•~~•
It was nice, having the blindfolds off for once...
It was one of the rare times he wasn't in the lab.
One of the rare times they were allowed to roam around some of the hallways- or, rather, one of the times they'd sneak around the halls to the best of their abilities.
One of the rare times they were able to laugh and be happy....
"Tommy, wake up you jerk, you were supposed to be the hype man!" Tubbo nudged him as he laid down on their sleeping mat.
"I'm tired Tubs," He whined, lightly shoving Tubbo away so he could get comfortable. "We can finish playing when I finish napping, alright?"
Tubbo groaned dramatically, flopping beside him, intentionally letting one of his arms hit him in the face. "Fiiiinnnnnnneee, we'll let you sleep. But you better wake up to play later!"
Tommy snorted and lightly smacked him back, rolling on his side as he waved him off. "Alright, alright.. Just lemme sleep man, jeez."
"Right then," Tubbo stood up, walking over to Mark and Alexa. "Let's leave the baby alone so he can sleep." He teased, earning a mumbled 'fuck off asshole' and being flipped off. This only made them all giggle.
He was slow to get comfortable, but quick to lose consciousness.
If only he was able to stay asleep...
He woke up to screaming.
Ear piercing screaming, that sounded as if whoever it was, was getting torn apart.
He reached his hands up to cover his ears, to find some sort of sanctuary from the loud noise echoing around the room.
He barely moved his arms when a blinding pain shot through his entire body.
He screamed, but it was choked. Drowned out by the other screams.
It was then he noticed something.
The screaming......
It was coming from him...
And then he could feel it.
The pain was emitting from his back.
And when he was able to just barely open his eyes, he understood why.
His wings, his beloved brown to gold faded wings...
They were falling off.
•~~•
Tommy sat up quickly, his chest heaving, his hand gripped in his shirt as he frantically looked around the room. He was in his room, in the apartment he shared with some of the most important people in his life. He was safe. He was out of that damned laboratory.
He was home.
He ran a hand through his hair, his other hand still gripped on his shirt where his heart was. He tried to regulate his breathing, taking in deep, shuddering breaths and holding it for a few seconds before letting it out.
This wasn't the first time he's had this nightmare.
No, not a nightmare.
This was a memory.
A memory he so desperately wished with all his heart and begged every god out there, to let him forget so he could move on.
Oh gods, he hadn't been screaming in his sleep again, had he? They would get another noise complaint, and he didn't feel like having to speak with the neighbors again. That would be awkward as fuck.
He sighed once he got his breathing back under control, he hung his head down, bringing the hand that was in his hair down over to cover his face. He kept it there for a few seconds, sighing again before looking over to the clock on his bedside table.
6:54 am, Wednesday
He stared at the numbers for a second, his mind still being a bit fuzzy as he tried to process the numbers properly. It took a minute, but he soon realized that he and Alexa didn't have to go in until around seven thirty today, something about starting a little later today for some reason. He'd have to ask Siren.
And with that thought in mind, he got up out of bed and began to get ready for the day.
ℂ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ℂ
8:46 am, Wednesday
Tommy did his normal rounds of passing out coffee to everyone, once again saving Blade and Siren's coffee for last. It's still incredibly illegal to be that terrifying as a hero in his right opinion. And with Blade's coffee delivered, it was time to head to Siren's office.
In the past couple of weeks, Tommy has been going to Siren's office more and more often to do his work. It did not matter if Siren asked for him or not, because he'd find himself grabbing the work he had to do that day and take it with him to Siren's office to complete it anyway. Most of the time they would sit in silence, only a few jokes or words muttered to each other or themselves. It was a comfortable silence neither of them felt like breaking.
"So, Thomas," Siren started, still looking down at the papers on his desk. "I have a question for you."
Thomas glanced up from his work over to Siren, raising a curious brow at him before looking back at his work. "And what exactly would that be, Siren?"
"What do you think my hobbies are?" Siren said, turning his head to look at the intern with a smirk on his face.
"What the fuck kind of question is that?"
"A serious one." Siren said, his smirk growing wider as Thomas looked at him incredulously.
Siren adjusted his wings as he watched Tommy stumble to think of something, giggling as he would trip over his words. In all honesty, Siren thought it was pretty obvious. He had a bunch of old records and band posters up on the walls of his office, maybe Thomas was just not that observant.
"Uh-" Tommy started, stumbling to think of something, anything to say. "Reading? Drawing? Writing? You look like the type that likes to write."
Siren just laughed, Thomas's wings buzzed anxiously and his face began to warm up. It wasn't that funny, but he started chuckling along with Siren after a few moments.
"You're such a dickhead Siren, Gods.." Tommy chuckled, shaking his head.
Siren fell into a small fit of giggles as tried to calm down. He tilted his head to the side as inspected Thomas. He's not afraid to admit he's gotten attached to the young intern, he reminded him of a little brother in a way. It's almost been two months, and there hasn't been anything he could sense about Thomas that made him untrustworthy.
