Day 9 - kidnapping with hurt!Techno

Other characters: Philza, Fundy, Tommy, Jack Manifold (lots of others mentioned but they're the ones who are physically there xD)

Other tags: Origin SMP setting - season 1 with human!Techno, kidnapping, cutting somebody's tendons to immobilize them, mentions of discrimination against hybrids

Summary: Techno gets mistaken for a hybrid and it does not turn out well


Overall, the commune was a well-kept secret.

Humans were not supposed to know of its existence for obvious reasons, with Techoblade being the somewhat accidental exception. A long time ago Philza had found him injured and near-death and decided that rather than let Techno die to preserve the hidden nature of their home, he'd risk discovery to help an innocent man.

Humans had caused much suffering for Phil and the other hybrids of the commune. But Techno specifically hadn't done anything worth their scorn.

By the time he was healed up enough to move out again, Technoblade was as much a part of their family as could be imagined. Even those who had been wary of him at first had warmed up to him. And when Wilbur told him quite simply that they'd all talked about it and didn't mind it if he stayed, Techno had accepted.

Thus he had landed in the unusual position of being a human living in a hybrid community. It presented its own unique challenges at times (gods, did Techno hate the ladder at the Pube, and how it cost him all his stamina just to get up there) but overall he didn't fit in too bad. And he hardly ever left these days, doing all his mining, farming, and trading within their borders.

Well, most of it. Today he was venturing out for a special errand. Today, he hoped to get Niki a gift for her birthday.

Deciding on what to get for a woman who spent the majority of her life underwater had been tricky. Techno didn't consider himself the best gift-giver to begin with but he'd always resorted to books as a backup plan. They were versatile and easy to get, you could pick whichever genre fit a person best, and they often wouldn't know if they liked the book or not until after reading it, at which point they probably wouldn't bother telling Techno they hated his gift from two months ago. So that was a definite plus.

But unless somebody had invented waterproof books while he wasn't looking, that idea was out the window.

He had considered just giving her some of his harvest. Niki had a hard time farming underwater. He discarded that thought too because, well, everybody already shared their harvest with Niki. It wasn't exactly special enough to be a birthday gift.

That's when he had landed on a floating planter box.

It had been a bit tricky to design, but Techno had come up with the concept of a wooden crate filled with fertile dirt and a hollow bottom packed with floaters. That way, Niki could anchor the planter near her home and grow flowers or even veggies without having to step out of the water once. All he needed was some more supplies.

He left the commune in the early morning, when the least people were up and about or likely to spot him leaving. If he wanted this to be a surprise, he couldn't let Niki know he'd gone outside the town to get her gift. Which meant being stealthy because some people (*cough* Tubbo and Tommy *cough*) would definitely get too curious and spoil it.

His plan was to make the half-hour journey to the nearest village, get what he needed, and hopefully be back in time for people not to notice he was ever gone. Heck, if anybody caught him returning he could always lie and say he went on a morning walk, they wouldn't be able to tell how long he'd been gone for.

A foolproof plan.

A little too foolproof.

Technoblade had heard a lot of stories about hybrid hunters. Sometimes it came up during stormy nights at the Pube, when everybody was gathered together enjoying hot drinks and banter. Somebody would pipe up and tell about their exploits evading capture, laughing and poking fun at the hunter's failed attempts to shackle them.

Sometimes, in less cheery moments. Techno asking Phil where the scars on his shoulder blade came from, running perpendicular to his spine. Phil telling Techno that the hunters who caught him once had tried to cut off his wings.

These people were not those same hunters, obviously. But the anger in Techno's gut burned just the same as it did when he first heard that story from Phil.

An arrow had pierced his shin, a deliberate shot by them when he tried to run. They were smart - wouldn't damage their catch, only injure it enough not to flee. The guy that walked up to him frowned, bending down while pulling out a knife. With frightening precision, they cut through both of his achilles tendons in turn.

And Techno - who had so stubbornly kept his mouth shut and refused to let any cries of pain escape when the arrow hit him - screamed.

"What type is he? I can't tell?" The person who spoke was a woman, young, dark hair tied up to be out her face. She stared at him, inspecting him like he was a piece of meat. She had her crossbow slung over her shoulder still, not yet reloaded. Her partner was the one who had done the cutting. He rubbed a hand over his chin, thoughtful.

"Yeah, he's pretty human-looking. Maybe a wither? Recessive genes. Either that or a shapeshifting one." He pulled out some rope, using it to tie Techno's hands behind his back. "Go on then, answer the lady."

Techno grunted in pain when his arms were pulled on, straining the muscles. "I don't think I will."

He was hauled up by the man into a standing position, or a pretend one anyway. He couldn't put any weight on his legs without being in excruciating agony, let alone walk properly. "That's fine, it's not our job to figure that out anyway. Let the people who buy you do their research." The man pulled out a pair of cuffs, iron with gleaming enchantments. "We'll just have to take our precautions."

As soon as metal met his skin, Techno was close to puking. The heavy pull that meant a curse of binding was immediately clear, but the other effects had to be due to a secondary enchantment he couldn't place. One meant to keep hybrids subdued.

