This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/KyleKKent on 2025-06-29 20:16:14+00:00.
Capes and Conundrums
“HOLY HELL!” Longflight screams as the plasma washes over him. Thankfully the protective totem in his belt buckle is already working and reduces the damaging and devastating plasma blast into a spectacular, but harmless light show. At first.
The floor isn’t quite so protected and plasma still has some weight to it.
“Whoa!” The floor melts under him and he falls down. He tries to spread out his wings, but the hole isn’t big enough and the area is melting around him as he falls twice more and then out of the blimp’s bottom entirely.
With enough room to maneuver he spreads his wings out and flutters to the side. Slag running down his uniform as alarms go out and he stares out over the city. His antenna are going berserk at the exposed wiring and the sheer disruption the now dissipating plasma is giving off.
“Sweetsong! Longflight Sweetsong Come in! Do you read?” His communicator goes off. He grabs it.
“Sweetsong here. I am... mostly fine. A little rattled, but unharmed.” He says looking around. “Dispatch... I’m seeing several large predatary birds flying around the city and large bipedal lizards jumping around. I do not think I have been concussed.”
“Enlarged wild animals have been set loose in the city.”
“Hunh... Someone’s pulling something.”
“Yes someone is, can you get to a landing pad safely?”
“I can. I assume you want to debrief me?”
“When this mess is over yes, but since you’re in good health I want you to rendezvous with our other flight capable soldiers to enact a search and rescue of anyone being attacked by those large birds. The civilians may be an energetic sort, but they will still need help.” Dispatch says.
“Right. I’m heading to landing pad... Starboard Three.” Longflight says.
“The team will meet you there.”
“What about the base?”
“We have teams already there. We suspect you prevented that bomb from getting near vital areas. It’s only burned through hallways, vents, hull and wiring. No one was hurt. Not even you, at the heart of the blast.”
“But who did it?” Longflight asks.
“That’s the million dollar question. But we can only get to answering it after we’ve put out all the fires, both literal and metaphorical.”
“Right, on my way.”
•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Blazing Iron)•-•-•
The scream of despair cuts through the air as the Sonir woman is held in the crushing grip of the oversized bird and it’s head comes down to feast.
Then it gets the horns.
“OFF HER YA FEATHERY PEST!” Blazing Iron screams out as his horns pierce feather flesh and bone and he hurls his head back while running as much power through his horns as he can, hypercharging them with electricity and electrocuting the oversized predator.
He sends the creature tumbling over the ground even as it spasms. He picks up the terrified Sonir.
“Get yerself into cover, the alleyways, it’s too big for that place! Go!” He tells her. She’s looking around in a blind panic and he gives her a shake. “Girl!”
“Wha what?!”
“Get into the alley so it can’t follow you!” He tells her and comprehension dawns on her face. She takes off even as the enormous bird rises up and he turns, pawing at the ground with his hooves and sucking in an enormous breath before letting out a massive challenging bellow. Grabbing the full attention of not only the injured beast but another trying to grab at a Sonir woman in the sky.
The injured one gives out a call and the one in the sky answers, as do several others that Blazing Iron had been unaware of.
“Of course. Gang tactics. Typical.” He says as the injured one raises it’s wings and starts slowly advancing to draw his attention as the one in the sky starts circling.
Then the two birds call out at once as the one on the ground jumps forward to try and peck at him as the other starts to drop. He knows how these things hunt, he fell asleep in front of the TV just last week and woke up with a documentary of these beasties playing.
But these things only hunt other animals. Not people. And people are a lot more dangerous.
He charges, then, before it can bring down it’s beak, he pumps in the Axiom and slams into the chest of the monster horns first. The immense muscles needed to pump the wings are thick, but his horns are close enough and electricity runs through them again.
Short of using the organ as a speedbag he attacks the bird’s heart as literally as possible. The enormous monster twitches and screams as it contorts around the electrical attack. Then he rips his horns out of the monster’s chest and turns, crowned in blood and feathers, to face the diving partner to the first hawk.
It suddenly contorts in midair as reality seems to pummel it and then a Sonir dives onto the giant bird feet first. Her claws rip feathers out of it’s neck before reaching flesh and blood is quickly spilled.
