Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The wind glided across Tommy’s hood, its sleek and aerodynamic design kept the wind from clinging. The hood transitioned into a long dark red cloak, much like Dream’s. Lightweight yet very protective using the Hero Associations' various enchanters to cast a powerful enchantment onto his cloak. Only the best from the number one hero’s sidekick,  am I right?

We’re getting off track. Tommy is currently racing across the rooftops, reeling in his fishing rod and casting the line over and over again. Nearing the edge of the district Tommy fell to his knees and ripped off his stupid porcelain-looking mask.

Hot, wet tears dripped onto the roof, wiping them away as he struggled to keep quiet. Sobbing into his cloak. 

Fucking Dream…

He thinks that he’s soooo— much better than me, with his stupid light powers and his stupid bravado and his dumb mask.

“Fuck..” Tommy croaked out, he slipped his mask back on after drying his salty tears as best as he could. Would be pretty shitty if someone found out his identity right after Dream just got on his ass about that.

Other things too but let’s put that on the back burner for now.

Taking a look around his surroundings, Tommy stood back up, his knees aching from being pressed against the solid concrete roof beneath him.

On the outside, Nightmare was cool as a cucumber. The inside, however, Tommy was internally panicking. Nightmare slowly turned around, Tommy’s blue eyes scattered across his surroundings.

“Well look who we have here”

Nightmare whipped his head around and immediately knew which district he had just found himself in.

“Fachtna…” Nightmare slowly, almost ethereally, says. The voice modifier in the mask kept the slight quivering in his voice from showing through.

Tommy’s fingers itched to press the panic button hidden on his belt, but his current grudge against Dream was stronger. He clenched his fists as he turned around to face the self-proclaimed ‘hero killer.’

Fachtna was very quickly growing in popularity in both the public eye and the Hero’s Association. He’s already killed two vigilantes and three heroes, two of them being sidekicks.

Tommy was so completely and utterly screwed. Even if he did use his panic button Dream wouldn’t be able to get here in time. Even so, Nightmare is nothing if not logical and presses the button anyway.

Breaking his grudge long enough to not get killed was an easy trade off.

“So you do know who I am?” Fachtna began to slowly walk around Nightmare like he was stalking his prey, which— wasn’t too far off from this situation.

The maniac was dressed head to toe in black clothing with the occasional dark blue. It would’ve been a cool costume if not for the fact that the guy killed people.

“Prey tell, where’s your boss, little Nightmare?” Fachtna then whipped out what appeared to be some kind of futuristic scythe. Tommy felt a twinge of anger light up in his veins at the mention of his both ‘boss’ and child-hero status.

Despite the fact that Tommy would rather die than ever even imply that Dream was his boss, Nightmare knew that he couldn’t let this psychopath know that he was alone.

“He’s around” Nightmare grits out, the dull eyes of the mask follow the killer. The darkness around them appear to creep closer, the moonlight dulling ever so slightly.

“Look, I try my best to not kill kids” Fachtna starts, not noticing the shadows seeping in. “So let me ask again” Fachtna whips around and suddenly the tip of his scythe is pressed against the pale skin of Tommy’s neck.

“Where is your boss?” Applying pressure to the sensitive skin, a small bead of blood begins to trail down his neck.

“He’s around” Nightmare was always a hero of few words, Tommy on the other hand…is a whole different story, one that’ll have to be saved for later.

Just as Fachtna was about to dig the scythe into his neck, Nightmare vanished. No— he ducked and before Fachtna knew it, Nightmare delivered a sharp kick into the side of his ribs.

With Fachnta temporarily stunned, Nightmare took the opportunity to book it into next Sunday. He just needs to get to a large pool of shadows, there! Behind that building he just needs to—

Something or more like someone slammed into his back, Nightmare took most of the force as they skidded across the concrete rooftop. Goddamn it, he just got this cloak!

“Thought you could get away, huh?” Nightmare flailed his legs around, and Fachtna restrained his arms. Tommy couldn’t lie, the grip the guy had on his forearms hurt.

Tommy was somewhat grateful it was a full moon tonight. Nightmare took control of his own shadow, the hands wrapped around Fachtna’s shadow’s leg and pulled. Hard . 

Enough so, that Fachtna’s grip loosened, and Nightmare got his leg between them and kicked the guy off.

Fachtna stumbled back as Nightmare leaped onto his hands and sprung back onto his feet, immediately taking a fighting stance. Fachtna, unfortunately, didn’t take long to recover.

Fachtna rushed Tommy, this combined with the fight Tommy had with Dream earlier? Tommy accidentally broke Dream’s third rule; Never let your emotions drive you, especially in a fight. And Tommy was fucking pissed.

In this state Tommy could barely keep up with Fachtna, blocking and dodging as many punches and kicks as he could, the guy even pulled a knife on him!

Nightmare quickly kicked it out of his hand, sending it flying to another roof. Fachtna then slammed into Nightmare, again. Tommy’s head hit the concrete and he blackout for a second, just a second.

Tommy opened his eyes to Fachtna standing over him, boots digging into his chest and gun in hand. Not a normal gun, a gun that looked somewhat of a prototype, one that could possibly shoot lasers.

Nightmare stilled as he looked straight into the barrel, ignoring the pain of having the heel of a boot digging right between his ribs. Compartmentalizing pain and emotions came with the perk of being a hero and Nightmare was damn good at compartmentalization.

Shoving the pain and fear into a box, locking it in what he dubbed ‘The Vault’. Tommy tried prying the boot off of his chest.

“You know, Nightmare?” Fachtna started, digging in his foot even more, leaning into it like the sadistic bastard he was. “I was willing to let you off easy tonight, without even a scratch”

Tommy let out a pained grunt, one that the modifier in his mask couldn’t filter out. It only made Fachtna’s grin wider.

“But you wanted to be difficult” Fachtna’s voice lost the false calm he had earlier, turning it into irritation. Tommy enjoyed the feeling of getting under his skin, what he did not enjoy was that he was going to get killed over it.

Tommy wheezed out the last of his breath.

“I wasn’t planning on using this until it was finished” Fachtna seemingly loaded the gun, pulling back the switch until it began to glow a swirl of colors. “But it looks like you’ll be my first test subject”

Tommy’s blood ran cold, colder than usual. This was a much, much worse scenario than getting killed. A test subject? Fuck no but did he really have a choice? Nightmar— no Tommy messed up big time.

He broke numerous rules and one of the top three rules he was never to break under any circumstances, maybe this is why Dream believes that he’s not ready. Tommy teared up under the mask.

Nightmare thrashed around, hoping Fachtna would somehow lose his footing. Fachtna did not.

Fachtna instead, smiled, maniacally. Pointing the head of the gun straight at Nightmare’s forehead.

Fachtna pulled the trigger.

Tommy felt light engulf him. A strange sensation of being burnt alive and having your molecules rearranged, a very unwelcome feeling.

Nightmare disappeared, leaving a flurry of ash-like shadow pieces in his wake.

Hours passed into the daylight, Nightmare never came back from patrol.

Fachtna was caught and placed in a high-security prison three days later.

A small box with a bag of the ash-like shadow pieces and Tommy’s compass was laid into the ground next to his family’s graves.

They never could find his body.

Tommy woke up on a rooftop in a dimension that was not his own.

Chapter Text

It was damn near agonizing . Tommy grit his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut as though it would help.

Tommy has felt pain before, look in his “Vault” it’ll show you everything. It just comes with the hero business. The point is, Tommy is no stranger to pain, it’s a regular guest within his body. Not that it’s welcome, of course.

Despite its frequent, uninvited, visits and prolonged stays. Tommy has not felt pain quite like this before. It’s all over, every inch of his body; especially his insides. Oh my prime it hurts. It’s like every muscle in his body started cramping paired with being atomized. Oh! Let’s not forget how it feels like every nerve in his brain system is burning.

From what he can tell, his body is still in one piece. Thankfully.

If only that was the least of his worries but no. The pain is only getting worse by the second. White, hot , searing pain attacks his nervous system. But he’s not physically wounded…

Besides his neck, but that’s a problem for later.

It must be an equivalent reaction to capsaicin. A compound found in chili, where it feels like you’re burning alive but in all actuality, is harmless.

Slowly, and by prime, agonizingly slowly, the pain starts to finally let up.

Tommy feels like a puzzle, his pieces slowly coming together. Seeing what fits together and what doesn’t and rearranging it to make it work. Rinse and repeat until he feels complete again.

The pain vanishes and now Tommy is floating, it feels…somewhat nice. Cold, but not freezing, darkness envelopes him. Taking him in like a bath of oat milk. It sounds gross but to Tommy? It’s bliss.

Weightlessly drifting through the endless sea of nothingness. Is this the afterlife?

Tommy thought to no one but himself. Content with spending the rest of his existence in endless and calming bliss.

Then the universe must’ve heard Tommy actually relaxing for once in his life. Because it all ended about a few seconds later.

Invisible pressure began pushing Tommy down, and all of the sudden the cushiony waves beneath him disappeared, replaced with a slippery slope of dark. Tommy frantically grasped at nothing, The darkness, who he’d come to trust and love, slipped through his desperate fingers.

Tommy knew he was falling, to where? He doesn’t know but he’s bound to hit the bottom of–wherever he is.

And in an instant, the complete void of nothing faded away. Replaced with the soft glow of moonlight and deep shadows. Tommy slammed into his body with the force of several ravagers. His head exploded into a symphony of pain. Joy. Resulting in a very subtle groan.

“Uuaghhhghh–” Tommy slumped into the hard concrete beneath him. Panting like he just ran several marathons, his body ached like no tomorrow. He couldn’t lift his limbs even if he wanted to, it was too heavy and the cold concrete below felt too nice on his overheating body.

So Tommy laid on the rooftop for a few moments, taking in gulps of air through his filtered mask. Relishing in the fresh air it provided him. Until his limbs no longer felt like lead and the buzzing running through his nerves had slowed into a small vibration.

Tommy raised a gloved hand to his head, clutching the side of his head like the pressure would relieve the intense throbbing.

As soon as the pressure behind his eyes lessened, Tommy cautiously squinted his eyes open. Staring up at the dark gray clouds covering the sky.

Where am I?

Tommy knew the lower districts looked bad but not this bad . He’s been there a couple times, the skies there didn’t look like they were clouded with at least twelve different chemical make-ups.

Okay. So he clearly wasn’t in the Esempea anymore, L’manburg maybe? No, L’manburg was just starting to get rebuilt after the explosion. Badlands? Snowchester? Las Nevadas, even? Las Nevadas maybe.

He must be in the lower districts of Las Nevadas then. He’s never been here before but it must be. He could try and get in contact with Quackity! Or whatever hero name he’s been going by lately.

That’s a plan for later. Right now, Tommy struggled to sit up. He should try contacting Dream first, ugh.

Pulling out his communicator that has seen better days, extending the proximity antenna for further range.

TommyInnit: Dream

TommyInnit: Dream

TommyInnit: Dream

TommInnit is typing…

Frantically typing into his comm, even going as far as setting off his emergency panic button. His extreme emergency button sends a distress signal to all known hero communicators within a two hundred mile radius.

All heroes that are minors are required to carry at least 3 panic buttons. The Hero Association does not slack off when it comes to children or minors. That’s really the only redeeming quality the association has.

Maybe Quackity could come pick him up instead of Tommy coming to him. The button should’ve sent an obnoxiously loud and frantic signal to his comm. And everyone else with a stupidly strong signal that could only be achieved with the Hero Association communicators.

Tommy checked his comm, hoping Dream responded or at the very least saw his messages. 

Nothing. In fact, his messages haven’t even been sent yet.

