What Happened in Corvallis

[Mestiv]

 

Summer slipped out of the bathroom, wearing only a Victoria’s Secret underwear set and high heels, uniform chosen for her by Drainer. She hopped to avoid her Epic master for the rest of the day. It would be hard, but not impossible, since the house was big enough. She took her feather duster and proceeded to clean a nearby corner table (which was so clean, she could see her reflection), trying to forget she was now one year older than she was five minutes ago. She just began to calm down, when she heard a scream from the upper floor. Immediately her thoughts raced to the events she witnessed this morning of people savagely killing other people. While everyone else ran upstairs to check what happened she waited and listened, ready to run outside. No other disturbing sound came from the upper floor, so she carefully climbed the stairs.

 

When she squeezed through a small, half-naked crowd of other maids she was struck with a view almost as shocking as what she saw before that day. Alice, one of the maids, was hanging by the neck inside Drainers study. She used a leather belt to commit suicide when no one was watching. Suddenly Summer realized things that she obliviously ignored for weeks when she was under the influence of Euphoria’s happiness. Alice was head maid and as such Drainer paid special attention to her. He frequently summoned her to his study, where they would stay behind locked door for some time. Summer sometimes heard some noises coming from the room during such times, but she always ignored them, dusting happily and humming to herself. After that Alice was always sent to Euphoria for extra dose of happiness… 

 

Summer felt dizzy. Realization of what Alice had to suffer for months, while she was drugged by Euphoria, made her feel sick. She crouched besides a wall and sobbed quietly. Overwhelmed by the horrors that Epics brought to her world, she missed the bliss of Euphoria’s narcotic-like happiness. She couldn't run away, so she at least wished to stop feeling, to become numb with delight again. Absorbed by her thought and grief, she didn't notice that Drainer came upstairs and was standing right next to her, looking inside his study.

 

“Everyone listen up!” Drainer raised his voice to be heard despite surrounding chatter. “It seems that our head maid has resigned from her job. That’s a shame, but we cannot let this ruin the order that is to be maintained in this house! You all know your duties and you will continue to fulfill them! As the position of head maid is now vacant, I will summon you one by one for auditions to decide which one of you will take this job. Now move along, there is nothing to stare at!”

 

“Kate, Gloria, you two take her down and get rid of her. And I don’t want to hear that you don’t know how, that is your problem now.” He added with clenched teeth, when most of the  crowd dissipated. Then he walk away, heading downstairs to finish his breakfast…

 

Following hours were like a torture for Summer and for every other girl in Drainer’s house. Soon after breakfast he started to call them to his room for his so called auditions. Girls that left the room were all visibly shocked and didn't want to talk about what he did to them. That only caused more terror among those still waiting. Summer felt like if the time was moving terribly slow and terribly fast at the same time. Not for a first time she thought about running away from Drainer. That would be certain death however. No Vanilla could resign from work for his Epic and there was no way to run away after you've been tagged by Chase. Once in a while someone tried, no one succeeded.

 

It was about 2 PM and Summer was cleaning the same book shelf for the fourth time. She didn't even notice when one of the other girls approached her. “Summer, the sucker wants to see you next. Good luck.” She said with absent voice. Summer felt as if her heart got dumped into a bucket of ice…

 

 

Argon took a khaki rain cape out of his tracking backpack. The clouds were heavy over Corvallis and the rain wasn't about to stop pouring down. He was still determined to keep a low profile for as long as he could. He visited many different town after he became an Epic, and keeping to himself always helped to avoid trouble.

 

After crossing the town border, Argon and everyone else new to Corvallis went to a parking lot next to a concrete building with a huge screen installed on it’s wall. They were to watch a video of Rainmaker greeting everyone and explaining the city rules. Epics were obliged to listen to the Queens, Vanillas were obliged to obey every order given to them by an Epic, unless it would contradict an order given by another, more important Epic, and so on. Argon listed only with one ear, the rest of his attention channeled to observation of everyone around him. Most of the people were obviously Vanillas, dirty, tired and visibly happy about the prospect of food and shelter. The few Epics among the crowd seemed pleased too, they were about to get a new house, a couple of servants. He was told that he would receive the address of his assigned house and directions on how to get there by a text message on his mobile and the whole video watching was a waste of time, so he went on to the city.

 

Argon didn't go far when he was approached by a young man carrying a heavy backpack.

“Those Epics have a knack for coming up with useless tasks, don’t you think?” He said freely. “For instance, I’m supposed to bring all the documents about our new citizens to the Rainmaker’s office. Someone might take them there by car, but who cares! Better let me carry these twenty pounds of paper on foot! Anyway, that’s my job. What did Epics come up with to make your life miserable my friend?”

 

Argon looked at him amused, but not surprised. He knew, that in his rain cape, he didn't look anything like an Epic. More like a Vanilla carrying something heavy in his backpack for his master. “I’m afraid that they didn't have any occasion yet. I just came here, looking for better life.” He answered as he decided to play along this men’s mistake. He might learn a thing or two about this place. “I don’t even know what my job will be and who will I work for.”

 

“You’d better pray that you get to work for the government. It’s the only job that can offer you any kind of stability. If you’re assigned to an Epic, you’ll never know how cruel they’ll be. Hell, you can’t be even sure if you’ll survive the day with them. My friend got assigned to an Epic called Corkscrew, and man, what he has to put up with every day...” Argon listened patiently to the man talking, remembering the rare, important facts from this river of words. This was going to be a long walk...

 

 

[Edgedancer]

“I’d be happy to answer your questions,” Kenshin answered Buttercup, “but how about we get out of the rain first?” With the other Epic’s agreement she led the way back into her own house. The body of the attacker was gone already but blood still stained the ground.

 

Once they were seated Buttercup started with her first question, "Please describe the, er, attackers."

 

"Not much to say, really. They didn't appear to care much about being cut into pieces or otherwise wounded. The only emotion they did show was rather unnatural anger, more akin to an animal than something human. Although, whatever induced said anger didn’t give them anything to make them more dangerous than ordinary people," Kenshin answered.

 

Given the look on Buttercup’s face Kenshin, which assumed was a mix of recognition and confusion, it seemed that she did have an idea who instigated the attack this morning or more likely a vague idea without the full picture on the Epics powers or motives.

 

"You're certain they weren't stronger than the average vanilla?" That question by Buttercup implied rather clearly that she did expect them to have increased strength as well. A previous accident then?

 

"They certainly died as easily as normal humans.” Kenshin gave a slight shrug. ”To be entirely honest, I did not give them a chance to prove how strong they are. However, a servant girl of mine did a decent enough job of keeping one of them away from herself with a spear, so one of them wasn't strong enough to completely overwhelm her."

 

"Hmm, I see. All right, were there any noticeable physical features that seemed odd, out of place, or just plain different from other humans?"

 

"Nothing I would have noticed. Their growls did sound more like something from an animal but I'm not sure if any physical alteration would actually be necessary for that."

 

"Okay, excellent. Thank you for your time, and again thank you for helping out Corvallis. If you don't mind, I have a few more personal questions for you. I couldn't help but notice that the pile of bodies out there is very packed, while the rest of the bodies in the neighborhood are spread out. That implies they rushed at you. Also, given the dismemberment of many of the bodies, you could not have used an axe or a lance, leaving only the sword. The bodies speak to your skill level, but I must know, are you skilled only with swords, or are there other weapons you excel with? Seeing your handiwork out there, I'd be a terrible head of security if I didn't try to recruit you."

 

Kenshin gave a hearty chuckle at Buttercup interest, it did show her as a woman with an eye for talent at least. As she started talking Kenshin made a wide gesture at the various weaponry she had decorated her home with, “While I do prefer swords anything bladed will do perfectly fine."

 

"Only bladed weapons? No non-bladed or even firearms?"

 

"No, I am afraid those are not in my area of expertise. I do have a knack for throwing knives, however."

 

"I see. Well, you would definitely make a good officer. Give it some thought, if you need to, and if you'd like to join, call this number," Buttercup pulled out a card and handed it to Kenshin, who gladly took it, "and ask for me, Queen Buttercup. Calamity knows I'd never turn you away, particularly after recent events."

 

“It is certainly a tempting offer.”

 

With matters taken care of Buttercup turned to leave. However, she stopped halfway on her way to the door and turned back to Kenshin, "Oh, and the guy you'll reach through that number will likely be a pain in the chull. Just a heads up."

 

After Buttercup left the room, Kenshin took the time to contemplate her offer. She was certainly the most respectable person she had meet in this town until now, she had backbone, seemed competent and the work would very much suit her. On first glance it did appear to be her best option, if she wanted to stay in this city, that is.

[Blackhoof]

 

As the morning light filtered through his blinds and illuminated his sparsely-decorated room, Atrophy awoke. Light stabbed into his thin eyelids, despite the heaviness of his curtains. Opening his hollow eyes and yawning, the Epic reached onto his bedside table and checked his mobile. 8:00, on the dot. As always.

