doubled_speed | For Wearingthestars

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For Wearingthestars

I wish I wasn't alone.

The words were whispered from inside the relative safety of the tiny closet in Tommy Shepherd's bedroom in Springfield, New Jersey. Whispered because there was no way that he wanted Frank or Mary, fighting in the living room, shouting and screaming, to hear them.

I wish I wasn't alone.

Repeated as Tommy held his hands out before him in the darkness palms up. He put as much conviction behind them as he put into anything he said starting with those two words. He had found rather quickly that whatever this power of his was, it came more readily when he framed it as a wish.

I wish I wasn't alone.

He repeated a third time. Three times always seemed to be the right amount when it came to willfully using his power. Even now he could see the faint green glow of energy radiating from his hands, trying to catch his words and shape them into whate he was asking for. At school he didn't always need it three times. He could feel the energy building in his gut like a tidal wave and crashing over him when he wished the bullies would leave him alone, or that he'd actually gotten a good grade so Mary wouldn't yell at him, or that the shirt that got torn up and bloody was clean so Frank wouldn't hit him for wasting good clothes.

Now, though, the words didn't seem to catch, and after a moment of held breath, the energy faded back, leaving behind only the briefest flash of sparks and static that he had to shake out of his hands. Apparently even magic, or whatever this was, couldn't help him.

It was a stupid wish, anyway, Tommy realized as he pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. And then, of course, he flinched at the sound of a breaking plate. They were getting bad tonight. He didn't want to be alone, not with them shouting like that. Sometimes it turned into Frank driving off to drink. Sometimes Mary stormed to their room and locked the door, leaving Frank on the couch. The former tended to mean Frank not coming home at all that night, and when he did the next day he smelled like booze and some other woman's perfume. The latter tended to mean Tommy couldn't sneak some breakfast in the kitchen before school, or being caught if he tried and he really didn't want to be on the receiving end of Frank's belt.

“Dammit. All I wanted was someone to talk to.”

He feels the rush of power even as he feels his body go limp and the world go dark around him. It’s a strange mix between a sneeze and passing out. When the sensation passes things are weird. For one thing, he can’t feel his body. There isn’t the cold of his room or the rough drag of his scratchy wool sweater that is too small for him or even the gnawing in his belly. No, there is just the swelling feeling of his magic, a prickly energy across his skin, and this place.

This new place is nicer than his room. There is more space. There are nerdy decorations on the wall. There are no cracks anywhere or dents from fists or broken furniture. He hates seeing how much nicer this place is than his home. But he is more interested in why his magic brought him here. And in the soft green light everything around him seems bathed in. Tommy raises his hand, or maybe just the concept of a hand, and is faced with the scary truth. His whole body is green and transparent. Okay. That is a bit weirder than normal.

Welcome, Tommy Shepherd, to the world of astral projection. And Billy Kaplan? Meet the strange, glowing ghostly boy in your room.

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He smiles faintly, eyes skimming over Tommy as well. Seeing him in the flesh is different some how. It's...strange. But exhilarating.

He nods quickly. "W-yeah, yeah of course-" he reassures, showing a patience that might surprise the rest of his team.

Speaking of, he looks about with an apologetic look. "So...uh...I didn't remember this...going in," he offers, hoping they don't think he'd keep something like this from them.

And this would be the first time Billy could see that Tommy looks similar but not the actual mirror of Billy. Not a pure copy, but damn close.

"I imagine you would have said it," Kate assures Billy, watching as Tommy walks away slowly. "And you definitely would have told us he was magic."

"He's violent," Eli snaps.

Identical in almost every way, but like someone coloured them with different palettes.

"I would've," he agrees, and then turns to glare at Eli. "You'd be violent too if they locked you up for a mistake-" he snaps right back, still determined to believe Tommy's innocence in that matter. "You saw that place- that's not a normal detention center. God only knows what they were doing to him in there."

