Lily Dagwood's Story

A girl with bright red hair put down her cup and smiled. She was seated at a table with a group of people who were all dressed in bright colours. Everyone else in the café was wearing dull colours, and the group received several dirty looks. However, she kept smiling, aware of these dirty looks. Lily Dagwood looked at her companions. "It's working."

She glanced around the Café Midnight. While the Café was nearly full, there were no patrons dressed in the telltale all black of the police. "But there's no point. Come on, let's go." She drained her cup and stood up, revealing her outfit. She wore a blue t-shirt, pink shorts, purple tights and knee high pink Converse. Over her magnificent red hair, she wore blue headphones. As she went to leave, a group of men at the back also stood up. They pointed their telltale lasers at her. They were undoubtedly the police.

"Gentlemen." She said, without turning around. "I really would love to go with you, but I'm afraid that won't happen. GO!" She yelled at her companions, whipping out a paint gun from nowhere. She shoved the door open with her shoulder, and ran out into the street. A group of men awaited her outside, aiming their lasers at her. She raised her paint gun and fired electric blue paint at them, before sprinting away, firing blue paint everywhere she could aim at while running

With almost everyone wearing just faded colours on their clothes, as per the law, the little group with plentiful colours was getting some serious scowls. "It's working," the red-haired girl said. They wanted the attention, probably even enjoyed the dirty looks. That's how our little clown, "Harlequin", felt at least. Speaking of Harlequin, he had a drink in front of him, half empty. The fact he had ordered a drink when he almost never spoke didn't confuse (and possibly freak out) the café-goers, but it was that he managed to drink it without removing his mask.

Lily noted the uselessness of the stares as she saw a lack of cops, and finished her drink, standing up to leave. When she reached the door, she was met with a few laser sights from the back of the café. The police weren't wearing their pitch-black uniforms; must've been off-duty, but they went at it anyways. "Gentlemen," the red-haired girl started, "I really would love to go with you, but I'm afraid that won't happen." She signaled the clown and another couple Spectrum members, and drew a paint gun, running off and firing it everywhere, splattering the building's innards with a strong electric blue.

Harlequin felt like sighing at Lily's apparent sense of excitement (and possible waste of paint), but instead opted for finishing off his drink, lifting it to the mouth of his mask and letting the icy Coke slide in. Placing the glass down, Harlequin pulled a squirt gun from his sleeve like any good joker would do, and fired a few times inside the Café Midnight. First three pulls of the trigger landed a fuschia-coloured paintball into a forehead, chest and crotch (ouch), the rest getting the tables and walls, and the innocent patrons by extension from the splashing. Then, with a comedic salute, he ran off after Lily, launching off more paintballs at the colourless walls of the city's buildings.

Viatcheslav felt very loud at the moment. Not just because he was shouting, as per tradition, the latest bawdy Ukranian folk song he could think of, and not just because he was drinking a cup of expensive coffee laced with not-so-expensive grain alcohol. No, his bright red satin jacket, which had a tendency to become unbearably bright when the light was on it, practically made the dirty, skinny Uke into a walking traffic sign that read "trouble ahead". Technically he was in blatant violation of several public ordinances, not the least of which was public inebriation, but at least he was in the safety of a group this time. A group of loudly-dressed kids with paint guns, but nevertheless, a group.

Speaking of that group, the redhead - Lily - suddenly stood and announced their presence as Spectrum members, and a few off duty cops suddenly drew their lasers in response. Lily and another guy - the creepy one in the jester mask who never said anything - leapt to their feet, Lily exiting the store in a flurry of Converse and electric-blue paint, the jester creep stunning the three stiffs with a barrage of fuschia paintballs. Viatcheslav, caught off guard by the lasers and his own drunkenness, kicked both feet out in front of him and skidded backwards in his chair, only to watch it catch on a run in the carpeted floor and tilt backwards, spilling the gangly gypsy man onto the floor in a tangle of limbs and tablecloths. Viat recovered his stance quickly and rushed back to the table, retrieving his yellow messenger's bag and pulling from it his wrist-fixed paint sprayer and a few cans of his special red paint. He fixed the bracer-like device to his wrist with one hand, rolling back the sleeves of his silk coat before affixing the other one, then - fully armed - grabbed the fourth Spectrum by the shoulder and hauled her to her feet, making his way towards the exit. "Come on, ptashka," He said, beating a hasty path towards the rapidly closing exit, "time for you and I to spread wings and get the hell out of here."

Once outside, however, the picture that was painted was completely different from the one in Viat's head. Five or six other cops - in uniform this time - stood outside the door, also aiming lasers, also looking angry, also covered in electric blue and fuschia. With one hand still gripping the fourth Spectrum girl's shoulder, he raised his left hand and pointed the wrist-mounted spraygun at the officers training their guns at him. "Don't shoot, we surrender!" He said quickly, then grinned wildly and depressed his middle and ring fingers. A mist of blood red paint sprayed across the faces and bodies of the officers in front of him, buying him enough time to run.