 

Atrophy tapped the screen a few times, and amused himself for a time with a delightful game involving matching pieces of fruit. As always.

 

As the mobile ticked 8:30, there was a gentle knock on his door followed by a young servant boy, bearing a plate of toast and a steaming cup of herbal tea. The boy tentatively set them both down on his bedside table, and furtively retreated once dismissed. As always. 

 

Smiling contentedly, Atrophy slowly devoured his breakfast, and sipped his herbal tea. As always.

 

"Life is good", Atrophy thought to himself. His breakfast finished, he threw off his light blanket and swung his skeletal legs over the side, rising to his feet. Atrophy wandered over to the windows and threw open the blinds. Light flooded the room, and he drank in the beautiful Corvallis scenery. Trees and birds. Truly beautiful.

"It is a miracle that they have lasted so long. I'll have to thank Cornucopia personally next time I see her." All the trees in the other places he had been had long since been cut down for want of firewood or fuel. As he gazed out of the window at the quiet street, nothing disturbed his view except for several Corvallis Security vans, no doubt carrying field workers. He could already tell that today was going to be a good day.

 

Turning away from the window, Atrophy began getting dressed. He always wore the same thing- a plain shirt, jeans, and a white turtleneck. Unlike many Epics, he did not feel the need for fancy clothes, or elaborate costumes. His mere appearance was usually enough to let anyone know what he was.

 

Atrophy left his room and went out into the loungeroom, finding a crying servant and a few others comforting her. "What is going on here?" He enquired quietly. "Why are you annoying me with your sobbing?" The servant started in fear, and most fled. The crying woman looked at him with terror in her eyes and she tried to dry her face with her clothes. The only other servant that had stayed with her, Nancy, rose to defend her. "Mr Atrophy, she is really sorry, its just that her mother died last night in the riots and-" Her explanation cut off in a strangled gasp as Atrophy extended his power and deadened her vocal cords. 

"Did I ask for an explanation?" As soon as he finished, he realised that he had asked them what was going on. damnation.

 

Scowling, the Epic shooed the muted servant away and turned his gaze towards his grieving staff member. With a thought, he weakened her tear ducks, preventing her from crying further. The woman shivered in fear as he glared at her. "Now..." Atrophy began, "grieve if you must, but grieve somewhere you won't annoy me doing so. If I hear so much as another pathetic sob from you I will kill your lungs. Understood?" The woman nodded fiercely. "Excellent. Now get back to... whatever it is you do." She gladly hurried off.

 

Atrophy sat back down, and opened up an old copy of Eragon. It was his fifth reading of it and he still couldn't find any of the sequels, but it was something, at least. A simple little thing.

 

And for Atrophy, it was the simple things that mattered.

[Blaze1616]

 

Blossom tapped a heel into the floor, her legs crossed as she sat and waited for Rainmaker to finish up with whomever it was she was meeting with. Her arrival took longer than normal, stupid rain forcing her to fly slow to keep from getting wet under her umbrella. 

 

She turned a page inside the folder on her lap. It never hurt to septuple check a speech. She heard Rainmaker's door open, and saw a pair of men's shoes walk away, but she didn't bother to check who it was. Finished reading the section of the speech she was on, Blossom closed the folder and rose from her seat, entering the Queen's office with grace.

 

Approaching the desk, she placed the folder gently on the surface before taking a seat. "The speech is done, and I'd recommend delivering it soon so the field workers will hear it before reaching the fields." Blossom rested her elbows on the armrests of the chair she sat in, lacing her fingers in front of her. "I've already notified Broadcast to prepare the station for a radio announcement."

 

 

Buttercup looked to the sky as she stepped from Kenshin's home. The rain wet her face, forcing her to blink to keep it out of her eyes. She approached one of the security personnel that was hauling the body parts Kenshin had left on the road into a van. "I need you to set up a tent or canopy of some kind to help keep some of us out of the rain for paperwork." The officer nodded, handing an arm to one of the others helping him out, and set off to do as she'd asked. 

 

Buttercup approached the pile, and squatted to get a good look at one of the shifted vanillas. The...creature...had pointed teeth, as though the entire set had been replaced by canines, and the face had blood on it despite the rain. Aside from the teeth, the most striking feature was the thing's eyes. The looked misshapen, seeming far more animal than human. Buttercup stared into those eyes for a long moment, recalling the energy Epic's fuming eyes from the previous night, fury filled. A chill ran down the Queen's spine as she stood, noticing the canopy being finished. She walked over to it, shaking her head to get some of the water out of her short hair. 

 

She pulled her mobile out, sending a text to all the Queens. "In case you don't know, there was an attack this morning on the north side of Corvallis proper. Some vanillas turned against the local population, human and epic alike. They acted very similarly to the rabid humans from the Sports Fields last night. I spoke with an Epic who lives in the area, and it has become clear that these wild humans were affected by an Epic of some sort. They seem to lose any reasoning skills they may have had, and don't seem to feel pain any more. Physical changes include their teeth transforming into canines, and their eyes becoming more animal like. The Epic I spoke to also said their actions and demeanor were very animal like as well. Please be cautious with your daily activities today."

 

Putting her mobile away, Buttercup leaned forward against a table now set under the canopy, letting out a long sigh. Today was going to be another very long day, it seemed. Just as she'd feared.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Blaze1616

[mail-mi]

(Warning! The following post has WoK spoilers! If you haven’t read it but would like to read this post, please PM me and I’ll send you a modified version.)

 

 

Gregory awoke from pleasant dreams of Mistborn and Returned. He already knew what his plan was for the start of the day, so he immediately jumped out of bed and started getting ready. He’d stayed up past midnight studying, and he’d realized that he needed a crew just like Kelsier’s. And so, he spent the next two hours thinking of the people that he could recruit. 

 

So far, he’d only come up with one idea: 

 

Vaughn Tremblay.

 

He was a male ballet dancer working for the local company in Corvallis. There wasn’t anything remarkable about him, of course, but in the few pictures Gregory had managed to look up of him on the screen-cracked mobile he’d found in the garbage one day (it was hard to get food in the storming post-Calamity world), he had been frowning.

 

Frowning.

 

In the Euphoria-drugged town of Corvallis.

 

And that was why, after getting ready for the day and walking for a few minutes through some back alleyways of Corvallis, Gregory found himself in front of the back door of the home where the ballet company stayed. He knocked twice, suddenly incredibly nervous. He calmed himself by thinking about why he was doing this. Just like Shallan when she stole Jasnah’s Soulcaster. 

 

One of the pretty ballet girls, dressed up in her frilly white tutu, eventually opened the door? “Yes?” she said, though Gregory could see that she was not happy to see him. Not happy. It was still weird to think about everyone not being happy. “What do you want?” 

 

Gregory swallowed, trying to calm his racing heart. “Um...is Vaughn here? I-- I need to see him.”

[the winter system]

Chase was in a bad mood.

All the screamind in her head.

All of the losing control.

Pain.

She couldn't focus enough to figure out what was wrong!

Chase sighed and shoved herself into the Chains when she regainned her balance. There was a blue line that stuck out to her.

The first vanilla on an escape route.

Not. Yet.

Chase promised herself that she would try to keep Corvallis going. Rainmaker ran a good city, despite drugging the population.

She would at least try.

Chase pulled her mind into the body of a boy, who was walking down the street.

"What happened?" She asked a passerby.

"There's been attacks." Someone responded. "On Epics and normal people."

Calamity.

This wouldn't end well. The deaths must be why there were so less tagged vanillas around.

Chase yanked a big group under control. She set them workinng to find any of the attackers. Then she quickly pulled back into her safe house as she heard her mobile.

A text from Buttercup read out most of what Chase had uncovered.

Suddenly, she felt a ripping. She jumped into a vanilla in the area and...

One of what Chase assumed were the transformed vanillas lunged at Chase. She slammed her fist into the thing's gut, but The thing ignored it.

It's true. No pain. Chase thought distantly. She clumsily reached for something, anything, but the thing bit her arm.

"Owe!" Chase screammed. "Backup!" She yelled, again and again. The thing chewwed up Chase's arm, then bit open her throat.

The vanilla died. Chase jumped into a vanilla who was at a window, watching. This vanilla was watching the body be chewed up...

Ick!

Chase shoved open the window and lunged out. Then she snapped up a huge crowd of vanillas and sent them to surround the thing.

Eventually she found one armed with a piece of pipe or something. That vanilla she sent running to finish off the thing. After her troop had secured the area, Chase quickly leaped in, grabbed the body, and leapt to Buttercup to give a report.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

 

Vaughn Tremblay was not happy. For once, he was not alone.

 

Music played at a comfortable volume as he and the others practiced. Between shows, they might use nearly anything—Fall Out Boy and Imagine Dragons were always popular—but with their next opening two nights away, they practiced for that, and the music playing over the stereo was a classical number.

