AN: Review... nuff said...
Aly's fists clenched so tight the knuckles whitened, and then she reached behind her, undid the Incapacitator, and dropped it to the ground as she turned furious eyes on the copter.
"THIS. WILL. NOT. STAND!" Aly yelled, and once again she reached down within herself, as deep as she ever did, and this time she was either going to have a heart attack or she was… "I'M…GOING….WINX!"
The sparkles sprang up around her, their luminescence wrapping around her form and finally bringing her back to what she was.
She was Alianne Paladin.
And she was PISSED.
"STOOOOOOOORMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYY!" Aly screamed, even as she kicked the Incapacitator up to her hand and snapped it back around her.
Stormy looked down at the once again at the faerie girl. She snorted disdainfully.
"Some people never learn."
And Aly launched herself at the copter.
Aly had it all. The summoned power that had seemingly come from nowhere, a power that had come after being denied several times before. The raging fury to drive her on despite the fact that she'd not only hit her limits she'd surpassed them and went over the edge… just like Jade had predicted. The righteousness of her cause, the hero that has seen too much and has finally decided to cut loose. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more, the phrase goes, and that it certainly fit Aly Paladin as she stormed up, her fist pistoning out towards Stormy.
Yeah, she still had her shield, but this was THAT kind of moment. Surely, Aly would finally find a way past the barrier Stormy had been hiding behind and strike her down for her crimes.
Wrong.
Aly slammed into the barrier, grey and white energy exploding in a furious crackling around her fist and arm, as she hung there for a second, her eyes locks with Stormy's, even as she seemed to be trying to force her hand through the buffer…
And then the shield reacted, taking the impact Aly had smashed into it and reflecting it back at her, amplified by three, sending the teenaged faerie flying backwards in a crazy twirl, yelling all the way, and Stormy, who had actually recoiled a bit when Aly hadn't been immediately thrown back, lowered her arm, and then hissed in rage at her reaction. And even though she was mad at herself, it was going to be the girl who bore the brunt of it.
Meanwhile, Aly was stopping from where she had been thrown…and was coming straight back at Stormy. Stormy gaped at this as Aly slashed down and slammed back into the shield with her foot, actually shoving the copter back a few feet before the shield threw her away again. This time, Aly flew backwards like a wrecking ball, shooting across an entire block: if the two of them hadn't already been so far up in the air she would have surely crashed into a building.
"The girl must have cracked." Stormy said, and flew after Aly.
Aly had managed to stop herself, panting for air. She might have been able to turn back, but it wasn't like all her energy stores had been instantly replenished. Indeed, she might have gotten a second wind, but she doubted it would last that long.
But before it expired, Aly was going to do one thing: smash that damn shield, the shield that had kept the Winx and BOBS and herself from being able to get to Stormy, even if she had to spent her entire time left in this state throwing herself against it. It was only a machine: machines could only endure so much wear and tear and abuse. Surely, if she threw everything she had into attacking it, the shield would HAVE to konk out. I mean, it had to cost an immense amount of energy to take a blow and reflected it back at three times the strength: surely it couldn't keep it up!
Stormy was coming, and Aly went on the attack again, as she thrust out her hands and fired a barrage of air blasts. As mentioned, you needed to be somewhat close for the shield to hit you with the reflect counter, and hence Aly could keep herself in one place as she pumped energy into the shield, the blasts bouncing off and flying into the sky and to the ground, where they either fizzled out or hit something they really couldn't damage, like metal.
Stormy was frowning: she couldn't figure out what the girl was planning, unless she had been correct in her initial assessment and she had lost his mind. Then again, she couldn't hurt her, so why worry?
"GRAHHHHHHHHHH!" Aly screamed, continuing her onslaught as Stormy drew close…and just before she would have gotten the backlash effect she flew up and away at a steep angle. Stormy followed her up with her eyes…
Aly came out of the sky like a comet, lacing her fists together and bringing them down on the top of the shield as hard as she could. There was an immense crackling bang as the irresistible force met the unmovable object.
The unmovable object lived up to its name.
The retaliatory effect of the latest blow sent Aly shooting off at a downward angle. This time, Aly truly was like a comet…complete with a violent landing as Aly struck the ground and slid along it for nearly a block before coming to a stop. Stars exploded in Aly's vision, even as her body yelled and screamed at such treatment.
Her vision began to fade…
NO. I REFUSE.
Aly shoved her pain away again, locking it in a tight box and throwing away the key, and as Stormy swooped down to follow, she shoved herself to her feet, her glaring eyes watching her as she prepared to strike again.
"It's done," a figure said before dropping to the ground exhausted.
Heroes died.
Gods faded from memory.
But she was the Primmortal. She would be forever.
So, for now, she was content to just lay there and gather her strength
And then it would be truly her time to end this battle.
Another thing that was splendid was the slashing roundhouse kick Aly was delivering to the front of Stormy's helicopter. The recoil threw her backwards, but by now Aly was learning how to control it and spun upward with the backlash, back flipping and landing on a nearby roof. By now, her body had clearly realized that her brain wasn't going to be listening to her in regards to its inability to keep doing what she was doing and had stopped telling her anything. On one hand this meant no more pain, but on the other hand it meant Aly might keep pushing herself until her heart exploded. But Aly knew, deep down, that while she may have been granted one last chance it was about to run out. She had to break that shield!
