A City of Secrets and Masks

-Two- First Night-

Techno was forced to pay attention as a shriek filled the air. He looked at his team and nodded. They nodded back. He lead the charge to where the scream came from.

Looks like this night wasn't going to be peaceful, after all.

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Bad and Skeppy didn't see any reason to prepare.

The friends walked home and ordered some pizza. There was a bit of tension in the air from their last argument, but the duo ignored it. A cold silence fell as they clicked on the TV and ate.

Time ticked on. The sun started going down. Tension grew.

Skeppy broke the silence. "Do you wanna..." He looked over at Bad, a bit nervous. "Do you wanna go out or something?"

"Skeppy, we just got back," Bad said, giving him an odd look.

"Ehhhhhh..." Skeppy stretched and stood up. "I can't sit still right now. I'll just go take a walk, come if you want."

Bad nodded. "Alright then." He got up and put his plate in the dishwasher. He stopped by the windowsill, where a tomato plant was growing. He started tending to it. When he bought this a while back, he decided it would be the one thing he grew without using his powers. It was doing fairly well.

Bad hummed a tune as he got a small bit of water and poured it into the plant pot. He went to turn around and chills shot up his spine.

People told Bad that he was good at knowing when something was going to happen. Some people thought his power was premonition before he showed them that he could make things grow. It was just an odd talent.

 At that moment, he knew something was about to happen. A shoe was about to drop. Bad finished what he was doing and slid on his hoodie and shoes. Even if nothing happened, he figured it would be better to be there with Skeppy just in case.

He met Skeppy at the door and they left. After a few minutes of talking as they left their apartment, they concluded they'd go down to the piers and come back. It'd be about 20 minutes and it would satisfy Skeppy's need to get out of the house.

The pair enjoyed the nice night. It was creeping closer to fall so nice summer nights like this one were about to be few and far between. Bad was glad he decided to come out. Skeppy and him chattered as they walked down the sidewalk. All earlier resentment was forgotten as they joked and talked.

Their chatter stopped for a moment and Bad looked across the road. He sighed, genuinely happy to just be with his friend. Bad scanned their surroundings, trying to find a topic to talk about. Someone caught his eye.

A hooded figure stood across the street. He stopped and looked at them for a second. They seemed to notice him.

Bad couldn't see the person's mouth, but he was pretty sure there was a smile on their face. He felt his blood go cold for a second. Something was up. Something was wrong.

A car passed and the person was gone. Bad blinked. There was no sign of them.

"Odd," he said quietly. He went to turn back to Skeppy. "Did you see tha- Skeppy?"

Skeppy was not there. Bad's heart began to race. He knew something was up. He knew something was off. He looked around frantically.

"Skeppy, this better not be a prank," Bad said, panic creeping into his voice. "Where are you? Skeppy?"

A scream rang out. Bad was almost sure he knew who it belonged to. It felt like his veins turned to ice. He began to run towards where the scream came from.