Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You fucking idiot!!!” 

“What do you want me to do? What’s done is done.” 

“What in the world were you thinking?!” A young boy paced around the small living room in his apartment. Little horns sticking just above his messy brown hair. “We are barely making ends meet as is! Why the hell would you get yourself fired like that!?” 

“I wasn’t thinking obviously. Besides, that lady was being a total bitch.” The other boy sat nonchalantly on the couch seemingly unbothered by his roommates shouting. “Don’t worry Tubbo, I'll just find another job.” 

Tubbo took a deep breath in and sighed, “Listen Tommy, I don’t want to move back in with Techno. I know you don’t want to move back in with him either.” Tubbo shoved his laptop into his backpack. “Figure it out! I’ll send you different places to apply to. You better apply to all of them. Got it?” 

Tommy saluted, “Sir yes sir.” 

Tubbo put on a mask and tossed his hood over his head. “I’m leaving! See ya!” Tubbo left, leaving Tommy alone in the apartment to his own devices. 

“He worries too much.” 

Tommy Innit, legally known as Thomas Underscore, had just gotten fired from his job as a barista at a shitty cafe. Blonde hair and bright blue eyes, he was 18 years old living in a run down apartment with his best friend Tubbo. Despite their friend’s offer to get them a place in the middle districts they refused, insisting that they wanted to take care of things themselves. Which resulted in the current situation. 

With no job and Tubbo currently studying at college, money was now an even bigger problem than it was before. It didn’t help that Tommy and Tubbo were from the lower districts. District 13 to be exact. The city itself had 20 total districts. Districts 1-5 were the upper districts, 6-10 middle, 11-15 lower, and 16-20 were referred to as the abandoned districts.Tommy had been born and raised in district 13 which wasn’t the poorest district but they weren’t exactly financially stable. They lived in district 10 for a while with a friend, but Tommy didn’t want to burden him now that he was 18. 

Tommy sighed and booted up the PC that Tubbo put together using scraps that Tommy found in the garbage. Tubbo had already sent him several job applications that he had to apply for. Tommy clicked through them and filled out all the information needed. 

He paused looking at a job that stood out. Assistant Needed At Hero Tower. 

Tommy scoffed, “An assistant huh. For those pricks? Ha! Yeah Tubbo, I really want this job, it suits me soooooooo welllll.” Tommy still applied for the job, but moved on afterwards thinking nothing of it. 

Time passed and eventually it was dark outside. Tubbo was back, typing something on his laptop. Tommy was watching the news off his phone as he waited for water to boil. Nothing too interesting. Just the usual headlines about heroes like Philza saving the day, rumors and speculation about the syndicate, different issues going on in the middle and upper districts. 

Something caught his attention though. The mention of a new vigilante going around district 13. All photos of them were only seen as glitchy messes which made it impossible to make out what the vigilante actually looked like. 

Tommy smiled, “Tubbo check this out! Recognition!”

Tubbo rolled his eyes, “Keep telling yourself that Tommy. Get the water.”

“You’re no fun. After we eat I'll head out.” Tommy poured the water into instant ramen and set one in front of Tubbo. “Everything alright man? You've been typing for a while now.”

“Mechanical engineering is stupid.”

“...wait, I thought you were a comp sci student.”

“I'm both. You know this.”

“No wonder you're so stressed all the time.” Tommy started eating, causing Tubbo to pull himself away from work and do the same. “Any luck with friends?”

Tubbo had just started going back to school. Well, not just started. It had been a month since the spring semester had started. Tubbo had been pretty busy since then. 

“I barely have the time to deal with your bullshit. How do you expect me to deal with others?”

“Hey you're the one that didn't want to live in the dorms.”

“It lowers tuition costs if I commute.”

“Your commute is shit!”

“I can run, it's alright. I don't really need friends anyways. Besides, you don’t have any either.” 

“Hey!” Tommy pointed his fork at him, “I can make friends so much easier compared to you.” 

“Please, those are acquaintances at best.”

“Fuck you!” 

“See?” Tubbo laughed. “Can’t even come up with a decent rebuttal, so you’re just swearing.”

“I'm leaving.” 

Tommy put on a mask over his face and motorcycle goggles with tinted lenses over his eyes. He put on some black sweatpants and sneakers. He drew the drawstrings on his hoodie tight, making sure none of his hair stuck out of it. 

“Belt.” Tubbo reminded. 

Tommy grabbed the belt and buckled it around his waist. It had everything he needed for a successful patrol. His grappling hook, a panic button, and zipties. Finally he put on some gloves, ready to leave.

Tubbo tossed him an earpiece, “Don't die.”

Tommy smiled, “I won't.”

Tommy disappeared in a flash of particles and reappeared in the alleyway a few streets down from his apartment. Pointing his grappling hook upwards he used it to bring himself up onto the roof. It was another wonderful night out on the streets of L'manberg. Tommy looked down at the city from above ready to start his patrol as the up and coming vigilante in district 13. 

Today was a boring night. Nothing exciting was going on. Which was good! When things are boring there's nothing bad happening. As he helped curb the crime rate in the streets, he eventually made it to the border between the 13th and 14th districts. 

“Hey kid.” Another vigilante waved from down in an alleyway. “Down here.” 

Dressed in his iconic multi-colored trench coat sat Traveler, a vigilante from district 14. Known for never being spotted by heroes no matter how hard they look. 

Tommy muted his end of the earpiece before he parkoured down, “Not a kid.”

“No voice changer, no talking.” Traveler reached into the messager bag that rested over his shoulder and tossed Tommy a notepad and pen. “I've told you this before.”

“Not my fault I can't afford a voice changer,” Tommy wrote, sitting down next to him.

“You build the rest of your gear, how is that any different?”

“Parts for that are harder to find.”

Traveler laughed, “Well, I saw the news. You're making a name for yourself, kid.”

“Not-” Tommy didn't finish writing the sentence as Traveler tossed him something. Tommy fumbled the catch, letting whatever Traveler passed to him hit the ground. 

“Sorry, sorry, I should've warned you.” Traveler picked it up and handed it to Tommy properly. It was a can of red spray paint, the same color as Tommy's hoodie. “Here. Let people know your name, kid. Being an urban legend is fun, but you should pick out a name before the media gives you one.” 

Tommy handed him the notepad and pen. He signed a quick “Thank you,” before grappling back onto the roof. 

Traveler said from the alley, “Have fun kid!” 

Tommy sped across the rooftops, remembering to unmute himself, “Any updates bee boy?” 

“We will be talking later.”

“Car robbery, brb.” Tommy parkoured down a building and leapt off the fire escape he was descending by sending a flying kick towards the man's head. The man's head slammed into the car. He didn't want the man to die so he made sure he was still breathing before tying his wrists with zip ties. 

Tommy leaned the man against the wall of a building and shook the spray paint. He sprayed out his name with big red letters without much decoration or flair. He smiled at his handiwork until he heard the sound of wings coming towards him.

Tommy tossed the spray can at the direction of the sound. Philza was flying straight towards him. He quickly pressed the button on his belt and dashed into an alley.  

Tubbo frantically spoke into the earpiece, “Tommy? Tommy what the hell is going on?”

Heroes never went to the lower districts unless they were hunting down vigilantes. Tommy ran as fast as he could, hearing the sound of wings as  Philza chased after him. After what felt like hours of running and weaving Tommy was starting to feel out of breath. He got into a super narrow alleyway and used his grappling hook to make it up to the roof. 

It was narrow enough that Philza couldn't open his wings wide enough to follow. Philza paused and looked up as Tommy swung away. He turned around and went back to the spot where police were detaining a man that seemed to have a very bad concussion. 

“Sir!” One of the men approached him. “The vigilante was using this to graffiti the wall.”

“A vigilante doing graffiti? What did they draw?” Philza followed the officer to the graffiti. 

“It says Theseus.”

“Like the myth?” 

“Seems so.” The officer sighed, “Well, we'll take this guy. Have a good night Philza.”

“You too.” 

The officers drove away, but Philza remained. He looked at the freshly painted wall reading the name over and over again in his brain. “Theseus. I'll make sure to remember that name.” 

--

Tommy teleported back to his apartment, glitchy particles following behind. He collapsed onto the couch breathing heavily. Tubbo quickly got a cup of water, “Holy shit! Tommy, are you okay? What happened?” 

Tommy pulled down his mask and started chugging the water, “Philza happened.”

“What!? Why the hell is he here?” 

“Hell if I know! He was probably going towards 14th and happened to spot me.”

“Speaking of 14th,” Tubbo ripped the goggles off Tommy's head, “I told you to stop talking to Traveler! I'm not stupid I know you muted to talk to him!” 

“I just happened to see him.” Tommy started hiding all his vigilante gear. “Why do you hate him so much anyway? He's the only reason I've survived this long doing vigilante shit.”

“He's suspicious. I don't trust him. Considering all your trust issues, I'm surprised you do.”

“Traveler is just hard to read. If he wanted me gone, he would've done something already.”

“...alright. Call it a night then. You need all the energy you can get finding a new job.” 

“You sleep too.” 

Tubbo shoved Tommy off the couch. “You take the bed. I'll sleep here.”

“Goodnight Tubbo.” 

“Night.”

Interview after interview Tommy wasn't able to find a job. There was one more interview left that week. It was the one to be an assistant at the hero tower. It paid the most by far, but Tommy really didn't want to work there. The tower was in the center of district 1 which was pretty far. Plus he was a vigilante. I didn't help that pretty much all of Tommy's legal documents were forged, saying he was 21 instead of 18. It wasn't a big difference, but in L'manberg you aren't an adult until you turn 20. 

Tubbo graduated from high school early and managed to get into university at 19, and Tommy did the same except chose not to go to college. He wanted to start working as soon as he could, but most of the better paying ones wouldn’t let some teen work for the same pay and benefits. 

Legally speaking, Tommy shouldn't have been able to apply in the first place, but here he was. Walking into the hero tower lobby he immediately felt out of place. A bunch of rich snobs looking for a job only to improve their social standing. Compared to everyone in full suits, his slightly stained white button up and jeans stuck out like a sore thumb. He didn’t know how he made it to the interview stage, but here he was! 

“Excuse me?” A woman approached him with a smile. “What brings you to the tower” 

Tommy smiled, “I’m here for the assistant interviews. I got an email about them. Is this the right place?” 

“Yes! Follow me please!” She led him to a desk and sat down, typing on a computer. “What is your name?” 

“Thomas Underscore.” A lie. His name was Tommy Innit, but ever since he woke up in that hospital that name was forgotten from the world. “What’s yours?”

“My name is Kristen, I’m a front desk assistant here at the tower.” She handed him a visitor's pass and a lanyard. “Take the elevator up to the 10th floor. Interviews are being conducted there. Good luck!”

“Thank you.” Tommy put the lanyard around his neck and headed towards the elevator. He took a deep breath as he waited for one of them to reach the lobby. Once inside he closed his eyes and focused on the beeping as the elevator reached each floor.

He found a chair to sit in as he waited. He spotted the room where the interviews happened. People walked in and out every 10 to 30 minutes. He wasn’t sure when his turn would be, but he was bored waiting for it. He thought an interview with this many applicants would be group interviews not individual. Tommy brought a book to read in the meantime. 

“Hello!” Someone approached him. “Would you like some refreshments?”

Tommy looked up from his book standing in front of him was the hero Blue Bird. Long brown hair, bright blue wings, and her signature gas mask. Tommy smiled, “What kind of refreshments?”

“Just some water and snacks. Any allergies?”

Tommy shook his head. “None that I'm aware of.” He was up for free food though. If he didn’t want any of it, he would just give it to Tubbo. 

“Here you go!” She handed him a water bottle and a paper bag filled with snacks. “Good luck on the interview!” Blue Bird walked away to another person and said similar things, except the guy she chose to talk to next made more conversation. 

Tommy went back to reading and after what felt like forever, he was finally called in. It was then he realized he had no idea who the assistant would be working for. Stepping in he saw Philza, the number 1 hero sitting at a table looking over a paper. Hearing the door open he smiled, “Oh! Hello!” He put the paper aside and picked up a new one.

“Hello.” 

“Have a seat, uh,” Philza read over the paper. “Mr. Underscore.” 

Tommy sat down, “Nice to meet you.” 

“Let’s get started then,” Philza read over a paper that Tommy assumed was information about him. “So, why exactly do you want this job?” 

Tommy sighed, got comfortable, and started making sure he would never get this job, “Money.” 

“Alright, alright-” Philza did a double take, “I’m sorry!?” 

“What?” Tommy shrugged. “I lost my last job and need a new one. I’ve just been applying for everything. Dreams don’t pay my bills y’know.” 

“Sorry, most people aren’t as upfront about that. How did you lose your last job? It says on your resume you worked as a barista.” 

“It’s customer service. How do you think I lost my job? Some lady was picking on one of my co-workers, so I gave her a piece of my mind.” Tommy recalled the woman picking on the part timer. They were having a bad day too. Something about a group project that wasn’t going well. “She deserved it, but my boss had to fire me.” 

“I see…” Philza wrote something down. “Tell me a bit about yourself then.” 

“Why? You have all my information down on those papers.” Why was everything on papers anyway? Tommy assumed that the tower would have state of the art technology, and yet the number 1 hero was doing everything on paper. 

“Documents don’t give me a sense of your personality.” 

“Fine. My name is Thomas Underscore, but I prefer going by Tommy. I’m from district 13. I live there with my roommate. I’m 21 years old. As for powers, I don’t have any.” 

Asking about what a person's powers was generally considered rude and was a pretty personal question. When you told someone your powers that was a sign of the highest level of trust. However, Tommy kept his powers a secret simply because he had no clue what they really were. Instead, he said that he didn’t have any. In a place like the tower, knowing the powers of employees was needed or else there would be security risks. Like a vigilante getting a job there. 

“You don’t have powers? That was on your application. Most people wouldn’t announce that so freely.” 

“It’s not exactly a secret.” 

“I see. Is there anything that you enjoy doing in your free time?” 

“Reading.”

“You don’t seem like the type to enjoy reading.” 

Tommy laughed, “I get that I lot.” 

“I was surprised when you said you’re 21.” Philza put down the pen. “I thought you were a teen.” 

“If I was, I wouldn’t have been able to apply.” 

“You look incredibly young.” 

“That’s malnourishment for you!” Tommy laughed seeing the way Philza’s smile dropped. “I’m joking. Mostly. The orphanage didn’t exactly have much food.” 

“Oh…” 

“Don’t pity me Mr. Hero, I’m eating just fine now.” Tommy leaned back. “I’m just lanky.”

“No family then?”

“Just my roommate and a friend of ours. He took us in when we were kids, but we moved out of his place recently. He should be one of my emergency contacts.” 

Philza hummed, “Are you aware of the risks of working at the tower?” 

“Obviously, but this place has pretty much every hero in the city. Whatever happens, I'll be fine.”

Philza stood up and extended a hand, “It was nice meeting you Mr. Underscore.”

Tommy stood up and shook Philza’s hand, “Same here.” Tommy left the tower feeling confident that he would be receiving a rejection email in a couple days.

After all the interviews were done, Blue Bird walked into the interview room with a cup of tea, “You doing alright Phil?” She handed him the cup. 

“Just fine Jaiden. Did anyone give you trouble?” 

“Nah, just a couple people trying to make connections. It was more annoying than anything else.” Jaiden smiled. “So, do you know who you’ll hire to be your new assistant?” 

“No clue.”