"Come on Stormy! What are you afraid?" Aly yelled, flying up as she prepared to attack as soon as Stormy rose up next to the roof.
She did.
With a newly retracted chain gun and armed missiles.
"Nuts." Aly said.
The chain gun erupted even as the missiles fired, four of them, and the entire rooftop exploded, consuming Aly…and then she rocketed out on a grey stream of power, even as she laced his fists together and did a giant roundhouse swing into the shield. The impact rang through the helicopter, as well as sending Aly spinning backwards through the air. As she flew off into the distance, Stormy hissed at her and locked two more Hellfire missiles on him.
Aly stopped and righted herself as they flew. Her eyes grew white, and then spectral air appeared on her hands and she thrust them out. Streams of green energy fired from her hands and enveloped the missiles, and Aly could actually see the energy peeling the metal off the two projectiles before they exploded ten feet from her. The shockwave sent her back another dozen feet, and Aly hunched over, taking deep breaths. Down to fumes again…but she couldn't give up…
And then Stormy was flying through the smoke, and Aly yelped and dove down and away at the last second to avoid Stormy ramming the front of the helicopter right into her. She turned and swooped towards the street…
The first several gunshots barely missed her…thing was, these shots were coming from the street. Aly yelped and turned around.
"FREEZE! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!"
Magix's finest had finally arrived, a squadron of cop cars all parked and the police officers behind them, armed with whatever they had. And despite their yell, it was clear they were there to shoot first and ask questions later, as they opened fire on Aly. She zoomed to the side and flew along the building, not sure what to do…
And then Stormy lowered herself down near the ground at the end of the street. Naturally, the cops noticed the machine, and most started shooting at it. Aly's eyes widened at this.
"Argh. More fucking interference!" Stormy cursed, and started down the street, the bullets bouncing off the armour and even off the clear surface of her cockpit. Whatever it was made of, it wasn't glass.
"No! No!" Aly yelled, and then hse flew down. "Her armour is…ACK!" Aly squawked as the several officers close to her turned and started shooting at her. Can you blame them? They were scared out of their wits. Aly flew up to avoid the shots and saw Stormy was getting close.
"RUN! RUN! SHE'LL KILL YOU!" Aly screamed, but her scream was lost in the sound of the helicopter approaching. Not knowing what else to do, she dug down deep again and unleashed another great air blast at the copter.
It didn't stop her, and as the reflection caught Aly and sent her flying across the street, crashing back first into another building's brick façade, Stormy activated her chain gun at the same time. Finally getting it, the cops ran for their lives as Stormy fired the chain gun into their cars, destroying them like they were toys. Officers ran and dove and in some case flew as the street was consumed with explosions.
Aly pulled herself off the building, but she was dazed and unable to react…so when Stormy flew from the smoke and turned to avoid hitting the place Aly was, the wind from the rotors blew her backwards and down another street. Stormy had briefly forgotten about Aly: her current target was the second battalion of cops that had been parked on the other side of the street she had just blown Aly down. These were a few more cop cars and two SWAT vans, with several dozen officers ready and waiting, and they greeted Stormy was heavy firepower.
Not that it mattered: nothing short of a rail gun was going to put a dent in her vehicle. Stormy smiled that terrible smile again, and then armed two more missiles.
"Gonna make it rain PORK RINDS!" She crowed.
"NOOOOO!" Aly screamed as the missiles launched, and she tried to hit them with a pair of blasts, but she couldn't get the angle right, and the blasts missed. All Aly could do was watch in horror as the missiles flew down and detonated in amongst the officers and vehicles, everything being consumed in explosions.
"No…" Aly whispered. They'd just been doing their job, without any superpowers…how could she have failed…
The smoke cleared.
Stormy's eyes widened.
Where she expected to see a smoking crater, there was instead a massive dome of black energy, a dome that tore apart to reveal a group of very stunned police officers looking at the purple cloaked floating girl who had appeared in their midst.
"Sorry guys, I need to borrow these." Dani said, as she raised her arms. "Shadows…"
The police cars and SWAT trucks became encased in black energy. "KNIT…" The vehicles began to rise into the air, and finally realizing they were out of their league, the officers all began clearing out. "SU!"
And the automobiles flew at Stormy.
"Fuck a duck." Stormy said.
The vehicle barrage sent the copter into its craziest spin yet, but even as the aircraft went nuts and Aly's heart leapt into her throat again, Dani wasn't done. Her eyes glowing ever brighter, she thrust her hands out. A black energy claw shot from a nearby building, an absolutely gigantic one, reaching and grabbing the copter, and before Stormy knew what was happening Dani yanked her arms up and the claw hurled the helicopter into the air like a football. Stormy shrieked as her machine flew upward, doing all kinds of crazy moves that came dangerously close to sending the vehicle completely out of control. In the end, though, she did, so Dani reverted back to her previous plan, which could be summed up in the monosyllabic words of another universe's superhero: HULK SMASH.
Aly flew up next to Dani, and she glanced at her, her hood having blown back at some point during the battle oh well it had been coated in blood anyway.
"Your plan?" She asked.
"I…smash her shield…but I'm…tired…" Aly said.
Dani's hand was suddenly gripping Aly's front, and in the next few seconds Alyy suddenly felt a lot better. She wasn't back in tip-top shape, but she certainly felt she could go a few more rounds, and she looked at Dani.
"What did you do?"
