A vigilante who heals villains, I guess?

Chapter 18: Hidden clues

Tommy awoke sleeping between Techno and Wilbur. He was fairly surprised by the fact that Techno was there, but didn't really question it.

"Good morning mate", Phil said walking into the room. "You woke up just now as well?"

"Yeah, I did", Tommy said rubbing his eyes. "Did I fall asleep in the car?"

"Yeah. On Tech. He carried you in and let you sleep on him", Phil answered.

"Oh", Tommy said. "Man, how long do they sleep?" he then asked.

"Techno usually wakes early, but I guess it's different with you. He's grown fond of you too", Phil said.

"Yeah, I see", Tommy said as he laid back comfortably and closed his eyes, sleep taking him again.

It has been a month since Tommy reunited with Puffy. He'd also gotten slightly closer to cracking the mystery that his brother was. Clay really liked to just disappear. Every time Tommy thought he had finally gotten close to solving the mystery behind his brother, he found himself in a dead end. Yet, he still continued to hunt down clues.

This night was no difference. The warm wind of spring blew in his face as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop in the early hours of 1am. The small nation of L'Manberg was a place that the seasons didn't rule. Winter could be really cold, but it could be completely snow free at some point, then suddenly you could wake up to metres of snow on your porch.

It was the start of spring, and to Tommy's luck it was a quite warm day. Not the usual still cold that would last until mid-March. This time even the season's minimal control over the nation seemed to favour him and his quest. He stopped on a rooftop that was in no way important to him. Just to take a breath.

*THUD*

'What the-?' Tommy questioned.

Something below him fell and made a loud noise. Tommy looked around, but saw no-one rushing to the source of the noise.

'Not this again...', he thought as he carefully lept down from the tall building.

"Fuck...", he heard a feminine voice say.

Tommy heard some shuffling and decided to speak up.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" he asked.

The shuffling stopped immediately.

Tommy stepped forward towards where he heard the noise before it stopped.

"Oleander?" he muttered.

"S-Step away! O-Or I'll k-kill you!" she threatened through gritted teeth. Even Tommy could tell she was in pain.

"I wanna help. I can tell you're in pain", Tommy tried.

"I-I said step a-away!" Oleander said again.

"Calm down. I wanna help", Tommy said, as he now realised why the villain was so familiar. "I know it's you Niki. Let me help", he tried.

It seemed to have worked, because she looked a bit more relaxed.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I recognised you. I have a quite good facial memory", Tommy replied. "Let me help. I won't report you, I swear."

The blonde-pinkette seemed to think about it. She tried to sit up better but ended up wincing and having to go back to how she was.

"Alright", she said.

"Great", Tommy said as he stepped closer. "Where's the wound?" he asked.

"My side. Here", She said as she lifted her arm that was covering a quite serious open wound that seemed to have been made with a sword. A really sharp one.