It was too much. Phantom knew it was time to go. Too many people were showing up. What had originally been a crazy, stupid, deliriously entertaining hit and run had turned into a chaotic frenzy of new weapons and new Epics. These people were crazy! Fucking insane. "Kenny!" he hissed at the grinning woman. "We need to go now! Too much going on!"

"Agreed, you spooky, scary, skeletron!" Kenny whooped, pulling a walkie-talkie out of seemingly no where. "Attention, comrades! We are beating a hasty retreat as of now! Vince is with us. Ernie, shoot up a flare so Maria can see it."

A moment later, an enormous column of flame spiraled into the air. "Gotcha bud," Ernie said. "I'll grab Maria and meet you all back there."

Kenny and Hannah glanced at Phantom. "You heard him," Kenny said. "Let's go!"[hr]"That was fucking insane!" David muttered, waving his arms wildly in the air above him. "Why the fuck did I ever let you talk me into that?"

They had all made it back to the apartment in one piece. Vince had taken a moment to wake up, but after a jolt of sparks from Ernie, he sat up with a screech. When everyone stopped laughing at him, they explained what had happened. "Thanks, David," said Vince. "Remind me to save your ass the next time you're unconscious, all right?"

"Are you [i]fucking[/i] kidding me?" snarled David. "We all could have died. DIED! Those people had fucked up weapons, and fucked up ideals, and they were not fucking around. How can any of you be chill about this?" He kicked and empty can on the floor. "Fuck!" he said again, for good measure.

The others exchanged glances. "It's a messed up world out there, David," Maria said, in her own voice. "You have to laugh at it even when it's about to kill you, or you'll go insane." She laid a hand on his arm, and despite his anger, he found it very hard to stay mad at her.

"She's right," Kenny said, more serious than David had seen her yet. "We're Epics, y'know. People hate us, fear us. The Kryptocopters are just the most vocal ones." She ducked into the kitchen. "That's why it's so important that you stop oogling Marmie there and just pin her up against a wall somewhere."

David flushed immediately. "Kenny, come on..." He caught a glimpse of Maria's raised eyebrow, heard the rest of them laughing from the words, and wished very much to be asleep, so that he could fade from the world entirely.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Kenny said, popping back into the room. "You've just met her, of course you want to wait a bit before you end up in bed with her." She held up a hand before he could punch her. "You're way too easy to rile up, buddy. Take a breather." She grinned, holding a can up to his face.

"Care for a beer, sir Phantom? A drink for a job well done."

"I hate you all."