Nickel's POV:

Of course.

Of course get chosen as the bait.

Just my luck.

They just came up with the excuse that I was the fastest, which I guess was kind of a compliment, but I'd rather not risk my life.

We argued quietly for a bit before I finally agreed.

"Alright Nickel, so you're gonna run out there and-" Paintbrush whispered before I cut them off.

"Yeah yeah I get it, but if I die, this is your fault." I snapped, making sure to whisper.

"Yeah whatever, just go." Paintbrush said before shoving me out into the hallway.

The person that was around the corner just happened to be Cobs.

Just great.

We both stared at each other confused for a second before I took off running back around the corner.

Cobs chased after me and turned the corner suddenly.

Paintbrush then quickly grabbed his arm, and zapped him with the tazer, kicking him to the ground.

We all quickly ran to the window that was now boarded up.

"Here take this!" Paintbrush exclaimed, quickly handing the tazer over to Taco, who then hid it.

Paintbrush then ran over to a wall, and pushed themself off of the wall, grabbing onto a pipe on the ceiling and pulling it off.

"Honestly that was pretty impressive." I said.

"No time for that!" Paintbrush said, stomping on the tip of the pipe with full force to flatten it.

They then ran over, and used the flattened tip of the pipe to pry the boards off of the window, just enough for us to fit through.

Paintbrush grabbed onto one of Balloon's legs and the rest of us held onto eachother and jumped out, just as Cobs ran up to the window.

"Haha! Take that sucker!" Paintbrush called up with a large grin on their face.

"How do you even have the guts to insult him like that?" I said with a small laugh, hanging upside down in Paintbrush's grasp.

"Trust me, I'm not afraid of him, he isn't even very strong without a weapon or his followers." They responded.

We all sat silently for a bit.

"This is pretty much the 3rd or 4th time we've tazed that guy." Taco said.

"3rd or 4th? I thought it was only the second time we've done it." Paintbrush responded.

"No, she's tazed him more than twice, trust me." Balloon piped in, just letting himself float down.

Eventually, we landed softly on the ground.

"We should find a good place to rest." Taco stated.

Everyone agreed that it would be a good idea.

We wandered for a bit before we found a place that seemed hidden enough.

It was beginning to get dark.

We built a small shelter, so we could spend the night there.

Hopefully it was hidden enough.

Some good news was that MePhoneX wasn't a threat anymore, so we didn't have as much to worry about now that Cobs' army was smaller.

I made my bed out of some leaves, and laid down on it.

Everyone else was currently outside chatting, but I was tired, despite some light still showing through the trees.

Eventually I dozed off.

This was a long day.

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Taco's POV:

I was leaning against a tree, and everyone else was just chatting.

It was nice being back out in the forest.

The place I considered my home.

It may seem lonely at times, but I had gotten used to the silence.

It was honestly nice having the others here though.

I sat and listened to them chat for a while.

But something felt off.

Not like a premonition of something bad about to happen, but, something off about me.

My body didnt really feel like mine.

Almost like I wasn't in control of it.

I just rubbed my head, attempting to shake the thought.

Suddenly, a pounding headache started.

I grabbed my head and the others turned to see what was wrong.

"Are you okay?" Fan asked, scooting a bit closer.

"Yeah yeah- its just a heada- AGH-!"

The headache got worse.

Something is wrong...

My vision began to turn blurry.

The pain was worse than a migraine.

After a while of the pain, I eventually blacked out...

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Fan's POV:

"Taco?" I asked, as she suddenly went limp.

I slowly reached my hand out toward her, the others watching anxiously.

Suddenly, Taco's hand shot out, grabbing my wrist.

I let out a quick scream, surprised by the sudden action, and pulled back.

She was abnormally strong.

What's going on?!

She then stood up, as if she weren't even injured.

The others stood up and backed away a bit.

Taco squeezed my wrist harder the more I struggled, and eventually, I heard small cracks coming from my arm, each crack accompanied by a jolt of pain.

"Taco-! Wh- OW- what are you doing?!" I managed to yell out.

There was no response.

All that she did, was turn to look at me, with a large grin.

I managed to get a glimpse of her eyes.

Her eyes...

Her eyes looked different.

Almost...

This isnt Taco.

She's being controlled.

When I realized this, I pulled away harder, despite the pain.

Suddenly, Taco pulled out her tazer, and jabbed it into my side, pressing the button and sending a jolt of electricity through my body.

She then let go of my arm, and I fell to the ground, paralyzed.

The others stared in shock.

I couldn't do anything as I watched her charge at Balloon, and tazing him as well.