"Firstly, you weren't too far when you said writing," Siren started, standing and walking around the desk to the guitar stand on the other side of the filing cabinet. He picked up the guitar and walked back to his seat. Tommy just watched as he walked back to his chair, tilting his head to the side.
"You play music?" He asked with a raised brow, Siren just smirked at him.
"I've written a few songs in my day." Siren responded, watching as Thomas's face lit up, his wings buzzing under the blazer he was wearing.
"Siren, that's so cool!"
"Wilbur."
Tommy fell silent for a moment, blinking a few times at the hero "... Pardon?"
"Wilbur. You can call me Wilbur. Siren sounds too formal." Wilbur answered with a shrug, as if it was the most obvious thing, watching as Thomas's face twisted with confusion.
"So.. are you-... What the fuck is that supposed to mean??"
"It means, you can use my name when we're in the office, Thomas." Wilbur answered, starting to fall into a fit of giggles as Tommy tried to understand what the fuck just happened.
"What- no! I'm not going to call you Wilbur!"
"Yes, you are." Wilbur responded smugly through his giggles.
"No, I'm not."
"Yeah you will."
"I'm not going to."
"Sure you will."
"No I'm not!"
There was a beat of silence, the both of them just looking at each. A staring contest of sorts, to determine what Tommy was going to address him by. Wilbur only smirked wider the longer it lasted. But after a few moments, he shrugged, leaning back in his office chair.
"Alright," Wilbur said, reaching his hands up over his head to stretch. "Whatever you say~"
"Thank you S-"
"Tomathy."
"SIREN YOU DICKHEAD!" Tommy screeched, yelling out a series of curses and jumbled words at him, Wilbur laughing along the whole time.
ℂ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ℂ
4:03 pm, Wednesday
Thomas and Wilbur had bickered for half an hour on what nickname they would give each other, but they eventually just stuck with Wilbur and Tommy. We do not speak of the other ones they considered, we just- don't.
After a while they both fell back into that comfortable silence, neither of them saying anything, and neither of them really needing to. Although it wasn't truly silent, with the steady strum of Wilbur's guitar as he played a random riff he had in his head.
Tommy had to temporarily leave to get his work laptop at some point, there were a few work emails and stuff he had to get through. So now, he had his laptop to work from and Wilbur was still going through other important documents, probably case files or something. Stuff Tommy still wasn't allowed to work with yet. Not that he cared. It would be nice to know who to look for if there was any villain activity, just so he and the others could help. But otherwise, he didn't care much if he wasn't informed on anything just yet.
Though there was something that was unsettled in Tommy's stomach, like something was nagging at him. Poking and pushing at him to speak. To talk to Wilbur. To tell him of equal importance to knowing the top Hero's name. And so, without even thinking about what he'd say, he spoke.
"Y'know," He started, staring at his laptop's screen in a trance-like state, his hands freezing over his keyboard. "I.. I used to have feathered wings..."
That alone was enough to catch Wilbur's attention immediately. He froze, his pen stopping mid sentence as he slowly turned his head to Tommy, a look of confusion on his face. "You... what do you mean you used to?" There was a noticeable tone of concern in his voice as he spoke, a tone that Tommy caught right away.
Tommy, who hadn't meant to let that slip, snapped back to reality. Blinking a few times, he shook his head. "Uh- it's... Nevermind, it- just, pretend I didn't say anything."
"Tommy," Wilbur tried, turning his chair to face him better, his work and whatever he was writing long forgotten upon hearing his employee speak. "Tommy... what happened to your wings?"
Tommy didn't move, he didn't look up from his laptop. He couldn't, if he did he'd tell Wilbur everything. Tell him what happened after the death of his parents in the wake of Schlatt's arrest, how he and his friends got kidnapped from the orphanage, how they were... changed... How he lost his wings....
"Tommy..?" There was a hand on his shoulder, it was gentle, just as gentle as the voice that came along with it. And Tommy flinched, he involuntarily tensed up his shoulders, which is why the gentleness startled him even more. Tommy took a quick glance in Wilbur's direction, and he regretted it. The look on Wilbur's face, the concern and worry etched onto his expression, the way his eyes seemed glazed over with unshed tears.
That alone was enough to make Tommy tear up himself. He clenched his hands into fists, keeping them hovering over the keyboard for a few moments, and eventually, let out a sigh. Closing the top to the laptop, he rested his hands on it for a few minutes, just trying to think of how he'd explain this to Wilbur. As much as he wanted to tell him about his troubled childhood, he was afraid he would slip up and say something he shouldn't have, let something about his nightly activities slip. And he wasn't prepared to deal with that, and he hoped he would never have to.
But either way, Wilbur was expecting an answer. Besides, it's only fair that he tells Wil something about himself since he told him his name, and Tommy also brought it up anyways. Albeit accidentally, but he might as well talk about it since it's been bothering him since this morning.
