FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

There's a story behind everything. Even the tiniest piece of gravel had to come from somewhere, else you'd have nothing to curse for producing the stone your motorcycle lost traction on, and you'd end up just being really clumsy and feeling like a complete tit. I digress, let us begin.

Release

Shoes scuff at hard concrete, moving down a brightly lit solid concrete corridor. Thick, heavy doors resided in the walls at regular intervals, their locks sophisticated and designed entirely to keep things in, no matter what is thrown at them. A tall, well built individual moved with professional self-righteousness, an air that comes with being a police chief. A smaller, more flustered looking man with a moustache and heavily padded jacket hurried after his large strides, carrying a clipboard. A third figure practically stomped after them, her heavy armour reflecting in the lights. Light blue was the only colouring on her otherwise white armoured suit, a few lit up places glowing brightly, muffled only from behind by her cape.

"A-are you sure about this, sir?" The weedy guard asked. "Sh-she is a..." The chief, Police chief Gregors, harrumphed.

"She's a super powered individual." He said. "Right now we need all we can get, and she's the only one who has shown any co-operation out of all of these villains."

"But what if she-"

"That's what Calamity is here for." The chief snapped.

She stood at roughly five foot six, and she had, once, been a scientist; but an accident on the unique skin suit she was assigned to firmly bonded it to her body, giving her greater strength and durability, but a lower immunity to outside bacteria, and as such she covered her body in powerful armour. This armour, linked through the bodysuit to her nerves, capable of multiple technological attacks, including a shoulder-mounted minigun that could shrink down and hide in her pauldron, the capability to create an energy shockwave that could crush bones if powerful enough, and even a micro-missile launcher mounted in her chest plate. She could down a Villain quite quickly if she had to, and she had taken her non-lethal weaponry out for this exact assignment.

Calamity, inside her helmet, smiled. "If she does anything funny, she'll be eating an Overcharge." She said, the glowing parts of her armour pulsing as she spoke. "She's either going to play nice or never play again. Those were the rules the last time we met."

The guard, now caught between a rock and a hard place, resorted to finger-pointing. "But if we need all the capes we can get in Millennium, why is Calamity here? Surely she could be doing far better there than making me nervous."

"Please." Calamity hissed. "The Qularr won't get far with the force-fields they've put up, and there are already other Heroes keeping them at bay. What we need right now is a decider; who better than two-twenty-seven?"

"This is not a debate." The chief snapped, stopping outside a cell door with #227 written above it and occult sigils all over the door. "Open it."

The guard hesitated, but did what he was ordered to do, unlocking the door and letting Calamity inside.

The cell was small. It didn't need to be big; privacy and space aren't a luxury to the legally confined. A single bed, a toilet and faucet, a small, completely unbreakable mirror, and a padded plastic box for clothes were all that villains were allowed, and inspections were twice-daily. Scribbling was scratched into every wall, more occult sigils and scriptures, and a figure lay on the bed. The scratching in the walls was glowing gently until Calamity stepped into the room, every one of her weapons ready to fire. The figure's eyes slowly opened, and she sat up, her tail sliding along the mattress behind her.

She was... special. White scaled skin covering her entire body, with ridges that started just above her breasts and continued down to just below the start of her tail, but no further than the middle of the insides of her thighs, not that you would notice that right now, she's in an orange prison tank-top with her number stitched into the right breast and long orange track-pants without pockets. Her face was a short muzzle with slits for nostrils and orange, human-like eyes that glowed in the dark. Large, hard horns, more like adapted scales, framed the top and back of her head. One large one, pointed three times to the back of her head, and another two down the back of her head to her neck. She shuffled her feet, on which she would stand only on the balls of her toes, digitigrade paws with plantigrade legs. A long, exasperated sigh escaped her mouth, more a hiss than an exhale, and she eyed Calamity wearily.

"I take it that you're here to execute me?" She asked sadly. "Very well, I won't protest; not that I didn't get a last meal or anything." She stood up, put her hands behind her head and turned around. "Go on then."

Calamity pushed the reptile woman's hands back to her sides, turned her around and pushed her back onto the bed.

"If I was going to execute you, I'd have done it when the door opened." She said.

"Then what do you want?" The snake growled.

The chief stepped inside the door. "We're here to release you into Calamity's guidance." He said. "The Qularr have attacked Millennium City, and we're putting you on the front lines."

"A super villain as infamous as me on the front lines fighting with police and Heroes while already you are struggling?" The snake mumbled. "Such foolishness."

"No, you're going to fight for us." Calamity said, crossing her arms.

"And why would I do that, pray?"

"Because if you don't, Calamity is going to execute you here and now," the chief said, "it's your choice, you can both atone for your wrongdoings and help the city, or you can die for them right now. Choose!"

She was a little taken aback by his bluntness, but sighed again and stared at the floor. She was, after all, an incredibly infamous villain, and she had done terrible things, including the murder of a Hero; executing her was the least they could do to her.

"Fine." She said. "I'll work with you, but I want my wire back!"

"You're in no place to make demands!" The guard outside yelled.

"It's fine." Calamity said. "She can have her barbed wire back if it is really that important to her. Hell, we can get her some new ones if she wants, customise her a new look, but that can wait." She pulled the snake from her seating. "If you betray us, I will not hesitate to kill you." She growled; her fist clenched tight on the collar of the serpent's top. "Is that clear, Gisele?"

"Crystal."

She was paraded down the halls, up an elevator possibly hundreds of meters, and then out to the checkout area, where a guard reluctantly handed her her old clothing. Another orange sleeveless shirt, heavy orange pants with pockets that had clearly been gone through, her wallet (devoid of all cash, the thieving bastards), fresh white cotton fabric that she wrapped around her wrists and forearms, and finally her Barbed Wires, her most prized possessions.

She had three sets, one she wore diagonally around her torso, a second she wore like a belt, and another that wrapped around her shoulder and upper arm. They were decoration mainly, they did little more than scratch fruitlessly at scales that were immune to their sharp points, but they were her signature garments. Gisele donned them, but not before nuzzling the wires like a pet, and accompanied Calamity to a helicopter.

