𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔭𝔥

“yeah when it’s someone else’s surprise, not mine.” dali’s eyes traced fox’s movement as much as it could until he went visibly rogue, then obviously, he would switch to detecting his thoughts. while four’s goofy ass crawled across the floor, three just vaguely sensed his next move and stepped into his path, looking in his general direction. “finding you isn’t the problem, it’s being already equipped with traps. i guess i should just start carrying them around.”

when he reappears, it’s as three, and not as four -- stretched out in a comfortable lay. “um, you don’t already? yikes.” four feigns a grimace, resting head upon a fist. “i could’ve sworn when i read the quote ‘stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready,’ it was credited to you?” 

either way, fox waves a hand in dismissal. “listen, that’s hardly the important part! the important part is that you need GRENADES. 

“ that bitch in there won’t fucking budge. ” vinny huffed as he walked into the kitchen and saw four hanging out eating something or other. grabbing himself a sparkling water, vinny popped the top off and took a large sip of it before looking over to fox. “ you got anything out of her? it’s almost like she’s been trained to not say shit. that or i’m the worst interrogator in all of fucking paragon. ” vinny sighed, needing to climb out of this hole that he put them all in by abducting MISS FORTUNE thinking the ends with justify the means. ( @capgrasyndromc​ )

“...wha?” four asks, monotonous as ever, as he takes another bite of a grilled cheese. “oh. HER. ya, no, you’re probably batshit bad as hell at interrogating... it’s not like you have a scary factor, you know?” four shrugs his shoulders, nonchalant as ever - though, the split-second-smile he wears betrays his portrayed seriousness. 

“honestly, this is prolly nothing compared to the worst she’s been through. those women were seriously prepared, you know?” he answers, thinking back to their fight. “heh - i bet if YOU got interrogated, you’d tell everything immediately, huh?

“HEY…what the fuck man?” after ducking quick and dodging behind a door frame, three sounded subdued and disappointed, more than in fear for his life. “i thought we were gonna make traps together. i’ll retry at you, just so it’s fair”

“SURPRISE IS HALF THE FUN!” four fires back, taking cover of his own behind a nearby couch. “retry if you can even FIND me, loser-lameass-wannabe...” four camouflages with the ground, army crawling out into the open like some sort of eldritch abomination. 

a literal bear trap whizzes past the other hero’s head.

“Yeah, yeah.” Five replied from the comfort of the passenger seat. Clearly not happy how thing landed on this trip. But he’ll share the wheel for at least once on these runs. Next time will be a different story. “Hopefully it’s something more than a simple purse snatch. I’ve been itching for another fight since that first mission.” Doubting they’d find an Ultra Lad just walking about but who knew what was out here.

Turning in his seat a bit he couldn’t but laugh. “Yeah. I feel like there’s a list back at HQ that says me, you and Six are never allowed on missions. You both are too chaotic and I cave to peer pressure.” False but funny. It be nice to have his two chaotic buddies all on one job together. “You telling me you’re not pack any grenades at all…I don’t believe you.”

“yeah, you’re so dumb for actually volunteering,” four croons, tapping fingers chaotically against the wheel to no beat in particular, “sounds like a good way to die quick - this will always be more fun.” plus, there was nobody in his ear telling him how to behave; no prying eyes apart from local police. it was truly four and five’s world, at the moment, and nobody could stop them... as far as four was concerned.

“i know right?” four snorts a laugh at peer pressure, happy to apply it if it meant things got done his way, “nope, not a-ONE! i gotta get used to this stupid fuckin hammer ‘til i get myself a gun license or whatever. PLUS, i learned something new, buuuuut... that’s like, a secret, ‘til we get into the HEAT of things! you know?”

—҉   #3

   Number Eight felt as if he was going to regret this with each passing step. The hallway, the next corridor, down towards the solid door that sealed behind it the very odd, the ever alot—NUMBER FOUR. 

    On their last encounter: it expanded two big brother episodes, a monologue about forbidden fireworks that it left the impression on Eight that more and more of them were basically reformed criminals. 

