If it's Pain, Then I've Got What You Need... Part 1
"Blake, snap OUT of it!" Sunset cried. She felt a tingle on the back of her neck and a prompting to duck, and she followed her instincts. She was rewarded with the sight of a strand of webbing shooting over her head. She didn't have any time to celebrate, however, as the black blade of Blake's sword came crashing down on her shoulder, slamming against her aura with enough force to still give her some blunted pain in the joint. It took all of Sunset's willpower not to let the pain break her concentration. It was only sheer instinct that had kept her ahead in this fight, and she could tell that the moment she missed a step, that method of keeping ahead would disintegrate as her thoughts were wiped clean again. "I know whatever happened to you has you thinking backwards, but I know you're still in there!"
"Sunset, there's nothing to snap out of! I'm finally seeing things BOTH ways!" Blake replied, eyes wide with enthusiasm. "There's no 'forward' and 'backward,' Sunset! There's only certainty and possibility, and they're ours to pick! and! CHOOSE!" She punctuated each word with another swing of Gambol Shroud. Sunset managed to dodge the first two by pulling back, but the third required her to completely fling herself backwards off-balance. She had planned to catch herself on her hands, maybe even turn it into a chance to flip over and put some more space between herself and Blake. Just as she was about to land, however, her instincts went crazy and she retracted her hands again, crashing shoulders-first into the tile, instead. Out of the corner of her eye, Sunset could see why: a near-invisible strand of webbing had been thrown across the floor like a tripwire, right where her hands would have landed.
I must have seen it and processed that it was there unconsciously...
Thankfully, crashing into them like she had wasn't necessarily the end of the world, it seemed that they worked by the same logic as her geode: they needed to make skin contact to do their thing. They couldn't do much to her through her clothes...
...but the three spiders skittering towards her out of the shadows definitely COULD.
"Sunset! Up here!"
Sunset reached a hand up and felt a pair of smaller hands yank her up, lifting her with enough force to pull her completely off the floor and into the air.
"That was closer than I like to cut it!" Missy chirped. "You think it's time for us to start cutting back?"
Sunset flicked her saber hand, letting a shot of webbing fizzle out against the blade instead of striking them. She glanced down at the handle of her saber, double-checking to make sure the low battery light wasn't flashing.
"I don't want to hurt Blake- look out!" Sunset swatted a leaping spider out of the air, causing it to fizzle and pop against her saber blade just before landing on Missy's back. The motion flung enough weight around to spin them both in the air, giving Sunset a good view of the full situation at hand.
The hallway was closed off by a wall of webbing back the way that they came. Blake was in front of them, but behind her was what looked to be a window leading outside, and an open door leading to the next stairwell. In the dim gray light coming in from the snow-shrouded window, Sunset could barely make out a shimmer in the air, a shine of freshly-cast threads.
The stairwell's trapped... probably more spiders there waiting to get the drop on me. The window is a possible escape, but-
"-but we're at least six stories up." Missy finished the thought. "Why not just try and cut through the webs behind- look out!"
Sunset didn't get a chance to explain before Missy dropped her back to the floor and shot up into the air. Gambol Shroud's pistol form blew through the space where their hands had been, mounting the blade into the wall and trailing the ribbon behind it. Sunset managed to land on her feet, but her balance was thrown off by the unexpected landing, causing her to tilt dangerously back-
-just in time to avoid Blake's flying kick rushing over her head, propelled by Blake pulling herself along the ribbon.
That sense of danger, that instinct, grew more intense in the moment that Blake was passing overhead until it was almost overwhelming. Time felt as if it had slowed to a crawl, and deep in the dark strands of Blake's hair Sunset finally spotted something:
a shard of iridescent chitin glowing on the back of her neck.
Sunset's eyes widened as what had seemed like a passing triviality catapulted itself into the forefront of her mind: the spider she'd seen on Blake's shoulder, the one that crawled back down behind her at the start of the fight. It hadn't been for dramatic effect or a show of power... it had been flashing a weak point!
"Blake-"
"Don't you ever wish you could go back? Fix the mistakes? Make it all work out for the best?" Blake continued. Sunset's insides felt a layer of ice as Blake's wild yellow eyes stared back into hers, wide with a mix of glee and desperation. "We don't have to live with the regret, with the pain, any more! We can do it right, this time!"
Sunset wasn't sure what Blake was talking about, but she was certain that this wasn't the Blake she knew. Blake was collected, level-headed, even when she was upset her voice rarely raised above speaking level! This Blake was practically fanatical, shouting and pleading with her as she hacked and slashed at Sunset at a rate that made her worry that the other girl's arms were going to rip out of their sockets. Sunset was only barely able to keep ahead of her swings with her preternatural instincts, but a swing back with her saber was too risky. She couldn't tell for certain whether Blake even still had her aura in this state, and an unguarded blow from the saber could be lethal.
Still, she couldn't keep dodging forever, if her spatial memory was right she was about to back straight into the webs, and Blake wasn't showing any signs of tiring out. Running wasn't an option, talking wasn't an option, which meant that there wasn't much choice but to fight.
"Missy! Watch my back!"
"You got it!" came a voice from above.
On Blake's next swing, Sunset planted her back foot and pushed forward, getting inside of her arm's reach and pressing as close as she could to the other girl. Her hand reached up and around Blake's shoulder, clamoring desperately for a grip at the thing on the back of her neck. For the briefest of seconds, Sunset felt a brush of her fingertips against the cool outer shell of something insect-like, bringing a surge of joy.
That surge was quashed, however, when Blake completely vanished from in front of her.
Her semblance.
Sunset felt a pair of booted heels crash into the small of her back, driving her to the ground and shattering the rest of her aura. She felt every ounce of air rush out of her body at once, leaving her with no strength.
"Sunset! I'm comi- AH! Get off me!" Missy's voice cried.
"M-Missy!" Sunset tried to push herself up, but the weight of Blake standing on her back was too much to shake off. A hard knee came down between her shoulder blades, pushing her face down closer to the tile. All around her, Sunset could hear the skittering and clattering of chitin against the floor tiles and the soft "thwip" noise of more silk strands striking their mark. "L-Let her go!"
"You'll understand, Sunset... I promise, you'll thank me for this."
Just as Sunset could feel the sharp brush of chitin against the back of her neck, Missy's voice squeaked over the rest of the noise.
"I... have... HAD IT!"
All around them, everything went dark. A second later, Sunset was overwhelmed by the sensation of flipping and falling as Blake's weight disappeared from her back. As she was dumped on the floor, Sunset barely registered the fact that Missy had just moved her with Ghostrick Go-Round. Rubbing at her head, Sunset looked up and her eyes widened.
The entire hallway was shrouded in unnatural darkness, pitch-blackness punctuated only by a few glowing wisps of light. The light from the will-o-wisps didn't seem to reach more than a few inches into the darkness, as if being smothered. She felt a brush of feathers against her shoulder, the only indication outside of her moving voice that Missy was moving down the hallway. Sunset wasn't scared OF Missy, she never could be, but... Somehow, in her gut, Sunset felt a clench, an urge to grit her teeth like she was hearing nails on a chalkboard. Something was wrong, and she could feel exactly what it was:
Missy was being serious.
