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Dream had to be honest with himself here. He was impressed with Punz. More than impressed, actually he was in awe.
Heroes were hard to recruit to begin with. For one to join in not only from a background of mercenary work in the darker end of town but also have good combat skill while also melding with their team?
Dream was giddy over his addition.
Punz was one that he wasn’t sure of at first. Dream, one of the top ranked heroes in the city, got to say an opinion on any new hero that entered into their city. More than once he had pointed out to their leaders in government that a new person had too much risk involved and that they could be compromising all of their identities if they let them join. It was a hard game to play but if it kept his friends safe he didn’t mind.
Punz had a risky background. But Dream had also seen him around before. He’d known the mercenary as the type to help out the heroes after he made his buck. His loyalty had been to the dollar sign. Not a person. Not until now.
“What changed?”
He could see the other blonde glance at him and raise an eyebrow. They’d been sparring with each other for the last few hours now and through all of it Dream had been trying to get a good read on the guy.
Something was shifted in him. Something had changed. Part of Dream’s powers gave him the unnatural ability to read people with an accuracy of their intents but for whatever reason he couldn’t seem to fully make out Punz. He’d seen him before. Money driven. Work motivated. Loyal with a price. But that was different now. He was different now.
“What do you mean?”
It was Dream’s turn to raise an eyebrow. Punz wasn’t stupid. He’d known that since the day they first met. It didn’t matter if they were running between some of the largest gangs in the cities, if Dream had cash Punz would sell them in a second.
Dream was built on loyalty. He was a superhero. He had to be. Everyone on his team knew how important it was to be honest and careful. How loyalty was the difference between life and death for all of them.
A single slip. A wrong name. A misplaced mask. One moment could kill all of them. One wrong breath and their city could go from being one of the most protected to the most dangerous.
“Don’t play dumb.”
He could see tension in Punz’s shoulders. He could see the way he shifted and flexed his hands under the padded gloves they were each wearing for their spar. He heard the whisper from the world around him telling him Punz was hiding something. He was covering something. Dream needed to know what it was. He needed to make sure his family was safe with Punz on their team.
Punz had a shaded history. Dream knew that. Punz knew Dream knew that. What was he hiding?
“The great Smiler trying to interrogate me? You should know from the cops that I don’t break.”
They were circling each other on the sparring mat. Right now the only reason Dream knew Punz’s real name was because of his introduction. Until he became official for their team he wouldn’t know any of their names for the sake of their security.
Smiler, the city’s leading superhero. Dream, the guy who just wanted to protect his family and home. And still he was here feeling the world around him guide and whisper to him through his powers to follow Punz. To let him in and help him. Never before had Dream ever seen the world pull him so much to one person.
There was something in Punz, something that changed within the last month since he’d last seen the ex-mercenary. The world saw it. It felt it. And it wanted Dream to be there.
He knew regardless of what happened in here he was going to be alright. Both Sapnap and George were watching from the observation deck above them. One way glass kept Punz from seeing them but Dream could sense their focus on them and he could tell from the way Punz glanced at the glass when they first walked into the room together that he knew they were being watched.
Punz was smart. A capable fighter. Dream had his powers to help him but as far as he was aware Punz didn’t have anything like that to help aid him in a fight. He was simply trained and intelligent. Both were good. Keeping up in the fight with Dream like this made it impressive.
But while the world whispered to him that he needed to be by Punz Dream couldn’t help but feel a bit of doubt in the back of his mind.
It was strange for him. Strange to be drawn in for someone who he didn’t really know much about. He knew about Punz’s loyalties. He knew about his combat before because from time to time the mercenary would help them out in the physical fight rather than just in intel. He was a good combatant and good for information but his place in a team was honestly a liability. It didn’t make sense that his instincts were pulling him in as much as they were when they didn’t even demand his presence like this for people he trusted with his life over and over.
Part of him wondered if George and Sapnap could read him from where they were watching. Wondered if they were able to tell that he felt like something might be wrong where he was fighting down in the ring below.
Punz caught the look in his eyes. He watched him glance back towards the windows.
“Blaze and 404 watching?”
If Punz was joining their team then he needed to be honest. He couldn’t let his first start be with lies. He wouldn’t trust him in the field if they taught each other to lie.
“They want to see your skills as much as I do.”
He heard Punz hum.
“You’ve all seen them before.”
“But something’s changed, Punz.”
He saw the mild glare. He heard the world whisper frustration leaking in his intent. He didn’t want to hurt Punz or make him uncomfortable but he needed to make sure his family was safe at the end of this and this was the only way to do it.
“Smiler—”
“Anything you say will be confidential. If you whisper to me none of them on the deck will hear you.”
Punz rolled his eyes.
“Like I believe that you’re not wired. Bullshit. I’ve dealt with this type of thing before, I’m not an idiot.”
