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Tommy… had no idea how he had ended up in his current predicament.
He recounted his day from the moment he woke up, trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
“Tommy! Wake up, we’re gonna be late for patrol!” Wilbur’s voice rang through their apartment, way too loud for Tommy.
“What are you even talking about?” Tommy asked blearily, sitting up in bed. He squinted at the alarm clock on his bedside table, the red numbers reading 5:48.
“You wanted to come with me for my morning patrol, remember?”
“God, I regret that decision,” Tommy muttered as he slowly got out of bed.
He stretched his arms, yawning wide, and stepped to his closet. He grabbed his costume; a thick, water-proof and insulated red and white jacket and black cargo pants.
He peeked out of his room with a frown, “WIl! Have you seen my mask and vest?!”
“Out here on the couch!”
“Why the-” Tommy gave up on his words in frustration and left his room, looking around with a glare.
On the couch was indeed his bullet-proof vest and his mask, sitting waiting for him. He snatched them up and dashed back to his room to get changed. He had specifically gotten a thin bullet-proof vest so it could go somewhat comfortably underneath his clothes, and yesterday he had drawn a toothy grin onto his mask, which doubled as jaw armour, to give it more personality.
Tommy took a moment to stare at Wilbur’s costume, struggling to keep from gagging.
“What?” Wilbur question, already sounding offended.
“I’m never getting used to that eyesore of a costume,” Tommy replied, scrunching his face up.
Wilbur looked like he was going to a fucking gala or something. His costume consisted of a black dress shirt underneath a white waist-coat detailed in gold, white dress pants, a big white coat with teal on the inside and a teal tie to tie it all together (pun intended).
“It’s classy,” Wilbur sniffed, straightening his coat. “And put on knee pads, elbow pads and some arm protectors.”
“What? Why?”
“You can never be too safe,” Wilbur answered, but Tommy had the sneaking suspicion this was payback.
“Fine,
mom
,” Tommy huffed. “Where would they be?”
Wilbur tilted his head to where Tommy’s sneakers were, and next to them were a pile of black things.
Goddamnit , Tommy thought as he glumly made his way over. I’m gonna look like a geek.
It turned out Tommy didn’t look as bad as he thought he would. The arm protectors were mostly hidden underneath his jacket sleeves, and stretched into fingerless gloves. The protective pads fit pretty well with his colourful techwear aesthetic without standing out too much.
“Come on, we can grab donuts when we’re on patrol,” Wilbur promised, already in the hallway.
“Hate morning patrol,” Tommy grumbled as he left their apartment. “Can’t even get breakfast.”
Wilbur laughed and put a hand in his hair, “You’re the one that wanted to come with, you can still stay here.”
Tommy made another disgruntled sound but locked the door behind him anyway.
Then they got donuts for free, because they were heros and all, spent a good chunk of the patrol on top of rooftops and…
And then Kronos had showed up, a black gas mask secured to the bottom of his face, cold eyes immediately landing on the hero and apprentice on the rooftop above him.
Should I have stayed home? Tommy wondered as he evacuated some citizens to a nearby safe house.
But then Wilbur wouldn’t have any back-up, he reasoned as he got back to the scene.
Kronos and Wilbur were at a standstill, glaring each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. Well, Wilbur was doing most of the glaring, Kronos didn’t seem to care.
Rule one of costumes, no capes , Tommy recounted, staring at Kronos’ towering figure.
Kronos’ costume was one of the more extravagant and flamboyant ones, with a red cape covered in thin golden spirals and lined with fur, a white blouse, black pants and black and gold heel boots that reached up half his shin. He must have loved gold, because he was practically enveloped in it.
Rule two of costumes, stay away from controversy.
Atop of Kronos’ pink hair was a delicate, golden crown, fitted with all sorts of precious gemstones and minerals.
People assumed the villain had stolen it, but there was no record of any crowns being stolen in the past decade. The crown looked real enough, so how did he get such a precious thing?
“Kronos!” Wilbur called once he realised Tommy was beside him again. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“Excuse me?” Kronos’ voice was deep and metallic through the mask, but filled with amusement. “Do you really think you can take me on with your little sidekick?”
