The Bad Luck Starts
Tommy loved his job at the café, he really did. He liked his manager, Bad, the location was convenient because it was a nice walk from his apartment, and the customers were always nice. Okay, scratch that. The customers were nice most of the time. Right now, however, was not most of the time.
“I asked for it to be remade properly! Not the exact same thing as last time! I demand a refund, you incompetent worker,” The stranger yelled, far louder than needed.
“Sir, as I just explained, this is what you ordered both times. I remade it properly, you just keep asking for the same item,” Tommy tried telling the customer, but he was on his last straw with this guy. Seriously, how do people treat others this awful?
“No, I wanted a greek salad, not whatever the hell this is! Go get another worker who isn’t a stupid fuck of a person. I’m tired of you not listening to me. You are here to serve me, don’t forget that.”
Tommy, ready to just get the man whatever he wanted, snapped after hearing his response.. “No, you fucker, I am here to get your order so you can either leave with your meal or have a nice sit down before leaving. I am not here to be yelled at and called names because you are too stupid to read the goddamn menu and see that what I gave you was a greek salad. You might want something else, but that is what you ordered.”
Just as Tommy finished his rant, Bad chose the perfect time to come out of the backroom, confused by all of the commotion.
“What is going on here? Why are you yelling at my employees?” Bad asked as he pointed an accusing finger at the stranger.
“Because he’s being stupid. I asked him-”
“Do not call my employees stupid. That will not be tolerated here.” Bad cut the guy off mid-sentence, causing Tommy to grin. “And you clearly didn’t just ask him if there is this much screaming. He did everything right, you’re just too stubborn to see that. After this, we cannot serve you. Please leave my shop.
The man grunted frustratingly before storming out of the café, clearly still fuming.
Before Tommy could compliment Bad, he spoke up. “Although I don’t agree with anything he said, you should not have flipped out on him like that,” he scolded.
“But he was being annoying!” Tommy exclaimed. “What was I supposed to do?”
“Get me next time, you muffin. I can deal with it a lot easier than you can. I also don’t need any more complaints about you, Tommy.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll get you next time,” Tommy said in defeat. Although he would never admit it, he knew that Bad was right about being able to deal with those customers better than he can. And about the complaints. In his defence, it’s not his fault that he always gets the most annoying people.
“Good. Now, your shift is almost over. Go home early and get some sleep. Prime knows you need it, kid.”
“I am not a kid,” Tommy grumbled under his breath, heading to the backroom to take his apron off and put it away. Now that he was done dealing with the terrible customer, he noticed how tired he really was. Both his late night of patrolling and nightmares added up for almost no sleep.
When Tommy had come out, Bad was dealing with someone at the register, so he silently slipped out of the café.
Although Tommy was tired, he needed to patrol tonight. Crime didn’t stop just because he didn’t get enough sleep last night, and the heroes sure as hell won’t patrol his district. They never did, they were always in the upper districts where petty crime was at an all time low. He never understood it. There were districts that always had crime, always had missing people and death, yet the heroes were rarely ever spotted there.
It angered him, but he knew that he could never do anything to change it. Instead, he dressed up in his makeshift suit every night and patrolled in replace of the heroes. Tommy knew that it wasn’t as good. He didn’t have any fancy comms or weapons, nor he didn’t have backup, but it would have to do.
So once Tommy reached his apartment, he quickly changed into his outfit for patrolling. He wore black cargo pants that he modified to have a few more slots for weapons, a dark red hoodie, a black mask that covered his nose and mouth, and an awesome pair of sunglasses. He wasn’t great at working with tech, but he found a way to add a voice changer to his mask, too. It took a while, he was even known to never talk his first few months of being a vigilante, but now he uses his amazing voice to pester everyone he talks to.
With that being said, Tommy snuck out his window and out the fire exit. He lived alone so he didn’t need to sneak out, but he never wanted to risk running into someone when walking down his apartment building’s stair decked out in full vigilante gear. That would be very not poggers, in his humble opinion.
Once his feet hit the concrete below the fire escape, he carefully peered out of the font of the alleyway. Tommy looked around, double checking his surroundings and making sure no one saw him. Once he decided the coast was clear, he took off running, starting his normal route.
--
A few hours went by and he was just mindlessly walking on the roof of some clothing store. There had been almost no crime tonight, he only stopped a couple of easy muggings and one attempted bank robbery.
It was almost 2 am when he decided that he needed to go home and sleep. He was already tired at work all day, almost falling asleep once or twice, and he really didn’t need Bad sending him home early from his shift later on in the day.
On his way back, though, he was stopped by the sounds of someone grunting in pain nearby. He walked a few feet forwards, following the sounds of the stranger, and ended up by the entrance of some alleyway.
