Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy was ten when it first happened. He was eating breakfast with his family, a familiar scene played out many times before. He ate like a madman, ravaging soggy cereal like it was the first time he had eaten in years. Steel scraped against porcelain wildly before he pushed back his chair and sat up, legs scraping against the cold hardwood floor. His mother scolded him and he laughed, the boisterous sound filling the room with mirth. He opened his mouth, prepared to quip back, but he chirped.

Tommy stopped, porcelain slipping from tan fingers, falling like Icarus to meet unforgiving hardwood. The sound reverberated off every wall, every surface it could find. Porcelain shards spread into every corner and crevice, searching for shelter. And in the middle of it all, the golden-haired boy stood, frozen in time like an ancient statue. His parents gaped up at him, shock filling every curve of their flush faces.

“You-you’re,” his mother stammered out, before standing up and pulling Tommy into a bone-crushing hug. “You’re an avian.”

He hugged her back tightly, softening into her arms as his father got up to join the hug as well.

“You’re a hybrid, like us,” his father whispered, the soft reassurance making his ears ring.

Tommy could feel the warmth of tears being cried into his shoulder, his mother's cries of joy being muffled only by the cotton fabric that clung desperately to his small frame. If he shifted a mere inch he would feel the crunch of broken shards, scattered and waiting to cut until all he knew were blood-soaked hands. But he didn’t move into the pain, the heartbreak, content to stay in his parents’ arms, where he was safe.

It felt like only days ago Tommy was a mere ten-year-old, astonished as golden wings sprouted from his back, as talons grew from tiny hands. Naive and wide-eyed, thinking only of the love and good the world could grant him.

The six years since then had taught him how cruel the world really was, and how before he knew it there could be a knife in his back, twisting and searching for a vein to bleed him dry. He saw how people were taken, tortured, and experimented on. How anyone classified as different was treated.

He saw them be dragged away, chains over bruised limbs as they begged for their lives. How those with a simple mutation that allowed them to shift into a fully animal form were treated like scum, shoved into the dirt and ridiculed. They were hunted for sport, for fun, for something so uncontrollable.

He saw the news report when they had finally killed the last one. The sheer joy on the news anchor’s face, the relief settling over like a wave that had finally reached the shore. He grew up watching a glorified genocide of the animal shifters, the genocide of his race.

But still, Tommy never, ever saw someone like him.

Every hybrid was a mix of human and some variety of animal. A person could shift into both their human and hybrid forms, but they would be unable to shift into anything else. It was impossible.

But Tommy could. He could quickly turn from a spider to a human to a mouse in a blink of an eye, without even breaking a sweat. He was more than a human and a hybrid. He could shift into anything.

But Tommy knew far too well what happened to those that were different, so he hid. He pretended to be an avian hybrid, the perfect son any parent would dream of. Tommy only shifted into his avian form, not willing to risk being discovered. A smart plan, sure, but a major detriment to his powers. He was stuck, watching longingly through tear-filled eyes as his classmates soared high into the sky, and ran faster than any human could.

But Tommy was weak. Golden feathers were the downy soft of a fledgling’s, and they were half the size of a fully grown avian. They flapped uselessly when he tried, succeeding only in creating a mere breeze. So when it came time for fellow hybrids to practice their animal traits, teachers and classmates turned their backs on him. On the child with blue eyes, brimming with hope and naivety, and when his gazes turned to barely contained rage and scorn, they pretended he didn’t even exist.

So when Tommy’s parents found out his secret, how he could shift like no other before him, he wasn’t exactly surprised at their reactions. But he did feel betrayed.

It grew in his chest, an ugly behemoth of a thing, twisting and writhing foully in his gut, tainting the bile clawing its way up his throat. They were his parents. The people who were supposed to clothe and feed him. The ones who were supposed to swaddle him in a warm blanket of care when he felt down, and rejoice at his victories, no matter how small they may be. The people who were supposed to adore him, to love him.

But they didn’t.

Instead they kicked him onto barren streets, cursing the day he was born as he shivered in the cold, alone.

From then on Tommy was a street kid, working shitty minimum wage jobs until they found out his real age, and he was forced to either run or risk being put into foster care. He lived in abandoned buildings and apartments with an assortment of health violations, but their rent was dirt cheap, and Tommy would take a roof over his head and a bed to sleep on over the streets.

By some miracle, his parents never reported his abilities to the authorities. That, he figured, would be the last thing they ever did for him.

So he took the small victory, and all the others after. The music discs and player he found for a discount at a garage sale that he used when his thoughts got a little too loud, the extra food his boss would give him on breaks at his job at the cafe. He took them all.

It was a miserable existence, depending on small mercies like these for his survival, but it was worth it because he was alive.

The crisp autumn air pricked at Tommy’s skin, lightly, but not enough for him to really be bothered by it. Dried leaves left a satisfying crunch underneath his worn boots, the only sound echoing off cold concrete in the dead of the night.

It was approaching five in the morning, and the moon was steadily approaching the horizon, but Tommy was still out. Not that he had a say in the matter, that is.

He trudged along, the watching rats scurrying away from him whenever he got too close. Tommy longed to be like the rats, to have a choice in where he went, what he did. To have control.

Eventually Tommy reached his destination. He squinted up at the sky, a flickering lightbulb obstructing his view. The moon was too far low in the sky. He was going to be late.

Tommy rushed towards the building, haste making his movements careless as he slammed the door open.

“What did the door do to you?” A voice behind him broke through his thoughts, and a low chuckle echoed off the cold stone walls of the alleyway.

“What’s it to you, prick?” Tommy huffed, crossing his arms, still not turning around to meet the mysterious man.

Behind him, the telltale sound of boots hitting the floor rang out as the man dropped from his perch on the nearby fire escape.

“It’s pretty dark out mate,” the man pointed out, tone dropping into a sweet softness that Tommy was unfamiliar with. “Not very safe, if you ask me.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, staring down the masked villain Aves. He was an avian hybrid, like Tommy pretended to be. The man had massive black wings coming out of his back, and sharp talons that could slice skin within seconds, and cause warm red blood to ooze out of broken bodies he had bested in battle.

“Like you care.”

At that, the man’s gaze turned softer, eyebrows furrowing in a soft sort of sadness.

“You’re a child out alone in the complete darkness! Anyone with half a brain would be concerned.”

“Says the man who burned down an entire building last week,” Tommy rebutted, slowly bringing one foot backward in a tortuously slow escape.

“The building with zero civilians in it?” The villain raised an eyebrow, begging him to try and refute it.

Tommy froze, knowing the winged man was right. In lieu of answering, he traced the curve of his mask with his eyes, marveling at the luxurious black fabric covering the lower portion of the man’s face. Seems villainy did pay well after all.

The villain sighed, forcing Tommy to stare up at the piercing blue eyes burning a hole in his soul.

“Listen, mate, I just came to make sure you were safe, alright?” The man’s eyes creased, like his mouth beneath the fabric was furrowing into a deep-set frown. “This area isn’t safe for children.”

Tommy gaped up at the man, raw emotion filling every empty crevice in his face. “You scumbag, I am not a child!”

The man in front of him stilled, a sort of shock overtaking him. At the fact that the outburst happened at all, or that a lowly civilian had just disrespected him, Tommy wasn’t sure. And he didn’t intend to find out.

So he stuck his hand out roughly, grasping onto the cold metal handle and yanking on it as the villain still stood there, dumbfounded. He all but tripped over himself, sprinting behind the safety of the door. Tommy yelled out a quick “Bye!” before slamming the door shut, and collapsing behind it.

He dug uneven fingernails into his scalp, pulling at blonde curls as the adrenaline rushed through his body like the tidal wave of a tsunami.

Tommy could’ve sat there for hours, or mere minutes, he would’ve been able to tell the difference. All he knew was the blood pounding in his head until he heard powerful wings flapping, signaling Aves leaving the premises. He let out a sigh of relief, letting air flow back into his lungs as he began to breathe again.

Footsteps echoed around in the back room Tommy was hiding in, and he looked up to meet the eyes of Niki.

Tommy met Niki after his parents had kicked him out. He had walked into her bakery, desperate for a job. And she smiled at him with kind eyes and agreed with soft words that made his heart feel warm (not that he’d ever admit that).

She had helped him get his footing, to get enough money to live. In exchange, Tommy took the hard shifts, the ones nobody wanted. So the blonde ended up on opening and closing shifts, rising early to bake each morning, and leaving a few hours after the customers came filing in. He had a few free hours then, and he mostly slept, until he returned for his closing shift.

Tommy was stuck in the darkness, watching the rise and fall of the moon on his walks to work in the deserted nighttime.

It did leave him prone to attacks though, as that was when superheroes, supervillains, and vigilantes roamed the area.

And until today, Tommy had been lucky. Only seeing them in passing, or watching from afar as rough hands punched clothed faces.

But now not only had he met one, he had probably just angered one as well.

“Tommy?” Niki’s soft voice brought him out of the thoughts racing through his mind at a vigorous pace.

Tommy pushed himself up abruptly, dusting the nonexistent layer of dirt off his pants to keep himself busy.

“Niki!” Tommy greeted loudly, smiling at her, but even her presence couldn’t quite make it reach his eyes.

She furrowed her eyebrows at this, and peered up at the blue-eyed boy. “You okay, Toms?”

And all Tommy could do was nod, a silence settling around the two as Niki frowned at the loud boy’s unusual silence. Her gills flared out, the merling becoming increasingly upset. Softly, she spoke again, using careful words as if she was approaching a wounded animal in the wild.

“If something’s off at home, you can tell me you know.”

And suddenly Tommy really, really regrets not lying about his age on his job application.

“I’m fine Niki, really,” he said, forcing his smile to grow even wider than before. But Niki still looked unconvinced.

“Listen, I just didn’t have enough to eat last night, okay? My parents weren’t home so I wasn’t fed. That’s it.”

Niki didn’t need to know about how he was living by himself in the poorest part of the city, Tommy reasoned. When he was by himself, nobody could find out about his powers. It was safer that way. And she especially did not need to know about him just angering a supervillain.

Niki nodded at that, seemingly content with his response, though she still seemed concerned. “Let’s get some food in you then, okay, Toms?”

At that, he smiled, a real smile that made his eyes crinkle and his heart feel warm.

“It’s food time, bitch!” He declared loudly, and ran off towards the front of the store, Niki laughing loudly behind him.

Tommy still had to help Niki bake and open the store when he was done eating, but Tommy was okay with that. He was full and happy, with a good acquaintance to keep him company at work. And Tommy was content with that, the warmth filling his bones like soft assurances of safety.

Except Tommy wasn’t safe. He lived in a crime-ridden, poor neighborhood. Living paycheck to paycheck. And now, he likely had an infamous supervillain after him.

But Tommy was fine, really. How likely was it that he came across another supervillain again anyways?

Chapter Text

As it turns out, the odds of Tommy meeting another supervillain were very high.

He was in one of his fully animal forms, a pig to be exact, testing out his powers. Due to disuse, Tommy was again stuck as a child. He was a tiny piglet, wandering the small clearing of trees nearby his apartment, squealing in delight as tree branches crushed under child-like hooves.

The night was peaceful, and the moon cast a bright light into the clearing, helping Tommy to see his surroundings.

But it didn’t help him quite enough.

He didn’t notice the figure following him. Didn’t notice the light footsteps tracing the path of broken sticks and crunched leaves the boy left in his wake. He was dressed in all black, shrouded in darkness by the canopy of the trees, and what little leaves they still hung onto, clinging like their lives depended on it.

The figure deftly maneuvered, pulling out cold metal, relishing in the feeling against his skin, the thrill of the hunt.

He cocked the gun, aiming at the small, pink piglet, aiming for his head. But Tommy heard. Heard the blood and gore looming over him, felt the promise of warm bullets burrowing into pink skin.

Tommy turned, watching in horror, unable to look away like it was a car crash on some distant road, to meet the figure. The man was short, and the gun only wavered slightly in his grasp. Not a trained killer then. An inexperienced hunter, perhaps?

But Tommy was a mere piglet, a baby. The kind people gushed over fondly, declaring loudly how they wanted to keep him like he was some sort of pet.

He wasn’t full grown, the one they hunted for sport and farmed for juicy meat, delighting as it melted in warm mouths.

No, this man was some sadistic figure. One who derived pleasure from killing the innocent, the unarmed.

And he was aiming straight for Tommy.

But before the figure could pull the trigger, a man descended upon him.

The man moved fast, inhumanly so. The figure barely had a moment to react before the man pulled out various knives. They glistened under bright moonlight, a deadly shine.

Soon enough, the flurry of knives had stopped, leaving only red in their wake. The figure clutched his stomach with both hands, his gun lost at some point during the fight. He ran through the trees, and Tommy gazed in dumb amazement at the man who had saved him.

He wore a deep crimson button down shirt, though whether it was originally red or if it stained red due to the warm blood the man was lightly coated in, Tommy could not tell. He donned rough black pants lined with pockets that likely held even more knives, paired with black combat boots. But that was odd, for that was the outfit that Blade, a supervillain, wore. Surely no villain would care that much, go to such lengths for a mere piglet.

And, oh. Tommy was a piglet. The counterpart to the piglins that had died off years ago, the only remaining trace of their existence being the rare piglin hybrids that roamed the planet.

Tommy looked up to meet the crimson eyes of Blade, a fearsome man with tusks coming out of the mask donned on rough features. His long pink hair was pulled back in a haphazard braid, as if the man had been in a rush.

And he had just saved Tommy’s life.

Tommy, the boy that had disrespected Aves. He had risked his life for a boy that had shamed him, shamed the infamous villain group SBI. And Blade had no idea.

So Tommy squealed up at the man, and he laced it with as much thanks and innocence as he could muster. Like he was just an innocent piglet, not the corrupted boy he actually was, hardened by a life that turned its back on him.

Blade crouched down and held his hand out for the piglet, urging him to come closer, like he would bring only safety and love to him.

But Tommy knew better. Promises and assurances of love could only lead to cold streets in the winter and too-thin t-shirts on a boy far too small for his age.

So he backed away, ever so slowly, like any sudden move would cause his protector to become his attacker.

Blade grunted, clearly unhappy with his reluctance, and the piglet stilled, only his breathing giving away his existence.

“Come,” Blade said, his deep voice resonating out in the night, luring him out of the clearing and into the trees of the forest. His tone left no room to disobey.

So Tommy skittered towards the man, a hurried motion, until he was resting in Blade’s roughly calloused hands. There was blood stuck underneath his neatly trimmed nails, the juxtaposition sending a shudder throughout his tiny piglet body.

The man hummed, seemingly concerned, as he checked him over. “No injuries, that’s good.”

Tommy tilted his head at Blade, feigning confusion, feigning not being the type of hybrid that only led to bloodshed and his untimely death.

Blade furrowed his brows, a strange motion, like he was confused as to why a literal pig could not understand him.

“Right,” the man sighed, “you’re good to go.”

He tilted his head at the man, again. What an idiot, Tommy thought.

The man buried his head in the hand not holding the piglet, like he was embarrassed at his lack of social skills. Being a villain didn’t exactly scream popular though, so it made sense.

He gestured vaguely with his hands towards the moonlight clearing, and Tommy was finally comfortable showing that he understood. He crawled off of his hand, and peered back up at the villain.

“I’ll protect you, runt, it’s okay.”

So Tommy turned and he ran back into the clearing, leaving a path of destroyed twigs and leaves behind him, and basked in the pale moonlight.

He was with one of the three most dangerous supervillains the city had ever known, in the dead of night as a tiny, weak piglet. But for some strange reason, Tommy felt better than he had in years.

Maybe it was the way he fought for Tommy, a boy he had never known. Or maybe he was being naive, trusting the man like this.

But in that moment, Tommy didn’t care. He was content to be there, in the wild, with the Blade. Because for the first time in years, Tommy felt safe.

At some point in the night, the piglet tired himself out. So he turned to the villain, squeaked at him in some sorry form of a goodbye, and scampered away into the depths of the forest. He waited with bated breath and keen ears until he could hear the footsteps of Blade retreating into the night.

Tommy looked around his surroundings, double checking nobody else was there, watchful eyes on the boy when he least expected it. But it was deserted save for him and the other animals roaming around the forest. He relaxed against the tree, finally allowing himself to turn into his avian form.

Golden fledgling’s wings on his back were weak, but good enough to get home. So the boy spread his wings out, relishing in the feeling, and he flew.

He passed the splotchy canopy, leaves falling in his wake from the gusts he stirred up in his flight. The wind rushed through his feathers, and Tommy rejoiced. He loved being an avian, the choices and endless possibilities, the sheer freedom leaving him breathless.

But it never lasted long. He had to go to work to afford to eat, to afford to exist. At this point, misery was commonplace to Tommy. Depressing walks shrouded in darkness, shifts filled with annoying customers. But this was the best he could get, so he played music to drown out silent nights and put on the best customer service smile he could manage, and the tips he got from it were enough to keep him going.

He landed on the windowsill of his apartment, quickly shifting back into his human form. He didn’t have any flowers on it like the lady down the street, no instead Tommy had supports. The boy had spent weeks saving what little spare money he did get, and it had all paid off. These supports allowed the sill to easily support his weight, and most importantly, a place to land after long flights.

Tommy slipped in through his window, touching down on carpet permeated by an assortment of stains. They were there when the boy got the apartment, but he knew better than to try and figure out what they all were. He’d rather not have that information haunting him on already sleepless nights.

He trudged his way to the bathroom, quickly brushing his teeth before jumping into the shower. The water was ice cold, a small discomfort that Tommy had to deal with due to the rundown stature of his apartment building. It was a short affair, his water bill really could not take anything longer than that.

After the shower, he pulled on the most comfortable clothes he could find, and entered his bedroom. Tommy plopped himself down on his mattress on the floor, and pulled the two thin white blankets he had over his shivering body. He laid his head on his deep red pillow that had just enough cushioning to keep from getting a crook in his head when he awoke.

And there he slept, barely comfortable, but content to let the warmth of sleep take him.

Tommy was running. The day was cold, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of snow. His sneakers were soaked, and his shivers were visible even through the thin red and white hoodie he donned.

Behind him, he could hear footsteps running, chasing after himself.

He could feel heat radiating behind him, permeating his senses even through the cold. Flame was behind him, fire running down his arms as he chased the boy down.

Tommy followed the path traced before him, the sidewalk he knew laid under the snow he ran through. He turned right, only to meet shining white snow.

The buildup of snow was higher than himself, the sun glistening off of it, blinding blue eyes. He crumbled to the ground, defeated.

The superhero walked up to him, slow, like he was taunting the boy with his every move.

Flame cackled, and Tommy’s eyes caught on the way his orange suit glowed with the heat running through it.

“Who knew the great shapeshifter was this weak?” Flame smirked, and Tommy wished that his mask would cover that damn smirk instead of the top portion of his face. He would do a lot to not see Flame right now.

He stuck his arm out, and fire danced down his arms once more, and Tommy knew the underlying threat in the motion. He didn’t dare move.

“Stay still,” he grunted out, and pulled out a pair of cuffs from his tool belt. “This won’t hurt.” Then Flame paused, tilting his head to the head as if considering some deep philosophical truth. “Too much.” And the grin that grew along his face drew more shivers from Tommy than any amount of snow surrounding him ever could.

Tommy was going to die here. Flame was going to kill him, but that would be the most merciful his fate would get. Most likely, the hero would bring him back to headquarters, and the government would experiment on him.

They’d take vials, gallons of his blood. Experiment with his DNA, tamper with his body, torture him. Do anything and everything to find out why he had his powers. By any means necessary.

Then they’d kill him.

So Tommy sat there, begging for Flame to kill him, to save him from the worse of two fates, to have mercy.

But the hero could not hear his silent pleas, so he closed the cuffs and pulled Tommy to his feet.

Flame had a deadly grin on his face, one Tommy knew far too well from his time on the streets. One that could only lead to bruised faces and empty wallets, to pain.

Flame put his hand on Tommy’s cuffed wrists, delight filling his eyes as the fire ran down his arm all the way to Tommy. He writhed, trying to get away, but it was no use. He was completely, utterly trapped. The boy had no choice but to watch in horror as fire spread across his entire body, consuming him whole.

Tommy screamed, but no sound came out of his mouth. He cried and cried but no tears fell from glistening blue eyes. And then, suddenly, he was gone.

Cold metal wrapped around his body, unforgiving restraints that dug into his skin. The chair was metal as well, and the coldness of winter sept into his very being. It reminded him of being pushed into the cold winter street, his parents’ unforgiving faces, of the abandonment.

Tommy sobbed, and tears finally, finally fell. The warmth of it burned, leaving scars behind on his once youthful face.

But the warmth spread.

And suddenly Tommy was screaming again, though this time the sound reverberated off concrete walls, shattering barred windows with its force.

Fire was on every inch of his body, and Flame was in front of him, speaking to him. What was he saying? Tommy couldn’t tell. The words all jumbled together, an ugly agglomeration of violent words spoken with aggressive body language.

“Stop,” Tommy whined, and even he cringed at the childlike voice that came out, the desperation dripping from the word.

