What Happened in The Dalles

[Voidus]

Collaborative Connel post between Mail-mi, Mailliw and Voidus (Pt 1. of 3)

Maodun split up from the Architect, leaving the still fuming Epic to gather his own squad of soldiers. Maodun summoned his troop with a wave of his hand. The group of soldiers immediately lining up in front of him, Sergeant Wilson taking position behind Maodun.

“Unknown assailants attacking the city” Maodun said tersely to his troops.
“Word from Hundredeyes has yet to reach us so we don’t know if any Epics are among them but should any hostiles exhibit signs of Epic abilities disengage immediately and radio it in, leave them to me.”

Maodun nodded his dismissal and the soldiers fanned out behind him, most clutching rifles however Sergeant Wilson and two others instead unsheathed sabres and pulled small bucklers off their backs.

“You three are with me” He grunted to them as the troop marched towards the sounds of gunfire, the three flanked Maodun forming a shieldwall to distract the enemy while the rest of his soldiers flanked them. Shields weren’t much protection against bullets but they were something, people tended to focus their fire on the man in the centre who had no shield, and once they realized he was an Epic they tended to run.

Maodun grinned, shaking off the boredom that had been plaguing him as they drew within sight of a group of soldiers firing at some forms frozen on the ground. He felt no sympathy for the foolish members of the guard who had been caught by their enemies.

Maodun took the shorter, throwing spear from it’s sheath on his back as he ran towards the enemies who were now taking note of him. He lobbed the spear as his power wrapped around it, tearing straight through one of the soldiers and into the ground behind him. Pulling out his longer spear Maodun gave a primal scream as he and his three charged towards the soldiers.

 

Smasher saw a man, holding two spears, flanked by three men with shields and sabers, come out of the building. A squad of soldiers assembled behind the four in front. The one in front without any protection had to be an Epic. No one sees force fields and confidently enters battle with just two spears.

War Smasher watched as the Epic threw the shorter of the spears and it tore straight through one of Smasher's commandos and went into the ground. He must have some kind of super strength or force enhancing power. Smasher created a small force field around himself and ignored the other soldiers that attacked him. He made eye contact with the Epic and nodded.

He dropped his force fields and, with fully densified fists, leaped at the Epic and slammed a gloved fist into his face. The Epic didn't start bleeding or even appear to be injured. Smasher realized that he had impervious skin or something of the sort. As Smasher was confused, the spear managed to slice his side. While fully densified, Smasher shouldn't be able to be harmed. He went intangible immediately and encased the Epic in a force field.

 

Metalmech surveyed the gates of Connell through the slits of his mask. There was a serene feeling about destruction, something one couldn’t find anywhere else. Even better than the death of vanillas was the crumbling of once-well-supported structures; better than the screams were the crunching sounds.

 

Metalmech stood back as Jag took care of the human guards, focusing himself. He closed his eyes and found the Place inside of him, the Place where it was only him and his machines. His tank took full shape in his mind, all of the mechanics and weaponry were his to command. The tank was his slave, and he?

 

He was its master.

 

Metalmech snapped his eyes open and commanded the tank forward, thrusting forward with his arms. The gesture wasn’t necessary, but it made him feel more in control. The tank rolled forward, a large piece of steel slowly protruding from the front, thick and round like a battering ram from the olden days.

 

And that’s exactly what it was.

 

Picking up speed, the tank rammed into the gates, causing the entire structure to shudder. Once, twice, three times more, and the entire structure collapsed, metal crumpling, concrete crumbling. Metalmech changed his mask to a slight grin, relishing in the destruction, the crashing like music to his ears.

 

Immediately, guns started firing out of the now open gates. Metalmech tensed up, closing his hands into tight fists, and the guns jammed up, some of them exploding on their users. The tank’s barrel rotated and shot at a group of enemy soldiers, killing some and knocking others backwards.

 

“Alright, Jag,” he said over his mobile. “We’re in. What’s next?”

Jag finished with the dozen or so guards he had fought while Metalmech brought out the battering ram. He smashed the tank into the gate, crushing it completely. Jag cut off the head of the last guard and jumped back into the Lightning, his commandos following suit.

"Let's go. Straight to the steel factory. Anything in the way, level it," Black Jaguar said over the mobile to Metalmech. He drove over the rubble of the gate and into the city. The tank was able to take care of any building or structure in the way. None of the buildings here were very big or strong. Connell wasn't meant to last against Epics. Jag knew that this town would crumble in his hands.

As they approached the factory, Jag used his heat vision to scan for people in the building. It seemed vacated while masses of people were on either side, fighting Hawking and War Smasher. "Blow the building and then go to Smasher. I'll aid Hawk," Jag told the technomancer.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Voidus

[mail-mi he/him]

Collaborative Connel post between mail-mi, Voidus, and Mailliw part 2 of 3. 

 

The Architect glared at Maodun as he walked away with his orderly group of soldiers, then glared at his own soldiers, forming into sloppy lines and chatting to each other instead of listening to their commanding officer.

“Shut up you idiots!” The Architect yelled at his soldiers, who finally stopped talking and began watching him.

“You are the most pathetic soldiers I’ve ever seen, you’re lucky I haven’t buried you all 5 feet under the street by now.” A steady ripple in the concrete streets spread from the Architect, the soldiers took noticed and began to straighten up, fear lining their faces.
“We will now teach these invaders a lesson they won’t soon forget. Seargent! Send a runner to the Colonel and make sure he knows the situation. The rest of you with me.”
One of the soldiers immediately ran off to find Kernel, the rest of the soldiers formed up around the Architect, creating an inverted ‘V’ shape with the Architect at the centre.
The troop marched in the opposite direction to Maoduns, skirting around the Steel factory as the Architect became slowly encased in concrete, kept fluid enough at the joints to still allow movement the concrete could defend against most forms of ammunition.
As they neared the sounds of battle the Architect send a ripple of his power forwards, momentarily liquefying all the concrete that it touched and trapping a few enemy soldiers in ankle-deep concrete.
Bullets burst from both sides as soldiers began to fire, the Architect created some barriers for his soldiers to take cover behind.

 

 

Hawkwing flew above his troops in their armored Escalade as they assaulted the west side of the factory. A man came out, flanked by a V formation of soldiers, similar to geese. Hawk let loose with his guns, sending bullets flying quickly towards some of the soldiers with abandon. Three Commandos jumped out of the Escalade to fight the soldiers, but they found themselves suddenly sinking in the concrete. The man at the front of the formation had covered himself in concrete as well. He had been right. There was a concrete controlling Epic here. He flew closer and as he shot at the soldiers, picked one up in his talons and flew back up high. He dropped the soldier right onto the formation, knocking over others.

His commandos in the Escalade, Mike and Juan, began firing from their grenade launcher and bazooka at the concrete barriers. The Epic kept forming his concrete as he yelled, "I am the Architect! I would know who leads you rebels so that I know what name to add to the list of Epics I have defeated!”

Hawkwing fired at the weak points in the Architect's elbows as he answered back with control in his voice. "I am Hawkwing and we are the Destructors. We ravage towns and we aren't defeated."

 

A soldier screamed as he fell, ending with a sickening crunch of bone on bone as he collided with another soldier, snapping several bones in the process.

An explosion from one of his barriers took his notice, even his armour wouldn’t stand up to one of those. The noises of battle were so loud he almost missed the flying Epics introduction. The Destructors eh? They wouldn’t be the first to name their cohort something grandiose and still come to failure. He would show them why Connel had no rival Epics.

Eyeing of the grenade launcher which was steadily tearing through his barriers the Architect lobbed a ball of concrete at it, guiding it through the air and solidifying it as it entered the barrel of the launcher, the soldier wielding it seemed sharp enough to notice the change in weight and didn’t fire.
More’s the pity, blowing himself up would have saved us some time.
The Architect focussed on a patch of concrete near the rocket launcher, liquefying it and then sending it upwards in a spray and allowing the droplets to solidify. While not lethal they could at least cause a broken skull if they were large enough.

