A vigilante who heals villains, I guess?

CH23 The Search Begins

"I'm ready to go", Techno walks in fully geared up.
"Of course...", Phil laughs.
"I'll go get ready!" Wilbur runs off to the equipment room.
Phil sighs as he places his hat onto the large table in the middle of the room.
"We'll find him, Dad. Don't worry", Techno tries to reassure him, with not much success.
"We're here too! What happened??" Tubbo asks, a bit panicked as he and Ranboo rush into the room.
"Tommy got taken", Phil answers, glancing towards the two. "He went down alone to investigate so I couldn't see what happened."
"I'm ready!" Wilbur rushes into the room, putting his blindfold mask on. "How do we go about this?"
"Uhm... I have a suggestion...", Ranboo chimes in quietly.
"Go on", Techno urges him.
"I know this sounds far-fetched as we're a group of villains and vigilantes, but we could ask for help from the heroes...! Bad, who's the vice manager of Puffy's Cafe, has a regular on and off job with the heroes as he has restoring abilities that could not be used on field", Ranboo explains. "I think he once mentioned to us that one of his abilities was related to tracking or something."
"Sounds reasonable", Phil answers, holding his chin in thought.
"So this Bad knows Tommy?" Techno asks.
"Yeah! So I'm sure he'd be more than willing to help us! If we just explain properly...", Ranboo says, scratching the back of his head.
"I think we should give it a shot. Us villains could go back to the scene of disappearance and you two vigilantes could go talk to Bad", Wilbur suggests.
"I agree. We'll be most efficient that way. Besides, it'd be hard to explain why a bunch of villains are looking for Tommy without revealing identities", Tubbo agrees.
"Wait, does Bad know about you guys...?" Wilbur asks dumbfounded.
"No, he doesn't, but it's probably less suspicious if a couple vigilantes are looking for Tommy rather than a group of villains", Tubbo explains.
"Ah. True. Makes sense", Wilbur nods as he adjusts his mask nervously.
"Don't worry, we'll find him", Ranboo assures the brunet.
"I know... It's just... A bit unnerving... You know?"
"I get that. I'm nervous too. Tommy and Tubbo are my first, and currently only, friends. I don't like this situation either", the half enderman shakes his head. "But we'll get through this. Together. Cause, you know, two heads are better than one. Or, in our case, a group formed of vigilantes and villains is better than a duo of vigilantes!"
Wilbur laughs a bit at the comparison. "Yeah. I agree with you. Let's get this started then."
"Actually, one thing before we leave", Niki interjects. "I think I should go with Tubbo and Ranboo as a civilian since I work at Heroes HQ as a middle grade manager. Bad is more likely to help us that way if someone from Heroes HQ is involved."
"True, true. That's probably for the best. We don't want to have to face reveal to Bad. That would take too much time", Tubbo agrees. "Well, are we ready to go then?"
"I say we are", Techno says, standing at the exit door.
"Yeah! Let's go save Tommy", Wilbur walks up to Techno, ready to leave.
"We'll leave the heroes to you then", Phil says before swooping out of the base, Techno and Wilbur following after him on foot.
Tubbo sighs. "Let's do this then."

The two groups both head out.
Tubbo and Ranboo as Nuke and Ender with Niki in her civilian clothes slowly approach the café, thinking their plan through once more before Niki steps inside, the other two going to the back of the building to not draw attention.
"Hello. I'm looking for Bad", Niki says as she steps up to the counter, showing her special Heroes HQ manager ID card.
The dirty ginger looks at Niki from behind the counter for a moment before answering. "That would be me. What can I help with?"
"Could we move to the back for this?" Niki asks, glancing behind Bad.
"Of course", the half demon answers, placing the break sign onto the counter before leading Niki to the back. "What's the problem? You guys usually never come to me personally."
"Is that the back door?" Niki points at a door in the very back.
"Yes, it is", Bad answers warily.
"Could you open it for me to let the other two in? Secret stuff", Niki winks.
"Ah, of course", Bad says, expecting two heroes to be standing at the back door but instead finds himself greeted by the sight of two vigilantes.
"Sup bossman", Nuke says nonchalantly as he walks inside, Ender trailing after him.
"Please don't mind them. We come on important business", Niki says. "And Nuke, please mind your manners."
"I had manners!"
"Right...", Niki sighs. "Either way... Bad, we need your help."
"With what? And why is Heroes HQ working together with vigilantes?" Bad questions, all kinds of questions about the situation swirling in his mind.
"Ah, well, you see this... Isn't Heroes HQ working with vigilantes per se, more so me working with vigilantes", Niki explains and sighs. "Listen Bad, the Was Taken family was... Ough... That sounds... Weird... Uhh... The Was Taken family was kidnapped. And we need your help."
"Puffy and her sons?"
"Yeah. Her and her sons, Foolish, Tommy and Dream", Niki says, shifting on her feet.
"Ah... Yeah. Of course. I'll help. What can I do?" Bad takes his apron off, dusting his hands off.
"We need to track them down."

