Nice to be back at my computer after several days away. Let's keep this ball rolling. Also, bit of a language warning for this one, if that's something that bugs you.

Chapter 8 - Plight Of The Heroic Fugitives

—

Silent movement was not the strongest attribute of a twelve-foot dinosaur. The Allomon was grudgingly doing his best, despite really wishing he didn't have to…though his grumbling was only just under his breath, not quiet enough if others would have been around to chide him.

"Lousy bunch of…making me 'scout'…throwing me into some weird world where I can't even blow stuff up…what's even the point? Aren't we supposed to be conquering this place? These buildings aren't tough, they're not even reinforced…" The Allomon scowled as he looked around the residential street at the houses, all darkened at the very late hour. It annoyed him so much that he was told he was just supposed to gather information and head back - no causing chaos or getting distracted. Just because they'd lost an inordinate number of scouts…which in itself was a reason he didn't want to be there, there were rumors that someone in this world was hunting them down, strange digimon-like creatures that no one knew what to make of, 'tainted ones' that were allegedly sullying themselves with humanity, whatever the hell THAT meant. And the Allomon hated confrontation…the only reason he was with the group in the first place was that he was too intimidated to say no. But he DID love to cause mayhem, and the sight of so many destructible buildings around, with no one prepared to take him on, seemed like a playground to him. Even better, they were small enough to not be a real challenge, but big enough to be satisfying.

"Dammit…like being in a toy store except you can't touch…" He almost stomped in frustration, then remembered that he was trying to be silent. "Not even anything here to care about…maybe those scouts are just lazy asses that are loafing around. Tch, I don't even have anything to tell them, and then they're gonna get all mean and yelly again. I hate when they're yelly. Rrrf…if I'm gonna get into trouble anyway…I oughta at least have a little fun before then…"

As he looked around at his prospective targets, he didn't notice the darkness moving around him…at least, not until his arms, legs, tail, and neck were seized by shadowy tendrils that pulled him down onto the ground. He tried to struggle, but he was at a disadvantage, and before he knew it his jaw, chest, and knees were on the asphalt, his position giving him the least amount of leverage to try to pull away. As he tried to figure things out, he saw two figures approaching, one red reptilian and the other a cyborg dinosaur of some kind. Suddenly his heart was pounding - what the hell were these things? They couldn't have been digimon, there weren't supposed to be any digimon in this world, or anything like them…were they the rumored 'tainted ones'? And what could possibly have been holding him down, because he didn't see anything on them?

"Well, well, well…look what we have here." The fire lizard's voice was menacing and nasty, making the Allomon flinch. "Another Emperius rat crawling around like he owns the place. Let me guess, 'scout work?'"

"…Er…y-yeah?"

"Funny, because you didn't look like you were scouting anything except for something to destroy," growled the cyborg in a deeper yet equally-malevolent voice. "Looking to take down a few houses before you left? Randomly hurt people here because you couldn't find what you were looking for?"

"N-no, I…" The Allomon was starting to tremble. He could barely open his jaw, something dark had wrapped around it, and that made his one feasible attack from this position impossible to use. He was a sitting duck, at the mercy of whatever these creatures wanted to do…and even though he was larger than them, it felt like he was barely anything to them at the moment.

"We don't appreciate you monsters trying to ruin this place," the fire lizard spat. "Bad enough you're scouring the digital world with your taint, these innocent souls over here don't even know what you are."

"Maybe you're the one who oughta get a taste of pain when you're helpless and vulnerable, see how much you like it," snarled the cyborg dino, the cannon arm of his starting to glow ominously.

Pathetic didn't even begin to describe it, but the Allomon wasn't in position to care as he started whimpering feebly. "No, no, please, don't, I'm sorry, I won't do anything! I'll leave, I promise!"

"Leave, NOW," replied the lizard. "And don't you EVER go back to Emperius. If you do, we'll come for you…don't think we won't find you, either. My buddy here's going to remember your signal, if he sees it anywhere near them, you'll be lucky to have any data left to recycle."

Allomon whimpered again, but they didn't move, letting him trigger his return charge. Thankfully he didn't need anything but his thoughts to do so…as his head began to spin from being sucked back towards the digital world, he dimly realized he still didn't know what it was that had threatened him…and he decided that he'd rather never have a reason to find out than risk falling on their bad side. Emperius could shove off, he was out.

—

"There's GOT to be a better way of doing this. I feel like a schoolyard bully."

Burnreptimon smirked as the light from the disappearing Allomon faded away. "You're the one with the heaviest firepower, I figured you'd have the most intimidation factor. It got him taking off, didn't it?"

Andrexmon folded his arms, snorting quietly. "I guess. It hurts my soul, though."

