[Power War: Prayers for the 3V1L: Act One in Progress]

Okay, so the news exaggerated a bit. And so did I.

The Poudre districts were a war zone, and fires were popping up, but to say the whole skyline was orange would be a lie. As usual, the cameras—both drones and news crews—were focused on the worst of the district, and as Fursona and I flew down Fritch Boulevard toward the factories, I passed a few isolated fires with crews already working to halt them. Even more encouraging, 3V1L’s henchmen avoided the fires as best they could.

But they couldn’t always.

Fursona and I landed near Fritch and Border, where a group of 3V1L mooks and a handful of men in yellow-red robes fought. “Who are we supposed to fight?” Fursona asked, pointing.

I took a moment to think, then fired a [Starlance] into the crowd. “Everyone!” The bolt caught an 3V1L mook and launched him across the battlefield.

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]

I got two more blasts off as we charged headlong toward the fighting. One hit, the other missed as its target got flattened by one of Sister Sly’s henches, fizzling harmlessly into the air.

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]

Then, suddenly, we were in melee range, and I [Quick-Time Changed] into Copy Cat. “I’ll cover you!” I said and pounced on the nearest 3V1L mook with [Leaping Leopards]. The force of my jump slammed him into the ground, and I whirled to catch another with my claws.

[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]

[Badass Damage! +1 Badass Point]

Fursona shrieked, the sonic waves picking up henches and tossing them aside. I grinned stupidly—she’d upgraded that power recently—and then backhanded one of Sister Sly’s monks before leaping on him with [Doom Ball].

[Badass Damage! +3 Badass Points]

And that’s when the 3V1L henches broke and ran.

I didn’t expect it, and looked around for the trap, but there wasn’t one—at least, not one I could see. The devil-helmeted henches just turned and started retreating, occasionally firing a shot over their shoulders that either ricocheted off the concrete or bounced harmlessly off my Tails-enhanced fur. Weirdly, Sister Sly’s goons didn’t stick around to fight us, either. They chased the 3V1L henches instead.

“After them!” Fursona shouted. I raced around the corner, a little confused but also excited. They’re retreating to a V. They had to retreat to a V, and that’d give us a chance to take out some 3V1L leadership, so if there was a chance this was a trap? That was fine! We could strike the blow we needed to.

Around the corner, I lashed out and caught one of Sister Sly’s armored henches with a [Cat-Scratch Fever], but instead of getting the usual Style System message, I got a different one.

[Armored Adversary! +1 Drama Point]

[The target has resisted your status effect]

I blinked, then smacked the minion until he hit the ground with his hands up. He tried to say something, probably along the lines of how Sister Sly had made him do it, but I didn’t bother to listen. It was always the same with henches.

Instead, we took off, pursuing the 3V1L henches. We chased them through a stoplight and into a convenience store parking lot—the gas station was on fire—where they turned and formed a ragged-looking line of battle. I smirked. This wouldn’t take long.

But as I barreled toward them, still in my Copy Cat outfit, a car door opened, and a woman in a red cape and open-chinned helmet stepped out. She snapped her fingers, and the sound lanced toward me like a spear, tossing me into the street. Then she clapped just as Fursona shrieked. The two sounds slammed into each other in visible waves and detonated over the henches’ heads. They scattered like pinballs.

[HP 11/12]

I pushed myself back to my feet. “Let me guess? You’re the First V?”

“For now.” Her voice shoved me back like getting hit by Jumper’s white van. I tried to roll with it, but I still hadn’t gotten a grasp on her powers, and it knocked me right back into a nearby alley.

[HP 9/12]

Okay. That hurt. I needed a tactical switch. So, as Fursona engaged, I laboriously switched back to Magical Girl Understudy. If her sound attacks fell off over distance, I could out-range her. And if not? I could switch to something better. As I spun and choral music swelled, Fursona shrieked again. Another sound-bomb detonated, and as my ears rang, I finished the transformation and ran out into the street—

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Just in time to catch another speedy lance of sound that spun me in a circle.

[HP 8/12]

The First V was fighting to get back to her car, where a pair of henches sat in the front seat, honking and revving the engine. Fursona had dropped in between them. Now, she dove and spun in the air, trying her best to avoid supersonic bullets from the car and claps and shouts from the First V.

I got myself oriented again, then fired a [Starlance] at the supervillain, expecting her to dodge. She didn’t even move—I couldn’t tell if she hadn’t seen me or didn’t think I was a threat, but the [Starlance] knocked her onto the pavement.

[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]

Unfortunately, as she fell, she screamed, and the whole gas station erupted in smoke and shook under her voice’s assault. I kept my feet somehow, and Fursona was fine in the air, but before the smoke cleared, the car’s engine revved, and the First V disappeared, leaving behind a pair of burned-out tire streaks in the parking lot.

“I’m getting so sick of car chases!” I said. “[Solar Wing]!”

“Agreed,” Fursona said. She looked a little worse for wear. “At nine superhero damage.”

“Eight here.” I hopped onto the board and took off, Fursona gliding above me as we weaved through street lights and traffic signals, chasing the only car on the road.

