Chapter Text
Tommy crawled through the vent, pausing every few minutes, keeping an ear out for anything that sounded off.
“Take a left at the next intersection. Try to keep your weight off the tunnel ahead of you. I did a check earlier and they might have activated the motion detection system for the main part of the museum,” came Tubbo’s voice through the earpiece Tommy had on.
He was currently in the vents of the South Sempua Museum of Art and Natural History. The SSMANH was the latest in their blitz of an elaborate crime ring. Tubbo and Ranboo were in the middle of busting this crime ring after months and months of planning.
They were so close to being done.This was the culmination of dozens of hours of work, hopefully it wouldn’t be long before they successfully busted the biggest crime ring in recent history. Maybe ever.
Tommy was the primary field man for their missions. He was shorter than Ranboo, which made it easier for him to hide if needed, but taller than Tubbo, which made getting in and out of vents easier.
He was also the most agile of the three of them, which was an absolute must.
Tubbo took care of the tech side of things. He made the comms they used and had also made a few supercomputers in his spare time to make hacking into systems easier.
Meanwhile, Ranboo did all the behind the scenes work. He went out and found all the information they needed for a successful mission, including obscure laws and old abandoned or sealed up entrances that they could use to their advantage.
“How's it looking on your end, Ranboo?” Tommy asked a few seconds later, seeing the intersection come up.
“Security guard just turned into the prehistoric animal room. You have a while before he comes back,” Ranboo responded.
Tommy nodded.
“Is the map properly calibrated, Tubbo?” he asked, remembering the last time they had used the 3D map Tubbo had recently created.
On their last mission, Tubbo hadn't realized that the map was behind by a few minutes and he had steered Tommy down the wrong tunnel. It had taken a while for them to figure out there was a problem and even longer to get Tommy back to where he was supposed to be.
“That was one time, and I made the compass you have now to calibrate it automatically,” Tubbo protested.
“One time and we wasted over an hour,” Tommy retorted.
“I'm sorry, I've fixed it now though, promise,” Tubbo said.
“Good,” Tommy said as he took the left he had been told to.
“Next vent down, there should be the office you want. According to Ranboo’s research, there should be a stuffed lion on the bookshelf, ” came Tubbo’s voice from the comms.
Tubbo leaned back in his chair, stretching as he heard Tommy carefully unscrew the vents through his headset. He was currently in the back of what the trio had dubbed The Crime Mobile. Well, it had been Tubbo’s suggestion, but the other two had been stumped when it came to naming, so “The Crime Mobile” stuck.
Although it was Ranboo’s van, Tubbo had spent months meticulously building up two supercomputers in the back. Each side had a desk chair and six monitors.
He glanced at the security footage that he had collected and made into a few loops during their stakeout. They had more than one so that if they ever reviewed the footage, the light would change slightly, making it look like time was actually passing.
So far, the mission was going pretty good. Not the smoothest since Tommy had started off by nearly triggering the motion activated lights in the lobby when he had nearly dropped down a vent too early, but thankfully Tubbo had been able to catch it before anything had happened.
He turned his attention to the other monitor where he had the trojan horse program open and ready to go. All Tommy had to do was plug in the USB drive, get the password to the computer, and the rest would be history.
“How do we find the password?” Tommy asked a few seconds later, obviously having gotten into the office.
“Type in the name of the museum first. It would be a pretty dumb passowrd. but it’s always worth a try,” Tubbo told him.
He heard Tommy quickly typing away at the keyboard. He could tell when he hit enter cause the hit the key extra hard, paused, then started again. Tommy knew what to do, all one word, no caps, then all caps, then only the first letters as caps, and then finally, spaced out.
“Nothing,” Tommy said, not sounding very surprised.
“Has the password hint come up yet?” Tubbo asked.
“Just now,” Tommy confirmed.
“Shoot,” Tubbo said, looking over at Ranboo who had his hands hovering over the keyboard.
Ranboo was able to find information so fast through small hints that he had become the password breaker in recent weeks. Before, they would just have Tubbo hack his way in, but that always came with needing to break through the firewall, and while doable, could take a lot of time.
“12-24-XX,” he read off.
Tubbo watched as Ranboo pulled up several Google tabs on multiple monitors as well as a notepad app and his notebook, where he kept mission notes.
There was a flurry of clicking, typing, and pages being flipped as Ranboo looked for some significance of the numbers.
