Wednesday, September 17, 6:30 a.m. Tokyo time.
Sunset woke the next morning to Twilight’s gentle snoring, her breath tickling Sunset’s cheek, gently fluttering her bangs as breathed softly in and out. A smile graced Twilight’s face and she snuggled tightly to her best friend. As she lay there on her back, Sunset smiled as she looked down to see her best friend's pyjama arms and legs wrapped tightly around her.
“Love you too, Sparky,” she whispered
Twilight stirred, mumbled something still smiling then snuggled even closer, burrowing her face into Sunset’s locks. Sunset quietly laughed, kissing her BFF on her cheek. Twilight smiled even more brightly and let out a contented hum.
“Are you awake, Sparky?” whispered Sunset into her ear. Still smiling, Twilight shook her head no.
“Then I guess I’m stuck here. I’ll just have to learn to accept this as my lot in life,” teased Sunset. She gave Twilight another quick kiss on her cheek. “Whatever will I do? What do you think, Sparky? Should I just learn to love this and stay put?”
Eyes still closed, Twilight smiled even more brightly and nodded. Sunset turned into her embrace and held her close. “Okay then, I guess I’ll just have to grow old in the arms of my BFF,” smiled Sunset. “I love you, Sparky.”
“I love you too, Sunny,” whispered Twilight. She opened her eyes, smiling brightly at her best friend.
Sunset looked happily into the loving gaze of her dearest friend.
Both of them started, sharing a panicked look.
“Crab nuggets! That can’t be good!” said Sunset in concern.
“I counted over 50 instantaneous triggering events. Something just happened. Something big,” agreed Twilight, rolling away from her friend and throwing on her school uniform. “I’m going to check it out.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” promised Sunset, transferring over to her chair. She grabbed her uniform and her bathroom bag, rolling quickly into the bathroom.
A few quick minutes later, finished, cleaned and changed, she flashed away after her friend.
It was chaotic inside their lair. The entire crew of the TitanFall base was running around organizing themselves and tending to their injured, which thankfully was small in number and not severe in scope, limited mostly to scrapes and bruises, with one fractured arm from falling equipment.
“So what happened?” asked Sunset, rolling up to her BFF who was helping distribute supplies to their new and sudden guests.
“They came under attack. The shields held, but came close to being overloaded for a moment which triggered the failsafe, transporting the entire base staff here. I haven’t checked on the base itself yet as I needed to help get supplies and resources distributed to our guests,” answered Twilight, unpacking emergency kits from crates and passing them bundled kits to others to disperse.
“Okay, I’ll go check it out,” stated Sunset. She flashed away in teal pop.
The base was intact, whatever attack that had initiated the evacuation was clearly no longer in progress. Rolling up to one of the control center modules, Sunset logged in and deactivated the still-ringing alarms. The silence that followed was eerie in its completeness.
Reaching out with her magical senses as she rolled through the base, she could find no life signs present. Everyone must have been completely evacuated by the emergency fobs, and whoever was attacking must not have been able to penetrate the shields, despite the temporary overload.
Finished with her quick roll through of the base and finding no sign of the attackers, she angled up and teleported outside, examining the base’s external infrastructure for any damages.
She was annoyed to find several places had been scored with energy attacks, from the residue magical in nature. The damage was largely cosmetic, and she was able to repair it quickly enough, but the fact that their attackers had managed to get enough magical energy through their shields enough to even score on the structures was disconcerting.
Examining the shield, she found traces of magical energies at a handful of specific frequencies. It appeared they had managed to overload portions of the shield briefly by forced harmonic overamplification detuning those portions, allowing magical energies through when the shield's power dropped due to the harmonics cancelling out a portion of the shield's power.
“Tartarus take it, they were only able to do that because I left the shield selectively impervious so Twilight and I and the emergency fobs could continue to teleport in and out at will. Not worth it. We’ll have to channel the emergency teleports through the TACIT connections and lock down the shields to all magical energies. If they had more time and were a little bit smarter they could have done a lot more than blacken a few buildings,” thought Sunset to herself. “I don’t think they will fail to take advantage of what they learned here next time.”