"You know... I was actually kind of excited to come back." Her voice was lacking her normal carefree lilt, as if gravity had pulled her very tone down to Earth. "I didn't get to really play with everybody else last time, you know? I was gonna hang out, play some games, maybe have some girl time, yadda yadda yadda... Too bad." Sunset heard a clicking, popping sound, like bones cracking. "Too bad for us. Too bad for you."
Sunset moved one hand to her saber, only to feel another set of fingers wrap around her wrist. Looking up into the darkness, she locked eyes with Ghostrick Alucard. The pale specter raised a single finger to his lips, urging her to remain silent. Unsure of what else to do, Sunset just nodded.
"All that's happened since we got here has been bad, bad, bad! There's hardly been a single moment for fun, at all!" As the exasperation in Missy's voice rose, Alucard followed her into the darkness. Sunset considered following, too, but... she could feel something keeping her back. It was like the darkness was pressing in on her, keeping her in place. It wasn't stifling or suffocating, though... it felt gentle. Like a hug. Somehow, she recognized that the darkness was familiar, friendly... it was Ghostrick Night. "I'm NOT going to let anything else bad happen on my watch!"
"G-GET BACK!"
"BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!"
"Well, that's not going to work, silly girl..."
Sunset could see the muzzle flashes of Blake's gun light up the darkness for split seconds, but nothing seemed to meet its mark. Instead, however, Sunset was able to make out a sight that made her blood run an ounce colder:
Hands were bursting from the walls and floor, each one either holding or having squashed one of the strange spiders. It was hard to tell all of them apart, but Sunset was sure that she at least recognized Stein, Skeleton, Warwolf, and Lantern's hands reaching toward Blake.
It's like she's combining Ghostrick Night, Parade, and... Sunset considered all of the holes that had been punched through the walls and floor, ...maybe Renovation.
"I didn't want to say it, but..." Missy's voice had a note of sadness in it that Sunset wasn't used to hearing. "I can't deny it any more! As usual... Penn was right about coming here."
Sunset didn't like this. Missy getting serious felt fundamentally wrong, but also...
Does this mean she's been holding back? Or is this some kind of trick? I mean, tricks are kind of their thing...
"S-Stay back! EEP!"
Something about this display of power had Blake worried, even in her deranged state. Sunset considered stepping in to stop Missy, but...
It was Missy. She wouldn't really hurt Blake, right?
"Missy... it's on her neck..." Sunset whispered, barely louder than her own breathing.
As if in response, a new twinkle of light appeared, finally allowing Sunset to see the scene in front of her. Missy was floating just above Blake. Her usually-twinkling eyes were milky-colored, dull and empty, like dead eyes. Her hair, normally flowing and half-committed to gravity's pull, was pulled straight down over her face and body, as if soaking wet. Her fluffy black dress was much the same, clinging to her body and covered in tatters and mold, making her look as if she'd recently emerged from a long-buried coffin. Even her wings, usually a gorgeous mix of ebony and ivory, were swinging limp and at odd angles that gave Sunset haunting visions of their time under Ebott, while grime and dirt stained them in uneven patches. She was hanging in the air, like an unattended marionette, hunched over and hovering over Blake so that her downward-hanging head could look straight at her.
Blake was halfway through the floor, somehow buried up to her waist in freshly-turned dirt, and a tall stone obelisk was raised behind her, marking the new grave. Alucard was leaning against the spire, grinning evilly and tapping at illegible text carved into its surface. Blake's eyes were wild and darting in all directions, eventually locking on the headstone. Realizing the level of danger she was in, Blake swung with her sword, aiming straight for Missy's neck. Missy didn't so much as blink at the attack. The new light expanded and shaped itself until it had taken the shape of a sword. The darkness of Ghostrick Night was drawn inside the outline, dying all but the outmost edges pitch-black.
"Swords of Concealing Light."
Missy parried the attack, knocking Blake off-balance. Her sword of light seemed to shatter, sending motes of light everywhere. Sunset's eyes widened as they re-formed into three smaller swords, all of which shot down towards Blake.
Blake's entire body began to shudder and blur, and for a second Sunset was afraid that the spell was having an adverse effect on her, but as multiple silhouettes overlapped and struggled, Sunset realized that it was self-inflicted. Blake was trying to use her semblance to escape, but it was failing miserably. Eventually, the shaking stopped, revealing that the swords had pinned Blake's clothes to the ground, now leaving her pinned to the ground, barely able to do more than lift her face out of the dirt.
"It's no use trying to escape... I called in a favor." The corners of Missy's mouth inched upwards as Blake fruitlessly flailed. "That's a trap hole that some friends of mine designed specially for keeping strong opponents locked in place. You're not getting away from me."
There was a few seconds of silence as Missy waited for Blake to stop moving. While she waited, Ghoul and Stein emerged from the shadows. Each of them put one hand on Blake's shoulders, beginning to push her further down into the dirt. This spurred another round of struggles from Blake.
"N-NO! NO, I DON'T WANT TO DIE! P-PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU!"
The sound of Blake begging for her life was enough to force Sunset to break her silence.
"Missy! Don't you think that this is enough?"
All the monsters aside from Missy turned to look at her in unison, and despite knowing deep in her heart that Missy would never hurt her, Sunset suddenly felt very, VERY afraid. These weren't the Ghostricks that she had known in the past. These were... monsters.
"This one just tried to hurt my human partner..." Missy murmured. "And got very, VERY close to succeeding. I'm not letting that happen again."
The other Ghostricks seemed to agree, nodding in unison and pushing Blake further into the dirt. Now the soil was up to her shoulders.
"I'm MAD."
That was when it clicked.
"Missy... you need to take a deep breath." Sunset spoke softly and began to walk forward. She moved her foot softly, letting her shoe bump against and push aside any protruding limbs as she walked down the hall. "Your temper's getting out of control."
"I don't have a temper... and I AM in control."
"But I do!" Sunset urged. "Missy, like you said, we're partners... joined at the soul, remember?" Sunset continued walking, taking one careful step after another. In her heart, she knew she was safe, but... well, pitfall traps like the one Blake was caught in were a recurring gag in Yu-Gi-Oh, and with Missy snapped like this, it was best to play it safe. "Remember how I went crazy when Penn got hurt at Mount Ebott?"
She glanced away from Missy for a second to check on Blake. The dirt was up to her neck, now, with both of her arms completely buried in the dirt. Sunset locked eyes with Alucard, making a silent plea for help.
Thankfully, blissfully, Alucard seemed to be immune to the haze of rage that had overtaken Missy and the others. He was clearly reluctant, rolling his eyes at her request, but reached down to Stein and Ghoul. With a firm, guiding hand, he gave them each a pat on the shoulder and motioned to the obelisk.
"What do you think you're doing, Sunset?"
Sunset exercised every ounce of faith and trust not to panic when Missy materialized inches from her face, eye-to-dead eye.