Tommy checked his ping, medium. Huh. Weird. Maybe that’s why his messages aren’t going through. Giving it a smack or two, it just reloaded previous messages. Great. Perfect even. This is exactly what Tommy wanted, Prime on a stick.

Tommy yawned, judging by the moon’s position through the clouds. It was nearing four am. Certainly way past Tommy’s week day bedtime. That’s another thing! Dream always forced him to attend this stupid hero school!

__________

“He’s sending you where?!”

Tubbo shouted in the surprisingly quiet cafeteria. Ranboo spitted out their drink.

“He’s sending me to a different school…” Tommy repeated, the fight had long since left his voice. Miserably pushing around the mush his middle school calls ‘food.’

“That bastard, he can’t do that! Doesn’t he know that you already have a life here?!” Tubbo rambled, sounding like Tommy when he was first told about it. That was a week ago.

“Why doesn’t he just let you stay here? I mean” Ranboo paused to gather their thoughts. “Sure you guys live outside of the district but, it’s never been an issue until now…” They questioned, trying to make sense of it all.

Tommy sighed, heavily. Already having been through this argument many times over the past several days. Drey had told him that since his training is almost done, he’ll need to switch to a private school that the Hero Association provided for child heroes.

Don’t get him wrong. Tommy had always dreamed of being a hero, helping others like how he was when…when that happened. That’s what he’s been training for, for years by now. Ever since Drey took him in.

He just never expected he'd have to leave behind the ones that he’s grown to call family. Drey technically is his foster dad but he wasn’t parental like that. He’s more like a distant older cousin who has a job and back pain.

The point is, Tubbo and Ranboo have felt more like family than Drey ever has. And…Tommy isn't sure if he’s ready to give it all up.

They had an agreement. Tommy would be able to stay at his current middle school until the end of the quarter but after that? He has to be transferred to the private school for child heroes.

And of course, Ranboo and Tubbo couldn’t know. Secret identities and all that. Even though Tommy hated it, he had to lie to his best friends.

Tommy’s blue eyes bored into the mushy beige lunch the school provided, glancing back up to his best friends' upset faces.

“I’m sorry guys, it’s just–” Tommy scrambled for a cover up story, he and Drey surprisingly hadn’t come up with one. “With Drey being rich and all–” Where was Tommy going with this?

“He-he decided that it was time for me to attend this small private school out in the higher districts” Not exactly a lie. But not the complete truth either. Tommy’s eyes shifted around the cafeteria, avoiding the gaze of the people he trusts most.

He hated lying to them but it was “necessary” as Drey said. Tommy couldn’t lie but he also couldn’t spill the identity of the number one hero in all of Esempea, he couldn’t let all of his training go to waste either…

He spent so many years training under Drey to become his sidekick, and eventually a hero. He didn’t want to just…throw it all away.

They would understand, they were his friends; his brothers, even.

“That’s bullshit.” Tommy flinched at Tubbo’s sudden harsh tone. “That’s like-! So unfair! We barely got to hang out this summer and now you’re changing schools?” Tubbo rambled away, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“With all due respect Tommy, Drey sucks. Like–hardcore, sucks ” Ranboo emphasized. “At least we can still hang out after school though.” Ranboo tried to look on the bright side of things.

Tommy winced, remembering that he forgot to mention something. Tubbo noticed his look. “Don’t tell me there's more” His voice tilting into a lower pitch filled with agony. Gripping his hair and throwing his head back with all the dramatics of a theater kid.

Not that he has anything against theater kids.

“I should’ve said this before.” Tommy pushed away his lunch before slamming his head on the table. His forehead aches with a dull pain, certainly not as painful as the news he’ll have to break.

Tommy nervously scratched his neck. “Drey also decided that, since my new school and his job are both in the higher districts, that we should move to the higher districts” Tommy held his face in his hands, muffling his regret-filled voice.

Looking back at his best friends, Tubbo’s eerily calm face quickly morphed into anger. Like he’s about to explode. Tommy recognized that look and quickly reached his hand out. Looks like Ranboo came to the same conclusions as, he too, reached for Tubbo’s face.

“Oh! That mother fu–!” Both Ranboo and Tommy slapped a hand over Tubbo’s mouth. Tommy would really not like going to detention today. The pair sighed in relief when Tubbo’s explicit words were muffled to the point of nonsense.

Thankfully no teachers were alerted. That relief soon faded away when Tubbo licked Ranboo’s hand.

Ranboo pulled away in disgust and Tommy settled back into his seat. Tubbo seethed with anger, his hands tightened into fists, knuckling going white.

“Tommy” Tubbo started with an oddly calm voice. “Let’s kill Drey” That is not what Tommy expected Tubbo to say but at the same time it’s so on brand for him.

“Ranboo, you’ll help us?” Tubbo whipped his head around expectantly at Ranboo.

“Is that even a question? Of course I will” Ranboo agreed too easily.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa ” Tommy raised his hands up in a ‘calm down’ type of motion. “Fellas, we don’t need to kill Drey.” It was crazy how easily the two discussed murder.

“He’s trying to take you away from us!” Tubbo retorts, splaying his hands out in a wide gesture. Tommy doesn’t really have a comeback for that, so he goes with a compromise.

“We can still call and text.” Tommy offers. “We could also meet up on breaks” If Tommy isn’t busy with hero work, not that he says that.

“We could still come over for sleepovers on the weekends right?” Ranboo asks, a glint of hope in his eyes. It was a three hour train ride to and back from district 11 to 27. “Yeah, if your parents agree,” Tommy confirms.

“I have to switch schools by the end of this semester but until then we should make the most of it!” Tommy lets himself feel optimistic, if not for himself then for Tubbo and Ranboo.

“It won’t be the same” Tubbo groans, already having pushed away his lunch. “But okay, it’s okay! Nothing will be able to pull us apart!” Tubbo spreads his arms out, his voice speaking with a level of confidence that actually has Tommy believe that they can make this work.

“We’ll call everyday!” Tubbo suggests. “And sleepovers every weekend!” Ranboo adds.

Tommy smiles. “Let’s promise each other to do just that, and more” Tommy holds out his pinky finger. Tubbo and Ranboo stare him down before reaching out and interlock all three of their fingers together.

They laugh, somehow excited for the weeks to come.

___ _______

Tommy finds himself smiling at the distant memory. Despite the rough start to it, it turned out to be one of the better moments with him, Tubbs, and Ran.

  Where is Quackity? Tommy’s brows knit together, it’s been too long since he set off his signal. Even if Quackity decided not to respond, some other hero should’ve shown up by now. Las Nevadas should’ve been crawling with heroes.

Tommy’s legs wobbled as he got up, They felt like jelly. Dusting his cloak off and readjusting his mask. I should look for Quackity, he’s probably working at the casino tonight.

Tommy tries not to think how he would’ve gotten the signal anyway. Fishing (Ha.) out his specialized fishing rod. Tommy felt the familiar weight in his hands. Walking toward the ledge on shaky legs.

If I remember correctly, the casino should be in district 4. Tommy looked out toward the skyline. The skyscrapers of Las Nevadas always looked beautiful, especially during the night. Somehow it looks gloomier than usual. Weird.

It’s been so long since I’ve been here. Tommy breathed in the purified air that his mask filtered through. Dream rarely took Tommy anywhere outside of the Esempea. It’s been so long since he’s seen Quackity.

He’s probably in his civvies right now. Tommy would change into his own civilian attire but alas that fucker, Fachtna, didn’t let him let him pack a bag or nothing.

As Tommy was about to cast his line, his ears picked up the faintest, the quietest of a hiss. Snapping his head toward the sound, Tommy caught the slightest bit of a shadow duck behind the rooftop vent.

“Croupier?” Tommy called out, narrowing his eyes. Maybe Quackity was on patrol tonight. The fleeting thought became less likely the longer the silence drew out.

“Croupier, if you’re trying to scare me, it’s not gonna work.” Tommy’s voice holds a healthy level of suspicion. Inching toward whatever or whoever is behind that air vent, his netherite boots click softly on the concrete roof.

Tommy could technically walk quieter, even to the point of complete silence since it’s night time. The darkness is where Tommy works his best. But he likes how they sound on concrete, sue him.

Dream usually scolds Tommy for walking towards potential danger. And usually Tommy would listen but after that argument? Fuck Dream. 

And fuck his rules too.

Even if this did turn out to be a fight or hero-napping or whatever the hell. Tommy could hold his own, Fachtna just caught him off guard.

“Why is your guard even ‘off’ in the first place?”

Tommy ignores the voice that sounds strangely like Dream, in the back of his head. His guard is up now, and it’s not going down anytime soon.

Before Tommy could peek around the vent, the shadow figure immediately stood up from the assumed crouching position he was once in.

No, Tommy did not flinch. He was trained out of that habit a long time ago.

Nightmare stood his ground, looking up at the presumed shadow figure? He instinctively held out his fishing rod as a makeshift weapon.

Said shadow figure wasn’t even a shadow anymore. What stood in front of Nightmare was a five foot ten guy with dark hair, a black bodysuit with blue decals on his chest and arms, and to finish it all off? A dark blue domino mask.

Taking in his appearance, Tommy didn’t recognize the guy. Was this a new hero? Or a vigilante? The new guy doesn’t look very hero-esque in Tommy’s very humble opinion. So most likely a vigilante.

“You’re not Croupier…” Nightmare stated the obvious with as few words as possible. It was a part of his hero persona, okay? Dream is usually the one talking, as his opposite it only makes sense to be a man of few words.

Beginning to take a few steps backward, Tommy adjusts his hold on the fishing rod, prepared to flee if needed. Once the heel of his boots connects with the edge of the roof the assumed vigilante stiffens.

It was so subtle it would’ve gone unnoticed if Tommy’s eyes didn’t sharpen in the dark. Perks of being the specific subcategory demon he is. He gets to cheat with night vision.

“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t step off of that ledge” The weirdo cautiously says. He holds his hands out in front of him in what’s supposed to be a calming motion. Tommy very much does not feel calm.

Tommy edges closer out of spite.

The heels of his boots hang off the ledge, threatening to fall.

The man chokes, like he’s worried. Tommy raises an eyebrow. Does he not see my rod? Everyone knows that this is how heroes get around; by casting a line. Tommy looks at him like he’s stupid.

Weird man takes a step forward. Tommy raises his fishing rod, about to cast.

If I can make it to some deep shadows I’ll be able to escape this bastard. Tommy gives a quick sweep of his surroundings, spotting a dark alleyway that houses some pitch black corners.

“I got your signal earlier, something about a ‘minor hero in danger?’” Weirdo says with an equally weird smile. Tommy’s hands freeze. Is he really a hero? Maybe he could help me…

Lowering his rod, Tommy steps away from the edge, watching as the man visibly relaxes. Fuckin Las Nevadas weirdos, I need to make fun of Quackity later for protecting a city full of creeps.

“I’ve never seen you before in my life” Tommy makes an astute observation. “Are you new?” Tilting his head.

The man laughs like the unusual guy he is. “It feels like I'm the one who should be saying that” Tommy bristles. "But to answer your question, I'm certainly not new here. That's for sure" Tommy could hear the smile in his voice.

He could also make out the way it falters the slightest bit at the end.

“Yeah? What’s your name? Huh?” To hell with the persona, Dream’s not here right now.

“My name?” The guy grins, like he’s some bigshot about to say who he is. Tommy doesn’t usually brag(...) but too bad for him Tommy is the right-hand man to the number one hero in all of Esempea.

He lowers his hands, now that Tommy is a few steps away from the ledge.

“My name is Nightwing” Tommy literally does not know who that is. “Since I’ve already told you mine, would you tell me your name?” The guy tilts his head and offers a kind smile.

