"Not a word", Phil warns his two sons when he enters the house. Wilbur and Techno stare at him wide-eyed, maybe concerned or on the verge of making fun of his ridiculous, otherworldly, physical state. He can't really tell over the exhaustion in his old, aching hollow bones.

He has sticks and leaves sticking out of his (messed up) blond hair which is caked in debris and blood. His clothes are torn in places, his prized kimono ruined beyond repair and to top it all off, his wings are a mess and in immediate need of a good, long preen. Some of the secondary feathers are hanging on by a thread; he should pull those off.

He hates this. He hates everything, he hates the houseplant outside, he hates the proximity of the buildings, he hates owl wings and he abso-fucking-lutely hates The Watcher.

No, the villain doesn't have owl wings but he may as well do with how silent he is! Phil's poor, elderly heart has yet to return to its normal rate ‐his BPS has probably set a new world record by now- from the huge scare he received tonight.

Instead of making fun of him as many would expect these chaotic brats to do, his sons rush to his side and look him over for any open wounds -which, no, Wilbur, he did not get stabbed. Only a little battered and bruised and a little punched through the fuckin' wall. Y'know, the usual shit a hero has to go through when fighting an overpowered villain. And no, Techno, he is not bleeding- oh, would you look at that, he is bleeding. Guess the blood on him isn't The Watcher's after all. At least this one will heal quickly; 'tis but a flesh 'ound!

"How did you even bump into The Watcher when the Dream Team was chasing him?", Wilbur asks after Phil shoos him to go to the kitchen.

"He bumped into me! ", he says, very exasperated and frustrated with the beating the villain oh-so-kindly gave him. "He just- flew in while my crows were distracted with the two little shits- ahem- vigilantes, sorry, misdirected anger", he hastily apologizes, doing a vague motion with his hands to accentuate his overwhelming frustration. "He came out of fucking nowhere! Just woooosh! And he was there!"

And a second later, Phil had been drop-kicked into the building next door and completely ruined a family's dinner. He probably gave the kids nightmares for the next year or so but honestly, that was the mildest his night was.

It was quite the painful experience, honestly, though every experience that involves The Watcher is painful in many ways and for obvious reasons. Not only is Phil having trouble hauling himself around, barely being able to put one foot in front of the other like a toddler learning how to walk but his pride has been hurt and his reputation ruined.

"What happened to the vigilantes? Did he get them?", Techno asks, failing to mask his growing concern. Phil sits at the table after Wilbur fusses over him having to rest so as not to open the barely sealed wound. He lets his son serve him dinner.

"The taller of the three has teleportation powers. He got them out of there right as The Watcher showed up", he explains and takes a spoonful of the soup Wilbur served him.

By the taste, he can easily tell that Techno cooked tonight. That and the fact that there are more potatoes than there are carrots swimming in the broth and more herbs have been added on top. It's warm, the taste is perfect, same goes for the texture which he can tell his son has paid extra attention to for Wilbur's ruined taste buds. It makes him feel proud; proud of both of his boys. He feels warm by the sense of home; of family.

It dawns on him then that he could've died tonight. This night easily could've been his last. It is a miracle that he is even standing right now -or, well, sitting- talking to his sons like it's a normal night. He realizes that today... today he could've lost this; his life, his sons simply reaped from his hands and he would be ripped from theirs. No one escapes The Watcher unless he doesn't feel like giving chase; he can track heroes down even if they are in the next town over and he has proved that by killing those who tried to escape him that way.

Phil is simply lucky that he was let go for an unclear reason he'd rather not debate now.

He can't thank his guardian angel enough.

"Oh", Techno exclaims in surprise when his phone rings. He swiftly takes it out of his pocket and looks at the caller ID. He smirks, all smug and his eyes glint with this twinge of mischief that Phil only sees when- "It's Dream. Brb, gotta bully a green teletubby".

Wilbur giggles and Phil follows suit. The other leaves to have some privacy for his cyber bullying.

"Get the sleep-man for me when you're done!", Wilbur calls after his brother. Phil sighs.

This is what he is trying to protect. Silly moments like these when his hero boys are cracking jokes and hanging out with friends or the times that Phil isn't dead on his feet and they put on movies to watch till they fall asleep on the couch. So far, he thanks the gods for this, neither Techno or Wilbur have had a close encounter with The Watcher and the villain hasn't taken an interest in them to instigate a confrontation yet- thank God. He has forbidden the two of them from even looking at the villain as well, only letting them study live and captured footage in hopes of figuring out the guy's powers.

Until the hero society knows of The Watcher's full list of powers and weaknesses, Wilbur and Techno are banned from confronting the villain.

That being said, they don't know how difficult it is to chase after this particular villain.

"How did the Dream Team even lose him? Dream is an incredible tracker, easily the best in the country, and George and Sapnap are top-tier bounty hunters! How did they let the guy slip away like that?", Wilbur asks, throwing his arms in the air.

