"You have to stop zoning out on me, Techno."

Techno blinked, bringing his attention back to the present with more difficulty than he probably should. Sam was giving him that stern look he usually reserved for rookie heroes who still thought the job was all about thrill-seeking and farming glory. They thought saving people was a nice bonus, but the fame was what made being a hero truly worth it. Sam would show them how wrong they were (or kick them out of the training course if they couldn't get it through their thick skulls).

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't think you were saying anything important."

With a sigh, Sam rubbed his face. There were pretty prominent bags under the older man's eyes and for a moment Techno almost felt bad. He knew Sam wasn't a bad guy - his job overseeing the entire hero association couldn't be easy. And while they'd never quite gotten along, Techno knew Sam was only trying to look out for all heroes' physical safety.

Sam was also the one who made the call on benching Techno, though. So he was kind of contractually obliged to make Sam his mortal enemy.

"Phil called me earlier today," Sam said. He stood up from his desk and started walking, gesturing for Techno to follow him. "He told me you were upset about last week's mission."

Techno frowned, resisting the urge to ball his hands up into fists. "I wasn't."

"So you're telling me Phil was lying?"

"No?" Techno quickened his pace to keep up. He knew Sam had a lot of work but did he have to book it down the hallway like the association was burning down? Geez!

Sam raised a brow at him. "Explain that to me."

"I don't think it should be allowed for Phil to narc on me considering we live together," Techno said. "Isn't there some rule against not keeping work and personal affairs separate?"

Sam stopped suddenly, prompting Techno to almost bump into him before he sidestepped. His unamused face meant it was not a good enough answer.

"Look, Phil is my dad." Techno swallowed around the word. It felt weird, too heavy on his tongue. He was a teenager when Phil fostered him, close to adulthood when the official adoption went through. On paper, Phil might be his father and Techno had probably been mentally categorizing Phil as such for longer, that didn't make it less hecking awkward to say out loud. Still, he pressed on. "He can tell I'm frustrated about this and he's just worried. Phil is always worried. You know that."

Maybe playing on Sam and Phil having been friends and teammates in the old days before Sam was promoted would help.

Techno didn't think it did, because for a moment longer Sam stared at him with tense shoulders and the weight of too much responsibility bearing on his back. Then he continued walking. "You can have a psych eval on Friday," he said. "Let's see what Puffy says. On her advice, I will let you back onto the field. Granted you don't pull shit like that again."

"No promises," Techno chirped automatically - then at a harsh glare laughed and got out of there before Sam could change his mind.

Ranboo was already in the infirmary, stitching up a chicken breast. Considering how much money the hero association had you'd think they'd be able to afford some higher-tech training tools.

"They're getting more even," Techno said, hovering over Ranboo's shoulder to watch him work.

"AH!" Ranboo smacked his back against the chair and in turn the chair against Techno, who hissed. "Techno, don't- Gosh, don't do that."

"Sorry, didn't know you were that concentrated." Techno shrugged apologetically, sinking down into a nearby chair. "Keep going, don't let me interrupt you."

"Yeah…" Ranboo picked up the needle he had dropped in his surprise. "What did Sam say?"

"Nothing interesting." Reaching over, Techno picked up the cup of coffee he had abandoned on the desk earlier today. It was cold and didn't taste too good anymore, but maybe the caffeine would do something for him. Doubtful, but he could hope.

Techno hadn't slept more than three hours a night for days. He used to only go out on the streets and play vigilante when the pent-up frustration became too much to cope with, a sort of quick release of negative energy. As far as coping mechanisms went, it wasn't even the most harmful thing he had ever done - though it was the most illegal.

With Dante's threat looming over his thoughts in every waking moment, Techno couldn't sleep if he wanted to.

He'd been going out every night to get information, any way he could find out more about Dante and his current plans. That man was like a cartoon villain somehow. He always had some kind of mechanization in the works. He had his finger in every pie in the city. Which was a bit of a disgusting allegory when Techno thought too deeply about it, but he was just about exhausted enough to start getting hung up on stupid crap like that.

What did pies have to do with evil plans anyway?

"Techno?" Ranboo repeated, shaking Techno's elbow lightly.

Techno blinked his eyes open again, not realizing when they had fallen shut. "Hm, what?"

"Oh, I uh… I asked if you were okay. I think you were nodding off."

"I'm fine," Techno said immediately. He felt like brushing people off had become second nature a little too easily. He was falling back into a lot of nasty habits he'd picked up in the foster group homes of his childhood lately. "Bad night, probably."

Ranboo didn't prod further, nodding and returning to his practice stitches. His form really was improving. Techno had taken the kid more or less under his wing since Ranboo came to the association to train as a healer. It was odd to feel such pride over somebody, but Techno was really impressed at what a quick learner Ranboo was.

