I take like 7 months to write a single chapter and for that I am only slightly sorry lol

Anyway, here is where things... really kick off, plot wise.

-- -- --

Honestly, this whole thing was... just a little bit too easy. 

Iren was unsure if this was good or bad. Of course, he was happy it wasn't extremely difficult, but at the same time... where was the fun? 

The first one to go was X, of course, but the second one was Tango. It was pitiful, really.

The blonde had barely heard anyone enter, much less expected what came next.

"Oh, Tango~"

"The heck?" Tango snapped his neck up, swivelling his head around, trying to catch wind of where the voice came from. He stood up, dusting his gloved hands from the fine red dust that coated the leather, and blinked as he tried to comprehend who was talking to him.

"Very, very clever, Tango..."

Red eyes squinted into the far reaches of Tango's base as he unconsciously cracked his knuckles.

"...Impulse? Zed?"

"Not quite." He could practically hear the grin just from the way the voice spoke to him. 

"Alright, yeah, real funny, whoever that is." Tango rolled his eyes, quite done with this prank. "Is that Grian or Scar? Whoever it is, how did you get your voice to sound like that?"

"Not Grian, or Scar! One last guess." Tango swore the voice had changed where it was coming from. He almost screamed as he heard footsteps come up behind him and grey, thick gloved hands cover his eyes.

"Guess who~"

"Oh, okay, I see now! Hm... well..." The footsteps had to be some form of amour, judging by the clanking sounds he heard before his eyes were covered. "Okay, so you can't be Doc, right? And I don't think you're False, your hands seem a bit too big, hm..." Tango let out a chuckle. "I gotta say, man, you've got me stumped, any hints?"

A slight wheezing chuckle.

"Of course, I'll give you one hint; We haven't met, at least not properly."

Chuckling nervously, Tango responded; "Well, okay... um... that isn't too helpful, but... Oh, I think I recognise those gloves! X, is that you?"

Tango grinned as the voice laughed.

"Why not have a check?"

Tango blinked rapidly as his sight was returned - thanks to the hands moving, of course - and smiled, think he had won. He spun around to face X and-

"What the heck happened to you?!"

Blank blue eyes stared into his bright red ones.

"Oh, what a shame, you guess wrong... Pity, honestly. You've heard my name so, so many times, yet you can't even tell who I am from my voice." A disappointed sigh rang through the room. "Well, I guess you aren't fully to blame, you haven't seen me apart from when I already have a host, it simply can't be helped." Tango froze, breath hitching, as he sensed someone behind him, a foe.

"Regardless, that was a rather fun game! We should really do that again some time, I do love a good game of Guess Who!" Tango gulped, before turning to face whoever was behind him.

He didn't recognise the face in front of him, but his mind screamed one name as the figure reached up and grabbed his forehead.

Iren.

And just like that, Tango joined X.

~ ~ ~

Impulse was a little harder, but in the end, it turned out that all they had to do was use Tango's old body as bait.

"Tango, man, good to see you!" Impulse waved at his friend. Tango was facing away from him, and didn't seem to acknowledge him. Impulse waited a moment, and then two, and soon a minute had passed with Tango standing completely still. A breeze blew the silky blonde locks around slightly, but aside from that, there was no motion from his friend.

"...Tango? Are you okay?" Impulse raised a brow, looking around for any signs of a trap, or maybe a prank. His fellow Hermits were crafty, he wouldn't put it past them to pull something like this.

Despite that, he was still concerned for his fellow Hermit. Tango has still yet to move an inch.

Impulse, upon deciding that the coast was clear, started approaching his friend. "Dude? What are you looking at?"

He couldn't stop  the slight feeling of dread building up in his stomach, almost as if he was being watched, like danger was lurking, but he ignored it.

"Tang?" Impulse reached out, grasping onto Tango's shoulder, eliciting no reaction. So, he spun Tango around, and gasped.

Tango's bold red eyes were fully blue.

He heard footsteps behind him, and without properly thinking, elbowed backwards with both arms before whipping around to face Xisuma. The admin did not seem phased by the attack, he had barely flinched, and Impulse shrieked as Tango gripped his shoulders from behind, face still cold. X moved to his left side, acting almost like a guard.

"What's going on." Impulse demanded - or at least, he tried to, though it came out more like a frightened whimper.

"Let him go! Impulse! Impulse, move!"

"He can't hear you, Tango~"

"You know what? You're clever. You're very smart, you and your blonde friend." A man stepped out from behind a tree. 

"Than- Thank you?" Impulse stuttered out, still shaken by the prospect of all of this.

"Yes, we could use that quite well."

And just like that, Impulse was gone.

~ ~ ~

Now False was very fun.

The warrior had been sparring alone, practising some old moves that she thought she had long forgotten. She stretched her arms over her head, sword in hand, as she decided to sit down for a little break.

She plonked her body down against an upright boulder, sighing and letting her head fall back. She closed her eyes for a brief few minutes, and let the sounds of the world around drown her in the abyss. Mooing of cows nearby in the field. Whirring of some nearby redstone machine, presumably. The crackling of a fire.

Wait.

Now, False wasn't one to assume, but to hear fire in a location that was mostly devoid of any buildings was typically a bad thing.

She snapped to attention, eyes opening and becoming aware as she located the cause. A whole tree was up in flames. She shot up, grabbing the water bucket she always kept on her person, and ran, unintentionally discarding her sword as she went.

It took little more than a minute to put out the flames. Luckily, it had not spread to any other trees, and they were rather close to the shopping district. A few of those buildings were rather flammable, so they dodged a bullet with that one.

What a shame that the gun was still loaded.

As she retreated back, she could only wonder; what caused a suspicious fire?

