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Techno and Wilbur walked with their arms looped down the walkway in between cafeteria tables, clutching their trays full of goop and a suspicious meat stew. Their wrists clanged together, the chains holding them prisoner bumping into each other to make the grating noise.
They felt eyes on them everywhere; it wasn’t everyday Pandora’s Vault got new prisoners.
Not only that, but two thirteen year olds.
They weren’t necessarily criminals so much as ‘hostile persons,’ which meant the State took the liberty to collect them at their earliest convenience and lock them up with a whole cast of the world’s worst people.
Murderers, terrorists, arsonists, and political activists.
It wasn’t so much the atmosphere that scared Technoblade as much as the fact that everyone seemed to already know each other here, which meant making friends was incredibly hard. Techno already had a concerning time trying to talk to people, but now that anxiety was amplified by the fact that he and his brother were the new kids and, oh yeah, everyone here was a supervillain.
“Let’s sit here,” Wilbur whispered, pointing to the empty end of one of the tables. The other end had a group of big burly men with shaved heads and tattoos all over their faces and running down their arms. They all had one specific tattoo in common, that of a black crow on their bicep.
The men at the end of the table began whispering as soon as they sat down.
“Maybe we should move,” said Techno.
“No! We have to hold our ground, Techno, or else they’re going to start beating on us.” Wilbur shoved a spoonful of goop into his mouth, his face twisting into a portrait of disgust at the slightest taste of the food.
Techno pushed his tray to the side.
One of the men at the end of the table slid down towards Techno and Wilbur on Wilbur’s side of the bench. He was one of the more interesting looking characters in the Pandora facilities with navy blue paint permanently inked onto the upper half of his face and a blue scarf tied around his neck.
“You two,” he barked. “Which one of you is the Siren and which one is the Blood God?”
The twins looked at each other, then down at their chains. They were both chained up a bit differently; they both had chains on their wrists, but Techno’s were extra heavy and reinforced with a chip that neutralized his power, as well as getting a drug injected into him every forty eight hours to maintain his power loss since the chains and the chip were barely effective enough.
Wilbur only had normal chains on his wrists but had a choker around his neck with a similar chip that also disabled his powers. They were both powerful individuals, it was just that Techno’s power had more potency that required heavy lockdown.
“Who came up with those names?” Wilbur asked rather than answering.
“For prisoners without villain names, the staff comes up with code names for us in order to separate us from our identities. Name’s Sneeg.”
Sneeg didn’t have chains around his wrists, just two gauntlets with the disabler chip that almost everyone seemed to have in this place.
Seemed like Techno was the odd one out with the drug.
“I’m Wilbur. I guess I’m the one they’re calling Siren. This is my brother, Technoblade. He’s the Blood God. Bit of a shit name, though, huh?”
“Maybe we can file a report to get new names,” suggested Techno.
Sneeg laughed. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Those names have half the population scared shitless of you two. Especially you, Blood God.”
“This is good, Techno!” exclaimed Wilbur. “Looks like we’ve got street cred!”
“I wouldn’t get too excited,” said Sneeg. “You’ve got a reputation, but you’ll still need protection. It’ll be a hard life in here without allegiance to one of the… Organizations.”
“You mean like a gang?” asked Techno.
“If you wanna put it that way, uh, sure. See this tattoo?” Sneeg pointed to the crow on his arm. “I belong to the Crowfather. I run with his crowd, do some things for him, and I have protection and friendship. Crowfather took an interest in you two. That’s why I’m over here. Lucky you sat at this table and not the next one over.”
Techno couldn’t help but turn around to look at the table Sneeg was talking about. It held a similar demographic of people, but their tattoos were different. Instead of a crow tattoo, they had a tattoo of a poorly drawn chicken.
Really, it looked like a child drew it.
And it was all over these supervillains’ arms.
“Who’re they?”
“Those are Pollito’s people. Trust me, you’re better off with Crowfather. He has connections higher up and we could use talents like you.”
“Thanks, but we’re pretty much useless,” confessed Wilbur.
“At least say you’ll meet with the Crowfather?” Sneeg pushed.
As twins, Wilbur and Techno shared an incredibly close bond that allowed them the talent of something akin to telepathy but not quite. They understood each other so well that they could tell what was on each other’s mind without actually being able to read them.
So when the two made eye contact, a decision was already made.
“Okay. We’ll meet with him.”
Sneeg drummed on the table. “Good! Good-- he’ll find you.”
That was ominous.
