gun! That thing had bullets in it! I could’ve shot Ranboo. If I missed the shot it could’ve killed that someone.” 

“What no! Tommy I would’ve just teleported away from the bullet don’t worry. Hey hold on, don't cry!” Ranboo was trying to comfort Tommy, who was openly showing tears now. 

Wilbur glared at Tommy and also went over to comfort him, “Hey don’t cry Toms. You did good! We can still go out later if you want.” 

Tommy wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded. I still got it! 

Ponk turned to Dream, “We can confirm that Tommy wouldn’t have been able to let them in. He was in the cafeteria getting snacks while the intruders came through the building.  

Ponk showed Dream the security footage of Tommy getting snacks in the cafeteria before entering the stairwell. “We still need testimonies from the two of you.” Ponk pointed to Ranboo and Tommy. 

“There’s no cameras on the SBI floor due to Wilbur’s personal preferences and the fact he tampered with them many times to get them removed. Because of this we will need any information that you heard from them, or things you did.” 

“Ok. We can do that,” Tommy glanced at Ranboo who nodded at him. 

“We hid in Tommy’s office. When they came in I hit them with a book and Tommy threw his phone at them.” 

“I still have my phone,” Tommy got it out of his pocket. “It’s definitely broken though.” There were large cracks on the phone screen and when Tommy tried to turn it on it didn’t work. 

“I’ll buy you a new one,” Ranboo continued to tell Ponk what happened. “We ran past them and when we heard a gunshot Tommy flipped up the coffee table and we hid behind it.” 

“Hey hold on! You aren’t buying me a new phone!” 

“You saved me from getting stabbed. This is just my thank you.” 

“That’s an expensive fucking thank you.” 

“I won’t get you the latest model.” 

“Fine.” 

“Could you boys please continue your testimony,” Ponk laughed a little under his breath.

“Oh shit yeah,” Tommy put his focus back on Ponk. “So-” 

With that Tommy and Ranboo recounted the events that had happened. Luckily Ranboo hid all the details about Tommy using his powers. After they were finished Ponk, Wilbur, and Dream went over to a separate area leaving the two boys on their own. 

“So-” Tommy tried to start the conversation, but Ranboo interrupted. 

“Explain. Now.” 

“Hey hey big man one second,” Tommy pulled Ranboo in to whisper. “There’s heroes over there, can’t risk having them overhear. I can explain everything tomorrow.” 

Tommy noticed that they were walking back over so Tommy quickly changed the conversation topic, “Ranboo just bring the phone to me tomorrow at the staircase during my break if you really wanna buy me a new one.” 

Ranboo was shocked for a moment before playing along, “The cafeteria floor right?” 

“We could just meet in the cafeteria.” 

“No no, the stairs are fine.” 

“Why are you buying me one anyway? That’s a lot of money y’know.” 

“Don’t worry about it! Just think of it as a thank you for what happened today.” 

“Um sorry to interrupt,” Ponk walked back in. “Tommy, Ranboo you’re free to go. Head on home Tommy.” 

“Sweet!” Tommy hopped up out of the chair. “I’ll see you tomorrow Ranboo!” 

“Bye Tommy!” 

Tommy followed Wilbur out of the medbay and was handed his things. 

“Let’s go around district 13. You said we would after your break,” Wilbur started to walk away but Tommy stopped him.

“What are you wearing?!” Tommy looked Wilbur up and down. He was wearing a red beanie and circle framed glasses. A brown trenchcoat that reached his knees with very ripped jeans. All that plus a plain white shirt.

“You said to get an inconspicuous outfit.” 

“Oh you rich bastard,” Tommy dragged Wilbur into the elevator and pressed the button to the SBI floor. 

“Tommy what?!” Tommy ripped the beanie off of Wilbur’s head. 

“Take off the trenchcoat and change into some plain jeans. Your clothes fucking look expensive. Get like a plain jacket or hoodie,” The elevator doors opened and Tommy ran over to Wilbur’s room.

“Get some clothes.” 

“Tommy, my outfit is fine.” 

“You’re gonna get fucking mugged,” Tommy sighed. “You know what. Let’s have a somewhat authentic experience,” Tommy put the beanie back on Wilbur’s head. “Do you have any jewelry with emeralds in it?” He pulled his necklace out from underneath his shirt.

“What? Uh yeah.” 

“Put that on. I’ll meet you in front of your car,” Tommy opened the door leading to the stairs and started to walk down them. 

Wilbur stood there confused. He touched his wrist with a plain black bracelet with an emerald on it. “I already have it on.” 

When Wilbur got down to the parking lot Tommy was already there. The two got into the car and started the drive to district 10. Tommy said that Wilbur wouldn’t be bringing his car to district 13 unless he wanted someone to break into his car and steal it. 

The two were silent during the car ride and started to talk on their walk towards district 13. 

District 11 was just a normal walk. Nothing too exciting. Wilbur did see a store that they suspected to be a vigilante hideout. He would have to check it out later though. Right now he was spending time with Tommy, and to Wilbur that was a lot more important. 

District 12 didn’t have anything too exciting. Although they did run into one of Tommy’s friends. 

“Ow! Sorry,” A person bumped into Wilbur. They had brown hair and glasses. 

“Hey Charlie, what are you doing here?” Tommy knew this person apparently. 

“I’m meeting up with Big Q at Niki’s,” They slapped their hand over their mouth. “Dang it!” 

“Ha! I told you that Big Q would stick.”

“I gotta get going. He’s gonna get mad if I’m late. Cya around Tommy!” 

“Bye Charlie!” 

They waved to each other as Charlie ran off. Wilbur looked at Tommy, “You know that guy?”

“Yep! He’s a friend of mine.”

“Ok.” 

The two kept walking until Tommy suddenly stopped. He turned around and outstretched his arms, “Welcome to district 13!” 

Wilbur looked around. It really wasn’t anything impressive compared to district 1. 

“Follow me! I’ll show you around,” Leading him by the arm Wilbur was taken to notable places in district 13 according to Tommy. 

They kept walking and Wilbur wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going. All of a sudden he bumped into someone, “Ow! Sorry man I wasn’t paying attention.” 

“What’s this?” The guy looked him up and down. “Well. If I wasn’t mistaken you’d be some rich prick from the upper districts. What’s a guy like you doing around here?” 

Oh I’m going to get mugged. 

“Hi mister!” Tommy dragged Wilbur out of their way. “Sorry about my friend here. He’s visiting from the Badlands.” 

“And why should I trust that you're telling the truth kid?” 

Tommy showed him his necklace, “We're friends of Techno!” Tommy pointed to Wilbur’s bracelet. “They met while Techno was over at the Badlands and came to visit!” 

Heh. What does that guy have to do with this? 

Their eyes widened, “Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were Techno’s friend. Send him my regards.” They walked away now less hostile and Tommy waved to them.

Tommy turned to Wilbur, “And that’s why you don’t dress like that. Come on. Let’s keep going around.” 

“How come mentioning Techno got that guy to back off?” 

“Everyone loves that prick. Helps out a lot in the lower districts,” Tommy pointed to someone helping a guy move some boxes. “Like that.” 

Wilbur turned and saw Techno helping some guy load their boxes into a truck. “Should I go say hi?” 

“No. He won’t pay attention. Community service is that fuckers hobby.” 

“Should we head to your house then?” 

Tommy hesitated before shaking his head, “My roommates home and he’s not the most sociable person. Besides your gonna fucking pity me.”

“Tommy I’m not gonna-” 

“Yes you are! You’re gonna be like, damn bitch you live like this, there’s barely anything here. Shit like that,” Tommy started to walk ahead.

“And how do you know?” 

“Because you're predictable. Now c’mon. There’s still more to show you. We can pass by my house but we aren’t going inside.” 

They kept walking until they reached a block near the middle of the district. 

“This is my neighborhood. Take a look around if you want.” 

Wilbur kept walking and a boy with brown hair rushed past him and into one of the buildings. “What the-” Wilbur looked at them. “Toby?” 

Tommy turned around, “What are you muttering to yourself for? Let’s go!” 

“Sorry!” Was that Toby? No no that can’t be him. There’s no way. 

Tommy showed Wilbur around the rest of district 13. Conveniently leaving out the most dangerous part saying that he wasn't able to go there safely. It's the perfect place he could go if Phantom ever chased him down. 

"Thanks Tommy. This was a huge help." 

"No problem boss man! I'll see you tomorrow. If someone stops you on the street show them your bracelet and say you're heading to Techno's house." 

"Ok?" Wilbur started to make his way to where he parked his car. He was still looking around a little as he did.

Damn. This place is so worn down. 

"What are you doing in a place like this?" Wilbur turned, recognizing the voice, "Techno right?" 

"That's me." Techno started to walk with Wilbur. "So what are you doing here?" 

"Tommy was showing me around." He kept walking and realized the two were going in the same direction. "Are you following me?" 

"I'm heading home." 

"It's this way?" 

"Yeah. District 10." 

"Cool." 

The two walked in an awkward silence. Wilbur seemed uneasy or was it nervous? Either way something seemed off about Techno. Or at the very least familiar. 

"Well my apartment is this way," Techno pointed to the right of them. "The parking garage is that way. Over on the left. Bye." 

Techno started to walk away but Wilbur called out to him. 

"WAIT!" 

Techno turned around and Wilbur froze. Why did I tell him to wait? 

"Heh? Do you need something?" 

"Uh- well. Tommy got hurt earlier today at the hero tower. People broke in- you'll see it on the news tomorrow. Are you the one who taught him how to fight?" 

Techno eyes widened and he laughed a little, "Yeah. I am. Is that all?" 

"Yep. Uh bye."

"Cya around Wilbur." 

The two went their separate ways. 

Wilbur felt a little sad but he didn't know why. He didn't even know Techno, he was just a friend of Tommy's. 

So why was that feeling of loneliness he always had was gone with him around? 

Whatever. It didn't matter. Wilbur had a vigilante to arrest.

Chapter Text

Tommy liked Wilbur. 

Well not liked. It was more of being comfortable with his presence. Being around Wilbur was a lot less nerve wracking now that Tommy knew more about him.

Don’t get him wrong, heroes were still the bane of his existence, but Wilbur was chill. Tommy knew a lot of his little habits. The way Wilbur would face plant onto the couch after patrol, how he would go on tangents about anything that came to his mind. How he could hear melodies from Wilbur’s room that the man had written himself. 

Little things like that. 

Wilbur made work interesting. They messed around a lot, Tommy still got work done but he had fun doing it. 

“Morning guys!” Tommy walked into the office after the incident that had happened yesterday, “Got big things happening! Wilbur!” Tommy showed him some information on the tablet that Kristen gave him. 

After the break in the hero tower was enhancing security and physical documents became digital unless they were extremely important. Because of this assistants and secretaries like Tommy and Kristen didn't have to deal with papers anymore.

“What’s this?” Wilbur scanned the page and groaned. “You’re kidding me! I have to do a press conference.” 

“I thought you liked being in the public eye.” 

“I do. But these are reporters. They probably want to know about the incident that happened yesterday. I’m gonna be bombarded with questions that aren’t even relevant. They just want to see me mess up for a good story.” 

“Well, have fun with that. Here’s a list of all the questions that aren’t allowed to be asked. Just have to make sure it’s up to date.” 

Wilbur glanced at the list, “Yeah it’s all good.” 

“Alright, the conference is scheduled for 10:45. That’s pretty soon so I suggest getting ready for it.” 

“I already have things prepared for an interview, don't worry Tommy.” Then Wilbur suddenly grinned. “You should join me!” 

“WHAT!? Is that even allowed?” 

“Yep! Dream does it all the time. Just an assistant to make sure nothing goes off the rails or I say something I might regret. You can even answer questions if you want to.” 

“No. I’m not prepared at all. Hell look at my clothes,” Tommy gestured to himself. He was wearing a plain white shirt, a jacket and some jeans. 

“I’ll fix that then!” Wilbur took Tommy by the arm and led him over to his personal room. Opening the door Wilbur went in front of his closet to pick something out. 

“Wilbur, I do not trust your fashion sense,” Tommy deadpanned as he looked inside Wilbur’s closet. 

“Hm. Well let’s just give you this,” Wilbur handed him a black blazer. “Should be business casual enough for a press conference. I already have an outfit.” 

“Do I really have to do this?” 

“You’re young Tommy. This could be an opportunity for you. Besides, didn't you say during your interview that working at the hero tower would be an interesting experience. I’m just helping with that.” 

“Fine. You owe me!” 

“I pay you!” 

“No, Phil does.” 

“Oh you little shit.” 

The two bickered for a while before they went to where the interview was taking place. It was a conference room on one of the lower floors of the building. The same one that Tommy went to for his interview. 

When they got there a security guard stopped them. 

“I’m sorry but only the registered hero and reporters are allowed into the conference hall.” 

Wilbur smiled at them, “Don’t worry! He’s my assistant. He’s just here to make sure things go smoothly. Besides he was involved in the incident yesterday when the intruders got to SBI’s floor. I figured it would be nice to bring him if he had any input.” 

The security guard glanced between the two and nodded. “Alright. Let me see your ID please.” 

Tommy handed it to him and after getting the thumbs up the two walked into the room for the interview. They sat at a table near the front of the room. Honestly Tommy wasn’t expecting this many reporters to be there. There were ones from all different kinds of news channels. 

Tommy tried to make himself look busy by absentmindedly scrolling through twitter. If they asked he would just say that he was reviewing what questions were allowed to be asked. 

The conference started and the moment it did a reporter sitting at one of the front desks stood up. Tommy recognized them. It was the reporter for the hero section in L'manberg news.

"Hello! Karl Jacobs, L'manberg news. First of all what's your name?" Karl pointed to Tommy. 

"Me?" 

Karl nodded.

"Uh, Thomas. I'm an assistant for SBI. Tommy's fine though." 

"Alright! Nice to meet you Thomas. Is it ok for anyone in this room to include you in the news footage and if we do should we censor your face."

"Oh uh yes it's alright if I'm in the news footage. Blurring my face would be preferred. I would like to keep my privacy." 

"That's fair! I'll get into the question now. Phantom, why did people break into the hero tower?"

"Throwing the real questions already? You really are strange Jacobs." 

"I want to give people direct news. No filler in between." 

"Well we are still investigating the reason for the break in. We suspect they were looking for files on important information. However, we are unsure at this time." 

Another reporter stood up, "Does the syndicate have anything to do with this!" 

"We all know the syndicate is secretive enough to not do a large scale break in. They also don't have enough members to do a break in of this scale," Wilbur seemed to be getting more agitated each time the syndicate was brought up. 

"Do you know who the members of the syndicate are?" The same reporter who asked the previous question kept going. 

"The members of the syndicate are elusive. We do know some of the vigilantes involved, but there could be more out there." 

"Is it true that Theseus joined the syndicate?" 

Before Wilbur started to talk Tommy spoke up, "This press conference is about the break in at the hero tower. The syndicate isn't fucking relevant. Does literally anyone else other than that guy wanna speak?" 

"Tommy!" Wilbur shrieked. 

"What?" 

"You're not allowed to swear."

"I'm not?! My point still stands. Any other questions?

"How old are you?" It was Karl once again. 

"Me? I'm 19. Why?" 

Karl's eyes widened, "Only 19 and I respect you more than half of the people in this room." All the reporters froze. Especially the one asking about the syndicate. He smiled, "Anyway back on topic, do you know who the perpetrators for this incident are?" 

"The dream team is currently looking into it. Even if I had the information I would be unable to disclose it." 

Another reporter spoke up, "What happened to the hostages? Were there any casualties?" 

"None of the hostages were gravely injured." Wilbur was regaining his composure. 

"Yeah. We weren't really hurt at all. Unless you count this giant bruise on my face," Tommy touched his bandaged cheek. 

The reporters were shocked, "You were one of the hostages?"

Wilbur laughed, "If anything he was holding them hostage. Kid protected himself and the person with him on SBI's floor."

"What? You think I can't hold my own in a fight?" 

"Please recount the story!" More reporters pointed their microphones towards Tommy. 

"Huh?!" 

"And this is why I brought you here Tommy," Wilbur smirked and chuckled under his breath.

Tommy glared at him then sighed, "Alright. 3 guys went up to SBI's floor. I was hanging out with a friend since it was our break."

"Who was this person?"

"I will not say because they value their privacy, so we hid in my office and barricaded the door with a bookshelf. When they burst in and knocked down the bookshelf we ran at them. We ran towards the stairs and then there was a gunshot. We hid behind a coffee table and disarmed them before the heroes showed up." 

"Which heroes arrived?"

"Phantom and Dream. Can we get back to interviewing him by the way. I’m not cut out for this shit." 

Phantom face palmed and stifled a laugh with his hand, "Tommy you aren't supposed to swear."

"Y'know I considered doing that but you're the hero with a reputation to uphold and I'm not. So I'm gonna do what I want."

“Tommy,” Wilbur tried to stop himself from laughing, but everyone could tell he wanted to laugh.

“Hurry up Phantom, answer their questions. Hey Karl Jacobs, you ask good questions. Have anything else you wanna ask?” Tommy tried to change the subject.

