Chapter Text
A normal shopping trip should stay that way as, ya know, a normal shopping trip. But of course he lives in this fuck up of a city and what was supposed to be a normal shopping trip his mum sent him to grab some milk and bread she forgot to grab, ends with having to hide due to a villain attack.
Living in a world of heroes and villains was both fun and annoying. And… okay maybe a little scary. And of course, the said villains and heroes had to attack right where Tommy was casually shopping.
The local market was now a warzone, people screaming and crawling, making their way to any exit available. Tommy was one of those people, minus the screaming part because he was no bitch, thank you very much.
He stayed on all fours as he shuffled under counters, desks, food storage, anything that saves him from having rubble fall on him or debris thrown his way from the next time a hero or villain got thrown or used their powers.
It was chaos, big 3 vs big 3.
Dream Team vs The Syndicate.
This was going to make headlines when it was over. When the top 3 villains fight the top 3 heroes, it was going to make news and fast. Tommy just hopes he'll live long enough to see it. Hell, maybe he'll get on the news if he's lucky.
On second thought, maybe it's best to avoid that if he didn't want to give his mum a heart attack.
He's already felt his phone vibrate hundreds of times, most likely his mother calling him.
He'll answer once he's not currently crawling for his life.
"Fuck, why today of all days? Why couldn't they have just taken the day off? Do these people not take breaks?" They probably do but by how consistent both parties are on social media forms and more, he kind of doubts that.
Just last week the Syndicate apparently broke into a high security locked laboratory looking for some classified shit. And now they are here, fighting amongst celery and bread while civilians scream for their lives.
Fantastic.
Tommy continues shuffling forward, just being able to see the exit doors that are wide open from between the legs of the food stands that hold the vegetables such as potatoes and onions.
He's just about to shuffle across to the potatoes when he's stopped abruptly by something falling from the sky and crushing the produce.
Well, he's glad he wasn't under that thing but still, the poor potatoes.
It's a moment later, after he hears the low groan of a very human person, he realises someone fell on the potatoes, not something.
The person slowly picked themselves up and pink hair fell from their shoulders to their back.
Oh fuck, Tommy knows who this is.
It's the Blade.
One of the top 3 leaders of the Syndicate.
Tommy is frozen where he's on all fours, one of his hands lifted as he was about to keep crawling but was stopped suddenly by the Blade falling from above. He blinks bewildered at the villain that, after shaking his head to clear it of dust and dizziness he probably was feeling, stared back.
"Uh, hi," the man says, rather awkwardly. Tommy just blinks at him again.
"You should get yourself out of here kid, things are getting hectic."
Tommy, having been stunned by the presence of Blade before him, finds his voice somehow.
"I fucking noticed," he says rather incredulously as he gives Blade a rather unbelievable look of lacking patience.
Blade just ends up snorting.
Blade looks about ready to say something else or leave when he's interrupted.
"Blade! Get out of here, Dream is about to collapse the building."
Fuck, that isn't good.
"Shit," Blade hacks harshly, before his eyes trail to Tommy for a moment.
"Fuck, kid we need to-" he's interrupted by falling debris as the building shakes. One landing an inch in front of Tommy who yelps and jumps back.
Loud groaning and scraping of metal against metal makes itself known above and Tommy looks up for the last time before the roof starts to collapse.
Not being able to move quick enough, Tommy throws his arms over his face and braces for impact. Pain hits him quickly and he blacks out.
When he returns to consciousness, the world seems different than before. There's dust in the air that makes him want to sneeze. He coughs instead and shuffles around as he looks at his surroundings.
Metal bars and concrete rubble surround him, broken to pieces or bent and broken. He's covered in dust and there's crushed goods around him. As well as pieces of wood.
Where was he again?
Oh yeah, a shopping trip turned into survival. Right.
"Fuck!" He chokes out, coughing harshly once again.
Looking around, pieces of light flicker through the rubble but overall he can't see shit. It's a large building they were in. A few stories were above the shopping centre as some sort of office area.
If it had collapsed as well, he was truly fucked. It wasn't helping that his claustrophobia was getting to him now with how closed in everything was.
"Hello?!" He calls out but his voice is raspy and tickles with the dust. Making him cough again.
He shifts a little but he's hit with blinding pain that makes him squeal and whimper.