"Eh, you're part machine, last I checked they worked fine without those." Darkvargmon popped up in front of them, while the other two flew in from their hiding spots. "Nicely done, though. I admit I was a bit skeptical, but you had the read on him, Burner."

"Hah, it was easy," chuckled Burnreptimon. "I mean, come on, anyone who couldn't look at his face and see 'big fat wuss' written all over it needs to have their head or their eyes checked."

"Huh?" Skydramon cocked his head. "How'd you figure that out just looking at him?"

"…Nope, not gonna grab THAT low-hanging fruit."

"It seems to be working, at least," Boltfalkemon said. "That makes six we've been able to send away without more than a brief skirmish. Every time, it's a lot quieter and less attention-grabbing. And feels a lot better than those two where they fought to the bitter end…"

"I don't have remorse to spare on them," growled Burnreptimon. "They chose death just to have the chance to spread the kind they wanted to spread."

"I'm not saying I regret it. Just that it doesn't feel good."

"Wouldn't expect it to…" Darkvargmon's voice trailed off. "Uh-oh. I believe I hear something unfortunate."

"Damn it all!" Andrexmon snarled. "There's a convoy of cars coming towards us! And two helicopters! Fine time for my damn teleport module to be nonfunctional…"

"You've got to get that fixed."

"I KNOW. I've been trying!"

"Enough!" snapped Burnreptimon. "Bolt, Skyder, you need to do something about those helicopters! There's no way I'll be able to escape their sights, much less Andrexmon! Try to disable them, and then get down before someone from the ground starts firing at you! We'll try to run in the meantime! Meet up you know where, but don't let yourself be followed there!"

The five scattered fast, as the sound of approaching cars and copters bore down on them. The chaos of a digimon battle had been averted, but the night's excitement was just beginning.

—

Boltfalkemon and Skydramon quickly split off in the air, each focusing on one helicopter. Boltfalkemon knew her challenge was tougher, she wasn't quite as fast as Skydramon, so if they caught on to her there was a good chance she wouldn't get away. She had to do this quickly and efficiently.

There was a searchlight under her helicopter, scanning the ground underneath in search of its quarry. But that can't be all, they have to be using night vision, too…I'll need to try to disable both. And I can't overdo the electricity, otherwise I might knock out the pilots or the copter entirely. I think if I get underneath, I might be able to just knock them out with a fist…yeah, that sounds super easy.

Easy or not, she had to try it. Forward she flew, trying to keep low enough to be not easily spotted by her target but high enough to be out of the eye of the spotlight. It got extremely loud as she got close, not a pleasant thing, but she managed to slip underneath. The camera was mounted near the spotlight, and one forceful punch knocked it off and sent it careening to the ground below. Hopefully with no one underneath, but she couldn't have controlled that.

The copter hadn't moved much from that blow, but she knew they had to have felt it; they would be taking evasive action in a hurry. She didn't have time to think, she shifted slightly and swung her fist at the spotlight. The glass shattered as she hit it, and she clenched her beak as she felt pain shoot through her hand and wrist as they were gashed by the glass shards - but she had nailed the bulb, and just in time as it started to fly back to try to avoid the attack. She didn't wait around for them to detect her, instead making a dive for tree cover below.

It wasn't the cleanest of landings as she came down through the trees themselves rather than wasting time looking for space; she nailed a few branches and netted a few more scratches for her effort, but she did successfully reach the ground. Things seemed quiet around her, so she took a moment to settle her heard and assess her wounds. She had a quartet of cuts along the back and side of her hand, some long enough to go down to the wrist; some bleeding, but not emergency-level. She flexed her fingers, finding that they all still worked, even if there was a bit of pain. A small price to pay for clearing out a serious problem to their escape, at least…

I guess I'd better get go-AH! Boltfalkemon didn't even know why she did it, she just whipped around and punched out with her Static Cracker. She hit someone square in the chest, sending him flying backwards a couple feet and hitting the ground hard on his back. Boltfalkemon's heart leapt into her throat - she hadn't even noticed him!

She rushed to his side, forgetting the need for stealth and escape for the moment. And then it only got worse - she knew him! Robert McGovern, 'Bob' to her and Derek, he was one of their fathers' co-workers, a bald, rather large-statured black man who seemed too friendly to be working a job like this, at least when it came to Iris's experience with him. Rapidly she checked his heart - putting her palm on his chest rather than seeking a pulse, unconsciously gravitating towards the electrical sense. The beat was fast and hard, but mercifully even, hopefully a sign that he wasn't in imminent danger of arrest.