Wil has always been quite animated when he talks about something he is passionate about. This time, however, he is not passionate. Like Phil himself, he is exasperated with the situation.

Phil feels bad when this happens; when he has to share the emotional burden of a humiliating defeat with his sons. Not because his pride is hurt but because he does not want them to get frustrated like this and grow gray hairs. He can be a little bit of a mother goose (or mother crow in this case) sometimes, he'll admit.

Nevertheless, he has no other option than to tell Wilbur what happened. He knows that once the brunet is curious about something, he'll look until he can find out everything about it. He'd find out sooner or later anyway if the press is doing its job correctly and it's probably for the best.

"He dove in an alleyway while Dream and Sapnap were in the sky. The bastard is difficult to follow even on land", Phil seethes and realizes at the same time.

Not only is that goddamned villain at home in the sky but he is just as slippery on land. You'd think an avian with wings as big as The Watcher's would be slow and overburdened or completely unable to walk simply because of the weight on their back. Normal, well-known and logical physics, science, etcetera. And here The Watcher is; proving the scientists all wrong by running away on foot, not even a fallen feather or a rustle left behind.

Why he even retreated when it looked like he was winning is a complete mystery.

"What about George?", Wilbur then asks.

Phil thinks about it for a bit. He didn't see George around the area of the fight but then again, the heroes were fighting in the sky where 404 could not follow. Like most humans, he is stuck to the ground. But... What troubles him about this is that he didn't see anyone wearing a mushroom cap on the ground when he was flying by. Thinking about it now, that's weird. George was supposed to be working tonight and it's very unlikely that he skipped because he wasn't at the Dream Team's HQ when Wilbur called him (that's what his son claims anyway).

"I didn't see him anywhere", Wilbur's face grows skeptical and just a bit disappointed.

You see, the two of them are very good friends. They met in their second year of high school and chased each other into college and later they got into hero school together. They shared the same classes, laughed with one another during break time, they created chaos on the streets together and they bonded over making extra work for Phil because they were trying to fight the bad guys -that last one was before they received their hero licenses. Now they fight bad guys without bringing extra work to Phil's office.

Despite being in different teams and working in separate buildings and streets, the two have kept close. The whole calling-at-3-am trope.

"They were in the sky, so he probably didn't follow", Phil says when he spots a small worry wrinkle on his son's forehead. Wil calms just a bit.

"Yeah, you're probably right", he says, nodding as if to reassure himself.

Phil has his doubts as well. He did not spot George anywhere in the streets and if the whole team was after The Watcher, he'd not want to miss out on taking the dude out. He has this foreboding feeling resting in his gut, that something might've gone wrong.

Like a deus ex machina, Technoblade appears outside of the kitchen, looking disheveled and his face is worried. Techno never lets his worry show unless it is something bad. Really bad. Like, beyond "England losing to Scotland" kind of bad.

"Wilbur, you better sit down for this- Oh, good, you're already sitting-"

"...Techno?"

"The Watcher took a chunk out of George"

Shit.

*

"-lease, welcome top-hero Dream on the stage! A round of applause everyone!", said the reporter of a random podcast two days later. The hidden audience applauded, though Tommy doubts how real said 'audience' is.

"Are they at the zodiac part yet?", Tubbo asks as he joins him and Ranboo at the coffee table in front of the TV. He has his Maths notebook in hand as well as a pencil and zombie rubber.

"Nope", Ranboo is quick to answer, flipping a page of his text book. Tommy mimics him as Tubbo sets down his stuff and sits by them on the floor. "They have Dream as a guest, though"

"Aw, man! I was looking forward to it this time!"

You might be wondering... why are the three of them doing Maths? At this time of day? When they could be out playing with squirrels at the park? "They decided to be mature for once in their lives", could be a possible answer and it's not that different from the original reason.

Cleo is coming over for tea with Stress. That means that Cleo, their personal teacher of all things scientific (Maths, science, biology) will come upstairs for a minute to check their work. If they haven't finished by then, they're going to get their foreheads flicked; it definitely isn't the worst punishment the woman could've come up with but that does not make it a pleasant experience! Do you know how much shame and embarrassment that one flick brings them?

So, here they are, at the coffee table of Grian's apartment, biscuits and snacks on a big plate in the middle, studying with the TV as white noise. Or, it used to be white noise but having a top-tier hero on a show usually makes a kid's head snap to the screen.

They aren't alone, though. Tommy raises his head and spots their avian host washing the dishes and Mumbo (his new roommate or whatever) is on the couch typing away on his portable computer.

This new... addition to the household has put the three of them off; especially Tommy. For so long, they've only had Grian and Stress rushing after them and parenting them and maybe Impulse, Gem or Pearl (in rare cases even Fundy) would help out. Now, there is some ugly guy with an ugly ass mustache and tie who has pushed the "imprint button" on Tommy... He isn't sure if he likes this emotional development. He just wants to punch the guy in the face and shout curses at him because of what Tubbo has defined as "denial"- whatever that means.

