It could have been said that Medic got what he wanted in the end: like his teammates, he didn't remember a thing about the experience of transforming into Reanimator, but he had first-hand recordings of everything, before that happened he had been keeping a log in which he wrote exactly what he was feeling every second, what led him to receive the akuma's visit. He found that akumas dwelled in people's hearts only if there was a disposition to let them in, whether due to negative states of the mind tearing down all resistance and moral limits, or the recipient's willingness to cooperate in doing evil. The amnesia could be a way of making sure the victim didn't think of what they were doing, anull all resistance and let them be driven by instincts and nothing else. A particularly strong person could stop it, perhaps? Heavy didn't immediately accept the gift he was offered. It didn't happen so far, Medic had to keep researching on that aspect—any volunteers?
His akumatization also served to confirm that these creatures were sent by someone. A puppeteer who moved the strings.
Merasmoth.
"That must be an ancient entity. A shadow. An unattainable creature beyond our comprehension. A riddle weapped up in mystery." Soldier murmured, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Or it could be Merasmus." Spy said.
"Merasmus?" It took Soldier fifteen solid minutes, but he ended up seeing his point. It was all a shock for him. "Merasmus!"
"Who's Merasmus?" Tikki asked him from the pocket he carried her in.
"A wizard who tries to get our souls all the time. And the worst roomate, too."
"We know who Merasmus is, Soldier." Medic rolled his eyes.
"This is new. I guess he learned new tricks." Engineer scratched his chin in thought.
"I can't believe we're having our asses kicked by that stupid wizard!" Scout protested.
"Aye, this is that bloody mage's style: obnoxious and over-the-top." Demoman said before taking a gulp from his scrumpy, the mentioning of the man responsible for the loss of his eye making his expression sour.
"Medic mentioned that he was looking for something. Something he thinks Soldier has. Something called...Miraculouses." Spy said.
"Any idea of what is?" Medic asked.
"Mmm, nope." Scout shook his head.
"It's the first time I hear about it." Engineer admitted.
"Me too." Spy frowned.
Soldier again needed time before he noticed everyone was looking at him.
"Negatory." He affirmed categorically.
"Think, Soldier. It is important." Sniper insisted.
"No idea." Soldier insisted.
"Some kind of magical device? I mean, what else could it be?" Scout speculated.
"What is sure is that he learned new spells and they are working." Spy said. "We can't face him the way we've been all these years. It is a special and twisted kind of magic."
"Good thing we have Sargeant Bug watching us." Soldier nodded to himself.
The entire team frowned at him but he didn't get the message. They should have known he wouldn't. Sniper grunted, uncrossing his legs and glaring at him.
"For crying out loud...Soldier, how long is this going to last?!"
"What do you mean?" Soldier frowned.
"Every time Sargeant Bug appears, something makes you disappear! What a bloody coincidence!"
"Are you accusing me of running away, kangaroo man?!" Soldier knocked down the chair he was sitting in when he got up. He walked towards Sniper with his face red with fury and his hands ready to fight. Demoman, the closest, got up and prepared to save Sniper from him, because it totally looked like he was going to beat him to a pulp. "I would crush you with my bare hands right now for just suggesting such an accusation! But I am so furious and outraged I'm leaving the room!"
And yes, he fled.
"Sargeant Bug are just two good people who are here to fight injustice!" Zhanna declared angrily at Sniper, her hands on her hips, standing up.
"Hey, what are you doing in here? We're not allowed to bring anyone to the base!" Scout frowned, realizing now that she was even there.
"That Merasmoth has hurt my brother and my future spouse, I am not leaving them when they need me!" She replied.
This was not Heavy's idea, and his face showed it, but he didn't protest, either. He knew his sister and knew she couldn't be convinced when she got an idea into her head.
"If Soldier's bringing his girlfriend, I will bring chicks to the base too!" Scout protested like a little child.
"The only chicks you're bringing are those buckets of chicken you eat!" Demoman replied, shaking his head.
"We find Merasmus and make him stop. Simple." Heavy said.
"Fine. Let's go. We should do it as soon as we can. I'm fucking tired of all of this." Sniper said, getting up.
"Phew! That was close! But they don't suspect a thing." Soldier muttered when him and Tikki were alone at their dorm.
