With the tension broken the crowd began to disperse. "Weeble," Tess said.

"Yes boss-lady?"

"Let's not wait an hour. Leon can issue him his house later, but I just have a gut feeling we're going to need him sooner rather than later. Once he gets inside let's get the Vanguard together in the courtyard. Hey Leon."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Do you think we should bring any of the people off the walls for this conversation?"

He considered. "Maybe after we know what the plan is. Once we do, I'll give the messages to the foremen and they can spread the word."

She nodded and climbed down from the wall.

Two hours later a skeleton crew was manning the walls, the rest were sitting in rows of chairs in the courtyard facing the stage. Weeble's plan was a good one, although Tess's eyes constantly flitted to the walls that now felt severely under-manned. Madison assured her that the turrets could take care of any of the bats, and the rest of the creatures would be handled in the Spectacle, as Weeble had begun calling it. Ben was in the tower with Madison and Tess, the rest of the Vanguard spread out on the walls.

"Is that popcorn I smell?" Tess squinted down to the courtyard.

"Yep!" Madison replied. "Dad had boxes of the stuff in the basement. He's half-hoarder, half-prepper. I figured it'd be a good use."

"He couldn't have been happy about that."

"Nah, he was fine. He just shrugged and said 'Someone's got ta eat it.'" She mimicked his voice, causing Tess to laugh.

"So, do you think this is going to work?" Tess couldn't hide her nervousness.

Madison didn't even look up from the tablet. "I think so. It's a good plan and we need to stress-test the Vanguard anyway." Tess wished she felt as confident and nonchalant as the girl sounded. "Oh! It looks like it's beginning!" Madison rang a bell in the tower, the peal causing many to jump. Tess saw every eye flit to the walls with nervous concern. She knew they were happy to be off the wall, but she also knew that every one of them wished they were there to defend Safehold.

"I'll protect you all, I promise. Take your rest, it's deserved," she whispered.

"What's that?" Madison asked.

"Nothing. Ben, you're up."

Ben nodded and all nervousness faded away from him. Suddenly Announcer was in the tower with them. A massive screen appeared on the stage, eliciting gasps from the crowd. Many even jumped back from their seats. They'd been briefed on the plan, but even so it took many by surprise. Announcer's voice boomed through the courtyard and suddenly everyone was engaged, rapt attention being paid to the screen.

"Welcome, one and all, to Apocalypse TV!" Tess hated that name, but Weeble and Ben had giggled themselves silly over it so she didn't fight it. The crowd below seemed to love it too, as cheers met her ears. "My brave Safeholdians, you don't know me yet so let me introduce myself. I am Announcer and I will be your host for tonight's festivities! You have all worked hard to defend these walls and your community, and for that you deserve rest and entertainment! Drink'em if you got'em, smoke'em if you got'em - but save some for me if you please." More chuckles from below. "But most of all, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! Normally there would be a fee for this," he cast Tess a dark look, "but your benefactors have convinced me to graciously offer my services free of charge! For tonight's event, let's have a look at the challengers!"

The screen below split into three screens and invisible cameras swept across the open field to where the monsters waited, slavering and moving in place. He mumbled to Tess. "This is about as far as I can go. It's a strain." Tess saw his eyes closed tight and sweat beading on his forehead.

"You got this. It'll be good to push your skill."

"Easy for you to say, you're not running three separate cameras across a distance this big. Anyway."

His voice boomed from the projections as the cameras panned across the three sides. "Ooh, we have some baddies here! Not those little punk-ass Energizer Bunny wannabes." The crowd laughed. "No, I'm talking about these guys!" All three cameras swept into the faces of the packs of Shadow Hounds. They looked like distorted wolves, as big as dire wolves but with pitch-black fur and glowing eyes. They were slavering, growling, and yipping. The crowd booed them loudly.