"Is this it?" Siren questions as the three steps up to the abandoned factory building.
"Yeah. It is. Shall we head in?" Crow asks as he puts his hand on the handle of the door.
"Let's go", Blade says, Siren nervously nodding behind the pinket.
They walk inside, walking up to the spot where Avian got hit and then taken, the same trail of blood that Crow saw still there.
"I really hope he's okay...", Siren mutters, looking around the place.
"He's a tough one. Hell be fine", Blade assures the brunet, kneeling down next to the trail of blood. "I'll take a sample. Just to confirm if this really is from him."
"That's smart", Crow agrees. "Though the weird thing is that the trail leads to a wall... It's as if someone dragged him through the wall..."
"Really? Let me see", Blade takes his sample and then walks up to the wall.
In front of him is just a basic concrete wall, the trail of blood seemingly ending perfectly right where the wall is as if something got dragged through the wall.
"Weird...", he notes.
"I know. But what could've done that?" Crow questions.
"Uh... Guys?" Siren calls out to them. "The machinery works..."
"Do we have cams?" Blade asks as he walks up to the computers Siren stands at.
"I think so, let me see", Siren types away on one of the computers, bringing up the security footage of the building.
"They have the old cameras? So they're constantly powering this place... Rewind back a little", Crow walks up to them, examining the footage.
Siren rewinds back to before the incident.
"There. He's entering the room", Blade points at the screen. "What's he examining on the wall?"
"I can't see. It's too dark there...", Siren squints behind his mask.
Avian on the footage suddenly jolts and begins to sprint out of the room, contacting Crow as he tries to run but what seems like a hook hits him and drags him back to the wall.
The trio stares at the screen in bewilderment.
"What the fuck was that?!" Siren exclaims first, glancing towards the suspicious wall.
"Yeah, I think we should get out of here... I'm starting to dislike the feeling of this place", Crow shudders.
"Yeah... Not even I like this place...", Blade agrees.
"Sheesh. That's new for you", Siren shudders.
Blade only gives him a silencing glare as the three villains head out of the building after doing one more round to check that they hadn't missed anything.

"Anything?" Nuke asks the demon for the umpteenth time.
"Could someone transfer Nuke into a separate room? I can't focus like this", the half demon said, opening one eye as he breaks his focus once again.
"Sorry... I'm just... Scared and nervous..."
"Understandable, but please try to stay quiet. Occupy yourself with something. Maybe that'll help", Bad suggests.
"I'll try... Sorry again...", the vigilante apologizes again as he leaves to tinker with his suit in the corner of the room.
They sit there in silence on the floor for the next hour or so before Bad speaks up again.
"I think I might have found something", he says, keeping his eyes closed to maintain as much focus as possible. "Though... It's... How should I put it... Not really pleasing to the eye..."
"Is he at least okay?" Nuke asks, his stance revealing just how worried he is.
"Still alive. But not in the best shape. Sadly I can't tell where exactly the place is, but I can give you an approximation", Bad opens his eyes and walks up to the map on the wall, placing a few pins on the map to circle the area. "He's somewhere here. Unfortunately his captor must've put up some tracker blocker so this is as close as I can pinpoint it."
"That's still good. We at least have an area now", Niki says, sipping her flower tea. "Thank you for the tea, by the way. What kind do you use?"
"I think you two can discuss that once Tommy's safe, no?" Nuke interrupts, already ready to leave and rescue Tommy.
"Right, right, of course. Sorry, I got a little too enthusiastic", Niki apologizes, finishing her tea with one last sip. "Let's go then. Thank you for the help, Bad."
"Of course. Do tell me if you need help with anything else. Is the rest of Dream's help also in on this?"
"No. Would be too dangerous for us", Ender says, wringing his hands nervously. "The extra help would probably be useful, but we can't exactly just walk up to the heroes and ask for help. Even if Niki is with us, they'd still probably demand to take us into custody after it's over."
"Understandable", the dirty blond nods. "Good luck then. I hope you'll find him."
"Yes, thank you Bad. Let's go you two", Niki ushers the two vigilantes out through the back door after taking a picture of the map.
The three head back to the SBI hideout to discuss rescue plans.

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New chapter already? Yes. I had written most of it during the past... However long since the last chapter, I just had to add like one more paragraph's worth. According to all my calculations, this should be my longest chapter so far, tho if I don't change my chapter layout plans any more, the next chapter might be even longer. ¯\°–°/¯

-Your favourite neurodivergent author, Lixxie