When she opened her eyes she hadn't expected to face a teenager, in a completely white room no less. The floor was padded and the boy in front of her was a little hunched over on himself, one hand firmly pressed against his rib cage. It was a peculiar sight, he couldn't have been older than sixteen, eighteen at best and even then you'd have to squint with both eyes to make it make sense.
The bare feet padded on the matted ground, a futile attempt from the teen to lunge at her. She ducked and quickly punched him in the ribs again, taking him down with a simple kick and keeping him on the floor with one foot set on top of his chest. Dull-looking blue eyes looked back at her, something so very tired and hurt in his expression. Almost broken. Resigned. It made her frown.
Didn't they say everyone that was to face her had joined their cause out of free will? Shouldn't her opponents look happy about getting to train with her? More energetic? Ecstatic, even?
This wasn't the face of a motivated soldier. This was the face of someone who had potentially seen the darkest sides of Death's realm. Confusing.
She lifted her foot from his chest, instead crouching down and offering him a hand to get up. The boy looked at her with an unreadable expression, eyeing the hand wearily before gripping it tightly and hoisting himself up with her support. He wobbled a little but quickly caught himself on his feet, pulling out of her grip before making a weird hand gesture. The flat hand started with fingertips on the chin. Then it moved down and away from his chin.
A weird expression which had her cock her head and scan over the boy's face once more. They must've gotten to him before, the busted lip, swollen eye and bruising being proof of that. They had always gone hard on new recruits, it was efficient, and they needed to learn after all. And what better way to learn than to give a couple of demonstrations?
Her curiosity was sparked, something in the back of her mind prodding her, outright demanding to talk to the young soldier. It was a weird sensation, almost as if there was a second voice in her head screaming for something entirely different. Now that she actually focused on it there was another voice. How peculiar. She brushed it off, surely that was just a side effect of the mortal body.
"What was that?"
The boy was startled by her sudden talking, that much was clear. He flinched back, wincing slightly at the movement which undeniably hurt his ribs. They were most likely bruised. Or broken, they preferred to have the new recruits a little less strong in the beginning. It'd build up their character to heal from the injuries while training and continuing with the daily routine, XD had said. Who was she to disagree with their sibling? They had always been right, after all.
He hadn't answered yet, just looked at her with a frightened expression, mouth agape before audibly clicking shut again and starting some more weird movements with his hands. They were black. For some reason. Huh.
She almost flinched at the sudden pounding headache she got, though her expression remained the same. No sign of weakness, that's what her sibling had drilled into her. Weakness wasn't something to show to the new recruits, only in the presence of the Egg or XD was she allowed to let down her guard (the weird voice was screaming bloody murder at that).
"What are you doing? The whole gesture thing, I mean," she tried to ask again, watching as frustration spread over the young face.
Why wasn't he talking? Didn't he know that it was rather rude to ignore questions, from higher ranks no less?
The teen sighed, resigned, and then waved her off. He waved her off as if there wasn't an underlying command in her question. The command to explain what the weird hand movements were.
She narrowed his eyes at him.
"Are you deaf?"
A frustrated huff as he shook his head.
"Mute, then?"
He shot her a disbelieving and tired look. And then shook his head again. Who was this soldier to deny her an answer? What people had her sibling picked up and how desperate had they gotten to let such disrespectful people into their ranks?
"Why won't you speak then?" She demanded to know, crossing her arms in front of her chest and levelling him with a glare that promised consequences if he wasn't to speak right this instant.
Instead of talking, however, the boy just huffed and held up his arm for her to view the little wristband. As if that were to answer his question (the voice was getting almost unbearably loud, that loud, in fact, that she couldn't suppress the pained grimace).
"An ability suppressor," she said flatly, "not the answer to my question, soldier."
The teen had the audacity to gawk at her. Seriously, where had XD picked up this man? Could he even be called that? (The voice was yelling and it felt like something was punching the inside of her skull, stupid mortal bodies and their proneness to headaches. This was getting annoying.)
"If you keep refusing to answer XD will hear of this."
"I'm literally not allowed to," the boy finally said and was promptly punished with a shock from the wristband, leaving him crumbling to the ground.
Huh.
Not allowed to speak. That was new. (No it wasn't. They lied to you, let me out-)
A hand found itself on her head and she blinked rapidly to fight against the effects of the pounding headache and the voice throwing a tantrum. Mortal bodies were so weird, truly. They had warned her about something called a thinking voice, something that would make you be able to hear everything you read or think of in your head. It's apparently always at the same level of volume, no matter whether you beckoned it to scream or whisper. And it's always a variation of your own voice. Or rather it should be.
