Tommy sits on the windowsill beside his radio. He ducks his head, bringing his upper body on the other side of the glass. He reaches his hands up. He grabs onto the edge of the rooftop. Tommy rocks his body further out, precariously balancing on the edge. He starts pulling with his arms, lifting his butt off the edge of the windowsill. Tommy is quick to steady one of his feet on the windowsill. He feels the pressure dig into his shoe. The other foot soon joins it, helping Tommy rise up even higher. His head lifts above the edge of the rooftop. He continues pulling with his arms and pushing with his feet. He takes a quick, courageous breath. He pushes off the windowsill, lifting his body higher. His upper body falls forward, landing on the metal roof. Tommy quickly windmills his arms higher, latching onto part of the roof. He starts to pull, dragging his thighs onto the roof. Tommy bends one of his knees, his foot catching on the edge of the roof. Tommy pushes, and his body is entirely on the roof.

Tommy turns his entire body. His back slams against the metal, creating a noise disguised by the busy night surrounding the tailor shop. Tommy stares up at the night sky, familiarizing himself with the inky darkness that continues to exist in spite of the light pollution. The stars are not nearly as lucky. Only the brightest ones can be seen, and they are dimmed so much that Tommy has a hard time believing they are bright in the first place. The clouds circling around the island certainly don't help any stargazers. If someone wants to look at the stars, they need to head towards the forest that takes up a portion of the island or even the beaches populated by rich people's condos. The stars are obviously more easily seen in the forest, and thinking about it, the forest is probably less dangerous than stepping onto private property.

Tommy pushes his fingers against the metal. He sits up, keeping himself from sliding off the roof by pushing against the edge of the roof with his heels. Instead of the stars above, Tommy looks down at the cityscape immediately surrounding the tailor shop. There are medium-sized buildings all around them and tall skyscrapers overtaking the distant horizon. The streets below showcase an assortment of vehicles, different brands and colors whizzing by at similar speeds. There are even people walking down the sidewalk, always in groups for safety reasons. Tommy is too far away to recognize any of the people, and they are too absorbed in their communicators or conversations to look up at the person people-watching on a rooftop. Even if they did glance at him, Tommy suspects they would only note the peculiarity of the situation and move on with their lives.

Tommy sighs. It has been three days since Wilbur was kidnapped by Ravager and a single day since he went to strike a bargain. He has been doing his best to pretend that he was fine, but he knows that he isn't putting on a very convincing act. Madeleine has temporarily given the tailors time off while she waits for the window to be replaced and for the Enforcers to declare that her shop is no longer a crime scene. Tommy is the only tailor that hasn't taken the offer. This isn't out of character, so the other tailors didn't question him. Madeleine was the one that wanted him to stop working for a few days, staying at her apartment until the shop was secure again. Tommy declined her offer for multiple reasons, but none of them made him sound completely sane so he didn't tell her any of them. Madeleine eventually stopped nagging him, but she has to come by every day to talk to the window repairmen and take calls from former customers. She knows that Tommy hasn't left. She hasn't talked to him about it, but Tommy knows she can only last so many days without bringing it up again.

Tommy is only working to take his mind off of everything. His friend has been kidnapped. Tommy knows it's his fault. He had to make a deal with two supervillains and two vigilantes in order to achieve some sort of rescue plan. He's probably on the heroes' radars. He's, at least, on Wraith's radar, and Tommy thinks that is absolutely terrifying. If he isn't working on a project, Tommy is going to spend his time thinking about all of that, and Tommy doesn't have the capacity to do that.

But here is, thinking about it all. His hands were tired from working, and he needed to feel the chill of the night to knock some sense into him. The cold is muffling his urge to blame himself endlessly, but it has not fully frozen out the unhelpful thoughts. He's sitting on the roof to think, even though he hardly knows what to think about exactly.

Shadow Girl and Nemesis swore that they would make a good plan for rescuing Wilbur since Tommy doesn't have any tactical experience. Tommy knows that he doesn't have any experience with rescuing hostages or facing off against supervillains in a physical fight. He knows that Shadow Girl and Nemesis have a lot more experience both with these activities and with the Syndicate members. He knows they will make a good plan, but Tommy hardly trusts either of them, even with their assurances.

Tommy is half-tempted to storm every speculated location of the Syndicate until he finds Wilbur, but he'll get captured or killed long before he finds Wilbur. When he does get caught, Wilbur might have to suffer the consequences for Tommy's actions. Tommy refuses to let Wilbur get hurt for Tommy's decisions any longer.