“Daisy!” Ranboo exclaimed a few minutes later.
Tubbo cocked his head as he heard Tommy slowly type out the 5 letters.
“Hey, that was right!” Tommy said, sounding surprised.
“It was the name of his childhood dog. That was the day she died,” Ranboo explained.
The other boys chuckled lightly at the information. Leave it to Ranboo to find obscure information like that.
Tubbo glanced at the security cameras and the time, and quickly switched the looped footage out for their second loop.
He jumped as a loud beeping sound coming from his headphones, but relaxed once he saw it was the alert telling him that Tommy had successfully installed the trojan horse.
He readjusted himself so he faced only the monitor with the trojan horse and heard Ranboo list off the positions of the various security guards around the museum.
“I’m in,” Tubbo exclaimed as he zeroed in on the task in front of him.
He scanned the screen in front of him as he carefully extracted the necessary files before deleting any traces that he had been there.
“Stryker, report back to home base. I repeat, Stryker, report back to home base,” Tubbo said once he was sure he had everything he needed.
Tommy nodded and placed back everything as it had been when he entered. He carefully picked up the screws, making sure not to drop any down a vent (that was one time Tubbo) and then hoisted himself up.
He replaced the screws, being careful not to drop the remaining ones, before retracing his steps.
Eventually, he made it back to the vent that led to the roof. It was a complicated system. All the vents in the building led back to this one. It was a long tube that led upward with the entrances of the other vents punctuating the walls. He carefully used the aforementioned entrances as hand and foot-holds as he made his way up to the top. It was slow going with the awkward angles his hands and feet were shoved in.
He heard nothing from the van, aside from the occasional clicks and burst of static. He preferred it this way when climbing.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, he reached the vent grate he had opened earlier. He crawled out of it and replaced the screws.
“Are the cams off here?” he asked quietly.
“Yup, try to stay in the shadows just in case someone sees you, but the actual security is taken care of,” Tubbo said.
Tommy nodded before scurrying to the darkness sticking close to the smokestacks and roof entrance until he found his rope.
This was also why he was chosen as the field man. Ranboo, while calm and collected, lacked the dexterity that Tommy had.
There was a reason they called him Racooninnit after all.
He slid down the rope using his feet to slow his fall before he reached the ground below.
He made his way to the van and slid into the second row, like he usually did. He slipped off the black mask from around his eyes before planting himself horizontally across the back row and letting out a loud sigh.
“Is that the last of it?” he asked, closing his eyes. While this mission hadn’t been physically challenging, he had needed to be incredibly precise the entire time, so his muscles had been tense.
“Almost. I think we just need the warehouse now and then we can call this case closed,” Ranboo said from where he sat in the front seat.
Tommy hummed. Busting this ring had been a months’ long challenge. It had started months ago at an old abandoned warehouse on the wharf. Tommy had just gotten them arrested by taking pictures and recordings to send anonymously to the police, when he had found an office with a computer.
Tubbo wanted to see, so they left Ranboo in the van to watch the security cameras and make sure no one would come back once the criminals had left. Tommy was there, since he was so much more experienced on the field.
Tubbo had hacked into the system and had soon found an elaborate crime ring that had seemingly endless branches. They didn't know who the boss was, but they had downloaded files containing the locations of the branches.
The week they scoured the internet and the local newspaper only to realize that this was a decades’ long mystery that had stumped the police countless times in the past.
And here they were, ready to crack it.
The drive home was silent other than the radio playing at a low volume. Both Tubbo and Ranboo understand how tiring it was for Tommy to be going out.
They got back to their tiny apartment and pulled down the false walls in the back of the van to hide all the computers and locked the doors.
Tommy went to the shower while the other two started dinner.
Ranboo watched the blonde go into the bathroom, making sure he heard the shower start before turning to the brunette next to him.
“I saw a job application on the table earlier. I threw it out already. Just thought you should know,” Ranboo said quietly.
The three of them had lived together in the tiny apartment for a year so far. All of their parents had been dead for a while. Tommy and Tubbo had met each other on the streets when they were twelve and had been by each others’ sides ever since.
Ranboo had joined the rag-tag team when they were fourteen. At the time, he had lived in a van and Tommy and Tubbo moved in with him. Over the course of a few months, they renovated it and made it a sort of home. Now, two years later, they rented the two-bedroom apartment together.
