As we were currently dealing with Bunvorixian shenanigans, another potential target was Ceira. Since my phone was still compromised somehow, we were coordinating through Midnight’s.

“Can you check on our plant loving friend?” Midnight asked Calculator. Going through another layer of abstraction was the best way to not draw attention to potential weaknesses.

These Bunvorixians were obviously after myself and Midnight, and either trying to not seem like they were Bunvorixians or just trying to insult Midnight by calling him a cat. Or alternatively they were someone else who got a hold of ‘Bunvorixian jamming algorithms’, whatever those were. Which seemed way too complicated when Bunvorixians in general and Spot in particular had grudges against me.

Since we were taking threats seriously, we waited before stepping out of the apartment. They said they knew where I lived, which might be true. However, the building was secure and no suspicious activity had been spotted. It was worth checking, though, so we waited for a message from Calculator.

“Cyclops says cave is clear,” Midnight relayed.

I tilted my head. Was that… Mono? And what did that have to do with a cave? Was the cave outside? Eh, with him watching things should be fine. As for the confusing message, it was likely because they might be able to overhear stuff through my phone. But instead of just leaving it behind, there was another plan.

“Can we stop here for a moment, Mage?” Midnight commented as we walked by an alley. Then he reached into my pocket and yanked out my phone, setting it atop a dumpster.

We continued walking without saying anything, until a car stopped in front of us at the corner a block later. We climbed into the back.

“This is as secure as we can get,” Midnight said. “So either they know every move we’re making, or our ploys might work.” We had verified the driver before getting in, and he was already moving the second we buckled in. “The next step is… let’s see. Ugh,” he sighed. “You need to Disguise me as a dog. And yourself as someone more common. Like a human.”

“Will that work?” I asked.

“At a distance,” Midnight said.

Midnight was turned into a fluffy white dog, while I became a jogger. Along the way to our destination the car stopped briefly and a petite woman stepped in. I hadn’t seen Sophia in her natural form in a while.

“You know, it’s been nearly a month since you’ve been specifically targeted,” she commented. “I thought that was unusual.”

“Do you count the part where we were attacked on Celmoth?” Midnight said.

“Eh, they were probably after your mom there,” I said.

“Right,” Sophia nodded. “That’s more like what I remember.”

As we got closer to our destination we prepared other defenses. Stoneskin was not optimal for most of what Bunvorixians would be doing, but it would be effective in case they tried to bite us or something. They weren’t necessarily limited to laser attacks either, though Midnight determined that would be the most likely form of energy.

Thus, Energy Ward was used as well, on both us and Sophia. Stoneskin was kind of unnecessary for her unless we thought we were going up against something extremely focused on impaling people or something outside the purview of Bunvorixians- or their known associates.

Great Girl also got a disguise spell, because we were going to try to blend in and she didn’t want her face to be recorded somehow. Normally her mask would be fine, but that was way too obvious.

“Wow it’s uh… way cheaper to only do the expensive buffs on the two of us,” I noted.

“Astoundingly,” Midnight agreed. “Though of course that also means a lower total boost.”

“We’ll probably be spending more mana later of course,” I said. “When things get down to it, Haste is going to be very good. Specifically on you,” I gestured to Sophia.

“Yeah, I’ve experienced it a few times,” she agreed. “I’m concerned about Dark Star and Gloom though. Should we prepare for them?”

“I think we should conserve our mana,” I said. “If we sense either of them we can prepare then. They shouldn’t be able to conceal themselves…” I said. “But I don’t know what all Bunvorixian tech does.”

“Lots of things,” Midnight said. “But stealth isn’t their best field. I’d be surprised if they had something that concealed powers already, as that would have to be a new innovation.”

A short time later we stopped. “Here’s your destination folks,” the driver commented loudly. Perhaps for the benefit of anyone listening, though the parking lot was pretty empty. We were at a trailhead, but it was midday on a weekday so there were only a few other cars present.

We got out of the car and… wow, they were not subtle. How did Midnight ever think a regular dog was a Bunvorixian? There was a wolfy one and one with a big head, but both Bunvorixians stood stock still at either side of the trailhead, like they were standing at attention for the military.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Oh look, dogs!” Sophia commented. “How cute!” We began walking towards them, though she took quick steps and pulled ahead. That was a good idea, because they could probably smell Midnight if we got too close.

I didn’t see anyone watching the two guards. Even so, I remained ready to defend my friend and ally.

Sophia reached out towards one of the ‘dogs’, letting it sniff the back of her hand. I saw a sudden motion, but my view was blocked an instant later as she grew larger, grabbing both dogs by the throat and slamming their heads together. “Oof, that really hurts to do. Good thing they looked so unnatural.”

Midnight rushed forward and scanned their bodies with his fancy new stuff, pulling small devices out of their fur. “Comms devices. I don’t know if they would report on them being taken out, but we don’t have long.”

There was a loud popping sound and a plume of smoke, indicating the distraction team had arrived at the lower trail. “Well, it was only going to be a couple more seconds anyway,” I shrugged.

A few moments later, Great Girl had flipped out some things from her fanny pack and tied up the two Bunvorixians. “Think they can get out of this?”