"Is Merasmus bad?" The kwami asked.
"Very bad, Tikki. He is always trying to kill us to steal our souls and feed them to ancient circus gods, tried to send us to hell fourteen times, never washed the dishes when we lived together. He wants you and I don't like it..."
"A powerful wizard is serious business! It might be something you can't win against..."
"Bah! We kick his ass every Halloween! It's become a tradition."
"But he has been showing a great power and if he's sending the akumas, that means he somehow got his hands on the Butterfly Miraculous, and that makes him stronger..."
Tikki paused and gazed at Soldier.
"I just don't want you to die because of me..." She muttered.
Soldier was honestly touched by Tikki's worry. She was not just talking for the sake of it—there was real worry in her eyes, in her voice...
"Listen, Tikki." Soldier placed her on the palm of his hand. "Even if that costs my life, I am letting no one get their hands on you and use you for evil. Understand? Never."
Tikki drew a smile and embraced his cheek. Soldier smiled a bit and patted her back with a finger.
"Don't be sappy, Tikki. You are part of my platoon and I am just treating you as such."
The bad thing about Merasmus was that, in spite of him being the one who started all fights, he was a coward. At the smallest hint of weakness, when he saw his victims turned against him and there was a possibility that they won, he hid to lick his wounds and get stronger.
Of course, they didn't find him. He wasn't seen in Ghost Fort, Slasher, Brimstone or Gravestone. He wasn't in his castle-now sanctuary for racoons, Tom Jones' house or in jail. They even asked in these quarters magicians, fortune tellers and alchemists frequented, and they knew nothing about his whereabouts. Some said he was in trouble and needed to keep a low profile, that meaning they would never find him.
All these years, they didn't mind that Merasmus vanished—good riddance! But now that he really deserved a good beating, it was incredibly frustrating not to find him. They wanted this over already, for they had been to close to losing their lives in the hands of their own teammates.
Sniper needed to end this.
Miss Pauling called with juicy contracts for them: they had to steal something from a high-security facility. They were promised the most advanced weaponry and a million dollars as a reward. Yet he refused. He needed to focus on tracking down Merasmus and give him what he deserved, for all the things he had done to him in the previous days.
Every time he found a trace, someone who remembered that 'old lady', an address in a document he left behind, it turned out to be a dead-end. He found the storage unit he had been living in. It was empty.
This was so frustrating. Keep the bad thoughts away, they said...Sniper found it so incredibly difficult and stupid. Did he have to pretend everything was alright? Smile, they said...Screw that!
He was a nervous wreck because he had to be alert all the time, because every time he relaxed there was a new monster trying to kill him. Leshi reminded him that there was no one waiting for him at home and now he was missing home and his parents, after spending so long just getting over it and pushing all that sadness where it wouldn't interfere with his job. He was used to shoot people from the distance and now had to endure having monsters try to eat him, breaking his bones, frying him, turn him into an omega werewolf. He was tired of keeping an eye on his teammates all the time because he had no idea when one of them would turn into a monster. He barely slept, barely ate, and was very, very angry.
He had a plan for every situation, but not this, and the enemy and the situation changed so often every plan he made up after every encounter was proved useless in the next occassion. Not knowing what to do, how to face this..., that was killing him...
Damn it, he was a professional! He was supposed to have a solution for this!
Of course, Merasmus was not going to stay where they could find him. As soon as he saw Medic pulling the thread, he left his hideout and found a new place to stay. The homeless camp under the bridge in the capital city wasn't all that bad. He caught one guy trying to steal the Bombonomicon and someone pissed on him once while he was sleeping, but at least no one would look for him in there. And the other vagrants left him alone and just watched entertained as he performed his rituals.
"Merasmus knew attacking his enemies all the time pays in the end! It always works! That is the thing about desperation..." Merasmus smirked, seeing Sniper's frown in the vision. "You just want to end this. There comes a time when 'how' doesn't matter anymore...Hehehehe! Where there is a will, Merasmoth puts the way!"
He joined his hands, concentrating his evil power, and when he opened them, an akuma escaped.
"Fly, my pretty, fly! Give that professional killer the contract of his life!"
