The crowd gathered around Regina, pressing in, surrounding her. Struggling through the seething mob, Emma, Snow, Charming and Henry cried out for them to stop. "We are not murderers here," said Emma, stepping up to stand next to Will and Regina.
"Yeah? Well, we're not from this world," Will replied, stepping closer. He bore down on Emma.
"Well, you're a part of it now." Will opened his mouth to answer, and a crash resounded through the street. Reacting instinctively, everyone ducked, peering up through their hands to look for the cause of the noise. A billowing cloud of gray dust was emanating from one of the houses at the end of the block, looking much the same as the purple fog Mr. Gold had summoned earlier. As the crowd looked on, a flash of midnight-black scales was briefly visible before disappearing, replaced by a bronze-colored flash that was also soon covered up. A small glow momentarily lit up the inside of the diminishing cloud. Finally, the smoke completely disappeared, and the onlookers gaped at the scene in front of them.
A multi-headed beast writhed on the ground, its dragon-like faces whipping through the air on spindly necks. Weaving between them was a teenaged girl and boy, both lean and graceful as they dodged the creature's attacks. The girl's golden blonde hair reached past her shoulders, swinging freely about her face while she fought the monster with a bronze sword. Her skin was tanned, and she moved like a dancer in her chestnut boots. In contrast, the boy's face had a darker, hispanic look to it, and bouncing black curls framed elfish features. Around his waist hung a toolbelt, from which he was currently extracting numerous wrenches and assorted nuts and bolts to throw at the attacking creature. A head snapped at his face, and he whacked it with a hammer.
Taking this in, the crowd became aware of words being exchanged between the boy and girl. After a moment, they could distinguish what they were saying above the clang of weapons on a scaly hide.
"Leo!" the girl shouted, leaping over one neck and sliding beneath another. "Could you stop just throwing stuff at it and get over here so we can actually kill this thing?"
"I'd love to, Wave, but this monster seems to wants to keep the McShizzle to itself. It doesn't like the thought of sharing all this."
"You mean sharing dinner, Repair Boy? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that's the only thing on its puny mind right now." Right away, all the heads paused and glared at the girl, hissing in unison. "Whoops. My mistake. Puny minds." Screeching, the heads dove towards the girl, who flung herself to the side. Disappearing for a moment, she came up with one of the monster's necks in her grasp and, aiming it at the other heads, squeezed. The monster gagged and sprayed a screen of green glop at the other heads. As the gloop touched them, they screamed in agony, shying away from the girl. "Leo, over here, now!"
The boy hurried over. "Keep your pants on, Wave. I'm here."
The girl ignored the first comment, saying, "Good. You ready?" The boy grinned at her.
"The Valdezinator is always ready. Just give me something to aim at."
"You got it." The girl looked back at the recovering monster. Cautiously, it took a step forward, and quick as a flash she lunged, slicing a head clean off with her blade. Immediately, the boy clenched his hand and snapped it open, releasing a ball of fire that seared the stump. Continuing in this fashion, the two fully decapitated the creature, until only the body was left. It rested unmovingly on its four legs. The girl cocked her head, staring at it.
"That's weird. It should have crumbled to dust by now."
"Maybe it's stubborn."
"True." After a moment, the girl stepped forward. Standing beside the monster's body, she looked it over, leaned forward, and tapped it lightly. With a poof of yellow, it disappeared. She grinned. "I'm a genius. Problem solved."
The boy, Leo, rolled his eyes as she walked back over. "Please. You only touched it. I could have done that. And with more style."
"Doesn't matter!" She sang as she passed him, heading into the distance. The crowd watched her leave, Regina forgotten and mouths hanging wide as she strode off, Leo running after her.