"Experimenting," Tommy calls back. He's not so far that he can't hear what is going on. "They wanted a living weapon. Did you know you could kill a person with the right bit of electrical current delivered across the heart? That you can render someone brain dead with the right shock? I do."

There's a sickness in his voice, like he's disgusted to even know.

"I can shape electricity into blades, I can fly, and I can kill. What more could they want? What more can you want?"

More people to use him. The only one he trusts, frankly, is Billy.

The other Young Avengers, though, are a bit busy looking horrified.

There's a low rumble in the ground beneath them courtesy of Billy, anger spiking a little too high for him to control in that moment, and his face grows pale at the thought.

And despite all that's riding on this, he doesn't want to be just another person using Tommy.

"...We just want your help. No killing anyone. And if you don't want to- that's...it's fine- we can keep looking through the fail safe list for others, but- the Super Skrull took my- took someone import to us, and...I need to get him back. But I'm not strong enough. We couldn't stop him on our own."

Everyone stands there silently, caught up in their own thoughts. Tommy, on the other hand, returns to Billy's side.

"A Skrull? I don't... I don't know that I can help, but for you, I'll do whatever you need."

He doesn't care about anything but Billy. Billy is all he has in the world.

"I can try and figure out where your whoever is."

"Teddy," Billy supplies, and it's clear whatever Teddy is to Billy it's something important. In the space of Tommy's absence some new person has entered his life and found an important place in Billy's heart.

"I'm sorry- I know we just got you out- I wouldn't-...ask, but-I need to get him back, Tommy."

Replaced. Tommy doesn't even bother to hold back the brief flash of pain from his face. Just nods and turns away, closing his eyes. He's spent too much time with thoughts of Billy being his touchstone at night. The proof that he wasn't alone. That someone out there, if they remembered him, would care about him.

"Like I could ever deny you anything," Tommy sighs.

Which is a plain and simple truth. He cared too much about Billy. Hadn't he said it before? It felt like Billy was the other part of him, and he wasn't going to betray that.

"...H-he's my boyfriend," Billy offers up when he sees that flash of hurt. Not competition, not a replacement. Teddy occupies a different place in Billy's heart than Tommy. There's room enough for both of them, and he doesn't want Tommy to feel excluded. He'd have been orchestrating rescue attempts for Tommy long before now if he'd been allowed to remember. But now it's Teddy that needs saving, and the clock is running out.

See, in Tommy's head, it is a replacement, it is competition. Because they aren't family and he might have Billy on a pedestal.

"Give me a minute to find him," Tommy says. "His full name?"

"Theodore Altman," Cassie offers, and Tommy nods, closing his eyes. He can do this. He can TOTALLY do this.

He starts to mumble under his breath as the green magic rises up around him once more.

Billy practically holds his breath, as though any possible movement or sound might disrupt him, praying silently in his mind for it to work.

Once Teddy is safe he can deal with...all of this. With Tommy. And Teddy. And Teddy's Mom. And the apartment. And- god this has been a hell of a day.

Tommy raises off of the ground, floating with more light around him, shining as he mumbles under his breath.

"He's definitely a lot more than I expected," Eli sighs. "If only Nate had found him before."

At last the light fades and Tommy turns in the air to look at them.

"Found him. One more teleport. It's really all I can handle."

He's the sort of power their team's been lacking, and Billy watches with a smile tugging at his lips despite how stressed he still is. "If only."

"That's all we need," Billy encourages with a grateful expression. Just get him to Teddy and he can handle the rest. He'll take on the Super Skrull single handedly if he has to. He's not taking Teddy anywhere Teddy doesn't want to go.

Is he? Tommy wouldn’t know. All he knows is that Billy found him. Helped him. Saved him. And he owes the man this much. And Tommy can’t say no to him.

“Give me your hand,” Tommy asks, reaching for Billy. “I think I can draw on your power some. And I’ll need it for this.”

