Theme changes are rarely gradual. Much like chemical reactions, there is an activation energy that needs to be hit. Once that energy is there, the resulting consequences are not only explosive, but can even be self-sustaining.

  In a mere moment, the thin line of sand which stretched to the top of the window frame expanded to become an entrance into an entirely new world. A thunderous gale blasted into the ballroom, carrying sand, oil, and the smell of engine exhaust. Sand seeped out from every crack and shadow in the room, burying much of the stone debris.

  Main was knocked down from his feet by the first blast of wind. He landed painfully on his back. From the floor he remembered his task: block the bullets from hitting Brenna. He hastily threw up warped space which would redirect projectiles into the sky, leaving through a hole in the ceiling. It was not a moment too soon. A river of lead was redirected outwards, flying off for victims unknown.

  ‘I really should have redirected the munitions into the ground’ thought Main regretfully. ‘Is there a city in that direction?’ Main dismissed the question. No way could he be that unlucky.

  Brenna focused on the portal, ignoring the gunfire. Her portals were not self-sustaining, and still needed consistent maintenance, especially when it was first stabilizing.

  The main battle tank trained its railgun on Brenna. With a labored groan, Main walked to get closer to the main battle tank while remaining on the mezzanine. He used his ability skillfully to speed up his pace. The ground below him expanded and contracted with each step. With each lift of the foot, he covered twice the distance that he should have. To an outside observer the sandy ground he treaded appeared to be a rippling liquid, yet it somehow never moved.

  Main attempted to dismantle the tank, but to his expectation, it was flowing with hostile RAD. All he could do was hope and pray the projectile it fired would have no RAD as part of some grotesque engineering oversight. He was too far from an optimist to accept that, and thankfully spatial morphing was not the only tool in his toolset. Still maintaining the bullet shield, he constructed a time dilated net to slow the tank shell for a fraction of a second. Time dilation could work even on an object charged with hostile RAD, but came with its own risks.

  The railgun, which already was charged in anticipation of shooting Annie, fired. As predicted, for a precious moment the projectile was stuck, traveling slowly through a time dilated net only Main could see. Main threw everything he had at the shell, expending every little bit of RAD he contained within his bulbous body. He did not overwhelm the shell’s RAD charge, but he at least got a foothold on the projectile, allowing him to alter the path slightly.

  The shell sailed over Brenna’s shoulder to disappear into the portal. It was consumed by the sandstorm on the other side.

  “dey already firin’ at us searge.” The voice was hoarse, as one would expect from a spirit who spends their existence in an endless dry vortex.

  “n’ that jus’ the way we liek it” A second, somehow smooth female voice responded.

  Chills went down Brenna's spine upon hearing this.

  HONK. HONK. HOOOOOOOONK.

  A semi-truck’s all too iconic horn sounded before the truck itself drove through the window frame at top speed. It careened out of control, jackknifing the cabin against the trailer as momentum alone smashed through the stone guardrail on the mezzanine. The front of the truck pancaked into the ground. The sudden stop ruptured the trailer and caused the contents to spill out across the floor. And what else would the semi-truck be carrying, if not explosive barrels?

  Some exploded in place. Others were launched by the primary explosions and flew before detonating in a new destination. One of the shockwaves knocked the emp grenade away from Annie who capitalized on her newfound freedom by stabbing her captors.The flame troopers guarding Kevin wandered away of their own accord. Kevin did not make any obvious motions after this, but a careful observer would be able to see the hand on his good arm curl into a thumbs up.

  Brenna collapsed to the floor from exhaustion. A portal to her dimension was already an enormous undertaking, but this was something far greater. Something drilled into her since birth as a means for protecting herself in a dangerous situation. This was an opening to her father’s dimension, a far more powerful world. She hated this ability for far too many reasons to simply list, and the largest reason stepped out to meet her.

  It was a woman, older, complete with graying hair and a wrinkled, experienced face. She looked about the battlefield with deep understanding before turning to Brenna, her face lighting up as she did so. A sturdy arm reached out to Brenna

  The woman spoke. “Neh you shald never be in ya knees. Yous pa would–”

  “Don’t,” Brenna interrupted. She batted away the extended hand scornfully. After Brenna’s mother died, this creature started roaming her father’s dimension. It was an almost perfect replica of what once was. Brenna wasn't sure what the right way was for her father to deal with her mothers death, but it wasn’t this.

  Brenna’s eyes widened as she glanced at Oswin’s corpse.

  “Did you do this?” she shrieked, directing her anger at Main.

  “I uuhh – Ahem. Let the truth be known that he asked for it.” Offered Main.

  “Bullshit” growled Brenna. “Why would anyone ask to be decapitated?"

  ‘Now thats a fair question’ Thought Main. ‘Its a good thing she is not in a state to attack me’

  Brenna turned back to address the creature that resembled her mother. “Kate. Kill all the mercenaries, including him,” she pointed at Main.

