What Happened in Edmonton

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

”Can you teleport people to you? I need to find Lee. He’ll be hopelessly lost and in max danger without me. I’m sure he’s almost dead in the gutter or something!”  

Jade looked nervous, though whether it was from the use of her powers or the colors surrounding Kokichi (and her, though she hadn't noticed the pink) Nathan couldn't be sure. He was sure that Kokichi's melodrama was exactly that. He'd only known Liam a few minutes, but what he'd seen in those minutes made not rolling his eyes at their dire prediction a Herculean task.

"It took him all of three minutes to guess we're from down south," he said, crossing to where his pack lay. He'd hooked his foot through the strap the moment Jade took his hand. "Pretty sure a guy like that can handle himself for ten." 

He caught Jade's eye as he grabbed the zipper. She gave a small shrug, so he tugged it open and shook out his duster. Now that Jade's biggest card was on the table, it didn't seem to matter whether these Epics saw his coat or not. Chances were good that, next to Kokichi, a guy in a duster would look positively normal; and if these newcomers mistook him for an Epic…well, it was nothing he hadn't navigated before, and this time Jade wouldn't spill his secret because she wanted a laugh. 

"Sorry, but who are you three?" 

"Nathan," he said, pulling the sleeves on over his shirt. "That's Jade, and this is Kokichi. I think Jade offered to make a birthday cake for Nicroburst—that offer still on the table?" 

"Sure?" 

"Cool. So. Cake?" 

Edited December 29, 2018 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[kenod]

Kaitlin smiled. "Neverthere praised me," she thought. She stopped walking and grinned a little. "I did it," she said quietly. Then she stopped smiling, and started thinking about the other things Neverthere had said. She said she was going to be busy for a while, which meant that Kaitlin would be on her own. She felt nervous. She didn't know what she should do until then, and she didn't want to do anything that would cause Neverthere to be disappointing in her. That was when she remembered about the meeting she told her about. "Right, there was a meeting at the stadium," she muttered to herself, "She asked me to go there. But what should I do when I'm there? She didn't tell me anything about that." She thought about it for a bit, then started walking. "I guess I should go, since she asked me to," she thought. "I'll figure out what she wants me to do when I'm there."
At that point she remembered the last thing Neverthere said: "I want to have you for myself for a while." She thought about this for a bit, and then her face turned a bright red. Quickly shaking her head she continued walking towards the stadium.

[Ataraxian Wist she/her]

"Master Karabiner," Charles began his notification. "Operative Nudge is in need of assistance."

"What does the idiot need?" Karabiner replied. Charles analyzed his inflection and and matched it with "irritated (annoyed, impatient, or slightly angry.)" He discounted the use of the term "idiot" to the irritation, rather than asking if it was a contact name.

"The Target is following another vehicle, the driver of which seems to be in pursuit of a rather flamboyant Perception Epic. The Target is following too closely to be separated without notifying the other driver, who poses an unknown risk factor, and neither of them realize that the other Epic is at the stadium, as our security forerunner has confirmed."

"Oh. That is a problem. Do we have Bloodlight's Mobile contact?"

Charles searched his contact database in just .04 seconds, find a match, and answered "yes, Arachnerd the Blackweb included it in her file." He ran a logic-based calculation, then asked "shall I send Target Bloodlight a photo confirming the other Epic's location and send Operative Nudge along an alternate route?"

Karabiner processed for 2.73 seconds, then confirmed with "yes. Yes, do that."

Charles did it, then returned to analyzing everything.

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

Nicroburst spoke to Blindside without turning his head.

”Check your active.  You know, the one where you look like you’re somewhere else.  Any passives should still work.”

Nicroburst was surprised at how friendly this Epic and her companion were.  Nicroburst knew most Epics were either jerks or insane, but he had only ever been irritable sometimes. He’d assumed that all the other nice Epics got exploited and killed pretty early on.  These people, however, weren’t too bad.

He shot a glance at Blindside to see how she was taking everything.  His hand casually gripped the hilt of his knife, in a way that wouldn’t be obvious, just in case.  Nicroburst knew some Epics who had freaked out when they realized that their powers had stopped working.  

He still had some of the scars.

Edited December 29, 2018 by Ookla of the Flame

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

The horns blared. The agent almost looked bored.

Come on. This isn't enough? The sparks more do you want me to do??

Bullets continued to rip through the air around Taya, pinning her behind cover. Kind of a waste of ammo, that.

Taya was starting to not like the Circle very much. She could sympathize with pissing off the paragovernment (definitely traveled that road before), but leaving a stranger to die? Have the decency to fall for a perfectly good wounded gazelle gambit, dammit.

Regrettably, retreat wasn't really an option. Either Taya caught his attention for real, or she gave up on her best hope to cure herself.