"Well.." Tommy started, and as much as he hated it, he had to lie to Wil. He couldn't- wouldn't tell him about the labs, he didn't technically need to either, but still.
"Like I said, I used to have feathered wings..." He set his laptop aside, going to turn his own chair to face Wilbur better, Wilbur just staying quiet and listening.
"They were fluffy and really soft at the time, I guess since I was still really little.. They were brown-ish, they faded to a pretty golden color at the very tips..." Tommy gave the best description he could as that particular memory is a bit fuzzy, and he was already getting choked up about it. "They were really warm too, all the fuzzy feathers helped me keep warm without really needing a jacket..."
"But.. um... around a certain age, I don't remember how old I was but.. my bee Gene became more powerful than my Elytrain and they, just sort of...." He had brought a hand up to cover his face midway through his sentence.
"Changed.... Went away and.. made room for these," He said whilst making his wings buzz from under the jumper.
He stopped there, he had to. He couldn't bring himself to tell Wilbur of how much pain he was in, how that was the worst two weeks of his life, how he could barely move without an overwhelming amount of pain would surge through his entire body. He couldn't bring himself to say anything more.
"Oh, Tommy.." There was a noticeable crack in Wilbur's voice, and a wavering that Tommy couldn't ignore. He couldn't bring himself to look up, he already knew Wilbur was most likely crying based on hearing his voice alone. He was on the verge of crying himself, but he didn't want to cry in front of the top ranking Hero, a Hero of whom just so happens to be his clingy ass boss.
Before Tommy could even say anything else, he was being pulled into a comforting, yet firm embrace. Wilbur held onto him in such a protective manner, like he'd fight the world to protect him. Wilbur knew how much fledglings and chicks adored their wings, knew how they meant to them. To have them just- disappear, and come back as bee wings so young, that must have been terrifying.
Wilbur got an idea after a while. Gently letting go of Tommy, he started moving around the room, gathering pillows off the couch he had in his office and throwing them on the floor. Tommy just watched him scrounge around for more than just the little decoration blanket that was on the back of the couch. WhenWhen he couldn't find any, he cursed to himself and ran over to the door. Wilbur said something about finding more blankets before running out of the office, leaving a confused, and now cold, Tommy sitting by himself.
He turned to look out of the window, out at the beautiful blue sky. The sky he would never be able to fly in again, the sky he could barely even get closer to thanks to these damned wings. He sighed, his wings buzzing as he thought. And then something hit him.
He would never be able to soar up in the sky, amongst the fluffy white clouds, with Alexa, or even Wilbur and Zephyrus.
That... that hit him a lot harder than he anticipated. Sure, not being able to fly more than four or five feet off the ground was something he'd accepted a long time ago, especially when Alexa was learning to use her wings again. But, there was something about thinking about it, really thinking about it now that he's older, that just... it was a lot more painful of a thought then he'd like to admit.
Tommy was so deep in his thoughts he barely noticed Wilbur coming back in the room, about four or five blankets in his arms that he took straight to the corner next to the window where all the pillows and couch cushions are. Wilbur's chestnut curls were practically sticking to his face because of the static electricity from the blankets. Enough electricity had built up that when Wilbur reached for the metal frame of the bookshelf to steady himself, the pop and crackle of electricity was audible through the whole room.
"Fuck!" He shouted in a whisper, yanking his hand back from the bookshelf. Tommy glanced over at Wil, giggling as he watched the man stumble to catch his balance after tripping on a throw pillow. "Oh shut it you little gremlin."
Tommy just shook his head at the nickname, rolling his eyes a bit. "Wil," he started once his eyes landed on the pile in the corner. "What's all that for?"
Wilbur just looks at him with a little smirk, standing up straight and placing his hands on his hips. "I made a little nest for you, Tommy." He says, a genuine smile replacing the small smirk, looking very proud of himself as he spoke.
Tommy froze at his words, disbelief falling over his face as he looked back down at the pile of blankets which, now that he was looking at it, it is in fact set up to look like a nest. Before he could even process anything Wilbur walked over to him, gently grabbed him by the arm, and walked back over to the nest. Tommy's wings buzzed a little, a choked up chirp escaping his throat as he tried to think of what to say.
"Wilbur, I-" He was speechless, the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes threatening to spill over. Wilbur just smiled at him, leaning down to adjust a few pillows and blankets.
"What are you just standing there for? I made it for you to sit in it, you little shit." Wilbur teased, earning a flat stare from Tommy.
Tommy just rolled his eyes and went to sit in the nest, climbing in and getting into a comfortable position. He leaned his head against the window, looking out over the city with a somber look in his eyes. Wilbur walked over to his desk and grabbed Tommy's laptop, taking it over to him so he could continue his work while he sat in the nest. After handing it to him Wilbur went to walk back to his desk, but was stopped by a gentle hand grabbing his wrist. Confused, he looked down to see Tommy holding him by the wrist, looking down by his feet as he spoke.