For a moment, something was on the tip of his tongue.

Techno didn't know how to ask people for help. It had never come naturally to him, it was never encouraged when he was a child. He was only just starting to wrap his head around the fact that maybe people cared enough about him to want to help when he was in trouble.

And he had been running himself ragged with this whole Dante thing. He knew he couldn't tell his family what was going on without also having to confess his history as a vigilante (and then that would only prompt questions as to his biological family, which was a can of worms Techno was wholly unprepared to open). But for Ranboo, that might not be the case. Techno trusted him. If he asked the kid to keep a secret, he would. Maybe the fact that Ranboo wasn't as tied up in all this as his family was meant that-

The door banged open, announcing Tommy's presence to them and probably any other heroes on this floor of the association. Ranboo cringed and dropped his needle again.

"There you are, bitches!"

Ranboo mumbled something to himself then put his arms in his lap. "Great, you officially killed my patient."

Techno laughed. "I think the chicken breast was already dead, Ranboo."

"He died again in spirit," Ranboo said gravely. "Because it took me ten minutes to horribly sew up a minor gash."

"What the fuck are you two talking about?" Tommy asked, then shook his head. "Whatever, I don't care. I wanted to know if you were done yet because I'm starving and they're serving pizza in the cafeteria today."

"I'm not hungry," Techno said as he got up. He walked over to the cot in the room.

He could hear the confusion in Tommy's voice when he next spoke. "Are you sure? You're always hungry."

"Should I be offended?" Techno nudged as he turned around, grinning a little.

"Healing powers tend to kick our metabolism into high gear. It's important we eat enough," Ranboo said. Unnessecairily so since both the other people in the room already knew that.

"I had a late breakfast," Techno lied. "Have fun though. Don't start a food fight."

"Oh, we're totally going to start a food fight. Come on, Ranboo!"

Techno watched them leave, then lay down on the cot. He'd have about thirty minutes until they'd be back to cause more chaos, just enough time for a quick nap. Hopefully, he could make it through the rest of the day without falling asleep on his feet.

Chores were meant to be rotated so that everybody did their fair share of work. Somehow, Techno almost always ended up getting bribed by his brothers into doing the dishes for them. He didn't mind though, since it was a good time to talk with Phil. They usually played music on the radio and vibed. Techno liked doing the dishes.

And it meant he got to make Wilbur take out the trash when it was Techno's turn to do so. Taking out the trash was much worse than dishes.

"Wilbur told you about us going to the farmer's market on the day of Tommy's anniversary, right?" Phil asked as he handed Techno a plate to dry off.

"He mentioned it." Techno did his best to suppress a yawn, using the excuse of turning away from Phil and putting the plate back in the cupboard where it belonged to hide how badly he was failing at it. "And out to dinner after, right?"

"That's the plan." Phil leaned back, shooting a glance into the living room. But both Tommy and Wilbur were up in their rooms. "Did he tell you why we're going there though?"

"I'm assuming you'll tell me?" Techno said. "I figured it's not because Tommy is so thrilled about fresh produce."

Giving him another plate, Phil chuckled. "Nah, he thinks we're just getting some stuff for me. Which we are but, ya know, ulterior motives." Phil wiped his hands on a towel. "I found somebody online who is selling a bundle of first edition Raccoon Revenger comics."

"Oh?" Techno knew Tommy was more than a little obsessed with that fictional superhero. He'd had to sit through one too many infodumps not to know, really.

"I already enlisted Wilbur's help. He'll distract Tommy, so he won't notice if we slip away for a bit. The guy selling the comics lives less than a five-minute walk from the market square. If you're up for it, I'd like you to come with me when I go buy them."

"What, you're scared of getting shanked by a shady online crook?" Techno asked sarcastically. A comment that was made especially ironic because Phil was currently in the process of closing all the open cupboards and drawers in the kitchen with his shadow manipulation powers.

The Angel of Death was the last guy you wanted to try and scam.

"Taking two people to these types of interactions is just common sense," Phil said - though he was a bit too close to pouting for it not to be funny to Techno.

"Yeah, I don't mind." Techno stepped back, then hesitated. "Uh, I'm going to bed early tonight so… love you." He awkwardly bent forward to give Phil a hug.

The man tensed against him, obviously surprised. Techno didn't often speak those words out loud and physical affection was even more rare. He showed he loved his family in other ways.

(Every night, Techno got three hours of sleep. A sleep plagued by dreams, nightmares, of him watching his family dead at Dante's feet. Sue him if he was feeling a little sentimental.)

To Phil's credit, the shock lasted all of three seconds and then he was squeezing Techno back twice as hard. He kept his hold loose enough for Techno to escape if he wanted to. All in all, Techno was glad the exchange didn't last long.

