My whumptober project, ten chapters of longfic suffering. And I don't feel content just whumping Techno, so my other favorite blorbo Tango also has to suffer.
This chapter contains the prompts: Kidnapping, Stranger to caretaker, Hypothermia, "You look pretty pale."
The Nether is a harsh and unforgiving place.
Not a lot of people feel comfortable spending much of their time there, certainly not if they're human. The heat can be hard to bear and the air is dry enough to burn your lungs if you inhale too deeply, staining the inside of your mouth with brine. Though the burn isn't really a problem since the oxygen density is so much lower than it is in the Overworld. Every inhale automatically becomes shallow and strained. After mere minutes your clothes will be soaked with sweat and you run the risk of dehydrating.
Technoblade doesn't have those issues.
The Nether feels like home to him, though it never has been where he lived. Not as far as he can remember anyway. But as a piglin hybrid, his body is built to cope with the harsher environment unlike a human's would be. Or even other species that don't live in the hellish lava pits of the warped forest. Where others would prepare for their trips down into the Nether with meticulous planning and ample supplies, Techno can stroll in there like it's a regular Tuesday afternoon. And he does, sometimes. It can cut down on a lot of travel time. He often goes down if he needs wither skulls or something along those lines, without telling others where he's going or without taking many potions. He's only wearing gold greaves and some leather armor pieces.
And he often goes into the Nether alone.
Thus he is alone when he gets jumped by five guys.
Chat isn't allowed to laugh at him, Techno has decided. Even for him, a 1v5 is sort of unusual, and he wasn't looking for a fight today so he's not as prepared as he would like to be. At most, he can expect to run into a familiar face in the Nether he doesn't want to see, and that's not something Techno is worried about. Strangers can't normally get into closed servers.
But unless Quackity suddenly got really into costume design, these guys are new.
They're wearing simple clothes, easy to move in and easy to fight in, with brown capes that cut off at around the elbow. At the shoulder there is an insignia, and not one Techno recognizes either. But it tells him they're part of a unit, which in turn is part of a bigger group. Would be helpful if he knew what sort of group.
"Uh, can I help you with something? If you're lost, the exit is that way." Techno nods in the direction of the nearest portal, using the opportunity to shift his feet into a proper stance and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. It's not hard to tell these guys are targeting him for a reason.
They don't speak. Or if they do, it's too soft for Techno to catch over the ambient sounds of the Nether. They're still some distance away, at least fifteen paces along the length of Netherrack that arches these lava lakes. Their faces are obscured with a sort of respiratory mask Techno has seen sold on Hypixel before to people who spend long stretches of time grinding in the Nether to protect their lungs. They're most assuredly humans, then.
So that begs the question what they're doing here.
Techno could ask, but he's not really one for small talk. And these guys don't seem to be in the mood either if the click of a crossbow is anything to go by. Techno catches the bolt on his vambrace. They were aiming for his shoulder, probably. If they're going for non-lethal attacks they might not be trying to kill him.
But Techno doesn't appreciate the alternative.
One guy breaks away from the group, running at him with quick strides. Techno shifts again, bracing for a more defensive posture. The upside of fighting on a bridge is that the enemy can't rush you all at once, since the space isn't wide enough for them to surround him. If they're going at him one by one, a 1v5 becomes a lot more manageable.
The guy coming at him pulls out a blunt weapon, a cudgel of some kind, and raises it over their head. Their footwork is sloppy at best and Techno sidesteps them easily, using his own leg to swipe at their knees. They stumble, and turn, and Techno pushes against their chest with one hand. He hears a yelp as they tumble over the edge of the platform and into the lava below. Techno glances down, seeing them struggle in the viscous liquid. But they must have taken a fire resistance potion, otherwise their meat would be melting off their bones right now.
He turns back to the other four. "I can do that a few more times, if you want. Or we can skip all that and be on our way."
The guy in the back clicks their tongue in annoyance, clasping one of their friends on the shoulder to signal for them to go up next. They could be the leader if they're ordering the other ones around.
Deciding he probably shouldn't waste time, Techno pulls out his sword.
The next attacker manages to avoid going for a swim. Seeing their companion bested so easily prepared them for Techno to try the same trick a second time, so they aim to strike lower. Techno catches their wrist, spins them around, but when he tries to push them the guy kicks at his stomach, forcing him to let go. They aim another strike at his face. Techno leans away.
Well, now he has people on either side of him, which isn't good.
