Something was amiss in Anchorsway, and a short red panda was curious to know exactly what. She walked along the nearly empty cobbled streets of the normally busy city, wearing a deep green t-shirt underneath an open denim jacket, a set of sturdy khaki shorts that struggled to contain her wide hips, and a pair of sneakers that squeaked across the cobbled ground. She held her PET up in front of her, which displayed the town meet currently in progress. The occasional passerby she would come across would more often than not be watching the exact same thing. The whole town had been abuzz with gossip and news, between travel to locksmouth being restricted and news of swimmers outside of the dome finding something odd, and odd enough to be on the docket for the town meet at that. 
Eris Redwind had a very strange feeling pulling at the back of her mind as she walked, somewhat nervously running a hand through her short messy teal-dyed hair. Granted this wasn't exactly new, not entirely. She had been one of the first in line for Psyco potential testing with the Minds Eye Society, based out of an upscale garage turned into a workshop, and now a laboratory. They were pleasantly organized for such a scattered group, even if the lack of dedicated facilities left something to be desired. Even if the awakening of her latent psyonic powers had gotten her taken off the Batball team for fear of an unfair advantage, she didn’t regret the decision for even a moment. This specific pulling she felt from across the city was strong. It felt deeply of sorrow and pain and anger, but none of her fellow Psycos could sense it, strangely enough.
Shortly after it started, so did the scattered rumors of exactly what was found outside they varied wildly depending on who you asked, so nobody was quite sure what was truth or fact around the matter anymore. And on top of that, the police were very tight lipped when questioned about it. Of course, these rumors were quickly overtaken by the news that Locksmouth was once again the center of some big trouble. But the pull was still there. 
"--And we would like to thank all of our brave officers for keeping vigilant in these trying times, you do us all very proud." The voice from her PET was unmistakable, Arbitrator Redwind, her father. The red panda was definitely taller than her, and far more broad and muscular than his toned daughter. Today though, Eris noted he looked like a mess.
"Can't believe you showed up to the Town Meet looking like that, dad." Eris muttered to herself, stopping to sit down on a bench in front of a single-story convenience store, its wide glass display window plastered all over in neon and holographic signs. She took a moment to look around, and found that even the roads between the taller businesses and  towering office buildings had noticeably fewer people today. She leaned back and stared up at the sky, or rather the ceiling of the dome, the flickering flowing reflections of light refracting from the waves high above the surface washing over the city streets.
"The final matter on todays docket is the matter of a young woman found outside of the dome walls. Upon being brought in for examination medical staff and myself were accosted by outbursts of water, for now she is under monitoring while we attempt to reestablish proper contact with Locksmouth and Echelon herself as we suspect Inkling involvement--"
Fear. Fear and panic. 
Something in the air changed suddenly, and Eris stood up, her fight or flight response going into overdrive. Something had changed. Someone needed help.

-
--
-

Bright fluorescent lights illuminated a soaking wet hospital room, equipped with a counter and sink opposite from the wall where a wheeled bed was pushed against. A holographic television display was playing the broadcast from the town meet at the nurses station a short ways down the hall. Two officers sat in front of the open door to the patients room in a hallway that showed similar signs of water damage. The room was completely empty save for her, a black cat in a less than concealing hospital gown with long neat black hair. lay in the wheeled bed, her face framed by a set of perfectly cut bangs. For all intents and purposes she was fast asleep, though something more bubbled beneath the surface. Ready to protect her host at all costs. Wave wouldn't allow Rose to come to harm on her watch. Not again.
"--Contact with Locksmouth and Echelon herself as we suspect inkling involvement--"
A jolt of energy was forced into the young woman. A change of plans. Rose opened her eyes, startled. "Hush, quietly Rose. Don't let them know you're awake. We have to get out of here." She heard.
Rose let out a silent breath, her face set in a resigned grimace as she slowly and quietly sat up, careful not to disturb the bedding beneath her. She glanced over to a polished reflective medical tray, and Wave stared back, concern obvious in her expression. The blue inkling shaded with white as though she was a foamy wave held a finger up to her lips, almost a perfect mirror of Rose herself, save for the obvious material difference. Rose glanced at the open door and the two officers sitting outside, paying no attention to the girl they thought to be comatose as they played on their PETs, and then to the far wall opposite to it. 
Bingo, a large sliding window that looked like one could open it. The tall lanky cat girl crept out of the bed and slowly padded her way across the damp floor. "Robots working with inklings is bad news, who even knows where we are now?" Rose heard, Wave looked back from the windows reflection. It looked like they weren't too far off the ground, at least two stories. She carefully reached forward and gripped the window from the side and prepared to slide it open, but it stuck. "Locked, damn. we don't have time for this."
