A Complicated Business

[Sans]

No sooner had the star-spangled soldier reintroduced himself to Dustin did Marcus confront the vulpine mayor. Despite his cold, dead eyes and stoic expression, the cyborg’s raised voice and the subtle hiss in his words was a dead give away to his emotional state. He went down onto one knee so he could stare right into the glowing, amber eyes of the fox, his robotic fingers digging into the fabric of his jeans as he shifted himself forward just the teeniest amount. To most anyone else, such a movement would be imperceptible, but as soon as Wright had leaned towards the mayor, the red-skinned brutes had already drawn their swords and moved themselves in front of their leader. The smile that had been painted on the orange-furred mammal’s face had disappeared and was replaced by an almost indistinguishable grimace. Behind the legs of his guards, and with the downpour of the rain, his body was awash in darkness, with only his eyes, unblinking, cold, and calculative, perceptible.

The vulpine did not speak a word for a long while. Outside, he was as stoic as the robot, locked in a staring contest as they dared each other to make a move that would reveal themselves to the other. Inside, however, Rando was a tumultuous hurricane of emotions and wants. Not only would the Empire not leave him and his island alone, they would dare to send thugs such as this “Marcus” to threaten him into submission. Had they no respect for him at all?

Of course not, he thought to himself, that question had been answered long ago.

He snapped his fingers together; his bodyguards got the signal and stepped out of the way as the mayor moved past them towards the cyborg. He grabbed the tip of his fishing hat (the top of which was beginning to overflow with water,) and removed it from his head in a show of respect.

“Forgive me for the interruptions, mister Marcus,” he said as he dipped the hat towards the cyborg, spilling the water on his hat onto him, “I didn’t know it was illegal for a mammal such as myself to become reacquainted with a friend of mine after he had been gone for so long. Am I correct in believing this, mister Marlin?”

The old man flinched as soon as the fox acknowledged him. He stuffed his hands into his pockets to hide their uncontrollable vibrations.

“Y-Yes, sir. I-It is not illegal to hold personal friendships and relationships with members of staff as long as it does not impede work ethic or performance.”

“I see. However, what does it say about disrespect to superiors?” the fox replied, glaring right at the cyborg as he began to circle him. He made sure he was well out of arm’s reach as soon as he began his interrogation-esque circling.

The writer paused as he glanced back from Marcus, to Captain America, than back to the fox. The vulpine’s paws were held behind his back, and he could already see the shine of his claws beginning to jut out from his fingers. He gulped, the crashing of the rain around him masking the noise as he responded.

“It…” he said, “disrespect to law officials of any kind is subject to immediate arrest, sir.”

“I see.” Mayor Rando stopped to stand right behind Marcus. He gestured his paw towards his bodyguards, who nodded and sheathed their weapons. Like before, the cyborg’s face was as cold and expressionless as the steel within his body, but unlike the steel, he could feel every last nerve in his body close to snapping at the fox. Before he could pop, however, the fishing hat-wearing mammal walked up towards the slightly more muscular human in the overcoat, his fingers jabbed up towards him and his voice an almost imperceptible hiss.

“So, as a friendly suggestion to you -as you are clearly the more experienced and thus the leader of this… interesting pair the both of you make up- that it would be wise -if your employers send you to another location with a similar intent- to put your ape-pet on a leash.”

The static, unmoving expressions on his face were soon replaced with a clear snarl, the canines of his mouth visible and gnashed together. Just as soon as he was done talking, however, did this go away, replaced with the confident smile he had met them with. He stood in silence, waiting for anyone to respond to his ‘suggestion’ before motioning them to come with him. His bodyguards soon moved up to him, walking by his side while glancing back at the newcomers with frowns on their faces. Marlin Dustin stayed right next to the mayor, who tried to catch up with as much as possible with him before they got to his office.

—————————

The former law official didn’t provide any direct answers to many of Rando’s questions. He dodged around the question of why he hadn’t shown up to work for so long, only mentioning he had been dealing with ‘family troubles.’ The lack of a straight answer seemed to annoy the fox, if the increasing amount of times he heard him sighing was any indication, but he made no effort to call him out or press any further.

As they walked through the streets of Rando Island, passing through marketplaces filled with colorfully-dressed citizens and the aroma of fresh sugarcane, unclean and flooded alleyways with litter everywhere, and finally the city square, which served as the center of all the activity in the city and where business was most profitable and where politics occurred, Dustin chanced looks back towards his allies whenever he was certain they were not staring right at him. They maintained a level of calm he couldn’t believe they were capable of doing. He half-wanted to believe that they were just as nervous as he was, with his fidgeting hands and clammy cheeks blue from the cold. By contrast, he was glad they were maintaining the facade, if it was a facade at all. It was better than knowing what they were thinking about and, more specifically, what they thought of him.

He knew he should have told them during their brief meeting, but he couldn’t have afforded being found out. Now, he just had to find a way to get them out of Rando’s sight before he-

“Welp! This is the place!”

The group stopped, staring up towards a large clock tower that rose above every other building in the city. Large lanterns hung all around the tower, illuminating the clock and almost every other potential feature to be perceived so it could actually be seen within the rain and fog. Just ahead of them was a large, golden statue of a fox with a small fishing hat on his head and sitting on a throne-like chair. There were cracks underneath the base of the statue, as if something had been pulled out before the statue was constructed. Also at the base was a silver-plate with the words 'Mayor Nicholas Rando - Hero of Lando City' engraved into the metal.

“I know what you are thinking,” the fox said, chuckling as he observed two newcomers looking at the statue, “I did not anticipate my citizens being so… righteous in their love of me. I only keep it there to keep them happy. I would much rather have something more… accurate, so to speak.”

“What would you rather have, if I may ask, mister Mayor?” said Captain America as they walked towards the door of the clock tower.

“It wasn’t easy becoming mayor, I can assure you,” Rando replied, passing off a set of keys to one of his bodyguards so they could fiddle with the lock that was far too high for him to properly reach, “I figured it would be more representative of my struggle to get to where I am today. I certainly didn’t want the glamorous painting of a crusader that my citizens created.”

The soldier nodded, closing his mouth as soon as the door opened. The tower seemed to look a lot bigger on the inside than it did on the outside, a feat in and of itself considering the sheer scale of the thing. They traversed a long hallway, passing by doors that lead to elevators and stairs going up towards the actual clock part of the clock tower. Gears rumbled up above, providing a near constant stream of noise that was hard to shake off properly. Neither the bodyguards nor Rando himself seemed to be bothered by it, however.

As they closed in on a door at the other end of the hallway, Marcus took the time to look around with his cybernetically-enhanced eyes. There was nothing of immediate note except for one thing. Most all of the walls, if not covered by a door, were plastered with newspaper clippings, certificates, and general awards written to the mayor himself. He was somewhat amused by the notion of the fox participating and scoring gold in a shooting competition and boxing. With every article he found he saw a picture of the fox, smiling and congratulating himself for his success as his dead-eyed, smiling citizens clapped in the background.

Everyone’s attention was soon brought to the door. A sign was displayed above it; it was labeled ‘The Mayor’s office.’

One of the vulpine’s guards opened the door and moved out of the way for everyone to step inside. Rando entered last, tugging on the pants leg of the officer holding the door open and gesturing a signal to him. The glowing, bulged-eyes militiaman nodded before closing the door and remaining outside the room.

The short delay gave the newcomers ample time to observe their surroundings. The room was rather tidy, with stacks of files and papers sidelined off to various antique tables and chairs that were placed to the side. Wooden shelves of books, most of them about economics and law, stood a few feet behind a brown, expertly-crafted and polished table that made it clear who it belonged to. Upon the table was a small, black casket that Nicholas opened to only place his cigarette in it. Alongside the casket was a huge array of letters, most of them containing a stamp of Empire approval on them and placed haphazardly all over the table. Finally, above everyone in the room and over a small fireplace was a white, porcelain mask with four red stripes that connected from the edges of the mask to the eye-holes and mouth.

The mayor took his seat behind the table, scooting himself forward as both Marcus and Captain America did the same. His one remaining officer stood to the side of the door, arms-crossed and frothing at the mouth. Marlin Dustin remained at the fox’s side with his hands behind his back, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

“Alright…” the fox began, holding his paws together. He decided to start off simple, see if he couldn’t lull them into a sense of security, “what is it you are investigating, if I may ask?”

[Centurion]

Captain America, despite his calm-demeanor was making every possible calculation within his mind. The more he saw and heard from and about this fox the more he saw him for who he was. The mayor was narcissistic, rude, manipulative, and untrustworthy. At least now Cap had a reason to ruin the fox's day. It had taken all his restraint not to say something as the vulpine talked circles around Marcus, casting insults vehemently. However, the last thing they would have wanted was to have been forced to deal with Rando's guards. Although they seemed like nothing more than large men, Cap couldn't shake the feeling that they had more up their sleeves than they let on. Thankfully, they were standing outside the door while he and Marcus had a face-to-face with the fox.

The fox led with a simple question, likely meant to secure their trust. For every ounce of distrust Cap had for the mayor, he was certain the mayor had a pound for them. All he had to do was play along long enough to make a half-decent getaway. He was really regretting not grabbing a communicator earlier.

"My unit heard it from an anonymous source that there were strange happenings here, the kinds of things that would interest my superiors."

"And what kinds of things, if i may be so bold, might such a worrying prospect entail?" The fox's controlled expression was too perfect to be believed.

Cap took a moment to gather his thoughts. He had few options with many outcomes. He could tell Rando a half-truth including abnormal behavior, but there was the chance the fox would assume they knew too much or something along those lines. But if he blatantly lied, Cap would be opening up the doors to being even more quickly discovered. It was a certainty, both by the Mayor's attitude and Marlin's nervousness, that Rando had a direct involvement with this "Sugarcane" epidemic. The Avenger tackled the idea of speaking the absolute truth and calling out the vulpine, but his better instincts fought against it, giving reason after reason not to go that route. Finally coming to a decision after a slight pause Cap answered the Fox.

"I have reason to believe that your citizens are under the influence of a unauthorized stimulant. My superiors are very interested in discovering what that stimulant is and where its coming from. If you have any information that could lead to an arrest, it'll expedite our investigation and gain you some favor with my faction."

Now all the good Captain could do was hope. He kept his gaze locked on the fox, maintaining his confident exterior, and hoped for the best. Rando put a paw to his chin and scratched lightly, glancing between the two Avengers. It was do or die now. Either Rando accepted their explanation, or called Cap's bluff. Either way, he'd be ready.

[Marcus Wright]

Marcus hid his own feelings inside his head. He stood tall and sturdy as he was stoic. He had come a long way in trying to hide his facade. But soon that mask fell and his calmness came out not in the form of anything else but heated words.

Before he could do any real damage to the mayor, two tall sugar-high men were suddenly blocking his path of the mayor as he gritted his teeth.

“The sentient fox had won…. For now… “

Marcus was forced to shelf his anger once again as the scared mayor hid behind his bodyguards. How strong was these bodyguards Rando hired anyway?

The rain drenched Marcus’s skin with slight drips as the man wiped it off. The man felt a little more weight on his body as the trench coat became full of water.

Using Omninum, he summoned a copycat version of his leather coat and desummoned the other trench coat. The leather jacket was usually the signature wear of “thugs” such as himself or the memories of what he used to be.

Marcus dared the creature to step up and fight him in a real battle. This however was not spoken and it was just thoughts inside his own mind.

