“I’m drunk on victoryyyyyyyy…” DD calls back to Meg as she skates off.
* * *
With Ziss hover boarding alongside, DD skates out toward that tall, tall building with all the ugly gargoyles on it. “My great-granddad’s up on the roof! Time to fly!”
The Darling Derby looks down at her feet and looks just a little deflated. A bandolier fulla spare toe cables: priority #5.
“You don’t happen to have one of those flying powers, do ya, Ziss?”
"Flying? No..." She says, studying Wendy. "My hoverboard wasn't made for two, but you are not big, and I'm pretty small." She moves a bit forward on her hoverboard, while keeping the same pose.
"Hop on and hold tight, ok? Each of your legs need to touch mine..." She explains and once Wendy is in the correct pose, she hovers forward and backward to test. Once she is confident enough, she says before accelerating directly towards the wall. "Now, hold your pizza!"
... as they are about to hit the wall, the hoverboard moves up... and the whole world turns! The sides of the buildings are now down, with people and cars along the streets walking and running sideways. Ziss accelerates some more and soon the pair hovers forward towards the sky, their "wall-path" reaching its end... as it does, Wendy will fell the feeling of free falling, just for her world to shift again, with the 'down' back to its natural place.
Ziss and Derby fall upwards through the air, swiftly reaching the roof where the Bruce Hatrix, the Capped Crusader, awaits! The elderly super hero is wheelchair bound, but his sense of style remains impeccable. He adjusts his hat in salute to his great granddaughter.
"Wendy, darling," he says, his voice strong despite his advanced age. He looks to Ziss. "That is a fancy contraption you have there. Where did you get such wonderful toys?" He smiles and looks back to Derby, clearly expecting an introduction to her new friend.
Diego gets an excited look in his eyes. ”You call that a favor? Then you can ask a favor of me anytime! Be back in a flash. Don’t run off anywhere!”
He blips away, first to the periphery of the school property, then for his next stop…the girls dorms!
After a few minutes, he comes back with an Infini-Mart bag with a folded up girls uniform inside. ”Here ya go. Hang on, don’t wanna forget this number,” he says as he takes out his phone and types something into it with a cheeky grin.
”There we go!”
The Darling Derby removes her hat, and bows with a flourish. From the hat she pulls a bouquet of…
Stems.
Flower petals blow over the edge of the building other than the few that remain in her hair. “It’s the thought that… picked wildflowers on the way… ohh..” She tucks the stems back into her hat for now.
“Great-grampy, this is Ziss—she’s like a zisster to me! Auntie Maude kinda sorta adopted her after she interrupted dinner, and she used her powers to save lives and make beachgoers dance! I think her toys come from Askara, which is either a planet or an extradimensional desert.”
And to Ziss, “This is THEEEE Capped Crusader—the only speedster ever to wear dark brown! You can still find his chocolatey breakfast cereal, Capped Crunch, in stores, and he used to have his own brand of chewing tobacco before that sorta thing was frowned upon.”
Her eyes lock onto the legendary cap, with its detachable billarang and captivator band on the back. Above the bill are the letters CC in a font that suggests it might stand for Chicago Cubs. The letters are so brown they almost match the rest of the cap.
“Ziss……. he’s .. wearing .. his original cap!”
DD is totally geeking out, so she may need a moment before she can inquire upon the nature of this visit.
Tumbler does look impressed by his swiftness in completing his task, especially since it was halfway across town. "Teleporting is a very useful skill. Good job," She says as she picks up the bag. "Very well. What is it that you want from the Armorer specifically? So you know, not going to ask for anything lethal from him," She points out.
"Mmm, a little sloppy around the cuticles, but no one's great at them," She praises his work. "Now, give me your hand," She tells him. "I still want to keep my own skills sharp and need a proper hand to work on. After that you can go...if you want."
Wesley starts to reach out his hand but immediately tenses as soon as she says what she wants it for. There's a brief war within him as he struggles with his instinct to pull his hand back and his desire to give her what she wants.
Finally, and still with reluctance, he holds his hand out. "Okay. Here. Maybe not... red, though? Or pink?"
Ziss bows deeply to the elder Hatrix. "I'm honored to meet you, Mr. Capped Crusader." She isn't that excited about his cap though, since even if she has been living with Wendy and her family for the last weeks, she still doesn't get their love for hats. "I must say dat I do not agree wif Wendy. You do not look grumpy, much less a great grumpy."
