"New official rankings for the hero world released. Blah blah blah..." Wilbur squinted at the newspaper article he was reading. "SBI hero agency ranked bottom for the first time?" Wilbur angrily scanned the article. "Wilbur S. Minecraft ranked worst CEO of all time?"

Wilbur crumbled up the newspaper and threw it at the wall in front of him. "Those fuckers!" Wilbur watched the newspaper fall into the trash can with a sigh, then walked over to his desk and sat down.

Wilbur rested his head on his hands and started laughing maniacally. "No wonder no one hangs out with me when I fucking act like this. I'm crazy. I'm fucking crazy." Wilbur's crazed laughs turned into sobbing quietly.

Since he took over at SBI, he's been going down a downwards spiral. 

-Actually, he's been going down this spiral to shit since he found out his brother gave up and ended it. Or... Maybe it began with his mother's death.

Wilbur vividly remembers attending his mother's funeral when he was about 11. He remembers finding out his then 7-year-old brother was there and blaming the death on the little elementary schooler because he was young, childish, and mourning.

He remembers all of the good times he had growing up with his baby brother. He remembers finding out at about age 17 that he drove his brother to suicide. 

He remembers attending a funeral without the corpse likely lost to the rapid river that lead to the ocean or some wild animal.

He remembers starting to drink that year, now at age 21 out of guilt. He remembers finding out Technoblade wanted to branch off and start his own hero agency, and getting into a massive argument with Phil because Phil was leaving the business he started just to leave one of his sons for the other.

He remembers falling into a depressive state worse than the one he was in prior because he had no more family left. They were either killed, killed themselves, or abandoned him because of favoritism. He didn't even have extended family to reach out to. 

He remembers making friends in the town he had been dispatched to and realizing they were distancing themselves because they think you're crazy. 

The last time he talked to that Thomas Underscore person was about two or so weeks ago. 

And he was pretty sure that this was it. He had no family. No friends. Fuck! His coworkers can't even stand being around him. One tried killing them all and got arrested for it.

He had nothing left.

Wilbur lifted his head up and laid back in his chair. At the top of the pile of paperwork on his desk, he noticed a darkly colored poster and picked up, moving it closer to his face to read it.

"The red banquet! This Saturday the city has decided to come together and host a nice free dinner for our two local hero agencies. Must bring proof you're a hero and/or working under either the Syndicate or Sleepy Bois Inc. hero agencies. Everyone may bring a plus one." The rest of the paper was filled with more information and a cartoon image of Logstedshire's mayor.

"I guess it won't hurt to represent the company before heading back home." Wilbur thought out loud with a shrug.

-------

Tommy looked down at the flier Ranboo set on their coffee table. "Listen, Tommy, it might be for the best your giving Wilbur space. I know he's your brother and all... But he's not exactly the same person he was several years ago." Tommy shrugged and grabbed the flier he had been staring at and moved it closer to his face to read it.

"What's this?" Tommy asked Ranboo. He shrugged. "They were passing these out at work. Apparently, the city is  putting together a dinner thing for heroes and people that work at either the Syndicate or Sleepy Bois Inc. places. Tubbo also got one of these."

"Huh." Tommy scanned over the flier and set it back down. "There allowing plus ones. You want to come with me and Tubbo?" Ranboo asked, smiling. "Sure. Sounds fun I suppose. Can't be that bad, can it?"

Ranboo thought for a second. He had a feeling since he saw the moment he saw the flier that it could be 'that bad.' The colors used on the flower and the suspicious timing of it all gave him the feeling the eggpire was involved but didn't want to say anything without proof.

To be honest, the only reason he was actually going was to make sure the egg people didn't try something and end up pulling some sort of "don't drink the purple Kool-Aid" incident or something like that.

Tommy was strong, mental health aside. He knew how to use his powers. Even better than he could a year ago. Besides, since Ranboo was only showing up to protect the city and shit... It would seem suspicious to go by himself. Also, he would need someone to cover up for him if he wanted to go spy in shit. 

Could he just ask Tubbo? Yeah, but it would also be nice to go with both of his best friends. If the dinner thing is genuinely a dinner, it was going to be a fun day. If not, they would all be there to back each other up.

Ranboo had his plan all worked out but had no intention of telling Tubbo or Tommy about it. He just wanted them to be able to relax for once. He had it covered.

------------

On the day of the banquet, Tubbo, Tommy, and Ranboo all wore their nicest outfits. The place of the dinner was held at the local Logstedshire Gymnasium. The gym was decorated very beautifully with red and black decorations and three long tables were lined up in the center to make plenty of room for all of the guests. 

On the left side of the tables, there was a feast set out for the guests to come up and grab whatever they wanted. Behind the tables with the feast, there was a stage set up most likely for the hosts to give some speeches or whatever.

Ranboo found himself recognizing basically everyone. There were probably only about 5 people he had no clue who they were. In the crowd, he found Phil, Techno, Wilbur, and some of his childhood heroes. 

The hosts had pop music quietly playing, of which some people were dancing to. The room was a little too warm, but the overall place was nice and inviting. 