 

The music swelled, indicating his cue to lift Deanna, give a graceful spin, and set her down once more. But Deanna was not in place. She stood against a wall, eyes closed, drawing shuddering breaths.

 

Vaughn’s jaw clenched as he went to her, but when he spoke his voice was gentle. “Dee? We need you out there.”

 

She nodded without opening her eyes.

 

“Dee, I know this is hard, but you’ve got to push through. We’ve got a show in two days.”

 

She nodded again, a few tears slipping free.

 

Anger flooded him, heating his cheeks. He wanted to stalk out of this studio and slam the door, track down Euphoria, and strangle her. None of this, none of the tears or sorrow and fear, were Deanna’s fault. You didn’t blame an addict for embracing the drug that promised a cure. You didn’t slap them and call them a scourge on society.

 

No. You saved that for the dealer.

 

“Look at me. C’mon, look.” Deanna opened her eyes, and Vaughn smiled slightly. “I know this is tough, having to deal with all this junk at once.”

 

“I—I can’t. It—it’s all here—and Euphoria isn’t—and—and I know you said not to, but I—I—I…I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t be. I dealt with that crap every day in Newcago, and it wasn’t easy there either. You can’t shove it down, Dee. You’ve got to embrace it.”

 

“If I start crying onstage—Rainmaker—she—“

 

“I doubt she’ll be at this one. You think she’ll waste time at a show?”

 

Deanna shook her head.

 

“Okay then. I know you can do this, Dee. Take all that crap, and use it. Make everyone out there feel what you’re feeling, and they’ll clap even harder when we hit the finale.”

 

She nodded again, swiping her tears with the back of her hand.

 

Vaughn began to speak, but Charlene tapped his shoulder. He turned, and he saw a young man there with her, her opposite in every way. Where she wore a frilly tutu, he wore faded jeans and a T-shirt. Where her hair was pulled into a bun, his was barely combed. Where she scowled, his nerves were written all over his face.

 

“He wanted to see you,” Charlene said.

 

Vaughn raised an eyebrow, daring a smile. That usually let him weed out the hecklers, come to taunt a tall, dark-skinned, muscle-bound man making twice the money they were. The kid didn’t smirk, so teasing wasn’t on his mind.

 

“Signup sheets are in the front hall,” Vaughn said, “but you can't join 'till the show's over." 

[Mestiv]

 

 

Step by step Summer climbed the stairs to meet her perverted and terrifying owner. She had no doubt, that the audition might be the worst thing that has ever happened to her, yet she kept on walking. The fear of what Drainer could do to her if she didn’t obey, forced her legs to move almost against her will. With her heart pounding like a hammer and mouth dry of anxiety, she reached the open door to Drainer’s study.

 

Alice’s body was nowhere to be found, already carried out by Kate and Jannete. Everything was cleaned and ordered, no sign left of what has happened there just hours ago. Drainer was sitting at this desk, his brown hair covering his face as he leaned over some paper. Summer stood there for a second wondering, if it would be better to disturb him or wait. Finally, she reluctantly knocked on the door. The man raised his head and smiled.

 

“Ah, Summer, come in. You’ll be happy with what I have to tell you.” He said pointing to a chair for her to sit down. She sat down, happy to rest as she was begging to feel dizzy of all the stress. The desk before her was almost all empty, except a laptop, several sheets of paper and two little pony figures standing next to the computer. Summer wasn’t sure, but that might be characters from the My Little Pony cartoon, very popular before Calamity. What they were doing on Drainer’s desk was beyond her imagination.

 

“First, I have to apologize, you won’t be able to have an audition for head maid. I’m afraid I have another task for you.” Summer felt relieved and panicked at the same time. Just this morning she was in a similar situation, when she hoped she was safe and her hopes got crushed. This other assignment might be even worse than what other girls had to go through.

 

“As you may know, I have many contacts among our government administration workers. One of those contacts sends me lists of every new Epic crossing our checkpoints. Just an hour ago, someone came to this town and I need to know more about him. The information I receive don’t contain any photos, so your mission is to provide them. I have to be sure that it is who I think it is. You will go to his house, pretend to be one of the Vanillas assigned to him and when the moment’s right, you’ll take of picture and send it to me. Here, take this mobile, it has a builtin camera. Everything else you need to know is on this paper.” He passed her a new mobile phone and a sheet of paper. “Once you do your job, remain there and wait for further instructions. Don’t disappoint me, or the consequences will be severe…”. With those words, Drainer moved his laptop in front of him and began to write something, glancing from time to time on his little pony figures. Believing that it was all he had to say, Summer stood up and started to leave the room.

 

“Oh, and one more thing!” Drainer stopped her as she was about to leave. “If you’ll do everything as instructed, you may have a chance to get the year I took from you back. Now go.”

 

As soon as she was away from his sight, Summer found an empty room with a bed and sat on it. She finally started to understand that she was safe for now. She even had a slight chance to get her year back. She looked on the paper that Drainer gave her.

 

 

Name: Argon
Old name: Matthew Archerfish
Powers:

• Creation of cakes
• Flying
• Partial resistance to Epic powers

 

The paper specified other information, but those weren’t important, except for his new address. Now, Summer had to hurry, if she was to join Argon’s servants before he reaches his new home.

[Comatose]

 

Skinsaver tried his best to slow his breathing as his private car sped through the streets back to the clinic.  Even after all the time he had spent working for her, sometimes Rainmaker's complete and utter disregard for others still caught him off guard.  How DARE she threaten me.  Skinsaver heard his breath come out in a hiss, and resumed his exercises in an attempt regain the calm composure expected of a physician.  It was not that he did not deserve to be lived-after all, Rainmaker had the audacity not only to force him into a position he had no talent or desire for, but also to make him drive across the city to deliver a message that could have been sent by text, and to threaten him with that damned letter just because she could.  

 

To be fair, Skinsaver had to admit that he likely would have resisted more, or ignored the request had Rainmaker not forced him to come in person.  Even still, surely even the Queen of Corvallis could see the unfairness of tearing him away from his patients for the purpose of informing him that he would have less time to spend with them. I saved her from her prison.  I made her what she is.  How dare she do this to me!

 

If I come home like this I'll agitate the patients.  Skinsaver reached for his tablet, and began scrolling through his patient files, finding calm in his meticulous notations on the condition of each of his charges.  In minutes he felt his breathing return to normal as he returned to his routine.  

 

Any sense of normalcy was shattered by the sound of music in the distance.  

 

What in Calamity?  Skinsaver felt the blood drain from his already pale face as he realized who must be blocking his path.  Where did she find a sparking tuba and someone to play it?

 

"I'm sorry Sir, the road is blocked by some sort of parade.  We might need to wait a while."  

 

"Back up and go around.  I can't deal with that nonsense today of all days."  

 

"But sir, there are cars behind us..."  Traffic wasn't the same as it had been before Calamity, but Rainmaker's reign and Cornucopia's unique abilities had provided the city with enough luxuries to make Corvallis seem like a real city again.  Skinsaver slammed down on the button that lowered his window and looked out.  Seeing only a few other vehicles, he turned back to his driver.  

 

"Ram them, push them out of the way, drive on the sidewalk, I don't care!  Just get me away from that racket!"

 

 

 

Princess Genevieve Ornatia Oprah Delicious giggled with glee as her fledgling marching band played an instrumental verse.  She rode gracefully down the street on a gorgeous white horse.  Sebastien kept pace with her on a similar steed, holding her umbrella aloft to keep the rain off.  The Princess wasn't sure where the horses had come from, but she had wasted no time beautifying them as soon as they approached in response to her song.  The instrumental verse began to wind down, and the Princess cleared her throat, preparing to rejoin the song.  

 

"So we clean, clean, clean the streets,

and we mop up all the grime.

Many hands can make a lot of work,

take not a lot of time. 

Sooo, bend your backs and work your tools,

We'll make this city shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine....."

 

The Princess cut off suddenly as her small parade came to a halt.  Her workers in front of her began to whisper among themselves, pointing at the mess that was blocking their path.  

 

A different crew, likely under Queen Buttercup's command, was already gathering the bodies into piles.  Many of them had awful wounds, and some of them barely even seemed human even more.  Normally, a gruesome sight like this would be of no consequence, but without Euphoria's power, seeing the dead had a profound effect on the cleaning crew.  

 

"All right now everyone, there's no need to look so glum!  If we all work together, we can clean this mess up in no time.  Now, listen up."  The Princess snapped her fingers, giving Sebastien a silent signal to dismount and offer her a hand down.  Once she was safely back within the shade of her umbrella, she made her way to the front of the crowd to survey the scene more closely.  Even Buttercup's workers had paused for the moment, waiting to see what their Princess would do.  

