This could be a problem
Techno smirked as he could hear the back door slam shut. He didn’t know why Phil left abruptly, but he did and now Wil and Techno have free reign over the house. It didn’t even take 20 seconds for his bedroom door to be knocked on. Wil didn’t wait for a response before he flung open the door.
“He’s gone! You know what that means!” Wil was bouncing with energy. It was odd seeing him this hyper before two o’clock in the afternoon. Techno nodded. Whenever Phil left they would see how big they could make a pillow fort before he came back. So far their record in this house was covering the entire living room and part of the kitchen. They had no idea how long their dad was going to be gone so they had to make use of all of the time.
Wil went to steal the pillows from Tommy and their dad’s room while Techno dragged the pillows from his room and Wil’s down as well. He beat Wil to the living room even though Wil was faster. Just by the pure amount of pillows and plushies Tommy has. Slowly but surely the fort began to grow. It started in the corner of the room, then slowly began to engulf the rest of the room.
Building forts became a natural skill with how much they do it. It was a habit for them. Whenever their dad left the pillows and blankets would come out. The fort this time was named Pogtopia. The last fort that was built was built by Wilbur and Tommy and they called it L’Manburg. He had destroyed it when he got home. How dare they build a fort without him.
Their current fort covered most of the room at this point. They quickly ran out of blankets and were too lazy to grab more so they curled up inside the fort. On the inside, they had brought snacks and they sat there doing their homework on their computers. Techno was just finishing up his English Essay when he heard a rumble underneath the ground.
Blankets covered his vision. “Heh?” he exclaimed. Techno didn’t think they were sitting close enough to the main supports of the fort for them to accidentally bump into it. “Wilbur! What did you do?” But, he would never miss an opportunity to mess with his twin. Wilbur just sputtered out nonsense.
Techno crawled out of the blanket pile, which the fort had essentially become. His pink hair had sadly come out of its ponytail. The hair tie was nowhere to be found. Truly a tragedy worthy of the Greeks. After a few seconds of the blankets moving around, Wilbur’s head popped out from underneath the pile. His hair was even more of a disaster than it had been previously.
“Do you think it was an earthquake?” Wilbur asked. His glasses were askew all over his face. Techno blew a stray strand of hair out of his face. He shook his head. To be honest, it didn’t feel like an earthquake. The floor rumbled again. Using whatever twin telepathy they have, they stood up (well Wil did some sort of somersault thing to stand) and raced to the nearest window.
Pillars of smoke were rising into the sky. People from the houses around them were running out to see what was going on. Techno just looked to Wil. They were perfectly synchronized as they did a quick 180 and ran up to their rooms.
Techno threw open his door. His room actually was not a disaster compared to his siblings. Their rooms always looked like a tornado had blown through them. He couldn’t understand how they found anything.
Running over to his closet, he threw the hanging clothes to the side so he could open the secret wall behind them.
Techno opened it to find his suit hanging just as he left it two nights ago after patrol. The suit was black with undertones of red and pink, colours he requested for Phil to add.
After putting on the black cargo-style pants, and the blood red robe, and the belt that kept his robe close to his body, he was almost done getting ready. Techno was so glad that he had a simple suit. He pulled his visor and mask from his pocket and then pulled his hair into a tight bun at the back of his head. Behind where the suit had been hanging was the sword that he preferred to use.
He ran out of his room to find Wil trying to jump over to the stairs that led to the first floor as he put his boots on. Chuckling, Techno ran past him and sat down on the bench at the bottom of the stairs to put his own. Once Wil reached the bottom with both of his boots on, they nodded to each other, pulled their hoods over their heads, and walked over to the exit that would lead them to the alleyway a few blocks down.
Somehow, in the few short months, their dad managed to build about half a dozen secret passages. It confused him and his brothers as well. This one popped out right behind a convenience store. Even though they weren’t supposed to use the tunnels for their everyday life, they still used this one quite frequently when they were too tired to get up and walk there for candy. Wil was actually kind of friends with a few of the cashiers with how much they go.
