What Happened in The Dalles

[Edgedancer he/him]

A bit of radio static caught Shiny Sparkles attention. She saw a group of five people, at the front a freckled woman speaking into a radio. "Glass to Arsenal. You are not pinning that one on me."

Glass, was looking at her rather worried and the rest of her group seemed to pick up on that. A pair of blonde twins behind her turned hostile almost immediately, one of them picking up a shard of glass and pointing it at her.

 

“Now now, I´m just here to help you with your flying pig problem, so there´s no reason to be aggressive.” Shiny Sparkle remained relaxed while talking; not paying much mind to the weapons pointed at her and casually surveyed the rest of the group, as she continued talking, “Anyway, the only thing that you´ll manage to do with that is cut yourself. I would say that glass is useless but that would be tactless, wouldn´t it?”

 

The other members of the group were two soldiers that still seemed a bit perplexed by the situation and lastly a scrawny man that apparently took the chance offered by her teleportation to jump back into the building and was now cowering behind the doorframe, a nice pair of pink sunglasses sitting on his nose.

 

A Cheshire cat smile spreading across her face and she teleported next to the sunglasses wearer, where she grabbed him by laying an arm across his shoulder, not giving him a chance to colorful sparks erupting next to him, “Calamity, communication broke down after that Koschei guy took charge here but why did no one tell me that there was such a nice pair of sunglasses here. Say, does that whole pig thing happen often around here?”    

[mail-mi he/him]

Thanks to Seonid for all of Ironmonger's dialogue and other descriptions!

 

Miner walked through the hallways of the City Hall--which, ironically, had more than one hallway.

 

Though, it didn’t really have much more than hallways. It was a bit shabby, and old, run-down building, pre-Calamity by the looks of it. Miner grunted with distaste as he examined the pictures of famous vanillas in the town. He was beginning to have a hard time believing this Ironmonger was as powerful as he’d heard. Why, if he was the Epic version of Magneto, as he’d been told by a nerdy-looking passing vanilla, did he stay in this drab of a place?

 

Miner followed the screams. It sounded like...a begging woman? Miner’s lips curved into a half-smile. At least Ironmonger seemed to know how to treat vanillas. Still.... Miner began to craft a deep tunnel under the city hall, but far enough under the surface that the building had no chance of collapsing the tunnel...unless Miner deemed otherwise. If Ironmonger didn’t turn out as the people had said, Miner would not hesitate to sink the whole building and take over Ironmonger’s budding empire.

 

He reached the place where he assumed the screaming was coming from--the main audience room. He threw open the door, startling the pair of guards who stood sloppily to attention as he entered. One fell down in surprise. The other moved as if to challenge him, then stopped. The ring of stone around Miner’s arm was a dead giveaway that he was an Epic, and this vanilla obviously wanted nothing to do with challenging Epics.

 

The screaming was coming from a short, rather attractive woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. She was kneeling before a tall, powerfully built man with jet-black hair and a cruel expression on her face. If this wasn’t enough to identify the ruler of the city, the hair ornaments levitating more than a foot above her head, yanking her face up at an uncomfortable angle, certainly did. Two more guards held a gagged child up against the wall. It looked to be about two years old.

 

Ironmonger turned to look at the new disturbance, then turned his attention back to the unfortunate woman. “I have no use for a woman who betrays me. One who seeks attention from lesser men.” His voice was gravelly, rasping in a cruel cadence.

 

“Please. My lord. It is as I said. The child is from before you came here. I haven’t seen the father in years. Please! I am faithful! Believe me!” The woman’s voice grew more and more desperate as she spoke. Ironmonger cut her off with a curt wave of his hand.

 

“I do not wish to hear your feeble lies any longer, woman! It is time you learned the penalty for betrayal.” With another gesture, her hair ornaments flew backwards, dragging her by the hair until she hit the far wall with a crash, hanging a foot above the ground. The necklace around her neck cut into her skin, pushed by the awesome force of Ironmonger’s power. Her hands went to her neck, trying hopelessly to pull off the necklace. Her face began to turn blue, and her feet began to kick against the wall, drumming a frantic rhythm. Ironmonger watched for a long moment, then turned to face Miner as the drumming feet began to slow.

 

“Who are you, and what are you doing in my presence?”

 

Miner grinned, looking back at the woman stuck on the wall. He looked back at Ironmonger, then knelt on one knee and bowed his head. He held that position for a second, waiting while he refilled the hole beneath the city hall. Ironmonger was definitely just like the people had said. He looked up at the emperor. His emperor. “I come to offer my...humble services to you, great Ironmonger. I wish to join your conquest, as I have...” He lifted his stone-encased stump, rotating it and pretending to examine it. “...revenge to enact.”

 

Ironmonger smiled a cruel smile, and motioned for the guards standing nearby to ungag the child. He immediately started whimpering. “There appears to be a child in my court who recently lost his mother. Normally I wouldn’t care, but I find the incessant noise disturbing. As a demonstration of both your powers and your loyalty, would you please excise the disturbance? And find a proper place for that piece of filth.” He motioned toward the body still hanging on the wall, pinned by her jewelry.

 

“Why, of course I can.” Miner stood up and faced the child first. He slowly opened up a hole underneath the boy, a hole that reached as deep as he could go. The rocks beneath the room rumbled as they shifted out of the way, shaking the city hall as if there was an earthquake. The child screamed as he plummeted into the glowing red hole, and Miner sealed it up before any magma could escape to the surface.

 

That annoying, little thing taken care of, Miner stalked over to the woman’s body. A pretty little thing, Miner was almost regretful that she’d had to be killed, but she was better dead than rebellious. He carefully crafted a coffin of stone just beneath the ground, then waited for Ironmonger to drop his hold on her. Moments later, she slumped into the small hole, and Miner buried it deep down underneath the ground

 

He turned back to Ironmonger and smiled, going down onto one knee again. Ironmonger nodded curtly. “He’ll do,” he said to the guards, who stood down reluctantly. “Whatever your name is, Epic, I accept you as my vassal. If you will attend me in the morning, there will be a war meeting. We plan the invasion of The Dalles, as soon as our forces can be ready to strike.”

 

“It’s Miner, my Lord,” Miner said, standing up slowly. “And I would be...glad to be your vassal.”

 

Ironmonger smiled. “Welcome to the Iron Empire, Miner.”