This leaves Tommy with the two options: stop helping Wilbur or wait for the villainesses to come up with a plan. Tommy is certain the two of them will end up betraying Tommy to some capacity, but he is willing to take his odds. They have to, at least, get him close to Wilbur for the trap to work, right? Tommy and Wilbur can figure out how to fight two supervillains when the time comes. Who knows, Wilbur might acquire some superpower that will assure victory for the two of them. Mind-control would be a good choice, but Tommy isn't above anything destructive that would cover their escape. He doesn't want to kill Shadow Girl or Nemesis, though, so he hopes that won't be Wilbur's superpower.

"Tommy! Tommy!" A voice whisper-yells, attracting his attention. Tommy leans onto his side, peering over the edge of the roof. He looks down to find Shelby and Niki standing at the front door. Niki is knocking on the door like a reasonable person. Shelby is standing a few feet away, waving her hands above her head and whisper-yelling Tommy's name to the windows on the second level. This enables Shelby to notice Tommy's head when it peeks over the side of the roof. Tommy can see a smile appearing on Shelby's face. She turns to Niki. Although her voice is dampened by the distance, Tommy can hear it. "Stop knocking. Tommy's on the roof."

"How did he get up there?" Niki asks, quickly reaching Shelby's side. She looks up. Tommy gives her a friendly smile. She looks absolutely bewildered as she meets Tommy's eyes. Tommy frowns, raising an eyebrow. Him being on the roof is second to the two of them showing up at his place of work. He hasn't seen them since Wilbur took him to the greenhouse.
"He probably climbed up from the window... Stay there!" Shelby calls up to Tommy. She stretches her arms over her head. Tommy bends his knees, sliding down to the edge of the roof. Before he can stop her, Shelby starts climbing up the side of the building using the bricks and the windows. Tommy wants to shout for her to stop, but Shelby gives him a cheeky grin as she reaches the open window Tommy came from. Shelby puts her feet on the windowsill. Tommy slides over, reaching a hand out to her. Shelby graciously accepts his help, but Tommy can see that she's far more fit than he gave her credit for. Shelby easily pushes herself onto the roof. She plops down, swinging her legs over the side. She gives Tommy a thumbs-up with a smile.

Tommy is able to dampen his surprise when Niki climbs up right beside Shelby. Tommy and Shelby scoot over for Niki as she hops onto the roof on Tommy's other side. Tommy straightens out his legs, pushing himself up the roof. Shelby lays back, her feet still swinging off the edge. Niki brings her legs up to her chest, halfway between Tommy and the edge. The three of them sit together for a moment. Niki breaks the silence, "For showing up so late, but we wanted to invite you to hang out with us. We want to get to know you better."

"Where's Wilbur?" Tommy asks softly. Tommy has listened to his radio and looked at the newspapers the workers who are replacing the window brought in. Neither have reported Wilbur missing. Tommy would be fine with that since he doesn't think the newspaper has enough ink to report every missing person's case, but Wilbur's family hasn't come to speak with Tommy about their missing member. Jaiden, Quackity, and Charlie know that Tommy was the last person with Wilbur, and they haven't come to demand some sort of explanation. Wilbur has disappeared, and Tommy feels like he's the only person who cares.

Niki and Shelby share a look. They look away from each other just as quickly. Niki waves her hands around, mouth opening slowly. Shelby sighs, grabbing both Tommy and Niki's attention. "Wilbur does this thing where he disappears for a few days without an explanation. He always comes back with a new album of music. He's an adult, so we've all just kind of learned to live with it. I guess he never told you. Sorry you had to find out from us instead of from him. It must have freaked you out."

Tommy's heart burns in his chest. It isn't that Wilbur's family and friends don't care that he's missing; it's that they don't know. They assume this is just Wilbur disappearing for a couple of days again. They don't know that he's been kidnapped by the Syndicate. Wilbur's family doesn't know that he's probably being tortured right now. Tommy wants to let Wilbur's family know, but he doesn't know them. Wilbur talks about their personalities, never their locations. Tommy was going to attend a family dinner, but that's still weeks away. Wilbur told Tommy he would set everything up, and Tommy trusted him. Tommy didn't ask any questions. He really should have. Even a full name would be better than what Tommy has now- which is nothing.

"What does his family think about this?" Tommy asks. He wonders if he can get them to tell him where Wilbur's family is without having to explain that their friend has been kidnapped by one of the most dangerous supervillains on the entire island.

"I'm surprised Wilbur told you about his family," Shelby notes, her eyes wide with surprise as he looks over at him. Her lips are somewhere between a straight line and a frown, not quite committing to either, presenting a new emotion Tommy can't name.

