The Snowdown Of The Season [Dart/Uni/Invite]

Jump City California was enduring it's harshest winter yet. All across the state things were progressively getting worse from the sudden and extreme increase of snowfall. Jump City however seemed to be getting the brunt of it and also had what many would call, "an infestation" of small mischief makers. We're talking about the colorful henchmen assisting in the country/potential globe-wide prison breakouts, who for one reason or another were ALL called Steve. The city's buildings were covered in white snow like someone took a paintbrush across them, even the waters beneath the great bay bridge had completely frozen over and was playing host to a large number of Steves playing their winter games.

Some people were actually quite happy to have snow in Jump and were getting into the holiday spirit. They had little choice in the matter with the weather forcing all but the outliers who like The Steves, wanted to have fun in the snow. They didn't understand how bad this weather actually was, only getting caught up in the whimsy of their new winter wonderland. Other people were more alarmed by this severe and almost sudden change in weather, and understandably were turning to officials to find the cause of the problem. Masters would probably blame The Titans' Tower making a hole in the Ozone or something.

Another common sight relegated to hunting down and apprehending These Steves was of course the unlucky s.o,bs of DOMA. The Steves of course, played anyway- because Steves don't care about DOMA or their intentions to stop them. With the fewer number of people out and about, Steves were free to loiter and mess about with the more violent inclined breaking into stores and robbing them of toys or the like. There was also a rumor quickly flying around but a larger than life Steve pretending to be Santa Claus. Other Steves were more well behaved and making little Steve angels, playing hockey, or making totally harmless Snow Steves among other things until DOMA tried chasing after them- then a snowball fight happened.

The holiday phenomenon of record winter lows in the sunny state of California were lost on Catra. Earth was a strange new place unlike anything she had ever encountered. The people here seemed to mostly be made up the same way, shapes and colors varied by they all looked so… plain. Catching the cautious gaze of strangers was nothing new. Fear, was something she had come to cultivate readily back home… but some people were curious. Boldly so… she had had her tailed tugged on once already just the other day. She answered that man’s inquiry if it was “actually real” with an equally real taste of just how sharp her claws were. While open acts of aggression weren’t exactly new to her, they weren’t always this justified… it wasn't like she had killed him or anything, just a bit of educational mauling.

She had stopped traversing the city so openly after that. To many people screaming and calling for help… every corner of those steel and stone monstrosity had goodie-good witnesses that didn’t know to keep their mouths shut and she didn’t have the time or the energy to show them first hand why they should listen to her. Thankfully, Jump City had no shortage of roof top real estate for her to roam across. It had been good for a time, but the build up of snow and the chill of the air here was starting to take a toll on her.

While others scrambled and were driven to panic by the chaos in the wake of the Steves, Catra found certain solace in the mischief at hand. Aside from being weird small stubby limbed creatures, she could get behind their general disregard for the established sense of order here. Besides, it made her own shopping twice as easy when the windows were already shattered and nobody was looking. Ransacking homes and businesses… just like home. Fond memories.

Stepping out from a shattered display window, her brand new boots crunched in the fresh snow. Within, her toes wiggled, trying to get a good feel for the footwear she was less than enthused to wear. The other additions of coveralls and a baggy hoodie two sizes too big for her, however, were a welcome bit of warmth she had forgotten just how satisfying it could be. It was a tough sell not to pile a few of the “fur” inlaid coats into a corner and take a small nap after her long hours on the prowl, but she decided it best not to stick around a scene of an apparent crime.

Hands shoved in her pockets, her tail slithered out from underneath her layers, swishing behind her to reach up and hook the lip of her hood. With a tug, her feline appendage brought it up and over, squishing down her ears beneath before the tail swished back beneath her clothes, wrapping around her waist like a belt. A small purr of contentment rumbled in her throat as she felt for the first time since waking up here, she had a handle on things again.

The sudden sound of shattered glass and metallic pangs made her jump in place, fur puffed up on high alert as her eyes darted down the alley it had come from, flexing her fingers to draw out her claws in anticipation of conflict. What she saw was another one of those tiny people come scuttling out of a swinging door followed by a cascade of thrown cookery. Pots, pans… was that a ladle? Her brow arched, body relaxing as she watched it scrambling along the ground in her direction, hoisted up over its head a large balancing act of several prepared meals all stacked on top of one another.

Her nose caught a whiff of the meat especially even before her eyes had understood what it was she was seeing. Her mouth already watering when her stomach joined in with a small growl, reminding her that it had been quite awhile since her last meal… longer even since the last time she had eaten something that wasn’t one of those overproduced all in one slop bars that were standard issue for Horde soldiers.

Her appreciation of the Steve’s  part in helping her purcure warm clothing only went so far though. A brief glance over either shoulder clued her into what her nose already knew. It was alone. Her lips curled into a smirk, a single fang poking out just slightly. She turned to face down the alley fully, tilting her chin to stare down the bridge of her nose down at the small being with an air of superiority.  The Steve zig-zagged down the alley, shifting its direction to accommodate the teetering load of plate it was carrying and when it tried to skirt past catra, she was ready.

