Chapter Text
Ranboo lifted their radio to their mouth, speaking into the walkie-talkie. "My route's done, anyone need any help on theirs?"
"All good on my end at this point,", Lancer sighed, "Had some idiot trying to steal a car, but he was using a sledgehammer."
"I mean, he was showing initiative?"
"What, are you interviewing him for a job or something?", Enclave asked, chuckling.
"We were looking for a new roommate-"
The other vigilantes immediately interrupted him, Lancer giving his approval while Enclave told him no.
Enclave let out a sigh. "We're not having a criminal room with us."
"Come on, it'd be funny."
"Two against one,", Ranboo snorted, "Go find that guy again, Lance."
"Gate, if I come home and see a random man in our livingroom, the two of you get locked out for the night."
"Man, only a night? Quick, he can't be that far."
Ranboo ended up being the first one back to their studio apartment, tossing their bag with their homemade gear into the closet next to the door before going to the kitchen in search of a snack.
Sneeg was next, and he announced his presence by letting out an incredibly loud burp.
"Anything else outside of the car jacker?", Ranboo asked, tossing him a bottle of water.
Sneeg sat on the couch, setting his feet up on the coffee table and using his powers to catch the drink. "Nope, just a couple wanna-be muggers. Otherwise I told some dudes why they shouldn't talk to cops and let someone get a picture with me."
"Really putting that degree to use."
"Always. How was your patrol?"
"Nothing interesting,", they shrugged, "Stopped a drunk guy from robbing a food truck, helped someone load groceries into their car."
"Why the fuck was someone getting groceries at midnight?"
"... Y'know, I probably should have asked them that."
The last member of their household finally got in around then, looking considerably more frazzled than either of them had been. "Did you guys see Dream while you were out?"
"No, what?! Are you ok?", Ranboo asked, walking over to Aimsey and immediately checking him over.
"Yeah, I only saw him when I was on my way back, but holy shit."
Sneeg looked considerably less chill than he'd been before. "Did he have the other guy with him?"
Chat seemed confused by that statement for some reason, prompting Ranboo to ask a question that they already knew the answer to. "Other guy?"
"Epiales; his sidekick or whatever."
"I didn't see him, but I wouldn't be shocked if they split up,", Aimsey sighed, teleporting over to the sofa rather than walking, "I couldn't find anything saying why they're around here on my phone, I'm wondering if the Committee might be filtering it out or something."
"Maybe they're looking for us? People have been sharing more pictures of us since the corner store, and it's pretty well known that this is where we patrol,", Ranboo shrugged, teleporting right next to her.
Sneeg scoffed at that, now also on his phone looking for hero sightings. "I hope that's not what's going on, because that only went the way it did because Dream decided to butt in when we had it handled."
Ranboo undid the hiding on only his tail, making sure the rest of his hybrid traits stayed out of view as he occupied his hands. They had to keep in a stressed warble, knowing that Aimsey would clock it immediately.
That was one of the things he missed about when he was living with Tubbo, the short boy could guess what something meant, but it was easy enough to lie about if he didn't want to talk about it. That wasn't the only thing they missed, but it was the one at the forefront of their mind in that moment.
"Ran? You alright?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm...", he tried to think of an excuse, sighing when chat told him to just be honest, "I'm thinking about Tubbo again."
"Oh, was he a Dream fan?"
Ranboo couldn't stop himself from laughing at that, shaking his head. "Oh hell no, but he... We used to keep up with the stuff going on with him in the media and clown on him. Tommy even ended up running into him a handful of times,", they smiled, stopping themself from saying anything else in case it got incriminating.
The smile disappeared almost as fast as it'd been there, and Aimsey let out a sympathetic warble as he moved a little closer.
"I mean, Dream is really easy to make fun of."
"Yeah, I'm doing it right now,", Sneeg snorted, holding his phone up, "Twitter account number five, up on the chopping block as I try to start a rumor about him being bald under there."