Sneeg slid back down to his side of the table, picking up his tray and stalking off, probably to the rec room. His posse of crows followed after him, all dumping their goop leftovers in the trash and placing their trays neatly in a stack.
“First day here and we’re already interviewing with prison gangs,” Techno mused. “Crowfather… I’ve heard that name before. Wasn’t he the guy that almost managed world domination? What stopped him?”
Wilbur tapped on his chin. “I feel like I should know this one.” He shrugged. “Oh well.” Hopefully they weren’t at a disadvantage in Pandora for not knowing enough villain lore.
After lunch, the two of them headed back to their shared cell. The cells in Pandora were cramped but pristine. The beds were in walls to preserve space, but there were doors to preserve privacy and in order to keep everyone in at night. The longer the stay in Pandora, the more time one has to accumulate privileges.
Since it was the twins’ first day, their room was bare and they hardly had any rec hours allowed. “When do we get the library privilege?” asked Techno.
“What kind of shit books would they have anyway? It’ll be a waste to get that privilege,” Wilbur huffed, climbing into his wall bed and throwing his face into the hard pillow. “Maybe Crowfather can get us extra privileges. If he can’t, we can always try that Pollito guy, right?”
“I think I heard of him. He’s the one who made it his mission to burn every Mcdonald’s down because they didn’t have a vegetarian menu, right?”
That did ring a bell.
Anyone aligned with PETA was probably not someone they wanted to mess with.
“We shouldn’t waste our rec time in our room. We should network,” suggested Wilbur, sending chills up Techno’s spine. “You won’t even have to say anything, just nod along to everything I say.”
Techno ended up agreeing and the two left the room before instantly regretting it.
The moment they fully stepped out of the room, bags were over their heads and fingers were pinching their pressure points, loosening their bodies so they couldn’t move a muscle. They were picked up and thrown over someone’s shoulders.
It was a bumpy ride; their kidnappers were running down the hall, their sock feet barely making a sound against the tile floors. In the back of his mind, Techno wondered what the guards were doing if they weren’t stopping a kidnapping in a prison in broad daylight (artificial light, but that wasn’t the point). The twins heard the sound of one of the cell doors opening before being thrown to the floor, landing on their sides.
Techno landed on the patch where the guards shot him up with the power nullifying drug. The bags over their head were pulled off, revealing what was already in their suspicions: another cell room.
This one was quite decorated, meaning the owner was a longtime felon or they knew how to get things around here.
While most of the cells were a blinding white, this one was painted bright red. There were posters of comic book characters and action movies. On the shelves were stuffed animals and Lego builds.
Perhaps… Was this the Crowfather’s room?
“Welcome, welcome!”
Techno and Wilbur turned their heads to the bed. There was only one bed, but it looked more like a crib with the guard rail set up around it. Inside was something Techno and Wilbur didn’t think they’d ever see in a prison:
A baby.
Okay, he wasn’t a baby, but he was close enough. He had a fat head of blonde curls and fuzzy white wings on his back. No way this was the Crowfather? He was just a kid!
“Oi! Fucker! I am not Crowfather! If you say that again I’ll fucking kill you, bitch! Got it?”
Looked like Techno accidentally said that one out loud. “Um, okay. Who are you?”
The baby looked aghast, clutching his chest tightly as he hid his face from the world. “You don’t know who I am?”
“No, sorry. Lovely to meet you, though,” said Wilbur, pulling himself up into a sitting position. “I’m Wilbur, this is Technoblade.”
The baby’s face brightened back up as if it had never felt a sting of pain. “Oh! Oh! I’m Tommy!” he seemed to realize something, because he cleared his throat so his voice would sound deeper and furrowed his brows. “I mean, I’m Pollito. You’re in my territory now.” Tommy was strange because he didn’t pronounce Pollito the way everyone else seemed to be saying it. Rather than the traditional Spanish pronunciation of ‘Poy-ito,’ with the flexibility of English speakers saying it, Tommy preferred to pronounce it ‘Pohl-ito’ with a hard ‘l.’
It was hard to digest. This was the guy that almost got away with destroying the economy by blowing up a bunch of Mcdonald’s? This was one of Pandora’s most notorious prisoners? Not to mention, the leader of one of the largest factions in here?
“Hey Tommy,” said Wilbur, holding up his hand and wiggling his fingers. “How many of these are you?”
Tommy scoffed. “I’m this many, obviously.” He held up five fingers. “You don’t get to be where I am without a little age.”
