Chapter Text
~ Emma ~
As she felt the dust fill her nose and the blood trickle slowly down her forehead, all she could think of was the kids' safety. They were here on a field trip to the Natural History Museum believing it would be safe, but apparently, no one respected museums anymore.
As she struggled to her feet, dust and ash filled her lungs, but she pushed past it, preoccupied with putting her now-dusty cardigan over her face. She scanned the room for anyone, but the dust made it hard to see.
Working at the museum for so long had made her memorize the way through the exhibits, which made her mentally sigh in relief as she fumbled towards the door.
As the dust settled, she saw the culprit: a new hero with some control over paper. What did he call himself? Oh, right, Oriking and another infamously weak villain, The Tangle. Both unskilled in combat, both making a fool of themselves.
As she was about to leave, a triceratops skull crashed right in her path, which gave her an idea. She could temporarily reanimate fossils, which was what made her such a great tour guide, especially for the little kiddos. She gently reached out, placing her palm against the skull, although it had been around an hour since she last washed her hands. Judging by how the skull was still intact, the fossil must've just been a replica. Thankfully, her power never seemed to discriminate against replica or real, so it shouldn't be an issue. She began to speak softly in her mind, “Wake up, I need your help”.
The fossil began to vibrate, then hover, as the rest of the fossil clattered over to form the skeleton of a Triceratops. Once complete, it swung its head towards her, awaiting its command. Although she had always asked for something like “dance” or “entertain”, she knew this time would be different. She just hoped the actual fossils would survive, and the director would understand that she was saving the museum money by driving the villains away. She spoke a hoarse word, “Fight”. With a singular pointed finger, the triceratops turned and charged, its horns lowered.
She had expected as much. This gave her a chance to escape or perhaps look for the kids. However, what she had not expected was how sharp some horns stay, the shockingly perfect line in which two people can draw with their own bodies, the ability for two idiots with no brains to find this line, and the horrifying shriek that a human can make when they lose their abdomen. She stood frozen in shock as the triceratops ran through the two enemies with practiced ease, as noises she didn't think imaginable erupted from their mouths, as the beating thunder in her heart drowned out everything else.
She felt the blood drain from her face as she saw a kid crawl out of the rubble, only to turn towards the deaths she had caused. The terrified sob the little girl let out upon seeing two people pierced like human kebabs on a Triceratops horn made her heart twist. She remembered this girl, just an innocent child who had introduced herself as Emma, and that her favorite dinosaur was a Triceratops. She remembered how they'd bonded over the shared name and hoped with all her heart she might someday forgive her for this.
Almost instinctively, she felt her body begin to move towards the child, picking her way out of rubble and various other dinosaur fossils. Her speed picked up until she could stand between the child and the rampaging skeleton. “Hey, hey, look at me. Your name, buddy. Remember?”.
As the child stood rooted there, sobbing and wailing, she picked up on the sound of helicopter blades buzzing in the distance. No matter how much she tried to comfort the child, she wouldn’t stop until the helicopter blades were upon the two, deafening and overpowering, only broken by the sounds of amplified shouts. “WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED, STOP THE SKELETON”.
She knew what had to be done as she let go of the crying child. She stood and looked up at the helicopter and was about to calmly walk towards it when the triceratops stopped in its tracks, awaiting its new command. She reached up her palm with a heavy heart, resting it gently against its frontmost horn. She whispered, “Rest”. The dinosaur curled into itself, almost as if it was about to sleep, before the invisible forces holding it together vanished, and it collapsed into a pile of bones.
The shouting subsided as it became apparent that the dinosaur wouldn't be getting back up. The sound of boots on tile grew ever closer as she stood there silently awaiting her fate. She knew what had happened, how she had killed a hero, and how she would be called a villain, deemed a danger to society, and locked away forever.
Maybe she'd even be killed as a warning. In the past, she had seen it occur many times and had watched with little remorse for those on the chopping block. Now, as she realized how it felt to have the cold, unforgiving metal of handcuffs around her wrists, the ever-waiting guillotine with her life in its hands, and the threat of death looming over her, she felt... nothing.