"We're flying directly to Millennium from here." Calamity said. "The Qularr have erected force-fields around various points of the city, but we can get in through the sewers."

"That's a bit of a stupid oversight on their part, isn't it?" Gisele asked sarcastically.

"Well, it'll be their downfall. The Champions are MiA; communications with Champion HQ were lost early, so we think that they were hit first." She looked out of the helicopter window and watched the desert drift by drearily. "In my opinion, however, the Champions will still be standing, if only just barely holding their position."

"I guess that you'd like to know what the wires are all about." Gisele asked. Calamity nodded, still staring at the passing desert. "A... friend gave them to me." Gisele said. "She died, though... It's stupid, isn't it? All this magical power but there are things that even I can't fix, how pathetic am I?"

"And there are some things that you didn't even try to fix." Calamity said with a distant tone.

Gisele stayed quiet, unsure of what to say. She sadly looked at her feet. "I didn't want to be a villain." She mumbled.

"Hmm?"

"I just wanted to be left alone." She continued. "But..."

"You killed a dozen civilians, and then went on to murder a Hero, Gisele!" Calamity snapped. "That's a pretty big 'but'!"

"Those civilians tried to kill me!" Gisele snapped back. "And I was let go for that, but I was followed after!"

"And Frostfire?! What's your excuse for killing him, huh?! He was a friend of mine, Gisele!"

"And I'm sorry!" Gisele shouted, before the adrenaline wore through her and she fell into a moody depression. "I'm sorry." She mumbled. "But if he'd left me alone, stopped following me, and not been so damned insistent then he'd have not died, would he? All I wanted was to be left alone! That was it! I wasn't breaking any laws at the time; I was just sitting in an alley and creating food out of whatever I had on hand!"

Calamity stayed silent at this, seeming to think these words through.

"Yeah, you heard me, Hero! I was making food from dirt and rubbish, hell; I barely survived several nights on the Paragon City streets. I couldn't get employment because of what I am, and I didn't want to be some big famous superhero, so I had to live in the gutters!"

Calamity sighed and pulled her helmet off, her almost jet black hair pulling from the ponytail hole in the back and trailing down her back. Her bright blue eyes gave Gisele a stern look.

"We have plenty of time, so why don't you tell me about yourself?" She asked. "Maybe I could learn to work with you with a history lesson."

"You'd not be interested in me." Gisele replied, waving her hand dismissively.

"We have nothing else to do." Calamity pointed out. "Unless you want to play 'eye spy', but there isn't much to look at."

Gisele sighed again. "Alright, fine." She said, and began.

Pledge

We scroll back almost eleven years to a laboratory in a distant and isolated part of America. A small bunker is all that can be seen above ground, but this bunker is simply the tip top of the iceberg, below, a huge, sprawling labyrinth of tunnels and rooms spanned for almost a kilometre in every direction.

The facility's main purpose: the creation of weapons for use against superheroes. This place was intended, entirely, to fight back against those who protect the world, and as such it was highly secret. If the supers ever found out about it, they'd have put a stop to the various activities within.

Down in the deepest chamber, where the air must be pumped in and the very walls are solid for millions of kilometres, scientists were massed about a thick glass tube, in which fluid and a sole figure floated.

"Is it sentient?" One asked.

"We won't know until it wakes." Another said.

"This had better work." yet another said. "If killing her after her awakening does, indeed, stop all mana flowing into the world, this had better work."

"It'll work." A fourth scientist said. "Destroying a Conduit so soon after creating one will, as all tests have shown, cause a feedback that will ripple through all magic using superheroes. As for her stopping us? Well, she is simple. Her mind has not grown up with the rest of her body; she'll trust us until her last breath."

Inside the tube, however, the story was much different. She was created as a Conduit, a being whose very existence allows raw Mana, magic energy, to flow into the world like water from a faucet. The magic she was already generating had given her intelligence, poured knowledge into her brain from outside the worlds, granting her sentience. As the fluid surrounding her slowly drained, one final piece of information was granted her. Either she would die at the hands of these scientists, or they would by hers.

A decision was made.

She stood, slowly and unsurely at first, gathering her balance as she looked about at the scientists in the room. Several of them seemed apprehensive, and one stepped forth.

"Good afternoon, young lady. I'm professor Richards; I guess you could call me your father." He said. "Do you know your name?" She shook her head no, and several scientists sighed in relief. "You're called Gisele." Richards said. "It means Pledge." He inched closer, reaching forth with one hand while holding the other behind his back. He stopped, however, when he hit an invisible barrier.

Runic symbols that weren't visible to the naked eye lit up on Gisele's chest, and her eyes started to glow brightly. Light bulbs smashed and machines shorted out, throwing sparks across the room.

"Fathers are supposed to love their children." Gisele growled. "Not betray them the minute they are born."

The scientists all took a terrified step back. "WH-how...?"

She stepped forward, the concrete cracking beneath her feet and magic swirling around her, condensing into a blue glowing mist, almost like fire, around her hands.

One of the other scientists panicked, and pulled a gun from his jacket. The shots he fired, however, didn't even seem to faze Gisele as she stood in defiance of the blood now running down her arm and thigh.

"Gisele! Calm down!" Richards snapped.

"Why? So you can stab me with the knife you're hiding behind your back?!" She laughed without humour. "If you hadn't had this all planned, I might even have come to love you like a father, but I won't let you kill me that easily!"

"You're being unreasonable!" Richards yelled. "What will we do if the Heroes turn against the rest of humanity?! They must be stopped before they gain too much power!"

"You plot against those who protect you, and go to the great length of creating a new life just to get your plans to fruition?!" Gisele growled. "And if a villain rears their head and attacks the world, what would you do then?! Pray?!"

"Settle down, Gisele, we can talk this through..!"

"Why?! So you can lie to me and tell me that it's all for the greater good?! I've not been alive five minutes and you're trying to kill me just to murder thousands of innocent Heroes! They've not done anything to you!"

The scientists were getting nowhere fast, and they seemed to realise this. Carefully, several of them backed towards the door, to safety, a security guard maybe. Not that it would matter, everyone was about to die anyway.

