[Opening: Nujabes - Battlecry]
FusionFall Infinite
Season 3
Spiral Arc Part 6
Chapter 22: On the Run
Two days after the events of the fall apart of the Sosa drug empire, Spinel did not take her source of cocaine being taken away rather well. She was nothing but frustrated. The Butterfly slaves were all walking on eggshells around her, terrified she would torture them. She nearly whipped Star's eye out over spilling some tea. Now Moon had a lash on her back, leaving her unable to work. She shielded her daughter, and Spinel was seething. Star was terrified at what Spinel would do to her. Star was in her room trying to sleep as the patter of rain was outside. Thunder rumbling and lightning flashed.
"Why can't I sleep?" Star thought as lightning flashed revealing a shadow.
Star's eyes went to pinpricks as she felt a breath before felt a hand go through her hair.
"Queen Spinel, please…I'm sorry…I" Star said weakly.
"Oh, Star. You'll make it up to be…" Spinel said sickeningly sick. "Won't you?"
Star fearfully nodded, but, before Spinel could move, the door opened to show Solaria.
"My Queen. I have news concerning your search for quality cocoaine. There's a seller down south in Cabo, Mexico. They'll only sell to you if you go down there yourself." Solaria said holding the paper with the information. "I have the de-"
Spinel shoved Solaria aside taking the paper and leaving Star to sigh in relief. Solaria's actions few to a bit of relief as Spinel vanished from the castle in pursuit of cocaine.
-o-
Warper's Log, it's been a few weeks. Spinel's gone bonkers thanks to our little coke bust. Things have gone bad…because she knows it was us who did it. She's gone off the deep end…declaring war on CN-Zen Kuro of all things. Marco, at least, has help to keep the Metsu Emerald hidden, but we're running out of time. Spinel's instability is affecting the planet…
Maylene ceased writing in her diary as Enid came back from her food run. They hastily ate both looking a bit drained. Spinel put a personal hit out on the two of them forcing them to camp in wooded areas or in their cars.
"We're close to Neo-California." Enid said as Maylene hissed.
"We'd be there weeks ago if not for the fuckers in our way." Maylene said fuming.
"They're just desparate." Enid said getting in her car. "If we go now, we'll make it by nightfall."
Maylene got to her own car just glad they were able to steal fuel for them both earlier as they took off into the evening lit roads. Maylene had called up Marco to let them know they were coming and where to meet.
"Echo Creek High." Marco flatly said. "And a far warning, you won't be able to get through roadways by car. You'll have to fly in."
He hung up with explaining as Maylene drifted to a car causing to do so in tow. Maylene got out slinging her bag on her shoulders before capualizing her car shoving it her pocket. Enid did the same asking what was going on.
"We'll need to fly. Seems Marco's warning us the roads aren't safe." Maylene said fiddling with her Omnitrix. "But I got an idea. Thankfully, I'm been using the Galvan form to work on dealing with some of the programming issues in my Omnitrix."
"And you somehow didn't completely botch the attempts."
"I wasn't able to fix the A.I. being a complete ass to me, but I nixed the randomizer. Even added proper voice command and access to a few more aliens." Maylene said. "Omnitrix, transform me into a Kineceleran."
[Cues: EeMu – cold]
In a flash, Maylene triggered her XLR8 transformation standing quite upright. She grabbed Enid as the helmet came down on her face before racing off for Neo-California. With ki sensing, it made moving at super speed rather easier as she could avoid people much easier. Plus hiding her own ki was a clinch. It would be seconds before they arrived at Echo Creek High, and Maylene returned her normal form. The school itself looked abandoned and ravaged. With a cold wind and rain descending, they went inside. The hallways were dimly lit, pieces of trash littered the ground, and graffiti was abundant.
"To think this place used to be so full of life…" Enid remarked. "Spinel did a number on this world and this universe."
"Yes and no, not all universes can handle the truth and secrets out in the open. Ignorance is bliss for many. By the way, Enid, do you sense anything?" Maylene asked.
"A few low powers around, but nothing threatening." Enid said as Maylene ushered her into an empty classroom. "You as may call."
Maylene immediately called Marco who was shocked to hear they were already there. Much to Maylene's annoyance, he told them to meet up at the abandoned motel outside of town. As Marco hung up on her again, Maylene growled in annoyance at that habit of his. Maylene got out the school transforming into Canonbolt before triggering the Ultimate mode to transform further. Enid grimaced at this knowing this ride was not going to be a fun one. Enid was taken for a ride in Maylene's sphere form tearing through the streets and any poor fool in the way. Finding the hotel was a bit of a pain, but they found it. Maylene wordlessly opened up as Enid coughed.
[Music Ends]
"You need a bath." Enid snarked.