Sniper didn't tell his teammate about his plans. He wanted no one to know he was leaving. They were surely going to be a liability. They couldn't even decide to call Soldier out on his bullshit and make him spit what he had to do with this. In fact, Sniper didn't even want to see him. He exorcised the akumas, right, but they kept coming and coming, and he was doing nothing about it. So he prepared his weapons, food, everything necessary to search for the wizard and stop him himself.
It was clear that he couldn't trust anybody.
He was about to add his bow to his arsenal when the akuma slipped into the camper through the grille and entered it.
His nostrils flared when the voice addressed him:
"Mannhunter, you always knew what to do, there was no mission impossible to accomplish. But it is not your fault that you can't defeat me. It is Soldier's. He is hiding things from you, dragging all of you down. It is his fault that this happened, and he doesn't want to solve it or even acknowledge his responsibility. Are you going to allow him to ruin a perfect record?"
"Of bloody course I'm not..." Sniper grunted.
"That's what I wanted to hear! He is hiding the Miraculouses. He wants all that power for himself while he's keeping you weak and disadvantaged. Bring them to me, and all of this will end for good and your honor as an assassin will be clean."
Sniper squeezed the bow in his hands.
"Let's get this over with..." He said, and darkness enveloped him.
When Mannhunter opened his eyes, he didn't waste a single second.
There were things just couldn't ignore. At the Offensive dorm, Pyro was watching Soldier's bed with her head resting on her hands. Scout tried to turn his back on it and think of something else, but failed, then saw if he was luckier burying himself under the pillow, and saw it was useless, he still heard it. Exasperated, he ended up facing his teammate.
"Do you mind?!"
It is difficult to sleep when your partner is making out with his girlfriend just a couple of feet away from you.
"Did you hear something?" Zhanna muttered.
"Just the sound of jealousy, ignore it." Soldier replied. And they kept doing what they were doing.
Not even the kwamis could ignore what was happening.
"He's just jealous he's not doing this with Miss Pauling." Plagg commented, watching the scene like one watches television.
This was a couple which had gotten together relatively recently. All couples were clingy and smoochy during the first stages of their relationship. It faded with the years. But this one...would this one, formed by two passionate, indefatigable people ever calm down? Only when they were dead, most surely.
It was awkward, but it also made Tikki feel a strange warm feeling. She had always lived among celibates, people who renounced to their families or the idea of starting one of their own for them—they literally lived to protect them. Love...Passion...were things she had heard about but never trully saw or completely understood. Soldier and Zhanna were showing her those days. That adoration they felt for each other, how they fought together for a common goal, their coordination, all the things that brought them together in spite of their differences...The kwami smiled at the family they already were, and the idea of becoming a part of it.
She hoped...they never changed.
It was true that she had been afraid of Soldier and first, and yes, he had his moments, couldn't agree with the bloodbath he so enjoyed, and his antics, and his quirks like claiming the heads of his enemies and shouting all the time...But Soldier, she guessed, was not such a bad holder. He might have been a better person than he seemed.
No one in the room could ignore their love displays, but they completely missed the shadow watching from the distance, so much distance that it had to take a supernatural sense of sight to reach. They ignored that they were being watch, the arrow being attached to the string, the figure aiming at the jumble on the bed...
They just knew when he shot.
"You guys are disgusting! I'll sleep on the sofa!" Scout got up, grabbed his pillow and marched towards the door.
The window suddenly broke, and Scout gasped. Soldier and Zhanna looked from under the sheets and saw the boy stuck in the same posture he had when he was hit— his body tensing at that sound his brain was beginning to process. Not moving. Not breathing.
"Jesus, what did you do?" He was asked, and didn't reply. "Hey! Scout! Scout! What's the matter with you?"
Scout still didn't reply. It was extremely unusual that he kept his big mouth shut, so Soldier stood up and waved his hand in front of his face. No reaction from him.
"Come on, Scout! Stop playing! Weren't you leaving? Then leave!"
"I heard noise, what-?" Demoman regretted looking inside the room instantly. "Aw, for crying out loud, put some clothes on!"
They immediately noticed the boy standing still, silent like a statue.
"Scout. Scout!" Spy called him. Scout didn't turn his eyes at him or move an inch. He started to get worried. Touched his face after removing his glove and found he was cold, very cold. "Scout!" He kept calling him, shook him, but didn't make him react.
