Chapter Text
'`— chapter I —`'
Tommy sat back in his chair playing with a cherry in his drink, waiting for Quackity to finish some boring, shit about reuniting heroes and villains at once and furthermore peace bullshit. As a result, It was only a matter of time until a hero lashed out at a villain and everything went apeshit. Starting from a good ol 'friendly, odd communication to bloody knives in each other's backs, forcing everyone to flee this shithole of a masquerade party at any possible moment
That was Tommy’s admissible favorite, he overly enjoyed watching the media (Mainly twitter) blow up the next day about the great Las Nevadas slip-up, happening all because an all-mighty praised hero getting looked at the wrong way, and then stirring up the riot. Underneath every attached post containing content from the masquerade would be hashtags like #CancelTHC or #Worstherooftheyear. Pfffttt stupid fuckers, most of their worries were media.
“This year's annual gathering at Las Nevadas is honored to uphold the hostility of the most powerful supervillains..” Quackity declared with a silvery tone, raising a hand to the left side of the room where the Syndicate was situated. A couple of spotlights flicked on, and Tommy immediately recognized the villains' memorable, horrific costumes. Insight had his feet laid on the table, dirtying up the table cover while Aresthon rubbed his fingers against his honed axe. The rest of the Syndicate members leaned to the sides of their squeaky chairs, whispering something into their neighbors' ears while some vacuously stared off into only XD knows. Orpheus seemed to be the only one paying attention, tilting his veil to the side where the THC’s heroes were settled.
Villains' morals were the epitome of elegance muse to Tommy’s ‘flawless’ beliefs and morals. The Syndicate always had justifiable origins for terrorizing the cities property pretty much weekly- only to consequently meet The Hero Committee's ‘heroes’. Tommy and his allies apprehended that all the THC was, were a bunch of assholes that were bound circus freaks to the mayor’s, and media’s command. Tommy has never and will never forgive The Hero Committee, never.
“..The utmost important presence of our cities' most wealthy, favorite Superheroes, and their valued allyship with The Hero Committee…” Quackity grimaced as he read the last part aloud, Tommy caught that he looked almost disgusted. Almost. Quackity then raised his free hand to the Hero committee’s side of the room, the spotlight flicked on, and there they all sat. Back’s straight, hands on the table with little to no haphazard. Fucking perfect princes and princesses, trying to look perfect for the media’s expectations.
As Tommy rigorously scanned the crowd of heroes, a pair of non-existent eyes fixed on his. The non-existent eyes were a little metaphor to describe that confidential, discreet, horrific mask. Circe. Tommy’s back straightened unanticipated.
RUN. SCARED. BAD.
A little voice Tommy named Red wailed within the soft tissue of his brain, hurriedly warning him of a potential precipitant encounter with Circe. Red was always right, even if it got Tommy in trouble sometimes, Red made sure he was alive and breathing. Surviving, not thriving.
Tommy’s stare only fixated on Circe’s mask, making his background vision become vignette and blurry. The mask’s eyes bore into Tommy’s, slowing turning time to a complete stop. Making minutes turn into hours, and seconds into minutes. Their stare held, not daring to make a little shift or a little move.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Rule number seven. Never make unnecessary communication with puissant people, especially heroes and villains.
Even Tommy’s stalwart allies knew better than to make eye contact with powerful people like superheroes and supervillains. Whereas with The Hero Committee, it obviously always begins with a contract or two, and then they own you even after death. With supervillains? Only XD knows, maybe they kidnap you and then go for the kill once they erase all the information of you ever existing-
“Hey- are you okay?” A heavy hand fell on Tommy’s shoulder.
Tommy stumbled back in his chair alarmed, snapping out of the gaze and jolting his seat rather a little bit too violently. The chair tilted backward making Tommy wave his hands in the air to try to balance, but when the time came it was a little too late for that.
WHAM!
The blonde's face met the rather not-so-comforting floor, making his head pound internally for a minute. Feeling shocked, he surrendered to the filthy concrete. Tommy lifted his head just enough to shoot daggers up at his willowy accomplice’s sunglasses. Ghosts ought to be more considerate and observant to learn not to sneak up on him like that, the dude could have given Tommy a heart attack and killed him. Ghost should be grateful that Tommy hasn’t murdered him yet. Yet.
