The time is: 1:45 PM, Central Persson Station. Please keep away from the tracks. If an item is dropped on the tracks, please alert a station officer. Please limit travel to four passengers per pod. . .
The announcements continued on, chiming across the bustling platform. It wasn't overly busy, not at this hour when most of the kids were in school or already in some SMP or survival world somewhere, but this station seemed to always be backed up as people hopped from world to world.
Tommy moved his bag in front of him as he shoved past the queues of people waiting by the tracks for their pods to arrive. The black vinyl was slightly sticky under his sweaty grip; it was hot on the platform. He adjusted his hold on it and ducked between two poles to where one of the station officers was leaning against the wall, sipping from a water bottle and absentmindedly scrolling through his phone.
The officer glanced up with a bored expression as he approached. "Bathroom is up the stairs and to the left, if the drinking fountain doesn't work give it a good, hard kick, it'll run after that."
"Good to know, but I actually specialize with more delicate redstone," Tommy said warmly. He switched his bag to his left arm and dug his badge out of his pocket. "I'm here to fix the ticket machine?"
The officer took the badge, scrutinizing it with a skeptical eye. The picture was, of course, not actually Tommy; the man on the badge had a wispy mustache and was a slightly darker shade of blond, but it was close enough, and with Tommy's mask on, it was almost perfect.
"David Holkins, huh?" The officer handed the badge back, shrugging. "Good job someone finally came to fix the damn thing, we've been looking at it for days and can't figure out what the Notch is wrong with it."
"Well, I'll take a look and see what we can do to get it up and running again. Which one is it?" Tommy glanced around the platform.
"All the way down at the end, it should have an out-of-order sign stuck on it."
"Right, thanks." Tommy gave him a weird half-wave, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and strode off again into the crowd.
So, how 'bout this weather, huh? A voice buzzed from Tommy's mask, just below his ear.
"The fuck are you talking about, Ranboo, we're underground," Tommy muttered, squeezing past a gaggle of chatting teenagers.
A disappointment sigh crackled through the radio. Innit, would it kill you to learn the codes for once?
"No time for codes when there's wives to be had, Tubbo," Tommy said.
A third voice came through the mask, accompanied by a small electric shock at the back of Tommy's neck. Use the codenames, you're still on your mission.
Tommy winced and ducked his head automatically. "Yes, sir."
The radio line fell silent and Tommy took a deep breath, focusing again on the ticket machine ahead of him.
Once he had taken the sign off and turned on the screen to reveal a glitching mess of red, green, and blue pixels, Tommy dumped his bag on the ground and began rummaging through it. "Alright, Underscore, how do I hack this sucker?"
Tubbo gave another disappointed sigh through the radio. You didn't look at the mission description at all, did you.
"I did, I just skipped past all the boring shit." Tommy pulled out a tiny chip from the bag, wrinkling his nose at it. "'Kay, the uh. . . bee?"
Wasp, Ranboo corrected absently.
"Wasp," Tommy said. "The wasp is ready to enter the hive."
You're clear, Innit, proceed.
Tommy fiddled with the machine until the maintenance panel swung out, then hesitated, staring at the tangle of flashing lights and lines of redstone. "Uh. . ."
Oh my god, Innit. Don't say it. Tubbo's voice was laden with exasperation.
What is it? Ranboo said.
Oh my god. Tubbo groaned, sending a sharp spike of static into Tommy's ear. Tommy flinched. He's forgotten where the port is.
"It's not my fault the diagram was so bloody convoluted, I studied it like five times and it still doesn't make sense!!"
Well, so much for specializing in delicate redstone, Ranboo teased.
"Oh, shut up, R800, it was a fuckin' cover-"
We don't have time for this, the radio crackled. Tommy pressed his lips into a line. Underscore, go help him.
Yes, sir.
The line went silent again. Tommy bit his lip and looked around the station. Nobody was paying him much more attention than a quick glance in his direction. He exhaled slowly and turned back to his backpack, pretending to look for something.
A minute later, Tubbo appeared in a crouch next to him, hood up and lower face hidden under a mask of his own. "Wasp."
Tommy handed it wordlessly to him, watching as Tubbo instantly located the port in the center of the machine and slid the chip in. There was a spark of redstone, and then the glitching on the screen cleared.
Tubbo stood and began tapping on the screen, eyes flicking nervously around them as he typed in his security code and their destination. Tommy remained in a squat on the floor, just staring up at Tubbo's face, watching him work.
Tubbo noticed him staring and hesitated, meeting Tommy's eyes, then continuing tapping away at the screen with one hand. The other hand came down to his side where Tommy could see it and began to finger-spell. H-I T-O-M-S.
H-I. Tommy blinked quickly, then stood up next to Tubbo, nudging him gently in the arm and staring down at the screen.
PLAYER TAG: ???
DESTINATION: HERMITCRAFT
TICKETS: 3
Tommy leaned against Tubbo, anxiety digging a pit in the bottom of his stomach. Tubbo took a shaky breath. "The wasp is in the hive. Ready for phase two."
Proceed. R800, you may leave your post and join them by the tracks.
Yes, sir.
Tubbo tapped the print button, and three small slips of paper slid out of the machine. He took them, met Tommy's eyes again, then stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked over to join the line of people waiting for their pods to arrive.
"'Kay," Tommy breathed, and took the chip out of the machine. The screen flickered a moment, then reverted to the standard starting screen.
"Wasp is out." Tommy replaced the maintenance panel, zipped up his bag, and began shoving his way back towards the station officer, making sure to toss the chip on the tracks as he went. A second later a pod whooshed past, subliming the tiny redstone in an instant. "Wasp destroyed."
For god's sake- learn the code! Tubbo hissed in his ear. Tommy rolled his eyes and didn't bother to answer him.
The officer raised an eyebrow as he returned. "Done already?"
"Fixed and ready for use. In fact, there's probably already people using it right now." Tommy scratched near the base of his neck. "Just had to reconnect the comparators and compressors and contractioners and whatnot."
The officer hummed. "Well, I'll never understand redstone, so good on you for figuring that out. Gonna stick around the city for a while?"
"Nah, I've got another job over in Hypixel," Tommy lied. "Just some more low-maintenance stuff, you know how it is."
"Sure, sure," the officer said easily. "Have a safe trip, then."
"Yep, see ya." Tommy gave him a two-fingered salute and went off to find Tubbo and Ranboo. The two of them were standing in line waiting for the pod, Tubbo in his striped jacket and Ranboo in a simple pink tank top. They perked up as he approached, and waved him over.
"Pod coming?" Tommy asked as he approached.
"Yep, should be here in about two minutes," Tubbo said. "Ready?"
"Absolutely fuckin' not," Tommy said, then sighed and stared at the tracks. "Let's do this."