Nickel's POV:

I was sitting on a bench, watching the cars drive by, when suddenly I heard a familliar scream.

I jumped up suddenly.

I was the only other person in the area, but it sounded like the scream came from an alleyway nearby.

I rushed over to the alleyway and peeked around the corner.

There, I saw Fan, Paintbrush, Lightbulb, and everyone else.

At the other side of the alleyway was Balloon.

It took me a while to realize what was going on though.

Then I noticed the arm that was wrapped around Balloon.

And...

...the gun pressed against his head...

I stared in horror for a few seconds.

I couldn't see the face of the person holding him, but I was pretty sure I knew who it was.

I took a few steps back, to avoid being seen, but I bumped into someone behind me.

I jumped and whipped around to see MePhoneX staring down at me.

I was frozen and speechless.

MePhoneX took a few steps towards me, pushing me back into the alley.

The others turned to look, and a couple began to panic.

Then the person stepped out further to where we could see him.

I was right.

Of course it's him.

Cobs was standing there, holding the gun to Balloon's head, and smiling.

"Hello again everyone." He said in an almost cheery tone.

Paintbrush balled up their fists.

Balloon's face turned pale and his eyes widened, and I assumed it was because he recognized the voice.

Suddenly Fan yelled something.

"LET HIM GO!" He screamed, his voice shaking but filled with anger.

Cobs raised an eyebrow.

"Getting angry now are we?" Cobs said, pressing the gun harder onto the side of Balloon's head.

Balloon let out a sort of scared whimper.

Fan tried to run over to attack Cobs, but MePhoneX grabbed him before he had the chance.

Fan kicked and tried to get free, but to no avail.

"You all are going to come with me without struggling, or you can say goodbye to your little friend here. I wouldn't be losing anything if I shot him right now." Cobs snarled.

I didn't know what to do.

We were trapped.

It was either cooperate, or lose Balloon.

Lose... my friend...

I held my breath for a couple seconds, not knowing what decision to make.

And then I took a couple steps forward.

It was a hard decision, but I didn't want to lose Balloon.

I know I used to hate him, but after all of this, I realized how badly I had treated him.

I regretted treating him that way.

Balloon stared for a bit, a look of surprise and fear on his face.

After a while, everyone else stepped forward as well.

"That's what I thought." Cobs spoke, lowering the gun.

Balloon was still being held, but the gun wasn't against his head anymore.

Cobs eventually started walking, and everyone followed.

Nobody wanted to do this, but nobody wanted to lose Balloon either.

I was scared to see what was going to happen.

I stared at the ground silently for a while as we walked.

No...

I can't just give up.

I can't just let them go through this again.

I looked up at Cobs for a moment...

...and then I ran forward and tackled him to the ground.

He let out a surprised yell and dropped

Balloon.

Balloon gasped, then scrambled to his feet.

Cobs quickly grabbed the gun and attempted to shoot me, but I shoved him to the side.

He ended up firing, and the bullet just barely missed Fan's head, hitting MePhoneX.

The bullet went straight through MePhoneX's center, and must've hit something vital, because MePhoneX started glitching, and collapsed to the ground.

Fan was still stuck in MePhoneX's grasp though, and was struggling to get out.

Some of the group ran over to him to try and help him out.

Cobs suddenly got up, and fired another bullet straight through the group.

Everyone jumped out of the was and Fan covered his head.

I attempted to tackle Cobs again, but he swiped his foot under my leg, and I fell to the ground.

He slammed his foot down on top of me, preventing me from getting up.

He then pointed his gun down at my head.

"You know, it's not very smart to mess with someone who has a gun." Cobs said, before cocking the gun and preparing to shoot.

I shut my eyes tight.

Then I heard a loud zapping noise, and the weight was lifted off of me.

I heard a thud, and then opened my eyes.

There stood Taco, holding a tazer, with Cobs on the ground.

"This is the second time I've done that." She stated, picking up the gun.

Everyone stared in shock for a moment.

Those who were most shocked were the ones who didn't know she was still here.

"You came back!" Balloon exclaimed, running up to Taco and hugging her.

"Hey I already told you not to do that!" She exclaimed shoving Balloon away.

Balloon laughed awkwardly and apologized.