“Got’cha~” It was like taking candy from a baby, just reaching out and grabbing hold of one of the plates on top. It was heavier than expected though… Lifting the plat up she saw the ones beneath it somehow stuck to one another. How that was possible, she wasn't quite sure, raising them up until she was staring face to face with the Stealing Steve itself who was stille pedalling its legs as if running. The corner of her eye twitched, giving the plates a harsh shake, watching it all remaining stuck together.

“Let go… Let go!” Her eyes narrowed in frustration, thrashing the tower of plates around in an effort to shake the small creature off. No matter what she did however it seemed to cling together like elastic. She bared her teeth, snarling at this small things insistence on hanging on… then she calmed. It wasn't getting away, it certainly couldn't stop her from taking the food either. She was an envoy of The Horde. A Force Captain in fact, clearly she could negotiate with the primitive Earth creature.

Hoisting the Steve up, she stared at it within its empty mask sockets, putting on a smile even though it pained her to do so. “Why hey there little guy… Gee, you’re pretty… uh…” What did all the saps back home say to be nice? “You're pretty swell… how about sharing some of this food with me, huh? I’m preeeeetty hungry.” She smiled a bit harder, pearly whites on full display… It almost made her cheeks hurt. How did people do this all day?

The Steve’s legs stopped pedaling, left to dangle from the tower of plates, swaying gently as it hung. There was a long uncomfortable silence between the two, one that was clearly wearing on Catra’s patience when she head something. Her ears perked beneath the hood, making it stand up slightly. A bubbling sound? Was it trying to talk to her? She leaned in a bit closer, trying to make it out… and a stream of water suddenly sprayed from the thin slit of its mouth into her face like a sustained blast from a supersoaker.

She let out a surprised shriek, letting go of the plates. The Steve landed with a soft squishy sound in front of Catra as she frantically rubbed at her face with her forearms. The tiny creature slipped between her legs, scrambling away while she was distracted. The harsh chill of the winter air was biting cold with soaked fur leaving her absolutely furious when she had overcome the initial panic of being sprayed in the face with… whatever that had been. She whirled around to see the Steve slipping away and immediately gave chase.

“Get back here you little runt!” Kicking off the ground she instinctively dropped onto all fours, her tail unraveling to slip out from under her hoodie. She had tried being nice for all that was worth, not it was time to fall back on  what she knew worked. Her claws dug into the concrete, kicking off the ground she launched herself in hot pursuit.

People were stupid. Scratch that, that wasn't much of an observation. People were content to be stupid. Snow in California. At most it prompted people to remark "that's odd" and reminisce about a time forty years back when they maybe got an inch. Beyond this they turned their mind to a futile commute and play. He'd left his college campus in teams of makeshift sledges. Not much of a market for such things around here. A piece of plyboard or an old door worked just as well.

And the snow kept falling.

Hugh was initially concerned his flat roof wasn't built to take the strain of built-up snow. Then he checked the weather satellites. Free data that anyone could download if they thought to do so. The data didn't add up. A few days ago they were predicting lows of eight in the evenings, cloud moving from the west, some snow in the mountains.

But today! Porlar vortex out of nowhere. No low front from the north to set it off. A chill on the entire region. And it wasn't moving centre. He could have chalked it up to climate change and gone to protest that new smoke stack in the industrial sector, but given they were in Jump City, he'd be a fool to discount artificial means.

Just because nobody had patented a weather machine, didn't mean none existed. At the very least they were at a point in society where it wouldn't be a wasted journey to look.

Pix had transformed into his pixelated body. The outline of his body become vaguely blocky in contour, his face was replaced with emoticon equivalents. It took the cold longer to penetrate his core while like this, but he still wrapped a neck-warmer snood, hat, and some mittens around him before going out.

His plan was to fly above the cloud layer and see if there was a Doomonger McEvilbot spewing out a Christmas miracle. And if there was, then hit return to sender. But in order to reach such altitudes he needed a lot of pixels. Not just to keep himself from falling off his flight platform, but to act as weather shielding. It was going to take a lot more than the backpack worth that he'd gathered.

He was fortunate in two things. First, the weather had forced many people indoors. And those that did pass him on the street batted no more of an eye than they did at a green ostrich running by. Second, some enterprising soul had taken advantage of the situation to do some looting. He found the electronics shop he'd been heading for was already broken into.

Pix stepped into the store and began to filter out the pixels from every screen. (>_<)

Green ostrich you say? What about a green clad Steve carrying another Steve on it's head in a makeshift totem? No that's not the same thing by any stretch of the imagination. Pix wouldn't be the only one thinking that a would-be Jack Frost was behind the recent "christmas" miracle. Some of them may have just had more conventional means of looking up there then he did- which could explain why they weren't immeiately dealing with the antics of what the few people roaming the streets were referring to as "Christmas Elves." Clearly they had seen too many holiday specials, or were victims of "wishful thinking."

