When Skeppy woke up, he knew two things. One was that he didn't know where he was or how he got there. Two was that he was incredibly sore.
It took a few seconds for things to register with him. The first thing that he realized was that he was in a hospital bed. The second thing was that Bad was in the other hospital bed.
The third thing was remembering what happened the night before.
"How the fuck did I get here?" He wondered aloud. Bad blinked awake and sat up.
"Language!" he said. Then he appeared to go through the same stages of waking up that Skeppy did.
"Oh thank goodness, you're ok!" Bad said, leaning towards Skeppy. "Skeppy, I was so worried!"
"What exactly happened last night?" Skeppy asked, rubbing his neck. There was a large purple bruise where he'd been held against the wall. "I remember being basically kidnapped and there was a needle and some guys with swords and bows and then it's blank." Skeppy looked around for a second before something else clicked. "Bad, why are you here? Are you hurt?
Bad nodded. "Yeah, you passed out after that. From what I was told, I showed up just a bit after you passed out." Bad paused, then let out a small laugh. "Man, this is sorta like when I used to tell you stories all the time."
Skeppy smiled. "Yeah, it kinda is. Now, tell me the story!"
And so Bad did. He told Skeppy everything he'd seen and what the man in the beanie- Wilbur, was it?- had told him.
Bad had never been one to leave embarrassing things out of stories. That being said, he left out the part where he'd swooped in and saved the day. He replaced that with showing up after the fact and helping to heal people. That was a good excuse as to why he was in the hospital- He'd wasted his energy trying to heal up Skeppy and Wilbur.
Bad had never really realized that he was a good liar.
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If there was anything Techno hated about his job, it was the paperwork. Usually, he'd pass it on to Wilbur or Phil as he went to go do other stuff, but this time he was stuck with it. He sighed as he flipped to the next- and last, thankfully- sheet.
He was almost excited that it was the last sheet. Then he realized it was still a sheet and he still had to fill it all out. He sighed again and began to fill it out. He somehow managed to focus on the work long enough to get it half done.
Techno hit the exact halfway point before leaning back in his chair with a sigh. He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, letting his mind wander.
He jumped and nearly fell out of his chair when he heard a laugh-cough at the door to the small office space. Phil was standing in the doorway. Phil didn't even try and hold back a laugh this time. "How've you been doing on paperwork today?"
Techno looked over what he had written down. "Pretty good, I think. Almost done."
"I could take over if you want." Phil walked over and looked at Techno's work. "You don't have much left, but I figured you could go hang out with the Techno Fanclub or something."
"You'd subject me to that fate? I trusted you, Philza!" Techno said, dramatically flopping backward in his chair. Phil laughed.
"Seriously though, I'll finish this up. Wilbur's going to get victim testaments. I'll do this and the other official paperwork stuff. You go interrogate the villain or deal with the children Finn's put on our plates."
Techno sighed. He and Wilbur usually tried to do interrogations together. He really didn't like doing them on his own. "I'll go babysit for an hour or two, I guess." Techno stood up and Phil took the seat. Techno stretched and walked over to the door. "Thanks for finishing up paperwork." Techno grinned at Phil. "The rest is in the desk drawer."
"Wha-" Phil slid open the drawer, revealing a large stack of blank paperwork. "Techno!"
"See ya, nerd!" Techno quickly slid out of the door and shut it behind him. He chuckled as he walked down the hall towards the elevator. The two boys had gone home for the night and had just returned a while ago. Technoblade stepped onto the elevator and thought about why he needed to associated with the children.
Finn had technically done something illegal by sending two untrained children to help out with Guardian work. After a talk with Finn, Techno and the gang decided to slide right past that. Now they just had to start the training of the two newbies before they sent in any reports. That seemed like a good loophole to exploit in this situation.
Techno finished the elevator ride and walked into a small waiting room across the hall. He paused before he opened the door and took a breath.
Then he tossed open the door and walked in, trying to ignore the awe on the blonde's face. "Sup, nerds?" He said nonchalantly
Goddammit, I should have let Finn deal with his own problems.
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Tommy was starstruck, again. He stared in complete, unhidden awe. The Technoblade was standing right there! Technoblade was Tommy's whole reason for wanting to be a hero and he was right in front of him!
Tubbo had to cough to stop a laugh from bursting out at the sight of his friend's face. Tommy's mouth was agape and for a second, Tubbo thought about asking a bee to fly into there.
"Hello, Mr. Blade," Tubbo said, trying to be more professional than his friend.
Now it was Techno's turn to laugh-cough. He sat down on the opposite side of the table. "So today I'm going to formally start your initiation into the Guardians. Your circumstances were..." Techno paused and drummed his fingers on the table, searching for the words. "Unusual to say the least."
Tommy blinked about twice before tilting his head to the side. "We're accepted already? I thought we'd have to wait a few days."
"Unusual circumstances, remember? Finn sending you to help and potentially putting you in danger was technically illegal..."
"Wait, WHAT?" Tubbo shot up in his chair.
"Technically, but that's not the point. Anyways," Techno pulled some papers out of the table's drawer and scanned over them quickly. The boys realized that those were the papers they'd filled out the night before. "Tommy and Tubbo, right?" Techno said, pointing at each in turn.
