Chapter 12
It was only his second day at school with Tubbo and Ranboo but he was already looking forward to every class he had with them. Class was suddenly way more interesting, and the two were doing quite well in their studies so the teachers didn't complain too much when they fucked around in class. Their classmates had mostly moved on, though a good portion of them tried to start talking to the twins. They were all politely or quickly brushed off, depending on which of the two they were speaking to. Most quickly stopped trying.
He did, however, notice Flash giving them side-eye glances the whole day. Tommy ignored him, trying to see if it would get him to leave them alone. It didn't work, of course, it never did, but he tried anyway. He was prepared for confrontation the whole day through. It didn't come until they were waiting for Punz to show up.
They were sitting on a round bench outside of the school, talking, when Tommy's senses went off, blaring at him. He leaned forward, whispering to his friends, “Prepare yourselves,” with a sigh. The stone that had been chucked at his head flew right past, missing him by an inch. His senses went off again, but he didn't move this time, and another stone hit him in his side.
He grit his teeth, turning to look at the rock-thrower. “What's you're problem, mate?” He asked, annoyed.
“Finally caught your attention. I thought I was going to have to throw a few more rocks.” Flash stood from his own bench and swaggered over, stopping behind Tommy. He raised his fistful of stones and opened his hand, pouring them on Tommy's head. The rocks tumbled down his body, some landing on his shoulders and staying there. He wanted so bad to flick them off full-power into Flash's temple, but he refrained, just shrugging aggressively.
“Careful, jackass, if you lose any more of those rocks you're not going to have anything left to fill your skull with.” Tommy retorted, clenching his hands under the table.
Flash snorted. “Nah, man, I was just trying to give yours back to you.”
“Is there a reason you're here, rather than wasting our time?” Tommy snapped.
“I noticed you got new friends. I just came to introduce myself.” Flash smirked, turning. “My name is Eugene. People call me Flash.”
Tommy could hear Ranboo snickering under his breath, probably thinking of his own powers. “Okay, great.” Tubbo said sarcastically.
Flash made a face at him, then moved around the table, his eyes on Ranboo. The aforementioned shifted uncomfortably as he stopped on his other side. Flash leaned forward onto his palm on the table-top, leaning in rather close and giving Ranboo his dazzling, people-winning smile. “Why do you wear that mask? Your eyes are so pretty, I'm sure the rest of your face matches.”
Tommy's jaw dropped, and he stood up, smacking his hands on the table. He could see Ranboo physically reeling away. “Really? Are you really hitting on my friend? They've been here for two fucking days, you cunt.”
Tubbo put a hand on his, a smirk on his face, though his eyes were averted to nowhere in particular. Tommy narrowed his eyes, sitting back down.
“Yeah, no, I like my mask. It stays on.” Ranboo retorted. Then he deadpanned, “You're not my type, anyway.”
“Are you sure? What is your type?” Flash raised an eyebrow.
“Literally anyone but hulking football bros.” Ranboo said. “Wow, look at that, my ride's here. Come on, guys.”
Tommy and Tubbo stood, the former smirking at Flash as they walked away. They left him there, huffing.
Tubbo laughed loudly as soon as they were in the car. “That was a good comeback, ‘Boo!”
“I don't know how good, but it was goddamn funny.” Tommy snorted.
Punz raised an eyebrow at the three of them in the rearview mirror. “What are you talking about?”
“School's resident thick head tried to flirt with me.” Ranboo said, then mumbled something in Russian under his breath, to which Tubbo laughed.
“Oh. Weird.” Punz commented, pulling out of the parking lot.
When they pulled up to the Tower, the three got out. But as they went through the doors, Tommy didn't hear Punz pull away again to go park, which he absentmindedly noted. Tubbo and Ranboo left him to go do their homework, that of which Tommy had finished hours ago. He went to go find Sam by himself.
He was unsuccessful. After checking the man's lab, he resorted to asking Friday. “Hey Friday, where's Sam?”
“Boss is in the kitchen.” Friday told him.
“Where's the kitchen?” Tommy raised an eyebrow.
“I can take you to the floor, if you like.”
“Y'know what, I would appreciate that.”
What he found was an… Odd scene, to say the least. Sam was halfway hidden behind the back of the fridge, laying down on his side, and Techno was sitting on the counter on his other side, a toolbox sitting next to him.
“What… Are you doing?” Tommy questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Sam sat up abruptly, one hand still held behind the fridge. “Tommy! Hi!” He said, smiling. Then he dropped back down. When he spoke again, his voice was quite muffled. “The fridge broke.”
