They were searching everywhere for him, having no idea where he went. Tubbo and Skeppy were bickering, CEP left after being insulted by Tubbo, Punz was sitting on a trash can it was up to Ranboo and Eret to find Tommy. It was like he vanished. He couldn’t have gotten far because Tubbo shot him, he shouldn’t have even made it out of the alleyway. Eret and Ranboo were asking around about him, since there were people on each street either side of the alleyway. They had been questioning people for so long the sun was about to go down.

“I’m going to ask one more time, did you see that kid?” It wasn’t going well at all. Eret had gotten mad and grabbed some girl by the collar of her shirt and was threatening to punch her if she didn’t comply.

“I don’t know! I don’t remember seeing him.” Eret groaned in frustration and pushed her away from him, beyond frustrated with people. People swear they didn’t see him and if they did they don’t remember it. Eret got an idea and glared at the lady. “Stay put.” Eret ran over to Ranboo as he exited a store.

“Ok physically, how does your brain remember shit?” Eret put their hands on Ranboo’s shoulders and Ranboo froze up, facing away from Eret instinctively.

Eret walked back up to the lady and held her by her shoulders, staring into her eyes.

"Remember whether or not you saw a teenage boy with blond hair about three hours ago." The lady's eyes clouded over and Eret smirked. "Yes." Eret's head began to hurt and he huffed.

“Remember where he went.” The lady pointed left, the exact opposite direction Tommy was originally going in. “Inker Inc.” Eret’s ears began to ring and they let go of the lady, holding their head in their hand while he turned to face the others.

“Inker Inc! On our left.” The other three looked at him briefly before Skeppy started running towards the tattoo shop. Eret crossed through the alleyway with Ranboo on his trail and saw Skeppy talking to some guy. He had tattoos covering his body in different styles, and he had a ton of different piercings.

“Well open it again! Come on, we’ve been looking for him for three hours.” The guy shook his head and shoved the keys to the tattoo shop in his pocket. The motion simultaneously pissed off all of them at the same time.

“No. I was supposed to close an hour ago, those two were lucky I let them stay as long as they did.”

“Wait, those two? Who was the other? We thought he was alone.” The employee shook his head and leaned against the door. Eret felt like strangling the man.

“Nope. A hero came in carrying some unconscious kid. They stayed here until the kid woke up and then they left.” Ranboo growled quietly and Eret looked back at him and Tubbo. Tubbo’s jaw was clenched and his look sharp. Ranboo had small purple particles floating around him and his hands were clenched into fists. Punz was walking up to them calmly with his hands in his hoodie pocket.

“Which. Hero.” Tubbo growled through gritted teeth. The guy stared at them silently for a minute, looking between all of them individually.

"Now that I think about it, he said a group of vigilantes were hunting the kid. Assuming that's you, which one of you knocked him out? Step forward and I'll let you in." Tubbo shoved past Eret and Skeppy and stood in front of the man, glowering up at him.

"We're not vigilantes, we're his friends. He got very bad news and went hysterical. I was trying to keep him from running off." The man held up the needle Tubbo shot Tommy with and looked it over.

"Right. I'm pretty sure they call you Venom. So that's Asshole," the guy pointed at Skeppy and Eret looked at him, seeing Skeppy's confused and insulted look. "That taller fella must be your partner. I'd assume the older guy is too but I know the other one's short." The guy paused and smirked. "Well I'll be damned, that kid was your partner, weren't he?" Ranboo growled slightly louder and Tubbo turned back to Eret.

"We're wasting time, erase his memory." Eret nodded and stepped towards the man.

The air was dank in the tight tunnel, forcing strained lungs to rasp for fresh air. He didn’t know how much farther they had to go, the few supports seemed to be the same. One could get lost in the tunnel forever, he figured until they came across a couple of arrow signs that pointed in each direction the tunnel went. “East” one read, the other; “West”. It became clear of the journey ahead, as the two clambered on into depths unknown to them.

“They’re not here!” Tubbo threw down a chair he’d picked up to search the desk underneath. They were looking in every nook and cranny and had yet to find Tommy. Ranboo put his hand on Tubbo’s shoulder soothingly.

“What did you expect? Guy said they left, they could be anywhere by now.” Tubbo covered his eyes with his hands in frustration while the others crowded the two.

“We should go. Suit up and look for them that way, it will be much faster. Punz, you and I will check the upper districts, we’ll look the most suitable there. Skeppy, you check South, Ranboo and Tubbo you’re on West. We won’t have any way to communicate so meet back at their apartment at midnight. Got it?” They all nodded at Eret’s command and made their way to their respective homes to suit up. Tubbo and Ranboo walked to their apartment slowly, taking the time to process everything.

“So Purpled’s dead, huh?” Tubbo nodded and Ranboo looked down at his hands, examining the blood dripping from crescent shaped wounds in his palms. “Weren’t they like, best friends at one point? I swear I remember Tommy hanging out with him more than us.” Tubbo sniffled and nodded, swallowing dryly at the few memories the four of them shared. He stared at the pavement as he walked, not having the energy to lift his head.

