Not Your Average Superhero Story

by xXFellErrorXx

Summary:

Tommy lived in a society where heroes, villains, and vigilantes were loved, hated, and revered. Everyone Tommy knew wanted to be a hero or vigilante, heck Tommy knew people who went on to be villains, but did Tommy want to? Nope! He didn't want to be a hero, villain, or vigilante, even with his Insanely pog superpower, but of course, danger always finds him. He just has to remember... Not everything is as it seems.

(Author's note: hey, I know we said we'd be rewriting earlier chapters, but we've decided not to. This is our first fic after all, and we like to look back at how we've improved.)
(This story is entirely about the DSMP characters and not the real people.)

Notes:

Sorry if I missed any tags this is my first ever fanfic. Please enjoy and be warned updates will probably be very slow.

I'm gonna be taking the story in a different direction so I recommend re-reading. Thank you

Chapter 1: New Job

Notes:

I'm gonna go a different direction with the story so I've changed things up in the first chapter. If you wanna keep up with the story I recommend re-reading. Thanks

When Tommy saw the help wanted ad in the paper for a bookstore called The Sleepy Bois Inc, he immediately got on his best shirt, which Tubbo kept insisting was hideous, and booked it (pun intended).

Now that Tom was in front of the place, though, he noticed that the place was pretty empty. Even though the sign said open, he didn't see anyone at the register.

"Ahem." A voice next to Tommy pulled him out of his thoughts.

"You just gonna keep fogging up our windows or..." A guy with square glasses and long brown hair with pink ends stood leaning out the door, looking at Tommy with an eyebrow raised.

"Shit! Sorry, man, I didn't know if you were open or not." Tommy stood straight up, nervously smiling.

"Well, the sign says open?" He said it as if Tommy just said something stupid, which is impossible because Tommy never says anything stupid.

"Weeeell, no one was at the desk, and it's pretty dark in there, and-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. So you needa buy something?" He said, cutting Tommy off quickly.

"Oh, uh no, I'm here about your help wanted ad." Tommy pulled out the newspaper clipping from his bag and showed it to him.

The pink haired guy looked at the clipping and back at Tommy. "You wanna work here? You look twelve."

Tommy resisted the urge to curse at his future employer. "I'm 16 actually and yes I wanna work here. I have quite the passion for books." Tommy stuck out his chin and grinned.

"Suuuure." The guy said with absolute confidence in Tommy.

The guy held the door open, and Tommy stepped inside where he saw a blonde man in a green and white striped bucket hat come out, what Tommy guessed was, the backroom.

"Oh, hey Techno." He then noticed Tommy following behind him. "Hello, you need help finding something?"

Tommy smiled and walked up to him. "Yeah actually." Tommy leaned on the counter. "A job."

He stared at Tommy for a second. "Really?" He said not expecting a teenager to willingly work at a bookstore in a million years.

"Yeah, I'm a great employee, trust me." Tommy gave him a very reassuring smile, and he chuckled.

"Alright then, right this way." Tommy followed him into a cozy little reading nook in the corner of the store and sat on a bean bag across from him.

"So, why do you wanna work here...?" He trailed off.

"Oh my name's Tommy and to be frank with you, I really need a job to pay for my apartment, cuz you know college dorms kinda suck."

"Hm." The Techno guy made a noise behind Tommy.

"College, huh? What's your major?" The blonde guy gave Tommy a warm smile. "Oh theater!" Tommy smiled proudly.

Both techno and the blonde guy chuckled a bit, and Tommy looked between them confused. "Sorry, Tommy, it's an inside joke. Anyway, that's pretty cool, you have any experience working someplace like this? Any prior jobs?"

"Uh, well no, but I'm super efficient, and I promise I'll work super hard." Tommy really, really wanted this job.

"Calm down mate, you seem like a good kid and no one else has responded to the job ad, so you're hired." Tommy smiled and shook his hand. "Thank you..."

"The names Phil, mate."

Chapter 2: Secrets and Connections

Summary:

Dun Dun Dun

Notes:

I'm having a bit of trouble navigating how to post this but eh

Tommy quickly scribbled down what had been written on the board before the bell rang and Mr. Boosfer dismissed them from class.

"Ey boss man." Tommy's best friend Tubbo came running up behind him. "What's the big hurry?"

"It's my first day at the bookstore, remember? I wanna be on time." Tommy kept speed walking down the hall as Tubbo struggled to keep up.

"Toms look out!" Tubbo called from behind him as he walked head first into another student. 

"Fuuuck ow!" Tommy held his forehead as he looked up at the all too familiar split, black and white hair.

"Oow, sorry Tommy." Ranboo rubbed their neck and helped Tommy up.

"Nah, you're good boo, I wasn't looking where I was going." Tommy picked up his bag. "Anyway, I gotta hurry, I'll see you guy's tomorrow!" He yelled back as he quickly left the school and ran to the bookstore.

Tommy burst in, almost making the brown haired guy shelving books drop them. "Jesus Christ! You scared the hell outta me, man!" Tommy smirked and walked over to him.

"Sorry man, names Tommy, I'm guessing you're also working here today." Tommy said cheerfully.

The brown haired guy climbed down from the ladder he was on. "Ah, you must be the kid Phil hired, I'm Wilbur, and yeah."

Tommy frowned at the kid comment, but it quickly turned into a smirk. "First off I'm not a kid, second I'm Tommy. So Wilbur, huh? I'm guessing you must be ancient to have a name like that?"

Wilbur's smile quickly fell, and he looked at Tommy annoyed. "I'm not ancient, thank you very much, and I think Wilbur's a great name."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, boomer." Tommy said smirking.

Wilbur took a deep breath. "I'm not a boomer, I'm 23."

"Alright, alright. Anyway, what you need me to do first?" Tommy said dismissively.

Wilbur sighed and pointed at the cart. "Well, seeing as it's pretty hard to carry books up a ladder, you're going to pass me the books I tell you to, alright."

Tommy jokingly saluted. "Yes sir, boomer sir."

"Ugh..." Wilbur groaned.

To Tommy's surprise Wilbur was actually pretty fun to talk to, they spent the whole time throwing insults back and forth and at one point Wilbur called him a gremlin in which Tommy threw a book at his head.

"Ahh!" Wilbur ducked and glared at Tommy. "Shit" Wilbur started chasing Tommy around the store before Techno came out from the back and broke them up.

The day was pretty slow, they had a few customers here and there, but most of the day consisted of Tommy annoying Wilbur until he had a migraine.

"Bye, come again." Tommy yelled as a nice pink haired lady left with some cookbooks. 

Wilbur patted Tommy on the back. "I got to say that was pretty good for your first day, Tommy."

"Thanks, Will, you know you're pretty cool for a boomer."

"Alright that's it." Wilbur put Tommy in a chokehold, in which Tommy yelled. "Ah! Child abuse!" 

He struggled against Wilbur before he licked his arm and Wilbur quickly let him go. "Ew! You seriously just licked me!?" 

Tommy stuck his tongue out at him.

"And you say you're not a child." Wilbur scoffed.

"I'm not! I'll have you know, I'm very grown up and very popular with the ladies." Tommy said, puffing out his chest.

"Yeah sure." Wilbur rolled his eyes before him and Tommy's phone's buzzed.

Tommy took out his phone and the news broadcast played on his phone. "Number one hero, Crow Father, seen battling and defeating villains, Spore and Crimson. Before he was able to apprehend both villains, they were rescued by the villain Dream. Remember, if you spot them, especially Dream, contact authorities immediately and heroes will be sent to your location. Stay safe."

The store went weirdly quiet.

"Damn... Too bad he couldn't catch 'em." Tommy glanced over at Wilbur.

"Uh, yeah." Wilbur said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Too bad..."

"But hey, he took down two of the city's most dangerous villains single-handedly, so that's pretty pog." Tommy shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"Yeah, that is pretty pog." Wilbur chuckled.

"Holy shit! The Boomer knows what pog means." Tommy fake gasped.

"Oh my god." Wilbur groaned and Tommy grabbed his bag. "Oh, you heading out?"

"Uh yeah, we got 5 minutes before closing and I doubt anyone's gonna come in." Tommy threw his backpack over his shoulder and walked to the door.

"Hey, let me walk you home, three dangerous villains just escaped custody, it'd be safer if I came with you." Wilbur put his hand on Tommy's shoulder. 

"Nah I'm fine, you close up, I don't live that far." Tommy shrugged off Wilbur's hand and walked out the door, quickly heading towards his apartment building.

The walk was quiet for the most part but when Tommy was about halfway there he felt as if he was being watched, he glanced around him, and when his back was turned he was pushed into an alleyway with a knife at his neck.

"Give me your wallet now!" A guy in a black ski mask held a knife to Tommy's throat, beads of blood started dripping down his neck, but he wasn't afraid. In fact Tommy smirked at the guy, the man was confused until a shadow fell over him, and he quickly turned around, and froze...

The most dangerous villain in the city, Dream, was looming over the guy, his smiley face mask surprisingly menacing in the dim light of the streetlamp outside the alley. "Ahem." Dream cleared his throat and motioned to the knife at Tommy's neck. The thief quickly dropped the knife and stared into the eyes of Dreams mask. "Leave." Was all Dream had to say before the mugger was running down the street.

Tommy smirked as the guy ran and turned to Dream. "All right, you may leave." And just like that, Dream left as quickly as he arrived. Tommy held his red sleeve to his neck and just continued walking as if nothing had happened, unaware that a certain musical hero was watching from the rooftops.

Chapter 3: The illusion of Betrayal

Summary:

Short chapter for Will's POV

Notes:

I'm gonna burn myself out but I gotta keep writing

Wilbur watched as Tommy left the store, heading home as the sun began to set. Wilbur tried to tell himself Tommy would be fine, but after that news report, Wilbur was on edge. In the end, Wilbur said, "Fuck it." And quickly put on his hero uniform, besides, it was his job to protect civilians. He climbed out the upstairs window and climbed to the roof, quickly spotting Tommy heading down the sidewalk.

Now, it might be a bit weird if people saw the hero Nightingale following some random teen, but the street was about completely empty. Wilbur followed close behind, definitely not trying to read a red notebook that Tommy pulled out of his bag as he walked.

As the sun went behind the taller buildings in the nice part of the city, Tommy suddenly whipped around and someone grabbed him and pulled him into an alleyway.

Wilbur quickly hopped to the building and looked down at them.

"Give me your wallet now!" The guy held a knife to Tommy's throat and right before Wilbur jumped down to intervene he froze, his blood going cold.

Dream emerged from the shadows of the alleyway, standing behind the mugger, and he quickly turned to look behind him. He saw Dream and the snarl on his face turned to pure terror, Tommy on the other hand, from what Will could see, he was smirking.

Dream cleared his throat and motioned his head to the knife pressed against Tommy's throat. The mugger quickly dropped it and stared at Dream, Dream did nothing but say "Leave." And the mugger took off running. Wilbur readied himself to jump down and save Tommy from the terrible villain, but "All right, you may leave." Tommy said, doing a shooing motion with his hand, and Dream disappeared into the maze of alleyways.

Wilbur sat on the rooftop shocked, someone had just tried to mug Tommy, and dream saved him. Not only that, Dream listened to Tommy when he ordered him to leave. Wilbur watched as Tommy dusted himself off, wiped the blood from his neck, and started walking towards his house again. Wilbur quickly dashed down the alley, trying to find any trace of dream, but the villain was long gone.

Wilbur hopped rooftops till he was back at the bookstore and climbed back into the window, collapsing onto the floor in front of it.

"... What the fuck..." Is all Wilbur could say as he removed his goggles.

Wilbur didn't want to jump to conclusions, but what else could that have been, he had just watched Tommy order around dream like he was his boss. The kid who had just spent his entire shift either arguing with him or quoting random plays that he hadn't even heard of.

Phil came down the stairs, his upper arm wrapped in bandages, and looked down at Will.

"Hey? Will you alright, what happened?" Phil leaned down next to his son.

"I... Don't know."

Chapter 4: Explanation?

Summary:

★★★

Notes:

It's almost 5 am but I can't stop.

Tommy walked cheerfully towards the bookstore, the sun rising over the trees. He was in charge of opening today since it was the weekend, and he was very excited. He had a surprisingly fun time bickering with Wilbur, even if he was an uncultured boomer, he enjoyed quoting his favorite plays to Will.

Tommy pulled out the key they had given him and quietly walked inside. Wilbur told him their house was on the second floor of the store and that they wanted to sleep in for once now that they had someone else working.

Tommy happily agreed to open the store. "I know you old men need sleep, go ahead and enjoy your old person's nap." Tommy laughed as Will went off again about how he wasn't an old man.

Tommy carefully set stuff up as quietly as he could, not quietly enough however, he jumped and fell over the beanbag as Will was suddenly standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Jesus!" Tommy was luckily able to catch himself on the bookcase before he fell. "Fuck. Hey Will, did I wake you?"

"Oh no, no, I'm just too used to opening. I uh, couldn't fall back asleep." Wilbur awkwardly explained.

"Alright..." There was an awkward silence that Tommy hated.

"Uh, you good Will? You seem a bit off, did I do something?" Tommy set down the remaining books he was holding.

"Um well... Okay, Toms, I want you to be completely honest with me." Wilbur stood in front of the door and took a deep breath.

"Uh alright Will." Tommy crossed his arms.

"Okay, so don't be mad, but I was really worried about you walking home alone after that news broadcast and... I followed you." Tommy blinked slowly and realized.

"Oh my god! That's why I felt like I was being watched! Also, ew man, creepy." Tommy said, scrunching up his nose.

"Well, sorry, but that's not what I wanted to talk about." Wilbur's awkward smile quickly turned to a serious glare. "Why did I see you get saved by Dream and see you order him around?"

Tommy stared at Wilbur for a second before he burst out laughing. "Oh my god!"

Wilbur stepped back, confused. "Tommy, this is serious!"

"I- I- Haha!" Tommy took a deep breath and smirked at Wilbur. "So you think I'm working with Dream?"

A voice came from behind Wilbur. "Or perhaps I'm his boss?" Wilbur quickly turned around to see... Another Tommy?

" Or maybe I'm like a super mob boss, and I'm in charge of all the villains!" There was another Tommy sitting in the chair at the desk. "Oh! Maybe I'm Dream's son and that guy somehow gets bitches."

Wilbur looked around, shocked at all the Tommy's. "Or maybe, I just have the coolest powers ever!"

Tommy sat in the beanbag chair, laughing at the confused look on Wilbur's face. "How did you do that?"

"Eh, I'm just that awesome." One of the Tommy's went to put his arm around Wilbur but Will felt nothing leaning on him. The Tommy melted into his shoulder and Will quickly stepped away.

"Haha, you looked so serious, I had to fuck with you man." Tommy patted Wilbur on back. "Anyway, how did I do that? It's my power, I'm magical bitch."

"The fuck, you mean magical?" Wilbur was still looking at his shoulder, confused.

"Well, It's part of my power. Look." Tommy held up his hand and what looked like a tiny Tommy was sitting in his palm.

"Yeah, It's pretty cool, huh?" Wilbur watched as the little Tommy sat up and stuck his tongue out at him. “I'm like god but hotter.”

Wilbur snorted. "That's so cool. So what exactly is your power?"

"Eh, that's for me to know and you to find out. Anyway, that's why I insisted on walking home alone, I knew I'd be fine." Tommy poked the little him.

"That's so fucking cool, dude. Can you-" They heard a creek and turned to see Phil walking down the stairs.

Phil yawned and stretched his arms before waving to Tommy. "Morning Tommy." Phil looked at the books sitting on the floor and back at Tommy.

"Oh shit sorry, Phil, I got distracted by the boomer." Tommy picked up the books and quickly put them on the correct shelves.

"I'm not a boomer for the love of God. If anything Phil's more of-" Wilbur yelled before being cut off.

"Ahem!" Phil glared at Will.

"... never mind." Wilbur went and unlocked the door and turned around the closed sign.

"Ha see Will, everyone knows you're the boomer here." Tommy turned to Will.

"What about Phil, he's older than me." Wilbur said gesturing to Phil.

"Yeah, but unlike you, he's actually cool." Tommy shrugged and turned to Phil.

Phil sipped on a cup of coffee and gave Toms a thumbs up. "Wow, I can't believe my own father would betray me like this." Wilbur fake pouted at Phil and Phil scoffed.

"No way, he's your dad?" Tommy looked between them a few times.

"Yep, he's my son." Phil nodded and took another sip of coffee.

"But, you two look nothing alike."

"He's adopted." Phil deadpanned before he burst out laughing.

"I'm not adopted!" Will looked at his father, betrayed.

"Aw, Wilbur, it's okay to be in denial." Tommy said, patting Wilbur's shoulder as he tried not to laugh.