“I’m fine Ghost, I don’t need your Paw Patrol bandaids anytime soon. And I don’t want your pitiful worried glances either, save 'em for the next time you see me hit Bumble” Tommy growled through his teeth, he did actually want a paw patrol bandaid but he will never admit it.
“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to spook you, just wanted to know if you were okay you looked really.. Out of it.” Ghost paused for a second, glancing to the Stage ahead of them and then at Tommy.
“Maybe it’s because I scared you too bad like the ghost I am” Tommy could practically hear the smirk under his mask.
God Tommy hated the fucker.
“You are incredibly lucky that I am a very mature human being who actually cares for a hurt person, or else you would have been gone long ago.” Tommy threatened in a monotone voice, grinning
“Woah Woah Woah, no need to be aggressive now”
“Don’t underestimate the shit that I will accomplish, boo boy. I will give your name an origin story.”
Ghost gulped, turning to Tubbo for help. Fucking pussy can’t even argue and win his own battle.
“You wouldn’t dare hurt Ghost, Nemesis.” A tight voice half-jokingly declared, from beside Ghost Tommy moved his head slightly to the side to greet a mess of curly chestnut brown hair, and menacing vintage motorcycle glasses. Bumble.
“Fine, I won’t hurt him” Tommy rose himself from the cold floor, dusting the dust off his cloak and pants, folding his arms.
Bumble raised an eyebrow at Tommy and exchanged glances with Ghost. Ghost just shrugged and surrendered his hands in return, turning back towards Tommy again but was a little bit too late to react to what he had coming his way. Tommy was lurching at him at full speed.
There was a blaring sound of a chair clattering and before Bumble’s eyes could register what was happening, both Ghost and Tommy were on the cold cement grappling with one another. Tommy was trying to put Ghost into a headlock while Ghost tried to struggle his way out of the mess.
“Ghost! Nemesis! Seriously??? Not the time or place! Nemesis I told you not to hurt him.” Bumble whispers yelled, trying to maintain a serious posture.
Tommy proceeded to pin Ghost who was perplexed to the ground, his head hit the ground with a ruff thud. Tommy contemplated on whether to look Bumble in the eye or not, Bumble is going to murder him later- so let this be a problem for future Tommy. But for now? He has to stall quickly.
“I’m not hurting him Bumble, I’m just teaching Ghost boy here why he shouldn’t mess with the most awesome person here. It will resolve future drama, trust me.” Tommy maintained Ghost looked up at Bumble with pleading eyes for any sort of help.
Only receiving a huff and a pinched nose bridge from Bumble, who shook his head letting out a quiet snicker. Ranboo let out a defeated sigh. That must mean Tommy is obviously too good at reasoning and convincing- and fighting- and being awesome.
With Ghost giving out, Tommy took hold of his neck and locked it into place, giving Ghost’s hair a violent nugie. “And our cities' most exemplary, estimable, obliging vigilantes!” Quackity delightfully declared, cracking a smile that outwitted the scar running down his face. He raised one more hand to the middle of the room where the vigilante’s dwelled- Where Tommy dwelled.
Tommy snapped his head around to the source of the voice, meeting a blinding light, and plenty of eyes laid on him and Ghost. Tommy could only gape at realizing what was happening. The sound of a soft click from the button, Quackity’s third introduction, and eyes staring him down? This was his first official introduction to the public eye.
CONFUSED. PANIC. STOP.
Tommy squinted and raised his hand in front of his eyes, making some shade so he could see properly. He quickly glanced at Ghost, who seemed just as uneasy and embarrassed. And now, you may wonder, how exactly could Tommy tell? The man’s forehead blushed the same color as a pomegranate, and so was his and maybe- probably Bumble’s.
Snickers came from all directions of the room, Eventually, the snickers and chuckles turned into a crowd of laughter. Tommy means Everyone Was hysterically laughing at them. The superheroes, the supervillains, the people watching the masquerade live, the servants, Orpheus, and Circe. Quackity broke out into laughter, making the volume and everything ten times worse than before.
Tommy pulled away from Ghost humbled, quickly dusting himself off and grabbing his chair to take a proper seat. Ghost followed, glancing at Bumble who was fixated on the stage- probably too embarrassed to be associated with them.
The stress forced a single down feather to lightly fall from his bounded wings that lay under his cloak, and only a single soul saw.
