We're All Mad Here Somewhere In Maine, I Suppose?

The first few minutes of the walk were uneventful. Once those minutes have passed, one of the member's pace had suddenly slowed down as if something is blocking the way. "From what pits of hell did all these come from!?" the bucket-headed man with the flamethrower exclaimed in annoyance as he tried to avoid the unnatural amount of spiders that began crawling along with the group in a non-hostile manner. "First time?" the muscular man laughed as he picked up one of the spiders and allowed it to jump to the helmet of the still-whistling member, "That's how he got to own those man-eating spiders for free." As he explained this, all the summoned spiders continued crawling up to their caller's presence and finding the most comfortable places to shelter themselves within the various pockets provided by his long coat and dress shirt, with a pair of bald tarantulas sitting comfortably on top of his helmet. Eventually, he stopped whistling, now content with the number of spiders accompanying him.

They continue walking, pausing for a second to check on a specific member who had positioned himself way behind the group in an apparently deliberate manner. "And I thought he stopped existing for a second..." The member in question wore a pitch-black mask with a silver-colored design that made it resemble a crow's head in a poorly lit street, which fits very well with his completely black hooded jacket and the invisible object that he casually spins on his right hand.

@JexMix
 
Quartz smiles as the spiders pass, reaching down to pet one. She then picks it up and gently hands it to Spider Boy. "Y'know, I have a pet spider. Would you like to meet him?" She asked the supposed spider-man. She liked this guy, he has spiders. And spiders are always a win in her book. Her new companions were definitely an interesting bunch. She couldn't wait to see what else was in store.

@Chaos Sphere
 
"When the time serves right", he gently accepts the spider and allows it to crawl up to his left shoulder and sit there. Several seconds later, the black-hooded squad member that was way behind the group could be found walking beside Frederick Feller.
"I shall now conduct reconnaissance. Should the others wonder about my spontaneous disappearance, notify them," he informed him before blending back into the group and eventually distancing himself behind the entire group once more.
After a minute and a half passed, he used a cloaking mechanism to conceal himself from all eyes and ears, the timing of his disappearance unnoticed by his comrades and his superior. The now-hidden member then began conducting reconnaissance by surveying the area ahead of them as well as the areas that could end up becoming potential flanks. While the one-man reconnaissance operation is going on, one may occasionally hear light rustling that could easily be mistaken from one caused by the wind or by smaller animals, though it is a subtle way to assure his lone superior that he is doing well, whether or not he is able to interpret it as such.

@JexMix
 
Quartz shrugged when she noticed one of them gone. She figured he did something, but she was unsure what. She heard rustling and speaking, and stopped. She held out an arm and stopped everyone else. She listened, glancing around. She could hear them. Footsteps. A lot of them. coming this way. "We need to hide!" She hissed, quickly shoving them into the bushes one by one. "Stay quiet," She whispered. She crouched next to Frederick and slowed her breathing, making it inaudible.

@Chaos Sphere
 
The man with the spiders ran off to hide in a different spot while Quartz shoved the unresisting units one by one, with Frederick deciding to hide beside Quartz. The group, excluding the one who has yet to return, remained silent and sat still within the bushes that hid them as per her order. Frederick and the group began expecting the arrival of a possible rival or two, with Frederick having faith that the masked man in the black hood is still around. They remained silent and unmoving, waiting to see what would happen next.

@JexMix
 
Quartz kept quiet and just listened. There were four... no, five coming their way. They were about one hundred meters away, she deduced. With that, she motioned for the others to stay quiet and gently whistled a tune.
Within a minute, a giant spider came skittering up to the group. The spider was about the size of a pitbull, so it was pretty big. Quartz gently patted the spider's head and nodded. "Okay. We need to stay hidden. They cannot know we're here. Got it?" She whispers to the rest of the group. The footsteps were about seventy-five meters away now.

@Chaos Sphere
 
The group silently nodded in response to her orders, focused on remaining unnoticeable to the point that all but Frederick Feller and the member with the spiders were unable to notice the presence of Quartz's pitbull-sized spider. They continued to wait, silent and still until the incoming foe/prey/pest enters into an observable range.

@JexMix
 
The footsteps halted right in front of their bush. Quartz holds her breath, listening intently.
After what seems like forever, the footsteps continue on. They were safe, for now. She waits until they're far enough away, and then stands. "Okay, we can keep going now," She says.

@Chaos Sphere
 
"I'm pulling bets that they're some dumb civilians in a forest trip," Frederick Feller crawled out of the bushes like a soldier on a battlefield. The other members slowly emerged in response to this, with the fifth member uncloaking himself behind the others without saying anything. As they took their time to tidy themselves up and prepare themselves for another walk, the man with the spiders noticed Quartz's pet and tried to approach it gently, with some of the spiders within his possession observing it curiously.
"Reminds me of the lil' guys I raised before I got tossed to prison. What kind of stuff does the thing eat?" he asked as he knelt at the large arachnid to take a better look, taking care not to startle it with his movements as well as the movements of his accompanying spiders.

