Here's the next chapter. Hopefully you all enjoy it, things are going to be very angsty soon enough. Like it isn't already, right?

Alright, let's go forward with the chapter.

Karkat may have never been in this type of situation before, but he did figure that he was positively fucked if he didn't move soon. The nutjob in the suit was pointing an arm cannon at him and he wasn't even sure to begin.

"So," Karkat started off carefully. He gave a quick look to Elwurd, who hadn't been spotted as of yet. "I'd say that's a good Robocop cosplay, but I don't think they'll let you into the convention center like that."

Elwurd cringed, and so did he inwardly. The guy only raised an eyebrow, the arm cannon not wavering.

"I wouldn't stand in my way, child. I'm looking for someone, and I would prefer to keep collateral damage to a limited level." The way he spoke was an obvious attempt to sound commanding and robotic, but it honestly sounded like he was trying too hard. "Unless you have information on my quarry, I would vacate the premises."

"Okay, first of all, lay off the thesaurus. Longer words don't make you sound any smarter than you actually are." Karkat gave a quick look to Elwurd, jerking one of the hands at this side to tell her to move. He couldn't insult this guy forever. "Two, you've already set fire to some places around here, so it's a little late to be considerate."

Elwurd did try sneaking away, but she snagged her jacket on a bush not too far away. Tin Man (as Karkat was going to call him) looked her way, but Karkat immediately put his hands up.

"Don't get me wrong, though, looks like you do have a pretty heavy purpose." Karkat licked his lips, praying someone was going to come over here and try stopping this maniac. "Get bullied at this school a lot when you were younger? Ex that works as a teacher here?"

"Cease your yammering, child. I'm here to take care of a constant nuisance in the community, one that has dealt a blow to me personally." Oh, it was revenge. Fantastic. Of course the Shakespearean guy wearing a superhero suit was here for something unhinged. "Their actions have led to great misfortune in my life, and-"

"I didn't ask for your life story, pal. I asked what you were doing here." Karkat figured it was Elwurd that pissed him off. What the hell did she do to warrant murder though? "What did they do and why do you look ready to rip someone's head off?"

Tin Man's mouth twitched, growling loudly. "I'm here for the one that vandalized my car and made me lose my job!"

Karkat blinked at the outburst, taking in the information with incredible grace.

"You're fucking kidding me, right? That's it?" Karkat knew that losing their job wasn't really funny, but all of this being over a vandalized car was a little much. "I don't see how those two are related there, dude. I'm pretty sure that would get you a few more days on the job more than anything."

"She slashed three of my tires! I thought it was someone at work since no one there liked me, but she did it because I wouldn't serve some punk that wouldn't dress properly!" The robotic façade seemed to have slipped off by now, showing off his true personality. This guy was a complete nutcase. "I accused and ratted out so many people there, they decided to cut me since I created a 'hostile working environment.' It wasn't my fault they couldn't handle a few questions!"

"It sounds like you went off with little evidence and dug your own grave by going off on people who didn't deserve it." Karkat wasn't sure he recognized the guy, but the situation did sound familiar. He was probably that waiter that lived out of town that had to be escorted out of his work yesterday. "But that doesn't mean doing this makes things any better. Maybe if we just calmed down and put down the gun-"

Karkat heard the sound of a something snapping, jerking his head to see Elwurd fall a few feet away from them. It appeared that she wasn't that good at sneaking away. Fantastic.

Tin Man raised his arm cannon at her, priming a shot with clear rage on his face. Karkat, for reasons he didn't understand, felt himself leap ahead. The man didn't have much time to react when Karkat decked him, forcing him to lose concentration.

Karkat fell victim to the mistake of stopping to see how the punch landed when Tin Man hit him in the side with his free arm out of reflex. It sent him back, causing him to hit the ground. He didn't feel anything break, but God, he really knocked his breath out of his body.

"How dare you!" Tin Man roared, raising his cannon towards the teen. The helmet was knocked slightly askew, showing the deranged look in the man's eyes. "I'm trying to rid the town of people like her and you dare try and stop me?!"

"Keep your crusade to yourself, asshole!"

The nut was hit in the chest hard by, of all things, a concentrated stream of ectoplasm. Karkat was stunned to see it actually hurtle the guy backward, almost failing to recognize hands grabbing him and pulling him up.

