The Swan Dragon

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."

"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.

"Here's the list of recipients, Ethan," Joel snapped. "Get those invitations delivered ASAP. Use the developing speed lanes." "Yessir!" the grunt replied, already spinning on his heel at a run. "Ironwood?" The sharply dressed man grimaced--it was faint, but not fully hidden. "Aye, boss. First platoon is ready to move to secure the meeting area, and second platoon has already dispersed to cover the perimeter while we're away. Seventh squad will return and fill in gaps in security once they're done delivering." "Is something wrong, Richard?" Phyto queried. "I'm still not comfortable with Seventh being on their own, especially with a new Sergeant. Ethan is good, but..." "He'll be fine. He's proved himself quite fine on other missions." Phyto shrugged. "Let's get moving." *About 30 minutes later, regular time. Arrival at Commonwealth Stadium* "Second, third, and fourth squads, start sweeping the area. Second, you've got Southwest. Third, North. Fourth, Southeast. First squad, you're with me." They replied with a round of "yessir's," almost in sync, followed by a much more polished salute. "Remember! Epoch has included in his message a guarantee that he will not cause anyone harm here--that means, by extension, that no one is hurting anyone at this meeting. Priority One is protect Epoch; Two is keep the peace; Three is keep unwanted rabble out." "Here's the list of recipients, Ethan," Phytomagnet snapped, and "Ethan" groaned inwardly. "Get those invitations delivered ASAP. Use the developing speed lanes." "Yessir!" the newly promoted Sergeant Ethan McLogan almost yelled, spinning around and running towards his squad. At just under two metres, he towered over the diminutive Epic--but no one in their right mind messed with someone who was impossibly strong and could kill you with your own armor. Why me? I need to be at that meeting. Why couldn't he have the Seventh help at the Commonwealth Stadium? But nooooooo, we're the best scouts--sparking slontzes Nico and Kacey--so we're on post duty. He shook his head. What am I thinking? I belong to this unit as much as I belonged to the Circle. But I still gotta get to that meeting. "Alright Seventh, we've got some work to do. Big Man Epoch is planning a meeting and we've got some Timelord brochures to deliver. Stay in pairs, don't stay to chat. Drop the flyer and run. We're gonna be outside of Tree-boss' range so no fancy armor. Partner up and move out." Unsurprisingly, Nico and Kacey were practically already standing next to each other. The rest followed suit, grabbing their papers and gear, albeit more slowly, until--also unsurprisingly--only Tash was left. At least she should be easy to lose once we're out. "Ya wanna--" she started. "No. Let's get this over with and get back." *About 45 minutes later, regular time. "Ethan" and Tash done delivering* "Hey Tash," he called out. "I've got something I wanna check in on. I'll catch up in a few." "Uuuuhg, fine," she moaned. "But you gotta tell me about her when you get back, or I'm telling the Boss." "That's not--y'know, fine. Deal." Ethan waited until she turned the corner, then did a u-ey and headed North, towards the conveniently nearby football stadium. I'm probably gonna regret that later.

((OOC: On phone, so will format properly later)) "I see," Epoch answered flatly. "A mentalism epic? Send me the details as soon as you are no longer in pursuit. If that is all, we may discuss this more later." "Yes--" *click* "--Sir..." Turning back, Phytomagnet could see that his troops were already dispersing, with only Ironwood and a token guard left. "Let's go. With how long we've been gone thanks to the time delay, something is going to need fixing." Meanwhile, he added mentally. I've got to figure out who that epic was. "Sure thing boss," Ironwood chimed. "Ethan, let's go." 30 minutes later (~13 minutes normal time) "...THE CROP IS INFESTED WITH WHAT?!?!" Phytomagnet bellowed. "Th-thlugs, thir. And thalt doethn't theem to thtop them," the gardener stammered, cowering. "Pleathe don't kill me, thir!" "Bah." As if on cue, a branch sprouted from his chest, spraying the other gardeners with blood. "Remove the body. And figure out a way to kill the slugs. We've got a deadline to meet," Phytomagnet said with a glare for the remaining workers. "Y-yes sir!" they shouted, scattering. Shaking his head, he turned to the accountants--an unfortunate, but necessary, evil. "How short on stock will this leave us?" They saluted. "Our locally stored supplies will drop by just over 5%--while several fields are almost dead, the infestation was caught quickly enough for a quarantine to be--" "Why was I just informed of this?" Phyto interjected. "There's no way this just started." "No sir, it didn't," one of the maples replied. "But slugs and other pests have appeared before, and traditional preventive measures have always worked." Their voice trembled. "We only brought this to your notice because the salt didn't work." "Find something else to kill the slugs then," he grumbled. "And if need be, we can raze those fields and replant." "Understood, sir." "Dismissed."

The very first post in WHiE has a summary of where we started at the end of the post.

I've done that kind of thing before. It's super cool. What was going on, if you remember?

If you have any thoughts for characters, here's an outline to present it. How it works is you post your character in this thread, and as a community we take a look at them to make sure they'd be reasonable for the RP. For human characters just put any gear or skills in place of powers. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U6_BXVZ-zse-rJneErkmv06vlCHBLrBH9EfO4xTZPbQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

Have you read the rules and etiquette thread?

I could work on some draft panels for Three in the Street. Or the refinery attack.

Newest Ironwood and Phytomagnet post up. I know that I had them describe Kokichi's powers incorrectly, that's 'cause they have no storming idea what Kokichi can actually do.

I can't believe they just walked away... Ironwood reached up to trigger the mic on his headset. "Boss--" his hand flew back as his body was yanked forward, along with all of his trees. As Ironwood sailed just above the ground, he could see the van driving away, with Phytomagnet sprinting after it. So why did he let them go in the first place? The group landed just behind Phytomagnet, stumbling for a moment before continuing to run after the van. "One of you shoot the wheels off of that sparking car!" he roared. On command, two of the trees knelt, with the others clearing a firing line. *BANG* *BANG* the shots called out, pinging off of the van, just above the tires. "Don't let them get..." Phyto trailed off, stopping in stunned silence as the car shifted, moving every time his eyes found it. In seconds it was gone. "What happened, Boss?" Ironwood asked after a moment of hesitation. "You saw the kid?" *Nod* "He's an epic of some sort. Clouded my head while they spun some ridiculous story about a speeding ticket." "...oh. Sooooo...what next?" Phytomagnet grimaced. "I report back to Epoch, let him know they escaped and that we're sending a few trees to scout around. Most of us are heading back." "You think we can still find them, even after that whatever-it-was?" Ironwood asked, surprised. "You've got trackers, right? There's a chance the van left tire marks. Give it maybe an hour or two then call it off." "Yessir." He turned, relaying the commands. "Nico, Kacey, you two scan the area, see if you can trace that van. The rest of us are heading back. Squad four, spread out abreast and watch for anything, keep it to a walk and keep line of sight. There might've been more involved. Squad five, form up and jog back to barracks. The time barrier will let you rest enough to be ready to fill in and start rotating scouts by the time I'm back." His troops nodded along a sharp chorus of yessirs. Meanwhile... With a mental groan, Phyto picked up his mobile and dialed Epoch, who picked up after the third ring. "Yes, Phytomagnet?" "So, uh. Those criminals you had me after..." Best to get out quickly. "One of them was an epic, some kind of mentalist power. They've escaped. I sent a few trackers after them, but I doubt they'll find anything."

@Drake Marshall Sorry for putting words into Epoch's mouth. You did a great job of slipping them in to his part.

Harmony, yes!

Make a new thread?

My condolences.