“I actually do! Phantom do you think the cause of the break in was the lax security at the hero tower.” 

“Yes I do. We have The Warden at the hero tower, one of the smartest people when it comes to tech, and yet the security hasn’t been changed in 5 years. Starting today security will be prioritized at the tower. Such as better security cameras, hiring more guards, things like that.” 

“Actually I’ll just say this now so that I won’t have to at the interview if I have to do those again. If you’re going to try and get a security guard job at the hero tower I’m telling you right now if you’re only there to become buddy buddy with the heroes and gain connections FUCK OFF. We don’t need more shit security. That’s the whole reason this happened in the first place. Only come by if you're serious about it.” 

Everyone in the room was quiet before Tommy spoke, “Phantom you’re not supposed to swear.” He was clearly mocking him. 

Wilbur burst out laughing, “Tommy!” 

Tommy laughed and stood up, “Let’s go, you have patrol in 20 minutes, and my lunch break is coming up.” 

Wilbur stood up, “That’ll be all.” As he walked away some reporters started to ask questions like they were going to get a response. 

Karl watched Tommy walk away and smiled to himself. Nice to finally meet you kid. 

Tommy glanced behind him and Karl waved goodbye. Confused Tommy waved back as he and Wilbur got in front of the elevator. 

“I’ll see you later Tommy.” 

“Bye Wilbur.” 

Wilbur went into the elevator heading down to start his patrol whereas Tommy went up the stairs back to SBI’s floor to eat lunch. 

Now it was just a waiting game before his break arrived. Deciding to think about how exactly he was going to explain everything to Ranboo. Tommy showed a person his powers. The best option for keeping his identity secret would be to say he was a late bloomer with his powers and didn’t really want people to know. 

On the other hand he felt bad for lying to Ranboo. 

Fuck. 

The one thing he didn’t want to do was get attached to people, and yet here he was. Friends with someone he’d only known for a week at most. 

He got down to the usual spot and nervously waited for Ranboo to show up. 

vwoop

Ranboo tried to keep his balance, but still fell over. “Owww.” 

“Haha. Maybe one day you won’t fall when you get down here,” Tommy helped him up. 

“Thanks Tommy.” 

The two were silent for a moment. 

“Well. I’ll explain as we walk,” The two walked up the stairs in silence for a while. Tommy thinking things through in his head over and over. 

Should I just tell him straight up? Yeah I’m a vigilante. That’ll blow over well. Maybe I could lie? No, I said I would tell him the truth. But what truth do I tell him? Just the entire truth? Man. Haven’t done that in years. Maybe I could- 

Ranboo tapped Tommy on the shoulder, breaking him out of his train of thought. 

“Huh? Oh sorry Ranboo I’m having a hard time thinking about how to say this.” 

“Here,” Ranboo handed him a small gift bag. Sitting down on the stairs he patted the seat next to him. 

Tommy sat down next to him and opened the gift bag, “This is- you actually got me a new phone.” 

“Of course I did! What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t.” 

“Thanks Ranboo. I’ll set it up later.” 

“I wrote my phone number on a piece of paper in the bag. If you still need it.” 

Tommy nodded and took a deep breath, “I’ll just explain this the best way I can.” 

Tommy stood up and walked past Ranboo who turned around to look at him. Turning to face Ranboo, Tommy smiled. 

“Nice to meet you Ranboo! My name is Tommy Innit. 16 years old. Some people know me as Theseus, from district 13.” 

Ranboo’s eyes widened. 

“Pleasure to finally meet you Ranboo,” Tommy outstretched his hand. 

Ranboo took it, “Ranboo Taken. Nice to meet you.” 

“Taken?” 

“Yeah. I’m Dream’s little brother,” Ranboo turned a little red as he spoke. 

Tommy laughed, “Well I’m a vigilante. Please don’t rat me out.” 

“Why would I do that?” 

“Because vigilantes are illegal and whatnot. Plus your brother is the top hero in L’manberg so sue me for being nervous.” 

“That’s all you're worried about? Me telling people you're a vigilante?” 

“What else would I be concerned about?” 

“My brother is the youngest person since Philza to be the number 1 hero, and that doesn’t bother you at all? Like you don’t want to just be my friend just because of Dream? You aren't afraid of him either?” 

“What kind of asshole would do that. Besides I fucking hate heroes. No offense.” 

“None taken.” 

“They just don’t really help out in the lower districts. Just look at Pogtopia. That’s why I became a vigilante. To help people. That’s what heroes do after all. They help people, they use their strength for the greater good. Well, they’re supposed to.” 

“So what’s up with your powers? Not to be rude and all, but you did a lot of different things.” 

Tommy beamed, “Wanna see?” 

“Uh sure?” 

With that Tommy disappeared in a flash of colors and Ranboo felt a tap on his shoulder. “Hiya Ranbow!” 

Ranboo jumped startled by Tommy’s sudden appearance. 

“Guess who can teleport!” 

“No way!” 

“It’s one of the first things I learned to do.”

“What else can you do?” 

“Well I can phase things in and out of reality, both myself and objects. I can distort video and photo evidence of me online, I can teleport. Oh and yesterday I learned that I can give myself enhanced hearing!” 

Ranboo just blinked at him, “So you’re telling me you have no idea what you’re capable of.” 

“Yep!” 

…

“Wanna figure it out?” 

“I’ve tried, and as you can see,” Tommy made the gift bag disappear and reappear in his hands. “I don’t have many other ideas.” 

“Well how about we come up with a name for it first?” Ranboo sat down. 

“Got any ideas big man?” 

“Hm. Well we aren’t sure what it is, so we shouldn’t come up with a name that correlates directly to what you can do. We don’t know what you can't do after all.” 

The two sat there thinking about possible names. 

Ranboo snapped his fingers, “I got it!” He turned to Tommy. “Let’s call it glitch!” 

“Why glitch?” 

“Because the particles that show up whenever you use your powers kinda look like a glitch effect. Also because you're able to distort photos of you online.” 

"Glitch. Hmm. Oh! I can say that I glitch things in and out of reality. That sounds so much cooler!" 

"Exactly!" 

"You're a genius Ranboo!" 

"Actually that reminds me. You're 16 right? How did you get a job at the hero tower?" 

"It's a simple thing Ranboo. It's called forged documents."

"Tommy, you could be arrested!" 

"Like being a vigilante won't. Besides your 17 right? How come you're here?"

"I'm here because of Dream. I don't get paid to be here." 

"Damn that sucks. Imagine." 

Ranboo pouted a little before checking his phone, "We should be heading up now. Your break is about to end." 

"Mannn. This felt too short."

"Time flies when you're having fun," Ranboo started to make his way up the stairs. "Let's start training both of our powers while we're here." 

"I'm not teleporting," Tommy followed behind him. "Too risky."

"And working at the hero tower isn't." 

"Hey! There's no way anyones gonna figure it out, so no need to worry."

"I just figured it out."

"No, I told you about it. 2 very different things." 

"Why did you tell me anyway?" 

"It was the easiest way to explain. Besides, Big T taught me a very important thing." 

"How to knock people out?" 

"Yeah but also if you make a promise you keep it. Big T's really serious about keeping his promises, and I promised I would explain." 

"I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. So you have my word." 

"Thanks Ranboo. See you!" Tommy walked into SBI's floor. 

"Bye Tommy!" 

Tommy went into his office and put the gift bag inside his backpack. Sitting down at his desk he opened up the computer and started to work. 

He heard the elevator ding, and went out to see who it was. “Hi Wil!” 

“Hey Tommy. Everything going well?” 

“Yep! Do you wanna eat something? You skipped lunch today. I can make you something real quick if you want.” 

“I appreciate the thought but no thank you. Wanna watch a movie?” Wilbur pointed to the TV in the lounge.

“Uh, I’m working right now.” 

“‘And? You work hard enough, take a break. Besides I'm patrolling district 13 later today.” 

“I pick the movie.” 

“Deal.” 

Tommy plopped on the couch and went to pick a movie. “Let’s watch UP.” 

“UP? Really?” 

Tommy started to play the movie and the two watched it together. It was fun. It had been a while since Tommy had watched a movie. UP was definitely his favorite though. When the movie ended Tommy stretched and checked his phone. 

“Oh shit I gotta get going.” 

“Want a ride?” 

“Y’know what, sure.” 

“Great let’s head down,” Wilbur went towards the elevator and hesitated. “Are you going down the stairs?” 

“Yeah. I’ll meet you down there,” Tommy started to head down the stairs. 

Man. Wilbur’s gonna have to wait a while. Tommy sighed. He looked around checking for anyone else in the stairwell. I want to be on the 10th floor stairwell in the hero tower. 

With a flash of colors Tommy was on one of the lower floors of the hero tower. Looking around Tommy made sure no one was there as he swatted away the particles surrounding him. 

He decided to take his time walking down the stairs to the lobby. Wilbur would get suspicious if Tommy somehow got down before he did. Then all of a sudden the door to the stairway a few floors down opened. 

Tommy looked down and saw Wilbur standing at the door. Tommy sat down on the ground for a while trying to hide before standing up and continuing to walk down. 

Wilbur’s ears perked up as he heard footsteps. He looked up, “Hey Tommy took you long enough!” He grinned as Tommy went down. 

“Well I’m fucking sorry someone thought it would be a good decision to give this place 100 floors.” 

“Haha, well let’s get going. Don’t want you to walk home once it gets dark.” 

“Oi I can take care of myself!” 

“It’s still better if you're with someone. Don’t want you to end up in the hospital if something happens.” 

“Never gonna happen so you don’t gotta worry.” 

The two drove over to Tommy’s house and Tommy walked in waving to Wilbur. “Bye boss man see you later!” 

“Bye Tommy!” 

Walking into his apartment Tommy collapsed onto the couch. Words muffled by the pillow his face was on.

“Hey Tubs.” 

“Hi Tommy.” 

“Got a new phone.” 

“Already?” 

“Yeah, a friend from work gave it to me.” 

“I expected Techno to get you a new one,” Tubbo stood up. “Wanna set it up? Before you patrol today.” 

“It’s in my bag.” 

Tubbo opened Tommy’s bag and got the phone out, “Shit man this is a good phone. I’ll set it up. Ima also put this number in there as well.” Tubbo read the piece of paper with Ranboo’s number on it. 

“Should I start patrolling?” 

Tubbo shrugged, “If you want.” 

“I’m heading out then!” Tommy put on his costume and put his earpiece in. “I’ll be back soon Tubbo.” 

Tubbo waved as Tommy hopped out the window of his apartment and started his patrol. 

Things were going well, he had helped a few people here and there, and it was a relatively calm patrol. Then he heard footsteps from behind him. It sounded like someone had just climbed up onto the roof he was standing on. 

Expecting it to be Techno he turned around to say hi, but instead of a pig mask there stood Phantom in all his glory. 

In an all black outfit with the exception of a trench coat with purple butterflies with a purple gradient that got brighter as it went up and sizes going up the trench coat in a symmetrical pattern.  

He wasn't wearing a mask, so all Tommy saw was Wilbur.

No. 

This wasn't Wilbur. 

Wilbur was the person who Tommy enjoyed being around. The one he watched a movie with and messed around with at work. The person that Tommy showed around district 13.

This was Phantom. 

The number 5 hero.

Also known as the vigilante hunter.

“Hello Theseus. Uh can you hear me?” 

Tommy wished he could laugh. What he said to Wilbur actually had an effect. Tommy tensed up ready to run. 

“Are you able to hear people because that would make things so much easier.” 

Tommy tilted his head and nodded. 

“Great! So I’m here to take you in. Want to do this the easy way or the hard way?” 

I doubt this is actually a choice. Tommy used sign language to try and talk to Wilbur. 

“Sorry I don’t understand sign language.” 

Tommy pressed the button on his belt sending a signal to Tubbo that he should get onto his comm. 

“What did you just do?!” 

Tommy shrugged and immediately dashed away from Phantom. It was clear that he got more familiar with the layout of district 13. 

“Theseus this is where you go down!” 

Tommy made his way over to the most dangerous part of district 13. A place full of broken down buildings that was basically abandoned. Apartment blocks breaking down and crumbling. A place where no one goes to unless they have something to run from, and need a place to hide. 

A small section of L’manberg that the upper districts forgot about. Hidden in the corners of districts 13 and 14.  

The place that Techno found Tommy and Tubbo before taking the two in. 

The land where the exiled go. 

Logstedshire. 

Wilbur looked around confused, “What the hell is this place?” 

Tommy kept running making his way up to the top of a building he turned around and saw Phantom right on his tail. 

He pulled out his grappling hook to head over to the building across the street but Phantom threw a rock at his hand causing him to drop the grappling hook. 

SHIT!

Tommy kept running across the rooftops. He couldn’t go home. Then Wilbur would figure out that he was Theseus. 

Phantom grabbed his arm pulling him back. 

Fuck. I need a weapon! A knife. I want a fucking knife. 

All of a sudden particles started to form in his hands catching Phantom off guard. 

“What the fuck!” Wilbur jumped back letting go of Theseus as a knife materialized in his hand. Theseus threw the knife at him causing Wilbur to drop to the ground giving him some time to run. 

I can make objects? What else can I make? A grappling hook! I want my grappling hook. 

The grappling hook that was knocked out of Tommy’s hand was now back. He smirked and pointed it towards the building across. Letting the grappling hook attach to the opposite building he jumped off the roof and swung over to it. 

Wilbur saw Theseus start to swing to the other building. He jumped off the roof and grabbed Theseus’s ankle, “YOU AREN’T GETTING AWAY!” 

Tommy kicked his leg up and down trying to get Phantom off of him. 

Noticing the roof he was aiming for getting closer and closer he swung his body forward, causing Phantom to fly onto the roof of the building. 

Tommy started to run but a fist appeared in front of him. He ducked and slid back nearing the corner of the roof. 

“Just give it up already!” Wilbur went for a punch, so Theseus moved his body to the left to dodge. 

Wilbur smirked. 

All of a sudden Tommy felt a kick on his chest along with a huge amount of pain. Reeling from the pain Tommy took a step back. As he did Phantom went for a follow up kick and Tommy felt his foot slide off the roof. 

Looking straight ahead now instead of seeing Phantom all Tommy saw was the stars. 

Oh. 

So this is how I die. 

Tears started to form in the corners of Tommy’s eyes. 

Shit. 

Wilbur looked off of the building seeing Theseus fall. Then he heard it. The thing that would haunt his nightmares for a long time. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” 

A blood curdling scream came from Theseus as he gasped for air. Wilbur watched in horror, but before he could try to do something a flurry of colored feathers swirled past him. 

“Hey hey you're ok. I got you.” 

Tommy opened his eyes and saw a man wearing a chicken costume. Their costume was a little weird. There was nothing covering his mouth. Instead of a full mask there was a half mask of a chicken. They had wings. Red, yellow, and blue feathers surrounding the two as the man held onto Tommy. 

“Wait your-” Wilbur stared at them. “YOUR ONE OF THE HERMITS!” 

Curled up in their arms Tommy’s eyes widened as they looked at the person carrying him, realizing who it was. 

It was a member of the hermits. The most infamous vigilantes from Pogtopia. Known for their different shenanigans and the things that the members did. 

The person who saved him was one of the more notorious members of the hermits. As the public dubbed him, 

The man in the chicken costume. 

To the heroes however he was known as Mimic. He could replicate voices perfectly and loved to confuse those in the heroes with it. Right now his voice sounded exactly like Wilbur’s.

“Hello! I’m surprised you’ve heard about me.” 

“How could I not know about you? You’re one of the more well known hermits.” 

“I just figured that the heroes wanted nothing to do with Pogtopia.” 

Wilbur grimaced, “Why exactly are you here?” 

“I heard about Theseus and wanted to meet him myself! Besides, I owe a favor to an old friend of mine.” 

“You and Theseus know each other?” 

“Nope! Never met him in my life! I do know a friend of his though,” Mimic started to fly away from Wilbur. “I’ll be seeing you around more often seeing how things have been going Phantom. Well I have business to attend to, sic semper tyrannis!” 

With that Mimic flew into the sky.

“Hey kid are you ok? Phantom’s all the way down there, don’t worry about him,” Their voice was now what Tommy assumed was their actual voice. They took off Tommy’s goggles and lowered his hood.  

“R-ribs,” Tommy could barely speak. His chest hurt a lot. 

“Did you break them?” 

“Phantom,” Tommy deadpanned, it sounded really weak though. 

“Let’s find a good place to get you out of your costume. I’ll take you to the hospital.” 

"No hospital!" 

"Look, we have to get you there. You could be badly injured." 

"Don't got insurance."

"You don't have to worry about that." 

“Why?” 

“You can get Techno to cover it.” 

“No. Why did- why did you help me?” 

“You're the newest member of the syndicate,” He smiled. “We gotta help each other out y’know.” 

“You're a member of the syndicate?” 

“Me and Techno met 2 years back. He helped me out. I’m just returning the favor.” 

“Can you be a part of the syndicate and hermits?” Tommy was getting a little delirious.