"Now let's go before he wakes u-"

Taco was cut off when she was tripped suddenly.

As it turns out, Cobs wasn't unconcious, just paralyzed for a second.

Taco hit the ground hard and dropped both the gun and tazer, causing the gun to fire.

The bullet hit pickle in the leg.

He fell to the ground holding his leg and some of the others rushed over to help him.

Taco reached for the gun again, but was grabbed by the leg and dragged backwards by Cobs.

I stood there motionless.

What do I do?!

"Go!" Taco called, almost as if she had read my mind, "I can handle him for now!"

A couple hesitated, but then ran out from the alleyway.

Paintbrush stopped to finish prying Fan out of MePhoneX's grasp, and finally succeeded.

They then grabbed Fan's arm and ran.

I followed.

"We need to get help fast!" I exclaimed, catching up to the rest of the group.

A couple people nodded.

She came back for us.

Now we need to come back for her.

.

.

.

Taco's POV:

I kicked my leg frantically, trying to get Cobs' grip loose.

I then used my free leg to kick him in the face, causing him to let go again.

I grabbed the gun as fast as I could and scrambled to my feet, but by the time I turned around, Cobs was already up on his feet.

He grabbed the gun in my hand and kicked me backwards.

I hit the brick wall behind me and sunk to the floor, dazed.

Before I had the chance to react, I heard a loud bang, and felt a sharp pain in my stomach.

The sudden blow caused me to cough, and blood spurted out of my mouth.

I looked down at where I felt the pain, and saw a bullet hole.

Blood was dripping from the hole.

I tried to stand up, but Cobs pressed his foot down against me, causing me to cough up more blood.

He pointed the gun at me again.

He didn't shoot me though.

"W-well? What are you waiting for? Sh-shoot me already." I said, weakly, with a bit of sass in my voice.

He stared for a bit longer before lowering the gun.

"You're a tough one aren't you?" He said, leaning a bit closer. "You could be useful."

I stared confused for a second, then tried to lift his foot off, but I had lost too much blood at that point.

I was extremely weak and tired, and didn't have the strength to fight back.

All I could do was watch as he called in a MePhone to teleport us to his lab.

I laid there limply for a while, before my vision started to become blurry.

After that...

...everything went black...

.

.

.

Paintbrush's POV:

We don't have enough time...

I was starting to lose my breath.

Cobs had probably killed Taco by now.

Either that, or Taco killed him.

But if she does even survive, what if she gets taken?

What if she has to go through the same thing I did?

The same things that all of us did...

I shook the thought from my head, and kept running, carrying Lightbulb in my arms.

She seemed confused and scared.

But I didn't have time to comfort her right now.

All I could do was to keep running.

Eventually we got to the police station.

Pickle was the one who told them what was going on.

He struggled to keep up with his injured leg, but somehow managed to get to the counter first.

Pickle told the police everything that was going on, and we were rushed back to the scene.

But when we got there...

They were gone.

MePhoneX, Taco, Cobs, all of them, gone without a trace.

Well...

There was some evidence of them being there...

Blood.

It was everywhere.

There was a large puddle of it, and there was some splattered against the wall.

There was also a bullet lying on the ground next to the blood.

I set Lightbulb down and began pacing.

If it was Cobs' blood, Taco would've still been there, most likely waiting for us.

But...

Nobody was there when we arrived.

Which means...

...he took her...

I put my hands on my head and began to panic.

The rest of the group just stared, and the police blocked off the scene for further investigation.

I sat down next to Lightbulb, then Fan and Balloon joined us.

Most likely, Fan was thinking the same thing I was.

Him being a theorist and all, he probably thought this up as soon as he saw the scene.

"What are we gonna do...?" He asked, his voice quivering.

I just shook my head.

"I don't know."

Fan stared at me, then looked at the ground.

"We've gotta get her back... she pretty much helped save us..." Fan mumbled, sounding almost like he was about to cry.

I didnt respond.

I sat there silently, thinking for a while.

But then...

I stood up.

I had an idea that may get us in.

Fan looked at me confused.

I turned to look at him.

Then I asked him my question.

"Do you think that camera is still there?"

.

.

.

(Sorry for the shorter chapters, I've only recently gotten over my writers block. Also sorry about accidentally publishing this earlier xhchhdbxihd)