"Don't call him bald, that's an insult to Fit and Jack,", Ranboo snorted.
"That might be enough to motivate Fit to just shoot him and get it over with, MC vs Dream right in the lobby of the hero tower."
"Yo, I actually kinda wanna see that; maybe we should figure out how to set up a bot net to spread that better."
"There's better ways to waste a couple hundred dollars,", Aimsey chuckled, setting her arm on Ranboo's shoulder, "But that would be funny."
"You need to stop being the voice of reason as often as you are, you're too short for that."
"Wh- Hey! What the hell has that got to do with anything?!"
"Everything,", Ranboo chuckled, getting to their feet, "I think I'm gonna go for a walk."
He stopped when he passed the window, though, and saw the droplets of water hitting it's surface. It'd started raining while they'd been sitting there, and looking at the weather app on his phone showed that it was meant to turn into a downpour not long after that point.
"Ok, nevermind, I do not feel like being crispy tonight,", they sighed, sitting right back down between their friends.
Sneeg used his telekinesis to bring the TV remote over, also picking up the switch controllers. "Mario Kart?"
"Yeah, that works."
~-~-~
Schlatt flailed his arm around, trying to find his phone and shut off whatever horrible alarm was going off before realizing that it was the brain demons and letting out a tired sigh.
"I fucking hate you things,", he muttered, sitting up so those assholes would shut up.
Ranboo had tried explaining how it worked to him when it started becoming an issue, but he'd been drunk at the time so none of it had really been retained. Not like he could ask for a recap, either, with how distant his kids were at this point; best he could do was put up with it and ignore the 'chat' when at all possible.
He only had serious problems with it when he was wasted, anyways, so as long as he held back some when he had to do something important he was usually alright.
For the most part.
It was around noon, so he figured being woken up like that was his sign to get his shit together and work out what he was doing next. Prison break had gotten them nowhere, stealing files from the tower was a dead end, waiting for him to show up on his own was past the window of being realistic by that point.
All of Tubbo's plans after he started fighting with Ranboo were shit, not that Schlatt really blamed him for leaning fully into the 'mad scientist' shit he was doing before. Ranboo had decided to go the complete opposite direction with it, deciding to be a vigilante of all things to cope with everything.
Schlatt found it kinda frustrating that he didn't really know how to help with any of that, but he'd never been good with emotional shit. At least those two were keeping Quackity updated on what they were up to, meaning that Schlatt just had to throw some money at that asshole if he wanted to check in.
He got his phone out, trying to figure out how he wanted to go about this while the voices argued in his head. They decided that they wanted him to text Wilbur over Quackity, and he begrudgingly complied.
"Fucking lucky I was considering him anyways."
'Hey, you busy?'
'Too busy to get shit faced with you right now.'
'Not why I'm texting you.'
'Then get to the point.'
'Get the stick out of your ass and I'll tell you.'
'Don't waste my time, and I'll be nicer about it.'
Schlatt could barely stand him when he acted like that, but those moods were the normal at this point, so he held back from insulting him and got to what he'd initially messaged about. 'Was thinking it's been long enough since the prison break that we could do some big shit again.'
'Shouldn't you be contacting the short one for something like this?'
'I'm not going to him until I have at least part of a plan to shove at him, last time I asked him to come up with one he wanted to round up the heroes and make them fight in a pit.'
'Sounds fun, why aren't you doing it?'
'It's fun, but it doesn't get us anywhere.'
'Neither has any of the other shit we've done. Go hire some goons or something, I've got my own shit to do.'
Schlatt put his phone down with a huff. "There, see? Waste of my fucking time. Can I text Q now without you things throwing a tantrum?"
He was adressing chat directly, and after some deliberation they agreed to let him do that.
"Great, holy shit,", Schlatt scoffed, switching the text conversation he had open.
'Any squatters today?'
'In the clear right now, but 4 was hanging around outside again so you need to be careful.'
'Send me half an escort?'
