“So we’re all in agreement?” asks the perky blonde standing in front of the room. Seeing no disagreement she bangs her gavel down on the podium and in an excited tone says, “Our fandom’s official name for the ship of Beacon and Eldritch will henceforth be… Eleacon!” Frowning, she notices a grumbling girl in the front row. Leaning forward, she asks, “What’s the matter Susan? We all voted and decided this was the right name.”

Slapping her hand on the desk, Susan retorts, “Eleacon? What a trash name! Especially when we all know Beadritch is better!” Glaring at the outraged girls around her, she stands and shouts, “I wash my hands of this farce!” Pointing her quivering finger at the gavel-wielding president she intones in an ominous voice, “You know nothing Marsha Bradley, nothing at all about proper shipping!”

Bursting into protestations, the room suddenly fills with the sonorous din of a gaggle of girls all vying to shout support or cast condemnations. The only sound that cuts through the din is the hammering of the gavel on the desk as Marsha Bradley wrestles to rein in the rabble and reassert her royal regime’s reign over the group. As the group’s divisions grow, Susan stands triumphant behind her desk, triumphantly staring Marsha straight in the eye. Grinding her teeth, Marsha suppresses the growing urge to hurl her gavel at the other girl.

Consumed by the fight, the group hardly notices the arrival of Dr. Doubt. But this changes immediately when he fires his gun into the air and screams, “Class is in session students! It’s time for you to receive a proper education!”

Silenced by the man’s gun, the girls retake their seats, quivering with fright. Motioning with his weapon, Dr. Doubt indicates that Marsha should sit next to Susan. As she begins to move in a fearful and hurried fashion, he says, “Wait!” Freezing in place, Marsha sees her life flash before her eyes. Then the doctor adds, “I want your gavel.”

Thanking God, Marsha places the gavel on the podium and takes her seat, internally quaking at the sight of the maniac walking through the classroom. Outside, the sound of sirens plays, and yet to Marsha’s ears they seem impossibly far away.

“So you believe in magic?” asks Dr. Doubt at the head of the room. Seeing no response from the students, he cocks the gun and shouts, “So you believe in magic!?”

Fearful, Susan and Marsha grab each other’s hands as they reply, “Yes!”

Frowning, Dr. Doubt mumbles, “So the rot is deeper than expected. So insane they don’t even realize it, the lot of them.” Then, brightening, he continues, “But we can cure them, oh yes indeed we can cure them!”

Slamming the butt of his weapon down on the podium, Dr. Doubt pauses. Looking down he studies the weapon for a moment before grabbing the gavel and using that instead, hitting the wood hard as he can. The crack it makes reverberates throughout the room, causing the girls to twitter and murmur soft prayers in fear. Satisfied, he walks out and steps toward Marsha and Susan, who desperately clutch hands under the desks.

Hammering the gavel down on Marsha’s desk, Dr. Doubt intones gravely, “You say that you believe in magic?”

Flinching at the sound of the gavel, Marsha reaffirms her grip on Susan and stammers out, “Y-yes,” in a small voice.

Dr. Doubt then smashes the gavel on Susan’s desk and repeats the question. Jumping, Susan squeezes Marsha’s hand and says in the bravest voice she can muster under the circumstances, “Y-yes.”

Standing straight up, Dr. Doubt says with anger in his voice, “And you two are the ringleaders, filling these other girl’s heads with lies. You two are the root of the infection. You must be excised.”

Crying out, “No!” Marsha pulls Susan’s head into her embrace as if trying to protect her.

Susan, crying silently, grabs on to Marsha and hugs her tight. The rest of the room watches transfixed with terror as Dr. Doubt swings his pistol around and squeezes the trigger. Time freezes as the explosion travels down the barrel, propelling the bullet forward. Just as it seems poised to leave the muzzle of the gun, the weapon explodes instead!

At the entrance of the room is a tall man in a black mask with a “V” running down the face. The rest of his uniform is nondescript, bulky black clothing that covers every inch of skin from the combat boots to the leather gloves. Looped around his broad figure are cables that cross around his chest. Meshed tight against his legs are spikes hanging from cable, each made of a black metal and none larger than a quarter. The spikes dangle freely on tiny cables threaded on top and bottom attached them to the legs leaving them with limited room to swing.

In one of the man’s hands is a curious looking pistol aimed at Dr. Doubt’s weapon. In the other is a small throwing knife, poised for release. His voice, when he speaks, is hollow behind the mask. “I’ve no time for that, Doctor Oubt. Now, police will be onsite in precisely seven minutes, which is not enough time to ensure my mission. But it will be enough time for me to capture Eldritch Maiden if you follow my instructions exactly.”

Wonder in his voice, Dr. Doubt asks, “Capture the Source? Can you really help me? If I could cure her I could cure the whole city!”

Moving to secure the door with a portion of the cable, Vicious intones in a bored voice, “Your cure may be possible doctor. But no killing. Hostages will keep the cops outside, the moment you start killing they will breach and any chance you have of curing the city will be gone.”

Nodding fervently, Dr. Doubt looks down at Marsha and Susan and says with a mad smile, “I’ll cure the Source first. Then you’ll both be saved.”

Heedless of how they shudder at his pronouncement, he reaches out and caresses Marsha’s cheek with the back of his hand before turning around and walking over to Vicious.

Vicious, finishing his work reinforcing the door turns to the doctor and proffers him a new weapon. Then he hands him a set of metal wire ties and says, “Hands and feet. Don’t go overboard. I don’t want to be distracted by anyone screaming in pain.”

