Heroes of Silvatica City

Olivia frowned. She couldn't believe she was about to do this... "Wait here," she snapped, before storming off into the base. She returned a couple of minutes later in a skintight white outfit, pulling a little blue jacket on over the top. "I'm coming with you," she said. "My dad's out there all alone and my mama's gone crazy." DJ seemed to have wandered off somewhere but Olivia was more concerned with getting back out there and helping her dad. "Yes," Caoimhe told Will as she finished getting her outfit on, before giving him a quick kiss. "You know Milo, he doesn't wanna stay here doin' nothin'." She smiled slightly, so proud of her brave son but wondering where he got his heroism from. Lola-Amber cringed and pushed Chloe behind her into an alleyway. "Go," she urged her in Lola's voice. "I'll hold them off. Go!" She'd taken a few beatings before, this couldn't be much worse. Right? But she didn't have to worry about it too long, as out of the sky leapt a black and golden figure. It darted into the crowd of zombies and started smacking them with blasts of golden energy. It was fast, but Amber could vaguely make out- "Tarana?" "Especially when you can hear that," Cha added, when they heard the shrieks of zombies echoing around the city. "Let's go in and find them quickly," Jin urged, running inside. She wasn't sure who they were finding now, but knew that at least some of their friends had headed here.

Olivia groaned internally and went to grab Amadeus' hand, though she actually took hold of his wrist. She had to be focused and professional to help her dad. Amber-Lola watched slack jawed, her skin going pale and her hair smooth as she transformed back into Amber. That probably freaked Alistar out a little bit, without context. Tarana was going wild, throwing people left and right like they weighed nothing, and blasting a few beams of golden energy. "You guys are so awesome," Amber murmured. Jin and Cha were weary of Ica, seeing as she and Lola were related and Lola had sort of started this whole mess. "We should leave," Jin mouthed, backing away as quietly as possible.

"I think it's my... Cousin," Olivia replied, going for the simple explanation of her relation to Lola. Her dad's an alien... Um, he's from another world and his people are part of a hive mind. I think? So I think this has something to do with that." Amber nodded, unable to really speak because the relief of not being beaten to a pulp had just hit her. Wow, she really was useless at this hero business. She looked back at Chloe who also seemed to be having a crisis. "God damn it, Mia," Cha snarled, rubbing her forehead. Mia's brain wasn't as big as her body. Thankfully at least, all three of them were combat capable so it looked like they would have to fight Ica and subdue her. "Sorry, headmistress," said Jin, forming bubbles around her fists. "We can apologise later," said Cha, gathering darkness around herself.

"It might be," Olivia agreed, annoyed at not having thought of that. "I haven't seen the Headmaster in a while and he has been stressed recently... I think." Amber nodded and turned to Chloe, putting her hands either side of her face. "Hey," she said softly. "Hey, it's alright. We're safe now... I-if you need to cry, do it. Let it all out. That was pretty scary and you were real brave." She ignored as an unconscious zombie sailed over their heads, leaving a trail of yellow glimmer behind it. "Why didn't we know that?!" Jin gawked, pushing her sister behind Mia to avoid some blow back from the acid spit. Their seniors always told them to be open about all of their powers so it was odd that Ica had kept this from them. "Don't let her load up anymore," Cha said, leaping out from behind Mia and pulling shadows around Ica's head, blinding her and blocking her spit.

"Then I guess we should follow the bees back to the hive," said Olivia, tilting the floating thing she was standing on to try to get it to turn in the direction of the zombies. Amber pulled Chloe closer and gave her a gentle hug, patting her back comfortingly. The zombies had all been taken out, and Tarana was standing in the middle of the unconscious bodies. She was panting and looking around wildly, like a crazed animal. "Bounce back!" Jin shouted, throwing a giant bubble behind Ica to make her bounce back towards Mia so that she could punch her again. Thanks to Drago, Jin was also a firm believer in the double tap.

"We could," Olivia agreed. "But we're also perfectly positioned to get right to the source of the problem and stop it right away. You're a powerful wizard right? Prove it." Tarana's lip curled and she growled at Alistar, gnashing her teeth. She had a few grazes on her face that would probably become bruises soon enough. Her eyes were that wild gold colour they went when she wasn't herself, and she didn't seem to be recognising Alistar at all. Jin and Cha winced audibly, seeing one of their role models get her lights punched out. Cha's shadow around her head cushioned some of the impact at least, but she was definitely completely unconscious. "She's the only one here, I think," Jin said. "We should leave before more of them come."