After about twenty minutes of waiting, the banquet began with an all too unfortunately familiar face taking the stage. Bad was the fucking host. Of course, he was.

It truly was a trick set up by the eggpire. Taking a seat but staying alert, Ranboo kept looking around the room to try and see if he could spot anything suspicious.

When Bad took the stage, he tapped his microphone a couple of times to check if it was on. Hearing that it was, Bad took the mic off its stand and held it up to his face. "Esteemed guests! Please take a seat if you haven't already." Bad waited a couple of moments as everyone found their seats. "My name is Bad. I am the host of tonight's dinner. I know you are all wondering the purpose of tonight's feast."

Bad went silent for a moment again as some of his minions went to all of the exists and locked them.

"I'm so sorry to disappoint, but it was not the city that brought us all here tonight. It was something even higher up."

Ranboo heard people around him start to murmur out of growing curiosity and fear. 

"Something even higher up than even XD and Drista themselves."

Ranboo saw people around him start to stand up from their seats.

"The egg. The egg does so much for us and rarely gets anything in return. And I'm actually rather excited to announce... The egg is hungry."

The people that stood up were now rushing to the doors as they realized what was happening, just to get repelled by the doors one of the eggpire minions used their ability on to prevent people from escaping.

"Ranboo, we need to go." Tommy was next to him, standing up and trying to pull Ranboo up. Ranboo listened. "We need to get everyone out of here Tommy. You try and find a way out." Tommy nodded and ran off.

"You can try and escape all you want, but it won't work. Now, let the feast begin." Ranboo noticed some of the 'hosts' put on gas masks as a hissing noise filled the building. 

Ranboo looked up and a gas filling the room and people dropping like flies. 

Vision beginning to go dark, Ranboo barely caught the eggpire lighting matches and throwing them on bodies, creating a giant fire in the flammable gas. 

--------

Ranboo woke up to a hot room filled with smoke and parts of the building collapsing. Ranboo coughed as he tried to get a hold of himself and stand.

The ceiling was collapsing. The gym was being burnt to the ground. People were screaming out of pain. 

Some of the collapsed parts of the building were crushing people, suffocating them. 

Some people seemed to be missing.

Ranboo hoped that meant they escaped. He had a feeling they didn't.

Ranboo leaned against the table next to him and used it to help him not fall. His feet felt limp. Ranboo coughed some more, feeling his head get foggy from all of the smoke. 

Ranboo noticed some of heroes and vigilantes fighting some of the minions and helping others escape.

Ranboo coughed more and teleported around to help as much as he could.

"Ranboo!" A goat person was calling for him. The talking goat person was being captured by a person in a gas mask. Realizing the goat person was Tubbo, Ranboo ran over to him.

"Tubbo! Let him go, you freak!" The Eggpire minion laughed at Ranboo as he help up a mask to Tubbo's face, making Tubbo close his eyes and body go limp. 

Another minion grabbed Ranboo and held a similar mask up to his face. "You can't do anything, stupid enderman. It's too late. Several years too fucking late, man." 

Ranboo felt his body go limp and his eyes feel heavy.

Right before passing out, he heard a familiar voice screaming for him and the goat person.

----------

Tommy woke up being crushed by a chunk of the ceiling. He couldn't feel his legs. He tried pushing the chunk of ceiling off him with his hands, but it was too heavy. Tommy activated his ability and lifted up the ceiling chunk and throw it to the side.

Tommy began to pay attention to his senses. He felt light-headed and weak. He felt as if he was on the verge of passing out again. The room was filled with smoke and there was rapidly spreading fire filling the place. People were screaming out of pain, fear, and for help. 

Tommy noticed heroes and vigilantes alike trying to help people and fight off the eggpire. Tommy sat up to get a better view of everything, still unable to move his feet. 

Tommy sniffed the air, noticing a metallic smell in the place.

People were bleeding. People were dying. People were getting massacred. 

Tommy, now fully awake but still light-headed and weak was now noticing that he was surrounded by dead bodies and dying people. People around him were getting taken by the eggpire minions, but there wasn't a thing he could do when he could barely move. 

Somewhere far from him, he could hear a sword falling on the ground and people grieving. Tommy activated his ability again to help him stand. Using his abilities, Tommy walked around and saw Enderman and goat hybrids getting captured and put to sleep with weird-looking masks. 

"Tubbo... RANBOO!" Tommy cried out. He ran over to them very shakily as his ability seemed to flicker as he used it. It was working, would grow weak, then grow strong again.

The eggpire minions glanced at him as they threw Tubbo and Ranboo over their shoulders. "TUBBO!! LET THEM GO!!" Tommy screamed at them. Tommy tried wrestling his friends from their grasp, forgetting everything about trying to hide their identities. 

"PLEASE!! LET THEM GO!!!!" Tommy activated his abilities to try and force them out of the minion's grasp. Before he could do anything, another minion picked up Tommy and threw him to the side, making Tommy hit his head against one of the tables. And hard.

Tommy felt weak again. He heard someone calling his name. Then two people.

That's odd.

He liked this feeling.

It wasn't hot anymore. Nor was it cold anymore.

He couldn't feel anything really.

This was nice.