"Jesus, man, you can't go one day without picking a fight with some superpowered asshole?" Karkat recognized the guy speaking to him as Captor. He was more surprised to see the smoking ecto-gun in his hand. "Figures. Can't go one day without doing shit."

"How the- is that one of my dad's ectoguns? Where the fuck did you get that?" Karkat wasn't thinking straight, feeling like he woke up in some bizarro world. People hated his dad's inventions and Karkat along with them. "They shouldn't be effecting a human like that either."

"We really don't have the time to explain. I'm pretty sure that lunatic won't stay down forever." Karkat eyed the stranger that had shown up. Were they just being swarmed by new students today? "Just come with us and we can get you out of here."

"What if he goes after Elwurd?" Karkat looked back at Tin Man, who apparently had a lot taken out of him from the attack. "He's trying to kill her, and it looks like he won't stop until some person satisfies his vendetta."

"We'll keep an eye on it. Her phones being tracked, and it shouldn't be hard to figure out where he is either." Sollux threw something at Tin Man. It was round, small, landing on the man's head- wait, that was one of his dad's trackers! "Just come along and we can stop that guy completely with your help."

Karkat felt the urge to knock these guys block off, but the fact Tin Man seemed to be shouting more as he stumbled back up made him rethink that. "Fine, but you owe me an explanation."

"I think saving your life evens us out more than you think." The girl grabbed his hand. "Kanaya Maryam, at your service. Now let's get the hell out of here."

Karkat at least could make sense of that, letting her pull him away. Questions would come later when someone wasn't trying to actively murder him.

The Muse looked down at the scene with faint annoyance, noting the destruction her new friend had taken to creating. The tsked at the barbarity of it, especially when he started throwing a fit.

"Why is when someone gets what they desire, it always ends in misery for someone else?" She wondered if people truly knew how to behave. Her gifts weren't ones to be taken lightly. "I suppose I'll have to balance it out later. He seemed so happy to receive it, but he does need to be taught some manners."

She made it so he wouldn't be able to track down the girl anymore and she made a note to make it up to this "Elwurd" later. And maybe those children that helped her too, while she was at it.

The Muse didn't fail to recognize the boy that made the first wish, while also catching sight of the other he made the wish for. So many things she had to move around to make sure it would work just right for them. It was quite tragic what had happened, but she found a way to make it right.

It would all balance out in time until everyone was happy. She'd make sure of that.

She moved away from the scene for now, knowing Elwurd would make it out just fine. Her friend's obsession with her would occupy him and prevent any trouble for now, and she wasn't likely to be found.

Her eyes got sight of those boxes with flitting images, hearing the sound of one of their news criers. She flew down into a person's abode, tilting her head at the sight.

"The stars are quite literally aligning folks, with everyone gearing up for a fantastic night on the town." The crier was shuffling papers, an image of the night sky behind him, showing the familiar sight of shooting stars. "If tonight's weather is clear, the upcoming meteor shower should make things lively for everyone."

Oh, shooting stars! She's always been fond of those. All of the humans with their superstitions, saying their prayers as they saw them fly overhead. It was always a good time for her to answer them, especially when they were at their most desperate.

"I wonder what forms they'll take this year- no, this century!" The Muse laughed to herself. This brave new world was providing so many opportunities for her. "I honestly can't wait!"

Getting away from the guy in the suit had been the easy part, as it turned out. The guy had practically gone on a rampage after they left, thankfully sparing the school from it. Elwurd had most likely made herself scarce.

The hard part was dealing with a confused, adrenaline-fueled Karkat.

"Somebody mind explaining what exactly what the fuck happened back there?" Karkat looked at the group again, finding very little reason why he should even trust them. The fact they were so mismatched didn't inspire a lot of faith. "I can get the whole 'ragtag bunch of ruffians' deal you guys have going here, but it isn't exactly charming if you don't say anything."

"The truth is a lot more complicated than you'd think." Feferi figured that all the hostility was warranted. Group of strangers parading with his dad's weapons wasn't something that would inspire confidence. "We'll explain things better once we get to your dad's lab. Right Aradia?"

"Hm?" Aradia had spaced out again after Karkat was brought back into their party, not directly looking at him at all. She just nodded, barely giving the conversation any mind. "Yeah. We need to get prepared before we go after that wishing ghost."

