When he comes to, his head is absolutely killing him. Darn sleep spores. Wilbur shakes his head and blinks his eyes open, slowly becoming aware of how cramped his body is and how bad the instinct to stretch his poor limbs is banging against his bones.

What happened again? This migraine is messing with his thoughts; he can recall them but they're all out of his reach. He blinks again, slowly, eyes adjusting to the bright light coming from above and the smell of caoutchouc all around him. It's a little overwhelming but nothing that he can't manage. It's not like he hasn't been kidnapped before– oh! That's what has happened, right!

That's a start. He and Phil were kidnapped... by George. He wants to laugh and cry at the same time at the thought. Innocent, oblivious George. He doesn't know if he should feel betrayed or back-stabbed or whatever; this is just hero on hero plus friend on friend violence! That god, too, WIlbur can't forget about that and it comes to question who is truly at fault here.

He can see bleachers far away, plastic chairs that have been painted blue. There is fake grass underfoot, natural sunlight from an open roof... They're in the city stadium, aren't they?

When he turns his head to look around for any signs of life, he finds that he isn't alone. Beside him is Jimmy –the Listener– kneeling down, hunched over, head bowed, being used as a stool by the one and only XD. There is a glimmer of something around his neck and, straining his neck trying to look, Wilbur finds that the man's hands have been tied behind his back with invisible bonds. Jimmy looks, overall, like shit; tired and exhausted like all the fight has left him. The same glimmer on his neck is around XD and it is so obvious that this has something to do with a power trip for the god.

On the other side of the supposed-villain is Phil, tied to a chair similarly to him, though the man is still out for the count thanks to how close he was to the spores. His dad probably got the worst of it and Wil can't help but feel a tiny bit guilty about it. There are no crows around either, which is incredibly unnerving.

"Can you sense them yet?", comes George's voice from somewhere behind him, nonchalant as ever. Wilbur knows he can't snap his neck to look behind him, so he doesn't bother. His friend doesn't regard him, Wilbur tries to speak anyway.

Only to find that he's been gagged. This news comes as bad news to the hero but honestly, he should've expected this. George is a professional through and through; he wouldn't let the one hero with siren abilities use his voice. Even as he thrashes trying to get the cloth out of his mouth, George doesn't regard him. Wilbur can only knit his eyebrows in anger and frustration.

"They're close"

And holy Hell, this must be the first time that Wilbur has felt relief at the insinuation that The Watcher is coming to them. The faster he can get a distraction, the faster he can diffuse the situation; the faster he can get Phil the hell out of here –even though this is his father's mess.

While Phil thought that he was sneaky being all vague and reasonable, Wilbur has trained his eyes to catch every detail on any face. It's why he didn't believe the man but he also wanted to see where that lie would lead.

...He can't say that he is satisfied with how things turned out. First, he learnt that The Watcher has wrapped him in an invisible veil, all but freezing at the suggestion that he's been around that man for longer than he knows, followed by the implication that the villain is someone in his fucking life, and now he's being held hostage (by his best friend no less!). His day is going fucking great.

"George, what the fuck are you doing?", and sometime during his time in his own head, Phil, apparently, woke up. "What is the meaning of this?", the man demands but George doesn't pay any attention to him.

The blob on the Listener's neck (Wilbur silently hopes that XD isn't heavy enough to cause permanent damage to the guy's neck) turns to face Phil, the god's aura becoming menacing. Fear eats at the back of Wilbur's mind, raising the hairs at his nape and sharpening his senses to the point where he can hear his heart in his ears.

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you, peasant", XD seethes in a low, disturbing growl. Phil, however, is stubborn and righteous. Wilbur doesn't doubt he also feels guilty about this situation.

"I'm not talking to you", Phil bites back with venom, wings attempting to flare but failing because of the rope binding them. Feathers have been shoved out of place and it must take a ton of preening to align them again. "George, listen to me, what you are doing is illegal! You're keeping us hostage and for what?"

"To take the Watcher down", George simply responds, voice unwavering but he tilts his chin down a tiny bit. Wilbur knows from that little bit of body language that his friend is lying through his teeth.

"But that isn't all, is it?", Phil pushes, having caught on with his hawk eyes. "I have eyes and I can see what that blob is doing. You've apprehended a man, accused him of being a villain and then keep him hostage instead of bringing him in for questioning" –he takes a breath before continuing– "Tell me, George: if that doesn't make you guilty of any sort of crime, then what does it make you?!"

That seems to break whatever barrier George puts up and Wilbur is taken aback by the way George's lips pull back to reveal teeth. It's not a smile nor a grin; Wilbur can't categorize it.

