HOMEOSTASIS

Chapter I

"Slowly out of line, and drifting closer in your sight."

⦻⦻⦻

As soon as the door swung open with the wind, a piece of storm rearranged the lobby- rain and mud, everything flying everywhere- as the three proxies finally ran inside, eager to close that wooden thing for good.

"Jesus Christ, th-the Hell is up with the weather lately?!" Toby shook and twitched as he finally took off his coat, already soaking wet. Well, what did he expect- running through the woods in the middle of a storm? Brian placed their umbrella on the floor and Tim sighed, looking around the corridor. Well, that's gonna be a bitch to clean.

His eyes averted to the footsteps that approached from up the stairs, and adjusted his mask at the sight of his leader.

Neither him or Brian are proxies. They never were. They never served Slenderman, and they didn't intend on doing so. At least, until they met Kate, and then Toby. They didn't have much of a choice but to follow that path. The road before didn't take them anywhere, and the one they wanted to follow led into a cliff. The whole thing they went through with their friends in the past, Alex, Jay and well... everyone else, left them with a bad taste in their mouths (especially when Brian ended up living after being declared dead, and both him and Tim entered an absolute battle before joining each other's teams). Suddenly, they stopped having flashes of memory loss, everytime they switched alter egos. It felt... uncanny. Their relationship was a roller-coaster. Friends, enemies, then back to friends, and now... they're closer than ever.

Their remaining choice?

The enemy.

"What's up, Kate?"

The girl nodded as a greeting, hands pressing against her hips. Her silence concerned the three at the door, uncertainty already filling their stomachs.

"We're in big shit. At least according to Slenderman."

"The Operator told you that? What's going on?"

"Why do you still call him that? The Hell does he operate?"

"Why do you still call him "Slenderman"? Is it because he's "slender"? Creative..."

She rolled her eyes playfully and Tim smirked before she opened the door and immediately closed it. "Jesus, is the storm still going?"

"Yeah."

"Well... Anyways, basically there's people after us."

"By people, do you mean..."

"Yeah. They opened an investigation on us. Specifically. They don't know how we even look like, so I don't know how they'd do that."

"W-Why?!" Toby protested, "How are we even s-s-suspects?- FUCK!- Kate, you know it better than anyone else- we didn't commit even ha-half of the murders that came out this year. All we've been doing is either recruiting, or take up on Slenderman's word. Yes, w-we've killed people, but come on!"

"Yeah, and where are the people we recruited?"

"Well..."

Before he could even try to give an answer to that, Tim made his thoughts known. He knows Brian feels the same. They just know each other like that. He doesn't need to voice it. Actually... when was the last time he heard Brian's voice loud and clear? No matter now.