What Happened in The Dalles

[mail-mi]

"As for your request Mr. Creepy, you should know better than to offer underage girls wine shouldn't you?"

Reader smiled. It'd been a while since he'd had a real challenge, someone who would actually stand up to him. That just made it all the more fun.

For the taller one stood, the farther one fell.

The twins were only nineteen, but he and they both knew that they didn't care if they were underage or not. "Of course," he said, packing as much sarcasm into those two words as he could. He looked at one of the soldiers guarding the door with his gun raised. "Bloom, fetch this girl a soda. Her favorite is root beer." The soldier grunted, then left, leaving the other two behind.

Reader looked back and forth between the twins, drilling his eyes into theirs. "Now, no more funny business. Tell me everything you know about the Dalles. Why are you here? And if you don't comply, I'll have Richard over there shoot both of you." He glanced at Steven, as though just noticing that he was still there. "And Steven, of course." His eyes trained back on the twins. "And you may think you are invincible, but I'm sure you wouldn't want me to see you without a stitch on, now would you?"

 

BusDriver waited in--wait, you guessed it--a bus. It still had a half tank full of gas, so it would take a few hours of driving it around before it would automatically revert back into the rock it had once been.

BusDriver groaned, adjusting his rear end on the uncomfortable driver's seat. He had some control over what happened to the buses that he made, but unfortunately, the comfortable-ness of the seats was not one of them. "I'm too old for this," he mumbled, though what was he whining for? He was only forty-something, he still had a good half of his life left before him.

Unfortunately, the outlook of that future was bleak. He'd joined up with Quicksilver, hoping to be given a good job, but NOPE he was still just a simple bus driver. Even though he could make a sparking bus out of anything he sparking wanted to, like say an enemy's shirt--killing them instantly--he was still stuck as the head of transportation.

BusDriver shifted again. Where are Aura and Event Horizon? he thought. Though they'd said it was going to be a quick mission, they'd been in there for a while. BusDriver wasn't allowed to go in, oh no. No, he had to sit out and wait in a sparking bus while they got to do all the fun stuff.

He groaned and laid his head on the steering wheel, making the bus let out a loud blare that had become familiar to him. BusDriver scowled and sat back up.

Sparking bus.

Edited January 13, 2015 by mail-mi

[Tulir]

Event Horizon used his power to fly Aura and himself low to the ground away from the outpost, so they wouldn't draw out more attention.  Once they were far enough away, he manipulated gravity to land them gently, started walking to the meeting place.  Sure enough, he heard a car horn go off and, when they turned the corner, there was BusDriver.

 

Aura hopped in before Event Horizon, probably glad that she wasn't hurtling through the air.  "Well, we finished out mission, lets head back to Quicksilver, shall we?" Event Horizon spoke as he sat down up near BusDriver.

[Kobold King]

  

 

Reader really was a slontze.

 

 "She's in charge?" Reader asked, pointing at MV. "Well, it makes sense. You've never been good at being in charge, have you Steven? Your life's work, torn down by vandals and trolls. You're just a sad little king of a sad little hill..."

 

Backtrack winced at the remark, then directed a surly glare at the portly man in the suit.

 

"Megan," Reader was saying. "Do you think that these soldiers standing at the door would just let you, quote, 'riddle my body with sharp pointy things'? They'd end you before you'd even have a chance. And you wouldn't want your blood getting all over Steven's pretty pink sunglasses, would you? No."

 

She thinks they're pretty?

 

Before Backtrack could glean much comfort from the revelation, the twins carried on their verbal assault. A verbal assault which they dragged into the physical realm, destroying one of Reader's fine wine goblets with a well-coordinated use of their powers.

 

A well-coordinated use of their powers which almost got them killed. No sooner had they destroyed the goblet then a number of soldiers stormed into the office, all with aimed guns and angry expressions.

 

Backtrack resisted the urge to run towards the nearest window and jump out, instead forcing himself to listen to their continued sparring match.

 

The twins, surprisingly, were holding their own. Reader was relentless in launching his snide references at them, but they took each one in stride and met him word for word.

 

Somewhat alarmingly, Reader showed no signs of weariness from their troublesome nature. As a point of fact, his wide smile seemed to say that he was enjoying this. Enjoying wearing them down far more than any sane human being should.

 

"No more funny business," Reader said smiling. "Tell me everything you know about the Dalles. Why are you here? And if you don't comply, I'll have Richard over there shoot both of you. And Steven, of course. And you may think you are invincible, but I'm sure you wouldn't want me to see you without a stitch on, now would you?" 

 

Backtrack had been sitting in a position of somewhat terrified amusement with the twins' stubbornness--now that their refusal to cooperate might end up getting him shot, the vaguely amused side of him died with a strangled cry.

 

He forced himself to tilt his sunglasses forward, drilling into Reader's far-too knowing eyes.

 

"Hold it right there, buster," he said firmly. "No one makes crude references about seeing them naked but me."

 

That had sounded far more heroic in his head.

 

Instead of dwelling on it, he decided to do the one thing he could do in this situation: try to sound way cooler than he actually was.

 

"For your information, wise guy," he said with what he hoped was a sneer, "We came to The Dalles as part of a very important mission. We were sent by--" Lightwards needed a moniker. If Reader's boss had an awesome 'Deathless' moniker, then he needed to make sure his boss had one too.

 

"Lightwards the Green," he said with a smile, thinking of the professor's unique hat. "We were sent by Lightwards the Green, the newest and most powerful necromancer in all of Oregon. He's immortal, he can control dinosaurs, and... uh, he can fly." That last part was sort of true, since Lightwards lived in a floating building and all.

 

He directed a glance at the twins, then glared at Reader. "Does that tell you everything you need to know, you alcoholic... uh, meanieface?" He'd heard the word from Funtimes in one of the scenes he'd watched while tracking Lightwards. It had sounded kind of menacing when she said it.

 

Hoping he had sounded sufficiently firm--but not too firm--Backtrack sat back in his seat and let the sweat accumulate on his brow.

 

Please don't kill us please don't kill us please don't kill us...

Edited July 12, 2015 by Kobold King

[mail-mi]

Steven spoke up. It was as if the mere mention of his name had brought him back into the land of the present. Well, it actually could have....

"Hold it right there, buster," he said, trying to sound firm. "No one makes crude references about seeing them naked but me." He sneered. "For your information, wise guy, We came to The Dalles as part of a very important mission. We were sent by--" there was a pause. He's lying. Reader instantly thought. He didn't know this, but even before he'd gotten his powers he'd been pretty good at reading people's expressions and body language.

"Lightwards the Green. We were sent by Lightwards the Green, the newest and most powerful necromancer in all of Oregon. He's immortal, he can control dinosaurs, and... uh, he can fly." He's lying. Again. You didn't lie to Reader. Reader did not stand lying. He felt his anger growing.

"Does that tell you everything you need to know, you alcoholic... uh, meanieface?" This guy is pathetic. Reader smiled, though he still felt a twinge of anger. There were two types of people that Reader loved to mess with. One, like Megan, could stand up to him and made it a challenge. And the other was so pathetic that he could say almost anything and it would mess with them.

Like Steven.

Reader turned his head slowly towards him, and studied him quickly. Yes, his Reading confirmed it.

Steven was lying.

Reader lowered his gaze into a glare. "You're lying," he growled. "Do you know what happens to people that lie to me?" Just then, Bloom came in with the twins' sodas. As he set them on the desk, Reader pulled out his pistol from under his desk and shot Steven in the arm. Everyone jumped or leaned back in shock, and the soldiers at the door glared at him. Steven's arm started to bleed.

Reader took a deep breath, then exhaled it slowly through his nose. "That is what happens to people that lie to me, Steven." He set the pistol on his desk with the muzzle pointed toward Steven, "So, if you would not like the next one to go straight into your heart, tell me the truth. The whole truth."
 

"Well, we finished out mission, lets head back to Quicksilver, shall we?"

BusDriver nodded sullenly, the turned and started the bus. Aura and Event Horizon took seats at the front of the bus, and BusDriver started to drive. He was pretty familiar with the roads in the Dalles--he'd been a school bus driver back pre-Calamity--so he went into auto pilot mode as he drove down what used to be a freeway.