"XD's acolyte", he responds, "That's what it makes me. I will be granted immortality, my friends will live in a world of His making, in harmony and in balance"

Wilbur– Wilbur doesn't know if his ears are playing tricks on him or if he's imagining things. George never was one to root for any religion or follow any god. This feels... unreal. Like this isn't his friend in front of him but rather some alien who has taken his place.

On Jimmy's neck, XD straightens up, having received a confidence boost from George's confession. Phil stares, wide-eyed, at the two.

Then again, this is an actual god. Not the god that the bible speaks of or any other legends and myths; this is an actual, living god –one that no one other than the Dream Team knows about and even then, Wil doubts it's enough to judge his character. Who knows what the world he'll make will be like? The few minutes Wilbur was with XD, he didn't get the best of vibes from him –regardless of the situation they were in.

"Harmony can't exist without chaos, George, that's how the balance is kept!", Phil cries out, desperation seeping into his tone, having grasped on some hidden intent with his wise, old bones. The other raises an eyebrow, expression unchanging behind his sunglasses. He opens his mouth to respond but both men are cut off as XD's laugh bellows throughout the stadium.

"I AM the God of Chaos, Philza Minecraft", XD directs with bemusement at Phil's face, body hunching just the slightest bit –it's reminiscent of a scared, hissing cat trying to look bigger than it is. If circumstances were different, Wilbur would've laughed. Phil looks horrified. "It is MY domain and they–", he turns his head towards the circular top of the stadium, right where two distinct, well-known villains have perched, "–share my magic; MY power!"

"Do you understand now, Crowfather?", George questions solemnly. He receives no response.

What are they going to do? Fuck the existential crisis that is trying to overwhelm him now, Wilbur needs to get the fuck out of here first!

Tugging on his restraints, he finds that they don't budge. He tries to push the cloth out of his mouth with his tongue but it's tied so tightly around his head that it barely moves –not to mention that it tastes horrible. He can hear it shuffle in his ears, though and his cheeks feel slight relief as the knot slowly loosens.

Shouts come from one of the gates and the attention is stolen from the villain duo by a crowd of what Techno would call 'goons'. Leading them is none other than Blackjack alongside– no way... That's the enchanter with the ridiculous tophat who Phil frequents for weapon repairs! What's his name again? Scar? Why is he even here? Why are either of them here?

They're back-up, a little voice in the back of his mind suggests. It would be plausible, even though The Watcher and Blackjack have a feud going on. They must have settled on a truce, then, for some unknown, villainous reason that is going to bother HQ for weeks. This is... Wilbur doesn't know what this is; if it's solely a rescue mission or a mission to prevent a god from doing what he wants with their ally. Recalling all that he's learnt in the past hour or so, Wil knows that they know what's going on. Hopefully, he and Phil are important enough to The Watcher's civilian identity because he doesn't want to think what would happen if they were left alone with George and XD.

Where the fuck is Techno when you need him?!

At least his brother would make a general effort at a rescue operation after mocking their formidable situation. The villains? They would rather see the heroes suffer.

"Hey, puta!", Blackjack yells over the sound of a bullet-proof army marching towards the center; towards them. Golden wings puff up behind the owner of Las Nevadas, splaying with confidence and the dominance of someone who has won before the battle has begun. "Let them go right now and no one gets hurt!"

"You heard the man!", Scar adds. "Surrender and no one has to die today!", and he says that with a grin. A huge, wide grin of mischief and– is it just Wilbur or is he looking a little pale? Are his ears sharper than before?

"You are but an inconvenience, mortal and... vex"

Vex? There is a vex around? On the other side of the stadium, the salesman chuckles like he wasn't expecting this. No... Like a kid that has knowingly done something wrong and an adult has pointed it out. Scar is a vex? Aren't those extinct?

Well, that would explain the pale skin and the sharper-shaped ears and holy shit– he has the crystal wings too!

"For a god, he's small", Blackjack smartly points (shouts) out because of course that won't cause a god to freak out. Already, Wil feels the temperature around him drop and even Phil blinks in surprise. The blob beside him growls. "Heh, touchy subject?"

What the fuck will antagonising him supposed to do?! Make him leave the stadium with wetted pants?! The only one who can bully villains with that sort of success is Techno!

"Mpfhmf!", Wilbur flails, tossing his head in an attempt to divert XD's attention.

Surely enough, the god looks at him and then around. It's like desensitizing a dog to loudmouthed people. That analogy shouldn't work as well as it does.

George doesn't look fazed by the amount of goons that have poured into the stadium by now, all armed to the teeth with knives and all sorts of guns, some are even carrying shields. Are all of them powerless? Wilbur fucking hopes they aren't but with Blackjack to direct them –the one individual who can direct luck of all things– they shouldn't have too much trouble shooting at the correct targets.