The door popped into an alleyway and Techno peered around the corner. He didn’t see much, but the pillars of smoke were much closer. Screams of confusion filled the air and they simultaneously decided that they had to be quick.
Climbing up the side ladder to the roof of the convenience store, Techno could now see the fire coming from the park just a few blocks down. By the looks of the damage, there had been a lot of bombs in that area alone.
As Wilbur popped up beside him, another explosion went off at the other end of the park causing the screams of people trying to escape just grow louder. There were actually quite a few people trying to help others getaway, which meant that they could go get a closer look at the damage instead of trying to clear people out.
Techno followed his twin across the rooftops to the park. Jumping over the gaps between buildings, above people too panicked to notice them.
When they landed on the ground outside the park, Techno could see that the inside of the park had been left clear of the bombs and there was a man standing in the middle of the clearing throwing his arm to the side as another bomb went off. It looked like he was controlling the bombs without a remote.
The man was wearing a black leather coat and dark pants with red fire patterns down the sides. A white headband was tied around his head contrasting with his near-black hair. A black gas mask covered the bottom half of his face so only his eyes were visible. He stood there holding a large axe in one hand and shooting his other hand to the side every few seconds as more bombs went off.
“He must be controlling the bombs,” Wil shouted over the explosions.
Techno shot him a look, “No shit Sherlock!” His brother stuck out his tongue.
“Let’s just get him.”
They started to sprint towards the man but had to drop to the ground as the man spun around throwing an arc of flames at them. Even though they had dropped to the ground, Techno could still feel the heat of the flames above his back. Techno had a bad feeling that Wilbur would wear himself out quickly.
Like Tommy, when he used his second power he got drained quickly. He preferred to use his charmspeak over his water manipulation. Wilbur did a somersault over to a tree. Techno has noticed that his twin has a fondness for somersaults. Techno summoned his sword. Immediately voices crammed in his head. All of them greeted him. ‘BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD’ was a common chant of theirs.
The bomber laughed maliciously. A bomb went off behind Techno. Wil stumbled. “You know, I am not surprised that two unknown vigilantes beat the Avengers to a threat. You guys are so much more responsive. It’s a shame I have to kill you.” Another wave of fire raced towards them.
Wil’s hands shot up and a shield of water covered him. Techno dived to be behind Wilbur so he didn’t get burned. He would rather not get burned today, thank you very much. The bomber stumbled, obviously being shocked at his twin’s water powers. Techno smirked beneath his mask. He loved it when his brother confused people.
The bomber quickly recovered and sent another wave of fire. Techno dragged Wil to the ground as he had to recover from using a sudden burst of water.
Techno raised his sword and started to pay more attention to the voices behind the usual chant, the ones that told him where to strike first, when and where the opponent would strike, and what style of fighting would give him the advantage. Those voices he could live with.
As the bomber smirked, the voices shouted for him to strike from the right, and as usual they were right. Before the bomber could start swinging his axe, Techno had already gotten close enough to be able to block the oncoming strike.
The bomber took in a breath of surprise as Techno swung towards his face, but he was able to parry and hold Techno off. This might actually be a good fight.
The voices told him not to strike at the left, which was an odd instruction, but he quickly saw why as one of Wilbur’s daggers flew past him and grazed the bomber’s cheek.
The dagger drew Techno’s attention to the bomber’s headband above where it had been. The headband wasn’t purely white, it in fact had a small smiley face on it.
Techno didn’t have much time to wonder about the odd design for long as a wall of flame came between him and the bomber. Jumping back, Techno glanced back to see Wil had his daggers out and was walking up beside him.
“The Avengers are just about here.” his brother said and he crouched into a fighting position. “We’ll see how this turns out.”
Techno knew Phil had told them to try and avoid the Avengers and that Wil was trying to lay low from Stark since his run in with the man. Looks like that wouldn’t be happening.