“No,” Flame spoke, and this time he could understand the orange-clad hero with inhuman clarity. “Because you need to wake up, Tommy.”

He needed to do what? Wake up? That made no sense. And when did he tell Flame his name?

“Wake up,” the hero spoke again. “Wake up.”

Tommy pressed his hands against the side of his head, doubling over as a throbbing pain began to pound in his head.

He wasn’t in chains anymore. When did they get removed? Tommy didn’t know. All he knew was pain and jumbled words.

Flame took two steps closer, crouching down to meet the boy at eye level. He tilted his head to the side roughly, whispering in his ear.

“Wake up Tommy.”

He woke up with a start, hands roughly clutching thin bedsheets. His forehead was coated in a sheen layer of sweat, and the clock in front of him read a time far too early for the boy to be awake.

Panic jumbled his thoughts, a fog of panic and danger permeating even through the breathing exercises he did to calm his racing mind.

Tommy was still confused, sleep and fear addling his mind, but he knew one thing for certain.

The nightmares were back.

Chapter Text

It was far too early.

Tommy’s alarm was set for two hours in the future, but his mind would not stop racing, remembering.

It was early autumn, but frigid air hugging hugged his frame nonetheless. The deathly chill in the air reminded him of the season to come, the memories he tried so hard to suppress.

Tommy couldn’t stop thinking of governments and heroes, a chase that never happened but would promise death if it ever did. Of parents making phone calls that never happened, of national alerts that never went out. He just couldn’t stop thinking.

So before he could doubt himself, shivering hands pulled on a thin jacket, and twisted a cold metal doorknob leading to the outside world. Outside it was warmer than his apartment, an odd disparity but Tommy accepted it nonetheless.

The boy walked boldly out onto broken cobblestones, hoping to exude some sort of confidence to scare people off. The area he lived in was known for lurkers, those desperate for money in any way they could get it, even off of an already clearly broke boy. He shoved a hand in his pocket, his fist clutching the cold metal of his pocket knife. If he got attacked, it probably wouldn’t do much. Fuck, he didn’t even know how to fight, but it gave him some twisted clarity. Gave him a peace of mind that stopped his hands from shaking and his breaths from shortening, so he did it nonetheless.

The night was peaceful, and every alleyway he peered into was surprisingly empty. A pleasantly warm breeze barely even caused a stir, and his thoughts calmed to a lull.

Then everything went to shit.

A man jumped out of the alleyway Tommy forgot to check, and before he could fully comprehend what was happening, there was a cold pressure against his throat stopping him dead in his tracks. A knife.

“Don’t scream,” the man grunted out. Tommy could hear the practiced ease in his voice, the nonchalance in his tone. It was practiced, the man familiar with it like a dance he practiced in his sleep. His hands didn’t shake, and Tommy knew what he wanted without the man even having to speak.

His wallet.

It was a ratty old thing, made out of cheap faux leather, and it held only two pockets. Tommy used one for cash, the other for the only credit card he could get without some sort of personal identification. The other pocket held his fake id, but Tommy rarely needed to use it anyways.

It was lucky, in a way. The man wanted his wallet, a quick buck, no more. No needless violence, no stab wounds Tommy would have to spend what little savings he did have on treating. And especially no kidnapping. He was most definitely lucky that wasn’t happening.

Probably.

Tommy huffed out of his nose. “My wallet’s at home. I just went for a walk and forgot to bring it, I swear.”

“Liar!” the man roared, and even Tommy could feel the way his body started to shake in fear. “I know you have a damn wallet, just tell me where it is and you don’t have to get hurt.” The knife pressed further into Tommy’s throat, a silent reminder of what was at stake.

“I don’t know man, sounds to me like he didn’t bring the wallet.” A third voice rang out, and the man’s head whipped to the side to get a better look at who had just interrupted their ‘conversation.’

A vigilante dressed in purple clung to the side of a nearby building, his eyes trained on the man holding Tommy at knifepoint. He had a matching purple mask clinging to the bottom half of his face, shielding it from prying eyes.

Purpled.

He knew him from news stories, heard of how the spider hybrid heroically saved lives while actual heroes stood by dumbly. Tommy admired him, in a sense. How he was willing to risk his life for civilians, without connections. Without the superhero guild or the backing of the Syndicate, the villain organization run by SBI. He was free to do as he liked, fearless. No organization could force him to do as they told. But he was alone, without the connections to an axolotl hybrid, common for fixing heavy battle wounds. Or maybe that was just stupid, Tommy couldn’t tell the difference anyways.

The purple-laden figure stuck an arm out, a glistening white web bursting out of his hand as he did so. It clung firmly to the nearby lamppost, and he swung down, black boots meeting cobblestone in a soft union.

“Let him go.”

Tommy could feel the man’s hands begin to shake, clearly not used to drawing this kind of attention.

“No,” the man spoke, boldly. But his voice quivered and his body trembled, no real weight behind his words. No unspoken threat he could even dream of delivering on.

Purpled rolled his eyes, sticking his arm out again. This time, the soft web clutched the knife around Tommy’s throat desperately, reaching for some sort of hold. And it found it. The web wrapped all the way around, shielding soft skin from sharp metal. He flicked his wrist, and the web pulled back, taking the knife with it.

He did it so easily, so effortlessly. As if the fearsome robber from seconds ago was a mere fly in his house, that he had swatted away with ease.

The knife clattered against cobblestone, and the man startled, flinching like he had just received the worst shock of his life. And maybe he just had.

“Leave,” the word dripped effortlessly off of Purpled’s tongue, demanding the kind of attention that turned heads and made rooms fall deathly silent. Demanding respect.

The man retreated slowly at first, slinkily retracting his arms from where he held Tommy threateningly, careful steps barely sounding against the cobblestone. Then he turned on his heel, and he ran. He sprinted like his life depended on it, which was probably accurate, his footsteps sounding heavily like the breaths that likely accompanied them. Tommy didn’t dare to move til the sound faded into the distance.

Tommy inhaled shakily, unsure, like it was his first time doing so. When Purpled made no move, he inhaled again, relishing as the cold air hit his tongue. It satiated his desperate need for air, though it also encased him, inescapable. His breaths came faster, greedily taking it all in like a man parched in the desert, finally reaching a well and dying of thirst.

The blonde pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the rise and fall, what was once steady having descended into chaos. He took his time, making his breaths take longer and longer each time, steadying to match the clock ticking in his mind. The hand fell to his side, satisfied with its work at feeling the now normal pace thrumming in his bones.

“You okay, man?” Purpled spoke, breaking the silence that had fallen around them.

Tommy nodded in response, silence in his every move.

“Do you need a walk home?”

He shook his head, a vigor-laden movement. Even with all that just happened he still needed to walk, to clear his mind.

“I’ll see you around, then.”

Tommy again didn’t respond, just nodding numbly at the vigilante. His throat had closed up, and he feared a scratching noise that would barely even resemble language would come out if he tried to speak.

And so Purpled stuck his arm out, attaching his web to a nearby building. He swung onto it, and as quickly as he came, he was gone.

That morning when he came into work, Tommy could only be described as a storm. Some whirlwind or hurricane, ravaging the path before it. He was wild, his movements anything but contained as he baked muffins for the morning rush he knew would be coming in just a few hours’ time.

Niki didn’t comment on the oddity of it, just stared at him strangely and nodded to herself as if she had added that to a mental list of weird things about Tommy.

Tommy stirred the bowl full of fresh ingredients just too vigorously for it to be written off as normal. He almost burned himself one time on the scorching heat of the oven, too lost in thought to pay any real mind to his surroundings.

Unfortunately, the hours ticked by, and eventually Tommy made his way to the front, begrudging in his every move. The sign was haphazardly flipped to open, and he sat behind the counter, awaiting their first customer. He could feel Niki’s gaze on him, concerned, but he brushed it off. Tommy could not get attached. Not now, not ever.

The bell on the door rang, and Tommy perked up, head raising to meet the eyes of a man.

His eyes were a chocolatey brown, like the kind of chocolate he would stir gingerly into a warm mug, delighting in the hot chocolate being born underneath his gentle gaze, marveling in his new creation. He wore a yellow sweater, its obnoxiously bright coloring being only matched by his equally obnoxious height. If Tommy stood, he would probably still loom over him, and that was saying a lot given Tommy’s height. His jeans were a dark black, fitted in the way only a pretentious asshole could afford.

The man, at long last, reached the counter, fidgeting with his round glasses as he peered up at the menu. Tommy plastered on the best grin he could muster at 6 in the morning (curse this stupid opening shift).

“Welcome to Niki’s Bakery, how can I help you?” Tommy spoke as nicely as he could muster to the man in front of him. As much as he hated being awake right now, he hated the feeling of empty pockets and worn clothes more.

“I’ll have a medium coffee, black, hot, and a…” he trailed off, staring at the menu. He frowned. “What would you recommend?”

Tommy grinned. “The muffins.” They were to die for, a treasured recipe from one of Niki’s old friends.

The man nodded. “I’ll have a black coffee, two muffins, and a frappuccino with five shots of espresso.”

Tommy stared at the man, horrified. “Five?”

The man grimaced, seemingly remembering just how odd his order was. “Yes, five.”

He slowly moved to write it down, trying to process this absolute abomination of a coffee order.

“Name for the order?”

“Wilbur.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, a prick name only fitting for the pretentious-looking douchebag in front of him. He looked like he’d never worked a day in his life.

It took a few minutes, but he finished the horrific order. He called out his name, watching as Wilbur looked up from his phone and made his way over to the counter.

Tommy then noticed that the man had a scar running down from his cheek to his neck, faint enough that someone really had to look for it to notice. It was odd, the way the man dressed and acted screamed rich but here he was, scarred and in a poor area.

Wilbur reached into his pocket, pulled out a credit card, and pressed it into Tommy’s hand. The boy held tightly onto it. He treated it as if it was the crown jewels, and to Tommy, it probably was. That card had likely seen more money than Tommy had in his entire life. He ran it quickly, handing it back to the man.

“Have a good day,” Tommy smiled. Nice actions lead to even nicer tips, he found. And this situation was no different.

Wilbur smiled back, slipping a crisp bill into the tip jar. Tommy stopped, mouth agape, staring at the hefty tip he had just received.

He grabbed his food and drinks, slipping out of the door. Tommy’s eyes followed the man, and he heard the bell ring as the man left. Once his figure had retreated, he turned back to the bill in the jar, staring at it like if he broke eye contact with it, it would disappear.

Maybe the rich weren’t too bad after all.

Tommy’s shift was long, going from opening to closing. He did it some weekends, when it was busy and he just wanted to get away. Sometimes he just couldn’t stand frigid apartments and empty rooms, so he left and drowned himself in his work.

Barring his strange interaction with the man in the yellow sweater, it was a normal day. Boring and uneventful, with a few entitled customers here and there to make his life miserable.

As he exited his place of work, he found some comfort in his full pockets. Dangerous, sure, but there wasn’t much else he could do. He had to get the money home somehow. Maybe if someone tried their luck with him again, there would be a person there to save him.

But it was unlikely. Villains were the ones most common in these dirt-poor areas, vigilantes like Purpled only coming here on occasion. So he shoved his hands into deep pockets, clutching the money like it would disappear if he let go.

He glanced up at the sky, entranced by the stars above. Tommy had always loved nature, the sheer beauty all around him. Especially now, he loved the warm breeze ruffling his hair as he walked and- wait. There was no breeze just seconds ago.

He halted in his footsteps, body going rigid. Glancing around, he quickly found the source of the breeze.

There, flying in the sky above him, was Aves. Black wings flapped closer and closer, the villain descending towards the ground, towards Tommy.

Tommy gasped as he landed, all air suddenly out of his lungs, leaving him breathless at the sight before him.

Aves stood there, wings spread menacingly behind his back. His talons were out, sharp and glistening in what little light they could find in the black of the night.

“You.”

The sound of Aves’s voice cut through the deathly silence, reverberating in his eardrums.

Tommy was so dead.

Chapter Text

Tommy didn’t know much. He hadn’t been alive long enough to know a lot, hadn’t been in school to be taught like a normal child would.

But Tommy knew fear.

He knew the way it wrapped itself around his throat, coiling like a snake until he couldn’t breathe. He knew the way it followed him around, the way he couldn’t get rid of it, as attached to him as the shadow following behind his worn body.

And Tommy knew damn well how the sight of those black wings, the sight of Aves, made him more fearful than anything else.

But the feeling didn’t last long, quickly turning into one of shock as another figure made his presence known.

Hibernation slammed into Aves, his hands reaching out to grasp his legs. Aves elbowed the hero, knocking him off of his back, but it was too late. His legs had already fallen asleep, crumbling underneath the weight of his body.

“Run!” the hero yelled out to him, to Tommy. Tommy gasped, taking in air he hadn’t realized he had been lacking. The bear hybrid had just saved him; the hybrid, the shapeshifter, the criminal. Hibernation had just saved a boy whose very existence was illegal.

Tommy froze, his entire body going rigid at the realization. A hero was right there and he could be found out at any moment.

Tommy had years of practice. Of hiding his powers, his existence. But hybrids were different. During intense bouts of emotion, their abilities were triggered. So with fear rushing through his veins intensely, Tommy knew he was fucked.

Tommy could reign in his powers easily enough on any normal day. But like any other hybrid, the intensities of his emotions made it hard. He could already feel the fear urging his body to shrink, to compress and tighten into the body of a tiny animal.

He could already feel his bones compressing, his body urging him smaller.

Aves flapped his wings, launching himself into the air. He glared at the hero, seemingly debating something. The villain nodded to himself, flying to perch on a nearby building.

Hibernation pushed himself up, walking over to Tommy.

“Kid, you have to go.” The hero nodded towards the end of the street, trying to usher him away. “Once my power wears off he’s probably going to attack again, you need to run.”

But he was frozen to the spot, staring dumbly up at the hero. “I-“

Hibernation frowned, concerned.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay, alright?” He slung an arm around Tommy’s shoulder, not noticing how he flinched at the touch, or simply not caring. “Tell me about yourself, that should help you calm down.”

Tommy pursed his lips. To not answer would be suspicious, but he was determined not to give anything away.

“I have blonde hair.”

Hibernation nodded, encouraging.

“And blue eyes.”

“Tell me more,” he continued, “dig deeper.”

“My name’s Tommy.”

The hero smiled.

“Good, good. I got another simple question for you, okay?”

Tommy nodded.

“What kind of hybrid are you?”

Tommy’s blood ran cold. He knew, the hero knew, and he was going to turn him in to the government, he was going to end his life. He-

“Avian.”

The hero nodded, and suddenly the strange look on his face was gone. He patted him on the shoulder, beginning to lead him out of the area.

“Let’s get you home, okay?”

“Actually, I don’t think so.” And suddenly Aves was in front of him again, blocking their path. “You’re an avian hybrid?” He quirked his brow, like he was confused, like he knew something he wasn’t supposed to.

“Yep,” Tommy replied, popping the p. But the hand on his shoulder had squeezed him tighter, before letting go completely, fists clenched.

Tommy grimaced. He needed to get away, now.

The hero and villain launched themselves into battle, a flurry of hits and parries Tommy was too combat inept to understand. He turned on his heel and bolted, but heard Aves calling after him anyways.

He dove into an alley, only relaxing once his calls were stopped, the villain’s attention returning to the battle once more.

Quickly, Tommy’s body shifted. Fur grew over his body, his limbs shortening and compressing. The pressure in his bones finally relieved, and Tommy let out a sigh of relief. He stretched out his limbs, releasing a soft hum-like purr.

The golden kitten peeked his head out of the alleyway, watching the battle. Aves was winning, by a lot, but Tommy could see the way one of his wings didn’t move, completely frozen in time. The bear hybrid had put one of Aves’s wings to sleep.

Aves contorted his body, just narrowly missing Hibernation’s hand. He shifted to be behind the hero, knocking their heads together. Hibernation fell to the floor, clutching his head and howling in pain.

Aves took the opportunity presented to him, running off away from the fight.

Footsteps sounded behind Tommy, and he turned only to meet the face of Siren.

The merling hybrid was holding a detonator in his hand, looking upwards at the building across the street.

The merling hybrid was one of the rare merlings with a siren-esque power. When the man sang, he could do anything. Tommy had watched on his television as he had ordered people off buildings, bullets through skulls.

He was ruthless, to say the least.

Siren pressed his hand to his ear, speaking softly into an earpiece. He hummed mindlessly at the response, walking away from Tommy.

He shrunk away, hiding in a shadowy corner.

“Are you in position?” Siren asked, speaking into his comms once more. The villain paused, waiting for a response before he suddenly took off in a sprint away from the building. Tommy flinched, startled, and pressed himself further into the corner like it would protect him from the world.

Then everything went quiet.

Tommy couldn’t feel his limbs anymore, couldn’t feel his legs, his paws, his tail.

Spots began to appear, consuming the landscape in front of him. He was losing his vision, he-

The world went black.

Tommy woke to the sound of sirens.

There were ambulances, police, firefighters, everything.

The building was surrounded by them, and Tommy was on a nearby rooftop. He was still a cat, luckily his injuries weren’t bad enough for him to switch to human form in his sleep. But that didn’t mean that he was uninjured.

Tommy switched into his bird form, his eyes focusing on the building Siren had been looking at earlier. There was a gaping hole in it, and pieces of it had been blown every which way from the explosion.

He could feel blood on his wings, and his ears were still ringing, but that seemed to be the extent of the damage. He steadily lifted his left wing, delighting as it worked perfectly. But when he lifted his right, he knew immediately that it wasn’t the case everywhere. The right portion of his body had taken the brunt of the blow, especially his wing.

Quickly, the boy worked to right himself on short legs. Taking in his surroundings, Tommy knew he had no alternative. He was surrounded by people, there was no escape. So he did the only thing he could do.

He flew.

His wing screamed in agony, but Tommy kept flying. He flew over the emergency services, sparing a glance at a reporter trying to get through onto the scene.

Tommy flew straight through the open window, collapsing onto the floor. He shifted back into his human form, wincing at the twinge of his arm at the movement.

His left hand reached out, exploratory, before wrapping around a familiar remote. The boy fumbled with the buttons, but he eventually managed to turn the tv on.

The reporter’s voice washed over Tommy’s apartment as he relayed news of the explosion Tommy had found himself in, and he reached forward to grab from his meager stash of supplies while he inattentively listened to the man.

Deft hands quickly dressed his wound, the sting barely even registering to Tommy it was so commonplace.

He knew the basics of patching himself up from injuries. He knew how to dress a wound, how to perform stitches, everything the boy would need to survive.

His years of living on the streets weren’t pleasant, and they definitely were no match for the knowledge school would’ve brought. But that didn’t make those years worthless, he still learned plenty.

Tommy turned his attention fully to the tv, listening to the reporter droning on endlessly about a villain-hero fight.

He went on and on about the fight between Aves and Hibernation, but Tommy couldn’t care less. He was there for fuck’s sake, he was-

Tommy was there.

His eyes focused, inhumanly so. He clenched a pillow, and he could feel the talons emerging from his hands to sink into the soft object.

The television was displaying their fight, the loud sounds of their tussle blaring over the speakers.

He threw the pillow across the room.

Fluff spurted out of it, bursting its way out of angry rips in linen fabric.

Feathers sparsely coated his living room floor; but even the avian lingering in his brain, his body, couldn’t bring himself to care.

His eyes were too focused, his ears too honed, his body too tense. Everything in him felt unnatural, like a stranger living in his body. The fear, the panic taking over even his most basic of functions.

He put a taloned hand over his heart, feeling the racing beats under his fingertips.

Tommy inhaled deeply, a shaky breath coming out as he exhaled.

He needed to be calm. To think about this logically. Tommy hadn’t been found out for years. He was safe now. Nobody around him knew his secret, he had isolated himself for a reason. It was going to pay off. It had to pay off. To mean something. So that his years of sacrifice, solitude, and general hostility were worth something.

The footage they had of the fight was shitty. It came from the security camera of a nearby business, and it was more grain than clarity. The figures fighting were only recognizable by their sheer infamy, and Tommy felt his talons begin to retreat back into his body. He coaxed himself out of that primal fear-ridden state, feeling a sense of calamity begin to wash over his body as an undying sense of human overtook the boy.

On the screen, Aves turned, taking off in the direction of the alleyway. Thankfully, it cut back to the reporter sitting in the news station, and Tommy felt his muscles relax, releasing the last sliver of tension from his body.

“Another victory for the heroes!” the reporter smiled brightly. But Tommy knew better, he knew the lies behind it. He knew how they conveniently didn’t report on the vast majority of their losses. Didn’t show the heroes collapsed on the ground, blood rushing out of every pore in their bodies as they clenched their jaws to prevent a scream from involuntarily tearing its way out of their vocal cords.

The reporter moved on to another topic, and Tommy noticed that he hadn’t even realized the man had continued talking.

“In related news, in the footage of the fight, we captured something truly disturbing. It appears to be a shapeshifter, trying to hide his despicable nature in a darkened alleyway. Government officials are still reviewing the footage to confirm or deny if the species really is no longer extinct. The shifter is believed to be working with the villains, and if you spot it report it to your local authorities immediately.”

