"Okay, Dream, what do you sug-"
"Arrest them." Dream said without hesitation.
Sapnap wanted to rip his head off of his shoulders.
"Dream, I didn't even get to finish…" Bad mumbled quietly.
"I don't care, Bad. We need to be focusing on Syndicate." Dream rolled his eyes.
"Dream, this is serious! We can't just arrest Puffy." Bad sighed.
That got Dreams' attention.
"Wait, what? What about Puffy?" Dream asked, staring Bad in the eye, who wasn't very amused.
"Weren't you even listening? Dream, this is serious! We've gotten a tip off about how the Captain could be in cahoots with the Syndicate." Bad explained.
It made Sapnaps blood boil.
The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.
Puffy, interacting with the Syndicate, possibly tipping them off.
Dream, who only gives a shit about his job when he has a possible moment to murder a man.
Mother and son, at least one of them seemed to care about their job.
To some degree.
"Come on, Puffy's been here longer than all of us. She wouldn't just betray the commission." George scoffed a bit, he wasn't listening either.
"Dream, Do you care if I explain?" Bad mumbled softly.
Dream looked a bit confused.
"I guess?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Well, Puffys been in mourning. I don't know how much Dream's shared with the two of you, but…" Bad trailed off, trying to find the right words.
"Oh right, about my brother going missing? I kinda forgot about that." Dream mumbled.
If it weren't for Bad grabbing Sapnaps wrist under the table, Sapnap would've pounced.
"Puffy's not been receiving anything for the fact he's missing. She's not getting any remote access to his case file, no time off. It's been so long the teams are looking for a corpse now." Bad explained.
Dream looked bored.
Sapnap couldn't believe he had the audacity to look bored at the topic of his own brother possibly being dead-
Sapnap doesn't even blame Puffy for going to the Syndicate; at least they'd actually do something!
"I'm- I'll investigate this myself. I'm gonna go talk to Puffy." Sapnap said.
"We have a job later, don't forget." George reminded, messing with some gadget in his hand.
Sapnap stormed out of the room.
Had he been in that room a moment more with Dream, he might have actually pulled his spine out of his ass.
He doesn't know how Bad does it.
He was actually going to talk to Puffy. He's the one in charge of the police department, Dream gave him the quote-un-quote, 'boring job'.
He found her quickly, she was sorting out paperwork in the break room.
"A bit contradicting, you know. Working in the break room." He broke, smiling at Puffys humorless laugh.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a workaholic, blah, blah." She huffed with a tired smirk.
"I wanted to talk to you." Sapnap started, Puffy looked up from her work.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Well, before I start, I'm- I'm so sorry for your loss." Sapnap took a deep breath.
"About Foolish? Sapnap, it's been a whole year." Puffy mumbled, looking back down to her paperwork.
"I just now heard about it. From Bad. Puffy, really, I had no idea. I was never told about an investigation." Sapnap frowned.
"Sap- It's okay, really, the police are working-"
"No, you don't understand. I'm the head of the police department. Dream gave me that job two years ago. I never heard anything from anyone about a missing person named Foolish." Sapnap explained.
Puffy didn't look surprised.
"Dream never told you." She stated, she didn't seem to be looking for confirmation, but Sapnap nodded anyway.
"I didn't hear anything. Puffy, had I known sooner I would have actually made them do something. I'm…I'm so sor-"
"Dream killed him." She interrupted.
Sapnap felt like he had whiplash at the sudden change.
"...What?" Sapnap whispered.
"Sapnap, you have to believe me. Dream killed his brother. He's using his status to get away with it." Puffy hissed, seething as she stood up and walked to the coffee pot.
"Puffy…" Sapnap mumbled.
"I don't have any proof, but I know he did, Nick you have to bel-"
"Puffy, calm down. Really. I do believe you. I've been around Dream longer than most, I do believe you." Sapnap interrupted.
"Even without proof?" She whispered.
"We can't exactly do anything without evidence, but- with how he was acting during that meeting." Sapnap took a deep breath. "I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to do with it."
"Thank you- Thank you! You're the first person who hasn't called me a psychopath for blaming my son." Puffys shoulders shook, she was clutching the styrofoam cup filled with coffee.
"I know what he's like. It isn't pretty, you're in the right to be suspicious. But we need evidence." Sapnap mumbled.
"I'm working on it. I'm-"
"Working with the Syndicate. Exchanging information in exchange for someone who will actually do something to help." Sapnap finished.
Puffy turned slowly.
"That's what the meeting was about?" Puffy asked, trying to act as nonchalant as possible.
"It was. Dream immediately suggested we arrest you. Bad was trying to defend you, saying the hero's agency hasn't been doing anything to help you, nor the police." Sapnap explained, watching her face closely.
"...Your stance?" Puffy asked, staring blankly.
"I'm willing to help you. I'd prefer if you didn't involve the Syndicate, but I understand if less than legal actions can bring you peace of mind." Sapnap explained.
Puffys blinked.
"You don't care." Puffy said simply.
