Archive of Our Own

It was always tireless nights and restless days for Detective Foolish Gamers in Dream City. In a place run by the criminals and gangs, it wasn't exactly the most intelligent or lucrative career choice, but Foolish wasn't really in it for the money, or even to prove his intelligence, he did it for his own obligations. He always had something to prove, and he always had a reason to continue going, even if it was as simple as a promise of free coffee from the precinct–of which he was taking part in quite heavily that night.

Foolish went to take another sip of coffee, only to discover that his disposable, foam coffee cup had been run dry. With a sigh, he leaned back in the rickety office chair. He looked at the spread of holographic files and evidence and crime scene photos in front of him. His eyes burned as he realized it truly was getting late, and he was still no closer to finding the truth. These murders, he knew they had to be connected in some way, despite realizing that none of them shared very many details, the victims, the method of death, the neighborhoods, even the emergency calls; not a single one shared any relevant details. Other than the fact that they really didn't share any details, they had nothing in common. They were all unsolved murders within the last few years, and no one besides Foolish decided to look into them.

However, there were, in fact, two things that Foolish did notice were common. It was two small details that were often overlooked in the reports. There was always residue of the same neurotoxin in the lungs of the victims, but that was something that was harder to pin down. A lot of criminals had started to use vaporized toxins to paralyze or otherwise distract their victims. That detail could easily be traced back to any number of criminals in Dream City. The more individualizing details that Foolish noticed; a small coin somewhere on the person of the victim. The coin was a unique creation every time. He had seen one with a dove on it, one with a blade, a couple with letters or numbers, and so much more. At first, he had tried to find a pattern, but he quickly realized there really was no pattern, which just added further mystery to the whole case.

So, he poured over the case files every chance he got. When he wasn’t actively working a new case, he was looking over the files again. Every time he caught wind of a new murder following the only two patterns he knew of, he made sure to get himself assigned to the case. He ate, breathed, slept, and he could have sworn he shit this case. Whoever was killing people in his area of Dream City was going to be put to a stop by him and him alone. It was utterly exhausting, but Foolish couldn’t stop.

He grabbed his coffee cup again, forgetting that the damn thing was empty. He looked into the empty cup, wondering if it could fill itself back up before a new one appeared miraculously in front of him. He looked up to see where it came from, only to be face to face with the familiar face of H Bomb. He had a cheeky smile on his face.

“Hey, Foolish, what’s up?” H said. He stepped back now, satisfied with the amount of reaction he had gotten from Foolish.

Foolish picked up the cup of coffee, cradling the warm drink in his hands. Even just the heat was helping to wake him back up. “Just reviewing files,” he said. He gestured lazily back to the files.

H looked over Foolish’s shoulder, but he only peaked for a moment. “You’re looking at those again, eh? You know, if I didn’t know you any better I would say that this is unhealthy.”

“Thank you for worrying, but I assure you, I’m alright,” Foolish said. He turned around to set the coffee back down and started to close all the holographic files he had opened of all the evidence.

“Hey, where are you going now?” H asked.

“Change of scenery, different air to give me a different perspective,” Foolish said. He was wrapping his watch around his wrist, now that all the files were neatly closed.

“Well, I would offer to go with you,” H said, already looking nervous. “But it’s Halloween, you know, and I have big plans.”

Foolish’s eyes widened, he didn’t even realize that it was a holiday. Sure, it was chilly out, but he was almost sure it wasn’t Halloween quite yet. “What plans?” he asked instead of doubting H’s words.

“Well, the entire Dream City Police Department is having this huge Halloween party. There’s gonna be a costume party. You should come with me.”

Foolish hummed, pretending to think it over. Normally, he was always excited to go to these kinds of things. He had gone with H last year even, and it was a lot of fun. This year, he felt so close to an answer he could almost feel it. “I’m sorry, H, you know I would love to go, but I’m just…”

“Working a case, I understand,” H said. “But you know, our catfish costume won’t really be complete without you.” Foolish laughed as H pulled on one of the fins on Foolish’s arm, pulling it up. “I still don’t get why you insist on dressing as a fish when you’re already basically a fish.”

“‘Cause it’s funny! No one expects the guy who partially turned himself into a shark to go as a fish," Foolish said.

H chuckled as he watched as Foolish turned around so he could pick up his coffee. “Well, have fun with your detectiving,” H said. “I gotta go get ready for this party, give me a call if you need help.”

“I still can’t believe that the entire force in this city gets together for this,” Foolish said, still laughing.

“Yeah, but we have it under good authority that L’Manburg and the Dream Team are keeping themselves busy with their own party, so that accounts for what, like ninety percent of the crime in our part of the city? And I guess the rest of the city does signups or something? I don’t know, either way, I wanna go have some fun at the party,” H said.

Foolish smiled. “Right,” he said. “Call me if you need a ride home at the end of the night.” He punched H in the shoulder.

“Mhm, will do,” H said. He turned on his heel. “Don’t burn yourself out too bad, and if you get sick of working, come by.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Foolish said. He downed the rest of the coffee and tossed the empty cup. He just had to gather the rest of his things first before he would head out. He pulled his bag over his shoulder, picked up his keys, and began thinking about where he wanted to head to. There was always the bar down a couple of blocks, there was a quiet corner he could go to to look over the files, but that might be busy on account of it being Halloween and all. He would have to think of a different place, though none immediately came to mind. He just decided to get in his car and start driving and see where it would take him.

The only other people in the precinct tonight were the couple of cops that were required to be there, so most of the lights were off, and it also meant that Foolish wouldn’t have to engage in any further conversation and he didn’t have to break his train of thought again.

He was barely in his car when his phone started to ring. He didn’t even turn over the engine, yet someone already needed him. He half expected it to be H, saying he had forgotten something and needed Foolish to bring it to him. It was either that or a spam call. He was hesitant when he saw that the caller ID was actually the chief–Chief Snag.

He answered, clearing his throat. “Detective Gamers,” he said curtly.

“Foolish, sorry to bother you, but I have a case I need you to take on," the Chief said.

He wasn't exactly looking forward to having to start a new case tonight, but Sneeg was a friend, and Foolish was well aware that he wouldn't make him do some simple case; it must have been a big one. After all, it wasn't wise to busy the lead homicide detective with simple things. "What have you got?"

"There was a homicide on 27th and Main, the officers on scene have it under control, but I think it’s going to be interesting for you," Sneeg said.

Foolish wasn't looking forward to yet another case that he had a feeling would be as simple as a case of someone being too drunk and confident and violent on a holiday. "Alright, I'll head over there."

"Thank you, Foolish. I owe you one," Sneeg said.

"No worries, Chief, hopefully this will be a swift case."

"Oh, and Foolish," Sneeg said right before Foolish hung up the phone. "Be careful, the officers reported seeing some members of the Dream Team."

Foolish licked his lips. He hoped they weren't the culprit. "I'll be on my toes, and I'll see what I can do."

"Right. I'm also sending you a bonus, as a thank you for helping out on the holiday," Sneeg said.

"Oh wow," Foolish said. "You didn't have to do that, that's very nice of you."

"Don't mention it, and don't get yourself killed."

"I won't." He hung up the phone.

Foolish took a deep breath. While the nature of his job made him used to dealing with death, it always gave him pause to know he was about to learn the story of someone whose life was recently taken away. He took a few moments before Sneeg had sent the information to Foolish. He took a look at it for just a moment before he took off. The location was only a couple of minutes from the precinct, and when he pulled up, there were still the flashing lights of the first responders, and a moderate crowd had gathered to see the commotion.

Foolish parked his car at the first available spot he could, made sure he had his badge, gun, phone, and watch and he got out. He started walking towards the crime scene, looking at the little bit of information available to him. It wasn't much, just the victim's name, address, and that was about it. She was a law abiding citizen and she worked as the head receptionist for a hotel.

An officer approached Foolish, pushing back an onlooker gently. "Detective Gamers, Chief Snag said you were on your way."

Foolish nodded, he didn't recognize the officer, but there were hundreds of police officers in this city. "What have you got?"

"Not much, unfortunately," the officer said. "No evidence around the scene that we could find, but we secured it before the crowd arrived."

Foolish started walking towards the body, which was covered by a white sheet. "Any witnesses?"

"No, Detective. The closest thing we have to a witness is the gentleman who called emergency services," the officer said.

"Did you question him?"