"Dis hoverboard comes from de world of Taris, where people wif red skin and pointy ears live in huge flying cities. Dis floats like deir cities, creating its own gravidy? Gravity!" She tries to recall the correct world that Wendy thought her.
"Askara is de home planet of my moder, a desert and hot place, but also beautiful." She corrects Wendy. With another bow, she adds. "I can leave you two to speak, if you want."
DD considers her ability to get down without the cool hover board or the boring elevator. “My excellence at parkour is not to be discounted, and that’s my fun. And I like fun.
“However, I believe you are not only welcome here, but it is also to your benefit that you bear witness to, and to an extent participate in, conversations in appropriate, enunciated English.”
She gives her great grandfather a pretty-please smile.
”A visitor from distant worlds. Intriguing,” the Capped Crusader muses, stroking his chin. He studies Ziss for a few moments before turning back to Derby.
”Wendy, I wanted to say that I’ve had my eye on you these last few weeks, ever since the battle at the bay. I am glad to see you representing the Hatrix family with style and aplomb, though grace as of yet still escapes you.” Bruce offers a wry smile.
”This team that has assembled around you seems like a good match, but remember that heavy is the head that wears the Cap. With great headwear, there must also come great responsibility. I want to make sure that you are prepared to be the leader your team is looking for. You must be able to keep a clear head and not be burdened by too much personal attachments. To do otherwise would be to tarnish the Hatrix name.”
***
Back at the pizza joint, Terri’s phone buzzes. He looks down at it with a grimace. ”Damn. A.E.G.I.S. is calling me in.” He looks up at Megan. ”I gotta go. Tell the others I’m sorry for bailing. I might be gone a while, so keep it on lock while I’m away, okay?”
Terri offers Megan a fist bump before departing, leaving the surfer girl all by herself.
“I respect that, great-grampy. I truly do—and I won’t let the family down. But… I can never be as graceful as Daphne. She can fly, shoot ice beams from her eyes… just casually brushed off the tatters of her ruined dress when that helicopter crashed on her head.
“I can never do the family proud if I do like her. But please… keep watching. I’ll do the Hatrix name proud.”
She takes Ziss by the hand, running through the halls which civilized ladies don’t run in. In the bedroom is a giftwrapped rectangle right next to Wendy’s bed. Both the package and the bed are the same size… the exact same size.
She invites Ziss to tear the ribbons and the wrapping and fling the pieces everywhere. It’s a brand new bed for Ziss!
After some apron-clad fembots clean the mess, Wendy sits at the edge of her bed crying happy tears. “I haven’t had a friend at my birthday party since I was eight!”
”I have no doubt that you will, Wendy, darling,” Bruce says with a nod. ”That’s all for now. You know how to reach me if you need anything. Ziss, it was a pleasure to meet you. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you in the days to come. Farewell!”
The Darling Derby beams with pride as the wheelchair-bound Capped Crusader speedsters away, so fast DD can’t perceive which way!
She says to Ziss, “I’m so glad you came along. I get a little nervous talking about family responsibilities when I just don’t have those amazing powers… or any.
“But with you here, I just… I don’t even worry. You got a real calming effect on people. Me definitely. Probably most people, villains being the one notable exception.”
Diego shrugs. ”Just looking to see if he has anything nifty. Ya know? Keep me on the cutting edge, ya know?”
There is also tears in Ziss eyes when she unwraps the bed and as Wendy opens up to her, Ziss does the same. "I fink my last birfday party was when I was 5. I don't really know how old I am... de years of de worlds I visited all have different number of days, and in Askara, people do not celebrate birfdays... dey see each year dat passes as one close to our deafs, so counting it is considered bad luck."
"I don't understand why people would not come to your birfday parties... dey are fun and you are such a good person... you helped me de moment I crashed in your dinner table. I don't remember anyone being so kind to be before wifout expecting somefing in return."
“My own father didn’t want me. I don’t even know who my father is, other than that he’s a Hatrix.
“My mom struggled to raise me alone, and by ‘struggled’ I mean she paid more attention to boyfriends than me.”
She looks back at a painting of the ocean over her bed.
“Auntie Maude came to my school on step-up day. She had been to all the science fairs, saw my projects, and let me spend a summer here.”
Wendy taps the painting over the artist’s signature. The painting slides aside to reveal an opening to a messy lab.
She invites Ziss in.
“Here’s where I started to create! But… it was not long before you popped into my life that I was officially welcomed into the family.
