Chapter 9

Tommy sat on the roof, chatting with Charon. The two were waiting for the others to show up. Tommy had made a plan. One that could possibly end very badly. His plans always turned out great. There was nothing to worry about.

Still, the two boys sat anxiously. There were still some major flaws with this awesome plan. Like the fact that vigilantes and heroes aren't supposed to get along. At all.

"Hey guys!"

Ranboo jumped in surprise at the voice. Tommys head snapped around to see who had spoken, though he already had a pretty good idea based off the odd echo.

"Hey Purpled. Punz," Tommy nodded to each of them in greeting, "Is Eret also on the way?"

Purpled nodded, "We told him about it. She said she'd come,"

"Cool," Tommy nodded, "I have some other friends who plan on coming as well. Not sure when they'll show up,"

Purpled gave a nod, "It's been a while since we've seen each other,"

"You've been busy lately?"

"Very. Punz and I have almost been struggling to keep up with all of it,"

"Not a bad thing though?"

"Not at all. We're thinking that we may be able to get out of this damned sector soon,"

Tommy went silent. It was hard to get out of this sector. Extremely hard. If Punz and Purpled were close to getting out, Tommy didn't know when he would see them again. He knew for a fact that he had near to no chance of ever getting out of Sector 99.

"That's a good thing," Tommy finally spoke, his voice softer than before, "You just better not replace me!" He raised his voice again in a joking manner.

Soft footsteps broke their conversation before Purpled could respond. The vigilante was decked out in a gorgeous suit. A dark blue tank top with lace sleeves, fishnet tights and gloves, a black skirt with a single slit in the leg, knee-high boots, a silver mask that stretched into a butterfly wing on the left side. And to tie it together, their cape was colored like the bi flag.

The vigilante cleared his throat, "I was told to meet here?"

"Eret!" Tommy and Purpled cheered, rushing over to greet them. Ranboo followed more slowly behind, giving a shy wave.

"Hey there, Purpled, Punz. Nice seeing you all,"

The four vigilantes ended up hanging around and chatting, unknowingly waiting for the heroes to arrive. The longer they waited, the more nervous Ranboo and Tommy grew.

"I still bet I could beat you in a race!" Tommy scoffed, rolling his eyes as he glared at Purpled.

"You definitely can't!"

"Oh I definitely could!"

Next thing the two of them know, they're rolling on the ground, wrestling. Still throwing jabs back and forth to try and prove their point.

Purpled finally managed to pin Tommy down, panting to try and catch his breath.

"Oh I so would win-"

Purpled was suddenly thrown off of Tommy.

"Get the hell away from him," A deep voice rumbled. One Tommy could easily match as Odysseus.

"Holy shit!"

Tommy got to his feet, looking between the two groups. Odysseus was carrying an axe now. Orpheus even looked ready to fight. Thanatos' feathers were bristled in anger. Purpled held his fists up to prepare himself, while Punz reached for his gun. Eret grabbed the bullwhip that rested at her hip. Ranboo looked ready to run.

"Okay! Okay! This is a mistake!" Tommy shouted, "Sleepy Bois Inc. meet my friends. Punz, Purpled, Eret, meet the SBI."

"Holy shit…" Purpled breathed out.

Odysseus let out a gruff noise of annoyance, letting the axe disappear to wherever it was usually stored. Who knew how his powers worked.

Orpheus still stayed tense, though Thanatos approached his son, gently rubbing his back.

"A warning would have been nice," Purpled looked at Tommy.

"You wouldn't have come if you knew there were heroes!"

The vigilantes still looked more tense than the heroes. Nearing either their weapons or staying in an easy position to fight in.

"Guys, this is Orpheus, Odysseus and Thanatos," Tommy pointed to each of the heroes, "SBI, this is Purpled, Punz and Eret,"

"It's nice to meet you all," Thanatos spoke calmly, though he had a wary edge in his voice.

"You as well," Eret muttered, keeping his voice low and even.

Punz still warily looked over everyone. Tommy had never been the closest with the mercenary, tending to get along best with Purpled. However, he knew it wasn't a terrible idea to introduce him to the heroes.

"So," Purpled began, "I heard you're slow,"

Anyone was able to hear the amused smirk Purpled had as he spoke to Orpheus, even those who didn't know the younger mercenary.

Tommy couldn't hold back his laughter, ignoring the glare the hero shot him.

"I'm not slow-!"

"-That's a lie!"

"I will kill you child!"

"I'm not a child!"

"Gremlin!"

"-Okay! That's enough!" Ranboo interrupted, "We don't want to hear your brotherly arguments!"

"Thank you Charon," Odysseus muttered, rubbing his face under the boar skull, "They drive me insane,"

"Charon?" Eret questioned, looking at Ranboo, "You finally got a name?"