"I think they're talking about the fight two days ago", Tubbo absent-mindedly notes, his full attention stuck to the television rather than his homework. Tommy never thought he'd see the day that the News would be more interesting than Algebra.

Scratch that, anything is more interesting than Algebra. Science is way better (and by that, he means the trivial scientific stories Cleo tells them from time to time)

"I thought the three of you were grounded two days ago"

The three of them startle at the voice of Mumbo, who simply takes a sip of his coffee, eyes not diverting from the screen of his laptop. Just like one of those businessmen assholes on TV. Tommy's tail bristles and his ears twitch in agitation. Who is this guy who thinks that he can just point out the-

"They were but you know how teens can be", Grian unhelpfully chimes in. The sound of running water stops and the man comes to the living room with a towel in his hands. "They don't listen to anyone"

Tommy decides to direct anger and frustration his way.

"Snitches get stitches biii- bean bag! Ha, ha!"

Only to immediately reconsider his life choices.

God, he really hates this "no swearing" rule in Grian's apartment, which they have to follow inside and outside the apartment. As long as they aren't within hearing distance, they can swear. The "dad glare" (as the three of them have dubbed it) is the punishment for vile language, or maybe a warning, they have yet to narrow it down. I mean, Grian is giving Tommy the "dad glare" right now so, who knows.

"Pffffffft, haha! Nice save, Tommy!", and now Tommy wants to stab Tubbo dearest with his pencil.

So he does... The slippery bastard matrix dodges. Darn.

Ranboo is simply ignoring the both of them, just doing his homework like the goody two-shoes that he is. Tommy decides that the taller's serenity is worth destroying and apparently, so does Tubbo who side-tackles him and proceeds to annoy the everliving fuck out of him.

Tommy nods in approval of the mini-chaos that he helped create. Serves him right.

"-bout The Watcher. The encounter between the Dream Team and the villain, especially 404's critical injury, has shocked the country. Can you tell us what exactly happened?", the reporter asked on the show, successfully capturing Tommy's loyal attention. Halfway through the question, Grian grabbed the remote to raise the volume.

"Hey, we're trying to study here!", Tubbo protests, even though he has his head on Ranboo's lap (how did they end up like that?) instead of the numerous pages of mathematical equations. Mumbo raises a confused brow and leans awkwardly to the side to observe their situation. That's what he gets for being taller than Tommy: awkwardness. Humpf.

"You really aren't studying though..."

Tubbo opens his mouth and so does Tommy as the supportive friend that he is but before either of them can start screaming at the mustached man, Grian shushes them.

"-is an incredibly powerful and dangerous individual and he proved that fact two nights ago by almost killing 404. Thankfully, my teammate is alive and steadily recovering-" Dream responded to the question. He sounded incredibly solemn and... apologetic? One can hardly tell with that stupid smiley-face mask on his face.

"Wait, he killed 404?", Ranboo pipes up, slim tail flicking in interest. Apparently, he only caught the interesting part. Tommy hears the distinct sound of feathers puffing up, what the three of them have learnt is a hint to Grian's excitement or agitation. Tommy can't tell which one it is.

"He said he's alive and recovering, so he didn't", Mumbo supplies, throwing a weird look at Grian for whatever reason. The enderborn nods and turns his attention to the TV.

"How did that happen exactly?", the reporter asked, digging her nose in the scoop, trying to stir a pot of drama and conspiracy theories that don't need to exist. "My sources say that you abandoned 404 in the midst of battle, is that true?"

"Wow, she's really trying to throw dirt on him", Tommy notes. Grian silently hums, muttering something about how the media works that way.

"Well, your sources seem to have misinformed you. Sapnap and I did not abandon 404, that would be sacrilege in our line of work, something worth going to prison for. We made sure to heal him enough so he wouldn't bleed out until the ambulance would arrive to take him to the hospital", Dream calmly explained.

Tommy wonders how the hero can just take accusations to the face like that and not act upon them. If it were him, he would've stolen everyone's lunch boxes and bitten more than half of the show's crew members. Oh, and he would've committed a lot of arson by burning down the building. Quite the heroic act. It's probably one of the many reasons that he is stuck in the world of vigilantism.

Dream continued.

"Catching The Watcher is our top priority so it's only natural that we went after him. We couldn't let him get away even if one of us was down"

Tommy swears he saw a hint of a smirk on the reporter's face.

"He did get away, however, did he not?" -Tommy can practically see the devil horns that sprout on her head.

Of course the villain got away -the three of them knew that much. At least, he got away from the Dream Team, who knows how The Crowfather dealt with the dude?

Tommy catches a hint of a grin on Grian's face. He pays it no mind; it's not the first time Grian has secretly grinned at the devastation of the hero society and the misery of heroes. The three of them have concluded that he just wants to see the world burn and that is probably why he is still their guardian/caretaker, whatever the right word is.