Making one more round of checks on the base's external infrastructure and the base shield, the teleported back to her chair and settled down into it, releasing her angelic form. Wheeling over to the TACIT transceiver, she made the changes to the shield spell matrix in the TACIT crystal, adding in an intercept to catch and route the magical transports from the emergency fobs through the TACIT connections, as they would no longer be able to function otherwise with the updated shield. She sent a quick text off to Twilight with what she had done so they could make the appropriate changes to the other crystal matrices.
As she was about to teleport back to Twilight she got a spike from Mikoto of concern and anger that quickly settled back to normal.
“I wonder what that was all about?” she mused as she teleported back to their lair, her magical energies being intercepted and routed through the TACIT connection by the crystal matrix’s new enchantment as designed. In a flash of teal, she disappeared.
Three juice drinks in hand, a very frustrated Mikoto growled on returning to an empty hospital room, her friends Index and the injured Toma missing.
“Toma!” she called out in angry frustration, energy arcing from her as her anger peaked.
Toma looked at the spaceplane, his face in his hands.
“Curse my rotten no good luck,” he sighed as he climbed aboard the plane, Index right behind him.
Working with Twilight, Sunset applied the shield reconfiguration and intercept update to the rest of the TACIT crystals. The other bases were on heightened alert after the attack, vigilant for any sign of an attack being levelled against their own installations.
Once all the bases were updated they returned to their lair, where they spoke with the base commander for TitanFall. She requested they be allowed to stay in the lair for the time being both to allow them time to complete their own thorough inspection of the base before returning as well as prudently desiring to wait a bit to be assured the threat had truly passed.
The girls agreed, telling her to take whatever time she needed. Sunset directed Tàiyáng to work with them, providing them with whatever resources they required.
As they were rolling away from the commander when they both felt the spike. Sunset rolled her eyes and turned to her BFF.
“I got this. I’ll go check on them while you sort anything that comes up here,” she said, angeling up and rising up from her chair.
“I could take a turn..” Twilight started but was cut off.
“Sorry Sparky, but you’re our secret weapon. Your big brain needs to be here, I can go do the light-duty stuff. I’ll be back as soon as I get whatever it is sorted,” interrupted Sunset.
She disappeared in a flash of teal.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I swear she is so stubborn,” she muttered. She joined the rest of the base staff in their preparations.
Sunset flashed into space. The terminus of Endymion was above her, a space plane headed towards it with what she sensed were Index and Toma aboard. Looking down she saw Kaori plummeting towards the earth, a chartreuse glow surrounding her.
“That doesn’t look right,” thought Sunset. She dropped down, joining her friend in her plummet.
“Hey, Kaori,” she greeted as they dropped towards the planet below. “What’s going on?”
“Hi Sunset,” smiled Kaori. “I should have figured you’d show up at some point. Toma and Index needed a little help getting past the station defences, so now I’m returning to help everyone below.”
“Uh yeah, I can see that,” snarked Sunset. “Kinda like an asteroid on a collision course. Do you need some help?”
“I got this. I may not be able to teleport like you, but my shields are up to anything this ride can dish out. And I have a team waiting to pick me up below,” smiled Kaori.
“I don’t mind helping you out,” replied Sunset. “I mean, I can shorten the trip at least for you.”
“I’m not averse to a little help,” agreed Kaori grinning.
“Okay then,” agreed Sunset with a grin. She closed with her friend, entering her shield and taking her hand. Together they popped away in a teal flash.
And appeared miles above the surface of the bay below, looking down over the city and ocean below them.
“Do you see them?” asked Sunset as they dropped towards the waters below, still surrounded by Kaori’s shield.
“I think so. They should be on that ship right there in the middle of the bay. Anywhere on deck ought to be good,” answered Kaori.
