You wake up and fend off a challenge to your leadership... but uh oh, who's entering the warehouse now?

"So, first of all," you say, clearing your throat cautiously, "I think that went pretty well. Overall, I mean."

You get confirmation that, at least, Wushu Panda and Magik Knight are still alive and with you, as both girls groan at you in annoyance. "Normally, Lynn, I would compliment you on some clever banter." the sultry blonde M-K says, rolling over onto her side so she can look at you, similarly tied up. "But after a disaster like that, it is in poor taste. As a heroine, you don't make a joke after someone gets fucking murdered. In this case, that 'someone' is our dignity."

"I can't believe you two! How did you fall for such childish tricks so easily?!" Wushu Panda demands in a whiny voice. Glancing at her, it seems the villains realized how flexible she is, because they used so much rope and duct tape tying her up that she looks like a mummy.

Magik Knight, meanwhile, has been blindfolded and has her hands tied up behind her head, to prevent her from teleporting around the room. "And yet Lynn's bad attempts at humor are still FAR less annoying than your endless bitching. They used all that duct tape wrapping you up.

"I wasn't making a joke!" you protest. "I really mean it. We fought really well together. Beat every last crook, goon and mercenary in the room, including four serious supervillains and... and a dang giant robot! And Lady ****-shitkicker outright said that we messed up her plans and **** her to start over from scratch! Y'all don't think think we should feel like failures JUST 'cause the big baddie got one over on us after letting her goons wear us down?"

"Yes!" Wushu Panda squeaks back at you angrily. "We should feel like failures, especially you!"

"What?!" you huff. "Excuuuuuse me, miss fancy fists! You must have taken a harder blow to the head than I did. I was tryin' to be, whattya call it, magnanimous by sharing credit for wrecking that big-ass robot but let's be straight: I wrecked that thing single-handed. And I lasted a lot longer against Lady D than either of you did."

"Hmph!" Magik Knight's smugness and good humor seem to have worn off after a brutal defeat like that. "You lasted longer, Lynn? Perhaps, but only because you had four bodies for her to use as a punching bag instead of just one. And although it pains me to say this, I must agree with Panda. You were our leader. You are the one who decided to come to this warehouse and face this new villain, were you not? Imagine if it had been the real Deathsmite laying in ambush instead of his bratty teenage daughter? We'd all be... you know..."

"Smited to ****?" you ask. "Gah!" Wushu Panda makes a face at you. "It's 'smitten'! How is it that people who learned english as a second language still have to give you corrections?"

"Now listen here, you two!" you say. "You need to stop puttin' on airs. Who here has the most experience as a superheroine? I've been hero-ing for over two years, now! Magik admitted earlier that she just got herself started, and Panda, I'm pretty sure you ain't old enough to have been at it longer than I have. And don't start telling me about how you been training since you were in diapers or something, that don't count!"

You struggle and manage to push yourself up to an uncomfortable kneeling position so you can look down at the other two girls laying on the floor. "Heroism isn't always clean and flawless! Shit happens! You gotta deal with it and pick yourself back up by your bootstraps! Now y'all can complain all you want, but if you want to get some payback against that spoiled, pampered, dirty-fighting, daddy's-little-princess, you're gonna need me to... to..." you trail off.

Wushu Panda mutters: "You're trying to think of some stupid, corny, cowboy movie way to say you should be in charge, aren't you Lynn?"

"...No!" you silently discard '...to blaze a trail for this posse' and '...to hold the reins on this wagon train'. Maybe you really did watch too many old black-and-white western movies and TV shows while growing up. "The point is, I ain't steppin' down!"

"Hmph..." Magik Knight writhes her lithe, sexy body into a sitting position as well. "I actually agree with Lynn, Panda. We can't turn everything upside down every time there is a bump in the road. She brought us in on this mission and we need to help her see it through. But with one condition. Lynn... Panda and I will give you one more chance. Do things your way. And if it leads to disaster again, well - we shall know this was not a fluke. And then you will agree to follow MY lead." her voice is getting sultry and you can tell she's getting excited by the prospect. "...and do what I think is best for the next adventure. That sounds fair, no?"

Wushu Panda wriggles around like an angry earthworm, trying and failing to loosen her bindings. "No! That's not fair at all! Why am I not in the running to be in charge?!"

Magik Knight tosses her long blonde hair, an impressively sassy gesture since she is tied up too. "Becaues you're the youngest one here. What are you, eighteen?"

"Nineteen - I mean, Nǐ zhēn fánrén!! Why does that matter?" she demands irately.

"Quick change of subject, Magik Knight," you say. "Let's focus on the here and now. Why don't you teleport us out of this place so we can get back in the saddle?"

"I can't. I'm drained of my magic after using so much, and besides, it isn't safe for me to teleport myself or others long distances safely."

"What?!" you demand. "You did it, like, ten times during the fight!"

"Yes, Lynn. To hired thugs and supervillains." she replies condescendingly.

"But..." you say. "You did it to ME earlier today and sent me halfway across the dang city!"

"And how did that work out for you?" Magik Knight says. Her smugness is coming back. You feel the urge to give her a slap.

"Well, well, well." All three of you turn your heads as you hear a male voice speaking. Standing a dozen meters away or so is a tall man in an ill-fitting suit, followed by several others. They don't look like any of the baddies that Lady Deathsmite was 'auditioning', who have all fled the warehouse. But, by the predatory smirks on their lips and the handguns they're carrying casually at their sides, these are clearly not on the side of righteousness. "I thought I heard some girls' voices comin' from over here."

The strange, threatening man, clearly a gangster or some other kind of scumbag, chuckles and puts his revolver back in his jacket. "Here I was just hoping for some loose cash or guns that those fancy costumed mooks might have left behind as they were running on out of this place. But don't you three look sweet? And here I was thinkin' I've been a bad boy and Santa wasn't bringing me any presents no more. I guess he read my mind and saw that 'newbie superheroines tied up and helpless' was right at the top of my list?"