Gisele bared her teeth, her elongated fangs for the venom sacs they were attached to glinting in the light, and she released the energy she was building up. The world went white, and there was a sensation of...

... Weightlessness.

She awoke hours, possibly days later, lying on a beach on the outskirts of a massive city. Her eyes didn't open, but she could hear -no- feel dozens of people around her, and she could tell that it had to be night time. She lay in darkness, but blue and red lights flashed across her closed eyes quickly and torchlight would regularly be shone in her face. She heard and felt someone step next to her and roll her onto her back, mostly out of the puddle of blood she was pooling beneath her from her still profusely bleeding wounds.

"Any idea what this is?" A voice asked.

"Not a clue." A second male voice replied, this one right above her. "She's bleeding red blood, and she's warmish to the touch, so she must be at least partially mammal, but she's so..."

"Reptilian." The first voice finished. There was a pop, and Gisele felt a wave of magic energy ripple past her, something she hadn't felt before.

"I got here as fast as I could." A female voice said. This one sounded strangely masculine, like their voice was being put on as a show.

"It's about time, Shockpulse; we called for you hours ago!" The first voice snapped.

"Sorry, a group of escaped prisoners kinda impeded my progress." The voice allegedly belonging to Shockpulse replied.

Gisele knew she couldn't feign unconsciousness much longer, the person that was right above her was gently wiping blood from her body to try and find where she was wounded, and when he accidentally slipped a finger into a bullet wound, she jolted and her eyes flicked open as she hissed in pain.

"Don't!" She snapped, throwing the paramedic off guard. She afforded herself a little extra power, letting herself build up just enough to push him back with a small pulse of magic if she had to.

"B-but you're wounded!" He stammered in his momentary confusion.

"Be careful." Shockpulse's voice warned. "I can feel the magical potential she has; I've never felt anything quite like it."

Gisele contorted so as to be able to see Shockpulse. She was in a tight black leotard with a yellow lightning bolt across her chest and a belt covered in small compartments around her waist. She had a simple black mask across her eyes, and her long, dark brown hair draped over her shoulders. She was looking back at Gisele with a suspicious expression.

Gisele huffed. "I'm not like most magic users." She hissed, still in pain from her wounds.

"Oh?" Shockpulse pushed. "What makes you special?"

Gisele sighed. "The scientists at the laboratory I was born in created me to be a weapon against Supers." She said, to which Shockpulse growled. "However," Gisele continued, "that laboratory no longer exists."

"So the explosion in the Sahara desert..."

"That was me." Gisele finished. "They planned to kill me shortly after awakening me, but I learned that through the magic that flows through me."

"Magic can't do that, only psionic powers." Shockpulse informed her, to which Gisele chuckled half-heartedly.

"Tell me, during all your life as a magic user, have you ever been told about how Mana flows into the world?" She asked.

"Sure." Shockpulse replied. "They're called Conduits. Essentially, some objects like rocks, waterfalls, mountains and gems act like a hole in the world through which raw Mana flows. Mages and other magic users can create sigils and runes that mimic this, but usually only for a short time."

Gisele sighed again, her strength quickly leaving her as she bled out. "The scientists that made me were very specific about what they wanted me to be." She said. "I'm a walking Conduit, built to bleed Mana out into the world." She heard Shockpulse gasp and she ignored it. "Their plan was to kill me when I woke, stopping the Mana that was to flow through me like a cork in a shaken up bottle. That over-abundance of Mana with nowhere to go would push itself out of the only available gaps, magic using Heroes, and most likely kill them in the process." She put her head back on the sand and closed her eyes. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to die in peace."

Shockpulse stepped closer, pulled a nail from a compartment of her belt and held it over the bullet wound in Gisele's arm. She felt a sharp, painful tug and the bullet zipped out, sticking to the nail with a slightly wet click. Another few seconds later, and Gisele felt the same, sharp pull and the bullet in her thigh also was removed from its hideaway.

"Try not to move." Shockpulse said. "We'll get you to a hospital and have these wounds sealed up in no time."

Gisele wanted to protest, but she found herself too weak, and the world faded to black around her as she heard a stretcher wheel closer.

She awoke later in a hospital bed. Quite angrily so, she had been robbed the semi-peaceful death she had asked for, and now she was lying in a bed she didn't know. She looked about herself weakly. She was surrounded by police, too, and they all eyed her irritably as she pushed herself from the mattress, managing to stand on the tile floor. She wore a hospital gown, bright blue and clean, and had gauze bandages wrapped around her wounds. She hobbled a step before stumbling and being caught by one of the officers.

"Where'd you think you're goin'?" He asked.

She gave him a look, as if asking 'are you really that stupid?' brushing his hand off and weakly pushing herself to her feet. "I've been unconscious for hours I don't know, laying in a bed." She growled. "I'm female, where'd you think I'm going?"

Another police officer, female, stepped forth and wrapped an arm around Gisele's own, helping her towards the small bathroom cubicle. She let Gisele in the door, closing it politely behind her and turning to the first officer.

"You really don't have much experience with women, do you sarge'?" She asked sarcastically, getting a light chorus of laughter from the squad.

They made polite conversation until Gisele stepped back out of the little room, her hands still slightly dripping from being washed, and she shook them off before flames engulfed the flesh. She seemed extremely nonchalant, but the police were frantic. She gave them a look that told them not only that she was in complete control, but that she'd like them to shut the hell up. The fire faded and her hands were unharmed, and she lay back on the bed.

She stared at the ceiling, feeling the gaze of all the officers on her, and sighed. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on sleeping, but with all the eyes of the police there she couldn't even begin to drift to sleep, so instead she sat up, grabbed a nearby pen and pad of paper, and scribbled down a perfect magic circle. She tore a piece of paper from lower in the pad and used magic to change it into a strip of masking tape, promptly using it to stick the circle to the wall above her head. Again she lay back, closed her eyes, and concentrated. The circle lit up and glowed gently, pulsing greens and purples. Gisele sighed contently, venting her frustrations into the circle. It only glowed brighter when she also tried to use it to divert the pain she still felt from her recently closed wounds, and a bright blue flame that burned without heat flickered to life in the centre. Several of the officers sounded their dislike of this, but they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Don't worry too much, boys, it's perfectly natural." Shockpulse's voice said calmly, losing its masculine gruffness. "She's got pent-up magic, and is using the circle to divert it back into the flow of the world." Gisele felt her move closer. "It's very strange that she has enough magic to create a magical flame in such a way, but..."