It was weird. This voice seemed to waver in volume and intensity, screeching whenever she beckoned a stronger punch to remind the soldier of his position and to stop being that sloppy. Merely a reminder to protect his uncovered side, a reminder that enemies could easily strike from there. He'd learn from practice to keep that side covered at all times. The voice didn't like that.
And it definitely did not sound like her own voice. It was more...empathetic. Light. And there was an underlying grief in it, something that hardly stuck out from the wave of anger and fury.
Shaking her head the girl quickly signalled the new recruit to get up. They didn't have time for breaks, not when they had been so close to getting the weapon XD and the Egg wanted. Apparently, it only needed a little more shaping before it was finally finished and ready to be used. XD had sounded annoyed during the Egg's speech, muttering something about not wanting it to be near the red abomination when they had talked in private.
It was a little confusing. Their disliking for the red thing. Granted, she wasn't too big of a fan of the Egg either, but it made their goal much easier. Mind control and forcing people into a kind of hive mind is such a neat little feature, especially when trying to take over the world. Sure, a few cities weren't the world just yet, but every god had to start small, no? They couldn't have the Aether, something about Death, Prime and Prosperity being keen on keeping an equal balance amongst the gods. Ridiculous if you were to ask her and her sibling. Some gods were just stronger than others, that's how the universe had intended them to be and they couldn't just beckon it to keep up with their neat little power balance system. No. The Aether needed something new. Something less organised. Something chaotic.
What a shame the other gods disagreed with that.
A quick punch followed by a couple of kicks and the recruit was down, hitting the mat with a pained wince.
"Again."
He lunged first. Again. What a foolish move, you'd think he would've learned not to do that by now, he had yet to gain the strength to fight her head-on. He didn't even last twenty seconds, his back once again hit the mat.
"Again."
The soldier didn't get up.
"I said again," she hissed, letting something otherworldly and dangerous slip into her voice.
It was a pathetic sight. The mortal just shook his head, panting for breaths with a pained expression on his face. There was sweat running from his eyes, mixing with a bit of blood from the busted eyebrow that was steadily running down to his cheek.
No. Wait. Mortals couldn't quite sweat from their eyes. XD had mentioned something about their weird physiology when she had first experience the water leaking from her eyes. What was it that they had called it? Something mortals did when they were sad. Or frustrated. Or tired. Or when they were really young, too small to even walk. Or whenever they felt like it, really. Mortals were confusing and so were the many emotions that came with them.
Crying! That's the word she was looking for.
...why was he crying?
Maybe she should ask him, to get a better understanding of the new recruit. (The voice agreed with her. That was a first. Huh.) But how should she approach this? According to this weird masked mortal they had acquired recently it could be viewed as insensitive to ask why a mortal was crying. He had been crying when they first met for whatever reason and refused to elaborate when she asked why, instead just calling her question insensitive. Which wasn't quite what she expected, but there was no better time to learn more about the mortal's behaviours than now she guessed.
Truly, how her sibling had dealt with these creatures without losing their mind for that long was astonishing to her. So many rules, so much you have to keep track of. Prime be damned for making them that difficult to understand.
Perhaps if she phrased it in a different way it wouldn't be viewed as insensitive.
"Why are your eyes leaking water?"
Nailed it.
The boy visibly spluttered in his movement, disbelief flashing in his eyes before shooting her the by far most confused look she had ever seen during the little time she spent in this realm. Why was he confused, though? It was a very valid question.
Maybe he just didn't understand what she meant, some mortals tend to be slower than others. Slower, because stupid was apparently a rude thing to call someone despite it being true.
"Like, the fluid that's running down your cheek," she tried to explain, gesturing to her own cheeks, "the stuff you guys do when you get sad. Or frustrated. Or for whatever reason."
Look, her understanding of humans wasn't too bad but it wasn't good either. She'd say it was pretty average at this point, but there was just so much to memorise, how to behave properly as to not irritate them, how to show certain emotions to not be viewed as a, quote, cold rock, quote stop.
She still struggled to read facial expressions, there was just so much to keep track of and it was unquestionably annoying to have to look at someone's face to understand what they might want to say. Because, for whatever reason, Prime had decided to let the mortals communicate without speech, showing what they wanted to say rather than just speaking. Or masking their real intention behind a smile, whether that be genuine or fake. It was honestly annoying, having to try and figure out what they wanted to say without words. Prime be damned for adding all that to the mortal trait list, interacting was just so bloody difficult.
His expression right now, however, was something she recognised. Something she had seen many times before on the red-eyed mortals they had gathered in the last couple of weeks. It always came up when she asked a question or when something was said too, what was it they called it, bluntly? Yes, that was it. Something about not coating it to make it sound nicer. Unnecessary if you asked her, why would you disguise a question when you could just ask it head-on? Asking if someone died in a nice way would still give the same result when asked in a less nice and more direct way.
