“Yep,” Tele-Portal said, stepping out of her portal toward me. The Underdelver was all caught up fighting with Kaiju-Sona, but that left me with Tele-Portal and Bud Lightbeam, who was closing in. I’d missed my window to even our odds.
Bud’s lasers ripped across me, dropping my superhero damage precipitously even as I whirled and used [Wind Front] to buffet Tele-Portal away. She took the hit, and so did I, but my blow barely hurt her. I couldn’t take another Bud Lightbeam hit.
[HP 2/14]
[Badass Move! +1 Badass Point]
[Thunderstruck! +1 Drama Point]
And luckily for me, I didn’t have to.
A heartbeat later—maybe two, since mine was redlining—something heavy crashed through the atrium’s doors. It hit the Bud Lightbeams, scattering them like bowling pins as Tele-Portal opened a portal and dove through it. Whoever or whatever it was didn’t matter. What mattered was that this was my window; I used [Quick-Time Change] and switched to Copy Cat. “Let’s get moving!”
[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point]
[Rejuvenation Activated: HP 7/14]
“Got it!” Kaiju-Sona didn’t look great; she definitely hadn’t been winning her one-on-one with The Underdelver. But even so, we got moving, heading for the stairs. The mech suit stomped after us until we got to the stairs. Then it stopped.
It couldn’t fit—or maybe The Underdelver knew the stairs couldn’t handle the machine’s weight. Either way, we had a second or two to escape and regroup.
A portal opened right in front of us, and Bud Lightbeam stepped through it, along with his clones. Kaiju-Sona didn’t waste any time, throwing herself right at the superhero and driving two of them into the ground. One stayed up—for another second or so before I used [Pouncing Panthers] to hit him, bounce off a wall, and hit him again.
[Badass Damage! +1 Badass Point]
We had to pump out as much damage as possible, then leave. I didn’t need to tell Fursona that, and she didn’t say anything to me. We both knew we were finished if the whole Triad caught up. In melee, though, Bud Lightbeam wasn’t as much of a threat.
So I used [Doom Ball] before he could fire another laser. My claws ripped into his suit, opening wounds across his body. He might be able to fly, and he might have laser vision, but he wasn’t tougher than normal.
[Badass Damage! +4 Badass Points]
Fursona was ripping into her Buds, too, but one fought his way free and threw himself back into the portal. I thought about taking another leap and finishing him off, but he’d almost certainly landed near the rest of The Triad. I couldn’t risk it. Instead, I grabbed Fursona’s clawed hand and started running. We hauled ass down the…hall…only stopping to duck into a men’s restroom nearby. Hopefully, The Triad wouldn’t look there.
Even more hopefully, they wouldn’t pull the security footage.
[End of Act One: Act Two in Three Minutes]
“Well, I hope the other teams are having better luck than we are,” Fursona said quietly from our hiding place in one of the stalls.
I nodded. “This is going…well.”
“Uh-huh? How do you figure this is fine?”
“Well, we’ve got one of the two biggest threats in here, and the other is fighting a four-on-one outside. Hopefully, the other battles will go in our favor, and we’ll get some reinforcements. Plus, The Triad’s probably dealing with whoever got thrown through the first floor earlier. That gives us some time to make a plan.”
Fursona shook her head, sending her googly stalk eyes bouncing wildly. Under other circumstances, it would have been funny. But as it stood, I wasn’t in a laughing mood. I might think we could win this, but I wasn’t pretending it’d be easy. I shifted back to Magical Girl Understudy. “We need to capitalize on this distraction and plan for a big fight. Hopefully, one at the top of the tower.”
“Uh, Understudy, you know I won’t be able to use Full Kaiju up there, right?”
“No,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I don’t know that. I do know it’ll be really destructive when you use Full Kaiju up there. So, our prep needs to be clearing the building. Any ideas?”
“Yeah. Get Tele-Portal to do it for us. That’s what her power’s best for.” Fursona stretched, shoulders popping under her suit. “But how to do that?”
“I have…an idea. But it’s not a good one.”
----------------------------------------
[The Battle of Mid-Town: Act Two in Progress]
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You were right,” Fursona shouted as we sprinted toward one of the stairwells, “This is a bad idea!”
“Well, I’m open to other ones!” I shouted back.
The moment we left the bathroom heading for the stairwell, Bud Lightbeam appeared. This time, though, he was outside the building, firing his lasers in and turning the hall we had to traverse into a death trap. Worse, Tele-Portal had opened some gates, and was doubling the number of beams—and aiming them from the far side.
It only took a second longer to see Fursona’s point. “Yeah, you’re right. We won’t make it all the way. Do it here!”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. We’ll get what we want either way! Just do it!”
Fursona nodded. She sucked in a deep breath, then vomited fire straight up—right at a smoke detector. As alarms rippled across the building and sprinklers started soaking the dark blue and green carpets on the second floor, I nodded. “Now, we keep the fighting away from the stairs. Keep evacuation routes open as best we can. And keep moving up!”
One of Bud Lightbeam’s lasers ripped across me, but with all the water in the air, it…I wouldn’t say tickled, but it didn’t hurt anywhere near as badly as it had earlier. It was like the concentrated light had dissipated instead of hitting at full strength. I grinned; neutralizing Bud Lightbeam hadn’t been my plan—in fact, I hadn’t realized he even had this weakness. Then again, I’d never seen a Triad Episode in the rain, so…
[HP 5/14]
It wasn’t like I could take a lot of those hits, though. We needed to keep moving, so I sprinted toward the elevator shaft. Fursona’s claws worked their way into the gap between the closed doors, and she hissed from the effort of prying them open.
