The light sprinkles and torrential downpours, to say nothing of the freak blizzards, had stopped in Locksmouth. Had a band of teens not repaired the Climate Control Unit, the weather patterns would have been apocalyptic by now... but that didn't mean that the dome correcting its own climate was pleasant. Damp streets, dripping trees and a seasonally appropriate brisk chill made walking through the streets a less than stellar proposition. Yet, two young men made their way around buildings, searching for survivors, attackers... and most pressingly, answers.
"Are you sure that robot was one that your people made?" asked the taller of the two, troubled in the extreme by threats apparent of the present, and phantom foes of the past.
"I've rarely been surer of anything," Jordan assured him, adjusting his suit's cufflinks. "The best plant, the most accomplished spymaster, the single most charismatic minister of propaganda couldn't have fabricated the existence and design evolution of those Harvesters over multiple generations. It couldn't be done. This Nhilus character couldn't be responsible, even forgiving his debilitating status of 'quite thoroughly dead.'"
The red-haired boy seemed somehow unconvinced. "You don't know this man. He could've lengthened his lifespan, he could've made himself all but immort-"
"Was he pre-splice like you?" Jordan asked patiently.
"Well. Yes, I suppose."
"Then unless he was frozen too, I assure you that he's very, very dead," he posited with all the subtlety of a bowling ball.
Something about that made Jacent itch with dread and curiosity, but the expression on Jordan's face reminded him that they had much more pressing matters. "Okay. So if Nhilus didn't do it, and thus far, we've seen a Harvester and a... PET, made autonomous..."
"That leaves an actor very capable with our level of technology," the weasel purported. "One of the aliens?"
"Not likely." Jacent shook his head, gazing up at The Ring's glow amid the cloudy sky. "The alien races utilized by the Inked have a tendency to be... very unintelligent. Not much smarter than animals in most cases; their kind tend to produce a lot of wear and tear on their more cognizant hosts."
Jordan winced, barely perceptibly, his lips pursed. "Unfortunate. But... it does narrow our search. This wasn't happening previously, even during the alien attack, until just now. The person who did this has to be capable with machines, and most importantly, present. The dome was locked a good while ago, nobody could get in or out. A capable roboticist, familiar with many other fields of science through practical application. A recent, if unwilling turncoat."
"You sound like you have an idea who it is."
He nodded curtly. "I do. And I think you do, too."
Jacent turned his head away, hair obscuring his eyes as he sighed deeply. "... Computer. Call Natalie Grayswift."
The dark wind howled, chilling his face as they waited. For a moment, it seemed as if she might not answer... but the canine girl's face lit up on-screen, then projected itself. She held a very shaken Carrie Oakenfield in her arms, their friends around them both as she regarded him tiredly. "Jacent?"
"We've deduced who must be the one behind these machines."
"I-... Is it...?"
"It's Lorna. I'm sorry, but she's the only one who could have done it." Her resigned sigh worried him. "I'm sorry. I-... Is this a bad time?"
"The worst," she answered without hesitation. "Didn't you hear the broadcast?"
"What? No." Jace glanced at her from the side. "What are you-"
"They captured a recording of Osoth linking Natalie to Echelon," Erwin cut in. "They know who she is. All of our identities are compromised." He frowned. "We're busted."
Jacent opened his mouth as if to speak, but his gaze drifted downward. "... I'm so sorry, Natalie. I'd hoped that if this ever happened, it would be on your own terms." He studied the faces of the unsure group of teenagers, seeing the uncertainty in their eyes... all but one. "What will you do now?"
Natalie glanced around at her friends before looking back up to Jacent. "I don't know what's going to happen after this... but we can't afford to think about that. We need to focus on the present- on finishing the fight."
He nodded without meeting her gaze. "You've grown into a fine leader, my friend. There is wisdom to your words."
Jacent found himself interrupted by a tug on his borrowed tank-top. "Mr. Danger." Jordan pointed at a building in the distance, which seemed to be billowing dark smoke from the edges of the roof. "I believe we have another, more pressing concern."
"A burning building??" Erwin asked suddenly. "Natalie, are there any-"
"-Distress calls," she finished his sentence for him. "Yes, there's one now! We don't have time to sulk; let's move out!"
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The mirror slide was like leaping sideways-cannonball into a pool of reflection and bursting out the other side. Inklings covered their owners momentarily, then fell back as if the air had rapidly dried them- an idea that didn't sound terribly crazy once they landed.
