I had no idea what Fursona’s new Costume could do in a closed space, but we were still in an Investigative Episode, so I didn’t argue when she took point. My heart pounded, though; if this really was 3V1L, we’d have our hands full soon enough, and I somehow doubted the eagle fursuit had the same staying power as Roo-sona.
Still, the basement was our best lead, even if I didn’t know how Bob had known about it. And if he was lying, it’d be easy enough to shift our investigation elsewhere. So we crept down the concrete stairs and into a long, dark laundry room. I reached for the light switch and flicked it, but the fluorescents overhead didn’t turn on. “Someone needs to get maintenance down here, stat!” I joked.
“Yeah. Listen to those machines,” Fursona agreed. She walked over to a washer that kept thumping against the floor with every spin. “This place is falling apart.”
“Yeah.” I thought about shifting to Copy Cat, hoping Tails’s cat eyes would be able to guide us, but then I had a better idea. [Check the Script] revealed the problem; a sparking glow behind the switch told me someone had broken the wire. As I looked closer, I realized that they had shot it out.
[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point]
“Okay, we may be dealing with more guns,” I said, shivering. I had no idea how well superhero damage took a bullet. “And 3V1L probably came through here.”
“Got it. Let’s push on.” Fursona started across the room, moving purposefully, and I followed in her wake. On the far side, a hallway led farther into the basement, and this time, when Fursona flipped the switch, the light flickered on. It wasn’t much, but it did reveal a half-opened door ahead.
I started toward it, but Fursona held out a winged hand. “I can see better than you. Let me take a look.”
“Uh, sure,” I said. “I’ll just wait here.”
While I waited, she crept to the door, talons clicking slightly on the concrete, and peeked inside. Then she quickly pulled her beaked head back. “We’ve got henches. Lots of them. They’re tearing the room apart looking for something. Devil masks. It’s 3V1L for sure.”
[Episode Finished!]
[Investigative Episode: The Gold Dust Avenue Mystery - PG]
[Penalties: 0x Rating Warnings - No Penalty]
[Episode Finished! +3 of each Style Point]
[Winner Winner! +1 of each Style Point]
[Role Focus: Cunning+Drama - Goal Met! +5 to Focused Styles][Alias - Understudy] [Archetype - Magical Girl] [Community Rank - 218/523]
[HP 11/11]
[Styles and Skills]
►Archetype Skill - Transformation Sequence
►Combo Skills - Power-Weaving
►Badass (53) (Skill Roll Available)
►Cunning (47)
► Check the Script 1
► Audition Notes 1
►Drama (56) (Skill Roll Available)
► Bit-Part Barrage 2
►Flamboyance (42)
►Signature Skill - Adaptive Armoire 3
►Stored Costumes: (Rainy Day, Copy Cat, Lab Assistant Panic)
►Solar Wing 1
► Quick-Time Change 3
►Grit (37)
► I-Frame Transform 3
[50 Badass Credits Used. Rolling Skill!]
[50 Drama Credits Used. Rolling Skill!]
While I waited for my skill rolls to finish, I pointed at the door. “We should take the fight to them fast, especially if they have guns. Focus on anyone who’s packing, take them out, and mop up the rest.”
[Rank-Up! TA-1LZ New Head-Cannon 1: Gatling-taser replaced with rubber bullets in higher-league fights]
[Rank-Up! Hometown Heroine 2: Speed increase is faster, allowing you to dodge more attacks and close gaps against quicker enemies]
Fursona nodded. The moment she did, I got a new Casting Call.
[Casting Call]
[Episode: The Root of all 3V1L - PG-13]
[Role: Super Sidekick! Do you accept the role? (Yes/No)]
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
[Role Focus: Flamboyance+Badass]
I accepted without thinking, but Fursona kept staring into space for a moment. Then she laughed softly. “What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
I read it again. Then it hit me. “Wait, wait, wait. I’m the sidekick here?”
“Looks like it. Alright, through the door, beat up the henches!” Before I could protest, Fursona flung the door open and screeched. The sound bounced through the door, and I heard a dozen people, maybe more, groaning and screaming.
[The Root of all 3V1L: Act One in Progress]
Then we rushed in.
The room was a long, wide space with dozens of doors around it, each packed close to the others and each with a lock on the outside. Some of the 3V1L henchmen had been trying to break into them, judging by the crowbars, hammers, and even a battery-powered drill they carried. But none of them had succeeded yet. Others held bats, heavy wrenches, and, in two minions’ hands, pistols. One went off, but the shot went wild, slamming into the ceiling above.
I fired a [Bit-Part Barrage] at the shooter before he could pull the trigger again. My spin was a touch off, though, and the first shot missed, hitting a hench behind him. The second two made contact, and then the rest rocketed into the mass of henchmen. Three henches went down, screaming and cursing.
[Dramatic Damage! +5 Drama Points]
Fursona screeched again, and the whole group of henches covered their ears as the high-pitched attack washed over them. Then, before they could recover, she flapped her wings twice and slammed, talons first, into another gunman. They hit the ground in a whirlwind of feathers, claws, and fists, and the gun skittered across the floor. I kicked it, and it clattered under a locked door.
[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point]
The henches recovered a moment later. They rushed me, and I reached for my wand, then realized that Understudy’s build was spent already. Instead, I activated [Quick-Time Change] just as the first hench reached me, mind-merging with Tails to become Copy Cat. The [I-Frame Transform] ducked a whole barrage of kicks, punches, and baseball-bat swings, but it only lasted a few seconds.
