After the threat had been sufficiently dispatched, Kat fell to one knee. She had stopped it. Through heavy breaths, and fading vision, her heart raced. She had done it. The pink haired girl joined Kat on the same level as the elevators both came to a stop. Kat slowly stood back up to her feet, though shakily from the exertion of having used so much of her magic.
Kat had little time to react to much of what the pink haired lady was saying, though the fact that this was the second bomb definitely stood out to Kat. Kat picked up on the sounds in the other windmill as well, but before either woman could really react, their vision was filled with light.
----
Once the stars in her eyes had cleared and the dust had settled, Kat blinked a few times to try to regain some sort of sight after the explosion. Her hood had been blown off from the force of the blast, and she instinctively pulled it back over her head and eyes, before pulling her cloak tighter around herself. It hadn't been enough. A shiver ran through Kat, despite there being no chill in the air. There had been sounds before the explosion. Perhaps there were people in that explosion.
Though, Kat's worst fears were answered when the voice spoke. The voice of the bomber, explaining everything. This was a terrorist attack. One aimed at causing the Landers to go berserk and "take back their lives" as it were. The more Kat listened, the more she felt sick. All those years in the bar, all those years she had been bullied by the men there. All the years they had cornered her and assaulted her for no more than wanting what they wanted. All those years Kat gave up and let them do as they pleased because she was "weak" and let her fate be decided by people with "power".
But, would killing all those men, hurting them worse than they had hurt her, quitting her job in anger... was that the answer? No, Ryou had taught her that it was always easy to just lash out and fight. But real courage came from standing up for others and being a hero, and not letting the world take advantage of you just because someone thinks you're weak. The answer wasn't more violence, it was compassion.
Kat's eyes were downturned and she had begun crying. They were hot, angry tears as her fist shook in rage at what the voice said. They had harmed people, and they thought they had the right to tell these people that they were the weak ones? No, just like the men in her bar, the weak ones were the people who did the harm.
"The answer is obvious."
It was obvious. Without a moment of further hesitation, Kat grabbed the crushed head of the frog bomb, and held it up. Kat walked to the edge of the elevator, and with her free hand pulled the hood from her head, letting her blonde pigtails fly free, and her blue eyes glow into the night. She looked down at the people below, gathered and unsure after the recent speech. This was all Kat had in her. If this went badly, well, she had failed anyway. She held up the frog head and began to speak:
”People of Bridia! This crazed maniac speaks of what is obvious, but I need you to hear the words they are telling you! They just admitted to committing a crime in your town! Yes, I am Starcalled. I am Magia. But I'm here to help! I stopped this creature from doing any further damage from this maniac! I have a witness! A witness who also prevented a bombing of a third windmill!
These terrorists were trying to do even more damage to you.”
Kat paused, and let the frog's head fall from her hand, down to the people below, so that they could inspect it themselves, if they so wished. The machine of destruction that had possibly claimed lives in another location, which was already on fire.
”Weakness is not asking for help. Weakness is letting those who feel empowered hurt you. Weakness is letting those who have been hurt continue to be hurt, long after you know they could have been saved. When you know they can't save themselves.”
The tears were back. Kat couldn't do anything to stop them now. But she had to finish. She had to get through to these people somehow, before they made the worst decision possible.
”I don't know you. And you don't know me. But I stood up in the face of danger to help. Now, weakness would be you choosing not to do the same. You can condemn me as a Magia, you can arrest me, you can hate me. I don't care! I still helped! I still tried, when others might not have. And now you can do the same.”
Kat choked back the tears, and pointed over to the Eastern Windmill.
”There was a terrorist attack in your town, and people could have been hurt or killed. For all you know, they are your own countrymen, people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Your brothers, sisters, parents, neighbors. They need your help. Will you let them die to satisfy a vendetta against the past? Or will you rise up and be strong, and be heroes, in the face of these so called liberators? These actual terrorists!”
Kat wasn't sure how the crowd was going to react. They were a mob, and were no doubt angry at the explosion. They were angry because of past hurt, of which this was like driving a knife into the wound and then salting it on top. Kat knew she could get away from these people if she needed to. She had the Dynamism to run circles around the mob. But, she didn't even think she would run if she had to, because what would that prove? Kat accepted her fate, and left it to the people to decide. Her blue eyes glowed as she looked from person to person in the crowd, and quieter, so that only the pink haired woman could hear her, Kat said:
”I'll give myself up if I have to, to keep this civil. I'm not the culprit, whether you believe me or not. I don't know what is happening or why, but I can't just let these evil people destroy this town and try to call it justice.
If the mob turns against me, you have to make a choice. I'll give myself up to them, but there are probably people dying in that windmill that need help. Other Starcalled, if them being called interlopers is to be believed. But if the mob does the right thing, me and you need to go catch that maniac. It's up to them now...”