"Guh, it's like an oven in here!" Erwin complained, tugging at his collar as they surveyed the master bathroom they were in. The smell of burning cloth flooded their senses despite there being no visible flames.
"Please! Help me!" The plea originated from an elderly owl, trembling on all fours. She looked to them with hope, despite a face that told of grim conclusions. "... Natalie Grayswift?"
"Arbitrator Melliode? What happened here??" asked Natalie, helping her to her feet gently.
The avian woman pointed toward the door, the seams of which glowed orange with an intense, flickering light that bode ill. "Somebody... came through here... started a fire on the lower floors..."
"A fire??" Erwin puzzled, dumbfounded. "But there's got to be at least a dozen different safety measures to-"
"She came through, with machines that could think," gasped Melliode. "She destroyed the safety installations... melted the emergency escapes shut... and locked us in!"
"There are other people?!" Sam gasped in horror. "And they're trapped in here??"
"No more talking! It's time for action." Natalie helped the old owl over to the bathroom mirror. "I'm taking the Arbitrator back to base. Carrie, bust that door down! Let's get everybody out of here."
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~CRASH!~
Shards of glass shotgunned into huge plumes of open flame that licked at the walls and ceiling. Jacent shielded his face against the heat, breathing through a shred of his tattered costume that he'd dunked in a puddle and tied around his mouth like a kerchief. Fire had consumed the hallway, blocking the door to one closed apartment.
"No choice..." He ran to the back door, jumped against it, and launched himself down the hallway. Accelerating as fast as possible, he blew through the front door of the apartment complex in a giant plume of fire, landing and rolling in the puddle he recognized. "Tell me that worked..." he hoped, running back to the doorway. "Yes." Small embers lit the hallway dimly, their once-mighty oxygen supply stolen in a moment like the candles on a massive birthday cake.
With the lack of disgust that could only be felt by a homeless boy, he sank his teeth into a puddle water-hydrated micro muffin, downing it in a few joyless bites. His powers came at a cost, and that cost was energy- which he needed to replenish any way possible. He swallowed the last bite, spin back-kicking the sliding door open with just enough force to leave it on the floor a foot in front of its frame. A couple of ducks looked up at him, disbelieving. "The way is clear!" he shouted with controlled urgency. "Go!"
That appeared to clear the first floor. The stairs beckoned.
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"Nnnh... rrrRRRRAAAAGHHH!!"
Carrie's muscles bulged, constructive plastics crumbling as she pushed the door down into the hallway, frame and all. Stepping out into the hall, she and the others saw that the walls had been lit on fire, sheets of flame billowing heat from the edges of the long stretch. Smoke filled their noses, filling Carrie especially with dread, but emergency venting fans were still operating, sucking the lion's share of it into the ceiling and out of the building. "What the hell happened to the fire prevention systems?!" Cat asked, tears in her eyes as she coughed loudly.
"Ms. Grayswift must've defeated the mechanisms one by one!" guessed Erwin, terrified of the encroaching flames.
"All of them?!" Carrie retorted with disbelief.
"You don't understand," replied Natalie as she ran in the hallway with them. "Shelving all of her AI projects took her work away from her, so she helped everyone else in the Fabricatory. My mom knows enough about Locksmouth to turn this city to ashes!" She choked on a lungful of smoke. "We've gotta stop her!"
"We have to find her first!" Sam reminded her, squinting as the burning air stung her eyes.
"SAM!" Erwin grabbed the bat and pulled her away as a door exploded outward where she was a moment before. They looked away as flames burst out, licking the ceiling with rage.
"Nnh! Th-... Thank you, Erwin!" She squeezed him tightly before getting up. "AAAH!!"
Sam's shrill shriek was not unwarranted. From the explosive plume of fire, a robotic quadruped leapt forth, several of its components covered in flame as its empty black eyes focused on them. Once they got a good look at it, the thing resembled some sort of large feral dog. Its mouth opened and uttered something clipped and garbled. "ARE YOU LOST? I WILL DIRECT YOU. ARE YOU LOST? I WILL DIRECT-" it growled at them in a horrible, discomforting voice. It hunkered down, flexed its jaw and leapt for them.
"Gah! Not part two of dogs-on-Max!" the iguana complained, ducking out of the way and wishing desperately he could climb out of its reach.
"Watch out!" Natalie pushed Erwin out of the way for once, just missing a violent impact with the machine. It lunged for her as well; cosmic gears widened her vision in tiny flashes, ending in her holding its jaw shut inches in front of her face. Her arms trembled from the effort, unable to concentrate hard enough to switch powers. "Ggnnh, a little help!"