Sparking bus. Why don't I ever get the cool jobs? No no no, he's just a simple bus driver, he can't do anything, let's just make him drive buses around everywhere. He can be head of transportation, that's a sparking brilliant idea! Everyone else can fight against the forces of Vondra but no not simple BusDriver he just--

The bus hit something. He hadn't been paying attention, and the bus had veered to the side of the road. BusDriver tried to pull the bus back onto the road, but it was too late. The bus tiiiiiiiiipppppeeeddd ooooovvvveerrr, then started to roll down the hill. BusDriver was in a seatbelt, so he was just jostled, but he could hear thumps as Aura and Event Horizon bounced around the interior.

Finally, the bus came to a stop on its side. BusDriver took a few deep breaths, then steadied himself in his seat. He was hanging over the ground--the side with the entrance door was now down--and he didn't really want to see what had become of Aura and Event Horizon. But he had too anyway. He turned around in his seat and looked at the two Epics. They were sprawled on the wall that was now down, and he could hear one of them groaning. "You guys okay?"

Slowly they stood up, then both nodded. Aura was holding her head. Sparking bus.

BusDriver nodded back, then turned back around to undo his seatbelt. He glanced at the dashboard, and his gaze stopped on the fuel gauge.

The indicator on the gauge was going down. Rapidly.

BusDriver gasped, then quickly undid his seatbelt and tried to twist himself so he would land on the ground on his feet. It almost worked. His joints complained against him as he stood up straight. He took in a short breath, then pointed at the back door exit. "We've gotta get out of here. We have about thirty seconds 'til this bus turns back into a tiny pebble. Go!"

Edited January 13, 2015 by mail-mi

[Mailliw73]

Whistling to a little tune he made up, Frequency headed towards town. It had been a while since he had been here. When Koschei had been killed, Frequency fled and hid out in a little town nearby. He now was returning to take back what was Koschei's. Koschei was Deathless. He would return and Frequency would give him his city back.

Frequency saw a flare of color shoot in the air from a part of the city. He decided not to head over there. He didn't want any trouble yet. He needed to scope out the situation first. He tapped into the guards' radio frequency in his head and listened as soldiers called for backup at Outpost Zeta. Probably where the color flare had come from.

As Frequency drew near to the city, he realized that he probably wouldn't be able to get in without trouble. Guards were mounted on watchtowers and there were a lot of big guns. Why guns? Guns had a lack of flair and style. Frequency preferred dueling canes or swords to the ugliness of firearms.

He heard a guard report his appearance and he knew he had been seen. He focused on the closest gun and switched the frequency he was whistling at. The gun began to quiver and then shattered. The guards began yelling over the radios and causing confusion. Frequency's head was full of chatter and yells from the guards. He pushed the voices out of his focus, but left himself tuned in so he could hear anything important.

Bullets began whizzing towards him. He hated this part. It sounded awful. He began to switch frequencies quickly to match the natural frequencies of each bullet. He began clapping as well. The bullets shook from his whistling and flew past him, off course. The clapping sent shock waves in front of him. Any bullets directly in front were knocked away from the waves. Frequency's came was looped through a special loop on his suit trousers so that he could clap unhindered.

On occasion, Frequency targeted the biggest gun he could see and shattered it. When he was close, he focused on the gate and while whistling louder and louder to shatter it, he clapped in different places around himself to knock bullets off their path. He broke the gate and switched back to rapid whistles to deflect bullets. He began running and knocked over guards who got in his way. His clapping helped with that too. He heard someone on the radio mention his name. Good; they remembered him. He broke the door off a nearby army vehicle and jumped in. He sped off as fast as it would go, which, compared to his regular modes of transportation, wasn't very fast. Army Hummers weren't built for speed.

He headed for a different part of the city, slowing down once he was out of the immediate area of the checkpoint. He rolled down his window so he could whistle the frequency of any pursuing vehicles. Time to find a place to camp out. He switched cars once he had lost his followers and went to find his old building.

[the winter system]

Hi, can I join this thread? Is there a form, or can I jump in? What's going on?

[Voidus]

Impact joined her sister in glaring at Backtrack after his comment about seeing them naked.
As if! She thought to herself. Even if Megan's gone all googly at his glasses now that doesn't mean he's even close to that.
She did her best to ignore the stare-off between the two men as their drinks were finally brought in, she was just about to take hers when with a sudden movement Reader pulled out a gun and fired it straight into Backtracks arm, everyone jumped as he let out a scream at the sudden pain.

"So, if you would not like the next one to go straight into your heart, tell me the truth. The whole truth." Reader said cooly, placing the gun down.

Megan looked towards her sister and dropped her hand, clearly wanting to pull the same trick as with the goblet and steal the gun.

Alison turned her head slightly, a gesture Megan would know meant that she didn't think it was a good idea. She placed one hand gently on the table, ignoring the groans coming from her side.

She spoke for the first time since entering the room.
"If you shoot anyone again then you will quickly find yourself crushed by your desk."
Time to reveal what she'd gleaned from the conversation thus far.
"I doubt that your boss would take kindly to you using your abilities to bully others and then shoot them, would he? A town with this suspicious a nature of new Epics must be ruled by someone not touched by Calamity, and I doubt such a leader likes it when the Epics in his employ go around shooting people."
The few leaders who had retained any of their powers after Calamity did so by imposing harsh restriction on Epics, that and hoping no powerful Epics took an interest in their cities.

MV scowled as her sister refused her request for help, she considered trying to do it by herself but Impact looked to have the situation in hand.

She stood up and walked behind her twin, to Backtracks seat where he was still whimpering after being shot. She took his arm, her scowling expression completely at odds with her gentle touch as she examined the wound carefully.

"Stop being such a baby." she whispered harshly to him. It might not have been fair but they couldn't afford to appear weak right now.

She found the bullet still lodged into the wound, having stuck a piece of bone.

"This is not because I like you." She said before twitching her fingers slightly and shifting the momentum to the fragments which shot back out of the wound. Her soft hands probing gently for any more pieces of shrapnel and finding none, she placed her hand over the wound and built a connection between the blood oozing from the hole and the air in between her hands, she formed a constant connection, freezing the blood to seal over the wound and creating a minor breeze.
"That should hold it for now. Try not to get shot anymore, kay?"
She took her seat again, sipping her drink and joined her sister with fixing the creepy guy with a pair of identical glares.

[Seonid]

Arvin Weeks stopped running, out of breath. He should have known not to trust Miner. He had thought that the lure of wealth and power would be enough to buy the Epic's loyalty, but he'd been betrayed. Time to add a new entry to The Book of Rules.

Never trust an Epic. Even when you think that they're under control.

The horror of the yawning pit was far behind him now. And, even though it hadn't worked out like he had hoped, the unfolding battle on the stage was a perfect cover for his present operation.

The city jail loomed before him. The information he sought was locked in here, under guard by an Epic called Stonekey. He checked his backpack again, making sure that all was in order. This would have to go perfectly. The old thrill began to rise. After all, he'd never really been alive unless his life was hanging on a razor's edge. With a grim smile, he opened the door.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

 

 

Paladin rose from the ground. His precognition showed a fourth force bubble shooting directly for his chest. This was getting tiresome. He dropped again, letting the bubble pass harmlessly overhead. The force Epic, Bubbles, stood across from him on the platform, sweat standing out on her face. She was surrounded by a cloud of images, each showing a potential human action. Her precognition showed her his actions, which in turn changed her responses, which changed what his precognition could see. Fighting precogs was sparking annoying. If he could just close the distance, maybe he could do something, but she kept firing fast enough to keep him from recovering fully. Maybe he should just be grateful that he could still see the bubbles coming with his own precognition. Once they left her hands, their temporal arc was fixed.

A shot rang out. Ranger, hopefully. No shadowy bullets had passed anywhere near him, so, it probably was. He looked up to see Bubbles thrown to the platform, bleeding from a wound in her shoulder. The aluminum bullet. So it really worked. He had been half expecting the informant to be lying to them. It was a pity that he'd let Guardian convince him to leave the man alive. This whole situation was obviously a trap. They'd been expected, and the informant must have been the one to blame.

