FireFlies & Broken lights

Fire fly effect

                                __Time skip__
                        —Roughly 10 years later—

The docks, where all the blimps with shipments of various goods are brought in and taken city to city. One certain blimp though, was carrying a special shipment for the Lanes. The Man assigned to checking the current shipment scanned the people and items on board. His suspicion of the valuables on board was cut short, as a tall, dark, stoic woman placed a small draw-string bag onto his clipboard. "From your friend across the river." He looked down at the bag, the clinking noise inside revealing it was full of coins, then slowly looked back up at her. She smirked down at him then turned away, then the man took the coins and stamped the verification paper to let the blimp leave.

In the large city pipes nearby, faint mechanical whirring could be heard, the sound getting closer and closer to the end of the pipes, closer and closer to the dock.

Sevika, the one who'd bribed the inspector, sat down confidently, reaching for her lighter and cigar. Her attention was promptly snagged by the green flashes and zipping noises now surrounding the airship. "AH SHIT THE FIRELIGHTS-" One of the crew members shouted, everyone jumped up ready to fight. Though faster than they could react, the firelights zipped between the crew members on their hoverboareds, throwing bombs that encapsulated anything it exploded on in orangy crystals. Once everyone was confined into rocky prisons, each of the firelights got off their boards and slipped them onto their backs. One of them, seemingly the ringleader, threw his hand off to the side, a pocket watch swinging from his wrist and looping around to land perfectly in his hand, he clicked the top of it. "We have 5 minutes till theyre outa there." The whole ship rocked slightly, a faint crashing sound coming from the front of the ship made the leader look back towards it, he nodded then headed for the barrels that were stacked up everywhere. He used the end of a staff he carried to open the top of one of the barrels.

It was full of a translucent purple liquid. "You ever seen this much shimmer before?" One of the firelights said looking into the barrel, then to the ones surrounding them. "They're expanding...check for more below, burn it all!" His companions separated, two going down into the large storage area under the main area, others opening more barrels. The previous crew watched with bitter expressions, having been bested before even knowing what was happening. Several barrels had been knocked over, the contents poured onto the floor of the ship. There was another crash from the cockpit of the ship, then a moment later, the door swung open and crashed into the wall. Smoke poured out of the opening and out bolted, another firelight, they stopped a few feet from the door and did a dramatic thumbs up at the ringleader. He nodded again and continued to crack open barrels and pour them out. As the smoke cleared from the cockpit, there were two people tied up and propped against the wall, their faces and clothes covered in paint and colorful markings.

The rocks holding the crew hostage began to crack and shatter under their struggles and the ringleader's pocket watch started ticking, the 5 minutes were up. He lit up a flare and threw it to the ground, setting the puddles of shimmer flooding the floors ablaze. "Times up we gotta go!" He grabbed his hoverboard and looked around to the others as they were following suit. They collectively hopped onto their boards and zipped off the side of the ship and out of sight. The people left on the ship, now surrounded by fire, were clawing their ways out of their stone confinements. One by one they broke through and scrambled off the burning ship. Sevika struggled to get free due to her positioning, though only after a few seconds of struggle a mechanical arm slammed through the rocks holding her, grabbed her by the collar, and ripped her free and to her feet. She steadied herself then looked to the person who'd helped her. "You! Where were you!?" Her anger was met with a cold, irritated look. "Being more useful than you." Sneered the accomplice. "Being more useful as in letting everything go to shit?!" The accomplice didn't respond, but lifted a body up that she had dragged behind her, the metal of her arm creaking slightly, it was one of a firelight, completely limp. She threw it off the side of the ship and walked away to the docking station. Sevika scowled and followed her.