After a few frustrated moments choking on smoke, Carrie lifted the robot hound over her head bodily, dropped it behind her neck, and flexed her arms forward with iron insistence. Its servomotors whined and ground in protest, the canine champing its jaw in a struggle to get her, and then a shower of sparks flew as it finally broke completely in half over her back. Its lifeless metal husk hit the floor, landing at her feet. "Direct that."
Natalie was already investigating the apartment it came from. On the living room floor laid an alligator, trembling as he gripped his arm, which bled too heavily not to be worrying.
"Sir!" Sam called out, concerned as she dodged around open flame and ran to his side. "Sir, are you alright??"
"I-... Is it gone??" The 'gator looked around worriedly. "Oh, thank goodness. Th-... That maniac! She locked me in my apartment with that robotic monster! I-It is gone, right??"
"It's slag now," sniffed Carrie, who puffed on a medstick as Sam inked over and scooped up a dollop of healing pink essence.
"H-... Hey! You're the guys from the news report..." the scaled 20-something man noted.
"Erm, yes." Sam's brows furrowed as Mhend, holding her dollop. "Do... you want me to stop, or would you like that wound closed?"
"No, no! Please, it hurts so bad!" he whined, reflecting his tough species in no way.
"Tsk, don't worry, we'll make this all better," she said as if comforting a child.
When the pink goo stopped the bleeding and alleviated his pain, he shuddered in relief. "Th-Thanks," he acknowledged, smiling to Sam, who dropped her inkling shell and nodded happily in return. "How do I get outta here??"
"Take the stair access to the roof," Natalie instructed. "Do you remember if there were any others being trapped?"
"Oh, geez," the huge man hemmed and hawed nervously. "I-I... think I was the only one on this floor, but I don't know about the other ones."
"Thanks, we appreciate it," she nodded. "Now hurry to the roof!"
"Wait, I need my bunny, Jeffrey! I couldn't live with myself if I left him!" He ran into his bedroom.
"Aw, that's cute," Erwin chuckled. "He's protecting his boyfr-"
The alligator returned with a small feral rabbit cradled in his arms. "Okay! I've got Jeffrey." He winced. "Oh, but that fire looks awfully hot..." He shrunk from the idea of crossing the burning threshold.
Nat and Cat traded a look, as if to say, "Is he serious?" before respectively pushing and kicking out the sections of wall to either side of the doorway, opening the way.
"Thanks so much! My heroes!" He smiled bashfully. "I wish I was tough like you." And with that, he was gone.
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The next hallway up was worse than the last. Fire had encroached upon just about every corner of it, horizontal support beams having fallen in several places. Jacent kicked open the door to the apartment that looked the least on-fire, dashing inside and side-stepping open flames that beleaguered him from room to room. Den, bedroom, hallway, and out the door he ran, shoulder-checking the door to the middle hallway. He called for survivors, nobody called back. Fallen beams blocked yet more hallway; he ran inside the next apartment.
"Hello?!" Jacent hollered. "Is there anyone in here??" he wondered aloud, walking on sooty kitchen tile. "If there is-"
Before he could think twice, a massive hand broke through the wall, grabbed his head and threw him through the opposite wall. He took a moment to get up, having used his opponent's momentum to build up a force shield and save himself tremendous injury. As he rose, the creature that assaulted him broke through the rest of the wall, flexing its brawn and staring thrice at him, its head slowly rotating with a ratcheting click sound. It was one of those things that Carrie and Erwin had described, a... bug ape. "So, we finally meet in person."
It threw a sidelong smash at him, which he boost-punched back to its great displeasure. He wound up to take advantage of its vulnerability, but it just swung back around with the other arm, knocking him into (and completely destroying) the smoldering breakfast nook.
"Ghrk. Not like the robots, are you?" he asked rhetorically. Artificial intelligence that worked off of logic, cowardly criminals, or even wild animals driven by instinct were something he could begin to handle. These creatures from other worlds were working off of instinct he had no way to predict.
It slapped him away, again, this time straight back into the pantry. A package of cookies fell over him like an oven-baked avalanche, though he was too punch-drunk to even notice... or for that matter, get his bearings. As if by sheer ingrained habit, he began rising to his feet until a massive hand with big clumsy fingers wrapped itself around his chest. The fingers, which apparently folded backward at the ends, unfurled to wrap even further around him, crushing the life from him.