"I understand you're upset..." Sunset reached up and pushed a few errant strands of hair behind Missy's ear. "I get it. But look at me. I'm fine. I'm safe. You did it! You don't need to punish anybody on top of that."
Missy's hands balled into fists.
"B-But... I- But-"
"I know. It feels good. Lashing out, making someone pay, it can feel really good. Like you're setting things right, taking fate into your own hands..." Sunset sighed. "But it's not. You don't have to go any further. Blake's being controlled, it's not her fault, and you're scaring her out of her mind!" Sunset cupped Missy's face with her hand, trying her best to will some life back into her eyes. "Come on... enough tricks. The danger's passed... show me a treat, would you?" In spite of the fear, Sunset couldn't help but chuckle.
"You're starting to act like your sister, you know!"
There was a pause that felt like it lasted an eternity between them, and Sunset couldn't help but wonder if her words had gotten through the haze of rage she was so familiar with. Finally, Missy seemed to... reinflate, for lack of a better term. Her hair regained its former wildness, her dress mended and became fluffy again, and her pink eyes regained their shine.
"I- I- uh- I-I'm sorry..." She wobbled in the air, forcing Sunset to reach out and catch her. Sunset supported her meager weight with one hand and pressed her face into her shoulder with the other, letting the little girl dry her tears on her shoulder.
"I know." Sunset shifted Missy around to her back, letting the little spirit wrap her tired arms around her neck. "You just piggy-back for now, okay? I'll take it from here, partner."
All around them, the darkness of Ghostrick Night was dispersing. With the crunching and snapping of building materials snapping back into place, the grasping hands of the other Ghostrick monsters retreated, sealing the holes in the masonry behind them. Soon, all that remained was Blake's fresh grave, the obelisk marking it, and the ever-staring Ghostrick Alucard. He simply smiled and gave her a grateful nod, which Sunset returned. With his work done, Alucard popped open the side of the obelisk like a stone door, revealing a descending stone staircase that he began to descend. As the door closed behind him, Sunset could make out a carefree backward wave.
You know... sometimes I wonder if he's the Penn to Missy's... well, ME. Making sure she's okay and backing her up when she needs it. She looked down at Blake, who had stopped any attempts at struggling. Her head was hanging limp and her eyes were unfocused and empty as they stared up at the ceiling. With a not-insignificant amount of worry, Sunset reached down and placed her fingers against Blake's neck. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she felt a pounding, racing pulse beneath her touch.
"Scared her so badly she fainted..." she mumbled. "But she'll be okay."
"I'm sorry..." Missy mumbled. "I don't- I just-"
"It's okay."
"It's not..." Missy murmured. In the pit of her gut, Sunset could feel a deep shame building... shame that wasn't hers. Clearly, that was a loaded statement that would need to be unpacked later.
Sunset dropped to one knee and carefully positioned her hand a few inches away from Blake's neck. There was no telling whether it was still there, but... Sunset hadn't seen Stein or Ghoul pulling it away from her.
"Missy... do you know if it's safe to just rip these spiders off?"
"Iunno... Penn's the expert."
"Information IS available. Would you like me to play the B.U.C.K.L.E.R. danger assessment file?"Sunset jumped slightly. In all of the rush, she had almost forgotten Isis existed.
"We're in a hurry, here... can you just give me a yes or no answer?"
"In that case... no.""Then how do we get it off of her?"
"The generally-recommended method is peppermint oil.""Peppermint oil? That's kind of random..." Sunset murmured. "Maybe we can find some in the-"
"KITCHEN!" Missy shrieked, slapping her palm against Sunset's shoulder for her attention. "PENN!"
Sunset gasped. "I FORGOT!" She jumped back to her feet and turned to run back down the hallway, only to hesitate again and turn back to Blake. "Will- will she be okay?"
"Oh, yeah." Missy mumbled. "The Traptrix loaned me that modified trap to help with the interactive part of this year's haunted house. We had a whole 'Called by the Grave' segment and everything. It's perfectly safe, she's just stuck."
"Okay." Sunset looked down, locking her eyes on Blake. "I know you probably can't hear me, but I'll be back for you. I promise."
With a nod of affirmation to herself to seal the oath, Sunset set off running down the hall. As she approached the wall of webbing, she reached down to her belt for her saber.
Without Blake defending them, cutting through these should be a piece of-
Sunset felt another prompting as soon as she'd reached for her weapon, another sensation of overwhelming danger she needed to counter. Something about this one felt different, though, it built up faster than any of the previous warnings. By the time that her hand had closed around the handle, it was already overwhelming.
I can't move fast enough to dodge or block!
Sunset felt a strong, sharp blow to the base of her skull, and then everything went dark.
The last conscious sensation she experienced was... clicking. The clicking of a weapon shifting forms.
Someone had been waiting to take them out while they were focused on Blake, and it wasn't one of Baalchion's monsters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penn was panting and gasping for air.
He was keenly aware of each of his injuries, and was trying to account for them in his movements. He couldn't make any sudden movements off of his right ankle. His right arm was still hanging limp, with only a slight tingle in response to his attempts to move it. It had gotten its barbs into that shoulder, as if it wasn't already dead in the water. He was bleeding from his side, where a spear of ossified darkness had stabbed through him right near his kidney, and the spreading tendrils had left his whole left side of his abdomen unable to flex without shooting, stabbing pain. That one was the worst, limiting both his movement and his breathing. He had a few other less critical injuries, but the right side of his body was slowly going numb, a bad sign for his continued survival. His arm holding the shield-turned-sword was burning, both with the effort of constantly batting away incoming attacks and the radiant heat of the red-hot edge.
Isis's drone was crumpled in the corner of the room, sparking and crackling as electricity arced from a shattered ultraviolet light. She had fought valiantly, but a machine designed to build and repair could only do so much in a battle of life and death.
The nyctomorph, on the other hand, wasn't showing any signs of wearing down, despite the fact that he'd managed to land a fair few number of blows of his own. It was trying to ring him in by spreading across the floor, forcing him to limp his way to the left as fast as he could. The deep shadow of its body made it look like the tile was transforming into a bottomless pit. The blackness tried to close in on his feet, but he gave the sword another swing, sending out an arc of flames that scattered across the tile and caused it to retreat with a hiss.
I'm starting to curse whoever decided to just say these things were made of "pure darkness" and leave it at that... he thought to himself. I could really use some kind of weak point to exploit!
"You REALLY wanna say that?" The voice in his mind argued back.
"Your arm is trembling..." the nyctomorph whispered. Penn could make out multiple voices, like it was speaking through four or five mouths at once, with Blake's voice being among them. "Ready to surrender?"
Penn gritted his teeth, biting back a snarl and a snide remark. He was losing and on the backfoot, provoking it wouldn't work in his favor. It had managed to position itself between him and the windows, and the door behind him was locked. The lock was accessible from this side, sure, but even taking his eyes off of the monster for a second would spell almost-certain doom. He had to do something...
"Wait, what did it just say? Penn, did you catch-"
"Surrender?" He raised an eyebrow. "I thought nyctomorphs specialized in assassinations? Aren't you here to kill me?"
