Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The hero sat heaving in the chair, hands tied around the back of the chair. His body was littered with bruises and cuts, clearly having taken a serious beating. The camera was in front of him, actively live streaming to all news stations as one of the city’s biggest villains walked around him gloating.

“Look at your precious hero! So weak, so pitiful. This is who you rely on? You don’t even know who it is! Yet you put all your trust in this guy,” the villain growled at the camera. He placed his hand on Siren’s mask. “Why don’t we see who your hero is?” The villain said as he ripped off the mask, revealing Siren’s identity to the world. 

This was all really confusing for Siren though, considering he was on his couch at home watching the news as a stranger was unmasked. He’d never seen the dude before, and it was definitely not him.

“Techno,” he called. “Get over here.”

“That sounds like your work voice and we’re on vacation. I’m staying right here,” Techno responded from the other room.

“Get in here! This is important.” There was grumbling and Techno got himself up and shuffled into the room with a scowl, freezing as he saw the TV. 

“I think that’s identity theft,” Techno deadpanned. Wilbur rolled his eyes.

“We need to find him, somebody decided to protect me, who knows why, but they did, we might as well return the favor,” Wilbur said, getting up and hurriedly going to get his outfit to find this person. He paused, his hand hovering over his usual costume. It would look really weird if he showed up as himself when he is supposedly the one that is captured. He grabbed his old outfit, the one he was given as a temporary thing before his custom getup was designed and ready. He got to choose it out from what they had, but it still wasn’t great. It would work just fine for this though. It had a different color scheme, with green and white instead of his normal blue and gold. Wilbur quickly threw on the outfit and walked out to see Techno already ready in his and his powers activated in preparation.

Siren began tapping away at his watch, trying to pinpoint the imposter’s location. Within a few minutes, he had it. One of the tech guys back at HQ already had the location after seeing the TV so that he could be rescued, so he was a little surprised to see a message from Siren himself asking for the location of what the guy assumed was Siren. Either way, he gave the location. This was going to be fun to explain to the other heroes. What was he supposed to do about the mask though? This poor dude is going to be targeted on behalf of Siren all because he took the fall for him. He’ll have to protect the guy, his life just got very complicated.

Soon they were at the place. It was a warehouse outside of town, which wasn’t surprising considering villains don’t have easy access to many locations. He assumed the inside was more than it appeared, surely they wouldn’t capture ‘him’ if it was easy to escape, but who knows. Well, they were about to know anyway. 

He tested a back door just in case this could be easy, but to no avail. He sighed, lifting a foot up as Protesilaus folded his hands and formed a step for Siren. Protesilaus promptly launched him into the air. Once he reached the peak height, a decent way above the building, he unlatched his glider, which was just flaps that extended out from his sides and attached at his wrist to his ankle on each side, which had been added after the first time they did this and realized too late that he didn’t a way to land. Fun way to break a leg. Now, this time, they realized too late that he was in the wrong outfit and didn’t have a glider. Luckily Protesilaus was much better at launching him, so he wasn’t too high. He aimed for a tree, grabbing a branch as he fell and using the force to swing himself onto the roof. Siren took a second to think about how utterly epic he is before looking for a trapdoor or a vent to get in through. The trapdoor was locked though, so he waited for Protesilaus to get up. Protesilaus simply stomped the door, denting it inward enough that the lock busted. These guys really needed to get better locks, seriously. Good for the heroes though.

They pulled the trapdoor out and hopped quietly down into what appeared to be a storage room. It was deserted, so they just continued on as silently as possible. That wasn’t very easy for Protesilaus though, since activating his powers gave him immense size and strength, which didn’t exactly help with sneaking.

Siren peaked around every corner before having Protesilaus follow. After they got out of the storage room, they began to hear voices. No words could be made out, but it was definitely the villains. With the element of surprise, they managed to drop from the ceiling right behind the fake and Siren's eyes immediately went to slits and his eye whites turned black, his ears fans flared out and a humming sound vibrated through the air, not coming from his mouth, but deep in his chest. Protesilaus snapped the ropes and grabbed the person, leaping towards the door behind the villains. Once he was clear of the room for a moment, Siren released the villains and bolted after Protesilaus.

Protesilaus was running straight towards the woods when Siren got out of the warehouse. He groaned and ran after him. After some time of running, Siren was about to collapse, and Protesilaus finally stopped. They hadn’t heard voices for some time. Protesilaus at least thought far enough ahead to run towards their house, just around the city through the woods. They were still far from the house, but closer than if they ran any other direction, and they were easier to pick up if they called someone to get them. Either way, they were now out in the woods with some dude that pretended to be Siren and get beat up. Why would someone purposely do that? And a random person at that.

Siren and Protesilaus sat down on the leaf debris, breathing heavily. The person had been nearly passed out for a while, but when they set him on the ground, he was fully out after a moment, when his body gave up on staying awake for danger. When he did though, he began.. changing. Siren and Protesilaus jumped slightly in shock as ‘siren’ appeared to melt off the person and a young boy was left in his place. They still had no clue who it was.

“What..?” Siren said, leaning closer and poking the kid a few times to make sure he was real. Protesilaus looked at him mockingly, though he had himself positioned to shield him and Siren if the guy suddenly attacked them.

“I wonder how he got them to think it was you,” Protesilaus said sarcastically. 

“Who is this though? Why did he pretend to be me?” Siren questioned, completely bewildered.

“Well how would I know? Wait ‘til he wakes up,” Protesilaus said, earning a glare from Siren.

“Just call a ride,” Siren said, pulling off his mask since the kid was asleep anyway. 

“Bruuuhhhhh,” Protesilaus groaned in despair as he pulled off his mask as well.

After waiting a good 20 minutes sitting on a bench on the edge of town with an unconscious child, a car pulled up near them and a moment later, Techno’s phone let out a ding with a text notification.

“Techno.” Techno turned to look at Wilbur. “Did you seriously call us an Uber ?!”

“Uuuhhhh… Yeah..?” Techno said slowly. Wilbur sighed. “Techno, we’re literally heroes, and have a random child with us, and you called an Uber to take us home?”

“Well when you put it that way it sounds bad.”

“Because it is!”

“Well they’re already here so just get in, it’ll be fiiiine,” Techno said, getting up and scooping up the teen, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Wilbur sighed and dragged his feet to the car, hopping in the back beside Techno with the teen between them.

Chapter Text

Techno was in the kitchen making something for dinner while Wilbur was on babysitting duty. The teen was literally asleep, which made it a very boring job, but they couldn’t just bring some random guy that impersonated him into their house and wander off, someone had to watch him so they were there when he woke up. On top of that, Techno told him to keep a suit and mask on so the kid wouldn’t know their actual identities when he woke up. He did put on his actual suit though, it was far more comfortable and would help the confusion when the imposter did wake up. Wilbur glanced up at him, he looked so peaceful, soft blond curls waving slightly in the breeze from the ceiling fan. He snapped out of it when his stomach growled loudly.

Luckily, Techno began putting food on plates moments later. He carried a plate over to Wilbur, placing it in his ready hands. Wilbur looked like he was about to devour the food with his eyes. Wilbur looked at the plate in his hands and suddenly frowned.

“Techno.”

“What do you want now?”

“You forgot my fork,” Wilbur said, glaring at Techno like he’d just ruined his entire week.

“Then.. go get one,” Techno said, staring him in the eyes as he took a bite of his own food. Wilbur groaned dramatically and dragged himself to the kitchen, grabbed a fork, and flopped back on the couch again, glaring at Techno as he piled food into his mouth.

“Hey, I made the food! You don’t get to be mad at me,” Techno reasoned. Wilbur rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, the boy stirred, squeezing his eyes and scrunching his face slightly, bringing a hand up to rub his eyes. They both froze and watched him. He dropped his hand and opened his eyes, looking very confused at what he just woke up to. 

“Wha- wher- wh- huh..? The teen stumbled over his words, not sure where to begin with his questions.

“Uh, hi?” Wilbur said awkwardly. He was now realizing how weird this was, he had a random child in his house, that he just grabbed and brought here. Techno was just giving him a weird look, holding his fork like he planned to use it as a weapon.

“Um, look, kid-”

“Tommy.”

“-Tommy, this clearly seems weird, but I promise we did not kidnap you,” Wilbur said carefully. Tommy gave him a skeptical look.

“Well, if you have another explanation as to why I just woke up in a random house with people I don’t know, that would be great,” Tommy said.

“Well you were clearly pretty out of it if you don’t remember anything, because you were definitely awake for at least a bit after we grabbed you,” Wilbur began, only to be interrupted by Tommy again.

“So you did kidnap me!” Tommy accused.

“What? No! We grabbed you to save you, do you not remember anything?” Wilbur explained. He had expected this to be far easier, but apparently the kid remembered.. nothing?

“No, I remember that, but saving usually doesn’t involve taking them home with you, that’s called kidnapping, which, by the way, is illegal. I’m gonna get you arrested, you know.” Tommy said, waving his hands around to exaggerate it.

Wilbur facepalmed, Techno snickered at him, eating his food like he was watching entertainment with popcorn. 

“Look, we did not kidnap you, we only kept you because we need answers-” Wilbur tried again after taking a deep breath.

“So you kidnapped me,” Tommy cut in.

“No-” Wilbur started, exasperated.

“That’s literally kidnapping, you grabbed me and took me to your house for personal gain, you could have left me somewhere,” Tommy stated. 

“Really? Grab you after you got beat by a bunch of villains, and then leave you on the streets?” Wilbur gave him a look.

“I never said the street.”

“Well then where were we supposed to put you?” Wilbur asked.

“I don’t know, that sounds like a you problem, you’re the one that grabbed me,” Tommy said matter-of-factly. Wilbur sighed.

“Do you guys have juice?” Tommy said, looking at Wilbur. Wilbur lifted his head and gave the teen an annoyed look. Tommy just kept staring. Wilbur groaned, getting up and grabbing a capri-sun and throwing it at the child. Tommy began gulping the juice very quickly and was done within seconds, how that was even possible with that tiny little straw was beyond Wilbur, but he knew better than to question it.

“Ah, much better,” Tommy said, flashing a grin.

“So,” Wilbur began. “Answers.”

“That would require a question,” Tommy pointed out.

“I was getting to that.” Wilbur glared. “So, why in the world did you impersonate me and get beat up on my behalf?”

“Ah, right,” Tommy said, slurping at the empty capri-sun to stall. “Figured I kinda owed you, you saved me,” he explained.

“What-? Tommy, we’re heroes, that’s what we do, you don’t need to pay a hero back for that,” Wilbur said, confused.

“I suppose, but I couldn’t just let you get attacked when I knew you’d helped me, so I wanted to return the favor.”

“Tommy, you’re a civilian-” Wilbur reasoned.

“Ah, no, you’re wrong,” Tommy stated, like it was just some casual thing you throw into a conversation. Now Techno really looked interested.

“What? I don’t recognize you, who are you?” Wilbur asked, seeming to only get more confused the more ‘answers’ he got. Tommy promptly began shifting again and, within moments, Kratos, a powerful villain that could go up against Techno alone, sat in their living room. Kratos, a massive villain with the appearance and power of a demon, terrifying those that were unlucky enough to catch his attention and wreaking havoc on any who opposed him. Kratos is a teenager, basically a child, if not literally.

