The van’s engine revved again, this time right at the edge of the pit. At the same time, its doors opened, cutting off the construction company’s name on its side, and a clown car’s worth of henches ran out. I sighed dramatically, picked myself up from the muddy filth I’d landed in, and squared off against my true rival.
I hadn’t seen a white van in a while, and I’d started to think that maybe their reign of terror had ended. Clearly, that wasn’t true. Was S—Jumper’s hench from last year—in the driver’s seat? It revved again, but I was pretty sure I was safe in the pit.
Then it reversed like a missile, swerving back and forth as its horn blared over the beeping chime. Henches leaped out of the way, cursing and swearing, as it headed toward Fursona and the Second V. So, yeah. That wasn’t ideal. And I definitely couldn’t stay in my nice, safe mud pit. Fursona was good, but she couldn’t handle a V and a van. So it was up to me to distract one of them.
My hopes that we could swap and she could fight the maniac driver were dashed, though. The moment I started out of the hole, the van flipped back into drive, gears grinding, and accelerated back at me. I climbed out and fired a [Starlance] toward the truck. It hit the grill, which had been a kill shot before.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
But instead, it bounced off. A bit of the black plastic fell off, too, but the damn thing was still driving toward me! As its back tired slipped in the muddy dirt, I threw myself sideways, landing in a gravel pile. The brakes squealed again—I could smell them burning as the reverse lights went on while the van kept moving forward—and I picked myself up. I fired another [Starlance] into the rear windshield. It crumpled into the van’s cargo bay with a shattering sound.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
But the driver didn’t stop. The lights flickered as I pumped another shot into it, then a shot rang out, and a bullet slammed into my chest—right in the sternum.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
[HP 9/13]
I spun off-balance, and the van’s driver took advantage, slamming into me with wheels churning in the dirt. That knocked me onto my butt and pressed the air out of my lungs.
[HP 7/13]
This driver wasn’t just playing to knock me out of the fight, either. He was driving to take me out permanently. I needed a change of tactics. But that wasn’t easy, not with the van and a half-dozen henches on me. I blasted another one with a [Starlance], but I just didn’t have the firepower to take out all of them. I couldn’t get airborne, either. It’d take too long.
I needed a new plan. And I had one, but it was stupid.
Of course, I’d survived being stupider than this.
At least, I had a couple of times.
As the van bore down on me again, I fired another [Starlance] at a hench. It knocked him down, but I hardly cared. Both my eyes were on the van charging at me. Its tires were screaming, but I didn’t move as its blinking hazards bore down on me. Then, at the last second, I spun to the side.
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
The driver’s face stared at mine as he desperately tried to change the van’s angle to get another hit in, but it was too late. As it flashed past me, I grabbed the shattered back window’s frame and let its momentum swing me around.
The van’s speed jerked me off my feet and wrenched at my shoulders. Then, I slammed into the back of the van with a thudding sound—avoiding the shattered glass—and quickly pulled myself inside.
It wasn’t the same layout as S’s van. This one featured a wide back with seats but no barrier between the driver’s cab and the big space in the back.
Perfect.
I pulled myself forward, hands gripping headrests as the driver fishtailed the huge vehicle back and forth. Ten feet. Eight feet. Six.
Close enough. I used [Spotlight Strike], highlighting the driver’s head, and punched him in the temple a second later.
[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point]
Then the brakes slammed on again, and I catapulted against his seat back as he looked at me incredulously. “You crazy bitch, you hit me in the ear!”
I blinked. “Sorry,” I said reflexively, at the same time as I brandished my wand and fired a [Starlance] into the steering wheel.
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[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
The van’s dashboard exploded. Shards of plastic and speedometer caromed around the cab, showering us both with dials and fragments of numbers. At the same time, the engine sputtered and chugged, then began to squeal loudly before steam erupted from under the hood. As the steam and smoke vented into the cab, the driver kicked open his door and fell out onto the now-rutted dirt road.
I followed him, wand held high. “They made you do it?” I asked sarcastically.
He nodded.
“Great. Stay there.” I pointed at the skeletal building’s frame. “If you move, I’ll be back.”
----------------------------------------
It took a minute to mop up the last couple of minions, but when the fighting ended, I stood atop my fallen, van-shaped foe, surrounded by whining, defeated henches, watching Fursona accept the Second V’s surrender. The chrome drones hovered around us, taking in the aftermath of the fighting, and even though I heard a gunshot—another high-powered one, probably War Bear—I couldn’t help but feel great!
[End of Act One: Act Two in Three Minutes]
I was back in the saddle again. “Well, that went well,” I said, nodding as Fursona hopped over.
“Yeah, I thought you were in trouble. Do you have some belt on your costume that attracts those things?” Fursona pointed at the van.
“Har har. It’s good to stretch my legs again.”
“You got hit by a van going forty-five.”