But he was still down, moaning a bit, and she knew she couldn't just leave him. But she couldn't expose herself, either…the answer hit her in a flash, she checked Bob's belt and found a radio transmitter. She knew how they worked from playing with Emil's, so she switched it on and hoped it was automatically on the right channel. "Whoever's there, please send help! An agent is down, he's suffered an electrical shock. His condition is stable but he needs support, as soon as possible!"

She waited for a response on the other end. When she got it, there was nothing but confusion. "Who are you? Identify yourself immediately!"

"I'm…not an enemy. That's all I can say. Please hurry, he isn't moving much and it might not be safe out here." She looked around, trying to get a better location for them, but couldn't make out anything. "He's…in the vicinity of the deployment tonight. That's all I know."

"You will identify yourself immediately! Who are you and how did you get this connection?"

Boltfalkemon didn't respond this time, dropping the radio next to the agent. She hoped that whoever was on the other end would take the silence to mean there was no point in continuing. A louder moan from Bob had her put her hand on him to keep him still. "Please don't try to move, Bob. I've called for help, you should stay here and rest. I can't stay with you, but I hope nothing else happens."

She didn't wait for a response or anything else, instead taking off on foot. She would have to fly again to get away properly, but she had a fear they would be scanning the skies, and she wanted to make sure they had dropped their guards before she lifted off again. And it would help her calm her racing heartbeat, which she hoped wasn't going to lead to HERS giving out…

—

Skydramon's approach was much faster than Boltfalkemon's, though he had the luxury of an option like that. Gotta knock out that searchlight! And I know just the way to do it! He rushed towards the helicopter, forming a slightly restrained Twister Orb in his hand as he did. Focusing hard on the base, he flung the sphere at the light. It impacted with the sound of shattering glass, barely audible over the roar of the rotors, taking the light out dead. The helicopter wobbled a bit, but stayed up.

"Ha ha! Score one for us!" Skydramon pumped his fist, but his celebration was short-lived as he saw another device underneath. Wait, is there more? Oh, shoot! These must be those copters equipped with night vision that they use for criminal pursuits! Even without the spotlight they might be able to pick us up! Right, gonna have to get up close for this one. Without the spotlight, he was pretty sure he couldn't be tracked, but he didn't want to prolong this any more than he had to, so he flapped his wings and rushed towards the underside of the helicopter. One hand stretched out and glowed with energy. "Aero Nail!" He swung it forward as he passed dangerously close underneath, nailing the camera module and tearing it to pieces with only a slight gouge in the copter's hull.

Now THAT oughta take care of it…and now I'm probably safer on the ground until they've lost track of anything that went after their birds. They're not gonna be happy about this, but we didn't have many options. Calming down a bit, Skydramon scanned around for tree cover and swooped down towards a spot that looked pretty promising. All he needed to do was seclude himself and then wait out the excitement, then he could use the cover of darkness to fly back to their meeting point. He landed on the sidewalk right in front of the trees, anticipating a quick sneak in and he was home free.

The telltale click of a pistol hammer quickly disabused him of that notion. "Don't move a goddamned muscle."

Skydramon obeyed pretty readily, freezing as hard as he could. His new body was much more durable than those of his parts, but he wasn't ready to test them against gunfire.

"Turn around, hands up. Don't try any funny business or I WILL shoot you."

"You might wanna lighten up just a bit there," growled Skydramon as he turned and complied. He had a lone human with a gun drawn at him, slightly shaky but clearly standing firm against him. Great. I can't let him use that as I try to escape. I need to get that gun away from him…

"Save it. I don't want to hear it…bad enough that you creatures can talk in the first place."

"What's so bad about that? We could tell you what we're doing here."

"I'm not interested in hearing lies. I hear enough of them from the creeps we bring in. I don't know who you think you are, but we're not going to go down to you, not without giving you the fight of your lives."

"Okay, Rambo, let's just-" Skydramon motioned forward accidentally, then back a step as that gun rose a bit more. Dammit. This is just as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. "I'm guessing you're not going to listen when I say I'm not your enemy, are you?"

"Not our enemy? You think I buy into that crap?" The agent spat aggressively. "I've seen what you monsters have done! You're a menace that needs to be put down…if I wasn't under orders, I'd have ended your miserable life right now, creature."

"Under orders? So they're trying to capture us alive? Why?" Skydramon knew the quote about gift horses, but this one seemed like it needed a peek in the mouth; it was new information they could probably use.

"Why should I tell you?"

Skydramon cocked his head. "Don't you think I'd find out anyway if you're successful? I'm not gonna suddenly go blank in the head after you theoretically capture me."

"…Hmph. Well, they think they can LEARN about you. Figure out what the hell you're doing to make the other monsters show up. I think they're idiots - stop the source, stop the invasion. Simple as that. But orders are orders."