'He's busy.'
'I'm coming no matter what, so either send him or I go in the front door.'
He could practically hear the sigh on the other side of the phone. 'Slime's doing something for me, but I'll send someone else to get you; ok?'
'Better not annoy me, or I'm killing them.'
'He'll fight back. Any reason you're showing up, or are you just raiding my bar stock again?'
'Been long enough since the prison break, I'm starting to get bored. Figured we could try thinking up more shit to do.'
'Not alot left in that department.'
'We still have some fuckers we haven't questioned yet, they might give us something to work with.'
Quackity didn't answer him right away, so he took that time to get himself ready to get out of the sewers. When a response was sent, the short man's frustration was clear. 'We gotta draw the line somewhere with this, I'm not made of money.'
'I've got more than enough to mess with.'
'Ok, but that doesn't change what we already know; no one who was in there heard anything about him. You were in that shithole even longer than I was, you know how fast shit like that spreads.'
'Yeah, and I know they like to keep people in the hole for a while before they throw them in with everyone else. I'm not giving up on this yet.'
'Are you trying to say I am?'
Schlatt decided he wanted to completely ignore that statement. 'When the fuck is the car getting here?'
'Listen you fucking-'
He didn't read the rest of that message, completely ignoring it and the one that came immediately after as he sent another text.
'Just tell me when the fucking car is here, alright? We can argue about this shit when I get there.'
That garnered an entire wall of text this time that he wasn't going to read, and he settled on his ratty sofa again with a sigh. "Why can't shit ever be easy?"
~-~-~
Ranboo was very hesitantly out doing his patrol route, far more on edge than he'd been in months. Dream being spotted was enough to scare them off for a few days, but they'd gone back out after they started feeling bad about pushing their responsibilities off onto their friends.
They'd been hoping the sighting was a one-time thing, since the hero had absolutely no reason to be in that part of the city, and were doing their best to get back into the usual pattern of stopping petty crimes and deterring anything worse from going down.
That hope was dashed about an hour in, when something was shot into the rooftop directly in front of him when he was jumping between buildings. Ranboo instinctually teleported back from it, trying to see what the object was before it was retracted by a wire attached at the back.
"Hello,", the person that'd shot the thing at them approached, the weapon on his hand pointed directly at them, "I have questions for you, and you'd do well to comply."
The person that'd shown up was very quickly identified as Epiales, and Ranboo had to keep in an incredibly anxious warble at the sight of the sidekick.
The guy worked under Dream, and his outfit was nearly identical to the hero; only difference being that the recognizable green was replaced with a dark purple that would blend into the darkness entirely if it weren't for the mask.
Ranboo put their hands up to show they weren't armed. "Woah- Look man, I'm just-"
"State your name, and any powers you have."
"Endgate, and all I can do is teleport."
"So you're a hybrid, then."
They stayed quiet, jumping when the sidekick fired his weapon in the exact same way as before. Epiales used gloves to fire out darts, five on each hand that were sharp enough to lodge into pavement and buildings. Those were connected by metallic wires, and acted as his main weapon and mode of transport since they were strong enough to support his weight.
Or reliably tie someone up.
"I already know the answer, but refusing to speak isn't a particularly bright move on your part. Since you're an End hybrid, same as your little friend Enclave, I'd like to know if either of you are aware of any others in the area."
Chat were incredibly adamant that he needed to get the fuck out of there, now. So, rather than answering, Ranboo let out a concerned warble before teleporting down to the street and booking it.
Epiales clearly knew that's what they were going to do, since he managed to wrap one of his darts around the enderman's leg before they warped; coming along for the ride and taking a moment to re-orient himself after the teleport.
"Hey, uh- Guys? I-", Ranboo panted into his walkie-talkie, exhausted already since he wasn't used to teleporting other people anymore, "Might need some help? I think? Epiales is attacking me for some reason."
They couldn't really tell who was answering, way more focused on trying to avoid more darts being sent their way.