 

Despite the rain, the bodies likely already had an unpleasant smell to them.  As the Princess approached, she could see the workers relax slightly as her aura of beautification replaced the foul smell with the scent of honey and roses.  One by one, the Princess touched a delicate finger to each of the piles.  With each touch, the heaps of bodies shifted and transformed.  Wounds knit back together, blood stains vanished, and clothing knit itself into an approximation of each person's best funeral attire.  

 

"All right then, I've done my part, now it's your turn!"  At her side, Sebastien brought out a pitch pipe, helping the background singers to find their note so they could oooh and aaah in tune with her lead vocals.  The crowd of people and animals around her seemed to hold their breath as one, waiting for the soothing effects of their princess's song.  

 

"Wheeeeeen the world gives you troubles,

You can't just stop and cry.  

You can help to make things better,

All you need to do is try!

 

So now, dig you diggers dig,

That park nearby will do.

You need to dig a grave that's 

big enough for fifty-two!

And then all the rest can come,

there are bodies here to haul.

We can make this street all right again

if you just give your all!

 

"Hit it boys."  Behind her, the band whirred into motion.  As they entered, the tempo of the song increased, shifting into a more upbeat melody.  A pack of rodents and dogs split off from the main group heading to the park.  Birds began to flit from pile to pile, searching the ground and pockets for valuables.  

 

"Who puts the 'fun' funera-al?"

 

"You, Prin-cess!"

 

 

"The speech is done, and I'd recommend delivering it soon so the field workers will hear it before reaching the fields.  I've already notified Broadcast to prepare the station for a radio announcement."

 

Rainmaker reached across the desk and began thumbing through the speech Buttercup had written for her.  Putting Skinsaver in his place had restored some of the confidence she had lost fighting foes she could not pin down.  "Excellent.  You've outdone yourself, Blossom.  Now let's get this over with so we can figure out who our enemies really are and destroy them."  A gesture was all it took to send a servant scurrying over to the window.  "We can discuss the details on the way, and rendevouz with Buttercup when we are done."  

[Blaze1616]

 

Blossom rose from her seated position, a smile on her face from the praise. She had always been good with speeches, it was one of the main reasons she got the Public Relations position. That and, of course, her charm. 

 

Straightening out her dress suit, her heels clacked against the hard floor of the hallway as she retrieved her umbrella. She wouldn't need it anymore, now that she was traveling with Rainmaker, but it was still her favorite umbrella. It simply made no sense to leave it behind, particularly since a replacement from Cornucopia would likely not be to her liking. 

 

Entering the office again, Blossom motioned for Rainmaker to lead the way. "After you, my Queen."

 

 

Buttercup stood under the canopy, watching the security personnel work. She had joined them, but was taking a short break, receiving word from GasMask that Bubbles was awake and enjoying a morning sketch. It was rather early for her sister to be up, though. Must be the nightmares. That poor gi-

 

An odd noise rose above the soft patter of rain. Buttercup scrunched her eyebrows, turning towards the noise. Slowly, but surely, the noise grew in volume, a deep dread rising from the pit of the Queen's stomach as she could start to make out lyrics.

 

Buttercup moved out from under the canopy as the security personnel began to crowd around. They were all likely excited for a chance to see one of Corvallis's more well known Epics in action. The Queen shoved her way to the front of the group, looking to the side to see a large procession of people, all in song. And at their front, on a pure white steed, sat their leader. Buttercup groaned, and let out a complaint. To her dismay, she didn't speak it, but sang it.

 

"Oh Calamity knows,

I'm not in the mood.

Please don't tell me

that it's Princess G.O.O.D."

 

Buttercup turned back towards the group of security officers, ready to spend the next hour supervising from a very long distance, when a guard interrupted her.

 

"Oh Queen Buttercup,

look at the time!

I'm here to tell you that

good and mood don't rhyme!"

 

Buttercup glared at the singing officer and punched him right in the nose. He hit the wet pavement with a whimper, clutching at his face as several other officers chuckled.

 

"When you first started singing,

I considered giving you a pass.

But then I realized

I'd rather kick your-"

 

Buttercup cut her song off, though, as the Princess got off her horse just a few feet away and started her group on cleaning up. The sweet scent of honey filled the air, and a small amount of bile rose through Buttercup's throat at the sight of the frilly Epic. Swallowing it back down, Buttercup shoved her way through the group of officers, desperately wishing to get away from the singing.
 

[Blackhoof]

 

 

The driver opened the small hatch leading to the passenger compartment, and Iconoclast mentally calmed the ghouls further. Without his influence, they would have been howling and hissing, reaching through the hatch to claw apart the driver. But that would have spoiled the surprise.

 

"Listen up, subjects! Our glorious queen is giving a speech!" The driver barked, and turned up the radio. The ghouls, of course, simply fidgeted silently, their faces twisting into masks of rage or hate, disregarding Rainmaker's speech entirely. As Rainmkaer's speech continued, the ghouls grew increasingly agitated, but Iconoclast held them in place. Shortly, as the speech drew to a climactic and inspiring close, the van pulled up, and the driver got out.

 

With no windows, Iconoclast relied on sound- he enhanced his hearing and he could hear the driver moving around to the back. Further away, he could hear other vans pulling up, and doors slamming.

 

The handles rattled as the overseer reached the door, and a column of light shone into the dark compartment as the doors opened. "Alright maggots-" The driver's rough bark was cut off abruptly as Iconoclast leaped out of the van and tackled him to the ground. The ghouls followed, all of them pouring out of the van and charging towards the lines of assembled workers and overseers. The overseer under Iconoclast struggled, first angry but quickly fearful as he saw the Epic's teeth grow into fangs and his fingers turn into talons.

 

"N-no! Please! You can't do this!" Iconoclast smiled, and gently stroked the overseer's cheek, listening to the screams of the workers and the howls of his ghouls. "I can do whatever... I.... want...." He raised a hand, readying the killing blow.

"No! Rainmaker promised us protection! She said we would be safe and secure!" The overseer squeaked, trying to escape, his baton beating Iconoclast's side feebly.

Iconoclast closed his hand into a fist, except for two fingers.

 

"Rainmaker lied!" With that, Iconoclast drove his two extended fingers into the overseer's eyes.

He stabbed straight through the eyes and the brain, and felt the tips of his talons scrape against the inside of the dead man's skull.

 

Iconoclast ripped his hand out in a spray of blood and grey matter, and rose to his feet. Labourers were running everywhere, retreating into the fields away from the slavering ghouls. Several had been brought down by the ravenous creatures already. With a cruel laugh, Iconoclast enhanced his legs and sprinted after the nearest group of fleeing workers, chasing down and turning one. They fled into the fields, dodging around stalks covered in canned goods. But with Iconoclast's peak-human physique and inhuman endurance, it was a futile effort. It wasn't long before another worker had been caught, Iconoclast grabbing his arm and holding tight for the mere few seconds it took to free the worker's mind. And then another was caught. And another.

 

And another.

 

...................................................

 

 

Adam frowned as he plucked another can of crushed tomatoes from the high, thin plant in front of him. All around him, organised into orderly rows with spaces in between for the pickers, were tall, thin stalks, all with a variety of consumer goods and foodstuffs spaced out across their branches and stems. This particular row was canned tomatoes.

 

"You know...." Adam began, as he turned and placed the can into the large cart being pushed along by his partner, Eric. Eric watched him do it, and planed another scratch on his clipboard. When the pair had reached the end of their assigned rows, they would return the cart to the depot, where the clipboard would be surrendered and the goods counted again. 

"What is it?" Eric asked, clearly uninterested.

"It's just that.." Adam continued, plucking another can from the plant. "Without Euphoria's happiness... It has sort of occurred to me how weird this is."

"Weird in what way?"

Adam squinted, and gestured to the can-covered plant, each can sprouting from a separate stem, as if it were a flower or apple. Eric looked thoughtful for a second, and said, "Hmm... I see your point."

 

Suddenly they heard screaming and shouting in the distance. They froze. "...what was that?" Adam asked, eyes wide

"P-probably nothing. Maybe the overseer's are killing someone? Maybe someone got uppity, like last night...."

"But there are a lot of screams... how many people could they be killing?" The screams sounded closer. 

"Maybe... a lot of people got uppity..."

 

They stayed there, frozen in fear, as the screams and shouts continued. A few gunshots sounded as well. "Gunshots?" Adam gasped. Overseers rarely carried guns- they had never needed them before. But they kept a supply in every van, in case of emergencies. "What the hell is going on?"

Eric gulped. "I think... we had better get out of here." Adam nodded, and both workers began backing away from the source of the sounds. Suddenly there was a shout, uncomfortably close, and a bestial growl. "RUN!" Eric roared. And they did.

 

It wasn't long though before they heard something behind them. Looking back, Adam saw shadows in the rows to either side of them, some of them gaining. Blind panic drove them forward, and more growls and screams began sounding all around them. Suddenly the stalks next to the pair exploded, and a bloody figure tackled Eric to the ground. The figure clipped Adam as he flew past, and he fell to the ground. For a moment Adam lost track of everything as his face smashed painfully into the mud, mud getting into his eyes, nose and mouth. As he spat and sputtered, Adam heard Eric crying out and struggling behind him. Adam finally cleared his eyes, and turned, trying to clamber to his feet. But he froze when he saw what was happening. 

