"Let me be
Another invisible,
Used and forgotten and left
To whatever narrow miseries I make for myself
Without anybody asking
What's wrong? Concern for my soul offends me..."
― Jericho Brown

Tommy feels the cold wind blowing beneath his glider as he spreads his arms out to help steady his body. Gravity drags him down until his feet brush against the packed snow. His glider snaps back to his metal backpack. His body sinks deeper into the snow. Tommy's nose scrunches as he shifts his weight. His feet slide away from each other farther than he expected. Tommy locks his knees together to keep himself standing as he tries to navigate standing still on the snow. He takes a cautious step forward. He manages to stay above the snow instead of sinking to the dirt buried several inches down. Tommy grins in victory as he remains on the endless white blanket.

Like Serenade explained earlier that day, Tommy was on a mission with Ravager. The villain was taking them through Snowchester. The only reason he gave was that there was news in the underworld that cultist activity had spiked in the borough. Of course, the Syndicate would solve this issue even if it wasn't the Red Army involved. The Syndicate owned Snowchester. After laying siege on the Ender Portal, cutting off all trade between Ender Isle and Essempei, the Syndicate made Snowchester their main base of operations. It was already a quiet borough before the Syndicate invaded, but it was now completely free of any crime not sanctioned by the villain organization. Tommy has had more than a few missions in Snowchester, especially after the Syndicate claimed the area. He's probably the only hero who has been there in years, and now he was here with a Syndicate escort.

Ravager descends from the sky like a bomb. Unfortunately, when Ravager lands beside Tommy, the snow does not displace. Ravager doesn't sink. He remains on the top layer, a benefit of one of his many powers. Tommy can't find the hero's name, but a few generations back, there was a hero who enhanced his physical state, including having a supernatural balance and jumping power. That hero became part of the cycle of people who passed down their powers. Those powers eventually ended up in Ravager's hands. Now, Ravager gets the full benefits of being buff and agile. Not for the first time, Tommy was almost envious of Ravager. Why did the villain get a bunch of cool and useful powers? Why couldn't Ravager go through something traumatic like other espers to get a half-decent ability that needed a lot of training?

"You're a fucking rabbit," Tommy insults with a glare, though he knows it isn't his best work.

"And you are a raccoon," Ravager responds without a second in between their statements. Ravager even has the audacity to retain a neutral expression in his eyes.

"What the fuck, bitch? I am not a raccoon. Where the hell did you hear this fucking slander? I have never done anything a raccoon would do," Tommy yells at Ravager, reaching to punch the man in his muscled arm in anger.

Ravager looks at Tommy before glancing down at where Tommy punched him. "Your punches need work, raccoon."

"Oh, fuck you! Not everyone has super strength. I bet your punches are just as fucking bad. You just don't realize because everyone you punch doesn't have the balls to tell you your form sucks when their arm has been fucking punched off!" Tommy rolls his eyes. He's never seen Ravager punch someone's arm off, but does know that Ravager is strong enough to break someone's arm simply by squeezing. The leap Tommy took isn't too large, and Tommy has drawn more drastic conclusions before. "If you're gonna call me something other than Vendetta, just keep calling me Theseus. That name might be weird as hell, but at least it isn't a fucking trash panda."

"Do you perhaps like that name more because it reminds you of your shining achievement?" Ravager asks slowly, tilting his head to the side. Ravager is, of course, referring to the capture of Minotaur. An S-ranked villain who caused thousands of dollars in destruction, who held Prime Height's poorest area, L'Manberg, in a vice grip. He was untouchable... until some upstart F-class hero dragged his bloody body up the steps of the guildhouse. It was the fastest a hero has ever climbed the ranks, and that hero continued to prove their position until they came to be A-ranked. The guildmaster wanted Tommy to take the test to become S-rank later that year. Tommy didn't know if he was going to make it that far.