His soldiers were dropping quickly, those at the rear of the formation were attempting to flee the field.

Cowards. He thought sneeringly, encasing the traitors’ feet in concrete. He could deal with them later.
He chose a soldier in a visible position for his next demonstration, keeping a wary eye on the sky. He focussed his power in a ring around the soldier, pulling concrete in from nearby he slowly built up it’s thickness and then launched all of it upon the unfortunate man who had drawn his attention. In an instant he was struggling in shoulder-high liquid and in an instant more it had completely consumed him, turning into a grey cocoon from which none of the Architect enemies had escaped.

 

Edited January 23, 2015 by mail-mi

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Part 3 of the collabo post between Myself, Voidus, and Mail-mi.

Mike jumped off the Escalade once his grenade launcher jammed with concrete. He threw the useless gun at a soldier and drew his shotgun. He fired off at every soldier he could. Some were killed, some were injured.

The concrete around him suddenly began rising. Mike panicked and shot wildly at the Architect Epic. Concrete barriers blocked the shot and the next thing he knew, cement was all he could see. Wait. He saw, was it, he saw Calamity. The red dot in the sky seemed to grow larger and larger as it bathed Mike in its red light. He felt a change inside himself. He was angry. The puny Epic who had named himself Architect thought to imprison him? Fool. He would be destroyed. Mike, no, that wasn't his name any more, but it would do for now, shot out a wave of his new power, vaporizing the cement trapping him into dust.

He saw the Architect and laughed, fury still strong in his eyes. "I am not to be an example. But you are," he yelled. Mike ran towards the Architect, vaporizing any concrete that was thrown at him. He dashed through the dust that piled up from the disintegrated concrete barriers. He used his strength to shove the Architect to the ground and vaporized Architect's clothes, leaving him naked on the concrete. Mike punched him with a fist surrounded by flames and then controlled the winds and used them to lift the Architect into the air.

"This is your leader. He's pathetic." Mike used the winds to rotate the Architect's nude body before his troops. Concrete bits kept flying towards Mike, but he ignored them as they vaporized before they hit him. Mike saw something from the corner of his eye. Hawkwing. Now, Mike was Hawk's equal. If Hawk tried to interfere, Mike would take his place in the Destructors. Luckily for him, Hawkwing was staying out of the way, but like the others, staring at Mike in awe.

---

"Jag? We have an issue here. It could be good or it could be bad," Hawkwing reported over the mobile to his old friend. "Mike, a commando, he was encased in concrete."

"So? He can be replaced. Why are you bothering me with this? I'm almost to your location," Jag replied.

Jag always was in a bad mood during an attack. Hawk felt it too, the anger and annoyance from using the powers, but they were so great; he and his comrades would destroy those who stood in their way. It was their destiny.

"He's an Epic, Jag. He just burst out of the concrete and vaporized cement everywhere. He's got some wind manipulation powers too and his fists are flaming. He's about to kill our rival. We need to make sure he'll stick with us before we trust him. He's powerful!" Hawk fired down at a couple of the soldiers who were getting close to Mike.

Jag responded with a terse statement that he'd be there soon.

---

Mike used his power and vaporized the guns and armor and clothing of every enemy soldier one by one, the dust on the ground piling up with each one. They stood, fearful, waiting to die. Good. They were weak. Two bullets hit the ground and Mike saw that two soldiers had tried to approach him from behind. Hawk's shots had stopped them in their tracks. Mike grinned. He drew his pistol with flaming fists and, vaporizing their armor, shot them each in the chest twice. One managed to get a final shot off at Mike, but it vaporized an inch in front of him. The duo's lifeless bodies dropped to the cement covered ground. Mike vaporized both of them now that they were dead.

The Architect was still hovering in midair. "Watch your soldiers die," Mike said. He vaporized the ground underneath the soldiers and lifted them up, one by one, and dropped them in the pit. The pit filled with dead bodies of nude soldier and dust. Mike left them there as a reminder for the rest of Connell about what he could, and would, do.

Hundredeyes scanned through the town. They were being attacked on three sides, at least one Epic per side.

And they were losing.

He watched as a soldier vaporized the concrete that Architect had formed around him, then disintegrate the Architect’s clothing and kill each soldier like they were flies, and he a flyswatter.

There was nothing he could do about that, however. So, he scanned through his hundreds of other eyes placed throughout the city, looking for something to warn the others about.

He found it.

A man, standing in front of a tank, his face covered in some sort of mechanical mask, heading towards one of the wing attacks. Hundredeyes recognized him as the man that had been waving his arms about like a flight director at the gates. He must have some sort of telekinetic ability, he thought. It doesn’t look like anyone is inside that tank.

He radioed out to the others. “Epic, going through the southeastern section. Anybody got him?”

No response.

Hundredeyes sighed. “I guess this one’s mine.” He switched his vision back to his own and made his way out of the pre-Calamity prison.

Maodun smiled at the blood dripping slowly from his spear. Looked like this was a close-quarters Epic, he probably had super-strength or something given his surprise at Maoduns lack of reaction towards his punch.

He took a step towards the Epic, trying to press his advantage. Or at least he tried to, he was stopped short by an transparent wall, a light shimmer of blue crossed his vision..

Maodun frowned at the Epic.

Forcefields? Telekinesis? No, Telekinesis wouldn’t work on me.

Maodun grew increasingly angry at the wall.

Nothing impedes me! Not anymore!

With a smile Maodun remembered his spear, ignoring a crackle from his radio he gripped the spear and slammed it into the field. The tip slid into the field, for a moment Maodun was sure that as always his spear had managed to pierce this barrier. The field bent around the spear, and kept bending but it wouldn’t break. Maodun was still trapped. The spears that had never failed him, the spears that had once been thrown through three solid brick walls to spear a rival Epic. His spears had been stopped.

“That’s not possible.” Maodun whispered, eyes growing wide. “Not! Possible!”

He slammed his spear into the wall again and again, a slight ripple seemed to spread and each time the field bent, but it would not break, it would not yield before Maodun.

“I am going to kill you Epic! I am going to pierce your eyes, stab your heart and burn your body!”

He shifted the power to his hands. Dropping the spear in disgust, Maodun pushed steadily against the barrier, it yielded albeit slowly, forming around his hands as he exerted his full power against it. He slammed them into the barrier, deforming it around him as he strove to make his way towards the Epic who had so thwarted him.

[Kobold King he/him]

  

 

 

Backtrack internally debated whether he should get up. There were a bunch of pros and cons to consider. Pros: the floor was not a dignified place for an Epic and it would do wonders for his self-image to get up and look in control of the situation.

 

Cons: there's a sparking sparklemancer standing over me and I just got teleported and I'm probably in Koschei's office and MV might be my girlfriend now and Shiny Sparkle's flirting with Autumn AND SHE HAS MY GLASSES and there's a cat nuzzling my face down here and I really don't want to get up...

 

And so he remained on the floor, trying his best not to audibly whimper.

 

"We brought a patient," Shiny Sparkle said smoothly, smiling at a gun-toting soldier with a bandage around his head. Something about the bandage wrinkled at Backtrack--wasn't this where Koschei worked? Koschei could heal with a touch, no need for band-aids.

 

Alone with his fear and confusion, Backtrack worked up the nerve to start petting the cat as he cowered on the floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whoa, oh, oh

Whoa, oh, oh

Whoa, oh, oh

 

 

Over his experience as an Epic, Glamour had found that there were few situations that Imagine Dragons couldn't solve. Need to wake up early in the morning? Set "Radioactive" as an alarm. Trying to tune out one of Arsenal's boring speeches? "Radioactive," any day of the week. Sitting in a convoy while being transported to the site of a samurai panda invasion? Well, there was really only one choice.

