Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Is the camera on? …There's a glowy dot, so I’m going to assume it is.” Muttered a rough voice, not yet visible to the camera.

Soft shuffling could be heard as a man sat down on a rusty metal chair. He wore chunky black glasses that distracted people from the vibrant blue eyes staring tiredly behind them. His hair was disheveled, a dirty blond color that appeared lighter due to the gray hairs that were scattered throughout his locks.

“If you're watching this, Tommy, then hello,” He began, “If it’s you, Clem, piss off.” Finishing his sentence with a light chuckle. While the man started with a joke, it was clear he was nervous, the way his hands fidgeted in his lap and the constant glances around the room.

“My name is Henry Innes. I used to be a scientist working for the infamous technology company: Oscorp. However, I had no choice but to leave after I discovered their plans to use my and my college's inventions to aid in taking control over Manburg.

You see, the president wanted to know if it was possible to take an animal's natural abilities, like their hearing or strength, an-and transfer those abilities to the human body.” Heny’s voice lowered, as if he was afraid someone was listening in.

“My team and I were tasked with making the idea a reality. We had been told that our research would be used to help people; however, after I accidentally eavesdropped on the President and one of his co-presidents, I learned that they would use our findings to take over the city.

Henry grabbed a small container out of frame and showed it to the camera. “In this container is a spider I had been experimenting on. The idea was that if the spider bit someone, its abilities would be transferred to the person bitten.

It took years of research to figure out if it was even possible for this to happen, but after my hard work, I think…I might have cracked it. Now, knowing what my spider would have been used for sickens me.

Luckily, the human DNA I used to experiment with was my own, so only people with my DNA can even dream of getting his abilities.

Even with my team's remarkable findings, I’m still unsure if we managed to give humans some of an animal's traits. Regardless, if we have figured it out, the right thing to do is destroy all of this research before it gets into the president's hands.

God forbid it gets into Wibur's hands,” Henry muttered. A haunted look flashed across his face briefly as if he was recalling a bad memory.

“With this aside, I have one last thing to say. Since I’ve stolen all of mine and my team's tech and research from Oscorp, I know they'll be after me. I’m willing to let myself die if it means saving the city from them, but I will not let them take my son.”

For the first time since the camera turned on, displaying absolute composure without a trace of nervousness. “Tommy, I know your impression of me must not be positive. After all, I left you and made Clementine swear never to show you this until your 18th birthday.

But everything I've done was for you. I took a job with the organization to provide for us, and now I’m leaving it for you. A life with Clementine and Grayson will be better than a life with me, kid.

I just want you to know that I love you and will never stop, even when I seem worlds away.”

With that, his hand reaches for the camera, and the screen turns black.

“Tubbo, I will bet you 100 primes to confidently tell me the exact directions out of this dump,” Tommy said to his best friend, Tubbo.

“Oh, piss off, Tommy, we aren’t lost. We're just a bit… turned around.” The brunette responds, definitely not worried that a serial killer could appear out of nowhere and just stab them.

Tommy rolls his eyes, glancing around the hall they are walking through. The walls they walked past were covered in dirt, graffiti, and cracks from age. In the corners were cobwebs that were covered in dust and grime. The floors weren’t any better, littered with trash and animal droppings. Safe to say, they were lost in a smelly, broken-down, abandoned house on the edge of town.

It was all Tubbo's fault.

“Tubbo, I’m pretty fucking sure that we’ve been through this hallway 3 times. You see that rock that kinda looks like a dick,” Tommy gestured to a rather crude-looking rock lying next to a graffiti-covered wall with an equally crude drawing, “Yeah, I’m positive that I pointed that out, like 30 minutes ago.”

“No, Tommy, we aren’t lost, ok. It’s an abandoned building, of course, it’s all going to look the same!” Tubbo snapped, looking back at the blond, becoming increasingly annoyed at his paranoid friend.

Now, you might be wondering,

“Why are two 16-year-old boys walking through a dark, musty, abandoned building on a Friday night?”

Well, today marks the day that the two have finally–temporarily– escaped from the prison that is high school, and as a way to start their three-month-long break, Tubbo wanted to do something dangerous.

Because if Manburg High couldn’t kill them, Tubbo would find another way.

They were originally supposed to be joined by their ridiculously tall, incredibly lame–Tommy’s words– friend Ranboo. However, they backed out the minute the idea was proposed because they had this unheard-of concept called self-preservation.

