[Back With Avengeance: Act Three in Progress]
There was a moment—one perfectly calm moment before the quad outside of Walnut Hall exploded in a tide of superpowers—where it felt like it was just The Agent and me standing twenty yards apart, glaring at each other. My fists tightened, and I could hear my heartbeat pulsing in my ear. This…this asshole had revived 3V1L, ruined the Poudre districts again, and now he was on my campus, hunting me, because I’d won a race for the minor leagues that he’d been trying to rig!
What was his game? Did he get some sort of satisfaction from messing with minor leaguers? And what was he trying to prove—and to who? All these questions ran through my mind and out the other side, replaced with one crystal-clear thought.
It wasn’t right. And I was ready to do something about it.
I raised my wand to fire a [Starlance] his way, and that’s when all hell broke loose.
As my wand fired, every super in the quad moved—and there were at least twenty! The pink-and-blue bolt sliced through the air toward The Agent, who took it straight in the chest. But I couldn’t follow up because a pair of eye lasers ripped through a tree nearby, and branches rained down around us!
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
Fursona got airborne but found herself in a three-on-one battle against a bat-winged vil, one wearing a jetpack, and one who hung out on the ground firing beams at her. I couldn’t exactly help, either, because everywhere I turned, a V was already there, walling me off, firing a wave of green-tinted water at me, and catapulting through the air like a bullet.
I couldn’t stop moving to take a breath. I definitely couldn’t stop to attack for more than a second. All these villains—so many powers—all directed my way. I used [Limelight Barrage] to fire into a whole group of vils, trying to carve a path to The Agent. They fell like bowling pins, scattering every which way. Some got up. Others didn’t, but I didn’t have time to figure out why.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Points]
A V in a red cape and spandex that let me see way too much of him landed in front of me with a sword; I ducked the first swing, ate the second, and used [Improvised Ovation] to copy the attack. My two swords hit him before he could parry, knocking him into a tree.
[HP 4/13]
[Faker with Flair! +1 Flamboyance Point]
My heart thumped in my chest, and I let myself grin. We’d taken out a half-dozen Vs already! We were making progress toward The Agent. I used [Quick-Time Change] and [Freeze Framed] an eyebeam and two powered punches, shifting to Rainy Day with the Itsy Bitsy Spider dance. A series of explosions rippled across the battlefield, and I threw myself behind a tree as bombs rained down from above. “Fursona, you got that?”
[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[Steel Yourself! +1 Grit Point]
“Yeah, one sec. Kinda busy here!” Fursona dove toward the gyrocopter responsible for the bombs, screeching and slashing at the unprotected pilot.
The Agent laughed. “You can’t possibly think you’ll win this, can you? I’ve got numbers and another two carloads of henches where those came from. You should just give up and save us all the time and energy.” I wasn’t sure, but there almost seemed to be a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
The henches didn’t give me time to process it, though.
I used [Power-Weaving] to build toward something that’d break the tide of Vs pressing toward me, then launched a [Thunderhead] into the air. The cloud started spreading overhead, sparks of lightning hopping through it as it expanded, but before I could set up a proper combo, a pair of villains rushed toward me in near-identical suits.
[Pause for Effect! +1 Drama Point]
I blasted them aside with [Wind Front], knocking them across the quad, and whirled around, only to face a trio of attackers with nunchucks and sais. How many henches were there? Two of the nunchucks hit me, spinning me around and knocking me to the side.
[Badass Move! +1 Badass Point]
[Floating Points: 1 Drama]
[HP 2/13]
I needed to shift. I needed to activate Virga and heal Fursona and me. I needed to fight the henchman swarm.
But I couldn’t do all three. I took a running leap, throwing myself toward The Agent. If I could take him out, would it shut down the henches? Maybe. But even as I used [Quick-Time Change] to switch into Understudy again, I realized what had to be happening. These Vs were too easy!
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[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[Rejuvenation Activated: HP 7/13]
[Floating Points: 3 Drama, 1 Badass]
When we’d fought one V, or even two, they’d usually been tough. Maybe not always on our level, but challenging enough. They’d fought like they understood their powers, and they’d had superhero damage to match. Even earlier today, the first two Vs had been brutal, but the second set had barely been a match for us; they’d done damage but folded pretty quickly compared to not-Brick House and the red-and-gray witch. The Agent’s power had to be spread thin with twenty on the battlefield at once.
So, when I landed, I didn’t go for The Agent. Instead, I waited, dodging vils’ attacks and waiting for the right opportunity. [Thunderhead] finished, and I fired an empowered [Starlance] toward The Agent, who ducked behind a tanky-looking vil. Unfortunately for the V, she wasn’t ready for the full combo and smashed into her boss then bounced off the SUV’s door.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
[Thunderstruck! +1 Drama Point]
[Power-Weaving! +6 Drama, 3 Grit, and 1 Badass Point]
That still wasn’t my window, though. I fired another [Starlance], this time toward one of the ninja-themed Vs, and rolled to dodge a blow from a Brusier whose muscles bulged unrealistically out of their armor. Then, suddenly, I saw it: an opportunity.