"I am a conduit, after all." Gisele said without opening her eyes. The fire faded, as did the circle's glow, and she opened her eyes. "I'm a living weapon."

"Well, the doctors have told me that you'll be ready to leave in a few hours. You've an incredible regenerative capacity, possibly owing to your magical potential, and your wounds are almost sealed as is." Shockpulse said, putting a hand onto Gisele's shoulder. "The Police have put you into my care, and our first stop will be a tailor; I've been handed some money to get you clothes, and after that I'll see about getting you a meeting with the Trismegistus Council."

"Please, what would they do to me that normal Scientists would not?" Gisele hissed. "I'm a thing to people, a tool to be used to further their own goals; I want no part of such things."

Shockpulse put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. "You don't think that, with your powers, you could be a superhero? We need someone with your potential-"

"All I want," Gisele interrupted, "is to be left alone to watch the world pass by."

The pair soon reached the ground floor and walked into the tailor that was attached to the lobby. It was a risky, but profitable, venture to put the costume tailor here. Humans would get into accidents, receive super powers and awaken with no idea who, or what, they are. Thoughts would arise in their heads of fame and glory, possibly of power and wealth, and they would arrive in the foyer to find the costume shop. First costumes were mostly free; a few items were charged for due to their rarity or the difficulty in their construction, but for first time customers the charge was usually waived down greatly.

When Shockpulse entered the store, the tailor greeted her like an old friend, possibly from her being here many times with other new heroes in the past. At first she didn't seem to notice Gisele, who entered and looked about the store idly. Only when she heard them stop talking did she notice her move closer.

"First time, miss?" She asked nonchalant.

Gisele was a little taken aback, and she turned her head to regard the tailor critically.

"I've... not bought clothes before, if that's what you're asking." She admitted.

The woman chuckled. "Well, I'm sure we can find something that will suit you." She said. "I've costumed men who look like they've been struck with brick shithouses, women who have had more limbs than spiders; you're not that different. I'll just have to take measurements of your tail width at the base to get an adequate space for it when I sew your pants." She turned Gisele to face her and gently moved the hospital gown she was wearing to see more of her. "White the whole way down?" She asked, to which Gisele nodded. "Albino, eh..? Well, we can work with that. You've still got one colour we can play with." Gisele looked confused, and the tailor chuckled. "What's your favourite colour?" She asked.

Gisele tilted her head, thinking for a few moments. "... Orange," she said, "but I like red, too."

The tailor nodded; a wry smile on her face. "Hmm, figured as much," she said, "with eyes as deeply orange as yours. Well, c'mon."

She led Gisele through the shop to a back room, a podium in the middle. She pointed Gisele to the podium and locked the door behind them. "Alright, lose the gown and stand up there; I'll need to take measurements, then we can discuss fabrics, styles..."

Gisele nodded and reached 'round her back to untie the hospital gown. She clumsily clawed at the knot, unable to get a grip strong enough to untie it, and gave an exasperated growl before simply tugging the gown harshly enough to snap the lace. She threw it into a nearby bin and stepped up onto the podium with a blush, hiding her crotch reflexively.

The tailor turned around with a measuring tape and quickly and discreetly took Gisele's measurements before handing her a towel to keep herself decent with.

"Now," the tailor began, rubbing her hands together, "what sort of fabric do you want? We have durable latexes and leathers, plastics, metal armour; or, if you'd rather a more casual look, we have Rasp wear which is very flexible, Mega mesh with heat tolerance, or Titanweave, which is made from titanium fibres. All of our fabric choices are free for your first outfit."

Gisele blinked at the tailor. "Uh, Titanweave sounds alright." She mumbled.

"Alright," the tailor said, stepping over to, and sitting at, a computer, "orange Titanweave. Any particular styles you're interested in?"

Gisele sighed. "Just something casual," she said, waving a hand, "I'm not that interested in any of this 'hero' stuff." She gave the tailor a forlorn look. "I just want to disappear into the background."

The tailor stared at Gisele, before smiling. "Alright, hon." She said. "Jeans and a sleeveless shirt; I'll throw in a belt to keep your pants up."

"Before you finish;" Shockpulse said, stepping into the room, "I'd like to add a little flourish."

"I don't want-"

Shockpulse shushed her, walking to the computer and looking through the menus. "Let's see..." She mumbled. "Ah, here we go; one of these, and one of these..."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but those items aren't available for first-time outfits." The tailor said. Shockpulse nodded and slid some coin across the desk.

"I know." She said. "Who said anything about having them free?"

An hour later, and Gisele was handed a box, and she opened it to find her clothes within, which she hastily pulled on. Shockpulse gave her a critical look as she stood in her new clothes, looking at herself in the store's mirrors.

"I think you might have missed some things." She said, taking some orange straps from the box and wrapping Gisele's forearms, before lifting a tangle of red wire from the box. She wrapped some of the barbed wire around Gisele's right shoulder, including a large half-ring which somehow held it to her scaled skin. Another band she wrapped around her torso, from left shoulder to right hip, and the final tangle she wrapped around Gisele's midsection like a belt.

"Consider them a gift." Shockpulse said with a slight smile. "It goes well on the orange; a personality like barbs with a heart of gold. Promise me you'll look after them."

Gisele looked up at Shockpulse, before smiling. "Thankyou," she said, "I will."

(Un)Frozen Heart

Back on the helicopter, Gisele sighed and flicked away a tear.

"So the person you cherish the wire over..."

"Was Shockpulse, yes." Gisele finished. "I'd not known her a day and she treated me like a friend, someone worth something. I closed off my heart to others that day, and became the cold bitch that sits before you."

"I... heard that she died, not a month before your incarceration." Calamity mumbled.

