Chapter Text
All things considered Snowbird believes his life was going well! He has his friends, a decent job, passing his college classes and his relationship with siblings is alright! Except for one small technicality, just a small one. He was the number two super villain of his city. This is a bit of an issue because his sister is training to be a hero and his father, Ish, is the top hero currently.
Look, it wasn’t his fault. He swears it wasn’t! Just the classic old tale of the wrong place at the wrong time. Actually if you wanted Snowbird to be 100% honest the blame could fall onto Flux and Thomas and the rest of their friend group were dragged in by proxy because they were all hanging out . Flux was obviously the instigator with Thomas sharing some of the blame. Snowbird firmly believed that Flux was 95% percent of the problem and Thomas was the other 5% but then they actually got to thinking about it and realized maybe they could do something. Snowbird actually considered them more vigilante but whatever.
He swears you blow up ONE building! Also nobody was in or around the building so it’s not like anybody got hurt! Alas Snowbird and his friends were now considered villains all because of a technicality. Lame.
Anyway it brought him to this situation running away from a bunch of guards and hero’s. In hindsight maybe breaking into the hero’s HQ wasn’t the greatest plan. Fluixon had advised strongly against it and hadn’t gone out with them. Then again he also never went out with them often instead preferring to pull strings behind the scenes.
“Go! Go! Go!” Thomas hissed at all of them.
“We are going Thomas,” Gotoga had hissed at the other, “ugh why can’t they just let it go.”
“I mean we did break in,” Sera reminded him breathlessly.
“Less talking, more running,” snaps Thomas. They all go silent when NewKids glances over. A thoughtful look appears in his eyes.
“I think I have a plan. Link hands and grab a hold of me.”
“No, absolutely not!” Sera is the one to remind him. It wasn’t much of a surprise considering the fact NewKids was her younger brother and if NewKids was planning on what Snowbird thought he was. Then she would definitely have grips with it. Hell, Snowbird himself had a few grips with it; “you haven’t teleported this many people before! The most you’ve ever done is three and that made you queasy. There’s five of us!”
“We don’t really have an option right now!” Though Snowbird was loath to admit it, NewKids was right. An exit was nowhere in sight and already people were gaining, “just hang on and hope for the best. The chances I drop someone are low!”
“Yeah low, not impossible and knowing our luck,” Rotation growls at NewKids not elaborating on what he said. After all, they knew what he meant.
“Once again, do you have a better idea? Because I’m all ears if you do!” NewKids reiterated. None of them answered him because they also didn’t have a plan. Snowbird, who was the closest to NewKids, reached out to hold onto him.
“Just get us out of here,” Sera growled and grabbed her brother's other arm with Rotation also grasping her wrist. Gotoga latched onto Snowbird with Thomas taking up the back so they made a loose circle.
“Once again don’t let go,” With that NewKids activated his powers and they were gone.
Snowbird was once reminded why he didn’t like teleporting with NewKids. The pressure built around him and he couldn’t see in front of his face. All was silent. It made goosebumps rise on Snowbird’s arm. It lasted for just a moment but it never stopped being distorting. They land in Fluixon’s apartment with a barely audible thump. NewKids staggers a bit unsteady on his feet before he rushes to the bathroom. Snowbird winces as he hears the other retching; “you good NewKids?” Sera calls out to her brother.
NewKids response is strangled; “no!”
Fluixon looks on unimpressed at them, his eyes flickering over to his bathroom where NewKids was; “did we learn a lesson?”
“Shut up,” Thomas says mulishly at their friend. Fluixon doesn’t grace him with a response. Eventually he sighed; “did you at least find anything worthwhile?”
They exchanged looks with each other; “no,” Sera responds very clearly irritated; “it was all encrypted and none of us know how to decode it.”
“Did you get a copy of it on a flash drive?”
They avoid his eyes; the answer is a resounding no. They couldn’t find a place to put the flash drive in and it was why they had been caught. All in all the plan had been an epic fail. Fluixon doesn’t verbally tell them I told you so but his look is enough.
Once NewKids joins them all again they all start talking; “we’ll talk tomorrow morning it’s late right now,” Flux reminds them all.
Snowbird shakes his head; “you’ll need to pick a later time. Thomas and I work in the morning.”