"Yes, sir, we're sending you the audio file now. A few other officers are questioning people around, getting video evidence, anything we can get."

"And the victim?"

"Probable cause of death is blunt force trauma to the head. The coroner is on their way, but we also suspect a street neurotoxin is in her lungs," the officer said. He was looking at his notes to make sure he wasn't getting anything wrong. "Oh, and we found this in her shoe." The officer pulled out a small evidence bag, and inside was a single coin.

Foolish took it, and took a closer look. Once again, this victim fit the very small pattern he knew about. "In her shoe?"

"Yes sir, we have her shoes bagged up as well, they were about a foot away from the body, evidence marker four," the officer said, pointing at the holographic marker, which when Foolish approached it, it turned into a pair of shoes, just like how they were found.

"Good work, officer. When the coroner arrives, please let them know they can take the body."

"Aren't you going to look at it?"

"No, I have all the evidence from her I'm going to get. I'm going to look around the crime scene. Make sure the model gets uploaded, accurately this time, please," Foolish said.

"Yes sir, I will pass the message on to forensic," the officer said and turned around.

Now, Foolish could have some relative quiet so he could work. He didn't want to make a big fuss, so at first he just walked around the outskirts, keeping his eye out for anything that could be out of place.

At first, he only found a switchblade, a quite expensive one with what looked to be custom engravings of a swirly pattern and a little display on the side, which was now broken. He bagged it up, careful to not touch it himself. A few feet away, he also found a small, spent canister, clearly used for some kind of gas. He bagged that too.

That was it for any additional evidence, and Foolish knew that this was likely going to end up as yet another cold case in a few years. From what it looked like, there simply wasn't enough evidence to even name a suspect, let alone make a prosecution. With a sigh, he passed off the bits of evidence he found to one of the officers and scanned the crowd again. They looked ridiculous crowding around a crime scene wearing various costumes. Sometimes, Foolish could look at people and know if they knew more. They always had a certain look on their face that Foolish prided himself on being able to glean.

This time, something else caught his eye. Some familiar people, watching from the otherside of the road, a man and a woman. The man was taller, and had an annoyed look on his face, though he was in a clown costume with a painted smile. The woman was adjusting her jacket which was covering part of her mermaid costume, but she was looking down the road instead. Foolish knew them, at least knew of them; Jack Manifold and Niki Nihachu. He knew he had to talk to them.

He excused himself from the scene, simply giving quick instructions and then pushing his way back out of the crowd, and to no surprise, Jack and Niki had noticed his presence. They were already leaving, but Foolish ran to catch up with them, following them down the alley they had gone down.

When he turned the corner, he only saw Niki, she was looking at her phone, Foolish knew better, Jack could pop out at any moment. "Wait, I just want to talk," Foolish said quickly.

Niki looked up, her face filled with shock. "Don't come any closer or I'll scream," she said, her voice wavering a bit.

Foolish stopped in his tracks holding his hands up a bit to show he wasn't carrying any weapons in his hands. "Okay, I'll stay here," Foolish said.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I'm sure you saw the crime scene, I just want to see if you know anything," Foolish said.

Niki laughed, which made Jack poke his head from around the corner. "Why the fuck would we say anything to you? You're a cop," Jack said.

"Please," Foolish said. "Hear me out. I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, I just have a couple of questions."

Jack and Niki shared a quick look at each other. "Yeah, we don't know anything," Niki said with a shrug.

"Do you at least know of a person named Linda Bellman?"

"Sorry, mate, we don't have time to talk," Jack said. He grabbed onto Niki's arm gently, pulling her along without being rude. "We ain't gonna miss the party for this."

Foolish knew that he couldn't stop them. Well, he could if he really wanted to, but he also knew that it wouldn’t be a wise decision. He wouldn’t want to antagonize L’Manburg. He sighed as he started to turn back to the crime scene. He figured it would be best to do this by the books anyway. As tempting as it was, he also knew that stopping to the criminals' levels would make him no better.

But he froze when he noticed two more familiar people. Samuel Awe was easily noticeable. He was a tall man with green scales as body mods, and to make matters even more obvious, he was wearing a grandiose Poseidon costume, complete with a trident and netting for a shirt. How he wasn’t cold was beyond Foolish. He was walking hand in hand with a shorter man wearing what looked to be a homemade crab costume. Foolish had a feeling that the crab was Doc Ponk.

Foolish didn’t take his eyes off of the two while he hurried back to the crime scene. He only looked away for a moment so he could tell one of the officers that he was done with the scene and he hurried off, following the direction where Sam and Ponk had gone.

They turned down a side street, one that was lit somewhat dimly by the glowing neon signs, and it was quite obvious that neither of them were paying attention as they seemed to be only talking to each other, which gave Foolish the perfect opportunity to get closer. He followed as closely behind as he reasonably could. He could hear them talking, mostly about how excited they were for the party.

Foolish wondered if it was the same party Jack was talking about. Regardless, Foolish was tailing them now, listening to their conversation, all while he was coming up with his own plan. Finally, Sam and Ponk were approaching what Foolish thought was an abandoned building, but based on the lights and music coming from inside, Foolish knew that he was at the right place.

He just had to play his cards right, and he had to play it cool. He knew it was only a matter of time before he was noticed, and it wouldn't be exactly hard to identify him as a detective. His coat had the symbol of the Dream City Police Department on it, and it helped that he had a few run-ins with the gang members before, and that wasn't even accounting for the fact he stood out with his golden skin and green tattoos all over his body, as well as the shark fins. He saw movement from one of the upper windows, he wasn't exactly sure who it was, as they moved too quickly, but Foolish knew that he was spotted, and now it would only be a matter of time before he would be approached.

He stood with his arms at his sides, he didn't want to appear at all hostile. He wasn't here to make an arrest anyway. It was only a few minutes of waiting before not just one man like he expected, but two came out. Even in their costumes, he knew who they were. Wilbur had his face painted green with fake stitches all across it, and he wore torn up clothes, he was meant to be a zombie. Dream, on the other hand, was easier to identify considering he just drew eyelashes on the eyes of his mask and had a long, blond wig on as well as a lime green dress.

Foolish was surprised to see them coming out together. From everything he understood, these two men were mortal enemies, but to be fair, they were having a Halloween party together.

"Detective Gamers, to what do we owe this occasion?" Wilbur said. He sounded bored already as he lit up a cigarette.

"Mr. Soot, Mr. Dream, I am not here out of any malice," Foolish said. "I just want to talk."

"I sure hope you're not accusing us of any crimes, Detective," Dream said.

Foolish honestly hated talking to Dream. He always sounded like he was so condescending and sure of himself. It was grating. "I just want to ask you and your people a couple questions. As you may know, there has been a string of murders that we have yet to solve, and we were hoping that some of your people might know something."

"I assure you my people are not murderers," Wilbur said. He was staring down Foolish, clearly not pleased with such an accusation. He tapped the ash from the cigarette, never breaking a gaze from H, even when he was adjusting his glasses on his face.

"You're crazy for thinking any of my people would talk to the likes of you," Dream said, he was already laughing.

"Well, maybe I can sweeten the pot," Foolish said. He held up his wrist so he could look at his watch and started typing things on it. “Twenty thousand to each of you now, and another twenty after I’m done, plus another grand for each person who talks to me.”

Dream scoffed. “And where are you even getting this kind of money? I thought you detectives make next to nothing?”

“I have my ways, I didn’t know you would care where I get the money.”

That clearly got the both of them listening. Wilbur finally broke his stare and looked at Dream instead, and Dream gave Wilbur a sideways glance, but very quickly faced Foolish again. “You’re right, I don’t care. Thirty thousand, and three for each person you talk to.”

Foolish knew they couldn’t resist. These kinds of people were all about money, and he had no doubt that he would be able to cover up all this cash being moved. “Twenty five, and two, how’s that sound?”

Dream tilted his head, looking like he was seriously thinking about it, and by the expression on Wilbur’s face, there was a good chance that he was going to take it, but Dream stepped forward, extending a hand. “Deal,” he said.

Foolish grasped Dream’s hand, which alone felt like a mistake. He had never been this close to Dream, let alone shake his hand, but he did. Next was Wilbur, who held out a hand as well. Foolish was a lot more comfortable with shaking Wilbur’s hand. He was always known to be the more gentlemanly of the gang leaders in this city. “I’ll go inform my people, as soon as the money clears.”