Hopefully without hitting either of them. Wilbur and Blackjack have a bit of a history of scuffles... One time, Wilbur tried to close down Las Nevadas... Let's just say that things didn't go to plan and that both he and Blackjack were in the hospital, in the same room, covered from hair to toe in bandages.

That was a fun two weeks worth of bickering (that eventually turned to banter but neither talks about that).

"They are keeping their distance", XD hums, low and distorted with a twinge of bitter disappointment. "Mangle one of them"

Wilbur's thoughts pause. What? He is expecting George to follow through with that order? Seriously? George would never– why does George have a pair of pliers in his hands–

"George, snap out of it, mate!", Phil shouts at the man as he circles the seat the avian is tied down to like a puppet. "Don't do shit you'll regret!"

Surprisingly, George doesn't react to what he's just been told. That isn't good because he has Phil's finger trapped in the maw of the pliers and both father and son are panicking. A loud crack is all Wil's hearing registers before there's a scream echoing throughout the stadium, followed by XD's manic laughter of sadistic contentment.

With a wild thrash of his head, the cloth loosens its hold on his mouth and Wilbur waits little to spit it out. It hangs on his neck, loose enough that it could fall off but not completely.

"George, fucking stop!", the issued command does not appear to register. Instead the hero continues to the next finger and Wilbur winces at the sound, hissing as he draws in a sharp breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the figures on the top of the bleachers spasm, feathers and wings shuffling.

"XD, you have to stop this!", he tries to effect the god but unsurprisingly, it doesn't work. XD even laughs at his measly beg. Phil can't do anything about this situation, obviously, and he can't allow The Watcher to come closer after learning what the god of fucking Chaos will do if he gets his hands on him. The Listener, though... Jimmy is his last resort.

If he can't do anything, then– then they're fucked and Wilbur can't fathom how the lack of control will affect them.

"Listener! Fuck it– Jimmy, stop this!"

Like his unsaid prayers are answered as Jimmy perks up at the mention of his name. Wilbur's ability wraps around him like a spider's web. The Listener moves– sluggishly but he does and that gives him hope. XD's mood sours as he wobbles on the man's shoulder blades.

"George, shut him up!", and with brisk steps, George appears right above him. Phil shouts in the background and XD looks on with mild ire, the goons hold their positions on Blackjack's command and Scar has raised an eyebrow but all of it is background noise as Wilbur continues to thrash and yell at the top of his lungs.

"Come on, Jimmy! Throw him off! Get us the fuck out of here! I know you can do it– MPFH!"

And the cloth is back on. It doesn't matter much. As Wilbur throws a death glare George's way, Jimmy begins to move– but the energy surrounding him holds tight. Like chains, XD's power is keeping the Listener from moving– from lifting a single finger.

In the end, all efforts are in vain. WIlbur slumps into his seat, voice raw and eyes wide with fear. Fuck– We're so fucked–

"They aren't coming closer...", XD hums to himself, righting his small cone body on the body beneath him. "The finger breaking doesn't work... How about the femur bone? I've read on the internet that it's a painful experience"

Fucking Hell– No, this is fucking bad– Why would you give a god access to the world wide web?!

*

Y'know, hearing on the news that there is a spike of villain activity in the city stadium isn't the best thing to hear the moment you turn on the TV. It just ruins the mood! Especially after having to deal with the announcement that the kids he was looking after weren't Grian's nor Stress' but rather some street kids who his father had once seen on the seaside road.

The brats were probably the ones who robbed Ponk too (he hasn't heard from the guy since that incident to confirm). Thankfully, that explains Ranboo's kleptomaniac behavior and goodness, the picture he painted of Stress after (sort of) interviewing her was awful! He really owes her an apology for that one.

Honestly, they should've asked Grian about the kids but noooo, that would've been too awkward to talk about!

Anyway, back on subject, it is incredibly irritating to hear about villain activity spikes in one particular space –especially the ones where the reporters won't go into. Those people have a whole other sort of bravery to rush into dangerous situations for a small scoop. If it wasn't stupid, it would've been admirable.

Now, that fact plus Dream calling him for no apparent reason? Yeah, that is worrying and aggravating. It's probably an HQ gathering.

When he puts his phone to his ear, the first thing he hears is: "Techno, get to HQ right now!". So, yeah, that's an HQ meeting. A big one if he were to judge by the urgency in his friend's voice.

"What is the meeting about?", he asks as he howls his signature cape over his shoulder, clumsily buttoning up his poet's shirt and plopping the crown on his unkempt, pink hair.

"Look, I can't explain over the phone but... Oh, screw it, we were housing a god named XD– No, Techno, don't laugh at me! It's true!"

What? Who would believe someone if they said they were accommodating a higher power in their not-god-tier house?

