Tommy was allowed to leave the same day, and returned to vigilantism the next day. He went back to work three days later, still full of hatred and grief but needing a paycheck. Tommy knew a lot of people in that theater. He'd charmed one of the workers to let him Tubbo and Ranboo into a horror movie a year or so ago.

Tommy didn't work with any of the heroes he was scheduled to. He stayed in his locked office, only answering to Wilbur every now and again because if he didn't Wilbur threatened to break the door down. Tommy was eventually forced out of his office, but he didn't hesitate to be snarky to Wilbur while he gave Wilbur his report of what he got done. He left for the day not long after.

That night, Tommy went out to stop crime and he didn't hold his punches. It was a slow night, probably because Tommy was taking his time, jumping across rooftops using his wings as a boost. Tommy couldn't properly fly yet, but he could glide and he could get about 5 flaps in before his wings got too tired. Tommy'd been having fun punching criminals and then evading their punches by going in the air and basically jumping over them. It gave him a good distraction.

Tommy was expecting Themis to show up at some point; find out about his biggest secret and know who Tommy is because there's a very scarce amount of bird hybrids in any of the four cities. It'd been long enough for his grounding to be over, and he did get reports whenever Tommy was being aggressive. For whatever reason. Themis never showed up though, and by the last hour of his shift, Tommy did something stupid. He went to North.

Tommy knew it was a bad idea, but he had to see if Themis was patrolling there for the night. He didn't find Themis. He did attract the attention of The Angel though, who swooped down right in front of him.

"What are you doing in North?" The Angel's voice was different than Tommy had ever heard it. Angry. Tommy didn't respond, instead backing away from The Angel and flapping his wings aggressively as a way to deter The Angel from coming closer. The Angel looked shocked and put up his hands. "I'm not here to hurt you. I.. didn't know you were a bird hybrid." Tommy puffed up his wings and The Angel chirped. Tommy relaxed his wings and The Angel moved closer.

"I was going to come see you in West on behalf of Themis. After my patrol, of course. He's basically grounded, he's not allowed to leave the tower for a while. Because I found out he was seeing you every night instead of working and I had different expectations of you." Tommy furrowed his eyebrows and took another step back. He already knew Themis was grounded but why would The Angel come see Tommy in his absence? And, why was he still grounded? It'd been a month at least.

"He's made me aware that what we thought was me sleep flying, was really you calling me and some guy erasing my memory of the event. Could you at least tell me why you call me?" Tommy's throat closed up and he looked behind himself. Of course Themis figured that out, and of course he immediately told The Angel. If he got to the ground in time he could probably get away from The Angel. The Angel already knew Tommy called for him, which was embarrassing enough. Tommy would never tell him the reason he called. The Angel sighed and looked at the building below them.

"I see. Well, Themis also told me that you get injured often. I wanted to offer you a position as my trainee. You'll get paid for coming to HQ twice a week and being trained by me. You can show up in your suit, and you won't be pressured to talk or give away anything about your identity. What do you think?" Tommy stared at The Angel blankly as The Angel reached out his hand.

If Tommy took The Angel's hand, he'd either be arrested, or have a chance at being trained to fight by one of the best heroes in the country. Tommy already had an escape plan, so he liked his chances. Besides, he could just call Eret if The Angel tried anything. Eret would save him. Tommy took two steps toward The Angel and shook The Angel's hand. He smiled, and Tommy took back his hand after a moment. They had a partnership. They started tomorrow night.

Tommy returned home calm, with his wings out on display. For the first time in over a year, he was proud to flaunt his wings. They were finally being of use again. Tubbo looked up at Tommy from a pile of paperwork on his desk. Tubbo sat up and stared at Tommy in wonder at the sight of his relaxed wings.

"You're- RANBOO!" Tubbo called for Ranboo and practically ran over to Tommy. Ranboo came out of the bedroom immediately, top naked as his suit was half off and looking astonished and confused.

Tubbo looked over Tommy's wings, most of the feathers were almost finished coming in, but Tommy desperately needed to preen them. Tommy laughed uncomfortably and pulled the wing Tubbo was messing with closer to him. Ranboo walked over to them and felt Tommy's feathers. Tommy noticed the burn scars on Ranboo's hands and took one of them in his own, looking over the burns.

"My hands got a bit burned when I opened the back of the theater to get to you. Nothing serious, so don't worry about it." Tommy nodded and let go of Ranboo's hand, not wanting to hurt him. Tubbo tapped Tommy's shoulder excitedly, gaining Tommy's attention.

"Can we preen them? I know it's a sensitive subject but it'd be so much easier for you to fly and they would look so pretty." Tommy felt himself tense, and his wings pulled even closer to his body. The idea of having Tubbo and Ranboo preen his wings for him again, something that used to be so intimate between them, it felt suffocating. After the fire, Tommy never let them see his wings. He was disgusted by them for the longest time, and now he was anxious to experience his closest friends cleaning them for him. Tommy swallowed thickly and nodded slightly, looking at the floor instead of his two giddy roommates. Both of them grabbed one of his hands each and led him to the couch, allowing Tommy to avoid their gaze as much as he liked.