@JexMix
 
Quartz smiles, though unseen because of her mask. "His name is Henry. He's friendly, but he's a protector. He mostly eats rats and rabbits and squirrels, although I occasionally give him some human," She replies. She gently pats Henry, who blinks his eight eyes up at her curiously.

@Chaos Sphere
 
"The gentle kind, I see? It's good to know that he eats humans in moderation," he stood up and glanced at the other fellows to see their current status. It appears that Frederick Feller is casually conversing with the man in the black coat as well as the man with the bucket helmet.

"Ok, how's everyone so far?" Frederick Feller asked the two.
"Aside from those passersby, there appear to be no other potential disturbances as of this moment," the man in the black coat responded with a grim and barely audible voice.
"And we're still not tired, I assume," the man with the bucket helmet assured, "Especially when I haven't torched a single infidel since the last two days!" he added confidently, resting his gloved hands on his chain-like utility belt.
"Let's just wait for the signal to keep going then," Frederick Feller waved the two off back to their own businesses before going back to idling around.

@JexMix
 
"Hm? Oh, yes. He's gentle, but he's not afraid to rip someone's head off," She absentmindedly replies to the spider-man. Quartz was listening to the surroundings, making sure there was no one else about, hiding or otherwise.

When she deemed it all clear, she turned to the group. "Alright, men. Here's the plan. Their hideout is about a twenty-minute walk from here. We're going to go there and scope it out, but we will not make ourselves known. Figure out their weak points, and make sure you don't get caught. Understood?" She puts her hands on her hips and surveys the men.

@Chaos Sphere
 
"That's what an ideal guard pet should be, after all," he shrugged in response. One of his arachnid pets in the past had too much of the latter and he was reminded of that.

They all nodded as if by instinct, each one with their own response. It is this very exact moment when the fellow in the black jacket suddenly vanished.
"He's gonna take care of that... As always," the big man with the big gun commented on the spontaneous disappearance. With nothing else to say, the group preparedfor another walk.

@JexMix
 
Quartz nods, smiling under her mask. When the man disappears, she hardly blinks. "Interesting. So that's where he went earlier," She says. She had noticed he was gone earlier but didn't question it. She gently pats Henry's head and motions for the group to follow her.

@Chaos Sphere
 
The group began following her once more, with Frederick and the man with the spiders following her closely as the other three followed from behind, with two of them chatting to each other.

"So... Now that there's the big spidey in our ranks, I'm interested to know your opinion towards spiders," the big man asked the bucket-headed man.
"I neither have praise nor hate towards them. One thing that is of no doubt is that should feral beast intend to crawl on my face, the sanctifying flames will always protect me. And you?"
"I'm generally ok with their company. Despite the bad rap they've got, they're pretty helpful to the environment in the sense that they eat bugs."
"If you say so," he shrugged.
.....
"The other two are pretty introverted, I'd say," the big man referred to the one with the staff and the invisible one in the coat.
"Indeed. Despite their reserved nature, they are more than merely competent workers just as we are."
The big man nodded. There is not much else for the two to talk about for now.

@JexMix
 
(Shoot man I'm sorry I was offline for the summer)

Quartz pays no attention to the banter between the men behind her. She steps over a root, careful to not let her platforms snag. "Guys, there's a root here. Be careful," She calls, pointing down to the aforementioned root.

About twenty minutes later, Quartz stops and holds up a hand to signal everyone else to stop, too.

@Chaos Sphere
 
"Noted," Frederick acknowledged the root's visible presence, only to stumble on it and land face first in an almost deliberate manner. "This weed can assassinate y'all," the man jumped up as if nothing happened, immediately gesturing to the hazard as he hastily informed his crew. They nodded silently and considered his words very seriously.

Around twenty minutes later, when Quartz signaled the group to halt, each and every member snapped to attention with their weapons on ready. Even the rustling of the dying leaves near the invisible fellow could be barely heard as he paused abruptly at the distance.

@NightshadeVea
 
Quartz laughed when the box-headed man fell. "Really, Boxy? I just told you it was there!" She rolled her eyes and smiled.

She looks around, listening intently. "Okay. We're clear. We're also here. The hideout is just behind these bushes. Keep your weapons at the ready, we don't know if they're here," She instructs quietly.

@Chaos Sphere
 
Frederick Feller and his crew nodded on Quartz's instruction, completely preparing their weapons and entering their combative stances. The box-headed businessman's weapon appears to be an ordinary handgun.

"I think our designated recon unit will be checking out the house for a bit," he turned to look at what appears to resemble nothing but a patch of silent unpolluted air, "Man's got the skill." Indeed, the invisible figure had separated from the group to examine the area directly ahead of them.

Having completely concealed himself from all forms of sight as well as from hearing and scent, the now-unperceivable man is completely confident that he would at least be undetected from the distance if nothing in his vicinity gets disturbed. On the other hand, his mask would allow him to spot any living creature that is within his line of sight.

@NightshadeVea
 
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