Captain Liberty

  Carefully, I reach up and pull back my hair, securing it into a tight ponytail with a cw clip. A few strands are loose, but I ignore them for now; if anything, it adds to the girl-next-door looking I'm going for. I look down at my outfit: a simple pastel blue blouse, and a pleated bck skirt with matching low heels. Something is missing...

  Oh! I know what I need. Rummaging around in my suitcase, I retrieve a pair of gsses and slip them on to complete the look. The gsses do nothing — not that I need them to do anything, given my super-senses, but the more I can differentiate Menie Bright from the new Captain Liberty, the better. I really need to be more careful with my cover story in the future; I've already blown any chance I had at keeping my old st name, given that the public already knows — or rather, thinks they know — that I'm my own daughter. If I tried to use the same excuse with my secret identity, it would only be a matter of time before somebody made the connection.

  So instead, I'm now Menie Bright, a refugee from Old Phoenix having just been resettled in Zero City. According to official records, I graduated from the te University of Phoenix in 2019, and was taking a year off before searching for a job, right when the Graem Invasion happened, wiping out the city, my alma mater, and the rest of my family. Between my prior experience in the field of journalism and the computer equipment back at the Crystal Fortress, it wasn't hard to fabricate evidence for a previous existence. Is it a little sketchy? Maybe, but not any more so than digital piracy, and most other heroes never had a problem with that either.

  I look in the bathroom mirror one st time, brush a strand of hair out of my eyes, and smile. Time to go meet the new neighbors.

  Professor Panic

  I wake up to a knock on my door. Ugh, probably my nddy here to ask me why I haven't paid my rent yet. Groaning, I stumble out of bed and check my phone. Oh goddamn it, I somehow managed to sleep through all of my arms again. Hmm. In hindsight, my inability to fall asleep these past few nights may have had something to do with the sudden appearance of a stranger wearing the costume of my dead nemesis. Curse, you, impostor. Curse you! THIS INSULT WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED!!

  I'm shaking from my thoughts of rage by another knock on my door. "Oh for- hold on!" I yell, stumbling my way to the door and opening it. Standing on the other side is a woman I don't recognize, with gsses and a ponytail. For some reason, I can't bring myself to look directly at her, so instead I stare at the door frame uncomfortably. After a long, awkward silence, I sigh. "...What do you want."

  "Hi! I'm Menie. I just moved in down the hall. Wanted to introduce myself to everybody! What's your name?"

  Great. A new neighbor. Fantastic. Does she really need to be so peppy and cheerful? Even the sound of her voice is making me uncomfortable on some deep, visceral level that I can't quite expin. "...Why do you care?" I manage, still not looking her in the eyes.

  "It's good to know your neighbors, yeah? Sorry, maybe I'm just-" she pauses "-I guess my parents raised me to be kind of old-fashioned like that," she giggles; the sound makes me sick to my stomach.

  I stare at the floor in silence, debating whether or not to sm the door in her face. Eventually, perhaps against my better judgment, I answer her question. "...Carl."

  "Well, nice to meet you, Carl!" Okay, that was definitely against my better judgment. Somehow hearing her say my name out loud is even worse than just hearing her talk. "Do you wanna maybe-" before she can irritate me any further, I finally will myself to sm the door. As I wait for her to walk away, I feel something drip onto the front of my shirt, and I reach up to check my face. My eyes are watering again. That's weird.

  Finally, I hear a quiet sigh and the sound of her footsteps moving away. Stepping further into the room, I press a hidden switch on my watch to activate my portal device, and step through to my secret ir, where I immediately get to work on a scheme to draw out the impostor.

  Captain Liberty

  Okay, so apparently I'm now living in the same apartment building as Professor Panic. What are the odds? The past few months clearly haven't been kind to him; he was barely keeping it together just now. Yeah, I know he's supposed to be a "bad guy", but I still feel bad for the guy. Focusing on my super-senses, I watch him through the door for a moment... he's just standing there. Probably waiting for me to leave. I sigh sadly and walk away, back down to my own apartment.