“Of course I can! Now c’mon. Let’s get you treated.” 

“That’ll be sus. Someone coming in with the exact injuries as the vigilante Wil beat up.” 

“I can say I found you in an alley and brought you over to district 10s hospital as fast as I could. Then you can say you were mugged about an hour ago and were in too much pain to move.” 

“You’ve done this before haven’t you?” 

“I have a really accident prone friend,” They chuckled under their breath. 

“Thomas Underscore.” 

“What?” 

“That’s ma name, but Tommy’s fine.” 

“Oh. I see. I’m Grian. Nice to meet you!” 

“Mhm.”

Tommy blinked rapidly as his eyes slowly drifted shut. 

“Hey, HEY! Keep your eyes open! Tommy? Tommy!” 

Grian flew as fast as possible to an alleyway in district 10. He quickly got his costume off and put it in his bag before taking off all of Tommy’s vigilante gear and putting a black hoodie on him instead. It was a little small on Tommy but he could say that he was borrowing it from a friend. 

Picking Tommy up, Grian ran frantically to the hospital before bursting through its front doors and yelling.

“HELP! He’s lost consciousness!” 

Nurses went over to him and saw Tommy curled up in Grian’s arms.

“What happened?” 

“I was walking home and I saw this kid in an alleyway. He was still conscious so I picked him up and brought him over here. He said that his ribs hurt and he wasn’t opening his eyes after a while.” 

“BRING HIM TO THE ER! Get him oxygen!” The nurse called for others who quickly put a ventilator on him. “Sir, what is your name and what is the boy’s name?”  

“Grian. My name is Grian. The kid said that his name was Thomas Underscore. Please help him.” 

“We will do our best. I will get in touch with his family.”

“Thank you.” 

The nurse walked away as Grian sat in a waiting room chair anxious. He texted Techno what had happened, and also messaged his friends saying that he would be back later than usual. 

A young boy in a green hoodie burst through the doors and ran towards the receptionist desk, “Tommy! Where’s Tommy, what happened to him?” 

“Please calm down,” The receptionist tried her best to help them out.

“I’ll calm down when I know Tommy’s safe!” 

Grian walked up to him and tapped his shoulder, “Are you Tommy’s friend?” 

“You know him? What happened? Is he ok?” 

“I found him. Come on let’s sit down,” Grian led the boy over to the waiting room chairs. “So what’s your name? I’m Grian.” 

“Tubbo.” 

“Did Techno tell you to come here?” 

He nodded. 

“Well Tommy got mugged and I found him in an alley. I think he broke a rib, but he’ll be fine.” 

“Really?” 

“Really.”

“Excuse me?” A nurse walked into the room. “You can go see Thomas Underscore.” 

Tubbo jumped up, “I’m his brother.” He glanced back at Grian. 

“Don’t worry. I’m going to wait here for Techno." 

Tubbo nodded and rushed to Tommy’s room and when he entered Tommy was still unconscious. He sat down at Tommy’s bedside and held his best friend's hand. 

“Please be ok.”

Tommy opened his eyes and saw the bright light of the ceiling. He felt a hand on his and when he looked he saw Tubbo. 

"Hey Tubs." 

Tubbo jolted awake. "Tommy!" Tubbo gave him a hug. "What happened? You hit the emergency button and then I couldn't get in contact with you. Where did you go?" 

"Logstedshire." 

"Oh no wonder! I can't get a connection there." 

"Ohh. That makes sense. I just thought you fuckin ghosted me."

"Whatever," Tubbo plopped onto the bed stretching his arms out. "Wanna guilt trip Phantom?" 

"He's here?!" 

"Yeah they came by for bills or something."

"Are you ok then?" 

"Why wouldn't I be?" 

"Because, well, y'know," Tommy pointed at him. 

"Don't worry everythings fine." 

"Good. Wait, if they're here why aren't they in the room?" 

"Kicked em out. I was supposed to get them when you woke up but eh. Why should I?" 

"Tubbo-” Tommy was about to make fun of him but a voice spoke up. 

"Is it alright if I interrupt?" 

Tommy looked over and saw Grian leaning on the wall across from him. He was out of his costume and now wore a red sweater and some jeans, "Shit! When the hell did you get here!?" 

"I've been here the entire time," Grian shrugged. "I just didn't wanna interrupt."

"Shit man you fucking scared me." 

"Sorry Tommy. Anyway Tubbo if you don't tell them Tommy's awake I will." 

"You're no fun," Tubbo went towards the door and when he opened it yelled, "GET IN HERE YOU FUCKS TOMMY WOKE UP!" 

Tubbo closed the door and went back to Tommy's bedside. 

Tommy laughed before the pain hit. "Oww. Laughing hurts." 

"You broke your ribs," Grian opened the door. "Luckily nothing got pierced but you're going to have to rest for a while."

"How long is a while?" 

"A few weeks! Two or three if I had to guess. Then you should be in a good enough shape to head back to work," Tubbo flipped his hood up and put on a black mask. 

Phil and Wilbur walked into the room. It was then Tubbo gave a subtle nod to Grian who started talking. 

"Hey Tommy wanna know what happened when you were out?" 

"Oh shit yeah how long have I been out?" 

"A couple hours. It's morning now," Tubbo was a lot more quiet now that the heroes were in the room. His voice was now a soft murmur instead of the loud and confident voice he usually had. 

Grian acted like he didn't notice Wilbur walk in, "Tubbo said you work at the hero tower. Well guess what happened." 

"What happened?" Tommy didn't know what Grian and Tubbo were trying to do but he had a feeling this had to do with what Tubbo said earlier. 

"Phantom tried to arrest Theseus." 

"Ok? And?" 

"He almost killed him. Here there's a video online," Grian showed Tommy a video on his phone of Phantom pushing Theseus off a building before the man in the chicken costume caught him. 

Grian noticed that Wilbur saw what was happening and smirked, "Theseus would've died if the man in the chicken costume didn't show up. This is why I like Pogtopia. The hermits are the best!" 

Tommy tried his best not to laugh.

"Phantom's been the top news for the entire time you've been out. It's a good thing you won't have to work for the next few weeks. You don't gotta deal with this now," Tubbo was clearly tense with the heroes now standing at the doorway. 

Wilbur rubbed the back of his neck, “Ohh. So you heard.” 

Tommy just blinked at him, “You fucking dumbass.” 

Wilbur shrunk under Tommy’s stare and Phil turned to Tubbo, “Excuse me but could I talk to you for a second?”

“Heh? Whaddya need him for? I’m the one in the hospital bed. Lemme know what’s going on,” Tommy didn’t want Tubbo to go with Phil alone.  

“It’s just insurance stuff Tommy.” 

“Yeah, my insurance. That’s important shit I gotta know.” 

Phil shook his head, “I need to figure out if the insurance covers him as well.” 

Tubbo stayed silent and plopped onto Tommy’s bed once again. 

“I’ll go with you if you're nervous,” Grian smiled at him. “I could get Techno as well if you’d like.” 

“Techno’s here!?” Tommy wanted to see him. He needed to ask about the whole Grian being a part of the syndicate thing. 

“You called me?” Techno walked through the door. “We can all talk about insurance together. Tommy don’t worry I got you covered.” 

Tommy gave him a thumbs up. Tubbo glanced between the heroes and Techno and Grian. “Fine,” He mumbled. “Phantom has to stay here though.” 

“I’ll stay here too then,” Techno leaned on the wall. “Grian help Tubbo out please. I trust you with this.” 

“Glad the only thing you trust me with is some kid’s insurance.” 

“Can you be trusted with anything else?” Techno spoke in a challenging yet joking tone waiting for Grian to prove him wrong. 

“Fair enough. C’mon Tubbo,” Grian walked out the door with Philza following behind. Tubbo glanced at Wilbur and Techno before leaving as well.

Wilbur sat down in the chair that Tubbo put next to Tommy’s bed, “Hey.” Wilbur seemed a little nervous. Kinda like he had just kicked someone off of a building. OH YEAH. He did. 

“So. You almost killed Theseus, started a media nightmare, and are now here. All in the 8 hours I was out. Is that right?” 

Wilbur winced, “Yeah.” 

“You have gotta be fucking kidding me.” 

Tommy had 2 choices right now. He could do what Tubbo suggested and guilt trip the fuck outta him, or he could leave things as they are. 

“It wasn’t anything too bad. The media will forget about it in a week at most.” 

Now Tommy was pissed. This person who he had bonded with so much the past few days was acting like this was perfectly normal. Like he didn’t just try to arrest him and pushed him off of a building. 

Guilt tripping it is.

Techno and Wilbur were having a conversation now. Something about how the media would dig it back up a few years down the line. Wilbur seemed a little tense, but Tommy didn’t listen. He didn’t care. 

Clenching his fist Tommy looked down at his lap and gritted his teeth. 

“Tommy?” Wilbur looked at him concerned. “What’s wrong?” 

“What’s wrong? WHAT’S FUCKING WRONG?! You gotta be kidding me Wilbur!” 

Wilbur stayed silent waiting for Tommy to continue. 

“I thought you were patrolling district 13,” His voice was weak and quiet. And yet, it had the same amount of conviction he had before. 

“I was Tommy.” 

“No you fucking weren’t! Instead of patrolling you were chasing Theseus around. The one person who would’ve actually fucking helped, and you were chasing after him instead of actually patrolling!” 

Wilbur was dumbstruck. He didn’t think Tommy would be this mad. 

“I-I thought you would show up.” 

Wilbur’s eyes widened. 

“I thought that you were actually patrolling one of the lower districts but no. Instead of fucking patrolling you were out going after fucking Theseus! He would’ve actually helped me!” With a newfound strength in his voice Tommy kept going, “I was right. Heroes are selfish, greedy, corrupt, and they’re only out for fucking riches and fame. Doing things that satisfy them instead of y’know actually helping people.” 

Each word Tommy said struck Wilbur’s heart like a knife. “Tommy-” 

Techno just watched this go down with interest and pride in his eyes. 

“And you wonder why I like vigilantes!” Tommy was yelling now, full of anger and resentment he told Wilbur what he really thought. “They would’ve actually helped me instead.” 

“Tommy-” Wilbur tried again but was interrupted. 

“I got fucking mugged, and no one was there to help,” Tommy got under the covers on his bed. 

“Tommy, I'm sorry. Vigilantes are dangerous though.” 

“So are muggers,” Tommy muttered before sitting up again to look Wilbur dead in the eyes. 

“If you saw Theseus protecting me from a mugger, would you arrest Theseus, or the mugger?” 

Silence. 

Wilbur opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. 

No words spoke volumes.  

Tommy sighed, “I knew it. I knew I was right. Because heroes only take down vigilantes to get in the government's good books. Only doing things so that they don’t get in trouble, so they can keep the millions and millions of dollars they just can’t live without.” 

Tommy went sunk into his bed. 

“Tommy that’s not-” 

“That’s what heroes do, Wilbur. And there’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise.” 

Techno’s eyes widened. Same with Wilbur. The three of them were silent until Techno opened his mouth to speak. 

There was a creak at the door and Grian stepped in, “Hello gentleman. I hope I’m not interrupting.” 

“Nah you’re good Grian.” 

“Thank god,” Tubbo bounced into the room. “You were so fucking loud.” 

“I don’t know what you could possibly mean,” Tommy sunk further into the blankets. 

“When we get home you're sleeping on the mattress.” 

Techno raised an eyebrow, “Do you boys still only have one?” Wilbur’s face turned into shock as he glanced between the three.  

“Yep.” The two said in unison. 

“You guys have a mattress!? Living the good life if you ask me.” 

“Not the time, Grian. Besides you have one. I gave it to you,” Techno got out his phone and typed a few things down. There was a ding and Techno put his phone back in his pocket. 

“What did you just do?” Wilbur glanced between Techno and Phil.

“Niki’s bringing one of her spare ones over to your apartment Tommy.” 

‘WHAT?!” The boys screamed in unison once again. 

“Techno you can’t just do that!” Tubbo shrieked. 

“I just did.”

Grian chuckled, “Don’t worry Niki just has one in the backroom of her bakery. It’s nothing new, but it’s something at least.” 

Tubbo pouted, “It better be.” 

“Do you three not have proper beds?” Phil glanced between Tubbo, Tommy and Grian. 

“Hey we have one. We got a mattress, pillows, and blankets. No bed frame though. Those things are fucking expensive,” Tommy corrected him. 

“I’m from Pogtopia,” Grian shrugged like it explained everything. 

“You have a mattress!” Techno sighed. “Shouldn’t you be heading back now Grian? I’m sure your friends are worried.” 

“Probably,” Grian walked to leave. “See you!”

“Grian!” Tommy called out to him. “Head over to Niki’s on Friday! I’ll thank you properly.” 

“Sure thing Tommy! Ciao!” With that Grian left the hospital and went home. 

Tommy’s room was silent. With Grian gone the one who made the jokes to lighten up the mood was now gone. 

Techno groaned, “Man you heroes really didn’t learn anything huh.” 

“What?” Everyone looked at Techno.

“Here I thought that the purple butterfly incident would’ve taught you guys something,” Techno was angry. He never showed much emotion, but now he was clearly angry. Whether it was at himself or the heroes Tommy would never know. 

Phil and Wilbur’s eyes widened. Wilbur stood up, “How the hell do you know about that!” 

Tommy and Tubbo glanced at each other confused. 

“There’s a reason I hate heroes,” Techno shrugged. “History repeats itself.” 

“H-how did you hear about that,” Phil was stunned. “The only people who know the name of the incident are the heroes and the family and friends of the victims.” 

“Well. Who do you think I am then?” Techno tilted his head and stared them down. 

Tears started to form in Phil’s eyes, “I’m sorry for your loss.” 

Techno closed his eyes, “There’s nothing you can do now. I don’t know what you’re trying to do but stopping vigilantes isn’t going to help with it. Theseus could’ve died today. Another person killed because of a hero's selfish actions. Because of your personal grudge against them. I hope it doesn’t come down to that.” 

"I understand your feelings but vigilantes are dangerous." Wilbur stood his ground. "They don't have proper training and are not only endangering themselves but the public." 

"Uncontrollable powers, recklessness, and they could endanger the people. They could've just became heroes instead." 

And with that single sentence, Wilbur might as well have set off a bomb. 

"Have you ever considered that vigilantes just want to be like you? That they're a bunch of aspiring heroes that didn't have the connections or chance to become one." 

Wilbur stayed silent.

"Not everyone has their dad as the number 1 hero. It's hard to become one without connections. But they still want to help people. Did either of you ever consider that?! That they just want to be a hero. Someone who can protect others!?" 

"That these dangerous criminals just want to help. Or were you stuck in your own heads with heavy prejudice against them and didn’t notice. There’s a reason people like vigilantes y’know. Because they actually help. Because they change things.” 

Techno turned away in anger, “Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore."

The two heroes were silent as Techno walked towards the door, “Give me a call later Tommy. I gotta get going.” The door slammed shut as a very angry Techno left the room leaving everyone there in silence. 

"We should go," Phil walked towards the door to leave. "Get better soon Tommy." 

"Uh yeah… thanks." 

Wilbur gave Tommy a small nod and left with Phil. "Hey Phil, I need to tell you something." 

Both Tommy and Tubbo heard Wilbur say this and as they left Tubbo got closer to the door to eavesdrop on them. 

The two were right outside the door sO Tubbo didn't have to do that but Tommy appreciated it. 

"Phil about what happened earlier-" 

"Wil we’re in public right now. We shouldn't discuss that right now." 

"When Theseus fell I saw Tommy." 

The two boys froze. 

"What do you mean?" 

"When he screamed all I could imagine was Tommy falling. I just- FUCK!" 

"Damn your boss is an idiot." 

"In this case that's a good thing Tubzo." 

"Wilbur. Come here." 

Tommy couldn't see what was happening outside but he assumed that Phil gave Wilbur a hug. 

"Let's get going. You're probably gonna be stressed the entire week so we can order food." 

After making sure the two of them were gone Tommy groaned, “Motherfucker pushed someone off of a building and he’s the one who's upset.” 

“I know right. What a fucking asshole. Can’t believe you’ve been dealing with that the past few days.” 

“I know right. Hey, could I have my phone? I need to message someone.” 

“Who?” Tubbo handed it to him.

“Friend from work.” 

“Who.” 

“The person who gave me this phone,” Tommy unlocked it and went to message Ranboo. 

“Alright you bitch, what’s their name?” 

“Ranboo.” 

Tubbo’s eyes widened, “Ranboo? Isn’t that Dream’s brother!?” 

“You know him?” 

Tubbo froze for a second, “Dude he’s been on the news before. Why the hell would you become friends with him. His brother is literally the top hero!” 

“I didn’t know that at first. Besides he’s a nice guy.” 

“Whatever. As long as he doesn’t find out it’ll be fine.” 

“My name is Tommy Innit. 16 years old. Some people know me as Theseus, from district 13.” 

Realizing that Tommy did tell Ranboo about him being a vigilante earlier, he decided that Tubbo didn’t need to know that information. 

