Battle Vixens! - 41

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Episode 41: The Neutral Move

"You know, I thought the whole point of a hydra was you shouldn't cut the heads off." Petra stood on a small pillar of concrete, waited for a few heads to swipe down at her, then bashed them with her sheath, jumped over them and slashed their necks with the sword. The heads fell off, writhing and snapping at the air like some kind of seizuring snakes. Rowan drew more water from an open sewer main nearby and sent it crashing over them, dissipating them. Petra landed on the ground a bit behind the pillar while it collapsed, continuing her thought: "'Cause, it's supposed to grow more heads. This one just had way too many to begin with."

Rowan sighed, or more just exhaled slightly louder than usual. "Save your breath, please." The towering monster took a couple of steps in their direction, giving an opening to Dawn on the opposite side of it. Several of its heads screamed when she cut them and started getting rid of them. For all they knew, the body was a weak point, but it was impossible to get close. Every head was big enough to swallow Hugo (the tallest of them) whole, and there had seemed to be hundreds when it first appeared. In fact it was hard to tell they were even making progress at first, but by this point it was quite clear this strategy was (slowly) working.

"Heads up!" Zeno, off to the right, put a light-shield up between them and the monster just in time for several of the heads to stun themselves by bashing against it.
"Got it, got it!" Petra lifted her arms, making a big blade of rock to chop the latest heads off. A blast of sound from the right tore through them before they could hit the ground.

Rowan moved around to the left, noting a higher concentration of heads there. Another wave of water from the sewers turned into a mass of spinning blades aimed vaguely in the beast's direction, some of them finding their marks to chop off heads while others just nicked or pierced them. Tora sped over and sliced through all the heads in a single swift motion. "I can't get close enough to that thing!" she complained after rolling back out of the remaining heads' range. She held up her clawgloves, half-glaring at them. "These things're great except when what ya need is reach!"

"Swap with me," said Rowan, pointing in Petra's direction.

"Sure, chief."

Fay came closer. "Seek the sky?"
"Right." In a practiced maneuver, she jumped and held her staff out, and Rowan leapt to meet it at the peak of the jump, pushing off of it to get more height. She landed on top of a neck and began running and jumping around the swarm of biting heads, cutting one after another off with her sword, until she started to feel out of breath and backflipped away again. Fay set off an explosion big enough to destroy most of them, and then hit the stragglers with her staff when they got close enough.

"No gunshots heard," Fay commented, moving just inside the monster's range, setting up an explosion, and hopping back to let the heads that took the bait die to another explosion.
"It doesn't make...any sense," said Rowan, between breaths. "Not unless she's...attacking Light's group,"

"No use worrying." She offered Rowan an open bottle of water, which she chugged in a couple of seconds.

"Hey, I got an idea!" Petra yelled from her side. "Let's tip it over!"

Rowan looked at Fay for a second; her expression was neutral. "Hugo?"
"Sounds great to me!" she yelled over the monster's screams from the other side.

"Point it our way. Knock it with the shield if it's safe to do so. Back up, Dawn. On my signal!"

"Yep yep!" Petra called back.

Rowan and Fay split up, Fay to their right and Rowan toward Dawn's side. She had indeed backed up, and was busy hitting her built-up collection of heads with fire blasts and ice blades. Rowan went in to slash through the rest; Dawn nodded appreciatively, panting slightly. Then: "Do it!"

"RRRRRAAAAAH!" The ground the monster was standing on shifted, tilting more and more. The creature scuttled against the sudden incline unsettlingly, roaring. Then Hugo jumped and bashed it with her tower shield, and Zeno placed a plane of light under its lifted feet so it couldn't easily right itself. Its many voices screamed louder and more urgently than before as it fell over onto its side, the ground audibly rumbling from the impact.

The thing's body was nothing like Rowan had expected behind all those heads. It was just a big torso with dozens and dozens of thin, spidery legs attached to the bottom, all of them twitching and spasming rapidly as it tried to stand back up. "Fay, Zeno, Hugo: Keep the heads off us," Rowan ordered, moving in with Dawn. Hugo ran around to the two of them to block with his shield and throw blasts of sound back at the heads trying to bite them; Zeno and Fay used their powers to keep the heat off of Petra and Tora. Swords, claws, and some fire hit the torso, sending a massive stream of mist out of it. The monster's heads gave a chorus screeching, roaring, and pained screaming from the assault, attacking ever more desperately until some of them started to get around Hugo's efforts, forcing Rowan to switch to drawing more water up to block and pummel the heads with. It didn't seem to be smart enough to use all those heads to lever itself back upright, which was at least a small blessing.