“Not a sidekick!” Tommy refuted before he could stop himself. “And we can take you on any day!”
“Then why are you just standing there?” Kronos asked, holding his arms out. “Come at me,
I dare you to
.”
Tommy shot a look at Wilbur, and was given a quick nod.
They both knew what Kronos’ powers were, and he knew Wilbur’s. Only Wilbur’s. The advantage wasn’t much, but they needed as many as they could get.
Complete control of time and space was nothing to laugh at, and maybe Kronos had experienced this situation a hundred times already and just kept replaying and replaying it.
They would have no idea.
Wilbur’s hand clenched at his side, the signal for Tommy to attack in three, two, one…
“Too late,” Kronos whispered, right next to his ear.
Tommy yelled and swung wildly in his general direction, blasting a ball of light, hopefully in his eyes. There was laughter and he looked up, coming face to face with a Kronos whose eyes were full of mirth. Tommy had a feeling he was grinning underneath his mask.
“Light manipulation, interesting,” Kronos remarked.
Well there went their advantage. Tommy again went for the eyes, drawing enough power to blind the villain when he stepped back and disappeared into red ripples.
“Behind you!” Wilbur warned, yanking a stop sign out of the sidewalk.
Tommy didn’t bother turning around, faking a light blast. He almost sang when Kronos appeared in front of him, and grabbed ahold of his wrists.
Kronos’ eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he glanced down, Tommy’s hands beginning to glow bright white. He didn’t usually use his powers to hurt, only to incapacitate, but Kronos was on a different level.
He couldn’t risk holding back.
Kronos’ eyes went wide with shock and he yanked his arms back, disappearing once more.
One of Kronos’ weaknesses; if anyone was touching him and he teleported, they’d teleport with him.
He appeared a few feet away, rubbing at his wrists, tilting his head at Tommy. A stop sign went flying his way, alongside a million little pieces of gravel, aiming to dig into his skin.
“Rude,” Kronos commented as he appeared beside Wilbur.
Wilbur sent him flying towards Tommy, but he vanished before he even got close.
All Tommy had to do was blind Kronos and they would have a good chance of winning this fight. Which was easier said than done considering the villain was like a goddamn cat, managing to escape before anyone could catch him.
A man suddenly appeared from one of the alleyways, middle-aged, clearly drunk. Wilbur jerked his head towards him and took off after Kronos, who was heading towards the safe house.
“Sir, you need to get to safety,” Tommy told the man. “I can bring you to a safe house nearby.”
“Oh fuck off!” the man slurred, stumbling and hitting the wall.
“Sir-”
“Laser eyes now!”
Tommy grabbed all the light particles near him and straightened them into two lines, heating them up as much as he could. He whipped his head to where Wilbur had called him, feeling his eyebrows climb.
Wilbur and Kronos were tussling mid-air, and he wasn’t quite sure who was winning. Kronos’ fist cracked harshly against Wilbur’s nose, but he was sporting a cut underneath his eye.
He felt himself lift off the ground, and without a moment’s notice he was with them. He lunged for Kronos’ unprotected throat and dug his nails into the skin, bringing his power to his palms.
Kronos writhed in his hold, trying to free himself before Wilbur sent him crashing into the concrete below, plucking Tommy off of him last minute.
They watched warily from the sky as the dust began to settle.
There was a crater but no Kronos.
“Shit, where did he go?” Wilbur muttered, scanning the ground.
“Mommy, daddy, look!” A little girl cheered. She had a stuffed teddy in her arms, and Tommy wasn’t sure where she came from. “They’re super heroes!”
Her parents were nowhere to be seen, and for a second, Tommy considered getting Wilbur to float the girl up to them until a figure appeared behind her.
Kronos .
He easily picked her up - she couldn’t be older than six - and held her in one arm while he grinned at them. His mask had fallen apart to reveal a set of bloody teeth.
“Are you a hero too mister?” she asked him, eyes wide with awe.
“That’s right,” Kronos answered even though half his face was covered in blood. “Where are your mommy and daddy? You were just calling them.”
The little girl looked around, and once it seemed she couldn’t find them, her eyes began welling up. “I- I don’t know.”