"But we also can't get caught." Rose thought to herself, reaching towards the center of the frame towards the little latch. She flipped it, and the annoying metal mechanism let out an unbearably annoying screech of un-oiled metal and a loud clack as it unlocked the window. Reflected off the glass she could see both officers looking into the room, directly at her. She lifted up her arm behind her and swung it hard to the side, feeling the water in the pipes from the sink and pulling.
Both officers stood up and took a step into the room, reaching for neurods at their belts. "Wait, stop! You can't lea--" The officer that spoke didn't have time to finish as the faucet blew open with a loud bang, startling him and his partner, water flowing into the room. With another motion the officers were knocked off their feet by a small whip of water which quickly swooped back over to Rose, slamming hard into the window, breaking it. 
Rose lept out, and took a large wave of water with her, the officers shouting unintelligibly into their PETs. The water coalesced beneath her feet as she hit the ground, cushioning the hard impact, and Rose took off, water trailing and splashing behind her as she made her way through what looked like a parking lot, lined with cars that had no wheels. Sirens began to blare in the distance, quickly making their way towards her. 
Rose was absolutely mystified as to why her pursuers would put her in a place with so much water everywhere, it was flowing under open grates, gratuitous amounts of fountains, glass pipes winding beneath the ground and making their way through and between buildings. They had to know who they had captured, right? 
A police patterned hovercar flew by her and drifted to a stop in the middle of the street ahead of her. Rose didn't pay attention to whatever its drivers were yelling through their speakers, she just knew it was in the way. She inked up, taking on the color of a crashing wave as she pulled the water from beneath the grates lining the streets and swept it into the vehicle in an attempt to short out whatever electronics powered it. The flow of water continued and Rose rode the wave, as it crashed over the vehicle making her way faster through the empty streets. The car did not follow. 
"Why are they keeping up this charade? Why did they keep me in a place with  so little security? Did those dumb buckets of bolts want me to escape?" Rose muttered to herself, speeding up a major roadway. It was strange how they seemed to have built a whole city. And for what? Was this some sort of combat test? It would certainly explain why they gave her so much easy access to water. It didn't explain why they made the effort to disguise themselves as people, nor the minimal containment procedures.
More sirens came, from every direction, they didn't seem to limit themselves to the road either as several hovered above her. They were shouting so much, it was hard just to think; she just had to keep moving. The buildings flying by gradually grew taller, though she could see plenty towering above even these in the distance. Every surface was covered in a refraction of light not unlike the bottom of a swimming pool. A water theme to trap a water controller. Several more police vehicles showed up attempting to keep pace above the inked girl, and as the chase approached a taller building she saw an opportunity.
Suddenly Rose drew to a brief stop all of her pursuers speeding ahead and then slowing down, drifting into turns to reverse direction. But Rose didn't stop, and the wave beneath her condensed, drawing all its energy in tightly, and then releasing it all upwards like a geyser, springing Rose ahead on top of one of the cars and the surge of water following close behind, she leaped from vehicle to vehicle to gain more height, dragging the water behind her through each one to short it out. One by one they fell, several broke off from formation and wisely kept their distance as she leapt up onto a nearby rooftop, bounding over to the next building. 
She stood and scanned the area, the wide city spread out before her, the streets empty, save for more police vehicles circling the building at a distance. Rose's breath hitched as she looked up, noticing the curvature of the domes forcefields far above and a far deeper blue than the sky was ever meant to have. "Where the hell have we ended up, Wave? Are we underwater?"
"I don't know, I don't remember anything after...the boat." Wave was clearly just as confused and scared as Rose as she spoke. "I woke up in that hospital room before I woke you, I kept them from doing anything after that. I wanted to give you more time to rest but then that broadcast...We have to leave, as soon as possible."
Rose ripped off the tattered soaking hospital gown that still somehow covered her, and dove off the building. 
The chase resumed once more.

-
--
-

Eris ran faster than she’d ever run before, and considering how often she played a sport almost centered around running, it was quite the feat. The tug on her mind was moving and shifting, whatever was causing it was on the move. She had a sinking feeling that something was dreadfully wrong. Fear and distress filled the air almost tangibly now. nobody she had been able to call on her PET was picking up, and a call went out to stay indoors. Something had to be done, and Eris wasn’t the type to sit around and do nothing while people needed help!