"I was there." Gisele said distantly. "We'd been to see the Trismegistus Council, and upon leaving the building, we were attacked by twelve thugs, her nemesis had sent them her way. She was shot in the head, almost point-blank." She gritted her teeth at recalling her painful memory. "Those were the dozen 'civilians' I slew. I was let off for killing them, because they had slain one of the finest heroes that Paragon ever knew they would have been put to death anyway."

"What happened after that?"

"I had nowhere to go after she died; I was grief stricken, her funeral was the only thing that kept me going for a week, but after that, I sort of just roamed the streets. I was lucky here and there, accidentally caught a thief and was rewarded a little, found lost property and was given an apartment for a week... The courts had issued a hero to follow me, and after I'd been kicked out of my temporary apartment, I noticed him."

"Frostfire..."

"It was raining..."

Gisele was hiding under an umbrella she'd made from a cardboard box. It wasn't much, and she still got wet from the water on the ground, but it was all she could get. She was sitting in an alley, shuffling mud around with her spare hand. Magic swirled around her palm, and the small pile turned into an apple, which she wiped clean and went to take a bite of.

"Stop."

She paused and looked sideways at a figure.

He wore silver, blue and red armour, which glowed in certain points. His face was strong, brown hair under a finned helmet with powerful bright blue eyes that glittered in the light, with a moustache under his nose. He had a cape down his back, spiked at the bottom with a fire pattern of red, blue and silver. His entire outfit was made of metal, which pulsed with barely contained energy He strode up to her and lifted her to her feet.

"Though I have been told to keep my intrusions to a bare minimum unless need is dire, I cannot stand by and watch a woman in the rain eating fruit made from dirt." He said.

"The food is perfectly healthy." Gisele said, holding it out for inspection. "Just a little dirty."

He shook his head. "Come, I shall take you to a diner. You've eked out too feeble an existence for me to stand by and watch any longer."

"I don't want to go to a diner!" Gisele snapped angrily. "I want to be left alone! You following me was bad enough, but now you're interrupting my life!" She wrestled her arm free from his hand. "Surely there is another unfortunate around somewhere that you can care for!"

He shook his head. "There is no poverty in this city because of us heroes." He said. "We donate to charities, build houses for the poor and many of us work in places that feed those low of income, or give jobs to those who need them." He sighed. "My name is Frostfire, and I only want to help."

Gisele slapped his hand away.

"I don't want help!" She snapped. "I just want to be left alone!"

She turned on her toes and tried to run, but a wall of ice exploded up around her, sealing her in a prison.

"I can't let you leave!"

The ice prison exploded, showering the walls in ice as Gisele lunged towards him.

"Fine!"

He barely ducked her, all teeth and claws and vengeance. When she whipped around to hit him with her tail, he grabbed it and flung her out onto the street, where she landed on her so-recently created apple. She reached under herself and lifted the squashed foodstuff, looking at it distantly before throwing it to the bitumen. She stood up and flung an arm around, a bolt of magic flinging from her hand and smacking into the building behind Frostfire as he charged her down. The brick wall exploded, showering the road in rubble. She dodged a fist, and slapped him in the face before grabbing his belt and rolling with his momentum, throwing him across the road. He twisted and gained his balance, hurling ice at her. His frosty attack made the heavy rain turn to hail or snow, and froze a lamppost solid. Civilians seemed to come from everywhere to watch the spectacle.

He hurled fire at her, singing her clothes and making the world around her turn to steam melting the frozen lamppost into a puddle of liquid metal. Gisele threw another bolt of magic, this time striking his arm. It seemed to bounce right off him, leaving only a dent in his armour. He stopped and looked down at it before flexing his hand.

"So you can play." He said, his armour starting to glow brightly. The world grew cold, and some rain started to fall as hail around them. "Then I'll show you why I'm called Frostfire..!"

"I've had enough." Gisele growled. "Bring it on!"

He surged forth, fire flaring around him, yet freezing the water on the ground with each step. A fist, covered in blue fire, slammed the ground where she had stood moments before. The bitumen froze, exploded into flames, and simply melted into a puddle. Gisele landed behind him, having jumped his attack, and slapped a magic flame to his back.

"Let's see how your armour reacts to this!"

His armour glowed brightly, and started to hum dangerously. Frostfire took a step forward and looked down at himself before tugging a few vents. He started to panic.

"W-what have you done?! The suit's going to overload at this rate!" He took another step before holding his chest. "Oh god, I can't stop it!"

He leapt into the air, fire forming around him, the heat making him fly. He flew off into the night sky, a bolt of brightness against the shadowy clouds.

His figure was almost two miles away before the light intensified.

The explosion could be seen a hundred miles away.

His bloodstained helmet landed at Gisele's feet, and she picked it up, staring at it like she'd never seen anything like it.

"Holy Sh-"

"And that was when you struck me from behind, knocking me out cold and dragged me to prison." Gisele said.

Calamity stared at her, a twitch of anger on her otherwise shocked features.

"You're telling me that he started the fight?"

Gisele sighed.

"I know you don't believe me." Gisele said. "I don't blame you, and I don't intend to change your mind." She looked out the window at the changing scenery; they were almost at the city now. "And frankly I don't care." She added with a snarl. "It doesn't matter, I'm stuck with you no matter what happened, and you're stuck with me. We can save the city and you can kill me then, or you can kill me beforehand and say that these aliens did it; I don't care." She turned her hard gaze on Calamity. "Do whatever you want; just remember that I have had no reason to live, no motivation to go on; I've wanted to die from the day I was born, and that has never changed."

Calamity stared at Gisele as she turned to look back out the window. That was an outburst she really wasn't prepared for. The helicopter rocked as they landed, and she tugged her helmet back on with a sigh.

"Move." She snapped, stepping over to the door and opening it wide. She stepped into the street, eyeing the environment around her. The Qularr shield was dozens of metres away; she could see devastation on the other side, the city was a war zone. There was supposed to be a liaison here somewhere, but she couldn't see a normal human staying in this area for long. She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned to it as a white, blue and gold blur moved past, grabbing Gisele and pinning her to a wall.

Gisele growled, grabbing at the shoulders of the male holding her up. "I don't go down so easily!" She snapped, suddenly disappearing and reappearing behind the figure. She slapped a powerful bolt of magic into his back, sending him through the wall. "Move! Find a sewer entrance!" Gisele yelled. "I don't know if I can hold him off for long!"

