| Trouble in the Mall | ||
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Summary: Shizuko just wants to go clothing shopping with her meager allowance. The trip is... anything but normal   |
Center City's Shopping District is a massive collection of shops, malls, and entertainment shops! Holo commercials, ads, and people yelling at you to come shop at their place line the streets and skies. Just about anything you can buy can be found here. Watch out for pickpockets! It's another day in Center City! Cars buzzing by, people walking, birds defacing the odd statue in their crude way. One of those walking people is the highschooler known as Iwamatsu Shizuko. She's been saving up her meager allowance, and now she finally has enough to go on a proper shopping trip! She's gone by herself, however, because her best friend is... not the kind that needs to save up, and would either depress Shizuko with how much she spends, or end up being too generous and making Shizuko feel like she was taking advantage of the relationship. At least this is something that she's used to at this point... even if it's been proven that walking through this area can be dangerous. It's true! The Shopping District is definitely a place where one can lose their wallet, purse, credit chip, coin, or anything else people might consider currency. Granted, there's the exchangers that will swap money around for local currency because of the people arriving out dimension, despite how gouging they are. But none of that worries Iridescence! The richer than comprehendible mage is moving freely through the area, not worried about someone stealing her stuff, because she has a pair of pale skinned dudez in matrix style clothing shadowing her, occasionally putting a hand to their ear conspicuously. There's even a black hovercar floating over the area, keeping an eye out for anyone coming near her. What brings her here? Funnily enough, the same reason as Shizuko, shopping! And sadly, alone, which is why she's trying to find someone to shop WITH. She certainly won't do it alone, no fun there. And lo and behold the fates cast her eyes on Shizuko. Doesn't she know her? Back...yeah, the kraken incident! With that hawt blonde dude-o! Fwuh, perfect! o O ( Can't remember her name though, or much else! Time to fix that! ) She'll weave through a few people, making her shadowing security annoyed as they lose her for a moment and have to com the hovercar, putting herself near Shizuko, "Heyoz, heyoz! Long time! Fwuh, glad you're still alive!" She winks, a little spark of lightning rippling from the edge of her eye with a crackle. She was expecting nothing. Sure, Shizuko was looking for trouble(to avoid it, duh), especially any sign of that guy with the horrid scar on his face. That she put there. But the sudden run up and 'hi!' from someone she... barely met? Oh, Shizuko remembers Iridescence, all right. It was her earliest run-in with anyone from Richside, and she was quite intimidated by the Mooks. But... Shizuko also managed to extract herself from that situation fairly quickly. "I, uh, yes. It has been a while, um..." There's a bit of a 'deer in headlights' look as Shizuko realizes she has no idea how to address this person. "I've... managed to survive, yes," she manages to say. Iridescence smiles! "That's wonderfulz!" She cheerfully claps, the sound more akin to a light thundering than an actual clapping sound. A few people nearby start and back away, after all it's safer to stay away from dangerous people, even if they look harmless. She puts a hand over her chest, "Iridescence." Introducing herself. She'll gesture to the Shopping District in general, "What ya shopin' for? Want to do it together?" She cleared her schedule for today. No egg hunting, no investigating phenomena near the Clongomerate, no excursions out into the ocean. Nope! Just enjoying herself, and hopefully not drawing the attention of any mafia, thug, crime or magelords that might kidnap her for her sweet riches. Her dudeoz catch up to her, though they don't get RIGHT next to Shizuko and Iridescence, they are obviously looking at her behind their mirror sunglasses, and if Shizuko has any kind of technology detection, the hovercar up above is scanning her for explosives! Shizuko scans as a completely normal teenager! "Uhh, Iwamatsu Shizuko," She says with a polite bow. And a nervous eye at the mooks. She's less afraid of Iridescence directly than she is of the mooks... How many times has she been shaken down on her way to Basil's house? It's possible some of this crew has even been among those that have grilled her. Shizuko has certainly not been able to keep track of the various rich families' mooks that have stopped her. She once again pauses with a look of a deer