Group Posts - It Begins - The Mall Incident [p1]
Master of Squirrel-fu
The Original
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Master of Squirrel-fu, OverReactionGuy, Darkoda, Garahs, Merior
The city of Dallas Texas was a hive of activity, the same as ever. Day and night it was hard for one to find a moment of stillness or quiet in it's busy streets or packed recreation centers. As the fourth most populated city in America it should come as no surprise the amount of life that could be found in even the most abandoned areas.
With that in mind, given the festive season and the early hour, it was little wonder that even a moderately sized strip mall closer to the more suburban areas of the city could be so crowded. Hundreds of people wandering around the place, reasons varying from holiday shopping to simply spending some time with friends.
The day is November 1 2010. Christmas fast approaching and Thanksgiving far sooner there's a fair bit of cheer in the air, if only thanks to the decorations of the place as it prepares for the holiday season. Despite the lateness into the Fall season it the weather was still a bit warm, even for a Texas Autumn, many people wearing simple and few layers of clothing.
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The mall is "T" shaped. At each end is a major story, two clothing stores on the adjacent ends and a Sears on the intersecting branch. The center has the food court and a Bank, there are no exits except near the ends of the branches. An electronics store is near on the top of the T-shape near the food court. There is a spectacle in the center of a large Thanksgiving decorations piece which is a large cornucopia but also a car that's being given away as part of a lottery.
In the food court is a girl with very short dirty blond hair and a long sleeve sweater drinking coffee. She looks very tired with an air of tension about her.
In the electronic entertainment store nearby is a young pigtailed red haired girl being dragged along by a slightly older redhead with short but messy hair.
Elsewhere, admiring some jewelry in one of the stands is a tall and very attractive blonde woman holding a black cat.
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Aoife
Having separated from her rather strict aunt a young girl wandered the mall, lost but uncaring of her destination. She earned quite a bit of attention, dressed as she was in such dated looking cloths as to look like a child from a period novel.
Aoife D'Ruad simply walked on, trying her best to ignore the glances. Every so often tugging on the collar of her her scratchy wool blouse and adjusting the waist of the dress. Even her hair was kept in an uncomfortable bun, tugging at her scalp in a way that just made the entire affair stretch into a prolonged bit of constant unpleasantness.
She took a few deep breaths, reminding herself that at the very least she would be allowed to purchase her own cloths with the allowance given to her. She just needed to endure for a while longer until she could buy herself a pair of slacks and loose fit fop like she'd had before, in her wardrobe still packed away at her new home and unlikely to see the light of day for for at least a few more.
At the age of 10, looking like a little girl playing dress up she made an adorable sight. Looking for all the world like a lost child as she wandered, something that held more than a grain of truth, she seemed to attract even more attention if no one was quite willing to approach. The number of eyes on her, if unaware of the reasons, only made the tiny celt all the more nervous.
Not wanting to remain in the public eye for longer than necessary the girl dodged into the nearest clothing store she could find, one thankfully catering to children.
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Ayomide Avarette
Today was so far incredibly slow. The entire place was still remarkably hot to the point that she was happy about not really needing to pay much attention to weather anymore, but that didn't mean that she was going to ignore how the average person would dress in the heat; that way lay getting the wrong kind of attention.
This didn't stop her from trying to get any kind of attention though, and she could certainly feel the eyes on her as she stalked the food court, her light open jacket swaying with her movements as she proceeded with her goal to not pay for a single bit of food today, courtesy of some boys who were working with the wrong head right now.
She gave one of her stalkers a faint smile and mentioned how much some caramel ice cream would be nice in this heat, and not even a good minute later, she had a cone of the stuff, the latest in a line of individually cheap treats as she happily abused the fact that she didn't have to gain weight. Well that and kept an eye on the wandering hands as she enjoyed her ice cream, keeping them happy with idle chatter and some highly suggestive means of eating her foods that was probably the reason why they kept buying them in the first place.
Well, no skin off her back if getting teased was their price for free food.
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Sayuri Hayabara
Sayuri was seated alone in a booth at one of the most well-respected japanese restaurants in Dallas, incidentally located within the mall. Sayuri browsed PHO on her smart phone in between taking bites of sushi or sipping her miso soup.
Every so often, she glanced at herself in the classy mirrored wall at the bar, to make sure her distinctive fox ears and other inhuman features were still hidden by the henge she had placed upon herself. Perhaps it was partially due to the memories, but more traditional dresses fit her style for casual wear than form-fitting jeans and blouses. They were also more practical if the spell started to slip.
This location was one of the few she could relax at without being spotted by the american boys of her class as almost none of her classmates had any opinion of sushi different from being disgusted at the idea of raw fish. Perhaps their interest would wane if they were aware of her actual form, but realistically just being a heroic leaning cape would cause her popularity to soar.
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Annabel Thomas
My it was sure packed in here. Was my thought as Sally May and I pushed through the crowd. We sure picked a fine day to go to the mall for Mrs. May's gift.I didn't know why Sally thought I would know what to get her better than her though. She's her daughter and all. Still it was just nice hanging out with her instead of being back home at the ranch...huh.
A bit of sparkling light caught my eye and I pulled on my friends sleeve to get her to stop. I saw the jewelry and a lightbulb just turned on in my noggin. Seeing a rather attractive blond admiring them only solidified the idea. So with a big smiled I grabbed my friend's arm and started pulling her with me. She only gave a minor protest to the sudden shift in direction before I showed her my smile.
"Think your Mom will like something shiney Sal?" I asked cheekily as I continued pulling her towards the nearest jewelry store. This is going to be such a fun day.
"I don't know An," Sally said, "she does have a jewelry box but I don't think she especially likes them."
"Well, let's just check it out then and see if anything clicks." I let go of her arm and we started to walk together at a more sedate pace.
Sally gave me a smirk.
"You just want to look at the "shiny things" again don't you?"
I blushed a little at the tease. Mom said it was one of my few feminine qualities or that I was related to one of them crows.
"I swear it's just to get your mom's present," I stopped walking and put a hand over my heart, "I cross my heart and hope to die."
Sally just raised her eyebrow and stared me directly in the eyes. I started to sweat nervously under her scrutiny and broke first.
"Okay, okay…" I said and sighed. " I want to look at the shiny things."
She nodded her head in triumph, looking mighty pleased with herself.
"Honesty is for the best," Sally said trying to sound wise beyond her years.
We started walking again after my defeat. My shoulders sagging just a tad before I smirked to myself.
"At least I'm not recommending you to get a giant Teddy bear," I teased receiving a light shoulder punch in response.
"Your mother loved that damn bear and you know it."
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Rias Gremory
In comparison to many of the others in the mall, Rias was wandering it listlessly. Her looks were catching a degree of attention though with bright crimson hair, a chest which was 'exaggerated', and a strange uniform competing for what the passing eye would most easily latch onto.
For most of the onlookers, especially the men, it was her chest.
Passing a travel agent she paused, frowning at the sign outside, then sighing when the exchange rate for yen to dollars shows just how badly the Japanese currency was doing. Her stomach rumbled and she moved on... then stopped stock still as though something had caught her eye.
Her expression slowly turned into one of joy and relief before she hurried through the crowd, trying to reach whatever or whoever she had just spotted.
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The day went on as normal, with shoppers meandering about the mall and more people arriving and stands opening. As the afternoon began to roll around a crowd began gathering in the heart of the building the large circular chamber at which the three branches met. In the center of it gathered together a stage had been built in preperation of something.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
The large decorative clock that hung high above began to ring to signal the hour and a man in an immaculate magician's suit and mask walked out from behind the curtains followed by two woman in similar suits and masks. The three waved cheerfully to the crowd of onlookers who in turn offered some polite applause as they took their positions on the stage. The man in the center and the woman retreating to the edges to fetch two large wheeled boxes. The three posed for the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Called a voice over the intercom, "Hope Springs mall would like to present The Great Amazo!"
