My three-bladed heavy saw arm lasted just long enough to join the real Theseus in tearing apart the other super bot. When it finally collapsed in a heap of scrap metal and wires, I breathed a sigh of relief and disconnected his arms from my shoulders; they didn’t fit quite right, and they were a temporary weapon by [Science has Rules?] very nature. Besides, I needed to get back to Rainy Day.
I used [Virga] to top off the whole team the second I finished transforming.
[Medic! +4 Cunning Points]
[HP 7/15]
It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“Well, that was messy!” Fursona said. She’d shifted plans to cover Lady Lockless—without her, we weren’t going home—and hadn’t gotten in on the fighting.
“Uh, ladies?” Theseus said from one of the doors. “I don’t think it’s over.”
My gaze shifted to the shattered door, and even though I couldn’t see much through the haze of smoke, the metal stomping sound made what he meant obvious. “Fursona, check the other door!”
“Don’t bother,” Rocko’s voice filtered into the room. “I’ve got a squad going that way, too. But in the interest of ratings, I’ll let you know what you’re up against. The first type’s a Bruiser/Speedster, able to switch forms in about three seconds for maximum aggression. We’re talking super-speed, super-strength, laser eyes, and a solid frame for taking punishment. Not whatever that was, but a lot of punishment.”
We didn’t bother listening to the rest of his speech. Theseus was already halfway down his hallway, and we piled in behind him. We hadn’t come this far to lose—no way! And the win condition was pretty clear. Rocko was on board somewhere, probably in a smoke-filled office with the thermometer at a hundred fifty degrees. If we cornered him, we could force him to shut down the bots and negotiate—this time in good faith!
The wave of super-bots came around the corner, and Theseus hit them like a tsunami of limbs. Saw blades and drills revved, bots started falling apart, and severed arms crashed to the ground. I fired a [Wind Front] into the clustered bots, and Fursona breathed fire into the hall behind us to stall the other wave.
[Badass Move! +1 Badass Point]
Then, suddenly, a door opened up next to us, and a different bot soared out. Rocko laughed over the intercom. “We’ve also got Elementalist bots, of course. Right now, they’re focused on four elements or on support mode. You’ll see what I’m talking about soon!”
This bot had a blue cape, and was a lot slimmer than the bruiser bots. It moved fluidly between Theseus and the bots he was fighting, then raised its hands before bringing them down in an arc—a shimmering shield formed in the air, twinkling like a fragile pane of ice. Theseus slammed a saw against it. A horrible screech filled the air. When he pulled it back, the blade was dull and notched.
“Shit,” he said, disconnecting the arm and waving for a replacement. Then he ducked for the side passage. “In here!”
I grabbed Lady Lockless and pulled her in, then made room for Fursona as she vomited even more fire. Battered, shattered, and half-melted super-bots filled the hall behind us, firing lasers and blasts of energy into the hall as we retreated down it.
The passage opened into another wide room, this one filled with smaller tables. It smelled different, too—more like food and less like tobacco. As the super-bots poured in behind us, I couldn’t help but admire them. “You got this idea from Peter, didn’t you?”
“No. But his LABRAT bot experimentation solved a few problems for us,” Rocko said. “We also took cues from someone with an AI magical girl robot. You’ll see that soon. Super-bots, get them!”
I was already Rainy Day, so I started a [Power-Weaving] into a [Thunderhead]. The shockwave from the power starting rippled out, knocking bots off their feet before the supports could get shields up. “I’m on crowd control for a minute. You two pick off any stragglers.”
[Pause for Effect! +1 Drama Point]
The bots were still recovering when I rolled into my next move, another [Wind Front] that pushed several of them back and let Fursona and Theseus quickly dismantle one caught on the wrong side of the burst. Theseus’s arm set-up was disgustingly lethal, but even so, he was losing two or three for every bot, and he was down to just one rearming drone. Fursona’s fursuit had gouges in the plush, and they weren’t going to hold much longer.
[Badass Move! +1 Badass Point]
[Floating Points: 1 Drama]
But they didn’t have to. I used another [Virga] to fill in the gaps as the bots rushed my teammates, topping them off and fixing their damaged costumes. Another bot exploded in the back, and then the Elementalists and ranged Bruisers started opening up with their lasers again.
[Medic! +4 Cunning Points]
[HP 9/15]
[Floating Points: 3 Drama, 1 Badass]
Then I used [Thunderhead] again. I’d used this technique before to create a massive, self-feeding cloud, and I was confident it’d work again here. The feedback loop filled the thin stormcloud clinging to the ceiling with so much static that my hair stood on end.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[Environmental Combo! +1 Cunning Point]
[Thunderstruck! +1 Drama Point]
[Power-Weaving! +6 Drama, 3 Badass, and 1 Cunning Point]
[Feedback 1]
[HP 8/15]
[Confirm Combo Continuation?]
Fursona and Theseus were getting the shit kicked out of them, but I figured I could ride the combo one more time before they outright lost, so I let the electricity build and build overhead until it looked like a full-on monsoon and tornado all at once.
[Environmental Combo! +1 Cunning Point]
[Thunderstruck! +1 Drama Point]
[Feedback 2]
[HP 7/15]
[Confirm Combo Continuation?]
Then I poured the comboed-up [Thunderheads] into a massive [Ride the Lightning]. It ripped across the bots, overloading circuits and triggering an enormous chain reaction. Metal arms and legs flew every which way, and Lady Lockless screamed as the ship’s power went off and tables, bots, and the four of us went weightless.