She had an idea, but it wasn't necessarily a good one. This was gonna suck.

This was really gonna suck.

Best not think about it too much. Taya stood up, made one step forward, leaving cover behind her.

It took a second to register. The bullet had passed through her kidney. The first instant of pain threatened to eclipse her thoughts.

She was on the ground. She could see a look of shock cross the gunman's face, but it was quickly concealed. This had to look authentic. Even if getting shot wasn't remotely part of the plan. Jayce was gonna kill her for that, once the operation was done with.

Taya grit her teeth and scrambled to her feet, taking shelter behind the car itself to absorb the storm of projectiles. Her arm covered the site of injury as if to defend it; pressing on it only made the pain worse. On the bright side, she would heal from it soon if things panned out.

Welp. This had better work.

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

As bullets whizzed through the air, the person just stared at Liam for a moment. They locked eyes, and he was surprised to find… determination in her gaze. Her pursuers continued to lay down suppression.

And then she stepped towards the van.

It happened incredibly fast and horrifically slow at the same time. A bullet ripped through her abdomen. Pain gripped her expression. Liam could almost perceive a hesitation in the gunfire, if only for a split-second. The woman crumpled to the ground.

But then she pressed onwards, scramble-crawling to the van. Unfortunately, that meant the gunmen’s barrels were pointed in his direction. A few rounds glanced off the hood. Sparks, Liam thought. At least I built this thing for this. He heard a thump on the side door. The woman. Sparks, he thought again as he grit his teeth and grabbed the shotgun.

Lowering the window just enough to poke the gun through, Liam blasted off two warning shots at the approaching gunmen. They fell back accordingly. Almost… too easily, a voice from the back of his mind whispered. He fired a final shot before reaching over to open the side door. It slid back, revealing the pain-wracked face of the woman.

“Get in,” he ordered.

[Voidus]

Megan fell painfully to the rooftop as Allison dropped her roughly before alighting gently a few feet away.

"Still getting used to the flying?" Megan said with a touch of sarcasm. "Or just annoyed that I managed to find you?"

Allison stood two steps away, not offering any assistance as Megan stumbled up onto her feet. Megans words barely seemed to register at all as her sister continued to look impassively on. Silently.

"We're alone now Allison, you can-"

"Don't!" Allison interrupted "Don't call me that. Don't make me do something we'd both regret."

Megan withdrew, holding her arms around herself defensively as she looked at her sister, stunned. Their first time seeing each other in so long and that was what she said? She wanted to be called by those stupid nicknames that they'd thought up when they gained their powers?

"You ran." Megan said flatly. "You left me alone in that town, in the middle of a sparking war and all you care about is that I call you Impact?"

Allison stared back, eyes still hot with anger and a hint of disappointment. It was a look that Megan was used to receiving, usually when she said something monumentally stupid and got both of them into trouble, but they were alone now right? They could both speak freely. So why was Allison still so quiet? Why didn't she say something? Why didn't she explain what had kept them apart? Why she'd had to abandon her sister and flee? Surely some Epic from the Dalles had been after her, chasing her, and she'd needed to go into hiding. She'd left Megan behind to protect her, taking the danger for herself like she always did.

"Don't use my name. Not ever. But especially not here." Allison said, her eyes already changing. Becoming cold and distant once more. "I don't need to give anyone here any more information about myself."

Megan stared, disbelieving as Allison avoided answering. Sure they'd been apart for a while but her sister couldn't have changed that much could she? Where was the cheeky smile that only Megan ever got to see? The one Allison wore whenever they'd finished pulling off a prank and both managed to regroup safely.

"What's happened to you?" Megan asked. "And that guy you were staring at before, were you fighting another Epic? That's not how we do thing, you said we needed to play it safe."

"No, you need to play it safe Meg." Allison said. "I'm literally bulletproof, I could take a dozen Epics like that down if they're stupid enough to challenge me. He wasn't even powerful enough to use his abilities to attack, just use human toys like the soldiers in that stupid town."

Allison strode up to her sister, eyes bright and furious once again, blazing with anger and power.

"The days of hiding from the turf wars in Portland are over for me. I don't hide from horror stories of High Epics anymore. I am a High Epic. I don't need you anymore, just go home and keep yourself safe."

Go home.

Like she could just forget the months she'd spent tracking Allison, tracking sightings and guessing where she was heading. Just head back to the wasteland that Oregon had become and try to rebuild something?

Megans vision blurred as tears caught in her eyelashes, mixing with the dirt that had been kicked up by her fall. She angrily rubbed the mess out of the way, whirling upon her sister to give her a piece of her mind.

But Impact had gone. Again.

[Ataraxian Wist she/her]

Nate heard a beep amid the gunshots as he slowed to avoid running into Liam's Samba. In his hesitation, his Mobile lit up in the picture frame on his dash.