“You better figure it out soon! Do you know how hard it was to keep Chayanne and Tallulah out of the room? They really need the help.” 

Philza sighed, “Give me time.” 

“Is there anyone you have in mind?” 

“...well. There was one person.” 

“Tommy!!!!” Tubbo shook him awake. “Wake up stupid!!!!” 

“Wuh?” Tommy rubbed his eyes, “Did you destroy something again?” 

Tubbo shoved his phone into Tommy’s face, “You got hired!” 

Tommy sat up and grabbed Tubbo’s phone, “WHAT!? Holy shit. Why the fuck did the tower decide to hire me?!” 

With that, the up and coming vigilante of district 13th was now working for the people that wanted to lock him up. This was going to end horribly. 

Chapter Text

Tommy made his way to the tower, tired out of his mind. He contemplated sleeping on the train, but he wasn’t sure if he would wake up at the stop. Once off the train he walked towards the tower, the crowds were worse in district 1 compared to district 13. 

Tommy wasn’t watching where he was going and accidentally bumped into someone. “Ow!” Tommy looked at the guy. They were wearing a hat covering their eyes and hair, and mask but what really stuck out was that this guy was taller than Tommy. That wasn’t that weird on its own, Tommy knew people were taller than him, but they were even taller than Techno! 

“Sorry man,” Tommy apologized. “I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’ll be on my way, sorry again.” 

The person stammered, “T-Tommy!?” 

Tommy froze in his tracks, “How the hell do you know my name?” The person bolted in the opposite direction. “HEY! HEY GET BACK HERE!” Tommy chased after them. They turned the corner in an alley, and when Tommy got there they were gone with purple particles in the place where the stranger would be. 

“What the fuck.” Tommy groaned, “I’m going to be late.” 

Tommy ran to the tower, and made it there late enough that he would be able to use the excuse of not knowing the area very well. “Hello,” He walked up to the receptionist's desk. “My name is Thomas Underscore. I got hired for the assistant job.” 

Kristen smiled, “It’s you! How wonderful! Here's your badge, it gets you into different places in the tower. I'll call down Chayanne in a moment, he'll help you get situated. Don't worry Thomas, everyone here is lovely to work with.”

“Tommy. Just call me Tommy.”

“Alright Tommy!”

Suddenly a door slammed open as Chayanne rushed from the stairs, “Kristen!!!!!!” He dashed over to the front desk. “The new assistants here? Where?!” 

“Slow down Chayanne. He's right here. Tommy,” Kristen gestured to him. “This is Chayanne.”

Tommy was startled with a teen around his age, maybe a bit younger ran up to him. Chayanne rapidly shook Tommy's hand, “Nice to meet you!” 

“Nice to meet you too.”

Kristen sighed, “Sorry about him. He's just excited to have someone new to help. Him and Tallulah are probably some of the more overworked assistants here.”

“That's just because you technically aren't an assistant Kristen. Plus, me and Tallulah don't mind. Phil gives great bonuses. Wait, I'm not an assistant!!!” 

“You might as well be.”

“Hmph!” Chayanne led Tommy to the elevator, “Bye Kristen.”

“Bye!”

Chayanne smiled at Tommy, “So! When we get up you use your badge to scan into the door. That'll let you in.” The elevator opened. Tommy took a deep breath and stepped inside. Chayanne kept talking about how things worked, and how nice Phil and Tallulah were when he paused. “Tommy? Hey you alright?”

Tommy flinched, “Ah shit, sorry man. Claustrophobia y'know…” Tommy laughed nervously. “I just want this elevator ride to be over.”

“Fair! Philza's all the way up on the 80th floor. You could take the stairs like I usually do, but I only do that because I know I can-” 

Suddenly the elevator shook. The lights started flickering as the elevator stopped in its tracks. Glitchy particles appeared around the elevator buttons and machinery. Tommy dropped to the ground covering his ears and shutting his eyes tight. 

“I don't know what's happening, but don't worry! I'm a hero in training after all!” Chayanne looked down. “Woah. Tommy you need to breathe.” 

Tommy was hyperventilating on the verge of a panic attack, “I will breathe when we are out of this fucking elevator!” 

“If only Tallulah were here,” Chayanne looked around. “We're on floor 58… Shockwave was probably the reason this happened then.” Chayanne hit the emergency button in the elevator. He called Philza on his phone, “Hey Phil, do you think you could head to floor 58. The elevator stopped working. Tommy's not having a good time. Rightmost elevator on the left side. Oh, could you bring Tallulah too? To help Tommy calm down. No? Okay, just be quick. Yeah because there’s a lot of places I can go.”

Chayanne hung up and sat down next to Tommy, “Phil will be down soon. We can go bother the guy that caused this later.”

“This happen often?”

“First time this year. Surprised it didn't happen sooner.” 

“Hahaha,” Tommy curled in on himself, “Shit.” 

There was a knock on the elevator door, “Hello? Chayanne?” 

“Phil!” Chayanne leaped up and walked towards the elevator. “We’re in here!” 

Arguing was heard from the other side of the elevator, “Jack what the hell did you do this time?” 

“I haven’t done shit Philza!” 

Philza sighed, “Stepped back Chayanne, we’re going to pry it open.” 

The moment the doors were open Tommy stood up and ran out of there before collapsing on the floor, “I am NEVER getting in an elevator again.” 

“Shockwave now the new assistant is going to quit in less than a day! This is your fault!” 

“ME? How is this MY fault?” Chayanne and Jack started arguing. As Philza crouched by Tommy, “You alright mate?”

“I'll be fine.” Tommy mumbled. 

“Do you want to take the stairs up?”

“Sure.” Tommy pushed himself up. “Where are the stairs?” 

“Follow me.” Philza led him towards the stairs. 

Tommy glanced behind him, “Are they…”

“Hm? Oh. Leave them be. Chayanne will be up eventually.”

“If you say so.” Tommy looked up the staircase. “Floor 80 huh?”

“Sorry mate.”

“How many times are you going to apologize to me today?”

Philza laughed and started walking, “Depends on how the other two act. Are you sure you can go up these every day?”

“I live all the way in 13th. It's probably faster to walk up all the floors than walk here from my apartment.”

By the time they were at the 80th floor Chayanne had run up to meet them. Opening the door, Tommy saw a massive room. It looked more like a first class hotel suite than an office. A massive living room, a kitchen, it was clean and pristine like it was straight out of a movie. 

“Holy shit…”

“Your office is here!” Chayanne sped over to a door with a plate on it with Tommy's name. “We can get it changed to your nickname.” 

Phil gestured to some of the other doors, “We do sleep here most of the time, so me, Chayanne, and Tallulah have rooms over there. The room in between the two is off limits.”

“What about that one?”

“That room is exclusively investigative work. Maybe in the future you can help either me or Chayanne brainstorm ideas. My office is over there, same with Chayanne's.”

“We even have our own private training room! It's smaller compared to the main one downstairs, but it's specialized for us.”

Tommy was blown away. He opened the door to his office only to be greeted with an amazing view of the city in the far window in the back. The room was probably bigger than his whole apartment. Bookshelves, chairs, a massive desk with an amazing monitor setup. It was so much. “You can decorate it however you'd like.” Philza looked around the room. “Let me know what furniture you'd like and I'll be happy to pay for it.”

“Just like what Tallulah did. Her office is so comfy. I didn’t bother with decorating.” Chayanne knocked on the door next to Tommy's office. “Lullah! Tommy's here!” 

“Alright, you little shit leave her alo-”

The door burst open as a girl around the same age as Chayanne opened it. She had long black hair and a beanie. She was holding a notebook and pen, halfway filled with words. She looked Tommy up and down, smiled and shook his hand. She wrote in her notebook and showed it to Tommy, “Nice to meet you! My name is Tallulah! I'm an apprentice hero/Phil's assistant.”

Oh. Tommy knew sign language, so he spoke using that instead, “Nice to meet you. Do you know sign language?” 

Tallulah gasped. She shoved her notebook and pen into Chayanne's hands and beamed, “Yes! Chayanne and Phil don't. Also, I'm not deaf.”

“I figured but also I bet writing gets annoying sometimes.”

“I've been trying to teach Chayanne-”

“Hey you just said my name!” 

“She's just saying that she's been trying to teach you sign.”

“She has!” 

“Now, now,” Philza handed Tallulah her notebook. “Back to work you two. Chayanne, you’ll be coming with me to patrol later so rest up.” Tallulah frowned. “It's a late night patrol.” Tallulah went back into her office. 

Tommy went into his, “So what exactly am I supposed to be doing? 

“Well you are technically the 2nd assistant I've hired, so let's just start with things that Chayanne and Tallulah aren't doing.”

“I'M THE 2ND ASSISTANT?”

“I didn't see a reason to get one until Chayanne and Tallulah started complaining about it. Most things need to be done by me since they're top secret.”

Tommy was stunned. Philza was the #1 hero and he only had his apprentices help him with whatever work he had to do. “Who's the other assistant?”

“Well, he's more of an investigator than an assistant. You'll meet him eventually.”

He sighed, “Well what do you want me to do?”

Philza walked up to the monitor, “Well let's start with getting you into the system.”

Tommy took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, “Sure thing bossman.” Tommy sat down and adjusted the chair to his preferences. “I'm guessing most of what I'll do will be digital?” 

“Yeah, most of the physical paperwork is classified information. What you'll do is monitor and manage any media presence. Such as public opinion and any rumors circulating online. That and internal requests. You'll see emails about certain things.”

Tommy stretched, “Alright. So I need to check my emails and stuff?” Phil didn't respond. “Ey Philza, what's-” Tommy turned and saw Philza looking at him with a horrified look on his face. “...wrong?”

“Tommy, your arms. What happened?”

Tommy looked down at his arms. They were littered with old burn scars. “Oh. These? Nah don't worry about it man these are old scars. I'm from district 13, remember?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“...you were there Philza. You know what happened.”

“I don't-” 

Tommy quickly changed into a more upbeat attitude, “Come on, I gotta get set up boss man.”

“If you say so.”

Tommy groaned. He finally got a break other than his lunch break. He needed time for himself. Maybe a nap. The only problem being that he had practically no privacy. Tommy retreated into the stairs of the building and decided to explore. Heading up the stairs, he went up to the roof. Faster going up than down. To his surprise, someone was there. They were standing by the railing looking out at the city. They turned around hearing the door open, “...hi?” 

Red and green eyes looked at Tommy. They were wearing a mask and a pretty casual outfit, black jeans, a white shirt and a jacket. Considering how cold it was, Tommy was surprised he wasn't wearing more. “Shit sorry man,” Tommy turned around. “I was just looking for somewhere quiet-”

“You can stay!” They interrupted. “I-I'm Ranboo. Nice to meet you. This place is great if you're looking for somewhere quiet.”

Tommy walked over. “I'm Tommy.”

“You're the new assistant right?”

“That depends. Who's asking?” The guy was super shady. He wasn't looking Tommy in the eyes. Not even for a split second. 

He showed Tommy a badge, “I work as an investigator with Philza. He told me about you.” This was the guy that Philza didn't tell him about then. 

“How old are you?” Ranboo looked older than him, but Tommy lied about his age. 

“20.”

“I was right. You're younger than me.”

Ranboo chuckled, “What do I seem young to you?” 

“Yeah!” 

Ranboo sat down leaning his back against the railing, “I could say the same about you. Are you sure you're old enough to work here?” 

“I'm twenty fucking one.”

Ranboo laughed, “So where are you from?”

“13th. You?” Tommy wasn't used to making small talk like this. He was used to people talking about themselves, but this guy kept asking about him. 

“10th.”

“Huh.” Tommy sat down next to him. “Why'd you get a job all the way out here?”

Ranboo raised an eyebrow, “You're from 13th. That's further down than me.” Tommy stuck out his tongue. Ranboo smiled, “I'm a photographer. I sent photos of vigilantes to Karl Jacobs, I'm sure you've heard of him. Philza saw some of the photos and recruited me.”

“So why haven't you been helping Philza today?” 

“Well it's hard to investigate when you aren't given anything to work with. Just wait Phil will start getting you to investigate too. Especially with the new vigilante in district 13. Did you see that photo of the glitches? That's the photo that got me hired.” 

“That was you?!”

“Yep!” 

“What were you doing there?”

“Making money!”

Tommy laughed, “So, I gotta go back down soon. Are you coming with me?”

“No thanks. I technically wasn't supposed to come into work until it was dark. Something about wanting me to rest up before tonight.”

“...what's going on tonight?” 

“Hm?” Ranboo blinked, “I guess Phil wouldn't have told you. He's planning on hunting down that vigilante tonight. Apparently, the one from 13th has a name now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Ranboo finally made eye contact with Tommy. “His name is Theseus, but I don't think that name suits him very well.”

“What name do you think fits then?”

“That's a secret! Anyway, you should go,” Ranboo held out his hand to help Tommy up. “The stairs are a pain to walk down.”

Tommy grabbed Ranboo's hand and pulled himself up, “Are you staying up here?”

“Yeah I'll take a nap until Philza gives me a call.”

Tommy started walking away, “See ya around Ranboo.”

“...yeah.” Ranboo's voice broke. “See you.” 

Tommy was contemplating whether or not to patrol tonight. He knew Philza would be after him. Logically, he knew that not patrolling was the best idea, but not showing up would be even more suspicious. He didn't patrol yesterday, so he had to today. That's how Tommy operated, he was consistent with making up for lost time. 

That wasn't the only reason. He also wanted to see that photographer. He wasn't sure why, but something was up with the guy. He could ask Tubbo to find stuff on Ranboo, but Tubbo wasn't home yet. Apparently he had a group project to work on, so he was going to be back super late. 

Tommy was bored and was going to have no around for the rest of the night. He quickly ate some leftovers in the fridge and got suited up. This time, he left the earpiece behind. He would be fine. 

Tommy teleported to a random alleyway in district 13 and started on his night. He did his best to stay consistent with his normal routine while keeping his guard up higher than normal. He kept an eye out for Philza, since Chayanne was joining, it should be easier to spot the two. 

As Tommy jumped between the rooftops, he heard the sound of wings. He descended into an alley where Chayanne ran towards him with inhuman speed. Tommy jumped onto a dumpster right as Chayanne ran by. Not the fastest he's seen. If he had to guess, Chayanne had some kind of power relating to speed. 

“Sorry!!” Chayanne yelled up towards Philza. 

Tommy dashed onto the streets, pushing the dumpster in Chayanne's way. He turned the corner in an alley when he was suddenly surrounded by purple particles. Tommy thought to himself that he wanted a weapon as a dagger was created in his hand, surrounded by particles of his own. When the purple dissipated, he was standing on a rooftop in a completely different district. 

“I wasn't sure if Chayanne was going to get you or not.” Tommy immediately pointed the dagger towards the voice. “Sorry!” Ranboo stood there with his hands up. He was wearing a cloak now. “We're in one of the abandoned districts. Unless you have a better place to talk.”

Tommy stayed silent, pointing the dagger at him. Ranboo chuckled, “I know you won't stab me. Plus that dagger proves you have lots of different powers. The photos have that same glitchy effect. ”

“........” Tommy sighed. They were right. With a twirl of the dagger it turned into glitchy particles. He tapped Ranboo's shoulder and the world turned from the dark night of the city to a peaceful blue sky. 

Tommy's powers could make a pocket dimension since he first became an orphan. Within it time passed slower, an hour being equivalent to a minute outside of it. Tommy couldn't change what it looked like. It had always been a salt flat. A bright blue sky with clouds that met the earth, reflecting the sky. 