The screen turned to more grainy security footage. It depicted an alleyway, darkened by the black night. The figure was hard to make out, but he was there.

He was hunched over, and suddenly fur spurted out of his skin, covering his whole body as he shifted into a cat. The cat turned to look at a figure off-screen, Aves, Tommy’s mind supplied for him. The figure left, and the cat peered up briefly. The video paused on the frame, zooming in on the creature’s face.

Displayed brightly on the television screen, staring right at him, was Tommy’s own face.

Chapter Text

“You’re dead little shapeshifter,” Hibernation leered.

Tommy chirped fearfully and tried to fly away, but his wings were asleep. His feet were asleep. Every limb he had slept when he needed them most.

He pressed his face to the ground, feeling the roughness of the road underneath him. Tommy heard the hero scoff, and suddenly he wasn’t on the road anymore.

He was back in his human form, all of his limbs entrapped by rope tied so tight he could feel the beginning of wounds burrowing deep into his skin.

Flame and Hibernation were staring him down, dressed head to toe in their hero outfits. Next to them they had a cart with a tray on it, filled to the brim with tools.

Tommy squirmed in his seat, the rope tying itself tighter around his body.

“Do you know what the perks of being in a government run program are, little one?” Flame smiled, and even through his warm fire-themed persona, he managed to make Tommy’s blood run cold.

Tommy shook his head vigorously.

“We get funding,” Hibernation stepped forward, making his presence known as he spoke. “This entire building,” he waved his arm around for emphasis, “these tools,” a point of the finger at the tray, “your bindings,” his finger turned towards him, his eyes locking with a deathly cold. “They were all funded by them.” He smiled, and suddenly Tommy could see his entire face.

Hibernation’s mask was gone, discarded at some point unknown to Tommy, or maybe he never had it in the first place.

But something was just off about the hero’s face. It settled uncomfortably in Tommy’s stomach, like bitter words, bitter lies.

“Y-your face,” Tommy stuttered out.

“I hope that means you like it,” Hibernation sneered, “because it’ll be the last thing you ever see.”

Then a fist was colliding with his face, and Tommy was bolting upright in his bed.

Tommy showed up late for work that morning.

Niki ushered him in hurriedly, throwing his nametag at him and leading him to the back. Her brows were furrowed, and a frown had etched its way onto her features, but Tommy tried his best to ignore it.

The blonde forced a fake smile onto his face, praying to any force that would listen for her to believe it.

He could not let her get attached. Not now, not ever. Attachment only ever lead to pain, and Niki is too innocent and Tommy too scared for him to allow that to happen.

“Tommy,” Niki sighed, her soft features only giving away immense amounts of concern. “Please, Tommy, something’s clearly wrong. You need to tell someone, anyone.”

Tommy shook his head vigorously. Getting anyone entrapped in his world was a death sentence for them both.

“Please.”

Her eyes glistened with the beginning of tears, and Tommy found the words rushing out of his mouth like the flowing of water before he could even realize what he was doing.

“I had a nightmare, and they found me, they were going to kill me, Niki. What if they actually do? Niki, I-“ Tommy stopped abruptly. His lungs hurt, and he had to take deep, painful breaths to take even the most minuscule amounts of oxygen in.

“Tommy, look at me.”

Tommy peered up to stare into her kind eyes.

“You’re okay. I’m here for you, they’re not going to find you. I don’t care what you did or who’s coming after you. You have a home here at the bakery,” she finished with a reassuring smile.

And that was it for Tommy. The promise of care, of a home. Something he hadn’t known in years, since he lived with his parents. Since he was a little kid being held up in his father’s arms at the fair.

Tommy had almost forgotten how it felt. Even before he was kicked out, his parents had begun to grow distant. They’d forgotten him at school, neglected to give him lunch money.

But Niki was the opposite of that.

She snuck him muffins when nobody was looking, sent him home with raises he never earned, whispered reassurances into his ear on hard days.

Niki was the closest Tommy had come to a real family since he got kicked out, the sister he never had.

And all Tommy had done was neglect her. He had distanced himself under the false pretense that he was somehow protecting her, but now he was starting to see it for the lie it really was.

Tommy was scared.

He was scared of the government and the heroes working under it, but most of all he was scared of being abandoned. Of putting his all into them only for him to be left behind.

Niki was kind though, surely she wouldn’t leave him. So he pushed forward into her arms, and when she hugged him, Tommy smiled.

A real one this time.

Tommy was fucked. Aves and Hibernation could recognize him, and they knew that he was a shifter. His only consolation that he would be okay was that the camera didn’t catch any identifiable features of his face.

But with every ring of the bell as a new customer entered the establishment, flames ran down his back, leaving scarring fear in their wake.

He just had to keep telling himself everything was fine, even when the tv ran repeats of the news report. Watching himself was painstaking agony, and Tommy just couldn’t bare it anymore.

“I’m taking my break, Niki!” The blonde yelled out. Customers had stopped trickling in, the morning rush for caffeine finally ending like the stream near his childhood home. It was miles long, but somehow it had managed to dry up right as it finally reached Tommy. Sometimes he wishes he could go back there, walk up the bank of the river until the water flowed freely, to go lax in it and let the waters wash away his worries.

Other times he thinks it would drown him.

Tommy ended up at a small circular table in the corner, settling down into one of the two high stools. He folded his arms and rested his head on them, taking slower breaths like preparing for a deep slumber.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he woke up to bleary eyes and a tapping on his shoulder like the patter of rain on a window.

Tommy mumbled out some unintelligible string of consonants and vowels that vaguely resembled words, before raising his head to find the source of the disturbance.

In front of him, stood the tall prick from a few days ago. Even in his sleepy haze, he managed to scrunch his nose up at the man, burying his face even deeper in his arms.

What was his name again? Wilbear?

“Hey, um,” he shuffled on his feet nervously. Back and forth, back and forth. “Your coworker wanted me to let you know that your break’s over soon.”

“Mkay,” the blonde mumbled out blearily.

“You okay though, kid? You’ve looked exhausted both times I’ve seen you.”

“I’m a big man,” he grinned like it would make him believe the lies he told. “I don’t need sleep.”

“You’re a child, you really do.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, looking around the lanky man to see Niki at the counter serving drinks. She waved at him, and he turned back to the brunette. He had a cup filled with another absolute monstrosity, and the name Wilbur was written on it in Niki’s handwriting.

“Okay Wilbear.”

“Wilbear?”

“Yes,” Tommy grinned, hopping out of the chair.

“Gremlin child,” the brunette grumbled under his breath.

But Tommy just laughed, saluting the man before making his way back to the counter.

“You okay now?”

“Yeah, I’m alright now, Niki. Thanks.”

She nodded, making her way into the back once more.

“Good luck!”

Tommy grimaced, remembering how he had agreed to work from opening til close.

It was going to be a long day.

Tommy walked home in the dark.

It reminded him of being a child, when he would walk around at night in the absence of his parents. He was scared, checking every shadowy corner as if a figure was lurking in it. There never was.

But now, being chased by supers, he found himself checking again. Checking for flames hidden in dark alleyways, for black wings flying overhead.

Sometimes he found himself longing for the parents that still cared, the ones that would hold him close in their arms and whisper sweet nothings until his worries went away. But it was too late for love, it always was for a monster like him.

A breeze ruffled his fluffy blonde hair, and the boy shuddered, a cold shiver running down his spine.

He turned, searching for the source of the breeze, only to come up empty-handed.

For the rest of the walk it was deathly silent. Not even the rustle of leaves as they fell from the trees, no trace of the wind he had seen before.

The boy checked his surroundings as he opened his apartment door, looking for prying eyes, forsupers. But the shadows were empty, like the promises of his parents. Unlike the threats of the government.

The door locked behind him, but Tommy knew it was pointless. The lock was easy to pick, the door easy to punch a hole through. Tommy wasn’t really safe. Not now, not ever.

He collapsed onto the floor, melting into it like a puddle of water. Or maybe the boy was gasoline, just waiting for the right moment to be set alight and burst into flames.

Tommy felt tired. That was the only word he could think of to describe it. To describe the soul-consuming, world-ending exhaustion swallowing him whole. It was emotional, physical, everything.

Tommy was just so tired, so done with living like this. Hiding in the shadows, scrambling for enough money to survive.

So when a figure came crashing through his window, he didn’t even flinch. He sat there, waiting in solemn acceptance for his fate.

But no knife ever sliced through his skin, no gunshot deafened his ears with its deadly ring.

Instead, he heard the sound of wings being folded behind someone’s back.

Tommy turned, only to find Aves staring back at him.

“Hey, mate.”

The supervillain sounded exhausted, like he’d spent countless nights up working late. Probably searching for him.

“Did you follow me home?”

He nodded.

“Figures.”

“Why would you say that?”

The villain actually looked genuine, like he couldn’t believe public opinion of him was so low.

“You’re literally a supervillain,” Tommy deadpanned. “Besides, I wouldn’t trust a single super with my life,” he spat out the word, as if by saying it he had somehow dirtied himself.

“Because you’re a shifter?”

Tommy nodded.

“We’re not all that bad.”

“Really?” Tommy yelled. “Because I seem to remember you stalking me, prick.”

“I wasn’t-“ he paused. “I didn’t mean to stalk you. I was trying to check in on you.”

“You were trying to…check in on me. Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Not really,” Aves replied curtly, pulling out a chair and sitting on it. “But it’s the truth.”

“Sure,” Tommy spat out. “Just like you’re not going to kill me right now.”

Aves grimaced.

“That’s not why I’m here, mate. I’m here to protect you.”

The blonde quirked an eyebrow at this, urging him onwards.

“I have contacts in the government, specifically in the hero organization. And they have news about you, bad news.”

“It’s always bad news with me, big man. I can never catch a break.”

But Aves only saddened at this, like the thought of him struggling physically hurt the avian hybrid.

“Well since Hibernation saw your face and has your name, he’s been trying to figure out who you are. He has a police sketch, and they’re going to hang it up everywhere they can as wanted posters.”

“When?” the air rushed out of Tommy’s lungs like water out of a faucet. This was it. Really, truly it for him. The moment that decided his fate. A moment that would normally come later for a kid like him, at a time of college decisions and job applications.

“Tomorrow.”

And finally, the dam broke, and silent tears ran down his face.

“What do I do?”

“Well, they haven’t been able to find your identity in their database. Your legal records are hidden for now, and we can keep it that way.”

“We?”

“SBI can. We can protect you from the government, from the heroes.”

“In exchange for what?” Tommy crossed his arms.

“No experiments, if that’s what you’re worried about. All you’d have to do is work for us.”

“Work for us,” Aves nodded. “You would use your powers to help us in missions. You’d get paid well too.” His eyes scanned over the boy’s cheap apartment briefly.

It wasn’t a deal that Tommy necessarily wanted to take, but he saw no other alternative.

“Do we have a deal?”

The villain reached out his hand for the boy to take.

“We have a deal.”

Tommy shook Aves’ hand.

Chapter Text

“Explain to me again why you had to take me in?” Tommy grumbled, lifting the second of two boxes that he had packed.

Siren held the other.

“Aves,” he replied in a sing-song voice. Like the song of a siren, like the powers that could force him to do anything against his will, like-

“I can survive on my own, you know.”

“No you can’t,” Siren scoffed, “Not with the entire damn city after you now.”

“The entire damn city was after shifters during the genocide, and yet, here I am.”

“How’d you even manage that?” Siren pushed by the boy, setting down his box as he reached to unlock the door. “You’re just a kid, surely someone knows.”

The lock beeped, and Tommy took it as an opportunity to escape his pestering.

He rushed through the door into the base, marveling at the space around him.

To any passerby walking by the place, they would see an abandoned warehouse not even worth their time to look at, let alone investigate.

But on the inside, the place was modern and sleek, fit with everything Tommy would ever need to survive.

More than Tommy had seen in years.

A living room with a plush couch, a dining room with an intricately carved wooden table, the biggest kitchen Tommy had ever seen in his life. And beyond that, a door to what Tommy could only assume would be his bedroom.

Siren walked silently behind the boy, but Tommy could feel his eyes burning a hole in his back.

“So uh, where do you want me to put this?”

He sounded meek, unsure almost. Nothing like the menacing villain he saw on shitty television screens.

“Table’s good.”

The villain walked forward, reaching down to place his box on the table before turning around to meet Tommy’s eyes.

“Is this all?” he asked, taking Tommy’s box from him and setting it on the table as well. “It seems… small.”

“It’s intentional. In case I need to run,” he shrugged, looking down at the floor. “Besides, ‘s not like I could afford more.”

“Right,” Siren clapped his hands together and Tommy’s eyes jerked up from the floor to eye the villain. “If that’s it, then I’ll be going.”

“But-”

“Don’t worry, we’ll come around sometimes. Bring you more food, keep you company and such. Can’t have you dying of boredom on us.” He winked, as if trying to assure him, but it only made his right arm throb in a dull reminder of the stitches still embedded there.

Of the bomb that went off, of the bomb that Siren set off.

“Okay,” he replied, managing to just barely hide the shakiness of his voice.

Then Siren was walking forward again, footsteps barely making a noise on the hardwood floor.

“I’ll see you around.”

Tommy had barely even registered his words enough to nod in response when he heard the door shut behind him.

Tommy had moved in.

It had been a few days since Siren had dropped him off here, and he had managed to scatter around his belongings enough to make the place look somewhat lived in.

His food storage was beginning to dwindle, but they would bring him some more soon.

Hopefully.

Tommy rummaged through the bathroom cabinet, grinning as he found what he was looking for.

A first aid kit.

It was stocked to the brim with medical supplies, and Tommy quickly pulled out what he needed.

Scissors, tweezers, bandages, cotton swabs, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

He poured out some rubbing alcohol onto a cotton swab.

They wouldn’t abandon him.

He rubbed it over the scissors.

They wouldn’t leave him there.

He rubbed it over the tweezers.

Tommy wouldn’t be left locked in his bedroom, listening to the sound of a car pulling out of the driveway.

He raised the tweezers to his arm.

He wouldn’t be left on the floor, stomach rumbling and body trembling with hunger pangs.

He pulled on the knot, snipping it with the pair of scissors.

He wouldn’t be left without water for days, his throat painfully dry and bloody.

He tugged on the thread until it came loose.

There would be no more bills left unpaid.

He soaked the cotton in rubbing alcohol once more.

No more rummaging in garbage cans for a mere chance to survive.

He pressed it against the wound, cleaning it thoroughly.

No more lanky limbs and weak muscles.

He wrapped the bandage around the wound.

Hiding in shadowy corners, helplessly trying to evade the government that loomed over him, it would all become a thing of the past.

He packed up the first aid kit, hopping down from the counter.

Because Tommy would be the shifter that fought back.

Aves came over for the first time on a Wednesday.

He walked through the front door with an air of confidence, sauntering over to the kitchen fridge to proudly hang a calendar with a golden magnet.

He twirled around on the heel of his foot, lowering his gaze to meet Tommy’s eyes.

“That,” the avian hybrid pointed behind himself at the fridge, “is not to be lost. It’s filled with important dates, and you’ll need it to add more on.”

“Important dates?”

“We made a deal, mate,” his eyes hardened into a murderous glare. “You wouldn’t want to go back on that. People who go betray us… let’s just say they aren’t with us anymore.”

Tommy’s mouth dropped open into an ‘o’ shape.

These really were villains that he was working with.

He was a valuable asset to them, but how long would that last? How long until the novelty of his existence wore away into disgusted hatred, until he joined the rest of his kind?

They could kill him without a second thought, he meant nothing to them.

But Blade had been so kind to him.

He had treated him with care, like his life meant something even when he was just a piglet.

“I won’t betray you. I’ll be there for those dates, whatever they are.”

“Great!” he clapped his hands together in a motion strikingly similar to Siren’s. “Now, let’s get on with it, shall we?”

Aves started walking towards the door, and Tommy realized what he had been missing all along.

At the door, there were piles of bags.

Aves picked up a few, nodding at Tommy to help as he walked over to the island in the middle of the kitchen.

The bags weren’t very heavy, and when he peered in he saw that it was filled to the brim with groceries.

It was filled with a variety of foods, but more importantly, there was fresh food.

Fruits, vegetables, nice cuts of meat.

There were probably hundreds of dollars of food in total.

“This is too much. I couldn’t possibly-“

“Nonsense,” Aves replied, taking food out of the bags and putting it away in the cupboards. “You’re our ally, and we treat our allies well.”

“I’m not your ally,” Tommy grumbled, setting the last bag on the island.

“You might not want to be, but you are now.”

“I didn’t have a choice!”

“And while that may be true,” Aves walked over to the table, pulling out a chair and sitting down, “you’re here with us now. Come, sit.”

Tommy glanced briefly over at the island, now completely barren except for the empty bags.

“Okay.”

But instead, he used his arms to hoist himself up onto the island. His legs dangled over the edge of the counter, and he met the eyes of the man sitting in front of him.

“So, what do you need to know?”

“Most everything,” a talon extended from his finger and he began tapping it on the table. “First question. Where’d you come from?”

“Here. I lived nearby ‘til my parents kicked me out, then I lived on the streets. After that, I got a job and an apartment, but you found me and here I am.”

“Right.”

Aves leaned forward, and even with him sitting lower than Tommy, it still felt like the man was looming over him.

“So, how’d you avoid the government?”

Tommy scoffed, rolling his eyes at the hybrid.

“Well, it’s obvious, innit? They don’t give a shit about street kids.”

“No. I said how’d you avoid the government, little shifter.”

In all honesty, Tommy didn’t quite know himself.

He discovered it in secret, but he had a few slip-ups during his time with his parents. And them not reporting him? That was a miracle in and of itself. It wasn’t like they had liked him that much in the first place, anyways.

“I hid it from my parents. I pretended I was an avian hybrid, and they believed me.”

“So even they didn’t know. Clever.”

But it wasn’t clever. Tommy had slipped up, he had failed.

“They found out eventually.”

“And they didn’t report you? Wow, mate, they must have really loved you.”

But it wasn’t love.

Long days filled with empty rooms, walking miles to school, that didn’t quite seem like love to him.

It was out of pity, it must have been. Or some odd form of penance for the years of neglect that he had suffered under their “care.”

“They kicked me out.”

“Hmm, not total love then,” Aves stood, taking a step forwards towards Tommy like a predator stalking his prey. “But the last shifter died ages ago. You,” he pressed his talon against the boy’s chest, “should not exist.”

Tommy felt his breathing stop as he dropped his gaze to the finger against his chest.

“I know,” he whispered. “I d- I don’t even know how myself.”

It felt like peace, the admittance. Letting out a long breath after a long day.

He finally had someone he could just talk to. Someone he could tell the truth to. After all these years.

The taloned finger dropped from his chest.

“Well, now that that’s settled, let’s take a break, shall we?” Aves stepped back, and the air rushed back into his lungs at the sudden mood change.

The villain’s eyes crinkled at the edges from what Tommy could only assume, only hope, was an inviting smile.

“What do you say we make some brownies, mate?”

Aves was, surprisingly enough, a good baker.

He moved around the kitchen with an ease that only came from years of experience, pulling things out of cabinets and measuring ingredients without batting an eye.

“So, where did you learn how to bake anyways?” Tommy asked, handing Aves the spoon and watching as he stirred the bowl.

“Blade taught me. He had a whole cooking and baking phase a few years back. Made enough potato dishes for me to never want to even look at one again,” his eyebrows pulled together at the memory, an annoyed yet fond gesture.

“You really love them, don’t you? Blade and Siren, I mean,” Tommy tacked on after a brief moment of silence.

“I do,” Aves turned back to the bowl, beginning to pour it into the pan that had been set aside.

“What’s your relationship with them anyways? I know what the media speculates, that you were friends for years before, but I don’t really believe that.”

“You don’t?” Aves opened the oven, placing the now full pan in it. “Then what do you believe?”

“You’re too close for that. The way you move in battle together, the way you talk about them. You couldn’t just be friends.”

“Correct,” he turned to face Tommy, back leaning nonchalantly against the countertop. Like this was an everyday occurrence, baking with someone as hated as him.

As hated as a shifter.

“They’re my sons.”

“Oh.”

It was as Tommy had predicted, but still a strange feeling ran through his body at the affirmation.

That was how a family was supposed to be.

They weren’t supposed to be supervillains, sure, but the way they worked together so well, so fluidly. It was like they had trained together since birth. They wouldn’t abandon each other, and they would sacrifice their lives to keep their family members safe.

That was what a family was like.

“C’mon, let’s go sit down.”

“We’re literally sitting down right now,” Aves deadpanned, and Tommy breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t bring up the sudden topic change.

“On the couch, I wanna watch something while we wait.”

Aves laughed again, and Tommy found himself smiling at the increasingly familiar noise.

Tommy hopped down from the counter, making his way over to the couch and plopping himself down onto it. Aves followed suit, and Tommy spread out his arms relaxedly on the couch.

“Wanna watch a documentary?”

They settled on a documentary about anteaters, of all things.

Aves had suggested it, and Tommy could tell that he was holding back laughter the whole time.

He turned his back to him whenever he went to take a bite, but Tommy could still see the way that he almost choked on his brownie on numerous occasions.