“Right,” Techno drawled, also sitting up. He rubbed his arm. “Why’d you kidnap us?”
“My men overheard Crowfather’s people trying to recruit you which is unfair and against the rules! Your cell is in my territory, so you’re mine!” The more riled up Tommy became, the more he flapped his little wings. Tommy made a hand signal to the men guarding the door, and they came over and grabbed the twins by their arms, holding them in place.
Tommy climbed out of his crib-- bed prison-- and approached them. From the pocket of his orange jumpsuit he pulled out a white sharpie. He uncapped it with his teeth, which Techno felt was wholly unnecessary, and it inched it closer to Wilbur’s arm.
“Crowfather’s gonna be so jealous that I got Siren and the Blood God!”
Techno and Wilbur didn’t realize just how notorious they actually were. Their reputation seemed to be a detriment at this point-- all this attention was really sucking Techno’s social battery and Wilbur’s physical battery.
They weren’t even criminals like the rest of the occupants-- they were normal ex-government experiments from a terminated organization that was sent to a group home to ‘live a normal life’ until their powers started acting up.
Wilbur’s was a little more subtle, seeing as he had the power of compulsion with just his voice. But Techno was seen as a more overt danger-- he had the power to control people’s blood from inside their bodies.
Both of them had the power to steal away a person’s autonomy, which was what frightened the State so much. Wilbur’s power could be nullified by the collar and the chains, but Techno’s was so potent that it required all that and the nullifying drug, something no other prisoner required. Perhaps that’s where they derived their notoriety from.
Still, their powers didn’t mean shit in here with the nullifiers. It was a wonder why people wanted them so bad.
“W-w-wait!” Wilbur stuttered, recoiling away from the sharpie. “We can talk about this!”
Never in his life did Techno think he’d be in prison and the one terrorizing him and his brother would be a five year old.
Tommy grinned, no longer hiding the deviousness in his eyes. “You know, there’s no other people like me in here-- just you two. Once you’re mine, we’re gonna play so much. I have cards, and Henry, and Monopoly-- you like Monopoly?”
Admittedly, they did really like Monopoly.
The sharpie was millimeters away from Wilbur’s skin when three bangs slammed against the cell door. “Boss! There’s an attack! The Crowfather’s people!”
Tommy dropped the sharpie. “Dammit! Assemble my team! Get Warden Sam on the line! You two, stay here and watch Siren and Blood God! Make sure nobody comes in here!”
Pollito left the room in a hurry, and the two lackeys dropped the twins on their bums. What the fuck were the prison guards doing if there was a literal battle happening outside of the cells right now? What kind of high security prison was this?
“We’ll be outside this door. Don’t even think about escaping,” one of the lackeys threatened. Techno and Wilbur shuffled over so their backs were resting against the wall. Wilbur leaned his head on Techno’s shoulder.
“How long have we been here?” asked Wilbur.
“Six hours.”
Six hours total in prison and they’d already been kidnapped, marked by two prison factions and were hiding out from a war.
Could’ve been worse.
They could’ve been kidnapped twi--
A scream shot through the air right outside the cell before they heard the sound of a scuffle. There were a couple of bangs against the cell door and a resounding crack before the door slid open.
A feathered face with sharp teeth and big black wings bound to the back greeted them. He wore an orange jumpsuit just like the rest of them, but his chain situation was similar to theirs. He had heavy gauntlets weighing down his arms chained together with a red nullifying chip in.
Oh man.
This was Crowfather.
“Hey, mates. Sorry about Pollito, he’s going through a rebellious phase. I’m here to get you boys out.”
The twins didn’t need to be told twice. They followed the Crowfather out of the cell and down the hallway, trying not to take notice of the bodies lining the hallway. They weren’t dead, just knocked out, which was very kind for a battle of supervillains vs. supervillains.
They managed to make it to the catwalk and catch a glimpse of all the chaos below when they were finally confronted by Pollito. His wings flared out as he dual-wielded two twigs, a downright feral look on his face, a line of dribble going down his chin.
“Stop right there! Stop right there or I’ll blow this place up!” he screeched, waving his sticks around in the air. Crowfather pushed the twins behind him, gearing up for a fight. He grabbed something from within his jumpsuit.
It was some sort of green box with a tin hole at the top. Whatever it was, it struck a chord of fear within Pollito. His wings drooped and he took a step back. “Don’t,” he begged, crossing his twigs into an ‘X.’ “Don’t come near me!”
“Let us pass!”
“No!”
