The Heist

It was their third raid. Their third bottle-rocket-injection-of-epinephrine rollercoaster ride.

A few days before Lithuania’s visit to nilbmah, she found a trade road that led to Green City that was just a kilometer from the hollow. More importantly, the road was frequented by Assmachestani hovercraft. Felix had the idea of raiding the hovercraft and everyone agreed to help out.

As the craft approached the jump spot, winfry would write out the machine’s power and once it stopped, isa would blind the troop with a flash of invasive light during which time Marco and Felix would barrage the vehicle with rifle fire. The Starr sisters would then scour the hovercraft for anything informative, while the rest of the crew watched to send out warning when Assmachistani reinforcements approached, which was unusually fast. Then they would all book it back to the hollow.

So far the raids were only marginally effective. They had samples of the basic Assmachestani technology carried by infantry (which extremely strange), a low-level-clearance blueprint of the Assmachestani presence in Green City and eight Assmachestani infantry uniforms, but still no clue to what Assmachestan was doing in LusciousLocks. They needed more information. They needed a prisoner.

However after the second raid, security along the trade road high jumped to a new level. They needed a new plan. They were going to divine an Assmachestani soldier out or at least try.

The hollow seemed to push the Starr sisters’ magic to the surface so they had been practicing or at least Latvia and Lithuania; Estonia feigned disinterest but really she was a little afraid to give it her all. winfry and isa also tried to amplify the sisters power like Timoteo had done. The librem told winfry what explicitly he should do to Latvia, but at least isa had mild success. The day before Lithuania visited nilbmah, they managed to teleport their stick mannequin across the hollow. They were almost ready. But after seeing the devastation of nilbmah, Lithuania thought they were ready.

“Assmachestan is launching their attack right now. We need answers. We have to act now. Today!” Firmer even than ever, Lithuania shoved the group toward her opinion.

“I’m not, well, I’m not sure. We were very close to the mannequin yesterday; I’m sure it will be harder with distance. We need more practice,” was winfry’s timid objection.

“We don’t have time to practice. The people across Coralende are dying as we speak. I saw it. We have to find out what they are doing now. We can do it.”

So swayed by Lithuania, two hours later they set their plan into action. The sisters and isa hid by the side of the road and Marco, Felix and winfry watched from a group of trees behind them where they could give them cover fire if needed and where they could knock out and drag off the infantry that the ladies sent them. Waiting was like the Christmas Eve when you were six right after watching your first horror movie.

And then the hovercraft slid down the road. They ladies were ready. With the craft 100 meters ahead, isa grasped the quilaire around her neck like a rosary and within seconds the sisters glistened pale blue. Holding hands, the sisters focused on the driver, just like the stick mannequin in the hollow, and sent out their magic to swallow him, just like they had done in the hollow.

It didn’t work. The hovercraft was heading right for them. The Assmachestani troops knew where they were. They were going to be run over.

But no sooner had the craft swerved off the path than Marco and Felix opened fire and winfry started scribbling. Craft on fire. As it turned to the left to avoid gunshots, it burst into flames and crashed into a tree. The sisters and isa dashed back towards Marco, Felix and winfry and as they did, from out of the smoke of the hovercraft, the mist lady arose.