"Who sent me th..." He started, tapping the notification banner that had popped down to tell him about a "media message" he had received.

He quieted as he saw what it was. The message opened to display a photo of Kokichi covered in what appeared to be oil, apparently talking to Nathan - now wearing a duster - and Jade. There were two others in the picture, but Nate didn't recognize them. They were all outside what was clearly an old sports stadium, though Nate couldn't recall having seen it.

"'Found your friends.' Who is this?" Nate was worried now. His Mobile was not a known number in the area.

"... Celia must have given it to them, but who is this?"

Nate pulled his car alongside the van and rolled down his window, now that he was protected from fire by the other vehicle's massive frame.

"Tell him they're at a stadium!" He shouted to a random injured woman who it seemed was about to climb into Liam's van. His voice cut clearly over the gunfire, and he was pretty sure she'd heard him.

He glanced in the left mirror and saw a black van turn off into a side street.

"Wonder who they could be?" He muttered.

 

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

"Tell him they're at--" CRACK "--stadium!" the driver of the car behind shouted before 

The door slid open.

"Get in," the agent ordered grimly.

Thank Calamity. Taya scrambled up into the Samba, slammed the door, and tried not to bleed too much on the seats. She tied her hoodie around the wound, tight enough to hurt; she didn't really know if that was the right thing to do but it worked in books and some of the TV shows she watched before Calamity.

"Thank you," she exhaled, only partially succeeding to hold back a fit of coughing. "Never really saw eye-to-eye with the province of Alberta." She smiled tightly.

Taya's heart was thundering in her head, the change was so abrupt. The bullet hole still hurt like hell, although shock was still doing a marvelous job of keeping Taya going. She let herself tremble a little in the wake of her near-failure, passing it off for the natural reaction in the wake of a near-death experience.

She had a part to play.

"Bulletproof car," she noted. "Who is it that saved me?"

It took a moment for Blindside to parse Nicroburst's words. She flipped on her ability. It felt normal.

It was at this point that she realized her powers lacked any built-in feedback or fault detection. She would be sure to file a bug report with Calamity.

For now, Blindside was more concerned with remaining alive. Also, changing the subject.

"So, um. Cake."

Yep, DEFINITELY not an obvious change of subject.

"Should we sit down somewhere for cake? I don't see any benches or whatever." She had a look around. "The abandoned stadium is probably fair game."

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

The woman frantically pulled herself into the van and slammed the door. With shuddering breaths, she attempted to bind her wound with her hoodie. It was soon red with blood.

“Thank you,” she breathed. “Never really saw eye-to-eye with the province of Alberta.” The pain strained her voice. A few exploratory gunshots echoed outside, and Liam decided it was a good time to continue driving.

“Bulletproof car,” the woman said, sounding both grateful and intrigued. “Who is it that saved me?”

A strange way of wording the question, Liam thought. “Call me Moose,” he replied.

[The Swan Dragon he/him]

"The trees have started dispersing through the stadium," Ironwood's voice buzzed into Phytomagnet's ear as he walked around the stadium. "And I've found a good place for my CCC, it's--"

"Hold a moment, Iron," Phyto cut in, lengthening his stride. "There're some people already here. I'll call you back after I investigate."

Is that a...cake?

No way. Why would anyone be eating a cake? It's not a holiday last I checked.

Okay yes it is a cake.

Also why here? Abandoned stadiums aren't your typical party hot spots.

And...is that a duster? This is Canada, ya Redneck.

One of them, a younger...person seemed to be covered in some sort of glistening--"Hey! Where's your bear of a friend, Mr. Mentalist Epic?" He narrowed his eyes, looking more closely at Duster's face. "I'm still technically supposed to be chasing you, y'know."

Phyto looked over the others as he spoke, noting that the cake--apparently a melange of various regular cakes--was still mostly whole, albeit horrendously colorful. Duster seemed a bit shady but nothing special and the two girls seemed mostly confused. The last guy was the most out of place, apparently actually happy for some inexplicable reason.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Cake with Epics was nothing new. 

Sure, the Nathan from two years ago would have balked at the notion of sitting down with Epics and eating cake as an equal, but something about surviving a statewide turf war and crisscrossing the Fractured States with a cake-loving Epic had allowed Nathan to conquer his prior misgivings. The earlier Nathan, the server who hovered about two inches from a beating on the worst nights, would have spent more time looking to the Epics and mirroring their moods and manners than he would have spent actually eating cake. 

Now, however, his first priority was getting a slice without too much frosting. 

Jade had seen him choose cake slices when they were available. She'd gasped in mock horror when he revealed he wasn't a huge fan of frosting, but now, he saw her going toward one slice with as much frosting as cake and another with a little too much for Nathan's liking, but far less than others. 

"Hey! Where's your bear of a friend, Mr. Mentalist Epic?"

