Regroup

Muffin's band fled the park as quickly as they could to regroup at Muffin and Megan's home but it wasn't fast enough. The Wooden Girl had been keeping tabs on Harold and during the fight she had moved a number of puppets under the command of a doll to the area. The band ran straight into an ambush.

The dolls slipped into view as the band reached the street on which Muffin and Megan's house stood and The Band faced down the barrel end of a firing squad. The Band looked upon certain death and calculated their odds. The gunfire would kill Muffin and portnoy definitely, would probably kill Harold, would be unlikely to kill Megan and would merely destroy Dr. Malice's current form. Two of them would probably survive but that wasn't good enough. Each desperately thought up a plan as at the same moment someone else walked into the street behind the puppet firing squad. "If you enjoy life stay perfectly still," a female voice spoke and then a mist began to envelope the street. A normal army would have begun firing blindly and probably many of our heroes still would have been killed but an army of puppets only fires when ordered to and the puppeteer hesitated.

The mist circled around people in a way that almost seemed like an animal searching through a crowd for the smell of it's owner. The street was silent and tense as the mist wove it's way around the scared figures trapped within and then the mist seemed to find what it was looking for. The mist cleared almost instantly from around our heroes and instead pooled around the puppet firing squad and it's leader. The doll watched the mist fearfully and in that moment he made a mistake.

He gave the order to fire and the moment he and his soldiers began to move the mist sprang. It forced itself into bodies through the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and pores and then those afflicted began to fall apart. It was decay, rapid and unmerciful. Their bodies degenerating almost instantly until they had decayed down to nothing but skeletons. The mist then left their skeletons and returned to the woman standing at the end of the street. "You can move again now," The Liar informed them as our heroes looked upon her with surprise.

Shortly after the band entered their temporary residence and first Harold relayed his story (Leaving out Jack's words) and the Liar relayed hers informing them of how she had been on the run from Portia and then taken her body and about the powers she had gained from adventures in another universe she can no longer remember. Dr. Malice then informed everyone of his own story. How after he had been killed by Mistress and Echo he had been stuck in his body but had managed to transfer himself to Echo's headphones which were apparently bluetooth capable and also filled with Choir. He had been stuck fighting against The Choir inside of The Headphones until Echo had attempted to use them in the battle opening a connection Dr. Malice had taken to enter the boy's body proper where he had made the discovery that Echo was Marcinius Trowess. The name meant nothing to the rest of the group and so Dr. Malice further explained. Revealing that Marcinius had been a student of his who had run afoul of the choir and come under their control and how eventually he himself had been forced to kill him. Twice now as he stated with a pained expression.

Harold confirmed this by informing them that Ashen was The Faceless Bastard and that he surmised the others they had faced were likely also dead people that the fears brought back in order to kill them. Portnoy became sullen upon hearing this and turned to The Liar.

"You said her name was Portia right?"

"Yes it was,"

"Then it was her," he responded with a sad sigh and at last informed the rest of them of his own history with The Fears (Which can be found here). Dr. Malice explained that Deadman (He helpfully provided names for their enemies based on Echo's memories) was probably Jayson. Portnoy explained that he knew he had a cousin Jayson but Jayson had gone on the run before his mother's death and so when he went to live with his aunt and uncle he never got to meet his cousin. Harold said Abby was probably a Proxy he had once met named May. None of them had any clue who Crucible or mistress were. They also figured that now Echo and Portia were no longer threats, Crucible seemed to be dead or gone and Muffin was pretty sure that Deadman or not he had crushed his skull hard enough that it would not be a problem in the future.

"So we know who our enemies are now and it can be assumed they know us since Faceless apparently recognized Portnoy... We're going to have to deal with them but not just them. The Fears are still after us themselves and we need to find a way to stop them or at least a way to survive," Muffin explained.

"Right... You got a plan?"

"... No"

Meanwhile Ashen awoke in the park the sound of sirens approaching. He glanced around taking stock. Deadman was dead, Echo was gone, Crucible seemed to have defla- He stopped. His memories swam into focus and he cursed loudly. They had brought Faceless back to fight... They brought The Grinning Reaper and May back as well and they had brought back him? They brought back him and let him loose? They... They couldn't of been that stupid could they? He rushed over to the deflated suit and began tearing it open looking for any signs that something solid had been within. There was none. It was as he feared. The Fears had set loose Harold, Servant of the brute. More memories flooded back. The Fears... Right. He had served The Convocation but they served him as well. He spoke to the phoenix within him. "We're going back to the old deal. You just tell me what you want and I decide how it goes down, understood?" There was no response, but he chose to accept his ability to continue living a yes. He picked up the scythe and woke up Mistress and Abby. He handed Mistress the scythe. "This belonged to you anyway. Toss away those stupid claws and use it." She stared at him uncomprehendingly but took it and then he turned to Abby. "May..." he paused. "Good to see you again" he said finally and then turned and began to leave the two women following him solemly.

They were gone by the time the police arrived.