 

 

I'm waking up to ash and dust

I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust

I'm breathing in the chemicals--

 

"Abner, we're approaching target. Prepare for engagement."

 

Glamour glared at the driver for interrupting the rhythm, but nodded in acknowledgement. The convoy speeded to a stop, facing a crowd of human-shaped panda bears in wooden armor, apparently engaged in tearing apart a storefront. A couple raised crossbows and began pelting the side of the truck with their bolts.

 

"Sparks, Abner, get out there!" the convoy leader shouted angrily.

 

"Alright, jeez," Glamour snapped, throwing open a door and hopping out. The panda men eyed him with their big adorable eyes, hefting swords and maces as they took a combat position. Glamour smiled at them all, and slid a pair of dark goggles over his eyes.

 

 

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus

This is it, the apocalypse

Whoa

 

The panda crossbowmen raised their weapons again, lifting bolts. The soldiers behind Glamour were cursing, shouting for him to get a move on. They didn't understand. One couldn't work a feat of god-like magic until the right part of the song had come on, but they were too worried about getting stuck with panda-bolts to realize it. A bunch of whiner babies, was what they were.

 

 

I'm waking up--

I FEEL IT IN MY BONES

ENOUGH TO MAKE MY SYSTEMS BLOW

Welcome to the new age, to the new age

Welcome to the new age...

 

The soundtrack hit the loud and dynamic part, and Glamour burst into action. Clapping his hands together for effect, he sucked all the light out of the sun. The city for hundreds of yards around grew pitch black, every particle of light beamed into Glamour's personal stock. At the third repetition of "to the new age," he blasted the bear people with pure light.

 

They growled in alarm at the darkness, but screamed in agony at the light. Beams of solid daylight erupted from Glamour's hands, pouring into the pandas' eyes like lines of fire. The beams coursed like a writhing dragon through the air, brighter than the sun. The soldiers behind him weren't even the direct target, but they shielded their eyes nonetheless.

 

The pandas had no such protection. The glowing light poured into their eyes, blinding them in a flash. It was as if they'd stared into the heart of the sun or stood too close to a nuclear blast. Their retinas burnt from the abundance of pure photonic energy, causing them to shriek in pain. Wooden weapons clattered to the ground as their bearers collapsed, clawing at their eyes and howling in agony.

 

The soldiers took their chance, bagging a couple over the heads for further study. The rest were opened fire upon, their black and white fur mixing with their blood on the city streets. Glamour grinned. This was true Epicness. Standing here, the power of sunlight at his fingertips, song pounding in his ears, there was no denying Calamity's might.

 

He was an Epic in his glory.

 

Radioactive!

I'm radioactive...

Edited July 12, 2015 by Kobold King

[Edgedancer he/him]

Baxter could hear screams from the lobby. He rushed out of his room and towards the chaos. Did an Epic get in? There haven´t been any gunshots yet, which could mean the intruder took out all the soldiers that decided to guard the entrance without giving them a chance to make a sound, which in turn would mean that the madman behind this now started targeting civilians and doctors. Otherwise, he got in without being noticed at all, invisibility, teleportation or maybe intangibility, but why then appear to the patients and not in front of him?

 

Prepared for the worst and still not sure what he could even do, he arrived at the scene. Isaac, one of the soldiers that decided to take point, was aiming at a woman standing in the middle of the room. She held… “Autumn, a pleasure to see you... anything I can help you with?” Baxter calmed down a bit, the   chaplain didn´t seem exactly comfortable, being held around the waist by who knows whom, but not like she was being held hostage by a blood thirsty Epic, plus if she got both of them in here without anyone noticing she probably teleported them in, so the guards were probably not harmed.

Still, it´s possible that she needed help in this situation. With all of that Baxter still couldn´t figure out why both women were wearing colored sunglasses.

 

Then he noticed Neko. The cat was casually letting herself be petted. Good, she would have better sense than stay next to someone that might start killing all of them. Less comforting was the blood on the man´s shoulder that did the petting, he made a very beaten down impression overall. “It seems I have a new patient here.”

“Exactly!” the Epic behind Autumn chimed in and started to slightly hop up and down, pushing some of her weight on Autumn, “Autumn, introduce us, introduce us!”

[Voidus]

The soldiers guided MV and her sister down the streets. The twins walked hand in hand, they'd given up taking down anything unless it was about to attack them, after the first few had been thrown to the ground both twins had found themselves suddenly irritated and had silently agreed to save their powers.

"Where are we going?" she asked one of the soldiers for the fifth time.
He sighed. At least not threatening to exterminate them he shot her an irritated glance.
"It's an outpost, should be a couple of Epics there that can look after you, Lucy's on duty today I think, she's a good sort."
Lucy? What kind of Epic lets people use their name like that? Then again considering this city she probably just counts herself lucky she hasn't been shot.
The noise in the city was growing slowly louder as they neared the outpost, not just the squeals of the pigs either but the roars and trumpeting of much larger animals.
She looked towards Alison with concern, her sister returned the glance, gripping her hand tightly.
"Don't know what we'll find when we get there." Impact said. "Be ready for anything."

MV nodded.

I hope Backtracks ok. She thought as they turned another corner. He's so helple... the thought trailed off as she saw what was causing the noise at the borders of the city. A veritable horde of animals was pressing on the city, a living sea that seemed to be attempting to swallow the Dalles in it's wake.

A group of Panda's spotted them, led by an elephant. A sparking elephant.

Their guards hesitated only a moment before opening fire, hitting several pandas, their black and white fur staining with red. The Pandas however were not unarmed, arrows burst from their midst, one guard took an arrow to the throat and collapsed, the other taking several to the chest. He dropped his gun in surprise, fingering the shard of wood piercing his body, his fingers dripping with red when he pulled them away.

MV screamed as their guards both died, she immediately spread he power out in front of her, forming a barrier which stopped all further arrows, sending their momentum into the ground beneath her feet, the arrows hanging suspended in mid-air.

Megan Pierce stared in astonishment at the scene before her, a rapid stomping approaching them quickly jolted her out of her surprise as an elephant charged towards them, it struck her barrier and immediately froze, its momentum sucked from it by MVs abilities. The concrete slab beneath her cracked as it absorbed the shock, pieces of it flying off behind her, in seconds it had been entirely blown away by the force of the beasts charge, MV tripped as her footing was suddenly removed, her barrier dropping in an instant the elephant resumed its charge flying straight towards Impact with incredible speed. MV watched in terror as the beasts tusks struck her twin, Impact immediately blew the tusks away with her own powers but not before they'd put a gash in her arm.

"Alison!" MV yelled, watching her sister do combat with a creature easily 10 times her size.


Impact backed away from the creature as its head turned back to her again, she'd never even seen an elephant before today except on tv. Watching something on the discovery channel and having that thing charge towards you, weighing several tons turned out to be very different experiences.
"Meg! Run!" She yelled, her instinct as always to keep her sister out of trouble.

The creature took another swipe at her, this time she was ready though, sending a surge of her power into her hands she struck the elephants tusk, breaking it clean off. She had not however reckoned on the momentum that such a large creature would produce, even as it screeched in pain it's body crashed into her, sending both of them to the ground. The moment they hit Impact felt another surge of power well within her, by reflex she pushed herself against the elephant to remain upright, when her own weight began to crush her she pushed against the elephant too, using all the force her abilities granted her she pushed against it, using her power on herself was not something Impact had ever tried before, let alone at the same time as something this large but in her fear she sent a huge wave of power into them both, realizing her mistake only a second too late. The elephant flew backwards, dead before it hit the ground as the force of her push caved its chest in. What she had not thought about was that once the elephant was gone, the force of her push had nothing to oppose it, and so she flew into the air, carried away from her sister by her own power.

