…are you kidding me? That was on my watchlist for the "get up to speed with all the non-PMMM, Sailor Moon, and Pretty Cure magical girl shows" thing I was doing! Hearing that it sucks is really sad.
Like, how do you fuck up punk magical girls? That's like having Michelin-Star ingredients and charring the food to a crisp. Well, I guess I'll be able to watch Tokyo Mew Mew sooner…
Edit: nvm, it's about otaku. Nvm, toss it in the trash, the ingredients were rotten and stale at the very start.
…are you kidding me? That was on my watchlist for the "get up to speed with all the non-PMMM, Sailor Moon, and Pretty Cure magical girl shows" thing I was doing! Hearing that it sucks is really sad.
Like, how do you fuck up punk magical girls? That's like having Michelin-Star ingredients and charring the food to a crisp. Well, I guess I'll be able to watch Tokyo Mew Mew sooner…
Edit: nvm, it's about otaku. Nvm, toss it in the trash, the ingredients were rotten and stale at the very start.
If Nora had been our lead, would EXCEED-BEYOND have been unfinished when she got back to the Apiary, or would Nora have just not been able to use it but still able to give it to another recruit (and in the interim, would had to be making do with smaller Hit-boosting weapons like handheld heat ray guns and freeze rays or whatever using her "Make a gadget" action)
I have a new omake, inspired a bit by talk of heroes working outside of established teams. A branch in Samuel's story, though it can be read standalone. No unusual trigger warnings compared to last time, but still has a dark tone.
Starfall
"Samuel," says a cold voice filled with static. "This month we have another job for you. A client of ours has irreconcilable differences with the hero Gallop, and would like to settle the matter."
"Another named hero from that area? Is this the same client from last time?" You aren't quite sure what to think of repeat business like this. It's good for building reputation, but two in a row is sure to draw heat. You know better than to carelessly toss your personal concerns into the abyss of your microphone though.
"That is none of your concern. The client has also prepared a dossier on her powers, so that should simplify the job."
You sit back in your chair and glance out the windows of your dinky little stakeout room. Overcast skies, a gloomy day for an outing. Your fingers tap the oak table silently. "Let's hear it then."
After a few moments of crackling, the voice responded. "Her primary powers are construct creation and energy manipulation. She uses them to conjure up her namesake horse and always fights while mounted…"
Some of what follows could've been guessed from her name alone. Still, every little detail counts. Without a magic third eye, powers are an enigma at times. Even for highly publicized metahumans, the crucial facts that decide life and death can't always be known in advance.
"... it is important that the blame be pinned on another syndicate. For this reason, she must be lured into their territory. Are you clear on your mission?"
"Yes." You take your fingers off the transmit button and stow your radio handset inside your pocket.
Standing up from your chair, you step over the dusty carpet surrounding you and kneel in front of multiple hardshell travel cases, all neatly stacked on laminate flooring. You pause to reflect on how much you have invested into your equipment up to this point. Not all of it is here, but still there's a diverse range of price points represented here. From typical gangster guns to more exotic military hardware, they each have a place.
But for most of them, it wouldn't be out in the field today. Each mission has a distinct set of constraints that you must adhere to, and few tools are useful in every situation. For example, the best chance for you to kill a named metahuman is usually when their mask is off. But that is not your mission right now. Gallop is the target, not Mila Salazar.
Luckily for you, Gallop is a Hero for Hire. And like you, she has a price.
Under the cover of a decrepit old warehouse's awning, tattooed men shuffle to and fro a small boat at a nearby dock. They carry unassuming wooden crates, dropping them off onto pallets for a forklift to take deeper into the warehouse through a rolling shutter door in the side. And somehow they do it almost wordlessly, leaving the oddly serene sounds of creaking wood mixed with seagulls and gentle waves. But something causes their ears to perk up, and the crates to be set down abruptly.
A deep crashing, almost like a wave making landfall. Then chaotic shouts and gunfire.
"A hero's attacking!"
"Out front!"
It doesn't take long for the boat to unmoor and speed off, her crew unwilling to stick around. The men on the dock scramble, either running into the building or through the side gate to face the intruder.
