Work Text:
What are you even doing here?
Sollux went to the palace for a few days and told you not to hurt Kankri, so you decided to sulk off somewhere you’re not familiar with. That’s what you’re doing. Sulking like a wriggler. Because that’s all you are. A petty child that runs away when they don’t get their own way. And you hate yourself right now, but you won’t take it out on yourself. What’s the point in that when you could take it out on someone else? And you know there are problems here. Plenty of people you can take this out on. You’ve already been here for a couple of days now, staying in some shitty inn in the shady part of town. Your killcount isn’t nearly as high as you’d like it to be. Six. That’s pathetic.
After a few false alarms for the night, you manage to find some more victims though. It’s nice being able to sense people though walls, it’s sort of like x-ray vision. You do catch more people than you would like to admit in compromising positions, but you can’t actually see them, or know exactly what it is that they’re doing, so it’s no bother really.
You lean up against the wall of the building they’re in, concentrating your powers to tell what’s actually going on in there. From the smell in the air and the feel of the brickwork, you would say it’s a warehouse, but you can never be sure.
There are three of them standing and one kneeling on the floor. You can barely hear through the thick wall, but you can tell they’re shouting. Oh well, if you’re wrong you’ll just have to kill all of them instead.
You take a few steps back, about five to be safe, ending up stood in the road, but there’s no one around, so you’re fine. Using both hands, you lift your blindfold, a little secret you don’t like letting people know about, your fall-back in case of tricky situations. You blast a hole in the side of the building with your eyes, aiming off to the side to make sure you don’t kill anyone just yet. Of course, you underestimate the size of the building and end up blowing off the entire top corner, but that’s no hassle really. Settling your blindfold back into place with one hand and making a guess at where the falling roof is with the other, you catch it in time for it not to crush them and toss it off to the side, structural supports grinding and creaking as you twist and bend them. You do keep a hold on one chunk of rubble though, pulling it back and lining it up ready, just hovering it a few feet in front of you. A threat. A more visible weapon that your powers. You won’t make any first moves though, wait to see if they run off in case you made a mistake and they are innocent.
But of course, one of them rushes you. No sooner have they left the perimeter of the building though, you’ve tossed the chunk of brick and cement at them with such force that they’re thrown back into the opposite wall and crushed instantly. People are so fragile sometimes. Another of them has a hold of the kid on the floor, now that your powers are fully concentrated and warmed up you can feel their body structures a lot clearer, read their body language. You’re pretty sure this one’s supposed to be threatening to hurt the kid if you come closer, but you can’t see that, and he must be able to tell. You take a step toward them and they pull the kid up with them, holding them as a body shield against your presence, so you stop. You reach your hand forward, concentrating as hard as you possibly can. Standing still is the worst possible move anyone can make in a fight with you. Red and blue sparks snap subtley at your horns and your hand emanates the light from your powers. You figure out exactly where their spinal cord is, run some tingling sparks up their spine to some vertebrae in their neck, and with a flick of your fingers, snap it. They sink to the floor slowly, leaving the kid stood and able to move again.
The last one just runs. You let them go. Let them go tell someone. It’s always nice leaving a witness as proof of what you can do.
As you head slowly over to the kid they slump to their knees, you were close enough to manage to catch them and… Wait. How many people on this planet have wings?
“Sollux?” You don’t recognise his voice, it is a guy’s voice you’re pretty sure, raspy like he hasn’t talked in a while, young and- he recognises you. Of course he does…
You nod, inconspicuously slipping your hand around to his back, mentally syncing up to his nervous system to see if they broke anything. “Yeah, sure I am. How do you feel?”
He gives a broken off laugh and you roll your eyes, a pointless gesture, but a habit. “How the fuck do you think I feel?” He coughs, and it sounds like he coughed up blood, but he carries on after a few moments of silence. “Your blindfold…”
You’re a little busy trying to figure out if anything’s wrong to really listen to him. The position he’s in shows his hands are tied, but you can’t disconnect from him just yet, so that’ll have to wait. “What about it?”
“I know who you are.” He coughs again, how long has he even been here?
“Uh huh. Sollux. I know. You’d be surprised how many people know a Sollux.” You don’t mean to sound harsh or anything, but you’re kind of sick of people recognising you from your alts.
He shakes his head slowly, which causes a twinge in his neck that blurs your senses and pretty much detaches you, so you decided that you know enough. He’ll survive. Probably. “No I- I mean you. My brother knows you.” He sounds tired, but also sure of himself, and it kind of hits you and you cringe as you undo the ties at his wrists.
“Huh. I can only imagine who you are then.” Of course you know who he is. What are the odds? What are you even supposed to do with him now…
Once you’ve got his bonds untied he collapses against you and you catch him. You don’t need psychic powers to be able to tell he passed out. Although from exhaustion or blood loss, you can’t be sure. You just lean back to rest his head against your chest.
Unfortunately, your brother was so pissed at you and had been so busy that he hadn’t implanted another chip into your pan after he killed you last, so all you have is your palmhusk. Kind of a good job you guess.
You pull it from your pocket, shifting Castor against your shoulder better so you can support him properly. You unlock it, luckily it has voice recognition, else it would be a worthless piece of shit. “Sal. I know I’m not supposed to talk to you, but this is an emergency I guess?” You’re surprised no one else has showed up after you blew a fucking hole in a building. Yet another good job. Karma’s being kind to you, you guess.
“Hey dude, sup?” Sal’s voice is so Dave that it almost makes you growl.
“I found Sol’s boyfriend’s kid. He’s beat up and passed out. Where do I take him?”
“Oh, shit. Umm. You need like, directions? I can figure out where you guys are and stuff.”
You sigh, hovering your palmhusk in the air as you stand, picking the kid up bridal style as you do, but you have to turn him towards you to make sure his wings aren’t all caught up. Then you float yourself up high enough to miss any buildings. “Yeah, just do your thing. Let’s not tell Sol about this though, alright? The kid may forget this happened and I’d prefer people not know I give a shit.”
The sound of synthetic laughter is something you haven’t heard in a while, it’s nice, makes you think that Lil Sal is a real person with real feelings. One of your only real friends that you got cut off from because you were an immature douche. Serves you right. “Sure thing dude. Our little secret.”
Lil Sal directs you to the palace, it takes quite a while, and Castor doesn’t stir the whole time, but he’s still breathing fine and not bleeding out so won’t try and wake him. When you get there, you land on the roof, which is awkward because you have to make sure you take a certain route around so you don’t get spotted. You step off the edge and drop down in front of the door, softening the landing with your psionics. Then you lay him on the step, making sure you lay him sort of half on his front and gently pull his wings into a position they don’t get hurt any worse. You knock on the door, quickly shooting up and landing on a ledge overlooking the front so you can keep an eye on him, make sure someone turns up. And they do eventually. You can’t tell who, but it’s not your problem anymore.
Why was it even your problem? It’s not like you care.