"I'm not the one risking my job and reputation, and possible time in prison. But, I understand To some degree. I wanna help, I'm not going to work with the Syndicate- but, I'll help in any way I can." Sapnap frowned.
"Hellflame, I'm starting to think only you and Bad are the only hero's who genuinely care about people. Thank you." Puffy mumbled.
"It's why we became heroes. To help. Puffy, I won't say anything about knowing you're with the Syndicate. Just- Tell me if you need anything. I'll go look for the case file and see what's going on, alright?" Sapnap explained. Puffy nodded.
"Thank you, Sapnap." Puffy smiled softly.
Sapnap gave a smile back before leaving the room.
"Remember to delete the security camera footage in there." Sapnap explained.
"I won't." Puffy said.
—-------
"Mornin' Tommy!" Tubbo chirped out.
"Mornin." Tommy yawned, stretching as he walked out of his bedroom.
"Good morning, Tommy. Uh, he's eating your wheat thins." Ranboo chuckled.
"Ah, well. They're poggers, I'm not gonna lie." Tommy shrugged.
"What's 'poggers'?" Ranboo asked, looking at Tommy.
"The fuckin' best. Wheat thins are poggers." Tommy smirked, Tubbo snorted.
"Damn right these things are poggers." Tubbo fisted the air, cheering loudly.
"Alright, alright, chill out. It is like 8 a.m, you both." Tommy waved his hands dramatically.
(Author 2 spelt AM as aiam, got mad when author 1 pointed it out. AUTHOR 1 IS A BITCH WHO KEEPS ADDING THINGS AND BLAMING IT ON ME)
"I didn't say anything-"
"Hush, tall man. You're truly the most obnoxious of us." Tubbo rolled his eyes.
"I don't know why I bother." Ranboo shook his head.
"Because you looooove me?" Tubbo pouted.
He was still chilling on the floor in a makeshift sleeping palette.
"We've known Tommy for hardly a little while, 'Bo." Ranboo chuckled.
(Argument over petting someone's hair *eye roll*)
"And we stumbled into his apartment at 6 o'clock in the evening bleeding out. I think we're past the stranger stage, Boo." Tubbo snorted.
"I guess that's fair." Ranboo sighed a bit.
"You good on those wheat thins, Tubbo?" Tommy asked from the kitchen.
"Yep, boss man!" Tubbo called back, snatching the remote from Ranboo and switching it over to the news channel.
"You want anything, boob boy?" Tommy called.
"I'm fine, thanks!" Ranboo called back.
"Got it." Tommy said as he came back in with a pop tart. "We can get coffee at the cafe."
"Sweet." Tubbo hummed.
—-------
"We're waiting on one more thing from Traitor. Then we can launch the attack." Death explained, the second and hopefully last meeting regarding this damn mission.
"Where's Siren?" Agrona asked, motioning to the empty seat.
"Who knows, it's most likely that cafe." Bellator hummed. "He's a bit obsessed with the barista there."
A bit of irony there, but if Bellator made of something, it's irony.
"Siren is crucial to the plan, isn't he? He needs to know what's going on." Andras explained, scribbling on a piece of paper.
He was supposed to be taking notes, but Bellator didn't particularly care.
"Death, let's put off the raid for a few days, even after the Traitor delivers, if she delivers." Bellator frowned.
"Care to explain why?" Death asked, turning towards him.
"You said you wanted me to explain my gut feeling a few meetings ago. When things first started going wrong. I'm gonna do a bit more research around the area." Bellator explained, taking a deep breath.
"Okay, Bell. You do what you need to." Death gave a confused hum.
"You don't think Traitors the mole, do you?" Agrona asked.
"I doubt it. She's pretty desperate to be working with us, I don't think she'd turn around and betray us after our contract." Death explained.
"Plus, she doesn't know what we're planning, she's not a member of the Syndicate. All she knows is we need the heroes' patrol schedules." Bellator pointed out.
"We have her under our beck and call. She's going to do anything and everything she can to stay on our good side." Death nodded softly.
"Anything, huh?" Bellator pursed his lips.
"What is she even wanting the Syndicate for? She's a pretty high ranking hero, right?" Andras asked.
"The hero ranks are for publicity. They also understand she's getting older and can't perform as well as she used to. The agency's focus is on Dream." Death explained.
"Hence why the government sucks. She was a nice woman who's been completely fucked over because she'll be in a casket in a few years." Bellator sneered.
"Bellator." Death hissed.
"What? I'm right Phil. You know as well as I do the commission only cares if you're useful. You remember how we adopted Wilbur, don't you?" Bellator glared.
That certainly shut Death up.
"Alright." Death sighed, "I think we'll leave this here, dismissed." He nods to Agrona and Andras as they leave.
"Sorry, Phil." Techno mumbled.
"It's alright. I get it." Phil sighed tiredly.
"Set up a meeting with the Traitor. I have to do one more thing before this plays out." Techno explained. Phil nodded.
"I will, Tech. For now, go get some rest." Phil ordered.
Techno was too tired to care at the moment, nodding absently.
__________________________________