Summary:
In which Tommy swings by a Subway to grab some dinner after an excruciating day at work, but it seems he can't even do that in peace anymore.
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"Do you accept fifty-pound notes?"
"What?" The cashier looked up, giving him a funny look.
"I only have fifty quid on me right now," Tommy repeated, reaching into his pocket to retrieve a crumpled note before offering it to the Subway cashier.
Wordlessly, the cashier plucked the money from him, and, with a sigh, slid Tommy's sandwich forward.
Tommy would have to admit, carrying around fifty-pound notes everywhere was less than practical and starting to get a little unnerving, whilst money is still money, he just did not want to have to wait for the cashier to count out his change, work had drained every ounce of patience he had left in him today; as it turns out, the company from which Sam usually orders car parts had charged the money for a clutch disc which had not arrived with the rest of the order earlier that morning.
Desperate to get his hands on the clutch disc to fix Phil's car, he had to do the unthinkable: call their suppliers. As one can expect, this quickly resulted in Tommy and the woman on the other end of the line spewing a bunch of vulgar insults at one another - the woman was annoyingly adamant that they had sent the clutch disc among the rest of the parts and equipment. Tommy almost rolled his eyes at the thought of the insufferable woman but he had bigger issues to consider: like where he was going to get another clutch disc from.
On a regular basis, Tommy would take a quick trip to the night market and buy one there, but rumour on the street is that the place was flooded with the authorities and was looking to set up in a different part of the city.
Alternatively, he could always steal a clutch disc from a car parked in the street. It's not like there was a huge target placed over his head since Zephyrus had effectively killed a dozen police officers in one sitting. Or maybe-
"Hey," The cashier pipped up, drawing Tommy's attention away from his thoughts. The cashier stopped shuffling through Tommy's change as he studied his face with a look of recognition plastered across his face, "You're that guy from the McPuffy's drive-through the other week, aren't you?"
A nervous laugh slipped past him, "Uh, what?"
"Yeah, it is you, isn't it? You pulled up to the drive-through with The Blade and Chorus in your car!" The cashier stated rather loudly causing a few customers to cast some judgmental looks in their direction.
Then everything clicked into place. From the overgrown mop of hair that was held back by the green subway cap to the small goat horns protruding from the nest of hair, Tommy wasn't sure how he hadn't recognised until this moment; this guy was the worker at the McPuffy's window.
"Listen," Tommy paused as he leant forward, squinting to read the goat-boy's name tag, "Tubbo, you're clearly getting me mixed up with someone else."
The cashier, Tubbo, shook his head and said adamantly, "Nuh-uh, it was definitely you."
"There's no chance, I don't eat at McPuffy's, I'm a vegan," Tommy spoke the lie with ease.
Tubbo glanced between Tommy and his sandwich, "You literally ordered a steak and cheese sandwich."
"Well, then you must've misheard me!"
Before Tubbo had the chance to reply, the door suddenly swung open with such abruption and force that the whole restaurant shook for a second. Watching as the colour drained from Tubbo's face, Tommy followed his gaze to the door, only to be met with the sight of two supervillains looming at the entrance of the Subway.
Tommy internally groaned as he realised he was unfortunate enough to be already acquainted with one of them. With a duffle bag looped over his shoulder, Chorus practically waltzed into the shop, making his presence known to every individual in the room.
The other supervillain, though, he had only ever seen on television or in the newspaper headlines: Nemesis. Between her white, lace masquerade mask and white hair braided over her shoulder, it was easy to say that she carried herself proudly and elegantly. If it wasn't for the fact that they were surrounded by civilians and Nemesis scared the shit out of him, maybe Tommy would've asked for her autograph.
"Nobody call the police," Chorus demanded, his voice laced with an enchanting persuasion. A familiar feeling washed over Tommy, it was the same horrific feeling of absolute obedience that he felt when Chorus coaxed him into being Chorus and The Blade's chauffeur. A fearful silence washed over the customers like a wave against the shoreline, needless to say, everyone's eyes were on him as they followed his orders. Not a single soul even considered reaching for their phone, let alone calling for the police.
While Nemesis hung back silently guarding the door, Chorus approached Tommy and he swore he could practically feel his eyes boring into his soul, no mask could hide the glare he received.
"Can I help you?"
"You're in my way," Chorus stated dumbly.
