> Katy Takes Maretropolis
>  by Pen Dragon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Act I: Their Story Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: Their Story Begins

Most people say that being a hero can lead to consequences and even though that may be true. It didn’t stop a young teenage girl from dreaming that one day she could become one. It may have seemed childish, but it was something she always wanted. But the problem was that in her old life, she couldn’t make that a reality. At least that was before she encountered a man who was selling games for a decent price at a stand.

Normally no one would buy that crap from anyone, but on the other hand, the young girl only had one game and it was a very old Pac-man game that no one really plays anymore and figured it was time to get something new for her game console. She approached the stand cautiously and held twenty dollars in her hand.

The man smiled at her before taking a sip from a red bull can. “Ah, gotta love Red Bull… How can I help you today?”

“Yeah I was just… looking around and noticed your stand. Was wondering what you had was all.” She replied, looking at all the games that were spread out and a lot of them were a bit out of her price range. “Do you have… Any games that aren’t as expensive as these games?”

“Well… I do have one game I’m selling for about… Twenty bucks, but I don’t know if you can handle the violence and gore.” He said, pulling out another game from a box he had on the side. “It’s called ‘Mass Effect’ and it’s a great game with amazing characters and a decent story. It’s twenty dollars, but surely you want a game for girls don’t you?”

“And what does that supposed mean? You think I can’t handle it?” She rebuted at his statement. “How old do you think I am?!”

“No, it’s just that… normally, when I sell copies of these kinds of games, more boys tend to purchase them than girls,” The salesman replied back, looking around for a moment before looking back at her. “But if you’re sure that you are up for it, then why should I try to stop you…”

“Look I’m gonna level with you… Just take my money and give me the game. I’m pretty sure I can handle a little blood and violence.” She said, placing her twenty dollar bill on the stand, which the stand owner gladly took.

“Very well… enjoy your game… Katy.” He said quietly as she walked away with her new game in hand before looking at the twenty dollar bill and noticed it had a tear in it. “Wow… this bill… is shit, but it’s definitely a lot better than that other one that boy gave me a few months back. Who knows, I might even let her enjoy her game for awhile.”






Two Hours Later

After buying the game, Katy had finally made her way back home and immediately made her way up to her bedroom and began to play her new game. Her room wasn’t anything fancy, just had a few posters of her favorite anime shows and a few books laying around. People at school would refer to her as an otaku or weeb, or the girl who dreams. But it never bothered her even during her time in highschool. She was now eighteen and going into her final year of highschool. She had long beautiful brown hair and brown skin and was almost 5”6.

Katy of course, wasn’t looking forward to it, she prefered to continue reading her books and watching her shows at night, but the deal she made with her parents involved going to school if she wanted to live on her own. But at this moment in time, it didn’t matter to her as she was slaughtering dozens upon dozens of abominations in the new game she was playing.

“Ugh… Why did I set the game difficulty so high? I’m an idiot!” She said aloud as she set her controller on the ground and turned off the tv and laid down on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. “The game was fun though, but I shouldn’t have uploaded that stupid reaper code! I didn’t think it was going to kill Tali’s people, let alone make her commit suicide!”

‘In every game, you have to make a choice and live with those consequences.’ A Voice called out, alerting Katy as she climbed out of bed and searched for where the voice was coming from. She continued to look around, thinking that no one was there. But immediately, when she turned around, she found her staring at what was a man in a black robe that had white spiky hair and a metal mask over his face. A pair of what looked like dice floating in one of his hands.

“Good evening.”

“What are you doing in my room! You creep!” She yelled, picking up the nearest book she could find and threw it at the man. “Get out of her or else I’ll call the cops!” However, to her surprise, the book stopped in midair at the motion of the man’s finger, all as she saw his only eye close for a mere moment.

“I only just wanted to talk to you. I mean no harm.” The man told him, motioning his finger again to set the book down on her bed. “If your choice was to try and harm me, the consequences of those actions would be much… different, so to speak.”

“What do you want from me? Who are you?!” She asked the man.

“Well… since you asked, you may call me Glave,” he replied back to her. “As for your first question, there isn’t something that I want from you… but there is something I can provide for you… a chance for a… ‘do over’ if that’s the proper term.” The last part was where he motioned towards Katy’s new game.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Just get out of here already creep!” She threatened again, but he remained unfazed.

“What it means is… a chance for you to become what you want to be… what you dreamed of…” He continued to speak. “The chance to become a hero… That is, if you are up for it.”

“How do you even know about that? Is this some kind of joke?”

“Did you think stopping your book midflight was a joke? A trick of the mind?” He then asked her. “What seems impossible can be possible. But only if you allow yourself to believe that… Do you want to be a hero… Yes or No-?”

“Yes!” Katy blurted out, she didn’t know if it was her instincts, but one thing she did know was that she couldn’t take back her answer now.

“Well… I was originally going to give you some time to think…” The man sighed, looking back at her. “But if you insist… I can have you be a hero… but I have one more question for you.”

“What is it?” She asked, still trying to process what she said.

“What kind of hero do you want to be?”

“I don’t know, like a Quarian?! Just someone who can help people!” That was when the pair of cubes that Glave was holding was beginning to glow a bit as he looked back at her.

“I believe that can be arranged… now, the last thing you need to do is…” At that moment was when he placed a finger on Katy’s forehead as she fell asleep. Collapsed on the floor before Glave used his other finger to create a doorway for him to take her through. “Rest… you’ll need all the energy you can get if you want to be a hero after all.”








Two Months Later

“Lance, we got a situation that’s at the top of the list right now,” Saffron Masala, the unicorn who was referred to as Vixen amongst her team told her leader, Lance Walker. He was a displaced who had originally arrived in the world two years earlier as the Azure Striker, Gunvolt, but over time, he became more well known as a hero across Equestria and also in other worlds too. “Remember when you told me to look into the whereabouts of Katy like you asked?”

“Yeah, what about it?” he asked.

“Well, the power ponies had run into someone who matches the description of what we’re looking for,” The unicorn said, passing a tablet that had the exact image that was a picture of what looked like Masked Matterhorn trying to talk to a figure whose outfit would resemble that of Katy’s. Just with a few changes. “However, she doesn’t recall ever meeting them and when Masked Matterhorn tried to ask if she remembered you, she didn’t remember it either.”

“Oh brilliant… If it’s not one thing that had changed with the timeline, it’s another…” He thought to himself. “Where did this occur at?”

“Downtown Maretropolis. However, it’s unlikely that she would still be there after what happened.” Vixen told him, just as she noticed him putting on his dark navy coat and suiting up like he was going out on patrol. “Hey, where are you going?”

“To look for her…” Lance told her. “I’ll be back soon and tell you if anything happens.” It didn’t take long for the adept to get out of QUILL’s base of operations and soon, he was already moving around the rooftops of Maretropolis, trying to find their lost teammate. After all, Katy was… really important to him. And he did not want to lose her like how he had already lost Max.

Though, it was around the time that he was investigating the outer edge of the city… and some of the parts that some would consider as mostly abandoned… that something caught his attention. “Listen Lady, I don’t know what your doing here, but this is official police business and a little girl like you doesn’t belong out here.”

“Look, I have been on this case for nearly two month now and so far… all of you cops and heroes ignore these kinds of cases. Unless it involves some kind of an explosion or monster thrown into the mix. So I suggest you back off, rabbit! Before you get hurt!” She threatened as she shoved this new officer that Lance wasn’t familiar with.

“Yep, that definitely sounds like her,” Lance thought to himself as he quickly dashed over. “Okay, I just got here and there’s already shoving. Can someone care to clarify what the hell is going on here?”

“Oh good, I’m glad you got here…” That voice belonged to someone on the police force that Lance did happen to know. Detective Whooves a pony on the force and an old friend. “We got a call about a shady character sneaking around out here and when we got here, one of our Blue Bloods began to try and pick a fight with this… girl.”

“For the last time… I’m not just some girl! I’ve been on this murder case for nearly a month now and I’ve been catching criminals just as much as theses guys and you still give them all the credit. If you don’t want to help me Detective, that’s fine, just keep the easter bunny here off my back.” She said, shoving Lance as she made her way to examine the corpse.

“It’s Dyspo!” He shouted before storming off.

Which… gave Lance an idea. “Detective… How about you let me handle this? I’ve handled a couple of cases like this before and I think I might know who she is.”

The Detective thought about it for a few moments… before looking back at the rest of his crew and signaling for them to clear out. “Alright… but if this backfires, don’t say I didn’t warn you. The stuff she has equipped is not for show.”

“Figured as much,” Lance thought to himself as he walked over to where Katy was… while everypony else was beginning to leave like the Detective had ordered. “Now… if only she could be open to realizing that I’m not a pony and that I am only here to help…”

“Three trails… scattered all over the vicinity… Suspects each have… Uh… feet bigger than mine. Which means they have to be… the same species.” She said aloud as she wrote down everything in a small notebook. Not even noticing Lance as she was hard at work trying to determine what could possibly have done this. “There appear to be large bruises on the victims neck. Meaning he was strangled, but that would mean… the killer must have enormous hands, but there’s the possibility that there was more than one person due to the tracks.”

Lance himself was surprised to see her come to that conclusion so quickly… yet, she was not using any form of technology or anything to do this. She was solely just relying on what she was seeing… unless of course, there was something on her visor that only she could see and not anyone from the outside. “Damn it… I still need more evidence than this. I wonder who the lucky bastard will be downtown today…”

“You’re rather quick to think that…” Lance then decided to speak, leaning against a nearby concrete barrier. “What lead you to make that decision?”

“And you’re still here! Look, I appreciate that you think I need help, but I don’t need it. If you must know… for the past two months there have been six ponies who were murdered. Two of them were strangled and another pony was drowned in sulfur water. As for the remaining three, they were beaten to death.” She explained, walking past the adept. “So far all we know is that there is more than one killer and they all wear the same kind of shoes. Meaning they aren’t equines.”

“And you figured this out how exactly?” The adept told her in response. “Besides, I’m not assuming you need help at all. In fact, I believe you… however, as the old saying goes, it’s too dangerous to go alone. Especially when a lot of ponies nowadays have control over some form of power.”

“Well I don’t need your help and it’s none of your business. In fact I’ve heard quite a bit about you Gunvolt.” She replied with a hint of irritation in her voice. “And even though your supposedly one of the best… the last thing I want is to be anywhere near a creep like you.”

“I’m just trying to help you. I’m not trying to be a creep at all, Katy-” He said, before stopping himself in realization of what he said to her. And how she might react to that.

Before he could even explain himself, he was kneed to his sternum and sent crashing into a wall before she had her foot on his neck and a gun aimed at his forehead. “How do you know that name! Talk or your gonna be a dead creeper!” She demanded.

“O-okay!! Okay!” Lance replied back. “I-i know that name because I know you… I mean, I knew you… something decided to screw up time and… you probably wouldn’t remember my name if I told you.” He groaned in frustration, still in pain from being thrown in the wall as he did his best to try and explain.

“Bullshit! I never told anyone my real name! I’ve been going by Phantom for the past two months since I got here!” She shouted, smacking him in the face with her plasma gun and walked off before saying. “I bet you were spying on! You sick pervert!”

“Why the hell would I spy on you?! I just found out that you were trying to do the solo hero business and that you were alive a few hours ago!” He coughed, spitting out some blood in response.

“Well if I catch you anywhere near me again… I’m gonna do a hella lot more than smack you with a gun.” She said, jumping up to a nearby latter and leaping over to a walkway and disappearing into the shadows.
> Act I: Dealing with a Bad Mane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: Dealing with a Bad Mane

Katy didn’t know what had happened, one moment she was in her bedroom, ready to go to sleep and the next thing she knows she’s in an ally. On a rainy night, wearing some kind of helmet, but it kept her dry. So there was that, but she had no idea where Glave had sent her or how she ended up in an ally wearing an alien suit, but what she found to be the strangest was that her body felt different. “W-Where am I? And why do I feel so… weird?”

She took off her helmet and began to examine herself, seeing that she was now wearing a black suit with armored shoulder pads and long metal boots. She also noticed that she had a black hood on and was now wielding a pistol as a sidearm. And now, she began to recall one specific detail.

“What kind of hero do you want to be?”

“I… I guess this is what he meant… but did he seriously need to leave me out here in the rain? What a complete douchebag!” She said to herself as she put her helmet back on and began to look around and see if she could recognize where she was, but by the time she found an opening, she noticed a bunch of ponies walking along the sidewalk and her eyes would have popped out of her head after hearing one of them talking.

“Did you hear about how the Power Ponies took down the Mane-iac?” A Mare asked.

“Well I heard that the police force is upping their game with all these new villain’s showing up and those heroes always stealing the spotlight. Don’t blame them too… the world is changing and may Celestia have mercy on their souls if they find a way to compete with them.” A Stallion replied, only puzzling her even more.

“Did you hear the latest news about this Gunvolt guy? And how he dealt with one of the Mane-iac’s lackeys?” Another stallion spoke out.

“I know right?”

‘This is very weird…’ She thought to herself, realizing that she was no longer home, but in a world full of talking ponies. ‘Okay I can buy the becoming a hero part, but I don’t believe that asshole told me about coming to a world full of ponies!’

But before she could collect her thoughts, she heard someone scream. “SOMEPONY HELP!!” Turning around, Katy followed the sound of where the screams were coming from. Trying to figure out what was going on. Following the sounds of the voices cries for help, she stumbled upon a large griffon being shoved to the ground by a stallion that was armed with a knife.

“Now be a good girl and give me all the bits you have.” He said, holding the knife close to her as he tried to grab her bag. Katy could see that the griffon was scared… and she felt as if she needed to do something. To help her.

“Please just let me go?” The griffon begged.

“Not until I get all the bits you have!” He yelled, smacking her in the face with his hoof. Leaving the griffon partially in tears. “Now I suggest you give me what I want… or I’ll be forced to consider other forms of payment…”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Katy shouted, jumping out into the open and jabbed the stallion in the face and sending him crashing into a couple of barrels. “Are you okay, miss?”

“Y-Yeah…” The griffon replied shyly as she struggled to her feet. “T-thank you… uh… w-who are you?”

“I’m just… A Stranger helping out.” She replied as the stallion got to his hooves and tried to reach for his knife, but she stepped on his hoof. “Now what’s a creep like you doing to an innocent girl like her?”

“Gah! Trying to get a few extra bits is all! Back off!” He growled before flinching in pain at how hard she was stepping on his hoof.

“Now give the girl her bag back you sick bastard!” She ordered as she pressed her hoof harder on his leg and he screamed in pain and threw the griffons purse back before getting kicked unconscious. “That’s the end of him.”

“Thank you… lady.” The griffon replied, rubbing her cheek. “What’s your name?”

“I guess you could say I’m a friend… Um… you wouldn’t happen to know where I can find a hotel would you?” Katy asked.

“Oh, I yeah I do actually, I could take you there if you want?” She asked.

“Sure… Miss?”

“My name’s Gabby! It’s nice to meet you!” She said cheerfully as the two walked out of the ally together.

“Well… My name’s Katy, but don’t tell anyone that okay?” She asked.

“Hehehe… Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”





Present Day

“Geez… I know that she was different, but did she really have to pack that much of a punch?” The Adept named Lance said to himself as he was stretching on top of a roof. He was allowing for his septima to recharge so he could be able to recover, while also trying to think about where Katy could possibly be. “If I had the chance, I would have used a tracker. But she took off before I could even put one on her, darn it…”

“So what are you going to now?” Lumen asked.

“Well, I guess I’m just going to look for her the old fashioned way…” Lance sighed. “I mean, despite the fact that she has been working on that case of hers, she didn’t really mention any important details for me to go off of.”

“Maybe she’s keeping it to herself?” She replied.


“Well, she seems to have wanted to do this herself… like prove herself. She doesn’t like being overshadowed by others from the looks of it.” The adept told her as he looked at his bracer for a moment. “Lumen, can you search all forms of communication frequency? We may not find her… but perhaps we might find either someone who knows her… or whoever she’s looking for.”

“Okay I’ll see what I can find.” She said, and began to search for any kind of frequency that could be a potential lead. “Also… I thought it was funny how she called you a pervert.”

“Oh, laugh it up snowball…” Lance rolled his eyes, poking fun at her light snow like appearance ever since their souls merged.

“I think I found something Lance.” She said.

“Really? What is it?”

“I think I heard somepony talking with her before it cut off.”

“Did you happen to get anything?” He asked, wondering if Lumen happened to pick up any small soundbytes that could help.

“Something about… a date and a party.” She replied, surprising the adept. Which, to him sounded either like a romantic date… or a date to kick ass. And given her attitude earlier, the latter seemed more likely.

“Did she mention anything about where this would be?” Lance asked. “Or better yet, where did you pick this up from?”

“I don’t know where exactly they were talking, but I do know that it’s somewhere at town hall. It’s like a little ball and I’m guessing her and her date are gonna crash it.” She replied.

“Or… maybe they are trying to prevent the one they are hunting from crashing it.” Lance thought out loud so Lumen could hear. “Time to head towards Town Hall then and wait.”

“Alright, but I’m calling it now and she’s actually on a date.”

“Let’s watch from a distance and see…” Lance looked back at her before making his way to town hall. “It’s better to do this one from a distance than up close.”

After waiting for a couple of hours and also calling in some help from Twilight and the power ponies (who happened to be at Town Hall as the guests of honor), he soon began to hear Katy and her… companion once they got situated inside… and he began to listen on top of the roof of the next building over.

“So tell me Katy, how long have you been in Maretropolis?” He heard her companion ask and from how deep his voice was. He’d guess he was older than him and a lot taller too.

“I’ve been here for a couple of months, but I gotta say that I didn’t expect you of all people to ask me out Mr. Shepard. But then again, I am probably the only other person who was human at work.” She replied, giggling slightly as he wrapped his arm around her.

“Something really makes me think this guy’s not what he seems…” Lance grit his teeth.

