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Tommy could seriously not be late this time. He’d been late to work two times this year already and Dream had made it very clear in the past that he would not tolerate tardiness, under any circumstance. Being late again could very well mean that he’d lose this job and he certainly couldn’t afford that. With his powerset and the fact that he only got a high school degree, he’d be forever doomed to work as a waitress or a gas stop cashier. He’ll never get this chance again.
You see, Tommy’s power was kind of shitty, basically useless, though he’d never admit that himself. Other people (for some fucking reason) thought that the usefulness of his power determined his worth as a person. He thought that was all bullshit of course, but it did mean that no one wanted to hire him no matter how qualified he was, so he seriously could not be late.
Tommy was currently working as an intern for the Hero Tower™. It was still kind of a shitty job, having to run around all day doing menial tasks for ungrateful and spoiled heroes, but it paid better than basically any other job he could’ve gotten. Plus if he performs well he’ll get a promotion to secretary or something like that. Tommy had wanted to take the bus to work this morning because it was just absolutely pissing it down outside today and he didn’t want to have to work through the day while being soaked to the bone.
That plan was thrown out the window though when he arrived at the bus station just to see that no buses were driving due to flooding. So he ended up renting one of those shitty bikes and was now riding on the bicycle as if his life depended on it. By some miracle, he luckily did end up making it on time, but of course, he was soaking wet now. Just to stumble onto quite a surprise when he entered the building. Normally the lobby would be filled with people and Tommy would be immediately overwhelmed by requests and questions, but today it was strangely empty.
He got himself checked in and then went on to investigate where everyone had gone. Right when he stepped into the elevator to go to the first floor though, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. “Where the hell have you been Thomas.” Dream was there standing behind him. He had his smiley mask on, as he always did. Seriously Tommy wasn’t even sure if his own mother had seen his face, fucker was probably born with that mask on. He was wearing his signature green hoodie and knee pads plus elbow pads. A 10 was floating above his head.
“Uh-, I just got checked in and was wondering where everyone went. I was on time though!” He tried defending himself. “You are lucky I’ve been having a good day Tom. Everyone is currently on the first floor greeting our newest employee William Soot. He will be our new head of social media, hopefully, he’ll be able to paint the tower in a better light and give us some of our old sponsors back.”
Things made a lot more sense now, the tower had recently been in some hot waters with the media because of their pretty open discrimination against no-powered people and people with powers like his. To the point where he’s pretty sure the only reason that he got hired was as a diversity hire, scratch that, he was sure that was the only reason. He couldn’t complain though, he needed to be able to pay his rent. Nevertheless, because of the media’s criticism the tower had lost some of their biggest sponsors, and although they don’t care for what the average person thinks of the tower, they do care about money a lot, hence new social media guy.
Him and Dream ended up taking the elevator together to go meet the new hire. When they got to the first floor they saw a big group of people standing around. He saw a few of his coworkers in the group indicated by the 3s and 4s floating above their heads. There were even a few heroes in the group signified by the 9s and 10s above their heads.
“Friends, maybe we should take a step back and let the new guy breathe a bit, ye?” Dream called out. Everyone slowly dispersed. “Thank you for saving me Dream, though I am grateful for this warm welcome, it was definitely a bit overwhelming.” William said once everyone was gone.
Tommy’s breath hitched and his mouth fell open once he saw the number that was floating above William’s head. He had never seen an individual with that high of a score before. Somehow this new guy was stronger than the top hero standing beside him. How the hell did this guy get an eleven?!
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” William asked Tommy who was completely frozen at that point. Tommy tried blinking hard a few times to see if the number would disappear, but there it stood unwaveringly. “I, uhh, who-, wha-, what the fuck?” Tommy muttered as a response.
Dream laid his hand on Tommy's shoulder again and squeezed it, hard. That would definitely form a bruise, stupid heroes with their stupid super strength. “Excuse Tommy here, I don’t think he’s fully awake yet. I’m sure he just meant to welcome you into the tower, I’m certain you’ll do a wonderful job.” Dream said while side-eying Tommy angrily.
The blonde was not looking forward to the reprimand he’d be getting because of this. Regardless, there were bigger issues at hand now, like that number above his head. Tommy couldn’t believe that someone with that high of a score could be just a social media hire. He had to have an incredibly good power and at least some combat training, which made him wonder what the fuck he was doing as a social media hire for the tower. Someone with a power like his could get some very well-paying jobs easily and yet he’s doing this? Something smells fishy here. He needed to inform Dream about this, maybe even some other heroes.
After Dream made some more conversation with William, he started to lead Tommy back to his office at the very top of the tower. Once there the top hero immediately started reprimanding him. “What the hell Tommy, first you come in late-“ “I was on time!” Dream took a step forward and backed Tommy into the wall. If he hadn’t been wearing his stupid smiley mask, his face would probably be completely red out of rage.
“Shut up Tommy! Gods you never know when to shut your goddamn mouth, you fucking brat. You are so lucky Puffy likes you because otherwise, I’d have fired you twice over already. Why were you even acting like that towards William, embarrassing me like that.” “I wanted to talk to you about that actually-“ Tommy trailed off when he saw that Dream seemed to get even madder.
“That was a rhetorical question! I don’t need to hear your excuses. As my intern, you need to be perfect Tommy.” Technically Tommy wasn’t solely his intern, but he wasn’t going to argue about that with Dream. Not when he was like this. “I’m really disappointed in you, I want you to stay behind for an hour today and come in an hour early tomorrow to make up for this mistake, and if you’re even a second late, not even Puffy will stop me from firing you. Am I clear!” Dream yelled into his face causing Tommy to flinch back “Yes sir. I understand.” Dream took a deep breath and walked away from Tommy. He grabbed a stack of papers and shoved it into Tommy’s hands.
