Chapter Text
Tommy’s day was perfectly normal.
As always.
But it wasn’t, he’s lying to you.
He did, however, start his day behind Niki’s Bakery, as always, wedged between two bins for warmth and a little bit of protection from the mizzling rain.
The only indication of the time was the large clock on the town hall, reading 2:38am, that could be seen over the brick wall that closed in the back street he was in.
Huh, very early, he thinks, and starts to process his surroundings, looking for a reason for his sudden disturbance.
Sure, it was a little cold, but he wasn’t shivering as much as usual since Niki gave him a blanket. One that she insisted he take and locked him outside with it when he tried to say he didn’t need it. He always refuses to go in, he doesn’t want to cause any more problems for the kind-hearted woman. He is enough of a problem when he makes her jump when she takes her rubbish out, albeit that the mini heart attacks are more often replaced by warm smiles nowadays.
The moment Tommy realised he had an unconscious visitor laying over his bins, he was out like a shot. Who was this man? He scrambled back against the other side alley wall. Glancing up, he could see Niki’s kitchen light turn on. Great. Now he’d disturbed her.
The man on the bins groaned and shifted slightly, then gasped and fell still just as quickly. It quickly became apparent who Tommy was looking at, with the messy brown curls and the top half of his face obscured by a black mask with yellow detailing. The long black trench coat and black turtleneck, matched with cargo pants and yellow embroidery. His mouth hung open just slightly, taking in pained breaths that sounded much more like wheezing.
This was Siren. This was a member of The Syndicate. A founding member, no less. One of the most feared villains in the city.
One of the most feared villains in the city. Oh fuck. Oh shit. Oh Prime. Oh no. OH MY-
“Tommy?”
He snapped his head towards the door of Niki’s cafe. There she stood in her pink silky night robe, looking at him with concern etched into her face.
“Niki, go back inside, it’s-”
He couldn’t finish his sentence before Niki was looking over at the heap of black fabric on the bins. Now that he looked closer, Tommy could see the slashes and cuts in the cloth, the blood seeping out of wounds at a rapid rate, and the paleness of his skin that was visible under the mask and his eyes finally rolling to the back of his head as he lost consciousness.
“Oh Prime, Wi-” Niki cut herself off and glanced at Tommy.
“It’s Siren,” He stated matter-of-factly, like she couldn’t see that herself. Everyone in the city knew that trench coat and saffron embroidery.
“I know,” she said, darkly. Her whole demeanour changed, and she looked at him with a strange sense of urgency. “Now, you can either leave right now and never come back here, Tommy. You don’t need to know what I’m going to do, or how many laws I’m going to break. Or you can stay, and help, put yourself at risk. You may gain a lot but it’s the biggest risk you will ever take.”
Tommy was perplexed. What the fuck did she mean, break laws? Help? Biggest risk?
Gain a lot, the greedy voice at the back of head whispered.
What could he gain from this? Why was it going to break laws and therefore question his morality?
Why has everything changed so quickly?
Why has everything started so suddenly?
Why was he curious enough to consider helping?
Helping with what?
“Helping with what?” he tried, “What are you going to do?”
“My job,” she simply replied, “if I tell you, and then you leave, I’m going to lose everything if you tell someone. The moment you help, you can’t tell anyone because I’ll drag you down with me. Now, are you going to help, or not, because Siren will bleed out in the next, ten minutes,”
“What do you need me to do?”
-
Turns out, carrying a 6”6 man into Niki’s apartment upstairs was much harder than Tommy had expected.
Although, Niki was stronger than he had expected. He’d never seen this side of her, serious and slightly scary. He only knew bright smiles and warm pastries every other morning when she sat with him for half an hour or so before the cafe opened up. He knew she lived above it, but he didn’t realise how many steps there were to her “laundry room” or how cramped the back rooms and corridors were.
They went in - Niki carrying Siren’s shoulders and head, Tommy taking his legs - through the side door that led straight to the kitchen. It had typical black and white glossy tiles and standard silver appliances, mainly ovens, breadmakers and dishwashers, all the drinks were made behind the counter. Crossing the room to the door on the other side, Niki kicked it open from behind her and continued walking.
“Don’t worry about the door Tommy, I’ll get it in a minute,” she said, sounding completely fine, in comparison to Tommy’s ragged breathing - they weren’t even at the stairs yet.