[Electric Lightshow! +1 Flamboyance Point]
Fursona couldn’t move. She doggy paddled in the air and tried using her fire breath—but nothing worked. Theseus’s rocket legs propelled him toward the ceiling, and a moment later, he was spider-walking on it and wrapping Lady Lockless in a multi-limbed embrace.
As for me? I used [Quick-Time Change] to switch to Understudy. She had the best kit for weightlessness, and some of the surviving bots seemed to be struggling. As I finished transforming and scooted toward Fursona on [Starlight Sail], Theseus was already most of the way to the exit.
[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[Rejuvenation Activated! HP 11/15]
We pushed through it into a massive airlock.
The entryway looked less like something to move people through and more like where two ships would connect if they needed to move supplies between them. A huge door covered the outside, with reinforced glass windows revealing…nothing. No planet, no other ships, just empty space as far as I could see—and probably a lot farther than that. On the far side, another door was open, with a flashing red emergency light overhead. Theseus fired his thrusters and zoomed toward it, and I followed.
WHAM!
[HP 10/15]
Something hit me from the side. Fursona screamed as the impact knocked her off my sailboard, only to go cartwheeling off into zero-G. I banked the sailboard and rocketed toward her. Theseus shredded the Bruiser bot a moment later.
Then the main lights went on, and Rocko’s voice filled the airlock. “Okay. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this has been fun, but it’s time to stop before someone important gets hurt.”
The small doors on either side of the huge airlock started to close.
Another Ilneat’s voice filled the air, sounding slightly synthetic. I couldn’t catch it all, but what I heard gave me chills. Rocko was going to open the outside airlock! I had to get to Fursona and get out of here!
I rocketed past her, looped around, and picked her up—just as the doors slammed shut.
“Okay, that’s bad,” I said.
The digital Ilneat’s voice filled the airlock again as I looked around. We had two minutes. Maybe three—I hadn’t done great on numbers. Theseus and Lady Lockless were nowhere to be seen. I let out a sigh of relief; they must’ve gotten out in time!
“Sorry,” Fursona said, “but you shouldn’t have come back for me.”
I shook my head. “Of course I was coming back for you. I have a plan.” Then I [Quick-Time Changed] into Lucky Star.
She looked at me, and even though I couldn’t see them, I knew her eyes were either wide or glaring. “No. You’d better not,” she said. But she didn’t have any leverage. There was nowhere for her to go.
“I’m switching back to Understudy as soon as I do. Babe, Lady Lockless will have the door open in just a second, and I’ll be fine. But just in case she doesn’t, I’m getting you out of here.
The fuzzy dinosaur started flailing around, and I pulled her in close to avoid the worst of the thrashing. She couldn’t get away. There was nowhere to go. “Love you, Bee,” I said.
Then I activated [Noncombatant Teleport], and Fursona vanished.
[Dramatic Rescue! +1 Drama Point]
“This is perfect,” Rocko’s voice said over the intercom. “I hadn’t introduced the magical girl bots yet, and now that you’re not with your friends, they’ll need a couple to remind them of you. I’ll let you play with one or two as well. And as for the door? Well, let’s just say Fitch and Brown have their hands full. They won’t be saving you.”
They were lying. Theseus and Lady Lockless would come through. They had to. I started the slow shift into Magical Girl Understudy. Choral music and flashing lights filled the room as the Rescue Girl Lucky Star Costume disappeared and my body went bright white. The dress formed over my torso, and tights and gloves worked their way from my fingers and toes up my limbs.
And the whole time, Rocko wouldn’t stop talking. “You can save them, and yourself. All you have to do is agree to some simple terms. Sign back on with Rocko Studios, same contract as before. We’ll choose the Episodes, create a more controlled schedule and persona for you, and together, you and I can rule the superhero show galaxy. And I’ll make sure Fursona gets a show somewhere far away from you, so you both stay under control.”
I couldn’t respond. Bows were tying themselves into my hair and across my chest as I transformed. The music swelled, and for a minute, I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Then, as it slowly faded to a reasonable volume and the boots laced themselves all the way to my knees, I heard him say, “That’s a no, then? That’s fine. We’ll test out the MG bots for a minute.”
The music stopped. The lights faded. I hovered mid-air, gravity completely cut in the room as [Solar Wing] activated like it thought I was falling. Then two hatches opened, and a pair of bots entered the room.
These ones had no capes. Instead, pink dresses covered their metal skin, and two steel staffs hung from their grips. And behind them came two familiars. I couldn’t quite make out what they were supposed to be, but they were definitely animals of some kind.
I raised my wand. One of the Magical Girl bots fired a beam of energy my way before I could even get my [Starlance] off, and I had to spiral toward the floor. At the same moment, the digital Ilneat gave a warning; I had fifteen seconds.
I opened up with everything I had, zooming toward the exit door. Lady Lockless would get it open. She had to. [Starlance] after [Starlance] poured into the MG-bots, and they returned fire with rays and beams of their own. For a few seconds, the room was an apocalypse of bright, flashing lights and color vomit.
[Dramatic Damage! +4 Drama Points]
But the door wasn’t opening.
The voice counted down. Five. I ducked a massive beam that swung across the room like a scythe. Four. Two more [Starlances], then a roll—I had to keep my distance or I’d get torn apart.
[Dramatic Damage! +2 Drama Points]
Two seconds. Where had three gone? I looked at the door one last time. Still closed, still locked. Then I took a deep breath.
One.
The massive airlock opened, and I lost control of my [Solar Wing] as every scrap of air vented from the room—and from my lungs.