"Lucky Bitch-" Tommy muttered, ignoring the snickers of everyone else.

"Oh! Yeah!" Ranboo laughed sheepishly, "Odysseus chose it. I'm Charon and then Bee also got a formal name!"

"How is Bee?"

"He's good! He goes by Daedalus now,"

"He went by Bee?" Orpheus questioned.

"His favorite animal is a bee," Tommy murmured the explanation. Orpheus nodded.

"And he's doing alright? Everything's fine?" Eret questioned.

"Yep! Still refuses to get himself a suit so he can visit you, but he does want to see you!" Ranboo nodded.

Eret nodded, "I do miss him," they murmured. Eret had seen the poor boy before he found refuge with Sam. They had been friends with his father and often visited. Only Eret knew of Tubbos identity, and in turn, Tubbo knew Erets. Though Tubbo refused to share the identities of Tommy and Ranboo.

"He misses you too, I bet," Ranboo nodded, "Maybe we can convince him to come visit you some time,"

"That would be nice," Eret smiled.

"Wait, he knows Daedalus' identity?" Orpheus asked, stunned.

"Only his," Eret nodded, "Still have yet to figure out these two," he gestured to Ranboo and Tommy.

The rest of the night was calm. The heroes and vigilantes all got along rather well. There were still tense shoulders and the fear of being attacked, but the conversations were light and easygoing.

Finally, Purpled grew tired, being escorted home by Punz. Eret decided to retire not long after, sending the others a wink before leaving.

This left Tommy and Ranboo with the vigilantes. Ranboo gave a tired yawn, standing.

"I'll be heading home as well. I'm pretty sure Daedalus is asleep already and I'm tired,"

Tommy nodded, waving, "See ya' big man!"

With a small 'vroop,' Ranboo was gone. This left Tommy with the heroes. A comfortable silence filling the air around them.

Thanatos was the one to break it.

"I've heard that you've never gotten your wings preened before,"

Tommy perked up, looking over at the other avian in confusion. He shook his head slowly.

"No. Orpheus made that sound like a bad thing. Never having my wings preened,"

The heroes sat in silence. All of them were unsure how to ask. Do they just ask bluntly or ease into it instead?

"Can we preen your wings?" Orpheus blurted out before the other heroes could ask.

Tommys eyes widened. He sat there in a shocked silence for a moment, before stammering over his words, "Uh- Yeah- go ahead-"

Thanatos moved towards him first, sitting down directly behind him, "You're tense, calm down," He murmured.

Tommy rolled his shoulders as if to alleviate the stress. His eyes focusing on the rising sun.

What he failed to notice, now that he was facing forward, was the expressions of the other two heroes. Now that there was light, it was easy to see the gold of the wings. Piglin instincts kicked in, making both Orpheus and Odysseus' eyes widen. Low rumbles came from their chests, Odysseus' a little louder than Orpheus'. They couldn't take their eyes off the gold feathers.

Thanatos slowly touched his hand to Tommy's wing, feeling the boy stiffen under him. He murmured a small apology before gently carding his hand through the feathers.

Chirps fell from Tommys lips before he could stop them. He relaxed back into the hero, eyes fluttering shut.

"As we do this, do you mind if I ask you questions?" Thanatos asked softly, carding his hand through the avians wing again.

"No… no go ahead." Tommy mumbled breathlessly. Soft chirps still continued to spill from his mouth. He had never felt something like this in his life. He knew his wings were sensitive. They grew tight easily and the messy feathers often pained him. Though as the elders fingers fixed the broken and messy feathers, Tommy could only feel relaxed.

"How old is Daedalus?" Thanatos started easy. He never got an age for the vigilante behind the screen, and he wasn't sure if he was in fact older.

"17," Tommy breathed out. His brain felt fuzzy. He couldn't process that he was supposed to keep up the lie, he couldn't focus. He felt like he was drifting away easily in a calm river.

"So how old are you?"

"15,"

Orpheus let out a loud cough, surprised. Odysseus kept his face neutral for the most part, though even he seemed surprised. Thanatos sucked in a sharp breath. He knew the vigilante was young. He didn't expect this young.

"So how old is Charon?"

"16,"

All the heroes looked at each other with a surprised look. They were all minors and they were running off on their own, taking care of themselves.

Thanatos went to ask another question, but he heard the constant chirps from the younger boy and saw how he wouldn't stay awake much longer. Instead, he looked over at Orpheus, nodding him over.

"How about you play us a song?"

Orpheus nodded, sitting down beside Thanatos. He pulled the guitar from where it was strapped on his back, beginning to strum it as he sang.

"I heard there was a special place…"