The three of them still went to school and, thanks to Tubbo, they all still had parents as far as the school knew.
On top of that, they all had jobs they worked afterschool to pay for rent and groceries.
Between that, school, and their night-jobs, they were swamped with work.
Tommy was the worst of them all. While the other two each had one job, Tommy had two and was trying to get a third one in order to try to get more tech for Tubbo to play around with.
“We’re gonna have to talk to him soon about it, aren’t we,” Tubbo asked.
“We are, no way can he handle another job. He barely sleeps as it is. You and I can at least take turns sleeping on stakeouts, but he can’t risk it,” Ranboo said with a sigh.
“Well, who knows, if this makes enough of a splash on the web, maybe we can negotiate some money from it,” Tubbo said hopefully.
“We can dream,” Ranboo said.
They scraped together a meager dinner, making sure to subtly give Tommy the biggest portion. He needed it the most, afterall.
By the time they finished washing up, it was well past 2am. Thankfully, it was Friday and none of them had work the next day. Or so they thought.
“What do you mean you're taking an early shift tomorrow?!” Tubbo yelled once Tommy got off the phone.
“The guy who was supposed to do it got sick so they called me,” Tommy explained carefully.
“Doesn’t mean you have to take it! You need to be there in four hours and you only slept for five hours last night,” Tubbo argued.
“I know, I know. But we need the money. I can't just say no to work, can I?” Tommy pointed out.
“Well, no, but you have to take care of yourself too. You know that right,” Tubbo said, his demeanor flipping from annoyed to gentle. He understood where Tommy was coming from, of course, but at the same time he was running himself to the ground.
“Yeah, I know, I’ll go to sleep now and maybe won’t regret life when I wake up,” he said with a tired smile.
Thankfully, it didn't take much coaxing to get Tommy to take a bedroom. Since it was only a two-bedroom apartment, they switched off most nights as to who took a bedroom and who took the couch. Although, more often than not, they would end up all on the same bed in the ‘master’ bedroom.
Unfortunately Tommy elected to take the couch, most nights. It frustrated the other two to no end. For whatever reason, they had picked the most self-sacrificial idiot to be their roommate.
But, they wouldn’t trade him for the world. They loved him to no end.
Which made everything even harder.
Tommy woke up to the crappy alarm on his phone and the sun hitting his eyes.
He really needed to tell Tubbo to get a different one for him.
He stood up and found that his muscles were stiff and sore. That was to be expected though. He had spent several hours in a ventilation system after all.
He went through his usual morning routine before pausing at the fridge. How much could he afford to take? He mentally ran through their paychecks along with the things Tubbo would need for his current project. In the end, he settled for a handful of strawberries and a glass of water.
He wanted the milk, but he knew that Tubbo liked milk with his cereal and they were running a bit low.
When he walked out of the apartment building, he felt the wave of morning rush come over him.
He started his usual thirty-minute walk to the cafe he worked at.
The walk was nice. The morning air had a slight bite to it and the air was a bit damp from the rain that had fallen recently. The sky was painted a pale lilac with thin streaks of creamy clouds crawling over it.
It was calming.
Tommy whipped up another latte for his latest customer. He wore a long brown trench-coat and a maroon beanie which was clearly containing a pile of fluffy brown hair.
“That’ll be 7.95,” he said, handing over the cup. He was still waiting for Joe to get him the bagel the man had ordered.
The man nodded and handed him a ten.
“I heard that the museum was broken into last night,” the brunette said casually.
Tommy felt his blood run cold. It was an in and out intel mission. It was supposed to be as if it hadn't happened.
“Yeah, I don't think I saw that on the news this morning,” Tommy said, chuckling awkwardly.
“It wouldn't be. I've got a buddy who works in the museum. He noticed something was off with the tapes this morning when he got in. It was almost undetectable. Almost. What the crooks didn't account for was that they recently moved a vase from the main room to the cafeteria. For a few hours, the vase was back where it used to be. Other than that, there's no trace that anyone was there at all,” the man disclosed quietly.
Tommy felt some of the tension drain from his shoulders. If it was only that, then they should be safe.
“Have they launched an investigation yet?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah, the cops came in for a few hours, but whoever did it covered their tracks really well. The security guards didn’t even notice something was off. And there was someone watching the tapes too. They think it might be an inside job. No way an outsider could do it that good,” the tall man explained.
