Vaudevillain

Merla waited in trepidation and worry. Being the heroic counterpart to Shizuka was no easy feat. More so because the ninja villain couldn’t decide on something for more than a second. In the end, everyone picked for her.

Which was why Merla was arguably the most generic heroic counterpart. A ninja clad in white gear instead of black. A morph mask rested over her face, masking her slight pout. Of course she’d get the most generic hero of the group.

There were other differences, of course. Merla’s ninja had a futuristic, or at least a modern, bent. She wore a pair of night vision goggles over her mask and had stored two pistols on her belt along with a staggering number of guns inside her inventory. Ablative armor plating had been woven throughout her costume, giving her added protection against the ‘horrors of war’ she fought on the daily.

Merla also wasn’t above admitting she might have been stealing more than a few of the ideas from public domain cartoons.

She wasn’t boring. No matter what Shizuka said. She just had better uses for her time.

Unlike the others, Merla had decided to split off from the group of heroes that consisted of her team. They would be her distraction while she infiltrated behind enemy lines. Or in this case toward the Morality Machine.

She had no doubts that destroying the thing would be difficult, but that was why she brought an applicable amount of explosives. C4, Dynamite, and a number of other devices she couldn’t remember off the top of her head. With luck, she’d blow the thing sky high and cause enough chaos for her group to clean up.

After that, it was a matter of setting up defenses.

She held no qualms that it would be that easy. This was only the initial plan, to be changed on the fly when the enemy made contact.

Such as right now, when Merla leaped from a building to see two villains rushing up the fire escape. Both were already looking up due to the climb, which meant she had nowhere to hide as they shouted the alarm.

She kicked off the air, her stamina draining as the sub-skill activated. The short burst of speed put her on the roof quicker than the villains could arrive, giving her just enough time to grab a shortsword from her inventory as she unholstered a pistol. When the first villain’s head peeked over the lip of the roof, she spoke.

“Surrender.”

Her voice came out slightly tinny through the modulator at her throat. Another addition she figured a modern ninja would have.

“I’ll do ya one better, you surrender!” the villain shouted. “You’re outnumbered two to one!”

The second villain jumped over his counterpart, a spectral ram’s head appearing. The ghostly mouth opened in a scream, rushing at Merla. A simple hop to the side avoided the blow.

A cracking of concrete alerted her. She quickly spun, her sword up in a block while her other hand stowed the pistol. The ghostly ram had formed a body out of the roof behind and was now charging straight at Merla. She heard another scream behind her and quickly formed a symbol in her free hand.

Smoke erupted from her position masking her as she swapped places with a clone. Said smoke quickly condensed, forming into another body for the second ram head. The two heads bashed together, the bodies mixing into a fine sand that collapsed onto the roof.

Merla rolled, her pistol appearing back in her hand as it fired. The first opponent leaned back and casually mimed lifting a drink.

“I don’t always dodge gunfire, but when I do I do it with ease.”

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And suddenly his body flowed between the bullets. He stepped forward, his hand pulling pack for a strike.

“One punch!!!”

Merla’s eyes widened under her mask as the air rippled around the man’s fist. Thinking quickly, Merla dashed to the newly formed hole in the roof. She dove inside only barely before the shockwave of force reached her location. The top of the roof flew away, along with the side of the building.

Merla, despite her movement, was caught in the blast. Her feet found purchase on a floating wall moments later, which she used to rocket back toward the two villains. A ram head came at her, and she shot a single bullet into it. Her other hand lobbed the sword in the other villain’s direction, distracting him as she formed another hand sign.

The single bullet struck the ram and became the creature’s body. The previously large head shrunk down, proportionally sizing itself to it’s collected material. Merla raised an eyebrow. That could be useful.

“Uno reverse!” Merla twisted to see the first villain holding a card up. Suddenly, her thrown sword flipped in midair and launched itself right back at her.

Grunting, Merla released her handsign, summoning three shurikans that she tossed. The sword flew off course, embedding itself into a nearby piece of debris.

Merla wasted no time, pulling out a powered grappling hook from her inventory. A soft whump from pressurized air sent the hook wrapping around a piece of exposed rebar. Merla used the winch, pulling herself around in an arc as she fired at the two villains.

“Who would win? A few measly bullets or a brick wall!” shouted the first villain.

Merla cursed inwardly as a barrier appeared, blocking the incoming projectiles. Fine then. It seemed she would have to use some of her more dangerous materials.

More handsigns flashed as Merla moved, and soon three copies of herself were running straight at the two villains. Another ram’s head appeared, slamming itself into one of her clones and usurping her control. The small ram with a bullet body launched toward it, and as the two slammed together Merla saw her clone become metallic.

The air cracked as the thing moved impossibly fast, destroying her two clones in an instant. However, it couldn’t stop once it moved and flew straight over the roof’s edge.

Growling to herself in annoyance, Merla pulled a number of grenades from her inventory and tossed them forward. Her visor darkened as the stun grenades went off, disorienting the two villains and resetting the fight.

She took the extra time to take stock of her enemies. The first’s power seemed twofold. The ram’s head would intercept or absorb something, then two would smash together to form something completely new. The other villain had some kind of reality warping power tied to his words. She recognized some as memes, but that could just be a smokescreen.

Either way, both posed as obstacles with enough area denial to stop her from escaping. She clicked her tongue, of course it couldn’t be easy. Seems she would have to use some of her more dangerous arsenal.

She took a few seconds to prepare some more handsigns while pulling explosives out of her inventory. The air cleared from another use of power, the reality warper’s if Merla could see right. That was fine, she’d finished her preparations.

Smoke popped from her hands, obscuring her as she dashed toward the roof’s edge. One hand tossed a packet of C4 out toward the general area of the villains while the other braced as she twisted over the roof. Another flex of her ninja powers had her running on the wall.

She heard the booming explosion, silently thanking Vert’s decision to bend the rules of physics a bit. She did not want to know what an actual explosive would have done to the roof. Her college classes had shown a bit of the destructive power of explosives, so the fact that the roof was still standing as she vaulted onto it was a godsend. Of course, her two current obstacles were still standing as well.

A bit worse for wear, but still standing. Looks like it would take a bit more work to get this done.

Luckily, the villains had lost sight of her in the explosion. They had placed themselves back to back, scanning the area with sharp eyes. Both looked ready for anything.

Suddenly, a diabolical idea came to Merla. She slipped back off the roof before her opponents could see and conjured up another clone. She ordered it to stall while she took off around the sides of the building, placing remote charges all the way around.

The clanging of ninja stars mixed with shouting memes as Merla worked. It might be a bit overkill, but this sort of destruction could also serve as a good distraction, letting her sneak through the enemy in the chaos.

Finished, Merla took off, laughing to herself as she moved out of range. Honestly, she should have thought of it earlier. Of course a ninja would ignore the chaff and make its way straight to the target!

Her thumb pressed on the detonator, unleashing a tide of noise and force that shook the building apart. Both villains yelped in alarm as the roof fell in on them, followed by the walls as the floors gave out. The sound echoed across the city, calling the nearby heroes and villains toward it. After all, where there was destruction there was a fight.

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