“Don’t worry he’s not gonna find out. Even the vigilante hunter didn’t figure it out, how could he?” 

“Phantom’s just a dumbass.” 

“Never said he wasn’t.” 

Tommy couldn't say he really liked Wilbur. 

Not anymore. 

Chapter Text

Looking at the audience from behind the stage Wilbur jumped around excitedly. 

"What's got you so excited?" There was a voice. Wilbur hadn't heard them in a long time, but he acted like they were talking a few hours ago. 

"What do you mean what's got me excited!? Do you have any idea what's about to happen?!" 

"I know exactly what's about to happen," They shrugged. "Just wanted to know what you were so happy about." 

"We're about to become heroes!" 

They hummed, "About time. We've been training for 2 years and it's finally time."

"Yeah!" Wilbur looked at him concerned. They didn't seem happy. They weren't nervous either. They seemed sad? No that couldn’t be it. 

They were about to become heroes. It was probably just stage fright. 

"Hey don't worry, you're gonna do great!" Wilbur tried to reassure him. 

"I'm about to become a hero Wil. Once I step up on that stage I'll give everyone a show they'll never forget," He clenched his fist and turned to Wilbur. 

"Hey Wil, we're still gonna be friends after this right?" 

Wilbur laughed, "What kinda question is that?! Of course we'll always be friends! Being heroes won't change a thing. I promise." 

They looked at Wilbur shocked for a moment then smiled, "Thank you for everything. I'll talk to you later, Ghostbur." 

Walking towards the stage they took a deep breath. Mustering all the courage they had they took a step forward.

It's now or never. 

Wilbur saw them walk up and his eyes widened. A million thoughts started to race in his head. 

No! Don't go up there! Wait! STOP! 

Wilbur woke up with a jolt. 

Touching his face there were tears streaming from his eyes.

"Fuck." 

Standing up to get a glass of water 4 words echoed in his mind along with the image of his best friend talking to a crowd outraged. 

"THAT'S WHAT HEROES DO!" 

"Dammit. Of all the things Tommy had to say. Why did it have to be that." 

Wilbur was in the hero tower. He had slept in his private room so he went over to his red string room and lifted the sheet off of the board he hid from Tommy. 

"Guess I should keep looking then," Wilbur felt his eyes water. "5 years. You've been gone for 5 fucking years." 

Wilbur's phone kept buzzing. He looked at it and saw people spam calling and messaging him. Probably over what happened with Theseus. 

He shut his phone off. 

There was a crack then a shove and all of a sudden Tommy was looking up at the sky. 

It was the same event as the night before except for one thing. 

Grian didn't catch Tommy. 

Right before he hit the pavement Tommy woke up with a jolt. 

Guess being pushed off a building had a more traumatic impact than he thought. 

He looked around his apartment. It was midday by now. Tommy wasn’t allowed to go to work, and definitely wasn’t allowed to go on patrol. Doing stuff around the apartment would be the best thing to do. 

The only reason he was allowed to go back home was because Techno had helped out the nurses at the hospital a lot by playing with the kids there. It was boring being at home, but it at least wasn’t as boring as being stuck in the hospital. 

The same thing happened each day until Friday arrived.

Wilbur has a nightmare, investigates vigilantes, and does his regular work. The usual. 

Sure the media was going after his head but he had things to do. He was going to investigate the place he heard was a vigilante hideout in district 11. 

As for Tommy he would just be on his phone messaging Ranboo or scrolling through twitter to see how the media was reacting to everything. 

The public opinion was in favor of Theseus in the lower half of the middle districts and lower districts while the upper districts and the upper half of the middle districts were supporting Phantom. 

Ring ring. 

Tommy's phone started to ring. He answered. 

"Hey Niki." 

"Tommy, are you able to head to the bakery today? Grian said he would stop by." 

"I'm able to come. Should I head over now?" 

"That'd be great! See you soon!" 

"Cya Niki," Tommy hung up and got ready to leave. 

Wilbur did his regular stealth mission routine. Driving over to a parking lot and becoming intangible. 

When Wilbur turned intangible he also turned that part of his body invisible. This made him extremely helpful on stealth missions. That was the whole reason he was put into the hero training program. Being able to phase through objects and turn invisible was a skillset the government didn’t want to lose. 

He got to the shop that was suspected. A small bakery in district 11 called Niki's bakery. 

According to the file Wilbur got on this bakery it was run by a woman named Nihachu. Also known as Niki seeing as that was the name on the store. 

Making sure he was invisible, Wilbur went through the door of the bakery. 

Niki turned around thinking she heard someone, "Hey you're here already-" She blinked a few times. "Guess I'm imagining things." 

So she's waiting for someone. Wilbur looked around the bakery. Nothing suspicious, the thing he wanted to see however was the backroom.

Before he went back however the door opened and a man wearing a red sweater turtleneck type thing with some black jeans and boots. Wilbur recognized them as Grian, the guy that found Tommy the other day. 

He should probably stay to overhear any kind of information. 

"Hiya Niki!" Grain waved as he walked in. 

"Grian! There you are, I was waiting for you. I thought Techno was coming with you," She handed him a bag full of bread. 

"He was but then there was a lost kid out on the street and you know how that ends up," Grian handed her some money. 

"It's weird I thought Techno only took in one kid. Turns out it was 2," Niki put the money in the cash register and walked out from behind the counter. 

"I wished we met Tommy sooner though. He's a nice kid." 

So Techno took Tommy in when he was younger. That explains how they're so close. 

"Why weren't we allowed to meet them again? I know Tommy was because of social anxiety or something like that," Niki was thinking back to what Techno said when he first took Tubbo and Tommy in. 

Tommy with social anxiety? Wilbur scoffed, yeah right. 

"No, that was his roommate," Grian snapped his fingers trying to remember. "The one that most of us haven't met yet. We couldn't meet Tommy because he was a hyperactive child. Doubt Techno was telling the truth, but that’s what he told us." 

"I still don't get why Techno took the two in. Usually if he sees a lost kid the orphanage is the first place he goes to." 

"They're nice kids. I don't blame him." 

Wilbur felt a little bad listening to the conversation but this was his job. This place was suspected to be a meeting place for the syndicate. He had to take this seriously. 

Wilbur heard the door open and saw Tommy walk through, "Hey guys!" 

"Speak of the devil," Niki muttered. "You guys wanna head to the back? Eat some bread, talk, the usual." 

So they do this often. 

"Is Big Q here?" Tommy walked behind the counter. 

"Yep! It's already unlocked, head on in." 

Wilbur followed Tommy and Grian into the backroom. When he walked in he was immediately disappointed. This place was suspected to be a hideout for the syndicate. He expected moody lighting and maybe lava. Instead it was just a quaint backroom. 

He saw someone looking at some papers and the person Tommy called Charlie. 

"Hey Quackity! Charlie, how are you?" Grian walked up to the pair. 

Charlie shushed him, "Quackity's studying for a quiz don't bother him." 

"Got it." 

Wilbur went over to "Quackity" and peered at what he was looking at. Expecting some illegal paperwork or information on people like the syndicate specialized  in, but instead he saw 3 study different guides, a notebook filled with notes and a tired college student. 

"Big Q why are you working so hard?" Tommy sat down. 

"I wanna ace this test that's why," Quackity groaned and put his head on the desk, "The scholarship program only supports the best of the best which means I have to be one of the best or I lose my scholarship." 

"So that's why my roommate's always working," Tommy muttered. 

"You shouldn't burn yourself out Quackity," Niki came in carrying a tray of bread. 

Quackity grabbed some bread, "Look I got nothing to do with whatever Grian and Tommy are doing, so I'm just gonna keep studying." 

An alarm went off. Wilbur immediately thought he was spotted then Charlie pulled out his phone and turned off the alarm. 

"I gotta get going," Charlie grabbed his things. “Got a session this week.” 

"Why didn't you go last week?" Tommy had his mouth full of bread. 

"It was a one on one session with one of the players since they split the party like an idiot." 

"Did they die?" Grian was interested now. 

"I think so. They didn't tell us anything about the session." 

"Damn I gotta join you guys for a game sometime," Tommy grabbed some more bread.

Charlie's eyes lit up, "Do you want to? We could use another guest." 

"Course big man! It seems fun." 

Alright what are these guys talking about. Someone dying? The lead was right then. Then what's Tommy doing here? There’s no way he would be involved with the syndicate. 

"Eeeee this is great! I'll teach you! Uh hold on a second," Charlie reached into his bag and pulled out a rulebook. 

Wilbur suddenly understood it all. They were talking about DnD. 

"Read through that if you get the chance. After we finish this arc we can probably have a guest player. I'll ask the guys though." 

"Sweet. Bye Charlie!" Tommy waved to him as Charlie grabbed a piece of bread and walked out. 

Wilbur was planning on investigating the filing cabinets he saw in the corner of the room but with people in there he would get caught. 

Grian and Tommy started talking. 

"So Tommy, why'd you wanna talk?" 

"I said to thank you properly. Didn't you hear me?" 

"I heard you. Wanna talk then?" 

"Sure." 

Before any conversation could happen though Wilbur was walking towards the filing cabinets and bumped into the coffee table. 

Shit! Hopefully no one noticed that. 

"Hey did the table just move?" Tommy leaned closer to it. 

Wilbur froze. If Tommy saw him then any form of friendship Wilbur was building would be gone in an instant. What happened in the hospital didn't help with that either. 

Grian looked over, "There's nothing there." 

"Maybe I was just seeing things." 

"Hey guys!" Niki came into the room. "You need to get going. I have things to do. Quackity you should be heading to class soon anyway." 

"Yeah yeah. I get it Niki. I'm going. Let me clean up my shit first," Quackity started to shove everything into his backpack before walking out.

"Tommy let's head over to that park in district 10." 

"Which one?" 

"The one with the big statue." 

"Sure big man!" 

The two left as well leaving Wilbur and Niki as the only ones in the backroom. 

This is my chance! Wilbur went over to the filing cabinets when all of a sudden Niki spoke up.

"I know you're here!" 

Wilbur stopped moving and turned around to see Niki looking right at him. He stayed silent hoping Niki just thought one of her friends stayed behind. 

"In front of the filing cabinets. What do you think you're doing, thief."

Thief???

"You think this is the first time someone has tried to steal from my store?" She started to walk towards Wilbur. "Normally they go for the bread though. If you want some just ask." 

As she clenched her fist for a punch Wilbur became visible, "WAIT WAIT WAIT!" 

Becoming visible also meant that Wilbur was tangible. Niki went for the punch and punched him in the chest. 

Wilbur fell to the floor and Niki realized who it was, "Oh. It's just you." She went towards the filing cabinets and made sure they were all locked. 

"Owww," Wilbur stood up and patted himself down. 

"That's what you get for breaking in. Why is the #5 hero here in the first place." 

"Why should I tell you?" Wilbur looked at her with skepticism. 

"Because this is my bakery. Now why are you here," Niki snapped a photo of Wilbur on her phone.

"What was that?!" 

"Just a photo of you. If I sell it to a news station saying that you were in my apartment I could make lots of money. This wouldn't help with the whole Theseus thing either," Turning off her phone she turned back to Wilbur. "So why are you here?"  

So this is what Tommy meant by people will blackmail you. 

"Classified information." 

"Don't care," Niki thought for a moment. "I know the reporter for L'manberg news. The one who runs the hero section. I bet he would love to hear about this."

"Fine! I'm here under the suspicion that this place is a vigilante hideout." 

"Why do you need to see my files then?" 

"To find any evidence of other businesses that you could be running. The syndicate specilaizes in information. Needed to check if that kind of thing was here." 

Niki rubbed her temples and opened the filing cabinets, "All that's in here are important documents for my bakery. Top cabinet is personal information like my passport and insurance. Second cabinet is for documents on my property and taxes." 

Niki opened the third cabinet and Wilbur saw lots of recipes, "Recipes. I also sell cookies and cakes here.” 

Wilbur looked through it, "Oh. It is. Why do you keep these here?" 

"It's a safe space I can remember. Why did you think this was a vigilante hideout?" 

"Reports of people walking in here staying for long periods of time or just not leaving at all. This is a bakery where people walk in and out. I guess someone found it suspicious." 

"That would be Quackity and Charlie. Sometimes Quackity falls asleep here and I need to wake him up before he misses the dorm's curfew." 

"How'd you figure out I was here? I read in your file your power is a type of electricity manipulation, so your powers have nothing to do with it." 

"When Grian and Tommy walked back here I heard 3 sets of footsteps." 

"You heard me walking?" 

Niki shrugged, "You can turn invisible but you can't stop people from hearing you." 

"You have good hearing." 

"Thanks. Not my first time having to stop an invisible person trying to rob me." 

“This has happened before?” Wilbur turned to her concerned. 

“Yeah. People need food. I just give them some and tell them to come back anytime they need to eat.” 

“Isn’t that bad for business?” 

“The opposite really. A lot of the time people pay me back, or recommend the place to others. Besides, I just like being able to help people with my baking. You can think of it as an investment, I like to think of it as paying back the community.” 

“That’s… smart,” Wilbur didn't meet people like that often. Not many people thought like that. Where they just wanted to help people out of the kindness of their heart. Nothing needed in return. 

Wilbur knew someone who thought like that. Someone who wanted to help everyone and anyone. Someone who was more of a hero than Wilbur would ever be.

They're gone now. 

And Wilbur didn't know if they would ever be back. 

But he could hope. 

Wilbur closed his eyes, "Nice." 

“What?” 

“That’s nice. You help people who need it.” 

“Don’t you do that as well?” 

“I try my best.” 

"Good enough I guess."

The two were silent for a moment before Niki sighed, “You should probably get going.” 

"Yeah. Thanks for clearing things up," Wilbur went to leave. 

"Wait, head out this way," Niki pointed to a window. "Just phase right through here. That way no one will see you."

Wilbur gave Niki a nod before leaving. Walking back to his car, invisible, he thought to himself. Man. Guess that lead was a bust. 

Watching Phantom leave Niki pushed the filing cabinet revealing a hidden compartment in the wall behind it. 

She checked making sure everything was still there. All the information they had on different people and events was there. Including Techno's most recent investigation. 

She pulled out her phone and messages Technno. 

Niki: Hey

Niki: Guess who I just met 

Grian and Tommy made their way over to the most popular park in district 10. Being known for the butterfly statue in the middle of the park known as the purple butterfly statue. The park itself was called Butterfly Park. 

There were playgrounds and the place was extremely big. Flowers of different colors make the place very beautiful. Kids were running around playing in the park. It was a popular spot for everyone. 

It was by far one of Tommy's favorite spots in L'manberg. Techno used to take him and Tubbo here often.

Tommy and Grian bought some ice cream and sat at one of the benches. 

“Where do your wings go?” Tommy looked at Grian’s back. The giant wings were gone. "Back in the hospital they weren't there either."

“I can hide them!” Grian looked around before his wings appeared behind him before disappearing. “Pretty cool huh.” 

“Woahh. How do you do that?” Tommy's eyes sparkled with curiosity. 

“I’m a parrot hybrid. I also have a power separate from being able to mimic voices and the wings.” 

“A parrot hybrid? Those are pretty rare. Explains the feathers though.” 

“Pretty cool huh,” The two sat down at one of the benches. Grian ate his ice cream, “Thanks for paying.” 

“Consider it my thank you.”

“How’s the injury holding up?” 

“I’ll be back in action next week.” 

“Sweet!" Grian turned to Tommy, “Why did Techno take you in?” 

“Huh?” 

“We heard about how he took in a couple kids but we never met you. Why’d he take you in?” 

“Found me and Tubs in Logstedshire. My powers were going haywire. Techno came by and calmed me down. He took me in after that.” 

“So you don’t know why?” 

“It was probably because my powers would be a risk to literally everyone in the orphanage.” 

“What about Tubbo? Why was he with you in the first place?” 

“Found him one day in Logstedshire, like a little before I met Techno,” Tommy thought back, recalling the year. “3 years ago that’s when I met him. No clue where he came from. He’s not gonna fucking tell me either.” 

Grian opened his mouth to speak but closed it. 

Tommy raised an eyebrow, “Wanna ask something?” 

“Are you from Logstedshire?” 

Tommy looked away from Grian, “Yeah. I am.” 

“That makes a lot of sense now. That’s why you knew the layout so well, right?” 

"Yeah." 

"I just killed the mood didn't I?" 

Tommy laughed, "A little. I don't think this is the right mood for talking." 

"You have a point. Wanna just eat our ice cream before we gotta go?" 

"That sounds nice.” 

That's exactly what they did. In a comfortable silence the two ate ice cream before having to go their separate ways. 

To say Techno was freaking out would be an understatement. According to Niki, Wilbur came by to the bakery under the suspicion that it was a hideout for the syndicate. 

Walking into the bakery he immediately went into the break room slamming the door open, almost breaking it in the process. 

"Techno! Control your strength!" 

"Sorry Niki," He went towards the filing cabinets, "Did he find anything?" 

"Nope." 

"Was the place bugged at all?" 

"Nope. When he looked in the filing cabinets he was satisfied when he didn't find anything. Tommy also lowered his suspicions by just being here." 