Edited December 22, 2014 by mail-mi

[Mailliw73 he/him]

As Frequency stood atop the old apartment building, he watched the panda attacks take place. He kept the national guard's radio frequency in his mind as well, listening to their panic as they were attacked. The black and white bears had sent in flying pigs with baskets of angry squirrels. The Epic in charge of this assault had style, Frequency admitted. An assault of animals. The more he deliberated whether or not to contact and join him, the more he realized that this panda would likely want to populate this city with his black and white brethren and he was obviously more than capable of taking the city.

Frequency decided that he would first need to help the government of the Dalles defeat this panda Epic before he would destroy them to claim this city again for Koschei. He'd need some assistance to do that though. He had made some friends in various nearby cities when he had been hiding out after Koschei's death. He used his mobile to contact three of them. They had formed a sort of triumvirate of rule in a triangle around the Dalles. Blitz in Wasco, to the east, Terraform in Wishram to the north, and Canis in Hood River to the west. All three ruled their small towns, nothing much, but then, their powers weren't superior to many Epics. They worked together to govern their territory. None of them had wanted to take on the Dalles, first with Koschei's powerful rule and then with Vondra's steel grip on the city. With Frequency's help though, they could be enough to take over the city.

Blitz would be the last one here, most likely. His powers weren't suited to quick transportation. He'd have to drive here. He could summon lightning from the sky or shoot bolts from his hands, which made him the most combat suited of the three Epics. He was in charge of defenses and the militia of the three cities.

Terraform could manipulate dirt. As long as it was fairly fine, she could control it. She occupied the city just north of the Dalles, across the river in Washington. She was the leader and coordinator of the trio.

Canis was a speed Epic. He could move up to 150 miles per hour. He could also track anyone who's blood he had touched before. It was a requirement in Hood River, his city, for Canis to touch every person's blood. Hood River being next to the river, he was fast enough to run on the surface of the water and go quickly between the cities. He was in charge of communication between the three Epics and their towns. He knew exactly where Frequency was and so he'd be the one to get all three to Frequency's building.

Frequency kept watching the city's battle as a colorful explosion happened somewhere to the west of his location. He had seen that before. Shiny Sparkle from Dallesport. He had been to that city briefly after Koschei's death. He had seen her in action a couple times, but never interacted with her.

Frequency smelled a slight unpleasant stench of blood, dirt, and electricity. He turned to see Canis shutting the door to the roof after Blitz and Terra came up. He had, Frequency assumed, brought the two other Epics into the city with his speed so that the guards would miss them.

"Hello, friends. Pleasure to see you again," Frequency greeted the trio. He kissed Terra's hand and smiled at the two male Epics.

Canis's grin, which bothered most people, spread across his face as he spoke, "'Sup, Freq. We're taking the Dalles now?"

"Canis, patience. We don't all move at such fast speeds. Frequency, it is wonderful to work with you again," Terra said. She was the rational one of the three.

Frequency smiled at the woman. "It's okay. Canis, yes we are. The Dalles will come under our rule soon enough. But first, there's a new Epic here who thinks he can take this city as his own. He has an army of pandas, flying pigs, and squirrels. Some type of animal control or manipulation is likely his powerset. Once we drive him out of town, then we can take this city from the pathetic humans that attempt to control it."

"Sweet!" Canis said. "Let's get to it."

"First, we need to let these vanillas know we're here and we aren't under their control," Blitz said, speaking up for the first time. He had sparks of electricity jumping between his fingers and looked ready for battle, or maybe like he had just come out of battle. His shirt was singed and his face was burned. He had long ago shaved his head to stop his hair from burning and singeing when he summoned lightning. He wasn't harmed by his lightning, but his clothes didn't get the same protection and the heat still gave him slight burns.

"I agree," Frequency smiled. "Will you do us the honors, Blitz?" Blitz nodded and his hands reached into the air. The sky above darkened as grey storm clouds gathered. A bolt of lightning struck in front of the building the four Epics were standing on. All of them had their ears covered as an almost instantaneous clap of thunder followed. They uncovered their ears as Blitz shot twin lightning bolts from his hands to the north, frying pigs in the sky. Terra joined in this spectacle, raising up dirt that was gathered at the base of the building. She created a wall of it in front of them. She then sent out tendrils, each grabbing pigs out of the air and smashing them to the ground.

"Well done, my friends," Frequency said. "That will let them know that we're here and that we don't care for these pandas either. Now, humans that die during this battle are insignificant, but avoid killing the Epics of the Dalles. They may be useful to us."

All three nodded and Canis burst off, ready to fight. Terra smiled at Frequency as she used some dirt to carry her to the ground. Only Blitz was left with Frequency. "Let's go get these guys," Blitz said grimly. Frequency nodded and headed towards the ground floor of the building.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

 "Anything else? I don't really know anything about the city, besides a few names." 

Reflection thought a moment then  gestured to a chair.

 

"Lift that and place it on the other side of the room without damaging anything if you can. After we will proceed to an alley a short distance from here where Busdriver will create a bus that you are to destroy. You must be aware that there are guards and mutants about, and if you attract their attention you will with them alone. If you are captured or killed, then you are unworthy to join us. We will return here afterwards. You will maintain professionalism at all times. Have I been perfectly clear?"

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

 

No sooner had Autumn sent what could very well be her last words over the radio, she lost control. One of the twins lifted a shard of glass and brandished it like a weapon, the other shifting into a fighting stance; the sparkling newcomer smiled, oblivious to the two assault rifles aimed at her; and Backtrack appeared to silently beg Calamity for the power to sink through the floor and disappear. 

 

“Now now, I´m just here to help you with your flying pig problem, so there´s no reason to be aggressive.” She nodded to the bit of glass, unfazed by it or the weapons. “Anyway, the only thing that you´ll manage to do with that is cut yourself. I would say that glass is useless but that would be tactless, wouldn't it?”

 

Autumn knew her first duty was to determine what sort of threat the newcomer posed. She wasn't supposed to care about her reputation, or how this would look when performance reviews rolled around, or what Arsenal would say when he heard she'd been murdered by an Epic whose shirt would make a four-year-old girl squeal with glee. But with two trained soldiers toting potentially useless weapons and three dangerous Epics who knew it, Autumn had different priorities. 

 

With one hand, she reached for her pocket. Her fingers brushed the recording chip she'd taken from her office and turned it on. If she released pressure on the button for more than a minute, the recording would be automatically transmitted to the nearest base, which could then send for backup. ​Wait—what's the nearest base? We're closer to Dallesport, which means we're nearer to the center of town than the edge, which means the closest base is….

 

Arsenal's. Of course. If her last words were "Augh! Put that down! Backtrack, come back here! If I've told you once I've told you a hundred times—listen to me, will you?" then Arsenal could read them at her funeral. 

