The interior of the bank was quite spacious, and very obviously, definitely trashed beyond a normal ransacking.
Tables and counter were crushed and broken, drawers and scattered bits lay everywhere. A glitter and spike of golden gleam to the eye, rare and scarce as it appeared every other bit in the bank was gone.
One peek in the huge vault showed the same. The safe deposit boxes were all torn asunder, emptied of their contents, and by one lone jewel gleaming in the soft light from Fleurs horn, it was all the best treasures ponies had kept here, hoping to be safe.
Wyatt muttered to himself, face plate open as he looked around, “Forget this place. Guess no one’s getting their deposit back.” He nudged a few pieces of furniture, noting they had been deliberately broken.
“Someone, had a serious mad on.” Seeing senseless vandalism instead of methodical robbery made him wonder.
It all came together in a story that told of tremendous force, power, and perhaps a little insanity. There were scrawlings on the wall that made no sense even to the mares, things broken or busted that would have nothing to do with robbing the bank.
All in all it was quite peculiar.
“Whoa, someone really had it out for this bank.” Tropic was eyeing all the desks, crushed into splinters.
Fleur turned to the Guard Chief who had entered behind them, “Was anypony hurt?”
“No, Miss Prism. This was all done after everypony went home. Witnesses just reported loud sounds, they think it was laughter, and then the explosion that took out the wall.”
Sky was looking at things through her goggles that zoomed in on whatever she peered at, “Any other evidence? Anypony ever run into this thing before?”
The Chief shook his head, “Only Mane-iac is running around lately, having escaped from prison, but she’s never done anything like this before. She’s just nuts.” He twirled a hoof near his temple, making everyone giggle.
Except Wyatt, who was looking at the wreckage, piecing together the sequence of events, Skills used long ago on the battlefield helped him see what had possibly happened, the way of things, little clues that made up a whole.
He could see the path of destruction, the exit..but where..?
Leaning back in the suit, he looked up, seeing the cover on a vent sitting askew.
Now why would someone who’s this powerful, need to enter by a vent?
He knew his comic book history. His friend had filled him in on the secret origins of heroes he couldn’t be bothered to remember, but it made for funny conversation in the bars.
So...someone had something here. Stolen and now a lunatic pony is on the loose with the Long Lost Secret All-Powerful Bag of Nuts or something...
He shrugged, could be worse..oh wait.. How in the world was he going to get that all across to the others?
-----
Fleur was looking at the others as Wyatt gestured toward the vent cover, making sure they saw it was not fitting right.
“A poorly repaired vent cover?” She watched Tropic shrugging, but Sky was looking interested, finally getting it.
Wyatt kept pointing, making moving motions with his hands, playing look-see-do as best he could, hoping they got it.
The Guard chief was watching all this with a look of puzzlement. Not understanding why the super pony named Anvil was having a hard time communicating to the others.
Tropic saw this, sidling over and smiling brightly, “Spell went wrong, we’ll be fixing it. He..she’s... okay, just looks worse than it is.” She knew the character backgrounds, having read the releases months ago before the comic was published.
The Chief nodded again, a little puzzled, but accepting the explanation. This was Goldbeam of the Ulti-Mares of course. Why would he doubt her?
Sky popped up, “I got it, they came in through the vent!” She grinned over at Wyatt who gave her a thumbs up for the right guess on their little game of charades, seeing her pointing at the crooked covering.
Fleur and Tropic looked upwards, seeing it in a new light, Fleur stating the same question that bothered Wyatt.
“But they busted through the wall to get out, why would..” A light went on behind her eyes, “They stole something powerful and gained some special ability!”
“What would it be?” Tropic was pondering, “The Eye of Tartarus? Oh! Maybe the Crystal Gem of Forbidden Magic?” She was off and running with speculation, naming all the items mentioned in the latest comics.
The Chief had been listening, “I’ll check and see what was in that vault, maybe something will turn up!” He turned to go, looking back over his shoulder, “I’ll send a message to you soonest!”
They were left alone in the wrecked bank, looking around and at each other.
“Sooo...” Sky ventured, “What do we do now?”
-----
Come to find out, from what little they knew of the story, the Ulti-Mares had a local base they worked out of. Having them in all the major cities when traveling to fight threats, they were quite well-equipped.
The only problem, they didn’t know where it was.