“You- Wha- You’re- but- what?! ” Wilbur sputtered, eyes blown wide. Techno looked like he might actually take part in the conversation now. It was true though, he had saved Kratos. He didn’t think much of it at the time, but it had clearly meant a lot to the villain.

“I- What you did- You saved me, when everyone else would have let me die. I don’t know why you did, but I-.. I couldn’t just let that go,” Tommy explained, looking down as he shifted back to his normal form. Wilbur and Techno stared at the kid who terrified the city and simultaneously wondered who had failed him. Though they didn’t know it yet, they had vowed at that moment to help him.

Tommy appears to think that they can call it good now that he returned the favor and go their separate ways, but Techno and Wilbur aren’t going to allow that. They feel a sense of protectiveness over him now. Luckily for them, there is a certain villain who owes them a favor.

“What the f-” Zephyrus said upon opening the door.

“Hush! Just let us in,” Siren said. 

“When I said I owed you one, I didn’t exactly expect you to show up at my doorstep with him, like, how does that even happen?!” Zephyrus questioned, feeling like he was the only one who understood the absurdity of this situation.

“Look, I know it’s a lot, but we'll explain,” Siren told him.

"Fine. Inside. Living room." Zephyrus told them, stepping out of the way and ushering them inside.

"Answers, now," Zephyrus said once they were all seated.

"Well, to put it simply, we need you to help him," Siren stated.

“What? Siren, I'm not a hero, if you want me to talk him out of his villainous ways, I'm not who you want for this.”

"No, not that. He just.. needs someone looking out for him. He's got some enemies, some people who would like to see harm come to him, as villains do, but he needs you to help him out, have his back, y'know?" Siren explained

“Like you said, you’re not a hero, we are, we can’t take in a villain,” Wilbur elaborated. Zephyrus only sighed, knowing it was true.

"You guys still sure you want to stay where you are? You know I can get you in any time you want, you just have to ask," Zephyrus reminded the twins.

They both shook their heads in unison. "You know we're tryin' to overthrow the government from the inside, this guy insists on doing it without hurtin' people," Protesilaus said with a eyeroll.

"We're not overthrowing the government, but you get what he means. Anyway, that's why we need you to take him." Siren folded his hands in his lap.

Kratos scowled. “I’m right here, you know. I can speak for myself,” he stated.

“Yeah, but you don’t know what’s good for you,” Protesilaus said nonchalantly, waving him off. Kratos threw his arms in the air, looking exasperated.

“So, as you can see, you need to take him,” Siren said.

Siren turned to Kratos, pointing an accusing finger. “You. Stay put. You run from him and I will lock you in the basement,” he threatened.

“That is literally kidnapping, what kind of hero are you?” Kratos exclaimed, possibly offended.

“The kind that knows when to break the law.” Siren smirked as he walked away with Protesilaus, closing the door behind them. Now it was just The Angel of Death and Kratos sat in a peaceful living room. Kratos shifted back to Tommy, a wide grin on his face as he looked at Zephyrus.

“Want hot cocoa?” Phil asked, getting up and walking to the kitchen.

“Obviously,” Tommy replied. Phil smiled.

“Oh, and I’m Phil by the way,” Phil said after realizing the teen didn’t know his name.

“Tommy.”

Chapter Text

Phil was enjoying his morning peacefully, sipping his coffee while reading a good book. Was. Then the beat arose. Tommy, in all his bedhead glory, barreled down the stairs with an angry cat in tow. He leaped right onto Phil to avoid the cat.

“Phil! Save me! It’s trying to eat me alive!” he screamed, looking like a scared cat himself. Phil looked at the cat, and thought that Tommy was probably right and it would eat him. It wasn’t even his cat, it was the neighbor’s. Phil thought it was a very sweet cat, though he also knew it would come into the house if he wasn’t careful, so he didn’t open windows often. Tommy must have opened one.

“Mate, she’s a good cat, she just mirrors your behaviour. She’s calm and sweet, if that's how you are to her, if you react with big fear or anger, she does the same,” Phil explained.

“No! It's a demon ,” Tommy argued. Phil looked at him. 

“More of a demon,” he said, rolling his eyes. “And I’m not actually a demon, it is,” he insisted, crossing his arms stubbornly.

“Okay, that’s great, now get off me,” Phil said, shoving the child onto the floor, where he promptly screamed and began running, the cat still trying to kill him. Phil sighed, walking over and scooping up the cat as Tommy ran by. She started purring in his arms, licking his hand as he pet her. 

“See, mate? She’s nice,” he said, turning towards Tommy. He took a step toward the boy, Tommy took a step back.

“Dude, just come here.” Tommy looked at him, then hesitantly took a few slow steps toward him. He got close and the cat hissed at him, causing him to leap backwards again. Phil laughed at him.

“Don’t you laugh at me! I’m a big man who fears nothing!” Tommy exclaimed. Phil looked at him skeptically.

“Why don’t you come pet her then?” Tommy looked at the cat, then at Phil, and decided his pride is worth losing a finger for. He walked towards the cat, pushing his fear down in an attempt to show Phil. He pet the purring cat. She leaned into his touch.

“See? You just have to approach without fear or anger and she’s sweet,” Phil told him. Tommy smiled at the cat.

“It’s still a demon,” Tommy informed him, still smiling at the vibrating fluffy noise ball. Phil rolled his eyes, giving up.

“Technoooo,” Wilbur groaned from his bed. “I’m dying… You must bring me.. breakfast.. in bed,” he instructed dramatically.

“Oh noooo…” Techno mocked from his own room across the hall. “Die faster so I don’t have to.”

Wilbur frowned, dragging himself from bed and walking slowly to the kitchen, blanket still wrapped around him like a cape. He was deciding if he should have waffles or cereal. He wanted waffles, but he had to cook those, and cereal he just had to pour in a bowl. 

“Bring me an apple juice on your way back,” Techno called to him. Wilbur scowled. He was gonna bring orange juice just to spite him. He decided on cereal, pouring a bowl and walking back to bed, chucking the juice at Techno as he walked by. He aimed for the face, but Techno caught it, because of course he did. Wilbur’s scowl deepened. Techno chuckled, he knew Wilbur was gonna bring the wrong juice, so he asked for the wrong juice so he’d end up with the right one. Nerd, he thought.

Wilbur flopped onto his bed face down. He decided he was going to be dead for today, he could be alive tomorrow. Suddenly his head shot up. Their vacation is over today, and of course they spent their last day saving some stupid child. Wilbur groaned, literally rolling out of bed again.

“Technooooo,” he called to inform his brother of the awfulness of the situation.

“What do you want now?” Techno sighed.

“We have to work today,” Wilbur told him, dragging out the last word. Something hit the wall. 

“I’ll be out soon,” Techno called back calmly, as if he didn’t just chuck something at a wall. Wilbur momentarily wondered what he threw, then realized it was probably the juice, empty or not. Wilbur threw on his suit, not bothering with the mask yet. When he left the room, Techno was already in his suit and eating a sandwich at the table.

 “You’re slow,” Techno said, ignoring his indignant grumbles that proceeded.

Soon, they were out the door and driving to the HQ. It seemed pretty weird that heroes still worked in an office and did paperwork and stuff. The paperwork was mostly handled by others but when there wasn’t crime to attend to and no meetings to discuss heroes and whatnot, they just had a normal job, only their paperwork was mostly about laws and criminals and all that fun stuff. Wilbur was desperately and selfishly hoping there was crime that required heroes and not just cops today. Techno, however, didn’t really care either way, he did just fine with both office work and in the field.

They finally pulled into the parking lot and went inside, where they were greeted by Beatrice, the desk lady. Wilbur smiled back at her politely, Techno managed to look slightly less bored than usual.

“The Captain is waiting for you two in meeting room 709,” she notified them. Wilbur sighed in relief. Hopefully it would be something entertaining, and considering they were meeting with Puffy, it was probably important and therefore interesting. Puffy was the CEO, she didn’t act like she had any place higher, she was really nice, she just was CEO since she founded the industry and ran the upper stuff that not everyone could know. Meetings with her were never boring. He wished he could say the same for certain other people.

Techno knocked as they reached room 709.

“Come in!” Puffy called from inside. Techno opened the door, seeing Puffy sitting in her chair, files scattered on her desk, another file opened in front of her. “Take a seat.”

“Did you.. only want us?” Techno asked. Puffy nodded.

“There are a few things we need to discuss.” Puffy sat back, folding her hands in the lap. “First of all, you were clearly not the person that was unmasked live yesterday, so I’m wondering who exactly that was.” Wilbur scratched the back of his neck.

“Uh, well, we don’t actually know, we assume he did it on purpose to protect me,” Wilbur relayed. Puffy nodded along.

“Well, Marcus told me that one of you asked for the location, I’m assuming you rescued him?” They both nodded in confirmation. “So..?” she pressed.

“Was a teen with shapeshiftin’ abilities, he just wanted to protect Wilbur so he faked being him,” Techno explained. Wilbur looked at him, but went with it, knowing they probably shouldn’t tell Puffy about Tommy, not yet at least. He nodded along.

“I see. What did you guys end up doing with him?” Puffy questioned. They really should have expected questions after that whole event.

“We dropped him at his house, he told us he was just walking home from school when he heard a villain looking for me, so he decided to try and help. We just took him back home, his mother was really worried,” Wilbur explained, lying yet again. They both knew it, but they couldn’t tell Puffy. Wilbur hated lying to her.

“Alright, could you give me his address so I can check out the situation?” Puffy asked. They both froze.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember at all,” Techno said, looking at Wilbur.

“Um, I was hoping you knew, I forgot it,” Wilbur said with a nervous look at Puffy. Now she looked annoyed. 

“Okay.. I suppose I will trust that things were fine, I suppose his mother will reach out if there is anything we should know. At least, I hope so.” Puffy sighed. “Anyway, onto the second thing. Oblivion uncovered some new information regarding Kratos and The Trickster,” she explained. The Trickster was another well-known villain with the power of trickery, the power to steal abilities, making it near impossible to get his identity or catch him. Even when they’d managed to get his mask off, they never knew if they were seeing his real face, since he’d stolen shapeshifting abilities multiple times, and there were so many powers he’d used that they’d never thought about him using, but he always managed. They’d tracked the faces they saw on him before, and ended up with tons of different civilians, with no way of knowing if any of them were even close to him. They all lived normal lives, and they couldn’t really expect a villain to just be conspiring evilly in a lair at all times, they still had mostly normal lives outside of villainy too, just like the heroes did. Especially because most villains weren’t wanted criminals as civilians, so they had no reason to hide when they weren’t wearing their suits. It made things very difficult for the heroes to catch him, or any of them for that matter. Their only chance was when they were out doing things, but any other time, they had no way of tracking down villains.

“He believes they may have partnered up, though it could also be something else. Either way, we'd like to keep an eye on them. Kratos has been assigned to you two, I figure between the two of you, you should be able to handle him if it comes to that," Puffy explained. Techno and Wilbur looked at each other. 

"I can handle him on my own though," Techno said, almost like a question. Wilbur nodded in agreement, equally confused.

"I know you can, but I don't want it to come to that. He is a very powerful villain, there is a reason we haven't brought him in yet," Puffy reasoned. "I don't want to risk you getting injured because you didn't have your partner with you, and if you don't think that will happen, just do it because I will feel better knowing you aren't alone."