Calamity nodded, turning to run down the street before she kicked something.

It was a red box, about the same size as a shoebox, and she knelt down. She opened it carefully and gasped, turning to in shock.

"Gisele; STOP!"

Gisele ducked a swing, grabbing the offending arm and swinging her opponent across the road, where he stopped. The figure slid to a stop and righted himself before laughing. His voice echoed in his helmet, but was audible with a voice distorter.

"Good to see you've still got that edge to you." He said, stepping closer. "I'm the liaison that was sent to meet you here, name's Aiden Coldburn; but you might know me by another name." He reached up and pulled his helmet off, revealing his smiling, and slightly scarred face.

"Frostfire."

Gisele stared at him dumbfounded, Calamity, however, ran up to him and hugged him.

"Aiden! I can't believe you're alive!" She cheered. "I was so worried!"

Frostfire chuckled and put a hand behind her head. "I'm sorry to have worried you so, Fortune." He said. "I very nearly did die; luckily one of our other friends, Rhapsody, happened to be nearby, and she caught me as I fell. I managed to wrestle out of the suit, but was knocked out by the explosion." He pushed her off him and tapped his chest plate. "Been working on mark two since, and it's only just been completed."

Calamity put her hands on her hips. "Testing?"

"Four months, and almost a year's worth of testing the software."

"Defences?"

"Solid Titanium shell with an anti-magic ward underlay, twice as durable as the last."

She seemed to consider this. "What about your offensive?"

He laughed. "I could melt a tanker, or freeze an ocean."

"You're dead!" Gisele said. Frostfire looked over at her and considered this.

"No, don't feel dead." He said.

"You blew up." Gisele said sternly. "No-one could survive that explosion!"

Frostfire chuckled and stepped over, tapping her on the nose and leaning down to see her face. "And that's why we're super heroes." He said. He motioned Calamity to hand him the box on the ground, and he presented it to Gisele. "For you, young missy."

She blinked at this, and gingerly took the box, opening it carefully. She looked at the contents and then back at Frostfire.

"Clothes..?"

"I went to the tailor you got these clothes from." He said, tugging her top. "And commissioned a new outfit. It's close to what you're wearing now, but a little bit... better. If you're to hero with us, we can't have you looking like someone we picked up off the street, can we?"

"But..! I... we..!"

Frostfire sighed, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Look, kid; it was a mistake I'm not proud of. I jumped the gun and put yourself and civilians at stake, and I'm sorry; but right now we don't have time to sit about and mope about the past, the city is in danger, and we might be all that stands between the civilians and the Qularr." He tapped her nose and winked at her. "So get your ass into those clothes and let's go kick some Qularr tail."

She nodded faintly and turned to change in a nearby building when he grabbed her shoulder.

"I've only one request." He said. "And it's that you let me redesign these barbed wires of yours."

"Frostfire..!" Calamity mumbled, moving to stop him.

"No." Gisele said, slipping the wire off. "It's alright." She handed the metal tangles to Frostfire gently. "We must all let go of the past eventually."

"I'm not destroying them." Frostfire grumbled. "If we're to make you not a target to the other heroes, a new look is needed. I'm just..."

"Keeping your friends close." Calamity mumbled.

"Everyone changes with time." Frostfire said. "Hop to it."

Gisele stepped back into the street, now donned in fresh new clothes. Her new top was shorter and slightly more revealing than her last, but it had magic charms on it that she sensed that would keep her safer than her last, her new jeans were almost like her last ones, featuring the same charms as her tank-top, as did her wrist bands. Her belt was now metal, not leather, and was segmented into sharp points. Finally, her most prized possessions were wrapped around her. One on her right arm, magically kept to her shoulder, and the other serving as a wallet chain, attached to her belt. She shyly looked up at Calamity for approval.

"That's a better look." She said approvingly. "Now, where are we getting in?"

Frostfire nodded, pulling his helmet back on. "There is a manhole cover just in this alley." He informed. "We're going down there and into Millennium centre. From there, it's just a matter of getting to the front lines; shouldn't be more than half a click."

"Alright." Calamity said. "Let's go."

The trio hurried around the corner, and Frostfire melted the manhole cover, allowing them in.

They burst out another manhole about one hundred metres from their last location, looking about cautiously. Frostfire climbed out first; helping Calamity out, and, overestimating Gisele's weight, he lifted her with one hand.

"You're light." He said, almost impressed.

"You try being in prison for killing a super for ten years." She grumbled, pushing his hand off. "It's a really good way to drop weight, let me tell you."

"C'mon, ladies, no time to argue." Calamity snapped. "We're surrounded."

Frostfire sighed. "Alright, Gisele, back in the hole."

"What; WHY?!"

Calamity held a hand to her chest, and little saucer-shaped explosive charges unearthed themselves from almost every vantage point on her armour. Gisele blinked.

"Right." She said, leaping down the hole.

Frostfire soon joined her, and Calamity gave a grunt of exertion before falling down into Frostfire's arms.

"Count to three." She said.

Gisele sighed. "One."

"Two." Frostfire mumbled.

"THREE!"

The world around them shook violently, and numerous explosions were heard overhead. Little bits of rubble tumbled in the manhole, and an alien arm announced itself by slapping against the wall. Gisele considered it.

"That is quite possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever seen." She said, watching it peel from the concrete and hit the floor.

"I've seen worse." Frostfire said. "You should see what happens when you melt these assholes."

"We'll reserve that for later, let's GO!" Calamity snapped.

"You're antsy." Frostfire quipped, pushing the blue and white femme fatale out the manhole.

"It's been years since I got to blow shit up." She snapped. "I miss it so."

The three soon reached the front lines. Qularr weapons fire zipped overhead and the two armoured individuals rushed to the nearest officer.

"Situation, captain!" Frostfire snapped.

"We're losing!" He yelled back. "They're everywhere, and I've already lost five of my best men! We just can't put a dent in their numbers!"

Calamity looked to Frostfire, then down the main road, where a veritable wall of Qularr was advancing. She rushed to Gisele.