“It's so bright…” Ranboo looked around in awe. Tommy stared at him. “Sorry! You probably have questions?”

“...”

Ranboo sighed, “Well, I have a deal to offer you Theseus.” Tommy was intrigued, but couldn't voice his opinions. “I know sign language? I guess you just don't want to talk. W-Which I totally get! I just feel like that makes things harde-” 

“What do you want?” 

“Money.”

….what???? 

“Okay, let me explain, Philza hired me as an investigator to help track you down. Only problem with that is what happens when you get caught? So! Let me take photos of you while you patrol, and I'll give you a cut of my pay! Vigilantism doesn't pay, but working for the heroes does!” 

“So then you won't get me arrested?”

“Of course not! Then I'll probably lose my job. Also, I kind of lied about my age, so I'm at risk for getting fired at any point.”

“How old are you?” 

“19! I turn 20 in November this year.” Ranboo sat down. “It's not a huge lie, but I'm not even supposed to have a job at the tower in the first place.”

“Does your family know?”

Ranboo got strangely sullen, “Oh, uhm.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I ran away from home a couple years ago.”

Tommy could relate to that. “So you'll help me not get caught in exchange for photos?”

“Yeah! Do you think I'll be able to get some without the glitches? I know that's like, your whole thing.” Tommy shrugged. He wasn't sure why the photos turned out all glitchy anyway. It had to do with his powers, but photos of him not in his vigilante getup looked perfectly normal. 

“And the money?” 

“All in cash!” 

“Deal.”

Ranboo beamed. He leapt up and extended a hand. “Then I look forward to working with you Theseus!” 

Tommy shook Ranboo's hand. “How are you going to explain the teleporting?”

“Well only a couple seconds have passed outside of here, so I'll just teleport to the roof of that building and say you ran towards me so instincts kicked in.”

“That works. Go then.”

“Wha-”

With a wave of his hand the pocket dimension disappeared around them. Tommy proceeded to push Ranboo off the building. Ranboo didn't even scream. In a flash of purple particles Ranboo had teleported away. Tommy did the same, teleporting back to his apartment. He sat on his couch, taking off his goggles and lowering the mask, simply taking a moment to breathe. 

He was never telling Tubbo this. 

Ranboo teleported to the roof of the building he was supposed to be waiting on. Philza flew by him, “Are you alright? What happened?” 

“Theseus ran right towards me! I didn’t mean to teleport!” Ranboo repeated the lie from earlier. 

“Why were you on the ground in the first place?” 

“Better photos!” Ranboo smiled, lifting up his camera. “I figured the closer I get the less glitchy the photos will be!” 

Philza shouted, “So you decided to test it without informing us?! Ranboo you need to be less reckless when dealing with vigilantes!” 

Ranboo brushed off Philza’s scolding and looked through his camera. “I got the photos though.” 

“Are they less glitchy?” Chayanne had made his way up the building. “Let me see!” 

Ranboo frowned, “It’s even more glitchy. Maybe it’s because I got closer to him? More of him in frame to glitch.” 

“Where did they go anyway?” Chayanne huffed. “I ran all around the area and didn't see them. Did you see where they went Ranboo?” 

“Nope. Is that all for tonight then?” 

“It should be.”

“Bye then.” Ranboo teleported away, leaving Philza and Chayanne there to discuss. He sat on the couch of his apartment. 

His friend was writing things down in a book, flipping back and forth through the pages. Putting the pen down on the table he sighed, “What did you do?”

Ranboo smiled, “Hm? Me? Nothing.”

“I see that smile on your face. You did something Ranboo.”

“Don't worry Karl, I just made a new friend at work.”

Karl sighed, “If you say so. Don't do anything stupid.”

“No promises~!” 

Karl picked up his pen, “He was a terrible influence on you.”

Ranboo frowned, “Well, I'll just have to be an even worse influence.”

“I guess stupid cancels out stupid.”

“Don't you have to interview someone tomorrow. Stop making fun of me and go to bed.”

“I have someone to meet tomorrow actually.”

Chapter Text

“Alright Tommy out you go!” Tubbo was very eager to get him out of the house today. “I'm staying home today. My classes got cancelled.” 

“You don't need to fucking rush me man.” Tommy tied his shoes and grabbed his backpack. “At this rate I'll be at work early.”

“Better early than late!” Tubbo literally pushed him out the door. 

“Hey-” Tommy stumbled forward, tripping over his shoelace. 

“Bye bye!” Tubbo slammed the door behind Tommy.

Tommy sighed, “Bye bye.” He quickly tied his shoe, “Don't die while I'm gone!” 

A faint I won't was heard behind the door. Tommy smiled on his way to work. Hopping on the train he shut his eyes and hoped he would wake up by the time the train got to district 1. He was shaken awake. 

“Good morning!” Ranboo was sitting next to him. “This is our stop.”

Tommy's eyes widened as he jumped back, swatting away Ranboo’s hand, “What are you doing here!? Don't you work nights?”

Ranboo stood up, Tommy walked beside him, “I was told to come into work early today. I saw you sleeping on the train and decided to sit next to you since we were going to the same place.”

“Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night.”

“Same,” Ranboo smiled, but he looked exhausted. “I don't normally wake up until the afternoon. Coffee and energy drinks are going to keep me going today.”

“Hm. I should ask Phil for a coffee machine in my office.”

“There should be one in the kitchen.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

Walking into the tower, Tommy went up to Kristen's desk to say hello. She smiled, “Good morning Tommy! ” She almost dropped her tablet seeing the Ranboo next to him. “Ranboo!” 

Ranboo waved, “Good morning!” 

Kristen composed herself, “It's weird seeing you in the morning.”

“Philza told me to come in early today.”

“It's also weird seeing you go through the front door instead of somehow leaving through them.”

Tommy looked at Ranboo who chuckled nervously, avoiding any and all eye contact, “It's just faster if I head straight up…”

“It's also against policy.” Kristen glared before smiling slightly, “Just check in with me first then head up. Now shoo,” Kristen sat down. “You both have work to do.”

Going up the stairs Tommy asked, “What did you do to get Kristen mad?”

“I would use my powers to head straight to the 80th floor. Turns out that can be seen as a security breach, so…yeah. I feel bad but it's so much more convenient.”

“Just go through and then up. Simple as that.”

Ranboo groaned, “ I usually come here straight from my apartment…”

Tommy looked down at him, “...you live in 10th.”

“That's correct.”

“...weirdo,” Tommy continued up the stairs with Ranboo following his pace. He got to floor 80 and walked inside, “Good morning.” 

“Tommy!” Chayanne waved. He got up and ran towards Tommy and Ranboo, “Ranboo too! Good morning! Okay, so, we need your help.” Tommy started walking towards his office. “Both of you.” 

Tommy sighed, taking off his jacket, “What is it?” 

“Investigative work,” Chayanne led them both to a room where Tallulah and Philza were looking over photos and documents. A couple news articles and testimonies from locals that Tommy couldn’t read from where he was standing. “Phil! Tommy and Ranboo are here!” 

Philza looked towards them, “Hello you two! Uh, one second,” He started cleaning up the papers he was currently looking at, placing some onto the wall that was entirely covered with bulletin boards, and others into a filing cabinet. “Sorry, this isn’t what I need help with at the moment.” 

Ranboo picked up a paper, “The syndicate?” 

Tommy recognized the name immediately. He had heard about the syndicate before he had even thought about becoming a vigilante. A famous vigilante group that the heroes considered to be villains. In the lower districts they were incredibly popular while the upper districts despised them. Their members were elusive with only three being confirmed to be a part of it. They opposed the heroes at every turn, even exposing several big name heroes. Being involved with them would only cause trouble. 

“You’ll be helping me investigate them at another point Ranboo, and if Theseus joins them, then Tommy you’ll help me as well.” Philza grabbed files out of a cabinet, and found a clear spot on the bulletin board. “Speaking of which, we’ll be doing some investigation on him today.” 

“Why am I needed then?” Tommy looked around the room. It was clear that Philza was considered to be a vigilante hunter for a reason. 

“Because you’re from district 13,” Chayanne yawned. “I want to take a nap.” Tallulah started pushing him. “See Phil, Tallulah wants me to sleep too.” 

“Then go to bed mate.” Chayanne layed down on the floor. Philza lightly kicked him, “In your room.” Chayanne got up and left. Tommy wished he could do the same. 

Tommy sat down, “So what do you want me to do boss man?” 

“What do you know about Theseus?” 

Tommy froze. He didn’t know what to say. Usually he would just say no, but what if Philza suspected him already? What if they already knew and were trying to get him to slip up? What if he said something wrong and it got him caught? What if-  

“The vigilante in district 13.” Ranboo answered, “His name hasn’t been made public knowledge yet.” 

“Oh,” Tommy blinked, “I don’t know anything then.” 

Tallulah wrote, “The name will be made public soon. I’m going to send a tip to a reporter about it.”  

“Do that now. Ranboo, did you print out the photos from last night?” 

Ranboo reached into his bag and handed Phil the photos, “It’s all just glitches. I did get one of Chayanne running headfirst into a dumpster though.” Tallulah snatched the photo of Chayanne with a grin. 

“Tommy, have you really not heard any of the rumors?” Philza looked through the photos. “Since you’re from district 13 I thought you had heard something at the very least.” 

“What’s there to hear? The guy is an urban legend. Actually, my roommate saw him the other day on the way back from school.” A lie, but he would tell Tubbo later just in case. 

“How late?” Ranboo asked. 

“I don’t know. He told me in the morning.” 

“What was he doing out so late?” Phil asked with concern. 

“He’s a commuter. It’s cheaper that way!” Tommy shrugged, “The school he goes to is all the way in district 5. Can we get back on topic?” 

“Of course, sorry mate.”

Ranboo sat down, “Philza do you know if any known syndicate members have been spotted anywhere close to district 13?” 

Philza shook his head, “They’ve all been keeping to their territory.” 

“Then Tommy can leave. Theseus isn’t well known, even the guy living in district 13th didn’t know his name. I doubt the syndicate is paying any attention to him. At least for now. If Theseus does something super impressive or something that aligns with the syndicates motives, I say don’t even consider Theseus being a part of the syndicate an option.” 

“That makes sense. Sorry to bother you Tommy.” 

“No, it’s fine boss man-”

“Head on over to your office mate,” Phil ushered him out of the room. 

“Alright let me know if you need anything.” Tommy went into his office and once the door was closed he slumped into his chair. Tommy muttered to himself, “He knows something…” First the deal, then how he was acting around Philza. It was off putting. From what he knew, Ranboo was only hired for the photos. Nothing about that screamed being good with actual investigations. 

Tommy sat up and stretched, “I need to be careful.” His phone started vibrating. Checking it, he saw Tubbo texting him. Asking about when he was going to go home. Strange. Tubbo probably got into some trouble that he needed time to fix. 

After a while of working, Tommy heard a knock at his door. “Come in!” The door opened as Tommy saw Ranboo peeking his head inside. “Ranboo?” Tommy stopped typing. “What’s up man?” 

“Can I chill in here for a bit? I feel like I’ve overloaded my brain. I need a nap and the rooftop is too noisy.” 

“Yeah,” Tommy pointed to a couch in the room. “You can sleep there. Too much investigation for a day?” 

“Yeah. It’s too early for this…” Ranboo groaned, kicking off his shoes and curling up on the couch. “I don’t usually wake up until the afternoon.” 

“Do you want me to wake you up later?” Tommy also needed a nap, but the plan was to take one during his break. He was exhausted. 

“No thank you,” Ranboo mumbled. “I’ll set an alarm…” Ranboo closed his eyes and fell asleep. Tommy sighed. He took off his jacket and tossed it onto Ranboo as an impromptu blanket. As much as knew he shouldn't trust him, he did. It was a gut feeling, a hunch at most, it reminded him of Traveler. 

“Thinking is annoying…” Tommy muttered aloud to himself. He sat back down and got back to work. Eventually he drifted off to sleep and with that sleep came a dream. 

Tommy was standing somewhere, looking at a statue. It seemed familiar yet very different. He was in his vigilante gear, and there were screams echoing around him. He could hear someone calling out to him, but he didn’t care. There was something attached to the statue, Philza was reaching towards it. Tommy pushed him out of the way and snatched the object out of his hands. Instinctively, Tommy went into his pocket dimension where he finally got a chance to look at the thing in his hands. There was a timer. He had just grabbed a bomb, it was ticking, three, two, one- 

Suddenly an alarm went off, Tommy jumped awake, startled, “Shit!” A blanket covering him fell to the floor. He stared at it for a brief moment, confused, before looking towards Ranboo. He was sound asleep. The alarm was slowly getting louder and louder. “Fucking-” 

Tommy got up, ripped the blanket off Ranboo and took his jacket back. “Ranboo! RANBOO! HEY!” Tommy shook him. “Wake up!” 

Ranboo yawned, “..wuh-” 

“Good morning sleeping beauty!” Tommy tossed the blanket back on them and handed Ranboo his phone, “Turn off your alarm please. I got misophonia and shit.” 

Ranboo sat up and quickly turned off the alarm, “S-Sorry! I usually don’t sleep through it.” 

“It went off literally a minute ago. You’re fine.” Tommy sat back down. “I gotta get back to work.” 

Ranboo stood up, “I’ll be going then. Thanks for letting me sleep here.” Ranboo paused before he left. “Uh-” He hesitated. “Nevermind.” 

“What?” 

Ranboo pointed to Tommy’s arms, “Are…uh, sorry if this is a bad question. Uhm, do they hurt? Those look pretty bad.” 

Tommy looked down at his scars. Maybe getting some long sleeved shirts was a good idea. He was used to them by now. He never considered what other people thought about it, “These are old. Got them what, 6 maybe 7 years ago. Sometimes they hurt, but that’s just my mind fucking with me. Trauma or something stupid like that.” 

Tommy looked at Ranboo’s face. There were some scars on his face under his eyes. “What about you? I think the scars on your face would hurt more than a couple on my arms.” A couple was an understatement. Tommy knew his arms were mostly burn scars at this point. 

“Oh!” Ranboo touched his face. “These are from crying. I’m an enderman hybrid. Water makes my skin burn, so whenever I cry it usually doesn’t go well.” 

“That fucking sucks!” 

“Yeah, I usually have one of my friends heal me now, but before I met him I was stuck with it.” Ranboo lowered part of his mask to show the scars on his cheek, “It’s worse on my cheeks, that’s why I wear the mask.”

“Ranboo, word of advice,” Tommy leaned in to whisper, “Especially here at the tower, never mention that you know someone with healing powers unless that guy is looking for a job.” 

Ranboo quickly nodded, “Sorry.” 

“Quit apologizing, man. Get going, we both have work to do.” 

“Right! Sorry!” Ranboo opened the door and waved, “See you later Tommy!” The door shut behind him and Tommy sighed in relief. He picked up the blankets, folded them, and put them on one of the shelves. 

It was finally over. The day felt so long he was finally able to go home. There was a knock at the door. Tommy shouted, “Come in!” 

Philza opened the door and stepped inside, “Hey mate, how are you?” 

“I’m about to head out, did you need anything?” 

“I wanted to ask you for a favor. We can talk as you go.” 

Tommy put his backpack over a shoulder, “Sure thing. Are you alright with going down all those stairs?” 

“I can handle it, don't worry.” Making their way down all the stairs, Philza asked, “Would it be alright with you if you take Tallulah and Chayanne down to district 13?” 

“Why?” There isn’t much of a reason for the two trainees to go down there unless it was to try and arrest him. 

