Hero Gone Rouge

" I'm sorry Toby, "

The family sat around the dinner table, but the atmosphere was far from cheerful.
Phill and his two sons, Wilbur and Blade, chewed on their food in silence, tension crackling in the air. Finally, Wilbur couldn't take it anymore.

"It's been a week. Any news about what we are doing for Tom?"

Phill shook his head, sighing heavily. "Not yet,"

Blade's fork stabbed into his food with a bit more force than necessary.

"What's taking so long?" Toby replied, looking between them.

Phill sighed as he picked at his food, the atmosphere in the room was tense.

"Why aren't we doing anything more to find him?" Toby demanded

Wilbur huffed, "We've tried everything, What more do you expect us to do?" he snapped.

Phill interjected, "Enough! Both of you... they've taken us off the case."

Silence filled the room.

"What?"

Phill looked down, clenching his fits.
"They've taken us off. They don't believe we should be on the search or party team."

Toby would grimace, confused. "Why?"

No one responded.

"Why do they not want us on? What did you do!?"

Toby would slam his hands on the table before shoving his chair away and returning to his room.

The other three waited for him to leave earshot before hushing in toned voices.

"We need to tell him," Blade nodded at the table. "He's going to find out regardless"

Phill shook his head. "He'll stop us,"

"You sound stupid Blade," Wilbur cut in, "we aren't going to tell a literal child that we're going to be killing his only friend here. He's adopted, tom was the closest thing he had to an 'actual family', we all know he hates the three of us."

Blade stiffened, hearing a small sound from the doorway that the other two seemed to neglect. "That doesn't make it better," Blade stood slowly from the table. "It's the right thing to do, I thought you two at least respected that."

Blade walked away from the two at the table, pulling the kitchen door shut.
At the end of the hallway, Toby's door was slightly ajar.

He moved steadily over, giving it a slight knock before stepping in.

The room fight flickered as Toby sat cross-legged on an old mattress, wires and microphone parts scattered around him like fallen stars. He was soldering a tiny camera to the back of Tom's action figures-a dented, secondhand "Nova Boy" toy they'd found at a yard sale years ago.

Blade appeared in the doorway, arms crossed. "You're still working?"

Toby didn't look up. "It has to be perfect. If they notice it... we'll lose our only chance."

Blade stepped in fully, shitting the door, boots thudding softly on the wooden floor. He picked up another one of Tom's old toys-a worn stuffed raccoon missing an eye-then set it down gently.

"It's weird," he said quietly. "I keep expecting him to walk in here with some dumb joke about how long I take in the shower or how I drank all his milk,"

Toby smiled faintly but kept his eyes on his busy hands.

"You know what's crazier?" Toby whispered. "I miss *fighting* with him... over stupid stuff-like when he'd eat my snacks or draw mustaches on my hero posters..."

Blade let out a low chuckle. Then paused.

"I never really protected him like I should've."

Toby finally looked up, frowning.

"Yeah," Blade said bitterly, kicking at a loose floorboard with his boot tip.
"But not from *them*. From how Wilbur treated him... how Dad barely noticed him unless someone mentioned mom. We all acted like he had to *earn* to be part of this family."

Silence fell between them-not heavy, but full of things never said before now.

"He wasn't weak," Toby murmured defiantly. "He just didn't have flashy powers like us."

"No," Blade agreed softly."But maybe that was kind of brave too... walking into labs every week knowing you'd fail while everyone watched your brothers shine."

They both stared at Tom's little Nova Boy doll-now wired for surveillance-as if it might speak for its owner.

"I hope wherever he is..." Toby whispered,

"He knows we don't think he's useless."

Blade put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder-tight and firm-the kind no mission debriefs or villain files could ever prepare you for:

"He matters more than any power ever could, and so do you..."

Silence fell between them again before Blade turned to leave the room. He paused as he grabbed the handle.

"I won't stop you leaving to see him,"

Toby looked up at him.

"You're apart of this family, you're my brother just as much as tom; but just promise me you'll come see me?"

Toby nodded, "I will"

And with that, Blade walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

.........................

𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜,
𝙽𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚝 Ɛ>

_______

Hi Lovelies!

We're so back!!
Sorry I've been out of commission for so long,
I've recently started up a production and film group called "@BobCat_Productions7",
you can find some of our work on Instagram, tiktok and Facebook!

As well as this, you can check out my own YouTube channel where I'll be posting my own videos and my work with bobcat!
https://youtu.be/2mR8sF3k3-U?si=XTT8lGg3d45AFg1q

Have a lovely day/night!