We were gaining on her; the compact car couldn’t keep up with our powers on the winding streets of South Poudre. In just a few more seconds, we’d be in range to start taking out its tires. It wouldn’t keep moving for long after that since it wasn’t a Road Rage special. Five seconds…two…

WHAM!

Something hit me from the side, and I spiraled out of control toward the street below as it exploded into a net that bound my magical wings to my body. I had a weird sense of deja vu as I plunged toward the asphalt. Two seconds. One.

CRUNCH!

[HP 4/12]

I bounced, the sharp stones in the street ripping at the net. It shredded as I skidded to a stop, and I thrashed and struggled my way out, already looking for the next V.

Instead, I watched as a rocket zoomed toward Fursona, exploded twenty feet away, and threw a similar net her way. She rolled with it, then dove for the street. My heart sank as another rocket streaked toward her, and I tried to follow the missile’s trail back up into the apartment buildings.

That’s when I saw her.

Sister Sly stood atop a building’s flat roof, her reddish fur contrasting with her black and white habit and a spent rocket launcher in her hands. She saw me staring, waved, and threw herself off the roof. Her grapple caught her fall. A moment later, she swung through the air and tossed a red-tinted grenade as she landed.

I had just enough time to see its gold-embossed cross pattern before it exploded.

BOOM!

The street filled with smoke and fire—again—but the explosion missed Fursona and me. I shouted, “Split!” Fursona launched herself up and right, and I started running left toward the shattered, weathered sidewalk. Dealing with the First V would have to wait.

I fired [Starlances] at the supervillain, who produced a shimmering shield that dissipated them around her in a fading drizzle of energy. Fursona shrieked, pushing air toward Sister Sly and knocking her back a step before her habit tightened around her head, blocking her human ears but leaving her too-large fox ears exposed.

Sister Sly laughed as she grabbed the next item from her bag of tricks. “You two haven’t changed at all! I recorded our entire fight, then built counters for your favorite attacks!” She tossed something into the air, and a grid of lasers leaped into the sky overhead, cutting the space between the apartments into two: on one side, Fursona and Sister Sly, and on the other, me.

“Ahahaha!” Sister Sly went for her next grenade as Fursona dipped to avoid the laser wall and wheeled around toward the supervillain. I couldn’t reach them, but I could still help my sidekick. I fired a [Bit-Part Barrage] at the villain, who’d just dashed out of a shriek.

Instead of hitting the villain, the laser grid seemed to redirect the attack, and beams filled the air inside their half of the road. I cut off the attack. “Shit! Fursona, I’m working on a way around. Hold your own till I get there!”

I dashed off down the street, using [Solar Wing] to get a little extra speed. Her laser grid couldn’t take up the whole city, so eventually, I’d find a way through. I only hoped it wouldn’t be too late.

As I pushed myself faster and faster, trying to find a gap or the end of the beams, they started wavering, then faded away into nothing. Of course! The laser grid had a limited battery, and producing that many beams had to burn through it like crazy. Kicking myself, I turned to rejoin the fight—only for a pair of her henches to jump me.

I blasted the first with a [Starlance] as I soared past them, but the second threw a sphere at me—one that exploded into a wall of goo. A moment later, I spun toward the ground again. She really had figured out counters for our tactics!

This time, the goo cushioned my landing, though I received a debuff message similar to the one we’d gotten from fighting Theseus.

[Goop: Mobility Powers Disabled for Understudy. Time remaining: 30 Seconds]

“Goop? Really?” I squared my shoulders, then dashed toward the last hench even as he reached for another bomb. I used [Spotlight Strike] and punched him in the face the second it got highlighted. He hit the ground, blinking and tearing up.

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point]

Then, without waiting for his admission of surrender, I sprinted back toward the two fursuited superheroes.

Shrieks and explosions filled the air—and so did another laser grid, but one that lay across the battlefield horizontally and kept Fursona from getting any space as the fox hounded her mercilessly with bombs and gizmos. But the supervillain wasn’t watching for me, and I threw myself into a tackle as I used [Spotlight Strike] again. My arms slipped through her shield, or maybe her shield didn’t handle melee attacks well, and I drove her to the ground.

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point]

A moment later, a gizmo activated, electrifying her whole fursuit and launching me into the air. I hit the ground with a thud, still twitching, and rolled awkwardly to avoid a grenade that went off next to me in a burst of smoke, fire, and asphalt chunks.

[HP 2/12]

Still, while I coughed from the acrid smoke, Fursona got through and hit the villain with a pair of talons. Sister Sly fired her grapple into the sky, pulling herself up just as the laser grid popped off and landing on a roof. She ducked down and came back up with another rocket launcher. I pushed myself to my feet, readying [Quick-Time Change] for the damage dodge. “Plan?”

“Get up there, dodge her missiles, and finish her off!” Fursona said. “She’s gotta be close to done.”

“Sounds good,” I started to say, but as I readied myself to fly again, a black SUV pulled onto the street, and a handful of goons in red masks piled out—along with a hulking figure in power armor, a red cloak, and a spiked helmet.