[Guest]

Mastermind grinned as he stared me down. “Your assignment is to be a…an envoy.” “Where?” I brusquely asked. “To a certain dysfunctional town in Oregon,” he said. “Mastermind, stop playing games with me. I’m your ‘special agent,’ not your slave,” I said in a disgruntled manner. He looked at me and chuckled. “Feisty today, are we? You are going to the Dalles. Get into the city covertly and insert yourself into an influential group there. Wait for further instructions.”

 

***********

CRASH!! Lester’s out-of-tune whistling abruptly cut off as the semi-truck went over a particularly bumpy bump. He heard a stack of cans toppling and rolling around in the back. Aw, not again. That meant the passenger in the back was about to wake up. I’ll bet he’s not going to clean up the mess, either.

 

***********

He looked at me and chuckled. “Feisty today, are we? The Dal-CRASH!! I jerked out of sleep as cans engulfed me. “French-Cut Green Beans,” I read. What? Then I remembered. I had been in the back of a semi-truck, several hours south of the Dalles, taking a nap in my hiding place. Now, I was just in the back of a semi-truck, several hours south of the Dalles. For most of the trip from headquarters, I had been comfortably ensconced in the passenger seat of the truck. On the approach and insertion into the Dalles, though, I needed to be as unseen as possible. I winced as my nerves caught up with my thoughts. Calamity, but that tongue hurts! I tasted blood. It would be fine in a second, taste-buds fully intact. Sometimes I hated my healing powers. What I wouldn’t give to lose a couple of taste-buds. Oh, to like pickles. And olives.  Caramel. Whipped cream. Frosting. Toffee. Cream cheese. Buttersco-but that’s beside the point. I set about removing the cans from my make-shift bed. One of them had burst open on the floor when it fell. “Lester!” I yelled. “I have tasty beans! Want so-”

“Again?!” He yelled back. “Fine!”

The truck bumbled its way to a halt. I waited in silence. Surely Lester didn’t really want some tasty beans. I slipped my pink-tinted, silver-framed aviators out of my pocket with my left hand. The truck’s driver-side door opened and shut. Feet ground on the gravel. I leaned against a pallet of ravioli and assumed my position. Right thumb on right cheekbone, check. Right index and middle fingers pushing back a few hairs, check. The latch on the door clunked. Making left hand look like it’s in the process of putting on aviatiors? Check. The door began to slide open. Blinding light peeked through. Half-smile? Check.The door shot up into the roof. I slid my aviators on and straightened up. “Lester. Want some tasty beans?”

He snorted. “’Sup, pretty boy?”

“Ah, nothing much. The sky, the moon, the stars.” I ran my hand through my hair, then leaned down and picked up a bean. “Here it is.”

“What’s this about beans? I thought you said you needed to pee.”

Whaaaaaaaat? Oooooooohhhh.

“Oh, I did, I did, I totally said that. Where’s the bathroom?”

“Bathroom?” Lester did a double-take and exaggeratedly swept his gaze from side to side on the sides of the dusty road. “Since when are you too good to use the facili-trees?”

“Seriously?” I said.

“Seriously,” Lester said, grinning.

“How far away from the Dalles are we?”

“Oh, about two hours.”

I hopped out of the truck and for the aptly named facilitrees. “Oh, Lester,” I said, “make sure you clean up those beans. They’re incredibly annoying.” I cut off an exclamation of protest by reminding Lester that I provided the paycheck. It was but a small lie, and necessary, as Lester didn’t need to know who really provided the paycheck.

Mastermind.

***********

Back in the truck two hours later, I munched on a bowl of beans ‘n ravioli and mused about my strategy. When I get to the Dalles, I’ll have to join some kind of faction in the war. But which one? Hard to say right now. I’ll have to skulk about for a bit and observe. The truck, once again, bumbled to a halt and stopped its engine. Again? Isn’t it early for that? I heard a commotion outside the truck.

“What’s this about?” asked Lester

“Inspection station,” said a voice.

“I wasn’t told anything about an inspection station,” said Lester.

“Irregardless of your information, you must be inspected for contraband before you may enter the city, by order of Stephen Vondra,” said the voice.

Sparks! The Mastermind had told us that with the Panda invasion, no outposts would currently be running. Just our luck. Ah well. Plans change. Luckily, I can handle it.

Pushing my bowl to the side, I stood up and worked my neck from side to side, facing the door. I wonder if these guards are any fun. I slipped on my aviators. Inhale. Exhale.

The back of the truck slid open. I stuck my hands in pockets, and, in an utterly depressed sing-song, said, “Hello all, and welcome to my grocery. I have green beans, ravioli, and French-cut green beans. What would you like?” Guns whipped out in a flash. One of the three guards said, “Sir, we need you to step out of the truck, hands above your head, and get on the ground.”

Sparks, how many action movies have these guys seen?

“I am sorry, we appear to have gotten off to a bad start together,” I intoned, still sing-songing, “Let’s try again.”

Inhale.

I Blurred as I reached up and yanked the sliding door down. It latched with a clunk and darkness enveloped me.

Exhale.

Superspeed is always nice to have.

Expletives sounded from outside as I grabbed an extra-large can of Chef Boyardee off a pallet. I pressed my hand to the smooth lid, and, with a burst of power, massively increased the entropy of the surface under my skin. In of a second, the thin metal rusted and crumbled into powder, revealing the bright-red sauce underneath. Even if this did work on organic matter, it probably wouldn’t do much for the current entropy of those guards’ brains. They are so slow.

I quickly shoved the open can to the side of the truck, by my bowl, and straightened up. I posed and waited. Inhale. Exhale. The door swung open.

“Yo! What’s up and what’s the dizzo, homeslices?” I said in my best surfer imitation. Ouch. That one needs some work. “Hands above your head!” the guard yelled. “I got beans, brah. And ravioli, man! Want some?” I pointed at each of the guards in turn.

“I said! Hands above your head!” the guard screamed. Ooh. Nice rhyme. “Uh…nah, brah. Sure you don’t want any beans, brah?” The guard’s face turned from merely pink to bright red. Uh-oh. I don’t wanna get shot just yet. I Blurred again and slammed the door down.

I quickly grabbed my bowl with my left hand, then shoved my right hand into the can of Chef Boyardee.

“The little slontze did it again!” I heard from outside.

This is about to get ugly.

I pulled my hand out from the can, covered in red sauce, and held it behind my back. I edged up as close as possible to the door and waited. Inhale. Exhale.

Once again, the door swung open.

“I got tasty beans. Want some?” I swung the bowl into the guards’ midst.

One of them shot me in the chest.

***********

My face contorted into a grimace as I clutched my chest with my right hand. Sauce flew everywhere. I twisted and fell backwards onto the road. Ouch. One of my flip-flops came off and landed on the ground beside me. The bullet had dissolved as it hit my skin, but the guards didn’t know that. All they could see was the sauce on my hand. I concentrated on holding my breath. The guards just looked at me, then one of them bent down and felt for a pulse.

“BOO!” I screamed.

He jumped back and the other two opened fire. I jerked convincingly as the guards poured bullets into me. By the time they were done, I was covered in a fine powder. I got up, Blurred, and ran circles around them, collecting their guns on my way. I sat just inside the truck, feet dangling over the side, and sent a general wave of Decay into the guns. My other flip-flop fell off. I threw the guns, inner workings now useless, into the back of the truck. Two of the guards moved to flank me. I Blurred and kicked up into their chins, breaking both my big toes, but knocking them unconscious. The other guard just looked at me. I jerked my head at him. “C’mon, put ‘em up, man. You wanna fight?” The guard looked at his brothers in arms and shook his head. “Okay, that’s cool too,” I said. “Be an awesome person and hand me my flip-flops, please?” My toes re-knit. The guard turned and ran. Sparks. Now I have to stand on that scorching hot road. I jumped down and hopped about on the road, picking up my flip-flops and putting them on. I briefly considered chasing down the guard and knocking him unconscious like the others, but decided against it. Sorry dudes. Hope I didn’t break anything.