(Holy shit are gods always this constipated?)
She ignored the voice, only blinking twice to focus on the boy again.
The distinct expression of, and once again she was mentally quoting the masked mortal, 'what the fuck', quote stop, showed on his face. It was irritating.
"Why are you crying?" She just asked, done trying to find her way around it sounding too direct or blunt or whatever.
The boy just blinked, his expression morphing into something more neutral before holding up his arm, once again showing her the wristband that had shocked him earlier.
Right, he wasn't allowed to speak.
"You have permission to speak."
"What the fuck," he whispered immediately, eyes locked on her face. There was no shock this time, which was interesting. XD must've added some more enchantments to that bracelet than they had told her. Huh.
"Why are you crying?" She asked again, getting a little tired of this mortal's slower reaction. It was pathetic.
"Why am I- What the fuck happened to you, Drista?" The young recruit rasped out, something akin to betrayal and grief in his voice.
That's not- That wasn't her name. Was it?
Drista.
It-It was familiar. In a way. (Hadn't the masked mortal said the same to her when they first met?)
Drista.
The voice in the back of her head grew louder, a tsunami of unintelligible screaming. Piercing pain right behind her eyes, it felt like her skull was going to explode.
DristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDristaDrista-
What was going on?
LET ME OUT.
.
Look, Tommy was already tired beyond belief. It's been, honestly, he doesn't even know how long it's been ever since they had dragged him back to this place. Too much shit had happened again, stuff that had XD beat him into unconsciousness and stuff that completely drained all the energy he had left.
XD wanted him to kill the bee hybrid, the young girl that had been stuck with him in the training room. Said his suppressor would only be shut off if he needed to train his ability. As if that didn't mean the ruthless killing of children his age and younger. Tommy refused and had instead put on his toughest expression despite the absolute panic he felt upon facing the god. It was a mistake. He couldn't save her, all it did to him was more shocks and a beating before he was tossed into another training room. The clothes had been stained in warm crimson liquid when they left, the remains of the hybrid discarded on the floor.
He tried not to think about it, instead focusing on surviving. Keeping track of the time in there was hard, with no clock or continuous source of food or sleep cycle that one could base days or minutes off. Instead, Tommy had started to keep track of the training sessions with Drista.
It was a surprise to see her again. She seemed different, colder in a way. No longer did she smile at him, trying to give gentle reassurance through looks alone, the attempt to show him that he was not alone in this. Instead of going easy on him when she noticed the injuries, the way he limped or clutched at his chest when his probably broken ribs proved themselves to be a problem again, she went harder. Going specifically for his weak spots. No longer allowing him any breaks, instead trimming him (or rather trying) to perfection.
Training would only happen once per day if his time perception was correct, though he couldn't be sure. The days had started to blur, counting out seconds and hours would give him headaches and more often than not did he pass out from exhaustion. Power suppressors in combination with constant physical training weren't fun. And he was sure that he had some kind of concussion. Drista didn't hold back anymore, kicks to the skull when he hit the mat weren't uncommon. It hurt.
(He tried not to think of the ability training. About the defeated looks on all those victims. They knew they wouldn't leave the room alive, no matter how much he fought back and refused to use his ability. XD had tried to force it multiple times. It only worked once, after that, he had forced himself to think about anything but the fear he felt when the man was present. The corruption had spread, now going above his wrists. He'd never forget the screams.
Tommy never wanted to kill anyone ever again. Every single lucid minute was spent in pain and him thinking of ways to avoid the suffering of other people, including XD. As much as he despised the man-god, he didn't want to kill him. He didn't want to be the one to do it.
But he had to. And that left him restless.)
Today hadn't been any different. XD had tried to force him to use his ability again, the man was completely drugged up and unable to move. Tommy had refused, earning the first hit. Busted lips. Then a black eye. XD had then forced him to watch as he finished what was supposed to be Tommy's job. He'll never get used to the feeling of blood splattering onto his skin and at moments like this he really wished he had an ability that would allow him to protect himself from the gore. But he didn't.
He had made a mistake earlier. In a moment of braveness (or perhaps it was a kind of foolish hope for this to be over soon), when his powers were let free, he tried to just get it over with and kill XD, remembering how Tubbo had stressed that there was no way around it.
It didn't work.
The man was never physically there, another illusion.
The suppressor had activated again, the sudden drain of energy forcing him to his knees before more electricity (or whatever the fuck it was that came from the wristband) send his body into a seizure. It wasn't pleasant in any way, and neither was the beating he received from one of the red-eyed bastards that had come to grab him afterwards. Tommy was pretty sure he briefly blacked out during all of this, the pain had just suddenly stopped and with the blink of an eye he was in a different room with Drista standing over him, an expectant look on her face.
