Rock'em, Sock'em Recruits

[morethanmyth]

Reading, Berkshire, was one of the larger towns in Britain, but this was also because of the myth population living quietly alongside the humans. There were very few that believed in fairies anymore, but some old superstitions had still endured the passing of time, and that was enough for the hobs to get by.

They were used to a quiet life there, and were usually untroubled by the outside world - or even the world of humans they lived side by side with.

At least until all this nonsense with the fearlings started. Everyone in the myth world knew that change was happening and it was a change for the worse rather than the better. When word eventually came that most of the Guardians had been captured by this evil force, by this Kuk, they knew the world was in trouble.

If the Guardians couldn't stand against them, then who could?

This was why, when the sky crack with lightning and opened him and a strange...thing fell down through it, cracking the asphalt where it landed, in the middle of their community's market, their first reaction was fear.

"What is it?"

"I don't know."

"Looks a bit like them human contraptions, it does."

"It can't be human, it fell out of the sky. And it's covered in slime."

"Don't touch it! Everyone stay back!"

The strange metal thing, whatever it was, suddenly sat up, staring at them all with an empty void of a face, before turning in one direction, running forward and smashing the facade of a building like it was nothing more than tissue paper.

"Everyone, clear out, take shelter! Blin, see if you can get find one of the tooth fairies to take a message to the Guardians! There are usually a few about."

"On it!"

The strange metal creature seemed to try to speak to them but the words were in a language alien to them and it sounded hostile.



Then it turned and went back to its rampage. Oddly, it didn't seem to be attacking any of them and all the damage to the buildings was more cosmetic than anything, but there was no telling if that would hold true for long - or if the creature would limit itself to just their settlement. If it laid into the town, with all its crowds of humans and larger buildings...

*"You're all in danger! You need to take shelter immediately!"

Comments

[justleftovers]

Melody Hollander was falling to the ground when the world disappeared. She's still falling when it comes back. She opens her eyes not to blood in her hair, but to bits of dirt in her palms and a scrape on her elbow, and not to a lonely gunshot but to people, lots of people, screaming in a high-pitched voice. She can hear rebar being ripped and concrete and cobblestones crashing against each other, glass breaking, gutters being ripped from roofs, all in micro-size.

Something smacks into her ass, and she's about to whip around and give someone a what's what about sexually harassing young disoriented women on the sidewalk when she looks over her shoulder and realizes that it's a tiny person, and any spankage was purely accidental, as they've clearly just pulled a completely unintentional Wiley Coyote into her backside.

"Sorry!" she says, because what else are you going to say to a person the size of a Scottish terrier who's just played Red Rover with your rump? "Are you o-!"

It's about that point that she connects the fact that people are screaming and running around with the fact that there's a big red slimy monster wrecking the shit out of their miniature town. If she feels like Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, this guy must feel like Godzilla. Mellie gets to her feet, grabbing a brownie out of the way of a falling piece of rubble.

And to think. Thirty seconds ago she didn't want to have crazy ninja skills.

[googledox]

After their efforts to herd the creatures over the damaged mech were successful, Brainy used his forcefield to cram them in close to it and surround them and the mech with a yellow bubble of shimmering energy.

Then he took out a small handheld computers, pressed a few buttons and the mech started to make a very, very alarming high pitched whine that got louder and higher pitched the longer it whined.

He seemed completely nonplussed as he hit a few more buttons on the device and stayed nonplussed right up until the mecha exploded in a violent conflagration, one that looked like it should have taken them and the entire courtyard out, if not for the forcefield bubble.

When the smoke finally started to clear inside the bubble, there was no sign of the creatures - and the mecha itself hadn't even left any wreckage behind. It was entirely incinerated.

Brainy released the bubble, letting the last of the smoke drift up into the atmosphere, and scanned the area.

"ALL CLEAR. THE PARASITES HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED; THE AREA SHOULD NO LONGER SUFFER FROM MOLECULAR INSTABILITY. YOU MAY REMOVE THE IRRITATING (ALBEIT USEFUL) ENCHANTMENT NOW."

And now he was ignoring them all to scan his surroundings and frown at his little computer - or at least he was ignoring them part of the time, because he was also occasionally getting up in their faces to scan each of them as well.

[letskicksomeice]

"So you must be the new guys," came the voice of a teenage boy.

If they all looked up, they'd see its source crouched carefully on the roof of one of the tiny nearby buildings: a skinny teenage boy, who looked younger than his voice sounded, with white hair and blue eyes. A shepherd's crook was in his hands.

"Anyone care to explain the massive property damage?"