Now that all the guards are busy, you take this as your cue to slip in amongst the chaos. You hop out from the boat you were hiding in. Running across wooden planks and in through the opened chain link gate, you dart from crate to crate and make your way up to the warehouse. With the help of the fire escape and some footholds in the walls, you deftly climb onto the top of the roof.
Ideally, you would like to immediately find a skylight or other perch looking into the warehouse. But you can't neglect checking on the situation out front as well. You quietly dash along the roof until you reach a ridgeline, and then lie down to take a peak.
Another crash. You are just in time to see a group of men tossed aside like bowling pins by the force of a charging horse. It is made of gleaming light, the same light that envelops its rider in a shining suit of armor.
The other gangsters stagger backwards, wary.
"Foul villains, prithee release your captive unharmed and thou mayst yet walk with your bones unshattered," says Gallop.
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked a man clutching his arm.
"An innocent boy thou hast cruelly abducted!"
"A boy? Listen goody two-shoes, we only keep weapons here. We don't deal in that other shit." His comrades glare at him, but he ignores them.
Gallop turns her gaze to the ocean. You catch a glimpse of her face, hidden beneath a slotted visor. You cannot see her eyes from your vantage point but you almost certainly know what she's looking at, somewhere in the horizon. "Lies!" she shouts.
Some men draw their pistols and fire, while others start running like hell. The bullets glance off the horse and armor, and she casually chucks a burning lance in response. Another man tumbles onto the pavement.
Right, you must prepare. You stop gawking and rush back to find a way into the warehouse's uppermost level. It's simple enough to shimmy open a window and drop down onto one of the top catwalks inside. There's a pair of lone guards up here, but they don't even cover each other's sightlines. Amateurs.
Crouching down, you sneak up on one of them and whip out a garrote in front of his neck. Not a sound escapes from his throat, strangled as it is by the constricting wires. Once you do the same to his partner, you drag both of their bodies to a stairwell, out of sight. There you slit their throats for good measure. Can't have them waking up and messing up your shot.
Now back on the catwalks, you look down on the ground level. It's as you thought. The remaining goons have dug in and pointed all their available firepower at the obvious shutter door where Gallop will breach. Makeshift fortifications and popped-open crates are strewn across the floor. You spot heavy machine guns and even an anti-materiel rifle lined up. They are so trained on the threat they're anticipating that they would probably mistake your shadowed silhouette for one of their own were they to bother to look up.
Maybe it would be good to line up with them on the upper level and join in with the firing squad. It would make it easy to blend your shots in. However, you have something different in mind. High above the shutter door entrance, there is a separate room with its own partition wall connecting to the catwalk. Some combination of structural support and overlook, judging from the enclosing pillars and tinted windows.
A perfect fit for the gun you brought today. The space is tight, but you are able to set your long-barreled revolver down on the window sill, just barely fitting the bipod. Counterintuitively, it is pointing directly away from the entrance and at the emplacements the gangsters have set up. You look down the scope and verify that the crosshairs are in the right spot.
All that is left to do is wait. It isn't very long until—
CRASH! Thin corrugated steel down below yields to what you assume must be a lance and a horseful of solid light.
The inside of the warehouse lights up with a hailstorm of lead and muzzle flashes. You hear the distinctive boom of the bigger rifles being brought to bear. But none of them can stop the galloping knight charging directly into the defensive line. She inexorably barrels through, and men and equipment alike are cast aside. After the line is punched through, she proceeds to mop up the rapidly collapsing flanks.
This is what you've been waiting for. Her hardlight armor parallels that of a tank, but like the knights of yore there must exist weakpoints. Like the narrow gap between her helmet and cuirass that you see from behind. Eventually her momentum will run out, and her charge must come to a halt.
Into your crosshairs. You pull the trigger.
Bullseye.
But the bullet deflects, blocked by a flick of the horse's tail. Damnit.
The windows concealing you break, given that you just shot through them. You squeeze the trigger for follow up shots, but they are all swatted away. All you can do is duck down and hope that no one has seen you.
Luckily, you are still ducking when a flash of light comes in through the broken window and scorches the wall beside you. But the din of gunfire is dying down rapidly. The thugs are probably scattering like the wind beneath her hoof. You'll have to gamble, or you'll lose your chance. Too bad the dossier never mentioned anything about an autonomous creature.