The back room was just full of cupboards bursting with ingredients for sweet treats and cleaning supplies for sticky tables after a kid spills their fruit shoot. Straight over, were the stairs, and the two rushed over, trying not to sway the man too much.
Climbing the stairs felt like forever, and Niki started to struggle. They pushed through, and Niki dived into her laundry room before Tommy could look around the rest of her apartment.
The stench of chemicals and sanitizers hit them as they walked in, but Niki wasn’t hanging around. She guided Tommy to bring Siren over to a bed that was pressed against the far wall, and she headed to a cupboard behind the door. The walls were a sharp white with no decor, only a thin countertop across the wall at the foot of the bed. Metal cupboards hid behind the door discreetly, and as Niki held the door open, he could see medical supplies lining the shelves.
Siren started to shift. Whines escaped his lips as he did, but he was regaining consciousness, and Niki spun around, now donning blue gloves and holding antiseptic.
“Tommy, can you close and lock the doors downstairs, make sure nobody saw us or followed us in. Lock this door when you come back, I may need your help to hold him down,” she said, robotically, eyes fixed on the wheeled stool she was dragging out from under the wooden counter that he hadn’t noticed yet.
He nodded stiffly, and ran back downstairs, despite having only just regained his breath. WIth a quick glance around outside, the door was shut and locked. Checking the kitchen, the door was shut and locked. He walked backwards back up the stairs for good measure and with a quick sweep around the flat, he fell into the laundry room.
Could he even call it that? It didn’t look like much laundry was done there, although he may not have much experience with laundry, considering he’s been on the streets for so long, and never having a house of his own.
He digresses.
As he locked the door, he was confronted with hoarse screaming and Siren thrashing about on the bed, trying to knock Niki’s gentle hand away, that was holding antiseptic.
“Tommy, could you please hold him? I need to clean these wounds before I heal them, and he’s still bleeding out. He’s not that bad, I promise, he’s just delirious from blood loss,” Niki was back to her tender calmness as she looked at Tommy, pleading.
“I could make him sleep, if you’d like,” Tommy starts, a little apprehensive, as she looked at him confused. “It’s my power, or at least part of it,”
A flash of relief washed over Niki’s face, “yes, please, that would be so helpful,” she murmured.
Tommy stepped closer, and Niki pushed herself backwards on the stool from where she had been leaning over him. Siren’s eyes shot to him, filled with panic and he tried to push Tommy back. Tommy just grabbed his hand as it came towards him, and squeezed it lightly.
Siren’s head fell back against the grey pillow and his hand fell limp at his side.
Niki looked at him and nodded, and continued her work with the antiseptic.
“I didn’t know you had a power Tommy,” she started, “but I suppose you don’t know much about me either.”
“Well I didn’t think my power would be beneficial. My power works on other people, and doesn’t benefit me. When you don’t have anyone around, you lose the need to use it, and then don’t feel obligated to mention it, because the few people who you do talk to may not stick around long enough to remember your name,” he responded, “I don’t expect you to tell me much about yourself, you do enough for me, letting me sit by the wall outside.”
“Tommy, that is barely anything. I hardly do anything for you and it makes me feel so incredibly guilty,” she said, “so please, this once, let me do something for you. Let me tell you what’s going on. In this situation, it’s the least I can do.”
At that moment, Siren’s face scrunched up in pain as Niki continued to clean his wounds.
“Hold on, Niki just let me-” Tommy started, as he reached forward and placed his hand in Siren’s hair. He screwed his eyes shut and let himself slip into Siren’s mind.
Tommy only knew he could do this because he did it for his younger foster sister, when he still had a family. She was six, Tommy was thirteen. Clementine had bad dreams a lot and then she would be scared to go to sleep. Tommy could hear her through the wall, trying not to cry too loudly in case she woke anyone up, but Tommy would be awake anyway, listening for her, making sure she was okay. He would quietly slip out of bed and go to find her, kneeling beside her bed and giving her a hug, soothing her crying. Eventually, Tommy would send her back off to sleep, but would lay her down and adjust her dreams.
No monsters under the bed or in her wardrobe, just laying in a boat on a lake, looking at the stars, and Tommy right next to her.
Those were always her favourite ones, she loved water, loved stars, and she loved Tommy. It was always Tommy’s favourite thing, to see her stomping down the stairs the next morning, sleep still in her eyes and she wrapped him up in a hug before he’d head off to school.