“Okay….?”
“He's fixing it.” Techno grunted.
“Oh. Well what are you doing?”
“Screwdriver!” Sam called, his hand popping out the other side of the fridge. Techno dug in the box for a second, pulling out the tool and dropping it in his hand.
“That.” Techno rolled his eyes.
“I thought you two didn't like each other.” Tommy raised an eyebrow. He knew that anyway, but the news about Sam's parents had come out after they caught that one guy who made the mess.
“We don't.” Techno said. “I just happened to be the closest one to him when he decided to fix it himself instead of hirin' a maintenance guy.”
“I don't need a maintenance guy to come fix my fridge.” Sam's muted voice scoffed.
“You're a billionaire.” Techno deadpanned. “’S not like you can't afford it.”
“I'm also one of the most famous engineers in the world. I think I can handle my own fridge.” Sam snorted.
“Yeah, well, you're intern's here. Make him do this.” Techno pushed himself off the counter.
“Yeah, no. I have something else for him. You're stuck.” Sam said. Techno groaned, leaning back against it.
“What is it?” Tommy asked, peering around the corner of the fridge.
“There's a…” Sam cut himself off, pulling on something . “Hold on.”
Tommy leaned back, eyebrows raised in amusement. A few moments later and Sam popped up. “Okay, so there's a fancy thing we're all going to on Thursday. I want you to be there.”
“Is this the ‘formal event' I keep hearing about?” Tommy asked Techno, raising an eyebrow.
“Unfortunately.” Techno deadpanned.
“I scheduled for you to go get fitted for a suit.” Sam told him.
“What? They can't make a suit in two days.” Tommy scoffed.
“They can if I pay them to.” Sam raised an eyebrow.
Tommy opened his mouth, and closed it. “You know what, that's fair.”
“Punz is waiting outside.” Sam said. “I kinda thought he'd tell you about it, but evidently not.”
“He doesn't like me.” Tommy scoffed.
“They like you just fine. He's trying not to get attached, and it's not working.” Sam smirked.
Tommy didn't know how he was supposed to feel about that. “Okay.” He just said. “You want me to go, like, right now?”
“Preferably, yeah.” Sam said.
“Alright.” Tommy shrugged. “Bye, then. Have fun, Techno.”
“I will not, actually.” Techno snorted. Tommy grinned at him, and left.
“You could've told me to stay in the car.” He said as he climbed back into the back of the car.
“I wanted a few minutes of silence to myself.” Punz responded, smirking slightly.
Tommy scoffed. “Alright, smart-ass. Drive.” Punz rolled his eyes, and pulled out.
They dropped him off at the door. The minute he stepped inside, one of his former coworkers came to greet him.
“Tommy, hey! I heard you left us, man, why?” They smiled at him, raising an eyebrow.
“I took a job somewhere else.” He answered.
“Oh, okay. Well what are you doin' here, then?”
“I'm gettin' fitted for a suit.” Tommy grinned.
“Sick! The tailor gets tailor'd. Assuming you're the guy who got booked for right about now, ya can follow me.”
He had a few more of his coworkers stop when they walked past him to ask why they hadn't seen him in a bit. He was a bit more well-liked than he thought, even though he only talked to them in passing. He noted that his suit was to be made out of the custom fabric as well, and now that he knew what it was for he wondered what the fabric actually was. He made a mental note to ask about it later. They told him they'd get it done soon, and that they'd tell Sam when it was finished. He left after that.
He was still working on the fridge when Tommy went back to the Tower. “Are you still here? Really?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes. You'd think a guy that can fix a problem in a giant metal suit in about two minutes could fix a fridge in less time than it's been takin’.” Techno said sarcastically.
“Okay, look. I invented those giant metal suits. It's not as easy when the original manufacturer did a shit job.” Sam huffed.
“You didn't make your own fridge?” Tommy asked.
“No, but I might start now.” Sam scowled, only half-joking. “I don't have anything for you, kid, not until I get this thing put back together. Unless you want to help.”
“Yeah, no, I’m good.” Tommy said quickly. “So what do I do?”
Sam paused to respond, but was interrupted by a blurry figure that suddenly appeared in the room. “Tubbo wants to know if we can watch a movie.” Ranboo said.
Sam sat up. “I don't know, do you have your homework done?” He asked.
“Yup,” Ranboo nodded.
“Alright, go ahead.” Sam said.
Ranboo disappeared for a second, then reappeared. “Tubbo wants you to watch with us, Tommy.”