Tommy had to fight off a proud smile. Only Tubbo could pull something off like that.
“I’m Wilbur by the way,” the brunette said, holding out his hand.
“Tommy,” he said, taking Wilburs hand in his own and giving it a firm shake.
“Here’s your bagel, kid,” Joe said, coming up from behind, holding a brown paper bag.
“Thanks, Big J,” Tommy said, grabbing it and handing it off to Wilbur.
Wilbur smiled in thanks and took a sip of his coffee.
“Dang, that’s a good latte,” he said before walking off.
The rest of the day passed as normal with Tommy periodically downing a shot of espresso to keep on his toes. Tubbo would definitely tell him off for it. Good thing he didn’t know.
When his shift finally ended, he made his way home. The calm bustle of the morning had devolved into the frantic hustling of midday and he got home much faster than he had left it.
“Hello, I come bearing treats,” he said, opening the door dramatically. Tubbo and Ranboo’s heads snapped to the door in a cartoonish manner from where they sat on the couch.
He smiled and opened up the crinkled brown bag in his hand.
A honey oat doughnut for Tubbo, a cookies and cream doughnut for Ranboo, and a red velvet doughnut for himself.
He handed them to his friends before falling onto the open couch cushion next to them.
“How did it go?” Tubbo asked around a mouthful of doughnut.
“Pretty good. Some dude told me how they noticed our break in at the museum last night,” Tommy said calmly.
“He what ?!” Tubbo said, his eyes wide. He sat up from where he had been resting against the couch, his posture going rigid.
“He knows someone who works at the museum and apparently they changed the location of some vase and his buddy noticed. They only have that though. They can’t tell anything else,” Tommy reassured.
Tubbo relaxed back into the couch before nodding his head.
“Okay, okay, that’s good. We can deal with that. We just have to maybe find a way to 3D scan buildings with higher security and run a program to find any differences between a few different versions,” Tubbo said thinking out loud.
“I guess so,” Ranboo said, clearly not understanding.
The three of them settled into a comfortable silence after that. They didn't have any plans so they would probably spend the day in front of the tv together. That's what they usually did after a big heist like last night. Even though Tommy had broken that rule/tradition by going to work.
Although, he had brought back treats, so he would be forgiven.
Ranboo looked at the flipped corkboard. Probably the simplest of all of Tubbo’s creations but also one of the most important. On one side, it looked totally normal, notes stuck onto it with their grocery list and schedules along with a few photos. But flipped over, it completely changed. There were two extra panels on each side and that contained all their upcoming plans while they were being developed. Tubbo wanted to eventually make it a hologram system for both more space and more security, but for right now, this would have to do.
They were so close. That fateful day in the warehouse had sent the three of them spiralling. The ring they had been after had so many layers, their reach went further than any of them had thought possible. As a result they had been compiling all the information onto one USB stick complete with a handy dandy video presentation.
When they were certain they had it all Tommy would break into the police station and leave a few copies on the desk of some
This was no easy feat. Before, they had usually hit warehouses and the occasional small business. But since then, Tommy had been in more and more tight situations. Ranboo had gone from taking casual walks to the local and buying random knick knacks to do research, to spending days in the library and even going as far as to get Tubbo to hack into government databases to get what he needed.
And Tubbo, well, his tech had gone from small cameras that could be placed on shoulder pads to entire 3D renderings of buildings that they needed to break into. From crappy mics that Tommy would place in order to find out the inner workings of the company from the bosses perspective, to small insect bots that would drop tiny mics with audio quality that rivaled Hollywood that would self destruct if need be into the pockets of unsuspecting targets.
Unfortunately, with all of that, the cost of living had increased dramatically. In the beginning, a few days’ long weekend shifts from each of them, along with a couple of afterschool shifts sprinkled throughout the week, would be enough.
But now, especially with Tubbo needing finer and finer pieces for his creations, well, they needed a lot more money. Food had become a bit smaller, rarer, and definitely less pleasant. Although none of them could really cook, so that downgrade was largely unnoticed.
The life of a hero wasn’t easy, and it was never over. At this point they were all just waiting until they were finished school so they could focus on the city full time. Soon.
That night they huddled up on the bed together. Tubbo sandwiched between Tommy and Ranboo like usual. Early on they had hesitated at this, but Tommy and Tubbo were used to sleeping close to each other and Ranboo quickly joined in. Tubbo took the middle cause he was the one who openly wanted the touch of the others.