   Alas his knuckles brushed against the door whilst he painted on a hollow grin that held up a semblances of enthusiam to be here. “Hey Four,” he cleared his throat, “you in, I have a favor to ask?”

wordlessly, silently, four begins unlocking the (unexaggerated) series of ten different locks that kept the inside of his room with two from the rest of the world. 

it takes a good, long few seconds, but when the door finally does open, eight is instead met with the barrel of a shoddily put together gun... that is, until four realizes who he’s talking to. 

“oh!” four opens the door wide, tossing the ‘gun’ haphazardly onto his bed behind him. “TBH, i’m a super fickle, super picky guy. so, like, favor denied! probably. 

“and honestly, thank god for that. i’ve been itching to crack some skulls, you know?” while the rest of the team had begun their operations, operative-number-four had taken to boobytrapping the area around their headquarters just-in-case. 

created by weaving chromatophores, optical, and aramid fibers together, fox’s suit is more function than fashion (much to dahl’s chagrin). because it clings so tightly to the wearer’s body, it acts like an extra layer of muscle tissue — giving the otherwise scrawny looking fox falkowski a bit of extra natural heft while retaining his frame. extended wear grinds on the owner just like any ‘real’ armor would.

of course, none of this stops him from patching a ‘memento mori’ skull onto the shoulder.

the chromatophores that insulate the suit mirror that of an octopus, complimenting general shapeshiftery; and the fox mask has been replaced with a more utilitarian face mask made of the same materials. 

He smirked at the knuckled slap to his head. Grabbing Four’s chin between his fingers and holding him in place for a moment. “Yeah…but I’m still learning what I can trust out of that mouth of yours. I mean I can tell your lying to me about some things….just not what.” Bopping him on the nose once letting him go. A liar could always tell another liar. Just still figuring out what was game and what the truth. “Well you wanna take a bet on that? I got my roomie surprising you. How about if he makes it a full six months the winner of the bet gets to pick the losers codename for the rest of the time here.”

Oli put some distance between them once they reached the destination Four was dragging them. Sheer curiosity holding him by the leash to see what could possibly be worth leaving the warm comfort. He touched at the tree. First time see so many this close together. “What’s in it for me though?” Looking back over his shoulder. “Arson was never really my thing. I mean it’s cool and all but…” He shrugged. The beauty of Oli he could swing from saving the world to senseless destruction of nature. Just needed motivation.

“i REALLY only lie about inconsequential stuff. like, for example, your shoes are seriously untied!” four points downward for good effect, at five’s very-tied shoes. either way, he shifts his weight at the bet, coy smile overtaking his features. “sure! i love a good gamble.” the shapeshifter extends a hand for shaking — total bait. if taken, he’d instead grab five’s arm, pulling his own mouth to the man’s ear. “but if we’re betting, it’s gotta be fair... and that means ɴᴏ ᴏᴜᴛꜱɪᴅᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇʀꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴄᴇ. 

i just donno if you’re really prepared for what that means, you know?” 

how far could he get with this?

his jaw drops in feigned surprise at five’s fun fact, ducking and dodging between trunks with quick movements. “everyone likes arson! it’s like forbidden fireworks,” four sighs, “but if that’s not enough, and you don’t just wanna go apeshit for fun... 

ever heard of the gluck-gluck 9000?”

✨

a secret knock would probably be beneficial moving forward. at least then number four has the time to disable whatever trap he’s set in place. it’d also help calm fox’s worries if getting ambushed, even if that scenario was nearly impossible. “unless somebody else in the team is tryna kill ya, i don’t think you have much to worry about here,” the blonde assured him. the mansion seemed pretty well guarded. he doubted mutant wacko-jackos as fox so cleverly put them, were going to have an easy time breaking in the security defenses. 

there was some apprehension in his face when fox mentioned dying. “well, that’s kinda part of the job right?” he asked and rubbed his arm. “don’t get me wrong, i like living too. but if i do die saving someone, then i guess i won’t mind sacrificing my life…”