 

Her smile stretching into a catlike grin, the Epic vanished, reappearing beside Backtrack in a shower of colorful sparkles. Before he could protest, she had her arm around his shoulder as he shrank back. If Autumn wasn't mistaken, a small whimper escaped his lips. “Calamity, communication broke down after that Koschei guy took charge here but why did no one tell me that there was such a nice pair of sunglasses here. Say, does that whole pig thing happen often around here?”    

 

Autumn did not say the first thing that popped into her head. She would not, under any circumstances, have something about unauthorized hugs as her last words. "Teleportation," she noted instead. "That's useful." If backup was sent, they ought to know what they were dealing with. "So other than the pigs, what brought you here?" 

Edited December 27, 2014 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Edgedancer he/him]

The guy she grabbed whined and tried to get out of her grip, not that she let him. Before she got any more reactions out of him Glass interfered. “Teleportation, that's useful. So other than the pigs, what brought you here?" Shiny Sparkle teleported in front of the woman, also dragging Pinky and his sunglasses along with her, both of them appearing surrounded by a shower of light.

 

Making sure she still had her grip on the whimpering Pinky she smiled at the other woman, “Nothing really, I just was a bit bored and,” she pointed towards the sky and caused another sparkling explosion up there, “what´s better than a good firework to entertain yourself? Am I right, Pinky?” Shiny Sparkle nudged him a bit.

[Voidus]

Impact nearly wrenched her neck trying to keep up with the sparkling explosives and teleportation the woman was producing, she managed to clear her eyes enough to see again just in time to hear the newly arrived Epic.

“what´s better than a good firework to entertain yourself? Am I right, Pinky?"
Pinky?

About to reply, Impact was, for perhaps the 10,000th time in her life, interrupted by her twin.

"Hey!" MV yelled "You don't get to call him that! He's mine!"
Impact raised a skeptical eyebrow to her sister, imperceptible to most her twin seemed to sense it without even looking, blushing immediately and beginning to stammer.

"I- I just ah.. I just meant you know, that we um... came here together..."
In a truly unusual state MV seemed to be having trouble speaking, looking down as her face slowly turned crimson.

Any longer with this guy and she's going to turn into one of those girls from Jeremy's anime. Impact mused, a wry smile on her face.

"What my sister is oh so eloquently trying to articulate" Impact began, taking over from the still stammering MV. "Is that you should let go of him now. We've had a rather bad day and I'm really not in the mood to stop my sister here from squishing you with the weight of a falling elephant or whatever the hell this day throws at us next."

[Edgedancer he/him]

As she gave Pinky a hug one of the twins screamed at her, "Hey! You don't get to call him that! He's mine!" The girl tried to backpedal almost immediately, blushing deep red. Looking at her, she might be a bit young for Pinky but one couldn´t help but want to cheer for such a pure maiden… or teasing them.

 

Completely and wholeheartedly ignoring the other twin, Shiny Sparkle hugged Pinky´s head. “Calamity Pinky! Why didn´t you tell me you had a girlfriend, such a cute one even,” Shiny Sparkle gave it her best shot at sounding flustered, although she couldn´t quite keep the amusement out of her voice, “You shouldn´t be here with me if you already have a woman in your life.” The Epic let go of his head and pulled the shades from his face. “These sunglasses however deserve someone better, someone faithful. I shall take them to the only person here lovely enough to do them justice.”

 

After making her passionate exclamation Shiny Sparkle teleported and reappeared a very short distance away, right behind Glass. Not giving the woman time to react she put the glasses on her, she really did look cute with them and from this close she could tell that her hair was in a nice red ponytail. On an impulse Shiny Sparkle hugged the other woman, pressed herself against her back and rubbed her cheek against hers. “Glass,” Shiny Sparkle called her name in a wistful tone, “you´re the only one here treating me properly. I think I might be in love.”

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

 

Many things had been on Autumn’s mind that day. With the panda invasion and the appearance of three new Epics, plus another whose power was as sparkly as it was destructive, she’d had precious few moments to pause and think. But as the sparkling Epic balanced Backtrack’s stolen glasses on her nose and hugged her from behind, one thought and one thought only drifted through Autumn’s head.

 

Is she serious?

 

It was not the first time an Epic had flirted with her. Nor was it the first time said Epic had been female. Precious few captured Epics dared flirt with Reader, but for some reason that escaped Autumn’s comprehension, most of them seemed to assume that flirting with the quite obvious good cop would convince her to bend the rules. The second she explained them, the City Guard’s prisoner would turn up the charm.

 

But there was no prison. No Reader. If she wanted, this newcomer could probably turn each of their heads into a colorful explosion, then sit back and watch the show. She could convince the momentum twins to join her, blackmail Backtrack with his glasses, and skip off to try and take control of the town. She didn't hold all the cards, but she held some of the best. 

 

And here she was. Hugging Autumn. Pressing her cheek against hers.

 

Flirting.

 

There was only one thing to do. Two, technically, but one of those involved pushing the Epic away and ordering Bill and Jordan to fire, and that option made far less sense than the other.

 

Autumn smiled and leaned into the hug. Everything had a strange pink cast from behind Backtrack’s glasses, including Backtrack, who seemed unsure whether to cry or demand his glasses back before crying. “I think it might be a bit too soon to talk about love….but if the city’s still standing when my shift’s over, there’s this great bar downtown.”

Edited December 31, 2014 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Mailliw73 he/him]

This is another part of the Destructors story that takes place in Connell, Washington.

Jag was left with his Commandos and Metalmech's squad. The other two Epics swung around to hit the steel factory and cause destruction along the way. Jag knew that if they killed the strongest Epics in town, the humans and other Epics would surrender easily and the city would be theirs.

He leapt out of the Lightning, leaving two Commandos in the bed to shoot at the guards. The other three got out of the truck as he did. One guard dared to make eye contact with Jaguar. Black Jaguar leapt towards the man. He ripped into the man's neck with his teeth. The skin gave way under his fierce bite easily. Ignoring bullets, Jag turned to the next soldier as the man dropped, bleeding from his jugular. The second man lasted only a second against Jaguar's strength enhanced machete thrusts. A third, a fourth, a fifth. They all fell. To his strength, to his claws, or to his machete, they all fell. When Jag got into a rage like this, regular humans didn't stand a chance.

They were all inferior. Jag lifted their weak bodies as if they were feathers. He snapped bones like most people snapped peas.