It was clear that the sentient fox couldn’t handle him, so he had to throw out the insults. Trash talk so to speak.

“Come out, you piece of shi-, sentient fox or not, you couldn’t hit me in a real fight, pal. Excuse me, Good Captain, This fox is asking to be thrown in the local Omniverse Zoo.”

Marcus was hiding one big thing. He wanted this secret to be held for a while.

“No bodyguards… just you and me, Rando.”

“Man to man.”

Captain America warned against the fight “Don’t do it…?!”

Marcus frowned “I can take this guy.”

Dustin turned “Please… don’t”

The tipped hat fox just psh “Why would i want to fight when i got these bodyguards to do it for me?”

Marcus shrugged off the fight and turned, still eyeing the fox as he lead them toward the clockwork area and supposedly the mayor's office. His attention slightly changed to a few articles of newspaper.

“The fox had been a great sports player, heh, who knew?”

But whatever reason, it got Marcus calmed down and forced himself into a seat next to Captain America while the good Captain questioned and questioned the creature. Marcus started to hear more than he liked and eyed the fish hatted fox as they could finally start accusing the mayor for things he done instead of them.

[Sans]

Of course. Just as I had predicted.

The muscular leader’s words were vague, but there was enough there to confirm everything Rando had suspected them of from the beginning. He brought a claw to his chin and scratched at his fur, contemplating. They were definitely stronger than every other representative the Empire had sent to him as well as decidedly more temperamental in the case of Marcus. The sheer undiluted disrespect the human had displayed back near Rhydu’s shop made the fox want to just arrest him on the spot and not give a damn about the potential consequences. He doubted his power; he doubted his intelligence; they all didn’t think he could do anything to them, did they?

Idiots…

After an odd silence, the vulpine lowered his paw and spoke up.

“I see…” he said, deciding to start off slow as he leaned back up against his chair. Dustin bit his lip and fidgeted; Rando glanced at the old man for a moment before returning his attention back to the duo. “An unauthorized stimulant, you say? I don’t believe I am aware of it; all legal products are documented, after all, but not illegal ones. What do you know about it?”

He had a hard time resisting the urge to smile as he stared at the Captain. The subtle look to the side, as if to avoid his gaze, was all the orange-furred mammal needed.

“Does the term ‘Sugarcane’ ring a bell with you, mister Mayor?”

“Ah…” the fox replied, nodding towards the star-spangled soldier. How predictable…

Before either of the confused duo could remark on his smooth, controlled behavior towards what they had said, Rando had pulled open a drawer from his side of the desk. He passed a stack of papers towards his legal adviser, who fumbled with them for a few moments before riffling through them. He paused, having stopped somewhere in the middle of the stack. The fox, paw out to take back a piece of paper, nodded towards him; he frowned at Dustin as he reluctantly passed a document to him.

“I do believe there has been a misunderstanding,” Rando said, giving the old man one last aside glance before showing the duo the sheet. On it was a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo that only someone like Dustin could really try to understand, but what it actually was meant for was obvious: a permit. Specifically, a commercial permit for the crop Riscas Herbas.

“As you can see here,” the orange-furred mayor said, pointing to various spots on the document, “The crop ‘Riscas Herbas,’ known to most everyone around here as ‘Sugercane’ has been legal for purchase, consumption, and transport in and out of Rando Le Terz for at least a few months time. Marlin and I could go into specifics, but the general gist of it is is that the stimulant has been authorized, contrary to what your superiors have told you.”

He slid right back into his chair and placed his paws behind his head, no longer being able to keep himself from grinning like a maniac at the thugs in front of him. The old writer looked away from the others and closed his eyes. Neither the Captain nor the cyborg were capable of masking all of their surprise as they read the sheet. True to Rando’s word, everything was accounted for. There were legal explanations written for everything one could think of. There was nothing to skew, nothing to take advantage of, and nothing to loophole through. It was simply that: a permit.

The star-spangled superhero could only stare at the document in front of him, pondering the best way to approach this. Something as simple as a mere commercial license had thrown every plan he had come up with prior to entering the room straight out the window. And he could tell that the Mayor knew this, given the crooked, curled, confident ‘you can’t touch me nananana-booboo’ shit-eating grin on his animal face. He took a deep breath as he tried to ignore the Mayor, but as his eyes briefly met the terminator’s robotic ones, it was made immediately clear to him that Marcus was doing literally everything in his power not to blow his top. They needed to leave; they couldn’t afford to blow their cover now.

Before he could speak up, however, the cyborg turned his head back towards Rando and whispered to him.

“You brought us into this mess on purpose, didn’t you?” His voice was laced with venom and an odd hiss, which to the mayor made him sound like a mechanical snake.

The vulpine shrugged. “I only did what you both wanted me to do. You wanted clarification, and I gave you it. I suspect this is the end of your ‘investigation?’”

“I don’t think-”

“Yes. Yes it is,” said the Captain, glaring at the cyborg for a good few moments to further emphasize his point, “we are very sorry to have taken time out of your schedule over a falsehood. I hope you can forgive us, mister Mayor.”

Wright looked at the superhero like he had gone insane before the realization of what he was doing smacked him back into stoicism. He nodded in agreement, clenching his robotic teeth to keep himself from abandoning the whole impromptu plan entirely.

“It is quite alright,” Rando replied, his smile turning into one of genuine appreciation. He then slipped out of his chair, beginning to walk towards the door. “Now, if you can come with me, I shall lead you to your ship at the Docks.”

There was just silence as the fox moved towards the door. He then looked back towards the duo. They’re just sitting there. Why aren’t they moving?

What perhaps most disturbed him, though, was the look of shock and uncertainty on Dustin’s face as soon as he had finished speaking. The others remained stoic, but the very fact that neither were making an attempt to move at all made his fur stand on end.

Inside the facade of coldness and emotionless attitude that was Wright’s outward appearance, however, was a boiler of hot, fiery anger. The only thing that kept him from ending he charade right then and there was one thought: What ship?

He whispered to the Captain. “This guy is stinking to high heaven. Why would he lead us out?”

They’re whispering… the fox gave thought to as he studied them. He gritted his teeth, cursing his lack of rabbit’s ears. A rabbit would have no problem eavesdropping on what they were saying. They were plotting, and right in front of him too! They were still planning on continuing their investigation, that much was obvious, but in the past, the representatives were upfront and honest about it. They made their intentions clear as day. This duo, however, did not. What were they trying to hide?

He guessed it. “You… DO have a ship, right?”

All talking ceased. The cyborg turned towards the fox against the Captain’s wishes and walked towards the vulpine. Similarly, the Mayor began to march, paws clenched and claws beginning to extend out from the spaces in between his fingers. His bodyguard, having watched the whole affair from the corner, tightened every muscle in his body, waiting.

“I’m asking you a question, human.”

“Here’s your answer.”

The terminator reached into his coat and whipped out a massive shotgun. He took aim at the fox and pulled the trigger.

——

While Marcus was certainly strong, and the construction of his form as well as the general nature of who he was was a mark of what he can take, there was a flaw.

A robotic organism was still a robot, and regardless of reaction time and how it was, something could go amiss.

He didn’t know if it was from rage or something else, but for the briefest of moments, his movement was jerky and uncooperative. When he fired, the mayor had already sprung off to the side, leaving a massive hole in the floor where he used to stand.

He pivoted, his gun trained on the fox like a hunter during season. The mayor leaped again, avoiding another shot.

Just then, he heard an inhuman wail erupt from the door. Everyone turned their heads.

The bodyguard’s mouth was open. Banshee-like screams and shrieks emerged from the inner recesses his throat as he continuously banged against the door. His sword slashed against the door; wood splintered off from the base. Eventually, a piece fell away, revealing the red-skinned brute from before just outside, blade unsheathed and poised to strike. With one cut, he sliced it across the glass containing the newspaper clippings.

A loud, unnerving CRACK filled the air.

Soon, the whole building shook with the sound of the Rando Army’s screams. Doors opened from outside the Mayor’s office. Men with guns, knives, swords, and clubs, all descended upon the office.

Before the door burst open, wood peppering the floor like shrapnel from a grenade, only one word escaped the cyborg’s lips.

“Fuck.”

————

War Season

Marlin stood glued to the floor, fresh stains around his pants. He probably would have remained where he was the whole time if not for the orange-furred mammal slamming him to the floor just as the Rando Army smashed their way in.

“Stay down!” he ordered, holding the old man down to keep him from moving.

He did what he was told.

Another shotgun blast marked the proper start of the battle. The brute that had tore off a bit of the door a few seconds earlier flew back into the wall. Blood spewed from his chest and painted the floor. He slumped down to the ground.

His gun light, he fished for some ammo inside his pockets. He didn’t get the chance. A soldier charge right at him, club raised. He lifted up his gun, blocking the strike just before it careened into his head. He gave the man a swift kick to the shin. The man only winced in pain, continuing to assault the terminator.

He felt a whoosh of wind fly past him. The red, white, and blue shield of Captain America flew right past him and smashed into the skull of a knife-wielding militiaman. He fell down, dazed. The brief distraction, however, was all Marcus needed to push the clubber down to the ground.

As his assailant fell, however, several musket-men stepped up in a line, blocking the way out. They raised their weapons and fired at him.

Captain America, having already punched the knife-wielder into submission before he got back up, glanced towards the cyborg as he desperately tried to load in more slugs into his shotgun. With a grunt, he picked up his shield, ran in front of the former criminal, and in one swift motion, held it out in front of the both of them.

A series of metallic clangs signified the bullets smashing right into his vibranium shield. The gunmen separated, their faces literally glowing with rage, as more troopers piled in.

“We got this, kid,” said the Captain, a smirk on his face as they both met them head on.

Cap faced the melee fighters first. He raised his shield to block several clubs from hitting him. He glanced around. He saw one with a sword try to sneak around him. He smoothly elbowed him in the jaw. He then swung his shield around, knocking away some weapons out of some of the soldier’s hands. Despite their drug-possessed minds, he was not going to kill them if he could help it. Instead, he would settle for trying to keep them from entering the tiny room they were in.

Marcus pumped his gun. He remained a few feet behind the captain, allowing him to the fighters on with his melee expertise. He saw one of the gunmen draw a pistol from their coat, aiming it at the star-spangled soldier’s back. With a grunt, he took aim and fired. The gunman fell and blood spattered from the stump where his hand should have been. Two more blasts ended the other two gunmen’s lives. A smirk crossed the terminators face; things were going well for them.

“Dangit!” shouted the Captain. The cyborg turned to him. His robotic eyes widened as he saw his leader slowly slid back from the sheer amount of people he had to keep back. More and more and more troopers entered into the fray; it was like the entire city had been called to arms to stop them.

The robot holstered his gun; there were simply too many soldiers for him to be able to reload his gun in time to kill them all. He joined the melee.

Captain America grit his teeth as he slammed his shield into the torso of another blade-bearer. He looked around. It only took him a second to realize he had been encircled. He called out for Marcus’s assistance, only to discover that, like him, he was surrounded and cut off from him.

A club smashed into his back from behind. He turned his shield around to block another strike, leaving him open to a sudden thrust from one brute with a knife. The knife stabbed into his elbow. He cringed, lifting his elbow to careen it into the almost literal backstabber’s face. He managed to block another sword before he saw an opening. He took the chance, slamming his fist into one of the unarmed brutes.