"I didn't know that's why you called me that," Tommy murmurs. Tommy knew why Minotaur called himself that. It was from a legend passed down from the Ancient Cities, the civilization that existed before the modern era. Tommy doesn't really remember the story, but he knows that there was a hero called Theseus who slayed the half-man half-bull known as the Minotaur. The finer details were lost on Tommy because he deemed that story unnecessary. He read it once when Ravager called him Theseus, but he let the story fade to the back corners of his mind. "That fight with Minotaur isn't something I really remember. I was... too angry and too sad... the details fucking blur together."

"I don't recall you having a reason to hate Minotaur," Ravager mentions. After a month of training, Tommy was released on the streets. He was only supposed to patrol. He was supposed to call in the other heroes if he saw something. He wasn't supposed to accept any bounties. But he didn't, not really. He wasn't concerned with Minotaur's bounty. He remembers seeing Minotaur in an alleyway. The villain had been terrorizing some random no-name that fled the moment Tommy yelled at Minotaur. The next few days and nights were something Tommy couldn't remember even if he tried. Blood, rage, grief, and so much pain. He fought with Minotaur, blowing past every limit he had and nearly destroying himself so thoroughly that he spent weeks in the med bay. He surprised everyone when he brought Minotaur in, and he surprised them even more when he woke up instead of passing away.

"Are you stupid? Everything I do is for my family," Tommy explains. Every time he thinks about Minotaur, instead of the fight, he thinks about Tubbo. His brother. Tubbo was the last one that joined their homeless kids group, but that didn't make him any less part of the family. Tubbo never spoke about his past until one quiet, lazy summer day. His voice was never able to reach louder than a whisper as he told everyone who his father was. After that day, Tubbo would sometimes tell stories. Tommy saw all of Tubbo's scars, knew them better than he knew his own, so he knew that every story, no matter how gruesome or painful, was true. Tubbo, sweet and kind and hyper and so damn loyal, was the person Tommy thought about every time Minotaur told him to just give up and go home. He got revenge on Minotaur for Tubbo, and for a glorious moment, Tommy felt some lingering speck of happiness. The happiness didn't last, but it was addicting enough that Tommy would chase vengeance for the rest of his life.

Instead of words, a bark responds to Tommy's confession. The blonde startles, looking away from Ravager. A dog with dark gray fur stands in the snow with a tongue lolling out of their mouth. Tommy momentarily forgets whose presence he's in as he rushes over to the dog. The beautiful creature meets him halfway. Tommy leans down to the dog's level. He wraps his fingers into the dog's warm fur. The dog attempts to lick Tommy's face, but his mask makes that a little difficult. The dog finds a way, licking the space between his bottom mask and his goggles. Tommy giggles slightly, trying to push the dog's face back.

"He doesn't seem to have an owner," Ravager mentions lightly as he leans down beside Tommy and the dog. Ravager reaches up to run a hand along the creature's back, petting him with a lot more gentleness than Tommy thought the villain was capable of.

The blonde's grin does not dissipate even when he notices just how close Ravager is. Tommy doesn't even glance at Ravager's weapons, gleaming in the snowy sunlight. He instead turns his attention back to the dog. He pats down the dog's neck for some sign of a collar hidden in the fur. When he doesn't find anything, he wraps his arms around the dog's neck. The dog barks against his chest as Tommy looks at Ravager. "We have to name him!"

"Her."

"Even better! She needs a really fucking good name. We can't mess this up, Ravager! Let's see... I know lots of women's names. Clementine, Clara, Chivone, Linda, Duffle... wait, I don't think Duffle is a girl's name," Tommy lists off the few names that he knows. Honestly, he doesn't know much. His entire life revolves around the struggle between heroes and villains with rogues and vigilantes thrown in the mix. He doesn't think he knows anybody's real names. That depressing thought is placed on the backburner. Tommy looks up at Ravager. "Actually, she needs a warrior's name! I am giving you permission to tell me some nerdy story so we can give this dog the best godsdamn name out there!"

