A City of Secrets and Masks

-Six- Interlude

"Skeppy, it's not your fault. You don't need to do this." Bad hadn't moved from his spot by the door.

"That's where you're wrong, Bad. I do. If the heroes can't keep people safe, that means it falls on people like me, with strong powers. I can handle myself as a vigilante. I just need your silence and help to heal."

"I- Skeppy, I can't just let you do this!" Bad clenched his fist. "You barely handled yourself against your attacker. I- I won't let you?"

"...I thought I knew you better than this." Skeppy stopped pacing and looked Bad directly in the eyes. Bad looked away.

"Skeppy..."

"No, Bad. I'm doing this- you can't stop me. Call the Guardians on me. I'll just fight them off, too."

"...I- you- Skeppy- Fine."

"...What?"

"Do it. But," Skeppy sighed, but Bad just kept talking. "You need to learn how to fight. You can turn small things into crystal blades, right?"

"Yeah?"

"I can throw knives. I can teach you the basics, to help your fighting skills. And if you do this vigilante stuff, I want to come with."

Skeppy balked. "Bad, no!"

Bad gave a smile. "If you can do it, I should be able to go too. And I can be useful!"

Skeppy's resolve on this issue broke fairly easily. Bad made good points, and Skeppy had already gotten the main thing he wanted. "Fine. You can come along."

And with that, two people decided they were going to be heroes.

----------

Tommy and Tubbo were hyped.

They'd gotten their IDs and schedules. Tommy wasn't very happy with them. 

"What're we, back in school or something?" He read over it again. "We gotta be here from eight to three!"

"Yep." An unknown voice came from behind Tommy. He froze and slowly turned around. Phil stood behind Tommy, a dangerous glint in his eye. "Just like school. And I'll be your teacher."

"I feel like this is going to be bad," Tubbo said.

"Oh, Tubbo," Phil smiled. "You don't know the half of it."

----------

Phil was a great teacher, alright. He'd be amazing for a military school.

The day started with protocol lessons- When to engage when to call for backup, how to work with their team. They got 30 minutes to study the material. Then there was a pop quiz. It would have been fine, but Phil pushed it an extra mile.

Every wrong question was fifty pushups.

After that was true physical training. They went to the Hub's gym and did a workout devised by Phil. Tommy was pretty sure it was a form of torture that Phil put new recruits through to toughen them up. 

Then it was lunchtime. That was its own form of torture. Phil was merciful- He told the boys a trick of the trade. The Sleepy Bois, who Tubbo and Tommy were honorary members of, had lifetime free meals at the local fast food places after they'd saved most of them.

After lunch, more physical training. Specifically, power training. Phil pushed Tubbo to his absolute limit. The boy was swaying on his feet, he'd been worked so hard.

Tommy was also pushed, just in a different way. He was given a portion of Techno's daily training to do. It was easy for the self-proclaimed blood god, but for Tommy?