Nathan spun toward the voice and found it belonged to an alarmingly pale man with deep green hair, clad in military camo. Lime green eyes focused on him, narrowing in suspicion. 

He blinked, trying to remember the last time he'd seen this Epic. 

"I'm still technically supposed to be chasing you, y'know."

Now he froze, torn between stumbling over apologies and asking where on earth they'd met. He couldn't recall ever seeing any Epic who looked like this man, but then again, he'd seen Jade back when she was still prancing around the Fractured States in a haphazardly dyed prom dress with glitter in her hair. It wasn't that bright green eyes and deep green hair disturbed him; it was just that he'd never seen them before. 

Maybe because he'd never seen this Epic before? 

His thoughts scurried back to a stop he and Jade had taken some months before. Tucson, Arizona. Blazing sun on his back, roasting him through his clothes. A taco truck by the side of the road. 

A plate, lifted from a shelf with no hand to move it. 

That was Tucson, of course. He didn't know how many miles lay between Arizona and Alberta, but it had to be enough to keep some invisibility Epic from following them over a stolen bottle of hot sauce—and even if it wasn't, they'd ported here after hopping through Arizona up to Oklahoma and then toward Louisiana. An Epic in Tucson couldn't trail them to Alberta because they'd left no trail to follow. 

Unless, of course, there was some sort of superhuman tracking ability involved. 

"I—look, we didn't even use the hot sauce," he said. "It went bad in 2017." 

"And that brand was gross anyway," Jade put in. "Tabasco is just hot vinegar." 

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

Viktor Eventide waited patiently outside the house of a man named Oliver Woodsley.  The man was currently inside, having lunch with his son Charles, his wife having been murdered 5 years ago.  All in all, the man had had a reasonably comfortable life.  That was not to last.

Viktor heard a rattling at the door in front of him.  The man stepped out, head turned to his son behind him.  "Charles-" Viktor allowed the man to notice him as his head turned.  He savored the sharp intake of breath, the quickening heartbeat, the realization.  "What in the dickens-" Like a snake, Viktor struck, arm lashing out to grasp the throat of his prey.  The rest of the man's words were cut off by the vise-like grip of the Epic.  The child, Charles, froze just inside the house.

"Do you know how hard it is to find someone who knows how to work a sundial these days?"  Viktor's voice was as cold as his gaze as he stared unblinkingly at the struggling man in his hand, mouth flapping open and closed like an oxygen-starved fish.  Power coursed through his hand, leeching hours of hard work and dedication in moments.  "Very few still bother with such archaic methods of telling time."  Contempt filled his voice.  "Of course, you have one right in your backyard, don't you?  You always had a knack for noticing minute changes in the angle of the shadow."  Viktor checked his watch.  Time was running short, and he wouldn't be able to drain the man for anything else.  That was a pity.  Viktor never was one to waste food.

"Unfortunately, we may have to cut this short."  He glanced down at the struggling man, his fingers growing weaker as they tried to pry apart the unyielding iron that was Viktor's hand.  The man was able to breathe slightly, though he was still slowly suffocating.  It hadn't been too long yet, but the power flow into Viktor's body was ebbing.  The man's skill was running out.  After all, one could only be so skilled at perceiving the time as shown by a sundial.  But that was fine.  Viktor already had excellent eyesight, and that would help a great deal.  As the last dregs of skill left the man's body, a flick of the wrist brought a hidden dagger from the sleeve of his suit into a hand already moving to stab the man's heart.  Viktor released the man just as his son screamed out in pain and denial.  Charles rushed forward, embracing the fallen corpse, then glared with tear-ridden eyes the man who had killed his father.  Viktor smiled bitterly at the boy, before stepping back.  "Such is the circle of life, even though all of us sometimes wish it weren't so."

Viktor Eventide stepped back into the shadows, as the boy let out a primal scream of rage.

"All of us."

[breakingamber he/him]

Two weeks ago

The truck stopped.

Again.

Karina sighed, sat, and then stood up. Her back had been rumbling against the back of the pickup for the past hundred miles or so, giving her back pains to go along with her ever-more-painful headache. "Why did we have to sell the shock absorbers?" she mumbled as she climbed over the thin lip that had guarded her life as she'd travelled north.

The driver, Clovis, was hunched over, a large map spread out over the wheel. He was mildly pudgy, but much cleverer than one might expect from the sports fanatic he was pre-calamity. Karina walked up to the truck door. "What happened? Why are we stopping? I mean, I'm in no hurry, but I hate just being a sitting duck out here. Is something broken?"

Clovis continued studying the map. "Well, nothing's broken. Might have some trouble starting this hunk of junk up again, but the truck's fine for now. I'd hate to leave it behind." He had told her he'd gotten the truck from a Newcago scrapyard with his buddy Turt, who was snoring in the passenger seat. 