“Oh, don’t cry, I’ll help you look for them, alright? I can teleport so it’ll be super fast!”
Kronos… was weirdly good at comforting crying children.
“Kronos, get away from her,” Wilbur commanded, voice icy.
“But she needs to find her parents,
Atlas
,” Kronos mocked. He turned to his hostage. “Isn’t that right?”
The child nodded vigorously. “Mhm! Are you two misters going to help too?”
“Once I get the kid out of his hands you don’t leave her side, no matter what,” Wilbur told Tommy.
“Got it.”
In an instant, Tommy was floating a foot off the ground and the little girl was tossed into his arms. He landed, trying his best not to jostle the girl and positioned her onto his hip.
“Heya kid, what’s your name?” he asked gently, trying to distract her from Wilbur’s and Kronos’ fight.
“Maya!” she chirped happily. “Do you have a hero name, mister?”
“Its-”
He barely registered Kronos flying into him until he was flat on his back. Shock rebounded through him, once then twice before he even tried to sit up.
The world was spinning, even as he struggled to his feet.
“Shit- Maya,” he realised.
He unpurposefully stumbled forward as he searched for her, finding her small body curled in on itself. He ran towards her, gingerly turning her onto her back.
His heart dropped into his stomach at the crimson smeared over her forehead.
He put his fingers to her neck, relieved to find a pulse. It was thready, but it was there, persistent and determined.
The relief was short-lived as a tall shadow fell on Maya.
“Is she alive?”
Tommy spun around, shielding her with his body, fire in his eyes. He was distantly aware of something warm dripping down his face.
Kronos stared down at him. His gas mask was back, looking brand new, but he was still bleeding profusely.
“Is she alive?” he asked again.
Tommy snapped his head to where he and Wilbur had been fighting, horror dawning on him as he stared at where Wilbur was frozen in place.
He looked like a statue, eyes narrowed in concentration, arms out in an x to block an incoming blow.
“What did you do to Atlas?” Tommy uttered.
“I froze him in time. He was being annoying,” Kronos explained like he was explaining why he killed a mosquito. “Is the child alive?”
“ Get away ,” Tommy demanded. “And put Atlas back to normal!”
Kronos kept staring, before he sighed and snapped his fingers.
Tommy watched as Wilbur slowly uncrossed his arms and turned to them.
“Shit- Kronos, get away from them! Your fight is with me!” Wilbur tried to move, but found his feet stuck in place.
“Atlas, please-“ Kronos was cut off when a tree went flying his way.
In less than a second he was gone and then he was back. “Okay, when are you going to realise that’s not going to work?”
“You’re bleeding, aren’t you?” Wilbur shot back with a grin.
“Touché, but so is your little sidekick.”
Tommy kept his mouth shut, inching away to scoop Maya up and run for his life. So what if Kronos could teleport? A well-timed flashbang would hold him for a few seconds at least-
“What do you want?” Wilbur spat, an obvious distraction.
“What do I want? You guys are the ones who attacked me! I was just taking a walk.”
“In your villain gear? Please.” Wilbur rolled his eyes. “You could have ended this ages ago, what in the world are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” Kronos echoed, sliding his eyes towards Tommy. “Let’s just say I’m curious.”
He leaned forward and grabbed Tommy’s collar, hoisting him to his feet. Stricken with fear and probably concussed, Tommy could barely grab his wrists.
He burned Kronos’ wrists again and smelt the stench of burning flesh, but Kronos didn’t loosen his grip.
“Get your hands off him!” Wilbur yelled.
Kronos didn’t look his way, and slowly raised one of his hands, making a show of it.
“HELIOS! GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
Time froze.
For a moment nothing dared to move, not the clouds, not. the wind, not the bead of blood making its way down Kronos’ knuckles.
The next, Kronos had turned to Wilbur.
“What did you just call him?” Kronos asked, words barely louder than a whisper.
Wilbur just shook his head, on the verge of tears. “Please don’t hurt him.”
Kronos turned his gaze on Tommy, eyes ablaze.
“What did he just call you?”
“He- Helios-“ Tommy managed, his mouth going ash-dry. “It’s my hero name.”
Tommy blinked and he was no longer on the sidewalk.
