Chris Huisjen

B2 11-12 - The Winter Festival and Black Ice

Added 2023-10-23 13:30:09 +0000 UTC

11 - The Winter Festival

As we followed the tracks back toward the winter festival, I felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest. I’d done a lot of superheroics over the last few months, but I couldn’t remember if I’d saved anyone since Riverside. If you didn’t count sending Fursona to rescue TUSSA from the villains’ clutches or telling Avan and his friends to leave before Professor Panic’s TERROR Mech arrived, I didn’t think I’d done any good old-fashioned rescuing since the fight with LABRAT. And, honestly, that was a shame—especially given how it made me feel.

I had four Costumes now, and that meant four builds. I had to have enough cool powers geared toward rescue and mobility to play at lifesaving. Something had to be possible…right? If not, I could still be more unpowered-oriented. The people of Tokyexico needed my help, and I’d spent a semester fighting villains. Important? Yes, villains needed to be stopped.

But it didn’t create the same warm fuzzies.

“Hey, focus up,” Tele-Portal said. She pointed to the rows of vendors and the ever-growing crowd of people. “The villain is probably Polar Vortex or Black Ice. If it’s Black Ice, we’ve got it made. She’s a lower-powered minor league villain who’s been trying to move up since we were rivals. She’s no threat to us. If it’s Polar Vortex, everyone in the area’s in danger. And if it’s neither, I’ll eat my stilts. They’re two of the most active winter-themed vils, and King Cold is on turbo-buffalo duty today.”

“So which one is most likely?”

“That’s the trick. They’ve got similar costumes, similar powersets, and they use near-identical strategies. The big prints were probably snowshoes, but that doesn’t narrow it down much.”

“What are their costumes?”

“You’re not gonna believe this. Snowsuits.”

I burst out laughing as we walked down the row of vendors. “A snowsuit? Everyone here’s in a snowsuit except for us.”

“Yep. That’s why this is gonna be tough. If it’s Polar Vortex, we need to find him before he causes a [Deep Freeze] event. He’s getting stronger fast, and in November, it shut down a large section of the University and Poudre districts.”

I did a double-take at the mention of November. I’d been on a sushi date with Bianca during a massive snowstorm. “Wait. Did he cause that storm? If it’s him, he’s going down! It’s personal now!”

“Okay, slow down. What happened?” Tele-Portal sounded bored.

“He ruined my date!” I transformed back to the Understudy costume and rolled my new Cunning skill.

[50 Cunning Credits Used. Rolling Skill!]

[New Skill: Audition Notes! Every Extra brings something to the table. Check their notes to find out what]

[Winter is Coming: Act Two in Progress]

Well, that power was vague. Still, I didn’t need [Starwave Sail]to run a combo, and I did need everything else. I made the switch and started searching for Polar Vortex. It was definitely Polar Vortex; that’d be the most dramatic enemy to fight, so that’s who’d be here. The camera drone hovered fifty feet up, high enough that most people didn’t notice it—not that it mattered since everyone knew Tele-Portal and I were here.

I turned a corner and arrived at the cider stand. The smell of cinnamon and apples was intoxicating, and I got in line. As the queue inched toward the man serving drinks, someone in front of me fidgeted with the gloves on their snowsuit. I wished I had [Check the Script]. Then I had an idea. An awful idea.

Maybe I could use [Audition Notes] to figure out whether this guy was the villain. I gave it a try.

[Informed! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

[Audition Notes for John Deer: This Extra has realized that the winter festival is moments from becoming a super showdown. He's not sure what to do with you behind him and someone he suspects may be a villain nearby. Does he run? Does he hide? Or does he try to play it cool? He doesn’t know. Poor John Deer.]

I looked around, trying to be surreptitious. Who was the villain? Were they at this stall, or the s’mores stand next door? I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder, feeling way too paranoid. Still, [Audition Notes] didgive me the information I needed. Some of it, at least.

I put a hand on ‘John’s’ shoulder. “Hey, I know you’re scared. It’s okay. Villains scare me, too. Don’t worry; we’ll find him before he causes more chaos, and we’ll figure out why he’s attacking the festival.”