“And it’ll be even better to stretch them tomorrow. I’m going to be so sore.” I really was. My superhero damage had, as always, taken the worst of it. Still, I’d have a hard time walking around in the morning—but at least classes weren’t until next week. “Plenty of time to recover, but for now, we need to keep pushing.”
“Yeah. Chem plant time?”
“Chem plant time.” I took a minute to stretch out and take in the massive building. The MoonTech plant loomed over the whole construction yard; all the new buildings represented a quarter of the company’s property, and it was the only part that hadn’t been covered in warehouses, massive tanks, and hedges made of steel pipes. If this had been Act One, I couldn’t wait for—
[The Righteous Cause: Act Two in Progress]
—that.
I didn’t know much about chemical plants, but I was willing to bet that the henches swarming the tanks between us and the building weren’t there to sell Girl Scout cookies or anything nice. I used [Solar Wing] to cut the gap while Fursona hopped behind me. She’d gotten so fast I almost couldn’t keep up with her, and before the henches could open fire, we’d covered half of the distance.
Then, the bullets started zipping past. “Split ends, form one!” I said through comms.
“Got it!”
I peeled up and to the right. At the same time, Fursona slid on her knees to the left, using her cybertronic tail and hands to steer. We’d practiced this move for a while, of course, but the chaos of our campaign against 3V1L hadn’t given us many opportunities to use any called strategies. Bullets whizzed under me, and I spun mid-air to make myself a harder target, then dove hard for the nearest tank.
It was massive, a curved steel wall fifty feet long, and I stopped my dive halfway down its rusty-looking face. The air stank this close, like gasoline and acid, and I realized I was still a good thirty feet off the ground.
A hench was aiming their cheap pistol at me from the stairs circling the huge steel container. I blasted her with a [Starlance], then a second one when her construction helmet took the hit.
[[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
That one knocked her off the catwalk, and she hit the ground with a crunch. I winced but didn’t have time to check on her.
BANG!
Another gun went off. This one slammed into me, and I cartwheeled through the air to land on the steel diamond-grid stairs. As I rolled, the serrated diamonds ripped into my Costume and skin. Superhero damage really was amazing, though. Instead of being hamburgered, I’d have some small cuts and bruises. No biggie.
[HP 5/13]
I recovered onto one knee, firing a [Limelight Barrage] into the massed henches descending the stairs toward me. As [Starlances] scattered them like bowling pins, I was already looking up for the next threat.
[Dramatic Damage! +5 Drama Points]
It came from below.
Something popped, and the tank opened from the bottom a moment later. Some sort of solvent—thousands of gallons of it—poured from the ruptured metal. Someone shot into it, but instead of a massive fireball, the bullet splashed into the foul-smelling chemicals. All around, henches were screaming and running from the solvent tsunami.
I joined them, climbing the safety stairs as quickly as my legs would carry me. The tank wobbled, threatening to collapse under me. So I ran faster.
I was at the top, already using [Solar Wing], when a hench ran toward me. I readied my wand, but his hands were already up in surrender. “They made me, I swear!”
“Sure.” I returned to summoning my [Solar Wing], then stopped as the whole tank shook again. “Do you have a way off this thing?”
“No.”
“Shit. Okay, Listen, stand in front of me.” I pointed at the exact spot I wanted him to be, then summoned my sailboard underneath us. One hand wrapped around his waist—I was going to save his life, but dammit, he’d be the damsel for a second.
Then we took off.
Luckily, I was used to flying with the person who was the most scared of heights, because this guy had to be the second-most. I practically had to fight him every time I wanted to turn, and our flight only lasted a handful of seconds before the sailboard crash-landed on the plant’s delivery bays. He rolled away, screaming as he face-planted into the concrete.
[Badass Takedown! +1 Badass Point]
I rolled my eyes. That wasn’t even an intentional move. But all around me, guns were going off. I had no idea where Fursona was. “Hey, babe,” I said over comms. “I’ve secured the doors. Ready to go in?”
“Just—“ A horrific crunching sound filled my headset, and I winced. Someone had just gotten their nose kicked in. “—Just a minute! Some of us are busy here!”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Sure! Get your butt over here and help!”
She sounded annoyed, and it wasn’t even like I’d been doing nothing. I picked myself up and brushed off the dust. [Solar Wing] activated, and I took to the air, looking for the Justice-Roo. She had to be somewhere nearby, and if I followed the sounds of henches screaming, I was sure I’d find her sooner or later.
As I banked right to circle the main building, though, something hit me.
It wasn’t like a gunshot. The closest I’d experienced to it was a white van attack, but this was worse, even though it didn’t hurt. It felt like a solid wall of heat, pressure, and hatred. Then, the shock wave hit.
Every window in the area shattered. The pressure waves buffeted me back and forth, sending me spiraling downward, and I fought my wings to keep airborne. One tank after another ruptured, sending gouts of flame sky-high.