Medic touched all sensitive spots in his body, which should have caused a reflex movement at least, and still nothing. In his medical opinion, he was completely paralyzed.
"What happened?" Spy asked.
"No idea." Soldier admitted, and Pyro pointed at the window.
Mannhunter patiently waited until Soldier couldn't resist the urge to look out to see what caused this.
It was Heavy who convinced him that this was not a good idea, and grabbed him to move him away from the window.
It all happened so quickly Mannhunter couldn't correct his shot and Heavy was the one who received it, in his arm.
The arrow dissolved at the contact with his skin and Heavy became paralyzed in the posture he had, his skin got paler.
"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" Engineer shouted, although there was no need to, because the very second they saw the second impact, everybody instinctively did exactly that.
"Misha!" Zhanna exclaimed. It was too late to help him, and that made her furious. "Who are you?! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, so the attacker could hear her. She would have also stood up to face them if Engineer didn't grab her.
But what were they facing exactly? They crawled out of the room and grabbed their weapons. (Soldier and Zhanna didn't consider they needed clothes in a moment like this). They got out of the base with the intention of finding out.
"Sniper!"
They needed all the team.
Spy took a look inside the camper. The door was open. Everything looked as if Sniper had been making an inventory of what he had; a decaffeinate coffee had run cold. There was no one inside.
"Do you think he...?" Engineer muttered.
"That, or they went for him first." Spy concluded.
"If it's him, piss will soon rain over us. Keep your mouth closed, everybody." Soldier said.
An uneasy feeling invaded them: they shot clearly came from the top of the hillside. But they were surrounded by moutain. Where was the shooter now?
They watched every shadow, were attentive to any sound. Their hearts raced, some sweat. Their fingers were on the trigger to pull it every second. Pyro shot her flare gun at what turned out to be just a rabbit which wanted to get some fresh air out of the den. Spy made himself invisible. Soldier was about to take a step when he suddenly drew back, obeying his instinct, and an arrow almost got him in the foot.
"There!" He shouted, and shot his rocket.
There was a boom, part of the hill collapsed. Was that enough?
Engineer guessed not. He started to build a level 3 sentry, with rocket launchers, in case there was someone still out there and it dared to approach. He didn't get to finish it. There was an explosion and the contraception was recuded to a pile of broken metal. Engineer didn't have the time to move before the arrow pierced through his neck, leaving him with an expression of shock.
"Now it's coming from there!" Demoman shouted, and shot grenades into that direction.
"There! I saw something move the-!" Medic went still too, pointing into another direction, when the arrow hit his stomach. It came from the opposite direction.
Demoman became paranoid, adrenaline got the best of him. He looked around frenetically, his only eye open so wide it almost seemed it was going to pop out of its socket, started shooting haphazardly, almost blowing up his own teammates.
"Demo, calm down! You're gonna kill us all!" Soldier told him. "Come! We've got to take cover!"
"It wants you! It wants no one except you! And it's getting rid of everyone in the way!" Demoman told him.
Yes, Soldier came to that conclusion too. An arrow grazed his skin. He couldn't keep risking it. It was time to get the kwami's help.
"Wait in here. Zhanna and I need honey." Soldier told Demoman and Pyro, once they were safe behind a wall.
With that excuse, they evaded their teammates and transformed, finally putting some clothes on.
It almost looked like Spy had made Soldier right about his genetical cowardice, but he was in fact observing, very still in a corner. A good part of his usual job was to pretend he wasn't there and just let people reveal themselves. If they wanted to spot the shooter, they had to wait until he thought he was not being seen. Wait for him to follow his prey.
And, indeed, when the group disappeared from his sight, he left his hideout to follow them.
Sniper was only recognizable because of his tall and slim figure. His face was hidden under a ghillie hood and a black neck gaiter covering his face. He wore baggy jeans with tucked cuffs and boots made for resisting all kinds of grounds and crushing skulls.
His eyes glew in the dark, just like a cat. He also moved like one, not making a sound. A bow rested on his back. In his hands was a hunting knife. He approched the base with very clear intentions.