"Listen, for fuck's sake! We were keeping The Listener in the garage and this morning, when Phil and Wilbur were leaving, George grabbed him and left with them but he was acting weird, Techno!"

That– Yeah, that needs to be looked into. Ignoring the part about keeping a villain in their equivalent of a basement and saying the god stuff is true for the plot, that sounds super suspicious.

"I'm comin', I'm comin', calm down, Dream–"

"I can't fucking 'calm down'! Sapnap has blown up half of the office and now I've seen the news and I– Fuck, Techno, I think George is involved!"

Grabbing his keys from the counter and swinging open the door with his hero outfit quite clumsily donned, he walks to the curve, where his motorcycle rests like the world isn't falling apart at the seams. The crown leaves no space for his helmet and after weighing the pros and cons of further ruining his hair and a very distressed Dream on the line, he chooses to just get on the bike.

"You said he left with Phil and Wil?", he asks sternly and on the other end, he hears Dream take a breath and hold it long enough to roll onto the road. That is very worrying.

"Yeah– Yeah, they left together and he took XD with him"

"So, my family could be in the city stadium right now, held hostage by the villains for whatever reason and–"

"No, I don't think it's the villains holding them hostage. Shit– Okay, I have to go, Punz and Sam just arrived and I have to brief everyone else too. Get here fast, okay?"

Disregarding every speeding law in existence would do no good to his clean record... Techno doesn't have the amount of caffeine necessary for his brain to really care. Dream said to get there fast, anyway.

"On my way"

With that, he leaves the house and enters the streets of the city. There are clouds that have gathered above, thin enough to allow some light to shine down on the peasants below the sun.

Such peasants, apparently, are the local villain population. Not even halfway through his usual route and half a million near-crashes later, Techno finds Pearlescent Moon waving at him from the other side of the street. The demon, Xornoth, is behind her, looking terribly displeased, though her other two companions, Gemini and Jumbo, are less so.

Are they trying to pick a fight? What kind of villain with self-respect stoops as low as waving the first hero they see over just to fight?

"Blade!", Pearlescent shouts loud enough for her voice to be heard clearly from behind the kitsune mask and over the loud sound of traffic. Sighing, Techno stops at the side of the pavement, probably breaking another law in the process.

"If you want to fight someone, go find someone else. I'm busy", he yells back at them. In hindsight, he should've just left but what if they followed him all the way to HQ? Then what? He can't have the possibility of a big 'villains versus heroes' battle while another one is going on.

"We don't want to fight, you doof!", Pearlescent chuckles, having approached enough to be standing almost right in front of him. Techno cocks an eyebrow. Did she just insult him? "Your hero friends have kidnapped one of ours. You heard about the stadium, right?"

"Yeah, 'm kinda heading over there right now"

"We are proposing a temporary truce", she continues. Over her shoulder, Techno sees the man in the potato mask fidget and pace up and down. "The Watcher and The Listener have gone to check out what's happening at the stadium as we speak and I'm afraid that–"

"They went to 'check out what's happening'? They didn't cause it?"

Jumbo seems to perk up at that, stopping what he's doing to face him. With a brisk pace, he walks over. Techno looks him over, appraising the rip-off Batman costume that is equipped with a bunch of potatoes. Why does he even have potatoes on his belt? The guy's file at HQ says that he can turn people into ticking time-bombs –following the disaster at the hospital.

"We suspect that your hero buddies are being held hostage by the Dream Team but Watcher hasn't got back to us yet, so we can't know for sure", the man says in a surprisingly professional tone.

"That being said", Pearlescent continues, "I think we could help each other out"

That would be more trouble than it'll be worth. After this, Dream would have to relocate his agency's headquarters –not because the villains will have finally found the HQ (that is public knowledge) but because they'll know the traps and the security checks that are nowhere to be found on the building's blueprints. Would he put his friend through that headache?

Yes. Yes, he would. His whole fucking family are in that stadium and with how things are escalating, he doesn't have any other choice at the moment.

"Fine. Temporary truce it is but be respectful", he sighs remorsefully. The way each of the three seem to light up in a way (Jumbo nods and his shoulders visibly relax, Pearlescent Moon bobs on her heels and Gemini claps her hands together) irritates him. "I'm heading to the Dream Team's HQ. Dream and Sapnap have nothing to do with the stadium, it's just 404 there"

"Is he with a god by any chance?"

Dear Lord, now he understands why BBH won't use his actual voice to talk to people. That is deep. Holy Hell.

"Yup", and the demon hums, content with that response. Techno turns his attention to the other three. "Come with me but don't make me regret this"

"Sir, yessir!", comes the united shout of the villains.