As a result, Eris of course ignored the order to hide indoors. She even ignored the frantic calls from her father as she ran towards wherever it was her powers were pulling her. This was important; she knew this was what she had to do- it was why she had jumped at the chance to get tested right away. The stories out of Locksmouth and Harbington of heroes saving the day spurred her on as she ducked through alleys and side streets she picked up a sturdy length of pipe leaned against a wall with other scrap metal. It was no substitute for her old reliable bat but it would have to do, because trouble was afoot. 
Much to her father’s frustration Eris was widely considered a troublemaker, but she thought of herself as more of a problem solver. Where others were afraid to act, she would throw herself forwards into the fray willingly. This was evident now more than ever as she turned onto a street soaked with water, several officers shouting into their PETs, helping each other out of upturned and deactivated cars. She afforded herself a brief moment to be thankful that nobody was hurt; due to how safe cars these days were, everyone just seemed to be soaked through. She ran by and telekinetically grabbed several neurods out of several officers' holsters, though still not loosening her grip on the pipe as she went, ignoring their confused shouts. They were obviously too worn out or shaken up to give chase to her. 
Eris followed the sounds of sirens through empty streets, her sneakers squeaking against the smooth cobbled ground as they splashed in the puddles draining themselves back into the grates that lined the streets. Whatever- or whoever was on the run made things very wet very fast, much more than was normal even for Anchorsway. Eris knew all about Khurl and her attempt to muck things up here, everyone knew. What were the odds that two water based disasters would hit the underwater city?
Apparently they were pretty good, as Eris caught a glimpse of a wave spilling out from beyond another turn, carrying with it another set of cruisers. She needed to put a stop to this sooner rather than later, there was no time for apprehension. Eris had always let the fear come after the problem had been dealt with, but this was something new and far more dangerous than before. 
She turned the corner and there she was: an inkling, the color of the raging sea. And it looked like they had the expression to match. “Finally someone actually shows their own face around here. that’s an odd form for a bucket of bolts to take.”
Eris ignored the quip. the air was heavy with fear and anger, lashing out around the inkling like a storm, distorting the air around her as it crackled with red energy. A strong gale blew through the air, loud and strong, Eris could feel it on her skin, on her soul, but there was no physical force behind it. There was no way she’d be able to reach out with her powers to calm the raging storm; she’d have to grab hold of the source. 
The red panda leaped forward, jumping over a whip of water that swept across the ground, easily telegraphed by a wave of the inklings arms. What wasn’t telegraphed so obviously was the way it came back as she landed, causing her to fall flat on her back. The pipe fell from her grip and her acquired neurods fell to the ground as her telekinesis was interrupted. Eris ignored the water dripping down her clothes and took off her jacket. 
“That’s a neat trick, what kind of tech is that? Magnets and force fields or something?” The inkling mocked as she waited for Eris to stand back up. 
“No tech here, I’m all flesh and blood, and you need to Calm Down.” Eris drew on her powers to calm the girl before her, but the words were lost in the storm. Something was dreadfully wrong. 
“Calm down? Calm down?! How can I calm down when I don’t know where you filthy junkers have taken me?!” The air grew heavier, Eris found it to be slightly more difficult to breathe as the howling winds anger welled up around her. Being an exceptionally sensitive empath was not very fun right about now. 
“You’re in the city of Anchorsway, we found you outside the dome.” Eris took long slow strides as she struggled against the shifting waters beneath her and the invisible storm surrounding the pair. “You need to chill out before you really hurt someone! Nobody here wants to hurt you! I don’t even know who you are!”
The inked girl stood to her full height, her skinny inked frame held tensely, and Eris continued moving forward. “My name is Rose; with my Inkling Wave we are water itself, and we will not allow you to surrender us to Echelon or Osoth.” The girl spoke with loud authority as the water plashed and raged and the water level began to rise. 
Eris pushed onwards regardless as it swept up to her knees.. “I just need you to Calm Down, please! I don’t want any trouble! Osoth isn’t even around anymore, Echelon defeated her!”
“Osoth could never be defeated! You will allow us to LEAVE!” Rose shouted over the howling winds and crashing waters. Eris pulled out her PET and issued a voice command that she couldn’t even hear come from her own mouth over the din of the elements. A video was pulled up anyway. As Eris finally trudged up to the inkling in the storm of two fronts she held it up in front of her, using her telekinesis to firmly plant herself on the floor even as the water continued to rise, and keep her PET from flying out of her hands. 