His vision failing him, Jacent instead shut his eyes and focused on motion. Which way was he moving? His gut felt a slight downward pitch. The red-haired boy focused on that motion, accelerating himself- and the bugape's arm- to slam into the floor. He pushed up with his legs from the crouching position, sending himself on a rapid orbit around the creature in a diagonal ring, taking its arm with him, and using its momentum, flipping the entire creature over onto its back upon landing.
Jace rolled forward, rising to his feet with a controlled breath to deliver badly-needed oxygen to his head. Once his vision came back, even partially, he turned on his heel toward the recovering bugape. A few deliberate steps, and his leg swept the creature onto its side. "Mantis stalks the locust!" With fingers pulled into cone-shapes, he crouched and boost-mantis struck the thing on its armored back, spilling blue, viscous fluids from the cracks at high pressure. He shook his hands clean as it groaned. "Mantis eats well. Dragon benefits from her wisdom again."
A distant rumbling overcame the din of flames. But... it wasn't the creature in the room with him. "What...?"
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"Hurry up! Go, go, get to the roof!" urged Natalie as she rounded the corner out of another hallway. The amphibious tenants of the apartment ran past her, climbing upward as fast as they could; her urgings did not go unnoticed.
"PLEASE, LET ME ASSIST!" A housekeeping robot that resembled a hand-cart drifted around menacingly inside the apartment in an attempt to ram the team, slamming into walls and thrashing around with various cleaning attachments like some sort of tentacled beast.
"You are the worst automaid in existence!" a frustrated Samantha groused, squeaking as she just dodged a swipe at her body. "You're creating a horrible mess!"
"I think I can reach the main power cell, I just- Gah!" Erwin cried out suddenly as the vacuum attachment threatened him wildly, thwacking against his cheek, then his arm. It wasn't truly concerning to him, however, until the mouth of the vacuum latched onto his groin, his package bulging as it was sucked into the thick, humiliatingly translucent hose. "G-G-Guys! HEEELP!!" He flushed, struggling to remove it.
"Don't worry dude, I'll get you out!" Max exclaimed, pulling out the middle plug from the hose and spitting a glob of yellow glue into it. The suction petered out on Erwin's end, freeing him from the uncomfortably personal terror. "Pweh!" The iguana took a sopping wet sponge to the face, realizing only afterward that his pet goo blob had unintentionally hitched a ride on the attachment. "No! Gropey!"
"We'll save him!" Cat called out. "Natalie!"
A nod. "Cannon Ball?"
A grin. "Let's do it!"
Carrie crouched, hunkering down into a ball shape and activating her grav-skiff sneakers. Nat dropped down onto her back, pulled her legs up, placed her feet on Cat's back, and launched her like a turbo-charged shuffleboard. She crashed into the homicidal housekeeper, crushing it against the wall and ending its reign of terror with a disappointed fizzling pop.
"Hah! You were way outdated anyway." Carrie grinned, standing proudly after barreling through the thing. "Oh crap, where's the little snot ball?" she suddenly remembered.
"Gropey! You're safe!" Max exclaimed, overjoyed.
"Eh?" Cat followed his gaze down to her chest, where the overgrown cyclopean gumdrop clung tenaciously to one of her breasts. "How the hell'd you get there??" A single snow white hand grasped his head, pulling him away. He stuck like glue, her breast stretching outward the harder she pulled. "Nngh, you're gonna lose this battle, Stickybutt!"
"Wait, hold on! You're gonna hurt him." Max rushed over and gently tickled Gropey's side, disengaging his hold on her chest with childlike simplicity.
Carrie plopped the green goo orb onto his owner's round head with a splat. "Keep a better eye on your booger ball, Max."
"Yes ma'am," he responded as dutifully as he did forgetfully. " Though we sure could use Nozzle right about now!"
"Well, don't look at me!" Sam complained. "I can't communicate with aquatic animals; that would be a preposterous power!"
"Come on, focus!" Natalie instructed, leading them out of the apartment and into the hallway. "We need to rescue the rest of the people in this building before the fire-..." She paused, ear twitching. "Hold on, do you hear-... the door!" She pointed to the elevator, which was being banged on heavily. She readied her fists. "Okay, everyone, get ready! We don't know what's coming!" The banging got louder and louder, her friends waiting with bated breath, until finally-
~BOOM!~ burst the doors, half-swinging, half-clattering open as a familiar figure emerged.
