Chapter Text
The fight had gone for what felt like ages now. Hephaestus had been forced into a corner by Spectrum and Sheriff, he couldn’t get close enough to get the shot that would end this, and he couldn’t hurt Sheriff badly enough to free up the space needed to get the shot. Just one hit, just one, and all this could be over.
“Come on out, Hephaestus!~ We’re all growing tired of this silly chase.”
“Speak for yourself! I’m feeling just fine!” Hephaestus tried to think of a plan, if he ran now he might not get this sort of uninterrupted fight again, meaning he wouldn’t be able to try his idea. If he wanted this to end, he had to play rough with the doll. He got out the small cylindrical device he had made and attached one end of the cord to himself, sincerely hoping it wouldn’t blow him up when he activated it as he hadn’t gotten a chance to test it yet. He moved his arm and the mechanical one moved with it, reaching out past his hiding spot, as soon as it was visible a lasso had been wrapped around it. Hephaestus pulled the hand back causing the lasso to pull Sherrif with it, slamming him into a wall as he yelled out in pain, the next part of this vaguely formed plan was dangerous. Hephaestus abandoned his mechanical arms and ran straight at Spectrum.
“Sherrif! Oh this is your most idiotic choice yet!” Spectrum hissed as the colors around the room began to spiral. As fast as he possibly could Hephaestus attached the other cord to whatever part of Spectrum’s body he could reach and pressed the button. A jolt of electricity ran through the two and the small machine exploded launching them away from each other as the colors dropped back to normal. Luckily the explosion was mostly a shock blast with little fire involved.
“Ah! Ow… well… not dead… there’s that at least…” Hephaestus put a hand on his head, something felt different…
“That’s all you had?” Spectrum began to laugh. “A-an explosion?! A little shock and an explosion?! Haha! And you left your tech behind… this was fun Hephaestus, goodbye.” Spectrum smirked and raised his hand, but that smile quickly dropped when nothing happened. “What? Why didn’t anything- what did you do?!” Spectrum strained but try after try nothing happened. Hephaestus brought his hand in front of him and concentrated, watching as the colors began to warp around it.
“Holy shit… holy shit! It worked?! It-it blew up but it worked?!” Hephaestus laughed, he had Spectrum’s powers and Spectrum had his. Somehow his half-formed plan worked.
“You… it doesn’t matter! You still left your tech behind!”
“That may be true… however, I work out, and I don’t think you do.” Hephaestus walked over and grabbed Spectrum “Not so cocky without your powers, are you? What was it you said to him? “Go ahead and scream for me”? Gonna be honest, I’d rather you just shut up…” The colors behind Hephaestus began to swirl, mostly oranges and green and nowhere near as clean as Spectrum’s were, but that didn’t matter as Spectrum’s eyes quickly began to glow and he went limp.
Hapheustus dropped Spectrum to the ground and once again put a hand to his head “Fuck that stings… how the hell do you deal with this constantly?”
“Had it… all my life… practiced…” Spectrum mumbled as he tried to get back on his feet, but Hepheatus kicked him back down.
“ Get out . Go jump out a window for all I care, but get out of here…” Spectrum didn’t protest at the order beyond briefly trying to not move, but soon he was out the door and getting further away from both of them. Hephaestus turned back to where Sherrif had been and slowly walked back, he hadn’t even realized that slamming him into the wall had knocked him out.
“Oh Jim… I’m so sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner…” he put a hand on Sheriff’s shoulder, only for his eyes to immediately fly open as he grabbed his arm, as tight as he could. “Gah! Jimmy stop !” the colors returned behind Hephaestus and Sheriff dropped limped in his arms, he made a mental note of stress causing power activation before laying Sheriff against his mech arms “fuck fuck fuck… Jim? Jimmy, are you still in there?”