Thomas' head thumps against the table; “I forgot we’re opening tomorrow with your brother. It’s two right now. We open at six and need to be there early to get everything ready. How could we have forgotten that!”
Snowbird definitely agreed, in theory working with his brother and one of his friends is fun. Notice how Snowbird says in theory. It was very much not fun and it didn’t help that every so often their, er nighttime escapades, would make them late every so often which definitely didn’t make Saps happy. At first he did his best to understand even if he was slightly irritated but when Thomas and Snowbird were late at least once a week by half an hour that’s when Saps started having a problem. Honestly, Snowbird is actually kind of impressed they still had a job but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Flux pinches the bridge of his nose; “right. I assume you're staying here for the night?” They all know the question is rhetorical.
Flux’s apartment is bigger than most apartments but it was also just an apartment at the end of the day. A two bedroom one but there were seven of them and Flux was never inclined to give up his own bed or share for that matter. The rest of them would argue about who would lay in the second bedroom eventually they decided to let NewKids have it. Between teleporting all six of them and still looking a little green it wasn’t much of an argument between the rest of them. The only real issue was deciding who would get to curl up on the chair and who would get the couch. Before any of them could do anything Sera had already snagged the chair and curled up in it. When they argued about it she had rebuffed and told them that she was the logical option to sleep on the chair and they should be thankful she didn’t go for the couch. Leaving only the couch open Snowbird, Thomas, Gotoga and Rotation argued for at least fifteen minutes before Flux decided he was done with them and reminded them about how late it was and the fact Thomas and Snowbird needed to work in the morning. So he had them draw sticks. In the end Rotation got the couch and the rest of them scattered across the floor of the living room. Tomorrow was going to be fun with it being the weekend on a Saturday for that matter. He’s also pretty sure the city was having a car show or something of the sort near the cafe. If he was lucky Snowbird would get maybe two hours of sleep before having to be at work for an eight hour shift. It was definitely going to be a test for his whole customer service attitude. He gives a sigh at the thought before he tries to get at least a little sleep. It would be fine. He’d deal with it in the morning.
When Snowbird wakes up he’s a little concerned it’s not to his alarm and then he realizes the sun is up. He bolts up and reaches for his phone. It’s 10:59 he had forgotten to set an alarm and put it off of Do Not Disturb so did Thomas from the look because the other was out like a light. Everybody else was also still asleep, which wasn’t entirely surprising. It had been a long night. NewKids had definitely drained himself from teleporting all of them and would probably be asleep till at least two in the afternoon. Fluixon frequently burned the midnight oil; it was the reason he chose to do afternoon classes and he was probably figuring out the logistics of their next move. The break in of the HQ would need to be dealt with delicately and they would have to keep their heads down for a few weeks. Though Flux would refuse to be ideal for long and they would do some scouting and research.
So much research.
The point was nobody was up and when Snowbird checked his messages he had seven missed calls from Saps. At least 20 text messages and two calls from Jophiel and some messages from her as well. His dad and Micro had also sent him messages so he knew Saps was furious. In his haste to get up his feet got tangled in the blanket and he tripped over Thomas. Well at least Snowbird didn’t have to figure out a way to wake him up so they could get to work; “wha-“ Thomas says in a confused voice that was still rough from sleep.
“Check the time. We're a little late.”
Thomas checked his own phone and bolted; “this is more than a little late Snow! Why didn’t you wake me up!”
Slightly irritated Snowbird snaps at him; “because I overslept too! It was only because of the sun that I got up! Saps and the rest of my family have been trying to get in contact with me,” he takes a deep breath to center himself; “let’s get going before Saps actually snaps and decides to kill us.”
“How mad do you think he is?”
“Have you read the texts? I haven’t even listened to the voice mails yet and I know it’s going to be bad.”
Thomas winced as he glanced at a few of the texts; “we are sooo dead.”
Snowbird gives a bitter laugh; “At least you only have to worry about Saps.”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you forget the part where I said the rest of my family texted me? If Saps doesn’t kill me Jophiel just might.”
Beyond grateful that they kept spare work clothes over at Flux’s place (don’t ask) he and Thomas rush out of the door with Thomas sending a hasty text to the group chat explaining where they went and to text the plan for the meeting. Having long missed the bus Snowbird and Thomas ran to work and all Snowbird could do was pray he’d at least live until the end of the day.