[Casting Call]
[Episode: Power War: Free Agency - R]
[Role: Avenger! Do you accept the role? (Yes/No)]
[Role Focus: Drama+Flamboyance]
[Free Agency: Act One in Progress]
The plan was simple.
Show up at Fred Callahan’s place, make sure there weren’t any Extras around, and tear it apart until we found the entrance to 3V1L’s lair. Fursona had gone Kaiju-Sona, though she was still her normal size. She hadn’t said whether she got big like Kaiju Kid, but she’d insinuated it. And I couldn’t roll up in Super Girl Spotlight Star and waste my time in it.
So, instead, I was in Copy Cat. “I’m in position,” I murmured. “Checking windows.”
“No, I shouldn’t. Not yet,” I said. Then I cleared my throat. “Okay, I’m getting a pretty similar set-up to last time. Lots of 3V1L junk everywhere. The place looks filthier than before. I’m not convinced Fred’s been back—there’s dust everywhere.”
“Okay. I’m breaching the front door in three…two…”
“One,” I said and used [Pouncing Panther] to propel myself through the window, just like my stuffed cat familiar wanted me to. Glass shattered around me, but superhero damage dealt with the impact. She yowled something in my head as we hit the ground next to a pile of horned henchman helmets.
[Badass Move! +1 Badass Point]
[HP 13/14]
A half-second later, something crashed near the entrance. It repeated, and a roar echoed through the building as Kaiju-Sona tore the front door off its hinges. An alarm started wailing.
“That’s new,” Fursona quipped.
I blasted the nearest blaring speaker with a [Starlance] and rolled my eyes. “If I were an evil organization’s secret door, where would I be?”
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
“Somewhere the supers checked last time the place got raided,” Fursona said. She pointed at the bedroom. “In there, under the bed.”
“Of course. Move the entrance around every time a hero shows up.” I rushed into the bedroom where, sure enough, the bed’s back feet didn’t quite touch the floor. “Good thinking, Fursona.”
“I know. The system just told me, too.”
The bed opened when I pushed on it, revealing a flight of stairs lit by greenish LED strips that bathed a concrete tunnel in a pallid glow. I transformed into Understudy; the only thing tankier-looking than Roo-Sona was Kaiju-Sona, and I’d be better off providing ranged support.
Ahead, I heard footsteps rushing toward us. I readied my wand for a [Starlance]. This was it. The Agent had to be down here. He had to be. I was going to finish this, put the murderous villain where he belonged, and move on after a year of struggle.
A dark-haired man in a V’s mask poked his head around the corner. “Attention, Magical Girl Understudy, we are the Second V, and you’re trespassing on private property! Please leave.”
That sounded like weakness to me. I cleared my throat, but before I could respond, Fursona yelled, “We have a warrant, and that warrant is justice,” and rushed the villain.
They scattered before the spike-covered plushie kaiju and her fire breath, and I followed up with a [Starlance]. It caught one of the villains, who screamed and threw himself on the ground.
But he also turned and rushed me. And at the same time, he dodged into a closet, ducking the ray altogether.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
Two of the three new villains disappeared, but the third split into three again. Was he copying Budd Lightbeam? There was no way he’d sold his power, too! One of them swung a baseball bat toward Fursona, who caught it with a scale-covered shoulder. Another fired a gun at me; the bullet hit me dead in the chest, driving the air out of my lungs even as superhero damage did its job.
[HP 10/14]
I whirled and fired a room-clearing [Limelight Barrage] into the hall. Two of the three villains winked out as rays crashed into them, but the third took two hits, then split into three again. “Nice try, but I can do this all day.”
[Dramatic Damage! +3 Drama Points]
“I’m sure you can!” Fursona said. She roared and filled the concrete hall with fire. As the blast traveled down the hall and the Second Vs retreated, she turned toward me. “A cloner! Got any ideas?”
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Yeah. I go Super Girl and sweep him out of the way.” I was excited to try it. More than excited—I couldn’t wait. But then I shook my head. “But if I do, I won’t have it for later, and I doubt this guy’s the toughest opponent we’ll see today.”
“And I can’t go big here. Too small, won’t have an impact. So we do this the hard way?”
A bullet ricocheted off the wall over my head. “Yeah. The hard way. Awestruck?”
“Awestruck.” Fursona nodded.
Before the next bullet hit, I used [Power-Weaving] and [Quick-Time Change]. As time froze and I shrank down to the early teenage Magical Girl Rainy Day, I rushed forward, taking advantage of [Freeze Frame] to get under the clone Vs’ shots.
[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[Steel Yourself! +1 Grit Point]
[Floating Points: 1 Flamboyance]
[Thunderhead] crackled out a moment later, its shockwave punching into the clone Vs. As they slammed back into the wall, they vanished. Fursona took advantage and closed the gap between the Vs and us. But before she could make contact, two more clones appeared out of nowhere, and the V grinned as he backpedaled.
[Pause for Effect! +1 Drama Point]
[Floating Points: 3 Flamboyance, 1 Grit]
The V and his clones lashed out at Fursona, pummeling her with fists and firing a pistol at her. I didn’t panic—the bullets wouldn’t put her in the hospital through her superhero damage—but my gut did churn as I remembered the shot hitting Dr. Jackson. Something had to give, and I rushed forward as the vil backed away through the tunnel. The storm built overhead—and inside me.