Maylene shifted out of the Ultimate form before returning to her human form.
"Sorry about it, Enid." Maylene said helping her partner up.
As they entered, Brittany was there to greet them.
[Cues: Suspense Theme - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]
"You came just in time." Marco said as Maylene sat that Eclipsa was doing all she had to contain the shard. "Eclipsa's running on fumes."
Maylene got out the other shard and honed her warper energy around it. Eclipsa released her hold as Maylene merged the three shards to fully reform the Red Metsu Sol Emerald.
[Music Ends]
"Finally!" Maylene said taking it up. "We can finally get the hell out of that dump of a universe!"
"What about Spinel?" Enid asked only for Maylene to roll her eyes.
"Let the pink fucker destroy herself." Maylene snarked. "We got what we came for."
"Maylene, we should at work to evacute the planet." Enid said crossing her arms glaring at her. "The planet's unstable."
Marco and the Red Decks were all glaring now at Maylene, and she promptly sighed in frustration.
"We can't even save everyone even if we wanted. If we got to Marco and united this thing weeks ago, maybe. But this place is basically fucked." Maylene said bitterly. "At the rate, Spinel's doing. I'd say…things will slowly degrade around the planet especially if she keeps spasming out."
"If so, please help me recuse my family. I can't let them stay as slaves." Eclipsa pleaded.
"I can't leave Star to that psycho." Marco said icily. "And you owe us."
Maylene begrudgingly sighed admitted that she did. She realized that her father would not just leave people behind if he can help it. Maybe she was just too pragmatic.
"There's the issue of Spinel. She's a ninth level warper….and that will be a difficult hurdle. If only we have a tenther with us. Hell, even Alex would do!" Maylene said flustered. "But I got a plan, but we'll need a way to get Spinel out of the house."
"I can meet up with Star." Marco said as Maylene had an idea.
Marco had rushed over to make a visit to Star who was equally happy to see him.
"Look, Star. I need you to do something. I need you to give Spinel a message…" Marco said only for Star to reveal that Spinel was not in the castle. "What? Then, where is she?"
"She's been on a tour of Latin America for weeks on a cocoaine binge. Why?" Star said concerned.
"I…she's been gone all this time. This is great news…we were planning to bust you out." Marco explained as Star's cheek marks weakly lit up.
"We?" Star asked.
"Listen, there's no time. Just gather your family and get here as quickly as possible." Marco said putting a hand on Star's shoulder. "Hurry."
Star had hope in her eyes. Even with Spinel being gone for so long, the idea of escape eluded them. She just needed to be reminded that it was a real option. It was hard to watch Marco out of fear something could go wrong, but she moved as if her heels were lit aflame. It did take much effort to round everyone one…for the most part. Solaria did not want to leave on account of Spinel having wand.
"Seriously, it's just a wand! We can literally craft a new one when we're far away and safe!" Star said trying to be as blunt as possible. "Please!"
"I don't know if you care, but that wand has been in my family for generations. I'm…" Solaria said only to get slapped by Moon. "But…"
Solaria was dragged out by the others. Marco awaited with a familiar face.
"What's she doing here?" Solaria said glaring at her 'former' daughter.
"Saving your necks because I want to atone for leaving you all behind. I had to protect Meteora, but I should have made an effort to come for you sooner. I simply wallowed in my hiding place. I don't ask of your forgiveness tonight, just that you work with me for us to escape." Eclispa said making her case.
Star was the only one who was a bit forgiving, but the others glared at Eclipsa as if she spoke the most offensive words in the dictionary. As the Butterflies boarded the boat, all except Star refused to even look at her. Eclipsa felt the sting, but kept quiet as she, Marco, and Star began to row them away. As they rowed, Estrella paled seeing a familiar pink trail. Spinel's ship was flying back into the garage.
"She's back already?!" Marco and Star said terrified.
"Good. I may have to sacrifice the wand but at the very least…it'll no longer be in her hands." Solaria said revealing a remote control denotater.
"Wait, at least wait until we hit the shore." Eclispa said looking at her mother with worry. "I know you're mad at me, but don't let your anger blind you to get us all killed!"
Maylene landed onto their boat telling for all them to put their hand on her. A suprirsed Marco asked why she flew out and risked getting caught.
"Because I was wrong about how much time we had. This place is destabilizing faster and it's not only due to Spinel. The Metsu Emerald being in shards has a bit too blame to." Maylene explained concerned.
"How long do we actually have?" Marco asked.
"Less than a few days. And if Spinel keeps binging on coke and flips out, well…we'll have even less time." Maylene mused. "So, hold on, and let's go!"
"I may as well give Spinel my resigination letter!" Solaria said activating the denonater. "Now teleport us out of here!"