They all knew Tommy secretly craved it but he never asked for it so it became more of a game between Tubbo and Ranboo to see how they could give Tommy what he was too afraid to ask for.
Sick days were the easiest days to take care of him, unfortunately unfortunately they came few and far in between.
When they woke up to the sun in their eyes, they knew that today would be a day full of planning.
Ranboo stood in front of the corkboard while the other two balanced plates of scrambled eggs on their laps.
Ranboo paced nervously in front of the other two as he spoke.
“As far as we know, we have one last hard drive to hit. And if we’re correct, this is the master hard drive. It’ll be the hardest to get into, but also confirm all the loose ends we have suspicious on. This is just a simple in and out, these guys are dangerous. Plus, we don't know what kind of security they have on the computer. I’m sure that by now, they've started to suspect something with all the places we’ve been hitting.”
“It’s also important that you wear the mask with the cameras embedded into it. I know that it heats up a lot, but I need to have a clear visual on the screen. I’ve tweaked it a bit since you last used them and it should be better for you,” Tubbo added, turning to the blonde next to him.
Tommy nodded. This was it, the big one, the one they had been waiting for ever since that fateful day.
“Tubbo’s been getting so many different blueprints of this building for months and he managed to send a few of his bits with thermal scanning cameras and has a rough idea of the different traps that might wait for you,” Ranboo told Tommy, looking him right in his blue eyes.
“Vents are a no go this time around, big man,” Tubbo said, pulling out his laptop from where it was behind him.
He booted it up and clicked onto one of the programs he had developed.
He put it between them so Tommy could see. It was a 3D rendering of the building against a blue background. There were splodges ranging from icy blues and deep purples to dark reds all throughout the building.
“Now vents do tend to run quite a bit warmer than the rest of the building, but it's a bit different here. There’s a weird pattern that runs along the vents and weird machinery that’s in those areas.
“I have a suspicion that those are weight sensitive plates and some sort of alarm trapping system. They get more and more frequent closer to the heart of the warehouse.
“That means, you’re gonna have to travel by the rafters. I was thinking we would do this Wednesday, two weeks from now. The ring has a shipment on the other end of town and that means that almost no one’s gonna be there. If we need an extra layer, I can set up an Electromagnetic Pulse system nearby. The problem is that we need the computer to be on, and the EMP would definitely shut it off. Another option we have is if we can give you a portable generator that’s light enough that it won’t make it harder.
“Keep in mind though that the EMP would let them know something is happening,” Tubbo said’ typing away at his computer, making notes for himself and pulling up the odd graph or diagram to illustrate his point.
Tommy looked to Ranboo, his eyebrows raised in a ‘ what the heck did he just say’ way, to which Ranboo responded with an equally confused expression.
Tommy nodded and went back to looking at Tubbo and pretending to understand what he was saying.
In the end, while Tubbo went grocery shopping, Tommy and Ranboo ended up being able to figure out what Tubbo had been talking about through the help of the notes Ranboo had been taking, a quick look through the notes that Tubbo had made himself, and their best pal, Google.
It was settled. They had two weeks to fine tune the details of probably the hardest bust of his life.
That night the three of them just hung around the apartment. They were all itchingto do something, Tommy most of all.
“I’m gonna go to the Underground and see if I can get any more info,” Tommy said after dinner. The other two nodded and Tubbo threw him his mask.
Tommy got changed into his black turtleneck and pants and shoved the mask into his pocket.
The Underground was essentially a large illegal bar/hangout area for other vigilantes. They weren’t the only group, although as far as Tommy could tell they were definitely the youngest.
It got its name from its first floor being a normal bar as a front and the main part of it being accessible only by asking the bartender for an ‘iced justice’ and saying it was on someone that had been defeated that week.
A lot of the vigilantes that frequented the Underground were well known amongst the public for their deeds, some good and some bad. In the Underground it didn't matter what you did, so long as you did something.
Both heroes and villains came together under the same roof. The nice thing about the Underground though, was the fact that there were almost no rules. And the rules that were in place weren’t technically official rules. They were just mutual agreements between the patrons.
Fights weren’t even technically outlawed. There was even a designated area a few floors down from the main bar for fights specifically.
“One iced justice on the Rock,” Tommy said with a wicked grin.
