You and Panda will move in to secure the warehouse

It is a bit awkward to explain to Panda why exactly you shouldn't use Magik Knight's teleportation without slighting the latter, so you settle by arguing that even the outside of the warehouse might be guarded or trapped, so the only sensible thing to do is approach on foot from a distance. That means a lot of the three of you wandering through narrow, unsanitary alleyways.

There are a group of drunken low-class dockworkers loitering in one of them when three scantily clad young women (of which you are one) strut past. They chuckle to each other and start leering and getting closer. Wushu Panda does some high-pitched shouts that sound like "Kiiiyaaaah! Heeeyahhh! Wooo-haaaa!" and strikes some complex looking fighting stances. The drunk men start to laugh but then one of them sees you folding your arms over your chest and mutters to the others - "Oh shit, I saw that chick earlier! She's crazy, she beat up some guys just tryin' to talk to her! C'mon, back inside!" They retreat back into the bar.

Since you have super-hearing but M.K. and W.P. don't, the martial artist girl says something self-satisfied sounding in Chinese. "It looks like my reputation precedes me! The lowlifes in this part of the city are already learning they should hide in the darkest hole they can when the Panda-symbol has been shining!" You don't bother to correct her that it's actually you they were afraid of.

As the three of you walk on you mutter to yourself: "Spreading malicious rumors... I ain't the type who would beat a guy up just for staring or giving me a bad pick up line, those low-down sons of bitches from earlier were trying to grab hold of me from behind. I mean, going out dressed all sexy-like and then hitting a man for noticing is, uh, what do those smarty-pants lawyers call it... entrapment..."

"Did you say something, Lynn?" Magik says, resting her hands on your shoulder again and pressing her ample breasts up against your back. You give her a dirty look and shoulder her away. "I think we've had enough 'practice' for now, Ilyana! But, I was just saying..."

Wushu Panda shouts and interrupts the two of you: "Hey! Shut up, no time for that, look! Look! I can 6368 right up ahead! And the lights are on at this hour, which is really suspicious!" She takes a moment to do a stretch, holding each of her legs up above her head for a moment. "I'm going in to scout! Silent like a shadow! Wait for me out here, I'll let you know when the coast is clear!"

"Is that a good ide-" you start to ask, but Wushu Panda is already taking off at a run, doing unnecessarily acrobatic cartwheels and flips over dumpsters before scrabbling up a fire escape and doing a running leap onto the warehouse. She wasn't exaggerating; whatever esoteric martial arts secrets she knows mean that her movements are as quiet as the rustling of cloth even when she's running over a metal roof. You might think she's got it in hand, if not for her getting captured by two not-particularly-competent mobsters the first time you met her.

Magik Knight murmurs in a sweet-sounding voice. "Well, you see, Lynn? You really need my help. Not so much to deal with lowly villains, I know you can beat people up easily enough. But a pushy bitch like that Chinese firecracker is going to steal every last scrap of glory from you, if you let her. It is fortunate for you that I have... mmm... taken a liking to you." Disrespecting your personal space again, she leans forward and gives you a kiss on the neck, then teleports backwards 5 feet when you try to push her off, laughing as you stumble.

But then, Ilyana's laugh is cut off as a strong arm grabs her from behind. You blink with surprise, belatedly taking a fighting stance... but then you see that it's the copy-Lynn, who has finally caught up with you.

Magik Knight, who you might expect to be cooing with delight at having 'your' arms wrapped around her body, starts fidgeting and whimpering as she gets squeezed uncofmortably tight. Copy-Lynn is looking... pissed. Since it is, after all, another you, you can't help but take her side and laugh. "Hah! Looks like I took getting bushwhacked with that scary teleport harder than I thought I would!" you say as the arm begins squeezing Magik Knight around her neck. "C'mon, that's enough, Clone-Lynn. Let's merge so we're ready for a fight."

"Naw," the copy of you says. "I'm gonna let you callin' me a clone slide fer now, on account of I know you don't know any better, but we're staying split for now. You go ahead and go into the warehouse, Lynn." It feels really weird to hear your own voice addressing you by name.

"Uh, okay? So you're gonna be my ace in the hole in case there's trouble?" you ask.

"Sure, there's that." Copy-Lynn responds. "But I also need to have a nice, private chat with Magik Knight here."

Magik Knight coughs and forces a smile. "You... want to have a talk about something... without your own self listening?"

"YES!!" The copy says, gritting her/your teeth. "What're you waitin' for, Lynn? Get your butt moving and get in there before that other heroine horns in on our mission!"

You decide it'll take too long to explain that Wushu Panda has been invited along, so you take off running and start trying your best to follow Panda's path into the warehouse. Receding behind you, you hear the clone of you asking Ilyana some very pointed questions about if she knew what happened after she (er, you...) got teleported into a wall. Ilyana speaks loudly as you walk away: "Lynn! Do not start any fights until I can back you up, don't give Nightingale a reason to squawk at me any more than she already will...!"

Unfortunately, stealth has never been your strong suite. Your cowboy boots are your favorite part of your outfit, but quiet they aren't. Thinking quickly, rather than noisily clamber down the same ladder that Wushu Panda took to enter the warehouse, you do a swan dive downwards as if diving into a pool, and land on the palms of your hands instead, doing an acrobatic spring and grabbing onto the edge of a tall wooden crate, allowing you to peek over the top of it and avoiding noisy footfalls.

You are quite pleased with yourself. But then, your cheerfulness fades and your eyes bug out. In the dim light of the warehouse you can see, up in the main central area, there is a veritable horde of people gathered, at least two dozen. And they don't look like common thugs, either. About twenty of them are some kind of soldiers wearing fancy plated armor with glowing visors and such, and carrying guns that have ominous glowy bits on them. What's worse, several of the others are in costume. You immediately duck your head down and drop to the floor as silently as you can.

KLUNK. There's a creak of leather and a clap as your heavy bootheels land on the hard floor. Around the next few boxes you hear a woman's voice say "Hey! What was that? Put that down, check over there!" ...and, a few seconds later, you hear an unidentifiable Chinese swear word. Uh oh.

You hesitantly peek around the corner. A couple of those armored guards approach Wushu Panda, who'd been creeping down between a row of boxes. This time she reacts before they can raise their laser guns or whatever they are, and she does a somersault and kicks a couple of them in their heads, laying them out with a single blow. But then, a glowing ribbon comes flying from a blind spot around a crate and wraps around her hands, binding them together and tying her securely to a support beam.

"Shit." you whisper as a pair in costume - a dark haired young man and woman wearing matching white jumpsuits with blue domino masks - approach her, one of them carrying a technological device in his hand. "Nothing to worry about," the woman says over her shoulder. "Just some nosy teenager. My brother and I will ask her a few questions, you all stay on guard."

"Shit..." you repeat once again. "I really ain't sure I can take on that many bad guys at once, especially if some are bona-fide supervillains. And that goes double without the strength being borrowed by my, uh, double." That was actually a pretty clever pun, it's a shame you had to whisper it to yourself. "And if I go chargin' in with no delay, Panda is going to know I made the noise. Damn it, it's her own fault for going in without planning like that... I'll just watch and wait 'til Ilyana and the other me come to back us up."

You look at the dark-haired woman approaching the cursing Wushu Panda. The jumpsuited henchwoman opens a small case and takes out what appears to be a plastic egg with a short wire attaching it to some kind of hand-held controller. She waves it menacingly as she walks closer to the tied-up Panda. "Oh damn," you say with concern, "is that some kind of bomb they're gonna put on her? I would've thought that the wire connecting the detonator would be a lot longer. H-hang in there, Panda..." you say quietly with a gulp.