"Where are you?"
"Uh- Pine and Reed, on Reed right now."
"Got it, I'm close enough to help. Get ready to duck."
They were about to ask why, but the question was answered by MC skidding around the corner with his Gun out. Five bullets were shot out of the glock-shaped object at Epiales, making the hero pause as they bounced off of his bulletproof suit.
That gave Ranboo a chance to untangle themself from the darts, getting to their feet and going to hide behind the bald vigilante. "Thanks, man."
"No problem, why's this loser going after you?"
"I was trying to be polite and ask some questions, rather than just arresting you,", Epiales grumbled, sounding annoyed, "This is why I hate dealing with vigilantes."
"Didn't really look like you were asking him very much when I got here."
"He was fleeing! And the fuck do you mean 'didn't look like it when I got here'; eh?! You just showed the fuck up and started fucking shooting me!"
"You were chasing them."
Epiales muttered something under his breath, putting a hand to his mask like he was pinching the bridge of his nose as he cleared his throat. "I told you to comply at the start of this, you clearly have no intentions of that. I'm not out here trying to arrest anyone tonight, believe me I wish I was, I'm only here trying to gather information."
MC lowered his Gun, but didn't put it away. "Information about what, exactly?"
"The Committee higher-ups are starting to get antsy about the lack of action from certain villain groups, and think there may be a connection between the End hybrids running around with you lot and TwoTone."
"... Didn't you kill that guy?"
Chat, somehow, was in complete agreement that Ranboo should remain calm in this situation, helping to at least temporarily get rid of their anxiety as they pretended to agree with MC. "Wait, yeah; he hasn't been back since you guys shot him."
Epiales folded his arms. "We don't know for sure, since we haven't got a body. Which is why we're tracking you down, to see if you know anything about it."
"Kinda rude to assume all End hybrids know eachother, right?"
"I- Well, you and Enclave- The Committee figures-", the sidekick stuttered, stopping after a moment and clenching his hands into fists, "You're messing with me."
Ranboo held their hands up in front of themself. "No- Look, man, I'm just saying that it's dumb to expect people to know eachother because they're similar types of hybrid."
"That would be a valid point if I were questioning people on the street, but when you're all criminals-"
"Don't compare End to that guy!", MC put an arm out in front of Ranboo, "They're helping people out here, which is alot more than we can say about you."
Ranboo was incredibly glad for their mask, since it was hiding the sheer amount of guilt they felt with MC defending them like that.
Epiales didn't like being compared to them, readying both sets of his darts. "Right, I'm changing my mind; you're going to jail tonight."
Ranboo grabbed MC and teleported a few blocks away, not wanting anything to do with that situation. They crash landed, with MC on top of him as they skidded on the pavement.
"Oh shit, you good?", the bald man asked, helping him sit up.
"I- Yeah, just need a second."
"Take your time, I'm keeping an eye out,", MC cocked his Gun, "Any idea how far we went?"
"Uh... Should be around Arlington? Might wanna look for a sign to double check that."
"Looks like it. I didn't know you could do that, teleporting with someone else like that; it's pretty cool!"
"It's been a while, I'm really out of practice,", Ranboo cleared their throat, getting to their feet.
"Gimme a heads-up if you're gonna puke, my suit isn't particularly easy to clean."
"Should be good on that-"
He was interrupted by Aimsey on the walkie-talkies, her voice coming out of his and MC's at the same time. "Come in, you two alright?"
"Yeah, End teleported us a few blocks away from that loser."
"Wait, Ra- Gate, you can do that?"
"Not reliably,", they huffed, still out of breath for the most part, "Keep an eye out for Dream, Epiales said he's looking for the two of us specifically."
"Why?"
"Probably better to have that conversation at home later, when we're not actively looking out for heroes shooting us."
"I mean, it looked like he was shooting near-", MC started, getting interrupted by a dart hitting the wall between his and Ranboo's heads.