  Kate raised an eyebrow at Main. “Ye hav’ a fa’r ‘mout a powah en tat body.” she stated.

  ‘And also a lot of body’ thought Main, never missing a chance to harp on his own physical appearance.

  “I be delegathin dis ‘ask to Cole ‘en.” Kate shouted. “COLE!”.

  In addition to the deluge of maniacs and savages pouring out of the portal and assaulting mercenaries all around, a massive, 10 foot tall, 4 armed humanoid stepped out to meet them. It’s entire body was obscured in purple and blue cloth, and its face covered by a straw hat. Despite its size, it moved almost silently, not so much as disturbing a single grain of sand as its sandaled feet walked the floor.

  Frightened, Main choked on his own spit. In a fit of coughing he hauled his fat ass away from the threat. Each step he took propelled him farther than physically possible, space warping to aid his escape.

  Cole reached two of his four arms behind his back to retrieve a set of maces. Each the size of a small refrigerator. He jumped, aiming to land beside his quarry.

  Main reached the railing overlooking the dance floor. Summoning all his spatial mastery, he hopped over the waist-high obstacle. As he did so, he stretched the platform to the mezzanine on the other side. They met in the middle of the ballroom. The moment Main’s feet touched the other mezzanine, he released his power. The ballroom snapped back to its usual proportions.

  Cole landed where Main was just a moment ago, his target having leapt more than 80 feet through spatial manipulation. He observed Main jumping out of the distant ballroom window, but before he could continue his pursuit, the railgun blew off his arm.

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  “‘amn, dat ‘id is faster dan he is lookin.” Muttered Kate. “Cole, join tey general fighen”

  Brenna was only semi-conscious, unable to realize her orders were being ignored. Maintaining the portal was slowly draining what little she had left. Kate began directing the incoming reinforcements. With her oversight, trucks with 50 caliber machine guns mounted on the pack proceeded through the portal in a chaotic fashion. Each joined the fight immediately.

  The wasters, for that was the name the savages of Brenna’s bloodline used, controlled the mezzanine where the portal was first opened, as well as the middle of the ballroom thanks to Cole’s intervention.

  Every waster was dressed in ragged cloths, mostly white and gray with some of them distinguishing themselves with a ribbon of color. They fought with spears, guns, and bows, though no bow approached the power of Kevin’s waster bow. The mercenaries were far more disciplined. They quickly formed a defensive line and prevented the wasters from gaining any ground. Near the entrance their commander roared orders.

  “Alpha, Beta squad, set up sniping positions in the northwest corner. I need the flame troopers to target the big guy. Engineering needs to get our tanks operational once more. Zeta, Defend the railgun.” The commander turned off the radio, muttering something so no one could hear. “And where are our god damned reinforcements?”

  Outside the crumbling dance hall, a single helicopter approached. The first of many. The megaphone blared “This is the police, you have the right to remain silent.”

  BRRRRRRRRRTTTTTT

  The minigun on the underside of the helicopter sprayed haphazardly into the building.

  “And the police get here before our backup” Lamented the commander, her robotic voice sounding almost afraid. Like all mercenaries, she was a master of the most important skill of sellswords. Knowing when to turn tail and run. “I’m ordering a controlled retreat. Delta will hold down the rear. We escape to the north.”

  The mercenaries slowly stepped back out of the dance hall. Annie remained determined not to let any of them escape in one piece. She darted in and out of the lines, chopping limbs and heads alike. The wasters continued their reckless assault. Being spirits born of pure RAD energy, they simply reformed in their home dimension when they died..

  The first crack in the formation appeared not from Annie, but from Cole. The brute sent soldiers flying with each swing of his mace. Cole and Annie reaped roughly equal casualties from the mercenaries, but Cole’s presence was far more frightening.

  A controlled retreat is a very difficult maneuver to maintain even for the most disciplined of armies. When the man next to you runs off into the distance, why don’t you do the same as well? It started with just one. A mercenary who served alongside his friend, and watched as that very friend was waffled by a spiked mace the size of a garbage can. At that moment, he decided the pain and hospital bills were not worth the pay.

  The man was a trend setter. He dropped his weapon at his feet and the men around him promptly did the same. Then one of them was flattened, and the other diced by Annie. The panic spread, faster than any infectious disease. Faster than should have been possible. The fear suffocated like a dusty cloud. It was so thick, it could almost be seen.

  It was emanating from none other than Annie herself. Perhaps she simply forgot about this ability of hers. Perhaps she kept it suppressed so much out of habit that letting it out was more unnatural than keeping it contained. Perhaps it only escaped because she did not mean to let it out, but she was tired beyond tired. Whatever the case may be, Annie was a master of fear, and everyone in the ballroom finally knew it.