“that’s the thing,” four concedes, brows furrowed, “NOBODY in the team likes me, two. i mean, face it... would you even be talking to me if we weren’t stuck together? i’m just SOME LOUD WEIRDO.” the shifter holds back a yawn, as that would break the dramatic tension of the moment. instead, he looks at two with the same gusto a kicked puppy would. 

the man knew how to look good. that was what he got paid to do and he liked to think he was damn good at it. he was already getting ideas on how he was gonna market this and push it out to the masses. he just needed to get the camera rolling. so, when he held up his phone and saw the other in his shot, he got annoyed. “what the hell are you talking about? what ‘ransom video’?”

four makes a point of flexing every muscle that’s shown, very clearly attempting a photobomb of nothing but viral alex-from-target proportions. “you know, the thing where you hold up a newspaper with today’s date and ask your friends and family for X amount of bitcoin or an unnamed terrorist organization is gonna blow your fucking brains out.” he speaks nonchalant, as if none of this is a problem. which, really, when you were as unhinged and unbothered as four was, it wasn’t: fairly simple. “i can even play the terrorist if you want! my whole thing’s shapeshifting, i can look real imposing and EVERYTHING.”

“i love traps!” dali’s eyes widened, hand moving over his chest. “oh my god, what if?” swinging into the cinema, he let himself be swept by fox’s buoyancy, just a carefree lil dude; and dali felt more carefree around him. how nice. “i’m in room c, with the very hot five. i was thinking something less deadly, but more inconvenient.”

three looked like he’d been slapped for a moment, secretly holding back laughter at how wild and abrasive four was. “how could you say that?” he’d wait a beat to see the reaction before letting his laugh bounce off the big screen. “your mom’s pussy though.”

“very hot?” fox furrows his brows, putting on a very convincing show of concern. “three, i’m only gonna tell you this ‘cause we’re best friends, okay? he thinks you’re gonna be one of the first ones to die... you know those havana slashings?” he’s talking about a string of internet phenomena in which a person seems to “randomly” lose it and kill those around them: a seemingly global urban legend that has only cropped up recently. “don’t tell nobody ‘cuz i don’t want him going off the handle, buuut... he kind of admitted to being the perpetrator. something about electric lobotomies and sleeper cells? showed me a weird video and everything!” a shrug. “obvi, if he does slash you, i’ll avenge you ASAP! but i also don’t want you to die, sooo.... maybe be super careful ‘round him, okay?”

    There were those dread words; haunting and ever looming—𝘤𝘶𝘻 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸

                    𝙮𝙪𝙘𝙠

      “We are strangers, we can keep it that way for a bit longer.” Jakob was rather direct with most. If it involved the man’s time, thoughts, or pleasure there would be a 90% chance you’d know within the first five minutes of the conversation. As for the other 10%, well he’d just wear it across his face.                                 Just as transparent as his spectral form. 

   Under the premise they were done Jakob was quick to be suprised by four’s action. A flicker of emerald overtook eight’s eyes, as his first response was to phase, yet he fought the urge halting instead. This felt like big Aries energy, he thought briefly before conceding. “You won’t give up will you?” his question sounded more like defeat, “Big brother, one episode, you can’t talk during any power of veto moments or Head of household. Deal?”

god, these people were WAY too easy to wear down. fox nods with both gusto and a wide smile, hooking an arm around eight’s so they can bounce towards the cinema together. “i’m REALLY good at not talking, especially during important rituals. i’m basically the challenge’s number one fan! you won’t have to worry about anything, i’ll do all the heavy lifting and everything!!” 

no, he would not stop misnaming big brother.

fox tilts his head either way, only now realizing they hadn’t been formally introduced. “hey who are you, anyway? you sure you ain’t a spy?”

Yes, yes….that made perfect sense. It was a good thing he didn’t watch the video then. No offense to the entertainingly nutso new friend of his but they surely didn’t need two of them running around the place. “Okay I think you’ve seen enough. No more views, k?” Going through the phone he found things just as equally disturbing. So much so he barely even noticed the sudden change in the direction. “Yeah he’s my roommate. Wait…what? Please tell me you’re not into that shit?” Further explanation but not something he was exactly a super fan of. Sure a little coke here, weed there, pills of an unsettling range. But everyone needed to draw a line somewhere.

