My vision went red.
The Agent was right there. If I swung hard enough, fast enough, I could overwhelm him before he could disappear again. And I wouldn’t stop once I had him. Not until he couldn’t hurt anyone again. He’d kidnapped Kaiju Kid.
My wand went up, aiming at him, but Stella-Lunar cleared her throat beside me. “Understudy, you’ve got no chance of winning this fight.”
Laughter echoed across the street as The Agent slow-clapped. “Good call, Stella-Lunar. Once we clear the board here, it’ll be right back to how things were. That’s what you want, right? The way things were, the end of the Power War, and you sitting on the laurels of ‘most powerful.’ And all you have to do to get it is finish off the Magical Girl next to you. It’d be cheapest that way, but I can, of course, pay the cost to get it done without you.”
Stella froze, the star behind her head shimmering. Her eyes glanced toward me, and Iyago landed on a piece of broken masonry next to me. The two-headed owl familiar coughed once. “Listen, you’ve got one shot at getting out of here. You’d better take it.”
Then, before I could move, Stella-Lunar [Reversed Gravity], and I got to see how much she’d been holding back.
Every hench in the street below us rose twenty feet, then dropped like a rock. So did the first of three helmeted Vs who’d just emerged behind The Agent. Only three people didn’t move.
The Agent.
Stella-Lunar.
And me.
“Run!’ Stella-Lunar shouted. I hesitated—The Agent was right there—but she pushed me off the building, and I fell toward the ground. [Solar Wing] caught me, and before I knew it, I was flying for the door out of the Hot Zone as fast as I could.
Behind me, the first two Vs got airborne—one rode what looked like a dragon, while the other had a jetpack and some huge cannon that looked like something Professor Panic would have built. The third tried to chase me, but Stella-Lunar hit him with a [Sunbeam] and knocked him clean out of the sky.
I rounded the first corner and slowed down, losing altitude. The dragon rider surged around the corner, flames boiling out from her mount’s mouth, but I already had a [Starlance] in the air. It hit her, and she pulled the reins left, spiraling toward the ground before catching her dive.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
WHUMP!
The other V’s cannon fired—I’d been right; it was a lot like my ex’s weapons. The hypercompressed air rippled out and buffeted me through a window. I landed in what looked like a break room, complete with a foosball table.
[HP 7/15]
Behind me, a gun fired. Then it fired again. And a third time. Was it a hench opening up on Stella-Lunar? Or was it The Agent? Could he hurt her, too, like Dr. Jackson? I had a bad feeling, but I didn’t have time to check; the two Vs were right back on me, and I had to run.
I’d handled fights like this before, even at half my superhero damage. But I didn’t have any heavy-hitting powers left, and The Agent had only gone with three Vs this time. I rocketed toward where the door had been, caromed into the building, and stopped.
It was closed.
I whirled, firing another [Starlance] toward the jet-pack user even as his cannon belched out another burst of compressed air. My light lance punched through the airburst, sending it wavering in a dozen directions, then hit the V.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
We traded shots for a second, dodging and ducking next to the closed door as we blasted away at each other. Then, one of the building’s walls collapsed, and the dragon rider’s steed tore through the rubble. I spun, firing another [Starlance], but before it could hit, the room filled with fire.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
[HP 4/15]
At least they didn’t hit as hard as Stella-Lunar had. So that was something.
Fuck. I couldn’t leave anymore. The only way out of the Hot Zone was this one door, and if Lady Lockless didn’t open it, I didn’t see any way I was getting out of here. And I probably couldn’t get to The Agent. He’d just disappear.
There wasn’t a good play left here. But if I got lucky, maybe I could make something happen. I could…I wasn’t sure. Reach The Agent? Maybe hurt him or make him leave? Those both seemed unlikely.
But it was worth a shot.
I ran down the hall toward a shattered wall of windows and used [Solar Wing] as I reached them. The dragon’s breath roiled out behind me as I erupted from the building, turning back toward the last place I’d seen The Agent. Outside the Hot Zone, thunder boomed.
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It was February. We didn’t usually get thunderstorms in February—unless a power was causing them.
My wings left trails across the sky as I whipped down the canyon-like buildings, hot wind stinging my eyes. I turned a corner onto the stree—
WHUMP!
The jetpack V fired an airburst, slamming me across the street and bouncing me off a wall. As I hit the ground, my wings vanished, and the huge dragon’s feet landed on either side of me a moment later.
[HP 1/15]
I rolled as its jaws closed on empty air, ducking between its legs and using my last [Quick-Time Change]. I landed in Lab Assistant Panic this time, letting the villainous impulses wash over me. TA-1LZ appeared, opening fire with her [New Head-Cannon] and riddling the monster with rubber bullets and tasers that did little more than annoy it.
But it gave me a second to think. And in that second, I dashed toward a warehouse. Inside was exactly what I was looking for: an old computer. As I tore it apart and the building’s wall buckled from a hypercompressed airburst, I muttered to myself. “Electron-repulsive dual-charged defense matrix and screen-shotgun. Relies on, um…”
The Vs pushed into the building. I was out of time.