“To get a sense of the layout. We’ll be down there a lot more often, so knowing the location would be beneficial. I would take them myself, but I’m too recognizable for it.” 

Tommy snickered, “That must suck. Especially with your wings.” 

“It’s only annoying sometimes. Since you’re familiar with district 13, I wanted to ask if you’d just take them around for a walk at some point. You’d be paid of course!” 

“Sure. Just let me know when would be a good time. Could we do this in the morning though? I could walk them around and then head straight to work after?” 

Philza beamed, “That’d be great! I’ll ask the two of them about it later. Are you doing alright by the way?” 

“Hm? Yeah why?” 

“You seemed really tired today. I was going to ask you this earlier, but you and Ranboo were asleep.” 

Tommy’s face turned red. “...I really hoped no one would realize I fell asleep.” 

“Sorry mate. I did give you some blankets, I thought you knew.” Philza rubbed the back of his neck. “So what exactly happened?”

“I couldn’t sleep last night. Won’t happen again.” 

“No, no, don’t worry about it. Sleep is important. If you’re exhausted you won’t be able to get much work done anyway. You can keep the blankets if you’d like.” 

“Sure. I’ll keep them in the office.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

Tommy started playing dumb, “About what?” 

“You know what. Why couldn’t you sleep?” 

“Oh… that .” Tommy shrugged. He couldn’t say the real reason, so lying it was, “Had a nightmare.” 

“Ah.” 

“Yeah, a bunch of bullshit really. Most of my dreams are.” Tommy smiled and decided to describe part of his dream from earlier. “This one had something to do with a bomb.” Tommy saw in the corner of his eye, Philza with a worried look on his face. “Ey don’t worry about it man. I usually die in my dreams. This time I woke up before I did!” 

Philza became even more visibly worried, “You’re terrible at deflection.” 

“You’re terrible at hiding your facial expressions.” 

Philza moved a wing up to cover his mouth, “Not many people call me out on that.” 

They made it to the bottom of the stairs. Tommy waved, “Bye Kristen!” 

“See you tomorrow!” 

Stepping outside Tommy took a deep breath, feeling the cold air around him. “I’ll be going then. See you tomor-” Suddenly Tommy was put into a headlock. Philza immediately tensed up, ready to fight. 

“I swear-” Tommy was about to fight back when suddenly he got karate chopped on the head. 

“Hey kid how have you been?” 

Tommy gasped. He recognized the voice immediately. “Holy shit- Techno you asshole let go of me!” Tommy was let go and turned around to hug him. “When did you get back?” 

“When did you get a new job?” 

Philza relaxed a little. He looked at the stranger who his new hire was being incredibly friendly too. He had a scar over his nose and a scary looking face that didn’t seem to match his personality. He had long pink hair put into a braid that went over his shoulder and was wearing a red jacket, a black shirt and some jeans. He also had a suitcase that he was holding onto. 

“Oh, yeah, Techno, this is my boss.” Tommy gestured to Philza. “I got a job at the tower pretty recently.” 

“I knew being a barista wouldn’t work out for you.” 

“Hey!” 

“Call me Techno,” He outstretched his hand for a handshake. “Nice to meet you.” 

“Same here,” Philza shook his hand. “I’m Philza.” 

“I knew that. I don’t think there’s anyone in this city who doesn’t know who you are. I’m surprised Tommy of all people got a job at the tower considering how he-” 

“ALRIGHT, Techno let’s go!” Tommy took the suitcase from him. “Let’s go to Niki’s or something, I’m hungry.” Niki’s was the name of a baker who ran a really good bakery in district 11. It was one of Tommy’s favorite places to go. 

“I need to stop by my apartment first.” Techno took the suitcase back. “It was nice meeting you Philza.” 

Once they were far enough to the point where Philza wouldn’t be able to hear, Tommy punched Techno on the shoulder, “Were you seriously going to tell him I hate heroes?” 

“Why did you get a job there anyway? Did you get fired?” 

“Yeah. What are you doing back here anyway? I thought you said you would be abroad for another month.” 

“Things changed,” Techno threw up his hood. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be able to run the festival now that I’m back at the very least.” 

Tommy gasped, “Really!? The end of the month is next week! How in the world are you going to pull that off?” 

Techno grinned, “By getting no sleep.” 

“...” Tommy sighed, “And you scold me for not getting sleep.” 

Techno laughed, “I gotta meet with someone now that I’m back. Can you and Tubbo meet me at Niki’s? I’ll buy you guys some food.” 

“Yeah sure. Let me call him.” 

Techno ruffled Tommy’s hair, “Thanks Tommy. See you!” Before Tommy could get a word in, Techno sped off. 

Techno got to his apartment in less than an hour. He put down his suitcase and got himself a glass of water. His dog floof ran up to him. Techno pet him, “Hey Floof. I should thank the guys for watching you.” 

From the living room a voice spoke, “You're welcome.” Techno whirled around and threw the cup he was holding in the direction the voice came from. The cup shattered against the wall. A pillow from the couch was thrown at him in retaliation. “I thought Niki told you to get rid of all your glassware.” 

“Charlie!” Techno shouted, throwing the pillow back. “Don’t scare me like that!” 

“I thought you knew I was here!” 

“I was supposed to meet with Karl. I thought he would be here.” 

Charlie started cleaning up the broken glass, “You know how he is. He’s running late. I was supposed to be out of here a while ago.” 

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Techno opened it, “About time.” Karl Jacobs was standing at the other side of the door out of breath. He wore an oversized colorful hoodie with a messenger bag over his shoulder. He had messy brown hair and brown eyes, and lowered the mask covering his face. 

“Sorry I’m late!” Karl apologized and stepped inside. Floof ran up to him, “Hi Floof.” 

“Saying hi to my dog, but not me?” Techno closed the door. “Can’t believe this.” 

“Hi Techno, welcome back.” 

“Can we make this quick? I gotta be somewhere soon. Charlie, could I have the spare keys please?” Techno took the keys from Charlie. 

“Right, right,” Karl sat down. “I just wanted to ask you something about the festival.” 

Techno sat down after hearing that, “What about it?”

Karl closed his eyes and smiled, “I was just wondering if you needed help setting it up.” 

“Yeah that’s fucking bullshit dude,” Charlie laughed. “Karl, you only ever ask things if they're super important. This is the type of thing you text about.” 

Karl sighed, “Fine! I think something will go wrong at the festival. Happy? I was going to try to convince you that planning and setting up the whole thing in a week would be too much work, and try to get you to cancel it.” 

"You should know that wouldn't work," Techno got out a pen and notepad, “Think or certain?” 

“Certain.” 

Techno groaned, “More work for me! I guess I should-” 

“Are you not going to cancel it?!” Karl interrupted. “If you cancel it then-” 

"It'll be fine. I trust you Karl you know that right?" Karl stayed silent and simply nodded. "Do you trust me?" Karl nodded once again. "Then trust that I can handle this. The festival is important to a lot of people that live in the lower districts. It's been a while, after all." 

"Even if people get hurt?"

Techno shrugged, "I'll just make sure no one does." 

Chapter Text

It was finally time! The festival had arrived! Tommy was so excited. A day of good food, fun, and socializing. When he asked Philza if he could leave work earlier than usual he happily agreed. He was going to head home quickly, and then he and Tubbo were going to meet Techno at the festival. He was planning on patrolling tonight too, since Tubbo asked him to patrol less after he found out about his run in with Philza. Tommy needed to make up for lost time after all. 

There was a knock at the door. Tommy shouted, “Come in!” 

Ranboo entered looking visibly panicked, “Hey Tommy! Do you know how to fix up someone’s hair?” 

Screaming was heard from outside the door. It sounded like a very panicked Chayanne, “Tallulah I’m sorry!!! I didn’t know that would happen!” 

Tommy sighed, “What happened?” 

“Practice. Chayanne was swinging around a sword and accidentally cut off some of Tallulah’s hair. Phil’s out right now, and I don’t know what to do.” 

“Well, I would help, but I think that would make things worse. I say Chayanne’s dead. Wish him luck for me! I’m sure someone in the tower knows how to help.”

Ranboo looked back and forth between the noise and Tommy, “I don’t know anyone in the tower!” 

“Great! That makes two of us. Wait for Phil then.” 

Chayanne shouted, “RANBOO HELP ME!!!” 

“Uh, shoot-” Ranboo quickly turned, “Bye Tommy!” He shut the door and muffled screaming was heard from the living room. Chayanne’s screaming now accompanied with Ranboo’s horrible attempts at de-escalation. 

Tommy went back to work, nothing interesting today. Philza had asked him to find things about the public perception of Theseus and any rumors about vigilantes. Easy enough. Tommy did this kind of thing in his free time whenever he got bored. He was curious though. Tallulah had told a well known and well trusted reporter about Theseus and now people all over social media were talking about him. Tommy didn’t know how to feel about all the attention. Traveler had told him to stay low for as long as possible after all. 

Speaking of, Tommy wondered if anyone knew that he and Traveler were friends. Now that he thought about it, how much did people actually know about him? Traveler was always telling him about keeping a low profile and making sure that nobody noticed you, but what if Traveler didn’t do that? He would have so much to make fun of him for!

So he searched, and searched, and after what felt like ages of fruitless research Tommy reluctantly gave up. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There were a couple posts on social media from district 14 about him but nothing more. Any articles were simply lists of known vigilantes with descriptions of each one, but in every single one he found Traveler’s description had the same thing. 

A vigilante from district 14. No hero has ever encountered them in person. There was more on Theseus and the public had only known about him for about a week. Everyone knew him as the district 13 vigilante who had a glitch-like effect following him wherever he went. Not much other than that though. 

Tommy stretched and stood up, “Hey guys, did you figure stuff out-” Tommy froze when he saw Blue Bird without her signature gas mask sitting on the living room floor cutting Tallulah’s hair. “Oh. Hello.” After another second he realized her iconic blue wings weren’t there. 

Blue Bird smiled and continued cutting Tallulah’s hair, “Hey! You’re Thomas right? Phil’s new assistant?”

“Tommy.” He corrected. 

“Alright Tommy, nice to meet you. I’m Blue Bird, but just call me Jaiden while we're in the tower.” Jaiden ran a brush through Tallulah’s hair. “See I told you I could make the short bit look good.” 

Ranboo was sitting on the couch exhausted, “Thank you.” Chayanne was nowhere to be seen. “Hey Tommy I got things figured out.”

“Great job Ranboo, I’m getting some coffee.”

“Yeah you’re going to need it,” Jaiden said as she started braiding Tallulah’s hair. “Phil’s meeting with Karl Jacobs.”

Tommy blinked, “Who?”

Ranboo sat straight up, “I’m sorry?” 

“Did he not tell you?” Jaiden held a hair tie between her teeth. “Karl Jacobs, he’s a reporter. He wants to interview Phil because of Theseus. Nothing against the guy, he’s just really scary during interviews. A trustworthy source of information though.” 

Chayanne burst out of his room, “PHIL IS WHAT!?” 

“I’m starting to see why he didn’t tell you guys. Don’t worry the interview isn’t for another week.” She paused. “Maybe two…?”

“Meh.” Tommy got a mug out of a cupboard. “Not my problem.” He made coffee and went back to his office to get the rest of his work done. As he requested previously, he left earlier than normal. He rushed back home, opening the door excitedly, “Tubbo!” He shouted. “I’m back!” 

“I thought you were going straight to Techno’s?” Tubbo tilted his head. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah,” Tommy grabbed his red hoodie. “Wanted to get my hoodie.” 

Tubbo raised an eyebrow, “You’re going to wear the vigilante hoodie out in public?” 

“It’s my favorite!” Tommy defended his decision. “Besides there’s no photos of me out there and it’s not like any heroes will be at the festival. It’s just a hoodie, Tubbo! I’m patrolling later tonight anyway.” 

Tubbo sighed and put on a face mask, “Whatever. Have you seen my necklace?” 

“The emerald one?” 

“Yes, the one Techno gave me.” Tommy started laughing. Tubbo glared, “Don’t laugh! You don’t have yours either!” 

Tommy pulled the necklace out from under his shirt. It was a simple necklace. A small misshapen emerald attached to a black coord. “I always have mine on me.” He tucked the necklace back under his shirt. “I’ll start looking.” 

Tommy found the necklace in the bathroom next to the sink. Once he stopped laughing, Tubbo angrily took the necklace and put it on. “Let’s go.” He checked his phone and sent a message to Techno. Pulling up his hood Tubbo turned back to Tommy, “Race you there?” Without another word Tommy sprinted past. 

Tommy made it to Techno’s apartment out of breath only to see Tubbo sitting calmly outside the door, “You bitch- you’re seriously the worst.” 

Tubbo snickered and leapt to his feet. He knocked on the door. No response. He knocked again but louder this time. Nothing. Tommy banged on the door. Barking was heard from the other side so Techno hadn’t taken Floof for a walk. Tubbo checked his phone again, “I told him we’d be here.” 

A crash was heard inside the apartment. After a couple of seconds Techno opened the door. He looked like he had just gotten hit by a car. His hair was a mess and not in its usual braid. “Hey guys, sorry about that. Can you guys give me a second?” 

Tommy stepped inside, “Do you need help with anything? Should we head over to the park?” He saw the window was wide open.

“No, no, it’s alright.” Techno quickly put on his jacket and put some food and water in Floof’s dog bowl. He grabbed a hair tie out of a container on a counter and tied his hair into a high ponytail. “I don’t want to show up late to an event I’m running.” 

“You could ask some of the kids to braid your hair,” Tubbo suggested, grabbing some extra hair ties, shoving them into Techno’s backpack. 

“You don’t need to ask. They’re gonna do it anyway.”

Techno laughed, “Let’s go.” 

Once at the park Tommy immediately lost track of Tubbo which was normal. He also slipped away from Techno due to the attention that man was getting from everyone. The park itself was incredibly crowded. Children were running around happily playing and people were handing out food to anyone who walked up to the various tables and food trucks. 

The festival itself was an event that only those in the lower districts participated in. Tommy wasn’t sure if the upper or middle districts even knew it was a thing. Except for district 10 of course, but there were some people that considered district 10 to be a lower district. At least an honorary lower district. Tommy didn’t know how much of an honor that actually was. 

The festival was an event that Techno had started. It took place in the biggest park in district 10 known as the Sword Park among locals. Known for the statue in the center of the park that resembled a sword. Tommy had heard it was in honor of someone, but it reminded him of excalibur. It was full of flowers and various playgrounds for kids. 

Techno described to Tommy how he had started the festival a couple years ago. It started off small. A woman named Niki handed out some free pastries as part of promoting her bakery in district 11. She had done the same the next month, and someone else had started giving out stuff as well. More and more people started doing so on the last day of each month. After a couple more months, Techno reached out to some small businesses in the lower districts and district 10 to see if they would be interested in giving out free food to people as well. He would cover any expenses. 

After some more organization, Techno had turned it into a full blown charity event spread exclusively through word of mouth. It didn’t have an official name, so people called it the festival. Everyday on the last day of the month people would gather at the park and enjoy themselves. The entirety of the lower districts put aside their issues for a day and had fun. 

Back when he had first met Techno, Tommy asked him why he held the event in the first place. Techno was always busy, but always stopped to help people whenever he could. He remembered the smile on Techno’s face when he asked. Techno ruffled his hair and told him, “Because it's my way of helping people. You can make anything you want a reality Tommy. I want to help people, so I do.” 