Sherrif groaned and looked at Hephaestus “H… H…. Hhhh…” Hephaestus breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh thank god… it’s ok… you’re gonna be ok… just listen to me for a quick second…” he concentrated and began the swirling colors “ When they wake you up, you won’t remember being Sheriff. Please, please just live a normal life… ” Hephaestus pulled Sherrif into a hug, and the only response he got was a small groan and a nod. He moved Jimmy to the side and brushed his hair out of his face before he reattached his mechanical arms. “ Go ahead and sleep, they’ll be here for you soon. ” Jimmy’s eyes drifted closed and Hephaestus smiled before climbing back up out the window he arrived through and looking back one last time at his old friend. “Please, don’t get involved in this again…”
For Jimmy sleep had become dreamless, in a way everything had. A blur of nothing at all where Spectrum’s voice would occasionally ring out with some sort of order that was forgotten as soon as it was done, if it even stayed that long before being replaced. But now memories were being pulled to the surface, of friends, of family, of pets current and past. Finally, it proved to be enough as Jimmy’s eyes shot open, finally allowed to think again and all he could tell was someone was holding him, and his body hurt. So he headbutted whoever was holding his face and quickly tried to get up, but he was pushed back and held down.
“Get off me! Let me go!” Jimmy struggled against the hands holding him as he kept his eyes tightly shut.
“Jimmy, Jimmy it’s ok! You’re safe! Now please stop moving your back is so messed up!” Jimmy recognized this voice. He slowly opened his eyes to look at the hero in front of him, smiling softly as he relaxed once again.
“H-Hotguy? Where… where am I? What happened?”
“You’re at the hero tower, as for what happened we’re not sure. You went missing over a month ago, and then suddenly we got a weird distorted phone call about a villain hostage situation at an old warehouse but when we got there we didn’t find any villains, just you. You were really out of it… anything you can tell us?”
“No, I… argh… whenever I try to think about what happened my head starts hurting…” Jimmy moved his arms under his head to rest it, flinching slightly as his muscles moved in his very sore and very bruised back that was slowly being healed.
“It’s ok… we’ll find out who did this. As confusing as it is…”
“Why?”
“Well… not only the phone call, but when I started to bring you out usually with mind control situations the power tries to fight back and keep a hold on whatever it has, but your’s just… gave in. Like it wanted you to wake up.” Hotguy explained, Jimmy once again tried to remember what happened but was only met with a pain in his head. “Don’t worry about it, you’re safe now.”
Jimmy smiled at the hero, but it quickly dropped as he heard a voice down the hall yell out the word Timmy. “I’m not gonna be safe much longer-!”
Grian burst through the door into the room “TIM! WHAT THE HELL, MAN?!”
“Hi Grian are my cats ok-” “You can’t just do that! You can’t get kidnapped without warning us!” “I didn’t try to get kidnapped!” it’s like watching children fight.
“Well try harder to not get kidnapped! We were… I was really worried… you were gone a month and none of us knew what happened to you or where you were and I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again…” Grian rubbed his arm as he spoke.
“Well, it’s ok, I’m here now, and- wait did you say I was gone a month?!”
Grian paused and looked at Hotguy “Did you not tell him how long he was gone for?”
“No, I did, it was one of the first things I said.”
“I didn’t register that!”
“That sounds like a you problem Timmy.” Grian joked as he moved to lightly punch his brother, but decided against it upon seeing the glare the healer shot him.
“Are Norman and Flick ok?”
“They’re fine. Me and Scar took them in after not hearing from you for a week and finding your house empty. Jellie seemed pretty ok with the whole situation.” Grian leaned against the wall in place of a chair being present.
“How’s Pearl?”
“She was relieved to hear they found you, I think she went to get some food since a lot of your stuff expired while you were missing. The rest of it we might’ve stolen, and by we I mean me. I stole some of your food.”
“Grian… why…”
“Cause I could and it would’ve gone to waste.”
“Ahem, Mr. Avin, didn’t you bring something for your brother? I’m almost done so he’ll need it soon.” the healer said as they lightly pressed down on Jimmy’s spine making him flinch.
“Right! Yes! I brought you clothes!” Grian went back over to the bag he had dropped when he came into the room and held it up.
“Why would I need-?” Jimmy looked down at his arms, registering the black outfit he had been put in so many times while under that he didn’t realize he was wearing it. “Oh, that’s why.”
“Ok see that’s another thing, why would someone who dresses up their capture like that just give in when fought against? Everything points to the person wanting to keep you around but then just stopped and-” “I think he gets the picture, don’t you have a form to fill out or something?” the healer cut Hotguy off.