They legit think we're summoning the other monsters. Crap on a cracker. So much for any chance of clearing anything up tonight. Skydramon couldn't let himself be captured, though, because that would leave only four of them to stand against Emperius. Think fast, think fast…distraction. Get him off-guard, use a Force Gale to disrupt him, then try to surge in. Not the safest plan, but I'm out of options. "So you don't agree that learning about us would be a good thing?"

"Why are you still chattering? Didn't I say I didn't want to hear it? I don't know what the hell you're up to, but I know it's not good, that's all I need to know!"

"I'd say you're wrong about that. If you don't know what I'm up to, how do you know that you've actually stopped it?"

"Wh…what are you talking about?"

"Think about it. You don't know anything about me. All you think you know is that I'm bad news. That means you don't know who I am, where I come from, what I can do, or why I would do it." Skydramon felt his mouth speed up as he talked, getting into the groove seemed to make him speak a bit faster. "That leaves you completely in the dark about any truths about me, which means that you won't have any idea how to stop anything I'm doing that you might not be aware of. For all you know everything I wanted to do could already be accomplished and you wouldn't have the slightest idea! Killing me might not just be useless, it might even be the trigger! So all that not-knowing that you're doing is hurting you in the long run! Whoever's giving you orders knows that that's what they need to be doing, and I think you agree because you're obeying them rather than flaunting them!"

The agent's eye twitched a bit at the high-speed commentary. "That…you…it's pointless! It's not like you'd tell us anything anyway! Just like you're not telling me anything now!"

"That's where you're wrong again! I've told you multiple things, you just won't listen to any of them. That's another problem with being closed off to learning more about the situation, when you don't know anything you get so fixated on what you think that what you think becomes what you think you know! You say you 'know' it but you don't actually know anything about it, it's just your personal thoughts substituting for actual knowledge and potentially blocking that same knowledge out! See this is why scientists are supposed to always have an open mind and be willing to accept that their findings are incorrect, because you can't gain knowledge if your preconceived notions are all you're willing to listen to!" Skydramon had taken a step forward without realizing it, but the agent hadn't reacted. "I could tell you a bunch of things you could tell them if they really wanted to learn more about us, though I would have to be sure that they actually wanted to listen and wouldn't block out anything they didn't want to-"

"Gah! Shut up! I can barely understand what you're even saying!" the agent yelled. "You're just trying to confuse me! You're trying to mess me up in the head so that I screw up! I'm not going to let that happen!"

"You're right! I AM trying to confuse you! Confusion opens up the mind! It makes it harder to cling to things you think you know! And when your mind is opened up, then you might listen to the truth when it smacks you in the face! Or blows you over from the side!" Suddenly a potent wind shot up from Skydramon's right, causing the agent to stagger and lose balance. Skydramon shot forward, snatching the gun and wrestling it out of the agent's hand after a second of struggle. He leapt back, now safe, with the agent on his back and looking at him wide-eyed. "Phew…I wasn't sure that was going to work."

"You…you monster! You're…" The agent slowly crawled back a bit, looking much less bold without his weapon. "What…what did you do to me?"

"Nothing. Seriously, it was just the wind, right? Only thing I'm going to do to anything is this to this!" Skydramon tossed the gun a couple feet into the air, then swung down with his other hand, delivering a vicious Aero Nail; the pieces of the weapon clattered to the ground, no longer a threat. "Whoo! I did NOT know if that was possible! Good to know! Man, I could do that to every gun in the hands of a dingbat nutcase…well, that'd probably take up way too much of my time."

"What…the hell…" It was harder to tell if the agent was more awed or terrified. Skydramon snapped back to attention, turning towards the human who flinched back.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. Maybe you'll open your ears now, though. I'm giving you a warning. There's a nightmare coming for this world. I don't mean in the indeterminate future, I mean it's happening RIGHT NOW. And you're chasing after the wrong people if you want to face it head-on. All we've been doing is trying to help you, and you're making that harder for us. If I felt like I could find someone to tell who would listen, I would, but I don't trust them not to just shoot me, orders or not. But maybe they'll listen to you. In the meantime, stay out of our way if you know what's good for you, because if I don't show up one of these days, you're probably in deeper crap than you could ever swim out of."

Skydramon didn't bother waiting for a response this time, instead bolting into the trees - he had already lost a good bit of escape time thanks to that incident. And he was kicking himself for not paying more attention. I could've seen him if I'd looked before I landed. Maybe he would've spotted me but I would've been able to find another spot to hide. I have to be more aware of things. He hoped that his rush now would keep him out of anyone else's sight, so he wouldn't have to risk the air again until things had calmed down.

