[Free Agency: Act Two in Progress]
Something felt off as we pushed down the hall and into the 3V1L base below Fred Callahan’s house. Yeah, the Second V was behind us, looking beaten. And yeah, Fursona’s Kaiju-Sona outfit had been performing. But I couldn’t shake the tightness in my shoulder blades.
What if the V wasn’t lying?
What would Fursona and I do if he was telling the truth and The Agent wasn’t here? We didn’t have any other leads, so we’d be back to checking random Episodes and hoping for a hint. The Council of Heroes’ archive wouldn’t give us anything new; there was no way The Agent would leave a trail there—or in his own Episodes. So we’d be back to square…not one, but pretty early on the board. Helping the Mutual Assistance League people, maybe, or trying patrols like the one we’d made with Tractor-Beam-Girl.
Neither was a good option. Neither was one I wanted to think about. And it didn’t matter. The moment I shoved the door at the end of the hall and revealed a wide, chrome-lined hallway that felt like something Theseus would have in his industrial-corporate base, I knew that even if The Agent wasn’t here now, he had been recently.
That’d be enough. “Fursona, split ends?”
“Yeah.” She ducked left, hugging the chrome walls, and I glued myself to the right side of the wide room. There were doors everywhere; one had to lead to The Agent or evidence that he was around.
I put my hand on a doorknob.
The moment I did, the door slammed open, and I pulled myself back as a V slammed into the room. She was stocky and built like a tank—she had to be well-acquainted with the weight room. I fired a [Starlance] her way to kick off the fighting, but before it could hit, a shimmering golden barrier consumed the whole attack with a hum. Her wand flashed out, and another shield appeared, this one locked onto her free arm. “I’m afraid you’re not welcome here! Dark Girl First V is here to kick your butt!”
“Oh, god,” I muttered under my breath. How many cosplayers had The Agent hired?! Then I squared up. “3V1L, time to exit stage left!
Then the [Starlances] started flying. One after another crashed into her barriers as she manifested another shield. I couldn’t punch through her defenses, but I could lock her attention on me. That was Fursona could—
Another door half-disappeared for a moment as a tall, thin man stepped through. His tightly-curled black hair peeked over his 3V1L mask, and as the door rematerialized behind him, he warped through space and landed between Fursona and the First V. “Let me guess. Third V?” Fursona asked. Then, without waiting for a response, she roared flames and juggernauted toward him.
So, Shield V was mine, then.
And so was another supervillain in an 3V1L mask. This one threw himself over the First V’s shield, hanging mid-air for too long and changing directions to catapult toward me. It wasn’t flight—not quite—but it was all I could do to get out of the way. “So, three Vs here, one beaten out there. Still want to tell me your boss isn’t home?”
The Second V—the flier—looped around, seeming to stretch in place before catching a point in mid-air with his gloved hand. He orbited the hand once, slingshotting up to a breakneck speed. Then, in a streak of blue that reminded me of Springlock’s power, he surged toward me.
[HP 11/14]
I couldn’t dodge fast enough, and the impact drove me into the chrome wall. As stars filled my eyes briefly, I watched the First V rush me, her gold-and-blue shields glowing. They formed a box of energy ready to close on me like a Venus flytrap. She was trying to lock me down; if she did that, the three Vs might be able to beat Fursona even in their weakened, too-many-Vs state. As the walls rocketed toward me, I used [Quick-Time Change] to activate [Freeze Frame], letting my mind merge with Tails’s, and dashed for the gap between barriers.
[Flashy Fitting Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[True Grit! +1 Grit Point]
The world started moving again while I was still ten feet from the gap. Was I going to make it? I was totally going to make it!
I wasn’t going to make it!
I used [Pouncing Panthers], going invisible for a moment and throwing myself toward the ever-shrinking gap in the barriers. The shields knicked my whiskers as I flew by, and Tails hissed in fury in my mind. Then I landed safely on the other side and used [Set Dressing]. The current Copy Cat build wasn’t built for a brawl; I’d need to be careful.
[Badass Move! +1 Badass Point]
Dastardly Plan! +1 Cunning Point]
The Springlock wannabe V threw a giant potted fern my way as I went invisible; it shattered on my superhero damage, knocking me back a step. I responded with a well-planned second [Pouncing Panthers] that landed me on top of him, scratching the hell out of his shoulders before finishing with a [Cat-Scratch Fever] that left him blinded, bleary-eyed, and stunned by the fury of my cat-based attack!
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
[HP 9/14]
[Badass Move! +1 Badass Point]
[Dramatic Damage! +1 Drama Point]
Fursona’s Kaiju form crashed into the phasing V on the far side of the hall, who stepped through her massive frame like she wasn’t there. He punched twice, fist reaching into her fursuit, and she reeled back and breathed a solid wall of flame. As the flames chased him, the Third V fled.
Shield V was using her shields to cut the room into smaller and smaller pieces, and the Springlock wannabe kept forcing me into tinier sections. If we kept up this dance, I’d be in serious trouble. And more importantly, The Agent—the One L—was here. I couldn’t miss out on my chance. And luckily, I didn’t have to.
As shields closed in around me, I started a transformation sequence out of Copy Cat…
…and into Super Girl Spotlight Star.
