//------------------------------// // Olly Olly Oxen Free // Story: The Multiverse in a Nutshell // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// Missy felt it when Alucard was destroyed. He had gone down fighting, forcefully returned back where he had come from when his body was shattered. She felt a card place itself in her hand: Ghostrick Lantern. It felt like a lackluster consolation prize, she was officially the last Ghostrick standing. She flapped her wings even harder, zooming down the hallways at top speed as her breath came in ragged gasps. She heard the telltale whistle of an arrow whizzing past her head, narrowly missing her, and caught a glimpse of it buried in the wall ahead of her as she rounded the next corner. The last thing she needed to do was panic. Not now. Her eyes darted around the hallway, desperately searching for some kind of cover, some shortcut that could save her. Her eyes came to rest on the dull grates periodically passing overhead. Her heart leaped as an idea sprung to mind. Missy changed her direction, jumping up and wrapping her hands around one of the grates in the ceiling. She blindly flung it behind her as she ripped it off and leaped inside. The tight space pressed her wings against her back, but she still fit inside easily. "Ugh, this is gonna get my dress FILTHY!" She tried to keep her location in mind as she navigated the metal corridor, taking whatever path she thought would bring her closer to a way out and access to the open sky. From there, she would be home free, able to fly back to Beacon and find Sunset and Isis. "Then again... Could I stay in here? Pretend to be Bruce Willis and just live in the air vents for a while?" she muttered to herself. Her answer came in the form of a high-pitched whistling and several gunshots just behind her. A moment later, and explosion tore apart the air vents. The world went white, and with her concentration broken, she went tumbling through the air as gravity ripped her downwards. When her vision cleared, she was laying on the floor, surrounded by her pursuers. "Hard to believe one kid could be SO much trouble..." Mercury smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Believe it. Somehow, kids have caused ten times for trouble for me than the cops," Torchwick groaned, leveling the gun barrel in his cane directly at her chest. "Regardless, she IS still just a child..." Cinder smirked, notching another arrow in her bow. "And I'm afraid that this little game of hide-and-seek is over. Just in time, seeing as I have more important things to do than help you with your pest control, Roman." She turned to Mercury, nodding down the hall. "Get ready to go." Mercury nodded, walking away in the direction of the landing docks. Missy slowly crawled backwards, pushing herself against the wall. As she ran out of space, she carefully positioned her hand behind her back. Her fingers brushed against her back pocket, teasing out another card. "Then let's play another game... I'll race you to the arena!" Missy tightened her grip on the trap card behind her back. "Last one there is a rotten pumpkin!" Each of her pursuers unleashed an attack at once. For a moment, the image of Ghostrick Lantern flashed in front of her, and they were both gone as Ghostrick Vanish did its work. She knew it would only buy her a few precious seconds of invisibility, but that was more than enough to give her time to double back on her previous path and fly down the hall as fast as she could. The arena was a circle, she could get to an open space either way. Doubling back the way she came was something they wouldn't expect. Okay, clearly hiding is off the table! Gotta get away, gotta warn everyone! Sunset has no idea what she's walking into! Missy pushed herself even faster as her trap card's effects wore off. Her wings ached and her breath was coming in ragged gasps as her body began to fail on her. After keeping so many Ghostricks in the "real" world for so long, her energy was finally starting to run out, and this chase was using up was small reserves were left. She could hear the maniacs scrambling and arguing, but she couldn't tell if they had realized which direction she had run in. She turned and glanced over her shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone chasing her... Only to run headfirst into some kind of barrier, shattering it into sharp shards that rained down on her. She came crashing to the floor, skidding to a stop against the tile. Her head was swimming, the whole world starting to spin around her. Ow... can you get rug burn from tile? was the only groggy thought to make its way through her possibly-concussed brain. She did her best to turn around, but a firm foot planted itself on her back, just between her wings. She caught a glimpse of a pink umbrella swinging down at her head, and the world went black. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Did you all feel that?" "Feel what?" Sunset shivered, grabbing at her geode for comfort. "I don't know, it felt... wrong. Like some kind of bad omen." She glanced out the window, where she could see their destination close enough that she could almost touch it. "You ever get a chill down your spine? One that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? Like that, but through your whole body..." She looked around, noticing Ruby and Weiss giving her concerned looks. "The mind reader is sensing bad omens? Well, that'll give you the heebie-jeebies..." Yang muttered. "Not as much as this will... Come here!" Blake motioned for them to follow her to the cockpit. Staring out the front windshield, Sunset saw what she was talking about. Airships. Lots of them, all leaving the arena en masse. "Looks like the White Fang are pulling out... Do you think Ozpin brought the cops down on them?" Yang asked. "There don't seem to be any signs of a fight," Blake replied. "Maybe they realized they'd been found again? They could be evacuating like they did at Mountain Glenn." "And that would mean taking any proof they were here with them!" Ruby finished the thought. Weiss shook her head, walking back into the passenger compartment of the ship. "Look, I think we SHOULD leave the White Fang to Professor Ozpin for now. Our mission is to make sure Missy gets out safely and look for clues about where they took Sunset's friend, remember?" Sunset sighed. "Weiss is right. As much as I want to go through the White Fang one at a time until they give up where they took him, we can't lose our heads. One mission at a time, and right now our mission is to make sure Missy's okay. Isis? How close are we?" "We will arrive at our destination momentarily. However, I am unable to pinpoint Missy's exact location inside the arena. It would appear that signals into and out of the arena are being jammed using their own broadcasting array. I have calculated and downloaded a landing path onto the onboard computer, but in a matter of minutes communication with this main unit will be lost." "So we'll be going in blind?" Yang shook her head. "Today just gets better and better..." "My apologies. Ordinarily the drone unit accompanying you would act as a signal booster, but the interference is simply too strong. A more powerful unit is required to break through it." "We understand. You're doing you best, Isis..." Weiss smiled and gave the tiny dragon a stroke on its head. Sunset smirked slightly. For all her effort to put up a cold front, Weiss clearly had a soft spot for cute things, including Isis. A moment later, the drone's head sagged and the body went limp, as if it had fallen asleep. "Signal lost... Initiating onboard artificial intelligence." After a second, the quartz diamond in its chest began to crackle with electricity running through its center, and the drone rose back up to its full height. It didn't speak a word as it examined its surroundings, only turning to stare out the windshield in a silent vigil. The five girls glanced among each other, none of them wanting to say what they were all thinking as the ship coasted in for a landing at the arena. They were on their own from here.