If you want more to read, consider joining my Patreon! Or check out my other original works:

  Stray Cat Strut (A cyberpunk system apocalypse!) - OngoingFluff (A superheroic LitRPG about cute girls doing cute things!) - OngoingLove Crafted (Interactive story about an eldritch abomination tentacle-ing things!) - Completed!Dreamer's Ten-Tea-Cle Café (An insane Crossover about cute people and tentacles) - HiatusCinnamon Bun (A wholesome LitRPG!) - OngoingThe Agartha Loop (A Magical-Girl drama!) - Volume Two Complete!Lever Action (A fantasy western with mecha!) - Volume One Complete!Heart of Dorkness (A wholesome progression fantasy) - Completed!Dead Tired (A comedy about a Lich in a Wuxia world doing Science!) - OngoingSporemageddon (A fantasy story about a mushroom lover exploding the industrial revolution!) - OngoingPast the Redline (A girl goes too fast, then she does it again) - Completed!Magical Girl Crystal Genocide (Magical Girls accidentally the pnet, and then try to fix it) - Completed!Magical Girl Rending Nightmare (A sequel to Crystal Genocide! Cute girls in a soviet dystopia having a picnic on the roadside) - Volume Two Completed!Noblebright (A shipcore AI works to avenge humanity) - Completed!The Complicated Love Life of Ivil Antagonist (The Empress of Mars finds love) - Completed!Pokebun (Broccoli Bunch in the world of Pokemon) - HiatusQueen Violence (An Assassin Reborn as a Kitten) - Completed!No Strings Attached (An Elden Ring/Bloodborne inspired progression fantasy) - OngoingSave Scumming (A time-looping system apocalypse) - Ongoing

  Chapter Forty-Nine - The Taste of Victory

  Emily wanted to go down there because... well, a loose Teddy was a dangerous thing. Before she could squeeze down through, however, Trinity shouted at the top of her lungs and bolted down the stairs.

  Not to be outdone, Athena scoffed, then ran down as well, with Aurora right behind her.

  Emily turned and looked to Maple.

  Maple looked back, then raised her new device. "Should I turn this on?"

  "Not yet," Emily said. "If you sense that there's a reason to use it, though, feel free?"

  "Okay."

  There was a scuffle downstairs, something fell, then someone screamed--a woman--only to be drowned out by the roar of a bear and Trinity's own screaming in return. The more banging and screaming she heard, the less certain she was that she wanted to go down there.

  Then she heard Teddy yelp in pain, and the next thing she knew she was halfway down the stairs.

  The situation was complicated enough that she couldn't take it all in at a gnce, but a few things stood out to her. First, there were only two enemies down here, and they were definitely the same people that had ambushed her. She recognized the man and the woman in the room, even if they weren't wearing any sort of proper costume and were instead in more casual clothes.

  The man was stumbling back, but he had pulled out a small device from his pocket and was stabbing it towards Teddy who seemed reluctant to strike it, especially when sparks flew off the end.

  Aurora charged across the room, heading right towards the woman and tearing through a thick curtain draped down from the ceiling.

  The woman that Aurora was charging towards swung her arm out in an arc, and immediately, Emily found herself flinching back in pain as two dozen tiny needles stabbed into her exposed skin.

  Aurora had it worse, her running gait turning into a stumble, but she roared and tackled the woman off her feet a split second ter.

  Trinity shot past, running towards the back of the room with a shout of "I'mma find some rope!"

  Emily returned her attention to the fight off to the side ever as she wiped blood off her face. Teddy growled, then leapt in, massive mitts trying to box the man in. He slipped down and stabbed his little device into her, then backed up while Teddy convulsed.

  "Darn it," Emily swore. But... he was just one guy. "Athena, Aurora, secure that one," she said with a point towards the woman on the ground.

  "Cover her eyes! She needs to see in order to stab," Athena said. Then she yelped as her poncho fpped and gained a few dozen holes.

  Taking one down and out of the fight would give them a numerical advantage. Or so she hoped. One of Trinity's bodies ran over and tossed a big cover, one of the sheets hanging from the ceiling, atop both Aurora and the woman on the ground.

  Aurora scrambled out from the covers, then pressed her hands down on the woman's face, smushing the cover over her even as she sat on her chest. Her antlers appeared over her head, and with an immovable point to use as leverage, the woman didn't have much of a choice.

