Benchtrio's Amazing Guide to City Living | Ft. The Hermits & SBI

What he has in his bed, what he has in his life...

When he comes to, his head is absolutely killing him. Darn sleep spores. Wilbur shakes his head and blinks his eyes open, slowly becoming aware of how cramped his body is and how bad the instinct to stretch his poor limbs is banging against his bones.

What happened again? This migraine is messing with his thoughts; he can recall them but they're all out of his reach. He blinks again, slowly, eyes adjusting to the bright light coming from above and the smell of caoutchouc all around him. It's a little overwhelming but nothing that he can't manage. It's not like he hasn't been kidnapped before– oh! That's what has happened, right!

That's a start. He and Phil were kidnapped... by George. He wants to laugh and cry at the same time at the thought. Innocent, oblivious George. He doesn't know if he should feel betrayed or back-stabbed or whatever; this is just hero on hero plus friend on friend violence! That god, too, WIlbur can't forget about that and it comes to question who is truly at fault here.

He can see bleachers far away, plastic chairs that have been painted blue. There is fake grass underfoot, natural sunlight from an open roof... They're in the city stadium, aren't they?

When he turns his head to look around for any signs of life, he finds that he isn't alone. Beside him is Jimmy –the Listener– kneeling down, hunched over, head bowed, being used as a stool by the one and only XD. There is a glimmer of something around his neck and, straining his neck trying to look, Wilbur finds that the man's hands have been tied behind his back with invisible bonds. Jimmy looks, overall, like shit; tired and exhausted like all the fight has left him. The same glimmer on his neck is around XD and it is so obvious that this has something to do with a power trip for the god.

On the other side of the supposed-villain is Phil, tied to a chair similarly to him, though the man is still out for the count thanks to how close he was to the spores. His dad probably got the worst of it and Wil can't help but feel a tiny bit guilty about it. There are no crows around either, which is incredibly unnerving.

"Can you sense them yet?", comes George's voice from somewhere behind him, nonchalant as ever. Wilbur knows he can't snap his neck to look behind him, so he doesn't bother. His friend doesn't regard him, Wilbur tries to speak anyway.

Only to find that he's been gagged. This news comes as bad news to the hero but honestly, he should've expected this. George is a professional through and through; he wouldn't let the one hero with siren abilities use his voice. Even as he thrashes trying to get the cloth out of his mouth, George doesn't regard him. Wilbur can only knit his eyebrows in anger and frustration.

"They're close"

And holy Hell, this must be the first time that Wilbur has felt relief at the insinuation that The Watcher is coming to them. The faster he can get a distraction, the faster he can diffuse the situation; the faster he can get Phil the hell out of here –even though this is his father's mess.

While Phil thought that he was sneaky being all vague and reasonable, Wilbur has trained his eyes to catch every detail on any face. It's why he didn't believe the man but he also wanted to see where that lie would lead.

...He can't say that he is satisfied with how things turned out. First, he learnt that The Watcher has wrapped him in an invisible veil, all but freezing at the suggestion that he's been around that man for longer than he knows, followed by the implication that the villain is someone in his fucking life, and now he's being held hostage (by his best friend no less!). His day is going fucking great.

"George, what the fuck are you doing?", and sometime during his time in his own head, Phil, apparently, woke up. "What is the meaning of this?", the man demands but George doesn't pay any attention to him.