Chương 97: Marika-chan’s Secret Superhero Life! Life Secret 19!

Poise was the fastest person that Misashi Marika—who unknown to anyone was actually the mysterious superheroine Corona-chan! —knew, despite wearing what seemed to be fifty kilos of metal armor, and a table-sized giant metal shield on his back that probably weighed twice that on top of it. For keeping track of someone making electromagnetically accelerated jumps between the buildings of Tokyo, he was perfect. For actually telling you where they were, he was… not quite as good.

While Matthew could vocalize when he was using his powers, it was difficult to hear him if you weren't there in person. If you gave him a microphone, most of what you'd hear if he put it under his helmet was echoey metallic screaming, and outside of his helmet it was echoey bass roaring. Any actual words were lost amid the reverberations. Fortunately, Poise was strong enough to carry someone on his back, and Nightmare was not prone to motion sickness.

"Still going down Chuo-Dori," the American said in accented Japanese.

"Ooh, dog café! They're turning! Going east! We're parallel to the Kanda river!"

"Acknowledged!" Corona said, swearing at how slow she was going. She used electromagnetically-assisted jumps to get around in the steel-rich environs of the city, but it appeared this copy-cat was better at it than her! She let charge build before releasing through her legs, forming rails of ionized air that she used to launch herself forward and upward. Beneath her, the streets and building of Tokyo flew past, little two- and three-story buildings hidden from the major roads by larger commercial buildings.

"Stardancer, I need a heading!" There was a brief pause, and then two green arrows appeared in the air far ahead of her, both pointing in the same direction from different angles. Corona adjusted the currents she was manipulating slightly, then electromagnetically launched herself into the air again. It wasn't a direct path, but rather a trajectory that would take her well-ahead of the impostor they were tracking, both to get a lead on them and because she'd needed to aim at a building she could use to stop.

Corona was well aware she was squishy. She was pretty sure she was the squishiest person in the Outguard, even compared to Nightmare, who wore bulletproof armor, even if it could be worn down. Bullets basically bounced off Mortal, Xynodob and Poise, Stardancer had her magic barriers, and even Bloody Mary had some kind of protective lining on her coat, could block bullets with her sword and just heal through any wounds that she did get.

In contrast, Corona was limited to a hardhat she'd bought on the internet, a distinctive jacket she'd gotten second hand, some long athletic shorts, accelerated nerve conduction, a couple of shin guards she'd painted to not look secondhand, and some very good shoes that could absorb a lot of force so she didn't break her ankles, forcing her on the path of making evasion her armor. Well, evasion, rudimentary personal radar, and so far unsuccessful attempts at using electromagnetic deflection.

It wasn't usually a problem in Japan, since even most yakuza couldn't get their hands on guns that weren't hunting pieces, but it forced her to engage at range whenever they were responding to trouble in the US. And since there was always trouble in the US… Well, not a problem for today… hopefully. Fearless leader was high up today, acting as overwatch and discount satellite imaging as Stardancer kept track of the chase going on.

Normally, Stardancer would be shooting this identity-stealing knockoff with her personal King of Hawaii-Beam in a decent rendition of the wrath of the heavens, but she agreed that Corona had the right to be the one to confront her impersonator, and everyone agreed. Well, Mortal got that 'aw, the kids are being cute' look of hers that she quickly smothered, but beyond that she had no objections to the plan.

Nightmare had raised the possibility of collateral damage, but beyond that hadn't really made much objection, and while Bloody Mary would probably have had several droll things to say, she was asleep in England because she had an IRL thing tomorrow, so they'd probably get the droll criticism after the fact. Marika had never thought she'd be the one getting an impostor. Honestly, she figured it would have been either Bloody Mary or Nightmare.

Someone didn't need powers to impersonate Nightmare, and now that she knew wizards really were a thing, it was obviously easier to impersonate the woman whose powers a lot of other people could replicate. So why did someone who managed to pull electric powers out of the gacha of life decide that the way to go was stealing Marika's identity? Well, her violent vigilante identity, her real name was still safe, but her identity was still being stolen!

She had a reputation as Corona, one for integrity, righteousness, and perhaps just a little bit of non-lethal electrocution, but given her friends from work went around with swords, spears, big metal tables with the legs cut off, and superheated plasma, using the actual thing they load tasers with was positively safe in comparison! Ah, hangtime was a really good way to get one's thoughts in order.

Impact became imminent, and Corona slowed herself down, the same electromagnetic field that boosted her jumps slowing her down as she caught herself on the steel internal structure of the building she careened towards. There was a now-familiar feeling of deceleration as her stomach protested what she was subjecting it to, which she ignored from long practice and the fact she no longer ate much when she knew she'd be pulling these kinds of maneuvers.

