Chapter Text
He loved his kids. He really did.
But he did not want to deal with their villainous schemes.
Not today.
It was supposed to be date night.
“Ares, Loki. Leave or I will attack.” Phil, Zephyrus, said coldly. The two villains glanced at each other and simultaneously drew their weapons.
Zephyrus sighed. He pulled out his sword and met Ares head on, blades clashing harshly.
“You’re goin’ to regret comin’ after us, old man,” Ares grunted.
Zephyrus snorted and aimed a kick for the villain’s ankles. Then he ducked as Loki tried to throw a punch at his head.
They fell into a familiar dance of blades and violence. Each time was different, to make sure the media didn’t catch anything.
But really, Phil was trying his best to make sure he didn’t hit the two evasive villains. He could tell that the two of them were trying not to hit him as well.
‘Zephyrus. Do you need back-up? If you don’t bring them in tonight, you and I are having a meeting,’ said a voice through his earpiece.
“No Morpheus. I got this.” He replied, gritting his teeth as his blade caught Ares’s again.
‘Oh, really now. You seem to be doing so well.’ Morpheus snarked, condescension coloring his tone.
“You are really not helping me focus mate. Can you shut up?” Phil grunted, pushing a gust of air towards Loki and knocking him off his feet.
Ares had melted into the shadows, leaving his brother alone on the rooftop with Phil.
‘Fine, fine.’ The earpiece went static-y and shut off. Phil grinned as he zeroed in on Loki, wings spread to make himself look bigger.
“I told you to run.” He said loudly.
Loki scoffed and Phil could tell that he was rolling his eyes under the mask.
“I never run from a fight.” The villain hissed, trying to kick Zepherus’s ankles out from under him.
Phil jumped straight up into the air and hovered over the villain. He made it look like he was about to attack, about to deal the fatal blow.
The reality was… much different.
“You little shits. Tonight was date night. You couldn’t have let me get one night off?” Phil hissed at his son.
“Sorry dad. Mum approved.” His son whispered back, and he could hear the smile in his voice.
Phil flicked a quick glance at Ares. He was back now, but hiding, out of sight of the media, ready to collect his brother when the charade was over. Phil made eye contact and dropped out of the air.
His sword embedded itself into the roof just barely to the right of Loki’s stomach.
Loki let out a convincing scream and went limp. Zephyrus pulled his sword out of the roof and turned, wings still spread to block the very much alive villain from view.
He looked at the helicopter that was just above the fight. It would leave, following him to the tower where he would have to once again tell Dream and the other heroes how he had let one of their enemies escape.
Again.
Phil tipped off the side of the building, letting his wings fill with air and lifting him into the sky. He could hear the helicopter following close behind him and grinned under his mask. His kids had gotten away safe one more time.
It was a short ten minute flight to the high roof of the Hero Tower. The building was the tallest around and its polished windows shone brightly on a sunny day. But today was not a sunny day.
That boded very well for Phil.
Heavy on the sarcasm.
He sighed as he pushed open a door labeled ‘roof access’, which led to the elevators and stair wells, taking a minute to decide the route he wanted to take.
On one hand, the elevators were faster, but he wanted to push off this meeting as long as possible.
On the other hand, the stairs were slower, but he was tired. It’s been a while since he felt this drained.
It was a testament to how good his kids were getting.
He chose the elevator. It was better to get chewed out sooner rather than later, and he’d rather have his wits about him when he faced his boss.
Phil sighed again and pressed the down button.
He watched as the numbers over the door smoothly went down, stopping on level 23.
The elevator chimed quietly and he stepped outside, almost running into Morpheus’s little hero-in-training.
The kid was new, if you can count nine months as new, and he didn’t have a code name yet. Nobody in the tower had seen the kid’s face either, which was a precaution to make sure his identity wouldn’t be leaked before he was ready.
“Morpheus wants to see you.” The hero-in-training muttered. His bright blue eyes were bright with concern and pity under his mask.
Phil just nodded and followed the kid down the hall. Something nagged at the back of his mind, just like always when he saw the trainee, but he decided it was because of the mystery he posed.
Nothing more.
The door at the end of the hallway was made of plain dark oak. The only thing decorating it was the plaque reading ‘Morpheus- Director of the Coalition of Public Heroes’.
Phil stifled a chirp of amusement as he read the plaque. The little hero-in-training looked at him and whispered, “Good luck. If you make it out, could you spar with me?”
Phil nodded and pushed the door open.
Dream was sitting behind his grand desk, the dark gray sky making the whole scene more ominous.
“Phil, I see you have once again failed to bring in Ares and Loki. It makes me think you almost don’t want to get paid.” the Director said calmly.