"You owe me a hug for leaving so quickly earlier, asshole..."
Wilbur was taken aback, but he smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. "Tommy, are you asking me to sit with you?"
"Shut up and sit down, you massive dickhead." He said in a sort of growl, Wilbur throwing his head back in laughter. He agreed after he calmed down from his laughing fit, walking to get his papers and a clip board quickly before going back to sit with Tommy.
Not much else was said after that. There was the occasional name calling and assorted bird noises as well, but they just went right back to their comfortable silence. At some point, Wilbur stretched out one of his wings and draped it over Tommy's shoulders, neither of them said anything about it, the only acknowledgement that it happened was Tommy leaning into it.
ℂ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ℂ
6:40 pm, Wednesday (an hour and some change before Tommy and Alexa usually clock out)
At some point, Zephyrus walked in and saw what Siren had done with all the blankets he saw him grab and take off with earlier. The man could barely catch his breath, he was laughing so hard. And of course, the teasing they endured after was met with harsh language and asking- threatening?- To not tell anyone from Tommy. But he made no move to get out from under Siren's wing either, so he was contradicting himself very well.
It was starting to get dark out, and that fact Tommy hated the most. He loved watching the sunset, all the beautiful oranges, reds, pinks, blue's and purples mixing around the sky. It was quite pretty to watch. Although sunrises were his favorite. But regardless, it was getting around the time Tommy and Alexa clock out for the day to go home.
As much as he hated to admit it, and he would never do so out loud, but he was comfortable here. At some point, he had rested his head against Siren's shoulder, once again the only acknowledgement of the action was Wilbur scooting a bit closer so Tommy could be comfortable.
It was a nice moment. But for some reason, and neither of them would express it, they both felt as if this was the calm before the storm.
The soft waves before the rough waters that tossed about the unknowing ship.
And, unfortunately it was.
6:55 pm, Wednesday
Tommy and Wilbur were making small talk and joking about something, but as they were going to walk out of the office, that is when they felt it. Somewhere out in the city, a slight rumble in the ground, followed by the distant sound of an explosion.
BOOM
They both instinctively ducked and covered their heads at the sound, the proximity of the explosion was enough to shake their bones. After a moment of silence they looked up, staring at each other for a beat before running over to the window to see the chaos, but before they could properly see what was going on-
"SIREN!" The Blade called out as he busted into the office, his bore mask slightly asscue on his face and his cape fluttering behind him. "There's been an explosion on Snowchester Avenue."
"I know, we felt it up here as well. Do we know where the explosion came from in Snowchester?"
"Some people on the lower floors say it was somewhere around two apartment buildings that are pretty close together."
"Alright, take Nihaachu and Royalty to scout the perimeter. See if the person that set off the explosions is still hanging around. I'll take Awesamdude, Timescape, Jester and Zephyrus to search the buildings for any people and get them out of there." Blade nodded once Siren had finished speaking, running back out to find the other two Heroes. With a sigh, Siren turned to Thomas.
"I'm sorry Tommy, I have to go."
"I know. Don't worry about it, you go do your thing big man." Tommy said, flashing a small grin. To this Siren nodded, and went to grab something from his desk.
As Siren was power walking out of his office, he paused and turned back to his companion. "You and Alex get home, inform your roommates that it'd be best to stay inside, or get home quickly so you all can stay safe. Alright?"
Thomas scoffed, rolling his eyes at the older male. "Whatever you prick. You be careful, or whatever."
"Pff, I'll try my hardest you fucking gremlin." And with that, Siren is out the door. Tommy's smile drops as he hears Siren's footsteps fade and disappear down the hall, his shoulders slumping as a sigh escapes him. The way Siren had told him and all of his roommates, his family -although he'd never say it out loud- to stay inside and stay safe. The care in his voice.
"Fffuck.." He mumbled to himself as he grabbed his stuff and headed on his way to get Alexa from the labs. He hated lying to Siren, hated lying to Wilbur. Tommy just- hated lying. And the fact that he's going against what Siren had said, the fact that he knew he was going to help with the fire as Theseus regardless of what he said-
No, this was no time to contemplate helping people, especially not because of a Hero that's been chasing him for the past year almost. He can care about his well-being another time, right now he needs to-
BOOM
Another explosion goes off, and it was followed by many more, smaller sounding explosions this time. That's not good, he needs to hurry.
Once he makes it to the labs, Alexa is already waiting for him. She had originally planned on finding a spot safe from the cameras in the office to teleport them back home to get their costumes, but Timecape has said it would be better to leave the building first so no one gets suspicious as to why the two of them just disappeared. So instead, they clocked out for the day, said their goodbyes to everyone and left the building.
Once they were far enough from the front of the tower, they booked it for an alley. Once they found an empty one far enough away from the tower and the onslaught of mini explosions; Alexa used the combination of her Merling and Enderian to create a portal home. They stepped through quickly, Alexa closing it behind them immediately after their both through. And from there it's a race to get their costumes on and get back to the 6th district.