 

The figure; a muscular, rag-clad man, covered in blood; knelt over Eric, one hand pinning down his arm and the other grabbing his chin. Eric had already stopped struggling, and at first Adam thought he had been choked to death. But the truth was far worse. In another second, Eric's eyes had gone from cloudy and unfocused to something.... alien. His eyes and face became twisted and enraged, and he opened his mouth and howled. The figure released him, and rose to his feet. 

 

The figure, which could only have been an Epic, turned to Adam and smiled. Its teeth were razors, and its eyes... there was nothing human left in them. Adam took a step back. The Epic leapt into action, and before Adam could react, he was on the ground, the Epic's claws pinning him into the mud. The Epic gripped Adam's chin, and looked deep into his eyes. Adam struggled, but he had no room to move, nowhere to go, no way to escape.

 

Suddenly he felt.... strange. His will to struggle vanished. Why struggle? Why fight? What was the worst that could happen?

The next second, he felt something begin changing within him. He felt the Epic in his mind, in his brain, changing something. Taking something away, or adding it; he did not know. But he didn't mind, either way. 

 

Then Adam began to forget things. He realised that he couldn't remember his life before Calamity. Then he forgot his time before Corvallis. And soon, Adam didn't even know where he was. Finally, he didn't know who he was. He couldn't remember his name. 

And that made him.... angry.

 

By the fifth second, he felt angry. He felt.... really angry. Angry at the whole world. All he wanted to do was make the world pay. Take revenge. The only one he wasn't angry at... was the Epic looking into his eyes. He heard growls. He wasn't angry at them either, for whatever reason. But everyone else... they would pay. They would die. The Epic let him go, and leapt off of him, sprinting away into the rows.

 

The thing that had been Adam Lambert, Corvallis resident, rose to its feet. It could smell blood. It could hear screams. The thing that had been Adam began stalking through the rows, looking for prey.  Hearing and smelling was not enough.

 

It wanted to taste them.

Edited August 22, 2015 by Blackhoof

[Comatose]

 

Rainmaker exited the broadcasting room, and was greeted by a crowd of assistants and attendants, all seemingly desperate for her attention.  Rainmaker frowned, trying to focus.  What was that about Gunsmoke going on a rampage?  More carnage in the streets from the strange gifting epic?  Something was going on in the fields?  

 

"ENOUGH!"  Unable to take it any longer, Rainmaker lashed out, sending everyone flying backwards into heaps on the ground with a burst of wind.  Her powers were always weaker indoors, but even then she was still a force to be reckoned with.  Computers were smashed against walls, and entire desks were turned over.  Broadcast himself crouched in a corner, silent for once as he cowered in the face of Rainmaker's anger.  Indeed, the entire room fell silent, finally giving Rainmaker some of the peace she desired.  

 

"Now, let's proceed in an orderly fashion, shall we?"  Rainmaker belatedly realized that her rage had caused her to shine brilliantly, likely blinding those closest to hear temporarily, and making it difficult for the others to focus.   Breathe deeply.  Control yourself.  Rainmaker took several deep breaths, repeating her mantra until the light subsided.  

 

"There we go.  Blossom, is Buttercup already on her way?  Go find out what's delaying her, and see that she gets her now.   I wish to speak with both of you as soon as we are done here.   Now, Candice, what's that you were saying about Gunsmoke?"  When no answer came, Rainmaker did her best to stifle her frustration.  "Candice?"  

 

"Apologies majesty."  Near the back, a man Rainmaker didn't know by name raised his hand.  "It's just that you... that is to say... Candice seems to be unconscious at the moment.  She hit her head against the wall."  

 

"Does she require medical attention?"  Rainmaker had no doubt that the servants would appreciate her show of concern for an underling's life, even though her only real concern was the headache having to fill yet another vacant position would cause.  

 

"She's breathing majesty, but she's still not responding."

 

"Very well.  Send for an ambulance, and take her to Skinsaver.  Tell him I want her fully recuperated and ready to work again by this afternoon.  For now, just get her out of here so that I can proceed with business."  Two other servants rose with the man who had spoke to carry Candice out of the room.  

 

"Now then, is there anyone here who is still in possession of their faculties who can tell me what in Calamity is going on with Gunsmoke?"

 

"He seems to have gone rogue, majesty."  The speaker was a young woman in the back of the room.  Her clothing and meek attitude marked her as a vanilla, but her thick-framed glasses reminded Rainmaker of Euphoria.  

 

"Go on."

 

The woman took a deep breath, apparently to steady herself, before giving a succinct but detailed description of Gunsmoke's recent actions and location.  When she finished, Rainmaker nodded to herself thoughtfully.  "What's your name?"

 

"My name?  My name is Charlene, Shining One, but I would be happy to be called anything else if it would please you."  Despite the fear evident in the woman's posture and in her eyes, she spoke confidently and her voice did not quiver.  

 

"And you worked with Candice?"   Rainmaker spoke softly, maintaining the fearful hush that had fallen about the room after her initial outburst.  Frightened eyes darted back and forth between her and Charlene, their owners fearing to breathe lest they draw Rainmaker's wrath upon themselves.  

 

"I'm the office secretary.  I took notes when a field agent made his original report to Candice."  

 

"A secretary, how wonderful.  I suppose that makes you good at paying attention, doesn't it.  I don't suppose you would happen to also know all the other things that seem to be acquiring my attention at the moment?" Rainmaker's tone shifted slightly, acquiring an edge of danger to it.  Idly, she lowered the temperature of the room slightly, sending chills down everyone's spines just for effect.  As she took a step towards Charlene, her skin began to shimmer again, letting off a dangerous glow.  "Go on Charlene, show me what you know."  

 

Charlene swallowed nervously, but when she started speaking her voice remained steady.  "Princess GOOD has commenced cleaning up the bodies left by an epic attack this morning, and I believe Queen Buttercup has prepared a full report on that attack.  The gentleman in the green over there should have more information if you require it.  Just as you finished your broadcast, we began receiving reports of a further disturbance in the fields, but have not had time to get accurate details.  Lord Broadcast can likely provide you with more information when it becomes convenient."  The entire spiel had been measured and calm, but delivered in a single breathe.  As she finished, Charlene took a moment to look up at Rainmaker before sending her gaze straight back the ground.  

 

"Is there anything else you require of me, Shining One?"

 

Rainmaker smiled, and reached out to cup Charlene's chin in her hand.  "Yes, there is one more thing.  Congratulations Char, you've just earned yourself a promotion.  You'll be attending me for the day, taking messages and compiling them, and then delivering them when the time is right.  Impress me as you have here, and the promotion could become permanent."  Rainmaker withdrew her hand and turned to face the rest of the crowd.  "Now, everyone can stop crouching on the floor like idiots, and get back to doing their bloody jobs.  Broadcast!  You in the green!  Both of you get over here and get me filled in."

 

*****

 

Fifteen minutes later, Rainmaker finally exited the station, Char following close behind her. Blossom, just hanging up her mobile, was waiting for them, standing next to a black limousine, which Rainmaker had gotten Char to call for soon after her promotion.

 

"Well?  Any word from your sister?  It seems our head of security is doing a particularly deplorable job of keeping the peace today, judging by how many messes I'm cleaning up for her.  Let's get this meeting over with so we can all get to work."  As Rainmaker stepped out of the building and into the rain, a small break opened in the clouds, letting down a bright ray of sunshine while creating an area of dryness in her immediate vicinity.  "Char, see about conferencing in Cornucopia, will you?  If there's a problem in her fields, she'll want to know about it."  

[Blaze1616]

 

The speech was, well, perfect. I usually don't like to toot my own horn, but I really out did myself this time! She beamed with pride, trying to nod to Rainmaker on a job well done. Unfortunately, everyone else in the room seemed to want the focus off of the well executed announcement regarding the events of the previous night. Blossom frowned as the frustration on Rainmaker's face grew. Oh boy...

 

"ENOUGH!" The Queen shouted, blasting the room with a shock wave of wind. Everyone in the room was thrown backwards, Blossom catching herself in the air using her powers and landing with her usual grace. She had to straighten out her suit top and skirt, though. A pang of fear shot through her as she turned to see her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was slightly disheveled, but nothing a few simple hand swipes wouldn't fix. She quickly ran her fingers through her hair as she looked around the room at all the cowering vanillas, her eyes coming to rest on Broadcast.

 

Fool. At least he wasn't too obnoxious when we arrived. The annoying Epic rightly obeyed Rainmaker, never giving their ruler any grief. When Rainmaker had entered the room, the man had been on his best behavior, not a single wise crack escaping his lips, lest he risk mocking her. Giving us a hard time is something he knows he can get away with, but Rainmaker's a whole other game.

