Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Grey walls, grey ceiling, and a grey floor.

That's all that meets the eyes in this shitty warehouse the Syndicate were using.

Tubbo really didn't know all that much about interior design, but surely if they could afford to make such pretty vigilante outfits, they could afford a nice base to match, right?

Well, apparently not! Honestly, Tubbo was getting a headache. How the fuck was one meant to sneak around in a completely black and white building while wearing bright yellow????

He'd probably have to make a few changes to his suit when he got back home.

Tubbo threw a mini paint bomb at the nearest security camera, covering it in a bright, glittery pink. If Tubbo was being honest, it was a little painful to waste so much paint for his villain shenanigans.

Ah, yes. Right. Speaking of villain shenanigans, he should prooobably finish what he came here to do.

He ran as fast as he could to the other side of the monochrome room. It was a little difficult to steer once he had gained momentum, however, so his wrist got snagged on the edge of a axe that was stood up against the wall.

Tubbo hissed in pain and cradled his injured hand to his chest, glaring at the inanimate object as if it was capable of feeling threatened. Who the actual fuck just kept a whole ass axe on display like that???

Then again, Tommy had mentioned that the Syndicate was more dangerous than the other vigilante organisations Tubbo had encountered. Admittedly, Tubbo had a lot of respect for them. They were the one group actually trying to get rid of the villains. It just didn't help that Tubbo was a villain.

Whatever.

Tubbo didn't have time to ponder severe internal dilemmas. He had a job to do!

After shaking his wrist out to get rid of the sting, Tubbo tore a small strip of fabric from his uniform shirt to tie around his tattered wrist. He didn't want to risk DNA evidence getting anywhere.

As Tubbo wrapped the makeshift bandage around his wound, a small glint in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He spun around quickly, searching for the shimmer. After a quick scan of the area, Tubbo’s eyes landed on a USB stick. It was grey, like everything else in the godforsaken warehouse base, and had the letters SYND engraved on it in letters so small it gave Tubbo a headache. He snatched it up and ran out of the Syndicate property.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Tubbo! Oi, Tubbo, you fuck!”

Tubbo’s head snapped up fast enough to give him whiplash.

”Fuck you want, Jack?” He called out, rolling his eyes.

It had been almost two days since his break-into-a-top-secret-vigilante-organisation operation. Admittedly, his higher-ups made it sound a lot cooler than it actually was. The coolest thing there was the axe he got hurt on. His wrist still hurt, for fucks sake! Working as a villain didn’t really make much pay, though. While it wasn’t… ideal, to say the least, he still had a reliable second job as a barista at Kristin's Bakery.

His coworker, Jack, was looking back at him from other side of the counter. ”I’m going on a date, Tubbster. Mind doin’ this shift on your own?”

Tubbo rolled his eyes and fake-gagged. “Eughhh! Dude, I don’t wanna hear about who you’re fucking! Gross!”

Jack visibly recoiled, putting his hands up in over-exaggerated disgust. “Woah woah woah! Tubbo! Who said anything about fucking?!”

“Whateeverr, man. Yeah, I’ll take your shift.”

”Thanks, you’re a saint, kid!”

A small chuckle fell from Tubbo’s lips. He closed his eyes as he shook his head fondly at Jack’s retreating form.

Only a few minutes after Jack had left, a customer approached Tubbo.

He gave the stranger a quick once-over. They had split-dyed hair, half white and half black that covered their eyes. They were also wearing a black face mask, but with COVID and all, that was pretty normal.

What didn't seem normal to Tubbo was how this guy must have gotten in.

The stranger coughed awkwardly and Tubbo broke eye contact, realising he had been staring.

"Sorry about that. Welcome to Kristin's Bakery, what can I get for ya on this fine day?" Tubbo grinned, though his mind was still running with questions.

He didn't hear the bell on the bakery door ring, so they must've entered through the back. But why? They were literally ordering something, so clearly they weren't trying to avoid Tubbo's attention.

Ah.

They were trying to get Tubbo's attention.