“I think I figured it out!” Lumen shouted.

“Lumen… Two questions…” Lance asked as he placed a hand on his ear. “One, did you really have to shout? Two… what did you figure out?”

“Well to answer your first question, it’s not like anyone can hear me. Secondly… I think your a little bit… jealous.” She whispered into his ear before laughing out loud.

“No, it’s not that… wouldn’t it just seem a little too convenient for her to find a date that’s human while this far on her personal case?” Lance asked her. “Who knows… I could be wrong.”

“Or paranoid~” She sang, earning a loud groan from the adept and began to listen in on their conversation.

“Hey, have you met my friend Dyspo? He’s part of the police force.” Shepard replied as Dyspo stepped forward and shook Katy’s hand.

“Gotta say Shepard… didn’t think you’d get a date at the last minute. Again, but she is pretty cute.” He replied, hearing Katy groan quietly.

“Don’t call me cute.” She whispered.

“Oddly enough, the Katy I knew let me call her that.” Lance thought to himself.

“She let you do more that that, you know~” Lumen teased.

“Lumen… Not… now…” The adept grit his teeth as he glared at Lumen while continuing to listen. “Just pay attention for if there’s anything out of the ordinary outside of the venue.”

“Uh… I think you might want to look over here Lance.” Lumen said, pointing towards a large group of well groomed stallions trotting over to the front entrance, with a familiar mare with a long green mane dressed at the center of them. “Lance… Look.”

“Oh… sh*t, that’s Mane-iac…” He replied… before getting an idea. “Lumen… I got an idea. Does Katy have a communication device?”

“Uh… I believe so, why-”

“She wanted the chance to be a hero right? Well, let’s give it to her.” Lance, using his bracer, took a picture of the group that was not far from the town hall, before sending it to Katy’s device. He went as far as to make it so it would say that she received it from an unknown source, but the message was clear.

You got a group of party crashers coming. Best time to be a hero, no?

“And now… we wait.” Lance said, waiting to hear how Katy would respond to that.




Meanwhile

After a long night of tracking, Katy was finally able to locate where the killer would strike next and as long as there weren’t any interruptions, she shouldn’t have any problems. For a moment, she thought she’d have to crash the party, but as luck would have it. Her co-worker, Mr. Shepard, had a spare ticket to the city ball and she was invited.

“Hey, Shepard? Thanks again for inviting me… your a good friend.” She replied.

“No problem, I know you and Gabby have been stressing out a lot with work. So I figured you could at least take a break.” He said, leaning his back against the wall while taking a sip from his glass of cider. “The Apple family really knows how to make good cider.”

“I know what you mean. It was actually one of my fav-” She paused, hearing her phone ring, she pulled it out of her bag and her eyes widened. “Uh… Could you excuse me for a moment? I just want to… freshen up my makeup.”

“Oh, sure go ahead.” He answered and stepped to the side as Katy made her way over to the women’s restroom and pulled out a small orange visor and placed it over her face. It then began to morph into a helmet and her hair began to turn white and tore off her dress. Revealing a grey suit with green pants and twin daggers.

“Damn it! Guess I’ll have to look for those killer’s later after I deal with these clowns.” She said climbing out of the bathroom window, pulling out a grappling hook and firing it direct towards the roof and began to climb up.


“This was not how I wanted to use this suit.” She said to herself as she ran along the roof as Mane-iac and her crew began to approach town hall. “Grr… Well I guess a test run wouldn’t hurt.”

She said, leaping off the roof and landed at the front entrance to the party, stopping the group of Stallion’s from making their way inside. “Sorry boys, but you don’t have an invitation.”

“Oh, but I believe we do! And it involves disposing of you! Wannabe!” The Mane-iac shouted, as her long mane stretched out and swiped at Katy and sent her crashing through the doors, surprising everypony as the Mane-iac’s lackey’s stormed inside, sending everypony into a panic. “Deal with her, while I secure the cities giant ruby!”

Rubbing the side of her waste, Katy immediately got to her feet as she was surrounded by five of the Mane-iac’s goons, each of them wielding either a knife or sword. The two stallion’s behind her, charged at her, but before they could, Katy pulled out two small daggers and blocked their attacks, before kicking one in the stomach and head butting the other one and leaped over the two, putting some distance from remaining stallions. But before they could make a move, they were immediately struck by something or someone very fast and they all fell to the ground unconscious.

“I should have figured you’d ruin the party Phantom! But I you really shouldn’t leave me out of the fun you know.” Dyspo said, standing over one of the three remaining stallions triumphantly. Katy could only groan in annoyance, but she was partly to blame for allowing Mane-iac to breakin in the first place.

“Whatever! If your only hear to joke around then I think you should leave.”

“I’m only messing with you… What can I do to help Phantom?” He asked as he hopped over to her side and got into a fighting stance.

“Just keep those creeps off my back and I’ll deal with Mane-iac!” She said, leaping into the air and started running off the side of the wall as she saw the psychotic mare carrying a large Ruby within her hooves as her mane kept her hooves off the ground. Without any hesitation, Katy leaped off the wall and attempted to kick her, but the Mane-iac’s mane blocked her kick and wrapped around her leg and threw her through at a wall.

“Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, That was very close, but your gonna have to try better than that wannabe! Speaking of which, I don’t even know your name!” She said as a smirk appeared across her face. Her mane lashed out, attempting to strike Katy again, but she was able to get to her feet and jump out of the way, but she began to run as fast as she could as the Mane-iac’s mane continued to lash out, trying to strike her down.

“My name’s Phantom! And I’m a hero!” She declared before pulling out her dagger’s and cutted part of the Mane-iac’s mane off, before getting hit and sent tumbling across the room, before getting wrapped up in the mare’s mane.

“You cut off a piece of my mane! Your gonna pay for that!” She growled, ready to crush Katy, but was quickly stopped when a purple beam of magic cut through the Mane-iac’s mane, dropping her to the ground and there stood the Masked Matterhorn along with the other Power Ponies.

“We’re putting an end to this Mane-iac! Surrender now or else!”
> Act I: Stolen Glory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: Stolen Glory

From the roof of the building across from the town hall, Lance watched as Katy… or otherwise known as ‘The Phantom’ was going to town on the Mane-iac’s goons as she outclassed each one of them. Of course, seeing this wasn’t so much for entertainment purposes as it was to evaluate what she could do. And right away, he could see a lot of differences between the Katy he knew… and this one now. For one thing, this Katy was… a lot more aggressive.

“Ow! My Kidney!!!”

Yeah, very aggressive indeed.

“Lance it looks like she’s gonna take on the Mane-iac now.”

“And she already has the means to do it,” The Adept commented, pulling out some binoculars so he could look a bit closer. “Hunh… it appears that her outfit is different compared to the last one. This one seems to be more focused on hand to hand combat. She’s also holding onto a pair of knives that could easily cut through the mane-iac’s mane.”

“Wouldn’t that just piss her off even more?”

“Mane-iac’s weakness is her pride and also her rage. Either one can cause her to not think straight and lead to opportunities she can capitalize on.” Lance told his spiritual companion. “Though, I do hope that this mess won’t cause anypony inside the ball to notice. If Twilight and the others in there notice what’s going on out here, they’ll take the credit away from her… and that’s happened more than once.”

“Don’t bet your hopes on it.”

“Lumen…”

“What? I’m just saying…” She said, as the two continued to watch the fight from afar, but there was one thing Lance did not account for and it was how this Katy was also prideful and relentless. They watched how she was struggling against the Mane-iac and being tossed all over the place. “Don’t you think we should… Oh, I don’t know… step in and help her?!”

“Hang on… she might have an ace in the hole. But…” The adept noticed what looked like a loose nail on the rooftop as he picked it up. Using his powers, he threw it down towards the two, but it had the speed to go unnoticed. His target though was not the Mane-iac herself… but a strand of her mane as it got nailed to the wall. Afterwards, Lance moved away from the edge so Katy wouldn’t notice him if he looked in that direction.

However the Mane-iac didn’t seem to notice this as Katy cut off a piece of her mane, causing her to lash out in rage, yanking the strand of her mane off the wall as it struck Katy with tremendous force, sending her flying across the room, until both her arms and legs were tied together. “Your gonna pay for that!”

He heard her shout and just as he was about to attempt to throw another nail, but a purple beam of light, cut straight through the Mane-iac’s, freeing Katy as the Power Ponies arrived on the scene. “Surrender now Mane-iac! Or Else!”

“Called it.” Lumen said.

“Lumen…”

“What? I told you it was bound to happen sooner or later…” Lumen replied… before she noticed Lance walking away and she was getting dragged along. “Hey! Where are you going?! I want to see how the climax ends!!” Lance just groaned at that, face palming himself as he left the rooftop.

“Next time… no more romantic comedies for movie night.”





Meanwhile

Katy only groaned as she got back to her feet and saw how the Power Ponies were now facing the Mane-iac. She watched as the famous fili-second sped around the room, tying up all of the goons the Mane-iac had with her. Before noticing Zapp, another member of the Power Ponies, looking at her.

“Thanks rookie… but for this big baddy, let the professionals handle this.” She said, flying past her as Katy clenched her fists together. Just as she thought this was her chance to prove herself, she is once again on the sidelines while the Power Ponies began to school the Mane-iac.

“Yo! Radiance, try to block the exit!” Zap shouted, striking the Mane-iac with a bolt of lightning from her necklace as Radiance created a crystal door with her bracelet.

“Hmmph! I can’t believe they would destroy such fine architecture.” Radiance commented as Mistress Mare-velous simply rolled her eyes in response as she waited for her opportunity to capture the Mane-iac.

“Grr… You Power Ponies always get in my way! But this Ruby is mine!” She declared as her mane attempted to incapacitate the Matterhorn, but was quickly stopped by the Straddle Rager with tremendous strength, she pulled the Mane-iac’s mane toward her, sending the mare flying towards Straddle’s hooves and was punched in the face.

“Nice one Straddle! Mare-velous! Your up!” The Matterhorn said, grinning at her comrades as Mare-velouses lasso glowed brightly and tied up the Mane-iac.

“That should hold that varmint!” She said with a smirk as Katy gritted her teeth. The more and more she watched them, the more and more she became sick to her stomach. Detested by how they stole something that was so close to being in her grasp.

‘Dammit! Why does this always happen?!’ She thought to herself as the power ponies cuffed the Mane-iac and her crew before they were being taken away by the police. But by the time that the Power Ponies turned back around, wanting to thank the stranger that was facing the Mane-iac… she was already gone.

“Just who was that anyways?” Rainbow asked, before all of them heard them getting a call from a former teammate.

“Oh, hello Gunvolt… didn’t think we would be getting a call from you around now.”

“Yeah… and I didn’t think I would be seeing your story making the news anytime soon……” They heard the adept grumble.

“And just what the hay is that supposed to mean?” Applejack asked.

“That person that was in the alley… the one who left… you do realize that was the Phantom right?” He asked all of them, to which… only Straddle understood who he was referring too. “Well… she’s trying to be a hero… but the only problem is that anytime that she tries to do something heroic, you girls interfere and then get the credit for something that she was trying to do. The hell’s up with that?”

“Well how were we supposed to know?! That didn’t look anything like her!” Rainbow stated, but Lance simply sighed.

“She changes suits just as frequently as Radiance changes clothes on a day to day basis… plus, do you know the only reason why she knew about it and why you found out what was going on?” The azure striker then asked them, wanting to hear an honest answer.

“You told her didn’t you?” Twilight answered.

“I sent her an anonymous tip with a picture after I saw them from the roof on patrol. If she didn’t go out there and confront them when she did, it would’ve turned the whole entire town hall into the scene of a hostage situation. Did any of you seriously think that?” There was silence amongst the six of them as they heard a deep sigh again from the adept. “Look, just… bear with me. I remember her from somewhere and I’m trying to help her the best I can, so please… if you do happen to run into her, don’t shrug her off. Instead ask for her to lend a helping hoof.”

All six of them heard the equivalent of what sounded like metal breaking on the other end and before they could ask what’s going on, the last thing they heard him say was “I’m gonna have to call you ba-”





Meanwhile

“Grr… I can’t believe I got showed up again by those stupid power ponies! Whose gonna be next?! That idiot Gunvolt or perhaps Monkey Brains brains on the opposite side of town.” She shouted, punching the nearest wall, before hearing a slight cough behind her. “Who’s there?”

“Hey! Calm down Phantom! It’s just me.” Dyspo replied. “Look if you ask me, I think that we should have been the ones getting credit for dealing with the Mane-iac, but you know how it is? Ponies don’t really care about vigilantes or officers. They care about superheroes who take down the bad guys easily, when we were the ones who did most of the work.” He added, earning another growl from the girl, but before she could comment, she heard another voice not too far from where they were standing.

But, for them, they were hearing the voice come from what looked like an empty building. And when they looked inside, both of them happened to notice the same adept from earlier in the day in the middle of a conversation of sorts.

“Oh, hello Gunvolt… didn’t think we would be getting a call from you around now.”

“Yeah… and I didn’t think I would be seeing your story making the news anytime soon……” They both heard the adept grumble.

“Oh, it’s Gunvolt… I wonder what he’s doing here?” Dyspo whispered.

“Probably talking to a girl about sleeping over at his house… Cause he’s a pervert-.” Katy commented.

“And just what the hay is that supposed to mean?”

The next part of what he said though… really got on Katy’s nerves. “That person that was in the alley… the one who left… you do realize that was the Phantom right?”

“Uh… Who?”

“Oh y-you mean that vigilante?” They both heard Straddle ask.

“Well… she’s trying to be a hero… but the only problem is that anytime that she tries to do something heroic, you girls interfere and then get the credit for something that she was trying to do. The hell’s up with that?”

“Well how were we supposed to know?! That didn’t look anything like her!”

“She changes suits just as frequently as Radiance changes clothes on a day to day basis… plus, do you know the only reason why she knew about it and why you found out what was going on?” She heard him say, getting the idea that he was spying on her.

“W-Was he watching me?” Katy asked, glaring at the adept. “I knew he was a perverted moron!”

“Just wait a moment. Don’t you realize what he’s saying? How could he have known that? Unless he was there?” Dyspo said, holding Katy back.

The next two words from Masked Matterhorn though, prompted Gunvolt’s response. “You told her, didn’t you?”

“I sent her an anonymous tip with a picture after I saw them from the roof on patrol. If she didn’t go out there and confront them when she did, it would’ve turned the whole entire town hall into the scene of a hostage situation. Did any of you seriously think that?” There was silence amongst the six of them as they heard a deep sigh again from the adept. Groaning a little as he shook his head. “Look, just… bear with me. I remember her from somewhere and I’m trying to help her the best I can, so please… if you do happen to run into her, don’t shrug her off. Instead ask for her to lend a helping hoof.”

“That bastard! He set everything up!” Dyspo growled, but before he could do anything, Katy stepped out into the open, stepping on an empty soda can and crushed. “Phantom wait- Dammit!”

Upon hearing the can, Gunvolt heard the noise and moved one of his hands to his bracer to cut the transmission. “I’m gonna have to call you ba-” But before he could defend himself, he felt Katy’s hand grab his wrist and began to crush his bracer.

“You dirty bastard!” Katy shouted, attempting to punch him, but Lance grabbed her fist with his opposite hand.

“Seriously?! This is what I get for trying to help you just ONE time get some recognition?!!” Lance grit his teeth, trying to push her off to no avail.

“Yeah right! You set everything up! And you admitted it!” Dyspo shouted coming out. “As a member of the police force you are under arrest!”

“Bullshit! Do you honestly think I would go out of my way to get the Mane-iac to do that?! Ask her if you’re so desperate for answers! You have her in custody!!” The Adept snapped back, but was quickly lifted over Katy’s shoulder and slammed to the ground as Dyspo leaped into the air and tried to punch him. When he was thrown into the ground though, the adept glared at both of them, before glowing for a brief moment and then vanishing from Katy’s grasp.

Only to emerge a few feet away. “Shame that you had the nerve to try and break the one thing that would’ve given you the proof that shows I was innocent.”

“Save it for the judge creep! And how the hell did you get away!?” Katy asked.

“I have several tricks. One being that of Instant Transmission,” Lance told her in response, before looking at her. “Besides… there’s one other witness who would vouch for me.”

That was when Lumen emerged and landed on Lance’s shoulder. “Okay, what the buck did you do now?! You were first trying to help Katy and now she looks like she’s trying to kill you!! What did you do to make her angry.”

“Oh, so that’s who you are? I was wondering why Mr. Shepard was looking for you?” Dyspo commented as Katy only glared at the adept in front of her.

“I’m gonna kick your ass so hard that your gonna wish you were dead! And that little fairy right there only confirms that you were watching me change! Not to mention setting everything up!” Katy shouted.

“Change?” Lumen asked, before facepalming herself. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything like that… And I wouldn’t do anything like that even if I was alive, so would you please stop treating him like a pile of waste. HE’S LOST YOU ONCE AND HE DOESN’T WANT TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!!!!”

“Bullshit! And what he killed you or something?” She said sarcastically, before turning to Dyspo. “Just this once, we’re teaming up alright! But after that we’re done.”

“Let’s just hear this part out at least… That way we can add murder to the list!” Dyspo said, folding his arms.

“ …… No.” The Adept’s face darkened, looking down at the floor before glaring directly at her. “Lumen died… to save me… and give me a chance to live. Her soul is infused with mine… and gave me a chance so I can be able to return to those I care for… my friends… family… and loved ones… so how DARE you accuse me of murdering the one friend that gave me purpose in this place!”

When he looked back at both of them, his glare was dead set and directly at them. “I am a hero… You think they just gave me this role?! I had to prove myself to what I am now… I made sacrifices to get here,” Electricity was beginning to surge from some of the old and beaten down power boxes as he looked at them. “And if proving myself to you means that I need to defend myself from those who wish to do me harm… then let it be so.”