Tommy got some food and sat down near the playground. Usually, he would watch over the younger children while their various caretakers were busy. He took his necklace out from under his shirt. Techno would only give people emeralds whenever he trusted them. It was like his symbol. 

Once he finished eating he stood up, “Hey guys!” He crouched on the playground mat with a smile, “Having fun?”

A bunch of kids crowded around him, “Tommy!” They all started talking over each other telling Tommy various things about their days and showing him things they liked. He laughed, “Alright guys what game do you want to play this time? No hide and seek your guardians would kill me. Also no tag. We played tag last time, don't think I forgot.” 

The kids started trying to come up with different games they could play. The ones who were talking to him were mostly those from the district 13 orphanage, but there were some other kids as well. Glancing around, Tommy could spot their parents talking nearby. He also spotted Techno sitting on the ground with a couple girls braiding his hair. 

Tommy froze. Chayanne, Tallulah and Ranboo were standing away from most of the crowds. There was a small blue bird on Tallulah’s beanie. Why were they here? Tommy could understand Ranboo being here, he lived in district 10, but why were the trainees here? They blended in so well that if Tommy didn’t know them, he wouldn’t be able to recognize them. 

“Tommy!” One of the kids shouted. Tommy’s attention immediately snapped back to them. 

“Yeah did you guys figure it out?” 

“We don’t want to play a game this time!” 

“...you don’t?” Tommy was confused. These kids loved playing games. 

“Promise you won’t think it’s silly.”

“Of course! Promise.”

“We want to do something for the adults.” 

“The adults?” Tommy looked around. “What kind of thing?” 

“Well, they give us free food and look over us so we want to do something for them!” 

“Alright then!” Tommy stood up, “Let’s do this then. We can make flower crowns for all the adults that helped you guys, then we can march around and hand them out. Do you guys remember how to make them? I taught you all a couple months ago.” 

The kids all nodded and split off into their own little groups to gather flowers. Once they had they gathered around Tommy again as he helped them make flower crowns. The kids all had someone they wanted to give one to whether it be their parents or one of the volunteers. 

Once everyone was done Tommy led them throughout the park to make the deliveries. Their last stop was Techno who was talking with Niki. Niki gasped, “Awwww!!!!” She crouched down and let one of the kids put one on her head. “Thank you! Here, do you guys want some cookies?”

“Nuh uh, this is a gift! That means we don’t get anything in return!” The kid looked to one of the older ones looking for approval. 

“Niki, you dyed your hair again?” Her hair was pink this time, similar to Techno’s but a much brighter shade. Tommy was a regular at her bakery. They weren’t close, but Techno trusted her a lot, so Tommy trusted her as well. 

“I did! Someone needed to be pink while Techno was gone.” 

“You dyed it once I got back.” 

“TECHNO!” A bunch of kids started grabbing him. “Here! Here!” Three different flower crowns were placed onto his head. 

Tommy laughed, “It matches the flowers in your hair!” Techno’s braid had various flowers placed throughout it. Tommy clapped his hands, “Alright kids off him! We’ve made all the deliveries. Let’s get back to the playground!” It was getting dark out. The park was well lit, but he didn’t want to lose anyone.

The kids waved goodbye and made it back to the playground. The kids went back to playing around. Tommy was pushing a couple kids on the swings when shouting was heard from the main entrance of the park. Then an explosion shook the park. 

Tommy dropped to the ground covering his ears. “Shit. Shit.” He shut his eyes tight. He tried to take deep breaths but it wasn’t working. He couldn’t breathe. 

Then a small hand tapped his shoulder, “T-Tommy? Are you alright?”

Tommy’s eyes shot open as he saw one of the kids standing next to him. Tommy looked around frantically. The kids were looking around confused. Some parents ran over and got their children, but those without parents were looking around confused and scared. Tommy helped the smaller ones off the swings. He crouched, “Guys! Everyone over here!” There was still shouting. “Come on, we're going to play another game!” 

“T-Tommy…” One of the kids was crying. “What’s going on…?” 

“I'll figure it out in a second, okay. Here, come on everyone listen up. We’re going to play hide and seek okay?” His voice was shaky. He really hoped the kids didn’t notice. “Until you see someone with emerald jewelry you’re going to hide okay? Like my necklace, see? You can hide with each other as long as no one sees you. Stay put somewhere and I’ll go find you okay?” Another explosion happened in a different part of the park. 

The kids nodded. Some were covering their ears from the loud noises, “Great! Okay go hide! I’ll find you all soon okay? Here, I’ll count down. You have one minute.” As Tommy started counting, the kids ran off looking for places to hide. Tommy did the same, running behind some of the playground equipment. He couldn’t call Tubbo, he couldn’t know if he was safe. 

Tommy teleported into his pocket dimension and got suited up as Theseus. This was going to suck. He phased out of the dimension and immediately teleported to a tree nearby the main entrance. Within the branches he took a second to observe what was going on. A group of people were attacking anyone in sight. It seemed like they were the ones that had set off the explosives. 

Several vigilantes were there. Tommy recognized the most infamous ones. Nemesis from district 11, Slimecicle from district 12, Purpled from district 15, and Coin Flip who never stayed in a particular district. There were a lot of people fighting but those were the ones that stuck out. 

Suddenly Blue Bird flew down from the sky knocking down an attacker in the process. “Wow, what a crazy festival!”

Nemesis shouted, “Shut up Blue Bird and help us!” 

“That’s why I’m here!” 

Slimecicle was getting surrounded. Tommy took a deep breath, materialized a bat in his hand and jumped down smacking one of the attackers over the head with his bat. Slimecicle shrieked, turning around, “Don’t scare me like that!” 

Tommy quickly signed sorry and helped fight. More and more heroes arrived with the notable appearance of Philza and Shockwave. Nemesis groaned, “More heroes! Fall back!” The vigilantes dispersed, running in opposite directions and leaving the park.

Tommy ran in the direction towards the statue and froze in his tracks. He heard a faint ticking sound. He couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but he ran towards the statue. Nemesis yelled, “Theseus what are you doing!?” Tommy saw it, attached to the statue was a bomb. 

Philza flew towards him. Tommy grabbed the bomb off the statue. Pyrophobia was going to be the death of him. He phased into his pocket dimension right before Philza could reach him. The bomb didn’t have long until it exploded. He threw it and ran. He needed to make sure it went off before he left the dimension. Nothing in the dimension affected the outside world. 

He didn’t want it to go off. He ran and ran then Tommy collapsed to the ground covering his ears. 

…

Nothing. There was no explosion. Tommy sighed in relief. No explosion. No fire. He phased out of his pocket dimension. Philza was standing right in front of him. Phil stammered, “W-What did you just do?!” 

Tommy flipped him off and teleported to the playground where he was hiding previously. He took off his vigilante gear and sent it all to his pocket dimension. He then sat there for a little bit and then looked around. Police were there along with various heroes. He heard crying from a child- 

The kids. 

“NO!!!!!” A kid screamed. Tommy dashed out of his hiding spot towards where the screaming was. A couple kids were up in a large tree. “We’re supposed to stay put!”

“Come on kids,” Shockwave urged. “We need to go find your parents-” 

“We don’t have parents! We’re staying here!” 

“Yeah we’re playing hide and seek!” 

Shockwave groaned, “We don’t have time for this-”

“Good job!” Tommy said, shoving past Shockwave. “You guys won! I couldn’t find a single one of you! Can you guys help me find everyone else? We gotta get you guys home!” 

“TOMMY!!!!!” One of the kids cried before jumping out of the tree. Tommy caught her as she started sobbing. 

“Woah! Hey, it’s alright. Come on, let’s go find everyone else.” 

Shockwave seemed confused but said, “Thank you Tommy. Go to the statue there’s a lot of people there. They should be able to help.” 

“Did you guys hear him?” Tommy counted how many of the kids were with him. “To the statue!” 

“Tommy?” Philza approached him as Tommy walked over to the statue. “What are you doing here? Are you alright?” 

“I’m alright,” Tommy put down the kid. “Do you have a megaphone or something I could borrow?”

“Sorry, we’re looking for civilians right now-”

“So am I,” Tommy turned to the kids. “Head over to that bench. I’ll find everyone else.” Once they had walked away Tommy turned back to Philza, “I was playing with the kids when that explosion happened. Told them we were playing hide and seek, and not to come out until I found them.” Tommy then noticed the earring Philza wore. It was an emerald earring. 

Philza sighed, “I understand, but this isn’t your job-” 

“Don’t care! I also told them that anyone with emerald jewelry was okay, so if you find any they’ll listen to you.” As he walked away Tommy was picked up by his hood. “What the-

“Tommy.” Techno said. “I’ll handle it.”

“Techno I need-” 

“Which one of us is faster?” 

“...you.”

“Exactly,” Techno put him down. “My event. My responsibility, so I’ll look.” Techno ran off before Philza could get a word in. 

Phil didn’t know what was going on. He had sent Tallulah and Chayanne with Jaiden to see if anything was happening at the so-called festival. They had run into Ranboo, saw Tommy playing with a bunch of kids and got free food according to the jumbled explanation that Chayanne had given him. There were so many vigilantes that meant they were at the event when the explosions had occurred. He would get the security footage to see if he could see anything in it later. 

It didn’t help that a majority of the civilians were uncooperative. Most of the people he decided to interrogate refused to say anything. The children couldn’t say much because they were hiding most of the time. He would ask Tommy, Ranboo, and Jaiden when he got the chance. 

“Hey Phil!” Jaiden flew over. “How are you?” 

“I’m doing fine. Did something happen?”

“I found a couple more civilians. A lot of them are refusing treatment for any injuries they have.” 

“How come?” 

“Because it costs money, idiots,” A boy wearing a hoodie and a face mask walked up. “Hey Philza, have you seen Tommy?” 

“Uh, yes I have. Who are you?” 

The boy glared at him, “None of your business. Where is he?” 

“He’s at that bench.” Jaiden pointed to the bench where Tommy was trying to cheer up the kids he found earlier. 

“Thank you.” The boy sped over, grabbed Tommy by the collar and headbutted his forehead. “TOMMY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? I’VE BEEN TRYING TO CONTACT YOU FOR AGES!” 

“I was preoccupied! I’m sorry!” 

“Tommy’s over there!” Techno pointed. Phil looked over and saw at least 15 kids suddenly running towards Tommy. Tommy shrieked and quickly looked over all the kids making sure they were okay. Techno glanced at Phil, “Excuse me. Do you mind if I talk to you real quick?” 

“Not at all,” Phil was confused. Techno was pretty intimidating, but the flowers in his braid and the three flower crowns lessened that image. “What is it?” 

“I would like to cover all the medical bills that people are charged for today.” 

Phil’s eyes widened, “I’m sorry!?” 

“I’m not sure if you were aware but the festival is a charity event. I calculate the amount that each volunteer would’ve received for the food they gave away, pay them that amount, and give the total amount to a charity that they collectively chose for the month.” Techno looked over at the people arguing with paramedics and refusing treatment. “Seeing as there was an incident like that I’ll be paying the volunteers and paying for peoples treatment this time around.”

“I should be able to arrange that. I would have to get in contact with the hospital.” Phil got out a small notepad and wrote down the name of the hospital people were being taken to. He handed the note to Techno along with one of his business cards. “I would be happy to help with anything you need to do this mate.” 

Techno put the note and business card in his pocket, “Can this all be in your name then?” 

“If you’d like.” 

“Great. Go tell all the people that I’ll be covering their bills. Mention my name and they’ll listen. I’ll contact you in- let’s say two to three days asking about the costs.” Techno got out his phone. “I would ask Tommy, but I don’t want him to be concerned about my finances.” Techno smirked, “I have enough money Mr. Number One Hero. Don’t make that face.”

Phil covered his mouth with one of his wings, “I look forward to hearing from you then.” 

Techno’s phone started ringing, “Same here.” He picked up the phone, “Hey Niki. Everythings fine. Is Charlie alright? Look, I gotta deal with the kids at the moment. Talk later. Bye.” He hung up. “Do you think you can help me get all those kids to the district 13 orphanage? Their guardian got hurt.” 

“Of course,” Phil waved over Jaiden. “Blue Bird! Can you help the kids get back home?”

“On it!” She flew over to the bench. “Hello! Nice to meet you all.” As she talked to the kids, Techno picked up Tommy and carried him over his shoulder. 

“What the-” Tommy flailed, “Big T put me down!” 

“If I do, you're going to insist on going with them. You and Tubbo are staying with me tonight.” Techno started walking with Tubbo walking beside him. “We’ll visit tomorrow morning if you’re worried. You need to rest.”

Techno completely ignored any law enforcement trying to talk to him and kept walking back to his apartment. He looked behind him. “We’re far enough that no ones going to eavesdrop. Are you alright Tommy?” 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I know how you are with fire.”

Tommy was glad Techno couldn’t see his face. He sighed, “I was too focused on the kids to pay attention to the explosions. Can we visit them tomorrow?” 

“Sure. I’ll buy some candy for them.” Techno turned to Tubbo. “Start running, I'll match your speed.”

Tubbo groaned, “Big T you could carry me and Tommy and get there in a faster time.” 

Techno picked up Tubbo, “Alright.” He sped off. 

Tubbo screamed, “I WASN’T BEING SERIOUS!” 

Once they had gotten to Techno’s apartment, Tommy was forced to go straight to bed. He brushed his teeth and changed into some old pajamas and then crashed in the bunk bed that Techno got for him and Tubbo when they first got taken in. The room hadn’t changed a bit. Everything that Tommy and Tubbo left when they moved out was still there. Tommy shut his eyes. The power use was catching up to him as he quickly fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the late afternoon the next day. 

Chapter Text

To say Tommy was having a rough week was an understatement. He had called off work for a couple days because of Techno’s insistence he needed to rest. As much as he hated to admit it, he was exhausted. He had overused his powers and was sleep deprived. Bad combination. He never knew anyone who got exhausted after using their powers. It seemed to be something only he seemed to struggle with. He used the excuse that he would be assisting with the orphanage for a little bit since the caretaker was in the hospital.

Tommy was extremely bored. He wanted to move around! He wanted to leave his apartment and go to work! He wanted to patrol! He was back at his apartment now. Him and Techno visited the orphanage on the way to Tommy’s apartment a couple days ago. That didn’t change his boredom. He convinced Tubbo that he was okay to go to work tomorrow, so by that logic, if he was good to go to work, it was okay to patrol. He had missed too many days at this point. It was only three days, but that was a lot! Leaping out of bed, Tommy got his vigilante gear out of his pocket dimension and got suited up. 

Tubbo was going to kill him once he was back. Oh well! As long as Techno never found out it would be fine. Techno wasn’t interested in vigilantes, so even if he saw news about him he wouldn’t pay much attention. 

Teleporting into a nearby alleyway, Tommy started on his patrol. It was a lot worse than usual. Partly because of his exhaustion, but mostly because since he hadn’t patrolled in so long people were starting to think they could get away with whatever. Cocky assholes.

It had been a while since he had talked to Traveler, so he went to the edge of district 13 to look for him. He looked around for a while but couldn’t find a trace of him. Weird. Traveler seemed to always be there whenever Tommy looked for him. It was like he had a sixth sense for when Tommy would be there. 

“Ah ha!” Tommy jumped at the sudden voice behind him. He turned around to see Slimecicle sitting where Traveler usually would. Atop a couple empty crates in the corner of a back alleys. Green mask covering his eyes and a full black combat suit with a bright green bandana tied around his forearm. A splash of color in the darkness. “I knew I’d find you here Theseus!” He smiled. 