  Has he even done any viliny while I was gone? I have my suspicions, but I wait until I can properly check before assuming. Sitting down on my couch, I open my ptop and do a quick Moogle search. As I suspected, his vilin identity just kind of vanished from the spotlight in the wake of my "death". I would've figured he'd have found another nemesis by now, but I guess not. I briefly wonder if there's anything I can do to break him out of his apparent spiral, but I can't think of any way to make the first move that wouldn't be, at best, extremely weird for a hero like me. For now, I guess I'll just keep an eye on him and wait for his test scheme to come to fruition.

  Professor Panic

  "You'll never get away with this," the hostage says ftly, blowing a strand of blonde hair out of her face as she struggles helplessly against her bindings.

  The other hostage rolls his eyes, not even bothering to struggle, seemingly having realized the futility of doing so. "Could you be any more cliche?"

  "Well what else am I supposed to say in this situation, Kyle?" the first hostage retorts.

  "How about nothing? Seriously, Susie, you could just say nothing. That was always an option." the second hostage, Kyle apparently, gres at the first hostage, whose name is apparently Susie. Their names are unimportant; just a couple of teenagers. I only need them as leverage for the next stage of my evil pn, after all.

  For now, I ignore them and finish setting up my broadcast equipment. Time for me to make my triumphant return to the world of viliny! I clear my throat, and flip the switch, executing a program to hijack the local news channels. In a matter of moments, I'm recording. I take a step back from the camera, and begin my monologue:

  "Attention, WORMS! This is the great Professor Panic speaking! It has come to my attention that one of your PATHETIC heroes has DARED to y cim to the mantle of the te Captain Liberty! As the GREATEST of his nemeses, I cannot allow this INSOLENCE to go unpunished... no, I must make an EXAMPLE of her! And to ensure that she cooperates..." I stand aside, revealing the hostages.

  "You fiend!" Susie yells, while Kyle only sighs pointedly.

  "If this PRETENDER wishes to see these... ahaha... INNOCENT children, released unharmed, she will come to face me, ALONE, in ONE-ON-ONE COMBAT!! And should any OTHER heroes try to interfere... the hostages will feel the POWER of my patented Death Ray!" I end the speech with a maniacal ugh, as is tradition.

  "So wait," Kyle says, "Your pn is to... have the new Captain Liberty come here and beat you up? Is that seriously it?"

  "Silence, WORM!" I turn to point my Death Ray at him dramatically, before turning back to the camera. "I'll give this IMPOSTOR Captain Liberty... oh, let's say five hours? To show herself. ALONE." With that, I cut the feed.

  "What happened to 'saying nothing'?" Susie snarks.

  "I'm just saying, this whole setup doesn't make any sense," Kyle says.

  Susie does her best attempt at a shrug while being firmly tied to a wall. "I mean yeah, it's a little contrived, but sometimes you just gotta py along. Let 'em have their fun, y'know?"

  I ugh. "Oh, you FOOLS, this will be VERY fun for me... not so much, for the PRETENDER!"

  "You know you can just call her Captain Liberty?" says Kyle. "I mean, she has all of his powers."

  "Shut the hell up, Kyle!" Susie hisses.

  "Indeed! SILENCE! I will hear NO SUCH SLANDER from you WORMS!" I step towards Kyle, menacingly.

  Captain Liberty

  I quickly scan the surrounding area with my super-senses; no other heroes, thankfully. Not that I think the Professor would actually follow through on his threat to hurt the hostages, but given that he's clearly been in a vulnerable pce recently, I can't be too careful. Unfortunately, one of the hostages seems to be antagonizing him. Time for me to stage an intervention.

  I burst through the far wall of the warehouse and hover in the air. "That's far enough, Panic."

  "That's PROFESSOR Panic to you, PRETENDER!" He turns to point his Death Ray at me. "You think that you can DESECRATE the memory of my HATED NEMESIS... and GET AWAY WITH IT?!"

  I tilt my head at him. "I don't think that's the word I'd use." Desecrate? Really? Is that why he felt the need to kidnap two bystanders for this?

  The Professor ughs, hysterically, and somewhat unlike his usual maniacal ughter. "Even now, you would DARE to address me so CASUALLY, to engage in BANTER as though you were his EQUAL?! THIS WILL NOT STAND!!" He stomps his foot in rage.