“And I think this bed means you’re part of the family too. I’m not sure if that makes us sisters, or if Daphne is technically your sister and that makes us cousins, or if being adopted by my aunt makes Daphne both my cousin and my sisters………”
She stops talking. Thinks. And after several Holmesian deductions all lead to the same conclusion, she blurts:
Tumbler goes from looking appreciative of the pilfered uniform, to annoyed very quickly when Diego says that he doesn't actually know what he wants. "So, to be clear, you want me to ask for a favor from one of the underground most reputable engineers and put myself in their obligation...just to browse their wares like it's an InfiniMart?" She clarifies from him, tucking the uniform away.
"When you figure out something real and concrete to request from them, I will put in a good word. Until then, I'm going home. Alone," She emphasizes to him as she walks away.
"...I need to get ready for bed, and I can't have that if you're still hanging around," She tells him as she leans back. "I'll catch you tomorrow for the heist. Should be fun."
The next day, Arcanum calls the group together to explain the plan he and Tumbler have set up to stymie the Curator’s schemes. As night falls, you make your way to the private dock where The Talisman is scheduled to arrive. Sure enough, the fancy yacht pulls up to dock, right on schedule.
Several armed guards are on hand to oversee the offloading of the cargo on-board, but they are caught unawares when the Revolvers suddenly show up to crash the party!
Arcanum stares at the paint on his fingers as a number of expressions cross his face. Finally, with resolve, he looks up at her with a smile. "Thanks. This was fun."
When Tumbler says it's time for bed he starts. "Oh! Yeah, you're right. I'll be, uh, going. See you tomorrow."
He leaves her apartment, mind swirling with questions and with few answers.
============
Arcanum tries a radical trick -- shapeshifting. Assuming that a pelican wouldn't be out of place, he shifts his form and roosts on the pier where the Talisman is to dock.
Crimson Tide was waiting in the water, head barely poked up so she could pick out the biggest, nastiest Revolver to tackle.
When people first hear the name of the Revolvers, they tend to think of some old western gang ready with six-shooters and bandanas ready to hijack a train. But the term Revolver wasn't about their weapons - it was a connotation meant for those who committed crimes, got caught, and then swiftly got out of jail either on a legal loophole or just escaping the law - for them, the justice system was a revolving door.
This generation's Revolvers were definitely unique. Springtrap had dozens of unique hand-crafted clockwork and spring powered contraptions in their possession, and started off the ambush with a motorized miniature car that drove across to distract them when it started to smoke tear gas!
The Pugilist was up next, a wiry featherweight with gimmicked gloves, tapping the shoulder of one guard before giving him one-two combo that suddenly slowed him down - literally, as he reacted to the assault in super slow motion after getting hit!
From the skies came Helldiver, a fiery aura surrounding her bombshell body as she landed between a pair of guards and flared with unholy heat, forcing them to jump off to the safety of the waters below!
Finally, there was Sea Dragon, crawling up from the end of the pier to cut off any communications. Ness was some reptilian hybrid, eight and a half feet of scaly hide and rippling muscle, a spiny ridge going from the top of his head down to the tip of his long tail. He sweeps with it to send a guard tumbling into the waters below.
Tumbler stands on top of the marina building, peering out at the ambush through a pair of binoculars. "Huh, they added Sea Dragon to the crew. Nice guy, a gracious loser at billiards. Anyways," She says, speaking over the Ear Buddies. "Puggles doesn't seem dangerous if you keep your distance, but his whole gear is enchanted with weird things. Kind of shy though. Springtrap's the brains of the outfit, he'll coordinate the crew. Don't know Helldiver too well. Heard she's certified for scuba." She shares the random tidbits she knows off hand about the Revolvers, while hiding the anxiety of potentially coming to blows with them.
Ziss follows Wendy into her lab, looking at everything with obvious curiosity. She had a sweet spot for trinkets and gadgets, even if she did not know how to make them.
Once Wendy pronounces them as sisters, Ziss is overwhelmed with emotion, both good and bad. She hugs Wendy, forgetting her manners. "Tank you. I will not abandon you." She promises, even if deep down she doesn't know if she'll be able to keep it.
"Back in Askara, my moder's family used to call me Nush... it means calm place. I like being calm... it helps me understand people and it helps people understand me. 'Two do not fight when One doesn't want to', is a Razzaran saying." She explains, smiling. "Sometimes I am too calm dough." She shrugs.
"You know dat not all powers are flashy, right? Your mind and your heart are your powers. It is true. In a better world, de powers of being super strong, or fast, or shooting laser are useless. Your powers are always useful and needed."