What the fuck. Why the hell was Slimecicle here? What did he want? Slimecicle stood up, and Tommy flinched. Slimecicle was a member of the syndicate. Getting involved with them was nothing but trouble. “I’ve been looking for you. I’m guessing you needed a break after that massive fight a couple days ago.” Slimecicle hopped off the crates. 

Tommy’s mind was racing trying to come up with something he could possibly do. It didn’t seem like Slimecicle was there for a fight, but how did he know Tommy would be there? Going to the spot where Traveler would always be couldn’t be a coincidence. Especially since it was in between district 13 and 14. The worst part was Tommy couldn’t even say anything! His whole thing was that he was a silent vigilante!

“Nice to meet you!” Slimecicle walked over, “I’d like to talk. I would prefer a more private spot, but if talking out here makes you comfortable it’s fine.” 

Tommy hesitated for a moment, taking a step back. If he said no Slimecicle would just find him again. Either that or a different syndicate member would find him. “ Do you know sign language?” 

Slimecicle blinked, “Uh, is that a yes? Haha… sorry I don’t know sign language.”

“...” A member of the scariest vigilante group in the city was a fucking loser. Tommy materialized a notepad and pen. He wrote, “ Follow me, but keep a distance. Don’t let anyone see you,” and handed the note to Slimecicle. 

Slimecicle beamed, “Alright!” 

Tommy made his way to a different part of the district. Not many people from outside district 13 knew about it. It was a part of the district that was completely destroyed. It was just rubble at this point. No one bothered cleaning it up or using the space for something new, leaving the destruction to sit for years. Tommy despised it. 

No one went there anymore. Anything that could’ve possibly been salvaged was destroyed and looted already. All that was left were the memories people held of the place that once was, but without those memories, it didn’t exist. A fleeting memory that only a few could recall. 

Tommy found a good spot in between the rubble and sat down. Slimecicle arrived a little later. “Hey Theseus, what is this place?” 

Tommy shrugged. There wasn’t a name for the place. It was more abandoned than the abandoned districts because at least there was some kind of community down there. People actually knew about the abandoned districts. Here there was nothing but silence. Tommy wrote, “ Doesn’t matter. What do you want?” 

“Oh! Right, sorry,” Slimecicle sat down across from him. “So, how do I put this… man Nemesis is so much better at explanations. We were talking and one of the syndicate members, not saying names, mentioned you. After a bit of discussion we decided to ask if you wanted to join the syndicate.” Tommy felt his heart rate spike. They wanted him to join the syndicate? “Yeah usually, Nemesis is normally in charge of recruitment, but we didn’t want to scare you since one of our members said you were pretty young-” 

How much did they know? About him. About his identity? Tommy quickly wrote on his notepad, “Who” 

“I need more words.” 

“Who told you that?” 

“Secret. I can’t tell you unless you join.” Slimecicle blinked, “Woah Theseus breathe. Are you okay?” 

Tommy took a deep breath and nodded, “It just shocked me. Sorry.”

“It’s fine, don't worry about it.” Slimecicle reached into a pocket and handed Tommy a piece of paper. “If you’d like to join, just do what’s on the paper.” 

“How do you know I won’t rat you guys out? Why do you trust me?” 

“Well, if you rat us out, then you are also put into suspicion by association. Also don’t tell anyone I told you this, but when we voted on whether or not to let you join, one of the people against it trusted you completely.”

In what world would that be reassuring? Tommy didn’t know what to think about this guy. He was a lot more lame than he was expecting.

“Hey! Hey… I can tell what kind of face you're making even with those goggles.” Slimecicle crossed his arms. “Look, I can’t really explain it, but the syndicate's policies are basically do what you want. The important thing is that we help each other, and after what happened at the festival, we think you would be a good fit. Personally, I want you to join because the media has been paying a lot of attention to you lately. I think it would be good to help you avoid that kind of thing.” 

“What do you mean?”

“You got the number one chasing you down. Another member spotted Philza’s trainees at the festival. I want to make sure the district 13 vigilante doesn’t get arrested again.” 

“What about everyone else?”

Slimecicle shrugged, “No clue. You could ask, but I don’t think most of them would give you a straight answer. Oh right, that reminds me, if you join there is a very high chance we will learn your identity.” Tommy was about to hand the paper back when Slimecicle waved his hands around, “But you also learn ours!”

Tommy looked down at the paper. Was it worth the risk? Tubbo would kill him for doing something as reckless as this, but he wasn't completely against the idea. It would be nice to have something other than his job. A group of people he could rely on. Wouldn’t that be nice? 

Slimecicle stood up, “Well, it was nice meeting you Theseus. Even if you don’t join the syndicate, it would be nice to get to know you in the future. The paper has what you do if you decide not to join as well.” Slimecicle waved, “Bye! See you around Theseus!” 

Tommy leaned back and laid on the floor for a moment. He unfolded the piece of paper and read the instructions. It was just a normal piece of notebook paper with a line down the middle differentiating the two sections appropriately titled JOIN and NOT JOIN. Tommy scoffed. He expected the syndicate to be more professional than that. 

If he wanted to join he would have to go to an abandoned warehouse in district 11 and find a separate piece of paper with an address he would go to. If he didn’t want to join he had to place this paper in that warehouse in the spot outlined in the paper. Simple and gave him time to think. 

He teleported back to his apartment, scaring Tubbo, “Holy shit Tommy! You dumbass you should be resting!” 

Tommy took off his goggles and mask. He handed Tubbo the piece of paper. He wasn’t stupid and knew Tubbo wasn’t either. It would only be a matter of time before Tubbo found out if he did join, “Slimecicle found me while I was patrolling. He asked me to join the syndicate.” 

Tubbo read the paper over, “You gotta be kidding me.” He shut his eyes. “Do you want to?”

“...a bit.” Tommy looked down. He knew it was a bad idea, but what was the harm in wanting to do something more? The syndicate helped a lot of people.

“You know the heroes will consider you a villain right?” Tommy nodded. Tubbo was silent for a while before he sighed, “Go for it.”

Tommy looked at Tubbo shocked, “You sure?” 

“Pass me a pen.” Tommy threw one to him. Tubbo wrote something down on the paper, folded it, and handed it to him. “Don’t read what I wrote. Now go to bed!”

“Okay! Goodnight Tubbo!” 

Tommy went to work the next day. Kristen greeted him excitedly, “Tommy! Good morning, how are you doing? I heard about what happened.”  

“I’m doing fine. Didn’t get hurt.” A lie. He got hit a couple times during the fight, but Techno patched him up once he realized. “Is anything going on today I should know?” 

“Phil has an interview today about the incident. You should head up and make sure he’s doing alright.” 

“Sure thing. See you later,” Tommy started making his way up the stairs. Why wouldn’t Philza be doing alright? When he got up to the floor he opened the door to Chayanne and Tallulah freaking out. Philza was trying to calm them down. 

“You guys aren’t even being interviewed, why are you so worried?” 

“Because he’s scary!!!!” Chayanne said. Tallulah nodded her head rapidly in agreement. 

“Who are we talking about?” 

Chayanne whipped around and ran towards him, “Tommy!” 

“Wow, I can't believe you guys were talking shit.” 

Philza laughed, “No, no, we were talking about the reporter that’s going to interview me today. His name is Karl Jacobs. He’s well known by people for being a trustworthy source of information, but in the tower he’s known to be absolutely terrifying.”

“How come?”

Philza sighed, “You’ll see. When he gets here, meet him downstairs and escort him up here.”

“Anything you want me to do in the meantime?”

“Just the paperwork in your office.” 

“On it.” Tommy did his work until Chayanne burst into the room. 

“Tommy. He’s here .” 

“I’ll go see him then.” Tommy stood up and turned off his computer. “Chayanne, I’ll be fine.” 

“Are you sure? I- I’ll go with you if you want!” 

“I’m not the one he’s interviewing, don't worry about it.” Tommy sighed. “I’ll have to take the elevator for once though. I guess twice. I’ll get going.” Tommy got in the elevator and held his breath until it stopped at the lobby. He stepped out and looked around for anyone that looked like a journalist. 

Kristen waved, “Tommy over here.” As Tommy approached Kristen gestured to the two people standing next to her, “Let me introduce you, this is Karl Jacobs. He’ll be interviewing Philza today.”

Tommy got a good look at the reporter he had heard so much about. He had messy brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing black dress pants and a blazer along with a plain white button up. Everything about him screamed professional except for the backpack he had on one of his shoulders. “Nice to meet you,” Karl extended a hand. “I’m Karl Jacobs, this guy over here is my cameraman. Introduce yourself.” 

“Hi!” The cameraman waved, “My name is Aimsey Teeve!” She smiled, “I’m working for Karl part time. It’s nice to meet you!”

Tommy smiled back, “My name is Thomas Underscore, but just call me Tommy.”

Aimsey blinked, “...Underscore?” 

“Yeah weird name I know,” Tommy turned, “Let’s head up. Follow me please.” Heading to the elevator, Tommy walked in followed by Aimsey and Karl. 80 floors. Why did he have to work on such a high level? It was the worst. People kept coming in and exiting the elevator as it was a busy time of day. 

Karl seemed unbothered by everything, probably because he visited the tower often. However, Aimsey was looking around and everything in awe. Tommy turned to them. A conversation would be a good distraction, “You’ve never been here before right?” 

Aimsey shook their head, “Nope! I’m studying photography at the moment. My schedule working fits around my class schedules well.” 

“Oh you’re in college?” 

“Mhm! It’s been going great! I’ve been having a lot of fun.” Aimsey gestured to Karl. “Plus working with Mr. Jacobs is a great opportunity! Sometimes he gets sent photos, but that's mainly for vigilante reports.” 

“Aimsey please stay professional while you’re here,” Karl kept his eyes straight ahead. “I know you’re a fan of a lot of heroes…”

Aimsey turned bright red, “Hey! I’m not going to see any of the ones I’m a big fan of anyway!” 

“Like who?”

“Blue Bird and Martyn! Blue Bird is super cool, and uh,” Aimsey hesitated. “I really like Martyn because he doesn’t have any powers.”

Tommy perked up at that. He had heard about Martyn before. A hero who rose up the ranks without any powers. He was pretty popular and gained a lot of media buzz because of his skills. Choosing to use his name instead of any type of codename for some reason. “I’ve met Blue Bird before, she's nice. Never met Martyn though. If I meet him, I should ask him about how he managed to become a hero with no powers.” 

“It’s a common question,” Karl noted. “I remember I asked him once, and he told me hard work and ambition. Why are you curious Tommy?” 

Tommy kept back a glare. Of course the reporter would ask a follow up question. “I don’t have any powers.” Aimsey’s jaw dropped to the floor. “Aimsey what’s wrong?” 

“You why would… how could you admit that so easily!?” 

Tommy shrugged, “It’s not really a secret. Is there a problem with it?” 

Aimsey rapidly shook her head, “Of course not!” Aimsey looked down and spoke quietly, “I don’t have powers either…” 

Tommy felt really bad for lying after hearing that. Instead he gasped, “Seriously!?” He really hoped neither of them would see through his facade. Tommy smiled, “This is the first time I’ve met someone like me!” 

Tommy thought he heard Karl laugh under his breath, but before he could call him out on it, Aimsey rapidly shook his hand, “Same here!” Aimsey smiled. “I hope we can be friends Tommy!” 

“We’re here,” Karl said as the elevator opened on the 80th floor. “Sorry to interrupt your conversation.”

“It’s alright,” Tommy quickly stepped out of the elevator. He spotted Chayanne sitting on the couch, before he zoomed away at the sight of Karl. Tommy sighed. He knocked on the door to Philza’s office, “Oi Philza. It’s time for your interview.” 

The door flew open as Phil stepped out, “Hello, Mr. Jacobs. Let’s talk in that room over there.” He pointed to a door. “It’s a simple conference room, but I asked my trainees to rearrange it for us, so it should work..” 

“Oh that reminds me,” Karl’s eyes closed as he turned towards Tommy. “Do you mind joining us for this interview?” 

“Uh… why?” 

“Because you were at the festival.” 

Tommy froze, “I don’t know what you mean.” 

“Well there’s two parts to this interview. The first is about vigilantes, and the other is about what happened in district 10 the other day.” Karl smiled. “Don’t try to lie to me. I saw you there helping out the orphans from district 13.” 

“What the hell.” Tommy was starting to understand what everyone was saying to him about Karl. Everything about him was unnerving. “There’s not much I can say about it.” 

“A civilian's perspective compared to a hero's perspective is always valuable. You can say no if you’d like.” Karl walked towards the door that Phil had pointed to previously, eyes still closed. “Techno told me you would. I figured I should still ask.” 

Tommy’s eyes widened, “...you know Techno?” 

He smirked, “I’m from district 10 you know.”

Aimsey sighed, “So am I, but I have no clue who the hell you're talking about.”

“If I do this can I be kept anonymous for everything I say?” 

“Of course! We aren’t recording footage anyway. All audio is for me to listen to when I’m writing the articles,” Karl’s eyes finally opened, “Aimsey, make sure not to get any photos of Tommy.” 

“Yes sir!” The two walked into the room and Tommy felt a hand on his shoulder making him jump. 

“Sorry mate,” Philza retracted his hand, “didn’t mean to scare you. If you don’t want to tell him anything you don’t have to.”

Tommy walked ahead of Philza, “I’ll say whatever the hell I want.” Sitting down in the conference room, Tommy watched as Karl set up his phone to record audio, and gave Aimsey some instructions for the photos he needed to take. 

He took out a notepad and smiled, “Let’s get started then. Philza, how has your search for vigilantes been going? People have seen you in district 13 along with one of your trainees. I assume you’ve been looking for Theseus?” 

“Yes, that is correct. They may be a relatively new vigilante in the eyes of the public, however I have been aware of the new district 13 vigilante for a while now.” 

“I see. You were the one who arrested the last one, right?” 

“That is correct.” Philza chuckled, “You already know this Karl.” 

“True, but for a report like this sometimes background information is important to include.” Karl wrote something down, “Do you intend to do the same with Theseus like you did with the previous district 13 vigilante?” 

Philza shrugged, “It all depends on whether or not they want to.” Tommy raised an eyebrow. What did that mean? What did Philza do with the last district 13 vigilante? Tommy had heard of the guy before, he had gotten arrested after getting caught. From what he could tell this was well known information. Tubbo would probably know. 

“Do you believe it would cause the same amount of controversy? After the sudden disappearance of your first apprentice, many people suspect that it could happen again.” 

Philza gave Karl the biggest side eye Tommy had ever seen in his life, “I would prefer we don’t discuss that topic.”

“Alright then,” Karl flipped the page in his notebook, “Let’s talk about the syndicate then. Why are you directing all your attention to Theseus instead of trying to find the syndicate?” 

“Well, the syndicate is incredibly elusive. There are efforts in tracking them down, however those are top secret.” Philza smiled. “We are positive there are more members in the syndicate, and are currently looking into who they could be.” 

“Do you think Theseus is?” 

Philza shook his head, “No, however after their stunt in district 10, I wouldn’t be surprised if the syndicate made an attempt to recruit them.” 

“Speaking of which, I’d like to talk to you about that.” Karl flipped to a new page in his notepad. “I’ve heard that you paid for the injured’s medical expenses. Is this true or just a rumor?” 

“It’s true. I heard from the person running the event that it was meant for charity, so I offered to pay for the medical expenses.”

