AN: This "Patrol Log" was inspired by Kiki (not "ripped from the headlines" like last week). If you have ideas or suggestions, let me know!

To yellow 14: That one came in a white heat of anger. I was hoping I handled it well enough: showing multiple reactions to it, showing the Heroes dealing with it, etc.

To Butterfly: Definitely a serious subject.

Sibengalia shivered in the chill December air as she walked along the riverfront toward the plaza where she would meet Multiplice for their patrol. The intersection was still a couple blocks away, about halfway between the Liberty and Mylène's apartment, so it would only make sense to start their patrol from here. Although with her feet crunching in the snow, and considering just how cold it was…

Why couldn't they just cancel their patrol for tonight? It's not like anyone with half a brain was going to be outside trying to commit crimes tonight. The usual suspects had been remarkably quiet for most of December, and even the petty criminals weren't quite as active lately. They probably had better sense than to be running around in the freezing cold, less than an hour after the latest snowstorm had ended.

But here she was, transformed with the Ice power-up to give her more insulation, standing up to her shins in the fresh snowfall. When she had been younger, she had enjoyed snow far more, when she could just throw snowballs at Luka or make snow angels on the boat's deck. But that had changed as soon as she was old enough to help. That was when snow just meant more work: shoveling it off the deck, chipping ice off the railings and lines, making sure the boat was properly winterized… Sometimes they didn't finish tending to the boat until the snow was already starting to melt! Rose had brought back her love of snow a little with her infectious joy, but even that wasn't quite enough for her to truly enjoy this weather. Although, she mused, a snowball fight followed by hot cocoa sounds just about perfect right about now…

She was interrupted from her thoughts when a snowball flew out of an alleyway to her right. Sibengalia's miraculous-enhanced hearing caught the whistle of the projectile with moments to spare; she raised her arm and deployed her claws just in before it hit. The snowball shattered in a puff of white, bursting apart against her claws. She dropped to the ground and swept up a handful of snow, squeezed it into a ball, and chucked it right back where that snowball had come from. Another snowball flew at her from the opposite direction, splashing on the back of her head, snow sticking to her magenta-streaked hair.

"Seriously?" she demanded, spinning around. "How did you manage that?"

Multipl-Ice, her suit heavier and her ears covered with earmuffs, stepped out of the alleyway, smiling mischievously, one end of her jump rope in her hand. She gave it a quick jerk, and another snowball flew out of the first alleyway. This time, however, Sibengalia was ready and ducked. Multipl-Ice yelped as the snowball hit her square in the chest.

Sibengalia giggled as Multipl-Ice wiped the snow off her front with a huff. "Truce?" she offered, raising her eyebrow.

Multipl-Ice nodded and drew back her jump rope, looping it around her waist. "And I had another three snowballs set, too," she pouted, grinning in amusement.

"What should we do tonight?" Sibengalia asked.

Multipl-Ice blew on her gloved hands. "Whatever it is, I vote we don't stay out for too long… I would prefer not to freeze to death!"

Sibengalia nodded in agreement, trying to stifle a shiver that ran down her spine. "Roarr wasn't overly thrilled about going on patrol in the snow – though that might just have been the power-up taste." She frowned. "Let's check this neighborhood here and see if we warm up."

Multipl-Ice shrugged. "Works for me."

The two heroes slowly started jogging down the street, wading through snowdrifts along the sidewalk, in some places as high as their calves. At the far end of the street, a door opened, allowing light to spill out onto the white snow as a man slowly trudged outside and began pushing aside the snow on his front stoop. A couple of other doors opened as other people came outside, shovels in hand.

Multipl-Ice frowned. "It's going to take forever for them to move all of this snow," she observed slowly, watching an older man struggle to lift his shovel.

Sibengalia raised an eyebrow. "Thinking we should help?" Multipl-Ice nodded, and Sibengalia shrugged. "It's not like I can do it all that much faster with my claws, though. Want to call Taureau for some help?"

Multipl-Ice nodded in agreement and flicked out a screen on her jump rope's handle. "I'll see if he can bring a few extra shovels. It's a pity Ryoku isn't here."

"Yeah," Sibengalia agreed, sighing. She'd received a message from Luka when they first arrived, and Kagami had sent her a picture of the two of them the next night, while she was wearing the new locket that Luka had given her, but that was the last she'd heard from either of them. Not that she really blamed them; they were with Kagami's family and probably having the time of their lives seeing the sights. "Ryoku would definitely make quick work of this! Or maybe that shovel-thing that Miss Pinky found last month…"

Multipl-Ice hummed, shifting her weight from foot to foot restlessly. "Too bad Pegasus still hasn't figured out how it works yet."

Sibengalia started brushing the snow off of the cars parked along the side of the road with her arms, though quickly stopped when Mulipl-Ice passed her one end of her jump rope. Carefully they pulled the rope taut and ran it over the car, dislodging the snow. They continued that way for about ten minutes until Taureau Deglace arrived, pushing a snowplow blade down the street. Without stopping he tossed each of them a snow shovel, using his blade to clear large swaths of the street with each pass. Sibengalia sighed in resignation and jogged across the street, leaving Multipl-Ice to work on the other side. The two heroes steadily worked their way from building to building, shoveling the sidewalks and steps as they went, brushing out cars and clearing out the snow around the cars that Taureau Deglace couldn't reach. Slowly more and more people started to emerge from the buildings with their own shovels to help them work. One woman approached Sibengalia and handed her a Styrofoam cup with hot chocolate. She thanked the woman and drank the cocoa in only three gulps before returning to her shoveling. The three heroes could work faster than the civilians, thanks in part to their miraculous-enhanced strength, but after only the fifth building on the block Sibengalia stood up and stretched, pressing a hand to the small of her back and wincing from the strain that bending over her shovel was putting on her shoulders.

"Back pain?" Multipl-Ice asked curiously, crossing the street and stopping in front of her.

"Just a little," Sibengalia admitted, grimacing.

"May I?" When Sibengalia nodded hesitantly, Multipl-Ice placed one hand on each of her shoulder blades and kneaded carefully. Sibengalia groaned in relief.

"Thanks," Sibengalia told her after a couple minutes, rolling her neck and shoulders.

"Happy to help," Multipl-Ice assured her, beaming. Her face fell as she looked around the street. More of the buildings had been shoveled out, as has all the cars parked along the road. Taureau Deglace had finished plowing that street and moved down to the next block. Unfortunately, they still had several more buildings left to go – and that just on this block.

"This is a lot of work…" Sibengalia groaned, leaning against her shovel.

"Yeah, I–" Multipl-Ice froze, cocking her head in confusion.

The wind whipped up around them and blew the top layer of snow away. Suddenly the snow on the road surface began to melt – Sibengalia knelt and pressed her hand to the asphalt, only to pull it away again when it started to burn. "What?" Finally the melted snow evaporated into the air and wisped away. Looking up the road in both directions, it was the same story: the snow had all vanished. Sibengalia stared at the now-clean road and sidewalk. "What just happened?"

Multipl-Ice furrowed her brows in thought. "I… I guess we inspired people to help?" she offered weakly, shrugging. "Whoever did that, they sure saved us a lot of work!"

"Yeah… but who did it?"

Multipl-Ice raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to look a gift horse in the mouth?"

Sibengalia pursed her lips in thought. Finally she shook her head. "No; I think I'm going to go home and have hot chocolate with Miss Pinky. You?"

Multipl-Ice nodded. "Same–but with Taureau!"

AN: The "shovel" is a reference to the Yue Chan, which appeared in "Patrol Log" chapter 22; this is happened a couple hours before today's chapter of "Tokyo."