“Right! Yes! Uh, finish healing, listen to the healer, get changed, somebody is gonna interview you for anything you might remember, and then you’re clear to go home!” Hotguy yelled as he dashed out the door.
“I’ll be waiting for you out front to drive you home, don’t get into more trouble.” Grian ruffled his brother’s hair and then left the room too. While Jimmy waited for the healer to finish he tried to find anything in his memories from the past month. All he could find was that pain and a few vague sensations like a hand on his shoulder or feeling a loving twisted gaze watching him… feelings weren’t anything, nothing that could track someone down, and who’s to say those feelings weren’t his brain just trying to give him something to link to the last month? No, that month of his life was truly lost, and he wouldn’t be getting it back.
“Hey,” the healer shook Jimmy slightly. “You’re patched up, best as I can patch you up anyway. It’s better but still not great, take it easy, and keep a good posture, it should be back to normal in a few weeks. You can change clothes in the room back there.”
“Oh, uh, thanks.” Jimmy grabbed the bag of clothes and went to the back room, taking off the gloves, the shirt, the pants, everything he had been put in. His hair had gotten longer, he’d have to get it cut at some point. He put on the t-shirt and sweats Grian had brought, and left the room leaving his old outfit behind. The interviews took a little over 20 minutes, he didn’t have answers to any questions but soon enough he was able to leave and Grian drove him home, it was late, and he was so tired. He nearly fell into bed as Norman and Flick curled up beside him. He’s finally home…
The next few weeks went by completely uneventfully. He had work to catch up on and a few clients who were very confused about why he missed his deadlines, not all of them kind enough to give him a make-up job. Joel and Suasage had come to check and make sure he was all right a few times, barely wanting to leave his side the whole day. He found the protection sweet but unnecessary, almost felt like he had to lie just for a trip to the grocery store, which he might’ve done today. He was looking through the different soups when someone called his name.
“No way… is that… Jimmy?!” Jimmy turned to look at the figure, finding a familiar man with glasses and light-blue hair.
“Scott?! Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in- forever! How have you been?!” Jimmy set down whatever he was holding in his cart and walked over.
“Oh I’ve been fine! But I’m feeling a lot better now that you’re here~” Scott held Jimmy’s hand and smiled.
“Hah, still as big a flirt as you once were. Hey, do you maybe… want to hang out? At some point? We haven’t really talked since high school and well, it’s nice to have people around these days.”
Scott looked confused but then smiled. “Sounds great! How about this Thursday afternoon? Your place, if possible? My brother doesn’t like it when I bring people home haha.”
Jimmy chuckled. “Sounds great, do you have a pen or anything I can write my number down on?”
“Just put it in my phone, I’ll call you.” Scott handed his phone over and Jim handed it back after putting in his contact information, as Scott walked away he smiled, this was going to be easier than he thought.
“Jim, are you sure you want him over here? You broke up with the guy in high school and haven’t seen him since! Surely you have a reason you broke up!” Norman said as he perched on the counter edge, watching as Jimmy tidied up the main areas of his apartment to prepare for guests.
“Norman relax! Yeah, we dated, and it didn’t work out, but he’s not a bad guy! It’ll be fine, and if it isn’t, I’ll let you claw his eyes out!” Jimmy petted the cat’s head and ears as he cooed nonsense, having his mouth lightly smacked by the cat’s paw.
“Oh please tell me we get to claw people!” Flick jumped up, far too enthusiastic about this.
“You MIGHT. Emphasis on the might. Just, please behave, alright?” neither cat got a chance to answer before a knock on the door. “There he is! Behave!” Flick and Norman jumped down and followed Jim to the door as he opened it.
“Jimmy, so good to see you! And these must be your darling cats you sent pictures of! Hi little babies- oh!” Scott leaned down to pet the cat but pulled his hand back as Norman hissed and swatted at it.
“Bad vibe! He’s no good Jim!”
“Norman! Scott, I’m so sorry he’s not usually like this… please, come in.” Jimmy pushed Norman away with his foot despite his protests, letting Scott walk inside and look around the apartment.
“Oh it’s really no problem Jim, cats always seem to distrust me, I’m sure he’ll warm up soon enough.” Scott smiled as Norman’s tail puffed up and he let out a growl.
