Toby and Wilbur waited into the afternoon, mostly in silence,the two attempted conversation, but it didn't last long. Toby knew both of them were hoping for some miracle and their brother would be found. Phil or Kristin would text or call to check in on them, and give updates. Though nothing really changed. Tommy wasn't anywhere... they hadn't heard anything from Techno, which meant that he wasn't focused on anything but finding his little brother...god- he hadn't done that since Wilbur went missing when they were 16.

Eventually, Kristin returned, she wasn't with Phil.

"Where's Dad?" Will asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"He's going to get Techno here for lunch..." she explained.

Toby and Will nodded at that. That was probably for the best. Their brother had a bad habit of not taking care of himself when he was hyper focused, or stressed. Or both in this case. About ten minutes later, maybe more, Phil came in through the back door, Technoblade in tow. The latter looked less than pleased.

"I said I was fine- Tommy is still out there!" He grunted, trying to pull away from him.

"I know, Techno, I know-" Phil said, trying to soothe him, "I'm worried too- but you still can't run yourself ragged, you're still technically recovering-"

"The hell I can't!" Techno pulled his hand away. His burns had mostly healed from the other night, a perk of his abilities. He could still burn himself and feel the pain, but at least his burns healed faster than normal. Most of the time.

Speaking of burns, now that Toby thought about it, he hadn't seen a single burn on Schlatt when they'd fought, and even if they'd been out of sight, he hadn't moved like there were any burns at all. But that didn't make any sense....

"Techno, Tommy wouldn't want-"

"I doubt Tommy wanted to get kidnapped by some fucking sicko either, yet here we are!"

He knew Techno was seriously pissed, and/or stressed when he of all people was cursing...Kristin didn't even reprimand him for it-

"We don't know what happened, or if-"

"We can make a pretty good guess.." Techno scowled, holding up a cellphone, "It was on a less travelled street by us. It's Tommy's..."

"Techno-"

"It is!" He pressed the power button, showing the familiar picture of the four brothers that Phil took. Tommy always said he was going to change because it was "too sappy" but he never had, and got defensive when asked about it.. The four of them looked so happy, all smiles for the camera (with the exception of Tommy's devilish grin and Techno's smirk). No doubt it was their brother's phone.

"We need to figure out who could have taken him," Wilbur interjected, trying to relieve the tension before the two could start arguing or yelling, "Is it possible that one of Techno's enemies could have taken him?"

Rather than diffuse the situation, this caused his twin to whirl on him. Flame danced up his arm as his temper and stress started getting the better of him. He usually managed to keep it and his powers in check. "Are you saying this is my fault?"

"What? No of course not Techno that's not what I meant at all-"

"Really? Cause that's what it sounded like-"

"Techno come on-"

"Techno, your fire-" Phil said, trying to calm both brothers before someone got hurt.

They started arguing, and Toby covered his ears as their parents stepped in to try and stop the twins from going in on each other. The raised voices were not helping his head, which had stayed fairly manageable up until now...his head hurt as his mind raced. He had almost no doubt now that this was his fault, but he had no clue as to where he could find Schlatt, or Tommy. No clue how he could get him home safely, especially in his current condition...god, what was he going to do?

~•~

Tommy decided that he did not like torture. Did anybody, really? Well, Schlatt apparently did, but that made sense for a villain, and the one doing the torturing.

Fucking sadist... Tommy thought to himself. Although to be fair, he'd been lucky so far. As much as you can be in such a situation. Schlatt seemed to be taking it easy on him, compared to the horrors of what he'd seen in movies and stuff, or to the time Wilbur had gotten taken to try and figure out Techno's identity... The only tool from the cart Schlatt'd had Fundy bring in that he'd used was your standard knife...and even then not too much. He relied on his fists a lot.. The ginger hadn't met Tommy's eyes and had scampered out as soon as he was dismissed. Tommy guessed Schlatt was trying to intimidate him or something.

