Time To Pay the Piper

[Supercape]

That sounded bad. Really bad. Sunset and the Radical were as one mind on that. A particular chill ran up the Radicals virtual spine at the bit about eating psychics. He fancied he might make a tasty morsel.

"She sounds heavy. Real heavy" said Sunset as the Radical seeped into the driving seat for a moment. Not completely, but he was there.

Then, she spoke louder, to both the doctor and the bear men.

"A distraction, thats what we need. A false ark, booby trapped! Perhaps one of those other walls that talk?" she asked.

Together, they might create a dummy...

[Avenger Assembled]

They worked long into the night, until a Moon dotted with the silvery lines of some long-gone construction project rose against a clear sky overhead. It was too far away to tell if it was Farsider work or some more recent Earth-human project, but the glowing lights and obvious signs of sentient alteration in Earth's only natural satellite was a reminder that life went on far beyond even the site of what had once been Freedom City. By the time Sunset and Dr. Tomorrow bedded down, the locals were singing a song of the victory to come in the next day - still an imposing prospect given the being they had to face. "There she is," said Tomorrow, pointing to the sky and using a pocket telescope to point out a distinctly blue glow in the sky like an approaching meteor. "Her interplanetary plasma radiance makes her visible even outside lunar orbit! Good thing she can't bring that sort of power into an atmosphere!" 

 

The next morning, as a column of blue-white fire, the Dragon came to Earth - landing on the highest point of one of the still-standing buildings far, far above the heads of the heroes and their native allies further down below. From her position, Sunset could make out a fiery six-limbed form cast entirely out of blazing blue-white fire and radiant plasma energy - two wings, two front legs and two back legs and a long, leonine head: - and at the very core of the energy form, something that might have been a humanoid shape. 

[Supercape]

"Goddess! That looks like a Hindu Demon!" gasped Sunset. She wasn't exactly a practising Hindu these days, but she wasn't exactly not either. And the stories gripped the mind, whether you wanted them to or not. 

 

That's beautiful man! Its cosmic! You sure she is bad? How can something that beautiful be bad? whispered the Radical inside her. Red orange light flickered in her costume, forming glowing eyes that peered at the spectacle alongside her. 

 

"I'm sure. If you are not, read his head!" she answered aloud, before slamming an 'oops' hand over her mouth. 

 

"Its complicated" she explained to Dr. Tomorrow. 

 

"Well, action stations then, I guess. Although it looks pretty powerful. Looks like I'll be burnt to a cinder just looking at her. Say, I don't suppose you have a pair of sunglasses?" she asked the good Doctor.