The broadcast of Osoths defeat played, caught on film by Locksmouths very own Milly Evans. the storm calmed ever so slightly, still fueled by confusion and anger, but Eris had to win. She wouldn’t let this girl who was clearly scared and confused suffer for any longer. “There is no more Osoth! And there are no robots here in Anchorsway! You’re safe!” Eris reached out to the inkling who stood in the angry waters with her up to her waist, and drew her in close. She pulled the taller inked cat down to her level and raised a gentle hand to her cheek. “Please… Calm Down.”
In the eye of the storm, so close to the source, there was no way for the winds to stop her words or block her powers. As the winds subsided the water level also began to lower. Eris, out of breath, sat down, pulling Rose down with her. The ink rolled off the black cat as she looked up at Eris; no more anger resided within her. 
All Eris saw was a girl who was afraid and alone and so very hopelessly confused. “You’re safe, I’m here for you, I’ll keep you safe.” She muttered. 
“Y-you’re bleeding.” Rose gasped out, tears gathering at the corners of her light blue eyes. She reached up to touch a large cut on Eris’s arm. “You really aren’t a robot. F-flesh and blood...”
Eris hugged Rose even tighter to assuage the regret she vividly felt from the girl. “Don’t you worry about that, I’ve seen my fair share of scrapes.” She smiled softly down at the cat and placed a hand on her head. Now I need you to do me a favor Rose, and Sleep.” 
Rose felt her eyes getting immeasurably heavy, and yawned, feeling safer than she had in a long long time as she drifted off to sleep at the behest of Eris’s powers.
Eris let out a deep breath and picked up the slumbering cat, hoisting her up in a bridal carry. It only took a few steps for Eris to hear the pounding of more feet on the wet ground, and shortly the pair was surrounded, at a safe distance, by almost a dozen police officers, neurods at the ready. “Eris, I need you to put the girl down and back away please, for your own safety.” The one woman spoke was a well known figure to anyone in Anchorsway, but especially Eris. Police Chief Alex Morgan, a catfish standing with her hands on her hips, one hand very close to the neurod at her belt. 
“No, she needs help.” Eris said, widening her stance slightly. She wasn’t going to let the police lay a single hand on Rose. Not after she just promised her safety. 
Morgan stepped forward. “And we can give her that help, but she’s caused a lot of trouble. You need to hand her over to us.” Taking Morgans lead, the rest of the officers began to close in.
“Stop, all of you! For goodness sake!” Came a shout from behind the chief, and everyone froze. She felt a hand on her shoulder. “Eris, honey, is this really that important?” Arbitrator Toby Redwind, her father, asked. The man was even more haggard than he was during the town meet broadcast, and gasping for breath at that, as if he ran all the way here himself. Eris thought that was likely, even. Regardless of the fact that he did have his own car. 
She gave a firm nod. “I think this is something only I can handle. A uhhh...psychic thing.”
Chief Morgan sputtered indignantly “John- Arbitrator Redwind you can’t seriously be--”
“Are you sure? We can’t have you running around with someone that dangerous, do you really have things in hand here?” He asked, interrupting the fuming catfish, now crossing her arms with a huff. 
Eris was surprised. Normally her dad was more than a little exasperated with her ‘heroism’ thing, but now he was trusting her with something like this? After a moment, her mind made up, she spoke determinedly. “I have to, I promised her that she’d be safe. I’ll keep her from causing any more trouble, dad.” 
The man nodded at his daughter, resolute, a small smile on his face. “Chief, I’ll handle things from here. You get your boys and girls some rest and dried off. If anything goes wrong I’ll take you out for dinner again.”
“Bu- That’s!” The catfish blushed and stomped her feet indignantly. “This is serious John, a date isn’t gonna make this go away! This isn’t another schoolyard fight, people could have gotten seriously hurt or killed today!”
“And I’ll take full responsibility if anything does go wrong, Alex. And you young lady--” Arbitrator Redwind pointedly looked at his daughter, who was in the process of trying to sneak away. “We are going to talk about this when you get home.”
“Okaydad, loveyoubye!” Eris broke off in a sprint towards the direction of the Minds Eye Society garage laboratory, the gathered officers parting so as not to get in the way of the girl and her package. The large group dispersed, smiling with knowing looks at the bickering police chief and arbitrator.
 Doctor Sutton back at the lab was going to need to help with what came next, Eris thought, and as she looked down at the sleeping cat girl in her arms Eris realized she was probably going to collapse the first chance she gave herself. Her dad was right that one day she was going to get in way over her head... but Eris was going to help Rose however she could. 
After all, Helping people is what a hero does.