“I was going to go on about not making this year’s gathering a gong show, but I was too late for it!” Quackity announced tying off all the jokes and games, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. The crowd slowly calmed, and the laughter came to an end.
“Putting that aside now, we are having our annual novice’s initiation to a new inauguration! Introducing our cities' valued vigilantes, we have Bumble, Ghost, Purpled, and Nemesis! Unfortunately, Purpled was unable to make the introduction tonight.”
The lights flicked off and new lights appeared. There were individual lights for each vigilante that flicked on, a beam of the spotlight that gathered the divided attention. Tommy was still in shock of utter embarrassment and wanted to cry ever so badly, but still managed to wave a hand to greet the crowd. Shooting a wide smile, squinting his eyes ever so tightly to avoid the crowd’s gaze. He could feel the arising mourning feathers wanting to fall from under his cloak, to show the waltzing embarrassment.
In the corner of his eye, he could see Bumble gradually jump onto the table and wave both hands to the crowd, while Ghost waved his hand like the goddamn fucking queen.
“I am hoping that in the near future, these brilliant young lads settle on a decision of being a superhero or a supervillain, to show that we can all unite peacefully someday. And in hopes, being guided under a vision or a wing.” Quackity eyed Orpheus and Circe back to back.
~—————————————————————~
Once Quackity was finished with the grand opening, everyone was dismissed to the main lobby for an intermission until further notice. Now was Tommy’s time to flee this hell of a place, and go home to a warm blanket and freshly steamed ramen. But no.
Tommy sat on a mini bar stool sipping on chocolate milk while waiting for Bumble to finish up doing whatever the hell he was doing in the washroom. Whilst Bumble was busy, Ghost talked around with different people. Especially the heroes. Fucking traitor is breaking rule number seven.
He scanned the lobby, it was full of the casual hero talking to heroes, and villains talking with villains. A few occurrences of a villain and hero seemingly having a good conversation, but it gets awkward after two minutes. Tommy couldn’t judge them even if he wanted to because it wouldn’t be right- not that he couldn’t hold eye contact while talking or anything. Nope.
While Tommy was waiting for his accomplice, a tall figure dressed in a partially covered dark blue mask, a dark blue cloak that touched from shoulders to toes, and high black boots approached him. Tommy could practically see the figures' frizzy brown curls bounce up and down as he walked over to him, shit.
“Greetings, the name is Insight” Right. That guy.
“I am honored to meet you, what was it? Neverish?” Insight questioned, tilting his head.
“Close enough, The name is Nemesis.” Tommy tried to play it off like he didn’t care about who he was talking to, but there was really no way of hiding it.
“Well Nemesis, I was wondering if you were interested in anything that the Syndicate does. Anything that appeals to you at all?”
There are so many things Tommy would like to ask away about the Syndicate to Insight. Such as ‘How does Orpheus deal with being an Avian? How does he hide his wings in public so well?’ Or ‘What are Aresthon’s powers? Is he a hybrid?’. He would ramble phenomenally if he could, asking questions about their morals and flaws. But in this situation, it’s Insight he’s talking to, not a friendly neighborhood vigilante who is all jokes and smiles. Insight is a villain may Tommy remind himself, he’s killed thousands of innocents and he is a ruthless, cold-blooded, backstabbing man. Backstabbing.
“Mmm, not really big man. I prefer heroes if you know what I mean.”
Lies.
Insight only grinned, leaning closer on the counter next to Tommy.
“Are you sure? A lot of things we do are interesting and we are genuinely honest with our morals. I think that some things will interest you. Maybe even joining us. The syndicate! Anyhow kid, may I ask what your power is-?”
Tommy cut Insight off, covering his ears immediately. grimacing at the mild pain that shot through his ears. A high pitch sensation from the voice Insight used was the trigger to making an earshot pitch ring in his ears.
That was Insight’s voice, the one he killed thousands with. The one he controlled people with. The one he used as a weapon and not to help. The one he was famous for. The one that made it worldwide on the news, discussed by reporters and the media. The one he just used on Tommy. Insight’s vocal hypnosis. The voice.
Tommy squinted open his eyes, making the two worlds he saw come back to one. The world's blur only became somewhat clear to his vision after Insight handed him a glass of water- When did Insight get the water?
