Chapter Forty-Four - Powers

Talking to the HRF was an ordeal. She ended up facing some detective sort that was trying to get as much information out of her as possible, and Emily's social batteries were drained before the conversation even started.

Worse, some people had noticed Maple's device, and now the HRF were probing her hard about it. They wanted to know what it was, how it worked, whether it was dangerous to others. There were forms that gadgeteers needed to fill in order to bring equipment out onto the field. At least, if they happened to work for the HRF. If they didn't, then liability was entirely on the person who made the gadget, even if it was misused or stolen by a villain.

She supposed that it made sense, at least from a legal point of view. That didn't mean that she enjoyed skirting around it with the HRF at all.

Still, after a long couple of hours, she was able to return to her sisters who were being entertained by the bikers in the bar.

Not exactly the kind of people she would have picked to babysit, but they were actually pretty decent. One big gruff guy showed off a knife to Teddy, then started telling stories about fights and adventures he'd been on, another knew a few magic tricks that distracted Maple Athena, and Trinity, and overall the entire lot of them turned from big, gruff and scary guys to a bunch of kindly grandpas the moment her sisters turned their attention on them.

It was kind of strange, but Emily decided not to poke at her good fortune.

Once she gathered her bunch up, they headed back out. Sam drove around to the exit of an alley a street down, and they loaded into her minivan until it was filled to bursting.

The moment she was sitting in the van, belt buckled and butt firmly in the seat, Emily felt all of the tension drain right out of her. She sank into the seat and leaned her head back onto the headrest.

She felt a bit like crying.

"You okay?" Sam asked.

Emily gathered herself together. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said. The belt was pressing into her bruise, which didn't help anything. "I'll be fine."

She hoped that was true. At the moment, she felt far too weak for her own good. Rattles wasn't even a smart enemy. He was just powerful enough that she wasn't sure they could take him on.

"Girls," she said, which quieted down the chatter in the back. Her sisters, at least, seemed to bounce back from the loss without any difficulty. "How powerful is Rattles?"

"What do you mean?" Athena asked. "Power's hard to measure. Do you mean his levels and skills?"

"I guess?" Emily replied. "What else could I mean?"

Athena shrugged. "There are powers, then there's power, and then there's the other kinds of power too."

Emily had no idea what Athena meant, and it must have showed because Athena went on to explain.

"So, there's how strong you are. That's like, the power from your abilities and your skills. Teddy is the 'strongest' one because she's physically strong. But Maple, even though she's newer, could fight her and win because she has a power that's flexible, and I could beat Teddy because I'm smarter and my abilities are mental. Trinity can't beat Teddy, but she's hard to put down, so it doesn't matter."

"Okay," Emily said. "I guess I asked a question that was too... nebulous for a straight answer. Powers are like really complex rock, paper, scissors. There's no easy or direct answer."

"Yeah," Athena agreed. "But then there's also 'power'."

"What's that one?" Emily asked.

Athena frowned in thought for a moment. "You saw the bikers? They threw stuff at Rattles and annoyed him? They did that because we are more 'powerful' than he is when it comes to making people like us."

"That's a kind of power?" Sam asked. Her eyes were on the road, but she was clearly listening.

"Uh-huh. Usually it's a power that heroes have a lot more of than villains," Athena said.

"The power of the people!" Teddy added.

"We're much stronger than Rattles with that. No one likes him," Athena said.

"He didn't look very smart and I bet he doesn't eat good food," Trinity said.

"He... he might stink, maybe?" Maple added her own two cents.

"Right," Emily said. "So, power-based power, and then societal-based power. I suppose he's strong with one and weak with the other."

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"There's more kinds," Athena said. "Information is important. You can be very strong with that. And then there's allies, and stuff like having the law on your side, having lots of money, and knowing the right people. Power is complicated."

"Yeah, I guess so," Emily agreed. "So, in terms of power-power, how would you place Rattles?"

Athena thought about it for a moment while rubbing her chin like some wiseman in a statue. "I think he's stronger than any of us, by a lot," she said.

"He's a lot uglier, you mean," Teddy grumbled.

"He only has one power, I think," Athena said. "But it's a lot stronger than ours. I guess he's been a villain for a long time, so he had time to do a lot of quests and get lots of points and stuff. He might even have maxed out his things."

Emily sat up straighter. "You can max out a power?"

"Yeah," Athena said. "It happens. It's why there are Endgames, so you can go and get another power and keep doing quests and things."

"I've never heard of that," Sam said.

"Me neither. I guess it makes some sense. And the heroes wouldn't go around telling people that they won't be growing any stronger either," Emily said. Now she had one more thing to worry about, though maybe it wasn't so close to happening for her that she needed to concern herself over it yet.

"We lost," Athena said. Emily glanced back and found Athena staring right at her. "But it's okay. Sometimes the hero wins, sometimes the other villains are tougher. What makes you a good villain is that you get up again and do things that are even more evil than before to make up for the loss."

"Yeah!" Teddy cheered. "Let's rob a bank!"

"Oh! Can we?" Trinity asked in harmony with herself.

"No, we are not going to rob a bank," Emily said. "But... maybe you're not entirely wrong."

"Uh, Emily?" Sam asked. "Mind clarifying that one a little?"

"I mean, we lost because we were too weak. We tried improving a little, but it wasn't enough. I think we can push harder, become stronger. Learn how to work together better and just improve enough that we stand a better chance of coming out on top in any fights. And Athena isn't wrong about other sorts of power. I... I need to learn how to be less shy. If we can't beat Rattles in a fight, then we have to beat him elsewhere. We can outnumber him, we can turn the heroes against him, we can spread information about him around. We might not have to beat him in a straight fight if we attack from another angle."

The van was quiet for a little while, at least until Teddy started clapping. "That was a good monologue, Boss!"

"That wasn't a monologue," Emily said.

"A little bit," Sam said.

Emily felt her cheeks warming up, and she turned to stare out of the window, refusing to engage with the others while this embarrassed. It wasn't a monologue, just a little rant with maybe a tiny bit of inspirational speech squeezed in.

Sam continued driving the van through the streets leading to the underpass entrance to the hideout while Emily's mind whirred. What Athena told her had struck something, though she wasn't sure what, exactly. It felt more important than a discussion in a van ought to be.

Her entire life, she'd been crippled by constant worry, a non-stop fear that she'd say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, and end up a laughingstock. She'd seen others stand up and do presentations, or meet new people with smiles and laughter, and she'd been envious. They could do something she found impossible.

That was a sort of power she'd never had. Until now, maybe. It wasn't Emily Wright who was intimidating and able to talk to people, but the Boss. That didn't matter though, because she was the Boss under that mask.

The bikers in the bar had been an excellent example. They'd had no reason to throw their weight behind Emily and her sisters, but they did. Was it the girls' innate likability? A shared disdain for Rattles? Or maybe they just rooted for the underdog. Regardless, it was a form of power, as real as any superstrength or gadget.

The van rolled to a stop alongside the road near the underpass. Emily sighed. That kind of thinking could wait, her sisters were probably hungry and there would be a rush to use the washroom, then she had to see about her homework, and check out her class schedule, not to mention checking out her minions and...

Emily slipped out of the van. One thing at a time.

***