"He dipped into an alley and we lost him. It's one of the rare times that he retreats without killing or maiming a hero-"

"Wait, The Watcher does what now?!", Ranboo and Tubbo both shriek. Tommy is left aghast too- since when does The Watcher maim heroes? They knew about the killing bit but maiming?

The TV goes black and the three of them shout in protest as Grian waves the remote over their heads. The smug bastard.

"Finish your homework, Cleo will be here soon"

Another round of protests and Tommy really wants to shout at the top of his lungs. Or yell, whichever the right word is. So... he does. Tubbo has got his back too, following suit with the sound of absolute pain and misery that Maths brings. Tommy is pretty sure that he heard a vwoop of a scared and concerned Ranboob but at this point in time, he couldn't care less.

They only seem to have disturbed Mumbo, though, since Grian is too used to this to actually care.

"Grian, I'll run you over with your car!", Tommy yells so the whole building and the neighboring towns can hear just to spite the avian. It successfully scares Mumbo shitless- yeeeah, serves him right!

However, Grian, the victim in question, simply laughs at their sound pollution. The bastard! How could he?!

"I don't own a car, Tommy", he tells him with a victorious chuckle, wiggling his wings. Right, the dude can just fly everywhere and anywhere and not have to worry about car traffic and traffic lights and the law.

"But I do!", all heads turn to Mimbo and Tommy immediately notes the horrified expression that overtakes Grian's smug face.

This son of a bitch; this mustached, suit-wearing nerd. To think Tommy thought so bad of him! How could he ever commit such a sacrilegious, sinful act? He likes this madlad; such a crazy man with such a poggers and glorious mustache!

Take that, Grian!

"Mumbo, so help me, I will throw you out if you give them your car keys-"

So hardcore, so crazy, so mad and rad! So fucking poggers and not at all cringe or sadge! Oh, God, is he giving Grian a challenging look? He is giving Grian a challenging look and he is winning- no one has ever challenged Grian to a stare down and won! Like, ever! This is- this is unreal!

"I'll blow up your workplace, mate, you wouldn't want that, would you?"

Beside him, Tubbo takes in a sharp breath like Mumbo has just now pressed the "imprint button" on him, something akin to gasping and choking on a banana peel at the same time. He yeets himself on the man, tackling him and throwing them both off the couch, wings buzzing wildly behind him. The man goes down with an "oof" in a mess of long, lanky limbs.

"Oh my God, you have bombs?!", the short brunet all but shouts as he grabs Mumbo by the lapels of his suit- "And you didn't tell me?!"-and shakes him around like a maraca (ha, karma). No one pays attention to Mumbo's pained groans each time Tubbo accidentally lets his head hit the floor (one could question the genuinity of the word "accidentally").

Tommy runs at him as well. A poggers maniac and a bomb guy too? No way is he missing out! And Ranboo -who had apparently escaped to the kitchen- is lured into the mess of people on the floor by his own curiosity.

All three of them miss the smug yet fond look Grian gives them as Tubbo bombards Mumbo with questions about bombs and nuclear weapons. They also miss the fact that they have subconsciously accepted Mumbo because he threatened Grian with blowing up a building.

Honestly, maybe it's for the better if they ignore that last detail.

An hour later, Cleo arrives in all her zombie glory, looking as hip as ever with the most vibrant of colors contrasting her pale, rotting skin. She has a smile on her face, which is quick to fall into a frown when she learns that none of her students finished their homework.

*

Okay, so. First lesson of the night: you only find what you're looking for when you aren't looking for it. Tommy will make sure to scribble that quote on his hand once he gets ahold of a pen.

The Watcher is staring at them. All three of them. Okay, he is like ten buildings away, perched on a particularly tall TV antenna like some supreme comic book villain -and, listen, this shouldn't be possible but he is staring right at them! Looking in their general direction, most specifically the roof they're on; whatever! Tommy can still feel eyes on him! And on any other day, he'd have impulsively thrown himself at the avian dude and mauled him to death with his raccoon paws and teeth buuuut... he is very unprepared for his big, spectacular and very much incredible and awe-inspiring fight with the greatest villain in existence tonight.

Note: the guy looks more prepared than the three of them combined. Maybe... just maybe, it would be a bad idea. Or it's just an idea for another day, he hasn't decided yet. Probably the latter.

"What is he doing up there?", Tubbo asks like this is just a normal phenomenon and he adjusts his goggles like that is going to allow him to actually see farther. Ranboo, God bless his quick thinking, pulls the boy back by the collar and drags him behind the big grill he and Tommy are hiding behind.

"Stay down, Tubbee!", the fearsome and awkwardly tall Endwalker scolds, "He'll see us!"

Tubbo simply pouts in protest. "But he's already seen us!"

Tommy thinks his friend has scrapped whatever plans he had the whole day in favor of becoming suicidal. Because at their stage of prep, they may as well be suicide bombers if they let The Watcher see them; so much as catch a glimpse of them. If he hasn't seen them already. What if Tubbo is right?