Insight moved his head to look him right in the eyes, shooting off a stare that looked… Dumbfounded? The charcoal eyes locked onto the ocean blue eyes, both reading each other’s past and thoughts. Everything right now, made Tommy and Insight vulnerable as sheep in the wild. Tommy should be scared right now, he should be under every command of his. He should be petrified at the scene that’s under his nose right now. Insight was the predator. Tommy was the prey.
“Look- I- I’ve really got to go now” Tommy mumbled only allowing Insight to hear a few muffled words. He blinked a couple of times to adjust his vision and wiped them for extra measurements. Tommy leaped off the stool hesitantly and stopped on spot. The iron deficiency that ran through his blood stopped Tommy right on the track, making it so that when he stood everything looked like a kindergarten painting again.
Only having a few moments before tumbling backward, he grasped onto the counter mid-fall. Behind himself, Tommy could see a pair of long arms reaching out behind him just to quickly pull back when he recovered from the fall.
“Thank you for meeting with me, Insight. It was very uh lovely to have a great conversation with you-“
Trailing off Tommy glanced to the washroom door and saw Bumble strolling out waving at him.
“Wouldn’t you want to know more-?”
Tommy hastily pushed himself away from the counter and dusted off the imaginary filth from his shirt, ignoring the rambles Insight persuaded. This man was dangerous just like any other person here, Tommy didn’t need to listen to his useless information and ‘helpful’ promotion. Insight was just another kidnapper that lusted for power and trust.
He turned his back to exit the conversation, a bird and its predator were only starting to kill each other.
Striding away a few steps, Tommy didn’t get far. A firm gripping hand squeezed onto Tommy’s wrist, moving in a strong force that pulled him back towards Insight. He yanked his head backward to question Insight’s actions, only if he knew what a ‘simple’ conversation sparked.
“I tried playing this nice and all, but you're being really difficult to work with here. Now I’m going to ask you one more time, Nemesis: What are your abilities?” Insight growled through his teeth, expression unreadable from afar. The grip on his wrist tightened.
Tommy stayed quiet. He ignored the pitching squeal in his head. Insight threatened more, tightening his grip to the verge of giving Tommy a snake bite.
The most reasonable actions to do right here were to fight back and hide, but the most rational action was to play along with the show’s script. To play the mouse, that deceives the cat into its own cheese trap.
“My abilities are water manipulation and I am an Enderman hybrid.”
Insight scoffed at the answer, seemingly approving of it as he was giving off the world's most shit-eating grin. The grip on Tommy’s wrist dropped, letting his blood circulate thoroughly once again. He pulled it to his side and rubbed his wrist with his free hand, there were fingerprints imprinted on his skin. He could only stare at Insight with a disquieted look, pretending to be scared.
"Well. See how easy that was? Co-operation really did something for you there."
Before Insight could continue ranting, Bumble saved him in the nick of time, skipping his way over and claiming he needed to attend to some important homework at home, it was urgent. Insight gave Tommy a single glance, pushing himself away from the counter as well and walking towards the other Syndicate members. Bumble waved his goodbyes to him and grabbed Tommy’s shirt without a word, having to peel Ghost from a conversation with Circe.
The trio burst through the grand doors collectively, pacing themselves as they strolled to their reserved limousine. Once inside Tommy buckled up and threw his head back onto the car headpiece slapping a hand onto his face. The wings bound on his back practically threw a tantrum to be loose and let out, the painkillers and Orpheus were the only things keeping him from showing them off to the public eye.
Today’s introduction to the cities Vigilante’s was supposed to be Tommy’s big day- his big reveal. There would have been fireworks! And- and he would have gotten an offer almost immediately- he- he busted his chance with the heroes and the villains.
If there were a thin wall between morals and justice, Tommy has accidentally broken it just now. The conversation with Insight disapproved of his justice to the public, but the denial within the conversation made Tommy's heart drop. He had the chance right then and there to join them. Join them for crying out loud!
Tommy could have got revenge on the hero committee finally. Even though he didn’t agree with Insight, the rest of the Syndicate may be bearable. To ensure that Bumble and Ghost were always safe away from the heroes, Tommy settled on the unwanted thought that indecisively flowed through his head. It was completely necessary to talk to them and join them, it was his own path and no one else’s. It was Tommy’s path, not Bumbles, not Ghost’s, not Insight’s, it was his, it was Tommy’s. It was on this day that he knew one thing for sure from the embarrassment and shock, Tommy chose to follow under the mentor of a wing, and not a vision.