51 - Build Me Up

Bianca was hot.

After we went to bed, I’d spent too much time scooching away from her under the blankets. That girl was a furnace! But eventually, she’d cornered me. With nowhere to go, I’d fallen asleep perched precariously on the edge of the bed, her arm around me.

Which was also how I woke up, much more sober than the night before.

“Shit,” I whispered. We'd finished the bottle after the next Episode—a minor league one from the Second Power War because we both needed a palate cleanser after Golden Goose. That’s why my head hurt. Then…we’d crashed. Well, Bee had crashed. And she’d tried to use me as a cuddle pillow.

Succeeded at using me as a cuddle pillow, actually.

“Shit,” I said again and started to get up.

“Noooooo. Staaaaaay,” Bee’s sleepy voice whined while her arm tightened around me, dragging me back down. I was a superhero, and she was just an Extra; how was she so strong? I tried to resist for a moment. Then I gave up. It was Saturday, the room was chilly, and she was warm. I closed my eyes to go back to sleep.

My phone buzzed.

“Shit,” I muttered for the third time. This time, I escaped Bianca’s grasp before she could tighten it and pulled the blanket off both of us. She still smelled faintly of green apple perfume from the night before. We both still wore our theater dresses; we’d been too drunk to change. Not that Bee had anything to change into, but she could have borrowed something of mine. Shorts and a T-shirt, maybe?

I sat on the bed’s edge and checked my phone while Bee wrapped her arms around me again. It wasn’t a text, though. It was an email from ‘anonymous.tp@tokyexoicocity.gov.’ I turned my phone off, hoping Bianca hadn’t seen anything.

“What was that? I’ve never gotten anonymous emails. Not like that, at least,” Bianca said. I tried not to face-palm. She’d been all in my business when I left the Lil Pal on my end table, and she was in it now, too. Huh. I hadn’t seen that damn thing in a couple of weeks. I’d gotten rid of most of my Peter stuff, but not the nightie—and not the little robot. Not yet, at least. If I found it, that’d change.

“Nothing. I’m starting up an internship with the city, and they’re probably getting me some dates and times.”

“Oh, that sounds cool.” Bee tried to pull me back down onto the bed, but I stood up through her grip. She pouted dramatically, and I laughed.

“Yeah, it’ll be pretty neat. It’s a great opportunity for me to get some on-the-job experience and start building a reputation for after college. That’s really important in the career I want.”

“What career do you want?”

Uh…

“You know, uh, superhero law’s what my parents want for me, and…um…it’s probably the best job for my future, so that’s…that’s what I’m leaning toward.”

“That’s surprisingly noncommittal for a girl who thinks an internship is a ‘great opportunity’ to ‘build a reputation for after college,” Bee teased.

She poked me in the side, and I squirmed away from her. “Hey!”

“Sorry! Are you ticklish?”

“No,” I lied. I crossed my arms over my chest, covering my armpits in case she got any ideas. “Let’s go get breakfast. I’m starving, and my head hurts.”

Bee was out of bed before I’d finished talking. She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the door. “Okay, but you’re buying!”

◄▼►

Bee stood on tippy-toes to kiss me goodbye outside of the Student Union Building. I returned the kiss, a little flustered. She grinned at me. “Good luck with your work stuff, Annie!”

“Thanks! See you later!”

As I walked the long, wide pathway from the SUB to Walnut Tower, still wearing my theater dress from the night before, I pulled out my phone to finally read Tele-Portal’s email.

Subject: Patrol Duty

Hello, Magical Girl Understudy. I’ve finally got a day off on a weekend. The D-Wolvers keep pushing, but we’ll hold them off until the herd moves on, and they have to follow or starve. It’s happened before. We just have to give them time to get hungry.

I’m patrolling Mid-Town tomorrow from 9:30 until 12:30. It’s usually a pretty safe district since most of the major league studios have offices there. Still, there’s always a late-minor villain looking to make a name for themselves during Man vs. Nature who thinks they can pull something off. Meet me at Baliman and Croft Financial. I’ll teach you about public relations, patrol duties, and maybe even run a Short or two with you unless you have other obligations.

A word of advice, though. If you haven’t already, I strongly recommend you solidify your power set before we run. I work best with a damage-output hero or an investigator, so if you can fill one of those roles, that’d be wonderful.

When: 9:30

Where: Baliman and Croft Financial, Mid-Town

What: Patrol

Tele-Portal

I hadn’t settled on any builds for my powers yet. Magical Girl Understudy had always been an all-arounder, and I didn’t really want to mess with that identity. But Rainy Day…had the potential to be something special. The little girl costume did way more burst damage than Understudy could. Maybe I could…text Fursona for advice.

<Hey Fursona. Got a patrol with Tele-Portal tomorrow morning - Understudy 11:15>

<Wanna help me with my builds for it? - Understudy 11:15>

They didn’t reply until I’d made it to my room and transformed into Understudy.

<Sure! I’ll be over in a few. Working out. What are you thinking? - Fursona 11:28>

<Pure ranged Elementalist for Rainy Day - Understudy 11:29>

<Possible melee generalist for US - Understudy - 11:30>

<Sounds good. What about Lab Assistant Panic? - Fursona 11:31>

I froze halfway into my secret base. What about Lab Assistant Panic? I didn’t wantto use Professor Panic’s powers right now. But at the same time, the Costume might be a powerful option as…an investigator or full Genius to compliment the generalist and ranged damage specialist builds.

