A wendigo tried to slash down a crying civilian in their car. The swing missed, and the confused civilian found herself in an apartment across town with no given explanation.

The door of a small store was bashed open and a wendigo launched itself at the inhabitants. The wendigo crashed into the wall face-first, and the inhabitants of the store found themselves staring at the other civilian that had vanished from a car moments earlier.

A man was fleeing at full speed from a different wendigo that leapt at him. He suddenly fell through the ground, and the wendigo barely missed its chance to follow through. It was now quite the party inside said apartment.

A Beacon magical girl on patrol who took on a far too big group of wendigos was about to be sliced open, her ice magic unable to freeze the powerful monsters. She, too, suddenly found herself falling through a hole in the floor and into the embrace of a confused civilian.

In a dark room in a relatively safe apartment sat a girl with both eyes open, listening on whispers in her ear and staring into a myriad of small windows to various hot-zones, and in each Mariette stretched herself to find what was being told to her.

[color=7ab6f5]‘[i]Man in car in central street. Two girls in shop on business street. Man in ambulance at hospital,[/i]’[/color] said the little transmitter, reporting people about to die. Mariette, constantly focusing her power in different directions, opened portals under their feet one after the other, in a constant chase to try to save as many as possible. 

[color=7ab6f5]‘[i]Reinforcements arriving in all locations,[/i]’[/color] the voice said, and Mariette breathed a sigh of relief. Due to her little spy, she’d been among the first to learn of the incoming monster attack, and because of her powers she’d been the first one able to actually help. However, she’d been tied down having to save as many people as she could, meaning she’d been unable to actually destroy the monsters. With the rest of the girls of Penrose now mustering their forces, it was time to take the fight to them.

That said, there’d been one area where Mariette had been utterly unable to help. A battle against a superior force, where Mariette couldn’t have helped unless she’d focused her full attention on it, and she’d been unable to do that without sacrificing the lives of many civilians.

This was no longer the case, now.

[hr]

At the Industrial Sector, a dark magical girl was about to kill a Beacon girl who’d simply been on patrol along with her companions… when a blast of light shot through the air at her. It wasn’t intended to kill, but to distract from that a portal quickly opened under the injured Beacon girl and brought her to safety. 

[color=077ae6]‘If you’re looking for Sanctuary to join them, you may want to know they’re [i]avoiding[/i] a war with Beacon, so do not bring it onto them. If you’re [i]not[/i] looking for Sanctuary to join them…’[/color]

Mariette strode out on a portal hanging in mid-air above Belladonna’s position. The portal girl stood holding onto her rabbit plushie, raising her head a little to look at the corrupted magical girls before her. 

[center][url=https://i.imgur.com/Y8OSnvr.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/OPMf9l2.png[/img][/url][/center]
[color=077ae6]‘… Then it might benefit you to know this city is under my protection. This includes Sanctuary as well as Beacon. What are you after?’[/color]

Mariette took a moment to look down at Belladonna and co. [color=077ae6]‘[i]Do not let them know who you are,[/i]’[/color] she whispered through three tiny portals to them. She then turned back towards the three corrupted girls…

Now, if they wanted to fight, they were more than welcome to attempt. There was a surprise waiting for them in Mariette’s shadow if they came in too close.

[hr]

[color=55B7AA]‘Plan, plan, plan… We need a plan.’[/color] 

[color=DC9495]‘What is the objective of our plan, dear sister?’[/color]

[color=55B7AA]‘Well. We need to save Mariette. She’s still with Asengav. It’s excellent that we managed to get as far as we could, but…’[/color] 

[color=DC9495]‘I’m afraid the next step is hers to take. We managed to remove her brainwashing, but without her permission that’s as far as we can go.’[/color]

[color=55B7AA]‘Yeah, but there has to be a reason she’s still with the horror, even after what we did. We just have to undo that tie.’[/color] 

[color=DC9495]‘To undo that tie, we must first identify that tie. So, what IS that tie?’[/color]

[color=55B7AA]‘Uuuuh. I dunno.’[/color] 

[color=DC9495]‘Well, that puts us in a little bit of a bind, now, doesn’t it?’[/color]

[color=55B7AA]‘I guess…’[/color] 

[color=DC9495]‘She also said to leave it to her. So maybe she’s entirely fine on her own?’[/color] 

[color=55B7AA]‘I can’t assume that. Just in case she needs us, we should stick around.’[/color] 

[color=DC9495]‘What are we doing in the meantime, though? Aren’t we kinda pointless?’[/color] 

[color=55B7AA]‘Hah! Are you kidding? Isn’t it obvious what we should do?’[/color] 

[color=DC9495]‘Tihi. I suppose it is. Then…’[/color]

[color=55B7AA]‘To the streets!’[/color] 
[color=DC9495]‘To the streets!’[/color]

[center][url=https://i.imgur.com/PuUIfoy.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/7ZSpmlc.png[/img][/url][/center]
With that, the two girls in flowing eastern-style clothing, one in blue with a cool black scarf and the other in red and pink and both with short black hair leapt out a window at the Wendigos assaulting the people at Penrose Bank. There were only two of them left, because the other four had dashed for Connie and Mia, but the people did nonetheless need to be saved. Ronin and Miko brandished their weapons together and slashed down at the Wendigos by the bank, using the fact they hadn’t been noticed to hopefully cut as deeply as possible, before leaping back hopefully having earned the monsters’ attention with that maneuver if they didn’t fall outright. With that, the two twins set up in battle stances, katanas drawn.

[color=55B7AA]‘Heeey, it’s Connie and Mia!’[/color] Ronin took a moment to wave enthusiastically at the girls that were currently being assaulted by numerous monsters.

[color=DC9495]‘Um, do you need help?’[/color] Miko asked, tilting her head briefly before refocusing on the probably pretty pissed Wendigos in front of them. One thing at a time.