As soon as Foolish had his hand back, he finalized the deal, sending the money out. Twenty five thousand dollars each to both Wilbur and Dream. They accepted the money on their own devices, and Dream turned around without a second thought. “Better not let this ruin our party,” he said.

Wilbur waited until Dream was back inside before he looked back at Foolish. “Don’t mind him, he’s always got a stick up his ass.”

Foolish chuckled. “I can tell.”

Wilbur tapped off more ash, and then looked to see that it was almost gone now. “You should take off that coat, and while most of the people inside are going to know who you are, don’t go announcing the fact that you’re a cop.”

Foolish looked down at his coat, and he couldn’t help but to notice the glaring logo embroidered on his jacket. He took it off and wrapped it around his arm, making sure to hide the logo.

“And one more thing,” Wilbur said. He threw the butt of his cigarette onto the pavement below and stopped it under the heel of his boot. “Go in through the back, otherwise we have no promise about your safety.” Wilbur grinned. He fixed his hair as he turned away. “See you around, now, Detective.”

Foolish had to correct himself. He liked Wilbur even less than Dream. At least with Dream, he was clear on his hatred towards Foolish. Wilbur just pretended to be nice to him. How pretentious. He simply walked around the back. He figured it would be best to follow Wilbur’s instructions. He found the back door to the warehouse, and was completely unphased by the fact it was unlocked. He just figured that he had to stay quiet and not draw too much attention to himself.

He watched for a bit, it was almost unbelievable that he was actually in a room filled with Dream City’s most dangerous criminals, and they were all drinking, dancing, and having fun. Together. Weren’t these people supposed to hate each other? It was fascinating. He was thankful that no one noticed him, until the sound started to fade out, and the lights went down. Moments later, it came back up, and there was a spotlight on Foolish. He had no proof, but he was sure that everyone was looking at him now.

He found himself unable to speak. He was never this tongue tied. However, moments later, another light turned on, pointed at Dream standing on a table. He was staring at Foolish and he adjusted his mask, showing a friendly smile. “Alright, listen up,” Dream said. His voice was amplified through the speaker system. “I’m sure some of you are aware of Detective Gamers.” Boos rose up from some of the crowd, which H was not at all surprised about. “I know none of us are his biggest fan,” Dream said, looking pointedly at Foolish. “But he’s given us a little money-making venture tonight only, all you have to do is talk to him and you’ll get a cut. You’ll be told when to go, so go or don’t, I don’t care. Everyone give it up for Detective Gamers.”

A few, pitiful claps came up, but as he raised a hand to wave, something was thrown at him, which he just barely managed to dodge. He sighed as he looked over, seeing an old door with the letters “ffi” plastered on it. He could see the remnants of the “O”, “c”, and “e” left over. That would do. He hurried over and ducked into it.

He figured he had some time to organize himself so he could properly get all the information he needed. He made sure to set up a recording device and didn’t even bother trying to hide it. He knew the gang members would already assume that they were being recorded. Plus, he pulled out a notebook, deciding that it would be beneficial to take as many physical notes as possible too.

He heard the party starting back up outside. The music came back, and the loud cheering and laughter could be heard. He sighed, trying to get himself to be as comfortable as possible. He wasn’t about to let himself be humiliated even further. He couldn’t let these criminals run circles around him.

It wasn’t long before the first person came in, a young kid. Well, maybe not a kid, but he was certainly young. He was modded more than almost anyone he had seen. His legs were made to look like a goat’s, and he wondered if those horns were real. Although, he figured they had to be real considering it didn’t fit his bee costume in the slightest.

“What’s up?” the boy said.

“State your name for the record, please,” Foolish said.

“Tubbo.”

Foolish started to search for the name, and he was surprised. “We have your name as To-”

“Ah!” Tubbo leaned over the desk quickly. “You call me that I will do things both you and I will regret, got it?”

Foolish was taken aback, but he cleared his throat. “So, Tubbo, on your record, we have breaking and entering, theft, evading police, reckless endangerment, and trespassing. Three arrests, and one sentence of three months for breaking and entering in juvenile prison."

"Yeah?" Tubbo sat down roughly in the old chair, making the dust pop up and the chair creak threateningly. "So? Are you arresting me again or something."

"No at all," Foolish said. He looked up from the screen. "I just want to set the record straight."

"Well, good, because it would really sour the mood if you arrested me now," Tubbo said. He laughed and kicked his feet up. "So, Wilbur told me to talk to you, yeah? Well, what are we talking about!"

Foolisj pulled up the photo of the woman who was murdered that day, and he show it to Tubbo. "Do you recognize this woman?"

Tubbo started at the picture, even moving his hair away from his eyes so he could see a bit better. He hummed as he thought. "Nope, no idea who she is."

Foolish wasn't surprised. He was sure this kid was always well taught on how to not incriminate himself. Next, he pulled up a complex list of all the pictures of the coins. "How about these? Do you recognize any of these?"

Tubbo leaned forward, humming as he looked at each and every one, even moving his hair so he could get a better look before he slumped back in his chair with an unceremonious "nah".

Foolish was taken aback once again. All that fanfare for nothing? He took just a moment to regain his composure. "Do you have any ideas on who could even be committing these crimes?"

"Oh dear, I understand now why Wilbur wanted me to go in first," Tubbo said. "You really think these kinds of questions would slide?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're a fucking idiot." Tubbo laughed, kicking his feet back up. He put his hands behind his head.

"Excuse me?" Foolish had to stop himself from doing or saying anything further. That was more than enough.

"You heard me, you know we're all criminals, and even if I did know who was doing those crimes, I wouldn't tell you a lick of information. Only reason why you're sitting there is 'cause you apparently are paying us an arseload of money. So, I would recommend you get smarter, 'cause some of these people here are a lot more mad than I am," Tubbo said. He picked at fingers as he spoke, and as soon as he was done, he cracked a smile, then looked up. "Free advice, there."

Foolish's jaw fell. How could the first criminal he spoke to tonight actually run circles around him? Let alone someone who barely looked like he was an adult. He was completely right, though. He was clearly going about this all wrong. "Then let me ask you a different question."

"Alright, show me what you've got."

"You're clearly intelligent, how'd you end up in this kind of life?"

"Well, that's a nice thing to say," Tubbo said. Clearly not buying what Foolish said completely. "I'm smart in certain things, that's how. Oh, and getting to jump off a building with your best friend and live is quite cool too, I guess. Tommy's the one who brought me into L'Manburg."

"Right, and what do you do?"

Tubbo shrugged. "Little of whatever. Mostly I just help Tommy." Tubbo stood up, the little antenna headband behind his horns slipped back, and he caught it and corrected it before it fully fell off. "Are we done here?"

Foolish wanted to keep him, but knowing how many people he had to talk to tonight, he knew it would be impossible to get to everyone if he spent too long with any one person. Besides, he had gotten something hopefully useful from Tubbo. "Yes, you can go, thank you."

"Sweet! Thanks for the cash!" Tubbo laughed as he ran out the door, slamming it behind him.

For a moment, Foolish thought it was going to collapse, but it calmed down after a moment. Once he was sure the door wasn't going to fall down, he pulled out his phone so he could send Wilbur the two thousand for the first conversation. He knew it was going to be easier to just send the money as he went so he wouldn't have to keep track and so no one could say they weren't paid.

After the money cleared, Foolish put his phone back in his pocket and he looked at the recording device. Without even thinking, he turned it off right as there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he said.

The next person to come in was tall, and they were carrying in a glass of win. They had shoulder length, curly hair and their face was painted with scales and they had a set of green dragon wings and a tail. Most notably were the sunglasses still on her face as well as a dress with scales sewn into it. It was quite an impressive dragon costume. "Greetings," they said. "I wanted to get my time taken care of as quickly as possible, I hope I didn't mess up any order."

"Not at all," Foolish said. He gestured to the chair. "Take a seat."

He did, smoothing out his skirt immediately. They had such a kind smiled one that if Foolish didn't know any better, he would have assumed it was a friendly one. Though, they looked very well put together, not like the rest of her companions.

"Please state your name for the record," Foolish said.

"Your device isn't recording." They pointed to the recording device, which was very clearly off.

Foolish shrugged. "Off books."

"Ah, I see," they paused for a moment. "Eret Alastair. Pleasure to meet you, Detective Gamers."