~~~~~~
7:15 pm, Wednesday
It didn't take them long to get ready and get back to that 7th district alleyway. Tubbo and Mark were getting wounds checked up by a friend of theirs from the Underground, a fight with some drug dealers had gone wrong yet again. Thankfully they weren't too hurt, just a little bruised is all. But that meant they weren't going to be able to help Theseus and Nightcrawler, so the both of them had to be really careful.
Once they got there, it was complete fucking chaos. People were screaming, there were crying kids, fire was everywhere and-
BOOM
Theseus and Nightcrawler ducked and covered their ears, recoiling at the loud sound and nearly falling over as the ground shook with it's intensity. They ran closer to the source of the explosions, jumping up on one of two apartment buildings' roof, only to be met with a dangerous sounding growl and mess of pink hair. But for once, it wasn't Blade.
But oh how they wish it was.
But instead of the neatly braided pink hair of the Blade, they were met with shoulder length reddish-pink hair half pulled back into a messy bun, pale skin with black marks along his upper cheek bone and bottom jawline, their glowing purple and black chest rising and falling slowly with each breath he took. His ears twitched in annoyance as the two vigilantes stared back at him, the blue cuff earrings jingling slightly. Their eyes were pure white, but the anger and white hot rage was clear enough to tell. Their tail looked as if it was made from black bones that were being held together purely by magic.
Speaking of his tail. The very end of it seemed to spread out, looking almost as if it had bloomed open like a flower.
"You two shouldn't be up here, it's dangerous for children to be playing dress up." They growled, the purple and black glowing in their chest becoming brighter.
Theseus, although terrified of this- whoever this was appearance, was still ever so slightly upset at being called a child, snapped back. "We aren't fucking kids! We're here to stop you from blowing up anymore-"
Before Theseus could even finish, the man began to laugh. His head was thrown back as he belted out loud, mocking laughter, a clawed hand coming up to cover his eyes and forehead.
"You can't be fucking serious!" He managed between laughs, the two vigilantes glancing at each other with worry. "You can't be the ones that asshat was talking about?!"
He took a step towards them, causing both of them to reflexively take a quick step back and placed their hands on their weapons. The man only laughed harder at their reaction. As he walked towards them, Nightcrawler noticed that the roof under their feet seemed to be withering away. Concrete and gravel turning to ash as he stepped forwards.
"You-" He wheezed, trying to get a handle on his laughter. "You two are Theseus and Nightcrawler? You've got to be pulling my tail!" He pointed an accusatory finger at them both as he said their names, both vigilantes becoming more tense the longer he spoke.
"The infamous Theseus and Nightcrawler, nothing but children in masks!" He managed as his laughter finally died down to nothing but deranged sounding giggles. As he moved his arms around, the chains that seem to be stuck to his wrists jiggle around. There was something written on the shackles, something that caught Nightcrawler's attention.
Embedded in the shackles, a single word written in a language long forgotten by the world, a language that could be written but not so easily spoken. A language she was able to understand, and that made her blood run cold.
⍙⟟⏁⊑⟒⍀
Nightcrawler tore her gaze away from the shackles, looking back up to the man's face. Those markings.. something clicked in her head, and she reached out to Theseus, trying to grab his attention as the man continued.
"That bastard sent me after a couple of kids," He said, his head hanging as he chuckled and raised his hands.
"Theseus.." Nightcrawler tried, placing her hand on his shoulder and shaking it, but he was too busy figuring out for himself what the symbols on the shackles meant.
In each of the man's hands, two balls of black and purple energy began to form into what looked to be skulls...
"H-hey there boss man," Theseus started, a hint of a nervous laugh caught in the back of his throat as a wave of bravery overtook him. "Why don't you at least tell us what to call ya when we put you behind bars?"
The man once again let out a loud, mocking laugh at the vigilante's words.
"Call me Error," he started, the one skull in each hand splitting into three separate skulls, each of the six now pulsating with black and purple energy. "Let that be the last thing you remember before you die." He growled, raising his hand as if to throw all three skulls at Theseus and Nightcrawler.
Withers, creatures of mass destruction and death, said to be able to level mountains and reduce the tallest redwood trees to nothing but ashes. It was said that their kind had been eradicated by L'manburg's founders, something about their tempers being unpredictable and their taste for destruction being unmatched. Even with more docile Genes with Hybrids or Triple Hybrids, nothing seemed to be able to calm them when they went on rampages of anger. So they got rid of them all.
Or so they thought...
Thankfully, right before Error could throw any of the skulls, a familiar whip wrapped around his wrist and pulled him back, almost making him fall off the roof. The skulls disappeared as he fell back, a primal sounding growl leaving his throat as he looked down to see Siren with his whip in hand. The moment Siren made eye contact with Error, saw the markings on his face, he froze. The last Wither had disappeared almost forty years ago, there was no way for him to even be seeing him right now!
