A/N: If you're reading this, thanks for staying patient. Reading reviews seriously gave me that little push that I needed. You guys are cool and I drool.

Gamzee chuckled under his breath when Eridan presented his hand out towards him to shake. It was just so funny to him how this motherfucker had the motherfucking nerve to do this! But all at the same time, Gamzee didn't want to take it as a complete negative. He was more than sure Eridan knew that after just one slip up it was all over. He chuckled to himself lowly before slapping his palm against Eridan's in attempt to initiate a hand shake, "yeah, spoiled brother… sure we can make a motherfucking alliance," he muttered with a shaking cold voice. The handshake was extremely stiff to top it off, making Eridan internally shriek. The eyes are the path to a human's soul so it became more and more obvious. How motherfucking pathetic could he be?

Sollux cracked his knuckles. Gamzee was going to be extremely difficult to take on. After Equius was taken down with no actual effort by Gamzee, he decided that it wouldn't be wise to fight him on his own. But pretty boy Eridan was a more appropriate match. It was even better because this time he had a legitimate reason to punch his stupid thick rimmed glasses into the back of his esophagus— literally and figuratively.

"Sol, I see that dumb look in your fuckin' eyes, I know you want to fight me," Eridan cooed, placing his hands into his pockets nonchalantly, "but I'm afraid you can't touch me. I'm on the winning side."

"Firtht ith firtht, you fucking athhole traitor: you can't thee my fucking eyeth through my glatheth," Sollux spat.

"Athhole, thith, douchebag that. It's all the same shit for you, isn't it? Instead of usin' your sadly distorted vocabulary, why don't you admit to your loss an' sit the fuck down?"

Vriska was convinced now that this situation was not going to work out in their favor. She knew she'd have to get out of it but how would she go unseen? She started to subtly walk away, using the incredibly dim lighting that was allowed from a distant street light. She looked down at her feet in attempt to avoid stepping on anything that would cause sound because the last thing she wanted was for Gamzee to catch her. That wouldn't end well at all.

Titaia was livid at the situation and couldn't help but think. Eridan actually betrayed them. Eridan, the guy that sacrificed his vanity for the sake of her trust and happiness, was the one who aborted the mission, betrayed his followers and sided with a drug dependent sociopath. Sollux, the boy who has caused her headache, confusion and many other emotions is the one who is trying to save the day, even with the huge risk that Gamzee may split his head into the perfect total of two equal halves with the heavy metal rod he's using. She thought of how Karkat was feeling and how he had to drag Tavros out, not knowing if everything was going to be okay. She shook her head, now thinking about Gamzee. The sweet boy who painted her face in attempt to bring out her smile that was locked away deeply inside of her. This is the boy who would literally take everyone's shit without saying anything much about it. Now this boy is prepared to kill the people he once referred to as friends. The more she thought of Gamzee, the more she started to form a deeper understanding as why he acted this way or what issues he may have. She came to the conclusion that 'misunderstood' is a terrible understatement.

"I'm jutht tho… thurprithed that you would do thith to uth!" Sollux exclaimed before shaking his head sadly, "I thought we'd actually become friendth one day," Sollux was laughing now, a smirk now coming to replace the frown. "Who am I kidding; I've been waiting for thith for a while. I'm going to allow you to have the very firtht hit-"

Eridan was tired of his shit. He delivered a strike to the face, feeling disrespected. "I'm so much fuckin' better than you are, Sol. At this moment, I have the upper hand, an' the advantage. So you should to stay in your place."

Sollux rubbed his cheek, confused as to whether or whether not Eridan just slapped him. "What the actual fuck…" He muttered, seeing Eridan walk past him.

Vriska smirked, confident that she'd just left them to do what they could with their depressingly pathetic survival mechanisms. She kept on walking with her eyes glued onto the ground until she bumped into someone. Upon feeling the collision, her heart stopped. The irony of it is that in any other given situation, Vriska would've already attempted to shame the person or power through in order to go about her own life but this time she knew it was pretty much done. She looked up to meet eyes with Gamzee, trying not to show her fear. Is this her fate? "Just my fucking luck," she started while rubbing her arm, "don'tcha think?" End of the line.

