47 - I Still Need an Internship

I’d never, ever, been so glad to see the police.

We found Tokyexico City Police Department cruiser parked at a parking lot entrance just outside Roth Arena. Flare had tried to run twice; Fursona had his arm in a death grip to prevent another escape attempt, but he wasn’t exactly cooperating. Lady Lockless wasn’t resisting, shockingly. Instead, she wouldn’t stop trying to make conversation, and I was not in the mood for casually chatting with a villainess about my love life and classes.

So when the officers cuffed both villains and shoved them into the cruiser’s back seat, I breathed a sigh of relief. The lawyers were probably already on their way to bail them out, but at least they weren’t our problem anymore.

No, my problem was bigger. Much, much bigger.

“Come on!” I said, dragging Fursona toward Roth Arena. It wasn’t too late. Now that we’d stopped Lady Lockless and Monologue’s plan, we could slip back into the job fair and try out for internship positions. I didn’t have much faith in trying out for the real prize—working with Tele-Portal would be fantastic for my career, but everyone else was trying too. But surely I could land a B-list major league internship?

And dammit, I was going to try for the big one!

[You’re Super-Suited For This Job!: Act Three Beginning]

Fursona and I dashed back into the gym and waved at Springlock and Milo at the door. They were keeping a line of Extras moving toward the ‘Teams, Squads, and Organizations’ area. We ducked down the stairs and onto the basketball court.

And promptly ran straight into a furious-looking Monologue.

“How dare you interfere with my work and the work of my great organization, the Student Supervillain Society? Do you know what you two’s meddling has cost me today? Everything!”

I found myself unable to move, but inside, I beamed. Then the inside smiling stopped suddenly. Peter had ranted and raved like this. Once, after I stopped him from taking over the farmer’s market for the finale of Season Three, he’d launched into a tirade that didn’t stop even when the police put him in a cruiser and drove off. I’d been scared to talk to him about it for weeks.

“I’m going to lose everything because of you! My speech scholarship? Gone. My work-study running this club? In jeopardy! But I won’t be going down alone!”

Doctor Jackson walked serenely up to the [Monologuing]student supervillain, shook her head, and asked, “Are you finished yet?”

“You’ll both rue the day you crossed the SSS! I’ll see both your reputations as heroes ruined and your careers in tatters! As soon as I get Lady Lockless back from lock-up, you’ll see! You’ll all—sorry,” Monologue said, looking at Doctor Jackson. “I got a little carried away there. I get so frustrated when things don’t go my way, and ever since Ikenga and I—“

“You’re still doing it, M,” Doctor Jackson said.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He stopped talking for a moment, and I felt the pressure fade. I could move again. I could think again.

“I can’t believe you betrayed our deal!” Ikenga said. “I saw your future, and at no point did you leave the job fair. You never even left my sight. But to use a lieutenant to carry out your dirty work? That is unbelievable.”

“Is it?” Monologue spat, fists balled and glaring at Ikenga. “It’s no worse than your betrayal! When you took over, you said TUSSA would be open to supers of all ethical persuasions. You promised me being president wouldn’t change…us. Then, two months later, you kicked me out of the club and dumped me!”

“Okay, boys, now’s not the time for this. That was years ago. Deal with your relationship baggage on your own time. Monologue, as the job fair’s faculty co-sponsor, I’m ejecting you for compromising the Neutral Field you both agreed on. Ikenga, not a word about it, or you’ll be right behind him.”

“One word, please, Doctor Jackson?” Ikenga asked. “It’s not about our personal lives. It’s about our club statuses.”

“Oh, alright. Make it fast, though. People are staring.” Sure enough, as I looked around, I could see B-list major league heroes and villains starting. None of them wanted to go up against Doctor Jackson, but I could see one villain looking restless—McHammer rubbed his hammer’s handle like he wanted to swing at Jackson or Mays. Tele-Portal, by contrast, was nowhere to be seen.

“Monologue, for this betrayal of the Neutral Field agreement, I swear this is the last time TUSSA will work with the SSS as long as I run it. Further, the TUSSA stands against you, and we’ll pursue you and your accomplices in crime to the ends of campus to stop your heinous plans.”

“Hey, now, Monologue’s my name,” Monologue said. He started heading for the door, then looked over his shoulder and stared at me. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Miss Understudy.”

I waved, trying to show his threats didn’t bother me. Peter had threatened me like that, but he was my nemesis. It was expected there. “Are we done here?” I asked.

“I don’t believe we need to address anything else.” Doctor Jackson shrugged as Doctor Mays walked toward her with a fast-food Styrofoam cup in each hand. “I’m going to take a break. Ikenga, let me know if anything suspicious is going to happen. The Neutral Field no longer applies, and you can use your powers.”

“Great,” I said. “In that case, I’m off to Tele-Portal’s table. No risk, no reward, right?”

As Fursona and I dove back into the crowd of super students, I couldn’t help but look back at Ikenga’s hurt expression. He’d broken it off with a supervillain years ago, and Monologue still hadn’t forgiven him.

Did the same fate await me?