"Wishing ghost? What the fuck…" Karkat put his hands on both sides of his head, running them roughly through his hair. He took a deep breath, having it whistle as he let it out through clenched teeth. "Alright. I need you all to level with me. Is this some kind of sick practical joke? Because it isn't funny. It really fucking isn't."

"Why would we go this far just to prank someone we barely even know? I'm not going to jail for you." Sollux looked away at the mention of not knowing him. It hurt a little to lie about that. "Look, you want the gist of it? That guy is being powered by some reality warping ghost that's running amok and clearly granting more wishes. Now, does that answer your questions?"

"No!"

The group collectively sighed. The only solace was the fact they were actually at Karkat's home by now. The former halfa gave them a glare, moving quickly to the front steps.

"I'll let you into the lab as long as you give me an idea what's going on, with no bullshit." Karkat jerked his hand, his thumb pointing at the door. "I mean an actual one, not just a summary. I'm willing to trust you guys as long as you're willing to trust me with whatever this is."

"It was never an issue of trust." Aradia sighed, steeling herself. She'd been depressed a lot since this started and that wouldn't do with everything happening right now. "It'll make sense as long as we can prepare ourselves. You have a deal."

Karkat wanted to deny that but felt something stop him as he looked all of them over. Despite his initial instincts, he could feel a part of him almost want to trust them despite their vague bullshit.

"Good. Now, I'd suggest keeping your shoes on and maybe consider taking a shower after this is over." Karkat went to the front door and unlocked it. "If my dad hasn't been careful, we might be dealing with a lot of ectoplasm inside."

The group quickly followed inside, only pausing to note that the inside of the house looked… sparce in comparison to before. There was a lot less pictures, some furniture was out of place, and the place was a little dirtier.

"I don't remember it being this empty before." Sollux felt something dig into his stomach when the cognitive dissonance settled in. He kept his voice low, muttering the Aradia. "It's like all the personality vanished from this place."

"Honestly? It looks like nobody lives here." Plenty of the things here looked new to Aradia. She could actually see the couch was barely ever sat on, which said a lot of things. "You don't think Spades got too involved in his work without our parents around, right?"

There was a sudden reminder that Spades had never had many friends, at least of the adult kind. He probably threw himself a lot more into his work in this universe, but she figured it would've had to balance out eventually.

"Is that… Is that a weapon on your dinner table?" Kanaya squinted, looking past Karkat as he opened the lab door. "Should he really be working on that where your food is? I thought ectoplasm wasn't supposed to be ingested."

"It isn't, but dad keeps scattering his shit all across the house. Told him a million times to keep it where it belongs, but he still doesn't listen." Karkat groaned. The statement said quite a bit, despite only meaning to say so little. "At least it isn't leaking or anything. I don't want to clean that up."

The lab door was opened and the familiar cold of it was a small comfort. Though, even that was changed, with there being more weapons strewn about the place than ever before. The portal just sat there, dead, dust caked across some of its parts.

"I'm guessing this didn't work out too well, did it?" Feferi hadn't realized how quiet the place was without it on. She hadn't been in the lab as often as them, but the hum of it was something she remembered clearly. "Ever figure out the reason why?"

"No idea. One too many failures and dad decided to scrap it for a later time. Right now, he's focusing one weapons contracts. Which, by the way," Karkat grabbed a chair, sitting down into it with a flourish. "I'd like to know how you got some. Those look like earlier models, but I doubt my dad just threw them out."

"...Well, that excuse just went down the drain." Sollux snorted. They needed to stop laughing when things weren't funny before it developed into some weird psychological thing. "We got them from your dad. It's hard to explain, but the whole 'wishing ghost' thing was completely real."

"She changed some things around and, for some reason, none of our memories were affected. And if you want proof that we're telling the truth, you can listen to this." Aradia reached over to one of the few inventions she could recognize as a ghost tracker, turning it on with a few flicks of a button. It screeched at first, before two distinct beeps. "Two, from the sounds of it. I guess that lunatic counts since he got that suit from her power."

"You-you actually knew how to turn that on?" Karkat felt his disbelief slip before putting a lid on it. That could be just a simple way of guessing, but it was detecting something for the first time in his life. "Okay, say I believe the memory thing. Why doesn't anyone else remember what happened before the ghost changed things then?"