"No, he's shooting at,", Ranboo grabbed MC's hands, aiming his Gun at Epiales as the sidekick loomed ominously on the rooftop above them, "Please shoot back!"
"Don't need to tell me twice!"
The bald man rattled off a few shots, and the two of them took off into the street. Epiales tanked the bullets again, firing more darts at them and using his wires to swing himself down to them. Ranboo dodged more darts as the sidekick gave chase, already exhausted from his teleports.
"How the hell did he catch up to us that fast?!"
"I don't know, but I'm guessing the teleport isn't gonna work a second time?"
"Yeah, no, I can't-"
"By authority of the Hero Committee, both of you are under arrest. Any further resistance only add to your list of charges, and compliance may lessen the consequences you face,", Epiales shot another dart at them, managing to get it wrapped around Ranboo's torso this time.
"Shit, shit, shit- MC, I think you might wanna get going man!"
"I'm not gonna let you get-"
"One of us is better than both!"
The wire around him went slack, and he turned to see someone new landing between him and Epiales.
"I vote we save everyone the headache and make it neither."
Ranboo hid a relieved sigh, followed by an annoyed groan as they scrambled to their feet and stood next to MC. The other vigilante had his Gun pointed at the villain's back, but Ranboo pushed the weapon down toward the ground. "Maybe don't shoot the guy that's helping us right now."
Epiales seemed surprised, retracting his darts. "Paper Wasp."
"Epilepsy,", Tubbo made sure there was a healthy dose of sarcasm in his tone, giving the hero a nod, "Out of character for you to be hunting the vigilantes for sport."
"Fuck off, you know that's not my fucking- Is this confirmation you're working with them, then?"
Tubbo looked back at them, clearly making eye contact with Ranboo despite the masks before folding his arms and turning back to Epiales. "No, I don't give a shit about any of the wanna-be heroes. But, they make my life easier if left alone to take care of the stupider criminals that you lot refuse to deal with. So, as entertaining as it was to watch you chase them, I'd rather keep them on the streets to do your job for you."
The first part stung to hear, since he knew that Tubbo had meant it, but Ranboo did his best to hide the way he winced.
Mc elbowed them in the side, quietly getting their attention. "I think we should bail, before those two start going at it."
"R- Tw- Ender Chest, or whatever the fuck his name is, has a tracker on him,", Tubbo said without turning around, "If you wait a moment, I can deal with it after I scare off the vermin."
Chat were incredibly excited to see Tubbo for some reason, despite being on the same page about being upset with him usually, and unfortunately that meant that Ranboo was stuck there now. "I- Yeah, ok."
"Dude, seriously?", MC sounded confused, about to say more when Epiales cleared his throat.
"I'll save you the trouble, then, because I don't have any more patience tonight,", the sidekick brought all of his darts back in, pressing something on his wrist as he backed up, "Dream is on his way to deal with you, and if the vigilantes are smart they'll clear off and stop trying to play hero before they end up getting hurt. This isn't over, it's only a road block- An incredibly easy road block to clear."
Ranboo let out a sigh of relief as they watched Epiales bail, about to thank Tubbo before the short bastard threw down an EMBee and smashed it without any kind of warning.
"Dude, what the hell?!"
"I said I'd take care of the tracker; if you were smart, you wouldn't have any personal devices with you while you're out doing this,", the short man folded his arms.
"We have our walkie-talkies, those things are expensive! And I had my phone on me!"
"Then you're a fucking idiot. Goodnight."
"You-!"
Tubbo left without saying anything further, using his suit wings to get back up to the rooftops.
Ranboo nearly followed, remembering that MC was there and immediately trying to think of a way to explain the interaction. "That's what I get for thinking a villain might be at least kinda decent,", Ranboo sighed, hand on the back of their head, "I hope you didn't have your phone or anything on you man; that thing's cooked."
"Should be fine, I have it in a Faraday bag to keep the cops from tracking me. I'm more worried that whatever he dropped gave us, like, super cancer or something."
