I looked up as Nightmare and Spectre walked in. It had been... a few days? Maybe? Since I had woken up here. I had no idea.

Although most wouldn't be able to hear, I used my senses to overhear their conversation.

"-I should be the one to interrogate them!" Spectre insisted.

"Spectre. No offence, but I'm probably more logical than you when it comes to most things." Nightmare said with a sigh.

"No you aren't!"

There was a moment of silence. "Spectre, you literally ate the wax on a babybel-"

"BLOOD GOD TOLD ME IT WAS EDIBLE!!"

I bit down on my lip to stop myself from bursting into laughter as Nightmare said pointedly, "And that right there is why I'm interrogating them and not you."

They both walked over.

I glanced at Nightmare. "What do you want?"

"We've decided that our goals have changed. We want to know the heroes' identities on top of everything else." Nightmare declared. I exchanged a glance with Spectre, who looked away swiftly.

"Why would I tell you?" I asked with a roll of my eyes. "You literally kidnapped me."

"I mean, you'd think that would make you want to tell us, honestly-" I let out a laugh at Spectre's logic.

"Incredibly flawed logic there. In fact, it's almost like kidnapping me would compel me to do the opposite of helping you, and make me say nothing instead." I glanced down at the rope that was tying me to the chair. "Maybe if you untied the rope I'd feel more inclined to help."

Spectre and Nightmare exchanged a look.

"Will you tell us some hero identities if we do?" Nightmare asked, reaching for a diamond axe that he must have gotten to replace his sword.

"Yep." This was partly a lie, partly not.

Spectre nodded happily, rushing over and untying the rope. Nightmare looked down at the axe.

"If you're lying..." the villain warned as I jumped up from the chair.

"I'm not! I'll tell Spectre... but I won't tell you. He seems less likely to immediately stab me after I tell him." Nightmare nodded, and I walked closer to the doors, away from Nightmare, and Spectre rushed after me.

I leaned in close and whispered in Spectre's ear, "Captain Puffy is Cara." I stepped back with a small smile as he glared at me.

"Well?" Nightmare asked, walking over.

"They just-" he broke off as I kicked him in the back of his knees, causing him to stumble and fall into the floor.

Nightmare pointed the axe at me. I neatly sidestepped his attack, grabbing his wrist, kicking him in the back of his knees, grabbing his weapon as he fell and running towards the door.

There was a loud explosion from not too far away. Sam? Maybe?

I opened the door, running out and slamming it behind me. I was met with the amazing sight of Royal, Gemstone, Puffy and Crepitus locked in combat with the villains.

I turned back to the double doors, thrusting the handle of the axe between the door handles and jamming them shut. It wouldn't stop Spectre, but it would definitely slow Nightmare down.

I ran towards the heroes, quickly dodging an attack from Black Rose, who had noticed me running away.

Royal spun towards me. "Guys! They're here!"

Puffy turned around the quickest, her face lighting up as she spotted me. "You're ok!"

"Yep. I was in the middle of breaking myself out when you guys got here."

"Well, we need to get you out of here then. Obsidian!" Puffy yelled, turning around.

There was a flash of purple light as a boy with half black, half blonde hair and a mask covering his mouth and nose appeared.

"Get Echo out of here." Puffy instructed.

Obsidian nodded, glancing at me questioningly as he went to grab my sleeve. I nodded.

He grabbed my arm, and there was another flash of purple light.

——

I opened my eyes drearily. Oh, please tell me that escaping wasn't a dream.

"Oh, you're awake! I will say, you woke up much quicker than other people do."

I looked over to the voice. It was Obsidian.

"Why was I not awake?" I asked slowly.

"Well, teleporting for the first time is too much for most people, and it overwhelms their body. That's what happened to you. You'll be fine if you teleport with me again, and you did wake up faster than most do." He laughed. "T-Swarm was out for about an hour the first time I teleported him with me. You've been knocked out for about five minutes."

"Oh. Where are we?" I got to my feet, blinking rapidly.

"An alleyway by the warehouses. Essentially its so that we can meet up with the heroes after they're done fighting the villains."

"Wait, wait, wait- two questions: one, the same warehouses where they were planning to take Deactivator? Two, why are you, a vigilante, working with heroes?"

He sighed. "I guessed you were gonna ask those. First, yes, the same warehouses, and to answer your second question, they knew you had been taken and that T-Deactivator was in danger, so they offered us an alliance of sorts- help them rescue you in exchange for some sort of protection for Deactivator."

"Ah. I see." I glanced at Obsidian sideways. "How long was I gone for?"

"A week." He admitted quietly. "Crepitus and Lucendi had everyone on lookout, and Zaeim spent every spare second looking. You have some really good friends who care about you a lot."

"Wow. It didn't feel like a week." I muttered, reaching a hand up to my face and lightly tracing the outline burn I had gotten from the explosion in my dream.

Obsidian stared, clearly only just noticing the burn. "What happened?"

"Nightmare's powers." I shrugged. "Nothing I can do."

"I guess you're right- we will need to get a doctor to look at it though. Well, nothing we can really do but wait for the heroes now."