Phil started blankly ahead, not daring to make eye contact.
Just like with Loki, Dream needed a way to work his waking nightmares into a person’s mind.
And the eyes just happen to be windows to the mind.
“Look at me Philza!” Dream roared, his calm facade quickly dropping, getting to his feet and slamming his hand on his polished desk.
Phil continued to look calmly at a spot just above the man’s head.
“I gravely wounded Loki. I could not apprehend Ares as he had gotten away when Loki attacked.” He said in a monotone voice. The less emotion in the delivery, the less he would be scolded.
Please believe me, please believe me.
“You say that every single time, Philza. Either one or both get away and if you give them fatal wounds, they always come back.” Dream hissed, stepping closer to Phil.
Phil decided to change it up, his eyes shifting to the photos over Dream’s shoulder.
“We don’t know if they have a very developed healer on their side. The Intel our teams gather can be quite lacking.” Phil sighed.
“We have no records of any healer being able to bring people back from the dead.” Dream scoffed, his irritation coming off him in waves, “You're going senile, old man.”
Phil’s eyes snapped to the white porcelain mask, his feather involuntarily fluffing out in anger.
“Only my sons are allowed to joke about that, sir.” He hissed, clawed fingers curling tightly behind his back.
Dream took a step back and lowered his head.
That’s right. Know your place. You may be a director, but I am still far more experienced than you.
“You are free to go.” Dream muttered, sitting back down at his desk and busying himself with some reports.
Phil nodded and swept out of the office.
He stood in the hallway for a moment, breathing deeply. He needed to control his anger before he sparred with the hero-in-training. He didn’t want to accidentally hurt him.
Prime knows Dream already does it enough.
Besides being unfairly cruel to the captured villains and vigilantes, Dream was also a firm believer of capital punishment, even towards his own employees.
And because the trainee worked closely with the director, he bore the brunt of that belief.
Phil wanted desperately to take the kid, who could not possibly be an adult, which was very illegal, and join his sons and wife in their little crime family.
But the kid didn’t trust him, didn’t trust any of the heroes, and hadn’t let him close enough to actually talk.
That or Dream was around, circling like a vulture.
In any case, Phil was calmer now. He got back in the elevator and pressed the button to take him to the 10th floor.
Phil found the proper door and pushed it open, revealing a spacious gym-like place. Dream’s hero-in-training was stretching in the far corner. He had looked up when he heard the door open and quickly got to his feet.
“Hey mate. Are you ready to spar?” Phil asked as he approached.
The kid nodded and he shifted into a defensive stance. Phil looked it over for a moment.
“Move your front foot a little to the left. Center your point of balance so that it’s easier to dodge a blow.” He instructed.
The kid did so and Phil nodded, falling into a defensive position himself. They moved in a circle for a moment before the trainee threw the first punch. Phil easily dodged.
“Your eyes gave you away.” Phil said when the kid’s brows furrowed in frustration under the mask, “While you do have to aim, try not to look at that spot for more than a second. Look somewhere else and try to throw your opponent off guard.”
Phil demonstrated by looking at the kid’s stomach and making it seem like he was going to hit there before flicking his eyes to the kid’s arm and making the motion of a punch.
The kid flinched, but Phil made sure to not actually touch him.
“Like that see? Now you try.”
They circled before the kid tried the move. He aimed for Phil’s head but ended up punching Phil in the stomach. He doubled over and huffed for breath.
“Oh shit! I’m sorry Zephyrus! I didn’t mean- I-I’m so so sorry…” The kid breathed, backing off immediately and wrapping his arms around his torso.
Phil looked up at him.
What has Dream done to you?
“It's alright kiddo. And please, call me Phil. I only really use my hero name when I’m out in the field.” He requested.
The kid’s blue eyes were downcast and filled with tears, but he wiped them away and looked up, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a smile.
“So cool.” The kid muttered, then his eyebrows knit together, “Hey! I’m not a kid!”
Phil laughed. “Sure mate. But, it’s getting late. I need to get home and I think you should too.”
The trainee rolled his eyes, huffing as he grabbed his stuff.
Phil chuckled and pushed the button to call an elevator.
That was a good practice, and I managed to actually get a little closer to the kid.
The door opened and he stepped inside. Phil hid his wings and his claws shortened to normal fingernail length and color.
He took off his mask and stepped out of the elevator a minute or two later. He waved goodbye to the receptionist, Niki, before heading out to his car.
The drive home was uneventful.
His return home… was less so.
“Hello dear father! What a surprise to see you home so late?” Wilbur said, leaning against the wall of the entry.