The body went indistinct after a moment and fell apart. But the heads were still perfectly solid, detaching from the fading body to turn and rush the group of vixens already half-exhausted from taking out the thing's torso. Petra gritted her teeth and tilted the ground up, throwing most of them back; Zeno blocked the rest from coming too close and picked as many off with arrows as she could. Hugo threw more impact blasts their way, and after taking a second to catch her breath Rowan threw blades of water at them. Dawn shot fireballs and threw spikes made of ice as the ones thrown back by Petra regained the lost ground, and Tora and Fay took up the front line, hitting, exploding, and slashing as many of them as they could manage.

One by one (apart from Zeno) the others ran out of energy to throw their magic around and jumped into the melee instead—Dawn last of all and wielding the biggest, most solid sword of ice she could conjure. But after an agonizing thirty seconds of frantic melee that felt more like an hour, Rowan struck her sword down through the last of the thing's heads, landing the tip partway in the ground and leaning herself on top of it, panting heavily.

"Is everyone...all right?" She turned her head around, checking that they were all still present and conscious. It took a lot of effort just to do that.

"Well, nobody's got eaten or fainted anyhow," said Tora.

Fay just replied, "Too...many...heads."
"I agree completely," said Petra. "How am I supposed to paint that?" The rest just quietly nodded or looked back at her.

Next, Rowan got a radio from her belt and spoke into it: "Any sign of them?"
"Not a thing. No noise from the facility."

"And..?"
"They didn't show up in the other town, either. No hits on the car. Like she went underground or something."
"Hey, how'd things go over there?" said Petra.
"..Same question," Rowan said after a brief half-glare in her direction.

"Uhh...we're getting reports there was some kinda 'dragon' over there. No details yet. They think everyone's okay but they all disappeared the second it went down, so..."

"Well. Keep an eye out. I don't like this."
"I don't either," said the chief of police from the other end of the line.

Rowan shook her head, putting the radio back in its place for the moment. "Otherwise..." Looking around at everyone, she said, "Good work. We have reasonable certainty this is the only monster for today, so it should be alright to take the rest of the day off. Just be careful."
"Yeah, I'd rather those jerks attack us now than keep us waitin' and wonderin' forever," said Tora, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"Can you even still fight?" Zeno asked.
"Long as there's blood in me."

---

After a brief discussion, the group agreed to meet in the same lounge that Rory and Clark had carried Light to when they first met her. The puppeteer could be expecting them in either location, but the press would be less likely to barge into the college science building looking for them than wait outside the Quinns' house with a bunch of cameras. Besides that, Amory was waiting on campus for news. The unconscious bodies of Gemma got two of the couches, the Quinns took the third one, and everyone else got chairs. Light left once they were all inside, putting in the effort to remain invisible while going to get Amory and bring him back with her.

Ning watched the unconscious twins with a visibly nervous expression. "..Are you sure they—uh, she's okay?"

"Yep. Checked her with my magic wand a minute ago," said Clark, pointing to the needle currently in her ear. "You feeling alright?"
"Nn, not really. That dragon hit me in the side with its head..."
"Ouch, that might leave a bruise." She got up slowly and moved over, putting the bulb-end up to Ning's head.

"W-wait, are you gonna knock yourself out doing that?" she said. Clark ignored the question, already focused on healing the injury.

"We're pretty sure healing people 'recharges' her," said Rory. "The same way hitting yourself with lightning does you."
Ning let out a brief sigh of relief at the soothing feeling from the healing magic. "Oh? What about you?"

"I've been thinking about it actually, and I may have figured it out," she said. "Seems to me like I'm 'recharged' by the thrill of battle. Hitting things and being hit back." She pounded a fist into her palm to demonstrate. "Fits the whole theme of 'bodily strength and endurance' powers, and it just...I dunno how to explain it. I mean—don't get me wrong, I've never exactly been a totally peaceful person but I've never really felt so excited about violence before, either."

The door opened and closed on its own, and then Light and Amory appeared inside. "We're back," she said tiredly, and then went to the nearest empty chair and slumped over into it. He watched this with a concerned expression, which then turned even moreso as he noticed the bodies on the couch.
"Is she alright?"

"Just had this conversation, yes," Clark repeated, standing up again as she finished fixing Ning's bruises up and making her way back to her wife's side. "Should wake up any minute now, if Light's experience with fainting is anything to go by."

"Hmn. You know, I really wish I'd brought some cookies today," said Rory. She waved toward the remaining empty chair, and Amory took the hint to go sit down in it.

"I saw some of what happened on the news," he said. "Looked...pretty rough."
"Mhm," Light said, nodding. "Stupid dragon took forever to kill."
"I dunno if we could've done it without your help," Rory said with a sly grin. "Really, I think you were right about not losing any time, either."
"Shh." Light waved vaguely at her and pointed toward Plus.
"What? She's still asleep, right? Anyway, who cares if she does find out? I thought we weren't keeping secrets from each other anymore."
"I'm just..worried how she'd take it," Amory said quietly, looking furtively at the nearest sleeping body a bit. "I'll tell her...just—I want to be the one to do it, okay? Give me a little more time."
"Okay, okay."

