We charged across the sand, spreading out. As soon as we got close, Bob threw out a Babel spell, hitting as many of the orcs as he could with a debuff that would make it harder for them to coordinate.

Two of the orcs turned as they saw us. One lobbed a fist-sized purple ball at us. It exploded on the sand, turning it to sticky tar. I gained a [Stuck!] debuff, slowing my movement speed by 90%.

Bill answered with his Call Osha ability. It removed the debuff and let us all charge through the tarry mass without any ill impact. Meanwhile, his brother threw out Lost in Translation. The spell hit six of the orcs. I could tell which because they instantly turned on each other, firing their guns madly as the effect forced them to attack whoever was nearest without regard for friend or foe.

I engaged my Fastest Gun in the West to charge into the midst of the fray. I lobbed a couple of grenades at the orcs nearest the boss, blowing them back in the water.

As he got in range, Mitch threw out Spike Their Trunks. They howled in anger as their weapons suddenly began spurting maple syrup everywhere. I couldn't help laughing as the orcs threw them in disgust, grabbing for backup weapons from their sides or their inventory. Most of them were now wielding swords or short spears, though a couple had handguns.

A pair of spear-wielding orcs charged me. I used Trick Shot to hit one in the hand. She yowled in pain. I dodged under her spear. The second only caught the edge of my coat.

Meanwhile, Annie had raced right past all of the orcs straight to the boss. She used a spell we'd never had a call for before, Hat for Your Rabbit. The ability could only be cast on NPCs. It made them twice as strong, twice as fast, and twice as angry.

The monstrous skull thing grew absolutely enormous, rising up to blot out the sky. It extended long tentacles in every direction. Some of the orcs saw it and shouted, pointing, trying to scramble up the beach, but too late. The old one smashed down into the water and the beach. Its body blotted out the sun as it came down on me.

As it smashed me to the ground, my last thought was, I just hope it wipes their whole party.

I woke up in limbo. I was hovering in midair right behind Juana's shoulder, about a foot from our respawn point.

"Hey," I said. She turned and looked right through me.

"I hear you, Shad, but I can't see you," she said. "All of you are stuck in the penalty box for the next 20 minutes. The good news is, you guys did it. You took out their whole team. Boss reset. All of its health back. Most of them are out for a full 20 minutes. The next couple are coming up in 15 or so, but we've got a great profile on all of them. We're ready to act."

"Glad it was worth it," I said.

Juana smiled. "You just take it easy and enjoy the show while we handle this next part," she said. "We're gonna need you back out there before long."

I wanted to take a look at what was going on, so I tried to move. I could turn in every direction, but I couldn't get more than about a foot from the respawn point.

Still, I could see the camp bustling. Dwight was moving between aisles of crafters, looking over their work, correcting them, making suggestions. There was an enormous pile of cannonball-sized spheres at one end of the crafting field. An even bigger pile of fist-sized grenades. There was a stack of wooden shields about two feet tall and a couple of piles of miscellaneous items that I wanted to get a closer look at but couldn't.

"Hey, Dwight," I called. He didn't seem to hear me, so I tried in chat. How's it going?

Sorry, can't chat. Too busy. We'll be ready, but we need time.

I felt properly chastised as I turned back to wait out my penalty. I couldn't see any of my dead teammates. Apparently, we really were invisible. I used chat instead. Nice work, Annie.

Thanks. I've been wanting to try that. It's only got a 20-minute cooldown, so we can use it again if we have to.

I shuddered. Let's not and say we did.

I'm fine with that.

Grandpa was getting the kill squads ready to go. He had Lara, Ice Spice, and both Smiths as well as Brown from the Mongeese. He was holding Lakshmi and Black in reserve. Once the rest of us respawned, he'd be going out with the other dead members of my team.

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Grandpa gave them their orders and applied his toned-down Warchief's Aegis buff to them. They stood a little straighter. "Now get out there and knock them dead," Grandpa concluded. The team slipped out.

About halfway through my time out, our spies reported that the first of the Existalis team had respawned and were heading out as a trio. Grandpa chuckled, rubbing his hands. "Excellent," he said, "making it easy for us. Kill squad, first target." He turned to Sage and Arjun. "Give them their marching orders," he said.

Arjun nodded. He had an abacus out in front of him and was working the beads with an intent look. "Should be Red 1, Blue 2, Green 3. They're going to be short on intel. None of them have anything that looks like a sensory boosting skill. Take 'em by surprise. Focus on Blue 2. Flashbang to the face, followed by one of your moves, Ice Spice. Lara, lock down Green 3 with time out."

