Over the next few weeks, entries for the Fiction Contest: What were you doing when... will be featured in-game, in no order of merit, except for the top three winners, who will be revealed last.
Here is the entry by Prysmatica:
“I want to speak to the guy in charge. I’m tired of the biased coverage of the 5th…” the man droned on, shouting at her while noisily eating on his end of the line as Romana did a few Kegel exercise squeezes waiting for him to take a breath.
Her alert bracelet tied to her BADGE communicator vibrated on her wrist. “I’m going to put you through to someone who can help you. One moment please.” She pressed the hold button and cautiously retrieved the messaging device from her purse. Nobody at the Sentinel, besides Krystal Fae, knew her secret identity as Prysmatica of the Star Force.
The text on the screen was in red, indicating an urgent call for aid. Romana grimaced as she removed her headset, the lights on her phone indicating several new calls were coming in. “By the gods”—she spat under her breath – “why don’t they just send an email or get a dog to talk to!”
Activating the AI receptionist, “Care-N”, Romana hustled to the bathroom. As she walked through the bullpen, she noticed Chaz Hamilton was reading from his own BADGE communicator. Ever since he was named BADGE’s official liaison reporter with the Sentinel News, he didn’t need to chase down the stories anymore. He was notified the same way the heroes of the world were.
She gave him a brief, yet friendly, wave as she made her way. They had gone on some nice, casual dates, but her secret identity as a hero kept them from taking anything to the next level, despite the interest she had in growing their relationship. She quickly pulled her gaze away from him before he caught her staring as she entered the hallway where the bathrooms were.
“Hi, Romana,” another staffmember said as Romana breezed past her through the doorway into the brightly lit washroom. “How is your day going so far?”
“Busy,” Romana stated, glancing around the woman who she believed worked in advertising. Mirrors lined one wall, above the sinks, and through them, Romana couldn’t see any other occupants to the room. “I’ve got to hurry, Cordy. Phones won’t answer themselves, will they?”
Cordy stood in the doorframe, keeping it propped open, seemingly oblivious to Romana’s urging. “How are you liking it here in America? You’ve been here for like, almost a year now. How are your classes? My daughter didn’t do very well her first year in college. Too much personal freedom, I guess. She didn’t have old MOM—” Cordy double thumbed herself –” there to make sure to keep her at her studies. I think you and she would really get along. It would be great for her to see that a driven, focused young woman can get her degree—”
Romana touched the older woman on the shoulder and patted her softly, yet firmly, through the doorway. “It’s great talking to you, Cordy, but I really have to visit the… you know… that time…got a special visitor…”
Finally catching on, Cordy gave Romana a understanding wink and nod. “Gottcha, girl. We’ve all been there.”
Romana sighed with relief as Cordy departed the restroom. A quick inspection of the stalls revealed she was alone. Taking out her communicator, she read the details of Director Nova’s command. A crisis in Las Vegas. An enormous robot appearing out of nowhere. Buildings being attacked as Gar, Chase, and Furious Squirrel performed follow-up to a mission.
All heroes were to report to the scene as quickly as possible.
“I hope ‘Care-N’ can handle the phones for a while.” Prysmatica said to herself, glad for the personal days she had banked up. It would make her ‘leaving sick’ excuse non-threatening to her job. Why is it that every couple of months something has to happen that costs me days off my vacation back home to Italy?
The price of being a hero never came cheaply. She moved to the door, catching herself as she placed her hand on the brass push-plate. It would make sense to use the facilities before heading out on a mission. There typically wasn’t time for a potty break while fighting crime. She made her way to one of the stalls.
Once finished, she washed her hands while staring at her reflection in the mirror. “Time to go and light things up in Vegas.”
She began a text message for her boss about having to leave for ‘a medical issue’ while walking back into the hallway. If she could make it to the roof unnoticed, she could go photon and be in Sin City in no time.
A body collided with hers as she walked through the doorway, not hard enough to topple her, but with enough force to drive her backwards. She looked up from her device and found Chaz staggering from their collision, his arm wrapping around her waist to keep them both upright.
“Oh, Chaz. I’m so sorry…”
“I’m such a klutz, Romana. I should have been watching…”
They looked into one another’s eyes, hearing one another’s apology, and found themselves snickering with amusement in unison. The each took a step back from the other.
Chaz brushed a lock of her long blue-black hair into place behind her ear. “Look at the two of us. You’d have thought we’d have both learned to walk by this point in our lives.”
