Placing his hands on the crab Frostbite concentrates and frost begins to gather on the pincer and down that arm.
Gallowglass and Horizon both react to get Mosaic out of the way of the falling speaker. Horizon tackles the starlet out of the way and with a flying kick Gallowglass manages to deflect the speaker just enough that it doesn't roll over the two heroes.
Isaiah pauses before blasting at the crab droids to attempt to reason with the monstrosity. He makes a good point that the destruction it is wreaking is counter-productive. The mechanical voice sounds resigned. "I guess you're not as dumb as you look. I don't really care; I just want the Pearl. It's too valuable to be just given away."
The frozen claw slams hard against Praetoria, but after the shower of ice and fog clears, she is standing strong against the massive blow. A hole in the carapace reveals a dark exterior bulkhead. The freed claw then makes another grab for the Pearl.
The pincer holding Frostbite suddenly is rendered nearly inert due to the amount of ice and cold he is generating. It no longer is squeezing.
"Hold that thought, I've got to deal with a couple nuisances," comes the voice from the speaker, as suddenly the sound of straining metal echoes through the area. The hostages drop to the ground as the crab tanks' pincers open wide -- too wide -- and in a shower of sparks they fall limp, useless. The behemoth flings the ice-armored form of Frostbite at Psyche.
Scorch rises into the air and surveys the scene. Horizon gets an idea to help, and floods the area with infrared radiation.
"Well, at least you're being honest now, Grabby Crabby." Gallowglass sighs.
Seeing the massive monster reaching for the Pearl, she adds, "Didn't your mama ever tell you to keep your pincers to yourself?
"Bear, it's time to teach Grabby a lesson. Ready to play ball!?"
Bear jumps up to start the Pearl rolling out of the behemoth's reach, and Gallowglass does an aerial flip ending in a double kick to give it more momentum, hoping to get it rolling off the stage and further inland.
With a flick of her wrist Psyche halts Frostbite in mid-air, setting him gently to the ground.
A mental susurrus brings her words to the rest of the team.
"Thank you, Gallowglass. Now I have just enough room to work with."
A towering curtain-wall of translucent energy, pulsing in time to Psyche's flaring corona, springs up between the titanic crustacean and its prize.
For a second, a small trickle of blood is visible beneath her left nostril, but the barest fraction of energy is all it takes for her to wipe it away as if it had never been.
"It won't get past me, but the sooner you can crack that crab, the better."
"Uuunnggghhh!" Praetoria grunts as the crab slams a claw into her. She drops briefly to a knee, but despite the pain, her father's invulnerability proves true to it's form and she doesn't appear worse for wear beyond looking like she's in a fight.
"Already done!" Praetoria thinks back to Psyche as she looks at the hole she made with a smile. Taking advantage of the opportunity she had created a moment before, she flies inside and begins searching out the inner important mechanisms of the creature, trying to work her way towards who or whatever is controlling it. As she goes, she continues to try and tear things apart while not slowing her advance.
Holly quickly disentangles herself from Horizon, lamenting the state of her nice dress.
Don't be an idiot, Holly. Think. You aren't as strong as Psyche and Praetoria, don't have the others experience. but you HAVE spent days of your life watching super-heroics, studying tells so you can mimic them. So, what tells is this thing giving, what is it protecting, what is it afraid of?
Isaiah sighed. "So, not actually an idealist after all, huh? I was hoping to get through this without having to reduce these pretty nice machines to useless scrap. They could have been very useful in many places."
And with that, Isaiah rose properly into the air, and took aim at the drone crabs.
Unfortunately, the delay had been enough for him to lose track of the weaknesses in the crabs' armor, and the thin Jammerspike needles failed to penetrate, ricocheting off and expending their EMP payloads uselessly on the ground.
Inquiry, meanwhile, maneuvered to get in a better position. Isaiah edited his surface thoughts to send a message.
Hey Psyche, I think I might have an idea to really damage that thing, but I need it to hold still for a moment first. Pass it on to the others.
"Isaiah's got a plan, but the big crab has to stay still for it to-" the connection fuzzed for a second as one of the titanic claws slammed into her wall. "For it to work. Any takers?"
"Shucks! This nogoodnik's trying to boondoggle us and scram with the clams!" Horizon shouts as he stands by Holly to keep her safe. She's the least protected by his estimate. He sees her examining the robot, and makes a suggestion, sees Frostbite get tossed, but doesn't see Praetoria. She's guts deep in the Crab, the smaller crabs were dealt with by Psyche, leaving the larger threat.