The brute caught his fist with one hand. He began to twist it, and no matter how hard the superhero tried, he could not free his arm. The other soldiers took the opportunity to unleash hell on the patriotic hero, stabbing, slashing, and beating him with everything they had. The Captain could only put up a mild amount of resistance with his shield as their attacks overwhelmed him.

After an agonizingly slow few moments, the unarmed brute promptly crashed his fist into his stomach and pushed him to the ground, using his twisted arm as leverage. He tried to lift his shield up for some kind, any kind, of attack to get him off of the ground and into a position of power. All hopes of that were dashed as soon as the shield was pulled right out from his hands. He felt his breath taken away from him as an innumerable amount of men piled onto him.

Every part of his body hurt. From the bleeding gashes, to the bruises, to the red-skinned, drug-addled brutes whirling him around so that his stomach was on the ground, and the painful way in which they twisted his arms behind his back and held him down. The floorboards reeked of blood, sweat, and dust as he breathed, trying to regain his strength.

He looked up and to the side. Marcus was right next to him, and he wasn’t in any better of shape. He had been completely sliced up with swords and knives, as there were massive wounds all over his body. Perhaps the worst one was the one along his shoulder; a huge chunk of it was completely gone. Yet even then, the cyborg kept trying to get back up as he wriggled underneath the Rando Army’s grip.

He couldn’t muster the energy to say anything to the kid. Instead, he looked towards the desk as the fox walked out from under it. His head was lowered, but underneath the darkness of his fishing hat, his eyes… they were different. He couldn’t exactly tell HOW they were, but something had changed. He was willing to bet it was the shape, as it looked like he was staring into the eyes of a true animal.

“So this is what you are…” the mammalian said, snapping his fingers. One of his officers stepped up and handed him a small cane. The fox kept his voice low and quiet.

“You aren’t with the Empire. You aren’t with them, yet you still decided to come here…”

The Captain had no idea what the heck the vulpine was saying. Before he could speak, however, the fox whacked him in the jaw with the cane. He spat out a tooth.

“You come here…” Whack. “You kill my men.” Whack. “You disturb the peace!” Whack!  “And you TRY TO RUIN ME!”

WHACK!

By the time the Mayor had stopped, the Captain’s face was nothing more than a purple and black, bloody, swollen mess of a thing. It looked nothing at all like the pristine and golden looks befitting of a superhero anymore. It looked just like a beat up carcass.

Marcus was having none of it. He almost got off of the ground, his hands yearning to tear the arrogant, psychopathic canine apart piece by piece. Before he could, though, one of the soldiers picked up the Captain’s shield and rammed it into his head. The sheer force of the blow caused the sensors in his eyes to create red static in his vision.

Meanwhile, the fox had lifted the Captain’s face off of the ground, claws digging into his flesh.

“You sent you? Who ELSE wants to see me gone?! Tell me!”

He lifted the cane.

“I-It was me…” his former law adviser said as he stood up from behind the desk, hands raised and vibrating.

———————————

Time seemed to stop for the Mayor. The nervous stutters of the old man filled his ears. His amber eyes shifted and widened within the shadows of his fishing hat. Every part of his mind was screaming at him.

No! No, this can’t be true! Marlin wouldn’t-

“You don’t need to pity them, Marlin…” he said, making sure absolutely no one in the room could see his face, “they don’t deserve pity.”

Yes, that’s it! It’s pity. He pities them.

“I-I would never lie to you, Nicholas. I sent them the telegraph. I brought them here.”

His eyes twitched. He could feel his paws begin to shake. It just wasn’t possible. He turned his head up towards the porcelain mask over the fireplace.

No. He’s lying! Not after all this time! He couldn’t have done this!

“Marlin, please, you know I don’t get jokes easily,” he said, shaking his head as he closed his eyes. He tried to drown everything out. He had to concentrate on what he knew was true.

The old writer paused and bit his lip. He looked at the two beaten and battered heroes. He took a deep, nervous breath. I hope I’m not making a mistake…

“You saw a bird, didn’t you? A raven that floated into the sky? Just an hour ago?”

The mayor said nothing, but his shaking and his ears lowered meant that, despite his attempts, he was listening.

“That bird carried a message. A message to a group called The Avengers, asking for the aid in liberating this city from what you’ve done to it, sir,” he said, his voice steady, “they sneaked in and disguised themselves and met me in Rhydu’s shop, where I told them about the Sugarcane and what it does. It was going to tell them more when you showed up.”

The mayor said nothing.

Marlin spoke again. “Sir, it was me. I even have a copy to prove it.”

The mayor still said nothing. His shoulders were scrunched up, and he could hear the faintest whimpers emerging from his throat. No one in the room could see his face, but Dustin could easily imagine what he looked like. He had seen him do this time after time in the past to others he did not trust. Only Dustin could create an accurate image of how he looked in despair.

Finally, Nicholas whispered.

“Arrest them. Take them to the prison. I need a few minutes…”

————

The prison itself did not hold the glamour nor the happiness the outside city displayed as a facade. Instead, it was nothing more than simply a monstrous place of punishment. Or, in the trio’s case, a coffin.

It was practically a coffin, anyway. The only source of air was a small hole high up along the concrete wall of their cell. The cell itself was suffocating in size, too, as it was only big enough for the three of them to lie down in an uncomfortable manner. The door to their holding place was locked and barred by massive steel bars. Marcus had already tried to escape by folding the bars or snapping them off, but a red-skinned brute with a spear had jabbed him back to the other side. For all intents and purposes, they were disarmed, wounds barely treated, and effectively trapped.

Marlin could only sit down, trying to conserve his oxygen, and refused to look at the others. Through his actions, he had doomed them to a life of servitude to the maniacal fox. He didn’t know what made him think what he had done was a good idea. He should have kept quiet. At least if he had been quiet, instead of taking the fall for them both to keep them from additional beatings, he could’ve…

He didn’t really know what he could’ve done.

After a few minutes, another Rando Army soldier showed up at the cell. He rapped against the bars.

“The Mayor wants a word with you, Dustin.”

Without a word, he stood up, avoiding the gaze of the two Avengers, and walked with the soldier to the Mayor.

[Marcus Wright]

They were put into a small prison, the size of a coffin. Not only did it smell like puke like the past people that were in here, there was only a small hole where the hole was. Marcus was on the floor and tried to squeeze the bars off the cells only to get a annoying poke to the other side.
A annoyance grew as the cyborg closed his eyes and eyed Cap, and Marlin as suddenly Marlin got let out to see the Mayor. For what reason exactly? "Cap.. I can't...see you.. will you survive?"
The terminator used the opportunity to crawl over to the hurt Cap. "Well... I suppo..se to pass.. the time I can tell my origins"

"Well... it's... a long..s..story.."
"It started when I was just a lone criminal... I got... blamed for a death and a other deaths. I .. paid for it... heh.. heh.. In my own blood.. cough Perhaps becoming a cyborg could of been the best and worst thing I did after signing papers at Cyberdyne... but Skynet... used me.. nn...othing more than a pawn..." They wanted me... to kill a man named John Connor, the leader of the human resistance... If..he died, then there wouldn't...be much of a point of living, would there?

[Isabelle]

Hellboy, Vision, and Frisk spot the destined island on the horizon, they were sailing along on what was designated the Avengers Sloop. The little one was adamant about everyone wearing life vests and rain coats, Hellboy looked particularly silly in his set. Conveniently, Frisk summoned herself the cutests rain coat, the type you’d only see in anime that’s adorned with pretty pastels, flower designs, and frills. Was she intentionally trying to humiliate the others while making herself look good? The answer was a closely guarded secret of hers.


The group touched down on the island, their boat near close to capsizing from the rise of rain water. Hellboy was quick to shed off his vest + rain coat combo, arguing that his trenchcoat would do the job better.


After stomping through the mud for what felt like forever, they finally arrive at a small little hamlet… or at least from what they could see from the haze.


“Shit, can’t see a thing in all this fog.” Hellboy said. Looked down on Frisk and begrudgedly moved to correct himself. “Oh, I mean, darn.”


“This appears to be where our friends currently are.” Said vision from under the hood of his banana yellow life jacket. “Our info doesn’t state any other village on this island.”




Proceeding through the stone carved streets, they pass by a number of villagers, none of them even giving a passing glance towards the demon walking alongside a child and a floating android.


“Well, whattaknow, people in this fu- damn universe that don’t want to kill me on sight.”


Frisk gave Hellboy a glare, one that communicated quite loudly “Play nice!” Hellboy didn’t know how he felt about being bossed around by an 8-year-old.


The little one walked up to woman in an old timey outfit and tugged at her dress.


“Excuse me, did you happen to see two men ride by here? They would have been strangers to these par-”


The woman turned around, her smile twisted crooked like a politician, her gaze shot daggers into Frisk’s body. The little one quickly retreated behind Hellboy, wrapping both arms around Hellboy’s leg.


“Oh hello small child!” Said the woman, her welcoming tone was nothing to make the situation more inviting. “I did see a pair of men! Such nice fellows! Quite a ruckus they made though!”


Suddenly, she was holding out a loaf of bread, it was getting soaked in the rain as it was extended in Frisk’s general direction.


“Would you like a free sample little one? One on the house for being so cute! It’s got plenty of sugar baked into it!”


Frisk wordlessly shook her head, but Vision reached over to grab it.


“I’ll take that for analysis.” Said the android.


“Oh my! What a handsome young man you are! Please take the free sample on the house!” She said.


She was not even looking at Vision at the moment, but the twinge in her eyes made it very clear that she was bothered by something. Maybe it was fact that the android took it for himself, maybe it was based on what he said, either way, she suppressed the feeling and instead turned to go back into her house, humming happily to herself.


“What kind of freak show did you two drag me into?” Said Hellboy.

[The Vision]

"The right kind," Vision replied. He already began scanning the bread, a bright-red light from his Solar Gem creeping along the loaf. As his CPU ran cross-checks between the sugar coating and other known substances, a man approached Frisk from behind.

> match([selected:object], itemtag: narcotics)
Scanning...

"Oh, hi there, young lady!" the man was veritably shouting, "You seem lost! Are these men with you?"

Frisk took a step back. "Uh, yes, sir."

"Great!" The man flashed a painfully toothy grin. "Here, why don't you have some candy!"

He stuck out a lollipop from his pocket. It was bright-pink, and was coated in sugar. Frisk nervously shook her head.
Match verified.
Narcotics detected.

"Come on!" the man pleaded, smile growing wider, "I won't take no for an answer! Take it."

Frisk grabbed the lollipop with the tips of her fingers. She smiled nervously. The man gazed at her expectantly.

"Well?" the man said. Tears were welling in his eyes. "Try it. It'll make you feel gooooood."

Frisk glanced nervously at Hellboy and Vision. Hellboy shook his head violently, but Vision was busy scanning. Sighing, Frisk tentatively stuck out her tongue. The lollipop slowly moved towards her open mouth. It was just candy, right?

Match indicates substance damages human capacity to feel pain or other negative emotions.c

"Wait!" the android cried, snatching the lollipop from Frisk's hands.

He looked around. The townspeople were all staring at him with the exact same smile.

> run "smile.att"

Vision simulated the exact smile that they had and turned to Frisk.

"You..." Vision grinned, “forgot to take your sugar pills this morning. That explains your attitude!”

The man was still staring at him curiously.

“...darling.”

The man stared adamantly at the trio. The Vision turned to the other two and nodded. Hellboy was the first to react. He flashed a toothy grin, giving a nervous chuckle while he was at it. Frisk soon followed suit. The strange man, noticing the change in demeanor, started laughing in relief.

