Hailey's idea turned out to be the same as most of her ideas. She delegated.

"Wright, I need you to take the emissary back to his ship. Give him a spiel about meeting again later after I've dealt with my brother."

One of the security guards nodded as they carried out the alien. Hailey turned back to her brother. "You get rid of that swarm?"

Caleb nodded. "It and another one that popped up. Lost Bat doing it though. Whatcha think of my new one?" Caleb lifted up his hand, only to see there wasn't a bat in it. "Bat? Where'd you go, buddy?" He called out.

Hailey rolled her eyes. "I appreciate you trying to lighten the mood but we might have a situation now."

"Who's trying," Caleb answered.

"Seriously. Three Cities can't deal with an empire, despite all our advancements." Hailey huffed.

"Fiiine. Do we have options? Oh, some others helped kill the hive minds. They're standing around outside maybe. Around some big cats, can't miss 'em."

Hailey made another call to some guards, informing them of Caleb's companions. "I'm surprised they stuck around. You're pretty annoying you know."

"You mean amazing."

"You heard what I said. Now focus. We might be up against an empire, no telling if they'll buy the story that got made up."

"If they have ships we should worry about getting bombed." Caleb flopped down into the armchair across from his sister. "You have that barrier power, you figure out how to copy it?"

Hailey sighed in frustration. "No, and none of the forgers can even begin to try. We have normal forcefields but they can't replicate the skill blocking I can do."

"Wait how did that guy get you anyways? None of that mental stuff works when you have your power-up."

Hailey pushed a stray hair out of her eyes. "I left the barrier around the entire building just in case they bombed us or something. I didn't expect the diplomat to have mind control powers."

"Always expect mind control powers. Even now we could all be simulations in a computer game controlled against our will by players we'll never know."

Hailey chose to ignore her brother's shenanigans. "Since I can't cover the entire city we'd have to use other powers."

"Yeah but that'd fail eventually. Can't just keep getting bombed. Oh I know! Why don't we just take the city, and push it somewhere else!" Caleb made a shoving motion with his hands.

"I'm regretting asking for your help." Hailey deadpanned.

"No, I'm serious. Make the city fly, or move. We already built it over a lake. How hard could it be?"

Hailey paused, considering the thought. She brought up the phone. "We need to make a council meeting, bring as many of the forgers that you can."

Alex, June, and Nathan were all still outside when they saw a guard bring an unconscious alien outside. The two guards on the disk immediately brought their weapons around. The human guard carrying the alien made calming gestures with his hands and started to speak. One of the aliens slowly walked to over, stowing his gun on a clasp at his back and bringing out his sword.

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"What in the world did that idiot do?" June groaned.

The approaching guard walked up to the unconscious diplomat and brought out a small spray bottle. With a couple of pumps, a mist spread over the emissary's face. In a second, the alien blinked his eyes open before jerking up. He looked around warily, only to be placated by the guards around him. After an explanation, the alien guards and diplomat walked back to their elevator disk and returned to their spaceship.

The town hall guards walked back inside, only for one to come out a second later. He scanned the area, eyes landing on the three.

"He's coming over here," Nathan stated.

"Are you Mr. Fisher's companions?" The guard said as he approached.

"Yes?" Alex replied. "If that's Caleb at least."

The guard nodded. "Councilmember Fisher would like to talk to you." He turned and led the three inside.

"Caleb is on the council?" Nathan said disbelievingly.

"No. Councilmember Fisher is a woman." June denied.

"Oh, good. I was worried." Nathan said, relief plastering his face.

"So this might not be a good time to say, but I'm not from here," Alex said. The others turned to look at her.

"You're a traveler?" Nathan asked.

"A little? Been traveling ever since the town I lived in got attacked by some large green men."

The three followed as they were led to a large atrium. Inside, June saw the three councilmembers, Caleb, and almost every famous forger in town.

"June! Didn't know you were gonna be here. How's that weapon I made?" A burly man walked up and clapped June on the back.

"I'm doing fine Jonathan." She said.

Jonathan smiled. He had a body of corded muscle that bulged out of his clothes. He looked every bit the stereotypical blacksmith, down to singed eyebrows from working a forge. "So how's the weapon?"

June couldn't help but think of an excited puppy when Jonathan talked. He always wanted to know how his creations were faring. "Later Jonathan, I think we've got other things to worry about."

Jonathan nodded. "They were talkin' to us about it just before you came in."

"Alright everyone!" Hailey shouted over the small talk, quieting the crowd. "We need to talk. I know you all saw the broadcast in the sky about that empire. We gotta figure out what to do about them."

A murmur grew through the crowd. The next councilmember, a man with elvish features, stood. "They recently sent a diplomat to discuss terms," His voice was husky and had a slight drawl; completely different from his waifish figure. "and it turns out they did some sort of mind control on us."

Some of the forgers gasped. The man held his hands up. "Don't worry, they're gone now. But we need to figure out how to deal with this. Seems to me this empire isn't going to be friendly if we decline."

"We've been discussing potential defensive measures for a while," The third councilmember spoke. She was the most athletic of the three and spoke with force. "But none of us here ever thought about dealing with an empire. Our current plans won't work and we don't have the strength to oppose them head on. We're looking for any suggestions."

"Three-in-one popcorn maker, fryer, and easy bake oven!" A voice yelled. Sure enough, it was Caleb.

"My brother has already suggested the idea of moving the city. Either through flight or on the ground." Hailey said, ignoring Caleb's antics.

Various voices all started talking.

"I have a personal flight apparatus--"

"There's a formation of flight but it needs a lot of power…"

"We'd have to drain the lake to build under it."

"We'd need a power source. A big one."

"There's also the air pressure. And we'd need railing so no one falls."

"What if we built underground?"

"Like a mole?"

"No like an ant. Are you seriously asking."

"It was rhetorical!"

"It was stupid."

"Quiet!" The loud woman yelled, silencing the bickering. "We brought you here because we need answers. Arguing with each other is not going to help that. Now if you have and actual idea raise your hand."

Caleb brought his hand up.

"Not you Mr. Fisher."

His hand went down.

The room was silent, the various forgers pondering the question. Finally, a slim man in a lab coat raised a hand.

"Yes Mr. Copper."

"It seems to me the main problem is power. We don't have a source large enough to keep an entire city moving."

"How much do we need?" Hailey asked.

"It depends on how heavy the city is." Answered Mr. Copper. "Either way, we'd have to create enough power to counter gravity on the entire mass of the city. Needless to say, it's a ridiculous amount."

The three councilmembers nodded. Hailey turned to an aide standing by. "Find anyone with skills or powers that can measure weight. We need to find out how heavy the city is." The aide nodded and rushed off.

"Alright, any more ideas?" Asked Hailey.