"What's the problem then?"

"I think we've drifted too far west. Take a look." He pointed at his map, then looked at the compass dangling down from the mirror. "Remember when we made that detour to avoid Ashburn? That's Minot on the map." Karina frowned as she traced his thick finger down their route. "We took this highway west, passed through Bismarck, and now we're at this junction. We'll want to avoid Helena, because I've heard there's a bunch of different Epics fighting over it. Instead, we'll be passing through Missoula, where we'll probably also be able to get some extra gas. Then we'll head north and we'll be in Edmon- I mean, Olympia Polaris  - in no time."

Karina thought about it and said, "I don't like passing by Hauntsville," as she pointed to Spokane, "but it's probably necessary. We're avoiding Calgary for sure, right?" 

Clovis nodded, grinned, and then said, "Then it's settled then." He got out of the truck, flipping the hood over as he did so. "Could you hold these two wires together so we can get back on the move?"

 --- --- ---

One week ago

"Stop the car!"

Turt slammed on the brakes as Karina screamed from the passenger seat. "Sparks, you almost gave me a heart attack. What is it, Indy?" She frowned and said, "I'm getting out. I thought I saw some smoke in those trees over there."

Turt shrugged and said, "It's your funeral. We're almost to Edmonton; only an hour away or so. If you want to walk the rest of the way, go ahead. I'm not stopping here." Karina glared, then threw open the car door, grabbing her backpack and rifle from the back before she trekked off.

The skinny freckly guy watched her go, then said to thin air, "I know you wouldn't like it, Clovis, but hey. I'm going home."

--- --- ---

Karina batted at the brush in front of her with her rifle, cursing under her breath. "Sparking bushes. Hope there's actually something back here, else I'm walking to Edmonton for nothing." She hit a tree with her rifle, and snow fell down on top of her. "Calamity it's cold up here." She looked up, and saw that the smoke plume was only a couple dozen meters in front of her. Karina pushed through the branches and bushes with renewed urgency, until she stumbled upon what appeared to be a campsite.

Surrounded by corpses.

Karina looked around at the carnage. The fire had burned out of control slightly, burning its way to a nearby snow-covered tree, which was slowly putting the fire out. If I'd gotten here earlier, I probably would've been killed. Later, and I never would have noticed this. Looking back at the corpses, their methods of croaking varied significantly. One guy was decapitated, another impaled, and two of them had been shot, one much more than the other. Karina noticed a piece of paper in one of the female corpses' hands, and wrenched it out of her stiff grasp. It read, "Taylor Swift drank a black cherry Perrier and shared the rest with a fan during her last stadium concert" 

Puzzled, Karina put the paper into her sack. Maybe it's just a treasured piece of trivia? A code, perhaps? She entered one of the several tents placed around the campfire, finding a mobile. She turned it on, and, unfortunately, it had a password on it. Sighing, she stuffed that into her pack as well, found some ammunition (into the backpack!) and started trekking north, hopefully towards Edmonton. Or, as it was called now, Olympia Polaris.

[The Swan Dragon he/him]

Duster blinked.  "I—look, we didn't even use the hot sauce. It went bad in 2017." 

"And that brand was gross anyway," the girl in a pink shirt added. "Tabasco is just hot vinegar." 

I. Wait what? 

"Uh what," the mentalist stammered, echoing Phytomagnet's thoughts.

Question marks popped up, before vanishing, and their eyes turned into white circles with thick back outlines. Sweat drops appeared over their foreheads and some weird cake thing showed up around the background.

Phytomagnet started, his eyes locked onto their comical expression until it returned to normal. "Sparks! What was that face? And blast your Tabasco sauce, I don't even know who you are, slontze."

Just then, an image returned to his mind unbidden. Many years before, back when he was just Joel, or Gilly to his friends. A trip to the Fractured States, before they were fractured. He had been about to try a burrito with some delicious maple syrup when the guide looked at him in disgust, extending a bottle of red liquid. "Tabasco. What real people put on burritos." Before Joel could grab it, a blur swept across his vision and the bottle was gone.

"Wait. You're that epic?" he laughed, pulling himself back to the relative future. "So what's your power? Speed? I always wondered how you moved so fast. And don't worry, it's not you I'm after." Shaking his head, Phyto let out another chuckle. "I'm more curious as to how you got in here in the first place."

Edited January 28, 2019 by Weirdpersonx
Clarity and humor

[breakingamber he/him]

An hour ago, give or take a dozen minutes

Of course, things were different now.

From what she'd heard on the road, Edmonton (That was still the name of her city, and anyone who said otherwise was a sparking slontze) had naturally been ripped apart by Epics. She still didn't know much, but she did know that to get to her house, she'd have to enter Epoch's territory, which, according to a particularly elaborate speaker, "was a maze composed of the sands of time, fortunately navigable by anyone with a shred of sparking common sense." 