After the group assembles, Ziss hovers to a high vantage point so she can take a good look on everything that is going on.
“Aww, you get a hug!” DD hugs, but also, she steps on the hover board. “And I’m gonna hold onto like my life depends on it… because literally it does.
“Let’s get down from here, Ziss!”
First thing in the morning, DD engages the group in a chat.
The group is called ‘Pizza Faces,’ and much to what DD expects is to everyone’s relief, the group name is changed to ‘Bay Watchmen’ by the end of the conversation. And in addition, a plan is hatched.
“So what are we to achieve, exactly?” she asks Arcanum, or whosever idea this is. (She does give him credit for the cool team name!)
Arcanum winces when everyone seemed to like "Bay Watchmen". He threw it out only because "Pizza Faces" was truly terrible. But he gets the credit for naming the team, whatever that's worth.
“So what are we to achieve, exactly?” she asks Arcanum, or whosever idea this is. (She does give him credit for the cool team name!)
"Ideally? No one gets hurt, everyone stays safe, and the Curator doesn't get whatever it is that he's wanting. Believe me. He doesn't need to get any more artifacts."
“Okay then… time to get my ninja flex on!”
The Darling Darby is wearing a cold-shoulder pullover what says NINJAMANIA on it. She grabs her pullover tightly in both hands and tears.
“Rrrrrrnnnngggggg….”
And……. tears…
”RrRrRrRRRRR……!!”
And finally, a shoulder strap breaks!
She whips off the slightly damaged pullover, wearing only a very, very dark brown sports bra and spandex longshorts underneath (and the usual hat and skates).
She has perfect abs, pipe cleaner limbs, but as she flexes a bicep—
—*poit!*—
—her dainty muscle bump does not go unnoticed. (Except by those she’s stealthing from.)
She moves into position, her athletically perfect body contorting and tumbling, swift and silent with total ninjerly awesomeness.
Dervish watches the ambush begin, and definitely enjoys the show Derby puts on with her st-rip tease. When she makes eye contact, he gives her a wink before casually saying ”I’m gonna go see what else I can see,” before vanishing in a crimson cloud of smoke. He then reappears on the ship, up on the viewing platform of the mast. He then starts looking down on the fight, getting a feel for what he could leverage…
Extending his senses, Arcanum can sense something of great power within the yacht's hold. He can't tell much about it from out here, but he can follow its resonance to locate it.
Crimson Tide identifies the hulking Sea Dragon as the biggest threat!
Ziss thinks the best way to defeat the Revolvers quickly will be to focus on them one at a time. Her best way into the ship would be to sneak up via the water and climb aboard during the distraction of the fighting.
Dervish believes that Springtrap, as the least physically imposing Revolver, is the most vulnerable to him. Whatever is in the hold of the ship will likely be valuable!
Derby leaps down from her perch and into the open! The Revolvers turn from the thoroughly thrashed guards toward this new threat. "This is our score, little girl! Beat it!" the Pugilist shouts, punching his gloves together.
"I don't think she's alone," Springtrap says, pointing to Dervish atop the yacht.
"Good. Those thugs were barely a warm-up. I'm down for some real exercise," Helldiver says with a sultry smile and a crack of her neck.
Sea Dragon simply roars with fury!
"Sea Dragon's mine! Sea Dragon's mine you guys!" Arms churning the water around her into froth, Crimsons Tide hurled herself through the water before flinging herself up towards Sea Dragon on the pier!
She slammed a forearm into his gut, sent him reeling with an uppercut, then grabbed him by the tail and let him fly!
Looking over her shoulder she asked the guard who'd been tossed into the water, "You can swim, right brah?"
"Awesome, you got their attention," Tumbler says as she pulls her hood up. "Keep playing with them until I find the goods. I'll stay out of sight," She tells the team as she slips down the marina building, looking to slip into the water then raise herself up the yacht - anything big and made with steel was a good anchor for her to pull herself up by with her ferrokinesis!
Arcanum takes flight from the pier -- first via his wings but then he shifts back to his cloaked form and lands on the yacht's bow. He conjures a number of constructs, dark-grey humanoid shapes that don't fight really well but at least they'll occupy the Revolvers' attention and give Tumbler a chance to slip by in the chaos.
"You're outnumbered! Surrender now!" he shouts, not really expecting them to but you never know.
The Darling Derby grins.
“You underestimate me.” She stands on one foot tin the Karate Kid stance. “CHYAAAAA-WOOooOOooOO!”