What the fuck. Now, Tommy knows that Dream is far more famous than him but Nightmare has been on the scene for years by now! He’s been seen on the news and out in public countless times!

Who ever the fuck this ‘Nightwing’ guy is, must live under a rock. Again, Tommy doesn’t usually boast about his status as the (technically) number two hero but come on!

Now it’s Tommy’s turn to build up to his own name-reveal like he’s the bigshot, except he actually is.

“Nightmare” Nightmare curtly responds, subtly puffing his chest out a little. Expecting the guy to start treating him with some respect or at the very least gasp . Because it’s not everyday you meet one of the members of the formidable and highly famous Discduo .

Nightwing stifles a laugh. “I mean your real name, kiddo”

Kiddo?! Who does he think he is! First he demands the super secret and sensitive information of a hero then he calls said hero a kid?! 

“That’s big man Nightmare to you” Tommy has lost all respect for this weirdo ass guy. Pointing at him with a gloved finger. “Like hell, I’m telling you my real name” Using the same tone Nightwing used in a mocking way.

Nightwing laughed again. “Okay, Big man Nightmare” He smiled again, amused. Clearing his throat in a near silent manner. “What was that distress signal about anyway?” He asked.

“You should know ‘what it’s about’ since you even got it in the first place, Nightwing ” Nightmare’s suspicion rises, ignoring how Nightwing blatantly mocked him.

“It said something about, ‘requesting all near-by heroes for backup’ Right?”

“Yeah? So are you a hero?”

“You could say that I’m hero adjacent” The fucker danced around the answer.

“Oh yeah? What’s the password then?” Tommy barks out. He may be a hero but this’ll really prove it .

“Ah…” The man seems to still for a moment. Tommy’s hypersensitive senses picked up a weird static noise coming from the man’s ear.

“N one T M four R” Nightwing responded with full confidence. Tommy blinked. That. Was. Not even close to the real password.

Isn’t that just my heroine code? Nightmare…N1T M4R…

But that just proves that this guy isn’t a hero. Holy shit, an impersonator. Fuck.

“Err” Nightmare mimicked an ‘incorrect’ buzzer, giving the imposter a tremendous double-handed thumbs down.

As quick as he could, Nightmare turned around and fell off of the building, casting a line right before.

Nightwing made a strangled noise before lunging at him.

“See you never, impersonator!” Tommy yelled, the fishing line pulling him toward the next building over. Re-casting the line in an easy and practiced motion.

Nightwing, shocked, stood stock still for not even a second before giving chase.

Good thing Nightmare had an ace up his sleeve. Swinging over to that deep dark alleyway he saw earlier, Tommy swung down and tucked himself into the deepest of shadows. Feeling that euphoric coolness wash over his form.

Fusing with the very being of darkness, Tommy pressed himself as deep into it as he could.

Nightwing came flying into the alley, that same faint hiss in Tommy’s ears.

“Look, kid.” Tommy grimaced. “I’m not going to hurt you, so would you please come out?” Imposter stressed the word ‘please’. Like that’s going to persuade the great big man Innit.

The hero impersonator waited a few seconds for something to happen. “If you’re not coming out, I’m just going to go where you are. Okay?” Nightmare gave no response to such a fake.

Nightwing slowly inched to the back of the alley, into the deepest of shadows. He pulled a confused face as he finally reached the wall, only to realize that no one was there . Even going as far as to touch the cold bricks that made up the very thing.

“Kid?” Impersonator called out. It took all of Tommy’s discipline to not correct him.

“Nightmare?” Nightwing tried. No response.

Nightwing made an indistinguishable hum. Tommy watched his brows furrowed, trying to look for something that wasn't there. Or more likely that he can’t see. Tommy would’ve snickered if it wasn’t dead silent.

Imposter tapped his ear and mumbled a number of words into the earpiece before pulling out a blue stick(?), pushing a button and in an instant he flew out of the alley.

Nightmare waited a few minutes before slipping out of the darkness. The ecstasy of it all washed away with it once Tommy stepped out into the faint glow of moonlight behind the clouds.

Tommy yawned and strolled outside of the alley. It was really past his weekday bedtime by this point. If he doesn't come home soon, Dream is going to scold him again for staying up too late. Something about how it’s ‘not good for his brain’.

Dream could go suck a dick for all Tommy cares.

Suddenly, all of the exhaustion decided to hit Tommy right then and there. Limbs feeling heavy and slightly shaky. Eyesight going blurry and the deep ache in his body. Of course this is all internal, Nightmare can never look weak.

I need to find somewhere to sleep, or at least rest because Fuck. Tommy re-casted his line, flinging himself across various rooftops of Las Nevadas’s supposed lower districts.

Holy crap, there’s a shit ton of warehouses over there . Nightmare quickly changed his trajectory and headed straight for those empty looking buildings.

There’s gotta be at least one that’s uninhabited. Tommy wishfully thought. His arms started to strain from casting his fishing line over and over again. Landing on the roof of one of the warehouses.

Slipping in through a thin broken window. Nightmare inspected the place.

It was a fairly small building with a ton of catwalks. Nightmare seemingly strolled around, his guard held up high.

Clearing the inspection, Tommy let the exhaustion lead him to a pitch black corner of the catwalk, his netherite boots causing the metal beneath him to clink.

I’ll search for Quackity in the morning…

Tommy made himself a cozy corner in the shadows, the darkness encapsulating him and his whole being. No longer on the cold metal, only in the fuzzy cool shadows.

Taking the cape part of his cloak off to use as a make-shift blanket. Wrapping himself in the red, warm, and soft material. Keeping the mask on because there has to be some sort of chemical in the air.

Tommy let his eyelids grow heavier, eventually closing them completely before drifting off into a semi-comfortable sleep. Dreaming about bats and birds.

Chapter Text

Nightwing flew through the air, flipping elegantly with years of experience under his belt. Years in the circus, then as Robin, and now as Nightwing.

Swinging through the cool Gotham air with only the ease of someone who has been doing this their whole life.

Dick smiled with the wind blowing through his hair. Gripping the grapple and letting go when needed became second nature to him.

Batman was out as he was most nights. Jason was doing…something out in Crime Alley. Red Robin was doing a stakeout near the docks. Damian went back to manor because he has school in the morning.

Oracle was on comms. Spoiler joined Red Robin on his stakeout. Duke has the dayshift as always. And Batgirl was doing a stealth mission in Hong Kong, she’ll be back in a few weeks.

Patrol was going as usual, Literally nothing out of the ordinary. Checking one of the usual spots and searching the area for any crime.

It’s Gotham, the notorious city of crime so of course it’s everywhere.

Nightwing spotted a trio of men harassing a girl. Immediately changing his direction with a flip. Landing on a near-by fire escape with a practiced silence, honed over countless years.

Nightwing watched as the presumed “Leader” of the group stepped toward the girl, who was clearly intoxicated. The sorry excuse of a man grabbed her by her wrists and forcefully pulled her out of the alley, to a non-descript vehicle.

Now’s my cue

Nightwing flipped off of the fire escape, landing behind the unknowing trio.

“Move away from the girl,” Nightwing said, pulling out a wing-ding. “I don’t think you want this to get ugly ”

The men whipped around, the girl stumbling against the main big bad.

Nightwing narrowed his eyes.

“Not a chance.” The supposed leader spat. “We got her fair and square, she’s ours” He pulled her closer by her waist and pulled out a gun.

Nightwing sprung into action.

Throwing the wing-ding directly at the gun, disarming the sorry excuse of a man. Attacking the lackeys. Delivering a swift kick to ‘Lacky 1’s jaw causing him to fall back. 

Spinning around, to add momentum and flare, into his fist to connect with ‘Lack 2’s cheek. Chasing it with a second punch to the opposite side of his face, dropping down and sweeping his leg under the man’s feet.

Out like a light.

Nightwing senses the man he kicked coming up behind him, He easily dodged the sloppily made punch and spun around, kicking his ribs. Making him stumble.

Nightwing took the second of the guy’s disorientation and punched his nose in. Two down, one to go…

This time the leader had scrambled for his fallen gun, aiming at the vigilante.

Dick noticed, of course. He wasn’t trained by the Bat for nothing.

Nightwing ran at him, grabbing his forearm and raising it to the skies the shear moment the man pulled the trigger. Dick internally winced at the gunshot that was close to his ear but ultimately ignored it.

The girl flinched and curled in of herself, screaming. Nightwing made quick work of her would-be-kidnapper.

Tying the trio in various amounts of zip-ties.

Tapping the hidden comm on his ear. “Hey O? Could you–” 

“Already on it Wing,” Barbara cut in, the distant sound of her keyboard in the background, a creamy-sounding keyboard that Tim bought her for her birthday.

Dick smiled, turning toward the intoxicated girl.

“Hey, did he hurt you anywhere?” Nightwing asked her, helping her steady herself.

“Noo–o I…I don’t think so…” She touched her forehead.

“Is there anyone you can call to get you home?” Nightwing helped her walk to the entrance of the alleyway, into the dim street light.

“ Hic! My…my brother…” Dick led her to a near-by staircase. “Alright, why don’t we give you brother a call.” Letting her sit down as she clumsily pulled out her phone.

Nightwing sat next to her, keeping watch for either the police or any other crimes happening near-by. Absently listening to her ask her brother to pick her up, her brother scolding her as he heard the faint sound of a car engine rumbling.

“Alright, byee–e” “...” “I will, I got that– hic! Ni…Nightwin guy here with mee”

She hung up.

“Ughh…I’m gon– hic! Gonna…have such a killer headache tomorrow…” She buried her face into her hands.

“Oh, Have you eaten? I got some ibuprofen” Dick fished out a couple pills out of his belt. Unfortunately he only had the green ones, they recently ran out of the little brown ones.

“Thh–hrew up, earlier” She responded, resting her head in her hands which were propped up on her knees.

Dick winced. Even so he gave her a couple pills along with forty dollars. She made a confused face.

“Eat something before you take these,” Nightwing immediately explained at the sight of her confusion. Pointing at a restaurant that he knew was open twenty-four hours. “There’s a small mexican restaurant down the street, their enchiladas are to die for”

She looked toward the direction.

“Especially for hangovers,” Dick added.

A gray car pulled up to the pair. A kid, who looked so older than seventeen, with the same hair color as her, spilled out of the driver seat.

“I told you I had a bad feeling about you going out tonight!” He exclaimed, grabbing her arm and lifting her to her feet without much strain.

Nightwing stood up too. “I assume that you’re her brother?” 

The kid looked at him. “Well, yeah no shit” He turned back to his sister. “C’mon, let’s go home, Mom was getting worried”

“Waitt–t, can we get enchiladas?” She spoke with wonder in her voice.

Nightwing retreated back onto the rooftop of the building behind him. Watching as the kid wrestled his sister into the passenger seat, arguing about enchiladas.

Smiling at the pair before police cars drove up the alley with the three thugs.

Dick watched just to make sure no complication occurred. When nothing happened Nightwing pulled out his grapple and swung right back into action.

Following the usual patrol route that was assigned to him that night, It was almost time to turn in anyway.

Dick practiced very elaborate flips through the air, relishing in how the wind blew through his hair and invaded his lungs. 

Listening to the faint sound of Babs’ keyboard, Red Robin and Spoiler angrily whispering at each other through the comms, and Batman give his occasional input of “Hrn”

Then his own earpiece began blaring very loud alarms, like a messed up EAS sound. Dick skidded to halt on top of a rooftop. The alarm piercing his ears, he heard the rest of his family wince as well.

It stopped as soon as it started.

“Babs’ what was that?” “Oracle. Report”

Dick and Bruce spoke at the same time, one more stern than the other.