His face still burned stupidly with it when he got to his room. After mentally cursing his dumb discomfort with things such as these to the high heavens, Techno sighed and got to work. It was not very late yet, but he wanted to go out. Some of last night's leads were promising. Techno found a guy - one of Dante's less loyal lackeys - who might be able to tip him off to whatever hole Dante called home these days. Techno was not content waiting any longer. He would take the fight to Dante if need be.

He walked over to this bed and fished beneath his pillow for his bottle of pills, swallowing two dry. They tasted chalky, foul. Techno was nearly out of them, he should get some more soon. Which was perhaps concerningly easy, considering nobody checked the drug supply of the association's infirmary.

Putting the pills back where he grabbed them, Techno knelt next to his bed and reached beneath it to get his vigilante clothes.

"Techno! Can I come in?"

Hurriedly, Techno shoved them back, kicking them some for good measure. Wilbur knocked on the door again.

"Techno?"

"Yeah, come in." He walked over to his desk, glancing for something to pick up and pretend he was occupied. Wilbur entered the room one blink after Techno picked up some random textbook he had lying open.

"Hey," Wilbur said as he closed the door behind him. Which… odd choice. Normally Wilbur would leave the door ajar if he was only popping in to ask something. Techno found himself automatically looking at the clock. He didn't have that much time to waste, his informant wouldn't wait forever.

"Are you studying again?" Wilbur asked.

Techno closed the book and put it back on his desk. "I'm just about done, so I'll be heading to bed soon." Subtlety would hopefully do the trick.

Except Wilbur actually walked toward him so maybe not. Techno took a step back so he could lean against the wall. He didn't want Wilbur to notice the foldout pocket knife in his back pocket.

"That's good." Wilbur sat down on Techno's desk chair, using his legs to roll it back and forth. "Man, remember how we used to take two of these and race through the association hallways? Back when we were teens and dad took us there."

"What do you want, Wilbur?"

Techno felt slightly guilty for his crabby attitude, but he quite literally did not have the time nor the energy to be getting nostalgic right now. Wilbur might not know it, but if Techno couldn't get on with solving this little predicament, they would all be in a lot of danger soon.

Predictably, his brother frowned. "I came to check on you. Things haven't been easy-"

"Things have been fine," Techno said. "I've been fine, actually. And I would be a lot better if people stopped getting on my case all the time."

A flash of genuine hurt was visible on Wilbur's face. Techno felt immensely guilty that he was the cause. But he also really needed to get Wilbur out of his room as fast as possible.

He could feel the effects of the pills kicking in, making him slightly dizzy. The sleep deprivation meant he was having some weird side effects, but Techno couldn't risk not taking them because if he got hurt while being a vigilante and the soulbond tipped his family off, he would be screwed.

Perhaps that was why Wilbur's next words irritated him so badly.

"Look, Techno, we're worried. As you soulmates-"

"Being soulmates doesn't mean I don't have a right to privacy anymore." Wilbur clenched his jaw, probably annoyed at being interrupted twice in one conversation. "Get out of my room, Wilbur."

"Techno…"

"Get out," Techno repeated. "I don't want to talk about this."

Their staring contest lasted for a few moments more, Wilbur's steely glare feeling as if it was hollowing out some part of Techno's soul. When those eyes finally fell away, Techno sighed. Wilbur got up wordlessly and closed the door behind him. Techno walked over to lock it.

He swore he could hear Wilbur linger on the other side.

After this was all over with, Techno would make it up to them. Maybe not tell them the truth, but chalk up his horrible attitude to a lack of sleep and feeling under the weather. Things would go back to normal. Wilbur would forgive him.

Techno changed his clothes and crept through the open window, no more than a ghost in the night.

Things had not gone back to normal yet.

Techno's informant turned out to be a bust. Either they were an idiot and he had wasted precious time on a dead end, or the lackey had been purposefully planted by Dante to put Techno on the wrong track. Whichever the case, it meant more sleepless nights and Techno running himself ragged.

It didn't help that he was once again stuck in the infirmary.

His psych eval was this morning and to say it had gone badly would be an understatement. Puffy didn't let much slip - all polite nods and vague hums as she asked questions and then wrote down Techno's answers. But Techno could tell she wasn't pleased with what he had to say. And he zoned out more than once, which probably didn't help his case.

Yeah, he was thrilled to have Sam tell him tomorrow he was benched for an additional six weeks.

Techno was restocking shelves, pretending that stacking boxes of bandages with minute attention to detail would somehow make his problems go away. Wouldn't that be grand? At least it distracted him from the situation.

Or it did until a sudden stab of pain made him sink to his knees.