She triggers her Jet Set, forcing her to back-flip and kick the Pugilist in the chin!
Ziss hovers forward to show herself, her arms opened wide, energy visibly swirling towards the back of her hands. As Wendy kicks the Pugilist in the chin, Ziss sends a beam of energy towards him, but actually aiming at one of his gloves! "High Five!"
Having no combat powers of her own, Ziss knows very well that without her toys, she can do nothing... she hoped the same was true for the Pugilist.
Dervish smirks at the diminutive Springtrap. Not only were they smaller than Dervish, but they were so bad in a fight they had to rely on doodads and gizmos!
He teleported down behind them and manifested a crimson psychic blade over his right hand. He cut at the straps holding Springtrap’s bag of goodies before chuckling and saying ”Let’s see how much trouble you can be without your toys!” before blipping away and down into the hold.
Easily slipping onto the yacht, Tumbler slides down and tip-toes her way down into the hold to try and find the artifact in question. She was being cautious right now, because things were going far too well and she wasn't convinced that the Curator would only hire some regular henchmen to protect such important assets.
She flips on the lights, and takes a look around at all of the crates, searching for a manifest to scan and see if she can quickly find out which items are the most likely to be the artifacts she needs. Though.
Crimson Tide hurls Sea Dragon across the pier, where he smashes into a small boathouse! The structure collapses in on him from the force of the impact. But a moment later, Sea Dragon erupts from the rubble! With a furious roar, he whirls a spare anchor over his head by its chain, then lets it fly at Crimson Tide!
Dervish teleports behind Springtrap, taking his bag of contraptions before flipping out again. ”Hey! No fair! I need those!” Springtrap groans. He quickly falls back, looking for someplace to hide as the battle rages around him.
Derby dashes over to the Pugilist, kicking him in the chin! He angrily punches at the empty air, sending shockwaves towards the agile heroine. She dodges the shockwaves, but they shatter several drums of oil, spilling the substance out onto the ground.
Ziss darts in on her hover board, blasting the Pugilist’s gloves! They short-circuit, shocking the villain, who groans and collapses, smoke rising from his unconscious form.
Arcanum swoops in to trade blows with Helldiver. He gets in some good hits, but she responds with a rocket-powered punch to his gut!
The distraction Arcanum provides allows Tumbler to slip into the yacht’s hold, unmolested. She quickly looks around and sees several crates, but one in particular stands out. It is larger than the others and has the seal of the Bay City Historical Society on it. Perhaps this is what the Curator is interested in?
Back on the pier, the fighting rages. Sea Dragon charges at Crimson Tide and lashes out with his tail, trying to wrap her up! Meanwhile, Helldiver smirks. ”Things are about to heat up!” she exclaims, diving down and landing in the spilled oil with a burst of flames. The oil ignites as it flows toward Darling Derby!
The blast gives the Darling Derby a direction—GTFOta the way!
She skates like one of them crazy teenagers always being told to get off one’s lawn. She leaps, kicks off a wall, spin-jumps and kicks out her Toe Cable at her fiery foe—
—she axe kicks, whipping the cable downward, hoping to send Helldiver into the water.
“Heard you’re scuba certified, so—“ Don’t say ‘cool off.’ “Fish pee in there!” Gah shit, that was worse.
Helldiver's punch slams hard into Arcanum. He starts to double over in pain for taking a shot like that, but suddenly realizes that he's fine! Pushing aside for the moment that if he were human he'd probably be out of the fight for good if not seriously injured, he looks up to see that his foe had already moved on and that Derby was handling things well.
All right, then. That fire looks like trouble, he thinks. He telekinetically pulls a surge of water to wash away the fire.
Unfortunately, Wesley forgot that throwing water onto an oil fire only spreads the flames!
Dervish appears beside Tumbler, falling into step alongside her. He holds up Springtrap’s bag of goodies, with a sneaky grin. ”These might come in handy,” he says before looking around. ”I’ll keep an eye out. Do your thing, chica!”
Crimson Tide slapped the anchor out of the air- "Ha! Anchor's Away!" -building up speed in a headlong charge to slam into Sea Dragon. She met his tail with her arm, restricting his grab to a single limb, then yanked, hard.
As the dragon tumbled forwards, Crimson Tide lifted her tail-wrapped arm up to her mouth and CHOMPED directly into the meat!
The bag in Dervish's hands suddenly shudders and bursts open! Several tiny clockwork contraptions whir to life, bristling with blades and buzzsaws!
