He practiced with his new robotic hand, annoyed that he could feel nothing from it. His gauge of its power was entirely from what little he understood of servos and machines. He approached Lady Unicorn and bowed to the platinum haired commander. “I thank you for your mer-“

“What did they look like, Ranaga?” He looked up into her eyes and saw them glowing with purple fire. He froze, trying to put together what was going on.

She narrowed her flaming eyes at him and he stammered out, “It was a smaller male in a mask. He claims to be fireproof and killed one of the knights.”

She sneered, “And broke your hand. A real shame. I was hopeful you could handle a task as simple as searching them for weapons but you clearly failed.”

He leapt to his own defense, “He held no weapons! He came with nothing but his hands!” She didn’t seem fazed, “I was doing my job just fine. The Cosmic Patrol-“

“Told me that they warned you. That you let slip about Falos law and enough of the locals heard you that we now have rumblings going across the planet. Of the Falos Laws, of your defeat... the man who humiliated you.” It was here that he began to slowly understand what was about to happen. He tried to leap back in but she bound his head in purple flames, “You have made my command look foolish and incompetent. By doing that, you have made the Prince look foolish for trusting me with this command. You have allowed a group of stratolocked apes make a fool of our next emperor.” When his skull was naught but ashes and his body fell to the floor, she spoke firmly, “Get our men to gather up all the towns this corpse had visited before his death. I will resolve this my way.”

——————

Anisa laced up her boots and asked, “So, we going to talk about how you killed someone and then broke another man’s wrist? I left it alone yesterday but...”

He nodded, “This is the way we apply this art to defend the innocent. These techniques are safe on those who are expecting them and know how to land. Throw caution to the wind and purposefully apply these techniques with your training under Raun, and you can cause much more harm than simple blows. Observe how their body moves, apply your energy into over extending an unprepared opponent, or in a way they cannot prepare for. If you cannot be stronger, then be smarter. If you cannot be tougher, then you must not be there to strike.”

She laughed, “So you are saying you aren’t man enough to throw these fools around?”

He tapped the side of his nose and said, “Nina, I just showed you that I don’t need to.”

As they were going about their business, a series of Falos Troops came into the gymnasium. After they had circled the two, the woman with silver hair entered, “Well well, little rebel. I see you are training the next little insurrectionist.”

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He scoffed. “I don’t know of what you speak.”

She dismissed his deflection without hesitation, motioning her men towards Anisa. She was about to fight but he motioned her not to. To trust him. Being cooperative, she allowed herself to be taken. She didn’t see the rest of their conversation. She had no idea what came next. But she was properly taken by the Knights and handed to Cosmic Patrol for processing. They took her to a craft, strapped her down to the point of total restraint and transported for a short time. It was always the processing that took the longest. Waiting here, unable to even scratch her nose while the officers filled out their reports, shot the breeze, discussed her holding cell and accommodations. She expected to be taken to the tank, but after the four hours of waiting, she was brought out to an odd spot in the desert, many others bound around her.

The officer explained, “We have been directed to detain you here until your execution for suspicion of conspiracy to commit regicide has been carried out. Do you understand the charges?”

She exclaimed, “No! I don’t! When would I have had the time to plan killing a king?”

The officer sighed miserably and said, “Charges have been understood. She has been processed.” They walked away before providing any evidence or logic. This was very against protocol. Something was very wrong.

The silver haired woman walked in front of them and stated firmly, “You most likely have heard of our occupation of your planet. The benefits and consequences. So I won’t waste our time in repeating what I’m sure we both know is blatant lies at this stage. You see, we have dealt with many planets and we know that every planet has its champions. In fact, your most widely known have already passed.” She motioned to her officers to flip gruesome morgue photos, all of them burnt to a crisp but their armor still colored to match.

It was her childhood heroes, the Psyclones. Firebird’s deep crimson, Bluejay’s pale blue, Blade’s iconic reddish orange... all six of them dead beyond belief. She tried not to throw up. She tried to push down her memories of having killed them with her own hands herself at one point. Lady Unicorn nodded, “Yes, I know. I’m very efficient. That said, our emperor is very open to employing the unorthodox. Even has a weakness for it. But because of that, he is also rather exacting. See, he knows how ‘heroes’ tend to be just like us, but less understanding of his methods. So he likes plucking the bulbs, trimming the vines, and salting the soil.” She motioned to all of them, “Since I can’t be certain none of you are working with the masked lunatic who crippled my subordinate, I have to kinda round you up and kill you all. Just standard protocol.”

Lady Unicorn approached Anisa and smirked, “And you might get to live if you are lucky. After all, you are the student of our little hero, Miss Nina.”

Anisa, realizing that Magnifico had given her misleading information. Smirking back, she critiqued her captor, “This amateur hour massacre isn’t that impressive. It lacks panache. Style.”

Lady Unicorn nodded and laughed, “Of course, darling! I agree. That’s why I’m going to make sure at least one of you lives. I need some nobody to make art out of once the Emperor stops looking.” She narrowed her eyes and laughed, “Yeah... if you are what your eyes say you are, you are going to be perfect... if you survive.”

She motioned all the officers to round up the citizens as she looked out at the horizon, clearly waiting for something. Waiting for her current prey.