"Took some of your exhaustion into my own body. Don't worry, I've got energy to BURN." Dani said, as Stormy finally found her targets again. Her little trip had put her back into a screaming mad rage.
"JUST DIE!" she shrieked as she opened up with the chain gun. Aly and Dani flew apart from each other, the bullets flying where they had just been. Aly did an ultra quick circle around the copter and let loose with a storm of griffin claws, staying away so she didn't get hit by the echo effect, and then Dani, having done a slower circle, fired a huge black energy bolt after her, smashing the helicopter back. Stormy screamed and fired off two missiles: Aly took them out before they reached Dani as she fired several follow up shadow blasts. Stormy blasted at her with the chain gun, but she disappeared into a portal of dark power, and then Aly lanced in, ramming both her feet into the front of the copter and sending it into another spin even as she flew off into the distance from the recoil. Stormy screamed wordless curses, and when Aly showed up in front of her when she righted the helicopter again, Stormy fired off a missile. Dani didn't move this time: instead she reached out with her right hand. The missile became encased in dark power, yet continued to fly at Dani.
Who waved her hand slightly to the right, even as she jerked her head to the left. The missile passed right next to her shoulder, flying past her due to the slight nudge she had given it, and as it flew on behind her, Dani clenched her fist. The missile was crushed, and then exploded, as Dani looked at Stormy with a classic "That all you got?" look.
Stormy screamed and fired off another missile.
Dani raised both her hands this time and did several quick motions. A black portal of energy appeared before her, and the missile flew into it, disappearing from sight. Sizzle blinked, and then Dani raised her hands and the portal appeared over her, and the missile flew back out, heading straight for Stormy.
"NOT THIS AGAIN!"
The missile hit, the helicopter spun, Stormy cursed, the usual. By now the computer was constantly telling her the helicopter should exit combat soon, it was in dire need of repairs, but Stormy ignored it as she fought with the stick and managed to get the helicopter righted.
And found herself staring at Dani and Aly, back to back, each holding out an arm towards her.
"…Well gosh." Stormy said, out of curses.
Dani and Aly fired, a blast of grey and black power that combined into one mammoth strike that smashed into the front of the helicopter. Forget a spin: the helicopter did its best impression of a Beyblade as smoke exploded from the machine again, as it staggered, and then started heading for the ground, finally on the verge of crashing.
"DAMMIT FUCK! COMPUTER, HELP ME OUT HERE!" Stormy screamed as she tried to get her falling metal bird its wings back.
"Please insert toast!" The computer chimed merrily.
"WHAT?"
"Mrs. Trix, you know I wasn't built to bend that way!"
"What the fuck is YOUR problem?"
"Please press Control-Alt-Delete!" The computer merrily replied.
"Great, the comp's been knocked loopy. The girls always have to do all the heavy lifting alone." Stormy cursed. She was just about to pass the tops of the tall buildings of Amity Park: from there it was only a short distance to the street and a big boom, but Stormy wasn't going to let that happen, as she wrestled and yanked at the controls so hard she was lucky she didn't rip them right out of the helicopter.
And, by whatever dark god was watching over her, she managed to get the helicopter under control. She flew back up a few feet, unable to see how badly battered and burned the outside of the machine was, but she didn't much care. What she cared about was the two targets that had swung down in front of her when they realized she wasn't going to crash. She ground her teeth…and then, looking behind them, she had an idea.
"I think a few more knocks on the shield should do it in. I'll make those knocks." Dani said, as she raised her hands.
And then two more missiles were flying at the pair.
"I think she'd rather slam the door in our faces!" Aly said, as she concentrated. More spectral air exploded on his hands, and a blast knocked the missile from the air, sending it crashing into the street. A strange feeling flowed through Aly at that, and she knew what it meant: ok kid, we gave you your final burst, but we're tired and we're going to go home. Just a warning. Dani, meanwhile, had grabbed the second missile and ripped it apart.
And then the second volley came.
And went over their heads.
"WHAT THE?" Aly yelled, as she turned and saw the missiles fly on…right towards the skyscraper whose rooftop Stormy had nearly chopped Aly to pieces on. Aly's eyes widened.
"She's aiming for people!" She yelled.
"Ah, the sadistic choice. I love my job." Stormy said, and commanded the struts to reload. "How many missiles do I have left?"
"Um chomp chomp munch…sorry, you caught me eating…" The computer said.
"NUMBER OF MISSILES LEFT!"
"Archie Andrews is the smartest student in Riverdale High! He has an IQ of 638!"
"TELL ME OR YOU'LL GET A FIRST HAND LOOK AT THE INSIDE OF A VOLCANO!"
Forget it!" Stormy said: she figured she was almost out…though she'd just been using the Hellfires so far, she hadn't used the Sidewinders yet…
At the moment though, Aly was more concerned about the Hellfires, the ones that were flying towards the office building that might have been emptied by now but could very well still have a bunch of employees inside being slave driven by a bunch of a cruel, empty headed CEO's and she turned to ask Dani what they should do…
And found she was gone.
"………Oh." Aly said, automatically knowing she was on her own again.
The building was indeed still full of employees…some of who had begun noticing the missiles heading towards them, but just before panic could start, Dani appeared from the shadows in their midst, looking around to verify, yes, there were a bunch of people there and if she didn't do something they were all dead as they began to scream…
"DAAMMMMNNNNNN!" Dani cursed, and thrust out her hands. A massive shield of black energy appeared in front of several of the building's floors.