"I can't believe this! That's it, I'm going back to bed, you obviously don't need the adopted boomer's help." Wilbur went back upstairs, and Tommy and Phil burst out laughing together.

"Hahaha, he's not actually adopted, right?" Tommy said, catching his breath.

"Nah he's not, Techno is though." Phil chuckled and fixed his hat, which fell off his head from laughing so much.

"Oh shit, cool." Tommy sat next to Phil behind the desk.

"Yeah, what about you? What's your parents like?" Phil leaned back in the chair.

"Oh, I ain't got none." Tommy deadpanned.

"Oh! Sorry mate." Phil sat up straighter.

"Nah you're good. I don't really care, I've gotten by fine without 'em." Tommy gave Phil a reassuring smile.

Phil smiled back at him, but Tom could tell he still felt bad. Tommy didn't get why people felt so bad when he told them he didn't have parents. He's fine without them, he's got his best friends and that's all he needed.

"Stop looking at me like that. I hate when people look so guilty about it, you didn't do anything, and I don't feel bad about it, so neither should you."

Phil chuckled and patted Tommy on the arm. "Alright mate, you're a smart kid."

Tommy felt heat rise to his cheeks at the compliment. "Thanks, and I'm not a kid."

"Alright mate, sorry." Phil got up and went to help someone who just walked in.

Tommy smiled 'hm...'

Chapter 5: Cliffhanger

Summary:

Ooo the plot thickens~

While Phil was helping a customer find some... video game comic book? Tommy slipped up the stairs and was met with a small bit very cozy looking living room conjoined with a kitchen.

"Sup." Tommy jumped and turned to Wilbur, who was sitting at the kitchen counter eating some potato dish.

"Oh hey, I thought you were heading back to bed?" Tommy stood at the top of the stairs leaning on the guard rail.

"Eh like I said earlier, I'm too used to opening, I couldn't fall back asleep if I tried." Wilbur shrugged and looked over at Tommy. "You needed something?"

"Uh yeah actually, I just wanted to ask you to not tell anyone about my power, alright?"

"Uh okay, any reason?" Wilbur looked confused. Tommy's power seemed pretty cool, whatever it was, he didn't know why he'd not want people knowing about it.

"It's a personal thing, I wasn't even gonna tell you about it but I didn't want you to think I was working with Dream you know." Tommy shrugged.

"Oh sorry Tom's... Yeah I won't tell anyone and I'm sorry, again I was worried about you walking home alone but that was still not an okay thing to do."

"Nah you're fine, just like I said promise not to say anything." Tommy put his hands back in his pocket.

"I promise." Wilbur chuckled.

"Heh thanks boomer." Tommy turned to walk down the stairs and heard Wilbur groan and slam his head on the counter.

"Hey mate." Phil called to Tommy. "Can you go in the back and look for a copy of "History of ancient Mobs" for me?"

"On it Phil." Tommy quickly ran into the backroom and found the book in some box. "They probably keep the unpopular books back here." Tommy mumbled as he came out the back.

"Thanks mate." Phil grabbed the book from Tommy and rung it up for the guy.

Tommy looked at the guy buying it, his most notable feature was a huge scar going down his left eye and some gold feathers where his ears would be.

"Thanks Phil, tell Will I'm adding interest if he doesn't hurry up and pay me back." The guy said and Tommy noticed he had sharp teeth with a gold tooth 'cooool'.

Phil sighed. "Of course Quackity, enjoy the book."

The guy, Quackity, grabbed the book and headed out the door. "Thanks Phil!" He said before leaving.

"That guy looked awesome!" Tommy said and Phil laughed.

"Yeah that's Quackity, he's an old friend of Will's. Though never thought he was much of a history guy." Phil shrugged and went back to working on his computer, though when Tommy went to look at what was on the computer he quickly turned it away.

'Eh.' Tom shrugged and sat in the reading nook, reading one of his favorite books, The Bridge to Terabithia, when Techno came down the stairs, his hair a mess, yawning.

"Damn you just wake up?" Tommy said as he put his stuff back in his bag and scoffed when Techno mumbled something that sounded like maybe.

"Welp that means my shifts over, right Phil." Tommy said standing up from the beanbag and throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"Yeah go ahead mate, see you Monday." Phil waved as Techno joined him behind the desk.

"Thanks! see ya Phil!" Tommy called as he left the store.

Tommy sped down the sidewalk quickly making it to the park where Tubbo and Ranboo were sitting on the bench waiting for him.

"Now all I'm saying is that if we get married, not only will we get tax benefits but it would be hilarious." Tubbo was sat trying to convince Ranboo of his master plan.

"I'm not marrying you for a bit Tubbo." Ranboo said frustratedly, I guess Tubbo's been at this awhile.

"A bit and tax benefits Ranboo, think of the tax benefits." Tubbo basically had dollar signs in his eyes.

"You mean tax benefits for you, and how do I know your not planning on just divorcing me and taking half my stuff. Ranboo raised an eyebrow at Tubbo.

Tubbo let out an offended gasp. "I would never, I can't believe you'd think so low of me boo." Tubbo dramatically pretended to tear up.

Ranboo just stared at him with a face and then noticed Tommy running up to them.

"Oh Tommy perfect timing!" Tubbo quickly quit the crying act once he heard Tommy. "Tommy tell Tubbo you don't just marry someone for a bit and tax benefits."

"Hmm well that is pretty funny..." Tommy rubbed his chin and Ranboo looked between them like they were crazy.

"I guess I'm the only sane person in this group then." Ranboo put his head in his hands and sighed. "Can we just go now."

"I don't know Ranboo this is something we should really think about." Tommy said, a cheeky grin spreading across his face while Tubbo laughed.

"Well while you guys think about it I'm gonna go and check out the new bakery by myself." Ranboo got up and started walking away.

Ranboo almost fell over when Tommy and Tubbo whizzed past him. "Last one there has to get the grossest thing on the menu!" Ranboo quickly started running, surprisingly faster then the two of them.

By the time they got to the bakery Tommy and Tubbo were basically laying on the sidewalk trying to catch their breath. "Not fair." Tubbo took a second to breath. "You have stupidly long legs."

Ranboo helped them both up and they went inside. The place was nice, mostly pink and smelled really good.

There was a nice looking lady with pink hair working the counter that Tommy immediately recognized as the lady that bought all the vintage cookbooks from the store.

"Hullo." Tubbo said walking up to the counter.

"Hi. What can I get you." She smiled and noticed Tommy. "Oh! I remember you."

"Yeah, I sold you those cookbooks!" Tommy smiled and leaned on the counter.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see Phil and the guys got someone so nice helping them out." Niki smiled as Tommy smirked at the compliment.

"Oh, thank you, I told them I was the best employee." Tommy crossed his arms and put his chin up.

Niki laughed "Heheh, yeah. Anyway what would you boys like."

"Chocolate glazed donut!" Tubbo quickly exclaimed. "A chocolate eclair for me please." Ranboo said.

"I'll have a banana muffin." Tommy said pointing to the muffins in the display case.

"Coming right up."

They sat, eating their food, and continued discussing why Tubbo's idea was fool proof. They didn't even notice when a guy in a dark purple hoodie walked in and stood in the middle of the store, right next to their table.

The room went silent as Tommy heard a click next to his ear.

Notes:

Btw I based a bit of Tommy's personality off of two songs, I wanna see if anyone can guess it.

Chapter 6: A Performance to Die for

Summary:

!Warning!

!In detail descriptions of blood and gore!

Niki had her hands on the counter, frozen as a guy wearing a purple hoodie and face mask held a gun to Tommy's head.

"I want you to, slowly, get all the money out the register, or I'm gonna shoot this kid's head off, got it?" He told Niki in a slightly shaky voice.

"Okay, okay, let me-"

"You're a fucking idiot." Both Niki's and the guy with the gun's eyes snapped to Tommy, who was looking surprisingly calm for someone with a gun pointed at his head.

"Excuse me?" The guy said in a slightly shocked tone as Tommy smirked.

"Think about it, this place just opened." Tommy chuckled. "I doubt there's enough money in that register that's worth this."

The guy glanced at Niki and then at Tubbo and Ranboo, who also looked surprisingly calm even though their best friend was being held at gun point, Tubbo even had a smile on his face.

"If I were you, I'd keep your mouth shut, kid." The guy stumbled over his words, and Tommy's smile just got bigger.

"Try it again without the stutter, bitch." Tubbo and Ranboo both laughed under their breath.

"I'm warning you kid, if you don't shut up I'm- I'm gonna shoot." The gun shook slightly and the guy's eyes widened.

Tommy moved his head right up to the end of the gun and looked straight into the guy's eyes.

"Do it pussy."

Tommy's body fell out the chair and hit the floor. Blood pooled out the hole on his head, bits of his brain splattered on the tiles. The guy stared for a moment before dropping the gun.

Niki looked on with wide eyes as Tommy laid on the floor with a hole going straight threw his head. She looked over at Tubbo and Ranboo and... They were just sitting there, not even reacting. Tubbo was still smiling, and Ranboo honestly just looked bored.

"I-" The guy jerked back, unable to finish his sentence, as Tommy's body jerked up unnaturally. The guy felt as if he couldn't move as Tommy's body moved liked a puppet on strings. "What the fuck..." Is all he could say before Tommy's head jerked up and looked at him with white eyes, blood streamed down his face, and bits of brain and flesh fell out the hole in his head. "What's wrong? Thought you were planning on "shooting my head off" remember?" Tommy's body took a staggered step forward before the guy ran screaming out the store.

Tubbo and Ranboo burst out laughing and in the blink of an eye Tommy was perfectly healed, his head intact, not even a drop of blood on him.

"Well, as fun as this was, we must be off." The three of them picked up what was left of their food, Tubbo and Ranboo snickering quietly to their selves. Tommy stopped in front of the door, bowing to the people in the bakery, before closing it behind them.

Niki stood there frozen. Her legs felt like they were about to give out from under her. She had just watched a kid get shot in the face, get back up like a zombie, and leave like nothing happened. There was no blood on the floor, no bits of Tommy's head splattered anywhere. The only proof that it had happened at all was the bullet hole in the wall behind where Tommy's head had been.

Notes:

Who's that guy in the corner booth?

Chapter 7: Paparazzi

Summary:

!Warning! Again

Blood and injury
Mini panic attack

"HAHAH!" The boys walked down the sidewalk, laughing their assses off.

"Oh my god! Did you see the look on his face." Tommy mockingly mimicked the terrified expression the guy had.

"And the way he fucking ran!" Tubbo added, still laughing.

"I'm pretty sure he pissed himself." Ranboo said and all three boys went into another laughing fit, a few people giving them weird looks, as they headed home.

~+~

Techno was scrolling through his phone waiting for customers when a very familiar blonde showed up in a thumbnail with gun a pointed at his head.

"...Heh!" Techno said and Phil jumped at the sudden noise.

"What happened?" Techno moved his phone so Phil could see and Phil gaped at the video titled "Kid terrifies armed thief out of bakery !warning! Gun shot, blood, injury."

Phil quickly tapped on the video.

It started and showed a guy wearing a purple hoodie and face mask holding a gun to Tommy's head.

"I want you to, slowly, get all the money out the register or I'm gonna shoot this kids head off got it?" The guy told Niki in a slightly shaky voice.

"Okay, okay, let me-" Niki said going to reach for the register.

"You're a fucking idiot." They watched as the guy's head whipped around to look at Tommy

"what the fuck are you doing?!" Phil said as he saw Tommy smugly smiling at the thief.

Techno and Phil watched as Tommy shit talked the guy, him getting angrier as he did and all three of the boys that had surprisingly smug expressions.

"I'm warning you kid, if you don't shut up I'm- I'm gonna shoot you." They heard as the guy's voice got shakier. Their eyes widened as Tommy moved his head closer to the gun and said.

"Do it pussy."

Techno slammed the phone face down as he shot the gun and turned off his phone. He looked over at Phil who had started shaking.

"Hey, hey come on breathe Phil." Techno helped him calm down, taking deep breaths together.

Phil nodded and Techno turned his phone back on and played the video again. Phil gulped as he saw Tommy's lifeless body on the ground, blood pooling at his head.

He barely noticed how, who he assumed were Tommy's friends, were still just sitting there as if nothing had happened, but he noticed.

"I-" They jumped as Tommy's body jerked, sitting itself up like a possessed doll.

"What the fuck..." Phil couldn't see much, since the camera angle was from behind Tommy, but he saw the guy's terrified expression and the hole straight threw Tommy's head as Tommy's head jerked up at him.

Tommy's body clumsily stood up and said. "What's wrong? Thought you were planning on "shooting my head off" remember?" Tommy tilted his head and took a shaky step before the guy ran screaming out the bakery.

At this point Techno paused the video and looked away for a second before taking a deep breath and continuing.

Phil grimaced as Tom's friends bursted out laughing and the camera jerked over to them, leaving Tommy out of frame. By the time the camera turned back to Tommy he was perfectly fine, no bullet hole, no blood.

The video end and Phil and Techno sat there for a moment, wondering what the hell they just watched.

Wilbur came down the stairs and looked at Phil and Techno who looked both terrified and confused.

"Damn, who the hell died?"

Notes:

Darn paparazzi

Chapter 8: Mario kart

Summary:

Short chapter to finish the bench trios POV

Notes:

I have a Twitter, I tweeted Tommy's canon design on there if anyone wants to see

https://twitter.com/xXFellErrorXx?t=SZsbDIrg9MJD1itfOOewfA&s=09

The boy's walked into their apartment, still joking and talking about what happened at the bakery.

"I just got to say Tom that had to be your best performance yet." Tubbo said and Ranboo nodded in agreement.

"D'aw, thanks but I bet I could've done better in a different setting. Like some cryptid style shit."

"That'd probably woulda been too much for the guy." Ranboo said putting his bag on the counter.

"Yeah." Tommy sat on the couch. "But you know I was not expecting him to shoot, I mean I was egging him on and all but from the way he was acting that was entirely out of character."

"Yeah, kid seemed terrified of what he was doing." Tubbo fell onto the couch next to Tommy. "Almost feel bad but hey there's better ways to make money."

"Yeah, also did he seem familiar to either of you?" Ranboo leaned over the back of the couch.

"Actually yeah, I know he was making his voice deeper but he still felt familiar." Tubbo shrugged and picked up the controller. "Eh we can figure it out later. Let's get this started, I'm kicking your ass in Mario Kart."

"Like hell you are." Ranboo grabbed the other controller and they booted up the game.

"Oh let me grab shroud!" Tommy raced into his room.

"I doubt shroud can play Mario kart." Ranboo joked.

"Yeah but he can still cheer me on." Tommy came out the room with a large black tarantula on his arm. Shroud crawled up onto Tommy's head and nestled into his hair as Tom sat between the two boys, grabbing a controller.

"Prepare to die bitches."

"You can't die in Mario kart."

"Shut up Tubbo."

Chapter 9: Active spectator

Summary:

Got any guesses on Tommy's power?

The sun had started setting and Tubbo and Ranboo were getting ready to head out.

"Aw man, already?" Tommy groaned.

"You know our offer still stands." Tubbo said, tightening his utility belt.

"And you know I'm not interested in that whole thing." Tommy slid off the couch and walked over to Tubbo

"You don't have to fight or anything, you can just come along if you're that clingy." Tubbo smirked as Tommy scowled at him.

"I'm not clingy. If anything you're the clingy one, keep asking me to join y'all." Tommy crossed his arms as Tubbo snickered. "Besides I'd need a disguise or something."

"Oh here." Ranboo grabbed a cloak out the bottom of their bag and put it on Tommy.

"Why do you have a random cloak in your bag?" Tommy looked over the pure black cloak with a large hood.

"It was gonna be a part of my costume but I decided it didn't look good, so now you can use it." Ranboo smiled as he put on their goggles and pulled his hair into a tight bun.

"I'm still not joining your little team thing you got going on." Tommy pulled the hood over his head.

"I know, you don't have to help us or anything, you can just watch and if you change your mind then you know." Tommy narrowed his eyes at Tubbo before sighing.

"Alright let's go." Ranboo said, opening the window and climbing to the roof.

Tommy stayed behind the two of them, keeping his distance in case they ran into trouble. Now of course if they needed help Tommy would happily assist, but he wasn't gonna unless they really needed him to.

As the night progressed Tommy slowly relaxed, especially since Tubbo said they had had a quiet week without anyone causing them trouble, but of course that didn't last.

They froze on top of a house in the downtown area as a familiar silhouette emerged from the shadows.

"Ah shit." Tubbo groaned as the hero stepped closer.

"Drone, Medusa." The hero known as The Blood God stepped forward. He wore a boar head and a red cape, gripping his sword in one hand.

"And…?" He trailed off looking at the cloaked stranger.