{non existent image for Smasher here.}

Smasher drove his jeep past the guards, ignoring any attacks. The commandos would take care of them with their weapons. Smasher made himself as dense as possible so that any stray bullets would just bounce off of him. He also kept a hand on his door to increase the car's chassis's density too. Bullets wouldn't be able to damage the metal as long as he touched it.

Smasher drove in a curve, heading towards the steel factory, sweeping from the right. Once he arrived, he got out of the car and hefted his large metal shield. Densifying it, he charged at the nearest soldiers and cut a path through them, shoving them all to the ground. He created force fields in the middle of groups of soldiers, the fields were like small, expanding bubbles: they grew outwards from where he started them, knocking aside anything they hit. They created patches where no soldiers could enter. Any soldiers that had avoided Smasher's first hit were knocked over now. His Commandos began shooting at the prone soldiers on the ground.

[mail-mi he/him]

Hundredeyes had never quite gotten used to switching his vision around.

 

He was the newest Epic in the Architect’s ring, and he’d only had his powers for about a year. The Architect had immediately seen his powers for what they were: very excellent security. And so, Hundredeyes was Connell’s head of security. He spent his days rotating his vision between all of the Eyes he drawn out in the city, scanning for possible threats.

 

It was then that he saw the advancing cars and tanks.

 

He switched his vision to the nearest Eye and focused in on them. “Three cars,” he said, “and one tank. All fully weaponized.” He switched to his normal eyes and looked at one of the soldiers guarding him. “Warn the Architect--there might be Epics coming.” The soldier nodded and ran off to tell him.

Hundredeyes switched back to the Eye watching the cars. Suddenly two of them split off, and the other two started to attack. The vanilla guards of the city went out to attack, and were quickly cut down. One of them slumped against Hundredeyes’ Eye, instantly blinding him to the attack.

[Voidus]

The Architect lounged on his couch, one hand trailing to the side, reaching down to the concrete floor. A mass of grey liquid slowly seeped up around his hand and then solidified in his palm in the shape of a dart. His hand snapped out quickly, sending the dart towards a nearby dartboard. With a soft thud it missed the board completely, the dart falling back to the ground only to liquefy under the Architects gaze again.

“That’s what, the 30th miss in a row?” asked a nearby voice. Maodun lounged on his own chair, casually stabbing the ground with one of his spears, which cut through the solid concrete like it was butter.

“Mmmm” the Architect replied lazily, not in the slightest concerned with his terrible performance. “I’m bored.” He whined. “I haven’t done anything even slightly interesting for weeks. Not since I collapsed that building onto that fire-guy. What was his name again?”

“Uriel” Maodun grunted, equally bored though much more frustrated by it than his companion. “Twice the idiot for trying to take such a grand name when he had such a pointless power”

A rush of footsteps proceded a soldier entering the room, the man snapped a quick salute before adressing MaoDun.

“Sir! Reports of gunshots have been coming in, it seems to be a large scale firefight. Presence of Epics is currently unknown.”

MaoDun wrenched his spear out of the ground with a grin.

“You coming?” He asked the Architect who still lounged in his seat throwing darts. A brief pause and a lazy nod later the Architect collected himself out of the seat, a small pool of concrete climbing his body, clinging to him as he walked.

“Are you sure that’s wise sir?” The soldier asked. “We have no intel on the soldiers they might have st-”

“SHUT UP!” The Architect yelled, his eyes snapping wide. The soldier took a hasty step back.

“Sorry sir! I just meant… sir?” The soldier began to strugggle as he slowly sank into the floor, the formerly solid surface turning into a thick goop under the Architects gaze.

“You should know, you should all know!” He screamed at the struggling soldier. “You never mention that! NEVER!”

A trail of thick grey liquid slowly ascended the soldiers body as he fell to his knees in terror. The soldier whimpered as it reached his neck, showing no signs of slowing.

“Please, sir! I didn’t… I won’t do it agai-”

The soldier choked off his sentence as the liquid coursed down his protesting throat.

“No.” The Architect said sternly, his rage finally cooling as the soldier fell. “You won’t.”
He departed the building with MaoDun, they left the body, concrete leaking from the dead man’s eyes as he was slowly absorbed into the buildings structure. One of many such ‘additions’ to the architecture of Connel.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Shiny Sparkle wasn´t even the one wearing rose-tinted glasses, yet she couldn´t help but find Glass´ smile beautiful. First those glasses and now Glass herself, why hadn´t she visited the other shore earlier? As she returned her hug, Shiny Sparkle stared to purr and let some of her power flow out, making both her own and Glass´ clothing emit a faint warm glow, it was probably the closest Shiny Sparkle had ever come to blushing.

 

“I think it might be a bit too soon to talk about love….but if the city’s still standing when my shift’s over, there’s this great bar downtown.” Glass offered her. Not quite a victory but enough to string along a maiden´s love.

 

“It´s a date then,” Shiny Sparkle happily continued to flirt, still rubbing their cheeks together, “Seems I´ll have to help your town now, you cute little fox.”

 

Naturally, she knew that Glass might just be trying to use her and anyone else she would probably deserve to be exploded for that or dropped off somewhere far away from home without clothes but right now a first date seemed worth it, especially given that´s why she came here in the first place.

 

“What´s first on our agenda then Glass, blowing stuff up, making sure no longer Pinky doesn´t start crying by hooking him up with the tsundere or some more cuddling, please tell me it´s the cuddling.” To make her point Shiny Sparkle gave her love a squeeze.  

[Newan he/him]

Previously, on What Happened in the Dalles:  Planeshift (personal spacial dilation), Current Event (water current manipulation), and Memori (memory suppression) came to the Dalles by river, but Current Event was wounded and they now must steal a car.  Memori gave them selective amnesia because she is afraid of the telepath Reader.  

 

 

"Hows it going in there, Planeshift?" asked Current Event through the broken window of the car they were trying to hotwire.  

 

"Not so well," replied Planeshift, exasperated.  He was sitting upside-down in the driver's seat with his head under the steering wheel.  He had three wires in each hand.  Three!  Where did they come from?  "I was hoping that I had muscle memory of how to hotwire a car, but apparently I've never done this before." Planeshift touched two wires together and was rewarded with the blaring car alarm.

 

WOOP! WOOP! WOOP! bweeeEEEEP! bweeeEEEEP!  BEEDOO! BEEDOO! BEEDOO!

 

"Sparkamity!" yelled Memori.  "This isn't going to work.  Let's get the heck out of here before we attract any attention.  We'll go with Plan B."  

 

Planeshift had come up with a few backup plans while they had walked into the Dalles from the river.  It seemed prudent to have contingencies when walking blind into what might be the strangest city in northwest Oregon.  