There were no lava pools in the area - she herself had made sure of that one. It was a sunny day, as well, so lightning wasn't a viable option either, she would have heard it regardless.

Her question was answered as she heard panicked shouting from behind her.

She whipped around, fists balled and widening her stance just a little bit as she watched...

A middle aged man running out from behind a tree, with his pant leg ablaze. 

False stared at the strange sight. The man yelped and flapped about, trying to put out the small fire. She just blinked, this middle aged man - or at least, she assumed he was middle aged, she was never the best at guessing ages based off of looks alone - that she had never met had successfully set both himself, and a tree on fire at the same time.

She kicked herself into gear, pulling out a bucket, scooping up a hefty amount of water from a nearby pond, and lugged it over to him almost effortlessly. From there, she tipped the content onto his leg, successfully dousing the flames.

The man let out a short yelp as the icy water, but regardless, seemed unscathed as he propped himself on his knees, leaning over slightly and breathing heavily.

"Are you okay, sir?" False asked, tossing the bucket aside with a loud clank.

"Yeah, yes, thank you, I'm fine." The man stood up, hands on his hips and face red. The man was wearing a purple jacket with a deep blue shirt, and had a rather scruffy beard that looked like he had not shaved for about five months. His pants were also blue, albeit a little like - and a bit scorched on the right leg from the knee down. He had some rather... suspicious markings, if False had to say anything, but she wasn't sure if asking about them was really appropriate or polite, at least at this time.

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yep."

The man popped the p on the 'yep', and gave a soft cough after, still trying to regain some form of dignity.

"Well, I haven't seen you around..."

"Yes, I know, I'm terribly sorry, this must be really awkward, I'm afraid I got a bit... lost, you see."

False raised a brow. They had never had someone get into the server under the guise of getting lost. They had a whitelist for a reason, the only time that they had guests was when there was something bad going on. 

Or whenever one of them got bored and decided to sneak in to X's base and try and whitelist one of their friends, but that was beside the point.

Regardless, if this man genuinely needed help, she was almost obliged to do what she could. It was only fair.

"Well, if you want, I can take you to our server admin. He'll be sure to help you find wherever you came from or meant to go." False suggested, a bad feeling rising from the way the man smiled at her.

"That would be splendid." His smile was too teeth filled, too wide, too sharp.

The queen of hearts, heads and body parts shrugged it off, and instructed the man to follow her.

"You seem like a very nice young lady." The man mentioned as they walked, and False cringed a little bit as she hoped this man was not trying to make a weird move on her.

"Thanks, I try."

"Do you have a name? I don't mean to be rude, you have every right not to tell me." The man seemed... genuine.

"I'm... I'm FalseSymmetry, but people just generally call me False."

"False... what a nice name. Rolls off the tongue very well. Do you have any particular... skills?"

False relaxed slightly.

"Well, I really enjoy PVP. I wouldn't say I'm amazing at it, but I've been told I'm pretty decent at least."

"Oh, yes, I did notice that about you. You were a very formidable opponent at the warehouse."

False's brain was full of alarm bells. She whipped around, staring into those electric blue eyes that scared her even more.

"The warehouse?"

"A fighter... yes, yes, we could certainly use that!"

False, heart racing in her ears, crossed her arms and stood.

"Okay, weirdo, I'm done with this, who are you?"

The man's nice, polite demeanour dropped, and a scowl crossed his face.

"Pity, they never remember me. Well, I have good news; we won't have to go all the way to visit your server Admin, because he's right here!"

False was about to respond when she felt cold, gloved hands grasp her shoulder unkindly. She heard the familiar breathing through a gas mask, and she could already tell. 

Xisuma was not himself.

"Who are you, freakshow?!" She cried out, fighting against the hands that held her in place so firmly.

"Well, since you asked so nicely."

The last thing False saw was the man face to face with her, reaching up to grab her forehead.

"My name is Iren, and you better remember it next time." 

And just like that, False slipped away.

~ ~ ~

Iren liked X the best. The spirit was tied to him - just like the rest of them - and the best part was, none of them could go further than 50 blocks away from him, or they would get yanked back. Iren was able to pull them around, but they could not pull him away. They were like little balloons!
X was quiet, and Iren thought that was amazing. X never said much, just watching the pitiful scenes with sad, sad eyes, and gods, if Iren did not find that hysterical!

Iren thought Tango was fun. He shouted and cried for his friends for a while, and didn't stop the entire time. Tango liked to ignore Iren, though, and he laughed at him a lot - especially when Iren accidentally set himself on fire using the fire abilities that had somehow transferred to Iren and he had next to no control over.

Iren didn't know how to feel about Impulse. The man ignored Iren entirely, and focused on trying to cheer up his friends. He made jokes with Tango, and made gentle conversation with X, but that was about it. He didn't try to warn False, Tango had screamed to False enough for all three of them. He just watched with pity.

Iren did not like False. She shouted and screamed at Iren, telling him how awful he was, and how he would be stopped one way or another, they always did and they always would. Iren started to block her out after a few hours, she always said the same thing and it upset- annoyed him to hear it so many times over and over.

Just like that, Iren's army was growing, and the rest of the server were still none the wiser. 

-- -- --

WHOOP WHOOP UPDATE TIME BABEY

Hope ur happy

Sorry it took *checks invisible watch* about 6 months? idk.

Sorry it took so long but I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BALANCE MY INTERESTS and that never happens.

I have somehow managed to balance about 4-5 interests at once (granted, most of them are minecraft related - DSMP, HermitCraft, Last Life, Empires and BBC Sherlock)

My interests are really like;

one of these is not like the others

Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this update! The story is really picking up now, and soon enough we'll get into some actual story and drama soon! Thanks for reading!

Word count: 2370