"That's a relief. Why was this place suspicious?" 

"Because Quackity would walk in and not leave for hours," Niki sounded a little annoyed, but she didn’t mind him being here. 

"For studying or patrol?" 

"Both. When he would patrol he would leave through the window and when he studied he would stay here for hours." 

Techno shrugged, "We're off their radar at least." 

“Didn't you have something to put in here?" 

"Yeah," Techno pulled a file out of his bag. "We can look it over with everyone else." 

Putting it into the secret compartment Techno sat on the couch and sighed, "Y'know the person who requested this needed up sending me on an entire investigation." 

"Did they even pay you?" 

"No! That's the worse part! I had to tell them that I would give them the information once they paid me." 

"Wasn't it just a simple find this person for me type deal?" 

"Mhm. Then it turned into this," Techno groaned. "This is the worst. Haven't had to deal with something on this scale in forever." 

"Techno… how serious is this?" 

"Something's happening here. That break in at the hero tower was just the start." 

"Anything that I can do?" 

Techno thought for a moment, "Could you tell Traveler that I want him to come to the next meeting?" 

"I'll talk to him later when he's patrolling." 

"Thanks Niki." 

"No problem. Want some food before you go?" 

"That'd be nice. I gotta visit someone anyway." 

"Here you go! See you later Techno!" She handed Techno a bag full of different muffins. 

Waving goodbye to Niki, Techno made his way to the outskirts of district 10. Passing through a wheat field he made his way to a secluded spot upon the top of a hill. 

A lone tree stood at the top of the hill. Walking up to it Techno sat down leaning on the tree, next to a friend of his.

"Hey man. Sorry I haven't visited. Was out doing some work," Techno looked next to him. There was a gravestone with a flower crown resting atop it. 

"I got some food from Niki's! It's really good, wish you could've tried some. You would've liked it."  

Eating the muffins, Techno looked over the hill to see the sun slowly setting, "Y'know Tommy? Guess what, he's a vigilante too! Who would've thought." 

"His powers kinda remind me of what yours were. With the capabilities and whatnot." 

“Tubbo’s studying the same as usual. He’s definitely using Tommy to test whatever gadgets he’s making. I should probably tell him everything that’s going on, but I have no clue how to. I doubt he even wants to get involved with this.” 

Techno looked at the flowers on the grave. They were wilting a little, "I'll make you another flower crown. It's not as good as the crown you gave me but it's something." 

Looking towards the setting sun, Techno smiled, "Isn't it such a beautiful night? Maybe I'll stay here a little longer if you don't mind." 

Techno looked up at the sky, "Stars should be showing up soon." 

Techno sat there looking up at the sky before eventually falling asleep. 

Tommy looked out his window. One thought was one his mind. 

I want to go on patrol. 

It had been a few days since the incident with Wilbur. Everyone online was saying stuff like the hermits took Theseus or that Theseus didn't survive his injuries.

He wanted all those rumors to stop and the only way he could even think about doing that was by going on patrol.

It didn't help that more people were committing crimes now that they assumed Theseus was gone. 

His ribs were mostly fine. All he had to do was not get hit in the chest. 

Seeing as Phantom saw him create a knife out of nothing Tommy figured he could be more lenient with using his powers. Apparently he could create things so he figured to just do that. 

Heading out Tommy got back to his usual patrol routine. People were caught more off guard seeing Theseus since most of them thought that he died. 

Over at the end of district 13 heading towards the 14th district he saw Traveler. 

“Hey Theseus!” They waved to him and tossed him a notepad. “Glad to see you back out on the field.” 

“How’ve you been holding up? Not everyday someone meets the vigilante hunter and escapes to tell the tale.” 

“Doesn’t Coin Flip meet him pretty much every time Phantom patrols?” 

Traveler laughed, “Fair enough. I heard that Phantom saw you use your powers. Do you think you’ll get caught?” 

“Nope! I learned something new I can do.” 

“Really!?” If Tommy could see Traveler’s eyes right now they would be sparkling with excitement. “Can you show me?” 

“Sure! I think demonstrations would be best though.” 

“Just like you showed me your other powers right?” 

Tommy nodded. Traveler was the one to take Tommy under his wing when he first became a vigilante. If it weren’t for him Tommy wouldn’t be here right now. Probably would’ve been arrested immediately if Traveler didn’t teach him to keep a low profile. 

“Is there anything you want right now? Like a material object. Anything. Let your imagination go wild.” 

“Huh? Uh, well could you make me watch? Like here, let me draw it.” Traveler took the notepad and drew a locket with a square spiral on the front and then another drawing of the inside with a clock with a button on the side that could stop and adjust the clock inside. 

“Kinda like a stopwatch, except more extra.” 

Tommy nodded and imagined the watch in his head. All of a sudden particles appeared in Tommy’s hands and the exact watch that Traveler drew appeared. 

Traveler took it and examined it, “Wow. It’s just like I imagined.” 

“Pretty cool huh. No clue I could do that.” 

“Yeah. Thanks kid.” 

“Not a kid.” 

Traveler laughed, “Whatever you say. Let’s get back to patrolling.” 

Tommy nodded and headed back on patrol. 

“This is Traveler signing off!” 

Tommy tossed him the notepad and the two went their separate ways. 

Continuing his patrol as much as he wanted it to just be a normal patrol Tommy could never be that lucky. 

“Hey there Theseus!” 

Tommy heard a voice and turned to see who it was, there he saw the hero Monarch. Black sunglasses covering their eyes along with a monarch's outfit. Red cape heading down just below her waist, brown pants with black boots with heels. They were also wearing a corset. 

Crown atop their head similar to Techno’s except it was newer and more polished. Tommy didn’t like heroes but he could appreciate how Monarch absolutely killed in his costume. 

However Monarch was still a hero so Tommy tensed up ready to run. 

Monarch put his arms up, “I’m not gonna try anything Theseus.” 

Tommy put up his hands and signed, “ Why are you here?” 

“I’m here because you managed to evade Phantom. I found you interesting. That’s all. Wanted to see you in action.” 

“You can understand sign language.” 

“Is that surprising?” 

“Phantom didn’t know it.” 

“Well I’m not fluent but I have the basics down.” 

Not like I’m fluent either. Tommy thought to himself before signing, “That’s all you want?” 

“Yeah. Been tailing you since you stopped that guy a few blocks back.” 

“You’ve been following me.” 

“Phantom did the same. You need to keep your guard up.”

“I’ll just escape.” 

“Like that went well with Phantom,” They laughed a little. 

“Shut. That was almost murder.” 

“That’s true. You should be heading back now. Don’t worry I won’t follow you. You have my word.” 

“And how reliable is your word?” 

“I say I’ll do something and stick to it. 

Hesitantly stepping back Tommy considered walking backwards keeping an eye on Monarch as he left then he realized. 

Now that Phantom saw him use his powers, this would be an opportunity to confuse them on their leads. Knowing Wilbur he was probably going through files of people with creation abilities. He smirked, I want to be at my apartment. 

Giving a small salute to Monarch, Tommy disappeared in a flash of particles. 

Monarch stood there stunned before smiling to himself, “So that’s why Wilbur finds him so interesting.” 

Popping up in his apartment he saw Tubbo looking at a computer. 

“I really need to put a tracker in your fucking costume,” Annoyed Tubbo looked up from his laptop. “If you got fucking injured I will kill you before Phantom gets the chance.” 

“No injuries. It was a chill patrol.” 

“So that means you didn’t meet with anyone at all.” 

Tommy froze knowing he was just talking with Monarch, “I talked with Traveler from 14th.” 

“Him? Not much is known about that guy.” 

“Well I trust him, so you can’t do shit about it.” 

“You? Trusting someone?? HA!” 

Tommy tossed a pillow at him, “Shut it!” 

“Wanna see this article I found?” 

“What kind?” 

“So you know how there’s like vigilante groups. Syndicate, Hermits, that kinda thing.” 

“Yeah, why?” 

“They came up with a name for the most popular vigilantes in the lower districts.” 

“Seriously?” Tommy looked at the article. “Who’s on it?” 

“The lower vigilantes. District 11 is Nemesis, district 12 is Slimecicle, district 13-”

“I’m on the list!?” Tommy shrieked seeing a blurry photo of him on the screen.

Tubbo laughed, “Yep! District 14 is Traveler.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah it’s weird. Everytime a hero goes to arrest them they’re doing work on the opposite side of where the hero is.” 

“Makes sense.” 

Tubbo gave Tommy a bewildered look, “How?” 

“His power obviously. Anyway, what about district 15?” 

“Gonna ignore the fact you know Traveler’s power. District 15 is Purpled.” 

Tommy chuckled, “That’s such a dumb name. Literally a color.” 

“Like Theseus is better,” Tubbo tossed the pillow at Tommy. 

“It’s better than Purpled,” Tommy caught it and got on their newly acquired mattress.

“Keep telling yourself that Tommy.” 

“Whatever. Can I head back to work tomorrow? It’s boring here.” 

“Fine. No patrol for a week though.” 

Tommy weighed the options before sighing, “Fineeeeee.” 

“Great! Now get some sleep. You have work tomorrow.” 

“Ranboo was telling me that the new security guards got hired.” 

“Are you finally gonna have to talk to other assistants?” 

“I hope not. I just wanna be an office hermit. No risk of people finding out I’m Theseus that way.” 

“Yeah and the one person you do talk with is the brother of the #1 hero!” 

“You have a point, but I don’t give a shit.” 

“Sleep,” Tubbo said in the most threatening voice. 

“Alright Tubs. Goodnight.” 

“Night.” 

Tommy eventually drifted to sleep. 

Things were happening though. Slowly. 

This was just the beginning. 

Chapter Text

Tommy woke up the next day and headed for work. No one knew he was coming in today but that was part of the surprise. 

Walking into the hero tower he greeted Kristen who looked at him surprised, "Tommy? What are you doing here? I thought you were on leave." 

"Hey Kristen! Got permission to come into work." 

"Did Phil and Wilbur let you come in?" 

"The doctors said it would be fine," Tommy said, lying through his teeth. Tubbo's the one who said that he could come in today and that was only because he didn't want Tommy going on patrol. 

"That's a relief," Kristen relaxed and gave Tommy a tablet. "Here you go. Take it easy today." 

"Sure thing Kristen!" Making his way up to the SBI floor he messaged Ranboo. 

toom: boob boy

toom: guess where i am

ranboob: tommy what did you do

Tommy sent a selfie of himself at the stairs. 

ranboob: ? 

ranboob: you came into work today?

toom: yep

ranboob: i thought you would be out for another week

toom: u thought wrong bitch 

ranboob: does this mean we start training again

toom: yeah

toom: at sbi floor now

toom: cya later 

ranboob: cya

"Ranboo, who are you messaging?" Dream walked into the lounge where Ranboo was sitting and looked over his shoulder. 

"No one!" Ranboo hid the screen from him.

"Whatever you say," Dream ruffled his hair and vaulted over the couch landing on it. Taking off his mask and placing it on the coffee table.

"We're meeting for a training session with all the new security guards later. Wanna head down with me?"  

"Sure!" 

"Mornin'!" Tommy walked into the lounge and saw Wilbur sitting on the couch. 

Wilbur stared at him for a moment before rubbing his eyes, "The hell?" 

Tommy waved and realizing that Tommy was actually there Wilbur jumped up and yelled, "Tommy?!" 

"Mornin' Wilbur," Tommy was a little nervous seeing Wilbur, but it would be fine. Sure the last time the two spoke was after he kicked him off a building but Tommy could deal with that.

"What are you doing here?" Wilbur went towards him. 

"I'm here for work, dumbass." 

"You aren't supposed to come in for another week!" 

"I was given permission, so now I'm here. Sides' fucking boring be cooped up in my apartment." 

"Didn't you go out to meet with that Grian guy on Friday? At Niki's." 

"How did you know about that?" Tommy didn't remember telling Wilbur about that.

"You yelled it to him at the hospital while he was leaving. Like yelling it across the room," Wilbur looked like he was lying but Tommy went with it. 

"Ok? Well I'll get to work then." 

"Wil why are you freaking out," Phil walked in and saw Tommy who waved. 

"Hey Phil." 

"Tommy? What are you doing here?" 

"I got permission to come into work today." 

"Really?" 

"Mhm, said it should be fine," Tommy put his bag down.

Phil looked skeptical but nodded, "Alright then. Well it's a busy day for us today." 

Wilbur groaned, "Why do we have to do thisss." 

"Do what?" Tommy was out of the loop. 

"We have a training session with the new security guards. Higher ups thought it would be nice to train with them." 

"Yeah it's the worst," Wilbur kept complaining. "We aren't even going to do any training. We just coach the security guards and then after we all battle it out for fun. It's dumb!" 

"It just sounds like you're bad at it," Tommy snickered. 

"He's never been the best at it." 

"Phil!" 

"See Philza Minecraft said it so that means it's true!" Tommy smiled at Wilbur's expense. He was looking forward to this. 

"Wilbur, go get into your costume. Tommy make sure to take it easy. You can join us if you want, mate." 

Tommy nodded, "Sure! That sounds interesting. Would love to see Wilbur get his ass kicked." 

Phil burst out laughing as Tommy and Wilbur started to have a pillow fight with the pillows on the couch.  

Tommy was standing on the couch and swung at Wilbur who hit the pillow at his chest knocking Tommy backwards over the couch. 

Realizing he was falling, Tommy's eyes widened. Memories from the encounter with Phantom flashed through his mind. 

Wilbur phased through the couch and caught Tommy, "I'm so sorry! Are you ok?" 

Wilbur put Tommy down and looked him up and down with concern.

Tommy grit his teeth. Where was this to Theseus when he fell off the building. Back then he could've died and Wilbur just watched him fall. 

Tommy pushed Wilbur away, "I'm fine." Standing up Tommy's legs shook. Wilbur realized that the pillow hit his ribs. 

"Are you sure? I hit your ribs so-" 

"IT'S FINE!" 

Wilbur and Phil were visibly shocked at the yell. Wilbur tried to help Tommy up, but he was pushed away. Tommy stood up using the couch as a support. 

Feeling his ribs Tommy took a deep breath in and out. There was a slight pain but nothing major, "See I'm fine. Get me when you guys go for training or whatever." 

Phil and Wilbur watched Tommy walk into his office. Wilbur collapsed onto the couch and buried his face in a pillow before looking up at Phil. 

"He's really mad isn't he?" 

"Yep," Phil turned away. "Good luck with that mate." 

"Philza! Dadza you can't just leave things like this!"

"Your mess, your fix." 

"PHIL!" 

About an hour later Wilbur phased through Tommy's door. 

"Hey we're heading down!" 

"Already?" Tommy looked at the clock. "But we still have a couple minutes." 

"You're walking down the stairs right?" Wilbur became tangible and Tommy saw him in his hero outfit. The mask was off like it was a few nights ago. Maybe Wilbur got rid of it entirely.

"I can go down the elevator if I have to." 

Wilbur's face lit up, "Then do you want to head down with us. Down the elevator." 

Tommy fidgeted before standing up and walking out of the room, "Let's go then." 

"... wait to the elevator!?" Wilbur followed behind. 

"Where else dumbass. Let's just get this over with." 

Seeing Phil standing in front of the elevator Tommy looked at the buttons. 

"I'm not pressing shit. If this thing malfunctions again it's not gonna be my fault." 

"Mate, how would you break the elevator by pressing a button?" 

"You never know." 

Wilbur walked up, saw the two standing there and pressed the button. The elevator door opened and the three stepped in, Wilbur pressing the button that led to the training hall.

"Alright!" Tommy clapped his hands together. "I'm gonna go sit in the corner and hug my knees. Which you two can't judge me for or else you are horrible horrible people who are making fun of a literally poor boy with claustrophobia." 

Tommy proceeded to do just that earning a fond smile from Phil. 

Wilbur looked at him concerned, "You didn't have to go on the elevator." 

"Fuck you I did anyway."  

"Leave him be Wilbur. Nothing we can do now." 

"Pbbt-" Tommy stuck his tongue out at Wilbur receiving an eye roll and jokingly annoyed Wilbur. 

When the elevator finally stopped the door opened to a training facility. Tommy stood up and walked in. The room had a giant window at the end of it along with different training materials and mats. 

There were different rooms with dummies and targets that Tommy could see in the corner of his eye. 

Tommy saw one big mat in the middle of the room. On and around it were many different people. Heroes, security guards, and a couple interns and assistants.

It was then Tommy realized. This was Wilbur's ploy at getting him to meet the other assistants. 

No way was he letting that happen. 

"FUNDY!" 

Tommy's thoughts were interrupted by Wilbur who ran past him and went towards another hero. 

Pulling them into a hug Wilbur was clearly excited, "Man where have you been! You should've told me you were going to the Badlands. Would've given you a goodbye party."

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you," Tommy saw the hero Fundy get out of Wilbur's embrace. 

The two started talking and Phil chuckled to himself before ruffling Tommy's hair, "Go chat with some people. Everytime we do things like this it's basically a reunion before things start." 