Tommy was sat in front of the couch with Ranboo and Tubbo behind him. Ranboo dragged Tommy's old moth plush from under their bed and set it next to Tommy without leaving the couch, making Tommy smile. He grabbed the plush and held it close as Tubbo and Ranboo began working. It was just as comforting as Tommy remembered, and a comfortable silence overtook the room.

Tommy really enjoyed the feeling of hands on his wings, and found himself chirping periodically. Tubbo and Ranboo were enjoying themselves too. Tubbo never thought Tommy would willingly show his wings again, especially after Tubbo forced him to. He hadn't seen Tommy's wings since the fire until then and it was strangely overwhelming. He'd gotten angry at Tommy for no good reason because of it, and Tubbo was glad Tommy forgave and trusted him again.

Speaking of trust,

Phil flew into his room, being unable to conceal his excited chirps the whole way home. As soon as he landed in his room, he ran out of it and called for his son.

"Techno! Get out here!" Technoblade emerged from his room seconds later in a battle stance wielding his sword. Phil ignored the sword and rushed to hug his son, spinning them in his excitement. Technoblade was not a touchy person, so he pretty much wanted to die at the moment.

"My boy! You didn't tell me your vigilante friend was an avian!" Phil put his hands on Techno's shoulders and grinned at him widely. Technoblade's eyes were wide and his jaw slack. "And a fledgling at that! No wonder you call him kid, he's so tiny. It makes sense why he gets hurt so much now, I thought he was just bad at his job. He's an avian!" Technoblade did not share Phil's excitement, experiencing his own turmoil as the dots connected in his head without his permission. Everytime the vigilante got badly hurt, Tommy wouldn't show up to work. Then a few days after Tommy returned to work the vigilante would return. Technoblade had actually managed to get the vigilante a job and he'd been in denial about it the whole time. Tommy was an avian. And a vigilante.

"Tech? What's with the face?" Technoblade couldn't tell Phil the truth, not yet. He needed to put it together in his own head first.

"You saw him?" Phil nodded and ran his fingers through Technoblade's knotted hair. "I don't know why you insist on befriending people who are on the edge of being dangerous, but he seems like a good kid. I invited him to train with me weekly." Boy was Phil full of surprises that night. "He accepted. We start tomorrow. I think with some guidance, he could be a good hero, and he already has to report to Wilbur."

"He won't want to be a hero. He hates heroes." Phil and Techno looked at Wilbur, who was leaning against his doorframe reading a piece of paper. Wilbur looked up at them with piercing yellow eyes, and Technoblade huffed quietly, backing away from Phil slightly and moving his hand to his head. Wilbur's grip on the paper created creases, and Phil stepped towards him in attempt to calm him.

"After all you've done for him, he still hates heroes." Phil looked back at Technoblade, seeing the pained look on his face and the emerald earrings glowing brightly. Phil turned back to Wilbur and slapped the paper out of his hands, reading it himself.

This is stupid and I hate you. I stopped three robberies, kicked the asses of two drug dealers, beat up five guys trying to hurt girls, I'm a bit of a saint. Better than you lot. Oh and I prevented a suicide. Bet you dickbags couldn't do that in a night, and that's a slow night for me. I also stopped someone from drawing a dick on the building in North closest to West. There's still a dick there, it's just that I drew it instead. Because fuck you guys.

As far as Phil was concerned, that was kind of funny. Maybe that's because he already liked the vigilante and he was in too good of a mood to be mad at him.

"Wil, the kid did just go through something traumatic that we could have prevented. I mean I couldn't because my wings are so damn flammable, which also means so are his and he did it. I suppose I could've prevented it too." Wilbur glared at Phil, and Phil swore for a second he saw Kristen behind Wilbur. It caught Phil off guard, but more so when Techno took the paper from Phil and hit Wilbur upside the head with it. Wilbur's eyes stopped glowing and he looked at Technoblade in offense.

"No using your power on Phil. You can be mad if you want but that day was twisted and he has a right to be mad just as much as you do." Phil rubbed his head, in a bit of disbelief that Wilbur would use his power on him purposely. Wilbur used to have a bad habit of doing it to Technoblade to get his way, but never him. Technoblade never saw things, he just heard them. Phil moved closer to Wilbur, but he wasn't looking at Wilbur. Wilbur followed Phil's gaze behind himself, where there was nothing for Phil to be looking at.

"Your wings are so dirty bossman. Can we wash them?" Tommy looked at Tubbo and grimaced. He didn't want to wash them, that meant going to a lake. Besides, it was so early in the morning and he had to work in four hours.

"I think this is enough for today Tubbo, don't want to overwhelm him." Tubbo sighed and Ranboo patted Tommy's head. "You two can take the bed tonight, I'll sleep out here." Tommy and Tubbo stood up and said their good nights to Ranboo before going into the room. Tubbo laid in bed first, facing the wall opposite of Tommy so he could get changed. Tommy laid down a bit after, falling asleep quickly.