"-yeah, that."
Talking. It was the only option that he had left. If I can get it talking, maybe I can buy enough time to make a plan...
"Well, if there's one thing you're good at, it's talking..."
The amorphous mass bunched up at the center, pushing upward into the vaguely human shape. In a few seconds, "Blake" had re-formed, though her body dissolved back into the black mass at her feet, making it clear that she and the monster were one and the same. Her posture was relaxed, with an uncharacteristically easygoing smile on her face that scrunched up her pitch-black eyes.
"That's a closed-minded way of thinking. Our talents can be as varied as our forms..." Her hand began to shift, cycling through a series of intricate designs. Penn's eyes narrowed as he squinted at the shapes, trying to make them out. It was peacocking, showing off in the way nyctomorphs were prone to. The finer their control over their forms, the higher their rank. This one was good enough to imitate Blake near-perfectly. That meant that its control was incredibly fine, but not necessarily top-level. "What makes you so certain that I was sent to kill you?"
Penn blinked several times before motioning to the barb impaled through his side.
"Blake" scoffed. "Pfft! You act as if I didn't go around your critical organs!"
Penn tightened his grip on his sword. The fact that it was apparently holding back just made his current predicament even more embarrassing. Still, it was talking, which gave him both a chance to catch his breath AND a chance to think about how to get out of this.
"So... what? You're not here to kill the person who can give this world all of the secrets to stopping your invasion?" He raised an eyebrow.
"HA!" The doppelganger seemed to find this hilarious, leaning back into a suddenly-appearing seat made out of its own shadowy body. "STOP us? You're much, much too early for that!"
"Late for that..." Penn mumbled.
"Typical. You just can't resist correcting somebody, even when your life is in danger." his partner whispered.
"Early, late, what does it matter?" The fake Blake leaned back, half-melting back into the main body as it rose up into a wave-like shape. "Baalchion's plans are assured from the moment he puts them into motion." Penn tightened his grip on his sword hand, trying to gather up as much strength as he could for a hailmary swing. If he could split the incoming attack widely enough to jump through, he could make it to the window.
He just needed to get the timing right. And the power.
"Well, if he's so smart, maybe he would have gotten us in the first ambush..." Penn gave his cockiest smirk. "Guess maybe I'm just a little smarter than your so-called god, huh?"
"You realize that if this doesn't work, you're going to die, right? And saying that is just going to make it extra painful."
"I mean, not to mention all the times Chirac managed to beat him back..." Penn continued. He kept one eye on the edges of the rising wave. It was beginning to spasm and shake. Occasionally, it would seem to spike from within, making it almost look like some kind of living music equalizer. Its form control was slipping. "I mean, there's already a Chiracian agent within these very walls, that hardly seems 'assured' to me! One deal struck could open the fiery floodgates of total war!"
He gritted his teeth as the edges of the monster began to calm again. He'd made some kind of mistake. The nyctomorph chuckled again in that multi-voice.
"The skyburners will have no accord, Baalchion has already seen to that. This world WILL be saved."
"Well, THAT'S ominous as hell!"
Wait, if there's zero chance that the Chiracians can make a deal, then-
"LOOK OUT!"
Thanks to the warning, Penn was barely able to get the shield up in time to block a black spine that had shot up from the floor, aimed for his throat. When it struck the shield, it pushed him back hard enough to slide his feet across the floor. He had to bite back a scream of pain when he slammed into the kitchen door, the force being enough to jostle and drive deeper every spike and shard that this thing had left in his body. By the time that the haze of pain had relented enough for him to get his bearings, again, he spotted more tendrils of darkness crawling up around the edges of the shield, making their way straight for his hand. Gritting his teeth, he tightened his hand around the dust trigger, prompting another flash of flames to spray out from various vents on the weapon.
FWSSH!
For him, it felt like sticking his face into an oven at this range, but it was much worse for the monster. The nyctomorph shrieked, but the tendrils didn't disappear. They continued creeping in, even as their frontmost edges were reduced to ash. Penn gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger again.
"LET... GO!"
FWSSH!
The monster shrieked again and the tentacles fell further back, this time, but still didn't disappear, entirely.
Penn was pretty sure that at least his hair was about to catch on fire, if he didn't burn his own face off, but he pulled the trigger one more time. He was completely pinned like this, and if he didn't get space soon, it would be the end of him.
FW- FW- clickclickclick...
The shield sputtered twice, then descended into a hail of fruitless firing igniters.
He was out of gas.
"Ha! HAHAHA!" The nyctomorph sounded like an entire room of people laughing at him as the pressure on his shield arm mounted. "Your little light has burned itself out!"
Penn's arm shook until his muscles finally collapsed under the pressure, slamming his own shield against his chest and once again throwing him up against the door. Another wave of excruciating pain racked through him and the world turned red.
Too weak... I'm not strong enough...
This couldn't be how this ended, right?
Sunset... Missy... Isis... they all needed him.
I failed them... again. I'm gonna die a SECOND time!
He couldn't fail like this, could he? He was supposed to be the smart one. The one who figured everything out. He was supposed to be stronger than this...
He could feel prickling and tingling on his chest as the thing began to dig into his skin, attaching itself so it could dig in its anchors and stop him from escaping again.
It was as good as over, he knew that better than anyone, but his mind was still trying to find a way out. If he could reach the other shield, he could raid the dust cartridge from it. If he could push a few inches forward, he might be able to throw his weight back and break the door open. If he could-
"Enough 'if's! Your legs are free! DO SOMETHING!"
Right... his legs. Way stronger than his arms. He shifted his weight to his injured right ankle, locking his knee to stop himself from collapsing as he braced his left foot against the door. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to turn a scream of pain into a growl as he pushed with all his strength.
"Grrrrrrrraaaaaah!"
He managed to push about three inches forward, but a moment later he was slammed back into the door.
The pain was getting worse everywhere, and now there was a growing numbness in his chest. In just a few seconds, it was going to spread far enough to connect to the numbness in his right side., at which point more than half of his body would be useless.
He pushed again, as hard as he could manage.
This push only made it about two inches forward before he was slammed back again, hard enough to rattle the door frame.
"Penn... I've got an idea."
...I'm not waiting for dramatic tension, here! WHAT?
"You've got to turn off your brain. Go wild."
If Penn had the time to be incredulous, he would have given his partner a double-take. As it stood, he went straight to the point.
You think I'm not TRYING hard enough?
"I THINK that the Doctor said that the ink demon turned you into something like himself and YOU'RE still trying to fight like a human! Get mean! Get wild! Get MAD! BE A DEMON!"
Penn was out of ideas, so he was willing to try. He tried to shut off his brain, clear his mind... but he couldn't stop. It was involuntary, he couldn't stop. His mind was moving a million miles per hour, just like his racing pulse. He tried to summon up the malice, the anger, the OUTRAGE that he needed... but it wasn't there.
He couldn't hate the nyctomorph, not really, even now.
He pitied it. He loved it. If he had any hatred, it wasn't for the creature, it was for its limitations, its simplicity. He wanted so much more for it than he could give.