—

Andrexmon couldn't have been more annoyed. It already hadn't been a good night - his father (Isaac's father, anyhow) had gotten on his case about leaving the house without notice when he went to take on a digimon intrusion earlier that day. After that had been dealt with, in fortunately bloodless fashion, he'd been trying to get back when his teleporter module encountered an error. He'd been trying to fix it when he'd been summoned that night, so he'd had to go out without, resulting in him being later to the meeting and given hell over it again. And now, just for the EXACT situation where being able to warp out would've been most helpful, he was stuck trudging through trees behind yards, trying to avoid being noticed as much as an eight-foot-tall cybernetic dinosaur could.

Which isn't much. I really need more backup options.

The problem was too many ideas, not enough time - especially if they didn't work right. He'd been working on a module to give himself a speed boost, but it wasn't ready yet. Neither was the cloaking program, which he'd borrowed from Datacarnomon's but was struggling with upscaling without it being a severe energy drain. He'd programmed a rudimentary barrier program, but it seemed flaky at best and he wasn't about to trust it in the field of battle without some more assurance of its effectiveness.

At least the helicopters are out of the picture. His ears could no longer hear the drone of the rotor blades. That must mean Bolt and Skyder were successful. Burner's gonna have an easier time getting away than I am, and Wolf's staying back to monitor things. It's probably gone the best it could to this point…I can't be the only one who screws it up.

He thought about splitting apart, but it was too risky - even if they were less visible and less conspicuous, someone was going to put two and two together at some point. It was bad enough that Ashley already knew the truth about Datacarnomon, if she got one good look at Andrexmon and there was any suspicious absence at all, it would be an immediate calamity. Not to mention Isaac and Datacarnomon would be a lot easier to capture...at least maybe in this body, he had enough intimidation factor to keep people away. And he was willing to try to blast them lightly if he needed to, his cannon was plenty dangerous but he could dial it back pretty far, far enough that he'd be willing to risk shooting it at a human, at least in the leg or something.

It would be better if I could figure out where they were, so I could avoid them. I don't like this creeping around without having any idea what's going on…if I just had some way of detecting-

The dinosaur stopped dead, and a moment later, a painful clank followed by a growled "Ow!" was heard. Note to self: don't facepalm with the metal arm. God DAMMIT. Why haven't I been using my sensors? I switched them right off after we bolted! I could have been using those from the start, and known exactly what I needed to worry about! The hell's wrong with me? This stuff should be second nature by now!

With a sigh, he shook his head and went to activate his sensors. A map appeared in his head, showing basic topography around his location. It's ridiculously easy, too, I already have 'human' signals specially flagged. Bring that up, I can see exactly where they-

It was a brief moment of recognition - a signal barely five yards from him. He wheeled around, pointing his cannon in the direction, snarling fiercely at a quivering wild shrub. "UP. Stand up. Don't make ANY sudden moves."

The figure stood up…and Andrexmon felt his stomach turn at the same time as he felt a rush of relief. It was a boy, maybe ten or eleven, looking both awed and petrified. "Holy hell, kid. You scared the bejeezus out of me. What are you doing out here?"

The boy didn't respond, his expression frozen in that same terrorized reverence. Andrexmon quickly realized what part of the problem was - his still-raised arm. Quickly he brought it down, sighing. One downside of using bio-signal sensors, he could tell where there were humans, but he wasn't privy to any details about them. He probably had just put the fear of god into the kid because he hadn't been cautious enough to start with.

"Okay…let me take a guess. You heard something was going on out here tonight and you got curious and wanted to see what it was about?" A hesitant nod from the boy, who at least seemed less frightened now that he wasn't at cannonpoint. Andrexmon had to guess he'd come from the house just nearby, his path had taken him behind some back yards. "Yeah, figured as much. Listen, I get curiosity, but you do NOT want to be out here. It's incredibly dangerous. I'm only out here because I look like this. You wanna see monsters, go look online, where it's…well, safer, at least."

"Y-you…" Oh, hey, he does speak. "You're…not…gonna h-hurt me?"

"Kid…" Andrexmon sighed and knelt down, looking at the boy closer to on his level - being as big as he was, it was the best he could do. "There are plenty of monsters out here that would think NOTHING of hurting you. Believe me when I say that, I don't like to scare you but it's the truth. And I have no idea when or where they're going to pop up, and neither does anyone else. But that's not my thing. I'm one of the good ones. And even then I came too close to making a big mistake. Stay in and keep your distance, it's too risky to be coming out here alone."

The kid nodded and then hustled back to the house. Andrexmon rubbed his head…too many close calls, and all because he'd been inefficient. I can't afford to get lackadaisical. Too much can go wrong. I have to be better. He started back on his trek, keeping his sensors well active this time, intent on not running into a single other person until he was back at base.