A second shot took Bubbles in the lower back. She jerked, and then lay still, the cloud of future images vanishing. Well, that was that.

The cloudy precognition of a fireball washed over his senses. That was a big one. Torch. I forgot about him. Not a safe thing, by any means. Torch may have been a little bit showy, but he was one of the most powerful Epics Ringmaster had under his control. He jumped out of the way, tucking into a roll across the platform. Ringmaster had disappeared during his duel with Bubbles, and he was the only one on the platform stage now. No collateral damage for Torch to worry about. The fireball hit and burst, but Paladin was out of the worst of it. His clothing singed, and his eyebrows smoldered slightly, but he put them out quickly. He hoped the smell of burned hair would come out easily.

Looking up, he saw that Torch was circling higher and higher. He recognized this tactic from fighting Firelord in Bend. The Epic was going to dive directly at him, firing fireballs. Sparking wonderful. He definitely couldn't get off of the platform in time to make a difference. His precognition would let him get out of the way of a direct strike, but there was no way to get out of the kill zone.

Unless...

On a hunch, he moved to the front edge of the platform, standing stock still. Got to make him believe I'm not expecting this, he thought. Got to make him cocky. Torch began diving, hurtling groundwards at ever-increasing speed. Paladin looked out over the half-sunk audience, many still crying out in fear and trying to scramble away from the rapidly unfolding battle. They would make a perfect distraction.

The shadowy future-image passed through him, turning only inches above the platform. Impressive. Torch was quite skilled. More so than he would have thought. This was going to take even more care. Paladin waited until the last possible moment, and jumped. With a rush of wind, the fiery Epic passed over his head, the flames in his wake singing his hair. Well, it's not like I cared too much about my personal appearance, he mused with a wry face. Torch had tried to adjust and catch him as he fell from the platform. Having missed, his momentum now propelled him into the thronging mass of vanillas, the fireballs intended for Paladin now approaching the crowd at a speed only slightly faster than the Epic himself.

The crash was earth-shattering. A huge plume of flame, then silence. The Epic thrashed weakly in the midst of a burned circle of charred bodies and twisted chairs. Perfect.

A footstep creaked on the wooden platform above. Ringmaster. Paladin leaped back up, slashing his sword down, but meeting no resistance. Curses! He spun, seeking the flamboyant Epic to deliver another blow. The sword passed through him with no resistance. The image dissolved into a shower of sparks. Illusionist! The man must have a secondary power. Yet another failure of their intelligence efforts.

 

But the trap had sprung now, and the only choice was to fight through it. Out of nowhere, a future-image passed through his chest. A disembodied hand, holding a dagger. He stepped backwards, ready to catch the blow. The illusionist had revealed his hiding place. But instead of a tall man in purple, his assailant was a small girl, with short-cropped dark hair and nondescript clothing. The knife passed through his arm, and he felt the nerves tingle suddenly. Only just realizing his danger, he pushed away with his sensationless arm, jumping backwards, desperately trying to avoid the ethereal blade seeking for his heart.

Ghostknife. There had been rumors about a shadowy Epic who served as Ringmaster's assassin. Ranger had investigated them, tracking all of the leads down. None had led to anything but rumor. Paladin had concluded that the Epic was a fabrication. Propaganda used to strengthen Ringmaster's rule.

Apparently, the rumors were real.
 

[the winter system]

Cassandra held her gun close to her side. Dallas was in view. Ever since leaving her town, she'd been on the look out for more Epics. Cassie didn't want to fight them, but she wasn't going to be intimidated. Maybe Dallas had been dominated by a powerful Epic, like some of the cities she'd heard of. Her eyes flashed from side to side. Her gun was a shotgun. She'd been practicing for a long time with it, so she could hit accurately with it. Most of the time, anyway. 

 

Cassie stared into the city looming above her. She could still turn back. But did she want to? Nobody back home trusted her anymore, ever since she killed the Epic. She found herself clicking the safety on and off. Cassie glanced around. No noise. No people. That was strange. Shouldn't there be other people outside of the city? What had happened here? What had changed while she was at home? 

 

She took a step forward. Cassie had been in Dallas. Before Calamity. Cassie stepped back, then forward again. Don't be afraid, the past is the past and is buried. She told herself, her mantra ever since it had happened. She wouldn't remember. She would not remember. Cassie stared down at the shotgun in her hand. Forward or backward. She dug an old coin, from BC, out of her pocket. Cassie didn't use a lot to remember, but this was what she used. It was a penny, from 2001. 

"Heads I go forward." She whispered to the penny. "Tails I go back." She tossed it. Heads. That's what she go from listening to fate. Oh well. She put the coin back in her pocket and hitched her bag back over her shoulder, and started running. Towards Dallas. Towards her fate. Whatever that was. 

[mail-mi]

 

Reader was getting increasingly annoyed by these twins. 

 

First they'd walked right in like they owned the place. Then they'd smashed his expensive wine goblet. Now they were threatening to smash him with his own desk. 

 

He'd had just about enough.

 

As Alison finished cleaning out Steven's wound, Reader leaned forward and stared at each of the twins in turn. "My boss does not care one sparking bit what happens to any of you. As for the desk...I wish you good luck in trying it on your way out. Guards, take these two in." The soldiers advanced on the suddenly-more-scared Epic twins. They yanked the girls up by their arms and dragged them to the door. "Make sure to close the door on your way out!" 

 

Just like every manager they'd ever had had said to them. 

 

Reader turned to Steven. "Now you," he said to him, "may be of use to us here in the Dalles. Tell me what you know. And don't lie." Reader tapped his pistol. "You know what happens when you lie." 

[Kobold King]

 

 

"Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga Ooga-Chaka..."

 

It was a bright, sunny day in The Dalles. Sort of. It was never fully sunny in Oregon, but Glamour liked to think he made the place a little bit brighter every day.

 

He walked with his head held high, bobbing along to the music blaring from his headphones. He wore a bright yellow hoodie with black sweatpants, standing out immediately from the more ruggedly dressed vanillas he shared the street with. They gave him a wide berth, avoiding the glittering spectra of sunbeams he cast around himself. That suited Glamour just fine. 

 

Smiling widely, he walked up to the nearest market stall and snatched a brownish apple off the counter. The market was a dingy little outdoor place, set up near a busy street and loaded with various low-quality goods. A plump man could be seen scurrying about from shelf to shelf, rearranging fruits and vegetables

 

"You have to pay for that," the fat man said irritably, fixing Glamour with an all-too knowing glare.

 

Glamour turned his music on higher in response, grinning with a mouth full of gone-off apple.

 

 

"I can't stop this feeling 

Deep inside of me 

Girl, you just don't realize 

What you do to me."

 

The shopkeeper only seemed to grow angrier at this. "I'll call the City Guard!" he yelled threateningly. "I don't put up with thieves. Especially not weaselly little Epic thieves."

 

Glamour rolled his eyes. "Fine. Take your stupid three coins, you fat pig." He flipped the coins onto the counter, making sure that the light glinted off them in a suitably exaggerated manner. The shopkeeper muttered under his breath and tucked away the coins, and Glamour walked out with a few walnuts he'd managed to grab. Shoplifting was so much easier now that he could make his hands invisible.

 

He strode back onto the street, humming along with the music.

 

"When you hold me 

In your arms so tight 

You let me know 

Everything's all right..."

 

"Glamour," a severe voice said from nearby. "You are reminded that the use of Epic powers is prohibited unless authorized by a city official."

 

Glamour turned around to see a young soldier standing in the street, looking substantially alarmed and upset.

 

Pretending not to have heard wasn't an option. The young man might be rude enough to rip out his headphones. "Epic powers?" Glamour replied instead, glancing around in mock surprise. "I don't see any Epic powers."

 

The young soldier's face darkened, so Glamour took the liberty of brightening it again. He created a swirling vortex of disco lights to dance across his face; while barely visible in the daylight, they were apparently enough to bring a furious scowl to the soldier's expression.

 

"Sir," he repeated through gritted teeth, "You are reminded..."

 

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Glamour interrupted. He let the various lights under his control fade into the sunlight, though he kept the headphones on. "Are you here with a message, or just to scold me?"

