a summary of this chapter in 5 pictures, by me:

-ᴍɪɴᴛʏ

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"Well, look at this. The Aurora Wings are trying to escape...!" Criss-Cross announced to her fellow villains. She cast a glance over at the other three, grinning.

"Oh my sweet Jesus on a bicycle, this was a mistake--" Timeline complained under his breath.

"We don't have time for this--!"

"Oh? Would you listen to that?" Red Heart said slowly, "They don't have time for this!"

Black Shield snickered.

"No, seriously," Alley Cat said, "We kind of have something important that we're supposed to be doing. It's a big deal."

"Yeah, running away. It's kind of obvious," Criss-Cross drawled, weaving her way between the heroes to stand on the other side of them. As she went, she made sure to step on Timeline's foot.

"Okay, I was trying to be nice. You all saw that, right? I was trying my best." Timeline said, throwing his hands in the air with an exasperated sigh. "So would you four ever-so-kindly fuck off so we can get back to what we were doing?"

"Oh, sure thing," Criss-Cross said, reaching out to run her fingers down the side of Timeline's face. He smacked her hand away. "Just do one little thing for me, would you?"

Criss-Cross stepped up closer to Timeline. She took a moment, tilting her head upwards to look into his eyes.

Then, in one swift movement, she shoved him, sending him onto the concrete ground.

And, as you could probably guess, they were fighting again. In the dark and gritty alleyway.

"It's a good thing you can't use your powers!" Timeline hissed, having gotten back to his feet. "Because mine always give me a headache!"

Criss-Cross gasped. He knew that always got on her nerves. She glowered at him, then swung a hard kick for where the sun don't shine.

Timeline gasped too, but for a rather different reason. He collapsed onto his knees, "Not... cool!"

Criss-Cross didn't say anything, instead opting to swing the back of her hand against Timeline's face.

However, before Criss-Cross could do anymore damage, she was picked up. Makeshift, shifted to have a lot more muscle than natural, lifted Criss-Cross over his head, and threw her. She hit the ground and was sent sliding down the alley like a curling stone.

Timeline was tired of people having to save him. He could usually handle himself just fine, but he felt like he was off of his game ever since he'd started having his weird dreams.

In front of Timeline's very eyes, Makeshift seemed to ripple like water. All of the muscle disappeared and the Makeshift that Timeline knew best was standing there. Makeshift gave Timeline a dorky grin before returning to his own battle.

Makeshift's battle was with Red Heart. She might be un-kill-able, but she wasn't unbeatable. It wasn't like Makeshift wanted to kill her anyway. He didn't want to kill anyone.

Naturally, Red Heart was stronger. It was kind of embarrassing, honestly. Not because she was a girl...! But because Makeshift was supposed to be the big, strong hero and Red Heart was supposed to be the lithe, sneaky villain.

It didn't quite work out that way.

Red Heart swept her leg. Makeshift leaped out the way, but she managed to just catch his left ankle. Any normal human being would've been able to recover from such a move fairly easily.

But not Makeshift. He stumbled, tripped over himself, and ended up on the ground.

Red Heart hardly gave him a moment to breathe before pinning him to the ground with her foot, like a successful hunter over her prey. She stuck her hands on her hips, in a true mock act of the "superhero pose".

Makeshift, while not always the most graceful, was not going to give in so easily. He grabbed onto her wrist and pulled, flipping her over. She landed heavily on her back next to him. Makeshift leaped to his feet as quickly as he could, making sure not to make the same mistakes as her.

Meanwhile, Hopewing was running circles around Black Shield. Literally. 

Every time Hopewing tried to strike a punch, Black Shield could just barely manage to bring up his force field in time.

Hopewing could tell you that punching a force field was very painful. But punching a force field multiple times was even worse. Hopewing always had bloody knuckles after fighting with Black Shield.

Very quickly growing more and more frustrated, Hopewing struck time and time again. He was so close, if he could pick up the pace just a little--!

Hopewing's fist finally connected with skin and cartilage. Black Shield fell backwards, both hands flying to his nose as he hit the ground. 

Hopewing pumped his fist into the air. After casting a second look, Hopewing saw some blood there that he was pretty certain was not his own.

Mission success!

Alley Cat scuttled around the walls of a building, watching the battle unfold. He was really only a couple feet above everyone... However, a hand grabbed his heel and dragged him down the wall and onto the ground.

Alley Cat let out a low growl, clawing his way back to his feet to face the villain that had pulled him down.

"Oops, were you doing something?" Switcher said innocently.

Alley Cat was a master of stealth, able to disappear and reappear whenever he liked by hiding in the cover of the shadows. If you saw him, it was because he let you see him.

Well, for the most part. There was only one person who could ruin that.

Switcher.

Switcher didn't have to worry about 'seeing'. You couldn't hide from him, because he could hear the way sound bounced off of you. There was no stealth where Switcher was involved.

However, neither of them had a power that directly helped them in battle. Every time they fought, it was a battle of pure combat skills.

Switcher swung first. Alley Cat barely managed to dodge, stumbling slightly as he did. Switcher seized the moment and pounced, tackling Alley Cat to the ground.

Switcher brought his face up close to Alley Cat, hissing directly into his ear, "You know how easy it would be for me to take off your mask right now? I could figure out your real identity. I might not know your name, and I might not be able to see you, but why take the chances? I'd have a map of your face, and I certainly have to recognize everyone somehow... It would be so easy for me to just--"

Alley Cat quickly brought his head forward, headbutting Switcher directly in the face. Switcher lost his grip on Alley Cat, allowing him to slip free. Switcher laid on the ground, and Alley Cat stood over him.

Switcher glared up at Alley Cat, then spat on his shoes.

Alley Cat scoffed, stepping over him to meet up with the others. The villains were down and out--for now.

"So where are we going?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Timeline said, seemingly okay after his... "incident". He looked out at the faces of his fellow heroes. "I honestly have no idea why I even came up with the idea to run into this alley way in the first place."

"Are you ser--?!"

"Give me a second-!" Timeline hissed, closing his eyes. His forehead creased with concentration. He didn't even open his eyes when he said, "Uh, Hopewing, take a step to the left."

When Timeline told you to do something after using his powers like that, you did it. It might not always make sense--it might never make sense--but it was the kind of thing they'd learned not to really question.

So, Hopewing took a step to the left.

"...oh no. Oh no," Timeline suddenly said, shaking his head.

"What? What is it? What do you see?"

Timeline's eyes opened. He very vaguely cast a hand over the villains, all four of which were still lying on the ground.

"The best course of action in this moment... is to team up with them."

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*Timeline: asexual, aromantic, and completely done with your bs

*on the roles page, i said that Black Shield will have a major crush on one of the others. so let's play a guessing game:
who?
i won't give you any hints except for this: it's one of the heroes.

*maybe it seems like the villains "gave in" a bit too easily, but you've gotta remember that they literally just fought like ten minutes before this too, so they're all desperately tired

*there's some pretty wild similes in this chapter, not gonna lie
"was sent sliding down the alley like a curling stone"
"seemed to ripple like water"
"like a successful hunter over her prey"
i don't know, when i write fight scenes, the similes just come out...

*as for the ending...
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
and in this case "the dream" is for the world not to be destroyed

-ᴍɪɴᴛʏ