The moment I let go, I started looking around again. Three of the nearby festival-goers had snowsuits on; with the hoods up, I couldn’t tell which were men and which were women, so I couldn’t narrow down Polar Vortex that way.

I took a leap of faith and tapped one on the shoulder. “Excuse me.”

A handful of snow slammed into my face, blinding me. Then, someone shoved me onto the hard-packed snow. I landed awkwardly; my ankle would have sprained or broken if it wasn’t for superhero damage.

[HP 7/8]

As it was, I rolled, wiping snow off my face and tears from my eyes. I wasn’t hurt, but by the time I’d recovered, all I could see was a red snowsuit turning the corner.

I pushed myself off the snow and took off after the villain. Or at least, who I hoped was the villain. If it was Polar Vortex, I had to stop him before he disappeared into a crowd or started using his powers for real.

I gained steadily on the red-suited figure, and by the time they turned again, I’d almost gotten close enough to try tackling them. But as I rounded the corner after them, I realized I was too late. They’d vanished.

Not blended into a group of Extras—there were a few red snowsuits, but none with hoods. Not hidden in a stall—none of the tents opened to this side. The villain had just…vanished. I hadn’t caught him, but at least I’d found something useful. I stopped running and texted Tele-Portal.

<Red snowsuit with a hood - Understudy 10:15>

<k - Tele-Portal 10:15>

<omw 2 u - Tele-Portal 10:15>

I barely had time to start texting my location when the speedskater-suit-wearing heroine blooped through a portal and landed beside me on her stilts. “Did Red Suit use any powers? Anything we can use to ID them?” Tele-Portal was all business, without even a check to see if I was alright.

“They threw a snowball in my face. I’m not even sure it was a power, so it could have just been an Extra. But why would someone do that?”

“No idea. That doesn’t give us a lot to go on. Both Polar Vortex and Black Ice use misdirection and try to hide. It does eliminate King Cold and a few other minor leaguers, but I didn’t expect any of them,” Teleportal said.

I shrugged. “It’s definitely Polar Vortex. He’d be the most dramatic villain for the situation. Plus, Black Ice has a black suit, right? It’d make sense.”

“Either way, we need to keep looking. Text me if you see Red Suit again. Don’t engage this time, just let me know, and we’ll beat whoever it is together. They’re not gonna win a straight-up fight against you and me, so they’ll probably start something away from here.” Tele-Portal pointed to the abandoned power plant above the half-frozen waterfall. “I’ll check there. You stay on Patrol down here. Do the Patrol stuff, reassure folks that things are under control, and if you see Red Suit—“

“Text you. I got it.” I turned and walked back into the vendors’ tent rows. Behind me, Tele-Portal vanished.

“If I were Polar Vortex, where would I have gone?” I asked myself. I was starting to really get why supers worked in teams of three or four. Even with so many Costumes, I didn’t have the powers to be an investigator. I thought for a minute as I strolled through the stands and talked mindlessly with a few unpowered people—I didn’t want to get in the habit of calling them Extras. I wouldn’t stick around if a major league villain was after me. But then again, Polar Vortex had a goal with the winter festival. I wouldn’t want to give up on that just because of a minor setback.

Tele-Portal wasn’t exactly a minor setback, though. She could bring her whole team over instantly: Bud Lightbeam, the self-replicating, laser-shooting Elementalist, and Underdelver, who drove a combat mech that put the FEAR and TERROR builds Professor Panic had made to shame.

I decided it all depended on how much Polar Vortex needed whatever he was doing here and on how prepared he was.

I caught a flash of red moving away from me, but when I started jogging after it, I relaxed, laughing to myself. It was just a kid. The snowsuit wasn’t even the same shade of red; it was a bright apple-red, while the villain’s had been burgundy.

<any luck? - Tele-Portal 9:20>

<Its been 5 minutes. No - Understudy 9:20>

<There was a kid in a red suit - Understudy 9:21>

<Keep ur Is peeled - Tele-Portal 9:21>

I rolled my eyes, not keeping them peeled. Of course I was keeping my eyes peeled. She was the one who’d buzzed off to go look at the old abandoned power plant. I kept searching as snow began to fall.

Come to think of it, how had it already started snowing? I’d only been here an hour and a half—less, even—and the last time I’d noticed, the sun was out.