◄▼►

When we arrived at Tele-Portal’s booth, the crowd had thinned dramatically. We walked over to the suit, who cleared his throat. “Hello, and welcome to Tele-Portal’s booth. Tele-Portal is taking care of some important hero work, but she’ll be happy to see you after I vet you first.”

“She’s sleeping,” Fursona said. Sure enough, the woman’s curved and bladed stilts sat on the ground next to her hammock, along with her cannon, and…was she snoring? I watched for a minute. She was!

“Yes, she is,” the suit said. “She’s on her rest day. During a Man vs. Nature, heroes are contractually required to serve three days, then take one day off to prevent burnout and mistakes. This is her day off. Tele-Portal already committed to being here, and she couldn’t back down if McHammer didn’t. Someone has to be here in case he goes rogue.”

I glanced meaningfully at Mays and Jackson, who’d taken seats on the bleachers and were drinking fast-food coffees. With the Ikengalogue drama over for now, both super-professors looked much more relaxed.

“Of course they’re more than capable of handling McHammer. But Tele-Portal can’t think like that. So she’s here, she’s recruiting, and most importantly, she’s sleeping. It’s in her contract for being here, signed and notarized, that she can rest as needed. And her Man vs. Nature role as a rescue and redeployment specialist is tiring work indeed.”

“Oh.” I suddenly realized just who this guy must be, and I shuddered. “So, you’re…her…”

“Lawyer, yes. E. Braningham, esquire. She keeps me on retainer for things like this; the legalities of internships, sidekick work, and liability. If she needs my assistance at the front desk, far be it from me to argue. Now, alias, archetype, and [Signature Skill], please?” He produced a fancy, gold-plated pen from his jacket pocket and wrote down my information. Then he asked a few clarifying questions about precisely what [Adaptive Armoire] did.

“Allows you to acquire different supers’ powers, you say? That’s potentially interesting. Tele-Portal asked me to wake her for interesting heroes, but before I do,” he cocked his head at Fursona. “Alias, archetype, and[Signature Skill], please?”

“Oh, no thanks,” Fursona said. “I’m much too new for this. I’m just here to support Understudy.”

I grinned stupidly at them. They punched me on the shoulder lightly. “Go on, Understudy. You’ve got this!”

God, it felt good to know people had my back. First my parents; they’d kept the charade that I was just an ordinary girl for five years, never hinting to anyone who I really was. And now, Fursona. They had to be going out of their way to pick me up after Peter. No one turned down an offer to try out with a major league hero otherwise. I wanted to hug them. But this wasn’t the time.

“Very well. Miss Understudy, this way, please.”

I followed the lawyer behind the booth to the hammock. He barely touched Tele-Portal’s shoulder before she sprung up, reaching for her massive cannon. She froze, narrowing her eyes at me, and I winced. Not a great first impression. “Who’s this, Edgar?”

“This is Magical Girl Understudy. She has an interesting power. Interesting in that it’s very flexible, and in that it might be…” He leaned forward to whisper something in her ear.

Her eyes widened just a fraction of an inch. If I hadn’t been watching her, I wouldn’t have noticed. Then she nodded and rolled gracefully off the hammock and onto her stilt legs. “Alright, Miss Understudy, you’re up. Through the portal, please. It’ll take you to our practice gauntlet. I’ve got it set for late little league difficulty unless you need something different.”

I shook my head. This was it. A chance to prove myself and maybe, just maybe, get to the minor leagues on a speed track. I wasn’t going to mess this up. I couldn’t mess this up. So I stepped through the portal into a wide, tall-ceilinged room filled with rectangular pillars and boxes.

“Welcome to the Triad’s training room,” Tele-Portal’s voice boomed out from a loudspeaker. I looked up, but I couldn’t see her. The room felt like a paintball arena or something built for laser tag. Some sections were dark, and some shone in the fluorescent lights overhead. “This is meant to simulate Episodes. I’ve loaded up the setup from the ‘Missile Man and the Helmettes Take Over Mission Control’ episode. In it, Missile Man—“

“Used his henchmen to stall out minor-league Stella-Lunar until Golden Goose showed up and took over the episode,” I finished.

“Right. You’ve done your homework. I’ll be playing the role of Golden Goose in this exercise, which means I’ll jump in when the timer hits five minutes. I’ve reduced the number and damage of the henchmen to match little-league standards. Now, Edgar says your power lets you switch forms to mimic other superheroes and villains. That’s interesting. Show me another form,” Tele-Portal’s voice said.

“Okay, but all I have is the Magical Girl Rainy Day Costume. It’s based on a rated-G hero, but my producer thinks it’s got major league powers.”

“If it’s based on a Tottergarten kid, it might. Have you tried it out yet?”

“I did during Act Two, but I haven’t built it up yet. It’s a weather-based elementalist build with a high-damage all-in-style move, weak flight, and a unique-feeling defensive ability. I think it’s meant to be a combo caster if I can unlock a few more skills.” She didn’t respond over the intercom, so I took a deep breath. Then, I started my transformation to Magical Girl Rainy Day.

“The itsy bitsy spider went up the waterspout!”

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