Smiling the man, with a flick of his wrist, conjured a bouquet he then threw into the air, the flora quickly bursting into confetti that fell onto the crowd.
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Having finished eating, Sayuri wandered the mall, checking stores and browsing for clothes and games. There was a store that dealt in board and card games and magic nostalgia swept through her as she peered at the cards within the glass case before moving on.
The intercom came alive and curious, the disguised foxgirl decided to investigate what was going on.
An illusionist was performing? Sayuri thought it was amusingly bland. Sleight of hand could be a clever mind puzzle, but it rather paled in comparison to true magic.
Still, there was an upper floor to the mall where she could overlook, and it wasn't like she was pressed for time. Crowds in general weren't particularly welcoming to her, so she swiftly climbed a nearby staircase. There were few people watching from this floor and the distance meant nothing to her, so she cushioned her breasts over her arm and leaned on the railing to watch the show.
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Eventually, Ayomide got bored enough of her stalkers to override the fact that they were acting as her wallets and managed to get away from the main mass, promptly shifting direction once she was out of sight and moving deeper into the mall to get some space. Well she hit her limit on people, but she got to sample most of the food court for free, letting her skip one of the more annoying bits of exploring new areas.
Now came the more boring part of marking down good places to visit later. Clothing store there, expensive version over there, a tool shop - she knew of a magical girl who could make anything once she understood how it was supposed to work, she might be able to copy that with enough practice. But first, she spied a stall that was selling some kind of pastry involving waffles and cream and she was there.
New treat in hand, roamed the area again, the announcement for the show in of itself not quite getting her interest but she was bored enough to at least give it a shot. In a place where she could leave easily, which meant that she was going upstairs for a bit. At least up here there were far less people, just some girl who stood out mostly because she looked far too familiar to a certain game character. Hopefully that wasn't an omen of something.
Bouquet into confetti? Sure it's not like he's a parahuman but that's a bit lame.
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Dong! Dong! Dong!
There was a shift in the crowd, children pulled on their parents clothes and told them in their childish way to hurry up. I had no idea what to think about it and didn't get a chance as a jerkwad nearly bowled me over, hitting me on the side. I let out an angry cry, not falling over because I have a good sense of balance, but the jerkwad just ignored me. I stuck my middle finger out at his back for a slight revenge before I realised how stupid that was and stopped with a sigh.
"You okay An?" Sally asked and I gave her a somewhat hesitant smile.
"Haahha," I chuckled a bit. "It'll take more than one asshole to ruin my day so don't worry."
Sally raised one of her eyebrows. "If you say so."
"Well!" I said loudly, unsubtly changing the topic. "Jewel shop is right there so let's go!"
I grabbed onto Sal's arm again and pulled her towards the jewel shop. She sighed in exasperation at being manhandled again, but I saw her fond smile.
"So, what do you think got the kids all in a tizzy?" Sally asked after a bit.
"Who knows, probably something lame," I opened the glass door to the jewel shop and my breath caught in awe. Rubies, sapphires diamonds of all cuts, gem encrusted gold and silver rings, necklaces, and all sorts of objects that would be fashionable and not gaudy all laid out stylishly showing of their unique charms. Even simple plain rings made my heart leap out with glee.
"An, earth to An… are you in there?"
The prices weren't bad either, ah if only it was my birthday, I could get something nice that I can admire though not wear around the ranch because that'll be a sure fire way to lose it and-
Ow!
I rubbed my head where Sally hit hit me and glared at her.
"Glad to see you back with me An," Sally said and then smirked, "Now come along, other people will want to enter the shop too ya know?"
I felt my cheeks heat up a bit but mostly I just entered the store and pouted.
"Jerk."
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"Ah, hello?" Rias said to Sayuri, or perhaps asked her, rather breathlessly as she approached the sole source of magic she'd seen so far in this strangely foreign city. Ironically the other girl was looking at a 'magic' show that someone was putting on. "I'm sorry to bother you, I mean, I don't mean to bother you, but I've got a... Well, I can't find anyone or anything I know and you're the first one that I saw who has any..."
As the redhead spoke her words sped up, more of her inner panic and uncertainty leaking through into her tone and body language. The devil might have prefered a quieter place to bring up matters with the 'magic touched' girl, but given the way that both of the girls looked attention was something which would be hard to avoid for either let alone both.
"...and my phone isn't working properly, it can't get at any of the Underworld servers, and there's nobody with- with anything around." She continued, barely resisting the urge to hug the other. "I can't remember everything and even my Pieces aren't right and I'm sure my family, my brother, would be grateful but there's things missing and can you... please?"
Sayuri turned and blinked at frantic girl's babbling. As she continued to talk, the fox girl grew concerned. The redhead did look rather familiar when she thought about it.
"Slow down and take a deep breath. One thing at a time. What's wrong?" The currently black-haired girl asked the redhead.
Rias took a deep breath, a somewhat impressive sight, and tried to do as she was bade, "I... I fell through the Gap and now everything is wrong. I can't get hold of anybody, I can't remember everybody, and I saw someone flying in public."
'Gap? I'm pretty sure it wasn't me', thought Sayuri as she processed what the other girl said. 'Perhaps she's someone who fell through a portal like the Travelers did? There's a way to find out.'
"The person you saw flying was most likely a cape." Stated the fox girl carefully. "You said your phone wasn't working correctly. May I see it?"
Rias dug about then passed over her phone with a hopeful expression on her face. The phone looked to be an elegant and slimline model, one which seemed to scream 'expensive!' to even the casual eye, but the screen was showing some sort of error message albeit one where the text was in a jagged and unnatural font with a few Japanese characters added to the mix.
For those who could understand such things it was complaining that the "Underworld Main Server" could not be connected to and the "Kuoh Academy Backup", that name being the Japanese text, could also not be contacted. It was retrying in 5... 4... 3...
Kuoh Academy and Underworld Main Server? That would make her Rias Gremory with her hair that color. If this phone wasn't connecting, then that meant she wasn't from this dimension. Which meant that she would have to break the news to her. Rias was someone who rolled with new developments, right?
"Ok, I think I understand your situation. Let's get away from where people could possibly overhear." Sayuri replied with concern as she led the older girl across the walkway so they could speak with some amount of privacy.
She guided Rias to the corner of the Macy's path before turning to the redhead and spoke quietly. "I believe you're in a different dimension. A distant parallel world not connected to where you originate. Over here, humans will seemingly spontaneously develop a specific power, like from american comic books. They then don masks to hide their identities and usually become heroes or villains. Sometimes the line blurs between the two, but often villains are the worst sorts of people. The government here in the US is involved and they're not making it better."
Sayuri looked at Rias expectantly as she waited for her reaction, but offered her arms up to accept a hug if the devil girl required one.
The redhead had allowed herself to be lead away, privacy for conversations about the supernaturally being something she expected. Her face went oddly blank but remained attentive as she listened to Sayuri's words then slowly nodded.
"I remember falling into the Dimensional Gap." She said slowly, "I thought that I might not survive but instead things happened. I lost bits of myself. And now I'm in an American manga?"
After a hesitation she hugged Sayuri, desperation tangible in the way she clutched at the other girl, and in a quietly horrified voice she continued, "I... I can understand that. But I can't accept that I can't remember my darling Peerage. Not even their names! I... I had a Queen. And... There was a Rook? What was my brother's name? What was oniichan's name?"