“Well that was impressive,” a voice said.

I jumped a mile into the air and yelped. “Lester! Don’t do that to me!”

He laughed.

“Well, Lester,” I said as I reached into one of my pockets, “here’s the cash. Enjoy. Don’t forget to actually deliver the food to the grocery stores.”

 “You’re not coming back with me?”

“Nope.”

I Blurred and raced off into the city.

Covert insertion, check. Ozymandias has arrived.

[Aonar he/him]

His feet tapping out a steady rhythm on the back of his truck, Ethan Mitchell felt himself growing restless.
 
The caravan heading to the Dalles was unfortunately slow moving. He wanted to let loose, to run, to fight, to be doing anything but sitting around waiting. If he started now, he could cover the remaining miles in less than a half hour. Walking.
 
But no. He’d offered his protection to these people, and judging by the towering column of smoke on the horizon, they would need it before long. For all that had apparently been done to make the Dalles a haven for Epics and vanillas alike, it seemed to be becoming a more dangerous place by the day.
 
He still wasn’t certain that he believed all the rumours. A city where Epics worked alongside vanillas? Where no one had to fear every day that some random dictator would swoop in and take over? If he didn’t know better, he would have assumed them to be a foolish vanilla’s fancy. Most did, if they knew of them at all.
 
Even though he didn’t have much to fear from Epics anymore, the idea intrigued him. It certainly sounded more comfortable than the near-constant running and fighting he’d been doing since he’d gained his powers.
 
A shout came from further up the line. “The scouts are back!” Finally. Jumping down, Ethan set off jogging towards the front, determined to be the first to know what was going on.
 
The scouting party appeared a little surprised by his rapid arrival. “What did you find?” Ethan asked, impatient.
 
“Um… Pandas, sir.” Kayla was the one who spoke. She was the only person to actually volunteer for scouting the Dalles, and was one of the few vanillas he’d met who wasn’t completely terrified by him.
 
Ethan blinked, trying to process what he’d just heard. “…Pandas?”
 
“Yeah. Massive white and black bears, all over the place.”
 
“Attacking the town?” He asked, incredulous.
 
“Yup. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.” Kayla said, looking nearly as confused as he felt.
 
He glanced back at the convoy for a moment. Ah, screw it. I have to see this for myself. They’ll be fine for now. Without a word, Ethan set off running again. The trees blurred bast, and it wasn’t long before the sounds of battle began to filter through.
 
He broke out of the treeline to find himself right on the edge of the camp that was sieging the Dalles. It was exactly as they’d said. The piebald ursines, and a variety of other animals, were everywhere, although the camp itself seemed far emptier than he’d been led to expect; the squat buildings were quiet and lifeless. Hmm. Perhaps they’ve launched a dedicated attack?
 
A flicker of movement drew is attention. A group of pandas was exiting one of the nearby buildings. They surrounded a man, – no, an Epic – bound and hooded, who they were slowly prodding forwards. Curious, Ethan moved closer, trying to get a better view. As Ethan tried to observe the proceedings, one of the panda-guards noticed him; drawing its head up and squinting, before nocking an arrow. Like a switch had being flicked inside his head, Ethan’s thoughts changed. A wide grin broke out on his face. This is going to be fun.
 
The bear loosed its arrow. With the strange sixth sense that came with his powers, Frostfire could feel every minute shift in the arrow’s velocity. Casually, he reached up and plucked it from the air. He studied it with intense interest for a moment, twirling it between his fingers before it shattered into a hundred icy shards.
 
The beast got over its shock quickly, loosing another arrow. This time, Frostfire stepped forwards to meet it. The head touched his chest and froze, hanging in the air for one impossible moment, before falling.
 
He gave a dismissive gesture, and an invisible wave of force erupted from his fingers. The panda fell, clutching its throat as red blood blossomed underneath its fur.
 
By now, the panda’s companions had noticed the disturbance. Frostfire concentrated for a moment, drawing in all the energy nearby. Darkness engulfed his body, every feature obscured by shadow. Hoarfrost spread across the ground at his feet, and trails of mist slowly dripped from his hands. Gesturing broadly, he threw the excess heat into the nearest building. It caught fire easily, orange tongues of flame eagerly licking at the dry wood.
 
One particularly brave – or stupid – panda charged at him, leveling a wooden spear. Frostfire looked on in contempt as the spear struck, and shattered against his skin. He lashed out with one hand, lightly tapping the panda’s head. It keeled over backwards, fur crackling with ice.
 
Picking another of the bears at random, he lazily pointed it out, a spear of heat leaping from his fingers, warping the air with its passage. The ursine instantly caught fire, filling the air with the stench of burning fur.
 
Almost as one, the pandas broke, fleeing for the other side of the camp. Frostfire’s lip curled in distaste. Cowards. But he had done what he set out to do. He walked up to the Epic, shadow leaching from his skin.
 
The Epic didn’t look particularly, well, Epic-like, that was for sure. Skinny, well dressed, but very dishevelled, he looked more like a down-on-his-luck businessman than anything. If it weren’t for the energy coming off him, Ethan probably wouldn’t have looked twice.
 
He pulled his hood off the other man’s head and stepped back. After giving him a moment to adjust to the light, Ethan started talking.
 
“Hello. The name’s Frostfire, or Ethan, if you prefer,” he said. “What can you tell me about the Dalles?” Edited March 3, 2015 by Aonar Faileas

[Voidus]

MV watched as her sister flew away from her, quickly fading from sight, obscured by the myriad creatures, soldiers and structures of the city.

Alison had just vanished from her life.

Megan Pierce crouched down, staring at her hands. She tried to wipe the stains of blood and dirt from her skin, trying to distract herself. Her mind felt empty, unable to think, to plan, unable to talk. Would she ever see her twin again?

In a flash MV realized something.

"Backtrack" she whispered. 

Yes, he can help, that's his whole power, finding people isn't it? He can help me find her and then everything will be ok again and she'll be ok. Oh thank Calamity. If this works I'll never make fun of him again.

Firming her resolve MV stood up and fled the growing battlefield between the Dalles city guard and the invading animal army.

A short distance from the carnage of battle she found a woman slightly older than herself, wearing a sparkling dress and what looked like a tiara.

An Epic! From the city? She must know where the hospital is!

"Excuse me!" She said approaching, voice still slightly cracked "Do you know where the hospital is? I'm MV, I only just got to town when this whole battle erupted."

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Elsa's delicate blue eyes looked down at the girl staring back at her.

"Yes." She said with worried eyes, looking at the girl's stains of blood and dirt. Her voice was with a clear tone.

"It's not too far from here. About a twenty minute walk. Do you need a lift?"

The Snow Queen positioned her arms and a floating snow cloud appeared beneath her feet. "I'm Queen Elsa. Of Arendelle, now of Oregon."

Edited January 29, 2015 by Queen Elsa Steelheart

[Kobold King he/him]

 

 

 

Smoke mingled with screams, billowing up from The Dalles in a cacophony of scent and sound. Gunfire sounded over the cries of dying men and obliterated animals. The occasional boom carried for miles, as trip mines and air-to-ground missiles laid waste to the invading horde. It still wasn’t enough.

 

Stephen Vondra was too high to smell the smoke, and too close to the helicopter’s rotors to hear the screams. But he knew they were there. He’d seen enough combat to know the music of war, if not in his ears then in his mind. The Dalles was once again suffering, beaten and battered by an Epic tyrant.