Before the stranger could even blink, Tubbo shifted to the form he usually took whenever he was presenting as Nuke the villain instead of Tubbo the barista, who was decidedly less awesome. Even without his villain uniform on, his Nuke form was still different enough from his regular one that his identity would (should) stay safe.

Tubbo spun around as fast as he could, his work apron twirling around his legs as he did, until he was facing a tall-ish man in a black hoodie and jeans.

He saw the needle pierce his skin before he felt it, falling to the floor as everything went black.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Lethe?”

Ranboo looked up from his notebook to see Niki standing in front of his table.

”Oh, Artemis! Hey!” He grinned, closing his notebook and placing it to the side so he could give his fellow Syndicate member his undivided attention. Or… partially undivided.

Niki smiled anxiously, scratching the back of her neck.

”N-Niki…?” Ranboo asked, twisting his fingers.

“Nuke is in the interrogation room-”

”Oh!”

Niki nodded, grabbing Ranboo by the hands and dragging him off the chair. “And you’ve been elected to interrogate him!”

Ranboo stumbled at that. He caught himself and paused to steady himself. Why on earth would anyone in their right mind choose him to interrogate someone? Not even including the fact that he’d been chosen to interrogate one of the most dangerous and popular villains in all of America.

“Why?! Who the hell thought that would be a good idea?” Ranboo whined, letting Niki continue to drag him towards the Syndicate warehouse’s basement.

“Me.”

”Niki, I am so sorry.”

Thank god, Niki didn’t hit him with a sandal for daring to question her. See, it sounds fake, but Niki’s actually done it before. Especially when she first joined. Ranboo had asked her once, she said something about needing to make people take her seriously. Admittedly, Ranboo didn’t fully understand where she was coming from, but he knew it was important to her, so he’d try his best.

She laughed and swatted him lightly on the arm. “It’s alright, Ran, stop worrying.”

He nodded with a small grin on his own face as well. “O-oh, alright then. Why me, though?”

A short silence followed as Niki continued to drag him. They stopped right in front of a large metal door. Ranboo assumed that Nuke was held there.

Jesus Christ, Nuke was behind those doors. Nuke! How the hell was he supposed to interrogate Nuke?! Ranboo’s only powers were manipulating memory, and that felt way too unethical. Even ignoring the whole moral dilemma of using his powers for interrogation, it wasn’t a very good way to get honest answers.

The voices started getting louder. Speeding up, too.

Before Ranboo could voice any of this, Niki had opened the door and shoved him in.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

It had been, what, ten minutes of idle sitting around so far? Ranboo’s brain was practically melting with the boredom.

Even then, Ranboo didn’t trust himself to touch anything. All the pretty weapons and bottles of colourful liquid on the tables were mostly just for show. And also because Niki and Techno had severe obsessions with pretty knives and swords and whatnot.

As for the colourful liquids, those were mostly just paint. Phil didn’t have enough room in his and Kristin’s house to store all of his art supplies and he liked the way the glitter in the watercolours shined when you twirl the bottle.

And even with all those pretty things, Ranboo was still bored beyond belief.

Techno (aka Ares) and him had been playing cards in the Syndicate’s interrogation room while they were waiting for Nuke to wake up, but Techno had left a good while ago. Speaking of whom, why on earth would Techno choose the name Ares for himself?! Sure, strength and all that jazz, but character-wise…? Dude, Techno binged the entirety of Princess Bride in, like, two days! He was the kindest person ever!

Anyways, Ranboo was bored. Techno had left him to his own devices almost an hour ago and Ranboo hadn’t brought anything else to keep him occupied. He wasn’t allowed to leave earshot of the interrogation room either, in case Nuke woke up while he was gone.

Pain.

“Ugh, what the fuck…?”

Nuke had woken up.

Ranboo sat up almost immediately. He took a deep breath before standing up and turning around to face Nuke. His breath caught as he made eye contact with the villain.

Nuke had been tied to a wood chair in the middle of the all-grey room.

He… well, he wasn’t wearing his villain outfit, that’s for sure. He was wearing an apron in a gorgeous shade of emerald with the logo of what looked to be either a bakery or coffee shop embroidered with silver thread.