“Go bring these documents to Quackity. You’re dismissed, Tommy. Go make yourself be useful, for once.” Tommy didn’t need to be told twice and got out of the office immediately. He closed the door behind him softly, as to not anger Dream any further and then slid down the wall next to it. He laid the stack of paper on the ground beside him, put his knees up to his chest and started doing breathing exercises to stop himself from hyperventilating, or worse, crying.
He hated when Dream got like this. It made him want to quit so bad sometimes. He might act like he’s the biggest man, but sometimes Dream’s words do get to him. He’s lucky not all the heroes treat him like that or he didn’t know if he’d be able to keep this job. He thinks Dream gets a kick out of it anytime Tommy actually gets scared of him. That might just be the real reason Dream hasn’t fired him yet. Regardless Tommy wasn’t going to quit on his own accord, because he feels like that would just be giving Dream what he wants.
After he felt like he was appropriately calmed down and because he was scared of Dream coming out of his office to see him on the floor, he got up and made his way toward the elevator. He took the elevator to the second floor, so he could drop the documents off at Quackity’s office. Maybe Quackity would actually listen to him about the tower’s new resident weirdo.
He entered Quackity’s office without knocking on the door. When he first met the guy he expected him to be uptight and boring, considering he was not only very respected at the tower, but he also founded an entire gambling empire. Turns out the guy was surprisingly quite laid back and really, really funny. After the first meeting, he immediately told Tommy to drop the sir and that he never needed to knock to be allowed into his office.
“Eyy man, how have you been Thomas?” Quackity greeted Tommy enthusiastically. He was wearing a black and red suit and boredly flipping a Las Nevadas coin up and down. He had a big 5 above his head. “I’ve been fine, Dream’s still a bitch of course.” Tommy said while putting the stack of paper on Quackity’s desk. “Ah yes, I understand. I never understood why they let that guy become a hero.”
“Anyways, have you met the new guy, Will-i-am or something?” Tommy asked Quackity. “I have, yes. He’s interesting don’t you think? I personally believe he could bring on a greater era for the tower.” He answered. “Well, I think he’s weird as shit. Did you know that he has a score of eleven? Eleven!? I might be a very big man Quackity, but even I can admit that the guy is insanely strong. I don’t know, I think there’s something weird going on. I tried telling Dream about him, but well, you know how he is.” Quackity nodded his head in agreement. “Hmm, now that you mention it, maybe there might be something wrong with the guy, I mean his fashion sense definitely leaves something to be desired.”
“Yes! He practically looks homeless, you get me, man. Well, I’m gonna go and investigate him. To make sure that he isn’t secretly a wrongun.” Tommy said determinately. “I think that’s a good idea! At least someone has to make sure that no villains can infiltrate this fine establishment.” He said while laughing. “If you’re going downstairs anyway could you go grab me a coffee, no milk, one sugar, please?” Quackity told Tommy “Fine, one coffee coming right up!” Tommy said while leaving the office. Once he left he could hear cackling laughter coming from inside the office. Quackity must have read something funny in those documents Tommy brought him.
Tommy took the elevator down to the first floor and immediately beelined towards William’s desk. He slammed his hands down hard on top of it, smirking as he saw the guy flinch. “Hello, Will-i-am! I feel like we got off on the wrong foot so I wanted to reintroduce myself. I am the great Tommy Danger Kraken Innit and I am the tower’s resident intern, if you need anything, please don’t come to me.” He decided to use a fake name so if this guy does turn out to be a wrongun he’ll be a bit more safe. “Seems like the child has woken up a bit, though my name is actually pronounced William, not Will-i-am.” William responded slyly. “How dare you call me a child, you massive dickhead! I am the biggest man!” Tommy yelled back.
At this point, some of the other people working in the office were throwing the pair some angry side-eyes. Tommy immediately hunched down a bit and muttered an apology. “Oh I am very sorry, big man, I did not intent to offend you.” William placated Tommy “Yes you better not call me something as awful and offensive as a child again. Anyway, it is nice to meet you, William.” Tommy stuck his hand out for William to shake. William shook his hand and responded in kind. “Nice to meet you too, Tommy Danger Kraken Innit.” Tommy nodded his head and left, because he did need to do some work today.
Tommy had to admit that on first impression there didn’t seem to be anything suspicious about the guy. He honestly comes across as quite trustworthy, but that didn’t prove anything except for the fact that he could act well. He does look like a theatre kid.
He then remembered he still needed to get Quackity’s coffee. So he headed towards the coffee machine and made Quackity’s coffee. After that, he went back up to quackity’s office. “Hey big Q, here’s your coffee order.” Tommy said while putting the cup down on Quackity’s desk. “Gracias Tomás! Have you been able to find anything out about that guy William?” He asked the blonde. “Nothing except that he’s a massive bitch! He called me a child Quackity, how dare he!” Quackity cackled at that. “Oh what an asshole, you are right Tommy, maybe he is a wrongun. Tell you what, maybe after you’re done for today you could go and visit Sam. He could do a background check on the guy and I’m sure if there was anything wrong with it, he’d be able to figure it out.” Quackity told Tommy. “You’re right, thanks for the help, big Q. I’m going to go see if I’m needed somewhere else. See you around!” Tommy said while turning around. “Bye, Tommy! Please keep me updated on him, I’m very interested in where this investigation will lead you.”