She had used to Instant Transmission to take them away before the explosion consumed the castle. Of course, when Eclispa told Maylene what Solaria had done, Maylene had Solaria by her throat shaking her.
"Are you completely out of your mind?!" Maylene screamed. "If Spinel finds out it was because of us, she'll raze the planet to find us!"
Maylene had taken them to Enid and the others who were all packed and ready to move.
"So, what's the plan?" Tom asked.
"We're splitting up. One team will go to gather on Mustang Island, and the other will go back to Beach City to steal a ship from Sosa." Enid explained. "I'll help with that."
"I'll go get the ship alone." Maylene said sending out her Arwing out of its capsule. "I'll be fine, trust me."
"Just don't die." Enid said giving her a thumbs up.
"Don't worry, I won't." Maylene said hopping in and taking off. "But I'll have to dance with death because I'll need to divert Spinel's attention!"
Maylene piloted towards the ruins of Spinel's castle seeing the leader in question throwing a tantrum. Maylene readied a Smart Bomb took aim as Spinel was about to snort cocaine to calm down.
"Here's an intervention, you twat." Maylene said firing it as the Smart Bomb detached.
The bomb smacked Spinel right in the back of the head causing the straw she was using to snort to go up her nose before before it denonated. Spinel was able to endure the damage from the concussive shock and the second explosion that send her hurding into a crumbling wall. Spinel slumped the ground before getting up screaming demanding to know who dares before turning around to see Maylene's arwing. Putting on the loudspeaker, Maylene had a few words for Spinel.
[Cues: Star Wolf's Theme / Sector Z (for 3DS / Wii U) | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]
"Kiss my ass, you discarded plaything!" Maylene said, before taking off.
She could hear Spinel screaming letting out warper energy that rocked the land. Maylene just kept flying but her radar alerted her as Spinel was chasing over her having shapeshifted into a Western-style dragon that was flying after her.
"So, I see you took lessons from Malifcent!" Maylene said, using the rear lasers to open fire.
Spinel responded by using the Butterfly Wand to change the weather from clear to storming while dodging laser fire. Maylene hissed as she kept flying ahead lowering herself to blow through the city streets just hoping she could shake her.
"Come back here and die!" Spinel screamed, spewing out pink flames laced with the cocoaine in her system.
Maylene jerked the wheel up sending her Arwing up leaving the flames to hit a truck full of petrol. The explosion sending Maylene ship hurdling out of control even taking some damage from shards of metal. A brunt Spinel roared flying out of the fire screaming for Maylene to die. Maylene was struggling to regain control of her Arwing as she was falling fast.
"Seriously?! How does one explosion put you out…of…oh right!" Maylene said coming a simple idea.
Using her Omnitrix, she simply transformed into Upgrade and overtook her own Arwing before blasting off at faster speeds than before. She just had to keep it together as long as she could. Spinel did not give in and flew up to the Arwing planting her talons into the wings which dug into Maylene's skin.
"Get off!" Maylene said as her 'eye' formed on the window.
She burned Spinel's face with a blast from plasma from her eye but got smacked by her tail in response causing the Arwing to crash into the nearby woods. Maylene unmerged from her craft before changing back to her human form. Her legs had gashes from Spinel's talons as she pocketed the Metsu Emerald and got her bag over her shoulder. She got out the damaged Arwing triggering its self-destruct mechanism. She scurried to hide behind a tree as Spinel came out returning to her normal form as the Arwing blew up in front of her.
[Cues: Undertale OST – In My Way]
"Come on, you obviously can survive that if you can harm me." Spinel said with a tic in her voice. "You're lucky I can't sense properly due to the coke. But doesn't matter…someone's clearly hurt."
Maylene realized she left a blood trail and forced her body to move as Spinel made a slow walk to follow the trail humming 'Other Friends'.
"Don't you want to ask why…" Spinel asked only for Maylene to jump out of hiding. "Or…how?"
"I would, but I don't give for Steven Universe lore. It's all bullshit to me!" Maylene said opening fire with her V-Charger Ultimates. "Though to be fair, you're one of the better villains."
Spinel made the effort to dodge each shot, but one caught her shoulder. Spinel barely felt the pain still walking forward. Spinel asked if she thought those peashooters were going to actually put a dent in her. Maylene looked to her Ultimates realizing the power output for them both…was at half strength. Before Maylene could even attempt anything, she was blasted with a magical blast through a tree thanks to Spinel's wand. She inwardly cursed for not even checking the output of her own weapons having focused too much on the Omnitrix.
"Do you really think you're just going to walk away after you disrespected? No, you're going to be joining the last fool who insulted the likes of me. Or maybe I just may make a slave out of you, be my plaything to sing and dance." Spinel said with a chuckle.