The missiles slammed into them, and the windows behind the shield exploded as the shockwave rang through the shield and through Dani. She staggered back, and then the shield disappeared as glass fell to the ground in a shower and all the employees gaped in amazement at what had just happened.
"Sometimes…I hate being nice…" Dani said, and then she fell on her back again, out of it.
Aly, meanwhile, had turned back to Stormy, and with her missiles being reloaded she reverted to the chain gun. Aly dodged upward and fired off another stream of griffin blasts, knocking the helicopter back…and the feeling flowed through her again.
It was time.
Aly knew it. Strangely, she wasn't afraid. In fact, she felt rather peaceful, as she flew up to a nearby roof. She knew Stormy would be following her, but she didn't care, as she reached behind her and unstrapped the Incapacitator, laying it down on the ground. She looked at her boot, and saw that yes, The Mini Witch Catcher was back. Aly removed it and laid it down…
And circles of power appeared over her, sliding over her form and returning her to Alianne Paladin.
Human once more, and out of miracles this time. If she survived this battle, it would be as how she was born. She picked up the Incapacitator and Witch Catcher and began backing up.
She had just about hit the edge of the roof when she heard it, and then Stormy rose up before her.
She cocked her head. The girl was human again. And she wasn't running.
Instead, as Stormy appeared, Aly raised the hand holding the Mini Witch Catcher and made a "come on" motion, or maybe in the words of Dwayne Johnson, "Just Bring It".
Stormy smirked. Well, ask and ye shall receive…
"And may this send you to hell so fast you're there an hour before the devil knows you're dead." Stormy said, as her latest set of Hellfires finished arming. She locked four onto Aly Paladin.
"I won't die." Aly said.
"Says who?" Stormy replied, and fired.
The missiles fired.
And wind caught Aly's hair and clothes as the another ship rose up from behind Aly, a metal orange guardian angel, as Stormy's eyes budged out.
"Says us." Sky replied.
Lasers fired from the Ship and blew up the missiles in mid air.
"Surprise, surprise!" Timmy whooped from the other cockpit. "Now little lady, let me show you what a REAL pilot can do!" The teen genius said, even as he repeated a gesture Stormy had done roughly a million times in the past 30 minutes: flip open a shield on her pilot stick and press a button.
Twin beams fired from the Ship and struck the copter, and Stormy yelped/screamed as the whole thing started shaking like a caffeine addict in need of a hit.
"Seismic blasters! Booyah!" Brandon whooped.
"Brandon, that's to destroy rock! What good is it going to do on an aircraft?"Timmy asked.
"Besides making it shake like a space shuttle? Well, nothing, but I'll bet the bitch isn't happy!"
Indeed, Stormy was not, as she cursed and spat, trying to get her machine to stop shaking. By now she was used to spinning and jerking, but not being shook like she was a Christmas present.
"Whoo! Shake it up baby! Twist and shout!" The computer said.
"SHUT UP!" Stormy yelled.
Aly was turning to look up at the Ship when a small part of the underside slid open and a strange purple beam slid out. It was rather more like water then a beam, as it flowed over to Aly and then suddenly she was encased in it, albeit not painfully.
"Huh?" Aly said.
"That's our tractor beam Aly." Riven said, spooking Aly as it sounded like he was speaking right into her ear (in reality it was a miniaturized radio transmitter that Riven had fired onto her shoulder while the tractor beam was emerging). "It'll get you out of harm's way…though I'm afraid it won't be a fun trip…"
"Huh…" Aly said, and then found herself jerked off her feet as the Ship turned around. "Aw man, NOT THIS AGAIN!"
The Ship flew off, dragging poor Aly under it, as Stormy finally recovered from her little experience as a macarana, and with a snarling scream she took off after the Ship.
"She's on us." Timmy said.
"Opening up line of communication." Sky said from her cockpit.
Stormy jerked back when her glass screen suddenly opened up a see-through hologram of Sky sitting in her chair.
"This is our only offer Stormy." Sky said as the Ship turned onto a new street, making the turn a lot smoother then Stormy did. "Surrender now, and we'll try and get you help. Keep trying to kill us, and suffer complete and utter destruction. There is no Door Number 3." Sky said calmly, look at his own vid screen of Stormy sitting in her cockpit (one of the things Tecna had done while flying over here was preparing a hacked communication line to be zapped into Stormy's aircraft).
Stormy, for a moment, seemed stunned.
And then, as she turned the corner that the Ship just had, that smile broke out again, the kind a famous character who stole Christmas might have been able to make if he was also the bastard love child of the Marquis De Sade…and suffering from rabies.
"Complete and utter destruction? SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!" Stormy yelled, as she finally slid her hands over to a button she hadn't had a chance to use yet. AIM-9 Sidewinders are air to air missiles, and the Hellfires had been working fine for the girl, so Stormy had kept up with those, but now she had a proper air target, and with a yell that was part joy and part violent fury, she launched the four Sidewinders at the Ship.
"You're a mean one, Mrs. Bitch." Sky muttered, and then his chair rotated 180 degrees so he could see behind him, switching the piloting fully over to Timmy. Aly was yammering at him, but he didn't have time for that so he pressed a few buttons on his dashboard and switched it to Riven. Let HIM deal with it.
