NICO

[foreverphantom]

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[resumed]

[ he just. drags a gloved hand down his face. ]

Okay. The blackout allowed us to sneak into the bar and find the treasure before we were spotted. How did you get arrested? From that fight?

[foreverphantom]

[ he would bite through a concrete block right now if he could ]

We stole an employee's outfit and tried to sneak in through an access stairwell, but security called our bluff and apparently, all the weapons we picked out from our warehouse were useless toys!

[ except for the EMP ]

[resumed]

[ .............................................. ]

What in Hades...[ hold on. wait a minute. he really is just keeping his hand on his face while he processes all of this and has to. think really fucking hard. ] Did you guys at least get your kits from the warehouse besides your extra items?

[foreverphantom]

...yes? All of our things came from the warehouse.

[resumed]

[ he is really trying to think why these were so different. ]

...I guess the difference is we didn't use our weapons. I had a dagger, but I didn't have to bother. Whisper had an emp but we didn't need it. And Hans grabbed the smoke pellets and those worked perfectly fine. Also why didn't you just go through the front doors or through the parking garage?

[foreverphantom]

We thought we stood a better chance of finding whatever it is in employee-only areas.

...that, and the others didn't think that we could avoid scrutiny if a teenager walked into a casino. [ he obviously looks a little sour about that ]

[resumed]

[ ...genuinely, he is starting to think about how they really were able to stroll right in with the crowd and nobody seemed bothered that two furries and a teenager were there. ]

It's not a bad line of thinking. If you're looking for a treasure, you'd think to sneak in through restricted areas. [ but. ] The power came back on right as we got close enough to snag ours, so we had to figure out how to redirect the lasers, get out of the bar and leave the casino. Hans hit a guard with a chair, I think. It was hard to see with the smoke after a bit.

[ ... ]

Did you guys even know what you were going after?

[foreverphantom]

No. Not a clue. All we knew was that it was "the treasure" and that it was somewhere inside.

...wait, lasers? There were lasers there?! Like, actual, dangerous lasers that can hurt you?

[resumed]

That's all we got, too. Did you get a map from a leopard?

No idea if the lasers would've hurt us. Whisper and I reflected them with our mirrors so Hans could grab the treasure and get out. [ judging by the tone, by that point he was kind of exasperated and just wanted to get the treasure and go. ] I wasn't about to test it out though, but going off of what you've been saying somehow I doubt it.

[foreverphantom]

Yes. [ grumbling a little: ] I hate that leopard.

I took a laser pen for backup in case we needed to fight, since we didn't have our powers. Except it turned out to just be a glorified cat toy--one of those pointer lasers that don't do anything.

[resumed]

That makes two of us. [ he is now firmly convinced this leopard ripped them off. ]

...huh. Good to know that this whole thing really was a ruse. [ even if he still has a lot of mixed feelings and thoughts about it, but he doesn't think danny needs to hear from his paranoid ass. so there's a pause. ] The treasure was ultimate curry, for what it's worth.

[foreverphantom]

Wha--what? Just...a plate of food?

What was so ultimate about it?

[resumed]

It turned out to be something not curry. [ he considers this again, deciding what all to say. ]

When you guys got back to the car, was there anything waiting for you there?

[foreverphantom]

Other than the giant vat of paint and the guy we shoved in our trunk? No.

[resumed]

[ he's about to continue but uh. ]

--wait go back to the guy. What?

[foreverphantom]

Remember how I said we stole an employee's outfit? We had to do something with him.

[resumed]

[



i'm sorry he's just cracking the fuck up. what even happened. how. why. this at least gets him to stop spiraling about their side of things but ohhhh my god. ]

[foreverphantom]

What?

[resumed]

Sorry, sorry. This is just...not what I expected at all. [ heheh. heh. oh gods okay good to know he's just crazy. that's fine. ] Anyway I was only asking because we had a few things waiting back at ours. Including a white paper.

[foreverphantom]

[ blinks a few times ]

Oh! Right, yeah, we did too, actually. The white paper--was it a handwritten note?

[resumed]

[ a sharp nod. ]

Yup. And was your handwritten note a plan about how to get all of us to cooperate in this competition?

[foreverphantom]

Not...exactly?

Unless your idea of "getting us to cooperate" is about how screwed we are if we lose.

[resumed]

Coercion kind of counts as cooperating when you're a villain. [ but he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a white paper to share with him.

it says: The stakes so far have been too boring. It’s no fun when all they do at the end of the day is go home, so for the next round, we’ll spice it up a bit. If they want a chance for anyone to return at all, they’ll have to take that chance from someone else.

One death each week is enough to keep the door open. Kill, or lose everything any of them have cared about. Let’s see how heroic they can be in those conditions. ]

But yeah, it's also about how screwed we are if we lose. [ so that sucks. ]

[foreverphantom]

Well that's a totally normal thing to say about literally anything.

Here's the one we got. [ Danny pulls out his phone and shows a picture of a note!

These heroes are unable to return to the worlds they call home while they have yet to win their competition. If a team loses, all those within the team, present and future, those worlds they hail from will come under the light of the moon. Those worlds will be forever changed with the loss of the heroes hailing from them. There is nothing better than a hero under distress.

By winning they will be putting their companions here at risk. By losing, their homes will be rewritten to be completely different, erasing their place within it. A dire situation indeed. A benefit no matter the outcome. ]

[resumed]

[ he's reading it...and he scowls immediately because why is this somehow even stupider. he hates it here. ]

Great. So we have absolutely zero option but to play along if this is really true. Otherwise the door closes and we automatically lose anyway. [ but also. ] I can't say I like the idea of worlds being forever changed without us in them either.