It had been a time since he had let his guard down.

Even around Niki, he still had to hide who he was.

And here, with a villain of all people, he was free.

But good things never last for Tommy, never last for shifters.

Because soon enough the credits were rolling and they were standing by the doorway, and Tommy was going to be alone again.

“Thank you for this, Aves. I know you didn’t have to but- I appreciate it.”

“Of course, mate. We treat our allies well, remember?”

This time a warmth filled Tommy’s chest at the word.

Allies.

Finally, after all these years, the boy had people to rely on.

SBI wasn’t exactly a group of good people, but maybe they were more similar to him than he thought.

“I’ll see you around, mate.” The villain pushed the door open, taking a step out into the frigid late autumn air. “Blade or Siren will be around to keep you company sometimes, and I’ll come and bring you food every two weeks.”

Tommy nodded.

This arrangement could work, really work, for him.

“Oh, and,” the villain met his eyes, and for the first time in a long few hours they were steely and cold again. “The next time I come around, all of us are going to have a meeting.”

“For what?”

“Your first mission.”

Chapter Text

Tommy didn’t check the calendar.

Aves had put it on the fridge, right where he could see it, but he still didn’t.

He busied himself with other things instead.

He walked aimlessly around the base, memorizing how many steps it took to get around, which floorboards creaked and which didn’t.

Aves had seemed nice enough, trustworthy enough, but Tommy knew how short tempers could run.

Especially for villains.

He became accustomed to the television channels, knew which ones aired nature documentaries.

Knew which ones he should avoid, the ones with his face plastered over them, and people chanting for him to be brought to “justice.”

Some nights he could just switch over to another channel and be done with it, forget about what he had seen.

But others he could not.

Other nights he would be haunted by visions of hateful faces, and he’d rush into his bedroom to muffle his cries in the plush of his bedsheets.

But one broadcast was truly the worst of them all.

Tommy had sat on the couch, a bowl of snacks in his hand and the tv blasting before him.

The news anchor was blabbering on about tonight’s special guest, but they were drawing it on so long that Tommy was tempted to just turn the tv off.

But they had been teasing this special guest all day, and Tommy would be damned if he didn’t find out who it was.

And suddenly, there he was on the screen.

An icy blue suit, and a brown bear mask around his eyes.

Hibernation.

His smile was blinding, and he waved to the camera like a prince to his subjects.

“Citizens, I have come to give you an update on the last remaining shifter.”

Update? But Tommy hadn’t done anything, he just sat here in this warehouse wishing that he wasn’t born this way.

“After my meeting with the shifter, I saw something truly disturbing.”

That meeting was weeks ago at this point. He willfully chose to withhold this information from the public until now, biding his time.

Something must have changed, must have prompted him to make a declaration as public as this.

“I saw the shifter meeting with a member of SBI. Due to this, we have issued a level one wanted status on him.”

Level one.

The wanted status only awarded to the most hated people in the country.

Supervillains and shifters.

And Tommy was the worst of them all, because now he was both.

“We will award 100 million dollars to anyone that brings him in, dead or alive. Thank you.”

Then the screen turned back to the news reporter, and Tommy fumbled for the remote, pressing buttons in a fervor until the screen went black and the room was blissfully quiet.

He was honestly surprised that it took them this long.

It took years to earn a level one wanted status, years of destructive villainy that only a select few had been able to earn. And when a new villain came on the scene, it took them only days to earn their lower wanted status.

But during the final days of the genocide, every remaining shifter had a level one status.

So to be a shifter, to associate with SBI of all people, it should’ve taken practically seconds.

Something strange was going on, and Tommy was going to find answers.

Tommy checked the calendar.

He really should’ve done it earlier, because his fears of checking it and finding Siren’s name glaring back at him were nothing compared to the shock of what he found.

There, written in red sharpie on today’s date, was the word Blade.

And just two hours later, there was a pounding knock on Tommy’s door.

He was dressed in casual athletic wear, and his mask was tight and secure where it sat on his face.

“Hi,” Blade greeted, his familiar monotone voice washing over his ears.

Tommy shuffled to the side, letting the piglin hybrid in and shutting the door behind him.

“So, what are we doing today?” Tommy asked, and he couldn’t hide the way his voice lilted up at the end in excitement.

“Dunno,” the villain shrugged. “What do you want to do, kid?”

Tommy didn’t know. He hadn’t given it much thought, he’d been too busy pacing a hole into the floor.

“Baking?” he blurted out.

“Aves said you baked last time,” he responded gruffly, but he still made his way into the kitchen, Tommy trailing softly behind him.

“It was fun, and the brownies were good.”

“No need to explain yourself to me, kid. I get it. You wanna make somethin’ else though?”

“Like what?”

“I have an idea,” Blade said, and in what must’ve been an absurd trick of the light, his eyes looked to be a mirth-filled brown.

The island was covered in potatoes.

Blade had managed to smuggle in an entire bag of potatoes with Aves’ groceries last week, and he pulled them all out from where they had been being stored.

It took some digging, and Tommy came to the conclusion that Aves had tried to hide them away to avoid exactly what was about to occur.

Tommy and Blade had begun cooking some strange potato concoction, but what it was, Tommy didn’t know.

Blade washed the potatoes for the dish, and with each potato that passed through his rough, battle-worn hands, Tommy realized that maybe he didn’t want to know.

He passed the potatoes off to Tommy, and he set to work peeling off the skins.

“So,” Blade started, “tell me about yourself.”

“You too?” Tommy scoffed, putting a now-peeled potato into the pile that he was starting to slowly form.

“Too?”

“Hibernation wanted to know about me. I think he thought it would help me calm down, or something.”

“Ah,” Blade huffed out, and an uncomfortable silence settled over the room. “So, uh, how do you like living here?”

“I like it. Spacious enough for the millions of women flocking to me,” Tommy grinned.

“Flocking to you to kill you,” Blade deadpanned, his crimson eyes catching on the scar peeking out of his red and white t-shirt. “How’d you get that anyways?”

“Siren. His damn bomb made the scar bigger.”

“Bigger?”

“I already had a scar there. I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.”

“How’d you get it?” Blade asked, and he handed the last potato over to Tommy.

“Dunno, whenever I asked my parents they’d always just say they didn’t remember.”

“Weird,” Blade grunted, pulling out a knife to cut the potatoes with. “How much bigger is it now?”

“A lot,” Tommy laughed humorlessly. “Hell, I probably lost a small chunk of flesh due to that damn bomb Siren set off.”

“I bet you’re not looking forward to seeing him next week then,” Blade handed the knife over to Tommy as he finished peeling, going over to a cupboard to pull out a pot.

“I’m not,” Tommy began cutting up the potatoes, watching the villain fill up the pot with water and set it on a burner to boil.

“You’ll figure it out,” he leaned back on the counter nonchalantly, “both of you will. You’re going to need to figure out how to work together well.”

“For my missions,” Tommy grumbled.

“It won’t all be that bad. You might even like it.”

“Sure it won’t,” Tommy busied himself with focusing back in on the potatoes. But a chill ran down his spine, and he snapped his head up to find Blade opening a window.

“Close it,” he ordered out through gritted teeth.

Blade seemed surprised at the command, but he closed it nonetheless.

“Don’t like the cold?”

“No,” Tommy stepped back from the pile of potatoes, and Blade stepped forward to take his place. They were all cut now, so he took the potatoes and dumped them out into the pot.

“Any specific reason why?”

“No, ‘s just uncomfortable.”

“Really?” Blade hummed, considering this like he knew information that Tommy didn’t. “Because you don’t have that severe of a reaction if you just don’t like it.

“My reaction wasn’t severe.”

“You moved away from me, and now you’re crossing your arms in an attempt to soothe yourself. You’re trying to protect yourself from a perceived threat.”

“You’re a villain, of course my mind sees you as a-”

“Tommy.”

“Fine, I don’t like the cold, okay! Some shit happened, but it’s none of your damn business.” He bared his teeth, a spitting image of a wild animal trying to protect itself.

“Your business is my business,” Blade nonchalantly walked over to the fridge, pulling out butter and milk. “You’re one of us now.”

“So what? I don’t get a right to privacy anymore?”

“You do,” he pulled a saucepan out and put it on a neighboring burner to the pot of potatoes, “but if it’s severe enough, it could impact the missions.”

“It won’t.”

“Just because you think that doesn’t make it true,” he put the dairy products into the saucepan, watching as the butter began to slowly melt.

“I’ve dealt with it, okay!”

“Clearly not enough,” he pulled out a mixer and set it up on the counter. “Not if I can see it.”

Tommy stayed silent, and he pressed on.

“What happened?”

But Tommy just glared at him, and he went back to cooking. He drained the potatoes before adding them to the mixer along with the butter and milk mixture.

The mixer was blaringly loud, just enough so that it could drown out his thoughts.

Then it was off again, and Blade was pulling out seasonings from a nearby drawer.

“You know, when I was a street kid, I hated the cold too. Not as much as you do, but still.”

“You were a street kid?”

He nodded, and Tommy could tell that he wasn’t going to elaborate.

“So… what do I need to do for this meeting, anyways?”

“Nothing,” he lightly seasoned the potatoes before returning them back to their rightful place in the spacious kitchen. “I mean, I guess you could pick your name or something.”

“My name?

“You need a villain name,” he shrugged, pulling out a spoon and a bowl for Tommy. He piled spoonfuls of it into the bowl, hiding Tommy’s view of it with his back.

“Oh, right,” Tommy scratched the back of his head.

Then Blade turned around, the bowl held gingerly in his outstretched hands.

It felt oddly like a token of friendship, as if taking this bowl from would finalize some level of trust, of understanding, between the two.

“Mashed potatoes?”

Blade was long gone.

He had left hours ago, and the vat of mashed potatoes that he had made was sitting snugly in his fridge, waiting for Tommy to come and get it.

But instead, he was sitting in the comfort of his new bed, bouncing a ball off the wall and back into his waiting hands.

Shifter was too boring, too plain for a villain name. It didn’t insight fear into the hearts of civilians quite like a name such as Blade did.

And he really needed fear on his side.

Living on the streets meant that he knew how to fight, but not at the level of Supers.

He needed a name that would send them running, make them not dare to even try to fight him.

He bounced the ball off the wall, watching as it fell short and hit the plush carpet.

The color of blood, a promise of what would become of them if they dared to go near.

He picked it up and threw it again, but this time it came back to him.

Red.

But it was missing something, some aspect that would drive the point home.

Promises of bloodshed weren’t enough, that was a given with any villain.

He needed to send fear straight into their heart, and he knew just what the public feared the most, hated the most.

Shifters.

They’d never seen one own who they were, only saw them hiding in the shadows and wishing they weren’t born this way.

But Tommy was done hiding, he was done wishing.

He threw the ball again, this time throwing it hard and fast into the wall.

He would go out there again, back into the world of injustice and hate.

Not as Tommy.

But as Red Shift.

Chapter Text

“Stay,” Tommy’s tiny fingers clenched his mother’s dress, trying to pull her towards him and away from the foreboding door at the end of the hallway.

“I need to go, my sweet,” she brought a delicate hand down to his face, brushing a loose strand of hair behind his ear. “I have work.”

“No,” he whined, drawing out the ‘o’ sound as he pressed himself closer to her.

“I’ll be home soon, okay?”

“Pinky promise?”

She crouched down to reach his level, bringing up her pinky and intertwining it with his.

“Promise.”

But then she brought her other hand forward from where it was hidden behind her back.

But her fingers were crossed, a grotesque symbol of her betrayal.

“Not.” She grinned wickedly, and where her mouth was open a waterfall of blood came rushing out. It spread over the hardwood floor beneath them, staining the panels a hideous red.

His mother brought her hand back to where the strand had previously fallen loose, pressing hard until his head was aching from the pain.

“We’ll find you, Tommy.”

She pulled her hand away, and a bloody print was left behind on his cheek.

“We’ll always find you.”

Tommy awoke that morning searching wildly for a figure that was never there, only to find the soft falling of snowflakes outside his bedroom window.

They were coming today.

Aves and Blade, but more importantly Siren.

The stress of the upcoming meeting felt like a weight pressing heavily on his back, and he just wanted to be free from it all.

He pushed his bedroom window open, staring out at the thin coating of snow from when it had been falling in the early morning.

The window didn’t have the large sill like he did back at his apartment, so he slid it all the way open, shuddering as a rush of cold hit his frail body.

Then Tommy was shifting, an action he hadn’t done in weeks.

His body ached as wings began to push themselves out of his body, and he shrunk into the size of a small bird.

By now he was growing closer to being an adult bird, but many of his other forms were still left in a state of infantile weakness.

His clothes were left in a crumpled heap on the floor as he took off, flying out into the open sky.

He was missing feathers on a small portion of his wing, and he could feel himself faltering whenever a new breeze tried to push him in a new direction.

It would heal, but like most things with being a shifter, it would take time.

Tommy circled over the warehouse, watching as people blocks away went about their days as if everything was normal, as if everything was fine. But to Tommy, the world was spinning on its head, and he didn’t know how to get it to stop.

But then he caught sight of something.

About a mile away, a black car with tinted windows was headed straight towards the warehouse.

He swooped down towards the warehouse, searching until he found the window that he had left open.

His wings flapped wildly as he almost crashed into his bedframe, crash-landing on the floor before letting himself shift back into his human form.

Tommy hastily pulled his clothes back on, cringing at the pile of feathers left on the floor before jerking his head up at the sound of a knock at his front door.

It was time.

Aves and Blade walked in first, with Siren trailing behind them, his head drooped and shoulders hunched. His eyes were glued to the floor, and he was hiding behind Blade like he would protect him from the world’s hardships.

‘Tommy!” Aves greeted jovially, stepping aside and watching as Siren closed the door behind them. “Siren has something to say to you.”

Then Blade stepped aside, too, and Siren raised his head to make eye contact with him.

“I’m sorry.”

Tommy’s mouth fell open in shock, and he glanced back and forth frantically between the avian and the merling hybrid.

One of the most powerful villains was standing in front of him, apologizing to him, and looking utterly defeated.

“I-” he started, but he just closed his mouth shut seconds after, at a total loss of what to say.

“You don’t need to say anything, mate.” Aves placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We’re equals now, and we can’t have us fearing each other.”

Tommy glanced over to Blade, the fearsome warrior that had deemed his injury noteworthy, made sure Siren knew what he did to him.

“Thank you,” Tommy said, but he wasn’t really sure who he was addressing.

And then the hand on his shoulder slipped to the midsection of his back, pushing him forward and towards the kitchen table.

Tommy ended up sitting across the table from Siren, but he opted to keep his head bent down. He traced the carvings inlaid in the table, watching as the designs intertwined with one another, curving to form interlocking figures.

“Well,” Aves clapped his hands together, and Tommy lifted his head slowly up to meet brown eyes directly across the table.

His eyes had softened considerably by now, and he was watching Tommy with a look that was oddly fond.

“Let’s get started, shall we?”

The meeting wasn’t as long as Tommy had expected it to be.

They gave him a suit and an earpiece that would shift with him.

Tommy hated to think of the poor slime hybrid that they had likely sacrificed to make them.

A blueprint had been laid out on the table for him to memorize, and then he was flying again with Blade’s voice loud in his ears.

“Take a right up here.”

Tommy obliged, tilting his body and letting the breeze carry him forward as he coasted through the cloudy skies.

Blade hummed reassuringly through the earpiece, but his nerves were like a wildfire coursing through his veins.

“That skyscraper up ahead.”

Tommy chirped, and Blade paused.

There were a few more seconds of silence, and then a new voice was speaking over the earpiece.

“What?”

Tommy chirped again, and this time he was understood.

“3rd floor, mate.”

Then it went silent again, and Tommy came to a halt in front of the tall building. He was relatively high up, and he had to flap his wings to keep himself at a steady elevation.

He raised his legs against the glass, preparing himself for the most dangerous part of this mission.

If the heroes found him, SBI might rescue him.

But if he fell here? At this height?

Nobody could save him then.

He pressed his wings against the glass, closing his eyes as he coaxed his body into shifting.

Without his wings flapping steadily, he was beginning to slide down the side of the towering skyscraper.

His talons scraped against the glass, leaving marks as he desperately tried to stay put.

But then they were gone, and he was becoming something else entirely.

Tommy’s body was shrinking rapidly, a tail and four sticky legs forming alongside his now-bulbous eyes. The bulbous eyes of a gecko.

He managed to stick his feet to the building at around the tenth floor.

Blade audibly sighed in relief over the earpiece, but it wasn’t over yet.

Not even close.

A window was open on the fifth floor, and Tommy carefully made his way down to it.

He grimaced every time that he had to lift his leg off the glass, fearful of slipping and falling to his untimely death.

The soft breeze whistled through his ears, fanning the fire of panic that this mission had set alight in his stomach.

It was his opportunity to be safe, to get back at the government that was ruining his life. But the sour taste of reluctance still stung bitterly in his mouth.

He climbed upside down on the open window, before letting himself fall the short distance to the bookshelf beneath it.

Tommy was in an empty conference room lined with bookshelves and filled with plush chairs around a bland table. The door to the conference room was a heavy wooden door, with a small gap left between it and the floor.

He climbed down from the bookshelf, landing on the floor silently before shifting again into a cockroach.

The sheer amount of shifting that he was doing was beginning to wear him out, but he pushed on anyways.

He ran out under the doorway, only stopping when he reached the nearby elevator.

“Okay Tommy, remember you’re going to want to go two floors down,” Blade reminded him gently.

A worker strode by, hurriedly brushing the hair from their face as they frantically pressed the button. The elevator doors slid open, and Tommy snuck in behind them.

But the next button they pressed didn’t help him whatsoever. It was up, to the tenth floor.

Tommy made his way over to the corner to hide, preparing himself for the long wait ahead.

It took ten minutes, but at last someone pressed the button to the third floor.

People milled about even more hurriedly than on the other floors, and Tommy got the impression that this was where all of the important personnel worked.

“Tommy, the room is three doors down on your right.”

He weaved through the crowd of people delicately, narrowly avoiding a foot squishing him into the ground on numerous occasions.

This door, too, had a gap, and he fit under with room to spare.

This room, this office, was devoid of all people.

The furniture and the walls were all a bright white color, in a way that was reminiscent of solitary confinement cells.

“Do you see anything, Tommy?”

He quickly shifted into human form, responding to Blade in a hushed voice.

“Not yet, I’m going to check the desk drawers.”

“Got it, keep me updated.”

“Will do.”

Tommy sat down in the white spinny chair in front of the desk. Oddly enough, it wasn’t worn. It was as if it had barely ever been used.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Tommy asked, sliding a drawer open and rummaging through the papers in it.

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know, it’s just- it’s odd, I guess?”

“What?” Blade asked, concern rising in his voice.

Tommy slammed the drawer shut. The papers were all useless. Most of them were blank, and the ones that weren’t were filled with business jargon that he didn’t understand.

There was only one drawer left in the desk, but when he opened it all he saw was more of the same.

“Desk’s a bust,” Tommy muttered into the earpiece, rising swiftly from the chair. “I’ll check the floorboards now.”

“No, Tommy, you need to tell me what you meant by that.”

Tommy paced the floorboards, listening for one that sounded hollow. For one that held what he needed.

“It’s just the design. It’s oddly prison-like.”

“Prison-like?”

Tommy stopped at a floorboard. It sounded different from all the rest.

“Yeah. Everything’s all white, and there isn’t any personalization here. No family photos, nothing.”

He pried it open with his hands, but all he found was a box filled with electronics. Spherical objects that were about the size of one of his fingernails.

Small enough to be easily hidden.

“I don’t like this.”

“Floorboards are a bust, too. And I’m fine, Blade, I’ll find it.”

“Okay kid, but if anything else seems wrong, you get out of there.”

“Got it. I’ll check the bookshelf next.”

Blade hummed in acknowledgment as Tommy began to rifle through the books.

Most of them seemed unimportant, more stupid business books, but one of them caught his eye.

A thick history book, but it wasn’t just about history in general.

It was about the history of shifters.

Tommy grabbed the book, flipping it open to a random page.

The pages in the middle were torn out and replaced with plastic covers. They held document upon document of information, but Tommy found what he was looking for soon enough.

“Got it,” Tommy smiled, pulling it out of the plastic sleeve. “It was in a book about shifters, how weird is that?”

“Shifters?” there was a brief pause, and then frantic yelling. “Tommy- Tommy get out of there now!”

Tommy shoved the book back into the bookcase, making his way over to the window and pushing it open to make his escape.

“On it. What’s wrong though, Blade?”

He turned around to take one last look at the place, but when he did, he was met with the sight of the door flying open and slamming against the wall.

Then Flame was walking through the doorframe, and a gun was pointed at his head.

“It’s a trap.”

Chapter Text

Fire ran down Flame’s arm to his free hand, the hand that wasn’t holding the gun.

“Surrender, shifter.”

“Listen, Flame, we can talk about this,” Tommy held out his free hand placatingly, but Flame only stiffened his posture.

“You have a level one wanted status, you’re coming with me.”

“Like hell I am!”

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. And right now, the way you’re opting for ends with a bullet in your skull.”

