Chapter Text
« – Alright George, I'm off on patrol now.
– Okay, stay safe. The brunet shouted back, answering a call that had been made from across the house.
– Always do, Love you! » Dream spoke before leaving.
Once he heard the heavy door of the lab's tunnels closing, George shot up from where he had once been sat on the couch. He abruptly closed his, longed powered-off, laptop, and headed straight for the lab.
As soon he got there, he rushed to the command panel and did two things :
First, geo-localize Dream's position.
Second, log into his hidden data base. The process was a bit long seeing how it took a digital footprint and eye recognition security system. However once he was locked in, he hurriedly pressed a couple of buttons and waited for the little trap in his panel to slowly yet carefully open up revealing its sacred content : a single pair of handmade clout goggles.
He honestly was pretty proud of them. They were extremely high-tech yet light and thin although the branches were filled with cables and microchips, not to mention the fact they were made of aluminium reinforced with an even thinner layer of rubber to provide better isolement. But that wasn't the best part, no the best part were the lenses. on the outside they may have looked like regular sunglasses lenses, when in reality they were much much more. Actually they were kinda like those google smart glasses but ten time better. They were precise, connected to his brain, practical, and colorblind friendly. Like really, those glasses litteraly fixed colorblindness. He could see green, he could see red, that was so weird but so exciting.
The technological advances he made on those glasses were not to be neglected, they could have been to great help for humanity. I mean he had found a way to reverse the terrible nature of your eyes. He had thought more than once about developping them at work and suugest his ideas to his higher ups. On another hand he was scared that if his work on the goggles got leaked his identity would be at risk, and that was something he could quite litteraly not risk.
But anyway, now was not the time to throw himself flowers - though that was quite enjoyable -. He took them with both hands and ever so slowly carefully lift them to his head, perching them atop his hair. He blankly stared at his screen, both hands now flat to the cool feeling of the metal pannel, concentrating all the courage he had. After one last deep breath, George put the glasses on his eyes and clicked on the small 404 engraved at the beginning of the left branch. This particuliar movement had for effect to invoced his very own supersuit.
Contrary to the three other he designed, he made this one pretty casual. For the top he wore a light blue hoodie with red and white outlines on the side of the sleeves. To accentuate his waist he bear an average leather belt along with black jeans. For the shoes they were plain black adidas, because Nike wasn't deserving of his recognition or gratitude.
(Seriously, buy adidas and not Nike. Nike stands for Israel and exploit Uighurs. Adidas does neither : they buy from better cotton initiative and have long cut contracts they once had with Israel, just a friendly reminder!)
For his own personnal touch he had red gloves, akin to leather ones but thinner and much more elegant, not to mention fluid. Like the rest of the squad he had on a full black suit underneath the rest of his attire. Also, the hoodie, the suit, and pants were all made from the same extra resistant material of his own conception. Finally to make sure his identity was concealed a dark grey mask covered the lower half of his face, that way adding up with the big round goggles, his face was well hidden and his identity safely concealed. The mask was not made of tissue but a special something he invented to make it comfortable, audible and bearable. It was rigid, especially because he needed it to be able to get attached to the part where the glasses met his nose.
It looked very casual, but that was the goal, he didn't want to look like a professional hero for he did not want to be one. Truth to be told his aim was a bit more selfish.
Lately he noticed Dream coming home much more tired than usual. This happened ever since the Aces became active, or more so than they ever been. No one what they were up to but their reappearance break down chaos. And who had to be here to keep order ? The Dteam. I mean the police could intervene too but there was just so much going on. Small crimes like armed robbery or shoplifting, or much worse like murder, assault you name it. But the worst part were the big crimes association just like the Aces. Now the police department and the Dteam came to an agreement. The police would focus on major crimes like assault etc.. while the Dteam focus on crime organisation but if it came to be needed, the police were there for them. As for the smaller crimes they decided to equally share the task : everyone had their own zones delimited where they could act and had to supervise.
It might have looked settled but trust it was not. Each passing day George was blessed with a more and more tired husband, drained physically and mentally. And day by day it was becoming more and more frustrating, George was not sure how long he could take it anymore. Not only this behavior was starting to affect their personnal and marital life but watching your husband degrading with time was not funny or far from pleasant. It was devastating, heartbreaking even. But his breaking point was when Dream suggested working night shift. George could not let that slide, he would not sleep in an empty bed. So he decided he had to do something about it, it could not go on any longer. One way or another he was getting his husband back.
He went from solution to solution and concluded only one could work and was legitimate enough : join his friends in the fighting crime life. One problem, Dream alive he would never allow George to do so. Like never ever. The reason being he swore he would keep him safe, at all cost. This was sweet, but when they married each other George too made vows so that means he was also gonna protect his husband. Even if the other didn't want to. The only outcome it created being that now George had to go being his back, which is something he absolutely did not like at all. Dream put all his trust in him and he did just the same with him. He knew by doing that he was breaking Dream's trust but it needed to be done. For both of their sake.
Hence how 404 was born : from a personnal devotion of protection for both his friends and lover. George had powers, and he was smart. He was more than capable. However he was only gonna deal with small crimes like pickpocketing for instance. But most importantly, he was gonna stay on the low, he was to avoid "fame" at all cost. That's where the invisibility came in handy for him. He was gonna be the fantomatic hero, or crime fighter whatever you wanna call it.
Shooting one last glance at himself on the mirror, George nodded at his own reflection and smile. He could do it. Activating the gray face mask, he left the lab and headed for their garage. When he step inside he retrieved a small telecomand from his pocket and clicked the black cut out button on the bottom of the remote.This made a circular hole in the ground open up and a platform rise from an underground to the ground George was currently standing on. On that platform, a customized motor bike. As soon as the platform was settled to the ground George went to the bike and put on the hood of his sweater. Don't worry for him, the solidity of the material he created was just as good as a helmet. But much more serviceable.
Sitting down and putting the key in, he listened to the roar of the motor while watching the garage doors opening up to let him out. He hit the stand, got a good acceleration and left the headquarter.
Today was the begining of something new, something revolutionary.