“Yeah, remember when we left them alone for five minutes and they started a grease fire trying to make me a get well soon cake?” Ranboo smiled and nodded, his heart hurting at the memory.

“Of course. You were sick and they wanted to make you a cake to help you feel better. I left the room for five minutes to check your temperature and came back to see them about to splash water on a grease fire.” Tubbo smiled and walked closer to Ranboo, bumping against him occasionally.

“Do you think we’re letting Tommy down?” Ranboo looked at Tubbo, unable to see his face but knowing what expression he was making. Ranboo grabbed Tubbo’s hand and rubbed circles into the back of it with his thumb. “I’m really worried about him. He’s had moments but this is different, he’s with a hero. It feels like now he’d rather be with a hero than with us.” Ranboo stopped walking and turned Tubbo to face him, lifting his chin to make Tubbo’s teary face look up at him.

“That’s not the case, Tubbo. Tommy’s lost a lot of important people in his life this past year. He’s just grieving right now. It’s what he does, you know this. He runs off and deals with his problems alone and then he comes right back.” Ranboo wiped away Tubbo’s tears, ignoring the sting of pain it brought. Tubbo sniffled and nodded, wiping his face in his sleeve.

“I know, but he’s cutting now. He doesn’t just do that. Even you’re worried about him.” Ranboo took a deep breath and nodded. Tubbo stared at Ranboo for a moment before a look of realization struck his face. “Ranboo! Tommy’s with a hero!” Ranboo raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly. “You idiot, where would a hero go if he thought vigilantes were after him?” Ranboo put the pieces together and the two ran towards East.

They burst through the doors of HQ and ran to the receptionist. She looked exhausted, slouched over with her head resting on her hand. Tubbo slammed his hands down on the desk, making her jump awake and look at him.

“Where the fuck is he?” The girl looked confused and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Ranboo put his hand on top of Tubbo’s and the lady looked at him.

"Our friend Tommy, he was taken by a hero. Please, he's in a really bad mental state right now, we just need to know he's ok." The girl sat up and typed something into her computer.

“How long has he been gone?” “Almost four hours now.” The girl sighed and scrolled down. Tubbo and Ranboo were feeling more anxious by the second, desperate for a quick answer. “You know the hero who took him?” Ranboo shook his head and the lady leaned back in her chair. “Well there are four heroes who have been on patrol for four hours. If you two don’t know the hero I can call them all in to find out where your friend is.” Tubbo nodded quickly and Ranboo took a deep breath.

“What heroes are on patrol?”

"Thanatos, Hbomb, Halo, and Faux.”

Eret ran across the rooftops of East. They were all connected, as East avoided alleyways through whatever means necessary including attaching all the buildings. They had to find Tommy, he needed to be with his friends, whether he knew it or not. Eret wanted to assume it was Themis who took Tommy and though he didn’t want to believe it, she assumed Tommy preferred it that way. Tommy worked for the heroes, he’d be fine with them but they didn’t know what he needed.

“Who the hell are you?” Eret stopped and turned to see Thanatos’s white smile mask staring at him beneath his lime green hooded cloak. Eret straightened her posture and stared right back, telling himself they were equal in power to keep himself calm.

“I am a representation of West. One of you heroes kidnapped a kid in West. I've been hired to return him.” Thanatos tilted his head at Eret and crept forward, closing the space between them.

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. Funny how every one of us is an individual, yet we condense ourselves into these terms that only brings us closer to our goals or tears them away from us.” Eret stared at Thanatos nervously and took a deep breath to calm her racing heart.

"You're saying just because you're a hero doesn't mean you know the status of every other hero?" Thanatos nodded slowly and clasped his hands together. His arm buzzed subtly and he looked down at a watch above his black leather gloves and hummed.

"You're very smart for a Western. I like talking to smart people. Come with me.” Eret felt a slight buzzing in the back of their head and remembered Tommy’s interaction with Thanatos. It felt nothing like Tommy described and Eret smirked upon realizing Thanatos’s coercion wasn’t going to work on him.

“I’d like to think we’re of equal power, Thanatos. Your power won’t work on me and I’ll assume mine won’t work on you. This has been fun but I do need to find the child now.” Thanatos tightened his hands into fists and took a deep breath, loosening them again.

“Then I suppose I’ll be seeing you again. Before I go, who is this child?” Thanatos began walking backwards to the edge of the roof while staring at Eret. Eret decided that Thanatos would know Tommy out of costume, and it’d be safe to see if he did have information.

“His name’s Tommy. Been missing for four hours now.” Thanatos perked up at Tommy’s name.

“Tommy? I heard Themis was keeping an eye on him. Turns out I do know something after all. The boy is safe if he's with Themis. Who hired you? Why are they concerned for him?" If Eret didn't know better he'd assume Thanatos was concerned about Tommy. That never was his motivation though.

"His roommates. According to them he's in a horrible mental state and ran off, and they thought they saw a hero grab him but they couldn't tell. I questioned a witness who said the hero thought vigilantes were chasing Tommy, of course I didn't get a name for said hero but now I'm assuming Themis." Thanatos nodded and bowed to Eret before leaning back and falling off the roof. Eret rushed forward and leaned over the edge looking down, seeing nothing on the street below.