After Springflower

[Fractions of a second before the demise of the Springflower]

Rosa's mouth was left agape at the sight of the grenades in mid-air. She paid no attention to Trailene's disappearance, as her mind was twisted in panic. She could try and catch one or two at most, but at what cost? Things were happening so quickly yet her body was not responding. Her eyes settled on her two closest companions... Tri-blade furiously trying to throw a portal while Aflima dashed in her direction... all too slowly.

Suddenly her breath was forced out of her by a hard shoulder, then she saw empty sky ahead. Rosa was airborne and hurtling quickly upwards. Her abdomen ached and her neck felt strained.

Her body slowed down and Rosa realized that she had been hurled out of the jet. She tried to orient her body in the direction of where the aircraft was, but it was futile. Her fear was for the others, but she was quickly losing consciousness.

"Stay... awake..." thought Rosa as she pursed her lips tightly, holding in whatever oxygen remained. There was probably only a few seconds at best available before she lost consciousness - and any chance at avoiding a terrible drop to Earth's surface.

It was pure instinct. He saw the grenades thrown in the air and without thinking, moved to intercept their descent. Both hands shot outwards, willing the portals forth that would encompass the explosives and send them elsewhere for the time being, before moving to a place where he could safely direct them away from humans. The vanishing Agent Trailene, her plan revealed, would have to account for her actions afterwards.

Nothing happened and a grimace of worry crossed Tri-blade's face. Too late, he remembered that morphons in this realm served to disable one of his particular abilities. A curse began to form in the back of his throat as his eyes moved towards his god-daughter.

As time slowed to milliseconds, a wispy streak of many colours flashed across his vision, and suddenly Rosa was no longer there.

Tri-blade didn't even have time to contemplate what had just happened before he felt a jolt in his midsection and a blast of air across his body. His eyes closed for what seemed to be an entire minute. When they opened again, he saw in the distance the jet they were on only a moment ago, explode in a vibrant orange and yellow light. All the while with another man holding his waist and the pair falling through the sky.

"Flashbulb..." he gasped.

Flashbulb made no acknowledgement, but turned his body to face the debris of the jet, which had began to fall at the same rate as the men. He looked at Tri-blade with no shortage of worry, but with his thick googles, it was hard to determine the extent of concern.

"I hope you have a plan," chittered Flashbulb in his relatively high-pitched voice. "and that I haven't exchanged one gruesome outcome for a worse one."

Tri-blade, after taking a breath, was already pressing a button on his comm-link. "Thanks to you, I have time enough to form one. Hold on."

He pressed another button, and a sliver of material flew out of his left boot. Another piece of material fell from his right one, before Tri-blade removed a coin-shaped object from a pouch on his belt. Twisting his body, he pressed the flat surface of his 'coin' against the two strips of material. They watched as the object swelled in size, the strips of material molding themselves around it, expanding and flattening out.

"A... surfboard?" exclaimed Flashbulb, his lips fluttering as they continued to pick up velocity.

"It's called a Super Sonic Surfer... we've been able to compress it to a portable form... but quickly! Hop on it! Find Rosa!"

"How'd you know I saved her?"

"It's what I'd have done. Aflima could possibly handle a fire blast, and Turian almost certainly can... although I hope he could handle a fall. You must have hurled Rosa away before you grabbed me, and for that you have my eternal gratitude. But hurry! It isn't equipped to hold two, but you may be able to get away with it!" Tri-blade made to push the board at Flashbulb.

"But you?" asked Flashbulb. As soon as he climbed on the board, it started to hover in response to its rider, and Tri-blade was quickly falling out of sight.

Tri-blade shouted, "I still... have another... trump card!" before reaching for his set of weapons.

He fell even more quickly, his body spinning and his body heaving in a struggle to catch air. If he could stop hyperventilating...

Tri-blade watched the surfboard zoom away as he held his mystical daggers to his chest.

The air whistled across Rosa's falling body. It was impossible to keep her eyes open and she was exhausted. Her mind was frantically searching for any living creature to mentally bond with - preferably a large eagle or condor - to grab her and at least slow down her descent. If it was more than one, the better. It was a plan of desperation, but it was all she had.

Nothing. No response. She shut her eyes even more tightly, ignoring her training to relax her mind. Focus on any bird. A dragon would be better, although she didn't know of any apart from the one bonded with The Wizard. Focus, Rosa. This isn't the end.

Her mind wobbled, and her body twisted. Suddenly she was tumbling over and over without any way of halting. Her movements became more frantic and panic finally set in.

No, no, noo,...

"Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!" she exhaled, terror in her now wide-open eyes.

Land, a rocky-looking and lifeless surface, was in view for a split second before open sky reappeared. The rotation of her body sped up even more, but Rosa continued to scream. She shut her eyes again.

She felt what appeared to be arms around her, then a sense of deceleration. Is this what death is like?