As much as he hated it, he needed Psyche's help here. As she spoke to them telepathically, he swallowed his unease and opened himself up to her. Psyche, I need to drop a dime to the group. Can you be our switchboard dame and plug us all on the same line? I don't want anyone making a huge boner because we weren't digging each other's moves. Just hang in there with that wall, and we'll get the crabbit immobile. I'm counting on you.
"Holly, can you mass up a whole bunch of light for me?" He asked her. "If I can slug it in the gams with enough energy, then this grifter's gonna be as steady as a concrete mixer."
Psyche tried hard not to 'listen in' to Horizon's distaste, but the way he pushed through it just made certain that the flavor of his reluctance filled her mind.
Well? Prove him wrong! Show him you can do all of this, show him you can-
While she was under such strain more was coming through her link to Horizon than she would wanted, annoyance, indignation, flashes of fear, and a dark pulsing beneath all of it. When suddenly it all vanished to stillness.
"You're right. We need to do this together. No one... No one could deal with all of this by herself.
"A switchboard would be too much-"
"-to focus on. But I should be able to manage a..." she dropped a concept into his mind, listening for the echo that would let her use his vernacular to express it, "...Party Line"
Gallowglass kicks the enormous pearl out of its cradle and sends Bear barking and nipping at it to keep it rolling further away from the immense crab. Psyche takes that opportunity to throw up a psychic barrier to keep the crab from pursuing.
It slams hard against the shield, driving its bulk into the barrier and nearly overloading Psyche with the feedback
The black eye stalks of the ruined crab drones suddenly flash red lights repeatedly in a rapidly increasing pattern.
Praetoria slips inside the hull, her way lit by red emergency lighting. The air is close, and reeks of salt water and rust. She rips through several bulkheads, causing alarm klaxons to sound as she goes deeper into the behemoth. She hears a distant, "deploying countermeasures", then a massive current of electricity courses through the corridor Praetoria is in.
Mosaic pauses to survey the battle scene, noticing that Psyche's barrier is holding for now, allowing Gallowglass and her dog to roll the Pearl down through the rear of the maritime center. The red lights on the crab drones flash alarmingly. The gigantic crab has a person-sized rent in between its eyestalks, which is likely where Praetoria went. Frostbite also managed to savagely weaken one of its pincers, which could be vulnerable to Mosaic's hard light shards.
Isaiah's blasts fail to do any damage to the crab drones, though his ship moves into position for his next plan.
Horizon communicates to Psyche in classic 40's slang, and she responds by linking everyone's minds. However, the incessant hammering by the titanic crab is draining her concentration. Every third word is missing from her "party line" so long as the crab is pressing against her barrier.
Hold it still? Alright, here goes nothing...
Frostbite focuses call his attention on the water the crab is sanding in, bringing his hand in as if he was holding a basketball between them and his body begins to shake as the water starts to freeze around the behemoth's legs.
Huge chunks of ice rise up and form around the crab's legs thanks to Frostbite's power. The crab isn't going anywhere for a few moments, at least.
Is- Is he serious? Is that really how people talked? Is he putting us all on? Holly wonders
Horizon, Focus on the claw, It's weakened, together we can take it out! She says, indicating which claw with a flurry of incandescent shards, complying with his request as well.
"You got it, doll!" Horizon says as he raises his arms to drain the gathered light that Mosaic is putting around him. The void enveloping his limbs start to swell in size, making it seem like he has ridiculously sized arms made from darkness for a moment. He joins them together at the fingers, aiming at the pincer that Holly's marked, before unleashing a beam of heat and light directly at it.
Horizon's listening on the party line as well, as he tries to get through to the others. It's unfortunate that his thoughts are cut off and only part of the message gets through to the others. We need - help Prae - the crab. - Scorch fly - and help - inside the - Gallow, keep - pearl away - its claws. - can your - give covering - with its - You had - idea, Isaiah?
Scorch angles forward toward the pincer that Frostbite has frozen and released a torrent of flame towards it. , hoping that the sudden change in temperature will damage it further.
Alright, here it goes!