“What are we watching?” Tommy raised an eyebrow.
“Uhhh… Good question.” Ranboo was gone for another second. “He says Pirates of the Caribbean.”
“Ooo. Can I, Sam?”
“Yeah, go for it.” Sam waved him off, leaning back behind the fridge.
Ranboo disappeared once more, and then came back with Tubbo in hand. Tubbo grinned, pulling him out of the kitchen.
Tommy got a surprise text from Charlie after practice had ended saying that his brother was going to pick him up. He was a little confused, but readily accepted, because he was tired. He picked up his stuff and left the gym, finding Charlie's car and climbing in. The only reason they had a car was because Charlie worked outside of the city, and it was too expensive to try to find other transportation there every single day.
“Uh…. Is everything good?” Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow. He hadn't been in this car for a long time, maybe only twice since Charlie decided he was okay to go around the city on his own.
“Yeah, everything's fine. Just…” Charlie paused, glancing at him in the mirror. Tommy saw his jaw muscles tighten for a second. “There was a girl who got kidnapped in the subway today. It was literally like an hour ago. I don't trust it, not today.”
Tommy had to resist the urge to snort. He was Spider-Man, for god's sake. He'd never been kidnapped in his life. “Alright, fair enough.” He said quietly. A kidnapping… hmm.
“How was your day, then?” His brother asked as he was driving.
“Pretty good, actually.” Tommy said. “It's really nice having friends in class. Uh, also, there's a weird formal event thing that Sam wants me to come to. I went to go get measured at the tailor's. Sam's paying for it, by the way.”
“Uh, yeah, I sure hope he is.” Charlie raised an eyebrow. “You went to, like, your tailor's, the tailor's?”
“Yeah, I did.” Tommy grinned.
“Nice.” Charlie smirked.
“How about you, how was your day?” Tommy asked.
“Long.” Charlie sighed. “It was long. I have a really big assignment to do for class. Then I found out I'm getting a new boss today, I don't really know how to feel about that.”
“What, really? How are they going to switch?”
“I don't think anything will be too different. We have to wrap up our current project a little quicker , that's why I've been called in so often to work late, I think. The new boss might want to do stuff a little different, but it won't be too bad for me.”
Tommy nodded. “Alright. Cool.”
“Yeah.” Charlie smiled. “What do you want for dinner, by the way?”
“That is a good question.” Tommy paused. “What about spaghetti?”
“Only if you help me make meatballs for Squinch.” Charlie smirked.
Tommy groaned jokingly. “Fine, fine.”
His conversation with Charlie carried with him well into his patrol. Specifically the part about the kidnapping. When he caved and looked into it, he found a lot of news covering the incident – and more importantly, the area it was in.
When he went to the station the girl was taken from, it was almost void of people. The remaining few were people who either hadn't heard yet, didn't care in the first place, or had gotten over it within the few hours it had happened. He lingered near the ceiling’s corners, trying not to be seen. There were cameras in the station, but his powers weren't developed enough to be able to look into their data, if he even had the ability to do that. Besides, using it would fuck up his suit.
“Hey, Karen, any chance you can access those cameras?” He said lowly.
“Yes, I can. Would you like me to display the footage for you?”
“Uh, hell yeah, I would.”
Various videos popped up in his vision. Some grew in size, and the rest disappeared. “Rewinding,” Karen warned, the video changing rapidly. It paused on a time from a few hours ago, then started playing again.
A box popped up, zoomed in on a teenage girl with brown skin and long black hair. “This is the missing girl.” Karen said.
Tommy nodded, watching. He had known how to look for someone suspicious by that time, because not all criminals and bad people showed up in ski masks and black and white striped clothing, but even now he couldn't pick anyone out from the crowd. If he'd been in the moment, his senses would have blared alarms at him, but it was just a recording. He didn't actually see the dude until he'd grabbed the girl and vanished. There was about three seconds of footage with his face visible, but he was completely uncovered. Tommy could tell he'd tried to keep away from the cameras, and he only saw half his face. It might be enough.
“Can you identify him, Karen?” Tommy asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Already have.” Karen replied. “Seems to be Steven Horton, thirty-five. No past criminal record, but his documents say he lives in California.”
“Ooo, that's sketchy.” Tommy said. “Do we know where he went?”
“I couldn't track him after he left the station, but I did find footage of him in a garage. The girl is Aadya Krishnan, and she seems to be following him without prompt.” The footage popped up in his vision, as well as the files for both Steven and Aadya.