Pix would find that he was not alone in his pursuits, as some of the smaller televisions would seemingly just float of their own accord, only to quickl reveal one of the Steves wearing a cloth over it's mouth. Evidently they could in this way go invisible but whatever they were carrying at the time was still clearly visible which made the entire thing moot. Steve sounds emanated as more of them seemed to just appear, taking notice of Pix. Being the curious sorts and seeing he had a backpack- they just HAD to know what was in it and so would try to get to it to see what was in the bag!


Back over to Cat Lady- The Steve would be making silly honks and squeaks that conveyed that it foudn that funny but was also now panicking because she was made and chasing it! The Steve's little feet pedaled so fast you'd think it was out of a cartoon, yet it didn't seem to be actually going any where quickly as it ran onto the street and passed a flaming wreckage being danced around by some other Steves wearing what appeared to be gas masks. What was the wreckage? Just a DOMA truck. Where were the DOMA enforcers assumed to have been riding in it? What is this twenty questions? The Steve that had been running would keep doing so, honk something at it's friends before running by the store Pix was looting. It's friends would catch sight of Catra chasing after it, stopping their possibly culturally insensitve tribal dance around the fire to watch... menacingly! Seriously, the fact there was an abandoned MILITARY vehicle that was on fire was begging for an answer.

Despite the lil Steve's effort, Catra round herself gaining on it. She could invisin it now, biting down on those delectable morsels the weird creature was keeping for her. Having to run the nuisance down to get it made it seem all the more appetizing and would no doubt make her ultimate victory feel intimately better. She had been willing to share, take a few of the little creatures ill gotten gains and call it even. Now? She was taking it all…And tossing the masked weirdo into the nearest dumpster to reflect on crossing her.

As the Steve scuttle into the street, Catra was one step ahead, leaping up to land on the back of a parked car, cutting a more direct path after her prey. There was a brief moment of alarm as her boots slipped along the cold slick surface, unable to gain the proper footing she was normally afforded not having boots on. She slid along the roof,  paint and metal squealing in protest as her nails ripped long ragged gashes into the car to top keep her from being going off the side with her built momentum.

Slowing enough to afford herself a  brief pause and a well earned sigh of relief. Catra kicked off the car with a hard enough jolt to set off the stationary vehicles alarm off, blaring loudly behind her as she landed gracefully, hot on the heels of the Steve. Like the cats she drew so many similarities to, her near folly moments before was dismissed as something she had meant to do and was filed away under things she wouldn't think or talk about again.

The flaming security vehicle hadn't really caught her full attention so laser focused on her prize so close. Her ears perked at the crackle of flames, her pupils dilated with the bright light as well, but the sight that would have raised alarms in others didn't even cross her mind. She didn't know the role and power of DOMA. To her this was just another strange earth vehicle that was in ruins no different than the one she had bounded off moments before… just bigger and it happened to be on fire.

The other Steves however most certainly caught her notice, so too did the brief exchange they had shared. Backup? Catra's eyes narrowed into thin threatening slits as glaring daggers into her possible opposition. Dashing by on all fours, her back arched, presenting herself as bigger, stiffer, meaner as she hissed threateningly at the merrimakers celebrating the destruction of DOMA property. This was her one and only warning to them to stay out of her business if they were even considering it.

Passing by the electronics store front, something did however catch her eye from her periferal. Unlike the chaos of the city in terroil or the burning military truck, this was something she hadn't seen before. Pix. What was this and what was it doing? The momentary distraction was enough to send her charging head first into a metal mesh public trans can, toppling her head over heels into a raised bank of snow built up from early attempts to keep the sidewalks clear. She vanished into the mound of cold white for a few beats before springing up, eyes zeroing back in on the fleeing Steve.

"Stop! Running!" Gripping the lip of the battered trash can l she took a hopping step out of the snow, twirling on her boot heel to build momentum. Contents of the receptacle spilled out across the sidewalk and snow as the femme feline spun, building up dizzying force. With all her might Catra hurled the waste bin down the street like she was participating in a hammer throw contest, trying to strike down her fleeing prey from afar to avoid having to make up distance yet again.

Floating televisions initially freaked Hugh the fuck out. He paused in his own aisle stalking to express a gasp (). But when the masked Steve presented, fear turned into bewilderment (). The critter must have been the opportunist he'd thought had moved on. He'd missed it for being so small. There were many odd things in Jump City, but they were at least usually human. He couldn't hazard a guess on what this munchkin was.

Pix quickly revised his initial thoughts as the noises began and the televisions came more into view. There was more than one critter. And the others seemed to be camoflagued somehow. It suggested magic. But what kind of faeries needed with a 75" LG with HD colouring and surround sound?

Before he could ponder their existence any further, the bulk of them dropped their illicit wares and pounced on him. Pix had never been particularly agile. He didn't backstep anywhere near quick enough. One of them took his hat, but the main body pulled off his backpack. Pix grabbed one of the straps as it was leaving him and pulled back, suddenly in a tug-of-war match with an invisible foe.

They may have lacked for brawn, but the sprite was still losing. Backpacks were cheap, easy to replace, but he refused to let go of his, on sheer principle. He wasn't going to be mugged by the cast of Tetly Tea Time. Hugh decided to give it one last heave of effort.