Crowfather cocked his head to the side, smiling as if he wanted Pollito to defy him. He wanted to use that weapon. Faster than light, Crowfather was in front of Pollito, sticking a straw through the tin of the green box and shoving it into Pollito’s mouth.
Pollito gripped the box tightly and began sucking on it, his entire attention focused on draining the box.
“Come on, boys, while we have time!” Crowfather called. They continued down a new hall which had a different atmosphere from the one they just came out of. It felt darker and heavier, as if the air pressure had changed. “You’ll be safe here. This is the stronghold of my territory,” explained Crowfather.
Seriously, where were the fucking guards? Why were they just letting prisoners claim this sort of thing?
“Why’d you save us?” asked Wilbur. Now that they were out of danger, he had time to be suspicious.
Crowfather led them into a cell, also well decorated but in a different sort of way. The walls were green and the shelves were mostly pictures of a dark haired woman with similar wings, or overhead photos of bomb zones. One picture was a baby picture of a little avian all swaddled up in the woman’s arms.
“I think you two deserve choices.”
Oh.
No one had ever said that to them before.
They were born into chains and cells, held captive by the State in their earliest years. Places like Pandora weren’t necessarily new to them. Even their years in the outside world were ridden with the burden of decisions made by the need to survive rather than having multiple choices.
Wilbur had a theory that it was karma punishing them for being such freaks of nature-- since they could steal a person’s autonomy, they would have no respite in this world. No allowances for choices themselves.
“I also think you’re the key to bringing down the State. With your powers, we could get out of here and take over the world.”
Aaand there it was.
“We’re not interested in villainy,” said Techno. “Sorry.”
“That’s alright,” said Crowfather. “But you’re interested in getting out of here, right? You might feel fine now, but that nullifying drug will start to ruin your body, Blood God. It’s more than a nullifier: it’s poison.”
Techno looked down at his veins. They were still a mix of blues and purples now, but how long until they turned inky black like the nullifier drug they injected into him? “How do we get out?”
Crowfather grinned. “Don’t you worry your little heads about the details. All you have to do is pledge allegiance to me, and I’ll take care of everything.”
Crowfather must have had an upgraded prison jumpsuit, because it seemed like he had a massive pocket on the inside that the rest of them were missing. He took a tattoo gun out and twirled it around in his fingers.
Seriously? Why was he just carrying that thing around?
“Can we have a moment to discuss?” asked Wilbur. Crowfather nodded. Wilbur and Techno put their arms over each other’s shoulders and scurried off to the corner of the cell, whispering quietly in harsh tones.
“I’m not gettin’ a tattoo,” Technoblade protested.
“We could get out of here! Maybe live normal lives!”
“I don’t like needles.”
“You’re literally going to get shot up with drugs every two days if you don’t get the tattoo. Pick your battles, man.”
Techno untangled himself from Wilbur, turning back to Crowfather. “What else do we get?”
“Whatever you want! Once you pledge allegiance to me, you’ll be my left and right hands. Unlimited power within the walls of Pandora, and once we get out, you’ll have much, much more.”
Wilbur slid his sleeve up, Crowfather turned the tattoo gun on, drilling the picture of a crow into his bicep. Technoblade gulped before doing the same.
Wilbur cried; Techno didn’t. He’d already maxed out his pain threshold when they shot him up with the nullifying drug and he’d lost most feeling in his limbs.
At least Crowfather had the decency to give Wilbur a hug after the process. He pet Wilbur’s hair as he pushed Wilbur into the crook of his neck. “You both were so brave. Things will be so much better now that you’re mine,” he cooed.
Adults didn’t have a great track record with Techno and Wilbur, but something made them want to trust Crowfather. Perhaps it was because he was the first one to ever stand up for him; maybe because he believed in choice-- believed they could be something more than what they were made to be. Just… Something made the tattoo worth it.
The moment was interrupted by an explosion down the hall. Crowfather sighed and released Wilbur.
“Is that Pollito again?” How evil could one five year old be?
“No,” Crowfather shook his head. “Pollito’s had his juicebox, so he probably sent his backup. You’re probably wondering where all the guards have been, right?”
Yes! Yes, they had been wondering that for so long (six hours)! Where were all the guards?
Crowfather explained: “Pollito’s got a special skillset. You see, he’s incredibly adorable-- he gets it from his mother-- so he’s managed to charm the Warden, Sam, into utilizing the guards when necessary.”
“Why not charm the Warden into releasing him?”