Foolish smiled and nodded as he pulled up this person's file. She had quite the rap sheet, ranging from grand theft of multiple locations, conspiracy to commit grand theft, and even hostage taking and kidnapping, though just by the name alone, Foolish knew who he was talking to. Eret had never been arrested for a reason, she had quite the reputation as a skilled heister, from planning to enacting. She was brilliant in a way he could almost recommend. Too bad she didn't use her intelligence for something better. "So what's a person like you doing with people like this?"

Eret laughed, waving a dismissive hand towards Foolish. "Oh, honey, I stay with them because I can't be queen if I have no one to rule over. How silly would that be?" They took a drink from their wine, just a small, respectful sip.

Perhaps honor among theives was a thing of the past. Regardless, Foolish was in no place to judge. "I thought Wilbur was in charge of your gang."

"Oh, he is," Eret said, as if Foolish was the one not making any sense. "And I would have it no other way. Wilbur is a visionary, and our goals aligned when he approached me. So, we made an arrangement. I would help to give his gang credibility and teach his boys how to plan a proper heist, and in return, I would make a steady profit."

"What were your goals?"

"To teach the brutes of the Dream Team a little lesson," Eret leaned forward, almost whispering the words like he was being listened to.

Foolish almost didn't want to know, yet still, he asked. "What is that lesson?"

"That they need to share." Eret smiled as they leaned back. "And that sometimes all you need is a little finesse to get what you want. They've known for years about what I do, and Wilbur was the first to approach me to join his gang.”

"I see," Foolish said. He knew at least one thing, Eret was clearly not the murderer.

"Well," Eret said, standing. "It was a pleasure to speak with you, but I am getting to return to the festivities. Don't want to miss out too much on the drinks." Eret bowed their head, lowering their sunglasses a bit and they peered out over them. Their eyes were shocking, the irises were a silvery color, which flashed with iridescence before they were covered again by the sunglasses. "Nice gun by the way, clearly not standard issue. Until next time Detective," Eret said as he was on his way out, closing the door behind him.

Foolish had a sinking feeling he wasn't going to get the information he needed tonight, even after just two interviews. Even with Tubbo, he knew his original goal was forfeit, but he wasn't going to waste his only chance. He sent another two thousand to Wilbur.

The next person to come in was someone he didn't immediately recognize, though the man's appearance was quite impressive. He was a heavily modded individual, his skin was made to look crystalline, and his hair was blue. He was wearing a duck onesie with the hood up. "Sup," he said as he took a seat. "How's it going?"

"State your name please," Foolish said.

"Ah, that classic emotion." The man laughed. "You can call me Skeppy. You'll probably find my real name through that."

Foolish looked up Skeppy, and was almost shocked to see that anything pulled up. It wasn't much, other than some basic details. However, not much of a record came up. There were a few instances of fraud, but that was it as far as crimes that concerned Foolish. "Are you a part of the Dream Team?"

"Yup," Skeppy said.

"And what do you do?" Foolish asked. He guessed that he was a part of the Dream Team, there really was no indication to state anything.

"Hm, good question. I uh, just kinda exist there. Sometimes I go, uh, intimidate people, but I'm usually the last person they call for that shit," Skeppy said. He looked disinterested, if a little fidgety, which normally would be an indication to Foolish that he was guilty, but something told him that Skeppy wasn't capable of a more serious crime.

"You're a freeloader?"

Skeppy crossed his arms, and his face scrunched up. "You know what?" He sounded annoyed, but just as quickly, he slouched. "I would be upset if you weren't right. Bad takes care of me, he makes sure I get what I need."

"So, you and Bad?" Foolish asked. This was always something he was curious about. He knew Skeppy and Bad lived in one of the nicest penthouse apartments in the whole city, but he never knew quite what their relationship was.

"We're friends, you freak," Skeppy said. "Is this really relevant to an investigation?"

Foolish instantly felt his face go hot with embarrassment, and then he shook his head. "My apologies, uh, I have no further questions."

Skeppy started him down for a moment, before he stuck out his tongue and walked away. He fixed the hood on the onesie before he left and shut the door.

Foolish breathed a sigh of relief. He sent the two thousand to Dream for Skeppy. He didn't have much downtime before the next person came in. He hadn't even finished sending the money to Dream when he looked up. No doubt it was Bad Halo. Fooliah had seen this man everywhere. He was on the news, constantly around the city. He was quite the successful businessman, and a well-known philanthropist. He was also known for paying off the police for the Dream Team to get them out of trouble. Everyone on the force knew at least a few people who had been bribed by Bad Halo. Not to mention, Bad was not easy to miss, as one of the most modded people in the entire city, he looked like a right demon, even down to the feet and horns and white eyes, though he certainly did not look intimidating while wearing a matching duck onesie to Skeppy.

"I'm sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting," Bad said.

Foolish shook his head and gestured to the chair. "I just finished with Skeppy."

"I know," Bad said. "I was waiting for Skeppy. We're going to go apple bobbing together." He has a huge smile on his face.

Foolish was a little dumbfounded. He had heard that Bad was a scary, powerful man, but seeing him in front of him, he got the impression that Bad was just a soft, gentle man, and not at all the terrifying tyrant he was supposed to be. Not to say he didn't have power, it was easily known that Bad did. There had been so many stories of Bad waking into a police station, and even just his presence made the cops give in. His money would pick up the slack where his reputation wasn’t enough.

"Anyway," Bad said. Foolish didn't even realize he didn't speak. "Skeppy said you have some questions for us?"

"That's correct," Foolish said. "Mr. Halo, you're a part of the Dream Team?"

"That's right," Bad said. He sounded proud of the fact he was affiliated with a known, dangerous gang. He wasn't even afraid.

"How does someone like you get involved in something like this?"

"Well, I've known Dream for a long time, and we've been friends for so long, and he's always had big ideas. That man's a genius, but without any way to get going, he was never really able to do much. So once my company really took off and I could subsidize Dream's, well, dreams, that's when the Dream Team really took off."

"But…why?" Foolish couldn't believe the juxtaposition he was experiencing.

Bad shrugged. "Because I believe in my friend."

So it really was as simple as that. Foolish cleared his throat. "What do you do now?"

"Oh! Well, I help pay for the tech we need, and I help with pretty much anything my friends need. Recently, I helped Ant get back on his feet." Bad truly looked happy that he had the chance to help his friends, despite the fact that the things his friends were doing were awful. Pretty much anyone in the Dream Team had a record as thick as a dictionary, but Bad only had so much on him.

Foolish nodded. "I won't keep you any longer, Mr. Halo. Thank you for your time."

"You're welcome, Detective Gamers, good luck with the others," Bad said. He waved goodbye as he hurried to the door. Foolish could hear Skeppy on the other side yelling for Bad, and as soon as the door opened, they quacked at each other and they left together.

Foolish felt his hands shaking. He now knew for sure that he truly was in too deep. He had gotten himself into something he knew he shouldn't have. He considered calling H, maybe he could help him out of this, but he had to send Dream another two thousand for his time with Bad.

Once the payment went through, he had to stand up and take a breath. Now he understood the reason why people were so afraid of Bad. He was a breathing example of cognitive dissonance, and it was unnerving. If that was only the fourth person he had spoken to that night, he was scared for the people who would be next.

Still, a new knock came to the door, and Foolish had to get ready again. "Come in," he called out.

He didn't quite recognize the next person who walked into the room. person. He was a blonde man, and his Halloween costume was simple. He had yellow dog ears, drawn on whiskers, and a collar with a bone. Foolish narrowed his eyes at the man, trying to place who he was.

“Hey,” the man said, giving a nod to Foolish. He sat down at the seat and looked up. “Dream said to come talk to you. You’re the detective, right?”

Foolish nodded as he took his seat again. “Detective Foolish Gamers,” he said, holding out a hand to shake his hand. He was hoping the man would introduce himself too.

First, he extended his hand to return the shake, and immediately, Foolish noticed that his hand was a prosthetic, a highly advanced robotic one that moved as naturally as an original arm. “Luke Punz.”

“Right, so you’re one of Dream’s? I’m sorry, I don’t recognize the name.”

“It’s fine,” he said. Though he sounded casual, it was clear he was quite tense, and a little annoyed. “No one recognizes me. It actually might be for the better.”

“How’s that?” Foolish asked. He was already searching up this person’s record, and the crimes suspected he committed, well they really weren’t pretty. There was murder, attempted murder, assault, and while there were arrests, he always made bail–which Foolish figured was thanks to Bad–he never served any jail time.