 

"Both, actually," the soldier replied dryly. "You wouldn't answer your mobile, so I had to fetch you manually. You're not hard to find, fortunately."

 

"Get to the point, soldier."

 

"There's been an assault," the man said grimly. "Quicksilver's gang attacked an outpost. There were casualties--Vondra wants Epics on the scene to make sure no finishing assaults are possible. The details are on your phone, which you need to check more often."

 

Glamour nodded irritably. "Sure thing, mom. You scurry on off and play your vanilla games. I'll handle the job."

 

The soldier grunted and departed, shooting the Epic a parting glare as he did so. Glamour pulled out his mobile and checked his instructions. Right, he was supposed to fetch Emma and head on to the outpost. Easy. He wasn't far from Vondra's headquarters, so he made his way there and sat down on a park bench right outside.

 

"I'm hooked on a feeling 

I'm high on believing 

That you're in love with me..."

 

 

About two songs later, Edgerunner came into view, striding up from the city's alleyways and heading in a straight line to the headquarters entrance. Edgerunner was a good-looking woman in her own way, but Glamour generally didn't notice that side of her. He found it much more entertaining to poke fun at how short and thin she was. Today she had some kind of slash in the sleeve of her hoodie, showing just a flash of smooth white skin where blood should have been. Edgerunner was a quick healer.

 

Glamour waited till she was close--and until his current song was finished--and called out to her.

 

"Heya Edgey. Don't know if you got the memo yet--outpost Zeta's been hit. We've gotta check it out."

 

With that, he yawned and turned on his next song. She could figure out the rest--he'd just trail behind her like usual, doing whatever she asked.

 

Provided she didn't make him stop the music, of course.

 

 

 

 

  

 

Backtrack had never been shot before. He was quickly coming to realize that it was really sparking unpleasant and it was hurting so much and why oh why had he followed that stupid necromancer...

 

He clutched his arm with a gasp, followed by a shriek of pain. He nearly fell completely out of his chair as he squeezed the injured limb, trying to keep the tears out of his eyes as the bullet wound burned.

 

"Slontze! I didn't do anything!" At least, that's what he tried to yell. He suspected the actual sentence came out more like "AAAAAAAAH" or something like that.

 

Oh sparks, he kept thinking, over and over and over. I'm going to die. I'm going to bleed to death on Reader's stupid carpet and then Koschei the sparking Deathless is going to heal me and I'll have to work for him. And it's going to be awful because this whole sparking state is awful and I don't want to be in Oregon any more...

 

The train of thought terminated abruptly when he noticed MV standing beside him. He tried to smile and pretend he hadn't been shot, like cool guys from movies did, but it all came out as a strangled whine with a matching grimace.

 

"Stop being such a baby," MV snapped, glaring harshly. She took his arm gingerly and looked it over. "This is not because I like you." A cool and dreamy breeze seemed to wash over the injured arm, and a piece of bullet fragment came whizzing out of the wound.

 

It hurt, of course, like a rusty butcher knife coated in lemon juice. Backtrack bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, whining slightly. His eyes shut closed, filling with tears; when they opened, MV was still giving that slightly disgusted, disdainful look of hers. "That should hold it for now. Try not to get shot anymore, kay?"

 

"Kay," he mumbled. He watched her go back to her seat with admiration. She saved my life.

 

Probably, at least. That looked like a pretty serious wound.

 

Reader did not seem to have much admiration in his heart. A furious expression went over his face, his skin turning almost as red as his wine.

 

"My boss does not care one sparking bit what happens to any of you," Reader said savagely. "As for the desk...I wish you good luck in trying it on your way out. Guards, take these two in."

 

The twins were grabbed by the arms and hauled out of the office, their glares now as incredulous as they were infuriated. At any other time, Backtrack would have declared them cute. Right now, he only let out a helpless whimper as they disappeared from the office. He was left alone with Reader, who was staring at him with all the intensity of a bloodthirsty velociraptor.

 

It was funny how he knew precisely what a bloodthirsty velociraptor looked like now. It was just that kind of day.

 

"Now you," Reader said severely, "may be of use to us here in the Dalles. Tell me what you know. And don't lie." His fingers tapped his pistol menacingly. "You know what happens when you lie." 

 

For a split second, Backtrack stared at him with his mouth dry. What should he do? What could he do? Clearly he should stall for time. Or refuse to say anything. Do something, anything but give this horrible man what he wanted.

 

Instead, he took a deep breath and launched into the full story.  "Look, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I came to Oregon 'cuz I was following a guy named Lightwards. Necromancer, like I said. Except he can't really fly and I don't think he's ever called himself 'Green.' I saw him get killed in the past, and then he resurrected, and I thought that was cool, ya know? So I followed him to Portland, Oregon, which is probably the worst place in the entire Fractured States right now..."

 

He rambled on and on. He found himself going on at length about everything he knew about Portland. He talked about Altermind. About CorpseMaker. About Lightwards himself. About Doctor Funtimes. About Nighthound. About everything. Pausing only to breathe, tears welling up around his eyes again, he told the story of this long, terrible, awful, completely abominable, utter whirlwind of a day he was having.

 

His tongue kept flapping, giving Reader every last detail. If the universe had spared even the tiniest milligram of luck for Steve Lawrence today, maybe that would be enough.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Kobold King

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

 

Autumn Glass, who was not an Epic, had a nice office. 

 

She consoled herself with that fact as she tossed a bouncy ball against the brick. Reader might be a high-and-mighty slontze who threw his weight around like he was some reincarnation of Koschei the Deathless, but her office was every bit as nice as his. Nicer, as many a visitor had claimed, although that might be due more to its inhabitant and less to its layout. 

 

With a sigh, Autumn caught the ball and set it back on her desk. Great. Once Reader saw her latest line of thought, he would have one more thing to rub in her face. Well, well, Miss Glass, been thinking about your office, have we? Thinking about how you brighten up that room just by your presence? 

 

Her teeth clenched just thinking about his smug little face, stupid lips stretched into a smirk as he tried to blackmail her out of her favorite chair. ​Would you like me to call your parents? Tell them how happy you are in New Eden? Perhaps your mother and I could have a chat about my stupid lips. 

 

It's not New Eden, she told her mind's-eye Reader double. ​It hasn't been New Eden in two years, and no, I'm not giving you this chair. It's my chair, and you don't even like orange. 

 

Now he'd have one more mind's-eye conversation to throw at her. There was no point in hoping he wouldn't know. He knew. He always knew. He knew her secrets the way she knew he didn't want her chair for the sake of having a chair, but for the sake of taking something that belonged to her. Typical of an Epic. 

 

He's human, God loves him. Autumn repeated her mantra, one of the few Reader hadn't tossed back at her. Well, aside from the "human" part, but that was only to correct her with a haughty "I'm not human, Glass, I'm an Epic, and you know it." 

 

He's human, God loves him. He's human, God loves him. He's human, God loves him. 

 

"Glass, we need you out in the hall. Reader's sent two more Epics to the firing squad." 

 

Autumn's head nearly hit her desk. She didn't dare put her hand on her radio for fear of what she wanted to say: Seriously, Bill? That's the fourth time this month! I don't mind being the good cop, but when the bad cop's going to waltz on in and demand to know why I defied his orders for the fifth time, you get to explain to him that it's my job and if he'd rather see executions, he can get his backside over to Chicago and see how Steelheart likes having his real name exposed. 

 

"Glass?" 

 

Stifling a sigh, Autumn lifted her radio. "On my way." She put on her olive-drab jacket, checked to ensure her chaplain's insignia was visible, and grabbed her clipboard and a small recording chip. "Two, you said?" 

 

"Correct. Names are Impact and MV." 

 

Impact and MV. Momentum-based powers, then? Not that it mattered terribly much, in her line of work. She hadn't been attacked in nearly a year. Insulted, yes, but most Epics stopped with the verbal jabs when they realized she had final say over whether Reader's orders were carried out. They might look down their noses at her, but precious few Epics were dumb enough to verbally abuse the woman whose word could keep them from paying a visit to the firing squad. 

 

The walk wasn't nearly long enough to steel herself; after a few steps and a turn, she saw two blonde-haired teens, leveling twin glares as soldiers pinned their arms back. Autumn had just enough time to send her usual plea to the Almighty: Dear God, help me make the right decision. Help me to remember you love these girls, regardless of what they might have done. 