If only Tommy and Tubbo had that…

As the two teens continued to bicker about the directions, who was right, who was wrong, and if there was a God, they failed to notice the tiny spider making its way up Tommy’s leg.

“Listen, Tommy, I know for a fact that we aren't lost because we–” Tubbo stopped mid-sentence, focusing his attention on the spider slowly crawling up his best friend's thigh to his hip.

Tommy stared back at Tubbo, confused at his sudden silence. “Uh-hello, earth to Tubbo, why the fuck did you just stop tal-” “Tommy. Don’t move.”

The brunette interrupted slowly, raising his hand ready to smack the shit out of the spider that was nearing Tommy’s sleeveless arm.

As Tubbo slowly approached Tommy, his eyes locked on the little black and red menace, making Tommy grow more confused and slightly freaked out.

“Tommy, big man, don’t freak out, but you have a gigantic spider on your upper arm that looks like it really wants to bite you,” Tubbo said, inching closer to Tommy, ready to strike.

Tommy, who just won the Genus World Record for “Most Confused Person,” looked down at his elbow, which had a small black spider with red stripes on its legs.

…

“Awwwwwwwwww,” Tommy gushed. “Tubbo, look how cool it is! With the red stripes.”

Tubbo paused, hand still up in the air. Why wasn't he freaking out? Does he not realize that the spider looks like it's about to bite him??

Thoughts raced through Tubbo’s brain as he looked at his deranged friend, baby-talking to the most spider-looking spider he had ever seen.

A few seconds of Tommy gushing and Tubbo being confused passed. Then, out of nowhere, the ‘cute’ spider Tommy dubbed Shroud took the most aggressive bite into Tommy’s elbow.

Cue Tommy screaming bloody murder and Tubbo rushing up to him, desperately trying to pull the spider out of his friend's elbow, arguably one of the worst places to get bitten. It wasn’t an easy task, however, because Tommy was flailing his arms everywhere.

“DIAEPRIGBWAPIFUBWEBFWEQ JFPWBEI TUBBO ITS FUCKING BITING ME, SHROUDS FUCKING BITEING MEERIJHBEPIUFHRBP”

As Tommy screamed his ass off, the spider was flung off him and landed on the floor, dying in the process. (RIP Shroud)

The effects of the spider bite hit Tommy like a fucking train. He instantly felt an intense burning and pulsing sensation in his arm, making it impossible to move. Tommy gripped his arm in pain, releasing fast, shaking gasps as he fell to the floor.

“Shit! Tommy, are you alright?” Tubbo shouted, dropping to the floor and moving to hold his friend. “Do I fucking look alright to you, Toby?” Tommy yelled as he felt the pain grow and spread to his upper body. The burning sensation only grew, and the sudden tightness around his chest made breathing difficult.

“Fuck okay, here, just hold my hands, Tommy, and breathe and focus on something besides the pain.” Propping him against the wall, Tubbo helped him sit in a more comfortable position.

“How the fuck am I supposed to focus on anything but the pain?” Tommy spits out between heavy breaths, finding it hard to speak due to his chest becoming tighter and tighter.

As the pain spread to his head and the rest of his body, it was hard for Tommy to keep his eyes open. The loss of energy from wandering around the abandoned house, combined with the excruciatingly painful bite, made the idea of sleep too enticing to resist.

Not knowing how to help Tommy properly, Tubbo tried to reassure his best friend, “Ok, we uh, we need to get you back to Clemintines. Yeah! You have first aid kits there.” Tubbo rushes, proud of himself for thinking fast, “Um, can you walk?”

Tommy cradles his arm, sweat dripping everywhere. The aching pain in his arm has become noticeable, and a brain-splitting migraine has formed on the side of his head. Wanting nothing more than the comfort of his bed, Tommy quickly nods and attempts to get up.

Tubbo moves to hold onto his unwitting arm and helps Tommy to his feet. The pain has caused him to sway on his feet, and he slumps against the wall, eyes closed and still breathing heavily. “Why the fuck would Shroud do this to me…” He whines to Tubbo.

“It’ll be ok, man…I’ll get you and in bed, ok? It’ll be ok.” Tubbo responds, trying to be positive for both his and Tommy’s sake. Finally, holding Tommy in a comfortable position, he led him to the end of the hallway to find the exit.