The fight lasts for a few more minutes like that, with somebody advancing on him and Techno forcing them back, making him swivel around to make sure both sides are covered. Though nobody gets close enough to Techno to get another hit in, they also don't get close enough for him to turn the tables. And he'd rather not switch to the offensive, that will always put him at a disadvantage when he's outnumbered. He has to think of something else, before he runs out of energy.
His eyes scan the area. He either should try to find an escape route or call for backup. Techno doesn't like forfeiting a fight, but sometimes it's the smarter thing to do.
He reaches for his bag, pulling out his communicator. Techno has Phil on speed dial, to alert him with the press of a single button. It's something they only really use in emergencies. And Techno doesn't know if this counts as one. But hey, he's allowed to take it easy once in a while.
Another crossbow bolt shoots towards him and knocks the communicator out of his hand.
"Bruh…" Techno sighs.
He renews his grip on his sword and bolts for the side of the bridge where only the one guy is at, wanting to push through them and get away. He can make it to the portal to the Arctic easily, and get them on familiar terrain. Or outrun them long enough to release the hound army on them. If they even bother following him that far, Techno still has no idea what they want from him.
His sword slices a clean arch through the air, and the guy he's approaching flinches, trying to dodge. Techno is faster, cutting through their arm. They grunt and hold the weeping wound, then easily get knocked over by Techno slamming his shoulder into them. He jumps over their prone body, the way ahead of him now clear, when something latches onto his ankle. Techno mistakes it for a hand at first. Maybe the guy he just knocked over has some bite to them after all.
But then it pulls and he realizes it's a chain.
The sharp metal digs into his flesh harshly, lined with razors. The guy holding the other end is the leader. They tug on it hard and Techno loses his balance. To avoid tripping onto the enemy beneath him - and literally into their arms - Techno throws his weight to the side. He rolls off the bridge and falls, a moment of weightlessness precedes a sickening lurch and another pang of pain through his leg when the chain pulls taut and leaves him dangling upside down. Techno expected to drop. But the leader got their buddies to help, and between three people, they can hold up Techno's weight.
Chat is certainly laughing at him now.
Techno reaches up to try and free his ankle, but it's too finicky to do so with one hand and he doesn't want to let go of his sword. A yank makes his joint ache, metal cutting into his skin until he feels blood pour down to his knee. Then a second tug. They're trying to haul him back up onto the bridge.
Wrapping both hands around the chain, Techno yanks back with all his strength.
He's dropped, landing on his back on the rocks below. His spine isn't very happy, but the worse thing is his ankle throbs even when released from the strain of holding up his entire body. Running away could be easier said than done now. Techno winces and blinks, getting only a moment to recover before a shadow moves above him.
He rolls out of the way of the cudgel coming down.
The man hisses. "Fuck, you're annoying."
"You're not really endearing yourself to me either," Techno grunts, trying to get up. They slam into his side before he can. Techno growls, grabbing their legs and pulling them to the ground.
Overall, Techno would call himself a sophisticated fighter - probably against the expectations others have of him. He likes to make his victories swift and clean. He fights with his sword over his claws and tusks.
But that doesn't mean he's above a classic tussle on the ground.
The man screams as Techno grapples his way on top of them. His sword is out of reach, so he wraps his fingers around their throat and squeezes. Chat goes into a frenzy. They've always enjoyed this more brutal type of combat above honorable fights.
They're so loud Techno doesn't hear the crossbow bolt coming this time.
It buries into the soft tissue of his lower back, far enough to the left that it sinks several inches into his flesh. Techno hunches over automatically, the pain cutting through the pounding of adrenaline in his veins. While it's not enough to make Techno let go, his grip slackens and the man manages to squirm beneath him, reaching for their weapon. They grab the cudgel and smack it into Techno's temple.
He's knocked off, cheek hitting the netherrack. The dust clings to his lips, filling his nostrils at the same time the scent of blood hits him. Techno's vision swims a little, though not enough to blot out the next strike coming his way.
With a lot more force, the blunt weapon is slammed into his temple a second time, hard enough to instantly steal his consciousness away.
Tango is in big, big trouble.
Bigger trouble than he has ever been in before. And he doesn't mean the fun kind of trouble. The 'rig redstone to blow up in your friends face harmlessly' sort of trouble or even the 'airdrop a bunch of ravagers on a poor unsuspecting town' kind of trouble.
No, this is real trouble. Actual life-endangering trouble.