Then he scrapped that idea and just used his ability. The backpack was filled with pixels. The psionic weight of them suddenly tipped all the Steves over. The bag unzipped itself and released a deluge of pixels which swamped the only visible Steve and dragged the bag over his head. Hugh completed the manoeuvre by zipping back up the sack and planting a foot into it to suppress the worst of the violent struggles.

As the rest of the Steves made to move again the sprite lit himself up and held out a hand, "Stop! I have your friend! Nobody move!" The floating pixels formed an array of vaguely weapon shaped objects behind him. When it was clear another attack was not imminent he continued on in a less desparate tone, "We don't have a problem here. I'm going to take what I came for. You're going to take what you got. I'll release your friend at the door. We go our separate ways. Nobody has to get hurt."

There was a terrific crash outside which had everybody looking. Trash cans - one of nature's loudest sounds. It looked painful for whoever had landed themselves in the snow. When she came back up, screaming a challenge, Pix managed to tear himself away from the distraction. Now wasn't the time, "Okay. None of your kind got hurt."

There was another trash can sound. Louder. Accompanied by one of the peculiar squealing noises of the Steves. It didn't sound healthy. Pix looked back at his audience ( o__o; )

This time his reflexes triggered. The sprite was able to get his pixels in front of his assailants, slip a few grabs, and ultimately launch himself out of the broken window dragging the squirming backpack behind him.

Hugh got his first good look at the interloper. There must be a full moon out. He didn't have time to deal with this new shit. Not after she'd destroyed his hopes of parley, "Nice shot. Dead centre of the foot. Really smoothed things over. Hope you can still walk on that." He slid clear of the store front.

If someone was tall enough or atleast had enough sight to see, they'd also note there was a sudden amount of confetti every where by where the creature had been- alongside the tower of ill-gotten gains which seemed to remember physics and gravity existed. The bag would meanwhile continue thrashing about, little feet pedaling but not going anywhere as the sneaky sneaks inside the store were following after Pix- none of them seemed to have little gasmasks on. That'd be silly anyway- how would they shoot with cloth over their mouths?

It was the group by the truck that still probably warranted more attention, one blowing a razzberry at Catra when she tried to intimidate them earlier. Hearing that sound though seemed to understandably bother them, indicated by the circular eyeholes becoming more... pointed. One would then drop it's snow shovel and press it's nubby digits on either side of it's mask's snout and let of what may as well have been an air raid siren while the others started to move forward. The small group was mostly just armed with snow shovels that were much too big for them, instead using the shovels to catapult their friends right toward Catra and Pix.

The ground also seemed to be shaking ever so slightly as a few more heads popped up out of the snow- some stopped making their little snow angels and turned toward them. If this wasn't an ominous prelude to something big coming I don't know what is. The horn blower would then aim their snout toward Piz and Catra, widening to the size of a basket ball before letting loose a snowball of the same size- and then another, and another with each one pushing it back just alittle. The Steves that had been catapulted toward the pair would then try clubbing them on the heads with their shovels while the ground shaking seemed to be getting stronger, and there was a definite sound of something big stomping it's way closer.

Watching the metal trash can pang off of the running Steve and go tumbling to the side had been amusing enough… watching the little critter explode in a colorful array of paper however lit her eyes up with a sense of joy that she didn't think possible at the given moment. Her tail flicked from side to side as she was transfixed at the drifting confetti, a soft purr rumbling in her throat. Her first Earth conquest, accompanied by fanfare. She could get used to this… did all Earth people pop like party favors? The other one she had clawed up certainly hadn't... This would require some more testing.

Her hood raised an inch or two as her ears reacted to Pix's voice, trying to fight the gravity of the cloth they were buried under. She turned to address him, recoiling back once she had gotten a better look at what she'd only seen in passing. Was it a hologram? She had seen those before. Glowing, normally transparent, tending to be of people she didn't like giving her bad news.

Catra lifted her foot, taking a comedically large step to move out of the mound of piled snow, brushing a few cold spots where it stuck to her off with the back of her hands. In silence Catra inching up to the stranger as if he were an animal in the wild, a curious spark in her mismatched eyes. The lack of response on her end only serving to draw more attention to the moment. Like a skeptical person from the stone age trying to define what they were witnessing, she reached out with her hand to try to gently pass her fingers through Pix's face. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do.

"You're weird." She declared upon closer inspection, any sense of irony lost on her despite not being the picture of normality herself. It wasn't a bad thing per se, there was a certain amused edge to her tone at the spectacle of him. The moment was cut short at the sudden raid siren blaring from back the way she had come, jumping a bit to a straighter state of alertness, fur puffing up and ears drawing sharply back at the intensity of the sound. She squinted in equal parts annoyance and pain, glancing towards the mounting force of Steves behind them readying for war.

She gave Pix a confident smirk, turning slowly to face down the legion of Steve. With a flick of her wrists, her claws extended slightly, gleaming in the glow of her new acquaintance as she flexed each digit. After seeing just how fragile the one had been, she wasn't really intimidated by their numbers… in fact she was looking forward to popping a few more. Her lips parted, flashing a ranger grin, tail swishing excitedly behind her in anticipation.