"Sosi khuy̆ volosatyy̆ mula moho batʹka , vy nezbalansovanym svyney̆ sobak!" Viat shouted, sprinting off away from the cafe, keeping Kit in tow.

Mayu Kobi took a long drag of her cigarette, her eyes closed, drinking in the stares like a vampire does blood.

Then someone shouted. It sounded like the redhead, Dagwood. And then there was the telltale zap of lasers or tasers or whatever they're called. Mayu swore before opening her eyes and sprinting out the door behind several other Spectrum members.

She ran into the back of someone just in time to hear "Don't shoot, we surrender!" Then someone shouting in Russian. Or Ukranian. Something European.

Mayu's hands fumbled as she searched for her gun, trying to hold onto her cigarette. Her hands finally met metal and she smirked before aiming and firing at the nearest officer.

Mayu swore she was aiming for his knee, not his precious parts. But nonetheless she smirked.

"Suck on that, you son of a-" Mayu cut herself off, noticing that everyone was running off. She hurried to follow them.

He strolled along after Lily, using the wheels in his shoes to keep his momentum while he sprayed as many white spots on buildings he could. When he finally ran out of paintballs, he simply set his back in the sleeve he pulled it from. After a moment of pointless searching, he pulled out three plastic balls suited for juggling. Instead of juggling them, of course, he used them like grenades. They were filled with a generous amount of magenta-coloured paint, and managed to cover an entire floor's worth of wall on buildings. Throwing each one as he cruised towards HQ, his travel was otherwise uninterrupted. Other notable Spectrum members seemed to have some more trouble than him, but they all managed to shuffle in undetected nonetheless.

When Harlequin happened into the apartment building, he immediately hit the basement button and watched the elevator interior as it descended to the real headquarters under all the members' residences. As it closed, he noticed a head of spiked black hair following him. Hm. He rolled down a short empty hallway when the door opened until he hit the locked door leading further in, but he didn't use the iris scanner like the other members. Instead, the jester removed one of his gloves and opened an unassuming panel in the wall, pressing his hand against it to be scanned in place of his eye. When it was finished, the door opened long enough for him to close the panel and slide on through. Replacing his glove, Harlequin walked in, kicking the small wheels back into the soles of his shoes, and saw that quite a few members managed to make it in already.

Mayu raised an eyebrow when Dagwood led a newbie into the room. He was short with spiky black hair and had a pair of nice-looking headphones. There was also paint on his hands. An artist it seemed. He had Mayu's approval. For now.

"I think a parade would be a good idea," Mayu said. "But it has to be amazing, like nothing nobody's ever seen before or else no one will give a crap. And no one will be inspired to have the nerve to defend us. I might be able to take care of some of the techy stuff. I've done it before at school and... other places."

"What if we put on a parade?" Lily asked. Plenty of positive things could come from it. Harlequin gave a happy wave to the new guy from his seat when Lily noted already having clowns, since practically everyone knew she was talking about him. He heard agreements from Mayu, and looked at the new guy through the corner of his mask.

And the next moment, Harlequin was behind DJ Woodstock and just about a foot to the right, mimicking beatboxing with one hand over his mouth and the rest of his body moving to a simple beat, while the pair of bells on his hat actually made some jingling in rhythm. He was either mocking Woodstock, or suggesting he be the musician for the parade. Most people wouldn't really tell the difference. Not like the Spectrum couldn't supply some (both colourfully and literally) loud speakers.

"Anyone else want to call for a position?"

Nova racked her brain for any ideas. She came up with nothing. Dang it! Everybody else has good ideas...

"I...uh..." She muttered. "Oh! Can I help with the floats?" She asked, face lighting up. She was eager for the parade. I would give anything for all of us to be accepted by society..." She thought as she looked around at her fellow Spectrum members. 'If this works...we would have color again! She smiled at the thought of seeing the town colorful and bright.

"I can't wait..." She said aloud, not really meaning too.

"What are we going to say on them?" Lily asked, to which the clown thought of something on the spot.

Harlequin slipped an ungodly amount of things from his sleeves and under his hat, mostly flowers and rubber balls, and dropped them on the table. Somehow, he managed to make them fall on the table and spell out "Remember Your Colour". It fit the situation perfectly, he figured.

He also pulled multiple cans of spray paint from his pants and passed them to Woodstock and Ezekiel, in approval of the idea of permanence. With everything he pulls from his clothes, Harlequin was slightly amazed no one's ever asked him to take out something random on request.