"Someone who is not involved in this." Tommy said sitting on the chimney of the house.

"Hm, alright." The Blood God said, returning his attention to Drone and Medusa.

"Damn, quiet all week then the second you come along we get attacked." Drone said, looking at Tommy.

"Well, I am the main character." Tommy shrugged.

"Ye-" was all Drone could say before a bloody tendril shot forward, hitting him in the stomach.

"Ooo." Tommy hissed as Drone was slammed against a building behind the house they were sat on.

"Drone and Medusa, if you do not come quietly I will have to use force."

'and slamming him into a wall wasn't using force?' Tommy thought, raising an eyebrow.

~+~

Obviously, they chose force. The battle went on for a bit before Tubbo fell next to the chimney Tommy was sat on and gave in.

"Hey, boss man?"

"Yes "Drone"." Tommy said smugly, smirking down at Tubbo, even though Tubbo couldn't see his face.

Tubbo sighed. "Can you please help."

"What was that?" Tommy leaned down closer to Tubbo.

"Please hel-"

"Yeah, already on it."

Tommy stood and Tubbo motioned towards Ranboo and they quickly left the fight and stood at Tommy's side.

"Hey!" The Blood God yelled before he froze in place. 'Darn, I let my guard down.'

Ranboo stared into The Blood God's eyes, his eyes flickering purple.

Tommy waved to The Blood God before dropping what looked like one of Drones smoke bombs.

Immediately, he could move again and launched forward at where the three were sitting only to hit nothing but air. He quickly cleared the smoke, using a device on his belt but the roof was barren, nothing but the chimney remaining.

"Damnit." He groaned and sat on the roof of the house.

Strangely, still feeling eyes on him.

Notes:

Huh where'd they go?

Chapter 10: Curiosity

Summary:

Short chapter for Will's POV again

"What?" Will looked at Phil and Techno confused. He'd just come downstairs to see Techno looking pretty shaken up, which was rare for him, and his Dad was on the verge of tears.

"Come here Will." Phil said, waving him over.

Will leaned over them and saw they were watching a video on Techno's phone. Techno restarted the video and handed the phone to Will.

 

"Holy shit…" Will stared down at the phone as the two teens that were sitting with Tommy started laughing and the camera was turned so Tommy was out of frame. When it panned back over to Tommy he was just standing there like nothing happened and the video ended.

Wilbur started scrolling through the comments.

Wtf!!!

Yo immortality power???

Holy shit that was epic!

Noo what happened next I need to know!!
   My phone stopped recording I don't know why sorry

"That's Niki's bakery." Will suddenly said. "I'll be back later!"

Will ran out the shop and down the street towards Niki's bakery. When he got there he saw Niki cleaning up. The door was locked so Will knocked on the glass door making Niki jump.

He winced and awkwardly smiled as he waved to her through the door.

"Hey Will." Niki said, opening the door.

"Hey Niki, mind if I come in?"

"Oh no, come on in." She moved to the side and closed the door behind him.

"So I saw what happened earlier…" Will said, cutting to the chase.

"Oh… Can you be more specific? A lot happened earlier."

"I mean with Tommy, the blond kid." She tensed up at the mention.

"But I didn't see everything. Can you tell me what happened after the guy ran." She took a deep breath.

"Yeah, yeah. After the guy ran away his friends started laughing and in the blink of an eye he was just… fine? No bullet wound, no blood, not even a scar. Then he just said "as fun as this was, we must be off." Or something like that and bowed? And left."

"That's freaky. He doesn't have an immortality power I know that, so…"

"Wait what? Then what's his power?" Niki looked shocked.

"I'm not sure and he told me not to tell anyone about it but it's definitely not immortality." Will was staring down at the floor where Tommy's body was in the video, trying to find any trace of blood or anything really.

"Freaky…" Niki shivered, "Well if that's all you need I need to finish cleaning, I'm gonna go ahead and close up early."

"Oh alright I understand. I'll see you later Niki." Wilbur waved as he headed to the door.

"See you later Will" Niki waved back and Wilbur left the bakery.

'This is so weird… I guess it doesn't matter, he stopped a robber but still. That looked nothing like what he had shown me. I was sure he had some kinda cloning ability but I guess not.'

Wilbur decided to go on a walk to clear his head before he went on patrol tonight with Techno.

Unknown to him that he wasn't the only one curious about the blonde's power.

Notes:

Back to our regularly scheduled program!

Chapter 11: It Begins

Techno ignored the feeling of eyes boring into the back of his head. He glanced behind him, back where the trio had sat before. Trio…there was someone new with them, a cloaked figure, no identifying features he could see. They'd said they had nothing to do with them and just sat observing the fight until he saw Drone say something to him and Medusa hurried to their side before they dropped what looked like one of Drone's smoke bombs.

He clicked on his comms. "They got away."

"What! How!? You said you had them covered!" Nightingale's voice screeched in his ear.

"I know, I know, but they had someone else with them." Blood God sighed.

"Who?" Nightingale asked, his voice dripping with panic.

"I don't know. It wasn't anyone we've dealt with before, they were wearing some black cloak that covered them completely and I couldn't make out any facial features."

"Did they say anything or show you their power?"

"When I asked who they were they just said "Someone who is not involved in this." And stayed out the fight until I think Drone asked them for help. They dropped one of Drone's smoke bombs and they just vanished."

"Vanished?"

"Yeah, they never left the smoke and they couldn't have run anywhere I wouldn't have seen them. They didn't seem to have used any powers unless they had a teleportation power." Blood God said, trying to shrug off the uneasy feeling on his back.

"That's most likely what it was." Nightingale groaned. "Shit we didn't need another problem. I'm finishing up giving a report to the police, give me your location and we can patrol around the area and look for any sign of them."

"Alright." Blood God Nodded, turning off his comm and sending Nightingale his location.

The voices teased him for letting them get away.

~+~

The three boys slipped away from the hero and into a nearby alley. They ran through the maze of alleyways for a while before emerging on the street.

"Phew… I think we're far enough." Tubbo said, catching his breath.

"Ahem!" Tommy said, smirking under the cloak.

Ranboo and Tubbo sighed. "Thanks Tommy." They said in unison.

"You're welcome. Now are we done? I gotta feed Shroud."

"Yeah, yeah let's head back, Tommy misses his spider child." Ranboo snickered but Tommy didn't disagree.

They snuck back to their apartment, climbing back in through the window. "Shroud I'm back!" Tommy said excitedly rushing into his room.

"Sometimes, I think he loves that spider more than us." Ranboo said quietly to Tubbo.

"I most definitely do boob-boy!" Tommy called out of the room.

"Wow." Tubbo deadpanned before collapsing onto the couch.

"You still have to take off your costume." Ranboo said, earning a muffled groan from Tubbo before he got up and went to the bathroom.

"Sooo…" Ranboo leaned over Tommy.

Tommy sighed. "I'm not joining your little team Ranboob." Ranboo frowned. "But seeing how I had to bail you out, I will be following you two on patrols whenever I can, can't have y'all dying on me."

"Aw Tommy."

"I couldn't afford rent by myself." Tommy said, smirking.

Ranboo sighed and went to get clothes for his shower.

Tommy teased Tubbo about having to bail them out, which started a wrestling match Ranboo had to break up.

They went to bed after, unaware of the chain of events they had just started...

Notes:

Huh? Thought I saw someone in the window...

Chapter 12: Haste and Quiet

Summary:

I finally got bit by the inspiration bug hurray.

It's kinda short but I'm gonna try and get back into uploading these again

Tommy's power…

Since the day Tommy discovered his power he loved it, he practiced everyday for hours perfecting it.

He quickly learned how insanely powerful his ability was once he had begun practicing with Tubbo and Ranboo. Of course it had a pretty big weakness but Tommy was easily able to figure out how to cancel that weakness out.

So he carefully used it to get where he is today, going into one of the top colleges in the UK. Of course he was careful when using it but eventually something like that is going to be discovered.

When Tommy woke up he quietly snuck to the kitchen, careful not to wake his two roommates. Then he noticed something concerning. The lock on his window was bent as if someone had tried to force it open from the outside. He glared down at the window before grabbing a snack from the cupboard and heading back to the bedroom.

"..." Tommy took a deep breath in. "WAKE UP BITCHES!"

Tubbo and Ranboo jumped awake which resulted in Ranboo falling face first onto the carpet.

"Oow…" Ranboo groaned and let his legs slip off the bed before standing up.

"What the fuck Toms!" Tubbo threw a pillow at Tommy, missing, and Tommy just glared at them.

"Ah shit mum's mad." Tubbo deadpanned before Ranboo started laughing.

"The fuck you mean mum!" Tommy gaped and threw the pillow back at Tubbo as Tubs laughed his ass off.

"Come on, you were looking at us like an angry mum." Tubbo smirked and Tommy just groaned.

"I am angry but I'm not a fucking mum, if anything I'm the dad in this household dynamic."

"Says the youngest person here." Tommy almost lunged at Tubbo before remembering the whole reason he woke them up.

"Alright fuck it doesn't matter. I woke you two up because guess what I found this morning." Tommy crossed his arms.

"Your parents?" Tubbo wheezed at his own joke and Tommy just ignored him.

"No, someone tried to break in through the window last night." The two boys' faces got deathly serious and stared at Tommy.

"You sure." Ranboo asked in a soft but serious tone.

"I'm sure, the locks bent out of place and the window was slightly open."

The two boys nodded at Tommy and all three of them went completely silent before they appeared to start packing up their things.

After Tubbo nodded at Tommy when he was sure he got everything they quickly left the apartment.

On the other side of the city a villain sat in front of his computer with gritted teeth, staring at the empty apartment.

"They're smart… but not smart enough." The villain dawned his white mask and signaled someone with a gold mask and they were quickly out the door and heading towards the boys.

"Time to play hero."

Notes:

Weird? Dream could've easily gotten in that window.

Chapter 13: The Deal

Summary:

Hello, letting people know there are two people working on this, and we have a Twitter account so check that out if you'd like (link in a previous chapter)

The three boys could feel eyes on them, it was very early in the morning and no one was really out besides a few people driving to work.

There was no one around them and they saw nothing on the rooftop but to be safe they ducked into an alleyway and decided it would be safer to have some cover.

On top of the rooftop the villain watched closely as the three boys weaved between the buildings. His power of invisibility was keeping him from being spotted, he needed to get this done quickly and quietly.

As he dropped in front of them he seemed to materialize out of thin air. The boys stopped dead in their tracks as Ranboo moved in front of them, his eyes flaring a deep purple color. His power couldn't reach the villain as his face was hidden behind a golden mask with a large gold chain to match.

The villain stepped closer armed with a large ax similar to the one Dream uses. As the villain went to take another step Dream dropped down from the same rooftop.

"Punz…" Dream spit, his tone laced with venom.

"Dream!? What are you doing?" Punz said in a surprised tone.

"Nothing that concerns you Punz, now leave before I make you." Dream's blank mask stared daggers into the villain.

 Punz staggered back before fading into nothing. Dream stared at where Punz was standing for a second before glancing back at the three boys.

Ranboo was still standing in front of the shorter two boys, shaking but still trying to look threatening. His eyes were glowing bright, purple, his eyes wide with fear but still glaring at Dream's white mask. Tommy gripped Tubbo's hand with white knuckles, scowling at Dream.

Dream looked over the three boys taking in their expressions and stances. How Ranboo stood protectively in front, how Tommy's anger was an obvious front for his fear. He couldn't read Tubbo's expression well since his face was hidden behind shaggy bleached hair but he was standing straight with his hand in Tommy's, his head slightly looking towards Ranboo and behind them preparing to run.

Dream smirked behind his mask. 'Perfect.'

"Hey..." Dream said in a disturbingly friendly voice.

"Look I'm not gonna hurt you alright." Dream held up his gloved hands.

"Then what do you want?" Tommy said, trying to hide his scared tone.

Dream let his hands fall and looked straight into Tommy's eyes "I saw you last night."

Dream watched as Tommy's eyes widened ever so slightly, his mouth clamping up.

"What." Tommy's grip on Tubbo's hand tightened and Ranboo's eyes flickered for a moment.

"I saw you, all three of you. The way you fought against the blade… and your sudden "disappearance"".

The other two boys glanced at Tommy and them to each other with guilt in their eyes, well in Ranboo's eyes.

"We don't know what you m-" Tubbo started before Dream cut him off.

"Don't try and deny it, like I said I'm not here to hurt you and I'm definitely not going to turn you in." Dream chuckled as he spoke and it sounded so painfully friendly you'd think it was genuine.

"No, I'm here to offer you a deal." Dream noticed how Tommy perked up at that whole the other two boys staggered back.

"Deal?" Tommy took the smallest step, barely noticeable, but Dream noticed.

"Yes, a deal for all three of you." Dream stepped forward again. "You three seem to be very powerful and a good team." Dream took another small step forward. "And I know you've been getting attacked a lot more as of late."

Dream watch the two other boys glance at Tommy for a second while Tommy's eyes fell to the ground.

"So I have come up with a good arrangement." Dream stood above the three boys. "You three join me and I'll keep you safe." Dream made sure his tone sounded genuinely caring and saw the three boys' faces soften for a second before Tommy looked up at him.

"Who says we need your help?" Tommy said with a scowl.

"I'm not saying that you do. I'm just saying that I want to keep you three safe." Dream's voice dripped with care.

The three boys looked at each other with blank faces, as if they were having a silent conversation and then looked back up at Dream with determined looks.

"We." Tommy hesitated. "We accept your deal. On one condition!" Tommy quickly added.

"Anything."

"No forcing us to do some evil villain bullshit if we don't want to, got it!" Tommy said.

"Of course! We have a deal then?" Dream held out his gloved hand to Tommy.

"...Deal."

Notes:

Bravo

Chapter 14: Tough Crowd

Summary:

I really hope someone can guess Tommy's power before the reveal!

"Terrible."

"Absolutely terrible!" Tommy groaned as Ranboo and Tubbo unpacked. "The worst performance of my life!"

"Come on man, I think you were great." Tubbo huffed.

"Are you kidding me! I agreed way too quickly, and only one catch really!" Tommy ran his hand through his hair. "I barely hesitated and I didn't even act that afraid!"

"My hand says otherwise." Tubbo deadpanned, rubbing his hand.

"Yeah besides you really think he could tell." Ranboo questioned.

"Of course not, he's an idiot." Tommy said, rolling his eyes. "But still, I could've done so much better than that."

"How about instead of complaining we finish unpacking our stuff." Ranboo begged.

"Yeah, yeah. Oh! Also you two were great, I have to say Ranboo getting your power to purposely flicker like that was impressive." Tommy said, with a proud smirk.

"Thank you, I've been practicing." Ranboo said proudly.

"I'd say you might even reach my level of skill, some day." Tommy said with a smirk.

Ranboo rolled their eyes, smiling. "Yeah maybe." Tubbo chuckled.

"And who said you were the most talented here." Tubbo raised an eyebrow.

"Me." Tommy grinned as Tubbo hit him with a shirt he was folding.

"I'm joking, calm down!" Tommy laughed as Tubbo glared at him and went back to folding the shirt.

"No need to have such a…" Tubbo's head snapped towards Tommy. "Short temper." Tommy grinned.

Tubbo tackled Tommy and Ranboo ended up having to freeze them before they destroyed his whole room.

Yes they were hiding out at Ranboo's house, their moms didn't mind.

Once Ranboo finished folding and putting their clothes away, which is quite difficult to do while not looking, he let them move again.

Ranboo deactivated his powers and felt a wave of nausea wash over them as they fell on the bed.

"You didn't need to keep us still that long man." Tubbo whined as he waited for the static feeling to fade.

"Oww, I'm gonna laugh my ass off when you throw up Ranboob!" Tommy groaned and rolled off Tubbo as he regained feeling.

"If I throw up." Ranboo took a deep breath. "I'm gonna do it on you."

"Gross." Tommy laughed.

"You're gross." Ranboo chuckled.

"You're both gross." Tubbo glared at them as he slowly sat up.

"You're short." Tommy and Ranboo said in unison.

"Fuck you." Tubbo laughed, annoyed but helping Tommy up.

"So what do you think Dream thinks your power is?" Ranboo sat up as his head cleared.

"Hmm, well he could think it's invisibility but obviously he already has someone with invisibility." Tommy sat on the bed by Ranboo as he spoke.

"Yeah the terrible liar, Punz right?" Tubbo asked as he plopped down on a beanbag.

Tommy chuckled. "Yeah, he sucked."

Ranboo laughed. "Dream?! What are you doing! I'm shocked even though I work for you and we planned this!"

Tommy and Tubbo cackled at their impression. "I almost lost it right there." Tubbo said between laughs.

"He was so bad man, there's no way Dream actually thought we bought that right?" Tommy said.

