Laura opened a menu on her gun, looking at the notes that her former bosses/current underlings had taken on the four main competitors before they were selected. Being the head of a secret society, and hopefully the future of world entertainment, had its perks. One such perk was the ability to cheat by gathering intel on the competition. If she wanted to turn these women into a body-growing, city-flattening, bystander-fattening, mind-warping spectacle, she would need to know how to manipulate each of them. How to play with their strengths and weaknesses. How to stay just out of sight, undetected, until she could turn them into her personal emissaries.
"Like the Horsewomen of the Apocalypse," she mused. "Except sexy. And hopefully profitable. And hopefully with a slightly smaller body count." She rolled her eyes and turned her gaze back to the screen.
The first up was Tara Michaels. Out of all of them, Laura suspected that she was the one with the scariest personality and least scary power. Breast expansion was a hot power, sure, but it wasn't exactly a game-changer, particularly when Level 1 could maybe add a couple cup sizes to another person per hour. That being said, based on the reports, Tara would be the fastest to level up. She was smart enough to see the loopholes in the rules of the game and unassuming enough to stay unseen, even while carrying a magic ray gun. Provided she stayed small, of course. If she didn't well, she was enough of a pervert to either keep others' eyes off of her new toy; based on the personality profile, it looked like she'd be willing to grow an entire shopping mall's worth of people to the point of immobility without a second thought.
Next up was Lindsay Crowe. A pampered daddy's girl and a not-quite-clinical narcissist with the power to make people grow or shrink. Her power was the most immediately dangerous; if she got out-of-hand she could very easily turn into a rampaging monster. With any luck, the restrictions placed on the manner in which she could gain XP right off the bat, coupled with her inability to accept anyone getting more attention than her, would keep her mostly under control. If things got too freaky too fast, Laura would need to get one of the other contestants to take her out of the game as soon as possible.
Number three was Paula Jameson, a housewife with the power to transfer fat between people and body parts. Her power definitely offered the most leeway in getting an edge on the competition, but the fact that each manipulation took two pulls of the trigger meant that she probably wouldn't be too much of a risk early on. Still, Laura noted that Mrs. Jameson had a creative streak. If she played her cards right she could undercut the competition very easily.
Finally was Tanya Morris. Laura shook her head. She would need to talk with the power-selection team. Bimbofication was such an unbalanced power. If it was in the hands of someone who knew how to use it, they'd be unbeatable in the games, even with the restrictions placed on it. As it were, well, Ms. Morris didn't seem sharp enough to know how to use it properly. The personality profile on her said she was just as likely to try it out on herself before moving on to others. Laura took a deep breath and sighed. So this contestant wasn't an unstoppable engine of mind-destruction and silicone-implantation. This contestant was a champion athlete who posed a colossal threat to herself, others, and quite possibly society at large. Great. She would have to tell her security detail to keep the reversal ray on hand.
Laura took another look through the list. There were other contestants in the game, but these ones seemed like her best choice for an early target. What's more, it looks like they had all just leveled up and were considering their first new power to select. Who to go for?