Sunset spotted the ship. “Okay, let’s get you back.” She flashed them away in a pop of teal magic.
They came out just above the foredeck on the ship below, Sunset gently lowering them the last few meters to the deck. Kaori dropped her shield as Sunset gently squeezed her hand and lifted back up off the deck.
“Okay, I’m going to head back up and see if Index and Toma need any help. Don’t hesitate to contact Twilight or me if you need anything!” she called out as she rose above the deck.
When she was fifty yards or so above the ship, she disappeared in a teal flash.
She came out in a bay, a picture window looking out over the sensor and control array of Endymion below her. Overlaid on the sensors she could see dozens of magic circles floating out in space, giant circles of magical power charging and waiting to be used.
“Ah buck me, that can’t be good,” she thought on seeing them. Looking around, she could see no sign of Index of Toma.
“I don’t get it. I should have come out right next to them. Something is wrong,” she thought to herself.
Reaching out with her magical senses, she was about to scan the local area when she felt a huge spike of panic from over a hundred sources flood her empathy. Pulling back from the sensation she recognized the source of the sensations was the new Russian base.
Sunset quickly contacted Twilight. “Twilight, something is going on with the Russian base,” Sunset called out.
“Ya think!” growled Twilight.
“Twilight?” responded Sunset.
“No, Midnight. We got the telemetry from the fobs same as you, so Twilight decided to check up on them and teleported directly into the middle of an all-out attack. I took charge before we got crisped,” came Midnight’s reply.
“Thank Harmony,” breathed Sunset. “So how are you doing? I’m on my way.”
“Please hurry. It pains me to admit it, but somehow the units I am facing have managed to keep me pinned down. They have improved considerably since our last outings, and are remarkably better powered and trained,” Midnight admitted. There was a pained grunt over the line. “That will leave a mark,” Midnight groaned. “Ouch.”
In a flash of teal, Sunset disappeared, coming out beside Midnight under her battered shield in the middle of a rather intense magical firefight.
“Holy hells, when did they get this strong?” asked Sunset adding her shield to Midnight’s, allowing them both a moment to catch their breath.
“It’s been that way since we teleported in,” responded Midnight. “Twilight took two hard hits before I was able to step in and throw up a shield. I repaired most of the damage we took but she is still in shock from the pain.”
“Okay, let her know I’m here and I love her. We’ll deal with it after we shut this down,” consoled Sunset. Beyond their combined shield the intensity of the attacks stepped up, their assailants determined to break their shield and destroy them.
Sunset’s cell phone went off. Looking at the Id she answered in frustration.
“Yona, what is it?” she asked. A terrified voice rattled off in Japanese.
“Yona! Slow down! What’s happening?” Sunset called out. She heard an explosive crash, then terrified screaming.
“Be right back, Yona’s in trouble,” said Sunset.
Midnight gave her a scowl. “Right now? You’re…” Sunset popped away in a flash of teal. “... going to leave me… Damnit Sunset!” growled Midnight, her shields nearly buckling from the intense assault. She flew at her attackers, blasting and hacking at them in rage.
Sunset popped into Yona’s dorm room just as a witch was dragging her insensate body by the hair from the corner she had been cowering in. With a roar and a teal blast Sunset launched the witch through the dorm wall and out into the street below where she rag-dolled into the traffic. Racing over to her friend, Sunset scooped her up into her arms and teleported away.
Appearing in their lair, she called out for help. One of the base staff ran over, and she handed Yona’s still unconscious form to her, requesting her to take care of her friend. She took her, hurrying with her to their triage area as Sunset flashed away again.
She returned to Midnight who was fighting a vicious battle against their attackers. She was bleeding from her forehead, her arms bruised and bloody and covered in blood.
“What the fuck, Sunset! What the fuck! Are you trying to get me killed!” she cried out in rage as she continued her attacks, Sunset launching her own furious attacks at her side.