See, Tommy knew that he should have just minded his own business. He knew that following the sounds of the injured man in the back alleyway of some rundown business in the middle of the night would have probably been a bad idea. But Tommy is rash and always makes decisions with the thoughts of handling the consequences later. Well, now was later.
Tommy stood at the entrance of the alley, staring at the man in front of him. The stranger was laying on his back, blood encircling his pained figure. Now is the time to walk away , he thought to himself. To call authorities and go on about his pleasant stroll home after a long night of patrol. But Tommy couldn’t do it. Despite his thunderous personality, his mindset of fuck-all, he couldn’t leave a man to die when he could have done something. He might be a vigilante, but he wasn’t a terrible person.
So, Tommy didn’t. Slowly, he stepped forward, careful to not startle the already hurt man.
“Hello?” Tommy asked, his voice changer making his voice sound staticky. “I’m coming towards you. Please don’t be some super smart serial killer luring me to death. I have so many wives to get home to.”
As expected, the man just grunted in pain, not even registering Tommy’s presence. He took that as a cue to continue, still stepping cautiously. When he finally got close enough to the stranger to check for what was causing all of the blood loss, he froze and scolded himself for not minding his own damn business for the second time that night.
With just his luck, the man just so happened to be one of the top three villains in all of L’manburg. Siren, who was currently bleeding out in front of him. Now was his time to run yet again. From what it seemed, there were no other heroes or villains around, and he didn’t want to push his luck. For god’s sake, this was a villain he was looking at. He should turn the man in. He did not want to get caught or seen and presumed to be an apprentice to the Syndicate. He was doing just fine as a vigilante, if he did say so himself.
Maybe it was his rash personality, or maybe it was his extreme hate for the heroes because of how corrupt the government was, but the next thing he knew, Tommy was kneeling beside the villain, checking over his injuries. From what he could see, he had tiny cuts littered around his body and a hole in his stomach. Because he was so intelligent, Tommy decided right then and there that Siren most definitely should not have a hole there.
He knew that without some sort of healing, Siren would not survive all of the way to Tommy’s apartment before death took him. “This isn’t going to be pleasant for either of us, big man, but you have to stay still,” Tommy muttered, hoping that the villain could hear him in his near unconscious state.
Tommy put his hands over the hole in the other man. He focused, hoping, praying, that it would work. Although Tommy wasn’t a healer, he could mend objects with his powers. He has tried a few times to push the powers onto people, and it always resulted in a killer headache.
He stayed kneeling in the same spot, forcing his mind to calm. Not before long, Tommy felt a dull throb behind his eyelids, the pain slowly creeping to a searing headache. Red blossomed from out of his palms and spread over Siren’s injury, sewing the hole enough to slow the bleeding. He bit back a scream of pain, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention. When he was finally done, he collapsed into a seated position, holding his head in his hands.
“Fuckin’ hell, man. That is still as painful as shit,” Tommy muttered out, though it went unheard by the barely awake villain. Tommy decided that it was time to make it to his apartment, needing more supplies to save the villain. He stood up, ignoring how his mind screamed at him to sit down, to rest. He didn’t have time, he needed to save Siren and he sure as hell couldn't do it here.
Tommy quickly hoisted Siren up to a standing position, slinging Siren’s arm around his shoulders and sliding his own hand to grab Siren’s side. The walk home was painful, probably on both parties, but relief soon bubbled in Tommy’s chest when he saw his apartment.
Once he found a way to manoeuvre both himself and Siren up the stairs, through the front door, and into his living, he set Siren down on the couch and collapsed on the floor next to it. Exhaustion was seeping into him, almost pulling him into a slumber.
Before Tommy could fall asleep to the lullaby of tiredness, he went to receive the medkit from the bathroom and stripped off all of his vigilante gear, including his mask, and opted for an old pair of sweatpants and hoodie. Tommy was really hoping that he could convince Siren that he was just some helpful civilian when he woke up.
When Tommy re-entered the living room, he noticed that Siren was out cold. Good, he thought, it would make the stitching process a lot less worse. Tommy got to work cleaning the wound, hoping to finish before Siren woke up. He carefully removed the needle and thread, thanking prime that there was enough left.
Not even half an hour later, he finished. Tommy studied his work, making sure everything looked alright. He was silently grateful that Siren didn’t stir at all. That would be super awkward and very unpleasant. .
A wave of tiredness crashed into him, the night’s events catching up to him yet again. He accepted that he would have to clean everything up later, but he couldn’t push sleep off any longer. Tommy stood up and strided over to the chair. He would have a lot of explaining to an angry villain tomorrow, but that was for future Tommy. Present Tommy slipped a blanket around his body and curled up comfortably and fell asleep.
--
Not even a few hours later, Tommy was awoken to Ares, the top second villain, and Thanatos, the top villain in all of L’manburg, pointing weapons in his face and demanding to know where the hell Siren was.
