I [Noncombatant Teleported] Lady Lockless away; wherever she landed, she’d be out of the fight. Even though I’d taken her debuff, she still looked shaky and miserable, and I’d handed her cane back to her just before sending her away. A few moments later, the first Act ended.

[End of Act One: Act Two in 3 Minutes]

The team had assembled outside the somewhat beaten-up glass doors to the club offices, and they kept looking back and forth as if unsure what to do. I cleared my throat. “What happened?”

“He just started running along the ceiling,” Tractor-Beam-Girl said. “We couldn’t keep up, especially when the tiles started falling behind him.”

Sure enough, the entire hallway was covered in messy ceiling tiles and hanging wires, and half the lights were out. “Who was he?” I asked.

“Quickstrike. He’s in my Superpower Ethics class,” Tractor-Beam-Girl said. “He’s a pain in the ass, thinks he knows everything, but at least he’s not on my team. I’m stuck with the teleporting kid who brought him in. He thinks he’s cool because he’s got Doctor Tennyson’s power, but he’s going to be a lieutenant, and he’ll never be anything more than—“

“Okay, focus up,” I said. “So, we’ve got a pair of little league vils that stalled us out after our initial attack. They weren’t in Sara’s calculations, so she must not have known about them. She might not know other stuff if she didn’t predict they’d be here. So, I think we need to…”

I trailed off. What did I think we needed to do? The two little league heroes kept looking at me, Waterspout expectantly and Tractor-Beam-Girl with a look of defiance and disbelief on her face. We had a lot of firepower here, and we could just force the issue with an attack on the SSS’s main base. But, according to our briefing with Sara, the SSS wasn’t looking for a fight. They were working on something to attack finals week with, and maybe to take over the campus, but they didn’t want a fight—at least not yet.

So, keeping them from moving whatever their plan was elsewhere was more important than rushing off to battle. Which meant it was time to stick to the script—the one Sara had given us.

“Alright, here’s the deal. We’re finding the SSS’s entryway, getting inside, and making sure nothing gets out,” I said, giving my orders with confidence I didn’t 100% have. “We’re supposed to be security and a backstop for the assault teams, not an assault team ourselves. That’s why we’re tanky and full of crowd control.”

“Okay, got it. I’ll get in there and block the doors,” Waterspout said. I nodded appreciatively. He’d kept two heroes occupied completely last year, all by himself. With a team around him, he’d be the perfect blockade hero against anything who couldn’t shut him down. Unfortunately, at least one villain could.

“What do we do about Monologue?” Fursona asked.

“We kick his ass,” Tractor-Beam-Girl said.

I opened my mouth to argue, but the next Act began.

[Power War: Sayonara, Student Supervillains!: Act Two in Progress]

“Okay, we’ll kick his ass,” I said, knowing that that wouldn’t be easy. I could only hope that Springlock and Milo ran into him first. And why was he here, anyway? There were so many unanswered questions.

And I didn’t have time to find out any of them. I started slow-shifting back to Understudy, cursing myself for not doing it during the intermission, as the rest of the team pushed down the hall toward the door they’d seen villains retreating through.

“Okay, we’re running Blockade. Fursona, you’re on protection duty for Waterspout. Keep him upright. I’ll bounce between Understudy and Rainy Day and try to do ranged coverage. Waterspout, keep the doors shut, no matter what happens, and Vicegrip? Try to keep people away from Waterspout. Toss them around or whatever.” I put a hand on the door, then turned the handle. “Go!”

Fursona rushed in, right into a handful of villains. Gourmet, in full dragon form, grinned at us from the impossibly high ceiling. Quickstrike and Tearjerker stood near a door on the far side. And, in the center, already squaring off against Fursona, was Iron Fist. I grimaced; this would be a tough one.

Then Fursona kicked out at Iron Fist, and Waterspout sealed all the doors except the one leading farther into the SSS lair. I rolled to the left, and Tractor-Beam-Girl went right. We almost felt like a proper team—either that or the opposition didn’t have a good plan for fighting together either.

I started out with a [Power-Weaving], hoping to get a combo off before Gourmet found me, but she pinned me to the wall with a breath of fire that left the carpet smoldering and me rotating into Rainy Day for the fire control and protection.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]

[Steel Yourself! +1 Grit Point]

[Floating Points: 1 Flamboyance]

She landed next to me, already snapping into her jerky. The wings disappeared, replaced with horns, and I cursed quietly—Lady Lockless had already taken the best word. Gourmet had played it perfectly, switching from ranged flying to melee the moment I rotated. I couldn’t use any powers because she’d break my combo, and the team needed the big hit to win this fight.

“Cover!” I shouted, and Fursona bounced across the battlefield to catch Gourmet in the side, knocking her away from me. I rotated onto Iron Fist, hoping he hadn’t seen me starting my combo up.

“You again! I’ll pound you into dust,” he grumbled.

