Chapter Text
The knife was lifted up and down, each stab into a soft torso spurting out blood onto the killer's face.
They heard the sirens outside, they heard the heavy boots and the cocking of guns, a police shield rubbing up to the one next to it.
“Drop the knife, villain!” The most annoying voice in the entire world, Phantom, a hero who had thwarted his plansmany times before, was here to thwart this one too.
He was on his knees anyways, so he let the knife slip from his hands with a clatter.
Phantom walked forward, “You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in….” the hero gradually got quieter, their eyes locked on the familiar mask below.
“Is that…” Phantom paused, he turned around, staring into the heroes mask. They shuddered, as if the gaze was felt behind the mask.
“It’s Dream.”
✵
He drummed his fingers along the grey desk. Admittedly, awaiting to be questioned wasn't as fun as he’d thought it would be when nobody was in there with him. Something about the anticipation of the onslaught of questions, mostly about why on earth he would attack, let alone kill Dream. Someone that he has been seen working side by side with for three years.
The one-sided glass freaked him out, he didn’t like the feeling of not knowing what was behind it. But just as he was about to do a synopsis on why he didn’t like the one-sided glass, the inconspicuous grey door on the wall swung open, and Phantom stepped in.
“Matrix, I have what’s on your file. We just need your statement of what happened to proceed in the court case.” Phantom slid into the seat across from him, a manila folder with barely any paper rested on the table.
“Is he dead?” Matrix asked, tilting his head to the right. Phantom’s mask eyes went wide. “I…No, he’s not. He’s in the ICU. Monitored, of course.”
Matrix rolled his eyes back and rested his head on the chair, groaning loudly as he did so. “Well-“ his head snapped straight up “Bummer. I’ll get ‘im next time.”
Phantom just stared at him. Despite Matrix being unable to see his face, he could tell the hero was confused. “So that’s it? You just killed your mentor?” Matrix scoffed, “I wouldn’t exactly call him my…mentor.”
“What would you call Dream?” Phantom enticed.
“Kidnapper, murderer, child murderer, abuser, manipulator, stupid idiot….” Matrix listed it out on his fingers, body slouched like he was remembering all the crimes committed by the villian.
“You don’t exactly like him then, do you?” Phatom opened the manila file; thumbing idly between between the three sheets of mostly useless information
“I thought I did for years, but there was no point in fooling myself.” Matrix shrugged.
It was funny, seeing a standard grey outline for the face of the person that was sitting in front of you.
Matrix wasn’t exactly..likeable. He was a notorious side-kick to the villain Dream.
Dream liked to kill innocents for fun, maybe just to get out some pent up anger or maybe another reason, but Matrix was tilting onto the opposite side. Most innocents that were caught up in whatever trick he had pulled survived. At least Matrix wasn’t that insane.
There wasn’t much about Matrix personally in the file. No name, no age, no date of birth.
He glanced up, hoping to get some sort of age range for the maskless villian idly picking at his nails infront of him. Phantom hadn’t really had the time to examine the guys face since the dramatic arrest.
Too young.
Way too young.
Phantom’s mind sparked with immediate questions like a fork in a socket. Matrix himself had said that he never liked Dream, so why was he staying with him? Especially when Matrix himself didn’t look a day over twelve.
“I need to know your date of birth so we can testify you in an adult criminal court.” Phantom crossed over his hands.
Matrix raised a brow. “Can I invoke the 5th?” He tried. Phantom chuckled, even though it was against some kind of conduct. “We need to know, it could affect your case.”
“What case? I am literally a Super Villian’s sidekick. I don’t need a trial. I’ll still end up with a twenty year sentence no matter what what case I build.” Matrix stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Phantom sighed. “Look, I’m just going to tell you straight, kid. I know you’re very clearly under eighteen, alright? I just wanna know your date of birth so I can have this whole case done and dusted as soon as possible.”
“Excuse you! I am eighteen and proud. Don’t be a hater because you’re twenty-one and have smile lines.” Matrix raised his top lip in a snarl-like fashion. But it was dropped as soon as it came.
“You don’t..have it on a file or something?” Matrix questioned.
“No. There’s barely anything on your file.” Phantom said bluntly.
“If I stay silent will you attack me?” Matrix joked, however the twinge of worry he carried bled through his words without his permission.
“It’s not something we can avoid. Your age will determine how heavy your sentence will be.Villain or not.” Phantom said sternly, avoiding looking at Matrix’s uncomfortable expression.
