CAPE CITY
Home of Statuesque
Statuesque allowed the auto-browser on her viewscreen to collate all news blurbs about “Invincibelle” whether from newscasts, sports channels, or no-nothing bloggers. The media flashed before her in a series of audio and visual blurbs.
“Why is the premier heroine of Cape City wasting her time in a–”
“Invincibelle embarasses herself by getting knocked out by a couple of–”
“Shameful ‘bullying fail’ in the Superheroine Battle Arena as Invinci–”
“Beating down a popular, injured woman on an international broadcast–”
Statuesque clicked off the feed and sighed.
METROCITY
Superheroine Battle Arena: Invincibelle’s Quarters
Eva scanned the dossiers on the current league roster that were displayed on the holovid before her. The photos of Lucky Star and Tamara Jones had “CLEAN” printed across their faces in bright blue letters. She was pretty sure that after the thorough beating she had given them both, that they were not holding an alien parasite in them.
She sighed. “Maybe…” She was having doubts about this mission. She had very little solid intel on this Ithornic Leech. She didn’t know exactly what it looked like, she wasn’t sure exactly how to force it out of it’s host, she even entertained the thought that this thing did not even exist except in Ivankov’s active imagination.
Still, the threat of a creature that has wiped out entire galactic star empires. She couldn’t afford to ignore it.
She decided that she needed to start with the lower-powered heroines first. If this thing was inside them, sucking the life from them, then they would be the ones most likely to die first. She began sorting them by power level, and was thinking of how she should approach Commissioner X about allowing her to fight her choices. After all, she had no seniority here, and there was apparently a great deal of politics and public relations factored into deciding on matches. As she pondered her options, there was a double-ping as two of the files updated.
Ms. Blitzen, Status: Inactive.
SilverStar, Status: Inactive.
“What the…?” A short press release vid began to display as she hovered her hand over the display. It was Ms. Blitzen speaking to several sports correspondents, “…my partner and I would like to thank the strong and skilled women here at the SBA League. We have learned a lot from them. But we have duties to return to in Angel Falls…”
“Crap!” she yelled. Two of the heroines were leaving the arena and Metrocity. If one of them is hosting the leech, then that would be game over. It could pass to anyone else on their team, any of the other superbeings in their home. “Ok, ok, let’s think.” She scanned over their dossiers. “No reports of injuries or sickness in either of them… so no overt symptoms.” She glanced at their power levels. “Heavyweight and Superheavyweight. Which means the leech may have to feed on them for a while before…” Eva froze as she read over SilverStar’s power profile.
Healing. “She has the ability to heal.” Theoretically, either she or her teammate could be experiencing symptoms, but she could be administering healing energy to mask them from appearing. If the leech were attached to one of them, it could potentially be drawing from a near-infinite supply of life force to feed on. “Double crap!” she yelled.
“Alright, alright. Ms. Blitzen. SilverStar. I need to fight you. Both of you, before you get a chance to leave.”