Quoted By:
<span class="mu-r">“You look like you’ve got this under control.”</span> Ben signed.
<span class="mu-s">“Somehow, yeah.”</span> you signed back. <span class="mu-s">“I wouldn’t mind a bit of backup.”</span>
<span class="mu-b">“Uh…are they playing charades, or something…?”</span> Hi-Vo asked, leaning over to whisper at the gargoyle.
<span class="mu-i">“It is American Sign Language. They are attempting to have a private conversation.”</span> Gorgolla explained.
Both you and Ben gave the alien gargoyle a surprised look.
<span class="mu-s">“You sign?”</span> you asked in ASL.
<span class="mu-i">“I am fluent, yes.”</span> he signed back.
<span class="mu-s">“Wow, that was pretty good!”</span> you said, genuinely impressed by the fluid movement of his stone fingers.
Ben shook his head.
<span class="mu-r">“Okay, you’re gonna have to catch me up here.”</span>
You intended to do just that, but before you got a chance, a giant star-shaped hole opened above the unfinished building!
You and everyone else looked up to see what it was. It looked like some sort of portal, with increasingly smaller stars layered throughout its depths, seemingly to infinity. Sort of like a visual feedback loop.
Your eyes widened even further when multiple dropships emerged from the portal, quickly moving to surround the area and cut off your escape routes.
<span class="mu-r">“Friends of yours?”</span> Ben asked, glancing between the two monsters and the approaching ships.
Hi-Vo just shrugged, and Gorgolla stared around warily.
That wasn’t very reassuring.
You squinted at one of the ships that was swinging around to come up beside you, and you thought you could make out an emblem of a woman with a gentle smile swaddling a globe in white cloth.
The door on that particular ship slid open a moment later, and a boy wearing yellow goggles and white and blue spandex flew out of it. His mask left the lower half of his face exposed, and you could see that his jaw was set in a determined grimace.
<span class="mu-b">“Sorry about this.”</span> he said, pointing a hand towards you.
And then your body <span class="mu-i">lifted</span> off of the ground! It was as if you’d suddenly become weightless, or something!
<span class="mu-s">“Whoa!”</span>
Your arms flailed, and you struggled to find something to grab onto. Your stomach was turning, and you could feel a slight pressure building in your ears. If only you had your grappling hook on-hand…!
Thankfully, Ben wasted no time in tethering you to him with a webline. That at least kept from floating into the sky. That was, until, an arrow came sailing past, severing the connection.
You both traced its trajectory back to another drop-ship, this one housing a girl with long black hair tied back into a ponytail. She wore purple and black spandex, with an assortment of straps and pouches wrapping across her chest, right leg and waist. But the one part of her wardrobe that was drawing your immediate attention were the bow and arrow she had aimed in your direction.
(Cont.)