"Oh! I got it!" Tubbo suddenly exclaimed. "He thinks you're a teleporter!"

"Oh! Yeah that makes sense, teleporters are hella useful." Tommy sat up.

"Actually, let me try something." Tommy grinned and hopped off the bed.

"Okay I have to think how this is gonna look." Tommy closed his eyes for a minute.

"Yoo!" Tubbo and Ranboo exclaimed as Tommy suddenly blinked to the other side of the room and then back to where he was standing.

Notes:

Ooo~

Chapter 15: New Act

Summary:

I'm excited, I'm really trying not to just say his power out right but it's getting pretty obvious.

On the other side of the city an intense battle was under way.

"Here at Las Nevadas casino top heroes Nightingale and Crow Father are locked in a battle with the villain Dream." A news reporter with animal-like ears said.

"Ay! Can you hurry up and just catch the guy estúpido!" A man with a large scar going down the left side of his face yelled from a damaged building.

"We're trying!" Nightingale yelled back while dodging an attack from Dream's strings.

"Yeah, well I'd rather not have my livelihood destroyed!" The scarred man yelled again.

Nightingale ignored him and instead sent a defining scream Dream's way. As Dream both tried to block out the sound and throw a car at Nightingale, Crow Father was able to slash Dream from behind before Dream began his escape.

They chased him into the lower district before they lost sight of him.

"Damnit!" Nightingale yelled and punched the wall of a building they were by.

Crow Father sighed and rubbed his eyes under his vail. "The agency's not gonna be happy."

~+~

"Dude, that looked so good!" Tubbo said.

"Ehhh." Tommy drawled. "It could've been better, I looked too stiff. I've never seen someone teleport before."

"Oh! I can ask my mom to show you how her's works." Ranboo said, jumping up from the bed.

"Hell yeah!" Tommy yelled.

The three boys rushed down stairs

Before stopping as they saw Ran's moms watching the news.

"Sadly, after a long chase into downtown, the villain Dream once again escaped after causing major damage to the Las Nevadas casino. Casino owner, Alexis, has a few words for the heroes. Sadly they are not appropriate for us to show here, this is Lucas Yello signing off." They changed the channel after the broadcast ended.

"Man, I would've loved to hear what he had to say." Tommy said as he finished walking downstairs.

"Of course you would." Tubbo rolled his eyes and followed after Tommy."

The boys leaned over the back of the couch as Ranboo asked their Mom if she could show Tommy how her teleporting works.

"Alright, watch carefully." She got up, stretched, and went over to the far side of the kitchen before suddenly appearing at the opposite side of the living room.

Tommy watched carefully, her body swayed in the direction she teleported before she quickly steadied herself.

"Okay so it kinda works like I'm moving incredibly fast but I'm also able to go through things, you get me?"

"Yeah I think I get it, how do you pick or know where you're gonna teleport?" Tommy asked curiously.

"Well as long as I've been there and I can picture the bare minimum of what it looks like I can get there." She explained.

"Okay, what if you see a picture instead, would you still be able to get there?" Tommy asked.

"Well as long as it was up to date then I suppose so, I've never tried."

"Alright, thank you Mrs Beloved!" Tommy grinned and motioned for Tubbo and Ranboo to follow him back upstairs.

"Alright let's try this again." Tommy stood at one end of Ranboo's room and closed his eyes before he suddenly blinked to the other side of the room, stumbling forward before he blinked back and fell backwards.

"Woah, that looked perfect." Ranboo said grinning.

Tubbo gave Tommy a small clap as Tommy got back on his feet and stood proudly. "Thank you, thank you." Tommy bowed dramatically, earning a laugh from the other two boys.

"So, you wanna maybe tryout your new act while out with us." Tubbo said.

"Fine, but don't be trying to start shit on purpose, remember I'm only bailing you out."

"Of course, of course."

Notes:

Let the show begin.

Chapter 16: Exposition

Summary:

Not that long but we're getting back in the groove again.
Still no one has guessed Tommy's power. Power. Singular. That's a little hint for you. I'm really trying not to give too big of hints but we're getting so close.

(My favorite title so far)

The three boys jumped across rooftops in the lower district of the city, watching as the last bit of sunlight left.

"So how long you thinking?" Tubbo asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Eh I give him another… ten minutes before he creepily appears behind us." Tommy joked, earning a laugh from Ranboo.

Tubbo and Ranboo try not to laugh when, as Tommy predicted, Dream cleared his throat to get their attention, and there he was, behind them.

"Hello Medusa, Drone, and… still haven't picked a name." Dream chuckled.

"Yeah, not really looking for a permanent villain? Vigilante? Whatever kinda gig." Tommy shrugged.

"Alright then. Anyway, I have your first job." Dream said standing straighter and Tommy smirked under the cloak.

"Well hang on. I have to ask you something Dream." Tommy said, caulking his head to the side.

"...Of course." Tommy could hear the annoyance in Dream's voice at being interrupted and he tried not to laugh.

"I just wanted to know if you figured out my power? I mean I'd assume you wouldn't ask me to join you without knowing."

"Well it was quite easy." Tommy wanted to laugh at the confidence in Dream's voice but stayed quiet.

"You're… a teleporter."

 

'YES! CALLED IT!' Tommy celebrated in his head and pretended to flinch back at the statement.

"Hm." Tommy gulped and spoke with a shaky voice. "You're smarter than I thought Dream."

Dream chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment. Now for your assignment."

Tommy took a deep breath. "Alright, hit me big man."

"There's some documents I need to get my hands on and obviously I can't just waltz into the hero tower and there's way too many heroes protecting it to break in. So that's where you come in." Dream explained.

"Ah, I get it. You want me to teleport in, steal those documents, and teleport back out right?" Tommy crossed his arms under the cloak.

"Yes."

"No can do."

"What." Dream said, taken aback.

"Yeah, I kinda need to have either been there or seen at least a photo of the place and I doubt you have a picture of this… document room?" Tommy said, shrugging at the end.

"Hm, would it work if you looked into the room from a window?" Dream asked.

"I suppose, but I won't be able to steal the documents." Tommy said.

"Why not?" Dream was sounding more annoyed by the second and they found it hilarious.

"Well, as I've already told those two." Tommy said pointing at Medusa and Drone. "And explained to you, I'm not really interested in being a part of this whole thing, and if I steal some important hero documents..." Tommy said, waving his hand around and stopping Dream when he went to speak. "But! If I happened to see some documents someone happened to leave out and the most dangerous villain Dream." Tommy deepened his voice at the end. "Kidnapped and Interrogated me until I gave in and told him what I saw." Tommy drawled with a sharp smile on his face, barely visible under the hooded cloak.

"You'd be completely innocent." Dream scoffed and shook his head. "You're pretty smart kid." Dream said in a quiet voice.

"Thanks and I'm not a kid." Tommy turned towards the hero tower. "Let's do this."

Notes:

Let the show begin.

Chapter 17: Allies

Summary:

We're getting so close, I really want someone to guess before it gets revealed!

The group stood on the rooftop to the looming tower.

"So any information I should look out for?" Tommy asked Dream.

"Well as much as I still think it'd be easier to just steal the documents, look for identities, weaknesses, anything useful." Dream answered.

"Alright." Tommy looked closely into the window and Drone and Medusa stood at his sides, between him and Dream.

Next thing they saw, he was gone from the rooftop and they could see a cloaked figure inside the room.

Dream watched as he seemed to rummage through the documents left on the table and read through each one before looking back out the window and disappearing and reappearing next to Drone and Medusa.

"That was fast." Dream said surprised. "So what'd it say?"

"Well, nothing on identities but…" Tommy drawled.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking about our deal." Tommy said.

Dream stilled before sighing.

"Yes?" Dream said through gritted teeth.

"While protection is all well and good." Tommy smirked. "What's the point if we're not able to contact you when we are in trouble."

"So you want to be able to contact me?" Dream asked surprised. He thought the kid was gonna ask for payment or something.

"Yeah, simple as that."

"Hmm, alright." Dream's hands seemed to glow for a moment before a small white thread appeared in his hand.

"Give me your wrist." Tommy warily gave him his hand and Dream tied the thread around his wrist.

Tommy looked down at the thread, the glow died down and resembled that of a simple bracelet.

"There, now all you have to do is speak into that thread and I will hear you, don't worry it will only work if you speak directly into it." Dream reassured him as Tommy examined the thread.

"Sweet." Tommy simply said as Drone and Medusa looked over his shoulders to see the thread.

"Anyway, now for that information." Tommy said.

"Now there were no identities, but some interesting little insights on The Blood God."

"Do tell." Dream said amused.

"Apparently he's a little messed up upstairs." Tommy said jokingly.

"Messed up?"

"Yeah big guy hears voices. Makes him crave blood or some shit." Tommy shrugged. "Apparently they mock him, saying something about "Blood for the blood God", he also gets really… let's say excited, when he sees a lot of blood."

"Well, well, well." Dream chuckles. "Thank you very much… you need to get some sort of code name."

"Not gonna happen."

"Well either way, I'll be seeing you again." Dream began walking away. "Keep an eye on the news." With that Dream disappeared into the alley and our trip was left on the roof.

"Okay I have to know how you pulled that off." Ranboo suddenly said once they were sure Dream was gone.

"Whatchu mean." Tommy drawled. "I just teleported in, cause you know I'm a teleporter-" Tommy cut himself off, laughing loudly.

Notes:

He was gone right?

Chapter 18: Sudden Reunion

Summary:

Oooh manifold man

P.s Crow Father's POV next

"Sorry, sorry."

"Yeah I'll explain when we get back, but I have to say that was probably the most anti-climactic performance I've ever done." Tommy shook his head chuckling.

"Yeah, but it's better to start small. We can step it up a notch once we know more." Tubbo said.

"Yeah but that's so boring." Tommy groaned. "Anyway, you two got any more plans?"

"Yeah we thought we'd go to upper L'manberg and-" Ranboo started to explain.

"Upper L'manberg!?" Tommy exclaimed. "You two sure? I had to bail y'all out whenever you were fighting Blood God."

"Don't worry, don't worry." Tubbo waved him off.

"I got some new tech that should help us out." Tubbo said proudly.

"And I mean you promise that you'd bail us out if things got out of hand." Ranboo shrugged.

"I already regret my decision." Tommy sighed.

"Too late now, come on!" Tubbo yelled before pressing a button on his shoulder.

Suddenly, two robotic bee-like wings sprung from a pack on his back.

"Yo! When you said new tech I didn't think you meant you could fly now!" Tommy said excitedly.

"Yep! Bee-n working on these for a while now." Tubbo smirked and Tommy's smile immediately fell into a frown.

"Oh god…"

"Come on don't bee like that Tommy." Tubbo's smile grew.

 

Tommy and Ranboo jumped rooftops with Tubbo flying above them and quickly made their way to upper L'manberg.

"Okay so we're gonna go get this done and you can wait, you can see the building we're going to from this rooftop." Ranboo reassured.

"All right, just yell for me whenever you're about to die." Tommy said, sitting back on the rooftop.

"Will do boss man." Tubbo chuckled and flew over to the tall building with Ranboo following behind on foot, sticking to the shadows.

Tommy sat on the roof for a while, getting pretty bored, before he saw a large explosion come from a building and a hero come shooting out.

Tommy decided the smart thing to do was not wear a creepy black cloak while sitting on top of a rooftop and quickly removed it.

Regretfully, while he was taking off the cloak he didn't notice the hero was coming straight towards him.

"Fuck!" Tommy was hit off the roof before he hit the ground he was caught by… something?

"What the fuck are you doing here!?" A robotic arm pulled him up before he was face to face with someone he wasn't expecting to see tonight.

"Oooh…hey Jack." Tommy smiled awkwardly.

"Yeah, hey, again, what the fuck are you doing here?!" Jack whisper yelled.

"I decided to join, uh, "Drone and Medusa" on patrol." Tommy explained quietly.

"Fuck! Okay, I'm sorry about this Tommy." Jack whispered as he saw the hero he was fighting getting back up.

Jack suddenly held one of his robotic arms next to Tommy's head and it morphed into a cannon with a bright light resonating from it.

"Really?" Tommy said, raising an eyebrow.

"At least pretend to be scared so we both get out of this." Jack quietly begged.

"..."

"Please!"

"God damnit..." Tommy sighed.

Notes:

Time for the water works

Chapter 19: Close Call

Summary:

Kinda short but, oooo~

we are getting there. someone is getting really close to figuring out Tom's power.

Crow Father was thrown out of the exploding building and hit something before landing on top of a rooftop. Unfortunately, that "something" he hit was Tommy.

Crow Father looked up with wide eyes as Manibot had one robotic arm wrapped around Tommy and the other was now a cannon aimed at Tommy's head.

"Listen Crow Father!" Manibot said, his voice amplified. "If you don't do exactly what I say I'm gonna blow this kid's head off!"

Tommy was hyperventilating, his eyes wide, while tears streamed down his cheeks. Crow Father stood up slowly with his hands up.

"Okay, I'll do whatever you say just don't hurt the kid." Crow Father pleaded, terrified of him hurting Tommy.

"You're gonna sit tight right there and let me get far away from here." Tommy was scratching at the metallic arm around his neck. " I'll dump this kid somewhere safe and hey, I'll even leave him intact, sounds good?"

Crow Father was more torn than he thought he'd be. He didn't want Tommy to get hurt but after what happened with Dream the agency couldn't take any chances. As much as he wanted to protect Tommy, he also had to think about the safety of the city. Crow Father looked into Tommy's eyes and his conflicted feelings disappeared as the kid spoke.

“Please…Help!” Tommy tried to yell in a hoarse voice as the mechanical arm seemed to tighten around his throat.

Crow Father let out a shaky breath and tore his eyes away from Tommy as he dropped his head.

“Alright, just please don't hurt him…” Crow Father said in a defeated tone.

Manibot smirked and used his thrusters to quickly fly from the hero.

Crow Father groaned as he sat on the rooftop that he'd knocked Tommy off of. He quickly realized he'd sat on something.

“Huh?” Crow Father picked up the piece of clothing. “A cloak?”

Crow Father held up the pitch black cloak with dark gray lining. He wouldn't expect Tommy to wear a cloak but either way, he should return it once he knows Tommy's safe. He stood up and stretched his wings before taking off, he flew into the hero tower before quickly taking off his voice changer and pulling out his phone. Tommy had given them his number in case they needed to get in contact with him about a shift change or something.

“Come on, come on.” Philza whispered through gritted teeth before the phone finally picked up.

“Hello?” Was all Tommy could say.

“Tommy, are you okay? Where are you!” Phil yelled into the phone.

“Fukin hell, yes I'm okay.” If Phil listened close enough he could swear he heard the sound of wind whipping past.

“I saw you get taken by Manibot!” Phil said, relieved that he was okay.

“Oh yeah, he dumped me in an alleyway and quickly left before I could say anything.”

“Thank goodness, Do you need a ride home or anything?” Phil said, kind of shocked at how calm Tommy sounded.

“Nah, my roommates are coming to get me.”

“Alright, get home safe mate.” Phil sighed.

“I will, See ya Phil.”

“See ya.”

Notes:

Did Tommy sound annoyed to you?

Chapter 20: Unknown Audience

Summary:

uh oooh

we'll be seeing that footage next chapter, don't worry

Jack quietly landed in an alleyway as Tommy hung up his phone. He set Tommy down, and the smile he wore during his call quickly fell into a scowl.

“That was humiliating.” Tommy said, wiping tears from his eyes. “You owe me big time, Manifold.”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry, I promise I'll make it up to you.” Jack apologized.

“You better! You know how much I hate crying.” Tommy groaned and pulled out his phone.

The phone rang for a second before it picked up. “Hey Tubs, you two done?”

“Hey Tom, yeah, we’re all done here. Y'alls little stunt made for a pretty good distraction.” Tubbo chuckled over the phone.

“Glad me being humiliated was so helpful to you.” Tommy said sarcastically.

“Come on, Tom, don’t-” Tubbo started.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Tommy yelled over the phone.

“Bee~ like that.” Tubbo drawled. “... Tommy?”

Tommy sighed, trying to resist hanging up in Tubbo’s face.

“Tubbo.”

Tubbo gulped at Tommy's tone. “Yes, Tommy.”

“I am currently on the other side of town and I need you to pick me up.” Tommy said in a friendly voice.

Jack shuddered at the smile on Tommy’s face.

“Alright, just send your location and we'll be right there.” Tubbo laughed nervously as Tommy hung up.

Tubbo turned to Ranboo. “Yeah, he's pissed.”

Tommy leaned against the alleyway wall. Jack left a while ago, he didn't want to get caught, especially with Tommy. As he heard the sound of a car approaching, he stepped out the alleyway. Unfortunately, things can never be that simple.