The first large snowball that came flying caught her off guard, not expecting something that large to come from something so small. It pelted her hard in the shoulder, snow exploding off of her body as she took a bracing stumble back, just able to catch herself before calling again and losing face in front of Pix. The next few that came her way though, she stepped towards them each, cleaving through the air with heavy sweeps of her claws, rending the packed snow into pieces and disputing them to the sides… some of them unintentionally splattering towards Pix.

She let out a small shriek, her voice cracking slightly when an airborne Steve landed on her head, then another. Their tiny feet squeaking like a toy hammer or a chew toy. It balled her a few times with it's shovel as she flailed, battling to reach up to grab the annoying little midget while still working to intercept snowball bullets with ever decreasing success. It wasn't long before she was taking snowball fire from afar and was swarmed with several Steves climbing all over her.

Catra let out a frustrated growl as she struggled, giving up on dealing with the snowballs as she turned tail, fumbling in her steps to try press forward in the opposite direction, unsure if Pix was going to follow. She reached  back, batting a Steve to the side, sending an explosion of confetti around her. The joy of doing so was lost on her as a shovel cracked her backside before her tail coiled around the weaponized tool.

Shambling down the sidewalk she systematically worked to free herself from beneath the horde of Steves. Grabbing hold of one than another, tossing them into a wall and nearby car, jabbing her claws into others, until finally only one had remained. Yanking it off of her back by the scruff of its clothing, she gave it a toss into the air. Turning aburptly, she threw out her leg mid spin to catch it with a kick that sent it arcing through the air to intercept one of the massive snowballs meant for her.

She was surrounded in a sea of confetti, peppered with you of packed snow, and looking all manner of pissed with intent to maim while breathing heavily like a dishelved madwoman. There were still so many though… and what was that tremor? She decided it was time to be done here either way. Her eyes flicked to Pix, getting a quick gauge to see if he was coming feeling similiar. For the moment they seemed in a the boat… even if he was a weird computer man, she had worked with weirder things before.

"You coming or what?" Her tail brought a stolen shovel around to her hand. If Pix was getting swarmed, she would hike it up over her should and give it a hard throw like a javelin, spearing at least one of them off him. If he seemed to have things under control, she would instead hurl it into the distance at one of the snowballers. Catra would then turn to run, waving a hand for him to follow as she dashed down the street, reaching down to scoop a large turkey leg from the pile of shattered plates and food that had topped to the ground from the spoils of her victory. Her first instinct was to get out of the line of fire as snowballs rained down on them, ducking into the first alley she came across to get off the main street.

Departure seemed to be the best course of action. Now that Pix was outside he could see the burning vehicle and additional Steves. Clearly this area was under some sort of whimsical but exorbitant delinquency. Which probably warranted a stronger response by the authorities any minute now. Pix wasn't gonna get trapped in some lame team-up exercise today. He'd shop elsewhere.

His captive thrashed and he swiftly analysed the benefits of carrying them off. Some background on these critters might prove wise. But they hadn't yet spoken English; can't interrogate foreign. And its initial use as a deterrent had somewhat worn off. Inversely now he was inviting- "Ow. Hey. D'ya mind?" The whirling dervish had poked him in the face out of nowhere. Flakes of pixels had broken off onto her fingers and were slowly trickling back into place on his body.

As if in explanation, she commented on him. Pix benched his initial frustrations to try and widen their scope of focus (-__-), "They're weirder." He pointed towards a group of Steves before another began their siren call.

As he'd thought, they were antagonised and now swarming. Pix initially stood back and allowed Catra to take the brunt of the assault. He'd hoped to find some sort of rhyme or reason in what their foe was capable of, but the snowball cannon was just senseless. He was spattered with the excess projectile.

Then the Steves rained down. The first one brought an almighty hammer blow to Hugh's shoulder with its shovel, fissuring him down to mid-torso. It hurt like a shovel through the sternum would and Pix was still reeling with pain while two more landed nearby.

One immediately went for the unattended backpack. The Steve unzipped it, looking into the eyes of a second bedraggled Steve situated within. The first extended a stubby limb and pushed the captive's face back inside the bag, closing it off again and walking away.

Meanwhile the shovel came free easily, the pixels giving no resistance. That Steve raised his weapon once more and brought the flat of it round at a leg while his duplicate did the same from behind at a shoulder. The pixel man shattered into pieces. The bigger chunks fell into the snow and flickered, transforming into several shades of white.

Pix negated his artificial brightness, contributing to his blending with the snow. His contours were difficult to follow for he was not whole-bodied. The Steves began to pound at the snow with their shovels, soon turning the beaten snow into ice.

All at once there was a reply. Pix's snood came up to cover the head of one Steve. Another had his shovel grabbed and tugged sharply, bringing him into close contact with a lamp post. The blind Steve stumbled on the ice he'd helped create and a leg shoved him over. A third Steve waded into the brawl, only to immediately scrabble back out as two somersaulting shovels came for him.