Until Tropic and Fleur, working together, figured out they both had spells that would transport them all to the secret hideaway.
Once again Wyatt went through the nauseating effects of teleportation. His stomach rebelled in every way, but he kept it all contained. Wouldn’t do to toss his cookies inside a super suit he couldn’t get out of yet.
It was an odd looking super hideaway, being a comfortably appointed living room, coffee tables, thick carpet, the usual thing you’d find in any house in Equestria. Simple, clean and definitely not a super secret lair of super ponies.
“Well, this isn’t what I expected.” Fleur was looking at a watercolor of a bland landscape on the wall.
Tropic was peeking out a window, seeing a patch of lawn, well-cared for, a street in normal suburbia, even a white picket fence, “This is weird, just a normal neighborhood.” She sounded disappointed.
Sky was looking at the normal, everyday, hum-drum setting, “So..where’s..” She squeaked in panic as the floor dropped out from underneath them. The square of floor just big enough for all of them traveled quickly downward.
A few seconds later, they ended up in a huge underground room. Brightly lit, it showed work areas for the different Ulti-Mares.
Fleurs’ was stuffed with spellbooks and paraphernalia, to better master her magic and use it to fight threats. A casting circle was etched in silver and gold on the floor to practice with mighty powers.
Tropics was a mish-mash of books and gaudy golden doodads she ensorceled to give her what she needed when fighting the horrendous things that the Ulti-Mares faced. Dotted with posters of bands and other movies, it looked like a teenagers room.
Sky’s area was filled with shelves, containing gadgets and cool things that made Silver Gleam the Super Spy Mare she was. Eavesdropping equipment, camouflaged bodysuits, tools for repairing or making more of such items.
Wyatt’s...Anvils’, was filled with a workbench for maintaining and repairing the suit he wore. A rack for hanging it was standing empty, the tools looking well-used and very well kept. Shelves stocked with materials to keep it in perfect working order, bar stock for forming or smelting in the small furnace nearby.
“Oh...my...GOSH!!!” Tropic was grinning from ear to ear, “Look at all this cool stuff!”
Fleur was looking at the huge spellbook resting on a polished wooden podium, open to pages covered in small writing, “”This is amazing detail. Is it the spell of did the creators actually think of all this?”
Tropic was looking at rods, hanging in spaced rows horizontally, with carefully spaced bangles and bracelets on them, each one labeled with what it did, as more were piled nearby waiting to be powered with magic.
“Oh! Oh! Fireflash! And..and there’s Invisibility, and Wall of Flame, look at all this..wait a second..” She picked up a thick band, squinting at the lettering before putting it on and pointing a hoof at Wyatt.
Fleur yelled across the room to stop her but was too late, seeing Tropics’ horn lighting up and triggering the object, a beam of sparkling colors shot from the bracelet, hitting Wyatt dead in the chest and covering him completely in a glowing aura before she could get a word out.
“Hiya, Wyatt!”
The tall figure in the armor suit looked puzzled for a moment, then spoke in Equestrian, “Can you understand me?”
Fleur and Sky looked gobsmacked as Tropic blew on her hoof, rubbing it on her chest, “Am I good or what?”
“What was that?” Sky was trying to peek at the bracelet Tropic was gleefully hiding from her.
“Translation spell!” She held out the thick band, “Says right on it, thank goodness for instructions!”
Sky, Fleur, and now Wyatt, took a look at the band, inscribed on it, and others they looked at, were the names of various spells, plus how to trigger it. Merely by thinking of the band and the spell, it would work, only once, but could be re-powered again and again.
“No wonder you wear all that gaudy jewelry.” Fleur teased her friend.
“It’s not..ooooo you!”
Wyatt could actually understand them now, hearing and seeing the teasing, a slight smile crossing his face as he waved an armor clad arm, “So, what do we do?”
Fleur pursed her lips, scuffing a hoof on the floor as she thought about everything she knew about the comic books rumored to be spelled, “We have to find the bad pony, defeat them and then we can leave. That’s all I know.”
“Got any idea who it is?”
“The bank break in is our clue. Somepony stole some powerful object and I guess they’re loose with it now.” She brightened with a thought, “The Chief will get us a message and then we can figure out what to do from there.”
“Good enough. Smart thinking, Miss Lee.” Wyatt figured the chief was the uniformed pony that had shadowed them, safe assumption.