“They almost killed Yona!” Sunset yelled back as they continued their brutal battle. “Some witch had her by the hair, knocked out cold and dragging her body across the floor!”
Midnight’s shoulders slumped a bit as they continued their fight. “Where is she now?” she asked.
“I took her to our lair and left her with the base personnel. They’re taking care of her,” answered Sunset.
“Good,” answered Midnight. “Don’t do that to me again! I almost was overrun. We can’t be leaving each other like that in battle!”
“I’m sorry!” answered Sunset. “I don’t know what else I could have done, but I’m sorry!”
Panicked voices called out through their headsets in Russian, the sounds of screaming and explosions in the background. Looking down quickly below them, the girls saw flashes of bright light coming from the base below them.
One word was clearly screamed through the headsets. “атакующий!”
“How in the seven hells?!” yelled Sunset in frustration seeing the continued flashes and hearing the explosions in their headsets.
“Fuck!” growled out Midnight. “I got this! Keep these bastards busy!” she called out, teleporting down to the base below. With a flash of magenta…
… nothing happened. “Fuck! I forgot you changed the shields. Keep them busy!” Midnight called out. With a flash of magenta, she disappeared.
Appearing in the lair before the TACIT unit, starling several of the base personnel as she teleported again.
Appearing inside the base below before a well-armed group of witches in battle armour, all ready and waiting for her. Several magical attacks hit her at once, sending her spinning and rolling across the floor as she teleported away.
Shaking her head to clear the throbbing pain, Midnight leaned back against the wall of the room she had teleported to. She connected to Sunset. “I’m in,” she groaned. “They were ready for me.”
“Are you alright?” grunted Sunset, still heavily pressed upon by the attackers outside.
“Yeah. I tried to teleport back out so I could regroup, but they seemed to have blocked that. The sense I got as I was deflected is they’ve somehow turned the TACIT into a magical dead zone. EM only, no magical energies. I deflected my teleport into an empty room down the hall while I shake off the cobwebs,” replied Midnight.
“Crap, that explains what’s going on with the shield,” groused Sunset. “The base shield was getting weaker, so I infused it with my magic. I noticed as I did it had lost its connection with the base and was running on the reserves of mana in the spell. So I’m keeping it running now from my energies.”
“Okay, until we figure out what the fuck they did to the TACIT, don’t follow me in. We don’t both need to be stuck in here,” stated Midnight.
“I could just collapse the shield spell from here, then you could get out,” offered Sunset.
“You do that and their entire force will be in her in a heartbeat, and we’ll lose everyone. I’ll work from here to take them out, and you work from there to keep the shield up and the rest of these bastards out. I’m counting on you Sunset! Don’t fucking leave me again!” called Midnight.
“I swear! I won’t! I won’t lose you!” agreed Sunset. She threw herself even harder into her battles.
“Thank you,” said Midnight, shutting her eyes and sighing in relief. Struggling back to her feet, she opened the door, heading towards the sounds of fighting and screaming. She had a base to liberate.
“I guess that explains why everyone is still here getting their asses kicked,” mused Midnight as she raced down the hall. “The magical teleport from the fobs was blocked, both by your change to the shield spells and by the sabotage to the TACIT units.”
"Ugh, buck me. It seemed like a good idea at the time,” grunted Sunset as she launched into another attack. Screaming and several loud grunts from Sunset later, she continued. “I should just collapse the shield Midnight. Then the fobs will evacuate them and the staff will be safe.”
“No!” Midnight started. “They may have a spell queued up and ready to kill everyone as soon as that shield falls. Don’t risk it! These people are ruthless. The activation on the fobs isn’t instantaneous. Stay the course, it’s the safer bet.”
“Buck me!” growled Sunset. “If we do that we’ll lose some of them while we fight.”
“And if we don’t we stand a very strong chance of losing everyone. It sucks, but those are our choices. Stay the course Sunset,” advised Midnight.