“I don’t care about your sob story! And I know for a fact that fairy is lying! I never met you before until this afternoon! You know nothing about what I had to do and I’m through talking to you! You set me up to fail! And you can bet your ass I’m taking you in!” Katy said as she pulled out her pistol and began to open fire as Dyspo began to run up the wall before disappearing and reappearing behind the adept and attempted to kick him. Yet, Lance felt his presence nearby and dodged the attack, causing Dyspo to fall forward towards Katy as he dropped down to deflect the attacks.

“You may have months of experience…” He said, before looking at both of them as he looked to draw his weapon from his holster. “But… that doesn’t compare to someone who’s been doing this for years.”

But for Katy, she didn’t care if he had years of experience because even she knows that a novice can beat a master if they played their cards right. Glaring at him, she pulled out two twin daggers from behind and threw them at him, but he stepped to the side as both of them struck the wall, but what he didn’t expect was for them to explode on impact, creating a cloud of smoke, blurring his vision until he saw a large red orb of energy inches from his torso as Dyspo emerged from the smoke and connected his blast to him.

“Justice Crush!” He shouted, sending the adept crashing into the wall as the energy blast exploded on impact. “Even if what you said is true about your fairy friend. It doesn’t change the fact that you were still involved in the attack on town hall! Even you can’t escape Justice!”

However, when the dust cleared… that’s when Dyspo noticed something about the adept as it looked like his outfit barely took a lot of damage. “So… even displaced that are in this timeline spout a lot of rhetoric… Good Grief,” Motioning a hand to the arm where his bracer was, he then said two words as a turquoise energy briefly glowed around her. “Galvanic Patch.”

With that, some of the bruises and scrapes were beginning to be restored as Katy also noticed that one particular portion of his bracelet, which had three lights, was now down to two. “Are you trying to actually capture me or just trying to show off? Because if it’s the latter, you would need to do more than that to capture me.”

“Hmph! Says the guy who hasn’t laid a finger on either of us.” Katy commented, dashing forward as Dyspo leaped into the air and fired two more ki blasts directly to the sides of Lance, creating another smoke screen. Expecting another kick or punch from Katy, he braced himself and attempted to block, but what he didn’t expect was a large metallic net flying towards him and wrapping itself around him. “You didn’t honestly think I’d do the same thing he did? This net was made to contain electricity. A little something I made for another thug I caught stealing a purse from an old lady. Now we’re taking you in.”

But… All she saw him do was just grin as more lightning began to form. Some of it hitting her costume. “Lux… CALIBER!!!” That was when Katy and Dyspo were immediately off guard by what happened next. A giant broadsword made of electricity slicing through the net and hitting both of them as it threw them backwards. Knocking them to the floor as he now began to stand up, scratching the back of his head. “Geez… You would think that they learned how Adepts work given how long they’ve been here for.”

But what he didn’t know was that Katy got up immediately and tried to kick Lance in the face, but her attack was blocked when Lance activated his Flashfield septima, causing a barrier of electricity to form around him. And then afterwards, the pulse from the barrier shot Katy out of a window like she was thrown out of a cannon.

Which, left Lance facepalming himself. “Dammit… I didn’t mean to go overkill there…”

Meanwhile, as Katy was beginning to get her senses back in order, she began… seeing things. More specifically, images of her and Lance together on a beach, before blacking out. But before she could hit the ground a man in a metallic suit, wearing a jetpack flew in and picked her up in his arms and flew back up to where Dyspo and Lance were. And he quickly pulled out a pistol and fired off two tranquilizer darts at Lance’s leg and he began to feel dizzy.

“You’re gonna be out for a while, that’s 200 kilos of horse tranquilizer hitting you right now.” He said before removing his helmet, revealing him to be Shepard, turning over to Dyspo. “I suggest you take it easy for awhile Dyspo and take the Phantom to a safe place. I’ll bring him in and find out what’s going on.”



“Oh, sure! You can count on me, just watch out for the electricity.” He now carrying Katy in his arms.

“I already know, and I have a feeling I’m gonna have my work cut out with this one. Adepts aren’t like others.” Shepard said. But as he got closer… he began to notice that the two tranquilizer shots he fired… weren’t in his leg anymore.

And before he could react, the adept had already spun around and put one in Shepards’s neck. Before throwing the other at Dyspo, but missing. As he turned around, that’s when Lance said something into his bracer. “Vixen, need an evac. Now.”

“Working on it!! Coming in now!!” She said, but Shepard grabbed Lance by his Jacket and threw him across the room. Just when he got to his feet though, that was when a spectral elephant sent him flying through two buildings as Dyspo turned to see a unicorn carrying Lance now, with various animal spirit emerging around her. But before he could give chase, both of them disappeared.

“Damn! He got away!” Dyspo said as he ran over to Katy and began to carry her again. “SHEPARD!!!”

As Dyspo ran to help Shepard, he had already emerged from the rubble and cracked his neck. “Didn’t see that coming… Damn.”

“Are you alright?” He asked as Shepard walked over to him with his hand behind his head.

“I’m alright, but what about Phantom, is she alright?” He asked.

“She’s still breathing, but I think we should take her back to HQ.” Dyspo suggested. “That way she can get those injuries treated.”

“Alright, you go on ahead, I’ll see if I can find out where Gunvolt went.” Shepard said, scanning the area for any clues as Dyspo carried Katy off.





Two Months Ago

After saving Gabby from the stallion who tried to take her purse, she allowed Katy to live with her in her small apartment as a way to repay her. And for nearly two weeks the two have been getting along, and by the time Katy returned, she was furious. “I can’t believe it! Again after stopping a robbery by myself no less! Those Power Ponies swoop in and take all the credit for my hard work.”

She said, throwing the latest newspaper of the Power Ponies heroic acts at stopping armed thugs from robbing the city bank. Gabby couldn’t help but sigh as she turned over to her new friend. “Well you are just one person you know? Maybe you need help on your missions or something.”

As Katy removed her helmet and let her hair hang out, she turned to Gabby and gave her a small, but genuine grin. “Maybe, but then that would make it too easy for me. I have to do this on my own, otherwise I’m not gonna be a real hero like…. Commander Shepard! Or like Deku from Hero Academia! Or even Shirou Emiya! Those guys from some of my favorite Tv Shows and games.”

“Uh… I don’t know any of those guys except for the Commander, he’s pretty popular in Baltimare. Also there is that other guy here in Maretropolis.” Gabby said, setting the newspaper on the table as she made her way to the kitchen a few and began to pull a jug of apple juice and poor herself a glass. “I’m trying to remember his name… Hmm… I think it was Gunvolt!”

“Gunvolt?”

“Yeah, he’s one of Maretropolis’s greatest heroes and I think he’s kinda cute.” Gabby said, blushing slightly as Katy rolled her eyes as she took a seat on the couch. Gabby then sat down beside her and pulled up the newspaper again and turned to the article about Gunvolt dealing with a haunted Pizzeria with his picture on the side. “He looks cute doesn’t he?”

“Well… Maybe if it weren’t for the fact that I heard he’s been fooling around with a ton of girls. If it weren’t for that fact then maybe I’d consider liking him, but I don’t like perverts.” Katy said as Gabby puffed out her cheeks.

“That is soooo… Not true! I guarantee that he’s available and I’m gonna make him mine~” She said, blushing as her eyes sparkled like in those anime shows Katy watched back at home, only making her laugh.

“Well even if the part about him fooling around isn’t true, I can bet my desert for the rest of the month that he oggles girls in his free time.” She with a smirk.

“Well I bet my desert for two months that he isn’t a pervert and I can get him as my boyfriend!” Gabby said, smirking back at Katy before the two shook on it.

“Your on!”





Present Day

After battling against Gunvolt, Katy began to regain consciousness and noticed that she was laying on a hospital bed, hooked to an IV machine and no longer wearing her suit, but a hospital gown. Just as she was about to get up and look around, she noticed brown earth pony in a nurse uniform entered the room with Dyspo right behind her. “Ah, you awake… My names Nurse Stone, and I have to say I didn’t expect to see the Phantom of all ponies come to the medical center. I’m actually a fan.”

“Uh… H-How did I-” But before she could finish her sentence.

“I brought you here… Your in the medical center of police HQ.” He answered. “Anyways you had a bit of head trauma, but doc here said you’ll be fine as long as you get some rest.”

Katy wanted to say she was alright, but the pain she had received from the adept and those images were giving her a headache and simply laid back down. “Alright, but tell me you weren’t the one who took my suit off.” She asked, taking Dyspo off guard.

“What?! No! Nurse Stone was the one who took it off!” Dyspo said frantically as Katy giggled slightly.

“He’s telling the truth, he’d never do it.” Nurse stone confirmed. Anyways, please do get some rest and your suit and other belongings were placed in a duffle bag for you so you can leave tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” She said, earning a smile from the nurse.

“Your very welcome.”

“Alright well I’ll be heading out, try to not cause any trouble.” Dyspo stated before walking out of the room right behind Nurse Stone.

“Didn’t realize you were my mom.” She said quietly as she laid her head back down on the surprisingly comfy pillow. She began to recall those images she had saw when Lance had created that barrier and shocked her with electricity. At first she thought it was some kind of trick, but then again he couldn’t have done anything like that since his fighting style was based on distance and gadgets and not around mind manipulation.

‘Just what was that I saw? There is no way I could have known him… I’ve only been here for two months and I only met him today.’ She thought to herself. ‘Maybe Gabby can help me out when I get home… Heh, guess I get her dessert for two months now… Can’t wait to see the look on her face when I tell her this story.’
> Act I: Putting the Pieces Together
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: Putting the Pieces Together

Two days have passed since the capture of the Mane-iac and the fight with Gunvolt as news began to spread about the hero’s act of resistance to police officer Dyspo. Despite the police force trying to cover it up. Some ponies began to hide in their homes at night after hearing those rumors.

“Dyspo, are you sure that you want to be the one interrogating the Mane-iac?” Detective Whooves asked him as they both began to walk to the interrogation cell in the Police HQ. “I mean, I know that this is important, but you didn’t want to do anything like this the last few times we’ve caught criminals before.”

“Well I need answers… That way we can confirm if Gunvolt was really working with the Mane-iac. Especially since he played a role in that attack.” He replied, scratching his chin.

“Dsypo, I think you are getting ahead of yourself,” Detective Whooves told him. “Gunvolt’s been a hero for several years and every time he and the Mane-iac are in the same place, the two are squaring off against each other. There’s no way that they would work with each other, especially since the Mane-iac detests him.”

“Well for one, he admitted spotting the Mane-iac heading towards town hall. And if he really was a hero… Why didn’t he stop her right then and there? He would have not only stopped them, but prevent any casualties and property damages. He was literally across Town Hall when the Phantom and I spotted him.” Dyspo explained. “You gotta admit that’s fishy?”

“What’s fishier is that you tried to arrest him without even showing a warrant or anything,” Detective Whooves glared at him. “The police force is supposed to uphold the law. Not be used to solve personal grudges. Plus, anytime Gunvolt does something, it’s for a good reason.”

“I don’t have anything against Gunvolt! I actually looked up to him, besides I’m not the only witness who heard him admit it! The Phantom was there too and because of him, she’s in our infirmary. He almost killed her!” Dyspo explained. “If Commander Shepard wasn’t there… She would have most likely been dead because of him.”

“Then why do you think he’s the enemy now… Do you even know his story?” Detective Whooves asked. “Because his was one where he was ripped from everything that he knew… but used it as something to help others. He came before Shepard.” Both of them came directly to where the interrogation room was, but then stopped as Dyspo continued to speak.

“If he was innocent then why didn’t he just come quietly? You, me and anypony in the police force would have listened to his story, but instead he resisted and that if I recall is a crime.” Dyspo added, folding his arms.

“Did you give him the chance to listen to what he had to say? Or did you assume that he was automatically at fault?” The question was met by silence as the detective looked back at him. “Nevermind that… The Mane-iac is inside. She’s set up for a polygraph that I’ll monitor out here. Ask her the questions and I’ll monitor them. Depending on how she responds, we can determine fact from fiction.”

“You sure that will work on a psycho on her? I mean, she is kinda… you know.” Dyspo said, waving his finger around in a circle by his head to mimic the Mane-iac’s delusional mind.

“Her actions from before was because of the effects of her hair. When let loose, she loses control of reason… however, since her hairs are currently restrained right now, she can be able to speak and reply rationally.” Detective Whooves replied. “In fact, she has been fully cooperative with the investigation this far.”

“Alright, but the moment she says something crazy… I’m out.” Dyspo said as he entered the room to see the mare sitting across the room in cuffs and her mane tied together. Grinning at Dyspo malevolently, making him shiver slightly. The other members of the police force had refused to speak with her, except for Detective Hooves and who could blame them. “Please stop grinning like that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry officer… It’s just been so long since I’ve seen somepony that I’m just glad to see that nopony’s forgotten about me,” The mare replied back, looking at Dyspo for a moment. “Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Rabbit?”

‘Just ignore that reference… You need to focus on the task at hand.’ Dyspo thought, coughing slightly as his eye twitched from her last comment. “Yes… Actually I want to ask you a few questions before we lock you up again.”

“Oh, what kind of questions?”

“You should already know crazy hair. Now I suggest you start telling me why you attempted to steal Town Halls giant ruby?” He asked.

“You don’t know?” Mane-iac replied back. “All gems have a source of magic trapped inside. And when you apply those gems to the right devices, they could power many things… However, what I needed was a power source for my base since the last one burned out days ago. We could’ve gotten what we wanted… until that freak had the nerve to attack me and my men before those six twerps showed up.”

“Oh, how tragic… do you need a tissue to wipe those tears?” Dyspo asked sarcastically as the Mane-iac gave him a deadpanned glare.

“You know, I would take up your offer, but I’m not into assholes. Besides, those kinds of tricks are for kids anyways.” Mane-iac snapped.

‘Ignore it! She’s not worth it!’ He thought as he took a deep breath. “Before we do continue, I just want you to know that if you weren’t a criminal then maybe I wouldn’t seem like an asshole to you, but I digress. Moving on… I suggest you tell me who was with you during your little heist.”

“You might’ve met them already. They’re the lackeys that were thrown into the back of your police van first. Nopony else was with me.” The Mane-iac told him. “I was the one that organized the plan with my henchponies and had everything planned out for what we would do… but you probably knew how that went, right doc?”

“Heh! You can make all the jokes you want, but that ain’t gonna get you out of a… Oh, I don’t know, a twenty five year sentence!” Dyspo added. “That is all the questions I have… Thank you for your time cookoo brain!”

“And do you think dramatic lines like that will get you anywhere… Because I think your hiding a question that you really want to ask.” The Mane-iac replied back, causing Dyspo to stop. “I may not have my hair or abilities, but I can still read your facial expressions like a book… Tell me… what else did you want to ask me… Sir?”

“Oh your right… I almost forgot to ask you Miss? Would you care for us to send you a fluffy pillow to your cell? Perhaps some snacks?” He said with a smirk, only to feel a swift kick being delivered right below his belt from under the table. “Right up main street!!!”

“I told you I wasn’t into assholes… Fine, if you don’t want to ask what’s really bothering you, then that’s fine… Perhaps your partner outside will ask the one question that could make or break your case… and he’ll get the recognition for it…” The Mane-iac told him in response.

But he simply grunted and stomped out of the room and slammed the door shut before saying one final line. “For the record! You deserve to rot in prison bitch!” Dyspo then turned over to Detective Hooves who only began to clap his hooves together with a smirk across his face.

“Congratulations… you’re the first member of the department to make a complete fool out of himself in an interrogation…” He deadpanned. “And you didn’t even ask the question that you wanted to find out.”

“I’m a lot more clever than you think, you know. You said she was hooked up to the polygraph right? Was she telling the truth about who was involved?” Dyspo said, rolling his eyes.

“Yes actually… None of her statements came out as false.” Detective Whooves told him, showing the graph results to Dyspo himself. “And since her statement is true… that means that it rules out your theory that Gunvolt was involved… Other then the fact that you definitely have a way of treating women like dirt.”

“Hardy, har, har, that was so funny I forgot how to laugh. You on the other hand can be a real dick at times you know, even though your right… like a lot.” He replied.

That was when the Detective replied back, but what he had to say was not good to Dyspo. “Yes… and it seems as if you did not get the results you were hoping for… So listen closely… Dyspo, your attitude towards the case and what you did is making the force look like a complete embarrassment. And with this fiasco, if this gets out of hand, then you may end up being let go…”

For a moment, Dyspo said nothing. Shocked by the news. But as he was going to continue speaking, Detective Whooves continued. “But… we’re going to give you one more chance with this… but let me make this clear. If a fiasco like this happens again you can lose both your title and your job. Do I… make myself clear?”

“Yes sir.” He replied, looking down at the ground as the detective took a deep breath.

“Good… then you will be needing this,” He told him, grabbing what looked like an index card out of his coat and looking back at him. “Remember that case that the Phantom was working on…? Well, I want you to help her get to the bottom of it… and in the process, mend your relationship with the Azure Striker.”

That was when the card soon glowed a small bit, revealing the letters ‘QUILL’ along with what looked like the location of a map on the opposite side of the card. “I’ll work with the department to clean up this current mess… I’m just hoping that right now, you and the others don’t cause another one.”





Back at the Apartment

“I don’t believe it! You met him!” Gabby squealed as Katy told the story about how she got into a fight with the Azure Striker, Gunvolt.

“Yeah, don’t get your hopes up… He’s nothing more than a huge pervert!” She shouted as she began to put her black suit back on. “He literally admitted seeing me change into my prototype assassin suit. I bet he took pictures too.”

“What?! That doesn’t sound like him! He obviously must’ve thought that you changed because you wore a different suit the first time compared to the second!” Gabby told her.

“He said in I quote ‘I saw her change her suit.’ How do try explaining that!” Katy said, as she placed her helmet on and began to look over her gear.