The numbness had spread up to his shoulders. The shield began to descend under its own weight, and the main mass of the nyctomorph closed in on him, ready to envelop him entirely.
"I know what you were trying to do," the voices whispered. Penn felt a surge of burning pain as the thing crept higher towards his throat beneath his skin. "and I'm aware that you were making an attempt at strategy, to make me overly emotional. I can respect that, but I cannot allow such disrespect to my lord and master. Do you have any last words before I shred your vocal cords to ribbons?"
He gritted his teeth and braced himself for whatever was going to come next. With one last feeble kick at the door, Penn shifted his weight and made one last kick at the door. This one barely made a knocking sound, and with the last of his strength spent, he let his legs hang limp as the force pushing on him lifted him up into the air. He could practically feel the pins-and-needles feeling of the nyctomorph's tendrils reaching his throat. He coughed reflexively as he stared straight into the yellow eye of Blake's half-melted face in the shadowy mass.
"If I only get one more shot, then..." Penn rasped, "I'd have to say that I really wish that Sunset was here right now!"
"Perhaps we may be of assistance, instead?"
Penn heard Isis's voice coming from the other side of the door, just over his shoulder.
It was immediately followed by a blast of searing heat as the area beside his head exploded, just barely missing him as a jet of white-hot flames roared past and into the nyctomorph's body. Penn's entire body was yanked forward and away from the door as it tried to retreat, but too much of it was anchored in his body for it to simply run away or dodge completely. It could only shriek and writhe as it tried to retreat while pulling his body along as dead weight.
The fire only grew in intensity and volume as more than half the door was reduced to ashes and the knob fell to the floor in a pile of molten slag. Penn's eyes widened as he recognized the face that had come to his rescue.
Salem, with another one of Isis's drones perched on her shoulder. She was still wearing her blonde-haired illusion, but that didn't make her any less recognizable. She was regarding the whole situation with her typical disdain, casting her fire spell with a single raised hand. His entire body lurched upward as the nyctomorph attempted to use his body as a shield, raising him up in Salem's direction. The flames stopped just before they touched his skin, but Salem didn't seem anything more than slightly annoyed. She stepped into the room without a word, evaluating the disaster area with a click of her tongue.
"Tsk. I expected better from someone who managed to vex me for so long," she tutted.
Somehow, the sense that he had disappointed her frightened Penn more than the monster that was currently holding him in its grip.
"T-to be fair... I was expecting Beacon to be safe..." he whimpered an explanation.
"Then you are a fool." Salem's eyes glowed red in a way that made his already-pounding heart skip a beat. "Seeing what we've seen, you expected any kind of security to be provided to you? You trust far too much."
Penn started to nod, only to feel a sharp pain at his throat that made him freeze in place, like the feeling of a knife being pressed to his jugular.
"If you want your ally to live, then you'll let me lea-"
Salem didn't give the creature a chance to finish its attempt to negotiate before her hand once again glowed with magic. A violet glow surrounded Penn's body and lifted him further into the air before what could almost be mistaken for the sound of swinging a blade through the air filled his ears. The nyctomorph shrieked again before he saw a shadow dart across the floor, followed closely behind by another wave of flames. It vanished into the darkness beneath the oven just before the fire crashed into the side, leaving the metal glowing red-hot.
Penn felt little relief as he was lowered to the floor, gritting his teeth and cringing at every crack and crunch as he was moved into a sitting position. Keeping her eyes on the oven, Salem made her way to him and dropped to one knee to rest a hand on his shoulder. Penn couldn't resist the urge to flinch away at her touch.
At the sudden motion, Salem's eyes flicked to him. He suddenly felt like a cornered animal, beginning to tremble in spite of the numbness in his body. He couldn't stop it from happening, it was involuntary: she still put terror in him, especially now when he was at his most vulnerable.
"And the foolishness grows..." she muttered. "Can you move?"
Penn repressed the urge to shake his head. "N-no."
Salem's eyes flickered back to the oven, making sure their enemy hadn't come out of hiding. "Why not? I've seen you worse, and the bits left in you should be as flexible as their source."
"W-When you sever a piece of them, it ossifies." He tried to gesture to the piece impaled through his abdomen, only to be reminded that his right hand wasn't moving. "Right now, I probably have a million splinters and shards everywhere in me. If I'm lucky, they might not break off in an artery and cause an embolism when they break, but they also disrupt electrical signals, so-"
"So they're a paralytic." Salem finished.
"Y-yeah."
She rose back up to her full height and plucked the drone from her shoulder. She tossed the little metal dragon unceremoniously off of her shoulder and onto the tile beside him. A second later she pulled something off of her belt and set it on the ground with only slightly more care: a heavy-looking bag of black liquid.
"Fix him. I'll deal with the intruder."
Isis didn't respond to the command, but she did climb up onto his lap and begin scanning his wounds. Penn eyed the bag with wide eyes as he realized just what was inside.
"Is that-"
"I have prepared the Juice Box Protocol. Would you like to initiate?""First, I thought we lost all my blood bags in the crash. Second, would that work here?"
"While the exterior of the vehicle was highly damaged, the dimensional transcendentalism module saved most of the internal contents of the cabin and trunk. Projections indicate that a sudden spike in metabolic processes may allow for the dissolution of the ossified counterentropic matter.Additionally, regardless of its other effects, you have lost a concerning amount of blood."Penn took a second to ponder on his options. He could see movement in the shadows, and Salem was responding to each one with rapt attention, but it was already gone before each of her attacks landed. It was jumping from one shadow to the next, skittering under and around everything it could reach. At the rate that things were going, it was going to either escape or evade her long enough to get another chance at him.
On the other hand, what Isis was proposing was something that he'd suggested more as a joke than anything, one that stood just as much chance of accelerating his death as it did of stopping it.
The healthiest choice would be to stay as still as he could and wait. Even if he didn't really have a metabolism to speak of, he was pretty sure that the shards would dissolve eventually. Trying to speed up the process would start a race between these razor-sharp pieces of black crystal and his body. Either he'd break them down, or they'd be carried up his bloodstream to his brain and cause likely-lethal damage.
"Do you think Salem can take this thing?"
Definitely... given time. Do we have time?
"Isis, do we have time?"
"Please specify query.""For me to heal the long way. If I stay down for now, what happens?"
There was a short pause as Isis processed his question.
"Communications with Sunset Shimmer and The Ghostrick Angel of Mischief have been lost. Their current status is unknown, but they were last known to be in the center of a nest of Thoughtweaver spiders. Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos, and Jaune Arc are inbound to assist."Penn leaned back, trying to calm himself as he weighed the two sides in his mind.
"I don't like those odds. What about Winter and Ironwood?"
"Unknown.""HOW? She controls the CCT, can't she get to their scrolls?"
Doesn't matter right now. We need solutions.
"Rainbow Dash and Aurelia?"
"...it appears that Rainbow Dash's personal cell phone has been left behind in her room while she is out elsewhere."Penn gritted his teeth.
"We're surrounded by idiots."
"Okay. Juice box it is."