  "Oh, just get a room, you two," Kyle comments.

  Panic seems taken aback by that comment; underneath his mask, my super-senses let me see his face twist in disgust as he makes an audible gag. Suddenly, he whirls around and shoots Kyle with the Death Ray.

  "Kyle, no!" Susie cries out as Kyle's body slumps over.

  "Fear not, WORM! It was set... to STUN!" Professor Panic ughs maniacally; my super-senses confirm that yes, Kyle's heart is still beating.

  Susie blinks. "Your Death Ray... has a stun setting?"

  "Were you not PAYING ATTENTION, worm?!" Panic replies, frustration in his voice.

  Susie stares at him, mouth agape. "...but you call it a Death Ray."

  "Just go with it," I mutter to her.

  "ENOUGH!!" the Professor screams, adjusting one of the dials on the side of the Death Ray and turning to point it at me. "Now. You. DIE!!"

  Professor Panic

  I pull the trigger on my Death Ray, firing a coherent beam of yellowish-green quasiton radiation. Rather than dodging, the impostor tanks the beam head on, completely absorbing its deadly effects. She's tougher than I expected... I adjust the power level and fire again. The result is the same. She's toying with me, I realize... just like the REAL Captain Liberty used to. Gritting my teeth in rage, I dial the beam to maximum power — the only setting that could harm my old nemesis — and fire again.

  This time, she dodges, and the beam dissipates harmlessly against the concrete walls of the warehouse. "What, not even gonna monologue?" She smirks at me, mockingly.

  "You do not DESERVE my monologues, IMPOSTOR!" I take aim and fire again. Despite my rage, the rush of adrenaline from being locked in mortal combat clears my head, allowing me to not only think clearly, but more quickly as well.

  Rather than dodging once more, she emits twin beams of golden light from her eyes — Captain Liberty's signature Ray Vision, or more likely, a cruel parody thereof. As our beam attacks cancel each other out, she frowns. "Aww. I was looking forward to that part." She rushes towards me for a one-two punch, her fists meeting my personal force field. Either she's not as strong as he was, or she's holding back. Most likely the former. Hopefully.

  I widen the beam and fire again. She twirls to the side, narrowly avoiding the cone of radiation and floating behind me. I turn around just in time to be met with the pretender's Ray Vision, which rapidly depletes my shields to a few percentage points of their maximum capacity. So much for my hypothesis of her being weaker.

  Before I can counter-attack, she flies forward and swats the Death Ray from my hand, sending it cttering off towards the far wall. She floats in front of me, arms crossed in judgment. "Are you gonna let the hostages go now?" she asks.

  I ugh in her face, inputting a code into the portal device on my left glove. Her eyes widen in... recognition? No, surely she can't expect what I'm about to do. With a flick of my wrist, I activate the quantum entanglement between my right glove and the Death Ray, returning it to my hand in less time than it takes to blink. If I can't take out this pretender, I can at least take her down with me. I point the Death Ray into the aperture generated by my portal device and pull the trigger. Despite myself, I can't hold back the urge to monologue, just a bit, as wasted on the impostor as it would be. "Behold, my ultimate attack..." Far above the warehouse, the sky glows with a brilliant shade of green. "...DOOM LASER!!"

  In an instant, the impostor disappears in a blur of motion, followed by both hostages.

  Well. This is unfortunate. As the Doom Laser comes bearing down on the warehouse, I only have time to say: "Son of a-"

  Captain Liberty

  As the warehouse colpses into rubble under the force of Professor Panic's Doom Laser, I gently set the hostages down in the nearby parking lot. "Are you two going to be okay?"

  "I think so," says Kyle, still visibly disoriented from the stun beam.

  "Aaaaaaaa this is so cool!" Susie squees. "I just got rescued by the new Captain Liberty!!"

  I giggle at her enthusiasm. "I'll take that as a yes." I turn to the ruined warehouse, scanning the pile of shattered concrete with my super-senses for any sign of Panic. Thankfully none, which means he must've been able to portal out. "...You kids should get out of here."

  As the two of them head home (presumably), I stare wistfully into the rubble for a moment longer before taking off into the sky.