This chapter was largely written around like midnight to four in the morning, so please, if you spot any spelling/ grammar/ past-future tense errors, let us know and we'll fix it 3

-Eren

"Tis is by fah tuh stupidest, shittiest, most ill-conceived fuckin' plan yer ass has evuh conjuhed in tuh long sad history o' dumb ass clowns."

"Shhh motherfucker, or they will get their spotters on you."

"... G-Zee, get out from behind tuh damn bush."

"Nah brother, I can't let their peepers focus in on a fucker. Now, navigate down here."

"Ah ain't hidin' behind uh fuckin' shrub."

"C'mon Jarbro, this shit isn't going to flow and zone if recognition slams into their pans."

"Tat is irrelevant, tis whole god damn situation is uh bunch o' musclebeast shit!"

"Oh man, the motherfucker's are coming. Go down low."

"Ah'm not crawlin on tuh fu-CK!"

At that point in the conversation, the long-fingered hand of a certain subjuggulator reached up, claws hooking into the front of Jarren's shirt, before he jerked downward. The result sent an already annoyed troll tumbling behind the thick bush that Gamzee was currently hiding behind. Or rather, attempting to hide behind. His horns weren't really helping with the hiding bit as they stuck up and inch or two from behind the foliage's leaves. Gamzee promptly ignored the snarls and grumbles of his companion as he parts a few branches in the center of the bush, peering out from behind it as Sollux and Karkat came into view.

Jarren managed to right himself a few seconds later, indiscernible obscenities snarling from the back of his throat. Though he made no move to stand up, giving in to the Capricorn's previous demand and staying crouched behind the large plant. A harsh, whispered snarl being aimed Gamzee's way moments later, "Ah can't believe yer stalkin' uh pair o' low-fuckin'-bloods. Especially tuh one wit tuh attitude problem. We've got bettuh shit tuh do tan dis. Tey ain't even dat impressive. One looks like uh de-sized punt wagon, t'e othuh a scrawny fuckin' branch wackuh."

A small grin twitched at Gamzee's lips as he listened, though his gaze stayed focused on the troll not too far off, "Brother, are you even informed of what the words your spewing from your speak hole mean?"

"No, ah fuckin' don't, but it sounds good."

"Disagreements there bro."

"Ah dun wan't tuh hear about creativity of fuckin' words from tuh ass rubbuh tat's answer for unforeseen shit happenin' is 'Miracles'."

"Don't want to ruin the mystery and destroy the fog motherfucker. Just let sleeping miracles do their duty, by making everyone all amazed and shit."

"It is uhmazing how quickly off-topic conversin' with yer fuck-spew of uh brain can get."

"Honk," and this time, a full blown grin did cross Gamzee's lips. Afterword's, he hushed Jarren, and put his full focus on the topic of this secret operation.

Thank fucking god he managed to get out of that damn room before Sollux woke up. Honestly, it was such a damn chore sometimes dealing with him in the morning. Good thing Karkat managed this quite often, since he didn't sleep. Okay that was a lie; he did, but not often. Probably not as much as his body needed, but fuck it, that was what this shitty coffee was for. He snuck past the couch where Sollux had passed out in a rather ridiculous position, likely working on the computers that were scattered around him, a line of drool escaping one corner of his mouth thanks to those stupid teeth of his. He just rolled his eyes, tiptoeing towards the door, and absconding to the bathrooms with his change of clothes in hand.

It wasn't much, just a pair of black jeans, a loose grey t-shirt, and light weight long sleeves attached to the insides. Some shoes and socks and bam that was his outfit for the day. But in all seriousness it was pretty much the only thing he ever wore. So, after the shower and getting dried and dressed, he headed for the library. Classes didn't start for another day or two, apparently, so he had some free time to at least scope out the literature this place offered.

He made it maybe three steps out the door, before a hand reached out, grabbing at him and pulling him back.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Sollux demanded, and Karkat had a few moments to reflect on how much of a fucking lusus Sollux acted like sometimes. But ah, that was the duty of a pair of horseshit moirails, he supposed.

"Well I was planning to actually spend more than ten minutes away from your sog covered ass of grumpy," Karkat stated simply, his eyes narrowing a bit as he shot a look over to his side, where he could see part of Sollux's hand on his shoulder. Sollux just smirked behind him, letting go and taking a few steps forward. Well, at least he seemed to be in a better mood today than yesterday. Those good moods were rare, and it meant Karkat had a better chance of absconding from the bipolar asshole's presence later on if he felt like it. Which was always. They might be in a quadrant together but holy shit was Sollux clingy, and for no real reason. It was like he thought Karkat was going to run away to some dark hole and die somewhere if he was left alone. Seriously, what were the odds of that?