By the time the creature hits the ground it’s nearly decapitated under the unrelenting assault of the Sonir claws.
“Why the fuck are Swoop Callers the size of shuttles!? What is going on!?” The Sonir demands. “You! Do you know something?”
“Only that they’re big enough to think we’re on the menu now.” Blazing Iron answers as he wipes some blood and feathers off his head before running his hands along his horns to de-gunk them a bit. He’s going to need a long shower after this, and he’s going to be smelling bird blood for a while afterwards.
There’s a loud and distinctive BANG as an Undaunted gets nearby enough to start shooting down the giant birds. Then a pause, then another bang. The second on causes one of the few birds that Blazing Iron can see to jerk and fall out of the air. He nods at the sight. Good. Therewas a hard metal response to the big pests. The Undaunted might be weird, but they get shit done fast.
“Is it safe to come out now?” The Sonir he saved asks.
“Give it a minute to be sure. They’ve only started shooting them out of the sky.”
•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Bringer of Enemy Torment)•-•-•
Torment’s grip tightens on the chain she had grabbed as she tries to steer the monster. The creature has been fed some kind of feedback Axiom effect worked into it’s very presence. It was unnaturally huge, but wasn’t able to...
SCREEE!
It really doesn’t like her being on it’s back.
The Leaper slams into the ground and bounces off as if reality was made of rubber. Thankfully the Re-Entry Training and Zero-G training combined to give her a strong stomach and the knowledge on how to deal with gravity and momentum playing against her.
The creature thrashes as they go down but she has her grip slack enough to allow for play. It tenses up again as they reach the bottom and she hardens her grip and stays on even as it hits the ground and launches off again in the same moment.
This creature has so much bounce in it’s step that they may very well land on some of the shorter skyscrapers, and if that happens they’re likely to hit a blimp.
She closes her hood to not be so rattled around. Sure, it makes her visible, but she’s trying to wrangle a dangerous animal. Trying to help this city. If there’s any situation where being seen is permissible, then it’s here.
It thrashes to try and shake her as she tries to steer it out of the city, despite the danger it presents, she’s not eager to kill this thing. It’s just an animal, a pawn in someone else’s game. Twisted and transformed against it’s will into a threat.
She can somewhat relate.
“HEY! You need help killing it!?” A voice asks and her head turns to see a young Tret steering a police cruiser. He’s on speaker.
“It’s just an animal! It... It doesn’t mean to hurt people!” She calls back even as the Leaper thrashes and then goes still as it prepares itself to land on top of a skyscraper. “Oh shit!”
It springs off the top of the building and launches itself higher and higher than before. Her training had never even entertained the idea of taking control of a wild animal to ride. Let alone one in a panic. She needs to take control. Force it to understand that she’s in charge. Otherwise it’s going to kill itself and injure her. Neither is something she’s willing to let it do.
She locks her legs under it’s forelimbs and digs in her heels even as she gives out an authoritative hiss and pulls at the Axiom. Bringing them together and forcing the creature to feel what she feels.
It’s head turns to face her and she stares it right in the eyes as she feels the barely there workings of it’s mind with her own. Then she nods forward and the creature turns to face forward, tenses up, and then bounces off the side of the blimp without causing any damage.
“There we go!” She exclaims as The Leaper accepts her control. “Sisters! The animals can be controlled! Use Axiom to speak with their instincts! Work with them! Guide them out and away from the city! Bring them to where it is safe for all!”
“Commander! Something is emerging from the Eastern Wall of the Cavern!” Her communicator rings out at the same time the police vehicle that was close by suddenly rockets away.
She and her leaper descend below the level of the blimps and she can see what looks to be a small star emerging from the cavern wall to slither out as a colossal serpent.
•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Monee Toyaren, Great Hill Supplanter)•-•-•
Hill is outright growling as he races his vehicle and starts making the call. “City defence cannon! WE need you to turn to the east as far as you can go! Someone has managed to drop a Lav...
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1lnoew4/oocs_into_a_wider_galaxy_part_378/