"You can do it-" Billy encourages, freely giving his hand and offering a reassuring squeeze, gaze full of hope and real faith, like he's sure Tommy will pull through. "Just get me to him and I'll never ask for anything else-"

The others are watching them, and Tommy doesn't care. Doesn't care at all. Doesn't bother that people are staring at him looking at his face twin with a soft gaze, holding his hands and pulling Billy closer. And Tommy's eyes glow again, and he starts to hover just a bit above their speedster, still holding his hand.

"We both know that isn't true," Tommy answers.

And then there is a flash of green light and they appear outside of a solitary house, Tommy almost immediately sagging against Billy.

"He's here. Inside. Be ready."

Billy hardly even notices that the others are watching, gaze steady on Tommy.

He wants to shake his head, does give a small wobble, but he won't completely deny the possibility that he might ask Tommy for help again in the future.

There's a flash and even Billy's not fast enough to see the transition between where they were and where they appear, supporting Tommy with a concerned look.

"You all right?" he checks, motioning for Eli to help support his weight.

"I'll go check it out- you guys wait here-"

"Like hell you're going in alone," Kate insists to Billy. "If he's in there you won't bother coming back. You'll get yourself into trouble."

Eli does move forward at Billy's beckoning. "Tactically it makes sense to send him to scout."

"Don't assume Billy's got restraint," Tommy counters as he straightens some. It clearly takes some serious effort. "He's just all heart."

"Normally you'd be right- but I mean- he all ready handed our asses to us, I'll be careful," Billy swears, frowning as Tommy tries to straighten. "I'll see what we're up against and come right back. Our only other options are storming the place blind or sending in Cassie."

"Blind at least gives us element of surprise," Vision explains.

"And a united front," Cassie admits. "Not that I don't want to, Billy, but the guy has all the powers of the Fantastic Four."

Tommy pulls at his not-twin to make the guy look at them. "If you think I'm letting you go in there and do something stupid and possibly get hurt, you're crazy."

Billy's brow twists anxiously, looking from face to face, though it's Tommy that finally gets his shoulders to drop in defeat. He can't fight all of them, and they're not wrong.

"...Fine. Together then. What's the plan?"

"Make an entrance," Kate says after a moment. "Blow the wall in, Billy, and you're quick, see if you can distract the Super-Skrull. Vision and Tommy, you're on the getting Teddy out duty. Between you two you should probably be able to deal with whatever's holding Teddy, because something has to be. Eli, Cassie and I will support Billy. We get in, we get out, and we try and get somewhere safe."

There's not a lot of options there, but they have little choice, right?

Not that anyone else is offering something better.

It's Vision, though, that turns his attention to Tommy and frowns.

"It would be important to keep Tommy out of the line of fire. He has no protective..."

He barely even can finish the statement before Tommy speaks with weight in his voice.

"Costume?" Tommy answers, and the green light washes over him, leaving him in what looked like leather coverings, something durable, even has a deep, forest green cape and hood, though the latter is left down at the moment. "I think I'll manage."

An entrance. He can do that. Billy's nodding along, adapting to the new plan.

His eyes widen at Tommy's costume, an impressed smile finding its way to his face, and he gives a quiet laugh. "...Very cool," he compliments, "You sure you're up for this?"

"You're not to him yet," Tommy answers Billy, and when he holds his hand out, there's electricity crackling over it. "This? This is me channeling stuff already in the air. The magic takes out of me. Electricity is me taking out of something else. I'll be fine. They were trying to make me a weapon with this. And you'd be surprised at how good I am at it."

As an example the air smells more of ozone around them as he channels the electricity and it's almost like he's holding blades of light, crackling and irregular.

Eyeing the pseudo blades, Billy considers before giving a nod. He's about as prepared as any of them at this point, probably more so if he's being honest.

"Okay. Let's do this then."

A moment later and Billy's blowing the wall in, big and flashy, rushing in before the dust has a chance to clear. He sets his sights on the Super Skrull, looking to distract him before he can get distracted in turn by Teddy.

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