Pix began to reform off to the side in a building's shadow, holding his right shoulder. A vibration in the ground caught his attention and sent his mind reeling for possibilities. He was only half reassembled when another critter sprinted towards him. The Steve was speared by a thrown shovel and dashed into confetti. The half-bodied sprite double-took between the hordes and Catra (O_-), "Let me have a think."

From his remaining arm and torso he fashioned two shapes. The first was a foothold, shaped to take his instep, which he put his left foot into, hovering about five inches off the ground. The second was a hand grip which he hung from with his right hand. He psionically willed the pixels on, speeding after Catra as she pathfound. It occurred to him she didn't need to outrun the Steves. Only him.

He needed to make this not a running race. When they went into the alley Pix called out to seize her attention, "Fire escape!" He dropped his foothold and sent it upwards to grab at an extendable ladder, which sunk down into position. Just low enough for an average human to jump for.

Naturally he levitated himself.

There would indeed be another familiar siren drawing closer- only it didn't sound quite right. You know when you hear a sound which you instantly think of what is making it? But now imagine someone took that sound and played it at a different pitch. It would soon be revealed as the source came speeding around the corner on a snowmobile- a few Steves, one of which had a helmet that flashed red and blue. All three of the Serious Steves would naturally be ill-equipped to drive and in typical Steve fashion, crash into something. They scrambled back to their feet and joined up with the initial snowball shooters, exchanging Steve Sounds which loosely translated into. "Who donit?" "They went that way!"

The Officer Steves would be in hot pursuit, honking out orders to the other Steves to make a totem pole- which they did very quickly. What they lacked in strength, speed, height... weight... or brains they made up for with teamwork! One remaining Shovel Steve would likewise start catapulting Steves toward the rooftops with varying degrees of failiure. Then one finally managed to get onto the roof with a triumphant Steve sound. The totem pole of Steves were much more successful, eventually making a makeshift ladder that The Officer Steves started to climb up after Pix and Catra.

The ominous tremors would also soon reveal itself as actual human sounding panicky screams and also the groaning of crushed metal followed it. A head appeared the opposite side of where the Officer Steves came, it was dull grey and box-like... quadrepedal walker? Yes, yes it was. Except to avoid copyright infringements, it was... Steve sized and instead of weapons that went pew pew it had portholes for Serious Steves to poke their heads out and shoot out from. There were specially four of these at the front and side of the head which swayed to and fro as the Serious Steves within fired at the occasional bystander- or Steve, especially Steve. The walker looked like someone had already taken a crack at it, bullet holes and various scorch marks decorating it's hull.

A small escort of white clad Stevetroopers on stilts with snowshoes would be it's escort and gallop ahead, training their heads up toward the rooftops where their buddies were focusing their attentions. The metal crunching would also become obvious, as the walker raised one of it's feet and stomped down into the flaming wreck as it continued on walking along. The head would turn slightly toward the direction the Officer Steves were going, taking potshots in hopes of hitting either Catra or Pix.

It wasn’t Pix’s fault when he yelled to her, while the fleeing pair was on high alert already, his exclamation to her made her briefly panic more. There was FIRE now? Where? It couldn't be helped things as simple as fire escapes and other such safety precautions weren’t really a matter of concern for a tech laden superpower like The Horde who had a general disregard for such things. She turned her head to look back to her temporary companion, hoping he had the wherewithal to draw her attention to where the fire was coming from.

What she saw was a ladder drop down from a raised catwalk, banging loudly with a metallic thud as it hit a natural stopper. She blinked in a moment of confusion in both watching Pix levitate vertically and the new pathway made readily available. She wasn’t about to argue, especially when she saw a Steve darken the entryway of the alley.  Chomping down on her turkey leg, she secured it firmly in her mouth, mindful of what she was about to do as she spun around to about face. Catra charged forward, dropping down onto all fours to narrowly dip beneath another snowball fired at her. From the ground she bounded for the wall, a snowy impact splattering right where she had been, and pushing off the brickwork she latched onto the ladder.

She climbed the first few rungs only to find the opening to the catwalk was on the other side… but rather than swing herself out and around to reach it, she hopped out into the open air, catching the railing to then scramble her way up as more snow exploded around her. Pix was already vanishing from sight above by the time she had started her own ascent. As she climbed the metal stairs with bounding leaps, she noticed the growing number of Steves below no longer were able to fire upon her from this range so she took a moment to drop her drumstick back into her hand and blow a raspberry at them, cackling to herself. “Nyeh!”

By the time she had reached the rooftop, all hell broke loose. Steves spilling over the lip of the roof, a few of the arguably more fortunate little creatures had landed up here two from their catapults, and a barrage of snowballs were raining down. She let out a growl, thoroughly annoyed by this turn of events. She was already wet, cold, and hungry… On that note she took a bite out of her turkey leg, to at least work at rectifying one of those.