More blasts hit above your head.
Nevertheless, you have one more plan. You shuffle through your pack and retrieve a half-dozen smoke grenades. While Gallop has free rein running down the long aisles of the warehouse, she is still too fixated on the ground and punishing the enemies beneath her. The gaps in her suppressive fire give you an opportunity to toss the grenades all around the warehouse. Those same shelves that corralled her enemies will box her in with the smoke.
Judging from the blind lance shots coming from the smoke, she herself doesn't have any special senses. The overturned debris she so enjoyed kicking up will now come back to bite her.
You scurry along the catwalks, trying to track her position through the dim glow of light in the clouds of thick smoke. If you could just find a place on the shelves and make one precise leap…
Here's a good spot to intercept her next run. Your feet jump from the metal platform and down onto some stacked boxes. An oncoming light draws nearer, rushing through the smoke to escape.
Closer, ever closer.
A moth to the flame.
Now!
Adrenaline floods into your muscles and springs them into action. Dagger in hand, you plummet through the smoke toward the lighted silhouette. Her face comes into view just as you do for her.
Pupils in the eyes, widening in surprise. Glint of metal hurtling towards them. An armored gauntlet shoving it away just in time.
Still, you grapple the rider and wrestle with her for control. All on top of a horse that has gone wild.
Beneath that armor she is no stronger than you, but she does have the benefit of riding a horse friendly to her. In the brief tussle, she and the horse successfully kick you off.
But you grab her sides and use your superior weight to drag her down with you. Her own lightweight armor cannot anchor her, and you both tumble and separate. Momentum from riding horseback carries the both of you out of the smoke.
As soon she touches the ground, her armor and her lance vanish into thin air. The horse follows, and when you come to a rest you see nothing but a normal human before you.
Both of you stand up. She realizes what has happened, and her pointed gaze becomes seething contempt.
"Do your worst, slinking coward. Justice shall fall upon you inevitably."
You pull out another dagger, ready to strike. In a single lunge, it should've been over.
Again, your knife fails to land on target. This time she crosses her forearms and blocks. Suddenly her personal armor blazes back to life in time to shatter your blade.
"The true armor of a knight is her will!" she bellows. Her hardened fist crashes into your gut, sending you flying into a wall. Pain shoots through your nerves, but your brain is already numb. For now you stay down, trying to reassess her powers in the few seconds she takes to walk over.
As if pleading for mercy, you weakly raise your hand.
"Hast thou the good sense to yield? Tell me where Julian is headed to and I shall only mostly break your bones."
You consider telling her that the boy she's supposedly saving never really existed. That it was a trap you laid to kill her. But you decide against such a pointless exercise. Better for her to die as the naive hero she is.
Your hand briefly lowers like you are about to say something. But with a flick of the wrist, a concealed pistol flies out the sleeve and into your palm. Barrel pointed directly at an eye slit in her visor, you fire.
Her armor fizzles once more as her body slumps to the ground. You already knew from the dossier, but only when looking into her lifeless eyes does it fully hit you that she is college-aged. Far too young to have someone put out a hit on her.
The job is done. Dusting off your coat, you collect your tools and leave before any reinforcements arrive.
Inside your room, you pack your equipment while a television drones on. The light outside has already dimmed enough to be smothered completely by the clouds.
"In other news, the hero Gallop has turned up dead in an abandoned warehouse. According to investigators, she attempted a solo raid into criminal territory in pursuit of an abducted boy. No such boy could be found, but there is evidence the warehouse had been involved in human trafficking and used as an illicit weapons cache."
Generally you don't track the media reaction to your missions, but this may end up attracting the attention of the local hero teams. You are not so suicidal as to try and target groups or any of the big names, so it's time to move on. There is but one target you must reach in the end.
"In an official statement from Dominion Security, they give condolences to the family of Mila Salazar. However, they disclaim any responsibility for her death, stating that it is impossible for the threat level rating of Hero for Hire job postings to always be accurately attuned to an individual's unique powers. They advise that a seamless function for sharing mission rewards among teammates exists and that it's recommended for heroes to band together if they feel a lethal risk exists…"
After a poorly timed commercial break, you listen to the last part of the report before tuning out entirely.