 

"Now, let's proceed in an orderly fashion, shall we?" Rainmaker had begun speaking again, continuing to maintain her composure. "There we go. Blossom, is Buttercup already on her way?  Go find out what's delaying her, and see that she gets here now. I wish to speak with both of you as soon as we are done here."

 

Blossom turned to leave the room, hearing something about Gunsmoke on her way out. She quickly made for the entrance to the building, her heels clicking on the tile floor, pictures of Corvallis decorating the walls. Pulling her mobile out, she dialed her sister as she walked out into the rain, her umbrella unfolding in her other hand.

 

The phone rang through three long tones before a click revealed the line had been picked up. No one spoke from the other side, Blossom instead hearing music off in the distance. "Buttercup?" Blossom waited a long moment, but only silence greeted her. "Buttercup this isn't funny, are you there?"

 

A long groan came through the speaker, one that undeniably belonged to Buttercup. "Seriously, this isn't a game," Blossom scolded, "answer me!"

 

The music in the background seemed to stop, which was immediately followed by a very fast speaking Queen of Security "Oh thank CALAMITY! Blossom, this is Buttercup. I don't have a lot of time so speak quickly!" 

 

Blossom had never heard Buttercup speak so fast. "What's going on? Why do I need to talk fast?"

 

"No time for questions! What do you need?" Buttercup seemed frantic, her voice clearly strained.

 

"Okay," Blossom paused, "Rainmaker wants you to report as soon as possible. We're at the broadcast station, though we might be leaving before you get here. There also seems to have been other disturbances." The music in the background picked up again on the other end of the line, and Blossom could hear her sister groaning once more. "Are you almost done?"

 

The line was silent except for the music once more. "Buttercup!" Blossom yelled into the mobile. The response was a sigh, followed by the last thing she expected.

 

"The problems I already know

and I'm trying to go.

Can't you see

this is frustrating me?"

 

Blossom pulled the mobile away from her, covering the microphone end, and laughed for a solid minute. Buttercup hated singing, and the fact that she was right now was downright hilarious. Composing herself as best she could, Blossom lifted the mobile back to her face. "Why are you singing?" Her sister's voice was clearly upset, no doubt at the fact that Blossom had just spent a minute laughing.

 

"It's stupid Princess G.O.O.D.

her power I misunderstood.

Singing's what I must do

whenever she does too."

 

Blossom let out a few more laughs, not bothering to hide them from her sister anymore. A growl emanated from the mobile in her hands, though she didn't care. "Alright, well, listen then. As soon as your report is done, and you can get away, you should head over here. Rainmaker is beginning to lose her coo-" The call was terminated, Buttercup had hung up! Blossom opened her mouth to complain, but her voice was lost as a large plume of green light erupted from the north side of town, a small line of light shooting out of it. Well, just because she wanted to get out of there doesn't mean she can be rude!

 

 

Buttercup hung up on Blossom. She was done with the report, and had received the news about Gunsmoke  moments before Blossom had called. She scrambled around the canopy to find a report folder to protect the paper from the rain, and quickly scribbled on a spare piece of paper the words "YOU'RE IN CHARGE!" Gripping the sheet tightly in one hand, she walked up to one of the officers, tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, and slapped the paper to his chest. Offering the officer a reassuring nod, she grabbed the report, stepped out into the rain, and took off as fast as she could.

 

The singing slowly died off as she gained distance. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as the last notes disappeared. She took a deep breath of the moist air. Smells like freedom. She'd avoid that ever happening again if she could help it. 

 

Her mobile buzzed, a call from one of the officers. Buttercup answered to a frantic man speaking very quickly. "Queen Buttercup! The vanillas out in the fields! They're insane, not listening to anything we say, attacking and eating others! We need hel- AHHHHHHHHHH!"

 

Buttercup listened for a moment longer as the man screamed, something else on the line snarling as it attacked him. She hung up when the screaming was replaced by a squishy munching. Not another attack! What is going on today? First this morning, then Gunsmoke, and now another incident? I need to report to Rainmaker first.

 

 

Blossom tapped her heel as she watched her sister's approach. That's when Rainmaker burst from the building, Blossom closing her mobile to turn towards the Queen, a black limo pulling up as well.

 

"Well?  Any word from your sister?  It seems our head of security is doing a particularly deplorable job of keeping the peace today, judging by how many messes I'm cleaning up for her.  Let's get this meeting over with so we can all get to work. Char, see about conferencing in Cornucopia, will you?  If there's a problem in her fields, she'll want to know about it." Rainmaker seemed annoyed.

 

Blossom raised an eyebrow at the young woman behind Rainmaker, visibly trembling but nodding as she set to contacting Cornucopia. Blossom returned her gaze to Rainmaker. "Yes, Buttercup is actually on her way, arriving in a few seconds." She nonchalantly pointed north, the green line closing in. "It would seem she had finished her report just as I called, and had also just received word of other issues around town. I told her to come here first to speak with you."

 

At that moment her sister landed a few steps away, green light spraying the ground around her. Always one for quick landings. Blossom rolled her eyes.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Comatose]

 

"Excellent, then, let's get started, shall we?"  Rainmaker brushed passed the other Queens into the waiting limousine, and then beckoned for them to join her.  "Char, tell the driver to head towards Gunsmoke's church, on the corner of 25th and Tyler."  Gunsmoke's power had been enticing at first, and so Rainmaker had given him an entire church to call his own.  Since his arrival, he had proved to be of little use to her, and she would enjoy putting him in his place, and either killing him, or forcing him out of Corvallis.  

 

Rainmaker waited until Char joined the three Queens in the back of the limo before continuing.  "Char, is Cornucopia on the line?"  Char nodded and Rainmaker pressed forward, frustrated with how much time everything was taking.  Her skin was glimmering slightly in the relative darkness of the car.    "Buttercup, I'll review your report later.  Can you give me the gist of it now?"  Rainmaker did her best to listen patiently as Buttercup gave her report.  It would seem that the epic who had attacked citizens that morning was the same gifter who had attacked the rally the night before.  I will make whoever they are wish they had never heard of Corvallis.  

 

"From the sounds of things, the same epic is now attacking our fields.  The attacks always seem to be concentrated in certain areas, which means the epic we are dealing with likely needs to get close to his victims in order to gift them and drive them mad."  Proximity was a common limitation on the ability to gift powers, and one Rainmaker intended to exploit.  "I should be able to handle gunsmoke on my own for the moment.  Buttercup and Cornucopia, I want you two to head out to the fields and see if you can track the gifter down.  At the very least, try to pen him into a certain area, and prevent him from slipping away.  Cornucopia, take a helicopter if you need to, but get there quickly."   Out in the fields, Corncopia would be at her most powerful, and she stood the best chance at catching their elusive foe.  "Buttercup, take what forces you think you will need, and use Chase, if you can track her down.  I will arrive to reinforce you once I've dealt with Gunsmoke."  

 

"Blossom, I want you two work on keeping the city stable, while doing what you can to track down Euphoria's captor.  His name is Insight, and he has the power to turn both incorporeal and invisible, and might be able to do more than that.  Jumpdrive has prepared a file on him, and I'll have him send it to all of you."  As she spoke, Rainmaker took out her mobile and began typing a short message to Jumpdrive, instructing him to send his file on Insight to all of the Queens.  "Work with Jumpdrive and see what you can find.  Update me if you uncover more information.  When we are done in the fields, I will send Chase to assist you.  I also want you keeping an eye on Broadcast.  We need to keep the city calm.  Have him broadcast hourly messages with some of our PR material, with reminders that Euphoria's power will return when the citizens prove themselves worthy."

 

"Lastly, I've appointed Skinsaver to be Euphoria's replacement for the time being.  With the assistance of Euphoria's staff, he will be overseeing the coordination of human resources and the general administration of the city.  All inquiries and requests that would normally be sent to Euphoria can be sent to him, or to prominent members of Euphoria's staff."  The car turned a corner, and Rainmaker could sense they were getting close to Gunsmoke's supposed location.  "All right then, we are almost here.  Any questions ladies?"  Rainmaker still bristled at how much she was having to do herself, but delegating jobs to the other Queens helped to calm her slightly.  Hopefully, dealing with Gunsmoke would give her a much needed opportunity to vent her frustrations. 

[Blackhoof]

 

Gunsmoke reviled in his dominance.

 

Thick, black smoke rolled in all directions, and he swum through it like a shark through the sea. No-one was around anymore. Most had fled. The unlucky ones had been shot, and were now nothing but smoke. The unluckiest ones had gotten away too slowly, and had choked to death in his smoke- their bodies littered the streets, eyes bulging and mouths agape.