At the same time, the floor collapsed behind us, and The Underdelver pulled himself up through a gap between I-beams, framed by the fire behind him. “ATTENTION, VILLAINS! SURRENDER NOW!” an automated voice blasted from the machine’s speakers as its drills revved.
Something told me a little water wasn’t going to stop this guy.
So I gave him a full [Limelight Barrage] at nearly point-blank. The [Starlances] peppered his mech, bouncing off steel and ripping into rubber joints. He raised a drill to block the ones aimed for his face plate, and I followed up the attack with a [Starlance] by itself that he managed to swat out of the air with his arm.
[Dramatic Damage! +3 Drama Points]
I hadn’t dealt critical damage, but as far as I could tell, The Triad’s biggest weakness wasn’t mobility or firepower, but healing. If I could get chip damage now, maybe we could pull something off later.
The door screeched open behind me even as The Underdelver’s drill punched toward my shoulder. I ducked, summoned my sailboard with [Solar Wing], and took off, grabbing Kaiju-Sona. We tore up the elevator shaft, aiming for the very top.
Fursona clung to my steering bar and leaned back into me, treating me like a safety harness. I could hardly blame her; we rocketed up through a narrow, but perfectly vertical, tube that happened to be nearly pitch-black. If it wasn’t for my neon contrails, we wouldn’t have any light at all.
That was the only thing that warned us about the oncoming elevator.
It caught us from behind; as it zoomed toward us, I dropped [Solar Wing], landing as elegantly as possible on the speeding steel box. Fursona’s own landing wasn’t so graceful, but I didn’t have time to deal with it. Neither of us did; this thing was overclocking its speed. “Find the door and open it!” I snapped.
“Way ahead of you!” Fursona’s claws scrabbled for purchase on the maintenance door in the elevator’s ceiling, and she dribbled fire from her mouth like a toddler to light her work. Then, suddenly, the door popped free, and I dropped through the hole. Fursona followed a moment later.
Not that the impact wouldn’t hurt when this thing reached its stopping point. It definitely would, but at least we wouldn’t be crushed quite as badly.
“Brace!” I yelled, [Quick-Time Changing] into Copy Cat again.
The entire world devolved into shrieking metal and plush as I finished the transformation.
Fursona threw herself over me as the ceiling stopped and the floor kept moving. The elevator’s doors gave first, bending violently outward into the…whichever floor we’d stopped on. The other three walls crumpled, collapsing inward and squeezing Fursona and me into an increasingly tight space. Dust filled the air, and a few alarms went off.
But when it was over, Fursona and I were more or less okay.
I went invisible with [Set Dressing]. Then I wormed my way out from the wreckage while Fursona started freeing her bigger, bulkier form. “I’ll see where we are,” I whispered.
[Dastardly Plan! +1 Cunning Point]
“Got it,” she replied, trying—and failing—to be quiet.
The hall was familiar. But then again, the Council of Heroes Building was corporate as hell, so it could just be reminding me of the first floor—or the second. Or the hospital wing; I’d been there before. But it only took one look at the nameplates next to nearby doors to know exactly where I was. I hurried through the hall, heading toward an office I knew would be nearby. “Fursona, this is Dr. Ayers’s floor. I’m making sure she’s on her way out before you start your growth cycle.”
“Got it. I’m almost out, and I don’t think The Triad knows exactly where we are.”
“Okay. I think we’re two floors below the Council of Heroes.”
“I’ll see you in a couple of minutes, then. Lots of junk to move here.”
I kept moving. Dr. Ayers’s office was just a few doors down, and I jerked the door open without knocking.
And there she was. Curly black hair, streaks of gray, and a coffee cup. But what struck me was the headset she was wearing—and that she looked right at me.
“Hello, Understudy. I’m sorry, but counseling is closed due to emergency,” she said.
“You’re a…super?” I asked, dumbfounded. Had she lied to me? And how had she known I was Understudy? Actually, that second one was a dumb question. She’d probably watched some of my episodes, after all.
“No, but a therapist is always prepared, and with all the chaos outside, I wanted to be ready before I evacuated. The device is Genius-made, and it helps me see the unseen. Like you.”
I relaxed. “So, now what?”
“Now, I head for the elevator and leave,” she said.
“I wouldn’t. It crashed on its way up, and definitely won’t make it back down.” As if to punctuate my words, it screeched and started tumbling back down the shaft. My heart pounded. Had Fursona gotten clear?
Then, I felt something looming behind me. “Hi, Fursona,” I said. “Meet Dr. Ayers.”
“Hello, Fursona, nice to meet you. I’m Understudy’s therapist. She’s told me so much about you,” Dr. Ayers said, sticking her hand out for a shake.
Fursona did not shake. “Understudy, we need to keep moving. Dr. Ayers, we’ll talk later. I’m not convinced you’re doing what’s best for my partner, and that bothers me, but now’s not the time. Stairs are past the…wreckage.”
Dr. Ayers nodded stiffly. “Of course. I hope you two lose, of course, but either way, we’ll meet later. I’ll call you.”
And just like that, my therapist disappeared.
“Think that’s everyone?” I asked.
“Probably not, but—“
Before I could finish, the building shook. “What was that?” Fursona asked.
I didn’t know. But I had a bad feeling I was about to find out.