in headlights, though. "...Shopping together?" GAH. She specifically went on her own because she wanted to AVOID shopping with someone rich! It's true! One never knows which mooks are working for who! Iridescence herself doesn't completely trust her own security, but she has to have it, otherwise...she'd have to do it all herself, and then why does she have all this money in the first place? The mage snaps her fingers at the name, "Got it, I'll remember now." That deer in headlights look is adorable, she'll smile, showing perfectly white teeth, "Mmyah! I haven't been over here in awhile, and we have to support the local economy. And shops." And maybe check in on one or two of her own, but she'll leave that for later when she's not with Shizuko because that's not going to be as fun and entertaining. A hundred thoughts are going through Shizuko's head. Mostly about how she can get out of this. Unlike her friend Basil, Iridescence makes no attempt to not flaunt her wealth. Shizuko has never actually seen anything resembling security following her around. Okay, there was that one time she thought she saw one of the Hawthorne family's maids out of the corner of her eye, but she's fairly certain that was just her brain filling in wrong details. Still, Shizuko does NOT want to make someone from Richside mad. Well, someone ELSE from Richside, but Basil's mother still lets her come over. "Oh, uh, sure, the, uh, local economy." She pauses a moment, fidgeting uncomfortably before just outright saying it. "...W-why me, though?" She's already decided she can't outright refuse, it'd be too rude and she's heard too many rumors of rich people effectively being absolute authoritarian dictators. And there's hired mooks all around. Is that hover car also watching them? Iridescence's smile grows larger as Shizuko agrees! Huzzah hooray! Shopping day! "Fwuh? I was looking for someone and remembered you! Plus, you're adorable and if you're still alive and well after all this time I bet ya know how to shop." She looks around the great Shopping District, casting her hands to gesture at everything, sparks of lightning dancing between her fingers, "Which place first? There's so many choices, yaknow?" She isn't sure what will grab her attention today either, but certainly there'll be something. And yes, that hovercar is definitely doing a holding pattern. Whatever mook driving it isn't too great at pretending to not be following the mage! But it's the dudeoz you can't see that you have to worry about! Shizuko looks away awkwardly at being called 'adorable'. She has to choose her words carefully for a multitude of reasons. Some just merely for social reasons and not to get the wrong ideas across. "I... not as well as you may think," she admits. Ever since her parents divorced, she's not been in the best of financial situations. "I was, uh, going to go out looking for a new outfit today... that was my plan." She pauses, then looks towards the mall. "I was heading there to decide where to start looking." The mage looks towards the mega mall. "Ohya? Let's go yah? I haven't been there since narrowly avoided becoming a mass-kidnapping victim when a thug group setup a big teleporting circle on the roof." Luckily one of her people spotted it and got her out just before it went off. Most of the victims were recovered alive. She brushes at her pleated skirt, "New outfit, heya? Let's do itz. I can see you in something more goth punky forsure." One of her matrix boyz puts a finger to his ear, nodding in the direction of the mall. The hovercar starts slowly moving its way through the air traffic towards it. They'll try to scout it out! Unless they're getting paid for a betrayal and setup. Shizuko sighs and for a split second looks slightly dejected. She catches herself quickly enough, though. Have to stay polite, have to go along with it. The alternatives would be... possibly bad. Still, though, "Goth punky? Me? It's, uh, not really my style..." Yeah, she's now pretty sure the hovercar is with Iridescence's mooks. This is a very different experience for her... She almost feels like she's been low-key kidnapped, but she's technically still just doing what she came out here to do, so... well, she is worried she may end up spending her money on an outfit that will not really be.... 