His foot hurts like hell and it feels like something is on it.
Looking down to where his feet are, one is fine, moveable if a little restricted but the other is the problem.
It's pinned under a metal bar, flat against the ground, pressing into the lower part of his shin. He can't twist in any way, his leg will not budge. Plus it hurts like a bitch and Tommy for sure thinks something's at least broken.
Well fuck.
He hears another groan, a familiar one this time.
Hold on, wasn't the Blade in front of him?
"Blade? You there?!" He calls out, not hoping he'll get an answer. But surprisingly, he does.
"Who's there?" The man calls from the rubble, Tommy hearing him cough up from the dust probably surrounding him as well.
"I'm… the guy you landed in front of," he explains, pausing to cough as he looks around.
"Guy? You mean the blonde kid?"
"Not a kid bitch," Tommy responds automatically but it comes out flat and strained, the dust not doing great with his voice. As well as the shock of the situation and the too closed in space he's in.
He hears another snort, this one sounding a lot more choked up. "Sure kid, where are you?"
He hears rubble move and a few small pieces almost fall on his face.
"Ay, watch it! Don't move shit while we're under here or it's gonna collapse!" Tommy shouts alarmingly, eyeing the very unstable structure around him with trepidation. He certainly did not want it anymore caved in then before.
"How do you know that?" The villain questions as Tommy hears him shuffle around, pulling him out of his beginning panic.
"I go to school dickhead, they teach us this shit in case we ever get into scenarios like this," Tommy informs, strainfully, hoping the man doesn't notice.
There's a pregnant pause after.
"You guys get educated on how to survive this type of scenario?" Blade questions, quite shocked to hear that piece of information.
Tommy only scoffs.
"Duh, we live in a society of heroes and villains, it's mandatory to learn this shit in school in case we ever get caught in a villain and hero fight. Like today for example," Tommy explains, quite annoyed the man doesn't even know this.
"Huh, never knew that. Never went to school," and well… that explains a lot.
"That makes a lot of sense," he mumbles and hears the villain scoff.
"Alright child, if you are so knowledgeable, wanna let me know how we're gonna get out of here?" He knows the man is basically humouring him so Tommy humours back. It's a good distraction.
"I don't know Blade, should I even tell you? You're a supervillain, why should I tell you shit?" Tommy bites back, turning a little even if he can't see the guy.
Tommy had twisted his body when everything fell so he ended up having his back towards where he Blade was.
"Kid, it's likely my comrades are looking for us right now, seeing as it's likely the heroes will be helping civilians that had escaped. You really wanna be found by them first?" And well… okay he has a point.
"Are you threatening me? I'll have you know I'm the biggest man ever and I can beat the shit out of all of you," he really can't but he's full of more bark than bite (although he will bite a bitch, literally) and impulsive decisions. Plus, it helps to bite then remain quiet in a situation like this.
However, the man ends up laughing at that, lightheartedly.
"Okay, sure, but seriously, did they ever tell you how to get out of here?"
Tommy purses his lips.
"No, they just said to wait for any authorities or heroes to find and rescue us," he explains quietly, ignoring that one memory where he asked if there was a better way. There was no better way when you weren't powered, apparently.
He hears the man sigh.
"Of course. Can you move?"
Tommy looks down at his leg still trapped under the pipe.
"No, my right leg is stuck under a pipe and it hurts to move. I think something broke in there but I'm not sure," the explanation is followed by another pause.
"Hold on kid, you're gonna be okay. Someone will show up soon to get us," the man tries to soothe, which he actually has a nice enough voice for.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. We'll… we'll get out of here, too many people enjoy my company after all," Tommy tries to put as much confidence in his voice as possible but his voice cracks maybe a little. He won't admit that though.
"Oh really? Like who?" Blade seems to question while doing… something, Tommy isn't sure.
"My mum," he says in a soft voice, the Blade, stopping whatever he's doing for a moment, as another bout of silence passes between the two. He ignores how his heart hurts thinking about her, feeling the phone in his pocket get heavier.
He could probably call her, it would be comforting but he can tell her all about it as soon as he gets out.
Which he will.
He's sure.
"... Well, I'm sure she can't wait for that company to return, even one as annoying as you," it's a jab, even if he spoke so softly at the beginning of it and Tommy went with it.