Olivia paled slightly. "D-don't call it that," she complained, wrapping her arms around herself. This was already pretty serious and very reckless. But Olivia had always wanted to prove herself to her awesome parents. Amber overheard the song and turned to look back at where Alistar and Tarana were. "Hey... That sounds really sweet, doesn't it?" she whispered to Chloe. It was working on Tarana too. As soon as she heard the first couple of words, she shook her head roughly and whined. The whining turned to whimpers, and Tarana swayed slightly as she returned to her real self. She coughed a couple of times, all of the shrieking having dried out her throat. "Ugh... Gods, I am so hungry," she rasped, looking sleepily up at Alistar and taking his outstretched hand. "She'll be a dead weight if we take her," Cha said. "Leave her. If she wakes up, she'll just go crazy on us." "But if we leave her and Lola or Squishy finds her, they'll freak," Jin pointed out. "Mia, could you carry her? We gotta go, quickly."

Olivia's eyes sparkled when Amadeus told her that. She had to rub them and stop herself from say 'so cool' quickly, so that he didn't see her admiring him for a second. "Let's get as close as possible before we do that," she said. She wasn't sure why they landed though. Tarana smiled drowsily and let Alistar lead her, resting her head on his shoulder. Her ears were ringing like they always did after fighting and it was making her dizzy. She didn't realise yet that there were many more zombies all around them, so Alistar should not have made her transform back. "We have to get back to SHADE," Amber said to them all. "But I don't know how to get to there from here." Jin's eyes lit up at the sight of Drago, but then the blood drained from her face. He was hurt and in trouble. Cha nudged her slightly, with a grin on her face. "Go be his hero," she urged her. Jin blushed from head to toe, but nodded and ran after him.

"Time to see what's going on down there," Olivia said as they approached a subway entrance where a lot of the people were shuffling into. She removed one of her gloves and pressed her hand to the ground, her eyes glowing bright purple as she saw what was going on beneath them. Amber turned to Chloe and squeezed her reassuringly. "We're safe now," she said. "Let's get back to SHADE and have some hot chocolate." "Good idea," Cha said to Mia, going the opposite way that Jin had so that they could get outside. The zombies that were following Drago had rounded the corner and were sprinting towards him now, ready to do whatever it was they were going to. Until over their heads leapt a little figure wearing a brightly coloured outfit. Jin! She used bubbles on her feet to jump high over them. Before she landed in front of them, she twisted her body around in the air and threw a handful of different colour bubbles at them. They popped and whizzed loudly like fireworks, stunning the zombies at the front. A few made it through, but Jin took them out by punching them with bubbly fists. They were all out cold pretty quickly.

Who was the person behind Lola? Olivia should have been able to make them out, so she looked a little closer... Amber pulled Chloe a little closer and waited together with the others for the helicopter to arrive. Hopefully no more zombies or whatever would find them in the meantime. "Those might be rescue helicopters," Cha theorised as they saw one in the distance. "We gotta get closer and flag them down." Jin shook her hands to make her bubble mitts pop harmlessly before turning to Drago. "Drago!" she yelped when he collapsed, running over to him. She was so relieved to see him alive, if a little battered, that she couldn't help what she did next. She ran to him and hugged him full on.

"Ouch!" Olivia snapped, reflexively reaching for the hand that was grabbing her and bending it back painfully. She was looking really closely at something so when he shook her, it shook her vision and hurt her eyes. They were red and streaming now. She realised what she was doing to his hand after a moment and let go. "Sunuvabitch," she grumbled, rubbing her sore eyes. Cha was relieved too, and they ran over to their friends and the helicopter. Jin hugged him a bit longer before noticing that he wasn't hugging her back, and suddenly she was overcome with embarrassment. She shouldn't be touching him like this. "Sorry," she squeaked, letting go of him and folding her hands behind her back sheepishly. "A-and no problem... Can you walk? We gotta get back to SHADE - and I think I hear their rescue," she added, having heard the helicopter nearby.

"No, god damn it," Olivia grunted, continuing to rub her eyes. "It's like you rubbed onions into my eyes." Great, now she was incapacitated. They didn't have time for this. "There are two chambers, one full of cocoons and one full of zombies. Lola's with someone in the zombie chamber," she told Amadeus, knowing full well he may have to go alone. Jin held out her hand slightly, offering for him to lean on her - despite him being almost 2ft taller than her.