"Couldn't you introduce me to your new assistant first?" Monarch walked up to them. "Hello! I don't believe we've met before." 

"Hi Thomas Underscore. Call me Tommy!" 

"Sure thing Tommy. Call me Eret." 

"Eret?" Tommy feels like he's heard the name before. Then again they're one of the top 10 heroes. Number 7 if Tommy recalled correctly. 

"Yep! Eret's fine." 

"Ok then. Nice to meet you." 

"Same here. Mind if I steal your boss?" Eret pointed at Phil. 

"Go ahead!" Tommy walked away leaving the two to their conversation. 

It was then he realized he didn't know where he was walking. He glanced at the people who he assumed were the other interns and assistants and saw them looking at him. 

Looking around Tommy desperately tried to find someone to talk to then he spotted it. Black and white hair sitting next to the window on his phone. Clearly avoiding everyone else. 

Tommy walked up and sat next to him. He could feel Dream's glare from the other side of the room. 

"Hey Ranboo." 

Ranboo looked up from his phone and turned to see Tommy beside him. He jumped visibly startled by Tommy's appearance but pulled him into a hug. 

"Tommy! I'm so happy you're ok!" Letting go of Tommy he started to ramble. "Sorry I didn't visit. I'm not allowed to go into the lower districts." 

"Don't worry about it big man! Nice to see you too. Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" 

"Nah. It was the usual." 

The two kept talking not realizing that the top hero was keeping an eye on them. 

"Hmmm," Dream grumbled. 

"Dream, leave the two alone," George yawned. "Let them have some fun." 

"But George-" 

"C'mon Dream," Sapnap snickered. "Ranboo's grown up. Let him do what he wants. It's been a while since he had a friend like that." 

"He's still my brother though," Dream pouted, still glancing at them under his mask.

"Yeah and he deserves good friends," Sapnap elbowed George trying to get him to stay awake.

"You haven't even met him before. How can you tell if he's a good person?" 

"How can you tell he's a bad one?" Sapnap countered. 

"Uh- well," Dream sputtered. "It feels like he's hiding something! I want my brother to be safe, Sapnap." 

"They probably aren't the most social person," George shrugged. 

"No, he’s definitely an extrovert." 

"Then why's he not talking with the other assistants?" 

"Maybe because he saw Ranboo sitting by himself? He could just be trying to be nice." 

Dream sighed, "Can you guys please not discuss whether the new assistant is an introvert or extrovert." 

"Have you not heard people gossiping about him?" Sapnap discreetly gestured to the other assistants. "Not a lot of people have met him yet. All they know is that he held his own against the intruders and SBI like him. Also that he's been out for a week due to injury." 

"Thomas Underscore. The latest tower gossip," George chuckled. "I don't think he even realizes." 

"I doubt it," Dream muttered. "Kids been out for a week. Plus he doesn't talk with anyone except his bosses and Ranboo." 

"Would you guys quit chatting so we can get this started already!" 

A voice was heard throughout the room. Looking to see who it was Tommy saw Sam addressing everyone. 

"Everyones here, so let's start with the training." 

"Sam you were just talking with Ponk and Foolish! Don't tell us not to chat!" Puffy jokingly yelled at him.

"I was talking with Ponk to make sure the medbay was prepared if anyone got injured. Foolish just happened to be there." 

"And we just happened to talk about-" Before Foolish could finish his sentence Ponk put both their hands over his mouth. 

"SHUSH!" Ponk smiled at Sam, "Please continue!"  

"Gladly! So we will be putting everyone up into 4 groups run by different heroes here. The security guards will go through their training and after I think we all know that us heroes will be fighting." 

"Puffy, could you list out the groups!" Sam called to her. 

"Sure thing!" 

Looking at her Tommy saw that Puffy was in her hero outfit. A pirate's costume with a black hat with gold highlights. Along with a long red coat reaching to her knees. 

All the other heroes were in their outfits as well. The stupid purple butterflies on Wilbur's trenchcoat, Philza's signature green and white striped bucket hat with his cloak and robe, The Warden's gas mask, and Dream's mask (even though he always wore it) as the things that stuck out. 

Tommy also spotted some heroes he hadn't met before, like Blaze and 404. 

The teams were split up and Tommy was helping those in the 4th group with Wilbur and Phil. 

Ranboo was still with him due to him having no obligation to help the dream team other than him being Dream's brother. 

Tommy sat down with Ranboo watching Wilbur and Phil teach these suffering security guards. 

"Tommy, could you get some water?" Wilbur called out to him. 

"Got it bossman!" Standing up to get the water Ranboo also stood up. 

"Lemme help you." 

"You don't have to help y'know." 

"Then I'll feel lazy. Just let me help." 

"Fine, let's hurry it up then." 

They brought the water bottles and handed them out. Ranboo fumbled with a couple of them but it was kinda fun. 

Things were going smoothly with all of the security guards sparring together. Then Tommy heard Wilbur mutter, “Shit.” 

“Hey Phil!” Wilbur turned to him and motioned him to come closer. The two talked about something that Tommy couldn’t hear. 

Phil shouted, “Hey Puffy! We don’t have an even amount of people! No one can train with Grey!” 

“HUH!?” Puffy walked over and counted the number of people. “You're right! Uh, does anyone want to go again?”

The security guards all refused saying that they didn’t want to go again and how it wouldn’t be fair. 

Puffy sighed, “Alright any volunteers from the interns or assistants. Anyone?” 

They all glanced at each other. Not many of them had any fighting experience so the conversation was at a standstill. 

Then Tommy felt Ranboo discreetly raise his arm up. 

“Oh Tommy? You want to?” 

Tommy swung his arm back down and moved to face Ranboo, who was standing behind him, “Ranboo! The hell man!” 

“C’mon Tommy! It’d be fun!” 

“You just want to see me fight don’t you.”

“Maybe. Besides, you're probably the only assistant who can fight. No offense guys,” Ranboo gave an apologetic look to the other assistants. 

“I’m fine with this,” Phil spoke up. 

“What!?” Wilbur was less on board. “Tommy was out for a week because of his injury! Isn’t there anyone else.” 

“I can just avoid the part that’s injured,” The security guard who was looking for a partner finally spoke. 

“You can?” Tommy seemed hopeful.

“Sure,” The security guard shrugged. They looked to be around Tommy’s age. Wearing the standard uniform for security, their hair was a dirty blonde. 

“Tommy, are you up for it?” Puffy seemed a little hopeful.

“Do it!” It was Dream. “I want to see how you held your own last week.” 

“Is that a challenge?” Tommy asked defensively.

“Sure!” 

“If I win this I can hang out with Ranboo sometime? Outside of work.” 

Ranboo’s eyes widened his face going from shock to excitement, “You want to what?! Dream can I?” He was exploding with excitement.  

“Yeah!” It was Sapnap. “Fight to get Ranboo outside for fucking once!” 

“Sapnap!” Dream shrieked. 

“Dream please,” George put a hand on Dream’s shoulder. “The kid spends all his time looking out the window contemplating if he should leave that way, as he sighs dramatically.”

Dream sighed, “Fine!” 

Ranboo, Sapnap, and George’s faces lit up.

“Only if you win!” 

Their faces fell in an instant except for Ranboo’s who cheered, “Yesssss! You got this Tommy good luck!” Ranboo practically pushed Tommy to the mat. 

Tommy and the person he assumed was named Grey did a couple stretches under the instruction of Phil (if Wilbur did he would fuss over Tommy) and then came face to face to spar. 

“Ey man, just don’t hit the ribs if that’s alright.” 

“Sure thing. Is everything else fine?

“Yep! Should I avoid hitting yours as well?” 

“Everywheres fair game. Besides, this is just the training.” They eyed Tommy down, “You sure you're up for this?”

“Course I am! Can take anyone I want to.” 

“Hm. Cocky much.” 

“Alright boys,” Phil put his arm between the two. “Remember no head shots, and if you get hurt Grey Ponk’s over there. Tommy, if you get hurt Wilbur’s probably gonna carry you down to medbay.” 

“Glad to see the coach has a favorite,” Grey remarked. 

“I hate him for it,” Tommy groaned. 

Phil laughed, “Ready?” 

The two nodded. 

“Three, two, one, GO!” Phil lifted his arm 

With that Grey dropped to the floor and sweeped his leg trying to knock Tommy off balance. 

Tommy jumped back which Grey didn’t seem to expect. Stepping forward as Grey tried to get back up Tommy snagged his right ankle, his foot trying to send Grey falling backwards. 

Unfortunately for him Grey regained his balance and went to punch Tommy’s arm. 

Tommy blocked it and went for a counter-punch at Grey’s chest which he landed. 

Grey got a punch off on Tommy’s shoulder and Tommy didn’t expect it to hit that hard. 

Taking the opportunity, making Grey think he was affected by the punch, Tommy was in the right distance for him to pull something off. 

Grabbing Grey’s arm Tommy took a step back pulling Grey with him. Lifting him up Tommy sent Grey over his shoulder and into the mat. 

There were gasps around the room. It was then Tommy realized that people were watching them spar. He could hear Ranboo jumping up and down excitedly squealing alongside Blaze. 

Grey looked up and Tommy from the ground. Tommy went over to help him up and when he did all he heard from Grey was, 

“Emerald?” 

“Huh?” Tommy looked down and saw his necklace. It had come out of his shirt while they were sparring. “Oh yeah! My necklace. It’s an emerald, why?” 

“You one of Techno’s friends?” 

Tommy’s eyes widened, “You know Techno?” He reached for Grey’s hand. 

“Who from the lower districts doesn’t?!” Grey took Tommy’s hand and was helped up. He dusted himself off. “If I realized that sooner I would’ve taken you more seriously.” 

“Why would knowing Techno do that?” 

“Saw him in a street fight a while back. Some kid was getting bullied and Techno took them on 5-1 and left without a scratch and got the kid ice cream after. He taught you how to fight I’m guessing.” 

“He did yeah. Normally I would be mad if you weren’t taking me seriously, but Ranboo sounds so happy,” Tommy pointed at Ranboo who was teleporting around the room screaming. 

“YESSSSSSSSSS!” 

Purple particles and vwoops followed Ranboo wherever he was teleporting. It was becoming a bit of a mess.

“For the top hero’s brother he’s pretty weird.” 

“He’s chill.” 

“HE WON HE WON WOOOOOOOOO ” vwoop 

Grey blinked, “Sure.” 

“You're from the lower districts?” Tommy changed the topic. 

“Yeah. 15. Got a problem?” Grey started to sound defensive. 

“No issues here. I’m from the 13th. Nice to finally find someone from the lower districts here.” 

“Right!? Everyone’s just middle and upper.” 

“Exactly! It’s just rich people man.” 

“Your friends with the top hero's little brother.” 

“I didn’t know that at first!” 

“...how?” 

“Don’t have a TV.” 

“Ahhh. Feel that.” 

“Your name's Grey right?” 

“That’s me. Tommy?” 

“Yep. Nice to meet you.” 

“Pleasures all mine.” 

“Grey Tommy!” Dream went up to the two interrupting their ending conversation. “Good fight you two did well.” 

“Thank you.” 

“So can I go somewhere with Ranboo?” 

The two replied in unison. 

Dream tensed up but sighed, “Yeah yeah. It was part of our deal. You gotta stay in districts 1-10 though.”

“Wh-” Before Tommy could finish, Ranboo teleported behind him. 

vwoop. 

“Tommy, don't question it! I’m going to plan out everything. We have to go out sometime this week. EEEEEE this is great! I get to head outside. With a friend! Without a buncha security guards following me around!” Ranboo kept teleporting around the room. 

“Ranboo quit teleporting!” Sam scolded him, waving away the purple particles that kept showing up. “The hero fights are starting! Everyone take a seat around the mat! Or stand. I won’t judge.” 

“Oh hell yeah! Grey wanna sit with me and Ranboo?” 

Grey seemed surprised that he was invited but nodded, “Sure thing.” 

The three sat down together and watched the fights unfold. It was pretty entertaining. 

“Hell yeah! Kick his ass Eret!” 

“What!? Tommy! I thought you would root for me!” Wilbur pouted. 

“I said earlier I hope you get your ass kicked! What did you expect?!” 

“This ones for you Tommy!” Eret played along. 

“You guys are ganging up on me, and Tommy’s not even fighting!” 

Tommy stuck his tongue out at him. 

Overall a pretty fun time. 

However on the other side of L’manberg over in district 11 the syndicate were having a meeting. Having less of a fun time.

“Techno why did you call us?” 

“Quackity you can’t say that yet. Not everyone’s here!" Charlie crossed his arms. 

Techno was looking through some files and ignoring the two of them. 

15 minutes passed by and Techno tossed the files on the coffee table as he stood up, "Alright where is he!" 

Quackity leaned back in his chair, "Told you Slime." 

Charlie handed him $20, "You and your luck." 

"I haven't flipped a coin. You were watching me!" 

"Techno you couldn't have been more patient? Just 5 more minutes and I would've gotten 20 bucks." 

"Charlie not now," Techno walked to the door leading to the main section of the bakery and poked his head out. "Niki?" 

"What is it Techno?"

"Where is he?" 

"No clue." 

"mmmmmm I know the syndicate has a do what you want policy but this is important!"

All of a sudden the door opened and a very tired person came through.

Wearing a black mask and a colorful hoodie with a rectangular spiral in the center. They had a messenger bag over their shoulder. The most notable thing about them were their gold coloured eyes and messy brown hair. 

"Sorry I'm late!"

"About time you showed up!" Techno called to him from the backroom. "C'mon we got things to discuss!" 

"Coming!" Giving a nod to Niki he went into the backroom. 

Niki flipped the open sign to closed before stepping in the backroom with a tray of pastries. 

"Quackity!" They ran over and gave Quackity a hug. "It's been too long!" 

"Yeah because you're always busy!" 

"Listennn I got a job to do." 

"I still think your stupid for that Jacobs." 

"Can you two stop flirting so we can start the meeting?" Charlie turned Quackity's chair to face everyone else.

“We aren’t flirting!” Quackity shrieked. 

“Yet,” Niki deadpanned as she placed down the pastries. 

“Ohh cookies!” 

“Take a seat everyone, we got things to talk about!” Techno picked up the file.

“Already?” They bit into a cookie. “But Theseus isn’t here.” 

“Theseus is at home,” Techno sighed. “But knowing you we can already call him Tommy.”

Charlie turned to them, “Huh? You already know Tommy?” 

“Of course I do! He went to work today though.” 

“He went to work?” Niki raised an eyebrow. “How do you know?” 

He just shrugged and took another cookie.

“Wait how did you know he’s Th-” Before Quackity could question him further Techno interrupted him. 

“Karl. How much of what’s in this file do you already know?” 

For a faint second Karl’s eyes shone and he smiled, “Everything.” 

“And you didn’t think to tell me any of it?” 

“You were already investigating. Besides, you just got proof. Telling you would’ve slowed things down.” 

“Mind if you two catch us up?” Niki looked between them.

“The Badlands is up to something,” Karl shrugged. “The heroes there are anyway.” 

Techno put a paper on the table and everyone but Karl tried to get a better look. 

“What the hell-” Charlie’s eyes widened. 

“This is fucking insane,” Quackity muttered. 

“Techno, shouldn’t we be telling Tommy and Tubbo about this?” Karl pulled a book with a spiral similar to the one on his hoodie out of his bag. He flipped through the book. 

“Tubbo?” Niki’s ears perked up at the mention of the name.

“His roommate,” Techno explained. “I took him in as well.” 

“Karl, how do you know him?! When we heard him on the earpiece I thought he sounded familiar, but how did you know him?” Quackity turned to him. 

“Secret! You met him through the scholarship program, right?” A slight smirk showed up on Karl’s face. 

Quackity froze, “Y-yeah it was the scholarship. He’s the top in the robotics program.” 

“So Techno do we tell him?” 

“Karl, do you think Tubbo wants to be involved with this? I doubt he wants anything to do with the whole situation.” 

“Fair enough!” Karl shut the book and closed his eyes. “Anything you want to know about Techno?” 

“...no. Not right now.” 

“Karl, your power is creepy sometimes,” Charlie felt a chill down his spine. 

Niki sighed, “You haven’t even told us what it is.” 

“Tommy knows what my powers are.” 

… HE WHAT!?

The entire room practically exploded. Karl’s power was a secret to them and Techno only knew a small bit of what he could do. 

“Tell me Karl pleaseeeee,” Quackity shook him back and forth.

“The only reason I told him was to gain his trust. I tell my powers he tells me his.” 

“Tommy doesn’t even know what his powers are!” Charlie screamed. “AAAAAAAA” 

“Charlie quit screaming!” Niki covered her ears.

“Guys please.” Techno put his face in his hands. 

“Karl you don’t just get to show up, say ominous things, refuse to elaborate, and fucking leave!” Quackity kept shaking him. 

“Well Tommy knows that he can make objects out of nothing now.” Karl tried to diffuse the situation. 

Techno looked at him and glared, “He hasn’t even told me that yet! How the hell do you know?!” Then he realized. “Right. Power.” 