Isaiah braced himself, but did little else as Inquiry saved its processing power for the upcoming stunt. Inquiry didn't have any weapons, but that didn't mean it was harmless. The ship had mass, it had velocity, and it had a self-repairing transmutable hyperalloy hull. Dropping its disguise and accelerating toward the crab, Inquiry's forward half shifted and flowed into a massive, reinforced blade, and then once it was on course for the crab's second pincer (figuring Mosaic and Horizon had the one down), it cut its drives and directed full power into the reinforcing enchantments in its hull. It was a heavily choreographed attack... but the crab wasn't doing any dodging right now, was it?
Mosaic and Horizon combine to blast the weakened pincer, which shudders once then crumbles in a shower of stressed metal, frozen hydraulics and gears.
Scorch finally figures out the remote control signal between the behemoth and the drones, and her breath catches as she senses a sudden thermal spike in the drones. The rapid pulsing of the light coming from the eyestalks can only mean one thing: they're going to self destruct!
Before Scorch is able to voice her alarm, Inquiry drops out of the sky in a wedgelike configuration and shears off the remaining crab claw of the behemoth, but the impact is severe to both ships. The ice encasing the crab's legs shatters as the shockwave courses through the titanic crab.
The gigantic crab, unable to penetrate the barrier and suddenly its two primary weapons destroyed, begins scuttling backwards towards the sea. it broadcasts as it retreats back to the water.
Realising that the smaller crabs are about to blow Scorch yells out a warning to the rest of the team and then circles round towards Frostbite. We need to finish this now. I’ll hear it up, you cool it down!
With a gasp of relief, Psyche lets the barrier lapse as the crab flees, but the rising spike of concern from Scorch makes it clear what the "parting gift" is.
Some of the crab-bombs are still in her grasp, so with a rueful recognition that she is indeed polluting the ocean, she flings them after their creator.
**nnnnnn** Nyyeaaaagh! She landed badly, slamming her knees into the ground as an icepick of a migraine lanced through her skull. Her vision stretched out into a tunnel; she could see the giant crab retreating, but she couldn't find the smaller ones.
Her mind brushed clumsily against the other heroes, desperately trying to find a pair of eyes not distorted by the ungodly pressure in her head. Was everyone safe?
Did I do it?
Holly redirects the shards she has, all of them, to encase the crab-bots. it was a move from "behind the mask. Stephanie's signature move, in fact, but she had never done it off-camera, in a real crunch.
She prioritizes the robot near civilians, teammates, and load-bearing structures. naturally, the one nearest her is none of those. The shards she can spare for it would prevent the shrapnel from shredding her, but it wouldn't reduce the concussive force much... this could hurt
Bombs?!
Horizon's eyes turn to saucers at the revelation, looking around at the surrounding areas. There's not enough time for him to run for cover, especially with Holly right next to him.
His mind races back to that first encounter with Dusk, the way the void he created protected him and his Duskguard, even amassing a wall that absorbed the force of alien weapons and fire powers alike. If he could recreate that feat, then maybe he could protect people. He focuses his energy, trying to will into being that sheer amount of power...
Dusk's pale visage flashes in his mind, and his power sputters. He's not him. He'll never become him...right?
While he's standing scared, the girl he thought that he was protecting leaps into action. He's surprised by Holly here, even as he realizes she's leaving herself exposed to the nearest one. He tries, perhaps too late, to step in front of her and take the brunt of the blast.
Inquiry's hull strains under the impact and the reinforcing enchantments nearly give way... but only nearly. Quickly, the ship reconfigures itself, tucking the dented hull plates inside while they repair.
Watching the drones start to explode Isaiah trys to think of how he could help... But Mosaic seems to have it under control. And then he realizes that Praetoria was still inside the crab. Which was retreating toward the ocean. Invulnerability she might have... but could she breathe water?
"If you've got these crab-bombs handled, I'll go after the big one! I don't have much that would help fast enough anyway."
Isaiah flys after the crab, and Inquiry flies low after it as well. The mind controlling both worked quickly, trying to figure out the best way to save their teammate. Would it be easier to finish off the crab? Or was it too tough for that to work, and it was better off trying to extricate its teammate?
The electricity courses through her body, causing Praetoria to clench her teeth and brace against the wall. However, the moment it is over, she rips through what she believes to be the interior-most wall of the passage, looking for this thing’s core...
The Crab is defeated and retreating without his prize, so the only thing left is to recover Praetoria -- unless you also want to capture the pilot of the craft and bring him to justice. But that probably won't be quick. The quickest action would be to have Inquiry form a seal around the hull breach before it goes beneath the waves, and try to coax Praetoria to leave.