And maybe that hasn't really sunk in yet. Tango thinks that's why it still feels funny to him, on some level. Like, adrenaline making things feel hilarious when they're not. The entire situation should be ridiculous. Strangers can't get on the Hermitcraft server. Closed servers are inaccessible either way, but especially when they have Xisuma as an admin, who happens to be meticulous when it comes to security.
How come Tango managed to get himself kidnapped?
He was cornered during what should have been a routine trip into the Nether to get some supplies for his shop. Next thing he knows he's got four guys surrounding him, people he's never seen before. Tango isn't much of a fighter. He's decent enough with a sword not to cut his own fingers off, but that's about it. It didn't take much for the strangers to overpower him, steal his gear, and tie his wrists behind his back. He was quick enough to press the emergency button on his communicator, and Tango just about saw the first concerned messages from other Hermits pour in before one of the kidnappers took the device from him and crushed it under their heel.
But they took him off the server.
Tango didn't know that was really possible. Again, closed servers aren't something you get in and out of without whitelisting or going through several layers of vetting. There are public spaces, but those are few and far between these days. His kidnappers shouldn't be able to take him to a whole different world, just as they shouldn't have been able to enter one.
They opened an inter-server portal as if it was nothing.
Then they took his arm and dragged him through it as if it was nothing too. Tango complained and started to kick his legs, and that's when one guy picked him up and threw him over their shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Tango can curse his dumb noodle arms and legs for that, plus the fact that he's not the tallest guy around. Humans can sometimes be scared to touch him because he's a blaze hybrid, but they clearly are using potions to stand the unbearable fiery heat of the Nether already, so the lashing of his tail meant nothing to them.
Now he's here, absolutely surrounded by more strangers. A lot of them are humans from the hybrid trafficking ring - or that's what Tango has put together they are. Mostly because the other kidnappees are hybrids like him. Nether hybrids specifically. He's running through his head a bunch of doom scenarios and all of them are coming out with glaring red warning lights that are hard to ignore. Tango is going to panic if he keeps this up. And panicking won't do him any good.
But then again it's hard to imagine the situation can be much worse.
All the other hybrids here are like him in that they had their gear stolen, their hands tied behind their backs, and they're outnumbered by heavily armored and very armed guys. A little panic might be warranted. Tango thinks he's due a little panic.
As long as he doesn't let the panic completely blot out his rational thinking.
He has to stay sharp. He's trying to remember all the survival knowledge he does have, which thankfully happens to be a decent amount. Maybe not in combat, but in other stuff. And right now Tango knows he's on the path towards freezing his tush off.
When he went to the nether, he was in his normal, casual clothes. Obviously he would be, since the Nether is his former home and Tango's skin needs no protection against the elements there. It's in the Overworld that Tango needs his jacket and leggings to keep warm enough to be comfortable, and he even has special attire to go into snowy biomes. He's cold, and they're being hauled through some kind of forest Tango isn't familiar with, on a server he's never set foot on before, surrounded by unfriendly faces.
Not great for warming himself up.
He twitches his arms, muscles getting a little painful because he's forced to keep them stiffly behind his back for hours. He's still wearing his belt, and the pouches on it. They emptied them, but one of them was full of redstone powder. There should still be some residue in there. Tango shouldn't be touching it with his bare hands but desperate times and all that.
He takes some out and sprinkles it on the ground, trying to leave a trail.
Tango wonders where they're going. He knows about hybrid trafficking, broadly, but it's not a super common crime and Tango spends most of his time on a closed server that's supposed to be safe. So he doesn't really see the point of this. The end goal. And that worries him. Makes it hard to plan ahead.
"Hey!" Something smacks into the back of his head. Somebody's palm. "Keep still."
"Sorry," Tango says automatically. He's kind of pissed, what is he even apologizing for? But it slips out without thinking. Not being on the bad side of their kidnappers seems smart.
The guy isn't so easily appeased.
Fingers wind into his hair and pull, his face is painfully yanked up. "If I see you try any more funny business, you're screwed, you hear me?" the trafficker spits. Instinct makes Tango want to reach up and pry them off, but his hands are tied together so all he can do is pull his shoulders up to his ears awkwardly.
"I got it, I got it," Tango says quickly, wiggling in their hold. But the trafficker doesn't let go.
Not until another voice interrupts them. "Man, I think he got it."