(The thing was, Techno was very, very human)

His knees almost buckled, only petty willpower keeping him upright - though leaning the majority of his weight onto the man's shoulder. His head swam with dizziness and what for most hybrids would probably be a vague sense of fogginess assaulted his body relentlessly.

Neither hunter acknowledged his atypical reaction, if they even noticed it.

"Okay, let's get this one back to the camp," a pull on his elbow, Techno stumbled forward, "and then we'll see about getting our hands on the other ones as well."

'Oh… ' Techno realized dully as he was dragged away. 'I'm being kidnapped.'

And if he had done his job in sneaking out of the commune correctly, nobody would even notice he was missing.


Fundy didn't sleep at night.

Or not all nights, at least. Foxes are nocturnal, but fox hybrids have an easier time adjusting their day-to-day lives to staying awake when the sun's up. That didn't change how sometimes Fundy would get this urge, an itch to be out and about with the moon.

He was coming back from one of these nighttime escapades in the early hours of the morning, the sun barely rising over the horizon, when he caught sight of Technoblade heading out. Fundy might not have thought much of it if Techno wasn't notoriously known as somebody who was prone to sleeping in - and sleeping a lot. At times, they joked about him hibernating despite being a human.

So seeing him set out that morning was pretty suspicious. Or maybe curious was the more accurate word?

Fundy's interest was piqued either way, and he decided to follow the human from a safe distance to see what he was up to.

And fuck, did that turn out to be a good decision.

Fundy didn't think he'd ever run that fast, using all four paws to propel himself back to town at lightning speed. He should have timed himself, probably could have set a new record too. That was not the main concern though, the main concern was getting to the others and making them aware of the situation.

He burst through the door of the pub, but it was empty. Both Jack and Tommy must still be sleeping. Well, Fundy knew what to do about that. He vaulted over the counter, grabbed a pot lying around and a big wooden spoon, and banged the shit out of that thing.

Tommy came down first, wings all fluffed up from sleep and hair a right mess. "What the fuck, Fundy, people are trying to sleep here?!"

"Unless the Pube's on fire there better be a good reason for this ruckus," Jack said, the patches of molten rock along his skin barely smoldering since he'd just woken up.

"Technoblade's been kidnapped," Fundy answered. "How's that for a good reason?"

It managed to shut the other two right up.

"I'm getting Phil." Tommy pulled his goggles down.

Jack nodded, turning to Fundy. "Go to the hive, tell Ranboo and Tubbo to meet us near the big oak tree. I'm fetching Wilbur."

Fundy scampered off, the pot and ladle forgotten on the ground.


The ground pressed into Techno's cheek unpleasantly, a sharp rock jutting out against his temple. They'd thrown him down rather carelessly and there he lay, vision swaying.

Passing out was tempting, but the hunters were discussing their next steps, and hearing those felt more important still.

"They're using a barrier glamor to hide their location. It's nearby though, this one wouldn't have strayed far." A map was spread out on their lap. "If we can narrow down on where they are and figure out how to break the enchantment, we're making bank."

They don't know where the commune is. Techno smiled.

"We could have him lead us," the woman proposed. A moment later harsh fingers yanked on Techno's hair, pulling his head up. "Hey, you listening?"

"I was trying to take a nap, actually."

She scoffed and let go. Techno winced when the movement only made him hurt worse.

He was so dizzy he couldn't even see straight and whatever the second hunter answered was lost to the rush in his ears. Which was also why Techno didn't notice the other noise, wings flapping.

Not until Phil descended on them.

Maybe he was hallucinating. Nobody was supposed to know where he'd gone, not to mention find him this quickly?

"Techno, are you okay?" Phil helped him up into a seated position, eyes skimming his body to check for other injuries. He could tell the wounds on Techno's leg and shifted away from them, cautious to not hurt him further.

"Been better." Trying to stay upright made him grimace in pain, but Phil supported him. "Wait, how did you-"

"You can thank Fundy later, right now I'm a little more concerned about getting you home." He reached out and with one swift pull broke the cuffs from Techno's wrists. The problem with curse of binding would always be that it only worked on the person wearing the cursed item.

Phil had leaned back and then something barrelled into Techno hard enough to topple him over. He waved away the few feathers that were knocked loose from Tommy's wings by this stunt.

"I'm glad to see you too, Tommy."

"Shut up, I was just checking you're not dead." Tommy got off him. "You look like shit."

"I feel like shit too," Techno said, rubbing his chaffed wrists. "Better than a minute ago though." Aside from his legs, which Phil seemed to notice too.

"Ranboo will probably be able to teleport you back to the commune easily," Phil said. "He and the others should be here soon, we just went ahead because not everybody was awake yet and I didn't like the idea of wasting precious time."

"The others? Don't tell me you guys rallied the entire town."

"Of course we did!" Tommy sounded insulted by the insinuation that there was even a possibility they wouldn't have gotten the whole commune involved. "No man left behind and all that jazz."

And as unused as Techno was to others worrying over him, he did have to admit it was somewhat heartwarming. Not that he was going to tell them that.