Curse to lose an accomplice during combat?

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In Batman Munchkin:

If you are cursed during combat to lose an accomplice, and all of your accomplices are in play, do you have to lose one of them, or do you lose a level instead?

Put another way:

Once you play the accomplice in combat, do you still "have" the accomplice to discard?

Or another way:

Can someone use the "lose an accomplice" curse to force an accomplice out of combat?