 

Just like it had under Viktor Dyachenko.

 

Gritting his teeth at the thought, Vondra turned away from the open helicopter side, looking instead to his companions aboard the craft. Two solid guardsmen sat by his side, stoic and foreboding, and at the front sat a pair of skilled pilots. The most skilled pilots in the city, in fact, and the only two with experience flying against those Epics that felt the law of gravity was beneath them. And at the other end of the copter sat his secretary and last line of defense.

 

“How’s our status, Rhonda?” Vondra asked over the whirring copter rotors.

 

“The perimeter’s still solid,” the woman replied distractedly, consulting the mobile device in her hands. “Arsenal’s circling the city and reinforcing defenses. A few enemy units penetrated the line, but Glamour and Deathwish turned them back. The city’s secure, for now.”

 

Rhonda Stick was a perfectly normal young woman. A bit thick around the middle, with a face some of the guards around the base called homely. Couple her plain appearance with her distracted and analytical demeanor, and she was as far from a stereotypical Epic as could be. Only the name “Redlight” she’d taken for herself betrayed her hidden nature.

 

But her hidden nature wasn’t important now. She was trustworthy as far as her reports went, and that was all that mattered. So Vondra only nodded, turning his attention to the ground below.

 

By now they were flying over the heads of the invader’s bestial army, which were, for now, halted by lines of barbed wire and automatic machine guns. Every now and then mortar shells and guided missiles would fly into their ranks, spreading clouds of dust and blood around the city’s borders. Arsenal was nothing if not thorough.

 

The thing that most got his attention though were the hostiles themselves. Most Epics were natural showmen; everything about them was meant to instill fear in their enemies. Every one of them had a different motif. Some of them stayed closer to their themes then most would agree was healthy. Before today, Vondra would have thought they’d draw the line at an army of mutated pandas in straw hats. He would have been very wrong.

 

“What can you tell me about our Epic, Rhonda?” he asked, facing his secretary again.

 

Wrinkling her nose, Rhonda, opened up a new page on her mobile. “He’s obviously got some sort of fleshwarping power, which puts him on a level at least equal with Framework or Marrowtear. If we’re really unlucky--and I’m beginning to think we are--then he might be closer to Slaughterhouse.”

 

Vondra furrowed his brow in concern. The first two names were infamous enough among the lorists. The last was very nearly the bogeyman. Even if a merciful God existed and the panda’s maker wasn’t invulnerable, he’d still be the most dangerous Epic in The Dalles since Dyachenko.

 

They’d finally see whether The Dalles could handle itself in a high level attack. And so far they weren’t making a good showing. It was time for action.

 

“Sir,” the pilot interrupted from the front. “We’re approaching aerial hostiles at a thousand meters and closing!”

 

Vondra immediately leaned out the open side with a pair of binoculars, hanging on the side with one hand. Her zeroed the lenses towards the black cloud hurtling towards the city.

 

Another wave of flying swine heaved through the sky, laden with heavy baskets. There had to be at least two hundred of the things, squealing in rage as their unnatural wings propelled them through the air. At their head was a panda.

 

No, not a panda. The panda. It was vaguely man-shaped like the other creatures trying to sack the city, but taller and with all the muscular physique of Steelheart. Broad angelic wings sprouted from its shoulders in black and white, lifting it in graceful strokes over the army of monsters below it. A roar sounded from its throat, shaking the whole city with its majesty. This was not one of the clumsy creatures that had attempted to ransack The Dalles. This was a demigod.

 

It was a High Epic in its glory, and it had brought an army for conquest.

 

"Ms. Stick," Vondra said solemnly, "How do we kill it?"

 

The secretary looked up in surprise. "Kill it? Sir, I think we should turn back to HQ. We can't engage an Epic like this without--"

 

"We're not running," Vondra replied in a level voice. The helicopter had halted in its flight, hovering motionlessly against the rapidly approaching swarm. "Running's for Reckoners. Running's for men that gave up on their country. We don't run in The Dalles, Rhonda. We're the last stronghold of humanity on this planet, and when a creature like this panda threatens us, we fire every shot we have before we give ground. Now tell me: can this thing die?"

 

Rhonda gulped, glancing out the helicopter's side as the steadily blaring sound of beating wings filled the air. "Marrowtear died," she said hesitantly. "He was torn apart by artillery fire in Newcago three years ago. Most fleshwarpers can't fix themselves under rapid fire. But a few can, and if he--"

 

"If he can, we'll fall back long enough to hit him even harder. Pilot, take us full speed ahead," Vondra proclaimed commandingly. He needed to raise his voice by now over the cry of the hundred raging pigs. "Direct fire at the winged panda. Pump every shot we have at that son of a cur. That's an order."

 

 

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

 

 

The sky over The Dalles' perimeter darkened as the swarm of swine descended. More and more scouts along the border spotted the winged menace at their head, cutting through the sky like a destroying angel.

 

But a black helicopter met the creature head-on in the air. The copter met the Panda's cry with a deafening roar of its own, angling every weapon on board to face the Epic.

 

From every angle the Panda was met with flying projectiles, most striking its body directly. Lines of high caliber bullets struck its flesh, and two waves of air-to-air missiles flew towards it.

 

Anti-aircraft crews on the ground began spewing lead death into the sky, cutting through dozens of the flying swine. Bullets shattered skulls and ignited the explosive baskets. Though the pigs were nigh without number, many were shot down on their approach.

 

The Dalles was firing back.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Kobold King

[Voidus]

Impact soared through the air, her mind in turmoil. Thoughts of revenge raged through her, an urge to destroy the one who had attacked her. Confusion at her predicament warred with these thoughts, her mind trying to make sense of the rush of sensory and emotional input she was experiencing. A veritable army flashed beneath her as she flew, a flash of black and white mixed with the red of freshly spilled blood. The feel of the air rushing through her hair, over her skin. The roar of the wind in her ears as she sped.

Stop!

The world stilled in an instant as she sent a surge of power into her own body, opposing her forwards momentum.

A flare of pain in her chest alerted her to a growing bruise.

Must have stopped too quickly. She mused, oddly calm and analytical of the experience. The power didn't reach everything at the same time.

She hung, suspended over the battlefield by a constant exertion of power. She scanned her surroundings, only moments had passed but she'd been carried far beyond the cities borders.

 

Dropping gently to the ground she watched the army pressing against the city guard, battles proceeding both on the ground and in the air.

Impact gave a grim smile.

I think they might need a little help with their pest problem.

Striding over to a nearby tree, Impact shattered it's trunk with a single hit. Dragging it back into view of the army she gave it a burst of force, hurling it towards them.

Now of Oregon? Another newcomer to the city then. Did she know about the city guard?

"That would be great, I... I need to find someone."

Wait... did she say Queen?

Of course, it has to be another crazy one. No, don't focus on her, just concentrate. I just need to find Backtrack, then everything will be ok.

The sounds from the panda army grew louder again, squirrels, pandas and an assortment of altered animals charging through the Dalles.

"Calamity, these things just won't give up."

[mail-mi he/him]

The darkness went away.

Finally, after what seemed like hours--weeks, even--Reader was free. But he wasn't freed by pandas.

Reader smacked his lips, feeling thirsty. Man, Reader thought, The world is a strange, strange place when you're surprised to not be freed by pandas.

"Hello," Frostfire--Ethan Mitchell--said to him when his eyes adjusted to the light. "The name's Frostfire, or Ethan, if you prefer. What can you tell me about the Dalles?"

Energy manipulator, Reader thought after a moment of looking at the man. Like that girl, Megan, except with more than just kinetic energy. Powerful.