"A hero from the Ancient Cities, huh? She looks like... Atalanta. She was an archer who killed the Calydonian Boar," Ravager tells Tommy a name like the blonde knew he would. Ravager was mainly violence and bloodshed, but most survivors mentioned, like an offhanded thought, that Ravager spoke in references to classic literature and ancient myths. Tommy's nickname, Theseus, is proof, not that Tommy ever doubted the survivors.

"Atalanta... I mean, if she's my only option... yeah, you know what. I like that name. You have the Vendetta stamp of approval," Tommy says with a shrug, turning to the dog. He places his hands around the dog's face. The squishy face looks up at him with an ignorance that can only come from not knowing. Tommy wonders how dogs would look if they knew how cruel the world was, how unworthy of a dog's infinite love most people are. The same hands that hold this dog have killed people, and Ravager's hands are much dirtier. Tommy smiles. "Do you like that name? Atalanta... the Boar Killer, the hero of the Ancient Cities. You know, Ravager, I know another name for a female dog. Do you?"

"Puppy," Ravager answers. Tommy freezes for a single second. He stares at Ravager, but the villain remains distracted by petting Atalanta. Tommy shakes his head, and before he can grab hold of it, laughter spills out of his mouth. The sound is too clear for the voice modifier to change it into a grumble or sob. Tommy folds over his body, arms wrapping around his stomach to help him push out the laughter. He doesn't want to be laughing this hard, but he didn't expect Ravager to answer like that! He thought Ravager would say something like 'soldier' or 'shut up' or even the correct answer, 'bitch'. Instead, the Ravager, the mass murderer and the heir of dozens of superpowers, the literal weapon made from bulletproof skin and Herculean muscles, has the instinct to say 'puppy'.

When Tommy gets a hold of himself, he notices that Atalanta and Ravager are both looking at him. Ravager doesn't seem as annoyed as Tommy thought he would be. In fact, there is something very close to amusement in Ravager's blood red eyes. It's an outrageous thing to think, but Tommy can't tell what else it could be.

A howl sounds across the snowy plain. Tommy feels his entire body tense, an anxious energy in his chest making it hard for him to breathe. Atalanta rises to her feet with a whimper, racing away from the forest with all the might in her starved body. Tommy almost reaches for her to stop her, but Ravager grabs onto his wrist. Ravager is staring at the forest where the howl came from. It takes much more effort than it should for Tommy to turn his attention to the forest. This fear unsettles him, but he isn't sure it's entirely unfounded.

A giant wolf the size of a horse stands among the trees with gleaming white teeth and golden yellow eyes. As if the wolf really were a horse, a woman sits on the creature's back. She wears a bright red cloak, a pop of color in the otherwise neutral-toned forest surrounding her. The hood is pulled over her face, but even the darkness cannot hide the way her eyes glow the same ferocity of a blood red star. Underneath her cloak, she wears a silvery white cuirass and black military-grade pants. She does not carry a weapon on her body, but there seems to be a perfectly usable one acting as her mount. Her eyes move in the darkness, pinpricks that feel like lasers as they dart between Tommy and Ravager.

"What are you doing in my forest?" Her voice ripples across the air. She does not wear a changer, but she doesn't need one. Like Serenade, her voice naturally has some sort of obstruction to it. Tommy shivers as her words flutter from his ears down his spine. He can almost feel them wrapping around him, a specially designed noose. She's the executioner in this analogy, as apathetic as any person who vows to purge the world of evil by becoming part of the filth.

"This isn't your fucking forest!" Tommy snaps at her. He stands up from his crouched position to prove to her that he isn't scared. The forest she came from belongs to the Snowchester borough. It was going to be a public park before the Syndicate took over. Regardless of what villains habitate the area, Snowchester belongs to the people. This villainess does not own the forest.

"What is the Red Army planning?" Ravager asks, choosing to ignore the fact that this woman just claimed the Syndicate's territory. Tommy feels a little embarrassed about what he got hung up on, but his embarrassment fades when Ravager stands up. The villain remains beside Tommy. For once in his life, he feels some sort of appreciation for Ravager's presence.