Gamzee wasn't smiling. "It's like a motherfucking plot twist, huh?" Gamzee asked, raising his arm to reach for her neck, "it's all—" He was interrupted while being bashed on the back of his head with an emptied abandoned trashcan that was lying around. It was hallow enough to where it wouldn't cause serious harm but heavy enough so that he would feel impact. He didn't fall however, but he held his head in pain in began shouting in pain. His head was bleeding from the impact. Before he could say something else, he was kicked on the back to finish him off. Gamzee was now on the ground, squirming in pain. "Who the motherfuck dares to do this to me?!" He managed between grunts, "You're not going to see tomorrow!"

Vriska looked at Gamzee's attacker and nearly jumped. It was none other than Eridan the Traitor. How could he? What was going on through his mind? She guarded herself just in case he was going to hit her too.

"Calm your tits, Vris. I'm not gonna hit you because I guess this is only possible because a your cowardice or whatever." He sighed, kneeling and straddling Gamzee's back while holding his arms together, "I'd fuckin' appreciate it if someone would fuckin' help me!" he exclaimed.

Titaia was rendered speechless. It was too much for her to take in at once. Gamzee, one of her best friends, nearly kill a guy then nearly killed his own best friend which was also one of her best friends. Then he nearly killed Nepeta and took down Equius who is built like a decathlete like it was single digit addition to a mathematician. Eridan betrayed everyone and jumped to Gamzee's side then slapped Sollux and then betrayed Gamzee. Vriska tried to run away. Karkat's incapable of speaking due to fear. No one else is accountable for. What exactly is going to happen to them? What is their fate?

Karkat and Sollux came rushing to Eridan and Gamzee, despite their suspicions of Eridan's purpose. They helped him restrain Gamzee as Eridan removed his scarf. He ripped it into three roughly equal parts and used one to cover Gamzee's mouth and tie it to the back of his head.

"I'm so sorry that it has to be like this, bro." Eridan sighed, tightening the knot.

Karkat looked down, sucking his teeth a little. He felt the frustration that Gamzee was feeling and couldn't help but feel sorry, "Look at what you got yourself into, fuck. I don't know how you're going to wiggle your mirthful ass out of this one, man…"

Gamzee was so angry that he was crying now, his shouts and screams being muffled by the scarf. He was trying to shake them off and was starting to succeed until Vriska helped them to restrain him.

"Get his wrists and ankles tied up." He handed the cloth to Sollux and Karkat as he began to search Gamzee for his cell phone. He only had to pat his front pockets and he found it in the right pocket.

Kanaya help Terezi closer to her, "they are restraining him at this very moment," she didn't feel safe to say his name, "but I don't know whether it's safe or not to leave right now. I believe that this plan was too hastily brought together and we're suffering the consequences of bad planning."

Terezi shook her head, "I think it's more like you do whatever you've got to do to be free. You don't just have freedom handed to you. Especially when we're the people that society kind of wants to erase. You've got to run for your freedom."

"Run for your freedom, hmm?" Kanaya repeated to herself, "how intriguing…" This was probably the most inspiring thing she's heard lately. She began to stand up, "please stay here. I'll return promptly. I'm just curious as to how I can help our current situation…. And I don't completely trust our friend Eridan right now…"

Terezi nodded while staying put.

Eridan began to speak loudly, "listen up!" he began.

Titaia poked her head out of her hiding spot. She didn't know if she herself was happy with Eridan right now but he had the torch in this dark time so she had no choice.

"I'm just sayin', we've probably missed our second chance bus an' their headcount is probably complete an' if not, damn near. We've gotta keep on goin' an' wait for the later bus that comes in—" Eridan looked at Gamzee's phone to check the time, "a little more than twenty five minutes or somethin' like that. So we've got to make an executive decision here 'cause I'm not tryin' to encounter any more issues while doin' this. We can fuckin' go back an' turn ourselves in or continue on. It's your lives, I'm not gonna make the decision for you."