“We know that Siren is here. What the hell did you do with him, kid?” Ares’ monotone voice spoke up. “I swear to you that if you hurt him, you will be begging for death to take you faster. We don’t normally hurt vigilantes, but this could be a special occasion.”
Tommy, being the big man he is, shouted at the villain after being rudely startled awake. “What the hell, man? I didn’t do anything to him, fucker! He is in the bedroom recovering from a hole in his front, bitch.” Confusion painted over the part of Thanatos’ face that was exposed while Ares stormed over to the bedroom door, opening it to see an unconscious but alive Siren.
“What do you mean ‘a hole in his front,’ kid?” Thanatos asked, concern laced in his voice. If it were any other situation, Tommy would say that the number one villain seemed like a worried dad. Unfortunately for Tommy, it was not any other situation, so he bit back his comment and hoped to live yet another day.
“First of all, old man, I’m not a kid. I’m 18 and a very big man. Second of all, I found Siren laying on the floor, bleeding out and almost dead. Being the amazing wife haver I am, I decided to be a helpful civilian and heal him enough to transfer him here. He needed stitches and I didn’t know what else to do, fucker.”
“I’m not that old!” Thanatos sputtered out. “And there is no way you are 18. Calling yourself a wife haver and a big man just solidifies it further.”
Ares returned by his teammates' side, a drowsy and confused Siren hanging off of him. “Why would you even help him? If you didn’t notice, we are villains. You would have gotten a pretty hefty award if you turned Siren in. So why didn’t you?” Thanatos asked.
“Maybe I’m just that nice, bitch. Ever thought of that?”
“No one is nice enough to risk their life for a villain. No one is stupid enough to turn down such a big award, either, kid. So you’re just stupid or you are planning something and we just walked into a trap. I doubt that you’re the latter, but plain stupidity doesn’t seem to fit you well enough, even if you are a kid,” Ares’ gruff voice spoke up.
“Okay, pink bitch, I am not stupid nor do I have any ulterior motives. Maybe I just dislike the heroes more than I disagree with the villains. Also, Nemesis is pretty cool. I couldn’t just let her friend die in a creepy alleyway. And I’m not a kid, you wanker. I’ll proper clart you if you keep calling me one.”
Shock flashed across the part of Thanatos' face that was left exposed. Tommy couldn’t decide whether it was his admission to hating the heroes, complementing Nemesis, calling Ares a pink bitch, or threatening to clart Ares. He quickly decided it didn’t matter and moved his eyes onto Ares’ blank face. “You couldn’t even get close to me if you tried, kid. You’re too scrawny and look like you’ll collapse with a single flick to the forehead.”
Tommy bit back his reply to Ares calling him a kid again and decided to snarl back to Ares calling him scrawny. He was a very big man, and he didn’t need anyone telling him otherwise, even if it was the top second villain who was still holding his sword in one hand. So he voiced just that.
“I am not scrawny! I am a very big man who has many muscles and wives, thank you very much.”
Ares did not look amused in the slightest. From the bottom half of his face that was exposed, the opposite of what Thanatos had, he looked annoyed and ready to leave. “Whatever,” he muttered. “I’m not fighting a child over this. C’mon, Thanatos, we better get back and get Siren checked over before he dies. That would be kind of awkward, not going to lie.”
Ares started for the front door while Thanatos hung back an extra second. “Although it doesn’t seem like it, we are thankful that you kept Siren alive. We are indebted to you. You name a favour and we will do it, mate.”
“No, no. I do not need a villain indebted to me. I do not want any favours. I do not need any favours. What I need is for you to leave my apartment and forget this ever happened. You do not know me and I have no want to speak to you anymore than I already have,” Tommy’s reply came quickly. As cool as he thought the villain was, Thanatos owing him a favour would end terribly. He didn’t want any more contact with the villains than he already had had tonight.
“Even if we are villains, we take favours seriously. I know that you don’t want to talk to us, but having me, Ares, and Siren in debt to you could be useful. Especially as a vigilante working alone. Don’t throw the opportunity away.”
With that, Thanatos turned away from Tommy and walked towards Ares, helping him carry the lanky fuck of a man Siren is down the stairs. Seriously, who makes someone that tall?
Tommy soon started to think over everything that just happened while heading to the bedroom to clean everything up from helping Siren. Although he hated it, Tommy knew that Thanatos wasn’t entirely wrong. If he ever got himself into a situation he couldn’t quite get out of, he could use the extra hand, especially since he ran away from the facility and he could be looking for Tommy.
With a clouded mind, Tommy got up and went to his bedroom. Siren got blood all over his couch, meaning that he would have to try to clean it out later. Unfortunately, Tommy knew that blood is a bitch to clean out of anything.
Tomorrow, he would worry about the favour. Tomorrow, Tommy could wrack his brain for answers to whatever the fuck just happened. Tomorrow, Tommy would deal with the mess his apartment was in after helping Siren.