Episode: 6.12

--- Tempest ---

She watched Ariel disappear over a nearby building, black mist trailing behind him as he did, part of her wanted to chase after him, a large part, but she also knew that she couldn’t pressure him, (not with the things the Corruptor put him through.)

The sound of sirens were getting closer, forcing her from her thoughts as she looked around at the shattered pavement, overturned cars, and wrecked buildings from her fight with that behemoth of a Creep, as well as the Jawless from before that.

(Right… guess I should get started…)

She closed her eyes and reached into herself, to the dreams of her wonderland, where she’d weave whatever she’d need to bring those dreams into reality.

Her perspective of the world around her began to change, her usually sharp awareness of the world around her, fading as if night had fallen over mental map of the world.

She took a deep breath, imposing her memory of the street from before the attack over her shadowed awareness of the wreckage, and mixing it with the lingering dreams and memories of everyone who’d walked or lived in this area, giving her a perfect view of the area before the Creeps decided to wreck everyone’s day, if a little more colorful.

Having her image in mind, she half opened her eyes, her irises alternating between a vividly voracious violet, a beautifully baffling blue, and a glorious glowing green, as she stared straight ahead, her gaze never wavering from the unnatural darkness that had settled over the world around her.

(Been a while since I’ve done this…)

She snapped her fingers, and the world erupted into a chaotic cascade of color as the shadows beneath her shifted and twisted before exploding into a swarm of glowing white butterflies, a torrent that slowly spread out until butterflies were taking flight from every surface, leaving behind a bright and pristine city square as if there’d been no attack.

Her stomach twisted lightly, before righting itself as she took in the view around her, making sure she didn’t miss anything when she ‘flipped’ dream and reality.

It was a trick she picked up after learning how to access the wonderlands, it was costly on her resources and reduced any gains she’d pick up from the area she ‘flipped’ for a fair amount of time, but the lingering [Hope] and [Wonder] that was left behind usually more than made up for it in the long run.

Though she still tried to avoid tapping into that much Madness when she didn’t have to.

She ran a thumb across her eyes, clearing away any blood that may’ve leaked out from that little trick.

The sound of Sanctuary trucks finally reaching the scene drew her attention to the space behind her where soldiers were piling out of the trucks and setting up a quarantine around the local area just in case any more tears opened up.

One of the soldiers caught sight of her and began walking towards her with the obvious intent of interrogating her.

Part of her was tempted to just leave and sort out everything she needed for Ariel, but at the same time she knew the local Captain would throw a fit with the police and the mayor…

(Damn it.)

As the soldier neared, she was able to make out a series of swords beneath the standard Sanctuary sword and wings marking the soldiers rank.

“Sergeant.” She nodded, pushing back her numerous issues with the local Sanctuary branch, and really wishing the police would just show up already.

“Tempest.” The Sergeant greeted tersely, not even bothering to remove his helmet like the few (polite) Sanctuary agents she knew.

(Then again, this is Baskerville, so what was I expecting?)

She couldn’t help but sigh at that thought.

“Alright, what do you need to know?”

The Sergeant stared at her for a moment. “At what time did you arrive at the scene of the incursion?”

“About twenty, maybe twenty-five minutes after my speech ended at the anniversary party. I’m not sure about the exact times.” She answered.

“How many creatures had managed to make it through the tear before your arrival?”

“There were four Creeps, all Jawless, so you might want to be careful of any water I missed when I Flipped the place.” (Black Water always messes with my powers.) She added in thought, unwilling to let Sanctuary know that Wonderlander weakness.

“You ‘flipped’ the incursion site?” The Sergeant repeated in annoyance, completely ignoring her bit of advice towards the soldiers’ safety. “Why would you risk damaging the site in such a fashion?”

She rolled her eyes before explaining as clear and professionally as she could manage. “After I killed the Jawless, their Malice reformed into a boss Creep, with high Bruiser and Blaster ratings, one I’m tentatively calling a Behemoth given its size even in comparison to other boss Creeps. The Behemoth released an energy attack that nearly leveled a nearby building as well as causing significant damage to the street. Once the Behemoth was dealt with, I decided the amount of damage constituted the need of repair to the nearby area to prevent a level of destabilization to the local businesses and homes over the time necessary to repair the damage via normal means.”

The Sergeant stared at her for a moment, likely waiting on one of his commanding officers to say something as they listened in from the camera in the soldier’s helmet.

A new set of sirens drew her attention to the side, where a handful of cop cars had pulled up. Nowhere near as many as Sanctuary had at the scene, but still enough to keep themselves involved on some level.

“You should’ve held off on performing your restoration feat, until after we had time to analyze the field and make sure the Tear had closed. Especially if an additional Creature broke through after dealing with the original.” The Sergeant was finally ordered to berate her, like Sanctuary typically did to any independent Mask like her.