"Bogies on our ass Sky!" Riven yelled over the personal com link they shared.
"I see them." Sky replied calmly.
"Well do something about them!" Brandon yelled as the missiles flew in close on his radar.
"Just…a…min…launching flares!" Sky said, as he pressed a button. Bright red lights fired from the back of the Ship, and the Sidewinders immediately changed direction and went for them, the explosion ringing out behind the Ship as it flew around a corner…
"Wait, I don't think our bogey was still behind us." Sky said.
And then, at the end of the street the T-Ship was currently flying down, Stormy came roaring around the corner.
"That's because SHE'S IN FRONT OF US!" Tecna yelled.
"Second course!" Stormy said, as she fired off a new quartet of Sidewinders.
"Put us in reverse." Sky said as he spun back to face the front of their plane. He flicked several switches, and then his cockpit rose up from the Ship slightly as twin guns extended from the new bulge that had appeared below him. Controls slid into his hands.
"All right, let's see if all those hours of Wing training can be useful." Sky said, and began firing small, concentrated lasers. Two of the missiles went up in flames almost immediately, but the third and forth proved tricky and elusive, even as the Ship was rapidly running out of room to back up.
"Argh! They're coming in too fast!" Sky said, and then winced as he realized what he had just said. He continued to fire at the missiles, but he just couldn't hit them.
"Less then fifty feet until impact!" Tecna yelled, in regards to their backing up.
"Ah fuck this." Riven said, as he reached over and flipped a few switches, changing his controls from the lasers to the seismic blasters, which he pointed at a 30 degree angle and fired, right into the ground. The ground erupted in a mass of rocks and dirt…that the missiles flew right into and crashed, exploding.
"Ah. My motto has always been, be prepared." Riven said.
"I thought that was the Boy Scout's motto." Sky replied.
"The little creeps stole it from me! Remind me to sue!"
"Yeah well, the big creep is heading right for us!" Brandon said, indicating the helicopter.
"180 degree spin, full thrusters. I'm going to drop off the Aly." Tecna said, as she began undoing her harness.
"What do you mean…"
Tecna formed goggles over her eyes and then she actually opened her cockpit window. The rushing air tore at her as she stood up and placed her hands on the side, and then rungs of a digital ladder appeared across and under the ship. Since the material stuck to her hands and feet like the greatest glue ever invented, and Tecna could hold her body close to the ship with other lines, she had no problems crawling under the ship and to where Aly was still getting dragged by the tractor beam. Her eyes widened.
"Has Marvel ever considered a lawsuit, considering how much you people rip them off?" Aly yelled. Tecna ignored the comment, as she took one hand off the "rungs" and more digital lines fired from it, wrapping around Aly.
"Ok Aly, one question. Can you turn back?" Tecna asked. Aly looked at Tecna, seeing how her face and shirt collar were still crusted with blood from the knock she had taken, and she shook her head.
"Ok then. We are going to set you down, don't worry, you'll be fine! Then, we are going to smash the shield around that damn machine! Then we'll deal with Stormy! Understand?"
"What about the…!" Aly yelled back.
"No time! Good luck Aly!" Tecna yelled, and then suddenly the purple energy holding Aly disappeared and she found herself falling towards the ground, wrapped up in green energy…and then she jerked to a stop just before she hit, and then the energy was gone, and she fell the last few feet to the ground, landing on her feet. Deciding that it wouldn't be in the best if Stormy saw him, Aly quickly hid on the roof, and watched the smoking, banged up copter fly over and past her. She sighed and decided that all she could do now was pray.
"The package has been delivered." Tecna said as she slipped back into the cockpit.
"Ok, shall we proceed with the plan?" Brandon asked.
"Yes. On your mark." Sky said.
"Beginning separation." Timmy said.
"Ok you fucks, let's see…" Stormy was saying, and then she gaped at the Ship twisted a bit, and then one of the wings actually broke off and flew off on its own. The wing sprouted a few new extensions, and suddenly it was an aircraft all by itself. The remaining, larger piece spouted a few new parts as well to help it keep flying. Suddenly, Stormy found herself faced with not one but two attackers, both looking like ship designs rejected for Star Wars. One held the boys the other held the girls
"All right Riven. You shake, I'll bake." Musa said.
"Oh, don't you think that choice of words would be bad luck?" Came a new voice, and Musa looked down to see Stormy's face had appeared on her vid-screen. She grimaced slightly: stupid girl figured out how to reverse the communication line. Well, no matter: if she decided to yell at her she'd block her out.
"No, we find it quite apt." Tecna said.
And then Timmy flew in and fired a line of small but potent laser blasts along Stormy's side. Stormy forgot what she was going to say to Tecna and tried to turn, her connection cutting out…only to find Timmy was now behind her, pelting her with more shots. Stormy snarled and tried to lock onto her, but he was already flying away…and then Tecna flew in, three double-barreled cannons booming as they fired several power shots into the copter. The inside of the cockpit erupted with sparks, and Stormy screamed.
"Argh! What the fuck do I do?"
"Infiltrate the building. Destroy Metal Gear!" The computer told her. The only reason Stormy didn't melt it right then and there was because Timmy was flying back, buzzing her with more blasts. She tried locking onto her, but she was just too quick, zipping in and out, and before she knew it he was flown off again and Tecna had come by for another strafe. The cockpit filled with sparks again, and Stormy, having run out of curses, started inventing new ones.