“Oh, I see!” he cackled, “Well, you should go take care of that. Don’t want kids to miss out on their daily Sugarcane!”

Vision laughed in response. “Quite right, quite right. I will go take care of that right now!”

The android placed a gentle hand on Frisk’s head, patting her.

“Let’s go, darling.”

Vision abruptly walked away. Hellboy and Frisk stopped smiling and followed him.

“Keep smiling,” Vision whispered.

They were walking through the town. It seemed everyone was under the influence of this narcotic. Every citizen they passed, no matter age or gender, were staring blankly ahead with an unsettling smile. Vision’s facial recognition programs were confused – his mechanical ones read them as friendly faces, but his organic programs – perhaps, instincts? - noted a sinister and undesirable nature to every smile.

Without breaking his smile or his stride, the android quickly turned right, ducking in an alleyway. Hellboy almost walked right past, but Frisk tugged on his jacket. Frisk panted. Vision forgot that she was physically smaller, and had to walk much quicker to match the Vision’s footsteps. She didn’t seem to mind.

“What. Was that.”

Vision lifted the two loaves of bread and the lollipop.

“The sugar coating is composed of a narcotic chemical,” Vision reported, “Riscus Herbas, according to the Dataverse. Illegal in most major cities. It damages the user’s ability to feel negative emotions, and alters reward pathways in the brain.”

“A happy drug,” Hellboy groaned.

Vision nodded. “I suspect this is why Mr. Wright and Captain Rogers were here. Presumably, their mission was to halt the distribution of the drugs.”

“So we bust up drug dealers,” the demon whispered, “and avoid the sugar.”

“I don’t think so,” Frisk muttered, “if the whole town is high on it, that implies government involvement. Why else would the other two get imprisoned if they were trying to stop the drug trade?”

The android nodded. “In which case, we are dealing with a police state that intentionally drugs its populace, presumably to keep them quelled. But why?”

Hellboy chuckled. “You really are a robot, huh? Look at this place. Who wants to live in fog like this?”

Frisk sniffed. “Yeah, it’s got a sickly sweet smell, too.”

“Query: the air smells sweet?”

Hellboy frowned. “Wait, you can’t smell?”

“No.”

“Well, it smells sweet.”

Frisk and Vision glanced fearfully at each other. Hellboy raised his eyebrows.

“Ohhhh. I see. That’s just great.”

Vision glanced around him. “Recommended: breathe in small quantities and through a filter.”

Frisk had already tucked her chin under her shirt. Hellboy covered his mouth with his coat. Vision created an in-built filter over his mouth, turning his mouth into a gas mask of sorts.

“Let’s go save our friends,” Frisk mumbled under her shirt.

[Beta Ray Bill]

In certain situations, this would be a very weird thing to be in a city overhyped and doped up on joy. A city of smiles unaware and ignorant of the real world and its problems.

Hellboy took a small breath before covering his mouth again with the brim of his trench coat.

"Jeez, what kind of a government poisons the air of their cities."

Vision surveyed the area to make sure no had followed them into the alleyway.

"Answer: forms of tyrannical governments, for example, North Korea drug their citizens to make sure they will obey commands."

Hellboy gave a light chuckle under his coat.

"Wow you're a walking encyclopedia and I was beginning to think  you were only a robot."

Vision just gave Hellboy a stare, the sarcastic joke completely went over him.

"I think I have something that should protect us from the air, so uh don't be alarmed by the charm there harmless." 

Vision gave a confused look. "So you are able to cast magic?"

Hellboy reached into to his deep trench coats pockets and pulled out an odd looking neckless with an ornament shaped like a star.

"No, I don't know spells like a wizard if that's what your thinking, I understand occult spells stuff a necromancer or a witch and in this case, a Vatican priest would know, and before you say something about me being dangerous theses are charms, not curses." 

Frisk nodded and stepped close to Hellboy she didn't seem to be afraid of HB and of course, why shouldn't big Red only wanted to do what was right and wouldn't harm anybody unless he had to or angered him.  Vision hesitated before he got close to him on the other hand, he was still going to have to prove himself to earn his trust. The large half-demon began his chant the neckless began to glow and hum.

"Per virtutem divinam ex malo deféndat auras." The neckless's glow intensified and its hum turned into a whine before it abruptly stopped.

"Alright that does it you can stop holding your breath now," Hellboy said putting the charm back into his pocket. "You have three hours before that wears off so I'd suggest we do what we need to do with speed."  

Frisk gave a big gasp of air and Hellboy took his coats brim from under his mouth.

"So what's our plan Vis for saving Cap and Marcus," Frisk said pulling out her heart shaped soul.

Vision folded his arms and paused to think for a moment.

"The most logical thing that has happened to Rogers and Marcus is that the local government has imprisoned them. I would suggest that we would find them in townsperson, I will also state that it is most likely guarded in this case we might have to resort to violence."

A black bird flew straight into Hellboy flapping its wings and crowing at him, the half-demon tried to swat it away.

"Stupid bird leave me alone, shoo!"  The black bird squawked at him and flew high into the air circling the group before landing on a trash can beside them.

"I think it wants us to follow him." Frisk got close to the bird and it started to fly into the city streets. "Come on follow me!" The little girl darted into the streets after it, Vision quickly followed her, Hellboy just stood in place and followed and pulled out a cigar and let it.

"So now we're for birds, Huh, that's a first."  Red darted after the duo trying not to crash into the drugged overjoying citizens who were now beginning to look like zombies, something Hellboy did know how to deal with. the bird flew over a large building that had guards patrolling around it.  Hellboy grabbed Frisk on the back of her shirt and yanked her back, Vision had stopped too.

"Hey! whats that for!" She yelled as she was put back on the ground. HB pointed at the building.

"That's the prison that bolt head was talking about," Hellboy said stepping forward trying to see how many guards there were in the prison.

"Oh."

HB turned to Vision who was doing the exact same thing he was doing.

"Hey, Sparky what do you suggest we do?" Hellboy asked pulling out his revolver and checking its ammo. Vision turned his head in response.

"I first would suggest that Frisk stay here from the danger,"  Frisk shouted in protest. "But I want to go help."

Red knelt down to her level and gave a smile "What we're about to do is not something that a child needs to do."

Vision put his hand on Hellboy right should.

"Alright, I'll attack the building from the giving you time to get into the building from there you need to free Captian America and Marcus."  Vision stepped away from them and readied himself.

"Frisk if any of the town's militia come after you, try to hide or defined your self." 

Hellboy raised his revolver to his head and clicked its hammer.

"Time to kick some ass."

Vision launched himself into the air and blasted his heat his heat vision at the building. most of the guards started shooting at him trying their best to bring him to the ground. Hellboy charged for the building. Two of the guards noticed him and open fired, their aim wasn't all that good missing every shot. Hellboy fired his oversized revolver into the militia man on his left sending him crashing into the wall behind him, the other responded with more gunfire. The half-demon ducked as bullets whistled past his and tore at his trench coat. Hellboy raised his large stone right hand and uppercutted the man square in the chest sending him into the air and crashing hard to the ground.

Red ran for the front door and smashed it open with the Right Hand of Doom. Three more guards jumped at him inside. HB picked up the fist one threw him at one of his partners he then shot at the third one blowing out his kneecap. The demon proceeded through the building beating anyone that got in his way. He stopped near a door that had a sign on it that said "Prison cells". Hellboy grabbed the door and punched it open and darted through the cells. Almost all of them were empty except for one. Hellboy stopped near the one that wasn't empty and smashed the cell door open.

"You Marcus?"

The man was looked up at Hellboy and forced himself to stand up.

 "Yes, I'm Marcus. Things took a turn for the worst and we are here, have seen Cap?"

Hellboy shook his head "I figured he would be in here with you."

"No the mayor of this town took him for questioning an hour ago, we need to find him."

[Centurion]

Captain America hit the ground with a sickening crack. It had been nearly an hour and the Mayor refused to let up his questions. One of the fox's hulking guards stood over him, a mad grin on his face and a bloody pipe in his hand. Cap shakily propped himself up on his elbows, spitting blood onto the stones. Like Vision had said, this Omniverse was messing with his abilities. 

He was feeling weaker faster. It reminded him of the cellular degeneration he had almost dies from all those years ago. he felt sick and his head throbbed. None the less, he refused to let the Fox win. He thought back to his mother. His father would hit her, hard. But she always got back up, she always came back for poor Steve. He had asked her once, why she would never just stay down.

"Gah!"

The brute landed another blow on Cap's back. It took all his strength to keep from hitting the floor again.

"Heh, you should stop getting up. It just makes me wanna hit you more."

Cap pushed himself up to his knees and looked the beast in the eyes.

"Why don't you just stay DOWN!"

The Avenger collapsed again, his ears ringing. His mother. What she always told him. it had stood with him since he was just a little boy.

"L-listen close... you always stand up."

The brute sneered as cap struggled to his knees, then to his feet.

"L-look here, s-son. I don't... like b-bullies... No matter... w-where they're from."

His torturer laughed haughtily and raised the pipe again, Cap's blood dripping from it's tip. Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the hallway outside, throwing the brute off balance. Snapping like a steel trap, Cap swung his leg under the brute's tripping him up. As the beast fell to the floor, Cap caught the pipe midair and swung it down, smashing it into the brute's nose and mixing his own blood with the guard's.

"I w-warned you."

Cap dropped the pipe and was about to collapse when the Vision floated to him, slipping his arm under Cap's and supporting him.

"Query: Can you walk Captain?"

"I've been through worse, Vis."

"I am well aware. However, my preliminary medical scans are detecting multiple contusions, a shattered humerus, a fractured jawbone and slight hemorrhaging."

"Thanks for the v-vote of confidence," Captain America chuckled slightly, wincing at the pain in his side. "And thanks for coming after us."


The android led Cap into the hallway which was strewn with unconscious guards. "My pleasure Captain. Now then, shall I introduce you to our newest members?"

[Sans]

Earlier…

Marlin had never realized just how empty the prison was before.

As he was lead through the dimly-lit cell blocks, his eyes were drawn to the hundreds of steel bars lining the thick, stone walls. They were barren, and every layer of every toilet and sink and bed was coated with a fabric of dust. Despite the lack of use, they still looked good as new. The walls within were unblemished, the yellow paint had only darkened a tiny amount, and someone must have gone through great pains to polish the bars to a sparkling shine. Groups of Rando Army soldiers marched to and fro, sneering at the old man as they passed him by. Armed with muskets and swords, they paced the length of the cells like the well-trained force they were. To Dustin, though, they guarded no one except their invisible captives. For a building so rarely utilized, he could only wonder why the Mayor would go to such lengths to maintain a facade such as this. The only people who would see the inside were the prisoners and their captors, anyway.   

With that in mind, his brow creased. He couldn’t remember ANYONE in the city, or in the entire island, ever being arrested or even arguing with the police. Well, aside from that one white-shirted Imperial diplomat. What was his name? He believed it was Richard, though it could have also been Roger or Ralph. He remembered the man kicking and screaming as the red-faced soldiers dragged him into the… into the…

Dammit, what’s the name? Of all th- oh! The ‘Rando’ Federal Medical Penitentiary… Prison? No, definitely Penitentiary…

His head pounded as he tried to bring back those memories. A white-shirted man… kicking and… he was screaming for help, bloodshot eyes bulging out of his sockets as he was carted off into a dark room… muffled… muffled voices behind…

There were two floors inside the prison block; stairs led up to the second from the first. A metal walkway hung high above the ground, a marksman standing on top to gaze down at the nothingness below. The railing’s shadow fell upon the prisoner and his escort as they walked, slashing the room in half and bathing them in darkness. The sharpshooter’s silhouette was unmoving, his musket as stiff as a board, but it seemed to grow bigger as Dustin reached the other side of the room. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he noticed its head shift the slightest inch towards his location.