Dream frowned under his mask. He was trying to avoid something like this but it didn’t look like he really had a choice. Punz was already doubting them. He had nothing to lose if he just went for it here. He could prove to him that they were honest. That he was making the right choice by teaming up with them. That this wasn’t a mistake.
“How can I prove it to you? How can I earn your honesty?”
Punz was a creature of honor. For as much as his loyalty could be bought he still had honor. If he didn’t then he wouldn’t have ever considered working with the heroes of the city in the first place. He would have never given them intel or helped them in fights. He might have been a mercenary but he never did jobs that he felt crossed a line. It was something Dream had noted when he was looking over each of the files they had on him before he got to this part of his introduction.
Punz never took jobs against children or innocents. He was careful with his clients. Scoping them before dealing with them to make sure whatever job they gave him he could take. If it was someone who specifically wanted him and he didn’t like the job then he jacked the price higher to ensure they wouldn’t be able to afford him. A way to keep his honor intact as well as preserve his pride and reputation of work life.
It was smart. It also gave Dream an opening to use to try to make this work.
“We could spar for it?”
Punz was a good fighter but he hadn’t gone up against supervillains. Not properly, not like Dream had. He and Blade went toe to toe often enough to cause the city to rally whenever they fought. Top hero against top villain, they got attention. Dream still had yet to make up his mind on if that was truly a good thing or not.
“If I win, you tell me. If you win, you don’t say anything you don’t want to.”
He watched the debate. Watched Punz contemplate it for a moment before his hands flexed again. It was a tell. One that he was learning more and more by the moment. If Punz was nervous he would tap his fingertips together. If he was angry he’d press them into a fist and squeeze repeatedly. If he was debating or just burning energy he would tap his fingers against his thigh. If he was preparing himself for something, specifically a fight, he would stretch his hands out.
What he saw now was a stretch. His fingers bending back enough to pull the muscles and tendons and get them loose.
Punz nodding was anything but a surprise to him. The world whispered his intent. It whispered of Sapnap and George’s confusion. Their faith in him. It whispered the settlings of his surroundings to ensure he was ready for the fight it felt brewing.
Dream was confident. He had no reason not to be. He knew how Punz fought. He knew how he worked. It made sense. It was steady. It would be easy but he’d play a bit to make sure he knew the range of his combat power.
He wanted to make sure he knew what he was adding to his team. He wanted to make sure George and Sapnap saw enough to make their own assessments above.
“Why the interest, Smiles?”
The nickname caught on his mind. Something that really only Blade ever called him. If Sapnap and George wanted to nickname his hero name they typically shortened it to Smi in the same fashion they’d shorten Dream into Dre. Blade however, despite being his villain and the two of them fighting at each other’s throats over and over, called him Smiles and Greenie like it was second nature.
He let his smirk carry through to the tone of his voice.
“Can’t I get to know you?”
Punz lunged for him. They were still sizing each other up but the past mercenary made the move to get him. The world warned him of it first. Whispering to move to the side and so he did. He trusted the world unconditionally. It had never lied to him. It never led him wrong.
It was why he was curious why it wanted him by Punz’s side when it never had before.
“I don’t like talking to people.”
Dream made a face at him. The only evidence of it was the way the mask tilted at him.
“Oh come on, we both know that’s not true.”
He’d seen Punz talk to clients with the same kind of coldness and distance that he was using now. He was talking to him like they were about to set up some kind of a business deal. They were talking like it wasn’t a real conversation but Dream had seen him before out in the world. He’d seen him talking to children out on the streets when they were getting too close to a hot zone for the fighting between heroes and villains or anything gang related or even just a worse off end of town. Punz protected them and got them set in the right direction. He talked to them and told them he knew where they were coming from. He told them things.
Punz talked to people like they were people. He was talking here like he was hiding. Like it was a business.
“You don’t have to hide, you know.”
He struck out against Punz. Watched the white hoodie he was wearing slip just out of range of his strike at the last second. It was a good move. One that could keep him alive in a real fight.
“I don’t need the lecture.”
There was a bite in his tone that time. He was getting somewhere. He was starting to get to him. If the speed Punz was starting to use in his moves was anything to go by he was close to snapping on him in one way or another. If he made him mad then he would be able to test his skills while under pressure. If he told him then he got the information he needed and could work from there. It was a good test either way this went.
Maybe that was why Dream didn’t stop. Maybe it was the way he saw the world wrapping around Punz like it never did to anyone else.
“If we’re going to be a team then we need to trust each other.”
He watched Punz jump to attack him again. This time it was a flurry move that went hit after hit. If Dream wasn’t ready for it Punz could be doing some serious damage. He was excited for the chance to fight beside him in the future of this.
That was of course, after this all ended. He didn’t want to make a rift between them if this fight got more heated than he wanted it to.