<It started snowing - Understudy 9:25>

Tele-Portal didn’t respond.

I thought about going after the superheroine. She was up there, and I’d need her to fight Polar Vortex. Instead, I kept up the search. As the snowfall increased and it got harder and harder to see, I checked the river again. It was already freezing up again, and the cold bit at my cheeks, but there was no sign of a villain. The red-suited minor-leaguer had disappeared entirely. “Screw this. I’m going to get a cider,” I muttered to myself. I’d been cheated out of so much as a taste so far, and if I couldn’t find the villain, at least I’d have a warm drink while looking.

As I got back in line, the woman serving ciders looked at me nervously. Something tickled the back of my mind, and I tensed. Hadn’t the server been a man just ten minutes ago? Where had he gone? I took a closer look, checking the woman’s [Audition Notes].

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

[Audition Notes for Jane Doe: This Extra has a secret. The secret may impact the Episode greatly, but what could it be? Do you want to spend the time digging, or would it be better to stick to the script? There’s only one way to find out; Jane Doe certainly isn’t telling.]

I looked the woman over again. She had a faux-fur-lined dark-gray puffer coat and a balaclava that covered almost her entire face. Her eyes locked with mine for a moment before she looked down at the cups. “Small, medium, or large?” She asked, a slight shake to her voice. Her mitten-clad hand bumped into the sample cups, knocking them over.

My mind whirled as she swore under her breath and ducked to recover the cups. I knew that the villain I’d seen was taller than the woman standing in front of me. And Polar Vortex was a guy, so this couldn’t possibly be the same villain. But the guy who’d run the stand before had bare hands; he’d kept them in his pocket to keep warm and only pulled them out to handle the money, cups, and cider dispenser.

I took a deep breath. Then, I took a bold guess. “I’ll take a small, Black Ice.”

◄▼►

12 - Black Ice

“Sorry, who?” the woman asked. She straightened up, still on her knees in the snow. Her eyes met mine. Then she shook her head. “The supervillain? I like her show, but I’m definitely not her. Besides, the hero who fights her is better.”

I almost bought it. The apology was halfway out of my mouth when her lip twitched just the tiniest bit. I looked down at her hands as she stood the rest of the way up. She’d crushed one of the cups in her grip—and tiny tendrils of ice were forming on the outside.

I’d guessed right! I struggled not to let on that I’d noticed. “Uh, my mistake. But yeah, a small would be great.” My heart plummeted as she went through the charade of filling my cup. I still wouldn’t get any cider!

I pulled out my cell phone and sent a quick series of texts.

<Tele-Portal, both are here - Understudy>

<Talking with Black Ice now - Understudy>

<Don’t drink the cider. Something’s fishy - Understudy>

I wasn’t sure what about the cider bothered me. But it wasn't wise to accept if a supervillain offered a hero a drink during an Episode. When Black Ice handed me the cup, I shoved my phone in my pocket, pretended to fumble with the drink, and knocked it onto the slushy snow at her feet. “Sorry. Butterfingers,” I lied.

“It’s fine,” Black Ice said through gritted teeth. She reached up to flip a sign from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed.’ “I need to get going. My shift’s almost over.”

Something was about to happen. Something bad. I could feel it even without [Inkling]. I used [Power-Weaving]. “But you’ve only just started—“

Before I could finish, Black Ice upended the whole tank of cider at me. The warm, golden-brown juice sloshed toward me, crystallizing instantly into needle-sharp icicles that surged straight toward my head.

“[Quick-Time Change]!” I shouted a moment before the spikes would have hit me. This time, the dance simulator pushed me through some half-sexy cat-like dance, complete with goofy, cutesy claw motions. When it ended, my face burned under the Copy Cat Costume’s plushie fur.

Time unfroze. [I-Frame Transform] activated.

[Flashy Fitting-Room! +1 Flamboyance Point Pending]

[Steel Yourself! +1 Grit Point Pending]

[Floating Points: 1 Flamboyance]

A moment later, the cider spikes slammed into my shield, shattering instead of piercing my fur. I’d chosen Copy Cat for one reason and one reason only. I could run down anyone with this build.