A panel in Isis's tail opened, revealing a needle that she jabbed into the bottom of the bag. Opening her mouth, a small rotation of tools shuffled until a second needle emerged. There was only a soft humming of a fluid pump warming up and the black liquid began to drip onto the floor. It was primed. The drone hovered its mouth just above his leg.
"Please brace yourself for pressurized transfusion."""You literally can't move, how are you supposed to-"
With a motion like a striking snake, the drone stabbed the needle into his leg. Given that it was already numb, Penn simply noted with some degree of amusement that Isis had gone straight for the femoral artery.
It didn't stay numb for long, however, as a burning feeling began to spread from the injection point. He leaned back as best he could as feeling began to come back into his body. Despite his best attempts to stay calm, he could feel a bounding beat in his chest growing faster and faster. His heart was beating so hard and fast, the sound of his blood rushing in his ears overtook all other sounds in the room. The force of the pounding was enough to feel like it was almost lifting him off of the ground with each contraction. Meanwhile, his leg was on fire and the sensation was spreading further along his veins each second.
"Uh... is your heart supposed to be kicking up this much?"
"Isis... What- uh- pick-me-up additive did you settle on for this?"
"I did not choose, I used all of the proposed substances in controlled dosages.""SHE WHAT? IS SHE TRYING TO KILL US?"
Penn's eyes widened as the full force of what he was about to experience struck him.
"Oh, this is gonna be a wild ride."
"Affirmative."------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winter's mind was racing almost as fast as her mind as she sprinted through the halls of Beacon Academy. The General had sent her on her own to support Director Bakersfield, and the thought of spending more time around that man was... tiresome. He was clearly one who preferred emotion over sound strategy, who operated more on dogged independence than cooperation and compliance with those who knew better or ranked higher. Clearly that was the reason he'd made his own paramilitary group when he held such contempt for the actual military, so that he could be the president of his own little club where he called the shots.
Which made it ten times as infuriating that they were being forced to hold him in high regard because he was the sole expert on the threat to their world.
And then his entire proposal boiled down to "Let me do things my way or everyone dies." Of all the ridiculous, childish-
Winter's train of thought was cut off as she crashed headfirst into what felt like a brick wall. Her entire body reverberated with the force as she dropped to the floor. As soon as she had her bearings again, Winter snapped her head up to look at what had stopped her, and was surprised at the answer.
It was one of the students, though not one she recognized.
She was dressed in an oversized purple sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants with mismatched legs, and her off-white hair was splayed in every direction, as if she had just rolled out of bed. She was looking down at Winter with a pair of mismatched eyes, one teal and one orange, and a completely neutral expression. Somehow, she hadn't been affected at all by the impact, despite it being enough to completely knock Winter off of her feet. She absentmindedly reached up and rubbed at the back of her head.
"Uh... ow."
Winter shook her head to clear the last of the shock. She pushed herself back up onto her feet and brushed herself off.
"The school is under attack. For your own safety, you should return to your-"
"HEY!" another voice called out. A second girl stormed out from a nearby hallway. This one was wearing the appropriate Beacon uniform, though she'd chosen to swap the cream-colored undershirt for a black one. Her gold-colored hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her delicate features were pulled into a deep scowl as she glared at Winter. "Did you just try to attack my partner?"
"No, I-"
The second girl pointed an accusatory finger at Winter, her eyes burning with barely-contained rage. "Those who attack the partner of Evelyn Kara Nathaniel attack Evelyn, herself!"
The bored-looking girl turned to her irate friend. "Hey, it's okay, Eve-"
"It certainly is NOT!" Evelyn snapped back. "I have been attacked, and I will NOT let that stand unchallenged!"
"But she ran into me..."
"I don't have time for this..." Winter muttered. She stepped to the side, attempting to dart past the two girls. To her surprise, a powerful force struck her from the side, slamming into her aura and knocking her back to the floor. Evelyn hadn't made any attempt to reach for a weapon, simply holding out her hand as if she'd managed to blow Winter back with that motion, alone.
Is that some kind of semblance?
"Oh, I'm afraid that until you apologize, your time will be forfeit to me." Evelyn grinned a crooked grin. "Now, bow and beg and grovel for forgiveness from your better, human!"
Winter blinked several times, hardly believing her ears. She turned to glance at the other girl, as if asking for confirmation that she wasn't hearing things. The messy, mismatched girl was pinching at the bridge of her nose. Clearly, this wasn't the first time that something like this had happened, and she had given up on trying to stop it.
"I'm sorry for running into you." Winter gave a quick bow to the girls. "But I'm in a hurry, and lives are on the line, so I have to-"
"I don't hear any groveling..."
"Eve, this sounds important, don't you think-"
"Nuh-uh-uh! My pride comes before all!"
Winter narrowed her eyes. This girl was disregarding the well-being of others in favor of pleasing her own wishes. That was... frustratingly familiar.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go, whether your precious pride is satisfied or not." Winter settled into a ready position, hoping to blow past these two girls with a boost from her semblance. It would be a rough shove, but not enough to hurt them. The black glyph appeared beneath her feet, and with nothing more than the smallest twitch of her heel, she was rocketed forward...
Only to once again be struck by the feeling that she had flung herself face-first into a brick wall.
This time, the impact was enough to completely knock her unconscious, and the world went black. The last thing that she saw was the glow of the mismatched girl's eyes, indicating that the invisible barrier had been her doing.
Who...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a long pause as the two girls stared at the now-unconscious Winter Schnee. After enough awkward silence had passed, Evelyn snickered and kicked at Winter's foot. It flopped limply to the side, confirming that she had absolutely knocked herself out. "And you Autumns claim that I'm excessive. I would say that I didn't think you had it in you, 'Terra-Ryn.'"
"Don't blame me..." her companion rolled her eyes as she knelt down and looped her arms under Winter's shoulders. "All I did was hit her as hard as she was planning to hit us." With a grunt, she pulled Winter up into a sitting position and began to drag her across the floor. "Also, why are you even using my codename? We're the only ones here. Right, Isis?"
"That's right!"Evelyn took the opportunity to strike a haughty pose with one hand beneath her chin. "Oh ho ho! Because while the work may be done, I do not stop until the mission is completely finished! I am relentless! I am thorough! I am unstoppable! I AM-"
"In the way."
"-IN THE WAY!" Evelyn blinked as she realized her "partner" had dragged Winter right up to her feet and was staring at her with unmistakable expectation.
"You're standing in front of the broom closet."
Evelyn gave her best death glare (a glare which was known to bring true death to the woeful soul it landed upon) as she took a long and purposeful step to the side. "...that wasn't what I was going to say."
"I don't care."
She narrowed her eyes in an attempt to concentrate the death. "If I didn't know better, my beloved half-sister, I'd say you're not enjoying being on the same side as the inevitable winner."
"Council says I gotta help you, then I gotta help you. Doesn't mean I have to feed your chunnibyou fantasies." "Terra-Ryn" took a deep breath as she dusted off her hands and put one hand on the doorknob. "I saw some duct tape in there, you think we should tie her up, just to be safe?"