Everyone was silent; all that was heard was the muffled screams from Gamzee. No one made a sound as everyone began to crowd around Gamzee with the exception of Terezi who was told to sit still and of course, Gamzee's challengers.

"Well?" Eridan exclaimed, waiting for an answer, "I'm goin' to give you a fuckin' minute, because I don't have time to waste. Who wants to turn around?"

Titaia couldn't even concentrate. Her eyes were on Gamzee. Sure, he wasn't the same Gamzee that she met and bonded with. But it wasn't exactly a joyous scenario to see her best friend tied up like a wild animal with blood trickling down his forehead. She couldn't even imagine how much of his blood would be visible with good lighting; she saw so much blood already with the bad lighting that was allowed. She looked at Eridan, as his time began to dwindle to the last ten seconds.

After the minute has passed, Eridan spoke up again. "That means there is no turning back at this point, you fuckin' got it—"

"What about Gamzee?" Titaia asked, her eye staring into Eridan's, "what about him? Is he just going to die here?"

Eridan sucked his teeth, "just trust me, I have a plan."

Everyone groaned at the statement lowly which was pretty loud in unison.

"What the fuck is the problem?" He inquired angrily. He looked at all their faces and began to laugh, "You guys can't trust me? Oh, this is great! I was only strategizin', you have my fuckin' word!"

"Right…" Vriska crossed her arms. She was speaking as if she didn't try to slip away earlier, "well I guess we don't have a choice now. Let's go."

Eridan nodded his head, "let's get everyone on their feet and we can start walking."

"What about Gamzee, you never answered my fucking question!" Titaia interrogated again. Her voice broke as she spoke while tears were starting to form. It was easy to hear the confusion and anger in her voice.

"Okay, Ti. Listen to me. I'm gonna fuckin' to use it to call 911 to help him, alright? He's crazy an' all but he's still my friend somewhere inside…" He looked down at Gamzee sadly, "an' even though he'll probably never forgive me, I want him to know that this wasn't the intention at all… it just… had to happen…"

Titaia nodded her head, "I'm sorry Gamzee…" She squatted and placed her hand on his cheek, "I'm so sorry." She looked up at Eridan before nodding again and going to help the others get situated so that they could depart.

Eridan spoke up again, "are you sure all a you a ready to continue? It'll be a while and no offense to some a you but you're in some fuckin' shitty shape…"

Equius began to speak weakly, "I-I believe that Nepeta and I will stay behind. Neither of us is well enough to continue. We will stay here and formulate a story to hide your activities and put Makara at fault for our current health."

Nepeta nodded her head weakly, "whatever you say, Equius…"

Eridan nodded his head to acknowledge his statement.

Once everyone that would continue was on their feet and ready to travel on, Eridan looked down at his friend who was squirming beneath him. Karkat and Sollux were leading them away from the scene after those who had the desire to speak to Gamzee were allowed to which wasn't very many of them. He picked up the phone and tapped the 'Emergency Call' option on his phone and waited for it to ring. "Hello!? Someone please be there!" Eridan began, now looking down at Gamzee who was exhausted from fighting and his injury, "I need the ambulance here now! Emergency, Emergency, please help I don't have much time before they—" He hung up the phone and tossed it in arms reach of Gamzee. Eridan stood up straight, dusted himself off, and placed his hands into his pockets, his neck feeling neglected because of the lack of a scarf. "Stay safe, bro." He wished, walking away to keep up with them.

Gamzee's eyes started to close. This isn't the end. He will get out of this and they're going to motherfucking pay.

A/N: Thanks again for staying patient with me! I'm hoping that this chapter has far less typos and better grammar than previous chapters to make up for the long time. Who knows anymore, it's about 3 A.M. and I'm studying, lol. Thanks a million!