"The Red Army wants liberation. We want to free all humans and hybrids," The woman explains to them.

"Does it seem like that to you?" Tommy asks Ravager, making sure he hasn't missed anything.

"No, it doesn't," Ravager agrees. The Red Army has done many things, but attempting to negotiate the freedom of the common people is not something they've ever done. Tommy doesn't even know what the Red Army wants to free humans and hybrids from.

"Well, I cannot say you're wrong. The Red Army is elusive. I can freely admit that I joined the Cult of Erythr to make my enemies suffer. I could care less what happens to humanity and their inhuman counterparts," The woman shrugs, adding in her own agreement. She swings her leg off the wolf. She lands in the snow with just as much grace as Ravager does. The wolf growls loudly as she walks in front of her mount. She does nothing to silence the beast as she continues speaking. "I am the Scarlet Demoness, and this is Fenrir. Pray that your gods welcome you with open arms even if a demon is the one to send you to them."

No other noise is made as the wolf- Fenrir- breaks out into a run. The comparison to a horse continues to be apt as Fenrir crosses the distance to Tommy and Ravager within seconds. Tommy is thrown back by Ravager. He rolls into the snow, looking up to see Ravager grappling with Fenrir. In the distance, a flash of red disappears in between the trees. Tommy crawls back to his feet. He races past Fenrir and Ravager, gliding across the snow more than he runs. When he finally reaches the treeline, he hears a cracking noise. He looks around to see that the branches above his head are coated in a thin red cloud. The branches fall to the ground. Tommy jumps forward, rolling away from the explosion of snow from the drop. He looks up to see the Scarlet Demoness. Her hand is covered in the same red mist as the branches that are now fallen logs behind. Her fingers flick upward. Tommy whirls around with his hand stretching out. His fingers brush against the bark of the wooden log. It flops to the ground with added weight. The Scarlet Demoness takes a step forward to keep herself balanced. Tommy brings his staff out, hitting her hand when she tries to do something with her powers again. She twists her grip, grabbing the end of the metal rod. She pushes it toward Tommy, aiming to hit him with his own weapon, but he lets go and cartwheels backwards. His hands touch against the wooden log, and his power retracts back into his body.

"What are you doing here?" Tommy asks her. The Scarlet Demoness twists the staff in her hands. She throws it up into the air. Instead of falling back to her, it shoots across the woodland area like a bullet from a gun. It lands where Tommy was standing a few seconds ago. The red cloud covering it sinks against the snow like the morning fog, rolling across the snow that reflects back the bloody color. Tommy grabs the end of his staff, throwing his body into the air by using his staff as a pole vault stick. He keeps his legs in the air as the mist sinks into the snow. After a moment, the snow begins to explode. It doesn't hurt Tommy until the snow around his staff sends both Tommy and the metal flying into the air. Tommy lands in one of the tree branches without any trouble, his staff back in his hands.

"How did you know I would be here?" The Scarlet Demoness asks instead of answering Tommy's question. Truthfully, Tommy doesn't know how the Syndicate knew she was here. They didn't tell him, nor did he ask. But even if he did know, he wouldn't tell the villain in front of him.

The tree branch Tommy is squatting on begins to shake. Tommy uses his power and jumps off the branch before it lands on the ground. Tommy floats, looking down at the Scarlet Demoness. He can almost see part of her face as she stares up, but it is covered by an intricately designed mask. She reaches a hand towards him. The breastplate he wears begins to tighten as she slowly moves her fingers towards her palm. Tommy feels the edges of the metal cut into his skin, and his breath weakly stutters in his chest. Before she can completely kill him, he allows gravity to grab hold of him again. He falls to the ground, aiming his trajectory to tackle the Scarlet Demoness to the ground. She recovers before he does. He, unfortunately, landed on his stomach. She holds his hands behind his back, a knee pressing into his lower back. His struggle proves futile as she holds him with a strength that doesn't match her physique.