Techno gave a nod, showing he understood. There was a reason Puffy had made it this far, she truly cared about her heroes and everyone working for her, she did her best to never put anyone in harm's way. They had only ever lost 3 heroes, which was a very sad day for the city, since that was the trio. They were called the Dream Team. That wasn't even Puffy's fault, there was nothing she could have done. Yet, being the boss, she blamed herself, and though she wouldn't say it, they all knew it scarred her. The twins couldn't argue knowing that, and she probably had that in mind when she paired them for the job.

"I'd like you to speak with Oblivion later today to get the information first-hand, I don't want it to be skewed through a game of telephone," Puffy let them know. "If you can, I'd like you guys to go out tomorrow and just keep an eye out. Instead of coming here, just go out in the city in your normal clothes with your suits somewhere near and safe, and if you find anything, suit up and pursue it. Please keep me updated though, preferably, let me know how it's going every few hours and keep your trackers on. If you stay silent for over 5 hours, I will send rescue to your location."

"Alright," Wilbur said with a nod, Techno just making a sound of understanding.

Now that the meeting was over, they had to find Oblivion. Puffy didn’t exactly tell them where he might be, so they just had to look. They did, however, know where to find Stinger, and if anyone knew where to find Oblivion, it was him. Techno trailed behind Wilbur as they went down the elevator to the ground floor to find Stinger. Wilbur was glad he didn’t have to come down to see the engineers much, it got awfully tiring to go from the upper floors where he worked to the basement levels where the engineers worked o. Techno, however, doesn’t notice, since he has to come down all the time with the amount of tech he breaks. 

The poor engineers had to put in so much work designing stuff for him, trying to make it hold up against his strength, only for it to break. Actually, Stinger was now the only one that worked with Techno’s gear, since he was able to test its durability himself with his bug strength. Techno’s gear still broke all the time, but things were going a lot smoother now that Stinger was in charge of his stuff, which had taken a while to get permission for, given his age. The dude was only 18, he had begun as an intern for the engineers at 17 and got them to vouch for him to become one when he was an adult. It worked, then he had to try even harder to be granted the permissions to work with a top hero and design his gear. He ended up getting told no. So he did it anyway. 

The next time Techno came in with broken gear, he asked if he could take it to have a look, and Techno gave it to him. He spent that night going through every detail about the tech, comparing it with Techno’s powers, as well as damages caused to other gear. With all his new information, he developed something that should fix most of the problems with what he had, which wasn’t a lot since he couldn’t afford all the expensive materials the heroes engineers had, and he hadn’t been granted access to those. He brought it to the HQ and had Techno test it. He ended up going back and forth with Techno’s help as a tester, and finally brought the finished piece along with Techno straight to Puffy. She saw his determination and skill, as well as gaining Techno’s respect, so she named him an official hero's engineer with full access to anything he needed. 

He was now below only the head engineer, The Warden. The dude was a genius with tech, he had a fully functioning second set of arms above his shoulders, something nobody had managed before. He gave the information to some trusted doctors to use to help patients with prosthetics. Now, thanks to him, prosthetics were super high-tech and behaved almost as normal limbs. He had even given them a sense of touch in a way. The user could not actually feel the limb, and definitely did not experience pain, but they got a sense when something touched the limb, and a different one when the limb was damaged. It simulated feeling and pain in the way that was important, as an alert for protection.

The twins reached Stinger’s room and pressed the button, which was literally a doorbell. Each full engineer had their own sound-proof, bomb-proof, fire-proof room. Because of that, they had installed Ring doorbells to each room to get in contact with the engineer inside without really bothering them. Plus, then the engineer could hear the person and talk to them without opening the door and disturbing their work, which seemed to be one of the best ways to annoy an engineer.

“Come in!” Stinger called from inside. Wilbur opened the door and was immediately met with Stinger tipping over backwards onto the floor and he tried to push his chair out and it hit something. 

“Don’t worry, I’m okay, happens all the time,” Stinger said nonchalantly.

“One of these days you will just get a concussion,” Wilbur pointed out. Stinger waved the statement off.

“So, what do you need?” Stinger said, fluttering his wings.

“We were actually just wondering if you knew where Oblivion might be?” Wilbur explained. “Puffy wants us to talk to him.”

“Alright, well, I think he’s with his cousin right now,” Stinger informed them. “If he isn’t he might be at his desk, but he hasn’t stopped by in a few hours so I don’t know for sure.”

“Niki?” Stinger nodded, turning back to his work.

“Wait, that actually isn’t all,” Techno spoke up. Both Stinger and Wilbur spun around to look at him, Wilbur with confusion, Stinger just giving his attention. “There’s a few things I want to talk about with my gear,” Techno explained.

“Alright, we can talk now if you’re not too busy,” Stinger offered. Techno nodded.

“I’ll see you later, Siren, you can talk with Oblivion and let me know what he says,” Techno told Wilbur.

Wilbur left the room to find Oblivion. Knowing Niki, she was probably at her cafe, which is likely where he’d find Oblivion if he was with her. He decided to just walk there, it was only a block or two away anyway, and he felt like moving a bit. 

It was really nice out, the streets weren’t too crowded, but there were enough people that it didn’t feel deserted. When he reached the cafe, it was the same as the streets. A decent amount of people, but not busy. He entered the shop, the bell dinging as the door opened. The worker at the register greeted him as he walked up.

“Hey, is Niki here?” he asked.

“Uh, yes, she is, would you uh, would you like to speak with her?” the barista asked hesitantly, likely worried he was another customer wanting to speak with the manager. Then again, he asked for her by name.

“Yeah, tell her Wilbur is here, please,” he told the nervous barista. She nodded and left.

He stood and waited, looking at the menu, considering getting a coffee. The muffins actually looked pretty good. As he was browsing the menu, Niki walked out from a backroom and up to him.

“Wil!” She greeted him cheerfully. “It’s been a while since you’ve come by, what’s up?”

“I wish I was here for you, we should definitely hang out later, but I actually need to know if your.. cousin.. is here?” He said slowly. She looked slightly confused, then he could see it hit her as she realized that it was hero business. Niki knew both he and Ranboo were heroes, Ranboo, because they lived together, and him, because they had been super close friends for the longest time. They knew almost everything about each other. Though lately, they hadn’t had much free time to hang out.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll have him come out the back to see you, he’s still in his ‘outfit’, so I couldn’t let him hang out in the open,” she explained.

“Alright,” he replied as she wandered off again to tell him. Wilbur ordered a white latte before going to meet Oblivion. He heard soft tapping as he walked into the alleyway behind the cafe, turning the corner to see Oblivion tapping his foot and hand as if to a tune, though he didn’t appear to have earbuds or anything, and there was no music.

“This is so sketchy, we’re meeting in an alleyway with our identities disguised,” Oblivion pointed out jokingly. Wilbur laughed.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he agreed.

“So, Captain told me to expect this, which is actually why I came here, Niki and I live close by for obvious reasons, I figured our house will be a pretty safe location to discuss things,” Oblivion told him. He began walking out of the alley, in the direction of their house. Normally heroes wouldn’t go to each other’s homes since they weren’t to know the identities of others. Wilbur and Ranboo were a different case. Family that lived with the person was allowed to know, but Niki had been the one to encourage him to take the offer when he was scouted, she knew from the start, and since Ranboo was her cousin, he’d been to their house and knew Ranboo, not just Oblivion.

The house really was a short distance away, and within a few minutes, they had arrived. Ranboo unlocked the door to let them in and they went to the sitting room to chat after making sure all the windows were closed.

“So, I assume you’re here about Kratos and Trickster?” Ranboo asked.

“Yeah, Protesilaus and I got assigned Kratos, so we need all the information relevant to him,” Wilbur confirmed. 

“Alright, let’s see..” Ranboo said, looking up and slightly sideways like he always does when he’s trying to think of something. “I heard what I believe to be Kratos, talking to Trickster. I know for sure it was Trickster, since his voice is very distinct, but Kratos I can’t be entirely sure without having seen him.”

“They were talking like Trickster owed something, which I thought was weird, because he works alone, right?” Ranboo said.

“That’s what I thought too, but he must make deals with others on occasion,” Wilbur said in agreement. “Either way, that will be talked about with whoever is dealing with him.”

“Right. So, Kratos, he was telling Trickster that he wasn’t going to do.. something.. again until he was paid, they didn’t specify, they just said ‘it’ or ‘the job’, but they knew what they were talking about. From context, I believe Trickster wanted Kratos to go after a target, like.. a person,” Ranboo said nervously. Wilbur’s eyes widened.

“Oh.. I knew they were villains but, that’s weird, never thought Kratos was a hitman,” Wilbur mentioned. Ranboo nodded.

“I was a bit surprised too, but from listening, I’m thinking, maybe Trickster is the one that gives Kratos his targets, maybe that’s why we can never track the pattern,” Ranboo told him.

“That.. actually makes sense. Mind telling me where you heard them?” Wilbur asked.  “Could give me a hint to what’s going on, or at least a place to start.”

Ranboo nodded. “I’ll message you the location so you have it.”

“Alright, thanks, see you later,” Wilbur said, standing up. “I’m gonna throw my suit on real quick before I leave.”


“See you,” Ranboo responded with a smile, waving to Siren as he walked out the door. Wilbur was a few minutes into his walk when he got a ping on his phone. He pulled his phone out and saw it was Ranboo sending the location. He decided to open it up to check it out, and nearly choked when he saw where it was.

Chapter Text

Siren burst out laughing. Of course Ranboo found out important information on villains at a Chuck E. Cheese. Why were the villains outside of it though, it was an awfully strange spot to discuss that kind of thing. This made him wonder if there was something there, it would be a place that was unlikely to be searched with how unexpected it is. He had to bring it up with Protesilaus.

When Siren arrived at the building, it was already 2pm. He made his way to the front desk where Beatrice sat.

“Hey, do you know where Protesilaus is? He was with Stinger last I knew, but that was a few hours ago,” Siren asked.

“I saw him come up from the engineers’ floor. He went in the elevator, so I’d guess the 4th floor,” Beatrice informed him.

“Thank you.” Siren smiled at her before walking away. She was probably right, if he was anywhere, it was most likely the library. It wasn’t a large one, but it was a quiet room where he could relax and do his work in peace. When Siren reached the floor and walked to the library, he was proven right as he saw Protesilaus sat in the corner.

“I talked with Oblivion, right after buying a coffee only to forget it at the cafe,” Siren informed him.

“Alright, we should go to a meeting room to discuss it,” Protesilaus suggested. Siren nodded.

“It might be good to collaborate with the heroes that were assigned to Trickster, we need to ask Puffy who that is though,” Siren offered as an idea. Protesilaus nodded, getting up to go to Puffy.

Phil was in his yard, stretching his wings. Since he was a villain, he lived on the outskirts of town, where it was mostly wooded and people could hardly see their neighbors, if they even had any. His wings made it harder to be disguised, but he found a solution in just changing his wing colors when he went out as The Angel. His yard hardly had a fence, there was just a short stone ledge marking his land. Most villains he knew didn’t live like this, they had mostly normal lives outside of their villain work, but avians were known to have a connection with the wilderness, they needed fresh air more than other hybrids. Either way, he loved his house, it was very peaceful, and he had all the space he could possibly need to fly.

