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“Alright, hands up, if you don’t comply nobody is leaving here alive!”
The shout rang out over the masses and Tommy sighed. It was his day off. He did not need to be dealing with this. Out of all the malls to take over, why did the supervillains just have to be attacking the one he was meant to be meeting Tubbo in? Truly inconsiderate if you asked him. They did make an impressive trio, SBI were Manburg’s most feared villains for a damn good reason, but Tommy was truly too annoyed to be giving a shit about that right now.
He was kneeling on the floor between strangers, hands carefully raised above his head as they awaited the villain’s next moves. Angel was hovering in the centre of the mall, dark wings catching the beams shining through the overhead skylight, shimmering like oil or labradorite shards where the sun hit them, black as the void in the shadows.
Carnage stood just as imposing, leaning against one of the top banisters with his sword, shadows twisting around him in uncanny ways, a scent of iron that Tommy probably couldn’t actually smell but that felt pressing all the same, and the crimson of his eyes burning despite the distance.
And Revolutionary? Well, he was certainly also there. He’d been the one to address the crowd, poised in front of them, arms spread out in a gesture that was the opposite of welcoming. His grin was perhaps the only thing scary about him, radiating danger the same way a sleeping crocodile did. Tommy sighed. Revolutionary was a bitch.
It was then that the man addressed the nervous crowd once more: "We don’t want any trouble, this will all go great for you if you don’t get the heroes involved. I promise." His voice tourneys saccharine by the end, words sharp as knives as much as they were mocking, soothing, threatening. "We only need one thing from you." A grin.
"Theseus. We know you’re here. Come out come out wherever you are."
Tommy gritted his teeth, knuckles clenched tight as the Angel rose higher, undoubtedly scanning the crowd while Revolutionary stepped carefully between rows of cowering bystanders.
"You don’t want to be the reason all of these poor people die, do you Theseus? Don’t you want to be a hero?" He stopped abruptly, turning towards a person kneeling by his side. He grasped their chin and forced them to meet his gaze, claws visibly drawing blood as they whimpered. Then, he let them go just as quickly.
"You see that, kid. There’s teenagers here. Children. I bet there’s even one or two of your little friends somewhere in the crowd, someone you know. At our mercy. Nobody is leaving here alive" he turned just as quickly, the trenchcoat he was only half wearing nearly smacking someone in the face.
Tommy grimaced. This was going to get ugly. And presumably very decidedly not fun for him. He sighed. And screeched. And ran.
For a second, everyone seemed frozen in shock, hands closed over their ears at the animalistic sound that had escaped the teen. Being part avian had its merits sometimes. Rarely. SBI however, collected themselves quickly. Carnage, who he’d though to have been on the top banister this entire time, had somehow already made his way down to Tommy’s level, and was in quick pursuit as Angel shot towards him, wings tucked in for an attack. Revolutionary seemed torn for a moment, tempted to make true on their promise of death, before he too set to follow.
He just had to get out of the mall, get the villains away from the hostages, away from Tubbo. That was all that counted, once he was out, he could disappear. Getting away was not as easy as expected, as he quickly came up on a closed glass door. Had it been Carnage or Revolutionary to reach him first, Tommy would have been dead. But as it was, the Angel was flying towards him, maneuvering the mall hallways at full speed, shooting forward in what could only be an attempt to knock him out instantly. Tommy grinned. Manburg’s greatest villains now knew his face. Might as well have some fun on the last day he was still alive.
Angel was good with his wings, precise control rivaled by none, but there was still only so much agility one could achieve while flying.
Tommy waited. And waited. He could see Angel’s eyes, got lost in the void for just a second, fell apart in them and pulled himself back together. He waited. And he sank into the shadow. And Manburg’s most feared villain, the Harbinger of Death, the murderer who knew Tommy’s face, crashed face first into a glass door.
He was out, heart pounding as he ran, ran as fast as he could, heart hammering and chest heaving as he tried to draw them away, away from Tubbo, as far as he possibly could. Blood was rushing through his head as his feet hammered against the ground, he was barely paying attention to his surroundings, but then again, no one could fault him for that.
Luckily, Tommy was fast. But not fast enough. He felt shadows snapping at his heels, knew the SBI were not far behind, too close for comfort, too close for safety, too close to stay.
He sank into a shadow.
The shadow bit back. Because of course Carnage was near, of course that guy always had to be the one of them that somehow traveled fastest, despite not being able to fly.
The shadow tore at him, Tommy already thought he could taste blood so he jumped, scream distorted as the shadows bent out of shape, constricted, pulled at him from every angle, tore him to pieces, shattered him like glass and put him back together again even more brutally. He emerged in Tubbo and his apartment, passed out on the couch the moment he arrived.
So much for "NobOdY iS LeAviNg HeRE aLIvE". Wasn’t anyone good at their job anymore these days?