Toby was having a blast. Granted he wasn't a huge party person, but he was still having fun. Grayson, or Purpled as his friends called him, knew how to throw them. There didn't necessarily need to be a reason to do so. And being the responsible teenager he was, he made sure they were safe for the most part as well, which Toby appreciated. He'd heard horror stories of other high school parties with drinking and substances, and he was glad he could easily avoid it.

He smiled out on the front steps, sipping his punch and thinking about this. He could feel the bass of the music that was coming from inside. He and Tommy had been there for an hour or so helping Purpled decorate, when Karl and Quackity had shown up. The five of them had finished decorating when other people started showing up, and the party had really begun. Toby just wanted to see the stars and relax for a bit, though they were more difficult to see closer to the city center. It was a beautiful night, he thought. Quiet, peaceful-

A scream broke through the peaceful silence of the night, making the boy jolt upwards.It had sounded semi close. He looked back at the house. The music was probably too loud for anyone inside to hear, and the residents of the surrounding buildings were probably either asleep, or assuming that it came from the party. Just stupid, loud kids messing around. After a brief mental argument with himself, and another yell, he got up and started towards the sound. God this was stupid, what was he doing? He was going to get himself killed, or possibly hurt someone else- But someone was in danger, he couldn't just ignore the could he?

He heard sounds of a scuffle in an alley, peeking around the corner carefully. His eyes widened. Two people were fighting, well, not exactly. A girl who couldn't have been more than two years older than himself, closer to Wilbur and Techno's age, was trying to get past a man, out of the alley. She was slightly injured, a cut above her eye, and a few bruises. Was this an assault..? No... Tubbo pulled himself back behind the wall fully as quickly as he could when he noticed the ram horns on the man. There was only one man with horns that attacked civilians for fun...one villain so elusive they only knew his ability, and the villain name he had given himself. One villain so powerful and influential, no one had caught him yet, nor had anyone survived an encounter with him without at least a few scars. If you were lucky to survive at all.

Part of him wanted to run, to go back to the party and not get involved. This wasn't his fight. He was no hero. If he left now, he would be safe. He heard a sudden gasp from the girl, and a dark chuckle from the villain. He peeked, against the part of his brain telling him to ignore it, back into the alley. The girl was being held up and pinned to the wall by her throat, trying to claw at his hand. As she struggled, her eyes met Toby's causing both pairs to widen in shock and surprise.

"Help...me..." she choked out quietly

Something in Toby shifted, and he pulled himself behind the wall again, heart beating fast. He pulled the green bandana Tommy had given him up over his mouth and nose, before pulling the hood of his hoodie up as well, before fully stepping out into the entrance of the alley. The villain was laughing cruelly.

"No one can hear you, might as well accept your fate-" he snarled, squeezing harder.

Toby raised his hands, closing his eyes. His body seemed to be moving on his own as he imagined puppet strings coming from his fingertips and connecting to the horned man's wrists, ankles, and torso. He hadn't done this in years, but it still felt natural, which he wasn't sure he liked. As soon as they were connected, he opened his eyes, closed his fists like he was grabbing something, and yanked. Seemingly pulled by nothing, the villain stumbled back, releasing the girl, who dropped to her knees, coughing. The man whipped around to see what caused this, spotting Toby and glaring. The boy made sure to avoid his eyes, remembering the registry saying he could cancel your powers out for about five minutes if you made eye contact with him. He could also do it for as long as he kept skin to skin contact with someone.

He kept a grip on the imaginary puppet strings with one hand, trying to keep the man in place, while gesturing to the girl to move to him. She shakily got to her feet, and moved as quickly as she could behind him.

"Are you-" he started, turning to look at her, before stopping, clearing his throat, and lowering his voice, "Uh, are you ok?"

She nodded, "I- Yes, I think-"

Then, her eyes widened in fear, "Look out!"

Shit, he'd let the puppet strings slack- the villain launched himself towards them with a snarl. Toby tried to remember what Techno had taught him about fighting but in his panic he couldn't remember. Alright Toby, use your power again- He immediately tightened the grip on the imaginary strings, before willing the man's body to run into the wall on the alley, which he promptly did. Holy shit-

"Come on-!" The girl grabbed his wrist, and they ran away, leaving the villain Schlatt dazed, pissed, and confused behind them.