Psyche, having borne the brunt of directing the bystanders and shielding the titanic crab from moving further inland, finds herself out of energy to telekinetically fling the drones out to see. In a move straight out of her television show, Mosiac sends her hard light shards to cover the crab drones as they get ready to detonate. Horizon tries something he saw his future self pull off without breaking a sweat, but he can't manage to replicate it -- or was he simply afraid to?
Then the drones explode. A few of them, lying out in the open with nothing nearby for them to damage, burst into balls of fire. For the rest of them, their explosive charges pummel the shielding of fractured colored lights surrounding them.
The feedback is overwhelming, and no one could prevent Holly from taking the mental strain. However, one of the crab drones had fallen behind the stage and went missed by the television star. The stage is blasted forward by the explosion, but Horizon responds in time and interposes himself between them. When the smoke clears, both heroes are bruised and their ears are ringing, but otherwise unharmed.
Debris from the explosions is still raining down to the ground, but the monstrous crab construct is still retreating to the bay. What do you do?
In the dim light, the interior of the crab reminds you of what a submarine must feel like. Cold, cramped and damp. Everything lurches as the crab begins to move.
What do you do?
Panting and wincing, Horizon is surprised to find that he's still conscious after that explosion. He thought he'd have been cut to ribbons by shrapnel, but for some reason these crabs were more concussive. He still felt like someone had whacked him several times with a hambone, but at least Holly was safe.
He lets her try to recover from the blast and backlash, trying to reach out to Psyche and the party line. Now she's not focused on maintaining a barrier, it seems that the line is clear enough. Prae, if you got your ears on, the crab's trying to skedaddle. You're gonna be sipping city juice soon! Isaiah's trying to help with his saucer. I think Frost, Scorch and Psyche can sub in, but the rest of us are benchwarming.
Except his future self could fly, and he had no earthly idea how that could have been possible. Psyche probably felt that fear and frustration, and he felt awfully exposed with that errant thought.
Isaiah, in case Prae needs to bail out, can you slap some sort of tracer on that thing? He requests as he looks around, spotting the forgotten Uzlay Undine and his delegation, stepping over to the aquatics.
"It's not a coincidence this guy chose today to make a play for this pearl. He's trying sow chaos between our people. We can't let him drive us apart. Can you call your people to help stop that crab?" He asks Uzlay.
Praetoria cries out at the electricity jolting through her! Once done, she “hears” Horizon’s voice in her head.
We...we can’t let them escape! Any lives lost at this person’s hands later would then rest on our shoulders! Do what you can to slow it down!
She then rises from her knees and continues onward towards the interior, so very thankful to have her father’s resilience...
Mosaic thought she could take a blast. Maybe if it was just the one that hit her and horizon, she could have... the mental aspect was new, she'd never pushed her powers that far. She clutches her head as she swoons, falling over, unconscious.
The corona of energy around Psyche had guttered out when she fell, but it flickered back to life as she locked the spike of agony away in some unimportant corner of herself.
Still borrowing others' eyes as her vision recovered from what she hoped was just a migraine, she 'looked' around at the destruction.
Praetoria's right.
No escape.
She didn't have to go anywhere to stop this maniac. Gothic had warned her that there was nowhere a person was stronger than in their own head, which made a direct telepathic assault on someone unknown, someone she couldn't even see, dangerous. Very dangerous. But a nudge to his pride here, a tweak to the idea that there might still be a victory there - she should be able to keep him from taking Praetoria to the depths.
Even if her knees still throbbed so badly she wasn't sure she could stand.
Horizon is unable to get a convincing read on the being from the deep blue sea -- it's a crazy world in which he's been thrust. Now he's talking to people who live underwater! Uzlay, however, responds to his words with a solemn shake of his head. "The bond between us has never been stronger. The actions of this thieving scavenger shall have no effect."
Praetoria moves deeper into the bowels of the mechanical crab, the noise of engines and whirring of massive gears nearly deafening.
Psyche sends a mental push to try to convince the pilot that he could still win the day. However, she receives a wave of fear and desperation, along with a pretty heavy side of anger. There's only one thing on this man's mind, and that's escape. ::Can your friend breathe water? You better tell her to get out!:: she hears him think desperately against her mental contact.
The gigantic crab reaches the water and falls backwards into the drink. In moments, the hull breach will be under and water will pour into the mech.
"Kayla, how close are you? You need to make the call, but that whole ship's going to flood - soon. I'll give you all the time that I can."