Techno gasped, a smothered whine unable to be kept from slipping out. He pressed his hand to the wound, pressure against nothing. It wasn't his own pain he was feeling, but somebody else's. Tommy's.

Grasping the metal shelf to force himself to his feet again, Techno stumbled out into the hallway.

He met them as they were returning to the association. Tommy was walking which, God what did it say about Techno that such a simple thing was barely enough to keep his mind from spiraling? Dante's illusion pushed to the forefront of his brain, slicing through his awareness like the dagger through his gut. That wasn't real. This was real. It was-

"Oh, Techno, please don't be mad." If that was what Tommy was starting his sentence with, Techno was sure he wouldn't like what came next.

"What happened?"

Gingerly, while grimacing, Tommy lifted his shirt. The bandage was tainted red. "I think I popped one of my stitches," he said.

Techno's hands were shaking, so he hid that by grabbing Tommy's elbow and dragging him over to the nearest chair.

"Hey, fuck!" Tommy winced and that did slow Techno down. Not enough for him not to kneel and start removing the bandage though.

"These were supposed to come out today," Techno said testily. "You really couldn't wait another day to do something stupid?"

Any humor about the situation left in Tommy drained. He lowered his arms, accidentally slapping into Techno in the process. "What?"

"You're making my job a lot harder than it needs to be, Tommy." He put his hand against the half-healed wound, starting to heal it. Something this small shouldn't drain much from Techno, but he was already running on empty. Nausea swelled in his gut, the dizziness got worse. Tommy was either oblivious to this or angry enough not to care.

"You didn't even ask how this happened," he said.

"I don't care what happened," Techno shot back, "I care about you ruining my hard work."

"He was saving my ass," Wilbur cut in. Phil was right behind him, walking up to them. "Yeah, it was a stupid move-" At this Wilbur also got a glare from Tommy "-but it was an accident."

Techno didn't answer. Wilbur had more or less been giving him the cold shoulder since their non-argument in Techno's room. He didn't need his brother to come down on him over this too.

"Whatever, it's fixed now." Techno stood up, almost falling backward when the simple act of straightening up made his head spin bad enough that his vision blacked out for a second. He overcorrected the motion and almost pitched forward again, but played it off with an irate gesture. "Try not to mess up a second time."

Techno blinked, the harshness of his own words sinking in a moment after he spoke them. He didn't mean that. He didn't. He was just tired and hungry (though too sick to keep food down lately) and stressed out and he was trying to keep them safe even if they didn't see that. He just… he was just trying to…

"Tommy-" He wanted to apologize.

"No, it's fine." Tommy got up, not looking at him. "You guys can head home without me, yeah? I wanna walk home."

Wilbur tried to stop him but Phil intervened before he could.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's fine. Really, I got my phone and everything, okay?" Tommy was already walking away. Maybe he was scared one of them would still object - but they didn't. They just watched Tommy leave.

Techno felt like he was going to faint.

"Are you happy now?" Wilbur spat at him, brushing past him without a care. Techno didn't feel their shoulders collide.

He didn't feel anything.

"Don't mind them, we had a rough mission. They'll cool off." Phil put his hand on Techno's back as he started to lead them inside. Techno knew he was probably lying about the mission being hard on them. Phil was only saying that to make Techno feel better. That made it even more miserable. "Let's go home, yeah?"

The car ride should have been incredibly tense, though Techno spent it with his head propped against the window and seconds away from drifting off. When they got to the house, he barely managed to drag himself inside and collapsed on the couch. Wilbur muttered something about him sulking before heading upstairs.

Techno closed his eyes and drifted somewhere between wakefulness and sleep, not really fully committed to either. He dreamt of Dante's smile, the overly bleached white of his teeth catching the light of a streetlamp while he gutted Techno's family for fun. Waking up would have been a mercy, but Techno was too exhausted to really pull himself away.

Not until somebody started shaking his shoulder.

"Techno, fuck, come on, wake up!"

Wilbur, face pale and panicked. Techno tried to pay attention, despite being as tired as he was.

"Did Tommy text you? Call you?" Wilbur asked, yelled moreso.

Confused, Techno grappled for his phone that had fallen somewhere between the couch cushions while he napped. When he found it, the bright glare of the screen made him flinch. It was later than he expected, already past midnight. And he didn't have any missed calls or messages.

"No?"

"Fuck!" Wilbur repeated, more empathetically. One hand was pulling at his curls in agitation.

"What happened?" Techno asked, soft with sleep and needing an extra moment to connect the dots. Normally he was much quicker on the uptake but not when his brain had become goo, spilling from his hold. Maybe taking the pills as often as he had been was a bad idea.

"He didn't come home yet," Wilbur said. "We don't know where Tommy is, Techno."