'her'. Still, she accepts her fate and begins making her way there, towards the mall! Mega Mall The Mega Mall is massive, stretching out for over a mile. Every store you could think of is here, along with a few you couldn't. There's even a giant movie theater! People move about, shopping and jabbering to each other. Iridescence giggles at that and skip a couple steps towards the mall, her multi-colored hair, bow, and side-skirt swaying with the motion, "Everyone looks good in it though! You don't know unless you try it." She'll spin on a boot heel, facing Shizuko and walking backward, "Black is slimming too, not that we need it." She'll turn back around and slow so Shizuko can catch up and walk next to her, if she does though. "So Shizuko, what do ya do for non-fun?" Her heterochromia iridium eyes scanning over the crowd. She doesn't recognize anyone yet as they approach the mammoth mall, although occasionally someone will wave or bow towards her, and she'll return with a wave or nod. Shizuko decides against comment... she hasn't tried it, after all. "Non-Fun? I'm... I'm still just a high school student," she says. "I don't have a side-job or anything. Mom says schooling is my job for now." Shizuko, for her part, doesn't recognize anyone, either... and she's slightly worried about the bows given Iridescence's way. She hopes the goth-punk look isn't too expensive... she just enough saved up for one normal outfit! The mall is busy, as it usually is, people of various heights, species, and genders moving about. Her dudeoz know better than to try and direct traffic or something like that. There's too many people, so they spread out a bit further to cover more ground, trying to keep an eye on everything. Iridescence probably should have more security here than less, but there was a staff shortage today. Possibly a red sign, but she can't live in fear of getting abducted, that's not her way! "Ultra Mega Plus Ultra High Academy or Super Sentient Sister School?" Those are the two big schools on the planet. She keeps expecting some of those old skewl mages in DO to start a third one, but it still hasn't happened. Must be waiting for someone with the right vision. --- For the insanely super amazingly observant, in case Shizuko is, she'll have noticed an individual that has started to shadow from far, far behind the two girls, evading the notice of the security forces so far. Shizuko walks along, looking at the stores and... honestly, at this point, expecting Iridescence to be the one to pick what store to enter. She's half expecting to end up just being some sort of life-sized fashion doll as the day goes on, but things could be worse. "Currently the former, formerly the latter," she says. Yes, they're huge rivals... which is just one of many of Shizuko's social problems. Honestly, if she were just... better at being social instead of being aloof, she'd probably be fine. Unfortunately for her, though, she is, if anything, less observant than the security. Iridescence is totes eyeing stores as they pass them. But so far she hasn't chosen one, but then, they haven't passed any gothy punk clothing stores yet either. But since you can find virtually any kind of clothing store at the Mega Mall it's only a matter of time! "Hawhat? Noway!" She hops a step, her hair flowing and falling about her in a cascade of color, "They're huge rivals. I've heard all sorts of stories and rumors about the fights, brawls, and escalating bravadoz." She's never been to either in person, private tutors came to her mansion to teach her things, but she knows there's a whole high school scene thing, even if she missed out on it. Shizuko takes a deep breath and lets it out as a sigh. "Yeah. They are. I had a bit of a rough patch when some people found out, but... Really it's mostly the jocks that are really like that. I, uh, try to keep my head low. I... usually succeed." The duo pass a few more blocks of shops and stores. There really is a LOT of stuff at this mall, but it is over a mile long. "Ohya?" Iridescence says, eyeing a store they pass that has thumping bass music and dark fashions, but something about it doesn't catch her eye, so she keeps moving, "You probz have some trouble keeping out of sight though, with your looks." Where was that store anyway? Maybe it went out of business since she was last here. She puts a hand into one of her sleeves, messing with the com in there, considering radioing in for directions, but there's probably a giant map around too. Shizuko looks along, expecting that overly loud place with the dark fashion to be where they end up in, but... no? Too goth, not enough punk? A hand comes up to cover her mouth momentarily when Iri makes her comment about Shizuko's looks. "W-what's wrong with how I look?" she asks. She's really too modest to think her looks being /good/ make her stand out... did Iridescence notice the tooth? It was the tooth, wasn't it... She tries so hard to not show that cursed thing! "Uhhh... are you looking for a particular place? Or... just one that... fits your expectation?" Iridescence hops in front of Shizuko, her bow flowing with the movement as she spins to face her. "Fwuh? Wrong? Nothing, you're pretty and