Spy wouldn't let him take one more step. He uncloaked and stabbed him in the back. Mannhunter let out a hurt snarl, his body got tense. He turned around to find Spy standing there and made him pay for that. Spy thought he could survive a knife fight against him, but this was not the Sniper he knew. Of course, his strength had tripled, his senses were more developed. He made some very ugly cuts in his face, suit and hands, dodged him like he was playing with him. And he did that after being stabbed! It was clear that Spy had gotten himself in a fight he couldn't win. Mannhunter sentenced him grabbing an arrow from his case, grabbed him by the neck with one hand and pierced his throat, making the arrow go through the bottom of his mouth. Spy became paralyzed instantly, but that didn't stop Mannhunter from stabbing him three more times.
"That's the last Frenchman you stab, camper!"
Mannhunter turned around, finding Sargeant Bug, Koshka, Demoman and Pyro standing there.
Ladybug and Cat Miraculous spotted. Mannhunter finally let Spy go and grabbed his bow.
"Give that wizard what he wants." His voice sounded croakier than usual.
"NEVER!" Sargeant Bug shouted.
Mannhunter guessed he had to take it by force, then. Very quickly for someone who had been stabbed, he shot three arrows in a row. Spinning his yo-yo, Sargeant Bug created a barrier.
"We gotta get rid of those arrows!"
Koshka nodded and pounced on Mannhunter.
"Cataclysm!"
She wanted to end this quick. However, a good hunter knows how to deal with big felines like that one, and he grabbed her from the wrists and rolled, ending up on top of her, keeping her down with his weight. In his eyes a smile could be hinted. His thoughts became clear when he forced Koshka's hands to move: what would happen if he turned her attack against her? He forced her hand, trying to make her lay that destructive hand on herself. Pyro jumped in to help her, making her flamethrower roar. Mannhunter had to get off her and roll to avoid her. That didn't mean he didn't try to get rid of her, though: he grabbed his knife and threw it at her, stabbing her side. Pyro fell, whining in pain; Demoman held her. Sargeant Bug stepped in and punched him, making him fall to the floor.
"You want this?" He faced him, showing him the earrings turned into cuff links. "Come and get them!"
"I plan to." Mannhunter said, getting up. His hand slowly moved towards his arrow case. His back hurt horribly and cursed the damned spy for it, but still... "But I have manners. Ladies first."
And suddenly threw a bow with his own hands at Koshka. If it wasn't for her agility, it would have pierced through her head. Sargeant Bug used his yo-yo to hit him.
Mannhunter saw his chance and made the most of it. He grabbed it and pulled with all of his strength. The weapon escaped from Sargeant Bug's hands.
"Hey, that's mine!"
Mannhunter chuckled sinisterly. If you want to hunt a big prize, make them weak, eliminate their resistance.
"Alright! Now what are we going to do without the Lucky Charm?" Demoman wanted to know.
That was a good question indeed. Sargeant Bug thought his hardest.
"I still got Cataclysm!" Koshka said, pointing at her hand, still glowing black.
"You've got to use it on the bow!" Sargeant Bug told her.
"Got it!" She exclaimed and ran towards Mannhunter.
Again, a move he had calculated. It was time to cut the kitty's claws. He shot one more arrow at her.
It was so close there was no time to think. It was either use her Cataclysm on it or taking the shot. So Koshka blocked the arrow with her hand. It dissolved in dust without paralyzing her. But now they were in a predicament, because she didn't have her special move.
"Now what?" She joined Demoman's question.
The Scot ran away for a second, using his grenade launcher to hit and break the crates around them.
"Use this! It should serve as a shield!" He said, handing his partners the pieces of wood.
"Do you think that can stop me?" Mannhunter said, coming closer.
No, that was obvious. It was more of a desperate measure. They had to steal the bow from him; that was the only thing that would end this...How would they do that, if he seemed to have an infinite amount of those damned poisoned arrows? They couldn't even approach him. And they didn't have their powers...
Sargeant Bug's eyes fixed on Pyro's flamethrower on the ground and his eyes widened.
There was something they had indeed.
Mannhunter prepared to shoot at close range. Demoman wielded his grenade launcher like attempting to hit him with it or throw it at his head. And the arrow zoomed.
Sargeant Bug suddenly stepped forward, the flamethrower in his hands, and activated the airblast.
The arrow changed its direction—flying towards its shooter.
Mannhunter didn't have the time to react.