"If he saw us, he'd be on us already!", Tommy attempts to reason. "Don't you remember when Purpled's brother went after him?"

Purpled is a vigilante they met in the streets. About their age, light gray hair, some sort of alien-hybrid if they understood his explanation correctly, with an obsession for the color purple. I know, I know, super original name, innit? Now, his brother is a hero ranging somewhere in the top ten for stealthiness. A somewhat crippled hero but a hero nonetheless. I mean, the guy just can't use his left arm as efficiently as before.

He goes by the name "Valorant" but Purpled entrusted them with his real name, Punz. Tommy swears alien names are so much cooler than human ones. Human names suck unless they're ancient with actual meaning in them. Like Alexander, the man who chases away the enemy, the brave man, blah blah blah. And Punz is quite the stupid person, which is evident by the conscious choice of going after The Watcher alone... and then the roles were reversed in the chase, leading to Valorant getting his left arm almost torn off his body.

Honestly, that's a lucky madman right there because a) it wasn't his strong arm and b) he actually got to keep his arm.

"Hey, where was that excuse when you were trying to go after him?", Ranboo demands with a raised eyebrow, like that time Stress demanded to know where they were at 1am when they weren't answering the door. Freaking Pearl had snitched on them.

Neither of them notice Tubbo moving out of their makeshift hiding spot.

"Um, guys..."

And on top of that, they ignore him, preferring to initiate a heated, loud argument to paying attention to much more pressing matters.

"I was ready to cut his head off before! Both of 'em!"

"No, you were ready to kill us all!"

"Guys!", Tubbo shouts and both of their heads snap to him with two very loud and obnoxious "What?!"s.

He doesn't take the time to shush them, merely beckoning them urgently to the edge of the grill.

"Is it just me or is he closer than before?"

The Watcher is about five buildings away from them now, still perched on the tallest antenna on the building he's at. Fuck, fuck, fuck, they are fucking screwed! He saw them! Or heard them. Quite frankly, Tommy can admit that their little argument was pretty loud. It's a surprise that no one has come on the roof to check out what all this noise is about.

This time, there is no Crowfather to distract the villain with, though, so this is quite the situation. There are no other heroes in the area either- Oh. Did he just- did he just wave at them. As in, raise his hand and actually wave? Tommy is pretty sure he didn't sniff any white dust on their little patrol.

"Did he just wave at us or was it a figment of my imagination?"

Ah, so Tommy wasn't the only one who imagined- I mean, saw the small, almost shy and barely noticeable hand gesture. Maybe the big bad wolf just wants to make friends? Doesn't he have other villains to turn to, though? Actually- who knows? Villains are all weirdos in their own right and wrong.

"Sooo, what do we do now?", Tubbo whispers to the two of them.

"We leave?", Ranboo asks more than states. It's more of a confused statement. Like, it's the obvious and most plausible thing to do in a situation such as this one but he's still unsure of it.

"You leave with me, yeah"

Uh-oh. Oh no. No, no, no- no! Just no!

First, it was The Crowfather... and now The Blade?! Their luck is just perfect, always at their side, for fuck's sake. How did he even get on the rooftop without them noticing? Or were they so stuck to the villain just a few buildings away that they just didn't notice the hero sneak up on them. Fuck.

"Honestly, I was not expecting to bump into the three of you but I may as well take you to the adults now that I have", The Blade, voice as monotonous as ever, tells them. Is this what a hero monologue really sounds like? 'Cause none of them are impressed-

Looking back at his team and best friends in the whole wide world, Tommy quickly scraps the thought. Sigh, he should've guessed. Ranboo is too much of a simp to not be impressed and completely in awe. Okay, before you bombard him with accusations, Tommy will admit that he's not one to talk when he almost had them all arrested the other night but there is just this tiny, very small detail that you might've missed.

That was The Crowgather that night. The very generous and kind Crowfather who would never think of harming teenagers in hero costumes. This is the very dangerous and murderous Blade, who doesn't care how old his enemy is. And whatever Ranboo told the hero to not kill him back home clearly does not apply to Endwalker!

At least, they had survival chances with the avian hero.

"We really should be bouncing away, RaccoonInnit", Tubbo hisses at him. The Blade snorts. Mockingly. Gasp!

"I can see where you got the "raccoon" part from", he comments all mirthfully. "Soon, you'll just be "Innit" "

Did he... did he just threaten his raccoon heritage?

"Eat shit, you big bastard with an unimpressive and totally not foreboding demeanor!", Tommy shouts.

The hero does not look impressed.

"End, snap out of it! We've got to leave!", Tubbo urgently nudges (more like jabs his elbow in the other's ribs) the enderborn.

Ranboo actually snaps out of it (like he had a choice, and we're ignoring the pained "oof").

"Yup, yup, come here- woah!"