“Nuclear pro-fission-cy!” I shouted.
[Pseudoscientific Mumbo-Jumbo! +1 Drama Point]
The thin wire mesh I’d thrown over me activated, electrifying my costume and somehow repelling the dragon’s flames. A moment later, I fired the screenshot-gun toward both villains. Pixels vomited from the thing’s ‘barrel.’ They bounced off every surface, tearing into dragon scales and jetpack alike. A moment later, the computer’s screen changed to the moment of impact.
[Pseudoscientific Mumbo-Jumbo! +1 Drama Point]
Everything was coming apart already, though. I’d only get a couple more screenshots, and the defense matrix wouldn’t take another hit like that. Plus, both Vs were separating.
I fired again. If I had to choose, I’d rather take the dragon rider out. The blast caught the beast on the chin—and everywhere else. This thing was the least accurate weapon I’d ever improvised up! But it was enough.
[Pseudoscientific Mumbo-Jumbo! +1 Drama Point]
It crumpled to the ground in front of me, winged front legs pushing the ground like it was trying to get airborne one last time. The rider himself landed hard but rose to her feet and drew a warhammer. But I’d bought myself an advantage. As another airburst broke my defense matrix apart, I threw the screenshot-gun toward the dragonless rider and ran.
That left only one super who could chase me. I could take him. Granted, I didn’t have much superhero damage, but I could take him. It’d be just like beating Professor Panic.
Except Professor Panic rarely flew, and this guy seemed more comfortable in the air than not.
The storm outside wouldn’t stop building. Lightning kept hitting, striking both the Hot Zone’s shield and the buildings around it. Three bolts hit the Council of Heroes building, and I hoped the people inside were safe.
Because I had a problem I hadn’t realized—I couldn’t switch off Lab Assistant Panic. I was out of [Quick-Time Changes], and the jetpack V was too close to slow-transform.
“Villainous breakdown at 94%,” TA-1LZ reported from my side as the robotic cat ran along behind me.
I just laughed. I couldn’t do much else. Lab Assistant wasn’t built to be a primary combatant, and even if I had the space to build a new weapon, it wouldn’t have been enough to win. I hadn’t knocked out the dragonrider, just pixelated her mount. The fight was over.
When The Agent appeared from around the corner with the third V at his side, it only got more over. “Magical Girl Understudy, it looks like you’re beaten. Normally, I wouldn’t indulge in gloating, but…the reality is that I can! Yorkston’s been resolved, Florida Man has to run out of energy eventually, and Stella-Lunar has been taken care of.” He tapped the pistol on his hip casually.
“So now you give your speech about world domination?” I asked, heart plummeting. Stella-Lunar had been involved in the kidnapping, yes. But she was also my only ally right now.
“Nonsense.” The Agent smiled a joyless smile. “World domination was never my goal. A new world order, with me at its center? Yes. World domination? Absolutely not. There’s no profit in that.”
He leaned in a little closer as my pursuers caught up. Thunder rolled in the distance. “The trouble with superhero shows is that the Ilneats don’t have any control. This mess proved it. But now that I have almost every power ever given by the Style System, I can create that control. Imagine a world where everyone gets a turn to be super. One where no one’s at risk of having their neighborhood melted because a villain went rogue and an overpowered heroine had to get involved.
“It’d be paradise, with me keeping it under control. The Ilneats are all on board. They just need it done in a way that’ll play well on television, and that’s cheap.” The Agent’s face glowed in the reddish afternoon air. I wanted nothing more than to blast the smug look off his face, but the fact was that Lab Assistant had nothing here. He’d won, and in a way, he’d earned the villainous monologue.
More importantly, the only resource I had left was time.
“So, here’s my deal for you. You walk away. Right here, right now. Hand over the cat and wand, leave your costume behind, and return to whatever podunk town you came from. I won’t follow you. You can live a life. Not this life, but a life.”
“Or?”
“Or I kill you here,” The Agent said, drawing the pistol. “No one’s coming to save you. Stella-Lunar’s done, Dr. Mays is on my side, and The Narrator is busy. It’s just you, me, and my army. Be smart, for once, Understudy.”
I looked behind The Agent; a cloud had formed behind him, covering the force-field dome in black smog and reddish lightning that struck faster than it could disappear. I suddenly realized that I’d seen a storm like this before.
“It had been a wonderful day. You’d won. Your enemies were defeated around you, and the path to victory was clear.” The voice echoing across the Hot Zone sounded like Mrs. N’s, but like she was a chain smoker instead of a serial coffee drinker. “But a storm was brewing, and as it peaked, you found yourself in a new world. The world of eldritch horror!”
The forcefield overloaded for a split second. Only a blink of an eye. But it was enough time for the clouds to pour in, covering us in black-and-red fog that made my hair stand on end. In the second where I could see The Agent, I made my decision. Surrender wasn’t an option.
I turned and ran headlong into the mist.