"What are you doing with a Syndicate member?" She asks, her voice nearly a whisper as she keeps his face to the freezing cold snow. He tries to shiver, but she presses her knee down harder. He's certain he's going to bruise. Tommy refuses to answer her question, and she huffs. "We won't get anywhere unless one of us starts answering some questions."

"Well, fine, bitch, let's play Twenty Questions. You ask, I answer. I ask, you answer. Simple enough for your small brain?" Tommy retorts. He knows that he could get out of this predicament, but that would just lead to more fighting. One of them would retreat, and nothing would get solved. If holding him down gave the Scarlet Demoness some confidence, Tommy was going to let her believe she was in control.

"We could simply lie to each other," She remarks. It's a fair assumption. Tommy has been led astray by people before when he's used this strategy. But he has gotten some pretty good breakthroughs by allowing it to play out.

"Then, we lie to each other and pretend this was a beneficial conversation. This isn't that fucking complicated," Tommy explains once more.

"Fine. I was here to meet the other members of the Cult of Erythr," the Scarlet Demoness answers. Tommy gauges that answer in his head. He doesn't believe that is all she came to do, but he doesn't think she's lying, either. She's probably decided that this Q&A could be as lucrative to her as it will be for him.

"Who are the other members?"

"Nuh-uh, little hero. You have to answer my question first," The Scarlet Demoness scolds him.

Tommy frowns at the nickname, but he decides that he'll argue with her at a later date. He just thinks back to her last question, the one about how he knew she would be here. Tommy does his best to shrug when she's holding his arms like a steel trap. "I don't know. The Syndicate fucking told me."

"Answer my other question, then, if you truly don't know," She reprimands. Tommy supposes that's fair since he hasn't actually given her anything with that answer.

"It's a temporary alliance to defeat the Red Army," Tommy informs her.

"Now, why would you want to do something like that?" She asks with a quiet, disbelieving laugh. Tommy doesn't know if she's referring to why he would ally with the Syndicate or why he would want to defeat the Red Army. He can answer the second question easily. The former one is a little harder. Tommy, objectively, knows that he can't defeat the Red Army on his own. The Hero's Guild doesn't have jurisdiction, and the Moderator's Guild doesn't like him. He refuses to take sides in the gang wars of Empires, and while he does have some lasting relationship with Croupier and his Aces, he knows they won't be much help, either. Sadly, his only option is the Syndicate.

"What does the Red Army actually want?" Tommy asks instead of answering because it's his turn to ask questions.

The Scarlet Demoness hesitates for long enough that Tommy thought she didn't hear him. But then he hears a sigh, and he knows that she was thinking of an answer. "That question doesn't have an easy answer. We all want different things. For instance, I want revenge. I want the strength to make sure that no one abandons me again. We're partnered together because we can help each other. We're part of the cult because a person called Crimson united us."

A shadow passes over the duo. Before the Scarlet Demoness can ask her question, she flung off of Tommy's body. Tommy watches with widening eyes as she lands against Fenrir's body. She slides toward the ground, holding herself up by grabbing Fenrir's fur. She manages to pull herself onto her wolf's back. She glances down at Tommy, and he swears that he sees a smile on her face. "Thank you for the pleasant conversation, Vendetta."

Fenrir bounds away from Ravager and Tommy, taking the Scarlet Demoness with them. Ravager watches them go with narrowed ruby eyes. Tommy rises to his feet. He hits his hand against Ravager's arm. The villain glances over at Tommy without the tense emotions in his eyes disappearing. Frankly, Tommy is too angry to care. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Why would you risk your life like that?" Ravager demands to know. He isn't screaming like Tommy is, but his voice has grown firmer in his anger in a way that the voice modifier cannot change.