Opening her eyes, she looked upwards at the mask of her rescuer. She began to shout, then her eyes shut tightly and her body fell limp.

Behind the mask, Flashbulb grinned, then sighed in relief. He guided the surfboard to ground and gently laid Rosa on a grassy patch. Opening his comms link, he called out to his team, hoping for a connection with any of his allies. Any of them.

A large sphere of light appeared on the ground before it was further illuminated by the addition of glyphs. The glyphs rotated around the circumference slowly before beams of light shot upward, encompassing the body of the falling Tri-blade. Immediately, his body slowed its descent and Tri-blade allowed his eyes to open. He exhaled heavily, relieved that his enchanted daggers performed another miraculous feat to save his life.

Flashbulb's voice at the other end of his comm device was well-received; as it meant that Rosa was safe. He got their location and began making his way over. He remained hopeful that at some point Aflima and Turian would make their presence known - he didn't once consider the possibility of either not surviving the explosion.




After some time, and futile efforts to reach the others, Tri-blade crossed an abandoned cart-path and saw Flashbulb waving. Calling out to his ally, he picked up his pace and within moments, was kneeling at Rosa's side, checking her vitals and listening to Flashbulb's report. The immediate area around them was devoid of anything besides grass, trees and the occasional bird. Now that Tri-blade was there however, Flashbulb was prepared to scan a greater area of land to find the others. Tri-blade nodded and moved Rosa gently while whispering comforting words.

Analisa gingerly held her daughter's hand as they walked to the makeshift conference room in an old building not far from Charlotte, North Carolina. It had been three days since the explosion of the Springflower, and Rosa had no major injuries of note - shock and exhaustion were the main concerns of the medical team. As for her colleagues, Rosa was surprised that each of her teammates were not only safe and sound, but carried no significant injury of their own. Aflima was the worst-looking of the lot, but still carried a grin on his face and he gave Macaia and her daughter a wink of greeting.

On seeing Turian, the large man beat a fist to his chest and chuckled, "Will take more than a bomb to dent me, youngster."

Flashbulb punched Turian. "If I didn't catch you after saving Rosa, the ground would have had something to say about it, big guy."

They both laughed, then took a seat. Rosa gave a small smile to her godfather, who looked relieved yet deep in thought. She then sat down herself, and tried to relax. After all, she was in the presence of her nearest and dearest friends.

Her godfather's next words shook her.

"We need to split up," said Tri-blade, looking towards the table instead of his teammates.

Nobody spoke.

"Sorry to throw everyone for a loop," he continued. "Director Nova of BADGE reached out to us not too long after the incident and after giving him the briefing of everything that occurred, we agreed on one particular thing.

"World Corps have continuously held an advantage over BADGE, and by proxy, over all the individual leagues. The situation with Torfield has added another factor to the equation. Torfield may not have been able to destroy us, but we don't know if she was able to infiltrate our own intelligence networks or any key data during her time with us."

Rosa's mouth dropped.

"Until the World Corps is rooted out and former Agent Torfield apprehended, it's in our best interest to disperse for the time being," Tri-blade continued.

"Why, though?" asked Aflima.

Another voice spoke up, and everybody turned to look at the screen behind Tri-blade, where Ability Mage appeared, alongside Aflima's fiancée, Devra. "Before this incident, it was thought that we were in a position where we needed to disperse anyway, to create the appearance of being disparate from BADGE while helping to investigate World Corps' activity," he said in a monotone.

"This situation, while tragic for Agent Janice and her loved ones, might have expedited the process. If BADGE thinks the Realm Defenders is no more, then we may be able to operate independently without arousing attention from World Corps.

Tri-blade added, "Nobody's obligated to venture out on their own, of course. There's been some word of a future tournament of a bigger scale, and one where we each could make additional alliances while at the same time tapping into any leads into World Corps - or any other threats that may be out there.

"Guys," he continued. "This is not the end, or anything approaching it. Please keep your heads up even as you mourn Janice Rollin. We are here to protect and defend. Feel the love within you and from each of us. Let it spur you to keep pressing on."

He got to his feet, just in time to meet a rushing Rosa, arms out, tears falling down her face. She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his upper chest.

"I don't,... know where to go," she cried quietly.

Tri-blade brushed Rosa's hair softly. "I got you. There's a good group of eager guys known as the Freaks leagues, I think you'll fit in well. I'm also recommending spots for some of the other folks. Don't worry, Rosa. Aflima and I will be just as accessible as ever... especially when something wild goes down."

"Like every two months," chuckled Rosa as she wiped her eyes.

"Yeah," Tri-blade smiled. "Your mom will help too, you know. Go to her."

Rosa gave a last squeeze, then walked away, miserably failing at trying to look calm and collected. She left the room just as Aflima was asking Devra why she didn't fly to meet him while Rosa's mother did. Rosa smiled briefly, glad to know her embarrassing moment was about to be eclipsed for the time being.

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