“Pollito likes it here. Believe me, I would’ve been out sooner if it weren’t for him. Every time I’m close to busting out, that little shit fucks it up for me somehow. But now that I have you two, he’s not going to be as much of a problem now.”
“... You’re not gonna kill a five year old, are you?”
Crowfather shook his head. “No, no. I wouldn’t do that-- his mother would kill me.”
“You know his mom?”
“Of course I do,” he responded incredulously.
The turf war ended soon after the guards shuffled in and sent everyone back to their cells. Crowfather made sure to escort the twins back to their cells, keeping their sleeves up as they passed Pollito to show off their new tat.
Pollito did not like that.
Over the next month, Crowfather, the twins, and other members of the Crowfather’s faction workshopped ways to escape Pandora. With the Crowfather, the twins could do anything. They had access to the library, which was just as piss poor as Wilbur predicted it would be. Their goop got upgraded to gop, which didn’t sound like an upgrade but it absolutely was, and no one dared mess with them since that first day.
Their reputation became more than just Siren and Blood God because now it had Crowfather’s name attached to it. Crowfather’s Siren and Blood God. Don’t look at them wrong or they’ll make you jump from the railings.
This infuriated Pollito to no end.
Pollito’s faction was instructed to give dirty looks to Techno and Wilbur when they passed by, and if they attempted to talk to anyone in the faction, they had to flip them off and stick out their tongues. While incredibly juvenile, the faction members had no choice but to follow along.
Still, Pollito didn’t bother them much. The worst thing he did was send longing glances from across the cafeteria, and occasionally tape crayon drawings of the three of them to their cell door (they actually had no proof it was Pollito, but he was the only person under ten in the entire prison, the only one with white wings, and nobody else would draw a hulking Crowfather with sharp teeth over an idyllic afternoon setting).
Every two days, Wilbur and Techno were separated. Techno was escorted to the Warden’s office, where he was pushed into a chair and some man in a white lab coat, not unlike the men that imprisoned him as a baby, would stab him with a thick needle, pushing in the black nullifying drug.
The more times they shot him up with the drug, the more ill he felt afterwards. There were times he was sweating, shaking, and falling over each step after a dose. Wilbur was always there to catch him. They would share a bed, Wilbur holding him close, burying his nose into Techno’s locks.
Crowfather made it a little more bearable. After he found out about the side effects, he ordered Techno to always come meet with him after the dosage. He would offer the same comfort Wilbur did, in fact, they both comforted him, but Crowfather came with a special pill that knocked him out rather than feeling the stir in his stomach and the world shaking around him. It was for the best.
Every time Techno stumbled into Crowfather’s arms, he was there to coo and chirp at him. The sound, once alien and unknown, became a great comfort in times of pain.
Finally, Crowfather set a date for the breakout. “Tomorrow,” he announced to the twins in the privacy of Crowfather’s cell, protected by two of his faction members. “When Techno’s getting the nullifying drug, we will start a riot. Get the Warden’s attention. Techno, you’ll be in charge of opening the Warden’s door from the inside.”
“I’m locked to a chair. I can’t do that.”
“You can, Blood God, I believe in you.”
Techno liked the sound of that.
“Okay.”
“Wilbur, you have the most important job. You need to keep tabs on Pollito, make sure he doesn’t catch wind of this, alright?”
“I’m on babysitting duty?” Wilbur wailed. “No way!”
“If Pollito finds out, this whole operation may fall apart. I know he looks like a normal five year old, but he’s not.”
“I can assure you, he does not look like a normal five year old.”
“Yeah, we didn’t make that mistake.”
“Oh.”
The next day, Techno sat down with Crowfather’s people at lunch while Wilbur gripped his tray and trudged all the way over to where Pollito liked to sit. Pollito was the only one with a different meal-- it was always some sort of vegetable dish because his canines hadn’t come in yet and nestlings like him weren’t allowed to eat meat.
All of this information was relayed to them by Crowfather.
“Hey, Pollito,” Wilbur said, setting his tray down across from Pollito. “Tommy, right? Mind if I sit here?”
“Ha!” Pollito barked. “Don’t you want to sit with the stupid idiot crows?”
“Change of pace.”
“Oh,” the little villain murmured, poking at his carrots. “So you want to play with me?”
“Yeah! Yeah, let’s play together, Tommy.” Tommy instantly dove his hand into his jumpsuit, grabbing a bunch of miscellaneous Lego pieces and throwing it onto the table.
“I’ve been trying to build The World Ender. Wanna help?”