“...Hey Tubbo?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure you know where the exit is?”

…

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

Click

"For today's news, missing person cases in the Badlands have reached an all-time high. Many speculate that this has to do with the emergence of many organized crime groups. However, the evidence behind these claims is little to none. 

On the other side of town, Mayor J. Shlatt held a press conference stating that if he were to be re-elected, he would ensure that the troubles in the Badlands would be taken care of."

The news broadcast cuts to a moment from the press conference.

Stood in front of the flashing cameras, resting his arms on the wooden podium, Mayor J. Shlatt looked down at the sea of shouting journalists with an egotistical smirk plastered on his face. 

"Mr. Shlatt, what will you do if re-elected?" One reporter shouts up at the man. Shlatt leans forward onto the podium and makes eye contact with the camera. 

"When I get re-elected, I promise to take care of the broken-down and rat-infested hole that is the Badlands." He finishes with a confident smirk as the crowd goes wild, shouting even more questions at the man. 

"And there you have it, folks, our mayor has officially declared that he has dedicated most of his campaign to promise the end of the Badlands. The question is, will he be able to do it?" 

Click

"That's fucking stupid."

"Purpled!" 

"What? Am I wrong? When has Shlatt ever followed through with a promise?" 

Nestled deep in a worn apartment in Manburg, a young man, no older than 18, with ashy blond hair and bright blue eyes, stares at an older woman with annoyance. The woman stares back at the boy and sighs tiredly. 

"Ok, sure, Shlatt has made some promises that he has yet to fulfill, but one, the man has done a lot for this dead-end city," The woman starts, her hands resting on her hips and her dirty blond curls messily framing her face, unkept due to stress. "And two, don't swear!" The woman, Clementine, snaps and points her finger at the boy. 

"Yeah, he keeps all the promises he makes to the rich snobs in the city, then just leaves everyone else to themselves." The boy, Grayson or Purpled as he liked to be called, responded. 

Clementine simply shakes her head and mutters to herself, "I can't do this right now." She grabs her purse and coffee and rushes to work. 

Purpled watched his mother go, clenching his jaw. Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from down the hall, his cousin's room. 

"The fuck…?"

"Tom—wake up d—are yo—dead?" 

Tubbo kneeled over Tommy, his eyes filled with worry. After a second passed, Tommy let out a loud groan, regaining consciousness. 

Slowly, as he peered open his eyes, Tommy first noticed his intense fever-like symptoms and the aching feeling in his wrists. 

"Oh, thank fuck you aren't dead." A voice said above him, clearly relieved. "If you want to use someone's dead body for experiments, you need their consent first."

"The fuck?" Tommy let out, his voice tired and raspy from just waking up. Tubbo quickly propped him against something soft and fluffly. "Right after you brutally accused me of not knowing how to get out of the house, you fainted, boss man." Tubbo updated him. 

The brunette's brows furrowed in concern, "Are you alright? You look deathly pale…" He moved to take something out of his jacket pocket. "I took the spider because I wanted to Google what type it was to see if it was poisonous or not."

"Ugh, I don't even remember fainting; how long was I out?" Tommy rested his head, finally opening his eyes. The first thing they landed on was a poster of Animal Crossing, his favorite video game.

…

"How the hell are we at my house???" Tommy exclaimed, his headache momentarily forgotten. 

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I carried you walked back, you're welcome by the way." Tubbo answered nonchalantly, as if the feat of him lugging his lanky friend back to his apartment, which was about a 30-minute walk, was no big accomplishment. 

"Sorry if I got some dirt on you. I did drag you most of the way." He added while typing something on his phone. 

Tubbo turned his phone to Tommy, showing the blond a picture of a black spider resembling Shroud. Then he lifted his hand, holding up the very dead and very squished spider. "It looks the most like the black house spider, but the red stripes throw me off…."

Tubbo began to give an in-depth explanation of the black house spider, but it fell on deaf ears as Tommy's gaze was locked on the spider. "...There have also been reports of sweating and vomiting because of the bites-" 

As if Tubbo commanded it to happen, Tommy rushed forward and puked. 

"Oh."

…

The door to Tommy's room slammed open with a bang. Purpled, who was breathing heavily, let out a sound of disgust. 