"You really should be helping the others outside," Tumbler says while going over the crate, checking the security tape and locks. With her powers and training, it's easy enough for her to focus and maneuver the magnetic bits of the lock to open up the crate. She has no idea what if anything is what they're looking for here, so she gets out her duffel bag and starts filling it up with everything that can fit inside of it.
"I can handle things just fine down here. But you need to look for the Curator's extra heavy security," She suggests. "Someone with their clout doesn't leave a smuggling job to your standard hired help. I'd wager someone with magical prowess or abilities is likely to show up to clap back against everyone," Tumbler warns him.
Then her eyes drift over to Springtrap's bag with shock and horror. "Oh, you didn't-" She is only able to get out before they're suddenly trapped in the hold with half a dozen clockwork automatons!
"Ugh! Take the goods and get out of here!" She says, channeling her power and grabbing one of the metal men and slamming them into another, tossing the full duffel bag to Dervish!
”Whoa! Whoa! Or not!” Dervish exclaims as he manifests a psychic blade from his hand and steps between Tumbler and the clockworks.
With the Pugilist out and Derby and Arcanum fighting Helldiver, Ziss hovers to help Crimson Tide fight against the Sea Dragon. Turning her hoverboard sideways, she slides it against the Sea Dragon's legs, making him lose his balance before turning around and blasting him with her helix gloves. "Passing by!"
Ziss glides over to Sea Dragon, knocking him down and sweeping his legs out from under him! That allows Crimson Tide to chomp down hard on his tail! Sea Dragon roars with pain and turns to flee, shoving Crimson Tide away and diving into the water!
Derby snares Helldiver with her toe cable, hurling the fiery woman into the water! Steam blasts up from where Helldiver makes impact, obscuring her from sight.
Arcanum tries to contain the burning oil by pouring water onto it, but this turns out to be exactly the wrong thing to do! The fire spreads even further across the dock, igniting the pier to which The Talisman is moored! Thick, black smoke envelops the yacht...
Beams of fire shoot up out of the water at Arcanum! With the steam and smoke filling the air, it is difficult to see exactly where Helldiver is located!
***
Inside the yacht’s hold, Tumbler can see that the large crate contains numerous artifacts seemingly plundered from Egyptian tombs—jewelry, gold statuettes, and other grave goods. The main attraction is an ornate sarcophagus engraved with the gilded image of a priest in repose. She has begun to stash objects into her duffel bag when the clockworks spring to life!
Tumbler smashes several of the clockworks into one another, trying to create an opportunity for Dervish to escape with the bag full of goods. But Dervish lingers, trying to defend Tumbler! He slashes at the clockworks with his psychic blades, but they prove rather nimble, evading his strikes. He lunges at one close to Tumbler, but as the clockwork dodges away, his sword slides through the sarcophagus instead!
The sarcophagus splits in two, releasing a burst of dry dust! Then, there is a groaning noise. The upper half of the mummy that was inside the sarcophagus clambers out, its eyes burning pinpricks of light within its withered, bandaged face. The mummy howls with fury!
”Oh shit! Shit shit shit! Tumbler, hang on, time to go!” he says as he prepares to teleport out. He tosses the bag of clockwork bullshit away and grips the loot and Tumblers shoulder. But then the mummy lurches forward! ”Get back…”
”…ugly!” Dervish says as he, Tumbler, and…a mummy appear on the deck of the ship in the middle of the fighting!
Tumbler shrieks, trying to put as much distance between her and the sudden appearance of an actual living undead as possible, when Dervish grabs her to keep her from leaving. And then the mummy grabbed him, and then-
Oh, she was going to hurl. She has no idea how it's possible for anyone else to go through that teleporting without feeling like spilling their stomach into the bay, but Diego must have a cast iron stomach!
Bur after the wave of nausea came the horror of realizing that Diego had brought the mummy with them! She pushed Diego into the mummy to get away, forcing him further into its grapple. She thought about just running away...but Dervish had the loot bag.
She cast her arm out and pulled a fire extinguisher from its hook, sending it out to try and knock the mummy away from Diego!
Oh, that's not going to hit the mummy at all...
The Darling Derby attempts to reel in Helldiver—but weight ratios and Helldiver’s defiance of gravity have the predictable effect!
”WhathaHELLLLLLLLLL!!!”
—she cannonballs into the drink, splashing steam away and head butting Helldiver with her roller-derby-grade derby!
With the steam and smoke cleared, Ziss blasts Helldiver, trying to knock her out instead of harming her.