 

"Look out," called Current Event, "We're about to be attacked by flying pigs!"

 

Planeshift clambered out of the window of the noisy vehicle.  Sure enough, two pigs were diving straight down toward the fugitive epics.  Somehow, they even managed to look dangerous despite their pink pudginess.  Planeshift reached up toward them and the world changed.  It compressed around him until the pigs were within reach.  He grabbed a leg of a different pig in each hand, then let the world change back.  As the world stretched out again, his feet were lifted off the ground until he was high in the air, hanging from the pigs.  To another's eyes, he would have appeared to stretch upward, grab the pigs, then return to a regular size.  

 

The pigs struggled, but Planeshift didn't let go.  They fell toward the ground together.  Before they hit, Planeshift rapidly stretched horizontally.  The world shrunk toward him and he held his arms outright.  His hands with the pigs in them smashed through the walls of the buildings on the two sides of the street, and the pigs fell limp.  

 

Planeshift held that position for a moment and caught his breath.  His hands were still stuck through the walls.  He was only a few feet off the ground.  His hands hurt, his knuckles skinned, but his bones should be splintered.  Maybe they were unbreakable.  Planeshift dropped the dead pigs and returned to normal size, dropping to the ground in the middle of the street.  

 

Current Event stared in awe.  "I don't care if you can't hotwire a car.  I'm keeping you."  

 

***

 

The fugitive epics were ready to put Plan B into motion.  There was some kind of patrol or supply line, because military vans drove down this street every ten minutes.  The last one had come nine minutes ago.  Memori and Current Event stepped into the street.  

 

Like clockwork, a van drove up on the tenth minute, but this time it had to slow to a stop to avoid hitting the two disheveled Epics.  The soldier in the van rolled down the window and pointed a megaphone at the epics.  

 

"Citizens!  Please clear the road!"

 

"Please help my friend," said Memori, "He's been injured."

 

Planeshift sneaked up behind the van and started to crawl under it.  He hurried because the soldier seemed to have a short temper.  

 

"Clear the road or I will be forced to run you over.  Don't you know the Dalles is at war?  Get out of the way, now!"

 

Before the van started driving, Planeshift laid flat on the asphalt, then stretched until his back was pressed against the bottom of the van.  Then he slowly stretched just a little bit more, so the wheels were lifted slightly off the ground.  When the driver hit the gas, the wheels spun freely.  It was only a moment until the aggressive soldier got out of the van to try and figure out what was going on.  Now it was up to Memori.  

 

"Soldier!" yelled Memori, "What are you doing?"

 

"Um, well," stammered the soldier.

 

"Spit it out." said Memori.

 

"I don't remember."

 

"Oh dear.  This is worse than I thought." she said.

 

The soldier looked very confused.  

 

"Jonah," Memori said, choosing a random name.  It's not like the soldier would know the difference.  "You were saving a family of five from a collapsing home when a beam hit you in the head.  It seems to have given you a serious concussion.  Do you remember driving here, to the medical ward?"

 

"No," he said.

 

She sighed.  "You'd better get in there right away, captain.  It's that one," and she pointed at one of the buildings.  The soldier hurried toward it.  

 

The three epics quickly piled into the van.  Memori had made sure to make 'Jonah' forget that he left his keys in the ignition.  They started driving toward the east end of the city.  

 

"Family of five?" asked Current Event from the back seat.

 

"Yeah, the disapproving thing wasn't working for me.  I had to improvise some flattery in there," Memori said while making a right turn.  

 

"I'm just glad it worked," said Planeshift.  "Next stop... well actually I still don't remember where our next stop is. But that's ok.  At this moment, all I want is to get out of this ridiculous city."

 

Then all hell broke loose.  

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

 

Backtrack's glasses made everything look strange. Grass and pine needles took on a darker hue. The sky—what she could see of it through the pigs—was a garish shade of purple. The pigs looked pinker than any pig had a right to be, dropping squirrels that appeared nearly black. But the glasses couldn't explain Autumn's shirt, which had begun to glow softly. 

 

That would be the Epic pressed against her, cheek to cheek, who had begun to purr. 

 

“It´s a date then." If she wasn't serious, she was very good at acting that way. Most Epics stuck to verbal flirting; precious few went right for a hug. "Seems I´ll have to help your town now, you cute little fox.”

 

Autumn kept her hand in her pocket, finger pressed firmly against the recording chip. She couldn't let go. Letting go would mean sending the data to Arsenal. Then again, if she had a date tonight, he'd find out anyway. 

 

A date. She had a date. 

 

With an Epic. 

 

“What´s first on our agenda then Glass, blowing stuff up, making sure no longer Pinky doesn´t start crying by hooking him up with the tsundere or some more cuddling, please tell me it´s the cuddling.”

 

Autumn kept the button pressed. She would tell Arsenal later, when she told Vondra. He would learn about her date when she wanted him to, when she could give him the short and official-sounding version. "It was somewhat unexpected, but I believe it's essential to the security of the town, sir. It might even open a door to further cooperation with Dallesport."

 

Yes, that was what she would tell him. After she smashed the recording chip and tossed the pieces into a bonfire, of course. Bill and Jordan, for their part, were doing a commendable job of keeping straight faces. They know it's not my fault, right? I mean, I've never flirted on the job before, ​so if someone asks….

 

"I…well, Backtrack got shot earlier, so we were kind of on our way to getting that looked at. You—" Sounding both professional and flirtatious while an Epic who could turn her clothes into an IED was hugging her and rubbing her cheek against hers was more difficult than Autumn thought. "You want to join us? And I don't think I caught your name?" Sparks! Too professional! Fix it, fix it before she— "Mine's Autumn. Not Glass. Well, Glass is my last name, but—" 

 

It sounded more confident in her head, before the Epic hugged her again. 

 

​"…but Autumn's fine." 

[Edgedancer he/him]

Glass was starting to get flustered, fumbling up her sentences and trying to find the right words while panicking and she got flustered in a very cute way. None the less, Autumn was still a bit stiff, a hand almost cramped up in her pocket. Shiny Sparkle felt the urge to tickle her. As soon as Glass finished stumbling through her introduction Shiny Sparkle squealed and gave her another squeeze.  

 

“Autumn,” she couldn´t quite decide which of her names she liked more but using her first name was more personal, “being so cute really isn´t fair. My name is Shiny Sparkle, the lovesick goddess of glasses and explosions.” Shiny sparkle boasted with confidence.