“Based on your face, I would say you already know." Punz laughed.

Foolish did know, and he knew that if Chief Snag asked, Punz would instantly be labeled as his primary suspect for that evening's murder, espeicially since he had a somewhat similar-looking golden coin hanging on a chain around his neck. "Have you been here all night?"

"Sure have," Punz said. "Look, I know what you're doing, and I'll cut the bullshit. I haven't killed anyone, unless they've pissed someone off enough to get paid."

"You're a mercenary?" Foolish immediately wished he hadn't asked that question. He knew it was a leading question, but at least he wasn't recording to get reprimanded later.

"I prefer assassin," Punz said with a shrug. "I get paid to take care of problems."

"And why do you work for Dream? I thought most of your kind worked freelance," Foolish said. There were many reports of self proclaimed assassins not just in the city, but around the world that refused to join gangs.

"Simple. He pays the best, and even when he doesn't, he's a friend," Punz said.

Foolish swallowed hard. He wished he brought some water with him, but he nodded. "I see."

"Right, I'm done here. I'm heading back to the party," Punz said. He stood up, putting the dog ears back on and starting for the door.

"Wait," Foolish said quickly. Punz stopped, and he turned this head to the side so he could see H. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Punz scoffed. "You couldn't afford to pay me enough for me to tell you," he said.

Foolish had to let him go. At this point, he wasn't sure if he wanted the answer. He wasted no time in sending the two grand to Dream. He knew the next person would no doubt be coming soon, which meant he wouldn’t have much time. He pulled up his contact with H. He called him, and he listened as the phone kept ringing. He was probably having fun at the party. Foolish should have just gone to the party.

Just as H's voicemail started, the door opened and a head peaked in. Foolish hung up the phone quickly as he looked at who it was. He couldn't have been much older than Tubbo, and he had half black and half white hair which poked out of his banana costume and he was wearing a yellow facemask. The only thing he could really see was his eyes.

"Am I interrupting?" He looked nervous to be entering.

"Not at all, come in," Foolish said. He returned from his seat too. "I'm sorry, I don't recognize you."

"That's good," the boy said. He said, nodding. "That's by design."

"What's your name?"

"My name? Yeah, it's Ranboo," he said.

Foolish looked up the name. Plenty of information came up about him, but no name, only the alias he had given Foolish. In the field where the name should have popped up was nothing more than blanks. Looking at the suspected crimes gave him an answer, mostly cybercrimes. It was mostly hacking. "There's no name. It must be a glitch in the system," he said.

"Huh, well that's odd," Ranboo said. He didn't sound too convinced, and Foolish knew he didn't sound too convincing.

"Who do you belong to?"

"L'Manburg. Aren't you going to ask what I do?"

Reaching for his phone to turn it off, he kept an eye firmly on Ranboo. "I think I know what already. I'm more interested in how."

"Easy, I have one of the best computers in the city, probably only second to George's, and I've got just enough know-how," Ranboo said. Even with his mask on, it was obvious that he had a huge grin. Foolish just couldn't get himself to calm down, he was breathing quickly, and he tried to hide it by clearing his throat. "You know, Detective, I'm not a big fan of this either."

Foolish felt his heart drop. His mind raced to try to find a way that Ranboo could have figured out what he was feeling. "What do you mean?" Being direct was likely his best option.

"I mean, feeling like I don't belong, or being constantly surrounded by people. I'm not really known for going out, you see," Ranboo said.

Foolish shook his head. "That's…" he stopped himself before he could say anything else. "I mean, we don't need to continue this if you don't feel comfortable."

"I'm never comfortable," Ranboo said, laughing. "Unless I'm nice and safe in my room, but Tubbo made me come, and honestly, once you loosen up a bit, it's kinda fun."

"I'm not here to have fun," Foolish said.

Ranboo shrugged as he stood. "I think I'm gonna go back to it before Tubbo gets himself into trouble. I'll ask if the next guy can bring you a drink."

Foolish didn't even have time to object. Ranboo was gone, seemingly before his eyes. He looked at the door, wondering if he had lost time, if he blacked out. He looked at his watch, seeing that it had only been a couple of minutes since he looked at his phone before Ranboo came in. With a shaking breath, he sent Wilbur the two thousand, and he decided he needed to pack up and he needed to go. He wasn't done, but he couldn't stay here another minute. This must have been a mistake. Nothing he learned here tonight could have been used to prosecute anyone anyway. He was just wasting his time and needlessly putting himself in danger. He should have gone to the Halloween party with H.

He didn't even get to pack anything before the door opened, and he knew he had to pull himself together for at least one more conversation. It was a woman this time. She was wearing a checkered dress with a white apron over it, her red hair was done into pigtails and she was wearing a straw hat. She looked kind, genuinely kind unlike the others he had seen today.

"Detective Gamers?" she asked. Foolish nodded. "You probably don't know me, I'm Sally Soot."

"Soot? Like Wilbur Soot? I didn't know his wife was involved," Foolish said. He was trying to find any documents he may have missed on her, but nothing was pulling up for her.

"Oh I'm not," she said. "I'm an accountant, dear. I work for Rivers Accounting Firm. And I already know what you're going to ask, 'how did you and Wil end up together?'. Well, the short answer is it's hard to choose who you fall in love with. The long answer is back in college, I was a little different. I met Wil when he was playing his guitar on the corner for cash, and he was playing, and singing so beautifully, so I gave him some money and we talked, and talked, and eventually I had our son, and we got married."

Foolish listened. This felt like such a normal conversation, it was almost jarring. He nodded, though. "I see," he said.

"Are those gills?" Sally asked. She leaned a bit closer so she could get a better look.

Foolish's hand immediately went to his neck. "Yes, they are."

"Oh, that was not a fun mod to heal from, but now I couldn't live without them," Sally said.

Foolish was dumbfounded. He couldn't disagree with her, but this was certainly not something he could even begin to think about. "What are you even doing here?" He didn't mean to sound rude, but he blurted the words out without even thinking.

Sally chuckled as she stood up. "I have an obligation not my family, and they mean more than anything to me," she said. "I'll see you around, Detective. I hope you find the answers you're looking for."

Foolish nodded. He wasn't even sure if Sally counted as one of Wilbur's, beyond being his wife of course. Still, he figured it would be better safe than sorry. He sent Wilbur the two thousand, and he wiped his brow on his sleeve. Still, H had not gotten his message; it seemed as if he had not received even a text. It was to be expected, he was probably having fun at the party and wasn't looking at his phone.

Foolish just needed to make up an excuse to leave. He wasn't even done with half of the people at this party, it would be a hard sell to leave now. Maybe if he just got a head count and paid Wilbur and Dream what he would have paid would get him out.

He cursed himself for being so weak. He had seen horrible, mortifying things. He had talked to and interrogated some of the most depraved and vile people. His job required him to have a strong gut and a strong mind, and he always prided himself in being able to handle the homicide department. He wore the title like a badge of honor. A person like him should not have been feeling uneasy. He should have brought backup, he should have told H and Sneeg his plans. It was too late for that now.

And it was too late for Foolish to leave as the door opened again. Even with the elaborate mushroom costume he was wearing, Foolish knew exactly who he was looking at: George. He felt his heart drop. He did not expect to see someone so high up in the Dream Team so soon. He was texting on his phone with one hand. and looked quite annoyed. He was carrying a drink in his other hand. He sighed heavily when he looked up. He sat down roughly in the chair, and he set the drink on the desk. He pushed it over to Foolish. It was clearly some kind of beer.

"I was told to bring this to you," he said. "Can we make this quick? There's a billion other things I would rather be doing right now."

"Of course," Foolish said. Even he knew to be respectful to George. Dream protected George more than anything, and Foolish certainly did not want to get between that. He didn't know where to start. The crimes that George has even admitted to committing were quite high. He was accused of aiding in numerous crimes, cyber theft, criminal hacking, obstruction of justice, and so much more, though he knew it was nowhere near to some of the others in the Dream Team. It was also well known that George only got physical when he had to. That didn't mean that George was a danger. All it would take would be one yell, and Dream would no doubt be in here.

"So, are you going to ask me questions or something? And I want the money, don't give it to Dream. Don't pay him for my effort," George said.