Fursona kicked one gigantic, stumpy leg out, slamming it into a clone V. Then, as I closed the gap, her tail thrashed, and the other clone winked out. Her plushie hide had scarred where a bullet’s impact had crashed into her, but she looked fine.
I [Rode the Lightning] as I got in range of the V. Lightning lashed out at him, surging from the storm overhead to power my combo. The thunder crashed. A dozen half-formed shadow clones appeared and vanished. Then, the lightning stopped.
[Electric Lightshow! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[Thunderstruck! +1 Drama Point]
[Power-Weaving! +6 Flamboyance, 3 Grit, and 1 Drama Point]
The V stepped back through a door frame as the thunder echoed and quieted. Fursona coughed up another gout of flame, but it didn’t quite reach. He dropped into a martial arts stance, splitting off a pair of clones as he did.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re outmatched. Surrender, V!”
“I don’t think so. Your attacks are shocking, but I’m not stirred.”
“That makes no sense!”
Fursona stared at me; I could feel her eyes rolling beneath her Kaiju-Sona helmet. I blushed. “No, you’re right. Kick ass, talk to the prisoners after.”
“Yep,” she said.
The shadow clones opened fire with their pistols as the Second V ducked back. Pistol shots bounced off a Fursona, but I used [Virga] to heal the superhero damage as quickly as it came in—or almost as quickly. The shadow clones didn’t count as enemies, either, and the healing picked up my superhero damage, too, leaving me nearly full.
[Medic! +2 Cunning Points]
[HP 13/14]
[Doctors Without Borders! -1 Cunning Point]
But even though Kaiju-Sona could handle the shadow clones, she wasn’t making any progress toward the V himself. He kept retreating, summoning more copies whenever he lost one. “I’m going to slow-transform,” I said over comms. “Can you keep the pressure up?”
“Yeah, but that’s all I can do,” Fursona said. She sounded out of breath—unusual for her. “This suit takes a lot more to fight in than it should.”
Huh. Pataki hadn’t said anything about extra strain in Spotlight Star, but Kaiju-Sona was different. “Okay. Back in a minute!”
“Got it.”
As Fursona lumbered down the hall toward the Second V, I started a full-blown Transformation Sequence. The music swelled, the lights went wild, and Fursona had to switch from offense to defense as the Second V turned and tried to attack me with everything he had. But it was too late. As the music finally cut off, I switched back to Understudy and swiped a [Starlance] into the battle.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
The V stepped back, breathing heavily, and the fight paused. I went over my options.
I could probably link together a second combo. Maybe something with Copy Cat. If I did, it’d probably be enough to break the cloner’s stalling, and if Fursona could get to him, I didn’t think anyone could handle a close-range Kaiju.
But if it didn’t work, I’d be stuck in an infiltration-built Copy Cat and need another slow transform. That’d leave Fursona fighting the stall without support again.
So, my other option was to try machine-gunning down clones so my partner could make headway.
I went with that.
[Starlance] after [Starlance] ripped down the hall, and the Second V spawned clones to catch them. But I wasn’t aiming for him, and the clones played right into my goals. With every clone I blasted, Fursona got closer and closer to the V.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
He glanced at the hulking, wide-shouldered T-Rex, backpedaling, but missed a beat. One of my [Starlances] targeted him, catching him in the shoulder. He staggered. Fursona tore through a clone, loomed over the Second V, and roared. Flames rippled out from her plushie mouth.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
And the V vanished.
I looked from side to side, trying to find him. Where had he gone? Did he have teleportation, too? And why hadn’t he used it earlier to flank us with his clones? But Fursona just laughed. She burped smoke and pushed down with her clawed arms. “Too little, too late, V. You’re mine!”
As smoke swirled around her, I could see a man’s silhouette. He hadn’t teleported; he’d gone invisible. But Fursona already had him grappled. I winced as fire blazed out from her mouth, filling the hall.
Then, both suddenly and very expectedly, I got a notification.
[End of Act One: Act Two in Three Minutes]
The V winked back into sight, looking worse for wear. This close, I could actually see his uniform: the 3V1L helmet smoking from Fursona’s attack, the cloak smoldering away, and the armor seared black from the attack. He coughed—his didn’t include fire, but did have a little smoke in it—and raised his hands. “You two are nuts! The alarm’s already fired, and backup’s on the way!”
I cracked my knuckles. “Backup? More Vs, then? Don’t worry, we’ll be in and out as soon as we find The Agent.”
“The One L?” The villain’s face whitened under his helmet. He laughed nervously. “You’re in the wrong place.”
“That sounds like a lie,” Fursona said. Her eyes wobbled on thin plush stalks as she laughed.
The V shook his head. “He only visits every so often. He arrives out of nowhere and then disappears. He’s hiding out somewhere else and only comes by to empower Vs.”
Why was he telling me this? I rolled my eyes; it had to be misdirection. Then I laughed, putting as much disbelief and scorn into it as possible. “Let me guess. ‘The princess is in another castle?’”