[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[Steel Yourself! +1 Grit Point]
I lashed out with my claws, scoring hits across a hench that sent her hobbling back and holding her shredded arm. Then, I used [Leaping Leopards] to get some distance. Across the way, Fursona had finished off her gunman and was tearing into the henches on her side of the room. It looked like we were winning.
[Badass Move! +1 Badass Point]
BANG!
[HP 7/11]
The impact forced me back, and I staggered against the wall. I looked down at the bullet that’d punched into my arm, then at the gunman who’d pulled the trigger, blinking in horror. He’d shot me! But before I could use [Leaping Leopards] again, Fursona’s screech filled the room for a third time, and she shredded the shooter with her talons, screaming obscenities at the top of her modulated voice.
I used [Doom Ball] on a nearby hench, ripping into her stomach and legs with a series of vicious scratches, then looked for another target.
[Badass Damage! +3 Badass Points]
There was one, but he wasn’t a henchman.
The man wore a devil helmet complete with too-long horns that left his chin exposed, and a reddish cloak whirled around his body. He carried a vicious-looking sword in one hand. His other hand was raised in a wave, and he cleared his throat the moment he had my attention. “I propose a Neutral Field. Stand down, minions of 3V1L.”
The henches didn’t drop their weapons, but they lowered them, and I realized that two more had drawn handguns and pointed them my way. “Terms?” Fursona asked. Something felt off, but I couldn’t place it. Was it the villain? Or something about how the Episode was going? I couldn’t tell.
He cleared his throat before I could figure it out. “You’re not who 3V1L is after. Truth be told, you’re an inconvenience, but one that’d be expensive to clean up. So, we’ll withdraw our henchmen from the area and then discuss what we believe is happening. Once that’s done, you’ll be free to resolve the problem as you see fit. My henches will wait in the laundry room, and if you choose to go your own way, you can continue through the door we came in. We’ll switch sides of the basement.”
The man’s voice felt familiar—almost Agent-like—and I shivered. “We shouldn’t accept,” I whispered, walking up to Fursona.
“But if we don’t, the henches will gun us down, and they have supervillain support now. At this point, I think it’s our best play,” Fursona said. I nodded slowly. “We accept. Neutral Fields.”
----------------------------------------
[End of Act One: Act Two in Three Minutes]
My fingernails dug into my palms even through my cloth gloves as the 3V1L henches filed out of the room, carrying their fallen comrades. Everything about this felt like a trap—the henchmen outside, the villain’s confidence, and the set-up that’d drawn us in here. Was Fursona crazy? I looked at her, trying to get her to change her attention, but it was too late. Whatever she’d set in motion, it couldn’t be stopped now. We just had to trust 3V1L.
Meanwhile, the devil-helmed man smirked and sat on the floor, legs crossed and sword across his lap. Once the room emptied out, he cleared his throat again. “I am, for the moment, the Third V. You’re here because, according to all evidence, an Extra was assaulted by one of our henchmen, correct?”
“Yes,” I muttered, fists balled. How dare he condescend us like that?! He knew what we were after.
“Wrong. What you’ve walked into is nothing but a simple turf war,” he said, grinning. “The assaulted Extra was, in fact, our henchman, and the attacker was—we believe—Sister Sly.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said.
Fursona shot me a look with her eagle eyes, but the Third V laughed before she could say anything. “Frankly, I don’t care what you believe. I don’t need to talk you down from here. I can call in the henches, or we can keep talking. Up to you.”
“Say we believe you,” Fursona said. “What’s your proof?”
“To be honest, I don’t care to share the details. They’ll compromise 3V1L’s goals. In general terms, Sister Sly wasn’t an issue for us a year ago. We were in the process of shredding the Mutual Assistance League’s Poudre operations and making sure the districts were ours. Since then, she’s come out of nowhere, and we’ve had to pivot to dealing with her. Golden Goose’s murder spree made keeping her out of North Poudre much tougher. Otherwise, Sister Sly would never have gotten a foothold.”
Something was really off here. It seemed like he was giving us too much, even though he’d said he didn’t want to share details. I glanced at Fursona, trying to get her attention. When that didn’t work, I cleared my throat. “So, let me guess? You want us to stop beating up your henchmen, hunt down your villainous rival, and beat her. In return, you’ll…what?”
“Stop having my henches fight you, of course.” The Third V laughed. “You’ll have free passage through the Poudre districts today, and unless you interfere with our operations, my henches won’t harass you in the University or Mid-Town districts from here on.”
“A tempting offer,” Fursona said. Then she stood up and stretched her wings. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch. We both get what we want. You get to focus on your other rogues, and we get to solidify control of the Poudre districts before the third Power War begins.”
“I think—“ I started.
“No,” Fursona said before I could finish. “Of all the villains in our rogue’s gallery, 3V1L is the biggest threat. Making a deal with Theseus would be one thing. We can trust him to honor it. But we can’t trust you. So, given that it’s two against one, we propose an alternative arrangement. We beat you, shut down your part of 3V1L, and then go after Sister Sly.”
The Third V laughed. “I thought you might say that. So, my counter-offer. I fight you two and delay you while my henches swarm down the police outside and use them as bargaining chips. Then, we re-discuss this arrangement with different stakes. Henches, get them!”
[The Root of All 3V1L: Act Two in Progress]