Llydia

Normally Trisys could not discern a Master's thoughts. Yet Jade's wish could not have been more distinct if he had spoken it aloud. A desire so straightforward it could not be missed.

A wish made by Master was a command demanding to be fulfilled. However within or beyond her designed abilities.

Trisys fled Jade's shadow as if whipped. Still more shade than substance, she moved away at top speed.

There are always several ways a wish can be fulfilled. The more nebulous the wish, the more the fulfillment was sought regardless of the consequences. And the closest pizza was in Steel Canyon.

The gate from Boomtown to Steel Canyon had been closed and locked. Veering east, Trisys galloped high and fast. Virtually flying, she passed over Siren's Call to the guarded entrance into Paragon.

The police drones did not register her as a threat. The human element received a momentary dose of confusion. "What was that?" both armed police turned towards the stack of rusted barrels on the other side of the high chain link fence. There they thought they had seen a glimmer of something more than one of the flashing drones.

"Nothing." The second replied after a moment, then more firmly. "Nothing. Don't get jittery now. With Boomtown gate closed, the rest of the hazard gates will be closed soon. Including us. Now is not the time to be seeing ghosts."

Trisys didn't have much time.

Most of the war wall of Steel Canyon was hidden behind a forest of business, hotel, and apartment skyscrapers. Smaller buildings and shops huddled like bushes at the base of their giant counterparts. Again Trisys turned right. Instinct started her search for any pizza in the northerly direction that would take Trisys closer to Master. She had hardly begun when the sought-for pizza was spotted.

News travels fast in Paragon. Especially bad news. Trying to be positive in his own way, the owner of a zigzag five-story apartment building had decided to throw an Apocalypse Pizza Party on the roof. The feature food was visible through an open window along the top floor fire escape. A table held the frozen stack of pizzas.

The celebration would have to wait.

While Trisys was invisible, what accompanied her as she landed inside was not. The voices demanded their right to corporal form as part of the wish fulfillment. Trisys was unable to delay them any longer. Three phantoms materialized.

Kehvin broke off humming "It's The End Of The World". He was a middle-aged cashier, who did his best to stay as close to the definition of normal as a non-meta could in the city. The pizzas had been acquired with his employee's discount as cashier at the nearby PriceCo. His thoughts went from the preheating oven to, 'Turn for two seconds anywhere anymore and you'll get mugged." Then Kehvin did what any rational Paragon resident would do: Panic.

Sure, almost all superheroes, most villains, and the common Joe recognized the summons of an illusionist. It just wasn't expected for them appear in a private home. While what abruptly crowded his kitchen wasn't the same as the commonly called Phantom Army, Kehvin didn't stay long enough to learn that. In record time he had the whole building evacuated of people, most screaming. Conflicting monster reports shortly thereafter puzzled the police department.

The voices-given-form were not benign, either. Reveling in the senses their bodies provided they silently cavorted about. Furniture was knocked aside and appliances dislodged as they juggled the pizzas. If they had had vocal cords, they would have picked up the chorus where Kehvin had left off.

With no other way to focus the forms, Trisys headed back towards the Siren's Call gate. The tangible phantoms were forced to follow or prematurely dissipate. As they left the building, gas from a dislodged pipe encountered a spark. The result set the apartment building ablaze.

The guards hear the fire whistle and could see the smoke from within the gate to Siren’s Call. Braced for an attack, the pizza-toting phantoms were not what they expected. The ridiculous display confused them long enough for Trisys and the entourage to get as far as the corner of the Chiron medical center unchallenged. The police guards collected their wits and began to fire off some rounds. The phantoms were invulnerable. Trisys less so, and heat from a near-miss added its scar to the invisible hide. A few bullets became pizza toppings. Again none of the police drones reacted to neither Trisys nor the phantoms.

Unfortunately the tangible forms of the phantoms were as short-lived as they were immune to taking damage. Halfway through Siren’s Call in Talos Park they began dissipating. Each tossed their pizzas to a still-running phantom. Trisys barely managed to lead the last one into a concrete sewer segment. There she invisibly trembled over the Master's wish. It took a couple minutes of dangerously vulnerability until new phantoms could form.

Twice more Trisys had to hide and cower from risk of discovery by another living being while waiting for more phantoms to form. At the end the phantoms proudly placed the stack of mostly-frozen and slightly-bullet-ridden pizzas at Master's feet before dissipating. Trisys reappeared slightly behind and to one side of Jade on her hands and knees, panting heavily. Her energy levels had been depleted, though they were quickly recovering.