 

As she passed Reader's office, she added: And please, please help me not to bash Reader's head with his own paperweight. Amen. 

 

She put on her usual smile as she approached, and waved at the twins. She never shook hands; it was simply wiser to avoid skin contact when there were energy-sapping and skin-stealing Epics about. "Hi there. Autumn Glass, not an Epic." She gave them the same greeting she gave everyone else, making her voice as gentle and sympathetic as she could. "I was told Reader recommended the firing squad, but I'd like to hear your side of the story. Could you tell me what happened in there?" 

Edited October 15, 2014 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Voidus]

It was with great difficulty that Impact prevented her twin from trying to kill all the guards and escape right then. Although Impact hadn't liked what Reader had said anymore than MV had.

"We'll be fine, we can escape whenever we need to, just stay calm for now" She whispered as they were dragged along.

Her troubles were even further compounded when one of the soldiers mentioned a firing squad, but even if it was embarrassing she had nothing to fear from soldiers and their guns.

Together Meg and I could take out every soldier we've seen so far even if we are new to this, it's the Epics that are the problem, we need to know what we're up against.

It seemed like they were now waiting for yet another interview, one where their final fate would be decided.

I should have thrown his desk at him when I had the chance, rusting man will be the death of us.

A woman approached them with an air of forced calm, someone who was confronted daily with sources of anguish and terror and somehow maintained their sanity. 
Someone to be wary of then, that Reader was ruled by his emotions, someone like that is easy to manipulate, easy to deal with, this is someone in control.

The woman waved a hello and stopped a short distance away, just out of arms reach.

Clever too.

"Hi there. Autumn Glass, not an Epic. I was told Reader recommended the firing squad, but I'd like to hear your side of the story. Could you tell me what happened in there?" 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MV spoke up, no doubt annoying her sister once more.

"He was a slontze is what happened. He shot our friend then threatened to kill us when we stood up to him. Sparks, how do you work around someone like that?"

She was beyond irritated at all of these problems, first they were captured, then taunted, and now nearly executed. Only the glances that Impact kept shooting her stopped her from freezing all the soldiers and shooting them. The effort of restraining herself caused her eye to twitch.

"And now we have to speak to another sparking person in this crazy town and this is all after we were nearly abducted by a guy with cool sunglasses, got taken up to a flying museum, met the worlds creepiest guy then fell for a few thousand feet without any parachutes."
She paused briefly to gasp in a breath.
"So that, in brief is our story. So if you're going to kill us get in over with so we can haunt that Slontze in there already."

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

 

One twin eyed her with something between curiosity and haughty suspicion. Autumn made a mental note, intending to jot it down later. The initial approach was the most important for gaining an idea of how dangerous an Epic might be. 

 

No sooner had she introduced herself than the second twin burst out: "He was a slontze is what happened. He shot our friend then threatened to kill us when we stood up to him. Sparks, how do you work around someone like that? And now we have to speak to another sparking person in this crazy town and this is all after we were nearly abducted by a guy with cool sunglasses, got taken up to a flying museum, met the worlds creepiest guy then fell for a few thousand feet without any parachutes."

 

Autumn felt her eyebrows creeping toward her hairline—not from the events the Epic described, but from the glare she received as she did. It was the sort of glare only a sister could give, and the sort only a sister would heed. Did she promise not to say a word? Or is there another reason? 

 

Whatever the case, neither twin seemed interested in using her powers. Autumn felt a chill slip beneath her jacket. These twins should have tried to send her flying against a wall or knocked the guards to the floor by now. That could mean only one thing: They were saving an attack for later. 

 

Then again, the speaking twin's arms twitched as she attempted to yank them free. Couldn't she simply give herself a little more momentum and free herself that way? Unless she's building it….but why the glare? If they're planning an attack, shouldn't they both be smiling? 

 

"So that, in brief is our story. So if you're going to kill us get in over with so we can haunt that Slontze in there already."

 

Autumn cracked a smile. "If you made remarks like that, I think I know why Reader lost his temper. Not that I'm excusing him," she added with a quick glance at his door. "Still, he's under orders not to call the guards unless someone uses their powers. Could you tell me what happened in his office?" 

 

Bill's hand twitched on his rifle, an action not unnoticed by the glaring twin. 

 

Autumn gave a small laugh. "If you tell me the truth, they'll have no reason to shoot you." 

[Tulir]

Aura slouched into the bus seat with a sigh of relief.  Finally, actual transportation, she thought, shooting a glare at Event Horizon as he sat down.  Flying through the air was a great dream and all, but Aura had decided when she had no control over it, flying was definitely a bad thing.  

 

She had just started to relax when the bus hit something, sending it into a roll down a hill.  Seriously?! I can't even travel safely here without walking?!  Aura thought as she was thrown into the side of the bus.  She managed to wedge herself in a seat to prevent further tumblings, and growled angrily when she saw that Event Horizon, after his initial toss, was now floating in the middle of the bus, a look of concentration on his face.

 

The bus came to a stop sidewise, and Aura nimbly dropped from the seat onto the windows, now the floor of the bus.  She started rubbing her head to ease the pain, as Busdriver asked "You guys okay?"  

 

Aura was about to respond when he turned back around and started panicking.  She laughed when he undid his seatbelt and fell to the floor, but stifled it as he said "We've gotta get out of here. We have about thirty seconds 'til this bus turns back into a tiny pebble. Go!" and pointed to the back exit.

 

She was about to rush to the back exit when Event Horizon put an arm in front of her.  "Lets make this easier and calmer," he muttered, tossing a small black hole at the back of the bus.  The back vanished, compressed down into a point.  Event Horizon steadily walked out of the bus, and when they were about ten feet away from it, he turned to Busdriver.  "This is what you do, right?  This is your power.  So would you explain to me, why you screwed up like that."  Event Horizon said, softly, with a voice that hinted of his anger.

Steven received word that Aura and Event Horizon had withdrawn, and that Quicksilver had assaulted a major command post.  A diversion! he thought, annoyed, I should have expected that!  He listened over the radio as Vondra sent out orders to Glamour and Edgerunner to go reinforce the outpost.

 

"Sir? Another Epic just walked into town.  He refused to stand down, so we engaged, but he shattered our guns and we couldn't shoot him.  We attempted to follow but our vehicles kept breaking."  One of the radios spat out

 

"Get a report on the Epic, and send it in.  Find him," Steven responded back.  You pathetic worms.  Can't do anything---he stomped down that thought before it consumed him, and left the command center to go speak to Vondra.  Steven had heard that three other Epics had been apprehended, so he headed towards Reader's chapel.

[Seonid]

 

Guardian paced the hallway of the dilapidated two-bedroom apartment. It was exactly 18 steps long, terminating in a closet, three doors in the left wall and a broken plate-glass window occupying the other from floor to ceiling. It had been a brand-new luxury complex, built right after Calamity rose. The mayor of Madras had partnered with several wealthy investors to try and market Madras as a luxury spot, perfectly situated to cater to the whim of any visiting Epic - for the right price, of course.

That had lasted just long enough to draw the attention of several powerful Epics. The mayor and his investors had ended up dead. In Guardian's experience, that was what happened when you tangled with Epics. You ended up dead. She counted off the 18th step again, turning sharply around. Her plate mail jingled with the motion.

Most Epics, that was. Not them. Because they were Epics, regardless of all of Paladin's protestations. She and Ash had had many late-night discussions on that front, and they both had accepted the inevitable. She had been a scientist once, before circumstances forced her to become a fighter, and she knew that the explanation that required the least assumptions was the most likely one to be true. But at least they were different. They didn't kill people for fun, or for imagined slights, or for...

Unbidden, the image of a city street in Bend rose in her mind. Firelord had fallen like a meteor, the fire of his descent igniting a quarter of the city. Paladin was standing, shouting out accusations at the crowd of panicked onlookers. His sword appeared in his hand, rising and falling...

No! With an effort, she forced the memory down. 18 steps. Focus. Paladin and his vision were the only thing she had left to hang on to in this world of lost hopes and broken dreams. She'd abandoned the tattered remnants of faith what seemed like millennia ago, until Paladin had somehow managed to stoke the cold embers back to a flickering life. She still felt some days like she was standing on a razor's edge, dancing over a dark, endless fall below.