He was pretty relaxed, eyes closed and everything, so he jumped when he suddenly heard footsteps. He instinctively launched himself to his feet using his wings to help and spun around.
Tommy froze, throwing his hands up. Phil let out a breath when he saw it was just Tommy and relaxed his body again, standing up normally and folding his wings loosely behind him.

“What is it, mate?” he asked. Tommy just stayed silent, breathing and slowing his heartbeat for a few moments.

“Uh- I um- can we run to the store?” Tommy asked hesitantly after a moment.

“Yeah, let's go,” Phil said as he walked towards the back door to go back inside. “What do you need?”

“I want to get a toothbrush and a few outfits, I um, don’t have much,” Tommy told him, seeming surprised that Phil agreed. Phil didn’t actually own a car since he can’t really drive with wings, so Tommy shifted wings onto himself so they could just fly there. He chose black wings like Phil’s except he gave his white speckled tips. Phil threw on some shoes and grabbed his wallet, stuffing it in pocket as he headed out the front door, Tommy right behind him.

Phil took off into the air, briefly remembering that Tommy doesn’t have wings before he turned around to see Tommy flying after him with similar wings to his own. Right, Phil forgot the dude was literally a shapeshifter, and conveniently knew how to fly since he often shifted to have wings.

As they flew, Phil got to thinking. Tommy and Kratos just didn’t seem to line up, Kratos was strong, intimidating, ruthless, and calculated. Tommy was a silly kid who was strangely anxious for being a villain and all. He would have never assumed they could possibly be the same person.

“Mind if I ask you a question?” Phil asked. Tommy was doing spins to the left behind Phil, he stopped spinning and gave one strong beat of his wings to place himself at Phil’s side.

“Sure, what is it?” Tommy responded, seeming relaxed and happy. He must enjoy flying like Phil did.

“You don’t seem like the villain type, especially the villain you are. I mean, I never would have linked you to Kratos,” Phil began, making Tommy tense slightly. “Why are you a villain?”

“Well, it’s not because I necessarily want to hurt people, I’ll tell you that,” Tommy started. “Though that doesn’t seem to be your reason either. But.. nothing ever changes, I want to make that change, and this is the only way I could.”

“I guess you could say it’s selfish, what I do, but at the same time, I don’t think it really is,” Tommy explained.

“What is it that you do?” Phil pressed.

“I- um- nothing really, I don’t do much,” Tommy said in an attempt to avoid the pressure of the situation. Phil furrowed his brows in confusion.

“Mate, you’re like, one of the most known villains, what do you mean you do nothing?” Phil asked, clearly puzzled by the statement.

“Can you stop pressing into my business?” Tommy said, starting to get angry.

“What? Yeah, that’s fine..” Phil replied, still confused, but he saw that Tommy needed space. It must be a sensitive topic, Phil thought with a sigh.

Soon they were at the store, it wasn’t a very long flight anyway. They landed on the sidewalk near the front of the store, scaring a few people with their sudden and quick landing.

“I need to grab a few groceries, go find what you need and meet me by the checkouts,” Phil told him as they entered the store.

“What? You want me to pick out the stuff alone?” Tommy asked, slightly surprised. Phil looked confused.

“Yeah..? I mean, unless you need help, in which case I can head over with you after I grab the other stuff if you want,” Phil suggested. Tommy nodded quickly.

“Alright, let’s start with the food then. Don’t worry though, I only need a few things, it’ll be quick,” Phil assured him. Tommy just followed behind him quietly.

“Captain?” Siren called as he knocked on the door.

“Just a second!” Shuffling could be heard on the other side of the door, stopping just before the door opened. “Come in,” Puffy said, pulling the door open wider.

“What is it?” she asked once they were all seated.

“We were thinking, if Trickster and Kratos are working together, it might be best for us to do the same. Like, we could work with the heroes that you assigned to Trickster to get more information on both of them,” Siren explained.

“That’s actually a good idea.” Puffy nodded thoughtfully. “I gave Trickster to Rosethorn and Oblivion. Each villain was assigned to a set of heroes based on powers of both the heroes and the villains.”
“Alright, that’s all we needed to know, see you later, Captain,” Siren said, leaving with Protesilaus following behind him. Now they just had to let Rosethorn and Oblivion know and then they could go home for the day.

“Rose?” Siren said, looking around. “Rosethorn?”

“Over here!” she replied.

“What is it?” she asked as Siren and Protesilaus made it over to her.

“We were told that you were assigned to The Trickster, we have Kratos,” Siren began.

“It would be smarter to team up to share information since the two are working together in some way,” Protesilaus finished explaining. Rosethorn nodded.

“Alright, I’ll let Oblivion know,” she told them. Protesilaus nodded.

“Okay, thanks, we can speak more tomorrow,” Siren said, turning and leaving.

The drive home was boring. It wasn’t long, but they were both pretty tired. Siren had to do a bunch of walking that day, and Protesilaus was just tired from existing around other people. They both walked slowly to the door, Protesilaus stepped ahead and unlocked it, going to his room as Siren flopped on the couch, pulling off his mask as he fell face first towards the cushions. Techno walked out of his room a few minutes later, now in his regular clothes. Siren was still in his suit, looking like he’d died the moment he hit the couch. Techno ignored him and got started on making food. He was feeling like having roasted potatoes, so he chopped and seasoned them before throwing them in the oven and beginning on fish filets as the main meal.

After an hour or so, the food was done. Wilbur had taken his suit off at some point and was now sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone.

“Dinner,” Techno said, scooping food onto his plate and sitting at the table. Wilbur perked up, looking over.

“Potatoes again?” Wilbur said in slight disappointment as he looked at the food. “You’re lucky you can cook, otherwise I would’ve ended you long ago.”

“You mean you would’ve tried, and then I would’ve won anyways because I always do,” Techno corrected, ever so humble.

“I would’ve found a way,” Wilbur told him. Techno looked at him skeptically. “What?! I would!” Wilbur squawked, offended. Techno rolled his eyes.

“Anyways, what did Oblivion say?” Techno asked, poking at a potato. Wilbur stopped pouting and looked up.

“To sum it up, Kratos and Trickster are likely working together. Based on what he heard, Oblivion believes the randomness of Kratos’s targets may be due to the fact that there is no pattern, they are just targets he’s given,” Wilbur explained.

“We saw Kratos though, he doesn’t seem like he’d just attack and often kill whoever he was told to,” Techno pointed out.

“Yeah, but how well do we know him? We know he helped me, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a villain, and while we want to help him, we can’t give him the benefit of the doubt and let him continue to hurt people,” Wilbur reasoned.

“Fair enough,” Techno agreed.

“Anyways, Oblivion gave me the location where he heard them talking, we’re going to check it out tomorrow to see if we can figure out why they were there,” Wilbur told him. Techno looked up from his food with a raised eyebrow.

“We know where Kratos is though,” Techno reminded Wilbur.

“That’s true, but we don’t know if he’ll talk,” Wilbur pointed out.

“We can just ask..?” Techno said slowly, as if Wilbur didn’t know what that meant. Wilbur rolled his eyes.

“Fine, we’ll talk to him, but you’re contacting Phil to figure it out,” Wilbur instructed. “And remember that he is a powerful villain and also probably won’t want to tell the heroes all about his plans.” Wilbur gave Techno a mocking look right back.

“Then it’s settled,” Techno said, standing up. “I made dinner so you have kitchen duty, I’m off to bed.”

“Wilbur looked at the kitchen, groaning at the thought of doing that instead of just going to bed. He sighed, beginning clean-up.

Chapter Text

Siren and Protesilaus were headed over. They were going to be suited up since heroes weren’t allowed to share personal information for safety reasons, as set by the higher ups in the industry. They knew Phil’s identity though, he’d had no choice but to entrust it to them when he was unmasked by Protesilaus with Siren next to him. That was when they ended up talking and realizing they wanted the same thing, they just were going about it differently. Now he didn’t bother with the suit around them, since they already knew what he looked like, and even knew where he lived. He knew they could easily find out once they knew who he was, so he just told them one time when they needed to meet him. While nobody knew about their visits to him, they didn't want to break too many rules in fear of it backfiring. They had to keep the visits secret though, because otherwise the attention of the heroes might be drawn to Phil. Two heroes going to a random house on the outskirts of the city was just a bit too suspicious for his liking.

“Tommy!” Phil called.

“What do you want?” Tommy said, peeking his head out of a door down the hall.

“They’re going to be here in a moment, make sure you don’t look like trash,” Phil told him. Tommy rolled his eyes, ducking back into the room.

Phil walked to the door as he heard knocking, opening it to see who he expected.

The twins looked like they were arguing with each other mentally, Phil wasn’t sure what that was about. He ignored the strange expressions and let them in.

“You guys never actually told me why you needed to come here,” Phil mentioned, sitting down and taking a sip of his tea.

“My bad, we’re here for Tommy,” Protesilaus told him. Phil nodded.

“I’ll go get him.” Phil stood up and walked away. A few moments later, Tommy came out into the room and looked at the heroes with confusion. Phil came behind him right behind him seconds later.

“Why do you need me?” Tommy asked. He was a little worried they’d decided to arrest him, he didn’t like that plan.

“We just need to ask you some questions to save everyone some time and worry,” Siren explained. Tommy squinted his eyes slightly, looking at them suspiciously.

“What questions exactly?” Tommy asked, still giving them an unsure look.

“Well, you’re a huge villain and we’re heroes, so you can guess what they’re about. We can’t talk about it in front of Phil though,” Siren told him, looking at Phil meaningfully.

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave,” Phil said, walking out the back door to the forest.

Once the door shut, they all looked back at each other. Mostly Protesilaus and Siren staring Tommy down without realizing it and Tommy glancing back and forth between them nervously. Though he couldn’t see their eyes through their masks, he could feel the stares.

“Soo…?” Tommy started hesitantly.

“Right, we know you’re working with Trickster,” Siren told him bluntly. Tommy’s eyes widened.

“Well I wouldn’t say “working with”,” Tommy corrected. Siren raised an eyebrow.

“What would you call it then?” Protesilaus asked.

“I.. don’t know, but we don’t work together,” Tommy said.

“Cut the crap, he gave you a mission of some sort, which you refused until he paid for the last one,” Siren said. “Nobody ever suspected you were a hitman, is that why nobody can track your victims?”

“Uh, no, they’re just stupid, and I’m not a hitman. He gave me a target that he needed gone, it was someone that.. fit my target requirements,” Tommy explained, face darkening into a slightly angry look towards the end of his sentence.

“What do you mean ‘fit your requirements’?” Protesilaus asked. Tommy scowled at him.

“This isn’t an interview, I’m not giving you everything, just the stuff I don’t deem important,” Tommy warned. Protesilaus glared right back, face hardening.

“Alright, fine, what target was that?” Siren asked.

“Uhhh, let me think..” Tommy said, looking up thoughtfully. “I think it was some guy name.. Drake? Derik? Something like that.”

“You.. don’t know your victim's name..?” Siren questioned slowly.

“Target,” Tommy corrected. “And no, of course not. I don’t bother to remember the names or anything of any of the scums I go after,” he said with scoff, rolling his eyes. Siren looked a little surprised.

“Are your targets literally just random then?” Protesilaus asked.

“No, like I said, they have to fit certain requirements. And I’d like to know that if it wasn’t for the way I go after targets, I would consider myself a vigilante, but I would never be classified that way no matter what I did,” Tommy said, starting to get pretty annoyed.