“Without tech and with concussions?” Midnight asked. “Doubt it. Also, how long did you have to train to learn how to precisely concuss people?”

Great Girl got a far away look. “Way too long. Skulls are… weaker than you might think.”

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t true. Skulls were pretty strong but very much not unbreakable. I couldn’t say I was all that precise about breaking them, but I knew that they could endure a solid thwack. She was probably just too strong most of the time.

We continued down the trail in a hurry, until we came to the part that we had instructions to break away. “Let’s see here,” Great Girl said. “We’re heading towards a mostly concealed bend over that way…” She leapt up into a tree, balancing near the top and growing slightly. “Yeah I think I see it. There’s a black box or something? That might be Izzy.”

Since we were all members of the Power Brigade, we were on the same page regarding hostages. If a villain took a hostage to get away from a situation, there were situations where they could be trusted to let them go free. If they kidnapped someone to draw you into an ambush, they didn’t expect anyone to be leaving. Because of that, while it might seem callous you had to act like you didn’t care about the hostage, taking them down as quickly as possible- preferably by sending someone they didn’t expect to be dealing with.

They expected Midnight and me, but even if they were prepared for us that didn’t mean our support wasn’t useful. What they would not be prepared for was the other team. It wasn’t members of the Brigade, but instead our cranky friends from Extra. This was a matter of extraterrestrial intrusion, after all, and they had all kinds of tech nobody else was supposed to have. Plus they were mad about the part where these guys busted out Spot and the damage they caused there.

Another explosion downhill. Then Great Girl cursed.

“Sounds like we’ve got incoming,” she said as I heard the same message in my ear.. “Something big.”

I looked up. “Yep. Haste time. Midnight, get Great Girl.” I cast the spell on the two of us, followed by casting Storage to pull out my staff and gun. I could already see the ship rapidly growing in size as it cut through the clouds, surrounded by at least a dozen of the ‘smaller’ ships I’d fought before.

The wide disc was at least a hundred feet across, maybe more. It seemed we might need everyone waiting in reserve. I certainly heard enough chatter, and there had to be more going elsewhere.

Great Girl didn’t hesitate to grow larger, running forward at an astounding speed through the treeline- but as she broke out from behind some trees, she suddenly slowed down by a surge of magic- a familiar spell I carried in my staff. She was still charging forward towards the bad dane known as Spot when we reached the edge of the clearing. He cast another dispel towards Midnight and I, while several beams of light shot at all of us.

Great Girl powered through, charging towards some sort of covered box instead of Spot. She grabbed it, and a moment later revealed it was a cage covered in cloth as she tore it apart… revealing nothing.

I tried to dodge as much as I could, but Spot’s spell seemed magnetized towards me. I swung my staff without really thinking about it, and ran into a very odd reaction. The staff itself didn’t have any active power, the dispelling being the result of special materials stored within. In addition, none of my defensive spells covered it. So the dispelling magic found a target but also found nothing at the same time, splashing around me but mostly doing nothing. Maybe it ate a little bit of my defensive spells, maybe not.

Spot was saying something very slowly. Probably something about falling into his clever trap. I followed his gaze up a cliff to where there was another Bunvorixian- a big poodle maybe? It had curly hair at least. The dog was pulling away at a cloth that looked like nothing at all, revealing a second… similarly empty cage,

The Bunvorixian was clearly surprised. Maybe it was being hit by Sonic Lance, maybe it was the fact that there was nothing in the cage. It could have been the laser that hit it from behind, sending it over the cliff. Most likely, a combination of all three.

“Oh, there’s Darkstargirl,” I commented as I felt her approaching.

Great Girl grabbed Spot, tossing him at one of the Bunvorixians coming out of the woods and tossing the cage at another. I tried to get an angle to see Izzy who had presumably freed herself, but I couldn’t make her out because of the cliff angle. I might have sensed her mana but that was either her sneaking about or just my imagination.

Midnight blasted a Bunvorixian, not with magic but with his Celmothian weapons built into his suit. I wasn’t sure how effective it would be, since they were built to resist Celmothians but the Celmothians were also building to take out Bunvorixians. The ultimate answer was ‘quite effective when it hit’. Well, these were just infantry after all. We’d already taken down ships.

Sure, smaller ones than the one that was now looming overhead but still. It wasn’t like Gloom was here so the situation was totally manageable.

Nah, who was I kidding. We could totally handle Gloom too. But with the rate Darkstargirl was flying in, I didn’t think Gloom was conveniently placed.

I took a couple shots at Bunvorixians with my regular, non-laser gun. It seemed to do exactly nothing except make them flinch. Oh, right. Their guns were laser guns. At most they made cool laser noises, not loud bangs. They seemed to have personal shields, but they had to be weaker than what their ships had. Sadly, they were durable enough that Spot was still standing after being chucked at an ally.

First order of business was to get to a better position and make sure Izzy was okay. Then Midnight and I could hopefully take out the ship. Midnight supplied an Energy Ward tuned to Darkstargirl’s power for her while I gave us one ourselves. I had the feeling this was going to be fun.