Sayuri's shoulder's slumped as she supported the other girl. She hated to see others in distress when she could help, and it's not like it would really hurt anything if she knew. Maybe once she came to grips with her new situation. As it was, this was a bad place for that kind of revelation.
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As discussions and the crowd continued about around them the show went on, the magician going through his routine as normal with great fanfare much to the excitement of the younger members of the crowd. With the beat of the music syncing his actions he made a wave of his cape, revealing a large box somehow appearing from within it, despite being larger than the man himself.
He beckoned a member of the crowd to join him, eventually choosing a short brunet girl wearing a thick pair of glasses. He lead the girl into the box, closing it and spinning it around before gesturing for his assistants to run it through with swords one by one. Once the final blade was inserted the door was dramatically opened to show a lack of young girl inside.
With a grin he closed the door and spun it again, faster and faster quickly plucking out the swords as they passed before stopping the box. With a snap of his fingers the box collapsed revealing…
Nothing.
There was a moment of silence as the magician looked a bit confused. The crowd politely clapped, assuming this to part of the act, something that quickly died as the Magician didn't continue on and rather inspected the floor of the box.
In flash a mechanical arm rose out of the floor, grabbing the man's by his collar before a girl rose out of it like she had been hiding under the surface of a pool. She quickly locked the man in a headlock as even more people began climbing their way out of the floor, or walking out of walls like ghosts. The majority of these men were armed, wearing balaclavas and thick military vests.
However what drew the most attention were the less threateningly dressed individuals who simply walked out from behind the curtains of the stage. A tall, well built, and handsome man in an immaculate suit, a stylized helix on his chest, was the first to appear. Followed soon after by a blonde woman in a cat suit and a familiar looking brunette in thick black robes. Behind them came another man, wearing a full body suit that covered his entire body including his head and was an ugly fleshy color with the only decorations being a large belt and metal covering over his crotch.
"Hey, look what I caught!" The mechanical woman currently pinning the magician down shouted to her comrades, "Ya think this means I get a wish or is that just genies?"
The apparent leader just seemed to ignore her, signalling to the armed men who were holding the crowd hostage. Quickly 10 of the 20 or so criminals separated and began to fan out.
"Salutations Dallas shoppers," He spoke his voice carrying over the whole area clearly despite him not raising his voice much, "I regret to inform you that your regularly scheduled excursion here at the Hope Springs mall has been interrupted by myself and my comrades. Please lay down on your stomachs and do not attempt to resist or my employees will be forced to retaliate. I hope you understand, if you all cooperate this ordeal will be over with quickly, disobedience will be… extinguished with swift efficiency. I'm sure even you lot are intelligent enough to value your life over a few bits of coin."
As if to prove his statement there were already several civilians lying on the floor nursing their stomachs and faces where they'd been brutally smashed in the face by their attackers. A few had tried to run but had quickly been stopped by other thugs or simply fell to the ground upon hearing one of the thugs open fire into the air. Very quickly the commotion stopped.
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Round 1
From above on the second floor two girls, both redheads noticed the commotion. The taller of the two puffed up her chest and took a step forward only to be grabbed from behind by her younger friend who covered her mouth.
"Dammit, Natali, we're not dressed for this," Red, the appropriately named girl hissed into her friend's ear as she snuck them back into the dark gothic themed clothing store they were passing, "You can't just jump in right now!"
With a puff and a pout the taller girl complied after a moment of resistance. It was a fair point even if it rubbed the self-styled Magical girl the wrong way.
"Fine, but we need to be quick, I don't want to miss my entrance!" She answered before pulling herself out of Red's grip and rushed towards the changing rooms in the back, "C'mon Red, those villains ain't gonna stop themselves!"
Elsewhere another young girl, a tall brunette blinked where she was in the sporting goods section of the Sears, having noticed the commotion quickly from the open area. With a frown she too began to sneak away, snatching up a few items as she made her way deeper inside the store.
In the food court a dour looking young woman simply vanished from sight where she was sitting, completely ignored in the panic, while not far away a mousy looking petite girl pulled out her phone and ducked into one of the backdoors reserved for staff.
Rias blinked in confusion, still holding onto Sayuri even as she tried to wrap her mind around what the voice had announced. Uncertain as to what to do, or what might be expected to do, she frowned at the sight of people being hurt then quietly asked the woman who she was embracing, "Should we do something or is this when the heroes arrive with a dramatic entrance...?"
Sayuri grit her teeth as the villains made their demands. "We are the heroes, if you want a dramatic entrance, we should get you some kind of mask."
Taking Sayuri's advice as golden, Rias ducked into the nearby store and looked for something to use as a makeshift mask. And possibly a coat, or other long garment, to conceal her body given the distinctiveness of her uniform.
The closest store happened to be very nearby, just adjacent to the quart around the corner and Rias was able to quickly enter even while taking steps to avoid being spotted. However her caution was for naught. Below her the watchful eye of a certain parahuman was able to quickly spy her actions. With a glare he found another of his men and pointed, similarly catching the attention of the brunet by his side with a heavy hand laid on her shoulder. Quickly the thug disappeared into a nearby wall exiting the floor above to follow the redheaded girl out of sight into the store.
The man entered the shop, gun raised, trying to look through it quickly and spot the target. Seeing a mop of redhair peeking above one of the clothing stands he advanced quickly. With a charge he rushed the person gun raised to act as club.
"The boss said to get on the ground!" He called as he smashed downward.
"Not my boss," The man blinked as seeing a small red-haired girl staring back at him with a sour look, her off hand gripping the stock of the rifle casually before it could reach her head, "And that was rude, how would you like if I did that to you?"
Instead of waiting for an answer she simply forced the gun back smacking the man in the face and knocking him out.
With a parting kick into the man's ribs she turned to where the other redhead had snuck into the changing stalls.
With Rias running inside to change, and one of the thugs following to catch her, Sayuri decided to follow suit. Instead of looking for a costume, she instead crawled under one of the round racks of clothes being displayed and dove into a gap where her Ran outfit was gathered. One of the nice things about dresses was that they were easy to slip on and off at least.
Ayomide didn't know what to make of the comedy skit that she ended up seeing. First there's a Reimu lookalike, and then some busty far too attractive girl in a school uniform jumped onto her and went on about getting Gapped before the Reimu took the two away. Then like all bad comedies, it stopped being funny quickly when the show below got a case of Villainous Interruptus.
On the better side, no one was dead yet. She was noting the faces of a few thugs that she was going to make sure to hurt though. Not particularly wanting to expose herself doing so though, she took advantage of the red head and Reimu drawing attention to make a better show of sneaking her way to the bathroom.
Once inside and making sure she was alone, a flash of twisted light and a darkly amused magical girl stood in front of the mirror, suppressing the flinch from how oddly different she looked. She had time to simply prepare and charge out in a surprise attack…..but these idiots had already shown themselves to leap to violence far too quickly.
Well fine, those other two were clearly up to something, she could at least get those thugs focused on something else for a bit. The things I do…….
The bathroom door wasn't so much opened as kicked in, one magical girl Thema walking out like she owned the place. "Okay idiots, I can guess your answer but I'll try anyway. Drop the guns and get on the floor and you get to leave without broken bones."
The thugs, three total, turned their heads to the commotion, one of which violently grabbing the purse off a particularly irate looking woman.
Notice the cape they tense.
Down below with the waiting villains one was not quite so patient nor content to just sit and wait while nameless thugs went about making money for them.
With a wolf like howl the most outrageous of the lot, dressed in a body stocking matching his skin tone, Codpiece jumped to the front of the stage clapping his hands above his head.
"Awooooooo!" He bellowed while gyrating his hips, "Yeah baby lets get this party started!"