He fell to the floor, feeling as if he had just gone through a rollercoaster. Nothing processed in his mind for a good moment before he remembered he had to breathe.
“Don’t stand up too quickly, you’ll puke,” a voice warned, sounding incredibly tired.
Tommy stayed on the floor for a few more seconds before he scrounged up the energy to stand up. He immediately tipped sideways and fell onto a leather couch.
His stomach did several backflips before settling.
The room he was in looked incredibly similar to his and Wilbur’s apartment.
In front of him was a flatscreen TV, and a coffee table. To his left was another seat that looked pretty fancy and a curved window wall, giving view to the city.
Holy shit, Tommy thought. I’m in a penthouse suite.
To his right was a dining table and a kitchen area, where a tall figure was at the sink with the water running.
Tommy’s gaze fell on the black gas mask sitting on the table in a small pool of blood.
“Holy fucking shit!” he shouted, scrambling to get as far as away as he could from the villain.
“Calm down, I’m not going to do anything to you,” Kronos huffed. Again, he sounded exhausted. “Plus, I can teleport and you’re concussed. I don’t think you’ll manage to get far.”
Fuck, now that he thought about it, his head was pounding.
“Fine,” Tommy relented. But he stayed on guard. “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
“What?”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“You- you kidnapped me!” Tommy spluttered incredulously.
Kronos took a moment to reply, like it was hard to formulate the words. He kept his back turned.
“Accidentally. The door’s unlocked, you can leave if you want to.”
“How did you accidentally kidnap me? You teleported us both away and now I know where you live!”
“I have a dozen places across the city, you can leave.”
The running water was turned off, but Kronos stayed at the sink. His cape had been taken off and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
“Do… do you want me to leave?” Tommy asked hesitantly.
If he was going to be honest, he felt like genuine shit, and could barely think over his aching head. The blood on his face had dried, but his entire body felt bruised.
“You’re concussed, so I feel like you’d get run over the moment you stepped onto the street,” Kronos sighed. “And I want to ask you a few questions.”
Tommy’s guard was back up again. “You said you didn’t want anything from me!”
“Earlier I didn’t, now I do. You can still leave whenever you want.”
“I… My head really hurts.”
“I have painkillers if you want them.”
“Yes… please.” Tommy could feel himself cringe.
Kronos reached up and opened a cabinet, grabbing a box of medicine from it. He finally turned around to offer it to Tommy.
“Holy shit,” Tommy muttered, staring at the villain's face.
“What?”
Tommy blinked hard. “Your face… what were you doing at the sink for so long?”
“Heh?”
“It’s all bloody!” he exclaimed. “And you haven’t cleaned it even though the tap was running for so long.”
Kronos was silent, looking mildly irritated before he set the medicine down and headed for one of the rooms.
“Feel free to get a cup of water, I’ll be back.”
Weird guy , Tommy thought as he watched him. But less homicidal than I thought .
He winced as another wave of pain washed over him and hurried to grab the medicine and a cup of water. After swallowing two pills he settled back onto the couch, feeling drained.
He had used his powers quite a bit and was thrown around so it made sense. It could also be an adrenaline come-down.
Either way, Tommy found himself drifting off to sleep on the couch, even though he was in a villain’s apartment.
Wilbur would be very disappointed.
Tommy awoke, aware that everything was stiff and uncomfortable but that he wasn’t actively in pain anymore.
He thought he was in the apartment for a second, but realised he wasn’t when he saw Kronos only a few feet away from him.
“Holy fuck!” Tommy jumped and tried to summon his power when he realised he couldn’t.
Kronos watched him carefully, with almost half-lidded eyes. He had dressed down to sweatpants and a t-shirt, his pink hair in a low ponytail.
There was a bandage under his eye and one on the opposite cheek, as well as a purpling bruise on his chin. His neck was covered in bandages.
“Evening,” Kronos said, tilting his head in greeting.
“What the fuck?”
“You, me, and Wilbur fought and I ended up accidentally teleporting you with me back here. I have a few questions to ask but you’re free to leave if you do wish.”
Jesus Christ, why is this dude so professional-
Tommy turned to the door, which was basically calling for him, but looked away. “Fine. I’ll stay and listen to your questions.”
