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Scarlet
When Scarlet came to the unveiling with the rest of the Rampions, she'd done it to satisfy her curiosity more than anything (and because it was mandatory and the civilians had to be protected and all of those noble superhero reasons that Scarlet was starting to get really sick of by now). Still, it would've been nice if the Council could have at least tried to make them feel comfortable! Instead, Scarlet found herself watching from the roof of a nearby building, along with all the other Rampions who could fly, straining her ears to catch whatever The Emperor was saying. The prodigies who couldn't fly were stuck pretending to be civilians and watching from whatever hiding places they could find in the very open area. Scarlet was actually willing to bet that at least half of the crowd of curious civilians come to watch the presentation were actually Rampions in disguise.
So she ended up spending the presentation practically hanging off the roof of a building in an effort to hear whatever The Emperor was saying about the oh so mysterious weapon. A feat that requires utmost concentration, which was made much harder by the tall figure standing just on the edge of the crowd, their bright green eyes visible even under the shadow of a hood.
When Scarlet saw Wolf there, she almost lost control and shot up into the clouds. What was he doing here? This place was crawling with Rampions! Did he desperately want to get thrown behind bars or something?
A big part of her wanted to fly down there and slap some sense into him, but (somehow) Scarlet managed to restrain herself, and attempted to ignore him while she tried to listen to The Emperor.
When the prisoner was brought to the stage, Scarlet couldn't help but shoot a glance at the real Wolf. From her vantage point, she could see that his eyes had gone wide with shock and he was staring at the prisoner unblinkingly. She could only imagine what must have been going through his head at the time. Skies, she didn't even know what she would feel if she met her evil look-alike. The only thing more disconcerting than that thought was watching the unfortunate twin change shape, becoming a beautiful woman with shiny black hair. Scarlet couldn't suppress a wince of pity at her wails of anguish and the sobs that shook her shoulders. Or a snort of disgust as The Emperor paid absolutely no mind to her and continued on with the show. Wasn't this guy supposed to be a hero?
Her anger only grew as he shot the sobbing woman a disdainful look. "I admit, this wasn't the effect we envisioned stasis to have, but the demonstration was successful just the same. You might remember how the leader of the Lunars claimed to have a chemical agent capable of increasing a prodigy's power. Well, think of stasis as the complete opposite of that. It completely and permanently strips a prodigy of their powers."
The crowd oohed and aahed appreciatively, and Scarlet rolled her eyes. Did they even realise what The Emperor had just said? To be stripped of her powers… Scarlet couldn't think of a worse punishment. No wonder that woman was so distraught.
But apparently the crowd's opinion was all that mattered, because The Emperor smiled proudly. "We believe that stasis is the key to bringing down the Lunars, for good this time."
An uproarious cheer rose up from the crowd. Scarlet risked a glance at Wolf, not sure if she was hoping that he was cheering and blending in, or staying silent, eyes narrowed with disapproval.
The result was sort of in the middle. Wolf was silent, yes, but he didn't look horrified or shocked. If anything, he looked… interested. Did he seriously think stasis was a good idea? Scarlet knew he hated the Lunars, and she could hardly blame him, but to completely and irreversibly change their lives? Actually that made total sense. They did the exact same thing to him, after all.
The Emperor waved a hand at the newly powerless woman. "Take her away. We'll question her later to find out what she knows."
The prodigy guard that brought her in nodded and bent down to undo her shackles. He was relaxed. Incautious. After all, what did he have to fear from this wreck of a woman? It's not like she's going to try anything.
But as soon as the restraints were off, she made a break for it, ducking under the prodigy's arms and off the stage with a banshee shriek.
The crowd screamed and huddled together, away from the crazy woman, effectively trapping any Rampions positioned inside. All over the place, Rampions were jumping out of their hiding places, shooting beams of light at the woman and extending their limbs to trip her up, but she was too nimble and fast.
Gritting her teeth, Scarlet rose into the air from her perch. She swooped down on the woman, lashing out with one leg to try and kick her. But her foot connected with nothing but air. The woman had ducked.
Scarlet just had time to register the fingers closing around her ankle before her flight was suddenly thrown off balance, sending her careening into a wall, jarring her into losing control of her power, and she crumpled to the ground in an aching heap.
Groaning, she raised her head to glare at the woman, which turned out to be a waste of energy. She was well past Scarlet by now, and nearly at the edge of the square. All that stood in her way were some disorganised superheroes, a couple of bold civilians, and Wolf.
Please don't be an idiot Wolf, Scarlet thought, you know what the Rampions will do to you if they catch you.
The remaining superheroes on guard duty dove at the woman and shot at her with dart guns, but the weak, broken person on the stage had given way to a rage-filled demon who wasn't about to be waylaid so easily.
The woman jumped nimbly out of the way of attempts to tackle her, ducked under the path of tranquilisers and twisted the shooters' wrists for good measure so they dropped their weapons, running away again before they could get over their shock.
The few civilians left in her path lost their gumption and scrambled to get out of her way, crying out in terror.
Scarlet growled in frustration, imagining the triumphant smile spreading across that witch's face as she ran. Even without powers she'd beaten the Rampions. Now, there was nothing to stop her. That is, if the only one standing in her way had any sense and stayed out of it…
The woman ran past him, a cackling laugh ripping out of her throat, when fast as lighting he ducked down and grabbed one of her legs, lifting her up so that she was upside down.
The woman squawked and cried out with outrage, kicking and flailing in her captor's iron grip. He turned his head to avoid one of her feet, which instead caught the fabric of his hood.
Scarlet could only watch, helpless as the face that had stayed safely hidden in shadows was brought back into the light of the world, wild brown hair, scars, fangs and all.
A strangled gasp of terror rose from the crowd of people even as a gasp of surprise rose up from the Rampions. Scarlet prayed to the skies that Wolf heard them, that he'd be smart and drop the crazy woman and run. For the sake of the powers, he had super hearing! But for once Wolf's legendary senses seemed to fail him. He looked down at the woman in his grip, his lips pulled back in a snarl, his green eyes seeming to spark with fury and hatred. His prisoner, moments ago defiant and angry, now hung still, eyeing him with terror.
With a roar, Wolf flung her as if she was no more than a ragdoll into the wall of the nearest building. The resounding crack made Scarlet wince.
She flicked her gaze back to Wolf, almost scared of seeing the fury in his eyes again, but it wasn't there. Instead he looked… confused. He had one hand hovering over his neck, like something had bitten him there. Then his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell, crumbling to the ground like a sack of bricks.
"Well, guess this thing was useful after all."
Scarlet started at the sound of Cinder's voice behind her. She was examining her metal hand. The tip of the pointer finger was off, revealing a hollow gun barrel.
A/N: Which is scarier, a pissed off Scarlet or a pissed of Wolf?
We've gotten more detail on stasis, but what will happen to Wolf now that the Rampions have him? Will he be stripped of his powers? And who was the mystery woman?
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