Chapters Running, Gambling, and Moonwalking
Author's Note
Okay, so let us continue! Now first thing I want to note, in the first chapter, I wanted to clarify you guys, Moon Dancer is not dead, and the masked person... the mask was stolen, I wanted to make that clear. I felt like I may have confused some of you guys
Anyways, I do hope you'll enjoy it! Special thanks to Scholary-Cimmerian for suggestions and ideas for this chapter.
Running, Gambling, and Moonwalking
The next morning came much faster than the dead of night. A majority of the female prisoners escaped from the prison, which only made things worse for the police and security teams trying to contain them. They did manage to capture a few of them, but sadly the major criminals still got away.
In the prison, a few of the guards gathered in one of the main offices, staring down at several mugshots. All of which were the prisoners who had escaped. The head of the prison sat in the chair, facing at some of the mugshots. A cigar on the side of his mouth, with some visible smoke coming out of it.
"All of Canterlot's most wanted criminals, gone. Escaped. And with no explanation for how they got themselves freed..."
"Sir, we've been telling you, one of them multiplied!"
"That is physically impossible. We haven't reached the age of cloning humans," The chief snarked.
"Yeah, but sir, if three-headed sea monsters can come into town, then I say its a really likely chance that humans are able to do this!"
"You're off your rocker, Hotshot," The man said, slamming his fist into the table. "I want to know how they broke past our security, I want to know the strategy they used!"
"Sir. Look at the security footage."
"I've watched the footage back to back, you can't just tell me with a straight face that it was someone multiplying themselves!"
The two security guards stared at the superintendent with a straight face.
"Yes, we can. And luckily for you, we figured out who it was."
The man slapped a new mugshot onto the table. The superintendent looked down at the picture. A woman with yellow skin, orange eyes and short spiked up hair, almost like flames. She had a smirk on her face that made her look like she was up to no good. And those eyes? Those eyes were staring into your soul, looking as if they could kill you right this very second.
"No..."
"She's escaped. And she took a companion with her. And her companion stole a mask from another one of the prisoners."
Another mugshot was slapped down, which was just as scary as the first one. The superintendents eyes fell out of his head and gasped.
"... get all forces, get all security forces, military, SWAT, spies, everyone! Now !"
Downtown, in one of the streets of Canterlot, there was a large crowd of people in running clothes standing in front of a bright, white, and glaring line. As everyone waited for the race begin, the people began to stretch their limbs and muscles.
One man in particular was especially pumped for the race. He had been practicing for months now, getting his body into perfect shape. Plenty of training, the right nutrition, cardio, everything. And now he was ready. The man in his 30s was sporting a pair of black running shorts with a yellow tank top. His hair was spiked up, all straight up in its usual orange color. A media player was strapped to his side, and he had his headphones plugged in and ready to go.
"All racers, let us have a good clean race! Do not deviate from the path, or take any shortcuts, or you will be disqualified! No pushing, no shoving, no dirty play, none of that!"
Everyone acknowledged the man speaking with a few simple nods and murmurs of 'yes'. He moved himself off the track, allowing the racers to get into their starting positions. The man running the competition raised a gun up in the air, ready to fire it.
"On your marks... get set... GO !!!"
The gun fired a blank, and everyone was up and at them. The race was on, and everyone's feet moved on the road. Several people behind some of the fences and barricades, and on the sidewalks all cheered and whistled for them, watching them run on the track.
The man in the yellow tank top watched as everyone was starting to get ahead of him. He was falling behind, and they were getting farther and farther ahead. His breathing resembled a wild bull, and he snorted. He wasn't going to be beat. Not this time. He was going to win this race, and he was going to put his all into it! Breathing as hard as he could, he started to run faster. Sweat ran down his head and seeped into his tank top. He felt like an airplane on a runway, ready to take off. His feet picked up the pace, and he was darting straight towards the crowd.
A few of the people participating in the race just kept their heads forward and focused. They didn't even see the man trying to catch up with the rest of them. Especially the tiny bits of steam that was billowing from the top of his head.
"And #37, Sky Jack turns around the corner heading straight for the second leg of the race, followed by Stinger, Stallion, and what's that? " The announcer said. "It looks like Inferno is catching up! He's way behind, but he is moving! He's... he's smoking. Folks, I am not kidding right now, it looks like he's smoking something and its coming right off of him. "
Two adults looked behind them, seeing Inferno trying to catch up. The two of them just shrugged and looked ahead. But for a split second, their eyes bulged and they looked behind again. The announcer said he was steaming a bit, but it was nothing compared to what he was now. Inferno's arms looked like they were starting to catch on fire. Small flames were flying right past him as he ran.
"You're on fire!" One of the women yelled.
"Thanks girl! You too! Just keep on pushin'!"
"No, I'm serious, you're on fire!"
"I know!"
Inferno dodged right past them, some black smoke visibly passing right by the two adults. The two of them could only watch as he ran with fire spreading all around him.
30 Minutes Later
Two teenage girls were holding onto their legs, panting heavily. They had just crossed into the third leg, and they would be close to the finish line. All they would have to do is to push hard, and they would win the race.
"Hey Indigo... maybe... maybe we should... take a break..."
"We're almost there, Sugarcoat! We can do this! We're almost there, we just have to--that guy's on fire."
Sugarcoat panted, and she stood straight, wiping the heaping amount of sweat that collected on her forehead.
"You mean someone's finally catching up?"
"No, literally! That guy that's catching up is on fire!"
Sugarcoat turned her head and gasped. Running down the road, gunning for the finish line was Inferno. But it was hard to tell considering all they were seeing was an entire body engulfed in flames. As he ran past the two Shadowbolts, he screamed like he was in agony and pain as he dashed past them. The two of them just stared in complete and total shock at the man who ran.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The man pushed passed the plastic finish line marker, completely ignoring the people who were waiting and dived head first into the fountain that was spitting water everywhere. His body jumped and he flopped right into the water like a fish who wanted to go back into the sea.
The splash sent some water flying out of the fountain and hitting getting a few of the bystanders wet. Some of them were annoyed, but most of them were scared when they saw the man coming towards them, dressed ablaze.
Indigo Zap crawled across the finished line, pulling herself up to see Inferno who finally got himself up out of the water.
"Hey! Hey, you! You in the fountain!"
Inferno looked at the out of breath girl with goggles on her face.
"Are... are you okay?"
Inferno gasped and coughed as he was able to breathe, no longer being under the water.
"Y-Yeah!!!" Inferno cheered, raising his arms up. "WHOO!!! I was on fire, yo!"
Indigo chuckled a bit, before flopping down.
"So... did I win?"
The sounds of men cheering, yelling for victory, and coughing on food and cigarettes were the only sounds to be heard at Tapper's, one of Canterlot's finest pubs. The drinks were great, serving the needs of the many people in town, and it was also home to many great competitions and games. Most of them however were pandered for those who enjoyed some of the more finer games; poker, roulette, blackjack, you name it.
"Alright, so he's out, and ready to move onto the final. Kingpin, are you ready for your final challenger?"
"Who is this great gambler that you claim can beat me?"
"Me. "
Pulling the chair out, and sitting across was an 16-year-old boy with a rather wicked look in his eyes. Those yellow, cat-eyes stared blankly into Kingpin's soul, looking as if he had already planned to visit and send him to the gates of Tartarus. His hair was messy, like he hadn't showered in days. His yellow tank top was ragged and a little shredded, and there were some visible holes in the black fingerless gloves he wore on his hands.
"Who are you?"
The boy smirked, before taking a sip from a glass of water.
"The name... is Tox. I've played these games for a long time, and I'm no stranger to losing or winning. So. Ready to play, if you've got the guts?"
Kingpin chuckled. "Lets get this done, little boy."
"I've only got one rule for you, Kingpin." Tox stood up, placing his arms on the table, so he could tower over him. "Don't cheat. If I catch you cheating, or playing dirty... then you're going to be having a lot of problems. Understood?"
"Now why would I ever do that, little boy?"
Tox smirked. "I can see trouble in anyone's eyes. They think of they play dirty or try to sneak on by, that they will succeed. Well I'm here to say, it's not going to save your sorry butt. Now lets play."
An equal amount of cards were passed down to the two players at the table. All eyes centered on them, and the two glared at each other like they could kill one another.
"May the best man win, Kingpin."
"The honor will be mine."
The two grabbed their set of cards and held them together, looking at the deck they owned. The Kingpin looked up, and he paused for a moment. He could see the mirror right behind Tox. Not only that, but he could see the cards he had in his hands.
"So... have any fours?"
Tox's smirk went away and he growled. "You looked into the mirror."
"I don't know what you're saying--"
"--DON'T. LIE. Lying will not get you anywhere in this life, and you've just lost the entire round. You think because I'm a young boy that I am going to be duped by your deception?"
Kingpin didn't get a chance to speak for Tox slammed a knife into the table.
"I'll make this clear. I play fair, which means you should play fair too. I know when a man's cheating. I know all the signs, I know all the tricks..."
Tox slapped his deck of cards on the table, making Kingpin growl.
"Now you listen here, boy. I'm not leaving until I take that prize, now you're going to sit your sorry @#$ down, or I'm going to send some boys after you and your family!"
Everyone gasped, and he froze in place. He didn't realize what he had said until only a few seconds later. Now he looked as if he had real intent to murder this young teen.
"Okay, now, I didn't mean it like that everyone, it was only a joke. I say it to every person who tries to chicken out of a game. You understand, don't you?"
Tox chuckled with some retort. "Oh, I understand perfectly. And just who are you going to send to find my family? They're out on display in Nevada for everyone to see. But before I take my leave, I want you to come here for a brief second, Kingpin..." Tox smirked, standing up.
Kingpin slowly stood up, completely unaware of what Tox had planned.
"What?"
Tox's eyes emitted a soft glow of yellow, and he started laughing like a hyena. His breath was very visible, a puft of green escaping. A burst of green smoke emitted from his mouth, hitting Kingpin's face. A few seconds later, he collapsed onto the ground, completely knocked out. Some of his friends gasped when they saw him go down, and sneered at the teen.
"Run along boys. Because I'll just do it some more... only, I'll be spitting at you. And you don't want it."
Tox flipped his cards up in the air, letting them rain down on the unconscious man. He walked over him, slowly stepping towards the exit. He hawked up a little bit of drool, then stared at the other adults who were watching him leave. He grinned at them before wiping the spit on the side of the doorframe, and wiping some of it away from his chin. And as he left, the spit that was on the door frame began to sizzle and steam, melting away the wood and paint...
"Ma'am, I'll make this really easy for you. Just open the safe, hand over the cash, and no one gets hurt."
The woman behind the counter, along with the other people nearby all surrendered. Some got down on the ground, holding their hands over their heads. Some just kept hands up in the air. But either way, everyone was bracing themselves for possible gunshots.
"Now, now, lets talk this out... you don't have to do this..."
The robber fired a bullet up in the glass ceiling above him, making some glass shards fall and shatter on the ground.
"Do as I say... or things are going to get a lot worse."
"Ahem."
The robber turned around, pointing the gun at the teenage girl who broke the silence. Sitting on the edge of a chair, with a smirk on her face, was none other than Retro Girl AKA Amethyst Star.
"3rd time this week, hmm?" Amethyst asked. She jumped off from the chair, slowly approaching the man who still kept the gun pointed at her. "How's your transition coming? You know from worst heist planner, to worst bank robbery attempt ever?"
The robber rolled his eyes. "Ha. Ha. Ha. And what about you, don't you know mullets are dated? They don't work, and you certainly don't make them work."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't.
"Yes I do."
"No you don't.
"Yes I do."
"No you don't.
"Yes I do."
"That's it!"
The robber fired a bullet and Amethyst jolted her waist and hips to the left, avoiding the bullet shot. The robber shot again, and then she jolted herself to the right. After two failed attempts, the robber attempted to lunge forward and punch her in the face. She stepped back, and leapt over to the side, avoiding his attempt to tackle her to the ground.
"You know something? You suck as a robber. Taking you out is going to be a piece of cake."
Her hand tapped the media player on her side, and a poppy 80s sounding song began to play. She smirked, and stood in a fighting position. The robber stood back up and got ready to fight, only to feel the touch of hard plastic and metal slapping against his face. He looked back and glanced at the new weapons being used against him. Amethyst now held a few blank cassette tapes taped together, and held by some small chains.
Here comes Retro Girl! Mixing her tapes its Retro Girl! Fighting for justice and peace! Retro Girl!
She flung the hard tapes against the robber's face, flinging it like a ball and chain. She kept slapping it against his face, and readied for last attack; a kick in the robber's crotch. The man groaned from the pain and collapsed to the ground. Once he was out, she grabbed his gun keeping it away from him.
"You won't be robbing anything for some time. And for the record, I like the mullet despite how dated and ridiculous it looks."
Amethyst smirked and she listened to the sounds of everyone around her applauding and cheering for her.
"Oh, um, thanks, everyone?"
"No, thank you," the woman at the desk cheered. "You saved us. Retro Girl, was it?"
"Yep."
"H-How can we repay you?"
Amethyst just smirked, winking under her neon colored visor.
"Just know, much like the 1980s; the past never dies."
She performed a backflip over the down robber, and moonwalked back to the front doors of the bank. She smirked at the bank teller, all the while another song on her playlist played in her departure.
Take on me (take on me) Take me on (take on me)
She spun around in circles like a ballerina, without raising her leg up, dropping a Rubiks cube onto the ground just as she left. It didn't explode like her others, but the top part came off, and it flashed neon lights onto the ceiling like ones you would have at a disco party. And like a cloud of dust, Retro Girl, had left the building.
The end of the school day came, striking the 3:00 bell. Everyone rushed out to go home, excited to finally be out. Well, almost everyone was rushing out. Adagio and her sisters waited in the hallway, eagerly awaiting for the rest of their friends to come out and meet them. They leaned against some lockers right outside of the classroom where Trixie would be leaving. But the sudden panic and scream made Adagio a little worried.
"What do you mean I got a D!?" Trixie panicked.
The teacher was unfazed by her panic, but she did have a concerned look on her face.
"Trixie, you failed to answer some of the guidelines, and also, right at the bottom of your paper, there's a bit of drool. Because you fell asleep."
Trixie's head slumped down in embarrassment.
"Trixie, I'm not mad at you. But I am a bit worried. Ever since you and those friends of yours have been going into the public as superheroes, very bold and brave of course, but some of the teachers have started to become a little concerned. Lack of coordination, energy, sleep deprivation... Some of your friends have been found falling asleep in class."
"Oh... right..." Trixie frowned.
"Look, Trixie, I'm going to be honest with you. You're a terrific student here, but you need to get this grade up. I'll allow you to redo the assignment to get your mark up, but its due by next week. Understood?"
Trixie sighed, her head flopping in disappointment. "Yes ma'am..."
Grabbing her things, she walked out of the room with her head hung low. Utter shame filled her, as she left the classroom. Adagio was excited to see her, but then her smile faded away seeing Trixie's face.
"Trixie? Sweetness, what's wrong?" Adagio asked.
Trixie's head slammed into the locker next to Adagio.
"I can't do superhero work anymore..."
"What? What are you talking about?"
Trixie pulled her head back and looked at Adagio with a sad face. "I got a D on that assignment. I thought I could do it but... I guess I was more tired than I thought."
"But how? You're usually on top of things!"
"I thought so too, but... I don't know. I guess trying to pass high school and be a superhero at the same time really depletes a lot of your energy."
Trixie slammed her face against the locker again, groaning in frustration. Adagio's face only frowned from there after.
"Trixie?"
The bespectacled girl looked to the former siren who welcomed her with open arms.
"Need a hug?"
Trixie sniffled. "A hug would be nice..."
Adagio pulled her close, holding her in a warm embrace. She rubbed her hands on the little geek's back, holding her close. She heard Trixie's heavy breathing, as well as felt a few small tear drops stain the top of her siren's outfit.
"Shhhhh... shhh..."
Aria and Sonata frowned as Adagio held her girlfriend in a warm embrace. They couldn't imagine how she was feeling right now...
Adagio's face was nothing but sad ever since she and her sisters got off from school. Something inside of her snapped when she saw how disappointed and sad Trixie was to see that she had failed. Not after how hard she worked on that project. How could it have come to this? Was it all of their superhero work? Was it their activity outside of CHS to try and handle bigger problems?
"Dagi? You okay?" Sonata asked.
Adagio snapped out of her thoughts and looked to her younger siblings who looked at her with concern.
"Oh, I'm... I'm fine, I guess."
"You're upset about Trixie's failure, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am," Adagio groaned. "If I knew she wasn't doing well, then... oh, I wish I could have helped her," Adagio moaned.
Sonata opened up the door to the ice cream shop, and Adagio hung her head as she walked in.
"What you need is some ice cream, you need to turn that frown upside down," Sonata beamed.
"I don't think ice cream will help," Adagio sighed, holding her head as she sat in one of the seats over at the bar/counter.
"Ah, welcome girls!"
The sisters were greeted by the woman standing behind the counter. A woman in her early thirties with ice blue skin, white snow hair that was lively and hanging just above her shoulders, and crystal blue eyes. She had a friendly smile on her face as she looked at them.
"Hi."
"What's up?"
The woman grinned. "My name's Blizzard. I own this place. You want any ice cream, I'm the woman you need." She looked at Adagio and frowned. "And I think this young lady needs some ice cream. Bad day, I'm assuming?"
"Yep."
"Oh... well sweetheart, what's the matter?"
"I-I rather not talk about it," Adagio's head slammed into the counter, blocking her face from the manager's eyes.
Aria patted her shoulder and looked to Blizzard. "Her girlfriend tanked an assignment, and she's sad because she wish she could have helped her."
"Hmm, I see. Well I think I know just the thing to cheer you up. Perhaps a refreshing minty shake with some crushed up Oreos?"
Adagio whimpered a bit before slowly nodding. Blizzard smiled, patting her shoulder.
"One Oreo shake, coming right up! Anything for you two?"
"I'd like a hot fudge sundae, please!" Sonata smiled.
"Make that two."
"Coming right up!"
As Blizzard went away to get the drinks for the girls, Adagio held her face up with just her hand, staring deep into her reflection. She sighed with disappointment.
"Who knew being a superhero would be so hard?" Adagio said, shaking her head.
"I think everyone did," Sonata pointed out.
"But what can we do? We can't just give up doing superhero work, the public looks up to us. Everyone at CHS, included. We can't let them down..."
Aria rubbed her chin. "Should we let the public know that even we need breaks sometimes?"
"... You really think they would take that well?"
"Hey, you don't know that! Perhaps they're really understanding that not everyone can handle the responsibilities of being a superhero."
"You can't just drop a bombshell like that. It'd be like if we just walked out into the streets and screaming 'we're aliens!' Something like that isn't going to pass well..."
"Oh. Girls? Check it out, one of those supers," Blizzard said, pointing to the TV that was attached to the corner wall, playing the latest broadcast.
All three of their heads looked up to the TV, for the news report caught their eye. Amethyst dressed in her Retro Girl outfit was seen on a person's phone, dancing as she stepped out of the bank while Take On Me played in the background.
"Hey, its Am-ImeanRetroGirl! Retro Girl, yeah, that's the one!" Sonata stuttered.
Blizzard looked at Sonata with a confused look, and Sonata chuckled nervously before sinking into her seat.
"--Just this morning, we found Retro Girl stopping an attempted robbery over at the Canterlot Bank. Rest assured the man attempting to rob the bank has been arrested, and is going to jail. "
The four girls grinned as they watched the girls.
"And in other news, it seems like these girls aren't the only strange beings who live in this town. For later that day, many people spotted what appeared to be a man running through Canterlot's Chase For Charity, who had been completely engulfed by flames. "
The monitor flipped to some footage captured by watch towers who followed Inferno's tracks as he ran downtown while the fire still kept ablaze. He was a literal human torch, and a full on tracking signal for anyone passing by to take a look at him.
"32-year-old man, Inferno said he participated in the race, and was fully aware of the fact he was on fire as he ran through the course. All systems say he's perfectly healthy and fine, and with no damage whatsoever. "
All three of them blinked.
"A man who can withstand fire, without suffering any kind of injuries? Hmm... interesting..." Adagio grinned.
"Alright, the minty shake is done!" Blizzard smiled, sliding it down the counter to Adagio. Adagio felt the cup and frowned.
"Um, this isn't... cold ."
"Oh, geez, silly me. I forgot," Blizzard chuckled.
She grabbed the shake, holding it tight in her grasp. She turned around to keep Adagio from looking, prompting her to lean over to see what she was doing. What she didn't expect was what happened next. The minty shake in Blizzard's hand began to freeze up a little bit, the sound of ice forming on the cup. Adagio's pendent began to glow, and a twinkle of light reflected in her eyes.
"Here you go. I'll finish those fudge sundaes for you two."
Adagio gasped and looked at her sisters. "Did you feel that?"
Aria and Sonata blinked.
"Do you know what that was?"
The younger sisters shrugged.
"She has Equestrian magic! She froze that cup, she has powers!"
"But that's impossible, no one else could possess Equestrian Magic."
"Maybe before. But consider this. Before we even came to Canterlot High, there was already cracks in that statue, and magic was already escaping. Now because of our battle with Sunset Shimmer, the cracks grew bigger, and so it makes it look as if more magic has escaped. If she has powers because of Equestrian magic... and that man on TV who could withstand the fire..."
Aria and Sonata still had no clue. For a few seconds. In perfect unison, they realized what Adagio was talking about... and they didn't like it.
"I don't know..." Sonata said, rubbing her head.
"This is a dumb idea."
"How is it a dumb idea? Its rather simple. We find special people out there like him and..." Adagio looked to see Blizzard was listening in, "you-know-who, we train them, we make them superheroes, the public now has new supers who can help them while the girls can calm down and try to stay focused in school."
Aria raised a brow and tapped her fingers on the counter. "We're going to hire superheroes, so we can basically, take a vacation?"
"Well, that's one way to look at it," Adagio grinned. "So? What do you say?"
"I like it!" Sonata beamed.
"Well... if it means keeping everyone sane, then I suppose we should give it a shot."
"Exactly. After all, heroes need to take a break, you know."
Aria and Sonata nodded.
"Then its settled. Tomorrow, we'll send out a want ad, we'll enlist the best of the best. Find those with Equestrian Magic, we let them in. We're going to form a super duper group, and nothing's going to stop us!"
Sonata looked back up at the TV and her eyes bulged. "Oh, Adagio? You may want to see this."
All their eyes diverted back to the TV, as a new report came onto the news.
"--And in other important news, Canterlot City is on one giant city-wide alert for just last night, at 2 AM, a breakout transpired at Canterlot's Female Ward. Security teams reported that one of the women had multiplied, if you can believe, while another had taken control of some of the guards. A majority of prisoners have escaped, including former members of the Wonderbolt military-- "
Mugshots displayed of a few angry women who looked like they had some sunglasses hanging around their necks, all looking to the viewer with intent of death. Then after, some more mugshots appeared on screen, this time showing some males as well.
"--not to mention their leader, the most wanted criminal in Canterlot... Spitfire. "
A mugshot of the gang leader now came on screen, who had a charismatic smirk on her face. She looked as charismatic and seductive as Adagio, only with much less ravishing features than Adagio.
"If you're walking in Canterlot's streets and you see her, report her immediately. And keep a look out for many of her companions; including the dangerous Fleetfoot... "
Adagio and her friends felt their souls drop. Now they needed to put a new team together more than ever.
Author's Note
And so it begins.
8:00 PM
Only a single light hung from the ceiling in the small room. The sound of a person sipping tea could be heard, along with the small clink of the glass sitting back onto the small plate it sat on. A pair of of orange eyes narrowed to the woman standing before her, a woman who was cowering in fear.
"You... are more of a coward than that traitorous Wind Rider," her voice whispered. "Do you have any notion, of the times you've spent in fear, cowering from the heat of the battle? Saddle Arabia, Yakyakistan, Klugetown..."
The woman gulped. "F-Forgive me, Spitfire. I-I was just putting together a plan that--"
"--A plan that would guarantee your own survival at the cost of your brothers and sisters," Spitfire interrupted, blowing the steam away from her tea.
The woman who stood next to Spitfire's side grumbled. She crossed her arms, showing her bare blue skin. Only a pair of spandex shorts, a white tank top, and a pair of dog tags hung around her neck. Her face was all but concealed away. She still wore the skintight mask on her head, hiding her face.
"Let us kill her, Spitfire. What use can she be to us? " Fleetfoot spoke, breathing into the mask.
"I know the locations of the rest of our missing friends! Cast Iron, River Stone, Thunder, Comet, Nitro, many others! If we can rally them all together, we can finally build towards our goal!"
Spitfire sat quietly in her chair, taking a sip of her tea once more. She set it back down on the plate, and then sat it back down on the small table next to her.
"Hmm... perhaps you're still of us after all. But you do understand what will happen if you fail, correct?"
The woman gulped and nodded.
"Good. Now tell the rest of the team to gather in the dining area. We have much to discuss."
Without a second to spare, the woman left the room as fast as possible, leaving Spitfire and Fleetfoot by themselves. Spitfire blew into her tea, and a small menacing smile came to her face.
"Well Fleetfoot. We've done it. We are finally free from our shackles."
Fleetfoot slowly turned her head, glaring into Spitfire's orange eyes.
"So? The entire police force is onto us now ."
Spitfire chuckled and stood up from her seat.
"Fleetfoot. They have no trace of us. We're safe out here. No one's using lake-side mansion..." Spitfire chuckled. "Besides, we have plenty of security and men keeping their eyes out for any intruders."
Fleetfoot grumbled under her mask, her voice becoming more distorted.
"Tell me something Fleetfoot. Why the mask? Everyone has seen your face. Why conceal what can't be concealed?"
Fleetfoot paused for a second, and then turned away. "I rather not that people see the battle scars. "
Spitfire raised a brow. "You weren't worried before... in fact, you never were..."
Fleetfoot froze. "Well... I suppose I rather like this mask simply because, well, its an amplifier. You've seen what I could do back in prison with my new powers. And this mask helped spread the beam to a wider range. With it, we can get a horde of those to do what we wish... "
Spitfire's sneer turned into a grin. "Mmm, now I see the appeal... rather clever of you, Fleetfoot."
"--Also, my eyes are in a permanent flashlight mode, and the mask is containing the glare. "
Indeed, she was right. The goggles on her head had a glow inside, containing the bright light. You could even see them turn off and on, and that was just from Fleetfoot blinking.
"Duly noted," Spitfire replied. She stood up from her chair, and patted her shoulders. "Come. We must talk to the others, we have to see how they're all doing."
The two women walked out of the poorly lit room, and walked into a more well lit room. Everyone was gathered around a massive dining table with a big collection of food. Almost everyone was munching down like hungry animals. They missed the sensation of real delectable food. The food they were served in prison was very disgusting and extremely bland, that it made their life even more grey.
"Oh, this is sooo good..."
"About freaking time we got real food!"
Spitfire chuckled as she watched them ate like hungry animals. She sat down at the end of the table, taking the center of attention from them all.
"Good evening, my fellow warriors. Including, but not limited to; Sight Seer, Blaze, Fire Streak, Silver Zoom, and Soarin'. After many years of being held in prison, we are finally freed."
All of them murmured, nodding in agreement with one another.
"After what felt like eternity, we're now in the world once more. And I have just the new plan in mind to show the world that we have returned..."
"How do you plan on doing that?" Soarin asked.
Spitfire chuckled and grabbed a dumpling from one of the plates with a set of chopsticks.
"Its rather simple. With the new powers inside myself and Fleetfoot, we can use them to our own benefit. With Fleetfoot's new vision, we can make people bend to our will. No one will argue or fight, or do anything. Because they won't be able to disobey us," Spitfire chuckled.
"So? Big deal." Blaze retorted.
"It is a big deal, Blaze. But there's another problem at hand. Tell me, everyone. What is it that all people have, that they look up to?"
Everyone stopped. They looked to one another with some confused looks, not even sure what to say.
"Heroes?"
"Yes, exactly," Spitfire admired, pointing the chopsticks at one of her minions. "Heroes. A symbol of hope, courage, and a fighter of justice. Something that we used to be... until the higher ranks took away everything that we had suffered for !" She growled.
Everyone flinched a little bit from her angry tone of voice, but only for a second. Spitfire relaxed with a heavy breath to try and calm down. Once she had recuperated herself, she chuckled and looked back at her friends.
"But to get back to the point... it would seem as if this city now has someone to look up to. Someone to look up to. Someone to believe in. Fleetfoot. You found the videos?"
Fleetfoot nodded and stood up. She turned on the big television (that they had stolen earlier that day) and turned on the news.
"We've discovered a little something interesting..."
They flipped onto a station that displayed an old news segment. On the news, footage displayed of Sunset Shimmer taking on the Song Of The Sea at the front of Canterlot High School. Then in another cut, there was footage of them caught by some people with their phones, performing superhero acts in the public. Amethyst stopping a bank heist, Lyra taking on a purse snatching in a restaurant, and even Octavia's attack on a gunman in a music store.
"These girls, they're looked up to. The public now sees these random teenagers as heroes because of a few acts. But they are not heroes!"
Spitfire turned around to look at her men and women, still maintaining a charismatic grin.
"But that's where we stand in. The public needs real heroes. We are real heroes. We risked our lives, limb and limb every day out in those battlefields. Saddle Arabia, Yakyakistan... Klugetown. And yet this backwater city prefers to have these girls... well then we're going to show them true fear. This city has hope... but its time we send it back into fear."
"How are we going to do that?"
Spitfire chuckled and slammed a knife down on the table, sticking it right through the forehead of one of the girls in one of the photographs.
"By eliminating these heroes, and showing Canterlot who has the true power. "
Trixie spent a majority of dinnertime at her home with her head slammed into the table. And never said a word. And she spent the next ten minutes after dinner with her head on her desk in her bedroom.
If you took a look into her room, you could probably describe it as every other geek's room, and you could tell she never had anyone else up in her room. Action figures on some shelves, posters of superheroes and some of her favorite magicians, some video games scattered on the floor, she had almost everything. Her room was so cluttered and full of junk, it was hard to find anything in there. Well, Trixie could find anything in there.
A soft knock was on the door.
"Trixie? Trixie may I come in?"
Trixie moaned. "Mom, I don't want to talk right now."
"Trixie, come on. You haven't said a word since you got home, this isn't like you."
Trixie groaned and rolled her head back, leaning back in her chair.
"Okay..."
The door opened up, letting some light enter the room. A woman in her late 30s walked into the room and sat on the edge of Trixie's bed. A woman with orange skin and blond hair, carrying the same style as Trixie's hair. Sunflower was her name, married to Jack Pot, a gentlemen who enjoyed performing and magic like Trixie. While he would have loved to talk to Trixie, he wasn't always the best person to speak in this kind of situation.
"Sweetie, is everything okay?"
Trixie sighed. "No..."
"Well, what's wrong?"
Trixie moaned and spun herself around in her chair. She looked at her mom with a disappointed pout.
"I failed my assignment."
"What?"
Trixie spun herself around in the other direction, not even wanting to look at her mom. She was too ashamed to even look her dead in the eye and explain all of this. "That science paper I had to write, I failed it. I got a D. The teacher said I could redo it and get it in by next week but... I just... ugh..."
Trixie's mom frowned, but it was only for a second.
"One D? Out of all of the A's and B's that you've gotten so far?"
"Well... yeah..."
"Trixie? Come here."
She patted the seat next to her, and reluctantly, Trixie sat down beside her mother. Her mom looked at her with the most gentle and tender smile she could give her.
"You know we're not going to be mad because of one bad grade, right?"
"Well, I... I..."
"Trixie, look at me."
Trixie looked at her mom, still frowning.
"Its okay. Look, you said you had a week to redo that paper, I know you can do it. But maybe you should ask for help this time. I know you want to be able to do things on your own, but you're still in high school. You can still ask for help if you need it."
"You sure?"
Sunflower smiled. "I'm positive. Now come here."
Her mom opened her arms up and she gave Trixie a hug. Over the years, her warmth and affection helped Trixie whenever she needed a shoulder to cry on whenever she was in pain. And she still knew how to help her, even when her little girl was now growing up and going into high school.
"So, I want you to know, if you ever need help, just come to us, okay?"
Trixie nodded. "Okay. I will."
"Hey hon! Can you give me a hand?"
"In a second, Jack!" Sunflower called out. "I better go make sure your father doesn't kill himself trying to move some of the furniture. You think you can handle your work for tonight?"
