A City of Secrets and Masks

-Nineteen- Final Preparations

Tubbo delivered the note to Dream, who quickly figured out it was. An emergency meeting was called. The heroes began to prep.

Tubbo was in just a bit of conflict. Something about how Minx was acting made him see her as trustworthy, but then again...

He shook his head and looked back up. Dream was saying something... probably something important. It went in one ear and out of the other. All that stayed was that they had three hours until they were planning to head out

Tubbo nodded and smiled. Phil looked at him, a worried look on his face. Phil was the best one here at knowing when something was up.

Phil ruffled Tubbo's hair and gave him a smile. Trying to reassure him.

It only worked a tiny bit.

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Wilbur was poked with needles throughout the next few hours- Some of the more scientific heroes had shown up.

The scientists were often at other jobs, so it was nice to see a few familiar, yet rare, faces.

"Aph! Put this sample in the centrifuge for me!" Dan pulled his goggles up and tossed a small vial to Aphmau, who was sitting across the room. She barely caught it.

"Y'know, you should have mentioned this before it got this bad." Antfrost said from across the room. He carefully adjusted his microscope before looking up at Wil. "This stuff's probably all through your system now."

Wilbur shuddered. "That's a great thought, Ant. Thanks."

"Sorry!"

"He's right though- it'll be much harder to remove now." Aphmau finished attaching the vial to a centrifuge. The machine started spinning and she walked over. Dan took his swivel chair over to the computer screen and Aph started patching up Wilbur's arm.

"That mark looks nasty, not gonna lie." Dan said as he started typing out some reports. "Suprised no one noticed it- it's clearly meant to be there."

Wilbur looked up, a bit shocked. "What'd you mean?"

"The wound wouldn't just be like that. They added a dye or something to mark you." Ant clarified.

"Ah, that makes sense. They did say I was a prototype..."

Everyone paused and looked up at him. Aph said what all the scientist seemed to be thinking- "Are they planning to make a final version of this? That mutes powers?"

Wilbur nodded. That probably would have been info they would have liked to know a bit ago. The scientists all turned back to their work, doubly focused.

"You're dismissed. We've gotta get to work on an antidote." Dan said, waving Wil out of the room.

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Techno paced the lobby as the rest of the heroes assigned to this mission entered the room. It was just the heroes who'd been with them on the original mission- no one new. Well, as long as you counted Bad and Skeppy as returners, which Techno did. 

Sapnap decided to go, but Finn was going to stay. He figured it would be best for them to have someone in the base. 

Dream went up and gave another speech- he sure seemed to like those. Techno fiddled with a pencil, not listening. Tubbo was also just staring off into space, so Techno didn't feel too bad about it.

Dread was weighing on him- something about the idea of Tommy's powers had thrown him off. When Tommy had accidently muted him...

Techno shuddered at the memory. He had felt so vulnerable and slow compared to how he was normally. He'd felt weak. Techno didn't know how people could stand living like that. Of course, that was normal to them.