Sparks! Her sense of danger spiked suddenly. As usual, her sense of time seemed to slow down. Or maybe her perception of everything else sped up. Maybe there was some way to test that, or to...

There! For a moment, a wooden platform appeared in her mind. Paladin was reeling back before the assault of a little girl with a knife, closing in, stabbing at him. She pulled out her side-sword, doubts and fears replaced by the cause that had come to be her dominating, overriding purpose. Protect. She closed her visor as the apartment dissolved away in a whirlwind of light.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

From more than a quarter mile away, the battle between the Epics on the platform seemed surreally silent. The enemy Epic, a short girl who seemed to keep fading into a ghost-like...something...anytime a blow came close to contact, must be Ghostknife. They had heard a lot of rumors about her, but nothing concrete. Ranger was pretty sure that Paladin hadn't believed she existed at all. Just a typical piece of Epic propaganda, he'd said. They want to make the proletariat believe that they are more powerful than they really are. But then again, that was Paladin for you. He was good at what he did - very good - but he had been growing increasingly overconfident recently. Hopefully this disaster would cure him of that.

There wasn't much his rifle could do against an ethereal Epic, so he began to scan the crowd, looking for any other threats. He would be willing to wager good money that in the heat of the battle, Paladin and Guardian both had forgotten that Hammer was still out there, somewhere, waiting for a weak point. A gout of flame drew his attention; apparently Torch had recovered from his crash into the crowd. That man had to die. As always, the spectre of Firelord loomed in his thoughts as he watched the Epic rise into the sky.

Their informants had said that Torch's flaming body had deflected all of the bullets fired at him during Ringmaster's takeover of Madras. Ranger smiled as he found Torch in the scope of his sniper rifle. He always enjoyed a challenge.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

Paladin's sword dropped from his suddenly numb fingers, puffing away into mist. He'd dropped his precognition to summon his armor right before this...girl had come out of nowhere to attack him. That had been sparking bad timing on his part.

And now his arm was numb and this little girl, with her knife that had somehow passed through it, skin and bones and nerves and all was pressing ever closer. He was grateful that, even without his concentration, his precognition still showed him potentially lethal attacks. Otherwise that searing cold blade might have found his heart. He tripped over a loose board, sprawling backwards. This is going to be the end. He desperately focused his concentration, reaching for his armor.

A rush of exploding air announced the arrival of Guardian, a field of force pushing everything within a few feet of her away. Finally, he thought with irritation. It took you long enough.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

Guardian erupted on to the platform, the force field that always accompanied her teleportation pushing outward. The girl, probably the rumored Epic named Ghostknife, had been entirely focused on Paladin, trying to corner him for a kill. She was completely unprepared for Guardians attack. Still, she managed to wisp away into nothingness right as the sword would have passed through her. That's an annoying habit, right there.

Paladin was on the floor, silvery armor spreading across his body. She waited, tense, her force field shimmering a few inches above her burnished plate, a slightly perceptible haze. The girl shimmered into existence to her left side, knife lashing out at her shoulder. Her hand slowed down as she encountered the force field and she pushed away in confusion. Guardian lashed her force field to her left arm, creating a shimmering shield of concentrated force. The ethereal knife caught on the edge of the shield, tip barely penetrating her shoulder plate. Interesting. It appears to pass through inanimate objects without doing damage. That's very interesting. The girl winked out again as Guardian's counterstroke slammed down. This was frustrating. She dropped her side-sword as she passed Paladin, now almost fully armored. They had practiced this before. He would use her sword until he had enough time outside of life-or-death combat to summon his own. Her job was to give him that time. She unlimbered her Zweihander, the straps that kept it in place on her back coming free as she undid them.

Pain lanced through her left knee, and the leg below it instantly started tingling. Guardian fell to one knee - the good one - and swung wildly with one hand, her sword passing through empty air. Her deadened leg started to tingle again as she felt her power surge through her, reknitting together burned and severed nerve endings. Apparently that knife only harms nerves. Certainly effective at incapacitating, but difficult to score a lethal hit with. At least, until you were on the ground because you couldn't move your arms or legs.

On an instinct deeper than rational thought, she turned around to see Ghostknife phasing in behind her, driving her knife towards Paladin's armored chest. She leaped towards her, watching the knife hit Paladin's armor...

And stop. Ghostknife looked up, shocked that her attack had failed, even more shocked to see the fully armored form of Guardian bearing down on her. She recovered quickly, but still too late. Guardian's charge threw her aside, sending her slamming headfirst into one of the posts that supported the scaffolding on the back of the platform.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

Linda Mayes shook her head, trying to clear the fog. She was lying on some sort of wooden platform. In front of her, a man in shining silver armor was rising to his feet, a bright steel sword held in his left hand. Memories tumbled back into her mind. The fight. Her knife. Bubbles, bleeding on the platform. Bubbles, who had always comforted her and dried her tears after Ringmaster had...

Ringmaster. His voice was in the back of her mind, cursing at her. The armed man walked towards her, like a knight in armor out of one of her childhood dreams. Her younger self would have thought that he had come to rescue her, like a princess in a tower. The older her could see her scars reflected in his eyes. He was just like the others. Fear was gnawing at her stomach.

It was happening all over again. The pain, the terror. The blackness, after. She began to shake uncontrollably as panic welled up in her mind. Go. Get away. Turn ethereal! They can't touch you there. But Ringmaster could touch her mind from anywhere, and she huddled as a new wave of fear burst over her. Tears began to pour down her cheeks.

The voice in the back of her mind raged at her, calling her useless, incompetent, broken. But she was too terrified to move. Just like last time.

Just like with Jason, and Marty, and Ted, and Maro. Her voice whimpered in her mind as each memory seared her like a hot iron. Ringmaster, claiming her for his own, her will smothered under his cloyingly sweet voice, incapable of moving under the overwhelming domination of his mind. Ironmonger, laughing sadistically at her terror as he pulled on the manacles clamped around her wrist.

Just like with her dad.

She lay, shuddering, as waves of terror wracked her, curled up in a fetal ball. The shining figure, reached her, raising his sword point down above her, like some angel of the distant light. She looked up through her panicked tears. "Please." Her voice came out as a whisper, instead of the despairing scream that was burning inside of her. "No."

The sword fell.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Seonid

[Fatebreaker]

As Antonio ran down the street he whistled a merry tune. It had been a good day. He had nicked some fruit from a fruit vendor, who seemed angrier today than usual. Probably needs a vacation or somethin'. Then he had found a pile of suplies that had been dropped next to the road. There was some blood nearby, but hey, what you don't know can't hurt ya. A short ways away he had come across some of Vondra's goons in an alley, loading a body into a bag, so he skedaddled. Then he had liberated a sandwich from that deli that was to die for.

 

A bullet hit the street a foot away. To die for had been a poor choice of words. He hadn't known it was a copper's sandwich he was liberating. To be fair, the man was overreacting a bit. He didn't even say "Please can I have that back." He just started swearing and trying to land a hit with that big nightstick of his. So Antonio had stole his wallet as well. And now he was being pursued by about three rather put out guards. 

This running was getting old, so he ducked into an alley an put down what appeared to be a can of peanuts. Then he hid in a trashcan.

 

The guards rounded the corner, searching for him wildly. Then one of them noticed the can and picked it up. Too late his comrades saw what he was doing.

 

"No, BIll, Wait!"

 

POW! a fake snake shot out of the can, hitting him so hard it knocked him off his feet. Antonio erupted out of the trashcan, flinging the lid at the closest guard. It caught him square on the head, laying him out cold. The last guard turned in time to see Antonio Grab his hand in a firm handshake. Instantly the man collapsed, writhing from the electric shock he had just received. Within a matter of seconds it was over.

 

Antonio brushed off his hands and walked away. Yes, it had been a good day.

[the winter system]

      Cassie walked forward, her loaded shotgun lying at her side. She ducked her head down. Cassie knew she wasn't immortal. Sure, she'd killed one Epic. He was a relatively not powerful Epic, so she was careful. Very careful. Whenever she had seen Epics off on the roads, she'd kept her head down and hid until they'd left. Cassie flinched at noises coming through the crowds she had entered.