"I know everything, Ethan Mitchell of many failed relationships. It's sad; that Hailey girl was a hot one." Reader paused to let it sink in, shaking his head slightly. "What do you wish to learn?" Edited January 31, 2015 by mail-mi

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Queen Elsa smiled at the girl who stepped on her ice cloud, but then she turned to the panda army.

 

Her face fell in a instant and began to move her hands into a fighting stance, her hands glowing as she summoned her powers, a giant icy blast that landed just in front of a panda.

 

The ice cloud rose to get a better view of the army. It was definitely about to get messy.

Edited February 8, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles
removed quote

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

 

Backtrack's glasses were even worse indoors. Outside, they had made everything seem pink and somewhat cheery, even if they only barely shielded her eyes from the sun. Inside, they gave the light a much darker cast, making even the furniture seem dingy. A few nearby patients looked strangely dimmed, their eyes somewhat shadowed; patients across the room were little more than sharply drawn shadows. 

 

And Backtrack wore these things all the time? He hadn't seemed the delusional type. 

 

Baxter Game's expression reflected the nervousness Autumn felt. His gaze flickered from her to Shiny Sparkle, then to Backtrack, who had taken to petting little Neko. That was good. On a day where everything she thought she knew had been turned on its head and trampled by pandas, it was nice to see the town medic was just as rattled as she was. 

 

“Autumn, a pleasure to see you... anything I can help you with?”

 

The way he leaned on the word anything revealed the subtext: Care to tell me why you're wearing pink glasses with an Epic's arm around your waist while the young man pets my cat? I'm certainly not one to judge, but the middle of a panda invasion doesn't seem like the best time to pick up dates. 

 

Before Autumn could heartily agree, Shiny Sparkle bounced up and down, nudging Autumn's shoulder playfully with her own. "Autumn, introduce us, introduce us!" 

 

How can she be so perky in the middle of a war zone? Seriously, an Epic who goes to war zones to murder bystanders is bad enough, but an Epic who goes to war zones to flirt is….okay, not nearly as bad, but still. ​"I—sorry about that." Autumn cleared her throat. "This is Shiny Sparkle, and that is Backtrack." 

 

Shiny Sparkle was expecting more. She had to be. No Epic would pick up a date in the middle of an invasion and content herself with an introduction that only shared her name. 

 

"Shiny—" Great. What sort of nickname did she want—Shiny or Sparkle? Sparks wouldn't work, for obvious reasons. "Shiny Sparkle and I were—um—well, it's kind of a date….oh, and, uh, Backtrack was shot. Reader got carried away again. Could—could you take a look at his arm?" 

 

Autumn kept her smile in place as Shiny Sparkle kept her arm around her waist. Please don't kill me please don't kill me please don't kill me….

[Edgedancer he/him]

Baxter was less and less certain, if Autumn Glass was actually being held captive or simply embarrassed. Naturally, she could also be both.

The Epic, Shiny Sparkle, at least seemed enamored enough with her that he didn´t worry about the chaplain’s life.

 

“Yup, I decided to help you guys after being seduced by Autumn´s feminine wiles.” The epic Redhead commented the introduction.

“I… see.” He had a very hard time seeing Autumn seducing anyone but if an Epic started making passes at her she could hardly refuse. “Congratulations, you don´t often see couples this… accepting of each other.”

“How could I not fall for her? Just look at how cute she is, while being flustered.”

There might not be a danger to Autumn´s live but seeing how Shiny Sparkle slowly moved her hand down towards Autumn´s hip, Baxter couldn´t help but worry if she might attack her in another way.

 

With the invasion going on he really could only hope that nothing bad would happen to her. After that, they could see what to do. Who knows, with some luck this could actually turn into a sweet story.

 

Around them the other people had calmed down. They still held their distance from Shiny Sparkle but it clearly helped that she didn´t start killing people.

 

Through all of that the small man, Backtrack, was still covering and petting Neko, it´s hard to imagine that this man was an Epic. He just seems so non-impressive for an Epic or in general. Still, if he had a run in with Reader, he deserved some consolation.

 

The Doctor crouched down in front of Backtrack, so they were on eye-level with each other and gave him a comforting smile. “I´m sorry you had to suffer through Reader. How about we go into my treatment room and I take a look at that gunshot wound. We can even bring the cat with us.”

[Aonar he/him]

"I know everything, Ethan Mitchell of many failed relationships. It's sad; that Hailey girl was a hot one." The Epic paused to let it sink in, shaking his head slightly. "What do you wish to learn?" 
 
Ethan stood a moment, stunned. …Hailey? How the Calamity does this slontze know about her? Frostfire clenched his fists, shadow curling around his fingers. He wanted to tear the Epic apart where he stood, freeze him solid and shatter him into more pieces than Frostfire could count.
 
Breathe, Ethan. The thought came out of nowhere, a little island of rationality in the turbulence of his mind. He’s probably just a telepath. A telepath who's trying to screw with you, at that. If he knows too much, kill him, but otherwise he’s more valuable alive and talking. He took a moment to breathe deeply and calm himself down.
 
“Alright. Ground rules: You mention Hailey again, and I end your existence, in the most painful way possible. Is that good with you, telepath?"
 
He took a moment to take in the scene around him, and the three dead pandas on the ground. “Or,” Frostfire added, a slight grin on his face, “Do you prefer Goldilocks?” Edited March 3, 2015 by Aonar Faileas

[Voidus]

MV wobbled unsteadily as the pile of ice she stood on rose into the air. The blood beneath her tear and dirt-stained face drained in an instant as she saw the full size of the animal army, legions of pandas aimed bows to the city, score of pigs continued to soar through the sky. Here and there people stood out among the army, soldiers at their posts, firing into the oncoming hordes, one person flew through the air, attacking the pigs and pandas. A flying Epic of some sort it would seem. Nearby someone else rode what looked like a giant lion with wings, slashing at the flying animals from the Panda army.

How many Epics are working for this city? MV wondered absently, her thoughts seemed muted in her own mind, her whole body still felt numb at the shock of losing her sister.

A wave of arrows arced up from the army, heading to the two women standing on a cloud of ice. MV created a wall of air to block the missiles, stopping them the second they touched it.

"Sparking things." She grumbled.  "Go back to whatever hellhole spawned you!" She yelled at the creatures.

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Queen Elsa gasped in surprise at the arrows approaching and let out a sigh of relief and MV stopped them. With one hand she kept the ice cloud floating, and with the other, she created four long, pointy icicles that rained down onto the pandas.

She smiled a courageous grin at MV. "Nice powers."

Something she hadn't done a while. A feeling of accomplishment. A feeling that she had actually done something worthwhile.

Edited February 8, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles
removed quote

[mail-mi he/him]

 

"Or, do you prefer Goldilocks?" 

 

Reader flared his nostrils. He leaned in towards Ethan and whispered harshly, "Hailey." He stepped back. "Kirsten. Vanessa. Go ahead. Kill me. Let's see if you can do it."

 

Reader paused for a second as Ethan's face contorted with rage. "You're a coward, Ethan Mitchell. You could never kill me." Reader chuckled ruefully. "Besides, let's see how the leader of The Dalles reacts to my death. I don't think he'd be very pleased, how about you?" 

[Guest]

Rob jerked awake with a start, sun filling his nostrils. He sneezed. And sneezed again. Billy, beside him, began to stir.
"Can I get my pass now?" a voice asked from behind him.
The truck driver leaned against his vehicle, chewing gum.
"Y'know, I didn't have a thing to do with that boy's shenanigans," the driver said. "I was just paid to drive him here."
"Just...shut up," Rob bit out. "I'll get you a pass, unless you're hiding anymore sparking Epics in there."
"All I got is some ravioli and lots of beans," Lester drawled, "but none of them Epics."
"I'll be the judge of that," Rob said as he wiped sauce off his formerly pristine shirt. Sparking Epics. They think they can just do anything. He climbed into the truck and searched until he was satisfied that no more Epics were in the back of the truck.
"I have to go to the guard booth to get the form," he said. "I'll be right back, but don't hold your breath. We have a LOT of stacks."
"Fine by me," said Lester. "I've already been waiting a couple hours."
Rob jogged to the booth and began searching for the form. After a couple minutes, he heard trampling outside and looked up.

