Work Text:
"So where's this guy we're supposed to meet?" Tommy inquires, following closely behind Wilbur, through the white halls of their headquarters.
He's been assigned to work with the phantom hybrid for about a month now. They're a pain in each other's sides but they somehow blend perfectly. Like dynamite and a fuse. An absolute disaster when put together, but useless when kept apart.
"Phil says he'll be in the training room this time of day." The brunette responds.
Hey, I see you. Did you ignore the starting notes? Go read them or else none of this makes sense!
Tommy scoffs. "At seven am?"
"Most people do it as a wake up call. Or just to get it out of way early so they don't procrastinate all day."
"That's just stupid."
"You're just lazy--" Wilbur barely gets the whole word out before the Tommy elbows him in the ribs.
"Oi!" The blonde snaps. "Big men like me don't need any training routines! I'm just strong by default!"
The phantom sighs, but his tail swishes in amusement. "You may think you'll never need physical training, since you're only tasked with gathering info, but what happens if you get caught in the crossfire of a fight?"
While that is a good point, that hasn't happened to Tommy before. Tommy is best agent that Phil has! He's always out of the building before anything breaks out. "Well if it concerns you so much, I'll gladly use you as a punching bag for--"
"Wrong way." Wilbur suddenly grabs Tommy by the back of his shirt collar, before he has a chance to walk passed the hallway they should've turned down. Tommy knows that timing was intentional.
The avian makes an overexaggerated choking sound as Wilbur drags him in the right direction, as though he's a child who keeps wandering off. "Unhand me!" Tommy beats his wings and is just about to turn around to bite the man, when the hand on his collar disappears.
Already used to being dragged, the younger boy stumbles to regain his footing. Oh, he's about to cuss the hell out of this man. Ladies, cover the ears of your children.
Once he's standing upright, he inhales, already knowing what words he's going to use first.
However, it dies in his throat upon realizing they were standing in front of Training Room B. The room has a huge window looking in, for when Phil or one of the High Ranks wants to supervise someone. The inside of the room is mostly white, free of distractions, with smooth tile floors that are frequently treated to be less slippery.
All training rooms have a core purpose. Some for shooting practice, some for physical strength, and so on. This one in particular is for combat related training. Likely because it’s conveniently nearby one of the first aid clinics.
While there is half a dozen crash dummies at the back of the room, to be beaten up, they’re rarely used, as most agents prefer something that fights back.
Speaking of, there’s currently two people in the middle of the room, practicing fighting with each other. An unspoken agreement to not go easy on each other, while also not breaking anyone’s leg.
One of them has dark green hair and eyes like a black void. His ears are slightly pointed and the lack of soundproofing on the glass allows Tommy to hear the way he hisses at his opponent. Creeper hybrid.
He has a golden band on his left bicep to let everybody know, he’s one of the High Ranks in the department of agents assigned to handle physical action. Tommy can distantly recall seeing him on a mission once. Phil called him The Warden, which is a pretty pog code name.
The other guy, Tommy doesn’t recognize. He has to bite his tongue to avoid laughing at this one.
It’s immediately obvious that he’s a rabbit hybrid. Even if you couldn’t see the tall ears and the stubby cotton-ball tail, he very clearly has the hyper instincts. Every time The Warden takes two seconds to back off from close quarters combat, in order to catch his breath, this guy seems like he can’t sit still in his adrenaline. Subtly bouncing on his heels like it’s a fun game.
As if it wasn’t already difficult to take him seriously, he has cotton candy pink hair, tied in a complicated braid, like some anime character. Either it’s his natural color somehow or he uses a lot of dye, because his ears and tail match.
Tommy leans over to Wilbur, holding back a grin. “We’re working with the creeper guy, right?”
The older boy shakes his head, seemingly unfazed. “Nope. The rabbit guy.”
The avian snorts and covers his mouth, desperately trying to disguise his laughter through a few amused chirps. Meanwhile, the creeper and rabbit hybrids were still going at it, looking evenly matched.
Wilbur gives him a little glance when he hears the suppressed giggles. He smiles, finding them contagious, then he looks ahead to watch the fight. “Don’t underestimate him. I’ve seen him in action before.”
Tommy scoffs and points at the rabbit hybrid. “This guy? He looks like a buff Easter bunny. What do you—”
He cuts himself off with an obviously very manly squeal when something hits the window in front of them. He recoils back with his wings puffed in alarm, resulting in two loose feathers, falling to ground almost comically.
There, right against the glass, is the creeper hybrid, having just been quite literally thrown across the room by Anime Rabbit Supreme over there. That was as good a test as any to see how sturdy the window is.
The Warden fell into a sitting position under the window, probably half-winded from that. His former pinkette opponent settles in an instant, entering a relaxed stance as if nothing had happened.
Psycho Energizer Bunny strides across the room with just a bit of extra pride in his posture and offers a hand to the creeper hybrid to help him up. He makes eye contact with Tommy through the glass, just for a moment, seeing the way his grin was long gone, replaced by a look of genuine surprise.
Tommy really hopes he didn’t hear the Easter bunny comment.
As the two fighter agents both went to the corner of the room for a water break, Wilbur chuckles on Tommy’s right. “I believe his name is Techno, by the way.”
Tommy gives him a dumbfounded look. “He just chucked the Warden!”
The brunette almost looks smug as he shrugs his shoulder. “I told you. I’ve seen him in action. The pink hair really keeps people unsuspecting.”
The blonde couldn’t do anything but nod. “That’s one reason. Yes.” He looks at Techno again who was now chatting with The Warden. That was when Tommy noticed the lack of golden band on his sleeve. “How is this guy not in the Higher Ranks?”
Wilbur puts his hands in his pockets. “I think he was at one point, but Phil demoted him and is making him earn his position back.” Tommy tilts his head, quick and bird-like, so the phantom realizes he should elaborate. “He once disappeared for almost a year, then came back like nothing happened. When anyone asked where he had been, he’d just mumble about a squid hybrid and start quoting Sun Tzu.”
Tommy isn’t even going to begin to try and decode that.
“Shall we?” Wilbur gestures to the door into the training room.
Ah, right. They came here to inform Techno that he’s been assigned to help with their mission. They’ll be working with him for a while.
Tommy hopes he can click with Techno the same way he clicked with Wilbur.
He nods and off the two of them go to greet him.