“I mean, if you want to get a lawyer you can. Even if you are somehow eighteen- a lawyer will help your case.” Phantom suggested, blowing out air behind his mask.
“I don’t- I- I can’t afford one.” Matrix’s ears went red.
“Unfortunately, since well- you are an associate of a villain, we can’t provide you with a public defender. They are usually only available for low-profile cases” said Phantom.
“….” Matrix mumbled.
“What was that?” Phantom raised a brow. Even his enhanced hearing upgrade in his mask didn’t catch that. He doubted the hidden tape recorder did either.
“Fourteen.” Matrix muttered- barely louder than a whisper.
Phantom couldn’t help but gasp as quietly as he could. “You- you’re fourteen? ”
Matrix had first been seen around 3 years ago- so that means at eleven years old, he was out burning down rich people’s homes, robbing banks, stabbing and what not.
God, what was Phantom even doing at that age? He was pretty sure he had just started learning guitar at that age- his twin began fencing.
“I need a break.” Phantom slid off his chair, striding out of the room.
He shut the door quietly behind him, the door that led to the viewing room behind the one-sided glass swung open, his pink-haired twin rushed out.
“Are you serious, Wilbur? Why didn’t you ask more questions?” He accused. Wilbur looked appalled. “Are you deaf? Did you not hear what he said?”
Technoblade sank down slightly. “My book was gettin’ too good to put down. Niki was watchin’ him. I think.” As if on cue, Niki stuck her cotton pink head of hair out of the viewing room, giving Wilbur a quick wave before returning.
“We currently have a Super Villain sidekick in that room, and you were too busy getting lost in a book?! That you could read any time other than now!? ” Wilbur whispered. “Well- when you put it like that-“ Technoblade nervously chuckled.
“That boy is literally fourteen years old.” Wilbur gestured towards the room, before thunking his head against the wall, dragging his hand over his face before sinking to the floor. Techno sighed, moving down the wall to sit next to him.
“I just- I just don’t know what to do, Tech. He’s just a kid.” Wilbur mumbled into his sleeve.
“You’ll pull through. No matter if he’s a kid- or a supervillain you defend him like a lawyer. The whole way through.” Techno offered.
Wilbur pulled his head up, glaring at Technoblade. “That’s the problem. He’s a kid! But at the same time he’s heavily associated with a villian that killed a whole bunch of people.”
Techno winced.
“I’ll just try to defend him the best I can, and whatever the verdict is what’ll happen.” said Wilbur. He got back up, took a deep breath in and prepared himself for the inevitable.
Well, to say the least, he didn’t prepare himself for that.
Some sides of the courtroom exploded into quiet chatter, that built its way up on the decibel scale, some people gasped others just straight up cheered- which quickly died down after being given many odd looks.
A prison sentence. The jury had said that “execution was too merciful” - And Wilbur- Wilbur couldn’t belive his eyes.
The fourteen-year-old next to him wasn’t phased, he was only glaring at the judge. Wilbur shivered. This child’s glare was like a solar flare,it could destroy everything in its wake with an unbearable heat,or just waft right past.
Life in special confinement.
Worse than isolation.
For a child?
No way.
“Hold on-just- just wait a minute.” Wilbur spoke loudly over the sound of the rest of the courtroom. “This boy, right next to me is a child! Fourteen years old, simply following the orders of someone he viewed to be a guardian!” He debated.
The judge shook her head lightly. “Mr.Phantom, you must understand the nature of the multiple crimes and murders he was associated with.Child or not, he has been trialed as an adult, and was found guilty.”
Wilbur deflated. Looking down at the kid beside him, he sat back down. About a dozen guards stepped out of a next to the witness stands, tasers, batons and even guns in pockets or holsters.They stood the kid up, hooking him by the back of his arms.
“Don’t worry your little head, Phantom. If I’m lucky, I’ll be out in a week.” Matrix winked, quickly being shoved out the door with a push of his head.
As Wilbur began to pack up his things, he couldn’t help but wonder more about the situation. Matrix was barely fourteen years old. So young, yet he had already chosen to go down a life of crime. Maybe he hadn’t had the choice to choose- with Dream clearly having a heavy, almost familial influence on the teenagers life, he must have had a big part to play in getting Matrix this far. If Dream had done so much, what had driven him to attack his mentor so violently? Was it over a disunite? Was it planned ?
He waved his hand to an oncoming taxi.
He simply couldn’t tell.
“So?” Techno was laid across the couch, legs slung over the arm, remote in hand- flicking over various channels.