Dick could hear the frown in her voice, he could even picture her eyebrows turned down and the intense focus in her eyes. “Hold on. I’m trying to figure it out…”

“What the hell was that…” Red Robin whispered, Spoiler groaned as quietly as she could in the background.

“Okay, here’s what I’ve gathered so far.” Oracle spoke as clearly and as seriously as she could. “A signal went off that compromised both my computer and the communication links”

“It sent an alarm, similar to an EAS, and an image took over all of my screens.” Dick could hear Barbara’s mouse clicking. “The image has text that says, quote. “Distress signal, minor hero in potential danger, requesting all near-by heroes for backup” 

Confusion embedded within her tone.

“Hm” Dick could only assume Bruce was soaking in all of this information like a sponge and filling it away in that brain of his.

“Minor ? As in a kid minor?” Red Robin asks.

“I’m not sure, but due to the way this message is worded it could be.” Dick could practically hear the numerous gears turning in his family's heads.

“It seems to have a location provided within the image, like an actual tracker…”

“Alright I pulled up all of your trackers and Dick?”

Dick perked up. “Yeah?”

“It appears that you’re the closest to our ‘Minor Hero’ could you–?”

“Already on it, just tell me the location O” Nightwing interrupted, taking to the skies like a fish to water.

“Hmf” Barbara huffed in amusement. “Alright, the ‘hero’ seems to be located on one of the apartment buildings on Central near the warehouse district.”

Nightwing had a suspicion that it was near the warehouses.

Grappling from building to building, Nightwing watches the rooftops for anyone lurking near-by. Making it to Central street, Dick’s eyes sweep over the buildings until he finds something or– someone sitting atop the apartment.

“I think I see them, going closer to confirm” Dick whispers into the comm, in case whoever this was somehow has super hearing.

“Be careful Dick, we don’t know whoever is right there”

“Don’t worry about me O, I got this”

Dick swung closer, leaving a building of space between him and the unknown. Peeking over the vents to get a better read.

His face morphed into confusion. The unknown looked so small, sitting criss-cross with a tiny computer(?) in their hands.

Said unknown had on a velvety dark red cloak, hiding their figure. A white porcelain mask with a simplistic frown etched into the material. Black pants and Black purple-ish boots? Dick made a mental note that the boots looked as if they were glowing .

Dick didn’t know what was weirder; the clothes or the small computer.

That doesn’t matter. What really matters is who is this?

The signal said a ‘Minor hero’ but could he really trust that?

Dick whispers all of the information he’s gathered into the comm, knowing either Bruce or Barbara will write it down somewhere.

Nightwing tucks himself further behind the vent as he watches the unknown get up. And by god they were tiny , almost like Damian tiny. They stood with the seriousness and rigidness of a soldier. It would’ve been cute if the question of why they were standing like that weren't floating around.

“They look so small…” Barbara comments, presumably watching everything play out through the small cameras in Dick’s mask.

Watching the, very clearly a kid, re-adjust the creepy looking mask, their shoulders drop just a tad bit, hiding away the computer in their cloak before pulling out a fishing rod?

Nightwing almost wants to laugh at the absurdity of the fishing pole but he’s a professional so it’ll have to wait. Unfortunately.

They begin walking toward the edge of the roof, fishing rod in hand seemingly about to cast. Nightwing, in good conscience, cannot allow a child to fall off of a rooftop. Hero or no.

“I’m moving closer…just in case” Dick whispers into the comm before taking off, swinging to the next building over.

That was his first mistake.

Even though the grapples were mechanized by Batman himself , to be as silent as scientifically possible. The kid whipped his head around in the same direction Dick was flying in from.

Dick did not panic but he did dive behind a vent as quickly as he could. Steadying his breathing to near silence.

Did they see me?

Nightwing hopes and wishes that they didn’t.

“Nightwing? Are you okay?” Barbara asks. Dick gives a simple nod because he can’t speak right now.

Nightwing strains his ears for anything , even for a rustle in the wind.

“Croupier?”

Croupier? Isn’t that someone who hands out money at casino tables? 

Dick gapes. Is that their voice? It’s likely being modified through their mask. Their voice sounds ethereal, almost angelic in an uncanny way.

Multiple different pitches stacked on top of each other, making it hard to tell which is the real voice, the slight echo distorts it even more. Dick can make the slightest hint of an accent but he can hardly tell what it is.

A boot with a slight heel clicks ominously against the roof.

“Croupier, if you’re trying to scare me,” Cautiously stepping toward Dick’s hiding spot. “You know that it’s not going to work”

The steps stop just a few feet away from the vent. Dick can see the dark shadow inching closer. The hairs on his arms begin to stand up, this unsettling weight being placed on his shoulders. A small sense of dread pooling in his chest, telling him to get out .

Run.

Hide.

Get OUT. 

NOW. BEFORE IT–

It felt like he was in a horror movie. It’s a strange feeling to have because of a kid. Dick has faced off way scarier, way bigger, and way more powerful threats. But this kid is setting off multiple alarm bells in his head.

Should I make contact? Or should I slip away?

The two choices race through Dick’s mind, the pro’s and con’s of each.

“Nightwing–” Barbara interjects. Before she could say anymore Dick made his choice. One that he might regret later.

Dick steps out of the shadows with his hands out, for his comfort or the kid’s? He doesn’t know. What he does know is that he probably scared the kid by appearing so quickly. They looked like they wanted to jump back so bad .

Dick feels kind of bad but also suspicious. Why didn’t they jump back? They clearly wanted to. It’s human instinct to back away from sudden threats or unknowns. Were they trained out of it? If so, who trained them?

Thoughts and theories were racing around in his head. The kid held out their fishing rod in front of them, like a weapon.

Nightwing would have laughed if the kid wasn’t so tense. They were strung up so tight, Dick was feeling really bad about scaring them now.

Now that he’s looking at them, they don’t look as small as they did. Hmm. They actually look around Tim’s height. Still pretty small though.

Soon the kid started to loosen up. Tilting their head in confusion?

“You’re not Croupier” They began walking backwards, still wary of Nightwing. He couldn’t blame them, the bats could be pretty intimidating at times.

Nightwing needs to lighten up the mood a little.

“Yeah, I don’t think I hand out money and tokens at a gambling table” Dick tries. The kid just looks at him and takes another step back. Their boots just shy of the rooftop’s ledge, and their fishing rod raised up high over their shoulder.

Oh god, I’m losing them.

Nightwing scrambles for anything he could say to keep them here.

Okay, it’s not the best Dick could come up with but he can’t think of anything else.

“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t step off of that ledge” Nightwing scrambles to say.

It appears that they don’t have the same level of caution towards heights since they decide to spite Dick and take another step backwards. The heel of their glowing boots hang off of the edge.

Choking on his spit in a spike of panic. Dick just wants to scoop them up and pull them away from the edge they oh so love to be near.

Stepping closer, Nightwing speaks up again, with a smile to try and ease this kid into lowering their guard. “I got your signal earlier” I hope this works…

“Something about a ‘Minor hero in danger?’” Attempting a trustable smile that looks more awkward than anything. Maybe this’ll get them to stay? They froze in place so either they recognize the message or they’re actually frozen with fear.

The kid starts to lower their fishing rod and steps away from the edge. Nightwing internally celebrates.

“I’ve never seen you before in my life” The kid deadpans. “Are you new?” They tilt their head in question.

That surprises a laugh out of Dick. It bubbles out of his throat before he can even think to hold it back.

“It feels like I’m the one who should be saying that” Dick makes his body language loosen up a little. “But to answer your question, I’m certainly not new here. That’s for sure” Nightwing smirks.

Of course the kid couldn’t have known that, at least not how long Dick has actually been doing this for. Ever since he was nine…That’s at least fifteen years. Jeez, has it been that long?

Nightwing’s smile unknowingly falters.

Dick is brought back into the conversation when the kid speaks up again. “Yeah? What’s your name then? Huh?”

Dick is subconsciously starting to like this kid’s flare. They talk like a kid from the Narrows. Not gritty enough for Crime alley but definitely not somewhere like the fashion district.

Nightwing grins, surely the kid has heard of Batman and he’s probably heard about Nightwing too.

“My name?” Dick asks. A grin plastered on his face.

Dick lowers his hands now that the kid now knows that he’s harmless.

“My name is Nightwing” Dick expects the kid to at least gasp and maybe even fanboy(girl?) over him.

The kid looks at him unimpressed, even through the mask Dick can feel the indifferent stare.

Nightwing tries to clear the awkward air. “Since I’ve already told you mine, would you care to tell me yours?” Tilting his head and offering a smile as kind as he can through the awkwardness.

The kid squares their shoulders and Dick can feel the kid’s look of seriousness through the mask

“Nightmare” The kid says in the coolest voice ever. But Dick is an adult and he needs to be mature about this because a child should not be dressing up like a vigilante and calling themself “Nightmare”.

Dick almost laughs at how ridiculous this situation is.

“No, I mean your real name kiddo” Nightwing tries to coax them to give him their real name so he could take them home and out of this dangerous job.

Said kid actually, physically recoils in disgust. It’s a small gesture but Dick could see it as clear as day.

They then puff out their chest and in the most offended voice they seem to muster up.

“That’s big man Nightmare to you” The kid, Nightmare? points a finger at Nightwing. “Like hell I’m giving you my ‘ real name’ ” Swiping their(his?) arm to the side.

They might actually be a boy, calling themselves ‘big man Nightmare’ would be a strong indicator to them being a boy.

And Dick can’t lie, this kid would look pretty cool if, you know, he wasn’t a full on kid . Even so, Dick decides to play along, he needs his trust.

“Okay Big Man Nightmare” A chuckle slips into his words

“What was that distress signal about anyway?” Nightwing asks. Getting the conversation back on track.

“You should know ‘what it’s about’ since you even got it in the first place, Nightwing ” Dick can hear the suspicion in Nightmare’s voice even through the voice modulator.

Dick sweats the littlest bit, knowing if he even makes a mistake the kid will step off the ledge. He has that determined and stubborn air that covers him.

Dick is confident that he’ll catch him but he’d rather prevent that happening. So negotiation it is.

Remembering what Oracle said about the distress message. About what its contents are.

“It said something about, ‘requesting all near-by heroes for backup’ Right?” Dick tries.

“Yeah? So are you a hero?”

That seemed to have worked. But that’s a loaded question. And one that he cannot get wrong. No matter what.

Now, Nightwing, and the rest of the Bat-clan, technically aren’t heroes because being a vigilante is illegal but he could be a hero in the sense that he saves people. Making up his mind, Dick tries for a loop-hole.

“You could say that I'm hero adjacent” Nightwing shrugs. An idea pops into his head, a small chance to nab more information from this kid.

“What about you, huh?” Nightwing asks. “Are you a hero?”

Nightmare looks at him offended again.

“Of course I’m a hero,” Nightmare says, exasperated. “Have you been living under a rock your entire life?”

“Because no way you’ve never heard of me and you’re that ancient” The kid sassed him.

“Wha! I’m not that old!” Nightwing clutches his chest in mock hurt. 

“You look at least twenty, you’re already a foot in the grave by now” 

The banter seems to be letting Nightmare’s guard down. Dick smiles knowing that he’s almost got him.

Until Nightmare seems to remember something.

“So, if you’re a hero, thenn–n” Nightmare draws out his words. “What’s the password?” He asks Dick.

“Ah…” Dick scrambles for an answer.

“Nightwing” Barbara seems to have been listening to the whole interaction.

“It looks like the password he might be talking about might’ve been written in the message we got.” The distant sound of her mouse clicking. “The code is, ‘N one T M four R’ according to the signal, at least”

Dick is confident in Barbara’s judgment so he is confident in his words.

“N one T M four R?” Dick tells him, subtly asking the boy in front of him to confirm.

