Chapter Two: What Am I Bid?
Word had spread like wildfire throughout the Gotham underworld. The two criminals, Zachery Pierce and Samuel Breach, had apparently gotten their hands on some really impressive artillery during a trip, and rather than keep it for themselves, they were selling it to the highest bidder. Nobody knew exactly what the weapons were, or why the two thugs were hyping them up so much, but any crook who mattered was coming to the auction to bid on them. Rupert Thorne had sent several of his best men, trusting them to use their own judgment. Oddly enough, as the assembled thugs looked around the derelict opera house, they noticed none of Gotham City's resident super criminals who were currently on the loose were in attendance. No Joker, no Penguin, no Scarecrow. Some wondered why. Still, that meant less competition.
The thugs filed into the seats facing the stage. Two floodlights were pointed at the stage to illuminate it. Standing in the middle, where everyone could see them, were Sam and Zack, along with three metal cases. A pair of goons stood on each side of the stage, hired by the duo for security purposes. Sam and Zack figured the price had been worth it, as once the auction was over, they'd be rolling in cash. Criminals continued to file into the opera house, taking their seats. After about an hour, Zack signaled to their bodyguards, who moved around and shut all the ground floor doors, locking them with chains.
Zack stepped into the center of the spotlights. "Greetings, my fellow fugitives of the law!" he announced, throwing both arms out for emphasis. "I trust you all know why we're here. My associate and I have discovered several weapons which, in the right hands, could make Gotham City yours to dominate! Shall we start the bidding at—"
"Wait a minute, buddy!" interrupted Sam. "We need to show 'em what these things can do, remember? Who's gonna buy anything without seeing what it can do first?" A chorus of agreements rose up from the crowd.
Zack rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. We'll do a quick demonstration," he acquiesced. He snapped his fingers, drawing the attention of their guards. One of the goons wheeled out a heavy granite block on a metal cart, while Sam went to the first metal suitcase. Popping it open, he pulled out what appeared to be an ordinary handgun, albeit one that was colored gold.
"Okay, gentlemen!" he began. "First, I want you to take note of the fact that this pistol is, in fact, unloaded." He showed the gun to the crowd, and indeed, there was no magazine in the gun. Satisfied, Sam cocked the gun, aimed it at the granite block, and fired.
No bullet emerged from the gun's muzzle. Instead, a large white sphere, about the size of a watermelon, burst from inside it, zooming towards the block. The projectile easily cleaved through the top of the granite, sending a spray of dust down to the floor. As it went, the sphere decreased in size, until it faded from existence. In the crowd of thugs, several jaws dropped.
"As far as we can figure, this gun never needs to be reloaded!" declared Zack.
Those words were greeted by roars of applause. With their audience's interest captured, Sam replaced the gun in its metal case. Then, he moved to the second one, opening it to reveal a police-issue straight stick, though this one was silver in color. Picking up the stick, Sam waited as the henchmen wheeled out another granite block. He swung the stick, which glowed white and elongated itself through the motion, and the stick cleaved through the block like a knife through butter. The top half of the block slid down and landed the floor with a thud. The cheers of the crowd grew even louder.
"And, for our last fantastic product..." declared Zack.
He popped open the last case, revealing a pair of leather gloves, though these glowed white. As their hired help produced the final granite block, he slipped them on, walked over, and picked up the block with one hand, as though it weighed nothing. There was silence for about thirty seconds, before the opera house roared with applause.
"Thank you, thank you, you're too kind!" said Zack, bowing repeatedly. "Now, we'll start the bidding for the gun at, oh, ten million dollars?"
In the balconies above the stage, five pairs of eyes observed the auction. The Rainbooms who weren't on guard duty had easily entered the building through the door on the roof, having floated up using Twilight's telekinesis.
"Magic infected guns and billy clubs. Great," grumbled Applejack. "Just when I thought our adventures couldn't get more dangerous."
"It had to happen sooner or later," said Sunset. "Odds were, we weren't going to deal with magic cell phones and watering cans forever."