“Argh! Fine! I hate it so much that you’re right about this!” Sunset launched herself into another flurry of attacks.
“I’ll keep you posted,” promised Midnight. “We’ll get through this together, Sunset. We’ll save them, we’ve got this.”
Coming upon the attacking witches in the base, Midnight launched herself into battle against them.
Half a solar system away, Index faced off against a crazed mage determined to die, even if she took the world with her. Through the windows beyond them, magical circles the size of spaceships glowed with arcane power as they spun in space.
Elsewhere on the station, Toma stumbled, continuing his fight, his efforts, to stop the madness that was the fall of Endymion.
Mikoto and Kuroko, the mages, Accelerator and Last Order with her army of sisters, all prepared to do whatever it took to save Academy City and the people who lived there.
Sunset struggled to keep the shield up as she continued her battle with the attacking forces. Battered and once again slightly concussed, Sunset called out to her partner.
“How’s it going Sparky,” she asked in slight confusion. “Almost done? I’m kinda running out of steam here, Sparky.”
Midnight smiled and rolled her eyes. “Hang in there, Sunny. We got this. Almost there, you can do this,” she comforted.
“I love you, Sparky,” Sunset replied, launching into yet another attack.
“We love you too, Sunny,” smiled Midnight. “Almost there. Stay strong, lover. Keep that shield up.”
“I will Sparky,” Sunset promised.
Finished with the roving attackers, Midnight returned to the group guarding the TACIT unit. Picking off one of the witches on the edge with a directed beam headshot, she launched herself into the main group, a whirling dervish of deadly energies and blades beset upon by everything they could bring to bear. The battle was furious but brief as the group reformed around one of their members, apparently in a trance-like state. Three of them dragged the entranced woman into the TACIT unit and flashed away while the rest continued fighting.
Midnight immediately sensed the return of magic to the area and stepped up her attacks, quickly finishing off the remaining invaders. There was a spike as the fobs finally did their job emptying the base of the beleaguered staff, leaving a relieved and exhausted goddess panting, blood-drenched blades hanging limply from her hands as her quivering arms hung at her sides.
“We did it, Sunny,” she panted. “We beat them. Everyone is safe now,” Midnight called out.
Outside, Sunset was catching her breath, finally able to catch a moment of reprieve as her attackers apparated away. A moment later Midnight appeared by her side, pulling her close to enfold her in her arms. “You can rest now Sunny. We won. It’s okay,” she comforted.
Sunset closed her eyes, going limp in her arms. Holding her gently, Midnight apparated back into their lair.
Finding an empty cot, Midnight laid Sunset down, placing a blanket on her and smoothing back her matted hair from her forehead. Bending down, she gently kissed her bloodied forehead with a smile.
“I can see why she loves you so much. You really are quite remarkable,” she smiled.
“Ms Sparkle?” greeted one of the base staff.
“Sure,” smiled Midnight. “Watch over her for me, please?” she requested.
“Yes ma'am,” the woman nodded.
“Thank you,” smiled Midnight. Standing, she disappeared in a flash of magenta.
Midnight surveyed the wreckage of the Endymion station around her. Considering the amount of damage she was pleasantly surprised not to find bodies also, instead only broken systems and structural damage.
The earth spun slowly beneath her, large in the viewports below, stretching from one end of the view to the other, too close by far to be considered safe for either the station or the planet below, though the immediate threat of harm had been abated.
“Whatever shall we do with you?” mused Midnight. “We can’t leave you here, you’ll just crash back into the planet eventually, and Sunny and Twilight wouldn’t be too thrilled with that.”
Smiling, Midnight glowed with Magenta power, arms outstretched. The station around her sufficed with her glow, eventually pulling away from the planet below.
“I have a new home in mind for you,” smiled Midnight. “Too bad I can’t keep you for my own lair,” she laughed.
Grinning, still covered in blood and bruised and battered, a very happy goddess pulled Endymion along with her to its new home.