If not, then Nightwing will have to forcefully capture him and talk him out of his “Hero” business. Something that Dick wants to prevent as much as he can.

The silence in the next two seconds was palpable.

And then Nightmare points both of his thumbs down and makes an incorrect buzzer sound “Err”

Quicker than Dick could imagine, the kid turned around and jumped off of the building, Reeling back his fishing rod and casting the line as far as he could.

Dick could swear he felt his heart drop.

“Kid!” Nightwing lunges for the kid, pulling out his own grapple gun in the process. That fishing line definitely isn’t enough to hold that kid without snapping. I NEED to get to him!

“See you never impersonator!” Nightmare yells behind him and suddenly, he’s being pulled away to the furthest building. By the fishing line?!

Dick stares in shock because how is that fishing line so strong?

Nightwing gives chase but somehow the kid is faster . Dick strains himself trying to catch up to the kid, he can keep up but he’s not getting any closer at this rate.

Dick knows the area like the back of his hand and It’s clear that the kid has no idea where he’s going.

Nightmare swings into an alleyway that Dick knows is a deadend. And follows shortly after. Dick lands into a graceful front flip. Arriving into the lip of the alley.

“Look, kid.” Nightwing calls out.

“I’m not going to hurt you, so would you please come out?” Dick kindly asks the kid, because he knows that if Nightmare doesn’t come out then he’ll have to use force. The very same thing he’s been avoiding using this whole time.

Dick waits, he waits for the kid to sheepishly step out of the shadows. He waits for the moment that they’ll joke around a little before the kid tells him who he is and where he lives so Dick can whisk him back to his home and he’ll make the kid understand that trying to be a hero is dangerous.

Dick waits and he’s not surprised when nothing happens.

“If you’re not coming out, I’m just going to go where you are. Okay?” Nightwing warns. No response, it’s eerily quiet.

Dick slowly walks to the end of the alleyway. Suddenly that same feeling is back. The deep unsettling pool of dread that resides in the core of his very being. The air around him seems to still.

Dick ignores the feeling that’s setting him on edge.

He feels like he’s being watched.

It’s too quiet in the alley, each step reverberates off of the walls and he could almost hear his heartbeat.

The temperature has dropped at least 2 degrees and the shadows seem to stretch out further than they should.

The already faint moonlight dims down to just a candle.

He pulled a confused face as he finally reached the wall, only to realize that no one was there . Even going as far as to touch the cold bricks that made up the very thing. The texture of the bricks rough on his gloved finger-tips.

The cold seeps through the fabric and several layers of kevlar. Sending a small chill up Dick’s spine.

The walls seem to whisper at him to get out , to leave .

“Kid?” Dick calls out.

There’s no way the kid could’ve gotten away that fast, Dick saw him swing into here.

“Nightmare?” Nightwing tried. No response. Seems like there’s a trend going on with this kid.

Dick’s eyebrows knit together, running his fingers across the rough bricks before pushing off of them. Taking a few steps back, as if the stars could give him the answers.

“Hmm…” Dick made a questioning and confused hum.

Dick tapped his ear, Letting the voices of his family flood back into his ears.

“O is there a way to track the kid’s signal?” 

“Why? Did they disappear?”

“It was like he vanished ” Dick stresses on the word vanish. Looking back at the end of the pitch black alleyway. Straining his eyes to see something, anything .

“Let me see what I can do, check the other alleyways”

“Already on it” Dick puts on a smirk, pulling his grappling hook back out and flying out of the alleyway, checking out the ones next to it.

Dick doesn’t think about the eerie feeling leaving his chest once he steps out of that alley. Doesn’t think about how the tension in his shoulders released once he got away from that alley.

Dick listens to the small chatter on comms. Tim and Steph’s jokes and B’s occasional “Hm” plus Barbara's small laughter and familiar creamy keyboard.

He heard them but he wasn’t listening, distracted by the kid who seemingly just vanished into thin air.

“O, do you have his location yet?” 

“You’re telling me you haven't found him yet?”

“Well–l” Dick winced.

His searching is getting frantic but no less in depth.

“Well, to answer your question,” Barbara sounded both stressed and impressed. “Whatever was sending the signal is suddenly blocking out all of my attempts to track it”

Now it was Dick’s turn

“So, you’re telling me that you can’t track his signal?”

Barbara sighed heavily.

“No, I just can’t pin it down and it’s frustrating” 

Dick listens to Barbara talk about how it keeps pushing her out no matter what she does, it’s like it’s cutting her off every time she even starts pinning it down.

A shadow catches in Dick’s peripheral vision, Dick’s remaining hope of the kid just coming to him evaporates when he realizes that it’s another bat, or should he say bird?

Dick lands in a simple triple backflip. Tim comes to a stop on the rooftop as well.

“Red? What’re you doing here? What happened to your stakeout with Spoiler?” Dick asked, Checking Tim over for any injuries. Grabbing his face and tilting it side to side.

“I’m fine Wing” Tim grumbled out, but made no move to push Dick away so he took it as a sign to keep bothering his little brother.

“The stakeout went alright, we found out some new, crucial information on the new hallucinogenic that’s going around” His voice muffled from Dick squishing his face together.

“That’s good,” Dick comments, checking other spots for injuries. “Where’s Spoiler? Is she back at the cave?”

“Yeah, she’s heading over right now.” Tim lets Dick test out his wrist’s for any sprains. “She’s gonna give her report of what happened and what we saw then most likely stay over for the night.”

Dick pokes at Tim’s ribs, frowning when he hears a wince. “Thought you said you were fine Baby bird” A sheepish expression forms over Tim’s face.

“Someone just got a lucky hit in, Spoiler came in right after and that’s how she ended up joining in on the stakeout” Tim batted Dick’s hand away from his midsection.

“Anyway, that’s not why I came to you” Tim changed the subject. Dick ultimately let it slide since Alfred will probably patch Tim up anyway. “I was wondering about that, didn't your patrol end a few minutes ago?”

“Yeah, it technically did but I heard you were struggling trying to find some kid who managed to escape both you and Oracle's eyes.”

“And?”

“Aa–and I want to help you look for him” Tim proposed his idea, splaying his arms out like he just announced that he was Jesus Christ himself.

Dick smiles.

“It’s alright Baby bird, I can handle this” Dick reassures Tim. Placing a warm hand on his shoulder

“But–” Tim tries to argue.

“Go get some rest, It’s way past patrol hours anyway”

“...”

“I’ll call you if I need the help, alright?” Dick places a hand on Tim’s shoulder. His little brother slumps.

“Get some sleep, I know you need it” Dick jokes.

And Tim smiles too, leaning into the hand on his shoulder.

“Alright” Tim agrees with a quiet voice. They stand there neither moving for several seconds. Enjoying the comfortable silence before Tim straightens up and turns to the direction of where he hid his bike.

Dick let his hand fall to his side.

Watching his little brother fly off into the night.

Dick cups his hands around his mouth.

“Goodnight baby bird! Get some sleep!”

“Night! I will!”

Dick smiles at his disappearing shadow of a little brother.

Watching until he’s no longer visible, Dick lets his smile drop. Going back to searching.

Dick checks all of the alleyways in the surrounding area, even resorting to shouting out Nightmares name at one point.

Eventually the morning light was starting to seep out from the east. Coating the grimey city in its golden warm hues.

Everyone had already retired hours ago. Dick doesn’t want to call it quits but he knows he has too. He can’t keep searching forever.

With some reluctance Dick swings back to his bike and drives into one of the secret entrances that lead back to the cave.

It’s quiet, not the eerie quiet like inside that alleyway. A softer quiet, it’s comforting. Everyone is asleep besides Alfred and Duke, probably.

Dick yawns and heads straight for the showers. Cleaning off the grime and sweat that coated his skin. Stepping out with a warm fluffy towel, courtesy of Alfred. Changing into a dark blue skyrim shirt and black sweatpants.

All of the sleep he missed out on comes crashing into him like a freight train.

Dick is exhausted by this point, taking the elevator up to the manor. His eyes are closed to the time. Just getting by with sheer force of will.

Trudging up to the kitchen, Alfred wordlessly hands him a protein bar and a small cup of tea.

Dick happily takes both with a small “Thanks Aflie” Alfred responds with a simple. “It is my pleasure, Master Richard.”

Dick sits down at the small breakfast nook near the kitchen. Blearily eats his protein bar and barely manages to not spill his tea. Basking in the early morning light.

Dick throws away the wrapper and walks to the south side of the manor.

Walking up the stairs, until he reaches the first room that his subconscious takes him too. Collapsing onto the first bed that he sees. Or– feels. He passes out before his head even reaches the pillow.

Out like a light.

Dreaming about mysterious sassy shadow figures. And enchiladas.

Chapter Text

The small clicking sound of her mouse was not the only noise that filled Barbara’s ears. The distant sound of the air conditioner, hushed conversations between bookshelves, and who could forget about the voice of her ex boyfriend in her hidden commlink.

Dick, who is ranting about the kid they saw last night. Barbara was supposed to be off today but the other librarian had a family emergency so Barbara had to pick up her shift. Blinking away the exhaustion, she refocused her eyes back onto the screen in front of her. 

It’s not the first time she’s had to fight back the familiar tired feeling and it certainly won’t be the last.

Barbara takes a look around the library, noting nothing out of place. Typing away at her clicky keyboard, doing some remote investigative work on her laptop which is next to her work computer.

The door slides open and Barbara absently looks up to see a kid with curly blond hair that looks like it’s made of gold with pale blue eyes that dip into grey. Eyes that look more mature than he looks. 

The kid glances around, not particularly interested in anything other than what he’s looking for. A slight furrow in his eyebrows. His eyes quickly glanced over everything.

Barbara notices he looks confused, she considers waving him over for a second. Before she could the teen finally looks over and notices her. Walking over with slightly hunched shoulders but a confident gait.

“Hold on Dick” Barbara cuts Dick off from his talking and before he can interject, Barbara temporarily mutes Dick, she doesn’t hang up though.

The blond haired kid walks up and leans on the mahogany brown desk, elbows first. “Hiya, um–excuse me Miss. I was wondering if I could use one of your–” He gestures over to the array of computers in the corner of the building with an open hand.  “Computers?”

Barbara immediately notes the British accent. And honestly? It suits him.

The kid looks unreal. Barbara blinks and the feeling is gone with the wind. Weird . She shakes off the unease.

“Of course, do you have a library card?” Barbara starts typing on the work computer to pull up his profile in the case that he does. Slipping into her customer service voice like it’s a glove.

The teen across from her sucks in a breath of air through his teeth and immediately makes a wince. “...I don’t reckon I do…” His voice trails off as he pushes himself off of the desk and checks the pockets of his blue denim jeans.

Barbara notices the subtle look of panic and quickly looks for a solution. An idea pops into her head, the day passes, of course . Although the day passes are normally reserved for children twelve and under, she could let this one kid slide.

“Oh, That’s alright” Barbara smiles kindly at the teen.

“You’re just in luck, because this library offers day passes for newcomers, if you’re interested?” Barbara asks him as she reaches for a stack of day passes in her drawer. It’s not exactly a lie per say…

“Holy shit, um–Yeah!” He smiles instantly, running a hand through curly blond hair. “That’d be fantastic actually” He holds out his hand for Barabra to give him the pass.

Barbara wasn’t surprised at the cussing, though it isn’t preferred, she isn’t like Bruce or Alfred.

“Here you go– and here’s the password for the computers” Barbara gives him a sticky note with the password. ‘Birthd@y ’ 

He takes the sticky note with a thankful hand. “Thank you, and– ah, is that your natural hair color? It is a very gorgeous red” He gives out the compliment as easy as breathing, it felt so natural Barbara almost didn’t catch it.

