DHARMA REFLECTS.

1776, AUGUST 5th,Saturday 5:00 pm.

Dharma steepled her fingers as the pink-haired girl and her lieutenant set up the recording equipment. The two seemed quite familiar with each other as they untangled the mess of wires.

"Gracias again for getting me this interview, Hune," Venny said.

"No probs Venny," June said.

"You two know each other?" Dharma asked.

"SI! We're old friends from middle school! Hune es mi favorita va-knee-jah friend," Venny said. "Been ages since we caught up. We really need to have un girls' day out later."

June chuckled. "We do. I can't believe you've become so famous."

"Y es maravilloso that you're Dharma's right-hand woman," her scorpion tail twitched with glee.

"I remember when you didn't have that tail," June chuckled. "Back when you started dating Rad."

"OH YEAH! Didn't you want to get wings? Big angelic wings, you said?"

"The V.P.D. don't allow mutations since they are considered illegal across the globe."

"Si, I forgot about that," Venny shrugged. "People no care about what's legal and illegal in MoveCity. You trying to change that, si?"

"That's the plan."

"I see, I see. How's Kat doing!"

June smiled. "She's doing good. How's Rad?"

"Great. He's been doing advanced irony. Whatever that means."

Dharma smiled as the two girls chatted. Her eyes softened as the lingered on the pair.

"She would've been their age," she muttered. "If my daughter still lived."

The police chief sighed, it had been twelve years since she failed as a mother. Twelve years and every day became heavier than the last. What could she have done better, how could she have saved her little girl? Dharma couldn't help but reflect on the past.

Her last missing person's poster.

Dharma stared at the image of her little girl before stapling the sheet to the wooden pole. Her daughter had been missing for three days. The Cross Civilian City was chaotic for sure, but not so much as to keep a kid out this long. Something was wrong – she had to find her.

It didn't take long to form a search party. Dharma always had a way with people, she knew how to read them, how to say what she needed to get what she wanted. All the areas her daughter would visit were investigated. Nothing. Not a single trace of where she was.

Then someone reported gang activity at the local arcade. She had a new direction and aimed her questions at the right people. With a bit of leverage, the guy cracked and spilled everything. A few hours later, Dharma and her friends stood before the gang's base.

Rainbow clouds stayed in the air for almost a solid hour – created was used non-stop on both sides. Explosions rocked the street and tore buildings apart. Men with DriveMetal swords and Grim guns cam out and attacked anyone they could find. Yet Dharma and her friends gradually made their way inside the base.

Then she found her. Laying on a dirty mattress, unmoving, and naked; used condoms and empty syringes surrounded the area. Dharma cradled the dead body in her arms, her girl was so small. It reminded her of when she gave birth.

At sixteen, Dharma wasn't much older than her daughter was now. When she came into the world she was tiny, so small it was impossible to believe. Then her girl opened her eyes for the first time and in those beautiful orbs Dharma knew she was her whole world.

Now those eyes would never open again.

Dharma screamed and tears fell down her face. She sat there and cradled her little girl as explosions rocked the building and threatened to bring everything down. Then that bastard found his way to the room – the man who did this.

The gang leader was on the defensive as Dharma rushed at him. She was too emotionally unstable to use create, instead, she flung pure telekinetic force at the man. He countered with his drive and the two got into a melee. However, while Dharma had her fists, he had a DriveMetal sword.

An opportunity presented itself and the bastard took it. Dharma crumpled to the floor as her right leg skittered across the ground. She could only scream and hold the stump as the man escaped. If it wasn't for her friends, odds are she would have bled out at that place.

Days passed at that hospital. How many hours had she spent staring out the windows? Her girl was gone, her leg was gone, why? A pillar of smoke plumed out of a distant building as an explosion happened in the distance. It was this city, this damned city and its constant chaos.

If this place had even the faintest sense of law and order, this wouldn't have happened. Police would have kept the gang activity to a minimum. There wouldn't be criminals and gangsters walking the streets kidnapping young girls so effortlessly.

Dharma's eye twitched. This chaos had to stop — it had to be stopped. If no one had yet to step up, then it was about time someone did. She would change this place. Dharma would establish the law. Being hospitalized, she had plenty of time to think of a plan.

Eventually, she was released, and she began with her friends, speeches, and gatherings. People flocked to her sermons as she discussed her personal sorrows and what needed to change. Her intelligence and charisma allowed her to capture people's attention and persuade them to her side. In time she had formed a small group.

When she had enough people she began step one — arresting the man who killed her daughter. He had begun rebuilding his gang in the time since she'd last seen him, but her organization was larger. Dharna always had a calculating, military mindset, but now it had purpose. It had direction. Her victory was swift and overwhelming.

It was his arrest, the defeat of his gang, that lead to the birth of the V.P.D. The voluntary police department. They cut the red ribbon on their new building a week later. Yet despite their good fortune, they had a rough start. Many people told her it was impossible, that a police force was a stupid idea, and that she was just another gang leader.

Despite how much that last one stung, she kept catching criminal after criminal. Soon the V.P.D. gained a reputation and people began the recognize their ideal. More flocked to their organization interested in justice and safety. They grew and grew.

Then in seventeen sixty-seven Raptorman won the Cross civilian city tournament and was declared the new leader. He immediately renamed their home to MoveCity and eliminated all laws. On the surface it didn't make a big difference, the city had laws, but Cross never upheld them. The people had always been left to their own devices.

However, when Raptorman became in charge, he outright rejected everything to do with Cross. Not that the military seemed to care – as long as no one left the border they couldn't be bothered. So the newly named MoveCity became a lawless land officially. A place of true freedom, but also absolute chaos. It irked Dharma.

Still, she did not relent. If she wanted to make her home a safe place, she just had to gather enough people willing to make a change. Together they could bring justice to the inhospitable place.

Nearly a decade later she encountered June and Kat Sanctus. It stunned her how similar the older sibling was to her own daughter. How similar their ages and circumstances were. Dharma found it difficult not to dote on the young girl. She favored June and she knew it.

She decided she would protect the girl, teaching her everything she knows. The two were close, her protégé saw her highs and lows, her best moment, and her worst depression. Before she knew it, June had become her lieutenant.

All the while Dharma never stopped trying to make the V.P.D. larger and larger. She got shut down over and over again; constantly being compared to another gang. Yet it was people like June, people who believe in a safer MoveCity, that kept her going.

In time they became the largest force in MoveCity – a size that could challenge even Raptorman. The mayor-king may have gotten his position through strength alone, but when she overcame him, it would be because she had the people. Then, and only then, could she make a world safer for children.