The trafficker drops Tango and turns on the newcomer, another prisoner. Tango glances up and notices that the person who was hurting him has a pretty impressive bruise on their face like they got punched earlier. Treats them right! They open their mouth as if wanting to say something, but their leader calls out to them and they fall back into line circling the kidnapped hybrids after throwing a venomous glare Tango's way.
The one who interrupted them helps Tango up so they can keep walking.
"Thanks," Tango says softly, keeping his voice low to not be overheard. "That guy was being a total jerkface."
"Hybrid traffickers aren't exactly known for their kindness," the stranger says, though there's almost a chuckle in their words.
"Yeah, you can say that again." Tango looks up at them, tilting his head a bit. They're a piglin hybrid, which is interesting. To call any type of hybrid common or uncommon feels like a bit of a misnomer, they're always a rare breed. But among Nether hybrids, piglins do tend to be the more frequently seen. Yet he can't shake that something about this one strikes him as vaguely familiar. They have a wound coated in half-dried blood on the side of their head and limp lightly as they walk.
"That guy's not really high up the ladder though, that's why he's so jumpy," the stranger adds on, nodding at the trafficker from a moment ago. "I almost managed to sneak away earlier because of him. He stopped me, but I got him with a headbutt." Their nonchalance in telling the story is a stark contrast to how crappy their situation is. But it puts Tango a little at ease. He grins.
"Nice. Uh, you don't happen to know who these people are, do you?"
"Nah," the piglin hybrid says with a shrug. "Nether hybrid traffickers."
"Yeah… Yeah, I figured." Tango's face falls again. This is bad. Really bad. He shivers when a rush of cold air passes them. Are they going higher up, into the mountains?
"You look pretty pale," the stranger observes.
"I'm fine," Tango says. "Kind of chilly."
"Blaze, right?" The question feels a bit silly since Tango's flame-tipped tail and pupilless red eyes should make it obvious. He still nods, smiling sheepishly. "Here."
While being tied up makes movement a little hard, the stranger manages to take off his cloth belt. It looks more decorative than functional, so maybe that's why he doesn't seem to mind tearing it in two pieces.
"Cover your wrists and lower arms with these, and keep moving your fingers. That should help with hypothermia."
"Thanks." With some issues, Tango manages to wrap the cloth around his arms. "Uh, I'm Tango, by the way. Of the Tek variety."
He almost cringes at his own words, the habit of the quirky introduction hard to kill but embarrassing in the moment. Damn, that was totally lame. Good thing Impy and Skizz aren't here, they would totally have laughed at him.
"Technoblade," the piglin hybrid says.
Tango blinks, faces scrunching up for a moment as he thinks. "You're the Hypixel guy?"
"You've heard about me?" Technoblade asks, looking vaguely surprised and amused about that. Maybe because Tango doesn't look like much of a fighter himself. Techno is mostly famous in the prize-fighting community.
"I'm a Hermit," Tango says. "I'm friends with uh, Grian and Jimmy?" Those were the people Techno played with, wasn't it? Tango can't say he's super familiar, just that he vaguely knows about Techno through the grapevine.
"Oh yeah." Techno nods. Tango finds it hard to tell if he really remembers or is trying to be polite.
They fall into step next to each other. Tango nervously looks ahead of them. "Where do you think they're taking us?"
"No clue."
Again, the causal attitude makes Tango chuckle. "You're not like, concerned and stuff?"
"Not really, I've been in worse situations. I'll find my way out of this one," Techno says.
"Maybe I should just stick by your side then since you seem so confident."
He's not sure if he's serious or not. Having a friend would be nice, since they've been kidnapped and all which is not an ideal scenario. But he also doesn't want to be pushy. Techno and him being allies can be good though, right? All of the stuff Tango has heard about the guy was positive. Or most of it.
Before he can overthink it, Techno nods again. "Sounds like a plan."
"Coolio."
Yeah, Tango is not doing a good job of seeming calm and non-panicky. But hey, at least he has a sort-of-maybe friend now to watch his back. And all he really has to do is hold out until this whole mess is sorted out.
A building rises up before them. Tango's eyes widen when looking at it. If he were to try and describe it, it seems to be some sort of cross between a bastion and the Deepfrost Citadel he built. The mere sight of it makes him shiver from the memory, though this thing is missing all the icy imagery so hopefully he's not going to freeze his butt off in there. Techno exhales next to him, face hard to read. Tango doesn't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
All he knows is that they have no choice but to head into the lion's den.