Her heart pounded with adrenaline, the ground far below constantly reminding her death was only a screwup away. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. There was a flicker of movement as the impostor rushed jumped down the street, while Poise and Nightmare followed below. The pair ran through the street, outpacing the sparse cars as Nightmare did his best to stay in position atop the shield on Poise's back.

There was probably already weird fanart of it on the internet. More important was the impostor. They managed to look better than she did, like she was wearing the cheap printed-spandex cosplay knockoff, while the impostor was wearing a movie-quality costume with hard-wearing materials! The jacket they wore looked tailored to their physique, the colors vibrant and not looking they're desperately in need of a wash.

Their shorts looked like they were durable, and their colors matched the jacket's instead of just being a plain green that Corona was able to get in bulk because it was on sale. Instead of shin guards, they had actual boots from their soles to their knees, and it had to be a custom job because they were still sticking their landings! Storebought boots weren't made like that, she'd tried! Even the impostor's cap looked good, although it looked to just be a custom baseball cap rather than a hardhat like Corona's.

Her only consolation was that they seemed like the same size. If the fake had been taller and actually had a figure, Corona would probably have lost it. It was the clothes that was the galling part. If they had enough money to get things like that made, they could have just established their own rep as a quote-unquote 'local cosplayer'. But no, they seemed to go out of their way to steal her look!

And every time Corona had tried to get close enough to them to talk and tell them how rude they were being, they'd run away! Well, no more! She had her team with her now, and even though they felt it was overkill, they'd been willing to help her track down the impostor so she could finally have her civilized conversation. And now that she was on the same street as the impostor, with a straightaway in front of her and tall buildings to either side…

"Xy, do it!" she said into her headset. The air around them turned black with Xynodob's portals, which released a swarm of giant black-and-steel hornets, which exploded into black threads that wove a net that blocked off the street in front them as well as the spaces between the buildings on either side. The impostor aborted their next leap, landing on the ground to try to reverse course, only to find Poise and Nightmare behind them, the two splitting up to cover more ground.

Well, so Poise could run faster and cover more ground. As the impostor visibly considered jumping over them, a black portal opened above the street and Xynodob emerged, standing atop something that looked like a manta ray that floated unnaturally. A swarm of more black hornets emerged behind her, cutting off the way back save for an obvious opening. The opening closed as Corona passed through it. her arc taking her through the hornet cloud.

They moved out of her way even as she generated an electromagnetic field, catching the steel-like parts of their stingers and carapace to slow herself down.

"All right!" she said, loudly enough to be heard as landed lightly on the ground. Fortunately, there weren't any cars in sight right now, but already pedestrians were stopping and pointing phones towards them. This wouldn't be a private conversation, but maybe that was for the best.

"I've got you now, you faker! You're not getting away this time!" The impostor took a nervous step back, or at least Corona liked to think so. Ugh, even their mask was cooler! Corona was wearing a mask for cyclists that covered the lower part of her face, and it was a good thing that black went with nearly anything. The impostor's looked like it was made of metal with subtle detailing, and looked cool and didn't have to be looped over her ears, and way more comfortable than Corona's! No, no, calm, calm.

She was not going to be the one to throw the first bolt of lightning! She was going to be reasonable and logical, and talk about boundaries and why you didn't steal someone else's look.

"Look, I'm not look for a fight!" she said, because someone is probably going to start saying she was.

"I just want to talk to you, and you've been ditching me every time I've—!" The impostor ran, darting toward a narrow gap between two buildings that you needed to walk sideways into, but Poise was just there, their tall fully armored form an intimidating sight, especially with the engine-like growl coming from them. Having to physically confront people was always upsetting for him, not helped by the open environment and dozens of people looking at him. Poor guy must be screaming in terror.

The impostor tried to jump over him, but more hornets portalled in, blocking off the little alley. They twisted in midair to kick off from the walls and redirect, but by then Corona was on them, one hand slamming against the wall to block their path. Despite the move being mostly symbolic—and really painful on her palm, ow—the impostor recoiled from her, but Corona was finally close enough to go for a grab, her fingers closing around the girl's ear.

The rest of her costume was just too tight and hard to get a purchase on!

"Got you! Now—!"

"Ow!" a high-pitched and very familiar voice immediately cried out.

"Onee-chan, I'm sorry! It hurts, it hurts!"

"…" Marika closed her eyes and slowly counted to ten. Then she raised her other hand and forced her captive to look her in the eye, despite the fact they were trying to look literally anywhere but her.

"Look at me," she said in her sternest, most big sister voice." Look at me, young lady>" Reluctantly, she was obeyed. Yup, she knew those eyes.

"Emi-chan," Marika said slowly, her mouth slowly turning into an angry grin under her mask, "my one and only cutest, dearest little sister, what the hell do you think you're doing?"