His body jerked when the arrow hit him in the heart, his eyes opened wide in surprise. Then he became very, very still.
"Take that, Balbo Biggins!" Sargeant Bug shouted into his face, poking his finger deep into his chest.
Koshka stole the bow from his other hand and broke it in half over her leg.
Mannhunter's grip on the yo-yo was so strong Sargeant Bug practically had to break his fingers to get it back. Good thing he grabbed it just in time to capture the akuma escaping from the weapon.
"Vade retro!" Sargeant Bug shouted, capturing it with his yo-yo.
And the butterfly came out clean from evil. In spite of the wound making her lose so much blood and being killing her, Pyro waved her fingers goodbye at it. When Sargeant Bug invoked the power of the Miraculous to restore everything, the stabbing healed. Their partners first got their color back, and soon jumped, finishing the move they were caught doing when they were shot.
"-re!" Medic finished his sentence.
And Mannhunter was no more and brought Sniper back. The Aussie stumbled and blinked. For a good while, he felt so disoriented, so confused they offered him a seat.
"Come on, man, you're good. It's over now." Sargeant Bug reassured him.
"Bugger..." Sniper groaned. "I can't believe it happened again...And I can't believe it happened to me."
"Don't be angry at yourself. It is a great power." Koshka tried to be nice.
"I just...I don't know what I was thinking. I was so angry, I was so damn angry!, and I thought..." Sniper looked away and crossed his arms, feeling incredibly uneasy. "The thing is, I didn't think at all. I let myself be driven by that rage...I lost control completely...I heard you talk about it but never suspected how far it goes until I experienced it myself...I let Merasmoth convince me of doing what he wanted...He turned me into his hound!"
There was no way one could feel angry at him. The look on his face, him not raising his eyes from the ground—yes, being akumatized left one with so many regrets once the mental fog was gone and one faced the knowledge of their actions.
"We've got to stop him. This is a truly evil power..."
"We will stop him! Koshka and I!" Sargeant Bug declared, pointing at himself with his thumb, and Koshka nodded in agreement with a side smile. "He thinks he can destroy this team and drive us mad! Well, he's not! We need no one to become mad! We are Americans! We are letting no butterfly magician get the better of us! We are showing him we're not afraid of-!"
His and Koshka's Miraculous started beeping, warning them that they were running out of time.
"Uh, we gotta go. Stay strong, pals! And remember: we are always watching you!" Sargeant Bug said before he used his yo-yo and Koshka her cane to climb to the roof.
The mercenaries rolled their eyes and waited for them to return in their usual clothing.
"We...didn't find honey. And you know we can't punch anyone if there's no honey!" Soldier explained.
Not that anyone bought his explanations. But sure, okay.
"We'll keep on searching. We will find that stupid wizard and make him pay for this!" Demoman said. "He can't hide from us forever!"
"We already know all his dirty tricks. He has akumatized us all." Scout said.
"No. Not everyone. He hasn't akumatized you yet, Spy." Medic corrected, turning his eyes at his partner.
He lit himself a cigarette, one eyebrow raised. He expelled the smoke calmly.
"That is not happening. He's got nothing to use against me." He simply said.
Under the bridge, Merasmoth clenched his fists and his jaw.
"Again! They repelled my attacks again! I hate them all so much! Specially Scout, but specially Soldier! Who gave him the Miraculous?! Why?!" The bums were making comments, snickering, and it made him angrier. "Shut yp, will you? They haven't seen the last of me!"
He was so furious he couldn't come up with any witty remark concerning hunting. He removed Nooroo by exclaiming 'Dark wings fall', and walked tiredly towards his little spot, where he had a cartons bed, and lied down to rest his head. It didn't take him long to fall asleep. He dreamed that he crushed a ladybug with Soldier's head...
Until he woke up three hours later, gasping and getting up with a jump, startling his camp partners.
"Wait a second! Wait just a second! Soldier is keeping the Miraculouses...He is using the Ladybug's...His girlfriend owns the Cat's...And the two of them combined...How didn't Merasmus think about it earlier?! There is no need to steal all the Miraculouses! Merasmus just needs the Ladybug and the Cat! Then I will use their combined power to change reality...and erase my debt with the Japanese mafia! HAH! Yes! It is all coming together! Merasmus is a genius!"