65 - Field Day

[End of Act One! Act Two in Five Minutes! No Skill Rolls Available!]

[Alias - Understudy] [Archetype - Magical Girl] [Community Rank - 432/523]

[HP 5/7]

[Styles and Skills]

►Archetype Skill - Transformation Sequence

►Badass (lvl 0; 14)

►Cunning (lvl 2; 12)

► Inkling 1

►Drama (lvl 4; 49)

►  Hometown Heroine 1

► Bit-Part Barrage 1

►Flamboyance (lvl 3; 47)

►Signature Skill - Adaptive Armoire

►Stored Costumes: (Rainy Day)

►Spotlight Strike 1

►Starwave Sail 1

►Grit (lvl 2; 30)

I blinked stupidly at Bianca as she pulled away. My brain needed to reset, and my jaw hung slack; I probably looked like a goldfish out of water. I definitely felt like a goldfish out of water. As the gears in my mind started turning again, I stared at the black-haired Extra—no, super—inside the kangaroo fursuit.

In retrospect, it’d been so obvious. She always had that backpack, and she’d always disappeared whenever superhero stuff happened. I’d never seen her so much as carry a fencing foil or anything that could hold one. And she’d never been in the same place as Fursona, but the kangaroo had usually shown up a couple of minutes after she left. Alone, that last bit didn’t mean much, but taken with the rest, it should have been obvious she was a super. So why hadn’t I noticed?

Well, that was obvious too. I’d never been around other supers before. Peter and I had confessed to each other early on, and Collidus had told me right away. Like, within minutes of linking up with me. That kid had no filter. So, yeah, my superhero radar wasn’t the best, and clearly, my ability to hide my identity was…lacking.

“What the fuck? How long did you know?”

“Understu…Annie…you really want to know?” Bianca fidgeted awkwardly inside the Fursona costume. I nodded, and she continued. “You told Fursona your address after our first Superpower Ethics class. Then, later that day, you told me. It wasn’t hard to figure your secret identity out from there.”

“And you never told me?” I wasn’t sure whether to be angry or impressed.

“Well, no. Pataki and Rocko said—“

“That secret identities had to be protected.” Of course, they had. A reveal like this had to be worth a fortune in ratings. The kiss would be blurred locally, but it felt so perfect…so…superhero-movie. It’d play well in ilneat space.

“Yeah.”

I stood there for a minute, feeling dumber by the minute. My whole web of lies to keep my Anika persona separate from Understudy hadn’t mattered at all. I’d blown my cover on the first day of classes.

“Yeah, it was pretty dumb,” Bianca said. She laughed nervously. “Lucky you’ve got a very trustworthy girlfriend and a sidekick who values your privacy, huh?”

<We don’t have much time for small talk right meow,>Tails interrupted. <There are more Panic Pals outside. One minute>

“Yeah, it’s pretty lucky. We need to talk about this, though. Later. Right now, we have a problem. My evil ex-boyfriend has to be in Tokyexico. Or, more likely, he sent bots over, but he’s still in his lair back home.” It made sense. He’d been building LABRATs that could travel the distance. The only reason he’d be here would be revenge.

Actually, I thought, he was definitely here. “Either way, his robots are on campus, and we need to deal with them.”

Bee sighed and pulled the Fursona head back over hers. “Alright. We’ll talk about it later. For now, let’s get out there and kick some butt.” She dashed for the door, opened it, and headed for the stairs as the fire alarm blared.

I shook my head. Things were happening too fast. Professor Panic was back. Bianca was Fursona. What was next?

[Absent-Hearted Professor: Part One: Act Two Beginning]

I ran to the roof. It would have made more sense to head down the stairs or take the elevator into the tunnels, but either was painfully slow. “Holy crap, it’s cold!” It wasn’t snowing; the clouds had cleared out, making for a bright, sunny morning. But, somehow, that was even colder. The slight breeze bit my skin. I wondered if I could have a winter uniform.

<No time to complain, Understudy. You need to deal with the bots.>

Tails was right. I looked down as Fursona jumped out a window, landed on the ground, and started hopping toward a swarm of Panic Pals. “[Starwave Sail]!” I took off after her. A crowd of students in pajamas and jackets stood around, marveling at my room’s broken windows, and one of them pointed at the blue-and-pink streaks my sailboard left behind. That wasn’t good; they knew my secret base was in Walnut.

[Showoff! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

I rolled to the soft, frigid snow between Walnut Tower and Weber Quad. Fursona hopped up a moment later, a swarm of Panic Pals buzzing right behind her.

“MAGICAL GIRL UNDERSTUDY ACTS LIKE A WITCH!

BUT IN REALITY, SHE’S JUST A —“

“Hey! Rude!” Fursona kicked the offending Panic Pal while I shook my head in disbelief. Peter wasn’t ready to make the minor leagues. What was he thinking, teaching the Panic Pals cursing lyrics?

A Panic Pal swooped down at me. I spun, using [Spotlight Strike]and punching it in the glowing green ‘eye.’ It shattered inward, and the bot collapsed around my fist. I shook my hand, flinging the bot to the fresh snow. Oil leaked out, staining the snow blackish-brown.

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

Then there were only two bots in that pack, and two Panic Pals hadn’t even been a problem for me a year ago. Fursona smashed one while I swung the other by its legs as it tried to deploy its speakers.

In seconds, we’d pulverized the first pack of Panic Pals. Another squad of them zipped overhead, rap music playing. I watched them dive down into Weber Quad. “Are they heading for the engineering building?”

“Looks like it,” Fursona said. She started hopping after them, then turned. “You want to tell TUSSA?”