Which brought him to where he was now, laying on the matted floor as he looked up at the girl. She had given him permission to speak, something he was very ready to jump on to because what the actual fuck had that question about his eyes leaking water been?
He hadn't expected that reaction. The name left his lips and immediately he could feel something in the room change. Drista's irritated expression morphed into confusion, and then something akin to pain flashed across her face as she suddenly doubled over, holding her head as she groaned in pain.
Tommy wanted to help her, he really did, but he was just too exhausted to do anything. The most he could do was heave himself to his side, trying to reach her to make sure she wasn't dying, but the second he touched her arm the bracelet began heating up to an uncomfortable degree.
Drista whimpered, hands tightly gripped in her hair, breathing fast. Something was wrong with her, seriously wrong with her, but he couldn't do anything.
"What is happening to me," her voice sounded different, wavering and as if multiple people spoke at once, "Make it stop. I don't- I'm not-"
She cut herself off with a cry of pain, now kneeling over and resting her head on the matted floor. Her breathing was harsh, stuttering with tears streaming down her face.
The door opened with a click, and lackeys entered soon after. XD walked up behind them.
Tommy was given very little attention, a quick shock rendering him utterly useless and leaving him to watch. The two women fell to their knees next to Drista, trying to get her to speak while carefully pulling her into a steadying position. They gently took away her hands from her face, red scratch marks now painting quite a lot of her skin. Her eyes were puffy and had red rims, and she looked around the room frantically, only stopping when they fell on the teen.
XD had hurled him up, fierce grip forcing him into a standing position despite the protest of his muscles. The man looked grim as he watched the young girl in front of him.
"What happened?" He demanded to know, though Tommy knew better than to speak.
He may have had the courage to speak up against him and fight the abuse as much as possible, but he knew when to stop, knew when to hold his tongue and when to follow the godforsaken rules XD had drilled into him again that first day. Right now his body was too weak to last through more shocks or a beating.
"I don't know," Drista breathed out, seemingly having calmed down a little. There was something in her voice. Something different.
"Have you taken care of the mortal body in the last couple of days?"
"I-" she swallowed, eyes now flickering over to the god, "I don't know, might've forgotten to, to be honest."
XD tsked and turned to face two women who were patiently awaiting orders. "Help her take care of whatever needs the body may have, then report back to me."
"Yes, Lord." They replied in unison.
The man then tugged on Tommy's shirt, pulling him along and towards the door. It was hard to keep up with him, his legs not working properly and stumbling more than truly walking.
"Where are you going?" Drista asked, her voice still shaking slightly. And there was something in it. Something strange. Dare he say caring?
"The Egg requested to see Thomas," the man spat, it sent a shiver down his spine, "something about integrating him into the hive."
Oh, that's just fantastic. Did he get a say in this?
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Even if he joins he's still under my influence," the god shrugged, having briefly turned to face her, dragging Tommy with him, "that thing can certainly try to take him from me, but it'll just end in its own destruction and I'm sure that's not at all what it wants. But whatever it takes to keep it on our side, I guess."
XD then turned away again, forcing Tommy along. Though his gaze remained on the young girl for just a second longer. Just enough to see her nodding and then make eye contact with him again.
There was no longer the cold he had grown accustomed to during the last training sessions. There was now warmth and worry in green eyes. She mouthed two words. Two words which would leave him confused during the entire journey through the facility.
Fight back.
.
In L'Manberg the entire hero cooperation was running at full capacity. There were a lot more people running around the tower now, mainly hackers and people born with the natural ability to track down anything they want. All ordered to search for Tommy. It's been almost five days of restless searching, people working nonstop with more to join. Having the reputation the Syndicate had in Pogtopia and mind-like cities had its benefits, mainly the connections they could pull up when necessary.
They informed Tubbo of what had been going on, the young hero only being slightly surprised at their violent tendencies before shrugging it off, marking it as a means that justified the end. A mindset they certainly agreed on. When they had explained how they planned on proceeding and finding Tommy, Tubbo had asked if he could fill Ranboo in about everything. After a shared look they agreed, even if Wilbur grumbled a little at the decision. The teen wasn't fit to get out of bed yet anyways, so he wouldn't be in the way. They only needed to somehow keep the brunette out of this, not wanting the minors anywhere near that man.
It had taken a bit of explaining from all five Syndicate members (and wasn't it a shock to see that not only the three top heroes but also the seemingly shy merling and blaze hybrid were a part of it) for the heroes to settle down. They had been rightfully in hysterics, all of them were known terrorists who had been responsible for a lot of crap the heroes had to take care of. Attempts to arrest them were made, the Captain especially being furious at how they handled Punz and that they didn't even speak to her before acting.