"Don't worry about it, she's going to be out cold for at least fifteen minutes. That's plenty of time for things to go the way we need them to."She nodded to herself, swung the door unceremoniously shut, and finished the job with a click of the button lock on the knob. "Then I guess our work here is done." She cast a glance at Evelyn. To call it "apathetic" wouldn't have been accurate. It was more accurate to say that it was "unperturbed." It made Evelyn's blood boil to be considered a non-threat to someone who would otherwise be her archnemesis, but this particular girl had every right to be comfortable in the face of danger. Even the truly dark, horrifying, terrible evil that churned through Evelyn's veins.
She was the "Untouchable Autumn."
"-also, you're not going to win." She polished off her statement by reaching into her pocket and pulling out her "scroll." It was cute how Remnant had hard light technology, but still limited themselves to trying to recreate brick-like cell phones. It was a delightful demonstration of their lack of vision. "With that done, Isis, you delivered the Snap Protocol, right?"
The screen flickered to life, revealing Isis's human avatar flashing them a thumbs-up.
"All set. Mission's done, we can go home!""Then call Forrest and get us out of here."
"Done and done!""W-wait, I still left my Raiments of Darkness in that dorm!" Evelyn stammered. Her objection was too late, however, as dark branches were already beginning to sprout from the walls and floor. "I can't show up at the Eternal Autumn Woods in a schoolgirl uniform! My reputation would be RUINED!"
"Hehheh... Yeah, it will."
Evelyn tried to push past the branches, but vines shot out and pushed her back, placing her directly in the center of the underbrush, which was now up to their waists.
"It's one-of-a-kind! Irreplaceable! I wove it from the very pain and anguish of my soul!"
"For Raviel's sake, you bought it from our gift shop and dyed it black."
"IT SYMBOLIZES THAT I WILL CORRUPT AND DESTROY ALL YOU LOVE! Also I didn't BUY it, I stole it!"
"Because you're broke."
As the branches and leaves wove themselves into a solid sphere, there was a flash of light in an unnameable color, and the two were plucked from Remnant's reality just as Evelyn's final words were cut off with zero consideration for dramatic tension.
"CURSE YOU, AUTUMN LEB-"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So, uh... what are we looking at?" Jaune asked as he helplessly gestured at the obstacle in front of them, what seemed to be a completely solid wall of webbing.. "Aside from the world's biggest cobweb, I mean?"
"This appears to be the next of a large group of thoughtweaver spiders.""What spiders?" Ruby asked. As responding to her questions, a shudder of movement traveled through the webbing, and the more keen-eyed Pyrrha gasped and stepped back.
"That... is a lot of spiders."
"Would you like me to access the B.U.C.K.L.E.R. danger assessment file?""Does it matter?" Ruby asked as she reached for Crescent Rose. "Sunset's somewhere past it!"
"Hold on, Ruby!" Jaune held out his hand to block her. "We've gotten into trouble barging headfirst into these kinds of monsters before, we're not dealing with Grimm, here. We should take information where we can get it. Isis?"
"Affirmative.""B.U.C.K.L.E.R. Danger assessment file: Thoughtweaver Spiders. Penn's voice began to play from their scrolls. "Thoughtweaver spiders are counterentropic arachnids that spin webs made out of a kind of fatty webbing that functions almost identically to nervous tissue. They're not considered scouts among Baalchion's forces like the knightcrawlers, usually only appearing after a foothold has been established in a world. Their general purpose is non-combative, focusing on subterfuge and dis-establishment of the local governing bodies to ease the incoming invasion."
The trio glanced at one another with different scales of relief, and Ruby raised her scythe to slash at the webs. Almost immediately, dark shapes emerged from the web and swarmed in front of her. Pyrrha and Jaune instinctively raised their shields as a hail of web strands shot in their direction. Ruby shrieked and vanished in a cloud of rose petals, using her semblance to take shelter behind the shieldbearers just in time.
"Don't mistake this for weakness, however. Thoughtweavers are insidious, smart, and they multiply quickly. Their greatest strength is in their name: thought manipulation. Contact with their webs allows them to manipulate their victims' conscious thoughts and short-term memory. What you see as an old cobweb you're about to brush out of the way might be the last thing you notice before your thoughts are no longer your own. If you see one, odds are high that five more are behind you, readying to pounce.
At the mention, Pyrrha and Jaune nodded to one another and moved with practiced ease to stand back-to-back with Ruby squished between them. Perhaps it was just paranoia, but they weren't taking any chances.
"They're capable of shooting their webs like projectiles, so don't think that standing still will save you. As counterentropic entities, they also aren't quite in sync with time as we observe it. Trying to whack-a-mole one is a fast way to getting bitten on the wrist or the ankle. Their venom is a temporary paralytic, capable of disabling a fully-grown human for between one and two hours, though they'll rarely stay down for that long. This is thanks to the secondary effect of their bites. They can control motor neurons via their bite. This leads to perhaps the final form of a thoughtweaver spider's attack. They will apply their bite directly to a large nervous center close to the brain. In humans and humanoids, this is at the back of the neck, close to the base of the skull. At that point, the host is under their complete control, and the spider cannot be safely removed by force. It's POSSIBLE the host could be left unharmed, but in all likelihood you're doing to leave them permanently paralyzed from the neck down. Instead, the spider has to disconnect willingly."
"Great... but what about dealing with the webs?" Jaune muttered. "Some glaring weaknesses, perhaps?"
"Sometimes they'll disconnect for one reason or another, leaving a web trailing back to the bite site to maintain control. Severing that strand is a safe means of breaking control. Application of peppermint oil or other forms of menthol will poison the spider and make it flee, as will small, controlled applications of flame. Do NOT use electricity! Yes, it's a Chiracian element, but the spider's jacked straight into the nervous system! If you can be gentle, a light blow to the spider, itself, will cause debilitating pain to the host, at least breaking their focus if not debilitating them entirely. Finally, one more thing: Do NOT underestimate these spiders' intelligence! Their webs serve as secondary brains, and the bigger and more complex the web, the smarter they get! If you see a web bigger than two feet across, they're going to outsmart you."
The three of them all cast nervous glances at the web that spanned from the floor to the ceiling.
"If you're trying to be stealthy, look for nodes of connections in the webbing, knots or conglomerations, and carefully sever those. If you want to be fast and loud, fire CAN do the trick, but you're going to draw a LOT of attention like that. To make a long story short: these things are sneaky, and if you see them there's a strong possibility that you have at least a couple of unwilling traitors in your midst! Watch your backs, don't get bitten, and cover up with gloves and stuff if you see a cobweb! Good luck."
"Okay, so we can cut through them as long as we're using fire dust, and we'll have to be careful not to get touched by the webbing. Sounds simple enough." Pyrrha declared. With a flick of her thumb, an aura of flames sprung to life around her spear.
"And no matter how smart they are, they ARE still little spiders!. I'm certain they'll squash just as easily whether they're smarter than us or not!" Jaune continued, igniting his own sword. "Sorry, guess that was a lot of time to tell us more than we needed to know."