With a lewd grin he placed his hands behind his head and punctuated his announcement with powerful thrust of his hips, firing a white beam from his crotch over the crowd and smashing into one of the pillars.
"Aw, honey there's no need to be shy, I don't bite~" He called out, "But if you like it rough I'm more than ready babe!"
He readied his hips to fire another beam at the pillar as a woman in a rather form fitting flight suit rushed out from behind her cover.
The woman's entire costume covered her body entirely, an opaque glass hiding her face. Her petite form made it hard to even guess her gender at a glance, only the pink and white color scheme serving as an obvious gender indicator.
"Please," She spoke, her voice young and accented, "I've seen enough of commenters like you to know you can't handle me in 1v1. IF you want a piece of me you need to get good!"
Quickly she pulled her pistol from her side, aiming and firing before rushing away from the crowd further back into the area under the food court hoping to lure in the villain.
She grinned as watched her handywork as the man collapsed on his knees, hands holding his crotch where the Kinetic Energy bolt had struck.
"I'm not into this kind of play," He mumbled as he tried to get his bearings back.
"From the way you're dressed I would have guessed the exact opposite, Dick!" Chirped a cheerful robot as she came up to pat the man on the back. Her earlier catch having been handed off to her blond accomplice who simply sat on the magicians back as he wiggled about, "Sure she got away from you but look on the bright side, she was a real ball buster ey?"
With a chuckle she jumped off the stage in pursuit, somersaulting over the crowd to close the gap.
"Don't go yet Mechy! Don't you think a fan deserves an autograph?" The grinning cyborg landed in front of the fleeing woman reaching out and grabbing her arm, "Well then how about a hug?"
She smirked as she pulled the struggling young hero into her, wrapping her arms around the girl to restrain her.
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Having a clear view of most of the action right from the start two young girls were helpless to do much as a pair of thugs entered the jewelry store they'd been unlucky enough to have been in prior to the incident. One, a vicious looking man with a scared face and bright red hair gelled into spikes went to work and with a remarkable amount of professionalism he went about collecting the precious items. Surprisingly rather than simply breaking the glass he chose to grab from the open case first.
"Oi, old man the rest better be open by the time I finish or things will be getting messy," He said.
Meanwhile the other man didn't do much, simply keeping his gun held at read before spotting a certain young girl, a girl wearing some expensive jewelery and holding some more. With a grin he shoved his way past several cowering people to snatch a ring out of the girls hand, while grabbing her by the back of her shirt and pulling her upwards painfully.
"Yo, hand over the goods you little bitch," He spat and threw her back against the counter, "I aint asking twice!"
The brunette didn't react at first causing the man to growl and grab her hair, manhandling her.
"Did I stutter, I want dat necklace," He shoved his face into hers, "Take it off now if ya know what's good fo you!"
"Let her go!" Annabel shouted despite the fear she felt. Her friend was in trouble and her mother didn't raise her to let that go unanswered. So, likely running more on adrenaline than anything else, she tried to punch the thug so he would let go of Sal.
To Annabel's surprise the blow actually hit the thug right on the face causing him to let out a grunt but he didn't let go of her friend. If anything the punch just pissed him off further.
With an angry scowl he stood up to his full height, towering over the young girl. And with one mighty motion threw most of his weight into a back hand, landing square in the girls jaw. Annabel was through to the ground stunned.
"Well fuck you too girlie," the man said as he began to advance, his heavy boots thudding ominously, "Ya think you can just g-"
He was cut off as a glass jewlery case smashed into the back of his head from behind actually staggering him to the ground and causing his head to bleed. He turned backwards to see a scared girl behind him, the only person who could have struck him so cleanly.
He didn't bother with words, instead taking a step forward and throwing a hard punch right into her face, smashing the girl into the glass display cases behind her. He didn't let up, rushing forward to stomp hard on the girls unprotected sides as she wriggled on the ground in pain. Even as she cried the man kept stomping even as his partner rushed his way over towards the commotion.
Annabel sat there in a daze as she watched her friend try to save her ass. She watched as her friend was smashed into the glass case. She watched on as the thug stomped her, trying to kill her. She didn't register the other thug rushing in the scene. Even as blood dripped down her chin and her vision blurred as she started to black out… she had but one wish. The power to save her friend.
Two very different souls found themselves the only light in an impossible void of darkness, and despite the great vast eternity they collided and merged, forming a new being of unfathomable potential from the pieces.
When she woke up, she had a new perspective. She was confused as to why she was on the floor, so she sat up in a daze. She blinked her eyes to clear up her vision, vision that was much better than before as she saw clearly two grown men standing over a girl's body. Her heart ached at the sight but she didn't know why. Annabel focussed on the girl on the ground, trying to figure out who she was. But it was a loss cause, though something else did happen.
The girl wasn't moving, Annabel thought as she slowly got up from the ground, There's blood everywhere...even on me.
Annabel wobbled as she stood up straight, a hatred burned in her chest greater than anything she experienced before. She narrowed her eyes and words came to her that promised a swift vengeance.
"Include; Berserker," The words uttered with an eery calm before the everything went began to blur together. Thoughts and emotions swirling together and becoming less clear, leaving just instinct. And rage. Her entire body tensed, muscles flexing and preparing to spring forth a fountain of unstoppable destruction. She threw her head back, "▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
What came forth from the girl's throat could not be classified as a scream, or even a roar. It was bellowing noise that shook anyone hearing it down to their core, a pitch so deep and powerful that one's very bones felt rattled by the vibrations.
"Dammit Tony you can't ju-" The spikey haired punk was cut off by the paralyzing wave of fear that washed over him as he heard the terrifying noise, barely having enough time to glance at the source before the thing was on them. He didn't hesitate for a moment, years of instinct taking over as he did one last desperate act.
Tony was too shocked to react as his friend shoved him to the ground, only able to watch in shocked horror as the man he knew seemed to explode into a cloud of gore, the middle of his body simply vanishing as his legs and upper torso flew away.
"Rey!" He shouted, desperately reaching out to where the man had stood just moments before. He didn't get a chance to act further as a giant stone ax, a massive thing more resembling a sharpened club than any real weapon, dropped with titanic force and pulped the shocked man.
In the quiet of it all, as the smoke began to settle those left were able to see the cause.
Beside the crater stood a thing, only human in the most basic of appearance. Stone grey skin covered toned muscles. And on it's head was long map black hair, tangled and unclean. Its face was the worst, twisted horribly in a vicious snarl with lips pulled back painfully far over animalistically jagged teeth. It's eyes however, it's eyes held not even the intelligence of a beast. Rather the only thing that filled those eyes was a cold hateful rage, burning in it's own right but ultimately lightless.
The thing stood there for a moment, soaked in the gore of the two men it had just killed and all around it too fearful to react. And then it raised it's ax.
Bam!
The weapon was smashed back down into what little remained of Tony spraying even more of the blood that remained about. And again it raised it's ax before smashing it down with earth shaking force. Harder and harder, faster and faster, the shockwaves alone beginning to tear apart the store around it.
Outside its presence was not missed, quickly picked up on by a brunet villain. With a frown she snapped her fingers, not bothering to wait for orders lest she miss her one chance to nip a possible catastrophe in the bud.
Inside the shop the creature had it's fill turning towards the glass, somewhere in what was left of it's mind it remembered these people that they were the cause of its anger and it launched itself forward with enough force to shatter the floor around it. It met the glass in less than the blink of an eye.
Bam!
The creature flew out of the ceiling of the little shop down into the floor with all the force of it's jump.
"Well," the brunet stated as she watched the creature try again through one of the other walls to the same result, "That escalated quickly."
