This was bad, so bad. This entire situation was positively not good. All four of Damarko Myers' separate selves (Rabbit, Colt, Puma, and Armadillo as they called themselves) were cut off from almost the entire rest of the Minority team aside from Wobble. Cut off by a man who seemed to be able to project geysers of fire or ice from himself at will. In most cases, the quartet of Syndicate selves would have been able to say that at least they were keeping this guy away from the others. But no, there were plenty of other incredibly goddamn dangerous Fells spread through this field they'd been teleported to. Fells who were right then doing who knew what to the rest of their teammates.

But they couldn't focus on that. They couldn't let themselves think about what might be happening out there. They had to trust their friends to handle it, and focus on their own situation. Even with four of them, the Syndicate couldn't afford to be distracted right now. Not with how easily this fucking guy seemed to be able to hurl blazing infernos and goddamn glaciers around.

Only one of their selves had to be vulnerable at any given time. The other three could be totally intangible. And Wobble was fairly well protected inside his Touched-Tech power armor. But whichever Syndicate who wasn't intangible, that one was always vulnerable. Worse, this guy seemed to be very good at noticing which of them that was, and directing his attacks that way so they had to shift it around to one of the others. And so on it went. None of them could get anywhere near the guy long enough to shift back to their solid state and hit him. Wobble might've been protected from being hurt by the flames, but this bastard could just freeze his armor solid to take him out of the fight.

No, this wasn't working, at all. And the longer this fight went on, the more they were forced to dive out of the way, shift their intangibility around, and try to distract this guy from Wobble, the more danger the rest of the team was in. They had to try something else to get this over with.

That much, the fact that what they were doing now wasn't going to work and that they had to do something new, had been clear within about five seconds of being cut off from the others. But it was almost a full minute of frantic dodging, sprinting, and intangibility-shifting before they had an actual idea of what to do. A full minute that had left this entire area of the field covered in scorch marks and patches of melting ice. Whoever this Fell was, he was clearly enjoying himself now, and didn't seem to be in any sort of hurry. He was just leisurely throwing his fire and ice around.

He wasn't taking them seriously, that much was obvious. He didn't see them as a real threat, or any sort of problem. Clearly, in his mind, he'd neutralized their only strengths, numbers and intangibility. They were going to make him regret that. Just like he'd regret starting this shit at all.

The Syndicate had come up with an actual plan in that first sixty seconds. But it took another forty-five for them to pass the information to Wobble, in quick whispers of a few words at a time whenever one of them passed by him through the course of what looked like ordinary frantic dodging.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Wobble was in on things. He'd been told what his part of this was, what he needed to do if they were going to pull this off. The large boy gave a single word of acknowledgment, letting them know he was ready and waiting for the signal. Now they all just had to hope this actually worked, and didn't get any of them killed. But one way or another, they had to try it. Because they were already getting tired, and if they made a mistake while dodging around, avoiding all the flames and blizzards being flung at them, it wouldn't matter how dangerous their plan was. Better to try and fail than let themselves get worn out like this until they fucked up and got fucking killed anyway. At least the first way, they had a chance.

The first step of the plan was, well, taking a lot of steps. As soon as one of the Syndicate, Puma, saw the opening they needed, he went for it. The stranger was facing away from him, sending fire one way and ice another, at two of his other selves. He, in turn, ran straight toward the man from behind, turning solid on the way as he approached the fucking bastard with one fist raised.

It wasn't enough, of course. Before he managed to get within even a few feet, the Fell snapped his hand back that way and filled the space between them with a blazing inferno. An inferno that left even Wobble in his armor reeling back from the force of that incredible heat. When the fire flickered away, there was no one, and nothing, in its place. Nothing, that was, save for the very tattered and smoldering remnants of the gold and red armor pieces of the Syndicate costume.

A cacophony of screaming erupted from all three remaining Syndicates, though the roar of the flames all around them drowned most of it out. Two of those, Rabbit and Colt, were still intangible, the third, Armadillo, was solid. But solid or not, all three seemed to forget any and all ideas of stealth or tactics as they went racing straight at the Fell from all sides. And they were joined in that charge by Wobble, who made his own noise of indescribable grief and blind rage.