Pandas were surrounding the truck! Calamity! Vondra said they wouldn't make it here this week! Rob watched, stunned, as one of the Pandas walked forward and smashed Billy, still on the ground, in the face repeatedly with a bo staff. Blood splashed on the asphalt. Wait--where is Lester?

An extra-large can of ravioli sailed out from the truck and struck the Panda square in his funny hat. The Panda dropped like a rock, bo staff falling from his lifeless fingers. The Pandas immediately turned toward Lester. An arrow took him in the knee. He dropped clumsily to his other knee, still in the act of firing off a second can at the Pandas. His neck spurted blood as an arrow slit his jugular. He collapsed onto the truck bed, half in, half out. Gravity slowly pulled him all the way out of the truck, and he flopped on the ground, dead. Calamity! Rob groaned and dropped to the ground, hiding himself.

[Aonar he/him]

 

Goldilocks leaned in towards Ethan and whispered harshly, "Hailey." He stepped back again. "Kirsten. Vanessa. Go ahead. Kill me. Let's see if you can do it."

The telapath paused for a second as Ethan's face contorted with rage. "You're a coward, Ethan Mitchell. You could never kill me." The man chuckled ruefully. "Besides, let's see how the leader of The Dalles reacts to my death. I don't think he'd be very pleased, how about you?"

Frostfire was moving before he could even fully process what the telepath said; one hand wrapping around his throat and shoving him up against the wall of a nearby building. Frost crackled underneath his fingers, burning against the telepath’s skin. “I don’t think you understand, Goldilocks,” Frostfire began. “You see, you’re not in a position to be making insults.”

He increased the pressure against the telepath’s trachea in illustration his point. Goldilocks batted weakly at Frostfire’s arm, struggling to breathe. “I am a High Epic, and mock me as you wish, but I am not someone to be trifled with by one such as you.”

The telepath’s skin turned deathly pale. Frostfire could sense something moving through the camp nearby, but he ignored it, for now. “The choices I make are my own however. You are still more useful alive then dead. But if you ever forget, if you ever again assume that I will not end your miserable, meaningless existence, I will kill you.”

Whatever was moving through the camp was almost upon them. A large, heavy object arced towards his head. The wooden club connected, then stopped dead, warping and shattering as it underwent several violent shifts in temperature. Frostfire dropped Goldilocks and backhanded him across the face, sending him sprawling on the ground. He heard a satisfying crunch as the telepath’s nose broke. “Excuse me for a moment, please.”

Frostfire turned toward the disturbance. It was another beast, although not a panda, this time. Standing several feet tall, it looked like an incredibly muscular man with the head and legs of a bull. The minotaur was looking down at its now-empty hands confusedly. Obviously not the brightest animal in the barn.

"What the Calamity do you think you're doing? Can't you see we're trying to have a sparking conversation, here?" It glanced up, beady eyes filled with anger. The beast swung its fist clumsily at Frostfire.

He stepped inside its swing, and nonchalantly placed his hand on the creature's chest. Ice spread through the minotaur's fur, bones cracking and popping as they froze. Focusing for a moment, he forced the gathered heat back into the minotaur's body. Smoke billowed as his hand carved a hole through it's chest.

The minotaur remained standing for a moment, held up by Frostfire’s arm. He extricated himself carefully, allowing the wreck of its body to fall to the ground. His right arm was covered in char and gore up to the elbow. With a thought, it froze, and then shattered, leaving Frostfire perfectly clean again.

Frostfire turned back towards the telepath's prostrate form, grass smoking slightly under his feet. “Now,” he said, brushing a few flecks of ash from his shirt, “let us return to the original subject of our conversation. What can you tell me about the Dalles? Its structure, its organization, its current status, your role and the role of other Epics there?”

Edited February 10, 2015 by Aonar Faileas

[Voidus]

Lucy was distracted from her eviscerating of flying pigs when she noticed a cloud of ice nearby, two people standing on it as a group of arrows were deflected.

She almost rushed towards the two alone, intent on ending them single handedly when she remembered Emma, she directed her griffin back to the flying Edgerunner, getting her attention and gesturing towards the two Epics on top of the ice. With a nod the two of them flew off towards the cloud of ice.

Lucy was tempted to just attack them straight away but one of them had shot some projectiles at the panda army, so they weren't allied with whoever was sending the animals, but neither were members of the city guard either and they were unescorted.

"Identify yourselves!" She yelled as they approached earshot, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
 

MV smiled grimly at Elsa as the ice Epic complimented her and then sent a hail of ice towards the Pandas below. MV opened her mouth, not really sure what she was going to say but trying to carry the conversation nontheless when she saw something moving fast out the corner of her eye. She almost missed it with all the flying pigs and other absurdities but there she was, the flying Epic she'd noticed earlier was approaching them, accompanied by a girl riding what looked like a flying lion.

"Identify yourselves!" The girl riding the lion-thing said with a stern look.

Great more members of the extermination squad no doubt, or more Slontzes who'll sit there drinking wine and make fun of me.

Tempted as she was to ask the girl to identify herself. MV resisted, sure that she didn't want to annoy these people anymore.

"I'm MV, this is Elsa, we both just arrived in the city but I've already been to see Reader and Autumn Glass, she's the one who let me help fight these weird panda things."

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Elsa smiled at MV. "It's true. I actually arrived in the city a little while ago, but that is irrelevant. May we go past you now.?"

Elsa wasn't one to be bossed around. She did what she wanted, And when she wanted something, She would resist all consequences.

 

With a hand on her hip and almost narrowing her eyes at the girl, she moved her ice cloud a little closer, the tension rising.

"What is your answer?"

Edited February 12, 2015 by Queen Elsa Steelheart

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Edgerunner had been busy when Scribbler waved her over. She didn't know why the other Epic was interrupting her while she fought these beasts. Then she saw it. A cloud of ice, rising above the ground. No one in the Dalles could do that, but then again, ice spikes were plunging into pandas near the cloud. Either way, they should check it out. The big Arse himself would want to know.

Scribbler yelled out to the cloud, "Identify yourselves!" The two women on top of the cloud looked over. One was obviously the ice Epic, she dressed in obviously icy clothing. Like most Epics, she thought she needed some costume that matched her powers. The other looked regular, but seemed not to be a slave. Edgerunner appreciated her style. It was simple and comfortable, like her own. No need to be ostentatious.

The simply dressed girl answered, "I'm MV, this is Elsa, we both just arrived in the city but I've already been to see Reader and Autumn Glass, she's the one who let me help fight these weird panda things."

Edgerunner smiled. Definitely an Epic then, and one that realized the value of blending in. MV was a strange name though, she wondered what it stood for. The ice woman smiled at her, speaking up as well. "It's true. I actually arrived in the city a little while ago, but that is irrelevant. May we go past you now?" Edgerunner opened her mouth to answer, but just then, the ice Epic, Elsa, moved her cloud closer and cut her off rudely. "What is your answer?"

Edgerunner frowned slightly. "I'm Edgerunner, or Emma. This is Lucy, or Scribbler. It's nice to meet you," Edgerunner pointedly looked only at MV as she said that. "We could use your help fighting these animals. If Autumn let you come, we must really need more help. Will you fight with us?" Edgerunner smiled at MV, hoping that they wouldn't try to force their way out. If they did, Edgerunner and Scribbler would have to stop them. She didn't want to waste time fighting nice girls when they were being besieged by an army of animals lead by pandas.