Blade came up and grabbed Theseus and Nightcrawler, dragging them off the roof and taking them both down to the street below. They both tried to struggle out of his grip, but it wasn't any use, he was much stronger than the both of them.
"What do you two think you're doing here?" Blade asks, as if putting the blame of the explosions on them.
"We heard the explosions and came over here to help." Nightcrawler explains, what little of Blade's face she could see shift into what could have been understanding. Nightcrawler would have said more, but from the corner of her eye she could see a support beam about to fall on top of an older looking woman. And without thinking, she teleported to her, grabbed onto her shoulders, and teleported away before the roof caved in on the woman.
After making sure she was alright, Nightcrawler went back over to where Blade was still holding Theseus. Night tried her best not to, somehow, make eye contact. Instead looking at Theseus as she walked over to them.
"Sorry 'bout that.." She apologized, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.
Blade seemed to contemplate something as he looked between the two vigilantes, mulling over his option in his head as Timescape called for his help. His grip on Theseus' arm tightened for a few seconds before he let him go completely. Both vigilantes were confused by his actions, but neither could question as Blade pulled his sword from his sheath.
"I am going to let you two help," He started, holding his sword up to vaguely point at them. "Just. This. Once. Do I make myself clear?" He stated sternly, the tone to his voice leaving nor room for discussion.
They both nodded, muttering a 'yes sir' as he told them to help Awesamdude, Royalty and Jester help make sure civilians are safe and to help evacuate buildings while he ran off to help Siren, Timescape and Zephyrus.
And that's what they did. They both helped get people out of the surrounding buildings that were falling apart, getting them down to the street where they would be safe.
Everything seemed to be going fine.
But that didn't last for too long, as more, loud explosions went off.
8:00 pm, Wednesday
It was a disaster zone, smoke and embers flew through the air, the smell of burning bodies along with it. Chaos was the only thing to describe Snowchester Avenue, the entirety of two apartment buildings that were next to each other in pure shambles. One was leaning on the other, as if it was using it as support before it completely toppled over. But both were encased in flames.
Theseus and Nightcrawler stood on the rooftop right next to the burning buildings, both in pure shock. They.. they were just on those rooftops. Everything was just fine, What the fuck just happened!?!
But then they remembered... That Wither Pure Blood... Siren, Blade and Timescape we're fighting him for a while..
Siren, Blade and Timescape we're fighting the Wither.
Oh shit-
Oh shit!
Theseus ran to the building, clear determination within every bounding step he took. But before he could make it more than six feet from the building, a layer of pitch black blocked his vision, bringing him to an abrupt stop.
"What the fuck-" Confused, he looked to his right and saw Zephyrus, one of the man's obsidian wings stretched out to stop him from running into the burning buildings.
"I can't let you go in there mate," Zephyrus said, a slightly regretful look on his face. "The building's structure is unstable, it would be too dangerous to go inside."
No.. No, he can't just- leave them in there! Blade, Timescape and Siren are in there, and there could be so many more that survived the explosion! He can't just sit by and watch them burn, can't just leave them there to die. That goes against everything he's ever believed and he is not abandoning his morals now. Not fucking ever.
Theseus' brows knitted together, slightly glaring at the older man as he spoke. "It's a good thing I have authority issues then."
And with those words, he disappeared in a haze of purple particles and a red blur. Zephyrus let out a startled squawk as he whirled around to see Theseus disappear into the flames.
"Fuck!"
"THESEUS!" Nightcrawler yelled, going to run after her partner, only to be stopped by both Zephyrus and Awesamdude. She desperately tried to get past them, but they wouldn't let her. At some point she let out a growl sounding noise that surprised even herself.
"Nightcrawler! Listen," Awesamdude started, grabbing her by the shoulders and making her look up at him. "I can go and help him, but I need you to stay here and watch over the kids that we pulled from the other buildings. Can you do that for me?"
She tensed at his words, eyes flicking from the burning buildings to Hero in front of her. That was her partner in there, her friend, her roommate, her brother. And in front of her, was a Hero, albeit one that she's gotten attached to. But the trust she had from, was for the man she knew in the weapons lab, who had said he was proud of her work and who helped her repair weapons. That was the man she trusted. She was still trying to figure out how she felt about the Hero that stood in front of her. But someone needed to help that idiot, and they weren't going to let her into the buildings, so she has no choice but to put her trust in a Hero she hoped would let them get out of here once this was all over.
"Y-yeah.. I can do that.." She says with hesitance, hands shaking slightly. Gods, she hopes this is the right decision. "Just... Just make sure he gets out alright.. please.."
And with that, both Heroes ran in after the vigilante, leaving Night to take care of the children pulled from more crumbling buildings that had been separated from their parents. Jester had to be sent to the hospital due to second degree burns to his forearms and side, courtesy of the Wither, Royalty decided to go with him. But luckily for Night, this was the perfect time to show off something she hasn't done in a long time. With no Heroes around, she made her wings visible to the kids.