"Oh, well yes. You would be correct, it seems I am." It sounds like Tommy had just dipped his words in a glass of sarcasm and then coated it in broken glass.
"Move." Chorus hissed.
"No, I'm still being served." Tommy faced the counter, turning his back on the villain behind him, "Wait in line like the rest of us."
"That wasn't me politely asking."
Tommy snorted, glancing at Chorus over his shoulder, "Well, no shit Sherlock! "You hardly used your manners there."
"Move," Chorus repeated. Like before, Tommy's mind was left in shambles, confusion clouding his mind with only one thought left for him to act upon. Before the conscious part of his brain could catch up with his body, Tommy found himself stepping aside and out of Chorus's way. "Why thank you!"
A shaky smile tugged at Tubbo's lips as Chorus turned to him expectantly, "How can I help you, sir?"
The supervillain was (surely) smirking as he shoved the bag toward Tubbo who glanced between it and Chorus with a panicked look. "Give me all the money you have." Tommy heard the dreadful echo in the command and watched as a blank, almost lost, look glazed Tubbo's eyes as he began to stuff the duffle bag with handfuls of bills.
Words could not describe how glad Tommy was to not be on the receiving end of another command this time; there was something so frightening about being a mindless puppet slave to The Syndicate.
Whilst Tubbo crammed as much money as humanly possible into the bag, Chorus's gaze began to wander around the Subway. He must've been assuring himself that no one had escaped from the hold he had over the shop. But then his eyes fell on Tommy's sandwich that was left abandoned on the counter, Chorus meticulously picked it up.
Tommy shook free over what grasp the previous order had of him which he presumed was very little as he began to regain his conscious thoughts once more. "Oi, that's my sandwich you twat!" Tommy exclaimed, lunging forward and trying to snatch the sandwich from Chorus's grasp.
Expectantly, Chorus's practised reflexes easily beat Tommy to it, "Not anymore." Chorus said smugly as he held the sandwich out of reach, "Now, listen to me."
Once again, Tommy's body betrayed him as he could only but oblige the villain's demands. His mind went blank and his body froze as he hung onto every word that came out of Chorus' mouth.
"You're going to come with us," Chorus ordered.
This gained Nemesis's attention, her head snapping towards Chorus as she abandoned her position at the door, "What are you doing?!"
"What does it look like I'm doing, I'm capturing a hostage," He shrugged casually.
"This is meant to be an on-foot mission," Nemesis hissed lowly, "We can't drag a civilian along with us, he's going to slow us down!"
"Just trust me," Chorus whispered back.
Tommy was left helpless as he was grabbed harshly by the shoulder and sandwiched between the two villains. As he was led out of the shop and into the dreary evening, the blond stole a glance at Tubbo and the rest of the customers as Chorus dropped any control remaining that he held over them. There was a mad dash as everyone fumbled with their phones, trying to record even a glimpse of the villains and their hostage. Needless to say, chaos broke loose as Chorus and Nemesis broke into a sprint, quite literally dragging Tommy along with them and down a maze of twisted alleys and streets.
It was only when Chorus and Nemesis were sure they had lost the crowd of hateful civilians that they allowed themselves to hide in the shadows of an alley to catch their breath.
"We've got to stop meeting like this," Chrous laughed.
"We've got to stop meeting, period." Tommy snarled back, trying to shake out of the villain's grasp; Chorus let go of Tommy. Nemesis's grip, however, didn't loosen in the slightest.
Chorus snickered, "Come on you don't mean that. Last time we met each other I gave you at least a thousand quid."
"Yeah, you were repaying me because you had the audacity to hold me hostage in my own car and force me to be your little getaway driver!"
"Oh, don't act like you weren't driving away from the police anyway!"
Nemesis cleared her throat; Tommy was almost glad for the interruption, he would have despised admitting that Chorus was right.
"So who is this guy we're kidnapping, exactly?" Nemesis inquired, casting Tommy an odd look.
"This is-" Chorus paused. "Actually I don't know his real name."
"They call me the Speedster," Tommy announced proudly.
Something comparable to a spark of recognition flashed in Nemesis's eyes when Tommy introduced himself with his villain alias, "So this is your getaway driver from the other week? Is that why we're kidnapping him, so he can take us to south side?"