“That incident that occurred at Sword Park in district 10 was done by an unknown group of terrorists. I assume that the tower is working on finding who is responsible for organizing something of that scale?” 

Philza nodded, “Since members of the syndicate were fighting against them, we know the group is unaffiliated with them. We are looking to repair the park in the near future.” 

Karl grinned, “Thank you, now as you mentioned before, what exactly was the stunt that Theseus pulled in district 10?” 

Tommy felt a chill down his spine. Looking at Karl’s face, he seemed to know exactly what Philza meant. He just wanted Philza to say it for him. Something was seriously wrong with this guy. Maybe he was just good at his job? Tommy’s head was telling him that Karl Jacobs was suspicious, but his gut was telling otherwise. 

Philza sighed, “Why are you like this?” 

Karl laughed, “You’re the one that brought it up. Not my fault.”

“There was a bomb on the statue in the center of the park,” Philza reluctantly explained. “They grabbed it, disappeared, and reappeared before running off. I don’t know what they did, but they saved a lot of people.” Tommy felt a little proud of himself for a moment hearing those words. “As you know, that statute means a lot to me.”

“I remember. You had it made in memory of your previous apprentice.”

Philza nodded, “If Theseus sees this interview, even if I’m currently working to arrest them, I would like it to be known I’m grateful for what he did.” Tommy made sure he didn’t show a hint of emotion hearing those words. 

“I see. Do you have any idea what power Theseus could have to make that possible?”

“No clue. We are looking into it, as figuring out their power will make it easier to find them.” 

“Thank you,” Karl stood up and extended a hand. “This was a very productive interview.” Philza shook his hand. “Now then,” Karl turned off the recording and looked towards Tommy, “I have a few questions for you as well.”

“Why not just ask Techno?” 

Karl flipped to another page, “He wouldn’t tell me unless he owed me a favor. How did you feel about it?” He started a new recording. “The incident at the park?”

Tommy crossed his arms, “I was fucking terrified. One second I was pushing some kids on the swings, and the next everyone was screaming.” 

“Those children, they were the orphans from district 13 correct?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I suppose you’re close with them?” 

“...I guess. Every month I play with them, so their caretaker gets a break. I took a couple days off work to look after them while their caretaker was in the hospital.” Tommy averted his eyes from Karl’s prolonged eye contact. “They’re all doing alright if you’re curious. None of them got hurt.” 

“And you played a part in their safety, correct?” 

“Not really. I didn’t do much.” 

“Really now? You just stated none of them got hurt. That in itself is its own accomplishment.” Karl pointed his pen at Tommy. “Don’t put yourself like that.” Karl lowered his pen. “How did you do it anyway? I heard even the heroes couldn’t find them, and a civilian had gone out to search for them.” 

“Like I said, I play games with them every month. The only game we weren’t allowed to play is hide and seek because sometimes kids not from the orphanage join in. I just told them we were playing hide and seek and not to come out until someone they knew found them.” Tommy frowned, “So I wasn’t hiding with them. I was hiding under the playground, and went to find them after things calmed down.” 

“We’re you doing alright alone?”

Tommy glared, “Why the fuck are you asking questions you already know the answer to?” 

“Fine. Why were you so terrified?” 

Tommy pulled up his sleeve, showing Karl his burn scars, “Take a guess asshole.” 

“Sorry.” Karl apologized. Tommy lowered his sleeve. “I’m guessing you’re from district 13.” 

“Yeah. How is that relevant?”

“It’s not.” Karl smiled. “I just wanted to make sure. Anyway, how do you feel about how the heroes handled the situation? I heard that-” Suddenly, Karl lurched forward, shutting his eyes tight and covering his mouth. 

Aimsey rushed over, “Mr. Jacobs are you alright?” Karl suddenly stood up and pushed Aimsey to the ground behind him. He then jumped over the table and pulled Tommy off of his chair, dragging him to the floor on the opposite side of the room. “Ow…” Aimsey winced. The room shook and rubble shot towards them as the wall was blown up. 

Tommy couldn’t see what happened. Karl was holding him tight, shielding him from any debris. The explosion had hit the wall directly behind him. If it weren’t for Karl he didn’t even want to think about what could’ve happened. “Sorry!” Karl said, “Aimsey, could I borrow your headphones?” 

Philza flew out of the new hole in the wall, “Chayanne, Tallulah, make sure these three stay safe!” 

Aimsey handed her headphones over to Karl. He put them on Tommy and helped him up, “Sorry about that. We need to go.” Tommy looked at Karl and was stunned. His eyes were now a bright golden color, the same shade as Tommy’s hair. 

“What the fuck. How the hell did you-” 

“Hey!” Chayanne ran into the room. “Come on, let's go!” 

Tommy pressed the headphones into his ears as he ran down the stairs. Aimsey had tears in their eyes, and Karl was strangely calm. Explosions were happening throughout the entire tower. Why did he have to work on such a high floor? People were freaking out as they all rushed down the emergency exit. Tommy considered dropping down the gaps between the stairs, but he didn’t think he could do that at the moment. Not with everyone around him. 

Once outside, Tommy stayed with Aimsey and Karl. Chayanne and Tallulah were going around treating any injured. He sat down on the sidewalk and looked up at the tower. All he could see was fire and the sound of explosions wouldn’t stop ringing in his ears. There wasn’t anything there. He knew that. The damage was all in his head. Tommy rubbed the scars under his sleeves. 

Everything was handled quickly, all he needed to do was wait until they were let back into the tower. He would grab his stuff, leave, and return the next day. 

“Oh no…” Tommy heard Aimsey say. “What’s going to happen now? Do you think everything will be alright?” 

“It’ll be fixed quickly,” He said, eyes locked on the tower. “In a week it’ll be like no damage was done.”

“Really?” Aimsey smiled, “What a relief.”

“Yeah. How wonderful. ” He scoffed. “People actually care about heroes. Of course it’ll be fixed.” Tommy bit his lip, “It’s so stupid.  If this happened somewhere in the lower districts, no one would even remember.” 

Aimsey shook her head, “No way! I’m sure there would still be people that care if this happened somewhere else. It would be insane if people didn’t.” 

Tommy laughed. It wasn’t funny. “Yeah! That would be insane wouldn’t it? How could an entire city forget something like that? That would be impossible!” He laughed it was so fake and empty he didn't bother trying to pretend it wasn't. “That would be fucking hilarious?!” 

“Tommy…” Karl looked down at him. He hesitated for a moment before sitting down on the sidewalk next to him. For once, Karl Jacobs, a man known for his silver tongue couldn’t think of anything to say. 

“People only care because they're heroes. They don't care about anyone else.” Tommy looked up at the tower. It was perfectly fine. There was some rubble, but it was still standing. It still existed. For the first time in a while, Tommy spoke the complete truth. No lies, no hiding bits of information, just his true and real feelings, “I hate them so much.” 

Chapter Text

“Tommy I’m heading out!” Tubbo looked behind him. Tommy was laying on the couch, huddled in a blanket. “Do you want anything?” Tubbo was worried about him. Tommy got home yesterday and hadn’t said a thing since. 

“Okay see you later. Don’t die while I’m gone.” Tubbo started on his commute to his university. It was all the way in district 5, which he took the train to. The city hated giving anything good to the lower districts, so had to go all the way to district 10. Usually, he was late to class, but his grades were perfect so it wasn’t an issue. He made it to class late again, but that was alright. 

Once class was over he gathered his things to leave. Like usual he would go to the dining hall and then go to the library before going to his next class. “Tubbo!” Tubbo sighed as he kept walking, pretending to be listening to music. Most people had gotten the hint that he wanted to be left alone, but one person didn’t seem to get the memo. “Tubbo, I know you’re not listening to music.” 

Tubbo turned to face them with a frown, “What do you want Aimsey?” He knew a little about Aimsey mostly because they seemed to like following him around everywhere. She had straight long brown hair and always wore a beanie and headphones. They didn’t share any classes together except for the one Tubbo just got out of. 

Aimsey started walking beside him. “I’m going to be eating with Owen and Guqqie if you’d like to join us.” 

“No thanks.” 

“But you’re going to the dining hall anyway. Might as well, right?” They were being more persistent today. “Please?” 

“Did Owen make a bet that I wouldn’t again?” He had done it before. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. 

“No!” Aimsey rapidly shook her head. “He doesn't even know I’m asking you today!” 

“Really?” 

“Yes really! Join us for once. Eating is a lot more fun when you eat with friends.” Aimsey paused. “Hey, we are friends right?” 

Were they? Tubbo considered them to be acquaintances at best. However, Aimsey seemed pretty determined to be friends. They were the only one who chose to talk to him despite all the bad stuff people said about him. “...I guess.”  He hated to admit it, but Aimsey was the closest person other than Tommy and Techno that he could consider a friend.

“There was so much hesitation there.” 

“Do you have a coin?” 

“Uh,” Aimsey rummaged through her backpack. “Yeah, here.”  

Tubbo took it from him, “Heads or tails?” 

“Heads.” 

Tubbo flipped the coin and caught it before slapping it onto the back of his other hand. “Heads.” He sighed, “I’ll eat with you today.” 

Aimsey gasped, “Really?! Let’s go! Owen’s gonna be so surprised! Man, too bad Scott and Bek are busy with something today. They both would’ve loved to meet you.” 

Once at the dining hall, Aimsey checked her phone looking for where her friends were currently sitting. She led Tubbo to a small table in the back, “Hey guys!” They waved. “Guess who I brought!” They put their bag down on a chair and gestured to Tubbo. “Surprise!!!” 

Owen gasped and pointed at him, “Tubbo?! Aimsey, how in the world did you do this?” His brown hair and orange jacket were immediately recognizable. Tubbo had known Owen since his first semester, they didn’t get off on the right foot, but now their relationship was more of a very one sided rivalry on Owen’s side.

“Wow Aimsey you finally did it!” The girl sitting next to Owen smiled. “Nice to meet you Tubbo.”

“Uh, yeah, Guqqie right?” She nodded. Guqqie had pink hair, Aimsey wouldn’t stop telling him about how excited he was when Guqqie had told him she was dying her hair. Tubbo didn’t get it. Too many people he knew had pink hair. Tubbo put down his bag, “I’m getting food. Nice to meet you.” 

When he got back to the table he remembered the mask on his face. He didn’t like taking it off in public around other people, but he would have to now. Tubbo thought about what he could do for less than a minute. Solution, don’t eat. He had gotten a sandwich, but he could easily take that with him when he went to the library. 

Tubbo got out his laptop and pulled up some assignments from his coding class he had to complete. Owen gave him a funny look, “Are you seriously doing work right now?” 

“I’d like to get home early tonight. My roommate isn’t feeling well.” 

Owen squinted, “Are you sure it’s not just because you don’t want to take off the mask?” 

Tubbo glared at him. “That wasn’t a no!” Owen laughed. “Why do you always wear it anyway?” 

“Getting sick would cost money. I can barely afford going to college even with all my scholarships. I’m not risking anything.” 

Guqqie waved as Aimsey returned to the table, “Hi Aimsey, how was work yesterday?” 

Aimsey laughed nervously, “It was interesting. The interview was cut short, so my boss told me to go home early and just send him the photos.”

“Oh yeah,” Owen looked Aimsey up and down. “You went to the tower yesterday. Are you okay?” 

“Barely. I almost watched Philza’s assistant get blown up.” 

Tubbo quickly shut his laptop, “Explain.” 

“Oh yeah Tubbo, he’s your brother right? He said his name was Thomas Underscore so I just assumed.” 

Guqqie gasped, “Seriously?! That’s so cool!”

“He’s my roommate. We just decided to use the same last name since he didn’t have one.” 

“Come on, Aimsey, tell us the story!” Owen urged. 

“Well, it was just a normal interview, then my boss had a headache, which is normal, but then he pushed me to the ground.” Guqqie was about to say something, but Aimsey continued, “Then he dragged Philza’s assistant across the table right before the wall behind him blew up. Then we had to evacuate.” 

Owen’s jaw dropped, “No way… how did your boss know to grab him?”

“Uh, don’t know. I think it had something to do with his powers, but I don’t know what they are.”

“Well yeah obviously, that’s a pretty personal thing.” 

Tubbo got out his phone, “No wonder he hasn’t said anything since yesterday.” He called Tommy. His phone rang for a while and nothing. He tried again and Tommy picked up, “Hey Tommy! Everything’s fine, but we’re having a conversation later. Bye.” He hung up and groaned. “He should’ve told me.” 

“He didn’t?” 

“He hasn’t said a word since he got back from work yesterday. The explosions probably freaked him out.” Tubbo knew how much Tommy hated fire. It got to the point where they needed to get an electric stove because Tommy struggled using a gas one. Techno had to come up with an excuse to give them a new one, so Tommy wouldn’t feel bad. “He’s always been secretive, but I figured he would at least tell me something like that.” 

“Can you let me know if he’s okay?” Aimsey asked, “I’m worried about him. Wait,” Aimsey rummaged through her bag and handed Tubbo a bag of candy. “Can you give this to him? To help him feel better.” 

“Sure,” Tubbo put it in his bag. He reopened his laptop, “I’ll let him know you’re worried.” 

“Thank you!” Aimsey smiled. “Oh that reminds me, Owen, how's your paper been doing?” 

“Ugh, it’s been terrible . I would much rather write something I’m actually interested in. However, I do think all the research I’m doing could help me write a pretty good story.” 

Tubbo tuned out a majority of the future conversation until the three had to leave for their next class. Tubbo did what he initially intended to do, and after his last class made his way home. He did make a quick detour to district 11 on the way. 

Tommy woke up two times, both when Tubbo called him. The first phone call was a couple hours ago, the second one was now. “...what?”

“Hey Tommy, do you still plan on joining that club?” Tommy was still groggy and was incredibly confused. “ Hellooo? You awake?” 

“Yeah. What the fuck are you talking about?” 

“ Remember? Someone asked you the other day if you wanted to join their book club. Did you still want to join?”

“...yeah?” 

“ Awesome. I’m heading home right now. Bye.” Tubbo hung up leaving Tommy still confused. Tommy groaned and finally got up for the day. He was starving. Checking the cupboards all he could find was cereal. He forgot to go shopping. Again. He texted Tubbo to buy some food on the way back, but he wasn’t sure if would see it fast enough. 

Tommy poured himself a bowl of cereal, no milk since they didn’t have any left and sat back on the couch. He started scrolling through social media to see if anything interesting was going on. Everyone was just talking about what had happened the day before. Annoying. He was bored again. Nothing to do, no one to talk to, he was so bored. He went back to laying down and doing nothing, eventually falling asleep. 

Tommy was running through district 13. He didn’t know why he was running, but he just needed to go. Jumping across the rooftops he kept going as his lungs started to burn. He heard the sound of thunder as a sudden downpour started. He needed to go. As he leapt towards the next rooftop he lost his footing. He plummeted towards the ground below. Right as he was about to hit the ground, he woke up to the door slamming open and Tubbo shouting, “Tommy you got mail!” 

Tommy fell off the couch, “Wuh- huh? Did I forget to pay a bill or something? I thought they weren’t due yet!” 

Tubbo shoved an envelope into his hands, “Get off your ass and read it. I went all the way to district 11 for it.” 

Opening the envelope Tommy read the letter inside. 

Welcome to the syndicate! We invite you to meet some of your fellow syndicate members. All you have to do is bring this piece of paper to the address below along with some proof that you are who you claim to be. Simple! Feel free to do so whenever most convenient for you. Below is the address and words from fellow members. All of them were transcribed by the same person (Nemesis). We're always happy to welcome new friends. 