The slim mare pointed, “Sky caught your clues though, so she should get credit.”
“Hey! What about me?” Tropic was bouncing slightly on her hooves, fluffy mane and all, “I helped too!”
Fleur nudged her friend, “You are a big flirt.”
“I can’t help it?” Tropic fluttered her eyelashes prettily.
“Okay, okay,” Wyatt was sitting down, trying to tug a boot off, “I get it. But could you explain who we even are?”
Ten minutes later, with lots of additions by Tropic, he now understood the situation.
“How long does this spell last?”
Tropic shrugged, “It doesn’t say, but I’m betting at least a day. Most spells like that would.”
The human nodded, “I’m not getting all the words, but can understand most. Kinda glitchy, so might miss a few things here and there.”
“How long are we going to wait for the information from the Chief?”
Everyone shrugged, looking around in their specific areas for any clues as to when, or even how a message would reach them. This was soon answered by the tolling of a soft chime, Fleurs’ / Prisms’ magic circle glowing softly and a small container appearing in it.
“Well, that was certainly convenient.” Fleur laughed, walking over to pick the container up in her magic, popping the top off and unrolling a small scroll.
“It says here that the bank was the storage place of the Eye of Argon. A large jewel with reportedly supernatural powers that could be unlocked with the right spell. It was thought to be just a legend until now, displayed as just a ruby of immense worth.”
“Of course it was.” Wyatt laughed, seeing the classic comic book story unfolding.
“Okay then, how do we go about nabbing the pony who stole it?” Sky was fiddling with a few gadgets on her belt. She was having a great time finding out what all these doo-dads did.
“I’m not sure.” Fleur/Prism was the leader of the team, so surely there was something that could tell her what to do.
Tropic was swapping out bangles and bracelets, upping her powers quite a bit with what was there, “Is there any way we could track the gem?” She tossed it blithely over her shoulder.
Fleur, Wyatt and Sky looked at each other, then they turned to Fleur who was rushing to the racks of spellbooks.
She pulled out a few volumes, her horn flaring as the spell she wrought flipped through pages quickly. The thick paper making rustling sounds as they turned, her eyes scanning them quickly and moving on.
Book after book piled up beside her, standing at the large podium and searching with deliberation for that one spell she knew had to be there, there was always something in the stories!
Wyatt, on the other hoof, was desperately trying to get the stupid suit off so he could stretch a bit, not to mention the pressing need to hit the facilities. He looked for latches or buttons, anything to get this..wait a second...
His fingers found a spot, big enough for the tip of a hoof to press, hitting it the suit folded back off him and allowed him to step out while it stood up in place. His eyes had already found what he wanted. At least he had some kind of clothing underneath the armor instead of running around in the buff, he was grateful for that as he took off to the room he’d spotted.
Sky and Tropic, were having a ton of fun figuring out what all she had on her equipment belts, a portable hook and retracting rope, a small light that could be adjusted from a beam to an area glow. Her suit was tough enough to deflect anything thrown at it, her goggles enhanced her vision a lot, allowing her to see clearly in almost total darkness.
Tropic was a quick learner, seeing the way the bracelets and bangles were made, and powering up a few more. It seemed Goldbeam had a limited amount of personal magic, and supplemented it with objects that contained spells to boost her abilities. It was a very neat solution to limits.
She found many different and varied spells, obviously tapping off of Fleur/Prisms personal collection as well as her own extensive library, they allowed her to have a capability that could change at need without study.
Fleur let out a triumphant sound, holding the book up in her spell as the others looked up from messing around in personal areas. Wyatt was exiting the small room, looking at a smiling Fleur, a bangle covered Tropic and Sky who was loading more goodies onto her equipment belts.
“I have it! It’s a spell to track objects of power, showing where they are on a map!” She grinned and looked around, seeing on the wall a relief map of Maretropolis, allowing the Ulti-Mares to plan their sorties.
Not wanting to wait, she stepped inside the circle of metal and read from the book, Prisms power in this world was immense, and the light from her horn filled the room with an aura of pure magic that swept outward and upward, seeking the object she wanted it to.
Now it was just a matter of waiting a few minutes, while the spell took effect.
The map on the wall started glowing, a few spots of light shone brightly against the ridges and lines of the relief, minor objects, nothing much to see as they dotted..whoa..
A huge spot of light appeared, glowing brighter until it fairly well covered a few square blocks of the city, centered on an old warehouse, of course, in the garment district of all places.