She stretched her wings around the small group of kids, the speckled pattern on her wings beginning to glow and shimmer. It's been a while since she used her glow squid subset of Merling, but it was nice to finally use it for something again. Deciding to take off her goggles and set them off to the side, as well as pulling her mask off some as she talked and joked with them, making silly faces and such. Night loves helping them calm down, but internally she was still incredibly worried about Theseus, she really hopes that idiot will be alright....
~~~~~~~~~
8:20 pm, Wednesday
The flames licked at Theseus' suit and what little of his face was visible. The heat engulfing the building was enough to be life threatening. This was Theseus' only motivation to get through the flames quicker. As he got closer to where he last saw Blade fighting Error, he heard sounds of an ongoing fight, albeit a fight that was dying due to the heat. Once he turned a corner he saw that it was Error who was losing this battle.
Error looked just about as bad as Blade did, although he somehow managed to be worse. The glowing in the Pure Blood's chest has stopped, and now his eyes were black and purple instead of the pure white Theseus had seen earlier. Error was clutching his side, his teeth bared in a growl. Blade was barring his own teeth, the small tusks on his bottom jaw seeming to have gotten long since the last Theseus saw him.
"Theseus!" Timescape shouted over the flames, catching all of their attention. Error, upon seeing him, growled loudly, sounding almost primal as he went to lunge at the vigilante. Theseus tensed as the Wither jumped, but the impact never came. Blade had grabbed Error by the ankles as he was in the air, yanking him back and tossing him through the nearest wall.
Blade turned back to Theseus quickly, pointing in -what he assumed- was the direction of where Timescape and Siren were. "Go get them out of here! I'll handle this guy." He commanded, the tone of his voice enough to make Theseus straighten his stance. Nodding, he ran through the flames to where he heard coughing.
When he got there he found Timescape was beat up pretty bad and Siren-
Siren had a large gash from his bicep to his forearm, and he seemed to be unconscious, but still breathing. Thankfully he had healing potions on him, as per request of a particularly upset alchemist. And so he began helping the Hero, while in the background, Error and Blade continued to go at it.
Blade had lost his sword at some point during their fight, the weapon had fallen to the ground and disappeared into the flames. So he'd decided to go for a different approach, close quarters combat.
As experienced as Blade is in mele, it was hand-to-hand combat that he was just as good at, if not a bit better. So it was extremely easy to keep this Wither busy while Theseus helped Timescape and Siren out of here, it wouldn't be too long till the roof came down on their heads. Blade could handle the heat and be able to withstand the weight of the building on his shoulders, it wouldn't be the first time, but it was Siren, Timescape and now Theseus that he was- he was, admittedly worried for.
Once Error had gotten up he let out another loud growl, his fangs bared as he managed to summon a few small skulls in his hands. "You're gonna fuckin' regret that."
"Eh, that's what they all say." Blade deadpanned, monotone voice holding the smallest hint of cockiness.
And with that they lunged at each other, fists and claws flying as they went at each other. Blade was able to easily dodge the others claws, although he wasn't able to stay completely unscathed, there were still cuts littered across his arms and some areas of his chest. In the background he could hear Zephyrus and Awesamdude helping Theseus and Timescape out, Theseus shouting something to all of them about teleporting, and before he knew it, the place was completely quiet.
It was just him and this beast now. It's a good thing he was as self confident as he was, otherwise he didn't think he'd stand a chance against a species that was supposed to have been eradicated almost forty years ago. Oh yeah, this was definitely something he could handle.
But then again, there were always the rare few times he was wrong, or miscalculated something. And unfortunately this was one of those times. While his thoughts were elsewhere, Error had managed to land a hit with his tail, the pointed and sharp end digging into his shoulder.
Blade grunted in pain at this, not wanting to give the bastard the satisfaction of knowing just how much pain he was in. Luckily for him, this gave Blade the opening to whirl around, yank the tail out of his shoulder and use Error's tail against him, throwing him to the ground as harshly as he could. And just like that, he successfully knocked them out, taking a moment to catch his breath before running back out of the building as the ceiling began to collapse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8:47 pm, Wednesday
On the outside, once Theseus had gotten them all out of there, he collapsed to the ground, coughing and hacking to try and get the smell of smoke and burning bodies out of his lungs. His mask was built to filter out toxins in the air, things like sleeping gas and what not, it wasn't made to filter out smoke.
Zephyrus kneeled down and placed his hand on Theseus' shoulder. He was trying to say something to him, Theseus could tell that much, but he could barely hear him over the sound of him coughing.
"Theseus!" Night exclaimed once she saw him on the ground. She quickly put her mask back on and ran over to her partner, kneeling down beside him and placing a hand on his back. "You fucking idiot." She mumbled to herself as she looked around, she could see a spot between two ambulances that would work for cover, and without thinking about it she teleported both of them to it.