“Oh boy, do I ever?” Wilbur replied, trying to mask his sarcasm. He glanced over at the Crowfather table to see two guards approach Technoblade and grab his arms, ready for another dosage.
It was the beginning of the end.
“Hey, wanna come to my room? I have more parts there,” Tommy suggested.
“Great idea, Tommy.”
Tommy jumped up from his side of the bench and made his way over to Wilbur, climbing onto his back and hooking his arms around Wilbur’s neck. Immediately, Wilbur began tugging Tommy off, but the kid had a grip like no other. “Hey, off! I’m not a horse!”
“Up!”
Wilbur took another look over at the Crowfather table. Sneeg sent him the ‘OK’ sign with his hands, so Wilbur could only huff and bear it.
Once they got to Tommy’s cell, Wilbur expected him to let go, but he didn’t. He just adjusted himself like a monkey, moving so Wilbur was holding him against his chest. “There,” Tommy pointed to a box next to his bed. “There are all my Lego pieces.”
“Don’t you want to grab them yourself? On your feet? Off of me?”
Tommy shook his head, hugging Wilbur tighter. “If I let go, you’ll go back to those stinky crows and no one will play with me.”
That didn’t make sense. Wasn’t Tommy the one that wanted to stay in prison? He sounded so miserable, though. There was no way a kid who was this lonely would want to stay in prison.
Something was off.
“Tommy, why do you stay in prison? Someone like you could’ve escaped ten times over.”
Tommy sighed, his eyes glazing over with fresh moisture. “It’s because of my arch nemesis, Crowfather. It’s the only way he’ll pay attention to me.”
Oh hell no.
No way this kid was so petty that he’d put up with crippling loneliness and incarceration for some guy’s attention.
Seriously?
Ah, well, Wilbur almost forgot that Tommy was five.
It tracks.
“Hey! Wanna meet my other friends? This is Henry.” Tommy jumped from Wilbur’s arms and glided over to his crib-- bed prison. Tucked into the sheets was a roughed up cow that was missing an eye. “Clara, Clementine, and Shroud are on the shelf.” There was an astronaut figurine and two plushies, one a moth and the other spider.
“Very nice to make your acquaintance,” Wilbur greeted.
He tried his best to talk over the shouts coming from down the hall, but it was a difficult task.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t hear anything,” Wilbur lied. “Hey, do you think Henry wants a nap? I’m also kind of tired--”
“No! Something’s going on out there!” Tommy tried to run past Wilbur, but Wilbur just scooped him back up and held him high over his head as if he were an airplane. “Oh look! You’re flying!” Wilbur even shook him around for a little, causing involuntary giggles to escape from Tommy.
“Okay, okay! Let me down now--” Wilbur brought Tommy’s abdomen to his face and blew a raspberry, making the little villain laugh even harder. “Okay, okay! I’ll nap, I’ll nap!”
Maybe babysitting isn’t so bad, Wilbur thought as he put Tommy back on the ground.
Tommy wasted not even two seconds before pulling a fucking pipe out of his jumpsuit (did everyone but the twins have that much storage in there?) and slamming it against Wilbur’s shins.
“Fuck! Oh my god, fuck! Why would you do that!” Wilbur screamed as he fell onto his face.
“Crowfather’s trying to escape, isn’t he?” Tommy hissed, holding the pipe over his head, ready for another strike. “Tell me or I’ll break your fucking legs!”
“Yes! Yes, he is! Fuck, man!”
Tommy dropped the pipe and fell to his knees, sliding himself over to Wilbur’s face. “Thank you for your candor, Wilby.” He placed a wet one on Wilbur’s cheek before racing out the cell door, leaving the older boy curled up on the floor.
Techno’s fingers curled into a fist as he was pushed into the chair. He eyed the door as one of the guards locked it behind them. The Warden leaned on his desk with his arms crossed as the lab coat man prepared the needle.
The lab coat man flicked the needle twice before feeling satisfied with the setup. “Your sleeve, Blood God.”
Techno’s hands shook as he moved them to roll his sleeve up, the chains keeping his wrists a certain distance apart clanging against each other. His eyes drifted back to the door, waiting for some sort of signal.
It came as a knock on the door, the urgency in the guard’s voice from outside being music to his ears. “Help! They’re all throwing shit and climbing walls! It’s Crowfather’s faction!”
The Warden picked up his trident that was sitting on top of his desk and pointed it at the two guards inside the room. “You two, go out there and quell this. Go get the others.”