[Cues: FusionFall Heroes Soundtrack - Boss Theme]
"About my peashooters!" Maylene screamed fired twin charged shots which blew Spinel away. "I'm sorry but I had the safety on!"
Spinel fired back with her wand as they both moved dodge each other's shots. Maylene's legs ached, but she pushed on mangaging to make her way back to civilization in the form of a farm. She knew she needed medical attention or at least time to heal. She noticed a couple getting out of their farm and she sensed they were not warpers.
"Fuck it, it's them or me!" She thought before shooting the husband in the leg.
His partner asked if this was a hate crime because they were a gay couple.
"I got a psycho threatening to make me her plaything. I could care less about what you and your partner do! Just give me your fucking keys!" Maylene said aiming it his chest.
He handed them over and sped off with the truck narrowly being hit with a blast of magic that hit the partner turning him into a pony. Maylene looked to her phone for a map seeing a town was up ahead. She looked in the rearview mirror to see Spinel racing up on a pony. Maylene took one of her V-Chargers firing a few shots out the back which missed Spinel.
"Damn it, I can't drive and shoot!" Maylene remarked as she swerved left and right. "I need to get away from her, but how?! I can't concernate enough to Insta out of here...I just need to vanish. That's it!"
She got out an energy grenade and pulled the pin shoving it into the glove compartment before getting to her watch. With that swift transformation, Spinel came up to the truck only for it to explode in her face.
[Music Ends]
"Damn that screwy rascaly bitch!" Spinel snarled.
Her legs still hurt, but as an Ectonurite, she was all but invisible. With it also being night, Spinel was going to be hard pressed to find her.
"Omnitrix needs to recharge for a few minutes. Deactivating transformation."
Maylene was back in her human form and had to catch herself in the air. Her legs still hurt, but she pumped what energy she had to fly until she had to land to prevent herself from collapsing. On wobbly legs, she stumbled into a gas station. The attende looked out mortified about to call for an ambulance.
"No! Don't! Listen, I pissed some people off…in high places. I just need painkillers, some guazes, wrapping, a lighter, rubbing alcohol, proxiode, some snacks, a bottle of wine, and a bottle of soda, and directions to the nearest motel or hotel." Maylene sputtered slamming a hundred-dollar bill. "The change is yours if you keep your mouth shut."
Maylene got what she requested using the rubbing alcohol, proxiode, and that lighter in the station to caturize the wounds. She got to her motel room using a simple disguise to pass off as a drunk college student in need to sleep it off. The act was decent enough to even get a free room. The moment that bleeding heart helped her in the room and left her, she dropped the act. First things first were a long hot bath wash the grime off her body and properly clean her wounds. Maylene hastily washed her hair before realized one of Spinel's cut through her hair giving making her look like she screwed up her own hair.
"No wonder, the manager took pity on me." Maylene said finishing her bath to scoot over to the mirror. "Well, that's just great."
She sighed and went out to get her tanto using it, the mirror, and a few weak finger blasts, Maylene had a passable pixie cut that looked different on her barely freckled face.
"Damn, I look like a Cassie Cage wannabe." Maylene inwardly joked. "Well, that's just great."
She groaned shaking her head before making a promise to get back her long hair in the future. Maylene got some a pair of plain panties before moving to a chair to deal with making sure to properly assess the damage. Honestly, Maylene was glad that Spinel had not dug deeper and cripple her. Also, she was glad she had inherited her father's healing factor. It was a common ability that many soldiers of the Future Wars, the rate of healing was usually dependent on the person and circumstance. Her father's, from she remembered was slow when he was active, but quicker when resting or standing still to focus. At this point, she was just glad to be aware.
Her phone rang to which she hurriedly answered.
"Enid? What's the status?" Maylene asked.
"We need to steal a boat and sail away from the States entirely. Spinel has turned her attention to looking for me. Look everyone's safe…we're sailing out to the Caribbean. Look, maybe you should abort the siege and join us. We can look elsewhere for a ship." Enid said worriedly.
"No can do. We're low on time and Sosa's old dump is our best bet." Maylene said explained.
"Ok, Eclipsa does has something for you. Some advice on how you could hide yourself from the wand." Enid said as Eclipsa took the phone.
Maylene was led through how to make a basic seal to shield herself from the wand. However, given that she was making it out of ki, it wasn't going to last for too long. As far as Maylene was concerned, seven hours was just fine. She could have some actual sleep.
(A/N: By the time this is ultimately posted, the new chapter of You Will (not) Win This Time will be released. If not, I am referencing some of its events soon as I aid in the look over for new chapters. Considering the month of April is almost over, it's time to finish the Sprial Arc.)