I grabbed the goggles from my bedroom—I’d thrown them into a nightstand drawer where I wouldn’t have to look at them—then searched for the Lil Pal. I tore the room apart, smelling an occasional whiff of green apples, but the tiny bot was nowhere to be found. What had happened to it? It hadn’t been finished and wouldn’t even take off, so it couldn’t have left on its own power…could it?

I started checking the living room couch cushions, but Fursona rang on the elevator before I could dig too deeply. I shrugged and let them up. I’d figure out the Lil Pal problem later.

“Alright, so you’re trying to build a melee build?” Fursona asked. “I happen to be a melee specialist speedster/bruiser hybrid, so you’re in luck. I’m an expert!”

“Everything you know you learned from me,” I quipped back.

“Har har. Pataki gave me some advice too, and they built the costume. Sort of. Uncle Jeremy did some too. If you’re going to specialize in melee fighting, you’ll want a gap closer. Otherwise, ranged specialists with a movement buff can—“

“Run rings around me. I know. I’ve done it to melee-centric villains before.” Only one, actually. Just Professor Panic. “Let’s go with[Hometown Heroine]. We’ll trade out [Stellar Ray] for it.” I gulped a little. I’d never run without [Stellar Ray] before, but I’d soon be slapping that into the Rainy Day powerset if I had room.

“Idea. Can you run powers from your costumes on Understudy? That Grit power you used a couple of times in ‘You’re Super-Suited’ would be amazing for a melee hero.”

“I’ve never tried it, but it’s worth a shot.” I tried to trade out [Rejuvenation] for [Cloudy Disposition], but it wouldn’t take. “I know I can run Understudy powers on my Costumes, but it doesn’t go both ways.”

Fursona snorted.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. So, no cool Grit power, then.”

We worked on Understudy and Rainy Day until I was happy with both builds. Understudy turned out to be pretty much the same build I’d expected, with [Flickerform] giving it a ton of surprise firepower as needed. Other than that, I’d fight like I had in the training simulation, but with more speed and less range.

[Styles and Skills]

►Archetype Skill - Transformation Sequence

►Badass (lvl 0; 45)

►Cunning (lvl 2; 36)

► Inkling 1

►Drama (lvl 3; 47)

►  Hometown Heroine 1

►Flamboyance (lvl 3; 27)

►Signature Skill - Adaptive Armoire

►Stored Costumes: (Rainy Day)

►Flickerform 1

►Spotlight Strike 1

►Grit (lvl 1; 11)

► Rejuvenation 1

Rainy Day was more complicated. I wanted to make the Costume a pure ranged specialist, but I immediately ran into problems. [Ride the Lightning] had a short range, and [Stellar Ray] was really the build’s only consistent damage. Despite everything I could throw at it, Rainy Day had too many powers that felt like filler.

I was due for some new skills in Badass and Drama, so maybe that’d help patch those holes. But what I really needed was the Flamboyance points for another roll or two. If I could level up [Adaptive Armoire] enough to run a third Costume, I could specialize Understudy into a melee fighter even more. Or into an investigator if the other Costume wasn’t LAP. I crossed my fingers for anything new so I wouldn’t have to use it.

[Styles and Skills]

►Archetype Skill - Transformation Sequence

►Badass

►Cunning

►Drama

►  Light as Vapor 0

►  Stellar Ray

►Flamboyance

►Signature Skill - Adaptive Armoire 1

►Stored Costumes: (Understudy)

►Ride the Lightning 0

►Flickerform 1

►Grit

► Cloudy Disposition 0

“Alright, you’ve got two builds figured out, Squirt.” Fursona stared at me, and I moved like I wanted to punch them, but they held their hand on my forehead until I shifted back to Understudy. “How about Lab Assistant Panic?”

“What about it?” I started playing with my hair.

“Well, you told Sara-N-Dipity it had some pretty unique powers. You should definitely take advantage of those if you can. What’s it got?”

“[Maniacal Reveal], [Hypercompression Cannon], and [Speed-Hacker].”

“What do they do?” Fursona asked.

I slapped my hand down on the make-up table. “I don’t want to talk about Lab Assistant Panic! I don’t want to think about the Costume, or him, or anything! I want to find my damn Lil Pal, throw it away, and pretend he didn’t exist!”

Fursona held up their paws placatingly. “Okay, whoa. I’m sorry—I just thought we should be thorough with your power sets since you get so many of them. Do you…want some help with the Lil Pal problem?”

“No. I’ll find it myself.” I wasn’t crying. Fursona was crying. Not me. Nuh-uh.

“Alright. I’ll catch you later,” Fursona said. They headed for the elevator, which closed behind them. I didn’t say anything. I just stared.

Then I shook out the tension. Fuck it. Fursona was right. It was too much power to throw away. I grabbed the goggles and started a rap.

“LAB ASSISTANT PANIC’S HERE TO SAY…”

But I couldn’t finish. I couldn’t shift into the Lab Assistant Panic Costume. After the try, I had to admit the truth; it wasn’t like Peter had taken back the Costume. I just couldn’t do it right now. L.A.P. did represent a lot of interesting powers, but I didn’t needit to be a superhero.

<Hey, Fursona. I’m sorry I snapped. Lots of bad emotions still - Understudy - 1:15>

I untransformed and headed back into my apartment. I had all afternoon to work on homework and get ready for my patrol with Tele-Portal.

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