“And whose fault is that, you little shit?” Phil glared at him, his wings freed now that he was safely home, “Also, it’s not late, it’s only 6 pm.”
“Don’t harp on him dear, it was my plan. I forgot it was date night.” Kristen said as she walked around the corner.
“What were you looking for this time?” Phil asked, kissing her cheek.
“It was nothing. We didn't even find it anyway.” Kristen sighed.
“Where’s Techno?” Phil asked, noticing one of his welcome party was missing.
“Oh, he’s at work.” Kristen smiled, “He left an hour or two ago. Says his shift ends around 10 tonight.”
Wilbur rolled his eyes and went up to his room, grumbling about, “my perfect brother, earning his own damn money.”
Phil and Kristen shared an exasperated look before bursting out in laughter.
When they could catch their breath the couple made their way into the kitchen.
“What’s for dinner my lady?” Phil asked, sitting on one of the barstools at the island and pulling out his laptop to work on some late reports.
“Whatever you make me.” she replied, busily pulling out pans and banging them on the counter. Phil sighed and resigned to tuning out the noise.
“I don’t have any plans, so we might have to go hungry,” He huffed after a moment of commotion.
Kristen threw her head back and laughed, “Oh, dear me!”
He sighed and got up to grab a couple ingredients for soup.
Dinner was almost finished by the time Techno arrived back home.
“You’re back early.” Kristen said, looking up from the pot. Phil had been banished back to his barstool after almost dropping the stewpot while he was moving it onto the stove.
“Puffy hired a new employee. He takes one of the later shifts I usually cover.” The piglin said wearily.
“Go take a nap honey. Dinner will be ready soon, but we can save you some if you want.” Kristen smiled warmly.
Techno nodded and wandered over to the living room. Phil could distantly hear the ruffling of pages.
“He’s not going to sleep, is he?” Kristen sighed.
“Nope.” Phil smiled fondly, but his smile fell, “He kind of reminds me of one of our newer trainees. Kid’s stubborn as hell, even when it’s not the right time to be. I'ma worried for him.”
“You want to adopt him?” Kristen asked, smirking at the slowly boiling soup.
“W-what? What makes you guys think I want to adopt every kid I come across?” Phil cried, wings flaring dramatically.
“I don’t hear you denying it.”
“...”
“So I was right.”
“Kristen, he can’t be any older than seventeen.”
“Wait… really?”
“Yeah. It’s completely illegal, but I can’t do anything about it. I can’t go up against Dream. Even if I tried I would be thrown into Pandora’s vault and the kid would be worse off,” Phil said sadly.
“That… is serious. If you want we could show up to the tower and kidnap him for you-” Kristen hummed.
“Why are all your solutions kidnap? It’s not ethical!” Phil cried, interrupting her before she could finish the idea.
“Bruh, you married a villain. What did you expect?” Techno said from the doorway.
Phil chirped in surprise. Techno could control shadows, meaning he could pop up almost anywhere, and it never failed to startle Phil.
“Little shit.” Phil mumbled as he turned back to his reports.
“There is something I need to tell you… the new employee Puffy hired? He kind of sounds like the kid you were describing Dad.”
Phil looked up.
Of course he was eavesdropping.
Techno took a breath before continuing.
“The kid’s name is Tommy. He’s a bright kid but he says he’s eighteen. He most definitely isn’t, he acts and sounds at least sixteen. And he flinches when somebody bigger than him comes up behind him.”
The kitchen sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment, the family processing the new information.
“That’s not good.” Kristen said, sighing deeply, squeezing her eyes shut. She may be a leader of one of the biggest villain groups around, but she still had a heart. She looked up at Phil. “What’s your plan?”
Phil closed his laptop slowly.
“I don’t know yet.”
=-{+}-=
Today was the best day ever.
Tommy had gotten to learn Zepherus’s actual name, it was kind of basic but he would never say that out loud, and he didn’t get yelled at when he accidentally hit him while sparring.
Then he had gotten an actual paying job at a cafe on the corner near his apartment.
The owner, Puffy, was really nice. Tommy liked her.
He decided that she is the only woman ever and she was to be respected with the utmost honor.
She agreed to let him take on a shift at dusk, and paid him high above minimum wage.
The only issue was managing his time between his work as a hero-in-training and being a barista.
“Tubbo! Ranboo! Guess who got a job!” Tommy called into the three’s rundown apartment.
Tubbo was working on the beat up looking computer they had found. Ranboo was trying to cook something appealing in the tiny kitchen.
“You did? Great!” Ranboo called, peeking around the corner at him. Tommy grinned. “Does it pay good?” Tubbo asked, eyes still trained on his screen.