"I think I can. I'll try and work on it tonight, and if I don't get anywhere, I guess I'll ask for some help from my friends."
Sunflower smiled. "A few years ago, you were on your own and you didn't have friends. Now you're getting older, and now you've got friends. How did that ever happen?"
Trixie rubbed the back of her head. "I uh... just, talked?"
Sunflower chuckled, giving her a peck on the cheek. "Just make sure you can get some work done before you go to bed, okay?"
"Yes mom. I will."
Sunflower got up from the bed and she walked out of Trixie's room, heading downstairs. As she did, Trixie got back to her desk and opened up the folder which had her assignment. Now if she could get herself to work, maybe she could get something productive done...
Author's Note
I'll admit, the ending to this wasn't really... my best. The ending for this one was all I could conjour up when I worked on this.
Either way, hope you enjoy it and thoughts are appreciated!
Author's Note
Time to get to the fun part; a la Deadpool 2 style
Gathering The Team
The very next morning, Adagio and her sisters made sure that they got their ad all around Canterlot. They put together a wanted ad for the superhero enlistment, and the newspapers that were sent around the neighborhoods all got them.
The newspaper boy held one of the newspapers that were rolled up, and he tossed it at the next house he passed by. Unfortunately his aim was so far off that it broke right through the front window of the house. The neighbor who came out of the house yelled at the paperboy.
"HEY! You can't just break my windows! Get your @#% back here!" He groaned, annoyed beyond belief. "5th time this month..."
The man who screamed and ranted at the paperboy, was a construction worker named Tombstone. Dressed in orange safety vest, blue pants, and with a construction hat on his forehead. In addition, he had a small symbol on the back of his vest, with a hammer crossing over a wrench in an X formation.
As he closed the door with the grabbed newspaper, he opened it up to take a look.
"Lets see... same old, same old..." He grumbled to himself, rummaging through the paper. "Cruise Cabin still egotistical as usual... Puma Man tanked at the box office--okay, how did they not see it coming? Hmm.. What the?"
He flipped the page over, seeing the wanted ads. Right in a big box, there was a big bold text that said 'Have An Extraordinary Power That Makes You Super?'
"Come down to the Jigsaw Plaza Complex if you want to meet us, and develop your superpowers to become a true superhero."
Tombstone raised his head up, deep in thought. This seemed like a very odd advertisement. But considering how their city now had superheroes who started to show up out of nowhere, this didn't seem as deranged. Maybe he should consider visiting it. After all, he knew indeed what he could do...
His head looked up at the clock in the kitchen, and he rolled his eyes.
"Sleeping in again, as usual."
He opened the door up, going into the room of his seven-year-old daughter who was still asleep. A smile was on his face. She looked so adorable when she was peacefully asleep. Leaning over, he gave a small peck to his daughter's cheek, who stirred a bit in her sleep.
"Chisel, come on. Its time to wake up," he lightly rubbed her, trying to get her to wake up.
"I'm not awake yet," said the seven-year-old daughter who continued to stir in her bed.
Tombstone smirked. "You kind of are."
"No I'm not."
"You know what'll happen if you don't get up?" Tombstone asked.
"... No."
"Tickle attack!"
Chisel was about to go back to sleep until the feeling of her father's fingers tickling her sensitive sides woke her up. She was wide awake, and was now squealing in laughter.
"You awake now?" Tombstone chuckled as he tickled his daughter.
"Okay, okay, I'm awake! I'm up!"
Tombstone laughed, and he held his daughter in a big hug. His daughter smiled and she hugged her dad back, both relaxing.
"Come on, lets get breakfast."
Once his daughter got changed, as well as used the bathroom for that matter, and she walked into the kitchen. Her father had helped get her breakfast, as well as turned on the TV for the morning cartoons. After grabbing her breakfast, she sat in her chair, across from her father. She had her head turned to the cartoon, while Tombstone continued reading the ad he had been gawking.
"What are you reading, daddy?" Chisel asked.
"Oh. Well, I'm looking at the Wanted Ads. And I found this particular one," he flipped it around to show her. She looked up at the paper, reading the superhero ad.
"You're going to be a superhero?" She asked with an excited voice.
Tombstone chuckled. "Well, I don't know about that. But, just reading some of the fine print here, it does seem real. But, if this is true... I think I might be able to find a good place to put this into use--"
He opened up his hand, looking at a few rocks that were sitting on one of the windowsills. As he opened up his palm, the rocks that were sitting on the window floated up and moved towards him. All three of them floated in a straight line, and with his hand, he made it so they all spun around in a circular formation, dazzling her daughter.
"Whoa..."
He smirked and then levitated the rocks back on the sil, sitting them all nicely in a row. Looking up, he saw the clock hand continuously tick.
"Whoops. Almost time. Better finish up quickly, don't wanna miss the bus," Tombstone said, patting her shoulder.
"Okay."
As Chisel finished the rest of her breakfast, she put her plate and cup into the kitchen. But before she stepped out of the kitchen to brush her teeth--
"Hey, Daddy?"
"Yes sweetheart?"
"Um, how did you get your powers?"
Tombstone thought long and hard. Telling his daughter about how he got his powers was one of the many things he had never told her about. He didn't want to hide the fact that he had powers from his daughter, it was something he knew he would never be able to hide from her. But as for how he got it? He just didn't have any idea on how to explain it to her.
Instead, he just smirked and patted her head. "Trust me kiddo. It takes about nine seasons to get that story right."
The afternoon came by, and school had officially ended for the day. And for Adagio and her sisters, they were ready to start the auditions for the new superhero team. Opening up the door to a room that they rented out, just down in the main floor of their apartment building. They opened up a space for people to go to for when they would need to audition for their superhero team. And to get ready for the occasion, they all spruced up their looks. Well, by spruce up, they took that as looking casual, but keeping some professionalism.
Adagio let her hair loose, and she now wore a sporting zip-up shirt, and track pants. Sonata put on a short jacket that was about as long down to her chest, a t-shirt, fingerless gloves, and a pair of short shorts over leggings. Aria just stuck with a black tank top, and track pants just so she'd be prepare to deal with some unsightly 'auditioneers'.
Once the table was set up, everyone took a seat while simultaneously taking a sip of coffee. Once her mouth was free, Adagio picked up the clipboard, looking at their list.
"Okay, so the address has been sent, a well lit room, and plenty of materials to keep any smoke detectors from going off should any fires start. I say we're about ready!"
The First Audition!
"Okay..." Aria said, while taking a sip of her coffee. "Alright. First up--"
"Inferno."
They turned their heads in front of them, and there he was, right before their eyes. Inferno himself was there. Standing in front of them with a yellow vest, a white tank top and black track pants.
"Ah, if it isn't the fire bender himself. We saw you run in the Chase for Charity race, but we're a little more curious. What exactly can you do?" Adagio asked, leaning in her chair.
"Girl, I can crank up the heat a lot more than you anticipate. My body can become completely engulfed in flames without any harm whatsoever."
The Dazzlings nodded.
"So, do you have to get angry to be completely set on fire, or…"
Inferno shrugged and shook his head, making Adagio grin.
"Very nice, very nice…" A racy grin came to her face and she raised her coffee cup up, handing it to him, "...perhaps you could be a dear and warm up my coffee?" Adagio asked with a seductive wink.
He grinned. "Girl, you're crazy. But, it'd be my pleasure."
Inferno grabbed Adagio's coffee mug, holding it carefully in the palm of his hand. With it held tight, he clenched onto it, and the coffee began steaming. His hand was glowing from the heat.
Adagio and her sisters looked in awe of the burning hand.
"Oooh... You're hired!" Adagio grinned.
After a few minutes, Inferno took his leave. With a quick scribble, Sonata wrote Inferno's name and email into their manifest.
Audition 2!
"So, you're name is--"
"Cat Girl..." the woman purred, brushing her finger against her lips.
"NOPE!" Adagio declared. "There can only be one woman here acting seductive and sexy, and that is me ! Out! Next!"
Audition 3!
Tox found the ad in the paper, just like Inferno. And following interest, he showed up to audition as well. His overall appearance was still messy, but he did his best to put on some real clothes. A yellow tank top with a biohazard logo, gray jeans with a belt. Hanging on the sides of his belt was a few chains that went around, and on the chains were little glass balls and vials containing green fluids and liquids.
His fingers were covered in black fingerless gloves, and he wore studded bracelets. His right eye twitched a bit as he looked at them, but he kept a serious face as he looked to the three girls in front of him.
"My name’s Tox."
Aria nodded. "So, what, do you just talk non-stop to annoy people, is that your power?"
Aria snorted, but Tox kept a serious face as he spoke. As rude as the remark was, he had to show a little professionalism.
"Um, no. You see... my spit, my breath, and my hands can create toxicity. I can spit acid, and I can create and blow toxic clouds; causing infections, hallucinations... pain . I can throw acid bombs and I’m knowledgeable in anything hazardous."
The Dazzlings all nodded.
"Do you want me to demonstrate--"
All three of them jumped at once with scared looks.
"NO!"
"We can't afford another desk!"
"No, no, we believe you!"
"You're hired!"
Audition 4!
Tombstone was next in line for the auditions.
"I'm Tombstone."
Sonata tilted her head. "So you work with grave digging then?"
"Um, no. I can bend Earth to my will."
Adagio nodded with a teasing smirk. "So, you're an evil mastermind then?"
Tombstone was a little flustered. "No, you don't get what I mean. Earth, the very ground, rocks, for that matter! I can bend rocks, to my will!"
"Ahh...." The sirens said in unison, finally understanding.
"That makes more sense," Sonata nodded.
"You're in!"
Audition 5!
"Okay, so we've got someone named Camo Flag showing up," Sonata said, reading the list in her notepad.
All of them turned their heads to look in front of them, waiting for anyone to show up. No one. Not a thing. No sight, no sound, nothing.
"... He's not here, is he?"
Audition 6!
"Hiya giiirrrrll... I'm here to participate for the super-hero--"
"--You're Cat Girl, aren't you?" Adagio asked, holding her bored face.
"Like, no I'm not. I'm a totally different person--"
"You're wearing a skin-tight outfit, that's exactly how we found you, literally the only thing you did was remove the cat ears and whiskers off of you," Aria snorted.
"No, I'm not--"
"Get out," Sonata deadpanned, holding her head.
"But I--"
"You may have a slender body, but we have an Aria. Don't let us release her," Adagio shook her head.
"Fine. Then I'm not gonna go until you can see what I can do."
Adagio's face drooped with unamusement. She looked to Aria, who looked back at her. Adagio gave a single nod, holding her head in boredom. Aria chuckled with malicious intent and stood up from her chair.
She grabbed her coffee mug from the table. She looked into it, seeing the hot coffee still in it. With a smirk she lunged it forward, splashing the hot coffee in the girl's face. The woman screamed in agony as she held her face from the coffee. Raising an eye up, she quickly ran as fast as she could before she could get hit with the incoming mug. The mug shattered into pieces the minute it hit the concrete wall. Aria jumped over the table and she leaned to the side, looking at her running up the stairs.
She ran up the stairs and she watched as she ran.
"Maybe next time you'll get a clue that we're completely serious in our work! Now don't show up here again, before I come back with a club with nails all around it, and I park my foot in your @&%!!!"
Audition 7!
To Blizzard's surprise, she didn't expect to see the same girls that had ice cream in her shop to be the judges who were holding the auditions. But she was thankful it was at least people she sort of knew. She wore jeans, a tank top, and an ice blue jacket which covered her bare shoulders. Her hair was woven nice and poofy, full of energy down her back.
"Ah, Blizzard, so great to see you back again," Adagio smiled. "So tell us, why are you here?"
"Probably like everyone else, I wanted to participate in your superhero team formation. I do have powers, you know."
"Well, we've seen what you did to Adagio's minty shake at the ice cream shop, what can you do with complete detail?"
"I can create ice. I can make a room cold if its blazing hot. And in the environment I work in, there's no need for air conditioning, because I am the air conditioner," Blizzard grinned.
"Please tell me you're not going to make terrible ice puns," Sonata cringed, shaking her head.
Blizzard shrugged, "Maybe. Maybe even some cool ones," she winked.
The three sisters facepalmed all at once, groaning from the cringeworthy pun.
"Don't say that again, that was just... painful ," Aria moaned into her hands.
Blizzard chuckled. "What? I'm just trying to be ice ."
Adagio shook her head. "That pun was terrible, never say it again."
Blizzard grinned with a wink. "But they're funny."
"No, they're not."
"Yeah they are."
"No, they're not..."
"Yeah, no--"
"But they're--"
"They're really not--"
"--Oh I'm sorry, I interrupted you," Blizzard caught herself.
"No, I interrupted you--" Sonata piped up.
"No, no, you go ahead."
"Oh. Well, I was just going to say... they're not funny."
"Well, I was just gonna bring it back to yes they are," Blizzard grinned.
"Lets meet in the middle and say no they're not."
Everyone chuckled.
"Well, aside from that, I do have one small concern. I do hope you can get along with the person who can control fire on our team?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
Sonata rubbed the back of her head. "Well, its, well... fire and ice... two different things, kinda go head to head in nature..."
Blizzard waved her hand poshly, "They have their flaws and strengths. I think we can find a way to work together."
Adagio smiled. "Perfect! You're hired."
"Yay!" Blizzard smiled.
"So, we'll send you an email for when we'll have our first meeting, and for when you'll get to meet the people you'll be working with."
"Okay, thank you, thank you!" Blizzard beamed as she walked away."
Adagio watched her leave with a prideful smile. "I like her. She's cute."
Audition 8!
"Alright, next up is--" Sonata said.
"Hi!"
Adagio and her sisters sneered. It was her again. It was like she wasn't even trying! All she did was put a ballerina skirt over her outfit and that was it.
"You ."
"What?"
"Get out."
"W-What do you mean, I'm the amazing Ballora!"
"GET OUT!"
All three of them at once threw their coffee mugs at the woman who ran just in time as they shattered against the wall. Adagio shook her head with a sneer with her arms crossed.
"We really need to consider getting a bouncer."
Audition 9!
The next man to audition came to a bit of surprise to them. He didn't really look like much of a social person. Heck, he didn't really seem like he was brave enough to speak. Hands in his pockets, stressed face, and every time he was about to say something he didn't.
Only dressed in a hoodie and gray jeans, with gray hair, black skin, and blue eyes.
"Soo... um, sir. Do you... do you have a name?"
The man looked up, and he slowly nodded.
"Can you... tell us, your name?" Adagio asked, with a small chuckle.
He opened his mouth, but then closed it. With a small pause, he moved his hand back and forth, in front of his throat.
"Oh... sweetie, can you not talk?"
He shook his head.
"Oh, I'm so sorry... I had no idea, I didn't know..." Adagio said with empathy.
He grabbed a small piece of paper from the table (with Adagio's permission) and he wrote on the paper, scribbling in big letters. He flipped it around so they could see it, still with a shy look.
"No, sweetie, we're not going to ask you to leave," Adagio smiled, "We're open to anyone. If you can't speak, that's okay, we can help you adjust if you wish to work with us. So tell us, do you have any powers?"
For once, he seemed confident and he gave a smile and nod.
"So, what can you do? Dazzle us," Adagio said with a little more pizzazz.
He gave a smile, and he stood back. Raising a finger, he started walking to the right. And then in seconds, he walked right through the wall! Phasing through the wall, like it wasn't even there.
The Dazzlings gasped as they watched him vanish through. All of them leaned up from their chairs to take a look, trying to see where he went. But a few seconds later, he came through the other wall, holding a plate with a small sandwich. They could see he had gotten himself some food, and he was happily chowing down on the sandwich.
"Oooh... phase shifting, very impressive, I must say, Mr...?"
He wrote down his name on a piece of paper, showing it to her.
"--Phantom! Mr Phantom, I must say, your abilities is quite fascinating. I bet that ability is really useful for when you're hiding from criminals."
He gave a modest shrug.
"Well, Mr Phantom, I can safely say... you're hired!"
He smiled, feeling proud.
"Now then, we will contact you through email for your first meeting, and it'll give you time for you to meet the rest of the people you'll be working with. Do you require any forms of sustenance while you're at the meeting, or any allergies we need to know about?"
He paused and he shook his head.
"Well, rest assured, if you change your mind, we will put out snacks and drinks.
He nodded again, acknowledging her words. Then with a wave, he stepped out of the room, going out on his merry way.
"I like him." Sonata grinned.
"Not that bad," Aria shrugged."
"I'm telling you girls, this is getting better every second!"
The Final Audition!
"Last one on the list. Last but not least..." Adagio said looking up.
"Silverstream!"
To their shock, their next customer wasn't an adult or a teenager as they had anticipated. But rather a 12-year-old girl, someone who they imagine was probably just a freshmen. She had a friendly and cheery smile on her face, a rather bubbly demeanor. Her hair was a light cornflower blue, with a mixture of a bluish gray. Her skin was a light magenta shade of gray.
The way she was dressed seemed to be like as if she was from a private school, judging by her school uniform. Short sleeved coat over button-up shirt tucked into a plaid skirt. Thankfully, she did have a few things that kept some personality burst to it. A few pinned buttons were on her jacket, with inclusion of a pearl necklace.
Adagio and her sisters blinked. Confused, they looked down onto the clipboard with the names posted.
"I thought her name was Silverstreak," Adagio blanked.
"No, you're thinking of the alternate name for that Autobot," Aria shrugged.
"Huh. I see..."
Silverstream just stood politely, waiting for them to speak directly to her.
"Well, any powers that you want to tell us about, any uh..."'
Silverstream shrugged with her shoulders. "Um... no. Not that I can think of. I just saw the ad, I thought it looked fun! Thought maybe I could join you guys, maybe make some new friends."
Adagio and her sisters stared blankly at the girl. For two seconds.
"You're in," Adagio said with a straight face.
Author's Note
Sooo... okay, if I can be honest, I didn't have anything interesting to do for this one. I promise the next chapter will be a bit more interesting, so hope you're still with me on this one.
Enjoy it, regardless!
Balance
Adagio and her sisters closed up the audition room, after finally going through every person who auditioned. Quite a lot of people came by, and thankfully, the girls had found a select few that made them very happy.
"Okay, so everyone's been notified, we have their email addresses, I say we're making good progress," Adagio remarked.
"Yep!"
"Well, its certainly a lot smoother than I thought," Aria smiled.
"What did you think was gonna happen?" Sonata asked.
"Every one of them would crash and burn," Aria deadpanned. "Glad to see my expectations have been subverted."
"But, just a quick check to see if we have everyone correctly," Adagio said, looking at her clipboard.
Heroes Selected:Inferno, adult male, 32 years Blizzard, adult female, 31 years old Tox, teenager, 16 years of age Phantom, adult male, 34 years Tombstone, adult male, 37 years old.
"...And last but not least," Adagio said, writing it down on the clipboard, "Sliverstream, young freshmen, 12 years old."
"WHAT!?"
All of their heads turned and they let out a collective groan of annoyance. Cat Girl was there, yet again.
"You wouldn't say yes to me, but you put a 12-year-old in your team!?"
"Yes," Adagio said, playing it straight.
"But... WHY!?"
Adagio grinned. "Because, 1, she's young with tons of energy. 2, she's got a lot of optimism and a positive attitude, that's something I like to see. 3, she doesn't reek of desperation."
Cat Girl was appalled.
"No, I can't stand for this! Why, why wouldn't you let me in!?"
Adagio sneered. "You've harassed us 4 times already, your breath is disgusting, you show no professionalism, you have no superpowers whatsoever, and also," Adagio flipped her open resume over to a page, "You lied in your resume."
"Just because I'm--"
"We're serious in our line of work. And by the way, as I've said before," Adagio got right up in Cat Girl's face, cringing at her disgusting breath. "I'm the sexy one. Not you!"
Cat Girl hissed, imitating a cat perfectly. "You'll all be sorry, I promise you, I will be a great--Agh, hey, stop that!"
Aria was holding a spray bottle and was spraying a ton of water at Cat Girl's face.
"Bad kitty! Down!"
Cat Girl hissed at Aria, and flinched in pain. She whimpered, feeling the hot sting of the towel striking her back.
"Back! Back foul creature! Back to the pit from where you came!" Sonata said, shooing her away.
Hissing some more, Cat Girl picked up her feet (in heels) and ran away from the sirens who continued to sneer at her. They had just about enough of her antics, and it was really starting to get on their nerves.
"Well, either way, I can't wait to tell the girls!" Adagio beamed. "I have a feeling in just a few days, we'll turn them from regular people in famous superheroes!"
Silence. A mute of the senses and surroundings around. It was all that Lyra needed to practice her balance.
"Good, Lyra. Ignore all that's around you, and focus only on finding your inner peace."
"Um, one question though, mom?"
"Yes, Lyra?"
"Why are you having me keeping my balance on just a sword?"
Lyra's entire body was up in the air, with one hand on her sword's handle. And the sword was the only thing keeping her up. Lyra's mother, Saku, was watching her practice.
"It is a move that had been passed down by my mother, and her mother before that, and her mother before that. With this form, you will--"
"-WHOA, AH!" Lyra lost her balance and fell right on her back, her face slamming into the sand in the pit.
"--Fall and hurt yourself."
Lyra groaned into the sand. "This is impossible! How am I supposed to keep my entire balanced on a sword!?"
"Nothing is impossible, Lyra. Only if you give up, is it truly impossible," Lyra's mother instructed. "You will master it, one day. I am sure of it."
The doorbell rung, making her turn her head.
"Oh, must be the rest of your friends."
Lyra pulled her face up, and she climbed out of the pit that she fell in. Brushing herself off, she walked out of the training room, ready to greet her friends.
Saku opened up the door, and on the other side was the rest of Lyra's friends, including their parents. Everyone was invited for a family get-together. While the girls would be working on school work, the parents would just hang out, chat, and then prepare dinner.
"Konichiwa," Saku bowed.
"Konichiwa to you too," Bronze Weld, Amy's father replied. He shook her hand, giving a smile. "Very nice to see you again."
"Very nice to see you too, as well as you all. Please, come in," Saku nodded, inviting everyone inside.
As soon as everyone went inside, the girls immediately dashed for Lyra's room.
"We'll just be working for a bit, then we'll take a break!" Trixie called out, looking to her mom.
"Alright. We'll call you girls when dinner's ready,"
Trixie grinned and rushed off with the others. Once they went into Lyra's room, everyone immediately picked a place to work. Lyra just kicked back on her bed, adjusting the pillows to support her back.
"So, what are we working on first?" Octavia asked, sitting on a cushion.
"Well, I thought maybe we could study for the biology test next week?" Vinyl offered.
"Oh, I don't want to..." Octavia whined. "Its so boring, and complicated, and its just ugh...."
"You know we'll have to study either way," Vinyl crossed her arms.
"Oh fine... lets just get this over with," Octavia moaned.
As everyone opened up their textbooks, Trixie felt a soft buzz in her pocket. Pulling out her phone, she giggled seeing the text in front of her.
"Adagio still can't figure out how to text," Trixie shook her head. "But I think I can read what she sent me. She said... 'found some new supers, now I'm exhausted'..."
"Did she say who made it?" Bon Bon asked.
"Um, no. But she's wants to know if maybe we could come over to their place on Friday afternoon so we could all meet the new guys."
"Tell her depends on what homework we'll have to do," Lyra replied.
"Okay," Trixie said, eyes focused on the screen as she texted back.
"Just hope the new guys will be strong enough to protect an entire city," Octavia said, shaking her head, sounding unsure.
"I'm positive they will. Just need to give them time," Vinyl smiled.
"Maybe. Just tell them not to die instantly when they go out on their first mission," Amethyst deadpanned.
In the family room, everyone was happily sipping drinks and talking to one another. All around were happy smiles. No worry, no stress, nothing.
"It is very nice to see you all again," Saku said.
"Very nice to see you too," Sunflower replied, nodding to the Japanese woman across from her. "Especially you, Trebleclef,
Vinyl's mom and dad nodded back.
"How have you two been?" Saku asked.
"Very well, thank you," Trebleclef replied. "What about you, Metal Jazz?"
Octavia's mother smirked. "Still alive, I can't safely say that, mate."
"What about you, Haiku?"
Bon Bon's mother simply raised her cup in response, as if to say, 'yes'.
"Good, good."
"Can I just say how wonderful it is that our children are all friends once again?" Saku stated.
"Oh yes, very wonderful indeed. I'm happy Octavia is friends with Vinyl once again," Metal Jazz replied, sipping her cup.
"Same here," Soprano replied, raising a cup to her answer. "Though I am curious, how exactly did they make up? That part still bothers me."
"Oh, she hasn't told you? It's those three new students they have school," Saku riposted, "Something rather magical about those three brought them back."
"Wait, is it those three who sing together? The girls with the red jewels around their necks?"
"Yeah, I've seen those girls," Bronze replied. "They're the ones."
"Very strange, they are," Trebleclef expressed. "Don't get me wrong, they seem like nice children from the few times I've seen them but there seems to be something quite... off about them."
"They're just being themselves, I'm positive there's nothing wrong. I mean, yeah, to be fair, they had to deal with that Sunset Shimmer girl in their first week, but they're still standing, I say that makes them strong," Bronze replied.
"Says the man who's daughter ran away after being--"
"--Don't even go there, Haiku," Bronze sneered. "I don't want to even think about that."
"Oh," Haiku halted, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset."
"No, you're fine. Its just... its hard to talk about, you know?"
"I'm afraid none of us do, but we can be respectful and leave that topic alone," Saku replied.
"Thank you."
A tranquil pause was emitted, and everyone had dropped dead silent. What could they say? What to talk about now?
"So, um, Bronze, if you don't mind me asking, where does Amethyst get her 1980s obsession?" Metal quiered.
"Oh, that... well," Bronze chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, when she got older, I got her hooked onto some of my favorite cartoons when I was a little kid. After some time, she started getting into some music, and then before you know it, you suddenly have a teenage daughter who's wearing shoulder pads and parachute pants."
Everyone at the table chuckled a bit.
"But I don't know, but suddenly she stopped wearing it. Now, I don't have a problem with it, but it seems a little out of nowhere she would suddenly give it up."
"She's not self-conscious about her look, is she?" Soprano asked.
"No, that's the other thing, she could care less about what others think about her fashion style, but it just seems a little... a little weird, is all I'm saying. Its like, she doesn't want anyone in public to see her with that anymore..."
Metal Jazz and Saku gave deranged looks to the single father.
"What?"
"So, you find that odd, but not the fact that she's now wearing her hair in a mullet?"
"Hey, if she likes it, its fine, that's all I'm saying," Bronze shrugged.
"Well, if you all don't mind, I wish to propse a small toast," Sunflower announced. She raised her glass up with a tender smile. "To everyone being friends again!"
"Here, here!" Everyone cheered.
A clink of the glass, and a sip of their drinks, and so the rest of their wonderful evening commenced.
The alarm clock buzzed and a magenta grayish hand slapped the top of it. A big smile gleamed on Silverstream's face as she threw the blankets off her body, jumping off the bed.
"Yes, yes, yes! Friday! I'm finally going to have my first official superhero meeting!" The twelve-year-old squeed.
Quickly slipping out of her pajamas and right into her uniform, she jumped out of the hallway. The smell of a fresh breakfast hit her nose, making her mouth water. Walking through the hallway, she stopped into the kitchen to where breakfast had been made; by the guardian/butler.
"Ah, good morning, Miss Silver."
Silver smiled. "Morning Cutlery!"
"I hope you have slept well?"
"I did, thank you. And thank you for making breakfast," Silver said, sitting down at the table where her breakfast awaited her.
"Your welcome, Miss Silver."
Silverstream started to dig into her breakfast, happily munching into it.
"Oh, is Aunt Novo...?"
"Miss Novo unfortunately, if you can believe it or not, has an important retreat to attend to, and won't be back for a few days."
Silverstream frowned. "Oh... again?"
Cutlery nodded, frowning to see Silver's disappointed face. It wasn't uncommon for Principal Novo to be gone and off on a retreat, but it unfortunately meant taking her daughter Skystar with her, and often winding up leaving Silverstream at home. Skystar was in high school, and her schedule was much different than Silver's. And Silver's current means of a schedule meant she couldn't skimp out on any classes or any days.
"I know you miss your aunt, but I can assure you, she will be back," Cutlery replied in a much more positive manner.
Silver's smile lightened up a little bit.
"I guess that'd be nice," Silver said.
"Oh, and before I forget, later this afternoon, you do have that new club, you're attending? Something about new 'superheroes' sort of deal. What is even that about?"
"Oh, I just saw the ad, I thought it was a just a club to talk about geek stuff! I just couldn't resist, I thought it looked fun!" Silver beamed.
Cutlery smiled. "Well, I must admit, I am very happy to see you finally found something to do as an after-school activity. Something to definitely keep up your bubbly and happy-go-lucky mood."
Silverstream giggled to herself. This was definitely going to be a fun day!
The final bell rung at Silverstream's middle school, releasing everyone for the weekend. As she stepped out, she found where the butler had parked the fancy limousine. He had been waiting patiently for her arrival, outside of the car. With a grin, the bubbly Polynesian girl skipped to the fancy car, stepping inside and taking her seat.
Cutlery opened up his driver seat, stepping inside.
"Afternoon, Miss Silver. How was school?"
"Same old, same old, bullies tried to be bullies, principal and staff don't do a thing about it even when its right before their eyes..."
Cutlery rolled his eyes. "They really need better supervisors."
"Yeah, I know. Anyways, shall we go then? I can't wait for my very first superhero meeting!" Silverstream squeed again.
"Of course, Miss Silver."
Cutlery turned on the engine of the limo, and it pulled out of the school's parking lot, driving out into the city.
The drive wasn't too long, thankfully. And luckily, the butler knew exactly where they were going. Turning around the corner, he pulled up in front of the Jigsaw Plaza, just where Silver needed to be. Silverstream stepped out of the limo, now dressed much more differently. A cute white sleeveless jacket over her black tank top, and a small purple skirt. Last additions on her was the small bracelets on her wrists, and that seashell necklace she still wore.
"I will call you once your club meet is over," Cutlery said, pulling the window down.
"Okay! See you after my big meeting!"
The limo drove away, and Silverstream happily waved bye. She skipped inside to the Plaza, approaching the front desk.
"Oh, excuse me!"
The doorman looked down to see the happy 12-year-old girl.
"How may I help you?"
"Oh, I'm looking for Adagio Dazzle's apartment, do you know which floor she's on?"
"She's at the very top. Just hit Floor number 15, you'll reach the penthouse."
"Okay, thank you!"
Silverstream jumped to the elevator, pressing the button for the 15th floor. The doors shut, and so the elevator went straight up. The Polynesian girl just stood patiently, waiting for the arrival to the top of the apartment complex.
The doors opened up, and she briskly walked through them, slithering around the hallway and stopping directly in front of the door that led to inside the Dazzlings apartment. She stood up straight, and then instantly broke it when she knocked on the door with an excited beat.
On the other side, Adagio opened up the door, smiling to the girl.
"Silverstream, you made it! Please, come on in."
Silver happily accepted her invitation and walked inside. There she gasped to see the interior of their apartment, very well organized, and very nice looking. Everyone was gathered over at the couches and chairs, each with their own drink and snack in hand.
"Please, sit anywhere you wish."
Silver just happily plunked down in one of the reclining chairs, getting herself comfortable. She turned her head, seeing the other five people who had joined them. She didn't care she was the youngest out of all of them, she was just happy to be part of a new group. New people, new friends, new amount of fun!
Adagio and her sisters sat down on in their own individual chairs. Now they were facing the six people who had all auditioned.
"Ahem. So, welcome one and all to our first official, superhero meeting. My name is Adagio Dazzle, and these are my sisters, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk."
"Hi!"
"Hey."
Everyone nodded.
"So, I thought for our first meeting, we would spend it getting to know everyone first. I thought perhaps maybe we could go around, saying your name, maybe tell us what you do for a living and a little more about yourselves. As for ourselves, well, we're still attending high school, but we've got a lot of secrets up our sleeves we have yet to show. So, to start us off, I believe you have the table?"
Inferno grinned. "Very well. Well, hello everyone. My name's Inferno."
"Hi Inferno," Everyone greeted.
"Anyways, I'm a financial consultant, and I like to spend most of my time trying to keep my body in perfect shape. Gotta stay fit, after all," Inferno said. "And as for where my name comes from?"
Inferno held his hand out, and it quickly caught on fire, ablaze for them to see.
"Oooh..." everyone said, looking at the flames.