Eagar, Dr. Doubt asks, “How will you capture her?”

Suspicious, Vicious replies, “Why do you want to know?” as his hand drifts down towards one of his many weapons.

Dr. Doubt recoils, thinking the question over. Finally, he says in a satisfied voice, “I don’t. I just want to cure the insane!” Giggling, he walks back to the classroom and begins to tie up the students.

Atop a rooftop opposite the hall with the classroom, and the captive students, inside is a pair of bickering girls. “We should just break down the door and hammer whoever is inside!” shouts Ginger Snap, slamming her metal-clad fist into her palm.

“And what if that spooks him and he starts shooting hostages?” snaps back Eldritch Maiden.

Shaping her metal face into a frown, Ginger answers, “Just use your magic stuff. It’s easy so you can’t mess it up and everyone will praise you for it, so it’s perfect for a show-off like you.”

“Show-off?” fumes Eldritch, “that is such a lie!”

“Oh I’m sorry,” says Ginger in an exaggerated fashion, “you just started the rumor that I’m your sidekick because you enjoy sharing the spotlight.”

Irate, Eldritch cuts back with, “I never said that! You just didn’t stick around after we beat The Chauvinist and-”

“And another thing,” says Ginger cutting her off, “I don’t need your charity. I saved all the girls from dying while you were grandstanding on the ground below. The fan club we’re rescuing should be mine, not yours, so don’t act like we’re a team. You’re a backstabbing thief that’s been hiding for the past two weeks while I’ve been fighting The Deck.”

Exploding in anger, Eldritch’s eyes blaze with light as she says, “Hiding? Hiding!? HIDING! Who was hiding when Becca came to town? Not me, that’s for certain. You want to be more than my sidekick? Then do more than take down petty thieves and the expendable members of The Deck you insufferable brat.”

Twisting away, Eldritch clenches her fists as she trembles with rage. In her ears, the ringing voice asks, “Who do you see?” At the edges of her eyes are tears, but from anger or sadness even she could not say.

Contrite, Ginger murmurs, “That wasn’t my decision. I would’ve-”

“But you didn’t!” exclaims Eldritch, closing her eyes tight and fighting to keep the tremor out of her voice. Wrestling with herself, she whisks away the tears with a stray bit of magic before turning back around and saying, “But you’re here now. So just listen to me for a minute, and then you can leave if you want.”

Seeing Ginger nod, she continues, “I’m sorry about how the media twisted my words. I shouldn’t have let them. You’re not my sidekick and you saved hundreds of people. Not an excuse, but I’d never spoken to the media before and I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Pausing, she waits for Ginger to reply. When she doesn’t, Eldritch continues, “I know if you could, you would have helped against Becca. I didn’t… I shouldn’t have used that against you.”

Ginger’s suit slims as she siphons off enough metal to form a stump to sit on. Running her lightly armored fingers through her exposed hair, she sighs. “I would have, I wanted to come help. But circumstances… I wasn’t able.”

Nodding, Eldritch reaches a conclusion and says, “You were with someone when the alert went out, someone who doesn’t know about your power. It was the same for me. I left and it almost destroyed our relationship.”

Glancing up, Ginger asks, “Did you tell them about,” motioning around, she adds, “all this?”

Shaking her head, Eldritch answers, “No. I shouldn’t trust anyone, that’s what Beacon told me.”

“Yeah he’d say that.”

“You know Beacon!” asks Eldritch in a sharp tone.

Raising her hands, Ginger quickly backpedals, “You know, like I know of him is all!”

“Oh,” Eldritch says quietly. The silence stretches between the two for a few seconds before she says, “Your plan wasn’t really that bad. I can erect a shield in front of the students and you can blitz the gunman. Your suit will keep you safe and I can protect the entire room so long as you protect me.”

Standing, Ginger says, “Alright then, let’s go rescue some damsels!”

Pulling all the metal into her suit, a moment passes as she shifts her getup from a female form to that of a winged angel. Then she grabs Eldritch and hops off the side of the building. Landing with a gentle thud, she drops Eldritch who shudders and exclaims, “Maybe ask first! That was terrifying.”

“Don’t tell me Beacon’s apprentice and the beater of Becca is afraid of heights?” jokes Ginger.

“Just the flying!” mutters Eldritch as she smooths her costume down. Giving up, she mutters a quick incantation and the costume snaps back into shape. As she does, Ginger walks towards the entrance, forming a key out of the metal of her suit.

Placing it in the lock, she says with mirth in her tone, “The wings don’t work with both our weight combined, you’re too fat. So really it’s just falling, with style.”

Choosing to ignore the bard Eldritch grabs Ginger by the arm and says in a serious tone, “Once we go in, we go silent. But before we do, I need to ask, after this is over can you help me with this mercenary that’s been after me? He creates metal, so I think your power would be a good counter to his. I’ll help you take down The Deck in exchange.”

Pretending to consider her offer, Ginger makes Eldritch stew for a second before saying, “Sure!” Then, beneath the suit, she cracks a smile and says, “But you’ve got to promise to be my sidekick this time!”

Relieved, Eldritch nods in assent as the pair walk into the school.

But what neither of them expects is the reality waiting for them, for neither knows that Vicious already lies in wait! The terrifying team of Dr. Doubt and Vicious presents danger the likes of which neither girl is prepared to face and the consequences of failure, especially for students like Susan and Martha, are dire indeed! Ready or not, the showdown begins next week in… “Double Down!”