As if that would've done anything in that matter, Phil smiled innerly. Wilbur had died and somehow fought his way out of Limbo early to notify them of Tommy's kidnapping. They needed the information, any clue on where the facility was would significantly lessen the chance of Tommy breaking and falling victim to XD's manipulation again. It was only fair that he got to take care of the interrogation, no matter how much Techno and Phil craved a go at the man themselves.
Punz had been too cocky for all their likings anyways, being all too sure about getting freed by the god when in reality he would've just been seen as another bug. XD wasn't one to like humans, that much they had gathered from that one brief interaction on the rooftop.
Besides, the man got out just fine! What are a few broken bones and a couple of missing teeth and maybe some little psychological damage to a mercenary anyways? That's something he had definitely inflicted on other people before and since he had an active role in the revolution and the whole go-about of the facility it was nothing he didn't deserve. Purpled told them as much. It's just a shame that the mercenary hadn't lied and really did know almost nothing about the facility's whereabouts other than the few bits Purpled had already gotten out of him. That didn't make his begging any less satisfying, though.
They were at the tower once again, all gathered in the meeting room to discuss the further process. No hero was forced to join the search party per se, though they did stress that they'd highly appreciate any help they could get. Once they found it, they'd raid the place, and knowing that XD and the Egg were most likely in the same place, the facility was likely overrun with vines and the red-eyed individuals.
Not all heroes agreed to help in the raid, some preferring to stay back at L'Manberg and deal with the infestation of the vines and the steadily increasing number of cultists running around. They'd need to be detained and kept in custody until they figure out a way of freeing them from the Egg's grasp. Either that or until their potential knowledge becomes useful. No torture involved, of course. These people didn't join the Egg voluntarily as Punz did with XD after all.
At the end of the almost four-hour-long discussion with the heroes, Hannah had carefully spoken up.
"What does this mean for us heroes now?"
"What do you mean, mate?"
"Well," she hesitated, "you are the Syndicate and from what I understood you actively work against corrupt institutions and governments. We kinda work for the government."
"Yes and no," Techno had said, "at the moment, you work with us. Schlatt stepped down to take care of personal matters and as long as he doesn't interfere and lets us handle everything else he had nothing to fear."
"And neither do you," Phil added, "we're all for an equal say in important matters and this whole inner hierarchy thing amongst the heroes isn't something we'd like to enable so as long as you don't get in our way of finding Theseus there's nothing for anyone present to fear."
"We're morally grey, not monsters."
"You literally committed minor acts of terrorism for almost a week straight." Vulpes pointed out.
"Eh."
"Coldfire threatened to release some new kind of weapon if that one Mexican dude didn't step down from his position!" Jack smiled sheepishly at the Captain and rubbed the back of his neck, only muttering "I really wanted to test that wither 2B2T built".
"Nothing worth noting, really."
"It's rumoured that the Syndicate is responsible for half the hits on government officials! That is murder and you could be arrested for that!"
"Only half?" Wilbur smirked, having a bit too much fun at watching them sputter.
"As we said," Phil cut in with a sharp glare directed at the brunette, "as long as no one gets in our way of finding Theseus there's nothing from us to fear at the moment. Everything else was within reason and isn't something that'd concern the heroes."
"Right." The man didn't sound too convinced. Well, shame. Nothing they could do about that.
"Any more questions?"
"How the hell do you guys have more than one ability?" The Captain immediately asked, no, demanded. She was still properly annoyed at the way they handled Punz despite them having made it clear that this would've happened with or without them witnessing it. It's just a tiny bit unfortunate that Wilbur lost it that quickly and they couldn't control the damage like they had originally wanted to.
"You ever heard of claims, Captain?" Wilbur asked.
"Land claims?"
"No," Timewarp said, speaking for the first time in hours, surprising everyone, "deity claims."
"Can't say I have."
"Not surprising, the knowledge is sealed in Kinoko's library."
"Well then, care to elaborate?"
"It just means that a god has taken a liking to us and cast a claim. It usually comes with a secondary ability and some other benefits." Phil shrugged.
"And you couldn't have mentioned that earlier? I'm sure these secondary abilities could've done wonders for some of our past missions!"
"It's not something you go boasting around, Captain," Timewarp spoke again, "especially not with how the revolution went down."
"Exactly," Techno said, "if the public found out about it they'd be in hysterics. We don't need another wave of panicked citizens, we've already got enough of those with the blood vines crawling around."
The heroine nodded thoughtfully. She then went to ask something else but was immediately cut off as darkness swallowed all of them. At this point, the three Syndicate leaders were familiar with the void (which didn't make it any less scary) so they expected Ranboo to pop up. It was still a surprise to see him on his feet though and it made Phil wonder how they had managed to fully cure him in just a couple of days. Did Schlatt have access to even stronger healing potions? Or perhaps a god apple?