*

How a motorbike can carry four adults and an oversized demon and still go a comfy 60km/h is a question that Techno does not want to know the answer to. He did get the bike with the thought of carrying heavy weaponry in mind (for the times that he sleeps in and Phil and Wil have already taken the car to the SBI HQ), so it probably has to do with that. He'll leave it at that.

On the road, there were plenty of people that had their phones out and taking pictures. While it was embarrassing, it could also be passed off as a group cosplay thing. Surely, there was at least one person with a morph or copy ability in this city who could be passed as a Xornoth fan! Techno has called on the power of cosplay to explain his random appearances at the local McDonald's on very little sleep.

Passing through the various security checks of the Dream Team HQ is a whole other ordeal, though. Telling the security guards and the receptionist that the villains trailing after him aren't 'tailing' him nor blackmailing him is more than a little embarrassing. A hero and villain team-up coming to this extent? Who invites their mortal enemy to their house to debate over the news?

No one. No one sane, at least. Techno never claimed to be sane; he's already running on no caffeine.

"This is the conference room", he says after about ten minutes of walking up the stairs. The elevator is too small and doubtlessly, their combined weight would be too heavy for the mechanism anyway. "I want you to be civilized for a change"

"Yeah, yeah, we will!", Gemini agrees in a sing-song voice and with the confidence of a lioness, she bursts into the room with little grace. Techno's brow tics. The other three aren't any less eager about this. Thankfully, the receptionist called Dream before they'd gone up because the reaction they'd have received would have been completely different.

Instead of having the whole room break out into a fistfight, the heroes are calmly talking amongst themselves. Techno spots Goatfather with a kid goat sitting next to Sam and after a quick explanation it is revealed that Sam happened to find the crazy doctor's brand new clinic and in exchange for not being yeeted to Pandora, Goatfather would help with this situation.

Not a suspicious explanation at all with totally no plot holes in it. Techno never thought that Sam would think that everyone in this room would be stupid enough to believe that. I guess everyone is too stressed to look into that, fair enough. They'll solve this later, after this charade is over and Goatfather will certainly stay to be brought in.

Hopefully, they won't have a rogue Goatfather after all of this... That isn't foreshadowing, is it?

"Blade! Finally!", Dream shouts from the other end of the table. Behind him stands a paper board riddled with sketches of potential plans of attack which are less plans and more so doodles from the person closest to it was bored and happened to have a sharpie handy. "And you've also brought in company... Why?"

"The Watcher and one of the bat duo have gone to check out the stadium", Techno responds. "I see that you have Goatfather here too" –said villain responds by lifting his bound hands in a lazy wave, the chain connecting the power suppressing cuffs clinking– "We've settled on a truce until we can get Ghostbur and Crowfather out of the stadium"

Punz nods along to his words and the villains look incredibly pleased with themselves for some reason. Sapnap looks just ready to blow someone up, whilst Foolish, Eret and every other hero crammed into the conference room look worried. Except for Bad. He and Xornoth are having a demon stare down that Techno does not want to get involved in.

It's demon business. Let the three-meter tall demons deal with it.

"Dream explained the situation to us. Apparently, his team was housing a god who wants to make our world into his personal playground", Punz says, playing with his golden chain necklace.

"I don't know what happened on your end", Gemini speaks up with a fire lit in her eyes. It is obvious that she is as eager as everyone else to get to the bottom of this. Techno can respect that. "But we didn't cause any of this for once– which is surprising, I know! Could you brief us on the situation?"

"Yes, yes, of course!", Dream sputters, quickly righting his position. Techno takes the one remaining seat at the table, dooming the villains to stand around throughout this conversation. "I'll take it from the start. A couple months ago we found this... blob on the street and we decided to take it in–"

And the story unfurled further and further until Techno zoned out during the revelation that the blob they had taken in was in fact the End's god of Chaos. Wait, he shouldn't know that if he was zoning out– Hm. Multitasking then: zoning out and listening. That must be worthy of an award.

"A few days ago, XD helped us catch Bat and we kept him in our house because XD wanted to ask him a few questions about the End. This morning, Crowfather and Ghostbur came to my house for a visit, though it was revealed that they were looking for Bat a bit after. We talked and then they left with 404. XD went with them"

"So, they've been kidnapped by 404?", Pearlescent doesn't even hesitate to throw that knife into the wall. A few voices of disagreement spoke up, while Techno looked between Xornoth and BBH to see if they're still staring at each other –yup, they're still at it– but they are all silenced when Dream responds.