"Hey, I'll tell you now I am the poggest man alive and she can vouch," she certainly would, Tommy's mum is incredible. Blade couldn't hold a candle to her and he debates telling him that.
But before he can, he hears an incredibly alarming loud rumble before something seems to give out. The debris shakes and Tommy screeches as dust and small sized bits of concrete fall on him.
He coughs from the dust bath he got and hisses when he registers the pain in his leg. The shift jostled the pipe that's pressing on his leg and blinding pain shoots up through it.
Fuck, that hurt.
"Shit, kid you okay?" Blade asks, sounding strangely closer than before. He must be imagining it, there's no way he would be considering the pile of debris blocking the two from each other. Tommy had checked.
Tommy's only response was a groan before he could speak.
"Fuck, what the fuck did you do?! I told you not to move shit!" Tommy shouts, trying not to cry as tears threaten to spill.
"Sorry, sorry, was trying something and it somewhat worked," the man spoke, continuing to shuffle around. At least this time not trying to shift any of the rubble.
"Fucking 'ell," Tommy releases a shaky breath, "what were you even trying to do?" He questions, closing his eyes momentarily, listening to the beating of his heart that had picked up speed.
He opens them again when he receives no answer.
"Blade? You there?" Tommy turns his head slightly to listen better to any movement or voices but he hears nothing until…
"I'm here," the man says, really fucking close that Tommy jumps.
"What the-" before he can say more, a hand suddenly places itself on Tommys shoulder, making the boy freeze. The hand is warm and the feeling spreads through his bicep where the hand now lays.
"Got ya," a voice says, monotone and oh so familiar that sounds almost right beside his ear.
Tommy twists his head around to see who in the world that could be and meets the red eyes of the Blades maskless face that hovers above him.
Wait.
Maskless?
Tommy's eyes widen and his heart beats faster when he meets the eyes of the villain. Red eyes that meet his blues.
The man has a pretty young face, probably around early twenties. He has a sharp jawline and strangely long eyelashes that almost seem white but more a pale pink. His brighter pink hair hangs from around his face, messy and in disarray.
He's got an old looking scar that cuts over his left eye but the eye itself is not injured or disabled.
A narrow miss then from a past fight.
Tommy however, can't concentrate on that right now as he stared into the maskless face of a very well known and dangerous villain.
"Wha-" Tommy can't produce words when in the shocked state he's in but Blade doesn't seem to mind.
"Hey kid, you look like you're in a bit of a bind," the man's eyes trail down to his leg stuck under the metal pipe, scrutinising it.
"Damn, that doesn't look good but I guess it isn't so bad, you'll be fine," he pats the boy's arm as he continues to stare.
Should he keep staring?
He feels like he shouldn't, should he?
But he's already seen it.
Does the man even know his face is being shown to the world? Should he tell him?
"U-um, Blade y-y-your face is-" he isn't able to finish as the man presses a hand to his own cheek, looking not at all surprised.
"Yeah, the mask broke when some concrete piece fell on it and split it in half. Lucky it was the mask and not me," he says, too nonchalantly in Tommy's opinion
"R-right, okay," he didn't know what to say. Although he had been, not even minutes before, insulting the villain. Now that he's face to face with the guy, as well as in shock over being able to see his face in full, Tommy's entire brain short circuited.
He's just… so chill about it all and it's fucking with Tommy's head.
Blade looks back at Tommy's trapped foot and shuffles towards it. He hums.
"Hey kid, Tommy right?" Blade looks back at Tommy who lifts his head to meet his eyes.
"Ye-yeah," Tommy stutters, shuffling his other free foot away as Techno sits before the pipe trapping his right foot.
"Okay, I need you to do something for me. I'm gonna lift this pipe here as much as I can and when you feel you can move your leg out from under it, do it," The Blade instructs and Tommy nods with it.
"Won't that… ya know, be bad? Won't it make the place unstable?" Tommy asks, his voice weaker than before. He's pretty sure it's from exhaustion but he has no way of knowing at the moment.
"Will it?" He hears the man ask himself, in a whisper that Tommy's pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear. But a moment later, the man shakes his head.
"No, it'll be fine kid, just go when I say, okay?" Tommy hums in confirmation and Blade takes a breath in.
"Okay, ready, set, go," and Tommy feels the bar lift from his foot, it's a relief in every way but now comes the hard part.