There the vigilante stood proudly, in a completely new suit with a furious Toxic at his side. Phil just looked at them tiredly, completely ignoring the baffled heroes and confused Syndicate members. They shouldn't be here, Primes, Ranboo couldn't have fully recovered yet!
"Toxic," he greeted them once the void subsided, "I vividly remember telling you two specifically to stay at home and rest."
"And I remember not giving a flying fuck."
Well. That outburst was certainly unexpected. Granted, they hadn't known Ranboo for very long, but the way Tubbo's head whipped over at his taller counterpart, a look of awe in green eyes made them guess that the vigilante probably hadn't sworn in a while. If ever. And their tone definitely added to the dramatics.
"Ender, please-"
"Ender!?"
"It's Void now."
"Void, please," Phil spoke again, completely ignoring Jester who looked at the tall teen in poorly concealed fear, "you guys aren't supposed to be here. There's no way you're fully recovered yet."
"I'm completely fine."
"With all due respect, mate, unless you've somehow developed healing abilities overnight there's no way you're in a proper condition to join the search party."
"I'm sorry, are we just brushing over the fact that we have Ender in our meeting room?" Pyro asked, completely flabbergasted.
"They're mostly fine," Tubbo said, completely ignoring Sapnap's input, "Dad managed to hire some healers from Snowchester."
Well, that explains a lot. Didn't mean Phil approved of them being present and crashing the meeting.
The Elytrian massaged his templed and let out a low sigh. "Toxic, I don't want you guys to join in on this."
"Why the fuck not? It's Theseus! He's our best friend!"
"Exactly," Ranboo chimed in, his voice really didn't sound like it's supposed to be used too much yet, "you can't just expect us to sit and lean back and watch while you go out and look for him."
"Void, you out of all people should know why we don't want the two of you to join the search party, not when XD is present," Techno sighed, a tired look under his mask.
"What, 'cause that bastard got me once before?" The vigilante challenged, "I made it out and survived."
"Barely," Wilbur muttered under his breath.
"Yea, you survived because of Eret and a whole lot of potions and Schlatt's healers. We don't have that in the Badlands," Phil stressed, "we might be able to bring a couple potions and, if we're really lucky, we might be able to convince a healer to come with us in case any of the other victims or Theseus need medical attention immediately, but if things go south it won't be enough. And we don't want you to get hurt again."
"We're more than capable of taking care of ourselves," Tubbo spoke again, "XD can certainly try to get his hands on us but you're forgetting about our abilities, Angel."
"Exactly, if he tries to hurt me or Toxic in any way he's going straight to Lady Death."
The ambition these two had was admittedly admirable. The Syndicate already knew about Tubbo's more or less violent tendencies and the slight edge to being morally grey, but they hadn't known about Ranboo. Though, it made sense. XD had kidnapped the vigilante and put them through hell, something which Tommy had experienced before he freed himself from the god's grasp (something which he was probably experiencing again all while they discussed). They were best friends and would go through hell and back if it meant protecting each other. Nonetheless, hearing these kinds of threats from a former child hero was a little amusing to the leaders. Amusing and worrying.
"Guys please, it's already bad enough that they've got one minor we care about, we don't want to endanger two more," Sam said, voice as low and calm as possible in an attempt to calm the two enraged teens.
"Awesamdude, you know just as much as we do that you cannot stop us from joining the search party. It's either with or without you guys, your decision which one you'd prefer."
And unfortunately, Tubbo was right. They would not stay behind, at least not willingly. If the heroes and Syndicate wanted to make sure that they truly stayed behind they'd have to restrain them somehow and Phil just knew from the many threats Tubbo had (sometimes half-jokingly, sometimes completely serious) made that an action like that would not end well for them. A shudder ran down his spine, nobody wanted to face the wrath of Tubbo. (His back still hurt from the last time he had actually properly angered the young ram hybrid.)
Techno and Wilbur had shared a glance, seemingly thinking the exact same. A gaze around the room told them that all heroes present knew that it was pointless to argue with the teens. They'd join, no matter the cost.
"Fine," Phil reluctantly said, "you can join-"
"We would've joined either way, King." Tubbo deadpanned.
"Don't test it, Toxic. We're not above chaining you guys in a room," Jack said tiredly.
"I'm not above testing that blaze-hybrid-specific suppressant on you either-"
"But," the Elytrian interrupted both of them, "if we tell you guys to get out or leave the area, you follow the order. This is non-negotiable."