Eventually, he was escorted out of the prison area and down a series of hallways. The lanterns above flickered and buzzed with golden, pattern-filled lighting, becoming more intense as he was dragged to a green door with a rapidly pulsating lantern hanging over it. The sign above the door, a bronze sign with big, foreboding letters, read as followed:

“Interrogation Room.”

His lips quivered as his escort grabbed the wooden handle of the door. It opened with a shrill creak.

The room was just as small and as claustrophobic as he had remembered it. There was only enough room for the brown door in front of him, the large, easily fifteen foot in width window that revealed what was in the very next room, and a console directly underneath the window with a set of medium-sized knobs and glowing mechanical buttons of alternating colors attached to it. The old man took a quick look through the window, and his blood turned cold.

It was Mayor Nicholas. The room was covered in black, serrated, soundproofing foam. The Mayor sat in the middle of the room where a small, wooden table lay. His orange-furred head hung low as he sliced through a ham with a silver knife. His fishing hat was off, uncovering his lowered ears and his darkened eyes. A bloodied ham of smaller size sat on a plate directly opposite to the fox with a wooden knife and fork impaling it.

The former confidant froze to the spot. He could not tell just what the Mayor was planning on doing to him, but he was more than certain that it would end with him being in worse shape than when he had entered. He tried to recall exactly what he did with his captives, but nothing came up despite his internal protests.

His guard pushed him towards the brown door. Just to make a point, the soldier had also whipped out his club and began beating it against the palm of his hand. No words had to be spoken for Marlin to know what would happen if he didn’t hurry up.

The handle stuck to his hand as he delicately twisted it and pushed the door open. He took a deep breath just as he stepped inside, digging his hands into the pockets of his coat to hide them from view.

The door locked behind him. There was no way out.

The vulpine did not look up from his meal. Instead, he cut off a small portion of his ham, jabbing it with his fork before sliding it into his maw. There was an unoccupied chair in front of the uneaten ham. It was tilted diagonally towards Dustin, as if to invite him to the meal. He obliged.

Neither one looked each other in the eyes, nor spoke to one another, for several minutes. The old man certainly tried, as he refused to lay a single finger on the food in front of him and thus did not remove his hands from his pockets. Instead, he spent his time staring at the Mayor, his face blank. He could see the fox’s snout was wet with snot, and it was plainly obvious to the both of them that the canine was doing all he could not to get in direct eye contact with the writer.

He couldn’t say he did not predict this reaction would occur. He just didn’t want to see it.

After an awkward silence, the mayor choked down one last piece of meat before opening his mouth. His voice came out as a dull, emotionless murmur.

“You haven’t eaten your ham…”

The human looked down at his food. It was true; his ham was untouched. He gawked at it for a few seconds.

“There’s no salt in it,” he said, having nothing else to respond with.

The Mayor forced out a chuckle. “You and your salt…”

“I don’t know if I can eat this without salt, Nicholas…” he said.

“You can’t eat anything without salt,” the fox replied, “carrots, beans, wine… doesn’t matter, it needs salt. It’s bad for your blood pressure, Marlin…”

“And so my punishment is to be forced to eat my ham without salt. Truly, there is no crueler fate that could befall one such as myself.”

It was small, but he could see the faintest curl of a smile form on the Mayor’s face. A more genuine chuckle soon followed. The human could feel his lips curve into a smile as well.

“Indeed, dear Marlin, indeed…” the vulpine said, his chuckle trailing off until he was dead silent again.

“What happened to that?”

Dustin blinked. “To what?”

“To this. Being able to eat your ham with the salt. What happened to that?”

The writer blinked again. “I don’t understand. What are you saying?”

“Come now, Marlin, you’re a writer. What do you think I’m saying?”

The old man gave it some thought. His eyes narrowed after a few short minutes. “First off, the metaphor doesn’t work. I don’t see a salt capsule anywhere, so you’re not doing it properly-”

“I don’t care if I’m not doing it properly!” Nicholas said, slamming his paws down onto the desk. Marlin squeaked and bit his lip.

“I don’t give a damn how it’s supposed to be done! I’m not going to listen to you trying to educate me as to how a goddamn metaphor works! The point is that I gave you a choice, and you took the one that you knew would topple me, Marlin!”

He remained plastered to his seat as the fox shouted to him.

“I gave you everything! I gave you a job you loved, a home you were comfortable in, and enough money to support your family! And I did all of that because of everything you had done for me! Because you deserved it for helping me! You deserved all the money and all the luxuries anyone could get! And then you took all of that and spat in MY FACE!”

Another bang on the table, only this time Dustin wondered how the fox hadn’t snapped it in two already. He glanced up towards the fox, who’s head was now in plain view. He could see that his eyes were red, though not from any drug, and his fur was matted and stained underneath them. He was glaring at him; rage, disappointment, confusion, and despair all plastered onto his orange mammalian visage

“I-I was only doing what was right…” Marlin said, looking away from the Mayor.

“You were doing that all along!” Nicholas cried, “why can’t you realize that? You helped me, Marlin! You did! You helped me when I was at my worst! I confided in you, and you listened! Does all of that mean NOTHING to you?!”

He did not respond. The fox stood up in his chair, scratching the wood of the table, and stared at him. His eyes were widened like that of a begging dog.

“What happened to that, Marlin…? What happened to friendship? I trusted you…”

The vulpine placed a padded foot on top of the table and began to walk towards the old man. Marlin did not look; Nicholas’ words had struck true. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach as the fox closed the distance. Rando grabbed the writer’s chin, forcing him to look upward. From up close, Dustin could see the faintest hint of wetness around his friend’s eyes.

“Tell me, Marlin. Why? I can’t bear not knowing.”

“I was blind,” the old man said after a long period of time, “I wanted to help because I pitied you. Then you poisoned me with your drug, and now you have the whole city under your paw. A city you didn’t earn.”

He felt the Mayor’s claws dig into his flesh. Before he could even wince, the fox tightened his grip around his head and slammed it into the table. Everything was blurry and black for a few long moments, and by the time he had recovered, the two things he could comprehend were the massive amounts of red liquid pouring out from his nose and the spittle on his cheek as his friend screamed at him.

“I earned ALL OF THIS! Didn’t you LISTEN AT ALL?! I DESERVE this city! I deserve this island! Five GOD DAMN YEARS, and you have the NERVE to say I DIDN’T EARN THIS?!”

He smashed Marlin’s head against the table again and again and again, blood spilling forth onto the tabletop as his claws stabbed into his head and slashed his wrinkled cheeks. Pain coursed through Dustin’s cranium; everything was incomprehensible; everything was just a series of brown and orange blurs and black dots in his eyes. He didn’t know why he wasn’t screaming, or maybe he was. He could no longer tell if the inhuman wails belonged to him or his maddened mammalian friend.

Finally, after what felt like ages, Nicholas lifted the human’s head off of the bloodied table. He slammed his fist into his former friend’s chest. The chair the writer sat on toppled to the floor, taking Marlin with him. It clattered against the stone ground, wood crackling as Dustin rolled onto his side. He spat out a wad of bloody phlegm, a small tooth joining the mixture of blood, mucus, and saliva.  

He looked upwards; his friend towered over him, claws extended and poised to strike. He raised his arms to defend himself.

The fox stopped. His eyes widened, but not in anger. “Your hands…”

My hands… Marlin stared at them. The back of his hands were darkened due to the light above, but he could still make out various details. His fingernails were falling off, with only one rotten hangnail on his left index finger. There were scratch marks all over the back of his hands that oozed a thick, greasy substance. His hands had a dark-purple pigmentation like that of a grapefruit.

He gasped. His secret was out!

Before he could hide his hands again, however, the fox hopped down onto the ground and held them up to his face. A sharp pain flooded the old man’s senses for a brief moment.

“You stopped taking Sugarcane…” he said, though he did not sound surprised.

“Y-Yes…”

“Why? What could ha-”

The fox’s paws stiffened around the old man’s hands. Marlin’s lips quivered as the vulpine’s face changed. He was glaring, a snarl morphing onto his lips. He could see his teeth, sharp and jagged, jutting out from his mouth.

“You found her, didn’t you?”

His muscles began to tighten; his heart began to race; sweat poured down from his face.

“That’s why you did this… you’re going to forget…”

He had to use all of his willpower not to scream as the Mayor’s claws raked his hand. The fox smacked him to the floor and roared at him.

“You selfish, treacherous FUCK!”

The Mayor clamped his paws around the old man’s collar, lifting his torso off of the ground. He placed his snout directly into Dustin’s battered face, the smell of blood and other bodily fluids invading his nostrils as he growled.

“You’re just like them. I thought you were my friend…” he said. It took every ounce of his will not to tear this man, this human, this liar, this THING into a million bloody pieces. “You’re never leaving this island alive.”

He threw Marlin to the ground. “Get him out of my sight…”

Present...

“Captain!”

A wave of guilt rushed through him as he stared at the heap that the star-spangled soldier was in. He had led the others towards the Interrogation Room, as that was where the Mayor had taken the Captain to. He had no idea what the Mayor wanted from him, but judging from the numerous injuries the Avenger had sustained, it was clear he had wanted it badly.

He charged forth, being among the first to get close enough to get a good look at him. He did not, however, remove his hands from his pockets to comfort him. Rather, he just talked.

“Forgive me, Captain. I-I did not anticipate h-he would do this!”

That, of course, was a plain lie. From what he could remember, this was Rando’s response to everything. If one person could not talk, the other would. If they still could not, beat it out of them. Everyone had a limit; no one could sustain torture for long. Still, it seemed that the Cap believed him, as the Avenger gave a half-hearted nod in his direction.

He quickly moved out of the way as Marcus and the one called Hellboy moved past him and lifted the Captain off of his feet. Ratchet fluttered past and landed on his shoulder; he had felt a huge wave of relief seeing the raven inside their cell window.

“Our primary task has been completed,” The Vision said, floating in the air, “due to the Captain’s medical status, however, I highly recommend an immediate retreat to tend his wounds. In his current condition, arresting the person responsible for the current status of this city would be ill-advised.”

“I agree with the walking encyclopedia,” said Hellboy, spinning the chamber of his over-sized revolver. Dustin flinched; the demon looked all too similar to a Rando Army Brute for his own good, and his overall mannerisms did not ease any tension inside the human’s old and withered bones.

“With that in mind, mister wooden pickle, who is the one responsible for this?” the red robot said.

“My name is… my name is…” Marlin said as he frowned. My name, what is it? What is- ah, there it is. “My name is Marlin Dustin, sir. And the one responsible for this is Mayor Rando. He’s the one who drugged the citizens.”

The Vision nodded. “Where is his current whereabouts?”

He paused again. He looked around. None of the others said anything; it was clear they did not know where he was either. Where had he gone when the chaos began?

He struggled to bring back his memories. It couldn’t have been cowardice; Rando wasn’t known for that sort of behavior. No, it had to have been pragmatism. Live to fight another day, so to speak. But there was no way he would simply allow a massive group like the Avengers to break into his city without him alerting his militia about it-

Oh no.