The city of Dallas Texas was a hive of activity, the same as ever. Day and night it was hard for one to find a moment of stillness or quiet in it's busy streets or packed recreation centers. As the fourth most populated city in America it should come as no surprise the amount of life that could be found in even the most abandoned areas.
With that in mind, given the festive season and the early hour, it was little wonder that even a moderately sized strip mall closer to the more suburban areas of the city could be so crowded. Hundreds of people wandering around the place, reasons varying from holiday shopping to simply spending some time with friends.
The day is November 1 2010. Christmas fast approaching and Thanksgiving far sooner there's a fair bit of cheer in the air, if only thanks to the decorations of the place as it prepares for the holiday season. Despite the lateness into the Fall season it the weather was still a bit warm, even for a Texas Autumn, many people wearing simple and few layers of clothing.
--------------------
The mall is "T" shaped. At each end is a major story, two clothing stores on the adjacent ends and a Sears on the intersecting branch. The center has the food court and a Bank, there are no exits except near the ends of the branches. An electronics store is near on the top of the T-shape near the food court. There is a spectacle in the center of a large Thanksgiving decorations piece which is a large cornucopia but also a car that's being given away as part of a lottery.
In the food court is a girl with very short dirty blond hair and a long sleeve sweater drinking coffee. She looks very tired with an air of tension about her.
In the electronic entertainment store nearby is a young pigtailed red haired girl being dragged along by a slightly older redhead with short but messy hair.
Elsewhere, admiring some jewelry in one of the stands is a tall and very attractive blonde woman holding a black cat.
-------------------
Aoife
Having separated from her rather strict aunt a young girl wandered the mall, lost but uncaring of her destination. She earned quite a bit of attention, dressed as she was in such dated looking cloths as to look like a child from a period novel.
Aoife D'Ruad simply walked on, trying her best to ignore the glances. Every so often tugging on the collar of her her scratchy wool blouse and adjusting the waist of the dress. Even her hair was kept in an uncomfortable bun, tugging at her scalp in a way that just made the entire affair stretch into a prolonged bit of constant unpleasantness.
She took a few deep breaths, reminding herself that at the very least she would be allowed to purchase her own cloths with the allowance given to her. She just needed to endure for a while longer until she could buy herself a pair of slacks and loose fit fop like she'd had before, in her wardrobe still packed away at her new home and unlikely to see the light of day for for at least a few more.
At the age of 10, looking like a little girl playing dress up she made an adorable sight. Looking for all the world like a lost child as she wandered, something that held more than a grain of truth, she seemed to attract even more attention if no one was quite willing to approach. The number of eyes on her, if unaware of the reasons, only made the tiny celt all the more nervous.
Not wanting to remain in the public eye for longer than necessary the girl dodged into the nearest clothing store she could find, one thankfully catering to children.
-------------------------
Ayomide Avarette
Today was so far incredibly slow. The entire place was still remarkably hot to the point that she was happy about not really needing to pay much attention to weather anymore, but that didn't mean that she was going to ignore how the average person would dress in the heat; that way lay getting the wrong kind of attention.
This didn't stop her from trying to get any kind of attention though, and she could certainly feel the eyes on her as she stalked the food court, her light open jacket swaying with her movements as she proceeded with her goal to not pay for a single bit of food today, courtesy of some boys who were working with the wrong head right now.
She gave one of her stalkers a faint smile and mentioned how much some caramel ice cream would be nice in this heat, and not even a good minute later, she had a cone of the stuff, the latest in a line of individually cheap treats as she happily abused the fact that she didn't have to gain weight. Well that and kept an eye on the wandering hands as she enjoyed her ice cream, keeping them happy with idle chatter and some highly suggestive means of eating her foods that was probably the reason why they kept buying them in the first place.
Well, no skin off her back if getting teased was their price for free food.
------------------------------
Sayuri Hayabara
Sayuri was seated alone in a booth at one of the most well-respected japanese restaurants in Dallas, incidentally located within the mall. Sayuri browsed PHO on her smart phone in between taking bites of sushi or sipping her miso soup.
Every so often, she glanced at herself in the classy mirrored wall at the bar, to make sure her distinctive fox ears and other inhuman features were still hidden by the henge she had placed upon herself. Perhaps it was partially due to the memories, but more traditional dresses fit her style for casual wear than form-fitting jeans and blouses. They were also more practical if the spell started to slip.
This location was one of the few she could relax at without being spotted by the american boys of her class as almost none of her classmates had any opinion of sushi different from being disgusted at the idea of raw fish. Perhaps their interest would wane if they were aware of her actual form, but realistically just being a heroic leaning cape would cause her popularity to soar.
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Annabel Thomas
My it was sure packed in here. Was my thought as Sally May and I pushed through the crowd. We sure picked a fine day to go to the mall for Mrs. May's gift.I didn't know why Sally thought I would know what to get her better than her though. She's her daughter and all. Still it was just nice hanging out with her instead of being back home at the ranch...huh.
A bit of sparkling light caught my eye and I pulled on my friends sleeve to get her to stop. I saw the jewelry and a lightbulb just turned on in my noggin. Seeing a rather attractive blond admiring them only solidified the idea. So with a big smiled I grabbed my friend's arm and started pulling her with me. She only gave a minor protest to the sudden shift in direction before I showed her my smile.
"Think your Mom will like something shiney Sal?" I asked cheekily as I continued pulling her towards the nearest jewelry store. This is going to be such a fun day.
"I don't know An," Sally said, "she does have a jewelry box but I don't think she especially likes them."
"Well, let's just check it out then and see if anything clicks." I let go of her arm and we started to walk together at a more sedate pace.
Sally gave me a smirk.
"You just want to look at the "shiny things" again don't you?"
I blushed a little at the tease. Mom said it was one of my few feminine qualities or that I was related to one of them crows.
"I swear it's just to get your mom's present," I stopped walking and put a hand over my heart, "I cross my heart and hope to die."
Sally just raised her eyebrow and stared me directly in the eyes. I started to sweat nervously under her scrutiny and broke first.
"Okay, okay…" I said and sighed. " I want to look at the shiny things."
She nodded her head in triumph, looking mighty pleased with herself.
"Honesty is for the best," Sally said trying to sound wise beyond her years.
We started walking again after my defeat. My shoulders sagging just a tad before I smirked to myself.
"At least I'm not recommending you to get a giant Teddy bear," I teased receiving a light shoulder punch in response.
"Your mother loved that damn bear and you know it."
------------------------------
Rias Gremory
In comparison to many of the others in the mall, Rias was wandering it listlessly. Her looks were catching a degree of attention though with bright crimson hair, a chest which was 'exaggerated', and a strange uniform competing for what the passing eye would most easily latch onto.
For most of the onlookers, especially the men, it was her chest.
Passing a travel agent she paused, frowning at the sign outside, then sighing when the exchange rate for yen to dollars shows just how badly the Japanese currency was doing. Her stomach rumbled and she moved on... then stopped stock still as though something had caught her eye.
Her expression slowly turned into one of joy and relief before she hurried through the crowd, trying to reach whatever or whoever she had just spotted.
------------------------------
The day went on as normal, with shoppers meandering about the mall and more people arriving and stands opening. As the afternoon began to roll around a crowd began gathering in the heart of the building the large circular chamber at which the three branches met. In the center of it gathered together a stage had been built in preperation of something.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
The large decorative clock that hung high above began to ring to signal the hour and a man in an immaculate magician's suit and mask walked out from behind the curtains followed by two woman in similar suits and masks. The three waved cheerfully to the crowd of onlookers who in turn offered some polite applause as they took their positions on the stage. The man in the center and the woman retreating to the edges to fetch two large wheeled boxes. The three posed for the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Called a voice over the intercom, "Hope Springs mall would like to present The Great Amazo!"