The five girls studied the area carefully, as the bidding war continued. By now, the thugs were bidding over one-hundred million dollars apiece for the weapons.
"So what's our plan?" asked Rainbow. "It's probably suicide to just jump in there and grab the magic, even with my super speed, given how many of those guys are probably armed."
"Good question," replied Twilight. "I doubt I could telekinetically catch that many bullets. Rarity, we've never tested it, but how big do you think you can make your diamond barriers?"
The fashionista was quiet for a moment as she thought about it. "I could probably cover the entire opera stage," she admitted, "but I believe that's where I hit my limit. I couldn't hold that for very long. Plus, the ruffians in the crowd will no doubt shoot at us, and I don't know how long my shield could stand up to that many bullets."
"Not to mention that still leaves us with the goons on the inside," Sunset observed. "Even with just the two of them, none of us are bullet-proof." She placed her hand on her chin, thinking. "Okay, I think I've got an idea. Rainbow, you need to push all the thugs in the audience to the sides. That way, Rarity can pin them to the walls, leaving Twilight to disarm the two on stage and hold them down. Applejack, you and I will grab the magic items and use Twilight's old device to suck the magic out. What do you think?"
The others considered it. "It could work," said Twilight. "It's kind of risky, though. What if something goes wrong?"
Sunset turned to look back at the stage. The bidding war on the magical gun had ended, and the object would be going for no less than three-hundred million dollars. "It doesn't look like we have a lot of other options," she muttered, pulling down her mask.
With the bidding on the gun complete, Sam stored the miraculous weapon back inside its metal case. Zack, meanwhile, lifted up the billy club, holding it high above the crowd.
"Now, what am I bid for this one?" he asked. "Auction begins at ten-million dollars again! Do I hear—"
His remaining words died in his throat, as he noticed the rainbow-colored blur zooming around in the audience. The streak was rocketing down each row sequentially, pushing all the thugs down towards the ends. Once they were all clustered together, what appeared to be a large, flat, transparent diamond appeared out of nowhere, and smacked against the group of goons, trapping them against the walls. Before Zack could even scream to warn everyone, every single audience member had been incapacitated. Then, three humanoid shapes, surrounded by raspberry-colored auras, descended towards the stage from above. Zack's brain flew into panic mode, remembering when Batman had captured him in a similar fashion before, and he screamed, throwing both arms into the air, tossing the billy club onto the stage.
"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Twilight, enveloping Zack in her telekinesis and forcing him onto his stomach. She dropped Sunset and Applejack onto their feet as well.
"Who the heck are you?" demanded Sam. "You ain't the bat!" He wrenched open the case containing the gun, while the two hired thugs began drawing their Thompson machine guns.
"We're professionals!" retorted Twilight, quickly moving her hands towards them. The guns flew out of the hired men's hands, while Sam was thrown from his feet and landed on his rear.
"Professionals? Really? That's the best you could come up with?" demanded Sunset, as the three girls rushed towards the cases.
"Hey, gimme a break! I'm not as good at quipping!" Twilight shot back.
"Hey!" came the voice of one of the hired goons. He reached into the pocket of his coat, and before Twilight could stop him, had tossed three bolas, one for each of the girls. Sunset, Applejack, and Twilight were all ensnared by the weighted ropes, and pitched forwards, landing on their fronts with painful thuds.
"What the heck?!" demanded Applejack.
The thug suddenly grabbed the center of his shirt and pulled, tearing away the clothing. Underneath was a gray costume with a yellow circle in the center, and inside the circle was a black bat. Then, he reached up to his face and ripped that off too, exposing the masked visage beneath.
"No way," breathed Sunset, staring as Batman removed the last vestiges of his disguise.
Twilight groaned. "Of course it had to be him."
Back in the audience, Rainbow and Rarity were watching the men they'd removed from the fight, but when they heard the sound of tearing, their eyes locked onto the stage.