"Too bad, we're checking out the camputh…-campus today, some people I know go here too," Karkat just rolled his eyes, allowing the mustard blood to lead the way, a grumpy look on his face as they passed by a bush. Karkat looked at it a few steps after they passed it, staring at the tip of horns that protruded from the top of the bush. He opened his mouth to make some sort of comment, before he figured, nah; he didn't really wanna know what the fuck that troll was doing there anyway. Maybe the guy was trying to take a shit or something and wanted to do it outside, he really didn't care.

He followed for maybe… what, ten minutes before he realized they had left campus, and his stupid, stupid think pan noticed this. "Hey, what the fuck? I thought we were checking out camputh?" Karkat sneered, mocking the other's lisp. Sollux merely shrugged.

"I changed my mind, we gotta go into town and get the books and other shit we need."

"Auuuggh!" Again, just a light chuckle at his frustration. But… he couldn't argue, kinda fucking hard to go to class if you didn't' have the right supplies, so Karkat dealt with it, albeit in a rather loud, complaining manner.

Not far behind, a pair of highbloods darted from cover to cover. Sometimes waiting for them to get far ahead, sometimes trailing a mere meter away. But they were careful to not lose track. Well, in all honesty Jarren wasn't doing much of an effort of hiding. Gamzee had to pull him back into cover a few times when he only stared and growled at him, muttering about better things to do. Not that the Capricorn gave him the option otherwise, as they observed the lowbloods entering a store.

The first stop was, of course, the book shop. It was more like a library really, in which Karkat lurked in the back, pandering over some new romance novels he hadn't gotten the chance to read yet, swearing to himself that as soon as he had a bit of extra money, it was going to go straight into his personal book fund. Sollux already had the books they needed. For what classes they had that were the same, they both agreed on sharing a book, if not to save on money, then to enforce the whole getting along aspect.

After that, they wandered a bit, looking for a general store that sold planners, papers, pencils, shit like that. It wasn't that hard to find, this was more-so a college town after-all. Karkat spotted it first, bolting inside ahead of Sollux and quickly getting the cheapest shit available before the yellow blood even reached the right isle. "There, look, I got shit done instead of lollygagging around like your stupid ass hat of a self" he muttered, going up to the counter and using his own meager banking remains to pay for those things. They were much cheaper than the books by far, but it still took a dent in the remains he had after setting up that payment plan. Karkat's job may entirely be online, but he had to keep an eye out for somewhere else to work. Sollux merely raised his hands in front of himself, a small edge of irritation appearing in his features, Karkat had gotten so good at seeing it by now.

"Well, we succethfully managed to waste five hours running around shopping, wanna grab a bite to eat, maybe look for somewhere you can get a goddamn job?" Sollux asked as they were leaving the store, his voice suddenly flat and business like again.

"You read my mind," The mutant blood replied simply, shrugging as he shifted the bags in his grasp, looking across the streets. "Looks like there's a little café thing over there, might as well try that, can't be any worse or better than most of the writhing piles of grease and cockroaches in this shithole of a city." And with that, he began to head for the street corner, watching Sollux catch up to him this time, grumbling about something, he didn't really care what, since the light turned red and he wasted no time in getting across.

L'illusion Café wasn't really that impressive of a place, but it was rather calm, colored light blue and a pale creamy color, with varying accents of silver, dark blue, and white here and there as the overall color scheme. It wasn't that big either, probably a family owned business from the looks of it. There were only eight other people in there, counting two of them that worked there that he could see out front.

Karkat and Sollux took a booth near the back, Sollux ordering a plain, black cup of coffee and something called a honey-apple tart. Karkat ordered something that confused the poor waitress. A cup of coffee, half cut with milk, and heavy on the French vanilla and sugar. No, it wasn't that he had a massive sweet tooth (though that was part of it) it was just that he couldn't fucking stand coffee. Most of the time he mixed chocolate milk with his coffee when at the hive block. It was the only way he thought it was bearable. He didn't bother ordering much to eat. Then, of course, Sollux began to bug him, demanding he eat, so he gave in, ordering a blue berry muffin the size of his fucking hand that he wasn't going to finish, and it was about halfway through said muffin, that he glanced over the seats, frowning before looking back at Sollux.

"Okay, I wasn't really sure it was worth mentioning, but now I feel like I should inform you that I keep seeing these two highbloods stalking us, all day"

It was easier the deeper into town they went. There were small crowds of people and trolls the highbloods could mix with. But honestly? It didn't do much good. Gamzee stuck out like a sore-thumb even among a group of his peers. Among these semi-normal folk, he was about as subtle as a neon red sign on a backdrop of black. Still, given the circumstances, they did rather well. Though Jarren was well aware they had been noticed, even if the Capricorn had not. Still, they hardly gave up their pursuit, mostly because the indigo blood was persistent. By the time they reached a small cafe, and Sollux and Karkat passed through its door, it was mid-afternoon.