He barely dodges the trident that comes hurling his way. It knocks over the grill, splitting it literally in two and spilling all the coals and embers in it. Their cover has been literally blown. Tommy gulps. Maaaaybe he shouldn't have tried to offend freaking Goliath. He isn't some random David!

Ranboo falls flat on his ass from trying to dodge the trident so hard. Well, that's Tommy's escape route blocked. Tubbo can just fly out of here.

Honestly, though, that's fair. Normally, they only have to dodge knives and punches from asshats who are high off their minds or fake-ass gangsters with BB guns, not whole fucking tridents! Who even owns a trident in this day and age? And isn't it used for fishing anyways? Like, out in the sea and not in the middle of a city??

"You're the teleporter", The Blade states the obvious as he nods his chin to Ranboo.

The weapon reels itself back to the hero's waiting hand. No strings attached, no visual tricks... even if there were strings, they wouldn't be able to support the weight of a gilded -holy shit, it actually has gold on it- trident.

But.

What. The. Fuck.

How- How did that just happen? Tommy has seen some pretty disturbing things in the streets but nothing like this! Cleo has never mentioned anything like this in Physics and Science. When did objects evolve to have a mind of their own?

The Blade merely grins all smug at their shocked expressions. If only Tommy knew who the guy under the boar skull mask was, he'd be egging and TP-ing his house right now.

"Please, spare us!", Tubbo screeches as the hero lunges his trident at them again. Like he's about to be murdered. Murdered, murder, murderer... oh, fuck.

Tommy throws a quick glance over his shoulder. They got too frantic over the hero that they forgot that The Watcher is just there- oh, fuck, why are his wings spread like that? Are they all about to get slaughtered?

"Blade, The Watch-" but the hero couldn't care less about whatever Tommy is trying to tell him, apparently. Nope, violence is much better than talking; the thing is that Tommy doesn't know how to tell the hero with his mere, lanky muscles that a very dangerous villain is about to punt their asses to the moon.

For as strong as the hero is, he does not have Tommy's supreme raccoon night vision to see the villain. Neither does he have Tubbo's supreme hearing nor Ranboo's eyes that turn night into day.

Tubbo screeches at the top of his lungs as the forks of the trident catch his shirt and he is thrown to the ground on his back. Tommy observes for a second, because surely the trident can't have dug into the concrete. He is proven completely wrong as his friend struggles to tug the weapon off him.

"One down, two more to go", The Blade muses ominously.

"Oh, shit, fuck, dick...", Tommy begins a colorful chant of words as he runs to the scared Tubbee to try and get the trident off him. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Ranboo teleporting between them and the hero to act as a meat shield. The madlad, that's why Tommy is friends with that crazy, selfless boy.

He tugs on the shaft of the trident as hard as he can with his scrawny arms. The thing doesn't budge; doesn't so much as sway or lean. This... this is super weird. Is this some remake of Thor's hammer? It's a head-scratcher, that's for sure and the whooshing of a blade -a sword, fuck- and the continuous vwooping of Ranboo's teleportations are not at all helping his stress levels.

Oh, and the looming threat of The Watcher, who -he spares a look at the villain- is flying towards them is not really- wait. Flying towards them?!

"Endwalker! Incoming!", he hears a frantic gurgle somewhere in the-less-than-impressive fight scene and one last vwoop before the loud flap of giant, obsidian wings enters his ears. He almost lost his red bandana to the air draft that accompanied the villain.

"Oh my fucking God!", Tubbo yells loudly, like that will make The Watcher drop dead on the spot. Which it doesn't but worth the shot.

"Tubbee, I am sorry for the shirt!"

"Who fucking cares for-", Tommy tugs the fabric against the sharp side of the forks, successfully freeing his dear chaotic friend but at the cost of... "-my shirt!"

He hauls him to his feet by the arm only with a little struggle. Now, where in the fuck is Ranboo- oh, here he is- and he drags them towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Sorry, guys, I gotta recharge", he tells them.

Tommy openly curses everything around them including the fallen grill.

So... There is a limit to how often dear, beloved Ranboo can use his vwoop-iness. When he is well-rested, fresh out of bed, his power is pretty much limitless. Tubbo has many times compared him to The Flash and Quicksilver, only excluding the running and eating kilos of tacos parts. However, if he uses it too many times continuously, he needs a snack break and there's a sort of recharge timer that goes higher the more he uses it from that point on. It's probably a couple minutes high right now.

"How long?", Tubbo asks, understandably panicked.

"Uh, I'd say about ten-"

Ten minutes. Alright, okay. They have to stay alive for a little over nine minutes, no biggie. They can probably manage.

Tommy looks towards the hero and villain fight that's broken out behind them. Only, it's less of a fight and more so a wrestling match. The Watcher is perched on The Blade's shoulders with the hero's head in a tight headlock, wings flapping wildly to keep the villain from falling off.

Holy fuck- The Blade has been put in a headlock- that has never happened before! And he is actually struggling. This is a rare sight but then again, he did just get jumped by the one villain that can take him.