“Tommy can what?!!?!” Charlie dropped to the floor. 

“Karl, you killed him!” Quackity ran over and held Charlie in his arms. “No Slime, don't die!” 

“Bdsjklfdalgaagl.” 

“Guys quit it!” 

Karl started to die of laughter and Techno was contemplating why he recruited these idiots. 

“Hey guys I heard there was a meeting toda-” Grian stepped in and saw Charlie pretending to die on the floor as Quackity held him fake sobbing. Niki was threatening to set the two on fire. 

“Hey Grian!” Karl greeted him through his laughter. 

“I’m just gonna go,” Grian got a cookie before leaving the backroom. 

“Grian, don't leave me with these idiots!” 

“Good luck Techno!” 

“Grian!” 

A little while later. Things had calmed down and everyone was eating cookies silently. Techno had caught Grian up and he said he would tell the Hermits what was going on later.

“So Karl,” Grian tried to break the silence. “Been a while since you showed up at a meeting.” 

“I’ve been busy. Running an entire news section takes more time than I thought.” 

“Yeah it must be. Thanks for not including me in the Theseus and Phantom incident by the way.” 

"No problem." 

They fell into silence once again. 

"Ughhh," Karl bit into another cookie. "Can we at least talk while we're here. Like gossip or something!" 

"What's there to talk about!" Charlie threw a small ball of slime into the air and caught it. 

"Hmmm. Tommy! Let's talk about Tommy! Like we have a new member of the syndicate who happens to not be at the meeting. Let's talk about that!"  

Everyone turned to Techno. 

"What? Why's everyone lookin' at me?" 

"Tell us some embarrassing stories about Tommy," Niki smiled. "Or cute things he did when he was younger." 

“Fine,” Techno huffed and crossed his arms. “Lemme think.” 

After thinking for a moment Techno thought of something. 

“Alright so you know Tommy’s powers.” 

Everyone nodded. 

“Did he mention his little pocket dimension? Tommy can pop in and stay there for periods of time. He can do the same with objects making them disappear indefinitely until he wants them back.” 

“What does this have to do with anything?” Quackity questioned. 

“I’m getting to that, so Tommy likes cows. It’s his favorite animal.” 

“That’s so cute!” Grian giggled a little.

“Tommy has this plush cow named Henry. He’ll never admit it though. He kept it in his little pocket dimension so it doesn’t get damaged or anything.” 

“I thought Tommy could only stay in his pocket dimension for 1-2 minutes,” Charlie thought back to Tommy’s explanation. 

“He can stay there as long as he wants,” Karl explained. 

“You know that too,” Techno sighed. At this rate Karl could just get all the information for him. 

“Tommy told me this time! No powers used,” Karl said, seeming to know what Techno was thinking.  

“Time works differently in his pocket world. Tommy used to go inside of it whenever he got mad,” Techno recalled a memory of Tommy getting mad and disappearing into thin air. 

“1 minute here is an hour there right?” 

Techno nodded, “That’s why Tommy only stays for a minute or two. He gets bored.” 

“So when he was mad at you he would disappear for a minute. That’s not too bad,” Niki brought in some more cookies. 

“The problem was when we were in the park and he did that. I would tear the place upside down only for him to show back up not even a second later.” 

“I think that’s more embarrassing for you Techno,” Quackity smirked. 

“Shut it.” 

An alarm went off on Karl’s phone. When he checked it his face turned to a frown. 

“I gotta get going guys,” Karl stood up.

“Meeting?” Niki got a bag of pastries for him. 

“Yep! It was fun though.” 

“Bye Karl!” Quackity waved to him. 

“Bye Quackity! Bye guys! See you next time!” 

With that Karl left the bakery and the syndicate meeting came to a close. The night enveloped the main city of L’manberg and the city streets were an unusual quiet. 

However in Pogtopia things were more lively than ever. 

“X! We got problems!” 

“What happened?” 

“People with the description Grian gave us showed up during our patrol.” 

“Red eyes?” 

“Yep!” 

“Try not to let things get too out of hand. As long as this place stays a secret things will be fine. Pearl, Scar, tell the others to patrol in groups of two. Don’t take a risk. Watch district 15 if you can.” 

“Can’t Purpled handle 15?” 

“Wouldn’t hurt to give him some help Pearl.” 

“I guess,” She shrugged.  

“Get some rest you guys.” 

“Sure thing night X” 

“Night!” 

With the two leaving X looked down at a map of L’manberg and sighed. 

“We just have to make sure this doesn’t spread to the lower districts.” 

He pulled out a makeshift communicator and messaged Grian. 

Try to get in contact with Purpled.

Pov syndicate meeting:

Chapter Text

Grey walked down the streets of L'manberg trying to act cool as he was internally freaking out. 

He told himself to just lay low and no one would suspect anything and yet he got roped up with the hero towers newest gossip topic and the little brother of the top hero. 

Sure he would’ve declined the invitation to sit with them, but that would be rude. He saw how much Dream dotes on his little brother if he declined the invitation to sit with the two who knows how Dream would’ve reacted. 

Tommy seemed like a nice guy too. He was friends with the Techno. Why would he refuse in the first place? There was nothing wrong with Tommy and Ranboo. Tommy was just being nice. But what if that Tommy guy already figured him out. What if the heroes already knew who he was?!

"AAAAAA!" He screamed in the middle of the sidewalk. People stared at him and some looked like they wanted to ask if he was ok. 

Grey just kept walking. 

He thought he could just get a post where he could naturally avoid Tommy or Ranboo, but then he was assigned as Monarch's personal security guard. Apparently he caught their eye, or something. 

It just so happened that Monarch and Philza were starting a project together or something like that, Grey didn't pay too much attention. 

He would probably be seeing Tommy around a lot though. 

He got home by the time the sun set and did his usual routine. Taking out his contacts, putting on his purple hoodie and making sure he had his knives on him. Still thinking about how miserably his new job was going. 

All I had to do was save up enough money to pay them off so I could get the information. Dammit! Why didn't I think they had prices for this shit. 

"Hi!" 

Now I'm stuck with this stupid job. 

"Hello? Can you not hear me or something? Do you have airpods in? Wait no. None of us can afford those." 

With those stupid heroes. Grey hopped to another rooftop. 

Someone flew in front of them and snapped their fingers in his face, "Hey!" 

"AH!" Grey stepped back and instinctively went to punch them. 

They blocked the punch with their wing, "Rude." 

"Why the hell would you just show up like that if you weren't looking for a fight?" 

"I've been calling you! Pay attention to your surroundings, Purpled." 

Purpled. The most well known vigilante in district 15. Known for their purple hoodie and more direct methods compared to other vigilantes.

This also happened to be Grey. The boy who just got a security job at the hero tower. 

Unlike most vigilantes who choose a codename to not get arrested, Purpled used his real name. Well that's what he told people who knew he was a vigilante. Which was basically nobody except the hermits who assumed Purpled was his codename. 

In the eyes of the government however he was known as Grey. Thanks to some forged documents he got a job at the hero tower under this alias.

"What do you want? I haven't touched the hermit's turf in a long time, and if I did I'm not sorry." 

"This isn't about the border between 15th and Pogtopia." 

"Then what is this about? I'm patrolling right now." 

"X told me to get in contact with you so here I am!" 

"Listen chicken man-" 

"Poultry man! It's poultry man! Or at least the man in the chicken costume."

"So chicken man," Purpled ignored him completely. "How long ago did X tell you to get in contact with me?" 

Grian’s wings fluttered, "Like 20 minutes ago." 

"I'm leaving," Purpled deadpanned before running past Poultry Man. 

"Hey! Wait! This is important!" 

"I'm on patrol. Save it for later!" 

"Purpled you- ughhh why do the youngest vigilantes have to be so stubborn!" Stomping his feet, Grian flew after Purpled. 

"Purpleddd, listen- woah!" Grian wasn't paying attention to where he was flying and almost crashed into a building.

"You keep following me chicken man and the media will be all over this." 

"Don't care! I need to tell you something rrrrreally important. It'll only take a second I swear!" 

"How'd you even find me?" Purpled kept running, looking around for any crimes he should stop.

"I flew around district 15. Now can I tell you what I need to tell you!" 

Purpled hopped down into an alley and when Grian looked down he saw a mugger. He flew down and got the person being mugged out of the alley. 

"You're the man in the chicken costume!" They pulled out their phone. 

"Poultry Man actually. I'm doing a bit of rebranding. Man in the chicken costume is a bit of a mouthful." 

"Hey chicken!" Purpled yelled from the alley. "How about you help me out!" 

"Stay safe!" Grian ran into the alley and the bystander ran off.

Purpled was fighting this guy but they were kinda… weird was the only way to describe it. Extra hostile and violent beyond anything Purpled has experienced. Their eyes gleaming a bright and brilliant red. 

All of a sudden a red beam shot out of their hand. Purpled jumped to the side dodging before he could get hit.

"Don't get hit by the beam!" Grian called out to him and flew around the mugger getting hits in here and there.

"That was the plan!" Purpled held out his hands, "Hey chicken! Cover me!" 

"On it!" Grian snapped his fingers and about a dozen illusions of Purpled showed up in the alleyway. 

Grian then got a piece of rope and tied it to a pipe. He flew circles around the mugger trying to tie them up. They realized this but before they could run objects kept flying at them stopping his escape.

A faint purple glow surrounded Purpled's hands. The same color as his eyes which also started to glow. His clothes and hair started to move like they were being blown by gusts of wind.

Using his power he lifted up the bricks and sent them towards the mugger's head which knocked him out. 

"You aren't supposed to kill him!" Grian went to check on them.

"That's a concussion at best," Purpled deadpanned, putting his hands in his hoodie pocket and pulling his hood back up. 

Grian sighed but tied them up. He alerted the police of their location and quickly got out of his chicken costume to pretend to be a citizen. 

"So an illusion power," Purpled glanced at him and did a double take. "Tommy?!" 

Grian currently looked like Tommy. Bright blue eyes and blonde hair. Even his voice was identical to Tommy's. The only thing different was the wings on his back. 

"Not Tommy! You know him?" Grian stretched out his wings. 

"Yeah. He was on the news. Hero press conference."

"They blurred out his face on all of the footage of him." 

Purpled froze, "Whatever! I'm guessing that was what you wanted to talk about. Seeing as you used your powers for it." 

"Yep! There's been an increase in violence in Pogtopia and now we know that these people with red eyes are the cause. It’s best if you keep an eye out. Can you help make sure this doesn't spread to the rest of the lower districts?" 

"Sure thing." 

Grian stretched out his wings. "This disguise won't work." 

Grian snapped his fingers and was now taking the appearance of a man with neat black hair and a mustache. He had a suit on, which if he was going with the story that he was from Pogtopia it wouldn’t work as well. His wings which were once clearly visible had vanished into thin air. 

"Now I can get Mumbo in trouble!" 

"Mumbo?" 

"Oh you're still here," Grian's voice had changed once again. 

"So you can just take the appearance of anyone." 

"Anyone I've touched, yeah. All it takes is a tap and then I can mimic your appearance and voice." 

"Pretty sure parrots can't do that," Purpled deadpanned.

Grian laughed, "I have a power outside of the whole parrot thing that lets me create illusions. I simply put an illusion on myself." 

“That doesn’t explain how your wings disappeared,” Purpled then felt a slap on his face. His focus was on Grian and he didn’t even move. “THE HELL!? How did you do that?!”

“I told you!” Grian laughed, “I make illusions! This is just one of them. Making my wings invisible to most people is one of the easier things to do.” 

"Should you be telling me your power?" 

"Well I know you have telekinesis so I trust you won't tell mine." 

"You can't be sure that's my pow-" 

"Shhhhh-" Grian put a hand over Purpled's mask. "Police sirens. Get going!" 

Purpled groaned, "You better fucking explain later you birdbrained chicken." 

"Haha. I will, I will. Get going before you get arrested." 

Purpled hopped up to the roof of the building and ran towards his apartment. There was no way in hell he was continuing his patrol after that. 

The next day Tommy was walking to work the same as usual and he saw a familiar face. Huh? Is that? Tommy went up to him, “Hey Grey!” 

Startled, Grey turned around and saw Tommy going towards him. He gave him a polite nod, “Hey Tommy.” 

“You walk to work too big man?” 

“Yeah, not like there’s anything else I could do.” 

“That’s fair. Congrats by the way. Heard you got assigned as one of Monarch’s personal security guards.” 

“You say that like it’s a good thing,” Grey sighed. 

“It’s good for pay.” 

“I’m guessing you also got a job at the hero tower for money.” 

“Yep!” Tommy popped the p as he spoke. “Hate heroes.” 

“Same here. Isn’t today supposed to be a day off for you or something?” 

“I’m not going there for work.” 

Grey tilted his head at him confused, “Why would you go there then?” 

“I’m meeting with Ranboo.” 

“Oh yeah you mentioned that yesterday.” 

“Ranboo was really excited about it. He planned out a bunch of places we could go to.” 

“I could tell he was excited. Do you have any idea how many particles were appearing around the room? It was just purple everywhere .” 

“I guess there was. Want to hear some tips about working at the tower? I got a couple.”

"Sure. Let's hear it." 

"First things first you better treat Kristen with fucking respect."

"What?" 

"Treat all women with respect actually, but Kristen works harder than everyone at the tower combined. Do not make her life harder." 

"Noted. Anything else?" 

"Yeah! Try to-" 

The two kept talking as they walked to the tower, Tommy being the one starting most of the conversation. 

When they got to the hero tower Tommy saw Dream, Sapnap and Ranboo waiting in the lobby. 

Grey gave Tommy a nod and went up the elevator. 

"Tommy!" Ranboo ran over to him. 

"Heya Ranboo." 

"C'mon I have so much planned," Before Ranboo could drag Tommy out the tower Dream pulled Ranboo back by the collar.

"Ranboo let me go over the rules first." 

Ranboo pouted, "You've been telling me the rules this entire time!"

"Yeah but I haven't told them to Tommy," Dream let go of Ranboo and Tommy could feel Dream glaring at him underneath his mask.

Dream started to list off different rules, "Don't go into the lower districts, make sure you stay with Ranboo at all times, don't go into any shady places, stay in crowded areas, oh and make sure to-" 

Sapnap started to drag Dream away, "Leave them alone man. I made sure Dream didn't figure out where you kids were going! Go have some fun!" 

With that Ranboo and Tommy left the hero tower and were now standing in front of the building. 

"The hell did he mean by that?" Tommy followed Ranboo who was leading them to wherever he planned for them to go. 

"Last time I " convinced" Dream to let me go somewhere on my own I told him I was going to the mall. He then bought out the mall for that day and planted people there specifically to watch over me and make sure I had fun." 

"Primes he really is overprotective." 

"This time he has no clue where I'm going though! Sapnap helped me make sure he didn't figure anything out." 

"Sapnap?" 

"Blaze." 

"Ohhh," Tommy looked around. "So where we headed king?" 

"Well I looked it up online and it said that friends go shopping together, and go to arcades and stuff so that's what we're doing!" 

Ranboo had a mask on along with a hat to hide any telling features that people could use to recognize him but Tommy could tell he was excited.

"Can I show you someplace then? Since you're the one who planned this out." 

"Of course! Is it in the lower districts? I'm not allowed to go there." 

"Why not?" 

"You don't know? That's why people know who I am." 

"Did something happen?" 

Ranboo nodded, "I was in the lower districts and got kidnapped for leverage to use against Dream. Surprised you didn't hear about it."

"How long ago was this?" 

"Like 3 years ago. Around the time Dream started to get attention." 

"No wonder I didn't hear about it. That was around the time Big T first took me in." 

"Where were you before then?" 

"Just out and about y'know." 

Before Ranboo could even try and understand what Tommy meant the mall came into view. 

"There it is!" Ranboo pointed to it. "C'mon Tommy!" 

"Wait! How the fuck am I supposed to afford anything?" 

"We can just go window shopping. If there's something you really want I can buy it for you." 

Tommy thought about the $500 that Techno gave him, "Fine. Hurry it up then king!" Tommy started to run towards the mall. 

"Huh?! Tommy, slow down!" Ranboo followed behind. 

Tommy looked around the mall and was starstruck. The place was massive. It was really just a normal mall. Different stores lining up against the walls with elevators and escalators leading to different floors. But for Tommy this was a place he could never really go to. 

Ranboo giggled, "You looked surprised. Not that that's a bad thing!" 

"You're good Ranboo. This place is huge," Tommy kept looking at the different stores. 

"Where should we go first?" Ranboo went to one of the maps. 

"Is there anything you wanna buy big man?" Tommy was looking at the map over Ranboo’s shoulder despite the fact Ranboo’s taller than him.

Ranboo pressed a couple buttons and scrolled through the list of stores, "There's a Barnes n Noble. Wanna go there?" 

"Sounds good. Need more shit to do at work anyway," The two started to walk.

"Do you like reading?" 

"Big T has lots of books. Not like there's anything else I could fucking do so I read them." 

"Hm." 

"Do you have anything to do at the tower? Like other than breaks obviously. Is there anything for you to do other than sit around?" 