Before any of the others could ask why he suddenly tensed up, he was already halfway down the hallway. He shouted over his shoulder.

“We need to leave, NOW! We need to get out of this city!”

————

Meanwhile…

The Mayor pushed up against the hatch. Once he opened it, he felt the wetness of the pouring rain.

He climbed up the ladder and onto the rooftop. He shivered and twitched, shaking himself to remove some of the excess rainwater from his fur. He looked back down the hatch. No one had followed him. Perfect.

He could not have anticipated the reinforcements. They had cut through his forces like a hot knife through butter. This called for drastic measures.

He slid his paw inside his coat and pulled out a wooden, flute-like instrument. It was brown in appearance, with around six holes in the base. At the very end of the instrument, however, the tube increased in circumference, instead morphing the appearance of the tool into that of a cross between a flute and a horn. He had only had to use this a total of four times in the past, and never any more intensely than normal, but this time, it looked like he had to use it again.

He pressed his lips around the tip of the flute, his fingers clogging one hole. He took a deep breath.

“Hey!”

He gasped. He looked behind him.

In the middle of the rooftop stood a little girl. Her brown hair stuck to her face, and her striped shirt was matted to her chest. He was glaring at him and jabbing a finger at him.

“What are you doing up here, little girl?” he said, keeping his flute out of sight for the moment. He was going to judge her intentions first before making any sudden actions. He doubted this, but perhaps her and the invading group were separated.

[Isabelle]

Frisk had climbed to the roof hoping to gain a better vantage point of her surroundings. She figured being a lookout was far superior to just waiting at the gate.


When she encountered the fox, she was immediately suspicious. She remembered she read somewhere that the place was run by a fox, so she knew he was the mayor. Though the suspicious part is the fact that he was apparently evacuating onto the roof, and the only possession he decided to bring with him was a weirdly crafted flute that he seems intent on hiding.


She gave him a big smile, the sudden act caused the fox to reel back a bit in horror.


“You’re the mayor!” She said gleefully. “Mommy said this place was run by a fox man, boy was she not kidding!”


“Oh!” The fox said, he still didn’t let his guard down as he didn’t trust this at all, but at least it was a path that lead away from the awkward silence. “Yes, I’m the mayor! Pleasure to meet you young one, but this is no place for greetings.”


Frisk held out a big red lollipop.


“Mommy bought me this earlier, but I want you to have it!”


The fox eyed it, he looked between the girl, then the lollipop, then the girl, then the lollipop, before settling on the girl.


“Umm, I’m afraid I’ll need to pass on that. Again, I’m in quite a hurry.”


His reaction made it very clear he knew about the sugarcane, either that or he was on diet. It was a gamble enough for her though. She looked at the empty space behind the fox.


“Oh! Daddy’s here! Hello daddy Captain America!”


“Oh shi-”


The fox whirled around to face his supposed enemy. And moved to put the flute to his lips, but all that met his muzzle was an empty paw. He spun around again, the little girl was holding the instrument in her hand. She smiled, giggled at him, and run down the rest of the roof.


“You…” The fox’s shocked expression twisted into a steam hot rage. “YOU LITTLE BRAT!”


Frisk felt proud of herself, until she realized she was much faster than she anticipated. She saw the edge of the roof approaching way sooner than she thought, and her screeching halt let to a rain soak slip that sent her hurdling to the ground.


Took a second for her to get her bearings. As soon as she did, she kicked against the wall, pushing her decent into an awning. She tore through it with the weight of her body, however, it did slow her down enough to land gracefully on her feet with no serious injuries. She still had to waddle around a bit grunting as it still hurt like a bitch.


She heard a long metallic sound somewhere in the rain. She looked around in all directions, before spotting the fox, sliding down the rainpipe.


She hoped he would follow, so this worked out.


As soon as the fox made ground, he ran for the little girl, his eyes piercing like daggers, his claws outstretched, ready to maim.


He swung a claw, causing frisk to jump out of the way. He swung another at where her feet landed, causing her to jump again. He received from her what he thought was a punch, but it was so light. In his fury, he thought his adrenaline was blocking the pain.


Thinking the girl was fighting back, he started to swing his claw sporadically, while walking towards her direction, acting like an ever approaching meat grinder. She just backed away slowly, her hand outstretched, trying to signal for him to ease up, but when her back bumped against the wall, it was clear that wasn’t going to happen.


She barely just ducked out of the way as one of his claws scratched into the wall behind her. He didn’t even wince as his nails slide across the hard surface. Frisk used the moment of the duck to roll besides the fox. He felt another “punch” from her.


She goes from a roll and into a full sprint, running with the flute in hand as she stuff something in her pocket. Before she could get too far however.


SNAP!


The metal claws of a bear trap bit hard against her ankle. She yelled out in pain as she toppled into the mud.


The fox, seeing this occur, was knocked back into his senses. Seeing the anticlimax of their confrontation only lead him to cackle. His laughs pierced through the droplets as he slowly made his way to the now helpless child.


“Not so fast now, little one?” He said, his voice confident.


He reached down and snatched the flute. Frisk’s grip barely stood a chance in keeping it from his possession. He immediately brought the instrument to his muzzle. He took a big breath, pressed down on one of the holes, and then blew with all the air in his lungs. It made a loud, high pitched squeal, one that was painful to the little one’s ears.


Immediately, as if a switched he a been flipped, the rain began to come down twice as hard. Winds started to kick up, howling in her ears.


The fox simply smiled at her, and then ran off, supposedly making his escape.


As soon as he was out of sight, she reached into her pocket and felt a crumpled piece of paper. What the fox thought was punches, were actually her checking his pockets. Amongst normal belongings was a document, hastily jammed in his coat as if it were a last minute addition to his evacuation supplies.


If he cared so much to save that piece of paper while escaping, it must be important. Or at least, she hoped it was.


As the winds kicked up and lightning started to rain down from the heavens, some of the soldiers in the building started to become conscious of what was going on. Frisk could hear their cries of terror as they were being greeted with their slowly building demise.


Frisk could see a large gust of wind in the distance knock over a tree. She hoped, almost prayed that she would live long enough to get this information to the others. Just as that thought was finished, the same gust of wind reached her. The force of yanked the chain out of the ground, lifted frisk, along with the bear trap, into the air, carrying her to who knows where.

[The Vision]

"We need to get out of here!" Marlin Dustin cried, "NOW! We need to get out of the city!"

The Vision frowned.

"I agree, though I detect that the urgency in your voice was newly found by an unexpected event. Query: Why-"

The android flinched and his systems staaaarted gliiIIItching. Marcus similarly grunted and collapsed. Captain Rogers Rogers Rogers Rogers noticed something was wrong.

"Vision?" mumbled Steven Rogers, Captain of DATA CORRUPTED, "Marcus? What's wrong?"

The Vision was so overWHELMED by THIS inSANIty I MEAN LIKE WHAT IS GOING ONNNN

/run diagnostics and("logic engine" "emotional dampeners")
Running...
2403 errors detected
/debug
Debugging...

Vision grit his teeth and stood up. 

"I'm alright now," Vision groaned, "There... there was-"

"EMP," Marcus groaned, "Been a while since I got hit by one of those."

Hellboy scratched his head, wiping raindrops from his eyes. "An ee-em-what now?"

"An EMP?" Captain Rogers perked up. "The kind that fries your wires completely?"

"Error: logic. Such a scenario results in 90% probability that I would be completely deactivated temporarily, 10% permanently. This was more of a... a signal."


"What kind?" Hellboy grunted.

"Report: electromagnetic feedback originates from audio input-"

Hellboy turned to Captain Rogers and gave an exasperated glare. The soldier chuckled, blood spurting from the side of his mouth. "Vision. English."

Marlin sighed. "He means that he heard it. Which means... The mayor's already started it."

Marlin turned his gaze to the sky. Vision tilted his head, his software running thousands of lines of code simultaneously to interpret the situation until he finally realized what Marlin was so afraid of. His teammates presumably reached a similar conclusion when lightning started trickling over the underside of spontaneous, and most disturbingly, centralize storm clouds. 

"Is he making a lightning storm?" Marcus mumbled through numb lips, half-open in pain and shock.

"I-" Vision blinked, "I believe so."

"Can he even do that?" Hellboy growled through grit teeth.

"Theoretically, as this universe is a conglomeration of several universes, with conflicting laws of physics-"

"Fine, bolthead." Hellboy clapped a hand over Vision's mouthpiece. "Sorry I asked."

Marlin wheezed, "If this keeps up, the storm he summons could shatter the whole island. At the very least, he'll burn the town to cinders."

Hellboy snorted. "So much for serve and protect."

"You clearly haven't met this guy," Marcus said.

Captain turned the android supporting him. "Well?"

"Mr. Dustin's prediction seems likely," Vision reported, "The electromagnetic storm is increasing in power, with a high chance of acceleration. In a normal community, evacuation would be simple, but the Sugarcane has incapacitated these citizens."

"Alright, team, listen up," Steve winced, "Our priority, as always, is getting these people to safety. Vision, chances they'll cooperate with us?"

"I calculate a 5.34% likelihood, Captain, resulting in an overall 0.08% chance of total evacuation."

"Blast. Any way we can raise that number?"

"If Mr. Dustin were to convince the populace that there was an emergency, chances of total evacuation increase to 33.52%."

"They won't work with me, I've been outed as a traitor."

Marcus glanced at Hellboy.

"What?" the demon grunted.

"Even if you've got two of the policemen with you?" Marcus asked.

Hellboy scowled and leaned in until his horn stumps were inches from the Terminator's face. "I ain't one of his soldiers."

"Yes, you are." Marcus used his foot to lift one of the soldiers' rifles into the air. He caught it and pressed it against Hellboy's arms. He smirked and picked up a gun for himself. "And so am I."

Captain Rogers smiled. "Vision?"

"22.35%."

Rogers glanced at him in surprise. "Down?"

"My scanners detect that the signal is also mobilizing all troops stationed nearby. We have multiple hostiles incoming."

"So we cut through them, and get everyone off this rock," Hellboy said.

"No!" Marlin snapped, "They're victims of Sugarcane, too. We can't hurt any of them."

"Well, they're perfectly content with hurting us!"

"Marlin's right. Our job is to protect these people, even if they try to kill us. We need a distraction, something noticable that can attract everyone's attention easily..."

"Perhaps a flying robot firing lasers at the mayor will suffice," Vision said. "Such a scenario increases chance of evacuation to 42.55%, as it will further convince the citizens that there is an emergency."

"That's good enough for me," the soldier grunted, "I might have to sit this one out, though. We got an extraction point?"

"Yeah, there's a little girl who's keeping an eye out for-"

Vision and Hellboy glanced at each other.

"She with us?" Captain Rogers asked.

Vision nodded.

"I'll get her. She can't have gone far."

"I don't think so, Cap. You're hurt!" Marcus protested.

"Save it, Marcus," the super-soldier grimaced, "I'm tougher than I look. So Vision creates a diversion, Hellboy, Marcus and Marlin start the evacuation, and I go get the girl. What's she look like?"

Vision activated a hologram that depicted Frisk. With the electromagnetic disturbance, the image was highly pixellated, but Captain Rogers nodded anyway.

"Got it. We rendezvous at the beach. And if you see the mayor, take him out."

Vision pointedly looked at Hellboy. "Without killing him. And Captain?"