"You got a trick in your hat to help here?" She asked.

Gisele gave her a 'are you fucking serious' look, before pulling the helmet off of a nearby officer.

"Let's see." She said, holding it up and dipping her hand in. "Magic, magic, magic," she mumbled, pulling out a deck of cards which she let fall all over the floor, then a pigeon (which got shot as it tried to fly away) and then a stuffed bunny, which she promptly put into the officer's hands. "How about one of these?"

She flicked her hand out, and magic discharged with all the force of a controlled explosion. Dust whirled around her, and the bolt of energy, about the size of a city bus, ploughed into the advancing wall of aliens, who seemed to simply disappear. She handed the helmet back to the sergeant and gave Calamity a cheeky smile. Calamity stared.

"You did say in my hat, but I haven't got one." Gisele quipped.

"You're a scary bitch." Calamity said.

"But funny." Frostfire chimed. He looked about the slightly shocked faces staring at him. "What? I thought that was funny."

Calamity sighed. "You'd find a bus full of nuns running down a deer funny."

Frostfire flung fire directly in the face of a Qularr down the road. "It would be." He said. "A religion of peace flattening a deer, the epitome of irony." He looked down the road and sighed. "For now, I'll make my own humour."

He charged past Calamity and vanished, leaving not even a disturbance in the air in his wake, and reappeared behind a Qularr. He tapped it on the shoulder before vanishing, and the Qularr turned, only to have its entire face melted off to echoing, almost frightening laughter. Gisele, Calamity and the sergeant watched him essentially torture the Qularr platoon as he picked them off one by one in shock.

"Okay;" Calamity mumbled, "now I believe you when you say he started that fight."

"He's kinda scary." Gisele replied. "I can't believe I fought that."

"The cloaking device is a new toy though, I wonder if I could implement it into my own armour."

A Qularr drop ship flew overhead, and Gisele watched it go, dropping a platoon down a street.

"Have you got any interesting tricks in your hat?" Gisele asked. The sergeant hugged his helmet to his head.

"Not really." Calamity replied. "Though I do have one of these-" a machine gun unfolded from one of her pauldrons, "and some of this."

She stepped forth, the machine gun whirring to life and spitting a hail of fire through the Qularr. Her chest plate opened up in the middle, a little circular panel sliding away and revealing a small missile system that launched explosives at the hapless, and soon to be dismembered, platoon.

She stepped back over to Gisele, who shook her head with a smile.

"You're all about the explosions, aren't you?" She asked.

Calamity giggled. "Explosions are pretty."

Frostfire reappeared next to Gisele and brushed blood off of his armour.

"Enemy radio reports say that Ironclad is holding them off at the Champion's HQ, but that's a whole district over, and there's a shield in place to protect it." He looked down the street, watching as a bus was hurled at a Qularr platoon. "Supposedly there are lots of heroes there, so we shouldn't be needed."

"We'll work on this district." Calamity said. "Keep this area safe, this is our emergency fallback zone."

A blue female creature came running down the road, and she stopped next to the sergeant. She had a red scarf around her neck, and her light blue body was dotted with red spots here and there. She had her lower face hidden, but fins sprouted from the short red hair on her head, and some fins also sprouted from her upper arms and thighs. A long finned tail lengthened her spine, and she had wicked-sharp claws on her fingers and the toes of her digitigrade feet. She looked at Gisele and growled.

"Who let you out, bitch?!"

"Whoa, whoa, settle, Rhapsody." Calamity snapped, standing between them. "She's with us."

"She's a villain!"

"Former villain," Frostfire grumbled, "like Ratcatcher."

Rhapsody glared. "I don't trust her."

"And I don't blame you." Gisele mumbled. "I'll be over there, blowing shit up." She said, pointing to a line of police shooting at Qularr sadly.

She dawdled over to the squadron, who all acknowledged her presence by making space for her to join them, and she knelt down and started hurling magic bolts.

"Captain Moretti, third precinct." The one to her right said, introducing himself.

She hesitated. "Gisele." She said. "I... Don't have a home or title."

He looked over at her, spared a moment to let who exactly was next to him to sink in, before shrugging and continuing to fire.

"You're that villain that killed Frostfire." He said.

"Almost killed." She corrected, pointing over to him. She threw another bolt and then realised that he didn't have the kind of disgust in his voice for her that others did. "Why don't you hate me?" She asked. "I almost killed a hero! An icon of the people!"

"Right now you're fighting to keep yourself and us alive." He replied. "Who you are means shit to me right now, so long as you can keep it up!" He threw her a smile. "Why should I hate someone who is helping keep my sorry ass on this planet?"

Gisele gave him a half-shocked face before smiling and looking up at a drop ship flying in to deliver troops.

"Let's make your life a little easier!" She said, charging a more powerful bolt.

She threw the bolt with everything she had, watching it slam into the drop ship and explode, taking the ship with it. The ruined vehicle slammed into the pavement and exploded, raining rubble all around to a chorus of whoops and cheers. She smiled.

"You're welcome bo-"

She was cut off as something exploded, throwing her from her cover and hurling the police across the crossroad. Calamity rushed to her aid, lifting her to her feet, a deep gash in her left arm.

"What the hell was that?" She asked.

"Qularr battle tank." Calamity informed. "This'll be hard to take out."

Gisele blinked, noticing all the police lying about in pain, and gasped. "Captain Moretti?" She yelped, hurrying over to a nearby officer. "Captain Moretti?!" She rolled the dead officer over, reading his tag.

Moretti.

Gisele's world froze, and she stared at the tag on the Captain's chest mortified. Her jaw had dropped, and her face was one of complete shock.

"I..." She mumbled. "He..!" Her face contorted into sorrow, and she started crying onto his chest inconsolably. Calamity fired a round of missiles at the huge Qularr tank, keeping her attention on Gisele.

Slowly she stood. She turned, and her face twisted into rage.

"Get away from it." She growled; glaring at the tank as if her eyes would burn into its hull. "Or die with it." She bared her teeth in anger, her elongated fangs actually dripping venom as she started to pace towards it. Her left arm hung almost uselessly as blood oozed from her wound. Her right had, stretched out, held a magical fire, and the runic symbols that covered her entire body glowed like the sun.