Once alone, Theseus took off his mask and took in a big breath of fresh air. Night looked around both sides of the ambulances, making sure no Heroes were following them yet. After making sure they weren't going to head over here yet, she made her wings visible to hide her partner, hiding him just in case someone came around the corner.
"F-fhuck." Theseus coughed, finally getting control over his breathing again.
"Are you alright?" Night asked, glancing back at him over her shoulder. He nodded back at her, taking a few more deep breaths to steady himself before putting his mask back on. "You are incredibly lucky I'm not going to tell Tubbo about that stunt you just pulled, you dumbass." She scolded, turning to fully face him.
Theseus froze when he saw her, quickly glancing around her to make sure no one was there.
Noticing his actions, she tilted her head in confusion. "What's wrong?" She asked, watching as he put his hands on her shoulders, a tone of urgency to his voice as he spoke.
"Night, where the hell are your goggles?"
Her eyes went wide, a hand brought up to her face where her purple tinted goggles were supposed to be. She looked down at her belt, at all the places she would have put them. And they weren't there.
"Fuck!" She whirled around, looking at where all the kids were. All of their parents must have found them because they were all gone. And on the ground where they had previously been standing, were Nightcrawler's goggles.
With her mind in fuzz she went to run to get them, not even thinking about how her wings were still visible.
And that was her downfall.
Before she could even make it past the open doors of the ambulance, Awesamdude stepped around the corner, getting in the way of Night's sprint and causing her to come to an abrupt stop. Her wings flared out, using the sides of the vehicles to help slow her down, letting out a startled noise as she looked up at the taller Hero. And oh how she regrets that.
As soon as she looks up she makes eye contact with him. Her entire body froze, her wings quickly folding in and becoming invisible again as she continued to stare at him. At first, the Hero was confused by how strangely the vigilante was acting, and he squinted his eyes to help his eyes adjust to the lower light. By the time he could see properly, Night's wings were being folded close to her back and he could see strikingly familiar eyes staring back at him, and something clicked.
He brought up a hand to try and place it on Night's shoulder, but she freaked out and started backing up towards Theseus. She was shaking, purple eyes glued to Sam's black and green. She didn't know what to do, her mind was too clouded with panic to teleport either of them anywhere. But Theseus seemed to understand his companions' panic and placed his hand on her shoulder slowly as he stared the Hero down.
"Wait-" Sam said upon seeing the hand placed on her shoulder, he went to say something more as he stepped forward, but his actions were met with the two vigilantes disappearing in a cloud of purple particles. And he was left with his thoughts.
He took in a breath as the particles dissipated, letting out a sigh as he brought his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He turned around to walk away to check on Siren, but something caught his eye. Something on the ground by where all the kids pulled from the buildings had been, something that was catching the light of the still burning fire and reflecting it. So he walked over to see what it was.
Once he picked it up, he understood what Nightcrawler was in a hurry to get before he got in the way. Her goggles, the purple tinted lenses still reflecting the light of fire about fifteen to twenty feet from where he was standing. He looked at them for a moment, gripping them in his hand as he heard his name being called.
When he turned around, he saw that Blade was beckoning him over to one of the ambulances. He took long strides over to him, stopping once he got to the back of the ambulance.
"Where are Theseus and Nightcrawler?" Blade asked, wincing slightly as his shoulder was being wrapped.
"They um," He gripped the goggles a bit harder, keeping the hand holding them out of Blade's sight. "They teleported away before I could find them. They got away a few moments before you ran out of the building."
There was a beat of silence and the two Heroes just staring at each other, Blade seemed to mull over Sam's answer in his head, debating on whether or not he was telling the truth.
"Alright," He finally responded, nodding to Sam as he glanced at the paramedic patching up his shoulder, causing them to slightly pause their actions and just stare back at him. "Could'ya maybe be a little more gentle?"
"R-right, sorry about that." They said in response and continued their work.
Sam took his leave once Blade didn't say anything more to him, sighing again and looking back down at the goggles. He knew, the moment he saw Night's eyes he knew. And he wasn't going to tell the higher ups, he couldn't bring himself to even consider telling Siren or Blade, or even Dream who Nightcrawler really was. The very thought made a terrible feeling settle in his stomach.
With another sigh, he stuffed the goggles in his pocket. He couldn't think too much about this right now, he'd have to think about it later, talk to a few people he knew. But as of right now, he went back to helping people with injuries until more ambulances showed up, and assisting with calming down the kids that were still around.
Tomorrow was going to be a stressful day.
⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⏃⋏ ⟟⋏⏁⟒⍀⟒⌇⏁⟟⋏☌ ⏁⎍⍀⋏ ⍜⎎ ⟒⎐⟒⋏⏁⌇~
:}
A/n: 8280 words, and I thought the last chapter was long ufgufgewsy
Anyway, nothng to say about this one, just hoped y'all enjoyed :)
Oh yeah, i have a proofreader now, so thats pog :D