 

Gunsmoke solidified in front of a building- some vanilla share house- and shot the door into pieces. Splinters flew, turning into black smoke as they scattered. His smoke flowed inside, and so did he. The vanillas were hiding in the basement- easy to find, an obvious hiding place. He even recognized some of them as bullets turned their terrified faces into mist. This is how he would do it, he decided. Kill enough vanillas, and Corvallis would collapse. The Queens could not hurt him, could not touch him.

 

He broke into another house- a share house again- and executed every human he found.

 

No-one could touch him, or stop him. 

 

He would continue until Rainmaker surrendered control of Corvallis to him, and the Queens all swore their allegiance to him.

 

Yes. He thought to himself, as he executed another house full of servants. They won't laugh when I tear their city down around them!

 

Outside, he heard something- a car pulling up. Gunsmoke smiled, and left the house, seeing what he knew would be Rainmaker's vehicle further down the road. "Rainmaker!" He yelled. "Come out and face me, coward! Your precious humans are nothing but dust before me!" He pointed his gun at her car and let off a few warning shots. "YOU are nothing but dust before me! Surrender or I will kill them all!"

[Voidus]

Cornucopia narrowly avoided sighing into the handset that one of her butlers was holding for her. Phones were such dreary affairs, breaking the serene peace of her garden just as easily as actual conversation but with none of the social enjoyment of actually connecting with someone. No way to read facial expressions or predict emotions. Tone was all she had to rely on and it had never been her strong suit.

"If you wouldn't mind letting a patch of sunlight through to the fields I'll deal with it straight away." She said.

She lamented the loss of her peaceful morning, but then the fields were hers too. Anyone who attacked the fields was attacking her and she would not see that kind of aggression go unanswered.

One of the maids arrived, curtsying before telling her in a near whisper that the transport was ready.

Standing up, Cornucopia began to glide out of the door, switching the call from the old fashioned telephone in the reception area to her mobile. Regrettably she even had to hold the cursed thing with her own hands.

"I'm on my way now." She stated into the mouthpiece as she approached the helicopter, a noisy mode of transport and one utterly unsuited to the kind of grace she usually demanded but sacrifices had to be made for speed and it did have a certain dramatic flair.

"Ten minutes tops." The pilot screamed over the roaring of the blades through the air. Cornucopia tuned out both blades and pilot as she entered, taking an uncomfortable seat and raising the mobile to one ear again.

[Blackhoof]

 

 

The overseer screamed.

 

Iconoclast simply smiled as he dragged the struggling, uniformed figure out from among the plants where he had been hiding, and roughly threw him to the ground. "No no no!" The overseer raised a handgun, firing wildly at the Epic from his prone position. Despite his panicked state, many of the bullets hit, knocking Iconoclast back. The overseer fired again and again.

 

Click. Out of ammo.

 

The bullets were pushed out of Iconoclast's body by his healing, and they fell into the mud with soft squelches. Iconoclast simply righted himself, and leant toward the overseer with an outstretched talon. "No please-" The overseer's cries were muffled as the feral Epic's hand covered his face, and they stopped altogether in a second. By the fifth second, the overseer was shaking with rage, and he sprang to his feet as Iconoclast released him. A new ghoul ran off to join the others in the fields, hunting down the workers that had fled. It had gotten a lot quieter in the last ten minutes. Now there was barely a scream echoing from far away. People could run far in ten minutes.

 

Unfortunately for them, both Iconoclast and ghouls could run faster.

 

"I think my work here is done." The Epic muttered. "Time to head back into town." With that, he jogged over to a dead overseer, removing their uniform and changing into it. It had some bloodstains but that was easy enough to explain away. The uniform didn't quite fit, but a few subtle changes to his physique accommodated that easily. He hopped into the nearest van, and started it up. The engine chugged to life with a growl. It had been a while since he had driven anything like this, cars being hard to come by these days, but like riding a bike, you never forgot how to drive.

 

So he reversed, ignoring the soft bumps that he was sure were bodies, and drove away from the fields and back into Corvallis. 

[Blaze1616]

 

Blossom eyed the main Queen of Corvallis. Skinsaver? Over me? A heat of anger brewed in her chest alongside a cold disappointment. She managed to keep both emotions from her face, choosing instead to focus on the task she was given, finding this Insight.

 

Her brain began buzzing. Both invisible and incorporeal? How am I supposed to find him? Being invisible means camera's won't see him, and incorporeal should mean there's no heat signatures either. Blossom's thoughts were ripped away when the door to the moving limousine opened, wind whipping at her hair.

 

A jolt of fear ran through her as she shot a death stare at the one who opened the door, her sister. Buttercup nodded to Rainmaker as she said, "You got it. I'll keep you posted of any major updates." Buttercup then offered Blossom an apologetic smile before sliding out the door, flying alongside the limo to close it before taking off.

 

Blossom immediately pulled out her brush, running it through her hair. "Insufferable..." she muttered under her breath. Once her hair was fixed to a tolerable level, she gave a glance to Rainmaker. "I do have one question." She paused as she put her brush away. "Do you know if our city surveillance is equipped with thermal imaging?"

[Comatose]

 

"I'll open up the clouds as soon as I leave the car.  Thank-you Cornucopia."  Rainmaker motioned for Charlene to hang up the mobile, and then turned to nod to Buttercup as she left the vehicle, leaving her alone with Blossom once again.  

 

"That would be a question for Jumpdrive..."  Rainmaker was interrupted before she could fully answer Blossom's question by the sounds of shouting and gunshots.  Gunsmoke!  It would seem that it was time for her to put the useless layabout back in his place.  "I'll check in with you later, Blossom.  See that the driver gets Charlene back to my offices safely, would you?"  

 

Not wanting to go through the awkward shuffling needed to exit the back seat of a car, Rainmaker simply rolled down the window a little, and then burst into her cloud form.  After slipping out the window, she re-materialized several feet off the ground, where she found Gunsmoke waiting for her.  The air was thick with his smoke, and Rainmaker had to whip up a small wind around herself to keep her lungs clear.  He actually thinks he can stand up to me.  

 

"Dust, before you am I?  Really Gunsmoke, I always knew you were lazy, but I never took for an idiot."  Thunder rumbled in the sky, and the rain began to intensify a bit.  Rainmaker's skin shone brightly in anticipation for the battle ahead.  

 

They moved at the same time, as if they were dance partners and not foes beginning a battle.  Gunsmoke fired, but Rainmaker ignored his bullets, working the winds as she burst back into cloud form.  After firing a few more shots, Gunsmoke realized his attacks were having no effect against her, and he tried to escape, slipping back into his smoke form.  As he did, Rainmaker shifted back from her cloud form and intensified her winds, holding Gunsmoke in place while gathering the rest of his smoke so he could not materialize in another area.  Soon the area was clear, except for a roiling dark cloud of smoke that Rainmaker held in place with a sphere of wind.  The smoke was so concentrated that it was difficult to see whether Gunsmoke was trying to shift out of his smoke form or not, but Rainmaker was confident that she could hold him in place regardless.  

 

Concentrating, Rainmaker rose into the air, bringing the sphere of wind and smoke with her.  Once she reached a sufficient height, she opened up the clouds over the area where the attack was supposedly going on, fulfilling her promise to Cornucopia.  

 

"Well Gunsmoke, while I would love to spend the day with you, making you see the error of your ways, I'm afraid I have other things to attend to.  Your just desserts will have to wait for another time, but believe me, you will get what you deserve in due time."  Rainmaker anchored her winds containing Gunsmoke high above the city, and then placed protective winds blowing outwards all around him so that curious flyers could not get too close.  She would leave him there until she could find a suitable holding facility for him underground somewhere.  Then, her analysts could run test on him until they discovered his weakness and put him down like the rabid dog he was.

 

Rainmaker lowered herself a ways until she could no longer hear the roaring of the winds containing Gunsmoke, and then took out her mobile.  "Cornucopia, Buttercup, what is your status in the fields?  I have Gunsmoke under control for the moment."  

[the winter system]

 

Chase's headache was getting worse. All those stupid screams. All the time. Couldn't they just die already? Didn't they just realize it hurt? Or at least, try to shut up while dying? 

 

Normally the occasional death wouldn't be loud enough for her, but all of them together was making her head ring! Ugh! Chase hit her head against a pillow.

 

"I need an ibuprofen." Chase moaned. "Ow."

 

"Headache?" The vanilla asked, sympathetically. Fake sympathy. 

 

Shut. Up. 

Chase spun around to the vanilla. She was really annoyed with all the stupid vanillas - stop screaming - and the sass from this vanilla was too much. Seriously. Usually Chase was nice enough as she really didn't need her backup looking for ways to suicide, but she'd been dealing with too many screams. She thought she might be going nuts. 

 

Chase grabbed command of the vanilla and she made them slap themselves. Again and again. Chase jumped in and out right as the pain hit.

 

"Ow!" The vanilla screamed. 

 

"Now shut up." Chase hissed. "I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Because I was woken up by screams. So, don't you dare scream too." 

 

Usually I don't take command of this many vanillas in one day... She thought. It always put her in a bad mood. 