Underneath the apron, he was wearing a loose yellow-gold hoodie with a black turtleneck under it. His jeans were ripped - almost tattered, really - but it seemed more like a product of carelessness, rather than a stylistic choice.

His hair was a curly, honey-like brown with blonde and pink streaks in it, and it covered his eyes and face. It was actually… pretty cute. Ranboo had never seen Nuke this close before, so he never really noticed.

Admittedly, he didn’t look all that intimidating at first glance. Though, his body kept flickering in and out of sight. Like he was out of it enough for his shapeshifting powers to be at least a little bit faulty.

Nuke straightened his posture and groaned softly, his body stopped shifting and settled into a more solid form. The pink and blonde streaks in his hair became a little thicker, a little bit more noticeable than they did while his shapeshifting powers were still going haywire.

And when he looked up…

Oh. Wow.

Finally, something pretty that wasn’t boring.

Ranboo only realised he had been staring when Nuke coughed loudly.

He quickly collected himself and crossed his arms across his chest, standing near a table that was a safe distance away from the chair Nuke was tied to, while still close enough for Nuke to be well within reach if needed.

“Ah, um, yeah. Sorry. Hi. I mean-” Ranboo coughed into his fist and leaned against the table, forcing his voice to go lower. “Hello, Nuke.”

The villain seemed amused by the display. His gold-yellow eyes crinkled slightly with humour. Ranboo couldn’t help but notice the horizontal, goat like pupils. Strange, but it actually kinda worked. Well, Ranboo guessed that with a face that nice, literally any features would work.

“Hello. Lethe, I assume?”

“Mhm. Do you know why you’re here?”

Nuke hummed softly, clearly thinking it through. “Is this for breaking into your base?”

Ranboo couldn’t hide the small smirk that was starting to play on the corners of his mouth. He nodded approvingly. “Ah, so you do know.”

The villain shrugged as best as he could with his arms tied. “One can never be too certain. How’d you even find out?”

Instead of giving a verbal answer, Ranboo slowly stalked towards the axe Techno had hung up on the wall. He plucked a small strip of bloody fabric off of it and held it up to Nuke’s face. Nuke seemed shocked before realisation darkened his face.

“God fucking damn it, I really need to change my uniform design.” Nuke groaned, eliciting a chuckle from Ranboo.

“Mm… so, what were you looking for?”

“A USB stick.” Nuke said quickly, almost too quickly.

“Oh. That was… easier than expected. Why? Who sent you?”

Nuke’s face fell slightly, but his lips moved instantly. “Jschlatt sent me.”

Ah, him.

Jschlatt was almost twenty times more notorious than Nuke, mostly because he was more careless. He was the only villain who didn’t use a code name, and he was very, very open about the fact that he conducts human experiments. Even victims of the experiments - like Kristin, Phil and Techno, for example - didn’t know the details.

The only people who knew about all of it were Jschlatt himself and his son, who would inherit the company after his father. And while Jschlatt was very public about his experiments, nobody had a single clue who his son could possibly be.

Jschlatt had made sure of that.

“And why is that?” Ranboo asked sceptically.

Nuke’s answer came instantly. “He wanted to know how Thanatos and Ares escaped.”

Before Ranboo could even feel shocked that Nuke knew about Phil and Techno’s… history, Nuke gasped in horror.

“No,” villain mumbled. “No. Fuck, no. I wasn’t supposed to say that, that was supposed to be a secret. Shit!”

Nuke looked up at him, and Ranboo found himself fixated on his eyes. Yellow turned to green, slit pupils turned to circles. Fear turned to disgust.

“What the fuck did you put in me.” Nuke hissed. Despite not being phrased like one, Ranboo knew it was a question. A question he didn’t have an answer to.

“I- wait, what?” Ranboo stammered, the voices in his head had stopped, in it’s place a distant ringing sound.

“W̸̥͌h̴̻͑y̴͚͒ can’t I l̷i̴e̶,L̵̗͆e̸̢̎ț̸̐h̷̺̄è̸̩?̵̫͝”

His voice.

Nuke’s voice was practically going haywire. Switching from that of a young child to a teenager to a garbled, radio-like quality.