—

It was one of those rare times Burnreptimon actually wished he could fly - it had to be easier than tromping along the pavement like he was. Sure, he was pretty fleet of foot, but he still felt way more vulnerable confined largely to two dimensions. At least the pursuit had been hindered, with the helicopters seemingly safely taken out of commission, but there was another problem he hoped they were all aware of - their pursuers hadn't just been zeroing in on their location, but fanning out to try to cover a larger area around the epicenter of activity. He'd realized this as he'd almost run into one of the other cars during his initial escape, and had managed to avoid detection only by a mighty leap that had actually taken him onto a rooftop.

If I could jump from roof to roof, it'd probably be a faster way to travel…but there's no way in hell people wouldn't notice, and somehow I doubt I wouldn't be doing any damage. Does insurance cover 'acts of bizarre digimon/human hybrids?' Let's not find out.

He finally returned to the ground after the car was out of sight, but he was still somewhat exposed - the direction he'd taken had little in the way of tree cover. It also wasn't the way he needed to go to get back to their hideaway, but if someone did see him, he wanted them to be misdirected. Still, it meant he had a lot of ground to cover. I'd move faster if I channeled my Pyre Rush, but that makes me glow and flame somewhat, I'd be like a beacon.

He waited a bit before trying to double back farther down the neighborhood. It was eerily quiet without the helicopters, leaving him feeling a touch paranoid. None of this feels good…There's got to be a better way of doing this. I halfway feel like just saying 'screw it' and just being out there might do us some good…maybe we'd get into a sort of Spider-Man situation where some authorities hate us but other people support us and don't report when they see us or something like that. That's what Spider-Man is like, right? I actually know, like, nothing about him-

"DON'T MOVE!" It took everything Burnreptimon had not to immediately flame the space where that voice came from. Instead he wheeled towards it, hands raised to try to act innocent. There were two men there, both with guns drawn, though only one was actually pointed at him, by what looked like a police officer with a short-cut haircut and a burly frame, and a wild look in his eyes. The other one, held by an agent who looked as wide-eyed as a deer in the headlights, was pointed at the ground with trembling hands.

"Fucking scumbag lizard! I've got you now!" The officer was way too loud, and it was making Burnreptimon wince; people in the surrounding houses were going to hear for sure.

"Easy, easy! I'm not trying to hurt you-"

"Shut up! Just shut your filthy reptile mouth before I put a hole in it!" Burnreptimon bit back the urge to mention that his mouth was already a rather large hole on account of the gun in the cop's hands. He very much didn't like what he was getting from this guy, it seemed like he was just looking for a reason to shoot. I need to be ready to protect myself, but I can't wait until he shoots, I'm not going to have it up in time.

"Sir, we…we're not supposed to shoot them, we have a capture-alive order…" the agent's voice was quiet enough that Burnreptimon could barely hear it.

"Shut it! You wanna let this fucking freak run wild and kill people? You should be glad I'm here to take care of things properly."

"I'm not running around killing people who haven't attacked me first," growled Burnreptimon. "I'm trying to help you idiots!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" the cop roared, and the agent squeaked as that gun went higher. "When I tell you the shut up, you shut the hell up, lizard!"

Burnreptimon couldn't risk it any longer; he crossed his arms and yelled "Heat Field!" just as the gun fired. The fiery reptilian braced himself, unsure how well the barrier would stand up to bullets…on raw heat alone, there was no way they'd have any appreciable effect, he knew that full well, but the disruptor field accelerated projectile degradation. Enough to protect him, though?

As it turned out, yes. What hit Burnreptimon were splats of melted lead, rather than solid bullets. The speed of the impact still could be felt, but he knew it was going to be bruises rather than holes, and that he could handle. Though the dozen of them he got as the cop emptied his service pistol at him were not going to be particularly pleasant to feel for the time being, it beat being dead.

"Fucker!" The cop tried to reload, and that was when Burnreptimon took his chance. He raced forward, startling both cop and agent; the agent was too slow to raise his weapon, and Burnreptimon snatched it up. The cop put up more of a struggle, trying to both get the agent's weapon and free his own, but Burnreptimon managed to heat the weapon enough that it burned the cop's hand and he finally let go as Burnreptimon shoved him to the ground. Burnreptimon jumped back a bit, putting some space between them as the cop got back to his feet, the agent having retreated away and was still staring saucer-eyed at him.

"Right, these are dangerous, especially in the hands of you two." Burnreptimon turned up the heat on the weapons, feeding them heat until he could feel the barrels melt and deform in his hands. "I'd rather live tonight, if it's all the same to you."

"This isn't over, you piece of shit!" roared the cop angrily. "I'll turn you into fucking shoes with my bare hands if I have to!"