“You are not a vigilante,” Siren said, face hardening.

“I know that, I’m just saying I would be if I didn’t kill my targets,” Tommy specified with a glare. “I’m willingly answering your questions, you wouldn’t get this from any other villain, so don’t push it.”

“Fine! But all we’re trying to do is protect people! Why do you insist on killing? You’re a kid!” Siren exclaimed, frustrated.

“I am not a kid,” Tommy growled.

“You are! You’re a teenager and yet you’re one of the top villains! Why? Why do you do it?!” Siren yelled.

“Why I am who I am is none of your business!” Tommy yelled back, eyes starting to glow yellow and nails slowly becoming claws.

“I’m trying to help you!” Siren shouted.

“I don’t need your help!” Tommy screamed, fully shifting into Kratos and smashing the two across the room with his wing before leaping out the back door and bolting into the skies.

Siren sat up slowly, rubbing his head.

“Well that went well,” Protesilaus said sarcastically.

“This was your idea!” Siren reminded him.

“I didn’t intend to yell at him but okay.” Protesilaus rolled his eyes.

“We should find him,” Siren stated, standing up.

“No, we should not, you will end up with a broken skull,” Protesilaus pointed out. “Plus he flew off, and in case you forgot, neither of us can fly.”

Siren’s face lit up. “But we know someone who can,” he said excitedly, pulling out his phone and calling Phil on discord, since he obviously couldn’t give a villain his phone number, so they had to communicate some other way.

“What’s up mate?” Phil asked, picking up the phone.

“Tommy’s gone.”

“Wait, wait, wait. What?!” Phil exclaimed.

“We-” “You.” “I accidentally pushed too hard and he got mad and turned into Kratos and flew away,” Siren explained with a sigh.

“Sh-” was all Siren heard before the call ended, he could guess with a wince how that ended.

Phil took off flying over the woods, searching for Kratos. His eyes scanned the trees and ground for any movement, spotting some animals moving here and there. He dove under the trees where it got too thick to see the ground, looking around the forest when he landed.

“Tommy!” Phil called cupping his hands around his mouth. His voice echoed through the dense forest, no reply to be heard. He cursed under his breath.

After an hour of searching from both above and below, Phil heard something. He tucked his wings in and plummeted towards the sound, spreading his wings slightly and angling them to steer his fall. He shot his wings out just before hitting the ground to cushion his landing, tucking them again right after. He froze to listen for the sound, but it was gone.

“Tommy..?” Phil called hesitantly, looking around.

Tommy could hardly see as he darted through the sky above the forest, wind whipping his face with the speed he was going and the sunset blinding him. His wings started to grow slightly tired and he dove into the canopy, landing on a branch way up in an oak tree. He collapsed against the branch, letting the tree support him and his shape crumbled away, revealing a shaking figure. He tried desperately to hold back tears as he attempted to get his breathing under  control. Ultimately, he failed, releasing a blood curdling scream as tears fell from his eyes. He hated himself for reacting like that, he’d basically just shown them how weak he is. So pathetic, he thought, scowling in anger at himself. They see me as a weak child, and I proved them right.

Tommy sat back against the thick canopy of the oak, resting his head on his knees as he sobbed. Why am I never strong enough?! Fail, fail, fail, fail, fail. Again and again.

I just want to protect them. Tommy thought despondently.

Eventually the shaking stopped, Tommy had moved to lean against the trunk of the tree, looking up at the slowly darkening sky through a small hole in the foliage. Stars began twinkling into the sky as the light fled, making Tommy’s eyes sparkle. Suddenly a black shape darted by overhead, blocking the starlight for a split second before crashing through the canopy nearby. Tommy looked over and saw it walking around near the ground, hardly visible in the dim light. The figure froze, then a sound made its way up to Tommy.

“Tommy?” A voice called. Tommy recognized it as Phil and felt bad for making him search all this time.

Tommy watched Phil from his perch in the tree nearby. He had himself hidden away in the thicker parts of the large tree, at least 15 or 16 metres above Phil’s head. Phil sighed and sat on the ground, leaning against a tree nearby. He dropped head back against the trunk, facing upward with closed eyes. Tommy noticed how stressed Phil looked and felt guilt squirming inside him. He was fighting back and forth in his mind about whether or not to go down. After a few minutes, when he saw Phil pull his knees into his chest and bury his head in them, wrapping his arms around himself, he gave in and grew small wings to glide him gently to the ground, dropping himself behind the tree. Tommy walked around the tree towards Phil sheepishly. He sat in front of Phil, holding his own hands in his lap and looking down slightly. Phil looked up at the sound, eyes widening when he saw Tommy. Phil pulled Tommy into a hug, holding him there for a minute. Tommy tensed at first, but forced himself to relax. He didn’t want to seem even weaker than he already has.

“Tommy!” Phil said, pulling out of the hug, keeping his hands on Tommy’s shoulders. “Where have you been..?” he asked sadly. Tommy looked down at his hands, staying silent. Phil sighed defeatedly. Tommy hated that for some reason, so he forced himself to speak up.

“I needed.. a break,” he decided on. “I’m sorry for causing problems.” Tommy felt like crying again, but wouldn’t let himself do so. He felt like he’d failed again, disappointed more people.

“Tommy.. mate,” Phil said, making Tommy meet his eyes. “It’s okay, I was just worried.”

“Why?” Tommy asked, his voice breaking slightly.

“Because I care about you,” Phil said with a smile. Tommy broke, starting to cry again and hoping it was dark enough that Phil couldn’t see. Tommy leaned back into Phil, hugging him tightly. And if Phil held him like that as he cried for a while longer, nobody had to know. But now Phil was left to wonder, what happened to this poor child..?

Chapter Text

Protesilaus was patrolling for ‘information on Kratos’. Even though they knew where Kratos was, Puffy didn’t know that, and that wasn’t something they could just tell her. So here he was, pretending to search for Kratos. Wilbur had stayed home since he likely wouldn’t be needed for a basic patrol. Protesilaus didn’t mind it though, it was peaceful to just do a simple patrol. He didn't get many of those now that he was a higher up hero.

He had been out for 5 hours now, having begun around noon. People were beginning to clear the streets, going home as the sun grew lower on the horizon and the air got chilly. Protesilaus had temperature control on his suit though, so he was fine. It was an important feature when heroes had to be able to go out at any time in any season. It was only autumn, so there wasn’t any snow, but it got cold fast.

Protesilaus sighed, relishing the quiet, feeling the breeze blow through his hair. Suddenly, he heard a sound. Protesilaus froze, listening. A wail broke through the air and Protesilaus rushed towards the sound, coming up on an alleyway, where a woman was sobbing as she cradled a dead child, a bullet hole going through his blood-soaked clothes. That wasn’t all he saw though. Beside the grieving mother, hugging her comfortingly and sheltering her from the cold with his large, vibrant wings, was Red Angel. Also known as The Guardian Angel, The Angel of Life –which he was nicknamed as the opposite of The Angel of Death, Phil’s nickname–, The Red/Crimson Guardian, The Crimson Defender, or shortened to any one of those words. He never gave a name, but was instead given what the public decided to be fitting. What he was called varied depending on who was talking about him, yet when one of his names was mentioned, everyone knew who they were talking about. Despite the people loving the “angel” names, he never referred to himself in that way. It was always one of the Guardian names, or just Crimson. He only covered his mouth with a basic red mask when he went out, yet nobody ever saw him when he was living as a civilian. Some wondered if he simply didn’t live a civilian life and lived somewhere in the woods, it wasn’t too far-fetched considering he could fly, and pretty fast at that.

No heroes ever managed to get close to him, though all they wanted was to do was recruit him as a hero. No hero had ever even spoken to him, yet here Protesilaus was, the closest anyone has been to the man without him fleeing. The vigilante glared Protesilaus down, not saying a word to him, as per usual. No hero had heard his voice, though he spoke to civilians all the time. Despite vigilantism being illegal, no law enforcement, heroes and police alike, dared arrest him, if they even could. He always stayed within the law other than being a vigilante in the first place and was loved by so many people. He defended people, he cared for people, he did things ranging from helping someone carry their groceries home, play with children, chat with someone having a hard time, all the way to stopping robberies, catching criminals and villains, and rescuing people from dire situations when he was closer than the heroes.

There were a few times heroes had worked alongside him in situations such as burning buildings, where they needed to get everyone out as fast as possible. That wasn’t much though, since both the heroes and Red Angel were much too busy saving the people to interact at all, and he was always gone by the time everyone was safe. Yet here he was, 10 feet in front of Protesilaus and not making any attempt to move. He definitely gave Protesilaus a look that implied he wanted him to leave. His piercing brown eyes darkened with suspicion. Protesilaus knew when he wasn’t welcome, and while he didn’t entirely care, this was not the time to push. He backed out of the alley, sneaking around and hopping on the roof, deciding to stay there until Guardian was done comforting the woman. He made sure to stay out of sight, letting the vigilante do his thing. Part of the reason they wanted him as a hero is because of how naturally he cared for people, he did it like no hero could, because the heroes were seen as intimidating, while he was more like Spiderman, he was just a loved vigilante that loved the citizens right back and did everything he could to defend them. He managed to make a dangerous color look safe. Red became a much more common color choice for many things because of him, because of the safety red came with when he was there. Even some heroes were fans of him like citizens often were of heroes. 

After an hour or so, the crying quieted. Protesilaus peeked over the lip of the roof, seeing the mother passed out, still holding her son’s body. Crimson’s head was bent over the people, wings drooping to the floor with one draped like a blanket over the mother, shoulders hunched inward and shaking slightly. Was he.. crying?

Protesilaus cautiously hopped down as quietly as possible, walking slowly towards the vigilante. As he got closer, the Crimson’s head snapped up, looking at Protesilaus with eyes filled with tears. It hurt him, he wasn’t sure why, but Crimson just radiated such raw pain and sorrow for people he likely didn’t even know, though Protesilaus might have read the situation wrong.

Crimson ducked his head again, closing his eyes, letting one teardrop fall onto the face of the dead boy.

“Grab her phone,” Crimson instructed, catching Protesilaus off guard. He didn’t even glance up, keeping his unfocused eyes down, fluffy black hair shielding his face.

“Wha- grab her phone? Why?” Protesilaus asked, puzzled as to why he needed her phone.

“To call someone she knows, idiot,” Crimson looked up at him with a glare, eyes still glistening with unshed tears. Protesilaus only nodded, grabbing the phone from the woman’s coat pocket.

He turned it on and called an emergency contact. The phone rang a few times before someone picked up. Protesilaus basically threw the phone to Crimson. The vigilante caught it and rolled his eyes at Protesilaus.

“Hello, sorry,” he began, pausing mid-sentence as the other person cut in. “N- no, this is not her. No. I did not. No.Okay stop, she’s.. Okay, relatively,” Crimson told the person, clearly being asked a million questions since he was very much not the woman who owned the phone.

“No- Just- Can you let me explain?” Crimson said, staying patient and keeping his voice gentle and kind. “Thank you.”

Crimson took a deep breath.

“She’s physically okay,” Crimson explained. “She’s.. she’s in a lot of.. emotional pain.”

“I- no,” he tried. “Look, I-.. Her son is dead,” Crimson said bluntly, getting straight to the point when he had the chance. “Yes. I’m-.. I’m sorry for your loss..” he said, choking on his words as the tears returned.