“You would think,” Romana said as she blushed, her pale yet golden-olive skin warming at her cheeks. She didn’t remember telling her body to do so, but she could sense the smile growing on her lips as she felt the fullness of his full attention falling into her eyes.
He paused for a moment, locked in her gaze as if wanting to say more. Something personal and true, but instead he cleared his throat and lifted his travel bag up so she could see it. “There’s trouble in Las Vegas. Something big. I’m getting a lift from the helipad to a BADGE flight. I wish I could stay and talk, but…”
Remembering her own call to action, she nodded to him. “I understand. Be safe.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you when I get back,” he called out to her as he rushed down the hallway to the staircase leading to the roof.
She waited for him to disappear around the corner before she moved to a window she new wasn’t covered by the Sentinel security cameras. Shifting to her photonic energy form, she became a being of pure light and moved through the glass as easily as sunshine. Facing to the west, she sped to the desert city at a nearly impossible rate.
Although her powers gave her tremendous abilities as Prysmatica, they also came with disadvantages. In photon form, she didn’t need to eat, drink, or breath, but she did need to see and observe her surroundings to reach any destination. Distance wise, she could make it around the world seven times over in one second’s time. Gong to one particular location took longer, as she needed to take microsecond-long pit-stops to get her bearings or become horribly lost.
Processing the information of the world around her while traveling light-fast was a skill she hadn’t mastered fully yet. It took her five seconds to reach Nevada instead of the quarter-of-a-second it should have. Once there, at the outskirts of the city, she took a moment for her mind to catch up to where her body arrived. She landed and returned to her human form.
Down the main stretch of Las Vegas, black pillars of smoke climbed into the air. Alarms went off with layered claxons of distress as police sirens echoed amid the tall casino buildings. The robot wasn’t visible until Prysmatica noted its long, metallic arm swinging high into the air as it glowed with a yellow energy.
“This must be the right place,” Prysmatica said. She drew in a deep breath before activating her CES ring, a handy device given to her by Catalyst. Another of the bracelets that she wore, alongside her BADGE-bit and a lone crystal on bit of wire (given to her by Krystal Fae), the Costume Enabling System stored and quick-changed her in and out of her multicolored hero costume, including her communication gear with her fellow Star Force league members. “Prysmatica on the scene in Las Vegas. It doesn’t look good.”
“When does it ever, sweetheart?” Wyldfyre replied with his usual snark.
“I’m in route to your location,” Chained Angel replied. “ETA fifteen minutes.”
“Can I use you as a guide, Prysmatica?” Starmaster asked. Being a powerful psychic, he had amazing mental abilities. Teleportation was one such gift, but over long distances, he benefited from a friendly psyche to home in on.
“My mind to your mind. My thoughts to your thoughts, boss,” Prysmatica said. Instantly, she could feel his mental signature brush against her synapses, specifically a tingling in the back of her head where her temporal lobe sat. “Contact.”
“Thank you. I’m going to teleport directly into the field of battle.”
With that, his presence slipped away from her consciousness.
The rest of the league chimed in on their arrival time. Most of them had individual methods of flight, but some relied on Catalyst and a shuttle he constructed for long range trips.
“I’m going to head in and engage the robot,” Prysmatica said. “Wish me luck.”
They cheered her on as she went photon once more. Immediately after shifting forms, she streaked to the air above the head of the giant robot. It stood large and in charge over the street, flanked by casino buildings and fleeing citizens. It reminded Prysmatica of scenes from old Kaiju movies on late night television.
She dropped down to the level of the giant robot’s head, looking for a means to enter its control area. In her photonic form, she had no concern for injury. Ever since the encounter with the Continuum of Galloine at Christmas, she could pass through solid matter while in her energy form.
One of the robot’s metal arms swung at her, but she moved fast enough to avoid being struck as she approached the faceplate. She chided herself for the reflex. It couldn’t harm her. She moved in closer to see if the oversized monstrosity was an actual robot or an exo-skeleton with a controller of some type at the helm.
The arm came at her again, but she chose to hold her ground and let the blow pass harmlessly through her.
As it connected with her photonic energy, she had the briefest sense of something being horribly wrong before she felt the pain of a semi-truck colliding with her and knocking her through the air into a nearby casino’s roof…
(to be continued in Where Was Arcane Ace when the Giant Robot Attacked Las Vegas?)
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