The guards nodded and disappeared. The Warden himself relocked the door. “It won’t be an issue,” he said, gesturing for the lab coat to continue. Lab coat sprayed alcohol over his arm in preparation. As the needle drew closer, Techno shot back, falling onto the floor.
“What’re you doing, Blood God? Stay still,” Lab coat grumbled. Techno scrambled back, pushing himself in between the two built in-bookshelves and hitting the wall. His shoulders tightened in response to the tight squeeze.
The Warden closed in on him, grabbing him by the collar of his jumpsuit and dragging him out of his hiding spot. “This is non-negotiable, Blood God. If you want to live, you take the drug.”
The Warden launched him across the room, but now he was definitely closer to the door. Lab coat didn’t bother with safety precautions this time. He just jammed the needle into Techno’s arm, his thumb turning red by hard he was pushing it into his system.
Techno could feel his energy draining from him, his limbs locking in the drug and numbing his senses.
Still. Crowfather was counting on him.
He climbed to his feet and jumped at the door. The Warden was quick to follow, but stopped when he saw all Techno did was unlock the door before collapsing at the foot of the door. “Good one, Blood God. I almost thought you were a threat.”
The Warden stopped laughing when the door began to open.
An orange pant leg pushed his way through, unknowingly hitting Techno with the door. “He may not be much of a threat, but he won’t be the one you’re dealing with, mate.”
Crowfather.
“So this is your doing then? I should’ve known the minute I heard about the riot.”
Crowfather shrugged. “Not much you can do without your little informant.”
“You wouldn’t hurt Pollito. Not him,” the Warden laughed humorlessly. “Come on, Phil, you’ve got your chip in, and I’ve got all my powers and a weapon. Stand down and we can forget about this.”
Crowfather took a step forward, now entirely in the room.
“Phil, did you hear me? I’m willing to cut a deal--”
“I’m not interested in your deals, mate. I’m getting out of here, and I’m taking all of my brats with me.”
The Warden took a step back, keeping his trident close to his face.
Every time the Warden gave up ground, Crowfather gained some, oppressing the entire room like a conqueror. The Warden finally was in a corner and could move nowhere else. It was checkmate.
The Warden, with no dignity left to lose and the only (conscious) audience member being a scientist, he darted forward with the intent to pierce the Crowfather straight through his abdomen.
Crowfather sidestepped, twisting his foot and using his elbow to slam down on the trident, smashing it in half. With his balance altered, the Warden collapsed. He didn’t keep his back to Crowfather long.
Crowfather didn’t waste too much time gloating, instead rifling through the Warden’s filing cabinet for a special remote that controlled the chips of each individual prisoner.
They were neatly organized by prisoner number. He found his own, slamming it onto the ground and then stepping on it.
“Stop right there, Crowfather!” a squeaky voice declared.
Crowfather sighed and turned around.
“What now, mate?”
Tommy placed his hands on his hips. “You can’t go! You can’t leave!”
It seemed like everyone had forgotten Techno collapsed next to the door. Every time someone pushed on it, it hit Techno’s face, which ultimately worked as a wake up call. His eyes peeled open, overly aware of his position on the floor.
“I would listen to Pollito if I were you, Phil,” the Warden said.
“Shut up, Sam! He’s my arch nemesis!”
“Wilbur…” Techno groaned. “Where’s Wilbur?”
Tommy looked over his shoulder. “Oh! Hey, Techno! What’re you doing here?”
“Wilbur…” he called again.
“Oh, uh, he got in my way, so I had to, well, you know.” Tommy made a cutting motion with his index fingers “Okay, I lied. I wouldn’t kill Wilby.”
Wilby? How fast did they bond?
“Tommy, you need to stand down. It’s time to go home.”
“No! If you go, then you’re gonna go back to killing people and taking over countries and you’re never back in time to tuck me into bed!” Tommy screamed, stomping his feet as he burst into tears.
“Did I miss a chapter…?” Techno murmured. “Why would Crowfather tuck Pollito into bed?”
Then all of sudden, even in the haze of the drug, the pieces fell into place.
“Hey, mates. Sorry about Pollito, he’s going through a rebellious phase.”
“You see, he’s incredibly adorable-- he gets it from his mother--”
“No, no. I wouldn’t do that-- his mother would kill me.”
“Oh, what the ***!”
Pollito was Crowfather’s kid?
Then what was this entire gang war thing about?
What was going on?
Where was Wilbur?