cute. I bet your locker is stuff with love letters every morning." She pauses in her walk, some lightning sparking around her choker and running up her cheek to her left ear. "I went to a place here once and bought a loooooot of their thingz. But I can't remember where it is or what it was called. I was about to send out my boyz to scout the area and report back. Unless -you- know of a more gothic punk clothing shop other than the one we just passed?" -- The person, entity, or whatever humanoid it is that's been following them seems to have stopped. Either that, or they've become so good at blending in the crowd not even abnormal senses can detect them. Shizuko takes a step back as Iridescence hops into her way. "....Uhhhh.... no?" she says in response to the question about love letters. Really, you'd be surprised how many attractive girls go to UMPUHA... Most 'secret admirer' types go for the more popular ones rather than the ones that tend to be loners. And who Jocks and Cheerleaders have picked on because of having gone to the rival school. Social ladders and all that. And she's not counter-culture enough for most of the people that really don't care about that kind of stuff, instead trying so hard to just... be. "No, I don't know the place, I... wouldn't have put it to my memory, honestly." Iridescence tilts her head to the side, her multi-colored tails spilling over her shoulder, "Really? I'm totes surprised." She'll shrug though, it's not like she knows how high school truly works, having never been. Granted, she might have flown over either one of them and spied from up on high, but it's just a bunch of people walking around or playing sports or sitting on their phones. Maybe she came at the wrong times. She'll pull the small ear com out of her sleeve, "Righto." She puts the com in her ear and taps it, "Heyo heyo?" She waits a moment, then hits it again, "Working now?" She ahs as her security dudeoz report in. "Yah hey, I went to a store here awhile back, track it down and let me know where it is." She dusts of her hands, lightning sparking between her fingers, "There, not that I mind walking around and learning about you." "They'll know from just that short description?" Shizuko asks. She then looks to the side, sighing lightly. "What's to learn? Mom moved to Synthatec to be with my dad, they god divorced, Mom moved back here with me," she says slightly miserably. "I'm afraid I'm not a very interesting person." She knows that's not entirely true, but she's supposed to keep the whole 'Strike Star' thing secret, right? Which, to Shizuko, is the most interesting thing about her... Iridescence nods with assurance, "Ya, last time I was here I went there, so they should be able to go back over the security logs. I think? Don't people save all that stuff on their tech?" Now she's not sure. But, they'll probably let her know if they can't find it right? She glances back behind them, yeah security boyz aren't there anymore, so they must be looking for the place. Perfectz. At Shizuko's history she frowns, "Ouch, that sounds difficult. My parents were killed when I was five by a wizard and his techno thugs." She shakes her head, but doesn't seem overly sad about it. Maybe it was long enough that it doesn't bother her anymore. "So is it true at SSSS if you're not a girl they turn ya into one?" She moves off to be next to a nearby candle shop so she's not in the way of the mall traffic. The hovercar overhead has also disappeared, but its probably just scouting for the clothing shop as well, right? Shizuko frowns. "I guess so. If they're that thorough. I don't save every detail like that myself, but... security is security?" She shrugs. She winces at Iri's past, then says quietly, "I'm sorry for your loss." Shizuko doesn't think she's had a particularly great life... but at least her parents are still around. The next part, however, gets her to stop and blink. "What? No! Where'd you hear THAT rumor from?" She then hurries to catch up to the rich electro-mage. Apparently she herself doesn't even notice the hovercar is nowhere to be seen now. Iridescence leans against the wall, bending her knee and resting the heel of her boot on it as well, "No worries ya? Was long ago and I didn't know them very well." She waves her left hand somewhat dismissively, parents. Who needs them? Not her! As far as she knows. She tries not to think about it. "But its an all girls school, yahey? I swear I heard somebody tell me that. I rarely head over to Synthatek because my zappy doesn't zap." She snaps her fingers, sparks of lightning flittering from the snap and causing a light echoy sound from them. Shizuko frowns. "I guess so. If they're that thorough. I don't save every detail like that myself, but... security