“We’re uh- we’re on the side of Brown’s bank,” Crimson informed them, likely responding to a question. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll stay here, I’m not leaving her alone.”

The person hung up, probably driving over. Crimson wrapped his wings more closely around the mother and her child, keeping her warm as the air got colder. The sun had set long ago, leaving only cold and darkness behind. Protesilaus and Crimson sat silently, waiting for the person to arrive. Fifteen minutes later, they arrived. Protesilaus went around the corner when the car pulled up, out of sight so Crimson could handle it and keep it uncomplicated. He helped the woman load her sister into the car, giving Crimson a tight hug, thanking him. He hugged her right back.

“Don’t be afraid to find me if you guys ever need anything, I know how hard this will be,” Crimson told her as they pulled out of the hug. She nodded, eyes full of tears.

After that, she got into the car and drove away. Crimson turned around to where Protesilaus hid, crossing his arms.

“You can come out now,” he called. Protesilaus slowly stepped out and walked over.

“What do you want?” Crimson asked, fixing him with a hard glare.

“How.. how do you do it?” Protesilaus questioned. Crimson studied him for a moment, face softening.

“I just.. do, I guess. Protecting has always come naturally to me, it had to. I just use that, because I know I can, and not everybody has that ability,” he explained, looking down.

“Then why do you run?” Protesilaus asked.

“What?” Crimson looked up at him.

“Why do you run from us?” he repeated.

“Well, first of all, I’m a vigilante, which is illegal. Second of all, I don’t exactly want to talk to heroes,” Crimson told him. Protesilaus looked confused.

“Why not? We just want you to be one of us, so you can have access to gear and information that will make helping even easier, and partners to help you. You don’t have to be alone,” Protesilaus said, almost pleadingly.

“But I do.” Crimson gaze hardened again, this time looking more sad than annoyed.

“Why..?” Protesilaus asked, sounding so genuine.

“I-” Crimson froze, looking like he wanted to explain. “I just do, trust me.”

Protesilaus sighed sadly. Crimson turned to leave, taking a few steps away and stretching his wings out to take flight, when Protesilaus stopped him.

“Wait,” he said. Crimson turned his head to look at him. “None of us want to catch you, we just want to help you do what you do best, help people. You can stop by the HQ anytime, you’ll be welcomed, trust me.”

“I told you-”

“Just- think about it, okay?” Crimson looked thoughtful.

“Okay, I’ll keep it in mind,” he said with a weak smile. Then he was gone, disappearing into the night sky.

Tommy stared at the night sky. One of his favorite things about being out here with Phil was this, the stars. In the city, the stars weren’t very visible, and that saddened Tommy. He’d always felt connected to outer space, like it was calling him. The stars seemed to shine brighter when he watched them. Maybe it was just because they were a constant in his life. No matter what he did or what happened, they were there. They stayed silent, it felt like they even listened. And maybe that was stupid to think, but it was comforting. They reminded him of her . Her eyes used to glow and sparkle so bright it felt like they brightened Tommy’s own soul. He hated that her eyes dulled over the years, the child-like sparkle left her too soon. Tommy blinked back tears, a smile on his face. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was feeling, it hurt but.. felt good at the same time. Maybe it was healing, and God knows how much he needed that.

Techno knew he had to talk to someone about it. He couldn’t not. Nobody got the chance to even be near Crimson, and he had a full conversation with the dude. That was important, Puffy would want to know, Wilbur would want to know, everyone would want to know.

It would have to wait though, because now it was 7pm and the HQ was definitely closed. A few heroes were on standby, meaning they had to be ready in case they were suddenly needed in the night, though they were still allowed to sleep when crime was low and likely wouldn’t occur. It wasn’t technically time for the night watch yet, but the HQ closed early since there was only so much to do when there wasn’t anything that required a hero. The HQ was still available to those that wanted to stay and work on things. Trusted people had a keycard for the main door and, of course, their respective section of the building if they had one. Puffy likely wasn’t there, but he knew what he could do.

Techno entered the building, nodding to the security guard that sat in Beatrice’s usual place. He went straight for the elevator, clicking the button labeled 7. When the elevator arrived on the floor, he walked over to room 709, opened the door, and slapped a note on the desk before turning around and leaving.

As he left the building and got in his car, his phone rang. Wilbur. He picked up the phone.

“Hello,” Techno greeted.

“Tech, dude, where are you?” Wilbur questioned.

“I was about to drive home,” Techno told him.

“What? Where have you been for so long?”

“Patrolling..? Like I was supposed to be?” Techno said slowly, puzzled.

“Well no shi- You know what, nevermind. Hurry up, I’m hungry,” Wilbur informed him importantly.

“Then make food?”

“But I don’t wanna,” Wilbur whined. Techno sighed.

“I’ll make you a boiled potato when I get home,” Techno told him.

“No-” Wilbur was cut off by Techno hanging up on him with a chuckle.

Chapter Text

Protesilaus was not looking forward to this. Obviously he knew it would happen, he left the note for a reason. Honestly though, why couldn’t Siren have been there so that he could tell the story. Then again, he didn’t exactly seem pleased about having to go to the meeting in the first place. But since Protesilaus was his partner, he was required to be in the loop on everything to do with his hero business, it was the whole point of partners.

He knocked as they reached door 709 for another time this week, Puffy opening the door, already prepared for them, they were late after all.

“So, the note said you had information on a vigilante?” Puffy began, looking at him expectantly. “Mind elaborating on that?”

“Oh, right. So I was out patrolling, seeing if I could find anything about Kratos, but it was a pretty quiet day. I heard a sound or somethin’, and then I followed it to see him holding a woman and a dead child,” Protesilaus explained.

“Why did that call for a meeting..?” Puffy asked quizzically.

“Well, nobody ever even got near him before, and I actually talked with him a bit,” he told her.

“Why didn’t you take him in if you had the opportunity to chat with him?” Puffy seemed to be getting more confused as this went on.

“We-.. We aren’t bringing him in..?” Now Protesilaus was equally confused, and a little concerned considering he told the vigilante to stop by any time and he’d be welcomed. Then he remembered a very important detail.

“Oh, right, forgot to tell you that it was The Red Angel.” Puffy stared at him.

“And you didn’t think to start with that?!” Puffy exclaimed, exasperated.

“In my defense, I forgot it was an important detail,” Protesilaus said, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. “I knew who I was talkin’ about.”

Puffy sighed.

“Well, this changes a lot, now we have to run back through the story,” Puffy told him. Siren groaned and looked like he might die on the spot. He’d already been told all about it when his brother returned from his patrol, he definitely didn’t need to hear it again.

“You saw Red Angel, he had a woman and a dead child in his arms,” Puffy relayed. “Tell me more about that.”

“Well, he was sittin’ on the floor, hugging a grievin’ mother with both arms and wings to keep her warm and safe while she held her son. She eventually passed out, and that’s when he said something to me.” Puffy listened intently, taking quick notes on important details for record.

“He told me to grab her phone, which surprised me ‘cause he doesn’t.. talk.. to heroes. At all,” Protesilaus told her.

“He had me call an emergency contact of the woman, but I gave him the phone. He’s.. so nice to everyone, he stayed patient even as he was accused of likely many things that I couldn’t hear but he had to repeatedly deny before he could even tell the woman about the dire situation her loved one was in,” Protesilaus said, sounding like he didn’t really want to go in detail about it, which Siren found weird, because he’d gone into more detail than this with him, but Siren supposed he could understand.

“The lady arrived and took the two civilians, and I stopped Crimson before he left,” Protesilaus informed them. “I asked a few questions, like why in the world he runs from us, his answer was basically that what he does is illegal and also he doesn’t like us or somethin’.”

Puffy looked at him skeptically.

“Were those his words?” she asked, knowing full well they weren’t.

“Well, no, but-”

“Just tell me what he said.”

“I don’t remember exactly, but he said somethin’ like, what he does is illegal, and we enforce laws, but also he doesn’t really want to talk to heroes,” Protesilaus told her, relaying it as best he remembered. Puffy nodded thoughtfully.

“Alright, and did you say anything else?” she questioned.

“A bit, I asked why he doesn’t like heroes when all we want to do is provide the equipment to let him help more people and more effectively. Told him he doesn’t have to be.. alone,” Protesilaus explained, drifting off in a way that he didn’t normally do.

“And..?” Puffy prompted, equally interested in the next part.

“He said he does. I tried to get more of an answer, but he just said that I have to trust him when he says he has to be alone,” Protesilaus said, sounding disappointed, matching Puffy’s expression.

“Before he left, I told him that none of us want to catch him, we’re only trying to help, and he was welcome at HQ any time,” Protesilaus notified her, looking for confirmation, and receiving it via a nod.

“So that’s all then?” He nodded.

“Alright, you guys can leave,” Puffy told them with a smile. “I want you back on patrol today, we need to find Kratos’ next target before he gets to them, so we have no time to waste.”

The twins nodded to her, leaving the room and closing the door behind them.

Tommy was walking to the store. He’d never been to this one, so he was hoping he could find the stuff he needed without asking for help. He was nearly there, when he heard something. Someone was.. crying? But he didn’t see anyone that looked upset, there was barely anyone on the streets at all.

He followed the noise, peeking around a corner of a building to see a young child clinging to her mother’s leg, trying to hide behind her as a man talked in a low, angry voice directed at the woman. The woman was trembling, eyes welling with tears, though she wore a look of protective determination. The little girl was already crying, but muffling herself. The child shifted slightly to show herself to the man more, barely taller than her mom’s knee.

“Stop y-yelling at mo-mommy,” the kid said shakily, pointing a hand out towards the man. The man slapped the child’s hand, causing the small girl to yelp in pain. The mother quickly crouched down and grabbed her daughter, holding her gently and making sure she was okay. The kid now had tears streaming down her face.

“Shut up! You don’t tell me what to do, I tell you,” he yelled at the little girl angrily. “Your lack of respect for me is very clear, but to teach that to our child is a whole other level of disrespect.”

The woman didn’t even try defending herself, just hugging her child closer to her body.

“I treat you with nothing but love, and you turn around and behave purposefully deceitful and rude. You talk lowly of me to the kids and take Harper’s side when she mouths off at me.”

The woman didn’t bother speaking, she just looked down, lip trembling as she gently rubbed her daughter’s head.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” the man yelled, grabbing her chin. Her eyes went wide, quickly hiding her daughter behind her.

“I am so done with you and your constant disrespect!” The man reached to grab something off his belt, a click sounding as he did. The woman’s eyes went wide with knowing fear. Tommy began to jump out to help them, getting immediately spotted by the mother as she rapidly scanned the area. She didn’t even hesitate to grab her kid and throw her at Tommy when she saw he was the only person in the proximity. Tommy reacted quickly, just barely catching the kid. Tommy hugged the kid to his chest, running around the corner to protect her before he began to go back for the woman. He heard the shot, and then it was quiet. Tommy stopped in his tracks, face shadowing with rage. He sighed, turning around and hugging the sobbing child tightly. He’ll remember the face, he’ll get his revenge. For now, his priority is the kid.

Tommy picked up the kid, cradling her in his arms as he started walking away.

“W-wait! Mama-a!” The child screamed. Tommy felt his heart break, he couldn’t let this poor girl see that. He held the child closer and felt a tear run down his cheek as he sped up his pace until he was running. The child was quiet by the time he found a safe place to sit down, a park bench a mile away. The girl pushed off of him.

