On the drive over, Techno started second-guessing all the decisions that lead him there so far.

He was currently in a car with one of the country's most notorious criminals and also a teenager. They were headed towards what was most certainly a trap the more Techno thought about it. There was no option for them to call the cops or any other type of legal law enforcement that would help them with their current mission: getting a kidnapped person back from a building probably chockfull of people with guns.

And Techno still didn't have a jacket.

"Stop here," Phil said to the driver.

They stepped out of the car onto an unpaved road in the middle of the woods. For one ludicrous moment an uncomfortable feeling traced down Techno's spine as the thought struck him that if he was about to be murdered anywhere this night, it was here. These trees all seemed perfect to bury a body under. Maybe now that The Crows knew where Wilbur was, Techno had outlived his usefulness and they'd get rid of him for knowing too much.

Barely three seconds later he realized how little sense that assumption made. But watching so many thrillers in his younger years must have really rubbed off on him.

They were close to the finish line. They just needed to save this Wilbur guy and then Techno would be able to walk away from all of this forever. He would never need to see any of these people again.

Watching Tommy almost trip on his way to get out of the car quicker than Phil, Techno didn't know why that thought sort of disappointed him.

It was a weird feeling. He barely knew these people and yet on some level, Techno felt more connected to them than he had felt with anybody else in… longer than he cared to analyze. And yes, that might say more about how crap he was at human socialization than anything else but still. Part of him felt almost mournful that this strange night was close to being over with.

A more sane part of him was longing for that damn shower he was supposed to take twelve hours ago.

"Why are we in the middle of fucking nowhere?" Tommy complained loudly. He stood a little closer to Techno. Maybe he was scared of the dark? It was still incredibly early in the morning and whereas the city had streetlights, out here in the forest under the cover of trees it was still startlingly dark.

"There has to be a safe house near," Phil said. "Stay on your toes."

He had barely managed to finish the sentence before a motorcycle also came down the road, from the same direction that they had come from, and pulled up next to them. Techno knew who it was before the rider had even taken off the helmet and shook her hair loose again.

They'd waited a bit longer before setting out from Tubbo and Ranboo's place just so Kristin could catch up, after all.

"So, what's the situation?" she asked.

"There's some kind of compound about half a mile to the north of here. The road probably leads there but we should approach it from a different angle just to be safe," Phil said.

Kristin nodded. "They know we're coming."

"They're definitely counting on it." When Phil adjusted his jacket, Techno could see the handgun stuffed into his waistband. Not for the first time, he wondered what he had gotten himself into. "But that doesn't mean we have to make things easy for them by walking through the front door."

He set off into the undergrowth and Kristin and Tommy immediately followed. Kind of awkwardly, Techno trailed behind. The atmosphere was heavy with tension and he had the distinct impression nobody would be up for any banter or small talk at the moment. They were very close to finding Wilbur, in whatever state these criminals had left him.

And they were very close to walking headfirst into danger to get him out of it.

"Here we are." Phil knelt down at a chainlink metal fence. Techno could see the building in the distance resembled what he could only describe as some type of factory, several floors worth of brick and with chimneys sticking out of concrete. It looked like it should have been demolished ages ago but somebody had repurposed it for nefarious means.

It looked like something out of a tacky spy movie.

"So, what's the plan?" Tommy asked in the most obnoxious yell-whisper.

"The plan is that Kristin and I will go in there, find Wilbur, and see if we can make it out before anybody spots us. You two can be lookouts, you know the signal in case there's trouble."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Tommy reeled back on his heels, offended. "You said we could come with? You literally promised-"

"I said you two could join us coming here." As if to accentuate his point, Phil gestured at the ground. "I never agreed with you going inside. We need a lookout, Tommy."

"But-"

Kristin didn't wait for him to finish. "We need you two to stay safe, okay?"

Tommy deflated. He crossed his arms with a mumbled "I guess" but wasn't subtle in hiding his disappointment. Phil had stood up and tested the sturdiness of the fence first, using the chainlink as footholds to boost himself over.

For an old man, he was surprisingly agile.

Kristin followed him up and over. Where Phil set out in the direction of the factory immediately, she lingered, fingers curled into the wires.

"I know you're scared, Tommy." Her smile was fragile. Patient. "But we're coming back and we're bringing Wilbur with us, okay?"

"I'm not fucking scared," Tommy hissed back, all the usual heat drained from the words.