"Quite the fire-starter , aren't I?" Inferno winked.
"Please. No puns, that was terrible," Aria facepalmed.
"But still, very impressive Inferno. Very happy to have you with us."
Inferno grinned, cupping the flames away which vanished quickly.
"Now I believe that brings us to..." Adagio looked to Tox, but she stopped. Her face turned from a smile to a deadpan frown. "Tox. Are you smoking right now?"
Tox looked at Adagio, completely unfazed. Indeed, in his mouth, was a small cigarette that was smoking. Pulling it out, a tiny bit of gray smoke puffed out of his breath.
"Yes, I am."
Adagio sighed. "Okay, well, I want to ask you to please put the cigarettes away. We have smoke detectors, and we have a policy on smoking."
Tox raised a brow, a small cough escaping his lungs. "You going to kick me out?"
"No, we're not. But we're telling you, please, no smoking in our apartment."
The teen just shrugged. "Very well."
Tox tucked the cigarette away, crushing it with his hand. He cringed a little bit, feeling the burn of the cigar.
"You know, smoking's pretty bad for your health," Aria commented.
"You smoked too, you know," Sonata pointed out.
"It was one time, Sonata!" Aria barked. "But seriously, why smoke?"
Tox coughed. "If you could see in my head... you'd understand. "
It was Aria's turn to give a deadpan look. "Well I don't. Anyways, your powers, care to explain to the group...?"
"Right," Tox nodded. "I breath, I spit, I create. Acid. Hot, boiling, acid to melt any obstructions in my way. And in addition," Tox stood up, showing the glass vials that were hanging around his belt, "I like to keep some extra, just in case."
Everyone moved their heads to see the glass vials of green acid hanging around his belt.
"Kid, you take that stuff with you everywhere you go?" Inferno asked with a worried look.
"Yes, I do. Why do you ask?"
"Well... wouldn't you get arrested for carrying that stuff out in the open?"
Tox rolled his eyes. "I don't always have these on me. Besides, its only rare that I ever need to have these with me."
Tox sat back down on the couch, kicking back. "But I like to spend most of my time playing games. Not video games mind you... I mean as in real games. Roulette, blackjack, poker, you name it..."
"So you're a gambler, then? Aren't you... not of legal age, to do that?"
"Depends on the casino. But I promise you, Adagio, I am ," Tox said, a soft glow in his eyes.
Adagio smirked. "Very well then, Mr. Toxic and Smoking."
The Sirens then turned their heads to the next person. Tombstone was confused, but only for a second.
"Oh, right! Sorry, my bad," Tombstone cleared his throat, "Hello, I'm Tombstone."
"Hi Tombstone."
"Well, I'm just a simple construction worker. Currently me and my co-workers are working on making a new office building, and it seems to be going underway. As for what I can do? I can bend Earth, to my will."
"Oh dear god, he's evil!" Blizzard panicked.
"No, no, no! I'm not evil! Why does everyone say that?" Tombstone's hands slapped his sides.
"You might want to have a different choice of words, just sayin'," Inferno said, nodding.
"The point is, I can bend the very material, Earth, rocks, that kind of stuff, I can manipulate it, that's what," Tombstone said.
"Ahh...", everyone said in unison.
"Makes a lot more sense," Blizzard shrugged.
"We welcome you aboard," Adagio nodded.
Now everyone's attention was turned to Blizzard who caught their eyes.
"Um, hello everyone! My name's Blizzard."
"Hi Blizzard," everyone said.
"Anyways, I run the local ice cream shop just down town. I make a lot of great business, and I'm happy business is doing splendidly. With the school year along with regular work year up and running again, I'm makin' a lot of money to support myself, which is nice. And one of the reasons I'm doing so well, and partially why is because everything I make, never has melted or gone bad. And all because of this!"
Blizzard held her hand up, and a small puff of ice began to blow from her hand. She opened her palm up, pointing it at her cup of water. With a single puff, some ice began to drop into the cup.
"Oooh..."
"Cool, huh?" Blizzard asked.
All three Dazzlings facepalmed.
"Okay, I didn't mean it that time!" Blizzard said.
"Still... ugh," Sonata stuck out her tongue.
"Now you, Mr--where'd he go?"
Adagio and her sisters looked around, looking to where Phantom had disappeared to. Then to their surprise, phasing righ through the floor like he was climbing out of a hole, was Phantom. In one of his hands he had a pad of sketching paper, and a pencil. Once he was back on the main floor, he had his hands on his knees, and he was visibly panting.
Sonata just giggled. "You know, if you wanted to borrow something to write, we could have given you one of our whiteboards."
Phantom raised a hand up, gesturing he was alright. Once he straightened himself up, he started to scribble on the notebook paper. Finishing the first note, he presented it to everyone.
"Hello Phantom," everyone said.
"Can't speak?" Blizzard asked.
Phantom sadly shook his head.
"Oooh..." Inferno hissed and cringed, imagining the pain. "I am so sorry for ya, man."
Phantom just shrugged, nodding to Inferno. He wrote down another piece of notes, and then presented it again. Scribbled on the paper was a drawing of a newspaper, along with a building that had a giant pencil drawn for a sign.
"Oh, I see. So you write in newspapers?" Tombstone asked.
Phantom nodded.
"Nice!"
"And judging by how you came in, I take it you're a phase shifter?"
"No, he just likes to crawl through the floor because the door is too hard," Aria sarcastically replied.
"Anyways... last but not least..."
"Silverstream!" Silverstream cheered, throwing her arms up in the air.
"Nice to meet ya kid," Inferno nodded. "Got any powers or..."
"Um, no... I don't have one. I just saw the ad, I thought it looked fun!" Silverstream cooed.
The five older people all froze in dead silence. Their heads turned to Silverstream with a look of shock and worry. This little girl... had no powers? She said it herself, she had no powers. But if she had no powers, why was she here? Why was this non-super human here in a group that explicitly said they were looking for superheroes?
"Hold on... let me see if I get this right," Inferno said, his head hanging low and with his hand up. He raised his head up, a look of confusion and a bit of concern were mixed. "You... have no powers? A 12-year-old girl... just saw the ad, thought it looked fun... even though you have zero powers to display or control?"
"Yep!"
Everyone blinked.
"Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?" Inferno asked.
"I hate to be that girl, but, no, I agree. Something about that seems a little... you know, dangerous."
"Okay, look, we know she has no powers--"
"--then why did you let her in!?" Tombstone said, exasperated.
Adagio was still calm as ever, and she still had a calm and sincere smile.
"I let Silverstream in just like many of you guys. Good attitudes, enthusiasm, professionalism... and just from her audition, she seems more wanting into this for some fun and new friends. Which is always a guaranteed yes. But as for her lack of powers, that I know we can fix. So she doesn't have powers, that's okay. Every great hero starts somewhere, and even some of the most famous heroes don't have powers."
"Like who?" Tox asked, coughing some more.
"The Joker. He's a clown who enjoys making people laugh while also saving the day. The man doesn't have powers, but rather gadgets and equipment to help him during his missions. Deadshot, a man who has great aim and strength. The Vulture, technological suit. Whiplash, Two-Face, The Riddler, Red Skull, many others! All of them are great heroes, and they never had powers to use! And it didn't matter if they didn't have laser eyes, or invisibility, or super speed. The only thing that mattered, was using what they had to do the right thing."
Everyone was at a pause, letting Adagio's speech sink it.
"Which is why I believe Silver here, can be a hero," Adagio said, smiling to the little girl. "She may not have powers like all of you, but I know there's great potential to be tapped within."
Tombstone nodded. "I suppose you've got a good point. Not everyone has powers."
"Wouldn't be so bad to have someone without superhuman strength on our side," Tox added.
"See, there you go!" Adagio smiled.
She jumped back into her spinning chair, turning herself around a few times before facing the group.
"Now I believe its time you all know about our abilities. See these pendents right here?" Adagio said, gesturing to the gems around their necks.
"Yeah," everyone said.
"These pendents give us the strength we need. They allow us to become the true forms we are, our flight, our magic, everything. As hypocritical as this may be, given what I had just said, without these pendents, my sisters and I are... useless ."
Tox and Blizzard glanced to each other, concerned looks on their faces.
"But now I think its time we get to the fun part!" Adagio smiled.
"And that is...?"
"Well... a quick snack, and then we find out just how you all got those powers to begin with! Every origin of hero has to begin somewhere, and its always where you got the powers."
Sonata passed down a few plates, offering some snacks to the new supers. A few of them grabbed some cookies, some chips, and among other things. And eventually, Aria came down with a tray filled with drinks, offering a variety of liquids to the team.
"So, now that we have our snacks... how exactly did you all get your powers?"
"Oh, I'll start!" Inferno said, raising his hand up. "I can definitely tell you how I got mine."
"Excellent! Lets hear it!"
"Well then, listen in. Because this is where it gets... interesting ..."
Author's Note
So now we have the first official meeting of the team! Well, the start of the meeting. We've still got some more ground to cover with them. Hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for more later on!
PS; like some of the 'hero' references?
Author's Note
Sorry this took so long! Dealing with a lot of block. Also, real life in the way too, so that's another issue. Hope this was worth the wait, and enjoy it!
Also special thank you to Scholary-Cimmerian for the creation of River Stone, and his character!
Recruitment Of The Mind
The next day, Spitfire and her crew began to step into action. Their new objectives had been planned ever since they broke out of prison. Step One for them was to, well, break out of prison so that one was now out of the way. Step Two was finding a new place to hide out. Now, Step Three was to find the rest of their remaining allies.
Down the road, Spitfire hid her face as well as the rest of her in a car that they had stolen. Thankfully she had made sure the tracks were covered up; switched license plates as well as a few other things to make the car look completely unlike the one that had been stolen. Now she was incognito, and ready to patrol.
She took the car down to a widespread of forest, a path which would lead her to a few different directions, including Camp Everfree. But Everfree wasn't on her mind. No, her attention was to the man walking along the dirt path, with a long bow used as a walking stick, and a bag with apples hung over his shoulder. She had a sharp grin on her face when she saw the man with a bamboo sun hat, and Japanese robes.
Pulling up the stolen car beside the man, she rolled the window down so she could talk. The man slowly raised his head up, and looked to the side, seeing Spitfire sitting in the car.
"Need a lift? I can save you the journey."
The man didn't say a word, but instead turned his head straight ahead.
"I am alright."
"Do you mind if I walk with you?" Spitfire asked.
"I am walking all the way back. You wouldn't want to leave your car sitting all alone."
Spitfire shrugged. "Very well."
As the man continued to walk, Spitfire kept her car moving, slowly. Keeping it to the same pace as the man was.
"River Stone, I know you're very skilled at what you do. Which is why I wish to talk to you. I need you back on our gang once more."
The Japanese man tilted his head up. "I am listening."
"We have a new menace. Some teenagers in Canterlot, posing as superheroes. We want them out."
"Hmm. Have those girls done anything to you or your gang?" River asked.
"No. Well, not yet, but I know they will..."
River Stone turned his gaze back to the road in front of him. "Then I am not helping you."
Spitfire frowned. "Why not?"
River slammed his bow into the pebbles, making them dance. With a straight face, he gazed deep into Spitfire's glowing fire-like eyes.
"If they had stolen from you, I would understand why you'd want them dead. If they had insulted you, I would understand that too. But they have done nothing to you or the Wonderbolts. They are just high-schoolers, Spitfire. I have no interest in coming out of retirement to kill some kids who've done nothing to deserve it."
Spitfire was appalled. Her head shook slowly, in disbelief.
"You're kidding."
River Stone nodded. "Watashi wa watashi no kotoba no hitodesu. "
Spitfire groaned. "Very well. I will leave you alone to your isolation. Such a shame... I could have used your assassination skills."
"I am done with my former life. My life sentences have made sure of that too."
Spitfire just rolled her eyes, and kicked the engine back on. "Sorry it had come to this."
"If you would be wise Spitfire, you would leave those children alone. They have done nothing to provoke you or your gang."
Spitfire sneered at the older man, unfazed and undeterred.
"Well this world needs to know who real heroes are. And those kids, are not real heroes."
Spitfire's car growled and she took off, leaving River Stone in the dust. River Stone only watched as the stolen ride had taken off like the wind.
"They are heroes. More than you realize."
"We interrupt this broadcast for an important announcement. As we're coming to you live from Canterlot's Male Ward, as it seems there is yet another break-in!"
The news reporter looked behind her, and the camera zoomed in on what to she was talking about. Several amount of gunfire was going off at the front entrance of another prison. Several police and security forces were surrounding the building, trying to take down the people who were causing the ruckus.
"Do not let them escape! Whatever is going on, there's some men going mad!"
One of the men that was firing at the security guard sneered as he held the gun. He pulled the trigger several times, not letting up. But as he was about to reload, the gun was shoved out of his hands and landing on the ground. He looked to what hit it, and found a shuriken had slapped it out of his hands.
"What the!?"
His body was kicked to the ground, and he groaned. He tried to stand up, but he felt a foot keeping his chest down, and a sword pointed to his face.
"Do not get up, Shikaku ," a Japanese sounding voice said.
The man groaned, seeing the Green Ninja before his eyes.
"Friends. There seems to be some security guards who are causing the fire," Lyra called.
Indeed she was right. There were three security guards, dressed like the police officers outside. All of them were firing at everyone outside, and without giving up.
"Who are they?" Vinyl asked.
"Rogue cops, that's who they are!" Octavia shouted under her mask.
"Well we got to pin them down. Get their guns out of their hands!" Trixie said, ducking behind a pillar.
"I've got it!" Lyra shouted. She threw a few more shurikens towards the guards, slapping more guns out of their hands. Now the two men and woman were unarmed, no weapons.
But before they could stand up to retrieve their weapons, the girls all jumped, tackling them to the ground. Each of the girls kept their hands on the adults, making sure they couldn't get back. The girls all panted, their hearts beating as they held the guards down.
At first glance, the guards didn't look too out of the ordinary. But now, they were terrifying. All of their eyes were glowing with a bright blue and turquoise color, nothing but voids.
"What's going on with them?" Amethyst asked, trying to keep her visor on her eyes.
"No idea. But they're down!" Octavia cheered, keeping her hands on the guard.
"So... now what?" Bon Bon asked.
The six girls stared down with serious faces, not wanting to show any fear or concern. But all at once, their faces drooped to concern and worry. The three civilians stared up at them with their eyes all glowing, and all of them speaking at once. The three adults laughed like they were maniacal beings, sending chills down their spines.
"I see you..." they said in unison. "Your end will come in due time..."
"Um..." Trixie bit her lip. "Which one is saying what?"
"Tr-erg, Magician, they're all talking," Vinyl added, catching herself.
"It's clear all three of them are under the same spell. Whoever has their minds in control is speaking through them," Lyra added.
"So... should we try doing the same thing?" Trixie asked. "Maybe we should."
"Okay, well if we are, then we need to think about what we will say first, otherwise it isn't going to be scary, it'll just be stupid."
The three adults chuckled once again, making them shiver.
"Do I have your attention?" They asked.
"Um... yeah..." Trixie shuddered.
"Minds, are everything. Everything has a mind. Our bodies are controlled, by our minds. And minds, are controlled... by me! "
The girls all freaked when they heard the voice suddenly become distorted. But even scarier was when they looked up and saw a masked woman staring at them as they held the adults down, accompanied by another man; a man in a jumpsuit.
"Who is that!?"
Fleetfoot cackled under her mask, and she and the mysterious man waved them goodbye. As a car came rushing by, the two of them clutched onto the back of it, fleeing the scene. The girls were left flabbergasted as Fleetfoot left with the principal. And as soon as she left, the three adults all groaned and moaned in pain. The bright turquoise color in their eyes had vanished, now returning back to their normal eye colors.
"Oh... what happened?" The security guard asked, holding her head.
"How did I get here?" Another asked.
The girls looked at one another with worry. Now this was bad...
Author's Note
Wanna say, special thanks to CSC and Twilight_Shimmer for ideas on this chapter!
And really, this was just a short comedic piece of a chapter. Hope you enjoy it!
Training Day
Later that day, after the failed attempt to stop the breakout, the girls just went on their merry way and switched back to their real identities. To say they were disappointed in the failure of apprehending the criminal, would be a gross understatement. They were frustrated, and all because those guards had held them back. But they knew the guards weren't to blame; they couldn't help it even if they wanted to. Whatever Fleetfoot did, turned them against everyone else, which was nothing short of mind control.
But they didn't have long to think about their failure. Today, they had other activities ahead of them. Including training the new supers!
One by one, each of the new guys showed up at a local gym where they were told to go. The Dazzlings rented a few rooms for them to use as practice, especially a few courts as well. Equipment included as well, basketballs, dodgeballs, and lots of weights.
The last one to arrive was Silverstream, dressed in a tank top and track shorts. She met up with the other five who were standing around, waiting for their 'teachers' to arrive and instruct them.
"Sorry! Am I late?"
"Nah, you're cool, kid," Inferno smiled. "Arrived on time."
Silver sighed. "Whew! That was close. Sorry, I have a little tendency to be late sometimes."
"Well you're fine, Silver."
"What!?" Tox shouted.
Everyone stared back at Tox who looked confused.
"I said, she was fine!" Inferno replied.
"I'm sorry, what!?"
Inferno groaned and moved closer to Tox, "I said, she's fine!"
"Oh... now I see! Sorry!" Tox shouted back.
Inferno rolled his eyes, looking to his other teammates. "What's up with him?"
"He did smoke, yesterday. Remembering, smoking can take a toll all over your body. Your skin, mouth, face, your eyes, on your ears. By his response, I'm ascertain that Tox may have some slight hearing loss."
Everyone's eyes widened and looked in fear.
"Um... that's not good, right?"
"No, it is not," Blizzard shook her head.
"Attention, newbies!"
The doors slammed open, and the Dazzlings walked through, each of them with their own gym outfits. Aria in particular had a silver whistle around her neck, and a blue cap on her head.
"Line up, ladies!" Aria shouted.
Instantly, everyone got up and stood in a line, straight as they could be. Side by side, from shortest to tallest. Aria just paced side to side like a military instructor.
"If you six are going to be great heroes, then you need to train like heroes! You will eat, sleep, and train hard! We're going to help you with all fields. Some of you may be stronger in some fields than others, but that's okay! Everyone may have different strengths, which is why you will all need to learn to work as a team, and bounce off of each other's strengths and weaknesses! Which is why today, we're going to start with something basic... dodgeball," Aria smirked. "Any questions?"
Only Silverstream raised her hand.
"Yes, Pinkie Pie?" Aria asked.
Silverstream blinked. "That's not my name, but... oh, right! Sorry! Um, shouldn't we... be throwing dodgeballs?"
"Well duh, that's what this sack of wrenches is for," Aria said, dropping a sack onto the table next to her. Then flipping the bag around, a large collection of metallic wrenches all fell out, dropping onto the table, and onto the floor. Several sounds of metal clashing and clanking echoed all through the gym, making some of them cringe from the noise.
Once they were out of the bag, Aria grabbed a gray wrench, gripping it tight in her hand. "Now. This is something I truly believe. If you can dodge a wrench, then you can dodge an incoming bullet!"
Silverstream blinked with a scared look. "Huh?"
Aria didn't give her time to reply, and instantly she threw the wrench towards Silverstream's direction. The little girl shrieked and acting on instinct, jumped out of the way to avoid the wrench. Aria smirked, seeing her miss it.
"Good jump. But your enemy isn't going to play fair, and they won't just do it once!"
Aria threw a wrench again, this time, aiming for Silverstream's stomach. The little girl cried out in fear, rolling over to the side to avoid feeling the pain of hard metal against her tummy.
"Yipe!" Silver yelped.
"Hey, come on now, that's a little--" Inferno protested.
Too late. Another wrench came flying in, hitting Inferno in the head and making him drop the ground. Everyone watched as he fell, to wit, a look of disturbance.
"Aria!" Sonata whined. "You said we'd be taking it easy on them!"
"Life isn't easy, and the world isn't going to be kind to them, so we have to push them to in the same level!" Aria said, winding up and throwing another wrench.
"OW!" Tox shouted as the wrench hit his eye.
"Walk it off!" Aria shouted.
Adagio's hands cupped her mouth in horror. Poor little Silver was nearly hurt! This wasn't a tactic she had planned in mind! This was certainly going to be a while...
Everyone stretched their muscles as they stood at the start of the track. Arms, legs, everything. And Aria stood on the sideline, blowing her whistle.
"Okay! You all are going to run three laps around this track. We have to see how fast some of you guys are. And to make it less strenuous... we will be providing an epic mix to get you in the feel of the adrenaline. Sonata! Hit Retro-Girls Epic Mix!"
"Got it!" Sonata called. She pressed the play button on a stereo, and an adrenaline-rock and roll sounding beat began to play.
"Aww, yeah, gettin' Danger Zone up in here!" Inferno cheered.
"Ready... set... go!" Aria shouted.
The music kicked up, and so everyone picked up their feet and began to run. Hearts began to pound, their bodies all scurrying around the track, all the while their coaches watched.
"Come on, pick it up, pick it up! Nice, Inferno! You've got it! Phantom, come on, gotta keep up!"
Inferno lead the charge, with Tombstone and Blizzard steadily behind. The three of them were on different tracks (like any typical track in a gym) but they constantly fought to hit first place. No one threw trash talk or verbal abuse, but there was noticiable competition between them as they tried to race for first place.
Not too far behind was Phantom who stayed behind the three of them, unable to catch up with them.
"Keep it going newbies! You'll have it in you in no time!"
"You know we will! Right guys?"
Unfortunately what the four adults failed to see was that very far behind, was Tox and Silver. The two of them had stopped their running and were panting heavily, trying to catch their breaths. Silver had her hand over her heart, feeling it pound against her.
"We'll... we'll catch up!" Silver wheezed.
Tox immediately collapsed and fell.
Their next training exercise was taken over to the weight room, where everyone went to use a piece of equipment. The four adults took hold of some weights and started to pump their arms, raising the weights up adn back down. Everyone broke a sweat, but they pushed hard.
Tox laid back on the bench press, lifting some weights up into the air while Aria stood by, helping him in the event he needed it. And as he lifted the weights up, Silverstream clenched her hands onto the pull-up bar while Adagio held a clipboard in her hand, counting the number of times Silver reached her chin over the bar.
"That's it, sweetie! You've got this, that's the superhero spirit!"
Silverstream grunted and wheezed, trying to push herself as she kept working out. She felt like her arms would collapse at any second, but she didn't give up.
"17... 18... 19... just one more!"
Silverstream's head was exploding with sweat. She wasn't sure if she would make it! But she had to, she couldn't give up now! With one final struggle, she pulled on the bar some more, until finally, she reached her chin over the bar once again.
"20! That's perfect, Silver!" Adagio smiled.
Silver's hands let go and she dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Her arms flopped down, adn she panted heavily. Adagio appeared upside down in her vision, but she could tell she was smiling.
"You did it Silver! You've got it in you, I told you you could do it!"
Silver still panted, trying to raise a hand up.
"I... I need a minute! Or... Or two!"
"Just breathe... just take a break, you've earned it."
After a cleanup, and some much needed water, the girls took the supers over to another location. This time, out in a plain where no one could complain about what they were going to do next. Every one of them had a pair of goggles to protect their eyes, and all of them stood together in the same row as they had before.
This time Sonata had the call, wearing the cap and whistle.
"Okay everyone, this is gonna be a lot of fun! Now one thing about being a superhero, is avoiding the onslaught of fire. But its more fun when you're the one making the fire. Some of you have shown that you're not so good when it comes to speed or super strength, but that's okay!" Sonata cheered. "What one lacks, one makes up for! So for this session, we're going to be working on your aim."
Aria lifted a tarp off of a table, revealing a horde of weapons. Guns, rifles, machine guns, Gatling guns, swords, shurikens, nunchuks, and a bunch of other weapons collected. Everyone was in shock and awe at the sight of the weapons before their eyes. So many to pick from, so many to use...
"That's a lot of weapons," Silver commented. "And that's awesome!"
Adagio giggled. "Yes, yes it is."
"Now here comes the fun. We're gonna use a few at a time, and we're going to find out what you're the best at. I can show you what I'm the best at. Which is, well, kind of everything really."
"There's no humanly way you're the best at everything," Tombstone objected.
"Now that's true. But I'm not a human... and I've had several hundred years to practice," Sonata said.
"I'm sorry, what--"
"--I said nothing!" Sonata interjected.
Sonata picked up an axe, clenching it tight. She turned around, and looked at the obstacles and targets several feet away. She took a step back, raising her axe up. And with one step forward, she launched the axe straight in the air and towards the wooden board.
The axe slammed right in the middle of the target beam, blowing a few chips of wood off the board.
"First try!" Sonata cheered. "Aria, my crossbow!"
Aria threw the crossbow at Sonata which hit the back of her head.
"Ow!" Sonata squeaked.
"Oh, sorry!" Aria shouted.
"Oh... Aria, how many times have we told you, you pass the weapons to them, you don't throw it at them," Adagio shook her head.
After rubbing her head and picking up the weapon, Sonata pointed the crossbow towards the next target, holding it tight. Her finger went over the trigger, letting go. As soon as she pressed the trigger, the arrow launched right through the air and shoved right through the next target beam.
"Perfect! Okay, who's next?"
Phantom stepped up, nodding.
"Oh, wanna give it a shot?"
Phantom nodded, then pointed to the pistol.
"Nice choice, dude," Aria smirked.
Phantom grabbed the pistol, and pulled the trigger back. He held it in front of him, both hands holding steady. His eyes locked onto the glass jar that was sitting on top of a fence, the target he selected to destroy.
Pulling the trigger, the bullet fired from the barrel and impacted against the glass jar, shattering it to pieces.
"Hey, nice shot!" Aria clammered.
Phantom shrugged.
"You shot a pistol before?" Adagio asked.
The silent man gave a nod, raising eight fingers.
"Eight times, you used a pistol?"
Phantom nodded again.
"Very nice... who's next?"
After their time at their shooting range was done, everyone gathered back to the Dazzlings penthouse for some much needed R&R. But there was still some work to do, thankfully their next activity was going to be a little more fun.
"So, what are we doing now?" Silverstream asked, plopping down into a chair.
"Trust me, this activity we have planned for you all is going to really fun! For realzies!" Sonata smiled.
"Exactly. Now, as a superhero, you're going to need a persona that best makes you stand out. Costumes that make you look dramatic, brave, bold! One of the things you fine young men and women will get to do as a super, is design your superhero costume. All part of the fun of being a hero."
All six of them had big grins on their faces when they heard that announcement. Now they were more than excited to look awesome. And Adagio could tell, her soft giggling when she saw their smiles.
"I see a few of you are rather enthusiastic," Adagio giggled.
"Are you kidding? This is awesome! We're going to be heroes!" Silverstream squeed, raising her hands up like an excited fangirl.
"So, everyone just pick a piece of paper, write down some descriptions of what you'd like to look like," Adagio instructed.
Almost immediately everyone picked up some paper and began writing down ideas.
"It needs to be bold, it needs to be heroic, something brave!" Adagio said with some dramatization.
"Yeah, yeah!" Silverstream cooed. "Something like uh, like uh... Magneto! Oh he's a great superhero! The helmet, the cape, the boots--"
"--No capes!" Adagio said, flinging a crumpled up ball of paper behind her.
Inferno blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Rule of being with us; no capes."
"Isn't it our decision to choose how we--"
"--Are you familiar with Void Master?" Adagio asked, raising a brow. "Wise, quick, nice man, very smart thinking with portals."
"No, and I'm pretty sure that's not a real--"
"Issue #21, made in 1964! All was well, another day saved, when his cape got snagged right on a missile fin."
Blizzard raised a hand up. "Voidmaster was not always the master of his destiny--"
"Syndrome, November 5th, 2004!" Adagio shouted. "Attempted to escape the infamous Incredibles, cape got caught in a jet turbine!"
Silverstream blinked. "To be fair, his ambitions kind of--"
"--It doesn't. End. There!" Adagio said, standing up. She rushed over to one of the bookcases, grabbing a stack of paper. When she returned to the coffee table, she dropped a pile of comic books onto the table, making a loud thud. The thud sounded like she was dropping a heavy piece of metal on the ground, sound of the impact.
The team stared down in shock, staring at the pile.
"Dat's a lot of comic books," Tox commented.
"We've had years to kick around and do whatever, so we've spent our time reading in the worlds of superheroes. But back my point..." Adagio cleared her throat. "Dr. Doom! Stuck in an elevator door!"
"Skeletor! Sword cut a hole!" Aria shouted.
"Megamind! Cape draped over his head, rendering him defeated quickly by Metroman!"
"Okay, so maybe they've had a few incidents, it doesn't--" Inferno started to say, before Adagio got up in their faces.
"Mezmerella, stuck in the door! Underminer, tripped into a fault line! Screen Slaver, electrocuted!"
Silverstream raised a hand.
"Yes, Silver?"
"Um... Screen Slaver didn't have a cape--"
"--His sweater got snagged on a hook!" Adagio shouted.
Silverstream flinched and sunk into her chair.
"Spawn, sewer grate! Dr. Light, snagged on ice shard! Cat Man, sucked into the wood chipper! Bottom line; No capes!"
Everyone was sinking in their seats, horrified at Adagio and her sisters sudden tirade. They went from zero to a complete 360 in a few seconds!
"Um... okay, then," Tox said with a quizzical look.
Adagio sighed. "Sorry, I went a little ballistic--"
"--A little!?" Blizzard asked.
"But my point stands, you can't be wearing capes or loose pieces of clothing during your mission. Even the tiniest thread of cotton could create an accident, and we don't want that to happen to you guys."
The softness in her voice made it clear she wasn't joking. And they understood right away.
"Adagio, I promise, nothin' like that's gonna happen with us. I can guarantee it," Inferno said, calm as he could be.
Adagio smiled back to the man. "I hope so, Inferno. I hope so..."
Author's Note
Special thanks once again to Scholary-Cimmerian for another OC, the OC being Cast Iron! Thanks so much for helping me out!
And thank you all for your patience, I am so sorry for the long wait, I hope this was worth it. Enjoy!
Cast Iron
Sunday
The Canterlot Tapper was the biggest tavern to be built in Canterlot. Its service was great, its entertainment was massively entertaining, and the unlimited supply of alcohol quenched the thirst of every man and woman around. But it also got a bad reputation to be a meeting place for a lot of 'lower' people. Specifically thugs and hardcore criminals.
And it just so happened to be the place where Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot decided to have a meet. Now, none of the other Wonderbolts tagged along as they didn't want to go to a place where their presence would be known, but they also brought up the argument that if all of them were seen together, the chances of their discovery would be found in an instant.
So with a few quick disguises, the three of them made it in without a worry. The three of them sat at a table, kicking back and relaxing with a few cold drinks.
"Spitfire, remind me again, why are we in a place where our mere presence can be noticed?" Fleetfoot asked, under the mask. She hadn't taken it off since their departure from prison.
"Because, my suddenly short companion, Cast Iron agreed to meet us here. Why he suddenly bailed when you released him from his prison, I don't understand..."
"He said he wanted to hide while I gave my report. Why here of all places he chooses to meet, I'll never understand... " Fleetfoot grumbled.
"Easy, sister. I'm sure Cast Iron had his reasons. Now, as to where he is..."
Soarin leaned over, gazing into a corner booth.
"Spitfire. Found him."
Spitfire and Fleetfoot gazed their heads over to the corner booth to the man in his thirties sitting in silence. A small fedora hat with a big brim, casting a dark shadow over his face, disclosing his features. The shadows of Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot made the man tip his hat up to get a closer look, and revealing his identity.
A man with a visible scar on his right cheek turned his view towards the rogue commander before him. A small tattoo of a dragon swirling around his eye was also visible, with a grimace of a smile.
"Spitfire. Its been a while," the man replied.
"Cast Iron. I'm happy to see you've made your escape. Now perhaps you can explain as to why we are meeting in a public place? You know how I--"
"--Yes, yes, I know, you prefer if your face wasn't in public eye..." Cast Iron replied, nonchalantly. "But I am rather curious as to what's become of these two. Certainly have gone through some new changes. Soarin, you're looking much more skinny the last time we met, and it appears Fleetfoot shrunk a few inches. And for some reason is now picking masks as a new fashion wear."
Fleetfoot still didn't respond, her breathing audible under the mask.
"And you sound like an evil overload," Cast deadpanned.
"You can thank that Moon Dancer brat for this ," Fleetfoot hissed. "She did a number on my face. "
Cast smirked. "I see."