Smiling the man, with a flick of his wrist, conjured a bouquet he then threw into the air, the flora quickly bursting into confetti that fell onto the crowd.
------------------------------
Having finished eating, Sayuri wandered the mall, checking stores and browsing for clothes and games. There was a store that dealt in board and card games and magic nostalgia swept through her as she peered at the cards within the glass case before moving on.
The intercom came alive and curious, the disguised foxgirl decided to investigate what was going on.
An illusionist was performing? Sayuri thought it was amusingly bland. Sleight of hand could be a clever mind puzzle, but it rather paled in comparison to true magic.
Still, there was an upper floor to the mall where she could overlook, and it wasn't like she was pressed for time. Crowds in general weren't particularly welcoming to her, so she swiftly climbed a nearby staircase. There were few people watching from this floor and the distance meant nothing to her, so she cushioned her breasts over her arm and leaned on the railing to watch the show.
------------------------------
Eventually, Ayomide got bored enough of her stalkers to override the fact that they were acting as her wallets and managed to get away from the main mass, promptly shifting direction once she was out of sight and moving deeper into the mall to get some space. Well she hit her limit on people, but she got to sample most of the food court for free, letting her skip one of the more annoying bits of exploring new areas.
Now came the more boring part of marking down good places to visit later. Clothing store there, expensive version over there, a tool shop - she knew of a magical girl who could make anything once she understood how it was supposed to work, she might be able to copy that with enough practice. But first, she spied a stall that was selling some kind of pastry involving waffles and cream and she was there.
New treat in hand, roamed the area again, the announcement for the show in of itself not quite getting her interest but she was bored enough to at least give it a shot. In a place where she could leave easily, which meant that she was going upstairs for a bit. At least up here there were far less people, just some girl who stood out mostly because she looked far too familiar to a certain game character. Hopefully that wasn't an omen of something.
Bouquet into confetti? Sure it's not like he's a parahuman but that's a bit lame.
---------------------------------------------
Dong! Dong! Dong!
There was a shift in the crowd, children pulled on their parents clothes and told them in their childish way to hurry up. I had no idea what to think about it and didn't get a chance as a jerkwad nearly bowled me over, hitting me on the side. I let out an angry cry, not falling over because I have a good sense of balance, but the jerkwad just ignored me. I stuck my middle finger out at his back for a slight revenge before I realised how stupid that was and stopped with a sigh.
"You okay An?" Sally asked and I gave her a somewhat hesitant smile.
"Haahha," I chuckled a bit. "It'll take more than one asshole to ruin my day so don't worry."
Sally raised one of her eyebrows. "If you say so."
"Well!" I said loudly, unsubtly changing the topic. "Jewel shop is right there so let's go!"
I grabbed onto Sal's arm again and pulled her towards the jewel shop. She sighed in exasperation at being manhandled again, but I saw her fond smile.
"So, what do you think got the kids all in a tizzy?" Sally asked after a bit.
"Who knows, probably something lame," I opened the glass door to the jewel shop and my breath caught in awe. Rubies, sapphires diamonds of all cuts, gem encrusted gold and silver rings, necklaces, and all sorts of objects that would be fashionable and not gaudy all laid out stylishly showing of their unique charms. Even simple plain rings made my heart leap out with glee.
"An, earth to An… are you in there?"
The prices weren't bad either, ah if only it was my birthday, I could get something nice that I can admire though not wear around the ranch because that'll be a sure fire way to lose it and-
Ow!
I rubbed my head where Sally hit hit me and glared at her.
"Glad to see you back with me An," Sally said and then smirked, "Now come along, other people will want to enter the shop too ya know?"
I felt my cheeks heat up a bit but mostly I just entered the store and pouted.
"Jerk."
---------------------------------------------
"Ah, hello?" Rias said to Sayuri, or perhaps asked her, rather breathlessly as she approached the sole source of magic she'd seen so far in this strangely foreign city. Ironically the other girl was looking at a 'magic' show that someone was putting on. "I'm sorry to bother you, I mean, I don't mean to bother you, but I've got a... Well, I can't find anyone or anything I know and you're the first one that I saw who has any..."
As the redhead spoke her words sped up, more of her inner panic and uncertainty leaking through into her tone and body language. The devil might have prefered a quieter place to bring up matters with the 'magic touched' girl, but given the way that both of the girls looked attention was something which would be hard to avoid for either let alone both.
"...and my phone isn't working properly, it can't get at any of the Underworld servers, and there's nobody with- with anything around." She continued, barely resisting the urge to hug the other. "I can't remember everything and even my Pieces aren't right and I'm sure my family, my brother, would be grateful but there's things missing and can you... please?"
Sayuri turned and blinked at frantic girl's babbling. As she continued to talk, the fox girl grew concerned. The redhead did look rather familiar when she thought about it.
"Slow down and take a deep breath. One thing at a time. What's wrong?" The currently black-haired girl asked the redhead.
Rias took a deep breath, a somewhat impressive sight, and tried to do as she was bade, "I... I fell through the Gap and now everything is wrong. I can't get hold of anybody, I can't remember everybody, and I saw someone flying in public."
'Gap? I'm pretty sure it wasn't me', thought Sayuri as she processed what the other girl said. 'Perhaps she's someone who fell through a portal like the Travelers did? There's a way to find out.'
"The person you saw flying was most likely a cape." Stated the fox girl carefully. "You said your phone wasn't working correctly. May I see it?"
Rias dug about then passed over her phone with a hopeful expression on her face. The phone looked to be an elegant and slimline model, one which seemed to scream 'expensive!' to even the casual eye, but the screen was showing some sort of error message albeit one where the text was in a jagged and unnatural font with a few Japanese characters added to the mix.
For those who could understand such things it was complaining that the "Underworld Main Server" could not be connected to and the "Kuoh Academy Backup", that name being the Japanese text, could also not be contacted. It was retrying in 5... 4... 3...
Kuoh Academy and Underworld Main Server? That would make her Rias Gremory with her hair that color. If this phone wasn't connecting, then that meant she wasn't from this dimension. Which meant that she would have to break the news to her. Rias was someone who rolled with new developments, right?
"Ok, I think I understand your situation. Let's get away from where people could possibly overhear." Sayuri replied with concern as she led the older girl across the walkway so they could speak with some amount of privacy.
She guided Rias to the corner of the Macy's path before turning to the redhead and spoke quietly. "I believe you're in a different dimension. A distant parallel world not connected to where you originate. Over here, humans will seemingly spontaneously develop a specific power, like from american comic books. They then don masks to hide their identities and usually become heroes or villains. Sometimes the line blurs between the two, but often villains are the worst sorts of people. The government here in the US is involved and they're not making it better."
Sayuri looked at Rias expectantly as she waited for her reaction, but offered her arms up to accept a hug if the devil girl required one.
The redhead had allowed herself to be lead away, privacy for conversations about the supernaturally being something she expected. Her face went oddly blank but remained attentive as she listened to Sayuri's words then slowly nodded.
"I remember falling into the Dimensional Gap." She said slowly, "I thought that I might not survive but instead things happened. I lost bits of myself. And now I'm in an American manga?"
After a hesitation she hugged Sayuri, desperation tangible in the way she clutched at the other girl, and in a quietly horrified voice she continued, "I... I can understand that. But I can't accept that I can't remember my darling Peerage. Not even their names! I... I had a Queen. And... There was a Rook? What was my brother's name? What was oniichan's name?"