“Will it?” Tommy opened his hand, and the paper fell to the floor.

“Yeah,” Flame moved his finger, and suddenly Tommy’s ears were ringing as a shot was fired next to his head, leaving a hole in the wall. “Next time it’ll hit its target. Now put your hands above your head.”

Tommy obliged, lifting his hands into the air.

“Good shifter,” Flame praised, like he was some sort of dog.

The hero walked towards him slowly, like a predator stalking its prey.

“No,” Tommy made relentless eye contact with the hero, “it’s Red Shift now.”

Then he got within arms reach of Tommy, and suddenly there was movement.

Tommy shifted into a baby cheetah, darting under the legs of Flame in an attempt to escape out of the open doorway.

“Oh no you don’t,” Flame turned, conjuring up a fireball and throwing it in the direction of the doorframe. Tommy stopped in his tracks, halted by the fire now roaring before him.

He peered over his shoulder, hissing at the hero.

“You’re mine now.”

Flame crouched down to the floor, touching his hand to the ground. A circle of fire lit up around Tommy, effectively trapping him.

He walked through the flames, utterly unscathed, until he was in front of Tommy once more. He picked him up by the scruff of his neck before sliding the gun back into its holster.

“You really shouldn’t have tried to run.”

Flame’s hand shifted, moving to wrap around his neck and strangle the boy.

Tommy gasped for breath, wriggling around in his grasp in a futile attempt to bring air into his lungs.

His grasp just grew tighter, and Tommy knew that he had to act now.

He shifted into a snake, tilting his head and biting into Flame’s hand.

Hard.

He dropped Tommy in shock, and he shifted into a blaze hybrid.

Like Flame.

He walked through the fire, bending down to grab the paper by the window.

“No,” he heard Flame’s voice behind him, and he turned to see the hero wielding the gun once more. “I told you, you’re not leaving this place.”

“Let me go, Flame. It isn’t worth it.” Tommy set down the paper on the windowsill, preparing himself for his escape.

“It is,” Flame said, and then a bullet went flying through the air.

Tommy was too stunned to respond, and all he could do was watch, horrifired, as the bullet embedded itself into his arm.

“Now you’re stuck,” the hero said proudly.

But he underestimated Tommy, underestimated just how desperate he was to never end up in the hands of the government.

He shifted anyways, grabbing the paper with his talons and swerving from the volley of bullets being fired at him.

He heard a shouted curse word from behind him, but he didn’t dare to look as he flew back in the direction of the warehouse.

One of his wings was beginning to droop, the same arm that had been caught in Siren’s explosion, and the exertion from all the shifting was beginning to set in.

Tommy needed to get back, and fast, before he collapsed.

He followed the path that Blade had laid out for him. It felt like days ago at this point, but he knew that it was mere hours in reality.

Tommy chirped pitifully into his earpiece, and then Blade’s voice was in his ear again.

“Tommy? Are you okay?”

He chirped even more sadly than before, and there was a sharp intake of breath from Blade’s end at the sound.

“You’re almost there, okay? We’re tracking you through your earpiece, and you’re only a few blocks from base.”

Tommy chirped in acknowledgment, but he could feel his body drag as he slowly dropped in elevation.

He didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up for, even with how close he was.

And right as he came up to the warehouse, he knew that he couldn’t.

He fell from the sky, crash-landing in a tree at the front of the warehouse.

He chirped, but it sounded more like a cry, and one for help.

“Tommy? You stopped moving kid, but you’re not inside.”

He couldn’t muster up the strength to respond, the silence over the line deafening in his ears.

“I’m coming out.”

Tommy heard him moving through the house, and the loud noise of the front door opening.

He raised his head by barely even an inch, trying to get a better angle to watch the man coming out of the warehouse.

Blade searched frantically around for him before finally raising his eyes to find Tommy in the tree.

“Tommy,” the word came out breathless, fear interlaced into every syllable of his name. He climbed the tree deftly, scooping up Tommy into his arms.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, I need you to stay awake, okay?”

But his eyes were already closing, comforted by the warm arms wrapped around him. And before he knew it, the shadowy arms of sleep were wrapped around him, too, pulling him under into a dreamless slumber.

Tommy didn’t know how long it had been when he woke up.

He was back in his room, and he could hear the sound of footsteps just outside the door.

He tapped his ear for the earpiece, only to find it gone, but his suit was still firmly intact and on his body.

In his sleep, he had reverted back to his human form, and he pushed himself up with his good arm in his bed.

Tommy’s body was weak, but he still tried to get out of bed anyway.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, trying to shift his weight onto them as he stood, but he collapsed under his own weight with a resounding thud.

“Tommy?”

The footsteps stopped, then Siren was rushing into the room and picking Tommy up by the arms.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” Siren sighed exasperatedly, placing Tommy gently back into the bed. “You got hurt pretty badly there.”

“Yeah,” Tommy wriggled in the bed, trying to find a comfortable position. “How bad was it anyways?”

“You lost a lot of blood in your right arm. We managed to get the bullet out and stitch it up, but you were out for a while.”

“How many days?”

“About two weeks, it was pretty weird for a gunshot of that severity. It really should’ve been a few days at most.”

“I know why,” Tommy groaned, burying his head in the pillows. “It’s because I’m a shifter.”

“Because you’re a shifter? How would that-”

“It exerts our bodies more because of how many different forms we have to take. And since I can shift into a fully animal form that means…” Tommy trailed off, waiting for Siren to catch on.

“It means you’re fucked, basically.”

“Yep,” Tommy sighed, turning his head so he wasn’t buried in the pillows anymore. “At least I got whatever the hell it was I came for, though.”

“I guess,” Siren shrugged. “If you need any more combat training, though, one of us can help. Blade’s especially good.” His eyes shone with pride at the last part of the sentence, and Tommy felt a surge of jealousy run through him.

He longed for someone to care that much about him, and he for them.

But maybe he was already starting to find that someone.

“Well,” Siren stood. “That should be everything for now. You’ll be on bed rest for a few more days, then everything should return to normal.”

“Will you ever tell me what I got?”

“We’ll tell you at the next meeting.”

“And when will that be?”

“A few days, remember? It’s almost been two weeks again.”

“Right,” Tommy said.

Siren moved to pat Tommy’s arm in what was likely supposed to be a comforting gesture, but Tommy flinched violently away from the touch.

Siren furrowed his brows at him, confusion written all over his face.

“Remember that bomb you set off a while back?” Tommy asked.

“I set off a lot of bombs.”

“It was the day that Hibernation and Aves fought? Right before the news started reporting on my existence.”

Siren nodded at him, seemingly remembering it now. “What about it?”

It came out as a breathy whisper, Tommy’s words barely audible even in the silence of the room. “I was caught in it.”

The color drained from Siren’s face, the blood rushing out as panic took its place.

“It’s kind of funny, honestly.”

“Funny?” Siren’s voice came out as a high-pitched squeak.

“This is my third time with a major injury there.”

“What the fuck?”

It was almost comical to Tommy. Siren, the villain that had hurt so many so deeply before, sounded utterly horrified at even the thought of causing him harm.

“Second of all you, and now Flame?” Tommy grinned. “My right arm is just invincible.”

“You have a scar there!”

“And?”

Siren sighed. “What happened the first time?”

“Blade asked that too,” Tommy crossed his arms in a defensive gesture. “And I dunno.”

“How could you not know?” Siren asked, throwing his arms up incredulously.

“I got it when I was a child, and my parents wouldn’t tell me how it happened.”

“Because they didn’t remember or because they didn’t want to tell you?”

“At this point, I don’t quite know the answer to that myself. Everything is just changing so much- it’s hard not to question everything.”

“That happened to me too.”

“I don’t recall you being revealed as a shifter,” Tommy scoffed, evoking melodic laughter from Siren.

“When I became a villain, it felt like my whole world had flipped on its head. I was utterly alone.”

“But you had Blade and Aves.”

“I didn’t,” Siren sat down on the bed next to Tommy.

“When I first started, I was a low-level villain. Nobody knew who I was, and I was losing practically every battle I fought in,” Siren chuckled. “And the people that I was fighting weren’t even good!”

Tommy smiled, but his eyes dropped down briefly to glance at his arm.

“So anyways, after a few weeks, Aves and Blade showed up near a fight I was in. They heard the commotion and came over to see what was going on.”

Tommy nodded, encouraging the man to go on, even as his limbs began to feel heavy with drowsiness.

“They beat the shit out of the guy that I was fighting. It was kinda embarrassing honestly.”

“For you or for him?”

Siren scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“Both.”

Tommy quirked an eyebrow at the villain.

“Fine! It was more embarrassing for me, okay?” He crossed his arms petulantly, and Tommy had to resist the urge to laugh. “But, they saw me use my powers. They offered me a job and well, here I am.”

“So, what they did to me then.”

“Minus the millions of people wanting to kill you, but yeah, I guess.”

“‘Yeah, I guess’,” Tommy replied teasingly before his tone grew serious. “I wish I could go outside again.”

“What? Of course you can, we’re not keeping you prisoner here or anything.”

“No, not like that,” he shook his head. “I mean how I can’t just like, go for a walk anymore. For fuck’s sake, now Aves has to go grocery shopping for me!”

“I’m sorry, Tommy,” Siren said solemnly. “We’ll try to take care of you though. And you could go out as whatever animal you would like.”

“Yeah,” Tommy sighed, closing his eyes.

“Tired again?” he teased.

“I don’t see you trying to recover from shifting and a gunshot wound.”

“Fair enough,” Siren rose once more, making for the door and creaking it open. “Oh, and Tommy?”

He opened his eyes into mere slits, watching Siren tiredly.

“For what it’s worth, I hope it happens to you too.”

“What?” Tommy mumbled into his pillow.

“How I became close with the rest of SBI when they took me in. It’s good to have people you can talk to.”

“I don’t know, opening up- it’s hard y’know?”

“Yeah,” Siren sighed, “I know all too well. But you can talk to us, you’re safe here. Hell, Blade’s already beginning to grow attached to you.”

Tommy smiled sleepily, and Siren took it as his queue to leave.

“Goodnight, Tommy.”

“G’night Siren.”

Siren pulled the door closed, and Tommy let his eyes fall shut once more.

Chapter Text

It didn’t snow the day before Tommy’s next meeting.

The cloudy skies told of a storm soon to come, but the sun peeked through the clouds and rejuvenated Tommy. He made his way from room to room before settling down on the couch in front of the tv.

Before they left, Aves had made sure to record some of the news surrounding his mission for Tommy to review. As part of his new “job” in villainy, he had to make sure he was feared enough to be able to gain allies and keep connections.

It was one of the most important aspects of being a villain, Tommy knew. Because without SBI, he knew he’d be nothing right now. Or worse, facing the wrath of the heroes and the government.

“In recent news, we have an update with the shifter. After breaking into a government building, he got caught stealing a government document by Flame. He managed to escape, but only with serious injuries to himself. We are hopeful that it will incapacitate him enough to end his villainy, but only time will tell.”

Nothing on Flame’s status, then. Nothing on how Tommy had almost killed him with that venomous bite, how he was somewhat competent in battle. Nothing that would ruin the image of the city’s perfect. heroes.

“He has begun to go by the name of ‘Red Shift’, indicating that he has desires to have a more permanent presence in the world of supers. This name may even refer to the astronomical phenomenon of objects appearing red as the galaxy expands, though the reasoning behind him choosing this name is unknown at the moment. We can only hope that it isn’t related to future bloodshed that he has planned.”

That Tommy had planned? All he ever wanted to do before this was live, but now he had to go along with SBI’s plan. He was lost in a tidal wave of chaos, waiting for someone to pull him out.

“His alliance with SBI could have fatal consequences, and we encourage you to report any sightings or information that you may have to the authorities.”

Tommy was tempted to turn the tv off, but he kept watching, pulled back in by the promise of more. More about Flame, about his status.

But instead, he got something else.

He glanced offscreen briefly, before making frightened eye contact with the camera.

“Breaking news! The vigilante Purpled and an unknown figure have been spotted in the city.”

Then the camera cut to a street that Tommy knew all too well, and the noise of the television was drowned out with the ringing of his ears.

Purpled was hanging from the roof of a building by a thin strand of web, and behind him a woman with short pink hair stood with her arms outstretched. A wave of water was behind her, seconds from hitting the cameraman when the footage cutoff.

It was nowhere near hitting Purpled, though, meaning that they must have been working together. Tommy didn’t recognize her, leaving him at a loss.

But he had one measly day until the meeting, and he intended to be patient.

Because if he had anything now, it was time.

“Who is she?” Tommy slammed his hands down on the table, startling Siren with his turmoil.

“Who is who?” Siren responded, but he shrunk back when Blade’s unwavering gaze turned to him.

“The kid deserves to know, she could put him in danger.”

“We don’t know that!”

“Exactly. But he’s one of us now, and he needs to know everything, especially if she is dangerous.”

“One of us?” Tommy scoffed, crossing his arms and almost laughing in his disbelief. “You sent me into a fucking trap! I would never do that to any of my allies.”

And finally, Blade showed a hint of emotion, his face screwing up into a poorly hidden grimace before it was erased from his features entirely. “I’m sorry, kid. We didn’t know. If we had known that it was a trap, we would’ve never sent you in there.”

“Really?”

“Really,” and he met his eyes so unwaveringly, with such care in his gaze, that Tommy believed him.

“Okay,” Tommy quieted, deflating like a too-full balloon. “Well, who is she then?”

“It’s more like who she was,” said Aves. “She was a vigilante years ago back when the shifter genocide was nearing its end. And after it was over, she disappeared.”

“So she’s here to help me?”

“Presumably,” Blade replied, leaning forward in his chair. “But she’s teaming up with Purpled, and his motives,” he shrugged, leaning back in his chair, “who knows.”

“The good news is, we can use this to our advantage,” Aves pulled out an unknown piece of technology, setting it on the table.

It had a screen along with numerous buttons on it, a phone without the keypad.

“What is that?” Tommy leaned over the table, trying to get a better look.

“A communicator. We were allies at some point, and if we get back in touch we could reinstate the alliance.”

“To do what?”

“To keep you safe,” Blade replied in his gruff voice.

“Among other things,” Siren added meekly, still weary from their previous interaction.

“Will I be talking to her?”

“No, Tommy,” Blade laughed softly, “Not yet at least, we need to talk to her first. After that you can.”

“Cool,” Tommy replied. “So, what’s her name?”

“Selkie.”

Tommy had too much time.

Visits were sparse, leaving him time to plan and ponder what came next. More importantly, though, it gave his mind time to wander.

With every step through soft snow, he watched his feet leave lasting imprints in the once perfect landscape. And with every step, his mind drifted further and further away from the present.

To a time where the cold was more sure to him than his own survival, where fingertips froze until he surrendered unto his own body, allowing fur to grow and his body to contort.

But now, his feet brought him away from the warehouse and close to people.

People milling about, shopping in an array of stores, talking with each other. Just people, existing and connecting with one another in the mob of normality.

The mall was a picture perfect sight, and Tommy longed to lose himself in it. To launch himself forward, into the bustling crowd, and to pretend he was just a normal teenager.

But something held him back, a strange sense telling him not to. To stay right where he was, a silent observer, to forget about the pretending.

Because if he did it, walked forwards confidently, he would feel even more what he was missing.

Human connection.

Before SBI took him in, before his image was plastered on every screen, he had Niki.

A woman who cared about him. Who he knew didn’t take him in for his powers, for what use he could be to her.

He was her employee, yes, but he was easily replaceable. Any teenager within a ten mile radius would have happily taken that job, without needing extra food snuck to them or special emotional care.

And even though he wouldn’t tell her his secret, wouldn’t divulge too many details of his life, she cared for the person that he was, and ultimately? She saw him as human.

With SBI, he knew that they cared about his abilities, his use to them. But no words that they spoke, no assurances could fully convince him that they cared for him.

Tommy spun around, taking in the entirety of his surroundings near the entrance of the mall.

He knew that Blade cared more than the rest, but how far did that connection run?

He moved next to a wall, placing his hand against it and shooting a web onto the cold brick.

He had kept the truth from him, that he was the piglet he saved that day, the piglet that he killed for.

Vibrations ran through his body as he took in what was around him. His spider senses tingled with a sense of familiarity, someone he knew was close.

Piglin connections ran deep, and if he knew that he killed for a fraud?

Someone that he knew was here. He honed in on the feeling, the sense running through the ground, the wall, the web, all the way into the core of his being.

A poor imitation of his own kind?

Liquid felt as though it was rushing through his body, spilling out and drowning him in saltwater.

Killed for a liar?

A merling was here.

Killed for Tommy?

Niki was here.

Tommy drew his hand back, staring at the web left on the wall.

His connection from his spider senses was now severed, leaving him disconnected from the world around him.

But he still knew where she was.

He weaved expertly through the crowds, unnoticed and unremarkable to everyone around him.

His destination was a quaint store, oddly nestled near sleek modern stores in the mall, leaving it sticking out like a sore thumb. He walked inside, his footsteps silent as he searched the store.

And then he found her.

Giggling as she held a guitar, handing it over to the man next to her. He was a tall man, with brown curly hair, and when he turned his head slightly to the side, Tommy knew exactly who he was.

Wilbur.

“Niki?”

His voice was soft, timid as it came out, but she turned to him nonetheless.

“Tommy?” And by the look on her face, he knew that if she had still been holding the guitar, then surely it would’ve slipped out of her hands and onto the cold, hard ground at the sight of him. “You’re alive?”

“I’m alive,” Tommy nodded, and she went rushing forwards to the boy, crushing him in a hug.

“I was worried sick! Don’t ever do that again, okay?”

“Okay,” Tommy mumbled into her shirt, smushed by her still and barely able to breathe.

“You disappeared at the same time that the shifter appeared,” she pulled back, frowning, but with a knowing look on her face.

“Well- uh he didn’t get me!” Tommy chuckled nervously, and his throat began to feel tight.

“Good thing, too, who else is gonna make my coffee?” Wilbur spoke up in an attempt to break the tension.

“If you could even call it that,” Tommy muttered under his breath.

“Right,” Niki smiled weakly at the two. “But are you sure you’re okay? There’s no connection between you two?”

“No,” his skin crawled with the lie, but thankfully Wilbur came to his rescue.

“C’mon, Niki. Why would they ever be connected? He’s just a kid.”

“Hey!” Tommy yelled, causing the two adults to break into a chorus of laughter.

Niki’s soft, tinkly, laugh pierced the air, a sound he hadn’t even realized that he missed until it was right in front of him, consuming his mind with its encapsulating trance.

Almost like the trance of a sea creature, drawing him in with its irresistible song.

“Well, where have you been, then?” Niki asked, staring at him like she knew that any possible answer he came up with was a lie. And behind her, Wilbur was glaring at him like any wrong move would end him in the hospital.

“Well- um, I got- uh, kidnapped?”

“Kidnapped?!?!” Niki yelled, and Wilbur rushed over to put a hand over her mouth.

“Niki, people are going to think we’re trying to kidnap the kid or something.”

She looked around, cringing at the sight of someone staring at them all.

“Right, sorry. But, what happened?”

“I dunno, I got taken and put in a warehouse but managed to escape.”

“That’s good. So I’ll be seeing more of you, then?”

“Hopefully. I can’t come back to work, though,” he dropped his gaze down to his shoes.

“That’s okay Tommy. I’m just glad that you’re okay,” she smiled, her shoulders dropping as the tension filtered out of her body. “The timing of your disappearance was just so strange that I…“

“What?” Tommy prompted as she trailed off. “You what?”

“It’s nothing,” she shook her head softly. “It isn’t important.”

“Okay,” he looked at her strangely, trying to figure out the secrets hidden behind her eyes, but found only his reflection painted onto her dark brown irises. “It was nice seeing you, Niki.”

“You’re leaving already?”

“I moved after I was taken, so they can’t find me again. It’s a bit of a walk, so I should get going.”

“Okay, stay safe, Tommy.”

“You too,” he waved to Wilbur and Niki, before turning on his heel and walking hastily to the entrance.

He slammed the window shut behind him, collapsing onto the bed as his breathing began to slow from its rapid pace.

Something was inexplicably off about that conversation, and Tommy knew it.

Niki’s knowing glances, her interest in the time of his disappearance. It was as if she knew. And if she knew, would she tell? Plaster his face on every screen, rid him of the only comfort that he still had; knowing his face was safe from the public. That he could still go outside, still be free.

But this was Niki, she would never betray-

His train of thought stopped as he became aware of a new sound in his vicinity, footsteps. They were heavy footsteps, the ones that could only be achieved by wearing heavy combat boots.

The door swung open, and behind it was a familiar figure. A masked face, pink hair in a loose braid.

Blade.

Chapter Text

Tommy bolted upright in his bed.

“Blade?”

“Hey, kid,” he leaned against the doorframe nonchalantly. “You’re training today.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now. Or are you too tired from your little escapade at the mall?” he teased.

“How-“

“How would I not know?”

Tommy shrugged his shoulders. He surely had the resources to know, that was true enough. “What’re we doin’ then? Gonna go do some crime I reckon?”

“No, Tommy, training,” he sighed, but his tone was soft and teasing.