"Jacent!" Nat sighed in relief. "Boy, am I glad to see-"
"Natalie!" he yelled harshly. "We have to leave, now!!" He ran for the staircase at the other end of the hallway.
"W-... But Jacent, the people below-"
"I got them out! Now hurry!!" he beckoned pleadingly for them to follow.
An amber light illuminated the dark elevator shaft. A giant glowing orange hand grasped the floor ledge, and from it emerged a demon. With one glowing blue eye staring out from its spherical floating head, it fixed on them and climbed up into the hallway. Another hand slammed into the wall, flames bursting from its molten iron grip. An unseen force around its head- for it had no torso- cracked and pressed the walls outward as it slid from one side to the other.
"A smelter?!" Natalie asked incredulously, pushing her friends toward the exit. "Go, go, go!"
She caught up with Jacent as they ascended the stairs rapidly. "You know what that thing is??" he asked, sweating profusely.
"It's a tool used in the fabricatory to make large metal objects without having to press them! Some alloys don't liquefy, so you need a big hand to do custom work!" She panted, not getting enough air. "It uses forcefields, there's no way we can even touch the central unit!"
They burst out onto the roof, a crowd of anxious people suddenly clamoring to be heard at once.
"You're back!"
"Are there any others??"
"How are we going to leave?!"
"Okay, just stay calm, everybody!" Carrie yelled over the din. "We're leaving just as soon as we can! Sam, give Natalie your compact."
"Just a moment!" The small bat reached into her pockets, opened the thing and paused for a few dreading moments. "Oh... oh dear. Natalie..."
"Sam... what is it?" Nat glanced over at the open compact... and saw that the mirror had been shattered into splinters of tiny pieces. "Oh, crap."
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"I-I must have put it in the pocket that's over the metal leg..." Samantha fretted. "I'm terribly sorry!"
Natalie winced, turning to the crowd. "I have a very important question! Does anyone have a mirror on them?"
~CRACK!~ went the roof access door as the hinges popped off, a single hot metal hand squeezing it into taffy before throwing it aside.
"... Hold that thought!" She smiled nervously, turning to face the metal menace. "Cap, can you get these people to safety?"
"I'm starving," he reported sadly. "It would take a dozen trips at least; I'd never make it past the first few."
Her mind raced as the metal monster drew closer at an achingly slow, insistent pace. "Oh god, okay, plan, plan, need a plan-" Suddenly, another problem burst out of the roof access door, three-eyed and massive.
"Oh, come on!" Jacent complained tiredly. "Couldn't you have just stayed down?!"
Where others saw disaster, however, Nat saw a strategic opportunity. "Cap! We'll handle the bugape, you get the smelter!"
"Good call!" he acknowledged, advancing on the robot.
"Sam, Max, you stay with these people, you're our last line of defense!"
The two second-stringers happily relegated themselves to guard duty, backing away from the encounter.
Natalie nodded. "Good! Erwin, I need you to tell me when it's distracted enough to advance. Carrie, let's give him the Squeezebox!"
A grin lit up on Carrie's face as she swaggered up to the bugape, who seemed quite irate with her to begin with. "Hey, long neck! Gimme your best shot!"
Meanwhile, Jacent accosted the floating eye-orb that menaced him with its horrendously hot hands. He struck a pose low to the ground, legs poised for anything. "Dragon minds the Tiger..." A huge palm slammed downward, and he deftly rolled to the side. "Tiger is angry..." The other hand followed suit, he dodged the opposite direction. Another slap, another dodge, but this one was followed by the other hand immediately afterward; he boosted to get out of the way- something he immediately regretted, his stomach informing him quite painfully that it had nothing left to give. "D-Dragon is hungry..."
"Cap! Here!" Max's tongue shot out at him, slapping a plastic baggie full of snack cakes to his borrowed shirt.
"Thank you!" Jace yelled back, barely rolling out of the way of another large hand. He leapt up in one last use of his power, landing on the top of the robot's energy field on one leg. "Snack break!"
A huge fist came down on Carrie, but she caught it bodily, laughing. "Come on!" She tossed away the massive hand, building the creature's rage as its head tilted and turned. Its other hand went for her, slamming her into the roof... but she only shoved this fist away as well. "That's it?? You're makin' me sleepy!" She taunted and skipped to the side, drawing its incredible ire as it clicked more quickly and angrily at her than ever before.
"Natalie, NOW!!" Erwin screamed.