“Why’d y-you do that?!” She yelled, hiccupping through her tears, her face a mess of anger and sorrow.

“I-.. You.. weren’t safe there..” Tommy explained slowly.

“I was safe, I had ma-mama…” the child protested, anger melting as she lost any energy left in her. Tommy dropped his head, considering his words before speaking. How does he break it to a child so young that her mother is gone? He thought it’d get easier, but it never really does. He never has the words no matter how many times he does it.

“She-she’ll come b-back for me, r-right?” The kid asked hopefully.

“I-I’m so sorry.. your mama isn’t coming back..” Tommy said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. The girl’s face fell, her shoulders hunching forward as she lowered her head.

“Oh..” The girl shuffled back closer to Tommy, leaning against his side. Tommy took an arm and rested it around the kid, and soon enough, the young girl had fallen asleep. Tommy sat there for a moment, watching the sky. He’d lost track of the time, and suddenly, it was growing dark quickly. He pulled out his phone, selecting a contact and ringing them.

“Hey..” he greeted the person. “I- yeah… another one. I’m at that park we went to last week. Thanks, see you soon.” The phone beeped and Tommy set down the phone, dropping his head back with a sigh.

Tommy sat on Karl’s couch, the small girl still cradled in his arms. She had golden hair and green eyes, wearing overalls and a white shirt with pink flowers. Tommy’s black hair fell over his face, shadowing his brown eyes and freckled face. This form had become second nature to hold up with how much he was around Karl. He’d begun to feel bad, Karl was a close friend, yet had never actually seen his face. Karl didn’t even know this.

“Tommy?” Karl said, looking at the other boy.

Tommy took a moment to respond, giving a slow, “what?”

His eyes stayed on the little girl. She looked to be around 4. Poor girl, what a thing to go through at such a young age. Tommy hugged her closer, running a hand through her soft hair as she slept peacefully.

“You haven’t stopped looking at her since you got here,” Karl pointed out. A quizzical look on his face.

“Really?” Tommy asked, finally glancing up at his friend. “Oh, yeah, I guess I haven’t.”

His gaze lifted to the clock on the wall. He’d already been here for an hour. He looked back at the young girl with a sweet smile on his face.

Karl watched him for a minute, seeing how relaxed Tommy looked with the girl. He’d never seen Tommy this way with a child before. Sure, he rescued them all the time, children were his favorite. However, he was usually okay sending them to the foster home he was in touch with. They were sure to take very good care of the kids, and rarely had a foster come in that wasn’t properly helped. Tommy personally ensured it.

“What’s so different about this girl?” Karl finally asked, sure there was something up.

“Nothing,” Tommy responded quietly. “She’s just sleeping.”

Karl didn’t buy it, but decided to drop the topic. He stood up and headed to the kitchen, leaving Tommy to stare lovingly at the child.

Chapter Text

“What do you need this time?” The man asked in a deep voice, appearing irritated.

“I just have one more for you and then you’re free for a while, okay?” The other man said, looking up at him.

“I’m busy,” he growled.

“Dude, just look at it,” the smaller man insisted.

“Fine, give me the profile, this better be good,” the first man said, putting out a clawed hand. “This is a difficult target,” he pointed out, looking up skeptically.

“I’ll double your pay. I need her dealt with within the week.”

“Within the week? Trickster, it’s Wednesday and I just told you I’m already busy,” the larger pointed out, getting more annoyed as this went on.

“Triple.”

It was silent for a minute before the other responded.

“Fine, but you better have my pay ready.”

“Kratos, buddy, do you think so lowly of me?” The Trickster smiled eerily, reaching out a hand while maintaining eye contact.

The other sighed, taking Trickster’s hand and giving it a firm shake.

“Mr?” A quiet voice asked. Tommy lifted his head from his book and saw the little girl.

“What do you need, Alice?” She looked nervous, walking over slowly when she spotted him.

“I-I need um, I need a toothbrush..?” She told him hesitantly, holding her arms and legs very close to her body and her back hunched slightly. Tommy’s eyes saddened.

“Of course, we can go to the store to get it. Maybe we’ll even get ice cream,” he smiled at her. She gave a weak smile back, looking slightly excited at the idea.

The two arrived at the store, Tommy holding Alice’s hand to keep her close by. He’d been keeping her for a few days now, and she was slowly starting to warm up to him, though the fact he was male made it extra difficult.

“Okay, you get to pick out some things now! Let’s start with the toothbrush,” he told her, leading her to the dental aisle. Alice looked around, pointing at a green toothbrush and looking up at Tommy. He smiled and grabbed the item.

“Do you want some bubblegum toothpaste with it? Or maybe.. Strawberry? That’s my favorite,” Tommy asked, crouching down to her level. She scrunched up her face thoughtfully.

“I like bubblegum,” she told him decisively. Tommy smiled brightly before grabbing the toothpaste. “Great choice!”

The next destination was the kids’ clothing aisle, where Alice picked out a green dinosaur shirt and a pink skirt. They left the store with 3 new outfits, a hairbrush, toothbrush and toothpaste, and more confidence in Alice. Tommy felt pretty successful.

As they were walking home, which was a good mile or two, Tommy noticed a man staring daggers from across the street. He recognized the man immediately as Alice’s father. Tommy glared at him and made his eyes glow yellow briefly. The man stumbled in shock and quickly walked off, glancing back at Tommy a few times only to see him smiling, looking perfectly normal.

“Hey Alice, how about we take you to Karl’s house? He has a new puppy!” The little girl’s face lit up excitedly and Tommy took that as a yes. Tommy pulled out his phone, dialing Karl.

“Hey! I hate to ask you for another favor so soon but-” Tommy began before being cut off.

“Well, yeah, I know, but I still feel bad,” Tommy reasoned. “Anyways, I just need you to take Alice for a few hours while I deal with something. I’m outside Walmart. Thanks dude, I owe you one… or five.”

The call ended, and Karl showed up in a black car 5 minutes later. Tommy led Alice to the car, helping her in. She looked at him anxiously.

“You’ll be okay Alice.” Tommy smiled reassuringly. “Remember.. Puppy.”

Alice smiled weakly, looking like she felt a little better.

“I promise I’ll be back soon, okay? Pinky promise,” he said, holding out his pinky. Alice did the same, linking her finger with his. “See you later! You have to tell me all about that puppy when you get back.”

Tommy gave Karl a quick hug and thanked him again, and then they were gone. Tommy’s face hardened and he looked back in the direction Alice’s father went. He started in that direction, wandering for nearly 30 minutes before he spotted the man in a coffee shop. He popped behind a corner and quickly shifted into another face. Light brown hair, amber eyes, lightly toned and tall.

He strolled into the shop and straight up to the man, tapping him on the shoulder. The man turned around, looking annoyed as usual. Tommy promptly threw a left hook and nearly knocked the man to the ground. He quickly stood up, face painted with rage. Tommy sprinted out of the shop and around the corner, followed by the man. He turned down an alley beside the shop, finding a place hidden from view.

“You wanna go, kid?!” The angry man shouted, readying for a fight.

“Hmm, yeah I think I have time!” Tommy said cheerily, his eyes turning a bright yellow, faintly glowing. Recognition flashed across the man’s face and his eyes widened, filling with fear as Tommy finished shifting.

He tried to flee, but Kratos grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. He turned the man around to look him in his terrified eyes.

“You got some nerve, you know?” Kratos growled. “I mean, shooting your wife in broad daylight! Who does that?”

The man had the audacity to look proud of himself. Kratos glared and squeezed tighter, the look dropping off the man’s face as he wheezed, eyes filling with tears. He clawed at Kratos’ hand desperately.

“I could end this now.. But do you deserve that?” Kratos tilted his head thoughtfully. “What do you think I should do?”

The man closed his eyes, grimacing in pain and terror. Kratos dropped his gleeful expression, now looking bored. He opened his claws, dropping the man on the floor. He crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.

“Y-you’re insane!” The man said, voice rough from the strangling.

“Thanks for noticing!” Kratos said with a smile. “What’s your name?”

“Why would I tell you that?” The man glared at him, scooting away. Kratos didn’t like that answer. He slammed the man into the wall with his tail.

“I asked you.. A question.” Kratos snarled. “The polite thing to do is give an answer.”

“T-Tony!” The man exclaimed weakly, coughing and holding his sides in pain.

“Tony.. what a nice name for such an awful person. I’d really love to stay longer, but I have someone waiting for me. I think you know her, Alice?”

The man looked up at Kratos. “Don’t.. Don’t hurt her… She’s just a kid.” He begged. Well that was unexpected.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, she’s wonderful. You know, I think I might keep her, she deserves someone who will love and care for her,” Kratos said, crouching down to stare Tony in the eyes.

“Exactly, someone very different from you. You don’t deserve her.” Tony glared.

Kratos thought about that, knowing the man wasn’t too wrong. He shook the thought away. No, he’d never hurt a kid. Never.

“Maybe not, but she’ll be okay without you,” Kratos said, reaching an arm out towards the heaving man. A scream rang out, quickly cut off by a loud snap.

Chapter Text

Timescape sat atop a building, using the lip as cover should anyone look up. He surveyed the scene below. Police swarmed the alley, lights flashing and sirens blaring. It seemed bad, but Timescape couldn’t quite figure out what had happened. He pulled out a small pair of binoculars and held them to his eyes, aiming toward the area that seemed to be the center of attention.

Some cops were talking to each other, a few taking pictures of the scene, and others taking notes. One officer was examining something. She moved to the side a few steps and Timescape saw it. A body. Similar to the cop, he too began examining it. Neck was most definitely broken, no doubt about it. It also had heavy bruising, large marks. Looked to be done by hand, though a rather large one. Interestingly enough, there were small holes around the neck too, one on the left side and 4 on the right side. Timescape had seen similar marks before, and he already had a suspect in mind, hoping the cops would figure out the same.

One officer took off the dead man’s shirt, and oh what a sight it was. Dark bruises and long gashes littered the corpse. His spine was possibly broken, plus a few ribs. Though Timescape couldn’t tell easily from afar. It looked like the man had been slammed around a bit. There was a large stripe of black and blue bruising along the man’s front, maybe he’d been hit by something? Or.. someone? Moving further down the body, he noticed a crooked foot, likely broken somewhere, though Timescape didn’t get much information on that, considering it could have broken in many different ways.

Timescape wondered if the officers would let him examine, or give them information. He doubted it. After watching for a few minutes, he decided to head out, he had all the information he was going to get from this. Traveling a straight path around a mile long to get back to his start point of the patrol, he slipped out of his suit and into a regular outfit, putting his suit in his backpack. Now he just had to go home, which wasn’t far if he took an Uber.

Karl shot a quick text to Tommy to meet at his place, and then called an uber. By the time the uber arrived, Tommy had responded. He asked to bring Alice. Karl didn’t know Tommy still had Alice and was slightly surprised, but gave the okay.

15 minutes later, Karl was home. He checked the time, 5:23pm. He decided it was a good time for dinner and headed to the kitchen. He was putting the lasagna in the oven when Tommy got there.

“Heyyyyyy!” Tommy called from the other room. Karl heard a muffled thump as Tommy flopped on the couch. Alice giggled.