 

“Anyway, yes I want to join you but only you, not the whole town. I also want to see you smile, hug you, tickle you, go on a date with you, compliment you, kiss you…” she trailed of and gave Autumn a much saying smile, “you know the whole couple stuff but I guess I´ll have to earn that first. Don´t worry I´m not only persistent but also more patient than I appear.”   

 

Shiny Sparkle stopped rubbing her cheek against Autumn´s and instead blew into her ear, “Now, I´m only telling you this because it´s you but there´s a limit to how much I can teleport, so if you want me to bring Backtrack to a Doctor, then that´s just us three and after we drop Backtrack off we two will get to spend some time alone, if we move again. Don´t worry, I´ll take good care of you.” 

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Frequency walked out of his apartment building with Blitz to where Terra was waiting for them. "Frequency, shall we allow escapees to leave the city?" She asked.

"Only Epics too weak-willed to fight. They will make it an easier conquest and they won't be a good addition to the town anyways. Citizens of the Dalles need to learn to stay in town," Frequency responded.

"A van belonging to the military is heading towards the border, away from the fighting. Canis spotted it as he was running. It's heading this way. Let us go and stop them, shall we?" Terra said.

Frequency smiled and took her arm. "Let's." The three Epics headed for the road the van was driving on. Canis would meet them there.

Frequency approached the road right as the van came into sight. The three figures inside looked very civilian like. They would be stopped. "Blitz, now," Frequency said. Blitz summoned a lightning bolt right in front of the van at the same time that Frequency himself began whistling and popped both of the van's front tires. Terra moved the loose dirt from the side of the road into a large barricade in front of the van.

"Citizens, leaving the Dalles is prohibited. Don't you remember me? Koschei would be disappointed in you cowards," Frequency said as he shattered the windows of the van. Canis burst down the road, opened the van's doors, whipped out his knives and, slowing down enough to not injure himself, cut small incisions in each of the van's occupants. He wiped away the blood of each and came over to Frequency.

"I got it," he said, licking his fingers. The blood left a faint crimson stain on his hands, small compared to the ones already covering Canis's hands and arms. The citizens of Hood River donated blood more often than they liked. "They can't go anywhere without me knowing." Frequency nodded in approval. Canis's bloodlust was, while disgusting, useful.

"Step out of the van and identify yourselves," Frequency ordered the three humans in the van. "You will return to your homes or to the fighting."

Emma felt accomplished when Lucy let a small smile creep over her face at Emma's joke. Lucy was a hard one to win over. She seemed to hate all Epics, regardless of the fact that she herself was one.

"Weird sense of humour indeed, but whoever it is they're certainly strong to make and control an army of this size, no matter how ridiculous that army may be," Lucy replied. Lucy dismissed her inky hounds and they collapsed into pools of ink.

While she talked, Lucy knelt on the ground and began writing again. Emma saw the word 'griffin' slowly written out in large letters.

"They've got flying capabilities and these kinds of numbers, this is going to be a difficult fight. We only have a few flyers and knowing him, Arse is probably going to spend 10 hours lecturing people before actually making anything useful." Emma smiled when Lucy used Emma's nickname for their superior. Lucy did too. The ink Epic's smile fades quickly, but two smiles in as many minutes was a new record.

"Only ten hours? That's if he keeps his eyebrows from dancing all over his face. If that happens, someone's bound to laugh which will only make the lecture longer," Emma replied laughing.

Lucy's griffin grew out of the ground, large and golden, as Scribbler used her powers. The beast screeched as it looked Lucy in the eye. Emma was impressed. Lucy could create some impressive things. Emma's powers weren't as flashy. Lucy reached out and pet the griffin.

Just then, a few explosions of color burst in the sky, reminding Emma of the Fourth of July fireworks show when she had been a kid, way back before Calamity. Emma wondered if they really were fireworks or if there was some new Epic in town.

"Want to go find some bacon?" Lucy asked Emma.

"Let's go." Right then, in the east, Emma heard a loud thunderclap. She turned and saw four silhouettes on a building as two more bolts of electricity shot out and killed some of the pigs. A wall of dirt grew in front of the figures and lashed out at the flying bacon. The four figures dispersed soon after.

"Should we report that to Mr. Arse? Or do you think he saw that?" Edgerunner asked as she flipped her gravity to hover in the air.

[Voidus]

MV struggled to speak.

Girlfriend? Me? WIth him? Impossible! I mean, he's kind of cute sometimes when he- no! Absolutely not! Impossible!

For several moments her throat locked as she tried to squeeze out a sentence, Impact looked at her worryingly.

Her attention was taken a moment later when out of the sky- clear apart from the occasional passing pig- a lightning bolt struck another part of town, the rumble of thunder washing slowly over MV, clearing her mind again.

"Well it looks like things are getting heated around here" She interrupted. "Perhaps we should split up here? Leave the two flunkies from the extermination squad to babysit us and you guys take Ba- um... do whatever."

See? Definitely not his girlfriend. I'm not worried or anything.

"And give back his glasses!" She snapped at the sparkly woman draped over Autumn Glass. She blushed again immediately after speaking.

Stupid! Why did you mention the glasses!?
 

Lucy watched Emma fly into the air, hovering in front of her with distaste. Yet another reminder that the two could never be true friends.

"He will have seen." Lucy said "We should stick to our assigned area. Provide air support for the troops."

She climbed gently onto her griffin, one of the larger tattoos on her back crawled down her arm before materializing into a short sword in her hand. While she could as easily have created a gun or even a rocket launcher they both had limited ammunition, this was going to be a long fight.

The Griffin took a running start before leaping into the air, it's wings snapping out and catching the rushing air beneath them. The moment slowed, stretching into infinity as Lucy marveled at the thing she had created, however much she might have wished to fly the second she received her powers Lucy had denied herself, insisting that she would only ever use them in real need. Her joyful spirit, suppressed for so long since she'd been cursed by Calamity soared along with the griffin in that one, perfect moment.

A powerful flap caused them to ascend, the joy rising within Lucy soared still higher as she joined Emma as an equal, both casting off the shackles of gravity. For the first time in a long while, Lucy Lockser laughed with true joy.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Voidus

[Newan he/him]

The van slammed to a stop.  The seatbelts were effective, but the jolt still sent pain through Planeshift's body.  Lifting the van had taken a heavy toll.  As the three epics undid their seatbelts, Planeshift assessed the attack.  

 

"Earth control, lightning, and some sort of ability to slice things from a distance," Planeshift hurriedly whispered to the others.  He wiped blood from his arm and growled quietly.

 

"Citizens, leaving the Dalles is prohibited," said the one who was probably their leader, "Don't you remember me? Koschei would be disappointed in you cowards." Slontze.