“Psst… That just sounds like your throwing things way out of context.” Gabby rolled her eyes. “Besides, according to what I read in an article about him, he doesn’t have any gadgets that let him see through walls!”

“Yeah cause he’s gonna put that in there! Hey I bet he even has a gun that melts clothes away too!” She said sarcastically.

“... You’re just jealous.”

“No… you’re jealous… anyways… I believe you owe me your dessert for the next two months~” Katy said, taking her helmet off and gave her a toothy grin as the griffon rolled her eyes.

“Fine! But I still think he isn’t a player and I will get that date with him.” She said, puffing her cheeks as Katy laughed at her declaration.

“Yeah in your dreams maybe! And hey I’m doing you a favor girl… That guy is a jerk and if he was a ‘Good Guy’ Then maybe he wouldn’t have resisted arrest! Isn’t it against the law?” She asked.

“I believe so… but I’m sure it was a… evil clone created by an evil scientist and is holding the real Gunvolt hostage!” Gabby gasped as Katy rolled her eyes.

“That’s oddly specific… probably something out of a movie, but I can promise you that if it was a clone. You’ll be first to know.” She replied as the two laughed together before hearing a knock on the door.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” They heard, recognizing the voice, Katy groaned as she placed her helmet back on and opened the door.

“What do you want doc?” Katy asked as Dyspo growled.

“One… don’t call me ‘doc’...” He told her off of the bat. “Two… Detective Whooves and I just got the Polygraph finished from the Mane-iac. Not only did the Mane-iac say the truth about who was with her, but…… and I hate to admit this… but there was no connection whatsoever on the theory that Gunvolt was working with the Mane-iac. In other words… we screwed up.”

“See!! I told you he wouldn’t do something like that!!” Gabby cheerfully replied… which only left Dyspo more puzzled.

“Uh… is there something I’m missing here?”

“It’s just something between me and her… Maybe I’m starting to believe that theory she had.” She whispered that last bit before clearing her throat. “Anyways, is that all you came to tell me?”

“No actually…” Dyspo replied back. “Because of the screw up, I’m very close to losing my job… but, Detective Whooves has given me one chance to make things right…” When he said that, that was when he pulled out the card that Detective Whooves gave him. “Remember that case that you have been working on?”

“Yeah, the killers that murdered six business ponies? Why?” She asked, taking her helmet off and taking a seat beside Gabby as Dyspo sat across from them.

“Well… Detective Whooves wants that case to be solved. And to do that, he wants us to work together… all of us.” That was when Dyspo flipped the card around… and the front of it made Gabby squeal upon seeing it.

“N-no way!! You got his card!? That’s crazy!!!”

“Uh, can we get another card?” She asked politely but Dyspo didn’t respond. “Didn’t think so… Fine I’ll… Work with him.”

“Oh, come on!!! Don’t you realize how big this is?!!! I’ve been dreaming of this day for my entire life and your just gonna pass on it!!! NOT TODAY!!!” Gabby shouted pulling Katy from her suit as she shook her rapidly. “I WILL MEET MY FUTURE BOYFRIEND TODAY!!!”

“...... Um…” They both heard Dyspo speak for a moment, before he asked a question to Gabby. “I wanted to ask if either of you knew what QUILL was…”

That was when the Griffon, who stood upright, began to explain everything as if she was some kind of professor. Even doing it behind a whiteboard for dramatic effect. “QUILL is the acronym used by Gunvolt’s team. It stand for ‘Quorom of Unrestricted Intelligence, Law and Liberty’ and has been known for giving ponies who have awakened powers a chance to become heroes and teach them moral life lessons…” At the last part, that's when she had the look of a fangirl in her eyes as Dyspo turned to Katy.

“Is this… normal for her?”

“I’ve lived with this girl for two months… This is considered ‘normal’. You really should see her bedroom because… Oh boy!” Katy said as Gabby ignored her statement and ran up to Dyspo.

“Are we going there now!!!” She asked, her eyes sparkling as her jaw hanged slightly.

“We would be… if we knew where it was.” He told them. “There’s no address on the card. Just what looks like a picture of some kind. Perhaps part of a map?”

“Oh, well then you're useless.” Gabby commented as she hopped back to her seat as Dyspo groaned.

“Bad day…” Taking the card, he lightly tossed it on top of some of Katy’s things, including her Omnitool. Yet, as the card landed there… that’s when something strange began to happen. The tool began to scan the card itself, before showing something.

New contact information acquired. Transmitting…

That got Katy’s attention right away. Especially the next part. New contact added. Lance Walker. Listed as QUILL Head of Operations. Would you like to leave him a message? Y/N

Before Katy could even get a chance to think it over, she was immediately knocked to the ground as Gabby grabbed hold of her arm and hit yes. “Please… Meet us… at the park… Today at noon. Don’t be late… Secret admirer.”

Unauthorized DNA signature. Locking Omnitool.

“NO!!!” She shouted in agony and hopped off Katy. “Uh, I think it’s broken, cause it should have sent that message.”

“Great now we have to wait for two hours just so I can use it again. Thanks Gabby, your a real help!” Katy shouted sarcastically as Gabby grinned sheepishly.

“Um… If I may?” Dyspo replied back. “If that’s your device, then perhaps it would only allow for you to be able to send messages since it recognizes your DNA.”

“Trust me… I know this thing better than you. I put that safety lock for a reason… Just in case some asshole tried to hack. Or in this case a crazy fan girl!” She yelled. “But don’t worry it’s ONLY two hours of waiting.”

Dyspo sighed for a moment, before looking back at Katy. “Right… perhaps we can pass the time with making sure we know more on the case. Besides, even though I only know parts of the cases, the information you collected on this is not on department record. We should know about what were doing before we get the chance to meet the Azure Striker at any particular time.”

“Look, as far as I’m concerned… I can find those killers myself if you would so kindly hand over the evidence to me. I can catch the perps for you.” She asked politely.

They heard a small fizzy sound from the Omnitool for a moment, before looking to see something surprising. It was the same ghost like figure from before… only that it was now on Katy’s device. “H-hello? Is this thing on? We detected the activation of a locator card, can you p-please identify yourself?”

“It’s that fairy from before!” Dyspo said.

“No shit sherlock! What do you want bug?!”

“For your information, I was a Breezie before I died,” Lumen glared at her. “Also, do you even know why you would be given a locator card in the first place?”

“Your small, have bug wings, and you have antennas… your still a bug.” Katy stated. “Also don’t ask me, I bet your perverted buddy gave this card to Mr. Rabbit’s boss!”

“It means that Detective Whooves has trusted you to be able to work with us. QUILL is a hero organization, but we don’t try to have our name be out in the open because there are those who would do great harm to us if they found out who we were… Man, even the Katy that Lance knew before the timeline reset was a handful. Geez…” Lumen groaned for a moment, which made Katy even more confused.

“Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there! I never met you idiot in my entire life until two nights ago. And even if there was ‘Another me’ she isn’t me. So tell that pervert to get it through his head.” Katy explained.

“... He’s not a pervert as it is. He had someone he cared for, but lost them… It’s a tragic story that would bring your griffon friend there to tears,” Lumen replied. “Listen though… we wouldn’t be doing this to talk about the past. Instead, we would be working to help you… I’m sending you some coordinates for you to come here. But, according to QUILL protocol, you’re only allowed to bring one guest with you… and no, before your friend asks, we do not have a gift shop.”

“Sorry but that ain’t gonna happen bug… it’s either all three of us or none of us and I have demands of my own.” Katy stated. There was a small pause in response before they heard someone new speak.

“There will be no need for demands. We’ll accept your request to have all of them over-” The sound of Gunvolt’s voice was heard now instead of Lumen.

“Ugh… Not him… look, my crew and I will arrive there, but you better leave that bullshit of my ‘past self’ behind. That isn’t me and I’ll never be that person you want. I’m gonna be me. Whether you like it or not!” Katy declared with a hint of malice in her voice.

“That’s fine. This isn’t a discussion to focus on fun and games. This is one about what’s important. My team and I will be awaiting your arrival later on… And, as a friendly gesture, Lumen will override the lock on your… device so you can use it properly. Have a good afternoon.” With that, the call ended just as soon as it began, with Katy also receiving new map information on where to meet.

“Well I think we better go meet up with them.” Dyspo said as Katy groaned in response.

“Oh, come on Katy! It’s going to be awesome!” Gabby squeed again, causing Dyspo to roll his eyes as he looked back to Katy.

‘Let’s just get this job over with.’ Katy thought.





Quill HQ

“Vixen, Stella, we’re going to be expecting some guests later this afternoon, so please keep an eye out for them and try to not come off as hostile.” Lance himself replied while he was getting things organized and ready for their arrival. He honestly did not anticipate for Detective Whooves to give a locator card to them, but if he did, it meant that he trusted them and that they needed his and/or QUILL’s help.

“Lance, are you sure that having them come over is a good idea?” Lumen asked, her form now sitting on the holo-table that they have in the middle of the room. “I mean… that one griffon that was there almost looked like one of those stalker super fans that somepony’s would need a restraining order.”

“Lumen, let’s not think the worst about them just because of what you heard,” Lance insisted. “We’re setting everything else from before and in the past aside to focus on what’s going on now. I’m sure that Phantom would like that too…”

“Yeah, but how do you think she would react to some of the ponies on the team?” His companion asked him. “I mean, Sparkler and Bumblesweet aren’t here and right now, it’s Stella, Saffron and I think Poet’s going to be coming over later.”

“Well, as they say, the more the merrier,” Lance replied. “Though, in regards to what we’re talking about, perhaps we can prepare the forensic analysis room for if they want to try to talk about evidence and clues that could link some of these cases together.” Lumen nodded, disappearing for a moment so she could go evaluate on those while he made sure to check that everyone else on his team knew what was going on.

Though… they didn’t really have a lot of time to prepare… as they soon happened to find out when Lance looked at the Camera feed to the front door of the facility. Seeing officer Dyspo and the Phantom with their griffon friend outside. “Hey Gunvolt! It’s Dyspo, we’re waiting outside!”

Taking a deep sigh, he looked towards everyone else and then spoke up. “Alright, places everypony. Our guests are here.” With that though, Saffron was the one that operated the door, having to divide in half and open outward. Even though, on the outside, it was disguised to look like a concrete wall.

She looked at all three of them as Lance walked over to greet them too. “Good afternoon Officer… Phantom… and,” Not before long though, Saffron looked towards Gabby, a little bit confused. “Um… Is your friend okay? She’s… getting a nosebleed.”

But he only received a grunt from the Phantom as she turned her back towards him as Gabby collapsed to the ground in joy. “H-He’s reallll~”

“Yeah, she’s still not happy with you Gunvolt for saying you saw her change her into her new suit. You probably should have phrased a little better. That and for throwing her out the window. ” Dyspo explained.

“No… You misinterpreted what I said,” Lance told them, playing a recording from his bracer. “I was trying to make a comparison to Radiance given how she uses different suits-”

“How about you never! EVER! Bring up what happened two nights ago! I ain’t here to be all buddy, buddy with you or your friends. I’m only here to catch my perp and I’m done with you. Got it?!” Katy snapped… which made things really tense.

Especially when they saw a young colt walk up and look at them. “Uh… Mr. Lance, why is that mean lady shouting at you?” That… surprised Dyspo and Katy. Because for one thing, he was… rather young compared to that of Vixen or Gunvolt. “I thought you said she was coming by to talk with you about a case?”

“She still is, Poet… However, my last meeting didn’t go so well with them… But that’s not what they're here for,” Lance replied back, letting them come on inside. “Come on in. Make yourself at home.”

“Dyspo and Gabby can go in… I’ll be outside.” Katy said. “And I’m not going in no matter what you say.” She said before turning over to Dyspo. “You can fill me in when we actually go after those creeps okay?”

“Alright… though, before we start, how did things go at the police station? You’re not going to try to ring me up on charges now, are you?” Lance asked Dyspo as he started to come inside.

“Probably for the window damages, but nothing else. Your clean, but some of us are still having a hard time accepting that.” Dyspo said as the doors behind them closed.

“I don’t stoop as low as to preying on women. I see that as entirely unethical and whoever does that should be ashamed of themselves.” Lance clarified right after the door closed. He lead Dyspo and Gabby into the main room for QUILL’s base of operations as Poet and Vixen followed him inside. It was there that they Dyspo met another member of the team, who looked rather surprised to see him.

Especially since she was preparing carrots as a snack to have. Which, made Dyspo twitch at the sight of them. “Officer, Gabby, I would like for you to meet a few members of the team. To my right is Vixen, who has the abilities of animal mimicry. Stella, also known as Killer Queen, who has control over Neon energy and can emit energy into objects to turn them into explosives,” Then, Lance motioned his head to the young colt that sat on a couch not far from where they were. “And this is Poet, also known as Storyteller and the youngest member of QUILL. Not everypony is here now, but you may get the chance to run into some other members if they come back from patrol early.”

“So… what does this cutie do?” Gabby asked as she tried to lean on Lance. Only for what looked like a giant word to materialize right between them that read ‘WALL’. Only for the griffon to realize it when she turned around. “Oh, come on! I just want to rest my head on his shoulders!”

“Well, that’s an example,” Poet replied back. “My abilities allow me to create manifestations of words and have those words take on the properties of what they say… For example, if I had a word on the ground that spelled out ‘trampoline’, you can be able to bounce on it like an actual trampoline. Or, if I had the word ‘lightning bolt’, then it would act like actual lightning and conduct electricity. However, I can only have a certain amount of words active at one particular time.”

“I think that’s pretty impressive squirt.” Dyspo said, patting Poet on the head. “But I think you can remove the wall, she isn’t really gonna harm anyone.”

“Please!!! It’s on my bucket list of things to do!” Gabby said, still trying lean on Lance, despite the wall being there. When Poet did remove the wall, that caused Gabby to fall over, but instead of falling onto the hard floor she landed on another word that read ‘mattress’ to soften her landing.

Which… had Poet then say, “I removed the wall…”

“Alright, but I think that’s enough introductions for now… I think it’s time we got back to the matter at hand. Tracking down the killers.” Dyspo said.
> Act I: Going in Alone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: Going in Alone

“I think it’s time we got back to the matter at hand… Tracking down the killers.” Dyspo said. “The Phantom knows a lot about the case, but she’s gonna keep that information to herself, while you guys cough up all the information you have on this case. The Detective doesn’t want you guys to be directly involved, thinking that it’s best that we keep this group as small as possible.”

“Okay… about the case, we only know as much info as the department knows and they believe that these were all separate incidents,” Lance pointed out for Dyspo. “However, the Phantom believes that they’re somehow connected. Not the victims themselves, but by how they were killed.”

“Anything else? Like leads, DNA samples, a suspect? Cause your only going off of what we already know.” Dyspo asked.

“We were only informed about this only a few days ago… But according to what I overheard from Phantom the first time I saw her, she found that, like with previous victims, they were bruise marks over the bodies and they looked to have been strangled,” Lance replied, using the holo-table to bring up the images from the Forensics department. “The Forensics team at the Maretropolis PD also made the same conclusion since there were no signs of any wounds or tears to the skin… The only thing we don’t have though are the victim’s identities.”

“Well seven ponies were killed in total, three of them strangled, one was drowned in sulfur water, and the remaining three were beaten to death, but even with all that, there were no fingerprints found.”

“Um… If I may officer,” Poet then spoke up. “Ponies don’t need fingerprints. Normally, one can identify who somepony is by their cutie mark.”

“That’s not the point I’m making… Whoever killed them wasn’t a pony, these killers had hands, otherwise we would have left this case to the pony division. And as far as we know, these ponies were normal everyday ponies.” Dyspo stated.

“Officer Dsypo makes a valid point,” Lance replied back, before looking back at him and asking a rather… particular question. “Would the department happen to have some form of record as to citizens in Maretropolis that aren’t ponies. Like You, Me, the Phantom or Gabby for example?”

“That would take us a very long time to look over. Months even and more ponies will die if we search the data base for the records of non-pony civilians.”

That was when Poet left the room… and when Lance’s companion, Lumen, decided to step in. “Well, if I may… those marks on the bodies looked like they could only be done if the killer was a human, minotaur… or somepony with a shapeshifting ability because it is entirely possible.”

“But wouldn’t that still take awhile? Cause even in this city, there are quite a few who have those features.” Gabby interjected. “I mean, there are so many humans, minotaurs in this city.”

However, while they were talking, Lumen was already busy at work on something… and a few moments later, had a surprise for them. “Done.”

“Wait, what?” Lance asked. “What do you mean ‘done’?”

“Well, I looked at the list of the peoples names, cross referenced the pictures of the bruise marks and their size with photo’s of who could possibly on that list and narrowed down possible options. Just because I’m a soul doesn’t mean I can’t be able to have fun with tech.” She replied, showing a short list of the potential suspects. But… the one that stood out the most was what Lance thought as a mistake.

“Lumen, why is Commander Shepard on that list?”

“Well, his hand size while wearing his combat armor, along with the size of his hands match the size of the bruise marks on most of the victims. Though, it’s one possibility,” Lumen replied back. “It may be possible that it’s a potential lookalike or copycat.”

“Bullshit! Commander Shepard has been on the force for nearly a year now and these killings started happening two months ago! There’s no way he could be a suspect!” Gabby defended as Dyspo nodded in agreement.

“I have to agree, that’s a load of crap! He’s a hero! Why would he be a suspect and what would his motive be? You don’t just decide to become a hero and then suddenly decide to kill somepony. Take him off that list! It has to be these other twenty suspects!” Dyspo added as he glared at Lumen.

“Um… If I may,” Lance interjected. “Both Lumen and I are… unfamiliar with that of Commander Shepard. In fact, if he is a hero and has helped the department, then how much does the department know about him? Does he do anything aside from hero work? Because unless they’re professional heroes or paid by the hero’s association, he’s gotta find a way to keep a roof over his head right?”