Techno knew he was intruding on something he shouldn't. The entire night, he had never felt more like an outsider.

At least until Kristin looked up to smile at him too. "Look out for each other, yeah?"

He found himself nodding back dumbly.

Then she was gone too and they were left behind, Techno in a state of anxious discomfort and Tommy silently fuming. Tommy sat down, probably not caring if his pants got dirty. With not much else to do, Techno followed his example. He picked at a leaf on the ground, the sheer 'don't talk to me or I'll bite you' vibes coming off from Tommy too powerful for Techno to even consider starting a conversation, even if the stifling atmosphere would have managed to weigh up against Techno's dislike of comforting children. At least for the first ten minutes.

That's when Tommy stood up and started to climb the fence.

"What are you doing?" Techno asked, mouth dry.

"What does it look like I'm doing, smartass?" Tommy was already on the other side, clambering down with the grace of a newborn fawn. His foot caught in the wire and he fell the last two feet, landing on his hip. Techno cringed.

"They told us to wait."

"Yeah, and they're idiots for that. I'm not just going to sit around while they take all the risks, I'm not that helpless."

"I don't think it's about helplessness," Techno mumbled. Tommy didn't hear.

"You can stay here. Or leave or whatever, if you want. You probably don't care about any of this anyway."

"That's-"

Before he could respond, Tommy had already taken off. Techno was left quite literally standing in the cold. The early morning breeze was chilly, raising goosebumps on his bare arms.

What Tommy had said wasn't technically incorrect. Technoblade could… just leave.

Sadly, Tommy was wrong about him not caring. With a sigh, Techno started hauling himself over the fence.

He couldn't see where the kid had run off to though, which was a major problem. The factory was a dark monolith, scarily looming in front of him. There were some lights on, but mostly on the upper floors. All the rest of the building stayed dark and empty. Techno just went ahead and approached the nearest entrance he could see, a backdoor with a push bar.

Opening it torturously slowly, a horrible creak rang out across the hallway beyond. But there was no movement, no noise. The light switched on and it almost made Techno jump back and sprint for the hills - he wasn't made for this kind of madness. He was a normal college student, not a hardened criminal. He never signed up for this - before realizing it was a motion-activated lightswitch. He was still in the clear.

"Tommy?" Techno hissed into the quiet. No answer. Of course not, why would things ever be easy for him? "Tommy, don't make me venture deeper into the creepy factory to look for you please?"

No such luck.

Techno wandered from room to room, finding most of them deserted with the exception of a file cabinet or two. Because it was more comforting to him than thinking about what might lurk in the shadows, he started to rationalize the reason this place was even here. The factory could have gone out of commission a couple of years ago, but why was it never repurposed or demolished? Well, somebody bought it. Somebody who didn't want to use it as a factory, but as an evil lair.

Freak behavior, for sure. But then again, that same person had kidnapped somebody and kept them in said evil lair for over a day already. So that all lined up.

He opened a door, preoccupied with his own thoughts to such an extent Techno almost closed it again before realizing it was not as empty as it appeared at first glance. Against the back wall, there was a chair.

And in that chair sat a person.

For a moment there was eye contact. Techno blinked and the stranger blinked back. Except he was not a stranger, because Technoblade had been looking at his baby pictures a couple of hours ago.

"Oh," Wilbur said airily and with a little giggle, "the concussion must be a lot worse than I thought."

Techno quickly got inside and closed to door behind him, looking around. But there was nobody in sight. Had they really kidnapped this guy and then left him in a room unguarded? Weird flex but okay.

"I hate to break it to you, but you probably don't have any lasting brain damage."

The closer he got to Wilbur, the worse he looked. If Techno had been through the wringer tonight, Wilbur must have had several rounds. There was an (ironically almost matching) wound on the side of his temple that was old enough not to be bleeding anymore. Probably the reason Wilbur would attribute his sudden doppelganger to a concussion rather than it just being a guy that looked exactly like him walking in. Several more bruises were visible along his arms, neck, and on his face. Blood had poured all over his chest from a broken nose.

Jup, somebody had really beat the crap out of him.

"What?" Wilbur managed to eloquently ask when Techno came closer and it finally sunk in he wasn't a hallucination.

"This is a bit of a long story to explain right now, but my name is Techno and I got into a whole load of trouble because people thought I was you."