All four converged on the man, and all four failed. An ice flow rose and expanded outward to hit Wobble head on, encasing his entire form. Meanwhile, the Fell man's other hand made a quick, circular gesture around himself, creating what amounted to a flamethrower effect that followed all three of the incoming Syndicates. No matter which one was tangible, he would be in danger.

Except… none of them were tangible. As the Fell continued his pivot, he watched the flames pass over all three, and there was no effect on any of them. That wasn't right, there were three Syndicate boys left, and one always had to be solid at any given time. So which one was the--

Realizing his mistake, the man spun back around, already focusing on summoning more fire. But it was too late. Granted, it wouldn't have been. He had very quick reactions, after all. But he was right in the middle of trying to correct his first mistake, when the second one showed itself.

His first mistake had been believing his fire had reduced the first Syndicate boy, Puma, to ash. Of course, making him think that had been the plan all along. That was why Puma had waited for the right moment, then sprinted that way at the exact right angle to catch the man's attention. When the Fell had sent that fire at him, Puma went intangible, unlatching the top of his costume armor in the process and dropping it to be burned by the flames as evidence. Meanwhile, he went underground and carefully moved closer to the man while using his connection to the other three to position himself properly. After all, as distracted as the man was, he didn't notice one tiny finger poking up out of the ground. But the finger allowed him to put himself in the right spot, since the others could see it.

Once he was there, as soon as the opening came when the other Syndicates ran in just the right way to get the man to pivot in a predictable direction and speed, Puma rose out of the ground and took on the tangibility so they could become ghost-like and thus immune to those flames. He had put himself directly behind the man. Which still would've left him vulnerable as soon as this guy realized what was going on. But that was where the second big mistake came into play.

That second mistake was named Wobble. Naturally, he knew what was happening, and his own enraged charge was a ploy as well. They had known the man would send ice at him rather than fire, because the ice would stop him in place. It would freeze the armor. And so it had. But at the last second, just as the wave of frost was incoming, Wobble had ejected backwards out of the medieval knight-themed emerald power armor. He always used a simple mask and jumpsuit inside the thing anyway, so his identity would be fine. Tall as he was, the armor was still bigger, so it still shielded him from the worst of the ice. Even better, he was able to stay hidden behind it even more effectively once the armor was covered in ice, making it larger than it already was.

Wobble stayed there, motionless, until their opponent realized all three Syndicates he could see were intangible. Then, in the second that the man focused on starting to shift his attack to the spot behind himself, where Puma had to be, Wobble struck. He leaned around the frozen armor, raised both hands, and sent the biggest wave of nausea he could manage right at the prick.

The stranger was hit by that wave right as his attention shifted toward the boy behind him. He was caught completely off guard and almost dropped to his knees, doubling over with a violent gagging sound. One hand went to his mouth while the other clutched his stomach. All thought of controlling his flames and ice went out the window. It was probably only for a brief instant before he would have brought himself under control. But he was still doubled-over when Puma's fist collided with the side of his face with enough force to knock a couple of his teeth out. Followed by his other fist, knocking him staggering off to one side.

That was when Puma became intangible once more, just in time for Armadillo, who had come lunging in from that side, to turn solid and land a devastating kick into the man's stomach. If he hadn't already been about to lose his lunch, that would've done the trick. And really, Rabbit and Colt taking their turns to kick the man's legs out from under him and then plant a foot right in his face after he fell was probably a bit overboard. But hey, they had almost been killed a dozen times or so just in the past few minutes. All of their emotions were running kinda high right then.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

In any case, the man was down and in no mood to start throwing fire or ice around any time soon. Really, most of his attention seemed to be solely put toward not throwing up anymore. It wouldn't last long, but it didn't need to. They only needed this brief window to get a set of cuffs on him. Then he'd be contained. And he would have been. They would have had him locked down. Except just as Rabbit started to hold his arms in place to put those cuffs on, he was abruptly shoved out of the way and knocked to the ground by Wobble of all people.

They were all confused at first, but quickly realized what happened. The barechested man with the purple, gold, and black needles sticking out all over his skin had arrived on this side of the wall of flames that had cut them off from the rest of what was going on. He'd simply stepped through an opening into view before sending a flurry of needles that way. Wobble, out of his armor, was still large and strong enough to throw himself into those two and knock them down, so the needles went by just over their heads.