Ranboo shook his head quickly, raising his hands. Almost in surrender. Or a peace offering of sorts.

“I- I don’t know! We were supposed to have just given you anaesthesia, to get you to pass out! I- I d-don’t know what’s happening! I swear!”

Nuke nodded, clearly trying to gain more of whatever control he had. “F̴̻͘i̷̡̾ǹ̴̙ê̵̟.”

“I- I’m so sorry about this, if you’d like, I can leave the room and come back when it’s worn off?”

To Ranboo’s surprise, the villain shook his head. “No, I… kinda just want to get this over with.” Nuke said hoarsely. 
A side affect from his vocal cords shifting so much, Ranboo assumed.

“Besides,” the villain continued, forcing a small smile. “At least now you know I’m being honest.”

Ranboo gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Sure, but you don’t have to do this right now.”

“Fuckin’ goody-two-shoes twat.”

“Hey! I’d assume the heroes are more befitting of that title.”

“You can share.”

They laughed together for a minute before Ranboo remembered that he still had a job to do. He coughed into his fist before circling Nuke’s chair.

“W̷h̴a̵t̶ exactly a̷r̴e̸ you doing, b̸o̴s̵s̵m̶a̵n̴?̷”

”Don’t worry, I’m cutting your ropes.”

Nuke seemed shocked at that, but didn’t say anything. Probably doesn’t want to strain his voice any further, one of the only helpful voices in his head pointed out.

“So,” Ranboo asked, sitting on the table facing Nuke. “How do you know about Ares and Thanatos’s experiences?”

Nuke shuddered and looked down. “Jschlatt told me.” He said sharply.

”Right.” Ranboo said. He’d most definitely have to tell Phil and Techno about this. He should probably also mention the whole truth potion thing. “Well, why does he want to know about them? He already knows they escaped.”

“He told me he wanted to know about their involvement in the Syndicate, but I think he was lying.”

Ranboo tilted his head at that. “Oh? And what do you think he actually wants?”

“Revenge.”

Ranboo blinked.

“Listen, man, full points for vagueness, but what the hell do you mean?”

“İ̶̭̖̫͂͐ͅ ̶̲̭̟̫͉́̑̕͠͝d̴͙̿͗́͊̿o̸̥̯̓͘͜n̸͙͕̯͖͖̈́̽̀̏͠’̶̧͔̞̰̐̑̇͜t̵̬͚̭̆ ̵̟̙̞̽̂̌̍̃k̶̭͔̭̆̆̃̈́ǹ̵̡̬̠̺͍̽͝o̶͍̍̏ẅ̵̮́͘!̸̘̹̻̾̀́̇͝”

“Uh, sorry, what was that?”

Nuke groaned in frustration. “I̷ ̵don’t ̷f̴u̸c̸k̷i̴n̷g̸ ̸know! He definitely want’s revenge, he hasn’t told me how he’s planning to execute it.”

“Okay, fine. Did you give the USB to him?”

Nuke gestured towards his hands, which were still bound. Ranboo realised what the villain was trying to do and took one of Niki’s knives off of the table behind him. He used one hand to grab Nuke’s surprisingly soft hands and used to other to slide the knife between the villain’s wrists. With a little bit of persistence, the rope split, letting Nuke use his hands freely again.

For a second, Ranboo held his breath. Would Nuke kill him now?

But - thank god - Nuke just reached under his apron and pulled a small metal cylinder out of his jean’s left pocket. He carefully peeled his glove off and placed his thumb on what seemed to be a fingerprint reader. A lid on the top of the cylinder popped open and Nuke emptied the contents out into his palm. The grey USB fell out.

Nuke silently took Ranboo’s hand in his own. Ranboo’s breath caught, his eye’s widening. To his relief (or maybe dismay), the villain simply placed the USB in his palm and let go a second later.

“Oh, thank you!”

The villain shook his head. “Can we forget about all this? Please?”

“Y-yeah! Of course. Wait, d-do you mean literally, or…?”

Nuke smiled at that. God, it was such a lovely smile. “No, no. I’d like to keep my memory, thank you though.”

Ranboo grinned back at him. “Mhm!”