Their father, Phil, the (now retired) hero Phoenix, was stirring a mystery substance on the hob. Wilbur knew it was a mystery what he was cooking as soon as he stepped in as his father- in his own rights- was a shit cook.
Wilbur sucked in a breath before answering. “Not good. Not good at all.” then, Phil answered. “Ah! Hi Wilbur, mate. Do you want to try my bone broth?”
Wilbur winced. “No thanks dad. I’d actually rather not.” He stalked over to his twin, flipping his legs over the back of the couch, and flopping down onto the no-longer-so-soft material.
Technoblade flicked onto the news channel, two rather bored looking newscasters looked straight into his soul, reporting on the court case that he had just been at, saying something stupid like “Matrix’s face will not be revealed due to the intense nature of his crimes.” Wilbur groaned
“Life?” Techno folded his arms, barely raising his eyes to look at Wilbur. Wilbur whined, turning his head into the sofa cushion. “Yup.” He lifted his head upwards to look sombrely at his twin. “Not just life- life in special confinement.” Technoblade whitsled lowly. “Tha’s a rough one. Especially rough for a kid.”
Especially rough for a kid.
Wilbur repeated what Technoblade said over and over in his already worry-ridden brain. Even as he sat eating his Dad’s toilet water tasting bone broth. Matrix is only fourteen.
Wilbur had never been to prison. His twin Technoblade had for fighting somone. Even if it wasn’t prison it was still county jail for about a day. His father had been too back in the revolution days- so he really didn’t have a clue about how he would be treated in a prison like Pandora.
The most horrible of people would be thrown in Pandora. Child murderers, cult leaders, serial killers- you name it, they were in there. But did Matrix really and truly deserve to be in there? Isolated all by himself until he died? While truly evil men were in there, in better conditions with a slap-on-the-wrist sentence?
“Wil? You're barely touching your food. Everything alright?” His Dad asked, gesturing with his spoon. “I’m just- I’m just thinking about that kid. He’s all alone in Pandora, you know? I’m just worried about how harshly they’re treating him.” Wilbur spilled.
Techno shrugged. “Dad was alright when he was there. If you want to see how he’s doing you could go straight to Pandora. I’m pretty sure you can. Since you're his lawyer and a hero after all.”
“Yeah, but dad was in there for a week at most- Wait. I can go see him?” Wilbur stopped in his sentence, spoon freezing mid air.
“Yup.”
Wilbur nodded slowly. “Am I able to bring others?” “Yeah, mate. If you want, Techno and I can go with you?” Phil suggested kindly.
Wilbur felt his anxiety drip away. If he went with powerful figures, like the great past hero Phoenix and the current top hero, Kratos,there would surely be no hassle. He quickly finished his food, and later helped Phil with cleaning up. He couldn’t help but feel the twinge of excitement at seeing the stubborn boy in the morning. Who could blame him? Anyone would get a little attached after spending multiple hours with the kid listening to him ramble on about how great an Indian curry is.
Wilbur awoke with a start. Sunshine pouring into his room (and more importantly, right into his eyeball. Which was highly effective in waking him) from the sliver of a crack between the curtain and the wall. After only being awake for a few seconds, his brain already had a list of things that he needed to complete before heading to Pandora.
By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs after finishing his mental list, his father and brother were already pulling their coats on.
Phil was pulling on a deep navy sailors jacket, a casual, but warm green jumper for the oncoming winter months. Wilbur would say he looked exactly like the man on one of those canned tuna ads. Of course, he wouldn’t say that to his dads face. He didn’t want to be exposed to the flash of sorrow in his dads icy blue eyes, and the down turning of his lips at Wilbur’s assault of his outfit.
His twin, Technoblade- well he dressed like Technoblade to say the least.
Arriving at Pandora was far less of an excitement than what Wilbur was expecting. He felt his gut churning, legs turning to jelly and brain fuzzing with cotton as his dad spoke to the Warden.
Techno must have noticed Wilbur’s odd fidgeting, and slowly slipped his hand into Wilbur’s. Wilbur looked up into Techno’s ice cold blue stare (much like Phil’s in all honesty) a tiny little hike of his twin's lips was all he needed to slightly calm the wave of nerves crashing into him.
The Warden was an entirely intimidating man. A dark grey gas mask covered the entire lower half of his face, only leaving his menacing bright yellow stare towering over whoever was in front of him.
A large puff of what could only be described as steam wafted around Phil’s head as The Warden began to speak to him.