The car sped by and Tommy went to retreat back into the alleyway before he was stopped.
Tommy groaned and glared at the two darkly dressed men walking towards him.

“Hey kid, whatcha doing out here all alone?” the guy said with a sinister smile.

“I'm gonna stop you right there, buddy,” Tommy said with a scowl, causing the guy to falter a bit. “I'm really not in the mood right now, so if you two just turn around and walk away now, we can all just go about our business.”

The two men laughed at that. “Confident kid, huh? Listen we just need a bit of money so just-”

Without realizing it, they had followed Tommy back into the alleyway, into the shadows where no one could see them.

~+~ 

As Tubbo and Ranboo neared the alleyway, they slammed on the brakes as two men ran out screaming. Tommy came out of the alleyway with a smile on his face and laughing before turning to the car and waving.

“Do I even wanna know?” Ranboo asked as Tommy climbed into the car.

“Nope!” Tommy said cheerfully.

~+~ 

The slimy creature slithered swiftly across the ground, slipping through cracks in the building before landing in a large office.

“Well?” A man twirling a poker chip back and forth between his fingers said.

“I found out more about our cloaked friend!” The slimy creature morphed into the shape of a man, holding a small video camera.

The man turned to the slimy creature. “Really?” Quackity said with a grin.

"Let's see it."

Notes:

What a wonderful performance!

Chapter 21: Talent Agent

Summary:

Warning!
Blood and gore
Body Horror

Quackity watches as the shaky footage comes up on the screen. It's uneventful for the most part, Medusa, Drone, and the cloaked stranger jump across rooftops until they stop on top of a building talking amongst themselves.

"So how long you thinking?" Drone asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Eh, I give him another… ten minutes before he creepily appears behind us." The cloaked stranger joked, earning a laugh from Medusa.

Quackity watched as they quietly snickered when Dream showed up right on time. The kid explained that they didn't want anything to do with the whole hero, villain system.

Dream tried to give the stranger their assignment but they cut him off.

"Well hang on. I have to ask you something Dream." The stranger said, caulking their head to the side.

"...Of course." Quackity could hear the annoyance in Dream's voice at being interrupted and he snickered.

"I just wanted to know if you figured out my power? I mean I'd assume you wouldn't ask me to join you without knowing." The stranger asked, a playful tone in their voice.

"Well, it was quite easy." Dream said, that annoying cockiness in his voice.

"You're… a teleporter."

Quackity stopped the video at a very specific frame. They tried to hide it but Quackity saw it, the stranger's lips quirked up into a small smirk for a split second before they flinched at Dream's words. It was small, barely noticeable, but he saw it. He knows they are not a teleporter, he witnessed the incident at the bakery firsthand. There was no way in hell Tommy was a teleporter. He had an idea of what his power was but he needed to see it in action a bit more.

He chuckled at the kids acting, it was impressive, to say the least. He responded to Dream with a shaky voice and Dream replied with a chuckle before he got back to the topic at hand.

“Now for your assignment." Dream said.

Tommy took a deep breath. "Alright, hit me big man."

"There's some documents I need to get my hands on and obviously I can't just waltz into the hero tower and there's way too many heroes protecting it to break in. So that's where you come in." Dream explained.

"Ah, I get it. You want me to teleport in, steal those documents, and teleport back out right?" Tommy crossed his arms under the cloak.

"Yes." Dream responded immediately.

"No can do." Tommy said.

"What." Dream said, taken aback.

Quackity scoffed and paused the video for a moment to laugh before playing it again.

"Yeah, I kinda need to have either been there or seen at least a photo of the place and I doubt you have a picture of this… document room?" Tommy said, shrugging at the end.

“Good cover.” Quackity said under his breath, the kid obviously did his homework.

"Hm, would it work if you looked into the room from a window?" Dream asked.

"I suppose, but I won't be able to steal the documents." Tommy said.

"Why not?" Quackity chuckled, Dream was sounding more annoyed by the second.

"Well, as I've already told those two." Tommy said pointing at Medusa and Drone. "And explained to you, I'm not really interested in being a part of this whole thing, and if I steal some important hero documents..." Tommy said, waving his hand around and stopping Dream when he went to speak."But! If I happened to see some documents someone happened to leave out and the most dangerous villain Dream." Tommy deepened his voice at the end. "Kidnapped and Interrogated me until I gave in and told him what I saw." Tommy drawled with a sharp smile on his face, barely visible under the hooded cloak.

At that Quackity cackled, slime jumping a bit at the sudden sound, he paused the video and took deep breaths to calm down.

“Holy shit, this kid…” Quackity scoffed under his breath. A picture was forming in his head and it was both terrifying and amazing. He pressed play.

"You'd be completely innocent." Dream scoffed and shook his head. "You're pretty smart kid." Dream said in a quiet voice.

"Thanks and I'm not a kid." Tommy turned towards the hero tower. "Let's do this."

Quackity watched as the kid seemed to quickly teleport into the hero tower and back out.

"That was fast." Dream said surprised. "So what'd it say?"

"Well, nothing on identities but…" Tommy drawled.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking about our deal." Tommy said.

Dream stilled before sighing.

"Yes?" Dream said through gritted teeth.

Quackity smiled, he was liking this kid more and more. Especially how easily he got under Dream's skin.

"While protection is all well and good." Tommy smirked. "What's the point if we're not able to contact you when we are in trouble."

"So you want to be able to contact me?" Dream asked surprised.

"Yeah, simple as that."

“Hm, now that's very interesting.” Quackity said.

“What do you mean Quackity from Las Nevadas?” Slime asked.

“Well Slime, why would this kid, who could've just asked the top villain for just about anything, ask for his number?” Quackity asked Slime.

“Oh, I think I hear what you're saying Quackity from Las Nevadas!” Slime exclaimed.

“Good, let's see if I'm correct.”

"Hmm, alright." Dream's hands seemed to glow for a moment before a small white thread appeared in his hand.

"Give me your wrist." Tommy warily gave him his hand and Dream tied the thread around his wrist.

Tommy looked down at the thread, the glow died down and resembled that of a simple bracelet.

"There, now all you have to do is speak into that thread and I will hear you. Don't worry it will only work if you speak directly into it." Dream reassured him as Tommy examined the thread.

“Well shit, that's how Spore and Crimson get in contact with him so quickly.” Quackity scowled.

"Sweet." Tommy simply said as Drone and Medusa looked over his shoulders to see the thread.

"Anyway, now for that information." Tommy said.

"Now there were no identities, but some interesting little insights on The Blood God."

"Do tell." Dream said amused.

"Apparently he's a little messed up upstairs." Tommy said jokingly.

“Heh, I could've told you that.” Quackity jokes.

"Messed up?" Dream questioned.

"Yeah, big guy hears voices. Makes him crave blood or some shit." Tommy shrugged. "Apparently they mock him, saying something about "Blood for the Blood God", he also gets really… let's say excited, when he sees a lot of blood."

“Damn…” Quackity grimaced.

"Well, well, well." Dream chuckles. "Thank you very much… you need to get some sort of code name."

"Not gonna happen."

“There's something else, why is Dream so adamant about him getting a code name?” Quackity said curiously.

"Well, either way, I'll be seeing you again." Dream began walking away. "Keep an eye on the news."

“That's worrying…”

Quackity watched as Dream disappeared into an alleyway and the trio sat there for a second, presumably until they were sure a Dream was gone, before speaking.

"Okay, I have to know how you pulled that off." Medusa suddenly said.

"Whatchu mean." Tommy drawled. "I just teleported in 'cause you know I'm a teleporter-" Tommy cut himself off, laughing loudly.

Quackity chuckled as the kid laughed before Tommy caught his breath.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Yeah I'll explain when we get back, but I have to say that was probably the most anti-climactic performance I've ever done." Tommy shook his head.

"Yeah, but it's better to start small. We can step it up a notch once we know more." Tubbo said.

“Performance huh…”

The other two left Tommy on the roof to carry out some kind of job after showing off some interesting tech. He sat on the roof for a while, before he saw a large explosion come from a building and a hero come shooting out. Tommy quickly removed his cloak, while he was taking off the cloak he didn't notice the hero was coming straight towards him. Tommy cursed before getting pushed off the roof but was quickly caught by a robotic arm. He got lifted up before being face to face with Manibot.

They seemed to know each other as they talked for a bit before Manibot noticed the hero Crow Father getting his bearings and held one of his robotic arms next to Tommy's head and morphed it into a cannon with a bright light resonating from it.

Tommy just raised an eyebrow at him before Manifold said something and Tommy sighed and closed his eyes before he seemed to center himself.

As Crow Father looked up at the hovering villain, Tommy was already full-on sobbing, clawing at the robotic arm that was now holding him by the neck.

He was good, if Quackity hadn't seen this he would have believed his performance.

After some bargaining and a very convincing performance from Tommy, Crow Father allowed Manibot to escape as long as he didn't hurt Tommy. They flew off and the camera, being held by slime, did its best to keep up. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear the phone call Tommy took while in the air but it was fine.

Slime was able to be close enough to hear them again after they landed in an alleyway, the smile on Tommy's face turning into a scowl.

“That was humiliating.” Tommy said, wiping tears from his eyes. “You owe me big time Manifold.”

“Manifold…” Quackity said quietly.

“I know, I know! I’m sorry, I promise I'll make it up to you.” Manibot apologized.

“You better! You know how much I hate crying.” Tommy groaned and pulled out his phone.

The phone rang for a second before it picked up. “Hey Tubs, you two done?”

“Tubs.” Quackity mumbled.

“Glad me being humiliated was so helpful to you.” Tommy said sarcastically.

…

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Tommy yelled over the phone.

…

Tommy sighed.

“Tubbo.”

Tommy's tone was low and flat, the complete opposite of the Tommy he met at the bookstore.

“I am currently on the other side of town and I need you to pick me up.” Tommy said in a friendly voice with a calm smile.

Manibot shuddered at the smile and Tommy hung up the phone.

After a few minutes, Manibot left and Tommy leaned against the alleyway wall.

You could hear the sound of a car approaching and Tommy stepped out the alleyway.

The car sped by and Tommy went to retreat back into the alleyway before he was stopped. Tommy groaned and glared at two men dressed in black.

“Hey kid, whatcha doing out here all alone?” the guy said with a smile.

“I'm gonna stop you right there buddy.” Tommy said with a scowl, and the guy faltered at Tommy’s confidence. “I'm really not in the mood right now, so if you two just turn around and walk away now we can all just go about our business.”

Quackity watched as with each step the two men took Tommy stepped back slightly, back into the alleyway.

The two men laughed at that. “Confident kid huh? Listen we just need a bit of money so just-”

As Tommy's face was swallowed up by shadows he began to change.

His neck twitched to the side with a loud snap and the two men looked in horror as Tommy's limbs started to stretch, his skin being pulled till it was about to tear, his jaw snapped and looked as though someone had tried to rip it off, his blood poured down his face, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he seemed to grow taller, legs snapping in two places, the bone sticking through the stretched skin.

His teeth sharpened themselves into points and he smiled… A slack-jawed smile that made Quackity's skin crawl.

The men seemed frozen in fear as Tommy stalked forward.

One step. Snap, another bone cracked into place.

Two steps. His jaw snapped back into place, a new set of razor canines setting into his gums.

Three steps. The men ran screaming out the alley, almost getting hit by a car before running down the street.

When the camera panned back… Tommy was completely normal, not a bone out of place. Still wearing a sharp smile.

He sighed and walked out of the alleyway, a newfound pep in his step, before getting in the car that nearly hit those men.

“Do I even wanna know?” Someone asked as Tommy climbed into the car.

“Nope!” Tommy said cheerfully.

“Heh.” Quackity's small chuckles turned into manic laughter as the video replayed Tommy’s little transformation, over and over.

“Slime.” Slime looked up at Quackity. “We’re heading out tomorrow, be ready.”

Notes:

Oh, Tommy's got work tomorrow

Chapter 22: No Flash Photography

Summary:

and we are back!

There are a few small details in this chapter that I really hope people notice
Now for a few hints about Tommy's power.
Remember his major and Not all is what it seems.

“And then, I only took two steps before the guys were running!” Tommy laughed along with Tubbo as he finished the story.

“Oh my god that sounds terrifying. You have to show us later.” Ranboo chuckled.

 ~+~

They stopped in front of the bookstore, Tommy saw Techno at the front desk talking to someone familiar and some sort of… slime person?

“Are you sure your boss will be okay with us hanging out during your shift?” Ranboo said with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, Phil’s chill.” Tommy said, pushing the door open. As the bell above the door rang, Techno looked over.

“Hey, Tommy.” Techno greeted.

“Hey Techno, I brought some friends.” Tommy said, pointing to Tubbo and Ranboo.

“They’re gonna buy a book or?” Techno drawled.

“Nope!” Tommy said, marching over to the desk.

“Maybe.” Ranboo corrected.

“Yeah, you got any books on.” Tubbo leaned on the counter. “Nuclear weaponry?” Tubbo wiggled his eyebrows and Techno just slowly blinked at him.

“...That section over there, third shelf.” Techno deadpanned.

Tommy gave Techno a confused glare before the people at the desk turned to him.

“Hey kid, remember me?” Quackity said as he turned to Tommy, the slime guy excitedly bouncing in place.

“Yeah, Phil said your Wilbur’s friend Quackity, it's great to meet you man. Can I just say I love your style.” Tommy said, shaking Quackity’s hand with a smile.

“Heh, thanks kid.” Quackity chuckled. “It’s great to meet you too.”

The slime guy was waving to Tommy from behind Quackity.

“Hello, Tommy.” The slime guy said and Quackity’s smile faltered for a moment but then stepped aside so Tommy could see slime, or so that Slime could see Tommy, anyway.

“Uh, hey?” Tommy said, taking the slime guy’s hand. The slime guy shook his hand energetically, leaving behind a bit of slime on Tommy’s hand.

“Tommy, this is Charlie.” Quackity said as Tommy wiped to slime off his hand.

“Nice to meetcha Charlie.” Tommy chuckled. ”What brings you two here? Need another boring history book?” Tommy said and Quackity laughed, shaking his head.

“Nah, I was actually looking for you.” Quackity said, his smile sharpening and Techno paid a bit more attention at that.

“Yeah? Why, need someone to shelf books for you or something?” Tommy said, putting on an equally sharp smirk.

Techno looked between the two of them, it was a bit tense. As if they were having a silent conversation.

“Alright, here.” Tommy grabbed his notebook and something else out his bag and turned back to Quackity.

“You wear glasses?” Techno said as Tommy but on a pair of rectangular glasses with no frames.

“Yeah?” Tommy simply said and wrote down something in the notebook. He ripped out the page, folded it up, and gave it to Quackity. He took off his glasses and put them in his pocket.

“Anyway!” Tommy said loudly. “Anything I needa do or we just waiting for some nerds to come in?”

Quackity carefully looked over the paper and just left the store without another word.

Techno was pretty confused, he looked to Tommy’s friends and they just glanced at each other before going to sit in the reading nook. The blonde kid pulled out a computer and the masked kid just played on his phone.

“So… what was that?” Techno asked Tommy.

“So we got any sex books?” Tommy suddenly said, ignoring his question.

“What?!” Wilbur screamed as he walked downstairs.

“You know, like “How to Sex” books?” Tommy said.

“No?” Wilbur said uncertainly.

“Well, then I'm writing one!” Tommy sat with his friends in the reading nook and pulled out his glasses.

Tommy heard Wilbur gasp and looked over.

“Holy shit you're a nerd!” Wilbur said with a smirk as he fumbled to pull out his phone.

“Oh fuck you!” Tommy quickly took off his glasses and covered his face before Wilbur took a picture.

“Aw, man.” Wilbur said and put his phone back.

“You snooze, you lose bitch. Also, don't do that shit again, I don't like pictures.” Tommy said glaring.

“Oh sorry, I'll delete after we're done working.” Wilbur said.

“Here give me your phone, and I'll delete it.” Tommy said, making a grabby motion with his hand.

“Nice try gremlin, I'm not trusting you with my phone.” Wilbur chuckled.

Tommy smiled. Tommy nodded.

Notes:

And Tommy...

Chapter 23: Lucky Guess

Techno let it go.

Tommy and Wilbur kept up their playful banter. Tommy and his friends stayed mostly in the reading nook unless a customer came in.

The sun got lower in the sky, Tommy’s shift came to an end and before Tommy and his friends left, the short one bought a book called “How to Build a Nuclear Bomb And Other Weapons of Mass Destruction” by Dr. Frank Barnaby, which was not concerning at all.

“Hey, remember to delete the picture.” Techno said as he started to close up shop.

“Oh shit, yeah, thanks.” Wilbur set down the books he was cleaning up from the nook and went over to the desk with Techno.