Psyche strained, lifting first herself into the air, and then grabbing hold of the massive vessel with her mind, her brief link with The Crab giving her a primer in all the parts of the mech that she could fasten her mind to to hold it fast. For a little while at least.
Knowing this person is going to try and drown her, and uncertain if her powers were able to prevent that as it did for her father...Praetoria has to think fast.
Definitely need to talk to Uncle Augustus about moving on to Aquatic Training...
She consider such her options and sighs as she braces for what she is about to try.
Here goes nothing!
She squats down, then lunges for the ceiling and begins pushing as hard as she can! The monstrous metal crustacean creaks and groans before slowly rising into the sky above the bay!
”Let’s see you run now! Ready to give up yet!?!?”
Isaiah and Inquiry dart toward the crab. As the travel, Isaiah catches hold of the ship's side, then vanishes into its interior in a whirl of shifting metal. Inquiry then moves to latch onto the crab and achieve a watertight seal on the breach, before injecting Isaiah inside the crab to assist Praetoria.
The concussive force of the exploding crab drones sends the Pearl of Peace rolling along the the marble floor of the grand hallway of the Maritime Center. Bear slides and slips on the polished surface as he barks and gives chase, with Gallowglass sprinting right behind him.
The Pearl crashes through the doors and begins to roll out into the street!
Gallowglass, what do you do?
"Great! That's...glad you didn't snap your cap. Uh, I've got to go help my chums now. If you see anyone hurt, please get them out to the parking lot," Horizon tells Uzlay as he still isn't used to strange mermen and mermaids. At least they were safe, as was the crowd thanks to Holly's quick thinking.
Holly, who was currently collapsed unconscious on the stage now. He hustled over to her side, checking to make sure she was still breathing. The mental contact with the others was still up, so he called out through it.
Holly's out like a candle, but she's still breathing. Civilians and the delegation are all safe. I'll handle the first aid efforts.
Picking Mosaic up, he heads outside to wave down the first ambulance that he sees - he's pretty sure that even in all the panic emergency services were probably on their way to deal with those that got scraped and cut and manhandled by robot crabs. He's not exactly thinking of the perception of him princess carrying a celebrity in a scorched and scuffed hero outfit out where anyone could snap a picture.
Scorch superheats the air between Frostbite and the mechanized maritime monstrosity, Frostbite leaps through the air trying to strike a telling blow to the clockwork crustacean.
The combined ice and fire blast of the two siblings is impressive -- blue-white rays overlayed with a red and orange corona blast from the duo, and it's easy to see how not much can survive the assault. However, the gigantic crab is simply too massive. The thick, riveted steel of its exterior withstands and ablates the alternating hot/cold to little effect.
Psyche recovers enough to reach out with her mind and seize the behemoth's gears and servos. The metal monstrosity groans as gears grind under the strain. Then, from somewhere within the immense structure, the sound of buckling and bending metal emanates from the breaches. Slowly, ponderously, the massive metallic crustacean begins rising out of the water!
Inside the beast, Praetoria exerts herself like she's never done before. Not holding back, zero restraint, finally testing herself to see just how much of her father's strength she'd inherited. Even as the steel rigging buckles to the upward pressure, she knows the crab is lifting out of the water. Something she's rarely felt since her powers activated -- fatigue -- begins assailing her.
Then Inquiry takes the opportunity to latch on and seal the breach, and the combined weight of the two ships is too much.
Isaiah, you're sure that the ragged breach isn't sealed tight, so water will start pouring in once the crab goes underwater -- albeit at a much slower rate than if it wasn't there. Once inside the straining and groaning vessel, you see the bent and torn metal that is clearly the path of Praetoria. What do you do?
”Uunngghhh!” Praetoria groans as the extra weight suddenly appears on the ship!
I...I can’t...I can’t let go! I...I h-have...to hold on...!
She clenches her teeth and continues pushing upwards, scared of what might happen if she loses her grip. She knows if this villain escapes, it is on the team. It is on her...
Praetoria’s body shakes from the strain of lifting the ship, and she can feel her muscles quickly tiring.
Just...just hold on...No matter what...just...just hold...
Isaiah flies along the path of Praetoria, and as he does so, takes note of the incredible strain the crab is under. What was going on? And why wasn't the crab submerging? Unless... Was she lifting the whole thing herself!? Well if she was, he didn't want to be a burden, rather a help.
"That's a lot of weight on your shoulders Praetoria! Sorry if I added to it. Let's see if I can help you lift instead!"