“Training me in what, big man?”

“Primarily in basic combat, but a little with your powers too.”

“With my powers?”

“After last time,” Blade paused, eyes fixing on a point in the distance before refocusing on Tommy. “I can’t let you get hurt like that again. You need to be able to use them well, and not let your powers tire you out so much.”

“And how is that supposed to work,” Tommy huffed, blowing out a breath. “They don’t just miraculously stop doing that.” Then, softer, “I don’t think they even can stop wearing me out.”

“Not if you don’t try, kiddo, c’mon,” he took a step back, gesturing towards the door. “Please, just give it a chance.”

“Fine,” Tommy stood, rolling his eyes. “Lead the way.”

“Again,” Blade grunted, flipping his braid back over his shoulder.

Tommy weakly stood, knees trembling.

Blade threw a punch, and he crumpled to the floor, shifting into a tiny rat and scurrying behind Blade.

But as he shifted into a wolf form to pounce, Blade grabbed his legs, pinning him to the floor, and he shifted back into his human form, defeated.

“You’re getting better, kid,” he reached down a hand after he stood, and Tommy accepted it gratefully.

“Still tired as hell, though.”

The pink haired man chuckled, reaching back to undo his braid.

“It’ll get better after time, trust me. You just gotta keep pushin’ yourself.”

“You sound like my parents.”

“Yeah?” Blade grabbed his water bottle, taking a long sip. “How so?”

“I don’t know,” Tommy sighed, sitting down. “It’s just that once I told them I was an avian, they pushed me to practice it as much as I could. Now I’m like a teenager in that form, and a kid in everything else.”

“Why’d they care so much?”

“They wanted a powerful son. But oddly enough, they also wanted to be able to control me.”

“Every parent wants to do that.”

“To an extent.” Tommy shook his head. “Not like they did.”

“What’d they do?” Blade set down his water, putting his full attention on the boy.

“They watched everything I did. Sometimes I even felt like they implanted a tracker in me with how they always knew my whereabouts,” Tommy huffed. “I wasn’t free in that house, I only ever was once I was kicked out.”

“Hmm,” Blade hummed thoughtfully. “You’re free here though.”

“Again though, it’s just to an extent. Always needing to know where I am, always being alone-“

“Alone?”

“I could visit Niki everyday,” Tommy stood back up, “here I just have to hope I get visited.”

“You can leave here,” Blade pointed out.

“She’s a good ways away. To get to her I have to fly and risk everything.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Can we get back to training now?”

“Sure.”

Blade’s face was contorted weirdly as he got into a fighting stance, but Tommy brushed it off.

The next day, Blade arrived with the other two members of SBI in tow.

“It’s not meeting day,” Tommy cocked his head to the side, opening the door widely to let them in.

“We know.” Siren replied, confidently striding in. “But Blade wanted us to come.”

“Come for what?” Tommy made his way to the living room, and plopped down on the couch.

“To give you some news, mate.”

“What kind?”

“Good,” Blade replied, the hint of a smile on his voice. “That you can live with us.”

“Live with you?” Tommy’s voice cracked.

“Yeah,” Aves replied, glancing from Blade to Siren.

“But why?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Siren grumbled, making his way to Tommy’s room to clean it out.

“You’re alone here, kid. I can’t leave you like that.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re clearly not,” Aves sighed. “Let’s just get you out of here.”

Tommy was set up in a separate wing of the house, with a keypad attached to the door separating him from the rest of the mansion.

Blade told him they would come and visit him daily, but for the most part nothing had changed.

He was stuck in that wing, unable to wander outside, a bird with clipped wings, unable to be free.

He didn’t even know if he could still go outside anymore.

And this time, he was utterly alone.

The Tuesday after he was moved, Tommy was sitting in bed.

He was reading a book of Greek myths that Blade had given him, and it was much more enjoyable than the last book he gave him.

And that was when SBI decided to rush in.

“Tommy,” Siren looked around the room frantically before his eyes finally settled on Tommy. “There you are, we need you, let’s go.”

Aves grabbed onto his arm, pulling him out of the room.

“What?”

Tommy turned to Blade for help, but all he gave him was a light shrug.

They sat Tommy down at the table as they stared at him with a wide array of emotions on their faces.

Dread, hope, confusion.

“Tommy, you need to come on another mission for us,” Aves said, a grim expression on his face. “With us.”

“Okay,” Tommy nodded. But why now? Why drag him out of here without warning for their first mission together, instead of carefully crafting it like they had done before. “What happened?”

“Tommy,” Siren started, all furrowed eyebrows and confused glances.

But it was Blade, with his face full of hope, that finished. “Selkie is on tv. And she’s asking for you.

Tommy was suited up and ready to go within minutes.

SBI was already ready and waiting for him in the car, the masks having never left their faces.

He was living in their house now, and yet still utterly unaware of what laid underneath that protective layer.

The scene they pulled up to was one lined with cops.

But oddly enough, it was not one interspersed with heroes.

Aves took a right, veering away from the cops and parking in a darkened alleyway.

He didn’t stop to check if they were ready, throwing open the car door and slamming it shut as he went to scale the building.

Siren followed suit, leaving only him and Blade in the car.

“You got this,” Blade said to Tommy, and they left the car together.

The building was easy enough to scale, especially as he allowed his hands to grow setae, sticking to the walls with the trait of a gecko.

He could hear Blade grumbling beneath him, and a slight smile appeared on his face despite the dread pooling in his stomach.

Tommy pulled himself onto the rooftop with ease, strength rippling through his muscles.

Blade made his way onto the rooftop a moment later, reaching out to ruffle Tommy’s hair.

“You’re getting good at that.”

“I had a good teacher,” Tommy grinned before turning away from him and setting his eyes on a point in the distance.

Selkie was in the middle of the street, water swirling around her in a protective bubble.

The police had their guns aimed at her, and there was a news helicopter circling overhead, broadcasting footage of the encounter.

But she wasn’t spreading the water out into waves, trying to drown the force and push them back with the force of a tsunami.

She was just standing there, waiting.

For him.

He could see Purpled nearby, waiting in another alleyway just off of the street.

He would likely be watching out for her, making sure nobody jumped out from behind to attack her.

Tommy took a deep breath, stepping forward towards her.

But Aves reached out a hand, stopping him.

“It’s probably a trap. Just like last time.”

Memories swirled before him.

Fire, curling up the arm of the hero before him.

A gun, pointed straight at him.

A bullet, sinking into the flesh of his arm.

The spot that got caught in Siren’s explosion, the spot that his parents-

“I know. But I need to do this. I need to know what she wants.”

“She might want to kill you,” Siren muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Tommy to hear.

But when he took another step forward, nobody stopped him this time.

Wings grew from his body, and he walked off of the building.

The sound of gunfire began to ring out through the night, but it was quickly drowned out with the sound of rushing water.

A wall of water thrust out in between Tommy and the cops, blocking their bullets and allowing him safe passage to her.

So she did need him alive. For how long, though? For what purpose?

He landed a few feet in front of her, allowing his wings to fold behind his back, but not to dissolve into it.

“Selkie.”

“Red Shift.”

She reached a hand out, and the wall retreated back towards them. It wrapped around them both, protecting them both in the bubble of water.

“I didn’t think you would come,” her blue eyes twinkled with the light reflecting off the water.

“Then why’d you do it?”

It was an odd move, going out in front of all the cops and the newspapers like that. A reckless one, and a dangerous one, surely.

“I didn’t have a choice,” she shrugged softly, and the water rose almost imperceptibly with the movement. “You’re a hard man to get a hold of.”

“It kind of comes with the territory, being hunted and all.”

She laughed, and the sound floated through the air, familiar and comforting. But there was something underneath the sound, a thinly veiled darkness hidden in her tone.

“You know, you remind me of someone. Two people, actually.”

“I do?” A chill ran down Tommy’s spine. If she knew who he was, who he cared for as a civilian-

Emotions flashed across her face in rapid, brief succession, before being hidden by the next. Her mind was a whirlwind, battling between itself for dominance. “It doesn’t matter. That’s not why I’m here.”

“Then what are you here for?”

“I’m here to tell you something that you need to know. It’s a matter of life and death.”

Just like every decision he made recently, it seemed.

“It’s-“ she started, only to abruptly cut off mid sentence. She raised a hand to her ear, tapping on it once. “Go again, what?”

She paused, listening. “Shit,” she cursed. “We’ve gotta go.”

“What happe-“

“Heroes got here.”

Tommy uttered a matching curse, and unfolded his wings from his back.

“Grab onto me,” Selkie said.

“Why?” he raised his eyebrow accusedly.

She sighed. “I’m not trying to kill you. If I wanted to, I would've already.”

“Not with SBI here.”

“Listen, I'm on your side, okay? But I can’t prove that right now, so you’ll just have to trust me.”

He looked into her eyes, searching for any hint of a lie. Her blue eyes looked oddly brown in the light, like a certain shade he had seen many times before

“Fine,” Tommy reached out, grabbing onto her waist and pulling her into a hug.

Then he took off flying.

The wall of water moved with them, shielding them from the gunfire and bursts of fire shot at them.

“Where are we going?” Selkie yelled over the noise.

Tommy scanned the ground, eyes catching on SBI running across the rooftops.

“Out of here,” he swooped down a rooftop in front of them, setting her down gently and scanning her lightly for injuries. “You okay?”

“Yeah, landing wasn’t too bad.”

Tommy smiled under his mask, and he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. SBI was still running, and now he was falling behind.

“I have to go with them. Will you and Purpled..?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine getting out of here.”

“What about-”

As usual, she practically read his mind again. She pulled a note out from a pocket in her suit, handing it gingerly over to him.

She took a step back, and the wall of water began to pull retreat from all around him.

“Goodbye, Red Shift.”

“Bye, Selkie.”

And then he took off running.

He jumped the rooftops with the strong legs of kangaroos, sprinted across them with the speed of a cheetah. He caught up to SBI with ease.

“Where are we going?” Tommy yelled.

“We need to lose them,” Blade yelled in response.

They dropped down from the rooftops, winded through back alleyways, all until they came across an unremarkable alleyway.

Aves pulled open the dumpster, and Tommy just stared at him.

“Really? Could you be less creative?”

He just sighed like a worn out parent, and jumped in.

Tommy followed suit, sliding down the chute, terrifying as it was. He ended up in a storage closet, but when Aves opened the door it was to a luxurious apartment.

“This place is n-”

He was cut off by Blade and Siren slamming into his back, knocking the wind out of his lungs and him off of his feet.

“Ow,” he mumbled, his face smushed against the ground.

Aves laughed, and soon the sound filled the room. The four of them were near hysterics, the residual adrenaline coursing through their veins and making them feel on fire.

“Idiots,” Tommy grumbled as he finally composed himself enough to stand up, brushing the dust off of his clothes.

He wandered inside, and Aves lead him to his room for the night.

“We’ll head back home in the morning, but until then we need to lay low.”

“Okay,” his eyes crinkled with the smile still hidden under his mask. “Goodnight, big man.”

“Goodnight, Tommy.”

He shut the door, and Tommy launched himself onto the bed. He pulled the note out from the pocket he had hidden it in, and began to read.

Red,

If you want to know more, meet me Thursday night on the corner of Antarctic Road and Steve Way.

Come Alone.

-Selkie

Chapter Text

The winter snow fell all around him.

Tommy shivered, drawing the worn blanket tighter around his shoulders.

A TV he walked by displayed a replay of Aves in one of his most recent attacks, with a commentator speculating overtop.

“Why does he always work alone? What is his motive in doing all of this?” she asked, her voice distorted through shitty speakers.

Tommy didn’t care about any of it. He just kept his head down as he continued walking, uncaring of any super news.

After all, they didn’t give him a place to live or food to eat. He couldn’t afford to care.

It was a long day of walking around, of begging for jobs or food. Another day of failure. All he could look forward to at this point was getting back to the little alleyway that he called home, and falling fast asleep.

And he was only mere blocks away.

He hurried his pace, scattering snowflakes and smashing them into the sidewalk as he went.

But when he got there, it was not the picture of the familiar alleyway that he had been expecting to see. Instead, it was one of disarray.

His stash of coats and paper-thin blankets was scattered all around, and in the middle of it sat a strange man.

His mid-length brown hair was pulled back in a braid that had more hair sticking out of it in disarray than in place.

He needed to run but- everything he had was here. Tommy had spent the last year acquiring and defending. And most of all, he was still cold.

“Hello?” Tommy’s voice shook, his weak legs shook, and he walked into the alley.

The man stirred briefly, but settled down even deeper into his pile of warmth.

The pile that was supposed to be Tommy’s.

He reached out a hand, shaking the man’s shoulder before jumping back out of reach.

“Wh-“ the man rubbed his eyes sleepily as he sat up. “What’s going on?”

“You-”

His eyes widened. “Gold!” he shot up, scattering everything to even more disarray, marching towards Tommy. He grabbed onto Tommy’s hair, dragging him to his chest. “Gold,” he said again, but this time it came out as more of a sob than anything.

Tommy brought his hands up to the man’s chest, and prepared himself to push.

“They took it from me. They took it all from me,” he was full-on sobbing now, his tears falling into Tommy’s mussed hair. “It’s been two weeks since-” he broke off, sniffling. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

The man seemed older than Tommy, but by how scrawny and broken he was, he could barely tell. He was a hollow shell of a man, of a piglin hybrid, by how their interaction was going.

“I-” Tommy started, but the man abruptly pulled himself away.

“Not gold,” he grumbled, and when Tommy looked up at the hair just above his eyes, it was bright pink.

Tommy collapsed to the ground, doubling over in pain. His body was contorting weirdly, and his eyes were bulging weirdly out of his body. He could no longer see the man in front of him, only blinding white snow.

His ears were ringing loudly, but not loudly enough to cover the sound of the incessant chanting.

It was just the hum of a whisper, barely heard overtop of the ringing in his ears, but it grew louder until they were screams. The voices of his parents, yelling one word until their throats burned.

“Monster.”

Tommy’s ears still rang when he woke up.

His hands shook when he grabbed the glass of water on his bedside table. And when he downed it all in one gulp, it was as cold as snow.

His legs almost collapsed under him as he walked to the door. He shook the handle, but it didn’t budge. So he pressed his body against the wood, grounding himself until the panic subsided.

And when it finally did, the sound of chatter filled his ears.

“I just don’t know how to feel,” Siren said, muffled through the thick wood of the door.

“You don’t trust him?” Aves asked.

“Maybe,” he sighed. “I just think it’s weird. I mean, Selkie hasn’t been active for years, and the second that he shows up, here she is asking for him!”

“I get that you-”

“And then she asks to speak to him, in private nonetheless, and we don’t even know what it was abou-

“-Hey,” Aves interjected. “I get that, I know it’s weird. But these are unprecedented circumstances. He’s something that we’ve never seen before, soon he’ll be the most powerful person on this entire planet. Wouldn’t it be weirder for stuff like this not to happen?”

“I guess. I still don’t like it though. It’s something beyond just the powers, I know it.”

“Did Selkie do something else weird?”

“It’s something beyond Selkie, I don’t know what, but she’s weird too. I mean, she sat there and asked for him on TV. She sat there and waited, risking the heroes arriving and attacking both herself and Tommy.”

“Alright,” Aves drew out the end of the word, urging him onwards

“And when he confronted Flame, he didn’t try to kill Tommy.”

“What?! He literally threatened to kill him!”

“But he didn’t try to. The heroes, they’re trained have the best aim in the country. But he just hit him in the arm, hell, it seemed like more of a message than anything.”

“What kind of message?”

“That they’re coming for him.”

“Lovely,” Aves joked grimly, and Tommy could hear the grimace in his voice.

The sound of a door closing reverberated off of the walls, and Tommy jerked back from his spot leaning against the door.

He could only barely make out the next words from Blade, who was rapidly approaching his door.

“I trust him. I saw him once ages ago…” he trailed off. “Then again recently. Before this entire mess. He’s a good kid, okay?”

Siren’s reply, if there was one, was far too soft for Tommy to understand.

The doorknob rattled as Blade went to enter the room, and Tommy fell back into a chair, trying his best to act natural.

“Tommy?” Blade asked as he entered the room. “You’re up.”

“What time is it?” Tommy asked, trying to appear calm as his mind whirled from what he’d just overheard.

“It’s Thursday evening,” Blade set down a plate on the nightstand. “You slept through Wednesday. I brought you dinner, though.”

“Thanks,” Tommy grabbed it as Blade sat down on the bed. “So, what’s going on?”

“Nothing much, we were just kind of sitting around, trying to relax after you passed out on us.”

“I bounced back pretty quick this time, didn’t I?” Tommy grinned through a mouthful of food, much to Blade’s chagrin.

“Slow down there kid,” he laughed.

“I haven’t eaten since Tuesday Blade,” Tommy responded, drawing out the e on his name. “You can’t judge me.”

“Okay, but I’m pretty sure the way you’re eating right now should be classified as a war crime.”

“I’m pretty sure my existence is a war crime,” Tommy grinned.

“That- that’s just not how it works,” Blade deadpanned as Tommy dissolved into giggles.

“So does,” he rebutted childishly, shoveling more food into his mouth.

“What’re you gonna do tonight, then?” Blade asked. “Other than being a war crime, of course.”

“I dunno, sleep more probably.”

But his mind was already beginning to wander towards the opposite of sleep, towards the note crumpled up in his pocket.

“Alright,” Blade stood and made for the door. “I’ll bring you breakfast tomorrow then. Maybe we can do something after, when you’re fully recovered?”

“Sure,” Tommy smiled, setting his plate down on the nightstand.

“Sleep well,” Blade called, before shutting the door and leaving Tommy alone to his own devices.

A few hours later, Tommy was dangling with his body half out of a window.

He fell, and took off into flight with ease, watching the night with the precision of his owlet eyesight.

It was a clear winter night, and the chill barely permeated beneath the fluffy coating that his feathers provided.

The breeze carried him further towards the sketchier part of town, back where he used to live before he got caught up in the lives of supers.

His eyes caught longingly, painfully, on Niki’s Bakery as he flew past.

Tommy still missed the simplicity of that life, of just going to and from work. Of having Niki there to care for him, to see him for who he actually was.

But now he had Blade too, and maybe even Aves.

His mind was still running a thousand miles a second, his wings flapping desperately to match the pace of it, when he dove.

He hurtled towards a streetlight, slowing his fall with a flap of his wings as he landed on the metal, scratching it with his talons.

They were mere blocks from the bakery, in between it and where he used to reside.

The alleyway was empty as he entered it, so he kept flying, doing a rudimentary perimeter sweep.

Nobody was here yet.

There was no sign of Purpled if he was even coming, or the merling hybrid.

The moon had barely reached its peak, though, and was just beginning to fall down toward the horizon. He still had time.

Tommy landed on a trash can in the alleyway, perching as he eyed a shadowy corner.

The sweep had helped to settle his nerves somewhat, but this whole ordeal was still suspicious.

Her wanting to meet him here, in a location so close to his past.

It was as if Selkie knew more than she should, and was taunting him, dangling her knowledge right in front of his face with promises of an old, peaceful, life that he could never return to.

He hopped down from the trash can, shifting into a rat in midair.

He scurried over to the shadowy corner, where it was devoid of anyone else.

Tommy let out a sigh of relief, but still, the anxiety remained, as it likely would til this meeting ended. Or he died.

Movement flashed in the corner of his eye.

Tommy spun, his tail hitting the brick of the wall behind him.

Purpled was standing in the middle of the alleyway, a hand pressed to his ear.

“I’m here. Checking the area now.”

His hand went back down to his side as he nonchalantly walked the length of the alleyway.

Purpled opened the trash can and peered inside, checking for him. He scaled the walls, and peered over the edges of rooftops.

When he was done, he hung suspended midair by a singular web, hand back up and speaking into his mic.

“Area’s clear. Still no sign of him here, should I wait?”

Purpled paused, listening to the reply on the other side.

“Understood, moving out now,” Purpled reached a hand out, shooting a web. He was gone in a moment, swinging away to a distant location, leaving Tommy alone in the alleyway once more.

Tommy scurried out of the shadows, shifting back into an owl for her arrival.

She came silently, rounding the corner and walking into the alleyway, strolling confidently like nothing was wrong. Like they were having a normal meeting in a normal location, being normal people.

“Red Shift,” Selkie greeted.

Tommy dropped to the ground, shifting to his human form. “Selkie.”

“You came,” her shoulders slumped as tension poured out of her like a waterfall.

Tommy nodded, eyes studying her intently. “What is it then, what’d you need to tell me?”

“We can’t talk about it here,” her eyes broke contact with his, darting around, the tension returning. “It’s about the government.”

Wasn’t everything?

“Then why are we here,” Tommy scoffed, crossing his arms weakly.

“To bring you to where we can.”

“We?” Tommy asked, coughing into his arm. “What do you, where-“ he stopped, eyes catching on a swinging figure, headed straight for them.

“What…what did you do to me?” Tommy asked, his voice shaking. “They were right,” he took a step back, his body hitting against the wall, “it’s a trap.”

“I’m sorry, but we had to.”