“Oh, thank you. It is my natural color” Barbara adjusts her glasses. “If you have any questions or concerns, or if you need any help with the computers please let me or the other staff know” She finishes off with a practiced speech, but she finds that it doesn’t sound as robotic as it usually does.

“I definitely will, thanks again for the day pass” The teen walks away to the computers, golden blonde hair fades into the background of the library.

‘Polite kid, he couldn’t have been from Gotham’ Barbara thinks to herself as she taps back into call with Dick and switches her laptop tabs over to the security cams she was stressing over earlier.

“Hey, I’m back. Some kid wanted to use the computers” Barbara speaks first as the call clicks back in.

“I heard, his British accent surprised me though” Dick’s rich and slightly accented voice drowns out most of the white noise surrounding her.

“It surprised me too, he must’ve been a tourist.” Barbara agrees. It was way different from Alfred’s posh and very articulated accent. “It doesn’t seem he’s from around here either, he’s too…polite and he didn’t seem to have the edge that other kids in Gotham have”

“Where are his parents though…? I mean– if he really is from out of the country, or at least from out of state, shouldn’t his parents watch him?”

“He looks to be at least 14, would you have wanted Bruce to be following you and watching your every move?” 

“He did follow me and watch my every move at that age.”

“And?”

“...And I hated it” … “That doesn’t count by the way, I was highly trained to take down people at least three times my size at that age, this kid is just a civilian”

Barbara lets out a small puff of air, the corners of her lips pull back into a smile.

“He’s still a kid in a foreign country, and in the most crime ridden city in the world” Dick stresses.

“No, you’re right, I was just messing with you” Barbara lets a joking tone seep into her voice. “You know what? I’ll ask him once he returns his day pass”

“Alright, and tell him to be safe out in the city. In case no one has told him that he’s literally in the most dangerous city in the world”

“That goes without saying” 

Dick groans over the comm, his voice muffled, Barbara could see him with his hands rubbing down his face. “We still need to find that ‘Nightmare’ kid”

“You’re really hung up about him” Barbara couldn't lie, she was hung up about it too. Not everyone can escape her virtual eyes placed all around the city. Even the cameras that did catch something can’t be fully confirmed that it was their infamous child hero.

“ No shit . He just disappeared! J-just poof ! thin air!” Dick exasperates. 

Dick went back to ranting about the mysterious ‘Hero’ they found last night. Barbara can almost imagine the dark circles under Dick’s eyes. He probably only got a few hours of sleep before throwing himself back into the ‘Nightmare’ case.

Now Barbara is concerned about two things. That foreign kid and the child hero from last night. Barbara tunes out Dick’s voice adding in the occasional hum and her opinion on things. Barbara looks over her computer and checks on the blond haired boy from earlier.

Her concern grows with each passing minute. The boy types really fast then stills for a minute only to begin typing really fast again. If Barbara had to guess, she’d say that he types over one hundred words per minute. It’s impressive.

His expression is getting more panicked and desperate looking as the clock ticks by.

Until the boy types one last thing and goes completely still . As if time froze but only for him. 

Barbara watches as he stays like that for nearly ten whole minutes. That’s when she gets fed up with just watching and wheels over to check on him. “I’m gonna go check on the kid, Dick” Barbara notifies Dick.

“Wait–what’s wrong?” 

“I don’t know, he’s been staring at the screen for ten minutes now and he hasn’t moved an inch since then” Barbara whispers into the comm. One, because this is a library and two, because she’s almost in hearing distance.

“That’s weird…for a civilian of course” Dick mutters the last bit.

Barbara could almost laugh. There’s been way too many times they have caught Bruce or Tim zoning out into the Batcomputer. But now is not the time.

She backs out of her desk like she’s done thousands of times before. It became pure muscle memory at this point. She wheels herself over to the array of computers and to where the kid is sitting.

On her way over, a couple of the lights begin to flicker. Jeez they really have to replace those lights soon, they might explode at this rate. Barbara thinks to herself. The shadows around the library grew darker as a result of the flickering… or so she thinks.

As Barbara is approaching, the boy finally moves. He wraps his arms around himself, he flinches like he’s about to throw up but he doesn’t. His hands shake ever so slightly as he grips his arms like they’re a lifeline, leaving crescent-shaped indentations into his skin.

The scary part is how unaffected he looks to the pain he’s inflicting onto himself. Mumbling words to himself that are too quiet to make out, maybe he isn’t even making any sound at all.

Slowly, too slow to notice, the lights stop flickering and the darkness recedes back to its original state. At the same time, the blond haired kid looks to be calming down, his grip loosens and his mouth closes into a grimace.

Barbara comes to a stop right next to him. His eyes are glazed over like he’s not aware of his surroundings. Touching him right now is most likely not a good idea so Barbara opts for a simple–and soft–“Hey”

Even though Barbara used every single vocal training to sound very calm and soft, the kid still flinched, hard . His eyes, seemingly duller than before, snap up to her, grey and panicked, glossy and irritated. Tears, that’s what she recognizes. Barabra internally winces.

Of course, no one likes to be asked if they’re crying, so Barbara goes for a different approach. “Are you okay? You’ve been staring at the screen for the past fifteen minutes…”

This level of carefulness and softly speaking reminds her of her Batgirl days, comforting victims and children. She slips back into the role like she never left.

The boy relaxes just a smidge, swallowing the lump in his throat and putting on a confident smirk. He squares his shoulders and tilts his head up, straightening his back.

“--Yeah, I’m good . Peachy, even” He quickly closes out of his tab. Barbara tries to glance at his computer before he closes it out, too slow. Barbara would’ve really liked to know what got him so upset. Enough to disassociate like that.

Babara doesn’t buy it but also doesn’t say anything cus it would be weird. Barbara also would’ve really liked to help but she knows how weird it would be to get comfort from a stranger you barely talked to for two minutes. So instead of what she wants to say, she says something else “Alright, if you say so–”

“Yeah, I fuckin’ say so” He cuts her off. Barbara is surprised, a bit taken aback from the sudden sharp tone. It’s not unordinary for people in highly stressful situations to snap at those around them.

She recovers as quickly as guilt and realization washes over his face.

“Shit…Sorry, sorry” The boy buries his face in his hands. “I’m-I’m havin’ a bit of an off day y’know? I bet you have an off day every now and again right? Miss…?” He trails off, his eyes searching for a name tag, Barbara assumes.

Barbara understands the frustration all too well. Plus it’s clear that he didn’t mean to do that, he’s only a kid after all. Her expression morphs into understanding. And she smiles softly.

“It’s Barbara, and don’t worry about it. We all have off days” She holds up her laminated tag that’s attached to her dark green lanyard. It’s a simple card, her face with her name and job position.

“Barbara,” He tests the name. “That is a lovely name, Barbara” The kid compliments Barabra, he smiles wearily at her. Barbara smiles at the complement, a very polite kid he seems to be. Apart from when he snapped earlier but she can excuse that.

“Thank you for letting me use your computers, Miss Barbara” 

The teen begins to fiddle with his hands, glancing from her to the door.

Barbara is about to reply and say ‘Your welcome’ But the boy beats her to it.

“Oh! would you look at the time!” He mimics rolling up his sleeve to check his watch. There is no sleeve and no watch.

He shoots up like a spring and quickly jams his fingers into the computer ‘off’ button, shutting it down.

“You know, it’s getting so late, the wife must be expecting me!” He rushes to the entrance without a second for Barbara to even register what he said. Black boots muffled by the dark maroon carpet.

“Thanks again Miss Barbara!” He yells out the door ignoring the frustrated whispers of “Shh!” directed at him.

It all happened so fast Barbara needed a second to fully catch what he said. She watched the teen dash out of the library, the sliding doors slowly closing after him.

If Barbara wasn't worried before, she knows for certain that she is now. She didn’t even get to tell him to stay safe. The daypass… Barbara thinks about it just as she turns back to the desk the teen was at not even a minute before.

Her green eyes catch the shine of the Libraries day pass on the desk. Its shiny white background and black bold text stare back at her. She sighs and picks it up with a gentle hand. Staring back at the doors, the ghost of a blond hair and blue eyed teen haunts the rest of her shift.

__________________

Tommy looks at himself in the reflection of a broken window in the warehouse. Downed in his signature red cloak and white mask. He is internally struggling with a very important decision.

“Maybe if I ditch the mask…No, that’s not going to work” Tommy groans to himself, taking his mask off and pulling the hood off of his head. His curly golden locks fall free from the near-indestructible cloth. Letting out a small breath of air in irritation.

Tommy decides to take his cloak off as well. That weird guy–what was his name again? Oh yeah, Bitchwing. That guy, he might recognize him.

Folding his cloak with care and placing his mask on top, Tommy is left with his undershirt–which is just a black long-sleeve shirt and reinforced gloves. After a beat Tommy tosses his gloves in with his discarded cloak and mask.

Looking at his reflection in the window, now satisfied that he looks more like a civilian. 

If only the boots didn’t give so much away…

Tommy finds himself, for the first time in his whole career, wishing that he had different shoes.

They’re sick as hell but that’s the problem, they’re too cool for your simple average fella. With that in mind Tommy untucks his khaki brown pants from his boots, folding them over his boots with great reluctance.

Grimacing when he looks back in his reflection, Tommy decides that he needs to get new clothes, or at least a shirt. The long-sleeve by itself is very uncomfortable.

With one last glance in the reflection Tommy hides his gear and uniform in the darkest corner of the warehouse he could find. 

Looks like it’s time to go clothes shopping. 

He sneaks out of the same broken window he came in from last night, or should he say from this morning? Taking care as to not cut himself. Who knows what that creepy guy would do with his blood? Tommy shivers at the thought.

Jumping down from the window, landing with the grace of a professional dancer. He squints his eyes at the bright light of the sun shining its rays through the grey clouds. It takes a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the sudden shift.

In Tommy’s opinion, the quickest and easiest way to get new clothes without suspicion is to go to a donation place or a second-hand shop. Tommy can’t risk using his fishing rod right now in his “civilian” clothes so walking and sticking to the shadows will have to do.

Tommy clicks his tongue in annoyance

I’d really rather go to some thrift shop than a donation center, but if it comes to that I’ll donate later in Dream’s name. A couple thousand won’t hurt his wallet anyway. Tommy walks along roads that look like they haven’t been repaved in a long while.

His boots click softly along the pavement, his surroundings slowly shift, it’s subtle but Tommy can tell that the place is slowly getting gloomier as he walks.

Prime, this place is rundown… Tommy looks around the area he’s in, noting the atrocious smell and grotesque sights. His guard has risen further than the sky, glancing at the people around him, thankfully they seem to naturally avoid him.

The human subconscious was always fascinating to him. How people could take one look at him and their brain unconsciously decides that this guy isn’t one of them. It’s not like they’re wrong either. Tommy guesses that he falls somewhat into the “Uncanny valley.” It's crazy to think about.

Still, this is way too many people avoiding him. It’s not like demons are rare or anything.

Whatever. It’s probably just a Las Nevadas thing.

His boots softly click across the pavement. He glances at the various shop names, his blue eyes sweeping across the letters of each sign. Until he finds the one he’s been looking for. Walking up to the window, taking a look inside of the store.

Perfect .

Tommy stays as close to any amount of shadow as he can. He sneaks past the, probably, under-paid employee and bee-lines his way to the clothing racks. Searching for T-shirts in his size until he finds the least questionably stained one. A red and white baseball-tee, just like the one he has at the house.

Sure it has a couple holes and a stain or two but it’s perfect . It looks just like his own. Tommy immediately snatches the shirt off of the rack and heads straight for the pants. Might as well get the whole package.

