Who: Stefan Salvatore and Bubbles When: During the Star Wars Storm Trooper May the Fourth Plot Where: Disneyland What: Storm Troopers Rating/Warnings: Low/None (Storm Trooper Violence) Status: Complete
Bubbles was excited. She was going to Disneyland. She was more than glad that Stefan had suggested it. She had finals to study for, but she wanted to go. She was practically bouncing in place as they waited for the park to open. It was early, but she didn't mind. She was pretty good at waking up once it happened. She took hold of Stefan's hand, smiling up at him. "DISNEYLAND!"
Of course, the moment that it opened, people in Stormtrooper costumes filed out and Bubbles looked up at Stefan curiously. Was there some movie thing going on? She was sure it wasn't a big deal until they started firing, which was definitely not what was supposed to be happening. She felt a blaster shot whiz past her and her excitement vanished, filled with both concern and fear. "What's happening?"
Stefan was excited to bring Bubbles along to Disneyland. He’d worked there for enough months that he knew the ins and outs of the place, and he could find the best places to spend time. He was also pretty excited to see how things had changed recently--with all the Star Wars things they were doing.
Which was why when the Storm Troopers came out, Stefan was pleased. This must be a new thing, right? But people around were confused, not excited. His happiness melted into concern, and then a little panic when the white-armor-clad soldiers started to fire on the crowd.
“Get down!” He called out, then put himself between the Storm Trooper and Bubbles, just in time to get a blaster shot to his back. The shot singed his shirt, charred his flesh, and made Stefan grunt in pain. He started healing instantly, but it was enough to make him even more concerned for the civilians all around them.
Bubbles' eyes widened when Stefan got hit. She almost started to panic, but he didn't seem to be dying. He just seemed like he was injured. Still, she wasn't all that happy about him getting shot. She searched for anything that she could use, making her way toward the closest rock and picking it up much easier than she'd ever picked a rock up before in her life. Throwing it at one of the nearest people was also a lot easier than it was supposed to be and it went a lot harder than she probably could have thrown it before.
It was only after she'd done it that she paused to stare at her hands. What did she do? She'd hurt another person and also she'd lifted things a lot easier than normal. This could only be explained by superpowers. After a moment, she shook herself out of her surprise, getting closer to Stefan. "Are you okay?"
Stefan was absolutely okay. He was rolling his shoulders by the time she came back over, and was smiling fondly up at his girlfriend. She looked… amazing. That was super-human, he was sure of it. “I’m okay. Are you okay?” He asked. Was this a Dream Gift bleeding through for her?
Bubbles nodded, resisting the urge to hug him. "I'm fine. I just...well, I guess that's another power? I'm just glad it wasn't laser eyes. I mean, I'm sure that would be useful, but god." The idea of it going wrong were not as inviting as being able to throw rocks at people. It was going to be much easier to control super strength. Only she didn't know how to do that with ordinary things. She was going to have to think when she did things now.
"We shouldn't do anything that will hurt anyone too bad, I think."
“No, you’re right. But we’ve got to stop those Storm Troopers before the kill somebody.” Though, they might have already. Those shots were going randomly into the crowd, randomly into buildings and the train station nearby. Stefan glanced around in a little bit if a panic. “This must be one of those Orange County things. It’s gotta be. Those aren’t people in that Storm Trooper armor. Do anything you can to stop them.”
Bubbles really hoped that no one had gotten killed. Still, she knew that this wasn't good. She didn't feel calm either, but she didn't know what to do and she felt the adrenaline spike as she looked around them. There were children in the crowd. They had to do something. This was one of the few reasons she wished she had her laser vision. At least then she could hit them, but she still didn't want to hurt someone else. So she looked around for something else to throw before deciding to try to hit one of them with her fist. Thumb outside. She could remember that, but she was going to have to ask Nasir or Buttercup to show her better technique.
It worked, though. That was what mattered. When they got hit, they went down or flew back. Everything was fine until she felt a blaster shot go past and she smelled something burning. Reaching up, she touched her hair, eyes narrowing. "He shot my hair," she said to no one in particular, mostly a comment. No one shot her hair. No one. Which made her a lot less forgiving about hitting Stormtroopers.
Stefan jumped up. His back still smarted (jeez, why did he always get injured in the back?) and he was angry now. Red veins appeared around his eyes, and he put on the super speed to try and take out as many of the bastards as he could. He was snapping necks, wrenching blasters from the Storm Troopers hands, and chucking them at their weak spots. (Face? Crotch? Joints?)
He glanced back at the sound of Bubbles’ cry, his expression going from vamp!hunger to concerned in the blink of an eye… and when he realized she wasn’t physically injured, he swallowed. His heart was thundering. She really liked her hair.
Bubbles really tried not to focus on Stefan's ease with killing. Mostly if she was disarming them, she was crushing the blasters, which was probably just because of who she was. She didn't like killing, but she could definitely hit and throw people angrily. She did wince when one of their arms was bent at an unnatural angle after she threw them and they hit one of the more metal parts outside the park. But then he'd tried to shoot her and it was throw them across the way or get shot. It also helped when people tried to grab her, because she could grab them now and throw them. Sometimes at other Stormtroopers. Which also helped.
It was nonstop for a long time. There seemed to be no end to the waves of Storm Troopers coming down Main Street. But finally there was a moment to breathe, and Stefan noticed that there were some injured and frightened people around the ticket gates.
“Bubbles,” he called out, turning to where he’d seen her last throwing a Storm Trooper into another. Damn. A tiny twinge of guilt ran through him when he realised how hot that made her look. “We should get these people out while we can.”
Bubbles paused when Stefan called her name. She knew he was right. Especially as she looked out over the injured people. Her brow furrowed and her anger about her hair faded. Instead, she was angry about how they'd just hurt a bunch of innocent people. She made her way over to a woman that was laying there and looking confused. She lifted her up, nearly falling over. She'd overestimated the amount of force necessary to lift her, but eventually she steadied and she started walking with the woman off to the side. She didn't know anything about helping humans with injuries, though. She hoped someone here knew medicine.
Stefan turned, knowing that they had a couple of minutes before the next wave of Storm Troopers came. He stopped in front of an uninjured but panicking man and took the other by the shoulders. “You need to help me get these people to safety. The bus driveway on the other side of the ticketing gate. Carefully.” He said, loud and clear. His pupils dilated as he compelled the man, shocking him out of his panic.
“Right, these people need to get to the bus driveway. It’s safe there.” He repeated, then turned to help a woman with some small children.
Stefan found another whole-bodied person--a woman this time, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth, oblivious to the world around her. Stefan compelled her to help, too. And soon the three of them were ushering a group of seven out through the ticketing gate and toward the bus driveway. There were more injured people there, but a paramedic had shown up and was helping people bandage wounds and another was helping an asthmatic breathe.
Stefan deposited the child he was carrying next to the child’s mother, and then turned around again. He could feel cool air on his back, and realized that the blaster ripped (burned?) a huge hole in the back of his shirt.