It was then that Tommy’s eyes caught on a device stuck to the ground by a silky spider’s web.

“You knew I was here all along! You-“

“I know how this looks,” Selkie brought up a hand as if to comfort him, then drew it back in an instant.

“But,” Purpled landed on the ground with a thump, “we’re on your side.”

Darkness began to blur at the edges of his vision, drawing him towards unconsciousness.

“I don’t believe you,” Tommy said, barely a whisper as he forced it out of worn lips.

“You don’t have to now, you’ll see it for yourself soon enough,” Purpled said.

Selkie nodded next to him, and Tommy let his head fall limp, his eyes shut, as Selkie spoke again.

“Go to sleep, Tommy.”

Chapter Text

Niki paced back and forth in the room.

Her mask lay discarded on the nightstand, but she was still in her suit as she watched the boy sleeping in the bed.

He should’ve been awake an hour ago, fuck what if she hurt Tommy-

He moved in the bed, blinking bleary eyes open.

Niki stopped in her pacing, rushing to his side.

“You’re awake,” she breathed out a sigh of relief.

He bolted upright, his breathing quickening as he recalled the events right before his capture. “Selkie-“ his eyes caught on her face, and his jaw fell open. “Niki?”

“Hi, Tommy,” she smiled sadly at him. “I’m sorry for kidnapping you.”

“You better be,” he huffed and crossed his arms, but he allowed himself to relax into the bed. “Where’s Purpled?”

“He’s not here. He was just there to help me get you, he doesn’t know much, I promise.”

He nodded.

“So what’s all the fuss about? Surely it was something important for you to do all of,” he gestured with his arms to the room, to the current situation that he was in, “this.”

“Right,” Niki sat down in a chair next to the bed. She looked down at her hands, twiddling her thumbs. “I haven’t told this story to anyone, but, you need to know.” She looked up to meet Tommy’s eyes.

“Years ago, when I was a civilian, before all of this, I had a family.”

“Niki!” Tubbo yelled from downstairs, and she heard the telltale slam of the front door behind him. “Can you come down here?”

Niki frowned. Usually he just said that he was home, and he never needed her to come down.

“Sure!” she yelled, getting up from the desk that she was working at.

Plans for the bakery were going well, and with enough luck, she’d be able to finish the branding soon. She hadn’t even found a place for the shop yet, but she had a good feeling about it. It felt right, like all of her dreams finally coming true.

“Hey Tub- Who is this?”

Next to Tubbo stood a tall man. He had black hair with little white streaks running through it, and he crossed his legs nervously.

“This is Ranboo,” Tubbo pushed him slightly forward, presenting him to her like he had brought home a stray kitten, desperately wanting to be allowed to keep it. “He’s like me.”

“Like-“

“Yes,” Ranboo interjected, and Niki gasped in surprise.

He was a shifter, just like her little brother Tubbo.

“What kind?”

“Enderman.”

And just like Tubbo, he could shift fully into that form. He could become a full-blown enderman, something that he would never know peace for.

“We have to take him in, Niki, please. If we leave him out there, their rounds of blood tests will find him. He’ll die if we don’t hide him,” Tubbo begged.

But Niki didn’t need him to beg, her mind was made up the second she knew what he was, how hunted he was.

“We’ll take you in, Ranboo.”

Weeks later, all three of them sat together, huddled in front of the TV in the living room.

The news was on, but they were only half listening. They were too preoccupied shoveling food into their mouths.

“Are you sure it’s really that good?” Niki asked. “If anything’s wrong I can change the recipe easily.”

She was met with a death glare from Ranboo.

“If you change this recipe I will end you,” Tubbo said, muffled through a mouthful of food.

Niki giggled.

It was nice to be here, with them, in these peaceful nights.

“I’ll put it on the menu then.”

“Good,” Ranboo grinned. “When are you finding a place anyway?”

“I-“ Niki started, but she stopped, her eyes catching on the previously ignored television screen.

She couldn’t understand what the man was saying, but she could read the subtitles well enough.

Government officials urge you to go to their building to help the fight against these monsters.

“What?” Niki muttered aloud, and they turned to look at her, confused.

“What is it?” Tubbo asked as Ranboo nodded, encouraging her to answer.

“It’s the news,” she furrowed her brow. “They’re saying that the government wants us to go to a government building to help kill you guys. But they don’t say what they’ll do there.”

“Are they creating an army or something?” Ranboo asked. “But why would they need that?”

“They already outnumber us by a lot,” Tubbo added.

“Hmm,” Niki hummed, squinting to read the subtitles on the TV as the news continued playing. “Okay, they’re saying that it’s something relating to the final stages?”

“Oh,” Tubbo said solemnly. “They’re going to end it.”

“They’re going to kill us all,” Ranboo said, breathless. “But how? What does this do for their plan?”

“I don’t know,” Niki said. “I just don’t know.”

Months later, Niki knew.

But she really, really wished that she didn’t.

Tubbo and Ranboo lay on the floor, huddled together for warmth. A blanket was laid on top of them, but they were still shivering, violently so.

“You’ll be okay, you’ll be okay,” she mumbled to herself repeatedly, like if she said it enough it would save them from their fate.

“Niki,” Ranboo coughed weakly. “I don’t think-“

“No,” she said firmly. “You’re going to be fine. Both of you.”

“We won’t be,” Tubbo said. “It was made to kill us.”

“No, no, it wasn’t! It can’t be,” a tear slipped out of her eye, and she used her powers thoughtlessly, slinging it away, preventing it from falling onto her brothers.

“It isn’t infecting you, Niki. And you’re not one of us.”

“That’s just a coincidence, Ranboo.”

“Stop lying to yourself,” Tubbo urged. “You know the truth, no matter how much you don’t want to. We’re dead!”

“No, just- just go to sleep. You’ll wake up in the morning and you’ll feel better. And if you don’t, then I’ll just take you to a doctor.”

“A doctor would kill us,” Ranboo grumbled.

“We’re dead either way Niki,” Tubbo sobbed. “Let us go,” he whispered, “please.”

She flung more of her tears across the room.

“Okay,” she stood. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

Tubbo and Ranboo shared a glance. She pretended not to know what it meant.

“See you, Niki.”

“Bye, Niki.”

She closed the door, rushing into her room.

Niki collapsed onto her bed, flinging more tears than she knew could come out of her eyes.

They were her family, her only family.

She’d lost the rest of them to the government’s genocide years ago, back when it had just started.

For her to lose the rest of her family now, at the end, when it was almost over, was unthinkable. They were too close to freedom.

They were supposed to open the bakery together. She, in the front, serving customers. Them, in the back, baking to their heart’s delight.

Why even buy a shop now? Why keep going, even now, when she had only one step left? There was no point in anything, not without them.

She creaked open the door to their room.

“Tubbo? Ranboo?” she called.

She was met with only silence.

Niki pushed the door all the way open. She crouched down, just inches above where they lay together on the floor.

She pressed her fingertips to each of their necks. Their hearts were still beating, faintly.

She shook them.

They didn’t wake.

She turned on the lights.

They didn’t wake.

She doused them in water.

Still, they did not wake.

Niki stepped out of the room, heart beating loudly in her chest. She had to do something. She was their older sister, the only one left who could do something.

She had to save them.

Water swirled up her arms as she stood in front of the government building.

Civilians screamed all around her, running as she shot bursts of water at the building, shattering glass in a harsh cacophony.

She ran up to a window, jumping into the now-empty gap with ease.

The government worker inside screamed, but she just threw them against the ground, paying barely any mind to them as their screaming abruptly stopped, replaced by a deadly silence.

Niki went into the hallway, eyes gleaming as she saw a large metal door at the end of it with a fingerprint scanner.

She sent a burst of water there, but it was reinforced, and it didn’t swing open. No matter.

A door to another room was cracked open, and behind it, where he thought Niki couldn’t see him, was a man.

He was dressed nicer than the person she had previously come across, with a dry-cleaned, pristine suit, and a shiny new Rolex.

Niki stopped her stream of water, sending it to wrap around the man’s throat, and drag him to her. He dangled in the air, frantic, as another shot of cold adrenaline ran through her.

“Open the door,” she twisted him around, setting him roughly on the ground in front of the door. He pressed his finger to the scanner, and she threw him across the hallway into a wall. She heard the sickening crunch of bones, but she didn’t look back. She just pushed the door open and went inside.

The room was lined with papers and vials. She ignored the papers, and rushed towards the vials.

They were in two long rows, and she grabbed two from each. One for Tubbo, her little brother that she’d protected all these years. And one for Ranboo, the kid who she didn’t even know of mere months ago, but now was like family to her.

Sirens blared in the distance, and she knew she had to go.

She ran out of the door, water streaming before her to clear a path. The place was devoid of people now, but the walls still remained. But her water made holes easily enough, and she was out within a minute.

Niki ran all the way home, veins thrumming with her victory.

Niki pulled down her makeshift mask as she entered her home.

The home was eerily quiet, devoid of the love and joyous laughter that she was used to.

She sprinted up the stairs, grabbing the vials out of her pocket.

They were the last chance that she had to save her family.

“Tubbo? Ranboo?” she creaked the door open again, but just as before, there was no response.

Niki dropped to the floor, leaning over them.

She set the vials gently on the floor, and reached to their necks to check for their pulses.

“Come on,” she whispered. She felt nothing.

She moved her hands to their wrists. Still nothing.

“Ranboo? Tubbo?”

Nothing, nothing.

Niki grabbed the four syringes.

Two would kill, two might save.

She grabbed one of each.

One would kill, one might save.

She plunged them into their bodies. The bodies of her family, the only ones that she could still bear to risk loving.

She waited one second, one minute, one eternity.

Their chests were still, and their lungs never moved to inhale the plethora of air above them, to take in the lives that they so deserved to live.

“Please,” Niki yelled, looking up to the ceiling. It blocked her view of the sky, but she begged it anyway. She begged the stars, the moon, the empty space in between them. But they never listened.

Tears pricked at her eyes, and this time she let them fall, onto the corpses beneath her.

“That’s what they do, Tommy. They kill and they do it mercilessly, leaving no survivors,” Niki said, still shaken from her retelling.

“But I’m here.” He looked as if all the breath had been stolen from his lungs, and his eyes were filling with the beginnings of tears. “They were like me, they were the last of me. But I lived.”

“We can’t save them all, but the government could’ve.”

“How?’ Tommy asked. “How could they do that, how could they target us like that?”

“I researched it for years afterward,” Niki responded. “Tried to find if there was any way I could’ve saved them, prevented this from happening. There wasn’t, Tommy. When they invited those people to their building it was to help them spread the disease.”

“Disease?” Tommy shuddered, rubbing his arm.

“If you’re not a shifter, you just carry the disease. You spread it to the shifters, but when they get it,” she inhaled deeply, trying to settle her nerves, “it targets a gene that only shifters have, and it attacks their bodies. For you, with how powerful you are, it should’ve been two times worse. Even now, coming into contact with me, you should be dead.”

“What’re you saying, Niki?” Tommy asked, but he had a feeling that he already knew the answer.

Niki dropped her gaze from Tommy, eyes settling on a years-old bloodstain on the floor.

“You’re only alive because the government wants you to be.”

Chapter Text

Tommy walked back alone.

Snow fell from the sky. It felt like he was back there, on the doorsteps of his parents’ house, wondering what he did to deserve this fate.

If he couldn’t even escape the swirling thoughts of his mind, how was he supposed to escape the government’s efforts to capture him?

He tested his powers, shooting a web towards a building. But when it hit the brick, it pushed it inwards.

Tommy released the web with a gasp. When did he get this powerful? When did he stop paying attention, and lose himself in the blizzard of the world?

”You’re back,” his mother smiled.

Tommy jumped effortlessly into the dumpster, letting himself slide to the floor.

“Tommy?” Siren asked before him, dumbfounded from behind his mask. “When did you leave?”

“Last night,” Tommy stood, dusting himself off. “You really need to clean that chute.”

His dad reached down to take off his backpack.

“We rarely use this base,” Siren rolled his eyes.

“Still,” Tommy huffed.

Siren just stared at him, deadpan.

“Blade’s bringing you breakfast right now,” he nodded towards the room that Tommy had been staying in. “I think he wants to talk to you.”

“Thanks.”

”Now that you’re home, we can talk about what happened this morning.”

“Blade!” Tommy called out, running up to the man in the hallway.

“Hey, kid,” he reached out to ruffle his hair. “Where were you?”

This morning. The morning that he presented as an avian.

“Selkie wanted to talk to me,” Tommy cringed at the look on Blade’s face.

“You met with Selkie? By yourself?”

Tommy nodded.

“Tell one of us next time, I mean, can we even trust her?”

The final words of her story rang in his head. The truth that he knew he could not deny.

“I know that we can.”

Tommy beamed with pride. His mother beamed at him in turn, ecstatic for her son.

“Okay,” Blade shifted his weight, holding the tray of food up higher. “We need to talk to Aves and Siren, then.”

Tommy followed obediently behind him as Blade lead the way, searching for the two men.

They found the two of them talking in the living room.

“Ready to go home?” Aves asked.

“We need to talk to you two first,” Tommy replied.

“Then we can go,” Blade tacked on.

”Do you want to try out your wings?” his dad asked.

Tommy and Blade sat down on a couch across from the two.

“We need to start the final steps. Now.”

Tommy watched their faces, or what he could see of them. Confusion, the furrowing of the brow. Shock, the tiniest widening of the eyes. Acceptance and excitement, all in one fell swoop.

“Finally?” Siren asked, unsure.

”How do I do that?”

“Finally,” Blade confirmed. “Tommy’s strong enough now, we could take them.”

”Start chirping. That should trigger your instincts to grow your wings.”

“We should bring in more people, I don’t know,” Aves’ eyebrows drew downwards in a frown.

“I brought in Selkie and Purpled. I just need to tell them the plan.”

“I know you don’t want him hurt,” Blade comforted Aves. “But this is why he’s here, why he became a part of the team in the first place. We need to go through with this.”

And sure enough, under his father’s instruction and his mother’s gleeful gaze, tiny golden wings tore themselves out of his back and through his shirt.

“Fine,” Aves relented. “Tommy, when's the soonest you can get them?”

We’re so proud of you!” his mother squealed as father wrapped him in a tight hug.

Tommy shrugged. “Right now, I guess. Should I…” he trailed off. He knew the answer to his question.

It felt like safety. It felt like home.

“Do it.”

He walked to Niki’s bakery in silence, despite the earbud in his ear. He was too busy eating the breakfast that Blade had brought him.

Tommy opened another cupboard. Empty.

When he got there, he took the earbud out, setting it delicately in a potted plant before the front door. He pushed the door open, and a bell chimed above his head.

Niki smiled at him from the counter, beckoning him towards her.

He flopped down on the floor, pushing his unruly hair back from his face.

“Hey,” she produced a muffin from under the countertop. “You okay with blueberry?”

“Yeah,” he grabbed it eagerly, barely stopping himself from immediately shoving it into his mouth, despite how full he was.

His stomach growled. He needed food, he needed a haircut. He needed a lot of things.

She beckoned to the back, and a girl came forwards to take Niki’s place.

Niki led them towards a booth in the corner, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“Replaced me already?” he scoffed teasingly, drawing a laugh from her. It felt good to hear her laugh, a special noise that shouldn’t exist in the midst of all the chaos.

He needed a lot of things that he wouldn’t get.

“That’s Sally. I swear, Wilbur has been here twice as much since I hired her.”

“Simp,” Tommy grinned, shoving a bite of muffin into his mouth.

“Yeah,” she sat back in the booth, relaxed. “So, are you here for a business visit or a friendly one?”

“Business,” Tommy grumbled. He shoved the rest of the muffin in his mouth. “We could hang out after everything is all done though.”

He laid there, motionless on the floor, for hours.

“That’d be good,” Niki agreed. “So, what’s up?”

Tommy glanced around the bakery. It was filled with people.

“My…allies want to meet with you and your ally.”

“About what?”

When would they be home? They promised they would be home soon.

“Some plan of theirs. We’ll learn more when we’re there.”

“Of course,” Niki nodded. She pulled out an earbud from her pocket and discreetly put it into her ear.

“Hey, can you meet today? We have some people that want to talk to us,” she glanced at Tommy. “Yeah, that works for me too.”

What had he done? He didn't slip up, they didn’t know what he was. They just saw the golden wings and childish chirps, not through the facade.

She slid the earbud back into her pocket.

“Okay, he’ll be in the alleyway by the bakery at one. I just need to finish my shift then we can go.”

“Thanks, Niki,” he glanced at the clock on the wall, displaying the time, noon, overtop of a photo of a tiny black kitten.

He sipped on a cup of coffee that she brought him shortly after she went back to work. It was good, just like how he’d made it when he worked here.

The time slipped by slowly, but a comfortable sort of slowness that came with being able to just enjoy existing in the present.

But nonetheless, one day, they flipped like a switch. Like someone had told them one day to leave him alone and they did, making him fend for himself in what used to be his perfect childhood home.

“You ready?” Niki asked.

“Yeah,” Tommy nodded, and she grabbed his cup.

“Be back in a second.”

She disappeared into the back with his coffee cup, and Tommy stood from the booth.

The paint was starting to chip off of the walls, where he pulled at it with his overgrown fingernails on nights that he couldn’t sleep.

She came back, and they left the building, Tommy making sure to grab his earbud on the way out.

They paused before the alleyway, where Niki pressed a button on her bracelet, and a suit covered her body.

They entered the alleyway, where Purpled laid in wait. He was also in full gear, leaving Tommy the only one unmasked and vulnerable.

He pulled his knees up to his chest, shaking with the effort.

“Ready to go?” Selkie asked Purpled.

And there, alone and curled up in a ball on the floor, he let himself sleep.

“Ready.”

“What the fuck?” Purpled stared at the dumpster.

“What?” Tommy grinned, faking ignorance.

“The fuck do you mean what? You literally just pointed at a dumpster and said that we’re here!”

“I said what I said,” Tommy shrugged, and before he gave him a chance to react, jumped in.

His parents stared at him, mouths agape.

Selkie came tumbling down, followed by a disgruntled Purpled a full minute later.

Tommy led the way into the living room where SBI was waiting for them, and sat down on a couch across from them.

But oddly enough, their faces were not filled with shock.

“So, what’s the plan?” Tommy started.

The three villains on the couch across from them shared a look.

“You are the plan,” Aves responded.

Instead, they were overflowing with disgust.

“Then why are we here?” Selkie asked.

“All of us are to be the distraction while Red hits the real target,” Siren answered her.

“What’s the real target?” Tommy asked.

”Shifter,” his mother gasped.

It was Blade that responded this time. “We need to get into a high level government facility.”

“Why is Red hitting the real target?” Selkie asked.

“All high level government buildings have extreme security measures against shifters, except for this one. It was built after the genocide, so Red’s our best bet at getting in.”

”Monster,” his father practically growled.

Tommy and Niki shared a glance.

“Are you sure?” Niki asked timidly.

“Yes,” Aves responded, but she wasn’t talking to him.

“I think so,” Tommy nodded.

“Good,” Niki straightened up, turning back to face SBI. “What do we need to do?”

”Get out!” his mother shrieked in horror.

“Each of us is going to break into a different government building, or rob a bank, at the same time that Red performs his mission.”

“Except for Purpled,” Blade interjected.

“Me? What am I doing?”

Tommy shrunk back against the bedroom wall, grabbing what he could from a basket next to him. A blanket, his stuffed cow Henry-

“You’re going to be Red’s backup. If he needs a distraction on site, an extraction, anything really, then you’ll be there.”

Purpled nodded, and Blade turned to Selkie.

His father hit him across the face. Hard.

“You’re going to be robbing a bank,” he handed her a slim manila folder. “If you need any reminders or have any questions, you can look in there.”

She nodded.

“You’ll be robbing the one on 45th street, the biggest one in the city. We’ll give you an earpiece, and when Red gives you the go ahead, that’s when you start the robbery. You’ll go in through the main entrance, and use your powers to make as big of a scene as possible.”

Blood spurted out of his nose, and when he reached up to touch it, blinding hot pain coursed through his body. It was broken.

“Won’t they catch on, though? If we all do that, surely they'll know that we’re trying to lure them away from somewhere.”

“That’s where our part of the plan comes in. All of us,” Siren nodded towards the other members of SBI on the couch, “will be robbing other high level government buildings. If they ignore us, then we’ll still get something from them.”

“And if they don’t ignore you?”

”She said get out.”

“Then it’ll draw them away, and Red will get what we want. Either way, we succeed to some degree.”

“But they could catch you,” Niki pointed out.

“They won’t. We’ve had this planned since we first saw him, and we know what we’re doing.”

“Fine,” Niki relented. “What do you want from the building, then?”

SBI glanced at each other.

He held what little belongings he had grabbed closer to his body, making sure not to drop them.

“Information,” Aves eyed her, a warning to not ask any further questions.

“So! Red, you want to hear about what you’re doing, right?” Siren chuckled nervously, trying desperately to diffuse the growing tension in the room.

“Right, yep,” he nodded. “How am I going to break in?”

“It’s a one story building,” Blade responded, “so you won’t need to scale it like the last one.”

Tommy breathed out a sigh of relief.