Defying every literary convention Light knew of, Gemma remained fast asleep for the next few minutes while everyone else just took the time to drink some water and really, fully catch their breath. And when she did wake up, it was with enough of a start to make it quite clear she hadn't been pretending before. "Wuaah!" both bodies jumped to their feet, yelling in chorus. "Dragon!—" "—where?!" They looked around the room frantically for a second or two before getting their bearings.

"The dragon's dead, dear, go back to sleep," Rory said half-joking.

"Oh—" "—uh..." Both of them looked down, blushing brightly in embarrassment. After a moment Plus looked up, looking around the room. "What happened? The last thing I remember I was uh, helping Ning recover her magic...and...?"

"You fainted," Clark said, "from exhaustion more or less. I guess having two bodies doesn't make much of a difference for that if you tire both of them out at once."

"Did any puppets show up?" Minus asked, slowly sitting back down again; Plus moved over to sit on the opposite side of the same couch, leaving hers empty.

"Not one," said Light. Her ears drooped slightly. "I wonder if..?"

Amory's phone started ringing at this point, interrupting her and making her jump slightly. Both of Gemma and Ning also jumped at the noise, the Quinns the only fox-girls present who weren't startled by it.

"Hello..?" He pulled it away a bit to talk to them. "Rowan." And back to his ear. "Yeah, they're fine. Everyone's...here with me, actually. You want speakerphone? Sure it is." He set the phone down on the nearest table, pushed the speakerphone button, and gestured vaguely at Gemma (specifically Plus).

"I heard your monster resembled a dragon," his voice said from the phone. Amory gestured slightly more urgently and she finally caught on to what he meant.
"Oh, right!" Minus half-whispered, while Plus focused on damping the sound from the phone on the edges of the room. It probably wasn't audible past the walls anyway, but a little more security couldn't hurt.

"Yep. We got to be dragonslayers," said Rory. "How are you guys holding up? The puppeteer didn't do a thing here, so.."
"Not here either. And no sign of her at the facility; they've been on high security since yesterday. And the car hasn't shown up on the road yet, either. Not even one matching its description with different plates, which she wouldn't even know to do..."
"It's like someone told her to lay low for today," said Light. "But...she doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd take someone else's orders. And, well, at least there's no way we have a mole over here."
"Well...Word of the car could have gotten out if she has contacts in the police," said Rowan. "But even if that were it, that's no reason not to attack today at all. It would have been to her advantage to do so, with the kind of monsters we were fighting."

"Maybe the plan is to let everyone tire themselves out today and then take advantage of it, fully rested herself, tomorrow?" Clark suggested. "It's still not a great plan, since there's a lot of time to rest between now and the next monster...or if there isn't, there's no way she'd know that."

"Maybe that's it," said Rowan.
"What's it?" said Minus, confused.
"Suppose she does, somehow, know that the attack will come earlier tomorrow. In the morning, for example. Then waiting until then to strike makes sense."

"How would she know when they're gonna attack?" said Amory. "Nobody knows that. The Initiative's been trying to figure it out, right? And you guys have a lot more experts working on it than she ever could..."

"There is one way she might obtain that information," said Rowan. "One person who is more likely than anyone else to know exactly when the monsters will attack. Who has shown the ability to know precisely when they won't?"

"Oh...yeah," said Light. "She hasn't contacted any of us in a while." (Well, not as herself at least, she mentally noted). "You?"

"Not since last time. She...expressed an interest in keeping an 'even footing' between us. Not fair play, exactly, more like giving one side of a fight a handicap so it's closer and more exciting. Maybe us having a way to track her put things too far in our favor and it was time to throw a bone to the other side instead."

"That...sounds just like her to me," said Amory, shaking his head.

"So how far do we run with this assumption?" said Light.

"I think it would be best to turn in early tonight—as early as you can. And be ready for one of them to show up in the morning—no idea how early, but they've never shown up before dawn. Still...maybe it would be best to keep a phone nearby and loud enough to wake you quickly if it does happen. I'll put out the same warning on my end."

"Great! Will do," said Rory. "So enough about that, what did you fight today?"

"...A hydra showed up in the middle of the city," he said, his tone calm with a strong hint of tiredness. "Its heads came off and swarmed us when it died."

"Awesome." Half the room glared at her for the lack of tact. "Come on, that's like the third or fourth most metal thing I've heard all year."

"Please excuse my wife, she gets like this when she's tired," said Clark.
"Hey, I'm not tired!" she protested.
"It's...alright," Rowan said. "At any rate, I need to get the announcement out, so I'll leave you to it." And he hung up.