“Wow. Nice escape plan, Block Boy.” She grumbled in monotone with cheeks stuffed with turkey, taking a jab at Pix’s choice to bring them up here in the firing line of the mounting Steve legions. She wasn’t about to mention this was all likely her fault to begin with, of course.  When a line of arching snowballs came raining down one after the other in increasing closeness to her, she jumped, scrambling out of the firing line, tossing the turkey leg back over her shoulder and catching the protruding bone of it within a coil of her tail.

“Is this normal? Where are these things even coming from?!” She was bounding through the snow covered root, hopping between high points on the flat surface that protruded from the snow like exhaust covered chutes and outdoor centralized air ducts that spanned the length of the building. She stopped only once, briefly, to shoot her leg out at a Steve waddling towards her that was brandishing a large chimney sweep brush for whatever reason. The small critter was sent spiraling off the roof with the honking Steve equivalent of a Wilhelm scream before being dashed on the street below in a blizzard of confetti. It wasn't long before she had reached the gap between this building and the next, leaping across the way without a second thought. There was a clear size discrepancy here though of two stories at least so when she hit the wall, her claws sank into the brickwork to latch herself on.

She pedaled her boots against the wall, grunting with the strain of not being able to establish a good foothold. This was why she didn't wear these stupid things to begin with. Fine. Whatever! She gave up on her normal climbing tactics, using nothing but her upper body to swing herself from side to side, getting a bit of height each time to establish a handhold by jamming her fingers into the wall. All the while a torrent of snow was erupting around her, even managing to clip her dead on and make her waver for a moment. She continued however, fighting her way up to the higher vantage point, hoping to leave the ground force of Steves behind, even if the walker was still an issue.

Straight up levitation was more mentally taxing to Pix than simple disassembly. So he supplemented it with footwork where he could, practically reverse abseiling the first half of the escape before giving up and running the rest.

Arriving on the roof, he encountered the wannabe paratroopers. The totem poles weren't far behind. They were as resourceful as they were persistent. Pix searched the area for his excess pixels and grouped them back together, pulling them towards him. They formed a wedge shape, and raked across the roof-edge on the other side of the alley, plunging large clumps of snow into one of the totems, sending the whole pile teetering dangerously to the left and then right.

One of the Officer Steves made the jump, landing powerfully and conveying through body language that it meant business. It advanced only to be stopped short by Pix's detached hand upon its forehead, until it was running on the spot. He took the brief breather to answer the pitched question, "Honestly - the snowfall is more statistically unlikely."

Snow projectiles arced down onto them, separating Pix from the Steve. Two more cornered him against the edge of the roof, prompting him to step back further. A platform of pixels had appeared beneath his feet. The Steves followed him onto it, only to fall through like it was a cloud layer. One had just the time to grab his forearm, but it similarly dissolved in their hand and afforded zero purchase.

The sprite crouched low for balance and brought his floating platform round to the next roof, cringing as snowballs buffeted him with the wind of their passing. The part squealing, part rending sound of the crushed vehicle travelled far. This was just getting more ludicrous by the moment. He saw Catra fighting her way to the next roof, Steves on the first regrouping for some new trick.

He pitched himself onto the higher roof and held out his hand as the feline finished her ascent, "Hang on! We're getting nowhere, fast. I'm solving this. Crouch low." Pix detached an eye from his body and kept it orbiting their perimeter. He directed them to a roof corner and surrounded their reduced forms in a ring of pixels, five foot by five foot. Using his bird's-eye view, he blended the colours of the pixels to best camouflage their position.

There weren't enough pixels to act as a roof. But they did have the high ground right now. Pix calculated it would be sufficient. A crude pixel rake destroyed half their footprints and then created new ones leading to the other end of the building. It finally collapsed piecemeal into the snow, perfectly white. He spoke in a hushed voice.

"It's an optical illusion. With any luck they'll move on. My best guess is they're some kind of magical race. Stumbled through from their own dimension. Ignorant to how things work and too bass-ackward to figure it out for themselves. Not for us to deal with. Let the Titans butt heads. It's what heroes are for."

Now that he wasn't moving, Hugh noticed his core had lost a lot of heat. Probably when he'd allowed himself to shatter. There passed a shiver. It wasn't dangerous to his current pixelated constitution, but if he turned back without something warm on standby, there could be complications he didn't want to explore.

There would still be the audible crunch of metal sinking into show, making the tremors of the Steve-Walker more mute but still audible enough to know it was around. More audible would be the frequent honks and squeaks associated with what passed for communication between The Steves, occasional flashes of red or blue of the Officer Steves moving about. They would be the onle ones to be able to even remotely "keep up" with the pair, their little boot clad feets drawing near for a moment only to follow along the tracks Pix had made- the foolish fools!

There was however one small thing which probably didn't make sense from a narrative perspective- as it seems unlikely such a detail would go unnoticed. But there were already Steves here where Pix had chosen his hiding place. No Serious business here though, they had a large cardboard box suspended up on some makeshift supports and were sitting beneath it playing some kind of card game. Pix would recognize some familiar faces on them as the titans, or their rogue's gallery at large. Basically, they were playing a Teen Titans Trading Card game. The Steves had stopped what they were doing to glance at Pix curiously before just dismissing him and going back to their game with a small honk. Yes they had heard the siren, that was what the point of it was. Did any of them care? Not in the slightest! They also had hot coco, as a random sidenote.