"Fuckers…think…wait…" Stormy said, as she saw she was in the middle of a very long street. Timmy had flown down one end of it and was zipping towards her.
Then she had an idea.
"Booyah baby, you can't see us!" Brandon said, actually taking a hand away from his controls to wave them in front of his face.
Her words proved prophetic, as Stormy literally couldn't see her: she was turning the copter away from her. Brandon arched an eyebrow, but he couldn't do anything as he was too close, so he zoomed under Stormy, firing a few shots into her underside with his rotating cannon, and flew on.
And then his cockpit alarms went off, and his remaining veins filled with ice as he realized what Stormy had done: turned herself around so she could get a lock on him the second he flew past her.
"Oh shit! Girls, I think I may be in trouble here!" Sky yelled, as Tecna swooped in behind Stormy.
"Stay on target." Stormy replied, meaning keep doing what you were doing. Stormy had a near perfect aim at the helicopter's tail rotor: if she managed to hit it with all three of her cannons even the extremely tough armor wouldn't protect it from being blown off, and without the tail, the machine would go into a spin and crash.
"Guys I'm not kidding! This thing has weak armour, I could be blown to bits!"
"STAY ON TARGET." Tecna said through clenched teeth of concentration.
"There once was some nerds who thought they could fly, why oh why did they think they could fly…I guess they'll die." Stormy sang, and fired off four more Sidewinders.
"AH! GUYS! REALLY! HELP!"
"STAY ON TARGET…" Tecna said, more to herself, as she almost had everything lined up…
"DAMMIT TECNA! I SAID I NEED HELP!"
"….Right. Damn it." Tecna said as she broke the lock and zoomed over Stormy, switching the lock to the missiles chasing the guys. Three simultaneous shots took out three of them, but there was no time to stop the forth, and it slammed into the guys. Their yells rang through Tecna's ears, as the Wing flew out of a cloud of smoke, lurching and looking ready to crash.
And the girls were suddenly aware that the copter had flown up behind them.
"SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" Stormy crowed, and opened up with the chain gun. Bullets tore through the Main, and Tecna cursed as she twisted the controls and tried to get away. She did, but not before getting riddled fairly badly…
And then one of the bullets pierced through the cockpit, and for a second that seemed like a year, they was sharing the same small space as a rapidly bouncing 30mm round…and then, almost on its own, a green glow sprang out of one of Tecna's eyes and grabbed the shattered but still deadly bullet…right before it was about to go through Musa's head.
"You ok Guys?" Musa asked as the ship reformed.
"Dammit Guys I know how you think, but don't be pulling that shit with me!" Riven cursed back. Musa sighed.
"Sorry. Tactical error."
"Yeah but…uh oh! Our friend is back!" Sky said, as the Ship was joined from behind by the copter.
"Take over the flight, I used up all the flares so I'll have to manually shoot down the missiles." Musa said, as she prepared to activate her personal gunning cockpit again.
There was a loud crackling noise and a curse from Timmy.
"What was that?"
"Something's wrong! I can't recalibrate the flight controls to me! Something must have been damaged by the missiles!" Timmy cursed.
"You mean I have to fly AND run defence?" Musa replied.
Laughing, Stormy fired off four more missiles.
"YES!" They yelled. Musa only sighed.
And as they turned the corner for a new street, she spun around and left the cockpit as she flew out going Winx before she hit the ground
Another missile finally went up, the third followed quickly. Musa glanced at Stormy to see if she was planning to send any more friends, and not seeing anything, she turned back to the forth missile, and closing one eye, she lined up a shot…
Boom, up in flames it went. Feeling satisfied, Musa flew away.
Stormy watched them go up as she stopped at the helicopter's base, and then she snorted and twisted the stick, flying off to the side. She'd circle for a bit, and if they didn't come down, she'd go back to hunting for the girl…
"I take it all back! You're a…hey, how long are we going to keep going straight up?" Riven said.
"Another four seconds." Tecna replied. "And Riven, really. When this is done, you can yell. Ok?"
"Uh…" Riven said, having lost his train of thought, and then the engines cut off. "Oh no, please tell me you did that."
"I did." Tecna replied. "Ok Guys, we have a few seconds of hang time, let's review."
"Review what? It can sum it up in two words: NOTHING WORKEE! Who built that thing, Hephaestus?" Brandon cursed. "That shield just won't break, and neither will that armour! Missiles don't work! Lasers don't work! Cannons didn't work, the Sun bolts didn't work… and I need to see if Stella is okay, thrown cars, whatever that Aly kid uses, NOTHING! I don't know what kind of impact would be needed to break that shield, but I doubt we have it!"
Tecna, Musa and Timmy didn't reply.
"Guys? You still conscious?" Sky asked.
"Yeah." Timmy replied: by now the front end of the ship was starting to tilt down, the motion the front heavy aircraft would do before it plunged back to Earth. "Just thinking. I have a plan."
"Oh really! Great!"
"And I just want to say…Guys, I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Riven replied, turning his head as she saw Musa pressing a series of buttons in her cockpit. "What do you mean you're…"
And then the roof hatch exploded off.
"SORRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!" Riven screamed as his chair suddenly ignited and flew out of the Ship, Musa having manually activated his ejector seat.