“Norman… ugh. I’m sorry, he’s only been around me, Joel, and Sausage recently. Well, and my brother. Guess he’s forgotten that I can hang out with anyone I want… I can stick him and Flick in my room if you want.”
“Oh come on what did I do?!” “Jim, don’t worry. It’s perfectly fine.”
“Ugh, I’m sorry, I, heh, I haven’t been around other people a lot recently.” Jimmy sat down on the couch.
“Why’s that?” Scott sat down too, Jimmy didn’t answer. “It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me-”
“No no, I can talk about it. It’s… it’ll be good to talk about it. I got… kidnapped. A couple of months ago. I don’t know what they did but… I don’t remember an entire month of my life… and some memories have also gotten very spotty and everyone keeps saying that’s just something that can happen but I… I know there’s something more. But I’m scared they’ll come back for me so I haven’t gone looking or anything…”
“Oh Jim, that’s horrible…” Scott put a hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. “No one should ever have to go through that…”
Jimmy smiled and put his hand above Scott’s. “Thanks man, that’s sweet. Ok! Enough emotions! Let’s catch up.”
The afternoon passed with conversation after conversation, the topics didn’t really matter, and the laughter seemed genuine enough. It was starting to bleed into the evening now, Norman and Flick had resigned themselves some time ago to the counters or shelves to watch the afternoon unfold. Something about Scott was wrong but they couldn’t tell exactly what, but at the same time Jimmy was smiling the way they’d only seen him do before the kidnapping.
“We need to help him…” Flick’s tail twitched behind him.
“And how do you suggest we do that? We’ve both tried to convince him, his costume is who knows where, and it’s not like we have any pictures proving they’re the same. I don’t like Scott… something about him just isn’t right. But…”
“But he does make Jimmy happy…”
“I uh, I think your cats are plotting my murder Jimmy” Scott laughed as he looked at the cats staring down at him.
“They’re not, they just don’t like new people.”
“And you know that, how?”
“You own a cat long enough it’s like you can understand them.” Jimmy looked at the clock. “Hey, you hungry?”
“Yes, and I think I’ll take that as a cue that I should get going.” Scott got up and began to walk to the door.
“You don’t have to, I can make us food.” Jimmy got up and followed after him.
“While I appreciate the offer, I think if I stay much longer your cats are going to find some way to poison me. But this was nice, How about we do this again next week?”
“Uh, maybe? I don’t know I’ve got a pretty big deadline coming up.”
“It’s alright, you can text me if you have some free time. I’ll see you around Songbird!~” Scott waved and left the apartment. Norman jumped down from his shelf and walked over to Jimmy.
“Why’d he call you songbird?”
“It’s Scott, he was always giving people little pet names. Doesn’t mean anything.”
“Jim, I’m telling you something is wrong with him-” Jimmy groaned and put his hand over his nose. “I’m serious! He didn’t feel right and I don’t want you to get hurt again!”
“He was fine! Norman, for the first time in weeks I hung out with someone who didn’t act like I could break at any moment. I told him what happened and he didn’t change how he was treating me. Joel and Sausage are suffocating me, if he starts being weird I’ll cut him off but please Norman, I need this…”
Norman sighed. “Just, keep your distance…”
“I can protect myself. I don’t need people to worry about me. Not Joel, not Sausage, and least of all you two.” Jimmy walked to his room and closed the door before either cat could slip inside.
Scott left the building smiling, he got his phone out and called one of the top numbers.
“Hey Scott! How’d it go? Did he realize who you were?” Owen said on the other side.
“No he didn’t realize a thing, it went quite well! He doesn’t remember anything that happened, it seems he doesn’t even remember being Sheriff.”
“You’re kidding. What the hell did Hephaestus do?”
“Oh who cares what he did! I was worried he might connect the dots as Sheriff, but Jimmy doesn’t have anything to connect! And I didn’t even mention the best part~”
“Oh it gets better?!”
“Much better, he’s already lying to his friends. Poor little Suasage and Joel, so worried for their dear friend, never wanting to let him out of their sight. I thought I'd have to work to get him from inviting his friends, but seems they handled that for me.” Scott’s phone dinged with a message from Jimmy. “This is going to be so much easier than either of us thought it would be~”