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This has been a bogus time to surface so much. Everyone else in The Underground is jonesing for a way out of the mess they're in, and that means it's her job to take them somewhere better. So she does. This place doesn't come with a giant sky eye deleting anything it doesn't like the look of. Rad! Good enough for her.
The Underground meets Exaltation
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The storm rages on, ignoring these dramatics. Lightning strikes in the distance.
exaltation
Up they get. "I'm worried about the lightning," says Zix, lying down on the ground so he won't attract strikes.
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"Lucy Fugue, at your service. Get behind me."
Her voice is distorted, like she's speaking through electronic interference. Her hands crackle with electricity.
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Easy enough. Fighting a storm isn't as satisfying as fighting a worthy opponent or deserving target, but it's something. Feels like winning.
Lucy catches the lightning, when it finally starts to strike them. It passes harmlessly through her while she laughs, maniacally.
"Oh! Almost forgot. Crazy Jane got a clue. Does your little prize let you change into me?"
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Shrug.
"Thanks for finding her!"
She keeps drawing lightning until the storm abates, and then- shimmer-
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-they grow to a tall height, about as tall as the figure in the puzzle would be. Instead of a human man with discolored skin, it's a figure with the head of a sun. They turn their head, briefly, to nod at Zix, and throw large fireballs at the lake.
It begins to boil, and then evaporate.
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Shimmer, shrink.
Jane smiles as she watches the steam rise.
"Thanks, Clair. For finding her."
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"Name's Miranda. She was the primary before me. We never met, and I didn't even know her name because these bi- the others in here wouldn't talk about her. There's some stuff for us to figure out, vut- apocalypse, first. I guess we'll need her."
And they needed to work out their trauma using a magical quest into their head, but she's not sure she should get into that with Exaltation. It's not like they're done with that, just...unblocked, now. That can all stay inside the Underground.
"So, uh, what's next? Since you're the quest expert."
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"Well, last time we had a comb, and we just used it to get around when we were ready, but the trowel pointed Clair right at the body. So maybe it'll tell us where next." Emmy pulls the trowel out again and holds it in various directions.
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Indeed, the trowel points. It leads them back to the subway, which looks out of place with its entrance set into the hill itself.
"You'd think it would just dig where there was dirt, but I guess it wants metal. Hungry little thing."
Crazy Jane sits down.
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The trowel isn't pointing down, or at the seat. It's pointing at the door to the next car.
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Shimmer.
"Never mind. Gimme that. This is gonna take forever if we let it lead us up and down this whole train."
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There's a POP sound and she's gone.
She opens the door to the next car shortly.
"My way is faster. We can go car by car, it'll be fun."
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"Sure, kid, we can, like, do whatever."
She takes Emmy's hand and POP!. Next car. Flit gives it about five seconds for a trowel check before POP! to the next car. The trowel continues to point forward until eventually...
"End of the line!"
still_here_together
They're in the last car, which contains just them and Driver 8.
She looks at them with a neutral expression.
"Can I help you?"