Come Together

“We should just talk to them! They’re weak. If we really wanted to, we could take them out,” Elizabeth stood behind her teammate who still hadn’t given up her name, watching the strange procession of a girl being carried by a mass of fire with a head and a man in a duster walking through the forest. High in the sky a hawk soared above them, but they were hidden by the shy girl’s powers.

“But what if they’re mean…” the invisible girl replied, following her confident ally through the forest. She could see through her own invisibility charm, and so had no problems following her teammate. It was pretty funny to see the redhead’s confused glancing around when the invisible girl fell silent, unsure if she was even with her partner anymore.

The redhead had only physically seen her teammate once, and that was when she woke up. Communicating with and working with someone you couldn’t see was tiring, but they had managed it. Her teammate was utterly useless when it came to combat (or so she thought), and so she sought to work together with the oddballs making their way toward the goal now.

The man stopped abruptly, looking in their direction. She watched as a hand went to his belt, and for a moment the electric girl was worried that her complaint was a little too loud. After a few beats of held breath, the gunman seemed to decide that he hadn’t heard her after all.

I’m being too paranoid. With David in the sky and Discordance warning me of threats, there’s no way anybody could sneak up on us, John mused, slipping his alabaster gun back into its holster.

Grace, who could move for a while now but enjoyed being carried, noticed his pause, “Weird nobody’s attacked us, but I’d like to avoid any more pots if I can.” She saw he looked even more confused, and elaborated, “I’m fine with not fighting anymore.”

“I want something I can punch. I haven’t had an opponent worth going all out on this whole time, except maybe John, and I couldn’t go all out on him,” Abigail, ever the fighter, did not share their feelings.

“I like her,” Elizabeth decided, as she had been on the fence about the fire girl they had been following. She had something of a bias against pyromancers, as lightning was better in every way obviously, but anyone who could appreciate a good fight was alright by her.

“I don’t. People who are that violent scare me. That includes you.” Her teammate peered intently at the trio they were following, already feeling distaste for one of them. She had to admit that the redhead was right though, if they were to make it through they’d need help.

“You wound me,” Elizabeth mocked, tripping over a branch and falling to the ground. The resulting thud set the gunman on high alert. She watched as the pyromancer deposited the girl she was carrying on the ground before solidifying into a muscular… graceful… naked!? Can’t get distracted by that now!

John took the Echo Stone out of his inventory and dropped it onto the ground, drawing his guns as a wave rippled over the forest, revealing two gray outlines in the bushes a dozen meters to the left. Two matching gray blips appeared on his map, and though he relaxed slightly at the fact that the blips weren’t red, he was still suspicious. “Careful what you wish for, Abigail.”

“Oh no! It would be so bad if we had to fight right now! I would hate that so much!” her attempt at sarcasm didn’t go unnoticed by the Brit, who burst into a fit of laughter on the ground. David, who had noticed them stop, dove down and landed on John’s shoulder.

Pointing his coal colored gun at the downed outline, he channeled a Disrupting Blast through it. The resulting loud bang pierced through the forest, and revealed the redhead to him. “Why are you following us?”

Elizabeth pat her clothes to get the grass off as she rose, pulling at one fingerless glove. “Well, my teammate and I were hoping we could follow you guys, help out, win, that sort of thing.”

John looked the girl up and down as she spoke, taking in her appearance and using Advanced Spy. The gold studs in her ears complimented the similar hairband which held her hair back. The golden accents on the numerous belts adorning her figure tied it all together. One on each wrist, one on each bicep, and one around her neck. The brown aviator jacket she wore covered her torso, a white shirt peeking out from underneath. Below she wore jean shorts, thigh highs with gold trim rounding out the outfit. Man, why does everyone wear such weird clothes, John looked at the navy snakeskin sleeve covering his raised arm, actually, never mind.

Looking at her stats, he had to hide his surprised expression, She’s faster than me or Abigail! Those bonuses! What kind of experiments did she do? And what do those perks mean? Careful to still pay attention, he tapped on the two unfamiliar perks.