The Rock was taken down earlier that week. He was an old foe of Tommy’s so Tommy was ecstatic to say his name to the bartender.
The bartender slid him a small key fob. It was a one-time use. An invention of the greatest vigilante minds to exist. Tubbo. Or Thorax as he was known in the Underground.
Tubbo had come with Tommy one night and had overheard the owner of the Underground saying he needed a way to have more control over who came and went.
Fast-forward a few months and a few thousand dollars later and the system had been put in place.
He walked down the narrow hallway that led to the bathrooms. He held the key fob to the scanner behind him and heard the door close.
He then carefully put his ear to both bathrooms making sure no one was in any trouble before locking them both and walking to the door at the end of the hall. He dropped the fob into the slot and heard as it clanked down the pipe, getting scanned and wiped, ready to be reprogrammed for the next person.
The door opened and he stepped into the elevator, pushing the main floor button.
He was dropped off in a simple room with only plum coloured lighting. An extra layer of protection. There were smaller rooms you could ask for if you were coming with friends or guests but for business deals or just wanting to be alone, it would be hard to make anyone out.
He walked through the main room and headed down to the stairs to his favorite lounge.
There were significantly less people here and the lights were a cool blue colour. Much better. This is where the heroes tended to relax. As much as the bar had a “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” vibe, the heroes and villains still never fully trusted each other.
As such, there were a few lounges where each type of vigilante tended to favour and flock to.
“I’ll have a coke,” Tommy said to the bartender.
“Sure thing, kid,” the guy said, bending down and grabbing him a can from the mini-fridge.
“I’m not a kid,” Tommy grumbled.
“Sure you aren't. Listen kid, I’m paid to keep your secrets but I would be dumb if I assumed you were an adult,” he said with a raised eyebrow.
Tommy slumped back at being called a kid. Fair enough he supposed.
He sighed and picked up the coke can, opening it with half his usual enthusiasm.
He stood up and went to one of the couches. He was here for a reason. He needed intel.
A few other patrons moved around, but it was pretty early, so barely anyone was there.
“That warehouse has to have a pretty intense security system, but I have no idea what it could possibly have,” he heard a voice say from the couch behind him.
There were three people there, two on a couch and the third on another couch facing it with a coffee table in between them. All of them were dressed in the signature black on black that was customary in the Underground.
The three of them held a coffee in their hands and a plate of cookies between them.
“The one by Southport?” Tommy asked, turning to face them.
The two of them with their backs to him jumped a bit before twisting to face him.
“Uh, yeah. Why? Do you know something about it?” said the one with dark hair peeking out of his black beanie.
“A little, yeah,” Tommy said carefully. If he played his cards right, he could give them minimal information and get good intel from them.
“Have a seat,” the brunette said, motioning to where the third member of their party sat.
Tommy nodded and went to sit where he was told.
“I guess introductions are in order,” said the blonde man next to the brunette.
“I’m Whisper,” the brunette said.
“I’m SilverWing,” the blonde said.
“And I’m the BladeWhistler,” said the one next to him.
Tommy looked more closely and found his couch companion had pink hair. Or purple. He really couldn’t tell with these lights.
And...wait a sec. Did they just say they were the three most well-known vigilantes in the area?
“The Sleepy Bois,” Tommy whispered reverently.
“Yeah. That’s us, kid,” the Whisper said with a small laugh. “Now, who might you be?”
“Oh right, I’m the Stryker,” Tommy said quickly, feeling the way his cheeks heated up.
Stryker was his vigilante name, everyone in the Underground had one. If you were famous enough the media would recognize it. Tommy had a few articles on him which were in a small box in the apartment.
Tubbo, or Thorax didn’t have media recognition but he was known in the Underground for his tech. He came by every once in a while to get commissions when they needed money but he tried not to do it too often since it was pretty time-consuming.
“So, what’d you know about the warehouse and how?” SilverWing asked him, getting right into it.
“I had a few friends a while back who wanted to break in. They had seen someone go in there with some weird machinery and wanted to know what was going on. They asked me to get into contact with Thorax since the two of us have worked together before. We had a look together and they have some serious security in there,” Tommy said.
“Who’s Thorax?” BladeWhistler asked.
“A friend of mine who’s pretty tech savvy. A lot of the smaller vigilantes go to him if they need any gear or repairs. He’s priced pretty well too,” Tommy said, hoping they would take the bait and get Tubbo to do something for them. These guys had plenty of money and Tubbo was good at his job.