"We're not entirely sure. We think the only reason we remember is that we were at the center of the wish." Kanaya rubbed at her chin, grumbling to herself as she kept replaying it over and over in her mind. "Though, why you don't remember is odd. Then again, you were at the center of the wish, so..."

"The point is," Feferi said, interrupting before Kanaya could start saying something that would end up causing this to go sideways. "If we have to take down that guy, we're going to need something to hold him down. You saw that ecto-guns worked on him, so we need to keep using them."

Karkat growled. He still felt the instinct to trust them, something that made this situation even more frustrating. It could've just been desperation to be friends with someone, even if it was under the threat of some lunatic that was running around.

"Okay, fine. But if we're doing this, I'm making sure we get this done smoothly so we can return them back to the weapons locker later." Karkat moved to the locker door, giving Kanaya and Feferi a brief look. "Are you two the only people not armed right now?"

Receiving their confirmations in the form of nods, he opened it with a flourish, grabbing the two closest ecto-guns he could find. Tossing them over, he scanned over the melee weapons before grabbing two.

"Alright. You can have my dad's patented ecto-trident, or whatever he tried to market it as. Might as well have a long-range weapon for you." He turned a switch, the piece of metal expanding into a bow staff, three prongs shooting out at both ends before lighting up. It looked properly like a trident then. "And you… I'll admit, I just think it would be weirdly fitting to give you this."

Kanaya raised an eyebrow before grabbing what looked like a lipstick container with an inconspicuous button on it. Pressing it, the thing expanded into something blocker, an opening shotting out a curved piece of metal. The metal has small spikes jump out, ecto-energy flowing through it to give the appearance of a chainsaw.

"…I am never going to understand Spades technology. Ever." Kanaya fought the urge to rev it up in front of anyone. It did feel right, for lack of a better word. "We aren't trying to kill him, though. We just need to calm him down and go after the wishing ghost."

"It won't kill him. It'll just pass through his human parts while that thing cuts through the ghost powered parts." Karkat discarded all thoughts thinking this was all insane. Not the time or place anymore. "Plus, I do have a plan. I just need to know if you're all going to listen to it."

And, despite having some concerns, he got nods from everyone. He wasn't sure why they were listening to him, but it felt good. He felt like he was being entrusted with something.

"Okay," Karkat licked his lips, hoping this plan wouldn't disappoint. "It all starts with this one thing I saw on his chest…"

The Iron Judge had been looking for that ne'er-do-well and her accomplice for hours now and he hadn't found a thing involving their location. Something told him he wouldn't actually be able to today, despite his best efforts. So much for having a technologically advanced suit from the future.

The man let his feet hit the earth once more, growling. He didn't care much for the stares and screams of other people, knowing his visage could be terrifying to some. They'd understand he wasn't a threat sooner or later, though. As long as Iron Judge kept to his morals, everything would be fine.

(nothing will be fine since I NEARLY BLEW UP A SCHOOL)

Judge hit himself upside the head, pushing the errant thought down. He wasn't sure where it came from, but he didn't care to listen to it. He wanted to be strong and moral, like all those superheroes on television. This was his chance, and he couldn't let himself fall down to some "regrets."

(it's not regrets, it's guilt)

Judge growled. He needed to find something to show he was right for doing this, and he needed it now.

His prayer was answered when he was shot in the back with ecto-blast.

Iron Judge flew forward, forcing himself to stop with a burst from his rocket boots. He swiveled, leveling his cannon at- the boy from earlier!

"Hey, looks like you can actually take a hit. That's surprising." Karkat twirled the ecto-gun, smiling crookedly as he did so. It was fake and he was honestly regretting whatever choices he made getting here, but it wasn't like he could back off now. "Still butthurt from earlier, aren't you? Considering I won our last fight, I can see why."

"You did not win anything, you little coward. Someone shot me in the back, and you ran." Iron Judge felt like just shooting the boy, but something told him to wait. He wanted to savor this. "I suppose you know where that little delinquent went, correct? I need her location immediately."

"Nope, sorry. I don't know where she is, and I sure as hell wouldn't tell you where either. Not without some therapy and anger management classes first." Karkat heard the whirr of the cannon as it turned on, knowing he had very little time. "I know a few people that would love to make you angry though."

The Judge only had enough time to pause in confusion before more shots rang out, hitting him right in his body.