“He works as an accountant at the city bank? He shared that information with me when we went to take care of an armed robbery!” Dyspo explained.

Lance thought it over for a moment… before looking back to Lumen. “Alright, Lumen… take it off for right now. Set him as ‘rather unlikely’.” To which, Lumen made a subcategory on that list and then set Shepards name aside. “Now… for the ones we are talking about… is it possible that they could’ve used some form of weapon to choke them out? Like a whip, rope or set of chains?”

“Well I doubt that, the Phantom had already deduced that those bruises around the neck were by hand. As for the beaten bodies, they also had hand marks as well. The only one that is unique to the rest of these murders is that one pony was drowned in sulfur water. And we’re looking for multiple killers cause of the many tracks that were discovered.” The officer explained as he folded his arms and began to look at the individual pictures of all the suspects.

“Hmm… The Sulfur water part makes me think that the ones who were the killers have some kind of background with chemicals or chemistry. It can’t just be a coincidence that something like sulfur water just happened to be lying around.” The Adept replied.

“So what do you think it is… Gunvolt?” Gabby asked as she scooted closer to the adept.

“Well… without the Phantom providing any information to us and who she thinks could be a suspect, it’s a tough call to make,” The Adept replied back. However, when he looked at the security feed, he realized something. “Hey… Phantom said she was waiting outside right?”

“Yeah why?” Gabby replied.

“Well… I just looked at the security feed and… she’s not there.” Lance pointed it out to them, bringing up the holographic projection of the live feed right now and seeing that no one was out front. “Did she just… leave on her own?”

“Crap, I should have known she’d pull something like this!” Dyspo shouted as he began to make a run for the exit. “You coming or what, Gunvolt!”

“Right behind you!” He replied, before looking at Saffron and his team. “Saffron, be on standby for extraction if things go south. Poet, I need you and Stella to maintain the comms feed for right now and help us out.”

“Roger that!” He replied, even giving a mock salute as both of them went out the door. But before they left, Lance then had one last thing to say.

“Gabby… Can you stay with Poet and the team for right now? I know that you want to see me in action, but your safety right now is my highest priority. Can you wait here until Officer Dyspo and I come back?”

“Okay…” She replied, pouting as she took a seat at the table. “Be safe!”





Meanwhile

Katy had already begun to make her way downtown Maretropolis, getting impatient and frustrated as the longer she stayed there, the more those memories began to flood back into her and she hated it. She didn’t want to believe that those were true and wanted nothing to do with Gunvolt, Quill, or any of those heroes. She was gonna solve this case by herself and prove that she’s a true hero as well.

Just as she landed in a nearby ally another image of her and Lance appeared in her mind. The two of them were in a wasteland with a lot of devastation around them. Wreckage and debris were scattered everywhere, along with what looked like several pieces of scrap metal.

“I-I want to believe you… But there’s no Proof that you even remotely Care! Cobalion told me that you're my mission and I belong to only the Beast King.” She heard a voice similar to her own shout at him, while Lance just looked forward towards her, even though this Katy was being hostile to him at first.

“They don’t know who you are… I do… and I want to be with you… to the end of the line.” He told her, hugging her in response.

“Prove it to me then!” She heard Katy shout. Though, it sounded like Katy was crying under her helmet as Lance looked back at her.

“Let me see your face… and then I can show you.” With that one line… the masked woman that sounded like her turned out to actually be her. Everything from her face to her eyes was almost identical. But it was just as they were about to kiss that the Phantom snapped back to reality… and tried to focus her mind on what was important.

“Grr… That isn’t me! It can’t be me… I just need to focus and track down those bastards before they harm somepony else.” Katy said as she took a deep breath and began to make her way down the alley, where she found a dark figure wearing a black trench coat and hat, standing in the distance with a stallion in hoof against the wall. “Freeze! Drop the pony or I will shoot you.”

The figure turned to her and released the stallion from his grasp. “There… I dropped him.” He said, and from the sound of his voice, it was a bit scruffy and deep. “But you didn’t say I couldn’t kill him!”

He then whirled around and threw a knife into the stallion’s skull, instantly killing him despite trying to crawl away, shocking Katy that he would murder that poor stallion. Right in front of her no less. It made her sick as she tightened her grip on her pistol. “That’s it, put your hands behind your head you sick bastard!”

“Hehehe… I wouldn’t be so worried about me… Phantom… I’d be worried about what my partner is gonna do to these two that are coming this way.” The figure said, pulling up a holotape from his pocket and pressed play and it showed live footage of Dyspo and Gunvolt make their way to her location. “You can either catch me, or stop my partner from making mincemeat out of your friends.”

He said making a run for it as Katy tried to think of who to go after, the one targeting Dyspo and Lance or take down this killer before he gets away. “Dammit! I’m not letting you get away!” She shouted as she gave chase after the killer, believing that both Lance and Dyspo would be fine without her help.

But she could never have been more wrong.





Downtown Area

“How much farther now, Officer?”

“I don’t know, all I know is that the Phantom does most of her work downtown in alleyways. We should start searching-” Before the Officer could say anything else, Lance stopped and also grabbed part of Dyspo’s clothes, holding him back.

“Hold on… We got company,” The adept’s eyes narrowed, looking around as he looked to Dyspo, before stepping forward. “Alright, I know you’re there. Come out with your hands up-”

But before he could even get a chance to finish what he was saying, he was suddenly struck by a dark figure wearing a hood and a white mask and was send crashing into a dumpster. Leaving Lance to come out of it rather quickly, even though that single hit really did a number on him. “The hell? Officer, do you have any idea who this guy is?”

Dyspo only growled as he got into a fighting stance as the masked being turned to him. “The department referred to this guy as the Mask Killer, who was responsible for the deaths of over fifthteen officers! He even killed someone who was a dear friend to the Power Ponies and disappeared for quite sometime, but now it looks like he’s back..”

Dyspo though… was not entirely prepared for what Lance had to say next. “Great… and just when we were close to finding Phantom. Officer, how strong are you when it comes to combat?”

“Well… Not to brag, but it isn’t my first rodeo fighting this guy!” He said as he placed one of his hands behind his back and began to form a red orb of energy as the masked being got into a familiar fighting stance that Lance recognized.

“Hmm… then hear me out with this.” Lance replied back to him. “Let me lend you some of my energy so you can focus on him. While you have that covered, I’ll go find Phantom. Does that seem reasonable to you, Officer?”

“As much as I like that idea… I don’t think your gonna get that chance. He isn’t like those everyday criminals you deal with. Trust me on this, he isn’t someone you can take likely. Not to mention his attacks are crazy, it’s like he can teleport from place to place. Even Commander Shepard had a hard time with him.” Dyspo explained as the orb behind his back continued to grow.

“...... Instant Transmission…” Lance recognized, based on that part alone and realized what he was doing. “Officer, wait-!!”

“JUSTICE CRUSHER!!!” He fired at the hooded being, but he placed two fingers over his masked and he vanished, reappearing behind both Lance and Dyspo, but before he could even strike them, Dyspo had already created another ki blast and turned around immediately with a smirk on his face. “I’m not falling for that trick again!”

“That won’t do… Whatever Dyspo throws at him, this guy can easily be able to outmanuveur it or avoid it all together…” The Adept thought to himself, looking down at his bracer to see that all three skill cards were fully operational. “If we’re to get him, we need to restrain him, not attack!”

But just as the blast was about to hit the masked being, he had grabbed it with his bare hands and crushed it, causing it to explode and send both Dyspo and Lance flying back. As the adept got back up he was soon met by a fist striking across his face as the black hood began to slowly burn away. Just as Lance was about to counter, the masked killed grabbed him by his throat and held him him into the air.

Though, when Dyspo looked at him, he didn’t see the Adept struggle or anything… instead, he saw a grin on his face as electricity began to rapidly form around them. “Crashbolt!!” The attack that came next was powerful and close to the point that it had a couple of pieces on the killer’s mask incinerate. But, it did not break at all. But the damage from the lightning did free Lance from the killer’s grip and allow him to kick the attacker into the same dumpster that he was originally thrown into.

“Well, glad that I learned that skill or else I would be really screwed.”

“Nice one… Maybe we can win-” But before he could even finish, he was soon met by a powerful kick to his torso and sent crashing into the wall before Lance was struck by a large blue orb of energy and sent skidding across the alley and when he stood up. The hood was gone, revealing a man with spiky hair and black armor.

“You… are gonna have to try a lot harder than that if you want to beat me.” The Masked killer said.





Lance… just smirked at that as he looked back at him, electricity channeling around his body now. “Well… you’re just giving me more of a reason to not hold back anymore.”

“T-This isn’t the time… You can’t be serious Gunvolt!” Dyspo shouted, shocked that he was even considering fighting him.

“I am… Normally, I only use a small percentage of my strength because I don’t want to go overboard… but I go higher when someone else is packing more of a punch,” The adept grinned, more electricity forming around him now as he looked back at him. “Officer… get out of here while you still can. Find Phantom.”

“I’ve heard about you… Gunvolt and your reputation seems to proceed you, but I doubt your gonna beat me. Your attacks were pathetic.” He said, placing two fingers over his head. “I’ll give you a taste of what I can do.”

He soon had used instant transmission and grabbed hold of Dyspo and threw him directly at Lance before using instant transmission again. However, Lance had a read on his strength and when the Masked Killer emerged from behind, he was greeted with a punch that sent him crashing through a lamp post and a chain link fence. Damaging some of his armor as Lance looked back at him.

“You aren’t the only one who has the same tricks… or can read energy for that matter,” Lance told him, before doing an instant transmission of his own to knee the masked killer in the face and another to reach Dyspo. “What are you still doing here? Go, now! While you still can! If you can find Phantom, we can make this three against one.”

“Like I had a choice when I got thrown into a wall twice! I’m still learning to use my powers too you know!” He shouted as he got back up and created another orb of energy. “We can’t waste anymore time. We need to go now!”

Lance could only nod, following Dyspo and using a bit of electricity on a steam pipe to cause a distraction as the pipe burst. Making it harder for the Masked Killer to see them as Lance began to suppress his powers and Dyspo firing off a massive ki blast at the killer. “Officer, suppress your energy… If he can read it, that guy can track us.” He whispered, trying to be more focused on running at this point than fighting.

“I know that.” Dyspo whispered back as his energy had already been suppressed and the two began to make a run for it as the Masked Killer emerged from the smoke, unscathed and began to search for where his prey had run off to.

“I will find you two… And I will kill you!”
> Act I: Katy Makes a Stand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: Katy Makes a Stand

Dyspo and Lance kept running as fast as there legs could carry them with the masked killer in pursuit. Even knowing that he could use Instant Transmission, Lance knew it would be ineffective against the killer since he could also use the same technique. Before he could even think of a plan, Dyspo turned to him.

“Gunvolt! I don’t think we’re gonna get away from him easily… We’re gonna have to stay and fight him-” Right before he could finish what he was saying, both the adept and officer were struck by a large blue orb of energy and soon were lost in a field of smoke. Just as Dyspo was about to leap out of the smoke, the killer had grabbed his leg and pulled him back in before backhanding him and sending him crashing through a metal fence.

“Dyspo!” Lance shouted, trying to find make his way over to the injured officer, but was met by a large hand grabbing hold of his face and slamming him towards the wall. Lance then attempted to break free from the opponent’s hold on him, only to receive multiple punches to his stomach before being tossed to the side. “Gah!”

Breathing heavily, he tried to see where the Masked killer was until he finally emerged from the smoke, slowly making his way over to the adept as he formed another ball of ki within his palm. “That can’t be all you’ve got?” He said, cracking his neck as he aimed the orb of energy directly at him, but just as he was about to fire, Lance’s eyes widened as the Masked killer was met by the Officer’s foot and sent crashing into the walls of an apartment complex.

“Damn, that guy is a lot stronger than the last time I fought him.” Dyspo said with a chuckle, holding on his left arm. “We don’t have much time… We need to come up with a plan to lose him, otherwise we’re gonna be sent home in body bags.”

Thinking quickly, the adept then attempted to test a theory of his. He had been working on a series of bolts designed not for tagging enemies, but for trapping them. So, using his weapon, he fired 4 bolts at the ground to where there was a box on the ground before aiming for another four on the ceiling. All while hoping that this could somehow work.

Just as the Masked Killer climbed out of the rubble, he attempted to charge at his enemies with two ki blasts in his hands, but before he could reach them, he had walked right into the trap that was set by the adept. Immediately after stepping in, the masked killer was shocked with a massive amount of electricity. While also containing their opponent in a cage of lightning. Any attempts to try and break out would lead to him getting repeatedly shocked over and over again, since the original bolts that Lance had fired landed where there was electric wiring along the sides of the alleyway.

“Let’s go… Even though that’s enough electricity to power an entire building, I don’t think that will encage him for long.” The Adept told the officer, before both of them began to ran off further into the alley. Simply nodding, Dyspo followed Gunvolt as the Masked Killer struggled to pull himself free from the electrical field that Lance had created.

‘Very clever… Gunvolt… Your reputation precedes you. However, this will not work against me a second time when we cross paths again.’ The killer thought as he chuckled underneath his mask as his opponents made their escape.

After a while, the two of them soon stopped for a moment in order to catch their breath. Personally relieved that they were able to make it out of their with their lives. Yet, it was as they were resting that they heard another set of frantic footsteps rushing at them. “Did you… hear that Gunvolt?”

“Yeah… I-” When he finally saw the figure and realized who it was though, that it looked like Dyspo was acting on instinct. “Officer, wait-”

“I’m… not even moving… What is it?” Dyspo asked, still trying to catch his breath.

“That figure we heard… Over there…” Lance told him, looking back as he was catching his breath. “I think that’s Phantom.”

“Well, we better… head over there, but I doubt we’re gonna be of much use in our current condition. If she’s in trouble… I suggest we stick with long range until one of us can recover.” Dyspo suggest as the two of them struggled to stand on their feet. “Sound like a plan?”

“One of us has to get close in order to see if it is actually her…” The adept pointed one, tapping one of the cards on his bracer as it emitted a healing pulse throughout his body. “Fortunately, I opted for saving my skill cards for if I need to patch myself up… Now, one of us should go up there to verify that it is her while the other one should cover them from long range just in case it’s a set up. You up for the latter, Officer?”

“Yeah sure… Show-off.” He whispered that last bit, thinking it was unfair he gets a shortcut to recovering, but he’d worry about that later. “Let’s just get going.”

“After you, Officer.”





Meanwhile

Katy didn’t want to help Lance or Dyspo knowing that she was so close to finally capturing the killer, but she still couldn’t help but feel a little bit of guilt for leaving them to whatever fate the Killer had in store for them, but right here and now, she could finally put an end to all the killing and maybe the city will see her as a hero and not some second rate vigilante.

She continued to pursue the killer as the two leaped from rooftop to rooftop until the killer had finally stopped at the edge of the roof, leading down towards the streets of Maretropolis. He was trapped and this was Katy’s chance to finally capture him. “You have nowhere left to go! Put your hands behind your head!” She shouted as she pulled her assault rifle from her back and aimed it directly at the killer.

But the killer only turned around, chuckling as he placed his hands behind his head. “Hehehe… So, you’ve caught me? Now what?” He asked as Katy continued to approach the killer cautiously.

“On your knees! I’m taking you in!” She demanded as the killer did so slowly, still holding his hands high in the air. But just as Katy was about to pull out her handcuffs, the killer, grabbed hold of her assault rifle and elbowed her in the face before kicking her to the ground. Before he could use her gun against her, she pulled her pistol and fired directly at the gun’s barrel, causing it to short out in the killer’s hand right before she hopped back onto her feet and performed a roundhouse kick, sending the killer tumbling backwards. “Your gonna have to try harder then that you sick Bastard!”

But the killer was unfazed by Katy’s words as he got up on his feet and tore off his trench coat and threw it to the side, revealing a man wearing black armor, similar to that of Commander Shepard, but the only difference is that he had a helmet on and it was difficult to tell from the sound of his voice. “Perhaps your right… Phantom right? Well I hate to break it to you, but you don’t have a chance against me.”



He then pulled out a pistol of his own and began to open fire, striking Katy’s energy field she has around herself as she took cover behind a nearby chimney stack and began to return fire, but his armor simply deflected the bullets before he came around the corner and grabbed her by her suit and threw her across the roof and aimed his gun at her, but Katy simply dodged them and dashed towards the killer and kicked him in the chest, causing him to drop his gun, but before Katy could attempt to shot him, he grabbed her gun and threw it to the side and his right arm was surrounded by a orange hologram that had formed a blade.

Katy instantly recognized the device, it was similar to her Omni-tool and despite pulling out her own, she was instantly knocked to the ground by the mysterious killer. “You should have gone with your friends… Now your friends are dead and your gonna die alone on this rooftop.”

Though… that was when they both heard someone else speak. “What was that about us?” The figure turned to see none other than Gunvolt looking directly at him, weapon drawn while Dyspo was not far off to cover him from a distance.

“I see that two lost my partner… Well done.” The Killer said as he stepped away from Katy and folded his arms.

“It’s going to take a lot more than sending the same person responsible for the murders of several other officers in order to put us out of commission.” The adept growled. “Now… don’t make any moves or else we will shoot.” That was the cue for Katy to get up so she can be able to detain the killer before he made any attempts at escape.

But before Katy could even make a move, the Killer had pulled out a round object and threw against the ground and a cloud of smoke had appeared, concealing him and Katy within it, but just as Lance was about to leap in and help Katy, he was soon struck by what looked like a Kunai with a chain attached to it and was pulled into the smoke before feeling tremendous pain to his chest and fell to the ground. “You should have expected to see me again, Gunvolt.”

Lance was once again face to face against the Masked killer, holding a long chain in his hand with a kunai attached to it and threw it to the side. “I’m gonna enjoy crushing the two of you.” He said as he placed two of his fingers to his forehead and used his instant transmission to appear behind Dyspo and kicked him over to where Lance was laying.