Rolling over, the three were about to jump to their feet, even as the remaining two Syndicates went to interpose themselves between the pincushion man and their prisoner. But he just stood there without going any closer. Even as the wall of flames behind him rapidly died down now that it wasn't being reinforced, he simply watched them with a soft grunt of what sounded like approval. "Well done," he announced, without a single trace of anger at the fact that they had beaten his… teammate, partner, friend? Whatever the fire and ice man was, this guy really didn't seem all that put out to see him on the ground like that. "Your Minority team is quite impressive."

"Yeah?" Armadillo called back to him, keeping an eye on those damn needles. He was ready to dive the instant any of them so much as twitched. "Well, why don't you come over here so we can see just how impressed you can be when you get a real good look at how good we are?" Damn it, he sent to the other three, can anyone see Carousel and Flashflak? Are they okay?

Can't-- wait, there they are! That was Colt, who had a better view of the area behind the needle man since he was literally standing right in the middle of the still-flickering flames. The benefits of being intangible. At least, I think it's them. The smoke is kinda thick right-- yeah, there they are! Looks like they're okay. The relief was audible even in his mental 'voice.' Relief that spread through all four of them. Way and Fragile are with them, we just gotta keep this damn guy busy!

Unfortunately, the man in question clearly didn't plan on cooperating with that. He simply gave a soft, apparently genuinely amused chuckle when Armadillo tried to convince him to go closer. No sooner had Colt and Puma started to step that way from either side to close the net a bit, than the man raised a finger. The index, not the one the Syndicates would've used in such a situation. "Someday soon, I'm sure we'll do this again. Perhaps I'll see what you're truly capable of then."

By that point, the flames had died down enough for the other four to join them. But even as they did, the needle man had already touched something on his belt. Then he was gone. As was his companion. They hadn't managed to cuff the guy before being distracted by the needle man, and he'd recovered enough to touch what was obviously a teleportation toy of his own. Both vanished almost simultaneously in a bright flash of multi-colored light. Like a quick rainbow.

And that wasn't the only teleportation that happened in that moment. Almost instantly after they disappeared, That-A-Way, Fragile, Carousel, and Flashflak popped into view, as Amber brought them past the smoldering flames. All four looked ready for a fight, only to stop short at what they saw. "What-- what happened, where'd they go?" Amber asked quickly, eyes darting around as if she was fully convinced the strange Fells were going to pop up right behind them any second.

"They're gone," Armadillo informed them, brushing himself off with a grimace. "And I don't think they're coming back. Whoever they are, they aren't interested in sticking around here playing with us." He took a deep breath then, before starting to pivot. "But come on, the others are still--"

"Just fine." That was Yeet, as she and her brother approached at a jog. "Sorry, we're good, but ours ran away too. I mean, after she got backup from that really strong lady. They both just took off. Teleported who knows where. But she said…" The girl hesitated, shifting her weight slightly.

"She said someone died," Facs put in. "Two someones. One of theirs, the uhh, canine one? The younger one called him Fido. The old lady said he was killed and so was some girl who 'tried to play hero.' She didn't say anything else about it. But… but if someone died back there because she had to try to stop them after we disappeared…" The guilt in his voice was very apparent.

"We'll get back there and find out what happened," Wobble, still out of his armor, assured him. "And if someone really did die…" He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing over at Rabbit and Puma for help. The large boy obviously had no idea what to say to that, or how to continue. The urge was there, for all of them, to say that it wasn't their fault. But that wouldn't help, not really.

All four of the Damarkos exchanged silent looks and equally silent mental communication. They had nothing. Honestly, they were still trying to come down off the adrenaline rush from that whole fight, and the terror of… of everything. The fact that their quick, desperate plan had really worked, at least enough to put that guy on the ground until his buddy saved him, was enough of a shock on its own. They had no clue what to say to their new teammate about this unknown girl who might've died after they were teleported out of that area. Yes, obviously it wasn't their fault. They didn't ask to be transported. But hearing that probably wouldn't make Facs feel any better.

It was Flashflak who found his voice first. "We'll help. If… if someone died, they'll have family and friends, people they cared about. We can be there. We can make sure they know what really happened. At least, as much as we can find out. And umm, if… if they don't just tell us to get away from them, we can try to help. You know, any way we can. We can be there for them."