It'll hurt like a bitch but Tommy needs to wiggle his leg to know if it's loose enough to move.
He does so but groans in pain as it shoots up his leg. He keeps wiggling as more weight lifts off until finally, POP! It slides out from under the bar but the quick action makes him whimper as the pain goes up by ten.
Still, he has to tell Blade he's got his leg out.
"Blade, I got it… out," he says, struggling to speak but manages it enough, Blade lowers the bar until he drops it with a grunt.
The debris settles again and only a few stray rocks fall through the gaps. Everything stills and Tommy tries to calm his breathing as he writhes in pain.
He hears shuffling and a hand once again, laying on his shoulder as he buries his face in the dirty floor under him.
"Hey, Tommy you're okay, you did well kid, you did good," Blade comforts, rubbing his warm hand over Tommy's arm. Tommy concentrates on it, blinking away tears that sting the corner of his eyes.
Tommy continues to take deep breaths as the pain fades a little and a wave of exhaustion hits him.
"You okay there kid? Being strangely quiet," the man coaxes, voice on the bridge towards teasing and worried. Tommy huffs.
"Tired," he answers slurrily, blinking, eyes becoming more and more heavy after each blink.
"Ah, well, we can't have that right now kiddo. You need to stay awake, I don't know if you've got any other injuries and going to sleep won't help any of them," Blade worries, shaking the kid's shoulder as gently as he can.
Tommy groans again, more in annoyance than anything.
"I know kid, I know, I'm exhausted too, trust me but you gotta stay awake. Just until someone comes to help, alright?"
Tommy is suddenly turned to lie on his back and groans, blinking up at Blade who stares down at him.
"Hey kiddo," he greets softly, Tommy humming back.
The man sighs before hesitantly, he places his hand on Tommy's forehead, pushing Tommy's hair back.
"I need you to stay awake, just a little longer. Just until help arrives, okay?"
Tommy hums again, his voice not entirely working.
He tries, though, to stay awake but it's a lot harder to do than usual. He knows the importance of staying awake, they learned this shit at school. Along with the "how to survive a collapsed building and you're trapped underneath it." To say they had a very prepared and odd regimen for school learning would be an understatement.
"Staying awake there kid?" Blade interrupts the silence causing Tommy's annoyance to spike.
He raises his hands to his face to rub into his eyes to try and force his eyes to stop dropping.
"'m tryin bitch, fuck off," this earns a chuckle to come from the Blade, a lot better of a laugh then the creepy ones he does on tv that's for sure.
It's quiet again, beats of silence pass and Tommy has the urge to peek through his hands to see what the Blade is doing silently.
"Blade?" Tommy asks quietly.
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you become a villain?" Tommy can imagine the unprepared look the Blade has as he asks this question he's probably had on his mind for a bit now.
"What brought this on?" The man questions amusedly.
"Just tryna stay awake asshole, also, curious I guess, no one knows your reason. Not even Jubileum and Zephyrus say why they do it and they're usually the most talkative. So, what's yours?" The boy peeks out through his hands to see the man's expression.
He looks thoughtful, even through the blankness he usually wears.
"Just hate the government," he answers simply, making the boy snort.
"That's all?" Tommy raises an eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips.
"Yep. I have a bit of a vendetta against them after all. Plus the heroes suck at their job because the Government holds them back and hires shit ones. So, we're working on fixing that," the man explains and Tommy nods lightly.
He gets that, the government isn't exactly great. Tommy's heard a lot of that, complaints and such, from enough people to get it.
He lives a pretty good life. His mother, a doctor considering her ability to heal, is pretty valuable enough they live a quaint life.
But he knows others don't have it any easier.
"I get it, governments shit. Hey Blade, when you take over, remember how awesome I was and let me spray paint president Schlatts statue. I think it'll be fun," he hears the man actually laugh a little at that.
"Sure Theseus, I'll invite you up to the Manburg white house when we've taken over," he says jokingly but there's a level of seriousness there. Like a promise.
Huh.
There's a beat of silence, but it's not long before it's interrupted by the debris shifting. Voices shouting.
Oh shit, they've been found.
"Blade?" Tommy asks, lifting himself up a little on his elbows. Blade glares up at the roofing above them.
Okay, so it's likely this is either Blades villain friends or the heroes.