“No, you won’t.” I used [Thunderhead] to knock him back and started running away. The clouds built up overhead as Fursona lost ground to a very determined Gourmet. She held the line for another second…two…three…four, then broke as Gourmet’s bull horns stampeded past her. Iron Fist swung his fist my way, and I ducked it.

My [Thunderhead] finished, and I fired up [Ride the Lightning] just before the two heavies hit me.

[[Electric Lightshow! +1 Flamboyance Point]

[Thunderstruck! +1 Drama Point]

[Power-Weaving! +6 Flamboyance, 3 Grit, and 1 Drama Point]

The crowd control shockwave went off at precisely the right moment, throwing both villains away from me—and toward Waterspout. A moment later, the lightning surged out, catching Iron Fist in the chest and coursing over his body like a cartoon. I grinned but didn’t have time to say anything. Gourmet rolled to her feet and headed straight for me while Iron Fist attacked Waterspout.

Tractor-Beam-Girl had her hands full with Quickstrike, and Fursona was moving toward Tearjerker to keep her out of the fight, but that left both heavies for me, and I could just about take on Gourmet on a good day.

Or…maybe that wasn’t true anymore.

I’d grown a lot since the last time we’d fought, and she’d found her calling in her cooking show. She wouldn’t be getting stronger, so maybe I could handle her quickly enough to stop Iron Fist from rolling over Waterspout.

I had to give it a go, so I started up another [Power-Weaving], switched to Understudy, and tried for a backwards combo. Gourmet knew all my old combos, but I had something new in mind for this one.

[Flashy-Fitting Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]

[Steel Yourself! +1 Grit Point]

[Floating Points: 1 Flamboyance]

Waterspout flailed around, knocking tendrils of cold water into Iron Fist as he tried to close the gap for a big hit, but the defensive-minded Tank/Elementalist wasn’t so easy to move. That left me with Gourmet, who hadn’t seen me start my combo, but had seen me switch to Understudy.

She went for the hot sauce and started going dragon—just like I’d hoped. I grinned at her and fired a single [Starlance] her way, as much to bait a retaliation as for anything else. It hit, shimmering against her wing momentarily before she shrugged it off. She had so much superhero damage!

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]

[Floating Points: 3 Flamboyance, 1 Grit]

She breathed a blast of fire at me; this time, I couldn’t dodge it. Dodging it would have meant a wasted combo, even though it would have finished successfully—no damage, no point in comboing. So, I ate the flames, feeling the heat increase as my superhero damage melted away.

[HP 6/11]

Then I spun, using [Spotlight Strike] in close, where she couldn’t use her fire breath, and she crashed toward the ground.

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point]

[Power-Weaving! +6 Flamboyance, 3 Grit, and 1 Drama Point]

Before she could recover—while she was still reaching for a beef stick, in fact—I spun in mid-air and blasted her near-point-blank with [Bit-Part Barrage]. All five shots hit her, one after another, and she held up a hand. “No more, Snack. You got me.”

[Dramatic Damage! +5 Drama Points]

I wanted to sit down and talk with my friend; we hadn’t seen each other much this semester, and I needed to know how her mom was, but Waterspout called for help before I could decide to take it easy, and he was right; Iron Fist was out of his league, and it’d only be a matter of time before he lost.

My first thought was to Copy Cat and get in the way, but then I got an idea…a terrible, stupid idea. Instead, I started attacking Quickstrike, forcing him onto defense with a volley of [Starlances]. He dodged them, backing up, and I pointed at Iron Fist as he did. “Hold him.”

“You got it,” Tractor-Beam-Girl said and fired a gravity beam his way. It grabbed him and stopped his attack just out of range from the battered-looking hero, who visibly relaxed.

Unfortunately, that left me going one-on-one with Quickstike, who seemed more than capable of closing the gap with Understudy or Rainy Day. I backed off, using [Solar Wing] to get a little more distance, but I couldn’t stop to fight him, and I only had one [Quick-Time Change] left. If I went Copy Cat and it was the wrong call, I’d be stuck.

Fursona couldn’t leave Tearjerker alone, or she’d shut down Waterspout. Vicegrip was stuck, barely holding Iron Fist back, and I had Quickstrike occupied, but we couldn’t win this way.

And worse, the sounds of fighting from the only unsealed door were getting closer. Did that mean the villains were about to break out? Or were we about to get much-needed reinforcements?

Then, a familiar voice echoed throughout the building.

“Good morning, Tokyexico University! Nobody move—not that you can! I, Monologue, the Sultan of Speeches, Lord of Loquaciousness, have returned to stake my claim over this district. That’s right, ladies, gentlemen, and heroes, I’m officially throwing my hat into the ring for Power War Three, and you’re my chosen peasants!

On and on he went, spouting off about how great the campus would be under his rule, and I wished for intervention from the Superpower Studies Professors. Where were they, anyway? Wasn’t this part of why they were here? The thoughts of reinforcements disappeared from my head as Monologue’s power echoed across campus, and all I could do was hope that the one counter we had got to him soon.

But hey! At least none of the villains could make a move, either!