Ranboo shook his head no, "Sapnap makes things pretty entertaining though." 

"I don't even want to try reading into that." 

"Speaking of reading," Ranboo walked into the Barnes n Noble. 

"That was a horrible attempt at a joke." 

Ranboo laughed anyway, "Sorry!" 

The two looked through the shelves and by the end of it Ranboo had bought the entire Percy Jackson series and Tommy had a book about hybrids and powers.

"Where to next big man?" 

"Uhh. How about we just walk around?" 

"Sure!" 

The two started to walk around the mall. Walking into a couple stores checking them out and leaving without buying anything. 

"Hey, is there a tech store 'round here?" Tommy was looking at a map of the mall. 

"Lemme see," Ranboo started to look through. "There is! Wanna go there?" 

"The hell do you think? C'mon!" Tommy started to walk ahead. 

"Huh?! Tommy! Wait up!" Ranboo followed after him. 

Ranboo looked around the tech store, "Is there something you need here?" 

Tommy was scanning the shelves, "Yeah. Just need a couple things Tubs can take apart and a voice modulator would be nice." 

"Oh is it for-" 

"Yeah it's for his school. Said he needed some extra parts." 

Ranboo looked at him confused. Tommy looked around making sure no one was paying attention before whispering, "Don't mention my part time job while we're in public." 

Ranboo realizing he almost slipped up started to apologize profusely, "Sorry! I didn't realize that y'know shouldn't mention that. Didn't even think about it honestly. I'm sorry Tommy." 

Tommy shrieked, "I get it! I get it! Quit apologizing!" 

"Sorry!" 

"I said stop fucking apologizing!" 

"Sorry! Darn it! Uh let's just buy whatever you need," Ranboo scurried over to another shelf and looked for the things Tommy needed. 

Tommy watched Ranboo leave a little confused on why he did and went to look for a voice modulator. When the two had gotten everything that Tommy needed they went up to the counter. 

The cashier scanned everything, "That'll be $82.45. Would you like the receipt?" 

Tommy winced at the price. That was more expensive than he thought it was. 

"Yes please," Ranboo nervously spoke up and handed them his debit card before Tommy got the chance.

"Hey! You aren't seriously gonna fucking pay for that?" 

"It's fine. Just let me pick out the next store." 

"It's not fucking fine. I picked this store out, let me pay for it," Tommy kept insisting. 

Ranboo glanced behind him and started to whisper, "Tommy. There's people starting to line up behind us. Just let me pay." 

"Fine!" Tommy reluctantly agreed to let Ranboo pay for everything. As they left the store Ranboo started to walk away from Tommy. 

“Oi! Wait up! Where are you going?” 

“There’s more things in this mall than just stores,” Tommy followed Ranboo to a separate part of the mall. 

“Holy shit.” 

Ranboo laughed, “This is the best part of this place.” 

Looking around there were many different activities for people to do here other than shopping. There was a giant children’s play area with people who work there to watch the kids. A trampoline place, an arcade, and a-

“Is that a fucking indoor race track!?” 

“Oh yeah, forgot they have that here. I was thinking we would go to the arcade first. Do you want to go to the race track?” 

“Of course I fucking do! Wanna race with me? C’mon c’mon c’mon!” Tommy ran over to the race track. Ranboo caught up to him and saw Tommy watching some people race around on the track. 

“Holy shit! That’s fucking awesome!” 

“Tommy we gotta go talk to the worker if we want to do this.”

“Sure thing. I’m paying for my own shit though.” 

The two went through all of the procedures. Tommy was making sure to pay attention. The two signed some waivers and put on some helmets, and sat down waiting to be led over to the go-karts to start. 

Tommy was bouncing up and down with excitement, "This was like 50 bucks but it's gonna be worth it!" 

Ranboo smiled, "Yeah! I didn't think about doing this." 

"This is my first time driving a go-kart go-kart. This is gonna be so much fucking fun!” 

“Mhm.” 

“Excuse me?” The worker walked up to them. “You can get in the go-karts now. Remember to listen to the flag holder, pay attention to where you are going. Have fun and stay safe!” 

Ranboo and Tommy were led to a line of go-karts. Getting into them the worker gave them a basic crash course on how to operate them. The two slowly drove over to the starting line. 

beep. BEEP. BEEP. 

With that the race started. The flag holder waved their flags to go as Tommy and Ranboo speed off. 

“Haha! This is awesome!” Tommy sped up and kept going down the track. 

“AAAAAAAAA!” Ranboo almost crashed a couple times. 

One lap, two laps, then three the race ended and the two got out of the go-karts to see their times. 

“Let’s. Fucking. GO! Hell yeah!” Tommy looked at his time. He wasn’t the fastest but he was faster than Ranboo. 

“Wow, you’re really good at this Tommy. Do you know how to drive?” 

“Never driven a car in my life. You said arcade next right?” 

Ranboo hummed and the two made their way to the arcade right next to the race track. 

They got some cards to play the games and looked around. 

“Claw machine,” Was all Tommy said before walking to a claw machine. 

“Do you think you could get anything? I mean, claw machines can be pretty annoying.” 

“Of course I can get something! Watch me bitch,” Tommy spotted one that he could grab and went for it. Then the claw grabbed onto a raccoon and started to lift it up. “Ayy?” 

“I think you got it Tommy.” 

“Shut up! You’re gonna jinx it!” 

“Sorry!” 

“Wait!”

Tommy watched the claw move towards the opening and then the raccoon dropped down into the slot. 

“Woah, woah, woah, you got it Tommy!” 

Tommy went to grab the raccoon out of the claw machine and held it up, “Look at it Ranboo!”

“It’s so cute!” 

“I know right!”

“Now let’s go play some games!” 

“Yeah!” 

The two went off to play many different games, usually turning them into competitions. They even compete to see who would have the most points by the end of it to get prizes. 

Tommy didn’t have to spend too much money on it either so that was a plus. 

Going around the mall Tommy and Ranboo went for a game of laser tag and some bowling. Now they were sitting in the food court wondering where they should go next. 

“We’ve pretty much seen the entire mall by now,” Ranboo put a fry in his mouth before putting his mask back up.

“Surely you had more than this planned.” 

“The thing is, I was kinda hoping you could show me one of your favorite places. Then I remembered I’m not allowed in the lower districts and that’s where you live, so *clap* I honestly have no more ideas.” 

“There’s a park in district 10 I like. I guess we can go there if you want to come with me.” 

“Okay that sounds good. Should we start walking now?” 

Tommy stood up, “Grab your food then, we can walk while we eat.” 

As they walked the two ate their food while chatting with one another. It had been a while since either of them got a chance to just go out like this. 

To others walking by it just looked like two teenagers on a day out. Having fun and being kids. 

Being a kid. 

Ranboo didn’t really make many friends. The one close friend he did have disappeared.

Tommy had a childhood. Once. 

That childhood was stolen away in an incident that changed his life forever. 

Then he met Tubbo. Then Techno. And now he met Ranboo. 

“I should introduce you to Big T.” 

“Hm. I don’t know man.” 

“Don’t worry he’s chill. I’m gonna be honest, you two would get along pretty well. 

“If you say so,” Ranboo looked around. “So where exactly are we going?” 

“Butterfly Park. Have you been before?” 

"Uh, I don't think I have." 

“Y’know the one with the giant butterfly statue.” 

“Yep, never been.” 

Ranboo looked around. He never got the chance to walk around L’manberg. Dream would always get a car to drive them around. 

“What do you like so much about this place?” 

“Hm? Whaddya mean Ranboo?” 

“About L’manberg. What makes you want to help this place out so much?” 

“Pretty heavy question for a chill walk man.” 

“Sorry,” Ranboo rubbed the back of his neck. “The thought just crossed my mind. Heroes need a reason to fight for this city right? So if I want to become a hero I need to be able to give it my all to protect it. Sorry if this doesn’t make sense.” 

“The people,” Tommy looked up. “I fight to keep the people safe and have them keep living their lives in peace. That’s why I got a job at the fucking tower. Only way I can keep them safe.” 

The vigilante part went unsaid. Tommy knew Ranboo would understand what he meant. 

“Alright, that answers my question.” 

“Do you think you can convince your brother to let you join the hero program?” 

“Well I can join once I turn 18, I’ll ask him then.” 

Tommy looked up at Ranboo and squinted. 

Ranboo glanced at him nervously, “Is something wrong?” 

“Is your hair naturally like that?” 

“Well I- wait what!?” 

“Your hair! There’s no fucking way it’s naturally split like that.” 

“I style it, but this is my actual hair color.”

“No fucking way!”

“It’s true, I promise. I just style it there’s no hair dye or anything.” 

“How the hell does that work?” 

“No clue honestly.” 

The two kept talking about whatever came to mind before Ranboo spotted the entrance to a park. 

“Tommy is that it?” 

Tommy looked where Ranboo was looking, “Oh shit. Yeah that’s the place.” 

The two walked into it and Ranboo looked around in awe, “This place is so pretty.” 

The giant stone statue of a butterfly sat in the middle of the park. Playgrounds filled with children running around, there were some food trucks in a little circle, and the flowers. Colorful flowers were everywhere. 

Then there were the butterflies. The reason the park got its name. Butterflies flying around the park. 

A purple butterfly landed on Ranboo’s nose, “Um...” 

“Aww,” Tommy put his finger near the butterfly. 

“Tommy? Could you get this off me?” Ranboo stood frozen in place not wanting to move.

Tommy carefully cupped the butterfly in his hands and let it go near one of the many flowerbeds.

“When you told me this place was called butterfly park I didn’t think you meant it literally.” 

Tommy cackled, “What, you scared of a couple butterflies?’ 

“No! I just didn’t expect it to land on my face.” 

“Should we go buy some ice cream?” Tommy pointed to an ice cream truck.

“Sure!” 

The two bought some ice cream and sat down on one of the benches. 

“I can see why you like this place,” Ranboo was still admiring all of the flowers.

“Yeah, it’s nice.” 

Then someone caught Tommy’s eye. Bright pink hair put in a high ponytail through a hat. They were looking over some papers.

“Hm? Big T?” Tommy stood up catching Ranboo off guard. “Hey Big T!”

“Heh?” Techno turned around and his tired expression immediately softened. “Oh hey kid. What’re you doing here?” 

“I’m not a fucking kid! Besides, I'm here with a friend.” 

“Tubbo doesn’t count.” 

Tommy pointed to the bench where Ranboo was sitting. Ranboo stood up and walked over making sure to grab their bags, “H-hello.” He waved nervously. 

“Yoooo you actually weren’t lying,” Techno walked up to them. “Nice to meet you. Call me Techno.” 

“Oh- okay. I’m Ranboo,” Ranboo got a good look at Techno. “Are you feeling alright? You seem tired.” 

“I’m alright. Kinda busy though. I don’t see any way that I can make this work on time,” Techno looked back down at his papers. “I gotta organize this entire thing. I would’ve had more time but noooo. Had a business trip, and now I have to prepare everything in 4 days.” 

“What’s happening in 4 days?” 

“Wait, there's gonna be another festival?” 

The two boys exclaimed in unison. Ranboo turned to Tommy confused, “Festival? Is there a holiday or something?”  

“The festival is this big thing at the end of each month that Techno runs! It’s like the best thing ever!” 

“That was just terrible. Horrible explanation.” 

“Shut up Techno!” 

“So since Tommy can’t explain anything to save his life, I’ll do the explaining.” 

 “Please do,” Ranboo sat down. 

“The festival is this thing I run at the end of each month. Sorta just thought one day, this would be fun. Then I did it. It’s essentially a day where people from the lower districts come by and eat free food and just hang out.” 

“Really? That’s so cool!” 

“Wanna come with me, Ranboo?” Tommy looked at him expectantly. 

“I can’t, sorry.” 

“Don’t worry about it. We can go some other time.” 

“Shouldn’t you two be heading back home now?” Techno looked back at his papers. “It’s gettin' pretty late.” 

Ranboo checked his phone, "Oh god." 

"What's up big man?" 

"I have to get home in 30 minutes." 

"What district can you take the train there?" Tommy grabbed his things. 

"My house is in the first district.” 

“That’s like 45 minutes away by train! Doesn’t even cover the walking distance to your house.”  

"Yeah no you kids are screwed." 

"I appreciate the help Techno!" Tommy started to panic. Dream was going to kill him if Ranboo didn't get home on time. 

"Couldn't you guys just call them and ask if they could pick you up? Like that way they know where you are at least." 

The two boys stopped in their tracks hearing Techno's suggestion. 

"Oh yeah. I could," Ranboo pulled out his phone and called Dream. It didn't even ring once before Dream picked up. 

"Hello? Ranboo? Did something happen? Are you ok?" 

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Could you pick me up? I'm in district 10 right now," Ranboo turned to Tommy. "This place is called Butterfly Park right?" 

Tommy nodded. 

"Yeah so Butterfly Park. I'm still with Tommy. This place is really pretty!" 

"Ok stay with Tommy. I'll get there as fast as possible." 

Dream hung up and Ranboo collapsed onto the bench. 

Techno looked at the two, "Can you guys play with some of the kids over there?" 

Techno pointed to one of the playgrounds. "The orphans. I would but last time I played tag with them I accidentally pushed a kid to the ground." 

"How?" Ranboo asked. 

"I also spun them too fast on the roundabout thing and sent a kid flying." 

"How???" 

"Completely obliterated them at dodgeball." 

"These are children right?" Ranboo looked at Tommy who nodded.

"Pushed them on the swings so hard they made a loop around it. Like the swing went up and made a circle around the pole." 

"How are these kids alive?" 

"So now the lady who runs the orphanage won't let me play with them while they're at the park unless it's the festival." 

Techno looked at Tommy and Ranboo, "Could you play with them for me? I can watch your stuff." 

“Sure thing Big T. Ya comin’ with me Ranboo?” 

Ranboo glanced at Techno before nodding, “Ok. Uh you can watch our stuff right?” 

“Sure thing. I’ll just sit at the bench.” 

“Big T, Big T!” A young girl ran over to him. “Can you spin us on the roundabout again?” 

“Listen, I have things to do to prepare for the festival, and I’m gonna be honest, I think I’ll get in trouble if I do that again.” 

“Why? You were so fast though!” 

“Exactly!” Techno turned towards Tommy. “Hey Tommy!” 

“What is it big man?” 

“Could you spin the kids on the roundabout?” 

“Sure thing! Ranboo, stay with these guys yeah?” Tommy walked away and the kids started to play with Ranboo’s hair. Some kids were sticking flowers in it. 

“Woah, woah, don’t just put the flowers in my hair,” Ranboo took them out. “Here I’ll teach you how to make flower crowns.” He started to weave the flowers into a crown, teaching the kids how to do it.

Walking to the roundabout Tommy saw 5 kids there including the girl that asked Techno to spin them. 

“Alright! This won’t be as fast as how Techno spins ya, but it should work,” Tommy held onto the roundabout and started to run as fast as he could. The children held on and started to smile and laugh. 

Dream rushed out of the car with Sapnap following behind. The two were wearing black masks and while Sapnap was dressed in a t-shirt and some jeans, Dream had a neon green hoodie on.

“Dude he’s gonna be fine.” 

“You don’t know that!” 

“Yes I do actually. This is a pretty public area. Plus he’s with a friend.” 

Dream looked around the park trying to spot his little brother, “Oh wow. This place really is pretty.” 

“Lots of butterflies,” Sapnap looked at a flower patch with butterflies resting on the flowers. 

“Where is he?!” Then Dream spotted Tommy. 

“Damn he’s fast,” Sapnap saw Tommy spinning the kids on the roundabout at an alarming speed.

“Yeah, but where’s- Ranboo!” Dream ran over to him. 

“Hm?” Ranboo turned around. Still sitting down on the ground surrounded by children. 

“Ranboo what are you-” Dream looked at all the kids. 

“Huh? Oh! I’m teaching them how to make flower crowns!” 

“Mr. Boo, Mr. Boo!” A boy showed Ranboo a flower crown. “Look! I did it!” 

“That’s great! It looks amazing!” 

“Oh,” Dream looked around nervously. “Should we be heading home?” 

“No!” A girl clung to Ranboo’s side. “Mr. Boo has to stay!” 

“Huh?!” The two brothers exclaimed in unison. 

“Tommy, how do you run that fast?” Sapnap was standing near Tommy who was sitting on the floor out of breath. 

“I’m just that cool.” 

“We gotta race sometime.” 

“How about the both of us spin this thing?” 

“Oh hell yeah!” 

Sapnap and Tommy then spun the roundabout together, causing the children to hold on for dear life. They were having fun though. It still wasn’t as fast as how Techno spun them. 

“You can’t take Mr. Boo away!” The children protested. “We have to play more!” 

“I wouldn’t say that, we have to go home. Things to do, places to be.” 

The kids started to complain, but then a deep and monotone voice was heard from behind Dream, “That’s enough guys. Here.” 

Dream turned around and was handed some bags, “What’s this?” 

“Thanks for playing with the kids, Ranboo. I held your stuff like you asked.” 

“Oh, um thanks Techno.”