At first, Tommy was puzzled, he knew that The Blade and Chorus had mentioned him to Zephyrus, but to Nemesis too? Surely they haven't actually been talking about some petty car thief such as himself. The reality of the situation quickly dawned on him, pushing the latter thought aside, "Wait, hang on, you're actually kidnapping me?"
Nemesis almost laughed, "You thought that was all some bit?"
Chorus shook his head and stepped in, "We're not kidnapping you."
"We're not?!" Nemesis exclaimed.
"Well, maybe only temporarily." He admitted.
Both Tommy and Nemesis scoffed in unison, "Temporarily?"
"What the everloving fuck does that entail?" Tommy continued.
"It means he probably wants you to be his personal chauffeur and take us to the other side of the city." Nemesis laughed.
"Are you serious?" Tommy scoffed, "You kidnapped me so that I could just be your little taxi driver again!?"
"Look I'm not gonna make you do this but I'm just saying... If you do," Chorus motioned to the bag of the money. "You won't go unrewarded."
Tommy hated how his curiosity edged him to ask, "How much are we talking?"
"The whole lot."
"Seriously?" Nemesis exclaimed.
"What?" Chorus shrugged, "It's not like the Subway had a load of cash on them, it's a few thousand quid at best. Besides, we're just the distraction in the grand scheme of things." Chorus ignored the look Tommy pulled at him, "Are you in?"
Falling silent, Tommy silently weighed up the pros and cons. He was still mad at The Syndicate for ripping him off fifteen thousand pounds but on the bright side the money Chorus was putting on the line should cover next month's rent and he could put the rest of the cash towards the neverending list of money he owed to people. On the other hand, it had only been a few days since the last investigation involving the Speedster had been shut down; then again the authorities clearly had their eyes on much bigger and more serious crimes.
Either way, it would be awfully reckless decision to partake in another heist such as this.
And unfortunately, Tommy was a very reckless person.
"Fine," He stated, "But I want my sandwich back AND the money first!" He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.
You could hear the grin in Chorus's voice as he ignored Nemesis's mumbles of disappointment and handed the sandwich (and more importantly the duffle bag) over to Tommy, "Deal."
Tommy must have snatched that bag from Chorus's hands like his life depended on it. He would've been lying if he said he didn't consider making a mad dash for it. He could've easily outrun them. But, unlike some villains, Tommy stuck to the criminal code. Rule number one of the criminal code clearly stated that you never double-cross a fellow criminal. Looping the bag over his shoulder, Tommy looked around expectantly, "So where's the car?"
"We don't have one." He stated casually.
A scoff made its way past his lips, "Let me see if I'm understanding this," Tommy started, an annoyed frown forming, "You want me to drive you to the other side of the city but you don't even have a car?"
"You're a car thief aren't you? Surely you must know how to hotwire a car." Nemesis stated bluntly.
"You're asking way too much of me for a few thousand quid." Tommy groaned as he made his way down the alley. He didn't have to look behind him to know the villains were close behind him as he searched for a car.
It didn't take too long for the trio to stumble upon a black Nissan Rogue against the side of an empty road. Grime dusted the car's sunroof, and a few scratches ran up the doors but it would certainly do the trick.
Acting as nonchalant as humanly possible, Chorus shattered the window with his elbow and reached through the now smashed window to unlock the door from the inside out. A shrill alarm erupted from the car, undoubtedly drawing unwanted attention to the three. So, Tommy clambered into the driver's seat, setting his bag of money in the passenger seat, and set to work as he simultaneously tore into his Subway sandwich. He jammed one of Nemesis's hairpins into the ignition, twizzled wires apart, and stripped the insulation back until a spark formed between the copper wires. The engine rumbled to life as the whining alarm died down, the sound replaced by some mediocre radio station.
"And voila!" Tommy announced from the driver's seat, spraying bread crumbs all over the dashboard, "We have ourselves a getaway car. Now... Where to?"
Chorus slid into the back of the car, Nemesis following suit close behind him. Chorus must have caught the look Nemesis cast him for she explained, "Just know that when the shit hits the fan I am not being held accountable for getting some kid involved. That's on your conscience, not mine."
"That's fair enough." Chorus angled his head towards Tommy, barely hiding the growing excitement in his voice, "To south side."
Stepping on the acceleration and pulling out onto the street, Tommy grinned as he parroted his words back to them, "Then to south side we shall go!"