“How the hell did he find us?!” Dyspo asked.

“I-I don’t k-know-. Agh!” Lance grasped in pain, glaring at both the Masked Killer and the killer that Katy was trying to capture. All three of them were on the ground now… and at the mercy of both of them.

“Get up you idiots! I can’t fight the two of them!” Katy shouted as she hopped back on her feet and attempted to pull out her knife, but the killer had threw a right hook and an uppercut, sending Katy tumbling backwards before kicking her opponent in the chest and reached for her knife. But trying as hard as she could, the killer simply avoided the strikes even though it had left a scratch on his armor. Just as Katy was about to kick him again, he had grabbed her leg and raised his arm into the air and brought down his elbow at full force, breaking the Phantom’s leg, causing her to scream in pain as he continued to strike her leg multiple times before relieving her of her knife and stabbing her in her arm.

“You don’t deserve to be a hero… Your better off dead b*tch.” He said pulling the knife out of her and throwing it to the side and reached for her other pistol that was on her hip.

However… bearing witness to this… left one particular hero enraged… “You… BASTARDS!!!!!” Immediately, electricity began to violently crackle throughout the rooftop as some of the bolts took form into the size of huge chains. Entangling themselves around the arms and bodies of both of the killers while also surging throughout the rest of the rooftop. “I AM NOT LETTING YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!!!”

From the perspective of Dyspo, he had never seen Gunvolt be driven to this point… and yet, with the amount of of his septima that he was putting into this one attack, it meant that he was putting all of his energy left into one last single attack. One that would leave him exhausted and vulnerable if their opponent happened to get back up from it.

As for Katy though, some of the lightning that was striking her… seemed to trigger more of the memory like flashes from before. While the energy itself was somehow mending her injuries… but before she could react, that was when Gunvolt unleashed his fury.





The multiple chains surged with enough force to almost annihilate the roof, causing part of the Masked Killer’s mask to crack while having the helmet of the other killer being blown clean off due to the sheer raw power of the adept. However, when the attack subsided, all Katy saw afterwards was a passed out Lance lying face first on the ground. Drained of everything he had after that all out attack just now.

And the killer was finally unmasked and who she saw underneath that helmet was none other than...  “Commander… Shepard?”

“Ugh… Hehehe… Gonna be feeling that in the morning… Hehehe.” He said, laughing as he got up immediately as the energy field around him began to subside. “Damn… if I didn’t have my energy field up… I probably would have been out cold. Too bad Gunvolt is out of energy… Poor bastard spent it all in that one shot.”

“B-But why? Why are you doing this?” Katy said, trying to stand but is quickly kicked back down by the masked killer.

“Hehehe… You know… It’s so funny that I knew you would ask me that, but that’s not the funny part about all of this. The funny part is you actually expect me to answer you?” Shepard said, laughing as the Masked Killer continued to crush Katy’s healed leg again until the commander raised his hand, ordering him to stop. “You know… I didn’t think anyone would be on our trail since… none of those Heroes were able to notice, especially Gunvolt over there. The one who solved the murders at that… Pizzaria a few months back. Not to mention the police force were too stupid to even figure out what the hell was going on. But then you came along and started tracking us down.”

“At first I thought that a rookie… a amateur playing dress up couldn’t find out it was me let alone two killers, so I let you be, but then you started figuring out our pattern. I was beginning to worry, but after two months, you didn’t find me or my partner and you refused to work with anyone, but then this asshole jumps in one day. Treating you like your his girlfriend-”

“I’m not… with him you moron!” She shouted before getting kicked once again.

“Don’t… Interrupt me! Hehehe… It’s funny, why am I even getting mad… You can’t do anything in your current state, Gunvolt is out cold and Dyspo… well it must come as quite a shock to him to find out it’s me. His oldest friend, the one who helped him get into the police academy back in Baltimare.” Shepard said, turning his head to see Dyspo’s expression of sadness, but he was met by something much different.

“Y-You… Asshole! I trusted you! And now your gonna pay!” Dyspo shouted, as his body was now surrounded by a red aura and he vanished, striking the Masked Killer in his stomach with his leg and sent him crashing into the chimney and fired off a ki blast at Shepard who evaded it with ease. “Phantom! Wake up Gunvolt! I’ll hold them off!”

“But how?” She said, struggling to stand.

“I don’t know with a kiss?!” He said sarcastically. “Slap him silly if you have too! We aren’t gonna be able to fight these guys on our own.” Dyspo then vanished from the spot he was at and began to punch the masked killer as fast and hard as he could, putting him on the defensive.”

“A kiss won’t do… Lance is out cold,” Katy heard, seeing Lumen appear on Lance’s shoulder. “He drained all of his septima and is need of medical care… How long do you think you can hold him off?”

“I-I don’t know… Even after it healed, that bastard dislocated it… The best I can do is shoot from my pistol, but that isn’t gonna be enough.” Katy explained. “Maybe Dyspo can hold them off for a little while?”

“Well, I’m trying to do what I can to keep Lance alive… His bracer sends off a warning message to everyone at QUILL if his vitals drop too low and they should be coming,” Lumen told her… before thinking of an idea. “Hold out your hand for a moment…”

“Wait why?” She asked.

“Don’t ask me why! Just do it!!” Lumen snapped, noticing how Shepard was about to do something and Katy did what she was told immediately and held out her hand. When she did, Lumen emitted some of her own power and let it course through Katy’s body. It not only restored a brief bit of her injuries, but it also fixed the dislocation she had. “My powers allow me to help heal injuries and bring Lance back from the brink if he falls in combat. However, since this was something he done on his own, I could only give you part of my strength so I can use the rest to helping him. Now go kick that guy’s ass!! Vixen will be here any minute so you can subdue that bastard!!”

Katy couldn’t help but smirk under her helmet as she stood up again. “You know for a bug, you’re pretty useful. I’ll talk to you more later, but right now. I’m finishing this fight!” Katy shouted and ran towards Shepard and began to perform a roundhouse kick again. Striking him across his face, sending him spinning to the ground, before grabbing his helmet and began to hit him in the face with it. Dyspo himself was also gaining the upper hand in his fight. Especially since he was moving so fast that the Masked Killer could not even see him at times. Leaving him vulnerable to numerous attacks from that of Dyspo, including a knee in his face.

Though, when he noticed how Katy was beating Shepard now, that was what caught him by surprise. “Okay… How the hell are you-?”

“Don’t ask. Please, just focus right now.” He turned to see Lumen, who now looked much different than before as she was trying to focus on Lance.





“Help is on the way, just hold out a little bit longer.” She told him, who just nodded and refocused his attention back to his fight with the Masked Killer.

‘Why am I letting a butterfly tell me what to do?’ He thought as he sent the Masked killer flying into the air, before creating an energy ball in his hands. “JUSTICE CRUSH!” He shouted, firing off the orb of energy at the masked killer while Lumen thought to herself.

‘Geez… Why do heroes always shout the names of their attacks, anyways? It just gives away what in the world they’re about to do’ But besides the names of attacks, Katy and Dyspo were doing their best to hold off the killers until more help arrives.

As Shepard was finally getting back up was when help finally arrived… and that was shown when what looked like an electric eel swirled around Shepard’s neck and knocked him out with an electric shock. Leading Katy to turn around and see Vixen alongside Stella. “Sorry for the hold up! We got Lance’s emergency beacon, are you two alright?”

“No… We’re not, we need to end this now.” Katy said turning to Shepard who was knocked out and was about to cuff him. Until the Masked Killer reappeared in front of Katy, holding Dyspo from his large ears and tossed him at them, while picking up Commander Shepard and placing his fingers over his forehead.

“Until next time…”

With that, they disappeared, leaving the three heroes with two unconscious and severely hurt heroes on the rooftop. Vixen though, looked back at Katy and Stella as she took a deep breath. “Come on, let’s take Lance and your friend back to HQ. We got advanced medical equipment there so we can heal them and treat any injuries you might have too.”

“Fine… Let’s get going.” Katy said as she placed her hand over her shoulder as the two other heroes carried her allies to HQ where hopefully they’ll be able to put an end to all the killing once and for all.
> Act I: Recovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: Recovery

By the time that they got back to QUILL HQ, Vixen and Stella immediately brought both Lance and Dyspo to the infirmary. Even though they had Lumen, she could only do a small part in helping them. From how she explained it to Katy on the way over, her septima ‘Anthem’ only kicks in when Lance is brought to the brink because of an opponent he’s facing. Not by personal exhaustion. So, it left her with having to only heal minor injuries outside from that.

Though, the first person that happened to wake up though… wasn’t Lance, but Dyspo. He groaned as he tried to sit up on the couch in the middle of the infirmary, noticing that his arm and shoulder was wrapped up in bandages and seeing that he was no longer on the roof. “Ugh… W-what? Where am I-”

“You’re back at QUILL’s HQ… Lance’s friends helped carry both of you back here.” Katy said, sitting across the room while reading a magazine.

“Oh thank goodness you’re awake,” Dyspo heard from right next to him, seeing Lumen floating close to where his face is. “A lot has happened while you were out. Including just now actually...” With that, she turned to Katy and then said something else.

“The whole incident was caught on a surveillance tape from a building next door. One of QUILL’s heroes found it and gave it to the police. They’re about to make a public statement on TV.” Hearing that news, Dyspo nearly jumped up into the air, but yelled after feeling the backlash from his injuries.

“Heh! That’s what you get assholes!” He shouted.

“Take it easy… You strained your muscles too much from your new abilities, so overdoing it might cause them to tear.” Lumen reminded him. “Though, here’s something that both of you might want to know… Not only is Katy seen as a hero for not giving up despite the odds… Shepard’s no longer a hero and is now wanted by the Maretropolis PD for attempted murder.”

“It’s not enough…” Katy stated.

“Detective Whooves told me that they plan to add more charges once they compile all the evidence together and build a case. So… I took the liberties of giving him everything we had and sending it in your name,” Lumen told her in response. “Despite Lance and us being here, this is really your case. So you deserve the recognition for it.”

“Would you shut up for a second! It’s not enough, even if what we know is true… We can’t arrest him for the murders of all those other ponies. That footage doesn’t even have sound… We need a confession so we can finally put an end to this.” Katy explained, glaring at the fairy in front of her.

“She’s right, Lumen.” They heard Vixen come in now, adding to the conversation. “You need to capture him and get him to confess. Even with the evidence we have, it’s not enough to lock him up in the Zero Zone for good.”

“Capturing him isn’t enough… We need him to confess before we even make a move on him. Attempting murder will only get him locked up for a couple of years.” Dyspo explained as both him and Katy looked confused by what Vixen said.

“What?” Katy asked.

“Oh right…” Vixen facehooved herself for a moment. “The Zero Zone is a place where we lock up most of the villains we capture. Especially the ones with powers… However, since it’s a government black box site, we’re normally supposed to keep quiet about it.”

“Unlike other prisons, Zero Zone is used specifically for supervillains and they have equipment in there to prevent villains from using their powers in any form to prevent possible escapes.”

“I’ve heard rumors about that place, but I didn’t think they were true?” Dyspo replied, before realizing something very important. “Hey! If that place was real, then how come you didn’t lock the Mane-iac in there? You could have prevented so many robberies! Instead you keep locking her up in that asylum.”

“Zero Zone is designed specifically for villains that have committed extremely violent acts. We’re talking not your average bank robbers here, but villains who used their powers to murder others. And not just civilians, but other heroes serving in the line of duty.” Lumen added. “Mane-iac’s never committed acts like those, so she’s just kept in the Solace Asylum.”

“I still think that hussy should be locked up in there.” He muttered under his breath as Lumen smirked.

“Really? Because from what Detective Whooves told me, you two get along really well together…” As everyone in the room began to laugh at the cop.

“The only thing the two of us… Agree on is having her locked up for good. Besides unlike most of you, I took one for the team and talked with that Psycho! Got kicked in the shins by her to get answers.”

Lumen rolled his eyes, before looking at Vixen as the two of them giggled a bit. “You sure? Because Detective Whooves told me you had an injury right up main street.”

“Hardy, har, har! Moving on, what’s the plan for catching those two? We didn’t exactly stand a chance against them and Gunvolt is still out cold and recovering. I’m in no better shape then he is. So what’s the plan?” Dyspo asked as he folded his arms.

“I have to agree with him… What’s the plan?” Katy asked.

“Right now, I think what we need to do is rather simple,” Vixen replied back. “Right now, you need to recover and refocus… It’s likely that those guys skipped town now that their cover is blown, but we can still compile a case. However, what Dyspo said is right. We won’t be able to fight them in this current state… So, first step is recovering and slowly getting back to full health. I know that when Lance wakes up, some of his injuries would be healed already… But the main concern is what you said earlier… We don’t stand a chance against them now… but if you hone your new abilities and learn how to control and master them. Then you might stand a chance.”

“Alright… But I’m still not be buddy, buddy with Lance… I think it’s better if he stays away from me. I’ve already gotten shocked by him enough as it is. And… there is just one thing I have to ask… Where is Gabby?”

“She’s with Poet… But I have something to ask…” Vixen asked her. “When you got shocked… did you see images?”

“None of your business… I suggest you drop it now or someone is gonna get hurt!” Katy stated in a serious tone and Vixen backed up slowly.

“I-i only asked because-”

“I said… Drop it!” Vixen squeaked in response, almost panicky like and fearing that Katy was going to do something to her. “Nothing… Happened! Now drop it or I will do a lot worse to you!” Katy barked, causing Vixen to finally shut up and sat back down.

It was around then though… that they heard a groan from the nearby operating table as everyone turned to notice Lance getting up. “O-ow… Geez, are you trying to kill my ears. They’re ringing off the walls…”

“Look who finally woke up.” Dyspo said with a smirk. Though… all that did was have Vixen get up from her seat… walk over to Lance… and do one thing that neither he, nor Katy ever expected.

Smack him across the face with a hoof. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“O-ow… Saffron, what-?”

“You know that you’re not supposed to use up all of your power in one shot like that and doing so means that someone can seriously harm you.” She growled. “Gabby was watching everything and went into a serious panic when she saw you do that.”

“Okay, okay… I think I get it now.” Lance grumbled, scratching the back of his head now as he looked around the room. “Speaking of Gabby… where is she-?”

“GUNVOLT!!!” They all heard as the metal door breaks down with Gabby standing on top of it with a panicked look before it morphed into a grin as she tackled the adept to the ground. “YOU’RE ALIVE!!!”

“Wow… Potential injury by fan girl… That’s a new one to add to the list.” Lumen snickered.

“Ugh! Gabby, please get off of him… We don’t want his perverted mind getting any wrong ideas.” Katy commented nonchalantly as she waved her arm in the air to try to reach her. “Too… Far to reach.”

“Wow… You sure put in some real effort in getting her off him.” Dyspo said sarcastically.

“G-gabby? Could you please get off for a moment?” Lance asked the griffon.

“Oh! Sorry… Got a little excited there.” She said sheepishly as she hopped off him, but was still excited nonetheless.

“Thanks… Sorry for making you worried, I was… well, I think both Dyspo and I were concerned for Katy and went after her without thinking,” He replied. “Though… I must admit, it felt like Phantom was the one saving me this time around… and for that, I appreciate it.”

“Pfft… Whatever, I only did it because that is what heroes do.” Katy grumbled as she avoided eye contact with the adept.

“Look… I know that we didn’t exactly start off on right terms… but I do hope that we can be able to work together in the future…” He replied, before turning to Gabby. “As for you though… I feel like I should make things up to you since I had to run off in the middle of things.”

“Oh, is that so?” She said, turning to Katy with a smug look on her face before turning back to Lance. “How about a date then?”

“I… think that can be arranged,” He told her in response. “What day works for you?”

“How about Friday night?” Gabby suggested as Katy groaned under her breath, now realizing that she could lose her bet.

“That works for me.” He smiled back.

“Annnnnnnd…… Ship confirmed.” Lumen snickered again.

“Didn’t think you were into griffons Gunvolt.” Dyspo said, laughing despite his chest hurting. “It… Hurts… So much!”

“Maybe you should spend less time talking?” Lumen added. “Besides, not everything that we’re saying needs a bit of two sense from the peanut gallery.”

“I’m only having some fun… You’d probably be doing the same if you were in my position little butterfly.” Dyspo commented.

“You do realize that my form is different now, right?” Lumen added “Meaning I can do this…” To Dyspo’s surprise, that was when Lumen flew up to him and punched him in the nose. And even though he thought that he wouldn’t feel anything… He definitely felt something seconds after.

“Ow! HEY! I’m only going off what I’m seeing! You have butterfly wings, and your tiny with twin antenna headband. So you can’t hold that against me.” Dyspo spoke logically as Lumen puffed out her cheeks.

“...... Lance, can I punch him right up Main Street? I want to show that I have no antenna’s at all on my head.”

“Lumen, don’t even think about it.” The Adept groaned.

“Well I’m gonna head out… I’ll see you guys later when we start planning.” Katy said as she got up from her seat and made her way out the door.

“Well… I guess that leaves just us then,” Lance replied back, before looking at Dyspo. “Hey, when your fully recovered, your free to come back here-”

“Really? Because even with his new ability, I still want to punch him.”

That… had Lance raise an eyebrow before looking back at Dyspo. “Hang on… new ability?”

“I’ll tell you more about it after I make a full recovery… For now I think I’m gonna take that Saffron chick’s advice and rest.” Dyspo said laying back down on the couch.

“Alright… Let us know if you need anything…” Lance replied back as he left the room with Gabby in tow… but it was Lumen that was the last one to say something. “Oh and before I forget, Detective Whooves said that he’s assigning you here for the time being… Since you got nowhere else to go right now and the Department’s still handling the Mane-iac fallout… We have a spare room that has your stuff, courtesy of the detective…”

With that, she winked at him, before Dyspo’s eyes widened and she closed the door. “Have fuuuuun.”

“Son of a b*tch!” Dyspo shouted.