"... They have stated they will consider petitions in the Hero for Hire forum, such as proposals to place stronger checks on the accuracy of job postings or restrict the missions available to certain age groups, once those petitions have reached a sufficient number of verified signatures."
The last latch on your revolver case clasps shut.
In the coming weeks, you might hear about the meteoric rise of a hero named Gallant if you bother to linger in the area. Residents will find it a strange coincidence that the other two rising stars died due to criminal activity. But they will also be desperate for a protector to rally under.
However, that is no longer your concern.
Originally I was going to write an interaction with my actual DNA submission character, however that matchup was rather one-sided. So I instead went with an older idea I had of tying Samuel into the personal history of my other candidate. I swear Mila wasn't intentionally the expy you might be thinking of like the other candidate was, she just turned out strikingly similar as soon as I thought of her background and power set.
-_⁰ ......what the fack.... did I just....?
Ive seen a bit of Tokyo Mew Mew when it was in 4 Kids, Seen like all but one season of Shugo Shara, a bit of Sailor moon, a metric ton of Pretty cure Reviews, I know Puella Magica exist, I read a bit of the love magical girls manga and Ive recently been listening to Symphogear songs....
The hell was that intro?
EDit: oh apperently it aint really about MaGi? Well thats a waste... I wonder how a Punk MaGi anime would look like...
Edit 2: havent watch it, but I know Card Captor Sakura is a thing as well
-_⁰ ......what the fack.... did I just....?
Ive seen a bit of Tokyo Mew Mew when it was in 4 Kids, Seen like all but one season of Shugo Shara, a bit of Sailor moon, a metric ton of Pretty cure Reviews, I know Puella Magica exist, I read a bit of the love magical girls manga and Ive recently been listening to Symphogear songs....
The hell was that intro?
EDit: oh apperently it aint really about MaGi? Well thats a waste... I wonder how a Punk MaGi anime would look like...
Edit 2: havent watch it, but I know Card Captor Sakura is a thing as well
Magical Destroyers is part of the "edgy" wave of magical girl shows that followed Madoka Magica, most of whom really, really suck and on some occasions are made by people who would rather do anything than write about magical girls (the best example might be Magical Girl Site)
This particular one is especially a shame because apparently one of the magical girls is a proud anarchist, but the story ain't about her for some reason.
The fun thing with Hibana is even with her swearing and constantly attacking Byakuya, she's actually the most magical girl-esque of the two ? She gives all those speeches about how Byakuya's love for Mira is the most important thing and how Byakuya shouldn't be demoted.
If Nora had been our lead, would EXCEED-BEYOND have been unfinished when she got back to the Apiary, or would Nora have just not been able to use it but still able to give it to another recruit
She wouldn't have remember building it and would have been freaked out upon finding it in the Apiary. That would have been the moment when you realized how close she was to the Rebound.
So, does anyone have any favorite plans for what they want to give John in terms of power? I think that teleportation might be pretty good, we could definitely use one.
So, does anyone have any favorite plans for what they want to give John in terms of power? I think that teleportation might be pretty good, we could definitely use one.
If what Wolong was cooking up in PREVAIL! was what we thought it was, a variant of his analysis or Arc's conceptual reflection, I'd like to see us have that.
I'm also a big fan of a better Wade Family combo and LucidProp's Iron Sights combo, which we can now add FFM to.
She wouldn't have remember building it and would have been freaked out upon finding it in the Apiary. That would have been the moment when you realized how close she was to the Rebound.
If what Wolong was cooking up in PREVAIL! was what we thought it was, a variant of his analysis or Arc's conceptual reflection, I'd like to see us have that.
I'm also a big fan of a better Wade Family combo and LucidProp's Iron Sights combo, which we can now add FFM to.
Frankly Im surprised just how much you guys are capable of making power combos. There's sooooo many options and thinking how the powers work with each other and what can come out of them is frankly overwhelming. Still like everything you got. One thing I know if we ever get a cheap cloning ability, it would be funny to mix it with Giant slayers power. Discount Sun Wukong. Would maaaybe need a animal transformation power as well.