I didn't get the chance to see what happened to Paintbrush before I blacked out from the pain.

Taco wasn't herself anymore.

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Paintbrush's POV:

I watched in shock as Fan and Balloon were attacked.

Something was wrong with Taco.

Why else would she just suddenly attack us?

Suddenly Taco turned to face me, and tackled me to the ground.

She brought down her tazer, attmepting to do the same thing she did to Fan and Balloon, but I grabbed her wrist.

How is she so strong?!

Somehow, she was managing to push the tazer closer and closer to my face.

I had to think fast.

I lifted up my foot and kicked her over my head.

She landed on her back and dropped the tazer.

I quickly got up and stumbled a bit, attempting to reach the tazer.

But Taco grabbed my wrist, just inches away from it.

She squeezed it hard, but I did the first thing that came to mind to prevent her from breaking my arm.

I bit her as hard as I could.

It's honestly something I would've prefered not to do, but it did get her to let go.

I quickly grabbed the tazer from off of the ground, but she knocked it out of my hand.

You've got to be kidding me.

Instead of trying to fight, I quickly ran to the shelter, and pulled Nickel up from his sleeping place.

He seemed confused, but I didn't have time to explain.

We both ran and managed to get away.

I took a deep breath of relief.

But that relief didn't last long when I realized...

...We left Fan and Balloon...

"CRAP." I exclaimed, quickly jumping up and rushing back to where we had made our camp.

Nickel followed

I hid in the bushes, and saw that Taco had just gotten back from chasing us.

I noticed that Balloon was still awake, and was fighting to regain his ability to move from the paralysis.

Fan on the other hand was completely unconcious.

Taco then approached the both of them, hiding away the tazer, and grabbed both of their ankles, dragging them along.

That doesnt look very comfortable.

I signaled for Nickel to follow as I quietly made my way through the bushes, following Taco to see where she was taking them.

Eventually, they ended up back at the place we had floated down.

There, Cobs was waiting for her when she arrived.

Of course he did this!

She dropped both of their legs, and stood there without a word.

Cobs looked satisfied.

He then pulled out a small button, amd pressed it.

Taco collapsed to the ground, completely motionless.

Cobs then called in some of the MePhones to bring them back.

Is he using mind control? How is that even possible?

I sat thinking for a moment.

Is that what he would've done to me...?

I ignored the thought.

Then I realized the MePhones were preparing to teleport away with Cobs, Fan, Balloon, and Taco, before I had the chance to do anything.

"Wait! No!"

I ran out of the bushes just as they dissapeared

"DANGIT!" I exclaimed, stomping my foot on the ground.

Nickel exited the bushes.

"Ok. We can't do this alone anymore. We need help." I sighed.

"Cmon Nickel."

It was getting dark fast, and we needed it to remain as light out as possible so we would be able to remember the way back.

So I ran, Nickel followed behind me.

After a while of running, we finally made it back to the city.

We ran back to the care center and quickly rushed in through the door.

Lightbulb was sitting by the door, and jumped when it was suddenly slammed opened.

She seemed startled at first but then excited.

"Painty! You're back!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry Lightbulb no time- we have to get help!"

Lightbulbs face turned from excited to confused.

"Did something happen?" She asked, now looking a bit concerned.

"Fan and Balloon were taken and Taco is being mind controlled, thats all I can say for now." I spoke quickly as I ran up to the reception counter and asked them to call the police.

If only it wasn't dark when we first escaped, then I would've rembered the way and this would've been done a lot sooner.

After a while, the police arrived.

I was pacing everywhere.

It was almost too dark out to know where we were going.

I explained what had happened

They almost didn't believe me, but then rembered about the whole

teleportation thing from the beginning of all this, and didnt really have much of an option.

They ended up getting a search helicopter.

We don't have much time...

The pilot let me ride in the helicopter with him so that I could show him the way.

Eventually after a while, we found the building.

It was somehow on top of a cloud, which I didn't think was possible.

The helicopter then lowered some ropes and allowed us to climb down, in through the window

It was darker inside than it was before, probably because it was now night time.

I was given a flashlight, and the police began to walk ahead of me, also holding flashlights.

I began to worry that they were hurt.

What if Cobs hurt them again? Or worse, what of he killed them?

I took a deep breath and hoped for the best

As we walked, I heard mechanical wirring.

Whirring followed by footsteps.

I tugged on the arm of one of the officers, and he realized as well.

He commanded the other officers to pull out their guns, and hide around the corner.

We saw a faint pink light.

Oh, it's MePhone5c again.