“Thank you TomTom” she whispered, every time.
Now, as he scanned through Siren’s mind, he could just feel the pain of everything. And fuck, it hurt. So Tommy delved a bit deeper, looking for something, anything.
Eventually, he found his favourite colours, yellow and purple. This. He can work with this.
Twisting up a calming landscape, Tommy placed Siren’s mind in a lavender and sunflower field, and hoped this was enough to take away the pain for a little while.
Looking back at Niki, she finished up her cleaning and put away the antiseptic. She put everything in the bin and took off her gloves and looked back at him.
“Now for the important bit,” she muttered.
Carefully over each wound, Niki tapped her fingers over Siren’s skin, and a green thread appeared to weave through each cut, bringing it together and sealing it, as though the injury had never occurred at all. She did this for all of them, until none remained. All that was left were a few broken ribs, which Niki turned to next.
She dragged her hand across the broken bone, and it started to glow green beneath his skin. She did this for them all, then she turned to Tommy.
“This is going to hurt like a bitch, so he’ll probably scream,”
And that was all the warning he got before the bones in his chest snapped back together with a sickening crunch, and Siren wailed as tears started falling from beneath his mask.
And like that, it was done, and Niki sat back on her stool looking drained and weak.
“He’s not in any more pain, don’t worry,” Niki said, casting her eyes over Siren’s limp body, making sure she hadn’t missed anything, “are you able to wake him up or does it just wear off after a while?”
“Would you like me to wake him up?”
Niki nodded, so Tommy turned to Siren and took a breath.
He just knocked out one of the most dangerous people in the whole city.
Siren could kill him. Would he? Niki didn’t seem worried.
But maybe she’s just thankful she doesn’t have to put up with a charity case sitting outside her door, a voice that sounded suspiciously like one of his old foster parents whispered in his mind. He quickly pushed that thought away though.
Tommy reached out and placed his hand on Siren’s cheek, still somewhat covered by the mask and stained with tears. His eyes fluttered open, and he blinked slowly a few times, getting his bearings.
He seemed docile like this, nothing like the villain on the news, who had killed over and over over again, seemingly for the fun of it. He was calm, almost peaceful.
And suddenly very, very angry.
“Who the fuck are you?” He glared, staring Tommy down and slowly rising form the bed he was laying on.
“Siren, calm down. He did me a favour,” Niki piped up from across the room.
She seemed unbothered by his aggressive tone, did she know him? Has she met Siren before? Does she know him as a civilian?
Siren’s head shot over to look at her, and he visibly relaxed.
“He helped me, Siren, you should be thanking him. He kept you still and out of most of the pain. Now, it’s my turn to ask the questions, considering you gave us both quite the scare,” she said, shooting him a knowing look.
To Tommy’s surprise, Siren turned almost sheepish, and looked to her almost apologetically. Almost.
“Why are you here? You know I don’t do this kind of thing anymore. Your father almost got me caught before, do you remember? This was so incredibly dangerous. I know I said I’d help in emergencies, that’s why all this is here, but I would have appreciated some warning, Siren,”
“I’m sorry, Niki, I just didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t find the cafe but I must’ve got close, right? As soon as you say I’m done, I can go, I swear,”
Well now Tommy was confused. He looked between the two of them bewildered, and very confused. Niki has done this before? Multiple times? Who is Siren’s father? Is it another member of the Syndicate?
Niki looked over at him and smiled wearily.
“No, you’re both staying up here tonight. Tommy, you can take the guest bed, Siren you can take my room, it has the on-suite so you don't need to risk Tommy seeing you without your mask. The payment for this, Siren, will be giving Tommy the information he’s lacking about the situation, am I understood? I think he is owed that much. Now go, have a shower and get into bed, I’ll bring you your honey and camomile tea shortly,” she smiled at him gently despite just ordering one of the most dangerous people in the city to go to bed like a child.
Tommy stood and stared as Siren nodded, and hopped off the bed, silently heading to the door. As he grabbed the handle, he turned back to look at her, mouthed a thank you and walked into the apartment, shrugging off his trench coat as he went.
Dumbfounded, Tommy looked to Niki for an explanation. This had better be good.
Niki sighed and looked at him with a soft smile. “This is going to be one hell of a story, darling so lets go and make some tea, while I figure out where to start.”