Chapter Fifty-Seven - Jezebelle the Brave

Jezebelle didn't want to leave her apartment.

She found herself frozen by the entrance. The doorway was open, and all she needed to do was take one step and she'd be outside.

Her car was parked just there, already on, its headlights illuminating the quiet side-street a couple of blocks away from the college. She lived in a nice part of town, in a pretty nice apartment.

It hadn't always been that way, but the moment she gained powers, things really changed. She went from being the pretty-enough... she didn't know how to describe it. She wasn't even the black sheep of the family. She was just kind of there to the rest of them, riding along and doing her own thing.

Jezebelle didn't have a rich-rich family, but it was still a two-vacations a year sort of family. Time spent in the south during the summer and up north to ski in the winter. The nice part of middle-class where her family ran a few small, respectable businesses that one day the younger generation would inherit.

Probably not her. She was too young, not part of the most beloved part of the family. She got her college paid for, and that was about it.

But that was before she'd turned into a heroine. Before powers.

Weak, kind of lacklustre powers, but still. Her ID as a mask was open. She bought her entire family one of the most valuable things possible; bragging rights.

It was nice. The new home, a bigger allowance, a car that had belonged to her uncle and which he basically gave her. It was barely six years old! A bit... mid-life-crisis-y, but still, she wasn't about to complain.

And all of that niceness felt like so much dust in her mouth right now.

She urged her leg forward over the gap, but it was like her body didn't want to listen to her.

There was a faint ticking from behind her. The seconds counting onwards on the kitchen clock. A silent recrimination and reminder that she was wasting time.

Her mind kept flashing back to her fight with Rattles. Or rather, the beat-down she'd gotten from the villain. He didn't even look like he was struggling as he smacked her down. For some reason, the look in his eyes was still impossible to forget, and it would haunt her.

So far, she'd done a good-enough job of keeping herself going, even after the hospital stay. There were things heroes could do that weren't fighting, and she had taken on every quest she could grab like that. It meant a lot of volunteering work and time spent doing PR crap, but it was the only way she could really improve herself and her power.

Burying her fear in self-improvement worked during the day. It was now four in the AM, and it wasn't going so well.

"You damned coward," Jezebelle muttered to herself.

Right now, the Boss and her brats were going to go and try to fight Rattles, probably all on their own.

She pressed past the barrier, a chill running down her spine as she did so. She was outside, in the cool night air. It wasn't even all that dark, not with the streetlights all over. All that worry now felt wasted, though she knew, consciously, that the doorway was only a metaphorical barrier.

She locked the door behind her, then ran over to her car and slipped into it. Within moments she was driving along a little bit over the limit, heading to the rendezvous point that Emily, the Boss, had set up.

The city flew by as she drove through it until she approached the spot that Emily had told her to meet at. It was a 24/7 Im Orton's on the corner of two streets. There was some parking space at the back where they might not be as noticeable from the street.

Jezebelle pulled in, then parked at the rear. Her car was the only one there.

She almost bailed before shutting the engine, but she had made it this far, and she didn't think it was all that likely that Rattles had tricked Emily or something like that.

So she turned off the car, jumped out, and then went to the trunk where the rest of her costume was waiting. At the moment, she was only wearing the main suit part, and a comfortable pair of running shoes. She ditched all that in favour of her costume's armoured boots and some long gloves made with thick padding and some sort of gadgeteer'd-up cut-proof material. It wasn't much as far as armour went, but it was better than nothing. The mask came on next, and then she had to rearrange her hair because the mask did awful things to it.

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"Nice suit," someone said from behind her and Jezebelle leapt about ten feet into the air as she spun.

She fell into a wobbly stance, hands raised to punch out, power almost flaring. There was a guy standing there, dressed like a ren-faire reject and holding two coffees.

She blinked. "Wait, you're that villain that the Boss helped once. Latin-name guy. You asked me out."

"I'm more of a rogue," the guy said. "And you never said yes, for what little it matters." He took a long sip from one of the cups, then extended the other. "It's, uh, large, double-double."

Jezebelle stared. "That's my usual order," she said.

He gestured with the other cup to the coffee shop. "I ordered my own, but they gave me this by accident. Overworked guy at the counter told me to keep it. Guess I'm just lucky like that, you know? Want it? I'll give it to one of the kids otherwise. You know, as payback."

"Payback?"

"For dragging my sorry behind all the way over here," he said. "See this costume? Real silk shirt. And I'm not wearing anything under it. It's cold."

She supposed it was a little cold. "And the payback is?"

"Do you have any idea what this much caffeine and sugar will do to the Boss's kids? They'll be bouncing off the walls. Then the crash will make them all whiney. It's good payback for getting me out of the house at this hour."

Jezebelle took the coffee. "Thanks," she said.

He shrugged. "It was free, Sparkles."

"Glamazon," she corrected. "And you're... Something latin?"

"Alea Iacta," he said. "Usually I'd start flirting with you, but I'm cold and tired, so can we just pretend that I put in the old college try?"

Jezebelle laughed despite herself. She hadn't been expecting that. "Alright, I think I can do that."

"Nice, nice," he said before cupping his coffee close. He looked around, then at her, then back at the parking lot. "Guess we're early," he said.

"They'll be here," Jezebelle replied. She... had a lot of confidence in Emily. Sure, the girl was... kind of a hot mess, but she hadn't failed to come through yet. She adjusted her mask. "So... been a not-villain for long?"

"Eh, since last Power Day, same as just about everyone else," Alea Iacta said. "Say, why is it that so many heroes and not-heroes are so new around here? That normal?"

"Most heroes give up within the first three months. It's... kind of a thankless job that doesn't pay very well."

"It doesn't?"

"I'd make more serving coffee with the number of hours I put in," she said. "The bonuses are nice, and the hourly pay's great, but for every hour you work you spend two training."

"Huh," he said. "And the not-heroes?"

"Jail, mostly," she said.

Alea Iacta's eyebrows rose, then he nodded. "Makes sense."

A van rode into the parking lot, past the drive-through, and parked right up next to Jezebelle's car. The side door crashed open, and then a gaggle of kids came swarming out.

Just six of them, really, but it felt like a lot. And Jezbelle was pretty sure that there weren't enough belts for all of them in the van.

Then the Boss came around the back, closed the door, and said something to the driver. The van pulled out, then rode around and out of the parking lot.

"Hey," Alea Iacta said.

"It's the lucky idiot!" the bear-girl said as she ran over. "Yo! Haven't seen you in a while. Is that hot chocolate?"

"Maybe," he said, sounding pretty defensive about it. "And It's mine. Go away, bear brat."

"I'm Ursa Minor, idiot."

"Ursa, leave Alea Iacta alone," the Boss said as she walked over. "Glamazon, Alea Iacta, I'm happy to see both of you."

"Gotta earn the right to sleep in your traincar somehow," Alea Iacta said.

Jezebelle glanced at him and wondered what, exactly, that meant. "What's the situation?" she asked instead. This was a lot less... professional than an HRF operation already.

"Rattles was spotted snooping around," the Boss said. "His target's some underground info-broker that's being protected by Melaton. He should still be around. I think... we'll try to get him distracted by Melaton, then we ambush him. At least, that's the plan so far. I'm, uh, open to suggestions."

***