"It's- From what I know, it's just an EMP wave, he didn't hit us with the Demon Core or anything."
"Oh, good, good... Be honest with me man, do you really have nothing to do with those guys? You know I won't judge, I've got my own shady shit in my past."
"I'll tell you later, ok?", Ranboo didn't want to lie, but he needed more time to come up with a good story before explaining anything to him.
"I'll hold you to that,", MC messed with his radio, getting nothing, "Yeah, this thing's toast, we should go find someone else and get in contact."
"Think I'm gonna just head home, man. Should have an extra one there I can check in from, you should go find Lancer. I think he was out by Elder tonight."
"Got it, Stay safe End."
"You too, I have a feeling Paper being out is gonna rile the heroes up way more than anything we're usually up to,", they sighed, offering a wave.
MC returned the gesture, heading in the direction Ranboo had said Sneeg was. Ranboo couldn't really be bothered with changing and walking back to his apartment, instead taking a few teleports to get back and land on the couch in a pile of exhaustion.
All of their hybrid features were out, they didn't have enough energy left to do anything about it, and they sat there wallowing in their own misery for a while. They had something to do, though, and dragged themself over to the closet full of vigilante stuff to get a walkie-talkie.
"Hey, Endgate checking in. Got a new walkie, on my way back now,", the lie was solely in case someone was listening in to their unsecured radio signal, "Did MC manage to find any of you guys?"
"He ran into me, yeah; I was heading over to check in on you,", Aimsey responded.
"Thankfully neither of us were really hurt, the only casualty tonight was my phone,", they sighed, hoping they'd at least be able to get some photos off of it, "I'm probably gonna have to use an old one for a while."
"Oh no, that sucks. I'll ask more about what happened with Paper Wasp later, I'm just glad you guys are alright."
"We'll talk when you're back, yeah. Stay safe."
"You too, see you in a bit."
They put the walkie-talkie back on the charger with a sigh, going to change out of their suit before their roommates got back and trying their best to work up the strength to hide their features again.
Sometimes, he wished he'd told them about his past. But, at the same time, that would probably be a horrendous idea. What would they think of him if they found out he used to be a supervillain?
That he has a kill count?
There was no way that would end well, and they couldn't stand the thought of getting pushed away by even more people in their life. Why couldn't things be simple?
Ranboo ended up giving a basic description of what'd happened with Tubbo through their bedroom door when the other two got home, not using the short man's name obviously, and was incredibly happy they didn't have any more questions.
The night had already been long enough, and he really wasn't up for coming up with excuses.
~-~-~
'Gonna be late, I need to go yell at Tubbo about something; related to why I'm not using the normal phone.'
Techno sent a thumbs up in response, looking out the window with a sigh. He was really the only one that went to Bad's diner anymore, and even then it was only about twice a month when he was checking in with Ranboo.
That was the only in person interaction they really needed with eachother at that point, since the enderman had gotten their chat figured out. Techno made sure he kept his word on that, since it seemed kinda wrong to go back on helping him after promising Tommy that he would he would, and it was pretty easy to tackle with how calm Ranboo's chat usually were.
Compared to his, anyways.
They kept in touch still, even though his help wasn't really needed anymore; Ranboo was pleasant to be around. The two of them were incredibly similar sometimes, and tended to 'share the braincell' as chat liked to say.
Speaking of chat, his had been... off, for the last few days. Like they were confused about what was going on, and had no idea who certain people were or what their deal was. It was strange, and not something that'd happened before.
He'd managed to catch Wilbur before he left to do crime boss stuff or whatever right when it'd started, but nothing was weird by whatever standards his brother used to judge it.
They weren't really doing anything out of the ordinary otherwise, but it was definately a concern. He thought about it while waiting for Ranboo to show up, startling some as they sat down with a huff.
"You, uh- You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm-", Ranboo interrupted himself with a sigh, lowering his voice and explaining what happened the night before.