Wilbur wasn’t listening per say …. it was a little boring to be honest. He probably should be paying attention to what his dad was talking about in a low voice, but his attention was only pulled back down from the clouds when Phil waved the twins over, pointing to a large agreement waver and a pen, which was pushed towards the family.
It only explained the risks of being in Pandora, even if only for a few minutes, they still had to sign it. Even if there was any more terms and conditions, Wilbur didn’t read them.
Wilbur signed it with a dash on the ‘T’
The three heroes, current and past- were ushered around the entire building, the heat was unbearable. A layer of sweat clung to Wilbur’s skin as they seemingly decended deeper and deeper into Pandora.
The Warden seemed to be dragging them in all different ways, simply brushing past the questions of “Is this the way to Matrix’s cell?”
But The Warden kept on talking. “It’s a completely safe facility, so any villian put inside these walls will certainly never esca-“
Phil gently put his hand on The Warden’s shoulder. His dark, forest green hair swayed slightly as he turned down to look at Phil.
“I know this is a ingeniesly built prison, but that’s not what we’re here for. We are here to visit Matrix, and discuss his situation.” Phil nodded forward gently.
The Warden sighed quietly, a puff of steam coming from his mask. Nobody could argue with Phil when he put his hand on your shoulder. When Technoblade and Wilbur were younger, they were convinced it was a perk that came with his powers.
Without any more resistance, The Warden turned around the complete opposite direction, winding around hallways that became smaller and smaller, thinner and thinner, until eventually they had to walk in a single file line.
A large, bank-like inforced door was at the end of a nearly pitch black hallway.
After twisting and twisting for what felt like a hundred times in each direction, the door opened- to a cacophony of screams.
Phil immediately winced slightly, yet they all stepped inside what could only be described as a zoo exhibition.
There was a small standing space, encased in an extremely thick layer of glass.
The scene in front of the four was less than amusing. Kneeling atop a grate was Matrix, twisting and twinning against large industrial metal chains that had him attatched to large wooden pillars sparks jolted out in every direction, most likely due to the amount of friction the fourteen year old was causing between the chain links.
Flipping himself backwards out of pure rage, he let out another low growl of anger that dissolved into a scream of anguish, tears gushing down the child’s cheeks.
Suddenly, Wilbur felt his own blood begin to boil.
“Are you serious? Do you really think that this is humane in any way?!” Wilbur demanded, looking straight into The Warden's eyes.
“I am aware of your concerns, but considering the amount of crimes and the severity of the crimes that he has committed, precautions had to be taken.” The Warden replied coolly.
Wilbur’s eye twitched.
“He’s still a child! A fourteen year old! You wouldn’t even put an adult in these conditions! It’s torture! Just look at him, and tell me that he’s having a great time in there, restrained, in an unbearably warm room 24/7.” Wilbur raised his arm, pointing to the child who was hunched over, visible tears rolling off his cheek and onto the grate beneath him.
“This is the isolation part of his sentence. He was very aggressive towards any staff who attempted to interactso we had to-“
“ Had to?” Phil cut in, his eyebrow raising.
The Warden paused, sighing. A puff of steam adverted three stern gases from three heroes momentarily.
✵
Wilbur was not expecting to be back in the same court, his family behind him with the fourteen-year-old surrounded by guards in a chair not too far off from them just four days after Matrix was originally sent to Pandora.
It was a much less tense atmosphere inside the room. They weren’t listening to horrendous crimes committed by a minor over the span of three years, possibly more. This time, they were deciding whether or not Matrix could stay in a protected environment with the heroes Kratos, Phantom and Phoenix. If good behaviour persisted for a long period of time inside their home, he could be cleared to stay with them.
Wilbur didn’t mind. He’d rather this for Matrix than whatever that holding cell was any day. He felt pity for the kid every time he glanced in his direction. It must have been easy for Matrix to forget his age. Wilbur knew distantly that he probably didn’t have any chance to be a child.
After speaking about the more than torturous conditions, the judge, (who this time had more sympathy in her cold, tiny heart) was quick to agree to the new terms.
After all, these new terms mean that the family of heroes will protect the greater public. Even if it means risking the new ‘guest’ in their house.
As soon as the court was adjourned, the three heroes were told to go home, an armoured vehicle would be transporting Matrix later that day.
Wilbur sighed slightly when he got into the car, feeling the rumble of the car turning out of the car park beneath him.
Phil and Techno were idly chatting in the front, but a swirl of thoughts swallowed Wilbur up whole.
What had he just done?