Sayuri's shoulder's slumped as she supported the other girl. She hated to see others in distress when she could help, and it's not like it would really hurt anything if she knew. Maybe once she came to grips with her new situation. As it was, this was a bad place for that kind of revelation.
---------------------------------------------
As discussions and the crowd continued about around them the show went on, the magician going through his routine as normal with great fanfare much to the excitement of the younger members of the crowd. With the beat of the music syncing his actions he made a wave of his cape, revealing a large box somehow appearing from within it, despite being larger than the man himself.
He beckoned a member of the crowd to join him, eventually choosing a short brunet girl wearing a thick pair of glasses. He lead the girl into the box, closing it and spinning it around before gesturing for his assistants to run it through with swords one by one. Once the final blade was inserted the door was dramatically opened to show a lack of young girl inside.
With a grin he closed the door and spun it again, faster and faster quickly plucking out the swords as they passed before stopping the box. With a snap of his fingers the box collapsed revealing…
Nothing.
There was a moment of silence as the magician looked a bit confused. The crowd politely clapped, assuming this to part of the act, something that quickly died as the Magician didn't continue on and rather inspected the floor of the box.
In flash a mechanical arm rose out of the floor, grabbing the man's by his collar before a girl rose out of it like she had been hiding under the surface of a pool. She quickly locked the man in a headlock as even more people began climbing their way out of the floor, or walking out of walls like ghosts. The majority of these men were armed, wearing balaclavas and thick military vests.
However what drew the most attention were the less threateningly dressed individuals who simply walked out from behind the curtains of the stage. A tall, well built, and handsome man in an immaculate suit, a stylized helix on his chest, was the first to appear. Followed soon after by a blonde woman in a cat suit and a familiar looking brunette in thick black robes. Behind them came another man, wearing a full body suit that covered his entire body including his head and was an ugly fleshy color with the only decorations being a large belt and metal covering over his crotch.
"Hey, look what I caught!" The mechanical woman currently pinning the magician down shouted to her comrades, "Ya think this means I get a wish or is that just genies?"
The apparent leader just seemed to ignore her, signalling to the armed men who were holding the crowd hostage. Quickly 10 of the 20 or so criminals separated and began to fan out.
"Salutations Dallas shoppers," He spoke his voice carrying over the whole area clearly despite him not raising his voice much, "I regret to inform you that your regularly scheduled excursion here at the Hope Springs mall has been interrupted by myself and my comrades. Please lay down on your stomachs and do not attempt to resist or my employees will be forced to retaliate. I hope you understand, if you all cooperate this ordeal will be over with quickly, disobedience will be… extinguished with swift efficiency. I'm sure even you lot are intelligent enough to value your life over a few bits of coin."
As if to prove his statement there were already several civilians lying on the floor nursing their stomachs and faces where they'd been brutally smashed in the face by their attackers. A few had tried to run but had quickly been stopped by other thugs or simply fell to the ground upon hearing one of the thugs open fire into the air. Very quickly the commotion stopped.
---------------------
Round 1
From above on the second floor two girls, both redheads noticed the commotion. The taller of the two puffed up her chest and took a step forward only to be grabbed from behind by her younger friend who covered her mouth.
"Dammit, Natali, we're not dressed for this," Red, the appropriately named girl hissed into her friend's ear as she snuck them back into the dark gothic themed clothing store they were passing, "You can't just jump in right now!"
With a puff and a pout the taller girl complied after a moment of resistance. It was a fair point even if it rubbed the self-styled Magical girl the wrong way.
"Fine, but we need to be quick, I don't want to miss my entrance!" She answered before pulling herself out of Red's grip and rushed towards the changing rooms in the back, "C'mon Red, those villains ain't gonna stop themselves!"
Elsewhere another young girl, a tall brunette blinked where she was in the sporting goods section of the Sears, having noticed the commotion quickly from the open area. With a frown she too began to sneak away, snatching up a few items as she made her way deeper inside the store.
In the food court a dour looking young woman simply vanished from sight where she was sitting, completely ignored in the panic, while not far away a mousy looking petite girl pulled out her phone and ducked into one of the backdoors reserved for staff.
Rias blinked in confusion, still holding onto Sayuri even as she tried to wrap her mind around what the voice had announced. Uncertain as to what to do, or what might be expected to do, she frowned at the sight of people being hurt then quietly asked the woman who she was embracing, "Should we do something or is this when the heroes arrive with a dramatic entrance...?"
Sayuri grit her teeth as the villains made their demands. "We are the heroes, if you want a dramatic entrance, we should get you some kind of mask."
Taking Sayuri's advice as golden, Rias ducked into the nearby store and looked for something to use as a makeshift mask. And possibly a coat, or other long garment, to conceal her body given the distinctiveness of her uniform.
The closest store happened to be very nearby, just adjacent to the quart around the corner and Rias was able to quickly enter even while taking steps to avoid being spotted. However her caution was for naught. Below her the watchful eye of a certain parahuman was able to quickly spy her actions. With a glare he found another of his men and pointed, similarly catching the attention of the brunet by his side with a heavy hand laid on her shoulder. Quickly the thug disappeared into a nearby wall exiting the floor above to follow the redheaded girl out of sight into the store.
The man entered the shop, gun raised, trying to look through it quickly and spot the target. Seeing a mop of redhair peeking above one of the clothing stands he advanced quickly. With a charge he rushed the person gun raised to act as club.
"The boss said to get on the ground!" He called as he smashed downward.
"Not my boss," The man blinked as seeing a small red-haired girl staring back at him with a sour look, her off hand gripping the stock of the rifle casually before it could reach her head, "And that was rude, how would you like if I did that to you?"
Instead of waiting for an answer she simply forced the gun back smacking the man in the face and knocking him out.
With a parting kick into the man's ribs she turned to where the other redhead had snuck into the changing stalls.
With Rias running inside to change, and one of the thugs following to catch her, Sayuri decided to follow suit. Instead of looking for a costume, she instead crawled under one of the round racks of clothes being displayed and dove into a gap where her Ran outfit was gathered. One of the nice things about dresses was that they were easy to slip on and off at least.
Ayomide didn't know what to make of the comedy skit that she ended up seeing. First there's a Reimu lookalike, and then some busty far too attractive girl in a school uniform jumped onto her and went on about getting Gapped before the Reimu took the two away. Then like all bad comedies, it stopped being funny quickly when the show below got a case of Villainous Interruptus.
On the better side, no one was dead yet. She was noting the faces of a few thugs that she was going to make sure to hurt though. Not particularly wanting to expose herself doing so though, she took advantage of the red head and Reimu drawing attention to make a better show of sneaking her way to the bathroom.
Once inside and making sure she was alone, a flash of twisted light and a darkly amused magical girl stood in front of the mirror, suppressing the flinch from how oddly different she looked. She had time to simply prepare and charge out in a surprise attack…..but these idiots had already shown themselves to leap to violence far too quickly.
Well fine, those other two were clearly up to something, she could at least get those thugs focused on something else for a bit. The things I do…….
The bathroom door wasn't so much opened as kicked in, one magical girl Thema walking out like she owned the place. "Okay idiots, I can guess your answer but I'll try anyway. Drop the guns and get on the floor and you get to leave without broken bones."
The thugs, three total, turned their heads to the commotion, one of which violently grabbing the purse off a particularly irate looking woman.
Notice the cape they tense.
Down below with the waiting villains one was not quite so patient nor content to just sit and wait while nameless thugs went about making money for them.
With a wolf like howl the most outrageous of the lot, dressed in a body stocking matching his skin tone, Codpiece jumped to the front of the stage clapping his hands above his head.
"Awooooooo!" He bellowed while gyrating his hips, "Yeah baby lets get this party started!"