They ran for several minutes, before the girl stopped and let go, trying to catch her breath. Toby did the same, sitting on the ground and taking deep breaths. He'd just done that. That was insane. That didn't just happen did it? What the hell...His head was spinning.

"Thank you..." He was snapped out of his thoughts by the girl, who sat down by him, looking over at him, "Really...I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there.."

"Uh, don't mention it, really..." he said, still using the deeper voice he'd used earlier.

"Still, I really owe you-" She said, tilting her head a little as she looked at him, "I'm Niki. What's your name? I didn't think there were any other heroes in L'Manberg...And I've never read about anyone with powers like yours before..."

"I...uh-" these were questions he couldn't answer easily. Ok, no problem, just...make up a name. No problem.

"I-I'm Tubbo-" he said, quickly standing up, "Uh, can you get home safely?"

"Yeah, I live near here, but-"

"It was nice meeting you Niki, but I really need to go...get home safe!" He said, backing away, then bolting, "Sorry!"

He heard her yell something after him, but he was already gone. He ran back to Purpled's house, pulling down his bandana and hood. Tommy was out on the front steps, looking worried. When he spotted Toby, he ran to him, pulling him into a hug.

"Where the hell were you?" he asked, quickly pulling away from his brother, "you scared me you dickhead-"

"Sorry, sorry-" he said sheepishly, "I uh, thought I heard a cat or something-"

"Idiot-" Tommy rolled his eyes, "What if someone tried to grab you?"

"I know, I'm sorry-" Toby rubbed the back of his neck, "won't happen again-"

"The party's nearly over, I'll call Wilbur so he can come get us in a bit."

"Sounds good-"

The two went back inside to hang out with their friends, Toby glancing back once at the dark street.

_

The car ride home was fairly quiet, and peaceful. Wilbur had asked about the party and they had told him it was good. Tommy talked about it mostly, while Toby pretended to listen, nodding, as he stared out the window and went over what had just happened in his head. He hadn't used his powers since they'd first manifested...

He'd been 9 at the time, his family at an amusement park. Phil has gotten them ice cream, and he'd wanted a second one, but Phil and Kristin had said no. The others had started walking away, and Toby had turned to the man, seeing the imaginary puppet strings, thinking how he wanted the man behind the counter to give him another ice cream. And then he had. His movements had been jerky and his face was a mask of shock and fear, but he had. Toby couldn't forget the fear on the man's face after he'd given Toby the treat. Toby had left the store and gotten lost, which led to him, his dad, and brothers searching that area of the park frantically in circles around each other for a while. During that time, Toby thought about how scared the man had been, of him. Of what he did to him. Controlling people was scary. It was the power of a villain. He promised himself he'd never tell anyone, not even Tommy. He never was entered into the registry. He was a normal boy. It was for the better..With a power like his, how could he ever hope to be a hero?

He paused at that thought. He had been a hero in that alley hadn't he? Niki hadn't seemed scared of him, or weirded out by his power...She seemed confused and curious if anything, and that was just because she hadn't read about someone with that power before. Part of him, the part that had told him to run in the first place, told him that he was being stupid, but the rest of him wasn't too sure. He decided not to think about it for now, all of the events of tonight were giving him a headache.

Later that night, after a semi eventful dinner where they watched the news reporting on a governor's house that had been burned down, though the crooks had been apprehended by Techno and no one had been hurt. Techno had shrugged and said,

"Oh well, at least I got them after the fact-"

Toby laid in his bed. He still had a headache, and he could hear Tommy snoring. He let his mind wander back to the events in the alley. Could he be a hero? Could he really do it? And more importantly should he? Did he even want to? Yes. Yes he did. He wanted to help people. And if Techno could do it, surely he could too. Though he wasn't as inclined to anarchy as his brother was, they had similar morals. They couldn't leave someone in need... He made up his mind as he dozed off. He'd try doing some "hero work" tomorrow night. With that decided, Toby allowed himself to be enveloped by the darkness of sleep.