> self.setvalue density 10.330002%
Shifting...

"Please make sure she's safe."

The caped android lifted slowly into the air. He felt the sugar-laced rain drop through him as the air sank around him. When he reached a sufficient height of 16.5 meters, he suddenly burst forward, whizzing over rooftops. He began to circle around the highest concentration of soldiers.

> engage gazerbeam.att
Engaging optical heat engines...

The laser burned across a street, disrupting the march of the soldiers beneath Vision. They looked up to meet the stare of the flying android.

"Citizens of Rando," he announced, "I am the Vision, and I have saved my world thirty-seven times."

The soldiers raised their rifles, ready to shoot him. 

> self.offset aim_reticule 13°

"After tonight," the robot solemnly said, "I will have ended yours."

He swept the laser across the street once more, leaving behind singed cobblestone and unharmed hostile soldiers as he swiftly dodged a barrage of bullets. The storm raged above and below him.

[Marcus Wright]

As Vision let loose his barrage of lasers on the large group of hostile soldiers, the soldiers bent down and loaded their rifles at the android leader. He swiveled to make it past several bullets while the fearless Captain took steps to avoid injuring any of the sugarcane citizens still residing on the island.

Marcus didn’t wait for the storms to do any more damage as he eyed Hellboy and nodded looking over at the citizens.

“My name is Marcus Wright, this is probably the first time I’ve ever saved a full time world before, but I promise to get as many of you people to safety as possible.”

With Vision’s chaos, people started to realize there was a problem.

They looked over to Marlin, who swiftly reminded them that they needed to get to the docks as fast as they could.

Hellboy was already moving on it, trying to either move those who couldn’t walk toward the docks or  round up the folks like a cowboy at a rodeo.
As the two began moving the folks near the docks, Hellboy couldn’t help but snicker “So wait, Marcus, you never saved a world before?”

Marcus was carrying a sugarcane woman who couldn’t walk toward the docs while Hellboy moved the citizens who were running like a chicken’s head cut off toward the loading docs. Those citizens who were smart enough to move toward the docs and were getting drug withdrawals were the first to show up, quite a few citizens couldn’t walk so the cyborg and the half demon made the long trip back and forth to the docs.

The hardest folks to convince to get off the island was those who had shown the worst symptoms of sugarcane addiction.

[Beta Ray Bill]

Hellboy, Marcus, and Marlin pointed and directed the citizens that weren't badly drugged up from the sugar cane.
   
"Come on, people move your asses to the docks!" Hellboy shouted over the panicked screams. The half demon turned to Marcus who was doing the same as he was, helping the bewildered into the dock. Hellboy got close to the android and shouted over the frenzy and thunder. "You and me are going to have a good conversation when we get back! I'm going back to the city to help the ones who didn't get out! Stay here and help the ones who get here into the boats!" Marcus gave a nod and proceeded to guide more of the people coming into the docks.

The wind began to pick up and the rain got even heavier as Hellboy dashed back for the city. There was no telling when a flash flood could happen and it wouldn't be a good idea stay on the island any longer than needed. Lightning flashed and crackled in the now ebony sky, Hellboy stomped through the streets that now had water at ankle deep in it. A large white flash of lightning nearly blinded Hellboy as he made his in search of people who didn't make it out, the worst of the storm was getting closer.

A woman in a dress that looked like something out of the antebellum era ran into the large half demon and tugged on Hellboy's trench coat trying to get him to follow her."Come on! you have to help one of the buildings caught on fire and there's a Right hand of Doom smashed the door down and he darted into the room picking the little girl up, holding her in his large arms. He quickly studied the burning room, only one exit, the window.

"Hold on tight!" Hellboy dashed and jumped into the window the glass giving way as his large frame tore through it. Gracefully he landed to his feet on a stone gate and then jumped back to the lady who was now standing in knee deep water. HB handed her the child, the burning building gave way behind him. A cloud of ash, dust, and steam blew up as the crumbling building submerged under the water. 

Hellboy guided the lady and the child back through the city market and into the docks. Marcus and Marlin were still there helping as many people as they could, the woman and the child rushed past Marcus and Marlin as they headed on to the evacuation boats.

"Hellboy was that all of them!?" Marcus said helping an old man and his dog onto the boat. "Yeah, I think that's it! You and Marlin stay here and keep these people safe I'm going back to help the others!" Marcus gave a nod "Stay safe!"  Hellboy gave a smirk. "If I can." The large half demon pulled off his trench coat and tossed it to Marlin and jumped back into the water raising his revolver to his head. The water was now half way up to chest deep, but it didn't really matter because of HB's size. The worst of the storm was here, the wind blew heavy as he made his way for the others.

[Centurion]

Pain was nothing new to the First Avenger. He could push through, just like he had in the past. He jogged down the corridor towards the exit, wincing with each step. He felt all the more naked without his shield, but that was the least important thing on his mind. He trusted Vision and Marcus to get the citizens to safety, and he could only assume the same for the large red demon-like man that had been with them. Cap shook his head, clearing his mind of the pain. He had to focus on finding Frisk. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly at that. He would never have taken Vision as the kind of person, or android, to take a child on a mission this deadly. Sure, he knew Vision could be mildly naive at times as was his charm, but to accept a kid into a superhero team that faced death and danger for breakfast then drag her to an island filled with sugar-high zombies? That girl better be invincible, or Cap would have to have a long talk with the android as to his recruitment protocols.

The corridor came to an end and Cap pushed open the door, holding his side as he spat another globule of blood to the side. Outside, winds raged violently, rain spiked downwards in sheets, and lightning crackled overhead. A little girl wouldn't survive long in weather like this. Cap could feel the winds pulled at his muscular frame, sliding him a few inches to the side before he caught himself and planted his feet. He could only imagine how this relentless gusts would affect a frail child. He tromped through the wind and rain, eyes peeled for any youth that matched the description Vision had given him. He heard a small shout followed by manic laughter and moved towards the sounds quickly.

By the time he found the source of the noise, nothing but a broken chain and a tiny splatter of blood were left behind as clues. The Avenger scanned the skies and saw nothing. He needed a vantage point. His muscles screamed as he pulled himself up a service ladder to the roof of a nearby building, forcing him to take a pause once he reached the top. Thankfully, it seemed his body was coming to terms with being broken, so the pain had gone from sharp stabbing to a constant throbbing. Cap took another look at the city and say a tiny shadow peeking through the wall of water raining from the sky. Cap's heart seized to see that little girl being tossed about mercilessly by the winds. One gust in the wrong direction could toss her into the water or slam her tiny body against the walls of a building. However, the same winds that tossed his new ally back and forth were trying desperately to toss him off of his feet. He gripped onto a pipe bolted to the wall of a shack on the rooftop and struggled against the airy current. Suddenly, the tiny shadow grabbed onto an antennae of sorts on the building across from Cap, holding on for dear life.

Normally, Cap knew he'd be able to resist the wind, but his injured state prevented him from making a move. Another glance told him the girl was likely dangerously close to losing her grip. Captain Roger's couldn't let her drop, not on his watch. He slammed his fist into the shack, steeling himself for a desperate move. He pushed off of the wall, barely keeping his footing, and sprinted forward. His brain handled the fine movements as he stepped slightly to the side to counteract the winds and calculate the distance between the rooftops. He reached the edge and, without hesitation, launched himself forward. He sailed through the rain, the winds pushing hard against him. Cap slammed into the wall, the fingers of one hand barely grabbing onto the edge of the other building. He cried out in pain as his body renewed its painfully constant protests. After what felt like hours, Cap managed to pull himself over the edge and stand shakily on the other roof.

He looked up and saw the girl, eyes shut tight, hugging the antennae . A bear trap was attached to her ankle, something that sparked a rage in Captain America. Pushing aside his feelings, Cap called up to Frisk, doing his best to hide his pain and sound reassuring through the heavy winds.

"Afternoon Ma'am! You look like you could use some help!"

Frisk cracked open one eye to see the star-spangled hero standing unsteadily on the roof below her. She smiled with relief. Back on the roof, Cap ran multiple scenarios through his mind, settling on an admittedly risky, but possible solution. He shouted again.

"I'm going to need you to trust me! I'm going to catch you. Just let go on my signal and I promise I won't let you fall!"

The girl winced at the danger inherent in Captain America's plan. However, to be fair, there wasn't much else worth trying at the moment. Frisk nodded vigorously to show she understood. Cap took deep breath and planted his feet. He began to count out loud.

"On three! One... Two... THREE"

[Isabelle]

Frisk released her grasp off the pole launching through the air and directly into Captain America’s manly embrace. She was so light, the Cap was barely knocked back from the impact.

“Are you ok ma'am?” He asked.

Frisk’s head was spinning like a hurricane, she grasped on to his chest to try to stabilize herself.

“What’s a strapping young lad such yourself doing a in a place like this?” She asked, her voice shaky but still somewhat voluptuous.

The look on Cap’s face was indescribable.

The awkward moment was thankfully interrupted by a sudden gust of wind that threw him backwards. The pair tumbled down the wet slippery roof. Just as they were about to go over the edge, Cap just barely grabbed a hand on the edge.

“Must... hold... on...” He said, his hand slipping with every passing second, until he felt the pat of Frisk’s tiny hand on his chest. He peeked down at her only to see her other hand pointing at the drainage pipe only a few inches away. “Okay, hold on tight.”

Frisk wrapped her scrawny little arms around the back of the hero’s neck. With that, he released his grip of the roof and grabbed both hands on the pipe. It was wet and slippery, be the cap was able to maintain a grip that slid them down at a safe speed.

After a few minutes, the pair landed at the bottom of the pipe with a thud, nearly throwing her from her grip. The building was providing them with a brief reprieve from the high force winds, so he had a moment to lay her down on the ground and inspect the bear trap situation.

“There should be a release switch somewhere.” Frisk said, noticing what the captain was doing. She reached over and pulled a lever on the side of the device, releasing its jaws from her ankle. “Found it!”

With lightning fast speed, she shot to her feet, much to the shock of Cap. She almost fell over when the shot of pain hit, but she almost immediately took a few limping steps forward.

“Are you sure you are going to be okay doing that?” He said, looking skeptical at her leg.

“Don’t worry, the winds only roughed me up a bit. It’s just silly little breeze!”

“That bear trap would have broken a normal person’s leg!”

“Well, that’s what we drink milk for.”

The little one held aloft her red soul, the heart shape glowing in the palm of her hand. She shifted around, paying attention to the flashing it would give off.

“Vision and Hellboy are in two different directions. Don’t they know you never split the party?”

“Kind of a normal occurrence from my experience.” Said Captain very frankly. “Also, you can track the others with that? What even is that?”

“It’s my soul.” Said Frisk, not giving her answer another thought. She aimed it towards the half-demon. “Let’s just head for Hellboy, work our way from there.”

She immediately started to move that direction, he quickly followed after, wondering what she meant by “it’s her soul.”

[The Vision]

Vision flung his body left in mid-air, narrowly dodging the tsunami of bullets. He decreased the density of his body to near nothing to dodge the next wave. He pushed himself forward, whizzing over the soldiers. As they tried to get a bead on him, he vanished into the ground. A few seconds later, he rose from the asphalt behind the soldiers, shooting a laser at the soldiers' feet while landing on his own.