He ran past his parents, all the way to the front door.

“But, this one’s security level means that there won’t be any open windows for you to get into. They will be more ready for intruders, and everyone in that building will know how to fight back.”

“Against a shifter, though?” Tommy asked.

“We’re counting on them not being able to, though if the heroes show up you’ll have no such luck.”

Tommy just stared at him. This was definitely how he was going to die.

He could hear his parents’ footsteps following behind him, chasing him out of the house.

“You’ll get in through the front entrance. You’ll arrive with a group of people coming in to start their shift, in a small enough form that you won’t be noticed.”

Siren continued on for Blade. “You need to get into a certain room to get what we need.” He handed him a manilla folder, just like the one he had given Selkie, except thicker. “Details are in there. We’ll look over it more later if you need to, okay?”

“Okay,” Tommy replied, his voice dripping with hesitance.

He twisted the doorknob, pulling the door open.

“Does everyone know what they need to do?” Aves asked, drawing the meeting towards its end.

Tommy hesitated, and the footsteps caught up to him.

Everyone chimed in their agreement, but Tommy felt frozen in his seat, unable to speak.

His mother’s perfume wafted towards him, but the smell didn’t offer the same comfort that he was used to.

Niki glanced at him worriedly.

His father brought his hands up against Tommy’s back.

“Red?” Blade prompted him to respond.

He pushed, and Tommy fell forward, scattering his meager belongings into the soft white snow that surrounded him.

“I- yes. I know what I need to do, I can do this.”

The snow pressed against his face, drawing a shiver from his body, as the door slammed shut behind him.

But the second the words were out of his mouth, he knew that it was a mistake.

Chapter Text

Siren slammed the manila folder down on the bedside table.

Tommy groaned, sitting up in bed and rubbing the last remnants of sleep from his eyes.

“You do need to study this, you realize.”

“I know, it’s just,” Tommy sighed. “I’m scared to look at it. It’s stupid, I know, but I feel like if I look in there it’ll become real.”

“Tommy-”

“I don’t want to go in there again, Siren,” Tommy confessed. “Into another government building, straight into the hands of the people trying to capture me.”

“You just need to do this mission, then you’re free,” Siren responded. “Hell, we’ll protect you for the rest of your life after this. We just need you to do this one step for us.”

“Then I can do whatever I want?” Tommy perked up.

“Whatever you want,” Siren affirmed.

No more missions, no more kidnappings. Actual control over his life, freedom.

“They’ll still be after me,” Tommy pointed out. “The government will never stop hunting me.” Because they needed him alive, something deep in his mind pointed out. He tried to push it deep down, bury it in white hot flame, but he could feel it clawing its way back up, burning at his throat.

“They won’t get you. Just one more mission, and you’ll be perfectly safe. I promise.”

“One more mission,” Tommy nodded, and grabbed the manilla folder.

Purpled was hugging him.

Purpled was hugging him, and Tommy was sure this was the last time he’d ever be seen alive.

“You got this,” Purpled emerged from the hug.

“I’ve got this,” Tommy echoed hollowly.

He turned towards the building.

“Go,” Tommy spoke into his earpiece, and waited.

Three minutes ticked by, and sirens began to wail in the distance. A pit began to form in his stomach. Swirling, urging him to get out of here.

Tommy shifted into a fly, but instead of leaving, he flew straight towards the building.

Hordes of people were entering the building, swiping their keycards and smiling at guards as they passed.

They didn’t spare Tommy more than a wayward glance.

He flew high in the air, out of reach of the humans below.

Nobody looked at him now.

Tommy scanned the room as people filtered in, looking for the man from the manila folder.

The clock ticked by, and just as he thought everything was lost, he walked in.

A man with a white bandana strode in confidently, an orange phone pressed to his ear.

Tommy flew straight into his hoodie pocket.

“They’re attacking multiple locations,” the man spoke hurriedly, almost fearfully.

“It’s time,” Tommy heard faintly through the phone’s speakers.

“I know,” the man pressed his finger to a keypad, entering a combination of numbers, and entered a new room. “Is he here yet?”

A pause on the other end. Then, words too muffled for Tommy to understand.

The man with the bandana hung up abruptly, reaching towards his pocket to shove his orange phone inside.

Tommy flew out of the pocket, narrowly avoiding being crushed as a bug.

The room he was in now was filled with people milling about, those he knew to have a security clearance of level two.

He went to follow the man with the bandana, but he was already through another doorway, and slamming the door shut behind himself.

Tommy was stuck on level two, and he needed to get to four.

He flew to the floor, right next to the door.

He couldn’t see a gap, but surely he would be able to get through.

Tommy shifted to an ant, and went to slide under the doorway.

But still, no gap.

Tommy shifted back to a fly to search the room.

He flew from desk to desk, his heart hammering in his chest. In flying out of the pocket, he had failed the mission. He had failed SBI.

All of the desks were useless, except-

The large desk in the corner of the room was empty.

He flew over there, landing on top of a massive monitor, and scanning the desk. No keycard.

Tommy glanced back over at the door, and the shiny fingerprint scanner.

Shit. He was looking for the wrong thing all along, he-

He looked back at the desk, and there it was. A half full coffee cup.

Tommy gently landed in the desk’s chair, willing himself to become a chimpanzee.

He opened a desk drawer to rifle through it, grateful for the wall behind him and the large desk in front of him. Nobody could see him.

Tommy grabbed a roll of tape out of the drawer, before slamming it shut right as an important looking woman began marching towards the desk.

He felt like cursing, but didn’t know if he was even capable of it in this form.

He pressed the tape against the coffee cup, right where a clear fingerprint was.

Tommy placed the tip of the piece of tape in his mouth, leaving the portion with the imprinted fingerprint hanging out.

He shifted into a dragonfly right as she appeared at the front of her desk, and he flew straight for the door.

He landed on the edge of the scanner, and when he eyed the room, nobody was looking at him.

Tommy shifted into a tarsier, taking the tape delicately out of his mouth and placing it on the scanner with his small hands. He applied pressure, and the door swung open.

He jumped to the ground and scurried through the opening, into level three, before the door shut once more.

Tommy breathed out a sigh of relief, scanning his surroundings.

Before realizing that he really, really, should not have been relieved.

Because the room that he had entered, level three, was filled with people. People that were all staring straight at him.

Nobody screamed in shock. They all just stood there, staring at him like he was some kind of prey that had fallen right into their trap.

A man reached over and pressed a button on the wall, causing a loud blaring noise to play over the speakers.

Tommy winced at the noise, shrinking back from the people that were now advancing on him.

People pulled out a wide variety of weapons. Tasers, knives, even a few spears and swords.

But behind them, there was a doorway. In place 0f a door, it had a grid of lasers, one that Tommy could easily pass.

“Get Flame in here!” someone yelled.

Tommy ran for the doorway.

A spear went hurtling for his head, and he dodged to the left, where he promptly collided with someone’s leg. They snarled, reaching down to grab him.

He was small now, as a tarsier. He was the size of someone’s palm, and way too easy of prey.

Tommy shifted into a snake, biting their ankle before flitting away as a butterfly.

They fell to the floor, clutching their ankle, screaming “Poison!” so loud it could be heard over the alarm.

Tommy turned to the entrance to level four, only to discover that five people had moved in front of it, blocking Tommy’s exit.

The crowd faded into the background, his mind honing in on the group before him.

Tommy shifted into a lion, and he pounced.

Blood ran down the arms of the person on the end as he scratched blindly at her exposed skin, drawing strangled screams from her throat.

She fell to the ground, and the rest immediately moved into fighting stances.

Tommy hissed as they moved, watching two of the remaining four leave the doorway.

“You don’t have long,” a black clothed man pointed his sword towards Tommy. “Give it up, Red.”

Tommy pounded his leg against the floor, feeling it reverberate with his strength.

“Oh, the little shifter can’t speak,” taunted a woman in red.

Tommy almost gave in. He braced himself to jump towards them, but a shift in the air at his back made him halt.

An air draft ran through his fur, and he whirled to find the two men that had left the entrance, leaping towards where his exposed back had been moments before.

Tommy jumped into the air, wings spreading behind his back as he shifted into a bird. A knife grazed his leg on the way up, and a scarlet drop fell to the floor.

Just another injury to add to the ever growing list.

One of the four had already grabbed a spear in his ascent, letting it loose in the air.

Tommy dive bombed towards the man’s legs, dodging the spear as it sailed overhead with a sharp whoosh.

The second he landed, he was a pronghorn.

Long horns sprouted from his head, right into where the man was standing above him. Tommy pulled away, trying desperately not to think of the squelch of flesh above him, or the blood that began to drip down and coat his body.

He returned to his bird form, flying away from the body.

The body.

Tommy stared down in horror.

He’d killed a man.

He couldn’t hear the alarm anymore, and his entire body felt numb. He couldn’t hear the screaming, and as his vision began to blur, he couldn’t see the blood anymore, either.

He was just there, frozen in midair, a bird that had flown too close to the sun and done the unthinkable.

He could even feel the sun beginning to melt the wings off of his back.

The pain started to draw at his senses, to bring his mind back to alertness.

That burning sensation, that white hot pain- that wasn’t his mind. That was real.

His back was on fire, flames coursing down his body and singing golden feathers black.

Tommy shifted to a blaze as fast as he could, but not quick enough.

He was covered in burns, and when he scanned the room, he found the source.

Right at the entrance to level three, stood Hibernation and Flame.

And despite his training, his increased powers- he panicked.

He could take the people by level four now, but two heroes?

Tommy chirped.

He heard a rustle of movement in his earpiece, and he had to stop himself from flinching violently in his shock. He’d forgotten that he was wearing the thing, that there were people on the outside who could save him.

He chirped again, more insistently this time.

“That means he needs backup,” Aves translated for him, as he fought his way through his own building.

“I’m on my way,” Purpled assured Tommy, and he almost felt like he could relax.

Almost.

Hibernation and Flame switched places with two of the people at the entrance to level four. He almost went to bolt out the way he’d came, to attack just as he’d done before, before remembering who they were.

High ranking government officials, ones that had been trained to kill just like the heroes. Though they lacked strong powers, they were still extremely deadly.

Tommy shifted into a fly.

“Eyes!” Hibernation shouted, and immediately people began pointing, tracing the path that Tommy took as he flew through the air.

Tommy shifted into a bear.

But that only made him an easier target, and deadly projectiles of all sorts began to be hurled at him.

Tommy shifted forms rapidly, making people falter. Too close to him, and they would be crushed by him. Too far, and he could escape.

Banging sounded through his earpiece. He hesitated, only for the briefest of moments, and a knife slashed his wing.

The room broke into shouts.

People drew nearer, growing bolder with their strikes as Tommy weakened.

Blood. There was so much blood.

It all mixed together. His. The corpse’s.

“Red,” a muffled voice said.

The color tinted his vision.

“Red!” the voice spoke again, yelling this time.

A whimper came out of his throat instead of a chirp.

People climbed on desks, reaching above to try to hit him as he flew higher in a pitiful attempt at an escape.

Someone was trying to speak to him through the earpiece, saying his name again.

An employee swung with their knife, hitting his other wing.

Tommy willed himself to switch into something- anything else. A gecko, even his human form.

Just something that didn’t rely on his two bloody wings.

But his body didn’t listen.

He stayed stuck, stubbornly, as a bird.

“It won’t work!” Purpled yelled over the earpiece. More banging. More panic.

Tommy fell from the sky, plummeting onto a wooden desk.

He stained white papers crimson, smearing it everywhere as he struggled to move again.

Two figures loomed over him, inspecting him closely like one would a scientific experiment about to blow.

The radiant orange one pulled away, and Tommy felt as if he was falling away from the sun, falling deep into his doom below.

The other one drew closer, and when he touched his arm, he felt his body begin to fall asleep.

“Red, I can’t get into the building. Can you hear me? Red!”

The man reached up towards Tommy’s face, and the last thing that he could feel was him closing Tommy’s eyelids shut.

Like he was a corpse.

Chapter Text

Tommy woke to the feeling of a needle in his arm.

It stung as it pulled the blood from his body, leaving him weak and shaking. They’d likely been doing it for hours, based on the telltale lightness in his head, and the shallowness of his breathing.

His eyes fluttered open, squinting against the light that he was met with. He was in a pristine white room, sterile like a hospital room often was.

The nurse next to Tommy was lining up a set of blood filled vials, making sure they were perfectly in a line. He hummed as he looked over his work, satisfied.

He took a step back from the table, glancing over at Tommy. He nodded at seeing his eyes struggling against the light, and pulled out a clipboard from his bag to make a few notes, working dilligently.

His humming never ceased as he watched Tommy with curious eyes, even when Tommy began to fight the restraints surrounding his limbs. He just pulled a syringe off of the table, and plunged it into his arm, calm as ever.

Tommy fell asleep seconds later.

Tommy woke up alone.

He was still in that same, sterile, room. The lights still blinded him as he opened his eyes, and that damn table was still lined with vials.

But this time, two things were different.

One, the clipboard that was left on the table. And two, there was a tray of food sitting next to his bed.

Tommy tested the restraints, but didn’t even have the energy to grin as he found them loosened. It was just enough that he could reach the food; an unknown substance, white and mushy, but he ate it anyways, hands shaking as he spooned it into his mouth. It was almost tasteless, but of what little he could taste, it was revolting.

After only four meager spoonfuls, he had to put down the bowl as a wave of nausea rolled over him. He bent over, hands gripping his stomach tightly, as if that would make the pain cease.

He huddled in that position for what felt like hours, knowing he had to stop, but unable to move until the energy retuned to his body. He righted himself, dragging his hand away from the position it had been stuck in. Tommy laid back down in the bed, tilting his head to the side with a soft grunt. His eyes fell back on the table, to the clipboard that lay unattended there.

He didn’t even have the energy to check if there was a camera watching him somewhere if he dared to make a move. But he knew in some deeply familiar, old, part of himself that there was no way he was being left to himself.

He moved towards it anyways, his arm shaking under him as he used it to prop himself up.

It was textbook doctor’s handwriting, all messy scribbles and barely legible words. Half of it Tommy wasn’t sure he’d be able to decipher anyways, complex medical terms that he couldn’t even begin to guess the meaning of. The other half was blurred, his eyes welled with the tears from the pain of holding his weak body up. And the only words that he could decipher were nonsensical to him.

“…subject…change…free…increase...success.”

Tommy frowned, and his arm collapsed underneath him, making him fall back into the bed.

He didn’t have enough energy to try and get back up.

He just laid there, brain whirling as he tried to make sense of it all.

Something was wrong.

He was lightheaded, and something was distinctly off with his entire body.

Tommy’s eyes darted around the room searching for an answer, for anything.

The nurse was back, standing in the corner, clipboard tucked closer to himself this time.

Tommy’s entire body was ice cold, as if the blood coursing through his body had dropped into the negatives, frozen in place. He could barely feel his limbs, and his lungs were beginning to constrict in his panic.

And then, barely a moment later, it was all gone.

Feeling slowly returned to his limbs as the aftershocks of shivers ran through him. His body curled into himself as much as he could, trying to become as small as possible, but unable to shift.

The nurse scribbled quickly, still humming, that awful noise filling his ears. He set the clipboard down where he was, on the other side of the room, away from Tommy.

Quick steps made their way towards him, but Tommy made no move to stop it. The nurse grabbed a bowl from his bedside table, as his other hand made its way to Tommy’s face.

He tilted his chin up, eyes scanning him. Then he nodded, and silently began to spoon-feed Tommy. It was the nauseating white mush again, but Tommy ate it gratefully, if slower this time.

He couldn’t even produce the energy to move anymore, to fight. He just had to lay there in bed and take it.

He woke up shaking from whatever new thing they’d done to him during the night more times than he could count. Not that he even had the energy to think, these days.

Months passed, weeks passed, Tommy couldn’t tell. Everything was blending together.

Humming.

Mush.

Pain.

Sleep, maybe?

Pain.

Mush.

Hum-

“You’re awake.”

Tommy’s head wasn’t pounding anymore. He had the clarity, oddly enough, to find that the statement was true.

“I am,” Tommy moved to sit up, and this time his limbs didn’t fight against him, but the cold metal of his restraints. He laid back down.

“We have a few questions for you,” he sat down next to Tommy, pulling a chair close. The noise of the chair scraping against the cold floor rang in his ears. “How are you feeling?”

Tommy knew how he was feeling. The fuzz, the roaring water, had been removed from his brain. He still didn’t speak, though.

“You’ll have to do more than just stare at me. I need an answer.”

Tommy kept staring.

He was back asleep less than a minute later.

The man said something.

“What?” he had to fight through the fog to think anything, to hear anything.

Latex slapped against skin. He was pulling on a glove.

Gibberish. “Untamed.”

Something flashed through his mind. A mob chasing a man through the street, yelling curses until he escaped into the forest. He remembered the way he relaxed when the man passed the tree line, the way his eyes closed and his muscles relaxed. At least, until he heard the chopper overhead. Then the screaming began.

“You’re not supposed to be an animal.” He cocked his head to the side, almost thoughtful, clinical in his sadism. “Well, at least not totally.”

Tommy stiffened under his restraints.

He couldn’t understand the way this man spoke, like he knew him long ago, and was just trying to save him from what happened to him in their time apart.

The needle in his hand ruined the rise.

“You need to be controlled again.”

“Why?” the word was quiet, barely making it past his lips in his weakened state.

“I think, soon enough, you’ll remember why.” He stepped forward, and Tommy flinched away, trying to escape. He couldn’t run far. He never could.

Even when he thought he had escaped, they were always there, watching.

The needle plunged into his arm.

Pain.

Mush mush mush mush mush.

Crying. Was that him?

Humming, distantly, far away from him.

Where was he? Where was his body? Where was-

Sleep.

The television blared in the background.

Was that always there?

The white room was splotchy with red.

Was it always that color?

“It would be nice if you gave me an answer, Theseus,” the nurse pulled the last of his glove on, and reached over for a syringe.

Theseus. He hadn’t heard that name in years. It was a name from before SBI, before the streets, a time when his parents-

The needle plunged into his arm.

His body was on fire. But not externally.

It was a warmth that came from inside, though not produced by himself. The very blood that coursed through his veins was boiling hot lava, flowing through and scorching his organs, muscles, everything.

His throat was sore, like he had been screaming for hours.

His muscles writhed, as if urging him to fight. He always fought. Why couldn’t he fight now?

The nurse was back in the corner, watching Theseus and scribbling even more notes. He saw his eyes flutter open, and rushed over. The fire in his veins immediately stopped, but Theseus couldn’t even bring it in himself to be grateful.

He panted, trying to catch his breath. He’d never stopped breathing, but he felt the lack of oxygen nonetheless.

The nurse stood over him, watching his reactions. How heavily he was panting, the way his limbs had gone rigid in the bed, trying to hold himself as still as possible, like it would make the nurse forget that he was there.

It didn’t work, never did, and the needle, familiarly, was back in his arm.

Safety was never something that should be taken for granted.

Tommy knew that. He knew that when he was living on the streets, he knew that when he first met Aves, all those months ago. For years the driving force of his life had been seeking out safety. And yet, in the short amount of time that he had it, he had managed to forget how bad it had been to live without it. He had forgotten how it felt to wake up to someone watching you, to wake up with pain everywhere in your body, to wake up without control.

“I’d advise you to start talking,” a voice cut through his thoughts.

“Why?” Theseus asked, his throat sore and his voice croaky.

“If you keep refusing, it won’t be just this anymore. The two of us, in this room, doing this same old routine. You’ll be stuck in here with them and you’ll be awake for your tests like you used to.”

“I-”

“Think on it,” he pressed his lips comntemplatedly, morosely.

Then the syringe was in his arm again, pushing red liquid into his veins.

He wished he had the opportunity to think.

Was the mush always white?

Was he always here? In this room? He thinks so, though he can’t tell. There are vague memories of somewhere else, memories of a world where he was free of all of this. He knows it was there, and yet all he can think of is now, and something strange connected to this place.

He digs his fingernails further into the mattress.

There’s something he needs to remember.

“Get up,” a voice roused him.

Restraints were around his limbs. He couldn’t get up, he couldn’t comply like he used to.

A hand reached down, unlatched the cold metal, freed him.

But he was still a bird, trapped in the confines of his cage.

“Get up,” the nurse repeated. Theseus didn’t move a muscle.

He pulled on his arms, dragging him out of the bed.

“I warned you, Theseus,” he let go of his arms, letting him flop on the floor. “Is this really what you choose?”

His mind flashed with memories, but then they were gone in an instant. He chose being away from here, from its pain, its people. But most of all, he chose to fight.

“Yes.”

“Fine,” he squatted down on the floor, coming face to face with him.

His face, those features, they were familiar.

“Just remember, there are greater evils in this place than me.”

He grabbed back onto him, dragging mercilessly this time. The familiar man didn’t care as his bare knees scraped against the floor.

He dragged him through winding hallways before finally depositing him in what looked like a jail cell.

“Goodbye. For now,” he waved tauntingly at him, and the door shut firmly behind him.

Sleep.

Just peaceful, blissful, sleep.

And oddly enough, no pain.