Drops woke up feeling drained. She hadn’t got much sleep last night. Too nervous.
No, that wasn’t the right word. Anxious? Scared maybe? She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. All she knew was that she didn’t feel right, and that her morning exercises were some of her hardest in years.
It didn’t help that many of those punches she had received the day before had done more damage than she’d had hoped, but at least her body had recovered from ejecting the Siren's spell.
She had spent most of last evening looking through all the gadgets she had lying around the apartment, hoping that there was something that could be useful. Unfortunately, being a junior recruit, she had never been given any of the high-end gadgets that situations like this called for.
The only thing of any use to her was a little contraption known as a ‘hand flash’. It was so small you could hardly see it attached to the palm of your hand. A little slam to the back of your hand and it gave off a one-use flash that blinded anyone looking at you. She figured she could use it to get away if they cornered her.
Once her morning exercises were done and she made her breakfast, she didn’t look through her notes as she normally did. Instead, she sat silently in her sofa, looking at nothing in particular.
Once it was actually time to go, Drops walked past where she’d normally meet and walk with Derpy and headed straight to school. Derpy was under the Siren's spell anyway, and she didn’t fancy dealing with an egotistical version of her friend.
Walking through the school, she made her way straight to the performing hall. All the lessons were off for the day because of the contest, with those not competing either watching or getting the day off.
When Drops entered the hall, which was also the gymnasium, she found that most people were already there, including Derpy, Lyra, and more worryingly, the Sirens.
She couldn’t stop herself from looking at them, and it didn’t take long for them to notice her. Adagio raised an eyebrow once she saw her but then gave her a little wave with a sly smile.
They’re mocking me, she thought. They consider me so little of a threat they're not even worried I’m here.
Drops made her way over to Lyra, doing her best to ignore the Siren's gaze.
“There you are,” Lyra exclaimed upon seeing her. “I was worried you wouldn’t make it after you left yesterday.”
“No, I’m fine. Just had a bit of a headache,” Drops said, keeping her voice as steady as she could.
“Great, now we get to show everyone here who really deserves to win.”
Drops did not wish to deal with Lyra, as she wasn’t sure how much of Lyra was conscious while under the spell. It definitely didn’t seem like her to be so competitive and disregarding of other people.
Besides, Drops had a mission to do. She needed to keep an eye on both the Sirens, who were thankfully keeping to themselves for now, and the Rainbooms, who weren’t actually here yet, despite the contest starting very soon.
If what the high general told her was correct, then the Sirens were after the equestrian magic. And if her video was anything to go on, the Rainbooms had said magic, meaning they were in serious danger.
Unfortunately, she had no idea how the Sirens would extract the magic. If they could have done so already, why hadn’t they? If it was just an issue of capturing them, then they’d had every chance to do that already.
Whatever the issue, she knew that their plan had to involve a way to get around it, so she needed to keep very close tabs on them both. If the Sirens got a hold of that magic, well, that didn’t bear thinking about.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Drops jumped slightly. She looked up from her feet to see Lyra looking at her with a concerned expression. Drops was surprised for a second, but then recollected herself. “Yeah, I’m fine, just a bit nervous.”
Lyra chuckled. “Nervous? Come on, you’re the best. We’re the best. We’re an unstoppable team. There’s nothing to be worried about.”
Drops, despite herself and the situation she found herself in, couldn’t help but smile. “I guess we do make a good team.”
The reply seemed to satisfy Lyra, but Drops regretted it immediately. She didn’t have time to think about Lyra. She didn’t even know how much of Lyra was still there.
Surprisingly, the contest went on more or less uneventfully. They lost just before the semi-finals. Drops would admit it was her fault. She was too busy worrying about the Sirens and couldn’t drop the feeling that she’d be better off losing so she could focus on the mission more.
Lyra wasn’t happy about this fact, but luckily aimed most of her anger towards Trixie, who beat them, and the judges, who “had no idea what they were talking about”.
Apart from that the only notable thing that happened was Drops and Lyra having to hold Derpy back from starting a fist fight with Snowball, the insanely buff boy who played the violin.
In the end, the Rainbooms and, more expectedly, the Sirens made it to the finals, which would be taking place later at an arena the school had booked for the evening.
What caught Drops’ attention about the Rainbooms winning was the fact they had a rather disastrous last performance. It was obviously worse than Trixie's performance, and based on the booing, everyone else agreed.
Drops had noticed that before the principals made their decision, the Sirens had come over to talk to them. Well, it’s more accurate to say they sang to them. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the Sirens had rigged it so they’d be up against the Rainbooms.
Whatever their plan was, it now seemed to be converging on the performance that night. This worried Drops, as the division being sent to deal with the Sirens was not going to get there until an hour after they were set to perform.
She had messaged the agency this, as she had every other important detail of the day, and they said that the division was already working on ‘triple time’, so there was no way they could get there early.
This was why, as she and Lyra exited the hall and headed towards their lockers, she felt a shiver of dread spread through her. She knew that her mission was to stall them. And with the Rainbooms already off to set-up their instruments, she knew that this was her last opportunity to do so.
“What I will say is that even though the Rainbooms did not deserve it at all, I am happy Trixie didn’t win.” Lyra had been rambling the entire way back. “But the Dazzlings, now they deserved it. If I’m gonna lose to anyone, it better be them.”
Drops did not respond to any of this. Once she made it to her locker, she simply took one last long breath as she stared at it for a few more moments.
“What did you want to get by the way?” Lyra asked.
Drops unlocked the door and reached into the back wall. She grabbed the edge and yanked it out, revealing it to be a fake layer which she threw to the floor, very much to the confusion of Lyra.
Behind the fake wall hung a smart black suit with sunglasses resting in the pocket. She took it out and began to change into it.
“What are you doing?” Lyra yelled as she turned away with a blush.
Drops ignored her. She buttoned up her shirt, wrapped her belt around her, and did up her tie as quickly as she could. Reaching into her pocket she took out a hair bobble and put it on. Finishing off, she did up her blazer and put on the sunglasses and a watch that were in her other pockets.
Looking at her watch, she tapped a button in the middle and it let out a beep in conformation. Her glasses flashed and she felt her body straighten as the suit activated.
This was her ‘Agent’s Suit’ as it was simply known. It was the most expensive piece of kit that every operative had to have. A grand creation, made by infusing a suit with a machine operated carbon fibre that was not only incredibly strong, but would reinforce your movements, making you faster and stronger.
This made it the ultimate armour and weapon against any opponent. Not to mention the various gadgets that came with it. This was every unit’s last line of defence, only to be used if all other options were exhausted. This was due to its extreme cost to repair and the fact that many parts need replacing after just one use.
“Please tell me this is some kind of cosplay,” Lyra said, staring at her completely bewildered.
“Shut up!” Drops snapped at her before reaching into her pocket to take out a gadget.
“Is that a gun?” Lyra asked hesitantly, backing away slightly.
Drops looked at the gadget. It looked exactly like a military pistol. “Not exactly. It’s a stun gun,” she explained. “It shoots large pellets that should knock someone out when hit in the head with them.”
Lyra looked so confused she almost seemed angry. “Why do you have that? What on earth is going on?”
“Right now talking isn’t going to help. Your mind is being controlled, and the best way to get a civilian out of that spell is normally a heavy blow to the left frontal lobe.” Drops pointed the gun at Lyra. “Sorry about this.”
Lyra was knocked straight to the floor as soon as the large yellow pellet hit her.
Drops sighed. She took out the magazine and placed another pellet in so that it was full, before turning down the hall. She knew the Dazzlings would be leaving right about now, and she needed to catch them.