An Elementalist near the back of the swarm was powering up some sort of watery tornado; had he taken the power from Waterspout or some other super? It didn’t matter. What did matter was that I could copy it. I used [Improvised Ovation], started up my own tsunami-in-a-tube—only one, sadly—and the pink-blue water grew taller and taller. Then, when I couldn’t hold it anymore—and as Vs rushed me from all sides—I released it.
[Faker with Flair! +1 Flamboyance Point]
The tide slammed into the assembled hench-Vs, shoving them into trees and ripping dirt and grass from the quad as it exploded outward. A moment later, my feet touched mud, safely behind the exploding wall of water. The Elementalist’s tornado exploded a moment later, and I had to use [Solar Wing] to dodge the incoming deluge. Then, almost as quickly as it started, the power stopped.
Not faded away or dissipated. Stopped.
A pair of familiar heroes had landed in the center of the chaos. Doctor Mays stood in his full glory, furiously reading a package of some alien product as fast as he could while Doctor Jackson strode toward The Agent in her salmon-colored pantsuit and shimmering silvery bubble. Every other hero, villain, and Extra unfortunate enough to be anywhere near Mays was stuck in place, unable to move a muscle, and every power had frozen, too.
Every power except one.
As Doctor Jackson reached him, The Agent’s face changed from a sneer to a glare, and a similar silver bubble shimmered around him as his finger pressed down onto his nametag. I tried to gasp but couldn’t; Doctor Mays’s power was supposed to be unbeatable! Suddenly, The Agent’s briefcase was out of the car, open, and a pistol was in his hand.
BANG!
Doctor Jackson went flying backward as the pistol went off. She hit the ground hard, convulsing and clutching a wound on her shoulder. The Agent closed his briefcase and touched his nametag. As he did, I got a good look at the Ilnean letters on it. “Emergency teleport for Thornberry, now!”
And, just like that, he vanished into thin air.
◄▼►
Doctor Jackson was down, and Mays couldn’t stop the advertisement without releasing the swarm of hench-Vs. And, to make matters worse, I couldn’t figure out where The Agent had gone. He’d vanished without a trace; not even his pistol had been left behind as evidence. I tried to crane my neck to get a better view, but I definitely couldn’t break Mays’s power.
He stopped talking, and I ran toward Dr. Jackson, already shifting into Rescue Girl Lucky Star with [Quick-Time Change]. Powers froze around me, then started, a dozen supers bursting into action, but I ignored them. The moment I reached her, she wrapped a hand around my ankle, gripping it like Fursona’s talons until I could feel her nails gouging my skin. Her eyes closed, but she kept breathing. Then Mays kept going, locking the battlefield down around us.
[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[Steel Yourself! +1 Grit Point]
“Okay, we’re going to get this figured out,” I said, putting my hands on the wound. It looked back, but she was still awake, so it couldn’t be lethal, right? How had it even punched through her superhero damage? None of this made sense, and my head was spinning. I needed more information.
Doctor Jackson couldn’t talk. I couldn’t ask Doctor Mays. And no one else could move. That left me with one option. I had to get Doctor Jackson out of here and drop her somewhere safe so Mays could let us finish the fight.
I activated [Noncombatant Teleport].
Nothing happened. The circle didn’t appear below Doctor Jackson. She didn’t disappear.
I tried [Audition Notes], but they came back empty. And then, cutting slowly through my panic, I realized that her power made her immune to everyone’s powers unless she allowed it, and while she was unconscious, she couldn’t allow it!
I only had one option if I wanted to save her. So, carefully, I wiggled my hand between my ankle and her fingers until they were meshed in mine. Then I hoisted her over my shoulder as best I could and started running.
◄▼►
I ran for a long time.
For what felt like hours. Days, even, with Doctor Jackson bouncing on my shoulder and gasping painfully with every step. Was I doing the right thing? Or was I making it worse? I couldn’t tell. A camera drone followed me, humming along and recording her pained face, but I didn’t stop.
In the end, I probably only ran for a minute or two before I got to the Student Union Building. The glass windows were blown out—all of them—and a very angry Mindstorm stood in the ballroom, looking down as a pair of police officers escorted McHammer and Lord Destructo away. They both looked way worse for wear, covered in cuts and bruises, but I didn’t stop to talk with them. They were lucky to be alive, after all.
Instead, I jogged through the field of broken glass, shards crunching against my boots.
I hadn’t even made it inside when a second Doctor Mindstorm appeared next to me, looking less angry and more worried. “What happened to her? Get her inside. We’ve got a medical station going until the ambulances get here again.”
“The Agent. He shot her right through Doctor Mays’s power,” I said.
Doctor Mindstorm’s face shifted again, this time from worry right back to anger. “Where’d he go? I can beat him!” Her fists balled.
“He’s gone. I don’t know. Off-world or something,” I mumbled. “He had a whole army of temps. They’re by Walnut Tower.”
“Got it.” Before I could say anything, Doctor Mindstorm vanished. All the Doctor Mindstorms did. I tried to tell her about Fursona, Doctor May, or what I thought was happening with the hench-Vs, but I couldn’t. All I could do was stagger into the Student Union Building—which was shockingly intact—and join the line of injured students and faculty.
But somewhere in the back of my head, there was another thought. That the TU administration was going to pin this all on me.