  The remaining mercenaries quickly fled the area in a disorganized mob, often trampling many of their own. Immediately after Brenna passed out, her portal and all those summoned quickly flickering out of existence. Annie followed, The glow in her eyes dimmed darker until she slumped to her knees. Kevin had been unconscious for a while by now, and Oswin’s head was not getting any closer to his neck. When the police stormed the dance hall, no one was awake to greet them.

  – break –

  Outside of the dancehall was a rather large bush. Or at least it would appear a bush to the casual observer. In reality, it was a tree. This distinction matters to almost no one, and even to the few it does matter to, it is rarely relevant. However in this case it is very important to point out that this was a tree, because a tree has one central trunk, which blossoms into a leafy dome that extends to the ground. As a direct consequence, there exists an open area large enough to park a van under the leafy branches.

  Lying against the tree and struggling to breath was the first of the reinforcements that were sorely missed. She was wearing all black, and her face was obscured by a red t-shirt she wrapped around her head. Her friend, and second member of the reinforcements, was lying on the ground, pretending to be unconscious. The one laying on the ground had a black t-shirt wrapped around her head. Because of these fashion choices, the duo went by the codenames Red and Black.

  Red inhaled slowly, using the controlled breathing to direct her RAD into her broken ribs for faster healing. It only took one punch and she was out of the fight. It presented such a lopsided power disparity that Black pretended to faint rather than engage the assailant. The unknown man dragged them both under this tree, where he kept an eye on them.

  The man rifled through Black’s bag, discarding folders, notebooks, pencils and textbooks as he went, casting them all around the base of the tree. He encountered a plastic wrapped eraser, which he unwrapped and took a bite out of.

  “Your chocolate bar tastes like shit.” he said.

  The discarded notebooks were labeled with various subjects: Math, Science, English, Spanish, etc. It made it clear that both Red and Black were highschoolers. But the man was not interested in that information. He continued to dig, eventually unearthing a black letter.

  “Red writing on a black note. What a dumbass.” He mumbled. He fixed the letter, which he was previously holding upside down. “Impossible to read.”

  With the last of her ribs fusing into the proper place, Red could breathe properly again. She considered what her next action would be. Laying just a few feet away was her weapon of choice: a skateboard, used by criminals and vagrants everywhere. In the endless balancing act of the universe, skateboards were the yin to the enforcers yang. Where enforcers gained RAD by enforcing the law, skateboarders gained RAD by breaking it. If Red could only dive for her skateboard before the man noticed, she could grab her friend and ride off into the distance.

  “You did a good job healing your ribs. Couple areas for improvement, but quality stuff.” said the man. He tossed the backpack away from himself and sat down across from Red. “Sorry about that, I was pressed for time when I smacked ya. Wasn’t sure how much force to put in. I didn't want you interrupting my protege.”

  Red didn’t make any sudden movements, hoping that somehow the man was bluffing. That he did not know Red was prepping to make her escape. Outside the safety of the tree, the fight within the ballroom was spilling out into the property. On some level Red was glad she was prevented from entering the ballroom. A horrible evil was in there, that was the best she could describe it.

  A fog of fear spread out to the lawn, billowing out of the building on the hill. The mercenaries ran from it. They knew the maiden of steel from which it came. The policemen assaulting the area slowed as well, taking each step more cautiously.

  “Wow, that's impressive. Looks like he found himself a real keeper. Shame he is spending most of this fight cooked medium-well. Anyway I got some time to kill so–”

  “I’ll scream” Red stated like a rat backed into a corner.

  “Huh?” The man tiled his head to the side, his handlebar mustache catching the light from a flashlight for a moment.

  “I’ll scream and the police will catch you, so let us go.”

  “Uhh I don’t know about that. The police and I have some sorta understanding. Like see here.”

  A policeman pushed through the thick leaves to see inside the tree. His flashlight illuminated the man’s face. He was recognized instantly.

  “Axel,” the policeman whimpered, freezing in place. Axel smiled and waved back at him. After another hesitation, the cop turned around and left.

  Red could not believe her eyes. The policeman just turned his back on two hostages. Perhaps it was not obvious they were hostages, but he should have at least investigated.

  “Yea, that's about what I have come to expect. The rank and file take one look at me, and almost always decide to ignore me. Its a little cowardly. I kinda understand it though. Poke your head through a bush and see the most wanted man on the planet. What cha really gonna do? Anyway I gotta practice me some teachin, so.”

  Axel picked up Black and moved her so she slumped against the same trunk that Red did. Black maintained the facade that she was unconscious.

  “I read through that contract y'all got. It's a good one. One night of work for a Gagillion dollars, success or failure. But now you gotta handle that money.”

  “You're going to teach us investment strategies?” asked Red.

  “Ah hell nah. I’m teaching something far more important. Buckle up kiddos, Professor Axel is going to give you a masterclass on evading taxes.”