"So they know you're still around."
"The way he made it sound, they're not sure, but I'm going with an incredibly solid 'probably',", Ranboo put their hands over their face, making a frustrated noise, "And I have to explain why it happened to MC now, since chat had me promise I'd tell him about it."
Techno let out a sigh as chat made him ask the question right then. "I'm not phrasing it like that. Has your chat been acting weird lately?"
"You mean have they been 'seeming sus lately'?"
"Is yours asking that too?"
"No, but I recognized the 'lately' at the end of that. What's up?"
"It's like they forgot a ton of stuff or something; they had no idea what Wilbur's up to, and I woke up to them freaking out about Tommy on Tuesday."
Ranboo tried to use their hand to hide a frown, thinking. "I mean... kinda, actually. They had no idea who Epiales was before they saw him, and they seemed really confused about the v- what I've been up to."
"Any idea why?"
"Does it- If they were bringing him up, is it related to that? It's around the time of year when you guys met him again."
"Might explain why it's only mine talking about him,", Techno sighed.
"I mean, mine bring him up pretty often anyways, but it's usually related to whatever's going on at the time; I don't think they've randomly brought him up since the prison break. They've been more focused on my roommates and... hobby than him."
"Yeah, it's the same with mine... And they didn't do this last year. Nothing like that, at least. It's like they're stuck three years ago all of a sudden."
3?! 3?!! AIN'T BEEN THAT LONG
Girlbossed to close to the sun i guess
CONTEXT??? HELLOO??? DONT LEAVE US IN THE DARK MAN
WHAT?!!! WHERE IS OUR BOY?!
We got time skipped? Rude nobady told us
A 3 YEAR TIME SKIP?!
*confused microwave noises*
WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING
last thing we remember is tommy leaving!!?
WE NEED A WHOLEBACKSTORY ON EVERYTHING THATS HAPPENED
Who are you talking about?
WHA ITS BEEN 3 YEARS?????
*hand emoji* Back up and start from the begining the both of you
No wait no... wait... waiiit no
WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN CHUCKED BACK THREE YEARS ???????? WHAT
I'm acting like I don't know anything for drama :))
THREE YEARSSSSS???!!
it's me boys I'm the chat speaking to you inside your brain
WYSAJSJK
THREE YEARS?
THREE YEARS????? THREE YEARS AGO??????? WHAT
Jhvsbsnsubsenb
THREE?!?!
Both of them winced as their chats freaked out at the same time, looking at eachother.
"Maybe we should go talk somewhere else,", Techno said, already on his feet. They paid for the stuff they'd gotten and left, going out to Techno's car.
Ranboo was significantly more freaked out by chat's reaction, keeping his composure in spite of that as he tightly gripped his upper arms. "Ok, so they're- They didn't know he was gone? Or that it's been that long since it happened? Is that what you're getting from yours too?"
"They're pretty hung up on the 'three years' part, but yeah,", Techno tried to think of everything he'd heard, "Alot of 'what's happenings' and stuff like that."
"But why now? There's not anything big going on, we don't have any new news about him; has this ever happened to you before?"
Techno turned his head to hide a frown. "No, it hasn't. I have no idea what's up with them."
"... Is Wilbur planning anything?"
"I can ask, but he doesn't tell me anything anymore."
"Ok, so you- I can check in with Schlatt,", they sighed, sticking their hands over their face with a stressed warble, "I'm gonna need to figure out what to tell my roommates while I'm dealing with this."
"Don't tell them anything, they don't need to know what you're up to at all times."
"I- Yeah, yeah. Not really gonna feel the best about it, but we need to figure this out."
"You want a ride anywhere, since you're already at the car?"
Ranboo thought about it for a minute, eventually nodding. "You remember where the sewer entrance was?"
"Think so, but I'm not getting too close."
"No, that's fine; just need to be close enough I can warp."
Techno gave a nod, and the ride was silent for the most part as he dropped the enderman hybrid off. He sent Wilbur a text asking where he was, and his older brother's response was to call.