"Sorry Guys." Musa and Tecna replied as they pressed a few more buttons, and then, instead of extending out, their cockpit actually retracted into the Ship, the cockpit in the middle doing likewise. Several seconds later, Musa and Tecna emerged in the middle one, as the ship plummeted back to Magix.
"I didn't want to do that, but you'd never let me do this with you on board." Tecna said, and reignited the jets, flying back down to Magix.
They were doing her own flying, as their chairs flew up and through the air, and the guys, finally realizing what Musa and Tecna had pulled, started cursing again.
"You know Musa, I love you girl BUT YOUR BULLSHIT PLANS NEED A OF WORK!" Riven yelled, as he prepared to pull the cord that would activate his parachute. "And furthermore…!"
Riven pulled the cord.
And it came off in his hand.
Riven stared at it.
"That can't be good."
And then the chair broke apart. Stormy's lone missile had done more damage then Riven had known, or anyone else, and before Riven knew what had happened the entire framework had disintegrated, taking Riven's parachute with it and leaving him in freefall.
"Riven here. I am currently 1500 feet above this city, with no parachute, no jets, and since I am currently reaching terminal velocity, no way to grab or grapple anything without ripping my arm off, so, if there are any fliers in the vicinity, I could use an immediate pickup, as I would like to remind you that without any of the three aforementioned items I am incapable of flying. AT ALL!" Riven yelled as she plunged past the top of Magix skyscrapers. "NOW WOULD BE GOOD!"
The street rushed up…
"AHHHHH FUUUCCCKKKKK!"
And black energy appeared beneath Riven. The next second, he was gone.
Aly hadn't been able to observe much of the battle: the two machines kept flying behind buildings and she had lost both of them about two minutes ago. So, while frantically trying to find them, you can forgive her for being immensely shocked when a portal opened up near her and Dani stepped out with Riven.
"AHHHUUUHHHHH!" Riven said: being stopped from terminal velocity by some kind of mystical mumbo jumbo wasn't the most pleasant thing.
"Yikes! What are you doing here? I thought you were in the plane!" Aly said.
"Operative word being WERE, DAMMIT MUSA!" Riven yelled, as he pulled away from Dani, looking at her arm. "I am going to tell you even IF you have me blocked…"
"I think she's busy." Dani said, and Riven turned to follow her pointing finger.
Musa had appeared on a street in the distance to the far right, Stormy having found her and once again on his tail, firing at her with the chain gun, but Tecna quickly outran it, turned the Ship along a street that ran horizontally parallel to the one the they were standing over, which allowed them to see what was happening, and zipped all the way to the end of the street (one thing the Ship had over the Copter: speed).
"What's she doing?" Aly asked.
"Not sure, but if he had to eject me…" Riven began.
"Are you there people?" Musa suddenly said from Dani's communicator, and everyone jumped. Dani managed to unhook her communicator to use before one of them grabbed it.
"Musa, what are…"
"Are all civilians evacuated from the area below?" Musa asked.
"What?"
"Are all civilians evacuated from the area below?" Tecna repeated.
"Well…I believe so guys." Dani said.
"Good." Musa said, and signed off.
And then the ship did an abrupt U-Turn as Stormy came around the corner in the Copter. Aly's eyes widened.
"What's she doing?"
Tecna watched as the helicopter came fully into her view, the aircraft so battered and banged up and yet still flying. But they knew what would bring it down.
And they knew the cost of their choices to use that tactic. But…they felt they had no other choice. It had to be done, and they would do it.
They recalled how Timmy had said it, and a wistful, yet sad look appeared on Tecna's face.
"Yeah…funny how it gets in the blood."
And then she hit the afterburners.
"……Oh god she's playing chicken." Riven said.
"WHAT? NO! NOOOOOO!" Aly yelled as she grabbed Dani's communicator and flipped it open: the short time between the ending of the last conversation and this one automatically re-opened the channel.
Musa turned off the link and blocked the communicator, turning cold eyes towards her target as it approached her. Despite Aly's fear, they knew exactly what they were doing. This street was closely hemmed in: to dodge her, Stormy had to move, and there was no way to move quickly upward and no way to move sideways without crashing. Which is what they wanted: she was certain a crash would take care of that damn shield.
Aly didn't much care how determined Musa was not to screw up though, as she screamed and threw the communicator away, and she reached deep within herself and tried to find the power to go winx again, to stop this…
But though the spirit was willing, perhaps as willing as any woman or girl had ever been in the ages…the flesh was completely, utterly beat. Sometimes, no matter how much you want it, you just can't change things.
"STOP THEM! THEY'LL KILL HER!" Aly screamed.
"I dunno about that, but what the HELL! GUYS! THAT IS TOO DAMN RISKY! STOP! STOP!" Riven yelled into his arm communicator: if they heard him they did not reply.
The see-through viewscreen flicked on across the girl's cockpit shield, revealing the battered but determined face of Stormy, her features glittering with a mad joy.
"Well, look who it is! The faeries have decided to play chicken!" Stormy said, as the two vehicles approached each other above the broken, wreckage strewed street. "It looks like your higher ideals to protect innocent victims to your friends, I see!"
They didn't answer, as the two ships bore down on each other. Stormy's mad joy faded a bit, replaced by a more sociopathic determination.
"Whatever you may think of me shit head, know THIS: I AM A WARRIOR. If you are expecting me to blink, FORGET IT." Stormy snarled, as the Ship flew at her, and Stormy pushed the throttle to make her own forward charge.