He had been playing this deadly game of cat-and-mouse for a few minutes, trying to buy as much time as possible. He threw a punch at one soldier's face, doing his best to only knock her out. It was difficult to assess what measure was non-lethal due to the troops' dependence on Sugarcane. For example, this particular soldier was coughing blood and teeth onto the street, though the punch should only have given her a small bruise. Another soldier smashed a pipe against Vision's face, but Vision had increased his density to be harder than diamonds - the pipe bounced uselessly off of the android's nose. He once more took off, phasing his body through the soldiers and causing them to flinch.

Suddenly, a hook latched itself onto Vision's cape. This should not have been possible, for the cape was currently a vacuum. Vision's confusion was answered by the painful jolt of an electric current flowing through the grappling hook. A taser. Of course. Electric currents disrupted the Vision's molecular structure while he was altering his density, essentially shutting them down.

Vision fell to the ground from 15 feet in the air.

As he crashed haplessly onto the wet street, other soldiers followed suit and shot their tasers at Vision. With his primary defensive maneuvers deactivated, he felt the full brunt of the assault, once again feeling the very human emotion of pain. He writhed in a puddle, muddying his green and yellow exoskeleton. He wanted to contort his face into a scream, as was the instinct of many humans, but unfortunately he could only grit his teeth in agony.

One soldier - who Vision recognized, given her toothless and bloody mouth - pointed her rifle at Vision's temple.

"N-N-N-No..." the android stuttered.

He had underestimated the fox's militia, and now he was likely going to need a new body to pay for it. Unless he had some sort of back-up file to access, that is. Vision found himself almost wishing he hadn't purged Skynet from his system.

Almost, he reminded himself, as he remembered how he hurt Frisk.

Frisk. He had promised Toriel to keep her safe, despite the likelihood of the little girl being severely injured. And to the best of his abilities, Vision needed to keep his promise. This was not a matter of logic. This was a matter of duty.

He finally got up to his knees. He heard - no, felt - the soldier's finger on the trigger. Her teammates were shrieking at her, presumably ordering her to finish him.

There must be somethi-

ERROR: antivirus programs failing

Splendid. As if Vision's situation was not desperate enough-

ALERT: adaptoid takeover imminent

Vision blinked.

"A... Adaptoid?"

Opening AdaptoidFiles.zip
Running "mjolnir.exe"...

Vision's fingers suddenly tensed, the tips shooting short beams at his palm. The android was unsure what was happening, and neither were the soldiers. The woman holding the gun stopped shrieking, eyeing the spectacle that was Vision's glittering right hand.

Vision's mouth opened spontaneously. He felt a program in his head shuffling around memory files, specifically searching for a sound file.

And he found it. It was an old friend from his home universe, the voice that so often brought him hope and just as often filled him with despair. Even now, Vision felt hairs stand on the back of his neck from some sort of static energy. An odd feeling, given that Vision had no hairs... at all. The sound file held words said in the voice of this friend.

That same voice rang from a speaker inside the Vision's mouth.

"Mjolnir! To me!"

Suddenly, a very familiar hammer tessellated in his hand, layer by layer forming the iconic shape. The other soldiers watched in awe as Vision gripped the handle of Mjolnir.

"Face the might of THOR!"

He squeezed his eyes shut to focus. Then he gripped the handle of hammer with both hands and swung it with all of his strength in a circle.

When he opened his eyes, Vision saw that there was a ring of fallen soldiers, groaning and wheezing from pain. Mjolnir crackled in his hand.

Vision shrugged and said in his own voice, "I suppose this is acceptable."

He clubbed an approaching soldier with Mjolnir, knocking him into a small crowd of hostiles. He sniped a distant soldier with a heat beam, tripping another soldier. One more wave of troops was left - and Vision knew just what to do. He jumped into the air (with great effort - Mjolnir was extremely heavy) and swung the hammer down. As the Vision landed, a shockwave exploded, sending bolts of lightning that shot through the straggling troops.

> scan_vitals(all)
Scanning...
41 of 43 alive, 2 of 43 conscious, 36 of 43 requires medical attention

Two dead. This was sure to upset Captain Rogers and his other teammates. Though it was an accident, of course. He'd deal with that later. Two were still conscious. The first was sure to be the Vision, who was included in the scan. So there was a second.

Vision promptly found the squirming soldier. The android approached him and carefully dropped the hammer on his stomach. Shortly after making impact (and rendering the last soldier unconscious) the hammer deconstructed.

Vision lifted his body into the air and flung it towards where Captain Rogers had gone. It was likely that both he and Frisk needed help.

"Adaptoid," the robot muttered as he soared through the storm.

[Marcus Wright]

Marcus eyed the red demon-like creature, who had rushed back to the almost half drowned city to get some people out of buildings. The terminator picked up those who couldn’t get in the boats and nodded for those who could to leave when they could.

Marlin eyed the short haired metallic man “I.. I didn’t know.”

The metallic man eyed the feather hatted man and picked him up “Didn’t know what?”

“Why help me after what… I’ve done?”

Marcus was quiet as he turned “Look, i’m not a completely changed man. “

“In fact, I used to be a con.”

“Wait.. you?!”

“Like i said, the past is the past.”

“Yes, the very hero you are working with used to be on the wrong side of the same token.”

“Then why are you helping them?!” “Me!”

“It’s a matter of doing something good for once.

“Now, let’s get these people home.”

The old man and his dog were taking a while to get to the boat but as soon as they made it, the old man named Track and his dog, Chocolate felt the wind trying to blow them away.

The winds were picking up and it was getting chaotic. His leather coat was blowing in the windstorm and he didn’t want to stick around if he could.

Hellboy descent in the water mucked city was getting a little more annoying. However, he didn’t mind his trenchcoat getting wet.

“HELP!”

A small girl and her mother cried as they were on the top level of a flooding house.

“Hold on!”

Hellboy made his way throughout the house and swum through the rising waters as he ran to the top of the house. He grabbed them as he eyed the silhouette of Marcus and Marlin near the boat.

He hopped down and made a big splash “Come on!”

Marcus turned to Marlin and frowned “I’ll be right back..”

Hellboy stomped through the mud as the city kept filling with water. “MARCUS, MARLIN COME ON! This is the last of em’.

He wondered why Marcus had left his post.

“Why did you leave your post?

“Give me them!”

“Right.”

The terminator took the time to say “Come on, no time to waste, if that’s the last of them, we should either catch up with Captain America or Frisk.

The last time the man felt odd being friends with children.

“I don’t feel comfortable not doing anything here.”

Hellboy said “Marcus hang back with Marlin, you can handle that right?

“That’s fine.”

“I’m <i>plenty</i> good at keeping people calm and safe.”

Hellboy didn’t respond, he was already off to find Captain America and Frisk.

Marcus groaned and looked over at Marlin, who was trying to calm the folks.

The scene blurred to one you saw only during the apocalypse.

Marcus found himself staring while many people started to scream.

Problem is, he felt like he was staring at people back in his world that screamed for help.

Was there even a difference anymore?

Terminators… <i>sugarcane high folks<i>… </i>heroes</i>, the resistance, <i>the villains</i>- the power high mayor named Rando.

He silently compared differences here to his world.

[Beta Ray Bill]

Lighting flashed and rain pelted into the flooded streets as Hellboy pushed his way through. The water was officially up to his bare chest, in a matter of minutes it would be well over his head. He cursed at the thought of that damn fox for how crazy and evil he was for flooding the city where his own people lived, just the thought of that wanted HB to smash his head in. Most of what used to be the small village were now submerged under water. he had to get the rest of his team fast before for any more trouble came. There was no telling of what other dangers there were now that the village was flooded, the only good thing about the situation was that Hellboy, Marcus, and Marlin were able to save most of the village's population. The heavy winds from the massive hurricane gave resistance for Hellboy's progress slowing him down as debris and rain pelted at his face and bare chest' thankfully he wasn't wearing his trench coat or that would have slowed him down even more.

There was no telling where Vision or the others had gone all there was to do was to keep moving and looking for them. He raised his hands to cover his face as the wind picked up, he was almost out of the village and back near the prison. He smirked at the thought of that god damn fox might be near, most likely he was already dead from the flood, but if not Hellboy could finally give him a piece of his mind. 

"Vision! Cap! Frisk! Where are you, we need to get out of here!"

There was no response to the whistling wind and heavy rain. A loud creak and crash noise came from in front of him. The Half-demon quickly shot a glance up peering in front of him looking directly at the flood he was standing in.

"Oh, crap."

A broken carriage came tumbling down towards him Hellboy barely had time to react. He quickly punched the rolling carriage with the Right Hand of Doom causing pieces of wood to flew in every direction, but his effort was in vain. The carriage smashed into him causing him to roll yelling in pain under the flood water. He was now stuck in the currents of the flood tossing and turning under the water. He reached out with hands in an effort to grab something to stop his path. Within seconds he latched on to a tree and held on for dear life. Content with the effort he steadied himself and restarted his way to find the other teammates, he had to keep going there was no time to waste not with the chance that after this was over that they would be able to help him figure out a way for him to get back to Earth.  A gut feeling told him that they weren't dead in this super storm, he just needed to push harder.

[Centurion]

The mania of the past few hours coupled with the raging storm left little time for introspection. However, if only to keep himself focused on something other than the pain, Captain America thought deeply about where he planned to go next. He left his arms and legs on autopilot, the thick muscles straining to keep him moving, while he focused his mind on his immediate surroundings. Many new things caught his interest, namely Frisk. Admittedly, her rather flirty introductory statement had taken the hero aback, but as he continued to push forward, doing his best to shield her from the whipping winds and rising rapids, she seemed the image of an innocent child.

Despite Cap's premonition to stand between the girl and the storm, the combination of her stubbornly forward movement and his reliance on her "soul's" tracking abilities, he kept just behind her. The pelting rain fell mainly on his back as they moved with the storm, the winds slamming against him like a battering ram. Each gust renewed his aches, his damaged armor doing next to nothing to keep out the freezing rain and wind. But still, that statement as to her "soul"... it certainly had piqued Cap's interest. As he always reminded himself when he encountered something unexpected in the Omniverse, Steve had dealt with similar and even stranger things back on Earth-616. Nonetheless, this dimension continued to surprise him.

The girl stopped, propping herself up on the wreckage of a carriage, likely smashed apart within the writhing waves of what she pointed to. With a grave tone, Frisk indicated a rushing current of water that had enveloped the street ahead. It flowed like a hurricane, smashing barrels and other random items against the buildings it rushed past.

"Hellboy's somewhere in there."

Cap winced in pain at the prospect of pressing into the rapids. Thankfully, a familiar voice caught Frisk's attention, leading them away from the watery onslaught.

"Hey," Boomed the familiar voice of the Half-Demon. "Anyone out there!? Uhh... Avengers Assembly? Whatwasit... Ah whatever, Hello!?"

Frisk smiled broadly and skipped as best she could with her injured leg towards the voice. Both the girl and the hero turned a corner to see Hellboy pulling himself free of the river, shouting and cursing alternatively. Cap approached and held out his hand to help the struggling half-demon out of the mud and stones.

"Language, soldier," Cap said facetiously. "You're in the presence of a lady."

Hellboy looked up to see the Avenger smirking and quickly took his hand in his, using the massive Hand of Doom to propel himself out of the mire.

"Damn-. I mean, darn it's good to see you two." Hellboy leaned against a pile of debris, catching his breath.

"Good to see you too, Hellboy." Cap turned to Frisk. "Now then, you said your soul can lead us to Vision?"

Frisk nodded.

"Then lead the way."