Spotting a pair of simple blue denim jeans, Tommy snags it off of the rack too. A simple outfit, unnoticeable and unremarkable. Tommy doesn’t bother with the shoes, who knows when you’ll need some good ol’ netherite boots to kick someone's balls in?

Tommy is ninety percent sure that Las Nevadas takes gold coins. If they don’t?…He can pay them back later…

With his new questionably stained clothes in hand he walks over to the cashier. Setting them down on the counter while he waits for the teenage cashier to start scanning his disguise.

The guy’s got faded lime-green hair under an equally faded purple beanie.

“Will that be all?” The cashier asks as he finishes scanning the pants.

“Absoluetly” Tommy easily replies, checking his pockets for his emergency gold coins. The guy sighs, it’s subtle but nothing gets past Tommy.

“Alright, that’ll be eleven sixty-two” The teen replies in a tired voice, typing stuff into the register. “Will that be cash or card?”

“Um–Cash, please” Tommy feels around the loose coins in his pocket, all ranging in various sizes but he manages to pull what he thinks is fourteen gold. Placing them onto the counter with little clatter.

The guy stares at the coins, the shiny gold gleams in the dull light. He looks back up at Tommy with such an “are you kidding me?” type of look. He cautiously pinches at one of them, holding it up to his dull reddish-brown eyes.

“Look man, I don’t know what you’re trying to do here but it’s now working.” Beanie-guy rubs at his forehead, pushing the coins back to Tommy. “Either pay with real money or I’m gonna have to ask you to leave the store.”

Beanie-guy finishes with practiced ease. Tommy’s eyebrows begin to scrunch in confusion, a soft frown etching it way onto his face.

“Real money? Mate, I’m pretty sure that’s real” Tommy’s eyes flicker from the loose change to the guy's empty eyes. Beanie-guy leans on the counter, resting his chin on his hand.

“Ughh…” Beanie-guy groans into his hand, squeezing his eyes shut before composing himself. “Seriously man, if you don’t pay then I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” His eyes nervously glance to the old ass security camera in the corner.

Tommy has two choices. 

Good thing that he’s not a hero right now.

Rummaging in his pockets for more coins, Tommy slams the rest of the gold onto the counter. Beanie-guy flinches and Tommy grabs the clothes, spinning around and kicking off of his heel to the entrance.

Or in Tommy’s case, the exit.

“...What the hell man!” Beanie-guy yells in surprise, rounding the counter to chase after the blonde.

“Sorry but also not sorry!” Tommy yells behind him. Sprinting into a near-by alley, pulling the readily available shadows over him like a silk blanket.

Beanie-guy grabs the corner of the brick wall as he comes to an abrupt halt. His eyes search the alley for any signs of Tommy. After a few seconds he throws his head back as he groans, muttering an array of colorful words.

Sure, Tommy feels bad but he really needs this disguise, his skin tight undershirt is way too uncomfortable to be wearing out in public. If beanie-guy actually gets fired he’ll pull some strings to get him hired at a new place.

Deciding that there was no better time than the present, Tommy hastily pulls the slightly stained red baseball tee over his under shirt. Covered by the shadows, Tommy also changes his light khaki-brown pants for his new jeans.

Gently setting his brown pants into the corner of the void, Tommy decides that he’ll come back for it later.

If only his cloak wasn’t such a major give away to his alter ego, then he could’ve taken his pants with him…

Stepping back out and into the dull light with a new-found confidence. Tommy stretches his arms over his head, walking into the (surprisingly) edgy city of Las Nevadas.

____________________

Where does Quackity even live anyway? Tommy swirls his head around, letting his eyes take in the sights of Croupier’s home. It’s weirdly gothic for a guy like him but Tommy guesses it fits. Maybe.

Seriously, this place was a lot livelier in his memories. Bright lights everywhere , countless casinos and neon themed adult spaces. It was kinda beautiful in his memories. Not to say that it’s not beautiful now!

But did Las Nevadas get a whole makeover whilst he was gone? It’s darker, grittier. Even the people are less friendlier than he would’ve thought. He’s even had to glare back at a couple just to get them to leave him alone.

They think that he’s weak .

An easy target.

That’s until Tommy full on stares at them, getting them uncomfortable the longer they look at him. The longer they take in his features the more they notice that something is wrong with him. It’s funny watching them get squeamish and eventually leave him alone.

So some of the people aren’t great. Most do ignore him, so that’s their saving grace. He does get some occasional glares and creepy looks though…

Not to mention that Las Nevadas seems smaller than he remembers, huh, weird.

You know? Tommy doesn’t even remember where the casino is. God, how faulty is his memory that he can’t even remember where Quackity works .

Dream would be so disappointed… Tommy snickers to himself under his breath, it has no warmth to it.

Next best thing? Ask around. For such an extroverted man like himself this should be no problem. 

“Excuse me, do you know where the–” Tommy cuts himself off when the person walks away from him. “ What the fuck. ” Tommy mutters under his breath.

Sweeping his eyes across the street, he makes eye contact with another person. Tommy immediately walks up to them. Clearing his throat to grab their attention. “Do you know where the biggest–”

“Listen kid, I don’t care what your story is, I don’t have any money so get outta my face” The stranger with a heavy accent rudely(!) pushes past Tommy. He also had the audacity to shoulder check him as he walked away.

Tommy stands his ground though, barely moving an inch. Tommy raises a singular eyebrow in the rude man’s direction, his expression quickly turns into anger.

“What the fuck man?” Tommy throws his arms out in confusion, his eyes fixed on the asshole who’s only a few steps away.

When he doesn’t respond Tommy turns back around, it’s better if he doesn’t pick fights with civilians. Same bullshit that Dream would say.

“Arsehole…” Tommy mutters angrily under his breath. Unfortunately, that is what gets the man to turn around.

“What d'you say kid?” The ‘man’ steps back to face Tommy, his boots stomping on the concrete pavement.

Tommy doesn’t back down. In fact, it only fuels the flicker of a flame in his chest. “I said ‘arsehole’ You really need to get your hearing checked if you’re asking me” Tommy doesn’t raise his voice, unlike the man in front of him.

“Oh, so you think you’re funny huh?” The man chuckles as his face begins to flush with anger. “Yeah, I actually do. I was thinking of doing stand-up when I’m older, you know?” Tommy takes two steps back as the man takes another step forward.

He laughs again, it’s creepy as fuck. If Tommy were your average fella he would’ve shivered, thank prime that he’s not.

“You know what happens with kids who try and pick a fight with me?” The man backs Tommy into another cramped alleyway.

Maybe it’s time to try and deescalate the situation…Tommy really shouldn't be picking fights with civilians of all people.

Tommy raises his hands out in front of him, trying to get the guy to calm down. “Look, mate. We can be civil, right? There’s no need to fight or get angry” Tommy tries for an awkward smile.

“Trying to back out now are we?” The man suddenly grabs Tommy’s wrist. “It’s too late for that kid ” Tommy tries to pull his wrist out of the man's grip. No dice…Well…he wasn’t using his full strength anyway.

“I’m not a fucking kid .” Tommy spits out the word the same exact way the man did, bearing his teeth. “And I’m trying not to escalate this.” Tommy pulls his wrist out of the man's grip and takes two more steps into the cramped alley.

Tommy’s eyes sharpen as he slowly slips into a discreet fighting stance, in case the man tries anything.

The man decides Tommy is not worth the reply as he suddenly charges at Tommy with a fist to the face.

Big, huge mistake on his behalf, backing Tommy into where he fights at his best. The dark, the shadow, the absence of light.

Tommy easily dodges, the man isn’t very great of a swinger anyway. Tommy takes hold of the man’s arm, yanking the man closer, and twisting his arm in the wrong direction. 

“ Agh –!” The man cries out in both pain and surprise.

Tommy takes the surprise as an opening and throws a kick to the back of the man’s knee. Tommy watches in satisfaction as the man crumples clumsily to the ground. Without wasting even a second. Tommy delivers a jab to one of the pressure points on the neck.

The man falls to the ground, now unconscious.

“Serves you right, you arsehole…” Tommy shoves the man to the side with his boot.

Deciding that the man is now no longer worth his time, Tommy steps outside of the alley. Cracking his neck to the side as his eyes sweep across the street once more. Letting his feet lead the way to wherever the fuck.

“ Ughh, why did I do that…? What the hell is wrong with me…? ” Tommy mutters to no one but himself. Staring down at the pavement in front of him as he walks away from the cursed alleyway. Rubbing a hand down his face.

Victory does not feel good when it’s against a helpless citizen.

Tommy can already hear the lecture from Dream. There’s no way Dream is gonna let Nightmare out on patrol for weeks once he hears about this.

Dreading the fact that he’s going to have to stay in the house all day everyday unless emergency calls for him. Tommy finally looks up from his feet and takes another look at his surroundings.

Right across the street of the four-way intersection, Tommy spots a really old and gothic looking building. Tommy could swear he could see lightning and bats flying away from it like some old ass horror movie.

In big bold letters reads: Gotham Library.

What the hell is a “Gotham?”

Whatever it is, it certainly fits the vibe of that whole building.

Pushing aside all of that . The library part is much more interesting. A big library like that must have pamphlets or at least a map on how to navigate this weirdo ass city.

Tommy makes a beeline for the entrance. Dodging peoples shoulders left and right as this is a particularly busy intersection. Slinking his way through the crowd and walking across two cross-walks. Tommy stands at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the library doors.

Feeling an unusual sense of doom crawling up his spine, Tommy walks up the stairs and steps through the automatic doors.

Tommy is immediately hit with the cool air of the air conditioner running. All the noise that Tommy didn’t even notice he’d been tuning out has been replaced by the quiet still air of the library. Hm, peaceful.

Pale greyish-blue eyes scan the room, looking for a small bookshelf? Maybe? Something that looks like it’ll hold a map or free pamphlets. His efforts prove to be fruitless in the end. Wait–are those…computers?

It felt like striking gold. Oh the internet what a wondrous and horrendous place. And perfect for searching where the casino is.

New goal. Get to the computers.

There has to be a librarian, maybe he’ll ask them. Tommy’s eyes finally catch onto the desk where a gorgeous red haired woman resides. That is most likely the librarian.

Tommy’s ears twitch, catching a very very faint electrical buzzing in the air. It’s so very quiet that Tommy considers that he’s hearing auditory hallucinations. And it’s coming from that librarian lady. Weird…

No matter, he still needs to get to the internet one way or another…

Tommy confidently walks up to her desk, leaning his elbows on her mahogany brown desk in a very casual manner. “Hiya, excuse me miss but I was wondering if I could use one of your–” Tommy pauses for a second to gesture over to the computers. “Computers?”

And due to his natural charm and charisma. She says yes. She even says that he can have a day pass! How lucky of him!

Now that Tommy can see her up close, she is a very beautiful woman. And her red hair is phenomenal! Tommy wonders if that’s her natural color.

No way to know except to ask!

“Is that your natural hair color? It is a very gorgeous red” Tommy asks very casually, letting the words roll easily off of his tongue.

“Oh, thank you. It is my natural color” She says as she adjusts her glasses. “If you have any questions or concerns, or if you need any help with the computers please let me or the other staff know” 

“I definitely will, thanks again for the day pass” Tommy kindly thanks her. Walking toward the direction of the computers, he looks over the password on the slip of paper.

Hmm ‘Birthd@y” Strange password but if it works it works. Tommy shrugs off the strange word for a password and continues his trek to the internet he so desperately craves.

Pulling one of the chairs from the desk, Tommy takes his seat and immediately boots up the computer before he can even fully rest into the cushiony chair. The ancient computer boots up with a late start.

Tommy can already feel himself frowning. For such a grand library in Las Nevedas, you’d think that they’d have technology that’s up with the times.

They have four whole stories for Prime's sake!