 

Planeshift reached down to pick up a piece of broken glass, but Current Event, who hadn't used his abilities in the past few hours, put a hand on Planeshift's shoulder and gave him a look that said, I know what you're thinking, and it's a bad idea.  

 

Planeshift dropped the glass.  He rubbed his temples and automatically said to himself, "I'm a simple man with a simple purpose. Don't lose the way."  Where did that come from? 

 

"Step out of the van and identify yourselves," said the head slontze, "You will return to your homes or to the fighting."

 

The three fugitive epics crawled out of the totaled van, then started walking toward the bad epics.  

 

"My friends and I are just passing through this town, so I'm afraid we don't have a home or a fight here.  Nor do we remember you or Koschei.  My name is Planeshift, and these are Memori and Current Event.  Pleased to meet you."

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Sebastian Ling fell to his knees before the glowing vision of perfection. Never had he seen something so biologically perfect, so supremely artistic, so utterly beautiful. Looking down at his own hands, Sebastian was suddenly overcome with an overwhelming disgust them. Never had he realized how absolutely repulsive they were. Look out how horrifyingly bony they were! How awfully and pathetically skinless! How disgusting and obnoxious were the nails! Looking further down at himself, Sebastian shuddered at the sight of his own imperfection and filthiness.

 

An ethereal voice broke through his sudden epiphany.

 

You do not have to suffer this curse.

 

Sebastian looked back up at the Radiant Panda hovering before him in surprise.

 

You can join our ranks. You can Ascend above your fellow mortals. You can discard your human frailty.

 

You can become a Panda.

 

Tears of emotion had welled up in Sebastian's eyes at the Radiant Panda's enlightening and merciful words.

 

Do you wish to become a Panda?

 

"Y...Yes." The words left Sebastian's lips before he realized it, but he truly wanted to throw away his human patheticness and become a true being. 

 

He truly wanted to be a panda.

 

The Radiant Panda smiled kindly down at Sebastian.

 

That is good. However, others are still afflicted by your curse.

 

In the back of Sebastian's head, in the part that was the Panda dreaming this event, the Panda blinked in surprise. This dream did not normally proceed like this. Normally, the Radiant Panda would have given him the task of creating a haven for pandas. 

 

The Radiant Panda's benevolent expression creased into a disappointed frown. Sebastian was suddenly assaulted with a monolithic feeling of disappointment and sadness. The very force of the emotions almost knocked him over from his kneeling position.

 

I am disappointed in you, Panda.

 

The Panda gasped in both amazement at being addressed directly by the Radiant Panda and in horror at disappointing the Radiant Panda.

 

Your task was to create a haven for pandas. You were also tasked to rid the humans of the human corruption that once cursed you. 

 

"Your... Your Brilliance, I... I have not..."

 

Do not irk me any more with your meaningless excuses

 

The Panda snapped his jaws shut, quivering in fear and reverence.

 

Why have you made your siege so slow? Why have you not taken the city of The Dalles by force yet? Your army of Pandas and Epics can easily overwhelm whatever puny defenses the city has. Why have you chosen to disappoint me?

 

"I... I beg your forgiveness, Your Mag...Magnificence! I will do ask you command!" 

 

THEN GO AND BRING FORTH THE GLORIOUS PANDA REVOLUTION!

 

The almighty roar from the Radiant Panda hurtled The Panda backwards, flinging him like a doll backwards, backwards towards a light...

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Panda jerked awake with a surprised and most pandarish squeak. After the most masculine had finished emitting itself from his lips, The Panda lay panting and heaving in shock in his chair. 

 

"Muh lurhd puunduh?" inquired a voice from behind him.

 

Still shaking in emotion from his vision, The Panda replied, "What is it, Corporal Bibbuhs?"

 

Corporal Bibbuhs, as pandas went, had a fairly normal appearance. However, while he was still being transformed from a screaming human, Bibbuhs had somehow damaged his vocal chords mid-change, and as a result could not pronounce his vowels properly. The Panda had decided not to heal Bibbuhs voice, simply because of the hilarious utterings he could eject. For example, his name.

 

"Duh youh needh uh buuhtle uf mulk? Luust tuime youh wouk up frum a nuightmuare luike thuis, youh wuh squeakingh fur mulk. Shouldh uh fuutch theh babyh buuhtle youh used luust tuime?"

 

"No, I don't need that baby bottle. Yet. Is there any particular important reason why you're reporting right now?"

 

"Yuhs, muh lurhd puunduh. Thuh Readuh hus beenh successfuhly capchuhed. Whut duh youh wunt tuh douh wuith huim?"

 

The Panda frowned in irritation. A fire had started burning inside him, ignited and kindled by the vision he had. For too long had the people of The Dalles whiled their days away in their pathetic and weak human bodies. For too long had he held off the Glorious Panda Revolution. 

 

"Bring the Reader along with us. Sound the horns. We are going to attack The Dalles."

 

Corporal Bibbuhs saluted The Panda. As Bibbuhs hand descended from his salute, a mournful and haunting cry rose from the nearby forts. One by one, the other forts joined in with their horn calls. As one, the doors of the forts slammed open, releasing a torrent of black and white, wreathed in red laquer armour. Behind the deluge of pandas thundered hundreds upon hundreds of animals, from animals as large as elephants to the smallest gerbil, all sprouting teeth and claws and all whipped into a frenzy of bloodlust.

 

The Panda himself sprouted a majestic pair of black and white wings and took to the sky. Behind him followed the battalion of flying pigs that had previously devastated The Dalles, this time armed with baskets of exploding termites. Looking down at the mass of animals converging on The Dalles, The Panda took in an abnormally deep breath and roared a battle cry so loud that it could be heard as far as the distant valleys.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

(first rp post )

 

The Snow Queen Elsa breathed heavily, almost gasping for air. Today was the painful day. The day of the anniversary where exactly one year ago, Epic Hans had forced forced all the Epics in Arendelle to adopt the identities and personas of characters in Disney movies. It had been awful. Under the influence, Elsa had unintentionally did horrible things that she'd rather forget.

She felt the cold breeze on her shoulder and started to forget the memories. "It's time to let it go."

She flicked her platinum blonde hair and turned towards the road. 

Walking with a slow rhythm she used a power blast ice spikes on a car. She grinned.

"Much better" She turned with a rather small smirk on her face. 

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Frequency watched as the three citizens crawled out of the totaled van, two men and a woman, then started walking toward him. They each sported a cut on the cheek from Canis's incision and a few other lacerations from the broken windows. One had large bruises on his arms and neck. He seemed to be moving a bit stiffer than normal. Frequency wondered what could cause such massive bruising.