Meanwhile

In the city of Baltimare, Commander Shepard and the Masked Killer were now hidden deep underground in a secret laboratory where a lot of massive green pods laid as Shepard began to remove most of his armor and began to replace it with new parts. He couldn’t believe that the Phantom and Officer Dyspo had exposed them for attempted murder, but the most that would get him is a couple of years in prison, but it was still a blow to his pride.

“I know… this will set us back a couple of weeks, but we can still retrieve the blood samples from those other heroes-” Shepard tried to explain, but was quickly sent flying backwards towards the end of the room by an unknown force.

“I don’t care about that! I want those samples from Gunvolt! Officer Toppo here in Baltimare! The Power Ponies! I want them all! I will not allow for any setbacks!” A Feminine voice shouted in the shadows. “I’ve already sent Mira to retrieve the blood samples from Toppo, but you need to get the blood of either the Matterhorn or Gunvolt. I could care less about those samples you’ve brought before… I don’t need rich snobs! I need warriors!”

“A-As you wish… Mistress.” Shepard replied as he fell to his knees. “I won’t let you down…” It was then the Masked Killer had entered the room in brand new armor and stood over the injured commander.

“Mistress… Commander Shepard and I will head out first thing tomorrow to retrieve those blood samples for you.” The Masked Killer spoke before the two began to hear laughter from their mistress.

“Hehehehe… I hope you two do… Otherwise Mira, will dispose of both you.” The mysterious women in the shadows spoke as she took a seat in her large spinning chair. She turned around to face the large computer screen in front of her as both her warriors began to exit the room, leaving her alone. “Hehehe… Soon it will be your turn heroes… I wonder how tasty you all will be.”
> Act I: The Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: The Plan

It had been less than twenty four hours and Dyspo was already back on his feet and had begun training in the new facility. But he wasn’t training by himself exactly. At first, it was just him trying to make sure his arms and muscles weren’t so strained unlike before. But, in doing so, he caught the attention of one of QUILL’s members, Stella. Also known by the hero name ‘Killer Queen’. When he asked how that was her hero name, she told him that the idea came from an old song that Gunvolt knew back home.

And that the lyrics of a song by a group called ‘Queen’ fit along the lines of the kind of powers she had. Especially now since they were trying to figure out the mechanics of his new technique. And there seemed to be only one way for him to do that.

Have Dyspo be target practice. “Look alive, jackrabbit!!”

“This is not what I meant by training!” He shouted, dodging an incoming blast.

“Well, the only way I know that you would be taking this seriously is that if we treat it like the real thing,” She smirked, before picking up what looked to be a ceramic plate with one of her wings and throwing it like a frisbee. “This whole thing is to see what you can do with that technique of yours and figure out what your limits are. Better to know here than for it to happen in the field.”

“It’s not hard to figure out! I can go faster, done and done.” He commented as he vanished in a blur and reappeared behind Stella. However, all she did was back up and tossed up what looked like several small rocks. Rocks that glowed right in front of his face as if they were miniature bombs, but he had once again vanished and appeared right in front of Stella again and grabbed both her hooves and placed cuffs on her. “I’m pretty sure I’m getting better at controlling my speed.”

“And that is shown through what you can do…” She smirked, before surprising Dyspo when she freely moved her hooves out. When Dyspo looked back at his cuffs, he soon saw that the edges of the cufflinks were melted enough for her to slip out. “Fair warning though, regular cuffs don’t work on ponies with powers. Normally, you would have a device to try and cancel it out first.”

“That’s why the police force is planning on creating new power suppressant cuffs to deal with ponies with powers or other criminals with unique abilities.” Dyspo explained as he took as seat against the wall. “So what are your powers exactly Queen?”

The pegasus took a deep breath for a moment… but then decided to answer it. “My powers involve manipulation of Neon Light… and if I touch particular surfaces or objects with my wings or hooves, they become explosives. When I first got them… I was afraid of them because I thought I would seriously harm my family and friends… But Lance has helped me learn how to control them and use them to help others…… Also, don’t call me Queen. That’s my hero name, not my real one.”

“Well I ain’t exactly ready to know your real name and neither are you. So I’m gonna call you Queen for the time being, but that is impressive and you shouldn’t be afraid of your powers. Embrace them and you’ll be able to do a lot more good than you think.” Dyspo explained as he stood up and began to stretch his limbs.

“And I thought Lance told you my name when he first introduced us to you and Phantom… Geez, I wonder if your memory was affected alongside your body.” Stella chuckled.

“It isn’t my style to call a hero by their real name unless I’ve gotten to know them. It’s not that I’ve forgotten, I just choose to call you queen. That isn’t a problem is it?” He replied, finishing his stretches and began to make his way out the training room with Stella following after.

“Nah… Though, at QUILL, everyone here is like a small family. So, we address each other by our real names here while we use our hero names in the field. Besides, you haven’t even met everyone yet.” She smirked.

“Well don’t get your hopes up… I’m just staying here until Commander Shepard and the Masked Killer is caught. Once that job is done, I’ll be heading out to Baltimare to find out who those two were working for… So for now I’m gonna call you by your hero name.” Dyspo explained. “Also I talked with the detective and he’s alright with my decision.”

“Alright then… though, the detective does want you to make sure to behave yourself,” The pegasus said as she passed him on the way out. “His daughter’s part of QUILL too, you know.”

“Well I ain’t gonna cause any problems for any of you.” He commented.

“Sure… I wonder what Aurora will think of you when you meet her.” Stella chuckled, trotting over to the center of the room and sitting down for a moment. All that as Lance came out of his room in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt as he noticed both of them.

“Good morning you too…” He replied, before turning to face Dyspo and noticing that he seemed tired out. “Looks like Stella gave you a workout now, didn’t she?”

“Yeah she did… But I think it was worth it. I’m getting the hand of using my speed more. Who knows, I could be faster than the Flash someday.” Dyspo joked as he took a seat beside Lance. “But enough about me… So when do you plan to do on your little date with that griffon?”

“You mean tonight? I’m still going. I’m just waiting on her in order to tell me where,” The Adept replied. “We traded contact information with one another so we could stay in communication with each other. In the meantime though, I’m planning on making sure that everything here is good on this end before I head off anywhere.”

“You know… It’s usually the guys job to plan the date out or both parties plan it out. Not the other way around.” He replied as he picked up an empty glass and noticed the Orange juice across the table and reached for it, only for Stella to grab it first and pour herself a glass.

“True… and I did tell her that, but she insisted anyways,” He replied back, before getting a ring on his phone. “And now we got a location. Everything’s all set.”

“Good, try not to screw up on your date, I could tell that girl has it bad for you… Especially after finding out about her collection of you.” He whispered that last bit only for Stella to hear and giggle.

Lance was going to ask about the last part, but Dyspo soon picked up the phone and was on call. “Hello…? Hi Detective… Uh hunh…… You’re serious? And this was where? At the Wonderbolts stadium? The Phantom and I will be there as soon as we can.”

“Um… what was that all about?” The adept asked once Dyspo was off the phone. “Did the detective find out anything?”

“Yes, it’s those two… They’re back and were spotted by the Wonderbolt Stadium downtown. The Phantom and I can take care of them, but as for you Gunvolt… Your staying here to prepare.” Dyspo said.

“You forgot about the date.” The adept deadpanned.

“That’s what I meant dumbass!” Dyspo said, giving him the same expression. “I said to prepare as in ‘Prepare for your date’, duh!”

“I originally thought you meant something else. My apologies…” He replied back to him. “Besides, I was going to change clothes in an hour anyways… though, I do hope that you two aren’t doing anything too crazy……”

“Lance… would you care to clarify what you mean by that?” Stella asked. Which, caused the Adept to sigh.

“Gabby wants us to go to a restaurant… the only thing is that it’s actually in the downtown area and a few blocks away from Wonderbolt Stadium.” He explained now. “And the last thing I think either of us would want is for a clash between heroes and villains to crash the place.”

“This is why you should have been the one planning instead of her. Look, here’s what your gonna do. You will take her to this restaurant… It’s called-”

“I don’t need you to give me dating advice, idiot…” Lance groaned. “Just… let me take care of my thing and I’ll leave you and Phantom to do yours. If anything goes sideways, my team will contact me.”

“That wasn’t a dating tip… That was for you to take her somewhere far from the action. Take her to this restaurant… They know how to make fancy foods and stuff.” Dyspo deadpanned before turning over to Stella. “So Queen, do you want to help us with these maniacs? Or do you prefer sitting behind the scenes and watching everything go down?”

“Well… based on what I heard Lance say, I believe that QUILL’s going to be on standby and if anything comes up, we notify him immediately,” Stella replied back. “Hell… I like patrolling around, but I’ve been kicking so many flanks and destroying the stashes of many drug dealers that I feel like I need a break.”

“Alright then… Guess it’s just me and the Phantom.”

That was when a thought crossed Lance’s mind as he looked back at Dyspo. “Just out of curiosity… Did Detective Whooves ever tell you that he had a daughter?”

“I’ve heard of her a few times, though I never met her. There was this one time I thought I’d met her, but then the Mane-iac came into town. Wrecked town hall… twice now, and you know… Gets on my nerves. So no I haven’t met her.” Dyspo replied.

“Just thought I would ask. If everything's going well with her current assignment, she might be back here tonight… If you do come back here and meet her… Well, you’ll be in for a surprise.” That was followed by Lance going in his room to change for his date, leaving a confused Dyspo to stare back at Stella as she just shrugged her shoulders.

“Okay then… Anyways, the Phantom should be here in a few minutes, but before that, I figured I’d at least go over the plan with some of you here, but it looks like it’s just you.”

“Uh, was there supposed to be a memo?” Asked a mare with a dark cyan coat and light green mane wearing a nurse’s traditional garb.

“We did all agree to meet here to plan how to get Shepard to confess everything.” Dyspo answered, but sighed anyways.

“Well Firearm and Flash Freeze have been on leave, Esper’s meditating in her room, Sting’s fixing Aurora’s terminal and Vixen’s asleep…” The mare said timidly.

Taking a deep breath, he simply sat down in the chair. “So much for planning… Oh well, I guess since your the only one here… You can fill everyone else in when they get back.”

“I can go get Esper quickly.” The nurse said in response. “She’d be the first one here and is kind of Lance’s left… hoof?”

“Alright, go ahead, I’ll be here waiting.” Dyspo replied as he grabbed his empty glass from before and reached over for the orange juice again, but Stella once again picked up, but this time however poured for him before taking off to find her friend. It wasn’t long before a pink mare wearing a white hooded cape over a greyish fur tight suit that covered most of her lower body. Her face’s left half was covered by a white mask while the left had nothing blocking it, as if proudly showing off the large scar that adorned her right half.

“Esper, reporting for duty.” She said in a calm, professional yet distant manner.

“So you’re Esper? It’s nice to meet you… Anyways now that we at least have three of us here. We can start planning how to get that bastard to confess his crimes for the murders.” Dyspo said. “Any suggestions?”

“I’m a trained telepath. I could either extract the information or intimidate him with personal things so he’ll give an outward confession.” Esper replied, straight and to the point.

“Well I doubt that would work on him… He’s usually calm and collected and not to mention is skilled interrogation. It would be pretty hard to get him to confess, but if you are a telepath, then extracting all the evidence we need from him could work.”

“It might be possible that both him and the Masked Killer guy aren’t working alone, so maybe get some information on who they’re working with or if they have some kind of boss?” Stella suggested to them.

“I’ve been a cop before. I know what to ask his head.” Esper sighed, scratching her scar with a hoof. “It’s been awhile since I outright took information, so it’ll be fun.”

“Really? I didn’t think you were a cop?” Dyspo asked, taking a sip from his glass of orange juice.

“My father’s a detective, so when Lance offered me a chance to redeem myself, I took it and joined him for a month before quitting and joining QUILL. It was a good learning experience, plus I got to spend time with my parents.” Hearing that… almost caused Dyspo to spill his glass. Especially at one… important part that she said.

“Wait… You mean to tell me… Your the detective’s daughter?!” He shouted, slamming his hand on the table as his glass fell off. Esper’s hidden horn lit up and caught the glass.

Esper gave Dyspo an annoyed look as she set the glass back on the table while the nurse tried to clean up the mess. “Yeah, so what? They only have the same blood as me...”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know… Please don’t tell him about me being rude?” He begged. Just as Lance happened to walk out in more formal clothes.

“Oh hello Esper… I see that you met your father’s partner on the force…”

“Dear Celestia…” Esper groaned. “You know, I’d like to have at least a little secret identity… Would you quit spouting out things that could give me away?”

“Again I’m sorry.” Dyspo replied, not acknowledging the adept behind him. “I didn’t think I’d be meeting my partner’s daughter like this is all.”

“Can we focus on the plan? What happens after we get the info?” Esper asked, prompting Lance to leave them alone and let them continue their conversation.

“Ah, right… Anyways about your abilities, will you be able to use them from here or do you have to be close to them to extract the information from them? Or is your abilities different from what I’m thinking of.” He asked as he sat back down and waited for Esper’s response.

“I have to see my target.” She replied.

“Alright… Well there, anything else I need to know?” Dyspo asked.

“Maybe you should tell Esper where they might be…” Stella advised him. “That way she could find some kind of tactical advantage?”

“Well all we know is that they were spotted at the old Wonderbolt stadium. That’s as much as your father knows right now… But I think that they’ll know that we’re coming, but what they won’t expect is you there Esper… The Phantom and I will incapacitate them and you will extract all the information from them.” Dyspo explained to them, just as the phone began to ring once again. “Hello?”

“Dyspo, we need to head out now... We’ve got a couple of criminals to catch.” The Phantom responded.

“Looks like that’s our que!”
> Act I: Farewell, Until We Meet Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act I: Farewell, Until We Meet Again

After everything she’s been through, Katy will finally be able to bring Shepard in. Nothing was going to stop her now. Not the power ponies, not the police and not even Gunvolt would get in the way of this one. Even with Dyspo here, there was no way that he or the Adept for that matter were going to mess with him this time. Besides, despite how annoying it was still in her head, there was a particular reason why the Adept was not going to be there.

He had a date scheduled tonight with Gabby… her roommate and the one person Katy knew that, despite being good friends with her, could not shut up about him. ‘After months of searching, fighting, I’ll finally be able to bring Shepard in with no one getting in the way this time.’ She thought to herself as she began to make her way over to the stadium with Dyspo, and Stella following behind.

“This should be the place… but I have a feeling that we’re walking right into a trap.” Dyspo said as Esper rolled her eyes at the officer.

“Come on, they have no idea we are here,” Stella whispered to him. “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“Listen everypony… These two are a lot of trouble, so if we’re gonna take them down, then we need to work together and take them down. Since Esper had to take care of family matters, she won’t be able to help us now. So Stella, you’ll be our backup for this fight and if something goes wrong, you’ll jump in.” Katy explained, before wondering. “So what can you do again?”

“Well, my power is Neon and Energy Manipulation, meaning that I can take the energy from Neon Signs and redirect it as energy blasts. I can also put energy into objects that turn them into a bomb,” Stella replied. “If you have me be up top, I can pin him down in case he tries to flee. I know that the stadium has an old neon sign that still works.”

“It’ll be fine… We just have to make sure we don’t cause too much damage, there will be a music show starting tomorrow night. Last thing we want is for another murder to happen then.” Katy said as the four began to make there way inside for a final showdown with their enemies.

“Lance taught me how to use my powers to capture criminals, not kill. The same goes with my powers,” Stella replied, before giving an example as she wrapped what looked like a loop of Neon Light around Dyspo and kept him there. Reminding Katy of the ‘Galactic Donut’ move Gotenks had in Dragon Ball Z. “For example, I can do that and they could not be able to break it.”

“HEY! THIS ISN’T THE TIME FOR SHOWING OFF!” He shouted.

“Quit being a pansy. It’s only a demonstration,” She groaned, before letting Dyspo loose. “There. Better now?”

“Hehehe, you should have seen the look on your face!” Katy laughed. All that did was cause Dyspo to roll his eyes before looking back at her.

“You had the chance to get that out of your system now?” He asked, brushing the dust off of his shoulders. The two ladies then nodded as the continued to enter inside the stadium, but Katy wondered how Lance was handling his own little psycho?





Meanwhile

Lance was expecting to go to a dinner like Gabby had told him, but what he wasn’t expecting was to go to a water park, the young griffon had thrown him off. To which seemed a little awkward… and not really convenient because water was the one thing that didn’t really go so well with his powers. If he attempted to use them either when wet or in water, the electricity would short circuit and hurt him in the process.

Of course, it was all entirely possible that Gabby didn’t really know that at the time. So all he could do was enjoy the time that they were there. After all, he didn’t want to seem like a downer to the one griffon that was literally his biggest fan. “So do you want to go on the water slide Lance?”

“Sure,” He replied, walking up to the top with her and going down the slide first, before waiting at the bottom for Gabby to come on down and before he knew it, the happy griffon came sliding down faster than he thought before she crashed into him.

“Thanks for catching me Lance!” She said with a sheepish grin as she sat on top of him before realizing that he was underwater and quickly hopped off him. “Oh! Celestia I am soooo sorry Lance!”

That had the Adept get up as quick as possible as he was looking back at her. “Sorry about what? It’s been a long time since I’ve last had the chance to be at a waterpark like this. I’m enjoying it a lot.”

“Really? Even after I almost drowned you?” She couldn’t believe what he was saying, but she couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Your crazy… But I like crazy.”

“Heh… I’m just doing what I can to make you happy.” He replied back to her, smiling a bit. “What would you like to do next?”

Before she could respond, her stomach began to growl, causing her to blush. “Maybe we can get something to eat.”

“Alright, what do you suggest?” He said as he got out and dried himself off with a towel. “I’ll pay for it. Just tell me what you had in mind.”

“Well I think there’s a confession stand over there? I think the special was….A Hayburger or something like that?” She said, unsure of what it was as she rubbed the back of her head. “I’m… Fine with whatever your getting?”