"Anyways," Spitfire said, "Perhaps you can explain why you wanted us to meet here?"
"I wanted us to have a private chat, away from the rest of your Wonderbolt teammates. I prefer they not see us do business in their eyes."
Soarin shook his head with a disturbed look, "Just of note, be careful of how you phrase things because that sounded wrong."
Cast groaned. "Fine. The point I'm making is, I wanted to talk to you in private."
"In a bar where chances of us being found are higher than likely?" Spitfire deadpanned.
The Japanese man smirked. "Because I thrill for danger. Being in a place where the chances of being caught are high is what keeps every fiber of my being alive."
"As usual," Spitfire replied.
"Right. Anyways, lets get down to business. I am appreciative of your comrade breaking me out. And I'm even more surprised to see her new method. Mind control, hmm... something I never thought you would be a master at," the man said, looking at Fleetfoot.
Fleetfoot didn't say a word.
"Now tell me Spitfire. What plan do you have this time? What big plan are we going to enact next?"
Spitfire smirked. "I'm glad you asked. We're going to remind all of Canterlot who's truly in charge... and who true heroes are."
Cast Iron raised a brow.
"What's your definition of true heroes?"
Spitfire blinked under her sunglasses.
"True heroes... are what the Wonderbolts are. Risking life and limb in a harsh environment where chances of death are 100%. True heroes are those who stay alive during 10 long and painful years... and don't die ."
Spitfire didn't say anything else, and her face drew a blank. The three people at her table looked at her face with some concern.
"Um, boss? You okay?"
Spitfire still blanked. Her mind closed all of the sounds in the busy bar, and the patrons that were simply eating. She only heard the sounds in her head, which all repeated back to her. Sounds of an engine failing, the cries of terror echoing through the air. Explosions, sounds of destruction, the ongoing fire of machine guns jiggling in her hands. She remembered crying... but then it all vanished.
"Spitfire?"
Spitfire shook her head, waking up.
"Yes, what?"
"Our waiter's here?" Soarin' said, gesturing the waiter who was standing near.
"Oh, right, sorry. I'll just take a basket of fries," Spitfire said to the waiter.
"Make that two ," Fleetfoot added.
"And for you sir?"
"I'll just take some chicken wings," Soarin replied.
"Okay. A-And for you... s-s-sir?" the waiter suddenly shivered, looking at Cast Iron.
Cast Iron smirked, noting his fear.
"A simple American cheeseburger is all I desire," he replied, "And please, do everyone in this restaurant a favor, and don't screw it up."
The waiter shivered with a slow nod, walking away with the tray clattering and wobbling.
"So..." Soarin said, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Right, you were saying?"
"Anyways, I had a new plan in store. I'm sure you're well aware of Canterlot's newest 'heroes' correct?" Spitfire asked.
The man nodded. "I do. A team without a name, I might add."
"Right. Anyways, I had a plan in store to put them out... for good. The city looks up to them like they were sent down from god. They think because a few teenagers with some gadgets and costumes that they're automatically safe. They're never truly safe. They believe they can sit back and watch while these kids do all the hardwork, and so the world can steal from the all the while... they're not heroes. These people live in a fantasy. And they need a cold drink of reality to wake them up..." Spitfire spat.
Cast Iron nodded. "So you want me to help you kill a few teenagers? Sounds simple enough."
"It won't be. Don't underestimate these children, they've shown themselves to be a lot stronger than we're imagining," Spitfire sternly said.
"I'm sure they're not--HEY!" Cast Iron shouted staring at another table. "What do you think you're staring at!?"
"N-Nothing, I swear--"
Politely, he stepped out of his seat in the booth. "Excuse me for a moment."
Spitfire and the other two Wonderbolts just sat idly while Cast stepped away. They didn't get to see, but they could hear Cast screaming and yelling like a madman. They listened as glass and plates shattered against the floor, the walls, and his foot slamming against the table they were eating.
Spitfire had no visible reaction, but Soarin and Fleetfoot were visibly afraid, shown by them cowering in their seats. It was hard to see, but Fleetfoot was scared under her mask.
The Japanese man sat back down at the table, next to a quivering Soarin.
"Sorry about that. Anyways, what were we discussing?" Cast asked.
"My plan."
"Right, right, continue," Cast said, gesturing her to continue.
"Anyways, so I'm hereby requesting you to come back adn join us, as we finally seize control of Canterlot once again."
The Japanese man gave a smirk, interested in Spitfire's proposition.
"I'm liking what I'm hearing, Spitfire. But I must ask, will I have to work with River Stone again?"
"No. River Stone bailed," Spitfire replied, politely. "But I am not known for pressuring my old teammates into coming back into their old jobs."
"Very well... of course, you understand the only reason I'm interested is because I get to make some kills..." Cast Iron grimaced.
"Of course," Spitfire nodded.
Soarin and Fleetfoot didn't say a word, the two of them just stayed out of their conversation.
"Now I--" Cast Iron stopped again, looking at a couple who were staring at them. "--Excuse me. WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT!?"
The man violently got up from the table and stomped over to theirs who were very terrified. With zero warning, he yanked the tablecloth off the table, perfectly with the flowers still standing. At first the couple were confused, but then Cast Iron grabbed one end of the table and pushed it up, flipping it around and landing it on its table top. The couple screamed, seeing the mad man flipping the table on them from out of nowhere, but they did not dare say another word to his seething face.
He sat down at the table again, and once again, looking unfazed.
"So how do we plan to execute your mission?" Cast Iron asked.
"With no more interruptions..." Spitfire groaned, "Here's what we'll do. We need to take down those girls. We'll still need to free some more of our friends, but we'll have to keep them off our backs. When everyone's back, we'll take them down. But it's not going to end there..."
The three people next to her gathered closer.
"Because of our new-found superpowers, we're going to unleash them upon them. They may have ninja weapons, baking supplies, 1980s pop culture, whatever. They don't have superpowers, like me and Fleetfoot. They're just children. They aren't be underestimated, but in the end... without their weapons, without their gadgets... they're nothing more than just a bunch of children, posing as heroes."
Everyone nodded.
"Very well then, Spitfire. I think I'll help you. Just promise me, I'll get to slice and dice those kids..."
Spitfire sternly stared into Cast's snake eyes. "There will be examples made, but we will not be slicing them up."
Cast scowled. "Fine. But you better--"
"--I know, Cast. I know..." Spitfire said, sitting back in her chair.
The waiter came by, carefully setting down the baskets of food for everyone. And his hands shook like a leaf as he tried to set Cast's cheeseburger down for him.
"Quit shaking," Cast sneered.
"I-I'm very sorry sir, I don't know what's happening to me..."
He dropped the plate down, still keeping the burger intact. But the tray holding the drinks fell and shattered onto the floor beside their table, with a loud bang.
"Oh! Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry sir, please--"
Cast was about to get up until Spitfire put her hand on his chest. "No more, Cast."
Cast Iron wanted to say no and just grab that man and smash his face in with a wine bottle. But any more incidents, and they would get kicked out. Now, they should have been kicked out already since Cast had created two incidents already, disturbing patrons and destroying property of the facilities was already breaking several rules. But the staff were very terrified of Cast Iron, and knowing his history, if they dared tried to call the police, everyone would have been dead immediately. Cast Iron was like a ticking time bomb, one wrong move and then everyone was dead.
"Fine. Get us new drinks, and make it snappy," Cast snapped.
"Y-Yes sir, right away sir!"
The waiter scurried away, leaving them alone.
"So, quick recap. Find our troops, hunt down those children... and we'll make it public. To truly make the city fear us, they need to witness their demise," Spitfire grimaced at her friends. "They'll understand what happens when you try to mess with our team, and when you cross our path."
Soarin for once felt a little at ease, and both he and Cast shared a grin.
"Good, very good..." Cast hissed.
"But you know they'll be after us, correct?"
"Maybe so. But I have a feeling they won't be on us when we make our strike tomorrow. I heard rumors from a few low-life crooks that they're planning on making a heist. A shipping truck containing rare artifacts comes in tomorrow, transferring its goods into the Canterlot Museum Of History. Only the truck won't be stopping at the museum... our low crooks will be stealing it and making off with its goods. Which will only make our 'heroes' want to stop them. And after all, how they can be in two places at once..."
Author's Note
Thank you all for the patience and stay tuned for more! Enjoy the chapter, and as usual, your input is appreciated!
Also, fun fact; Most of Inferno was inspiration taken from Frozone.
We Love To Save The Day
"Aria! Hit it!"
Aria's finger clicked on a button on the remote in her hand, and a loud pumping song began to play through the speakers she had hanging on her back. Soon a blaring alarm began to go off inside of the helicopter, accompanied by red flashing lights. The back door of the helicopter began to open up, leading to the outside skies.
Grabbing their parachutes, the new recruits and Dazzlings and strapped them to their bodies. Adagio led everyone to the door, and stood still as she stared deep into the big open skies. She turned around with a giant grin on her face, singing along to the song that played.
Your heroes on the way!
Aria and Sonata jumped out first, equal excited grins.
We love to save the day!
Blizzard and Inferno walked behind, next to go, cheering as loud as they could. The two of them leapt up and jumped off the plane, the wind brushing past their hair.
Gonna reach that place!
Phantom was next to jump, jumping off right behind Inferno's trail.
That takes us higher!
Tox springloaded into the air with his arms and legs out like a flying squirrel, and began to dive down with the others. Tombstone was next to follow, keeping his body close together as he jumped. Now all that remained was Silverstream and Adagio.
Silverstream got a parachute on as ordered, but she stayed close to Adagio. Adagio couldn't help but smile.
"Its okay sweetie. I'm going to help you get down. But when the time comes, I want you to activate the parachute. I'll let you know when that is."
Silver nodded.
"Perfect! Now..." Adagio moved down lower so Silverstream could climb up on her back. Adagio held her legs and Silverstream clutched around her stomach. Adagio's hands reached behind, patting her shoulder.
"Ready Silver?"
"Mmmhmm. One more question though?"
"Shoot!"
"Umm... Do you actually think I have what it takes to be a hero?"
Adagio turned her head to look at her face, and smiled. She patted her again, making her smile back.
"I do believe in you, sweetie. Now hang on! On the count of 3... 1..."
Silverstream clenched tighter to Adagio.
"2..."
She quickly pulled the pair of goggles over her eyes and gulped, praying for her soul.
"3!"
Running, Adagio jumped off and spread her arms and legs, all the while little Silverstream clutched tighter like she was her own personal teddy bear.
The wind blew and brushed past her face and hair, making it all stick up on top of her as she dived. Not too far were the rest of her friends who had began the dive as well. All of them spread like flying squirrels, feeling the cold wind in the air brush past them. As Adagio held her body together like a bullet, she dove through the air even faster, darting past the rest of her friends.
And they could still hear Aria's song pumping beats out of the speaker hanging off her back.
Your heroes on the way! We love to save the day! Gonna reach that place! That takes us higher!
"Okay! Everyone, I want you to look down at the town. Take a good big look cause we're not going to have an overview look for very long!" Adagio shouted as the wind blew past her hair.
"WHOO-HOO!!!!!!" Tox cheered.
"Awww, YEAH!!!" Aria grunted.
"Everyone, we're almost there! City streets at 12:00!"
Their bodies whooshed through the air, and were now getting closer and closer to the cities.
"Okay, sweetie!? You're gonna have to let go!" Adagio shouted.
"WHAT!?" Silverstream panicked.
"Its okay! See the string that looks like you can tug on?"
"I thought that was the string to make it tighter!" Silverstream replied.
"No, sweetie, that releases the parachute! Just pull on that!
"Oh! Okay! That's confusing!"
Silverstream tugged on the string as ordered, and was shocked at what happened next. A big parachute transformed out of her back, yanking on her and taking her off of Adagio's back and into the air making her yelp. Soon one by one, everyone began to deploy their parachutes, no longer diving towards the ground.
Adagio then yanked on her cord, and her parachute opened up.
Now that the parachutes were open, everyone was safely floating down to the ground.
Adagio leaned herself to the right, aiming for the open streets for the landing. Just had to get past one of the buildings, and she'd be okay!
Unfortunately, she failed to take in account of the statues on top of one of the stores which caught her parachute. In seconds, she was no longer floating down, and was now stuck hanging in the parachute above the sidewalk.
"Oh... rats ," Adagio cursed.
She looked up, seeing Aria and Sonata begin their descent to the ground. Sonata began to get closer to the ground, and then fell straight into a tree.
"AH!!!" Sonata screamed as she fell through the leaves and branches. Thankfully she wasn't too far from the ground and she groaned in agony as the parachute yanked on her legs and groin muscles.
"Oh my goodness, Sonata! Are you okay?" Adagio cried.
Sonata grunted, her arm weakly raising up and trying to raise a thumbs up.
"This parachute... just... pulled on... owwie, yanked on my... you know what!!! "
Adagio cringed, cupping her groin. She couldn't bear to imagine the sheer pain her sister would be feeling right now. But Sonata was next to follow.
Aria was closer to getting to the ground, ready for a smooth landing. She moved her legs out, ready to stick the landing and run down. Unfortunately she put them out too early, and so once her feet hit the ground, her entire body flipped forward and she fell face first onto the pavement. Her body sprawled once she fell, looking as if she had fallen down several flights of stairs. And the speaker that was on her back crashed right beside her, smashing into pieces and bits, practically done for.
"Aria!" Sonata yelled, wincing again from the pain. "Y-You okay?"
"E-E-Ehhhh..." Aria moaned.
Adagio shook her head, sighing. "Okay, well, no one's dead. Hopefully the others will have a better landing."
Adagio and Sonata looked up into the sky again. Inferno and Blizzard were the first ones to come down. Unfortunately, they could see something amiss up in the air. Both of their parachutes had smacked into each other, as well as the people strapped to said chutes, and it looked as if they were now pointing and throwing their arms around in anger.
"What's going on up there?" Adagio shouted, trying to get their attention.
The siblings couldn't hear their words or virtually anything from how high they were. But as they gradually got lower and lower, they could hear them speaking. Only it didn't sound like good speaking, they sounded bitter. Angry. Enraged. Furious even!
"--Oh, oh, so you're saying I'm gonna be the one getting caught? The red superhero, gets caught!"
"A minute ago you were complaining about me making ice puns!"
"Oh that's right, the fire superhero gets caught!"
But their conversation came to an end real fast, real soon. The two of them drifted away from each other's parachutes, floating down to the ground. Inferno landed safely on his feet on the street, but unfortunately Blizzard's parachute got snagged on a lamppost. Now she was seen danging by the parachute, stuck on the parachute.
She grunted as she tried to tug on her parachute to free herself, to no avail.
"Are you kidding me..." Inferno deadpanned.
"Don't you even start with me right now," Blizzard snarled.
"You can create ice but you can't get yourself out of a parachute!? What kind of super are you!?"
"We were in a rush to get to the airfield and on the helicopter, we got no training and zero warning for a situation involving us skydiving out of a helicopter! You can't blame me for this!"
"Yet you start bustin' my chops about me gettin' messed up in my parachute lines!? That you caused!?"
"Okay, stop! What is going on!? When did this argument erupt?" Adagio intervened, without getting in between.
"We were doin' fine on the jump, and then the minute I have one tiny twist on my finger, she starts bustin' my chops about being caught!"
"Were you?" Adagio asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"No! I was not! But yet she, the one who has ice, gets caught, and that tone, that analyst tone like she knows everything is starting to get on my last nerve! " Inferno huffed, putting his hands on his own hips and staring up at Blizzard who was dangling upside down.
"I may be caught, but at least I won't be hit by a truck!"
"What are you even talking about?"
"I'm talking about the truck that's literally coming your direction."
Inferno turned around and his face just drooped with a deadpan snarl.
"Are you kidding me...", was the last words he said before the truck slammed into him, throwing his body right across the pavement in a comical manner, rolling like a barrel.
Adagio and Sonata screamed, holding their hands over their mouths in fear. Thankfully the sounds of his groaning made them sigh in relief, the man was not dead. Plus they could see Inferno slowly trying to pull himself back up from the impact.
"Well then. We have two teammates who are fighting with each other. Four people can still stop a running truck," Adagio said with some hope.
Speak of the devil, Phantom and Tombstone were next to arrive on the scene. Phantom held onto his parachute, as tight as he could, ready to stick the landing. After his body phased through some of the electrical beams, he pulled his feet out as straight as he could, ready to make the landing.
Without a hitch, he stuck the landing and ran as he hit the ground, trying to catch his balance. Then he unbuckled his parachute and cheered with only his hands raising up.
Adagio herself was the first to cheer for him, giving him a round of applause and a few whistles.
"Alright, that's what I'm talking about! Perfect landing, Phantom! A+!"
Phantom smirked and he did a single bow, like he was standing in front of an audience.
"Now if Tombstone can stick the landing..." Adagio hoped.
Tombstone tilted his parachute to the right, turning himself to aim for the streets. But when he turned, he looked to his left and instantly dropped his jaw in regret. Coming his way was a remote-controlled drone who flew right at his face. He swatted at it, trying to get it away. But then, he made his mistake. He swatted at it with his hand, cutting himself from the spinning blades. But then the drone began to spin out of control.
The drone smacked into his face, making him yell 'OW' from the smack, and then the drone pushed right through one of the lines holding his parachute. The line was cut, and then he began to fall. No longer coming down nice and easy, now he was just falling straight down.
He screamed as he fell, and his body slammed right through the top of a trailer of a big rig. A hole was formed from the fall, and everyone gasped when they saw him fall through. Then a few seconds later, he emerged from the open back of the trailer, spinning around like he was dizzy with several balloons drifting out of the trailer. To make matters even stranger, he had one of the balloons in his hand, clenched in one of his fingers and he looked as if he had sucked on some of the helium from it, as accompanied by the chipmunk sounding voice.
"And beavers and ducks and walnuts and grandma !" Tombstone said, with his tongue lolling like he was drunk.
Phantom stared, completely uncomfortable with the sight in front of him. Even more so when he fell flat on his face, hitting the ground. He tapped his shoulder with just his foot, receiving no reaction. He looked back at Adagio, shrugging.
"Okay, just stay with him, try and wake him up. If he's hurt, then uh... we'll get him to a hospital. Are you physically okay?"
Phantom gave a thumbs up.
"Good. Alright. A heist can be stopped with just three people."
And right at that very moment, Silverstream began her landing.
"Silver!" Adagio squeaked. "You've got this sweetie!"
Silver was getting closer to the ground, and she had her legs out like she was about to run onto the streets like a jet landing on a runway. And without any problems, she managed to get a skip and a quick run down the street without falling over.
"That's the stuff, that's the superhero spirit!" Adagio cheered.
Silverstream reached for the buckles holding her parachute together, freeing her body from the straps and buckles. She let out a big scream of joy, cheering her arms into the air.
"Ha-Ha!!! We did it!" Silverstream squeed as she looked to her mentor.
"You're a superhero, you!" Adagio grinned.
"Whoo-hoo!" Silverstream cheered again.
Now only one left to go; Tox. Everyone's eyes revolved to the skies again, watching as their final member was arriving. He kicked his legs up and screamed as he began to get closer and closer to the ground.
"Good, good..." Sonata clapped her hands. "Maybe when he lands we can--"
But right at the last minute, a strong wind picked up, blowing him to the right. His body slammed right through the glass display of a bakery, shattering the front window and sucking the parachute in with him. The sounds of pots and pans clattering in the bakery echoed to the outside, accompanied by the sounds of splattering food and angry patrons and co-workers.
"--Pulling shards of glass out of your bloody feet."
Expecting him to come through the already shattered window, Tox came out by surprise, this time kicking the door down. The door slammed and hit the ground, shattering into pieces as it too, was made of glass. And Tox came out looking like a mess. Smeared cupcakes and pies were covering him, a cupcake was sticking up on his shoulder, and he was scowling under the piece of cake on his eye.
"Ow, ooh..." Silverstream cringed. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"Yes, very much so!" Tox barked.
Silverstream didn't flinch, but instead she wiped her finger at the white frosting on Tox's shoulders, and she gave it a lick. She smacked her lips and gave a 'mmm' sound in delight. "Vanilla!"
Tox then wiped his finger at the frosting, giving it a taste. "Huh. Never mind, that's not bad."
"Tox are you okay?" Adagio called.
"I'm fine, outside of the glass shard in my foot!"
Adagio cringed. "Owww... um, are sure you're okay?"
"Positive!" Tox replied. "Soo... where did the rest of the team land?"
"Well Blizzard's stuck on a lamppost, Inferno got hit by a truck, not dead thankfully, and I don't know if Tombstone needs to go to a hospital or not, but... there's just three of you still standing. I suggest you three make haste to stop that heist!"
Tox looked around, seeing the destruction around him. Only ones standing were Phantom who was checking on Tombstone, and Silverstream who was cleaning off some of the cupcake frosting from his shoulder.
"Hmm... mind if I look at Inferno?"
Adagio nodded, pointing at the down man.
Tox walked up to the man who was on his back and got down on his knees to try and look at his face.
"Hey Inferno... time to wake up... come on..."
Tox scowled, seeing his unresponsive response. With no idea of what to do, he just threw a slap across his face.
"Wake up!"
No response. Another slap.
"WHY. WON'T. YOU. WAKE. UP!?" Tox yelled as he kept slapping his face, hitting both cheeks.
"Hey! You can stop now!"
"No, no," Blizzard laughed, "Come on, keep going!"
Tox groaned. "No, you're right. Time is short, and we've got a truck to stop. Silver, you're with me, I need an extra pair of eyes with me in the car."
"Oooh, we're driving?" Silverstream asked with some excitement.
"Yes, and I'm gonna need someone to hold the wheel while I throw things with my poor aim, might destroy some stuff."
"Right! Wait, what?"
Tox and Silverstream rushed away, running down the streets to head on their way. In addition, Phantom just phased through one of the buildings and appeared right on the top of the roof of the same one. He waved at the eldest siren, and began running across the rooftops to begin his journey. Now the three were on their way to make chase.
"You know, really thinking about it... we should have spent a bit more time preparing them," Sonata quipped.
"I blame myself," Adagio commented.
"So do I," Blizzard crossed her arms.
"I jumped out a win dow..." Tombstone slurred.
Phantom, Tox, and Silverstream ran together on the open streets, about to make their move. The others were temporarily out of commission, but that didn't mean they couldn't do anything.
As the two of them went around a corner, the stopped partway as they looked down the street. The stolen truck the Beanie Brothers had taken was heading their way.
Phantom tapped Tox and Silver, and gave them a few hand signals.
"Sooo... you're going to try and get on the truck?" Tox asked.
Phantom nodded.
"Okay, well, you do that... Silver and I are going to get a car to try and keep up with them."
Tox took Silver's hand, quickly running across the street where some cars were parked.
"But how are we going to chase them? We can't just--"
"We're going to have to borrow someone's ride for a bit," Tox piped up. His eyes looked around, eyeing some of the cars that had been parked. Suddenly, his eye twinkled when he caught a particular sleek and slender sports car; sporting a neon green color, a powerful engine sticking out the middle of the hood, and a spoiler on the back. "Oh... sooo want..."
"But, isn't this stealing? Isn't stealing wrong?" Silverstream asked, raising a hand.
"It is, but we're going to give the car back, I promise. Its just--" Tox smashed his hand through the glass window, reaching for the locks. He pressed the unlock button, and both doors on the car unlocked. Once it was open, he pulled the door open and sat in the driver seat. "--We've got to bend the rules a bit. Now come on, get in!"
Silverstream looked around, checking to see if anyone was noticing. She was now worried that someone could catch them, or worse, call the police. But they had a mission to accomplish. No time for questions.
She jumped into the passenger seat, and watched as Tox opened up some of the insides of the wiring inside the car. He flicked a few wires together, immediately turning on the car. Once it was on, he pulled on the stick shift, and pulled out of the parking spot and began to pursue the truck.
"Oh now we're having fun. But because I'm in such a good mood..." Tox turned on the radio, finding a station. "Oh yes..."
The radio puimped a heavy metal beat, making his head dance to the beat. Silverstream couldn't help but find herself bob her head to the beat as well, an adorable grin on her face as she listened to it.
"Thunder!" Tox shouted, singing along.
"Thunder!" Silverstream cheered as well.
Soon the two kids were now rocking their heads to the song, as the car began to dance along, its engine roaring with power, kicking into high.
Phantom waited for the right moment as he stood in front of the truck. He watched as it kept getting closer, and he knew they weren't going to stop. Luckily for him, he could just phase through so no fear of being hit or run over came to his head.
The truck blared its horn, and Phantom was ready. Instantly as it charged, Phantom used his abilities and phased right through the truck, running through it like it was just a strong wind. Then once the time was right, he found a handlebar on the back of the truck, and instantly clutched it just in time.
The grab was so strong, that as he grabbed it, he was yanked by surprise and his body slammed on the back of the truck. Thankfully, he still held on strong, not letting go. He looked behind him, and watched as Tox and Silverstream were right behind him. The two of them raised single hands up, waving at the man who clinged to the truck.
Phantom waved back at them, letting them know he saw them. Phantom's eyes only looked at them for a second, for as he looked up, he found quite a surprise. Up in the air, he saw a giant boulder hovering above the skies, like it was flying towards them. But as he looked up, he could see a man with a construction site outfit standing on it, bent like he was riding a surfboard.
The man got closer, and it was revealed to be none other than Tombstone who looked like he had gotten up from his sudden collapse. Now he was back up and kicking, looking lively again! How he got back up on his feet, they wouldn't understand.
And not too far behind was Blizzard who was clinging onto another boulder that Tombstone was levitating with him, and Inferno was flying on his own, a trail of fire spewing from the back of his feet, flying right beside the others.
"Alright, lets make this nice and clean!" Tombstone called. "And Inferno?"
"Yo!"
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks for the hot chili pepper. Got me back up and... ugh, oh, yeah, I'm going to need some water again!" Tombstone coughed.
"Want me to cool your tongue down? I can whip up some ice cubes!"
"No, no, I don't need them right now! Lets just stop that truck!"
Tombstone levitated the two boulders forwards some more, keeping on the Brothers path. Blizzard clenched her fists, and some icy steam began to fume.
"Okay, I'm gonna try and ice the road ahead of them! I'll form some sharp spikes along the way, and if they rupture the tires, it'll stop them!"
"Girl, that's a dumb idea! Are you trying to cause an accident? Car crashes, loss of teeth, collateral damage?" Inferno asked.
"You're really concerned for the crooks?"
"No, I'm talkin' about the several cars ahead! What if someone gets hurt, or worse, dies?"
"I have to agree, we have to be a little more strategic about this!" Tombstone yelled, trying to keep his balance on his own 'hovercraft'.
"Thank you!"
"Excuse me, are we going to sit and have tea, or are we going to stop this b@#%(*&!? " Tox shouted.
"Tox! Please, language, there's a 12-year-old in the seat next to you!"
"She's heard worse, she's getting into middle school, isn't she? " Tox snapped as he flew the car to the right, avoiding a pothole and nearly throwing Silverstream to the window on her right.
Blizzard rolled her eyes, listening to the argument. This was going nowhere, and the Beanie Brothers were still pushing hard to escape. Carefully, she moved forward to the edge of the boulder she was standing on, and once the time was right, she jumped off and landed flat on top of the trailer of the truck.
Blizzard carefully crawled forward, trying to move to the top of the truck. She held her hands up, ready to ice the road. But just as she was about to, the truck swerved to the left and threw her off the truck, rolling onto the street with a thud.
"OOF!" Blizzard groaned from the fall.
"She's out!" Tox shouted as the sports car swerved to keep on following.
Silverstream held onto her seat and the inside handles, trying not to be thrown forward and slam her face into the dashboard.
"Whoa! You really like flying cars, don't you?"
"No, I'm just a terrible driver," Tox said, not even looking.
Little did Tox see, but a person on a bicycle was pedaling on by, and the bike had slammed right into the car, throwing the biker up and slamming onto the hood of the car until he fell off.
"Tox, did you not see the person on the bicycle? " Tombstone asked, his voice coming through a mini-speaker that was resting on Tox's right ear.
"Yes, yes I did," the teen deadpanned.
"And you didn't care that you hit him!? " Inferno cried.
"Please, he'll be fine, he's got knee-pads and a helmet," Tox shrugged.
"I find your lack of care and safety to be very distressing, " Tombstone commented.
Tombstone let go of the second boulder he had hovering that once had Blizzard standing on it, letting it drop carefully behind them and the rest of the pack.
"Well since she's failed, I think I'll give it a shot!" Inferno shouted, zooming forwards.
"Wait, wait! Shouldn't we come up with a plan?" Tombstone called out.
Inferno didn't listen. And in the rush, he zipped in front of the truck ready to throw a burst of fire to try and melt the tires of the truck. But he went out too late. The truck slammed right into him, throwing him against the street just like the truck from when he landed. He was thrown across the pavement and slammed right into the back of another car.
And the Beanie Brothers, rejoiced.
"Okay, fine. We can do this with four," Tombstone groaned, shaking his head. "Okay, Tox, can you still hear me?"
"Still hear you fine. Kinda surprised we didn't really use this earpiece equipment before ," Tox replied.
"Okay, we're going to have to try to--where's Phantom?"
"Oh, while Inferno went up front, Phantom phased through the back of the truck, getting inside. I think he's going to try and take out the brothers! "
"Well good, hopefully someone who can't be touched can--"
At that very moment, one of the truck doors opened, and Phantom was sent out of the driver's seat, face first into some wet cement.
"--And we just lost Phantom. Fine, we can do this with three."
"Um, Tombstone? " Tox asked.
"Yes Tox?" Tombstone groaned, disappointedly.
"Can I ask you to throw something for me? "
"Sure?"
"Thanks! Now look down, and grab the vial! "
Tombstone looked down and watched as a hand stuck out of the side of the car, throwing a glass vial of green liquid up into the air. Tombstone reached over to try and grab it, but it was too far to grab. And unfortunately, he fell off the boulder and smashed right through the hood of a car, making a giant dent. The boulder fell too, smashing into bits as it fell.
Tox and Silver looked at the rear view mirror as they saw the chaos ensue behind them.
"How... How the flying feather, is this possible!? They barely did anything, barely touched the truck, and yet they get taken out!?" Tox ranted.
"I'm fine! " Inferno yelled, speaking through the earpiece radio.
"Same here! " Blizzard added.
"I'm getting back up on my feet as we speak, " Tombstone called.
Tox shook his head, groaning. "You all are idiots."
Silverstream just stared at Tox in complete silence, unsure of what to say.
"Wow."
Tox groaned to the pre-teen. "What, are you going to complain that I'm just as bad?"
Silverstream shook her head, making Tox blank.
"Oh. Well, what were you going to say?"
"I'm just thinking you all are officially the weirdest people I've ever seen!" Silverstream giggled.
Tox could feel the emotions behind her words, knowing that her words were sincere and out of friendliness, not intent to spite. But now, looking at the situation, it was just up to him and Silverstream to stop them.
"Okay Silverstream, I'm going to need you to listen to me. Since the rest of our team is full of idiots, its up to us to stop that truck. Now I'm going to need you to hold the wheel while I throw some acids at them, I'll take out the tires, try to give them a flat. Flatten the tires, we'll stop them."
"Okay!" Silverstream nodded. "Wait, am I going to need to unbuckle my seatbelt?"
"Yes, and before you ask if that's dangerous... we're not breaking the rules, we're bending them!" Tox quoted.
Tox hawked up some drool, spitting it into his palm. Then he wiped it all over the roof of the car, above Silverstream and himself. He watched as the top of it began to disintegrate and decay, allowing him to raise his hand up and punch through the top, the weakened structure flying away by the wind and decaying on the ground.
"Okay. Now, I'm going to throw the vials. Hold onto the wheel."
Tox got out of the seat, raising himself up into another position. Back turned to the glass, his feet still on the floor, keeping one foot down on the pedal. Silver reached over and clutched the wheel as hard as she could, trying to hold it as hard as she could.
Tox held onto the top of the car, trying not to fall to the side or worse, fall onto Silverstream. He reached to his belt, pulling a glass vial off. He popped the cap off, and he threw it forwards, aiming it for the back of the truck. He thought he would have striked perfectly, but all he did was launch the glass through a window of another car, setting off an alarm and scaring some people nearby.
Angered with the failed attempt, he tried again. He slipped off another vial, and got ready to throw it again. He threw it, only to throw it behind him, letting go too soon. The throw scared a woman off on the sidewalk, signaling him with a high pierced shriek of terror.