“I think he has a gun.” Tommy said, eyeing the pocket that one of the dude's hands lingered near. “Where's the garage?” The footage minimized, right after he watched the two get into a truck. A map showed up, a little red dot blinking.
As he swung towards the garage, he asked, “Do we have any more information on Aadya?”
“She's sixteen years old. She goes to Bronx High, and she was likely coming home from sports practice when she was taken. Her father is Viraj Krishnan.”
“Tell me about him,” Tommy grunted, pulling himself over a building.
“Viraj Krishnan is a fifty-two year old biochemist. He has two children, a sixteen year old girl, and a fourteen year old boy. His ex-wife, Amara Thakur, moved back to India a few years ago after they were divorced.”
Tommy paused atop a roof. “Hmm… Is he rich?”
“Quite, yes.”
He pulled himself towards the garage when he spotted it. “Okay, so that could be a motive, they could be ransoming Aadya for money. What about his work, his projects? What's he been doing?”
“His current projects have been kept secret. He has been studying a new species that was recently discovered in France.”
“Does that relate to our Stevie boy in any way?”
“Not as far as I can see, no.”
Tommy dropped down in one of the parking spaces. “So we saw him right here. Are there other cameras that saw him when he left?”
“Yes. This footage shows him leaving out the back, headed south.”
Said footage popped up in his vision, showing the truck leaving. Tommy followed its path. “Scan the cameras that follow him and make a path for me.” A red line through a map of the city grew in his vision, cutting off suddenly. “How far are the police on this?”
“About as far as us. The truck disappears after this camera, and nothing picked it up after that.” The footage came up.
Tommy looked at it closely. The truck drove straight off-screen, not turning or giving any indication as to where it went after that. “This is a busy street, what happened to all the cameras?”
“All of them went down in this area at the time.” Karen answered.
“Oh, great.” Tommy said sarcastically. “I don't think this is a one-man job. He’s got to have a tech guy, right? I don't think he could've taken all the cameras down in his truck by himself while he was driving. And the cameras going down wasn’t a coincidence. Are there any cameras that are still down?”
“Yes, two.” Karen said, pulling up the map. Two blinking dots appeared, right around the same area. Tommy swung towards it, landing on the top of a power pole.
“Well I found the truck.” Tommy said, looking down at it. It was parked in a yard with a seven foot wooden fence completely obscuring it from outside view. “I'm about to trespass, Karen.”
He dropped down to the ground in front of the truck. It was dark inside of it, with no movement. A look through the windows later, and he concluded, “It's empty. There's no way they just stopped here, there's no buildings around to keep Aadya in. You think they switched cars?”
“That's certainly a possibility.” Karen said.
He paused for a minute, thinking. A light hissing sound caught his ears. He followed the sound, peering over the fence to the next yard over. A sprinkler appeared to be broken, leaking water. It had seeped under the fence, soaking the dirt. And there in the mud, tire tracks. “Ooo, those are pretty tires.” Tommy said, crouching next to them. “Can you use those, Karen?”
“Probably. One moment.” A pause as Karen searched the surrounding camera footage. “Found a match for the tires heading out a reasonable time after we lost the truck. It does appear there was a car switch.”
“Nice. Follow it.”
Tommy swung along the route that the car had taken. “Has there been any mention of a ransom yet?”
“Not as far as the police know, no.”
Tommy dropped down onto a streetlight that overlooked a building that was lit in the night. “What's this building?” he asked.
“A city-owned warehouse. It's currently empty.”
“Can you tell if anyone's in there?”
“No.”
“Alright, I guess I'll just have to see myself. Can you find me a way in?”
“Certainly. There’s an open window, to your left.” The lenses of his eyepieces zoomed in, pointing out the window.
Tommy swung towards it, climbing inside. All of the shelves were still inside, the emptiness must have been temporary. Before he could start crawling around to look for anyone, two guys walked beneath him.
“I still don't know why you picked this place, of all of them.” One of them grumbled.
“Are you still on that? I thought we finished this argument two hours ago.”
“This place is huge, couldn't you have picked something smaller?”
“No. It's city-owned property, who would ever think we'd set up on city-owned property? Plus it's a warehouse. That's too damn obvious. Nobody will even think about it right here. You probably haven't learned this yet, but we patrol places way bigger than this on the regular. Be grateful, you've gotten the easy job on your first night.”
The first was preparing a rebuttal, but Tommy interrupted by dropping down in front of them. He webbed the first's feet to the floor, and the second to the wall. “Tell me where your boss is, and I'll let you leave, yeah?”