"My friends and I are just passing through this town, so I'm afraid we don't have a home or a fight here.  Nor do we remember you or Koschei.  My name is Planeshift, and these are Memori and Current Event.  Pleased to meet you," the bruised man said. Their names sounded very Epic-like. Were these poorly dressed cowards Epics after all?

"Epics, then?" Frequency asked. "You are cowards. Get out of the Dalles. Immediately." Frequency whistled and the second man's right eardrum burst. He then clapped loudly in the direction of the three weaklings. They stumbled back at the force and the one with the ruptured eardrum fell to the ground. Frequency leaned on his cane and stared the three down, Blitz standing behind him with lightning crackling between his fingers, Terra standing stately to the side, and Canis grinning that canine-like grin of his, dried blood on his arms.

"He will have seen." Lucy said "We should stick to our assigned area. Provide air support for the troops." Edgerunner nodded as she hovered in the air, half her weight falling up and half falling down.

Lucy mounted her griffin, as a tattoo crawled down her arm where it became a short sword in her hand. Edgerunner liked the medieval feel. She herded preferred her knives to any kind of gun. She had her emergency two-shot pistol in her boot, like always, but she'd only ever used it once. Her knives and powers usually did the job just fine.

Scribbler, on her griffin, flew up into the air, meeting Edgerunner in the sky. As Edgerunner looked down, she saw pandas and some other animals swarm into the city. "Let's get them," she said to Scribbler. Edgerunner I moved all her gravity in the direction of a group of pandas. She whipped out both knives and slashed the ears off of two pandas as she reversed her fall back up into the sky. She increased the friction on the various weapons the pandas wielded, so that they became extremely difficult to move. She dive bombed the black and white bears repeatedly, leaving five motionless lumps of fur in the streets. Now that they were dead, Edgerunner decreased the friction on the bodies and shoved them down various streets, causing them to collide with other living pandas. Thery slid like hockey pucks over the asphalt road.

[mail-mi he/him]

Even the sparking mist was cooler than he was. 

 

Mistwraith--very nervously--picked up the chair and flew it across the room. She set it down very carefully, and it landed rather softly, all things considered. She and Reflection looked at BusDriver expectantly. 

 

"Alright," he said, standing up. He groaned as his knees popped. "Come with me." He took them out of the building and walked to the alley just a ways down the road. He picked up a small pebble. "Step back," he said, then set down the pebble and dashed off a little ways. Seconds later, a proud school bus appeared from the pebble. Once again, he was reminded of his sparking lame powers. 

 

"Okay," he said dejectedly to Mistwraith. "Go ahead and destroy it."

Edited January 13, 2015 by mail-mi

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

 

She's not serious. 

 

At the moment, that was the only thought keeping Autumn from twisting free of the Epic's arms, never mind the consequences. Unlikely as it was, she clung to it, repeating it to herself with the same fervor a cartoon fish had told herself to 'just keep swimming.' 

 

She's not serious. She's just trying to catch me off-guard. The date? That's just to get more information out of me. She's not really serious. 

 

“Autumn." She could hear the smile in her tone. "Being so cute really isn´t fair. My name is Shiny Sparkle, the lovesick goddess of glasses and explosions.” 

 

Oh no. She's serious, isn't she? 

 

“Anyway, yes I want to join you but only you, not the whole town. I also want to see you smile, hug you, tickle you, go on a date with you, compliment you, kiss you…” Now she was looking into those colored glasses of hers. If Autumn wasn't mistaken, even Shiny Sparkle's eyes were glittering. Literally.  “You know the whole couple stuff but I guess I´ll have to earn that first. Don´t worry I´m not only persistent but also more patient than I appear.” She stopped rubbing her cheek against Autumn's long enough to blow in her ear. 

 

She's serious. 

 

“Now, I´m only telling you this because it´s you but there´s a limit to how much I can teleport, so if you want me to bring Backtrack to a Doctor, then that´s just us three and after we drop Backtrack off we two will get to spend some time alone, if we move again. Don´t worry, I´ll take good care of you.” 

 

Autumn's mind whirred with potential replies. 

 

"I'm sure you will, but I have a boyfriend." An outright lie. Autumn dismissed it. 

 

"I'm sorry, but City Guard Ordinance A113 clearly states that a member of the City Guard cannot date an Epic, as the danger of said City Guardsman's head being exploded is far too great." Another lie, though more enticing than the last. 

 

"Augh! No! Leave room for Jesus!" No. She was not saying that. Just the thought of it brought memories of her middle school dance, of perhaps the oldest woman in the church prying twelve-year-olds apart and forcing them to dance at arm's length, flooding back.

 

That left her only one option. "Waters, McKenzie, escort the twins to the nearest command station. Shiny Sparkle and I will take Backtrack to have his arm looked at." 

 

Come on, Autumn, she's serious, act like you are. 

 

"And then it's just the two of us." 

[Edgedancer he/him]

Autumn agreed. She agreed to be alone with her after she delivered Backtrack, it´s always wonderful to be able to combine work with personal pleasure. Delighted Shiny Sparkle made sure to grip Autumn tightly with one arm around her waist and teleported them over to Backtrack

 

The poor sob was still starring around dumbfounded without his glasses. Maybe taking them away was to cruel, he didn´t seem to have any good points otherwise. Still, those glasses looked so much better on Autumn.

 

The after-explosion of her teleportation seemed to startle the two soldiers out of their trance. While their faces still seemed awfully stiff, they managed to acknowledge Autumn´s orders before Shiny Sparkle grabbed Backtrack by his clothes collar. Then they blinked away.

 

Surrounded by an eruption of light they reappeared in the air. With Autumn giving her directions they teleported a few times more until they reached their destination not even a minute later.

 

Even before the sparkles of their arrival faded chaos erupted in the room. Around them were a crowd of civilians, all trying to get away from the sudden explosion, even if it didn´t harm anyone, seems like they landed in the waiting room. The one exception was a soldier pointing a rifle straight at Shiny Sparkle. He did not shoot and instead raised an eyebrow at Autumn. Brave man as it seems, probably not even on duty judging from the bandage around his head.

 

As an explanation Shiny Sparkle dropped Backtrack on the ground. “We brought a patient,” She said while nonchalantly smiling at the man over Autumn´s shoulder. A loud meow distracted her from the rifle aimed at her face. The cat seemed satisfied once it got the attention it wanted and carefully sniffed at Backtrack. She didn´t appear quite sure what to make out of him.