【東方Vocal Eurobeat】Catch Us【A-ONE】
"Someone, anyone, help me!" Taylor sobbed from inside the locker.
"Nobody's coming, Taylor!" Emma taunted. "It's just you, me, and the rest of our
friends!"
Sophia and Madison nodded in agreement, grinning ear from ear.
Outside of Winslow, on the opposite side of the wall behind the row of lockers, reality tore in half to reveal an endless void filled with countless eyes.
A semi-truck hurtled out of the eldritch portal at 90 mph and crashed straight through the wall, smearing Taylor, Emma, Sophia and Madison into a fine red paste along with the gruesome contents of the locker, before smashing its way into the classroom adjacent to it.
Yukari honked the truck's horn from behind the wheel, smiling widely. "Why, hello there fellow kids!"
The students screamed. Pandemonium erupted as the mass of children attempted to flee from the grisly scene.
Another portal opened up beneath the semi-truck a moment later, allowing Yukari to flee the scene of the crime while leaving a gaping crater in the school's exterior behind.
Boardwalk Patrol was as uneventful as usual, but in contrast to most of his colleagues, Gallant didn't mind the peace and quiet.
He signed another autograph for a little blonde girl with pigtails, smiling at her. It wasn't visible from behind his knight helmet, but all of those hours of PR training allowed him to project warmth through his posture and body-language.
In contrast, Kid Win was fidgeting as he struggled to handle a conversation with a fully-grown man who was chattering on about something related to Kid Win's merchandise line. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniature Kid Win figurine, complete with plastic gun and articulated joints.
Gallant watched in amusement as Kid Win muttered something quietly and signed the back of the plastic toy with a sharpie.
The little girl's mother looked down at her tiredly, smiling warmly at her daughter's eager expression of joy. "What do we say, Rebecca?"
"Thank you!" The child cheered, before being tugged away. 'Sorry' the woman mouthed at him as they walked away. He waved as the two disappeared into the bustling crowd.
"Is that the last of them?" Kid Win murmured miserably. "Finally. I thought it'd never end!"
Gallant let out a good-natured sigh. "C'mon Kid, it's really not that bad. It's our job as heroes to make sure that people feel safe."
"It's just so
embarrassing. I can't believe that people have little mini-figurines of me." Chris moaned. "Please, somebody kill me now."
Gallant chuckled. "Veto on that, but we can take a short break."
The two of them walked away to a less crowded spot of the Boardwalk. Gallant stopped Chris right as he was about to jaywalk across the road.
"Really?" Chris complained. "We're heroes, Win." Dean reminded him primly. "We have to set a good example for the public."
He sighed heavily. "Fine."
The two of them went to the crosswalk and waited for the light to turn green before crossing the road.
Gallant heard a truck horn blare suddenly, and a massive pair of headlights illuminated the street around him.
He turned to face the blinding light, catching sight of a woman with long blonde hair wearing a purple gown and a white nightcap in the driver's seat, as she smiled benevolently at him while barreling towards him in a ten-ton semi-truck.
The truck slammed into Gallant head-on and ragdolled him across the street.
He wheezed, splayed out across the pavement with his limbs and rib cage broken. The rest of the truck roared over him, the tires missing his head by mere inches.
The driver hit the brakes, rubber screeching as the truck skidded to a halt. The sound of screams rang out through the street as the crowd around them started shoving and trampling over one another in a wild rush to get to safety.
He saw the little girl from earlier point at him amidst the stampeding crowd and start crying. Kid Win was lying beside him with his neck twisted at an unnatural angle, with his yellow visor cracked and shattered into pieces across the road.
The truck started beeping loudly, the red rear lights flashing as it backed up towards him, before crushing Gallant and Kid Win underneath its wheels.
Armsmaster gritted his teeth as he gunned his motorbike's engine, racing after the speeding semi-truck as it hurtled down the boulevard.
He raised his halberd and fired his grappling hook, aiming to catch the rear wheel and send the vehicle into a tailspin. At the last moment, the massive white semi-truck swerved into a screeching drift, spinning onto a narrow side-street and evading the rope.
Armsmaster reeled the hook back in and matched the turn, swerving onto the side-street at full speed with the sharp squeal of burning rubber.
He pulled up alongside the truck, grunting as the driver spun the wheel and slammed into him. Armsmaster righted his motorcycle and recovered quickly, driving in close and swinging his halberd down to slash the tires open with an explosive pop.
Armsmaster pulled his bike sideways and skidded to a halt as the semi-truck's chassis screeched against the tarmac with a shower of sparks and spun out of control, before finally finishing its reign of terror as it slammed into the side of an apartment building.
Armsmaster ignited the plasma blade of his halberd and dismounted with his weapon bared in a firm grip.
"EXIT THE VEHICLE, NOW!" He roared. "YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR PUBLIC ENDANGERMENT, MULTIPLE VEHICULAR HOMICIDE, AND THE MURDER OF TWO WARDS!"
As he approached the vehicle to rip the door off of its hinges, reality tore into pieces and a horrifying expanse of endless eyes opened up beneath the massive truck, swallowing the entire thing whole.
Armsmaster staggered back, tripping over himself and falling onto his rear in his rush to avoid falling into the nightmarish void.
He stared at the stretch of empty pavement for a moment, before slamming his armored fist against the ground.
"DAMN IT!" Colin howled.
"All Wards will remain on-base until we catch this despicable, so-called 'Terror Trucker'." Piggot informed them icily, her tone brokering no disagreement.
The Wards erupted into frenzied shouting at her proclamation. Vista was the only one who didn't respond, gazing blankly at the far wall with a hollow thousand-yard stare in her eyes.
Piggot had no love to spare for either Capes
or children, but the sudden, grisly deaths of several of the Wards under her command made her blood start to boil. There was no possible justifiable motive to target the Wards- she couldn't even begin to fathom why
anybody would do this.
As best as she could tell,
some psychopath had simply decided one day to start mowing down heroically-inclined children with a truck for kicks.
Piggot sighed, motioning with her hands for the Wards gathered around her to calm down. "It won't be for long. The targeted killing of multiple Wards has made this case a top priority for the Protectorate and PRT. Every Watchdog and PRT-affiliated Thinker is being tasked with catching this vile-"
The infamous semi-truck drove through a portal in the middle of the room and plowed through the line-up of Wards, splattering Piggot with blood and gore from its fender.
Piggot's mouth hung agape.
The buxom blonde woman sitting in the cab smiled and waved at her, before hitting the horn and stepping on the gas. Piggot snapped out of it and drew her service pistol, firing several shots into the truck's cab as it sped past her.
"
HOOOOOONKKKKKKKKK-"
Another portal opened up on the far wall in front of the truck, and Yukari raced through just in time to avoid the wave of containment foam from the concealed roof-turrets that swallowed Piggot and the entire room.
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, see below.