"We are suspecting that, yeah"

And then Sapnap almost melts the chair he has havazardly hauled himself on. "The little bastard is trying to lure the Watcher to him. He suspects that the guy knows the SBI in his civilian identity, so he's gone for the human weaknesses, I guess"

Now, that is an interesting thing to point out. A god can't be wrong about that. With all the anime and movies Techno has watched over the years have trained him for this moment and if that god is from a whole other dimension, no power of his is to be underestimated. Though, the god's height makes Techno want to laugh. A blob the size of his palm is supposedly the god of perhaps the most destractful element in existence.

Going by anime logic, it's believable. If a person can be isekai-ed into another world, then a god can connect two people by sniffing their socks.

That means that Watcher knows him too. As Technoblade the normal person and not just as The Blade –the hero. Holy shit, everything makes so much more sense now! How he knew Wilbur, how he knew where they lived, how he knew his family's names... And it also explains why none of the SBI have had a chunk torn out of them like 404 or their arm mangled like Valorant.

Sure, he got stabbed by a trident but that wasn't the Watcher. It was BBH under Pearlescent's demon influence powers –for which Bad had fervently apologized with a box of homemade muffins to-go and no one says no to Bad muffins. Pfffft, that's awful–

Back on subject, back on subject... How does he return back to the subject after hearing that?

"But XD needs both the Watcher and the Listener for his plans", Punz points out. The hero looks unfazed by all of this –must be an alien thing; to be used to the strangest things. Dream confirms it and then he directs his gaze at the villains. "So, if the Watcher went there, then his plans would be carried out without issue, right?"

"Well– The Watcher would never hand himself over willingly", Jumbo jumps in.

"Are we forgetting about the hostages?", Techno says, both out of panic about what would happen to his family if The Watcher didn't join XD and fear of where this conversation is going.

He doesn't want to give up his family to save the world; he really doesn't. The mere thought of it makes bile rise to the top of his throat. It's the way of the hero, however. To sacrifice one for the good of the community is what he chose to do a long ass time ago and damn, he wants to turn back time and beat his young, overly excited, trainee self who was too happy and eager to follow in his father's footsteps.

A hero is still a human after all. A superhuman but still emotions-attached.

"I'm– Blade, I'm sorry but The Watcher is our priority now. Ghostbur and Crowfather come second"

Techno shakes his head and slowly stands up. He throws a look Jumbo's way and even behind the mask, he sees a glint of sympathy swimming in his eyes. Villains have emotions, too, apparently.

"It's not about that, Dream", yes, it is –but there are other factors to his reasoning other than attachments and family and all of that. Putting his hands on the table, having to hunch over slightly due to his height, he continues. "If XD is usin' the two of them as bait, they must be deemed incredibly important to The Watcher. He's a god for goodness' sake, he can probably make that estimation by a palm readin' or somethin'!"

"How is that relevant–"

"Followin' your own conclusion and that The Watcher has put his own life at risk to save Ghostbur, then how long will it take for him to snap?", Techno's voice raises in volume and god– does he realize now that they should be out in the field, taking care of this mess but they all need to set their priorities straight before that. "Even if he's in our custody, he can teleport if he wants to– you've witnessed it firsthand, Dream!"

"I– that's... true"

Eret hums from their seat. "So, the hostages are our priority. Good."

Pearlescent Moon sighs in what Techno can only decipher as relief.

"Hopefully, he has the willpower to hold back until we get there–"

Light flashes outside, momentarily covering the room in white. Not a second later, an ear-shattering boom of thunder roars through the streets and it's loud and close enough to crack the bullet-proof window. Innocent people scream in the streets.

She shouldn't have said that.

"What the fuck was that?!", Sapnap and Punz yell as they rush to see the outside world. Techno is by their side fast and traces their gazes up to the overcast sky that is raining neither water nor snow but paper-thin letters of an alphabet that is surely nowhere on the internet.

And in the direction of the city stadium, he sees– he can't believe his own two eyes...

*

Bribing Fundy to distract Stress was relatively simple. The woman was on guard and babysitting duty since Grian left to chase whatever it was he was trying to chase and she was sitting right on the steps of the fourth floor. WIth a spatula. They immediately knew that they were to not proceed farther from the fourth floor.

So, they proceeded to ask Stress for hot chocolate and anything that they could think about off the top of their heads. That was the start of their little plan. Whilst Stress was distracted with her quest of chocolate heaven in the kitchen, Tubbo sneaked to the balcony and waved over Fundy, who was conveniently sweeping the building's sidewalk. Honestly, that was pure luck; the original plan would have seen Tubbo floating down to the lobby.

They struck the deal of money for turning a blind eye and in three minutes, the fox was knocking at Stress' door.

"Fundy?", she didn't look surprised to see the ginger when she opened the door –more so disappointed. The trio was sitting on the couch by then, idly watching TV and unbeknownst to them, Stress was eyeing each of their heads with scrutiny. With so many times that they've bribed Fundy to get them out of the house whilst grounded, she wouldn't put it below them to do it again to go on a suicide mission.