Foolish finally picked up the beer, and he gave it a sniff. It didn't smell too strongly of hops, it smelled a little fruity to be honest. He took a sip, and it was a fruited beer, sour and crisp. He swallowed the sip before he spoke. It felt good to have something to wet his dry throat after all this time. "You're the tech person for the Dream Team, right?"

"Of course I am. I thought you knew who we all are? I know you're looking at my record, so why don't you tell me what I do," George said, laughing. "Oh, you just closed it, do you have it memorized?"

Foolish felt dizzy. How did George know that? He reached into his pocket to grab his phone. Something told him he needed to call H immediately. He could navigate to the contact without even looking. "I just wanted to confirm, you know?"

George shook his head. "Right, so you know that I am easily the best software guy in the whole city, then, yeah?"

Foolish nodded. He moved slowly, not wanting to miss any stroke to get to H's contact. He hoped he would pick up this time. "Your skills are legendary."

"Thank you," George said. "You're something of a legend yourself, you know."

"I am?" Foolish was genuinely surprised. He wasn't sure if it was an honor or shame that criminals considered him a legend. "How so?"

George hesitated, he seemed to be distracted by something for a moment. "Sorry, got a notification," he said. "Well, you are pretty good at your job, which ticks us off to no end." George chuckled.

Foolish studied George, he looks so laid back, in ways unlike anyone else he had seen, it was almost like George knew what he was doing. Foolish opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly, his phone started to heat up in his hand, and he had to drop it as it started to seer his hand. "Uh, well, you helped Dream start the Dream Team, right?"

George chuckled, barely able to contain himself from full on cackling. "Yeah, I did," George said. "Dream met me a long time ago, through Bad. We were doing this volunteer thing, right? Well, kinda like public service for a couple of us, but I was a regular, and it was Dream's first time, and he looked up to me. He asked me to help him program something–some mod for a game or something, I don't quite remember."

"And you helped him?" Foolish asked, he just needed to keep George occupied while he looked at his watch under the table instead. He could send an emergency message to H.

"Not at all, but we became friends later, me, him and Sapnap. Dream had the idea, Bad had the money, Sapnap had the muscles, and I had the brain. We were a perfect team," George said.

Foolish hummed to acknowledge that he was listening. He almost got the message ready to go, he just had to send it. He gasped when the screen suddenly turned black and the whole device started sparking. Foolish struggled to get it off. "What the hell?"

"You know, it's rude to text while talking to someone," George said. He lowered his sunglasses, giving Foolish a sly expression.

"What did you do?" Foolish was going to his gun. He needed to get a leg up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," George said. He leaned back in his chair.

Foolish followed through. He pulled his gun without remorse, and he aimed it right at George's head. "I could arrest you for destruction of property."

"I'm feeling nice today, so I'll warn you again. You really don't want to do this," George said. He pushed his sunglasses back up and looked surprisingly unbothered that there was a gun pointed straight at his head.

Foolish felt paralyzed. He didn't want to back down, but at the same time, this was probably the worst idea he had ever had, of all time. "You are under arrest." He really had no choice but to double down.

George sat up and he took a deep inhale. "Oh, Dream!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

When it ultimately came down to fight, flight, or freeze, Foolish froze, except for his hands, which shook enough to rattle his weapon. George had such a cocky smile on his face, and seconds later, the door was kicked open and Dream was there, blond wig and drawn on eyelashes and dress and all. Even without seeing his face, Foolish knew he was pissed.

"Put the gun down," Dream said. His voice was low, and utterly terrifying. Foolish did lower the gun.

"It's over," Foolish said.

Dream tilted his head. "You're barely halfway through," Dream said. "I'll just watch, make sure nothing goes awry." Dream walked further into the room.

Foolish finally felt the fight return to him, he raised his gun again, this time aimed it at Dream. "I said it's over."

"What are you gonna do? Shoot me?" Dream laughed.

Foolish held his aim true. "Try me."

Dream couldn't stop laughing, and from the corner of his eye, Foolish could see George had gone back to texting on his phone. Dream started walking forward. "Go ahead big guy," Dream said. "Shoot me, see where that gets you."

George looked up, and quickly he got up and moved away, and Dream kept inching forward, and this left Foolish with no choice. He shot. There was a shimmer of light on Dream's chest where the bullet hit, but then Foolish felt the ripping force of a bullet tearing through his arm. He stumbled as he dropped his gun and brought his hand up to where he was shot.

He was shot. Where was the gun? He looked at Dream, he didn't have a gun on him, and he looked nothing more than a little winded like he had been punched in the chest. "You fucking idiot," Dream said he rushed forward, clearly coming to attack Foolish, and Foolish readied himself for a fight.

Foolish always forgot how agile a fighter Dream could be. Others in the Dream Team, he could see how they would fight. Like Sam, he was a powerhouse, and he was a strong man, but still he relied on his inventions. George, if he fought, he was always at a distance. Dream, however, was immediately in Foolish's face, and even flipped right in front of him, kicking Foolish in the jaw.

Foolish stumbled back, desperately trying not to fall over as he regained his balance. In the short time it took for him to do this, Dream had his fists raised and was standing right next to Foolish. He threw a punch that Foolish dodged. He grabbed Dream's arm instead, and rolled Dream over, crashing into the desk.

Dream groaned as he took a moment to try to catch his breath. "George, quit staring and help me," Dream said, he was adjusting his mask so he could take in a wheezing breath.

"What the fuck do you want me to do?" George yelled.

Foolish was ready to take this chance to run. He grabbed his coat and decided his phone was a lost cause. He held his coat against his bleeding arm and picked up his gun too, not that he would be able to shoot with his injury, but he really didn't want to hear it from higher ups later.

"George!" Dream yelled the second he noticed Foolish trying to make a run for it.

"Eugh! You owe me," George said before he sprinted towards Foolish, tackling him to the ground. Again, the gun clattered away from Foolish's reach, but he was easily able to push George off of him, even throwing a punch his way to keep him down while he was getting back to his feet. His fist connected with his nose, forcing a yelp from George.

Then, Dream was back in Foolish's face, anger and frustration showing through his whole body. His wig was a mess, his drawn on makeup was smeared, and one of his dress straps was off his shoulder. "You're really starting to piss me off," Dream said.

George was groaning on the floor, holding his nose in pain. Foolish could see the blood dripping, and his hand was starting to go numb. He needed to get it looked at soon or else he wouldn't be sure what would happen.

Dream fixed his strap, and he pulled up his skirt as he marched toward Foolish even closer. Foolish had no choice but to get ready for another fight. He rolled his shoulders back, and he got himself ready. Dream only hesitated as long as it took to come directly face to face before he started swinging, and Foolish responded by matching Dream to the best of his ability, but due to Dream's superior speed, Foolish found himself taking more hits than he was giving out. He was going to be feeling this for quite a while.

Something inside of Foolish changed at some point. His heart had started racing and it made his chest hurt. Something clicked in his mind, that he knew that if he didn't do something, he was going to die, and that was enough to give Foolish a new boost as he put his whole body weight into pushing Dream against a wall.

He kicked Dream's knee with as much force as he could, making Dream collapse, but he couldn't fall far as Foolish was holding up. The position Foolish was able to get Dream into made Dream unable to move, not to mention it was likely that Foolish broke his knee.

"You are under arrest," Foolish said. He didn't sound overly convincing as he heaved to catch his breath, though he wasn't really able to, considering the sharp pain he felt every time he inhaled. Something was out of place at the least.

Dream scoffed, though even he looked to be haggard and much too tired to keep going. Foolish was impressed that he got Dream to this point. "If I wasn't in this dress, your ass would have been on the floor." Dream lifted his head, Foolish could now see that he had damaged the mask. Even Dream could spend a night in jail for assaulting a police officer. Dream chuckled. "I may not have been able to best you, but you know who could with their bare hands?"

Foolish was taken aback yet again. He shook his head. "What are you even talking about?"

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and he looked. He hadn't even heard this man step in, a shorter, stocky built man wearing panda ears and had face paint to look like a panda was standing behind him with a scowl.

"Boo," George said from the other side of the room.

Foolish dropped Dream as he turned to Sapnap. He had his gloves on, and he could only hope that he wouldn't use them in this inevitable fight. He didn't want burns too.

"So, you think you can fuck with my friends?" Sapnap asked.