“Don’t you mean concession?” Lance asked, noticing how Gabby phrased that last statement rather oddly. Before realizing what she had just said.

“CONCESSION!! I meant concession stand.” She said sheepishly, trying to hide her blushing face.

“Geez, it’s fine. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes,” He chuckled, before looking to her and smiling. “But yes, let’s go see what they have.”

As the two began to make their way over to the concession stand, Gabby locked onto Lance’s arm and had a sheepish grin on her face although the adept wasn’t used to this kind of attention from the griffon, but before he could say anything, the two had already arrived where a brown stallion in a black and white polo shirt smiled and greeted the two. “Hello, how may I help you two lovebirds?”

“Well… we were kind of hungry and were wondering what kind of food you had here.” Lance told her, while also looking back at Gabby. “Anything you would like to add to that?”

“Well, you can always have potato chips, some ice cold sodas, ice cream, or even fried fish.” The stallion said with a grin as he turned one of the fishes over the grill.

Lance grimaced at the fish part… and the smell of it for a moment, before looking back at the stallion. “I’ll just have a cola please.”

“Oh, can I have some chips please?” Gabby added and the stallion happily handed them their food and drinks.

“The drinks are on the house… just for you two lovebirds.” He said with a grin, waving to them goodbye. Lance himself, just focused more on Gabby as he cracked open his drink. Wondering if she needed any help with getting the chips open or help with her drink.

“Would you like any help with that, Gabby?” He offered.

“Sure thanks.” She handed him the bag, giving him a smile. Lance carefully placed his hands on either side of the bag and slowly opened it for her. He did not want to have it go too fast to where chips would be flying everywhere, but just open it up for her so it could be easy for Gabby to use her claws.

“There you go.” The adept told her as he handed the bag back to her.

The two soon sat back down and began to drink their cola’s. It was a bit awkward now that they weren’t doing anything and even though Gabby had offered some of her chips to break the awkward silence, it didn’t do much. But still, Lance liked the kind gesture and helped himself to one. Just one though, because he did not want to take away too many from her and leave her with nothing. After all, he was only thirsty, not hungry.

“So… Were you really stalking Katy?” She asked, not knowing what else to ask, making Lance choke on some of his cola before spitting it out.

“W-what? No!” He told her in response, trying to clear out his throat first. “If you were referring to what happened at town hall, I was not stalking her.”

“Well… Katy told me you were some kind of a pervert and that you’ve been following her. But I don’t think that’s true.” She replied, before hesitating and taking a step back. “Or your trying to trick me?!”

“I’m not a pervert…” Lance told her. “It’s… complica-”

“Hahahaha! I’m just kidding… You don’t have to be mean.” She replied, giggling still. “I just wanted to play a little joke. She must have gotten under your skin if you were affected that much by being called that.”

“The whole thing for me is a rather… complex story,” He said to her in return. “But in all the instances that I have run into her, all I wanted to do was help her. Not where I would come to swoop in and save the day like the power ponies, but help her be aware of what was going on and she could be the hero… Of course, that was the original point of what happened at town hall… until Masked Matterhorn and her friends messed it all up.”

“Well… sometimes things don’t always go as planned.”

“That… is rather true,” He admitted, before looking back at her. “There are many times where things don’t go the way you want them too, no matter how many times you prepare for it. But then there are times where things don’t originally go the way you want them too, but later on, things get better… and I really think that things are going to get better for Katy.”

“I’m glad your seeing it that way. I’m sure Katy is doing fine.” Gabby said as she pecked Lance on his cheek.




Back at the Stadium

“THINGS ARE NOT FINE RIGHT NOW!!!!” Katy shouted as Shepard continued to fire off rounds from a large minigun in her direction as she tried to fire back with her pistol, but it was like the bullets wouldn’t stop coming. Meanwhile Stella and Dyspo were being tossed around like ragdolls by the Masked Killer Saiyan.

“Stella… Great plan! ‘Let’s take out the masked guy while Katy handles Shepard’ Well how’s that working for ya huh?!” Dyspo shouted as he carried the pony to cover before the Masked Saiyan fired a large sphere of ki in their direction.

“Hey, I was doing this based on your judgement. You said you wanted to handle Shepard yourself!” Stella snapped, firing a massive laser towards the masked saiyan as it grazed the side of his mask. “I got an idea though… You got any big sized bricks over there?”

“There is literally bricks everywhere, you idiot! They are literally blowing everything up!!” Dyspo argued as he picked up a broken brick off the ground before a bullet shattered it and Dyspo push Stella to the ground as bullets and beams of energy flew over them. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” She said. Dyspo watched as, upon her feathers touching the brick, it began to glow a bright orange color. Much to their surprise. “I’m going to give you a signal when I throw this. On my signal, shoot it with the most powerful ammo you got.”

“What? Why?” Dyspo ask, before getting slapped by Stella.

“My powers aren’t just neon beams, you idiot,” Stella snapped. “If I use my powers through my feathers, I can turn them into explosives. Just trust me! I know what I’m doing!!” With the amount of strength that she had, she threw the brick to the point where it was coming from a direction that Shepard himself did not anticipate. His blind spot.

“Now!!!” Dyspo then fired off a blast of ki towards the brick, causing it to ignite in flames on impact. But parts of the brick also happened to break the release valve of a fire extinguisher that was once on the wall. Causing a thick cloud of white smoke to fill the room and render Shepard’s vision.

“Katy, now’s your chance!” Stella shouted before redirecting her attention to the masked saiyan who held Dyspo by his throat and hurled him towards the elevator. Beating the officer into the doors, but this bought Katy the only chance she had to take down Shepard, activating her mask’s X-ray vision, she spotted Shepard trying to get his bearings, she charged at him, firing off multiple shots at the the commander’s arms and legs before leaping into the air and roundhouse kicking him in the face and slammed his head against the metal bars.

“I’m not letting you get away this time!” She shouted, pulling out a pair of cuffs and locked both his arms behind his back. Just as she was about to help Dyspo and Stella, the Masked Saiyan held the pegasus from her throat and before Katy could do anything, Dyspo appeared behind him and fired a massive beam of energy, sending the Masked Saiyan flying out of the stadium before the officer caught Stella in his arms.

“T-thanks…” Stella coughed.

“N-No… problem.” Dyspo replied as he sat down on the ground with Stella still in his arms and Katy couldn’t help but smirk at the two.

“So… you two gonna kiss or what?” She said slyly. All before Stella glared at Dyspo, a sign to let her go, which he gladly did as he glared back at the pony.

“As if! I only saved her! That doesn’t mean anything, it’s just part of the job.” He said folding his arms after pushing her off him.

“Besides, even though we’re good partners, he’s not my type,” Stella sighed. “Don’t we still have that masked freak to deal with though?”

“First off, you aren’t my type either, nerd! Second, the guy is definitely still alive, but that blast should have knocked him out cold. He should be somewhere outside the stadium so we don’t have to look too far.” He explained, getting up to dust himself off.

“If that’s the case, are we done here? Because if we get both of them, we could call the cops and have these two locked up in the Zero Zone…” Stella said, looking to Katy for a moment. “What’s your call here?”

“Let’s look for that guy first and get him restrained as well. Then we can call the cops.” Katy said before lifting Shepard up on his feet and making their way out. “So Stella, is there someone special in your life?” Katy asked, trying to make a conversation to break the silence.

“No…” She said, before cautiously turning around. “But… something’s not right…”

“What do you mean?” Dyspo asked.

“It’s just… It feels like there’s somepony else in the room…” Stella told them, the fur on the back of her neck beginning to stand up.

“Well I don’t think so… I’m not sensing anyone else's energy and Shepard is out col-” But before the officer could finish his sentence, something grabbed hold of his ears and threw him against the wall. Katy turned around as fast as she could to see who was attacking, only to be met by a black boot to the face.

Stella herself, flew backwards to try and avoid getting hit while also trying to catch Katy as she was thrown backwards. “Hey! Who are you?!” She snapped, one of her hooves glowing with energy as it pointed in the direction of where the attacker was from, but was soon lifted off the ground and slammed against Katy’s head, knocking the pegasus unconscious while also having Katy become disorientated.

As Katy tried to focus, she saw a woman who wore a black top and white baggy pants and black boots. Her skin was completely pink and she had long messy pink hair… and right now, she had grabbed Shepard and lifted him off the ground. “Sorry Shepard hunny, but I can’t tolerate anymore failures from you or Bardock… But if it helps, you’re gonna be tasty candy!”

“P-Please just give me-” But before Katy’s very eyes, Commander Shepard slowly began to transform into what looked like a donut… And the women in front of her began to scarf him down like he was a snack.

“Mmm… Tasty… I’d say that was about a sixty. I wonder if Mira is having any trouble with Bardock?”

“W-What are you?” Katy asked as she struggled to get up.

“Oh, the Phantom right? Well as much as I want to eat you… your not ripe yet. But don’t worry we’ll meet again soon, bye.” She said, placing two fingers against her forehead and vanishing from her sight.

“K-Katy… I… I can’t feel my arm.” Dyspo stuttered and when Katy turned towards him, she saw blood leaking from the officers head and his arm was twisted.

“Oh, man! Stella… You have to get up!” She shouted, shaking the pegasus, but she wouldn’t budge and just as Katy was about to go look for help, she spotted something next to her friend. It was what looked like a small device the size of a bit, but it had a small glowing center as Katy placed her finger on it.

When she pushed down on it though, that’s when she heard a voice. “Hello? Stella? Stella, do you copy? Is anypony there?!” The voice was that of Lumen. Someone that she had met once or twice before in previous incidents. “Stella, please don’t tell you accidentally turned on your emergency beacon-.”

“It’s you!”

“Wait… Katy? How the hay did you get your hands on Stella’s beacon?” She then asked. “Nevermind that, what happened? We thought you, Dyspo and Stella went dark once you went on that one mission of yours-”

“Look… I’ll explain later, just send help, Dyspo and Stella are injured and in need of medical attention!” Katy shouted towards the Breezy.

“Okay, okay, calm down already… I’m sending Vixen and Detective Whooves your way right now. They’re going to have medical personnel with them too…” Lumen then told her. “I’ll stay with you on the line until they arrive.”

“Thank you…”




Eventually, both Vixen and Detective Hooves were able to arrive quickly and with medical staff on hand in order to help with their injuries. Katy’s injuries and Stella’s were very minimal… however, the one with the most serious ones were Dyspo. He suffered head trauma from the attack by that pink assailant that also broke his right arm, meaning that he would have to spend weeks to possibly months in recovery before he could be out in the field again.

And it was something that he wasn’t exactly thrilled with. “Just great… After all of my hard work… I’m now suspended from the police force until I get well. Just great.” Dyspo said with his arms crossed as he looked over to where Stella was resting.

“It’s called medical leave for a reason…” Vixen replied back to him, who was standing at the other side of the room by the doors. “We healed most of the major injuries, but there is no quick fix to the kind of injuries that you received and your bones need to heal. But if you overdo it and stress your muscles again, you’ll get right back to square one.”

“Thanks for filling me in for like the fifth time now…” Dyspo replied as he placed his hand on his head.

“You kept on bringing it up with the doctors were here. They were the ones that were telling you,” She then told him as Detective Whooves now trotted into the room and stood right next to her. “Besides… I’m just glad that we got to the three of you in time before things got any worse.”

“I know Vixen… I know… Hello Detective.” Dyspo said.

“Hello Dyspo,” the stallion replied back to him before looking around. “I’m glad to see that you’re still okay…” She then looked to Stella, who was on bed across from Dyspo. “So… should I ask what happened? Or is it a little too soon to ask?”

“Let me get back to you on that when I’m out of the hospital… But you can ask-” Dyspo began to look around the room. “Where’s the Phantom?”

“That’s… the problem…” Vixen sighed. “After the doctors checked her out and said there were barely any injuries, she bailed out and ran off before we could ask her about what happened. We were hoping that either you or Stella could help given how she just ran off.”

“Well Stella is out cold… And Seeing how I’m not on duty for the next few weeks, I ain’t of much help now am I?” Dyspo retorted but before the detective could say anything, the doctor had entered the room.

“I’m very sorry detective, but I’m gonna have to ask you and Miss Vixen to leave so my patients can rest?” She asked.

“Really? I thought we still had a few more minutes,” Vixen then asked. “Are visiting hours over already?”

“I’m afraid so… Now not to sound rude, but off with you. These two need as much rest as possible. You can visit them tomorrow around the same time.” She said, opening the door and leading the two ponies out. Even though it sounded odd, Vixen and Detective Whooves complied with what the doctor had requested of them. Stepping out of the room and leaving Dyspo and Stella to recover.

Meanwhile, back at QUILL, Katy sat across from both Gabby and Lance. “I can’t believe that not only did I fail to save anyone, but I couldn’t even capture the one responsible… And he got eaten.”

“But you’re still alive… and thanks to you calling Lumen when you did, she was able to send emergency help,” Lance told her in response, before thinking of something. “Did you at least see who did it?”

“It was a women with pink skin… but I doubt she was on any of the records here in Maretropolis.” Katy explained.

“Still, is Stella gonna be okay?” Gabby asked.

“According to what I heard from Vixen, she’s just unconscious right now,” Lumen then spoke up. “It would take a lot more than that to try and seriously hurt her. She’s a fighter.”

“Still… As much fun as it was to stay here with you Lance, Gabby, but I have to go after her. Now that I know she’s a part of this, I can go after her and put a stop to all of this… And with The Masked Saiyan still on the loose, I’m gonna need help from one of my friends.” Katy said as she got up from her seat. “Gabby… Make sure to keep this pervert out of trouble for me…”

“Don’t worry Katy, I’ll keep him in line.” She replied, giggling as Lance just sighed and placed his hand over his forehead.

Not before he asked a question. “Do you know where you’re going to go? I mean… this woman can be anywhere. Where do you even start?”

“Right now, I need to get in contact with one of my few friends I have here. The only one who might be able to her.” Katy said as she began to walk out the door. “I’ll still be in town for at least one week… So I can at least say goodbye to Stella and Dyspo properly.”

“Hey, Katy… Why don’t you take them with you? I mean, your gonna need help aren’t you?” Gabby asked.

“I can have Stella join you… it just depends on where your planning on going,” The Adept then added. “Dyspo might still need time to recover first with his injuries… But I can let Stella join you. She’s been wanting to get the chance to help others out more and I think helping you is a step in the right direction.”

“Thanks Lance… Makes me almost want to hug you… almost.” Katy replied before bonking him on the head. “Your still a pervert though and I don’t know what Gabby see’s in you.”

“Where will you go Katy?” Gabby asked.

“To Baltimare.” She replied.

That… had Lance blink a little for a moment, before letting out a sigh. “Okay… just be careful out there. That’s Stella’s home town… and she doesn’t exactly have a lot of good memories from there.”

“Don’t worry… I know Baltimare has a bad criminal background and a lot of terrible incidents have happened there, but we’ll be fine. Anyways, Gabby want to help me pack?” Katy asked.

“Oh, sure… Sorry Lance, but I better get going. Dinner tonight at your place?” She asked, kissing his cheek.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He smiled, kissing her back as Gabby returned to Katy’s side. Once the two had left the building, Katy couldn’t help but gag at the sight that was now stuck in her head.

“I can’t believe you’re actually even considering dating that pervert.” Katy said as she made gagging sounds while Gabby rolled her eyes and laughed.

“Hey, he’s not entirely perverted as you may think… And besides it’s not like he’ll be after you. I mean once we officially start dating he won’t be able to keep his hands off me.” Gabby reassured her friend, but Katy couldn’t help but laugh at her delusion.

“If you say so… Still he keeps comparing me to some ghost from his past. Don’t you think that’s a little weird?” Katy asked.

“Don’t worry, he’ll get over it. But on a side note, how are Dyspo and Stella getting along?” Gabby asked.

“They act like they hate each other, but if you ask me, I think they like each other.” Katy replied as Gabby awed as the two continued to make their way back towards Gabby’s apartment. “Seriously, after Dyspo saved Stella, they held onto each other until I brought it.”

“What did Stella say?” Gabby then asked her.

“She said he wasn’t her type and Dyspo called her nerd.” Katy replied as the two entered the apartment and continued to gossip about Dyspo and Stella. All while Gabby prepared Katy for the journey that she was about to take.




One Week Later

“I’m honestly surprised that you actually wanted me to come along with you on this,” The pegasus named Stella replied to Katy as she was walking to her. “Or for that matter, Lance actually allowed it. I thought he would need my help back in Maretropolis but… guess I was wrong.”

“Lance will be fine… Besides Gabby will be filling in for you for the time being, at least until we catch that woman.” Katy replied as she was now wearing a brand new suit.





“So you replace the explosive adept with the fan griffon?” Stella asked, raising an eyebrow. “I kind of fail to see how that is a good substitute… But I was surprised about you wanting me around for a different reason.”

“Well, for one thing, I’m gonna need all the help I can get, which is why I also invited Dyspo.” Katy replied as she opened the door to her apartment to find Dyspo with a cast over his arm and bandages around his head.

“It’s about time you got back, was beginning to think you actually left without me.” Dyspo replied as he approached the two. “You’re gonna need some speed on your side, other than brains.”

“Really? Because I thought you were supposed to be the pet mascot, I was the town guide and Katy was running a solo op.” Stella replied sarcastically. “Baltimare is my hometown, doofus.”

“Very funny… *Cough* Nerd *Cough*.” Dyspo replied before coughing and Katy couldn’t help but smile at the interaction between her two new friends. Even though she wasn’t quite used to interacting with people, she felt comfortable around these two.

“Alright… Looks like we’re going to Baltimare!” Katy cheered as the trio followed her out the door and made their way towards the train station to find answers about who the women was and how she was involved with the murders, but what they don’t know is that they were now apart of something much bigger than they realized.


End of Book I