“Always some abandoned warehouse,” Wyatt mumbled to himself.
Tropic tilted her head his way, “What?”
“Nothing, just being snarky.” He grinned at the mare.
“Oh, you!” She gave him a playful swat.
“Could be worse,” Sky ventured, “Could always be in some sewer somewhere.”
Fleurs’ face held an expression of distaste at the thought, “It doesn’t, thank Celestia. So let’s go get this gem, catch the bad pony and get out of here.”
Stepping backwards into the suit, it closed around him and clamped shut. He could feel it powering up in its own way, clenching a fist in front of his face, Wyatt grinned almost ferally, “Oh, I am so ready.”
-----
Gathered in one of the guest suites, the group was trying to figure a way to get everyone safely out of the comic book.
“I wonder if we could communicate inside the spell?” Twilight was looking at both comics, trying to see if there was an indication of anything more than just ‘You’re in crazyworld’.
“Sometimes it is better to stay out of matters not understood.” Crusader had been watching her intently, to see if anything could be done to get whoever was in there, out. He wanted to retrieve Wyatt badly.
“It would have to be a simple spell, entwining with the one already active in the book, perhaps we could just send a note or something?”
“Twilight,” Athena gave her a nudge to knock her off the rails of the thought train, “Twilight, don’t try anything. You don’t understand what’s going on here.”
A shake of the head was an indication she was not pondering so hard, “You’re right. But I can’t find anything to tell me what that spell is doing.”
“The first thing,” Crusader’s voice was saying, “Is to find out where they come from, and who puts that spell on them.”
Fluttershy piped up, her eyes going wide, “Oh! Spike said it came from an enchanted comic book store.”
The little dragon heard his name and nodded, “Yep.”
“Is that the name of the store, or the product?”
“Huh?”
“Enchanted Comics.”
“That’s it!”
“That’s what?”
“Enchanted Comics.”
Crusaders face was assuming a deadpan look, “Is that the name of the store or just the product.”
“Product?”
“Enchanted Comics.”
“That’s it.”
“You are doing this on purpose.”
“What?”
Athena was already sniggering behind one hoof, seeing Spike looking at the faux Earth Pony with an expression of pure innocence. She bumped Rainbow with a flank, trying to keep her from laughing out loud. Even Twilight was looking close to tears in merriment as the conversation went on.
“What is the name of the store that you bought the comic from?”
“Xtreme Comics.”
“That is what we needed. Where is it?”
The sable Pegasus rolled her eyes at Crusader stopping things before it got funnier, killjoy.
Spike pointed in a vague direction, “Along the main boulevard where all the cool stores are.”
“I believe we should go there and ask a few questions, come with us?”
His gaze swept the group, seeing Rarity nudge the Princess until she blinked, nodding with the rest, “Oh! Of course, let’s go!”
They locked the two books in a safe, making sure no one else could possibly fall into them while they were away.
Exiting the castle, the group made their way down the entryway to the city proper, heading for a shop that seemed to be as elusive as could be.
-----
“You be nice, Wyatt!” Tropic was looking at him in pique, after his last comment about her outfit.
“All I said...”
“I know what you said!” She stomped a hoof on the grass, the group having dropped in a park near the warehouse where the power readings were off the scale.
She pointed a hoof at him with a look of ire, “You say one more thing about my outfit, and I’ll level you!”
“Got it.” He watched her flounce off, the shorts and mini top she was wearing would do justice to a dancer he knew long ago. Having said that and explaining it, got him in more trouble than was worth. Oh, well.
Though he did get a chuckle when she passed by a group of ponies on the corner as they headed down to the warehouse. There was no avoiding being seen as for some reason the levitation spells ceased working nearby.
Every eye was on that swaying backside and tail as she waved at them, sashaying alongside Fleur who was looking quite radiant herself.
“You do have to admit, she’s quite the good-looking mare.” Sky’s voice was quiet in his ear as he gently moved alongside her, not wanting to leave footprints in the concrete.
He nodded, “I’m sure she is, though teasing her is getting to be too easy. She’s a nice pers..er..pony. Really.”
An urban camouflage clad hoof poked him in the side with a clang, “Then you stop teasing her. She’s wearing enough spells to level a full city block.” Sky raised one eyebrow at him in a look that brooked no backtalk.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Wyatt...”