Unchained I, Agility Perk
This entity’s movement and combat speed isn’t restricted by the limits of the human body, and therefore this entity has superhuman speed. However, their movements are still bound by the laws of physics.

Elemental Infused, Mutation Perk
This entity has fused to their associated element, and has taken on some of its qualities as a result. Any elemental damage of that element heals them instead. All their spells with that element as their main component are twice as strong and have half the casting cost and time. All elemental damage of the opposite element deals twice the damage. All their spells with the opposite element as their main component are half as strong and have double the casting time and cost.

Holy shit! She’s on the ‘do not fuck with’ list for sure! She’s a lower level than me and Abigail and could probably still beat us! How does that work?

“Are you sure you don’t want to fight?” the brunette sounded somewhat dejected, the fireballs in each palm slowly fading away.

“As much as I’d like to, I think working together would be better for all of us,” Elizabeth responded, clasping her hands together in front of her. Grabbing where she thought her teammate was, she pulled the girl in front of her by the sleeve. “This is my teammate. She’s a little shy, but a useful asset.”

“Please don’t take away my invisibility like you did with her,” a soft voice mumbled, the origins of which confirming that there was indeed an invisible person in front of Elizabeth. He tried to use Advanced Spy on the invisible girl, but met an error message instead.

Error! Target level too high and relationship score too low!

“Alright, let’s work together,” John offered his hand to the visible girl and used Mind Reading on her to be sure of her intentions.

Yes, this is so good. Now we actually have a chance and I get to spend more time with that cute pyromancer! Everything's coming together so well!

A small shock jumped to his hand as they shook amicably, and he winced, pulling back. What a fitting last name. The lightning crawled across his duster before dispelling, and he remembered that his major armor piece was weak to lightning, Yeah, definitely don’t want to get on her bad side.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Brit get up off the ground, moving normally. He had tied her jacket around his waist, and undid the knot, handing it back to her. “Looks like the free ride is over. Go give Abigail her clothes back.”

“We’re just going to need a sec.” John pulled the rest of Grace’s clothes out of his inventory as she and the brunette walked away from the newcomers, toward a tree large enough to shelter both of them.

“I saw how you were looking at him when he was at my knickers, you do like him! Even if you said you didn’t,” Grace teased, slipping out of the leafy blouse, “I’ll admit he’s pretty cute, and pretty funny, but you get so worked up over him. You’re a radiant top of the hour yourself.”

“Well… I don’t know… can people really explain that stuff?” Abigail shot a confused look at her teammate as she took her shirt and pants back. She slipped into them easily, the fabric comforting. She had no plans of going nudist anytime soon.

“I guess not. Well, you do you,” Grace shrugged, putting on her jean jacket and reaching into the inner pocket. “Bollocks, I’m out of snacks. Let’s hurry up.”

They stepped out from behind the trees to find John and Elizabeth in the middle of small talk. “So… why do you want to become a bounty hunter?” the redhead returned the question John had just asked her. Her answer was simple enough: fighting things. He didn’t have one so readily available.

“Well… I don’t really know. I want to get stronger, and I want protection for me and my people. Initially my girlfriend and I were both going to be here… but that plan went south. I guess it’s just a path for me to take. I don’t have it all figured out.” John’s ramblings were interrupted when he noticed his teammates were back.

“Well, that’s a more in-depth answer than I was expecting. Could’ve just said you didn’t know, I’m no therapist,” Elizabeth said, though the joke came off colder than she had intended.

“We’re still young, we’ve got time,” Grace commented as they rejoined the group. “Let’s get going, yeah?”

“Good idea, we’ve only got a little bit more than an hour left.” John checked his phone for confirmation, and saw that they had an hour and ten minutes exactly. “So, how are we not going to lose your teammate, if she’s not willing to… be visible?”

“Trust her to be able to follow us. That’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s been working,” Elizabeth laughed, getting lower and stretching her legs. “You set the pace, we’ll follow.”