  Trinity ran off again, and Emily let out a small sigh. Then she refocused on the man. He was backing up a lot, looking rather harried, but Teddy wasn't looking so great at the moment. Emily ran over, then reached out and pressed a hand over Teddy's back and used Healpats. It helped, at least a little.

  "Thanks, Boss," Teddy grumbled.

  "No problem," Emily muttered.

  "Who the hell are you?" the man asked. He wiped at his face, then looked them all over. "Wait..."

  "Trinity, grab something to throw at him," Emily called back. "If we can't get close to him, we'll throw things until he goes down."

  "What the hell," the man muttered.

  "If you hadn't stolen from us," Emily said. "Then it wouldn't have come to this."

  The man looked ready to argue, but then he ducked as a can of some sort flew past where his head had been and cracked into the far wall, spilling beans all over.

  "Keep distracting him," Teddy grumbled. She raised a paw and then flexed her very long, very intimidating cws, each one as long as Emily's entire hand. "No more miss nice bear."

  The curtain at the back of the room flew aside and a woman stepped in. She was in PJs and a coat and looked wide-eyed around the room. Still, she was very concerningly carrying a rge, complicated thing that looked a little too gun-like for Emily's comfort. "Catch!" she shouted.

  The man dropped his taser and picked the weapon out of the air. His grin was almost predatory as he spun it around and aimed it at Emily and her sisters. "Freeze! This is a tes cannon. One shot and you're very dead!"

  The weapon spun up, and Emily could see sparks flickering within its interior. The hairs on her arm rose and she felt her clothing snap with static electricity.

  "Remove that thing from Pinprick's face, now! Or I swear I'll start bsting!" he warned.

  "Maple," Emily said.

  She didn't gnce back, but she knew that Maple was somewhere close to the stairs from the little "Okay," she heard.

  There was a click then a heavy chunk as all the weapon froze, the static energy on her clothes disappeared, and all of the lights went out in a blink.

  "Teddy, glow!" Emily ordered.

  "Got it!" Teddy rumbled before summoning a little light. Emily's eyes were far from used to the darkness, but she could still make out some things

  Then the room filled with hundreds of tiny, flickering fmes. They cast weak, orange-red light, but with so many of them, it brightened the entire room enough to see by with retive ease. "Burn!" the woman that had just entered screamed.

  The flickering fmes started to move forward. It was no faster than a walking pace, but with so many of them...

  Then Trinity rounded the corner around the counter in the kitchen space to one side, hoisted something boxy over her head, then threw it with her entire body put into the throw. "Toaster!"

  The fire-controlling woman turned just in time to eat the toaster in the face. It made a dull metallic cng and she flopped backwards. Instantly, all the lights went out again except for the glow from Teddy's Endgame skill, and a moment ter light from Maple who held up a fshlight and scanned it across the room.

  A moment ter, Teddy roared and jumped onto the enemy gadgeteer, smacking his weapon aside and smming him into the ground. "Stay!" she growled into his face. Her paw was on his chest, cws flexed, but not digging into him just yet.

  "Good job, everyone," Emily called out. "Athena, can you help Trinity find something to tie them with? Something not-fmable. We don't want that one burning her way out. Maple, can you come here, sweetie? Search their gadgeteer for anything he might have that can be used to... make anything, I guess."

  "Okay!" Maple said.

  Emily nodded. "And... can someone find me some paper towels? Maybe a first aid kit?" She touched one of the holes poked right into the meat of her shoulder. It had punched through her poncho and into her skin. It wasn't much blood, but she knew that there were a lot more holes poked into her because she could feel them.

  It wasn't too long before they vilins were dragged to the centre of the room. Trinity found some rope and a few rolls of duct-tape, and soon enough they had them tied around their feet and arms. The one called Pinprick tried to use her power on them again, so she had an old shirt Trinity found wrapped and taped around her face to cover up her eyes.

  Emily handed out Healpats as soon as the power came off its cooldown. It was more than enough to help scab over any holes and the few rather minor burns her sisters had gotten.

  All in all, the attack had been a success. All three vilins were out, and after scouting around, they confirmed that there were only three beds in the space. They basically had all of them. It was an unequivocal victory.

  She still felt a little queasy about it.

  "Now," she said. "What are we supposed to do with you?"

  In an ideal world, she'd toss them out of the Endgame, or keep them imprisoned, but that would be hard. If she just tossed them out, they might just return, better armed and with more knowledge.

  Giving them to the HRF was right out, however. They'd have no reason not to spill everything they knew.

  She... didn't know what she'd do, but for now, capturing them seemed wisest.

  ***