 

Whatever.

 

Chase's mobile buzzed. 

Right, Rainmaker's speech. Chase had heard some of that too via some vanillas, but it was mostly drowned out by the. vanillas. screaming. If Chase took command, their would be far less screaming. Except being in command lead to everyone dying. So, then, yes. There would indeed be screams in Chase's reign. Ugh. She reached for the mobile. 

 

The Epic that captured Euphoria's name is Insight. He can go incorporeal and invisible... Chase skimmed the rest of the file. It was a text from Jumpdrive. Then, a message from Rainmaker. So she was to help keep the city calm and also find Euphoria? Which she had been trying to do. Her kidnapper was obviously an Epic. No vanillas had seen her either. 

 

Less screams? Excellent. Hopefully she'd be able to murder some of these stupid vanillas- wait, no. This wasn't Chase. She was more... subdued, usually. Her mood was seriously terrible. What was she doing? Chase breathed in and out, slowly. It didn't really help, no matter what they said.

 

 

They were all dead, anyway. 

Her fault...

Chase stopped the way she was thinking. Now, what was I saying? She wondered. Keep the city calm. Right. Where was Blossom? She checked through the Tagged vanillas who weren't screaming (good vanillas). 

 

Her driver. 

 

Chase isolating the Chain and pulled herself to it. Not in person, it was too dangerous. She simply took control of the driver. 
 

"Blossom!" She called in her voice. "I'm here! It's Chase, by the way." She waved. "So, where are we going again? The mobile text didn't say enough." 

[Voidus]

Watching the clouds part in front of her with a sense of satisfaction, Cornucopia looked out the window to the fields below. A lone van was fleeing the scene back towards the city. Scared citizens who managed to escape? Or perhaps more of those... things trying to spread the destruction back into the city?

"Call Rainmaker and Buttercup let them know about that van, see if Chase can tell if there are any of ours in there." Cornucopia said, or rather yelled as gently as she could, to her pilot.

Thrusting the door open she stepped outside into the air, the sunlight caressing her skin made her feel nearly invulnerable but she knew from experience that she still looked down, jumping to the ground seemed unwise, the sunlight streaming onto her skin assured her that she would survive the fall easily but the workers had spread out quite a bit, too far for her to chase down on foot and it would seem most unsightly for her to run through her fields looking for these terrors.

As the copter flew near enough to the first group of fleeing citizens she got her first look at their attackers, something seemed not entirely human about them, the way they ran, their speed greater than anyone who wasn't an Epic should be capable of. Capturing the assailants was barely worth the effort, a thrust of her power as they flew over and nearby vines tore themselves up to entangle their roots and branches into the flesh of the madmen, she began to snap their necks with some of the sturdier branches before realizing that they should probably keep a few alive to see what they knew. 

Flying in a wide arc around the fields she managed to capture most of them, a few had miraculously managed to tear her vines to pieces before she could completely immobilize them, those she destroyed completely, leaving nothing but a bloody mass of thorns as she expressed her displeasure.

She had to capture the fleeing civilians as well, they'd been unable to recognize that they were now safe and the fools had kept running.

We need Euphy back now before this insanity spreads any farther.

Turning to her pilot again, Cornucopia grimaced in distaste, she did loathe having to yell her instructions like this.

"Head back towards the city, if anyone escaped we can track them down later but none of these seemed any more powerful than the others, they've all been Gifted to but there's no indication of the source they've either left through some other power or they're in that van."

[Blaze1616]

 

Buttercup streaked towards the fields. She'd had to stop by one of the police stations to gather some officers before heading out. As she approached, she could make out a helicopter, no doubt containing Cornucopia.

 

The rain suddenly stopped, the beautiful Corvallis sky opening up above her. She took a brief, selfish moment to shake some of the water out of her hair as her mobile buzzed. She took in the contents of the message, glancing to the highway to see that there was a lone van moving along, heading towards the city.

 

Buttercup looked out to the fields, watching as the plants moved, snatching up all the moving humans below. From this height, Buttercup couldn't tell which ones were rabid and which ones weren't. Dialing her mobile, she needed Chase's help. She needed to know who was in that van; Epic, vanilla, or one of those monsters.

 

 

Blossom nodded as Rainmaker took her vapor form, slithering out the window to deal with the rogue Epic. Rolling the window up again, Blossom looked over the vanilla left in the cab with her. She let out a soft sigh, the sides of her mouth slightly rising.

 

"You're a rather nervous mess, aren't you?" Blossom clicked her tongue as she shook her head. "You've shot up the rankings, there's nothing to be nervous about. Just make sure you don't screw up, or piss her off. She'll kill you then."

 

Blossom cut off as the window separating the cab from the driver rolled down. The driver eyed her in the mirror before blurting "Blossom! I'm here! It's Chase, by the way. So, where are we going again? The mobile text didn't say enough." 

 

"Just the Queen I wanted to see!" Blossom pulled out her mobile. "First head to Rainmaker's HQ so we can drop off this one." She gestured with her head to the young lady she had just been taunting. "Then we'll head over to the broadcast station. I'm contacting Jumpdrive right now."

 

She typed into the mobile like mad. "Thank you for the information Jumpdrive. This is Queen Blossom. Are our surveillance cameras set up with thermal imaging?"

 

 

[18th Shard]

                                                                                      

Jumpdrive's mobile buzzed as he steered his toy helicopters into place. One watched the mass of once-Gunsmoke, the other watching the fields and the demons there. Why do my cameras keep getting busted? he asked, watching as one of the ground cameras in the field was smashed by a crazed worker. Jumpdrive glanced down at the text - "Thank you for the information Jumpdrive. This is Queen Blossom. Are our surveillance cameras set up with thermal imaging?" - from Queen Blossom. Texting back a quick, "Not yet, excepting a few in key locations - Rainmaker's office, my office, and a few particular cells, and one I set up watching that energy Epic," Jumpdrive smiled as he thought of the nice new cameras with thermal and ultrasonic lenses he'd be getting from Knighthawk soon. He began tinkering with a few data tables, trying to identify where the Epic who'd caused this came from. The cameras had seen workers, mutated ones, charge from the van, one in particular who could change the vanillas to beasts, but there didn't seem to be any faces his recognition software identified. Downloading the owner's manual for some new camera mounts and a cool new helicopter, Jumpdrive look for a DVD to insert into one of the  computers. How about, um, the second Avengers movie? It's got so many awesome things. He sat down and began to play the video, barely paying attention to the ensuing chaos. 

[Comatose]

Rainmaker turned towards the fields as soon as she received Cornucopia's message. True, it was entirely possible that the van just contained a frightened human, fleeing for their life, but said human's life would be a small sacrifice to make in return for a chance to catch the elusive gifter who was plaguing the city with these freakish monsters.

As she sped through the air, Rainmaker could not help but grow frustrated with the speed limit on her flight ability. She could travel faster by shifting into cloud form and travelling on the winds, but doing so would make her unable to receive any further transmissions from the other Queens. Despite her impatience, Rainmaker knew that at this stage in the game, information was more important than speed. If she was lucky, Buttercup would reach the van first, and already have the situation well in hand. If that was the case, perhaps she could find time for an afternoon massage.

"Chase, we need confirmation about the occupants of that van! What can you tell us?"

[the winter system]

"Chase, we need confirmation about the occupants of that van! What can you tell us?" Rainmaker's voice was annoying and demanding- High Epics - but Chase sighed. She hadn't decided to run yet. She'd need to deal with Rainmaker and do her job until she either decided to run or decided to - nope. Too dangerous.

 

She still occupied the body of the driver. She'd need to ditch him if she was going to figure out what the contents of that van which they were chatting about were. 

 

"Guys, warning. You may or may not be in a spot of chaos as I let go of the driver. Hope you guys are okay with almost crashing!" Chase smiled and tapped out. She gave the driver a nudge from the distance to give them a little freak out but not enough they'd actually crash. Chase smiled. There were benefits to her abilities. Even if they did paint a huge target on her back. Reckoners...  She thought with a shiver.

 

No, they wouldn't hit me. Rainmaker is protective of me, even more so since Euphoria disappeared. Rainmaker would kill them all. She smiled an uncertain smile. She looked through the eyes of one of the few vanillas in the fields still alive and unturned. The van they were talking about was still in sight. 

 

It was moving by itself. There wasn't a Tagged vanilla in it. 

 

Could it be someone who'd come in illegally? Or was it, perhaps, an Epic? Or turned? She estimated where the van had been. No, she hadn't felt a break from that van. It was almost certainly an Epic. She took the vanilla whose eyes she was looking at. More precision detail view followed. 

 

There was someone in there. They were driving the van so it didn't seem like it was a monster. 

 

Chase dropped out of the vanilla and responded via mobile. 

 

"Rainmaker, it's an Epic. Shoot them." Then she popped back into the body of the driver and gave the other occupants of the car a grin. "Miss me, much?"