As expected, they hadn't been happy about Phil's terms but eventually, both of them begrudgingly agreed. Upon the very justified question of how the fuck they had managed to find the nation-wide-wanted vigilante, the Elytrian had groaned tiredly and left it to Techno and Toxic to explain the entire situation. It came to no one's surprise that the present heroes were weary of the young vigilante, they had been responsible for the death of an entire city after all, but it was Timewarp who spoke up for Ranboo.
"My visions would've told me about an event like that happening again," the hero said with a knowing look, "and I've had no visions. I agree with the other's idea of more training, but so far he's not a threat to us."
That seemed to have assured them enough to trust the boy at least a little more, though many kept their distance. Ranboo seemed to prefer this, sticking mainly with Tubbo whenever they were walking through the tower, avoiding SBI as much as possible.
Everyone preferred it that way, it meant safety for both sides. The vigilante wouldn't have to fear a potential outburst from the former heroes and the three men didn't have to worry about being near him and his ability.
Unfortunately, the distance lasted only for so long. For another two days to be exact. After another long discussion with Phl in which he made the two teens swear on their life that they'd leave the second XD or the cultists got out of hand, Ranboo and Tubbo got separated. The brunette was needed in the lab, Awesamdude had requested his input on one of the new prototype weapons, something the young vigilante didn't even try to comprehend.
It was supposed to help knock out the red-eyed individuals faster, rendering them unable to move so they wouldn't pose a problem for the search crew.
Which left Ranboo alone to wander through the tower, not knowing how they'd be able to help the heroes. They had already been questioning him, squeezing every little detail out of him, everything that might help one of the trackers, McChill as they called him, to get to the location.
Other than that the vigilante wasn't much of any help. The healers that Tubbo's father had hired had done good work, sure his leg was still a little sore and there was still a kind of exhaustion working him down, but other than that Ranboo felt good. Good enough to track down a maniac and some overgrown to-be chicken, at least. Unfortunately, the healing sessions had also gone rid of the energy balance in his system, which meant he couldn't try and use the void to travel straight to Tommy. At least not without creating some sort of imbalance again and risking death, and as much as he was willing to die for his friend, they couldn't risk it. One less person meant lowering the chances of succeeding in Tommy's rescue.
They were walking down the hallway of the hero tower, mind set on visiting Tubbo in the lab and trying to be of some kind of use down there when the phantom hybrid appeared. Ranboo stopped his way to the elevator when the man walked over to him, greeting him with a curt nod. The brunette nodded back, one of the more polite interactions these two had. For most of the time, they avoided interacting altogether as it wasn't worth the stress and tense atmosphere.
"You busy?"
"Not at all."
"Perfect, we'd like to try something and need your help with that."
Phantom didn't elaborate on that and instead made his way over to the elevator, waiting patiently for the vigilante to follow him. He pressed the button for one of the lower levels, the medical floor if he remembered correctly.
An awkward silence settled over them as the elevator descendent to the medical floor, only interrupted by the slight ping noise whenever they passed a floor.
"What exactly is it that you need my help with?" Ranboo eventually asked, breaking the silence.
"We have someone who is able to go through people's memories," Phantom said, voice neutral though the vigilante knew better, "you've already given us all the information you could remember, but we'd like to see if your brain suppressed anything useful."
"So they're just going through my brain to look for suppressed memories and dig them up?"
"Essentially, yes."
"That's awfully invasive," they muttered, nervously fiddling with the sleeve of their new suit. Wilbur remained silent, not bothering to say anything more. Ranboo swallowed, whatever it takes to find Tommy, he guessed.
The elevator came to a stop and the door opened. Wilbur led the vigilante through the medbay, straight to a rather secluded room where a man and Charlie were already waiting.
"Didn't expect Void to actually agree to this," the man said, a plain black mask covering the majority of his face, "you'd think vigilantes are more adamant about protecting their memories, considering they hold pretty private information."
"No need to rile him up, Fit."
"I'm just saying," the man held up his hands in a defensive matter before turning to the vigilante, "you know what you're in for, right kid?"
"Not really, but if it helps us find Theseus faster be my guest?"
"You sound unsure, kid."
"Well of course I do, you're going to quite literally dig through my brain," Ranboo huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest, "I don't think anyone would go into this being a hundred percent fine."
"Fair enough," the man snorted, "name's FitMC, you can call me Fit though."
"I don't think I recognise your name."
"I'd be surprised if you do," Fit laughed quietly, waving him over to come closer, "I'm not from around here."
"Take a seat, please," Charlie spoke calmly, gesturing for Ranboo to sit down on the stretcher they had in the room.
The vigilante did as he was told and they cooperated when they hooked him up to several machines, explaining that they'd monitor his heart rate and other vital information so they knew when to stop. Wilbur would also stay in the room to monitor his emotional state.