And then Tommy switched to the news channel... and they saw the stadium and The Blade riding a motorbike with about four villains topped on it... and they couldn't wait for Stress to be dragged away to whatever imaginary chore Fundy had thought up.

So now, here they are: Tommy hanging off the side of the balcony whilst Tubbo and Ranboo are standing in the street, just watching to see the outcome of a teenager dangling from the fourth storey.

Fuckers. If Tommy didn't value his life, he would have let go to give them the middle finger.

"Come on, Tommy! JUMP!", Tubbo shouts.

"Shut up, you frickin' ass!"

"Tommy! Watch your tongue, young man!", Stress chides him whilst trying to pull him over the railing. Tommy isn't making it easy for her because he needs to get down there and leave– and now that he thinks about it, he should've just turned into a raccoon and let himself be carried in Tubbo's hood but noooo, he wanted to do hardcore parkour!

Now look where that's fucking got him!

"Streeeess!", he pleads with her but to no avail. He doesn't even know if the pros of going with Stress outweigh those of going with his friends. From above there is the:

"Tommy, let me help you up, come on!"

And from below comes the incredibly encouraging and totally not fake sentiment of:

"Jump, Tommy! We'll catch you, pinkie promise!!!"

Fuck that, Tubbo, he never keeps his pinkie promises. Once, he pinkie-promised not to spoil the ending of a movie he and Ranboo were watching and in good, ol' Tubbo fashion, he spoiled it. Right on the suspense-building part.

"Tommy, if you jump, I will lock you all out of the house!"

"I have the keys to the house!", Fundy, unhelpfully chimes in from the balcony door. The damn fox has Tommy's cup of cocoa in his hands. That means that he has nothing else tying him to this place. He'll return to have his revenge later, though. Maybe he'll steal Stress' bed too.

Stress does not let go of his hands. How she is so strong as to lift a whole human is beyond Tommy but he has a secret weapon up his sleeve.

"But muuuuum–", and, yeah, that does the trick. Stress is too stunned to say anything else and her grip slackens. Unfortunately for Tommy, he was mostly dependent on her to keep him from falling to his death.

So, he falls with the manly screech of a raccoon as he shifts mid-air –much to the onlookers' surprise– and lands with an audible poof in Ranboo's shirt-pouch. Okay, maybe he'll trust his friends more.

"Alright, let's get going before she gets down", Tubbo instructs. Tommy is happy to stay in the shirt, lying like a bunch of berries in a grandma's apron, much to Ranboo's displeasure.

"Tommy, get out, please"

Tommy chitters a 'no'.

Ranboo unfurls his shirt in protest. Bastard.

With a hiss, Tommy changes back to human and rubs at the scrape at his chin.

"That fucking hurt, dick", his complaint is quickly brushed off. Stress yells something at them but from that high up, all of them can pretend that they can't hear her. The tenants have never known about how well each of them can hear.

Right as they start running down the street –regretting not having their vigilante outfits with them to change into in an alley– there is a loud crash somewhere in the distance, followed by a flashbang of pure white. Then comes the thunder and with it a building nearby falls.

"WHAT THE FU–"

Looking upwards in the sky, there is only gray and the not-rain coming down on them. Tommy tries to avoid it, and when a Π-shaped piece of it falls on his hand, it dissipates into thin air with the distinct hiss of water landing into fire.

"Okay, what the fuck is happening?!", Tubbo demands from the clouds.

"Guys, I think this has something to do with the stadium", Tommy responds, quickly shooing away more of the weird particles. Can this sort of rain affect Ranboo? Tommy's eyes widen and immediately, he turns to look his friend over.

Ranboo... doesn't look okay. He's fine superficially but... his eyes are zoned out. They're brighter than they usually are and for a split second it reminds Tommy of the time he and The Watcher were sitting across from each other in the McDonald's. It's obviously somehow connected to the guy –they've theorized about a connection between Ranboo and Jimmy's powers after the factory incident– but... Well, they don't know, honestly.

It's creepy.

"Ranboo? Oi, bigman, wake up!", Tommy snaps his fingers in front of the enderborn's face. Ranboo snaps out of it on the second snap, which just so happens to have hit him in the nose. "Fuckin' Hell, dude! What's wro–"

"Duuudes, we have bigger problems on our hands!", simultaneously with Tubbo's shout, another lightning bolt hits not too far away from them and the resounding thunder leaves Tommy's ears ringing.

"That is very true, Tubs!", he shouts over the ongoing roar and it feels like a blast of cold air has hit him in the chest for a hot minute. "Whatever will we do?"