"Ewwwwww! I knew I heard something gross coming from here." Purpled fake gagged, causing Tubbo to roll his eyes.

"Why are you here, man? Don't you have work?"

"Don't you have a life outside of this dork?" 

Tubbo just deadpanned at the boy, setting the trash can he had placed next to Tommy's bed aside.

"Whatever, just make sure that shit is gone by the time I get back." Purpled walked away, making sure to flip off the two because he was a gentleman like that. 

Tommy wiped his mouth, dirtied his sleeve. Whining, he fell back on his mattress. "Why is everything so loudddddd?" The boy shut his eyes, pained breaths leaving him.

Tubbo stared down at his friend, worried. "Just get some sleep, man, hopefully you'll feel better later today.

Not wanting to leave his friend, Tubbo texted his parents to let them know where he was. Then, he climbed to the top bunk of Tommy's bunk bed and got under the covers. 

6 years ago 

The air in the room constricted as he entered, casting a looming presence over the huddled group. The air was thick with an unspoken dread; the soft breaths of the group sounded like thunder in the quiet. As his footsteps echoed against the sterile, cold floor, his face slowly warped into a twisted smile.

It was too sharp and didn't quite fit on his face. It was as if an unknown entity, disguised as a human, was trying to form a smile but couldn't get it right. His eyes were filled with a dark, burning disgust for everyone in the room; he saw them only as unwelcome roaches in his home rather than as people. No one dared to meet his gaze, gluing their eyes to the floor. 

After what seemed like an eternity, his steps hushed as he settled, facing the group of shaking souls kneeling before him. His eyes carefully scanned the sweating roaches beneath him, noting the tears forming in some of their eyes and the white knuckles grasping at nothing. 

The man tucked his arms in his worn, pure white lab coat pocket as he let out a pleasant sigh, shattering the insufferable silence. One unfortunate soul let out a shaky sob as it curled in on itself. Instantly, the man was in front of it, bending down to its level; failing to meet its, the roach's head pointed at the floor. 

Raising one hand, covered in aged scars, the man grabbed the roach's chin and forced it to meet his gaze. The tears it kept stored in its waterline cascaded down its face, "Please…." It mumbled, trembling in fear.

"I had no idea, none of us-" The roach cut off, letting out choking gasps. Its eyes lowered shakily, taking in the scalpel stabbed into its lower stomach. Its white lab coat was stained a bright red, as the scalpel twisted deeper into its chest before getting violently ripped from its chest and dropped to the floor.  

The other members of the group could only stare at the floor in horror. Too afraid to even breathe out of fear, they would face the same fate as Clara. 

The man in the trenchcoat slowly rose and returned to his original spot, acting as if nothing had happened.

Acting as if Clara's corpse wasn't staining the pure white floor red. 

Chapter Text

Tommy jolts awake, heart pounding loudly against his chest. Still disoriented, he rubs his eye with his hand, a lame attempt to clear his blurry vision. When he tries to pull back, something's wrong; his hand won’t move. 

Still covering his left eye, Tommy tries harder to pull his left hand back from his face. Using his right hand, he tugs on his stuck arm, trying to pry it off.

Only for that hand to get stuck too. 

“What the fuck?!” 

Tripping out of his messy bottom bunk, Tommy trashes around his room trying to dislodge his hands from his body, screeching. 

With a comedic pop sound, his hand unsticks from his eye, the sudden movement causing the boy to trip over himself and fall on his ass. 

Something was wrong

Tommy thought, lying on the floor, sprawled out like a starfish. His skin buzzed softly with static electricity. Through breaths, he tried to make sense of what was happening.

A few hours ago, he was miserable. Puking everywhere, aching everywhere…and now? He felt great, like really great. Like he could hop up and run three miles without breaking a sweat. 

Loud, like insanely loud shuffling, broke Tommy out of his thoughts. Looking up, Tommy saw Tubbo shifting in his top bunk, somehow still asleep despite Tommy's loud screaming and thrashing from earlier. 

Covering his ears, Tommy winced; the noise was too loud to handle. It felt like he somehow turned up the volume in real life; seemingly normal noises were amped up to overwhelming levels.

Confused and overwhelmed, Tommy rushed out of his room, the small, loud space overwhelming the boy.

Becoming more aware of his hearing, Tommy noticed he could hear conversations happening in the neighbouring rooms. He knew the walls of his apartment were thin, but they weren’t that thin!