“Did the other end up managing to break in?” the Whisper asked.
“They tried, but they ended up not going through with it. It’s way too dangerous,” Tommy said, shrugging.
“And what exactly makes it dangerous?” SilverWing asked.
“They have people who are constantly patrolling as well as a pretty serious camera setup. Combine that with the fact that Thorax is pretty sure they've trapped the vents, and it’s just not worth it,” Tommy told them.
“Wait, they trapped the vents?” BladeWhistler said, cutting him off.
“Yeah, Thorax did a few thermal scans and said the vents were a bit warmer than usual. He said there had to be some sort of tech there,” Tommy told them.
The three of them slumped back. Clearly, this was a bust in their plans.
“Say, why do you guys need to get into the warehouse?” Tommy asked.
“Same as that other group you mentioned. They had some pretty weird tech and some undeclared shipments coming in. We don’t need anything getting into the wrong hands,” Whisper said.
Tommy nodded. They were definitely lying. And they also knew he was lying, but that was just how the business went.
He spent a few hours talking with the Sleepy Bois. It was an enjoyable time, if a bit strange. It was generally agreed upon that you didn’t ask questions about current missions or talk about personal lives, so that only left past exploits as the sole talking point.
“Wanna go to the Pit?” Whisper asked after a while.
“Sure, why not?” Tommy said, shrugging. He was getting tired, but he needed to be on his toes. Since all his missions for the past bit were mostly recon, he hadn’t been in many fights, but he needed to make sure that he didn't lose his skills.
That’s why the Pit was there.
The Pit was a few floors down, past the private and motel rooms for anyone who needed to crash.
They made their way down and grabbed some tape for their knuckles.
“Friendly, right?” Tommy said, once they had climbed down one of the smaller fighting pits.
“Yup,” the Whisper said, popping the ‘p’.
A friendly fight meant no weapons and no outside help. The winner was decided when one person conceded to the other.
There were different types of fights that could happen. Some of them used weapons or gave handicaps to some opponents.
Some of them ended only when one was unconscious or had been beaten bloody.
But this was just a friendly fight. Nothing to worry about. Minimal injuries were the norm here.
Whisper nodded and got into position. Tommy did the same, his eyes immediately scanning Whisper’s body for any weak spots.
Tommy wasn’t particularly strong or powerful, but he was agile. His fighting style was erratic, yet calculated. He was constantly on the lookout for weak spots and ways to get out of his opponent’s line of sight.
He immediately noticed that Whisper had his hands raised by his face. His stomach was open. He also took note of the way that he leaned mostly on his back foot. He was probably gonna try and get the jump on Tommy, then. Good to know.
Sure enough, as soon as SilverWing finished off the spiel about the rules of a friendly and BladeWhistler sounded the gong, he jumped right at Tommy.
Tommy was expecting it though and he jumped to the right and sent his own punch at his stomach. He felt the satisfying cushion of flesh meet with his fist and a gasp of breath as he rolled lower and got back to his feet and saw the Whisper taking a deep breath before jumping back towards Tommy. This time, however, Tommy wasn’t ready and his shoulder tanked the hit.
He sent his foot down towards Whisper’s and sent him sprawling on the ground.
That’s how they fought for a while. Establishing a steady rhythm of ducks, dodges, and blows. The Whisper was an offensive fighter which cancelled out Tommy’s more defensive style. He supposed it made sense, since he had probably been taught by BladeWhistler.
Tommy needed a plan, he needed an opportunity. And finally, he got one.
He knocked the Whisper down, making sure to hit him where it hurt. As expected, the Whisper fell to his knees, a loud groan escaping his lips. Tommy ran to the other end of the Pit and then ran back using the Whisper’s hunched-over form as a stepping stool. He jumped off of him, and reached up for the ledge and hauled himself over the edge. He made sure to stay within the taped limits before looking down at the Whisper, who had stood up and was looking up at him in confusion.
He smirked before launching himself shoulder first, directly at him.
Whisper's eyes widened in panic as he realized what was about to happen. But he was helpless to do anything as gravity brought Tommy slamming into him.
With a satisfying thud, Tommy landed on the Whisper, feeling the way his bony figure dug into him as he lied on top of the older male catching his breath after the fall.
“I concede,” the Whisper panted.
Tommy grinned.