Jarren growled as he came up beside the subjuggulator, where he had stopped on the curb, looking across the street to the building bathed in blue's and light highlighting shades of cream and silver. "Are we done yet? Ya realize we've uhccomplished jack shit nothin?"

"There's a vibe that's all kinds of off brother... I can feel of it deep in my motherfucking skeletal frame."

"Tat's called stupidity, glad ya finally fuckin' realized it."

Sollux was frozen, dual-colored eyes focusing hard on Karkat, who simply raised one hand, pointing out the two highbloods, and he went tense. At once, Karkat wished he had been silent about it, pretended to have not noticed it.

He took a deep breath, preparing for the inevitable fit the mustard blood would throw, though the explosion of rage was anything but what he expected. Sollux reached over, quivering in rage, and jerked karkat out of his seat, sliding out of his own and practically stomping through the café, causing lots of odd looks as he dragged the mutant blood out the door, eyes sparking.

Karkat snarled, pulling on his arm several times, until finally, he managed to rip it from Sollux's grip halfway down the block from the café. "WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?" He screeched, voice a bit higher pitched than normal as he avoided another grab, an angry look on his own face to match the one on sollux's.

"We're going back to the fucking hive"

"No! I don't want to go back to the fucking hive block, and even if I did, I don't need to be dragged by you!"

The unintended sources of the sudden outburst, blinked in surprise as the lanky troll literally dragged the short one from the cafe that they had just sat down in. "Wonduh what got itself shoved up tat fuckuh's waste chute," grouched Jarren, watching as the lowblooded duo didn't even make it half-way down the street. Before Karkat had jerked out of the male's grasp. Then, something the troll would have never expected to happen, did. There came a growl, so thick and malicious that it sent a chill down his back and his hairs to stand on end. He looked expecting a beast of some kind, but there was only Gamzee.

Holy shit that had come from Gamzee.

And now he was stepping forward towards the lowbloods.

Jarren's eyes flew wide open, and with a swear he jerked forward, grabbing the much taller, much stronger troll by the elbow with one hand. Immediately, another snarl tore free and the male found himself pinned by indigo eyes, rimmed in near red, "Unhand me brother."

He did not unhand him, in fact, the shorter highblood swallowed his uneasiness and gripped tighter, a scowl twisting over his face, "Tuh hell are ya doin' G-Zee? Ya ain't goin' ovuh there!" he growled, though was careful to avoid it sounding like a challenge.

"Sollux is laying force upon Karkat."

"An how tuh fuck is tat any shitty business o' yers, huh? If yer gonna kill uh a fuckuh, don't do it in da middle of tuh gog damn day!"

"Release me motherfucker."

"Dammit G-Zee, will ya just fuckin' lis-"

"RELEASE ME!" An ice cold chill flooded Jarren's gut, and he did not hesitate to remove his hand as eyes all but pulsating in rage, bored down upon him and... holy shit Gamzee was getting that aura. The kind that consumed the air around him and made him appear massive, the one that made you feel like giving him a wide birth, the one that made it felt that each word he said better be listened to. Better be obeyed.

"Jesus fuck, sorry, ahlright?" he grumbled, though it was defeated, and there was not bite to it. As he dipped his head and stepped back. It was a sign of submission, and something seemed to flicker in Gamzee's gaze as he observed it... before the larger highblood took a shuttering breath. Not stepping towards the lowbloods now to his side, nor stepping away. He seemed to be struggling with something, an internal conflict, though that air stayed.

Sollux's eyes drifted from karkat, to the highblood not that far behind the smaller male, his eyes sparking harder as he glared at gamzee from across the street. At once, a growl tore itself free from his own throat, torrents of red and blue starting to circulate around his arms. "Stay here" he growled, his voice low and demanding, as he damn near shoved karkat up against the wall behind him, and then began to head over towards the two highbloods, seemingly unaware of Gamzee's state of mind, and equally unaware of the mutant blood trailing after him.

The Capricorn seemed to be struggling for control, and Jarren was more than happy to stand back and wait for him to try and regain it. Until, from the corner of his gaze, he saw one of the lowblood's charging across the street, followed close behind by short and nubby. Well, there went all hope of not making a scene today. "Fuck, tuh scrawny piss-blood's gonna die."