“Yep!” Tommy chirped, walking to the bedroom they all shared.
He grabbed his vigilante suit from the hanger in the minuscule closet.
It was still a bit early for patrolling, but he’d like to go out sooner rather than later so that he could get some actual sleep.
He changed out of the cafe uniform, hanging it up in the closet to prevent wrinkling. He walked back out of the bedroom and stood over Tubbo.
The short ram hybrid paused his typing and glared up at him. “You want to go out, don’t you.” he asked, sighing. Tommy nodded and Tubbo held up a small earbud, “If you take that out I will put Ranboo’s overcooked spaghetti in your pillow.”
“No problem big man!” Tommy said cheerfully.
Ranboo sighed from the kitchen, but Tommy ignored him. He pushed the window open and stepped out, falling through the air. He gave himself a couple seconds of free falling before he spread his wings and he shot up into the air.
He cheered as he soared over the grand city of Essempi. He could see the well-lit portion of L’manberg and the less fortunate sectors of Logstenshire. Kinko was in the west and the little districts were in the east.
Tommy had taken to patrolling Logstenshire and the districts. The heroes patrolled there occasionally, mostly only Zephyrus and even then it was rare to see him, and crime was always on the rise.
“Hey ‘Phest, got anything on your radar?” Tommy asked.
The earpiece cracked with static for a moment before Tubbo answered, ‘If there was I would have told you. But no, there is nothing on my radar. You’re just going to have to let off some steam and head home.’
Tommy sighed and landed on a random roof in the middle of Logstenshire.
He took a deep breath and let his powers out of the ‘containment box’ in his chest. Red swirled around him, taking indistinct shapes, spilling over the sides of the building, searching for threats.
He let out the breath he was holding and the red dissipated.
He ruffled his golden dappled wings and took off again.
“Okay, Phest, I’m coming home.” Tommy said through his earpiece.
‘Alright, the window will-’
Tommy yelped, cutting off Tubbo’s voice. He was pulled from the sky and crashed heavily on the roof. He stiffed a shout of pain as he felt something crack in his wing.
“Hello Icarus. You shouldn’t fly too close to the sun.” Morpheus said.
Tommy knew he was smiling under his mask. He had spent enough time with the man at the tower to know that.
“I was not causing any problems. I just need to go home.” Tommy said, his voice changer making him sound older.
“I saw you use your powers. It is illegal to use them without needing them for a profession.” Morpheus said, anger in his voice.
Tommy gulped and took a small step back. He couldn’t fly away, his wing was protesting greatly, and he couldn’t run. He also couldn’t fight Morpheus.
I need to leave.
“If I just took you in to the tower, you would be able to use your powers for the good of the people-”
“I already fucking do!” Tommy shouted, his anger overshadowing his fear, “I already risk my life to do your job! I wouldn’t have to use my powers if your incompetent ‘coalition’ actually helped the people. And news flash, the poor are also people.”
Morpheus hesitated and Tommy could faintly hear Tubbo talking through his earpiece.
And with that Tommy took the opportunity to jump off the building, the beating of his wings faltering and uneven, the wind tugging on his feathers sending pain through the potentially broken bone.
He got to the apartment’s window and quietly slipped inside.
“Tommy Innit! Why the fuck were you not answering me? “ Tubbo shouted when he spotted him.
Tommy leaned back against the wall and waved weakly at him.
“Tommy? What happened?” His best friend asked, quieter and more gently.
“Ran into Morpheus. Wing either broke or got a slight fracture.” Tommy whispered, sliding down the wall and holding his head in his hands, the adrenaline crash making his legs go weak .
Tubbo quickly moved to his side holding out the scanner he had made.
He held it over Tommy’s wing for a moment, looking at the small screen and sighing deeply.
“It has a small fracture. You’re gonna have to be careful for a week or so to let it settle after you heal it.” Tubbo said, putting the device down.
“Oh, you know that’s not gonna happen. Where’s boo boy?” Tommy said cheerfully, pushing all his fear and pain down.
“He’s sleeping already. Busy day at work. He made ramen if you want some.” Tubbo said tiredly. Tommy nodded and bustled off.
He didn’t see Tubbo’s eyes as he watched his best friend go.
The ram hybrid was suspicious.
Tommy did tend to avoid his emotions in favor of keeping himself afloat, but in the past the blonde had moments where he was genuinely enjoying himself.
Tubbo had noticed that those moments were few and far between now.
… Ever since he had started working at the hero tower.
And if what Tubbo suspected was going on, it was not going to end well, considering Tommy’s past.