"And what about these assholes? What the fuck even are they?" The cameras swept over the small, humanoid creatures that were covered in moss and thorny vines. They could have been mistaken as children if not for the fact that they were covered in sickly vines that writhed constantly, the gaps between them showing pallid, thorny skin. Their limbs whipped in sharp cracks. The crowd laughed again, but quieter and with nervous energy this time. These were new and not like anything they'd had to face before.

"And let's not forget about the bats! Actually, let's forget them. Fuck those little flying rats." The crowd laughed again, their energy returned.

"Okay, we've seen the challengers, now let's check out our champions!" The cameras swept backwards, the creatures fading in the distance. The angle shifted as they turned and all three cameras switched to show Cass, standing alone with his batons in each hand. Tess spotted the nervousness in his stance but doubted anyone else would. He looked every part the lone warrior in that moment.

"This here is Cass… uh, what's his last name? Torres? Okay! Cass Torres! Some people are quick, some are fast - yet all of them would come in last! He's the Boy Wonder, the Baby Face That Sets the Pace - he's fast as fuck, boi!" The crowd cheered wildly and Cass's face turned red at the sound.

"Next we have… well, I don't know these two, but they're obviously sisters. What are their names? Really? Okay, I'm not going to try pronounce that right now. No they're not easy! Shut up, I'm announcing! They're the Something sisters! And they're twins! I mean, obviously. They… okay, I don't know what they can do, but they're fine as hell and we're going to find out!" Their faces turned sour at that last part and Tess did not envy him the next time they all met. "And next to these sisters are… this guy! He's a guy with a sword! He cuts things I guess! Yay for him!" The crowd was half cheering, half laughing.

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"And finally!" The camera swung to the Toys, looking like anime characters. They knew how to pose and how to work a crowd, and they were living every inch of their experience. "They're The Toys and they suck. Moving on!" The camera moved away almost fast enough for them to miss Weeble throwing his hands in the air in indignation.

"It looks like things are about to start, the creatures are crossing the line now and - WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"

An often-speculated, but never-confirmed, theory was that The Toys could communicate through their masks. Weeble hated that assumption. It was true, he just didn't like people knowing it. The other assumption was that they were a team that thrived off of pure chaos - disorder and randomness being their milieu. Weeble loved this assumption because it was so far from the truth. He began issuing orders that appeared as text messages on their HUDs.

WEEBLE: Bey, you're support. The rabbits seem fast so keep them off us. Keep an eye on the skies, those bats don't look dangerous but I don't want them getting close. Slinky, take out those vine things but don't get too close. We don't know what they can do but they look like they can be sliced apart. Go for the limbs first - they look like whips. Rock'Em, you're with me. Power me up when I need it. It looks like I'm going to be pretty useless in this fight so you'll have to keep powering me up.

BEYBLADE: Got it. My first priority will be the bats, though, so don't count on me for ground support. I'll provide it, but don't rely on it.

WEEBLE: Got it. Good strategy.

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: I'll go for the hounds. It's a pack so we risk getting overwhelmed. Are you sure you don't want Slinky with us?

WEEBLE: Good point. Slinky?

SLINKY: I love a good slice and dice as much as the next gal, but those vine things look like they have a body. How about Bey shoots those through and I handle the rabbits? They're springy, but I'm springier.

BEYBLADE: They appear to be slow moving. I agree with Slinky.

WEEBLE: Okay, good strategy - we'll go with that.

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Formation?

WEEBLE: Loose line for now. Spread out enough not to get surrounded, but not so much that we get separated. If we're getting overwhelmed we'll go to triangle formation with Bey in the center. Everyone good?

BEYBLADE: Got it.

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Got it.

SLINKY: Got it.

WEEBLE: Good. Looks like they're coming. There's no obvious weak points so let's just head for the middle. Don't get too far from the wall, we want the option to climb up fast if things go sideways. If we retreat, Rock'Em will throw Bey over, and power me up. Slinky will climb, and we'll fight our way back to the door.