Fuck, he has no mask on.
Tommy is tired as all hell but he remembers something vital. His bandana.
A green bandana Tubbo, his best friend, had given him, sat in his pocket.
Tommy had taken it off and stuffed it in his pocket when he got in the store, knowing it was a lot warmer inside.
He kind of forgot it was there until now.
Tommy fishes it out and holds it out to Blade.
"Wear this," he says, trying not to slur on his words as his exhaustion kicks in but tapers out due to the adrenaline of the situation.
Blade stares at the cloth for a moment until Tommy pushes it further to him.
"Just take it, if they're heroes, you need to cover your face," Tommy tells the man who ends up listening and takes the bandana. Tying it around his face, covering his mouth and nose.
Whereas his boar mask would sort of do the opposite and cover his eyes and nose.
The man nods at him when it's properly situated but both freeze when more is moved and even light starts leaking through the cracks.
"Over here, I sense two," someone shouts and, oh shit that's Frequency.
A hero that's able to hear frequencies, hence the name. He can sense people's frequencies so he's pretty useful when it comes to search and rescue.
And that's exactly what this is. They are searching for them and inevitably will rescue them.
Or, maybe not considering who he's with.
Wait, is Blade gonna run? Is he gonna take him with him? What's he going to do?
God, Tommy is too tired for this.
More rubble moves and shakes, and Tommy's eyes glued above him that he doesn't notice Blade moving closer to him until he feels a hand on his back and an arm wiggling under his knees.
"Blade? What are you doing?" He questions, not having any energy to fight whatever the villain is up to.
Blade doesn't answer him, his eyes stay above as more rubble is removed and more light breaks through.
Finally, the roofing above them is gone and a cascade of sunlight beams through, making the boy wince.
But it's covered quickly by something bigger and when Tommy looks, his eyes widen.
A massive man stands, wearing all gold. Not only that but his skin is gold.
Oh shit, that's the hero Totem.
Said hero was able to change his size from a normal 6 foot 1 to a massive 70 feet (about 21 meters). So having him remove rubble at his massive size made a lot of sense.
Still, this does not bode well for Blade.
However, as soon as the rubble is cleared, Blade does not hesitate in his next move.
Somehow, with whatever energy is still stored in his bulky body, Blade jumps out from the rubble. He surprises the heroes for a moment which gives him time to run.
All the while, taking Tommy with him.
Wait.
Oh shit, he's being kidnapped isn't he?
Fuck, why did he expect anything else?
"Uh, Blade, you know you can put me down and run right? They're not gonna do anything to me," and he is right. Technically, even if he spent well over an hour trapped under debris with the guy, Tommy is a civilian.
But that doesn't seem to slow the man.
"Nah, it's much easier to take you with me," he says, too nonchalantly once again for Tommy to like.
"What?"
Blade gives him a wink.
Tommy hears the heroes running after them, even the stomp of Totems feet can be heard not far down the street.
From what Tommy can see, the place is empty and likely evacuated but the entire block almost completely destroyed.
Tommy is still confused until he hears it.
"Hold your fire, he's got a civilian!" One of the heroes shouts and it clicks.
Blade is using him to get away. Heroes have a duty to protect civilians and innocents and that's exactly what Tommy is.
This bitch is using him as a hostage.
"Are you using me as a fucking hostage?" Tommy half shouts, his energy still sapping away at him. The bounce of the run however, is jostling his leg and making him feel too much pain to be comfortable.
"Maybe," the man answers, Tommy knows he's smiling right now.
"You're a bitch," the boy says but then gasps when they jump over what looks like police tape and roadblocks and the landing hurts his leg.
The pained gasp makes Blade stop for a moment.
"You okay? You need me to run more carefully or..?" Goddammit, Tommy is too deep into this shit.
He glares at the villain.
"Just keep fucking running and for worry about me," he orders and funnily enough, Blade follows.
Tommy can't remember what happens next. It's all a blur as Tommy is held close to the villain in a bridal hold.
His leg hurts like bitch and he wasn't able to finish his shopping.
Fuck, his mum is not gonna be happy when he gets home. Or she will be when he shows up but not the fact he got kidnapped and held hostage by a villain.
Or got his leg hurt.
Tommy sinks further into Blade and his warmth and promptly passes the fuck out.