Activating a boot, he swerved to the side, shots following him as he swung wildly with the cannon where some of them were coming from. Other than decimating a few trees, he knew he missed as shadows danced between them.

Karkat took the offensive, sprinting towards where he was moving. Grabbing the ecto-bat from his back, he swung at the man's legs, causing him to flip backward before hitting a tree. The Judge got back onto his feet, grabbing a rock, and chucking it at the teen, who dodged. He had to move as another volley of blasts flew outward.

A few hit him once more, causing him to pull out the shield he had in his other arm, grunting as the hits kept coming. He aimed his cannon and shot every once in a while, trying to diminish their cover. He eventually flew upward, seeing if he could get them from a higher vantage point.

The idea was shot down a trident flew forward, hitting one of the rockets on his boots. Damaged, the thing sputtered out and he had to balance himself before hitting the ground hard.

"Jesus," Karkat laughed. He moved to Judge again, hitting with the bat before dodging a blow. "Good shot Peixes!"

"Thank you!"

Judge followed the voice, detaching and throwing his shield at it. He heard a yelp, but he was only able to lodge it within a tree, eliciting another roar of frustration from him.

(please stop, they're just kids, they don't know what they're going)

Judge felt a sharp pain in his head, causing him to stagger. Karkat saw an opportunity, hitting the man in the back of one of his legs, forcing him down on one knee. A whip shot out, wrapping itself around the man and the arm not surrounded by a cannon.

The man started to panic, realizing he was running out of options. He struggled to aim where the whips source was coming from, prepared to fire. He couldn't lose here, especially not to these cretins...

Kanaya dove out of the brush, rushing forward with the chainsaw out. Slamming it down onto the front of the cannon, she turned it on and cut through the thing like butter. The cannon died, sparks sputtering as Judge stumbled once more.

"Do we have him?" Sollux came out, his own blaster aimed straight at the man. The others soon followed, surrounding him before he could move. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"Well, it won't be like that for long! Somebody get to the thing in his chest!" Aradia kept pulling at their captor, making sure he couldn't move. She was joined by Feferi to provide more leverage. "I don't think we can hold him much longer! Destroy it before he can start attacking again."

Karkat didn't need to be told twice, giving Judge a whack to the head with the but end of the bat before smashing at the circle around his chest. Seeing something embedded into it, he grabbed it before Judge could swing at him again.

The thing he picked was small and made of plastic. The teen could recognize it as a painted action figure, resembling the man's super suit, from the helmet down the boots. He almost thought it was a mistake until he noticed it was glowing, just like it had been inside Judge's chest.

(destroy it)

Karkat felt himself straighten, the voice in his head coming on strongly. He didn't know what it was, but it sounded very familiar, and he didn't know where to place it.

"An action figure?" Kanaya hadn't noticed his distress yet squinting at the offending item in his hands. The hideous look and paint job only made this situation all the more ridiculous. "That- Is that really the power source? I would've thought it would be more like an arc reactor, or something from those comic book movies."

"Maybe it's more of an anchor for his powers. I think I saw a French cartoon do that once and-" Feferi, after having to make another pull as Judge weakly tried to escape, looked up, freezing. "Guys, look out!"

Karkat turned, catching sight of a figure in a starry cloak. Alarm bells rose in his mind as some instinct recognized the ghost, recognizing it for what it was. The angry, green skull bore down on them, forcing his fight or flight instincts to activate.

(DESTROY THE ACTION FIGURE BEFORE SHE GETS YOU, MORON)

The teen tightened his hand on the action figure, breaking it in half. And with that, the world stuttered.

The ghost stopped, and the world stopped with her. Time froze and the universe seemed to glitch in its entirety around the group, though none of them could make a move to stop it. The world stuttered again, and as it turned to black, Karkat heard one last thing.

(Finally.)

Yeah, shit is going to hit the fan next chapter. I'm sorry to say that, but it'll very fun. Also, for some of you people that read my other story, you know I'm making DnD sheets. So far, it's only Karkat since it's hard to determine the exact roles of other people without straying or spoiling something.

Karkat: 71pRD_DnD_Karkat_Vantas

Remember, the Five Headcanon's AU Game is still ongoing, so make sure to leave an idea for an AU if you come up with something. They'll eventually be posted in a masterpost in the side stories.

Thank you and I'll see you all next chapter.