He expects his sarcasm to be met with a remark; some bad words at the very least. He doesn't expect the ground to shake beneath his feet and fuck, this is reminiscent of the World Eater 0.2 entrance scene but certainly, this hasn't been caused by a World Eater of any version!

"Tommy!", Tubbo shouts and before Tommy can comprehend what is happening, he is being pulled back by the collar as the asphalt breaks beneath his feet. Lines and lines of asphalt break and buildings crumble in the same breath, the earth shaking like the antichrist has finally been born and–

"Holy fuck–"

–and copper begins to push and prod at the crumbled black, some piece of mechanism dragging itself out. A giant, ornate, copper cogwheel, bigger than those of the Big Ben with a diameter of at least forty meters is elevated from the hole, the last few of its teeth dripping with a pitch black liquid that seems to hold stars inside of it.

"What the fuck is that?!", a drop of the liquid splashes on the ground near them and, like acid, it burns straight through it. "What is this Alien shit?!"

Ranboo grabs them both and whisks them a bit farther down the road, right as another drop splashes where they were not three seconds ago. When they reappear, the enderborn stumbles on unsteady feet but the two catch him before he can fall. From here, they can see the mechanical gear in its full glory as it rotates and elevates itself far up above the buildings.

The buildings... Impulse is at work, Gem and Pearl are god knows where, Grian and Martyn left not too long ago but–

"We need to get Stress and Fundy", he murmurs to himself, then he repeats it louder so the other two can hear, "We need to get Stress and Fundy!"

"How are we going to get them in this mess?!", Tubbo shouts back, obvious desperation in his eyes. "We're gonna get burnt by those things!"

Another gear piece digs itself out of the street, teeth grinding away at the black asphalt, further tearing it apart and completely disrupting their path home..

"I'll go", Ranboo says with finality. Even though he isn't at full power (having a healing concussion and a bunch of shit that happened an hour ago at least), he is willing to sacrifice himself so that they may continue onwards. Is this bravery or stupidity?

If you have to ask yourself that, it's probably stupidity. Tommy can't bring himself to break the news to Ranboo because time is fucking running at the moment.

"Go!", he yells and swiftly adds as an afterthought, "Be careful, Boob Boy!"

Ranboo teleports away in a flurry of purple particles to the other side of the newly formed chasm of burning death. He is gone from sight within seconds and Tubbo and Tommy do the exact same thing; running the opposite way, of course.

The way to the stadium is filled with debris from fallen buildings and floating gear pieces. Tommy feels like the main character of Subway Surfers, only he isn't dodging cars and roadblocks but rather lengthy cuts in the ground that lead to an acid, burning, horrible, terrible death.

One wrong step and I'm out for real, the gravity of the situation set in only after Tubbo has to pull him up, out of a hole created by a minute hand of an invisible clock.

"Are those clock pieces?!"

And all the while, the weird rain is ongoing, the lightning fresh and hitting nearby treetops and lightning rods and definitely a couple of people.The thunder is worse but Tommy's ears are slowly getting accustomed to the volume, though he still believes that they'll be bleeding by the time this magic storm ends.

"Tommy–", Tubbo gasps beside him and Tommy panics momentarily, thinking something has happened in the one second that the bee wasn't in his line of sight. Thankfully, said bee looks just awe-stricken. No wounds, no bruises...

"What?", they should be running right now, not gawking at whatever it is that Tubbo is gawking at–

That train of thought quickly derails itself and promptly crashes into the nearest braincell as Tommy follows his friend's gaze to the sky.

"What the fuck is that thing...", he is sure that Tubbo can't hear him over the booming of thunder but he is positive that they're sharing the same thought.

Towards the stadium, there is an oval... balloon? Or is that a head? It's blank, white and covered by a green hood. It towers over the whole city and it rises from the city line like a Bakugan on a gate card. Halos of light twirl, crisscross over the creature's head and the more it rises, the more of the cloak it is wearing is revealed.

"Is that the god they were talking about?!"

"Probably?!"

Well, that's probably the god that Tubbo told them about after his escape from the SBI's household. At least, it doesn't look like there is more that god can do other than raise gears and clock hands out of the ground and basically act like the human version of Discord from MLP–

Oh, the fucker has grown wings. Nevermind, I revoke my statement– it can definitely get worse.

Tommy doesn't hesitate before grabbing Tubbo's hand. Together, they run onwards. Is it bravery? Is it stupidity? Is it something in-between? Well... if you have to ask yourself that then, yeah, you know the answer.

They have a good reason to be rushing in like this, though! They have fucking family at that stadium and probably a ton of–

A giant, mechanical goat jumps over them. They don't stop running as it hops from one building to the other and– y'know what, Tommy will just stop questioning things. There will be time for answers after this.