"What the hell do you mean? I was not risking my life. I was getting information. Excuse me for thinking that the guy who quotes the fucking Art of War would know a thing or two about getting information!" Tommy exclaims, throwing his hands around in some attempt to gain clarity. He could have gotten so much more out of the Scarlet Demoness. She was telling him the truth, he could tell, so he could have gotten a list of members, or maybe a couple of locations. He could have pressed. He could have finished this case sooner if Ravager hadn't interfered.

"You put yourself in a position where she could have easily taken your life. It doesn't matter what else you were doing, she could have killed you. Do you not want to kill Azrael and Inchling anymore?"

Tommy laughs, something resentful and broken and completely unlike his earlier laugh. He was not mirthful now like he was then. He was not bitter then like he was now. "I thought I was a fucking non-threat."

"You aren't, but usually people who stubbornly cling to their goals have more self-preservation. I thought I wouldn't need to worry about you after last time," Ravager answers, something flashing in his eyes when he listens to Tommy. He doesn't know if it's the words or the laughter that makes Ravager a tinge more wrathful.

"I don't want or need anyone in the damn Syndicate, especially not your sorry ass, to keep me safe. Our deal has nothing to do with it," Tommy threatens because he doesn't. He has spent the last ten years of his life without anyone to care about him, to check up on him or to worry about him. Tommy doesn't need anyone to. He can do everything that teammates do for each other by himself. He watches his own back, he rescues himself, he makes all the tough decisions. The Syndicate needs to take their 'friendship is magic' bullshit back to whatever hellhole each one of those killers and thieves crawled out of.

Ravager's eyes glow under the weight of his emotions, but his words are silenced by a caw in the air. Ravager and Tommy look up to see a black crow soaring around the cloudy sky and the falling snow. The crow lands on a tree branch near the arguing pair. The crow's marble eyes stare at them intently.

"We're-"

"Crowfather! Thank you for saving me from this miserable company!" Tommy cuts Ravager off. He takes the excuse to put distance between himself and the villain. He lifts his arm up. Crowfather takes the opportunity to land on Tommy's metal cuff.

"Wait. How do you know-"

Crowfather caws. Tommy frowns slightly. Crowfather has been interrupting a lot of people lately. Tommy doesn't really understand why, unless the crow is really getting into his role as Crowfather, the shining hero from a little under a decade ago. Ravager is less impressed as he says, "That has to stop happening."

"Don't be childish," Tommy reprimands. People get interrupted all the time in life; Ravager isn't special just because most people piss themselves instead of actually talking to him. "You should instead be counting yourself lucky. You get to meet Crowfather. Be nice. I'll kill you, and Crowfather will fucking peck your eyes out if you aren't."

"This is Crowfather?"

"Yes, I just said that. Fucking pay attention, bitch."

"Crowfather is a crow?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Crowfather is your...?"

"My friend. He's so fucking awesome. You won't believe it until you stop being an idiot and an asshole and talk to him."

"And there's nothing... strange about Crowfather?"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? That is so fucking rude. Crowfather is not strange. That's demeaning. Crowfather is super smart, probably even smarter than your ugly ass," Tommy explains. Crowfather makes a noise in agreement, flapping his wings for emphasis. Tommy nods along. Ravager affixes them both with an unamused stare. Tommy rolls his eyes. "Look, Crowfather is fucking smart. If you ever need to send me a message, give it to Crowfather. I swear to the gods, this bird can find me no matter where the fuck I am, no matter the borough, alleyway, dumpster... don't ask. He's reliable. We could send secret messages back and forth like spies."

"I'll think about it. Now, you are going to see Dyscardia and Argonaut. You have been bleeding this entire time," Ravager motions to the puddle of blood that surrounds Tommy's feet. It isn't a large puddle, but the white snow makes it seem a lot more gruesome than it is. Tommy frowns, wondering where he's bleeding from as Ravager throws him over his shoulder. Tommy screams several cuss words as he adjusts to seeing Ravager's lower back upside down. Tommy complains the entire way as Ravager drags him to wherever those two are.