"You have really bad aim!" Silverstream said as she tried to hold the wheel, the car swerving side to side.
"Silver, hold it steady!" Tox shouted.
"I'm trying!"
Tox threw once again, but he threw it at just the wrong time. Silver's hands jerked the steering wheel, making him throw at the wrong time. The glass was thrown to the right, smashing the window of a lovely restaurant and making all of the patrons inside scream and flee.
"Well that's one way to chase people out of a restaurant," Tox quipped.
"Um, Tox? They're getting away!"
"Then I guess I'm speeding this up!" Tox said, getting back into the driver's seat. He grabbed the wheel again, slamming his foot on the pedal.
The truck moved faster and faster, speeding away from the sports car. It sped to the right, passing by a sign that blocked off a piece of road, unfinished. The road that was closed off lead to the river, just near the bridge that crossed into another city.
"Uh oh. Silver, you might want to get out, now!"
"But I can't jump, I'll die!"
"Silver!"
Silverstream heard a voice call. Just above she saw Tombstone standing on another boulder. Back on his feet once again, just in time. Silverstream reached her arms up, and Tombstone grabbed her, pulling her out of the car.
"Tox, aren't you--"
"I can swim! Just stop those crooks!" Tox shouted.
Silverstream was picked up and placed onto the same boulder that he stood on. Silverstream held on tight as Tombstone levitated it to move the other direction, continuing to follow the truck. Tox revved the car harder, and slammed right through the sign. The car jumped off the edge, flying off and heading right towards the river. And at the very last second, Tox jumped through the top of the roofless car, as the car splashed into the river, sinking to the bottom, and Tox splashed onto the side, falling onto some hard rocks in the process.
"OW!" Tox screamed in agony, feeling the pain of the pebbles and stones on his back. The wind was knocked out of him, and he just let his arms fall and lay at his sides, all the while he felt the rushing water splash at his sides.
Back in town, the Beanie Brothers were nearly at the bridge. Their truck speeding by, slamming into several other civilians and cars along the way. And at the same time, Tombstone and Silverstream, along with the others were nearly there. Phantom, Inferno, and Blizzard all were closing in on them.
"This..." Inferno began.
"Ends..." Blizzard said on her end.
"Now!" Tombstone yelled.
Inferno launched a fireball, Blizzard created some ice, and Tombstone erupted mountains of rock from the road, trying to block off the escape. But it was too late.
The truck moved just in time to avoid colliding with the mountain, and made it onto the bridge. And at once, the fire and ice collided, creating nothing but steam.
The Beanie Brothers looked back and watched steam form behind them, and the two adults who fell right through the steam and onto the road. The brothers smirked and bumped their fists, just before speeding off on the highway, escaping once again.
The team watched as they all fled, escaping.
"Great, just great..." Inferno ranted. "Criminals escape, we nearly killed some people, and now, we've failed to stop something that shouldn't have failed to begin with!"
Tombstone sighed as he got off the boulder, helping Silverstream off of it as well.
"Come on, can't we try again?" Silverstream asked.
"No, there is no trying again! There's trying, and then there's screwing up royally! And we've screwed up royally!"
"Well maybe we wouldn't have screwed up if someone didn't try to snap at me at every second!" Blizzard yelled, getting up in his face.
"Said the one who got stuck on a lamppost!"
"To the guy who got hit by a truck!" Blizzard yelled.
"Guys, stop, stop!" Silverstream cried, breaking the two apart. "Please, can't we--"
"Shut up!!!" The two yelled, making her flinch back in fear.
"Hey, knock it off, she was just trying to help!" Tombstone yelled.
"Yeah, a little kid who has no super powers, trying to help two adults who have powers!" Blizzard snapped.
Silverstream took a few steps back, getting away from the conversation.
"You brought all of this on us!" Inferno yelled, snapping at Blizzard again.
"Me!?"
"Inferno is only involved in quality work! Horrible communication, horrible teammates, reflect badly on my work! And now you've got us caught in this horrific commentary, further connecting me and all of them to someone who can't even work with others, and connecting me to a criminal escaping!!!"
"Yeah, well if that's how you like it, fine then! You don't have to see me anymore, in fact, forget it, I don't want to see you, I don't want to see Phantom, Tombstone, or anyone else anymore! I'm done!"
Blizzard stomped away, walking from the rest of the team. Silverstream only whimpered and backed up even further, her eyes visibly watering out of fear and sadness. Yelling. Screaming. Anger.
"Well if that's how you feel, then I guess I'm done!" Inferno walked in the other direction.
Tombstone was about to speak, but it was too late. The two of them were far gone by the time he was going to speak, and at that moment, Phantom had clearly given up as well. He shook his head, disappointed, and walked in his own direction. Leaving Silverstream and Tombstone alone.
Tombstone shook his head, sighing. "Well... I guess we're going home early then. Silverstream, do you need me to give you a ride home? Silver?"
Silver heard his question, quickly wiping her eyes away.
"Hmm?"
"Silver, do you need a ride back?"
"Oh. Um, no, no. Its okay, I'll just... I-I'll call my butler."
Tombstone tilted his head, but shrugged. "Well, okay then. I'll go make sure Tox hasn't killed himself, and... I guess I'm calling Adagio and letting her know this was a massive mission failure."
Tombstone rushed off, running towards the direction where Tox had crashed. Now it was only Silverstream left standing. And as she watched the adults all run away from one another, leaving her on her own. And as she watched them leave, she felt the inside of her heart, snap. Her legs felt wobbly, and her arms felt numb. Her lips whimpered and her eyes watered, remembering a similar scene of pain.
She collapsed onto her behind, clutching her knees and bringing them close. She brought out her phone, sending a quick text to her butler to where she was at. And once she got a reply, all she did next was whimper some more, her head dropping into her arms, and then she cried.
Author's Note
I apologize for taking sooo long on this, once again, real life in the way. But I am thankful to finished this chapter, I am sorry for it being a bit lackluster, but I assure you, the next chapters are going to be much better than what you've read today.
Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed it, and peace out! Don't worry, we'll get back to see our 'Misfits' again soon.
Author's Note
Okay, this one's a shortie, but a summie. Basically... short chapter, but trying to continue the story without too much bloating.
Anyhoo, enjoy!
Minor Setback
Adagio fiddled and struggled with the buckles and straps on her parachute, yanking and tugging on them trying to get loose. After unbuckling herself, she jumped onto the platform of the billboard, finally free from her parachute. Then as carefully as she could, she jumped off from the ledge and onto the sidewalk, keeping a knee out.
"OW!"
Adagio yelped as she hit the ground, and cried out in pain.
"Never... doing that again!" Adagio cried. "Really hard on your knees!"
Sonata got out of her parachute and fell onto the ground, right on her back.
"OW!"
Adagio winced. "Are you okay?"
"I'm still alive! Just falling out of a tree!"
Aria, who had gotten up in the time the supers went to chase down the Beanie Brothers, helped her younger sisters get back up on her feet, and who rejoined Adagio who was struggling to get up.
"Where did they go?" Aria asked.
"Who?"
"The Squad Of Idiots, who do you think!?" Aria barked.
Adagio clinched and rolled her eyes. "They went to go chase down the Beanie Brothers while you were trying to recover. On the street."
"Well, hopefully they stopped the brothers before they could escape."
Adagio felt her pocket buzz and vibrate. Reaching in her pocket, she found her old phone. Flipping it open, she answered the call.
"Hello?" Adagio answered. "Oh, Tombstone! Good to hear you're not dead, how did the chase go?"
Aria and Sonata were quiet, allowing Adagio to answer her call. Their eyes looked at Adagio's excited grin, happy like a little girl receiving a birthday present. But then, her smile began to slowly fade. It dwindled, making the sisters concerned.
"Oh... they got away?"
"What!?" Aria and Sonata barked.
"Shh!" Adagio shushed. "Okay. Well, we can always..." Adagio's face frowned some more. "Oh. So, the entire team's quit, huh?"
She waited.
"Okay. So Tox and Silver are safely on their way to their own homes? ... Okay... No, no, I... I guess there's no reason for you to show up," Adagio said, holding her head frustrated. "No, I understand. Look, you should just... just go back to your old job. I'm sorry I... I'm sorry I wasted your time, and everyone else's. ... Okay. Goodbye."
Adagio hung up, and she sighed, throwing her head back.
"What happened?" Sonata asked.
"Inferno and Blizzard quit, Phantom quit... Tox has basically quit, Silverstream is... I don't even know what Silverstream is doing, but she's pretty much out. And, I guess Tombstone is going back to his job. Everyone's quit."
Aria and Sonata frowned.
"Aww..."
"Shame, I actually liked Phantom... even though he never said a word, or really gave us anything worth knowing about."
Adagio shook her head, waving her hair all around trying to shake it off.
"Look... okay, so everyone's quit, that's fine. It's fine, it'll be fine. Maybe our friends have had better luck today," Adagio commented.
Her phone rang again, this time a call coming from Trixie.
"Hello?" Adagio answered. "Sweetie, hey! Ugh, yes I switched to a flip phone. I don't understand how you girls use those new phones, they're impossible!" Adagio shook her head, but smiled, hearing her girlfriend's voice on the phone. "So, how'd it go? Did you stop them?"
Aria and Sonata waited. And Adagio frowned even more.
"... Oh. Okay. Well, don't worry. I'm sure you girls will get another chance. Just... look, just head back to school, we'll join you very soon. Okay. Thank you."
Adagio hung up on the phone.
"Now what happened?"
Adagio looked her sisters dead in the eye.
"Spitfire and her pack got away."
The news of the failures from yesterday clouded Adagio all throughout her morning. Remembering the team she assembled failing on their first assignment, and then her friends failing to capture Spitfire and her crew. She hoped the next day would be better and she wouldn't have to deal with any more problems. Adagio waited and waited for a call, a sign, anything from the rest of the supers, but she didn't hear, she didn't feel, she didn't get a single call or email from any of them. No one, not a sight, not a sound, not an email.
And most of her morning at school was spent being grumpy and frustrated. Especially hearing the news that Trixie and her friends
"Adagio, you can't still be frustrated, can you?"
"Yes, yes I can."
Adagio opened up her locker, with her sisters and the rest of their friends behind.
"Come on, at least you tried," Lyra said, trying to lift her spirit.
"Yes. First, Spitfire and those Wonderbolts get away again. Second, I failed to keep a new team together. The only other people who had Equestrian Magic. Oh, but Silver... I think I'll miss her most," Adagio sighed.
"Silver?" Vinyl asked.
"Silverstream, that's her name."
"Get this," Aria said, "A 12-year-old with no powers or Equestrian Magic showed up to audition, because she saw the ad, and thought it looked fun."
"At least she was honest!" Sonata said, nodding with enthusiasm.
"And she landed with a parachute safely with no harm whatsoever," Adagio added, slamming her locker shut. "I... girls, I know we promised to get some new heroes but... I failed. Its my fault none of you are taking a vacation--"
"--Adagio?"
Adagio looked up, facing the cute little dork she loved. Her blue hand stroked her cheek, with an adorable smile.
"You tried, that's all that matters. Its okay. I'm sure we can work out a way to handle both at once. After all, part of growing up means learning to multi-task."
Adagio shrugged. "I suppose so."
She turned around, about to walk with them to their next class.
"But I just wish--OOF!"
Adagio bumped into someone and she immediately fell onto the ground.
"Hey, watch where you're going!"
"Sorry, I... Wait a minute."
She looked up at the boy who was on the floor as well, and was in shock. Dark green skin, yellow tank top, gray denim jeans with a small chain lingering around the belt holes, and fingerless gloves. And she recognized the snake-like eyes staring deep into her soul.
"Tox?"
"Well, I'm not some generic thug who wandered in," Tox deadpanned.
"B-B-But... you... what are you doing here?" The eldest siren asked, flabbergasted.
"Well first of all, I'm not here because of the 20+ emails you sent me," Tox remarked, making Adagio blush in embarrassment, "and second, I attend this school. Not that you noticed."
Adagio blanked. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I go to school here!"
Tox got back up on his feet, dusting himself off. Adagio got back up on her own, still confused.
"Well... I'm... I'm surprised, I have to admit. Girls, this is Tox, one of the supers who signed on. Tox, this is--"
"--I know full and well who they are, you don't need to do an introduction sequence," Tox rolled his eyes.
"Geez, someone's in a sour mood, aren't they?" Octavia said, putting her hands on her hips.
"Only because the people who aren't giving me the kerosene I need are being difficult. Lucky I didn't spit in their... well you get it."
Tox grabbed his things, and turned his back on the girls, walking away.
"Wait, Adagio? You said he's a super, right?"
"Yes."
"Just what exactly can he do?" Vinyl asked with some concern.
"He vomits all of the bad food from those fast food places," Aria snarked.
The girls looked at Aria, confused. The siren just groaned.
"He spits acid, to sum it up."
"Oh..." all of them said.
"Gross, but awesome," Amethyst nodded.
Everyone's heads turned down the hallway, watching him leave. Off to the sides they could see a few other CHS students who were walking by. But the minute Tox was seen, they all looked away and walked very quickly. Quite, urgently, to be frank. It was like they were afraid of him. But why? Why did they run away?
But they wouldn't be able to question that, for at that moment, they saw Tox almost keel over like he was about to fall. He had one hand onto the locker, and they listened to him cough and wheeze. Very intensely, actually. But before anyone could do anything to try and ask if he needed help, they watched as he ran to the trashcan that was out in the hall and hacked up into the receptacle. It sounded more like just throwing out spit, accompanied by a minor sound of vomiting.
"Oh..." Tox coughed, backing from the trashcan. Without realizing the girls were watching, he just ran away, off to his next class.
The girls stood in awkward silence, eyes widened with some almost dropped jaws.
"So... Tox is..."
Adagio shook her head, and replied with a blunt tone.
"He's a smoker."
Author's Note
Finally, got it done! Hope you enjoy it, and stay tuned for some more fluff!
Hazards
Later that day, the girls all sat down for lunch. Nothing unusual or too strange, just everyone sitting and eating like normal. Adagio and her friends just ate and smiled, feeling much more calm with the surrounding company.
And in that same cafeteria was Tox who was sitting by himself, at a table alone. Everyone else who saw him just ignored him like he wasn't there, or just walked past him. No one wanted to get anywhere near him.
"Why's everyone avoiding him?" Vinyl asked.
"I think its because everyone can detect he's a smoker, if you ask me," Octavia snapped, munching on her sandwich. "You can feel it in your sockets..."
"True as that may be, he's not that bad a guy," Adagio said.
"Then why is everyone running away from him? Its not like he's spitting at them, or hurting anyone," Sonata commented, seeing the lonely teen sitting far away from them.
The girls shrugged. As they looked at Tox, they studied him carefully. Even though people were avoiding him, it certainly seemed like he didn't care. He didn't look bothered that people ignored him, or even stopped to ask if he was okay. It certainly did not look like he was okay. His body was shivering like he was cold, and the expressions on his face looked like he was seething and shaking up, like he was either upset or trying not to break down.
"Maybe we should invite him over. Maybe the poor guy needs some company," Adagio offered with a friendly smile.
"I don't know, are you sure?" Bon Bon asked, unsure.
"Its not that we don't want to, its just... um... acid spit?" Amethyst asked.
"Yes, he may have acidic vomit, but he's strong enough to not spit up on us, or anyone around us. I think I'll invite him over."
Adagio stood up a bit, and called over to the shivering acid breather.
"Tox!"
Tox turned his head and his snake-like eyes glared at the oldest siren who called. She tilted her head, urging him to come join their table. Tox shook his head, refusing her offer.
"Come on, don't you want company?"
"No!" Tox replied, in a rather vicious tone.
Aria deadpanned. "Okay. I'm talking to him."
"No, no... come on, lets leave him alone," Adagio said, placing her hand on her shoulder.
Aria sighed. "Fine."
She plunked her keister back down, arms crossed with some annoyance. But when she looked back, she kept her eyes focused. Tox was getting up out of his seat, putting all of his garbage into the paper bag he had open in front of him. Once they were all in the bag, he walked over to the trash can and immediately dropped the back into the receptacle.
He was about to step out when he stopped and held his stomach. He let out a cough, followed by some more intense coughing and wheezing. Leaning over into the trash can, he launched a small drop of spit, and wiped his mouth clean. And without looking back, he walked out of the cafeteria.
The girls saw him leave, and immediately looked to the trash can. Knowing for a fact he had acidic vomit, they were waiting for it to take effect. And sure enough, it did. A small puff of steam fumed from the trashcan, rising up into the air, thankfully nowhere near any smoke detectors.
Curiously, Sonata got up and walked to the trash can to take a look. She took one look inside the trashcan and cringed.
"Oh Sweet Solaris, ew!" Sonata said, backing away.
"What, did the acid melt?" Aria asked.
"No, that bag he had, I think he was eating at a fast-food place or something. I ate at that place before, really disgusting food," Sonata shivered.
"Mind filling in the blanks?" Lyra asked, moving her hand around.
"Oh, right. Uh... well, that bag... that was from Rusty's."
Everyone groaned.
"So, did he hack up cause he's sick, or is it cause the stuff from Rusty's makes you puke?" Octavia asked.
"I don't know," Sonata shrugged with a straight face.
"Regardless of what he hacked up or not," Adagio cringed, "I don't think that's really our main focus here. Here's the deal; when he was with the rest of the supers, he had no problem interacting with everyone, especially little Silver. But suddenly he's here at school and he's ignoring everyone, and being ignored?"
"I think I might know the answer for that," a voice interrupted.
The girls turned their heads and smiled. A familiar blue-haired guitar player had got their attention.
"Flash! So good to see you," Adagio purred.
Flash chuckled. "Its good to see you too. But, like I was saying, I think I have an idea as to what's going on with Tox there."
"You do? That's wonderful, please, tell us!"
"Are you sure?" Flash sounded a bit worried. "I'm afraid you're not going to like this..."
"Just tell us, we should at least know where some of his issues stem from."
Flash sighed. "Okay. I'll tell you. But I'm going to tell you that whatever I say now is not going to be pretty. Now I don't know everything about the guy, but I can tell you what everyone else here knows."
"Then tell us."
Aria offered a seat for him, allowing Flash to sit down so he could face the group and direct to them all.
"Before I tell you, I should ask this. Did any of you know that I was dating Sunset Shimmer?"
The entire table went dead silent.
"... What?" Aria blanked.
"Okay, so I didn't tell you then. What I'm--"
"--No seriously, what?" Sonata asked.
"Let me see if I got this straight," Adagio held her nose, rubbing it. "You... Flash Sentry. A very nice, very handsome gentlemen at that," Adagio purred, making Flash blush a bit, "dated Sunset Shimmer?"
"Yeah, I did."
Adagio blinked. "How did she not eat you alive?"
"Well... I... may have, sort of... dumped her."
Everyone blinked.
"And she didn't kill you?" Vinyl asked.
"No, she didn't!"
"Maybe she decided that he was good enough for a loss to be cut?" Sonata theorized.
"Can we just get to the point with the guy who smells like cigarette smoke?" Flash impatiently said.
"Right, right. Sincerest apologies, Flash. Please, continue." Adagio waved her hand.
"Well, Tox was... Tox used..."
"Yes?"
Flash shook his head and groaned. Then with the straightest face he could,, he uttered one sentence that made all of the girls drop in dead silence.
"Tox was one of Sunset's ex-boyfriends."
Meanwhile
Tox didn't look back at anyone else in the halls, or in the school. He didn't even go back to gather his things from his locker. He stumbled through the hallway, finally busting through the front door. A small trail of acidic drool followed him as he finally got outside. And as soon as he made it out, he held his hands up to cover the bright sun away from his eyes.
"Agh... too... oh no."
Tox ran as fast as he could, away from the premises and to the back of the school. He found an open garbage bin, and immediately vomited into the bin, releasing the contents from his stomach.
"Oh... no..." Tox moaned.
He held his hands on his knees as he panted and coughed, a pit of fires erupting inside.
"No... no more... no more suffering..."
Tox held onto his stomach and hissed. Mustering the strength that he could, he began to pick up his feet and walked. And no one else at CHS saw him leave the premises...
Later that day, Tombstone came into the front door of his home, setting his construction tools down on a hook. He was finished with his shift for the day, completed his part of the building he was constructing. So with nothing else in mind, he just plunked himself onto the couch with a glass of nice refreshing water, and turned on the TV.
But he stopped for a moment. He got up out of his spot and went to get some much needed food. Some snacks would certainly help replenish his need. He opened up the fridge, taking a look inside. Leftover pizza? Nah, he'll save it. Maybe heat it up for himself and his daughter. Microwave pasta? Nah, too small a meal.
Oh, but what was above? Maybe something delectable in the freezer? He opened it up, and grinned at what he saw. In some freezer bags, he could see some chocolate chip cookies covering some white cream, the ice cream sandwiches that his daughter made a few days ago.
He chuckled, remembering that day.
"Either she's going to be a great baker... or grow an even bigger sweet tooth."
He pulled a single ice cream sandwich, letting it breathe from the bag. Checking on the countertop, he reached for the phone mounted on the stand. He read the little screen, a lot of messages had come up. He pressed the button on the phone, and one by one, the messages began to play.
As he listened, he wiped some of the sweat off of his tan forehead and black hair.
"First new message: ", the phone buzzed, "hey man, listen, I'm sorry I didn't get your call, I just needed some time alone, but if you're open to talkin', call me up. Just don't bring Blizzard back, okay? I don't want to be in the same room as a cooler. "
Tombstone could obviously recognize the sound of the charismatic and chill voice. And then he heard the next call.
"Next Message: Greetings Tombstone. I wish to apologize for my abrupt absence from the day before, but I had some much growing resentment towards the firestarter. Should you ever need a companion or a friend to talk to, please let me know. "
Tombstone shook his head, sighing heavily to hear the little bit of snark before her last sentence. He knew it too well.
"Next Message: Tombstone, hey. Listen, I want to say full and well that I'm sorry that I nearly put Silverstream in an accident. I'd tell her myself but, she's not answering any of my calls. I guess it didn't work out, kind of like everything else I do... " A small humorless chuckle came from the phone, concerning the eldest of the Six. "Look, just, um... It's fine, I just, I'll be fine... "
Tombstone blanked, and shook his head violently as soon as the next message came.
"Next Message. "
The sound of soft whimpering and crying came on the other end of the phone. Tombstone got up, and frowned, hearing that familiar squeaky voice.
"Please... just... just get them back together o-okay? I-It shouldn't be like this... n-not like... mama... "
Tombstone shook his head and growled. "That's it, we're talking this out. This isn't something to gloss over!"
Tombstone's fist hit the table, and everything that was on the conutertop bounced up into the air, and then back down like they had just jumped on a trampoline. The slam was so powerful that one of the glass jars that flew up, shattered into nothing but broken glass on the counter.
Tombstone nearly flinched but immediately ran to the broom closet and found the dustpan and brush.
"Oh my gosh, oh dear...." He quickly swept up the broken glass into the pan, trying to clear it all off the counter. "Note to self; take your anger and frustrations out elsewhere, not in your house."
Elsewhere, in an office building, Inferno was busy working in a cubicle, organizing some papers. Had to get some reports in to another office in the building, and it needed to get done, now!
"INFERNO! "
That angry voice came from his boss, one of the meanest bosses the company had ever dropped on them. Of course, some of this was exaggerated, but her orders and acts certainly made it feel like it. No personal items or touches on your desks to make them lively, no food in the cubicles, no coffee mugs, none of it. Nothing to keep you awake, nothing to try and keep up your spirit; this office felt like prison.
Needless to say, the workers didn't like having to operate under those conditions.
Slowly, he stepped into the office with a concerned look. His boss was very intimidating, firing any worker if a single one of them stepped out of line.
"What the flying F@%^ am I hearing, about people seeing you flying through town, on FIRE!?"
Inferno flinched at his echoing shouting. It was like a bear was roaring right at his face, and he was only a few centimeters away.
"Sir, I was busy with a task yesterday, at no time did I go and fly."
"Oh really? Then can you explain this?"
He pressed play on the computer, and a video began to play showing the footage caught from someone's camera with Inferno whizzing through the air, soaring past several civilians downtown.
"... That could be anyone."
"Anyone who has a fiery blend of skin?" The woman snapped.
Inferno nodded.
"Why are you lying, what were you doing out there?"
Inferno looked away. "Nothing."
"That's not nothing, what were you doing?"
"Fine, ya wanna know!? I was trying to stop criminals from escaping!"
The boss stood for a second, and then snickered. "I'm sorry, what? You... you're serious?"
Inferno slowly nodded.
"Wow... I mean, I've heard of crazy things from the employees, but this... this takes the cake."
The boss turned around, looking out the window. A chuckle was on her face while Inferno was scowling. He could tell she had a smug look on her face, just from the reflection in that extremely clean window.
"You know something Inferno... I've got a problem. A problem I think you can quickly solve... you see I don't like it when people lie in the workplace. Or lie to my face..."
Inferno slowly stood up. His fists began to clench up and some steam was visibly coming through it.
"And of course you know what happens when people lie to me, right?"
"Oh, I know..." Inferno replied in an angry tone.
"Now, now, what's with the--OH MY GOSH!"
Inferno's hands were on fire, completely. And he began to walk towards her, the flames still going.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's-what's going on? L-Look if this is about me saying you're fired, that-that's not what I'm saying, I'm just... w-we can talk about this, lets um..."
Inferno's hands gripped the woman's work jacket, the small flames now spreading onto her clothes making her shoulders hot.
"Listen to me, right now. For six years now, I've done nothing but follow your demands, obeyed your rules, and done everything you've asked me to do. The minute I do something odd outside of work, it becomes a problem?"
The boss chuckled nervously, with some sweat running down her head.
"W-Well, activities from workers outside could reflect on the company--"
"--I don't care about your burning company. What I do on my own time, is up to me, and no one else," Inferno seethed, the pits of Tartarus visible in his pupils. "Now you're going to listen to me, right here, right now. I've got powers that you don't have, and I've got skills that you don't have. Either you treat me like a real human being and not some eye candy... or so help me, I'll file all of those stories from the people you fired, into the complaint department, so it can get registered, and it'll let people know what kind of boss they'll be working for should they ever come here!"
The boss's body was heating up, the flames now burning more and more.
"Well!?"
"Okay, okay, I promise! Please, stop, it burns!"
Inferno let go, and the flames quickly vanished. His face was still visibly red, but again, his skin usually was red. Some small red highlights were a bit more visible, showing his seething anger.
"Good. Because we're going to have some changes around here. Changes that will make everyone in the office happy, because as the code of work says... a happy worker, is an efficient worker."
He slided his hand across the wood of the door, leaving her office and leaving some small steam marks onto the front door. The woman felt like she was going to faint, and not because of the heat. After Inferno stomped out of the office, he immediately went to his cubicle. He pulled out his pass, and his supplies, about to leave. He was just about done, and he had no interest to stay any further. Sure he would probably get fired after pulling a stunt like that, but he was at his breaking point. He needed to leave before it got any worse.
After he grabbed his stuff, he stomped out of his cubicle and out the double doors to the stairs. He walked down them like an elephant, smoke coming out from the top of his head.
"So done, I swear to..."
He could hear a soft vibrating buzz come from his bag. Pulling out the source, he turned on his phone, and found a text message.
Tombstone: Hey, I don't know where you are or what your work time is like, but if you're interested, do you mind if we can talk over at Maxine's?
Inferno stopped. Hanging out with one of the supers? Maybe just what he needed after a heated discussion with his boss on their last activity together.
Texting him back, he ran down the stairs ready to leave. Now he was off!
At the same time, Blizzard was laying down on the floor behind the counter of her small ice cream shop. Her body sprawled out like a spider and breathing heavily. She could still hear the customers angry complaints about soem of the orders screwed up, or taking so long to get them. An ice cream rush had taken over not too long ago, and it was stressing her out.
So much that she wanted to freeze everyone in the entire facility. But she couldn't bring herself to do that. If she did, she'd be out of business before she knew it. So her closest safe time was to close the shop until she could get herself in order.
"Why did I get myself into this," Blizzard moaned. "Never run an ice cream store on your own... Why do I even do things alone..."
And speak of the devil, she received a text message from Tombstone. Reading it, it said;
Tombstone: Hey, I don't know where you are or what your work time is like, but if you're interested, do you mind if we can talk over at Maxine's?
A small smile was on her face. She didn't know why, but she felt a smile coming on her face. Maybe a break was what she needed. She'd been bustin' her butt off for a few hours now, maybe she needed a break. Maybe even a friend would be nice. Now she would have to go! That is, if she could get her butt off the checkered floor...
Burnin', Chillin', and Bamboo
Author's Note
Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy the newest piece of content! Shall things get better? We shall see...
Burnin', Chillin', and Bamboo
Inferno opened the doors of the restaurant he was called to and walked inside. Inside, he could see the place was decorated like a 1950s diner. Checkered floors, red cushioning, shiny chrome, some old pictures and vinyl records hanging on the walls, this was one giant memorabilia dedicated to the 1950s.
"Hey!"
Inferno's head turned, and saw the happy smile from the tan construction worker.
"Over here!"
Inferno smiled and he paced over to the booth where the construction worker sat at. But much to his dismay, Blizzard was sitting there as well.
"You!?"
"You!" Blizzard seethed.
"Why is she here?"
"Hey, stop. Look, I invited you both here because I want to talk to the two of you."
"About what?"
Tombstone breathed in, and breathed out. He patted the shoulders of both adults, and looked them in the eyes. He wasn't joking. He was serious.
"Okay, so look. I like you both, but you are bad news in the teamwork department, so we need to talk things out."
Blizzard blanked and deadpanned at the same time. "Why?"
"Why? Because of what happened yesterday, that's why."
"Its her fault, she's the one who jumped right on my parachute!"
"You're the one mocking me for the ice puns! I can't help them, they're my coping mechanism!"
"But you're--OW OW OW!
"--OW OW OW!"
Tombstone grabbed them both by the ears, and looked at them sternly.
"Alright, I don't want to do this, but let me make this clear. I can bend earth to my will. I can make an earthquake, that will literally take out whatever homes you have, or I will throw giant boulders at your homes. Now we're going to talk like strong, mature, mutant adults, or so help me, I will make you two sit with me as I make an earthquake that makes the gods above swallow you up whole! Get it?"
The two of them nodded and felt the pain on the sides of their ears, still feeling the hard pincer and grab.
"Okay. So, lets talk. Inferno, you start first."
Inferno sighed. "Alright, look... when we were getting out of that plane, everything seemed fine. But I don't know if Blizzard here has ever parachuted in her life cause she just tangled right into me, making us both fall and get hurt."
The only parent at the table gave a nod. "Okay. Now Blizzard, what happened with you?"
Blizzard groaned and threw her head back. "Alright, look... yes, I never skydived before. At all. Not once in my life, and you know when we jumped out of that helicopter, and going down high above the sky... I was scared. Okay, I didn't know what I was doing, we barely got through any orientation on how to use the parachutes and I just... I just lost it, okay?"
Inferno frowned. "Well, I can understand having never skydived if you're not much of an adrenaline junkie. But really..." Inferno gave it some long thought, and a scowling deadpan look soon followed. "Okay, can we just agree that this is Adagio's fault? Barely got any time for safety procedures or practices to get to the ground."
"YES!" All three adults cheered.
"But regardless... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I shouldn't have done that, especially to someone who's never done something like this before," Inferno replied, calmly.
Blizzard gave a soft smile to the fire-bender. "Thank you. And I'm sorry for snapping at you too. Can we just call it a truce and start over?"
Inferno grinned. "I'd like that."
Inferno extended his hand out, willing to shake the ice-maker's hand. Blizzard put her hand out, and the two adults happily shook each other's hand, calling it a truce. Tombstone sighed in relief and laid back in his chair, happy the two adults could finally talk and compromise.
"Well now that you two have finally made up, what do you say we get the team back together?" Tombstone offered.
Inferno seemed confident in the idea. Blizzard on the other hand, did not.
"I don't know..." Blizzard said with uncertainty.
"Come on girl, we gotta try!" Inferno ushered.
"I don't know, its just... we couldn't stop two thugs, what makes you think we can be supers again?"
"Because as a code of superheroes... the first attempt or first mission, almost never works. What we need to do is keep practicing so we can get better. Being hero is not just something as easy as simply solving a math equation. Everyone starts somewhere, and the only way one becomes better is to keep practicing, and then one day... we're Canterlot's newest heroes!"
The two of them nodded, understanding.
