Look at the top of the bridge and tell me I'm not imagining things?
…You mean the girls in dresses?
And the swords. And the sparkles. Yeah. That.
I'll call it in. You think we should hang out here and keep an eye on them?
Hell yes, we're totally gonna be in the history books.
--
Darkstar, this is dragonfly two one, there are superheroes on the bridge. I swear I'm not making this up.
Dragonfly two one this is darkstar, say again.
Darkstar, dragonfly two one, there are four superheroes on the bridge. Four girls with super powers, in superhero costumes, standing on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. They're looking right at us and waving. One of them is sparkling like she's popping flares. Another is juggling giant swords. Dragonfly two is holding position at bullseye three five zero, one, cherubs five to wait for orders. No joke, I am willing to risk my career on this.
Dragonfly two one, darkstar, uhhh, stand by.
--
Dragonfly two one, darkstar.
Darkstar, dragonfly two one, go.
Dragonfly two one, darkstar, push channel eight, good luck.
--
Dragonfly two one, Checkmate actual, go.
Checkmate actual, dragonfly two one, there are four superheroes on top of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I will have your whole flight court-martialed if this is a prank.
I swear to god this is not a prank sir. There are four girls in superhero costumes on top of the golden gate bridge and I think they're the real deal. One of them is juggling giant swords. Another was sparkling like she was popping flares, now she's drawing words in the air. They want a ride to the fight.
You know what, fine. Godzilla's on course for San Francisco, I've got an open line to the white house, supergirl needs a ride. Sure. Do it, anything she needs. This is your channel now, I want constant updates to Checkmate orange two.
Dragonfly two one copies, wilco, spur ride for supergirl and talk to Checkmate orange two. Thank you sir.
Do not make me regret this, dragonfly two one. Checkmate actual out.
----
The helicopters hover closer and you whoop with elation. That outcome hadn't taken much effort at all. Alice dances happily, streaming light from her hands.
"Wait," you say, frowning and fidgeting with the wreath you're holding in your hands. "How are they going to talk back to us? They can't just stick their heads out the window, can they?" Alice's magic is better than most at finding ways to send messages, but even she needs some creativity to get something back.
"Does it matter?" Megan scoffs, catching and vanishing her swords one by one. "Not like we have time to answer questions."
"But it would be
polite," Jen fusses, nervously straightening her green dress and making sure the flowers in her hair are situated properly. "We should ask for their names, at least."
"Speaking of names," you joke, "Now's our last chance to establish hilarious magical girl naming conventions. What do you think, do I look like a Magical Girl Lucky Break? Magical Girl Infinite Impossibility?"
"More like Magical Girl Never Play Dice With Her," Megan complains.
"You're just jealous that Alice cheats at cards better than both of us put together," you shoot back.
"I would never," Alice gasps dramatically. Blatant lies. Game night isn't a question of who's cheating with their magic, it's a question of which game everyone is best at cheating at. You win anything with dice, Alice wins cards, and Megan and Jen split the board games between them.
The helicopter's arrival interrupts you; you had no idea they were this huge or loud. The sound transcends simple noise, blurring together into undifferentiated sensation, shrieking and thundering through your bones.
The guy in the front seat has solved at least one half of your communication problem by holding up a tablet computer with text written on it. SIT IN FRONT OF ENGINE ABOVE WING, it says. BRACE FOOT ON WING PYLON.
HOLD ON.
There does look like a good person-sized nook there, you suppose. Alice continues to contribute, writing GET WITHIN 30 FEET, WE CAN JUMP in big pink letters above your head. You could probably make twice that, even taking into account that the helicopter must be less durable than a rooftop so you'll have to put some effort into landing nicely, but it's a good safety factor.
"You know, somehow I'd expected they'd send us a more suitable helicopter," Megan says.
You can't help but needle her a bit. "You wanna go last, then?"
"Girls," Alice sighs, exasperated. "Megan, you first, you jump the best."
Megan rolls her eyes but makes the jump easily, dampening her landing with a deep purple flash. She gets herself settled and shouts back, "Room for two here!"
Years of practice sort you into balanced pairs: Alice and Jen have to take different sides because they can latch on, then Megan and Jen cover each other better, leaving you and Alice together. Jen hops over to join Megan and ties in with some twisting vines.
Alice signals the helicopter to switch sides and it starts rotating. As the cockpit swings into line with your tower you catch the eye of the pilots and curtsy grandly, just to make their lives weirder. You hope they got it on camera. Alice laughs.
And then it's your turn to jump. You yank a little bit with your power, but it's really unnecessary; Megan was right about it being an easy jump. Alice joins you and uses her light to tie you to the nearest handle. You lean forward to give the helicopter pilot a thumbs-up, and then you're off. The helicopter tips forward and you're wedged solidly into your perch by acceleration.
Okay, Alice's voice sparkles through your consciousness as the bridge vanishes behind you.
We said we weren't going to bother discussing plans until we had a pickup. Well, we've been picked up. And Victoria was right, we need a better way to discuss what we want to do with them.
Not that we know that ourselves yet, you point out, delicately pulling at the tiny threads of probability that represent spontaneous hallucinations of your voice.
I was planning to drop out of the sky and sword it in the face. You're not sure precisely what Megan's trick is, but it works well for her: you can literally taste her bright, acidic eagerness.
I mean, that's certainly an option for you, you're forced to admit.
Assuming it has a face for you to sword. All the public knows, right now, is that it's big, fast, alien, and hostile.
But what about the rest of us?
I figured that I was going to hang back and do my usual coordination thing, Alice says.
Probably especially important now that we have friends that could blow us up by accident.
I'll find some seaweed and do what I can to slow it down, Jen's offer blooms in your mind, courtesy of the enchanted flower you're wearing.
I really hope it's small enough that I can do that.
I'll just let them know to hover over it for us, then, Alice says. She leans forward to catch the back-seat pilot's attention and starts writing at them.
You think about what you want to do. Your magic gives you the flexibility to contribute to just about anything, but where do you think you'll have the best opportunity and leverage?
[] Go stab it in the eyes with Megan
[] Help Jen entangle it with plants
[] Hang back with Alice to respond to new developments
[] Write-in fight ideas
Also, you're the second-best-placed on the team to figure out a better way to communicate with the helicopter pilots, so you should try to come up with some ideas there. You have some already, but you can always do better. Maybe now that you've established contact they won't freak out if you start telepathy-ing at them? That still wouldn't let them talk to you, though.
[] Write-in comms, coolest ideas win
So, as you can see, I'm going to take another crack at the whole writing thing. I'm going to be attempting one-ish post a day, and I've chosen an idea from the ideas pile that will hopefully require zero actual structure or planning other than "what would look the most awesome". This one is primarily inspired by Pacific Rim and Madoka Magicka, plus dashes of BAHHSCQ and To The Stars and PMAS. Let's see how it goes.
I'll note that the quest mechanics here are less of a game-mechanical commitment and more of a vehicle for inspiration or a way to ask the readers what they think would be really cool. Please don't stress out about the votes - if it sounds like it'd be
metal as hell it's exactly what I want!
Also, yes, this is
actually a thing you can do on an AH-64, it was designed into the platform so that one of the helicopters in a flight could pick up and evac the pilot and gunner of the other helicopter if they were downed too far away from rescue.
