A City of Secrets and Masks

-Thirteen- The Calm Before the Storm

Tubbo really liked bees.

He walked onto the roof and took a breath of fresh air. His hive buzzed out to greet him. He laughed as the bees buzzed around him, bumping into him on occasion. He set down a small bowl of sugar water and watched the bees buzz around it and drink. He sat on the ledge of the roof. It was fenced in, but there was just enough room for him to dangle his legs off the edge.

It was rare for him to get a break this long. Usually, Tommy was dragging him this way and that during their workdays. Tubbo watched the people below him. It was around six, and he'd brought chips up with him so he could chill out with the bees. Almost everyone was staying late tonight- Dream was going to take all of them out for dinner later.

There was an air of calm as he ate his chips. Usually, calm was interrupted by an emergency, so Tubbo was still a bit on edge. He hummed and looked around. His bees buzzed around him, happy to just be there.

He stretched and yawned and then ate a few chips. He thought about what he was planning on doing later- hanging out with Tommy, mostly. He was thinking about setting up some game servers for the heroes to play on.

"It's just been so chill today, you know?" Tubbo said to the bees. They buzzed around him.

"It has." A voice said from behind him. Tubbo nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around to see Karl, in his signature multi-colored hoodie. "I think it won't be anymore though."

"Well, why's that?" Tubbo said with a frown. He stood up, his chips abandoned. "What's going on?"

"We got a report there was suspicious activity on the docks or something. Wilbur called all hands on deck for it- he got a message or something. Seems important. Meet everyone down in the lobby." Karl said, starting back down the stair

"Everyone?" Tubbo asked. It must be serious if everyone was going.

"Yep, the whole staff. Sap and Finn and Fundy and Me, too." Karl laughed. "Don't know how much help we can be other than just... crowd control."

Tubbo nodded and Karl went down the stairs. He started telling his bees where to meet up with him. All hands on deck meant he'd need most of them, too.

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Tommy was in the kitchen with Dream and George when the alert went off. It rang through the cafeteria. The trio looked at each other with curiosity. Everyone's eyes went to George. He'd been there the longest.

"What? Don't expect me to know. The last time that alarm was used was back when villains did something unexpected and we needed a quick meeting,"

There were a few seconds. You could almost see the cogs turning in their heads. Tommy was the first to realize what the alarm probably meant.

"Oh, we all need to meet up!" Tommy announced. The others came to the same realization quickly. Usually, they were smarter than this, but they weren't really thinking about work at that moment. They'd been talking about cooking, which Tommy was not good at.

Tommy had been saying that he once tried to make rice with Gatorade and the other two had been losing it, laughing at his description of the rice.

After they got back in the work mindset, the trio was on it immediately. Dream vaulted over the counter while the other two just used the door next to it. They all ran through the door of the cafe towards the lobby.

Tommy fell back a bit. He hadn't felt the best, lately. It felt he'd hit a wall- he wasn't making any progress in training and his brain felt like it frizzed out all the time. He shook it off and ran into the lobby.