“Punz—”
“Don’t talk to me about trust.”
There was heat in his words. Anger and a betrayal that he wasn’t sure the details of. It struck him then that something really had happened to the other. Paying more attention this time it wasn’t just his demeanor that was changed. It was hitting his appearance too. His hair before had been pale blonde but now it was looking just a few shades closer to white. He didn’t look like he was really sweating despite the length of time they’d been sparring with each other before this. Even with his own enhanced endurance from the world’s support Dream could feel the heat from his skin under the suit. He could feel the sweat that was beginning to gather at the nape of his neck and trickling down as his body attempted to keep him cool. Punz didn’t have that. Punz wasn’t reacting like a normal person should.
The world kept swarming them both. He could feel confusion from the observation deck. Sapnap and George must have noticed he realized something was wrong.
“What happened?”
The question came out again before he could get his mouth to stop. Pushing Punz for it here might actually not be the best idea. He might want to back off here for a bit and come back to it when things seemed to calm down but at the same time Dream had always been a curious creature and he didn’t think he would ever stop even if it killed him.
Knowledge was too important of a resource in this world. Especially with the lives all of them lived.
“I told you to shut up.”
Punz struck at him hard but this time Dream caught his arm. He held him in place. Masked green eyes locking onto furious open blue.
“Punz—”
Dream felt the world scream just a second too late. He felt himself freeze as Punz grabbed his arm for a brace and thrust his other arm forward. He moved faster than he should have been able to. He moved too fast for Dream to react or even properly see.
They weren’t armed. Neither of them were armed. It was just his hand. But the moment Punz struck the hit into his chest above his heart Dream felt the world mute around him. Cold washed through his body so quickly he wasn’t sure if he was shaking or not. The air around him felt like it stopped working. His lungs burned just long enough for him to realize his vision was blotting out the world around him.
He couldn’t feel the world. He couldn’t grab for it. It wasn’t telling him what was wrong. He couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t hear it. He couldn’t see it.
He just saw the realization and terror on Punz’s face. He saw the edge of one of George’s portals and Sapnap and him both launching through it before they all faded into the black with the rest.
Dream felt like he was floating. There was nothing around him. Nothing that he could sense. Nothing he could see or touch or even smell. He tried to pull a breath through his lungs to test it. He tried to make his lungs work.
They wouldn’t work.
He wasn’t breathing.
He was trying to do the motions of it but he couldn’t feel his body obeying. There wasn’t a stretch and there wasn’t a wash of air through his lungs. There wasn’t any pull of expansion and there wasn’t any burn from a lack of air being returned.
He was aware, but from what he was feeling he knew he shouldn’t be. What he was feeling would mean that he was dead.
Dream was dead.
He was—
There was yelling. Muffled at first but then sharper and louder. There were lights again and the burning was back in his chest but this time it was spreading from his lungs to his heart and everything hurt.
The world was screaming at him again. Loud and all consuming and there was too much around him for him to be able to focus or concentrate on any of it.
One sharp breath and he felt attention on him but he couldn’t get his body to obey him. He thought he was moving. He was trying to get up. Trying to stand or roll off his back but the most he got was an arm flopped onto his chest to claw at his heart and one of his legs to bend. He thought he might have gotten one of his shoulders to lift for a second but he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t be sure. Not when the air felt too thin and his body still felt so cold he wasn’t sure he knew where he was.
“Dream—”
George’s voice was loud in his ear. He was worried and the intensity of it came crashing into him so hard he had to stop himself from gagging.
“Dream, can you hear me?”
He kept trying to breathe. He couldn’t see. Everything was blurring around him too much and nothing was making much sense but he could guess the person shaped blob above him was George. The world wasn’t helping him like it normally did. It was trying to get him to go to Punz. It was telling him to check on Punz.
Where was Punz? What happened? Were they attacked? What was going on? Was Punz hurt? Was he hurt?
“Dre come on, you’re really scaring us right now.”
It was only then he registered that George was saying his real name. Where was Punz? They shouldn’t be using names if Punz was still undecided and there. They needed to be careful.
His eyes were starting to focus again. He could see George. He could see wetness in his eyes. He could see terror there.
“Geor—”
Dream was being crushed into a hug before he could even finish saying his name. He was so cold. He could feel himself shivering now but George felt so warm in comparison and being tilted up into the hug was making his head spin. He didn’t want to pull away. He wanted to cuddle into George’s arms and give into the exhaustion that was still beating through his body.
He tried to talk only to find his voice cutting out on him and his lungs struggling for air again. He took another breath, then two. He tried again.
“What—”
“Punz fucking killed you.”
Dream felt like his mind stopped working.
What?