"I'm busy."
There was a bunch of background noise, implying that he was in the middle of something.
"I can hear that. When are you not busy? I need to talk with you."
"I can-", glass or something shattered, and he took a moment before continuing, "I think I should be free later tonight? Is it anything you're able to tell me over the phone?"
"Chat realted."
"Ah, are you finally elaborating on what it was you were having me look for?"
"Yeah."
"You saw the tall one today, correct? Did he have anything to say about it?"
"Same thing for him, no idea why though; he's talking to the sewer rat, I'm talking to you."
Wilbur muttered something that the phone didn't quite pick up, eventually sighing. "I'll be home later tonight, it won't be for very long, so figure out what it is you want to say ahead of time."
"You're gonna be having me fill out a form with your secretary at this rate,", Techno snorted.
"I asked Q if he'd be one for my, he told me to go fuck myself,", he laughed, taking a moment to collect himself, "See you later, yeah?"
"See you, don't get shot or anything."
"Rest assured, no guns are currently involved. Please hang up so I don't have to get my phone out again."
"Nah, I wanna eavesdrop."
"Please."
"Come on, I can give commentary like your life is a Let's Play. Go blow up a fire hydrant."
"I have plenty of intrusive thoughts of my own, thank you."
"Cringe,", he chuckled, "See you later."
"Goodbye."
Techno paused his game when he heard Wilbur approaching outside, meeting him by the door when he entered. "Hullo."
"I have around an hour before I have to leave again, so hopefully this issue of yours isn't too serious,", Wilbur sighed as he took off his shoes.
"Wow, I feel so appreciated."
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding,", Wilbur chuckled, "Not about the hour part, though, I am properly on a time limit."
"Are you planning on doing anything big with your guys?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary, at most we'll be seeing how far we can get robbing a bank. Why, has your chat been saying otherwise?"
The majority of chat wanted him to get to the point, but a good chunk of them were just excited to see Wilbur.
"Holy shit, what are they doing?"
Techno took a moment to collect himself before answering. "That's the issue right now, They- It's like they got reset or something; they're acting like this is the first time they've seen you in a while. Even though I've talked to you already while it's been happening."
"And you have no idea what's causing it?"
"... I have one, but I have no idea what it means."
"Never comforting to hear when it comes to chat."
"You saw how freaked out I was when I asked you to check before, right?"
"Yes, it scared the shit out of me."
He tried to think of a better way to say it before explaining. "When I woke up the day before I brought it up,", he took a deep breath, "They started going crazy like they were right when Tommy went missing. About him. And it's like they don't know any of the stuff that's happened since that, so I'm wondering if there's anything new relating to him."
Any semblance of a smile was gone from Wilbur's face. "And you aren't fucking with me about this?"
"You know I wouldn't do that."
"How far back does it seem like they've forgotten?"
"I think it's right when I saw he wasn't here, based on reactions."
"And the tall one is having the same issue?"
"Not exactly the same, but his seem like they're missing stuff too; all of them freaked out when they heard me say it's been three years."
"I- No, no I found out anything new in regards to him. Haven't had any new ideas about the situation, either,", Wilbur's tone was completely serious now, "Please let me know if you hear any different from Ranboo."
"Of course. Sorry I'm bringing it up without any kind of warning-"
"It's alright, I understand why."
"Tell me if you end up doing anything involving the heroes, if nothing's going on right now with Schlatt, then my next guess is that it's gonna be soon and we need to be ready for it... I'm not gonna have my hopes up that it's related to him,", he added on that last part after a moment of silence, staring down at the floor.
"Yes, that's... I think that's for the best, after how the Holding Facility went."
"Is there anything else you were gonna do while you're here?"
"I was planning on getting something to eat. Why don't you tell me how the rest of your day has gone outside of that while I do so?"
"Well, I've been farming potatoes again-"
"Oh no."