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Hey boss?

WEEBLE: What?

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Should we just follow her?

A small picture-in-picture box showed in all of their views, showing them what Rock'Em was focusing on.

WEEBLE: What the shit?

The center screen pulled away from the Toys to focus on a small pink and brown tank wearing a tutu that was throwing up clods of snow and dirt in its wake. The town had been told about Lady Tutu and the general consensus had been 'stay away.' For her part, Lady Tutu had been content to stomp Safehold for the first few days, snorting challenges at anyone that came her way. When no one accepted her challenge she got bored and ate a door. With a full stomach she had explored the neighborhood, eventually finding herself on the wall. She leaned over to see if there was anything good on the other side. If anyone heard her thump to the ground they'd felt it was not worth reporting. She'd found a nice, comfortable sleeping hole and jumped into it, gnashing angrily at the bloodwork magic that carved lacerations across her mottled body. Once the pit had expended all of its magic and Lady Tutu had established dominance over it, she promptly fell into a blissful sleep.

Tonight something had woken her up. The loud voice made her angry and she half-climbed, half-chewed her way up the concrete basement wall, snorting a challenge at the offending noise. In the direction of the noise she saw people, a concept she was just beginning to understand. These weren't the bad ones that tried to take over her domain, and she didn't have a domain anymore anyway so the only fights she wanted were for fun. She bounced in circles, trying to find something to vent her anger on. If nothing else showed its face then she'd just have to settle for the people.

Her brain registered something she'd seen on her last few turns and she hopped in place to turn back to see what it was. At the edge of her vision she saw a lot of angry somethings and a whole lot of teeth. More teeth than she'd ever seen.

Lady Tutu could not have been happier.

The flood of creatures rushed forward as one, the rabbits pulling ahead, the hounds running in V-formations, and the Briar Men falling behind on vine-like legs that whipped forward, pulling their bodies behind them. They were halfway across the distance in moments. Twilight hit at the same time as Lady Tutu.

Lady Tutu had no concept of skills or magic, and wouldn't have had patience for them if she had. The System did, though, and skills began firing off at an unprecedented rate. Unstoppable Frenzy sent her into a state of escalating rage during combat, with each successful attack increasing her movement and attack speeds by 5% for 10 seconds. It stacked up to five times, and when fully stacked it allowed her to bypass up to 10% of her opponent's defenses.

Berserker Bounce sent her in unpredictable directions, ricocheting off of walls, objects, and even enemies. Every time she made contact with something she had a 20% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.

Teeth of the Tornado made her a whirlwind of teeth and claws, attacking all enemies within range for 10 seconds. Each strike did continual damage that couldn't be healed until after the fight was over. The attacks knocked the targets back by sheer force or forced them onto the ground.

Her final skill, Bloodlust Regeneration, would have terrified anyone who knew she had it. For every enemy she killed in combat she would regenerate 10% of her maximum health over the next 5 seconds. Killing multiple enemies within that 5 seconds stacked the effects.

In short, Lady Tutu was a rage-filled, rapid-healing maniac who had just been woken up from a very peaceful nap. The only thing she could have wanted more than another door in that moment was something to take her rage out on. Fortunately for her, The System provides.

The center screen followed the pink and gray torpedo as it plowed into the wave of creatures, pinballing in directions that seemed too random to be random. The creatures were as numerous as a field of wheat, and Lady Tutu was the thresher.

ROCK'EM SOCK'EM: Should we follow her?

BEYBLADE: She's kinda doing our job for us.

WEEBLE: Damn it! She's stealing our spotlight! This isn't about winning, it's about putting on a show!

SLINKY: We could go over there. *she pointed* Looks like she's not moving that direction.

WEEBLE: No, that asshole in the tower isn't going to give us any camera time if we're the cleanup crew. Let's run over to where Cass is. He's alone so may need help, and at least we can share his camera.

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