is security?" She shrugs. She winces at Iri's past, then says quietly, "I'm sorry for your loss." Shizuko doesn't think she's had a particularly great life... but at least her parents are still around. The next part, however, gets her to stop and blink. "I mean, not permanently or anything." She hurries to catch up to the rich electro-mage. Apparently she herself doesn't even notice the hovercar is nowhere to be seen now. "It's only on school grounds... But... I can see how it puts a lot of people off. Honestly, I don't understand why myself. I don't think I'd have wanted to go if I weren't already a girl... On the other hand, my father is an alumni, so maybe I would have." She shrugs. Iridescence leans against the wall, bending her knee and resting the heel of her boot on it as well, "No worries ya? Was long ago and I didn't know them very well." She waves her left hand somewhat dismissively, parents. Who needs them? Not her! As far as she knows. She tries not to think about it. She laughs, "That's crazy, aren't there protests about it or-" She huhs, "-I guess Big Sister doesn't let those happen though, yahey? I hear she's like, everywhere or somesuch? But that you have free room and board as long as you do a job of some kind?" Shizuko nods slowly at the lack of worry over the past. Well, it WAS a while ago. "I said it's not permanent." She then scrunches up her face slightly. "People make too much of a big deal about that. You'd not need to have all the security you have here if you were over there." She motions out towards... well, no one. Shizuko blinks at the now lack of security. When did they make themselves so hard to spot? Iridescence thinks about that for a moment, then nods. "I admit. I'm speaking from a point of ignorance about the place." At the security comment she looks around for her boyz. Yeah where are they? Its hasn't been that long but usually they get back to her with something, or at least make themselves somewhat apparent that they're watching her. "Just so..." she'll move off the wall and lean up on her tip-toes to look about. No sign. It's true, security is completely missing at this point, having been dispatched or paid off. Then gunfire and blasters erupt into the air from the four corners of the area their in. People scream and scatter, many hitting the deck, or crashing into each other as they try to flee, though a few go down riddled with bullets or with plasma holes blown through them. There's four to each corner, all of them humans dressed in black tattered edged robes. There's emblems on a few of the sleeves, the logo of a stack of gold coins with a big 0 strikethrough over the top of it. There's another expulsion of plasma energy up above, where another robed figured floats in the sky, a giant mini-plasma gun mounted on his shoulder. "All right, all right, all right. Everyone stop moving and people can stop dying!" Among those that scream and hitting the deck is Shizuko. No, this level of sudden excitement is not something she takes to very well. At least when thugs tailed her and Luna or her and Basil, she had that warning of 'someone's following us' far more easily noticed. When she's reasonably sure that the weapons fire has at least paused, she slowly looks up and out again at what's going on. Of course, she completely freezes at the terms their apparent leader has given. "...And this wouldn't have happened," she says very, very quietly. Iridescence doesn't hit the deck, but totes drops to her knees and puts her hands above her head, not that it stops bullets but its an instinctive move. Fwuh. What is this? She looks over at Shizuko, running things through her mind on how to deal with this. "I guess no crime can be a bonus." She winks, though her face is pale. If her security dudeoz aren't around, that means they probably got killed, or bought off. And it's not like she's bullet proof herself or anything. "Let's just lay low and see what they want. I don't recognize the emblem, might be a new group? I don't know who's territory this is right now." Which gang, mafia, wizard, or dragon lord controlling each place changes often enough that it's not easy to keep track. Maybe she should have found out and paid them off ahead of time, if they were open to it. Fwuh, public places... The few people who fled immediately either make it out of range or are shot down. The rest of the massive crowd stop moving, almost all of them getting down except for a few which are frozen in terror and staring slack jawed at the death. Some of the thugs move to these and knock them to the ground. "Good. Good. Perfect." The leader says, running a hand through his blonde mowhak, "You're all prisoners of the No Credit Clan, We're sick of the imbalance of currency in Senta, and