"Look, we can work this–" A punch directly to the jaw cut Foolish off. He instantly tasted blood in his mouth as he fell to the side, landing roughly on his arm. He looked up, and the last thing he remembered was Sapnap throwing himself down on Foolish, and elbow coming straight for his head.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Foolish realized he was coming back to consciousness, he could fully bring himself to wake up. At first, all he could focus on was how much his head hurt, and how sick he was feeling. Without even thinking too hard about it, he knew it was concussed. When the ringing in his ears started to clear up, he could hear speaking.

"Doc, when are you going to look at me?" It was George whining, and from the sound of it, his nose was stuffed with gauze and most likely broken.

"Oh would you shut up?" Foolish didn't quite recognize the voice, but with George calling him "Doc", it was pretty obviously Doctor Ponk Drops. "I already did look at you and Sapnap and neither of you have that bad of injuries."

"But my nose," George whined.

"Is just broken, I can fix it later, but it needs to heal first."

"And my hand and my elbow?" Sapnap said. He was clearly imitating George's whining.

"Are completely fine. That's what happens when you punch a guy with all your weight," Ponk said.

"But it hurts," George said.

"Yeah, Doc, we're in pain," Sapnap added.

"Would you both shut up? You didn't take the idiot on by yourself," Dream said.

"Aww did Dreamy Weamy get his ass kicked by a cop?" Sapnap teased.

Foolish heard sudden chaos as he presumed Dream jumped up, and Ponk was trying to wrestle him back down. "Get over here!" Dream yelled.

"Dream! Lay back down! Your knee, you moron!" Ponk yelled.

George was laughing, and it sounded like Sapnap was running from Dream, laughing too. After a moment, Dream started laughing too as he calmed down. Foolish finally started to feel more awake, and the more awareness he regained, the more he realized that he was tied up, kidnapped by a bunch of criminals and they were just joking about it. He at least felt something tied around his arm, so at least he wasn't bleeding out, but it gave him the wherewithal to actually open his eyes, and confirm the scene in front of them. They were all mostly still in their Halloween costumes. Dream had the mask and wig off, Sapnap's makeup had been smudged, and George had the hat part of his mushroom costume off and he was using it as a pillow. Ponk was the only one who wasn't still wearing his costume–whatever it was originally–as he had changed into a white gown that he didn't care about getting dirty as he tended to the Dream Team's wounds.

"Oh shit, he's up," Sapnap said, making eye contact with Foolish. Suddenly the tension filled the room, and Ponk promptly left the room. George sat up as he watched Dream turn to Foolish.

Dream was obviously keeping his weight off of the leg Foolish had managed to injure, and even through the dress, Foolish could see that Dream was wearing quite a complicated brace on it. Foolish tensed. He was feeling so tired, he just wanted to go home and sleep.

"I'll give you the rest of the money as soon as I have the device to be able to. Just let me go and we can forget all this happened," Foolish said. His voice sounded weak too, just like he felt.

Dream shook his head, and for the first time, he could see why Dream was wearing the mask. . His face was scarred, probably from an explosion or something along those lines. He limped over to Foolish, and even with limp, and looking like he had gone ten rounds with a gorilla, Dream was intimidating. Foolish found himself pulling back, not like he was able to move anywhere. “You really do follow your namesake,” Dream said. “You’re an idiot.”

Foolish licked his lips. He was afraid that anything he could say would just piss Dream off more. The only thing he could do was keep eye contact through the silence that persisted in the room, but he quickly realized that he was going to have to be the one to break the silence. “I’ll give you the money, and we can pretend nothing happened.”

“Oh, but things did happen, and my memory can’t be bought off,” Dream said.

George sat up. “Mine can.”

“George,” Dream said sharply. He turned back to Foolish. “Listen, I don’t want your fucking money, no more than we agreed on. I want to know what you're really doing here."

"I told you from the beginning, I'm trying to solve a string of murders," Foolish said. He felt his whole body tense, as he knew that something bad was going to happen. Sure enough, Dream struck Foolish across the face, hitting Foolish on the cheek bone.

"It's never that simple," Dream said. He leaned in close to Foolish, trying to intimidate him, and it certainly was working.

"Except this time it is," Foolish said quickly, he was almost scared that Dream was going to do more. "You and your people always seem to know the ins and outs of what's going on in this city in the criminal world, and I wanted answers."

Dream started into Foolish's eyes, trying to get a read on him. "You're right. I run this city, but what I am still trying to figure out is why you were asking my people what they do, or why George was telling me that you were trying to call for backup?"

Foolish took a deep breath. He needed to figure out a way to word this without making Dream angry. "I realized that even if any of you did know anything, no one would say anything, and I thought if I knew more about your gang, the easier it would be for me in the future to know who to talk to."

Dream tilted his head, and then he stepped back, turning back to his friends. "George, let's go. Sapnap, do your thing," Dream said.

Foolish's heart dropped as he watched George get up, and then as Sapnap turned to Foolish with a wicked grin. He cracked his knuckles. "Of course," Sapnap said.

"W-wait! Wait!" Foolish stammered. His hands gripped the chair he was bound to tightly. Dream stopped in his tracks and turned only his head to look at Foolish. "I, I can help you." What the fuck was he doing? Saving his own damn life. His friends would understand.

Dream scoffed. "You? What could a cop do to help me?"

Foolish knew what he had to say, and he knew he would hate what he would have to do. "I can give you inside information. I can help you," Foolish said. "Just let me live."

Dream looked back at George, who shrugged. Sapnap looked back at Dream and George too. Dream raised an eyebrow at Sapnap. "Sap, go on."

Dream watched this time as Sapnap approached Foolish, and Foolish bit his lip until he bled. If he was going to go out, he wasn't going to go out screaming or crying, but that was all he wanted to do. Sapnap pulled a knife, and Foolish shut his eyes.

But Sapnap didn't do anything, except for cutting the ties binding Foolish, freeing him. To his surprise, he didn't get up, he just looked at His captors in shock.

"You want to know about the murders, right?" Dream asked. Foolish nodded. "Well, I promise you that it's no one in the Dream Team, and those L'Manburg idiots are much too weak to intentionally kill anyone." Dream limped back over to Foolish.

"Do you know who is responsible?" Foolish asked.

Dream thought for a moment before he shook his head. "I'll have to do some research. George will be able to find your culprit. I'll give you this one for free, since I'm not too fond of innocent people dying in my city, and I'm not too fond of wanna-be criminals trying to encroach on my territory."

Foolish already knew what Dream's expectations would be, and he knew that Chief Sneeg would not be too fond of how he would be getting this information. "I don't want to be a part of your gang."

"And I don't want you to be a part of my gang. Do you know how bad it would look on me if I let a cop join my ranks? Fuck that," Dream said. He laughed. "Look, all I want is a mutually beneficial working relationship. We'll help your investigations given they interest us as well, and you help us from the inside."

"And if I don't agree?"

Dream looked back at Sapnap, who quickly crossed his arms to make himself look tough. "Well, Sapnap will just have to clean up this mess for us."

Foolish swallowed hard. "Okay," He said. "You have a deal."

Dream hesitated for a moment before he stepped back, giving Foolish room to stand up. "Good, I think this will be the start of a wonderful partnership." Dream extended his hand to Foolish, who took it and shook it firmly. "Though, you owe me for injuring my knee."

"I'm sorry," Foolish said.

"Whatever," Dream said. He limped back to the bench he was laying on earlier, and he leaned against it. "So tell us about this case."

Foolish stared at Dream, the details of the case were almost hazy to him now, though he figured it must have been the concussion which did this to him. "Uh." He needed just one moment. "Her name is Linda Bellman, cause of death was blunt force trauma, and traces of neurotoxin were found in her lungs and a coin was found on her person."

"That's it?" Dream asked.

Foolish nodded. "Neurotoxin and coins are all I have going for a connection."

"Oh shit," George suddenly said. "It could be Callahan."

Dream scoffed, shaking his head, though Foolish was left excited. Maybe they finally had identified his suspect. "That's not possible," Dream said.

"Well, why not?" Foolish asked. He wasn't sure who Callahan was, though he suspected it could have been some person the Dream Team was acutely aware of.

"Yeah, Dream. Why not? Callahan could be behind it," George said.

"Because," Dream said pointedly. "Callahan has some sense of self control, especially since he has been a part of the Dream Team. I hope you can find someone else."

George sighed as he slumped back. He seemed to zone out, though the occasional flash from his sunglasses showed that he was actually looking at something. "Fine, I'll look at the files and see if I can make a connection," George said.

