[center][h2][color=Silver]Coral City - Unknown Location[/color][/h2][/center] [hr] The monsters were spreading, searching for something, searching for what was being concealed from the world for its own protection. A lone individual stood in front of door, a massive, titanium door that had no way of being opened from the outside; there was no keypad, no sensors, no lock to pick or code to crack, the only way to open it was from the inside making it the perfect lock box. The door was specially designed that way in case its location was ever compromised, designed to keep intruders out at all costs. The lone individual outside was a...secretary of sorts. It was their job to transmit any messages from inside to the proper channels. They did not know what was inside, only that there was a who, and that someone would occasionally send them text messages and instructions. The man on duty sat at a desk with a computer that was connected to a special, encrypted server designed to be untraceable. Of course often there wasn't much to do, so like any sane person, they had sneaked in some games on a thumb drive to pass the time. Just as they got to a very important jump on an extremely hard level, their phone rang and the character on screen plummeted to their death. They groaned at the interruption and looked at the phone to see a single line of text. [indent]ACTIVATE SAPPHIRE PROTOCOL[/indent] The secretary did a double take since he couldn't believe his eyes. Sapphire protocol hadn't been activated in almost a decade. Heck, he didn't even know what it referred to in the first place. All he knew, was that Sapphire protocol was only be be activated in times of crisis. With a sigh, he closed down his program and went to the proper access point to get in touch with his superiors. Sapphire protocol it was. [center][h2][color=Silver]Coral City - Non-discript Office Building[/color][/h2][/center] [hr] It was just a normal day in the office, sure there were reports of strange muffin creatures forcing citizens to get diabetes but the office was no where close to the epicenter of the chaos, with those weirdos on the case, Suzanna Delilah Everest would have nothing to worry about in the office. Suzanna went about her work, putting together papers, checking figures of all varieties, even colleagues, and using the ever sputtering copy machine like a good white-collar worker should. The work was monotonous at times, but Suzanna enjoyed the mundanity of it all. Some colleagues looked a little stressed by the reports but Suzanna didn't let it bother her in the least. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, her first thought being a request from her boss but when she saw the single line of text sent to her, she went as white as a sheet. [indent][color=82ca9d]"Oh shoot, oh CRAP! No no NO this can't be happening after all this time. I'll just delete and pretend I didn't see it. Maybe it was an accident..."[/color][/indent] With the press of a button the message was deleted...but only for about five seconds before another popped in its place. With a groan she deleted that one too, but now it took only two seconds for the next to appear. After five deletes in a row then her phone started to ring. [indent][color=a2d39c]"NO! Please just let those guys take care of it! I really, really don't want to go back into that world!"[/color][/indent] She cursed a few times and tried to shut down the calls, but they kept on coming until she finally broke down and answered the call. [indent][color=a2d39c]"Hello?"[/color][/indent] [indent]"Blast it Suzanna don't try to ignore the Sapphire Protocol you boring twat!"[/indent] Suzanna cringed as she recognized the voice on the other end and quickly found her way to an empty storage room in the building. [indent]"Well you won't be able to stay on the sidelines this time honey bunches."[/indent] Suzanna's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the lame nickname. [indent][color=82ca9d]"It was completely fine the last time something showed up, why the heck do you need me now! I was really enjoying living a mundane and ordinary life these past years! Surely those Federal Department of Normality guys have it under control!"[/color][/indent] [indent]"They were fine when it was just one monster to fight but the enemy has changed tactics and are going full recon mode with these muffins! The Federal Department of Normality is understaffed right now cause it has been so long since the last [i]real[/i] crisis, that they almost got defunded! They're doing their best but we need to contain the situation before they can narrow down Omega Point's location! If they find that out they'll send their absolute best to take it out for sure!"[/indent] Suzanna grimaced at the mention of Omega Point, the secret location that only the select few had any knowledge about. Omega Point was a location so secret because it was so integral to the defense of the entire planet from extraterrestrial threats. Admittedly it didn't do jack squat against the homebrew types of threats but usually there was enough information about those to counter those annoyances, it was the alien kind that was so hard to understand and counter. [indent][color=82ca9d]"Look, I know you've wanted to live a normal life for so long, and you've had a good run, but the aliens out there don't care and we need you back in action. You still owe a great debt you know and we expect you to keep up your end of the bargain."[/color][/indent] [indent][color=82ca9d]"Fine, I know, I know. I wouldn't ever let anything happen to them, that was my oath, my pledge, and I am bound to it for eternity."[/color][/indent] [indent]"Nice to see you can still wax poetically, now hop to it before those muffin tops spread like polluted yeast throughout the bread of Coral City!"[/indent] Suzanna rolled her eyes at the metaphor and turned off her phone. Now she just had to convince her co-workers that she was suddenly sick and had to take the rest of the day off, certainly easier than having to explain she was leaving to fight angry muffins blowing their tops all over the city. This was going to be a pain, in all forms of the word. [center][h2][color=Silver]Coral City - SeaShell Bakery[/color][/h2][/center] [hr] Meanwhile the Duchess was continuing her factory spewing and the poor trapped humans were reaching dangerous levels of sugar overdose as they were forced to eat all manner of sweet morsel. The Duchess grinned as she tapped into her sweet network as the muffin men scattered throughout the city to spread joy to all its inhabitants, and narrow down the location of the barrier producer. On a table was a spread of hard candies ranging from fruit flavored to root beer. She peered over the candies and noticed that a few of them were already cracked apart. [indent][color=f49ac2]"I see the resistance has already started. Well, it always takes a few batches to get everything just right."[/color][/indent] Several more of the candies cracked or split open, as the matching muffin man on patrol was defeated by one of the 'heroes' trying to save the city. The candies were connected to the muffin men and the also to the Duchess Confectionary, like a transmitter of sorts, feeding her telemetry data to be sent back to the ship. As soon as a muffin man was defeated, the connecting candy broke, shed off from her connection so she wouldn't be getting any 'blank' data. From the data coming back, she was already starting to get a clearer picture of which direction the barrier device might be. If she had a bit more time, she could really make some progress and come that much closer to taking a vacation to explore all the delicacies in the world to find out which sweets were truly the pinnacle of confectionism. [indent][color=f49ac2]"Once I have enough pieces of pie, I'll soon be able to see the whole picture. Oh wait for me world! It won't belong before I can send everyone to heaven with the greatest sweets ever conceived by humanity! Oh imagine the pleasure of everyone coming together for a slice of cake. I've heard that a perfect cake is a lie but if that is true I shall create that cake and make it the truth! Oh what fun! In the meantime I'll just have to make sure this town gets my very best!"[/color][/indent] With that she returned her full attention to the ovens to bake something, [i]extra[/i] special just for Coral City to enjoy.