“Oh, Tommy, I didn’t know you felt that way!” Crowfather lowered himself so he was ground level, opening his arms to the little chick. Crowfather clutched the little villain tightly, pulling him up. “I promise to take you with me when I take over the world. It’ll be you, me, and your new brothers.”
“What? Really?” Tommy gasped. “I can come? Techno and Wilbur too?”
“Of course!”
Techno pulled himself forward by the hairs of the rug. He staggered as he managed to get up to a sitting position. “Wilbur!” he roared.
The two birds finally looked over at him. Tommy laughed. “He’s on his way! Last I checked, he was limping after me.”
“Limping?”
“I hit him with a pipe.”
Crowfather put Tommy down and patted his head as he kept digging through the drawers for the remotes. He grabbed three more remotes, dropping only one of them on the ground to smash. The other two remained firmly in his grip.
Wilbur finally fell through the door, tripping over the Warden. “Look who’s here!” Tommy cheered, pulling Wilbur to his knees.
“You motherfucker,” Wilbur growled, reaching out to wring Tommy’s neck. Tommy seemed to misunderstand the intent, because he instead wrapped his arms around Wilbur’s waist.
“Crowfather,” Techno wheezed, the air leaving his lungs as soon as it entered. “Is that my remote? Is that--”
“Yes, Blood God. I have both of your remotes right here.” He flashed them like a hand of cards. They were glowing red, the same red as the chips in his chains.
“Give them to me.”
Crowfather pursed his lips, blooming into a smile. “If I give you your remotes, what will you do? Where will you both go?”
“Away!” said Wilbur. “We’re gonna go far away and live a quiet life!”
Crowfather clicked his tongue. “See, I can’t let you do that. I still need you two.”
The atmosphere dropped, shattered by the vindictive laugh of the Warden. “You two are fools for ever trusting Crowfather! What did you think would happen?”
Wilbur and Techno just stared at each other. They shared the same thought, though not with the same vocabulary.
They were fucked.
They were inextricably tied to the Crowfather now. They couldn’t live life with these chains on, and he was the only way they were coming off.
What happened to choices? What happened to the trust they had built with this man? How did they mess up so badly?
A prison to a prison to a prison.
“Do you really think we’ll do your biddin’?” Techno growled.
“You’ll have no choice,” Crowfather shrugged. “Despite the potency of your powers, the chip still has some nullifying effect. A power dampener. In your current state, you’re no match against me, I’m afraid.”
Techno just stopped struggling, slumping back over. Crowfather helped him up, slinging one of Techno’s arms around his shoulders. Tommy and Crowfather, now reconciled, seemed to be communicating on a similar level as Techno and Wilbur. Through the eyes.
Tommy undid the bindings on Crowfather’s wings, and they were finally treated to the full wingspan of the most notorious villain in the world. Tommy then pushed Wilbur into Phil’s arms before climbing up Crowfather’s leg and clinging there, his wings flapping excitedly.
“Ready to go home, boys?”
Techno’s head dropped.
Phil carried them all out, running down the hall past the riot, past the dozens of people in the Crowfather’s faction fighting for a freedom that their leader would never hand to them. It was never about them. Sneeg and all the others, they would remain; but Crowfather would emerge victorious from Pandora’s Vault; the most evil things would be let out.
They arrived at the Garden, the most exclusive part of the prison. Only the Warden had access to the Garden after Pandora gained two special prisoners with wings.
It was also the weakest point of the prison because it had a giant steel door that opened up to the sky.
Crowfather knocked his elbow into the massive red button to open the skylight and flared his wings.
“Stop!” The Warden screamed, throwing the sharp half of what was left of the trident over his head at the group of four. Crowfather was already in the air, missing the trident by a few feet. “You’ll be back!” He screamed. “All of you!”
The Warden would be haunted by the obnoxious laughter of Pollito.
Crowfather brought them all to a small family home in a rural area. There was a whole lot of sky and not a lot of people, probably best for a family of villains.
There was a woman waiting for them by the window. She threw the front door open and hugged them all, even Techno and Wilbur, who she did not know. Her wings trapped them in her hold, but it felt so full of love, the twins couldn’t help but soak it all in, even though they knew it was synthetic.
They knew who she was to these people, but they’d never known the hold of a mother… It was nice to follow this family in their tradition of artifice and just pretend.
In the morning, they’d probably be given masks and new suits and they’d be announced to the world as supervillains aiding Crowfather in his quest for world domination, but there was no freedom from it.
Techno had a feeling that even if Crowfather achieved his dream, they’d still be trapped in his hold, two worms struggling to free themselves from the crow’s beak.