"So if I freak out you're going to force me into a calm state again?" Ranboo asked, not bothering to conceal the slight anger in his voice. It took a while for him to figure out what had happened that night and to say he was furious at the phantom hybrid would be an understatement. The forced calmness had left a sour note on their tongue, fear and other emotions returning tenfold after the man had left off of them. It wasn't pleasant.
"Pretty much, yes. We don't want you to hyperventilate and pass out if things go wrong."
"Ideally you shouldn't feel anything besides a little discomfort," Fit said soothingly, "it'll probably feel like a slight pressure, the kind of pressure that lingers after taking pain medication for a killer headache."
They nodded and then tried to get into a comfortable sitting position. Fit then stepped closer and gently laid his hands on both of their temples. Then Ranboo remembered something, almost flinching back from the touch.
"What if you see a memory with my name or identity?"
"Gonna be honest with you, kid, I couldn't care less," the man shrugged, hands still resting on the side of his head, "I'm from 2B2T, we don't particularly care about this whole hero-villain-vigilante business. If you don't mess with us we won't mess with you, that easy."
"And if it makes you feel any better the Syndicate cashed in a favour for him to keep quiet so even if he does see something he's not gonna talk about it," Wilbur said with a shrug.
"Should've asked for more than one of the favours I owe you guys for this whole mess."
"But you didn't so deal with it."
That was honestly surprising, he hadn't expected them to go these lengths to protect his identity. He was just a friend of Tommy's after all and they'd have more than enough reason for his identity not to be kept a secret.
A slight pressure started to build behind his eyes and on his temples, though was immediately drowned out by a weird, buzzing sensation which began to spread all over his body. It felt like a thick fog was settling over his mind, leaving his vision slightly blurry and his senses numb.
The room and people around him blurred more, transforming into little blobs of colour. There were words around them, sounds. A continuous beeping and perhaps heated discussions, but what would he know?
Ranboo wasn't present anymore, at least it felt that way. They were floating through the fog, words completely going over their head as all they felt was a numb and cold sensation. Something was nagging at him to fight through the fog, a faint echo of loud and fast beeping and a stressed voice. All of which the young vigilante didn't notice. They were floating and there probably wasn't anything that would make it to their ears.
That came suddenly to a stop when a voice made its way through the fog, a calm and gentle voice coaxing him back into a more lucid state. Slowly, the numb feeling subsided, replaced with a kind of warmth. His mind didn't get the chance to panic as a gentle but steady stream of calm-safe-calm led him to believe that absolutely nothing was wrong.
"There we go," a voice murmured, the sudden sensation of a hand on his shoulder pulling him out of the fog completely, "you're okay, you're safe."
His eyes unblurred, vision refocusing on the people in front of him. Fit had stepped back from him, eyes narrowed at his face while Charlie was hovering next to him, checking the monitors and pressing something in his hands. When Ranboo looked down he found it to be a stress ball.
"Void," at the mention of his name he looked up and came face to face with the phantom hybrid who still had a hand on his shoulder, his eyes were milky, "I'm going to release you now, you're safe, there's no need to panic."
Well, of course, he was! Why would he need to panic when all he felt was calm and safety anyway? It's not like there was something or someone with him who'd possibly induce a panicked mindset. Ranboo was safe, after all.
Phantom retracted his hands and- oh, yea, they suddenly remembered why panicking might be an option to consider. Especially since someone had just dug through his brain to get to potentially suppressed memories and the hero had to step in to keep him calm. So yea, maybe it was a good idea to panic.
Unconsciously, they had started squeezing the stress ball, mouth slightly agape as they looked around the room.
"Primes, you need therapy, kid," Fit said bluntly, "there's a lot of shit going on in your brain. You better get him a proper therapist."
The last bit was directed at the brown-haired hero who, to Ranboo's surprise, didn't fight against it. Just nodding along while eyeing the boy on the stretcher, a frown on his face.
"Uh, what happened?" They asked, surprised at how raw their throat suddenly felt.
"They tried messing with your brain and it didn't seem to work because it was linked to too many traumatic images," Charlie explained, "when Fit got to the memories you instantly went into a kind of animalistic panic, screaming and thrashing while continuously begging someone to take you back there."
"Oh." He swallowed. That sounded like a lot to unpack for his future self. Maybe they should look into therapy sooner rather than later.
"Yea, wasn't fun for anyone involved."
"Was it-" the vigilante cleared his throat, wincing at the pain, "was it at least worth it? Did we get anything out of it?"
"Oh, we definitely did, kid," Fit nodded, "you didn't get out of that hell hole in one jump. Or travel, or whatever it is you call your ability."
"I'm not sure what that means."
"According to Fit, you jumped out of the facility first, leaving you right in front of the building."
"Does that mean-?"
"Yea, we got enough to let the trackers search for the location."