On one hand, it would probably be a bit of hassle. On the other hand, at least she had a lower chance of randomly being murdered...she hoped? She'd been wrong before.

Walking down the ruined road, Karina winced as she tripped over a bit of rubble and her hand high-fived the asphalt. When she looked up again, she noticed a long line of people near a particular highway entering the city. Refugees from Oregon? Wonder what happened there. Karina got in line and chatted up a refugee next to her. He was, in fact, from Oregon, and was more than happy to share tall tales of what had happened. Naturally, Karina didn't pay much attention to the clearly made-up stories (a rain of pancakes? What is this, a Paul Bunyan story?) and simply trudged forward with the rest of the line. Eventually, she made it to the checkpoint, and after they searched and confiscated her pistol (but not her rifle, thank goodness), she was in. She bade farewell to the guy she was talking to and walked north.

The streets of Edmonton were still more or less the same. A right turn on 12th street still lead to the Corner Pantry. Going left on 23rd still lead to the school. Karina had lived here for years, and still remembered these streets quite well. The occasional rubble pile caused her to navigate around, and sometimes she crossed the street to avoid an unsavory-looking group of (everyone), but it didn't take long for her to reach her old family home, the for-sale sign still stuck in the front yard, somehow. Karina smiled. I never thought I'd be back here... what is that? She ran inside the once-and-current shelter.

Peeking out of a broken window, Karina inwardly cursed. Sparks! Epics! Two Epics faced each other down on the street not far outside the house, one male wearing a black trench coat, and one female with blond hair that almost could pass for a vanilla if not for the fierce expression on her face, as well as the fact that she was hovering above the ground. The man tossed out several small round objects, and Karina instinctively ducked as they exploded. Looking back up, a thick smoke cloud surrounded the combatants, obscuring them from view.

 

Suddenly, more things happened. A red van barrelled down the street, and a girl almost identical to the Epic Karina had seen climbed out and ran towards the scene. What are you doing? You're going to get killed! The van disappeared somehow, and all of a sudden, Karina lost eyesight somehow. She stepped backwards, slipped on a piece of glass, and fell hard on her back. She just lay there for a couple seconds, thinking. All right. I've never heard of twin Epics, so this new girl must be a sister... wow, that sparking sucks. Karina's eyesight returned, and she shakily stood back up, peeking out of the window again. The male Epic had vanished, and the Epic one grabbed her  probably-sister and flew her to a nearby rooftop, where they exchanged words Karina couldn't hear. Surprisingly, the Epic left her sister live and flew away.

Karina decided to take a risk and walked back out the door. Poor girl. Doesn't look like she has anyone taking care of her anymore... I know how that feels. Walking to the foot of the other building, Karina yelled, "Hey! Are you okay? Was that your sister?" 

 

[Voidus]

MV stared blankly at the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of where Allison had disappeared off to, hoping that she might be able to stop her, bring her back. But Allison was gone. And Megan was alone again.

 "Hey! Are you okay? Was that your sister?"  A woman called out from below.

It took Megan a moment to realize that the woman might be talking to her, most Maples weren't quite suicidal enough to approach an Epic and ask if they were ok. She peered over the edge of the building and found the woman, staring up at her.

Are people here all insane? She thought with quiet wonder. Or does she just not realize?

She wiped her face once more, carefully this time to make sure she didn't smudge anything. Then stepped off of the roof, falling to the ground below. She still wasn't exactly comfortable in the air, not like Allison apparently was, but she'd practiced this trick enough that her stomach no longer lurched into her throat when she dropped. She just needed something to shift her fall onto. Her eyes locked with the woman once more as she dropped. Even if she did shift it to the woman it likely wouldn't be fatal, maybe a broken bone or two to remind her not to interfere with Epics would do her good.

Megan touched lightly to the ground, a close observer might have noticed that she actually stopped about a half-inch above the ground for a moment before dropping the rest of the distance. Nearby a tin can left lying on the road was suddenly flattened as it was compressed to the ground with the force of her fall. Hurting this woman wouldn't do anything to help her anyway.

"She was." Megan said to the woman before turning up the street and beginning to walk further into town.

She only made it a few dozen steps before she stopped with a large sigh and sat down on the side of the road. Allison had gone, again. And there was no Backtrack around to help find her again, no trail she could follow. No clues of where in the city she might be hiding.

"What's the point of looking anyway?" She muttered to herself as she stared at her somewhat torn shoes. "Even if I find her she's just going to leave again."

She pulled her knees up, hugging them into herself and leaning her forehead against them, letting the tears slowly soak her legs.

[breakingamber he/him]

Now

Karina had done some dumb things in her life. Apparently, getting murdered by an Epic was about to be the last one.

