Screams echoed down the street from somewhere ahead of them, reverberating off of the buildings on either side. On the far side of the street, a small group of people lined the sidewalk, watching something that Rose couldn't see. A woman let out a gasp, covering her mouth with her hand. With a crash, an entire wall of windows shattered as one, raining glass shards down on the street below. Through a gap in the crowd, Rose watched a car rock up onto its right wheels and hang there for a moment before its other wheels slammed back to the ground. A silver object crashed into the side of the car, but the crowd pressed in once more, blocking her view before she could see what it was.
Juleka squeezed Rose's hand tightly. "Can you see anything!?" She stood up on her tiptoes, craning her neck to look over the crowd, still a few blocks ahead of them. "I–I can't see what's going on!"
Rose shook her head. "I thought I saw something, but I don't know what it was!" She frowned. "Lancer?"
Juleka raised an eyebrow dubiously, speeding up as they crossed the next street and sidestepping to avoid a bus stop. "This doesn't exactly sound like Cerna, does it?"
"Someone new?"
Juleka shrugged. "We have to get there fast!"
Breaking into a jog, Rose raced down the street toward the sound of screaming, Juleka clutching her hand tightly. The hair on the back of her head stood up on end as a shiver ran down her spine. Here they were, searching for a supervillain in the park, when this started happening just a few blocks away. Rose's mouth set in a thin line, and her hand drifted down to the purse at her side, where Daizzi and Roaar were hiding. Suddenly, a flash of light from behind her caught Rose's peripheral vision, and Rose gasped, turning to look just in time to watch as Cerna rolled out from underneath the park bench they had just passed, surged to her feet, and sprinted toward them, her battleaxe held to the side in one hand. Rose's eyes shot wide open at the sight, and she squeezed Juleka's hand tightly, pulling her close as Cerna raced past them, and leapt into the air, over the heads of the onlookers surrounding the disturbance ahead.
"What–" Juleka yelped, stumbling in surprise and bumping her shoulder into Rose's. Catching her balance, Rose pressed her finger against Juleka's lips to silence her protests, shaking her head firmly. Juleka closed her hand over Rose's and pulled it away, eyes wide. "Didn't you see the Lancer!?" she hissed, pointing toward the crowd as another scream split the air.
Rose gasped. "No; I saw Cerna, right behind us!"
Juleka's eyes bugged out. "What? Do you think she–"
"I don't know!"
Juleka's eyes took on a calculating look, and she nodded to herself. "Whatever Cerna was doing, we can't worry about it right now. We need to do something for Aurore," she muttered urgently.
Rose nodded firmly, scanning the street in both directions. The crowd ahead of them had, if possible, grown since Cerna appeared, even as some of the bystanders moved away. A handful of trees and bushes grew along the verge beside the road – Rose could remember coming through and planting some of them weeks ago. But none of them were large enough to camouflage them to transform. She frowned, glancing to the other side of the sidewalk, and nodded. Quickly, she pulled Juleka off the sidewalk and into the alley just ahead of them separating two apartment buildings. In a matter of moments, Miss Pinky sprang out of the alley, giving her rake a testing spin before racing down the street toward the piercing screams and distinctive crunch of metal on stone.
"Be careful," Bengalia whispered into her ear, the voice little more than a breath.
Miss Pinky bared her teeth in a grin as she vaulted over the heads of the crowd of onlookers, bringing her rake up over her head and scanning the scene below, searching for the Lancer and Cerna. A round of gasps went up from the crowd as she sailed over them and landed in a crouch, holding her rake in one hand next to her, eyes moving constantly. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the hint of the grass on the sidewalk's verge rustling; moments later, it was gone. In front of her, the Lancer stood between Cerna and a woman in a dark jacket with a ruby choker and bright red hair. The Lancer's eyes drifted in both directions, taking in the two threats surrounding her, her lance lowered between them. With a growl, she drew back her lance and jabbed as the unknown woman, just as Cerna lunged forward and kicked her in the back of the leg, knocking the Lancer down to one knee. Cerna muttered something softly and raised her lance, swinging the flat back of the axe at the Lancer's neck. The Lancer's grip on her lance tightened, and she fell forward, away from Cerna.
At that same moment, the unknown woman reared back, drew in a breath, and let out a piercing wail, straight at the Lancer. Cerna's eyes widened in shock, and she brought her hands up to cover her ears, nearly rapping herself in the side of the head with the handle of her battleaxe as she did so. Her foot came off of the Lancer's leg, as the force of the scream pushed her backward, almost knocking her to the ground. The Lancer arched her back, her arms frozen in front of herself and clutching the lance tightly. As she stumbled to her feet, the woman's scream intensified, and the Lancer fell backward, bowling into Cerna and knocking her to the ground. The Lancer tripped over Cerna and crashed into the pavement as the scream finally died out and the woman took in a deep breath. Cerna groaned, her arms splayed to the sides and her battleaxe held limply. Shaking her head groggily, the Lancer rolled over onto her front, jammed her lance into the pavement, and pushed herself up to her feet, stumbling slightly as she rose.
Cerna let out a groan, rubbing her head and blinking dumbly. "Dammit, Screamer!" she growled as she slowly rose to one knee, shaking her head and yawning.
"Stay the hell out of my way!" Screamer gave Cerna an annoyed look but focused her attention on the Lancer, clenching her fists, eyes narrowed. "You want another round, tinny!?"
