Antiheroes

Chapter 16: Cigarette

Wilbur POV.

Smoke billowed around me as I took another puff of the cigarette in my hands, inhaling the poison as much as I could. Understandably I was annoyed, leaning back in my chair with my legs crossed over, more elevated with them resting on the wooden desk.

After setting off the bomb I knew I was done for, that I couldn’t stick around the docks for any longer, so I went to get Tommy and run. But Tommy had been gone when I went for him. The door had been left open, despite it having been locked the last time I checked on him, and I knew that finding him would take up precious time.

So now I was just waiting. Waiting for a chance to attack, a chance of sabotage. Sapnap, and Dream are both piecing it together as I sat here wasting my life on a cigarette. They are planning counter attacks no doubt. Nobody has humiliated them like I had.

A knock on the door caused my gaze to lift, and me to readjust my posture slightly. For a couple of moments I considered ignoring it, pretending whoever was there wasn’t and allowing me to focus on the cancer stick in front of me. That wasn’t an option though, since whoever was out there decided to keep knocking.

“Come in.” I called loudly, not trying to hide the agitation in my voice. I listened as the door creaked open then allowed a small smile to grow on my face when Punz stepped into the room with a pissed look on his face. “Is there a problem Punz?” I questioned boredly, since obviously from his expression I wasn’t hearing any good news.

“Yes. The bomb failed.” He responded, and that caused me to freeze, right as I was about to inhale another puff of smoke.
“What do you mean ‘the bomb failed’. I thought we had set it out so that it would not fail.” My voice was a void lacking emotions as I felt more irritation fizzing inside of me.

“The patrols spotted Skeppy this morning leaving a hospital. He is unharmed and the others might be too. Should I…”
“Stop right there Punz.” I cut him off, took a moment to crush the still lit cigarette in my hand. “I have plans on how to deal with this. Wasn’t my original intention, but I’m not complaining.”

He watched me silently as I stood up and took my time walking over to the open window, brushing my hand and letting what was left of the cigarette fall onto the concrete a couple of floors below. For a couple seconds I stared at the ground before seeing someone in a hoodie walking past. They stopped, seemingly noticing me and I decided to ignore it, brushing ash from my clothes.

After brushing what was left of the cigarette ash was gone from my hand and my clothes I had been wearing, I turned to walk towards him. “As disappointing as it is that I will have to go through this again, imagine how much more damage I could do this time.” A chuckle fell from my lips as I began walking down the hallways.

“And what is the plan this time?” The platinum blond asked curiously, following after me loyally as I walked briskly down the hallway.
“I will leave that to be a surprise for you. Anyway, how have you been going with looking for Tommy? Any signs of him?”

Punz knew this is what I was wanting to know the most, and I could tell there had been no progress because of how reluctant he was to tell me. “We have people looking for him.” Was all he eventually told me, and I allowed myself to let out a huff of disappointment.
“And how well are they going?” I continued.

“There’s no sign of him at the docks. That’s all I know. Also, Quackity wants to talk to you about this new… propesition.” That got me to let out an audible groan. I will admit Quackity was nice enough to allow me to stay in one of his smaller businesses, effectively allowing me to take over, and although he wasn’t an enemy, I wouldn’t classify him as a friend either.

He and I had been long friends, in fact he was one of the only people who helped me in my exile from the city of L’manburg. Quackity surprisingly was on board with the superhero plan as well. For me to take on the role of a hero. Mainly because I promised to turn a blind eye to what he was doing while I was focusing on Dream and such.

Plus, he was also benefiting off of this since he runs a business that can make merchandise about me. Turns out that after the other four heroes are dead, missing, or labelled as traitors, these idiots living here were desperate for any saviour that appears and claims to be a good guy.

There was a meeting room near the front entrance of the building, a golden plaque on the wooden door literally saying ‘meeting room’, which I walked into, not bothering to knock because right now this was all my property.

Quackity was waiting patiently, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched me step into the room and sit down at one of the chairs. This entire building reeked of hardwood which was a major throw off, but I resisted the urge to gag at the smell for now.

“Will, glad you finally came out of your office to talk.” He spoke with pure sarcasm and impatience in his voice, before turning to acknowledge the man who had followed me in. “Punz, it is a pleasure to see you without that Dream mask. It was a major throw off. How you could even be a decent assassin in that thing is beyond me.”

The platinum blond took in the compliment but said nothing, just staring at him quietly with his light blue eyes, waiting for an instruction from me. “Is there a reason you wanted to speak to me, Quackity?” I asked him. “I have other things to do.”
“You mean smoking?” He asked in response, raising an eyebrow.

“No, being a big celebrity means that I have interviews, fans, and I have to fight crime as well. How about you Quackity? What do you have to do?”
Quackity seemed annoyed at what I was saying, but responded with what he wanted me to do instead of answering my questions. “I have a rival I need you to take care of.”

“And why exactly do you think you can give me commands? I am not a hitman for hire Quackity. In fact, from me doing this you are benefiting. I will get Dream, Sapnap, and Skeppy out of the way, you are already earning thousands off of my merchandise, and I’m not stopping anything that your men are doing.”

“True.” Quackity smiled, and the way he reacted to what I said filled me with caution. I knew that he was going to pull something that means I will bend to his will. He is annoyingly manipulative like that. “But then again, if you don’t I could always tell Dream, Sapnap, and Skeppy where you are. So maybe you should consider what I am offering.”

I knew he had something up his sleeve. That didn’t seem to be all though, since he continued. “I mean, how would they react to knowing where you are after you took half of their men, tried to kill one of them and two of their boyfriends, and became a superhero.”

He paused to smirk at me. “It is obviously your choice though.” ‘I will happily back either side. It’s whoever seems the most prepared for the inevitable war.’
A smile appeared on my face. “Fine. What do you want me to do?”
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1359 words

Don't smoke kids. It will make you try and kidnap your brother, try and kill four superheroes, try and kill your other brother and father and best friend, and you will die alone.