“Hey! Alice, do you wanna watch some TV while I talk with Tommy?” Karl offered with a smile. She nodded, and he turned on Wild Kratts for her. Apparently she was a big fan, according to Tommy. Karl gave Tommy a look, causing him to furrow his brows and sit up, a question unspoken on his face. Karl sighed and sat beside him.

“I ran across a crime scene during my patrol,” Karl told him quietly.

“Oh? You’re gonna have to give me more details than that,” Tommy pointed out.

“I think it happened today. There were police swarming the area, I almost couldn’t see what they were actually doing. It was a body. There was a.. man, his neck was broken and bruised, and his torso was about the same. Looking at those marks.. They’re familiar,” Karl looked Tommy in the eyes, his frustration apparent.

“Who did it then?” Tommy prodded curiously.

“I think it was Kratos,” Karl said with a slight growl. “I can’t believe that dude!”

Tommy put his hand on Karl’s shoulder comfortingly.

“I mean, seriously. He just murders the most random people. As far as I know, there’s no connection. Poor, wealthy, male, female, whatever! It doesn’t matter, he’ll kill them. How are we supposed to protect the city with this tyrant around?!” Karl yelled angrily before dropping his head in his hands. Tommy tilted his head, thinking for a moment before responding.

“I’m sure there’s a connection,” he decided on. “I mean, we really don’t know what pushes him to do what he does. Maybe he’s just like you and I, wanting to protect people who can’t protect themselves.”

Karl lifted his head with a ‘you can’t be serious’ look on his face. Tommy began to sweat and stumbled over his words trying to defend himself.

“W-well we don’t know!”

“Tommy, he kills people.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know?! Is killing people ever really okay?”

“Well, would you kill someone to prevent them from shooting a kid?” Tommy questioned. Karl squinted his eyes.

“If that was the only option.. I suppose. But I wouldn’t do it nearly as brutally as Kratos does,” Karl told him. Tommy sighed.

“I suppose you’re right. Maybe he is a bit.. Rough.” Tommy looked down slightly. Hurt to hear his friend talking so poorly of him without even knowing. He wasn’t exactly wrong though, was he? Tommy let out a small huff of laughter to himself. Karl scooted closer and dropped an arm around Tommy’s shoulders.

“Good thing you aren’t him,” Karl said comfortingly. “I know it’s hard to know such awful people are out there, but you’re making a good change.”

Tommy forced the expression off his face and smiled instead.

“Yeah.. thanks. You’re doing really great too, you know?” He told his friend. Karl pulled him into a hug in response.

“Maybe we should patrol together soon, it’s been a while,” Tommy suggested.

“Ooh, sounds fun! Maybe we’ll even catch Kratos.. With the both of us, surely we stand a chance!” Karl added excitedly. Tommy laughed half-heartedly.

“Yeah.. maybe we will.”

Tommy was back home with Alice, laying on his couch. He’d been letting Alice have his bed, so this was his bed until there was another option. Alice.. Such a sweet little girl. What was he going to do with her?

Tommy knew he could only have her so long before someone came. He’s legally a kid, just like her. Though, she might be assumed dead as he had been. I mean, after there’s a murder in your family, if you disappear for a while, officials usually drop your case. His eyes stung, springing a few tears. He quickly wiped them away, not wanting to cry. He’d grieved his past plenty by now, he should be fine.

He thought back to earlier that day, when he was with Karl. Did Karl mean all that? Does he actually hate Kratos that much? Then again, who doesn’t? Trickster only talks to him when he needs something, but Tommy wasn’t too mad about that. He’s pretty sure that dude is genuinely insane. Wait, Trickster. What day was it again?

Tommy picked up his phone, the light blinding him briefly. Friday, 8pm. Well that’s not good, he still has to take out the target before the end of the week. When is that anyways? Saturday? Sunday? Probably Saturday, he’s sure Trickster meant he wanted the person gone before the weekend. Tommy sighed. He still had to do more research on the target.

Tommy sprung up from the couch, grabbing a coke from the kitchen before sitting at his desk and opening the laptop. He typed the name into the search bar, Brianna Holloway. She had an instagram account, so Tommy clicked that. A few pictures, mostly of her and money. She also posted a lot of ‘encouraging’ quotes and ‘tips to get rich’, all of which weren’t the slightest bit helpful and just focused on her. She’s certainly a character. In the background of one of her pictures was a building, the letters were blurry but Tommy was pretty sure it said ‘Blue Tech’. He googled the company and saw it was owned by Bryce Holloway, with her just underneath him.

Tommy clicked back over to her instagram. You couldn’t even tell she had kids. Tommy went to her following list, clicking on an account named ‘McKayla_Kandles’. She had a lot of photos of her and Brianna, plus a lot of candles and cat pictures. Tommy spotted a photo of Brianna with a baby and a preschooler. There was no doubt that the kids were Brianna’s, they were practically spitting images. McKayla also, interestingly enough, had a storytime video while she rode in the back of a car to Brianna’s house. From the video, Tommy took note of a few street signs.

It was now 9pm and Tommy was about to leave when he remembered Alice was still here, she was too young to be alone. He quietly walked to his bedroom and peeked in to see her completely passed out. With a small smile, he closed the door again. It wouldn’t be long, she’d be fine, right? Tommy shook his head. He didn’t have a choice, you can’t exactly go back on a deal with Trickster of all people, who knew what they’d do? His house was outside town anyways, nobody came by here.

Tommy left the house, incredibly nervous about leaving Alice, but he shoved it down. He shifted into Kratos and flew toward the city, he didn’t have a lot of time if he wanted to be successful.

Kratos found a mansion very near where McKayla’s video had ended. He was still up in the sky to avoid being spotted, the darkness and clouds covered him pretty well. He stopped his wings and began falling, shifting into a bird after a second and diving. Kratos snapped his wings out at the last second to catch himself and fluttered gently down to a window.

The lights were still on inside, but this room was empty. After flying around and checking a few windows, he found Brianna in her bedroom, looking at something on her phone while laying in bed. He watched her for a minute, analyzing her. Suddenly, a small knock rang out and caught Brianna’s attention. She immediately looked annoyed, standing up and yelling “this better be important!”.

The door opened to reveal a small child, the preschooler Kratos had seen in the photos. The kid was nearly unrecognizable, covered in bruises and cuts. Kratos was pretty sure the kid’s arm was broken.

“M-mama-a!” the kid cried. “Th-the flower holder thing f-fell and it h-hit me really hard…” He held out his crooked arm.

“My vase?!” Brianna yelled, eyes widening. She ran out of the room, shoving the child aside. Tommy took the chance to shift into a monkey and open the window, turning back into a small bird once inside. He darted after the woman as the child had after he’d gotten up. In the kitchen, there was a mess of blue glass, flowers, and water. Brianna looked as if smoke was going to come out her ears. She quickly turned on the kid.

“You broke my vase, you stupid little brat!” she screamed. The child cowered in terror. “I didn’t mean to!” he yelled back.

“Don’t raise your voice at me!” She smacked him across the face with such force that it sent the child to the floor yet again, landing on a piece of glass. He screamed louder, sobbing. Brianna walked to a closet and grabbed a baseball bat, coming back towards the kid with it in hand.

“Ma-ama! Please I sorry!” he wailed, face wet with tears. She swung the bat.

Kratos shifted into his demon-like form, catching the bat before it landed on the little boy. His yellow eyes gleamed furiously at the woman, who’s face had switched from rage to fear in a matter of seconds. He tightened his grip on the woman’s arms, his claws digging in. He snarled in her face like an animal and then threw her across the room. A loud thud sounded as she hit the hardwood floor, her arm now bent backwards. She wasn’t moving.

Tommy turned around and crouched down to the kid, softening his voice.

“Hey buddy, I know you’re scared and I’m sorry about that,” he started, looking the kid in the eyes. “I see you got hurt, do you want a bandaid?”

The kid looked at him hesitantly, still terrified. Kratos expected as much.

“Here, watch this!” Kratos shifted his eyes pink, then green, and back to yellow again. “What’s your favorite color?”

The kid looked curious now, staring at Kratos for a moment before pointing to the blue glass on the floor.

“You like blue? I do too, it’s a great color,” Kratos told the little boy. He made his eyes blue, changing between a few shades before landing on a sky blue. The little boy smiled.

“Can I get you that bandaid now?” Kratos asked with a smile in return. The child nodded. Kratos got up and dug through a few drawers before finding some. He carefully pulled the glass from the cut and placed some bandaids over it.

“All better!” he beamed. “Let’s go find your little brother.”

They found the baby in a crib, crying loudly. There was no blanket for him in there, and it smelled like he’d soiled his diaper long ago. Kratos frowned and scooped up the baby, who promptly screamed at the sight of him. He sighed, flipping his eyes through the colors of the rainbow while hushing the baby. It worked pretty well and soon the baby was silent. Kratos took the preschooler in his other arm and walked back downstairs. He found some cookies atop the cabinets. He grabbed one and gave it to the little boy, grabbing an apple sauce for the baby.

While the kid ate his cookie, Kratos helped the baby eat the applesauce. He pulled out his phone with the other hand, dialing 911.

“I have two kids in need of serious help. The address is ***********. Yes, please hurry. Um, there’s a baby and a preschooler, I’m not sure of their exact ages. I think the older boy has a broken arm, but both are covered in bruises and cuts. Alright, thank you.”

5 minutes later, sirens approached the house and cops burst through the door shortly after, paramedics in tow. Upon seeing Kratos, the officers aimed their guns.

“Release the children!” they demanded. Kratos nodded gently, moving slowly so they could see him. He stood up, towering over the officers, fear evident in their eyes. He began to approach, since the paramedics were behind the police.

“Not another step! We will shoot!” the cops yelled.

“Please, just take the kids, they need help.” Kratos held out the kids, a pleading look on his face. Both were sobbing again.

The police looked puzzled, but approached slowly, guns still aimed at him. The paramedics were restless behind them, watching the kids scream. Kratos gently set the kids on the floor in front of the police, stroking their heads comfortingly.

“Shh, it’s okay, they’re here to help you,” Kratos told the young boys, who were too busy screaming to notice. He stepped back and put his hands on his head. The police stepped aside to let the paramedics through, who quickly snatched up the kids and ran them to the ambulance, leaving moments later. The police still had their guns aimed at Kratos.

“There’s a body over there, she’s dead,” Kratos nodded his head to the right. Across the house, the cops spotted her. The lead officer gestured for a couple police to head over. They ran to the body, checking her vitals before shaking their heads sadly at the others.

“You’re under arrest, you have the right to remain silent,” the officer told him, approaching slowly. Kratos sighed.

“Look, buddy, I came for the kids. Now that I know they’re safe, I’ll be taking my leave. I don’t have time for this, someone is waiting for me back home,” Kratos informed him, smiling confidently.

“Not an option, you’re being detained.” The officers shot a taser at him.

“Ow! That was rude,” Kratos said, pulling the taser needles out of his arm and tossing it. “Again, I have to get going.”

Kratos opened his wings and gave a powerful flap, sending the officers back, which gave him time to fling himself backwards toward a large window. He smashed through the glass and took to the skies. He watched from above as police cars came speeding out from all over town, sirens blaring. He knew what they were looking for, and that they wouldn’t find it. He flew home, lazily changing back to his normal form and stumbling through his door, crashing into the couch in exhaustion. As soon as he hit the cushions, he was out.