Several things happened all at once. Carrie crouched, raising her arms up in an 'X' over her head. The bugape sent its fist flying down onto Cat's braced form, cracking the constructive plastics beneath her with the force of the blow. And finally, Natalie dashed up to the creature's open torso at Comet speed, raining blows on its soft underbelly. Once it hunched over in pain, she crouched and jumped upward, grabbing onto its head and using the momentum to spin both it and herself wildly. Normally this wouldn't have been disorienting for the creature, but her additional weight made its body flail without any sense of control. Then, in one fluid motion, she slammed into the roof, bounced like a super ball, and slammed into its chest from below, knocking the massive monster flat on its back.
"Nat and Cat..." said one of the ducks from before. "Nat and Cat. Nat 'n Cat," the crowd of rescuees cried. "Nat 'n Cat! Nat 'n Cat! Nat 'n Cat!"
Energized by their cheering, Carrie wasted no time jumping onto the thing, straddling its neck and wrapping her arms around its cylindrical head. She squeezed its head with her industrial strength, her cheek flat against it as she grinned, her foot shoved in a jaw to jam the organic gears, her breasts pressed up on either side of it as if they, too, were choking the dickens out of it. "You're gonna be beggin' for mercy when I'm through! Hnnng!"
Jacent, shoving snack cakes down his throat with no sense of decorum, leapt upward. The smelter clapped its hands together, missing him by moments. He landed on the roof again, wiping his mouth and turning to face the floating monstrosity once more.
"Let's see that again, cyclops!"
The floating eye did not react with anger as its bestial cohort would- instead, it grabbed for the costumed teenager, catching a bit of the white tank top and trying to pull him by it. The cloth caught fire under the extreme temperatures of its durable digits, ripping a huge hole in the borrowed article in moments.
"Ah!" Jacent stumbled backward, patting out cloth cinders as his chest was bared to the world. Emboldened, the smelter reached for him again with its free hand, which he back-skipped away from. He tensed, it sent a flying fist at him, and for as dumb as it might have sounded, he punched its punch.
The smelter may have had size, mass and temperature on him, but Jacent outdid it in force by a long shot; its massive hand flew back and slammed into its protective sphere like a missile. The force field was made to take gradual forces and temperature flux, but the sudden impact cracked it like a fastball hitting a snow globe. The forces keeping the field up fizzled and scattered, and as it raised its remaining hand in a last-ditch effort to crush the red-haired boy, a huge gush of icy water shot into its palm. Steam exploded out from the red-hot metal manipulator, the structure twisted, broken and bent beyond any use. Jacent looked over his shoulder to congratulate Natalie.
But was the terrible trio: Cedric, Alliston and Coul.
"What are you guys doing here??" Erwin asked the question on everyone's mind.
"We came to help," Cedric replied stonily.
"We're here to horn in on your thunder, mateys!" Alliston grinned, bashing the now-helpless robot's monitor eye with a gigantic ice anchor.
"Well, you're too late on this one; he's done." Carrie released the bugape's head and let it flop thunderously onto the roof.
"Is it true you came to help??" Natalie asked, a little confused by the change of tactics.
Coul came in and whispered, "Not really. Is it true your Osoth suppressor thingy works?"
Nat tilted her head before following his gaze to Cedric... who held not just Emnas, but Parthal as well. She could tell by the look on his face he was struggling just to contain them. "Ahhhh. Yeah, it's up and running. Alliston!" she called. "How'd you get up here?"
The vixen laughed. "Aw, 'twas easy! We just loosed a water main and rode it up here!" She gestured to a section of the roof where the water was sprinkling down.
"Allie, can you freeze that part of the roof? I need a really thick sheet!" Nat requested.
"Okay, but methinks it's a mite small for putting out a fire." She collected the droplets as they fell, slowly but surely creating a solid sheet of ice. Shiny, perfectly reflective ice.
Natalie gazed into the frozen pool, panting, sweat glistening on her forehead, sweater singed and hair matted. Her lungs burned, her muscles trembled. As she blinked away smoke-stung, watering eyes, another face appeared: Echelon's. Arus materialized when Carrie looked over her shoulder. Mhend looked over as well in the reflection of a curious Sam. Phactys smirked and adjusted imaginary glasses in response to his host. Koralo minded Gropey with care. Jacent, the only true reflection, smiled wearily. Nat's pre-Urgai dip into despair was completely unwarranted, she saw now. Not only did she have amazing abilities like she'd always wanted, but she'd been granted something Jacent never had: an increasingly competent team of great friends.
"C'mon, Sugarbutt." Carrie put a hand on her shoulder. "Time to head back."
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