“Oh…yeah…sounds kinda shit. But I won’t hold that against you.” Wait why the fuck was he cold? “When did we get outside? This was not the plan.” He was a second away from turning back inside when there mention of a forest fire. “Dude, I barely had trees where I lived. And it’s cold as balls out here. I don’t think we’ll have any problem seeing a fire for miles.”

“fiiiive, have you even been listenin’ to me?” four asks with a pout, knocking knuckles against the side of the blond’s head, “drugs are boring, but my body could definitely handle some silly little opiates.” he wasn’t quite sure fentanyl could be considered silly or little, but that was also neither here nor there. the tangent loops back to the core. “he’s a cool guy, i just won’t be surprised when he kicks the bucket first, y’know? somethin’ about apples and trees.” 

he hand-waves five’s worries away, already onto the next one. plans were, by design, boring as hell in four’s not-so-humble opinion -- besides, fire was also much cooler. naturally! “i heard that when lightning strikes a tree, it burns from the inside out,” he explains, letting the other read between the lines, “and there’s no way there’s trail cams set up all over this place, sooo...” 

if he was gonna do this ‘superhero’ thing, then that meant he was gonna do it right. he already self-appointed himself to being paragon’s ‘poster boy’, so to speak. why else would they come to him personally with an invite? there were only ten spots available and the way he saw it, they needed a front-facing man, someone to make all of this look good to the public. that just happened to be a skill he had on lock. so, with his phone in hand, he was set about looking for the best place to start his new instagram page. scenery was all too important.

the underground pool seemed like the perfect place to be. he went down in his swim briefs and saw someone else there before him. “i’m gonna be doing some work down here, so if you could keep it down, that’d be great.” he figured that was fair enough warning.

four nods at the warning, even if he disagrees and dissents immediately. he stops what he’s doing --- quite literally  “aye-aye. if there’s one thing i’m GREAT at, it’s being quiet and staying out of the way.” regardless, the shifter wades closer and closer, watching the other man without pause. “... oh my god, are you filming a ransom video? is that what they’re gonna make us do NEXT?”

“I have a feeling they recruited people like us to make sure that happens. That we get the job done when the others don’t have the stomach for it.” He sounded like someone high who was lost in thought, though sadly he was offensively sober. There was a very high chance people like Four and Five were brought in when the team need to get their hands dirty.

Wasn’t heard to lean in a bit closer once the phone was brought out, slumping from where he hung on Four’s shoulder. But as soon as the warning came he quickly shifted his attention to the floor. Oli usually didn’t give such superstitious nonsense light. Then he had to consider the person who had the video queued up. “Oh yeah? So how many times have you watched it already?” It would explain so much. Not paying attention to the video he took the phone once finished. “Wow…that was nova…what’s in you music playlist?” Going into Four’s phone freely since it was open.

he snickers, fully, when five turns his eyes towards the ground. “four-hundred-and-eighty-nine,” the man answers, without a hint of deception, “...well... four-NINETY, now. and just lookit! i’m fine!” without a word, four pilots them towards the exit of the compound, instead continuing their conversation as if he didn’t have an ulterior motive here: five could look around his phone ‘til his fingers fell off, if he wanted. there wasn’t much on it, besides a history full of creepypasta and equally disturbing pictures of internet phenomena. “you got a good point, tho. some of these other guys look super nerdy. i mean, haaaaave you met three? his parents couldn’t even survive a little fentanyl, so you really can’t expect much. ROFL!!”

“i love chopin! and janacek? get the hell outta here.” possibly the last answer that one could expect from someone as... eccentric as fox falkowski, which only made it more fitting, really. “sinfonietta’s like, top FIVE to this day. ... no pun intended!” cue wink that says the opposite. either way, the changeling quite literally kicks their door to the wilderness open, very clearly a man on a mission. 

“hey, quick question... you ever seen a forest fire?