The flames lowered and the bomber laughed, “You two would make a good fight, but sadly it's not your attention I was looking for. Playtime is over.”
A dome of fire came over the twins. Wil threw his arms up over Techno to put a layer of water between them and the flames. The heat wasn't that bad considering that they were used to Tommy constantly heating things up in the house, but knowing that Wil wasn’t fully grown into his powers, Techno was worried about just how long they could last before his brother could no longer keep the shield up.
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He would never mention that he was terrified. Whoever 404 was, they left him quite shaken. After Steve had basically saved him, Tony had sprinted to the nearest suit he had. This had just reminded him to move a suit to his personal lab. The nearest suit, that was not broken, was just down the hall.
The flight didn’t take long. He pushed his suit to the limit. This was an attack on New York. This park was basically down the street from the tower. It took Tony less than thirty seconds to reach his destination. Rhodey was a bit behind him. He was definitely getting better and the doctors said he could now go on missions. As long as he promised to try not to get hurt too much.
Beneath them, Tony could hear the motorcycles that Steve, Natasha, and Clint were riding. They were using everything to their advantage. They were bouncing on sidewalks, drifting around cars and street lights. They were a menace on the road.
Tony landed harshly on the ground. His boots left little holes which showed he did not slow down one bit. Next to him, Rhodey landed more gracefully. It only took a few seconds for the screeching of motorcycles to be heard and the other three joined them on the field.
The fire user chuckled and leaned on his axe. “And here I thought 404 would keep you too long.” Of course this guy knew the hacker. Why wouldn’t he? It was just the icing on the cake. A cake which was making him want to have a breakdown.
Tony heard Steve question, “404?” He wanted to scream. He wanted for the hacker to just disappear, never to be seen again. Maybe he could get hit by a car, never to bother Tony ever again. Tony also wanted for Steve to not question him on this. What was an answer that wouldn’t bring up how much he didn’t want to talk about it?
Tony narrowed his eyes, “A hacker who managed to get into F.R.I.D.A.Y’s system.” Tony shrugged nonchalantly. Inside, he hoped that if he acted as if he wasn’t worried at all they would brush it off as well. He heard the others take in a breath of surprise. Ah, that didn’t work as well as he hoped.
“Let me get this straight,” Rhodey spoke, breaking the awkward silence that surrounded the five of them. “A hacker, that we have never heard of, managed to break into your system!” Well, when he put it like that it sounded so much worse. Tony shrugged. He would just explain it later when he didn’t feel like having a mental breakdown.
“I didn’t expect you to bring so many friends though.” The fire user tilted his head. Maybe they could surround him. That could be a plan. A loud scream rang out through the park. Clint ran off to help whoever was in trouble, with Rhodey following.
So much for the plan Tony had come up with on the spot. Whatever. This is why he didn’t like making plans. He has one plan that always works though, attack. It hasn’t failed him so far. He would like to keep it that way.
The bomber cackled as the dome of fire got smaller. This concerned him for multiple reasons. First, he had no idea what was in there, and second why was the bomber so happy that his shield was shrinking.
As a flame briefly went out he caught a glimps two people dressed in hero costumes trapped in the fire. With the weapons one of them had with them, Tony could only assume that they were vigilantes.
Tony had enough, there were two vigilantes in a circle of fire, and bombs were still causing destruction around the park. He was stressed and he wanted this to be over. Then he could pour over code and solve how the hacker managed to get in, probably working himself to exhaustion in the process. The bomber droned on about a plan. Tony wasn’t listening. All villain monologues were the same and he had already heard one today.
Although, Tony didn’t think that this guy had just come to talk, so he made the first move. Raising his hand, Tony shot a warning shot at the bomber who must have lost concentration as the fire wall around the vigilantes thinned enough for him to see that there was an inner layer of water, protecting the two. Good, they didn’t need him or the other Avengers to protect them. This made him significantly less stressed.
Tony flew towards the bomber as Nat and Steve ran towards him as well. Clint and Rhodey were long gone by this point. He hoped that they had been able to find whoever had screamed. As well as any other civilians trapped or injured by the bombs.