----------------------------------------
rrowed to a single point of impossibly bright light. Around me, choral music swelled—but if the music for Understudy had been dramatic, this was over-the-top. Hundreds of voices sang it all at once; the pressure felt deafening until Super Girl Spotlight Star’s hood rose to cover my head. Then, the last point of light faded, and everything was dark.
My feet touched the ground. I opened my eyes.
A series of Style System messages appeared.
[Advanced Accessories: Magical Girl Understudy, Magical Girl Rainy Day, Copy Cat]
[Skill Siphon Activated: Style Points Disabled]
[Meter’s Running: 7/8]
Shields. Three of them. Frozen in place. It took me a second to realize that I’d activated [Freeze Frame] when I transformed. Another second went by while I made a plan. Then, three more. When time finally stopped, I stood behind Fursona, my back to her plushie-spiked tail. One of her stalk eyes lolled over, staring at me. “Hi,” I said.
“You’re using your new suit?”
“Yeah. This is it,” I said. “Cover me?”
“Sure. Still too tight in here to get good use out of mine,” Fursona said. She roared fire at the stunned-looking phasing V, who didn’t dodge fast enough; I could practically see his superhero damage going down.
Then I had other things to deal with—two of them. The shield V barreled in from the right, while farther back, the Springlock wannabe got ready to catapult himself toward me.
I couldn’t allow that. I was the strongest hero in this Episode—at least for now—and I’d be dictating the pace. As the shield V closed the gap, barriers flaring colors, I whirled mid-air and used [Limelight Barrage]. But instead of a single wave of [Starlances], A quartet of [Maximum Starlances]—the move Stella-Lunar used—flashed out from my wand. Shield V blocked one of them, but it took two of her shields to stop it. The second closed in on her, turning impossibly quickly as the bright silver-gold spear homed in. Then it impacted. She went flying and hit a door, slumped against it, and hit the ground.
The other two rushed toward the Springlock wannabe. Before he could dodge, they made contact, knocking him across the chrome-plated hall and toppling a potted palm over him.
[Dramatic Damage!]
[Meter’s Running: 6/8]
This wasn’t working. It was too slow. I used [Thunderhead], wincing as my meter dropped again. The storm flashed pink and blue overhead, a mirror of my flaring Victorian-inspired skirts. The Springlock Wannabe threw the entire palm my way. I used [Quick-Time Change] for [Freeze Frame]; there wasn’t a Costume to change into, but the five seconds of movement let me position behind the V.
[Pause for Effect!]
[Flashy Fitting Room!]
[Steel Yourself!]
[Meter’s Running: 2/8]
Then, the moment I dropped [Freeze Frame], I [Rode the Lightning].
It felt like being the goddess of thunder. Lightning rippled across my Costume, filling the blue cloth with a glowing, pulsing sapphire-white light. Tendril after tendril of electricity rippled out toward the Springlock wannabe, and he couldn’t dodge fast enough. His body lit up like a cartoon getting electrocuted. Power rippled through the room. Every lightbulb overhead exploded, throwing us all into darkness except for Fursona’s flame breath and my still-glowing Costume.
[Electric Lightshow!]
[Meter’s Running: 1/8]
I was already almost out of moves? How could I possibly take the fight to The Agent without Spotlight Star? I pushed the thought to the back of my head. Fursona still had some tricks up her sleeve; that’d be enough.
Speaking of Fursona, her flame breath rippled out toward the last remaining V, but he phased through a wall into one of the side rooms. A moment later, he opened the door and ran back out, punching through Kaiju-Sona’s plushie hide like it was nothing. Her eye-stalked flopped back and forth with each blow.
I used my last power—[Pouncing Panthers]—but instead of going invisible, a massive roar echoed in my mind as Tails filled it. She was so big. So striped. So…orange. She took over, and the roar ripped out of my throat. Fursona froze. So did the phasing V. It wasn’t a time-stop; they both looked stunned, not truly frozen, and the plants’ leaves still moved as I flew through the air propelled on my temporary tiger legs.
[Badass Damage!]
[Meter’s Running: 0/8]
I hit the last V like a truck; he didn’t have time to phase between the stun and my impact. His neck snapped back, and his head bounced off the concrete floor like someone whose lights had just been put out.
The darkness pressed in as a single singer’s voice chanted the same choral chant, but in a sad, minor key. As the boy’s high-pitched voice faded to nothing, the hood vanished, and my body glowed mid-air. The standard light show whirled around me, gathering into a point above my head and then vanishing.
I opened my eyes. My feet hit the ground. And a moment later, the emergency lights flickered on.
I was back in my minor-league Understudy Costume. Around me, three Vs lay on the ground; I rushed toward the phasing one, hand on his throat. His heart was beating, and I could see his chest rising and falling. Relief watched over me; I’d hit him hard enough to kill him, but even though he was an enemy, I was glad I hadn’t.
[End of Act Two: Act Three in Three Minutes]
“Wow, Understudy, that was cool!” Fursona said. She cracked her neck; the lizard suit’s googly eye stalks wobbled back and forth as she did, and I grinned for a second.
“Yeah. But now I won’t have it for The Agent.”
“That’s okay. I’ve got a trick that’s a lot like that. Did you pack juice boxes?”
I stared at her like she was a madwoman. “Juice boxes?”