"Can somebody send me a feed?" I asked.

Juana glanced over her shoulder. "No talking in the group comms," she warned, and flicked her hand.

Now I was looking through one of the spy cams. It took me a minute to decide it was Lara's. She could see everybody else from here. The orcs were coming through the bush. They were making no attempt to hide, crashing loudly.

Our team waited until they'd gone past their hiding place before leaping out at them. Lara threw Time Out on her chosen target. He froze in place, his rifle pointing skyward. At the same time, Short Smith hurled a flashbang grenade. It exploded in between the other two orcs with a shrieking, deafening shriek and a bright flash of light.

Ice Spice ran in. He activated one of his kung fu abilities, I couldn't tell which from here, and began striking the orc in the forearm and shin with his hands and feet. Lightning-fast kicks and punches slapped over and over again against the armor's less enforced spots. I could see the armor failing. The spy cam detected the movement of the nanites as they were routed from other parts of the suit.

"Go for his head now," Juana said, leaning over the command table and speaking directly to Ice Spice.

He lashed out with a whirlwind kick to the head, knocked the orc to the ground. A moment later, the orc was gone, back to the respawn to wait out his next twenty minutes.

The kill team fell on the orc we designated as Red One. She put up a fight, but my team danced in and out as though they'd practiced this.

We had, I realized. We'd spent so long fighting creep, picking fights with monsters, even on the farming levels. We knew how to fight. This squad had never worked together as a single unit before. But now, as Arjun and Sage gave Juana strategies, and Juana translated them into easy-to-follow orders, our team performed like a well-oiled machine. I was going to have to make sure I did as good a job of listening when it was my turn up.

They executed the last of the three. "Get out of there," Grandpa ordered. "We don't know what kind of spying devices they might have."

The team disappeared back into the jungle.

The next two orcs who had died during the boss fight were back up. I was sure they would wait for their fellows, but instead they pushed out, moving fast. Our spies told us everything we needed to know. The kill team moved to intercept.

"Why aren't they waiting?" Juana asked aloud.

"They're probably worried that we're taking the boss," I said. "Good. That means they're taking us seriously."

Lara's Time Out was on cooldown, but Ice Spice pulled out a “Can't Look Away From These Moves" ability which had the pair of orcs standing transfixed as a dozen different copies of my kung fu-obsessed teammate spun around them, kicking, punching, lashing out with phantom limbs. Meanwhile, the real Ice Spice and the rest of his team came in from behind and smashed through their defenses. The orcs had better weapons and armor than we had by a lot, but if we were coordinated and they weren't, we could do this.

“The next wave's the big one,” Arjun warned. I checked my own timer. Three minutes left.

"As soon as you're up, we’re getting out there," Grandpa told the rest of my team.

"I can help," I said.

"Nope. You've gotta stay alive. Just as soon as we've got the crafting done, we're sending in the kill team." Grandpa grinned, staring at a spot about a foot from where I actually was. "Don't worry. It's gonna take you that long to pick up all of the crafting gear Dwight's made you. As soon as you're up, get down there, start filling your inventory. Dwight will tell you what's yours and what goes to Black.”

I grumbled, but under my breath. Definitely time for Lieutenant Williams to shut up and do what Major Twofeather said.

As soon as we respawned, Grandpa buffed my team and they headed out. Juana was busy giving new instructions. Our spies had Existalis' crew under observation just as soon as they left their base. There were ten of them and ten of us on kill duty, but thankfully, Existalis decided to split up. Probably they were spooked, didn't know where we were, and decided instead of risking walking into some trap to split their forces.

That was exactly what we had hoped they would do. The hunters in the jungle moved in on their prey like a pack of starving wolves.

I, on the other hand, was stuck picking up 150 grenades. Could have been worse. Black had 400 bombs, and they all weighed at least 20 pounds. I was smirking at him when Dwight waved me over.

"And you'll need these," he said.

I stared at where he was pointing in disbelief. "What are those?" They looked like wooden sparring dummies like I've seen in action movies. Sticks with a padded torso and beanbag head, wooden poles for arms.

"Those," Dwight said, grinning, "are part of our great strategy. They are, well, take a look. I let Sage name them," he added.

I inspected. A pop-up appeared.

[Shad Dummies, not to be confused with that dummy, Shad, can be used to replace all attention that Shad has gained from an enemy. Arm before placing in inventory. Will deploy when removed from inventory.]

"Really?" I sighed, armed the first, and put it in my bag.

"Hurry up," Dwight said. "Because after that, you're going to have to come and attune yourself to the taunters."

"The what?" He just laughed.