The one he'd stuck to the wall glared at him. “That's a shite deal.” They said. “It's not happening. You'll have to-"
“Oh hell no,” The one he'd stuck to the floor interrupted. “I got paid to watch for cops, not to deal with bug-boys. The boss isn't here.”
“Josh, what the fuck are you doing?” The wall one hissed.
“This job is shit. I'd rather take a security job somewhere that doesn't kidnap little girls.” The floor one said.
“Where is she, then?” Tommy asked.
“In the back.” The floor guy said.
“I'm going to kill you.” The wall guy hissed. Tommy shot a web at their mouth.
“Oh, my god, thank you.” The floor guy groaned, rolling their eyes.
Tommy looked at them for a second. “Uh, hey, if I let you go, could you stick around for a minute?” He asked.
“…Why?”
“Well, sounds like you just got fired, and I know a place that definitely doesn't kidnap any girls.”
Floor guy narrowed their eyes. “Alright. Sure, fine.”
“Great.” He whispered for Karen to give him the dissolvent, then unstuck them. “I'll be right back. Y'mind callin' the cops for me?”
“I'll do it, but I gotta be outta here before they get here.”
“Fair enough.” Tommy nodded, slinging a web and pulling himself up to the bottom of the roof.
A scale along it, and he found Aadya, sitting on the ground with a pack of cards playing solitaire. Three people stood around her, and though she was sitting quietly, Tommy could see her hands shaking. One of the dudes looked at his watch, starting. “Jackson hit the button. Spread out, go look for whoever the hell got in here and took them out.”
Tommy smirked. That made it a lot easier for him. Once the other two had scattered, Tommy dropped directly on top of the remaining guy, knocking him to the ground. He quickly picked himself up, and webbed the guy to the floor. He had time to shout, “He's over here!” before Tommy could catch his mouth, too.
“Hey.” He said, waving to Aadya.
She stood quickly. “Hi.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“You're Spider-Man.” Aadya said.
“Yeah. I'm gonna get these other two, the police are on their way. You're okay, right? Not hurt?”
Aadya shook her head, kneeling to pick up her cards. “No, I'm okay. Thank you.”
Tommy shot her a thumbs-up, then turned and knocked one of the dudes upside the head. He kicked them in the stomach, and the other came up behind him, attempting to knock him to the ground. He shot at her legs, and pulled her into the other guy, knocking them both to the ground. He stuck them together, then attached the loose web end to the floor.
“D'you want to wait outside until the police get here?” Tommy offered.
“Yeah, I would like that.” Aadya nodded. She followed him to the front of the warehouse.
“The guy who took you, his name is Steven Horton. Do you know who he is?” Tommy asked.
Aadya paused. “I think so… Steven Horton, I think he was part of the security in the lab my Papa worked at before.”
Tommy nodded. “Okay. You didn't recognize him before, though?”
“No.” Aadya shook her head. “I heard about him when he got fired.”
“Okay. Do you know where he is?”
“No. I do think he's nearby, though.”
“Alright. Well the police will be here in a minute, do you mind waiting by yourself?”
“No, go ahead. Go do your…. Whatever a vigilante does.” She waved him off.
He grinned at her, leaving to go find the person from before.
“What's your name, mate?” Tommy asked, hanging upside down from a web in front of them.
“Josh Kalvin.”
“Alright, Josh. Doesn’t sound like you have a job anymore.”
“No, I don’t, hell no.”
“You work security?”
“Yep.”
“I can hook you up at the Stark tower, if you like.”
Josh paused, looking at him. “The Stark tower?” They echoed.
“Yeah. You don't have a criminal record, do you?”
“Other than like, three speeding tickets, no.”
“Then yes, the Stark tower. If you want it.”
They paused again, rolling the idea around their brain. “Hell yeah, I want it. As long as they don't find out about this.”
“They won't. Expect a call soon, yeah? Go ahead and dip now, I'll make sure no one knew you were here.”
Josh nodded, grinning. “Awesome. You're pretty chill, man.”
“Yeah, I'm glad you think so. Wish more people did. Have a good night, mate.” Tommy waved at them.
“Thanks.” Josh said, then disappeared.
Tommy stayed with Aadya until the cops showed, after making sure the cops couldn't get any evidence on Josh. She gave him a thank-you before he left.
He made a stop by the Stark Tower before heading back to his apartment for the night. Friday caught him scaling the wall again, and he asked her to talk to Punz for him. She agreed, and he swung away quickly so he could be back in bed before Charlie got home.