A City of Secrets and Masks

-Twenty Four- Penultimate

One week left and everyone was running on fumes.

Looking around, Tubbo guessed that no one had gotten more than 5 hours of sleep the previous night. He hadn't, that was for sure. Just remembering to eat was hard enough sometimes- there was so much to be done and they had so little time.

Philza, who stood at the head of the table, looked to be the worst of the group. He'd been struggling to coordinate everyone, keep track of progress, and train Tommy at the same time. He'd definitely taken the lead on the prepping, and his efforts had worked.

The group standing around the table was much more prepared than the group that had gone in to rescue Tommy. Everyone looked grim.

There wasn't even a need to gather everyone's attention- they were already silent. Tubbo actually jumped a bit as Phil began.

"Mates, we're at the time where there will be a constant chance an assault will be launched on Illosia." The thought sent shivers down Tubbo's spine. He'd only lived in the city for less than a year, but it had begun to feel like more of a home than his hometown. The concept of an assault being launched on the streets where he'd patrolled so many times, on the corner store where he and Tommy had stocked up for a winter storm, on his own apartment? It all felt so foreign, an idea that was difficult to hold onto for any given length of time. But it was also all he could think about

"We're going to keep constant watches. We've also put out a request for civilians to call in if they see any strange smoke." Tubbo was jolted out of his train of thought as Phil continued. "It's under the guise of a minor, poison smoke-based villain I faced off against once being at large again. If we get a lot of calls about smoke, we'll know what's happening."

Finn chimed in from his desk, "I've been watching the city's CCTV pretty carefully and I haven't seen suspicious activity anywhere. Even in the building where they held Tommy- No one's been in or out."

Dream nodded, "Our on-foot patrols have seen much of the same. It seems like they made threats then vanished off of the face of the earth."

"Damn..." Tubbo heard Tommy mutter. Everyone seemed a tad bit more dejected. Wilbur clenched his fists and looked down at his feet.

There was a second of silence, then a crash as the door to the meeting room was thrown open.

"We've done it." Aphmau stood there, a bit breathless, holding a clear vial in her hands. Wilbur's head shot back up.

"You... You made the antidote?" He said, an incredulous look on his face.

Aph nodded. "And... I hate to do this to you again, but at least this time you get the choice. Wilbur, will you be the test subject for this?"

Wilbur let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in and a grin slowly covered his face. "Yes, absolutely."

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The injection was the most difficult part. It brought up a lot of bad memories. Tommy stayed with him through it, holding his hand and talking about everything and nothing to keep Wilbur distracted.

"We're done!" Antfrost, who had given the injection, announced.

Wilbur looked away from Tommy, mild confusion on his face. "You injected it already?" Antfrost nodded. "Damn, Mute hurt a lot more than that did."

"I'm glad. I do have some bad news: the marks from where they added the dye in Mute to make it visible may be permanent." Antfrost said, apologetic. 

"...I think I can deal with it. Battle scars and all."

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Wilbur's powers came back slowly. He could silence people by the end of that day. The only issue was that it seemed he was back at square one. He realized, with disdain, that he'd have to retrain his power from the beginning, just like Tommy. Luckily, Wilbur had written down some notes on his powers, so he had a bit more of a basis to start off on. By the second day of that week, he had his basic sound attacks and silencing abilities down.