"Okay, well, if we're going to get back into the field, what are we going to do?" Blizzard asked.
"Hardest part; find everyone, apologize, and convince them to come back again. And I know just who to begin with..." Tombstone approached.
One thing was for certain. If they were going to bring everyone back together, they had to go and find everyone's location and talk to them together, as a united front. Their first stop; Silverstream's!
Tombstone parked the car in the parking lot, and the three adults walked towards an apartment complex. From the outside, it looked like a very nice apartment complex. Lots of plants on the outside, and a few bamboo chairs, tables, and lots of bamboo trees.
"What kind of place is this?" Blizzard asked.
"The Bamboo Hut," Tombstone replied, reading the big sign on the building. "Come on, lets find her."
As the three of them walked inside, they walked up to the front desk to the doorman who was busy doing his own paperwork.
"Oh, good afternoon. How may I be of service?" The doorman asked.
"We're here to visit Miss Silverstream?"
"And just why are you here to see her?"
All at once, the three of them showed off their superpowers. Tombstone made a few pebbles in the little bowl on the desk float, and both Blizzard and Inferno formed little balls of ice and fire in their palms.
The doorman blinked and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, uh... she's up at the top floor. Penthouse. I'll tell the butler you're coming."
"Thank you, I-dah what..." Inferno looked back, "That kid's got a butler?"
"Family's loaded," The doorman shrugged.
With no more questions, the adults got into the elevator and went up to the penthouse floor. Once the elevator dinged, they got out and went straight to the door leading to the penthouse. Tombstone politely knocked on the door, and eagerly waited for someone to answer it. Would it be Silverstream? Would it be her parents?
The door opened up, and to their surprise, it wasn't Silverstream or two people who should be the mom and dad. Instead, it was Cutlery who opened up, giving them all a quizzical look.
"Who are you three, and what are you doing here?" Cutlery asked.
"First off, hello sir. My name is Tombstone, and these are my associates; Inferno and Blizzard. And to answer who we are, we're... supers, basically."
Just like to the doorman, the three of them showed off their powers again, all levitating their elements in their palms, surprising the butler.
"Hmmm... when Silverstream signed on for the ad, I assumed it was more of an after school kind of club," Cutlery replied.
"Nope! We're actual mutants! We've got powers! Well... except for Silver who saw the ad but... she was still awesome though," Tombstone said with some positivity.
"We uh, might have hurt her feelings, and we thought we should come over and give her a proper apology," Blizzard stated.
"Well as honest as you all appear to be right now, I'm afraid Silverstream is not well to see anyone."
"Are you just saying that so we don't come in, or is she actually not well?" Inferno asked, extending a hand out.
"She's not well! She hasn't left her room since yesterday, and nothing I've done has got her out! She hasn't gone to school, she doesn't eat, not a thing! So what makes you think you can get her to come out?"
"Because we know she's a good kid, and she needs to know we're here to apologize. Please?" Inferno begged.
Cutlery could have easily closed the door right in their faces. But he could tell they weren't one to give up or go away. But even then, he could still tell they had no intent to hurt or do anything that was highly illegal. He was trained to see through any lies or signs of manipulation, especially to protect little Silver.
Sighing and shaking his head, he gave them all a nod.
"Very well, you may come in. But Novo is going to need your contact information so she can see all of you, personally. And if anything happens to her niece..."
"I promise, we're not going to let anything happen."
"That's what the last visitor said right before they tried to steal Novo's prized pearl," Cutlery deadpanned.
After closing the door, the supers got a look inside the home. The place looked... really nice, actually. Stainless steel on some of the countertops in the kitchen, lots of roomy space to walk/run around. Not to mention, there was a massive TV in the living room with assorted video games and video game console, plush couches and furniture, disco ball, workout equipment, this place had everything!
"Dang, this kid is rich," Inferno stated.
"Enough for you to steal?" Cutlery replied with a sour groan.
"For heaven's sake;s, we're not here to steal anything! We would have done it by now if we were!" Inferno ranted.
"Guys, come on. Lets try to stay on our best behavior, okay?" Tombstone asked. "Now, where's Silverstream?"
"Come with me. All of you."
Everyone did as he said, and followed him to the hallway. He slowly propped a door open, letting the light shine inside a cave. The entire room was kept dark; the shades were down, not a single lamp or light was on. And on the bed, they could see a little girl snuggled up in a bathrobe, hugging something in her arms.
"She has been like this for all of yesterday, and today. I tried to get her to open up, but she refuses to say anything. I personally think she needs Novo's maternal affection, but if you three think you can try to get her to turn on the lights, then by all means, try. But I will not be leaving because as super as you three may be, you are complete strangers and I will not let anything happen to Novo's niece."
Tombstone gave a smile and nodded. "I understand in full, and I will keep it in mind."
As careful as he could, he slowly walked towards the bed and sat on the edge of it, looking over at Silverstream.
"Hey Silverstream. Silver? Its just me, Tombstone. I uh... understand you haven't been at school all day. Any reason why?"
Silverstream didn't reply, but instead she just kept her gaze away from the rock bender and whimpered.
"Silver, please. We just want to talk. Besides, I believe Inferno and Blizzard have something to say?" Tombstone said, gazing to the other two.
Inferno and Blizzard nodded and they moved a bit closer, but enough to keep a good distance between themselves and the little girl to not upset the butler.
"Hey, um, Silver. We... we've got something to say. Look, about what happened yesterday, um... Blizzard and I had some differences and we weren't really communicating. And I understand that we shouldn't have yelled at you. You didn't deserve it. So I just want to say, I'm sorry."
"And, I'm sorry too," Blizzard replied. "Can we please talk?"
Silverstream whimpered.
"Come on, please, you can't stay in here forever. We know we yelled at you, but we didn't want to hurt you. Please?"
Silverstream sniffled. "N-No... I... I just... I can't..."
"Can't what? Kid, what can't you do?" Inferno asked.
Silverstream didn't turn her head, but she kept talking. "I can't be a superhero... I can't fix things, I can't bring anyone back together..."
"Kid, who said you couldn't? If anything, I think you're a better superhero than we were. You landed safely, you didn't die, and you helped Tox in a car that he stole! Really need to talk to him about that , but the point is! The point that I'm trying to make is you can be a great hero!"
Silverstream moved her body even further away, scrambling around on the bed. "But... you two were fighting..."
"Kid, people fight, its gonna happen. Friends, family, co-workers... parents--"
Silverstream let out a soft cry.
"Silver, what's wrong?" Blizzard asked.
"Please, just go... I don't want to see you fight again, not like... not like mom or dad..."
Tombstone was now intrigued. Even the two adults were interested. Was this the source of the problems? Was this the issue she had?
"Kid, what do you mean? What ever happened to your mom and dad?"
Silverstream, surprisingly, pulled herself up and leaned up so she could look at the supers. Everyone frowned once they saw her face. Tattered hair, reddened cheeks, teary eyes; this girl looked miserable!
"You guys don't know it... but I chose to live here with my aunt long before I was told I had to. One night I was with my brother, we overheard our parents fighting... but the fight, oh gosh. They sounded mad, angry, bitter, they sounded like they were going to start destroying things! But when I tried to get them to stop... they screamed at me. I never saw them so mad in my life, not even during times when they were really mad! But... it only got worse afterwards."
She hugged her teddy bear tight in her arms, not wanting to let it go.
"They got papers and signed for a divorce. Soon after... I'm staying with Aunt Novo and my cousin Skystar to finish school here, while my brother bounces back and forth between my parents homes overseas! I... I had to live with this for months now! A-A-And... I thought, if I joined you guys, I could forget about it! I don't have any friends at the school I go to, but then when I saw you fight I... it just made me think of Mom and Dad not loving me anymore!"
Silverstream tightened the hug on her bear, and tears began to fall down her face. Tombstone frowned, and patted her shoulders.
"Awww, kiddo... come here," Tombstone opened up for a hug.
Silverstream didn't wait. Immediately she nearly pounced on him, crying into his shoulder as she sobbed her eyes out. Tombstone could only listen to her cry as she rubbed her back.
"T-They don't love me anymore..."
"No, kiddo... that's not true," Tombstone softly spoke. "I'm sure your parents love you with all of your heart."
"B-B-But why are they apart?"
Tombstone pulled out of the hug and looked the little girl in her eyes.
"Its hard sometimes. Sometimes parents don't always get along, and might end up splitting apart. But it doesn't mean they'll stop loving you. The only thing your parents want is for you to be happy, they don't want you to be miserable because they're not happy. Sometimes if they want to be happy, it may end up meaning they have to split up. Let me tell you something; I have a daughter. Sweet little girl. But her mom and I? Well... I'm afraid we weren't happy."
"Why not?" Blizzard asked, taking a seat on another part of the bed.
"Well... she and I weren't getting along as we used to, and then one night, I came home from work and when I went into the bedroom... lets just say she seemed happier with another man more than me."
Inferno and Blizzard let out a sharp hiss.
"Oooh... ouch, man, that's not cool..."
"That's terrible," Blizzard shook her head.
"I know. Needless to say, it didn't make things better when she and I split up... But the point I'm trying to make is, even in spite of us splitting up... I became a lot happier having split up. And look at me now, I've got earth powers, I've got a good job, I've still got a great daughter... I've got a great life."
Silverstream whimpered and sniffled some more, Inferno offering a tissue there after.
"I know its hard, and you're trying to adjust to all of this. But you should know, I'm positive your parents love you with all of their heart. Maybe you should call them, maybe tell them how you feel."
The little Polynesian gave a slow nod, understanding.
"I guess I could try talking to Mom and Dad again..."
Tombstone gave a small smile and ruffled the top of her hair, making her giggle a bit. For once, she smiled that day.
"Hey, there's that smile!" Tombstone grinned.
He gave a little boop on her nose, making her nose scrunch up and giggle afterwards.
"That's it, there we are! That's the happy little girl I know!"
"Heh," Silver chuckled, rubbing her arm.
"So. I want you to listen. Your parents still love you... and you can be a great superhero. Understand?"
Silverstream gave a full understanding nod.
"Now come here," Tombstone offered another hug.
Silverstream hugged him again, finally embracing him in full with a smile that continued to grow. She felt like a blanket of weight had been lifted off of her, and now she was free from the pain.
"Mind if we get in on that?" Inferno grinned.
Silver opened up her arms some more, letting Inferno and Blizzard join in for one giant group hug.
"Kid, I just want to state for the record, I didn't know your parents were divorced. And I'm sorry we scared you. I can promise it won't happen it again."
"Maybe..." Blizzard rolled her eyes.
"What's that's supposed to mean?"
Silverstream bawled her eyes out, in an over-dramatic sense. "Why are you fighting?"
Inferno immediately panicked. "No, no, no, kid! We're sorry, we're sorry, please, its okay! We're not gonna fight!"
Like a light had been flicked on a light switch, Silverstream went from a crying and sobbing mess, back into her happy-go-lucky demeanor. "Oh, okay!"
The two of them sighed in relief, thank heavens.
"So... are we all good now?"
Silverstream beamed. "Yep!"
Tombstone grinned and gave her another boop on the nose. Cutlery, who had been watching this entire scene stayed in silence, but as he watched them interact with Silverstream, he could see their conversation actually helping the little girl. She was no longer cowering in her bed. She was now talking with these people like they were friends! He couldn't help but smile as he watched them.
"Now what do you say you get dressed, get some food, and then we go bring the team back? Lets show Adagio we're still there."
Silverstream squeaked. "Yes! We're getting the team back!"
The adults chuckled.
"Alright, we'll let you get dressed."
The four adults left Silverstream's room, allowing her to close the door and get dressed. As she cleaned herself up, Cutlery gave them a deranged look of shock and awe.
"Well then... perhaps I misjudged you three. Maybe you three can be trustworthy after all..."
The three adults gave hopeful grins. Was he truly trusting them? Could this man be okay with them--
"I'm still telling Novo."
Author's Note
I wanna give out a special thank you to Scholary-Cimmerian for creating a good chunk of the dialogue exchanges, he was really helpful on this. Big shout out to ya, and please if ya guys can, give this man a follow! He needs em!
Drugged
Everyone got into Tombstone's car, and buckled in their seat belts. Now their next objective was to find Phantom and Tox. Hopefully the two of them would be okay with coming back, or at least, joining the team once again.
"So what are we going to say to them when we find them?"
"Let's actually find them first. And I know just where to go!" Tombstone said, holding the steering wheel.
15 Minutes Later
Everyone was standing, surrounding Phantom on the patio of his house. Under the ledge that was the second floor held by support beams, it provided a nice umbrella on those rainy days. And Phantom was snoring peacefully on a hammock, with a bag of tortilla chips spilled over his body, the sounds of chirping birds in the trees.
Tombstone cleared his throat. "Phantom?"
Phantom snorted a bit in shock, until he finally woke himself up and looked up to see Tombstone's smiling face, greeting him.
"Wanna get back together?"
Phantom slowly thought, and with a straight face just nodded and gave the parent a single thumbs-up.
"Good."
After what felt like 5 seconds of enticing Phantom to return, he got into the car with them, and all five were now on their way to pick up the last member; Tox. Only one problem, they didn't know where he lived.
"Okay, does anyone have any clue where he lives?"
"I think I remember!" Silverstream answered. "He told me lived somewhere on a corner of 5th and 6th!"
"Wait, that's where we are! Stop the car!" Inferno shouted.
Tombstone slammed his foot on the brakes, throwing Silverstream out of her seat and slamming her face into the windshield of the car.
"Ah! Silver! I'm so sorry, are you okay!?"
Silverstream pulled herself up, rubbing at her face from the impact.
"I'm okay!" Silverstream yelped, getting back up.
"I knew I should have put in more seat belts in this car!" Tombstone shook his head as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Next chance I get, I'm taking this car in to get some more seat belts. Or get an SUV, that works too."
After everyone unbuckled from their seat belts, the gang got out of the car, slamming the doors. Tombstone's keys jingled as he pressed the door lock button, locking it tight.
"Well, this is the street. But where is Tox?" Tombstone asked, looking around.
Blizzard sniffed the air, and cringed in disgust, holding her nose. "I think I'm starting to get a good idea..."
Silverstream sniffed as well, sticking her tongue out. "Ugh, eww... that smells. Smells like... I don't even want to say it!"
Tombstone added onto the air-sniffing pile, and picked up the scent. Looking around, he could smell it coming from the alleyway. With everyone gathered, they followed close behind and looked up. A large puff of smoke was emitting from one of the windows, just outside of the fire-escape hatch.
"He's in there, he's gotta be," Tombstone looked.
"But what's with all of that smoke? Unless..." Inferno thought, a dark image coming to his head. "I hope he's not getting hopped up on other stuff, if you know what I'm saying..."
"No way his body can handle that! Adding on the smoking, no way he can balance all of that out!" Blizzard exclaimed.
"And isn't this place condemned? Why is he here?" Inferno asked.
"I don't know, but we're going to find out. Come on."
One by one, everyone began to go up the fire escape to the open window where the smoke was evading. After clearing the smoke away as much as they could, they each climbed through the window and into the apartment, getting inside. Once inside, everyone started coughing and wheezing as they tried to blow and push some of the smoke out of the way.
"There's too much smoke, I can't see a thing!"
Tombstone coughed, but as they kept pushing more and more smoke out of the way, allowing him clear view of the inside of the living room. Once it cleared, everyone was standing in total silence. The room they were in... it was nothing like they had ever seen.
The entire place was a dump, a complete mess of a home. Walls were peeled away, revealing the poorly built structures behind it, leaks from the ceiling, messy floors, the entire place was just... disgusting .
"This... this is where he lives? This place is a dump!" Blizzard commented.
A puff of the revolting smell rose up and hit Phantom's nose. Almost immediately, they could sense big X's going over his eyes, following by him fainting. But he didn't slam onto the floor, he fell he just phased right through the floor, vanishing from the room.
"Tox? Are ya here?" Tombstone hollered. "We just wanted to talk to you! We didn't know if you were interested in coming back to the team or not! Tox? Are you home?"
"Um, Tombstone... you might want to see this..."
The three adults turned and entered the room where Silverstream had called them. But once they stepped in, they felt like they were going to throw up. Their stomachs were churning, and they were quivering in fear. Tox was found, but not how they hoped to find him. Laying bare chested on the bed, smoke emitting from his mouth and nostrils up into the air.
"Mmm... it doesn't stop the pain... but it does slow it down..." Tox breathed.
"Tox? Buddy, are you okay?" Tombstone asked. "What are you smoking, and shouldn't you be at school?"
"Why should I be at school?" Tox coughed. "I'm constantly puking and throwing up, who wants to be around that...?"
Inferno shook his head. "Kid, why are you living here? This place is condemned! This place is... is... disgusting!"
Tox's head slowly raised up, looking at the fire bender with some smoke puffing from his jaw.
"Hey, you see why I moved here," Tox giggled, some more smoke emitting from his mouth.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Tox's body turned around on the bed, and he let his head hang off the side, making everything upside down. He just looked at his teammates who were facing the wrong way from his point of view.
"You see... I'm disgusting. I spit, I breathe, I make acids. And my dad... wow, he hated that," Tox giggled, "He hated it sooo much that he tried to kick me out of my home. Never gave me a chance to explain, or wanted me back... he just wanted me out as fast as he could get me."
If they were smiling to see him, they weren't now. Now everyone was looking concerned at the literally smoking teen.
"I ran from Vegas, ya know... cops were sent out to detain me because my dad thought I was a biohazard, but they never caught me..." Tox giggled, some acidic spit drooling from the side of his mouth, hitting the floor. "The cops never stood a chance, not that they could... who else could get me, not after..."
Blizzard gulped. In her head, she began praying endlessly that he wasn't going to say something grim.
"... not after their tires were melted!" Tox giggled some more, sounding more happy than he should have been.
"Tox, how much have you been smoking?" Tombstone asked.
"Who knows? Maybe 2, 3..."
"3 cigars, okay, not too bad--"
"-packs--"
"--PACKS?!" Tombstone yelled. "You mean to tell me you've been smoking 3 packs of cigarettes now!?"
"Hey, shhh..." Tox's hand tried to reach for his leg, but failed miserably. "Don't shout, the baby's asleep..."
"Okay, let me try and ask you this again. How much did you smoke?"
"Well, I only made it as to one cigar, and then I just started puking some more..." Tox said, rolling his eyes arond like marbles, "Then I started hitting the good stuff. Mmm, that just made the pain go away..."
Tombstone's face grimaced. "Tox, please... you're not--"
"--Hey, I'm not dying!" Tox pleaded with a hint of a giggle in between. "Besides, this stuff's my coping mechanism... after all, who would want some sick teenager who creates acid from pure spit, having been beaten up on multiple... multiple o-ccasions..."
The parent looked up at Silverstream who was looking very concerned. Then back at Inferno and Blizzard who shared similar faces.
"Tox, if your mind is stable right now... I want you to tell me, is this your home?"
"Yeah, its amazing, isn't it?" Tox laughed, falling right off the bed and onto the floor. "No one to boss you around, no one to tell you what to do... but then there comes the problem with no one here to love you or... even tell you once that they cared for you..."
Tombstone's hand reached his face, groaning into his palm.
"Oh, Tox... buddy, why didn't you tell someone?"
"Because, no one gives a care," Tox said, for once giving him a blunt remark. "And if no one cares then... why should I care what happens to me?"
"Because you're 15--"
"--16--"
"--16, and you shouldn't be living in these kind of conditions! You should be in school! Healthy as a horse, happy with your life! You've got an entire life ahead of you!"
Silverstream sniffed the air again, and cringed. "Oh, that smell... oh that's so gross..."
"Just now, hang on, hang on a minute..." Inferno interrupted, moving around so Tox could look at him. "You're living in a condemned building, and no one cares you're here?"
"No police have looked for me, no spies tried to get me to reveal Con Mane's identity, and... oh no, I revealed Con Mane's identity!" Tox slurred, barely sounding concerned under the laughing. "Besides, I can live in this! Sure this place has a history of gas leakage--"
"--gas leakage?" Tombstone repeated.
"Along with some sewer fumes--"
"--Sewer fumes?" Blizzard repeated as well.
"Maybe the furnace I tried to fix kept blowing up--"
"--Blowing up!?" Inferno shouted.
"--Oh and I forgot, someone was murdered on this exact floor," Tox finished, the acid from his mouth now melting through the floor he was laying on.
"MURDER!?" Silverstream panicked, hiding under the bed. "Oh, no, wait, bad spot, bad spot! Ew!"
Silverstream backed out from the bed, hitting her head as she tried to get up.
"OW!"
As she held her head, she looked back down at Tox with a worried look. But something else caught her eye. She saw something next to her when she pulled out from the bed. Reaching down, and picking it up, she found a plastic cup that you would find at fast food joints, or at a children's entertainment facility.
"Tox... have you been eating fast food recently?"
"Yeah," Tox coughed, "All I can afford... Besides, that stuff's not the problem..."
"Um, Tox, we need to--"
Tox hiccuped. "Y'know, I've been thinking. A lot. About... chemicals. We don't think about it that much, but that really is what we all are. Chemicals. Synapses, reactions, com-combinations, all firing together, to make a living, b-breathing creature. Me. You. All of us. Organic machines. All fueled by the chemicals that make us up..."
"Um..." Silverstream paused.
"Heh. Crazy to think about, huh? People talk about souls and spiritual crud like it all means something, when all we are are chemicals b-burning through their function. That's all we are. Machines of a different make. A reaction, burning itself out."
Tombstone shook his head. "Okay, that's it. I'm putting my foot down. Tox, you're not well. You've got heaven knows how many drugs inside you, you're homeless, you're not getting a proper meal, and you're sick! We're taking you to the hospital!"
"Noooo..." Tox slurred a plea. "They don't fill the soap dispensers..."
Tombstone blinked. "That's the gas station, its not the hospital!"
"Oh... then what was that place with the neon lights I went to?" Tox asked, looking around.
"Come on, we've got to get him to the hospital!" Tombstone said, moving towards the fallen teen.
"And get sick!?"
"He'll get worse if we don't get him to a doctor! Whatever he's exposed to here is not helping his health, I don't care if this kid can make toxic fumes or not, its affecting his health!"
"I'll help you!"
Silverstream moved under, helping Tombstone get Tox back on his feet, lifting him by the arms.
"Buddy, if there's someone there who can hear me, we're getting you to a hospital. We care for you, and we can't stand to see you get sick anymore!"
Tox sneezed, some acidic fluids blasting out of his nose and melting through the floor. Now came the hard part; getting him out the window.
After some struggling, they managed to get Tox out of the fire-escape window and down to the alleyway. Phantom, in the midst of passing out, finally got back up and appeared through the wall and was given a quick summary by a very worried/upset Tombstone.
Tox just giggled, emptily, not even replying to anyone's statement or question as they left. "And, y'know what? Sometimes we're just broken. I mean, cars, computers, they break down. Why not a human? Especially a human. We just can't help it. It's not our choice to mm-make. Maybe the blueprint was bad. Or there's too much damage. Too much, too much..." his eyes slowly gazed out into space, distant from the group.
"Man, you've got some bad blood inside you," Inferno shook his head, getting into the car.
"Bad blood? Hey, you know, they used to think that was real. I mean, they used to-used to think that people could have blood get out of balance, and that y'had to bleed it out of 'em."
Tombstone slowly shook his head, "Not that kind of blood, Tox."
"They used leeches for that."
"Okay, sure."
The parent took Tox by the arm, carefully leading him to his car, where everyone else was already in.
"You can tell me all about it on the way."
Tox giggled, "It'sh why barb'rshopss have red stripes on the sign, you know..."
The trip to the emergency room, was the hardest part of their journey. Now they didn't get lost, and they knew exactly where they were going. But there was just one problem;
"See ya silly bird thing!"
Tox's mentality was still not back to normal. In fact, he started singing random songs on the ride back, interchanging in between with random facts followed by uncontrollable hiccups and statements.
"So," Tox hiccuped, followed by a sneeze of smoke. "Did we murder someone yet?"
Tombstone sighed. "No, we didn't murder anyone..."
"Oh, that's good..." Tox wheezed and giggled, head laying back in the seat.
Tombstone just shook his head, groaning as he kept driving.
"Just keep him occupied for ten more minutes guys, we're almost there. And don't let him throw up in my car, okay?"
"That'd be kinda hard, he's a living acid generator!" Inferno exclaimed.
Tox let out a belch of fire, smoke escaping through the open sun-roof of the car. He couldn't see it, but Tombstone's nose was now flared up and the most over the top scowl was on his face.
"I swear Tox, if you throw up in my car..."
Tox was about to speak until Silverstream interrupted him with a boop on the nose. Tox's nose scrunched up, and he stared blankly at Silverstream like a gecko, eyeing their meal. And with a single hand raised up, he just booped her back, making her giggle.
"Why are you s-s-so s-s-silly?" Tox slurred.
"You're the silly one!" Silverstream laughed.
Almost everyone's eyes looked at Silverstream and Tox who were sitting all the way in the back of the car, in the last two seats of the six-seated car.
"How can you even talk to him?"
Silverstream laughed. "He's being really silly right now! Its fun to be silly!"
Tox laughed as well, and gave Silverstream another boop. "You know it!"
"Congratulations, Toxy! You are officially the weirdest person I've met so far!" Silverstream giggled, smiling with friendly intent.
Blizzard and Inferno couldn't help but share a laugh. Silverstream was definitely silly as Tox described.
"Did I tell you guys I love you all?" Tox hiccuped.
"No, no you haven't..."
"Well..." Tox coughed. "I... I do. Maybe its the drugs talking but... when I had them, they only made me happy for a short while, but when I'm with you guys... you... you make me more happy. Its like I have people who can at least tolerate me and my insanity and... you don't push me away or call me trash or want me hauled away to jail..."
A hush fell over the entire car, and everyone let him speak. No one dared to interrupt.
"I-I know I haven't made the best decisions in life but... when I was with you guys, I... I kinda wanted to be a better person than who I was. I didn't want to be known as the guy who... the guy who dated the most despicable girl in CHS..." Tox droned on. "The guy who... didn't have the courage to escape until he... just lost it ... But when I'm with you all... It feels like I've... I've got... f-f... family ..."
Silverstream's hand moved up and patted his shoulder, and she moved over and gave him a hug. Confused and still slurring, he looked down.
"W-What are you doing?"
"You need a hug, and I wanted to hug you?" Silverstream answered.
Tox didn't push her away, but instead his arms slowly moved and wrapped around Silverstream, attempting to hug her back. His head slowly rested on her shoulder, and Silverstream fully embraced the hug.
The car stopped, and everyone slowly began to get out of the car. Silverstream's door opened up, and she got out, trying to remove the clutching arms off her back.
"Come on, lets make you feel better," Silverstream cooed, trying to urge him to get out of the car.
Slowly, Tox wiggled and pushed himself out of the car, and got on both feet on the sidewalk, his eyes slowly wincing at the bright light of the sun, making his hands go up to block it. But he didn't stay standing. Right as he raised his arms up, he fell right on the pavement, face first.
"Okay, who's carrying him in?"
Identities And Hidden Pasts
Everyone was gathered around the planning table, food and drinks all around. Some in the plastic cups, while everyone ate on plastic plates or just ate from the Chinese take-out boxes. Chopsticks all around! Almost everyone was chowing down like hungry animals, gnawing away.
Spitfire however just ate normally, eating her rice a small amount at a time, like a normal human being.
"I never understood how you're so calm when we're eating," Soarin commented.
"I've eaten with you all for years, you think I'm going to start complaining now?" Spitfire asked, with a raised brow.
"Point."
"Captain, if I may? " Fleetfoot spoke, her masked eyes glowing like searchlights. "I know you talked about putting down those 'heroes', a brilliant plan I might add, but just how are you planning on doing it? "
Spitfire set her food down, swallowing the rice in her mouth.
"Well..."
"You have no plan, do you? " Fleetfoot deadpanned.
"No, no I don't."
Fleetfoot growled and scratched at her head, "You. Idiot ."
Spitfire turned her head and gave a sneer to her ally. "Do you have something to say, Fleetfoot? Something you wish to say without your mask?"
Fleetfoot stopped groaning and she slowly looked up. Spitfire couldn't see it, but she could sense a small hint of fear behind the mask, accompanied by the shaky voice.
"N-No boss, nothing! Its just, I had an idea that maybe you should take into consideration... "
"Then spit it out."
Fleetfoot clearer her throat, and looked at everyone at the table, with a straight face.
"As difficult, impossible, implausible, very unlikely, incomprehensible, illogical, and downright stupid as this may sound... I know exactly who those 'heroes' are. "
Spitfire dropped her fork, and so did everyone else at the table. In fact, everyone looked downright appalled, and even a little surprise. A small bomb like that, sent everyone ashock.
"You knew this the entire time, and you didn't even think that maybe you should TELL US!?" Cast Iron ranted.
"I would have told someone, but you were all too busy on raiding the Chinese restaurant to even listen."
"And just how do you know who they are?" Spitfire sat up.
Fleetfoot chuckled, menacingly. "Lets just say I have some... outside, sources that have told me otherwise. But I know exactly who they are, and quite frankly, their identities weren't that difficult to perceive ."
"Then by all means, please, tell us," Spitfire ordered.
"I will. But I have another suggestion to make; lets let the entire world know who they are. They know who we are... so why not let the world know? And even better; the public can witness the reveal.. and their demise. "
Everyone muttered to one another, giving her idea some thought. Almost everyone seemed on board with the plan, except for their boss.
"And risk exposing our location, allowing the police to obtain us before we can do anything to finish them?" Spitfire asked.
"I thought this mansion in the woods was a secure location; far from sight, away from the city, where no one can see us ," Fleetfoot deadpanned again.
"Maybe so, but I refuse to be seen on camera," Spitfire spat.
"Then you don't have to. We can just let them be the stars, while the only things seen will be the bullets that we pump ," Fleetfoot chuckled. "They have it coming... But the identities aren't the only things I know. "
"Oh?" Spitfire raised a brow.
"Family members, as well. And I think I know just how we can conquer the 'heroes'."
"Then tell us, and stop being vague about it," Spitfire deadpanned.
"I will. But you'll need to listen carefully. Because I know just how we can lure them all here... "
At the end of the school day, the six girls walked together with the Dazzlings over to their lockers to get ready to grab their things.
"Okay, so I assume you girls are going to gather back for another family-dinner-homework working... thing?" Adagio asked.
Trixie giggled. "Its another family-get together, yes. I'm kind of sad you're not coming, it'd be nice for them to finally meet you three."
"Yes, but how to explain the 'sirens from a parallel universe where everyone's a horse' problem?"
"Duly noted," Trixie replied, quickly seeing the point. As she reached for her stuff in her opened locker, she groaned and winced.
"Trixie, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little minor strain for our fight yesterday," Trixie groaned, pulling her arm back. "little arm cramp, that's all."
Adagio was a little concerned.
"Girls. Out of curiosity, how much of a scrap did you get into with those Wonderbolts? If you even got into one?"
"We had a short fight with them, but they were pretty strong," Vinyl acknolwedged.
"And we didn't get to see it!?" Sonata whined. "Why do we always miss the good stuff?"
"Yeah, well you missed my father's little panic attack yesterday," Amethyst deadpanned, getting her belongings. "I came back with a limping leg, he swore someone jumped on me at school."
"So he doesn't know that you..."
Amethyst scoffed. "Please, Adagio, if he found out I was a secret supehero doing work behind his back, or even any of the magic stuff, he'd freak out and ground me for a month!"
Adagio blanked. "Well alright then. But what about the rest of you guys, surely your families would understand? A bit?"
Octavia smirked with her tongue sticking out. "Oi. My mum knows my history with twits. She supports my decision to stand up for myself and do what I think is right, and I'm going to continue to do so."
"My mom taught me for years about the secret arts of the ninja, training me, teaching me, and making me into a master ninja. I think its pretty clear she's okay with me doing what I'm doing," Lyra commented, brushing her hair back and sticking her hands into her shorts pockets.
"I'm not sure as for myself, I mean mom and dad don't know but... I'm not sure how okay they'd be with it," Vinyl admitted.
"Same with mine," Trixie added, "I mean, they're starting to catch on to me becoming less... shy, but if I threw being a superhero into that equation, and having defeated a raging she-demon?"
The Dazzlings listened to their stories, all letting them speak and allowing them to soak in their tales.
"Hmm. I see," Adagio replied, taking her things. "Well... look, just keep trying the best you can, if need be, don't even do some work. Its okay to take a day off, but if you should, you can at least tell us."