“I said yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” She couldn’t help but smile up at him, her heart had been stolen and in no way would the Crystal mare ever truly be mad at the tall human.
“So we’re going to try and sneak up, right? Not exactly the best option.”
“It’s the best we can do. The levitation spells failed at the park, otherwise we’d have dropped on the roof quietly.” Sky was tapping her lower lip, watching Fleur scope the area with a scrying spell.
What he wouldn’t give for a powergun right now, even one of those slim sniper models. Pick that stupid pony right off and end this.
Fleur waved at them to gather close.
“Okay, we’re going to cloak ourselves with Sound-Deadening and Invisibility. Now, because of that, we won’t be able to speak out loud, so I’m going to overlay a Whisper spell as well, it’ll allow us to talk to each other only. Got it?”
Wyatt just nodded like everyone else was doing.
“Also,” She emphasized this, having read it in one of the massive spellbooks at the lair, “If you attack anyone, the invisibility breaks. So be careful.” She was pointedly looking at Wyatt.
“Hey, I can be quiet.” As long as I have a knife and a target, definitely, he thought.
Fleur’s horn lit up, the brightness muted to prevent unseen eyes from watching, the spells were cast. They watched each other fade out, then a vague outline showing to their eyes only for them to keep an eye on each other. Silence fell like a shadow, nothing came to their ears until Fleur whispered.
“Can everypony hear me?”
“All acknowledged it, the spells were working top notch.
“All right then, let’s get that gem.”
The warehouse wasn’t far, it didn’t take long to run to the entrance, a side door they had scouted out earlier. Tropics’ use of her spelled jewelry was getting better and better along with Sky’s gadgets, they had managed to sneak around and spot the doorway.
Wyatt was first to the door, he’d figured out the feedback on the armor and now it moved like a second skin. When they reached the entry, he was first there.
“Don’t use a spell, wait a second.” His combat senses were heightened now, feeling imminent trouble ahead he was alert and wary. He had seen Fleur preparing to knock the door down with a rather powerful use of magic when he said that.
Reaching out, he twisted the handle slowly, watching it move and click softly as the door unlocked.
Grinning to himself, he whispered to the others, “Always check before you do a dynamic entry, saves lives and ammunition. Plus you save a door by not blowing it apart.” He heard Sky and Tropic chuckle along with Fleur.
Slowly inching the door open with one finger, Sky took a moment and peeked under his arm using what appeared to be a flexible tube, was looking down it as she slowly inserted one end through the minute opening he’d made. Mirrors inside it placed a certain way, allowed her to peek around corners and into small places, quite ingenious really.
“I don’t see anything,” She shook her head, forgetting they couldn’t see her, “Nothing in the way except crates of stuff.” She withdrew the tube, wishing she could have seen more.
“All we need to hide behind.” Wyatt reached out, tapping each of them gently, “Follow me, let me take any hits. You three nail them when they show themselves, if there’s more than one.”
“Wait,” Tropic was sounding surprised, “Don’t do that, you could get hurt.”
Wyatt chortled gleefully, “I’m a walking tank, don’t worry.”
“From the rumors, “Fleur’s pretty voice came floating to them, “The comic adventures don’t hurt anypony, you have fun, but nothing bad happens. Like permanent injuries and such. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t get bruised or knocked around pretty good if you get stupid.”
“Then let’s be the ones to do the knocking, agreed?” Wyatt was sounding like his old self once more.
The others agreed.
Slowly pushing the doorway open, practiced eyes checked fro wires, strings, traps and tricks. Long ago knowing what to see and what not when entering such a portal, Wyatt took his time.
His faceplate let him see a little better in the darkened warehouse, a strip across his eyes was only transparent one way out, no one seeing in. Quite ingenious for a pony scientist. He crept in, knowing they would be following behind and couldn’t take he time to swivel and look. He was limited in vision and had to adjust.
Behind a pile of crates, he paused, reaching out and feeling a neck, a muzzle, another shoulder, counting three and done.
“All right,” He whispered even lower, as if afraid of breaking the spell, “Here’s what we do....”
Bright light blinded him and the others as a voice boomed out across the warehouse floor. The glow seemingly coming from everywhere as it brought daytime into the darkly shadowed space.
“Intruders! How pleasant! You’re just in time for the festivities!”
“Well...crap..”
To be continued.....