I knew she wasn't super tough, and honestly she wasn't the brightest, so I wasnt too worried.

Eventually she walked around the corner and one of the officers nailed her in the head with the end of his gun.

She fell to the ground unconcious.

"Alright let's move." The officer whispered.

The others nodded then followed.

After a while, we heard quiet talking in a nearby room.

It didn't sound like Cobs or any of the MePhones, so it had to be Fan and Balloon.

The police had brought some equipment with to pry open the door.

Eventually they were able to get the door opened, and found Fan and Balloon sitting in the corner.

Fan stared for a moment before realizing that I was therez and he jumped up and ran over to hug me.

Balloon let out a sigh of relief and stood up to walk over as well.

But something was missing.

"Wait, where's Taco?" I asked, looking around the room.

Fan shrugged and Balloon said that she had been taken somewhere else, he wasn't sure where though.

The police had Fan and Balloon taken out to the helicopter and taken back to the ground to safety, while the rest of the police and I continued searching.

As we walked, I noticed one room we hadn't tried to search in yet.

It was locked when I attempted to open it.

"I think this might be it!" I whispered to the police.

They came over to help me open it.

The door opened to a long hallway.

I had never been in there before so I was a bit anxious, but went in anyway.

There was a faint light at the end of the hallway, but it wasn't super bright.

Eventually we got to the end of the hallway.

But the room was empty.

What? I thought for sure that-

Before I even had the chance to finish my sentence, a bullet zipped past my head.

I gasped as the bullet hit the wall, leaving a small hole.

The police pulled out their guns and turned to face where the bullet had come from.

There stood Taco, holding a gun.

The police pointed their guns at Taco.

"Wait! Don't shoot her!" I exclaimed.

Suddenly Taco fired another bullet, hitting one of the officers in the arm.

The police werent set on listening to me in that moment, so I just did the first thing I could.

I charged at Taco, tackling her to the ground, but not before hearing a loud bang and feeling a sharp pain in my stomach.

I coughed up blood and Taco and I both toppled to the ground, knocking the gun out of her hands.

The officers quickly lowered their weapons and rushed over to help, grabbing the gun Taco had used.

Taco had fired just as I had charged at her, causing the bullet to hit me in the stomach.

I held where I had been shot, trying my best to keep conciousness and ignore the pain.

The police managed to secure Taco, and call in for help.

Some of the police went out to search for Cobs in the building.

My vision began to become blurry, and the last thing I remember is seeing doctors run in before I blacked out.

I cant die again.

Not yet.

I cant leave Lightbulb again.

Just.

Keep.

Going.

I finally regained conciousness.

I was on a hospital bed.

There was a bright light above my head.

Lightbulb, Fan, Test Tube, and Balloon were there.

Wait...

Test Tube?

I blinked a couple times.

No... Test Tube wasn't actually there, I had just imagined it.

"They're awake!" Balloon exclaimed, jumping up from his seat.

Lightbulb perked up and smiled.

Fan let out a long sigh of relief.

"Painty!" Lightbulb said with a grin, hopping to her feet and walking in a random direction attempting to find me.

"Over here Lightbulb." Fan said, directing Lightbulb over to me.

I laughed a little, which hurt because of my injury.

"Take it easy Paintbrush." Balloon said, handing me a glass of water.

"Thanks." I said, taking a sip. "What happened though? After I passed out?"

Balloon glanced at Fan for a second, who then nodded, then looked back at me.

"Well, we were told that the police found Cobs, and he attacked and killed one of the officers, but they managed to arrest him." Balloon said. "He's finally been caught."

I sighed with relief and laid my head back.

"What about Taco?" I asked, turning my head.

"They found a weird chip in her brain, we're guessing that's how he controlled her." Fan responded. "She's alright though!"

I gave a small smile.

Finally.

He's finally been caught.

We're free now.

Free for real this time.

I didn't realize I actually began crying until Balloon said something.

"Are you ok? Are you hurting?" Balloon asked with a worried tone in his voice.

"No no no, I'm just- I can't believe we actually made it through this." I said, wiping tears from my eyes.

"We're gonna be famous Painty!" Lightbulb exclaimed, giggling.

I laughed.

"You're such a dork Lightbulb."

I was glad to see Lightbulb doing so much better.

But it was still gonna be hard adjusting.

I knew some of these scars would never go away, wether it was physically or mentally.

Some of the pain would still be there.

But, at least I had my friends to help numb it.

We were so much stronger than I could've imagined.

Things could finally go back to the way they were.

We were finally free.

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(Sorry for the delay, had trouble coming up with ideas)