She just managed to keep from grinding her teeth together. “With all due respect Sergeant, I’ve been dealing with the Rifts and the Creeps that come out of them for well over three years now, and am one of the few people to have actually read Jean Black’s Malice reports, both pre- and post- corruption I might add. Believe me, I am more than qualified to deal with both.”

Another quick glance towards the police she noticed Amethyst cutting her way through the barricade and march her way towards her and the Sergeant.

“Regardless of your experience, using your powers at the site of an incursion, without proper authorization, could’ve led to a number of unforeseen consequ-”

“Sorry to interrupt, but the mayor and chief would both like a briefing on the current rift breach.” Amethyst cut in, as she stepped between Tempest and the Sergeant.

The Sergeant took a moment to glare at Amethyst through his helmet, before answering. “You can tell them they’ll have it, just as soon as we’ve finished our investigation.”

“Or,” Amethyst started with a glare of her own, “as Tempest’s police liaison, I can interview her take on the situation, and get it to them now.”

The Sergeant glared at Amethyst through his cold eyeless helmet, something that probably would’ve intimidated anyone with less of a backbone.

Something she knew her friend wasn’t lacking.

“Since you’re not issuing a complaint, I think we’ll be on our way.” Amethyst told the Sanctuary officer, before turning to leave and making her way to where a mix of police and Sanctuary officers had set up a line to keep civilians out of the area until everything was done.

Not thinking twice about it she turned and followed the authority figure she actually respected on some level. “Thanks for that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Amethyst waved her off. “Ramirez has always been a prick when it comes to jurisdiction, I don’t doubt his officers are under orders to give everyone a run around, until he’s satisfied with his ‘investigation’.” Amethyst sneered. “Jackass, doesn’t understand the first thing about cross-jurisdictional cooperation.”

(Probably can’t even say it three times fast.)

“Yeah… I honestly wish someone like Thorne ran this place.” She agreed with a sigh and a shake of her head. “Would make my life easier at least.”

“That’s that one Sanctuary agent from New Haven, right?”

“Yeah, she had no problem helping the local Masks,” She paused for a moment. “Well, as long as they filed the paperwork after at least.”

“Yeah, but New Haven has a Guild branch,” the cop pointed out, before holding a line of police tape up for her. “Sanctuary isn’t going to want to piss anyone off when they have to work that close together.”

“Maybe,” She admitted ducking under the tape, before shaking her head on the other side. “But still, she at least gave me a solid chance when I had to help with that mess with the War-Maker last year.”

Amethyst snorted following her under. “Doubt anyone ‘ll raise a fuss when a horseman is involved.”

“Besides the point.” She glared, before looking at the various police and Sanctuary officers, or rather the divide between them.

(We really do have a cooperation issue in this city…)

Part of her wanted to work on fixing that, the rest remembered how many times those same issues had helped her and Ariel in their early days.

(Honestly those issues are probably the only reason Masks can get anything done outside of a Guild city…)

Deciding it was better to just leave things as they were on this one, she turned back to Amethyst. “Do you actually need me to give a statement or anything about this mess?”

Her cop friend shook her head. “Nah, we should have plenty of footage from the start of the fight to sort through, and as much as I hate to admit it, this is Sanctuary’s jurisdiction. So, aside from giving my boss and the mayor a report…” Amethyst trailed off.

“There’s nothing you can do here.” She finished with a sigh. “Got it.”

Amethyst stared at her for a moment as they neared her car, before finally asking, “What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” She blinked before turning to the cop.

“You seem like you’ve got something on your mind.” Amethyst explained leaning against her car and crossing her arms. “I’m asking if you want to talk about it?”

(Right, reading people is part of her job…)

She sighed, running a hand through her hair, not entirely sure if she actually wanted anyone to know about Ariel yet. “There was one other thing…”

“Yeah?” Amethyst nodded.

“It’s…” She closed her mouth as she seriously debated telling Amethyst about Ariel’s return, something people were going to figure out sooner than later, and something the cop would definitely want to know about all things considered.

(She’s my friend, I doubt she’ll raise a fuss over Ariel if I ask her not to… but at the same time, she’s still a cop and I know how important her job is to her… Something that’s not helped by the fact Ariel still technically has a warrant on him…)

(I’ll have to sort that out when I see him tonight.)

Taking another moment to think about it, she eventually shook her head changing her mind about it. “Never mind, it’s nothing to worry about.”

Amethyst blinked before frowning. “You sure?”

“It might be something, but it might not.” She finally hedged, knowing it was something she had to tell her friend but not something she had to tell her immediately. “Give me a day to work on it, and I’ll let you know for sure.”

Her friend gave her a concerned look before finally nodding. “If you say so, just let me know if you need anything.”

“I will.”