Chapter Text
The remaining villains looked around in shock, obviously not finding Invisi-Bill anywhere. They glanced between each other, not sure where to go from here, before a new sound caught their attention.
Alarms rang out from the camera shop nearby and Wordgirl came zipping in, holding Captain Huggy Face by his arm. She looked slightly frazzled, as if she'd gotten there in even more of a rush than usual.
"Aha!"
She excitedly pointed at the villains, nearly dropping Huggy in the process.
"Stop right there villains! I'm here to put a stop to-"
She cut herself off, looking out into the small crowd of horrified looking villains.
"Woah.. Is.. everyone here okay? You know I'm not going to hurt you."
The villains nervously looked between each other again, and then looked around. Miss Question was the first to ask
"Say you don't have supervision or anything that would let you see people based off body heat, do you?"
Wordgirl floated down to the ground, giving Huggy a questioning look which he promptly returned.
"Um.. No? I feel like I missed something here.."
The conversation was disrupted by a loud crash coming from a nearby alleyway. Coach stumbled out with his shirt crumpled and his glasses off center.
"What you 'missed' was Invisi-Bill losing his marbles!"
Wordgirl sharply turned, a look of confusion setting in as she repeated.
"Invisi-Bill?"
The Whammer cleared his throat stepping up to the defense of his friend.
"The Whammer thinks that maybe Coach just scared him.."
Coach glared over at the Whammer, clearly offended
"I scared him? He lifted me up and borderline threatened me!"
He waved his arms in exasperation. Whammer thought for a moment, putting a finger to his chin.
"Huh.. Well yeah, he did kinda do that."
"Wait hold on-"
Wordgirl interjected, turning all the heads of the villains.
"So Invisi-Bill had some sort of outburst.. did he mention anything specific that caused him so much distress."
Timbo raised his hand, replying
"Uh.. I do remember him talking about wanting people to look at him and him existing and stuff.."
Bob chippered in confusion, looking up and asking Wordgirl where she was going with this. She looked down to her sidekick and promptly responded
"Well Bob- I think I may have just found a motive and suspect for that problem we've been having. An Invisible man who feels unobtrusive.. Wait- was he the one that stole from the camera shop?"
Miss Question nodded, promptly asking
"Why?"
Wordgirl ignored her, flying into the back of the video store and taking the surveillance camera. The cashier looked at her in bewilderment before she briefly explained.
"I promise I'll be right back!"
And flew off back outside.. the cashier just put their head down on the counter in defeat.
She zipped back outside; It didn't take long for Bob, and eventually the villains, to gather around as the video started to replay.
It took a moment for Wordgirl to even register where Invisi-Bill was. In the corner of the screen she could see a camera lift, and it wasn't too long after that the table crashed. It.. wouldn't have made sense for Invisi-Bill to have fallen then, especially given what the villains had reported. It seemed like she wasn't the only one to realize that. There was a pause, where everyone looked between one another before Amazing Rope Guy suggested
"So uh.. You think somebody should call his roommate?"
Big Left Hand Guy was at home alone, just starting to make lunch when he heard the door unlock and open. He didn't even bother turning away from his work when he responded.
"Hey Bill! How'd the villain meet-up go? You're home a little early."
He waited for a response, and was confused when it never came. He turned around, further perplexed when he saw no one was in sight. He raised a brow, looking wall to wall.
"Uh.. Bill, are you alright?"
He heard an inaudible mumble pass him, and just a moment later, he watched a visible indent form in their mattress. Big Left Hand Guy's expression quietly changed to a frown. He removed his oven mitts and set them on the counter before making his way over to their bed. He sat next to Invisi-Bill's outline, looking down at him as he tried to think of what to say.
"So.. I'm going to assume it didn't go very good, huh?"
There was no answer. Eventually, Big Left Hand Guy felt Invisi-Bill's hand wrap around his arm loosely. What followed soon after was the all too familiar sound of Invisi-Bill reappearing. His hair looked a mess and his cheeks were a stinging pink. The expression on Invisi-Bill's face struck Big Left Hand Guy as completely alien for such a usually emotional man. Invisi-Bill's eyes were far away sad and the rest of his face remained tired and blank.
He turned over on bed but didn't look up. Big Left Hand Guy's concern tripled.
"Bill.. What happened?"
Invisi-Bill didn't really answer the question, still looking out into nothing.
"Invisi-Bill… doesn't like when people act like he's not there."
Big Left Hand Guy's frown deepened as he furrowed his brows. He tried to think about what could have happened at the meeting to result in Invisi-Bill being in such a state but he soon stopped for both of their sake. He sighed gently and tried to be some sort of support.
"I'm so sorry buddy, I really wanted this to go better for you.. Hey look, maybe there's something you could work on to help make sure this doesn't happen again.. like a project, I mean."
The suggestion was a whim; an offhand comment meant to improve Invisi-Bill's mood, but as soon as the words left Big Left Hand Guy's mouth, Invisi-Bill's eyes locked forward.
He sat up in bed so suddenly it nearly made Big Left flinch. A slight smile finally returned to his face. Invisi-Bill put his hands on Big Left Hand Guy's shoulders and spoke as if he was out of breath.
"Invisi-Bill has a plan."
Without waiting for a response, he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and started for the door. Big Left Hand Guy, more confused than ever, followed after him.
"Well- that's great! But what do you mean by-"
He was cut out when his phone went off. He recognized the number as Timbos, but decided it could wait and promptly hung up.
"- plan?.. Where are you going?"
Invisi-Bill stopped in his tracks, turning back to Big Left Hand Guy on his heel. It only took a moment to compose himself before he assured him.
"Invisi-Bill's just going on a walk. He'll be back, Invisi-Bill promises! There's just.. something that needs to be done."
Big Left Hand Guy's phone went off again. While he was turning it off, Invisi-Bill side-stepped over to the shelf next to their door, grabbing a small white bag Big Left Hand Guy hadn't noticed before. Invisi-Bill gave Big Left Hand Guy a reassuring smile, though it didn't seem to help all that much. Before Big Left Hand Guy could get a response out, Invisi-Bill was quick to pull him into a hug.
What followed was a silence that didn't exactly put Big Left at ease either.. The house has rarely been silent since Invisi-Bill moved in, and he had liked it that way. When Invisi-Bill was silent like this… something just felt wrong. He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound breached the quiet. The hug went on for nearly a minute before Invisi-Bill pulled away, a gentle smile still making residents.
"Invisi-Bill is going to make everything better.. I promise."
Before Big Left Hand Guy had time to move, he thought he had heard the door open, but as he looked up, he could only see it close.