At least, I hoped I could. If not, I was catgirling around for nothing.

Black Ice crashed through the back of the cider stand’s tent, with me just a step behind. The flap hit me in the face; I tore through it a moment later and burst out into the next tent behind her. The vendor, inexplicably selling fresh vegetables mid-winter, screamed and leaped out of the way.

“I’m a [Hometown Heroine], meow!” I said. The camera drone caught it all. Tails was in my head, and I couldn’t get her out, even when chasing down a supervillain. The blue nimbus formed around me, making my plushie fur stand on end, and I took off after the retreating villain.

She reached back, pulled a cart over, and then froze the path in front of her. Her boots clung to the ice with little spikes. Somehow, she was able to run full speed across the slick surface.

I skidded to a stop. Then I took a step back and used [Leaping Leopards]. My running pounce took me across most of the ice; I slammed into Black Ice, who twisted and fell. We skidded across the ice.

[Badass Takedown! +1 Badass Point]

[Floating Points: +3 Flamboyance, +1 Grit]

I was almost to a combo. All I had to do was finish it off. I activated—

“No, you don’t!” An icicle formed in Black Ice’s hand, and she stabbed it at my throat. I coughed and reeled back as the ice shattered, the[Cat-Scratch Fever] I’d been starting up falling away. It didn’t hurt. I didn’t take any superhero damage. What happened was worse.

[Combo Broken! Floating Points Lost. Power Lost.]

“What the hell?” I asked no one in particular. She’d broken my combo. I’d have to ask the professors or Tele-Portal about that later.

Black Ice struggled to her feet and ran a few more steps toward the ice’s edge. “First time weaving in the minors? You’re just a baby super, aren’t you?” She taunted, waggling a finger. Another icicle formed in her hand, and she flourished it like a sword. Then she bowed theatrically in her snowsuit and started sprinting again.

I followed, shakily at first, then more quickly. My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it. Tele-Portal would just have to figure it out herself.

The screaming, running Extras would give her plenty of clues if she was nearby.

Black Ice whirled around a corner, with me in hot purrsuit. Then she dipped through another stall. I barreled through it behind her, sprinting furiously even as [Hometown Heroine] faded.

I skidded to a stop. The camera drone hovered overhead and then zoomed in.

Not ten feet away, Black Ice held her icicle against an Extra’s neck. “Freeze, or I’ll put him on ice!”

<You’d better do what she says,> Tails’s voice echoed in my mind. <Maybe we can talk her down. Try getting her talking and comfortable.>

How could that possibly work? I took a closer look at the Extra—-John Doe, the man who’d been nervous in line before. I shook my head slightly; that guy was having a bad day.

<You don’t have to stop her right meow. You just have to stall until Tele-Portal shows up.>

Okay. That made sense. “What do you want?” I said. I was shouting. Why was I shouting? That wasn’t how you de-escalated a hostage situation. I’d done this before, though always with Peter, or occasionally, LABRAT.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Magical Girl Understudy. You probably haven’t heard of me, but I’m on my way up, and I’m going to tear your plan down.” I tried to project confidence while toning down my voice a little. My phone buzzed again, but with Black Ice’s eyes locked on me, I couldn’t answer it to tell Tele-Portal my location.

“You’re right. I’ve never heard of you. And your gimmick is that you turn into a cat? That’s pretty stupid. Now, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to go back through the tent and count to ten. When you finish, you’re going to come out. I’ll be gone; this guy will be on the ground right here, and you can save him. If you come out early, he’s taking an icicle to the face.”

“Extras have protection,” I bluffed.

“Not in the minor leagues. Not enough to save him from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Black Ice’s voice cut like a knife; she was so tense I could see the icicle shaking. “You can save him. Just back. Off.”

“I want to know something in return,” I said. I needed to stall, and what villain would pass up the chance to monologue? “What are you getting out of all this?”

[Dramatic Set-Up! +1 Drama Point Pending]

Black Ice laughed, and I knew I had her, at least for a few seconds. “Me? I’m getting paid. But Polar Vortex? He’s got a plan. I can’t say much since he never lets lieutenants in on the gimmick, but the winter festival needs to go for his plan to succeed, so he hired me to help him ruin it. I’m saving lives, baby!”