And with that, Inquiry shifted. Extending tendrils of metal inside the breach to try to get a good grip, the ship kicked its drive into gear, lifting up rather than pressing down... and trying to push a bit towards land, in case this whole thing ended up coming crashing down.
"Gaaaaah! We can do this, Bear! Hero Power!!"
Gallowglass races out the door, behind the Pearl. Seeing it rolling into the street, she leaps forward, bounces off a stopped bus, and finally manages to get in front of it...barely stopping it in the bike lane, inches before it would have crushed (or been crushed by) a speeding car.
"Phew!" she sighs, sweating profusely.
Looking back toward the water she thinks, Hey, is that behemoth FLOATING INTO THE AIR?!
When Inquiry latches on, incredibly the two vessels sink only slightly. The massive bulk shudders and strains for a few tense seconds, but then the alien ship ignites its drive and the battle against mass and gravity is swung in the heroes' favor! In a long, slow listing groan, the mecha-crab pitches back onto land. Its impact is felt for several city blocks as it crashes back in the rear amphitheater of the Maritime Center.
Finally, as the heaving bulk comes to a creaking rest, the sound of sirens grow and overtake the rumblings of the gigantic crab construct. The scattered crowd and media personnel begin creeping back toward the battlefield, cell phones up and recording the aftermath of the battle.
The titanic crab is resting on its side. After a few minutes, a big but hidden hatch pops open on its back. A weary-looking Praetoria flies out, carrying a sour-faced man in a thick sweater and woolen cap. Isaiah follows carrying a pair of similarly dressed crewmen. Inquiry detaches from its seal, pulling several more pirates out of the breach with its metallic tendrils.
The returning crowd starts cheering at the sight of the heroes bringing the pilot and crew out of the immense behemoth. Another cheer goes up as Gallowglass and Bear return triumphantly with the Pearl, having rescued it from getting crushed by an incoming fire engine. Uzlay gives the archer a bright smile as he sees her return with the Pearl.
Several large official-looking vehicles, black and shiny, drive up through the crowd and quickly disgorge numerous armed soldiers. They quickly surround Praetoria and Isaiah and their captives, weapons at the ready. A middle-aged yet fit woman in a sharp business suit and mirrored shades exits one of the black vehicles and approaches. "Ásgeir Vidarsson, Þú ert handtekinn," she says in a clipped tone. Then as an afterthought, she jerks her head in the direction of the crowd of onlookers. "Go on, your public's waiting. We'll take it from here."
Already, cameras and microphones are being jammed in the faces of Scorch, Frostbite and Psyche. Several others are being trained on Horizon as he carries Mosaic towards one of the ambulances.
Numerous questions are thrown your way. "Did you anticipate this attack?" "Have you chosen a team name?" "Who's your leader, Praetoria or Mosaic?" "Who's the pilot of your ship? When can we meet him or her?" "Will Mosaic be all right?" "Did you know you look like that Disney character?" Are you and Mosaic now an item?"
Horizon notices Gallowglass arriving with the Pearl safe in hand. He's more than relieved that she's managed to keep the priceless gift safe and that she's apparently gone and impressed the Oceanics. He's equally glad to see that despite his gnawing worry, Praetoria and Isaiah managed to haul the broken robot back to shore and nab the culprits inside. Things seemed to be well in hand.
Then the press arrive, and he stood dumbly as cameras flashed at him carrying Mosaic in his arms, caught like a deer in the headlights. He didn't know what to say to the questions, but Holly seemed to be stirring in his arms so she would probably wake up soon. He was still terrified of saying something, anything, that might link him to Dusk here. Lucky for him the party line was still up.
Pals, these reporters are flipping their wigs over me! I can't booshwash like the rest of you. Somebody help seem like a joe here, I don't want to make a boner in front of the press! He awkwardly smiles at the cameras, easing his way through them towards the ambulance. Maybe he should just speak Japanese and pretend not to know English?
Ow is the first sound out of Holly's mouth as she stirs in Shin's arms. Her powers worked partially autonomously, generating shards before she even knew what they were for. but as she regained full consciousness, she immediately knew she couldn't afford for this to be the "big image" on the news, when they talked about Mosaic. a oung girl in a damaged dress, carried out of the fight by a teammate.
She moved herself enough that Horizon would put her on her feet,a nd gathered shards to form a glittering, stained-glass dress to replace her damaged one. I'm okay, just a little bump on the head she said to Shin, loud enough that all the reporters nearby would catch it