"If Sunset's stories are anything to go by, that seems to be fairly typical for Penn's explanations."
Ruby held her scythe at the ready, short red flames crackling along its bladed edge. "Okay, then let's get in there, get our friends, and get out."
"Right!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IF MUSIC IS ON
DO NOT ENTER
Rainbow took a deep breath. True, there wasn't any music playing because the room was currently empty, but that didn't make what she was about to do any easier.
"This feels wrong. We shouldn't have to cheat to make our point..."
With a pop of electricity, Aurelia's weight appeared on her shoulder. "Orders are orders, Dash... I mean, this came straight from the top! Chirac doesn't usually interfere directly in his agents' missions, this is a BIG DEAL!"
Rainbow groaned inwardly. "But what if something goes wrong and it turns out we DO need these anti-portal weapons?"
"You KNOW that once we strike a deal with the locals, we'll have a flight here in moments! We won't need a backup plan!" Auri huffed. "Especially not one that means bowing our heads to that Baalchion-loving 'friend' of Sunset's!"
Rainbow grimaced. If Sunset was here, she knew that she'd be coming to Penn's defense. She never seemed to want to hear a bad word about the guy, and after hearing their story from start to finish, Dash could understand why, now.
"Are you SURE you're not being too hard on them? I mean, you heard what they've been through-"
"I heard what they CLAIM they've been through." Aurelia hopped from Dash's shoulder. She caught her tail on the doorknob as she fell past, letting her swing around and turn it without hands. "Don't forget the first rule of dealing with Baalchion: trust nothing but your own fangs and claws!" With the knob turned and the door swinging open, she spread her wings and flew up into the air, hovering just at eye level with Rainbow. "Now come on! Do this and out deal with the locals is as good as made! This world will be safe and you'll have earned your first real claws as a Chiracian!"
Rainbow could already see their goal through the door as it opened of its own accord: a huge blast furnace glowing red and radiating heat, the kind that she half-remembered from history books about the "industrial resolution," or something. With one last grimace, she gritted her teeth and stepped through the door.
"Sorry, Sunset... A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."
"I was thinking something similar, myself," a voice called out behind her.
Rainbow's head whipped around, only to feel a fist plow straight into her jawbone. The force of the impact sent her spinning, and a loose piece of metal under her foot caused her to fall to the concrete floor.
"RD!"
"Looks like your reflexes aren't as fast as your feet, are they?" the voice asked. When the spinning in her head had stopped, Rainbow looked up to see a familiar face. It was the general from the strategy meeting, tugging at the base of his white glove to ensure it stayed properly fitted. "I'll admit, when I heard we were under attack, I thought it might be a smokescreen for someone to attack the place our weapons were being developed. I didn't expect it to be one of our supposed allies doing the attacking." He strutted across the floor until he was standing between the two of them and the forge. "If I hadn't heard the two of you outside, I might even have mistaken you for coming here to protect it like I did."
Rainbow narrowed her eyes. In a crackle of electricity and a blur of motion, she was back on her feet.
"We're just trying to help. You guys are making the wrong choice!"
"We haven't made a choice, yet. Deliberations are still ongoing." He sighed. "I know children tend to be impatient, but if you'd just waited, it's entirely possible we could have chosen to go with your plan, to begin with."
"Who are you calling a child?" Rainbow rose up to her full height, trying to make herself look more like an adult. Which, according to everyone else, shouldn't be hard. I still don't think I look THAT much older!
"You. And, because you're a child and prone to rash decisions, I'm going to make you a one-time offer." The general sighed before fixing Rainbow Dash with a stare that made her freeze up for a moment. "Turn around and walk away. I'll regard this as a minor negotiations hiccup, and we can all keep negotiating as if nothing happened. You'll still have your fair shot, just like BUCKLER."
"Or what?" Rainbow asked. It wasn't even an honest question, just a reflex to challenge someone who was trying to challenge her, her competitive nature pushing out past her rational thinking. He'd gotten the drop on her with a cheap ambush, and her pride was hurting from the fact that he'd managed to land a hit.
"Or I will regard you as a threat to our world's safety... and act accordingly." It wasn't a threat, just a calm, cool statement. He wasn't nearly as rattled or riled as Rainbow was, which somehow made her blood run even hotter.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Rainbow was trying to convince herself to take the bone she was being thrown, here. This was the perfect excuse not to go through with this mission, just walk away. Heck, she didn't even know if Chirac wanted this to be a stealthy sabotage and she'd already blown her chance, altogether.
Unfortunately, that part of her mind was much, much quieter than the shouting of the pain in her jaw and her wounded pride.
She clenched and unclenched her hands, feeling electricity crackling along her fingertips.
"This is for Remnant's own good..." she muttered. "There's only one real solution that's sure to work, and it's not this one!"
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- GMBlackjack · 625k words · 298 17 · 4.6k views
- TheDriderPony · 82k words · 187 5 · 3.1k views
- Solar Force · 7.2k words · 31 2 · 1.2k views
- Sixes_And_Sevens · 17k words · 41 1 · 962 views
- Norwegian boy · 50k words · 24 4 · 831 views
- Sixes_And_Sevens · 35k words · 31 0 · 629 views
- ScisetShimmerEvan · 2.2k words · 23 6 · 2k views
- Pennington Inkwell · 16k words · 11 3 · 526 views
Stats
Page generated in 0.167 seconds
Total duration
659 users online
785,278 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Ironwood is never going to let Penn hear the end of this.
And it's back!
still brainwashed I see, RD.
Just what the heck happened with Winter?
(also, you have a Discord server?)
11746571
Yup, the link is in the Author's Note! It's mostly just folks hanging out, talking about our day and our ongoing projects. It's a great little group we have there.
11746464
I mean, true.
But it's not entirely PENN'S fault RD is getting roped into underhanded tactics....
11746647
Did you forget to put it in? 'Cause I don't see it
11746649
Try clicking on the words "Discord server," they're a link!
Welcome back! I hope you're doing ok.
11746672
👍
I got tickets to see The Marvels today and then I got the notification about this chapter
I knew today was going to be a good day.
Certainly the thing that sticks out here is the two people who attack Winter using a version of ISIS that's quite different from the one we're familiar with.
Seems to indicate that there's something going on here beyond Baalchion attacking Remnant. I can't help think of the evil version of Sunset and Penn teased during the last Remnant arc.
And then there's Sunset being attacked after her fight with the thoughtweaver-possessed Blake. Transforming weapon seems to indicate that's it's someone from Remnant but who could it be? 🤔
It's also clear that Sunset's danger sense is growing stronger. It might be a good idea if they found a way to get to the Star Wars universe and get Sunset some more formal Jedi training.
This is certainly going in some unexpected directions. Looking forward to the next installment. Keep up the great work!
Glad to have you back, bro.
11746679
It's been a lot of ups and downs, but I'm getting closer to okay every day. Thanks for the well wishes!
11746871
Glad to BE back, bud.
11746464
Ironwood? Think Winter mentally preparing herself for Pen's "tut, tut, tut, you are not being careful enough, Snow Queen.
11747019
Too many bites, maybe? 🤔