"Holy smokes..." Rainbow whispered. Under her mask, a wide smile began to grace her features.
Batman wasted no time, reaching into his utility belt and producing a pair of batarangs. Sam and Zack, free from Twilight's telekinetic prison, made the wiser decision to rush for the metal cases. Batman hurled both of his trademark weapons, and each man felt the sharpened edges smack against their exposed hands. They immediately retracted their hands and backed away from the cases as Batman advanced on them.
"Alright, scum bags," he snarled. "Before I break these weapons, you're gonna tell me everything you know about how they work."
"W-we don't know anything else! I swear!" insisted Zack. "W-we just found them!"
All of a sudden, with a grunt of exertion, Applejack used her super strength to rip through the bola holding her, and climbed to her feet. This didn't escape Batman's notice, and he rounded on her, raising his fists.
"Buddy, you don't know what you're doing!" Applejack told him. "You need to stay outta this!"
"Sorry, but I'm no bystander," Batman retorted.
Meanwhile, Twilight was using her telekinesis to remove the bolas around herself and Sunset.
"So did we have any contingency plans in case Batman showed up?!" she demanded as she unbound Sunset.
"How was I supposed to know he was gonna be here as well?" Sunset shot back. "You're usually the genius who accounts for everything!"
Seeing that Applejack wouldn't back down, Batman began attempting to shove her aside, but she stood her ground. Applejack herself didn't know what to do. It was obvious that Batman was trying to destroy the magic objects, but from Twilight's studies on magic, she knew that simply breaking them would only release the magic, and who knew what or who it would go then. At the same time, Applejack didn't want to hurt him, and she knew if she punched with all her power, she could easily shatter his bones.
Finally, she grabbed both his wrists, and firmly held him in place. "Listen, Bats! You don't know what's going on here! You need to—"
She yelped in surprise as Batman suddenly lifted both arms over his head, pulling Applejack along with them. He flipped her over his head, sending her tumbling into the ground head-first. Applejack was so surprised she lost her grip on his wrists. Free, Batman began rushing towards the magical objects.
"Hey!" shouted Sunset, drawing Batman's attention. "You can't do that!"
Batman threw more bolas at her and Twilight, but Twilight managed to catch them in her telekinesis, causing them to drop to the floor. Before anyone could make another move, Batman was tackled from behind by the second of Zack and Sam's hired help, who pinned him to the ground.
"Batman!" shouted Rainbow Dash. She zoomed out of the audience onto the stage, and kicked the thug in the face, freeing the Dark Knight. She got down, pressing a hand to his back. "Are you alright?"
"Hey!" yelled Applejack, as she climbed to her feet.
"Darlings!" Rarity shouted from the back of the opera house. "I hate to interrupt, but could someone please help me?!"
The others turned at the sound of her voice, finding that the thugs in the audience were struggling against Rarity's barriers. They couldn't get to their guns, but their squirming motions were putting a great deal of strain on Rarity, forcing her to stand in one place as she poured all of her might into keeping the barriers maintained.
Finally, she lost her grip, and the barriers faded away, leaving her vulnerable. Fortunately, Rainbow zipped down, grabbed Rarity, and yanked her onto the stage with the others.
"Well, looks like our entire plan has gone belly-up," said Twilight with a sigh.
"Oh, excuse me for not being able to account for every possibility!" Sunset shot back.
"Girls! Can we focus?!" demanded Applejack.
Batman, meanwhile, had gotten into a tussle with the other thug. He punched the man in the jaw, knocking him unconscious and sending him to the floor. As the goon fell, a small device dropped off his neck, one that didn't escape the notice of the world's greatest detective. He snagged it and placed it into his utility belt for later. Then, he pressed a button on his glove, and spoke into it.
"Jim, send in your men. We're in deep."
This didn't escape Sunset's notice. Her earpiece suddenly buzzed, and she heard Fluttershy's voice.
"Um, Sunset? You know how you said to warn you if anything went wrong out here?"
"Let me guess: the cops are on their way," Sunset deadpanned.