“Not…No. This isn’t a TUSSA Episode. This is about Professor Panic and me. If the SSS shows up, we’ll let Ikenga know. Otherwise, no.” I took off toward the Panic Pal squad, watching as they docked on the back of a LABRAT—one that looked identical to the robot on my living room floor. I barely suppressed a shiver. Peter had finished the 1.6s he’d told me about during our break-up. He’d probably finished the 1.5s, too, and if he had, he’d had plenty of time to work on the FEAR Power Armor and get it up to speed.

He was here. On campus. Somewhere. Probably in the TUEAS basement.

As each Panic Pal docked, its green lights flashed yellow, and the docking ports lit up. The LABRAT backpedaled into the Weber Quad. I used [Hometown Heroine] and slid across the icy concrete on my knees just as—

Bang!

Snow sprayed out from the LABRAT as the airburst passed, coating me in icy crystals. Fursona jumped across the quad, cutting the distance quickly. The new LABRAT kept backpedaling, avoiding her flying kick. I sprinted—carefully—across the courtyard, careful not to lose control and slip.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

The lights on the LABRAT’s back flashed blue. The four Panic Pals that’d docked on its back took off again a moment later. The second they did, one opened up its speakers.

“HE HAD A PLAN, BIG RISKS AND BIG DARES!

TO CROSS THE MAN VS. NATURE, BUT SHE DIDN’T CARE!”

“What the [Beep!]” Had Professor Panic written…a break-up song? Or was this a diss track? Either way, it was not mature. “[Spotlight Strike]!” The LABRAT’s whole back lit up, and I spin-kicked it.

[Rating Warning #2! Episode Rating - PG! Censor in Effect]

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

[Dramatic Assist! +1 Drama Point Pending]

It would be easy to just [Bit-Part Barrage] it and be done, especially if it turned around. But I could only use it once per Act, and I wanted to save it. Besides, Fursona was right next to me, kicking the seven-foot-tall robot and all but knocking it down.

The remaining Panic Pals buzzed us, and I peeled off to fight them while Fursona circled the LABRAT. It kept stepping back until it stood against the TUEAS Building’s doors. I only had time to keep track of Fursona’s fight with the bot. Instead, I was busy breaking up Panic Pals.

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

[Dramatic Assist! +1 Drama Point Pending]

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

[Dramatic Assist! +1 Drama Point Pending]

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

[Hometown Heroine] fell off before the last one crashed to the ground, and by the time I was finished, so was Fursona. She kicked the LABRAT into the glass doors, which shattered. I winced. TU would hate us; this was the second time in less than two months that supers had broken that door.

I grabbed one of the Panic Pals I’d just destroyed. It seemed…lighter… than the ones I’d fought in Riverside, and when I looked at it more closely, I could tell its body was smaller. Not by a lot, but most of the batteries had been removed. Fursona kicked the LABRAT’s chassis, breaking off a chunk of something black from its shoulder. “Is that a solar panel?” She asked.

“I think so. Professor Panic must’ve de-armored the LABRATS and stripped the batteries from his Panic Pals to make them lighter and support recharging. It’s the only way he could have gotten them from Riverside to here.”

Fursona nodded. She pointed at the door. “So, you’re pretty sure he’s holed up inside the SSS lair?”

“He has to be. The bots seem to be defending the building or something.” Even as I said it, though, I wasn’t sure. Peter was tricky at the best of times. There was a chance he was still in Riverside. After all, he could be running the show from his computer. Hell, he could be asleep, and his bots would still earn him points.

I used [Check the Script]; it said to slow down for a moment and think, so I pulled out my phone. “We’ll wait out here for a minute. I’ve got valuable intelligence to gather.

<Hey Dad. Has Peter been at work the last couple of days? - Annie 9:15>

While I waited for a response, Fursona stood in the building’s entryway, fidgeting with her pouch. We waited; I could hear something clanking around inside for a moment, then it was gone.

<Nope. Think he took sick days. - Dad 9:18>

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

Crap. He was here. I took a breath and composed myself, getting back into character as a camera drone hovered nearby. “Alright. He has to be here. We’re going down there and checking out the basement. Maybe he built a lab down there or something.”

“Are you sure? Lair assaults are always tough, and we had TUSSA with us last time?” Fursona asked.

She wasn’t wrong. Lair Assault Episodes rarely worked out perfectly. Some of Golden Goose’s only defeats were against Genius-defended lairs, like in ‘The Doomsday Device,’ when she went up against The Mind’s fortress. He’d had so many traps that even Golden Goose’s frankly ridiculous powers weren’t enough to breach, from self-replicating defense drones to laser walls to a forcefield I was pretty sure was pure ilneat tech.

Lord Destructo’s fortress wasn’t much better, though it was crawling with henchmen and lieutenants, and any attempt to break it would result in a dogpile. Stella-Luna had built a team of a dozen major leaguers to crack that egg, and it had taken three Episodes before they finally won.

So, yeah. Fursona had a point. This could suck—a lot. A Panic Pal buzzed toward us, so I used [Spotlight Strike] and punched it. It skidded across the tile floor and crashed into a wall.

[Stylish Strike! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

“Yeah. It’ll just be him. He doesn’t work with others. He probably had his bots set up the lair and sold the dog bots to the SSS from there, so it might not even be an official SSS lair. Either way, if it’s a Series Finale, the ilneats won’t want interference.”

“What about me?” Fursona asked worriedly.

“Sorry. You’re involved in this mess. Professor Panic is my ex.”

“[Beep!] Seriously? You’re neck-deep in drama, huh? Accidentally dating your sidekick is one thing, but a villain?” Fursona teased.

“What can I say? I’m a theater girl.” I ran toward the stairs, feeling the camera drone’s eye on me. Down below, somewhere, was the SSS lair. Or, I was pretty sure, Professor Panic’s lair.

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