Heroes

Chapter 21: hidden compartments and amazing hero-ing

George POV.

After being back for half an hour I managed to get the terrible television in the small apartment up and running again. It only had four channels to choose from, none of which were that interesting. One had cartoons from the 90s, another was playing old boring movies, one was a history channel, and the final one was a news channel.

I wish I had been more prepared last night when I met Techno, Karl, and Bad in the prison. I should have told them my address so they could stop off and get me some more things, some decent food, some clothes, or maybe just clean up a bit. However I didn’t, I didn’t get any money from them either and god knows I wouldn’t be asking Dream for food money.

Dream had been kind enough to buy me a new phone, one that was flasher than the old one I had but I hadn’t used it much yet. I was too worried that if it was on for too long it would blow up or something. However I knew that the blond had definitely put his number in my phone and I was certain that he had mirrored my phone to see what I was doing at all times.

For a while I sat in front of the screen watching the news boredly before deciding to call Philza and talk to him. I had to memorise several phone numbers when I first became a hero so that if I got a new phone, or any phone really, I could call for backup if needed.

I took the phone and dialled up his number, deciding that it was safer to contact him then it was to contact Karl, Bad, or Techno. After a few long rings the blond answered with a confused sounding  ‘hello?’ which made me smile, since it had been a couple days since I’d heard from him.

“Hey it’s uh… it’s George. I got a new phone and it’s been a couple days since i talked to you… Dad.” He took a moment to respond, seemingly already figuring out that someone was possibly overhearing our conversation.
“Son, it has been a while, how have you been?” He asked in response, playing along instantly.

“Busy. I haven’t been to work in a couple of days because I was injured, but I was wondering if I could have some lunch with you tomorrow?” I asked, since I figured it was the easiest way to communicate with him about what I’ve found out without risking revealing our hideout, or having one of Dream’s men snooping over our texts.

“Sure.” He responded, letting out a sigh of relief. “How about we meet at the Split Bean Cafe tomorrow for lunch?” Philza offered, “at 11:30.”
“That would be fine with me Dad.” I responded, and was about to hang up when I remembered.

“Uh Dad, I think I left my laptops and some of my money at your house the last time I was there.” I spoke as casually as possible.
Philza seemed to understand why I wanted this stuff, he probably knew I was at one of the safehouses, and he reassured me he’d bring them before hanging up.

After he had hung up the phone I sighed and began walking around the apartment. I knew that in every safehouse there was a stash of cash, which I could add to the small amount of money which was currently in my wallet. I remember Techno talking about how there was something under the bed, so that was where I looked first.

I walked into the bedroom and laid down on the wooden floor while squinting into the darkness under my bed. There wasn’t anything under there except a thick layer of dust, making me sigh in defeat. So I just waited there while trying to guess where else the pinkette would have hidden a stash of money.

For ten minutes or so I laid there, waiting for some sort of brain wave to try and figure out where the money was before noticing a slight shift in the floorboards. My eyebrows furrowed at the sight. Maybe it was just because of how long I’d been staring at it, moving by unnoticeable microscopic micro inches.

However after a minute I realised that I wasn’t going insane from staring at one spot for ages, and I reached out to touch it and took my time to feel around the edge of the piece of wood before lifting it up. I slid closer, so I was half laying underneath the bed as I examined what was there.

Another floorboard was loose beside the one I’d grabbed and I pulled it out too, stacking it on top of the first one. There was a small cavity under the boards and I reached inside before pulling out a small black wooden box about the size of a shoebox. I wiggled out from under the bed, being careful not to hit my head, and climbed on top of it to examine what I found.

I opened the lid and pulled out everything that was inside. There were a couple rolls of money, which seemed to be at least seven thousand dollars. Underneath those were a series of fake passports, a couple for me, Karl, Bad, and Techno. They each had the same photo of us but all different names, ages, jobs, and countries listed.

Inside were also more keys for the apartment, plus some keys for other vehicles along with a note saying where each of them were parked. I scoffed at how organised Techno was when he got all of this stuff, including a pocket knife and handgun with some ammo.

I kept one roll of money, which had five hundred dollars made up of tens, twenties, fifties, and fives. Everything else, including the keys, passports, and weapons, I put back into the box which I slid back under the bed and hid under the floorboards again.

At least with this amount of money I’ll be able to order food for dinner tonight. I figured. Plus, I had more than enough money to make this apartment nicer. I could replace the bed and the tv for a few thousand dollars each. I could also get something to brighten up the dull rooms, and then of course buy some more food.

At my decision I knew that I could spend the rest of the day organising these things, so I grabbed a little bit more money, just in case I needed it, before beginning to walk to a nearby retail store.

Tommy POV.

“Okay Ranboo, Tubbo, you both did amazing work.” I said happily to my two friends. “One day the three of us are going to be the best superheroes in the country!”
The three of us were currently investigating the criminal kid in the school. We’d signed up for clubs that were before school and after school and on the weekend as a way of finding them.

“Yeah! The three of us are going to be the best heroes!” Tubbo added, sounding as enthusiastic as I was. “We are like real life Spider-men!”
“Fuck yeah we are!” I responded, running down the front stairs of school, Ranboo stayed silent as he followed us down the stairs.

Today we’d had to do two clubs after school, while missing out on part of one. The first was a photography club, which was quite fun. We gotta make up photo shoots for the school cheerleaders. We took photos of them in all different poses; jumping in the air, doing flips, creating a human pyramid.

They also were all quite pretty, and I was glad that I had such skills with women, because I got to ask them about the criminal's son. They looked at me weird so I figured they didn’t know, but I reassured them that I would keep them safe.

The other club was worse. It was a dance club, and I didn’t enjoy that at all. Ranboo and Tubbo were paired together, however there was nobody for me to be partnered with and I ended up with the musty teacher. My amazing woman skills didn’t even work on her.

“Y’know Tommy,” Ranboo said with a smile. “If you wanted since it is a while before Tubbo and I have to head home we could go and-”
“Fight some crime!” I cut him off, almost jumping up and down in eagerness.
“That’s not what I was gonna-”

“You are a genius Ranboo! Let’s go beat the shit out of some bad guys!” My two friends seemed both worried and excited, and so the three of us headed off to go find some crime to fight.
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