"You guys don't think that'd be weird or dumb?" Facs blinked around at the others, all of them still panting for breath. "I know people get hurt and die all the time in these things. Trust me, I really know that. But I just-- this is kind of our first big thing out like this, and… and the way that woman said it, the way she talked about that girl, I… I just.. I've gotta know who she is, who she was, and what happened. And if we can help, then… yeah, but if you guys don't wanna be in--"

"Hey." That was Fragile, as she made a bit of glass form itself into a disc under her feet to lift herself up slightly so she could be face to face with him. "We're a team, right? We'll be there."

"She's right," Amber agreed quickly. "We'll definitely be there. Whoever that girl was, whatever really happened back there, if she stepped in and tried to stop these people, she's a hero. We'll honor that. And we'll do what we can to help whoever she left behind. If they'll actually let us."

"First, our official duties do beckon," Carousel pointed out. "So I feel we should call to check in. Whatever those people were trying to plunder, we need to ensure their theft was a blunder."

"Yeah," Yeet agreed, "we should let them know we're okay. They're probably really freaking out right now, and you don't wanna see what happens if our--" She blinked over at Puma abruptly, clearly just noticing the state he was in. "Dude, what happened to the top half of your costume? I mean, I'm not complaining that much, but are you okay? You guys look a little singed." That bit came as she took in the rest of the Damarkos and Wobble. Even Carousel and Flashflak had taken a little heat in the course of all that.

Everyone insisted they were okay. But Wobble did use the phone in his armor, after making sure it was intact after all the punishment it'd gone through, to call back to the Minority base to check in. Which was apparently the right thing to do, since the GPS units that had been put in their costumes had shorted out after they were teleported, and the authorities were in the midst of calling out everyone to find them.

They were all picked up and taken in to be evaluated and questioned. Unfortunately, it seemed the strong woman back there, whoever she was, actually had managed to get out of there with the contents of the confiscated Touched-Tech vault. Which was just even more bad news. The Damarkos expected to be reprimanded for failing to stop them, but the people in charge just made it clear they weren't being held responsible. Somehow, that made them feel worse. And the fact that they had to be quarantined didn't help. Apparently there was something left behind from that teleportation thing that might have compromised them somehow. They all had to be thoroughly examined and then separated from everyone else for at least twenty-four hours.

But hey, at least they were being put up in a fancy hotel until then. Which… yeah, didn't really help much. They all wanted to get out of there.

Eventually, it was the next morning. The four Damarkos and Amber were sitting in the main living room of the combined suites they'd been given to stay, where they'd been watching sports replays of Paintball at those LEAT games the day before, which just made Amber even more anxious to get out there. She insisted something was wrong with Paintball, and given how intense the kid was out there, she probably had a point. But whatever was going on, they were cut off. There was nothing for them to do but wait until they were cleared.

At least, there was nothing for them to do until a knock came at the door. The five of them exchanged glances, putting their masks on, just in case, before Rabbit went to answer it. It was early enough that everyone else was still asleep in their rooms. When he tugged the door open, they all found themselves blinking at the sight of a familiar face. Or at least, a familiar mask.

"Grandstand?" They all chorused, Amber jumping up to stare that way in disbelief.

Sure enough, it was her. She stood with one hand over her eyes. "Is it safe to look, or do you kids still need to put your masks on?"

"This is the weirdest attack ever," Amber hissed.

"Oh please, if I was attacking you, you'd know." Grandstand made a huffing sound of annoyance with that before adding, "I'm here because I need to talk to Syndicate over there, and a few more of your teammates, but none of them have been answering any messages. And I figured I might as well include the rest of you since you'll probably hear about it."

"Hear about what?" Rabbit asked pointedly, while Amber stared at them. "In case it escaped you, we didn't reply because we're supposed to be quarantined. No outside communication until they're sure we're not compromised by… whatever."

Lowering her hand finally, Grandstand offered a small chuckle. "Oh, we've got bigger problems than your little quarantine. See, the person who hired those Fells you fought today was Glitch. Turns out she's been teaming up with Breakwater.

"And wait until you find out about the big show they're planning."

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