Where is Your Rider?

So how can they stand to languish in repose?

Ranboo volunteered to go down to the Pit while Tommy was still recovering. Neither Tubbo or Tommy thought this was a good idea, but it was the only real way that Ranboo could find any leads. He was a total unknown there, not a target for people, easy to blend in despite his tall stature.

So that's why Ranboo was sitting in a corner, nursing the same cup of water he'd gotten at the beginning of the night. There were a few interesting snippets of information, but nothing interesting until a group of three people walked in.

They grabbed drinks and drifted towards the far back, whispering about something. Ranboo rose and carefully tailed them.

"That stint at the warehouse was risky." One of them whispered.

"We nearly got them, that god damn kid got in the way." Another said. Ranboo felt his blood freeze. These were the people who set the explosion. He kept listening to them but their conversation shifted from the explosion.

When they rose to leave, Ranboo followed a minute after. He smiled and waved to the bartender and dipped his head to the security guards as he exited the Pit and the bar and stepped out into the frosty November night.

"So you're the guy who's been tailing us." A familiar voice said.

"What?" Ranboo said, looking around for the voice, eventually spotting the three figures.

"You're not so big, what're you doing hanging around a place like this?" The person, probably a man, said. The two other figures closed off his ways of escape. It was really late out, no one was coming. No one was going. He was alone.

All alone again.

The leader slapped him across the face, glaring. "I asked you a question. Ranboo shrunk down.

"I really don't know what you're talking about." He was shoved to the ground by another one of the figures. The man crouched in front of him, his face on full display. A bold move, probably a sign of his power. Showing one's face around the Pit was dangerous if you had enemies and Ranboo guessed this man had a lot of enemies. A scar crossed from his right cheek, across and up his nose to touch his left eyebrow. Ranboo decided to call him Scarface.

"You were there that night, weren't you little boy?"

Ranboo remained silent, looking down at the hard concrete, not wanting to see that face anymore.

"Answer me!" He roared, a foot connecting with his side. Breath escaped his lips but he remained silent, getting up onto his elbows. Another kick.

"You can get up when I tell you, kid." The man spat. They began to kick him, hurting him and leaving some nasty bruises for Tubbo to deal with. He wished Tubbo wouldn't have to deal with both him and Tommy getting injured.

Why did he decide to go? Ranboo squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ignore it, to block out what was happening. This was a terrible idea, about going to the Pit. He wasn't bold or strong like Tommy, he couldn't fight.

Eventually they would stop and he could go home. Another hard kick to his gut. 

He would go home. A kick to his back. 

He wouldn't have to see these people again.

He would see his friends again, his family again. A steel-toed boot connected to his masked face, breaking his nose.

He just hunkered there, letting them rain blow after blow onto him. Eventually it stopped and they started to shout. Why were they shouting?

Ranboo looked up, blood staining the cloth mask covering the bottom half of his face, bleeding into the black and white fabric. It was Damascus, holding up one of the men by the throat.