They said nothing, Tecna's eyes hard and her hands not wavering from the controls.
The two aircrafts were now less then five seconds from impact.
And Stormy chuckled.
"Well now, I guess you've made up your mind." Stormy chuckled. "I'll see you in hell."
Three seconds to impact…
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Aly screamed.
Two seconds…
"Damn." They said.
And she yanked the Ship in an insanely tight turn, pulling it up on it's side and just managing to get through the gap between the copter and the building, their glass dome literally a millimetre from the glass of the skyscraper, and then it was past the Copter and turning a few rapid spins as it flew off, even as Stormy yanked the throttle and spun the helicopter in a tight circle so her front was facing the fleeing back end of the Ship.
"Funny…" Stormy said, "In the end I'm the one with the stones."
And she locked her missiles and fired.
"AH FUCKKKKKK!" Riven yelled as she saw the new cluster of missiles, both Hellfire and Sidewinder, twelve in all, launch from the copter and head after the Ship. "Musa… YOU IDIOT!"
"Oh no. If your plane gets hit and goes down in a populated area, it'll kill hundreds! You have to stop the missiles!" Aly yelled, and almost grabbed Dani and threw her off the building before she pulled her hand away.
"If we leave Stormy alone, the same if more innocents will be at risk, not to mention you Aly." Dani said.
"WHAT? You're saying because of your so called leader's tactical error people are dead either way?" Aly said.
"I didn't say that." Dani replied.
"Could very well be Dani: we already used up all the flares. I doubt Tecna can fly and shoot them all down, and if she can't do that eventually the missiles are either going to hit her or something else."
"Yeah, if Riven's girlfriend used up all the anti-missile defences, what's she going to do now?" Aly asked.
Dani's face was hard.
"Their job."
Tecna looked at the radar screen that informed her that no less then twelve bogies were on her tail, and she was now over a non-evacuated area of Magix. So even if she engaged in acrobatic fanciness, the missiles had to hit something if they missed her.
Musa eyes sharing the same hard look Dani's had, she made their choice. This was her bed and she was going to lie in it, as she reached over and pressed a few buttons, even as she did a tight turn and headed for a lake in a nearby park. She'd have to time this perfectly.
"Activating autopilot." Tecna said, as she started going over the lake. "Maximum evasive manoeuvres. Activate primary ejector seat on my mark. 2. 1. Mark." Tecna said.
The cockpit exploded and Tecna and Musa flew up into the air. She waited two seconds and then used her powers to rip herself out of the ejector seat and its life saving parachute, and as she began to fall her wings flowed out from her back.
Her magic lashed out, the energy forming into a blade and whipping at high speed, ripping a huge gouge along the side of the first missile and screwing up the computer system that controlled its flight and explosive properties, causing the missile to nosedive into the lake without detonating. Musa adjusted the her powers as much as she could within half a second and then lashed out again, this time with so much force she cut straight through the second missile's body as both pieces twisted violently due to the sudden change and fell into the lake. Three and four passed on each side of him, as she lashed out with magic and ripped into their guts as they flew by, careful not to touch the nose, touching the nose was bad, as it would send the signal to detonate and if any of the missiles blew while she was nearby she'd be so much hamburger, as the fifth missile was flying right at her except she was dropping under it as she swung her magic up and looped around the middle to yank herself back up into the air, even as her magic contracted around the thin steel frame of the weapon and sent it crashing into the lake, even as Tecna flew back up and missiles six, seven, and eight were passing underneath her almost in a straight line and she nailed all three with one vicious lash, and even as those missiles were flying apart and into the lake Tecna was falling, and then landing, right on the ninth missile, and her digital powers were shooting from her feet and piercing right through the missile even as she was leaping again, just making it under the tenth missile and looping a line around it to swing to the eleventh, even as her digital strand around the tenth contracted and crushed the booster, even as Tecna swung out for the eleventh…
And miscalculated the angle, causing the magic to thunk against the nose.
The missile exploded in mid-air, but it was still out over the lake, so there were no people to get blown up or sliced up by shrapnel…just Tecna… Musa was to high up, as the shockwave threw her through the air like a rag doll, and away from the last missile, as it zipped by and started reaching the end of the lake, where it could fly on and shoot the Ship and bring the whole thing down right in the middle of a city street…
A brief pause.
The missile detonated underwater, and if anyone had taken a picture they would have truly gotten one for the ages: Musa on the rock, back dropped by a gigantic plume of water, staring at what she had wrought, at what she had managed to do.
A hero.
But only because she was a fool.
Musa lowered her arms as the waterspout falls back into the lake, taking deep breaths. Her limbs burn from her efforts…but she doesn't care.
Because in the sudden silence after Musa's latest James Bond on steroids stunt, she can still hear it in the distance: the helicopter, the one she had tried to fool into crashing so the shield would be disabled… except Stormy hadn't blinked.
Musa growled and hopped off the rock, walking past the gathering people, She looked at a man who had pulled out a cell phone.
"Tell the police there are still ten undetonated warheads in that body of water, don't let anyone NEAR them. Tell them the BOBS will swing by to clean them up later." Musa said.
"What?" The man replied.
Musa didn't answer, as she started to run, heading back towards the battle.
"Are you ready for this?"
"Yeah… so let's go Winx and end this bull,"
"Works for me."