"Come on, Blade!", Ranboo yells, throwing his fists in the air. He's seemingly forgotten that said hero almost stabbed him with a trident and later almost cut him open with a sword. What a loyal simp.

Tommy almost shouts at him for it but loses his words when The Blade suddenly powers up. Like, literally, he gives a war cry and full-on slams The Watcher on the ground like he has turned into a final boss of a video game that has various stages. It makes the three of them gasp and take a step back. The hero and villain seem stunned as well; petrified in place, both presumably taken aback by the fact that The Blade actually managed to throw The Watcher off him so... easily. Huh. Well, that just happened.

The Blade is the first one to snap out of it, though, and The Watcher is just a second too late to dodge his sword. Tubbo winces as the blade pierces through the guy's wing and pins it down- and his wings aren't even feathered, they're insect ones! Tommy guesses it's a feeling similar to that of watching a fellow man get kicked in the balls.

"Wow, that was easier than I thought", the hero, of course, boasts as he stares down the guy. Said guy brings up his free wing to hit him upside the head with- The Blade pins it with his trident before he can. "You stay down, filthy scum. You're not as much of a pain without your wings, are you?"

That was... surprisingly easy and cool. Are they supposed to cheer him now? He just... pinned The Watcher; the most dangerous, most cunning supervillain with a 75% kill rate. Said villain looks stunned to the point where he isn't even thrashing around to try and free himself. Well, maybe he saw that it's useless to struggle against the gilded trident? Who knows.

"That- that just happened", Ranboo matters, "Did that really happen? Did he just pin The Watcher or am I like, dreaming?", honestly, this scenario is pretty surreal. "Are you guys real-"

"Endwalker, this really isn't the time for an existential crisis, bossman!", Tubbo whisper-yells at him. Ranboo simply blinks.

"Oh, right"

"Now, you three will come with me"

Tommy's head snaps to the pink-haired man. Why is he closer than before? Actually, why is he leaving The Watcher unsupervised? Is he stupid or arrogant and bigheaded? You don't catch a big -no, the biggest- fish in the sea and just leave it hanging on the hook!

"Listen, bigman, big T, you should really not concern yourself with us three poor, frail vigilantes-", Tommy attempts to reason to no avail because adults don't like listening to children. Fuck, fuckity, fuck-fuck, dick, balls -big ones- and everything in-between.

"Your friend seems to be on a time limit too, a couple of minutes, am I right? We'll be at the police station in two", the hero says, states, like it's a well-known fact. Needless to say, this fact is unpleasant news to them.

"How did he figure it out?", Ranboo stage whispers to them, because this is the ultimate time for jokes, Ranboob!

"It's called observin'. You should try it out sometime" -apparently, The Blade wasn't blessed with good eyesight because he was blessed with great hearing.

Behind the hero, Tommy spots movement. He spares a glance -it was supposed to be a quick glance- and his breath hitches in his throat as he locks eyes with The Watcher's vibrant, hazy, violet orbs. The villain's hood has fallen off his head, leaving only the purple scarf to cover the rest of his face, revealing dirty blond strands.

Tommy's eyes widened momentarily. Black, giant wings, themed attire, blond hair... is he The Crowfather's evil twin or something?

However, before he can analyze further, the hero takes a step towards the three of them. All menacingly and shit and Tommy just wants to leave... but he can't really do that, can he? One, he has two teammates and Tubbo can't carry them to safety (they're too heavy for his poor bee wings) and Ranboo is still on recharge mode and two- oh, wait, that last one was number two.

Naturally scared, the lot of 'em take a step back... Tommy didn't expect the roof to eject him because he stepped back. You see, they had failed to recognize the stub that was the rooftop's railing-wall thing. And he tripped. Backwards. Very much into the void that is the street below.

He hears his friends shout and yell, for once, he feels sort of weightless. He sees his pals looking over the rooftop and Ranboo holding Tubbo back from jumping after him. That's a good call; they'd both splat on the ground if Tubbo were to try and catch him. The Blade also looks over the edge with a face close to... surprise? Misery? No, no... fear? The Great Blade... showing fear?

Then he actually realizes his situation... he is very much falling. Free falling. Towards the ground that is 15 meters below.

Tommy, of course, screams. Honestly, what else is there to do in this sort of situation? He is about to die, about to crack his head open and break all of his bones simply because he didn't take in his surroundings well enough. And he is not ready to die! He has so many more people to annoy, dreams of education and life success! He has friends and family, he can't just die!

...but he can't do anything about it other than scream and cry in his free fall...

This is it, he thinks, but fuck, he can't accept this!

The whooshing of feathers sounds above him and he opens his eyes just a crack (when did he close them?) to see arms reach out to him. He closes his eyes tight again and suddenly the direction of his fall changes; he hears frantic flapping, pained granting. Black wings flap in his ears and cloth feels under his fingertips.

...When did The Crowfather get here?