There was a competitive part of Catra's feline brain that took a great deal of annoyance in the hand offered to her as she literally scratched and clawed her way up the buildingside. It wasn't anything to do with Pix himself, but what it represented to her with him having gotten here first and offering her assistants. A reminder of the past, all the people she'd known who had been able to do better than her, excelling because they had been handed gifts or opportunities she hadn't been given. Reluctantly she threw her arm up, gripping his blocky arm at the forearm and with his help, hoisted herself up and over the ledge onto the new rooftop.

She was prepared to fight through the mounting horde of Steves if needed. The growing frustration of being struck, climbed on, and buffeted with snow fast reaching a breaking point for her rising tide of anger. It was insulting enough she had been made to flee from these little buggers to begin with. When Pix issued his order to her, she nearly ignored it out of misplaced spite but ultimately did just that under the grounds his demand had already been in line with what she had already planned on doing.

She dropped low, bringing the turkey leg back to her mouth, trading it from.gail to hand once again. On her two legs and a hand she moved with her temporary companion, stuffing her face along the way. Her eyes flicked around them, taking in the swirling field of obscuration while her perked ears worked to assess the situation beyond it, doing a decent job of flying her in to where even the Steves who remained out of sight she were.

While she couldn't shake the apparent weirdness of Pix, as he casually altered his body in new and unexpected ways, she didn't seem detered by his oddness anymore. Her brain had accept it and already moved on to trying to figure out how useful someone like this could be to her in the future. This struck her as a technology thing more than the magics from home… maybe he could help get her communicator working again. She wasn't about to trust a stranger with that though. She'd have to do a bit more prodding before offering up too much of who she was in actuality.

Her ears twitched at the mention of bass, only half paying attention to him at that point until the mishearing of his colorful turn of phrase and thinking of how she would have preferred fish over her turkey. She gave a small shrug though, coming to a stop as the two remained huddled in their attempt to hide, tail swishing as she was now idly munching on her stolen meal.

Titans huh? So we're those the protectors of this kingdom then? Possibly. She hadn't seen any of them floating around stopping the talent crime of the Steve forces… so their effectiveness was just as good as the princesses back home. She gave a small snorting snicker at the thought, seemingly very amused by Pix's statement without context of why.

It occurred to her that while their names location might be helpful, it worked on the assumption that the Steves would eventually leave. Given then number, she wasn't sure that would happen anytime soon though. Scanning the rooftop quietly, she picked the last of her turkey home clean, sucking on the tips of her fingers as she looked for something in particular… ah ha!

"There." She whispered softly, nodding to a nearby air duct on the roof, giving the end of the bird bone a wiggle in its direction as well. The visible grating would be easily removed and the two of them could find a bit more perminant of a hiding place within… in theory. She seemed ready to go, crawling towards the edge of the pixel illusion, ready to move again.

Attempting this strategy alone significantly improved Pix's chances for success. What with a decoy as dynamic as the feline to draw pursuit away. If he'd just turned white and sunk into a snow bank, he would have been sure of escape. But then, there would have been nobody to tell him how clever he'd been. And pulling this off with two escapees was twice as impressive. So here he was, doing one better.

His feeling of success was only tempered when he came to realise the things Catra had observed. The immediate pursuit had passed them by. But this area was still infested. That walker wasn't going anywhere. It might be a long wait ahead of them. And Catra's munching reminded him he'd missed lunch.

Can't even beg a bite like this... (o﹏o)

Then she pointed with the bone. It took a moment of mental gymnastics to use his in-situ eye to try and direct his airborne one into position. But Pix was able to identify what the girl was trying to convey.

He was able to keep his voice low, just, "Move? This isn't exactly a camera. You try adjusting a panorama of a thousands pixels on the fly." This kind of fancy manoeuvre was already taxing his mental reserves. His power gave him a great advantage when it came to multitasking, but he was still spinning a dozen plates on short-term memory alone.

He was afraid to just go for it. The Officer Steves may have taken the bait. But without Catra's senses he couldn't be certain all was clear. And there were several reasons to see the critters up here again. If the Officers doubled back as the trail ran cold, if a group of laggards arrived from the first roof, or maybe they just fell out of the ether because they were Steves.

But he was partial to good sense. And the salvation offered by the duct guaranteed that he came round, "Ugh. Fine. I'm going to drop it. Be quick with the cover. I'll deal with our footprints." They timed themselves with a spread of heightened senses and broke cover completely unseen; except for the card game which likely had an orchestra pit view.

Once more Pix used his eye to keep an orbital surveillance until it was clear they were ready to go. Then he called that piece of his body back to him. And accidently put it on upside-down. Several screwed up perspectives hit him at once. Near, far, splayed, right-way, wrong-way. He was given an instant dizzy spell coupled with a migraine, "Oh. Shit. That hurt." (@_@) The sprite's legs went out from under him and he collapsed into the housing of the metal duct, a loud clatter radiating out.