Wilbur just gaped at him, mouth half-ajar and eyes the size of dinner plates. Techno wasn't sure whether it was the head injury or he was naturally not the sharpest tool in the shed. Probably the former.

"Holy shit, you do look exactly like me. AND Tommy let you borrow one of his shirts? I can't believe that little bastard would replace me the moment I was gone."

Stunned, Techno looked down at himself. "No, I uh-" He chuckled nervously. He forgot he was wearing the shirt he'd changed into at the safe house. "I got a bit more mixed up in this whole situation than I was planning to."

"How did you even find me?" Wilbur asked next, getting over the shock of having an impromptu twin walk in on him. Techno wouldn't deny it was weird, just looking at Wilbur felt a little off. Like staring into a mirror, but one of those twisted funfair ones.

"Tommy put a tracker in your shoes," Techno said, walking around to fiddle with the ropes around Wilbur's wrists and ankles. Thank god these kidnappers hadn't opted for zip ties, because Techno would have had no idea how to deal with those. "It allowed Phil to locate you."

And Wilbur's voice came out a lot more pinched again when he answered. "They're here?"

"Uh, yeah. Somewhere around here, I'm sure. We kinda got split up."

"Shit, shit, shit!" Wilbur used his now loosened feet to stamp on the floor, almost lifting himself from the chair. "Can you hurry the fuck up?"

"I'm trying!" Techno bit back. Why were they back in panic mode? He didn't like panic mode. "A thank you would be nice."

"I'll thank you later after we all get out of here. They were never meant to be here, the people that took me- it's what they wanted."

"What are you talking about?" Techno asked, finally getting rid of the last of the rope.

"I was never meant to be a hostage," Wilbur said while getting up from the chair. "I was meant to be a lure."

That's when they could hear the first gunshot.

Technoblade didn't expect Wilbur to be able to run much in his injured state, but the man took off like a freaking bullet and in his unwillingness to be left behind, Techno followed without giving it a second thought. Wilbur must have some pretty good ears. With no hesitation, he booked it up three flights of stairs. Even Techno was close to gasping when he got to the top and Wilbur barely even broke a sweat, though he seemed visibly paler and was bleeding from a large gash in his side.

Wilbur's condition was not at the forefront of Techno's mind for long though.

What was at the forefront of his mind was walking into a new room and being met with somebody face down in a puddle of their own blood.

His heart pretty much stalled in his chest, but with a glance, Techno could tell it wasn't Phil nor Tommy nor Kristin. And that's where the short list of people in this building whose safety he was concerned with upon hearing those gunshots ended.

It was Rainer, the man who had kidnapped him.

And he was definitely dead. Technoblade didn't need to check for a pulse to know.

(He'd never seen a dead body before. Some part of him felt like he should be more shocked, or appalled at seeing a person killed.

Given what this person had done to him though, Techno couldn't muster it)

The man who had shot Rainer was still holding the gun, aiming it at Tommy next. Tommy wasn't moving. He couldn't. Not with the barrel aimed at his own forehead and a second one held by another guy aimed at Kristin's face.

The third guy - taller, broad-chested, wearing a fine suit. One of the politicians from the photographs. The one who wanted Phil dead, probably, would be the logical conclusion - had grabbed Phil by the front of his shirt, almost dragging him off his feet with his strength. He also had a gun.

Techno was starting to feel like the guy who brought a knife to a gunfight, and he didn't even have a knife. Wilbur slumped against the wall, exhausted from the running with how hurt he was. Techo was nailed to the spot himself, even before politician guy opened his mouth.

"Don't move or I blow this one's brains out." He pressed the gun carelessly against Phil's temple, grinning. His eyes fell on Wilbur. "Well, would you look at that? We got a whole family reunion. How heartwarming. And exactly what we wanted all along before this one came in to ruin our plans." He nodded vaguely to Rainer's body.

Without remorse, the politician started dragging Phil towards one of the factory's floor-length windows. Techno could see the vague outline of the city in the distance, the tops of trees swaying in the slowly increasing light of dawn. They were up on the fourth floor.

That's a long way from the ground.

"Your entire family is done for. Starting with the fucking brat." The man aiming at Tommy cocked the gun, prepared to pull the trigger. "And then we're going to see how well the angel can fly."

Kristin tensed, but there was nothing she could do without being shot. And Wilbur could barely keep from collapsing on the spot either.

Techno was the only one who could do something.