"That little-" There was a beep as Adapt put the phone down, deciding a text would suffice, and nocked his bow, glancing around warily. "Spectre, where are you?" He spat, turning in a slow circle.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" His voice rang out, and I could hear his smirk. I closed my eyes, focusing on the sound.

I opened them again, and whispered in Adapt's ear, "Over there," while subtly nodding in Spectre's direction.

Adapt nodded, changing the arrow for one that had a somewhat noticeable replacement for the sharp metal tip. This arrow had a small pouch on the end instead. He let the arrow fly, and instead of stabbing the villain, the pouch let out an explosion of golden powder.

When we could see again, I could tell what Adapt had done- the powder had settled on Spectre's clothes, and he was very visible now, as if he was highlighted. Adapt nocked his bow again, using a normal arrow this time.

"I guess we know now. Don't move." Adapt muttered, aiming his bow.

There was a flash of purple light as Obsidian and Swarm appeared.

"Took you guys long enough, he's already tried to escape, like, twice." Adapt said pointedly, gesturing to Spectre's golden outline.

"Sorry, we got caught up stopping a robbery, but it only took us like five minutes." Swarm said somewhat sheepishly. He glanced sideways at Spectre. "So he's controlling Slimecicle? Like, right now?"

"Yep." I followed his gaze.

"What're you gonna do, unleash bees on me?" Slimecicle said mockingly, becoming visible again.

"It's a lot more painful than it sounds." Swarm warned, reaching for his jar of bees.

"They'll die after stinging me once anyway so it doesn't matter." Slimecicle muttered, looking slightly more wary.

"Actually, that's just honeybees." Swarm said, smiling slightly as Slimecicle tensed. "So I suggest you leave my friend along and stop controlling him."

"It'll hurt your friend, not me."

"Yeah, but with enough stings you won't be able to move pretty soon. Then you'll kind of have to give up your control. He'll heal eventually." I turned to Swarm, frowning slightly. I couldn't tell whether he was lying or not.

Although he didn't seem like the type to purposefully harm his friend just to get one up on a villain, you never knew with some people.

"I'll ask you again. Let my friend go." Swarm said quietly, unscrewing the jar. There was an angry buzzing as the bees rose out of it, circling Swarm's head almost like a halo.

Slimecicle hesitated for a moment, a visible frown on his face. "Will you let me go if I do?"

I glanced at Adapt. Swift had place Spectre on high priority, meaning that we couldn't let him escape no matter what.

But on the other hand, Slimecicle, who 3 of the 5 people in this room cared about a lot. And from what I had seen, Slimecicle was a very caring person who always put others above himself. He didn't deserve to be controlled.

"Go. Leave." I said quietly. Adapt looked as if he had expected that and nodded in agreement. "But if anyone asks, you escaped by fighting your way out."

Slimecicle nodded quietly, and there was a flicker of gray light as he flinched with a gasp, collapsing against the wall.

He was silent for a moment before croaking, "What happened?"

"Slimecicle! You're okay!" Swarm cheered, ordering his bees back into the jar and closing it.

"What do you mean I'm okay?" He asked, sounding confused.

"You've been controlled by Spectre for like two weeks bossman." Swarm said, and I almost laughed at the term that my brother used often. Swarm and Tubbo have a lot in common, now that I think about it. Maybe I could arrange for them to meet up sometime.

"I don't... remember that." Slimecicle muttered, confused. "I just remember-"

"-Spectre grabbing your arm? Yeah, that's all I remembered when I was controlled by him." I glanced sideways and caught a glimpse of Spectre going invisible.

"What happened to my shoulder?" He asked, confused.

I glanced at Adapt, who had the grace to look at least a little sheepish. "I kind of had to shoot your slime gland thing to stop Spectre from using your power, and then Echo bandaged it."

"Ah, I see. If your aim was to stop my arm from moving at all, you achieved your goal." Slimecicle muttered wryly.

"It was actually." Adapt admitted with a laugh.

"Do you want me to get you all out of here?" Obsidian asked, his eyes flickering purple.

There was a chorus of 'Yes' from everyone else, and me and Swarm walked over to Obsidian and waited patiently as Adapt helped Slimecicle over to us.

There was a flash of purple light.

——

I blinked rapidly as we appeared in a room... wait, no, that was the lobby of Headquarters. I could see why Puffy had felt sick previously- it was as if the world was spinning around me.

Gasps and shocked mutters sounded around us, the most recognisable being Eret's. I suppose he's nothing if not incredibly dramatic, I thought to myself with an eye roll.

"Is he ok?" Paradox, who had gotten there at some point, was the first to speak up.

"I think so." Obsidian glanced at Slimecicle. "Are you okay?"

"Apart from being shot by Adapt, yeah." Slimecicle muttered playfully.

Paradox glanced at Adapt, one eyebrow raised.

"In my defence, it was so that Spectre couldn't use his powers." The young vigilante retorted swiftly, and Wildcat let out a small laugh.

Eret glanced over at me with a small smile. "So is that all that happened? You just... convinced him to let Slimecicle go?"

"No, silly." I said with a giggle. "Swarm threatened him with bees."

"Ah, I see. Terrifying."

Swarm let out an offended gasp. "I'll have you know that- WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" He yelped as Obsidian elbowed him with a meaningful cough.

"You're being unnecessarily rude again, Swarm." Obsidian said with a sigh as if it was blindingly obvious.

There was a pause. "Oh. Sorry." Eret nodded with a small smile.

"It's fine."

"Well, we'd better be going." Obsidian said with a nod at Deactivator, who rushed over to join his friends.

Paradox and Wildcat nodded. "I'll walk Slimecicle home- unless you're okay by yourself?" Paradox asked Slimecicle, who shook his head fiercely.

"Yeah, my dad will be wondering where I am." Deactivator said with a sheepish smile.

There was a few murmured goodbyes as the vigilantes all walked out of Headquarters to go their separate ways.

"I think I'm just gonna head home." Eret said with a sigh, and me and Swift nodded in agreement.

"I need to get back before my family notices that I'm gone." Swift muttered, walking out of Headquarters.

"Well, bye everyone!" I called over my shoulder as I walked out and started the walk home.

On the way home, I got a call from Karl. "Hey! I know we haven't gotten to talk recently, so, anymore about the crisis?"

I smiled to myself. "No, I've solved the crisis, I know what I need to do to fix it."

"Ah, okay. Just wanted to check. Bye!"

There was beep as he ended the call and I put my phone in my pocket, turning a corner.

I was a hero. I had amazing friends, both in and out of being a hero. I lived by myself.

I was going to be okay.

There was just someone I needed to talk to first.