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He stumbled back, blood on his hands— blood everywhere. There wasn’t supposed to be blood, why was there blood?
Techno stared at the young hero, looking all but catatonic where he sat on the cold concrete as blood reached towards his knees. He hadn’t been looking for a fight, was by all accounts “off duty” in whatever way a criminal could be off duty, and the desire to turn on his heel and ignore the years of therapy that was gonna be in this hero’s future was pretty prevalent.
But the scene was familiar, painfully so, and it was all Techno could do not to take the hero (what was his name again?) back to Phil so the man could do what he did best. Techno wasn’t Phil, not at all capable of being gentle without feeling like an anxious bull in a china shop.
Techno’s not supposed to kill anyone with his powers, he’s supposed to save them. Why are they dead, they’re not supposed to be dead!
“Kid?” he speaks up, every nerve in his body lighting up at the broken silence. The hero— damn it, what’s his name?— doesn’t respond, not even a twitch to indicate he’d heard him. His lack of response did nothing to ease Techno’s anxiety. There’s a moment where he considered backing out, maybe he would call Phil and have him handle this instead but… When Techno takes a closer look, the kid’s got tears he isn’t acknowledging and Techno has to curse his bleeding heart.
The blood has reached the kid’s knees, but Techno doesn’t pay it any mind as he approaches and lowers himself. Carefully, like he’s afraid contact will break the hero (because he is, Techno remembers how fragile he felt when he first dealt with someone’s death), Techno reaches out and places his palm to the kid’s back.
The hero jolts, head whipping toward Techno so fast he winces in sympathy at the ache that’ll surely settle in the kid’s neck. It’s only when Techno got a decent look at the hero’s face that he finally recognized him.
Theseus. Tommy. One of the stupid few heroes that decided to fight unmasked and unhidden and who the public loved because he was a teenager showing passion.
Sixteen is too young to have taken a life. Techno’s too fucking young to be dealing with something this heavy, he knows that! He knows there shouldn’t be blood on his hands, why didn’t anyone warn him there might be blood on his hands?
“Hey, easy,” he says, trying to placate the kid before he could work himself into a panic. Techno knew he was recognizable, knew Tommy would immediately recognize him as one of the most headstrong villains the hero industry had to deal with.
“Fuck off!” Tommy lashes out, twisting himself to get away from Techno’s hand. Techno lets him. While Tommy gets his senses back from the blank slate he’d been moments before, Techno remained passive. He even lowered himself to the concrete, getting himself on the same level as the hero.
Minutes passed, and Techno was patient. Happy to let the kid figure out how to move forward with his freak out on his own. He almost regrets that decision when Tommy’s tears pick up, but he doesn’t get the chance to admonish himself much because Tommy throws a glance towards the body slumped against the dingy red brick of the alley.
Theseus’ shoulders tense, hiked up to his ears and his chest stops moving and Techno, who knew intimately what was going through the kid’s head, compares him more to Atlas than Theseus.
“Hey, don’t look at them, that’s not your fault,” he says, prying Theseus’ attention from the body. If looks could kill, Techno would have a real hard time talking this kid down from the grave.
He doesn’t respond though, and Techno watches him to figure out where to go next. Phil had made this look so easy, how did he make this look so easy?
“What happened?” he eventually decides on, pointedly not looking at the body and staring at Tommy. The kid doesn’t make the same decision, the question pushing his eyes towards the corpse.
This was his fault. How was Techno supposed to be a hero when his first try at even being a vigilante he’d killed someone because he didn’t know how to handle his powers? Someone is dead and it’s his fault.
“I— They were getting mugged and I. I dropped in to try and save them but I fuckin’ scared the mugger and they shot them.”
Techno keeps his expression clear of the wince he wanted to make, not wanting to make Tommy spiral more than he already was.
“That sucks,” he says, aware he’s earned the incredulous look from the kid, “it’s not your fault though.”
A silence overwhelmed them at that, Tommy looking between Techno and the body and Techno considering for the first time that maybe being near the dead guy Theseus couldn’t save wasn’t good for helping him recover. He wasn’t really sure he could convince the kid to leave the area though, Techno certainly wouldn’t have.
”Kid, you need to breathe,” the man said, making Techno want to scream because he knows that! He knows he needs to breathe, but that doesn’t make breathing any easier!
“Hey, shh, it’s okay. In through your nose, out through your mouth, slow and easy.” Techno wants to punch this guy, he is trying.
“Is— I dunno, is ice cream still a comfort thing for kids?” Techno asks, once again painfully aware just how out of his depth he is.
Tommy stares at him, then surprises Techno with the shocked laugh that fills the alley. The surprise fades to concern when the laughter started to sound manic, Tommy shoving a bloodied hand through blond hair and staining his curls.
“Okay, so bad suggestion,” Techno starts, brows furrowing, “but you’re looking an awful lot like someone having a panic attack and I want to help.”
“Yeah well, maybe I deserve it,” Tommy snapped suddenly, and Techno sighs. Yeah, he should’ve realized self deprecation was gonna happen.
“You don’t,” he says softly but with so much conviction it takes Tommy off guard, “you don’t deserve to panic, and you don’t deserve tearing yourself up because someone got hurt. How old even are you?”
Tommy paused, staring at Techno with wide eyes before he finally crumples. His hand dropped from his hair, his arms wrapped around his torso and a sob tore itself out of his throat.
Techno hesitated, then pushed himself forward so he could awkwardly wrap his arms around the kid’s shoulders. Tommy, seemingly passed caring about Techno’s villain status, pushed himself into the contact with another sob.
“You’re gonna be okay kid, you’re not a monster,” he says, and Tommy surprises him again by returning the hug. His fingers dug into the fabric of Techno’s shirt, and Techno just starts smoothing his hand back and forth over the kid’s back while he cried.
”Where are we going?” Techno asked, forcing himself to ignore the way he wanted to sniffle or wipe tears from his eyes. The man— Phil, gave him a gentle smile.
“I’m taking you home, you need somewhere to recover from a power mishap, and my wife would love to dote on you.”
Techno went quiet, looking for anything in Phil’s expression that could hint at any unkindness. He didn’t find anything, and started to relax.
“Okay.”
“I’m gonna take you home, kid. You need a shower,” Techno says it like it’s true, but if Tommy pulled away from him after this and refused to be in his company, he wouldn’t stop him.
He just wants to give this young hero a chance to be the teenager he was.