The Unnatural Disasters

1,p2. All the reasons not to trust strange women: Copycat

It's at times like this that I really, sincerely hate technology.

It appears that Lazuli and I are the last to the party: I count four others, looking round at us as we crash into the large room that the screaming appears to be coming from. I look down at my hands- and they are my hands, by the way, I shifted back whilst we were running- and wince.
Even as Oak, those spiders were sharp. The other members of the room seem equally torn up, though. I assume all of us were somehow in the wars: at least I didn't have to fight the dead one I saw in the main room.

I glance round the space, trying to find the source of the ongoing screams. As I have already established, it's fairly large- a metal walled structure, sparsely decorated. No furniture, no pictures and most importantly, nothing appears to be screaming. No human, anyway.
"I don't get it," I say aloud. "Who's the damsel in distress?"
For a moment, I wonder if the others in the room are the reason behind the screams. That, perhaps, they're about to give me a corny line about 'you are', followed by an attempt on my life.
Honestly, it wouldn't be the first time I've been in such a situation.
Yet luck's on me today: one of the people simply responds by pointing down at a small object on the floor. I had barely even noticed it beforehand- an innocuous, small, grey cylinder. A speaker.

The screaming seems so fake, standing here, looking at its mechanical source.
"Have you tried shutting it up?" Lazuli asks dryly.
"Tried and failed: pretty sure that thing's unbreakable." The speaker is a tired looking guy, with white-streaked hair and something moving on his arm. His apparent companion (a tall girl holding a broken charging cable) begins: "Thrown it from the ceiling, up the wall, on the-"
She stops: the speaker has stopped its incessant screams.
It speaks.

"Heroes, heroes, heroes!" The voice is distorted, deliberately twisted. Its owner evidently wants to hide their identity.
And of course, they had to do it in the most disturbing way possible- wouldn't be a villain without a menacing voice, would it?
"All the same!" It continues. "All running for a fight, chomping at the bit for a princess to save and a cat to take out a tree. How dreadfully dull!

"You may wish to fight against me. The reason why I and my spiders are here today is to tell you this: do not. The only reason why you're alive right now is that there is no reason to kill you... yet.

"There is a reason why the unstoppable is called so, heroes. Despite all efforts, it simply cannot be stopped.

"I am many things, heroes. I am unstoppable. I am unconquerable. And most importantly?
'I am Smoke.' "

And with a puff of its namesake, the speaker and voice are gone.

"Are you okay?" Lazuli asks, looking at me.

Am I okay?
More people than I am comfortable with now know my identity. I have soup on my jumper. And, most importantly, there is an anonymous lunatic out there that may or may not want to kill us who just happens to have an army of spiders. No. I am not okay.
"I'm good," I reply, wearing a weak smile.

"You're all alive!" A new voice cries.

I wheel round. The speaker is a tall woman, with long, dark hair and brown skin. Her voice sounds familiar. In fact- it sounds like the woman who brought us here.
"Who are you?" The person on my right, a muscular girl in a blue-silver catsuit, asks the newcomer.
"Ah! Right. Yes. For those of you who don't know, my name's Luda. For those who do? My name is still Luda."
Catsuit Girl's companion, a kid in a motorcycle suit and helmet, replies.
"No offence, but- last time I checked, you were a middle-aged lady with a bob."
"Very astute! I do that a lot." Luda smiles, running her hands through her hair. For the first time, I notice the white gloves on her hands.

Luda glances round at the room. At the broken speaker on the floor, at the scratched metal walls and the ragtag team of tired thirteen year olds that we are.
"Well, that's introductions out the way, at least!" She announces.
"anyway: at the risk of sounding stereotypical, if you can't handle this, feel free to walk out now. The danger is only going to get bigger from here.

"But- if you decide to stay? Who knows! We might even save the world one day!

"It'll be tough, I won't lie about that. There is every possibility that you could die. But: I think you all understand that already.

"So please. Please. Are you in?"
There's a pause.
"I am!"-Motorcycle kid pipes up- "Imminent threat of death? Count me in."
"Suppose I have to stop the rest of you from dying," Says catsuit girl.
"Yeah, I guess." Slime guy.
"I'm sold." Girl next to slime guy.
"Sure!" Lazuli.

I sigh. Well? Do I?
The only reason why I'm in this situation is making decisions like the one here. Is this what I've been looking for?
Is this what's going to kill me?

Either way, it's better than soup.

I nod.

"You know what? I'm in."
***
And somewhere: in a well lit room, in a perfectly nice place, in the sort of town that you wouldn't expect such people to live in.

Somewhere, someone laughs.