"How? All the files are on my watch, which you broke," Foolish said.

"Oh, don't worry, I downloaded all the files before I did," George said. He waved a dismissive hand.

"I have studied those files for years, how are you going to catch something I didn't?"

"Because he's a genius," Sapnap said. "And his computers do it for him."

"Forget about George for now, let him work. We still need to discuss your involvement," Dream said.

"I'm not going to work for you," Foolish reiterated.

"You're only going to be a contact. Of course, you will be compensated for your work, both in the agreed arrangement, but also in cash–clean, of course. Wouldn't want you getting fired," Dream said.

Foolish knew that he would have to stay in the deal, and the thought of that made him feel so dirty. "How long?"

"I don't know," Dream said with a shrug. "Until you stop being useful." Foolish knew that usually meant that indefinitely.

Luckily he didn't have to speak again as George piped up. "I've narrowed the killer's location down to a number of addresses. I'll send them to you as soon as you have your phone again."

"Look at that, already done," Dream said. He stood up, and he looked at George. "I'm going back to the party, Sapnap will take care of you."

"Take care of me?"

"Just listen to him," Dream said as he walked out the door. Even as the door closed, he could see him now leaning on George for support.

Quickly, Foolish looked back at Sapnap. "What are you going to do?"

"Ever heard of plausible deniability?" Sapnap asked. Foolish hesitantly nodded. "Cool, I'm gonna knock you out and dump you where either someone will find you or you can figure out how to get back to wherever."

"Wait, please, I don't understand," Foolish said.

Sapnap looked inpatient. It was quite obvious he just wanted to get his job done and go back to the party with George and Dream. "What, dude?"

"Why would you guys help me?"

Sapnap laughed. "Because you're useful, idiot." Foolish could only stare at Sapnap with a dumbfounded look, but then he was able to get ahold of himself. "Listen, I can promise Dream won't make you do anything real bad. He may be the leader of the Dream Team, but he's not a complete monster. Plus, you're going to have our resources for your use to solve crimes that we also want solved, isn't that a good thing?"

"I'd rather get it from somewhere else," Foolish said. "But if it means more good than harm is coming out of this, then I guess it could be worse."

"Exactly," Sapnap said with a nod. "Okay, so you have a preference on where to dump you, or…?”

Foolish sighed. “My car, if you can.”

“Sure can, sorry about this,” Sapnap said as he balled his fist.

Foolish pulled back. “What?” He earned no response as he saw Sapnap’s fist coming straight for his jaw.

~~~~~~~~~~

Being knocked out this many times was likely not doing Foolish any favors. His head was swimming as he opened his eyes. He was happy to notice that he actually was in his car. He didn’t want to know how Sapnap got him in here, but he was at least thankful he was back here. He clearly knew that he shouldn’t be driving, but he knew he needed to get himself some help. He needed to get to the hospital, though he wasn’t even sure how he would manage to explain this away. When he looked out, he noticed something wasn’t right. He wasn’t a black away from the crime scene, like he should have been. He was in the parking garage of his apartment.

Heart racing, Foolish practically jumped out of his car so he could look around. He felt his breathing quickening and his chest was starting to ache as his mind couldn’t cope with trying to figure out how he got here.

“Foolish?” someone called his name made him turn around quickly, and even though he couldn’t force his eyes to focus, he had a feeling who it was. “Foolish, man, you’re trembling, what’s wrong?” H walked up to Foolish, grabbing his arm. He was still wearing the cat costume, but his expression was serious and worried. “Dude, what happened to you? You look awful, here, let me take you to the hospital.”

“No,” Foolish said quickly, which made H stop in his tracks. “Can you get me to my apartment?”

“I really think you should go to the hospital, Foolish,” H said.

Foolish stood still, shaking his head a bit. “Please, H.”

H looked into Foolish’s eyes for a moment, and that was all it took for H to change his mind as he let out a breath and wrapped his arm around Foolish’s back, letting Foolish put his weight onto H. “Okay, but you have to tell me what happened.”

Foolish nodded. He knew there would be no escaping telling at least H what he had done. He needed the help, and he trusted H. They were partners back in the day, and that kind of trust never really left, and Foolish was grateful that H had a copy of his apartment key. He didn’t have the energy to find his own keys.

H didn’t hesitate to help Foolish; sitting him down and getting the first aid kit to help clean up Foolish. “Is this a gunshot wound?” H asked as he poked at Foolish’s arm with a cleansing wipe.

“Yeah.”

“Where were you? Why didn’t you call this in?”

“I couldn’t,” Foolish said. He could see that H was confused, not that Foolish could fault him for that. “I was talking to the Dream Team and L’Manburg.”

“What?” H yelled. He jerked back. “By yourself?”

“I saw them at the crime scene.”

“Yeah, I heard you were on a case. Linda Bellman, right?”

Foolish nodded and hummed. “I followed Sam and Ponk, and they went to a Halloween party with both gangs.”

“Were they responsible?”

“This has to stay between us, H. As friends,not as detectives,” Foolish said. He pulled back from H as he tried to look at the wound.

“This was already stitched,” H said. He looked into Foolish’s eyes. “And you’re concussed, and you look like you went ten rounds with a boar in a cage match." Foolish wasn't budging, just staring at H with pleading eyes. He sighed. "Fine, it's between us. What happened?"

Foolish still felt skeptical. He knew H well, and he knew that H was an honest man. He didn’t like lying to people, especially other detectives. “You have to promise to me.”

“What, are we in elementary school?”

“I’m serious.”

“What in the world did you do?”

Foolish stayed silent, his faith in H slowly draining, and H could see it.

“Okay, I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

Just hearing the words was enough to give Foolish the reassurance he needed to tell H. “I paid off Dream and Wilbur so I could talk to the members of the gang. I only talked to eight people before things went wrong. I was kidnapped,” he started. H looked to be in shock, but he didn’t say a word, letting Foolish explain. “Dream and I got into an altercation, but Sapnap got the jump on me, knocked me out, and when I came to, I was restrained.”

“And you got out?”

“I thought they were going to kill me, but instead they wanted to talk. They offered me something.”

“You didn’t take it, did you?”

Foolish instantly felt guilty. To be fair, he had felt guilty the whole time. It was obvious on his face, and H’s eyes widened. “I had to, H. Not only would they have probably killed me if I didn’t, but they offered me something in return. They will use their resources to help me solve these unsolved murders, and other cases in the future. They already provided me with some people that might be the culprit.”

“Foolish, this is insane,” H said.

“We’ll be able to stop much worse criminals.”

“Dream is worse than most of the people we arrest and prosecute.”

“But we can’t touch him, so why not use him and his resources?”

H clearly had more reservations, but he tried to set them aside. “And what are you going to have to do? Join the Dream Team? Follow everything that he says?”

“No, not at all, he doesn’t want me in his gang. I just need to help him from time to time.”

H was slack jawed, shaking his head gently. Finally he stood up and turned to the door, already pulling his phone out. “This is wrong, Foolish.”

Foolish reached forward quickly, pulling H back by the back of his shirt. “Please, try to understand,” Foolish said. “I know this is wrong, but I’m doing the least harm I can. I let the Dream Team go, while we catch murders and kidnappers, and all sorts of criminals, but I need you in on it.”

H pulled himself free from Foolish, and this time he just stared at Foolish with shock and confusion. “Why?”

“Because I need someone that knows what I'm doing to have my back. I can’t do this alone,” Foolish said. H chewed his lip, and he was shifting in his stance. Again, he turned away. “You’re not going to call the Chief, are you?”

“I should,” H said. Foolish felt his heart drop. “But I won’t.” He turned back to Foolish. “You’re right.”

“I am?” Foolish was shocked that H actually agreed with him. He quickly cleared his throat, he shouldn’t have sounded so surprised.

“While I don’t necessarily agree, you are right that we are doing less harm than good. As long as I don’t have to work directly with Dream, then I guess I can’t say no. I’ll cover for you, but can you at least warn me next time you do something like this?”

Foolish chuckled. “I will. I can’t thank you enough, H.”

“You can start by helping me solve a couple of my cold cases, but first, we need to get you some rest and we need to come up with a good cover story for where you were all night.”

Foolish nodded as he finally let the tension release from his body. He leaned back and closed his eyes. Figuring out how to cover for himself would be a job for the next day. Tonight, he just wanted to rest, and he could rest more comfortably knowing that H was there to watch over him.