The boys nodded. "Good, good. And powers... Tubbo, it's talking to and controlling insects, specifically bees... That's an interesting one. Does it take much energy?"
"No, it's pretty easy. Just like talking. Controlling them directly is a bit harder." Tubbo said. "I could demonstrate, but there's no bugs here."
"Ah, good, good. And Tommy..." Techno's smile faltered, confusion clear on his face. "Hold on, let me reread thi-"
Tommy cut him off, his face a bit darker. "Power unknown, you read it right."
"Oh," Techno said, looking at the boy. He probably wouldn't have been accepted if it wasn't for Finn sending him. "What else do you do?"
Tommy's eyes lit back up. "I hit things with a baseball bat. I'm pretty good at it, too. Wanna see?"
Techno stood up. "Sure. Hit me."
Tommy stood up and prepared to swing. Then he stopped for a second. "Are you sure?" Techno gave a nod and Tommy took a breath. Then he swung.
Techno caught it before it hit him. Tommy blinked for a second before trying to pull his bat back. He couldn't. "Good swing. It would've been a really good hit if you weren't fighting me."
Tommy was, again, starstruck. "That is SO cool, Techno!"
Techno smirked and nodded. "Anyways, you've got potential. Go see Finn in the lobby to get some IDs. He'll also give you a basic schedule. My team will be taking you on as trainees."
The boys nodded and started towards the door. Tubbo stopped halfway there. "Wait a sec, who's Finn? I didn't see him in the lobby when we came in."
"Oh, you saw him alright. Although you might have thought he was a she. He's a shapeshifter- male-identifying. He likes to stay in a feminine form though- something about trolling people."
There was a pause. The reactions of the two boys were very different.
Tubbo said, "Ah, well he got us! That's an interesting use of powers!"
Tommy said, "WHAT THE FUCK."
And Techno laughed as Tubbo pulled Tommy out of the room to go get their new IDs and schedules.
Techno made a mental amendment. He had thought this training would be torture for him. Now he wasn't so sure.
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Sapnap had decided- Dream was pretty cool. He'd figured this out when he woke up. The main cause of this decision was the fact that Dream was making breakfast.
They mumbled good mornings to each other. Sapnap sat down and watched Dream finish cooking. A companionable silence fell across the room. A few minutes later, Dream slid a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Sapnap.
"Thanks, bro. Do you cook often?" Sapnap said, picking up his fork.
"It's a hobby. I think it's a pretty nice way to spend time."
Sapnap took a bite of eggs. "These are good! Finally, we'll have a decent cook around here."
"I thought George cooked." Dream said, portioning out the rest of the food.
"Oh, he does. It doesn't mean that it's edible. There's a reason we ordered pizza for your first meal with us."
"Are you talking about me?" George said, yawning as he walked into the room. He pushed his glasses over his eyes and looked at the two others.
The other two were silent. Dream ate a piece of bacon and slid the plate of food in George's direction.
"...What?" George said, clearly confused as to what was going on. The other two broke down into laughter.
"God, George, we were saying you're bad at cooking." Sapnap ate a piece of bacon. "Dream is our cook from now on. He made us breakfast." Sap gestured at the other plate.
"My cooking's not that bad..." George said, sitting down and taking a piece of bacon. The other two laughed.
"What's the plan for today?" Dream asked. "I don't know much about day-to-day around here yet."
George finished his bacon and looked over at Dream. "I work in record-keeping for the Guardians- our local superhero organization. I figured I'd bring you along to report your case if that's alright with you?" Dream gave a nod. "Cool, we leave at about 10:30."
"I work as a barista at a specialty cafe. My powers fit in really well there, mostly I just reheat crap." Sap sighed. "The cafe's all about food made with powers. I'm the only one with a power not about making or controlling specific foods, so I'm basically used as an oven." Sapnap leaned back in his chair. "Thinking about quitting and finding a job with the Guardians soon though."
"I do freelance coding right now," Dream said. "Maybe we could all get jobs there or something. I'm sure they need someone to help automate stuff."
"That's not a bad idea, actually. I'll bring it up with some of my superiors!" George took a bite of egg. "That'd be really cool though, if we all worked together."
"Heck yeah, it would! Hey George, by the way, did you see..." Sapnap starting bantering with George.
Dream was really glad his new roommates could only see half of his face because he was pretty sure it would be a dead giveaway of his terror. The Guardians hub might as well have been a death sentence for him.
Especially if He saw Dream. If He saw Dream, He would know that it was Dream, no matter how much Dream changed his identity.
Guess I just gotta be a really good faker, then.
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A/N
Hello!! There are so many people reading this now, it's kinda crazy lol.
Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter! It took a while but it's here now! Uploads may start taking longer because school starts tomorrow for me, so it's harder to get time to write.
Also!!! I was thinking about starting a book (Is that what they're called? the Wattpad story things?? IDK I'm new here) about the stupid ideas I get day to day. It'd be a lot of one-shots for AUs that don't fully exist and writing practice. Would anyone be interested in that?
Another thing- I'll do a QnA for when this hits 1k reads. I'll drop a chapter for yall to ask questions in once this hits 1k :)
That's it for this A/N! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you next chapter!
-Ace