“Techno.”

“Yeah?”

“Where's my phone?”

“Heh!” Techno and Wilbur quickly searched the store but couldn't find any trace of Wilbur's phone.

“Shit, shit, shiiiit.” Wilbur was pacing now. “Tommy had to have taken it! Fuck, I didn't think the picture was that big a deal.”

“Well, it must've been if he's willing to steal your phone for it.” Techno deadpanned. “I'm sure he won't look through your phone Will, Tommy’s a little shit, but he's not that much of a little shit.”

“No Techno, all my hero contacts are on there, including a direct line to the agency.” Wilbur grabbed his coat and started heading out the door. “I'll be back in a bit!”

Before Techno could say anything, Will was speeding down the street towards Tommy. He ran for a while but couldn't find Tommy or his friends. He said they weren't staying at their apartment for a while because of bugs, but maybe it was okay now.

“You in?” Tommy asked, not looking behind him to the shorter blonde who was working on something. That something was Wilbur’s phone.

“Almost, he’s got a pretty weird password.” The blonde chuckled. “Something about salmon I don't want to repeat.” Ranboo snorted. “There!” He passed the phone forward, and Tommy reached behind him.

“Yeah, seeing that his wallpaper is also salmon, I don't think I wanna know.” Tommy tapped on the camera app and deleted the picture of him and his friends in the reading nook.

“There, you can have your phone back now, Wilbur.”

Wilbur stopped dead in his tracks as Tommy looked behind him. His friends turned around as well. Tommy tossed him his phone and Wilbur fumbled before catching it.

“Don’t worry, I wasn't gonna look through your fish shit.” Tommy chuckled.

Wilbur looked between Tommy’s friends, he couldn't make out their expressions, the taller one was wearing a mask and glasses while half the shorters face was covered by fluffy bleach-blonde hair. He kept a cool head, deciding not to ask how he knew he was behind them.

“Yeah…” Wilbur said cautiously. “But you still stole my phone, Toms, not cool.”

“Yeah, and neither is stalking a minor, but here we are.” Tommy shrugged.

“I'm not stalking you.”

“Well, I mean, this is the second time you've followed me home so…” Tommy said with a smirk. “And you did take my picture without permission...”

Wilbur went to speak, but Tommy cut him off.

“Speaking of, Don't do that again.” Tommy’s smirk fell into a small smile.

Wilbur sighed. “Alright I get it, I'm sorry I took a picture of you without permission but don't steal my shit man.” Wilbur looked over his phone, wondering how the hell some teenager hacked into it.

“Borrowed.” Tommy corrected.

Wilbur glared at Tommy for a second.

“Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, boomer.” Tommy said, waving back as he continued walking.

His friends stayed put, staring at Wilbur for a bit before following behind Tommy.

“Yeah, see ya.” Wilbur mumbled under his breath. He turned on his phone and unlocked it, everything seemed fine. He checked his pictures and the picture of Tommy was gone. “Hmm.”

~+~

The trio walked into the already unlocked apartment and were met with Quackity sitting in their living room and Charlie standing in the kitchen. They were thankful he had the decency to tell Charlie to stand in the kitchen and not permanently stain their white carpet.

“Took you long enough.” Quackity said, looking over the back of the couch.

“Yeah, we had to take care of something.” Tommy plopped down on the couch next to Quackity “Anyhow, on to business.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Quackity watched as Ranboo discreetly locked the front door and Tubbo moved to stand next to Charlie, who waved at Tubbo and Tubbo smiled back.

“So, how much do you know, since I know you haven't figured out my exact power.” Tommy said with a smug smile.

“Well, I know damn well your power isn’t teleporting.” Quackity laughed and Tommy chuckled along.

“So you overheard Dream’s guess, but if that ain't my power, then how'd I get in the tower?” Tommy asked.

“Same way you survived getting shot.” Quackity’s smile grew sharper, matching Tommy’s smirk. “You didn't.”

“Explain.” Tommy replied quickly, leaning in, his smile growing manic.

“Exactly as I said, you didn't. You didn't get shot, and you didn't teleport, you my sir are quite the actor.” Quackity leaned back against the couch. “A master illusionist, if you will.”

Notes:

Finally!

Chapter 24: Set in Motion

Summary:

Broke down that wall and got the next chapters planned out so be ready.

Tommy jumped up from the couch, a huge smile on his face. “My god! Finally, I love some good suspense as much as the next person, but Jesus!” Tommy laughed a manic laugh and fell back onto the couch next to a chuckling Quackity. “Tell me, how long did it take you to figure it out.”

“To be honest, when I first saw that shit at the bakery, I thought you were immortal.” Tommy laughed at that.

“Yeah, you and every other person in this city that saw that stupid video. Real wrong’un that guy, videoing me without permission.” Tommy said, crossing his arms.

“So I’m guessing you're the reason their phone “suddenly stopped recording” huh?” Quackity said smirking.

“Yeah, I saw him pull out his phone once that kid pulled out the gun, so you know.” Tommy shrugged.

“Hm, don’t like being on camera?” Quackity asked curiously.

“Eh, not really.” Tommy simply said, and Quackity filed that away. “So anyway, I’m guessing you didn’t wanna meet just to guess my power.”

“You’d be right, from what I’ve seen and heard, you're not too fond of the corrupt system we're under.” Quackity said.

“You mean pretentious ass heroes, criminalized vigilantes, and people who had to turn to a life of crime to survive.” Tommy said with a sarcastic smile.

Quackity scoffed. “Yeah that, I have a plan to bring all that to an end, but it requires your help.”

“I’m listening.” Tommy smirked.

~+~

“Hey, Techno, here for my shift.” Tommy said walking into the bookstore.

“Hey, Tommy, you’re early.” Techno said, standing up from behind the counter. Wilbur came down the stairs and flashed a glare at Tommy.

“Sup, Wil, what’s up with that look? Don’t tell me you're still mad about yesterday, man?” Tommy chuckled, throwing an arm around Wilbur.

“A little, but also-”

“Here, let me make it up to you.” Tommy said, handing Wilbur three tickets.

“What’s that?” Techno said, looking over Wilbur’s shoulder.

The ticket read Sunday at #:## on ###### Street, come see “Not Your Average Superhero Story” Starring theatre prodigy Thomas Simons.

“Holy shit.” Wilbur said, looking down at the ticket. He looked up at Tommy, who had the biggest grin on his face.

“Surprise! Your boy here’s got one of the leading roles.” Tommy said, puffing out his chest.

“Not Your Average Superhero Story? Never heard of it.” Techno said holding one of the tickets while Wilbur just kept looking between Tommy and the Tickets.

“Of course not, I wrote it.” Tommy said, his grin becoming more smug than proud as Wilbur's jaw dropped to the floor.

“No fucking way!” Wilbur said, pulling Tommy into a side hug. Tommy laughed and hugged them back.

“Sweet, what’s it about?” Techno asked, putting the ticket in his pocket.

“Eh, eh, eh, no spoilers, Big T.” Tommy said, crossing his arms.

“Fine, theatre prodigy.” Techno chuckled.

“Tommy, this is awesome! Let me get Dadza!” Wilbur sat the tickets on the counter and ran upstairs, yelling Dadza over and over.

Tommy laughed as Wilbur disappeared upstairs and Techno went back behind the counter and pulled out his computer.

“Tommy!” Phil yelled, quickly running down the stairs with a big smile on his face, wearing a green housecoat. “Lemme see!”

Tommy grabbed the tickets off the counter and proudly handed them to Phil, who looked over the ticket and hugged Tommy excitedly. “This is amazing, mate, I can't wait.”

“Uh, about that, from what I’m seeing there isn’t a theatre on that street.” Techno said, looking up from his computer screen.

“Duh, you think a professional theatre is going to put on some teenagers' original play?” Tommy scoffed. “Your buddy Quackity is helping me. He’s got this big storage building we’ve set up a makeshift theatre in, that’s what that whole little thing was yesterday. He wanted to meet at my place to discuss some stuff.” Tommy explained.

“Quackity is helping you? Did you pay him?” Wilbur said, confused.

“No?” Tommy said, sounding equally confused.

“Quackity? The guy who will literally do nothing for free is helping you.” Techno said in disbelief.

“Yeah?” Tommy said, shrugging. “He said I got some real talent and wanted to help me, especially after he read my script.”

“Huh…” Wilbur frowned to himself.

“Anyway, we’ll definitely be there, Tommy. Like I said, I can't wait to see it.” Phil said, patting Tommy on the back.

“I can’t wait to perform it.” Tommy said proudly.

“Wait… Your real name is Thomas?” Wilbur snorted.

~+~

After some light banter, Tommy’s shift went as normal until the sun began to set. Techno started closing the curtains as they closed and noticed a faint glow coming from Tommy’s direction. No, a faint glow coming from Tommy. Techno glanced over and saw that the faint glow was coming from a thin, familiar thread around Tommy’s wrist. Techno wouldn’t have thought much of it if it wasn't for Tommy quickly pulling down his sleeve once he noticed it.

“Whatcha got there? A glow-in-the-dark bracelet?” Techno asked, walking over to Tommy.

“Oh, yeah. Got it from a concert.” Tommy explained, continuing to put books away.

“Oh really? What concert?” Techno asked, looking suspiciously.

“Can’t remember, the guy was singing some sad song about masks or something.” Tommy scoffed.

“Hm, alright.” Techno kept trying to think where he’d seen that bracelet before as they finished closing.

 

“Alright, see ya tomorrow, Techno!” Tommy yelled as he left the bookstore.

~+~

Dream was lurking through the shadows of the city when a voice he was expecting sooner or later rang through his ears. He made his way to the rooftop the voice said to meet at, he said he had information that Dream wanted. He landed on the rooftop to be met with only two familiar people.

“Hello, Dream.” Drone said flatly.

“We’ve got a proposition that might interest you.” Medusa said with a smug tone.

Notes:

Why so nervous Dream?

Chapter 25: Opening Notes

Summary:

It's good to be back, we needed to focus on other projects for a bit but we're happy to say we have returned to this.

(Also, we made a slight ret con, 404's name is now Spore.)

“So question, what’s with the pink hair?” Tommy asked as Techno rang up a customer.

“What do you mean?” Techno said as the customer left with some manga about a demon dog guy.

“I mean, is there a reason or are you just a pink guy?” Tommy replied teasingly.

“Nah, I just like pink.” Techno thought for a moment. “Well, I guess it’s kinda because I like pigs.”

“Pigs ay? Then you like that Blood God guy with his whole boar aesthetic thing?” Tommy said, sitting in the chair next to Techno.

“Eh, he’s okay. Seems like kind of a tool.” Techno shrugged.

Tommy laughed loudly, and leaned back in his chair, balancing on two legs.

“Don’t do that, you might-”

“Techno!” Tommy fell back as Wilbur came running downstairs yelling Techno’s name.

“Ow! You fucker!” Tommy held the back of his head as Wilbur rushed over to him and Techno.

“Shit! Sorry Tommy, you okay?” Wilbur said, helping Tommy up.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine-”

“Good, Techno, come on, we need you upstairs. Tommy, you can handle things by yourself?” Wilbur said rushing Techno upstairs.

“Yep!” Tommy yelled after Wilbur as he sat the chair back up. He watched Wilbur rush upstairs, dragging Techno behind him. “Wonder what the fucks up with that.”

~+~

Tommy jumped when an alert came on his phone and started watching the news report.

“Shocking news today when top heroes Blood god, Crow Father, and Nightingale were locked in battle with villain duo Kier and Dev when all of a sudden number one villain Dream bound them in his signature green string before all of them vanished with the help of number six villain, Punz and number five villain Spore. The heroes were left, like the rest of us, very confused. We will continue to report on this shocking development once we know more, this is Lucas Yello signing off.”

“Hmm.” Tommy hummed and looked at the time before starting to close up the store. His phone went off again, it was a text from Wilbur that read “Hey just go ahead and close up, and head home, were still busy up here.”

Tommy texted back “Wrong “were “.”

Wilbur replied, “Fuck you.”

Tommy laughed to himself, finished closing, and locked up before starting to walk home. The streets were eerily empty, no people, no muggers, no villains, just dead silence.

~+~

After a very confusing fight, Nightingale continued to patrol through his sector, but there was nothing. Kier and Dev were the first villains they'd seen all night, and it seemed they would be the only villains they saw tonight. He jumped when his watch beeped to signal the end of his patrol, and he called Blood god and Crow Father.

“Hey, you two got anything?” Nightingale said into his comm as he jumped across rooftops.

“Nope.” Blood god replied, popping the P.

“Nothing.” Crow father said.

Nightingale sighed and leapt down onto the fire escape attached to the bookstore. “Alright, my patrol just ended, so I'll see you guys at home.”

But as Nightingale went to hang up, he got a message he always dreaded seeing. His watch lit up with the words, “Mayor Schlatt wants to see you.”

Nightingale grimaced at his watch, “Shit.” Nightingale groaned.

“You got a message too, huh?” Blood God asked sarcastically.

“Yup.” Nightingale said, popping the P.

~+~

The heroes entered the top floor of the hero tower and were met with the rest of the top five heroes. The fourth and fifth, Deimos and Diamond Head, were sitting next to each other on a small red couch. Deimos was fidgeting and picking at his claws nervously, while Diamond Head looked very agitated. Deimos turned to them with a kind smile, but before he could say anything, the doors to Schlatt’s office opened, and they shuffled inside quickly. Schlatt sat at his desk and gestured to the two chairs in front of him, Crow Father and Deimos sat down while Blood God, Nightingale, and Diamond Head stood behind them.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I called you here.” Schlatt said, his eyes fixated on the papers on his desk. “Tell me…” His hands slammed down on his desk as he stood. “How many fucking heroes does it take to catch at least one fucking villain!”

Deimos looked away, while Crow Father scowled under his veil.

Schlatt slumped back in his chair, letting out a tired sigh. “Listen, in the past week, you guys have been getting into multiple fights with all the most dangerous villains, and Manibot, yet only Crow Father managed to actually take down two of them before they escaped with Dream,” Schlatt said, his gaze narrowed as he glared at the hero and quickly spoke again as he tried to respond. “But hey, I get it, this job is tough stuff. And anyway, that's not really what I called you all here for. Deimos, Diamond Head, do you guys know what went down earlier tonight with Dream and the duo, Kier and Dev?”

“Yes sir.” Deimos replied nervously. “We received the report, it said that Dream seemed to… apprehend them?”

“Yeah, basically he stopped the fight, tied them up, and then poof. He was gone.” Schlatt said. “But I was kinda hoping Crow Father could fill us in on exactly what happened.”

“Oh, Well, as you know Kier and Dev’s powers to basically code things into real life is quite a difficult one to handle, so I called for backup, and while me and Blood God were locked in battle with Dev, Nightingale was handling Kier. When we seemed to be gaining the upper hand, we suddenly felt our bodies become very weak, which was most likely caused by Spore’s powers, and watched as Dream lifted both the villains using his string and disappeared using Punz’s power.” Crow Father explained thoroughly, looking to Blood God and Nightingale as they confirmed that’s how they remembered the fight.

“He didn’t say anything, just took them and left?” Jschlatt asked.

“No, sir, he just left without a word.” Crow Father answered.

Jschlatt sighed and leaned against his desk. “Alright, you can all leave my office.”

The heroes, though a bit concerned, left the mayor’s office without another word.

“Well, um, that went… okay.” Deimos said, trying to be optimistic despite the shaky smile on his face.

“We didn’t get fired, so I’ll count this as a good meeting.” Diamond Head said sarcastically.

The group chuckled and walked into the elevator together, an awkward silence falling over them as the elevator descended.
“Oh! Deimos, I have a question.” Nightingale suddenly spoke up. “Has your night been, uh, eerily quiet?”

“Yeah, actually, Diamond even went down and checked the lower districts and there was nothing.” Deimos explained, Diamond Head nodding next to him.

“Yeah it was weird, not even a mugger or something, it really freaked me out.” Diamond Head shrugged.

When the group arrived at the ground floor, they said their goodbyes. Nightingale decided to head home.

“I'll see you guys at home.” Nightingale said, waving to Crow Father and Blood God.

“Alright, our night’s almost over, so we’ll be home soon.” Crow father said.

“With how tonight’s going, we should just go with you.” Blood God said, sounding quite annoyed with the uneventful night.

“What? The big bad Blood God wants his beauty sleep?” Nightingale said in a mocking tone.

“No, but you could sure use some.” Blood God said, smirking as Nightingale gasped dramatically.

“Alright boys, break it up.” Crow Father said sternly but with a fond expression on his face.