"Yep! Lots of 'em!" said Pinkie.
"Great." Sunset turned to the others. "We gotta get outta here! Now!"
"But what about—" Rainbow began, pointing towards the magic items.
"We'll have to get 'em another time!" Sunset yelled. "We need to leave!"
Indeed, Sam and Zack had already figured out that they weren't going home with any cash. They'd grabbed the three cases, and were scurrying towards the exit, likely hoping to salvage whatever they could from this disaster. Batman saw their actions as well, and attempted to race over to stop them.
"Everybody get the bat!" screamed a thug from the audience. Like an angry mob, the entire audience began charging towards the stage, jumping on to attack their most feared enemy. Some of the punks instead targeted the Rainbooms, seeing as they'd ruined the auction in the first place.
"Come here, little girls!" one man growled, drawing a knife as he advanced on them.
With a sigh, Twilight flicked her wrist, telekinetically ripping the weapon out of his hand, and sending it plummeting to stab into the ground. While the thug starred in surprise, Applejack followed with a haymaker to his face, knocking him unconscious.
"Alright! Anybody else wanna be a hero?" she demanded, holding out her fists eagerly. After witnessing their super powers, the rest of the thugs decided they'd rather take their chances with Batman.
"Okay, everyone!" said Twilight, drawing the other four's attention, "I can levitate us back up to the balcony. Then we'll use the door we originally used to get in here, and—"
"Wait a minute!" interrupted Rainbow. "Shouldn't we help Batman?" she pointed over to where the Dark Knight was currently throwing two goons away, using them to knock down others. "There's no way he can take that many guys by himself!"
"Remember how we're trying not to get in trouble with the law?!" Sunset retorted. "Even if we help him, we'll probably go to jail!"
Rainbow opened her mouth, likely to issue some annoyed retort, but she was cut off by multiple doors in the opera house being bashed open. A swarm of cops rushed into the seating area, drawing their guns as they went.
"Gotham City Police! You're all under arrest!" roared Detective Montoya.
"Okay, yeah, let's book it!" Rainbow squeaked.
Twilight reached out with her telekinesis, grabbing herself and all four of the others. A few officers took aim at the girls as they went, but Rarity threw a shield over them, and the bullets were blocked. As the rest of the thugs stabbed their hands into the air, Batman watched the girls escape from across the stage. He quietly took out a small, gray, gun-like device, and fired it, managing to hit Sunset's leg with a tiny bat emblem. Upon making it to the balcony, the Rainbooms scurried out, heading for the roof access. Montoya ordered several officers to try and head them off, but with Rainbow's super speed, their efforts were futile.
As the police began rounding up the criminals, Batman took stock of the situation. Not only had the girls escaped, but Sam and Zack had gotten away in the confusion as well. Detective Montoya approached him.
"Batman, what the heck was that?" she demanded. "Those people were flying!"
"I'll be honest, even I don't know how they did that," Batman replied. He reached into his utility belt one more time, pulling out a small radar. "But I'm going to find out."
Sunset and the others burst out of the opera house, nearly crashing into Pinkie and Fluttershy as they did so.
"What happened?!" asked Pinkie. "All of a sudden, all these cops were pulling up, and—"
"No time to talk!" Twilight cut her off. She levitated the seven girls down from the roof, setting them down in the alley behind the opera house, where the police hopefully wouldn't see them. "We gotta get out of here, now! Rainbow!"
The athlete understood the unspoken order, and began grabbing each girl, shuttling them back to the bus, and coming back. Soon, every member of the Rainbooms were secure in their seats.
"Drive! Drive!" Rainbow called to Applejack.
Applejack obeyed, firing up the old bus, throwing it into gear, and stomping on the accelerator. Soon, the bus was speeding away from the opera house, unseen by the cops. Unfortunately for them, nobody notice the bat-shaped object attached to Sunset's leg, which began quietly beeping. Nor did they notice the caped figure watching their bus from the roof of the opera house.