Tommy takes a breath. It doesn’t matter, as long as Tommy can search things up, it’s alright. Even if it’ll take an uncomfortably long time to load…

Fingers hurriedly fly across the keyboard, typing in the password with ease. Immediately clicking on the nearest search engine.

“Casinos near me” Tommy types into the search bar. Clicking on the first link which takes him to a map of the city with pin points where the casinos are.

The casino Quackity works at should be near the heart of the city, it’s also the biggest one. Tommy thinks to himself as his eyes search the map, his eyebrows furrowing when there is no casino at the heart of the city.

What? This map does not look like Las Nevadas…It’s…too small. Tommy stares blankly at the map of the supposed city that he’s in. Not even enough casinos, hell, not even half as many bars or clubs.

Maybe I’m not in Las Nevadas, Maybe I’m somewhere else in the world… Tommy still holds some hope in his chest. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst…That’s…That’s what he used to say…

No matter! Tommy must be somewhere else. But…Where else would it look this dingy?

Tommy’s eyes catch onto the name of the city he’s in. Gotham…That’s the word on the library. Again, what the hell is Gotham? Seriously, where in the world am I?

“Esempea” is what Tommy types into the map’s search bar. How far away did I end up from Dream? 

“No search results for ‘Esempea’”

…

What the fuck.

What.

The.

Fuck.

There’s no way. Right?

Tommy creates a new tab. He types faster than ever into the provided search bar.

“Las Nevadas”

“Did you mean Las Vegas?”

“Showing results for Las Vegas”

What the fuck is “Las Vegas”?

“Snowchester”

“No search results for ‘Snowchester’”

“L’manburg”

“No search results for ‘L’manburg’”

…

“Croupier”

“Croupier definition: The person in charge of a–”

Not the definition! Goddamn it, the hero!

“Dream”

“A series of thoughts, images–”

…

Tommy shakily types into the search bar one final time. This time, he doesn’t rush it. Too afraid to confirm his suspicions. Typing out each letter one by one, taking an embarrassing amount of time to just hit enter.

“Nightmare”

…

Tommy’s eyes hesitate to trail down the results page, already knowing what he’s going to see. A pool of dread begins to grow deep in his gut.

“A frightening or unpleasant–”

Tommy immediately closes out of the tab with a hard click of the mouse. Staring blankly into the unforgiving, cold screen of the oldest computer Tommy has ever used.

Nothing…

Absolutely nothing…

What the fuck…Where am I? Am I…am I in a…different server? There’s no way, I mean they’ve theorized that different servers could exist but actually? There’s nothing when I search up the Esempea, nothing about Dream, or anyone! Even me…

Tommy lets his head fall, his posture crumbles along with his perception of reality.

But being in a completely new server would explain a lot.

Like how that Bitchwing guy didn’t recognize him, how that beanie-guy didn’t accept gold as payment, and how he didn't recognize the landscape…

Like how nothing comes up when he searches up the Esempea or other related things.

Nightmare doesn’t exist…Dream doesn’t and sure as hell the Esempea doesn’t either…

Dream doesn’t exist. 

Holy shit. Dream doesn’t exist, at least, here he doesn’t.

Dream doesn’t exist. 

There is no number one hero Dream. No Dream. No Drey…

Tommy is alone.

He is completely alone in this backwards world. No one to help him. No one he knows. His country is gone. His mentor is gone. Their graves are gone . His whole life that he’s built up until now is gone.

Everything is gone .

Something builds up in Tommy’s throat. He wants to scream, cry, or even beg…Beg for it all to be some messed up nightmare. It would almost be hilariously ironic if it was…

Tommy feels tingly all over, strangely numb, a terrifying sense of dread pools deep in his core. Pressure begins to build behind his eyes, he wants to cry but he can’t like he actually can’t cry .

Tommy’s arms unknowingly shake. Shaky, jittery almost. Like his bones want to escape. But then again they feel so heavy . Like lead. But also strangely light? Tommy doesn’t know. He’s feeling a horrible concoction of sensations. It’s confusing.

Dream is a dickhead through and through. But Tommy would give anything to hear his mentor telling him to pull himself together and set his mind to something useful right about now. Like making a plan.

Tommy wouldn’t listen but it’d be nice to hear anyway…

It feels like that day again.

The day that would go down in history as one of the greatest tragedies the world has seen.

The day that Tommy remembers all too well. That one faithful day where he was left all alone in the world. Forcefully abandoned by his family…His family.

He remembers it down to the last second, why wouldn’t he? That’s…That’s when they died. His family died that day. Died in the explosion that wiped out all of L’manburg.

Millions died that day along with them. All except for one little boy.

A blonde haired boy whose smile rivaled the sun. A bright blue eyed boy who thought he had his whole life with his family. A little boy whose family called him ‘Sunshine’ ‘Toms’ and ‘Theseus.’

A little boy who was forced to grow up.

Tommy was one of the very few who survived the explosion of L’manburg. Not Techno, not Will, and not his dad, Philza either. Only Tommy. Solely Tommy.

…Tommy remembers everything, he remembers the numbness, the disbelief, and the sheer crushing amount of dread and realization that he is alone. And will forever be alone for the rest of his life.

It feels almost like deja vu. Except, Tommy remembers crying that time. He was in their demolished home, staring at their unmoving burnt bodies. Screaming his throat raw, tears couldn’t stop pouring down his face even if he wanted it to stop.

He was pleading to and praying to Prime to bring his family back to him, that it was all a nightmare.

A sickening and terrifying nightmare.

Tommy has blurry memories of being rescued. He had to survive in the wastelands for what felt like days before the military and rescue workers from the neighboring countries came to save the few remaining survivors.

It was easier for Tommy to survive than it would be if he were human. He doesn’t need to eat or drink water as often as a human.

When he was recovered from the destruction, people argued over where to put him. By that time, Drey had found out what happened to Tommy and his family, so he volunteered to take Tommy in.

While Drey was being approved to become a ‘Foster parent.’ Tommy was thrown into foster care for a few agonizing months. It wasn’t all that bad. At least he thinks it wasn’t. His memory from that period of time is blurry.

Drey was a family friend, he was Techno’s rival but also one of his closest friends. Technoblade… Prime he misses Tech so bad…

Once Drey got his stamp of approval, he took Tommy into the Esempea to live in a temporary house that was close to his primary school at the time. Months and then a couple years passed by until Drey officially adopted Tommy.

Drey wasn’t a father, far from it actually. They both knew that. But he was someone familiar, mostly trustworthy, and he was his mentor above anything else.

Tommy preferred it that way. He doesn’t need a new dad, and never will. No one could ever replace Phil.

A particularly large piece of Tommy died that day along with his father and brothers. Even when Tubbo and Ranboo came along, they could only fix so much of his broken heart

Drey had their graves be placed next to Tommy’s mom. Tommy remembers very little of her but he cherishes those few memories with his entire being.

Tommy used to bring flowers to their graves often. Mostly on the anniversary of their deaths. But now he can’t because they don’t even exist anymore. They’re in a completely different server, he’s in a different server.

Tommy stills, only to slump further into the cushy library chair. The realization hits him like a freight train.

The warm lights begin to flicker, just a tad. The shadows start to spill further than they’re supposed to, deepening in their color. Tommy feels like his bones are gonna jump out of his skin, weirdly and terrifyingly jittery.

Like something wants to escape from deep inside of his nervous system.

Tommy knows what wants to get out. He can’t let it . Not here, not anywhere.

C’mon Innit, get a grip. You’re motherfucking Nightmare for Prime’s sake. Dream taught you better than this…

Tommy wraps his arms around himself, blunt nails dig into his skin making crescent shaped indents. The stinging pain helps in grounding himself, keeping him focused on making sure that it stays locked away.

And slowly but surely, the lights return to normal and the unnecessary shadows recede back to their normal positions.

Once everything is back in order, Tommy lets out a shaky breath that he didn’t even know he’d been holding. Taking deep breaths for his oxygen deprived lungs. His hands lose their grip and fall back onto the armrests of the chair.

I really am in a different server, innit?

…

I need to get out of here…

“Hey” Tommy damn near flinches. “Are you okay? You’ve been staring at a black screen for the past twenty minutes…” Tommy’s eyes immediately snap to the voice beside him, confusion dons his face before he recognizes her.

It’s the librarian lady with beautiful red hair.

Tommy goes on auto pilot, squaring his shoulders and slapping on a confident smirk. “Yeah, I’m good . Peachy, even” Tommy closes out of his tab faster than he should’ve. Great. Now he’s going to look suspicious.

Tommy mentally smacks himself across the face.

Prime, why does this only happen to me? Of course it does…This is going so bad already. I need to get out of here. Now. Or else I might combust right here right now.

Tommy shifts nervously in his seat, or at least as much as he can without making it obvious. Eyeing the entrance doors behind the librarian woman.

“Alright, if you say so–”

“Yeah I fuckin’ say so” Tommy hurriedly cuts her off before he even realizes what he’s saying. His mouth working faster than his brain at the worst possible moment.

The woman freezes, clearly surprised at the sudden change in attitude.

Tommy realizes what he just said. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did I say that? Why?? Oh dear Prime just strike me down right now. It’d be more merciful than whatever the fuck this situation is.

“Shit…Sorry, sorry” Tommy buries his face in his hands, his voice muffled but still legible. Again, why did he do that? “I’m-I’m havin’ a bit of an off day y’know? I bet you have an off day every now and again right? Miss…?” Tommy tries for anything to change the subject.

The woman must’ve been sent from Prime itself with the way she accepted the subject change. She smiles softly…at Tommy.

“It’s Barbara, and don’t worry about it. We all have off days” Barbara finishes with another understanding smile. Tommy is both immeasurably grateful and confused.

“Barbara,” Tommy decides to test the name. It rolls easily off of his tongue, it suits a woman like her. “That is a lovely name, Barbara” He compliments Barbara like it’s second nature, leisurely shaking her hand.

Tommy should probably thank her right about now…“Thank you for letting me use your computers, Miss Barbara” He says with a casual smile.

Seconds pass and his smile grows strained. His eyes are still focused on the door. His goal hasn’t changed in the slightest.

Tommy feels like hands are starting to sweat, it’s gross and he needs to get out of this damn library.

Without wasting another second Tommy comes up with an excuse, as lame as it is, it’s all he’s got right now. “Oh would you look at the time!” Tommy rolls up his sleeve to check his ‘watch.’ There is no watch.

Tommy hastily pushes back his chair and shuts off the computer in record time. Good thing the floor is carpeted.

“You know, it’s getting so late, the wife must be expecting me!” Tommy rattles off an excuse that could be interpreted as a joke. You know, to lighten the mood.

Tommy rushes to the entrance doors without a second thought. The carpeted flooring softened the otherwise loud clicking of his boots.

“Thanks again Miss Barbara!” Tommy yells out the door pointedly ignoring the frustrated whispers of “Shh!” directed at him.

Tommy lets out a breath once he’s outside of the library's suffocating air. He should probably keep walking…

Tommy speed walks away as fast as he can without raising any suspicion. Weaving through crowds of people until their numbers slowly dwindle down. His mind nonstop replaying the events that occurred in that building.

It’s gonna haunt his memory forever at this point. Tommy throws his head back in frustration and lets out a groan that could rival the ones that Dream makes when Tommy is purposefully annoying.

The sun begins to peek out from behind the clouds. It’s too bright to think..

Tommy slips into yet another shaded alleyway, the cool darkness helps set his mind straight. As he walks deep into the dark, the shadows gently pull him into their icy embrace.

He could almost feel arms around him. Holding him as he leans against the void. Closing his eyes for the time being to gather his thoughts and make a plan. What kind of plan? Not even Tommy knows yet.