A small smile spread across Kronos’ face. “Thank you.”
“But what’s your name? I keep calling you Kronos in my head but you’re so… not villainy.”
“You can call me Techno. And you?”
“Helios,” Tommy told him, and didn’t miss his flinch.
“A different name?”
This is a bad idea. This is a really bad idea: Don't tell a supervillain your real name!
“Tommy.”
Wilbur is so disappointed in me right now.
“That’s a nice name,” Kro- Techno complimented absentmindedly. “My first question is: how long have you been working with Atlas?”
“Eight months, and it’s public information,” Tommy answered, a little confused.
“So three more months training under Atlas until you become an official hero, right?” A thoughtful look crossed his face. “Unless you’re like Atlas.”
“Oh no, I’m not as cool as Wil- mhngm Atlas . I’ll do another three months before I’ll be able to do solo work.”
Techno nodded. “And… What's your hero name?”
Tommy stared at him and he stared back. Kronos turned and picked up a glass of water that was next to him, and Tommy realised how dry his throat had gone.
“I told you before,” Tommy started delicately, sitting a bit straighter. He saw the way Techno’s eyes narrowed but finished, “Helios.”
The glass cup exploded in Kronos’ hand, and a million shards went flying in every direction. Tommy flinched and tried to protect his face, but his cheek had already been cut.
“Ow-” Tommy’s heart was racing, and his breaths were coming in short and shallow. He stared at Kronos, eyes wide with shock and a little fear. Kronos was staring at his hand like it was the most peculiar thing as rivers of blood began to stream from it.
“Get out.” Kronos muttered.
“What?”
“
Get out
.”
Getting out would probably be the best decision Tommy would make all day. Unfortunately, he really wasn’t the type to make good decisions.
“Are you upset because of my hero name?” he asked, laughing. “You murder innoccents for fun, what’s wrong with you?!”
“Innocents?” Kronos echoed incredulously. “Is that what they’re telling you at the Hero Commision? That I’m killing
innocents
?”
Tommy stood up, taking a step back. “Duh! That’s what you’re doing! Seven dead the other day because of
you
.”
Kronos stood as well, eyes ablaze. “So the Hero Commision is spreading lies and replacing me, all in one. I have to say, they are efficient.”
“What are you even talking about?!”
“Four years!” Kronos bellowed, a sardonic grin stretching his lips. “I sacrificed four years of my life and
this
is how they repay me? By replacing me with some… seventeen year old and ripping apart my legacy?!”
“What legacy?! You’re a villain, not some anti-hero!” Tommy retorted, realising he was getting angry for no good reason.
“Do you even know who I am ? Who I was ?”
“You’re Kronos! A villain who slaughters for fun and has total control of space and time! You know how I know? Because you’re constantly flaunting it! You run around in your crown and your cape and all we heroes can do is chase you around and hope for the best!”
“
I’M HELIOS!”
Kronos roared, face contorted with rage.
“
I
was
Helios! I was a hero, I was Atlas’ partener, I used my powers for good and you know what I got out of it? Out of four years of working myself to the bone for the ’people’?
Absolutely fucking nothing.
”
His words were utterly sincere.
Tommy turned tail and ran, arms already out to shove the door open.
Kronos let him.
Kronos let him sprint down the hallway and lunge into the elevator. Kronos let him leave the lobby and walk out onto the street, where Tommy could vaguely recognise the buildings around him.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, distantly realising how lucky he was Kronos hadn’t taken it.
He called Wilbur, and was overjoyed when he immediately picked up. “Wilbur! I need you to pick me up, I’m in front of the Tartarus Hotel and bleeding.”
“ Holy shit, Tommy, are you alright?” Came Wilbur’s panicked voice.
“Er, yeah? I’m bleeding but they’re only scratches so…”
“ I'm on my way, what happened? Did Kronos do anything to you? Why are you bleeding?”
“It’s… it’s a long story,” Tommy sighed, looking down at his shoes.
“ I’m just glad you’re safe .”
Tommy hummed into his microphone.
Now that he wasn’t in peril, Kronos’ words just kept repeating again and again in his head.
Absolutely fucking nothing.
Absolutely fucking nothing.