we're about to balance the books!" His shoulder plasma gun rotates, aiming towards Iridescence and Shizuko, "You there! Rich girl with the tails! Up and 'atem! You're coming with us!" Shizuko is much less calm than Iri right now. This is a big deal. A BIG deal. All these people are hostages. She can't transform right now, they'd start mowing everyone down right in front of her before she finished... No, no, Iridescence is right. Best to just find out what they want and... the plasma gun is pointed right at her now. All color fades from Shizuko's face as she stares down the plasma emitter, her mouth now agape, revealing that one fang she inherited from being the granddaughter of a cat-folk. She should act. She should do something now, right? But does she even /really/ know Iridescence? She barely met her, and all these people could be killed if she did something to stop them, right? It's really a moot point as she's indecisively frozen in place. Despite her mind rushing a thousand things at once, she's far too slow to come up with an actual /plan/ to do anything to actually stop them now. Iridescence was really, truly, mega hoping against hope they weren't here for her. And what's with that name? No Credit Clan? She hasn't heard of them, so they must be new. But they're well armed. They either have a rich backer, obvs going against their little balance book claim, or they found some cache somewhere. Maybe in the mountains or something. It's impossible to predict where TRI might dump things from other dimensions, even if it's not super common to happen away from The Conglomeration, it still does. Fwuh... There's a lot of people here. Maybe if they take her away she can act, zap them all with lightning or slow them down. "Don't shoot. I'll come, no probz." She slowly gets up, not looking at Shizuko in the hopes they'll leave her alone. "Yeah you will. Don't have your precious bodyguards here, do you?" The leader thumbs his nose and three of the thugs approach, the gesture at Iridescence to go with them. "Hold it." Mohawk says, gesturing his head towards Shizuko, "Take her to, they're together. Might need leverage over gothylocks here." One of the thugs gestures with an assault rifle at Shizuko to get up! Okay, okay. It looks like Iridescence doesn't look too concerned with going with them. Maybe she has a plan for when there aren't so many hostages around? Or rather, when she's the only hostage? Shizuko just remains completely silent and attempting to look as unimportant as she can... which fails miserably. "W-what?" she manages to get out as she has that assault rifle pointed at her. Well, it's not a completely untenable situation... If they get away from all the OTHER hostages, she can then do something... as loathe as she is to transform under direct observation, she might have to this time. Again. Really, she's kinda bad at the whole 'secret identity' thing. She gets up, doing as she's told. Iridescence grimaces as they point at Shizuko. She was hoping to spare her new shopping friend from a kidnapping. There's also a handful or more of dead people. A lot of the gangs know better than to kill the people randomly. It's bad for the local businesses that they extort for money. But, maybe if these guys are new enough they don't quite get it, or they just don't care. She sighs inwardly, not happy at all about any of this. She'll reach out to try and take Shizuko's hand to reassure her, if only a little, and to try and keep her close. Mohawk gets a giant lop-sided grin, "Nice and compliant. See? This is how it goes when you know what you're doing guys." He floats himself over to one of the groups, reaching into his robes and pulling out a book, which he hands over, "Get the spell going." He then waves Iridescence, Shizuko, and the thugs next to them over. "Move it." One of the thugs next to the girls says, "No sudden moves." Shizuko is still less calm about this all than Iri is. This much... death around her. It's actually almost overwhelming... she was right. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened... Her mother never should have brought them back over here! "Y-yes," she says. "I-I'm moving." Hopefully they'll be out of the mall soon... The sooner they're away from all these other people, the sooner she can do... something. Hopefully. If she doesn't get shot first. Iridescence will hold Shizuko's hand tightly, moving through the cowering bodies of the masses to be closer to Mohawk. She's thankful behind Shizuko's pretty face is a smart brain that knows to go along with this kind of thing. "You'll get whatever you want, however much you want, ya?" Her voice only trembles a little bit. It's not that she's overly scared, but she's really worried about Shizuko or anyone