"Yeah, I mean if you're not gonna fight crime, at least let us have a chance to do it. I'd love to kick some butt!"
The group of friends wasn't so sure, but the offerings of help were greatly appreciated. Surely they could stand against those Wonderbolt cretins. I mean, if they could hold their own for over 1,000 years, surely a small mob group could be easy as pie.
"Well, okay, I guess. Just promise me you three will be safe?"
The three of them nodded, and Adagio gave her girlfriend a much needed hug.
"I promise," Adagio whispered, kissing her cheek and nuzzling her.
"Lets just try tomorrow and go from there? Maybe it won't be so bad," Aria replied. "In fact, now that I think of it, maybe we should find out just what Spitfire's deal is."
"And by that you mean?"
"Find out what's driven her to be a mob boss. What sent her and her Wonderbolts into this life," Aria explained. "Everyone has to have a motive, and she's no different. We need to find out just what's driving her train, and what led whatever life she had down the toilet."
"Agreed. Tomorrow, we go. And I think I know just the man to talk to..." Adagio grinned.
In the waiting room, the rest of the adults and Silverstream included all sat in the chairs. Silverstream found herself occupied with doing a crossword puzzle, while everyone else just sat close by and waited. Tombstone's feet were tapping worryingly on the floor, which was starting to agitate the others.
"Tombstone can you stop tapping your foot?"
"I'm sorry, I'm really worried right now!" Tombstone replied. "Tox could be severely sick right now, and we don't know if he's going to make it!"
"Tox is going to be fine, I'm sure of it, now just stop tapping your foot and calm down!" Inferno shouted loudly.
Almost everyone in the waiting room turned their heads to look at the attention caller. If people could see a red man's face go red in embarrassment, they could. But with his complexion and skin color, it'd be impossible.
"Oh, uh, sorry, didn't mean to upset you all. It's, uh... just my brother, is all," Inferno chuckled, lying through his teeth.
Shrugging it off, everyone just went back to their own business. Inferno just groaned and held his head.
"I can't stay calm when I'm doing teamwork, I can't stay calm when I'm paperwork, I can't stay calm here, or there, I can't stay calm anywhere!" Inferno ranted quietly.
Blizzard and Phantom raised brows, questioning the odd rhymes.
"I think you might have a secret calling as a poet," Blizzard commented, turning the page in her magazine.
Inferno groaned and threw his head back. Phantom just smiled and patted his shoulder, offering some sympathy.
"You know, for someone who can't speak... I think you might be the chillest of us all," Inferno smirked, looking at the non-talker.
Phantom just shrugged and lightly punched his shoulder in attempt to say 'oh you!' Tombstone, eventually stopped tapping his foot, but only when he felt his cell phone vibrating. He pulled it out of his pocket, and smiled when he saw who was on the other line. He answered the phone, and got up so he wouldn't be so loud near the others.
"Hello? Oh hey sweetheart," Tombstone smiled as he left the room. "Yeah, I'm back with the rest of the team. Yes, I know. Is Watchdog there with you...?"
Once he was out, Blizzard decided to speak up.
"So. About the whole parachuting thing--"
"Blizzard, look," Inferno set his magazine down. "Just forget about the parachute incident, okay? Look, it happened, we both had trouble... its okay," Inferno smiled. "No need to keep on worrying about it."
"Right, sorry," Blizzard replied. "Its just... I don't know. The last few people that were near me when I screwed up, they never let me forget it."
Inferno looked at Blizzard and frowned. "Well that's cruel. So you made a mistake, big deal, everyone makes them. That's no reason to keep them constantly reminded."
"Tell that to them! And that was before, before I even got powers, I was always picked on, I was always ridiculed, I just... I didn't fit in," Blizzard quietly ranted.
Phantom jerked up from his chair, quite violently, and gave an angry look. He started throwing his arms around and mouthing words at the adults without so much as even saying a word. None of them could interpret or even understand what he was saying right now.
"Okay, Phantom, I believe you're upset, but I can't understand you!" Blizzard explained.
"Wait, I think I can!" Silverstream raised her hand. "One of my cousins is actually mute, I've learned to understand mouths without listening!"
Phantom looked back at Silver, and then continued his mute rant. Fingers extending out as she pointed to each one of them like he was going off on a list, hands raised up and slapping his sides, feet stomping to the ground, she understodo it all! Lastly, Phantom's hands scratched at the hair on his head and he let out one giant mute scream, as shown by his jaw stretching wide and the angry as all get out face.
Once he finished, he plunked himself back down and held his head, clearly upset. Slowly turning their heads, they looked to Silverstream who was a bit concerned with the out of nowhere ranting.
"Kid, do you have any idea what he just said?" Inferno asked.
"Well, it started off as hard to read, but I understood 'you think your life was so hard' and then he started listing times he was... beat up ," Silverstream gulped.
Blizzard turned her head to the mute. "You were beat up?"
"In school, he says!"
Phantom nodded, confirming Silverstream's words. And with a roll of his hand, he gestured her to keep talking. Realizing his intent, she kept talking.
"Oh, and he was also humiliated, shunned, beat up, bullied... and I don't know, but, I think he said he tried to defend himself against all of the 'bull' but every time he did he just came out looking like the bad guy..." Silverstream murmured.
Phantom nodded again.
"Oh, Phantom, dude," Inferno muttered. "So did no one listen to you when you tried to fend for yourself?"
A single thumbs up was all that was given, and it only made Inferno furious.
"Oh, if I was there I would have set those little... mmm! I don't know, I'd take them on!" Inferno ranted. "No one messes with my friends! But then again, if I even so much as tried to fight, I'd just make my folks upset even more."
The waiting room became silent. No one knew what to even say after something like that, or even anything else that they said. Everyone just poured open their hearts and they had no clue as to how to reply or what would be the right words to say. So everyone just sat in a pool of awkward silence.
Thankfully it was broken when Tombstone came back and sat back down, having finished his phone call.
"Sorry, I had to take that. The babysitter wanted to double-check with me at what time I'd be coming home," Tombstone replied. "So, what did I miss?"
"I'm an employee with rage issues," Inferno confessed.
"I'm accident-prone!" Blizzard cried.
"Phantom's had to deal with people being big meanies for 20 years and I'm living with my aunt because my parents are divorced!" Silverstream finished.
Tombstone's palm opened up, and his jaw was lowered slightly. What on earth happened in the span it took to answer the babysitter?
"Well. Alright then," Tombstone replied, straightforwardly.
Now everyone looked at the parent.
"Say, uh, Tombstone? Was it... was it hard, when you broke up with your wife?" Inferno asked, out of curiosity.
"Well... both yes and no. On one hand, it was nice to finally be freed of that heartless shrew and I could be happy again. But on the other... it was really hard on my little girl, and, even harder when you're attending parent meetings or having lunch or attending special events with other parents and being the only single parent in the class," Tombstone said, finally confessing.
Phantom raised his hand up and patted his shoulder, offering a comforting smile. To wit, Tombstone smiled back.
"I guess we're all broken then? Unwanted. Alone. Nobody ," Inferno deadpanned.
No one replied right after that. But Inferno was right. Thinking back, all of them understood that each within were hurt inside, having to deal with the hardships of life, and some of them not always ending well. Well, mostly not ending well.
Just then, at that moment, the doctor came around with a clipboard in hand.
"Okay, I just got the results."
"Is he going to be okay?" Silverstream whimpered.
"After looking at the results, I have to say... I'm really surprised, despite this boy's problems; the sneezing, hiccuping, the uncontrollable giggling... he's going to be okay. "
Everyone sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness, he's okay," Blizzard smiled.
"But that doesn't mean he's out of the woods yet. If he's going to become healthier than..." the doctor looked back at the room she was in, and back to the group with a very disturbed face, "...whatever that was, he needs to get off the drugs; a close eye needs to be put on him, a healthy meal put into his eating plan, exercise, and companionship."
The adults gave a nod.
"We understand. Believe me, after what we saw, we're not letting him out of our sights. He needs us," Tombstone nodded.
"So is he okay to leave then?"
"He is. But someone's going to need to pay for the bill, and you'll need to haul him out in a wheelchair," The doctor nodded.
After the adults coughed up some money, and paid for the bills, they sat back in the waiting room. Now they would wait for the doctors to push out the poor kid in the wheelchair.
"So who's going to babysit him for the night?" Inferno asked.
"I wish I could, but I can't. I don't have any room, and I have a daughter to look after," Tombstone replied.
"I have a tiny apartment, only one bedroom," Blizzard sighed.
"Wait... I've got an idea!" Silverstream chimed in. "He can stay with me!"
"WHAT!?"
Author's Note
Sorry this took so long! But its done, and done! Enjoy it!
Oh and as for how Fleetfoot knows the you-know-what... that's gonna come back, there's something I've got planned for that.
Author's Note
Sooo... quick update, part of this chapter was a bit rushed, and I think we're only a few chapters left to go, I think. Anyways, enjoy it!
A Klugetown Past
The next day, the sun rose bright and early. Its bright light escaped into a guest bedroom, casting a glare over Tox's laying body. As the light went to his face, his eyes slowly started to open, wincing at the bright light. Almost immediately he covered his eyes, trying to let his pupils adjust to the brightness.
Just then a hand knocked on the door, making him stir and groan.
"W-Who... who's there? Where the heck am I?"
"Hey Toxy!" A little girl shouted on the other side.
Tox's eyes widened, realizing who it was. "Silverstream? Is that you?"
"Yep! I got breakfast! May I come in?"
"Um... sure?"
The door opened up, revealing Silverstream coming in, dressed in her school uniform. In her hands she had a small tray that had breakfast all around on it.
"Silver, where am I, and why am I in a..." Tox moved himself around a bit, smiling a little bit, "actually very comfortable bed?"
Silverstream giggled. "Well, after your little sillyness yesterday, we thought maybe you should stay at my house since you don't really have a home."
"Yes, I do have a home--"
"--You're homeless!" Silverstream interrupted. She set the tray down and looked at Tox with the most puppy-dog begging look she could muster. "You shouldn't be outside all alone with no one... no one deserves to be alone, no one! Please, can't you just stay?"
Tox blinked. "Silver, it seems a little abrupt that you guys just took me in like this, and for the record, I was fine with where I was!"
"But the doctors checked you, you're not well!" Silverstream argued.
"Silver, I'm fine. So what if I get nauseous every day, its nothing to worry about..."
Silver gripped him back the tank top straps and yanked him close looking more begging than ever.
"Oh no, please, no, no no no no..."
Silver's teary eyes of fear and worry were locking him in a trance. It was like he couldn't get himself to say no to such an adorable face, especially one that offered him breakfast.
"Um... I guess I can stay for breakfast," Tox hesitated.
Quite instantly, Silverstream was back to smiling with a happy face again. "Okay!"
"So. What's for breakfast?"
"Oh, my favorites! Milk, pancakes, and lots of bacon!"
She put the tray down on the bed, within Tox's reach. Tox's eyes bulged, seeing the comically huge pile of bacon. It was bigger than the pancakes!
"That's a lot of bacon," Tox blanked.
"Yep!" Silver chirped.
"Sooo... after I eat, um..."
Silverstream tilted her head, confused. But suddenly, a light turned on in her head, remembering.
"Oh my gosh, I forgot! I've got school today! Don't you have school?"
"Well, yeah, but... oh my gosh, I know what happened," Tox realized.
"What?"
"I ran out of school yesterday! I gotta get going!" Tox sprang from out of the bed, but then stopped. "Okay. Silver. Quick question."
"Umm... yes?"
"I'm not going to point fingers... but who took my cigarettes?"
"Oh! That was Tombstone's idea, apparently the drugs are part of what's making you sick."
"WHAT!? But I need those!" Tox whined.
Silverstream walked up and patted his shoulders. "Didn't anyone tell you that drugs weren't good for you and to say no to them?"
Tox sighed. "No, because guess what, I had no one, and I never had a dad to teach me what's right from wrong."
Silverstream frowned. "What?"
"Or, you know, keep me out of trouble, teach me from right and wrong... or how to make a bomb! "
Silverstream frowned some more, but soon her frown turned upside down. She pulled Tox in for a hug, giving him the biggest hug she ever gave.
"Well, you're not going to be hurt now. You're with me now!"
Tox couldn't help it, but he smiled back, and he hugged her as well.
"Sooo... I don't know how much you remember, but everyone's kind of... getting back together. You still want to be a superhero?" Silverstream asked, as innocently as she could.
"Well... if everyone is gonna come back, then I think I just might come back too," Tox grinned.
"Yay!" Silverstream cheered.
"Um, Silver?"
"Yes?"
"... can you let go of me now?"
After Tox managed to get Silverstream off his body, thankfully without using a crowbar, the two of them went their sepererate ways and went off to school. And with everyone notified of Tox's full awakening, everyone put together a new plan of their own! All they would have to do is wait til the end of school, and find the Dazzlings. But of course, there would come the hardest part... waiting! It was the worst !
The gang got together out in the student parking lot, all ready to await the Dazzlings once they stepped out. They saw their car, only recognizing it due to the license plate.
But as they waited, the group of four adults (including Silverstream for that matter) just sat in a few pulled out lawn chairs to sit and wait.
Silverstream's fingers tapped against the arm of her chair, as she waited impatiently.
"Ugh, how long to do we have to wait?" Silverstream complained.
"School will be over in a few seconds, we just need to wait for them to get their stuff," Tombstone said.
As they waited, they could see the door start to open up and some of the students heading out to the cars to drive, or to be picked up by their parents. One of which was Amethyst Star, walking over to the car that was parked next to Tombstone's.
As Amethyst was greeted by her dad, and attacked with hugs, the two of them stopped to gaze at the strange group next to them. Both of them were a bit confused when they saw them just sitting there in the lawn chairs, waiting patiently. And they could sense their confusion once they looked at them.
"What?" Silverstream asked. "You never saw a bunch of random people wait for someone to come out and wait to talk to someone?"
Bronze Weld blanked. "Well... oookay then..."
After a moment or two, Bronze Weld and Amethyst got into their car and drove out of the parking lot, leaving them alone. But Amethyst's father still gazed back.
Bronze shivered, "Weirdos."
"How weird is that? It seems kind of normal to me, Dad," Amethyst asked.
"I don't know, I just got an odd feeling from them," Bronze admitted as they drove away.
A few minutes later, some more parents of the Dazzlings friends came picking them up. Lyra's parents came by, Bon Bon's father, Trixie's, Vinyl's, Octavia's mom, they all came to pick them up. And soon enough, the Dazzlings were seen coming out of the school, with Tox right with them.
"Hey guys! Over here!" Silverstream called out to them, getting Tox to come to where she stood.
Adagio and her sisters followed Tox some more, but when they looked ahead to where he led them, they stopped. Adagio felt like dropping her bookbag, and Aria and Sonata were left equally shocked.
"No..." Aria began.
"Way..." Sonata finished.
Tox walked up to the group, and stood beside them with a smirk. One by one, they all stood up with happy looks on their faces, smiling to the Dazzlings.
"You're... you all are... back?" Adagio gasped.
Tombstone sighed and raised his hands up to keep her from speaking any more.
"Look, we had some problems that we didn't really handle well. And lets just say, the skydiving didn't help."
Adagio's cheeks went red, and she rubbed her head. "S-Sorry..."
"But, after much discussion and some thought... I think its safe to assume we're all ready to try again, and we'd love to continue training to be superheroes under your rule."
"Yep!" Inferno chipped in.
"For sure," Blizzard said.
Phantom gave a thumbs up, while Tox winked. Silverstream however looked the most excited out of all of them and she cheered as loud as she could, raising her arms up.
"Whoo-hoo! We're back!"
Adagio grinned. "We're back in business, girls!"
"So." Tombstone clapped his hands. "What's our next move? What are we going to do?"
"Funny you should ask that. There's actually something I think we should get our hands dirty in. Have any of you heard the news with the Wonderbolts escaping?"
Everyone nodded.
"That's what we'll be targetting."
A few of them gasped.
"But, they're the most dangerous criminals in Canterlot!" Silverstream cried.
"Not to mention, their boss?" Tox asked, raising a brow.
"I know. But that's why we're going to find someone who knows their history, and possibly on how we can stop them..." Adagio grinned.
After a half-an-hour trip, the Dazzlings and the supers arrived at their destination. Getting out of their separate cars, they approached a stone and wooden house. Its exterior looked old; very old. But still, it looked big, and it looked homey.
"What is this place?" Tombstone asked.
"A place where we can get the answers for who Spitfire is, and just what is her plan," Adagio commented.
They walked up on the path, and Adagio took a few steps up on the doormat. She looked below, smiling at the old doormat that still kept together after all that time.
She knocked on the door, and to her surprise, she got a reply. When the door opened up, an older gentleman appeared on the other side. He had cyan colored skin, with a touch of baby blue. His hair was a dark gray, but there was still some life shown visible with it. A dark pilot’s jacket was worn, with blue jeans. Last detail that they could see was the pin on his jacket which had a pilot mask with goggles and a pair of Pegasus wings.
“Who may I ask are you all?”
“Wind Rider?” Adagio gasped.
“Yeah, who…” Wind Rider blinked as he looked to the youngest. That slender body, the hair woven like ramen, and that seductive face. “Adagio?”
Adagio nodded.
Wind Rider slowly smiled. “Is it really you?”
“Yeah, its me. Well, not just me…”
Aria and Sonata made themselves visible to the older veteran.
“Aria? Sonata?”
Aria and Sonata nodded, smiling.
“I-I don’t suppose if you remember, I was a little boy the first time I met you three?”
Adagio smiled. “We never forgot, Rider.”
The war veteran looked behind them, seeing the group of strangers nearby.
"Who are your new friends?"
"Supers. And we could use some help," Adagio asked.
"What kind of help? Oh, actually wait, please, please, come in," Wind Rider said, making the door open a bit wider to allow them inside.
The inside of his home didn't look as rustic and old as it did on the outside; it looked like the interior of a modern day home inside, but the one thing that did stand out was all of the Wonderbolt posters and banners on the walls, ceilings, and even some small items like trophies or medals or even some trinkets picked up from other countries.
"Okay, you have a very oddly decorated room," Inferno commented.
"Thank you," Wind Rider said, not even taking offense to the remark.
"So... how do you know this guy?" Tombstone asked.
"He's an old family friend," Adagio replied, gazing down at some of the trophies that were on display.
"Wait... family friend? How can you even know him, isn't he like... ancient?" Inferno asked.
"I'm not that ancient," Wind Rider replied, haste-fully, "Besides, despite my old age, I've still got the spirit of a lion inside."
Adagio giggled. "Indeed, he does."
The four adults shook their heads in confusion.
"This makes no sense," Blizzard stuttered, "When did you guys meet, did he know you three when you were little kids, pre-teens? When?"
Adagio rolled her eyes, still giggling. "Oh, if I told you how I knew him, you'd faint, and then Phantom would faint and phase through the floor."
"Phase through the floor?" Wind Rider asked.
"They have Equestrian Magic in their blood," Adagio confirmed, grinning all the while. "And the end result? Superpowers."
Wind Rider grinned. "So they're just like you three, now."
"Sort of. They're not half-fish," Sonata replied, unsure.
"Fish?" Blizzard asked, cringing. "Please, don't say fish, I hate fish!"
As everyone looked around his home, Tombstone stopped in front of a wall. Several photos were on display, but one of which grabbed his attention. Black and white, with the Dazzlings together in what looked like old 40s dresses, and a child no older than 6.
"Wait a minute... Adagio. Aria. Sonata. Is this... are you three...?"
Adagio and her sisters gathered, all smiling.
"Hey, its us!" Sonata smiled. "I remember that day!"
Aria grinned as well. "I remember that day too. Such a long time since I've seen that street..."
Tombstone blinked. "Wait a minute, this picture says it was taken in 1947. And he's--"
"That's me, for sure," Wind Rider answered, smiling at the memory.
Tombstone and all of the supers looked at the three Sirens, with shocked and disturbed looks. Well, almost all of the supers.
"Tox, this isn't... surprising , for you?" Tombstone asked.
Tox shook his head. "I found that out just a few weeks ago."
"WEEKS!?" Everyone shouted.
"Yeah. It was a bit surprising at first, but after a while, it kinda just stops being surprising."
Wind Rider chuckled. "Kids these days, I swear. They see something weird, and then just shrug it off like its nothing."
"Not everyone's like that. Our friends reacted like they were going to wet themselves when they saw us in our real bodies," Sonata grinned, innocently.
Wind Rider laughed. "Now that's a proper reaction."
Adagio cleared her throat. "Um, Wind Rider? As much as I'd love to talk about our current generation, I'm afraid we need help. Do you, by any chance know Spitfire?"
Wind Rider stopped laughing when he heard her name. He looked up at Adagio with a straight face, sighing. He gave a single nod, and pointed to the couches and chairs.
"You all better sit down. I'm going to brew up some drinks, this is going to be a very long story. Anyone wish to have a beverage of some sort?"
After everyone was seated, and with some snacks and drinks on the coffee table (Silverstream winding up sitting on the floor), Wind Rider parked himself in a chair, laying back in it as he kept his eyes to the group.
"So, Adagio. You're planning to have these new heroes defeat Spitfire and her former Wonderbolts. Why?"
"Because, 1, they want to be heroes, 2, our already established superhero friends can't balance hero work and their real life, and 3... Spitfire's has a reputation of being insane and we got to stop her craziness!" Sonata chirped.
"Hmm.." Wind Rider grumbled, scratching his chin. "I see... Well then. Listen up, newbies!"
The supers flinched, hearing a stern military voice come from that fragile old man.
"You want to stop Spitfire? You want to bring her to justice!?"
Silver raised a hand up, and hesitantly replied. "Y-Yes...?"
"Well you can't! Spitfire can't be stopped! She's got every escape route, cliche, and idea locked down in that brain of hers, so there's no containing her! And now rumors are around that she's got multiplication powers!? She's unstoppable now! And even if you were to try and reform her, there is no--" Wind Rider halted in the middle of his yelling, and started hacking up a lung. He coughed violently, until he took a sip of water, his cough finally going away. "Ahh... I forget, I'm retired from the military. And my voice doesn't yell as much as it did before."
Everyone couldn't help but stare in awkward silence, as the retired veteran tried to settle his voice down.
"Alright. So. Does anyone know how Spitfire came to be?"
Everyone looked at each other, and shook their heads.
"Then listen up. Because this is going to be complicated... and hard to talk about. Before she became the power-driven psycho that she is now... she was my best student."
Everyone gasped.
"What!?"
"Student!?"
Wind Rider nodded. "Its hard to believe, but that's where this story begins. You see..."
"By the time I reached my adult years, back when I still had plenty of youth, the Dazzlings were long gone, while I only had a few memories of them to remember them by. But in the late 1980s, that's when I was in command of the Wonderbolts. I was ready to train a new batch of rookies. All shiny, bred to fight for what was right, and keep our families and our homes safe. Many of them I knew by heart; Firestreak, Misty Fly, Surprise, Fleetfoot, Soarin... but the absolute best recruit, was Spitfire."
A young girl with spiked up hair, took her fists out onto a punching bag she had set up. She didn't hold bag, and she punched hard, almost to the point that the bag was about to be knocked out from the ring it was hanging on. Eventually, she threw a punch hard enough to make the blow, and the bag came down, slamming onto the ground. She made a loud grunt, and raised her arms up in the air like she was a macho woman.
But when she turned, she put her arms down in slight embarrassment, and blushed a bit, seeing her commander who had watched her, chuckling at her.
"That kid was full of excitement, energy, the will to survive. Just the right amount of fire needed to make it out in this world."
On the training course, Wind Rider watched as the Wonderbolts pushed themselves hard, trying to make it through all of the obstacles. But out of all of them, Spitfire was the one who was in front of them, acing every obstacle she could, not even slowing to reserve her energy.
"I watched as she trained, ready to perform her absolute best for when she would need to go to the field. And the day that we headed out for a real mission, everything seemed okay..."
Wind Rider held onto a handlebar in one of the drop-off helicopters as they flew in the desert. In the helicopter flying beside them, she could see Spitfire strapped in her seat, and putting her weapon together, ready to take it out. She looked ahead, seeing Wind Rider in the other helicopter and she gave a smirking salute, ready for action. Wind Rider saluted back, allowing her to keep putting her gear together.
"But the day that we went on our first mission... everything changed."
The sounds of the helicopter blades echoed through the skies. And outside, they could see several animals and herders walking together, trying to escape the desert heat. But the sounds of men crying out in fear sent Wind Rider ashock.
"INCOMING!"
"LETS GET OUT OF HERE!"
Just at that moment, a rocket hit the side of the drop-off copter that Spitfire was on, sending it spinning around from the damage. It spiraled out of control until finally, it crashed and exploded once it hit the ground. Wind Rider and the rest of the soldiers screamed in fear, and the only things remaining were yelling and sounds of gunfire.
"Angry with a lust for revenge, our team went out there and took down the creeps who attacked her copter. We won, yes. But when we returned to find her... she was gone."
Some of the Wonderbolts threw damaged parts and pieces around and off of the debris, trying to find anyone who survived. The pilots were found okay, and a few soldiers as well who didn't take any pain.
"We found survivors... but we never found Spitfire. I didn't know where she went, but I vowed to find her til the ends of the earth. We searched the desert, we searched the crash site, and checked for any possible quicksand or pits in the surrounding desert. We even questioned the survivors if they knew... but no one found out what happened to her."
Wind Rider held his face, remembering the pain. No one said anything, and quite frankly, none of them knew what to say. What could you say to someone who had lost someone real close to them, or someone who went missing?
"We didn't find her for a long time, but I never gave up. Until, after 10 years... I finally found her."
"We went back to the area where she crashed... which was outside of one of the biggest crime-filled cities you could ever see; Klugetown."
The sounds of people screaming in terror and fear echoed throughout, making Wind Rider and the Wonderbolts worried. They ran towards the city, entering inside to try and find where the source came from. Afraid, they loaded up their weapons and took positions in case they had to.
"But when we found Spitfire... all of my hopes and dreams were crushed. Spitfire, no longer the excited girl I remembered... was gone."
Spitfire walked, limping a foot to her soldiers, stumbling a few paces. Her face looked crazed and mad, her teeth grit together. Eyes twitching, hands shaking, and the stains of pain over her body. Wind Rider's weapon dropped, and so did his mouth. His breathing increased harder, and so did the stress and realization of what his best student had become.
"No... Spitfire, what happened to you?" Wind Rider asked, praying she was still okay.
Spitfire panted, and some uncharacteristic tones in her voice spoke. "I never thought I'd be able to kill someone. Which is good, right? But now... it feels like winning."
"When we took her home, we managed to open her up and find out what happened. In the time that she crashed, she stumbled out of the crash to escape the fires. A stranger had offered her a ride to the city so she could contact us, and join up again. But that was the biggest mistake she made... the people, that city... She didn't get out, she didn't get freed... she was held in that city for 10 years of her life. 10 years, gone, wasted, taken from her..."
"But she was trained, wasn't she? Couldn't she break herself out?" Inferno asked.
"It's not that easy! This man had her locked up tighter than a lock on a treasure chest. There was no escape! I don't know how she got out, but Solaris bless her, she did. But she explained she got out, but soon after... she had to escape using unconventional means. Means that are not okay with in the Wonderbolts code."
"Meaning?" Blizzard intrigued.
"The best that I can say, is people lost their lives because of her! She was so driven to escape and to take down every person who would kidnap and take her, that she became ruthless. Aggressive! It didn't matter who, if you were a step near her, you were dead! I tried to help her in the best way I could, but there was no helping. But when she went and decided to rule the Wonderbolts by herself, taking total control was completely gone. Her status was removed, and she was discharged from duty. Several more tried to follow in her footsteps, and were given the same fate."
"Ouch. Well, that explains why she's got so many by her side," Tox said.
"Exactly. I tried to reason with her, I pleaded, begged, I tried to find some remaining pieces of hope and good left in her heart... but there was none. She was gone. My best student, like beautiful birds in the skies... was gone. "
Memories of the past all meshed together, sad, happy, angry, scared, all meshing to one blank face. He looked at the new supers, blankly, and stared at them.
"If you think there's a chance of saving her, there isn't. But all I can ask, is stop her before she unfolds whatever her new plan is. I don't know what, but there's one thing I know for sure; she won't back down from anything, and she will take anyone who tells her that heroes aren't military men."
The group nodded, believing him.
"Well then, how do we find her?" Silverstream asked.
"That's something I'm afraid you six will have to do on your own. I can't help her anymore," Wind Rider admitted.
"Well, either way, we really appreciate you telling us what you know," Adagio nodded.
Wind Rider smiled at the eldest Siren.
"And I appreciate seeing an old friend who literally cannot die."
"Oh stop," Adagio blushed, "That's not true. Take our pendents, then there's a chance we could die."
"That and or power depletion!" Sonata smiled.
Aria blinked. "Do you not see how scary that is?"
"What?" Sonata scoffed.
"Do you not see how scary it is to smile when you say that there's a chance of death?"
"Nope!"
"Just let it go, Aria. Come on girls, lets leave the gentleman alone. Come on, everyone. We should get going."
"Actually, wait. Before you all go... perhaps there is something I can help you with."
"And that is?"
10 Minutes Later
A trunk was pushed towards them, and the contents inside surprised them. Tons of gear, weapons, armor, tools, the works! Everything needed to toughen up for war.
"Take this gear. Some of this stuff was supposed to be for a new batch, but those days are no more. But perhaps you can use some of this stuff to your advantage."
Tombstone grabbed the handle of the trunk, picking the entire thing up with just his hand. Lifting it felt like nothing, it was like picking up a pillow.
"We really appreciate your support. We promise we'll use this stuff wisely."
"Good."
The door opened up, and everyone began to leave. Until--
"Ahem. Silverstream, is it?"
Silverstream turned around, getting the attention. In Wind Rider's hands, was a strange pack with a metallic device built into it.
"This in my hand is a jetpack. I was going to pass this down to Spitfire but... she crashed that day. I believe you can put this to good use, to help you fight."
Silverstream was excited, admittedly. But then a thought occurred to her. "But, sir, I never flew before, I can't even fly! I don't even have powers! And why are you passing this to me, I didn't do anything to earn it..."
Wind Rider smiled and patted her shoulder. "Because, I believe you, Silverstream can put it to good use. You're not corrupted. You're full of life, positivity, enthusiasm... and you have a family by your side who won't let them hurt you."
Silverstream smiled back. "Thank you, sir."
Wind Rider passed the pack to her, who managed to grab it without dropping it.
"Now be careful out there, and prove to the world you don't need superpowers to be a hero."
"I will!"
Skipping away, she took the jet pack out the door, leaving the old man smiling and laughing at her happy and excited enthusiasm.
"Never mind. Maybe the new generation these days aren't lost after all..."
Author's Note
And so the first part, begins!
Cracked Statue
With autumn springing into high, the land in Canterlot began to change. The trees were changing the leaves into shades of orange, red, and yellow. The month of October had came and it was a quick change from the warm weather remaining from the summer.
Adagio Dazzle's heels ran across the sidewalk, running as fast as she could. Or as fast as her legs could pick up, what with running in high heeled shoes. And right behind her was Aria and Sonata who were struggling to keep up with her. The three of them received a very bizarre phone call from one of their friends not too long ago.
"We just got your call! What's the emergency? Is Princess Trixie finally back?" Adagio asked.
"Is an escaped convict out of jail that we need to apprehend!?" Aria panicked.
"Did we rob the bank again!?"
Everyone stared at Sonata.
"What? We robbed banks plenty of times before, I wasn't sure if we did it again."
Adagio shook her head. "No, no we didn't. And please do not announce something like that in public."
"Oh. Oops," Sonata blushed.
"Anyways, you girls called us?"
"Yeah, but its for something else..." Bon Bon replied. She urged them to stand where she and the others were standing. As they turned to where they were, all of them gasped. Now they understood. On the side of the Wondercolt statue, there were a few gaping cracks on the side. But it wasn't just that, there were some soft glowing coming from within the cracks. Like a power source was hidden underneath.
"What's going on here?"
"We don't know. We never saw this before."
"Was there always this crack in the statue?" Adagio asked.
"Well, yeah. We saw a few dents, a few cracks, but it wasn't anything big to worry about. But ever since our battle with Sunset Shimmer, we started to see... well, this ."
Adagio and her sisters shook her head.
"Has anything happened since you found it?"
"No. Not a thing. But I can't help but feel as if there's something bad going to happen sooner or later," Lyra stated.