"Fine thank-you for all I've been doing for you guys," snarled Burnreptimon. "They'd be walking all over you if it wasn't for us. How about a bit of gratitude rather than gunfire?"

"Shut the hell UP!"

"Make me." Burnreptimon regretted those words almost immediately as the cop actually ran at him with a roar that could have rivaled some pretty impressive digimon. His physical prowess, however, did not match up, and Burnreptimon caught the punch he tried to throw, then whipped him around, bending his arm behind his back as the cop cried out in pain. An elbow to the back of the head rung his bell, and Burnreptimon felt him slump, and let him down to the ground, the cop twitching and grunting.

Burnreptimon turned his eyes towards the agent. "Right. Let's see if you have any more sense. Everyone in this city, and in this WORLD, is in big trouble if you don't get your facts straight. If you want even a CHANCE at surviving, you'd better change your tune fast and start looking for allies rather than making enemies. You got that?"

No response. Burnreptimen grunted in frustration. What are the odds he passes that along? Probably none, but I can't wait, they might have called for backup. He took off, rushing down the road and leaving the stunned cop and thunderstruck agent in his wake. He had a lot of ground to cover, and a mood far worse than when he'd started.

—

Standing by a pair of cars parked near where the Allomon had been driven off was a familiar face, at least to Darkvargmon. He watched with ire as the man spoke into a cell phone, catching only bits and pieces of his conversation. It sounded like he was giving a report, but to whom, the shadowy being had no idea.

What he did know, though, was that he didn't like this person. He'd caught the name Lexis Redford, and it sounded like he was a federal investigator, though there was something about him that had Darkvargmon suspicious. Then again, maybe it was just that this was the same person who had been harassing them on their walk several days ago, and that bad first impression had stuck with him.

I dearly want to get at you, Mr. Redford. Put some fear into you, make you less of an outright pain…alas, it's too risky, I would really rather not reveal myself to you, or anyone else who might be interested in me. But I'm going to be keeping my eyes open, and whatever form I'm in, if I get the chance to do so safely, I'm going to take it.

It wasn't long before two more faces of interest showed up - Emil Conover and Elliot Katran, walking towards the cars with looks of frustration on their faces. That was good news as far as Darkvargmon was concerned - it likely meant that they hadn't been successful this night, portending the escape of the others. Still, he waited and listened, trying to get a better idea of their perspective on things.

"Well?" Agent Redford's voice had that stiff, imperious air to it…apparently, not just reserved for him.

Elliot shook his head. "No luck. The creatures managed to slip our perimeter. Two of them were directly engaged, one attacked one of the agents and downed him."

"Hmph. Pathetic display. I expected better of you here."

"We're facing a threat the likes of which no one's been prepared for," replied Elliot curtly, and Darkvargmon was torn between satisfaction at his frustration and annoyance at Agent Redford's haughty demeanor. Wouldn't mind if they ate each other up, but I doubt that'll happen. "We're doing our best, but we're still playing catch-up. Anyone else would be doing the same."

"So you say, but I'm fairly certain we'd be better prepared than you are. Perhaps a change of authority should be in order…"

"Maybe you're not familiar with how we do things here, mister Redford," Emil said rather tiredly, "but part of the reason our joint ventures have worked so well is that you federal boys recognize that we know the turf here better than you do. Our jurisdiction above yours, unless we agree to put you in the lead."

"This is a matter of national security! I've seen what those monsters are capable of!"

"Until they start appearing anywhere else, this is a matter for the city of Braun," Elliot declared brusquely. "And if and when it does get to a larger scope, you'll want to be as prepared as possible, which isn't going to happen if you try to stroll in and take over everything while we're working on trying to figure out what the hell is going on here. I'm more than welcome to having a federal presence here, but you need to work WITH us, not against us, or we can talk to your superior and find someone else who will."

"…Fine." It was hardly conciliatory, but Redford seemed unwilling to pursue it further, at least at the moment. "But you can't keep letting these monsters escape you, or we WILL have to take more drastic action."

"We're working on that. We might not have captured any tonight, but we have information, at least. McGovern got sort of a look at the one that hit him. Dailey and Rivier both got very clear images of two others. We're still missing two of them, though. It should be enough for the artist to help us present a very clear picture of what they are and give us an edge in searching for them." That made Darkvargmon's ears perk up. An artist? That's not good…if they can spread our image around, we'll have to be that much more careful.

"Sir!" A couple other men came running up to the trio. "Collins, sir! He saw one of them! The big, green, part-robot one!"

"You got a good look?" asked Emil excitedly.

The one named Collins nodded. "Clear as day, sir! Well, I mean, as clear as you can get at night, but I saw a lot of details! It seemed like it matched what you said they might have seen at Glikke Field!"