With a lewd grin he placed his hands behind his head and punctuated his announcement with powerful thrust of his hips, firing a white beam from his crotch over the crowd and smashing into one of the pillars.
"Aw, honey there's no need to be shy, I don't bite~" He called out, "But if you like it rough I'm more than ready babe!"
He readied his hips to fire another beam at the pillar as a woman in a rather form fitting flight suit rushed out from behind her cover.
The woman's entire costume covered her body entirely, an opaque glass hiding her face. Her petite form made it hard to even guess her gender at a glance, only the pink and white color scheme serving as an obvious gender indicator.
"Please," She spoke, her voice young and accented, "I've seen enough of commenters like you to know you can't handle me in 1v1. IF you want a piece of me you need to get good!"
Quickly she pulled her pistol from her side, aiming and firing before rushing away from the crowd further back into the area under the food court hoping to lure in the villain.
She grinned as watched her handywork as the man collapsed on his knees, hands holding his crotch where the Kinetic Energy bolt had struck.
"I'm not into this kind of play," He mumbled as he tried to get his bearings back.
"From the way you're dressed I would have guessed the exact opposite, Dick!" Chirped a cheerful robot as she came up to pat the man on the back. Her earlier catch having been handed off to her blond accomplice who simply sat on the magicians back as he wiggled about, "Sure she got away from you but look on the bright side, she was a real ball buster ey?"
With a chuckle she jumped off the stage in pursuit, somersaulting over the crowd to close the gap.
"Don't go yet Mechy! Don't you think a fan deserves an autograph?" The grinning cyborg landed in front of the fleeing woman reaching out and grabbing her arm, "Well then how about a hug?"
She smirked as she pulled the struggling young hero into her, wrapping her arms around the girl to restrain her.
-----
Having a clear view of most of the action right from the start two young girls were helpless to do much as a pair of thugs entered the jewelry store they'd been unlucky enough to have been in prior to the incident. One, a vicious looking man with a scared face and bright red hair gelled into spikes went to work and with a remarkable amount of professionalism he went about collecting the precious items. Surprisingly rather than simply breaking the glass he chose to grab from the open case first.
"Oi, old man the rest better be open by the time I finish or things will be getting messy," He said.
Meanwhile the other man didn't do much, simply keeping his gun held at read before spotting a certain young girl, a girl wearing some expensive jewelery and holding some more. With a grin he shoved his way past several cowering people to snatch a ring out of the girls hand, while grabbing her by the back of her shirt and pulling her upwards painfully.
"Yo, hand over the goods you little bitch," He spat and threw her back against the counter, "I aint asking twice!"
The brunette didn't react at first causing the man to growl and grab her hair, manhandling her.
"Did I stutter, I want dat necklace," He shoved his face into hers, "Take it off now if ya know what's good fo you!"
"Let her go!" Annabel shouted despite the fear she felt. Her friend was in trouble and her mother didn't raise her to let that go unanswered. So, likely running more on adrenaline than anything else, she tried to punch the thug so he would let go of Sal.
To Annabel's surprise the blow actually hit the thug right on the face causing him to let out a grunt but he didn't let go of her friend. If anything the punch just pissed him off further.
With an angry scowl he stood up to his full height, towering over the young girl. And with one mighty motion threw most of his weight into a back hand, landing square in the girls jaw. Annabel was through to the ground stunned.
"Well fuck you too girlie," the man said as he began to advance, his heavy boots thudding ominously, "Ya think you can just g-"
He was cut off as a glass jewlery case smashed into the back of his head from behind actually staggering him to the ground and causing his head to bleed. He turned backwards to see a scared girl behind him, the only person who could have struck him so cleanly.
He didn't bother with words, instead taking a step forward and throwing a hard punch right into her face, smashing the girl into the glass display cases behind her. He didn't let up, rushing forward to stomp hard on the girls unprotected sides as she wriggled on the ground in pain. Even as she cried the man kept stomping even as his partner rushed his way over towards the commotion.
Annabel sat there in a daze as she watched her friend try to save her ass. She watched as her friend was smashed into the glass case. She watched on as the thug stomped her, trying to kill her. She didn't register the other thug rushing in the scene. Even as blood dripped down her chin and her vision blurred as she started to black out… she had but one wish. The power to save her friend.
Two very different souls found themselves the only light in an impossible void of darkness, and despite the great vast eternity they collided and merged, forming a new being of unfathomable potential from the pieces.
When she woke up, she had a new perspective. She was confused as to why she was on the floor, so she sat up in a daze. She blinked her eyes to clear up her vision, vision that was much better than before as she saw clearly two grown men standing over a girl's body. Her heart ached at the sight but she didn't know why. Annabel focussed on the girl on the ground, trying to figure out who she was. But it was a loss cause, though something else did happen.
The girl wasn't moving, Annabel thought as she slowly got up from the ground, There's blood everywhere...even on me.
Annabel wobbled as she stood up straight, a hatred burned in her chest greater than anything she experienced before. She narrowed her eyes and words came to her that promised a swift vengeance.
"Include; Berserker," The words uttered with an eery calm before the everything went began to blur together. Thoughts and emotions swirling together and becoming less clear, leaving just instinct. And rage. Her entire body tensed, muscles flexing and preparing to spring forth a fountain of unstoppable destruction. She threw her head back, "▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
What came forth from the girl's throat could not be classified as a scream, or even a roar. It was bellowing noise that shook anyone hearing it down to their core, a pitch so deep and powerful that one's very bones felt rattled by the vibrations.
"Dammit Tony you can't ju-" The spikey haired punk was cut off by the paralyzing wave of fear that washed over him as he heard the terrifying noise, barely having enough time to glance at the source before the thing was on them. He didn't hesitate for a moment, years of instinct taking over as he did one last desperate act.
Tony was too shocked to react as his friend shoved him to the ground, only able to watch in shocked horror as the man he knew seemed to explode into a cloud of gore, the middle of his body simply vanishing as his legs and upper torso flew away.
"Rey!" He shouted, desperately reaching out to where the man had stood just moments before. He didn't get a chance to act further as a giant stone ax, a massive thing more resembling a sharpened club than any real weapon, dropped with titanic force and pulped the shocked man.
In the quiet of it all, as the smoke began to settle those left were able to see the cause.
Beside the crater stood a thing, only human in the most basic of appearance. Stone grey skin covered toned muscles. And on it's head was long map black hair, tangled and unclean. Its face was the worst, twisted horribly in a vicious snarl with lips pulled back painfully far over animalistically jagged teeth. It's eyes however, it's eyes held not even the intelligence of a beast. Rather the only thing that filled those eyes was a cold hateful rage, burning in it's own right but ultimately lightless.
The thing stood there for a moment, soaked in the gore of the two men it had just killed and all around it too fearful to react. And then it raised it's ax.
Bam!
The weapon was smashed back down into what little remained of Tony spraying even more of the blood that remained about. And again it raised it's ax before smashing it down with earth shaking force. Harder and harder, faster and faster, the shockwaves alone beginning to tear apart the store around it.
Outside its presence was not missed, quickly picked up on by a brunet villain. With a frown she snapped her fingers, not bothering to wait for orders lest she miss her one chance to nip a possible catastrophe in the bud.
Inside the shop the creature had it's fill turning towards the glass, somewhere in what was left of it's mind it remembered these people that they were the cause of its anger and it launched itself forward with enough force to shatter the floor around it. It met the glass in less than the blink of an eye.
Bam!
The creature flew out of the ceiling of the little shop down into the floor with all the force of it's jump.
"Well," the brunet stated as she watched the creature try again through one of the other walls to the same result, "That escalated quickly."