Quackity had been dismissed too, though he'd seemed like he wanted to protest. One look from Schlatt though and he'd quickly left the room. Now, Tommy had several bruises on his face and his arms. He had a busted lip, and his ribs hurt, and some cuts too, but the only one that still stung and was really deep was the cut under his left eye, on his cheekbone. He'd been doing his best not to scream, or cry. He didn't want to give The villain the satisfaction. But goddamn, it hurt like a bitch- But it was ok. He was a big man, he could do this. He was a big man, he would be ok...his family would be looking for him, right? The heroes... They'd find him...and if he found a way out before they could, just as well...before he could continue his inner musings and reassurances they were interrupted by the ram horned man.

"I didn't want to do this, I really didn't..." Schlatt said, cracking his knuckles, looking at Tommy almost apologetically. Though Tommy knew that was bullshit. He didn't know if the man was even capable of empathy.

"I wanted you to help me Tubbo, I didn't want it to resort to hurting you this early on.."

"For the last bloody time, I'm not Tubbo!" He yelled, which made the cut on his face throb and made him wince.

Schlatt clenched his fists, an annoyed look on his face, before turning away from Tommy and muttering to himself.

"He is rather persistent...seems convinced...but Fundy's tracking has never been wrong before..." he continued to mutter, before going to the door and opening it, "George, get in here."

The boy with the sunglasses walked in timidly. He couldn't have been much older than Will and Techno, if was older at all. He also refused to meet Tommy's eyes, at least that's what Tommy assumed, he couldn't see his eyes through the glasses.

"Oh, and what's Gogy here going to do?" He raised an eyebrow at the boy, who didn't seem to know how to react to the nickname.

"He's going to tell me whether you're lying or not..." Schlatt said, narrowing his eyes at Tommy.

"What, does he have powers or..?"

"He does," The ram horned man said, a note of pride in his voice, "All my sons do."

"And you didn't think of this before...why?"

Schlatt snarled, but said nothing, before he glanced at the boy next to him, who didn't even look at him. "Go on George."

George slowly moved towards the chair, not meeting Tommy's glare as he crouched in front of him.

"'M sorry..." he murmured, so quiet Tommy barely heard him. He looked genuinely apologetic, unlike his dad had been moments before.

He watched as George reached up, taking off the sunglasses and putting them on his head. His eyes were kind, but tired. As he looked at Tommy, his eyes began to glow blue.

Woah...Tommy thought to himself as he watched. When George's eyes went back to normal, he looked a little worried, and judging by the look he was giving Tommy, it was worry for him. Lovely.

George stood up, putting his sunglasses on again before turning to Schlatt.

"Well?"

"H-he, uh- he-"

"Spit it out boy"

"He's telling the truth...he... he's not Tubbo-"

Both of them jumped when the man slammed his fist into the wall next to him, although Tommy wasn't able to jump much, George nearly hit the ceiling.

"Dammit!" He snarled, glaring at George, then Tommy.

The boy was tempted to tell him 'I told you so' or laugh at the villain's stupidity, but he didn't feel like pushing his luck. Schlatt started pacing, waving George off, and the brunette scampered out quickly. Instead he began thinking of what Schlatt had said. They'd somehow gotten his bandana off of Tubbo...but how had Tubbo gotten his bandana in the first place? It made no sense, unless...he paused, gears turning. Then the realization hit him. Toby-

Unfortunately, Schlatt seemed to have a similar revelation. He stopped pacing, and a wide grin spread across his face. "If you're not Tubbo, it must be someone close to you, yeah?"

"Nope, I was actually lying the whole time, it's very easy to mess with evil pricks like you. I'm Tubbo, you got me-"

Schlatt chuckled darkly, "uh huh...you're protecting someone aren't you? No matter. It should be easy to lure him out when I have a hostage that's close to him..."

"No! I'm Tubbo you prick!" He yelled as Schlatt turned around, starting to walk out, "Get back here bitch! You motherfucker!"

Schlatt walked out, laughing, and closing the door behind him, which mostly muffled the boy in the chair. Outside the room, Quackity had been calming George down, just before Schlatt came out. They heard Tommy yelling as Schlatt walked away and the door closed. The two brothers stared after Schlatts retreating back, before looking at each other, unease and uncertainty written clearly on their faces.