Part 3

--Outside the Grand Arena, Verse City.

"And stay out!" The security officer shouted at Vin, Shrek the ogre and M.Bison as they were forcibly shoved past the open gate of the arena.

Vin wasn't happy about being pushed out of anywhere. She wanted to knock the shit out of the guard, but the gate closed behind them.

Damn. There went her ticket back home. If it hadn’t been for Bison attacking her in the locker room, she wouldn’t be in this predicament. Vin eyed him, but he walked away without even a glance. Apparently, he’d satisfied himself with his performance and wanted nothing to do with them. The arrogance of this guy made Vin feel sick.

"Well…" Shrek said. "How 'bout lunch?"
Vin chose to ignore him, reaching into her coin pouch and plucked out a metal coin. She dropped it to the ground and burned steel, flinging herself into the air.

Once high enough, she burned iron and pulled the coin back to her hand. Vin hung in the air, feeling weightless as she observed the massive city before her. She noticed signs that read 'Verse City'. An interesting name.

It was unlike anything Vin had seen. Lights made of color and a sky that was crystal blue. The buildings were tall, even towering into the sky in places. She reminded herself she was falling and burned more steel, finding more metal below her.
She wasn’t sure if Shrek was watching her, but she felt bad for leaving him there. He didn’t even know her but helped her in the fight with Bison.

Speaking of him…

She saw him walking down a street not too far away so she pushed against one of the metal buildings, sending her in his direction. She kept herself in the air, finding it easy with the overabundance of metal around.

She could see Bison walking alone, seeming uninterested in everything around. He walked for a few blocks, eventually pausing in front of a building and walking inside. Vin had to maneuver herself to a nearby rooftop to get a view of the place. She couldn’t tell what it was or why he chose this place to enter. Out of all the shops and buildings, this one by far was the most plain.

Why am I following this guy? Looking for another fight? Focus Vin, you need to get back on track. The thought about why she came to Verse City, why she entered the tournament, came to mind. Money.

If she'd won the tournament, she would have money she could bring back to her world. And in turn, back to her husband Elend.

They said that the prize money could be turned into any currency from her world. Meaning she could have solved so many of their problems back home.

But she’d lost… And now it was time to go home empty handed.

Vin’s plan had failed, and she knew that she should regroup. But the rebel in her hated the idea. If she could fix her world, then she’d do everything in her power to do so. Elend might scold her, but shouldn’t she at least try to bring something back from this world? When would she have an opportunity like this again?

Vin burned steel, sending herself back into the air. She glided with careful burns of steel and iron, using the tallest buildings as anchors. The entire city was metal, making travel easier now that she didn’t need to use her coins.

She crossed rooftops, took in what the city offered in it’s grand size. Most of the places and people she couldn’t even describe. There were metal objects zipping down the streets at incredible speeds. Some of them were in the sky. Vehicles, perhaps? Burning tin to enhance her sight, she noticed the objects were like carriages, people inside controlling them.

Latching onto one of those with some pewter or iron, she’d have a great way to get around. Though, she likely wouldn't find anything at that speed.

One of the vehicles came her way, flashing blue and red lights. A wailing siren followed and the piercing sound caused Vin to stop burning tin. Her head throbbed and she almost forgot to push off the building she was hurdling toward. She course corrected and continued down her path, the wailing machine following close behind.

A male’s voice could be heard over the siren. “This is Verse City S.P.D! You are in violation of air traffic laws. Please return to the ground!”

“Violation?” Vin replied back, realizing that the wind wouldn’t carry her voice anyway. She burned more steel instead to keep distance. Her instincts told her to always be weary and on guard, in case there were trouble. Her struggle with M.Bison reminded her of that. She wasn’t about to be caught off guard again.

“Return to the ground, immediately!” the voice shouted.

She burned iron and pulled herself toward the flying vehicle, twisting so she could land on top of it. But her sudden move made the metal machine turn to avoid her. Vin continued her motion and pulled on a building instead, pushing off in a different direction.

Vin passed two blocks and the vehicle followed in pursuit. Guess they didn’t get the hint that she wasn’t going to give up. She heard the voice over the siren, but instead of listening, Vin burned steel and the tiniest bit of duralumin. Her body rocked against the metal behind her and pushed her forward. The light from the buildings became streaks as she passed them at break-neck speed. In seconds, the sound of her pursuers faded.

Feeling that she was at a safe distance, she stopped the burn and slowed. She had plenty of duralumin to spare but---

ZAP!

Vin’s world went dark. Feeling only the seizing pain of electricity course through her body and the hard, cold ground beneath her.

***

Her head pounded but Vin came too. She burned the pewter in her system and it dulled the pain quick and cleared her head. She got up from the ground and saw in front of her were hundreds of towers generating some sort of electric field. She must have hit it without realizing. Hard to maneuver when you burn duralumin. She needed to be more careful.

Even with her senses dulled, she heard the footsteps behind her. Vin turned to see the vehicle hovering above her. Five masked individuals stood with weapons drawn. Each mask wore a different color, likely some rank between them.

“Stay where you are, put your hands in the air and get on the ground. We are S.P.D. We just wanna ask you a few questions---”

Vin burned steel and duralumin, throwing the color squad to the ground and skidded along the pavement. The push sent Vin backward, but she balanced herself quickly and poised for her next attack. They weren’t getting anything from her.

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