My phone buzzed yet again. Hopefully, Tele-Portal was close. If not, I’d need to do something drastic to save the Extra’s life. I took a step toward the half-torn tent flap I’d torn through. “Okay, Black Ice. I’m going to go in there and transform. I’m trusting you to leave your hostage behind. Can I trust you?”

“Of course.” Black Ice grinned; the smile felt misplaced—a mix of feral craziness and genuine glee. “I’m nothing if not trustworthy.”

A portal opened in the tent flap next to her. One of Tele-Portal’s hands reached through and grabbed John Doe the Extra, yanking him through before Black Ice could react. She screamed and threw her icicle sword toward the portal, which closed.

<Go go go! Right meow! Get her!>Tails screamed in my mind. She sounded more feral and aggressive than I’d ever heard her. Fortunately, I agreed.

I used [Leaping Leopards] again, flying through the air as Black Ice stood, dumbfounded. Once again, I pounced on the supervillain, and we skidded across the packed snow and slush.

[Badass Takedown! +1 Badass Point Pending]

She might’ve been off-guard, but Black Ice recovered like a champion. The ground under us grew slick with a thin layer of clear, perfectly-smooth ice. Neither of us was totally helpless; she dug her crampon spikes into the ground, giving her some leverage, and I had my claws. We scratched, stabbed, and slashed at each other for a moment, struggling to gain an advantage.

All I had to do was hold out. But I didn’t want to hold out. I wanted to win. One scratch found purchase, and I flipped around so my clawed hands and feet faced the supervillain. Then I used [Doom Ball].

[Badass Damage! +1 Badass Point Pending]

My claws, all four limbs’ worth of them, ripped into Black Ice’s snowsuit. She barely noticed at first, but by the time all the damage had piled up, I could see I’d drawn blood. Thin tears sliced through her snowsuit; long, delicate-looking cuts scored her skin.

I expected her to summon a gigantic icicle and stab at me. I did notexpect her to fall through the ground and into the air a few feet away. The portal under her closed before she could fall back through, and she landed with an audible “Oof!”

Tele-Portal walked up, her portal cannon trained on Black Ice. “We need to work on your communication, Understudy,” she said.

“I can’t exactly check my texts during a hostage crisis, Tele-Portal,” I snapped back, picking myself up off the ground. “Surrender, Miss Ice?”

“I did my job, so sure, why not?” The supervillain asked. She started to stand up, then stopped as Tele-Portal gestured with her gigantic portal cannon. “We still win, and you still lose. I beat a major leaguer! Ahahahaha!”

“What do you mean?” I asked, glaring.

To my surprise, Tele-Portal answered. “Polar Vortex is planning on climbing to the major leagues. It’s been his goal for a while, but he needs a big stinger of an Episode to gain the ranking. It’s not unlike your situation. You’re looking to rank up. That’s why you want my training facility and suddenly care about patrolling.”

“Yeah.” There wasn’t much point in hiding it. Tele-Portal was a veteran; she’d been doing this a long time, and I probably wasn’t her first sidekick.

“Go on, guess! Guess!” Black Ice hissed from the ground. I transformed back to Understudy.

“I’m not playing your game, Miss Ice,” Tele-Portal said, sniffing at the villain. “Understudy, have you seen Polar Vortex?”

Before I could answer, Black Ice burst out laughing. I braced myself for a [Maniacal Reveal], and sure enough, it happened. “You fools! You total fools! I was bait the whole time! The actual Episode isn’t taking place at this festival! It’s happening—“

Behind us, the ground shook, and the air filled with the horrific, nails-on-chalkboard sound of rusted steel screeching on steel. Teleportal and I whirled as a cloud of white mist belched from every smokestack and window in the brick building above the river.

“—At the power plant!”

[Good Thinking! +1 Cunning Point Pending]

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

[Alias - Understudy] [Archetype - Magical Girl] [Community Rank - 348/523]

[HP 8/8]

[Styles and Skills]

►Archetype Skill - Transformation Sequence

►Badass (52) (Skill Roll Available)

►Cunning (3)

►Drama (47)

► Stellar Ray 1

► Bit-Part Barrage 1