His poor soul is relieved to say the least... until he actually opens his eyes. And he screams yet again because this isn't The Crowfather but The Watcher. Oh, fuck, from one bad thing to the other and he can't even wrench himself free from the guy because they're too high up! It's either drop to his death or wait for his death. At least, he can ask the guy to make the once-in-a-lifetime experience painless.

Unless the guy drops him... he grips onto the villain's clothes even tighter. If he is going to be dropped, he may as well leave the dude naked!

The villain doesn't pay him any mind, though, continuing to flap his wings and fly. His injured wings, which were stabbed by the hero back on the building. Wait a second... The Blade is still on that roof with his friends! Oh, Christ, they're fucked! It sure as hell hasn't been ten minutes!

He doesn't have the time to ask the villain to return, as he is dropped on the roof of the local supermarket and The Watcher lands clumsily next to him.

Tommy falls on his butt, tries to regain his breath and get as much oxygen as he can back into his system. His heart is beating so hard, it might just burst out of his chest and live life without him. He hears a pained grunt and looks up to the villain, whose wings have fallen limp on the concrete behind him. How did he even get loose? Did The Blade recall his weapons or did he... nope, this guy mustn't be that crazy!

However, there is blood in the dark fluff and in between the feathers. Tommy does not remember another time that the hero and the villain spilled blood in their little wrestling match other than when the hero stabbed his wings... and -Tommy squinted to focus on the blood- there is bone sticking out of the flesh. Did he seriously tear himself free? Just to what? Escape and save a free falling raccoon on the way?

"Why- why did you do that?", he asks. Unafraid because the guy saved him from certain death. Plus, if he wanted Tommy dead, Tommy would probably be dead.

The Watcher fixes his hood, covering his head and only leaving a few blond strands out. He looks at him with those ridiculously vibrant eyes of his and Tommy has to gulp. The dude is giving him the raised eyebrow look; as in isn't it obvious? look.

"Did you want to splatter on the ground?"

And there it is: the obvious answer.

"I mean- no, I didn't but-"

"But?"

But if Tommy has learnt anything from Grian, it's that an avian's wings are incredibly important to them. They are their family heritage, their pride and joy, a useful tool to get around and this guy... he's an avian too (duh) and- he points to his wings that are still a mess of feathers on the floor.

"...Your wings"

The Watcher looks at his wings. Tommy barely catches the little twitch of his eyes when the dude takes in their state.

"They'll heal", and he says it with this sad, pitiful tone. Tommy only feels a tiny bit of pity. He is more so surprised that out of every hero, he, a vigilante, is the first one to see The Watcher injured. He is pretty sure that The Watcher has never been injured before.

A moment of silence passes. Tommy's attention turns to his team of friends. He looks back and forth between the building they are on now and the direction of the one he was on before. The villain simply tilts his head like a curious, pesky bird.

"What about my frie-"

"A friend of mine is already there, don't worry"

Wait, he has friends?

"You have friends?"

So, what was he trying to do with them? Just a wave, nothing more to it? Just "hi, I'm here, beware", like there is supposed to be a BEWARE DOG sign on his forehead?

"Wha!", The Watcher squawks. Squawks. Tommy wants to laugh. "Of course, I do!"

"That's a tad hard to believe, mister big Watcher"

The villain simply sighs, probably annoyed -Tommy has that effect on people sometimes which is very pleasing and amusing to himself.

"Where do you live?"

Now it is Tommy's turn to squawk. Well, not squawk squawk because he is a raccoon, not a bird -it's more of a hiss- but you get what I mean. Alright, boys, defenses up.

"Like I'm going to tell you that!", Tommy says. "Did I ask you for the address of your totally secret villain lair? I think not!"

The dude's eyes widened. He looks shocked, like a kicked puppy. Wow, Tommy thinks because what did he expect? Who in their right mind tells a villain their address? Tommy was right in thinking that this guy is cray-cray.

Right as he is about to throw another sparky remark at The Watcher, his stomach growls. He looks down and Jesus fucking Christ, he ate like four hours ago! Why is his stomach suddenly hurting this much?

The villain appears very intrigued.

"Are you hungry?"

"Fuck off!"

A moment of silence. Another, rather loud stomach growl. Gee, thanks stomach for embarrassing me in front of the most infamous villain ever!

"Would you like some McDonald's? I can have Pearl bring your friends too. Food is on me"

"Pearl?"

"My friend"

That... doesn't sound like a bad idea. Regardless of how bad the scenario of going to the local McDonald's, accompanied by The Watcher and eating the food he pays for sounds like. But it is very enticing. Like a stranger telling the little kids to go inside the van for some candy.

But the food will be cooked by staff that couldn't be arsed if someone pissed on your food. It technically wouldn't be The Watcher's fault if he got food poisoning from that...

...What sort of thinking process is that? It makes no sense.

"...Just don't kill me"

He has the right to remain a bit hesitant. Though, someone can hardly be hesitant when they are grabbed by the arm and flown off the roof of a 10 meter tall building.