“Ugh…what’s going on…”

Shaking his head, Tommy tried to block it out and got some cereal from the cabinet. 

He quickly quit eating it, the sound of him chewing like bullets going off in his head. 

Lying on the couch, Tommy mindlessly watched a bird make her nest outside through a window. Unplugged gaming headphones rested on Tommy's, blocking out most of the noise. 

Despite the headphones, Tommy could still softly hear Tubbo jump out of the bunk and walk to the living room, yawning.

“Hey, boss man, how are you feeling?” 

“There is something wrong with me.”

Tommy stated numbly. Before Tubbo could ask him to elaborate, his eyes widened as Tommy showed him his hands.

Without looking away from the bird, Tommy showed Tubbo his hands. Stuck on them like glue, there were various household objects. A small ruler, an eraser, a random key, a business card, and a penny.

Tubbo gaped at his hands, stepping closer. All of a sudden, all the objects fell from Tommy's hands, scattering across the floor. 

“I can also hear your heartbeat from over here with headphones in, and I can smell mint toothpaste coming from you.”

…

“So this all happened after the bite?”

Tubbo asked, examining Tommy's arm carefully. He pressed around his arm and wrist, watching his finger stick to certain parts.

“Yeah, fucking Shroud messed with me and my–”

Fwip 

Before Tommy could finish a white…something…flew out of his arm and hit Tubbo in the face.

“Ack–” Tubbo fell back in shock, trying to pry the white substance off his face.

A spiderweb. A fucking spider web??

Tommy jumped from the couch, trying to help Tubbo get the webs??????? Off his face.

“Holy shit, Tubbo omg, what the fuck, what the fuck.” 

“Mphmmm mphmmm mahpppp!!”

Tubbo shouted incoherently, thrashing around as Tommy tried getting the webs off his face.

“Yeah, I’m fucking trying, man! This shit is indestructible or something!”

“Mphmpp!”

“I don’t know where it came from! You were the one all up in my arm!”

…

“What. Was. That.”

“How am I supposed to know?”

Two hours. It took two hours for the…spider webs….to dissolve and free Tubbos' face.

In that time, Tommy tried anything to get another web to shoot from his wrist. 

He flicked his wrist, tapped different parts of his wrist, and tried the same on his other hand. No luck. His saying “Go web, go!” also, surprisingly, didn’t do shit. 

At the same time, Tubbo was going insane. A lot of screaming he did…thrashing too. Honestly, he was really making a mess of Tommy's living room; maybe he should have kicked him out. 

Back to what's important. 

“It’s obviously whatever was in that spider's venom that did this to you.”

“First off, great detective work, who would have thought that. Second, the spider’s name is Shroud, put some fucking respect on her name.” Tommy says cheekily, still examining his wrists.

“Respect?” Tubbo repeats slowly. “You want me to respect the thing that completely fucked you up?”

“Fucked me up? Bitch I’ve got like superpowers now or some shit, just gotta make it work again.”

Tubbo stared blankly at his best friend, maybe ex-best friend by the end of this. How could he act so chill about this? His senses are messed up, and he’s now shooting webs from prime knows where. 

“Tom, we have no idea what else the spider–” Tommy glared at the boy. “...what else Shroud did to you! What if you’re like, dying or something?!”

Tubbos' worries fell on deaf ears as Tommy leaped up with joy, another white web shooting out of his wrist.

“Yes! I did it, let's fucking go!” Tommy pointed his wrist at a blank wall, shutting one eye as if he were aiming a gun.

Fwip!

“Bullseye!” Tommy shot his arms in the air excitedly, the wall now covered in a large web.

Tubbo just stared, amazed at his friend. His worries were still present, but even he couldn’t ignore how cool that was. 

“What did you do, Will?” 

A disappointed sigh escaped his lips as he stared at his son. 

Standing in the doorway, Will rolled his eyes. His once pristine lab coat had blood splattered all over it, some of it dripping onto the tiled floor. 

“They found out. Realized what they were doing and refused to keep on doing it…If I didn’t get rid of them, they’d just run off like that other guy.”

He hissed, glaring at the floor. “None of them could do what we wanted anyway.”

His father leaned back, tilting his head. “So they deserved to die?”

Will looked up, his eyes bore into his father's, unblinking.

“Yes.”