With a growl, the Lancer lowered her lance and charged Screamer, who dove to one side to avoid the strike, rolled back to her feet, and immediately leapt backward as the Lancer swung her lance to the side, waving it harmlessly through the space she had just occupied. Stumbling slightly to regain her balance, the Lancer reset her lance and aimed it at Screamer's chest. Miss Pinky blinked in confusion staring past Screamer's back at the Lancer's expressionless helmet. Drawing in a deep breath, Screamer let out another piercing shriek, this time straight down the sidewalk at the Lancer and the crowd of bystanders behind her. Mouths opened in shock and confusion, their shouts and screams drowned out by Screamer's piercing shriek. Buildings rattled on either side of the street, shattering the few remaining unbroken windows. The sidewalks on both sides of the street were now covered with a fine layer of broken glass. Finally, civilians began backing away from the fight, running for cover. The Lancer jumped out of the way of Screamer's attack, rolling over the caved-in roof of a parked car with a massive gash in one door and landing behind it, placing the car between herself and Screamer. Shaking her head in annoyance, Cerna finally surged to her feet, sprinted across the road, jumped onto the car next to where the Lancer had taken cover, and spring-boarded off of it toward the Lancer, battleaxe raised in both hands.
Mouth set in a thin line and eyes narrowed, Miss Pinky raced in their direction.
Rising to her feet, the Lancer's head turned slightly as Cerna appeared behind her, and she quickly spun around and held her lance up sideways to block the attack, catching the axe by the beard and angling the lance so the battleaxe slide down it into the ground, throwing Cerna off balance. The Lancer threw her shoulder into the car next to her, knocking it sideways into the street, and slid in that direction away from Cerna.
At the same moment, Screamer drew back to shout, and Miss Pinky hurled her rake as a dart, aiming the shaft to go between Screamer's legs. The rake landed with a rattle and slid forward, the back bouncing up as it landed and bowling into Screamer's calves. She stumbled forward and nearly fell, turning around with a growl. On seeing Miss Pinky, her eyes widened in surprise, fear suddenly appearing in her expression, and she started shuffling away from Miss Pinky, toward the Lancer and Cerna. Covering the remaining distance in two steps, Miss Pinky pounced on her, grabbing her around the shoulders, pinning her arms to her sides, and driving her to the ground on her back, landing on her chest as she did so. Screamer gasped, eyes wide, and reflexively sucked in a breath, as Miss Pinky snatched up her rake with one hand, planting her knee on Screamer's chest.
Down the street, Cerna and the Lancer dueled back and forth through the wreckage littering the street, Cerna hacking repeatedly at the Lancer while the Lancer dropped back, fending each blow away with the shaft of her lance. Finally, the Lancer backed into a parked car on the other side of the street and held her lance up defensively, just as Cerna leapt into the air and swung the battleaxe up over her head, bringing it down with both hands. The Lancer lunged out of the way at the last moment, and Cerna slammed her axe into the car, hacking halfway through the engine block before jamming in place. Grunting in frustration, Cerna started to pull the battleaxe free, but the beard caught and stuck. The Lancer jabbed at Cerna with her lance, and Cerna jumped backward, pulling the battleaxe free as she did so and sending a chunk of metal from the car flying. The Lancer flinched, and Cerna twisted her battleaxe around, hacking sideways at the Lancer, who couldn't move her lance fast enough to block it. Suddenly, Cerna's battleaxe clattered to the ground and she stumbled backward and fell to one knee, clutching her arm as blood poured from three parallel gashes.
Bengalia appeared out of thin air in front of Cerna, anger flashing in her eyes. "Stay away from my friends!" she snarled, grabbing Cerna by the collar and raising her claws again in a fist, the closest claw tip millimeters from Cerna's face.
Cerna blinked, hissing in pain and looking up at Bengalia.
Miss Pinky let out a relieved breath.
"YAAAAAHHHHHH!"
The shock was instantaneous. Miss Pinky froze as wave after wave of sonic energy crashed into her at pointblank range. Hardly aware of what was happening, she flew backward off of Screamer's chest and up into the air. On the ground below she could see Bengalia's mouth moving, a look of horror and rage on her face, but Miss Pinky could hear nothing she said, the shriek all-consuming as her eardrums screamed in protest. Suddenly the volume dropped to nothing, no sound to be heard, beyond the hollow, ringing hum in her ears. A faint trickle of something warm rolled down the side of her face. Still Screamer's mouth was open, lying on the ground and staring up at Miss Pinky through narrowed eyes, the soundwaves still rippling through her body. Miss Pinky could feel gravity starting to reassert its hold on her, pulling her back down to the ground, and she contorted her body around as best she could, placing her legs under her, and braced herself for landing. As her feet hit the ground, her knees buckled, and she braced herself with her rake, nearly stumbling to the ground as she landed. Off balance, Miss Pinky lurched forward, shaking her head and blinking, her head lolling around on her neck.
Bengalia lunged at Screamer, drove her back down to the ground, and punched her hard in the throat. Screamer gasped, gagging, and clutched at her neck, her eyes wide with shock and fear. The moment Bengalia turned her back, Cerna stumbled to her feet and ran in the opposite direction, as the Lancer chased after Bengalia, pointing her lance at Screamer.
Slowly, Miss Pinky staggered toward Bengalia, who raised her fist to strike Screamer again, screaming something that Miss Pinky couldn't hear. Miss Pinky placed a hand on Bengalia's shoulder, and she froze, panting, and looked up at her in relief.