 

    She didn't want to die. She wanted to survive and become someone important. Maybe even become an Epic herself. Cassie didn't care that it was an Epic that killed her father. The Epic had made his choice, so she would make hers. Cassie shrugged to herself. She turned towards the noises. Cassie was scared, but if there was something going on, she wanted to know it.

[mail-mi]

 

Backtrack looked at Reader incredulously for a total of two seconds, then took a deep breath and launched into his story.

And what a story it was. Reader knew Steven was telling he truth, but he also knew that he was exaggerating everything bad that had happened. That coupled with the fact that he was whining and whimpering the whole time made it all the more hilarious. Reader listened as Steven finished, concluding that it was the most entertaining story he'd heard in a while. He couldn't stop himself from laughing when Steven concluded with "and then you shot me in the arm, meanieface."

Reader took a few seconds to steady his breathing, then took a sip of wine. None came out of his goblet. He glanced sadly down at the bottom of the cup. As he reached down to grab his bottle and refill, he looked at Steven. "Now that, that was entertaining." He got the bottle up onto the table, along with another glass goblet. He was getting low on those; it was surprising how many people showed their rage by breaking his bottles and goblets. "Care for some wine?"

Edited January 13, 2015 by mail-mi

[Voidus]

Impact watched carefully this new woman, this Autumn glass's reaction to Megs outburst, she seemed cool, analytical of it all, judging them both with her eyes.

A nearby soldier twitched his rifle towards them and when Autumn noticed she just laughed.
So she is cruel then? Delighting in the fear of other, much as she tries to hide it. This is the most obvious good cop bad cop act I've seen in a while.

She shot Meg another restraining glance, surprisingly this time it worked, her twin closed her mouth and allowed Impact to speak.

"We may have acted out and broken one of his glasses with our powers, we're both new to our abilities, we haven't really had time to get them under control yet."
A complete lie of course, while they hadn't discovered all of their capabilities both twins were in full control of their powers, they hadn't accidentally broken things for weeks now. But with any luck Autumn Glass, proclaimed by her own mouth to not be an Epic wouldn't know how long it took for Epics to gain control of their abilities.

"He was just being really creepy, talking like he knew us and taunting us and then we just got kind of angry, sorry about that."
She directed her sweetest smile towards Autumn.
Two people can play the sweet and chummy game.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

 

The girl's smile made Autumn want to return it, pat her knee, and ask just how dumb she thought she was. Instead, she jotted down her words in shorthand, adding notes of her own. For the sake of professionalism, she made them somewhat detailed, although she could have summed them up with a single word: Lies. 

 

We may have acted out and broken one of his glasses with our powers. Epics did not "act out." They avenged. They retaliated. They returned an eye for an eye. The only Epic who described revenge as "acting out" was one who wanted to escape punishment and evade blame. 

 

We're both new to our abilities. If a single Epic had failed to grasp his new abilities after a week, Autumn had never met him. A new Epic was like a growing hurricane, one that did not rest until she had reached the limits of her powers and tested them accordingly. No Epic with little control over her powers would have stopped with one glass. Were these girls telling the truth, Reader should have hobbled out of his office, shards of glass embedded in his skin and wine stains on his shirt. If they were able to stop at a single glass, they weren't as new as they claimed. 

 

​Sorry about that. Another diplomatic phrase used only in great need. Her too-sweet smile clinched it: These twins were only as sorry as they had to be to avoid the firing squad. 

 

Still, the fact nagged at her. Impact and MV manipulated momentum, their control fine-tuned enough to shatter a single glass. Yet that was where they had stopped. One glass. A few insults. They had allowed the guards to drag them out of Reader's office, rather than fling furniture until caught off-guard with a bullet to the head. And now they stood in the hall, speaking with a woman they clearly disdained, trying to weasel their way out of trouble. 

 

We're still new to our abilities. New Epics were as unpredictable as their powers. Rewind had been a new Epic. 

 

So had Koschei. 

 

The girl's smile remained in place, cloying and false. Autumn gave a small, weary smile of her own and leaned against the wall. 

 

"All right, you've got me. I'll drop the good cop routine if you tell me why you're negotiating instead of flinging furniture. And please be honest. I don't want to send you to the firing squad, but if you don't give me solid evidence for why I shouldn't, they'll have to follow Reader's orders." 

 

She poised her pen over her clipboard, watching the twins expectantly. 

Edited October 19, 2014 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[mail-mi]

Of course Event Horizon can just throw up a black hole and swallow the sparking back door BusDriver thought as he exited the back of the bus. Calamity gives everyone else these sparking awesome powers and I'm left turning things into Calamity-cursed buses. 

 

His thoughts were interrupted by Event Horizon turning on him. "This is what you do, right?  This is your power.  So would you explain to me, why you screwed up like that." BusDriver could hear the poorly-hidden anger in his voice. 

 

I was forced into being a bus driver! BusDriver wanted to say. I couldn't get any other job so I had to take the one I could--driving annoying-as-Calamity children around in a sparking bus and I was no good at it and I hated it! And Calamity just had to go and curse me with the one thing I didn't want--sparking buses! But instead, like the good subservient Head of Transportation he wasn't, said "Sorry. I got tired." 

 

Behind him, the bus shrank back down into the pebble it was supposed to be, though the pebble now had a layer removed from one side of it. Sparking bus.

Edited January 13, 2015 by mail-mi

[Voidus]

"All right, you've got me. I'll drop the good cop routine if you tell me why you're negotiating instead of flinging furniture. And please be honest. I don't want to send you to the firing squad, but if you don't give me solid evidence for why I shouldn't, they'll have to follow Reader's orders." Autumn Glass said, with a great sigh.

Impact dropped the smile. Thank god, that was beginning to hurt my cheeks. She seems to have worked out our abilities too, although if we worked together we could do far worse than fling some furniture.

"Very well" Impact said with a tiny sigh of her own. "We could try and escape, our abilities are more than a match for any soldiers you might have, and I've already realized that this town must be ruled by a-" She checked herself just in time, Vanillas who still maintained power tended to resent the term. ".. by a regular person, but if he has one Epic working for him then he has others, we don't know who those are or what they can do. My sister might be rash enough to try and risk it anyway but I don't like to act until I know what we're up against."
She felt the rage and fury rising in waves off of MV, it wouldn't be long before she grew frustrated and tried to escape anyway.

"We came to this city to flee certain... unsavory characters, we have no intention of attacking anyone except in self defense."
She turned her head such as she was able to the soldier restraining Megan.
"With that in mind could you loosen your grip on my sister? She could break your arm from 100 paces if she needed to, holding her isn't going to prevent her doing anything."

[Seonid]

 

Paladin pulled the sword out of the platform, giving a satisfied grunt. Ghostknife's body dissolved away as ethereally as she had first appeared. Good. The threat was eliminated. A piece of him was screaming in horror over the execution. That was wrong! But he was resolved, and it was done. But she was crying. He brutally crushed the train of thought. He was Paladin. He did what he had to, no matter how horrific. He wasn't some sort of sparking priest. He was an avenging angel, tasked with cleansing the world of Epics and their corrupted ilk. And all those who sympathized with them. But the traitorous sickness in the pit of his stomach remained. Well then. He would simply have to harden himself further. He could not afford a moment of weakness.

He turned to walk back to where Guardian was standing sentry. Two Epics left, maybe a third if Torch had survived the crash. And Ringmaster was the most dangerous of them all. As he turned, he caught a glimpse of a purple figure in a tall top hat, looking directly at him. Guardian was frozen in an unnatural pose, as if she were halfway through an attempted blow with her two-handed sword.  He had just enough time to half-shout out a quick warning to Ranger before the flamboyant Epic's overmastering will slammed into his, stripping away his functions.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

Torch was spiraling higher, searching for the origin of the sniper shot. Ranger smiled, knowing that it was almost impossible for him to be seen from this distance. As he raised his rifle to get off another shot, his receiver crackled to life again.