"We'll definitely have to keep it in check. How about we call someone, see if maybe they can patch up that hole?"
The girls shrugged, nodding.
"Very well. Its settled then. We call someone, they'll fix it. If they can't, then we'll all come back to take a look at it."
With nothing else they could do, the girls walked away together. But Adagio definitely had a bad feeling stirring up in her stomach. She had never noticed that glaring detail on the statue before. It never occured to her before. She didn't even think about it. But then again, she had only just seen it. But would it get worse? Would magic leak from the statue, infecting their world?
Little did any of them notice the glow getting bigger from the statue. Two streams of blue and orange magic spat out from the cracks, and buzzed up into the skies zooming right into the city...
2:00 AM
Canterlot Prison. Holding all of Canterlots number 1 criminals and fugitives. Ranging from small time pick pockets to hardcore murderers. While not the best prison in the world, it was certainly like any other. Full of criminals who would love to kill and attack anyone who's new. And it was also full of people who would love nothing more than to escape back into the free world, to escape their shackles.
Tonight, the chance would come. A siren began to blare, accompanied by flashing lights. Security guards and containment teams moved into positions, ready to handle whatever the trouble was that came. The teams approached the door, all standing steady.
"Anyone know what's going on in there?" The first guard asked.
"Another riot, probably. But they said to stand ready, something about prisoners trying to make a break for it."
Just then, a man came running out of the doors, panting and holding onto his legs, tryign to catch his breath.
"What's going on in there?"
"The prisoners... they're escaping! And, oh god... They... they've... they've..."
"Spit it out, what's going on in there?"
"One of them multiplied! There's dozens of them in there, there wasn't this many prisoners in there! I don't know what I saw, but I swear one of them just... split into 12!"
The guards looked at each other with a confused look.
"And, oh god, one of them... one of them flashed a light into one of the guards eyes, and... and... and they--"
The man couldn't finish his statement. All at once, they were blown away by an explosion that was set off. The explosion destroyed the front entrance, and it knocked all of the guards out, making them fall and hit the walls.
A crazed look came to one of the prisoners faces. A girl with red hair and pale skin, who's smile was so big it was like she was ready to snap. Her eyes were twitching, and one of the frames in her glasses was cracked. The sleeves of her prison jumpsuit had been cut off, including a part of her pant legs.
"We're out... we're finally out!"
A few of some of the female prisoners ran past her, running out into the streets, fleeing the prison. Moon Dancer watched as they all ran for their lives.
"Well done, Moon Dancer," a calm and soothing voice replied.
Moon Dancer looked behind her. In the shadows, she could see a woman leaning against a part of the destroyed wall with her arms crossed. She couldn't see her face, but she could surely tell what she was thinking.
"Oh, well, thanks. See, I told you, I told you we would escape, you never doubted me for a second, no one ever doubts me--"
"Oh shut up. "
Another prisoner walked out, this time wearing a mask. A skin-tight cotton mask with blue eye pieces covering the eyes, and a small metallic piece over the mouth, distorting her voice.
"Do you ever shut up, Moon Dancer? "
"Now, now, young one. We should be thankful. Moon Dancer's ambitions are part of what allowed us to escape."
Moon Dancer's grin grew even wider, the insanity in her growing even more.
"But I'm afraid all good things must come to an end."
Moon Dancer froze.
"What?"
"I'm sorry to tell you this Moon Dancer, but my goals are much more different than yours. Your lust to get revenge on those girls you described has blinded you from the true potential of your wit. You fail to understand the pure power you can have at your fingertips if you go right to the very core... which is why I'm afraid you are of no use to me anymore."
"What!? But I did everything you asked, I could be of valuable service to you!"
"Maybe... but you're a lost cause, Moon Dancer. But I appreciate all of your help and dedication..."
Moon Dancer slowly backed away, for once feeling fear. But before she could even run, she felt a sharp electric buzz zap into her neck, making her scream and spasm out of control. Her body fell on the ground, still convulsing from the electricity buzzing in her.
"God, she was irritating ."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Now may I ask, why did you steal that mask? What purpose do you have for it?"
"I prefer to keep myself away from the spotlight. "
"And how is wearing a black mask with a voice distortion going to help you?"
The masked girl stopped.
"...Are we going to stand here and waste time, or are we going to finally enact this plan of yours? "
The older woman chuckled. "Don't worry, we will."
The adult stepped out of the shadows, entering in the moonlight. A smirk crept on her lips as she looked at the night sky.
"Let us go get the boys back. We have much work to do..."
Author's Note
Sorry for the long wait! Very busy, but now its done! Thanks for waiting, and enjoy it!
Revelations!
"Well then, listen in. Because this is where it gets... interesting ..."
5 Years Ago
"I was working downtown. It was just another day on the job for us. At least, at first..."
Inferno sat at a desk, sipping a cup of coffee, staring at the words on his computer. He typed away, incessantly, not letting his hands go one second off of the keyboard. He had to get those reports typed up as fast as he could, and fast. His boss for sure wasn't gonna be happy if they were late. When all of a sudden--
"FIRE!!!"
Everyone jumped at the loud, panicking scream. Looking up, indeed there was. A fire had just began to spread. And by the time he had gotten up out of his chair, everyone had quickly and unrealistically had fled the building. Looking up, he saw a beam start to fall down. It smacked the top of his head, and he instantly fell to the floor, knocked out. And he didn't see the fire continuing to spread...
"Wait, hold on a second..."
--
Sonata had her hand up, and she was rubbing her eyes, trying to comprehend his story.
"Let me see if I understand this correctly. You were inside a building, just as the fire broke out and no one came to make sure you had escaped?"
"We were in a rush. Girl, you gotta understand, when you're inside of a building and a fire's out, you ain't gonna be thinkin'. Anyways--"
--
"I'm knocked out. I have no memory of what's goin' on. When I regained my consciousness, I saw the fire had spread all around me. I tried to get myself up, but I found myself unable to. Fire all around, no means of escaping. But just when I thought it was all over..."
Inferno turned around the entire room, gazing at the flames. There were no means of escaping. The door? Blocked off. Windows? Blocked off as well. Not even a path or a trail to go through to try and break out. But as he turned his head behind him, he found something very strange. At first, he smiled. There was a path finally in front of him, finally an exit! But what surprised him was the big glowing red and orange orb of light that was zipping around in front of him.
He slowly backed away, unsure of what its target or origin was. But he couldn't leave. The orb flew around and then it phased right into his chest, making him fall straight back into the fire. He screamed, looking at the fire all around him. This was his end, being burned alive, this wasn't how he wanted to go! But yet... he felt no pain. The fire didn't hurt him, or do anything.
He got back up on his feet, looking at his entire body. No pain, no flames. He survived! A look of pure joy was on his face, and a sudden idea kicked into his head. Backing out of the fire he sat in, he got into a running position. Even though the place kept burning by the second, he still knew exactly how to get out of the building. Kicking back, he started to run. He burst right through the fire that had clinged to the doorframe, he brushed right past the flames that were now on the stairs, and he completely ignored the other floors that had fires spreading all around.
By the time he made it to the last floor, he had so much pride and confidence in himself, he wasn't even afraid to walk right through the big carpet of fire that was on the main floor. Casually he just walked on through, and out the front entrance. There, he could see several firemen who were struggling to take care of the flames that were spreading all around. But all of their attention quickly dropped when they saw Inferno nonchalantly walk out of the building like there wasn't anything there. Well, he did have a few scorch marks on his body, accompanied by the black dust.
"What?" Inferno asked to the men who had their jaws gaping. "Never seen a man walk through fire before?"
--
"And so, that's when I started figuring out that I'm practically invincible against flames!" Inferno cheered.
He jumped back into the seat of his chair, a big grin on his face. Everyone just simply nodded, giving him an understanding motion.
"Very impressive, very impressive," Adagio nodded. "How about you, Blizzard?"
"Well..."
--
Blizzard's entire body shivered as she sat on the floor in the freezer. Her entire skin was growing cold, her breath was visible in the form of smoke and all lights were slowly begin to fade away. She opened her eyes for one more time, gazing up into the only source of light in the ceiling.
But as she looked up, she noticed something else before her eyes. A new source of light phased into the room, in the form of a glowing magical orb. She wasn't sure of what she was seeing; was it the last thing she would see before she would be frozen? Was it a hallucination?
Well she wouldn't have long to think about it as suddenly the orb pounced right into her heart, making her convulse from shock. Her body fell on the floor, and she passed out.
Her eyes slowly woke up, a long period of time having gone passed. Was it... heaven? Did she go to the gods above? No. She wasn't. She was still locked in the freezer by accident. But wait. She wasn't cold. She didn't feel like she was freezing to death. Pulling herself up, she looked at her entire body. No ice or form of crystals formed on her or on her body.
In fact, she felt great! Like all of her strength had been recuperated, and was back to normal once again.
--
"A near death experience and somehow being locked inside of a freezer? How did you even get locked in the freezer?" Sonata asked.
"That would be my own fault. Since I was running a stand-alone business, I didn't think about maybe preparing for the case the door slams shut on its own, or in the off chance I get locked inside," Blizzard said, brushing the back of her head.
The Dazzlings nodded.
"What about you, Tombstone, what is your tale of woe?"
"Well, not really so much as woe, as it is... happy accident."
--
Tombstone slowly moved a foot up, holding onto the side of the house. Roof definitely needed repairs, and he was the man for the job. Thankfully it wouldn't be too long, at least, in his line of work. Nice weather to go along with it.
He turned to the side, grabbing some measuring tape, stretching it out to see how long he would make the new replacement roof tile. But as he put the tape away, he suddenly froze and gasped. From out of nowhere, a spectral orb of visible light came flowing towards him. Was it a ghost? A spirit? Something he was only imagining? He shouldn't have been outside for that long.
The orb of light came down, and it burst right into his heart, completely vanishing from his eyes. He gasped, and coughed, feeling the pulse. He held onto the side of the roof, keeping himself from falling. Unfortunately, he could hear the sound of cracking and crumbling. The roof he was on was cracking under the pressure of his own weight.
Carefully, he stood up. He had to jump to the top, surely he would be alright. One single jump, and then a few seconds later he was screaming as he broke right through the roof of the house. But he didn't stop there, he broke right through the attic, the second floor, the main floor, the basement, he found himself breaking through more rocks and barriers during the fall. When he finally stopped, his body slammed onto solid dirt, a soft patch of landing. He groaned from the pain, feeling all of the hard material that he had thrown his body through.
He slowly tried to pull himself up, trying to regain his composure. This was pain he was surely going to feel for a while. But when he looked up, he gasped. It was only for a second, but he got a tiny bit of light inside the cave. Glowing crystals were inside of the cave, lighting up the cavern he was in.
"WHOO-HOO! VICTORY!!!"
--
"So, yeah, just a happy accident for me. Yeah, I pretty much created more work, but hey, I found out I could shake the ground and break through it!" Tombstone shouted, feeling excited.
Sonata grinned. "That's amazing!"
Tombstone grinned. "Aw, shucks."
Adagio giggled. "Phantom. Do you believe you can regale us with your tale of power consumption?"
Phantom nodded. Then skipping right to the side, after phasing through the walls. He found a whiteboard and some markers, setting it on a stand for them all to see.
"Okay, show us."
Phantom nodded. And so he began to draw, recollecting everything that had happened the day he received his powers...
--
It was 1995, and he was still in high school. Shy wallflower, he was. And everyone in the school knew it. Even worse, he had to deal with several bullies who loved to taunt him on several occasions. And they had made their first attack on him for the day.
He didn't remember all of the details, but what he did remember was he was now compressed inside of one of the lockers. Even worse, the locker of the most biggest bully in school. He knew once the locker was opened, he would be dead for sure. More beat ups after that, that was for sure.
He only whimpered and let a few tears fall, knowing the fate that awaited him. But he stopped when he heard the sound of wind chimes, like twinkles in the wind. He opened his eyes, and looked as hard as he could through the small cracks of the locker. A purple orb pushed its way through the locker, sharing the same tight space as him. He gasped, and let out a small scream as the magic pierced his skin and into his body.
But as he screamed, he found himself falling to the side and onto more hard metal. He stood up, until time had frozen. Just a minute ago he was trapped inside that locker, unable to move. But now he was free. In fact, he wasn't in the same locker. Now he found himself standing in between three lockers at once!
He looked at his hand, seeing himself. Nothing. But as he pushed his hand towards the locker walls, it phased right through like it was nothing. He gasped, seeing his new ability. Hand through, and out. Hand through, and out. He pulled his hand back, stopping in deep thought. A mischievous and evil grin came onto his face. He could phase right through. Now he had something to use against those bullies who shoved him into the locker.
Its payback time, he thought.
A half and hour went by after he had been trapped, and he knew at this time, there would be some classmates undressing and getting cleaned up for their next class after having a long period of gym. The perfect moment to strike. He slowly phased through the wall, making sure he wasn't in sight. Everyone was away from the lockers, they were all in the showers. Just what he needed.
It was juvenile, and he knew what he was doing was wrong. But he didn't care. He was tired of being pushed around and treated like nothing, it was time for him to take a stand!
He phased right out of the wall, and in his hands were a few items he had taken for this objective. Some of which were items he knew wouldn't be okay on school grounds...
--
Adagio and her sisters were in shock, their mouths gaping wide.
"No... no way!" Aria grinned. "What you do, what you do?"
Phantom used a few simple hand gestures, explaining to Aria the full and juicy details of his plan. Every detail made Sonata's skin turn white, Adagio look more shocked, but Aria's grin kept growing to her ever loving pleasure.
"Ohohohohohoho!!! This is great! You have to teach me how to do that, I should have done that years ago!"
Phantom blushed, rubbing the back of his head.
"Seriously dude, that's awesome. And for that," Aria stood up, raising a hand up. "You just earned a high five from me."
Phantom smiled weakly, still heavy with shame, but he gave her a high-five regardless. He pushed the whiteboard away, and he sat back down on the couch with everyone else who were in confusion of his backstory. They didn't even have a clue of what he had done.
"Well... now that that's out of the way..."
Aria giggled.
"This leads us to the final one, last but not least, Tox. How exactly did you get your powers?"
Tox passed a single folder to Adagio, who stared in confusion.
"Why are you giving this to me, I don't understand."
"It has exactly how it happened."
"Oh, um, okay."
Adagio opened up the folder, and started reading. But as she began reading, her facial expressions continuously began to change. It started off with confused, and then slowly evolving into disgusted, and then horrified, and then back to disgust, and then horrified once again.
Tox didn't say a word. He only sat there in deep silence, staring off into space. Everyone around him had completely shut off, and he only could hear the sounds in his own head. Screaming, steaming, police sirens, glass shattering, destruction, crying in pain, and many other horrific sounds that only echoed back to him. The only expression on his face was blank, but it turned into a slow smirk at the end.
Adagio moved her head up after looking at the folder with a hesitant smile. "Well then, Tox, I can see you um... well, had an..." Adagio put the folder away, trying to keep it as far away from her as possible, "um, incident ."
Tox snapped out of the trance, looking back to Adagio, and gave a nod.
Everyone else just stared at Adagio and Tox with a few concerned looks. What did she read? What could have been so bad in that folder that made her nervous?
"But, anyways, okay, so we know how you got your powers, and that's where we come into play. We know exactly what gave you powers to begin with."
"And that is?" Tombstone asked, twirling his hand.
"Magic. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but allow us to explain. You see, the magic that infected you all, is exactly what's within us. Escaped magic infected you all, and it gave you powers! That's how you're able to do so many of those amazing things!"
"Wait, magic?" Blizzard asked. "That seems a little... far-fetched, doesn't it?"
"Maybe so. But it explains how we can do this."
All three Sirens placed their hands on their own individual pendents, all closing their eyes. Their eyes squinted shut as they put all of their focus and thought onto their pendents. Then with a bright glow and hum, a giant flash of light hit the room.
Everyone was blinded, only for a second. When they regained their eyesight, they looked to see Adagio and her sisters had indeed changed. Now they had their siren fins and wings on their backs, longer hair, and pony ears included.
"What the!?" Inferno freaked out, sliding back in his chair.
The Sirens looked to each of the new supers.
"Now you see, you're not alone. We have powers too!" Sonata smiled.
"Okay, that, is freaky ."
"Didn't that freak you guys out when you found out you had powers?" Blizzard asked.
"Well, superpowers aren't really the strangest things we've seen. Unless you count the time we were sucked into the board game, Jumanji and-- !"
"Whoa, whoa, hey!" Sonata interrupted. "I think we're getting a little off-topic, aren't we?"
Adagio blinked. "Right, right. We are. Anyways, back on point. I know we brought you all here because we all have powers, we all stand out from the crowd, but there's also another reason we brought you all here. You see, the superheroes that you all know very well; The Magician, Class Act, The Rockstar, Retro Girl, Green Ninja, The Baker, those girls? I'm afraid real life is starting to hit them hard and they aren't able to balance out their real lives with superhero work."
"Which is why we sent out that wanted ad. We're looking for some new guys to help take over when they can't," Sonata added. "Why do you think we accepted all of you guys?"
All six of them looked to each other, deep in thought. This was certainly, interesting...
"We picked you six because you have the attitude, the strengths, the brawns, you all have it! With some hard work and training, I think we can make you all great heroes."
Suddenly everyone was smiling. This was getting better and better!
"I know its a lot to ask of you six, and you don't have to say yes. But if you're willing to give this a shot, for the safety of our city, and to help some friends in need, we would greatly appreciate it."
The Sirens waited for a moment or too. Almost all of the six selected were in deep thought of her proposition. It sounded very promising, and they all loved those superheroes who emerged. Perhaps becoming a superhero could be a great thing after all!
Inferno was the first to stand. "I'm in."
"Lets do it!" Blizzard said next.
"I want to do something awesome!"
"Yeah!"
Phantom just nodded.
"Oh what the heck, I'm in!" Tox finished.
"Then its settled. Tomorrow, we begin your superhero training," Adagio smirked.
"Yeah!" All of them cheered.
After making their plans and arrangements, everyone left their apartment, heading for their own homes. Now the plan was for all of them to meet tomorrow on Saturday to begin official training.
"Have a good evening ladies," Tox called out. "You too, fellas."
"See ya tomorrow, kid," Inferno called out, heading to his car.
"Bye Tox!"
"See ya!" Silverstream waved.
Tox simply waved goodbye, watching everyone depart. One by one, everyone had left the apartment plaza, now leaving him on his own. Now it would be time to head home.
With no one else around, and no one to stop him, he picked up his feet and began a jog home . He just started to jog down the sidewalk, running straight into the city on his way home.
As he jogged, he dashed by a few people who were just walking idly by, minding their own business. A few just closing up stores and shops temporarily, some who were also out on a run, and some who just were walking around. Either way, he simply ignored them and kept on running. As he spun around a corner, he halted and made a right turn into the alleyway. He started to climb up one of the ladders, and made it up to the rooftop.
He stood on his own two feet, staring at the few roof tops just for him to jump to. He started to make a run, and skipped across to the next rooftop, kicking a few rocks along the way. Then he jumped along another one, making a loud thud sound as he hit the next building. He jumped over to the next one, but he stopped. His body turned around and looked across the street. Another store, like the rest. But he focused in on what was in the window.
Right in the window, that could see outside into the streets and other stores, was a father and mother, gathered to a small baby in the mother's arms. Both of them were giggling and smiling, and so was the baby too.
Tox just stared blankly at them, watching their happy and content hearts explode. He turned his head away, and then kept on running. Just a few more buildings, and he would make it.
He stopped on top of a bakery, and he jumped down from the ledge, bouncing onto the tarp that was stretched to block out rain, and then jumped back down onto the solid ground. He picked up his feet again, and he sprung into the run again. He ran to the left side, and dashed over into the alleyway. He climbed up a ladder, a fire-escape ladder at that, and stood on the ledge of a fire escape. He put his hands under the edge of a window, and he pulled it up, granting access.
He climbed inside, now indoors of his home. Turning around, he pulled the window back down, sealing it. He kicked off his boots, and removed the chains and vials off of his jeans. He stood and looked around, staring at the entirety of his home. Mucky brick walls with dried out and degrading wallpaper, several walls with holes and wood visibly shown. A few lamps, some old furniture, unclean carpets, crumpled up boxes and containers that once held food, this apartment was the very definition of a dump. But Tox didn't care.
All he did was just wander into his bedroom, which was just as bad, if not, worse. Old mattress, rotting floorboards, clothes scattered about, tin cans everywhere, it was just one giant mess. He threw off his clothes and then jumped onto the bed, laying back on it. He held up his cellphone, reading the single note he had written earlier.
10:00 AM, Training Begins.
Tox just sighed, and let the phone fall down and hit his bare chest. He stared up at the ceiling, staring up at more of the torn floorboards and faded paint. With no other plans or activities to do, he just simply closed his eyes. He would just sleep until it would be time to collect dinner. And all was quiet.
Monday morning came too soon, and it almost felt like Sunday. No one wanted to get back to school and work, but it was something they knew that they had to do.
Adagio's arms stretched as she woke up. Jumping out of bed and into her slippers she stretched her back and arms. A small cracking sound came from her stretch, thankfully no bones to be broken. As soon as she used the bathroom and changed clothes, she stepped down to the kitchen ready to make breakfast. But to her surprise, Aria and Sonata weren't downstairs in the kitchen.
"Aria? Sonata? Girls come on, wake up!" Adagio called. "Girls?"
Living room? Nada. Lower rooms, storage, and mini theater? No. Pool? Nothing. Where could they have gone?
When she got back up to the main floor, she noticed the sliding door to the balcony was open. They must have stepped outside. When she stepped out, she was correct. Aria and Sonata were out on the balcony, fully dressed. The two of them stared down at the streets below them, with a pair of military-grade binoculars and a telescope.
"Girls, what are you doing? Are you spying again? Because I've told you time and time again, its not polite to spy on other people."
"Please, we did it all the time!" Sonata rolled her eyes. "Besides, the government didn't confiscate these from us, so why not use them?"
"Exactly," Aria replied, looking through the telescope.
"What are you even looking at?"
Aria smirked. "Well at first, we did get a shot of some guy getting dressed, very sexy ," Aria giggled, "We've seen Blizzard's ice cream shop open up... I think I saw Silverstream's limo go by... and that's about it."
Adagio put her elbows on the balcony as she stared deep down into the city.
"Let me ask you this question, is there anything in specific you're trying to find?"
"Doing our newest daily routine in which we try to see if there's any crime we need to stop," Sonata said as she adjusted the settings on her binoculars. "Lets see... um, girls? Are cops allowed to wear colorful beanie hats?"
Adagio and Aria blinked. Adjusting the telescope, Aria gazed down into Sonata's directions. Two men dressed in police uniforms were moving towards a truck with a trailer that was parked in front of a museum. But these didn't look like regular police men, these men wore bright and colorful beanies; head wear that certainly wasn't a normality for officers on duty.
Sonata passed the binoculars to Adagio who zoomed in for a closer look.
"Oh no... The Beanie Brothers, I've heard of these two. Stupid name for sure, but these two always manage to get away with every truck they hijack. Several valuable diamonds and priceless artifacts have gone missing because of these two!" Adagio exclaimed.
"And we're finding out about this now?" Aria asked.
"We just moved here, I only got to read a few pieces of Canterlot news when we arrived. Beanie Brothers appeared on the front page of one of my newspapers," Adagio stammered.
"Well, what do we do?" Sonata asked.
Adagio looked closer. She watched as the two confirmed crooks went to the back, oogling whatever was in the truck. Then the two brothers went to the front of the cabin where the drivers would have gone and put themselves into the cab, breaking the glass as they broke in.
The truck began to start, and then it began to leave the museum scene, with a few security guards and staff screaming and yelling, calling for the truck to come back. Adagio put the binoculars down. An idea came to her head. A wonderful idea... a wonderfully, wonderful idea.
"Girls. I'm not one for performing over the top plans, but I have an idea. Sonata, do you have the numbers for Silverstream's school?"
"No."
"Do you have her butler's number?"
"Yes."
"Call him, tell him that Silver's needed immediately. Aria, call up the rest of the team, tell them to meet us over at the Canterlot Airfield pronto. I'm going to open up some of our gear from our military days and see if we can put some of that armor to use once again..."
10:00
Trixie and her friends sat and listened, hearing the teacher's lecture. They kept their heads in the game, writing down every note they had to take down. Every formula, degree, algorithm, all of it. Math wasn't their favorite subject, but for most them, specifically, for Amethyst and Vinyl, it wasn't too difficult a subject.
"So... remind me again?" Trixie asked, sitting next to Vinyl.
Vinyl smiled. "Its simple. Look, you just need to use the Quadratic Formula, its written right here. You should be able to put the numbers into the slots of A, B, and C, right?"
"Mmmhmm."
Vinyl grinned. "Good, just put them in those places, and you can solve the rest from there. I'm sure of it."
"Thanks."
But as the teacher continued her lecture, Lyra felt the phone in her pocket vibrate. She knew she shouldn't answer the phone in class, but she checked it anyway. Her eyes looked down and she blinked.
"Trouble. Girls?"
Amethyst and Bon Bon turned their heads, looking at Lyra's phone. A message sent to her from the Canterlot Police Department, which read;
Trouble! The Wonderbolts are back and breaking in, if you read this, get here ASAP!
Their eyes almost fell out of their sockets when they read the text. Making sure the teacher wasn't looking, Trixie, Vinyl, and Octavia looked back as well tor read her message. A small alert rang on her phone, explaining about the incoming heist.
All of them turned their heads forward, making sure the teacher wasn't catching them. Then when she turned around, Trixie raised her hand up.
"Yes, Trixie?"
All at once, the girls stood up with their hands raised and serious faces. And Lyra jumped up onto her desk acting like her ninja persona.
With straight faces, all six of them at once asked, "Can I have a bathroom pass?"
The teacher was surprised at first. But she sighed, knowing what their intention was. Since the entire school knew that they were 'superheroes', they had made a solemn oath and signed one giant form which said that any student and staff on school grounds were to never give away the girls secret identities. And as much as the teachers wanted to say no to them leaving, they knew they would have been gone by the time she said no.
"Fine. But be back before this lesson is over, or at least, try?" The teacher groaned, not even caring.
"Kay!"
All six girls leapt out of their chairs and dashed into the hallways. They ran together, and began to run towards their cars. Unfortunately at the same time, they were also struggling to get their supersuits on since they were in a hurry to leave.
"Alright girls, shout out your call signs!"
Everyone began to change into their suits as fast as possible, scurrying to get themselves together. Some of them fumbled and tripped as they changed, but they kept on moving.
"Octavia, lets rock!"
Octavia smirked as her mask was slipped over her nose and mouth.
"The Rockstar, ready to rock and roll!" Octavia shouted, spinning her guitar into her hands and playing a short riff. "Alright, take it away Vinyl!"
Vinyl smirked as she put on her glasses. Her violin was strapped to her arm, and she held the fiddle in her other hand.
"Class Act, ready to go!" Vinyl shouted.
"Lyra? Your turn!"
Lyra's mask slapped onto her head, covering every inch of her face, disclosing her identity. "Gurīn ninja, junbi. "
Trixie finished getting her pants and cloak on, with only a few items left to go. "Bon Bon, you ready?"
"Almost! The Baker, rea-no wait hold on... okay. The Baker, ready!"
"Amy? Want to kick some butt?" Octavia smirked under her mask.
"Retro Girl..." Amethyst began, slapping her visor onto her eyes, straightening her mullet. "Ready and standing by!"
Trixie finished putting on her mask, and finished it off with the magician's hat.
"The Magician.. ready! Girls! Lets go!"
Everyone jumped into their cars and all at once, turned them on. Engines revved, blasting their powerful roars. And with a race, they sped out of the parking lot, creating a few skid marks on the pavement as they tried to leave. Trixie led the pack in her own car, with Lyra on a small ninja bike behind, Vinyl piloting her sub-woofer powered car, and Amethyst's old SUV.
"Okay, lets make this clear. Keep your attention on those Wonderbolt characters, do not let them escape, we can't let them leave. Gotta stop them!"
"As long as we've got our gadgets, we're practically unstoppable!" Bon Bon shouted.
"Why do I have a feeling that's going to bite us in the butt later?" Amethyst deadpanned.
10:30
Weapons were cocked and loaded. Everyone tightened up their gloves and their boots, making sure not a piece of clothing was loose. Belts buckled, weapons strapped at the ready, and armor was strapped to their chests. All members that were recruited made sure to wear some protective pieces of clothing to stay safe, but luckily the Dazzlings managed to supply them with some Kevlar vests and armor from some storage cases they collected from the 80s and 90s.
Sadly, none of them had time to really find anything to create any official 'superhero' costumes, so they just grabbed what they could. Some like Tox and Inferno wore fingerless gloves on their hands, others like Blizzard wore a pair of ski goggles, but Silverstream out of the bunch managed to find an open-faced helmet leaving her face exposed.
As everyone put on their final adjustments to their suits, Adagio addressed them all with a proud smile.
"My friends. Today we--" Adagio began.
"--Actually, sorry I interrupted, but do you mind if I ask something?" Blizzard asked.
"Go ahead."
"Remind me again why of all places we can be to stop this heist, we're inside of a helicopter miles above the city?" Blizzard deadpanned.
"Right, that's what I meant to explain. Now here's what's up. The truck we have to stop is going to be gone by the time we try to chase them. That's why my buddy Flip Top who's driving this bad boy," Adagio said, patting the roof, "Is going to let us skydive down into the city. From there, we'll be far ahead to the only escape routes from Canterlot City which will not allow them to leave. If we can cut them off at every turn to keep them from leaving, we may be able to stop them. That's why I wanted us to skydive, we can see the entire city from above."
"You know, you could have have us look at a map, or maybe have us all take individual maps?" Tox asked. "Or better yet, maybe some of us actually know around Canterlot--"
"I didn't have time to think this plan through, okay!? " Everyone flinched, and Adagio sighed. "Sorry, I'm a little excited! Now may I continue?"
Everyone shrugged.
"Okay. Everyone, it makes me so proud that we're here on this historic moment. This will forever change history, and create a new age of everyday heroes! And its my hope that you six will be the absolute best for the job! And its from this day forward, we will be known as..."
Adagio smirked as she looked at her allies, then with a straight face she grinned.
"... Team Equestria!"
Everyone just replied with absolute silence. None of them were thrilled with the idea, and the disagreeing as well as disgusted faces helped answer that.
"Okay, I'll admit, I need to think more on your official team name, but we can work on that later. How's everyone feeling today, feel ready? Feel like you can take on the world with your new allies?" Adagio quipped.
"Get me on the ground, watch me go!" Inferno shouted.
"Yes! That's what I'm talking about!" Adagio complied.
"We're gonna go down and kick their butts!" Blizzard cheered with enthusiasm.
"Yeah!" Adagio cheered back.
"We're gonna lock, shock, and load boys!" Tombstone shouted.
"YEAH!" The Dazzlings cheered.
Everyone was now cheering like a man, trying to sound as masculine and loud as possible, throwing a few grunts in there as well. Screaming a few 'yeahs', and even throwing a few mid high-fives to one another.
"I'll take that as a yes then, everyone is excited! Perfect!" Adagio cheered again.
"Um, maybe this is just me but... is anyone a little nervous about this? I don't know, I've... I've never sky-dived before!" Silverstream shivered.
"There's no backing out now! We've gotta keep moving!" Adagio said as she stomped up to Silverstream. "I know things are scary now, but you can't quit now!" And to Silverstream's surprise, Adagio's voice turned from a drill sergeant into a quiet, warm and nurturing tone. "Don't worry, I'm just yelling to make sure they're aware who's the boss around. I won't let anything happen to you sweetie. I'll help you get through the skies, I promise."
Silverstream nodded with a small smile. "Promise?"
Adagio smiled back and booped her nose, "I promise."
Silverstream's face scrunched up from the boop, making Adagio giggle. So cute!
"Hey ladies. We're at the drop point!"
Adagio grinned. "Its time. Flip Top, open the hatch! Aria!"
Adagio looked back to her sisters with a big grin and gave a single thumbs up.
"Hit it!"
Author's Note
Now before we continue, I want to say this. I know some of you may be thinking that the next chapter's gonna be like the 'you know what' from Deadpool 2 AKA the X-Force hilariously tragic demise, but I want to say that's not what's going to happen. I don't intend to make that happen, and I don't want this to be like what happened in said sequel. Okay? Okay. Just bare that in mind.
Just thought I would say that first, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and enjoy more to come soon!