Nightingale scoffed and left the hero tower, definitely not going slow on purpose to see if he could spot anything going on in the city below. As the buildings got smaller, the further he got from the upper distinct of L’manberg, the more surprised he got as he saw no crimes being committed. He slipped inside the upper window of the bookstore easily and checked downstairs, and smiled when he saw it was perfectly clean and locked up. Wil changed out of his hero costume, went to his room, and, for the first time in a while, picked up his guitar and started to play. He winced at how out of practice he was, but quickly fell back into it, and found his mind flooding with ideas.

He chuckled to himself and muttered under his breath. “I missed this…”

His eyes drifted to the ticket on his desk and he started to rethink a few things.

Notes:

Such a beautiful melody on such a quiet night.

Chapter 26: Plot

Summary:

Hey, we are trying to get these chapters out quicker but motivation hates us.

Phil woke up pretty early for once, well early for him, and decided to go ahead and head down to the bookstore. He stopped on his way down the stairs when he heard the familiar sound of a guitar and the quiet singing of his son.

“Holy shit, that was amazing!” Tommy said loudly, a wide smile on his face.

Wilbur laughed. “Thanks Toms, I’m a little rusty though.”

“I think it sounded great.” Phil said as he came downstairs.

Wilbur’s and Tommy’s head snapped over to him, and Tommy jumped up.

“Phil! Come on, Wil was showing me some songs he wrote.” Tommy dragged Phil over to the desk and had him sit down with them.

Phil chuckled fondly and sat, listening as Wilbur played then some songs that, as he called it, came from a burst of inspiration last night. Techno woke up half an hour later and groggily made his way downstairs.

“Hey Tech, sleep well?” Tommy laughed.

Techno looked over at Tommy confusingly, then down at his watch.

“What are you doing here, Tommy, your shift doesn't start till four?” Techno said, walking over to the desk with them.

“Oh, my teacher, Mr. Boosfer, cancelled all his classes today for some reason, so I decided to come in early.” Tommy said shrugging.

“Pog.” Techno sat down with them and Tommy urged Wilbur to keep playing.

It was nice, just sitting in the bookshop. Listening to Wil play, helping the occasional customer. Making music, making jokes, none of them even noticed how late it had got till Tommy got a call on his phone.

“Hey, Toms. You coming, I thought we were meeting at Niki’s bakery after your shift ended?” Tubbo’s voice came loudly through the phone.

“Oh shit, right, yeah, I’m on my way.” Tommy quickly grabbed his bag and hung the phone up on Tubbo. “See you guys tomorrow!”

Before the three could respond, Tommy was running down the street towards Niki’s bakery. Wilbur looked at the time on his phone and sighed.

“Alright, let’s close up our patrols start soon.” Wil carefully placed his guitar on the desk and went to reshelve the books people had taken out.

Phil looked down at the guitar and back at his son, memories of songs and melodies flooding back, from back before his sons followed his footsteps. The three closed up shop, be it a bit later than usual, and left to the streets and rooftops of the city.

~+~

“See all I’m saying is if we do get married then I get to plan all the decorations for the wedding.” Ranboo said eating some kinda of fruit tart.

“Aw, come on, you’re just gonna put alliums everywhere and call it a day.” Tubbo complained and took a sip of his coffee.

“Excuse me, but unlike you, I actually have some taste when it comes to decorating.” Ranboo said in mock offence.

Tubbo gasped dramatically and started going on about how his amazing decorating skills when Tommy came into the bakery rather loudly, luckily the bakery was pretty empty due to it being late.

“Your star has arrived!” Tommy announced as he came into the bakery.

“Hey Tom! Tell Ran that I have impeccable taste.” Tubbo said immediately, crossing his arms.

“Tubbo you have like ten of the same green button-up shirt that you wear every day.” Tommy said, walking up to the counter.

“It’s a good shirt!” Tommy laughed at Tubbo’s excuse and turned to the counter.

Instead of Niki being there, a lady with big poofy white hair stood there. “Hey there, you make quite the entrance, huh?”

“What can I say, a big man like me needs a big entrance.” Tommy said smugly. “Tommy, nice to meet you.”

Tommy shook hands with her and she laughed fondly. “My names Puffy, nice to meet you, Tommy.”

“Tommy?” A voice came from the kitchen and out came Niki wearing an apron that was surprisingly spotless. She smiled and came up to the counter

“Hey Niki.” Tommy greeted as Niki leaned over the counter to give him a hug.

“Hey, I haven't seen you since the robbery. I was really worried.”

Tommy scoffed. “Please, it takes more than a flimsy bullet to get big man Tommy down.”

“Wait bullet!?” Puffy yelled in surprise, her head snapping towards Tommy.

“Yeah, I got shot last time I was here, still rate it a five outta five stars though, food was delicious.”

“Are you okay!?” Puffy said, looking concernedly over Tommy.

“Oh yeah, it didn’t even hurt.” Tommy’s smile just grew. “Anyway, can I get two strawberry muffins please?”

“Uh yeah, course.” Puffy said, still looking at Tommy with concern but grabbing two muffins from the display case and giving them to Tommy.

“Thank you.” Tommy said, happily grabbing the muffin and sitting down with Ranboo and Tubbo.

“Now, back on the subject of Tubs, terrible style.”

~+~

The night was quiet again, no villains, no muggers, no surprise meetings. Just silence and time.

“Anything?” Crow Father said into his comm as he flew circles around his sector for the twentieth time tonight.

“For the hundredth time, no.” Nightingale said, laying on the roof of a building, lazily kicking his legs over the edge.

“Same here.” Blood God stood atop a building as well, somewhere in the lower districts of the city.

“Dammit.” Crow Father groaned and perched on the balcony of an empty office building, looking out at the city. He stretched his wings out behind him and sighed.

“So, would it be bad if we just… went home?” Nightingale suggested over comms.

“We can’t just go home, this is our job. We need to be here in case anyone needs help.” Crow Father said.

“You’re just saying that cause they track us.” Nightingale said.

Crow Father chuckled tiredly. “Yeah that too.”

~+~

“I’m not so sure about this, how do we know they're telling the truth?” Spore spoke, his voice laced with venom.

“Don’t worry, I happen to be quite confident that the kid is being truthful.” Dream chuckled darkly. “And hey, on the off chance the kid is lying.” Sparks flew as Dream sharpened the large purple axe he had in his hands. “I’ll take care of it.”

Notes:

Trying to steal the show, are we?

Chapter 27: Lead-up

Summary:

Man Ao3 is it good to be back!

“Yeah, he wears the same green shirt every day and then has the balls to say we have terrible style.” Wil chuckled as he finished tuning his guitar.

“Says the guy that also wears the same red hoodie every day.” Tommy gasped sarcastically and shoved Wil, almost knocking him over.

The bookstore was lively all day, banter and jokes and songs… it was nice, normal. They closed up, Tommy left, and they were met with another quiet night, this time less eerie and more just boring, at least to Nightingale.

“Nothing… This is getting freaky.” Blood God said over his comm.

“We checked the lower districts, the upper districts, the commercial district. There is nothing! Not even a fucking pick pocketer or something.” Wilbur yelled over his comm, frustratedly.

“...”

“Phil?”

“Let's go home.” Phil finally answered.

“Wait really?!” Wil exclaimed excitedly.

“Yeah, there’s been nothing, and… it’s been awhile since we had a night together.”

Both boys smiled to themselves, and the night was spent home watching movies and fighting over who got to pick the next one. They all felt at home for the first time in a long time.

‘When was the last time we just hung out like this?’ Techno thought for a moment. ‘When was the last time we all had a goodnight’s sleep?’

He couldn't remember. He could barely remember what it was like before they became heroes. He frowned to himself, trying to, he could remember small snippets from their childhood when they’d lived in the lower district. Back when, Phil would go from odd job to odd job to support them, before he was approached by the mayor. It didn’t take long before they followed behind him, joining the hero program, it seemed fun. Fighting bad guys, saving the day, and all that stuff…

He stopped himself, he stopped thinking of that and decided to just enjoy the night they had together like this. Phil put on some anime about a ginger guy who can see ghosts, and he looked really excited about it.

~+~

“I’m telling you, that guy looked just like you.” Wil insisted.

“What guy?” Phil said with a small smirk on his face.

“Oh, you know who I’m talking about!” Wil yelled back just as Tommy walked into the shop.

“Woah, what are we yelling about?” Tommy asked, shutting the door behind him.

“Tommy, fucking look at this.” Wilbur pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture of some anime guy. He held his phone up next to Phil, who was still smirking. “Tell me they don’t look similar.”

“Hmm.” Tommy looked between Phil and the picture a few times, each time making Phil snicker while Wilbur got more annoyed. “I don’t see it.”

Wilbur gaped at Tommy as Phil covered his mouth and tried not to laugh. “See, I told you, Wil.”

“Yeah, it just happens when you get older, Wil, your eyes just aren’t like they used to be.” Tommy patted Wil on the shoulder as he got behind the desk with Techno.

Wil slowly looked over at Tommy like he was about to strangle him, and Tommy laughed so hard he started coughing. Techno rolled his eyes and patted Tommy on the back.

“Don’t die before your big show tomorrow.” Techno said as Wil walked behind the bar with them.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see the “Theatre prodigy” in action.” Wilbur said in a grand, over-the-top tone.

“Oh fuck off.” Tommy said, rolling his eyes fondly.

“What? I just wanna see what made Quackity go back on his “I don’t do anything for free” rule?” Wilbur shrugged.

“I’ll have you know it was my incredible talent and charm.” Tommy smiled smugly and put his hand on his chin.

Wilbur snorted. “What charm?” Tommy gasped dramatically and started cussing Wilbur out.

After hearing a loud bang, Phil came downstairs to see Tommy on the floor in front of the bookshelf, a few of the books on top of him.

“Oh my god, Tommy, I’m so sorry!” Wilbur yelled in panic as he ruched over to Tommy.

Tommy on the other hand was laughing his ass off as Wil helped him up and couldn't help but start laughing too. Techno, who had jumped out of his chair, sighed in relief as the two boys about fell over again laughing together.

“What happened? Are you guys okay?” Phil asked, chuckling at the two trying to catch their breath.

“Nothing, just Wil bout busting my eardrums cause he’s a bitch.” Tommy dusted himself off and punched Wil in the arm.

“Yeah, yeah, you okay man?” Wilbur asked, looking over Tommy.

“I’m fine, calm down before your heart gives out.” Tommy shooed Wil off. “I’ve had worse.”

Before Wil or Techno had the chance to ask what he meant, Phil suddenly spoke up.

“Oh! That reminds me.” Phil quickly went back upstairs and then quickly came back down holding what looked like a black folded blanket. “Here, uh, someone stopped by and said this belonged to you. I went ahead and cleaned it for you.”

“Oh shit, thanks Phil, I completely forgot I lost this.” Tommy grabbed the folded object and quickly put it in his backpack.

“What’s that.” Techno came from behind the counter.

“Oh-” Phil started.

“Just a coat I had lost after getting attacked by some robot villain.” Tommy said, standing up from where his backpack was in the reading nook.

“Can I see it?” Techno asked in a flat voice.

“Why?” Tommy replied in a tone just as flat, still not facing Techno.

Wil and Phil looked between Techno and Tommy, confused and a bit freaked out by the way they were acting.

“...”

“Nevermind.”

“Kay.”

~+~

As the clock struck three, an alarm went off on Toms phone to mark the end of his shift.

“Well, that’s my cue. See you guys tomorrow night!” Tommy quickly finished putting up the books he had taken out and grabbed his bag.

Wilbur was in the middle of a call and waved to him before going back to what seemed like a heated conversation

“Can’t wait mate. Uh, break a leg!” Phil yelled back.

Tommy snorted and shook his head. “Thanks Phil.”

Tommy left the store and quickly started running down the street with an excited smile on his face. Phil chuckled and sat down behind the counter next to Techno, who looked to be deep in thought. Before he could ask what was up, they both jumped as they heard Wil yell at whoever he was on the phone with.

“Fucking Fine!” Wil held out the phone towards Phil. “It’s the mayor.”

Notes:

Uh-Oh! Someone's in trouble.

Chapter 28: Analepsis

Summary:

This chapter's name may have a double meaning...

The bookstore was already closed up, and Phil was pacing back and forth in their living room as he had the most one-sided argument of his life. Every time he tried to get a word in, more yelling would come through the phone.

Techno and Wil watched him get more and more frustrated by the second, and they weren't very happy either. They took one night off, one night, in basically their entire lives.

Nothing even happened, whether they were there or not, there was still nothing.

“You are the top hero, you of all people shouldn't have left your post!” Schlatt practically screamed through the phone.

Phil froze, and the phone slowly drifted from his ear. As more yelling came through it, he seemed to realize something, or maybe he’d already realized this, either way the next words that left his mouth seemed to suck all the air from the room.

“… And what if I wasn't your top hero?”

~+~

When Phil was young, he would drift from job to job, which ever paid the best or gave him the most hours. He lived in the lower districts with his two kids, one he had found one day while working a delivery job, and the other… was all he had left of his late wife.

Then one day when he came back from flying over the city, delivering people food for this random pizza place, he was met with the mayor sitting in his living room. He was talking to Wil, who looked very excited about something.

“Ah, finally, was wondering how much longer you’d be.” Schlatt said, turning to Phil.

“Hey, what can I do for you.” Phil walked over and very obviously stepped between him and Wilbur.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt the little guy.” Schlatt rolled his eyes and stood up from the couch. “I’ve got a job opportunity I’d like to offer you.”

“Job? What kind of job?” Phil asked wearily.

“He wants you to be a superhero!” Wilbur squealed from behind his dad’s wing.

“What?” Phil looked back at Wil then back to Schlatt, very confused. “Why?”

“Cause, I’ve seen you flying all over this city for a while now. You're fast, and you gotta be pretty strong to carry a bunch of random asshole’s shit back and forth.” Schlatt said.

Phil covered Wil’s ear and glared at the mayor, the flickering fluorescent lights casting a sickly glow over their run-down flat.

“Come on, Phil.” Schlatt said, smirking when Phil stiffened. “A month or so worth a training, a badass suit, and you can get you and your brats outta this hellhole.”

“Yeah? And sign my life away to you? I’m not that gullible.” Phil said, glaring at Schlatt. He knew what kind of man Schlatt was, and he knew better than to just say yes to any deal he gives you.

“Listen, all you gotta do is kick some ass, and you, and your kids, are set.” Schlatt leaned in, voice lowered. “Besides, you really want your kids to grow up down here? I’m offering you a way out—no one else is gonna give you a chance like this, Phil.”

Phil glanced down at Wil, whose big eyes sparkled with excitement. 

Phil pulled in a breath. “Alright, but I have a few conditions.”

Then everything else happened so fast, Phil was trained given a suit, an alias, and Crow Father quickly started climbing the ranks. He was in the top three within a month and was able to move into a house in the upper districts, even opening up a little bookshop as a cover. Techno and Wil were so excited every time they saw him on the news and when they got old enough Schlatt personally invited them to be trained and made into heroes too. By the time they were both sixteen, they were “The Blood God and Nightingale”, rising heroes of L’manberg. They both soon had to quit school due to the stress of trying to juggle being heroes and their studies, Techno wasn’t too bothered, but Wilbur was devastated. Still they continued, becoming the top three heroes in L’manberg, constantly putting their lives on pause to stop some psycho in a mask. 

~+~

And Phil, was tired of it.

“You fucking heard me, what if I wasn’t your top hero?” Phil said, quickly moving the phone away from his ear in preparation for more yelling, but there was none. Phil brought the phone back to his ear slowly.

“I want you to think about what you’re doing for a minute, Phil.” Schlatt’s voice was eerily calm.

“I have, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now Schlatt.” Phil spit back. “I am sick and tired of you and the way you fucking treat us!”

Phil was livid, years spent keeping him and this city safe. Years spent keeping his mouth shut because he loved his kids too much to risk their lives in the lower districts.

“Of the way you treat all us heroes, who risk our lives to keep you and your city safe!” Phil yelled, letting go of years of pent-up anger towards the mayor. “We made a deal, I am completely free to take my kids and leave your fucked up hero system, and that is exactly what I am doing.”

Phil hung up before Schlatt could get another word in, tossing his phone on the counter. Phil sat down on the couch, sighing as he tried to comb his feathers, that were very puffed up from him being so tense. He finally took notice of his sons staring at him from the other side of the room, never has he seen them look prouder.

“That was fucking awesome…” Wil said, his eyes practically sparkling.

Phil couldn’t help but laugh, which grew louder as it finally sunk in… they were free. No more fighting, no more putting their lives on hold. Phil had a good amount of money saved up, it was a force of habit from so many years of barely scraping by. Wil could finally finish school and him and Techno could finally have their own lives back. Yeah, there’ll be some challenges ahead, but whatever they are he’ll take care of it. This is a new start, and they were gonna enjoy it.