"Come on, am I wrong? I thought it was cool they won," said Rory, appealing to a generally unsympathetic court. "Nobody got hurt after all..."
"Dear, your filter's off," said Clark, leaning on top of her with a hug. "You know, the one that keeps you from saying things in a way that makes everyone angry with you? This always happens when you overwork yourself or don't sleep well, or try to compensate with a bunch of energy drinks."

"Well, I'm not allowed to be tired yet," she said, returning the hug with one arm. "I still have a class to teach."
Minus gasped. "I still have a class to go to!" Plus realized aloud. "What time is it?" Minus added, jumping to her feet.

"..Are you sure they weren't canceled for the day?" said Light wearily, leaning back with her head toward the ceiling at this point. "After the whole 'tornado siren' thing?"
"Uh..let's see.." Amory picked up his phone to check. "Uh-huh...this email says anyone commuting from off campus should stay off campus today avoid driving near where today's monster is or was. Basically." He looked up to Gemma. "So—you drove into town and then back to your apartment, and got this email saying not to come back. Problem solved."
"I-I guess so..—" "—but I'm right here, I hate lying to people..." Minus muttered more quietly.
"Well, have you checked your email yet?" he said, getting up and coming over to her. "Your car's still in town right now, yeah? I'll drive you, then we go back to the apartment and make it true."
"Okay..." She recombined using Minus, and Amory gently put an arm over her to guide her out. She giggled softly, blushing a bit from the physical contact. Before they got all the way to the door, she halted abruptly, realizing something.

"Wait! W-were there any lingering effects from breathing in that poison stuff? It made me feel dizzy, like the whole world was upside down and sideways, and my arms and legs were going stiff..."
"I didn't see anything," said Clark. "Checked pretty closely, too, since I wasn't sure how hard either of you hit the concrete when you collapsed. If you're really worried you could go have a checkup with a real doctor to be sure."

"R-right...thanks," she said quietly, and then continued out with Amory.

When the door shut, Ning snapped back to sitting up again. "Um.." She looked around the room, having dozed off sometime between the end of the phone call and now. "What time is it, anyway? I gotta get back to my shop, my car, and pick Nadia up soon probably."

"I"ll drive you," Light said, standing up slowly. "Should be able to make it look like just normal-me in the car."
"Aren't you wearing yourself a little thin?" said Clark. "Maybe I could take care of the driving part for you. And you should take a power nap in here before going to that class," she added to her wife, pushing off of her gently to stand up. "Remember the motto the legal team taught you?"

"Yeah yeah, 'don't get the college sued'," Rory said, and shifted back to her usual appearance before standing up, stretching. "I'll be in my office, then. You get the blame if I'm late for class, though."

Clark also returned to human form, leading the way out of the office. The three of them were quiet as they went to Light's car, she produced the keys from a purse that her pockets' contents had traveled to during the transformation, and he drove them out to town, giving the destroyed section of road from the day's fight a wide berth. Light kept Ning invisible until she went into the back door of the shop to turn back into Gerald, and then took a long, deep breath, grateful to have just one less illusion to keep up. Then it was back to campus so Blake could be the one driving to the apartment and Clark wouldn't be stranded over there.

"This superhero business..." Light muttered quietly halfway through the trip. "They never tell you how much gas it costs."
"Hah. Yeah. I can spot you some if you need me to, later," he said.
"No no..just makin' a joke to stay 'wake," she said. "No, no real complaints here."

"...You sure you can make the drive back on your own?"
"I'll be okay," she nodded. "It's using my powers that's so tiring...think I'll feel better when I turn back. Not...great, but enough to drive a couple miles."

"Just be ridiculously careful. Like you would if you knew you were a little drunk."
"I dunno what tha's like. Wait...do you?" He didn't really strike her as the kind of person to do that.

"Gentle reminder that Rory is my wife," Clark said. "Won't say any more than that about it."

Given their respective routes, it was no surprise to find Amory already sitting on the couch when Blake entered the apartment. He walked up and slumped over on the other side of it.

"Stupid monsters."
"I agree."

"Stupid puppeteer."

"Hear, hear."

"Stupid 'Giver' or Beryl or whoever. Dumb powers."
"Stupid price," said Amory back.

Blake next spoke his phrase again, and a Light in bed-clothes (an oversized t-shirt and underwear, again) leaned over onto Amory's lap without saying another word.
"Uh..yeah. Heh." He ran a hand through her hair, spoke his own phrase, and after turning into a girl she gently pulled Light a little closer into her arms, slowly petting her and winding their tails together.

"Mrrn." After a brief half-hearted nuzzle, the exhausted fox-girl fell asleep right there on the couch, the droning noise of the news turned low not bothering her a bit.