else getting harmed at this point. Okay, its mostly Shizuko, a lot of people die in Senta everyday and she was raised here so it's hard to be overly worried. It's just a small touch of jadedness. The thug who was handed the book opens it up as the other thugs form a circle, kicking or shoving people until they have a ten foot diameter circle, with them on the perimeter. Mohawk then will try to shove Shizuko and Iridescence from behind so they are pushed into the middle of the circle. Assuming there's no resistance, the thug with the book starts chanting, blue magical auras appearing around him and the other thugs in the circle, which channels down into the ground, drawing runes and magic circles underneath the two girls. Shizuko is significantly less chatty than Iridescence. They're being taken into... a circle? Wait, is this going to... "Wh-what are you going to do with us?" she asks timidly. As the runes start forming, Shizuko is getting a sinking feeling... they're about to be teleported. Iridescence looks down at the magic circles and runes appearing below them. Fwuh. These punkz are way better prepared she thought. She'd thought they were going to get taken to a car or hovership or something, but a magic circle? They could end up ANYWHERE. And that rune over there looks, "Heyhey, this isn't a dimensional teleport circle, right?" She'll turn to look at Mohawk, the grip on Shizuko's hand getting unconsciously tighter. A small streak of lightning plays in her hair. "You won't get any money if we end up in pieces. How about you pull out a cred chip and I'll top it off and we can go?" Mohawk's plasma gun rotates, pointing at Shizuko then at Iridescence, back and forth, "Shadup. I know what I'm doing. You think I'd risk a payday doing magic I don't know?" One of the thugs outside the circle looks at Mohawk, "I thought we were doing this to bring a balance to everyone's bank accounts." Mohawk glances at the other thug, "We are. We are, course we are! But if we're going to continue on our path, we need a bit of scratch on the side." The other thug looks a bit wary, but doesn't protest further. The runes and circles in the circle start to interconnect, magical energy filling the ground and general area. "D-dimensional?" Shizuko asks. She briefly considers forgetting all the hostages and transforming right then and there, but then that plasma canon swings around. No. No, Shizuko can wait until they get wherever they're going, and then she can fight her way out. She'll be fine. Everything will be fine. Nevermind the fact that she's squeezing Iridescence's hand with a trembling hand herself. If she could think faster, she probably could come up with some way to drive a wedge between the mohawk guy and his underling after that... but Shizuko's never been that fast at coming up with the right words to say. She closes her eyes, waiting for the now inevitable. Iridescence watches all the runes and circles, committing as many as she can to memory. But it looks like it's a just a teleport and not a dimensional one. Maybe. Her study of space magic isn't...well, she's not good at it, so she doesn't mess with it, wanting to remain in one piece. She'll have to trust these thugos want their money and not her death. "I think he's telling the truth." She says softly to Shizuko, more to try and comfort her than anything else, since she's not completely sure. Fwuh. She just wanted to go shopping today, not get kidnapped. "Course I am." Mohawk says to the whisper, then gestures around at the crowds, "Some of you died here today, but their sacrifice will lead you all to riches! Soon, no one person will hold the currency! We'll take down Richside, we'll take down everyone who stands in our way and spread the wealth to the common folk of Senta!" He timed his speech well, because as he finishes, the magical circle crackles and explodes with blue light into a giant pillar, teleporting Iridescence and Shizuko away! Well, if all goes to plan anyway, which it has so far! 'Take down Richside.' Before Basil, Shizuko would have been... neutral to that phrase. But now Richside includes Shizuko's best friend. She's already seen through all that talk... She doesn't think Mohawk there has any intention of sharing the wealth with anyone other than himself. Maybe his underlings. Shizuko, however, can put a stop to this. She's sure of it. She just needs to... wait a few more moments. She may not know where she is when the light fades, but that doesn't really matter in the end. Her eyes remain closed through the teleport, but when that light fades and the sounds of the mall are vanished, she opens them again to get her bearings before saying, quietly, "Strike Star Transformation." Continued in There's a God for Everything | |