"Oh shit;" calamity mumbled, tapping a button on her helmet, "Frostfire, if you're still on this channel, you lot'd better get the fuck away from there!"

He seemed to get her message, and he grabbed Rhapsody as he kicked off the hull, running as fast as he could with her in his arms. They stopped next to Calamity and turned to the tank.

"Why are we moving away?!" Rhapsody snapped. "We've not..!" Her attention flicked onto Gisele and she stopped mid-sentence. "Why is she glowing?"

Calamity looked her in the face. "Gisele is a conduit." She said, getting a shocked face.

"No..!" Rhapsody and Frostfire retorted.

"You're kidding!" Rhapsody said, turning her astonished face on Gisele, who waved her hand and made a car literally fly into the building to her right, out of her path. "She's a conduit!?

"She could take out this entire city district!" Frostfire snapped.

"But she won't." Calamity said firmly, before turning her attention to Gisele. "She'll only take out it."

Gisele moved at a deliberate pace, picking up mana from all around, draining it from the conduit she was like she'd opened the faucet to full bawl. The tank charged a shot and fired directly at her, and a bus flew into the projectile's trajectory and exploded. She massed up all the rage and hatred she'd felt for the last ten years, the sorrow at her life's purpose, and threw it into the magic, letting it bubble and warp.

"I've live a life of sorrow, being a weapon to destroy those who would protect this world;" she snarled, spitting venom onto the road, "and all along I've known that I would have to die to destroy them. No longer will I hide from my power and potential to protect the world, I'll show them all what I'm capable of!" She leapt up at the tank with blinding speed and grabbed the hull with her functioning hand, the magic vanishing into the metal. "And I'll demonstrate with you!!"

The hull beneath her hand shone like the sun, and there was a sensation of...

... Weightlessness.

Gisele awoke in someone's arms, her entire body aching and she couldn't move. She felt something drip onto her face, and she carefully opened her eyes to see Calamity with he helmet off, her worried face looking down at her.

"I'm... Alive..." She quietly mumbled.

"Barely." Frostfire's voice quipped nearby.

She looked over at her wounded arm to find it wrapped in gauze.

"Rhapsody has run off to fight the Qularr and keep this square clear." Frostfire said, before kneeling down next to her. "She's quite versed in first aid."

She gave him a distant look before staring at the sky.

"I thought for sure that this time I was going to die." She breathed. "Thank goodness..."

"There's no fresh water in this square, I've sent a squadron to the nearest convenience store to acquire some."

"Go see if they're alright, we'll be good here."

Frostfire nodded, turning and running off down the road.

Gisele stared into space while Calamity saw about making her more comfortable. She sighed.

"Calamity..?"

The familiar face of Calamity came into view. "Yes, hon?"

"Thanks... for giving me a second chance..."

Calamity smiled. "No problems, kiddo." She said, looking over to Frostfire and pulling her into a sitting position.

"We'll get some water in you." Frostfire said. "And then find you somewhere to sit and rest. You were ground zero for that explosion, and your body's gone into shock, which is why you feel rigid."

"Will it pass..?"

He smiled, uncapping a bottle of water and holding it to her lips for her to drink. "Yeah, 'course." He said. "How would I move otherwise?" He laughed as she blushed at this, trying to avert her eyes as she drank. "Yeah, thought that'd be your response."

Gisele managed to push the bottle from her face and wiped her mouth, shakily using Calamity to push herself to her feet. "I'm sorry." She said distantly. "For everything I put you through."

Frostfire shook his head, catching her as she stumbled and lifting her into his arms. "Think nothing of it." He said, carrying her to a tented area with a few seats. "It was a massive design flaw that you exploited anyway; I really should have repaired it before you got to it." He watched Calamity walk away to talk with the officer in charge, and he sat down next to her. "Tell me, though, what made you flip like that?" He asked. "You didn't go that crazy at me when I almost beat the crap out of you ten years ago..?"

She sighed and stared at the ground beneath her. "The... Captain, Captain Moretti. He said that it didn't matter who I was, so long as I was helping to fight for this planet, and to protect the life on it." A tear fell from her face and she looked him dead in the eye, through his visor. "It gave me a reason to live, after all these years I had a reason!" She heaved a sob, her face becoming more wretchedly depressed. "And then he died! And so did the others! And I just thought; who are the Qularr to take my reason from me?! What gives them the right?!"

Frostfire sighed. "And just think; you were almost at their exact same position ten years ago." He said. "But you've learned something, something important, that you didn't know back then; that the Qularr might still learn." He smiled inside his helmet and wiped a tear from her face. "You learned the value of companionship. You almost killed me ten years ago, but I still sit by your side, don't I?"

Weakly she nodded.

"And when Shockpulse died;" Calamity began, stepping into the tent, "the utmost rage you felt after that was because she was someone who valued you for who you were, not what; she offered you friendship and you cherished it until the day she died." She smiled a little. "And I believe she'd have been proud to see what you accomplished today."

Gisele nodded a little, resting back in the chair and sighing.

"I don't want to die any more, Calamity." She said.

Calamity stepped in and sat next to the battered serpent, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"That I do believe." She replied honestly. "Eventually, even the iciest of ice queens melt revealing a heart of gold." She tugged on Gisele's top to get her to notice her. "Let's get you healed up, and then we can go blow shit up, huh?"

Gisele smiled and held out a hand, allowing magic to engulf her. She gave a contented sigh as her muscles relaxed, her pain fading with her fatigue. She let the magic do its work before dropping the field and removing the gauze from her arm, revealing not a scar.

"That's a neat trick." Frostfire commented. "Tell me, do you do arthritis, too?"

Gisele laughed and stood, stretching wide and getting the feel of herself back before striding out the door.

"C'mon, Calamity," She called, "let's go find something for you to blow up, and then I can get some peace and quiet."

Calamity laughed, jogging to get alongside the reptile as she tugged her helmet on. "Y'know, your personality of barbs suits you well, Gisele." She commented as they approached some Qularr soldiers with eager smiles.

"It guards your inner gold."