Gamzee's brows furrowed, eyes narrowing on the troll before him at that strange comment. Before he followed the male's gaze, and landed on a pair of bi-colored eyes rappidly approaching. Immediately, what little of that aura that had been subsiding, doubled, and a feral snarl rumbled at the back of the highblood's throat. Jarren, took a step to the side, one of his hand's brushing silently over the circular metal, attached by a magnet to his belt, as his eyes narrowed suspiciously to the walking tombstone and his side-kick as they seemed to make a bee-line to the obvious target.

The aura around Sollux could be, in some ways, an opposite to Gamzee's, who's seemed to suppress everything else and fill it with dread instead. His cackled with energy and rebellion, and it was much more visible, tinted with red and blue as he ignored his pseudo-moirail's pleas to calm down and just forget about the whole following thing, it was probably just some joke to make them uneasy, highbloods did it all the time.

He stopped ten feet from gamzee, fists blazing blue and red. "I fucking told you to back off!" He snarled, the words just slightly slurred as they came from between his lips.

"Sollux calm the fuck down!" Great, now he really did just want to go back to the hive. Karkat was biting down on his lower lip, slightly worn teeth worrying away at the soft skin there. He put all of his attention on the yellow blood, not even seeming to notice the two highbloods, though he did caste a nervous glance to both of them after a second, namely to the taller one, who appeared to be more of a threat than the other. "This isn't worth it, okay?! Let's just go back to the fucking hive block!"

"Kk I said get the fuck back to the hive and you didn't want to listen the first time so now you can go on your own! I'm taking care of this asshole who has no right following us around!"

Gamzee did not move, in fact, he seemed hardly deterred in the slightest. As if Sollux was a mere annoyance, nothing more than a buzzing insect that was invading his space... and that was the way he looked down upon him. Sclera flaring to a near red as his fangs bared just enough to catch what little light hit the street's from above. Then, he seemed to ignore him completely, his eyes drifting away from the yellow-blood, as if he could care less the male was there. Falling to rest, on one Karkat Vantas.

Jarren swore under his breath as he took note of that subtle action. He really, REALLY, did not want to have to fuck with human police today, just because some lowblood decided he was going to be brave. He ignored the fact that Gamzee seemed to know the two in front of them (and at least one clearly recognized him), and stepped forward, dipping around the Capricorn and keeping his head down, until he was slightly in front of him. Body language spoke more than anything else to Gamzee, when he was bordering on this state of mind. "Run uhlong back to tuh hole ya crawled out of lowblood," he sneered, baring his fangs at the troll, despite his fancy light show that was... actually a rather impressive display in psiionic's all it's own, "Ya really don't wanna fuckin' start somethin' with eithuh of us in tuh middle of uh town wit' witless bystanduhs uhround." His see-saw fangs were revealed further as he snarled the last words.

Sollux turned away from Karkat, facing the highbloods once more with his psionics dancing around him A low growl tumbled from his throat as he glared at Jarren, before lifting one hand up, and flicking it to the side, literally moving Jarren a few feet to the side as he faced gamzee once more. "You said you would stay away!" he spouted, almost seemed to accuse the other, before he noticed something attempting to push him back away from the highblood.

Karkat had situated himself in front of Sollux, and now had both hands on the mustard blood's chest, attempting to gain some distance. "Goddammit why do these guys even matter?! Let's just go the fuck back to the hive!" he knew he sounded like he was begging, but the last thing he wanted was for a fight to break out.

A look crossed behind the rage in Gamzee's eyes, one that caused that dangerous air to falter, and some of the Capricorn's self to return. Jarren was cursing to his side, having stumbled just slightly at the unbidden, forced movement. In fact, the troll was making a move for one of his Frisbees, when the subjuggulator's voice spoke out like a clap of thunder, loud and carrying, though he did not shout. Rasped by sopor, yet smooth in its own right, "I spoke I would stray from your path motherfucker, you did not bring whole truth to bear light. Jarren," he growled, indigo eyes turning towards the circulatory troll, "We are leaving." Then he simply turned and made to walk away.

"Fuck that! Tis lit'le shit-blood ju-" but Gamzee was ignoring him and continued to walk. A thick scowl lined Jarren's face, before he threw a glare back at the tweedle fuck, and tweedle fuckiest, focusing on the psychic ass hole, "Ya should watch who ya fuckin' piss off pissblood," he growled, actually not threatening, but giving him a warning.

"NOW INVENTOR!"

Jarren flinched at the Capricorn's roar of a demand, before he whirled and stomped after Gamzee, rumbling furiously under his breath, "Ahm comin, ahm comin, Lord Highass."

Sollux glared after the highblood's, only calming down when they were out of sight, despite Karkat's attempts. And despite the other demanding answers, he ignored the mutant blood, just growling at him too, before turning and heading back towards the school hive stems, leaving Karkat alone on the street before the turned to follow as well, having really no other choice.