"You saw it and you didn't try to engage it?" Redford asked sharply.

"I…I only had a service pistol…"

"Enough," grunted Elliot. "I don't want anyone getting themselves killed out here. Collins, keep what you saw fresh in your mind, you're going to be interviewed tomorrow and I want every detail you can recall. The more you know, the better image we can create. They'll have a lot harder time hiding if we can get the whole city's eyes looking for them. Otherwise, I think we've gotten all we can out of this tonight. Round everyone up and let's reconvene somewhere safer."

Darkvargmon figured that now was a good time to take his leave; still, what he'd heard wasn't entirely good news for them. We escaped, but we could be in trouble nonetheless. They were ready to mobilize, and they're going to BE ready to mobilize when they get reports, especially when the people reporting them can match them to our appearances. We're going to have to be much more careful how often we let ourselves be visible in these forms, who knows who could be getting their eyes on us?

—

Andrexmon was the last to show up at their hideaway, and he could tell by the looks on everyone else's faces that they were all not in the best of moods. "I'd better not hear a word about this…"

"For once, I'm just glad you showed up, no matter when," Darkvargmon said. "Burner wasn't that far ahead of you, anyway."

"Amount of ground I had to cover, I'm lucky I got here before I keeled over," the lizard remarked tersely; he was breathing rather hard, clearly having exerted himself quite a bit. "And that's without the fact that I got shot at."

"Damn. You got made?"

"All of you did," Darkvargmon reported. "I heard them talking about it…Rex, you got seen, but not confronted, from what I could tell."

"Thanks to my boneheadedness," the cyborg growled. "Feel like such an idiot having my sensors silent. Nearly had a messy run-in with a damned kid, too."

"Yeah, well, I could've seen the guy I ran into if I'd been looking," Skydramon groaned.

"I got careless and someone ambushed me from behind," sighed Boltfalkemon. "Wolf, you didn't hear them saying anything about how Bob was doing, did you?"

"Bob? Wait, Bob McGovern? That's who ran into you?"

"Yeah…of all the people…"

"The joys of serendipity…" Darkvargmon rubbed his head, which almost looked like melding the two pieces together. "It sounded like he was all right, they were talking about how he got somewhat of a look at you, so I have to think that means he's in good enough shape to be talking."

"Did you hear them mention anything about a jerk-ass cop?" growled Burnreptimon.

"I can't say that I did, but it sounded like an agent spotted you."

"Had to be the one with him. Wide-eyed as he was the whole time, I'm not sure how he COULDN'T see me." The reptile smacked his fist on the floor. "This just got a whole lot harder, didn't it?"

"Undoubtedly. They're planning to create some images and spread them all over Braun…we're about to be the city's most wanted, and it's not going to be easy avoiding being spotted when we have to take on digimon coming through."

"I don't suppose we can tell them that we're fighting against them?" asked Boltfalkemon heavily.

"The idiots think we're calling them to us!" snapped Skydramon irritably. "They aren't willing to listen right now…I don't think we're going to be able to get through to them until something changes."

"Which means we need to keep a low profile," concluded Burnreptimon. "I think we're going to have to avoid coming here too much for a bit, and keep unmerged when walking outside for the time being. We can only do so much, but if we minimize our presence to only when it's absolutely needed, then we might be able to get through this a bit longer. But something's going to have to change soon, or we're gonna find ourselves locked up or worse."

"Yeah…and that's gonna make it harder to actually find the guys that come through. Dammit!"

"…I'll see what I can do about that," said Andrexmon. "Maybe I can somehow extend my scan range…if I can, then we can find our enemies early and be ready to confront them more safely."

"Anything you can do will be appreciated," Darkvargmon said. "Because I have a feeling we're still just at the beginning of all of this mess…"

To think, this is what constitutes a short chapter now. The word count of this one is just above the average chapter of the first part of the old version…which puts it squarely in the bottom few of the new story. I like to track metrics, and one of the metrics of note is that the average chapter length of this first part is nearly double the old story's first part. Yeah, that's a LOT of writing. And that's just the first part…the story as a whole isn't close to being done. The word count's going to be well into the seven figures before all's said and done.

This chapter skips forward a few days from the previous one. Even in the remaster, I was intent on not forcing myself to write out every interaction that happened, in order to avoid the pacing getting too bogged down. Certain things don't really advance anything, and this thing is behemoth enough that it doesn't need filler. The exact sense of time is probably kind of muddy, but I actually do have a calendar for the time frame of everything.

Also, ancillary characters that might actually get used a little bit. What a novel idea! The story isn't totally bereft of random nameless people right now but there's definitely fewer of them.