"Why?" Tommy asks. Wilbur seems plenty proud of his family. Even if he doesn't, a person can only go so long without mentioning they have siblings, especially a twin, when they're trying to become someone's friend. Tommy has even told Wilbur a little about some of his past foster homes. Not enough to scare Wilbur away, of course, but it's a conversational topic.

"Wilbur has always been a... mysterious and elusive person. Not in a cool way, either. He never takes an interest in people without a reason," Shelby admits, tilting her head away from Tommy. Her halfway expression disappears, falling neutral.

"The fuck? What's the reason for his interest in me?" Tommy asks. As far as he knows, Wilbur took an interest in Tommy because he saved Tommy's life and a debt formed between them. Now, Tommy thinks Wilbur just genuinely likes him. He didn't think there was some special reason for it.

"Isn't it obvious?" Shelby replies, raising an eyebrow as her eyes fall shut. Tommy frowns. Is there an obvious reason Tommy doesn't know about?

"Don't pay any attention to her, Tommy," Niki remarks, nudging her shoulder with Tommy's. When Tommy looks at her, Niki gives him a patient smile, her eyes bright with kindness. Tommy relaxes underneath the security of such a wholesome expression. "If you're up for it, we'd love to hang out with you."

"I don't want to," Tommy answers, staring straight ahead. He doesn't miss the way Niki and Shelby share another look, but since his attention is elsewhere, he doesn't know what look exactly they share. By the time he looks at both of them, they are no longer staring at each other conspiratorially. Tommy huffs, hoping they would leave him in peace to mull over the fate of his friend and his hesitant trust in two supervillains.

Niki leans back, lying against the metal roof. She stares up at the sky. Tommy frowns at her. He looks over. Shelby was already laying down, but she opened her eyes to gaze at the sky. Tommy flops back between them, feeling the metallic clanging resonate throughout his body. He's looking at the same sky as the two people beside him, yet he can't find what has attracted their attention. Niki's voice is as quiet as the wind, "Why don't you tell me about the stars?"

Tommy rolls his eyes. He didn't expect Niki to be looking at them. He hears Shelby clap on his other side, "Oh, that sounds like a fun game."

"We can't even see the fucking stars," Tommy reaches a hand up, gesturing to almost blank canvas stretching out across the sky. There are maybe two visible stars from the angle the three of them are at. Tommy isn't going to be able to connect those stars to make anything other than a straight line, and straight lines don't have any associated stories attached to them. Tommy is pretty sure the two stars are part of different constellations, anyway.

"How about cloud-watching?" Niki offers. There are a few clouds stretching across the sky, and with the wind, more clouds will come and the old clouds will change shapes.

"It's a little dark for that, though," Shelby argues. She is also right. The moon is a mere sliver and the stars aren't providing any light. The clouds might be there, but it's too murky for any shapes to be discernible.

"You two can go do whatever the fuck you were going to do tonight," Tommy reminds the two of them with a hefty sigh. They came here because they wanted Tommy to come with them somewhere. Tommy isn't going there with them, but that doesn't mean they can't go there themselves.

"We can't do that when you're sad," Niki argues. Tommy frowns. He isn't- well, he is sad, but not in a way that company can fix. This isn't the normal kind of sadness. This is the agitated kind of sadness, the restless kind. Tommy doesn't think he'll be able to calm down until Wilbur is rescued.

"And why do either of you give a shit about me?" Tommy asks. Tommy isn't naive enough to believe that he's friends with either of them. They have friendly relations, sure, and Tommy wouldn't mind getting to know them better, but the fact of the matter is that they don't know each other well. Tommy hasn't gotten a chance to really cement any form of relationship with them. Their own tether is Wilbur, and he's missing right now. They don't even know Wilbur is kidnapped, so they're under no obligation to spend any time with Tommy. They could leave him, and no one would blame them, least of all Tommy.

"You're important to Wilbur. Since he's important to us, that makes you important to us, too," Shelby says like it's an explanation, but it doesn't explain anything to Tommy. What does it mean to be important to Wilbur? What does it mean for Wilbur to be important to Shelby and Niki? Why is he important to them, and why is he so important that Tommy is included in that?

"How am I important to Wilbur?" Tommy questions out-loud, his voice too off-kilter for his liking.

"You'll understand when you're ready," Niki states, cutting in before Shelby can say anything to further complicate the situation. Niki's answer isn't satisfying, either, but Tommy prefers it. Niki reaches for Tommy's hand, taking it with a firm squeeze. "For now, you just need to accept that Shelby and I are your friends, too."