The girl she'd attempted to comfort simply walked off the edge of the building she had been standing on, landing on the ground without breaking a leg, a sweat, or anything else, despite a quiet crunch sound being heard.  As the Epic locked her pink-tinged eyes with the vanilla's brown,  Karina instinctively took a step back and tightened her grip on her rifle, figuring that if she was going to go out, she might as well try to take this Epic with her. I hope she isn't a High Epic. That would make things a lot harder. 

The (relatively) young girl said something Karina didn't hear, then turned and walked down the street deeper into the suburbs. Karina was hit first by a surge of relief, but stayed on her guard. Many Epics could kill without seeing their targets. In fact, some Epics had to. Karina wondered when the wave of force was going to smash her into jelly, or the bone spike was going to smash her skull open. Could this be an illusion? A trick to get me to get me to do something?

All of a sudden, the girl sighed and sat down, muttered something else, and tucked her knees in. Karina looked more closely, and was shocked to see that the Epic was crying. Karina didn't think she'd ever seen an Epic cry. Not even the Kraken, with four out of eight limbs cut off, hadn't let loose that salty trickle of tears (though he had let loose a rain of gore when she shot him in the face). Karina hesitated, raising her rifle slightly. I could probably end her right now. It was a possibility to be considered.

Eventually, Karina came to a decision. I'm not going to live past thirty, am I? Sparks, I'm a sucker for... never mind. Karina slowly walked towards the Epic, careful not to touch her, and sat down beside her. Is she wearing jeans and a t-shirt? In Canada? Karina looked down at her thick coat, and felt slightly guilty. Looking at the blonde beside her, she hesitantly unzipped her coat and asked, "So... um... uh... are you cold?"

Sparks, I'm going to die here.

[Voidus]

Why did she do this? Why run? Megan had wondered this before, but then she'd always rationalized it, Allison hadn't run there must have been some Epic who was keeping her hostage, or threatening her or something. Once Megan caught up again the two of them could fight off Allison's kidnappers and return home together.

But she chose to leave. She left me back then, in the Dalles. She never meant to come back, never wanted me to come after her.

"So... um... uh... are you cold?" A nervous voice asked.

She looked up, blinking through tears once again and saw the woman who'd been talking to her on the rooftop. Before she'd jumped down from it anyway, most people would have taken the hint and left at that point. Don't mess with Epics was the rule that almost all Vanillas and Maples learned early on if they intended to survive.

After a moment of silent staring she finally realized what the woman had asked, she also realized that she wasn't cold. She was freezing. Her hands were even paler than usual, and completely numb. Her neck and chest were stinging from direct contact with the air.

Megan gave a small, sullen nod to the woman, muscles jerking awkwardly, but there was something that was more interesting than getting warm at the moment.

"Are you alright?" She asked "In the head I mean. Or did you just not realize what I am?"

Not that she could blame her, she probably didn't exactly look like a normal Epic right now, shivering and crying. She could feel her nose beginning to run as well.

She pulled a handkerchief out from a pocket, wiping her nose with that as she rubbed her eyes with her forearm to try to clear the tears again, though not being too successful.

"I'm MV. An Epic." She said pointedly, waiting for the woman to freeze and run away. Or attack her, though few people who were still alive thought that attacking an Epic head on was a good idea.

[breakingamber he/him]

Also now

The girl nodded slowly and slightly. While Karina knew she was an Epic, she couldn't help but see a young girl, not a monster who may have murdered an entire neighborhood. She almost seemed... human. Karina fingered a small metal box in her pocket, remembering some things she'd rather forget. 

'Are you alright? In the head I mean. Or did you just not realize what I am?" 

The Epic pulled a small piece of cloth out of her pocket, wiping her nose while still crying. "I'm MV. An Epic." An electricity-based Epic? With flying powers, perhaps?". Karina shrugged her coat off. Honestly, I don't even need it at this point. These sweaters are warm enough. Holding it by the hoodie, she reached out to the younger girl, replying, "At this point, I'm pretty sure I have a subconscious death wish or something. But you remind me of someone." Karina winced as a pain in her head blossomed, almost as if it were saying, 'Run away now! EPICEPICEPIC YOU'RE GOING TO DIE' Karina blathered on regardless, trying to mask her pain with a smile. "My name is...Indy. Call me Indy."

Edited January 29, 2019 by breakingamber

[Voidus]

The woman - Indy, gave her an awkward, mechanical smile as she spoke. But it was what she'd said rather than how that had confused Megan.

She knew someone like me? Allison? But she had to ask if that was my sister.

She stared blankly as she tried to figure this woman out. She hadn't run when Megan had told her she was an Epic. Indy might have been an Epic name, it would certainly explain the lack of fear. Though it didn't explain the lack of bloodlust.