The bomber was able to keep up with the three of them and even manage to get some hits in. This surprised Tony as Natasha and Steve moved quite quickly. He could barely see what they were doing and he was used to their fighting styles.
The bomber seemed to notice that he was outmatched. He did a backflip to gain some distance. Tony’s two allies raced towards him. Tony saw the disaster coming a moment before it happened. The bomber threw a flaming fist towards Steve. Now this should’ve been fine cause you know, the suit had a helmet, but the bomber had aimed right for his jaw. A spot that was very punchable.
Steve fell to the ground with a bright red burn mark on his face. Natasha rushed to pull him out of the way. Tony flew to the ground to meet them. “Sir, it appears that the Captain has a second-degree-burn.” That was useful in gauging the bombers abilities. If he managed to burn the super soldier that badly his fist must have been burning really hot.
“Well this was fun but the show is over, let this be a warning for what is to come in order to create the new age.” The bomber did a mock salute and took a step back. “This was a test. Don't forget that. Dream is coming and you’ll want to be prepared.”
With a wave of his hand, a wall of flame came up around the bomber. Natasha threw a knife into the flames, but the flames had already died down by the time it reached them and the bomber was gone. A helicopter in the distance flew away. It was odd, as he didn’t hear it approach.
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Wil was mentally and physically drained. It took so much effort to move his arms up. His head was pounding, like waves crashing against rocks. Suddenly, the bright lights of the fire raging around them disappeared. The fire shield was just a lightly burning circle around their feet. He dropped the water.
He glanced around. When they were fighting the bomber, they didn’t seem drained at all. To the side, Wil could see three people charge at the bomber.
He felt Techno lift his head up from where he crouched under Wil. His normally light pink hair was darkened with ash. Wil shook his head. Ash came sprinkling down. He spat out ash that had gotten into his mouth.
He suddenly felt himself drop as his knees gave out. He was so tired.
“Shit.” His twin cursed. Wil followed his brother’s gaze. He was staring directly at the fight that was going on between the bomber and the people he was fighting. To Wil, it didn’t seem like anything was wrong, until he looked closer. The three people, who he had previously thought were just vigilantes, were three Avengers. Iron Man’s suit was recognizable from a mile away, no one else threw a giant metal frisbee besides Captain America, and no one moved as fluidly as Black Widow during hand-to-hand combat.
Steam rose from the ground. When he had dropped the water it rushed to meet the fire. Apparently, it was enough to put out the little circle of flame. Wil felt bad for the groundskeepers. With the fire, it had burned a small trench in a circle. With that and all the holes from the explosions from earlier, Wil hoped that the groundskeepers were at least paid decently.
He decided that he didn’t care that the Avengers were here. Wil laid down on the grass. He was exhausted. He should really work on his water powers a bit more. The bomber stood no chance against three Avengers so Wil relaxed a bit.
Wil felt his limbs move. Techno was lifting him. Wil just closed his eyes and trusted his brother. Techno had sat down with him and had Wil’s head resting on his knee. From his vantage point, he could see the fight.
It was fast. The bomber managed to actually hold his own. He saw parts of the Black Widow’s and Captain America’s suits smoking. So the bomber had managed to get a few hits in. But the heroes never slowed. They moved in sync, even though they hadn’t appeared as a team for over a year.
When Iron Man saw that the bomber had slowed, he took his shot. A jet of blue light came out of his repulsor and the bomber went flying. The three heroes immediately circled the bomber. The bomber stumbled to his feet.
Wil didn’t see what happened as his brother had dragged him to his feet. “Come on,” Techno whispered. “We’ve got to go!” Wil just nodded. Maybe Stark wouldn’t recognize him. That was probably wishful thinking though.
A strong smell of smoke whipped around. Wil glanced behind him. The bomber had vanished. So much for almost dying for nothing. He saw the Avengers looking around as well. Stark did a double-take when he saw Wil. Techno yanked his arm. They started walking (well Wil was limping) away.