“Punz killed you and he brought you back but we saw you get hit and then you dropped and your suit started alarming and coding and you weren’t moving and then—”
He reached and grabbed George’s wrist. He was going to send himself into a spiral at this rate and that wasn’t going to help any of them. His body was barely listening enough to him right now for him to be able to hold George’s wrist but he still managed to turn his head to the rest of the sparring room.
Guards were lining the mat. They must have been alerted by the code in his suit. The monitor for his vitals must have sent them in thinking there was an attack. An emergency. Which there was.
Because he’d died.
He’d been killed.
He could see Sapnap just a few feet away. He was standing guard for them. There was fire wrapping his hands. He looked ready to kill the second something moved but he didn’t miss the way he was angled so he could race back to them in a second if he needed to.
Dream saw Punz on the ground on the other side of the mat. He looked terrified. He looked like he was trying not to be sick. He was hugging himself and his face looked pale. He was staring at him. He was shaking.
“Punz?..”
His chest burned just when he said the name. The world was rushing around him and coming back now. It was trying to bridge them. It wanted them together.
“I’m sorry—”
“Sorry doesn’t fucking cut it.”
Sapnap’s anger was more than clear in his voice but Dream just kept his eyes on Punz. He realized slowly that his mask was off. That it was laying on the ground beside him and that Punz could see his face.
He didn’t think he cared.
“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything I just—”
He held himself tighter. Dream wished if his body was listening to him that he could get to him and try to tell him it was okay.
“My last client fucking—” He choked on his words but he started again. “I thought we were more than client and mercenary. I thought we were friends. So they invited me over for food and I went and then I woke up in a fucking testing cell—”
“I don’t buy it.”
George held him tighter when he spoke. Dream just kept watching Punz. The world was trying to pull them closer. It was demanding his attention. It was demanding they believe him. That they bring him in. That they keep him safe.
Punz just kept going.
“They experimented. They were trying to make their own powered mercenary so that they could use me to take the city and I—” His voice shattered. “I needed to get out.”
Dream could see the way the world tried to wrap him in a hug. He felt the pain tug in his chest trying to imagine what Punz was saying.
“You killed them.”
He didn’t need to ask it. He could see it in the way Punz’s eyes flickered through emotions. He could see it in how the world reacted as he spoke.
“I brought them back.”
He took a shuddering breath. He swallowed around a gag and kept going.
“They made me do it. A test. I didn’t want to bring them back but I couldn’t— They had me under their thumb. They gave me an order and I couldn’t get myself to say no so when they slept I ran and I signed up for here because if they wanted me to destroy the city they couldn’t do that if I was with the heroes and you guys would stop them from getting me and now I just—”
He was talking too fast. He was going to hyperventilate. He was going to give himself a panic attack if they didn’t stop him.
Sapnap’s fire had died down. George’s grip had yet to let up on him. But Dream made his choice.
“You didn’t mean to hurt me.”
Punz was shaking his head before he even finished talking.
“No. No I— I don’t know how to control it yet and I was frustrated and worried what you would say and I lashed out and as soon as I realized I stopped your heart I brought you back but I didn’t—”
Dream forced himself to try again to move. He ignored the dizziness that washed through him and the spots that flickered around his vision but George was helping him as he moved and he got into more of a kneel than a cradle in George’s arms.
“Punz.” He forced his voice to come out clear. He forced it to be steady. He wanted to make sure when this was done that it was done correctly. That it was done with care and honesty and a loyalty that he was sure Punz hadn’t experienced before. “It’s alright.”
Punz just stared at him like he’d grown a second head. Sapnap too. He could feel the look coming off of George.
“You can’t be serious—”
“He killed you!”
“He brought me back.”
Punz shook his head again.
“I’m a monster. I shouldn’t have ever even—”
“You’re part of the team.”
All three of them stopped again. He kept going before they could cut him off.
“We can help you. We can protect you. And you didn’t want this. You’ve been given something and you chose to use it to try to help people even if—” His lungs stalled again. He needed to pause for air. “Even if you think it was selfish you knew protecting yourself would protect others.”
He looked up at Sapnap.
“I want him with us.”
He looked at George.
“The world wants him with us.”
He could feel Punz’s shock. He could feel George checking the world’s stream.
“You’re kidding.”
“He’s not.”
Sapnap sounded like he was on the verge of lecturing him but he could sense his acceptance as well.
“He doesn’t joke about things like this. He means it.”
Punz was staring at him again. Dream tried to offer him a smile but he knew it was pained.
“Welcome to the team.”
He tried to laugh through the pain in his chest at the shocked expression glued to Punz’s face. The others in the room were starting to relax. He saw Punz’s shoulders begin to drop. He saw him begin to relax realizing this was really happening.
“I’m just glad you’re alright.”
Well— Dream could feel the fuzzy exhaustion still there, the way his head was going light.
“Actually I think I’m gonna pass out.”
He was out before he ever heard the three of them yell his name.