We’ll do our best to protect you from any heroes. Just make sure you watch our backs too! - Slimecicle

I’m looking forward to getting to know you. I hope we can be friends - Anonymous 

Rat us out and you’re dead - Coin Flip

I’d like to hear a bit about your powers when we meet. Looking forward to it - Nemesis

As one of the founders of the syndicate I hope you feel welcome with us. - Anonymous 

The address at the bottom felt familiar for some reason. Tommy paused, “Wait this is-” 

Tubbo tossed a pillow at him, “Don’t tell me! I want nothing to do with them. This is all your thing, nothing to do with me. I haven’t read the paper, I just grabbed it. Do what you want.” 

“Thanks Tubbo.” 

“It’s nothing. Do what you want. I’m going to go buy groceries. I wanted to give you that before I went.” Tubbo put down his backpack. “Here’s some candy, Aimsey wanted me to give it to you. Next time tell me when something bad happens at work. Don’t die, see you later.” The second Tubbo was gone, Tommy got ready to leave. He shoved his gear into his backpack, put on his red hoodie and rushed out the door. He looked up the address and he already knew where it was. 

He stood nervously in front of the door. Of all places he never expected it to be here. Tommy stood in front of Niki’s Bakery out of breath and confused. He composed himself and stepped inside. Niki greeted him with a bright smile, “Oh! Hello Tommy, how are you doing? What would you like today?” 

Tommy’s mind went blank. Was he just supposed to give the paper to her? What if he screwed everything up? Niki could probably keep a secret, but what if-

“Tommy?” Niki asked again. “You okay?” 

“Sorry! I was trying to remember what my roommate asked me to get him.” 

“No worries, take your time.” 

Tommy looked at the available pastries. All of them looked delicious. The cakes were all sold out, and the cinnamon rolls were the most expensive thing available. He knew Tubbo would enjoy something sweet, so he was going to get him some cookies. 

Niki pointed to the cinnamon rolls. “If I remember correctly, this is your favorite right?”

Tommy nodded, “Yeah, but I’ll just take some cookies for my roommate today.” 

“Okay, but you’re getting these for free.”

“I’ll pay!” Tommy insisted. “I don’t want to take anything for free.” 

Niki shook her head, “Think of it as payment for what you did at the festival. Those kids made it out unscathed, but since you insist, just pay for the cookies. To go?” 

“Yes please.” When Niki turned to prepare the order, Tommy reached into his pocket for his wallet and the piece of paper. Niki put a paper bag on the counter, “That’ll be-” She froze. Tommy held out the piece of paper. It was just a normal piece of notebook paper, but she seemed to recognize it instantly. 

“Do you not want it?” 

Niki took the piece of paper and unfolded it. She looked at Tommy’s hoodie, “Well I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be you. Give me a second.” She opened a door in the back and stepped inside. Tommy waited for what felt like forever, but it was really about two minutes before Niki stepped back out. “Sorry about that,” She extended her hand. “Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Niki Nihachu, but I think you’d be more familiar with the name Nemesis.”

Tommy stepped back, “What?!” Niki, one of the sweetest people Tommy had ever met, was the most feared vigilante in the city. He quickly went to shake her hand. “Uh, Theseus.” 

Niki laughed, “Yeah that’s how most people react when they find out. Follow me, some other members are here too. I can introduce you to them.” Tommy followed her to the door that she went into earlier. “The kitchen is over there, and upstairs is where we usually hang out.” 

“You live in your store?” 

“Yeah, the upstairs is basically my house. I renovated a lot.” Niki went up the stairs and opened a door. Niki stepped inside and Tommy followed behind her, shutting the door behind him. “Everyone, meet Theseus!” 

Tommy froze as all eyes in the room fell onto him. Two people were there. One was sitting at the coffee table with a lot of books and papers around him. He seemed to be working on something. He had black hair and a beanie, Tommy had probably seen him around at some point. He didn’t look too happy to see him. There was another guy sitting on the couch playing videogames on Niki’s TV. He had brown hair and glasses. 

The room itself was nice. A large couch and an armchair around a table with a TV in front of it. There was a door with a do not enter sign that Tommy assumed was Niki’s room, the other door he assumed was the bathroom. The window had some plants on the windowsill and a small side table with a couple more. There was also some exercise equipment in the corner. A punching bag, some weights, and a pull up bar on the wall. 

It was nice and quaint. Definitely wasn’t what he was expecting for the syndicate. He was expecting a room with a dark atmosphere and all around cooler. This wasn’t bad though. It seemed comfortable. 

After pausing the game the guy with glasses smiled and waved at Tommy, “Hello! Nice to meet you! I’m Charlie, this guy is Quackity, and over there is-” Charlie paused. “I’m not going crazy right Quackity? I swear he was here.” 

“He was,” Quackity got out his phone. “He probably got spooked. I’ll text him.” 

“Hi,” Tommy introduced himself, “My name is Tommy.” 

Quackity looked Tommy up and down, finally getting a proper look at him. His eyes widened, “Oh my god you’re Techno’s kid.” 

“Who the hell are you calling a kid!?” Tommy shouted. Of course these guys knew Techno. They knew Niki, and Niki was pretty good friends with Techno. “Besides, I'm not Techno’s kid.” Is that what people thought?

“You basically are,” Niki said as she pushed Tommy towards the couch, “How old are you again?”

“...18.” 

The room seemed to fall silent at the mention of Tommy’s age. Charlie changed the subject, “I’m Slimecicle. Quackity is Coin Flip.” 

“Why the hell would you tell him that!?” Quackity complained. 

“Because he would figure it out eventually.” Charlie smiled. “Anyway, Tommy, you don’t have to be nervous. We usually just chill here for the most part.” 

There was a quiet knock at the door and a notification from Quackity’s phone. He groaned, “Dude! Just introduce yourself!” He walked towards the door. “I’ll drag you in there if you run again.” 

Suddenly in a flash of purple particles Tommy jumped as Ranboo fell off the couch, “Hi! Hey Tommy. How are you doing on this fine- I’m leaving again, nevermind. I’m stupid, this is stupid, joining the syndicate was a mistake-” 

Tommy shrieked. Before anyone could react, Tommy grabbed Ranboo’s arm and went into his pocket dimension. Tommy pushed Ranboo away from him and took a couple steps back, “Explain yourself!” 

“In my defense, I didn’t know you were Theseus and also I’m not supposed to go around advertising I’m in the syndicate.”

Tommy took a deep breath, “So you’re a vigilante?”

“Yeah. Well, it’s more like I’m an informant.” Ranboo sat down. “I’m not exactly the best at fighting, but I’m great and getting to places that I’m not supposed to. I do fight, but it’s more assisting other people and making sure no one sneaks up on them.” 

“Do they know about that deal you offered?” 

Ranboo shook his head, “Nope! The syndicate has a do what you want policy, and I’m not obligated to tell them anything. We can still do that if you’d like, but I’d rather not.” 

“Why?” 

Ranboo looked away from Tommy, and said quietly, “I want to be friends.” 

“...heh?” 

Ranboo turned away embarrassed, “I want to be friends! Everyone else in the syndicate is a couple years older than me, so when I heard the district 13 vigilante was around my age I wanted to be friends. When we met at work, I thought about trying to get closer, but since you know, it’s the TOWER I wasn’t planning on keeping any connections there.” 

Tommy didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t expecting this, that someone would just want to be friends with no strings attached. “Why do you want to be friends with me?” 

“You’re cool. You’re fun to be around so-” Ranboo groaned, “I don’t know! Vibes!? Do I need a reason?” 

Tommy turned bright red and turned away, “I guess you don’t.” Tommy paused before finally looking back at Ranboo, “Sure…” Ranboo’s eyes widened. “We can be friends. Let’s start over though.” 

Ranboo leapt to his feet, “My name is Ranboo! No last name, just Ranboo.” Tommy burst into laughter. “What? You’re the one that wanted to start over! You do it then. Introduce yourself.” 

Tommy smiled and he spoke, “My name is Tommy Innit.” It was the first time in years that he had said that. He didn’t think Tubbo remembered his real name, and he didn’t think he had ever told Techno. “Nice to meet you Ranboo.” 

“So your paperwork is forged.” 

“Of course it is! Are you kidding me, of course all that shit is forged. Yours is too dumbass!’” 

Ranboo laughed, “Alright, let’s head back before anyone gets worried.” 

“It’s only been a couple seconds,” Tommy waved his hand and the pocket dimension dispersed into nothing. Tommy was sitting on the couch the same way he was previously, and Ranboo fell face first onto the floor. 

“Owww.” Ranboo rubbed his forehead. 

“What the fuck just happened,” Quackity helped Ranboo up. “Are you okay?” Charlie grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. 

Ranboo nodded, “I’m fine, don’t worry.” He sat down next to Tommy.

Tommy yawned, “Sorry about that. I was just confused since one of my co-workers was here.” 

Niki’s eyes widened, “You work at the tower.” 

Tommy shrugged, “Money is money. The pay there is great. I’m not going to get caught because I’m working there, don’t worry.” Tommy grinned. “If I’m getting caught I’m going down in a blaze of fucking glory.” 

Niki sighed, “If you say so. Here, let me give you a basic rundown of how things work since I’m guessing Charlie didn’t go over everything.” Niki smiled, “Or would you rather learn it as we go?” 

“I’m fine with learning as we go, but who’s in charge?”

“No one!” Niki said happily. “I’m one of the founders, but there isn’t a set leader. We do everything by vote.”

“Who else is a founder then? Actually, how many people are in the syndicate?” 

“Seven,” Quackity answered.

“Technically eight,” Ranboo said. “I guess technically we have nine now.”

Quackity explained, “We have an alliance with the Hermits, so one of their members knows us.” 

Tommy tried to remember if he had ever heard of the Hermits before, “...who?” He assumed they were some kind vigilante group, but he knew nothing. Tubbo never brought them up, he never saw anything about them in articles.

“....seriously,” Quackity groaned. “They’re the group that runs abandoned districts. They don’t really do anything outside of there unless it’s an emergency. They like keeping to themselves. Heroes have given up on trying to find them since they’re considered unproblematic for them.” 

“So they’re literally hermits.” Tommy made a mental note to look into them later. “Good to know. Am I ever going to meet the rest of the syndicate?” There were still three members excluding the hermit that Tommy hadn’t met. Everyone looked at Ranboo who averted their eyes and shrugged. Tommy raised an eyebrow, “The hell? Ranboo what do you know?”

“Uh, well, I know one of the members you haven’t met the best out of everyone here.” Ranboo spun towards Niki, trying to change the subject, “What about the other two?” 

“You’ll definitely meet the other founder. The other person you can’t meet. Ranboo doesn't know them either if that makes you feel better.” Niki looked at Ranboo. “Well?” 

Ranboo looked around nervously, “I don’t- it’s weird, he’s weird. He’s been acting weird today. I think he doesn’t want to meet Tommy.” 

Charlie gasped, “Is that why he left earlier than normal!? He was here a couple minutes before Tommy arrived.

Ranboo shrugged, “...maybe? I don’t know. Knowing him probably.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes. How would this mysterious person know he was coming? He didn’t even know he was going until a couple minutes before he arrived. Tommy looked at Ranboo, “Come on, I thought friends weren’t supposed to keep secrets from one another.” 

Ranboo immediately turned away from him without saying a word. Tommy heard Niki crack her knuckles, “I don’t need to teach that asshole a lesson do I? Has he been picking on you again? Don’t tell me he’s been making you investigate some crazy stuff like last time?” 

“No, no, not at all,” Ranboo rapidly shook his head. “He’s just- he hasn’t been…” Ranboo words got quieter and quieter as he spoke, “...I’ll ask him about it later. You know how secretive he is. He probably won’t tell me anything.” 

Tommy leaned against the couch’s armrest, “Do I gotta go beat this guy up too? Sounds like a real asshole.” 

“He is, but please don’t beat him up.” 

Tommy burst into laughter. He never thought Ranboo would say something like that so quickly. “Isn’t he your friend?!” 

“He is?” Ranboo seemed hesitant to answer, "It's complicated, but I consider him to be a friend. He might not think the same though."

Charlie shoved a controller into Tommy’s hands, “Enough talk! Let’s play games! Niki needs to get back to running the store.” He handed controllers to Ranboo and Quackity as well. 

Ranboo happily accepted while Quackity refused. “I have things to work on!”

“Take a break man, you’re ahead on your work anyway.” 

Quackity got out a coin, “Heads or tails.” 

“None of your bullshit powers for this one?” 

“None of my bullshit powers. Promise.” 

Charlie stared at Quackity. Quackity stared back. He flipped the coin as Charlie shouted, “Tails!” The coin landed on the floor. Charlie cheered, “Let’s go!!!! You’re playing today!”

“Fine!” Quackity snatched the controller, “I’m winning today then.” 

Ranboo smiled, “No bullshit powers this time please.”

“It was one time guys!” 

Tommy laughed. He hadn’t had this much fun in a while. The festival was fun, but that was mostly making sure others were having fun. It wasn’t just him enjoying other people's company like this. It had been a long time since Tommy had proper friends. Most people he called friends were acquaintances at best. They would never get to really know him. 

For just this moment, even if it was only for a couple hours, Tommy chose to enjoy the moment and savor every carefree memory he could have. He was still a kid after all. A teenager with powers he didn’t fully know. He would cherish all the memories because he knew one day he would get caught. One day he would do something he would regret, and he couldn’t change the past. All he could do was live recklessly in the present and hope things would work out. 

Tommy smiled,, “Hey guys, I’m allowed to come here whenever now right?” 

“Yeah!” Charlie beamed. “Niki will let you in, and you can just chill back here. Quackity’s usually here to study, and I’m usually here to game. It’s usually just me and Quackity here and sometimes Ranboo.” 

“I’m usually here to hang out.” Ranboo tapped Quackity’s shoulder. “Quit reading, it's your turn.”

Charlie looked over at Tommy, “Is there anything you like doing, cause you can come here and hang out from time to time and do those things.” 

“I like reading.” He didn’t have many books, but he did enjoy reading. Maybe he needed some new hobbies. Reading was the only one he could really think of. 

“Seriously?” Quackity turned to Tommy. “Didn’t expect that from you.” 

“The hell is that supposed to mean?!” Tommy frowned, “I usually spend my time working. I might find some new shit to do now that I got some extra money.” 

Charlie suddenly held out a hand, “Give me your number! I can recommend some stuff.” 

Ranboo gasped, “Wait, can I give you mine too?” Tommy reached into his pocket and handed Charlie his phone. He only had a couple saved contacts. It was only Techno, Tubbo, his current and past bosses. 

“...wow this thing is ancient,” Charlie shrieked, “Tommy do you not have a password on your phone?!” 

“It’s not like I’m doing anything stupid on it. I barely use the thing. Fixed it up after finding it in a dumpster.” Tommy waved his controller around. “Charlie, it's your turn, hurry up.” 

Ranboo handed the phone back to Tommy, “I’m surprised it works.” He smiled. “I’m gonna text you later.” 

“Okay,” Tommy put his phone back into his pocket.

They played the game happily, joking around. Niki came up once to give Tommy the things he had bought earlier, and asked them to quiet down. Tommy left after the game since he wanted to patrol that night, but he had left the bakery with some new friends and a bag full of cookies. By the time he got home he had come to a realization, “I didn’t pay…” Oh well, he opened the door to his apartment, “Yo Tubbo I bought you cookies!” He just had to go back tomorrow.