"Ranger, be aware! The prime target is - " The transmission cut off. Alarmed, Ranger peeked back over the edge of the building to see the platform and the detritus of the crowd. Paladin and Guardian stood near each other, facing Ringmaster. Hypnosis! Calamity, this is not ok. Not ok at all! He hurriedly brought his rifle around. Ringmaster's head sat directly in his sights. He pulled the trigger, but at the last second, his hand involuntarily twitched, throwing the rifle off-target. He raised it again for a second shot, at the chest this time, but to no avail. Ringmaster had some sort of defensive power to avert otherwise deadly attacks. How had he managed to keep this power a secret?

Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Torch had turned to glide in his direction, drawn by the rifle-fire. Sparks! His more...choice...vocabulary was much limited now, since Calamity rose. Using the same words felt...wrong, as if they somehow belonged to a forgotten era.

And it had nothing to do with the way Ariel frowned disapprovingly at him when he used them. Nothing at all.

So he would make do with what he had. Sparking sparkity Sparks! It had a nice ring to it. He was half-sure that that one come out under his breath. Concentrating, he began a Oneness exercise. His awareness of his body began to fade into just another awareness, like the awareness of the cold tin of the rooftop, or the acrid burnt smell of the plaster. Torch had evidently been here before. As he did so, he felt, in some strange way he couldn't fully describe, his body melt into the surroundings. All Torch would see now, if he looked, was a flimsy old rooftop, half-burned and abandoned. Nothing to see here, he thought. Move along.

It worked. Torch flew by him, circling round for another pass. But this time, he would be within bowshot. Ranger smiled cruelly as he pulled the arrow from its special place in his quiver. Three feet long, the shaft terminated in a ceramic tip. The artisan who had crafted it had told him that the ceramic was the same type that was once used to shield orbital spacecraft so that they didn't burn up upon re-entry. It was probably an exaggeration, but even so, the arrowhead had held up without damage against the highest temperatures that they could put it against. And, more importantly, it had survived the aura of flame that Firelord had projected in his wrath.

Ranger checked the payload again, out of habit. Nothing had changed since this morning of course. The spring-loaded hypdermic needle still lay nestled in a protected cavity inside the head. The sedative inside was strong enough to stop a bull elephant in its tracks, rendering it unconscious in milliseconds. They had quadrupled the dosage, just to be safe. The second needle, smaller but no less potent, gave off a deadly sort of gleam in the afterburn of Torch's passing. That one held the most potent neurotoxin that money could buy. Or at least, that Knighthawk laboratories was willing to sell, which was close enough. He drew back, waiting.

Torch was taking his time, but he did eventually circle back. About to fire, Ranger held back. If he continued at the speed he was going, then he would impact roughly...there. Ranger located a spot on the ground where the crowd had been, not far from his original crash. The equations were beautiful in his mind, like glowing messengers from a heavenly realm. That would make for a spectacular landing. But if he waited just a moment...

Yes, that would be fitting. Fitting indeed.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

Miner came to himself slowly. The ground around him was soaked with blood. His blood. His arm was stuck halfway into the dirt, which had become an uncomfortably tight ring of stone. What? He thought to himself, groggily. He made to move the arm, but stopped as the pain flooded him. With the pain came back his memories. Sparking son of a Daschund! He had lost his arm. He had lost his arm! He heard thumps on the platform above as the newly come Epic moved around, probably fighting one of the Ringmaster's other minions. At least that was a good side effect to this whole thing. Ringmaster's touch on his mind was mercifully gone. That had been horrifying. He tensed a little bit when he heard the smooth, unsettling voice drifting down from the platform, gloating. So he wasn't successful, he thought. Served the motherless fool right.

An idea began to grow in his mind. Both of his enemies, on the platform above him, unsuspecting. Sometimes Calamity was merciful, after all.

His eyes began to glow with maniacal glee as he shoved his good hand into the earth, destabilizing the whole area underneath the platform. They would pay. They would all pay.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

Ranger released the bowstring, idly running the ballistic calculations in his head. If he had timed this right, Ringmaster should be getting a rather...Epic...fireworks show any moment now.

The ceramic arrow took the flying Epic in the left leg. With his augmented sight, Ranger could see the man jerk as the powerful sedative flooded the femoral artery.

Torch's flight became ballistic.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

Ringmaster laughed as the second Epic, the one who had so brutally dispatched Ghostknife, froze in horror, and then froze in paralysis. The specimen had a strong mind, he thought, impressed. His first assault was normally enough to subsume both mental and physical functions alike. But, he ruminated, it must be fitting that the creature who had so beautifully put an end to a crying girl would have no ordinary mental fortitude. It was almost enough to applaud, really.

"Well. Look what we have here." His tones barely concealed his delight. These were certainly much more powerful servants than the ones that they had killed. And so efficient! He would have to have Torch take the sniper alive. So useful. "Turn around so I can get a good look at you." Obediently, the bodies responded to his mental touch. Ah, such bliss, to watch such perfect precision, such precise perfection! Ordinary servants never could do things exactly the way you wanted them to, even if they had served your family for years, like Alfred. His lip twisted in distaste as he thought of the old man. Forty years of service, and he still couldn't get the tea just right. Always a tenth of a degree off! Slontze. He had deserved what had happened to him.

"But wait, what is this?" The male's right arm dangled uselessly below the elbow. Ghostknife must have hit him. "No no. This will never do. An imperfect specimen is certainly unworthy to be a member of my collection. Why, he's practically useless! He must be disposed of." With a twitch of his mind, he sent the female toward him, swinging brutally with her two-handed sword. It ricocheted off of the armor, leaving nary a scratch. He almost jumped up and down in frustration. Why wouldn't it work!

Abandoning a pretense of finesse, he rummaged through the male's mind. Oh, he could have browbeaten the specimen's mental defenses given enough time, but he was the Ringmaster, and he deserved to have what he wanted now! Besides, if you looked hard enough, there was always a biological trigger for any mental command. Fumbling, he pushed, and was rewarded to see the armor puff away, as if it had never existed. Wonderful. The female, under his prompting, drew back for another powerful swing...

The platform lurched. He fell, watching as the wooden construct began to tilt into the air like the Titanic going down. He lost sight of the two specimens, and their presence in his mind vanished. Sparking ungrateful lesser beings! He screamed to himself in rage as everything vanished in a white-hot flash.
 

Edited October 21, 2014 by Seonid

[Tulir]

"Sorry. I got tired." Busdriver replied, slumping his shoulders.

 

He is useful.  He is useful.  He.  Is.  USEFUL.  The thought circulated around Event Horizon's mind, preventing him from acting upon his urge to slowly pull apart Busdriver.  He stared intensely at Busdriver, and when the bus shrunk into a pebble, Event Horizon said "Do better next time."

 

He reached out, grabbed Aura, and manipulated gravity so they flew to the meeting place. 

 

When they reached it, Aura spun around, and her colors darkened around her.  "Do that again without warning, and it will not end pleasantly for either of us." She said, angrily.

 

Event Horizon just looked at her, turned around, and waited for Quicksilver to arrive.

 

Steven approached the Reader's chapel and nodded to the guards as he walked in.  He had calmed down, but just being near Reader made him annoyed.  Well, I guess that is why we keep him, Steven thought as he saw a man with garish sunglasses breaking down and telling Reader everything.

 

Steven walked to the secondary cell, and was about to enter when he heard a young woman's voice say, "We could try and escape, our abilities are more than a match for any soldiers you might have, and I've already realized that this town must be ruled by a-  ... by a regular person, but if he has one Epic working for him then he has others, we don't know who those are or what they can do. My sister might be rash enough to try and risk it anyway but I don't like to act until I know what we're up against."  At the first words Steven spun around and located the nearest water source.  Stupid waterbottles! he thought as he listened to the rest of the conversation, why can't we have fountains?

 

After determining that he wouldn't have to defeat the Epics Glass was interrogating.  He waited for the young woman to stop talking, and stepped in right as she said "With that in mind could you loosen your grip on my sister? She could break your arm from 100 paces if she needed to, holding her isn't going to prevent her doing anything."

 

"It would stop her just long enough for me to deal with you two.  Now you say that you have peaceful intentions, but that is a threat, and as such shows that to be a lie." Steven said as he walked over to Glass.  "So these are some of the newcomers?"