“YOU!” was shouted from behind him. Wil tensed as he glanced behind him once more to see the Iron Man suit pointing directly at him. The other Avengers glanced in their direction as well. Wil and Techno stopped moving. They looked at each other. What were they supposed to do here? They couldn’t exactly run away in broad daylight.
Wil is a little shit so he just screamed back “YOU!” in a mocking tone while pointing at the Iron Man suit. They stared at each other. Neither of them was moving their arms anytime soon.
The other Avengers just looked back and forth between them. Hawkeye and the War Machine ran up to their friends. It was dead silent. Everyone was just staring at each other.
“What are you two doing here?” Iron Man asked as he took a step forward, slow as if he didn't want to scare them off. Too late for that. He and his brother were already terrified. Who wouldn’t be when they had five Avengers staring right at them.
Wil was about to throw some more sarcasm his way but was cut off by Techno saying, “Fighting the bad guy you were supposed to get to first.” Wil could practically hear the smirk behind his brother’s mask. Ah, he sometimes forgot that the shit disturber gene was shared.
The Avengers who showed their faces narrowed their eyes. They obviously did not like it when people made fun of them. The Captain was the first to break the awkward silence. “You know these guys, Stark?” the Captain chuckled. What about this was funny? Wil was terrified.
“Just the Siren,” Tony spoke up gesturing his head towards Wil. Wil cringed at the use of his vigilante name. “Saved me from that assassination last night.” he gestured like it was no big deal. “I have no idea who the guy in Red is though.”
Wil could feel Techno’s ego bruising from where he was standing. He would not be surprised if the Avengers felt it as well.
His twin tightened his grip around Wil. “The red guy happened to be better at fighting that bomber than you all.” Oh, Techno was definitely insulted. “Look I’m not even burned at all!” Techno was a bit mad. He’s going to be ranting later.
The Iron Man mask lifted up. Tony Stark’s face was one of pure confusion. He probably thought that Wil had worked alone. Most of the time he did, but he was nowhere near smart enough to make the suit.
Glancing at Techno’s sword, Wil made another dumb decision. There really should be a list of dumb things their family has done. Tommy’s entire afternoon the day before is obviously in the first place, with Wil’s water shield stunt trailing in second from a distance.
“He is The Blade.” He said defensively. Again, he cringed immediately as he said that. Whatever, he could blame it on exhaustion. It was Techno’s problem now. Techno shot him a look, tonight is gonna be long. Wil wished he could just pass out right there and then. “He could probably beat you guys in a fight but now really isn't the time. We’ve got to go, so...” Techno once again started to drag Wil towards the street.
Behind the group of Avengers, Wil could see the Black Widow whispering with Hawkeye. “Me and this goofus,” the Black Widow spoke up, pointing towards Hawkeye, “are going to go deal with the press. It was lovely to meet you guys. It’s nice to know that Tony can actually make friends.” She sent a smirk to Stark. He just gave her the middle finger in return. They have a strange dynamic, Wil thought. Although it couldn’t be much stranger than what is going on with his family. He once again thought about why his father just randomly left.
Techno continued to basically drag him to the park gate. He vaguely wondered how they would get home. He decided that’s a problem for Techno, not him. He closed his eyes and continued to drag his feet. Suddenly he felt himself getting pulled to a stop.
His eyes fluttered open. He was so close to falling asleep. He sent a glare to Techno, his brother just rolled his eyes at him. Wil turned to face the Avengers. They were further back than what he remembered. Right, they were moving and trying to escape. “I just want to talk!” Stark called.
“Yeah right!” his brother yelled back. Why was he being unnecessarily loud? Oh right, the Avengers were far away. They should just move closer. They need to learn to be more considerate.
Wil looked up to the sky. What was that shape coming down? They looked oddly like wings. Did he know anyone with wings? He smiled as he remembered his father and little brother. He hoped it was one of them as he wanted to go home and sleep for a week.