Or did she mean my situation? Crying on the street like an idiot. I'm sure she's seen plenty of people like that.

It took her a moment to notice the hand that was outstretched and holding a cloak, and a moment longer to realize what it meant. She gave it a suspicious look but it seemed unlikely that someone would walk up to her and act nice even when she revealed that she was an Epic, just to give her a coat that exploded or something. She quietly accepted it, beginning to pull it on.

"Well you're too nice to be another Epic. And you're still standing here so you can't be a vanil- er.. a maple." Megan stammered. "So I guess that leaves an angel or some kind of grief-and-cold-induced hallucination?"

She pocketed her handkerchief and began rubbing her hands together.

Sparking cold.

[breakingamber he/him]

Still now, and probably will be for a while

The girl, MV, stared blankly at Karina, then accepted the coat. She didn't say anything until she said, "Well you're too nice to be another Epic." I'd hope so. "And you're still standing here so you can't be a vanil-er, a maple' Maple? Is that what they call vanillas around here? "So I guess that leaves an angel or some kind of grief-and-cold-induced hallucination?"

A chill gust of wind blew by, as if the other girl's statement was blasphemy against the Canadian gods or something. Karina shivered slightly. "Sure. Maybe we should get inside? It is sparking cold out." She stood up and motioned towards her house across the street. "And I don't think I'm a hallucination, though I could be wrong." 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

For all intents and purposes, Mister Green seemed to be in a good mood, answering Nathan's assumption with a chuckle. 

It set Jade on edge. 

"So what's your power? Speed? I always wondered how you moved so fast. And don't worry, it's not you I'm after." He shook his head, laughing again—neither a grating sound nor a harsh one, but for Jade it might as well have been nails on a chalkboard. 

He was asking all the wrong questions. Any question beginning with the notion that Nathan was an Epic would never be correct, and there had been a time when Jade would have welcomed it, egged it on and played along until a better idea popped into her head. 

But now, she wasn't so interested in playing. 

"I'm more curious as to how you got in here in the first place."

He didn't seem angry about the hot sauce—and while Jade had begun to wonder whether or not Mister Green was the invisibility Epic they'd run afoul of in Tucson, what they'd assumed about him didn't matter near as much as his assumptions going the other way. If he thought Nathan was an Epic, he'd expect a demonstration; and if he expected a demonstration, he'd be watching the whole time to scope out just how those powers stacked up against his own. And when the ruse crumbled...

The mental image of Lightwards, smiling, driving his fist into Nathan's stomach made her grip the underside of her chair with one hand. 

"That part's boring," Jade said before Nathan could stammer out a reply. "What matters is that we're here, you're here, you don't have any icky expired hot sauce, and there's cake. Everyone wins." 

She said it with a shrug and a smile, hoping her tone was nonchalant enough to mask the trembling that threatened to take her. Less than a day in Olympia Polaris and she'd already pulled Nathan straight into the deep end. 

Edited February 2, 2019 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[The Young Pyromancer he/him]

Nicroburst was enjoying himself, a rarity these days.  Then a man walked up.  

"Hey, where's your bear of a friend, Mr. Mentalist Epic?"  Nicroburst glanced over at the Epic he had learned was named Kokichi.  He was a boy?  Good to know.  "I'm still technically supposed to be chasing you, you know."

Nicroburst felt a momentary chill down his spine.  Could it be- no, the man was looking at Mr. Duster.  Not him.  Good.

Then the discussion descended into a special-effects enhanced squabble about stolen hot sauce.

"That part's boring," said the matter manipulator.  "What matters is that we're here, you're here, you don't have icky expired hot sauce, and there's cake.  Everybody wins."

Nicroburst found himself agreeing.  He had always disliked hot sauce anyways.

Nicroburst stood up, pushing his chair back from the table, and stretched.  The man looked like he was important, as he was well dressed and had on an earpiece.  Probably not part of Doubletake's faction, as they had most likely fled the city.  The Belt had been hit recently, so they likely were not going to make a territory grab.  Edmonton's resident illusionist never exposed themselves in the open, so that left...

"Here to claim this territory for ERA?  I didn't think you'd move this quickly.  Though I guess time bubbles would help with that."

Edited February 6, 2019 by The Young Pyromancer
Double probably

[Voidus]

Megan nodded, tucking her arms into her armpits as she stood up from the cold ground. But her carefully groomed brow, furrowed in concern and confusion twitched a little in surprise.

Now she's inviting me to her house? Well I guess she didn't technically deny being an angel.

She glanced sidelong at Indy as they walked towards the house.

"So not a hallucination. That leaves an angel then? I can only assume you're here to smite me or something. Calamity's arrival didn't really leave me particularly religious. At least hell will be warm I guess."

She tried to make herself laugh at her own terrible joke, but only managed to twist her wry mouth into something that probably more closely resembled a snarl.