Notes:

Ahh, don't you love how calm it is as the dark clouds roll in?

Chapter 29: Finale...

Summary:

Oh, how far we've come, I shed a single tear...

Wilbur kept checking the time on the ticket over and over, making sure they wouldn’t be late. “Come on, hurry up old man!”

“I’m going as fast as I can Wil, worry about yourself.” Phil chuckled, straightening his tie.

“How about you both hurry up cause I finished an hour ago.” Techno said, leaning against the doorway.

“One, it was not an hour ago. Two, cause you’re just wearing a white shirt and slacks which is hilarious since you’re always so extra with your outfits.” Wilbur smirked.

“It’s not extra to have style Wil, I know it’s hard to understand since you don’t have any.” Techno shot back.

While Techno and Wil shot insults back and forth Phil finished putting on his suit and grabbed their tickets, walking right passed Techno without a word. It took both boys a solid minute to realize and run out to the car.

They talked and theorized about what they thought Tom’s play might be about as they drove. Soon they neared the building, it was surrounded by large storage buildings in a dark part of town, but that was to be expected for a sixteen-year-old’s self written play. They don’t know how it didn’t stick out at first because the second they turned onto the street it was on they could see large spotlights illuminating pretty professional looking posters.

“Woah, Big Q really went all out for this.” Wil said, looking up at the place. “Tommy must really know how to pitch a show.”

Techno looked up at the poster, gears turning in his head. “Hey Phil, do you remember any details about that cloak you said belonged to Tommy?”

“Huh? Why?” Phil asked, locking the car.

“Just tell me.” Techno said, a bit quieter.

“Uh, it was a dark really faded purple and… oh! It had a green orb as the button at the top.” Phil said, looking at Techno.

Wilbur suddenly called to them, standing at the entrance. “Come on!”

“Coming Wil!” Phil said, glancing back at Techno before walking up to the entrance with Wil.

“Come on Techno, they’re about to start!” Wilbur called, barely a minute later.

Techno looked at Wil then back to the poster, which had a very familiar looking cloaked stranger standing in the background behind a blonde in an obnoxious red and yellow suit, before cautiously walking into the building.

They walked in, and the place was surprisingly packed but lights illuminating the stage made it hard to make out any faces they might know. They scanned the place for empty seats before finding three front row seats with little cards on them, their names in fancy font.

“Look at that, VIP seats.” Wilbur grinned, plopping down on his.

Phil sat next to him, smiling excitedly.

Techno was on the end, he cautiously looked at his seat before turning to look at the other people in the audience. Even right next to someone there was still a shadow obscuring them from view, the more he tried to look at them the more it made his head hurt. He looked up at the stage, the red curtain down to keep the audience from seeing them setting up. That was the thing though, Techno couldn’t hear any setting up and as he tried to listen more closely the audience seemed to speak louder. Then he noticed that he couldn’t make out what the hell anyone around them was saying. They were moving slightly, a few people leaning over to talk to their neighbours, but he couldn’t make out exactly what they were exactly saying. Even the people next to them just sounded like they were incoherently murmuring in a crowd. Again, the more he tried to focus in on… anything really, his head started to hurt. He fell back on his chair, clutching his head.

“You alright Techno?” Phil whispered, draping his arm over him. “Is it too loud up there?”

“No…” Techno said quietly. He sighed as the mind splitting pain just suddenly faded as he stopped trying to focus. “There’s-”

Suddenly the lights went out, and the audience started shushing each other excitedly as the room turned pitch black.

A single spotlight came down from above and under it was a very familiar blonde in the red and yellow suit from the poster. He had a matching top hat and a cane to boot.

Wilbur chuckled at the brightly coloured costume. Techno on the other hand noticed that, like everyone in the audience before, half of Tommy’s face was also obscured by shadow. Speaking of the audience, Techno couldn’t hear anyone else around them any more, something in the back of his mind was telling him they were there, but it was like the three of them were in a black void, the only light coming from Tommy’s spotlight.

“Welcome everyone to what will be the most thrilling story of your life.” Tommy announced in a loud jokingly sinister voice, pointing his cane out at the audience… or rather at them. “As once this story begins, your world will never be the same.”

Wilbur was practically bouncing in his seat from excitement as Phil looked up at Tom proudly.

“A story of intrigue, mystery, comedy, and… betrayal.” Tommy said, emphasising the word dramatically.

Tommy’s grin sharpened as he stepped toward the front of the stage. “A story where our heroes… will surly…” Tommy looked down at the three in front of him. “Fail.”

Techno’s eyes went wide before the world turned black… and the air… grew thick… and…

Notes:

"Alright, they're asleep. Let's-" Spore suddenly felt... very tired... is this how everyone else feels when he uses his power?
"What's..." Dream said weakly as him, Spore, and Crimson fell to the ground...

Silly, the story can't end now... it's only just begun...

Chapter 30: Final Bow

Summary:

Oh, how far we've come.

Nightingale’s eyes slowly opened, his head a foggy mess. “What… what happened…”

He tried to move, but he couldn’t. He looked down and could see that his arms were tied to his sides, but he couldn’t move at all. He could still feel his body, he wasn’t paralysed, but something wasn’t letting him move. He looked around, and it looked like he was both on stage and in a TV studio at the same time. Cameras and curtains around him in a way that didn’t make sense.

“Heh, sorry about that.”

Wilbur looked up and saw Tommy walk straight through a red curtain, wearing a bright red suit.

“It’s a bit hard to keep everything looking just right from all angles when I’m this excited.” Tommy chuckled and the scene around them began to change, the curtains moving and forming back on their own, the cameras lessening in amount as well as people now being behind them.

A tall gold man wearing what looked like a shark hood was behind one, while a shorter, kind of familiar kid wearing a purple hoodie was behind another.

“Toms… what’s going on?” Nightingale asked, suddenly realizing he was in his hero suit that they had already sent back to mayor Schlatt. “Why am I-”

“Yeah, had to make it from memory and pictures, so try to keep your head facing the cameras.” Tommy said, using his cane to push Nightingale’s head.

“Tommy, what’s going on?” Nightingale asked, looking around him and finally noticing he’s not the only one tied up. Next to him, Crow Father and The Blood God were there as well, both also wearing the hero suits they had sent back to mayor Schlatt.

“It’s time for my show.” Tommy said, squatting down to be on eye level with Wilbur. “Remember?”

Wilbur remembered driving to the theatre, going in, the play starting with Tommy narrating on stage then… he fell asleep, he fell asleep after smelling a very familiar sleeping spore. “No… you’re not working with-”

“Oh no. No, no, no, no, not in a million years. Look a liiiiittle bit farther.” Tommy said, pointing past Crow Father and Blood God.

Nightingale leaned his neck forward as much as he could and sure enough, Dream, Spore, and Crimson were also tied up.

“I have to say though, Spore’s power is a little lack lustre. I was planning on waking you all up at the same time after the show had already started but oh well.” Tommy sighed. “This one on one chat will do.”

“I don’t understand.” Nightingale said, glancing around the stage at all the cameras and different people walking around.

“Well, to put it simply, it’s time for the grand finale.” Tommy grinned, standing up and swinging his cane dramatically. “The climax, heh, of my story.”

“What story, what is happening?” Wilbur asked, wanting to thrash out of these ropes, but something in the back of his mind was still telling him he couldn’t move. “Why can’t I move?”

“Well, the second one is easy.” Tommy grinned, something that would usually be comforting. “You see, my ability is not cloning, Nightingale.”

“How’d you-”

“My ability is something much greater than that. I possess the power to completely warp your mind if I wanted to.” Tommy chuckled, standing up over Nightingale. “I have the power of illusion, which sounds pretty unintimidating on the surface, but the power of illusion doesn’t just end at sight. Sounds, sights, smells, and connected to that, taste, all your senses can fool you.”

Tommy leaned against his cane, smiling down at Nightingale. “There isn’t even a theatre out there, no audience, no carpet or lights. Just three cheap chairs with paper on them.”

Tommy walked over and pulled open the curtain behind the cameras to reveal just that, a dingy old warehouse with three cheap plastic chairs in it.

“Speaking of reveal, that is exactly what we’re doing here tonight. One of my favourite parts of the story.” Tommy said, walking back over to Nightingale and sitting down in front of him. “We’re broadcasting the grand reveal, the big twist, to all of L’manberg.”

Nightingale paled as he realized what exactly he meant by reveal. “No…”

“Yes.” Tommy nodded, grinning so excitedly.

Nightingale felt his heart race with emotion as he looked at Tommy. “But why?”

“Well I have my own reason that you’ll all find out… maybe later, but Big Q wants the lot of you gone, massive battles where half his casino gets destroyed ain’t really good for business you know.” Tommy laughed, standing up and dusting off his suit.

“So you’re just gonna throw us under the bus? For what? Money? Is that it? After everything?” Nightingale scoffed, glaring up at Tommy.

Tommy smiled, looking down at Nightingale. “Wil… you’ve known me a week.”

Tommy laughed, walking over to Crow Father and Blood God. “Wakey wakey, it’s time for the show to begin.”

Crow Father and Blood God slowly opened their eyes. They both looked around at the cameras and curtains, also realizing they’re wearing their suits. They opened their mouths but no sound came out, looking panicked as they did. Nightingale opened his mouth to speak to them but found he couldn’t either.

“Like I said, the show’s about to start. Just face the camera and look heroic.” Tommy said, straightening his tie and dusting off his vest as he got in place between the three heroes and three villains.

~+~

Niki looked up from the customer she was helping as the loud sound of static suddenly came from the TV in the bakery. Her stomach dropped as the static was quickly replaced with the sight of Tommy standing on a stage between Blood God and Dream, before the camera panned out to show the rest of who was there. She barely even registered the feeling of Puffy’s hand on her shoulder, also looking up at the screen in disbelief with the rest of the almost empty bakery.

~+~

On top of a building in the lower districts, Deimos and Diamond head, who had just started their patrols, had a similar scene in front of them. They were watching Diamond Head’s cracked phone with baited breaths as the suited boy started to speak.

~+~

“Greetings L’manberg! And welcome to the grand finale…” Tommy grinned sharply, his eyes obscured by the shadow of his obnoxiously red and yellow hat that matched his suit. “Tonight your cities strongest, almost strongest, shall be unmasked for you all to see.”

The camera panned over as Tommy walked behind Nightingale. “I know you’ve all been waiting a long time for this, so I won’t bore you with a monologue.”

Tommy’s grin never lessen as he undid the heroes goggles and let them fall, revealing Wilbur’s face.

“Everyone, meet Wilbur S. Craft.” Tommy said, using his cane to tilt Wil’s face towards the camera. “A musician and school dropout from the lower districts, talk about an underdog.”

A stale laugh track seemed to come from nowhere.

“And he’s not the only one.” The camera followed as he walked past Crow Father and behind Blood God, removing the boar skull mask from his face.

“We also have his brother, Technoblade Craft. Quite the quiet guy with quite a few problems upstairs.” The fake laugh track rung out again as Tommy twirled his finger next to his head.

“And last but certainly not least, the one who inspired them to drop out and join this dangerous career path…” Tommy pulled the veiled hat off Phil and tossed it like a Frisbee. “Their father, Philza Craft!”

Tommy grinned as he made the three look up at camera. “Isn’t that sweet?”

“Now, time for the much more exciting reveals.” Tommy walked past the three of them and stood behind Dream.

Tommy leaned down, grinning sharply as he grabbed Dream’s mask. He ripped the porcelain mask off. “Would you look at that…”

~+~

Niki quickly dropped to Puffy’s side as she saw her fall to her knees, her legs seeming to give out from under her.

Tears began to fall as Puffy stared up at the screen in horror, her son staring back at her angrily.

And if you looked closely, you could perhaps notice the camera shake for just a moment.

~+~

“It’s some random kid… Who would've thought! The most dangerous villain in the city, Clay Wastaken everyone. Let’s give him a round applause!”

The sound of loud applause accompanied by laughter ringing out in the empty storage building, the applause slowly fading as the laughter grew louder.

Tommy grinned as Clay scowled, the laughter filling his ear. “Played the big scary bad guy well wouldn’t you say?” Tommy said in a demeaning tone.

Tommy ruffled Clay’s hair in a belittling way as he walked behind Spore. “Now, let’s see who his dear number two is.”

Tommy removed the large white rimmed sunglasses and mushroom hat. “Another, random guy… How exciting!”

A quieter laugh track went off.

“George Notfound everyone! A colour-blind young man who sleeps constantly. The only reason he’s a top villain is cause he’s friends with dream, huh?”

Another mocking laugh track rang out.

“Alright, alright, time for the final reveal… and in my opinion the most exciting.”

Tommy slowly walked behind crimson, grinning.

Quackity’s smug smile that he’d been wearing off on the sidelines faltered as Tommy looked towards him, his grin sharpening.

Tommy removed the black mask from crimson and…

Quackity’s smile fell, and he clutched the gold rings around his neck.

The mask was ripped off and there knelt his fiancé.

“Now, I know this may look like just another random guy, but wouldn’t you know it… this is Sapnap Halo, son of the number four and five heroes Deimos and Diamond Head!”

Over the top gasps flooded the warehouse as Tommy made a dramatic, jaw dropped face.

“We can only imagine how they must be feeling…”

~+~

Light golden tears fell as Deimos looked at the face on the cracked phone, the face he’s watched grow and wiped tears from, now on the body of a man he’s seen burn innocent people alive while laughing.

Diamond Head couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, couldn’t feel anything, as if something in his head had just clicked out of place and wouldn’t click back.

~+~

“Who would've thought, I mean, I understand wanting to rebel against your parents, but this might be a bit far.”

Another over the top laugh track rang out at the stale joke, all energy and atmosphere seeming to be sucked out the room. Tommy took one more look back at Quackity, grinning at the shock and anger in his eyes.

“Well friends and enemies, this has been quite the illuminating show, hasn’t it? No need for applause just yet! I would like to thank my wonderful crew for making this all possible.”

The lights blinked and there stood Medusa and Drone, standing in front of the unmasked on either side of Tommy.

“Number two and three villains, Medusa and Drone.”

Deafening applause rang out from the empty warehouse.

“And thank you all, my loyal audience, I give my final bow.”

In unison, Tommy, Drone, and Medusa bowed.

And to the shock of the cameramen, aswell as everyone else, the lights went out and the cameras shut off.

Notes:

... What? I can't do anything. He's always been the one behind the camera...

Chapter 31: Extra Authors Note

Hey! This is not story, we just wanted to bring up some little details people missed now that the story is over! As well as say, we will be adding all the tags that would have spoiled the story.

So! First up, all the way in chapter one. I love that no one noticed or commented on why Tommy wanted the job at the bookstore, we made it obvious that this wasn't one of those stories where Bench Trio is struggling financially, but still love that nobody questioned it.

Next! I'm sure everyone probably thought it was just a gag, buuut.

"Damn, quiet all week, then the second you come along we get attacked." Drone said, looking at Tommy.

"Well, I am the main character." Tommy shrugged.

"Ye-" was all Drone could say before a bloody tendril shot forward, hitting him in the stomach.

Toms breaks the fourth wall...

 

Also! In Chapter 22: No Flash Photography, when Tommy first meets Charlie or... when Charlie first meets Tommy.

The slime guy was waving to Tommy from behind, Quackity.

“Hello, Tommy.” The slime guy said and Quackity’s smile faltered for a moment but then stepped aside, so Tommy could see slime, or so that Slime could see Tommy, anyway.

“Uh, hey?” Tommy said, taking the slime guy’s hand. The slime guy shook his hand energetically, leaving behind a bit of slime on Tommy’s hand.

No one noticed that Charlie didn't put "From blank" Behind Tommy's name, like he had been doing with Quackity.

 

Now, fun little facts. We made sure to never say what Ranboo and Tubbo were, and described what they were doing very vaguely. As well as never call the Dream Team the top villains. The reason I made Tommy hate crying is because I hate crying in front of people, so that's a little fun fact about me. (This is Masked speaking.)

 

Another thing, just letting you guys know, we held back a looooot, like a lot, for how dark this could have been. Dark, horror, gore, that is our true forte... maybe you'll see that in the future.

 

And, we think that is it. We'll probably add more if we remember, but other than that, this story is over... unless someone decides to turn the camera back on.

Chapter 32: Announcement

Hello everybody, news! After a long discussion, we've decided that eventually we will be writing a sequel to, Not Your Average Superhero Story!

 

We want to thank everyone for the continued support and all the wonderful comments. We never expected people to like our first story this much and to be honest, we have a lot we want to expand on, so get ready for a future fic coming soon!

 

...

 

Speaking of expanding on things... a very important detail we forgot to include in the last chapter...

 

In order for Tommy's powers to show up on film, he manually needs to do it... as in, be aware of the camera...

 

 

=]